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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/26909.txt b/26909.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe78b0a --- /dev/null +++ b/26909.txt @@ -0,0 +1,24146 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Historical Introductions to the Symbolical +Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, by Friedrich Bente + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church + +Author: Friedrich Bente + +Release Date: October 13, 2008 [EBook #26909] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOOKS OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH *** + + + + +Produced by Kurt A. T. Bodling, Concordia Seminary, St. +Louis, Class of 1980 + + + + + + +Historical Introductions +to the +Symbolical Books +of the Evangelical Lutheran Church +by F. Bente + + +I. The Book of Concord, or The Concordia. + +1. General and Particular Symbols. + +Book of Concord, or Concordia, is the title of the Lutheran _corpus +doctrinae, i.e._, of the symbols recognized and published under that +name by the Lutheran Church. The word symbol, _sumbolon,_ is derived +from the verb _sumballein,_ to compare two things for the purpose of +perceiving their relation and association. _Sumbolon_ thus developed the +meaning of _tessara,_ or sign, token, badge, banner, watchword, parole, +countersign, confession, creed. A Christian symbol, therefore, is a mark +by which Christians are known. And since Christianity is essentially the +belief in the truths of the Gospel, its symbol is of necessity a +confession of Christian doctrine. The Church, accordingly, has from the +beginning defined and regarded its symbols as a rule of faith or a rule +of truth. Says Augustine: "Symbolum est regula fidei brevis et grandis: +brevis numero verborum, grandis pondere sententiarum. A symbol is a rule +of faith, both brief and grand: brief, as to the number of words, grand, +as to the weight of its thoughts." + +Cyprian was the first who applied the term symbol to the baptismal +confession, because, he said, it distinguished the Christians from +non-Christians. Already at the beginning of the fourth century the +Apostles' Creed was universally called symbol, and in the Middle Ages +this name was applied also to the Nicene and the Athanasian Creeds. In +the Introduction to the Book of Concord the Lutheran confessors +designate the Augsburg Confession as the "symbol of our faith," and in +the Epitome of the Formula of Concord, as "our symbol of this time." + +Symbols may be divided into the following classes: 1. Ecumenical +symbols, which, at least in the past, have been accepted by all +Christendom, and are still formally acknowledged by most of the +evangelical Churches; 2. particular symbols, adopted by the various +denominations of divided Christendom; 3. private symbols, such as have +been formulated and published by individuals, for example, Luther's +Confession of the Lord's Supper of 1528. The publication of private +confessions does not necessarily involve an impropriety; for according +to Matt. 10, 32 33 and 1 Pet. 3, 15 not only the Church as a whole, but +individual Christians as well are privileged and in duty bound to +confess the Christian truth over against its public assailants. +Self-evidently, only such are symbols of particular churches as have +been approved and adopted by them. The symbols of the Church, says the +Formula of Concord, "should not be based on private writings, but on +such books as have been composed, approved, and received in the name of +the churches which pledge themselves to one doctrine and religion." +(CONC. TRIGL., 851, 2.) + +Not being formally and explicitly adopted by all Christians, the +specifically Lutheran confessions also are generally regarded as +particular symbols. Inasmuch, however, as they are in complete agreement +with Holy Scripture, and in this respect differ from all other +particular symbols, the Lutheran confessions are truly ecumenical and +catholic in character. They contain the truths believed universally by +true Christians everywhere, explicitly by all consistent Christians, +implicitly even by inconsistent and erring Christians. Christian truth, +being one and the same the world over is none other than that which is +found in the Lutheran confessions. + +2. The German Book of Concord. + +The printing of the official German edition of the Book of Concord was +begun in 1578 under the editorship of Jacob Andreae. The 25th of June, +1580, however, the fiftieth anniversary of the presentation of the +Augsburg Confession to Emperor Charles V, was chosen as the date for its +official publication at Dresden and its promulgation to the general +public. Following are the contents of one of the five Dresden folio +copies which we have compared: 1. The title-page, concluding with the +words, "Mit Churf. G. zu Sachsen Befreiung. Dresden MDLXXX." 2. The +preface, as adopted and signed by the estates at Jueterbock in 1579, +which supplanted the explanation, originally planned, of the theologians +against the various attacks made upon the Formula of Concord. 3. The +three Ecumenical Symbols. 4. The Augsburg Confession of 1530. 5. The +Apology of 1530. 6. The Smalcald Articles of 1537, with the appendix, +"Concerning the Power and Supremacy of the Pope." 7. Luther's Small +Catechism, omitting the "Booklets of Marriage and Baptism," found in +some copies. 8. Luther's Large Catechism. 9. The Formula of Concord, +with separate title-pages for the Epitome and the Solida Declaratio, +both dated 1580. 10. The signatures of the theologians, etc., amounting +to about 8,000. 11. The Catalogus Testimoniorum, with the superscription +"Appendix" (found in some copies only). The Preface is followed by a +_Privilegium_ signed by Elector August and guaranteeing to Matthes +Stoeckel and Gimel Bergen the sole right of publication, a document not +found in the other copies we compared. The Formula of Concord is +followed by a twelve-page index of the doctrines treated in the Book of +Concord, and the list of signatures, by a page containing the trade-mark +of the printer. The center of this page features a cut inscribed, +"Matthes Stoeckel Gimel Bergen 1579." The cut is headed by Ps. 9, 1. 2: +"Ich danke dem Herrn von ganzem Herzen und erzaehle all deine Wunder. +Ich freue mich und bin froehlich in dir und lobe deinen Namen, du +Allerhoechster. I thank the Lord with all my heart and proclaim all Thy +wonders. I am glad and rejoice in Thee, and praise Thy name, Thou Most +High." Under the cut are the words: "Gedruckt zu Dresden durch Matthes +Stoeckel. Anno 1580. Printed by Matthes Stoeckel, Dresden, 1580." + +In a letter dated November 7, 1580, Martin Chemnitz speaks of two +Dresden folio editions of the German Book of Concord, while Feuerlinus, +in 1752, counts seven Dresden editions. As a matter of fact, the Dresden +folio copies differ from one another, both as to typography and +contents. Following are the chief differences of the latter kind: 1. +Only some copies have the liturgical Forms of Baptism and of Marriage +appended to the Small Catechism. 2. The Catalogus is not entitled +"Appendix" in all copies, because it was not regarded as a part of the +confession proper. 3. In some copies the passage from the Augsburg +Confession, quoted in Art. 2, 29 of the Solida Declaratio, is taken, not +from the Mainz Manuscript, but from the quarto edition of 1531, which +already contained some alterations. 4. Some copies are dated 1580, while +others bear the date 1579 or 1581. Dr. Kolde gives it as his opinion +that in spite of all these and other (chiefly typographical) differences +they are nevertheless all copies of one and the same edition, with +changes only in individual sheets. (_Historische Einleitung in die +Symbolischen Buecher der ev.-luth. Kirche,_ p. 70.) Dr. Tschackert +inclines to the same view, saying: "Such copies of this edition as have +been preserved exhibit, in places, typographical differences. This, +according to Polycarp Leyser's _Kurzer und gegruendeter Bericht,_ +Dresden, 1597 (Kolde, 70), is due to the fact that the manuscript was +rushed through the press and sent in separate sheets to the interested +estates, and that, while the forms were in press, changes were made on +the basis of the criticisms sent in from time to time, yet not equally, +so that some copies differ in certain sheets and insertions." (_Die +Entstehung der luth. und der ref. Kirchenlehre,_ 1910, p. 621.) + +However, while this hypothesis explains a number of the variations in +the Dresden folio copies, it does not account for all of them especially +not for those of a typographical nature. In one of the five copies which +we compared, the title-page, radically differing from the others, reads +as follows: "Formula Concordiae. Das ist: Christliche, Heilsame Reine +Vergleichunge, in welcher die Goettliche Leer von den vornembsten +Artikeln vnserer wahrhafftigen Religion, aus heiliger Schrift in kurtze +bekanntnues oder Symbola vnd Leerhafte Schrifften,: welche allbereit vor +dieser zeit von den Kirchen Gottes Augspurgischer Confession, angenommen +vnd approbiert:, verfasset. Sampt bestendiger, in Gottes wort +wolgegruendeter, richtiger, endlicher widerholung, erklerung und +entscheidung deren Streit, welche vnter etlichen Theologen, so sich zu +ermelter Confession bekant, fuergefallen. Alles nach inhalt der heiligen +Schrifft, als der einigen Richtschnur der Goettlichen wahrheit, vnd nach +anleitung obgemeldter in der Kirchen Gottes, approbierten Schrifften. +Auff gnedigsten, gnedigen, auch guetigsten beuehl, verordnung und +einwilligung nach beschriebener Christlichen Churfuersten, Fuersten vnd +Stende des heiligen Roemischen Reichs Deutscher Nation, Augspurgischer +Confession, derselben Landen, Kirchen, Schulen vnd Nachkommen zum trost +vnd besten in Druck vorfertiget. M. D. LXXIX." ("Formula of Concord, +that is, Christian, wholesome, pure agreement, in which the divine +doctrine of the chief articles of our true religion have been drawn up +from the Holy Scripture in short confessions or symbols and doctrinal +writings, which have already before this time been accepted and approved +by the Churches of God of the Augsburg Confession, together with a firm, +Scripturally well-founded, correct, final repetition, explanation and +decision of those controversies which have arisen among some theologians +who have subscribed to said Confession, all of which has been drawn up +according to the contents of Holy Scripture, the sole norm of divine +Truth, and according to the analogy of the above-named writings which +have the approval of the Churches of God. Published by the most +gracious, kind, and benevolent command, order, and assent of the +subscribed Christian Electors, princes, and estates of the Holy Roman +Empire, of the German nation, of the Augsburg Confession, for the +comfort and benefit of said lands churches, schools, and posterity. +1579.") + +Apart from the above title this copy differs from the others we examined +in various ways Everywhere (at four different places) it bears the date +1579, which, on the chief title-page, however, seems to have been +entered in ink at a later date. Also the place of publication, evidently +Dresden, is not indicated. Two variations are found in the Preface to +the Book of Concord, one an omission, the other an addition. The +signatures of the princes and estates to the Preface are omitted. +Material and formal differences are found also on the pages containing +the subscriptions of the theologians to the Formula of Concord; and the +Catalogus is lacking entirely. The typography everywhere, especially in +the portions printed in Roman type, exhibits many variations and +divergences from our other four copies, which, in turn, are also +characterized by numerous typographical and other variations. The copy +of which, above, we have given the contents is dated throughout 1580. +Our third copy bears the same date 1580, excepting on the title-page of +the Solida Declaratio, which has 1579. In both of these copies the +typography of the signatures to the Book of Concord is practically +alike. In our fourth copy the date 1580 is found on the title-page of +the Concordia, the Catalogus, and the appended Saxon Church Order, which +covers 433 pages, while the title-pages of the Epitome and the +Declaratio and the page carrying the printer's imprint are all dated +1579. In this copy the typography of the signatures closely resembles +that of the copy dated everywhere 1579. In our fifth Dresden folio copy, +the title-page of the Book of Concord and the Catalogus are dated 1580, +while the title-pages of the Epitome and Solida Declaratio are dated +1579. This is also the only copy in which the Catalogus is printed under +the special heading "Appendix." + +In view of these facts, especially the variation of the Roman type in +all copies, Kolde's hypothesis will hardly be regarded as firmly +established. Even if we eliminate the copy which is everywhere dated +1579, the variations in our four remaining Dresden folio copies cannot +be explained satisfactorily without assuming either several editions or +at least several different compositions for the same edition, or perhaps +for the two editions mentioned by Chemnitz. Feuerlinus distinguishes +seven Dresden editions of the Book of Concord--one, printed for the +greater part in 1578, the second, third, and fourth in 1580, the fifth +in 1581, the sixth also in 1581, but in quarto, and the seventh in 1598, +in folio. (_Bibliotheca Symbolica,_ 1752, p. 9.) A copy like the one +referred to above, which is everywhere dated 1579, does not seem to have +come to the notice of Feuerlinus. + +In the copy of the Tuebingen folio edition which is before us, the Index +follows the Preface. The appendices of the Small Catechism are omitted, +likewise the superscription Appendix of the Catalogus. Our copy of the +Heidelberg folio edition of 1582 omits the Catalogus and adds the +Apology of the Book of Concord of 1583, as also the Refutation of the +Bremen Pastors of the same year. A copy of the Magdeburg quarto edition +lying before us has the year 1580 on the title-pages of the Book of +Concord, the Epitome, the Declaratio, and the Catalogus. The Preface is +followed by three pages, on which Joachim Frederick guarantees to +"Thomas Frantzen Buchvorlegern" (Thomas Frantzen, publishers) the sole +right of publication for a period of five years, and prohibits the +introduction of other copies, excepting only those of the Dresden folio +edition of 1580. Luther's Booklets of Marriage and of Baptism are +appended to the Small Catechism, and to the Large Catechism is added +"Eine kurze Vermahnung zu der Beicht, A Brief Exhortation to +Confession." (None of the Dresden folio copies we compared contain these +appendices, nor are they found in the Latin editions of 1580 and 1584.) +The index is followed by a page of corrected misprints. The last page +has the following imprint: "Gedruckt zu Magdeburg durch Johann Meiszner +und Joachim Walden Erben, Anno 1580, Printed at Magdeburg by John +Meissner's and Joachim Walden's heirs. In the year 1580." + +3. The Latin Concordia. + +Even before the close of 1580, Selneccer published a Latin Concordia +containing a translation of the Formula of Concord begun by Lucas +Osiander in 1578 and completed by Jacob Heerbrand. It was a private +undertaking and, owing to its numerous and partly offensive mistakes, +found no recognition. Thus, for instance, the passage of the Tractatus +"De Potestate et Primatu Papae" in sec. 24: "Christ gives the highest +and final judgment to the church," was rendered as follows: "Et Christus +summum et ultimum ferculum apponit ecclesiae." (p. 317.) Besides, +Selneccer had embodied in his Concordia the objectionable text of the +Augsburg Confession found in the octavo edition of 1531, which +Melanchthon had altered extensively. + +The necessary revision of the Latin text was made at the convention in +Quedlinburg during December, 1582, and January, 1583, Chemnitz giving +material assistance. The revised edition, which constitutes the Latin +_textus receptus_ of the Formula of Concord, was published at Leipzig in +1584. Aside from many corrections, this edition contains the translation +of the Formula of Concord as already corrected by Selneccer in 1582 for +his special Latin-German edition, and afterwards thoroughly revised by +Chemnitz. The texts of the Augsburg Confession and the Apology follow +the _editio princeps_ of 1531. The 8,000 signatures, embodied also in +the Latin edition of 1580, were omitted, lest any one might complain +that his name was appended to a book which he had neither seen nor +approved. In keeping herewith, the words in the title of the Book of +Concord: "_et nomina sua huic libro subscripserunt_--and have subscribed +their names to this book," which Mueller retained in his edition, were +eliminated. The title-page concludes as in the edition of 1580, the word +"denuo" only being added and the date correspondingly changed. On the +last two pages of this edition of 1584 Selneccer refers to the edition +of 1580 as follows: "Antea publicatus est liber Christianae Concordiae, +Latine, sed privato et festinato instituto, Before this the Book of +Concord has been published in Latin, but as a private and hasty +undertaking." In the edition of 1584, the text of the Small Catechism is +adorned with 23 Biblical illustrations. + +Among the later noteworthy editions of the Book of Concord are the +following: Tuebingen 1599; Leipzig, 1603, 1622; Stuttgart 1660, 1681. +Editions furnished with introductions or annotations or both: H. +Pipping, 1703; S.J. Baumgarten, 1747; J.W. Schoepff, Part I, 1826, Part +II, 1827; F.A. Koethe, 1830; J.A. Detzer, 1830; F.W. Bodemann, 1843. In +America the entire Book of Concord was printed in German by H. Ludwig, +of New York, in 1848, and by the Concordia Publishing House of St. +Louis, Mo., in 1880. In Leipzig, Latin editions appeared in the years +1602, 1606, 1612, 1618, 1626, 1654, 1669, 1677. Adam Rechenberg's +edition "with an appendix in three parts and new indices" (_cum +appendice tripartita et novis indicibus_) saw five editions--1678, 1698, +1712, 1725, 1742. We mention also the edition of Pfaffius, 1730; +Tittmann, 1817; H.A.G. Meyer, 1830, containing a good preface; Karl +Hase, in his editions of 1827, 1837, and 1845, was the first to number +the paragraphs. Reineccius prepared a German-Latin edition in 1708. This +was followed in 1750 by the German-Latin edition of Johann Georg Walch. +Mueller's well-known German-Latin Concordia saw eleven editions between +1847 and 1912. Since 1907 it appears with historical introductions by +Th. Kolde. + +4. English Translations. + +All of the Lutheran symbols have been translated into the English +language repeatedly. In 1536 Richard Tavener prepared the first +translation of the Augsburg Confession. Cranmer published, in 1548, "A +Short Instruction into the Christian Religion," essentially a +translation of the Ansbach-Nuernberg Sermons on the Catechism. In 1834 a +translation of the German text of the Augsburg Confession with +"Preliminary Observations" was published at Newmarket, Va., by Charles +Henkel, Prof. Schmidt of the Seminary at Columbus O., assisting in this +work. The Introduction to the Newmarket Book of Concord assigns Henkel's +translation of the Augsburg Confession to the year 1831. Our copy, +however, which does not claim to be a second edition, is dated 1834. In +his _Popular Theology_ of 1834, S.S. Schmucker offered a translation of +the Latin text, mutilated in the interest of his _American Lutheranism._ +Hazelius followed him with a translation in 1841. In 1848, Ludwig, of +New York, issued a translation of the German text of the Unaltered +Augsburg Confession, as well as of the Introduction, prepared by C.H. +Schott, together with the Ecumenical Symbols, also with introductions. +The title-page of our copy lists the price of the book at 12 1/2 cents. +C.P. Krauth's translation of the Augsburg Confession appeared in 1868. +The first complete translation of the German text of the entire Book of +Concord was published in 1851 by the publishing house of Solomon D. +Henkel & Bros., at Newmarket, Va. In this translation, however, greater +stress was laid on literary style than upon an exact reproduction of the +original. Ambrose and Socrates Henkel prepared the translation of the +Augsburg Confession, the Apology, the Smalcald Articles, the Appendix, +and the Articles of Visitation. The Small Catechism was offered in the +translation prepared by David Henkel in 1827. The Large Catechism was +translated by J. Stirewalt; the Epitome, by H. Wetzel; the Declaratio, +by J.R. Moser. The second, improved edition of 1854 contained a +translation of the Augsburg Confession by C. Philip Krauth, the Apology +was translated by W.F. Lehmann, the Smalcald Articles by W.M. Reynolds, +the two Catechisms by J.G. Morris, and the Formula of Concord together +with the Catalogus by C.F. Schaeffer. In both editions the historical +introductions present a reproduction of the material in J.T. Mueller's +_Book of Concord._ + +In 1882 a new English translation of the entire Book of Concord, +together with introductions and other confessional material, appeared in +two volumes, edited by Dr. H.E. Jacobs. The first volume of this edition +embraces the confessional writings of the Lutheran Church. It contains +C.P. Krauth's translation of the Augsburg Confession as revised for +Schaff's _Creeds of Christendom._ Jacobs translated the Apology (from +the Latin, with insertions, in brackets, of translations from the German +text), the Smalcald Articles (from the German), the Tractatus (from the +Latin), and the Formula of Concord. The translation of the Small +Catechism was prepared by a committee of the Ministerium of +Pennsylvania. The Large Catechism was done into English by A. Martin. A +reprint of this edition appeared in 1911, entitled "People's Edition," +in which the Augsburg Confession is presented in a translation prepared +by a committee of the General Council, the General Synod, the United +Synod in the South, and the Ohio Synod. The second volume of Jacobs's +edition of the Book of Concord embodies historical introductions to the +Lutheran symbols, translations of the Marburg Articles, the Schwabach +Articles, the Torgau Articles, the Altered Augsburg Confession of 1540 +and 1542, Zwingli's Ratio Fidei, the Tetrapolitana, the Romish +Confutatio, Melanchthon's Opinion of 1530, Luther's Sermon on the +Descent into Hell of 1533, the Wittenberg Concordia, the Leipzig Interim +the Catalogus Testimoniorum, the Articles of Visitation, and the +Decretum Upsaliense of 1593. The Principles of Faith and Church Polity +of the General Council and an index complete this volume. A Norwegian +and a Swedish translation of the Book of Concord have also been +published in America. + +5. Corpora Doctrinae Supplanted by Book of Concord. + +More than twenty different Lutheran collections of symbols or _corpora +doctrinae_ (a term first employed by Melanchthon), most of them bulky, +had appeared after the death of Luther and before the adoption of the +Formula of Concord, by which quite a number of them were supplanted. +From the signatures to its Preface it appears that the entire Book of +Concord was adopted by 3 electors, 20 princes, 24 counts, 4 barons, and +35 imperial cities. And the list of signatures appended to the Formula +of Concord contains about 8,000 names of theologians, preachers, and +schoolteachers. About two-thirds of the German territories which +professed adherence to the Augsburg Confession adopted and introduced +the Book of Concord as their _corpus doctrinae._ (Compare Historical +Introduction to the Formula of Concord.) + +Among the _corpora doctrinae_ which were gradually superseded by the +Book of Concord are the following: 1. Corpus Doctrinae Philippicum, or +Misnicum, or Wittenbergense of 1560, containing besides the Three +Ecumenical Symbols, the following works of Melanchthon: Variata, +Apologia, Repetitio Augustanae Confessionis, Loci, Examen Ordinandorum +of 1552, Responsio ad Articulos Bavaricae Inquisitionis, Refutatio +Serveti. Melanchthon, shortly before his death, wrote the preface for +the Latin as well as the German edition of this Corpus. 2. Corpus +Doctrinae Pomeranicum of 1564 which adds Luther's Catechisms, the +Smalcald Articles, and three other works of Luther to the Corpus +Doctrinae Philippicum, which had been adopted 1561. 3. Corpus Doctrinae +Prutenicum, or Borussicum, of Prussia, 1567, containing the Augsburg +Confession, the Apology, the Smalcald Articles, and Repetition of the +Sum and Content of the True, Universal Christian Doctrine of the Church, +written by Moerlin and Chemnitz. 4. Corpus Doctrinae Thuringicum in +Ducal Saxony, of 1570, containing the Three Ecumenical Symbols, Luther's +Catechisms, the Smalcald Articles, the Confession of the Landed Estates +in Thuringia (drawn up by Justus Menius in 1549), and the Prince of +Saxony's Book of Confutation (_Konfutationsbuch_) of 1558. 5. Corpus +Doctrinae Brandenburgicum of 1572, containing the Augsburg Confession +according to the Mainz Manuscript, Luther's Small Catechism, Explanation +of the Augsburg Confession drawn from the postils and doctrinal writings +"of the faithful man of God Dr. Luther" by Andreas Musculus, and a +Church Agenda. 6. Corpus Doctrinae Wilhelminum of Lueneburg, 1576, +containing the Three Ecumenical Symbols, the Augsburg Confession, the +Apology, the Smalcald Articles, Luther's Catechisms, Formulae Caute +Loquendi (Forms of Speaking Cautiously) by Dr. Urbanus Regius, and +Formulae Recte Sentiendi de Praecipuis Horum Temporum Controversiis +(Forms of Thinking Correctly concerning the Chief Controversies of These +Times) by Martin Chemnitz. 7. Corpus Doctrinae Iulium of Duke Julius of +Braunschweig-Wolfenbuettel, 1576, containing the documents of the +Wilhelminum, with the sole addition of the Short Report of Some +Prominent Articles of Doctrine, from the Church Order of Duke Julius, of +1569. 8. The Hamburg Book of Confession of 1560, which was also adopted +by Luebeck and Lueneburg, and contained a confession against the Interim +drawn up by Aepinus in 1548, and also four declarations concerning +Adiaphorism, Osiandrism, Majorism, and the doctrine of the Lord's +Supper, drawn up since 1549. 9. The Confessional Book of Braunschweig, +adopted in 1563 and reaffirmed in 1570, containing, The Braunschweig +Church Order of 1528, the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, the Apology +thereof, the Smalcald Articles, Explanation, etc., drawn up at Lueneburg +in 1561 against the Crypto-Calvinists. 10. The Church Order of the city +of Goettingen 1568, containing the Church Order of Goettingen of 1531, +Luther's Small Catechism, the Smalcald Articles, the Augsburg +Confession, and the Apology. (Tschackert, _l.c._, 613f.; Feuerlinus, +_l.c._, 1f.) + +6. Subscription to Confessions. + +The position accorded the symbols in the Lutheran Church is clearly +defined by the Book of Concord itself. According to it Holy Scripture +alone is to be regarded as the sole rule and norm by which absolutely +all doctrines and teachers are to be judged. The object of the +Augustana, as stated in its Preface, was to show "what manner of +doctrine has been set forth, in our lands and churches from the Holy +Scripture and the pure Word of God." And in its Conclusion the Lutheran +confessors declare: "Nothing has been received on our part against +Scripture or the Church Catholic," and "we are ready, God willing, to +present ampler information according to the Scriptures." "Iuxta +Scripturam"--such are the closing words of the Augsburg Confession. The +Lutheran Church knows of no other principle. + +In the Formula of Concord we read: "Other writings, however, of ancient +or modern teachers, whatever name they bear, must not be regarded as +equal to the Holy Scriptures, but all of them together be subjected to +them, and should not be received otherwise or further than as witnesses, +[which are to show] in what manner after the time of the apostles, and +at what places, this doctrine of the prophets and apostles was +preserved." (777, 2.) In the Conclusion of the Catalog of Testimonies we +read: "The true saving faith is to be founded upon no church-teachers, +old or new, but only and alone upon God's Word, which is comprised in +the Scriptures of the holy prophets and apostles, as unquestionable +witnesses of divine truth." (1149.) + +The Lutheran symbols, therefore, are not intended to supplant the +Scriptures, nor do they do so. They do, however, set forth what has been +at all times the unanimous understanding of the pure Christian doctrine +adhered to by sincere and loyal Lutherans everywhere; and, at the same +time, they show convincingly from the Scriptures that our forefathers +did indeed manfully confess nothing but God's eternal truth, which every +Christian is in duty bound to, and consistently always will, believe, +teach, and confess. + +The manner also in which Lutherans pledge themselves confessionally +appears from these symbols. The Augsburg Confession was endorsed by the +princes and estates as follows: "The above articles we desire to present +in accordance with the edict of Your Imperial Majesty, in order to +exhibit our Confession and let men see a summary of the doctrine of our +teachers." (95, 6.) In the preamble to the signatures of 1537 the +Lutheran preachers unanimously confess: "We have reread the articles of +the Confession presented to the Emperor in the Assembly at Augsburg, and +by the favor of God all the preachers who have been present in this +Assembly at Smalcald harmoniously declare that they believe and teach in +their churches according to the articles of the Confession and Apology." +(529.) John Brenz declares that he had read and reread, time and again, +the Confession, the Apology, etc., and judged "that all these agree with +Holy Scripture, and with the belief of the true and genuine catholic +Church (_haec omnia convenire cum Sacra Scriptura et cum sententia verae +kai gnesies catholicae ecclesiae_)." (529.) Another subscription--to the +Smalcald Articles--reads: "I, Conrad Figenbotz, for the glory of God +subscribe that I have thus believed and am still preaching and firmly +believing as above." (503, 13.) Brixius writes in a similar vein: "I ... +subscribe to the Articles of the reverend Father Martin Luther, and +confess that hitherto I have thus believed and taught, and by the Spirit +of Christ I shall continue thus to believe and teach." (503, 27.) + +In the Preface to the Thorough Declaration of the Formula of Concord the +Lutheran confessors declare: "To this Christian Augsburg Confession, so +thoroughly grounded in God's Word, we herewith pledge ourselves again +from our inmost hearts. We abide by its simple, clear, and unadulterated +meaning as the words convey it, and regard the said Confession as a pure +Christian symbol, with which at the present time true Christians ought +to be found next to God's Word.... We intend also, by the grace of the +Almighty, faithfully to abide until our end by this Christian +Confession, mentioned several times, as it was delivered in the year +1530 to the Emperor Charles V; and it is our purpose, neither in this +nor in any other writing, to recede in the least from that oft-cited +Confession, nor to propose another or new confession." (847, 4. 5.) +Again: "We confess also the First, Unaltered Augsburg Confession as our +symbol for this time (not because it was composed by our theologians, +but because it has been taken from God's Word and is founded firmly and +well therein), precisely in the form in which it was committed to +writing in the year 1530, and presented to the Emperor Charles V at +Augsburg." (851, 5.) + +In like manner the remaining Lutheran symbols were adopted. (852. 777.) +Other books, the Formula of Concord declares, are accounted useful, "as +far as (_wofern, quatenus_) they are consistent with" the Scriptures and +the symbols. (855, 10.) The symbols, however, are accepted "that we may +have a unanimously received, definite, common form of doctrine, which +all our Evangelical churches together and in common confess, from and +according to which, because (_cum, weil_) it has been derived from God's +Word, all other writings should be judged and adjusted, as to how far +(_wiefern, quatenus_) they are to be approved and accepted." (855, 10.) + +After its adoption by the Lutheran electors, princes, and estates, the +Formula of Concord, and with it the entire Book of Concord, was, as +stated, solemnly subscribed by about 8,000 theologians, pastors, and +teachers, the pledge reading as follows: "Since now, in the sight of God +and of all Christendom, we wish to testify to those now living and those +who shall come after us that this declaration herewith presented +concerning all the controverted articles aforementioned and explained, +and no other, is our faith, doctrine, and confession in which we are +also willing, by God's grace to appear with intrepid hearts before the +judgment-seat of Jesus Christ, and give an account of it; and that we +will neither privately nor publicly speak or write anything contrary to +it, but, by the help of God's grace, intend to abide thereby: therefore, +after mature deliberation, we have, in God's fear and with the +invocation of His name, attached our signatures with our own hands." +(1103, 40.) + +Furthermore, in the Preface to the Book of Concord the princes and +estates declare that many churches and schools had received the Augsburg +Confession "as a symbol of the present time in regard to the chief +articles of faith, especially those involved in controversy with the +Romanists and various corruptions of the heavenly doctrine." (7.) They +solemnly protest that it never entered their minds "either to introduce, +furnish a cover for, and establish any false doctrine, or in the least +even to recede from the Confession presented in the year 1530 at +Augsburg." (15.) They declare: "This Confession also, by the help of +God, we will retain to our last breath when we shall go forth from this +life to the heavenly fatherland, to appear with joyful and undaunted +mind and with a pure conscience before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus +Christ." (15.) "Therefore we also have determined not to depart even a +finger's breadth either from the subjects themselves or from the phrases +which are found in them (_vel a rebus ipsis vel a phrasibus, quae in +illa habentur, discedere_), but, the Spirit of the Lord aiding us, to +persevere constantly, with the greatest harmony, in this godly +agreement, and we intend to examine all controversies according to this +true norm and declaration of the pure doctrine." (23.) + +7. Pledging of Ministers to the Confessions. + +Such being the attitude of the Lutherans towards their symbols, and such +their evaluation of pure doctrine, it was self-evident that the public +teachers of their churches should be pledged to the confessions. In +December 1529, H. Winckel, of Goettingen, drew up a form in which the +candidate for ordination declares: "I believe and hold also of the most +sacred Sacrament ... as one ought to believe concerning it according to +the contents of the Bible, and as Doctor Martin Luther writes and +confesses concerning it especially in his Confession" (of the Lord's +Supper, 1528). The Goettingen Church Order of 1530, however, did not as +yet embody a vow of ordination. The first pledges to the symbols were +demanded by the University of Wittenberg in 1533 from candidates for the +degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1535 this pledge was required also of +the candidates for ordination. The oath provided that the candidate must +faithfully teach the Gospel without corruption, steadfastly defend the +Ecumenical Symbols, remain in agreement with the Augsburg Confession, +and before deciding difficult controversies consult older teachers of +the Church of the Augsburg Confession. Even before 1549 the candidates +for philosophical degrees were also pledged by oath to the Augsburg +Confession. + +In 1535, at the Diet of Smalcald, it was agreed that new members +entering the Smalcald League should promise "to provide for such +teaching and preaching as was in harmony with the Word of God and the +pure teaching of our [Augsburg] Confession." According to the Pomeranian +Church Order which Bugenhagen drew up in 1535, pastors were pledged to +the Augsburg Confession and the Apology thereof. Capito, Bucer, and all +others who took part in the Wittenberg Concord of 1536, promised, over +their signatures, "to believe and to teach in all articles according to +the Confession and the Apology." (_Corpus Reformatorum,_ opp. +Melanthonis, 3, 76.) In 1540, at Goettingen, John Wigand promised to +accept the Augsburg Confession and its Apology, and to abide by them all +his life. "And," he continued, "if I should be found to do otherwise or +be convicted of teaching and confessing contrary to such Confession and +Apology, then let me, by this signature, be condemned and deposed from +this divine ministry. This do I swear, so help me God." Also at +Goettingen, Veit Pflugmacher vowed, in 1541, that he would preach the +Gospel in its truth and purity according to the Augsburg Confession and +the contents of the postils of Anton Corvinus. He added: "Should I be +found to do otherwise and not living up to what has been set forth +above, then shall I by such act have deposed myself from office. This do +I swear; so help me God." + +In 1550 and 1552, Andrew Osiander attacked the oath of confession which +was in vogue at Wittenberg, claiming it to be "an entanglement in +oath-bound duties after the manner of the Papists." "What else," said +he, "does this oath accomplish than to sever those who swear it from the +Holy Scriptures and bind them to Philip's doctrine? Parents may +therefore well consider what they do by sending their sons to Wittenberg +to become Masters and Doctors. Money is there taken from them, and they +are made Masters and Doctors. But while the parents think that their son +is an excellent man, well versed in the Scriptures and able to silence +enthusiasts and heretics, he is, in reality, a poor captive, entangled +and embarrassed by oath-bound duties. For he has abjured the Word of God +and has taken an oath on Philip's doctrine." Replying to this fanatical +charge in 1553, Melanchthon emphasized the fact that the doctrinal +pledges demanded at Wittenberg had been introduced chiefly by Luther, +for the purpose of "maintaining the true doctrine." "For," said +Melanchthon, "many enthusiasts were roaming about at that time, each, in +turn, spreading new silly nonsense, _e.g._, the Anabaptists, Servetus, +Campanus, Schwenckfeld, and others. And such tormenting spirits are not +lacking at any time (_Et non desunt tales furiae ullo tempore_)." A +doctrinal pledge, Melanchthon furthermore explained, was necessary "in +order correctly to acknowledge God and call upon Him to preserve harmony +in the Church, and to bridle the audacity of such as invent new +doctrines." (_C.R._ 12, 5.) + + +II. The Three Ecumenical or Universal Symbols. + +8. Ecumenical Symbols. + +The Ecumenical (general, universal) Symbols were embodied in the Book of +Concord primarily for apologetic reasons. Carpzov writes: "The sole +reason why our Church appealed to these symbols was to declare her +agreement with the ancient Church in so far as the faith of the latter +was laid down in these symbols, to refute also the calumniations and the +accusations of the opponents, and to evince the fact that she preaches +no new doctrine and in no wise deviates from the Church Catholic." +(_Isagoge,_ 37.) For like reasons Article I of the Augsburg Confession +declares its adherence to the Nicene Creed, and the first part of the +Smalcald Articles, to the Apostles' and Athanasian Creeds. The oath +introduced by Luther in 1535, and required of the candidates for the +degree of Doctor of Divinity, also contained a pledge on the Ecumenical +Symbols. In 1538 Luther published a tract entitled, "The Three Symbols +or Confessions of the Faith of Christ Unanimously Used in the Church," +containing the Apostles' Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Te Deum of +Ambrose and Augustine. To these was appended the Nicene Creed. + +In the opening sentences of this tract, Luther remarks: "Whereas I have +previously taught and written quite a bit concerning faith, showing both +what faith is and what faith does, and have also published my Confession +[1528], setting forth both what I believe and what position I intend to +maintain; and whereas the devil continues to seek new intrigues against +me, I have decided, by way of supererogation, to publish conjointly, in +the German tongue, the three so-called Symbols, or Confessions, which +have hitherto been received, read, and chanted throughout the Church. I +would thereby reaffirm the fact that I side with the true Christian +Church, which has adhered to these Symbols, or Confessions, to the +present day, and not with the false, vainglorious church, which in +reality is the worst enemy of the true Church, having introduced much +idolatry beside these beautiful confessions." (St. L. 10, 993; Erl. 23, +252.) Luther's translation of the Ecumenical Symbols, together with the +captions which appeared in his tract, were embodied in the Book of +Concord. The superscription, "Tria Symbola Catholica seu Oecumenica," +occurs for the first time in Selneccer's edition of the Book of Concord +of 1580. Before this, 1575, he had written: "Quot sunt Symbola fidei +Christianae in Ecclesia? Tria sunt praecipua quae nominantur oecumenica, +sive universalia et authentica, id est, habentia auctoritatem et non +indigentia demonstratione aut probatione, videlicet Symbolum +Apostolicum, Nicaenum et Athanasianum." (Schmauk, _Confessional +Principle,_ 834.) + +9. The Apostles' Creed. + +The foundation of the Apostles' Creed was, in a way, laid by Christ +Himself when He commissioned His disciples, saying, Matt. 28, 19. 20: +"Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe +all things whatsoever I have commanded you." The formula of Baptism here +prescribed, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy +Ghost," briefly indicates what Christ wants Christians to be taught, to +believe, and to confess. And the Apostles' Creed, both as to its form +and contents, is evidently but an amplification of the trinitarian +formula of Baptism. Theo. Zahn remarks: "It has been said, and not +without a good basis either, that Christ Himself has ordained the +baptismal confession. For the profession of the Triune God made by the +candidates for Baptism is indeed the echo of His missionary and +baptismal command reechoing through all lands and times in many thousand +voices." (_Skizzen aus dem Leben der Kirche,_ 252.) + +But when and by whom was the formula of Baptism thus amplified?--During +the Medieval Ages the Apostles' Creed was commonly known as "The Twelve +Articles," because it was generally believed that the twelve apostles, +assembled in joint session before they were separated, soon after +Pentecost drafted this Creed, each contributing a clause. But, though +retained in the Catechismus Romanus, this is a legend which originated +in Italy or Gaul in the sixth or seventh (according to Zahn, toward the +end of the fourth) century and was unknown before this date. Yet, though +it may seem more probable that the Apostles' Creed was the result of a +silent growth and very gradual formation corresponding to the +ever-changing environments and needs of the Christian congregations, +especially over against the heretics, there is no sufficient reason why +the apostles themselves should not have been instrumental in its +formulation, nor why, with the exception of a number of minor later +additions its original form should not have been essentially what it is +to-day. + +Nathanael confessed: "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King +of Israel," John 1, 49, the apostles confessed: "Thou art the Christ, +the Son of the living God," Matt. 16, 16; Peter confessed: "We believe +and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God," John +6, 69; Thomas confessed: "My Lord and my God," John 20, 28. These and +similar confessions of the truth concerning Himself were not merely +approved of, but solicited and demanded by, Christ. For He declares most +solemnly: "Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I +confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall +deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in +heaven," Matt. 10, 32. 33. The same duty of confessing their faith, +_i.e._, the truths concerning Christ, is enjoined upon all Christians by +the Apostle Paul when he writes: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth +the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him +from the dead, thou shalt be saved," Rom. 10, 9. + +In the light of these and similar passages, the trinitarian baptismal +formula prescribed by Christ evidently required from the candidate for +Baptism a definite statement of what he believed concerning the Father, +Son and Holy Ghost, especially concerning Jesus Christ the Savior. And +that such a confession of faith was in vogue even in the days of the +apostles appears from the Bible itself. Of Timothy it is said that he +had "professed a good profession before many witnesses," 1 Tim. 6, 12. +Heb. 4, 14 we read: "Let us hold fast our profession." Heb. 10, 23: "Let +us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering." Jude urges +the Christians that they "should earnestly contend for the faith which +was once delivered unto the saints," and build up themselves on their +"most holy faith," Jude 3. 20. Compare also 1 Cor. 15, 3. 4; 1 Tim. 3, +16; Titus 1, 13; 3, 4-7. + +10. Apostles' Creed and Early Christian Writers. + +The Christian writers of the first three centuries, furthermore, furnish +ample proof for the following facts: that from the very beginning of the +Christian Church the candidates for Baptism everywhere were required to +make a confession of their faith; that from the beginning there was +existing in all the Christian congregations a formulated confession +which they called the rule of faith, the rule of truth, etc.; that this +rule was identical with the confession required of the candidates for +Baptism; that it was declared to be of apostolic origin; that the +summaries and explanations of this rule of truth, given by these +writers, tally with the contents and in part, also with the phraseology +of the Apostles' Creed; that the scattered Christian congregations, then +still autonomous, regarded the adoption of this rule, of faith as the +only necessary condition of Christian unity and fellowship. + +The manner in which Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin, Aristides, and +other early Christian writers present the Christian truth frequently +reminds us of the Apostles' Creed and suggests its existence. Thus +Justin Martyr, who died 165, says in his first Apology, which was +written about 140: "Our teacher of these things is Jesus Christ, who +also was born for this purpose and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, +procurator of Judea, that we reasonably worship Him, having learned that +He is the Son of the true God Himself, and holding Him in the second +place, and the prophetic Spirit in the third." "Eternal praise to the +Father of all, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." +Similar strains, sounding like echoes of the Second Article, may be +found in the Epistles to the Trallians and to the Christians at Smyrna +written by Ignatius, the famous martyr and bishop of Antioch, who died +107. + +Irenaeus, who died 189, remarks: Every Christian "who retains immovable +in himself the rule of the truth which he received through Baptism (_ho +ton kanona tes altheias akline en eauto katechon, hon dia tou +baptismatos eilephe_)" is able to see through the deceit of all +heresies. Irenaeus here identifies the baptismal confession with what he +calls the "rule of truth, _kanon tes eiltheias_" _i.e._, the truth which +is the rule for everything claiming to be Christian. Apparently, this +"rule of truth" was the sum of doctrines which every Christian received +and confessed at his baptism. The very phrase "rule of truth" implies +that it was a concise and definite formulation of the chief Christian +truths. For "canon, rule," was the term employed by the ancient Church +to designate such brief sentences as were adopted by synods for the +practise of the Church. And this "rule of truth" is declared by Irenaeus +to be "the old tradition," "the old tradition of the apostles": he te +apo ton apostolon en te ekklesia paradosis. (Zahn, _l.c._, 379f.) +Irenaeus was the pupil of Polycarp the Martyr; and what he had learned +from him, Polycarp had received from the Apostle John. Polycarp, says +Irenaeus, "taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and +which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true." According +to Irenaeus, then, the "rule of truth" received and confessed by every +Christian at his baptism was transmitted by the apostles. The contents +of this rule of truth received from the apostles are repeatedly set +forth by Irenaeus. In his _Contra Haereses_ (I, 10, 1) one of these +summaries reads as follows: "The Church dispersed through the whole +world, to the ends of the earth has received from the apostles and their +disciples the faith in one God, the Father Almighty, who has made heaven +and earth and the sea and all things that are in them, and in one Jesus +Christ, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in +the Holy Spirit, who has proclaimed through the prophets the +dispensations, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the +passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the bodily assumption +into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus our Lord, and His manifestation +from heaven in the glory of the Father." It thus appears that the "rule +of truth" as Irenaeus knew it, the formulated sum of doctrines mediated +by Baptism, which he, in accordance with the testimony of his teacher +Polycarp, believed to have been received from the apostles, at least +approaches our present Apostolic Creed. + +11. Tertullian and Cyprian on Apostles' Creed. + +A similar result is obtained from the writings of Tertullian, Cyprian, +Novatian, Origen and others. "When we step into the water of Baptism," +says Tertullian, who died about 220, "we confess the Christian faith +according to the words of its law," _i.e._, according to the law of +faith or the rule of faith. Tertullian, therefore, identifies the +confession to which the candidates for Baptism were pledged with the +brief formulation of the chief Christian doctrines which he variously +designates as "the law of faith," "the rule of faith," frequently also +as _tessara,_ watchword and _sacramentum,_ a term then signifying the +military oath of allegiance. This Law or Rule of Faith was, according to +Tertullian, the confession adopted by Christians everywhere, which +distinguished them from unbelievers and heretics. The unity of the +congregations, the granting of the greeting of peace, of the name +brother, and of mutual hospitality,--these and similar Christian rights +and privileges, says Tertullian, "depend on no other condition than the +similar tradition of the same oath of allegiance," _i.e._, the adoption +of the same baptismal rule of faith. (Zahn, 250.) + +At the same time Tertullian most emphatically claims, "that this rule of +faith was established by the apostles, aye, by Christ Himself," inasmuch +as He had commanded to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Zahn, 252.) In his book _Adversus +Praxeam,_ Tertullian concludes an epitome which he gives of "the rule of +faith" as follows: "That this rule has come down from the beginning of +the Gospel, even before the earlier heretics, and so, of course before +the Praxeas of yesterday, is proved both by the lateness of all heretics +and by the novelty of this Praxeas of yesterday." (Schaff, _Creeds of +Christendom,_ 2, 18.) The following form is taken from Tertullian's _De +Virginibus Velandis:_ "For the rule of faith is altogether one, alone +(_sola_), immovable, and irreformable, namely, believing in one God +omnipotent the Maker of the world, and in His Son Jesus Christ, born of +the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, raised from the dead +the third day, received into the heavens, sitting now at the right hand +of the Father who shall come to judge the living and the dead, also +through the resurrection of the flesh." Cyprian the Martyr, bishop of +Carthage, who died 257, and who was the first one to apply the term +_symbolum_ to the baptismal creed, in his Epistle to Magnus and to +Januarius, as well as to other Numidian bishops, gives the following as +the answer of the candidate for Baptism to the question, "Do you +believe?": "I believe in God the Father, in His Son Christ, in the Holy +Spirit. I believe the remission of sins, and the life eternal through +the holy Church." + +12. Variations of the Apostles' Creed. + +While there can be no reasonable doubt either that the Christian +churches from the very beginning were in possession of a definite and +formulated symbol, or that this symbol was an amplification of the +trinitarian formula of Baptism, yet we are unable to ascertain with any +degree of certainty what its exact original wording was. There has not +been found in the early Christian writers a single passage recording the +precise form of the baptismal confession or the rule of truth and faith +as used in the earliest churches. This lack of contemporal written +records is accounted for by the fact that the early Christians and +Christian churches refused on principle to impart and transmit their +confession in any other manner than by word of mouth. Such was their +attitude, not because they believed in keeping their creed secret, but +because they viewed the exclusively oral method of impartation as the +most appropriate in a matter which they regarded as an affair of deepest +concern of their hearts. + +It is universally admitted, even by those who believe that the apostles +were instrumental in formulating the early Christian Creed, that the +wording of it was not absolutely identical in all Christian +congregations, and that in the course of time various changes and +additions were made. "Tradition," says Tertullian with respect to the +baptismal confession, received from the apostles, "has enlarged it, +custom has confirmed it, faith observes and preserves it." (Zahn, 252. +381.) When, therefore, Tertullian and other ancient writers declare that +the rule of faith received from the apostles is "altogether one, +immovable, and irreformable," they do not at all mean to say that the +phraseology of this symbol was alike everywhere, and that in this +respect no changes whatever had been made, nor that any clauses had been +added. Such variations, additions, and alterations, however, involved a +doctrinal change of the confession no more than the Apology of the +Augsburg Confession implies a doctrinal departure from this symbol. It +remained the same Apostolic Creed, the changes and additions merely +bringing out more fully and clearly its true, original meaning. And this +is the sense in which Tertullian and others emphasize that the rule of +faith is "one, immovable, and irreformable." + +The oldest known form of the Apostles' Creed, according to A. Harnack, +is the one used in the church at Rome, even prior to 150 A.D. It was, +however, as late as 337 or 338, when this Creed, which, as the church at +Rome claimed, was brought thither by Peter himself, was for the first +time quoted as a whole by Bishop Marcellus of Ancyra in a letter to +Bishop Julius of Rome, for the purpose of vindicating his orthodoxy. +During the long period intervening, some changes, however, may have +been, and probably were, made also in this Old Roman Symbol, which reads +as follows:-- + +_Pisteuo eis theon patera pantokratora; kai eis Christon Iesoun [ton] +huion autou ton monogene, ton kupion hemon, ton gennethenta ek +pneumatos hagiou kai Marias tes parthenou, ton epi Pontiou Pilatou +staurothenta kai taphenta, te trite hemera anastanta ek [ton] nekron, +anabanta eis tous ouranous, kathemenon en dexia tou patros, hothen +erchetai krinai zontas kai nekrous; kai eis pneuma hagion, hagian +ekklesian aphesin hamartion, sapkos anastasin._ (Herzog, _R. E._ 1, +744.) + +13. Present Form of Creed and Its Contents. + +The complete form of the present _textus receptus_ of the Apostles' +Creed, evidently the result of a comparison and combination of the +various preexisting forms of this symbol, may be traced to the end of +the fifth century and is first found in a sermon by Caesarius of Arles +in France, about 500.--In his translation, Luther substituted +"Christian" for "catholic" in the Third Article. He regarded the two +expressions as equivalent in substance, as appears from the Smalcald +Articles, where he identifies these terms, saying: "Sic enim orant +pueri: Credo sanctam ecclesiam catholicam sive Christianam." (472, 5; +498, 3.) The form, "I believe a holy Christian Church," however, is met +with even before Luther's time. (Carpzov, _Isagoge,_ 46.)--In the Greek +version the received form of the Apostles' Creed reads as follows:-- + +_Pisteuo eis theon patera, pantokratora, poieten ouranou kai ges. Kai +eis Iesoun Christon, huion autou ton monogene, ton kurion hemon, ton +sullephthenta ek pneumatos hagiou, gennethenta ek Marias tes parthenou, +pathonta epi Pontiou Pilatou, staurothenta, thanonta, kai taphenta, +anastanta apo ton nekron, anelthonta eis tous ouranous, kathezomenon en +dexia theou patros pantodunamou, ekeithen erchomenon krinai zontas kai +nekrous. Pisteuo eis to pneuma to hagion, hagian ekklesian, hagion +koinonian, aphesin hamartion sarkos anastasin, zoen aionion, Amen._ + +As to its contents, the Apostles' Creed is a positive statement of the +essential facts of Christianity. The Second Article, says Zahn, is "a +compend of the Evangelical history, including even external details." +(264.) Yet some of the clauses of this Creed were probably inserted in +opposition to prevailing, notably Gnostic, heresies of the first +centuries. It was the first Christian symbol and, as Tertullian and +others declare, the bond of unity and fellowship of the early Christian +congregations everywhere. It must not, however, be regarded as inspired, +much less as superior even to the Holy Scriptures; for, as stated above, +it cannot even, in any of its existing forms, be traced to the apostles. +Hence it must be subjected to, and tested and judged by, the Holy +Scriptures, the inspired Word of God and the only infallible rule and +norm of all doctrines, teachers, and symbols. In accordance herewith the +Lutheran Church receives the Apostles' Creed, as also the two other +ecumenical confessions, not as _per se_ divine and authoritative, but +because its doctrine is taken from, and well grounded in, the prophetic +and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments. (CONC. TRIGL. 851, +4.) + +14. The Nicene Creed. + +In the year 325 Emperor Constantine the Great convened the First +Ecumenical Council at Nicaea, in Bithynia, for the purpose of settling +the controversy precipitated by the teaching of Arius, who denied the +true divinity of Christ. The council was attended by 318 bishops and +their assistants, among whom the young deacon Athanasius of Alexandria +gained special prominence as a theologian of great eloquence, acumen, +and learning. "The most valiant champion against the Arians," as he was +called, Athanasius turned the tide of victory in favor of the +Homoousians, who believed that the essence of the Father and of the Son +is identical. The discussions were based upon the symbol of Eusebius of +Caesarea, which by changes and the insertion of Homoousian phrases (such +as _ek tes ousias tou patrous; gennetheis, ou poietheis; homoousios to +patri_) was amended into an unequivocal clean-cut, anti-Arian +confession. Two Egyptian bishops who refused to sign the symbol were +banished, together with Arius, to Illyria. The text of the original +Nicene Creed reads as follows:-- + +_Pisteuomen eis hena theon, patera pantokratora, panton oraton te kai +aoraton poieten. Kai eis hena kurion Iesoun Christon, ton huion tou +theou, gennethenta ek tou patros monogene, toutestin ek tes ousias tou +patros, theon ek theou, phos ek photos, theon alethinon ek theou +alethinou, gennethenta, ou poiethenta, homoousion to patri, di' ou ta +panta egeneto, ta te en to ourano kaita epi tes ges; ton di' hemas tous +anthropous kai dia ten hemeteran soterian katelthonta kai sarkothenta +kai enanthropesanta, pathonta, kai anastanta te trite hemera, kai +anelthonta eis tous ouranous, kai erchomenon palin krinai zontas kai +nekrous. Kai eis to pneuma to hagion. Tous de legontas, hoti pote hote +ouk en, kai hoti ex ouk onton egeneto, en ex heteras hupostaseos e +ousias phaskontas einai, e ktiston, e alloioton, e trepton ton huion +tou theou, toutous anathematizei he katholike kai apostolike ekklesia._ +(Mansi, _Amplissima Collectio,_ 2, 665 sq.) + +15. Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. + +In order to suppress Arianism, which still continued to flourish, +Emperor Theodosius convened the Second Ecumenical Council, in 381 at +Constantinople. The bishops here assembled, 150 in number, resolved that +the faith of the Nicene Fathers must ever remain firm and unchanged, and +that its opponents, the Eunomians, Anomoeans, Arians, Eudoxians, +Semi-Arians, Sabellians, Marcellians, Photinians, and Apollinarians, +must be rejected. At this council also Macedonius was condemned, who +taught that the Holy Spirit is not God: _elege gar auto me einai theon, +alla tes theontos tou patros allotrion._ (Mansi, 3, 568. 566. 573. 577. +600.) By omissions, alterations, and additions (in particular concerning +the Holy Spirit) this council gave to the Nicene Creed its present form. +Hence it is also known as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. The Third +Ecumenical Council, which assembled at Toledo, Spain, in 589, inserted +the word "Filioque," an addition which the Greek Church has never +sanctioned, and which later contributed towards bringing about the great +Eastern Schism. A. Harnack considers the Constantinopolitanum (CPanum), +the creed adopted at Constantinople, to be the baptismal confession of +the Church of Jerusalem, which, he says, was revised between 362 and 373 +and amplified by the Nicene formulas and a rule of faith concerning the +Holy Ghost. (Herzog, _R. E._, 11, 19f.) Following is the text of the +CPanum according to Mansi: + +_Pisteuomen eis hena theon patera, pantokratora, poieten ouranou kai ges, +oratwn te pantwn kai aoratwn. Kai eis hena kurion Iesoun Christon ton +huion tou theou ton monogene, ton ek tou patros gennethenta pro panton +ton aionon, phos ek photos, theon alethinon ek theou alethinou, +gennethevta, ou poiethenta, homoousion to patri, di' ou ta panta +egeneto, ton di' hemas tous anthropous kai dia ten hemeteran soterian +katelthovnta ek tov ouranon, kai sarkothenta ek pneumatos hagiou kai +Marias tes parthenou, kai enanthropesanta, staurothenta te huper hemon +epi Pontiou Pilatou, kai pathonta, kai taphenta, kai anastanta te trite +hemera kata tas gpaphas, kai anelthonta eis tous ouranous, kai +kathezomenon ek dexion tou patros, kai palin erchomenon meta doxes +krinai zontas kai nekrous; ou tes basileias ouk estai telos. Kai eis +pneuma to hagion, to kurion, to zoopoion, to ek tou patros +ekporeuomenon, to sun patri kai huio sumproskunoumenon kai +sundoxazovmenon, to lalesan dia ton propheton, eis mian hagian +katholiken kai apostoliken ekklesian. Homologoumen hen baptisma eis +aphesin hamartion; prosdokomen anastasin nekron, kai zwen tou mellontos +aionos. Amen._ (3, 565.) + +16. The Athanasian Creed. + +From its opening word this Creed is also called Symbolum Quicunque. +Roman tradition has it that Athanasius, who died 373, made this +confession before Pope Julius when the latter summoned him "to submit +himself to him [the Pope], as to the ecumenical bishop and Supreme +arbiter of matters ecclesiastical (_ut ei, seu episcopo oecumica et +supremo rerum ecclesiasticarum arbitro, sese submitteret_)." However, +Athanasius is not even the author of this confession, as appears from +the following facts: 1. The Creed was originally written in Latin. 2. +It is mentioned neither by Athanasius himself nor by his Greek +eulogists. 3. It was unknown to the Greek Church till about 1200, and +has never been accorded official recognition by this Church nor its +"orthodox" sister churches. 4. It presupposes the post-Athanasian +Trinitarian and Christological controversies.--Up to the present day it +has been impossible to reach a final verdict concerning the author of +the Quicunque and the time and place of its origin. Koellner's +_Symbolik_ allocates it to Gaul. Loofs inclines to the same opinion and +ventures the conjecture that the source of this symbol must be sought in +Southern Gaul between 450 and 600. (Herzog, _R. E._, 2, 177.) Gieseler +and others look to Spain for its origin. + +Paragraphs 1, 2, and 40 of the Athanasian Creed have given offense not +only to theologians who advocate an undogmatic Christianity, but to many +thoughtless Christians as well. Loofs declares: The Quicunque is +unevangelical and cannot be received because its very first sentence +confounds _fides_ with _expositio fidei._ (H., _R. E._, 2, 194.) +However, the charge is gratuitous, since the Athanasian Creed deals with +the most fundamental Christian truths: concerning the Trinity, the +divinity of Christ, and His work of redemption, without the knowledge of +which saving faith is impossible. The paragraphs in question merely +express the clear doctrine of such passages of the Scriptures as Acts 4, +12: "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other +name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved;" John 8, 21: +"If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins"; John 14, 6: +"Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man +cometh unto the Father but by Me." In complete agreement with the +impugned statements of the Athanasian Creed, the Apology of the Augsburg +Confession closes its article "Of God" as follows: "Therefore we do +freely conclude that they are all idolatrous, blasphemers, and outside +of the Church of Christ who hold or teach otherwise." (103) + +In the early part of the Middle Ages the Quicunque had already received +a place in the order of public worship. The Council of Vavre resolved, +1368: "Proinde Symbolum Apostolorum silenter et secrete dicitur quotidie +in Completorio et in Prima, quia fuit editum tempore, quo nondum erat +fides catholica propalata. Alia autem duo publice in diebus Dominicis et +festivis, quando maior ad ecclesiam congregatur populus, decantantur, +quia fuere edita tempore fidei propalatae. Symbolum quidem Nicaenum post +evangelium cantatur in Missa quasi evangelicae fidei expositio. Symbolum +Athanasii de mane solum cantatur in Prima, quia fuit editum tempore quo +maxime fuerunt depulsa et detecta nox atra et tenebrae haeresium et +errorum." (Mansi, 26, 487.) Luther says: "The first symbol, that of the +apostles, is indeed the best of all, because it contains a concise, +correct and splendid presentation of the articles of faith and is easily +learned by children and the common people. The second, the Athanasian +Creed, is longer ... and practically amounts to an apology of the first +symbol." "I do not know of any more important document of the New +Testament Church since the days of the apostles" [than the Athanasian +Creed]. (St. L. 10, 994; 6, 1576; E. 23, 253.) + +17. Luther on Ecumenical Creeds. + +The central theme of the Three Ecumenical Symbols is Christ's person and +work, the paramount importance of which Luther extols as follows in his +tract of 1538: "In all the histories of the entire Christendom I have +found and experienced that all who had and held the chief article +concerning Jesus Christ correctly remained safe and sound in the true +Christian faith. And even though they erred and sinned in other points, +they nevertheless were finally preserved." "For it has been decreed, +says Paul, Col. 2, 9, that in Christ should dwell all the fulness of the +Godhead bodily, or personally, so that he who does not find or receive +God in Christ shall never have nor find Him anywhere outside of Christ, +even though he ascend above heaven, descend below hell, or go beyond the +world." "On the other hand, I have also observed that all errors, +heresies, idolatries, offenses, abuses, and ungodliness within the +Church originally resulted from the fact that this article of faith +concerning Jesus Christ was despised or lost. And viewed clearly and +rightly, all heresies militate against the precious article of Jesus +Christ, as Simeon says concerning Him, Luke 2, 34, that He is set for +the falling and the rising of many in Israel and for a sign which is +spoken against; and long before this, Isaiah, chapter 8, 14, spoke of +Him as 'a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.'" "And we in the +Papacy, the last and greatest of saints, what have we done? We have +confessed that He [Christ] is God and man; but that He is our Savior, +who died and rose for us, etc., this we have denied and persecuted with +might and main" (those who taught this). "And even now those who claim +to be the best Christians and boast that they are the Holy Church, who +burn the others and wade in innocent blood, regard as the best doctrine +[that which teaches] that we obtain grace and salvation through our own +works. Christ is to be accorded no other honor with regard to our +salvation than that He made the beginning, while we are the heroes who +complete it with our merit." + +Luther continues: "This is the way the devil goes to work. He attacks +Christ with three storm-columns. One will not suffer Him to be God; the +other will not suffer Him to be man, the third denies that He has +merited salvation for us. Each of the three endeavors to destroy Christ. +For what does it avail that you confess Him to be God if you do not also +believe that He is man? For then you have not the entire and the true +Christ, but a phantom of the devil. What does it avail you to confess +that He is true man if you do not also believe that He is true God? What +does it avail you to confess that He is God and man if you do not also +believe that whatever He became and whatever He did was done for you?" +"Surely, all three parts must be believed, namely, that He is God, also, +that He is man, and that He became such a man for us, that is, as the +first symbol says: conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary, +suffered, was crucified, died, and rose again, etc. If one small part is +lacking, then all parts are lacking. For faith shall and must be +complete in every particular. While it may indeed be weak and subject to +afflictions, yet it must be entire and not false. Weakness [of faith] +does not work the harm but false faith--that is eternal death." (St. L. +10, 998; E. 23, 258.) + +Concerning the mystery involved in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the +chief topic of the Ecumenical Creeds, Luther remarks in the same tract: +"Now, to be sure, we Christians are not so utterly devoid of all reason +and sense as the Jews consider us, who take us to be nothing but crazy +geese and ducks, unable to perceive or notice what folly it is to +believe that God is man, and that in one Godhead there are three +distinct persons. No, praise God, we perceive indeed that this doctrine +cannot and will not be received by reason. Nor are we in need of any +sublime Jewish reasoning to demonstrate this to us. We believe it +knowingly and willingly. We confess and also experience that, where the +Holy Spirit does not, surpassing reason, shine into the heart, it is +impossible to grasp, or to believe, and abide by, such article; +moreover, there must remain in it [the heart] a Jewish, proud, and +supercilious reason deriding and ridiculing such article, and thus +setting up itself as judge and master of the Divine Being whom it has +never seen nor is able to see and hence does not know what it is passing +judgment on, nor whereof it thinks or speaks. For God dwells in a 'light +which no man can approach unto,' 1 Tim. 6, 16. He must come to us, yet +hidden in the lantern, and as it is written, John 1, 18: 'No man hath +seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of +the Father, He hath declared Him,' and as Moses said before this, Ex. +33: 'There shall no man see Me [God] and live.'" (St. L. 10, 1007; E. +23, 568.) + + +III. The Augsburg Confession. + +18. Diet Proclaimed by Emperor. + +January 21, 1530, Emperor Charles V proclaimed a diet to convene at +Augsburg on the 8th of April. The manifesto proceeded from Bologna, +where, three days later, the Emperor was crowned by Pope Clement VII. +The proclamation, after referring to the Turkish invasion and the action +to be taken with reference to this great peril, continues as follows: +"The diet is to consider furthermore what might and ought to be done and +resolved upon regarding the division and separation in the holy faith +and the Christian religion; and that this may proceed the better and +more salubriously, [the Emperor urged] to allay divisions, to cease +hostility, to surrender past errors to our Savior, and to display +diligence in hearing, understanding, and considering with love and +kindness the opinions and views of everybody, in order to reduce them to +one single Christian truth and agreement, to put aside whatever has not +been properly explained or done by either party, so that we all may +adopt and hold one single and true religion; and may all live in one +communion, church, and unity, even as we all live and do battle under +one Christ." + +In his invitation to attend the diet, the Emperor at the same time +urged the Elector of Saxony by all means to appear early enough (the +Elector reached Augsburg on May 2 while the Emperor did not arrive +before June 16), "lest the others who arrived in time be compelled to +wait with disgust, heavy expenses and detrimental delay such as had +frequently occurred in the past." The Emperor added the warning: In case +the Elector should not appear, the diet would proceed as if he had been +present and assented to its resolutions. (Foerstemann, _Urkundenbuch,_ 1, +7 f.) + +March 11 the proclamation reached Elector John at Torgau. On the 14th +Chancellor Brueck advised the Elector to have "the opinion on which our +party has hitherto stood and to which they have adhered," in the +controverted points, "properly drawn up in writing, with a thorough +confirmation thereof from the divine Scriptures." On the same day the +Elector commissioned Luther, Jonas, Bugenhagen, and Melanchthon to +prepare a document treating especially of "those articles on account of +which said division, both in faith and in other outward church customs +and ceremonies, continues." (43.) At Wittenberg the theologians at once +set to work, and the result was presented at Torgau March 27 by +Melanchthon. On April 4 the Elector and his theologians set out from +Torgau, arriving at Coburg on the 15th, where they rested for eight +days. On the 23d of April the Elector left for Augsburg, while Luther, +who was still under the ban of both the Pope and the Emperor, remained +at the fortress Ebernburg. Nevertheless he continued in close touch with +the confessors, as appears from his numerous letters written to +Augsburg, seventy all told about twenty of which were addressed to +Melanchthon. + +19. Apology Original Plan of Lutherans. + +The documents which the Wittenberg theologians delivered at Torgau +treated the following subjects: Human Doctrines and Ordinances, Marriage +of Priests, Both Kinds, Mass, Confession, Power of Bishops, Ordination, +Monastic Vows, Invocation of the Saints, German Singing, Faith and +Works, Office of the Keys (Papacy), Ban, Marriage, and Private Mass. +Accordingly, the original intention of the Lutherans was not to enter +upon, and present for discussion at Augsburg, such doctrines as were not +in controversy (Of God, etc.), but merely to treat of the abuses and +immediately related doctrines, especially of Faith and Good Works. (66 +ff.) They evidently regarded it as their chief object and duty to +justify before the Emperor and the estates both Luther and his +protectors, the electors of Saxony. This is borne out also by the +original Introduction to the contemplated Apology, concerning which we +read in the prefatory remarks to the so-called Torgau Articles mentioned +above: "To this end [of justifying the Elector's peaceable frame of +mind] it will be advantageous to begin [the projected Apology] with a +lengthy rhetorical introduction." (68; _C. R._, 26, 171.) This +introduction, later on replaced by another, was composed by Melanchthon +at Coburg and polished by him during the first days at Augsburg. May 4 +he remarks in a letter to Luther: "I have shaped the Exordium of our +Apology somewhat more rhetorical (_hretorikoteron_) than I had written +it at Coburg." (_C. R._, 2, 40; Luther, St. L. 16, 652.) In this +introduction Melanchthon explains: Next to God the Elector builds his +hope on the Emperor, who had always striven for peace, and was even now +prepared to adjust the religious controversy in mildness. As to the +Elector and his brother Frederick, they had ever been attached to the +Christian religion, had proved faithful to the Emperor, and had +constantly cultivated peace. Their present position was due to the fact +that commandments of men had been preached instead of faith in Christ. +Not Luther, but Luther's opponents, had begun the strife. It was for +conscience' sake that the Elector had not proceeded against Luther. +Besides, such action would only have made matters worse, since Luther +had resisted the Sacramentarians and the Anabaptists. Equally unfounded +were also the accusations that the Evangelicals had abolished all order +as well as all ceremonies, and had undermined the authority of the +bishops. If only the bishops would tolerate the Gospel and do away with +the gross abuses, they would suffer no loss of power, honor, and +prestige. In concluding Melanchthon emphatically protests: "Never has a +reformation been undertaken so utterly without any violence as this [in +Saxony]; for it is a public fact that our men have prevailed with such +as were already in arms to make peace." (Kolde, _l.c._, 13.) The +document, accordingly, as originally planned for presentation at +Augsburg, was to be a defense of Luther and his Elector. In keeping +herewith it was in the beginning consistently designated "Apology." + +20. Transformation of Apology into Confession Due to Eck's Slanders. + +This plan, however, was modified when the Lutherans, after reaching +Augsburg, heard of and read the 404 Propositions published by Dr. John +Eck, in which Luther was classified with Zwingli, Oecolampadius, +Carlstadt, Pirkheimer, Hubmaier, and Denk, and was charged with every +conceivable heresy. In a letter of March 14, accompanying the copy of +his Propositions which Eck sent to the Emperor, he refers to Luther as +the domestic enemy of the Church (_hostis ecclesiae domesticus_), who +has fallen into every Scylla and Charybdis of iniquity; who speaks of +the Pope as the Antichrist and of the Church as the harlot; who has +praise for none but heretics and schismatics; whom the Church has to +thank for the Iconoclasts, Sacramentarians, New Hussites, Anabaptists, +New Epicureans, who teach that the soul is mortal, and the Cerinthians; +who rehashes all the old heresies condemned more than a thousand years +ago, etc. (Plitt, _Einleitung in die Augustana,_ 1, 527 ff.) Such and +similar slanders had been disseminated by the Papists before this, and +they continued to do so even after the Lutherans, at Augsburg, had made +a public confession of their faith and had most emphatically disavowed +all ancient and modern heresies. Thus Cochlaeus asserted in his attack +on the Apology, published 1534, that Lutheranism was a concoction of all +the old condemned heresies, that Luther taught fifteen errors against +the article of God, and Melanchthon nine against the Nicene Creed, etc. +Luther, he declared, had attacked the doctrine of the Trinity in a +coarser fashion than Arius. (Salig, _Historie d. Augsb. Konf.,_ 1, 377.) + +These calumniations caused the Lutherans to remodel and expand the +defense originally planned into a document which should not merely +justify the changes made by them with regard to customs and ceremonies, +but also present as fully as possible the doctrinal articles which they +held over against ancient and modern heresies, falsely imputed to them. +Thus to some extent it is due to the scurrility of Eck that the +contemplated Apology was transformed into an all-embracing Confession, a +term employed by Melanchthon himself. In a letter to Luther, dated May +11, 1530, he wrote: "Our Apology is being sent to you--though it is +rather a Confession. _Mittitur tibi apologia nostra, quamquam verius +confessio est._ I included [in the Confession] almost all articles of +faith, because Eck published most diabolical lies against us, _quia +Eckius edidit diabolikontatas diabolas contra nos._ Against these it was +my purpose to provide an antidote." (_C. R._ 2, 45; Luther, St. L. 16, +654.) + +This is in accord also with Melanchthon's account in his Preface of +September 29, 1559 to the German _Corpus Doctrinae_ (Philippicum), +stating: "Some papal scribblers had disseminated pasquinades at the diet +[at Augsburg, 1530], which reviled our churches with horrible lies, +charging that they taught many condemned errors, and were like the +Anabaptists, erring and rebellious. Answer had to be made to His +Imperial Majesty, and in order to refute the pasquinades, it was decided +to include all articles of Christian doctrine in proper succession, that +every one might see how unjustly our churches were slandered in the +lying papal writings. ... Finally, this Confession was, as God directed +and guided, drawn up by me in the manner indicated, and the venerable +Doctor Martin Luther was pleased with it." (_C. R._ 9, 929.) + +The original plan, however, was not entirely abandoned, but merely +extended by adding a defense also against the various heresies with +which the Lutherans were publicly charged. This was done in an objective +presentation of the principal doctrines held by the Lutherans, for which +the Marburg and Schwabach Articles served as models and guides. + +21. Marburg, Schwabach, and Torgau Articles. + +The material from which Melanchthon constructed the Augsburg Confession +is, in the last analysis, none other than the Reformation truths which +Luther had proclaimed since 1517 with ever-increasing clarity and force. +In particular, he was guided by, and based his labor on, the Marburg +Articles, the Schwabach Articles, and the so-called Torgau Articles. The +Marburg Articles, fifteen in number, had been drawn up by Luther, in +1529, at the Colloquy of Marburg, whence he departed October 6, about +six months before the Diet at Augsburg. (Luther, St. L., 17, 1138 f.) +The seventeen Schwabach Articles were composed by Luther, Melanchthon, +Jonas, Brenz and Agricola, and presented to the Convention at Smalcald +about the middle of October, 1529. According to recent researches the +Schwabach Articles antedated the Marburg Articles and formed the basis +for them. (Luther, Weimar Ed., 30, 3, 97, 107.) In 1530 Luther published +these Articles, remarking: "It is true that I helped to draw up such +articles; for they were not composed by me alone." This public statement +discredits the opinion of v. Schubert published in 1908 according to +which Melanchthon is the sole author of the Schwabach Articles, Luther's +contribution and participation being negligible. The Schwabach Articles +constitute the seventeen basic articles of the first part of the +Augsburg Confession. (St. L. 16, 638. 648. 564; _C. R._ 26, 146 f.) + +The so-called Torgau Articles are the documents referred to above, +touching chiefly upon the abuses. Pursuant to the order of the Elector, +they were prepared by Luther and his assistants, Melanchthon, +Bugenhagen, and possibly also Jonas. They are called Torgau Articles +because the order for drafting them came from Torgau (March 14), and +because they were presented to the Elector at Torgau. (Foerstemann, 1, +66; _C. R._ 26, 171; St. L. 16, 638.) With reference to these articles +Luther wrote (March 14) to Jonas, who was then still conducting the +visitation: "The Prince has written to us, that is, to you, Pomeranus, +Philip, and myself, in a letter addressed to us in common, that we +should come together set aside all other business, and finish before +next Sunday whatever is necessary for the next diet on April 8. For +Emperor Charles himself will be present at Augsburg to settle all things +in a friendly way, as he writes in his bull. Therefore, although you are +absent, we three shall do what we can today and tomorrow; still, in +order to comply with the will of the Prince, it will be incumbent upon +you to turn your work over to your companions and be present with us +here on the morrow. For things are in a hurry. _Festinata enim sunt +omnia._" (St. L. 16, 638.) + +Melanchthon also wrote to Jonas on the 15th of March: "Luther is +summoning you by order of the Prince; you will therefore come as soon as +it is at all possible. The Diet, according to the proclamation, will +convene at Augsburg. And the Emperor graciously promises that he will +investigate the matter, and correct the errors on both sides. May Christ +stand by us!" (_C. R._ 2, 28; Foerstemann, 1, 45.) It was to these +articles (Torgau Articles) that the Elector referred when he wrote to +Luther from Augsburg on the 11th of May: "After you and others of our +learned men at Wittenberg, at our gracious desire and demand, have +drafted the articles which are in religious controversy, we do not wish +to conceal from you that Master Philip Melanchthon has now at this place +perused them further and drawn them up in one form." (_C. R._ 2, 47.) + +22. Luther's Spokesman at Augsburg. + +The material, therefore, out of which Melanchthon, who in 1530 was still +in full accord with Luther doctrinally, framed the fundamental symbol of +the Lutheran Church were the thoughts and, in a large measure, the very +words of Luther. Melanchthon gave to the Augsburg Confession its form +and its irenic note, its entire doctrinal content, however must be +conceded to be "_iuxta sententiam Lutheri,_ according to the teaching of +Luther," as Melanchthon himself declared particularly with respect to +the article of the Lord's Supper. (_C. R._ 2, 142.) On the 27th of June, +two days after the presentation of the Confession, Melanchthon wrote to +Luther: "We have hitherto followed your authority, _tuam secuti hactenus +auctoritatem,_" and now, says Melanchthon, Luther should also let him +know how much could be yielded to the opponents. (2, 146.) Accordingly, +in the opinion of Melanchthon, Luther, though absent, was the head of +the Evangelicals also at Augsburg. + +In his answer Luther does not deny this, but only demands of Melanchthon +to consider the cause of the Gospel as his own. "For," says he, "it is +indeed my affair, and, to tell the truth, my affair more so than that of +all of you." Yet they should not speak of "authority." "In this matter," +he continues, "I will not be or be called your author [authority]; and +though this might be correctly explained, I do not want this word. If it +is not your affair at the same time and in the same measure, I do not +desire that it be called mine and be imposed upon you. If it is mine +alone, I shall direct it myself." (St. L. 16, 906. 903. Enders, _Luthers +Briefwechsel,_ 8, 43.) + +Luther, then, was the prime mover also at Augsburg. Without him there +would have been no Evangelical cause, no Diet of Augsburg, no +Evangelical confessors, no Augsburg Confession. And this is what Luther +really meant when he said: "_Confessio Augustana mea;_ the Augsburg +Confession is mine." (Walch 22, 1532.) He did not in the least thereby +intend to deprive Melanchthon of any credit properly due him with +reference to the Confession. Moreover, in a letter written to Nicolaus +Hausmann on July 6, 1530, Luther refers to the Augustana as "our +confession, which our Philip prepared; _quam Philippus noster paravit._" +(St. L. 16, 882; Enders 8, 80.) As a matter of fact, however, the day of +Augsburg, even as the day of Worms, was the day of Luther and of the +Evangelical truth once more restored to light by Luther. At Augsburg, +too, Melanchthon was not the real author and moving spirit, but the +instrument and mouthpiece of Luther, out of whose spirit the doctrine +there confessed had proceeded. (See Formula of Concord 983, 32--34.) + +Only blindness born of false religious interests (indifferentism, +unionism, etc.) can speak of Melanchthon's theological independence at +Augsburg or of any doctrinal disagreement between the Augsburg +Confession and the teaching of Luther. That, at the Diet, he was led, +and wished to be led, by Luther is admitted by Melanchthon himself. In +the letter of June 27, referred to above, he said: "The matters, as you +[Luther] know, have been considered before, though in the combat it +always turns out otherwise than expected." (St. L. 16, 899; _C. R._ 2, +146.) On the 31st of August he wrote to his friend Camerarius: "Hitherto +we have yielded nothing to our opponents, except what Luther judged +should be done, since the matter was considered well and carefully +before the Diet; _re bene ac diligenter deliberata ante conventum_." (2, +334.) + +Very pertinently E. T. Nitzsch said of Melanchthon (1855): "With the son +of the miner, who was destined to bring good ore out of the deep shaft, +there was associated the son of an armorer, who was well qualified to +follow his leader and to forge shields, helmets, armor, and swords for +this great work." This applies also to the Augsburg Confession, in which +Melanchthon merely shaped the material long before produced by Luther +from the divine shafts of God's Word. Replying to Koeller, Rueckert, and +Heppe, who contend that the authorship of the Augsburg Confession must +in every way be ascribed to Melanchthon, Philip Schaff writes as +follows: "This is true as far as the spirit [which Luther called +'pussyfooting,' _Leisetreten_] and the literary composition are +concerned; but as to the doctrines Luther had a right to say, 'The +Catechism, the Exposition of the Ten Commandments, and the Augsburg +Confession are _mine._'" (_Creeds_ 1, 229.) + +23. Drafting the Confession. + +May 11 the Confession was so far completed that the Elector was able to +submit it to Luther for the purpose of getting his opinion on it. +According to Melanchthon's letter of the same date, the document +contained "almost all articles of faith, _omnes fere articulos fedei._" +(_C. R._ 2, 45.) This agrees with the account written by Melanchthon +shortly before his death, in which he states that in the Augsburg +Confession he had presented "the sum of our Church's doctrine," and that +in so doing he had arrogated nothing to himself; for in the presence of +the princes, etc., each individual sentence had been discussed. +"Thereupon," says Melanchthon, "the entire Confession was sent also to +Luther, who informed the princes that he had read it and approved it. +The princes and other honest and learned men still living will remember +that such was the case. _Missa est denique et Luthero tota forma +Confessionis, qui Principibus scripsit, se hanc Confessionem et legisse +et probare. Haec ita acta esse, Principes et alii honesti et docti viri +adhuc superstites meminerint._" (9, 1052.) As early as May 15 Luther +returned the Confession with the remark: "I have read Master Philip's +Apology. I am well pleased with it, and know nothing to improve or to +change in it; neither would this be proper, since I cannot step so +gently and softly. Christ, our Lord, grant that it may produce much and +great fruit which, indeed, we hope and pray for. Amen." (St. L. 16, +657.) Luther is said to have added these words to the Tenth Article: +"And they condemn those who teach otherwise, _et improbant secus +docentes._" (Enders, 7, 336.) + +Up to the time of its presentation the Augsburg Confession was +diligently improved, polished, perfected, and partly recast. Additions +were inserted and several articles added. Nor was this done secretly and +without Luther's knowledge. May 22 Melanchthon wrote to Luther: "Daily +we change much in the Apology. I have eliminated the article On Vows, +since it was too brief, and substituted a fuller explanation. Now I am +also treating of the Power of the Keys. I would like to have you read +the articles of faith. If you find no shortcoming in them, we shall +manage to treat the remainder. For one must always make some changes in +them and adapt oneself to conditions. _Subinde enim mutandi sunt atque +ad occasiones accommodandi._" (_C. R._ 2, 60; Luther, 16, 689.) +Improvements suggested by Regius and Brenz were also adopted. (Zoeckler, +_Die A. K._, 18.) + +Even Brueck is said to have made some improvements. May 24 the Nuernberg +delegates wrote to their Council: "The Saxon Plan [Apology] has been +returned by Doctor Luther. But Doctor Brueck, the old chancellor, still +has some changes to make at the beginning and the end." (_C. R._ 2, 62.) +The expression "beginning and end (_hinten und vorne_)," according to +Tschackert, is tantamount to "all over (_ueberall_)." However, even +before 1867 Plitt wrote it had long ago been recognized that this +expression refers to the Introduction and the Conclusion of the +Confession, which were written by Brueck. (Aug. 2, 11.) Bretschneider is +of the same opinion. (_C. R._ 2, 62.) June 3 the Nuernberg delegates +wrote: "Herewith we transmit to Your Excellencies a copy of the Saxon +Plan [Confession] in Latin, together with the Introduction or Preamble. +At the end, however, there are lacking one or two articles [20 and 21] +and the Conclusion, in which the Saxon theologians are still engaged. +When that is completed, it shall be sent to Your Excellencies. Meanwhile +Your Excellencies may cause your learned men and preachers to study it +and deliberate upon it. When this Plan [Confession] is drawn up in +German, it shall not be withheld from Your Excellencies. The Saxons, +however, distinctly desire that, for the present, Your Excellencies keep +this Plan or document secret, and that you permit no copy to be given to +any one until it has been delivered to His Imperial Majesty. They have +reasons of their own for making this request. ... And if Your +Excellencies' pastors and learned men should decide to make changes or +improvements in this Plan or in the one previously submitted, these, +too, Your Excellencies are asked to transmit to us." (2, 83.) June 26 +Melanchthon wrote to Camerarius: "Daily I changed and recast much; and I +would have changed still more if our advisers (_sumphradmones_) had +permitted us to do so." (2, 140.) + +24. Public Reading of the Confession. + +June 15, after long negotiations, a number of other estates were +permitted to join the adherents of the Saxon Confession. (_C. R._ 2, +105.) As a result, Melanchthon's Introduction, containing a defense of +the Saxon Electors, without mentioning the other Lutheran estates, no +longer fitted in with the changed conditions. Accordingly, it was +supplanted by the Preface composed by Brueck, and translated into Latin +by Justus Jonas, whose acknowledged elegant Latin and German style +qualified him for such services. At the last deliberation, on June 23, +the Confession was signed. And on June 25, at 3 P.M., the ever-memorable +meeting of the Diet took place at which the Augustana was read by +Chancellor Beyer in German, and both manuscripts were handed over. The +Emperor kept the Latin copy for himself, and gave the German copy to the +Imperial Chancellor, the Elector and Archbishop Albrecht, to be +preserved in the Imperial Archives at Mainz. Both texts, therefore, the +Latin as well as the German, have equal authority, although the German +text has the additional distinction and prestige of having been publicly +read at the Diet. + +As to where and how the Lutheran heroes confessed their faith, Kolde +writes as follows: "The place where they assembled on Saturday, June 25, +at 3 P.M., was not the courtroom, where the meetings of the Diet were +ordinarily conducted, but, as the Imperial Herald, Caspar Sturm, +reports, the 'Pfalz,' the large front room, _i.e._, the Chapter-room of +the bishop's palace, where the Emperor lived. The two Saxon chancellors, +Dr. Greg. Brueck and Dr. Chr. Beyer, the one with the Latin and the +other with the German copy of the Confession, stepped into the middle of +the hall, while as many of the Evangelically minded estates as had the +courage publicly to espouse the Evangelical cause arose from their seats. +Caspar Sturm reports: 'Als aber die gemeldeten Commissarii und +Botschaften der oesterreichischen Lande ihre Werbung und Botschaft +vollendet und abgetreten, sind darauf von Stund' an Kurfuerst von Sachsen +naemlich Herzog Johannes, Markgraf Joerg von Brandenburg, Herzog Ernst +samt seinem Bruder Franzisko, beide Herzoege zu Braunschweig und +Lueneburg, Landgraf Philipp von Hessen, Graf Wolf von Anhalt usw. von +ihrer Session auf; und gegen Kaiserliche Majestaet gestanden.' The +Emperor desired to hear the Latin text. But when Elector John had called +attention to the fact that the meeting was held on German soil, and +expressed the hope that the Emperor would permit the reading to proceed +in German, it was granted. Hereupon Dr. Beyer read the Confession. The +reading lasted about two hours; but he read with a voice so clear and +plain that the multitude, which could not gain access to the hall, +understood every word in the courtyard." (19 f.) + +The public reading of the Confession exercised a tremendous influence in +every direction. Even before the Diet adjourned, Heilbronn, Kempten, +Windsheim, Weissenburg and Frankfurt on the Main professed their +adherence to it. Others had received the first impulse which +subsequently induced them to side with the Evangelicals. Brenz has it +that the Emperor fell asleep during the reading. However, this can have +been only temporarily or apparently, since Spalatin and Jonas assure us +that the Emperor, like the other princes and King Ferdinand, listened +attentively. Their report reads: "_Satis attentus erat Caesar,_ The +Emperor was attentive enough." Duke William of Bavaria declared: "Never +before has this matter and doctrine been presented to me in this +manner." And when Eck assured him that he would undertake to refute the +Lutheran doctrine with the Fathers, but not with the Scriptures, the +Duke responded, "Then the Lutherans, I understand, sit in the Scriptures +and we of the Pope's Church beside the Scriptures! _So hoer' ich wohl, +die Lutherischen sitzen in der Schrift und wir Pontificii daneben!_" The +Archbishop of Salzburg declared that he, too desired a reformation, but +the unbearable thing about it was that one lone monk wanted to reform +them all. In private conversation, Bishop Stadion of Augsburg exclaimed, +"What has been read to us is the truth, the pure truth, and we cannot +deny it." (St. L. 16, 882; Plitt, _Apologie,_ 18.) Father Aegidius, the +Emperor's confessor, said to Melanchthon, "You have a theology which a +person can understand only if he prays much." Campegius is reported to +have said that for his part he might well permit such teaching; but it +would be a precedent of no little consequence, as the same permission +would then have to be given other nations and kingdoms, which could not +be tolerated. (Zoeckler, _A. K._, 24.) + +25. Luther's Mild Criticism. + +June 26 Melanchthon sent a copy of the Confession, as publicly read, to +Luther, who adhering to his opinion of May 15, praised it yet not +without adding a grain of gentle criticism. June 29 he wrote to +Melanchthon: "I have received your Apology and can not understand what +you may mean when you ask what and how much should be yielded to the +Papists. ... As far as I am concerned too much has already been yielded +(_plus satis cessum est_) in this Apology; and if they reject it, I see +nothing that might be yielded beyond what has been done, unless I see +the proofs they proffer, and clearer Bible-passages than I have hitherto +seen. ... As I have always written--I am prepared to yield everything to +them if we are but given the liberty to teach the Gospel. I cannot yield +anything that militates against the Gospel." (St. L. 16, 902; Enders, 8, +42. 45.) The clearest expression of Luther's criticism is found in a +letter to Jonas, dated July 21, 1530. Here we read: "Now I see the +purpose of those questions [on the part of the Papists] whether you had +any further articles to present. The devil still lives, and he has +noticed very well that your Apology steps softly, and that it has veiled +the articles of Purgatory, the Adoration of the Saints, and especially +that of the Antichrist, the Pope." Another reading of this passage of +Luther: "_Apologiam vestram, die Leisetreterin, dissimulasse,_" is +severer even than the one quoted: "_Apologiam vestram leise treten et +dissimulasse._" (St. L. 16, 2323, Enders, 8, 133.) + +Brenz regarded the Confession as written "very courteously and modestly, +_valde de civiliter et modeste._" (_C. R._ 2, 125.) The Nuernberg +delegates had also received the impression that the Confession, while +saying what was necessary, was very reserved and discreet. They reported +to their Council: "Said instruction [Confession], as far as the articles +of faith are concerned, is substantially like that which we have +previously sent to Your Excellencies, only that it has been improved in +some parts, and throughout made as mild as possible (_allenthalben aufs +glimpflichste gemacht_), yet, according to our view, without omitting +anything necessary." (2, 129.) At Smalcald, in 1537, the theologians +were ordered by the Princes and Estates "to look over the Confession, to +make no changes pertaining to its contents or substance, nor those of +the Concord [of 1536], but merely to enlarge upon matters regarding the +Papacy, which, for certain reasons, was previously omitted at the Diet +of Augsburg in submissive deference to His Imperial Majesty." (Kolde, +_Analecta,_ 297.) + +Indirectly Melanchthon himself admits the correctness of Luther's +criticism. True, when after the presentation of the Confession he +thought of the angry Papists, he trembled fearing that he had written +too severely. June 26 he wrote to his most intimate friend, Camerarius: +"Far from thinking that I have written milder than was proper, I rather +strongly fear (_mirum in modum_) that some have taken offense at our +freedom. For Valdes, the Emperor's secretary, saw it before its +presentation and gave it as his opinion that from beginning to end it +was sharper than the opponents would be able to endure." (_C. R._ 2, +140.) On the same day he wrote to Luther: "According to my judgment, the +Confession is severe enough. For you will see that I have depicted the +monks sufficiently." (141.) + +In two letters to Camerarius, however, written on May 21 and June 19, +respectively, hence before the efforts at toning down the Confession +were completed, Melanchthon expressed the opinion that the Confession +could not have been written "in terms more gentle and mild, _mitior et +lenior._" (2, 57.) No doubt, Melanchthon also had in mind his +far-reaching irenics at Augsburg, when he wrote in the Preface to the +Apology of the Augsburg Confession: "It has always been my custom in +these controversies to retain, so far as I was at all able, the form of +the customarily received doctrine, in order that at some time concord +might the more readily be effected. Nor, indeed, am I now departing far +from this custom, although I could justly lead away the men of this age +still farther from the opinions of the adversaries." (101, 11.) +Evidently, Melanchthon means to emphasize that in the Augustana he had +been conservative criticizing only when compelled to do so for +conscience' sake. + +26. Luther Praising Confession and Confessors. + +Luther's criticism did not in the least dampen his joy over the glorious +victory at Augsburg nor lessen his praise of the splendid confession +there made. In the above-mentioned letter of June 27 he identifies +himself fully and entirely with the Augustana and demands that +Melanchthon, too, consider it an expression of his own faith, and not +merely of Luther's faith. July 3 he wrote to Melanchthon: "Yesterday I +reread carefully your entire Apology, and it pleases me extremely +(_vehementer_)." (St. L. 16, 913; Enders, 8, 79.) July 6 he wrote a +letter to Cordatus in which he speaks of the Augustana as "altogether a +most beautiful confession, _plane pulcherrima confessio._" At the same +time he expresses his great delight over the victory won at Augsburg, +applying to the Confession Ps. 119, 46: "I will speak of Thy testimonies +also before kings, and will not be ashamed,"--a text which ever since +has remained the motto, appearing on all of its subsequent manuscripts +and printed copies. + +Luther said: "I rejoice beyond measure that I lived to see the hour in +which Christ was publicly glorified by such great confessors of His, in +so great an assembly, through this in every respect most beautiful +Confession. And the word has been fulfilled [Ps. 119, 46]: 'I will speak +of Thy testimonies also before kings;' and the other word will also be +fulfilled: 'I was not confounded.' For, 'Whosoever confesses Me before +men' (so speaks He who lies not), 'him will I also confess before My +Father which is in heaven.'" (16, 915; E. 8, 83.) July 9 Luther wrote to +Jonas "Christ was loudly proclaimed by means of the public and glorious +Confession (_publica et gloriosa confessione_) and confessed in the open +(_am Lichte_) and in their [the Papists'] faces, so that they cannot +boast that we fled, had been afraid, or had concealed our faith. I only +regret that I was not able to be present when this splendid Confession +was made (_in hac pulchra confessione_)." (St. L. 16, 928; E. 8, 94.) + +On the same day, July 9, Luther wrote to the Elector: "I know and +consider well that our Lord Christ Himself comforts the heart of Your +Electoral Grace better than I or any one else is able to do. This is +shown, too, and proved before our eyes by the facts, for the opponents +think that they made a shrewd move by having His Imperial Majesty +prohibit preaching. But the poor deluded people do not see that, through +the written Confession presented to them, more has been preached than +otherwise perhaps ten preachers could have done. Is it not keen wisdom +and great wit that Magister Eisleben and others must keep silence? But +in lieu thereof the Elector of Saxony, together with other princes and +lords, arises with the written Confession and preaches freely before His +Imperial Majesty and the entire realm, under their noses so that they +must hear and cannot gainsay. I think that thus the order prohibiting +preaching was a success indeed. They will not permit their servants to +hear the ministers, but must themselves hear something far worse (as +they regard it) from such great lords, and keep their peace. Indeed, +Christ is not silent at the Diet; and though they be furious, still they +must hear more by listening to the Confession than they would have heard +in a year from the preachers. Thus is fulfilled what Paul says: God's +Word will nevertheless have free course. If it is prohibited in the +pulpit, it must be heard in the palaces. If poor preachers dare not +speak it, then mighty princes and lords proclaim it. In brief, if +everything keeps silence, the very stones will cry out, says Christ +Himself." (16, 815.) September 15, at the close of the Diet, Luther +wrote to Melanchthon: "You have confessed Christ, offered peace, obeyed +the Emperor, endured reproach, been sated with slander, and have not +recompensed evil for evil; in sum you have performed the holy work of +God, as becomes saints, in a worthy manner. ... I shall canonize you +(_canonizabo vos_) as faithful members of Christ." (16, 2319; E. 8, +259.) + +27. Manuscripts and Editions of Augustana. + +As far as the text of the Augsburg Confession is concerned, both of the +original manuscripts are lost to us. Evidently they have become a prey +to Romish rage and enmity. Eck was given permission to examine the +German copy in 1540, and possibly at that time already it was not +returned to Mainz. It may have been taken to Trent for the discussions +at the Council, and thence carried to Rome. The Latin original was +deposited in the Imperial Archives at Brussels, where it was seen and +perused by Lindanus in 1562. February 18, 1569, however, Philip II +instructed Duke Alva to bring the manuscript to Spain, lest the +Protestants "regard it as a Koran," and in order that "such a damned +work might forever be destroyed; _porque se hunda para siempre tan +malvada obra._" The keeper of the Brussels archives himself testifies +that the manuscript was delivered to Alva. There is, however, no lack of +other manuscripts of the Augsburg Confession. Up to the present time no +less than 39 have been found. Of these, five German and four Latin +copies contain also the signatures. The five German copies are in verbal +agreement almost throughout, and therefore probably offer the text as +read and presented at Augsburg. + +The printing of the Confession had been expressly prohibited by the +Emperor. June 26 Melanchthon wrote to Veit Dietrich: "Our Confession has +been presented to the Emperor. He ordered that it be not printed. You +will therefore see that it is not made public." (_C. R._ 2, 142.) +However, even during the sessions of the Diet a number of printed +editions six in German and one in Latin, were issued by irresponsible +parties. But since these were full of errors, and since, furthermore, +the Romanists asserted with increasing boldness and challenge that the +Confession of the Lutherans had been refuted, by the Roman Confutation, +from the Scriptures and the Fathers, Melanchthon, in 1530, had a correct +edition printed, which was issued, together with the Apology, in May, +1531. This quarto edition ("Beide, Deutsch Und Lateinisch Ps. 119") is +regarded as the _editio princeps._ + +For years this edition was also considered the authentic edition of the +Augsburg Confession. Its Latin text was embodied 1584 in the Book of +Concord as the _textus receptus._ But when attention was drawn to the +changes in the German text of this edition (also the Latin text had been +subjected to minor alterations), the Mainz Manuscript was substituted in +the German Book of Concord, as its Preface explains. (14.) This +manuscript, however contains no original signatures and was erroneously +considered the identical document presented to the Emperor, of which it +was probably but a copy. In his Introduction to the Symbolical Books, J. +T. Mueller expresses the following opinion concerning the Mainz +Manuscript: "To say the least, one cannot deny that its text, as a rule, +agrees with that of the best manuscripts, and that its mistakes can +easily be corrected according to them and the _editio princeps,_ so that +we have no reason to surrender the text received by the Church and to +accept another in place thereof, of which we cannot prove either that it +is any closer to the original." (78.) Tschackert, who devoted much study +to the manuscripts of the Augsburg Confession, writes: "The Saxon +theologians acted in good faith, and the Mainz copy is still certainly +better than Melanchthon's original imprint [the _editio princeps_] yet, +when compared with the complete and--because synchronous with the +originally presented copy--reliable manuscripts of the signers of the +Confession, the Mainz Manuscript proves to be defective in quite a +number of places." (_L.c._ 621 f.) + +However, even Tschackert's minute comparison shows that the Mainz +Manuscript deviates from the original presented to the Emperor only in +unimportant and purely formal points. For example, in sec. 20 of the +Preface the words: "Papst das Generalkonzilium zu halten nicht +geweigert, so waere E. K. M. gnaediges Erbieten, zu fordern und zu +handeln, dass der" are omitted. Art. 27 sec. 48 we are to read: "dass +die erdichteten geistlichen Orden Staende sind christlicher +Vollkommenheit" instead of: "dass die erdichteten geistlichen +Ordensstaende sind christliche Vollkommenheit." Art. 27, sec. 61 reads, +"die Uebermass der Werke," instead of, "die Uebermasswerke," by the way, +an excellent expression, which should again be given currency in the +German. The conclusion of sec. 2 has "Leichpredigten" instead of +"Beipredigten." According to the manuscripts, also the Mainz Manuscript, +the correct reading of sec. 12 of the Preface is as follows: "Wo aber +bei unsern Herrn, Freunden und besonders den Kurfuersten, Fuersten und +Staenden des andern Teils die Handlung dermassen, wie E. K. M. +Ausschreiben vermag (bequeme Handlung unter uns selbst in Lieb und +Guetigkeit) nicht verfangen noch erspriesslich sein wollte" etc. The +words, "bequeme Handlung unter uns selbst in Lieb' und Guetigkeit," are +quoted from the imperial proclamation. (Foerstemann, 7, 378; Plitt, 2, +12.) + +Originally only the last seven articles concerning the abuses had +separate titles, the doctrinal articles being merely numbered, as in the +Marburg and Schwabach Articles, which Melanchthon had before him at +Augsburg. (Luther, Weimar 30, 3, 86. 160.) Nor are the present captions +of the doctrinal articles found in the original German and Latin +editions of the Book of Concord, Article XX forming a solitary +exception; for in the German (in the Latin Concordia, too, it bears no +title) it is superscribed: "Vom Glauben und guten Werken, Of Faith and +Good Works." This is probably due to the fact that Article XX was taken +from the so-called Torgau Articles and, with its superscription there, +placed among the doctrinal articles. In the German edition of 1580 the +word "Schluss" is omitted where the Latin has "Epilogus." + +As to the translations, even before the Confession was presented to the +Emperor, it had been rendered into French. (This translation was +published by Foerstemann, 1, 357.) The Emperor had it translated for his +own use into both Italian and French. (_C. R._ 2, 155; Luther, St. L., +16, 884.) Since then the Augustana has been done into Hebrew, Greek, +Spanish, Portuguese, Belgian, Slavic, Danish, Swedish, English, and many +other languages. As to the English translations, see page 6. [tr. note: +numbered section 4, above] + +28. Signatures of Augsburg Confession. + +Concerning the signatures of the Augustana, Tschackert writes as +follows: The names of the signers are most reliably determined from the +best manuscript copies of the original of the Confession, which have +been preserved to us. There we find the signatures of eight princes and +two free cities, to wit, Elector John of Saxony, Margrave George of +Brandenburg-Ansbach, Duke Ernest of Braunschweig-Lueneburg, Landgrave +Philip of Hesse, then John Frederick, the Electoral Prince of Saxony, +Ernest's brother Francis of Braunschweig-Lueneburg, Prince Wolfgang of +Anhalt, Count Albrecht of Mansfeld, and the cities Nuernberg and +Reutlingen. (_L.c._ 285; see also Luther's letter of July 6, 1530, St. +L. 16, 882.) Camerarius, in his Life of Melanchthon, relates that +Melanchthon desired to have the Confession drawn up in the name of the +theologians only, but that his plan did not prevail because it was +believed that the signatures of the princes would lend prestige and +splendor to the act of presenting this confession of faith. Besides, +this plan of Melanchthon's was excluded by the Emperor's proclamation. + +Although Philip of Hesse, in the interest of a union with the Swiss, had +zealously, but in vain, endeavored to secure for the article concerning +the Lord's Supper a milder form still, in the end, he did not refuse to +sign. Regius wrote to Luther, May 21, that he had discussed the entire +cause of the Gospel with the Landgrave, who had invited him to dinner, +and talked with him for two hours on the Lord's Supper. The Prince had +presented all the arguments of the Sacramentarians and desired to hear +Regius refute them. But while the Landgrave did not side with Zwingli +(_non sentit cum Zwinglio_), yet he desired with all his heart an +agreement of the theologians, as far as piety would permit (_exoptat +doctorum hominum concordiam, quantum sinit pietas_). He was far less +inclined to dissension than rumor had it before his arrival. He would +hardly despise the wise counsel of Melanchthon and others. (Kolde, +_Analecta,_ 125; see also _C. R._ 2, 59, where the text reads, "_nam +sentit cum Zwinglio_" instead of, "_non sentit cum Zwinglio._") +Accordingly, the mind of the Landgrave was not outright Zwinglian, but +unionistic. He regarded the followers of Zwingli as weak brethren who +must be borne with, and to whom Christian fellowship should not be +refused. This also explains how the Landgrave could sign the Augustana, +and yet continue his endeavors to bring about a union. + +May 22 Melanchthon wrote to Luther: "The Macedonian [Philip of Hesse] +now contemplates signing our formula of speech, and it appears as if he +can be drawn back to our side; still, a letter from you will be +necessary. Therefore I beg you most urgently that you write him, +admonishing him not to burden his conscience with a godless doctrine." +Still the Landgrave did not change his position in the next few weeks. +June 25, however, Melanchthon reported to Luther: "The Landgrave +approves our Confession and has signed it. You will, I hope accomplish +much if you seek to strengthen him by writing him a letter." (_C. R._ 2, +60. 92. 96. 101. 103. 126; Luther St. L., 16, 689; 21a, 1499.) + +At Augsburg, whither also Zwingli had sent his _Fidei Ratio,_ the +South-German imperial cities (Strassburg, Constance, Memmingen, Lindau) +presented the so-called _Confessio Tetrapolitana,_ prepared by Bucer and +Capito, which declares that the Sacraments are "holy types," and that in +the Lord's Supper the "true body" and the "true blood" of Christ "are +truly eaten and drunk as meat and drink for the souls which are thereby +nourished unto eternal life." However, in 1532 these cities, too, signed +the Augsburg Confession. + +Thus the seed which Luther sowed had grown wonderfully. June 25, 1530, +is properly regarded as the real birthday of the Lutheran Church. From +this day on she stands before all the world as a body united by a public +confession and separate from the Roman Church. The lone, but courageous +confessor of Worms saw himself surrounded with a stately host of true +Christian heroes, who were not afraid to place their names under his +Confession, although they knew that it might cost them goods and blood, +life and limb. When the Emperor, after entering Augsburg, stubbornly +demanded that the Lutherans cease preaching, Margrave George of +Brandenburg finally declared: "Rather than deny my God and suffer the +Word of God to be taken from me, I will kneel down and have my head +struck off." (_C. R._ 2, 115.) That characterizes the pious and heroic +frame of mind of all who signed the Augustana in 1530 In a letter, of +June 18, to Luther, Jonas relates how the Catholic princes and estates +knelt down to receive the blessing of Campegius when the latter entered +the city, but that the Elector remained standing and declared: "To God +alone shall knees be bowed; _In Deo flectenda sunt genua._" (Kolde, +_Analecta,_ 135.) When Melanchthon called the Elector's attention to the +possible consequences of his signing the Augsburg Confession, the latter +answered that he would do what was right, without concerning himself +about his electoral dignity; he would confess his Lord, whose cross he +prized higher than all the power of the world. + +Brenz wrote: "Our princes are most steadfast in confessing the Gospel, +and surely, when I consider their great steadfastness, there comes over +me no small feeling of shame because we poor beggars [theologians] are +filled with fear of the Imperial Majesty." (_C. R._ 2, 125.) Luther +praises Elector John for having suffered a bitter death at the Diet of +Augsburg. There, says Luther, he had to swallow all kinds of nasty soups +and poison with which the devil served him; at Augsburg he publicly, +before all the world, confessed Christ's death and resurrection, and +hazarded property and people, yea, his own body and life; and because of +the confession which he made we shall honor him as a Christian. (St. L. +12, 2078 f.) And not only the Lutheran Church, but all Protestant +Christendom, aye, the entire world has every reason to revere and hold +sacred the memory of the heroes who boldly affixed their names to the +Confession of 1530. + +29. Tributes to Confession of Augsburg. + +From the moment of its presentation to the present day, men have not +tired of praising the Augsburg Confession, which has been called +_Confessio augusta, Confessio augustissima,_ the "_Evangelischer +Augapfel,_" etc. They have admired its systematic plan, its +completeness, comprehensiveness, and arrangement; its balance of +mildness and firmness; its racy vigor, freshness, and directness; its +beauty of composition, "the like of which can not be found in the entire +literature of the Reformation period." Spalatin exclaims: "A Confession, +the like of which was never made, not only in a thousand years, but as +long as the world has been standing!" Sartorius: "A confession of the +eternal truth, of true ecumenical Christianity, and of all fundamental +articles of the Christian faith!" "From the Diet of Augsburg, which is +the birthday of the Evangelical Church Federation, down to the great +Peace Congress of Muenster and Osnabrueck, this Confession stands as the +towering standard in the entire history of those profoundly troublous +times, gathering the Protestants about itself in ever closer ranks, and, +when assaulted by the enemies of Evangelical truth with increasing fury, +is defended by its friends in severe fighting, with loss of goods and +blood, and always finally victoriously holds the field. Under the +protection of this banner the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany has +been built up on firm and unassailable foundations: under the same +protection the Reformed Church in Germany has found shelter. But the +banner was carried still farther; for all Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, and +Prussians have sworn allegiance to it, and the Esthonians, Latts, Finns, +as well as all Lutherans of Russia, France, and other lands recognize +therein the palladium of their faith and rights. No other Protestant +confession has ever been so honored." (Guericke, _Kg._, 3, 116 f.) + +Vilmar says in praise of the Confession: "Whoever has once felt a gentle +breath of the bracing mountain air which is wafted from this mighty +mountain of faith [the Augsburg Confession] no longer seeks to pit +against its firm and quiet dignity his own uncertain, immature, and +wavering thoughts nor to direct the vain and childish puff of his mouth +against that breath of God in order to give it a different direction." +(_Theol. d. Tatsachen,_ 76.) In his Introduction to the Symbolical +Books, J. T. Mueller says: "Luther called the Diet of Augsburg 'the last +trumpet before Judgment Day;' hence we may well call the confession +there made the _blast_ of that trumpet, which, indeed, has gone forth +into all lands, even as the Gospel of God which it proclaims in its +purity." (78.) The highest praise, however, is given the Augsburg +Confession by the Church which was born with it, when, _e.g._, in the +Formula of Concord, the Lutherans designate it as "the symbol of our +time," and glory in it as the Confession, which, though frowned upon and +assailed by its opponents, "down to this day has remained unrefuted and +unoverthrown (bis auf diesen Tag unwiderlegt und unumgestossen +geblieben)." (777, 4; 847, 3.) + + +IV. Melanchthon's Alterations of the Augsburg Confession. + +30. Changes Unwarranted. + +Melanchthon continued uninterruptedly to polish and correct the Augsburg +Confession till immediately before its presentation on June 25, 1530. +While, indeed he cannot be censured for doing this, it was though +originally not so intended by Melanchthon, an act of presumption to +continue to alter the document after it had been adopted, signed, and +publicly presented. Even the _editio princeps_ of 1531 is no longer in +literal agreement with the original manuscripts. For this reason the +German text embodied in the Book of Concord is not the one contained in +the _editio princeps,_ but that of the Mainz Manuscript, which, as +stated, was erroneously believed to be the identical German copy +presented to the Emperor. The Latin text of the _editio princeps,_ +embodied in the Book of Concord, had likewise undergone some, though +unessential, changes. These alterations became much more extensive in +the Latin octavo edition of 1531 and in the German revision of 1533. The +Variata of 1540 and 1542, however, capped the climax as far as changes +are concerned, some of them being very questionable also doctrinally. In +their "Approbation" of the Concordia Germanico-Latina, edited by +Reineccius, 1708, the Leipzig theologians remark pertinently: +Melanchthon found it "impossible to leave a book as it once was." +Witness his _Loci_ of 1521, which he remodeled three times--1535, 1542, +and 1548. However, the _Loci_ were his own private work while the +Augustana was the property and confession of the Church. + +Tschackert is right when he comments as follows: "To-day it is regarded +as an almost incomprehensible trait of Melanchthon's character that +immediately after the Diet and all his lifetime he regarded the +Confession as a private production of his pen, and made changes in it as +often as he had it printed, while he, more so than others, could but +evaluate it as a state-paper of the Evangelical estates, which, having +been read and delivered in solemn session, represented an important +document of German history, both secular and ecclesiastical. In +extenuation it is said that Melanchthon made these changes in +pedagogical interests, namely, in order to clarify terms or to explain +them more definitely; furthermore, that for decades the Evangelical +estates and theologians did not take offense at Melanchthon's changes. +Both may be true. But this does not change the fact that the chief +editor of the Confession did not appreciate the world-historical +significance of this state-paper of the Evangelical estates." (_L.c._ +288.) Nor can it be denied that Melanchthon made these changes, not +merely in pedagogical interests, but, at least a number of them, also +in the interest of his deviating dogmatic views and in deference to +Philip of Hesse, who favored a union with the Swiss. Nor can Melanchthon +be fully cleared of dissimulation in this matter. The revised Apology of +1540, for example, he openly designated on the titlepage as "diligently +revised, _diligenter recognita";_ but in the case of the Augsburg +Confession of 1540 and 1542 he in no way indicated that it was a changed +and augmented edition. + +As yet it has not been definitely ascertained when and where the terms +"Variata" and "Invariata" originated. At the princes' diet of Naumburg, +in 1561, the Variata was designated as the "amended" edition. The Reuss +Confession of 1567 contains the term "unaltered Augsburg Confession." In +its Epitome as well as in its Thorough Declaration the Formula of +Concord speaks of "the First Unaltered Augsburg Confession--_Augustana +illa prima et non mutata Confessio._" (777, 4; 851, 5.) The Preface to +the Formula of Concord repeatedly speaks of the Variata of 1540 as "the +other edition of the Augsburg Confession--_altera Augustanae +Confessionis editio._" (13 f.) + +31. Detrimental Consequences of Alterations. + +The changes made in the Augsburg Confession brought great distress, +heavy cares, and bitter struggles upon the Lutheran Church both from +within and without. Church history records the manifold and sinister +ways in which they were exploited by the Reformed as well as the +Papists; especially by the latter (the Jesuits) at the religious +colloquies beginning 1540, until far into the time of the Thirty Years' +War, in order to deprive the Lutherans of the blessings guaranteed by +the religious Peace of Augsburg, 1555. (Salig, _Gesch. d. A. K._, 1, 770 +ff.; _Lehre und Wehre_ 1919, 218 ff.) + +On Melanchthon's alterations of the Augsburg Confession the Romanists, +as the Preface to the Book of Concord explains, based the reproach and +slander that the Lutherans themselves did not know "which is the true +and genuine Augsburg Confession." (15.) Decrying the Lutherans, they +boldly declared "that not two preachers are found who agree in each and +every article of the Augsburg Confession, but that they are rent asunder +and separated from one another to such an extent that they themselves no +longer know what is the Augsburg Confession and its proper sense." +(1095.) In spite of the express declaration of the Lutherans at +Naumburg, 1561, that they were minded to abide by the original Augsburg +Confession as presented to Emperor Charles V at Augsburg, 1530, the +Papists and the Reformed did not cease their calumniations, but +continued to interpret their declarations to mean, "as though we [the +Lutherans] were so uncertain concerning our religion, and so often had +transfused it from one formula to another, that it was no longer clear +to us or our theologians what is the Confession once offered to the +Emperor at Augsburg." (11.) + +As a result of the numerous and, in part radical changes made by +Melanchthon in the Augsburg Confession, the Reformed also, in the course +of time more and more, laid claim to the Variata and appealed to it over +against the loyal Lutherans. In particular, they regarded and +interpreted the alteration which Melanchthon had made in Article X, Of +the Lord's Supper, as a correction of the original Augustana in +deference to the views of Calvinism. Calvin declared that he (1539 at +Strassburg) had signed the Augustana "in the sense in which its author +[Melanchthon] explains it (_sicut eam auctor ipse interpretatur_)." And +whenever the Reformed, who were regarded as confessionally related to +the Augsburg Confession (_Confessioni Augustanae addicti_), and as such +shared in the blessings of the Peace of Augsburg (1555) and the Peace of +Westphalia (1648), adopted, and appealed to, the Augustana, they +interpreted it according to the Variata. + +Referring to this abuse on the part of the Reformed and +Crypto-Calvinists, the Preface to the Book of Concord remarks: "To these +disadvantages [the slanders of the Romanists] there is also added that, +under the pretext of the Augsburg Confession [Variata of 1540], the +teaching conflicting with the institution of the Holy Supper of the body +and blood of Christ and also other corruptions were introduced here and +there into the churches and schools." (11. 17.)--Thus the changes made +in the Augsburg Confession did much harm to the Lutheran cause. +Melanchthon belongs to the class of men that have greatly benefited our +Church, but have also seriously harmed it. "These fictions" of the +adversaries, says the Preface to the Book of Concord concerning the +slanders based on Melanchthon's changes "have deterred and alienated +many good men from our churches, schools, doctrine, faith, and +confession." (11.) + +32. Attitude toward Variata. + +John Eck was the first who, in 1541, at the religious colloquy of Worms, +publicly protested against the Variata. But since it was apparent that +most of the changes were intended merely as reenforcements of the +Lutheran position against the Papists, and Melanchthon also declared +that he had made no changes in "the matter and substance or in the +sense," _i.e._, in the doctrine itself, the Lutherans at that time, as +the Preface to the Book of Concord shows, attached no further importance +to the matter. The freedom with which in those days formal alterations +were made even in public documents, and the guilelessness with which +such changes were received, appears, for example, from the translation +of the Apology by Justus Jonas. However, not all Lutherans even at that +time were able to view Melanchthon's changes without apprehension and +indifference. Among these was Elector John Frederick, who declared that +he considered the Augustana to be the confession of those who had signed +it, and not the private property of Melanchthon. + +In his admonition to Brueck of May 5, 1537, he says: "Thus Master Philip +also is said to have arrogated to himself the privilege of changing in +some points the Confession of Your Electoral Grace and the other princes +and estates, made before His Imperial Majesty at Augsburg, to soften it +and to print it elsewhere [a reprint of the changed Latin octavo edition +of 1531 had been published 1535 at Augsburg and another at Hagenau] +without the previous knowledge and approval of Your Electoral Grace and +of the other estates which, in the opinion of Your Electoral Grace, he +should justly have refrained from, since the Confession belongs +primarily to Your Electoral Grace and the other estates; and from it +[the alterations made] Your Electoral Grace and the other related +estates might be charged that they are not certain of their doctrine and +are also unstable. Besides, it is giving an offense to the people." (_C. +R._ 3, 365.) Luther, too, is said to have remonstrated with Melanchthon +for having altered the Confession. In his Introduction to the Augsburg +Confession (Koenigsberg, 1577) Wigand reports: "I heard from Mr. George +Rorarius that Dr. Luther said to Philip, 'Philip, Philip, you are not +doing right in changing Augustanam Confessionem so often for it is not +your, but the Church's book.'" Yet it is improbable that this should +have occurred between 1537 and 1542, for in 1540 the Variata followed, +which was changed still more in 1542, without arousing any public +protest whatever. + +After Luther's death, however, when Melanchthon's doctrinal deviations +became apparent, and the Melanchthonians and the loyal Lutherans became +more and more opposed to one another, the Variata was rejected with +increasing determination by the latter as the party-symbol of the +Philippists. In 1560 Flacius asserted at Weimar that the Variata +differed essentially from the Augustana. In the Reuss-Schoenburg +Confession of 1567 the Variata was unqualifiedly condemned; for here we +read: We confess "the old, true, unaltered Augsburg Confession, which +later was changed, mutilated, misinterpreted, and falsified ... by the +Adiaphorists in many places both as regards the words and the substance +(_nach den Worten und sonst in den Haendeln_), which thus became a +buskin, _Bundschuh,_ pantoffle, and a Polish boot, fitting both legs +equally well [suiting Lutherans as well as Reformed] or a cloak and a +changeling (_Wechselbalg_), by means of which Adiaphorists, +Sacramentarians, Antinomians, new teachers of works, and the like hide, +adorn, defend, and establish their errors and falsifications under the +cover and name of the Augsburg Confession, pretending to be likewise +confessors of the Augsburg Confession, for the sole purpose of enjoying +with us under its shadow, against rain and hail, the common peace of the +Empire, and selling, furthering, and spreading their errors under the +semblance of friends so much the more easily and safely." (Kolde, +_Einleitung,_ 30.) In a sermon delivered at Wittenberg, Jacob Andreae +also opposed the Variata very zealously. + +Thus the conditions without as well as within the Lutheran Church were +such that a public declaration on the part of the genuine Lutherans as +to their attitude toward the alterations of Melanchthon, notably in the +Variata of 1540, became increasingly imperative. Especially the +continued slanders, intrigues, and threats of the Papists necessitated +such a declaration. As early as 1555, when the Peace of Augsburg was +concluded, the Romanists attempted to limit its provisions to the +adherents of the Augustana of 1530. At the religious colloquy of Worms, +in 1557, the Jesuit Canisius, distinguishing between a pure and a +falsified Augustana, demanded that the adherents of the latter be +condemned, and excluded from the discussions. + +33. Alterations in Editions of 1531, 1533, 1540. + +As to the alterations themselves, the Latin text of the _editio +princeps_ of the Augsburg Confession of 1531 received the following +additions: sec. 3 in Article 13, sec. 8 in Article 18, and sec. 26 in +Article 26. Accordingly, these passages do not occur in the German text +of the Book of Concord. Originally sec. 2 in the conclusion of Article +21 read: "_Tota_ dissensio est de paucis quibusdam abusibus," and sec. 3 +in Article 24: "Nam ad hoc _praecipue_ opus est ceremoniis, ut doceant +imperitos." The additions made to Articles 13 and 18 are also found in +the German text of the _editio princeps_. (_C. R._ 26, 279. 564.) + +In the "Approbation" of the Leipzig theologians mentioned above we read: +The octavo edition of the Augustana and the Apology printed 1531 by +George Rauh, according to the unanimous testimony of our theologians, +cannot be tolerated, "owing to the many additions and other changes +originating from Philip Melanchthon. For if one compares the 20th +Article of the Augsburg Confession as well as the last articles on the +Abuses: 'Of Monastic Vows' and 'Of Ecclesiastical Authority,' it will +readily be seen what great additions (_laciniae_) have been patched onto +this Wittenberg octavo edition of 1531. The same thing has also been +done with the Apology, especially in the article 'Of Justification and +Good Works,' where often entire successive pages may be found which do +not occur in the genuine copies. Furthermore, in the declaration +regarding the article 'Of the Lord's Supper,' where Paul's words, that +the bread is a communion of the body of Christ, etc., as well as the +testimony of Theophylact concerning the presence of the body of Christ +in the Supper have been omitted. Likewise in the defense of the articles +'Of Repentance,' 'Of Confession and Satisfaction,' 'Of Human +Traditions,' 'Of the Marriage of Priests,' and 'Of Ecclesiastical +Power,' where, again, entire pages have been added." (_L.c._ 8, 13; _C. +R._ 27, 437.) In the German edition of the Augsburg Confession of 1533 +it was especially Articles 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 15, and 20 that were +remodeled. These alterations, however, involve no doctrinal changes, +with the possible exception of Article 5, where the words "where and +when He will" are expunged. (_C. R._ 26, 728.) + +As to the Variata of 1540, however, the extent of the 21 doctrinal +articles was here almost doubled, and quite a number of material +alterations were made. Chief among the latter are the following: In +Article 5 the words, "ubi et quando visum est Deo," are omitted. In the +10th Article the rejection of the Reformed doctrine is deleted, and the +following is substituted for the article proper: "De coena Domini +docent, quod cum pane et vino vere exhibeantur corpus et sanguis Christi +vescentibus in Coena Domini." (_C. R._ 26, 357.) The following sentences +have also given offense: "Et cum hoc modo consolamur nos promissione seu +Evangelio et erigimus nos fide, certo consequimur remissionem +peccatorum, et _simul_ datur nobis Spiritus Sanctus." "Cum Evangelium +audimus aut cogitamus aut sacramenta tractamus et fide nos consolamur +_simul_ est efficax Spiritus Sanctus." (354.) For the words of the 18th +Article: "sed haec fit in cordibus, cum per Verbum Spiritus Sanctus +concipitur," the Variata substitutes: "Et Christus dicit: Sine me nihil +potestis facere. Efficitur autem spiritualis iustitia in nobis, cum +_audiuvamur_ a Spiritu Sancto. Porro Spiritum Sanctum concipimus, cum +Verbo Dei assentimur, ut nos fide in terroribus consolemur." (362.) +Toward the end of the same article we read: "Quamquam enim externa opera +aliquo modo potest efficere humana natura per sese, ... verum timorem, +veram fiduciam, patientiam, castitatem non potest efficere, nisi +Spiritus Sanctus gubernet et _adiuvet_ corda nostra." (363.) In the 19th +Article the phrase "non adiuvante Deo" is erased, which, by the way, +indicates that Melanchthon regarded these words as equivalent to those +of the German text: "so Gott die Hand abgetan," for else he would have +weakened the text against his own interests. (363.) To the 20th Article +Melanchthon added the sentence: "Debet autem ad haec dona [Dei] accedere +exercitatio nostra, quae et _conservat_ ea et meretur incrementum, iuxta +illud: Habenti dabitur. Et Augustinus praeclare dixit: Dilectio meretur +incrementum dilectionis, cum videlicet exercetur." (311.) + +34. Alterations Render Confession Ambiguous. + +True in making all these changes, Melanchthon did not introduce any +direct heresy into the Variata. He did, however, in the interest of his +irenic and unionistic policy and dogmatic vacillations, render ambiguous +and weaken the clear sense of the Augustana. By his changes he opened +the door and cleared the way, as it were, for his deviations in the +direction of Synergism, Calvinism (Lord's Supper), and Romanism (good +works are necessary to salvation). Nor was Melanchthon a man who did +not know what he was doing when he made alterations. Whenever he +weakened and trimmed the doctrines he had once confessed, whether in his +_Loci_ or in the Augustana, he did so in order to satisfy definite +interests of his own, interests self-evidently not subservient to, but +conflicting with, the clear expression and bold confession of the old +Lutheran truth. + +Kolde, referring in particular to the changes made in the 10th Article, +says: "It should never have been denied that these alterations involved +real changes. The motives which actuated Melanchthon cannot be +definitely ascertained, neither from his own expressions nor from +contemporary remarks of his circle of acquaintances" [As late as 1575 +Selneccer reports that Philip of Hesse had asked Melanchthon to erase +the _improbatio_ of the 10th Article, because then also the Swiss would +accept the Augustana as their confession]. "A comparison with the +Wittenberg Concord of May, 1536 (_cum pane et vino vere et +substantialiter adesse_--that the body and blood [of Christ] are really +and substantially present with the bread and wine, _C. R._ 3, 75) +justifies the assumption that by using the form: _cum pane et vino vere +exhibeantur,_ he endeavored to take into account the existing agreement +with the South Germans (_Oberlaender_). However, when, at the same time, +he omits the words: _vere et substantialiter adesse,_ and the +_improbatio,_ it cannot, in view of his gradually changed conception of +the Lord's Supper, be doubted that he sought to leave open for himself +and others the possibility of associating also with the Swiss." (25.) + +An adequate answer to the question what prompted Melanchthon to make his +alterations will embrace also the following points: 1. Melanchthon's +mania for changing and remodeling in general. 2. His desire, especially +after the breach between the Lutherans and the Papists seemed incurable, +to meet and satisfy the criticism that the Augustana was too mild, and +to reenforce the Lutheran position over against the Papists. 3. +Melanchthon's doctrinal deviations, especially in Reformed and +synergistic directions. + +35. Variata Disowned by Lutheran Church. + +It cannot be denied that during Luther's life and for quite a time after +his death the Variata was used by Lutherans without any public +opposition and recognized as the Augsburg Confession. Martin Chemnitz, +in his "Iudicum de Controversiis quibusdam circa quosdam Augustanae +Confessionis Articulos--Decision concerning Certain Controversies about +Some Articles of the Augsburg Confession," printed 1597, says that the +edition of 1540 was employed at the religious colloquies with the +previous knowledge and approval of Luther; in fact, that it was drawn up +especially for the Colloquy at Hagenau, which the opponents (Cochlaeus +at Worms, Pighius at Regensburg) had taken amiss. "Graviter tulerant," +says Chemnitz, "multis articulis pleniori declaratione plusculum lucis +accessisse, unde videbant veras sententias magis illustrari et Thaidis +Babyloniae turpitudinem manifestius denudare--They took it amiss that +more light had been shed on many articles by a fuller explanation, +whence they perceived the true statements to be more fully illustrated +and the shame of the Babylonian Thais to be more fully disclosed." +(Mueller, _Einleitung,_ 72.) + +Furthermore, it is equally certain that on the part of the Lutheran +princes, the Variata was employed without any sinister intentions +whatever, and without the slightest thought of deviating even in the +least from the doctrine of the original Augustana, as has been falsely +asserted by Heppe, Weber, and others. Wherever the Variata was adopted +by Lutheran princes and theologians, it was never for the purpose of +weakening the doctrine of the Augsburg Confession in any point. +Moreover, the sole reason always was to accentuate and present more +clearly the contrast between themselves and the Papists; and, generally +speaking, the Variata did serve this purpose. True, Melanchthon at the +same time, no doubt planned to prepare the way for his doctrinal +innovations; but wherever such was the case he kept it strictly to +himself. + +The complete guilelessness and good faith in which the Lutheran princes +and theologians employed the Variata, and permitted its use appears +from the Preface to the Book of Concord. For here they state: "Therefore +we have decided in this writing to testify publicly, and to inform all, +that we wished neither then nor now in any way to defend, or excuse or +to approve, as agreeing with the Gospel-doctrine, false and godless +doctrines and opinions which may be concealed under certain coverings of +words [in the Variata]. We, indeed, never received the latter edition +[of 1540] in a sense differing in any part from the former which was +presented [at Augsburg]. Neither do we judge that other useful writings +of Dr. Philip Melanchthon, or of Brenz, Urban Regius, Pomeranus, etc., +should be rejected and condemned, as far as in all things, they agree +with the norm which has been set forth in the Book of Concord." (17.) + +Accordingly, when the Variata was boldly exploited by the Romanists to +circulate all manner of slanders about the Lutherans; when it also +became increasingly evident that the Reformed and Crypto-Calvinists +employed the Variata as a cover for their false doctrine of the Lord's +Supper; when, furthermore within the Lutheran Church the suspicion +gradually grew into conviction that Melanchthon, by his alterations had +indeed intended to foist doctrinal deviations upon the Lutheran Church; +and when, finally, a close scrutiny of the Variata had unmistakably +revealed the fact that it actually did deviate from the original +document not only in extent, but also with regard to intent, not merely +formally, but materially as well,--all loyal Lutheran princes and +theologians regarded it as self-evident that they unanimously and +solemnly declare their exclusive adherence to the Augsburg Confession +as presented to Emperor Charles at Augsburg, and abandon the Variata +without delay. At Naumburg, in 1561, the Lutheran princes therefore, +after some vacillation, declared that they would adhere to the original +Augsburg Confession and its "genuine Christian declaration and norm," +the Smalcald Articles. Frederick III of the Palatinate alone withdrew, +and before long joined the Calvinists by introducing the Heidelberg +Catechism, thus revealing the spuriousness of his own Lutheranism. + +It was due especially to the Crypto-Calvinists in Electoral Saxony and +to the _Corpus Doctrinae Philippicum_ that the Variata retained a +temporary and local authority, until it was finally and generally +disowned by the Lutheran Church and excluded from its symbols by the +adoption of the Formula of Concord. For here our Church pledges +adherence to "the First, Unaltered Augsburg Confession, delivered to the +Emperor Charles V at Augsburg in the year 1530, in the great Diet." +(777, 4; 847, 5; 851, 5.) And in the Preface to the Book of Concord the +princes and estates declare: "Accordingly, in order that no persons may +permit themselves to be disturbed by the charges of our adversaries spun +out of their own minds, by which they boast that not even we are certain +which is the true and genuine Augsburg Confession, but that both those +who are now among the living and posterity may be clearly and firmly +taught and informed what that godly Confession is which we and the +churches and schools of our realms at all times professed and embraced, +we emphatically testify that next to the pure and immutable truth of +God's Word we wish to embrace the first Augsburg Confession alone which +was presented to the Emperor Charles V, in the year 1530, at the famous +Diet of Augsburg, this alone (we say), and no other." (15.) At the same +time the princes furthermore protest that also the adoption of the +Formula of Concord did not make any change in this respect. For +doctrinally the Formula of Concord was not, nor was it intended to be, a +"new or different confession," _i.e._, different from the one presented +to Emperor Charles V. (20.) + + +V. The Pontifical Confutation of the Augsburg Confession. + +36. Papal Party Refusing Conciliation. + +At the Diet of Augsburg, convened in order to restore the disturbed +religious peace, the Lutherans were the first to take a step towards +reconciliation by delivering their Confession, June 25, 1530. In +accordance with the manifesto of Emperor Charles, they now expected that +the papal party would also present its view and opinion, in order that +the discussions might thereupon proceed in love and kindness, as the +Emperor put it. In the Preface to their Confession the Lutherans +declared: "In obedience to Your Imperial Majesty's wishes, we offer, in +this matter of religion the Confession of our preachers and of +ourselves, showing what manner of doctrine from the Holy Scriptures and +the pure Word of God has been up to this time set forth in our lands, +dukedoms, dominions and cities, and taught in our churches. And if the +other Electors, Princes, and Estates of the Empire will, according to +the said imperial proposition, present similar writings, to wit, in +Latin and German, giving their opinions in this matter of religion, we, +with the Princes and friends aforesaid, here before Your Imperial +Majesty, our most clement Lord, are prepared to confer amicably +concerning all possible ways and means, in order that we may come +together, as far as this may be honorably done, and, the matter between +us on both sides being peacefully discussed without offensive strife, +the dissension, by God's help, may be done away and brought back to one +true accordant religion; for as we all are under one Christ and do +battle under Him, we ought to confess the one Christ, after the tenor of +Your Imperial Majesty's edict, and everything ought to be conducted +according to the truth of God; and this is what, with most fervent +prayers, we entreat of God." (39, 8.) + +The Lutherans did not believe that the manifesto of the Emperor could be +construed in any other way than that both parties would be treated as +equals at the Diet. Not merely as a matter of good policy, but _bona +fide,_ as honest Germans and true Christians, they clung tenaciously to +the words of the Emperor, according to which the Romanists, too, were to +be regarded as a party summoned for the trial, the Emperor being the +judge. The Lutherans simply refused to take the word of the Emperor at +anything less than par, or to doubt his good will and the sincerity of +his promise. The fact that from the very beginning his actions were in +apparent contravention of the manifesto was attributed by the Lutherans +to the sinister influence of such bitter, baiting, and unscrupulous +theologians as Eck, Cochlaeus, and Faber, who, they claimed, endeavored +to poison and incite the guileless heart of the Emperor. Thus the +Lutherans would not and could not believe that Charles had deceived +them,--a simple trust, which, however, stubborn facts finally compelled +them to abandon. + +The Romanists, on the other hand, boasting before the Emperor that they +had remained with the true Christian faith, the holy Gospel, the +Catholic Church, the bull of the Pope, and the Edict of Worms, refused +with equal tenacity to be treated as a party summoned for trial. June +25, 1530, Elector John wrote to Luther: "Thus we and the other princes +and estates who are related to us in this matter had to consent to +submit our opinion and confession of faith. Our opponents, however, as +we are told, declined to present theirs and decided to show to the +Emperor that they adhered to the Edict [of Worms] and to the faith which +their fathers had bequeathed to and bestowed upon them, and which they +intended to adhere to even now; if, however the Pope or, in his place, +the Legate, together with His Imperial Majesty, would point out, and +expect them to adopt, a different and new faith, they would humbly hear +the Emperor's opinion." (Luther, St. L. 16, 758.) + +Thus presupposing what they were summoned to prove at Augsburg, namely, +that the doctrine of the Pope was identical with the old Christian +faith, the Romanists declared a presentation of their views unnecessary. +The Lutherans, they maintained, were convicted apostates and rebels +against Pope and Church, against Emperor and realm; sentence was not +first to be pronounced upon them, but had been pronounced long ago, the +Diet's duty merely being to confirm and execute it; hence, there was +nothing else to be done by the Emperor than to attend to his office as +warden and protector of the Church, and, together with the princes and +estates, to proceed against the heretics with drastic measures. Also in +the later discussions, conducted with a view of effecting a +reconciliation, the Romanists refused to relinquish this position. From +beginning to end they acted as the accusers, judges, and henchmen of the +Lutherans. Nor was anything else to be expected, since, unlike the +Lutherans, they considered not God's Word, but the Pope the supreme +arbiter in religious matters. Thus from the very outset, the gulf +between the two parties was such that it could not be bridged. Common +ground was lacking. On the one side conscience, bound by the Word of +God! On the other, blind subjection to human, papal authority! Also +Romanists realized that this fundamental and irreconcilable difference +was bound to render futile all discussions. It was not merely his own +disgust which the papal historian expressed when he concluded his report +on the prolonged discussions at Augsburg: "Thus the time was wasted with +vain discussions." (Plitt, _Apologie,_ 43.) + +37. Further Success Not Hoped for by Luther. + +Luther regarded the public reading of the Confession as an unparalleled +triumph of his cause. Further results, such as a union with the +Romanists, he did not expect. On July 9, 1530, he wrote to Jonas: _"Quid +sperem de Caesare, quantumvis optimo, sed obsesso?_ What can I hope of +the Emperor, even the best, when he is obsessed" [by the papal +theologians]? The most Luther hoped for was mutual political toleration. +In the letter quoted he continues: "But they [the Papists] must expect a +sad, and we a happy issue. Not indeed, that there ever will be unity of +doctrine; for who can hope that Belial will be united with Christ? +Excepting that perhaps marriage [of priests] and the two kinds [of the +Sacrament] be permitted (here too however, this adverb 'perhaps' is +required, and perhaps too much 'perhaps'). But this I wish and earnestly +hope for, that, the difference in doctrine being set aside, a political +union may be made. If by the blessing of Christ this takes place, enough +and more than enough has been done and accomplished at this Diet. ... +Now, if we obtain also the third thing, that we adjourn with worldly +peace secured, then we shall have clearly defeated Satan in this year." +(Enders, 8, 95; St. L. 16 927. 1666.) + +July 21, 1530, Luther wrote in a similar vein to Jonas: "The fact that +these frogs [the papal theologians who wrote the Confutation] with their +croakings [_coaxitatibus_ = pasquinades against Luther, instead of +answers to the Augustana] have free access [to the Emperor] chagrins me +very much in this great work in the most important matters. ... But this +happens to prove that I am a true prophet; for I have always said that we +work and hope in vain for a union in doctrine; it would be enough if we +could obtain worldly peace." (16, 927. 2324.) August 25, when the +prolonged discussions of reconciliation were nearing their end, he wrote +to Melanchthon: "In sum, it does not please me at all that unity of +doctrine is to be discussed, since this is utterly impossible, unless +the Pope would abolish his entire popery. It would have sufficed if we +had presented to them the reasons for our faith and desired peace. But +how can we hope that we shall win them over to accept the truth? We have +come to hear whether they approve our doctrine or not, permitting them +to remain what they are, only inquiring whether they acknowledge our +doctrine to be correct or condemn it. If they condemn it, what does it +avail to discuss the question of unity any longer with avowed enemies? +If they acknowledge it to be right, what necessity is there of retaining +the old abuses?" (16, 1404.) + +Though willing to yield to the Catholic party in all other matters, +Luther refused to compromise the divine truth in any point or in any +way. For this reason he also insisted that the Emperor should not be +recognized as judge and arbiter without qualification, but only with the +proviso that his decision would not conflict with the clear Word of God. +According to Luther, everybody, Pope and Emperor included, must submit +to the authority of the Scriptures. In a letter of July 9, 1530 he wrote +to the Elector: "In the first place; Should His Imperial Majesty desire +that the Imperial Majesty be permitted to decide these matters, since it +was not His Majesty's purpose to enter into lengthy discussions, I think +Your Electoral Grace might answer that His Imperial Majesty's manifesto +promises that he would graciously listen to these matters. If such was +not intended, the manifesto would have been needless, for His Imperial +Majesty might have rendered his decision just as well in Spain without +summoning Your Electoral Grace to Augsburg at such great labor and +expense. ... In the second place: Should His Imperial Majesty insist +that the Imperial Majesty be permitted to decide these matters Your +Electoral Grace may cheerfully answer Yes, the Imperial Majesty shall +decide these matters, and Your Electoral Grace would accept and suffer +everything, provided only that His Imperial Majesty make no decision +against the clear Scriptures, or God's Word. For Your Electoral Grace +cannot put the Emperor above God, nor accept his verdict in opposition +to God's Word." (16, 815.) + +38. Papal Peace Sought by Emperor. + +By their obstinate refusal to regard themselves as a party summoned, the +Romanists from the outset, made it impossible for the Emperor to +maintain the role of an impartial judge, which, probably, he had never +really intended to be. At any rate, though earnestly desirous of +religious peace, his actions throughout the Diet do not reveal a single +serious effort at redeeming his promise and putting his beautiful words +into practise. Being bound to the Pope and the papal party both +religiously and politically, Charles did not require of the Romanists a +fulfilment of the obligations imposed upon them by his manifesto. All +the concessions were to be made by the Lutherans. _Revoca!_--that was +the first and only word which Rome had hitherto spoken to Luther. +"Revoke and submit yourselves!"--that, in the last analysis, was also +the demand of the Emperor at Augsburg with respect to the Lutheran +princes, both when he spoke in tones friendly and gentle and when he +uttered severe and threatening words. Charles, it is true, desired +peace, but a Roman peace, a peace effected by universal blind submission +to the Pope; not a peace by mutual understanding and concessions; least +of all a peace by political religious tolerance, such as Luther desired, +and which in our days is generally regarded as the outstanding feature +of modern civilization, notably of Americanism. To force the Lutherans +into submission and obedience to the Pope, that was the real object of +the Emperor. And the political situation demanded that this be +accomplished by peaceable and gentle means--if possible. + +Self-evidently, in his endeavors to establish a Papal Peace, the +Emperor, who was haunted and tormented by the fear that all efforts +might prove futile, was zealously seconded, encouraged, and prodded on +by the papal theologians. To bring about a religious peace, such as the +Emperor contemplated, this, they flattered Charles, would be an +ever-memorable achievement, truly worthy of the Emperor: for the eyes of +all Christendom were upon him, and he had staked his honor upon the +success of this glorious undertaking. June 3 the Father Confessor of the +Emperor, Garsia, then at Rome, wrote to Charles: "At present there is +nothing so important in this life as that Your Majesty emerge victorious +in the German affair. In Italy you will be accounted the best prince on +earth if God should vouchsafe this grace unto us that the heresies which +have arisen in that nation be cured by your hand." (Plitt, 4.) June 6 +Garsia wrote: "Gracious Lord! After the letters from the legate +[Campegius, concerning the return of Christian II to the Roman Church, +the disagreement between Philip of Hesse and the Elector, etc.] had been +read at to-day's Consistorial Meeting, almost all the cardinals said +that Your Majesty was the angel sent from heaven to restore Christendom. +God knows how much I rejoiced, and although the sun burned fiercely when +I returned to my home, how patiently I bore it! I was not sensitive to +it from sheer joy at hearing such sweet words about my master from those +who a year ago had maligned him. My chief comfort, however, was to +behold that they were right; for it seems as if God were performing +miracles by Your Majesty, and to judge by the beginning you have made in +curing this ailment, it is evident that we may expect the issue to prove +far more favorable than our sins merit." (II. 67.) + +39. Compulsion Advocated by Theologians. + +All Romanists, the Emperor included, were of the opinion that the +Protestants must be brought back to the papal fold. But they differed +somewhat as to the means of accomplishing this purpose. Some demanded +that force be resorted to forthwith, while others counseled that +leniency be tried first. Campegius advised kindness at the beginning, +and greater severity only in dealing with certain individuals, but that +sharper measures and, finally, force of arms ought to follow. At Rome +force was viewed as the "true rhubarb" for healing the breach, +especially among the common people. July 18 Garsia wrote to the Emperor: +"If you are determined to bring Germany back to the fold, I know of no +other or better means than by presents and flattery to persuade those +who are most eminent in science or in the empire to return to our faith. +Once that is done, you must, in dealing with the remaining common +people, first of all publish your imperial edicts and Christian +admonitions. If they will not obey these, then the true rhubarb to cure +them is force. This alone cured Spain's rebellion against its king. And +force is what will also cure Germany's unfaithfulness to God, unless, +indeed, divine grace should not attend Your Majesty in the usual +measure. God would learn in this matter whether you are a faithful son +of His, and should He so find, then I promise you that among all +creatures you will find no power sufficiently strong to resist you. All +will but serve the purpose of enabling you to obtain the crown of this +world." (42.) + +Among the open advocates of force were Cochlaeus, Eck, Faber, and the +theologians and monks who flocked to Augsburg in large numbers about the +time the Augsburg Confession was read. They all considered it their +prime duty to rouse the passions of the Emperor, as well as of the +Catholic princes and estates, and to incite them against the Lutherans. +Their enmity was primarily directed against the Augustana, whose +objective and moderate tone had gained many friends even among the +Catholics, and which had indirectly branded Eck and his compeers as +detractors and calumniators. For had not Duke William of Bavaria, after +the reading of the Confession, rebuked Eck, in the presence of the +Elector of Saxony, for having misrepresented the Lutheran doctrine to +him? The moderation of the Augustana, said these Romanists, was nothing +but the cunning of serpents, deception and misrepresentation, especially +on the part of the wily Melanchthon, for the true Luther was portrayed +in the 404 theses of Eck. Cochlaeus wrote that the Lutherans were slyly +hiding their ungodly doctrines in order to deceive the Emperor: "astute +occultari in illorum Confessione prava eorum dogmata, de quibus ibi +tacendo dissimulabant, ut in hypocrisi loquentes Maiestati Tuae aliisque +principibus imponerent." (Laemmer, _Vortridentinische Theologie,_ 39.) +Thus the malice and fanaticism of the papal theologians and the monks +rose in proportion as friendliness was shown the Lutherans by Catholic +princes and the Emperor. They feared that every approach toward the +Lutherans would jeopardize the _pax Pontificia._ + +The fanaticism of the papal theologians is frequently referred to by the +Lutherans. June 26 Melanchthon wrote to Luther: "Sophists and monks are +daily streaming into the city, in order to inflame the hatred of the +Emperor against us." (_C. R._ 2, 141.) June 27: "Our Confession was +presented last Saturday. The opponents are now deliberating upon how to +answer; they flock together, take great pains, and incite the princes, +who already have been sufficiently aroused. Eck vehemently demands of +the Archbishop of Mainz that the matter be not debated, since it has +already been condemned." (144.) June 29 Jonas wrote to Luther: "Faber is +goaded on by furies and Eck is not a whit more sensible. Both insist in +every manner imaginable that the affair ought to be managed by force and +must not be heard." (154.) Melanchthon, July 8: "By chance Eck and +Cochlaeus came to the legate [Campegius, with whom Melanchthon was +deliberating]. I heard them say, distinctly enough, I believe, that the +opponents are merely deliberating upon how to suppress us by force." +(175.) July 15: "Repeatedly have I been with certain enemies who belong +to that herd of Eck. Words fail me to describe the bitter, Pharisaical +hatred I noticed there. They do nothing, they plan nothing else than how +they may incite the princes against us, and supply the Emperor with +impious weapons." (197.) The implacable theologians also succeeded in +fanaticizing some of the princes and bishops, who gradually became more +and more opposed to any kind of settlement by mutual understanding. +(175.) + +The chief exponent of force was Cochlaeus. In his _Expostulatio,_ which +appeared at Augsburg in May, 1530, he argued that not only according to +papal, but according to imperial law as well, which the Evangelicals +also acknowledged, and according to the Scriptures, heretics might, aye, +must be punished with death. The treatise concludes as follows: "Thus it +is established that obdurate heretics may be executed by every form of +law. We, however, much prefer to have them return to the Church, be +converted, healed and live, and we beseech them to do so. _Constat +igitur, haereticos pertinaces omni iure interimi posse. Nos tamen longe +magis optamus et precamur, ut redeuntes ad ecclesiam convertantur, +sanentur et vivant._" (Plitt, 1, 5.) + +Naturally Eck, too, was prominent among those who counseled the +employment of compulsory measures; indeed, he could not await the hour +when the order would be given to proceed against the heretics with fire +and sword. He lamented, in bitter terms, the fact that the Emperor had +not made use of stern measures as soon as he arrived in Germany. For +now, said he, procrastination and the conciliatory demeanor of the +Evangelicals, especially of Melanchthon and Brueck, had made it +impossible to rouse the Emperor to such a degree as the exigency of the +case demanded. (Plitt, 63.) Luther wrote: "For that shameless gab and +bloodthirsty sophist, Doctor Eck, one of their chief advisers, publicly +declared in the presence of our people that if the Emperor had followed +the resolution made at Bononia, and, immediately on entering Germany, +had courageously attacked the Lutherans with the sword, and beheaded one +after another, the matter would have been easily settled. But all this +was prevented when he permitted the Elector of Saxony to speak and be +heard through his chancellor." (St. L. 16, 1636.) + +40. Emperor Employs Mildness. + +While a number of the Catholic estates, incited by the theologians, were +also in favor of immediately resorting to brutal force, the Emperor, for +political reasons, considered it more advisable to employ kindness. +Lauding the extreme affability and leniency of Charles, Melanchthon +wrote to Luther, January 25: "The Emperor greets our Prince very kindly; +and I would that our people, in turn, were more complaisant towards him. +I would ask you to admonish our Junior Prince by letter in this matter. +The Emperor's court has no one milder than himself. All others harbor a +most cruel hatred against us. _Caesar satis benigne salutat nostrum +principem; ac velim vicissim nostros erga ipsum officiosiores esse. Ea +de re utinam iuniorem principem nostrum litteris admonueris. Nihil ipso +Caesare mitius habet ipsius aula. Reliquii omnes crudelissime nos +oderunt_." (_C. R._ 2, 125.) + +The reading of the Augustana strengthened this friendly attitude of +Charles. Both its content and its conciliatory tone, which was not at +all in harmony with the picture of the Lutherans as sketched by Eck, +caused him to be more kindly disposed toward Protestantism, and +nourished his hope that religious peace might be attained by peaceable +means. Other Catholic dignitaries and princes had been impressed in the +same manner. July 6 Luther wrote to Hausmann: "Many bishops are inclined +to peace and despise the sophists, Eck and Faber. One bishop [Stadion of +Augsburg] is said to have declared in a private conversation, 'This [the +Confession of the Lutherans] is the pure truth, we cannot deny it,' The +Bishop of Mainz is being praised very much for his endeavors in the +interest of peace. Likewise Duke Henry of Brunswick who extended a +friendly invitation to Philip to dine with him, and admitted that he was +not able to disprove the articles treating of both kinds, the marriage +of priests, and the distinction of meats. Our men boast that, of the +entire Diet, no one is milder than the Emperor himself. Such is the +beginning. The Emperor treats our Elector not only graciously, but most +respectfully. So Philip writes. It is remarkable how all are aglow with +love and good will toward the Emperor. It may happen, if God so wills, +that, as the first Emperor [Charles at Worms] was very hostile, so this +last Emperor [Charles at Augsburg] will be very friendly. Only let us +pray; for the power of prayer is clearly perceived." (St. L. 16, 882.) +The Emperor's optimism was, no doubt, due to the fact that, unlike his +theologians, he did not perceive and realize the impassable gulf fixed +between Lutheranism and the Papacy, as appeared also from the Augustana, +in which, however, the Emperor mistook moderation of tone for surrender +of substance. + +41. Augustana Submitted to Catholic Party. + +Full of hope the Emperor, on June 26, immediately after its public +presentation, submitted the Lutheran Confession to the Catholic estates +for deliberation. These, too, though not in the least inclined to +abandon their arrogant attitude, seem to have given themselves over to +the delusion that the Lutherans could now be brought to recede from +their position. Accordingly, their answer (Responsum) of June 27, +couched in conciliatory language, recommended as "the humble opinion of +the electors and estates that the Imperial Roman Majesty would submit +this great and important matter to a number of highly learned, sensible, +honest, conciliating, and not spiteful persons, to deliberate on, and to +consider, the writing [the Augustana], as far as necessary, enumerating, +on the one hand, whatsoever therein was found to be in conformity and +harmony with the Gospel, God's Word, and the holy Christian Church, but, +on the other hand, refuting with the true foundation of the Gospel and +the Holy Scripture and its doctrine, and bringing into true Christian +understanding, such matters as were found to be against, and out of +harmony with, the Gospel, the Word of God, and the Christian Church." +(Laemmer, 32.) They recommended, however, that in this entire matter +Campegius be consulted, and for that purpose be furnished with a copy of +the Lutheran Confession. + +The Romanists furthermore resolved that the Lutherans be asked whether +they had any additional points to present, and, if so, to do this +immediately. The Lutherans, considering this a snare, declared, on July +10, that in their Confession they had made it a special point to present +the chief articles which it is necessary to believe in order to be +saved, but had not enumerated all abuses, desiring to emphasize such +only as burdened the consciences, lest the paramount questions be +obscured; that they would let this [all that was enumerated in their +Confession] suffice, and have included other points of doctrine and +abuses which were not mentioned, that they would not fail to give an +answer from the Word of God in case their opponents should attack the +Confession or present anything new. (Foerstemann, 2, 16. _C. R._ 2, +181.) No doubt, the Papists felt that the Lutherans really should have +testified directly also against the Papacy, etc. This, too, was the +interpretation which Luther put on the inquiry of the Romanists. July +21, 1530, he wrote to Jonas: But now I see what the questions aimed at +whether you had other articles to present. For Satan still lives and has +noticed very well that your Apology [Augustana] steps softly and has +passed by the articles concerning purgatory, the adoration of the +saints, and especially Antichrist, the Pope. (St. L. 16, 2323, Enders, +8, 133.) + +July 5 the Emperor accepted the opinion of the estates and appointed the +confutators. At the same time he declared with reference to the +Lutherans that he was the judge of the content of their writing +(Augustana); that, in case they should not be satisfied with his +verdict, the final decision must remain with the Council, but that +meanwhile the Edict of Worms would be enforced everywhere. (Laemmer, 34; +_C. R._ 2, 175.) Thus the Emperor, in unmistakable terms, indicated that +the Roman Confutation would bring his own final verdict, which no +further discussions could modify, and that he would compel the Lutherans +by force to observe the Edict of Worms if they refused to submit +willingly. The Catholic estates endorsed the Emperor's declaration, but +added the petition that, after the Confutation had been read, the +Lutherans be asked in all kindness to return and that, in case this +remained fruitless, an attempt be made to bring about an agreement to be +reached by a committee appointed by both parties. Evidently, the estates +as well as the Emperor expected the Lutherans to yield and surrender. +Still, for the present, they were willing and preferred to attain this +end by mild and gentle means. + +42. Rabid Theologians Appointed as Confutators. + +Campegius, to whom the entire matter was entrusted, manipulated things +in such a manner that the result was the very opposite of what the +Emperor and estates had resolved upon. To be sure he made it appear as +though he were entirely neutral leaving everything to the discretion of +the German princes. He knew also how to hide his real sentiments from +the Lutherans. Jonas, for example reports that in his address of June 24 +Campegius had said nothing harsh or hateful (_nihil acerbe, nihil +odiose_) against the Lutherans. Spalatin reports: "Some one besought the +Legate and Cardinal Campegius to assist in obtaining peace for the cause +of the Gospel. To this he responded: Since the papal power was +suspicious to us the matter rested with the Emperor and the German +princes. Whatever they did would stand." (Koellner, _Symbolik,_ 403.) +Thus Campegius created the impression of absolute neutrality while in +reality he was at the same time busy with secret intrigues against the +Lutherans. + +Among the Confutators (Brueck mentions 19, Spalatin 20, others 22, still +others 24), selected by Campegius and appointed by the Emperor, were +such rabid abusive and inveterate enemies of Luther as Eck, Faber, +Cochlaeus, Wimpina, Colli (author of a slanderous tract against Luther's +marriage), Dietenberger etc. The first three are repeatedly designated +as the true authors of the Confutation. In his _Replica ad Bucerum,_ Eck +boasts: "Of all the theologians at Augsburg I was chosen unanimously to +prepare the answer to the Saxon Confession, and I obeyed. _Augustae ab +omnibus theologis fui delectus unanimiter, qui responsum pararem contra +confessionem Saxonicam, et parui._" (Koellner, 407.) July 10 Brenz wrote +to Myconius: "Their leader (_antesignanus_) is that good man Eck. The +rest are 23 in number. One might call them an Iliad [Homer's Iliad +consists of 24 books] of sophists." (_C. R._ 2, 180.) Melanchthon, too, +repeatedly designates Eck and Faber as the authors of the Confutation. +July 14 he wrote to Luther: "With his legerdemain (_commanipulatione_) +Eck presented to the Emperor the Confutation of our Confession." (193.) +August 6: "This Confutation is the most nonsensical of all the +nonsensical books of Faber." (253.) August 8, to Myconius: "Eck and +Faber have worked for six entire weeks in producing the Confutation of +our Confession." (260.) Hence also such allusions in Melanchthon's +letters as "confutatio Fabrilis," "Fabriliter scripta," and in the +Apology: "Nullus Faber Fabrilius cogitare quidquam posset, quam hae +ineptiae excogitatae sunt ad eludendum ius naturae." (366, 10.) Brueck +was right when he said that some of the Confutators were "purely +partial, and altogether suspicious characters." (Koellner, 411.) + +43. Confutation Prepared. + +The resolution which the Catholic estates passed June 27 was to the +effect that the imperial answer to the Lutheran Confession be made "by +sober and not spiteful men of learning." The Emperor's Prolog to the +Confutation, accordingly, designated the confutators as "certain +learned, valiant, sensible, sober, and honorable men of many nations." +(_C. R._ 27, 189.) At the same time they were told to couch their answer +in winning, convincing, moderate, and earnest terms. The imperial +instruction read: "To this end it is indeed good and needful that said +document [the Augustana] be carefully considered and diligently studied +by learned, wise, and sober persons, in order that they [the Lutherans] +be shown in all kindness (_durch gute Wege_) where they err, and be +admonished to return to the good way, likewise, to grant them whatsoever +may be serviceable and adapted to our holy Christian faith; and to set +forth the errors, moderately and politely, with such good and holy +arguments as the matter calls for, to defend and prove everything with +suitable evangelical declarations and admonitions, proceeding from +Christian and neighborly love; and at the same time to mingle therewith +earnestness and severity with such moderation as may be likely to win +the five electors and princes, and not to destroy their hope or to +harden them still more." (Koellner, 403) + +However, inspired by Campegius and goaded on by blind hatred, the +Confutators employed their commission for the purpose of casting +suspicion on the Lutherans and inciting the Emperor against them. They +disregarded the imperial admonition for moderation, and instead of an +objective answer to the Augustana, they produced a long-winded +pasquinade against Luther and the Evangelical preachers, a fit companion +piece to the 404 theses of Eck--a general accusation against the +Protestants, a slanderous anthology of garbled quotations from Luther, +Melanchthon, and other Evangelical preachers. The insinuation lurking in +the document everywhere was that the Confession of the Lutheran princes +was in glaring contradiction to the real doctrine of their pastors. The +sinister scheme of the Romanists, as the Elector in 1536 reminded the +Lutheran theologians, was to bring the princes in opposition to their +preachers. (_C. R._ 3, 148.) The mildness and moderation of the +Augustana, they openly declared, was nothing but subtle cunning of the +smooth and wily Melanchthon, who sought to hide the true state of +affairs. In a book which Cochlaeus published against the Apology in 1534 +he said that the open attacks of Luther were far more tolerable than the +serpentine cunning and hypocrisy of Melanchthon (_instar draconis +insidiantis fraudes intendens_), as manifested in particular by his +demeanor toward Campegius at Augsburg in 1530. (Laemmer, 56; Salig, 1, +376.) Thus the Roman Confutators disregarded their commission to refute +the Augustana, and substituted a caricature of Luther and his doctrines +designed to irritate the Emperor. + +44. A Bulky, Scurrilous Document. + +The Confutation, compiled by Eck and Faber from various contributions of +the Confutators, was ready by the 8th of July, and was presented to the +Emperor on the 12th or 13th. The German translation was prepared by the +Bavarian Chancellor, Leonhard von Eck. July 10 Brenz had written: "It is +reported that they are preparing wagonloads of commentaries against our +Confession." (_C. R._ 2, 180.) Spalatin reports that the Confutators +delivered to the Emperor "a pile of books against Doctor Martin with +most scurrilous titles." The chief document was entitled: "Catholic and, +as it were, Extemporaneous Response concerning Certain Articles +Presented in These Days at the Diet to the Imperial Majesty by the +Illustrious Elector of Saxony and Certain Other Princes as well as Two +Cities. _Catholica et quasi extemporanea Responsio super nonnullis +articulis Caesareae Maiestati hisce diebus in dieta imperiali Augustensi +per Illustrem Electorem Saxoniae et alios quosdam Principes et duas +Civitates oblatis._" It was supplemented by nine other treatises on all +manner of alleged contradictions and heresies of Luther and Anabaptistic +as well as other fruits of his teaching. (Laemmer, 37, _C. R._ 2, 197.) +The pasquinade with its supplements comprised no less than 351 folios, +280 of which were devoted to the answer proper. Cochlaeus also +designates it as "very severe and extended, _acrior extensiorque._" July +14 Melanchthon reported he had heard from friends that the Confutation +was "long and filled with scurrilities." (193. 218.) July 15: "I am +sending you [Luther] a list of the treatises which our opponents have +presented to the Emperor, from which you will see that the Confutation +is supplemented by antilogs and other treatises in order to stir up +against us the most gentle heart of the Emperor. Such are the stratagems +these slanderers (_sycophantae_) devise." (197.) + +The effect of the Confutation on the Emperor, however, was not at all +what its authors desired and anticipated. Disgusted with the miserable +bulky botch, the Emperor convened the estates on July 15, and they +resolved to return the bungling document to the theologians for +revision. Tone, method, plan, everything displeased the Emperor and +estates to such an extent that they expunged almost one-third of it. +Intentionally they ignored the nine supplements and demanded that +reflections on Luther be eliminated from the document entirely; +moreover, that the theologians confine themselves to a refutation of the +Augustana. (Laemmer, 39.) Cochlaeus writes: "Since the Catholic princes +all desired peace and concord, they deemed it necessary to answer in a +milder tone, and to omit all reference to what the [Lutheran] preachers +had formerly taught and written otherwise than their Confession stated." +(Koellner, 406.) In a letter to Brueck he declared that such coarse +extracts and articles [with which the first draft of the Confutation +charged Luther] should not be mentioned in the reply to the Confession, +lest any one be put to shame or defamed publicly. (Laemmer, 39.) + +In his Annals, Spalatin reports: "At first there were perhaps 280 +folios. But His Imperial Majesty is said to have weeded out many folios +and condensed the Confutation to such an extent that not more than +twelve folios remained. This is said to have hurt and angered Eck +severely." (St. L. 21a, 1539.) In a letter to Veit Dietrich, dated July +30, Melanchthon remarks sarcastically: "Recently Eck complained to one +of his friends that the Emperor had deleted almost the third part of his +treatise, and I suspect that the chief ornaments of the book were rooted +out, that is, the glaring lies and the most stupid tricks, _insignia +mendacia et sycophantiae stolidissimae._" (_C. R._ 2, 241.) Brenz +regarded this as an evidence of the extent to which the Augustana had +perturbed the opponents, leaving them utterly helpless. July 15 he wrote +to Isemann: "Meanwhile nothing new has taken place in our midst, except +that I heard that the confession of the sophists was to-day returned by +the Emperor to its authors, the sophists, and this for the reason that +it was so confused, jumbled, vehement, bloodthirsty, and cruel +(_confusa, incordita, violenta, sanguinolenta et crudelis_) that he was +ashamed to have it read before the Imperial Senate.... We experience +daily that we have so bewildered, stunned, and confused them that they +know not where to begin or to end." (198.) "Pussyfooting +(_Leisetreten_)!"--such was the slogan at Augsburg; and in this +Melanchthon was nowhere equaled. Privately also Cochlaeus elaborated a +milder answer to the Lutheran Confession. But even the friends who had +induced him to undertake this task considered his effort too harsh to be +presented to the Emperor. + +The first, rejected draft of the Confutation has been lost, with the +sole exception of the second article, preserved by Cochlaeus. On the +difference between this draft and the one finally adopted, Plitt +comments as follows: "The Confutation as read simply adopted the first +article of the Confession [Augustana] as in complete agreement with the +Roman Church. The original draft also approved this article's appeal to +the Council of Nicaea, but added that now the Emperor should admonish +the confessing estates to accept everything else taught by the Catholic +Church, even though it was not verbally contained in the Scriptures, as, +for example, the Mass, Quadragesimal fasting, the invocation of the +saints, etc.; for the wording of the doctrine of the Trinity could be +found in the Scriptures just as little as that of the points mentioned, +furthermore, that he also call upon them to acknowledge said Synod of +Nicaea in all its parts, hence also to retain the hierarchical degrees +with their powers; that he admonish them to compel their preachers and +teachers to retract everything which they had said and written against +that Synod, especially Luther and Melanchthon, its public defamers. +Refusal of such retraction would invalidate their appeal to that Synod +and prove it to be nothing but a means of deception. Finally they were +to be admonished not to believe their teachers in anything which was +against the declarations of the Church catholic. Such was the form in +which the first draft of the Confutation was couched. Everywhere the +tendency was apparent to magnify the differences, make invidious +inferences, cast suspicion on their opponents, and place them in a bad +light with the Emperor and the majority. This was not the case in the +answer which was finally read." (37.) + +45. Confutation Adopted and Read. + +Only after repeated revisions in which Campegius and the imperial +counselors Valdes and Granvella took part was an agreement reached +regarding the form of the Confutation. July 30 the Emperor received the +fourth revision and on August 1 he presented it to the bishops, princes, +and estates for their opinion. There still remained offensive passages +which had to be eliminated. A fifth revision was necessary before the +approval of the Emperor and the estates was forthcoming. A Prolog and an +Epilog were added according to which the Confutation is drawn up in the +name of the Emperor. Thus the original volume was boiled down to a +comparatively small document. But to speak with Kolde, even in its final +form the Confutation is "still rather an accusation against the +Evangelicals, and an effort to retain all the medieval church customs +than a refutation of the Augustana." (34.) August 6 Jonas wrote to +Luther: "The chaplain [John Henkel] of Queen Maria informed us that they +had five times changed their Confutation, casting and recasting, minting +and reminting it, and still there finally was produced nothing but an +uncouth and confused conglomeration and a hodgepodge, as when a cook +pours different soups into one pot. At first they patched together an +enormous volume, as Faber is known to be a verbose compiler; the book +grew by reason of the multitude of its lies and scurrilities. However, +at the first revision the Emperor eliminated the third part of the book, +so that barely twelve or sixteen folios remained, which were read." (St. +L. 21a, 1539.) + +On August 3, 1530, in the same hall in which the Augsburg Confession had +been submitted thirty-eight days before, in the presence of all the +estates of the empire, the Augustanae Confessionis Responsio, +immediately called Confutatio Pontificia by the Protestants, was read in +the German language by Alexander Schweiss, the Imperial Secretary. +However, the reading, too, proved to be a discreditable affair. Owing to +the great haste in which the German copy had been prepared, an entire +portion had been omitted; the result was that the conclusion of Article +24 as well as Articles 25 and 26 were not presented. Furthermore, +Schweiss, overlooking the lines of erasure, read a part which had been +stricken, containing a very bold deliverance on the sacrifice of the +Mass, in which they labored to prove from the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin +that the word _facite_ in the institution of the Sacrament was +synonymous with "sacrifice." (Kolde, 34.) August 6, 1530, Jonas wrote to +Luther: The opponents presented their Confutation to the Emperor on July +30, and on the 3d of August it was read in the presence of the Emperor +and the estates, together with a Prolog and an Epilog of the Emperor. +"The reading also consumed two entire hours, but with an incredible +aversion, weariness, and disgust on the part of some of the more +sensible hearers, who complained that they were almost driven out by +this utterly cold, threadbare songlet (_cantilena_), being extremely +chagrined that the ears of the Emperor should be molested with such a +lengthy array of worthless things masquerading under the name of +Catholic doctrines." (St. L. 21a, 1539.) August 4 Brenz wrote to +Isemann: "The Emperor maintains neutrality; for he slept both when the +Augustana and when the Confutation was read. _Imperator neutralem sese +gerit; nam cum nostra confessio legeretur obdormivit; rursus cum +adversariorum responsio legeretur, iterum obdormivit in media negotii +actione_." (_C. R._ 2, 245.) + +The Confutation was neither published, nor was a copy of it delivered to +the Lutherans. Apparently the Romanists, notably the Emperor and the +estates, were ashamed of the document. True, Cochlaeus reports that +toward the close of the Diet Charles authorized him and Eck to publish +it, but that this was not done, because Duke George and the Emperor left +Augsburg shortly after, and the printer also moved away. (Koellner, +414.) All subsequent pleading and imploring, however, on the part of Eck +and others, to induce the Emperor to publish the Confutation fell on +deaf ears. Evidently Charles no longer took any interest in a document +that had so shamefully shattered his fond ambition of reconciling the +religious parties. What appeared in print, early in 1531, was merely an +extract prepared by Cochlaeus, entitled, _Summary of the Imperial +Answer,_ etc. The first Latin edition of the Confutation appeared as +late as 1573; the first German edition, in 1808. All previous German +impressions (also the edition of 1584) are translations of the Latin +edition of 1573. (_C. R._ 27, 25. 82.) Concerning the German text of the +Confutation Kolde remarks: "Since changes were made even after it had +been read, we have even less definite knowledge, respecting details, as +to what was read than in the case of the Augustana." (35.) One may +therefore also speak of a Confutatio Variata. The doctrine of the +Confutation does not differ essentially from that which was later on +affirmed by the Council of Trent (1545-1563). However, says Kolde, +"being written by the German leaders of the Catholic party under the eye +of the Papal Legate, and approved by the Emperor, the German bishops, +and the Roman-minded princes, it [the Confutation] must be reckoned +among the historically most important documents of the Roman Catholic +faith of that day." + +46. Confutation Denounced by Lutherans. + +In the opinion of the Lutherans, the final draft of the Confutation, +too, was a miserable makeshift. True, its tone was moderate, and, with +few exceptions, personal defamations were omitted. The arrangement of +subjects was essentially the same as in the Augustana. Still it was not +what it pretended to be. It was no serious attempt at refuting the +Lutheran Confession, but rather an accumulation of Bible-texts, +arbitrarily expounded, in support of false doctrines and scholastic +theories. These efforts led to exegetical feats that made the +Confutators butts of scorn and derision. At any rate, the Lutherans +were charged with having failed, at the public reading, to control their +risibilities sufficiently. Cochlaeus complains: "During the reading many +of the Lutherans indulged in unseemly laughter. _Quando recitata fuit, +multi e Lutheranis inepte cachinnabantur._" (Koellner, 411.) If this did +not actually occur, it was not because the Confutators had given them no +cause for hilarity. + +"Altogether childish and silly"--such is Melanchthon's verdict on many +of their exegetical pranks. August 6 he wrote letter after letter to +Luther, expressing his contempt for the document. "After hearing that +Confutation," says Melanchthon, "all good people seem to have been more +firmly established on our part, and the opponents, if there be among +them some who are more reasonable, are said to be disgusted +(_stomachari_) that such absurdities were forced upon the Emperor, the +best of princes." (_C. R._ 2, 252.) Again: Although the Emperor's +verdict was very stern and terrible, "still, the Confutation being a +composition so very puerile, a most remarkable congratulation followed +its reading. No book of Faber's is so childish but that this Confutation +is still more childish." (253.) In another letter he remarked that, +according to the Confutation, in which the doctrine of justification by +faith was rejected, "the opponents had no knowledge of religion +whatever." (253.) + +August 4 Brenz wrote to Isemann: "All things were written in the fashion +of Cochlaeus, Faber, and Eck. Truly a most stupid comment, so that I am +ashamed of the Roman name, because in their whole Church they can find +no men able to answer us heretics at least in a manner wise and +accomplished. _Sed omnia conscripta erant Cochleice et Fabriliter et +Eccianice. Commentum sane stupidissimum, ut pudeat me Romani nominis, +quod in sua religione non conquirant viros, qui saltem prudenter et +ornate nobis haereticis responderent._" (245.) August 15 Luther +answered: "We received all of your letters, and I praise God that he +made the Confutation of the adversaries so awkward and foolish a thing. +However, courage to the end! _Verum frisch hindurch!_" (Enders, 8, 190.) + +47. Luther on the Confutation. + +Derision increased when the Papists declined to publish the Confutation, +or even to deliver a copy of it to the Lutherans for further inspection. +This refusal was universally interpreted as an admission, on the part of +the Romanists, of a guilty conscience and of being ashamed themselves of +the document. In his _Warning to My Beloved Germans,_ which appeared +early in 1531, Luther wrote as follows: "But I am quite ready to believe +that extraordinary wisdom prompted them [the Papists at Augsburg] to +keep this rebuttal of theirs and that splendid booklet [Confutation] to +themselves, because their own conscience tells them very plainly that it +is a corrupt, wicked, and frigid thing, of which they would have to be +ashamed if it were published and suffered itself to be seen in the light +or to endure an answer. For I very well know these highly learned +doctors who have cooked and brewed over it for six weeks, though with +the ignorant they may be able to give the matter a good semblance. But +when it is put on paper, it has neither hands nor feet, but lies there +in a disorderly mass, as if a drunkard had spewed it up, as may be seen, +in particular, in the writings of Doctor Schmid and Doctor Eck. For +there is neither rhyme nor rhythm in whatsoever they are compelled to +put into writing. Hence they are more sedulous to shout and prattle. +Thus I have also learned that when our Confession was read, many of our +opponents were astonished and confessed that it was the pure truth, +which they could not refute from the Scriptures. On the other hand, when +their rebuttal was read, they hung their heads, and showed by their +gestures that they considered it a mean and useless makeshift as +compared with our Confession. Our people, however, and many other pious +hearts were greatly delighted and mightily strengthened when they heard +that with all the strength and art which our opponents were then called +upon to display, they were capable of producing nothing but this flimsy +rebuttal, which now, praise God! a woman, a child, a layman, a peasant +are fully able to refute with good arguments taken from the Scriptures, +the Word of Truth. And that is also the true and ultimate reason why +they refused to deliver [to the Lutherans a copy of] their refutation. +Those fugitive evil consciences were filled with horror at themselves, +and dared not await the answer of Truth. And it is quite evident that +they were confident, and that they had the Diet called together in the +conviction that our people would never have the boldness to appear, but +if the Emperor should only be brought to Germany in person, every one +would be frightened and say to them: Mercy, dear lords, what would you +have us do? When they were disappointed in this, and the Elector of +Saxony was the very first to appear on the scene, good Lord, how their +breeches began to--! How all their confidence was confounded! What +gathering together, secret consultations, and whisperings resulted! ... +The final sum and substance of it all was to devise ways and means +(since our men were the first joyously and cheerfully to appear) how to +keep them from being heard [block the reading of the Augustana]. When +also this scheme of theirs was defeated, they finally succeeded in +gaining the glory that they did not dare to hand over their futile +rebuttal nor to give us an opportunity to reply to it! ... But some one +might say: The Emperor was willing to deliver the answer to our party +provided they would promise not to have it published nor its contents +divulged. That is true, for such a pledge was expected of our men. Here, +however, every one may grasp and feel (even though he is able neither to +see nor hear) what manner of people they are who will not and dare not +permit their matter to come to the light. If it is so precious a thing +and so well founded in the Scriptures as they bellow and boast, why, +then, does it shun the light? What benefit can there be in hiding from +us and every one else such public matters as must nevertheless be taught +and held among them? But if it is unfounded and futile, why, then, did +they in the first resolution [of the Diet], have the Elector of +Brandenburg proclaim and publish in writing that our Confession had been +refuted [by the Confutation] with the Scriptures and stanch arguments? +If that were true, and if their own consciences did not give them the +lie, they would not merely have allowed such precious and well-founded +Refutation to be read, but would have furnished us with a written copy, +saying: There you have it, we defy any one to answer it! as we did and +still do with our Confession. ... What the Elector of Brandenburg said +in the resolution [read at the Diet], that our Confession was refuted +with the Scriptures and with sound arguments, is not the truth, but a +lie. ... For this well-founded refutation [Confutation] has as yet not +come to light, but is perhaps sleeping with the old Tannhaeuser on Mount +Venus (_Venusberg_)." (St. L. 15, 1635.) + + +VI. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession. + +48. Emperor Demands Adoption of Confutation. + +The Confutation was written in the name of the Emperor. This is +indicated by the title: "Roman Imperial Confutation, +_Roemisch-Kaiserliche Konfutation._" (_C. R._ 21, 189.) And according to +his declaration of July 5, demanding that the Lutherans acknowledge him +as judge, the Emperor, immediately before the reading, announced: The +Confutation contained his faith and his verdict on the Confession of the +Lutherans; he demanded that they accept it; should they refuse to do so, +he would prove himself the warden and protector of the Church. In the +Epilog the Emperor gave expression to the following thoughts: From this +Confutation he saw that the Evangelicals "in many articles agree with +the Universal and also the Roman Church, and reject and condemn many +wicked teachings current among the common people of the German nation." +He therefore did not doubt that, having heard his answer to their +Confession, they would square themselves also in the remaining points, +and return to what, by common consent, had hitherto been held by all +true believers. Should they fail to heed his admonition, they must +consider that he would be compelled to reveal and demean himself in this +matter in such manner as "by reason of his office, according to his +conscience, behooved the supreme warden and protector of the Holy +Christian Church." (27, 228.) Immediately after the reading, Frederick, +Duke of the Palatinate, declared in the name of the Emperor that the +Confutation was the Emperor's answer to the Lutherans, the verdict he +rendered against their Confession; and they were now called upon to +relinquish the articles of their Confession that were refuted in the +Confutation, and to return to the Roman Church in unity of faith. (See +the reports of Brenz, Melanchthon, and the delegates from Nuernberg, _C. +R._ 2, 245. 250. 253.) Thus the Emperor, who had promised to have the +deliberations carried on in love and kindness, demanded blind +submission, and closed his demand with a threat. His manifesto was +Protestant; his actions remained Papistical. In the estimation of the +Romanists, the Emperor, by condescending to an extended reply to the +Lutheran Confession, had done more than his duty, and much more than +they had considered expedient. Now they rejoiced, believing that +everything they wished for had been accomplished, and that there was no +other way open for the Lutherans than to submit, voluntarily or by +compulsion. + +Naturally the attitude of the Emperor was a great disappointment to the +Lutherans, and it caused much alarm and fear among them. From the very +beginning they had declared themselves ready in the interest of peace, +to do whatever they could "with God and conscience." And this remained +their position to the very last. They dreaded war, and were determined +to leave no stone unturned towards avoiding this calamity. In this +interest even Philip of Hesse was prepared to go to the very limits of +possibility. Melanchthon wrote: "The Landgrave deports himself with much +restraint. He has openly declared to me that in order to preserve peace, +he would accept even sterner conditions, as long as he did not thereby +disgrace the Gospel." (_C. R._ 2, 254.) But a denial of God, conscience, +and the Gospel was precisely what the Emperor expected. Hence the +Lutherans refer to his demands as cruel, impossible of fulfilment, and +as a breach of promise. Outraged by the Emperor's procedure, and fearing +for his own safety, the Landgrave secretly left the Diet on August 6. +War seemed inevitable to many. The reading of the Confutation had +shattered the last hopes of the Lutherans for a peaceful settlement. +They said so to each other, and wrote it to those at home, though not +all of them in the lachrymose tone of the vacillating Melanchthon, who, +filled with a thousand fears was temporarily more qualified for +depriving others of their courage than for inspiring courage. (Plitt, +24.) + +49. Sustained by Luther. + +In these days of severe trials and sore distress the Lutherans were +sustained by the comforting letters of Luther and the bracing +consciousness that it was the divine truth itself which they advocated. +And the reading of the Confutation had marvelously strengthened this +conviction. Brueck reports an eyewitness of the reading of the Augustana +as saying: "The greater portion among them [the Papists] is not so +ignorant as not to have seen long ago that they are in error." (Plitt, +18.) Because of this conviction there was, as Melanchthon reported, a +"marvelous congratulation" among the Lutherans after the reading of the +Confutation. "We stand for the divine truth, which God cannot but lead +to victory, while our opponents are condemned by their own consciences," +--such was the buoying conviction of the Lutherans. And in this the +powerful letters of Luther strengthened the confessors at Augsburg. He +wrote: "This is the nature of our Christian doctrine, that it must be +held and grasped as certain and that every one must think and be +convinced: The doctrine is true and sure indeed and cannot fail. But +whoever falls to reasoning and begins to waver within himself, saying: +My dear friend, do you believe that it is true, etc.? such a heart will +never be a true Christian." (Plitt, 12.) + +Concerning the spiritual support which the confessors at Augsburg, +notably Melanchthon, received from Luther, Plitt remarks: "What Luther +did during his solitary stay in the Castle at Coburg cannot be rated +high enough. His ideal deportment during these days, so trying for the +Church, is an example which at all times Evangelical Christians may look +up to, in order to learn from him and to emulate him. What he wrote to +his followers in order to comfort and encourage them, can and must at +all times refresh and buoy up those who are concerned about the course +of the Church." (24.) June 30 Veit Dietrich who shared Luther's solitude +at Coburg, wrote to Melanchthon: "My dear Philip, you do not know how +concerned I am for your welfare, and I beseech you for Christ's sake not +to regard as vain the Doctor's [Luther's] letters to you. I cannot +sufficiently admire that man's unique constancy, joy, confidence, and +hope in these days of most sore distress. And daily he nourishes them by +diligent contemplation of the Word of God. Not a day passes in which he +does not spend in prayer at least three hours, such as are most precious +for study. On one occasion I chanced to hear him pray. Good Lord, what a +spirit, what faith spoke out of his words! He prayed with such reverence +that one could see he was speaking with God, and withal with such faith +and such confidence as is shown by one who is speaking with his father +and friend. I know, said he, that Thou art our Father and our God. +Therefore I am certain that Thou wilt confound those who persecute Thy +children. If Thou dost not do it, the danger is Thine as well as ours. +For the entire matter is Thine own. We were compelled to take hold of +it; mayest Thou therefore also protect it, etc. Standing at a distance, +I heard him praying in this manner with a loud voice. Then my heart, +too, burned mightily within me, when he spoke so familiarly, so +earnestly, and reverently with God, and in his prayer insisted on the +promises in the Psalms, as one who was certain that everything he prayed +for would be done. Hence I do not doubt that his prayer will prove a +great help in the desperately bad affair of this Diet. And you, my +teacher, would do far better to imitate our father, the Doctor, also in +this point. For with your miserable cares and your weakling tears you +will accomplish nothing, but prepare a sad destruction for yourself and +us all, who take pleasure in, and are benefited by nothing more than +your welfare." (_C. R._ 2, 158f.; St. L. 15, 929f.) + +50. Copy of Confutation Refused to Lutherans. + +Since the Confutation, in the manner indicated, had been presented as +the Emperor's final verdict upon the Augsburg Confession the Lutherans +were compelled to declare themselves. Accordingly, Chancellor Brueck at +once responded to the demand for submission made through the Palatinate +after the reading of the Confutation, saying: The importance of this +matter, which concerned their salvation, required that the Confutation +be delivered to the Lutherans for careful inspection and examination to +enable them to arrive at a decision in the matter. The delegates from +Nuernberg reported, in substance: After the Confutation was read, Doctor +Brueck answered: Whereas, according to their Confession, the Lutherans +were willing to do and yield everything that could be so done with a +good conscience, whereas, furthermore, according to the Confutation, +some of their [the Lutherans'] articles were approved, others entirely +rejected, still others partly admitted to be right and partly +repudiated; and whereas the Confutation was a somewhat lengthy document: +therefore the Electors, princes, and cities deemed it necessary to scan +these articles more closely, the more so, because many writings were +adduced in them that made it necessary to show to what intent, and if at +all they were rightly quoted, and accordingly requested the Emperor, +since he had promised to hear both parties, to submit the Confutation +for their inspection. The Emperor answered: "As it was now late and +grown dark, and since the matter was important, he would consider their +request and reply to it later." Hereupon, according to the Nuernberg +delegates, "the chancellor pleaded again and most earnestly that His +Imperial Majesty would consider this important and great affair as a +gracious and Christian emperor ought to do, and not deny their prayer +and petition, but deliver to them the document which had been read." +(_C. R._ 2, 251.) + +Now, although the Romanists were in no way minded and disposed to submit +the Confutation to the Lutherans, they nevertheless did not consider it +wise to refuse their petition outright and bluntly; for they realized +that this would redound to the glory neither of themselves nor of their +document. The fanatical theologians, putting little faith in that sorry +fabrication of their own, and shunning the light, at first succeeded in +having a resolution passed declaring the entire matter settled with the +mere reading. However in order to save their faces and to avoid the +appearance of having refused the Confutation as well as "the scorn and +ridicule on that account" (as the Emperor naively put it), and "lest any +one say that His Imperial Majesty had not, in accordance with his +manifesto, first dealt kindly with" the Lutherans, the estates resolved +on August 4 to grant their request. At the same time, however, they +added conditions which the Lutherans regarded as dangerous, insinuating +and impossible, hence rendering the Catholic offer illusory and +unacceptable. + +August 5 the Emperor communicated the resolutions adopted by the +Catholic estates to the Lutherans. According to a report of the +Nuernberg delegates the negotiations proceeded as follows: The Emperor +declared that the Confutation would be forwarded to the Lutherans, but +with the understanding that they must come to an agreement with the +Catholic princes and estates; furthermore that they spare His Imperial +Majesty with their refutations and make no further reply and, above all, +that they keep this and other writings to themselves, nor let them pass +out of their hands, for instance, by printing them or in any other way. +Hereupon Brueck, in the name of the Lutherans, thanked the Emperor, at +the same time voicing the request "that, considering their dire +necessity, His Imperial Majesty would permit his Elector and princes to +make answer to the Confutation." Duke Frederick responded: The Emperor +was inclined to grant them permission to reply, but desired the answer +to be "as profitable and brief as possible," also expected them to come +to an agreement with the Catholics, and finally required a solemn +promise that they would not permit the document to pass out of their +hands. Brueck answered guardedly: The Lutherans would gladly come to an +agreement "as far as it was possible for them to do so with God and +their conscience;" and as to their answer and the preservation of the +document, they would be found "irreprehensible." The Emperor now +declared: "The document should be delivered to the Lutherans in case +they would promise to keep it to themselves and not allow it to fall +into other hands; otherwise His Imperial Majesty was not minded to +confer with them any longer." Brueck asked for time to consider the +matter, and was given till evening. In his response he declined the +Emperor's offer, at the same time indicating that an answer to the +Confutation would be forthcoming nevertheless. The Lutherans, he said, +felt constrained to relinquish their petition, because the condition +that the document be kept in their hands had been stressed in such a +manner that they could not but fear the worst interpretation if it would +nevertheless leak out without their knowledge and consent; still, they +offered to answer the Confutation, since they had noted the most +important points while it was read; in this case, however, they asked +that it be not charged to them if anything should be overlooked; at the +same time they besought the Emperor to consider this action of theirs as +compelled by dire necessity, and in no other light. (_C. R._ 2, 255ff.) +In the Preface to the Apology, Melanchthon says: "This [a copy of the +Confutation] our princes could not obtain, except on the most perilous +conditions, which it was impossible for them to accept." (99.) + +51. Lutherans on Roman Duplicity and Perfidy. + +The duplicity and perfidy of the Emperor and the Romanists in their +dealings with the Lutherans was characterized by Chancellor Brueck as +follows: "The tactics of the opponents in offering a copy [of the +Confutation] were those of the fox when he invited the stork to be his +guest and served him food in a broad, shallow pan, so that he could not +take the food with his long bill. In like manner they treated the five +electors and princes, as well as the related cities, when they offered +to accede to their request and submit a copy to them, but upon +conditions which they could not accept without greatly violating their +honor." (Koellner, 419.) Over against the Emperor's demand of blind +submission and his threat of violence, the Lutherans appealed to their +pure Confession, based on the Holy Scriptures, to their good conscience, +bound in the Word of God, and to the plain wording of the imperial +manifesto, which had promised discussions in love and kindness. In an +Answer of August 9, _e.g._, they declared: The articles of the Augustana +which we have presented are drawn from the Scriptures, and "it is +impossible for us to relinquish them with a good conscience and peace of +heart, unless we find a refutation founded on God's Word and truth, on +which we may rest our conscience in peace and certainty." (Foerstemann, +2, 185.) In the Preface to the Apology, Melanchthon comments as follows +on the demand of the Romanists: "Afterwards, negotiations for peace were +begun, in which it was apparent that our princes declined no burden, +however grievous, which could be assumed without offense to conscience. +But the adversaries obstinately demanded that we should approve certain +manifest abuses and errors; and as we could not do this, His Imperial +Majesty again demanded that our princes should assent to the +Confutation. This our princes refused to do. For how could they, in a +matter pertaining to religion, assent to a writing which they had not +been able to examine, especially as they had heard that some articles +were condemned in which it was impossible for them, without grievous +sin, to approve the opinions of the adversaries?" (99.) + +Self-evidently the Lutherans also protested publicly that the procedure +of the Romanists was in contravention of the proclamation of the Emperor +as well as of his declaration on June 20, according to which both +parties were to deliver their opinions in writing for the purpose of +mutual friendly discussion. In the Answer of August 9, referred to above +they said: "We understand His Imperial Majesty's answer to mean nothing +else than that, after each party had presented its meaning and opinion, +such should here be discussed among us in love and kindness." Hence, +they said, it was in violation of this agreement to withhold the +Confutation, lest it be answered. (Foerstemann, 2, 184f.) Luther +expressed the same conviction, saying: "All the world was awaiting a +gracious diet, as the manifesto proclaimed and pretended, and yet, sad +to say, it was not so conducted." (St. L. 16, 1636.) + +That the Romanists themselves fully realized that the charges of the +Lutherans were well founded, appears from the subterfuges to which they +resorted in order to justify their violence and duplicity, notably their +refusal to let them examine the Confutation. In a declaration of August +11 they stated "that the imperial laws expressly forbid, on pain of loss +of life and limb, to dispute or argue (_gruppeln_) about the articles of +faith in any manner whatever," and that in the past the edicts of the +Emperor in this matter of faith had been despised, scorned, ridiculed, +and derided by the Lutherans. (Foerstemann, 2, 190.) Such were the +miserable arguments with which the Romanists defended their treachery. +Luther certainly hit the nail on the head when he wrote that the +Romanists refused to deliver the Confutation "because their consciences +felt very well that it was a corrupt, futile, and frigid affair, of +which they would have to be ashamed in case it should become public and +show itself in the light, or endure an answer." (St. L. 16, 1635.) + +52. Original Draft of Apology. + +August 5 the Lutherans had declared to the Emperor that they would not +remain indebted for an answer to the Confutation, even though a copy of +it was refused them. They knew the cunning Romanists, and had prepared +for every emergency. Melanchthon, who, according to a letter addressed +to Luther (_C. R._ 2, 254), was not present at the reading of the +Confutation, writes in the Preface to the Apology: "During the reading +some of us had taken down the chief points of the topics and arguments." +(101.) Among these was Camerarius. August 4 the Nuernberg delegates +reported to their senate that the Confutation comprising more than fifty +pages, had been publicly read on August 3, at 2 P.M., and that the +Lutherans had John Kammermeister "record the substance of all the +articles; this he has diligently done in shorthand on his tablet as far +as he was able, and more than all of us were able to understand and +remember, as Your Excellency may perceive from the enclosed copy." (_C. +R._ 2, 250.) + +On the basis of these notes the council of Nuernberg had a theological +and a legal opinion drawn up, and a copy of the former (Osiander's +refutation of the Confutation) was delivered to Melanchthon on August 18 +by the Nuernberg delegates. Osiander specially stressed the point that +the demand of the Romanists to submit to the decision of the Church in +matters of faith must be rejected, that, on the contrary, everything +must be subordinated to the Holy Scriptures. (Plitt, 87.) In drawing up +the Apology, however, Melanchthon made little, if any, use of Osiander's +work. Such, at least, is the inference Kolde draws from Melanchthon's +words to Camerarius, September 20: "Your citizens [of Nuernberg] have +sent us a book on the same subject [answer to the Confutation], which I +hope before long to discuss with you orally." (383.) There can be little +doubt that Melanchthon privately entertained the idea of writing the +Apology immediately after the reading of the Confutation. The +commission, however, to do this was not given until later; and most of +the work was probably done in September. For August 19 the Nuernberg +delegates reported that their "opinion" had been given to Melanchthon, +who as yet, however, had not received orders to write anything in reply +to the Confutation, "unless he is privately engaged in such +undertaking." (_C. R._ 2, 289.) + +At Augsburg the execution of the resolution to frame an answer to the +Confutation had been sidetracked for the time being, by the peace +parleys between the Lutherans and the Catholics, which began soon after +the Confutation was read and continued through August. But when these +miscarried, the Evangelical estates, on the 29th of August, took +official action regarding the preparation of an Apology. Of the meeting +in which the matter was discussed the Nuernberg delegates report: "It +was furthermore resolved: 'Since we have recently declared before His +Majesty that, in case His Majesty refused to deliver to us the +Confutation of our Confession without restrictions [the aforementioned +conditions] we nevertheless could not refrain from writing a reply to +it, as far as the articles had been noted down during the reading, and +from delivering it to His Imperial Majesty: we therefore ought to +prepare ourselves in this matter, in order to make use of it in case of +necessity,' In this we, the delegates of the cities, also acquiesced. +... I, Baumgaertner, also said: In case such a work as was under +discussion should be drawn up, we had some opinions [the theological and +the legal opinions of the city of Nuernberg], which might be of service +in this matter, and which we would gladly submit. Hereupon it was +ordered that Dr. Brueck and other Saxons be commissioned to draft the +writing." (321.) The assumption, therefore, that Melanchthon was the +sole author of the first draft of the Apology is erroneous. In the +Preface to the Apology he writes: "They had, however, commanded me _and +some others_ to prepare an Apology of the Confession, in which the +reasons why we could not accept the Confutation should be set forth to +His Imperial Majesty, and the objections made by the adversaries be +refuted." (101.) In the same Preface he says that he had originally +drawn up the Apology at Augsburg, "_taking counsel_ with others." (101.) +However, we do not know who, besides Brueck, these "others" were. + +53. Apology Presented, But Acceptance Refused. + +By September 20 Melanchthon had finished his work. For on the same day +he wrote to Camerarius: "The verdict [decision of the Diet] on our +affair has not yet been rendered. ... Our Prince thought of leaving +yesterday, and again to-day. The Emperor however, kept him here by the +promise that he would render his decision within three days. ... Owing +to the statements of evil-minded people, I am now remaining at home and +have in these days written the Apology of our Confession, which, if +necessary, shall also be delivered; for it will be opposed to the +Confutation of the other party, which you heard when it was read. I +have written it sharply and more vehemently" (than the Confession). (_C. +R._ 2, 383.) + +Before long, a good opportunity also for delivering this Apology +presented itself. It was at the meeting of the Diet on September 22 when +the draft of a final resolution (_Abschied_) was read to the estates. +According to this decision, the Emperor offered to give the Evangelicals +time till April 15, 1531, to consider whether or not they would unite +with the Christian Church, the Holy Father, and His Majesty "in the +other articles," provided however, that in the mean time nothing be +printed and absolutely no further innovations be made. The imperial +decision also declared emphatically that the Lutheran Confession had +been refuted by the Confutation. The verdict claimed the Emperor "had, +in the presence of the other electors, princes, and estates of the holy +empire, graciously heard the opinion and confession [of the Evangelical +princes], had given it due and thorough consideration, and had refuted +and disproved it with sound arguments from the holy gospels and the +Scriptures." (Foerstemann, 2, 475.) + +Self-evidently, the Lutherans could not let this Roman boast pass by in +silence. Accordingly, in the name of the Elector, Brueck arose to voice +their objections, and, while apologizing for its deficiencies, presented +the Apology. In his protest, Brueck dwelt especially on the offensive +words of the imperial decision which claimed that the Augustana was +refuted by the Confutation. He called attention to the fact that the +Lutherans had been offered a copy only under impossible conditions; that +they had nevertheless, on the basis of what was heard during the +reading, drawn up a "counter-plea, or reply;" this he was now holding in +his hands, and he requested that it be read publicly; from it every one +might learn "with what strong, irrefutable reasons of Holy Scripture" +the Augustana was fortified. (Foerstemann, 2, 479.) Duke Frederick took +the Apology, but returned it on signal from the Emperor, into whose ear +King Ferdinand had been whispering. Sleidan relates: "Cumque hucusce +[tr. note: sic] perventum esset, Pontanus apologiam Caesari defert; eam +ubi Fridericus Palatinus accepit, subnuente Caesare, cui Ferdinandus +aliquid ad aures insusurraverat, reddit." A similar report is found in +the annals of Spalatin. (Koellner, 422.) + +By refusing to accept the Apology, the Emperor and the Romanists _de +facto_ broke off negotiations with the Lutherans; and the breach +remained, and became permanent. September 23 the Elector left Augsburg. +By the time the second imperial decision was rendered, November 19, all +the Evangelical princes had left the Diet. The second verdict dictated +by the intolerant spirit of the papal theologians, was more vehement +than the first. Confusing Lutherans, Zwinglians, and Anabaptists, +Charles emphasized the execution of the Edict of Worms; sanctioned all +dogmas and abuses which the Evangelicals had attacked; confirmed the +spiritual jurisdiction of the bishops; demanded the restoration of all +abolished rites identified himself with the Confutation; and repeated +the assertion that the Lutheran Confession had been refuted from the +Scriptures. (Foerstemann, 2, 839f.; Laemmer, 49.) + +In his _Gloss on the Alleged Imperial Edict_ of 1531, Luther dilates as +follows on the Roman assertion of having refuted the Augustana from the +Scriptures: "In the first place concerning their boasting that our +Confession was refuted from the holy gospels, this is so manifest a lie +that they themselves well know it to be an abominable falsehood. With +this rouge they wanted to tint their faces and to defame us, since they +noticed very well that their affair was leaky, leprous, and filthy, and +despite such deficiency nevertheless was to be honored. Their heart +thought: Ours is an evil cause, this we know very well, but we shall say +the Lutherans were refuted; that's enough. Who will compel us to prove +such a false statement? For if they had not felt that their boasting was +lying, pure and simple, they would not only gladly, and without offering +any objections, have surrendered their refutation as was so earnestly +desired, but would also have made use of all printing-presses to publish +it, and heralded it with all trumpets and drums, so that such defiance +would have arisen that the very sun would not have been able to shine on +account of it. But now, since they so shamefully withheld their answer +and still more shamefully hide and secrete it, by this action their evil +conscience bears witness to the fact that they lie like reprobates when +they boast that our Confession has been refuted, and that by such lies +they seek not the truth, but our dishonor and a cover for their shame." +(St. L. 16, 1668.) + +54. Apology Recast by Melanchthon. + +Owing to the fact that Melanchthon, immediately after the presentation +of the Apology, resolved to revise and recast it, the original draft was +forced into the background. It remained unknown for a long time and was +published for the first time forty-seven years after the Diet. Chytraeus +embodied it in his _Historia Augustanae Confessionis,_ 1578, with the +caption, "_Prima Delineatio Caesari Carolo Die 22. Septembris Oblata, +sed Non Recepta_--The First Draft which was Offered to Emperor Charles +on September 22, but Not Accepted." The German and Latin texts are found +in _Corp. Ref._ 27, 275ff. and 322. Following is the Latin title: +"Apologia Confessionis, 1530. Ps. 119: Principes persecuti sunt me +gratis." The German title runs: "Antwort der Widerlegung auf unser +Bekenntnis uebergeben." (245. 378.) Plitt says of the original Apology: +"It was well qualified to be presented to the Emperor, and, in form +also, far surpassed the Confutation of the Papists. Still the +Evangelical Church suffered no harm when the Emperor declined to accept +it. The opportunity for revision which was thus offered and fully +exploited by Melanchthon, who was never able to satisfy himself, +resulted in a great improvement. The Apology as it appeared the +following year is much riper, sharper in its rebuttal, and stronger in +its argumentation." (88.) + +The draft of the Apology presented at Augsburg concluded as follows: "If +the Confutation had been forwarded to us for inspection we would perhaps +have been able to give a more adequate answer on these and additional +points." (_C. R._ 27, 378.) When, therefore, the Emperor had refused to +accept it, Melanchthon determined to revise, reenforce, and augment the +document. September 23 he left Augsburg in the company of the Elector; +and already while _en route_ he began the work. In his _History of the +Augsburg Confession,_ 1730, Salig remarks: "Still the loss of the first +copy [of the Apology] does not seem to be so great, since we now possess +the Apology in a more carefully elaborated form. For while the Diet was +still in session, and also after the theologians had returned home, +Melanchthon was constantly engaged upon it, casting it into an entirely +different mold, and making it much more extensive than it was before. +When the theologians had returned to Saxony from the Diet, Melanchthon, +in Spalatin's house at Altenburg, even worked at it on Sunday, so that +Luther plucked the pen from his hand, saying that on this day he must +rest from such work." (1, 377.) However, since the first draft was +presented to the Emperor on September 22, and Melanchthon, together with +the Elector, left Augsburg on the following day, it is evident that he +could not have busied himself very much with the revision of the Apology +at Augsburg. And that Luther, in the Altenburg incident, should have put +especial stress on the Sunday, for this neither Salig nor those who +follow him (_e.g._, Schaff, _Creeds,_ 1, 243) offer any evidence. In his +_Seventeen Sermons on the Life of Luther,_ Mathesius gives the following +version of the incident: "When Luther, returning home with his +companions from Coburg, was visiting Spalatin, and Philip, constantly +engrossed in thoughts concerning the Apology, was writing during the +meal, he arose and took the pen away from him [saying]: 'God can be +honored not alone by work, but also by rest and recreation; for that +reason He has given the Third Commandment and commanded the Sabbath.'" +(243.) This report of Mathesius certainly offers no ground for a +Puritanic explanation of the incident in Spalatin's home. + +Originally Melanchthon does not seem to have contemplated a revision on +a very large scale. In the Preface, which was printed first, he merely +remarks that he made "some additions" (_quaedam adieci_) to the Apology +drawn up at Augsburg. (101.) Evidently, at the time when he wrote this, +he had no estimate of the proportions the work, which grew under his +hands, would finally assume. Before long also he obtained a complete +copy of the Confutation. It was probably sent to him from Nuernberg, +whose delegate had been able to send a copy home on August 28, 1530. +(Kolde, 37.) Says Melanchthon in the Preface to the Apology: "I have +recently seen the Confutation, and have noticed how cunningly and +slanderously it was written, so that on some points it could deceive +even the cautious." (101.) Eck clamored that the Confutation "had gotten +into Melanchthon's hands in a furtive and fraudulent manner, _furtim et +fraudulenter ad manus Melanchthonis eandem pervenisse._" (Koellner, +426.) The possession of the document enabled Melanchthon to deal in a +reliable manner with all questions involved, and spurred him on to do +most careful and thorough work. + +55. Completion of Apology Delayed. + +Owing to the fact that Melanchthon spent much more time and labor on the +work than he had anticipated and originally planned, the publication of +the Apology was unexpectedly delayed. October 1, 1530, Melanchthon wrote +to Camerarius: "Concerning the word 'liturgy' [in the Apology] I ask you +again and again carefully to search out for me its etymology as well as +examples of its meaning." November 12, to Dietrich: "I shall describe +them [the forms of the Greek mass] to Osiander as soon as I have +completed the Apology, which I am now having printed and am endeavoring +to polish. In it I shall fully explain the most important controversies, +which, I hope, will prove profitable." (_C. R._ 2, 438.) In a similar +strain he wrote to Camerarius, November 18. (440.) January 1, 1531, +again to Camerarius: "In the Apology I experience much trouble with the +article of Justification, which I seek to explain profitably." (470.) +February, 1531, to Brenz: "I am at work on the Apology. It will appear +considerably augmented and better founded. For this article, in which we +teach that men are justified by faith and not by love, is treated +exhaustively." (484.) March 7, to Camerarius: "My Apology is not yet +completed. It grows in the writing." (486.) Likewise in March, to +Baumgaertner: "I have not yet completed the Apology, as I was hindered, +not only by illness, but also by many other matters, which interrupted +me, concerning the syncretism Bucer is stirring up." (485.) March 17, to +Camerarius: "My Apology is making slower progress than the matter calls +for." (488.) Toward the end of March, to Baumgaertner: "The Apology is +still in press; for I am revising it entirely and extending it." (492.) +April 7, to Jonas: "In the Apology I have completed the article on +Marriage, in which the opponents are charged with many real crimes." +(493.) April 8, to Brenz: "We have almost finished the Apology. I hope +it will please you and other good people." (494.) April 11, to +Camerarius: "My Apology will appear one of these days. I shall also see +that you receive it. At times I have spoken somewhat vehemently, as I +see that the opponents despise every mention of peace." (495.) Finally, +in the middle of April, to Bucer: "My Apology has appeared, in which, in +my opinion, I have treated the articles of Justification, Repentance, +and several others in such a manner that our opponents will find +themselves heavily burdened. I have said little of the Eucharist." +(498.) + +These letters show that Melanchthon took particular pains with the +article of Justification, which was expanded more than tenfold. January +31, he was still hard at work on this article. Kolde says: "This was due +to the fact that he suppressed five and one-half sheets [preserved by +Veit Dietrich] treating this subject because they were not satisfactory +to him, and while he at first treated Articles 4 to 6 together, he now +included also Article 20, recasting anew the entire question of the +nature of justification and the relation of faith and good works. +Illness and important business, such as the negotiations with Bucer on +the Lord's Supper, brought new delays. He also found it necessary to be +more explicit than he had contemplated. Thus it came about that the work +could first appear, together with the Augustana, end of April, or, at +the latest, beginning of May." (37) According to the resolution of the +Diet, the Lutherans were to have decided by April 15, 1531, whether they +would accept the Confutation or not. The answer of the Lutherans was the +appearance, on the bookstalls, of the Augustana and the Apology, and a +few days prior, of Luther's "Remarks on the Alleged Imperial Edict, +_Glossen auf das vermeinte kaiserliche Edikt._" + +56. German Translation by Jonas. + +The Apology was written in Latin. The _editio princeps_ in quarto of +1531 contained the German and the Latin texts of the Augsburg +Confession, and the Latin text of the Apology. From the very beginning, +however, a German translation was, if not begun, at least planned. But, +though announced on the title-page of the quarto edition just referred +to, it appeared six months later, in the fall of 1531. It was the work +of Justus Jonas. The title of the edition of 1531 reads: "_Apologie der +Konfession, aus dem Latein verdeutscht durch Justus Jonas, Wittenberg._ +Apology of the Confession done into German from the Latin by Justus +Jonas, Wittenberg." For a time Luther also thought of writing a "German +Apology." April 8, 1531, Melanchthon wrote to Brenz: "_Lutherus nunc +instituit apologiam Germanicam._ Luther is now preparing a German +Apology." (_C. R._ 2, 494. 501.) It is, however, hardly possible that +Luther was contemplating a translation. Koellner comments on +Melanchthon's words: "One can understand them to mean that Luther is +working on the German Apology." _Instituit,_ however, seems to indicate +an independent work rather than a translation. Koestlin is of the +opinion that Luther thought of writing an Apology of his own, because he +was not entirely satisfied with Melanchthon's. (_Martin Luther_ 2, 382.) +However, if this view is correct, it certainly cannot apply to +Melanchthon's revised Apology, to which Luther in 1533 expressly +confessed himself, but to the first draft at Augsburg, in which, _e.g._, +the 10th Article seems to endorse the concomitance doctrine. (_Lehre und +Wehre_ 1918, 385.) At all events, Luther changed his plan when Jonas +began the translation of the new Apology. + +The translation of Jonas is not a literal reproduction of the Latin +original, but a version with numerous independent amplifications. Also +Melanchthon had a share in this work. In a letter of September 26, 1531, +he says: "They are still printing the German Apology, the improvements +of which cost me no little labor." (_C. R._ 2, 542.) The deviations from +the Latin original therefore must perhaps be traced to Melanchthon +rather than to Jonas. Some of them are due to the fact that the +translation was based in part not on the text of the _editio princeps,_ +but on the altered Latin octavo edition, copies of which Melanchthon was +able to send to his friends as early as September 14. See, for example +the 10th Article, where the German text follows the octavo edition in +omitting the quotation from Theophylact. The German text appeared also +in a separate edition, as we learn from the letter of the printer Rhau +to Stephen Roth of November 30, 1531: "I shall send you a German +Apology, most beautifully bound." (Kolde, 39.) German translations +adhering strictly to the text of the _editio princeps_ are of a much +later date. + +57. Alterations of Apology. + +Melanchthon, who was forever changing and improving, naturally could not +leave the Apology as it read in the first edition. This applies to both +the German and the Latin text. He was thinking of the Latin octavo +edition when he wrote to Brenz, June 7, 1531: "The Apology is now being +printed, and I am at pains to make some points in the article of +Justification clearer. It is an extremely great matter, in which we must +proceed carefully that Christ's honor may be magnified." (2, 504.) The +same edition he had in mind when he wrote to Myconius, June 14, 1531: +"My Apology is now in press, and I am endeavoring to present the article +of Justification even more clearly; for there are some things in the +solution of the arguments which are not satisfactory to me." (506.) +Accordingly, this octavo edition, of which Melanchthon was able to send +a copy to Margrave George on September 14, revealed important +alterations: partly improvements, partly expansions, partly deletions. +The changes in the 10th Article, already referred to, especially the +omission of the quotation from Theophylact, attracted most attention. +The succeeding Latin editions likewise revealed minor changes. The +Apology accompanying the Altered Augsburg Confession of 1540, was +designated by Melanchthon himself as "_diligenter recognita,_ diligently +revised." (_C. R._ 26, 357. 419.) + +Concerning the German Apology, Melanchthon wrote to Camerarius on +January 1, 1533: "I have more carefully treated the German Apology and +the article of Justification, and would ask you to examine it. If you +have seen my Romans [Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans], you will +be able to notice how exactly and methodically I am endeavoring to +explain this matter. I also hope that intelligent men will approve it. +For I have done this in order to explain necessary matters and to cut +off all manner of questions, partly false, partly useless." (_C. R._ 2, +624.) About the same time he wrote to Spalatin: "Two articles I have +recast entirely: Of Original Sin and Of Righteousness. I ask you to +examine them, and hope that they will profit pious consciences. For in +my humble opinion I have most clearly presented the doctrine of +Righteousness and ask you to write me your opinion." (625.) Kolde says +of this second revision of the German text of 1533: "This edition, which +Melanchthon described as 'diligently amended,' is much sharper in its +tone against the Romanists than the first and reveals quite extensive +changes. Indeed, entire articles have been remodeled, such as those Of +Justification and Good Works, Of Repentance. Of the Mass, and also the +statements on Christian perfection." (41.) These alterations in the +Latin and German texts of the Apology, however, do not involve changes +in doctrine, at least not in the same degree as in the case of the +Augustana Variata of 1540. Self-evidently, it was the text of the first +edition of the German as well as the Latin Apology that was embodied in +the Book of Concord. + +58. Purpose, Arrangement, and Character of Apology. + +The aim of the Apology was to show why the Lutherans "do not accept the +Confutation," and to puncture the papal boast that the Augustana had +been refuted with the Holy Scriptures. In its Preface we read: +"Afterwards a certain decree was published [by the Emperor], in which +the adversaries boast that they have refuted our Confession from the +Scriptures. You have now, therefore, reader, our Apology, from which you +will understand not only what the adversaries have judged (for we have +reported in good faith), but also that they have condemned several +articles contrary to the manifest Scripture of the Holy Ghost, so far +are they from overthrowing our propositions by means of the Scriptures." +(101.) The Apology is, on the one hand, a refutation of the Confutation +and, on the other hand, a defense and elaboration of the Augustana, +presenting theological proofs for the correctness of its teachings. +Hence constant reference is made to the Augsburg Confession as well as +the Confutation; and scholastic theology is discussed as well. On this +account also the sequence of the articles, on the whole, agrees with +that of the Augustana and the Confutation. However, articles treating of +related doctrines are collected into one, _e.g._, Articles 4, 5, 6, and +20. Articles to which the Romanists assented are but briefly touched +upon. Only a few of them have been elaborated somewhat _e.g._, Of the +Adoration of the Saints, Of Baptism, Of the Lord's Supper, Of +Repentance, Of Civil Government. The fourteen articles, however, which +the Confutation rejected are discussed extensively, and furnished also +with titles, in the _editio princeps_ as well as in the Book of Concord +of 1580 and 1584. In Mueller's edition of the Symbolical Books all +articles of the Apology are for the first time supplied with numbers and +captions corresponding with the Augsburg Confession. + +In the Apology, just as in the Augsburg Confession, everything springs +from, and is regulated by, the fundamental Lutheran principle of Law and +Gospel, sin and grace, faith and justification. Not only is the doctrine +of justification set forth thoroughly and comfortingly in a particular +article, but throughout the discussions it remains the dominant note, +its heavenly strain returning again and again as the _motif_ in the +grand symphony of divine truths--a strain with which the Apology also +breathes, as it were, its last, departing breath. For in its Conclusion +we read: "If all the scandals [which, according to the Papists, resulted +from Luther's teaching] be brought together, still the one article +concerning the remission of sins (that for Christ's sake, through faith, +we freely obtain the remission of sins) brings so much good as to hide +all evils. And this, in the beginning [of the Reformation], gained for +Luther not only our favor, but also that of many who are now contending +against us." (451.) + +In Kolde's opinion, the Apology is a companion volume, as it were, to +Melanchthon's _Loci Communes,_ and a theological dissertation rather +than a confession. However, theological thoroughness and erudition do +not conflict with the nature of a confession as long as it is not mere +cold intellectual reflection and abstraction, but the warm, living, and +immediate language of the believing heart. With all its thoroughness and +erudition the Apology is truly edifying, especially the German version. +One cannot read without being touched in his inmost heart, without +sensing and feeling something of the heart-beat of the Lutheran +confessors. Jacobs, who translated the Apology into English, remarks: +"To one charged with the cure of souls the frequent reading of the +Apology is invaluable; in many (we may say, in most) parts it is a book +of practical religion." (_The Book of Concord_ 2, 41.) The Apology does +not offer all manner of theories of idle minds, but living testimonies +of what faith, while struggling hotly with the devil and languishing in +the fear of death and the terrors of sin and the Law found and +experienced in the sweet Gospel as restored by Luther. In reading the +Apology, one can tell from the words employed how Melanchthon lived, +moved, and fairly reveled in this blessed truth which in opposition to +all heathen work-righteousness teaches terrified hearts to rely solely +and alone on grace. In his _History of Lutheranism_ (2, 206) Seckendorf +declares that no one can be truly called a theologian of our Church who +has not diligently and repeatedly read the Apology or familiarized +himself with it. (Salig, 1, 375.) + +59. Moderate Tone of Apology. + +The tone of the Apology is much sharper than that of the Augsburg +Confession. The situation had changed; hence the manner of dealing with +the opposition also changed. The Romanists had fully revealed themselves +as implacable enemies, who absolutely refused a peace on the basis of +truth and justice. In the Conclusion of the Apology we read: "But as to +the want of unity and dissension in the Church, it is well known how +these matters first happened and who caused the division namely, the +sellers of indulgences, who shamefully preached intolerable lies, and +afterwards condemned Luther for not approving of those lies, and +besides, they again and again excited more controversies, so that Luther +was induced to attack many other errors. But since our opponents would +not tolerate the truth, and dared to promote manifest errors by force it +is easy to judge who is guilty of the schism. Surely, all the world, all +wisdom, all power ought to yield to Christ and his holy Word. But the +devil is the enemy of God, and therefore rouses all his might against +Christ to extinguish and suppress the Word of God. Therefore the devil +with his members, setting himself against the Word of God, is the cause +of the schism and want of unity. For we have most zealously sought +peace, and still most eagerly desire it, provided only we are not forced +to blaspheme and deny Christ. For God, the discerner of all men's +hearts, is our witness that we do not delight and have no joy in this +awful disunion. On the other hand, our adversaries have so far not been +willing to conclude peace without stipulating that we must abandon the +saving doctrine of the forgiveness of sin by Christ without our merit, +though Christ would be most foully blasphemed thereby." (451.) + +Such being the attitude of the Romanists, there was no longer any reason +for Melanchthon to have any special consideration for these implacable +opponents of the Lutherans and hardened enemies of the Gospel, of the +truth, and of religious liberty and peace. Reconciliation with Rome was +out of the question. Hence he could yield more freely to his impulse +here than in the Augustana; for when this Confession was written an +agreement was not considered impossible. In a letter of July 15, 1530, +informing Luther of the pasquinades delivered to the Emperor, +Melanchthon declared: "If an answer will become necessary, I shall +certainly remunerate these wretched, bloody men. _Si continget, ut +respondendum sit, ego profecto remunerabor istos nefarios viros +sanguinum_." (_C. R._ 2, 197.) And when about to conclude the Apology, he +wrote to Brenz, April 8, 1531: "I have entirely laid aside the mildness +which I formerly exercised toward the opponents. Since they will not +employ me as a peacemaker, but would rather have me as their enemy, I +shall do what the matter requires, and faithfully defend our cause." +(494.) But while Melanchthon castigates the papal theologians, he spares +and even defends the Emperor. + +In Luther's _Remarks on the Alleged Imperial Edict,_ of 1531, we read: +"I, Martin Luther, Doctor of the Sacred Scriptures and pastor of the +Christians at Wittenberg, in publishing these Remarks, wish it to be +distinctly understood that anything I am writing in this booklet against +the alleged imperial edict or command is not to be viewed as written +against his Imperial Majesty or any higher power, either of spiritual or +civil estate.... I do not mean the pious Emperor nor the pious lords, +but the traitors and reprobates (be they princes or bishops), and +especially that fellow whom St. Paul calls God's opponent (I should say +God's vicar), the arch-knave, Pope Clement, and his servant Campegius, +and the like, who plan to carry out their desperate, nefarious roguery +under the imperial name, or, as Solomon says, at court." (16, 1666.) +Luther then continues to condemn the Diet in unqualified terms. "What a +disgraceful Diet," says he, "the like of which was never held and never +heard of, and nevermore shall be held or heard of, on account of his +disgraceful action! It cannot but remain an eternal blot on all princes +and the entire empire, and makes all Germans blush before God and all +the world." But he continues exonerating and excusing the Emperor: "Let +no one tremble on account of this edict which they so shamefully invent +and publish in the name of the pious Emperor. And should they not +publish their lies in the name of a pious Emperor, when their entire +blasphemous, abominable affair was begun and maintained for over six +hundred years in the name of God and the Holy Church?" (16, 1634.) + +In a similar manner Melanchthon, too, treats the Emperor. He calls him +"_optimum imperatorem,_" and speaks of "the Emperor's most gentle +disposition, _mansuetissimum Caesaris pectus,_" which Eck and his party +were seeking to incite to bloodshed. (_C. R._ 2, 197.) In the Preface he +says: "And now I have written with the greatest moderation possible; and +if any expression appears too severe, I must say here beforehand that I +am contending with the theologians and monks who wrote the Confutation, +and not with the Emperor or the princes, whom I hold in due esteem." +(101.) In Article 23 Melanchthon even rises to the apostrophe: "And +these their lusts they ask you to defend with your chaste right hand, +Emperor Charles (whom even certain ancient predictions name as the king +of modest face; for the saying appears concerning you: 'One modest in +face shall reign everywhere')." (363.) + +The Confutators, however, the avowed enemies of truth and peace, were +spared no longer. Upon them Melanchthon now pours out the lye of bitter +scorn. He excoriates them as "desperate sophists, who maliciously +interpret the holy Gospel according to their dreams," and as "coarse, +sluggish, inexperienced theologians." He denounces them as men "who for +the greater part do not know whereof they speak," and "who dare to +destroy this doctrine of faith with fire and sword," etc. Occasionally +Melanchthon even loses his dignified composure. Article 6 we read: "Quis +docuit illos asinos hanc dialecticam?" Article 9: "Videant isti asini." +In his book of 1534 against the Apology, Cochlaeus complains that the +youthful Melanchthon called old priests asses, sycophants, windbags, +godless sophists, worthless hypocrites, etc. In the margin he had +written: "Fierce and vicious he is, a barking dog toward those who are +absent, but to those who were present at Augsburg, Philip was more +gentle than a pup. _Ferox et mordax est, latrator in absentes, +praesentes erat Augustae omni catello blandior Philippus_." (Salig, 1, +377.) + +On this score, however, Cochlaeus and his papal compeers had no reason +to complain, for they had proved to be past masters in vilifying and +slandering the Lutherans, as well as implacable enemies, satisfied with +nothing short of their blood and utter destruction. As a sample of their +scurrility W. Walther quotes the following from a book written by Duke +George of Saxony: "Er [Luther] ist gewiss mit dem Teufel besessen, mit +der ganzen Legion, welche Christus von den Besessenen austrieb und +erlaubte ihnen, in die Schweine zu fahren. Diese Legion hat dem Luther +seinen Moenchschaedel hirnwuetig und wirbelsuechtig gemacht. Du +unruhiger, treuloser und meineidiger Kuttenbube! Du bist allein der +groesste, groebste Esel und Narr, du verfluchter Apostat! Hieraus kann +maenniglich abnehmen die Verraeterei und Falschheit deines +blutduerstigen Herzens, rachgierigen Gemuets und teuflischen Willens, so +du, Luther, gegen deinen Naechsten tobend, als ein toerichter Hund mit +offenem Maul ohne Unterlass wagest. Du treuloser Bube und teuflischer +Moench! Du deklarierter Mameluck and verdammter Zwiedarm, deren neun +einen Pickharden gelten. Ich sage vornehmlich, dass du selbst der aller +unverstaendigste Bacchant und zehneckichte Cornut und Bestia bist. Du +meineidiger, treuloser und ehrenblosser Fleischboesewicht! Pfui dich +nun, du sakrilegischer, der ausgelaufenen Moenche und Nonnen, der +abfaelligen Pfaffen und aller Abtruennigen Hurenwirt! Ei, Doktor +Schandluther! Mein Doktor Erzesel, ich will dir's prophezeit haben, der +allmaechtige Gott wird dir kuerzlich die Schanze brechen und deiner +boshaftigsten, groebsten Eselheit Feierabend geben. Du Sauboze, Doktor +Sautrog! Doktor Eselsohr! Doktor Filzhut! Zweiundsiebzig Teufel sollen +dich lebendig in den Abgrund der Hoelle fuehren. Ich will machen, dass +du als ein Hoellenhund sollst Feuer ausspruehen und dich endlich selbst +verbrennen. Ich will dich dem wuetenigen Teufel und seiner Hurenmutter +mit einem blutigen Kopf in den Abgrund der Hoelle schicken." (_Luthers +Charakter,_ 148.) + +Despite the occasional asperity referred to, the Apology, as a whole, is +written with modesty and moderation. Melanchthon sought to keep the +track as clear as possible for a future understanding. In the interest +of unity, which he never lost sight of entirely, he was conservative and +not disposed needlessly to widen the existing gulf. In the Preface to +the Apology he declares: "It has always been my custom in these +controversies to retain, so far as I was at all able, the form of the +customarily received doctrine, in order that at some time concord could +be reached the more readily. Nor, indeed, am I now departing far from +this custom, although I could justly lead away the men of this age still +farther from the opinions of the adversaries." (101.) This irenic +feature is perhaps most prominent in the 10th Article, Of the Lord's +Supper, where Melanchthon, in order to satisfy the opponents as to the +orthodoxy of the Lutherans in the doctrine of the Real Presence, +emphasizes the agreement in such a manner that he has been misunderstood +as endorsing also the Romish doctrine of Transubstantiation. + +60. Symbolical Authority of Apology. + +The great importance ascribed to the Apology appears both from its +numerous reprints and the strenuous endeavors of the opponents to oppose +it with books, which, however, no one was willing to print. The +reception accorded it by the Lutherans is described in a letter which +Lazarus Spengler sent to Veit Dietrich May 17: "We have received the +Apology with the greatest joy and in good hope that it will be +productive of much profit among our posterity." Brenz declares it worthy +of the canon [worthy of symbolical authority]: "Apologiam, me iudice, +canone dignam" (_C. R._ 2, 510), a phrase which Luther had previously +applied to Melanchthon's _Loci._ The joy of the Lutherans was equaled +only by the consternation of their enemies. The appearance of the +Apology surprised and perturbed them. They keenly felt that they were +again discredited in the public opinion and had been outwitted by the +Lutherans. On November 19 Albert of Mayence sent a copy of the Apology +to the Emperor in order to show him how the Catholic religion was being +destroyed while the Confutation remained unpublished. Cochlaeus +complained that to judge from letters received, the Apology found +approval even in Rome, whereas no printer could be found for Catholic +replies to the Apology. He wrote: "Meantime, while we keep silence, they +flaunt the Apology and other writings, and not only insult us, but cause +our people and cities to doubt and to grow unstable in the faith." +(Kolde, 40.) + +The Apology, as revised and published by Melanchthon, was a private +work. His name, therefore, appeared on the title-page of the edition of +1531, which was not the case with respect to the Confession and Apology +presented at Augsburg. The latter were official documents, drawn up by +order of the Lutheran princes and estates, while the revised Apology was +an undertaking for which Melanchthon had received no commission. +Accordingly, as he was not justified in publishing a work of his own +under the name of the princes, there was nothing else for him to do than +to affix his own signature. In the Preface to the Apology he says: "As +it passed through the press, I made some additions. Therefore I give my +name, so that no one can complain that the book has been published +anonymously." (100.) Melanchthon did not wish to make any one beside +himself responsible for the contents of the revised Apology. + +Before long, however, the Apology received official recognition. At +Schweinfurt, 1532, in opposition to the Papists, the Lutherans appealed +to the Augustana and Apology as the confession of their faith, +designating the latter as "the defense and explanation of the +Confession." And when the Papists advanced the claim that the Lutherans +had gone farther in the Apology than in the Augustana, and, April 11, +1532, demanded that they abide by the Augustana, refrain from making the +Apology their confession, and accordingly substitute "Assertion" for the +title "Apology," the Lutherans, considering the Apology to be the +adequate expression of their faith, insisted on the original title. +April 17 they declared: "This book was called Apology because it was +presented to Caesar after the Confession; nor could they suffer its +doctrine and the Word of God to be bound and limited, or their preachers +restricted to teach nothing else than the letter of the Augsburg +Confession, thus making it impossible for them to rebuke freely and most +fully all doctrinal errors, abuses, sins, and crimes. _Nominatum fuisse +Apologiam scriptum illud, quod Caesari post Confessionem exhibitum sit, +neque se pati posse, ut doctrina sua et Verbum Dei congustetur, +imminuatur et concionatores astringantur, ut nihil aliud praedicent +quam ad litteram Augustanae Confessionis, neque libere et plenissime +adversus omnes errores doctrinae, abusus, peccata et crimina dicere +possint._" Hereupon the Romanists, on April 22, demanded that at least a +qualifying explanation be added to the title Apology. Brueck answered on +the 23d: "It is not possible to omit this word. The Apology is the +correlate of the Confession. Still the princes and their associates do +not wish any articles taught other than those which have so far begun to +be discussed. _Omitti istud verbum non posse; Apologiam esse correlatum +Confessionis; nolle tamen Principes et socios, ut alii articuli +docerentur quam huiusque tractari coepti sint_." (Koellner, 430.) + +In his Letter of Comfort, 1533, to the Leipzig Lutherans banished by +Duke George, Luther says: "There is our Confession and Apology.... +Adhere to our Confession and Apology." (10, 1956.) Membership in the +Smalcald League was conditioned on accepting the Apology as well as the +Augustana. Both were also subscribed to in the Wittenberg Concord of +1536. (_C. R._ 3, 76.) In 1537, at Smalcald, the Apology (together with +the Augustana and the Appendix Concerning the Primacy of the Pope) was, +by order of the Evangelical estates, subscribed by all of the +theologians present, and thereby solemnly declared a confession of the +Lutheran Church. In 1539 Denmark reckoned the Apology among the books +which pastors were required to adopt. In 1540 it was presented together +with the Augustana at Worms. It was also received into the various +_corpora doctrinae._ The Formula of Concord adopts the Apology, saying: +"We unanimously confess this [Apology] also, because not only is the +said Augsburg Confession explained in it as much as is necessary and +guarded [against the slanders of the adversaries], but also proved by +clear, irrefutable testimonies of Holy Scripture." (853, 6.) + + +VII. Smalcald Articles and Tract concerning Power and Primacy of Pope. + +61. General Council Demanded by Lutherans. + +In order to settle the religious controversy between themselves and the +Papists, the Lutherans, from the very beginning, asked for a general +council. In the course of years this demand became increasingly frequent +and insistent. It was solemnly renewed in the Preface of the Augsburg +Confession. The Emperor had repeatedly promised to summon a council. At +Augsburg he renewed the promise of convening it within a year. The Roman +Curia, however, dissastisfied with the arrangements made at the Diet, +found ways and means of delaying it. In 1532, the Emperor proceeded to +Bologna, where he negotiated with Clement VII concerning the matter, as +appears from the imperial and papal proclamations of January 8 and 10, +1533, respectively. As a result, the Pope, in 1533, sent Hugo Rangon, +bishop of Resz, to Germany, to propose that the council be held at +Placentia, Bologna, or Mantua. Clement, however, was not sincere in +making this offer. In reality he was opposed to holding a council. Such +were probably also the real sentiments of his successor, Paul III. But +when the Emperor who, in the interest of his sweeping world policy, was +anxious to dispose of the religious controversy, renewed his pressure, +Paul finally found himself compelled to yield. June 4 1536, he issued a +bull convoking a general council to meet at Mantua, May 8, 1537. +Nothing, however, was said about the principles according to which it +was to be formed and by which it should be governed in transacting its +business. Self-evidently, then, the rules of the former councils were to +be applied. Its declared purpose was the peace of the Church through the +extinction of heresy. In the Bull _Concerning the Reforms of the Roman +Court,_ which the Pope issued September 23, he expressly declared that +the purpose of the council would be "the utter extirpation of the +poisonous, pestilential Lutheran heresy." (St. L. 16, 1914.) Thus the +question confronting the Protestants was, whether they could risk to +appear at such a council, and ought to do so, or whether (and how) they +should decline to attend. Luther, indeed, still desired a council. But +after 1530 he no longer put any confidence in a council convened by the +Pope, although, for his person, he did not refuse to attend even such a +council. This appears also from his conversation, November 7, 1535, with +the papal legate Peter Paul Vergerius (born 1497; accused of Lutheranism +1546; deprived of his bishopric 1549; defending Protestantism after +1550; employed by Duke Christoph of Wuerttemberg 1553; died 1564.) +Koestlin writes: "Luther relates how he had told the legate: 'Even if +you do call a council, you will not treat of salutary doctrine, saving +faith, etc., but of useless matters, such as laws concerning meats, the +length of priest's garments, exercises of monks, etc.' While he was thus +dilating, says Luther, the legate, holding his head in his hand, turned +to a near-by companion and said: 'He strikes the nail on the head,' The +further utterances of Luther: 'We do not need a council for ourselves +and our adherents, for we already have the firm Evangelical doctrine and +order; Christendom, however, needs it, in order that those whom error +still holds captive may be able to distinguish between error and truth,' +appeared utterly intolerable to Vergerius, as he himself relates. He +regarded them as unheard-of arrogance. By way of answer, he asked, +whether, indeed the Christian men assembled from all parts of the world, +upon whom, without doubt, the Holy Spirit descends, must only decide +what Luther approved of. Boldly and angrily interrupting him Luther +said: 'Yes, I will come to the council and lose my head if I shall not +defend my doctrine against all the world;' furthermore he exclaimed: +'This wrath of my mouth is not my wrath, but the wrath of God.' +Vergerius rejoiced to hear that Luther was perfectly willing to come to +the council; for, so he wrote to Rome, he thought that nothing more was +needed to break the courage of the heretics than the certain prospect +of a council, and at the same time he believed that in Luther's assent +he heard the decision of his master, the Elector, also. Luther declared +that it was immaterial to him where the council would meet, at Mantua, +Verona, or at any other place. Vergerius continued: 'Are you willing to +come to Bologna?' Luther: 'To whom does Bologna belong?' Vergerius: 'To +the Pope.' Luther: 'Good Lord, has this town, too, been grabbed by the +Pope? Very well, I shall come to you there.' Vergerius: 'The Pope will +probably not refuse to come to you at Wittenberg either,' Luther: 'Very +well, let him come; we shall look for him with pleasure.' Vergerius: 'Do +you expect him to come with an army or without weapons?' Luther: 'As he +pleases, in whatsoever manner he may come, we shall expect him and shall +receive him.'--Luther and Bugenhagen remained with Vergerius until he +departed with his train of attendants. After mounting, he said once more +to Luther: 'See that you be prepared for the council.' Luther answered: +'Yes, sir, with this my neck and head.'" (_Martin Luther_ 2, 382 sq.) + +62. Luther's Views Regarding the Council. + +What Luther's attitude toward a general council was in 1537 is expressed +in the Preface to the Smalcald Articles as follows: "But to return to +the subject. I verily desire to see a truly Christian council, in order +that many matters and persons might be helped. Not that we need it, for +our churches are now through God's grace, so enlightened and equipped +with the pure Word and right use of the Sacraments, with knowledge of +the various callings and of right works that we on our part ask for no +council, and on such points have nothing better to hope or expect from a +council. But we see in the bishoprics everywhere so many parishes vacant +and desolate that one's heart would break, and yet neither the bishops +nor canons care how the poor people live or die, for whom nevertheless +Christ has died, and who are not permitted to hear Him speak with them +as the true Shepherd with His sheep. This causes me to shudder and fear +that at some time he may send a council of angels upon Germany utterly +destroying us, like Sodom and Gomorrah, because we so wantonly mock Him +with the council." (457.) + +From a popish council Luther expected nothing but condemnation of the +truth and its confessors. At the same time he was convinced that the +Pope would never permit a truly free, Christian council to assemble. He +had found him out and knew "that the Pope would see all Christendom +perish and all souls damned rather than suffer either himself or his +adherents to be reformed even a little, and his tyranny to be limited." +(455) "For with them conscience is nothing, but money, honors, power, +are everything." (455. 477.) The Second Part of his Articles Luther +concludes as follows: "In these four articles they will have enough to +condemn in the council. For they cannot and will not concede to us even +the least point in one of these articles. Of this we should be certain, +and animate ourselves with the hope that Christ, our Lord, has attacked +His adversary, and He will press the attack home both by His Spirit and +coming. Amen. For in the council we will stand not before the Emperor or +the political magistrate, as at Augsburg (where the Emperor published a +most gracious edict, and caused matters to be heard kindly), but before +the Pope and devil himself, who intends to listen to nothing, but merely +to condemn, to murder, and to force us to idolatry. Therefore we ought +not here to kiss his feet or to say, 'Thou art my gracious lord,' but as +the angel in Zechariah 3, 2 said to Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O +Satan." (475.) Hence his Preface also concludes with the plaint and +prayer: "O Lord Jesus Christ, do Thou Thyself convoke a council, and +deliver Thy servants by Thy glorious advent! The Pope and his adherents +are done for, they will have none of Thee. Do Thou, then, help us, who +are poor and needy, who sigh to Thee, and beseech Thee earnestly, +according to the grace which Thou hast given us, through Thy Holy Ghost, +who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Father, blessed forever. +Amen." (459.) + +63. Elector Opposed to Hearing Papal Legate. + +From the very beginning, Elector John Frederick was opposed to a +council. And the question which particularly engaged his attention was, +whether the Lutherans should receive and hear the papal legate who would +deliver the invitation. Accordingly, on July 24, the Elector came to +Wittenberg and through Brueck delivered four (five) articles to the +local theologians and jurists for consideration with instructions to +submit their answer in writing. (_C. R._ 3, 119.) August 1, Melanchthon +wrote to Jonas: "Recently the Prince was here and demanded an opinion +from all theologians and jurists.... It is rumored that a +cardinal-legate will come to Germany to announce the council. The Prince +is therefore inquiring what to answer, and under what condition the +synod might be permitted." (106.) The articles which Brueck presented +dealt mainly with the questions: whether, in view of the fact that the +Pope is a party to the issue and his authority to convene a council is +questioned, the legate should be heard, especially if the Emperor did +not send a messenger along with him, whether one would not already +submit himself to the Pope by hearing the legate; whether one ought not +to protest, because the Pope alone had summoned the council; and what +should be done in case the legate would summon the Elector as a party, +and not for consultation, like the other estates. (119f.) + +In the preparation of their answer, the Elector desired the Wittenberg +scholars to take into careful consideration also his own view of the +matter, which he persistently defended as the only correct one. For this +purpose he transmitted to them an opinion of his own on Brueck's +articles referred to in the preceding paragraph. In it he maintained +that the papal invitation must be declined, because acceptance involved +the recognition of the Pope "as the head of the Church and of the +council." According to the Elector the proper course for the Lutheran +confederates would be to inform the legate, immediately on his arrival +in Germany, that they would never submit to the authority which the Pope +had arrogated to himself in his proclamation, since the power he assumed +was neither more nor less than abominable tyranny; that they could not +consider the Pope as differing from, or give him greater honor than, any +other ordinary bishop; that, besides, they must regard the Pope as their +greatest enemy and opponent; that he had arranged for the council with +the sinister object of maintaining his antichristian power and +suppressing the holy Gospel, that there was no need of hearing the +legate any further, since the Pope, who was sufficiently informed as to +their teaching, cared neither for Scripture nor for law and justice, and +merely wished to be their judge and lord; that, in public print, they +would unmask the roguery of the Pope, and show that he had no authority +whatever to convoke a council, but, at the same time, declare their +willingness to take part in, and submit their doctrine to, a free, +common, Christian, and impartial council, which would judge according to +the Scriptures. Nor did the Elector fail to stress the point that, by +attending at Mantua, the Lutherans would _de facto_ waive their former +demand that the council must be held on German soil. (99ff.) + +64. Elector Imbued with Luther's Spirit. + +Evidently, the Elector had no desire of engaging once more in diplomatic +jugglery, such as had been indulged in at Augsburg. And at Smalcald, +despite the opposing advice of the theologians, his views prevailed, to +the sorrow of Melanchthon, as appears from the latter's complaint to +Camerarius, March 1, 1637. (_C. R._ 3, 293.) The Elector was thoroughly +imbued with the spirit of Luther, who never felt more antagonistic +toward Rome than at Smalcald, although, as shown above, he was +personally willing to appear at the council, even if held at Mantua. +This spirit of bold defiance appears from the articles which Luther +wrote for the convention, notably from the article on the Papacy and on +the Mass. In the latter he declares: "As Campegius said at Augsburg that +he would be torn to pieces before he would relinquish the Mass, so, by +the help of God, I, too, would suffer myself to be reduced to ashes +before I would allow a hireling of the Mass, be he good or bad, to be +made equal to Christ Jesus, my Lord and Savior, or to be exalted above +Him. Thus we are and remain eternally separated and opposed to one +another. They feel well enough that when the Mass falls, the Papacy lies +in ruins. Before they will permit this to occur, they will put us all to +death if they can." (465.) In the Pope, Luther had recognized the +Antichrist; and the idea of treating, seeking an agreement, and making a +compromise with the enemy of his Savior, was intolerable to him. At +Smalcald, while suffering excruciating pain, he declared, "I shall die +as the enemy of all enemies of my Lord Christ." When seated in the +wagon, and ready to leave Smalcald, he made the sign of the cross over +those who stood about him and said: "May the Lord fill you with His +blessing and with hatred against the Pope!" Believing that his end was +not far removed, he had chosen as his epitaph: "Living, I was thy pest; +dying, I shall be thy death, O Pope! _Pestis eram vivus, moriens ero +mors tua, Papa!_" + +The same spirit of bold defiance and determination not to compromise the +divine truth in any way animated the Elector and practically all of the +princes and theologians at Smalcald, with, perhaps, the sole exception +of Melanchthon. Koestlin writes: "Meanwhile the allies at Smalcald +displayed no lack of 'hatred against the Pope.' His letters, delivered +by the legate, were returned unopened. They decidedly refused to take +part in the council, and that in spite of the opinion of their +theologians, whose reasons Melanchthon again ardently defended. For, as +they declared in an explanation to all Christian rulers, they could not +submit to a council which, according to the papal proclamation, was +convoked to eradicate the Lutheran heresy, would consist only of +bishops, who were bound to the Pope by an oath, have as its presiding +officer the Pope, who himself was a party to the matter, and would not +decide freely according to the Word of God, but according to human and +papal decrees. And from the legal standpoint they could hardly act +differently. Theologians like Luther could have appeared even before +such a council in order to give bold testimony before it. Princes, +however, the representatives of the law and protectors of the Church, +dared not even create the appearance of acknowledging its legality." (2, +402.) + +65. Opinion of Theologians. + +August 6 the Wittenberg professors assembled to deliberate on Brueck's +articles and the views of the Elector. The opinion resolved upon was +drawn up by Melanchthon. Its contents may be summarized as follows: The +Lutherans must not reject the papal invitation before hearing whether +the legate comes with a citation or an invitation. In case they were +invited like the rest of the princes to take part in the deliberations, +and not cited as a party, this would mean a concession on the part of +the Pope, inasmuch as he thereby consented "that the opinion of our +gracious Lord [the Elector] should be heard and have weight, like that +of the other estates." Furthermore, by such invitation the Pope would +indicate that he did not consider these princes to be heretics. If the +legate were rebuffed the Romanists would proceed against the Lutherans +as obstinate sinners (_contumaces_) and condemn them unheard, which, as +is well known, would please the enemies best. The Lutherans would then +also be slandered before the Emperor as despisers of His Majesty and of +the council. Nor did the mere hearing of the legate involve an +acknowledgment of the papal authority. "For with such invitation [to +attend the council] the Pope does not issue a command, nor summon any +one to appear before his tribunal, but before another judge, namely, the +Council, the Pope being in this matter merely the commander of the other +estates. By hearing the legate, therefore, one has not submitted to the +Pope or to his judgments.... For although the Pope has not the authority +to summon others by divine law, nevertheless the ancient councils, as, +for example, that of Nicaea, have given him this charge, which external +church regulation we do not attack. And although in former years, when +the empire was under one head some emperors convoked councils, it would +be in vain at present for the Emperor to proclaim a council, as foreign +nations would not heed such proclamation. But while the Pope at present, +according to the form of the law has the charge to proclaim councils, he +is thereby not made the judge in matters of faith, for even popes +themselves have frequently been deposed by councils. Pope John +proclaimed the Council of Constance, but was nevertheless deposed by +it." Accordingly the opinion continues: "It is not for us to advise that +the council be summarily declined, neither do we consider this +profitable, for we have always appealed to a council. What manner of +suspicion, therefore, would be aroused with His Imperial Majesty and all +nations if at the outset we would summarily decline a council, before +discussing the method of procedure!" And even if the Lutherans should be +cited [instead of invited], one must await the wording of the citation, +"whether we are cited to show the reason for our teaching, or to hear +ourselves declared and condemned as public heretics." In the latter case +it might be declined. In the former, however, the citation should be +accepted, but under the protest "that they had appealed to a free +Christian council," and did not acknowledge the Pope as judge. "And if +(_caeteris paribus,_ that is, provided the procedure is correct +otherwise) the council is considered the highest tribunal, as it ought +to be considered, one cannot despise the command of the person to whom +the charge is given to proclaim councils, whoever he may be. But if +afterwards the proceedings are not conducted properly, one can then +justly lodge complaint on that account." "To proclaim a council is +within the province of the Pope; but the judgment and decision belongs +to the council.... For all canonists hold that in matters of faith the +council is superior to the Pope, and that in case of difference the +council's verdict must be preferred to that of the Pope. For there must +be a supreme court of the Church, _i.e._, the council." On account of +the place, however they should not refuse to appear. (_C. R._ 3,119.) + +In their subsequent judgments the theologians adhered to the view that +the Protestants ought not to incur the reproach of having prevented the +council by turning down the legate. Luther says, in an opinion written +at Smalcald, February, 1537: "I have no doubt that the Pope and his +adherents are afraid and would like to see the council prevented, but in +such a manner as would enable them to boast with a semblance of truth +that it was not their fault, since they had proclaimed it, sent +messengers, called the estates, etc., as they, indeed, would brag and +trump it up. Hence, in order that we might be frightened and back out, +they have set before us a horrible devil's head by proclaiming a +council, in which they mention nothing about church matters, nothing +about a hearing, nothing about other matters, but solely speak of the +extirpation and eradication of the poisonous Lutheran heresy, as they +themselves indicate in the bull _De Reformatione Curiae_ [of September +23, 1536, St. L. 16 1913ff.]. Here we have not only our sentence which +is to be passed upon us in the council but the appeal also with hearing, +answer, and discussion of all matters is denied us, and all pious, +honorable men who might possibly have been chosen as mediators are also +excluded. Moreover, these knaves of the devil are bent on doing their +pleasure, not only in condemning (for according to the said bull +launched against us they want to be certain of that) but also in +speedily beginning and ordering execution and eradication, although we +have not yet been heard (as all laws require) nor have they, the +cardinals, ever read our writing or learned its doctrine, since our +books are proscribed everywhere, but have heard only the false writers +and the lying mouths, having not heard us make a reply, although in +Germany both princes and bishops know, also those of their party, that +they are lying books and rascals, whom the Pope, Italy, and other +nations believe.... Hence they would like to frighten us into refusing +it [the Council] for then they could safely say that we had prevented +it. Thus the shame would not only cleave to us, but we would have to +hear that, by our refusal, we had helped to strengthen such abominations +of the Pope, which otherwise might have been righted." Such and similar +reasons prompted Luther to declare that, even though he knew "it would +finally end in a scuffle," he was not afraid of "the lousy, contemptible +council," and would neither give the legate a negative answer, nor +"entangle himself," and therefore not be hasty in the matter. (St. L. +16, 1997.) Even after the princes at Smalcald had resolved not to attend +the council, Luther expressed the opinion that it had been false wisdom +to decline it; the Pope should have been left without excuse; in case it +should convene, the council would now be conducted without the +Protestants. + +66. Elector's Strictures on Opinion of Theologians. + +Elector John Frederick was not at all satisfied with the Wittenberg +opinion of August 6. Accordingly, he informed the theologians assembled +August 30 at Luther's house, through Brueck, that they had permitted +themselves to be unduly influenced by the jurists, had not framed their +opinion with the diligence required by the importance of the matter, and +had not weighed all the dangers lurking in an acceptance of the +invitation to the council. If the Lutherans would be invited like the +other estates, and attend, they must needs dread a repetition of the +craftiness attempted at Augsburg, namely, of bringing their princes in +opposition to their preachers. Furthermore, in that case it would also +be considered self-evident that the Lutherans submit to the decision of +the majority in all matters. And if they refused, what then? "On this +wise we, for our part, would be lured into the net so far that we could +not, with honor, give a respectable account of our action before the +world. For thereupon to appeal from such decision of the council to +another would by all the world be construed against our part as +capriciousness pure and simple. At all events, therefore, the Lutherans +could accept the papal invitation only with a public protest, from which +the Pope and every one else could perceive in advance, before the +council convened, that the Lutherans would not allow themselves to be +lured into the net of a papal council, and what must be the character of +the council to which they would assent." (_C. R._ 3, 147.) + +In this Protest, which the Elector presented, and which Melanchthon +translated into Latin, we read: "By the [possible] acceptance [of the +invitation to the council] they [the Lutherans] assent to no council +other than a general, free, pious, Christian, and impartial one; not to +one either which would be subject to, and bound by, papal prejudices +(as the one promised by Clement VII), but to such a synod as will +endeavor to bring godly and Christian unity within the Church by +choosing pious, learned, impartial, and unsuspected men for the purpose +of investigating the religious controversies and adjudicating them from +the Word of God, and not in accordance with usage and human traditions, +nor on the basis of decisions rendered by former synods that militate +against the Word of God." (152. 157.) + +67. Counter-Council Disadvised. + +The other matters which engaged the Elector's attention dealt primarily +with measures of defense, the convening of a counter-council +(_Gegenkonzil_) and the preparation of articles which all would +unanimously accept, and by which they proposed to stand to the +uttermost. August 20 Brueck brought these points up for discussion. And +in a "memorandum" which the Elector personally presented to the +theologians at Wittenberg on December 1, 1536, he expressed his opinion +as follows: The Lutherans were not obligated to attend the council, +neither would it be advisable. One could not believe or trust the +opponents. Nothing but trickery, deception, harm, and destruction might +be expected. At the council the Lutheran doctrine would be condemned, +and its confessors excommunicated and outlawed. To be sure, the Lutheran +cause was in God's hands. And as in the past, so also in the future God +would protect it. Still they must not on this account neglect anything. +Luther should therefore draw up articles from which he was determined +not to recede. After they had been subscribed by the Wittenbergers and +by all Evangelical pastors at the prospective meeting [at Smalcald], the +question might also be discussed whether the Lutherans should not +arrange for a counter-council "a universal, free, Christian council," +possibly at Augsburg. The proclamation for this council might be issued +"by Doctor Luther together with his fellow-bishops and ecclesiastics, as +the pastors." However, one might also consider whether this should not +preferably be done by the princes and estates. In such an event, +however, one had to see to it that the Emperor be properly informed, and +that the entire blame be saddled upon the Pope and his adherents, the +enemies and opponents of our side. (141) + +The seriousness with which the Elector considered the idea of a +counter-council appears from the details on which he entered in the +"memorandum" referred to where he puts especial emphasis on the +following points: At this free, universal council the Lutherans were +minded "to set forth their doctrine and faith according to the divine, +holy Scriptures." Every one, whether priest or layman, should be heard +in case he wanted to present anything concerning this doctrine from the +Holy Scriptures. A free, safe, Christian passport was to be given to +all, even to the worst enemy, leaving it to his discretion when to come +and go. Only matters founded in the Scriptures were to be presented and +discussed at such council. Human laws, ordinances, and writings should +under no circumstances be listened to in matters pertaining to faith and +conscience, nor be admitted as evidence against the Word of God. +"Whoever would submit such matters, should not be heard, but silence +enjoined upon him." To the verdict of such a holy and Christian council +the Lutherans would be willing to submit their doctrine. (141.) + +The theologians answered in an opinion of December 6, 1536, endorsing +the Protest referred to above, but disapproving the counter-council. +Concerning the first point they advised that a writing be published and +sent to the Emperor and all rulers in which the Lutherans were to +"request that ways and means be considered of adopting a lawful +procedure [at the council] promoting the true Christian unity of +Christendom." Concerning the counter-council, however, they advised at +all events not to hasten with it. For to convoke it would produce a +great and terrible appearance of creating a schism, and of setting +oneself against all the world and contemplating taking the field soon. +Therefore such great, apparent resistance should not be undertaken till +one intends to do something in the matter openly and in deed. Concerning +the defense, the Wittenberg theologians were of the opinion that it was +the right and duty of the princes to protect and defend their subjects +against notorious injuries (if, for example, an attempt should be made +to force upon them the Romish idolatry, or to rend asunder the marriages +of their pastors), and also against the Emperor, even after the council +had condemned them as heretics. Luther signed this opinion with the +following words: "I, too, Martin Luther, will help with my prayers and, +if necessary, also with my fist." (126.) + +68. Articles Drafted by Luther. + +In the memorandum of December 1 the Elector spoke of the articles Luther +was to frame as follows: Although, in the first place, it may easily be +perceived that whatsoever our party may propose in such a [popish] +council as has been announced will have no weight with the opposition, +miserable, blinded, and mad men that they are, no matter how well it is +founded on Holy Scripture moreover, everything will have to be Lutheran +heresy, and their verdict, which probably has already been decided and +agreed upon, must be adopted and immediately followed by their proposed +ban and interdict [decree excommunicating and outlawing our party], it +will, nevertheless, be very necessary for Doctor Martin to prepare his +foundation and opinion from the Holy Scriptures, namely, the articles as +hitherto taught, preached, and written by him, and which he is +determined to adhere to and abide by at the council, as well as upon his +departure from this world and before the judgment of Almighty God, and +in which we cannot yield without becoming guilty of treason against God, +even though property and life, peace or war, are at stake. Such articles +however, as are not necessary, and in which for the sake of Christian +love, yet without offense against God and His Word, something might be +yielded (though, doubtless, they will be few in number), should in this +connection also be indicated separately by said Doctor Martin. And when +Doctor Martin has completed such work (which, if at all possible for the +Doctor, must be done between the present date and that of the Conversion +of St. Paul [January 25], at the latest), he shall thereupon present it +to the other Wittenberg theologians, and likewise to some prominent +preachers whose presence he should require to hear from them, at the +same time admonishing them most earnestly, and asking them whether they +agreed with him in these articles which he had drawn up, or not, and +thereupon, as they hoped for their souls salvation their sentiment and +opinion be learned in its entirety, but not in appearance, for the sake +of peace, or because they did not like to oppose the Doctor, and for +this reason would not fully open their hearts, and still, at a later +time would teach, preach, write, and make public something else or +advise the people against said articles, as some have in several +instances done before this. An agreement having been reached, the +articles were to be subscribed by all and prepared in German and Latin. +At the prospective meeting [at Smalcald] they should be submitted to the +religious confederates for discussion and subscription. Hence, in the +invitation, every prince should be asked "to bring with him two or three +theologians, in order that a unanimous agreement might be reached there, +and no delay could be sought or pretended." (139.) Accordingly, the +Elector planned to have Luther draw up articles which were to be +accepted by all, first at Wittenberg and then at Smalcald, without +compulsion and for no other reason than that they expressed their own +inmost convictions. The situation had changed since 1530, and the +Elector desired a clearer expression, especially on the Papacy. Hence he +did not appoint Melanchthon, but Luther, to compose the articles. The +truth was to be confessed without regard to anything else. + +Luther had received the order to draw up these articles as early as +August 20, 1536. September 3 Brueck wrote to the Elector on this matter: +"I also delivered to Doctor Martin the credentials which Your Electoral +Grace gave to me, and thereupon also spoke with him in accordance with +the command of Your Electoral Grace. He promised to be obedient in every +way. It also appears to me that he already has the work well in hand, to +open his heart to Your Electoral Grace on religion, which is to be, as +it were, his testament." (147.) Luther, who at the time thought that his +end would come in the near future, had no doubt used such an expression +himself. His articles were to be his testament. In the preface to the +articles he touched upon it once more, saying: "I have determined to +publish these articles in plain print, so that, should I die before +there will be a council (as I fully expect and hope, because the knaves +who flee the light and shun the day take such wretched pains to delay +and hinder the council), those who live and remain after my demise may +be able to produce my testimony and confession in addition to the +Confession which I previously issued, whereby up to this time I have +abided, and by God's grace will abide." (455.) + +The Elector seems also to have enjoined silence on Luther with respect +to the articles until they had been approved at Wittenberg. For in his +letter to Spalatin, of December 15, 1536, Luther wrote: "But you will +keep these matters [his journey to Wittenberg to discuss the articles] +as secret as possible, and pretend other reasons for your departure. +_Sed haec secreta teneas quantum potes, et finge alias causas abeundi._" +(St. L. 21b, 2135.) December 11 the Elector again called attention to +the articles, desiring that Amsdorf, Agricola, and other outside +theologians be called to Wittenberg at his expense to take part in the +discussion. Shortly after, Luther must have finished the articles. The +numerous changes and improvements appearing in the original manuscript, +which is still preserved in the Heidelberg library, show how much time +and labor he spent on this work. Concluding his articles, Luther says: +"These are the articles on which I must stand, and, God willing, shall +stand even to my death; and I do not know how to change or to yield +anything in them. If any one wishes to yield anything, let him do it at +the peril of his conscience." (501, 3.) + +Toward the close of the year Luther submitted the draft to his +colleagues, Jonas, Bugenhagen, Cruciger, Melanchthon, and those who had +come from abroad, Spalatin, Amsdorf, and Agricola. After thorough +discussion it was adopted by all with but few changes, _e.g._ regarding +the adoration of the saints, concerning which Luther had originally said +nothing. (Kolde, 44.) Spalatin reports that all the articles were read, +and successively considered and discussed. The Elector had spoken also +of points in which a concession might be possible. In the discussion at +Wittenberg, Spalatin mentioned as such the question whether the +Evangelicals, in case the Pope would concede the cup to them, should +cease preaching against the continuance of the one kind among the +Papists; furthermore, what was to be done with respect to ordination and +the adiaphora. Luther had not entered upon a discussion of these +questions, chiefly, perhaps, because he was convinced that the council +would condemn even the essential articles. (Compare Melanchthon's +letter of August 4, 1530, to Campegius, _C. R._ 2, 246.) After the +articles had been read and approved, Spalatin prepared a copy (now +preserved in the archives at Weimar), which was signed by the eight +theologians present, by Melanchthon, however, with the limitation that +the Pope might be permitted to retain his authority "iure humano," "in +case he would admit the Gospel." Perhaps Melanchthon, who probably would +otherwise have dissimulated, felt constrained to add this stricture on +account of the solemn demand of the Elector that no one should hide any +dissent of his, with the intention of publishing it later. (_C. R._ 3, +140) + +69. Articles Endorsed by Elector. + +With these first subscriptions, Luther sent his articles to the Elector +on January 3, 1537, by the hand of Spalatin. In the accompanying letter +of the same date he informed the Elector that he had asked Amsdorf, +Eisleben [Agricola], and Spalatin to come to Wittenberg on December 28 +or the following days. "I presented the articles which I had myself +drawn up according to the command of Your Electoral Grace and talked +them over with them for several days, owing to my weakness, which +intervened (as I think, by the agency of Satan); for otherwise I had +expected to deliberate upon them no longer than one day. And herewith I +am sending them, as affirmed with their signatures, by our dear brother +and good friend, Magister George Spalatin, to deliver them to Your +Electoral Grace, as they all charged and asked me so to do. At the same +time, since there are some who, by suspicion and words, insinuate that +we parsons (_Pfaffen_), as they call us, by our stubbornness desire to +jeopardize you princes and lords, together with your lands and people, +etc., I very humbly ask, also in the name of all of us, that by all +means Your Electoral Grace would reprimand us for this. For if it would +prove dangerous for other humble people, to say nothing of Your +Electoral Grace, together with other lords, lands, and people, we would +much rather take it upon ourselves alone. Accordingly, Your Electoral +Grace will know well how far and to what extent you will accept these +articles, for we would have no one but ourselves burdened with them, +leaving it to every one whether he will, or will not, burden also +himself with them." (St. L. 21b, 2142.) + +In his answer of January 7, 1537, the Elector expressed his thanks to +Luther for having drawn up the articles "in such Christian, true, and +pure fashion," and rejoiced over the unanimity of his theologians. At +the same time he ordered Chancellor Brueck to take steps toward having +the most prominent pastors of the country subscribe the articles, "so +that these pastors and preachers, having affixed their names, must abide +by these articles and not devise teachings of their own, according to +their own opinion and liking, in case Almighty God would summon Doctor +Martin from this world, which rests with His good will." (Kolde, 45.) In +the letter which the Elector sent to Luther, we read: "We give thanks to +Almighty God and to our Lord Christ for having granted you health and +strength to prepare these articles in such Christian, true, and pure +fashion; also that He has given you grace, so that you have agreed on +them with the others in Christian, also brotherly and friendly unity.... +From them we also perceive that you have changed your mind in no point, +but that you are steadfastly adhering to the Christian articles, as you +have always taught, preached, and written, which are also built on the +foundation, namely, our Lord Jesus Christ, against whom the gates of +hell cannot prevail, and who shall also remain in spite of the Pope, the +council, and its adherents. May Almighty God, through our Lord Christ, +bestow His grace on us all, that with steadfast and true faith we abide +by them, and suffer no human fear or opinion to turn us therefrom!... +After reading them over for the second time we can entertain no other +opinion of them, but accept them as divine, Christian, and true, and +accordingly shall also confess them and have them confessed freely and +publicly before the council, before the whole world, and whatsoever may +come, and we shall ask God that He would vouchsafe grace to our brother +and to us, and also to our posterity, that steadfastly and without +wavering we may abide and remain in them." (21b, 2143.) + +70. Melanchthon's Qualified Subscription. + +In his letter to Luther the Elector made special reference also to the +qualified subscription of Melanchthon. "Concerning the Pope," he said, +"we have no hesitation about resisting him most vehemently. For if, from +good opinion, or for the sake of peace, as Magister Philip suggests, we +should suffer him to remain a lord having the right to command us, our +bishops, pastors, and preachers, we would expose ourselves to danger and +burden (because he and his successors will not cease in their endeavors +to destroy us entirely and to root out all our posterity), for which +there is no necessity, since God's Word has delivered and redeemed us +therefrom. And if we, now that God has delivered us from the Babylonian +captivity, should again run into such danger and thus tempt God, this +[subjection to the Pope] would, by a just decree of God, come upon us +through our wisdom, which otherwise, no doubt, will not come to pass." +(2145.) Evidently, the Elector, though not regarding Melanchthon's +deviation as a false doctrine, did not consider it to be without danger. + +At the beginning of the Reformation, Luther had entertained similar +thoughts, but he had long ago seen through the Papacy, and abandoned +such opinions. In the Smalcald Articles he is done with the Pope and his +superiority, also by human right. And this for two reasons: first, +because it would be impossible for the Pope to agree to a mere +superiority _iure humano,_ for in that case he must suffer his rule and +estate to be overturned and destroyed together with all his laws and +books; in brief, he cannot do it; in the second place, because even such +a purely human superiority would only harm the Church. (473, 7. 8.) +Melanchthon, on the other hand, still adhered to the position which he +had occupied in the compromise discussions at Augsburg, whence, _e.g._, +he wrote to Camerarius, August 31, 1530 "Oh, would that I could, not +indeed fortify the domination, but restore the administration of the +bishops. For I see what manner of church we shall have when the +ecclesiastical body has been disorganized. I see that afterwards there +will arise a much more intolerable tyranny [of the princes] than there +ever was before." (_C. R._ 2, 334.) At Smalcald, however, his views met +with so little response among the princes and theologians that in his +"Tract on the Primacy of the Pope" he omitted them entirely and followed +Luther's trend of thought. March 1, 1537, Melanchthon himself wrote +concerning his defeat at the deliberations of the theologians on the +question in which articles concessions might be made in the interest of +peace, saying that the unlearned and the more vehement would not hear of +concessions, since the Lutherans would then be charged with +inconsistency and the Emperor would only increase his demands. (_C. R._ +3, 292.) Evidently then, even at that time Melanchthon was not entirely +cured of his utopian dream. + +"If the Pontiff would admit the Gospel, _si pontifex evangelium +admitteret._" A. Osiander remarked: "That is, if the devil would become +an apostle." In the Jena edition of Luther's works Melanchthon's phrase +is commented upon as follows: "And yet the Pope with his wolves, the +bishops, even now curses, blasphemes, and outlaws the holy Gospel more +horribly than ever before, raging and fuming against the Church of +Christ and us poor Christians in most horrible fashion, both with fire +and sword, and in whatever way he can, like a real werwolf, [tr. note: +sic!] aye, like the very devil himself." (6, 557b.) The same comment is +found in the edition of the Smalcald Articles prepared 1553 by Stolz +and Aurifaber, where the passage begins: "O quantum mutatus ab illo [the +former Melanchthon]!" (Koellner, 448. 457.) Carpzov remarks pertinently: +"This subscription [of Melanchthon] is not a part of the Book of Concord +[it does not contain the doctrine advocated by the Book of Concord], nor +was it approved by Luther; moreover, it was later on repudiated by +Philip himself." (_Isagoge_ 823. 894.) + +71. Luther's Articles Sidetracked at Smalcald. + +It was a large and brilliant assembly, especially of theologians, which +convened at Smalcald in February, 1537. Luther, too, was present. On +January 7 the Elector had written: "We hope that our God will grant you +grace, strength, and health that you may be able to make the journey to +Smalcald with us, and help us to right, and bring to a good issue, this +[matter concerning the Pope] and other matters." + +As stated above, the Elector's plan was to elevate Luther's articles to +a confession officially recognized and subscribed to by all Lutheran +princes, estates, and theologians. Accordingly, on February 10, at the +first meeting held at Smalcald, Chancellor Brueck moved that the +theologians deliberate concerning the doctrine, so that, in case the +Lutherans would attend the council, they would know by what they +intended to stand, and whether any concessions were to be made, or, as +Brueck put it, whether anything good [perhaps a deliverance on the +Papacy] should be adopted, or something should be conceded. + +Self-evidently, Brueck had Luther's articles in mind, although it cannot +be proved that he directly and expressly mentioned them or submitted +them for discussion and adoption. Perhaps, he felt from the very +beginning that the Elector would hardly succeed with his plans as +smoothly and completely as anticipated. For Luther, desiring to clear +the track for the whole truth in every direction, the Reformed as well +as the Papistic, both against the "false brethren who would be of our +party" (Preface to Sm. Art. 455, 4), as well as against the open +enemies, had in his articles so sharpened the expressions employed in +the Wittenberg Concord of 1536 concerning the Lord's Supper that the +assent of Philip of Hesse and the attending South German delegates and +theologians (Bucer, Blaurer, Wolfart, etc.) was more than doubtful. +Luther's letter to the adherents of Zwingli, December 1, 1537, shows +that he did not at all desire unnecessarily to disturb the work of union +begun by the Wittenberg Concord. (St. L. 17, 2143.) Still, he at the +same time endeavored to prevent a false union resting on +misunderstanding and self-deception. And, no doubt, his reformulation of +the article on the Lord's Supper was intended to serve this purpose. +Besides, owing to a very painful attack of gravel, Luther was not able +to attend the sessions, hence could not make his influence felt in a +decisive manner as desired by the Elector. + +This situation was exploited by Melanchthon in the interest of his +attitude toward the Zwinglians, which now was much more favorable than +it had been at Augsburg, 1530. From the very outset he opposed the +official adoption of Luther's articles. He desired more freedom with +regard to both the Romanists and the Reformed than was offered by +Luther's articles. The first appears from his subscription. Concerning +the article of the Lord's Supper, however, which the Strassburgers and +others refused to accept, Melanchthon does not seem to have voiced any +scruples during the deliberations at Wittenberg. Personally he may even +have been able to accept Luther's form, and this, too, more honestly +than Bucer did at Smalcald. For as late as September 6, 1557, he wrote +to Joachim of Anhalt: "I have answered briefly that in doctrine all are +agreed, and that we all embrace and retain the Confession with the +Apology and Luther's confession written before the Synod of Mantua. +_Respondi breviter, consensum esse omnium de doctrina: amplecti nos +omnes et retinere Confessionem cum Apologia et confessione Lutheri +scripta ante Mantuanam Synodum._" (_C. R._ 9, 260.) But, although +Melanchthon, for his person, accepted Luther's article on the Lord's +Supper, he nevertheless considered it to be dangerous to the Concord +with the Southern Germans and to the Smalcald League. Privately he also +made known his dissatisfaction in no uncertain manner. And in so doing, +he took shelter behind Philip of Hesse, who, as at Augsburg, 1530, still +desired to have the Zwinglians regarded and treated as weak brethren. + +Kolde relates: "On the same day (February 10) Melanchthon reported to +the Landgrave: 'One article, that concerning the Sacrament of the Holy +Supper, has been drawn up somewhat vehemently, in that it states that +the bread is the body of the Lord which Luther at first did not draw up +in this form, but, as contained in the [Wittenberg] Concord, namely, +that the body of the Lord is given with the bread, and this was due to +Pomeranus, for he is a vehement man and a coarse Pomeranian. Otherwise +he [Melanchthon] knew of no shortcoming or complaint in all the +articles.' ... 'He also said' (this the Landgrave reports to Jacob Sturm +of Strassburg as an expression of Melanchthon) 'that Luther would hear +of no yielding or receding, but declared: This have I drawn up; if the +princes and estates desired to yield anything, it would rest with them,' +etc. The estates, Melanchthon advised, might therefore in every way +declare that they had adopted the Confession and the Concord, and were +minded to abide by them. At the same time he promised to demand at the +prospective deliberation of the theologians, 'that the article of the +Sacrament be drawn up as contained in the Concord. 'Melanchthon's +assertion that Bugenhagen influenced Luther's formulation of the article +on the Lord's Supper is probably correct. At any rate, it can be proved +that Luther really changed the article. For a glance at the original +manuscript shows that he had at first written, in conformity with the +Concord, 'that the true body and blood of Christ is under the bread and +wine,' but later on changed it to read: 'that the bread and wine of the +Lord's Supper are the true body and blood of Christ.'" (48.) Melanchthon +was diplomatic enough to hide from the Landgrave his strictures on +Luther's articles about the Pope, knowing well that in this point he +could expect neither approval nor support. + +72. Articles Not Discussed in Meeting of League. + +As the Southern Germans regarded Luther's formulation of the article on +the Lord's Supper with disfavor, the Landgrave found little difficulty +in winning over (through Jacob Sturm) the delegates of Augsburg and Ulm +to Melanchthon's view of declaring adherence only to the Confession and +the Wittenberg Concord. Already on February 11 the cities decided to +"decline on the best grounds" the Saxon proposition. Following were the +reasons advanced: It was not necessary at present to enter upon the +proposition, since the council would make slow progress, as the Emperor +and the King of France were not yet at peace. They had not understood +this (the adoption of the Saxon proposition) to be the purpose of the +invitation to bring scholars with them. They had a confession, the +Augustana, presented to the Emperor. It was also to be feared that +deliberations on the question whether any concessions should be made, +might lead to a division; nor would this remain concealed from the +Papists. If the Elector desired to present some articles, he might +transmit them, and they, in turn, would send them to their superiors +for inspection. (Kolde, _Analecta,_ 296.) + +In the afternoon of February 11 the princes according to the report of +the Strassburgers, expressed their satisfaction with the resolution of +the cities. At the same time they declared that they were not minded to +make any concessions to the Papists, nor to dispute about, or question, +anything in the Confession or the Wittenberg Concord, "but merely to +review the Confession, not to change anything against its contents and +substance, nor that of the Concord, but solely to enlarge on the Papacy, +which before this, at the Diet, had been omitted in order to please His +Imperial Majesty and for other reasons;" that such was the purpose of +the deliberation for which the scholars had been summoned; and that this +was not superfluous, since "they were all mortal, and it was necessary +that their posterity be thoroughly informed as to what their doctrine +had been, lest others who would succeed to their places accept something +else." The report continues: "The cities did not object to this." (296.) +According to this report, then, Luther's articles were neither discussed +nor adopted at the official meeting of the princes and estates belonging +to the Smalcald League. Without mentioning them, they declared in their +final resolution: Our scholars have "unanimously agreed among themselves +in all points and articles contained in our Confession and Apology, +presented at the Diet of Augsburg, excepting only that they have +expanded and drawn up more clearly than there contained _one article,_ +concerning the Primacy of the Pope of Rome." (Koellner, 468.) Koestlin +remarks: "Since the princes decided to decline the council absolutely, +they had no occasion to discuss Luther's articles." (2, 403.) + +73. Meeting of Theologians. + +At Smalcald the first duty imposed upon the scholars and theologians was +once more to discuss the Augustana and the Apology carefully, and to +acknowledge both as their own confessions by their signatures. Thereupon +they were, in a special treatise, to enlarge on the Papacy. The +Strassburg delegates report: "It has also come to pass that the scholars +received orders once more to read the articles of the Confession and to +enlarge somewhat on the Papacy, which they did." (Kolde, _Analecta,_ +298.) However, since neither the Augustana nor its Apology contained an +article against the Papacy, the demand of the princes could only be +satisfied by a special treatise, the "Tractatus de Potestate et Primatu +Papae," which Melanchthon wrote and completed by February 17, whereupon +it was immediately delivered to the princes. + +The princes had furthermore ordered the theologians, while reviewing and +discussing the Augustana (and its Apology), to reenforce its doctrine +with additional proofs. Owing to lack of time and books, this was not +carried out. February 17 Osiander reports to the Nuernberg preachers: +"We are enjoying good health here, although we traveled in stormy +weather and over roads that offered many difficulties, and are living +under a constantly beclouded sky, which unpleasantries are increased by +troublesome and difficult questions in complicated matters.... The first +business imposed on us by the princes embraces two things: first, to +fortify the Confession and the Apology with every kind of argument from +the Holy Scriptures, the fathers, councils, and the decrees of the +Popes; thereupon, diligently to discuss in detail everything concerning +the Primacy, which was omitted in the Confession because it was odious. +The latter we completed so far to-day that we shall immediately deliver +a copy to the princes. The former, however will be postponed to another +time and place, since it requires a longer time, as well as libraries, +which are lacking here." (_C. R._ 3, 267.) + +The discussion of the Confession was also to serve the purpose of +obtaining mutual assurance whether they were all really agreed in +doctrine. This led to deliberations on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper +as well as on the question what concessions might be made to the +Romanists. According to a report of Melanchthon, March 1, the +theologians were to discuss the doctrines, not superficially, but very +thoroughly, in order that all disagreement might be removed, and a +harmonious and complete system of doctrines exist in our churches. They +were to review the Confession in order to learn whether any one +deviated in any article or disapproved of anything. But Melanchthon +remarks that this object was not reached, since the special request had +been voiced not to increase the disagreement by any quarrel and thus to +endanger the Smalcald League. (_C. R._ 3, 292.) In a second letter of +the same date he says that a real doctrinal discussion had never come to +pass, partly because Luther's illness prevented him from taking part in +the meetings, partly because the timidity of certain men [the Landgrave +and others] had prevented an exact disputation lest any discord might +arise. (296.) March 3 he wrote to Jonas in a similar vein saying that +the reports of violent controversies among the theologians at Smalcald +were false. For although they had been in consultation with one another +for the purpose of discovering whether all the theologians in attendance +there agreed in doctrine the matter had been treated briefly and +incidentally. (298.) + +As far as the Lord's Supper is concerned Melanchthon's report concerning +the superficial character of the doctrinal discussions is little if at +all exaggerated. He himself was one of those timid souls of whom he +spoke having from the beginning done all he could not only to bar +Luther's articles from the deliberations but also to prevent any +penetrating discussion of the Lord's Supper. Assent to the Wittenberg +Concord was considered satisfactory although all felt, and believed to +know, that some of the Southern Germans did not agree with the loyal +Lutherans in this matter. Of the attending theologians who were under +suspicion Bucer, Blaurer, Fagius, Wolfart, Fontanus, and Melander, only +the first two took part in the deliberations. (292.) March 1 Melanchthon +wrote to Camerarius: "Bucer spoke openly and clearly of the Mystery [the +Lord's Supper] affirming the presence of Christ. He satisfied all of our +party also those who are more severe. Blaurer, however, employed such +general expressions as, that Christ was present. Afterward he added +several more ambiguous expressions. Osiander pressed him somewhat hotly; +but since we did not desire to arouse any very vehement quarrel, I +terminated the discussion. Thus we separated, so that agreement was +restored among all others, while he [Blaurer] did not seem to +contradict. I know that this is weak but nothing else could be done at +this time, especially since Luther was absent, being tortured by very +severe gravel pains." (292.) + +This agrees with the report Veit Dietrich made to Foerster, May 16, +stating: At the first meeting of the committee of the theologians they +completed the first nine articles of the Augustana. Blaurer, Wolfart, +and some others of those who were doctrinally under suspicion (_nobis +suspecti de doctrina_) were present. "However, when the article of the +Lord's Supper was to be discussed on the following day, the meeting was +prevented, I do not know by whom. It is certain that the princes, too, +desired another meeting, because they feared a rupture of the [Smalcald] +Alliance, if any doctrinal difference should become evident, which, +however, would occur if the matter were thoroughly discussed. Since the +disputation was prevented, we were commissioned to write on the Power of +the Pope in order to have something to do. Report had it that Blaurer +did not approve the Concord of Wittenberg; certainly, he asked Philip +for expressions of the Fathers (which are now in my possession), in +order to be better furnished with arguments. This prompted Pomeranus and +Amsdorf again to convene the theologians against Melanchthon's will. +Then the Lord's Supper was discussed. Bucer indeed satisfied all. +Blaurer, however, while speaking vaguely of the other matters, +nevertheless publicly attacked the statement that the ungodly do not +receive the body of Christ." Wolfart declared that he was present at the +Concord made at Wittenberg, and had approved it. It was unpleasant for +him [Dietrich] when hereupon Stephanus Agricola and then Wolfart +rehashed some old statements, _vetera quaedam dicta._ (370.) + +74. Luther's Articles Subscribed. + +As to the articles of Luther, Veit Dietrich reports that they were +privately circulated at Smalcald and read by all. They were also to be +read at the meeting of the theologians on February 18. (_C. R._ 3, 371.) +As a matter of fact, however, neither a public reading nor a real +discussion, nor an official adoption resulted. The Strassburg delegates +report: "Doctor Martin Luther has also drawn up some special articles, +which he purposed to send to the council on his own accord, copies of +which we have designated with W." The Strassburgers, then, were in +position to send home a copy of these articles. Furthermore Osiander +relates in a letter dated February 17: "Besides this, Luther has also +written articles at Wittenberg, short indeed, but splendid and keen +(_illustres et argutos_), in which everything is summed up in German +wherefrom we cannot recede in the council without committing sacrilege. +To-morrow we shall read them publicly in our meeting, in order that any +one who wishes to add anything to them may present this in the presence +of all. They will also, as I hope, deliberate on the [Wittenberg] +Concord in the matter concerning the Lord's Supper. I regard Bucer as +being sincerely one of us; Blaurer, however, by no means. For Philip +tells of his having remarked that he was not able to agree with us." +(268.) On February 18, however, Luther was taken ill and an official, +public reading and discussion of his articles did not take place on this +day nor, as already stated, at a later date. + +Luther's articles, however, were nevertheless adopted at Smalcald, +though not by the South Germans. When all other business had been +transacted, they were presented for voluntary subscription. Bugenhagen +had called the theologians together for this purpose. He proposed that +now all those who wished (_qui velint_) should sign the articles Luther +had brought with him. Hereupon Bucer declared that he had no commission +to do this. However, in order to obliterate the impression that he +declined to subscribe because of doctrinal differences, he added that he +knew nothing in Luther's articles which might be criticized. Blaurer of +Constance, Melander of Hesse, and Wolfart of Augsburg followed his +example in declaring that they had no commission to sign the articles. +In order not to endanger the Smalcald League, Bugenhagen, as appears +from his proposition refrained from urging any one to sign. This was +also the position of the other theologians. + +Veit Dietrich reports: "Bucer was the first to say that he had no orders +to sign. He added, however, that he knew of nothing in these articles +that could be criticized, but that his magistrates had reasons for +instructing him not to sign them. Afterwards Blaurer, Dionysius +Melander, and your Boniface [Wolfart of Augsburg] said the same [that +they had not been authorized by their superiors to sign]. The thought +came to me immediately why Bucer, who taught correctly, should have been +the first to refuse his signature, since it was certain that the others, +Blaurer and if you will, also your man, would not subscribe because they +did not approve of the dogma of the Lord's Supper. This would have led +to an open doctrinal schism, which the Elector, Ernst of Lueneburg, and +the Counts of Anhalt would, under no circumstances, have tolerated among +the confederates. But, since Bucer did not subscribe, it was not +necessary to dispute about the doctrine. When we saw this, I was also +pleased that Luther's articles received no attention [in the official +subscription], and that all subscribed merely to the Augustana and the +Concord. And there was no one who refused to do this." (371.) + +While thus Bucer, Fagius, Wolfart, Blaurer, and Fontanus refused to +affix their signatures, the attending loyal Lutheran theologians +endorsed Luther's articles all the more enthusiastically. And while the +signatures affixed to the Augustana and the Apology total 32, including +the suspected theologians, 44 names appear under Luther's articles. +Among these is found also the abnormal subscription of Melander of +Hesse: "I subscribe to the Confession, the Apology, and the Concord in +the matter of the Eucharist," which is probably to be interpreted as a +limitation of Luther's Article of the Lord's Supper. + +Although, therefore, the subscription of the Smalcald Articles lacked +the official character and was not by order of the Smalcald League as +such, it nevertheless is in keeping with the actual facts when the +Formula of Concord refers to Luther's Articles as "subscribed at that +time [1537] by the chief theologians." (777, 4; 853, 7.) All true +Lutheran pastors assembled at Smalcald recognized in Luther's articles +their own, spontaneous confession against the Papists as well as against +the Zwinglians and other enthusiasts. + +75. Endorsed by Princes and Estates. + +The Thorough Declaration of the Formula of Concord makes the further +statement that the Smalcald Articles were to be delivered in the Council +at Mantua "in the name of the Estates, Electors, and Princes." (853, 7.) +Evidently this is based on Luther's Preface to the Smalcald Articles +written 1538, in which he says concerning his Articles: "They have also +been accepted and unanimously confessed by our side, and it has been +resolved that, in case the Pope with his adherents should ever be so +bold as seriously and in good faith, without lying and cheating to hold +a truly free Christian Council (as, indeed, he would be in duty bound to +do), they be publicly delivered in order to set forth the Confession of +our Faith." (455.) + +Kolde and others surmise that Luther wrote as he did because, owing to +his illness, he was not acquainted with the true situation at Smalcald. +Tschackert, too, takes it for granted that Luther, not being +sufficiently informed, was under the erroneous impression that the +princes and estates as well as the theologians had adopted, and +subscribed to, his articles. (300. 302.) Nor has a better theory of +solving the difficulty hitherto been advanced. Yet it appears very +improbable. If adopted, one must assume that Luther's attention was +never drawn to this error of his. For Luther does not merely permit his +assertion to stand in the following editions of the Smalcald Articles, +but repeats it elsewhere as well. In an opinion written 1541 he writes: +"In the second place, I leave the matter as it is found in the articles +adopted at Smalcald; I shall not be able to improve on them; nor do I +know how to yield anything further." (St. L. 17, 666.) + +The Elector, too, shared Luther's opinion. In a letter of October 27, +1543, he urged him to publish in Latin and German (octavo), under the +title, Booklet of the Smalcald Agreement--_Buechlein der geschehenen +Schmalkaldischen Vergleichung,_ the "Articles of Agreement, +Vergleichungsartikel," on which he and Melanchthon had come to an +agreement in 1537, at Smalcald, with the other allied estates, scholars, +and theologians. (St. L. 21b, 2913.) October 17, 1552, immediately after +he had obtained his liberty, the Elector made a similar statement. (_C. +R._ 7, 1109.) Nor did Spalatin possess a knowledge in this matter +differing from that of Luther and the Elector. He, too, believed that +not only the theologians, but the princes and estates as well, with the +exception of Hesse, Wuerttemberg, Strassburg, etc., had subscribed to +Luther's articles. (Kolde, 51.) + +Evidently, then, Luther's statement was generally regarded as being +substantially and approximately correct and for all practical purposes +in keeping, if not with the exact letter and form at least with the real +spirit of what transpired at Smalcald and before as well as after this +convention. It was not a mere delusion of Luther's, but was generally +regarded as agreeing with the facts, that at Smalcald his articles were +not only subscribed by the theologians, but adopted also by the Lutheran +princes and estates, though, in deference to the Landgrave and the South +German cities, not officially and by the Smalcald League as such. + +76. Symbolical Authority of Smalcald Articles. + +The importance attached to the Smalcald Articles over against the +Reformed and Crypto-Calvinists appears from a statement made by the +Elector of Saxony, October 17, 1552 (shortly after his deliverance from +captivity), in which he maintained that the Lutheran Church could have +been spared her internal dissensions if every one had faithfully abided +by the articles of Luther. He told the Wittenberg theologians that +during his captivity he had heard of the dissensions and continued +controversies, "which caused us no little grief. And we have therefore +often desired with all our heart that in the churches of our former +lands and those of others no change, prompted by human wisdom, had been +undertaken nor permitted in the matters [doctrines] as they were held +during the life of the blessed Doctor Martin Luther and during our rule, +and confirmed at Smalcald, in the year 1537, by all pastors and +preachers of the estates of the Augsburg Confession then assembled at +that place. For if this had been done, no doubt, the divisions and +errors prevailing among the teachers of said Confession, together with +the grievous and harmful offenses which resulted therefrom, would, with +the help of God, have been avoided." (_C. R._ 7, 1109.) + +In the Prolegomena to his edition of the Lutheran Confessions, Hase +remarks concerning the symbolical authority of Luther's articles: "The +formula of faith, drawn up by such a man, and adorned with such names, +immediately enjoyed the greatest authority. _Fidei formula a tali viro +profecta talibusque nominibus ornata maxima statim auctoritate +floruit._" To rank among the symbolical books, Luther's articles +required a special resolution on the part of the princes and estates as +little as did his two catechisms; contents and the Reformer's name were +quite sufficient. Voluntarily the articles were subscribed at Smalcald. +On their own merits they won their place of honor in our Church. In the +situation then obtaining, they voiced the Lutheran position in a manner +so correct and consistent that every loyal Lutheran spontaneously gave +and declared his assent. In keeping with the changed historical context +of the times, they offered a correct explanation of the Augsburg +Confession, adding thereto a declaration concerning the Papacy, the +absence of which had become increasingly painful. They struck the +timely, logical, Lutheran note also over against the Zwinglian and +Bucerian [Reformed and Unionistic] tendencies. Luther's articles offered +quarters neither for disguised Papists nor for masked Calvinists. In +brief they gave such a clear expression to genuine Lutheranism that +false spirits could not remain in their company. It was the recognition +of these facts which immediately elicited the joyful acclaim of all true +Lutherans. To them it was a recommendation of Luther's articles when +Bucer, Blaurer, and others, though having subscribed the Augsburg +Confession, refused to sign them. Loyal Lutherans everywhere felt that +the Smalcald Articles presented an up-to-date touchstone of the pure +Lutheran truth, and that, in taking their stand on them, their feet were +planted, over against the aberrations of the Romanists as well as the +Zwinglians, on ground immovable. + +In the course of time, the esteem in which Luther's articles were held, +rose higher and higher. Especially during and after the controversies on +the Interim, as well as in the subsequent controversies with the +Crypto-Calvinists, the Lutherans became more and more convinced that the +Smalcald Articles and not the Variata, contained the correct exposition +of the Augsburg Confession. At the Diet of Regensburg, in 1541, the +Elector, by his delegates, sent word to Melanchthon "to stand by the +Confession and the Smalcald Agreement [Smalcald Articles] in word and in +sense." The delegates answered that Philip would not yield anything +"which was opposed to the Confession and the Smalcald Agreement," as he +had declared that "he would die rather than yield anything against his +conscience." (_C. R._ 4, 292.) In an opinion of 1544 also the +theologians of Hesse, who at Smalcald had helped to sidetrack Luther's +articles put them on a par with the Augustana. At Naumburg in 1561, +where Elector Frederick of the Palatinate and the Crypto-Calvinists +endeavored to undermine the authority of Luther, Duke John Frederick of +Saxony declared that he would abide by the original Augustana and its +"true declaration and norm," the Smalcald Articles. + +Faithful Lutherans everywhere received the Smalcald Articles into their +_corpora doctrinae._ In 1567 the Convention of Coswig declared them to +be "the norm by which controversies are to be decided, _norma decidendi +controversias_." Similarly, the Synod of Moelln, 1559. In 1560 the +ministerium of Luebeck and the Senate of Hamburg confessionally accepted +the Articles. Likewise, the Convention of Lueneburg in 1561, and the +theologians of Schleswig-Holstein in 1570. The Thorough Declaration +could truthfully say that the Smalcald Articles had been embodied in the +confessional writings of the Lutheran Church "for the reason that these +have always and everywhere been regarded as the common, unanimously +accepted meaning of our churches and, moreover, have been subscribed at +that time by the chief and most enlightened theologians, and have held +sway in all evangelical churches and schools." (855, 11.) + +77. Editions of Smalcald Articles. + +In 1538 Luther published his Articles, which _editio princeps_ was +followed by numerous other editions, two of them in the same year. In +the copy of the Articles which Spalatin took at Wittenberg the title +reads: "Opinion concerning the Faith, and What We Must Adhere to +Ultimately at the Future Council. _Bedenken des Glaubens halben, und +worauf im kuenftigen Konzil endlich zu beharren sei._" The _editio +princeps_ bears the title: "Articles which were to be Delivered on +Behalf of Our Party at the Council of Mantua, or Where Else It Would +Meet. _Artikel, so da haetten aufs Konzilium zu Mantua, oder wo es +wuerde sein, ueberantwortet werden von unsers Teils wegen._" These +titles designate the purpose for which the articles were framed by order +of the Elector. In the edition of 1553, published by John Stolz and John +Aurifaber, Luther's Articles are designated as "prepared for the Diet of +Smalcald in the year 1537, _gestellt auf den Tag zu Schmalkalden Anno +1537._" Says Carpzov: "They are commonly called Smalcald Articles after +the place where they were composed [an error already found in Brenz's +letter of February 23, 1537, appended to the subscriptions of the "Tract +on the Power and Primacy of the Pope" (529). See also Formula of Concord +777, 4; 853, 7], as well as solemnly approved and subscribed since the +articles were composed by Luther and approved by the Protestants at +Smalcald a town in the borders of Saxony and Ducal Hesse, and selected +for the convention of the Protestants for the reason that the +individuals who had been called thither might have an easy and safe +approach." (_Isagoge,_ 769.) + +The text of the Smalcald Articles, as published by Luther, omits the +following motto found in the original: "This is sufficient doctrine for +eternal life. As to the political and economic affairs, there are enough +laws to trouble us, so that there is no need of inventing further +troubles much more burdensome. Sufficient unto the day is the evil +thereof. _His satis est doctrinae pro vita aeterna. Ceterum in politia +et oeconomia satis est legum, quibus vexamur, ut non sit opus praeter +has molestias fingere alias quam miserrimas [necessarias]. Sufficit diei +malitia sua._" (Luther, Weimar 50, 192. St. L. 16 1918.) Apart from all +kinds of minor corrections, Luther added to the text a Preface (written +1538) and several additions, some of them quite long, which, however, +did not change the sense. Among these are sec. 5, secs. 13 to 15, and +secs. 25-28 of the article concerning the Mass; secs. 42-45 concerning +the False Repentance of the Papists; secs. 3-13 about Enthusiasm in the +article concerning Confession. The editions of 1543 and 1545 contained +further emendations. The German text of Luther's first edition of 1538 +was received into the Book of Concord, "as they were first framed and +printed." (853, 7.) The first Latin translation by Peter Generanus +appeared in 1541, with a Preface by Veit Amerbach (later on Catholic +Professor of Philosophy at Ingolstadt). In 1542 it was succeeded by an +emended edition. In the following year the Elector desired a +Latin-German edition in octavo. The Latin translation found in the Book +of Concord of 1580 was furnished by Selneccer; this was revised for the +official Latin Concordia of 1584. + +78. Tract on the Power and Primacy of the Pope. + +Melanchthon's "Tract Concerning the Power and Primacy of the Pope, +_Tractatus de Potestate et Primatu Papae,_" presents essentially the +same thoughts Luther had already discussed in his article "Of the +Papacy." Melanchthon here abandons the idea of a papal supremacy _iure +humano,_ which he had advocated at Augsburg 1530 and expressed in his +subscription to Luther's articles, and moves entirely in the wake of +Luther and in the trend of the Reformer's thoughts. The Tract was +written not so much from his own conviction as from that of Luther and +in accommodation to the antipapal sentiment which, to his grief, became +increasingly dominant at Smalcald. (_C. R._ 3, 270. 292f. 297.) In a +letter to Jonas, February 23, he remarks, indicating his accommodation +to the public opinion prevailing at Smalcald: "I have written this +[Tract] somewhat sharper than I am wont to do." (271. 292.) Melanchthon +always trimmed his sails according to the wind; and at Smalcald a +decidedly antipapal gale was blowing. He complains that he found no one +there who assented to his opinion that the papal invitation to a council +ought not be declined. (293.) It is also possible that he heard of the +Elector's criticism of his qualified subscription to Luther's articles. +At all events, the Tract amounts to a retraction of his stricture on +Luther's view of the Papacy. In every respect, Smalcald spelled a defeat +for Melanchthon. His policy toward the South Germans was actually +repudiated by the numerous and enthusiastic subscriptions to Luther's +articles, foreshadowing, as it were, the final historical outcome, when +Philippism was definitely defeated in the Formula of Concord. And his +own Tract gave the _coup de grace_ to his mediating policy with regard +to the Romanists. For here Melanchthon, in the manner of Luther, opposes +and denounces the Pope as the Antichrist, the protector of ungodly +doctrine and customs, and the persecutor of the true confessors of +Christ, from whom one must separate. The second part of the Tract, +"Concerning the Power and the Jurisdiction of the Bishops, _De Potestate +et Iurisdictione Episcoporum,_" strikes an equally decided note. + +The Tract, which was already completed by February 17, received the +approval of the estates, and, together with the Augustana and the +Apology, was signed by the theologians upon order of the princes. (_C. +R._ 3, 286.) Koellner writes: "Immediately at the convention Veit +Dietrich translated this writing [the Tract] into German, and (as +appears from the fact that the Weimar theologians in 1553 published the +document from the archives with the subscriptions) this German +translation was, at the convention, presented to, and approved by, the +estates as the official text, and subscribed by the theologians." (464.) +Brenz's letter appended to the subscriptions shows that the signing did +not take place till after February 23, perhaps the 25th of February. For +on the 26th Melanchthon and Spalatin refer to it as finished. + +With reference to the Concord of 1536, let it be stated here that, +although mentioned with approval by the theologians and also included in +Brenz's and Melander's subscriptions to the Smalcald Articles, the +princes and estates nevertheless passed no resolution requiring its +subscription. Melanchthon writes that the princes had expressly declared +that they would abide by the Wittenberg Concord. (_C. R._ 3, 292.) Veit +Dietrich's remark to Foerster, May 16, 1537, that only the Augustana and +the Concord were signed at Smalcald, is probably due to a mistake in +writing. (372.) + +79. Authorship of Tract. + +The Tract first appeared in print in 1540. A German translation, +published 1541, designates it as "drawn up by Mr. Philip Melanchthon and +done into German by Veit Dietrich." (_C. R._ 23 722.) In the edition of +the Smalcald Articles by Stolz and Aurifaber, 1553, the Tract is +appended with the caption: "Concerning the Power and Supremacy of the +Pope, Composed by the Scholars. Smalcald, 1537." In the Jena edition of +Luther's Works the Smalcald Articles are likewise followed by the Tract +with the title: "Concerning the Power and Supremacy of the Pope, +Composed by the Scholars in the Year 37 at Smalcald and Printed in the +Year 38." (6, 523.) This superscription gave rise to the opinion that +the German was the original text. At any rate, such seems to have been +the belief of Selneccer, since he incorporated a Latin translation, +based on the German text, into the Latin edition of his Book of Concord, +privately published 1580. Apart from other errors this Latin version +contained also the offensive misprint referred to in our article on the +Book of Concord. In the official edition of 1584 it was supplanted by +the original text of Melanchthon. The subtitle, however, remained: +"Tractatus per Theologos Smalcaldicos Congregatos Conscriptus." + +To-day it is generally assumed that by 1553 it was universally forgotten +both that Melanchthon was the author of the Tract, and that it was +originally composed in Latin. However, it remains a mystery how this +should have been possible--only twelve years after Dietrich had published +the Tract under a title which clearly designates Melanchthon as its +author, and states that the German text is a translation. The evidence +for Melanchthon's authorship which thus became necessary was furnished +by J. C. Bertram in 1770. However, before him Chytraeus and Seckendorf, +in 1564, had expressly vindicated Melanchthon's authorship. Be it +mentioned as a curiosity that the Papist Lud. Jac. a St. Carolo +mentioned a certain "Articulus Alsmalcaldicus, Germanus, Lutheranus" as +the author of the Tract. In the Formula of Concord and in the Preface to +the Book of Concord the Tract is not enumerated as a separate +confessional writing, but is treated as an appendix to the Smalcald +Articles. + +80. A Threefold Criticism. + +On the basis of the facts stated in the preceding paragraphs, Kolde, +followed by others believes himself justified in offering a threefold +criticism. In the first place, he opines that Luther's Articles are +"very improperly called 'Smalcald Articles.'" However, even if Luther's +Articles were not officially adopted by the Smalcald League as such, +they were nevertheless, written for the Convention of Smalcald, and were +there signed by the assembled Lutheran theologians and preachers and +privately adopted also by most of the princes and estates. For Luther's +Articles then, there is and can be no title more appropriate than +"Smalcald Articles." Tschackert remarks: "Almost all [all, with the +exception of the suspected theologians] subscribed and thereby they +became weighty and important for the Evangelical churches of Germany; +and hence it certainly is not inappropriate to call them 'Smalcald +Articles,' even though they were written at Wittenberg and were not +publicly deliberated upon at Smalcald." (302.) + +"It is entirely unhistorical," Kolde continues in his strictures, "to +designate Melanchthon's Tract, which has no connection with Luther's +Articles, as an 'Appendix' to them when in fact it was accepted as an +appendix of the Augustana and Apology." (50.) It is a mistake, +therefore, says Kolde, that the Tract is not separately mentioned in the +Book of Concord, nor counted as a separate confessional writing. (53.) +Likewise Tschackert: "On the other hand, it is a mistake to treat +Melanchthon's Tract as an appendix to the Smalcald Articles, as is done +in the Book of Concord. The signatures of the estates have rather given +it an independent authority in the Church." (302.) However, there is +much more of a connection between Luther's Articles and the Tract than +Kolde and Tschackert seem to be aware of. Luther's Articles as well as +the Tract were prepared for the Convention at Smalcald. Both were there +signed by practically the same Lutheran theologians. The fact that in +the case of the Smalcald Articles this was done voluntarily rather +enhances and does not in the least diminish, their importance. Both +also, from the very beginning, were equally regarded as Lutheran +confessional writings. The Tract, furthermore, follows Luther's +Articles also in substance, as it is but an acknowledgment and +additional exposition of his article "Of the Papacy." To be sure, the +Tract must not be viewed as an appendix to Luther's Articles, which, +indeed, were in no need of such an appendix. Moreover, both the Articles +and the Tract may be regarded as appendices to the Augsburg Confession +and the Apology. Accordingly, there is no reason whatever why, in the +Book of Concord, the Tract should not follow Luther's Articles or be +regarded as closely connected with it, and naturally belonging to it. +Koellner is right when he declares it to be "very appropriate" that the +Tract is connected and grouped with the Smalcald Articles. (469.) + +Finally, Kolde designates the words in the title "composed, +_conscriptus,_ by the scholars" as false in every respect. Likewise +Tschackert. (303.) The criticism is justified inasmuch as the expression +"composed, _zusammengezogen, conscriptus,_ by the scholars" cannot very +well be harmonized with the fact that Melanchthon wrote the Tract. But +even this superscription is inappropriate, at least not in the degree +assumed by Kolde and Tschackert. For the fact is that the princes and +estates did not order Melanchthon, but the theologians, to write the +treatise concerning the Papacy, and that the Tract was presented in +their name. Koellner writes: "It is certainly a splendid testimony for +the noble sentiments of those heroes of the faith that the Elector +should know of, and partly disapprove, Melanchthon's milder views, and +still entrust him with the composition of this very important document +[the Tract], and, on the other hand, equally so, that Melanchthon so +splendidly fulfilled the consideration which he owed to the views and +the interests of the party without infringing upon his own conviction." +"Seckendorf also," Koellner adds "justly admires this unusual +phenomenon." (471.) However, Koellner offers no evidence for the +supposition that the Elector charged Melanchthon in particular with the +composition of the Tract. According to the report of the Strassburg +delegates, the princes declared that "the scholars" should peruse the +Confession and enlarge on the Papacy. The report continues: "The +scholars received orders ... to enlarge somewhat on the Papacy which +_they_ did, and thereupon transmitted _their_ criticism to the Elector +and the princes." (Kolde, _Anal.,_ 297.) This is corroborated by +Melanchthon himself, who wrote to Camerarius, March 1, 1537: "We +received orders (_iussi sumus_) to write something on the Primacy of +Peter or the Roman Pontiff." (_C. R._ 3, 292.) February 17 Osiander +reported: "The first business imposed on _us_ by the princes was ... +diligently to explain the Primacy which was omitted from the Confession +because it was regarded as odious. The latter of these duties _we_ have +to-day completed, so that _we_ shall immediately deliver a copy to the +princes." (3, 267.) These statements might even warrant the conclusion +that the theologians also participated, more or less in the drawing up +of the Tract, for which however, further evidence is wanting. Nor does +it appear how this view could be harmonized with Veit Dietrich's +assertion in his letter to Foerster, May 16: "Orders were given to write +about the power of the Pope the primacy of Peter, and the ecclesiastical +jurisdiction. Philip alone performed this very well." (3, 370.) However, +entirely apart from the statement of Osiander, the mere fact that the +theologians were ordered to prepare the document, and that it was +delivered by and in the name of these theologians, sufficiently warrants +us to speak of the document as "The Tract of the Scholars at Smalcald" +with the same propriety that, for example, the opinion which Melanchthon +drew up on August 6, 1536, is entitled: "The First Proposal of the +Wittenberg Scholars concerning the Future Council." (_C. R._ 3, 119.) + + +VIII. Luther's Efforts at Restoring Catechetical Instruction. + +81. Modern Researches Respecting Luther's Catechisms. + +Besides G. v. Zezschwitz (_System der christlichkirchlichen Katechetik,_ +3 volumes, 1862 to 1874) and numerous other contemporary and later +students, G. Buchwald, F. Cohrs, and O. Albrecht have, since the middle +of the past century, rendered no mean service by their researches +pertaining to Luther's Catechisms. Buchwald edited the three series of +sermons on the Five Chief Parts which Luther delivered in 1528, pointed +out their important bearing on his Catechisms, and shed new light on +their origin by discovering and exploiting the Stephan Roth +correspondence. He published the results of his labors in 1894 under the +title, "The Origin of the Two Catechisms of Luther and the Foundation of +the Large Catechism. _Die Entstehung der beiden Katechismen Luthers und +die Grundlage des Grossen Katechismus._" F. Cohrs enriched this +department of knowledge by his articles in the third edition of Herzog's +_Realenzyklopaedie,_ and especially by his five-volume work on _The +Evangelical Catechism; Attempts Prior to Luther's Enchiridion,_ in +_Monumenta Germaniae Paedagogica,_ 1900 to 1907. In 1905 O. Albrecht was +entrusted with the preparation of Luther's Catechisms for the Weimar +Critical Edition of Luther's Complete Works. He also contributed the +extensive historical sections of the first of the three parts of Vol. +30, where the Catechisms are treated. + +This first part of 826 pages, which appeared in 1910, represents the +latest important research work on the origin of Luther's Catechisms. In +its preface R. Drescher says: "The writings of 1529 to 1530, in their +totality were a difficult mountain, and it gives us particular joy +finally to have surmounted it. And the most difficult and laborious part +of the way, at least in view of the comprehensive treatment it was to +receive, was the publication of the Large and the Small Catechism, +including the three series of Catechism Sermons. ... The harvest which +was garnered fills a large volume of our edition." + +82. Meaning of the Word Catechism. + +The term _catechismus_ (catechism), like its related terms, _catechesis, +catechizari, catechumeni,_ was common in the ancient Church. In his +_Glossarium,_ Du Cange defines it as "_institutio puerorum etiam recens +natorum, ante quam baptizentur_--the instruction of children, also those +recently born, before their baptism." The synonymous expression, +_catechesis,_ he describes as "_institutio primorum fidei Christianae +rudimentorum, de quibus kateceseis suas scripsit S. Cyrillus +Jerusolymitanus_--instruction in the first rudiments of the Christian +faith, about which St. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote his catechizations." (2, +222f.) Also Luther was acquainted with this usage in the ancient Church. +He began his Catechism sermon of November 30, 1528, with the words: +"These parts which you heard me recite the old Fathers called catechism, +_i.e._, a sermon for children which children should know and all who +desire to be Christians." (Weimar 30, 1, 57.) At first Luther seems to +have employed the term but seldom; later on, however, especially after +1526, more frequently. Evidently he was bent on popularizing it. Between +the Preface and the Decalog of the first Wittenberg book edition of the +Small Catechism we find the title, "A Small Catechism or Christian +Training--_Ein kleiner Katechismus oder christliche Zucht._" No doubt, +Luther added the explanation "christliche Zucht" because the word +catechism had not yet become current among the people. May 18, 1528, he +began his sermon with the explanation: "_Catechismus dicitur instructio_ +--Catechism is instruction"; likewise the sermon of September 14: +"Catechism, _i.e._, an instruction or Christian teaching," the sermon of +November 30: "Catechism, _i.e._, a sermon for children." In the Preface +to his Small Catechism he again explains the term as "Christian +doctrine." Thus Luther endeavored to familiarize the people with the +word catechism. + +The meaning of this term, however, is not always the same. It may +designate the act of instructing, the subject-matter or the doctrine +imparted, a summary thereof, the text of the traditional chief parts, or +a book containing the catechismal doctrine, text, or text with +explanation. Luther used the word most frequently and preferably in the +sense of instruction. This appears from the definitions quoted in the +preceding paragraph, where catechism is defined as "sermon," +"instruction," "Christian training," etc. "You have the catechism" (the +doctrine), says Luther, "in small and large books." Bugenhagen defines +thus: "Katechismus, dat is, christlike underrichtinge ut den teyn +gebaden Gades." In the Apology, Melanchthon employs the word catechism +as identical with _kathechesis puerorum,_ instruction of the young in +the Christian fundamentals. (324, 41.) "Accordingly," says O. Albrecht, +"catechism means elementary instruction in Christianity, conceived, +first, as the act; then, as the material for instruction; then, as the +contents of a book, and finally, as the book itself." This usage must be +borne in mind also where Luther speaks of his own Catechisms. "German +Catechism" means instruction in, or preaching on, the traditional chief +parts in the German language. And while "Enchiridion" signifies a book +of small compass, the title "Small Catechism" (as appears from the old +subtitle: "Ein kleiner Katechismus oder christliche Zucht") means +instruction in the chief parts, proceeding with compact brevity, and, at +the same time, these parts themselves together with the explanations +added. (W. 30, 1, 454. 539.) As the title of a book the word catechism +was first employed by Althamer in 1528, and by Brenz as the subtitle of +his "Questions" (_Fragestuecke_). A school-book written by John Colet in +the beginning of the sixteenth century bears the title "_Catechyzon,_ +The Instructor." (456.) + +Not every kind of Christian instruction, however, is called catechism by +Luther. Whenever he uses the word, he has in mind beginners, children, +and unlearned people. In his "German Order of Worship, _Deutsche +Messe,_" of 1526, he writes: "Catechism is an instruction whereby +heathen who desire to become Christians are taught and shown what they +must believe, do, not do, and know in Christianity, hence the name +catechumens was given to pupils who were accepted for such instruction +and who learned the Creed previous to their baptism." (19, 76.) In his +sermon of November 30, 1528: "The Catechism is a sermon for children, +which the children and all who desire to be Christians must know. +Whoever does not know it cannot be numbered among the Christians. For if +he does not know these things, it is evident that God and Christ mean +nothing to him." (30, 1, 57.) In his sermon of September 14: "This +[catechism] is preaching for children, or, the Bible of the laity, which +serves the plain people. Whoever, then, does not know these things, and +is unable to recite them and understand them, cannot be considered a +Christian. It is for this reason, too, that it bears the name catechism, +_i.e._, instruction and Christian teaching, since all Christians at the +very least should know this much. Afterward they ought to learn more of +the Scriptures. Hence, let all children govern themselves accordingly, +and see that they learn it." (27.) May 18 Luther began his sermon thus: +"The preaching of the Catechism was begun that it might serve as an +instruction for children and the unlearned. ... For every Christian must +necessarily know the Catechism. Whoever does not know it cannot be +numbered among the Christians." (2.) In the short Preface to the Large +Catechism: "This sermon is designed and undertaken that it might be an +instruction for children and the simpleminded. Hence, of old it was +called in Greek catechism, _i.e._, instruction for children, what every +Christian must needs know, so that he who does not know this could not +be numbered with the Christians nor be admitted to any Sacrament." +(CONC. TRIGL., 575, 1; 535, 11.) + +83. Chief Parts of Catechism. + +In Luther's opinion the elementary doctrines which form the subject- +matter of the Catechism are comprised in the three traditional parts: +Decalog, Creed, and Lord's Prayer. These he considered to be the gist of +the doctrine every one must learn if he would be regarded and treated as +a Christian. "Those who are unwilling to learn it," says Luther, "should +be told that they deny Christ and are no Christians; neither should they +be admitted to the Sacraments, accepted as sponsors at Baptism, nor +exercise any part of Christian liberty." (CONC. TRIGL. 535, 11.) Of +course, Luther considered these three parts only a minimum, which, +however, Christians who partake of the Lord's Supper should strive to +exceed, but still sufficient for children and plain people. (575, 5.) +Even in his later years, Luther speaks of the first three parts as the +Catechism proper. + +However, probably in consequence of the controversy with the +Enthusiasts, which began in 1524, Luther soon added as supplements the +parts treating of Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Confession. In the +Large Catechism, where Baptism and the Lord's Supper appear as +appendices, Luther emphasizes the fact that the first three parts form +the kernel of the Catechism, but that instruction in Baptism and the +Lord's Supper must also be imparted. "These" (first three), says he, +"are the most necessary parts, which one should first learn to repeat +word for word. ... Now, when these three parts are apprehended, it +behooves a person also to know what to say concerning our Sacraments, +which Christ Himself instituted, Baptism and the holy body and blood of +Christ, namely, the text which Matthew and Mark record at the close of +their gospels, when Christ said farewell to His disciples and sent them +forth." (579, 20.) Luther regarded a correct knowledge of Baptism and +the Lord's Supper not only as useful, but as necessary. Beginning his +explanation of the Fourth Chief Part, he remarks: "We have now finished +the three chief parts of the common Christian doctrine. Besides these we +have yet to speak of our two Sacraments instituted by Christ, of which +also every Christian ought to have at least an ordinary, brief +instruction, because without them there can be no Christian; although, +alas! hitherto no instruction concerning them has been given." (733, 1.) +Thus Luther materially enlarged the Catechism. True, several prayer- and +confession-books, which appeared in the late Middle Ages, also treat of +the Sacraments. As for the people, however, it was considered sufficient +for laymen to be able to recite the names of the seven Roman sacraments. +Hence Luther, in the passage cited from the Large Catechism, declares +that in Popery practically nothing of Baptism and the Lord's Supper was +taught, certainly nothing worth while or wholesome. + +84. Parts Inherited from Ancient Church. + +The text of the first three chief parts, Luther considered a sacred +heirloom from the ancient Church. "For," says he in his Large Catechism, +"the holy Fathers or apostles have thus embraced in a summary the +doctrine life, wisdom, and art of Christians, of which they speak and +treat, and with which they are occupied." (579, 19.) Thus Luther, always +conservative, did not reject the traditional catechism, both bag and +baggage, but carefully distinguished between the good, which he +retained, and the worthless, which he discarded. In fact, he no more +dreamt of foisting a new doctrine or catechism on the Christian Church +than he ever thought of founding a new church. On the contrary, his sole +object was to restore the ancient Apostolic Church, and his catechetical +endeavors were bent on bringing to light once more, purifying, +explaining, and restoring, the old catechism of the fathers. + +In his book _Wider Hans Worst,_ 1541, Luther says: "We have remained +faithful to the true and ancient Church; aye, we are the true and +ancient Church. You Papists, however, have apostatized from us, _i.e._, +from the ancient Church, and have set up a new church in opposition to +the ancient Church." In harmony with this view, Luther repeatedly and +emphatically asserted that in his Catechism he was merely protecting and +guarding an inheritance of the fathers, which he had preserved to the +Church by his correct explanation. In his _German Order of Worship_ we +read: "I know of no simpler nor better arrangement of this instruction +or doctrine than the arrangement which has existed since the beginning +of Christendom, _viz._, the three parts, Ten Commandments, Creed, and +the Lord's Prayer." (W. 19, 76.) In the ancient Church the original +parts for catechumens and sponsors were the _Symbolum_ and the +_Paternoster,_ the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer. To these the +Ten Commandments were added as a formal part of doctrine only since the +thirteenth century. (30, 1, 434.) The usual sequence of these parts was: +Lord's Prayer, Apostles' Creed, and, wherever it was not supplanted by +other matter, the Decalog. It was with deliberation then, that Luther +substituted his own objective, logical order. + +In his _Short Form of the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's +Prayer,_ 1520 Luther speaks as follows of the three traditional parts, +which God preserved to the Church in spite of the Papacy: "It did not +come to pass without the special providence of God, that, with reference +to the common Christian, who cannot read the Scriptures, it was +commanded to teach and to know the Ten Commandments, Creed, and Lord's +Prayer which three parts indeed thoroughly and completely embrace all +that is contained in the Scripture and may ever be preached, all also +that a Christian needs to know, and this, too, in a form so brief and +simple that no one can complain or offer the excuse that it is too much, +and that it is too hard for him to remember what is essential to his +salvation. For in order to be saved, a man must know three things: +First, he must know what he is to do and leave undone. Secondly, when he +realizes that by his own strength he is unable to do it and leave it +undone, he must know where he may take, seek, and find that which will +enable him to do and to refrain. Thirdly, he must know how he may seek +and obtain it. Even as a sick man needs first of all to know what +disease he has, what he may or may not do, or leave undone. Thereupon he +needs to know where the medicine is which will help him, that he may do +and leave undone like a healthy person. Fourthly, he must desire it, +seek and get it, or have it brought to him. In like manner the +commandments teach a man to know his disease, that he may see and +perceive what he can do and not do, leave and not leave, and thus +perceive that he is a sinner and a wicked man. Thereupon the Creed holds +before his eyes and teaches him where to find the medicine, the grace +which will help him become pious, that he may keep the commandments, and +shows him God and His mercy as revealed and offered in Christ. Fifthly, +the Lord's Prayer teaches him how to ask for, get and obtain it, namely, +by proper, humble, and comforting prayer. These three things comprise +the entire Scriptures." (W. 7, 204.) It was things such as the chief +parts of the Catechism that Luther had in mind when he wrote against the +fanatics, 1528: "We confess that even under the Papacy there are many +Christian blessings aye, all Christian blessings, and thence they have +come to us: the true Holy Scriptures, true Baptism, the true Sacrament +of the Altar, true keys for the forgiveness of sins, the true office of +the ministry, the true catechism, such as the Lord's Prayer, the Ten +Commandments the Articles of Faith, etc." (26, 147.) Luther's meaning +is, that in the midst of antichristendom and despite the Pope, the text +of the three chief parts was, among other things, preserved to the +Church. + +85. Service Rendered Catechism by Luther. + +The fact that the text of the three chief parts existed long before +Luther does not detract from the service which he rendered the +Catechism. Luther's work, moreover, consisted in this, 1. that he +brought about a general revival of the instruction in the Catechism of +the ancient Church; 2. that he completed it by adding the parts treating +of Baptism, Confession, and the Lord's Supper; 3. that he purged its +material from all manner of papal ballast; 4. that he eliminated the +Romish interpretation and adulteration in the interest of +work-righteousness; 5. that he refilled the ancient forms with their +genuine Evangelical and Scriptural meaning. Before Luther's time the +study of the Catechism had everywhere fallen into decay. There were but +few who knew its text, and when able to recite it, they did not +understand it. The soul of all Christian truths, the Gospel of God's +free pardon for Christ's sake, had departed. Concerning "the three parts +which have remained in Christendom from of old" Luther said that "little +of it had been taught and treated correctly." (CONC. TRIGL. 575, 6.) + +In his _Warning to My Dear Germans,_ of 1531, he enlarges on the same +thought as follows; "Thanks to God, our Gospel has produced much and +great good. Formerly no one knew what was Gospel, what Christ, what +Baptism, what Confession, what Sacrament, what faith, what spirit, what +flesh, what good works, what the Ten Commandments, what the Lord's +Prayer, what praying, what suffering, what comfort, what civil +government, what matrimony, what parents, what children, what lords, +what servant, what mistress what maid, what devil, what angel, what +world, what life, what death, what sin, what right, what forgiveness of +sin, what God, what bishop, what pastor, what Church, what a Christian, +what the cross. Sum, we knew nothing of what a Christian should know. +Everything was obscured and suppressed by the papal asses. For in +Christian matters they are asses indeed, aye, great, coarse, unlearned +asses. For I also was one of them and know that in this I am speaking +the truth. And all pious hearts who were captive under the Pope, even as +I, will bear me out that they would fain have known one of these things, +yet were not able nor permitted to know it. We knew no better than that +the priests and monks alone were everything; on their works we based our +hope of salvation and not on Christ. Thanks to God, however, it has now +come to pass that man and woman, young and old, know the Catechism, and +how to believe, live, pray, suffer, and die; and that is indeed a +splendid instruction for consciences, teaching them how to be a +Christian and to know Christ." (W. 30, 3, 317.) + +Thus Luther extols it as the great achievement of his day that now every +one knew the Catechism, whereas formerly Christian doctrine was unknown +or at least not understood aright. And this achievement is preeminently +a service which Luther rendered. He revived once more the ancient +catechetical parts of doctrine, placed them in the proper Biblical +light, permeated them with the Evangelical spirit, and explained them in +conformity with the understanding of the Gospel which he had gained +anew, stressing especially the _finis historiae_ (the divine purpose of +the historical facts of Christianity, as recorded in the Second +Article), the forgiveness of sins not by works of our own, but by grace, +for Christ's sake. + +86. Catechetical Instruction before Luther. + +In the Middle Ages the Lord's Prayer and the Creed were called the chief +parts for sponsors (_Patenhauptstuecke_), since the canons required +sponsors to know them, and at Baptism they were obligated to teach these +parts to their godchildren. The children, then, were to learn the Creed +and the Lord's Prayer from their parents and sponsors. Since the +Carolingian Epoch these regulations of the Church were often repeated, +as, for example, in the _Exhortation to the Christian Laity_ of the +ninth century. From the same century dates the regulation that an +explanation of the Creed and the Lord's Prayer should be found in every +parish, self-evidently to facilitate preaching and the examination in +confession. In confession, which, according to the Lateran Council, +1215, everybody was required to make at least once a year, the priests +were to inquire also regarding this instruction and have the chief parts +recited. Since the middle of the thirteenth century the Creed, the +Lord's Prayer, together with the Benedicite, Gratias, Ave Maria, Psalms, +and other matter, were taught also in the Latin schools, where probably +Luther, too, learned them. In the _Instruction for Visitors,_ +Melanchthon still mentions "der Kinder Handbuechlein, darin das +Alphabet, Vaterunser, Glaub' und andere Gebet' innen stehen--Manual for +Children, containing the alphabet, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and +other prayers," as the first schoolbook. (W. 26, 237.) After the +invention of printing, chart-impressions with pictures illustrating the +Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments came into the +possession also of some laymen. The poorer classes, however, had to +content themselves with the charts in the churches, which especially +Nicolaus of Cusa endeavored to introduce everywhere. (Herzog's +_Realenzyklopaedie_ 10, 138.) They were followed by confessional +booklets, prayer-booklets, and also by voluminous books of devotion. +Apart from other trash, these contained confessional and communion +prayers instructions on Repentance, Confession, and the Sacrament of +the Altar; above all, however, a mirror of sins, intended as a guide for +self-examination, on the basis of various lists of sins and catalogs of +virtues, which supplanting the Decalog were to be memorized. +Self-evidently, all this was not intended as a schoolmaster to bring +them to Christ and to faith in the free grace of God, but merely to +serve the interest of the Romish penances, satisfactions, and +work-righteousness. Says Luther in the Smalcald Articles: "Here, too, +there was no faith nor Christ, and the virtue of the absolution was not +declared to him, but upon his enumeration of sins and his self-abasement +depended his consolation. What torture, rascality, and idolatry such +confession has produced is more than can be related." (485, 20.) The +chief parts of Christian doctrine but little taught and nowhere +correctly taught,--such was the chief hurt of the Church under the +Papacy. + +In the course of time, however, even this deficient and false +instruction gradually fell into decay. The influence of the Latin +schools was not very far-reaching, their number being very small in +proportion to the young. Public schools for the people did not exist in +the Middle Ages. As a matter of fact not a single synod concerned itself +specifically with the instruction of the young. (_H. R._ 10, 137.) At +home, parents and sponsors became increasingly indifferent and +incompetent for teaching. True, the reformers of the fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries did attempt to elevate the instruction also in the +Catechism. Geiler's sermons on the Lord's Prayer were published. Gerson +admonished: "The reformation of the Church must begin with the young," +and published sermons on the Decalog as models for the use of the +clergy. John Wolf also urged that the young be instructed, and +endeavored to substitute the Decalog for the prevalent catalogs of sins. +The Humanists John Wimpheling, Erasmus, and John Colet (who wrote the +_Catechyzon,_ which Erasmus rendered into Latin hexameters) urged the +same thing. Peter Tritonius Athesinus wrote a similar book of +instruction for the Latin schools. However, all of these attempts proved +ineffectual, and even if successful, they would have accomplished little +for truly Christian instruction, such as Luther advocated, since the +real essence of Christianity, the doctrine of justification, was unknown +to these reformers. + +Thus in the course of time the people, and especially the young, grew +more and more deficient in the knowledge of even the simplest Christian +truths and facts. And bishops and priests, unconcerned about the ancient +canons, stolidly looked on while Christendom was sinking deeper and +deeper into the quagmire of total religious ignorance and indifference. +Without fearing contradiction, Melanchthon declared in his Apology: +"Among the adversaries there is no catechization of the children +whatever, concerning which even the canons give commands. ... Among the +adversaries, in many regions [as in Italy and Spain], during the entire +year no sermons are delivered, except in Lent." (325, 41.) + +87. Medieval Books of Prayer and Instruction. + +Concerning the aforementioned Catholic books of prayer and edification +which, during the Middle Ages, served the people as catechisms, Luther, +in his Prayer-Booklet of 1522 (which was intended to supplant the Romish +prayer-books), writes as follows: "Among many other harmful doctrines +and booklets which have seduced and deceived Christians and given rise +to countless superstitions, I do not consider as the least the +prayer-booklets, by which so much distress of confessing and enumerating +sins, such unchristian folly in the prayers to God and His saints was +inculcated upon the unlearned, and which, nevertheless, were highly +puffed with indulgences and red titles, and, in addition, bore precious +names, one being called _Hortulus Animae,_ the other _Paradisus Animae,_ +and so forth. They are in sore need of a thorough and sound reformation, +or to be eradicated entirely, a sentence which I also pass on the +Passional or Legend books, to which also a great deal has been added by +the devil." (W. 10, 1, 375.) + +The _Hortulus Animae,_ which is mentioned even before 1500, was widely +circulated at the beginning of the sixteenth century. It embraced all +forms of edifying literature. Sebastian Brandt and Jacob Wimpheling +helped to compile it. The _Paradisus Animae_ had the same contents, but +was probably spread in Latin only. The _Hortulus Animae_ contains very +complete rosters of sins and catalogs of virtues for "confessing and +enumerating sins." Among the virtues are listed the bodily works of +mercy (Matt. 25, 35) and the seven spiritual works of mercy: to instruct +the ignorant, give counsel to the doubtful, comfort the afflicted, +admonish sinners, pardon adversaries suffer wrong, and forgive the +enemies. Among the virtues were counted the seven gifts of the Holy +Ghost: wisdom, understanding, ability, kindness, counsel, strength, and +fear. Furthermore the three divine virtues: faith, hope and charity. The +four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. The +eight beatitudes according to Matt. 5, 3ff. The twelve counsels: +poverty, obedience, chastity, love of enemies, meekness, abundant mercy, +simplicity of words, not too much care for temporal things, correct +purpose and simplicity of deeds, harmony of doctrine and works, fleeing +the cause of sin, brotherly admonition. Finally also the seven +sacraments. The list of sins contains the nine foreign sins, the six +sins against the Holy Ghost, the four sins that cry to God for +vengeance, the five senses the Ten Commandments, and the seven mortal +sins: pride, covetousness, unchastity, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. +Each of these mortal sins is again analyzed extensively. The Weimar +edition of Luther's Works remarks: "If these catalogs were employed for +self-examination, confusion, endless torment, or complete +externalization of the consciousness of sin was bound to result. We can +therefore understand why the Reformer inveighs against this 'enumerating +of sins.'" (10, 2, 336.) + +The _Hortulus Animae_ also shows how Luther was obliged to purge the +Catechism from all manner of "unchristian follies," as he calls them. +For the entire book is pervaded by idolatrous adoration of the saints. +An acrostic prayer to Mary addresses her as _mediatrix, auxiliatrix, +reparatrix, illuminatrix, advocatrix._ In English the prayer would read +as follows: "O Mary, thou mediator between God and men, make of thyself +the medium between the righteous God and me, a poor sinner! O Mary, thou +helper in all anguish and need, come to my assistance in all +sufferrings, and help me resist and strive against the evil spirits and +overcome all my temptations and afflictions. O Mary, thou restorer of +lost grace to all men, restore unto me my lost time, my sinful and +wasted life! O Mary, thou illuminator, who didst give birth to the +eternal Light of the whole world, illumine my blindness and ignorance, +lest I, poor sinner that I am, enter the darkness of eternal death. O +Mary, thou advocate of all miserable men, be thou my advocate at my last +end before the stern judgment of God, and obtain for me the grace and +the fruit of thy womb, Jesus Christ! Amen." Another prayer calls Mary +the "mighty queen of heaven, the holy empress of the angels, the one who +stays divine wrath." A prayer to the eleven thousand virgins reads as +follows: "O ye, adorned with chastity, crowned with humility, clad with +patience, covered with the blossoms of virtue, well polished with +moderation--O ye precious pearls and chosen virgin maids, help us in the +hour of death!" + +With this idolatry and saint-worship silly superstition was combined. In +order to be efficacious, a certain prayer prescribed in the _Hortulus_ +must be spoken not only with "true contrition and pure confession," but +also "before a figure which had appeared to St. Gregory." Whoever offers +a certain prayer "before the image of Our Lady in the Sun" "will not +depart this life unshriven, and thirty days before his death will see +the very adorable Virgin Mary prepared to help him." Another prayer is +good "for pestilence" when spoken "before the image of St. Ann;" another +prayer to St. Margaret profits "every woman in travail;" still another +preserves him who says it from "a sudden death." All of these promises +however, are far surpassed by the indulgences assured. The prayer before +the apparition of St. Gregory obtains 24,600 years and 24 days of +indulgence: another promises "indulgence for as many days as our Lord +Jesus Christ received wounds during His passion, _viz._ 5,475." Whoever +prays the Bridget-prayers not only obtains indulgence for himself, but +15 souls of his kin are thereby delivered from purgatory, 15 sinners +converted, and 15 righteous "confirmed and established in their good +standing." (W. 10, 2, 334.) + +Also in the chart booklets for the Latin schools of the Middle Ages the +Ave Maria and Salve Regina played an important part.--Such were the +books which, before Luther, were to serve the people as catechisms, or +books of instruction and prayer. In them, everything, even what was +right and good in itself, such as the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the +Decalog, was made to serve Romish superstition and work-righteousness. +Hence one can easily understand why Luther demanded that they be either +thoroughly reformed or eradicated. + +Indeed, the dire need of the Church in this respect was felt and +lamented by none sooner and more deeply than Luther. Already in his +tract _To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation,_ 1520, he +complained that Christian instruction of the young was being neglected. +He writes: "Above all, the chief and most common lesson in the higher +and lower schools ought to be the Holy Scriptures and for the young +boys, the Gospel. Would to God every city had also a school for girls, +where the little maids might daily hear the Gospel for an hour, either +in German or in Latin! Truly, in the past the schools and convents for +men and women were founded for this purpose, with very laudable +Christian intention, as we read of St. Agnes and other saints. There +grew up holy virgins and martyrs, and Christendom fared very well. But +now it amounts to nothing more than praying and singing. Ought not, +indeed, every Christian at the age of nine or ten years know the entire +holy Gospel, in which his name and life is written? Does not the spinner +and the seamstress teach the same handicraft to her daughter when she is +still young? But now even the great men, the learned prelates and +bishops, do not know the Gospel. How unjustly do we deal with the poor +youth entrusted to us, failing, as we do, to govern and instruct them! +What a severe reckoning will be required of us because we do not set +before them the Word of God! For unto them is done as Jeremiah says, +Lam. 2, 11. 12: 'Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, +my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter +of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the +streets of the city. They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? +when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their +soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.' But we do not see the +wretched misery, how the young people, in the midst of Christendom, now +also languish and perish miserably for lack of the Gospel, in which they +should always be instructed and drilled." (W. 6, 461; E. 21, 349.) + +88. Church Visitation Reveals Deplorable Ignorance. + +The Saxon Visitation brought to light such a total decay of all +Christian knowledge and of Christian instruction as even Luther had not +anticipated. Aside from other evils (clergymen cohabiting with their +cooks, addicted to drink, or even conducting taverns, etc.), the people, +especially in the villages, were found to be grossly ignorant of even +the simplest rudiments of Christian doctrine and most unwilling to learn +anything, while many pastors were utterly incompetent to teach. +According to the official records, one priest, who enjoyed a great +reputation as an exorcist, could not even recite the Lord's Prayer and +the Creed fluently. (Koestlin, _Martin Luther,_ 2, 41.) Luther took part +in the visitation of the Electoral circuit from the end of October till +after the middle of November, 1528, and again from the end of December, +1528, till January, 1529, and on April 26, 1529, at Torgau, he, too, +signed the report on visitation. When Luther therefore describes the +decay of instruction in Popery, he speaks from personal experience. +About the middle of January, 1529, he wrote to Spalatin: "Moreover, +conditions in the congregations everywhere are pitiable, inasmuch as the +peasants learn nothing, know nothing, never pray, do nothing but abuse +their liberty, make no confession, receive no communion, as if they had +been altogether emancipated from religion. They have neglected their +papistical affairs (ours they despise) to such extent that it is +terrible to contemplate the administration of the papal bishops." +(Enders 7, 45.) The intense heartache and mingled feelings which came +over Luther when he thought of the ignorance which he found during the +visitation, are described in the Preface to the Small Catechism as +follows: "The deplorable miserable condition which I discovered lately +when I, too, was a visitor, has forced and urged me to prepare this +Catechism, or Christian doctrine, in this small, plain, simple form. +Mercy! Good God! what manifold misery I beheld! The common people, +especially in the villages, have no knowledge whatever of Christian +doctrine, and, alas! many pastors are altogether incapable, and +incompetent to teach. Nevertheless, all maintain that they are +Christians, all have been baptized and receive the holy Sacrament. Yet +they cannot recite either the Lord's Prayer, or the Creed, or the Ten +Commandments, they live like dumb brutes and irrational swine; and yet +now that the Gospel has come, they have nicely learned to abuse all +liberty like experts. O ye bishops! what will ye ever answer to Christ +for having so shamefully neglected the people and never for a moment +discharged your office? May all misfortune flee you! You command the +Sacrament in one form and insist on your human laws, and yet at the same +time you do not care in the least whether the people know the Lord's +Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, or any part of the Word of God. +Woe, woe, unto you forever!" (533, 1ff.) + +To these experiences made during the visitation, Luther also refers when +he says in the Short Preface to the Large Catechism: "For I well +remember the time, indeed, even now it is a daily occurrence that one +finds rude old persons who knew nothing and still know nothing of these +things, and who, nevertheless, go to Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and +use everything belonging to Christians, notwithstanding that those who +come to the Lord's Supper ought to know more and have a fuller +understanding of all Christian doctrine than children and new scholars." +(575, 5.) In his "Admonition to the Clergy" of 1530, Luther describes +the conditions before the Reformation as follows: "In brief, preaching +and teaching were in a wretched and heart-rending state. Still all the +bishops kept silence and saw nothing new, although they are now able to +see a gnat in the sun. Hence all things were so confused and wild, owing +to the discordant teaching and the strange new opinions, that no one was +any longer able to know what was certain or uncertain, what was a +Christian or an unchristian. The old doctrine of faith in Christ, of +love, of prayer, of cross, of comfort in tribulation was entirely +trodden down. Aye, there was in all the world no doctor who knew the +entire Catechism, that is, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and +the Creed, to say nothing of understanding and teaching it, as now, God +be praised, it is being taught and learned, even by young children. In +support of this statement I appeal to all their books, both of +theologians and jurists. If a single part of the Catechism can be +correctly learned therefrom, I am ready to be broken upon the wheel and +to have my veins opened." (W. 30, 1, 301.) + +Melanchthon, Jonas, Brenz, George of Anhalt, Mathesius, and many others +draw a similar picture of the religious conditions prevailing in +Germany, England, and other lands immediately prior to the Reformation. +To be sure, Papists, particularly Jesuits, have disputed the accuracy +and truth of these descriptions from the pen of Luther and his +contemporaries. But arrayed against these Romish apologetes is also the +testimony of Papists themselves. In his _Catholicus Catechismus,_ +published at Cologne, 1543, Nausea writes: "I endeavored to renew the +instruction, once well known among all churches, which, however, not +only recently, but long ago (I do not know to whose stupidity, +negligence, or ignorance this was due) was altogether forgotten, not +without lamentable loss to the catholic religion. _Veterem illam +catechesin, per omnes quondam ecclesias percelebrem non modo tum, sed et +ante pridem, nescio quorum vel socordia vel negligentia vel ignorantia, +non sine poenitenda catholicae religionis iactura prorsus in oblivionem +coeptam repetere coepi_." (W. 30, 1, 467.) Moreover, when Romanists +dispute Luther's assertions, they refer to the one point only, that +religious instruction (as conceived by Catholics) had not declined in +the measure claimed by Luther. As to the chief point in Luther's +assertion, however, _viz._, the correct Evangelical explanation of the +Catechism, which, in Luther's opinion, is essential to all truly +Christian instruction, the Catholic Church has always been utterly +devoid of it not only prior to the Reformation, but also after it, and +down to the present day. True, even during the Reformation some Papists +were incited to greater zeal in preaching and teaching. It was a +reaction against the Reformation of Luther, who must be regarded as the +indirect cause also of the formal improvement in the instruction of the +young among the Romanists. To maintain their power, bishops and priests +were compelled to resume and cultivate it. This revival, however, meant +only an intensified instruction in the old work-righteousness, and +therefore was the very opposite of the instruction which Luther desired +and advocated. In the Apology, Melanchthon, after charging the Papists +with totally neglecting the instruction of the young, continues: "A few +among them now also begin to preach of good works. But of the knowledge +of Christ, of faith, of the consolation of consciences they are unable +to preach anything, moreover, this blessed doctrine, the precious holy +Gospel, they call Lutheran." (326, 44.) + +89. Luther Devising Measures to Restore Catechism. + +Fully realizing the general decay of Christian training, Luther at once +directed all his efforts toward bringing about a change for the better. +And well aware of the fact that the future belongs to the rising +generation, the instruction of the common people, and particularly of +the young, became increasingly an object of his especial concern. If the +Church, said he, is to be helped, if the Gospel is to be victorious, if +the Reformation is to succeed, if Satan and Antichrist are to be dealt a +mortal blow, a blow from which they will not recover, it must be done +through the young. For every cause which is not, or cannot be made, the +cause of the rising generation, is doomed from the very outset. "This is +the total ruin of the Church," said Luther as early as 1516; "for if +ever it is to flourish again, one must begin by instructing the young. +_Haec est enim ecclesiae ruina tota; si enim unquam debet reflorere, +necesse est ut a puerorum institutione exordium fiat._" (W. 1, 494.) +For, apart from being incapable of much improvement, the old people +would soon disappear from the scene. Hence, if Christianity and its +saving truths were to be preserved to the Church, the children must +learn them from earliest youth. + +In his Large Catechism Luther gave utterance to these thoughts as +follows: "Let this, then, be said for exhortation, not only for those of +us who are old and grown, but also for the young people, who ought to be +brought up in the Christian doctrine and understanding. For thereby the +Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer might be the more +easily inculcated upon our youth, so that they would receive them with +pleasure and earnestness, and thus would practise them from their youth +and accustom themselves to them. For the old are now well-nigh done for, +so that these and other things cannot be attained, unless we train the +people who are to come after us and succeed us in our office and work, +in order that they also may bring up their children successfully, that +the Word of God and the Christian Church may be preserved. Therefore let +every father of a family know that it is his duty, by the injunction and +command of God, to teach these things to his children, or have them +learn what they ought to know." (773, 85.) + +A thorough and lasting revival of the Catechism can be hoped for only +through the young--such were Luther's convictions. Accordingly he +implored and adjured pastors and parents not to refuse their help in +this matter. In the Preface to his Small Catechism we read: "Therefore I +entreat you all for God's sake, my dear sirs and brethren, who are +pastors or preachers, to devote yourselves heartily to your office, to +have pity on the people who are entrusted to you, and to help us +inculcate the Catechism upon the people, especially upon the young." +(533, 6.) And as he earnestly admonished the pastors, so he also +tenderly invited them to be faithful in this work. He was firmly +convinced that nothing except the Gospel, as rediscovered and preached +by himself, was able to save men. How, then, could he remain silent or +abandon this work because of the hatred and ungratefulness of men! It +was this new frame of mind, produced by the Gospel, to which Luther +appealed in the interest of the Catechism. "Therefore look to it, ye +pastors and preachers," says he, concluding the Preface to his Small +Catechism. "Our office is now become a different thing from what it was +under the Pope; it is now become serious and salutary. Accordingly it +now involves much more trouble and labor, danger and trials, and in +addition thereto secures but little reward and gratitude in the world. +But Christ Himself will be our reward if we labor faithfully." (539, +26.) + +At the same time Luther also took proper steps toward giving the +preachers frequent opportunity for Catechism-work. Since 1525 Wittenberg +had a regulation prescribing quarterly instruction in the Catechism by +means of special sermons. The _Instruction for Visitors,_ of 1527, +demanded "that the Ten Commandments, the Articles of Faith, and the +Lord's Prayer be steadily preached and expounded on Sunday afternoons. +... And when the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer and the Creed have +been preached on Sundays in succession, matrimony, and the sacraments of +Baptism and the Lord's Supper shall also be preached diligently. In this +interest the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Articles of +Faith shall be recited word for word, for the sake of the children and +other simple and ignorant folk." (W. 26, 230.) November 29, 1528, in an +admonition to attend these Catechism-sermons, Luther proclaimed from the +pulpit: "We have ordered, as hitherto has been customary with us, that +the first principles and the fundamentals of Christian knowledge and +life be preached four times each year, two weeks in each quarter four +days per week, at 10 A.M." (W. 27, 444; 29, 146.) In Luther's sermon of +November 27, 1530, we read: "It is our custom to preach the Catechism +four times a year. Therefore attend these services, and let the children +and the rest of the household come." (32, 209.) September 10, 1531, +Luther concluded his sermon with the following admonition: "It is the +custom, and the time of the Catechism-sermons is at hand. I admonish you +to give these eight days to your Lord and permit your household and +children to attend, and you yourself may also come and profit by this +instruction. No one knows as much as he ought to know. For I myself am +constrained to drill it every day. You know that we did not have it +under the Papacy. Buy while the market is at the door; some day you will +behold the fruit. We would, indeed, rather escape the burden, but we do +it for your sakes." (34, 2, 195.) + +90. Cooperation of Parents Urged by Luther. + +In order to bring the instruction of the young into vogue, Luther saw +that church, school, and home must needs cooperate. The home especially +must not fail in this. Accordingly, in his admonitions, he endeavored to +interest the fathers and mothers in this work. He was convinced that +without their vigorous cooperation he could achieve but little. In his +_German Order of Worship,_ 1526, we read: "For if the parents and +guardians of the young are unwilling to take such pains with the young, +either personally or through others, Catechism [catechetical +instruction] will never be established." (W. 19, 76.) In this he was +confirmed by the experiences he had while on his tour of visitation. If +the children were to memorize the Catechism and learn to understand it, +they must be instructed and questioned individually, a task to which the +Church was unequal, and for the accomplishment of which also the small +number of schools was altogether inadequate. Parents, however, were able +to reach the children individually. They had the time and opportunity, +too, morning, noon, and evening, at the table, etc. Furthermore, they +had the greatest interest in this matter, the children being their own +flesh and blood. And they, in the first place, were commanded by God to +provide for the proper training of their children. The fathers and +mothers, therefore, these natural and divinely appointed teachers of the +children, Luther was at great pains to enlist for the urgent work of +instructing the young. They should see that the children and servants +did not only attend the Catechism-sermons in church, but also memorized +the text and learned to understand it. The Christian homes should again +become home-churches, home-schools, where the house-fathers were both +house-priests and house-teachers performing the office of the ministry +there just as the pastors did in the churches. + +With ever-increasing energy Luther, therefore, urged the parents to +study the Catechism in order to be able to teach it to their children. +In his sermons on the Ten Commandments, 1516, he admonishes them to +bring up their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. "But +alas," he exclaims, "how has not all this been corrupted! Nor is it to +be wondered at, since the parents themselves have not been trained and +educated." In a sermon of 1526: "Here are two doctrines, Law and Gospel. +Of them we preach frequently, but very few there are who take it to +heart. I hear that many are still so ignorant that they do not know the +Ten Commandments nor are able to pray. It plainly shows that they are +altogether careless. Parents ought to see what their children and family +are doing. In the school at home they should learn these three. I hear +that in the city, too, there are wicked people. We cannot enter the +homes; parents, masters, and mistresses ought to be sufficiently skilled +to require their children and servants to say the prayers before +retiring. But they do not know any themselves. What, then, avails it +that we do a great deal of preaching concerning the kingdom of Christ? I +thought conditions had improved. I admonish you master--for it is your +duty--to instruct the servants, the mistress, the maids, and the +children; and it is publicly preached in church for the purpose that it +may be preached at home." (W. 20 485.) + +In his sermon of September 14, 1528, Luther declares that the Catechism +is the laymen's Bible, which every one must know who wishes to be +considered a Christian and to be admitted to the Lord's Supper. He then +proceeds: "Hence all children should behave accordingly, and learn. And +you parents are bound to have your children learn these things. Likewise +you lords, take pains that your family, etc. Whoever does not know these +things does not deserve any food. These five points are a brief summary +of the Christian doctrine. When the question is put, 'What is the First +Commandment?' every one should be able to recite: 'Namely this,'" etc. +(W. 30, 1, 27.) Exhorting the people to attend the Catechism-services, +Luther declared November 29, 1528: "Think not, ye housefathers, that you +are freed from the care of your household when you say: 'Oh, if they are +unwilling to go [to Catechism instruction], why should I force them? I +am not in need of it.' You have been appointed their bishop and +house-pastor; beware lest you neglect your duty toward them!" (27, 444.) +On the following day, beginning the sermons he had announced Luther +said: "Therefore I have admonished you adults to have your children and +your servants, attend it [the Catechism-sermon], and also be present +yourselves; otherwise we shall not admit you to Holy Communion. For if +you parents and masters will not help us we shall accomplish little by +our preaching. If I preach an entire year, the household comes, gapes at +the walls and windows of the church, etc. Whoever is a good citizen is +in duty bound to urge his people to learn these things; he should refuse +them food unless, etc. If the servants complain, slam the door on them. +If you have children, accustom them to learn the Ten Commandments, the +Symbol, the Paternoster, etc. If you will diligently urge them, they +will learn much in one year. When they have learned these things, there +are everywhere in the Scriptures fine passages which they may learn +next; if not all, at least some. For this reason God has appointed you a +master, a mistress, that you may urge your household to do this. And +this you are well able to accomplish: that they pray in the morning and +evening, before and after meals. In this way they would be brought up in +the fear of God. I am no idle prattler: I ask you not to cast my words +to the winds. I would not think you so rude if I did not daily hear it. +Every housefather is a priest in his own house, every housemother is a +priestess; therefore see that you help us to perform the office of the +ministry in your homes as we do in church. If you do, we shall have a +propitious God, who will defend us from all evil. In the Psalm [78, 5] +it is written: 'He appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our +fathers, that they should make them known to their children.'" (30, 1, +57.) In the same sermon: "Able teachers are necessary because of the +great need, since parents do not concern themselves about this. But each +master and mistress must remember that they are priests and priestesses +over Hans and Gretchen," their sons and daughters. + +In the same way Luther urges this matter in his Catechisms. For here we +read: "Therefore it is the duty of every father of a family to question +and examine his children and servants at least once a week and to +ascertain what they know of it [the Catechism], or are learning, and, if +they do not know it, to keep them faithfully at it." (575, 4.) "Likewise +every head of a household is obliged to do the same with respect to his +domestics, man-servants and maid-servants, and not to keep them in his +house if they do not know these things and are unwilling to learn them. +For a person who is so rude and unruly as to be unwilling to learn these +things is not to be tolerated; for in these three parts everything that +we have in the Scriptures is comprehended in short, plain and simple +terms." (577, 17.) "Therefore let every father of a family know that it +is his duty, by the injunction and command of God, to teach these things +to his children, or have them learn what they ought to know. For since +they are baptized and received into the Christian Church, they should +also enjoy this communion of the Sacrament, in order that they may serve +us and be useful to us; for they must all indeed help us to believe, +love, pray, and fight against the devil." (773, 87.) + +In confession and before visitors, housefathers were also to render +account of the manner in which they discharged these duties. In his +sermon of July 11, 1529, Luther said: "You will therefore instruct your +children and servants according to this Catechism.... For you have the +Catechism in small and large books; therefore study it. You had the +visitors, and you have furthermore those who will examine you +housefathers and your household, that they may see how you have +improved.... You should have given money and property for it; yet you +neglect it when it is offered freely; therefore you housefathers ought +to be diligent students of this preaching, that as you learn you may +instruct, _discendo doceatis._" (W. 29, 472; 30, 1, 121.) + +91. German Services with German Catechism. + +With great emphasis Luther advocated diligent Catechism instruction in +his _Deutsche Messe_ (German Mass, _i.e._, German Service or German +Order of Worship), which he completed toward the end of 1525 and +published in 1526. Luther issued this Service "because German masses and +services are everywhere insisted upon." The demand was made especially +in the interest of the unlearned and the children, for whose benefit, +according to Luther, all such measures were adopted. "For," says he, "we +do not at all establish such orders for those who are already [advanced] +Christians. ... But we are in need of such orders for the sake of those +who are still to become Christians or to grow stronger. Just as a +Christian does not need Baptism, the Word, and Sacrament as a Christian, +since he already has everything, but as a sinner. Chiefly, however, this +is done for the sake of the unlearned and the young people, who should +and must be exercised daily and brought up in the Scriptures, the Word +of God, that they may become accustomed to the Scripture, skilled, +fluent, and at home in it, in order that they may be able to defend +their faith, and in time teach others and help to increase the kingdom +of Christ. For their sake one must read, sing, preach, write, and +compose. And if it would help and promote this aim, I would have all +bells rung, all organs played, and everything that is capable of giving +sound to sound forth. For the Catholic services are so damnable because +they [the Papists] made laws, works, and merits of them, thereby +smothering faith, and did not adapt them to the young and unlearned, to +exercise them in the Scriptures, in the Word of God, but themselves +clung to them [as works], regarding them as beneficial and necessary for +salvation to themselves, that is the devil." + +While Luther, in his _German Worship,_ as well as in other places, +favors also Latin masses, yet he demands that "for the sake of the +unlearned laity" German services be introduced. And since the unlearned +could be truly served only by instruction in the fundamental truths of +Christianity, the Catechism, according to Luther, was to constitute a +chief part in these services. "Very well," says he, "in God's name! +First of all a clear, simple plain, good Catechism is needed in the +German service. Catechism, however, is an instruction whereby heathen +who desire to become Christians are taught and instructed in what they +must believe, do, not do, and know concerning Christianity. Pupils who +were accepted for such instruction and learned the faith before being +baptized were therefore called catechumens. Nor do I know how to present +this instruction, or teaching, in a form more simple than it already has +been presented since the beginning of Christianity, and hitherto +retained, to wit, the three parts: the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and +the Lord's Prayer. These three parts contain in simple and brief form +everything that a Christian must know. And since as yet we have no +special congregation (_weil man noch keine sonderliche Gemeinde hat_), +this instruction must proceed in the following manner, by preaching from +the pulpit at various times or daily, as necessity demands, and by +repeating and reading it to the children and servants at home in the +houses morning and evening (if one would make Christians of them). Yet +not only so that they memorize the words or recite them, as was done +hitherto, but by questioning them part for part, and having them state +in their answer what each part means and how they understand it. If all +parts cannot be asked at one time, take one, the next day another. For +if the parents or guardians are unwilling to take such pains with the +young, either personally or through others the Catechism will never be +established." (19, 76.) German Catechism in German services--such, then, +was the slogan which Luther now sounded forth with ever-increasing +emphasis. + +92. Luther Illustrating Method of Procedure. + +According to Luther's _German Worship,_ pastors were to preach the +Catechism on Mondays and Tuesdays. To insure the desired results +(memorizing and understanding the text), the children should be +questioned, especially at home by the parents. Exemplifying such +catechization, Luther writes: "For so shall they be asked: 'What do you +pray?' Answer: 'The Lord's Prayer,' What do you mean by saying: 'Our +Father who art in heaven?' Answer: 'That God is not an earthly, but a +heavenly Father, who would make us rich and blessed in heaven,' 'What +does "Hallowed be Thy name" mean?' Answer: 'That we should honor God's +name and not use it in vain, lest it be profaned,' 'How, then, is it +profaned and desecrated?' Answer: 'When we who are regarded as His +children lead wicked lives, teach and believe what is wrong,' And so +forth, what God's kingdom means; how it comes; what God's will is, what +daily bread, etc. Likewise also of the Creed: 'What do you believe?' +Answer: 'I believe in God the Father,' etc. Thereupon part for part, as +leisure permits, one or two at a time. Thus: 'What does it mean to +believe in God the Father Almighty?' Answer: 'It means that the heart +trusts Him entirely, and confidently looks to Him for all grace, favor, +help, and comfort, here and hereafter,' 'What does it mean to believe +in Jesus Christ, His Son?' Answer: 'It means that the heart believes we +should all be lost eternally if Christ had not died for us,' etc. In +like manner one must also question on the Ten Commandments, what the +first, the second, the third and other commandments mean. Such questions +you may take from our Prayer-Booklet, where the three parts are briefly +explained, or you may formulate others yourself, until they comprehend +with their hearts the entire sum of Christian knowledge in two parts, as +in two sacks, which are faith and love. Let faith's sack have two +pockets; into the one pocket put the part according to which we believe +that we are altogether corrupted by Adam's sin, are sinners and +condemned, Rom. 5, 12 and Ps. 51, 7. Into the other pocket put the part +telling us that by Jesus Christ we have all been redeemed from such +corrupt, sinful, condemned condition, Rom. 5, 18 and John 3, 16. Let +love's sack also have two pockets. Into the one put this part, that we +should serve, and do good to, every one, even as Christ did unto us, +Rom. 13. Into the other put the part that we should gladly suffer and +endure all manner of evil." (19, 76.) + +In like manner passages of Scripture were also to be made the child's +property, as it were; for it was not Luther's idea that instruction +should cease at the lowest indispensably necessary goal (the +understanding of the text of the chief parts). In his _German Order of +Worship_ he goes on to say: "When the child begins to comprehend this +[the text of the Catechism], accustom it to carry home passages of +Scripture from the sermons and to recite them to the parents at the +table, at meal-time, as it was formerly customary to recite Latin, and +thereupon to store the passages into the sacks and pockets, as one puts +_pfennige,_ and _groschen,_ or _gulden_ into his pocket. Let the sack of +faith be, as it were, the gulden sack. Into the first pocket let this +passage be put, Rom. 5: 'By one man's disobedience many were made +sinners': and Ps. 51: 'Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did +my mother conceive me,' Those are two Rheinish gulden in the pocket. The +other pocket is for the Hungarian gulden, such as this passage, Rom. 5: +'Christ was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our +justification:' again, John 1: 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh +away the sin of the world,' That would be two good Hungarian gulden in +the pocket. Let love's sack be the silver sack. Into the first pocket +belong the passages of well-doing, such as Gal. 5: 'By love serve one +another'; Matt. 25: 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least +of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.' That would be two silver +groschen in the pocket. Into the other pocket this passage belongs, +Matt. 5: 'Blessed are ye when men shall persecute you for My sake;' Heb. +12: 'For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth: He scourgeth every son whom +He receiveth.' Those are two Schreckenbergers [a coin made of silver +mined from Schreckenberg] in the pocket." (19, 77f.) + +Believing that understanding, not mere mechanical memorizing, of the +Catechism is of paramount import, Luther insisted that the instruction +must be popular throughout. Preachers and fathers are urged to come down +to the level of the children and to prattle with them, in order to bring +the Christian fundamentals home even to the weakest and simplest. In his +_German Mass_ Luther concludes the chapter on instruction as follows: +"And let no one consider himself too wise and despise such child's play. +When Christ desired to train men He had to become a man. If we are to +train children, we also must become children with them. Would to God +that such child's play were carried on well; then we should in a short +time see a great wealth of Christian people, and souls growing rich in +the Scriptures and the knowledge of God until they themselves would give +more heed to these pockets as _locos communes_ and comprehend in them +the entire Scriptures; otherwise they come daily to hear the preaching +and leave again as they came. For they believe that the object is merely +to spend the time in hearing, no one intending to learn or retain +anything. Thus many a man will hear preaching for three, four years and +still not learn enough to be able to give account of his faith in one +particular, as I indeed experience every day. Enough has been written in +books. True, but not all of it has been impressed on the hearts." (19, +78.) + +93. Value Placed on Memorizing. + +Modern pedagogs have contended that Luther's method of teaching the +Catechism unduly multiplies the material to be memorized, and does not +sufficiently stress the understanding. Both charges, however, are +without any foundation. As to the first, it is true that Luther did not +put a low estimate on the memorizing of the Catechism. In the Large +Catechism he says: "Therefore we must have the young learn the parts +which belong to the Catechism or instruction for children well, and +fluently and diligently exercise themselves in them and keep them +occupied with them. Hence it is the duty of every father of a family to +question and examine his children and servants at least once a week, and +to ascertain what they know of it, or are learning, and, if they do not +know it, to keep them faithfully at it." (575, 3f.) Again: "These are +the most necessary parts which one should first learn to repeat word for +word, and which our children should be accustomed to recite daily when +they arise in the morning, when they sit down to their meals, and when +they retire at night; and until they repeat them, they should be given +neither food nor drink." (577, 15.) + +According to the Preface to the Small Catechism, the teacher is to abide +with rigid exactness by the text which he has once chosen and have the +children learn it verbatim. "In the first place," says Luther, "let the +preacher above all be careful to avoid many kinds of or various texts +and forms of the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the +Sacraments, etc., but choose one form to which he adheres, and which he +inculcates all the time, year after year. For young and simple people +must be taught by uniform, settled texts and forms, otherwise they +easily become confused when the teacher to-day teaches them thus, and in +a year some other way, as if he wished to make improvements, and thus +all effort and labor will be lost. Also our blessed fathers understood +this well; for they all used the same form of the Lord's Prayer, the +Creed, and the Ten Commandments. Therefore we, too, should teach the +young and simple people these parts in such a way as not to change a +syllable, or set them forth and repeat them one year differently than in +another. Hence, choose whatever form you please, and adhere to it +forever. But when you preach in the presence of learned and intelligent +men, you may exhibit your skill and may present these parts in as varied +and intricate ways and give them as masterly turns as you are able. But +with the young people stick to one fixed, permanent form and manner, and +teach them, first of all, these parts, namely, the Ten Commandments, the +Creed, the Lord's Prayer, etc., according to the text, word for word, so +that they, too, can repeat it in the same manner after you and commit it +to memory." (533, 7ff.) Thus Luther indeed placed a high value on exact +memorizing of the Catechism. + +As to the quantity of memorizing, however, Luther did not demand more +than even the least gifted were well able to render. He was satisfied if +they knew, as a minimum, the text of the first three chief parts and the +words of institution of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. (579, 22. 25.) +That was certainly not overburdening even a weak memory. Luther was +right when he declared in his _Short Form of the Ten Commandments,_ of +1520: In the three chief parts everything "is summed up with such +brevity and simplicity that no one can complain or offer the excuse that +it is too much or too hard for him to remember what he must know for his +salvation." (W. 7, 204.) + +Self-evidently, it was not Luther's opinion that instruction or +memorizing should end here. In the Preface to the Small Catechism he +says: "In the third place, after you have thus taught them this Short +Catechism, then take up the Large Catechism, and give them also a richer +and fuller knowledge. Here explain at length every commandment, +petition, and part with its various works, uses, benefits, dangers, and +injuries as you find these abundantly stated in many books written about +these matters." (535, 17.) Then, as Luther often repeats, Bible-verses, +hymns, and Psalms were also to be memorized and explained. Nor did he +exclude the explanation of the Small Catechism from the material for +memorizing. For this very reason he had written the Small Catechism in +questions and answers, because he wished to have it learned, questioned, +and recited from memory. "However," says Luther in the Large Catechism +"for the common people we are satisfied with the three parts, which have +remained in Christendom from of old." (575, 5.) As far, then, as the +material for memorizing is concerned, Luther certainly did not demand +more than even the least gifted were well able to render. + +94. Memorizing to Serve Understanding. + +The second charge, that Luther attached no special importance to the +understanding of what was memorized, is still more unfounded. The fact +is that everywhere he was satisfied with nothing less than correct +understanding. Luther was a man of thought, not of mere sacred formulas +and words. To him instruction did not mean mere mechanical memorizing, +but conscious, personal, enduring, and applicable spiritual +appropriation. Says he: "However, it is not enough for them to +comprehend and recite these parts according to the words only, but the +young people should also be made to attend the preaching, especially +during the time which is devoted to the Catechism, that they may hear it +explained, and may learn to understand what every part contains, so as +to be able to recite it as they have heard it, and, when asked, may give +a correct answer, so that the preaching may not be without profit and +fruit." (579, 26.) In the Preface to the Small Catechism, Luther +instructs the preachers: "After they [the children] have well learned +the text then teach them the sense also, so that they know what it +means." (535, 14.) Correct understanding was everything to Luther. +Sermons in the churches and catechizations at home were all to serve +this purpose. + +In the same interest, _viz._, to enrich the brief text of the Catechism +and, as it were, quicken it with concrete perceptions, Luther urged the +use of Bible-stories as illustrations. For the same reason he added +pictures to both of his Catechisms. His _Prayer-Booklet_ contained as +its most important part the text and explanation of the Catechism and, +in addition, the passional booklet, a sort of Bible History. To this +Luther remarks: "I considered it wise to add the ancient passional +booklet [augmented by Luther] to the Prayer-Booklet, chiefly for the +sake of the children and the unlearned, who are more apt to remember the +divine histories if pictures and parables are added, than by mere words +and teaching, as St. Mark testifies, that for the sake of the simple +Christ, too, preached to them only in parables." (W. 10, 2, 458.) +Indeed, Luther left no stone unturned to have his instruction +understood. On words and formulas, merely memorized, but not +appropriated intellectually, he placed but little value. + +Memorizing, too, was regarded by Luther not as an end in itself, but as +a means to an end. It was to serve the explanation and understanding. +And its importance in this respect was realized by Luther much more +clearly than by his modern critics. For when the text is safely +embedded, as it were, in the memory, its explanation is facilitated, and +the process of mental assimilation may proceed all the more readily. In +this point, too, the strictures of modern pedagogs on Luther's Catechism +are therefore unwarranted. Where Luther's instructions are followed, the +memory is not overtaxed, and the understanding not neglected. + +The instruction advocated by Luther differed fundamentally from the +mechanical methods of the Middle Ages. He insisted on a thorough mental +elaboration, by means of sermons, explanations, questions and answers, +of the material memorized, in order to elevate it to the plane of +knowledge. With Luther we meet the questions: "What does this mean? What +does this signify? Where is this written? What does it profit?" He +engages the intellect. The _Table of Christian Life_ of the Middle Ages, +which "all good Christians are in duty bound to have in their houses, +for themselves, their children, and household," is regarded by Cohrs as +a sort of forerunner of Luther's Small Catechism. "At the same time, +however," Cohrs adds, "it clearly shows the difference between the +demands made by the Church of the Middle Ages and the requirements of +the Evangelical Church; yonder, numerous parts without any word of +explanation, sacred formulas, which many prayed without an inkling of +the meaning; here, the five chief parts, in which the emphasis is put on +'What does this mean?'" (Herzog, _R._ 10, 138.) + +It was due to the neglect of Christian teaching that Christendom had +fallen into decay. Force on the part of the popes and priests and blind +submission on the part of the people had supplanted instruction and +conviction from the Word of God. Hence the cure of the Church, first of +all, called for an instructor in Christian fundamentals. And just such a +catechist Luther was, who made it his business to teach and convince the +people from the Bible. Indeed, in his entire work as a Reformer, Luther +consistently appealed to the intellect, as was strikingly demonstrated +in the turmoil which Carlstadt brought about at Wittenberg. Instruction +was the secret, was the method, of Luther's Reformation. In the Preface +to the Small Catechism he says that one cannot and must not force any +one to believe nor drive any one to partake of the Sacrament by laws, +lest it be turned into poison, that is to say, lest the very object of +the Gospel, which is spontaneous action flowing from conviction, be +defeated. (539, 24; 535, 13.) + +95. Manuals Preceding Luther's Catechism. + +When Luther, in his _German Order of Worship,_ sounded the slogan: +German services with German instruction in Christian fundamentals! he +did not lose sight of the fact that this required certain helps for both +parents and preachers. A book was needed that would contain not only the +text to be memorized, but also necessary explanations. Accordingly, in +his _German Order of Worship,_ Luther referred to his _Prayer-Booklet_ +as a help for instruction. However, the _Brief Form of the Ten +Commandments,_ etc., incorporated in the _Prayer-Booklet,_ was not +adapted for children and parents, as it was not drawn up in questions +and answers. To the experienced teacher it furnished material in +abundance, but children and parents had need of a simpler book. +Hardeland says: "It is certain that Luther in 1526 already conceived the +ideal catechism to be a brief summary of the most important knowledge +[in questions and answers], adapted for memorizing and still +sufficiently extensive to make a thorough explanation possible, at once +confessional in its tone, and fitted for use in divine service." +(_Katechismusgedanken_ 2.) But if Luther in 1526 had conceived this +idea, it was not carried out until three years later. + +However, what Luther said on teaching the Catechism by questions and +answers, in the _German Order of Worship,_ was reprinted repeatedly +(probably for the first time at Nuernberg) under the title: "Doctor +Martin Luther's instruction how to bring the children to God's Word and +service, which parents and guardians are in duty bound to do, 1527." +This appeal of Luther also called forth quite a number of other +explanations of the Catechism. Among the attempts which appeared before +Luther's Catechisms were writings of Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, Eustasius +Kannel, John Agricola, Val. Ickelsamer, Hans Gerhart, John Toltz, John +Bader, Petrus Schultz, Caspar Graeter, Andr. Althamer, Wenz. Link, Conr. +Sam, John Brenz, O. Braunfels, Chr. Hegendorfer, Caspar Loener, W. +Capito, John Oecolampad, John Zwick, and others. The work of Althamer, +the Humanist and so-called Reformer of Brandenburg-Ansbach, was the +first to bear the title "Catechism." As yet it has not been ascertained +whether, or not, Luther was acquainted with these writings. Cohrs says: +"Probably Luther followed this literature with interest, and possibly +consulted some of it; the relationship is nowhere close enough to +exclude chance; still the frequent allusions must not be overlooked; as +yet it cannot be simply denied that Luther was influenced by these +writings." On the other hand, it has been shown what an enormous +influence Luther exercised on that literature, especially by his _Brief +Form_ and his _Prayer-Booklet._ "In fact," says Cohrs, "Luther's +writings can be adduced as the source of almost every sentence in most +of these books of instruction." (W. 30, 1, 474.) Evidently, Luther's +appeal of 1526 had not fallen on deaf ears. + +96. Luther's Catechetical Publications. + +Luther not only stirred up others to bring the Catechism back into use, +but himself put his powerful shoulder to the wheel. From the very +beginning he was, time and again, occupied with reading the text of the +Catechism to the people, and then explaining it in sermons. From the end +of June, 1516, to Easter, 1517, he preached on the Ten Commandments and +the Lord's Prayer. (W. 1, 394; 2, 74; 9, 122.) In 1518 the explanation +of the Ten Commandments appeared in print: "_Decem Praecepta +Wittenbergensi Praedicata Populo._ The Ten Commandments Preached to the +People of Wittenberg." (1, 398. 521.) Oecolampadius praised the work, +saying that Luther had here "taken the veil from the face of Moses." +Sebastian Muenster said: Luther explains the Ten Commandments "in such a +spiritual, Christian, and Evangelical way, that its like cannot be +found, though many teachers have written on the subject." (1, 394.) +Agricola published Luther's sermons on the Lord's Prayer at the +beginning of 1518 with some additions of his own, which fact induced +Luther to publish them himself. April 5, 1519, his _Explanation of the +Lord's Prayer in German_ appeared in print. It was intended for the +plain people, "not for the learned." (2, 81 to 130.) July 2, 1519, the +Humanist Beatus Rhenanus wrote to Zwingli that he would like to see this +explanation of the Lord's Prayer offered for sale throughout all +Switzerland, in all cities, markets, villages, and houses. Mathesius +reports: "At Venice Doctor Martin's Lord's Prayer was translated into +Italian, his name being omitted. And when the man saw it from whom the +permission to print it was obtained, he exclaimed: Blessed are the hands +that wrote this, blessed the eyes that see it, and blessed will be the +hearts that believe this book and cry to God in such a manner." (W. 2, +75.) This work passed through many editions. In 1520 it appeared in +Latin and Bohemian, and as late as 1844 in English. March 13, 1519, +Luther wrote to Spalatin: "I am not able to turn the Lord's Prayer +[Explanation of the Lord's Prayer in German of 1518] into Latin, being +busy with so many works. Every day at evening I pronounce the +commandments and the Lord's Prayer for the children and the unlearned, +then I preach." (Enders 1, 449.) Thus Luther preached the Catechism, +and at the same time was engaged in publishing it. + +The _Brief Instruction How to Confess,_ printed 1519, was also +essentially an explanation of the Ten Commandments. It is an extract +from Luther's Latin work, _Instructio pro Confessione Peccatorum,_ +published by Spalatin. Luther recast this work and published it in +March, 1520, entitled: _Confitendi Ratio._ (W. 2, 59. 65.) As a late +fruit of his _Explanation of the Lord's Prayer in German_ there +appeared, in 1519, the _Brief Form for Understanding and Praying the +Lord's Prayer_ which explains it in prayers. (6, 11-19.) In 1519 there +appeared also his _Short and Good Explanation Before Oneself and Behind +Oneself_ ("vor sich und hinter sich") a concise explanation how the +seven petitions must be understood before oneself ("vor sich"), _i.e._, +being ever referred to God, while many, thinking only of themselves, put +and understand them behind themselves ("hinter sich"). (6, 21. 22.) +June, 1520, it was followed by the _Brief Form of the Ten Commandments, +the Creed, the Lord's Prayer,_ a combination of the revised _Brief +Explanation of the Ten Commandments,_ of 1518, and the _Brief Form for +Understanding the Lord's Prayer,_ of 1519, with a newly written +explanation of the Creed. With few changes Luther embodied it in his +_Prayer-Booklet,_ which appeared for the first time in 1522. Here he +calls it a "simple Christian form and mirror to know one's sins, and to +pray." The best evidence of the enthusiastic reception of the +_Prayer-Booklet_ are the early editions which followed hard upon each +other, and the numerous reprints during the first years. (10, 2, +350-409.) In 1525 Luther's sermons on Baptism, Confession, and the +Lord's Supper were also received into the _Prayer-Booklet,_ and in 1529 +the entire Small Catechism. + +After his return from the Wartburg, Luther resumed his Catechism labors +with increased energy. March 27 Albert Burer wrote to Beatus Rhenanus: +"Luther intends to nourish the weak, whom Carlstadt and Gabriel aroused +by their vehement preaching, with milk alone until they grow strong. He +daily preaches the Ten Commandments." At Wittenberg special attention +was given to the instruction of the young, and regular Catechism-sermons +were instituted. In the spring of 1521 Agricola was appointed catechist +of the City Church, to instruct the young in religion. Lent 1522 and +1523, Luther also delivered Catechism-sermons, Latin copies of which +have been preserved. In the same year Bugenhagen was appointed City +Pastor, part of his duties being to deliver sermons on the Catechism, +some of which have also been preserved. + +Maundy Thursday, 1523, Luther announced that instead of the Romish +confession, abolished during the Wittenberg disturbances, communicants +were to announce for communion to the pastor and submit to an +examination in the Catechism. As appears from Luther's _Formula Missae_ +of this year, the pastor was to convince himself whether they were able +to recite and explain the words of institution by questioning them on +what the Lord's Supper is, what it profits, and for what purpose they +desired to partake of it. (12, 215. 479.) To enable the people to +prepare for such examination, Luther (or Bugenhagen, at the instance of +Luther) published a few short questions on the Lord's Supper, culled +from one of Luther's sermons. This examination became a permanent +institution at Wittenberg. In a sermon on the Sacrament of 1526, Luther +says: "Confession, though it serve no other purpose, is a suitable means +of instructing the people and of ascertaining what they believe, how +they learn to pray, etc., for else they live like brutes. Therefore I +have said that the Sacrament shall be given to no one except he be able +to give an account of what he receives [in the Sacrament] and why he is +going. This can best be done in confession." (19, 520.) + +Furthermore, on Sundays, after the sermon, the Catechism was read to the +people, a custom which likewise became a fixture in Wittenberg. +According to a small pamphlet of 1526, entitled, "What Shall be Read to +the Common People after the Sermon?" it was the text of the five chief +parts that was read. (Herz., _R._ 10, 132.) These parts came into the +hands of the people by means of the _Booklet for Laymen and Children,_ +of 1525, written probably by Bugenhagen. He also reorganized the +Wittenberg school which the fanatics had dissolved; and, self-evidently, +there, too, Catechism instruction was not lacking. In a similar way +religious instruction of the young was begun at other places, as +appears, for example, from the _Opinions on Reformation_ by Nicolaus +Hausmann (Zwickau), of 1523 and 1525. Melanchthon's _Instructions for +Visitors_ (Articuli de quibus egerunt per visitatores), drawn up in +1527, and used in the visitation of 1528 and 1529 as the guide by which +pastors were examined, and pointing out what they should be charged to +do, provide, above all, for Catechism-preaching on every Sunday, and +give instructions for such sermons. (_C. R._ 26, 9. 48.) + +Thus Luther's strenuous efforts at establishing the Catechism were +crowned with success. In the Apology of 1530 Melanchthon declares +triumphantly: "Among the opponents there is no Catechism, although the +canons require it. Among us the canons are observed, for pastors and +ministers instruct the children and the young in God's Word, publicly +and privately." (526, 41.) + +97. Immediate Forerunners of Luther's Catechisms. + +Luther's entire pastoral activity was essentially of a catechetical +nature and naturally issued in his two Catechisms, which, more than any +other of his books, are the result of his labor in the congregation. +Three writings, however, must be regarded as their direct precursors, +_viz._, the _Short Form of the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the +Lord's Prayer,_ of 1520, the _Booklet for Laymen and Children,_ of 1525, +and the three series of Catechism-sermons of 1528, delivered in +Bugenhagen's absence. True, they are not yet real catechisms, but they +paved the way for them. The _Short Form_ is a summary and explanation of +the three traditional chief parts. In the preface to this work, Luther +expresses himself for the first time on the value and the coherence of +these parts, which he considered to be the real kernel of the Catechism. +In the _Short Form_ he also abandoned the traditional division of the +Creed into twelve parts, choosing, instead, the threefold division of +the later Small Catechism. In 1522 he embodied the _Short Form_ into his +_Prayer-Booklet,_ in consequence of which it was given extended +circulation. It has been called Luther's first catechism, and Luther +himself regarded it so for in his _German Order of Worship_ he +recommends its use for catechetical instruction. In it are summed up +Luther's catechetical efforts since 1516. + +The _Booklet for Laymen and Children_ appeared at Wittenberg in 1525, at +first in Low German (_Ein Boekeschen vor de leyen unde Kinder_), but +done into High German in the same year. Though Bugenhagen is probably +its author, no doubt, the book was written at the suggestion and under +the influence of Luther, parts of whose earlier explanations it +contains, and who also since 1526, made use of it in his public +services. Besides the three traditional parts, it offered for the first +time also those on Baptism (without the baptismal command) and on the +Lord's Supper. The wording of the text was practically the same as that +of Luther's Enchiridion. Several prayers, later found in Luther's +Enchiridion, were also added. Hence the _Booklet for Laymen and +Children_ is properly considered a forerunner of Luther's Catechisms. + +The three series of Catechism-sermons of 1528 must be considered the +last preparatory work and immediate source of the explanation of the +Catechisms. Luther delivered the first series May 18 to 30; the second, +from September 14 to 25; the third, from November 30 to December 19. +Each series treats the same five chief parts. We have these sermons in a +transcript which Roerer made from a copy (_Nachschrift_); the third +series also in a copy by a South German. In his _Origin of the +Catechism,_ Buchwald has shown how Luther's Large Catechism grew out of +these sermons of 1528. In his opinion, Luther, while engaged on the +Large Catechism, "had those three series of sermons before him either in +his own manuscript or in the form of a copy (_Nachschrift_)." This +explains the extensive agreement of both, apparent everywhere. + +Luther himself hints at this relation; for said sermons must have been +before him when he began the Large Catechism with the words: "This +sermon is designed and undertaken that it might be an instruction for +children and the simple-minded." (575, 1.) This was also Roerer's view, +for he calls the Large Catechism "Catechism preached by D. M.," a title +found also in the second copy (_Nachschrift_) of the third series: +_Catechism Preached by Doctor Martin Luther._ In the conclusion of the +first edition of the Large Catechism, Luther seems to have made use also +of his sermon on Palm Sunday, 1529, and others, and in the _Short +Exhortation to Confession,_ which was appended to the second edition, of +the sermon of Maundy Thursday, 1529, and others. Some historians, +however, have expressed the opinion that the relationship might here be +reversed. The substance of the sermon-series is essentially that also of +the Large Catechism. In form the Catechism differs from the sermons by +summing up in each case what is contained in the corresponding three +sermons and by giving in German what the copies of the sermons offer in +a mixture of Latin and German (principally Latin, especially in the +first series). + +Following is a sample of the German-Latin form in which Roerer preserved +these sermons: "Zaehlet mir her illos, qui reliquerunt multas divitias, +wie reiche Kinder sie gehabt haben; du wirst finden, dass ihr Gut +zerstoben und zerflogen ist, antequam 3. et 4. generatio venit, so ist's +dahin. Die Exempel gelten in allen Historien. Saul 1. fuit bonus etc. Er +musste ausgerottet werden, ne quidem uno puello superstite, quia es +musste wahr bleiben, quod Deus hic dicit. Sed das betreugt uns, dass er +ein Jahr oder 20 regiert hat, et fuit potens rex, das verdreusst uns ut +credamus non esse verum. Sed verba Dei non mentiuntur, et exempla +ostendunt etc. Econtra qui Verbo Dei fidunt, die muessen genug haben +etc., ut David, qui erat vergeucht [verjagt] und verscheucht ut avicula; +tamen mansit rex. Econtra Saul. Sic fit cum omnibus piis. Ideo nota bene +1. praeceptum, i.e., debes ex tota corde fidere Deo et praeterea nulli +aliae rei, sive sit potestas etc., ut illis omnibus utaris, ut sutor +subula etc., qui tantum laborat cum istis suis instrumentis. Sic utere +bonis et donis; sie sollen dein Abgott nicht sein, sed Deus." (30, 1, +29.) The three series of sermons of 1528, therefore, were to the +explanation of Luther's Catechisms what the _Booklet for Laymen_ was to +the text. + +98. Catechism of Bohemian Brethren. + +The assertion has been made that Luther, in his Small Catechism, +followed the Children's Questions of the Bohemian Brethren which at that +time had been in use for about sixty years. This catechism, which was +not clear in its teaching on the Lord's Supper, came to the notice of +Luther 1520 in Bohemian or Latin, and 1523 in German and Bohemian. In +his treatise, _Concerning the Adoration of the Sacrament of the Holy +Body of Christ,_ 1523, Luther remarks: "A book has been circulated by +your people [the Bohemian Brethren] in German and Bohemian which aims to +give Christian instruction to the young. Among other things the +statement is made that [the presence of] Christ in the Sacrament is not +a personal and natural one, and that He must not be adored there, which +disquiets us Germans very much. For without doubt it is known to you +how, through the delegates you sent to me, I requested you to make this +particular article clear in a separate booklet. For by word of mouth I +heard them confess that you hold unanimously that Christ is truly in the +Sacrament with His flesh and blood as it was born of Mary and hung on +the cross, as we Germans believe. That booklet has now been sent to me +by Mr. Luca in Latin. Still, in this article it has not yet been made as +pure and clear as I should like to have seen it. Hence I did not have it +translated into German nor printed as I promised, fearing I might not +render the obscure words correctly, and thus fail to give your meaning +correctly. For it may be regarded as a piece of good luck if one has hit +upon an exact translation, even if the passage is very clear and +certain, as I daily experience in the translations I am making. Now, +that this matter may come to an end, and that the offense of the German +booklet which you have published may be removed, I shall present to you +and everybody, as plainly and as clearly as I am able to do, this +article as we Germans believe it, and as one ought to believe according +to the Gospel. There you may see whether I have stated correctly what +you believe or how much we differ from one another. Perhaps my German +language will be clearer to you than your German and Latin is to me." +(11, 431.) Luther, then, was familiar with the catechism of the +Bohemians, which contained, besides the chief parts of the ancient +Church, also the doctrine of the Sacraments. This, therefore, may have +suggested to him the idea of publishing a small book for children with +questions and answers, which would also contain the parts of Baptism and +the Lord's Supper. Such at least is the opinion of Cohrs, Kolde, +Koestlin, Kawerau, and Albrecht. (W. 30, 1, 466.) But we have no sure +knowledge of this. At any rate, it is not likely that it was the book of +the Bohemian Brethren which prompted Luther to embody the Sacraments in +his Catechism. The further assertion of Ehrenfeuchter, Moenckeberg, _et +al._ that Luther in his Table of Duties followed the Bohemian Brethren, +is incorrect, since the Table of Duties appeared much later in their +catechism. + + +IX. The Small and the Large Catechism of Luther. + +99. Luther Beginning Work on Catechisms. + +Luther first mentioned the plan of publishing a catechism in a letter of +February 2, 1525, to Nicolaus Hausmann. He informs him: "Jonas and +Eisleben [Agricola] have been instructed to prepare a catechism for +children. I am devoting myself to the Postil [last part of the Winter +Postil] and to Deuteronomy, where I have sufficient work for the +present." (Enders, 5, 115.) In a letter of March 26, 1525, also to +Hausmann, Luther repeats: "The Catechism, as I have written before, has +been given to its authors, _ist seinen Verfassern aufgetragen worden._" +(144.) However, when Jonas and Agricola (who soon moved from Wittenberg +to Eisleben) failed, Luther resolved to undertake the work himself, +which, according to his letter of February 2, he had declined merely for +the reason that he was already sufficiently burdened. The execution of +his plan, however, was deferred. September 27, 1525, he wrote to +Hausmann: "I am postponing the Catechism, as I would like to finish +everything at one time in one work." (246.) The same letter shows what +Luther meant. For here he speaks of the reformation of the parishes and +of the introduction of uniform ceremonies. Evidently, then, he at that +time desired to publish the Catechism together with a visitation tract, +such as Melanchthon wrote in 1527. Besides, his _Prayer-Booklet,_ +containing the "Brief Form," as well as the _Booklet for Laymen and +Children,_ offered a temporary substitute for the contemplated +Catechism. The deplorable conditions, however, which the Saxon +visitation brought to light would not permit him to tarry any longer. +"The deplorable, miserable condition," says Luther in the Preface to his +Small Catechism, "which I discovered lately when I, too, was a visitor, +has forced and urged me to prepare this Catechism, or Christian +doctrine, in this small, plain, simple form." (535, 1.) Thus the Small +Catechism sprang, as it were, directly from the compassion Luther felt +for the churches on account of the sad state of destitution to which +they had been brought, and which he felt so keenly during the +visitation. However, Luther's statements in the _German Order of +Worship_ concerning the catechetical procedure in question and answer +quoted above show that the thought of such a Catechism did not first +occur to him at this time. Still it was the visitation that added the +decisive impulse to put the idea into immediate execution. Besides, it +was a time in which Luther was entirely engrossed in the Catechism, +having preached in 1528 on the five chief parts no less than three +times. Thus the harvest was at hand. In January, 1529, according to his +own letters, Luther was engaged in this work, having probably begun +about the close of 1528. He was able to make rapid progress, since ample +material was at his command. + +The old moot question which of the two Catechisms appeared first was +decided when Buchwald discovered the Stephan Roth letters, which show +that the Small Catechism appeared in chart form in January and March, +1529, while the first Wittenberg book edition appeared in May, after the +Large Catechism had meanwhile come off the press in April. From the fact +that Luther simply called his Large Catechism "German Catechism" one may +infer that he began work on this first, and that, when writing the +title, he had not yet begun the Small Catechism nor planned it +definitely; but not, that Luther completed the Large Catechism first. On +the other hand, from the title "Small Catechism" one can only infer that +Luther, when he wrote thus, had already begun to write, and was working +on, the Large Catechism, but not, that the Small Catechism appeared +later than the large. Albrecht: "One may certainly speak of a small book +before the appearance of a large book of similar kind, if the latter has +been definitely planned, worked out at the same time, and is almost +completed." (W. 30, 1, 569.) + +100. Tables Published First. + +January 15, 1529, Luther wrote to Martin Goerlitz: "_Modo in parando +catechismo pro rudibus paganis versor._ I am now busy preparing the +Catechism for the ignorant heathen" (not "peasants," for in his _German +Order of Worship,_ Luther says: "Catechism is an instruction by means of +which heathen who desire to become Christians are taught"). It was +formerly asserted that the expression "_pro rudibus paganis_" showed +that Luther here meant the Small Catechism. Appealing to the statement +in the Preface to the Large Catechism: "This sermon is designed and +undertaken that it might be an instruction for children and the +simple-minded," Koellner was the first one to assert that Luther's +phrase of January 15 referred to the Large Catechism. In this he was +followed by Cohrs, Enders, and others. (Enders, 7, 44.) However, +according to the usage of the word catechism described above, the +statement quoted does not preclude that Luther, when writing thus, was +engaged on both Catechisms. And such indeed was the case. For on January +20, 1529, Roerer, the Wittenberg proofreader, wrote to Roth: "Nothing +new has appeared. I believe that the Catechism as preached by D. M. for +the unlettered and simple will be published for the coming Frankfurt +mass. Yet, while writing this, I glance at the wall of my dwelling, and +fixed to the wall I behold tables embracing in shortest and simplest +form Luther's Catechism for children and the household, and forthwith I +send them to you as a sample, so that by the same messenger they may be +brought to you immediately. _Iam novi nihil in lucem prodiit; ad +nundinas credo Francofurdenses futuras Catechismus per D. M. praedicatus +pro rudibus et simplicibus edetur. Hoc vero scribens inspicio parietem +aestuarioli mei, affixas parieti video tabulas complecententes +brevissime simul et crasse catechismum Lutheri pro pueris et familia, +statim mitto pro exemplari, ut eodem tabellario iam ad te perferantur._" +(W. 30, 1, 428; Enders, 7, 44.) + +This letter of January 20 is the first time that both of Luther's +Catechisms are mentioned together and distinguished from each other. By +catechism Roerer means the text of the five chief parts which Luther put +at the head of his Large Catechism. "_Catechismus per D. M. +praedicatus_" designates the explanation of this text as comprised in +Luther's three series of sermons of 1528 and summed up in the Large +Catechism. From this preached and later on so-called Large Catechism, +which appeared in April, entitled "German Catechism," Roerer +distinguishes "tables, summing up Luther's Catechism in shortest and +simplest form for children and the household." He means the series of +charts containing the first three chief parts, which Luther considered +the Catechism _par excellence_. And at the time when Roerer spoke of +the prospective publication of the Large Catechism for the Frankfurt +mass, these tables were already hanging on his wall. + +Albrecht comments: "For the moment Roerer had not remembered the very +interesting novelty, which had already appeared in the first tables of +the later so-called Small Catechism. However, a glance at the wall of +his room reminded him of it. And from a letter of his dated March 16 we +must infer that they were the three charts containing the Ten +Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer with Luther's +explanation. These he calls 'tables which in shortest and simplest form +embrace Luther's Catechism for the children and the household,' Thus he +wrote in view of the superscription: 'As the head of the family should +teach them in a simple way to his household,' without implying a +difference between the expression _pro pueris et familia_ and the +preceding _pro rudibus et simplicibus,_ since the former are included in +the latter. The difference between the two works is rather indicated by +the words _brevissime simul et crasse._ But at the same time their inner +connection is asserted, for by sending the tables _pro exemplari,_ he +characterizes them as a model or sample of Luther's manner of treating +the Catechism. They are the _catechismus Lutheri,_ that is, the +aforementioned _catechismus per D. M. praedicatus_ in its shortest form +and draft (conceived as an extract of the sermons or of the Large +Catechism). He thought that this sample would indicate what was to be +expected from the forthcoming larger work." (W. 30, 1, 429.) + +When, therefore, Luther wrote on January 15: "Modo in parando +catechismo pro rudibus paganis versor," he was engaged on both +Catechisms, and had proceeded far enough to enable him to send the first +tables of the Small Catechism to the printer. Buchwald remarks regarding +the letter of January 20 that Roerer probably had just received the +tables from the press. However, Roerer's letter to Roth of February 12, +1529, shows that already about a month ago he had sent the "tables of +the Catechism" (evidently the same to which he referred January 20) to +Spalatin. Accordingly, these tables were forwarded about January 12. The +following remark in the Church Order for Schoenewald in the district of +Schweinitz: "First to pronounce for the people the Ten Commandments, the +Creed and the Lord's Prayer, thereupon to explain them in the most +simple way, _as published [each] on a printed table,_" takes us back +still a few days more. For the visitation in the district of Schweinitz, +in which Luther took part, was held January 7 to 9, the time from which +also the Schoenewald Church Order dates. At this visitation, therefore, +even prior to January 7, Luther himself distributed the first series of +tables, comprising the first three chief parts, of his Small Catechism. +Cohrs opines that Luther sent this series to the printer about Christmas +1528 at the latest. However, it does not appear why the printing should +have consumed three to four weeks Seb. Froeschels however, is mistaken +when he declares in his book on the _Priesthood of Christ,_ 1565, that, +at a table conversation of 1528, Luther had advised Hans Metsch +constantly to have with him a good small catechism, such as the one he +had written. Knaake surmises that 1528 is a misprint; it should be 1538. +(W. 30, 1, 430f.) + +101. Completion of Catechisms Delayed. + +It was almost two months after the first table-series had appeared +before the second was published. This delay is accounted for by Luther's +illness and his being burdened with other work, especially with his book +against the Turk. March 3 he wrote to Hausmann: "By reason of Satan's +afflictions I am almost constantly compelled to be a sick well man (_als +Gesunder krank zu sein_), hence I am much hindered in writing and other +work." (Enders, 7, 61.) However, in the same letter Luther informed his +impatiently waiting friend: "The Catechism is not completed, my dear +Hausmann, but it will be completed shortly." Enders remarks that this +refers to the Large Catechism. However, it harmonizes best with Luther's +usage and with the facts if the words are understood as referring to +both Catechisms. "Shortly," Luther had written, and on March 16 Roerer, +according to his letter of this date, forwarded "the tables of +Confession, the German Litany, the tables of the Sacrament of Baptism +and of the blood of Christ." Roerer calls them a novelty, _recens +excussa,_ recently printed, from which it appears that the _tabulae +catechismum Lutheri brevissime simul et crasse complectentes,_ to which +he referred on January 20, did not contain the Sacraments. Thus, then, +the five chief parts, Decalog, Creed, Lord's Prayer, Baptism, and Lord's +Supper were completed by March 16, 1529. Buchwald and Cohrs surmise, but +without further ground for their assumption, that the table with the +Benedicite and the Gratias was issued together with the first series in +January. At the latest, however, the prayers appeared with the second +series. For March 7, 1529, Levin Metzsch wrote to Roth, evidently +referring to Luther's tables: "I am herewith also sending to you the +Benedicite and the Gratias, also the Morning and Evening Prayers, +together with the Vice of Drunkenness." (W. 30, 1, 432.) The exact time +when Luther composed the Table of Duties is not known. And the first +evidence we have of the Small Catechism's appearing in book form is +Roerer's letter of May 16, 1529, saying that he is sending two copies of +the Small Catechism, the price of which, together with other books, is +two groschen. (432.) The necessary data are lacking to determine how +long Luther's manuscript was ready before it was printed, and before the +printed copies were distributed. + +As to the large Catechism, it was not completed when the second table +series appeared in March. In a letter, the date of which must probably +be fixed about the end of March, Roerer says: "The Turk is not yet +entirely struck off; neither the Catechism." April 23, however, the +Large Catechism was on the market, for on this day Roerer wrote: "I am +sending three copies of the Catechism." It was the Large Catechism; for +the price of each copy was two groschen, whereas on May 16, 1529, Roerer +had sent two copies of the Small Catechism and other books for two +groschen. (432.) The Large Catechism probably had appeared several weeks +before April 23. Albrecht: "Even if all [of Luther's] sermons from Palm +Sunday to Maundy Thursday, 1529, are considered preliminary works, +according to which the last paragraphs of the Large Catechism were +elaborated, we can assume that its appearance in the beginning or the +first half of April, 1529, was possible. To be sure, the printing must +then have been advanced so far before Holy Week that the rest could be +finished speedily on the basis of the manuscript delivered immediately +after the sermons of Monday and Maundy Thursday had been preached.["] + +This theory fits in with the facts that John Lonicer of Marburg had +already completed his Latin translation on May 15, 1529 (although, +according to the title-page, it first appeared in September), and that +Roerer in a letter of April 23 merely mentions the Large Catechism in +passing, without designating it as an important novelty. Stephen Roth, +the recipient of the letter, spent some time at Wittenberg during April, +and probably purchased his first copy there; so Roerer refers to copies +which were ordered subsequently. (482.) + +While thus the Small Catechism in chart form was completed and published +before the Large Catechism, the former succeeded the latter in book +form. However, though completed after the Small Catechism, it can be +shown that the beginning and perhaps even part of the printing of the +Large Catechism dates back to 1528, thus preceding in this respect even +the Charts of January 9. If the short Preface to the Large Catechism, as +well as the exhortation at the beginning: "Let the young people also +come to the preaching, that they hear it explained and learn to +understand it," etc., had been written after the 9th of January, Luther +would probably have mentioned the Tables, just as he refers to the Large +Catechism in the Preface to the Small Catechism, which was written about +the end of April or the beginning of May. (535, 17.) Since, however, +Luther makes no such indication, these paragraphs of the Large Catechism +were, no doubt, composed before January, 1529. (575, 1; 579, 26.) The +same inference may be drawn from the fact that, in the explanation of +the First Commandment, the wording of the conclusion of the Ten +Commandments shows a number of variations from its wording in the Small +Catechism, whereas its wording at the close of the explanation of the +commandments is in conformity with it. (588, 30; 672, 320.) + +102. Similarity and Purpose of Catechisms. + +As great as is the dissimilarity between Luther's two Catechisms, on the +one hand, so great, on the other, is the similarity. If one did not know +that the Large Catechism was begun before the Small, and that both +originated in the sermons of 1528, he might either view the Large +Catechism as a subsequent expansion of the Small, or the latter as a +summary of the former. Yet neither the one nor the other is the case. If +the Large Catechism influenced the Small, so also the latter the former. +Albrecht says: "It is more probable that the Small Catechism influenced +the Large Catechism than _vice versa._" (W. 30, 1, 558.) At all events, +the second table-series could not have been extracted from the Large +Catechism as such, since the latter was only completed after March 25, +whereas these tables were published already on March 16. The Small +Catechism has been characterized as "a small basketful of ripe fruit +gathered from that tree" [the Large Catechism]. In substance that is +true, since both originate from the same source, the sermons of 1528. +Already Roerer calls attention to this similarity, when in the +aforementioned letter, he designates the Large Catechism as +"_Catechismus per D. M. praedicatus,_" and then describes the Small +Catechism as "_tabulae complectentes brevisissime simul et crasse +catechismum Lutheri pro pueris et familia._" Both treat of the same five +chief parts; the explanation of both presupposes the knowledge of the +text of these parts, both owe their origin to the doctrinal ignorance, +uncovered particularly in the Saxon visitation; and the purpose of both +is the instruction of the plain people and the young. Indeed, it was not +for scholars, but for the people that Luther lived, labored, and +contended. "For," says he in his _German Mass,_ "the paramount thing is +to teach and lead the people." (W. 19, 97.) + +Above all, Luther endeavored to acquaint the "dear youth" with the +saving truths, not merely for their own sakes, but in the interest of +future generations as well. He desired to make them mature Christians, +able to confess their faith and to impart instruction to their children +later on. In particular, the two Catechisms were to serve the purpose of +properly preparing the children and the unlearned for the Holy +Eucharist, as appears from the Preface to the Small Catechism and from +the last paragraphs of the Large (536, 21ff.; 760, 39ff.); for both end +in admonitions diligently to partake of the Lord's Supper. The Sacrament +of the Altar, in Luther's estimation, is the goal of all catechetical +instruction. For this reason he added to the ancient chief parts those +of Baptism, Confession, and the Lord's Supper. + +Accordingly, both Catechisms, though in various respects, are intended +for all: people, youth, parents, preachers, and teachers. It is not +correct to say that Luther wrote his Large Catechism only for scholars, +and the other only for the unlearned. He desired to instruct all, and, +at the same time, enable parents and pastors to teach. According to +Luther, it is the duty of every Christian to learn constantly, in order +also to be able to teach others in turn. If any one, said he, really no +longer needed the Catechism for himself, he should study it nevertheless +for the sake of the ignorant. Nor did Luther exempt himself from such +study. In the Long Preface to the Large Catechism we read: "But for +myself I say this: I am also a doctor and preacher, yea, as learned and +experienced as all those may be who have such presumption and security; +yet I do as a child who is being taught the Catechism, and every +morning, and whenever I have time, I read and say, word for word the Ten +Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Psalms, etc. And I must +still read and study daily, and yet I cannot master it as I wish, but +must remain a child and pupil of the Catechism, and am glad so to +remain." (569, 7.) + +April 18, 1530, Luther repeated this in a sermon as follows: "Whoever is +able to read, let him, in the morning, take a psalm or some other +chapter in the Bible and study it for a while. For that is what I do. +When I rise in the morning, I pray the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the +Lord's Prayer, and also a psalm with the children. I do so because I +wish to remain familiar with it, and not have it overgrown with mildew, +so that I know it." (W. 32, 65.) In a sermon of November 27, of the same +year, Luther warns: "Beware lest you become presumptuous, as though, +because you have heard it often, you knew enough of the Catechism. For +this knowledge ever desires us to be its students. We shall never finish +learning it, since it does not consist in speech, but in life. ... For I +also, D. M., doctor and preacher, am compelled day by day to pray and to +recite the words of the Decalog, the Symbol, and the Lord's Prayer as +children are wont to do. Hence you need not be ashamed; for much fruit +will result." (209.) + +103. Particular Purpose of Large Catechism. + +In his sermons of 1529 Luther declared repeatedly that his purpose was +to instruct the plain people and the children in those things which he +regarded as the minimum every Christian ought to know. (30, 1, 2. 27. +57.) And he did not abandon this purpose when he condensed his sermons +into the Large Catechism. Accordingly, he begins it with the words: +"This sermon is designed and undertaken that it might be an instruction +for children and the simple-minded." (575, 1.) Again: "For the reason, +why we exercise such diligence in preaching the Catechism so often is +that it may be inculcated on our youth, not in a high and subtile +manner, but briefly and with the greatest simplicity, so as to enter the +mind readily and be fixed in the memory." (581, 27.) Hence Roerer also +characterized the Large Catechism as "_Catechismus per D. M. praedicatus +pro rudibus et simplicibus._" Many expressions of the Large Catechism +also point to the fact that everything was here intended for the young +and the common people. For example: "All this I say that it may be well +impressed upon the young." (621, 140.) "But now for young scholars let +it suffice to indicate the most necessary points." (681, 12.) "But to +explain all these single points separately belongs not to brief sermons +for children, but rather to the ampler sermons that extend throughout +the entire year." (687, 32.) Thus Luther aimed to serve the people and +the children also by his Large Catechism. Not, indeed, that it was to be +given into the hands of the children (the Small Catechism served that +purpose), but that preachers, teachers, and parents were to use it with +a view to teaching them by example how to expound the articles of the +Christian doctrine for the simple-minded. + +In particular, the Large Catechism was to enable the less educated +pastors in the villages and in the country to do justice to their sacred +duty. The instructions of the visitors called for regular +Catechism-sermons. For this purpose Luther sought to furnish the +preachers with material. From the Large Catechism they were to learn how +to deliver simple, plain sermons on the five chief parts. In the longer +Preface Luther therefore directs his admonition "to all Christians, but +especially to all pastors and preachers, that they should daily exercise +themselves in the Catechism, which is a short summary and epitome of the +entire Holy Scriptures, and that they may always teach the same." And +why? Luther explains: "We have no slight reasons for treating the +Catechism so constantly, and for both desiring and beseeching others to +teach it, since we see to our sorrow that many pastors and preachers are +very negligent in this, and slight both their office and this teaching; +some from great and high art, but others from sheer laziness and care +for their paunches," etc. (567.) + +Ministers, according to Luther, were to study the Catechism for their +own instruction and edification as well as in the interest of their +office. Hence he concludes his Preface, saying: "Therefore I again +implore all Christians, especially pastors and preachers, not to be +doctors too soon, and imagine that they know everything (for imagination +and cloth unshrunk fall far short of the measure), but that they daily +exercise themselves well in these studies and constantly treat them; +moreover, that they guard with all care and diligence against the +poisonous infection of such security and vain imagination, but steadily +keep on reading, teaching, learning, pondering, and meditating, and do +not cease until they have made a test and are sure that they have taught +the devil to death, and have become more learned than God Himself and +all His saints." (573, 19; 535, 17.) + +From the Large Catechism, therefore, pastors were to learn how to preach +the fundamental Christian truths. "To be sure," says Albrecht, "Luther +did not make it as easy for the pastors as was later done by Osiander +and Sleupner in the Nuernberg _Children's Sermons,_ where the individual +sermons are exactly marked off, the form of address to the children is +retained, and, in each instance, a short explanation, to be memorized, +is added to the longer explanation." (W. 30, 1, 478.)--That it was +Luther's purpose to have his Large Catechism serve also parents appears +from the instructions at the beginning and the end of it. (574, 17; 772, +87.) + +104. Special Purpose of Small Catechism. + +The Large Catechism was to serve all; the same applies to the Small +Catechism. But above all it was to be placed into the hands of the +children, who were to use and to memorize it at home, and to bring it +with them for instruction in the church. Buchwald and Cohrs surmise that +Luther published the second table series during Lent with special +reference to "grown people." However, Luther was accustomed to direct +his admonition to partake of the Lord's Supper diligently also to +children, and that, too, to children of comparatively tender years. In +his sermon of March 25, 1529, he says: "This exhortation ought not only +to move us older ones, but also the young and the children. Therefore +you parents ought to instruct and educate them in the doctrine of the +Lord: the Decalog, the Creed, the Prayer, and the Sacraments. Such +children ought also to be admitted to the Table that they may be +partakers" [of the Lord's Supper]. (W. 30, 1, 233.) In his sermon of +December 19, 1528, we read: "Hence, you parents and heads of families, +invite your subordinates to this Sacrament, and we shall demand an +account of you if you neglect it. If you will not go yourselves, let the +young go; we are much concerned about them. When they come, we shall +learn, by examining them how you instruct them in the Word as +prescribed. Hence, do come more frequently to the Sacrament, and also +admonish your children to do so when they have reached the age of +discretion. For in this way we want to learn who are Christians, and who +not. If you will not do so, we shall speak to you on the subject. For +even though you older people insist on going to the devil, we shall +still inquire about your children. Necessity: because sin, the devil, +and death are ever present. Benefit: because the remission of sins and +the Holy Spirit are received." (121f.) The tender age at which the young +were held to partake of the Lord's Supper appears from Bugenhagen's +preface to the Danish edition of the Enchiridion of 1538, where he says +"that after this confession is made, also the little children of about +eight years or less should be admitted to the table of Him who says: +'Suffer the little children to come unto Me,'" (433.) The conjecture, +therefore, that the tables of Confession and the Sacraments were not +intended for children, but specifically for adults, is without +foundation. In all its parts the Small Catechism was intended to serve +the children. + +When the first table appeared, it bore the superscription: "The Ten +Commandments, as _the head of the family_ should teach them in a simple +way to his household." Similar to this were the titles of the remaining +charts. And these superscriptions were permitted to stand when Luther +published the Enchiridion in book form. The book edition, therefore, as +well as the chart edition, was to render services also to parents, who +were to take upon themselves a large part of the work in teaching the +young. But how were they to do it, in view of the fact that many of them +did not know the Catechism themselves? This had occurred also to Luther. +He realized that, besides the Large Catechism, parents were in need of a +text-book containing questions and answers, adapted for catechizing the +children on the meaning of each part of the Catechism. This, too, was +the reason why the Small Catechism was rapidly completed before the +Large, which had been begun first. Luther intended parents to use it +first of all for their own instruction and edification, but also for the +purpose of enabling them to discharge their duty by their children and +household. + +105. Small Catechism Intended Also for Pastors. + +That Luther intended his Small Catechism as a help also for pastors was, +in so many words, stated on the title-page of the first book edition. +For, surprising as it may seem, here he mentions neither the parents nor +the children, but solely the "ordinary pastors and preachers." The +Preface also is addressed to "all faithful, pious pastors and +preachers," and it shows in detail how they were to make use of the +book. Evidently, then, the book edition was intended to render special +services also to preachers. The reason, however, was not, as has been +surmised, because it embodied the booklet on Marriage (the booklet on +Baptism was added in the second edition); for the Preface, which is +addressed to the preachers, does not even mention it. The pastors, +moreover, were especially designated on the title-page as the recipients +of the Enchiridion, inasmuch as they were to employ it in their +religious instruction and catechetical sermons, in order to imbue the +young with its contents. The expression "ordinary pastors and preachers" +referred primarily to the plain preachers in the villages, where no +properly regulated school system existed, and where, at best, the sexton +might assist the pastor in seeing to it that the Catechism was +memorized. Albrecht: "When Luther prepared both Catechisms at the same +time and with reference to each other, he evidently desired their +simultaneous use, especially on the part of the plain pastors, who in +the Small Catechism possessed the leading thoughts which were to be +memorized, and in the Large Catechism their clear and popular +explanation." (W. 30, 1, 548.) + +Luther's intention was to make the Small Catechism the basis of +instruction in the church as well as in the homes; for uniform +instruction was required to insure results. Having, therefore, placed +the Catechism into the hands of the parents, Luther could but urge that +it be introduced in the churches, too. He also showed them how to use +it. On June 11, 1529, for instance, he expounded the First Article after +he had read the text and the explanation of the Small Catechism. (549.) +This the pastors were to imitate, a plan which was also carried out. The +charts were suspended in the churches; the people and children were wont +to bring the book edition with them to church; the preachers read the +text, expounded it, and had it recited. The Schoenewald Church Order +prescribed that the pastor "first pronounce for the people" the text of +the chief parts, and then expound it as on Luther's charts. (549.) + +106. A Book Also for Schools and Teachers. + +When planning and writing his Small Catechism, Luther self-evidently did +not overlook the schools and the schoolteachers. The first booklet of +the charts for the Latin schools of the Middle Ages contained the abc; +the second, the first reading-material, _viz._, the Paternoster, Ave +Maria, and the Credo; the third, the Benedicite, Gratias, and similar +prayers. Albrecht writes: "We may surmise that Luther, when composing +the German tables and combining them in a book, had in mind the old +chart-booklets. This view is supported by the fact that in it he +embodied the prayers, the Benedicite and Gratias, and probably also by +the title Enchiridion, which, besides the titles 'Handbooklet' or 'The +Children's Handbooklet' was applied to such elementary books." (W. 30, +1, 546.) In the _Instruction for the Visitors_ we read: "A certain day, +either Saturday or Wednesday, shall be set aside for imparting to the +children Christian instruction. ... Hereupon the schoolteacher shall +simply and correctly expound at one time the Lord's Prayer, at another +the Creed, at another the Ten Commandments, etc." (W. 26, 238.) In these +schools Luther's Small Catechism served as text-book. From 1529 until +the beginning of the eighteenth century Sauermann's Latin translation +(_Parvus Catechismus pro Pueris in Schola_) was employed in the Latin +schools of Saxony. In the German schools the German Enchiridion was used +as the First Reader. Hence, the Marburg reprint of the first Wittenberg +edition of the Catechism begins with the alphabet, and makes it a point +to mention this fact on its title-page. + +Down to the present day no other book has become and remained a +schoolbook for religious instruction to such an extent as Luther's Small +Catechism. And rightly so; for even Bible History must be regarded as +subordinate to it. The assertion of modern educators that instruction in +Bible History must precede instruction in Luther's Catechism rests on +the false assumption that Luther's Catechism teaches doctrines only. But +the truth is that it contains all the essential facts of salvation as +well, though in briefest form, as appears particularly from the Second +Article, which enumerates historical facts only. The Small Catechism is +"the Laymen's Bible, _der Laien Biblia,_" as Luther called it in a +sermon of September 14, 1528, an expression adopted also by the Formula +of Concord. (777, 5.) Luther's Enchiridion presents both the facts of +salvation and their divine interpretation. The picture for which the +Small Catechism furnishes the frame is Christ, the historical Christ, as +glorified by the Holy Spirit particularly in the writings of the Apostle +Paul. In the Lutheran Church the Small Catechism, therefore, deserves to +be and always to remain what it became from the first moment of its +publication: the book of religious instruction for home, school, and +church; for parents, children, teachers, and preachers, just as Luther +had planned and desired. + +107. Titles of Large Catechism. + +"_Deutsche Katechismus,_ German Catechism," was the title under which +the Large Catechism first appeared, and which Luther never changed. In +the Preface to the Small Catechism he used the expression "Large +Catechism," having in mind his own Catechism, though not exclusively, as +the context shows. (534, 17.) Yet this was the natural title since the +shorter Catechism was from the beginning known as the "Small Catechism." +And before long it was universally in vogue. The Church Order for +Brueck, of 1530, designates the Large Catechism as "the Long Catechism." +In the catalog of his writings of 1533, which Luther prefaced, but did +not compile, it is called "Large Catechism, _Catechismus Gross._" +Likewise in the _Corpus Doctrinae Pomeranicum._ The Articles of the +Visitors in Meiszen, 1533, first employed the designation "The Large and +Small Catechisms." The Church Order for Gera of the same year also +distinguishes: "The Large Catechism and the Small Catechism." The +Eisfeld Order of 1554 distinguishes: "The Small Catechism of Luther" and +"The Large Catechism of Luther." In his treatise on the Large Catechism +of 1541, Spangenberg first employed the new form as a title: "The Large +Catechism and Children's Instruction of Dr. M. Luther." + +The title of the Low German edition of 1541 runs: "De Grote Katechismus +Duedesch." The Latin translation by Obsopoeus of 1544 is entitled +"Catechismus Maior." The Index of the Wittenberg complete edition of +Luther's Works of 1553 has "Der grosse Katechismus," while the Catechism +itself still bears the original title, "Deutscher Katechismus." The Jena +edition of 1556 also has the original title, but paraphrases in the +Index: "_Zweierlei Vorrede, gross und klein, D. M. L. auf den +Katechismum, von ihm gepredigt Anno 1529._ Two Prefaces, large and +small, of Dr. M. L. to the Catechism, preached by him in the year 1529." +Since 1570, the _Corpora Doctrinae_ give the title, "The Large +Catechism, German. _Der Grosse Katechismus, deutsch._" So also the Book +of Concord of 1580. In the Leipzig edition and in Walch's the word +"deutsch" is omitted. (W. 30, 1, 474f.) + +"German Catechism," corresponding to the title "German Mass," means +German preaching for children, German instruction in the fundamental +doctrines of Christianity. Luther wrote "German Mass" in order to +distinguish it from the Latin, which was retained for many years at +Wittenberg beside the German service (this is also what Wolfgang +Musculus meant when he reported in 1536 that in Wittenberg services were +conducted predominantly in papistic fashion, _ad morem papisticum_). So +also "German Catechism" is in contrast to the Latin instruction in the +churches and especially in the schools. Concerning the latter we read, +_e.g._, in the instruction of the visitors: "The boys shall also be +induced to speak Latin, and the schoolteachers shall, as far as +possible, speak nothing but Latin with them." (26, 240.) Ever since the +early part of the Middle Ages the Latin Credo, Paternoster, etc., had +been regarded and memorized as sacred formulas, the vernacular being +permitted only rarely, and reluctantly at that. Also in the Lutheran +Church the Latin language was not immediately abolished. A number of +Evangelical catechisms, antedating Luther's, were written in, and +presuppose the use of, the Latin language, for example, Melanchthon's +_Enchiridion,_ Urerius's _Paedagogia,_ Agricola's _Elementa Pietatis,_ +etc. The Brunswick Liturgy of 1528, drafted by Bugenhagen, prescribed +that on Saturday evening and early on Sunday morning the chief parts of +the Catechism be read in Latin in the churches "on both galleries, +slowly, without chanting (_sine tono_), alternately (_ummeschicht_)." +The Wittenberg Liturgy provided: "Before the early sermon on Sundays or +on festival-days the boys in the choir, on both sides, shall read the +entire Catechism in Latin, verse by verse, without ornamental tone +(_sine tono distincto_)." (477.) Accordingly, when Luther began to +preach on the chief parts in German, he was said to conduct "German +Catechism." And since German services with German instruction were +instituted by Luther in the interest of the unlearned and such as were +unable to attend the Latin schools, the term "German Catechism" was +equivalent to popular instruction in religion. That Luther's Catechism, +also in point of racy language, was German to the core, appears from the +frequent use of German words and expressions which, in part, have since +become obsolete. (Mueller, _Symb. Buecher,_ 857--860.) + +108. Editions of Large Catechism. + +The first edition (quarto) of the Large Catechism, of which Roerer +forwarded copies on April 23, 1529, contains, as text, the Commandments, +the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the words of institution of the +Sacraments. The text is preceded by a Brief Preface, which, however, +Luther, considering it a part of the Catechism, did not designate and +superscribe as such. Some instructions and admonitions are inserted +between the Catechism-text, which is followed by the detailed +explanation. Such is the form in which the Large Catechism first +appeared, and which, in the main, it also retained. The second edition +(also in quarto and from the year 1529) reveals numerous textual +corrections and adds a longer section to the Lord's Prayer, _viz._, +paragraphs 9 to 11: "at the risk of God's wrath.... seek His grace." +(699.) This addition, though not found in the German Book of Concord of +1580, was received into the official Latin Concordia of 1584. +Furthermore, the second edition of 1529 adds the "Short Admonition to +Confession;" hence the sub-title: "Increased by a New Instruction and +Admonition to Confession." This addition, however, was embodied in +neither the German nor the Latin Concordia. In the Seventh Commandment +the second edition of 1529 omits the words "with whom [arch-thieves] +lords and princes keep company" (644, 230), which, according to +Albrecht, was due to a timid proof-reader. Numerous marginal notes, +briefly summarizing the contents, were also added to this edition and +retained in the Latin Concordia of 1584. Furthermore, it contained 24 +woodcuts, the first three of which were already used in Melanchthon's +fragmentary Catechism sermons of 1528, for which book probably also the +remaining cuts were originally intended. Albrecht remarks: "Let it +remain undecided whether the cuts, which Melanchthon probably was first +to select for his catechism sermons of 1528, were received into the +edition of 1529 (which Luther corrected) upon a suggestion of the +printer Rhau, or Bugenhagen, or Luther himself." (W. 30, 1, 493.) + +Two Latin as well as a Low German translation (by Bugenhagen) also +appeared in 1529. The Low German edition, printed by Rhau, seems to have +paved the way in using the aforementioned pictures. Of the Latin +translations, one was prepared by Lonicer and printed at Marburg, while +the other, by Vicentius Obsopoeus, rector of the school at Ansbach, was +printed at Hagenau. After making some changes, which were not always +improvements, Selneccer embodied the latter in the Latin Concordia, +adding the longer Preface from the Frankfurt edition of 1544. In the +Large Catechism this new Preface is found for the first time in Rhau's +quarto edition of 1530. Literal allusions to Luther's letter of June 30, +1530, to J. Jonas have given rise to the assumption that it was written +at Castle Coburg. (Enders, 8, 47. 37.) In the Jena edition of Luther's +Works, the Dresden edition of the Book of Concord of 1580, the Magdeburg +edition of 1580, the Heidelberg folio edition of 1582, and the Latin +edition of 1580, this longer Preface follows the shorter. However, since +the shorter Preface forms part of the Catechism itself, the longer +Preface ought to precede it, as is the case in the official Latin +Concordia of 1584. In the Low German edition of 1531 Bugenhagen defends +the expressions, criticized by some: I believe "an Gott, an Christum" in +the Low German edition of 1529, instead of "in Gott, in Christum." (W. +30, 1, 493.) In Rhau's edition of 1532 and 1535 the morning and evening +prayers are added, probably only as fillers. The changes in Rhau's +edition of 1538, styling itself, "newly corrected and improved," consist +in linguistic improvements and some additions and omissions. Albrecht +believes that most, but not all, of these changes were made by Luther +himself, and that the omissions are mostly due to inadvertence. + +109. Title of Small Catechism. + +Luther seems to have published the chart catechism of January, 1529, +without any special title, though Roerer, from the very first, calls it +a catechism. In the first Wittenberg book edition, however, one finds +inserted, between the Preface and the Decalog, the superscription: "_Ein +kleiner Katechismus oder christliche Zucht._ A Small Catechism or +Christian Discipline." This may have been the title of the charts, since +it would hardly have been introduced for the book edition, where it was +entirely superfluous, the title-page designating it as "The Small +Catechism for the Ordinary Pastors and Preachers." Likewise it cannot be +proved that the opening word on the title-page of this first book +edition was "Enchiridion," since this edition has disappeared without a +trace, and the only remaining direct reprint does not contain the word +"Enchiridion." All subsequent editions however, have it. + +The word "Enchiridion" is already found in the writings of Augustine, +and later became common. In his Glossary, Du Cange remarks: "This name +[Enchiridion] St. Augustine gave to a most excellent little work on +faith, hope, and charity, which could easily be carried in the hand, or, +rather, ought continually to be so carried, since it contained the +things most necessary for salvation." (3, 265.) The Erfurt +_Hymn-Booklet_ of 1524 was called "Enchiridion or Handbooklet, very +profitable for every Christian to have with him for constant use and +meditation." In 1531 Luther praised the Psalter, saying: "It may be +called a little Bible, wherein all that is found in the entire Bible is +most beautifully and briefly summed up and has been made and prepared +to be a splendid Enchiridion, or Handbook." (E. 63, 28.) The +_Instruction for Visitors_ calls the primer "the handbooklet of the +children, containing the alphabet, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and +other prayers." In 1523 Melanchthon had published such a book, entitled +"Enchiridion." Thus Enchiridion denotes a book of pithy brevity, an +elementary book. The various Church Orders employ the word in a similar +sense. (W. 30, 1, 540.) + +110. Editions of Small Catechism. + +At Wittenberg, George Rhau printed the Large Catechism and Michel +Schirlentz the Small Catechism (the chart impressions of which must be +considered the first edition). In the Preface to the Small Catechism, +Luther speaks of "these tables" and "the form of these tables," thus +referring to the chief parts, which were already printed on placards. +However, since "table" also denotes a list, the term could be applied +also to the chief parts in book form. It was nothing new to employ +tables ("_Zeddeln," i.e._, placards printed on one side) in order to +spread the parts of the Catechism in churches, homes, and schools. In +1518 Luther published his "Ten Commandments with a brief exposition of +their fulfilment and transgression," on placards. Of the charts of the +Small Catechism only a Low German copy has as yet been discovered. It +contains Luther's Morning and Evening Prayers, a reduced reproduction of +which is found in the Weimar Edition of Luther's Works. (30, 1, 241.) +The book editions soon took their place beside the charts. It seems (but +here the traces are rather indefinable) that the first three tables were +summed up into a booklet as early as January or February, 1529. At +Hamburg, Bugenhagen published the charts, which he had received till +then, as a booklet, in Low German. It contained the five chief parts and +the Benedicite and Gratias. Shortly after the first Wittenberg book +edition had reached him Bugenhagen translated the Preface and had it +printed as a supplement. + +Shortly after the completion of the Large Catechism Luther made +arrangements to have the Small Catechism appear in book form. May 16 +Roerer sent two copies of the _Catechismus Minor._ But, as stated above, +all copies of this edition were completely used up. The edition has been +preserved in three reprints only, two of which appeared at Erfurt and +one at Marburg. Th. Harnack published the one Erfurt and the Marburg +reprint, and H. Hartung the other Erfurt reprint in separate facsimile +editions. Evidently these reprints appeared before the second +Wittenberg edition of June, 1529, was known at Erfurt and Marburg. In +estimating their value, however, modern scholars are not agreed as to +whether they represent three direct or one direct and two indirect +reprints. Albrecht is of the opinion that only one of the three may be +looked upon as a direct reprint. Judging from these reprints, the +original edition was entitled: "_Der kleine Katechismus fuer die +gemeinen Pfarrherrn und Prediger._ The Small Catechism for Ordinary +Pastors and Preachers." Aside from the five chief parts, it contained +the Preface, the Morning and Evening Prayers, the Table of Duties, and +the Marriage Booklet. On the other hand, these reprints omit not only +the word Enchiridion, but also the question, "How can bodily eating and +drinking do such great things?" together with its answer. Now, in case +all three should be direct reprints, the omitted question and answer +evidently were not contained in the first Wittenberg edition either. On +the other hand, if only one of them is a direct reprint, the mistake +must be charged to the original Wittenberg impression or to the reprint. +That the omission is an error, probably due to the printer, appears from +the fact that the omitted question and answer were already found on the +charts; for the Hamburg book edition of the charts in Low German has +them, as also Stifel's written copies of the charts. (W. 30, 1, 573.) + +Of the Wittenberg editions which followed the _editio princeps,_ those +of 1529, 1531, and 1542 deserve special mention. The first appeared +under the title: "Enchiridion. The Small Catechism for the Ordinary +Pastors and Preachers, enlarged and improved." On the 13th of June this +edition was completed, for Roerer reports on this date: "Parvus +Catechismus sub iucudem iam tertio revocatus est et in ista postrema +editione adauctus." (Kolde _l.c._, 60.) Roerer designates this edition +as the third, probably because two imprints had been made of the _editio +princeps._ According to a defective copy, the only one preserved, this +edition adds to the contents of the _editio princeps_ the word +Enchiridion in the title, the Booklet of Baptism, A Brief Form of +Confessing to the Priest, for the Simple, and the Litany. The fifth +chief part has the question: "How can bodily eating and drinking do such +great things?" In the Lord's Prayer, however, the explanation of the +introduction is still lacking. This emended edition of 1529 furthermore +had the pictures, for the first time as it seems. The booklets on +Marriage and Baptism were retained, as additions, in all editions of the +Small Catechism published during the life of Luther, and in many later +editions as well. As yet, however, it has not been proved directly that +such was intended and arranged for by Luther himself. + +Also in the succeeding editions Luther made various material and +linguistic changes. In the edition of 1531 he omitted the Litany, and +for the "Short Form of Confession" he substituted an instruction in +confession, which he inserted between the fourth and fifth chief parts, +under the caption, "How the Unlearned Shall be Taught to Confess." The +Lord's Prayer was complemented by the addition of the Introduction and +its explanation, and the number of cuts was increased to 23. This +edition of 1531, of which but one copy (found in the Bodleiana of +Oxford) is in existence, shows essentially the form in which the +Enchiridion was henceforth regularly printed during and after Luther's +life. (W. 30, 1, 608.) The editions of 1537 reveal several changes in +language, especially in the Bible-verses, which are made to conform to +Luther's translation. In the edition of 1542 the promise of the Fourth +Commandment appears for the first time, and the Table of Duties is +expanded. The Bible-verses referring to the relation of congregations to +their pastors were added, and the verses setting forth the relation of +subjects to their government were considerably augmented. Hence the +title: "Newly revised and prepared, _aufs neue uebersehen und +zugerichtet._" Probably the last edition to appear during Luther's life +was the one of 1543, which, however, was essentially a reprint of the +edition of 1542. + +Knaake declared that all the editions which we possess "must be +attributed to the enterprise of the book dealers," and that one cannot +speak of a direct influence of Luther on any of these editions. In +opposition to this extreme skepticism, Albrecht points out that, for +instance, the insertion of the explanation of the Introduction to the +Lord's Prayer and the new form of confession, as well as its insertion +between Baptism and the Lord's Supper, could not have taken place +"without the direct cooperation of Luther." + +111. Translations and Elaborations of Small Catechism. + +Two of the Latin translations of the Small Catechism date back to 1529. +The first was inserted in the _Enchiridion Piarum Precationum,_ the +Latin translation of Luther's _Prayer-Booklet,_ which appeared toward +the end of August, 1529. Roerer met with great difficulties in editing +the book. August, 1529, he wrote: "You may not believe me if I tell you +how much trouble I am having with the Latin _Prayer-Booklet_ which is +now being printed. Somebody else, it is true, translated it from German +into Latin, but I spent much more labor in this work than he did." (W. +30, 1, 588.) We do not know who the translator was to whom Roerer +refers. It certainly was not Lonicer, the versatile Humanist of Marburg +who at that time had completed the Large Catechism with a Preface dated +May 15, 1529. Kawerau surmises that it was probably _G. Major._ +Evidently Luther himself had nothing to do with this translation. This +Catechism is entitled: _Simplicissima et Brevissima Catechismi +Expositio._ Almost throughout the question form was abandoned. In 1532 a +revised form of this translation appeared, entitled: _Nova Catechismi +Brevioris Translatio._ From these facts the theory (advocated also by v. +Zezschwitz and Knaake) has been spun that the Small Catechism sprang +from a still shorter one, which was not throughout cast in questions and +answers, and offered texts as well as explanations in a briefer form. +This would necessitate the further inference that the Preface to the +Small Catechism was originally written in Latin. All of these +suppositions, however, founder on the fact that the charts as we have +them in the handwriting of Stifel are in the form of questions and +answers. The _Prayer-Booklet_ discarded the form of questions and +answers, because its object was merely to reproduce the contents of +Luther's Catechism for such as were unacquainted with German. + +The second Latin translation of 1529 was furnished by John Sauermann, +not (as v. Zezschwitz and Cohrs, 1901, in Herzog's _R. E._, 10, 135, +assume) the Canon of Breslau, who died 1510, but probably Johannes +Sauermann of Bambergen, who matriculated at Wittenberg in the winter +semester of 1518. (W. 30, 1, 601.) Sauermann's translation was intended +as a school edition of the Small Catechism. First came the alphabet, +then followed the texts: Decalog, Creed, the Lord's Prayer, Baptism, the +Lord's Supper. Luther's Preface, the Litany, and the Booklets of +Marriage and Baptism were omitted as not adapted for school use. The +chapter on Confession, from the second Wittenberg book edition was +inserted between the fourth and fifth chief parts. The note to the +Benedicite was put into the text with the superscription "Scholion" +(instead of the incorrect "Scholia" of the German edition, found also in +the Book of Concord). "Paedagogus" was substituted for "head of the +family (_Hausvater_)." The word "Haustafel" remained untranslated. The +words of the Third Petition, "so uns den Namen Gottes nicht heiligen und +sein Reich nicht kommen lassen wollen," are rendered: "quae nobis nomen +Dei non _sanctificent_ regnumque eius ad nos pervenire non sinant." + +In the Preface, dated September 19, 1529, "Johannes Sauromannus" writes: +"Every one is of the opinion that it is clearly the best thing from +early youth carefully and diligently to instruct the boys in the +principles of Christian piety. And since I believe that of all the +elementary books of the theologians of this age none are better adapted +for this purpose than those of Dr. Martin Luther, I have rendered into +Latin the booklet of this man which is called the Small Catechism, +hoping that it might be given to the boys to be learned as soon as they +enter the Latin school." At the same time Sauermann declares that his +translation was published "by the advice and order (_consilio ac iussu_) +of the author [Luther] himself." (30, 1, 673.) One cannot doubt, +therefore, that Sauermann's translation received Luther's approval. And +being in entire conformity with the _Instruction for Visitors,_ of 1528, +for the Latin city schools, the book was soon in general use. In 1556 +Michael Neander speaks of it as "the common Latin version, hitherto +used in all schools." (603.) The Latin Concordia of 1584 contains +Sauermann's version, essentially, though not literally. The Preface, +which Sauermann had not translated, is taken over from the +_Prayer-Booklet._ The part On Confession was newly translated from the +German edition of the Catechism of 1531. The textual changes which were +made in Sauermann's translation for the Concordia of 1584 "show that he +was careful and usually felicitous, and are partly to be explained as +combinations of the first and second Latin translations." (604.) + +When, in 1539, Justus Jonas translated the Nuernberg _Sermons for +Children,_ he made a third Latin translation of the Small Catechism. He +calls it "this my Latin translation, not carefully finished indeed, but +nevertheless rendered in good faith." (627.) This Latin text obtained +special importance since it was immediately done into English, Polish, +and Icelandic. In 1560 Job Magdeburg furnished a fourth Latin version. +Concerning the translations into Greek, Hebrew, and other languages see +Weimar Edition of Luther's Complete Works (10, 1, 718f.) + +Among the earliest elaborations of the Small Catechism was the Catechism +of Justus Menius, 1532, and the Nuernberg _Children's Sermons_ of 1533. +Both exploit Luther's explanations without mentioning his name. At the +same time some changing, abbreviating, polishing, etc., was done, as +Luther's text was considered difficult to memorize. Albrecht says of +Menius's emendations: "Some of his formal changes are not bad; most of +them, however are unnecessary. The entire book finally serves the +purpose of bringing to light the surpassing merit of the real +Luther-Catechism." (617.) The same verdict will probably be passed on +all the substitute catechisms which have hitherto appeared. John +Spangenberg's Small Catechism of 1541, which was widely used, is, as he +himself says, composed "from the Catechism of our beloved father, Dr. +Martin, and those of others." It contains Luther's Catechism mainly as +changed by Menius. The Nuernberg _Children's Sermons,_ which embodied +also the pictures of Luther's Catechism and received a wide circulation, +were written by Osiander and Sleupner in 1532, and printed at Nuernberg, +1533. They contain almost complete the five chief parts of Luther's +Small Catechism as concluding sentences of the individual sermons, but +in original minting, with abbreviations, additions, and other changes, +which, however, are not nearly as marked as those of Menius. These +changes were also made to facilitate memorizing. Between Baptism and +the Lord's Supper was found the doctrinal part on the Office of the +Keys, which in this or a similar form was, after Luther's death, +appended to or inserted in, the Small Catechism as the sixth or fifth +chief part, respectively. + +112. The Part "Of Confession." + +The Small Catechism did not spring from Luther's mind finished and +complete at one sitting. Originally he considered the first three chief +parts as constituting the Catechism. Before long, however, he added the +parts of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. These five parts are for the +first time mentioned in the _German Order of Worship,_ and printed +together in the Booklet for Laymen and Children. The Introduction to the +Large Catechism also offers no more. The chart and book editions added +as real parts of the Catechism (the Booklets of Marriage and of Baptism +cannot be viewed as such) the Benedicite and Gratias, the Morning and +Evening Prayers, the Table of Duties, and Confession. It is the last of +these parts which played a peculiar role in the history of the Small +Catechism. Albrecht writes: "In the textual history of the Small +Catechism, Confession (besides the Table of Duties) is the most restless +and movable part. In the Low German editions since 1531 and 1534 it is +found after the Lord's Supper as a sort of sixth chief part. In +individual instances it is entirely omitted. On the other hand, in +elaborations of the Catechism, notably in the Nuernberg +Catechism-sermons, it is supplanted by the Office of the Keys, and in +later prints also combined with it or otherwise recast." (W. 30, 1, +607.) + +As for Luther, evidently, as soon as he began to work on the Catechism, +he planned to include also a part on Confession. Among the charts there +were already those which dealt with Confession. In fact, Luther must +have here treated this part at comparative length. For Roerer reports +that the price of the Confession charts was three pfennige, whereas the +price of the Sacrament charts was two pfennige. Yet nothing of +Confession was embodied in the first book edition of the Small +Catechism. The first edition also of the Large Catechism had no part +treating of Confession. But the second Wittenberg edition, of 1529 +appeared "augmented with a new instruction and admonition concerning +Confession." Likewise the "augmented and improved" Small Catechism of +1529, superscribed, "Enchiridion," contained a "Short Form how the +Unlearned shall Confess to the Priest. _Eine kurze Weise zu beichten +fuer die Einfaeltigen, dem Priester._" This Form was not to serve the +pastor in admonishing, etc., but Christians when going to confession. +Possibly it was one of the charts which Roerer, March 16, mentioned as +novelties. The addition of this part was, no doubt, caused by Luther +himself. This is supported by the fact that Sauermann's translation, +which appeared by Luther's "advice and order," also contained it. And +while in the German book edition it was found in the Appendix, following +the Booklet on Baptism, Sauermann inserted it between Baptism and the +Lord's Supper with the superscription: "How schoolmasters ought in +simplest manner to teach their boys a brief form of confession. _Quo +pacto paedagogi suos pueros brevem confitendi rationem simplicissime +docere debeant._" Evidently this, too, was done with Luther's approval +(_auctoris consilio et iussu_). "Thus Luther at that time already," says +Albrecht, "selected this place for Confession and retained it later on, +when [1531] he furnished another form of confession for the Catechism +which to him seemed more appropriate." The gradual insertion of a new +chief part (of Confession and Absolution) between Baptism and the Lord's +Supper was therefore entirely according to Luther's mind; indeed, it had +virtually been carried out by him as early as 1529. + +The original part Of Confession, however, was no catechetical and +doctrinal part in the proper sense of the word, but purely a liturgical +formula of Confession, even the Absolution being omitted. It merely +contained two confessions similar to the forms found in the Book of +Concord, page 552, sections 21 to 23. Hence Luther, in the edition of +1531, replaced it with a catechetico-liturgical form entitled, "How the +Unlearned Should be Taught to Confess." It is identical with the one +found in the Book of Concord of 1580, save only that the original +contained the words, "What is Confession? Answer," which are omitted in +the German Concordia. Luther placed the part Of Confession between +Baptism and the Lord's Supper, thereby actually making this the fifth +and the Lord's Supper the sixth chief part. And when later on (for in +Luther's editions the chief parts are not numbered) the figures were +added, Confession could but receive the number 5, and the Lord's Supper, +6. Thus, then, the sequence of the six parts, as found in the Book of +Concord, was, in a way, chosen by Luther himself. + +113. Office of the Keys and Christian Questions. + +The three questions on the Office of the Keys in the fifth chief part +form the most important and independent addition to Luther's Small +Catechism. However, they are not only in complete agreement with +Luther's doctrine of Absolution, but, in substance, also contained in +what he himself offered in the part Of Confession. For what Luther says +in paragraphs 26 to 28 in a liturgical form is expressed and explained +in the three questions on the Office of the Keys in a doctrinal and +catechetical form. Not being formulated by Luther, however, they were +not received into the Book of Concord. In the Nuernberg _Text-Booklet_ +of 1531 they are placed before Baptism. Thence they were taken over into +the Nuernberg _Children's Sermons_ of 1533 as a substitute for Luther's +form of Confession. Andrew Osiander, in the draft of his Church Order of +1531, in the article on "Catechism and the Instruction of Children," +added as sixth to the five chief parts: "Of the Keys of the Church, or +the Power to Bind and to Unbind from Sins," quoting as Bible-verse the +passage: "The Lord Jesus breathed on His disciples," etc. Brenz, though +not, as frequently assumed, the author of the Nuernberg Catechism, also +contributed toward introducing and popularizing this part of the +Catechism. In his Questions of 1535 and 1536, which appeared in the +Appendix to the Latin translation of Luther's Large Catechism, he +offered an original treatment to the Keys of Heaven, as the sixth chief +part, on the basis of Matt. 16, 19; Luke 19, 16; John 20, 22f. +Thirty-six years after the first publication of Luther's Catechisms, +Mathesius, in his _Sermons on the Life of Luther,_ also speaks of six +chief parts of catechetical instruction; but he enumerates Absolution as +the part between Baptism and the Lord's Supper, hence as the fifth chief +part of the Catechism. + +As to the Christian Questions for Those Who Intend to Go to the +Sacrament, it was claimed very early that Luther was the author. They +were first published in 1549, and a number of separate impressions +followed. After 1558 they are usually found in the appendix to the Small +Catechism. The Note, "These questions and answers," etc., designating +Luther as the author, first appeared in an edition of 1551. Together +with this note, the Questions are found in an undated Wittenberg edition +of the Small Catechism, which appeared about 1560, containing pictures +dated 1551. Referring to this edition, the Wittenberg proof-reader, +Christopher Walther, in a polemical writing (1566) against Aurifaber, +asserted that the Questions were not written by Luther, but by John Lang +of Erfurt (+ 1548). The question at issue has not yet been decided. For +while the contents of the Questions reproduce, from beginning to end, +Luther's thoughts, and the last answers are almost literally taken from +the Large Catechism, we have no evidence that Luther compiled them; but, +on the other hand, also no convincing proof against this. Claus Harms +and Koellner asserted that Luther is the author of the Questions, while +Kliefoth and Loehe declared it as probable.--The Introduction to the Ten +Commandments, "I the Lord, thy God," and the Doxology, at the close of +the Lord's Prayer, were added after Luther's death. + +114. The Table of Duties--Haustafel. + +The eighth and last chart of the Catechism differed from the preceding +ones in that it was superscribed: "Table of Duties (Haustafel), +Consisting of Certain Passages of Scripture for Various Holy Orders and +Stations. Whereby These are to be Admonished, as by a Special Lesson, +Regarding Their Office and Service." The exact time when Luther drew up +this Table is not known. The latest date to which its composition can be +assigned is the end of April or the beginning of May, 1529. It may, +however, be questioned whether it was published at all as a placard. The +two groups of passages: "What the Hearers Owe to Their Pastors," and: +"What Subjects Owe to Their Government," are probably not from Luther. +Following are the grounds supporting this view: 1. They are not +contained in the German editions but appeared for the first time in the +Latin translation. 2. Their superscriptions differ in form from those of +the other groups. 3. They adduce quite a number of Bible-verses, and +repeat some already quoted, _e.g._, 1 Tim. 2, 1, Rom. 13, 1. The German +Book of Concord omitted these passages, while the Latin Concordia of +1580 and 1584 embodied them. Albrecht writes: "The Table of Duties is an +original part of the Catechism, bearing a true Lutheran stamp. But it +was old material worked over, as is the case almost throughout the Small +Catechism." "The oft-repeated assertion, however, that the Table of +Duties was borrowed from the catechism of the Waldensians or Bohemian +Brethren, is not correct. For this Table is not found in the Catechism +of the Brethren of 1522, with which Luther was acquainted, but first in +Gyrick's Catechism of 1554, in which Lutheran material is embodied also +in other places." (W. 30, 1, 645.) + +The confession books of the Middle Ages, however, which classified sins +according to the social estates, and especially John Gerson's tract (_De +Modo Vivendi Omnium Fidelium_ reprinted at Wittenberg 1513), which +treated of the offices of all sorts of lay-people in every station of +life, may have prompted Luther to draw up this Table. But, says +Albrecht, "it certainly grew under his hand into something new and +characteristic. The old material is thoroughly shortened, sifted, +supplemented, newly arranged, recast. While Gerson's tract throughout +bears the stamp of the Middle Ages, Luther's Table of Duties, with its +appeal to the Scriptures alone, its knowledge of what is a 'holy +estate,' its teaching that, as divine ordinances, civil government and +the household (when embraced by the common order of Christian love) are +equally as holy as the priesthood, reveals the characteristic marks of +the Reformer's new ideal of life, which, rooting in his faith, and +opposed to the hierarchy and monkery of the Middle Ages, as well as to +the fanaticism of the Anabaptists, became of far-reaching importance for +the entire moral thought of the succeeding centuries." (647.) + +Grimm's Lexicon defines "Haustafel" as "_der Abschnitt des Katechismus, +der ueber die Pflichten des Hausstandes handelt,_ that section of the +Catechism which treats of the duties of the household." This verbal +definition, suggested by the term, is too narrow, since Luther's +"Haustafel" is designed "for various holy orders and estates," +magistrates and pastors included. Still, the term is not on this account +inappropriate. Table (_Tafel, tabula_) signifies in general a roster, a +list, or index of leading points, with or without reference to the chart +form. And such a table suspended in the home and employed in the +instruction of the home congregation, is properly termed "Haustafel." +Agreeably to this, Andreas Fabricius, in 1569, called the "Haustafel" a +domestic table of works, _tabula operum domestica._ Daniel Kauzmann, in +his _Handbook_ (16 sermons on the Catechism) of 1569, says: "It is +called 'Haustafel' of the Christians because every Christian should +daily view it and call to mind therefrom his calling, as from a table +which portrays and presents to every one what pertains to him. It +teaches all the people who may be in a house what each one ought to do +or to leave undone in his calling." (642.) + +In his _Catechismus Lutheri_ of 1600 Polycarp Leyser offers the +following explanation: "Why are these passages called a table? Beyond +doubt this is due to the fact that, from of old, good ordinances have +been written and graven on tables. So did God, who prescribed His Law to +the Jews in ten commandments on two tables. Similarly Solon wrote the +laws of Athens on tables. The Romans also had their law of twelve tables +brought from Athens. And so, when the government to-day issues certain +commands, it is customary to suspend them on tables, as also princes and +lords suspend on tables their court rules. But why is it called +'Haustafel' when it also treats of preachers and the government? The +reason for this is given by St. Paul, I Tim. 3, where he calls the +Church a house of the living God. For as the housefather in a large +house summons his servants and prescribes to each one what he is to do, +so God is also wont to call into certain stations those who have been +received into His house by Holy Baptism, and to prescribe to them in +this table how each one in his calling shall conduct himself." (641.) + +Concerning the purpose of the Table of Duties, Albrecht remarks: "If I +am correct, Luther, by these additions, would especially inculcate that +Christianity, the essence of which is set forth in the preceding chief +parts, must daily be practised." That is certainly correct, for the +Catechism must not only be learned, but lived. And the Table of Duties +emphasizes the great truth, brought to light again by Luther, that +Christianity does not consist in any peculiar form of life; as Romish +priests, monks, and nuns held, who separated themselves from the world +outwardly, but that it is essentially faith of the heart, which, +however, is not to flee into cloisters and solitudes but courageously +and cheerfully to plunge into practical life with its natural forms and +relations as ordained by Creation, there to be tried as well as +glorified. In his _Admonition to the Clergy,_ 1530, Luther says: +"Furthermore, by such abominable doctrine all truly good works which God +appointed and ordained were despised and utterly set at naught [by the +Papists]. For instance, lord, subject, father, mother, son, daughter, +servant, maid were not regarded as good works, but were called +worldliness, dangerous estates, and lost works." (W. 30, 2, 291.) The +Table of Duties is a protest against such perverted views. For here +Luther considers not only the calling of preachers and teachers, but +also all those of government and subjects, of fathers, mothers, and +children, of masters and servants, of mistresses and maids, of employees +and employers, as "holy orders and estates," in which a Christian may +live with a good conscience, and all of which the Catechism is to +permeate with its truths. "Out into the stream of life with the +Catechism you have learned!" Such, then, is the admonition which, in +particular, the Table of Duties adds to the preceding parts of the +Catechism. + +115. Symbolical Authority of Catechisms. + +The symbolical authority of Luther's Catechisms must be distinguished +from the practical use to which they were put in church, school, and +home. As to his doctrine, Luther knew it to be the pure truth of the +divine Word. Hence he could not but demand that every one acknowledge +it. Self-evidently this applies also to the doctrinal contents of the +Catechisms. Luther, however, did not insist that his Catechisms be made +the books of instruction in church, school, and home; he only desired +and counseled it. If for the purpose of instruction the form of his +Small Catechism did not suit any one, let him, said Luther, choose +another. In the Preface to the Small Catechism he declared: "Hence, +choose whatever form you think best, and adhere to it forever." Again, +"Take the form of these tables or some other short, fixed form of your +choice, and adhere to it without the change of a single syllable." +Self-evidently Luther is here not speaking of the doctrine of the +Catechism, but of the form to be used for instruction. And with respect +to the latter he makes no demands whatever. However, the contents of +these books and the name of the author sufficed to procure for them the +widest circulation and the most extensive use. Everywhere the doors of +churches, schools, and homes were opened to the writings of Luther. + +The tables had hardly been published when catechism instruction already +generally was given according to Luther's Explanation. The church +regulations, first in Saxony, then also in other lands, provided that +Luther's Small Catechism be memorized word for word, and that preaching +be according to the Large Catechism. The Church Order of Henry the +Pious, 1539, declares: "There shall not be taught a different catechism +in every locality, but one and the same form, as presented by Dr. Martin +Luther at Wittenberg, shall be observed everywhere." In 1533 the +ministers of Allstaedt were ordered "to preach according to Luther's +Large Catechism." (Kolde, 63.) The authority of the Catechisms grew +during the controversies after Luther's death, when the faithful +Lutherans appealed to the Smalcald Articles and especially to Luther's +Catechisms. The Lueneburg Articles of 1561 designate them, together with +the Smalcald Articles, as the correct "explication and explanation" of +the true sense of the Augustana. The _Corpus Doctrinae Pomeranicum_ of +1564 declares that "the sum of Christian and evangelical doctrine is +purely and correctly contained in Luther's Catechisms." Their authority +as a genuinely Lutheran norm of doctrine increased when the Reformed of +Germany, in 1563, made the Heidelberg Catechism their particular +confession. + +Like the Smalcald Articles, Luther's Catechisms achieved their +symbolical authority by themselves, without resolutions of princes +estates, and theologians. The Thorough Declaration of the Formula of +Concord is merely chronicling actual facts when it adopts the Catechisms +for this reason: "because they have been unanimously approved and +received by all churches adhering to the Augsburg Confession, and have +been publicly used in churches, schools, and homes, and, moreover, +because the Christian doctrine from God's Word is comprised in them in +the most correct and simple way, and, in like manner, is explained, as +far as necessary for simple laymen." (852, 8.) The Epitome adds: "And +because such matters concern also the laity and the salvation of their +souls, we also confess the Small and Large Catechisms of Dr. Luther as +they are included in Luther's works, as the Bible of the laity, wherein +everything is comprised which is treated at greater length in Holy +Scripture, and is necessary for a Christian man to know for his +salvation." (777, 5.) + +116. Enemies and Friends of Small Catechism. + +In recent times liberal German theologians, pastors, and teachers have +endeavored to dislodge Luther's Small Catechism from its position in +church, school, and home. As a rule, these attacks were made in the name +of pedagogy; the real cause, however, were their liberal dogmatical +views. The form was mentioned and assailed, but the contents were meant. +As a sample of this hostility we quote the pedagog, philologian, and +historian Dr. Ludwig Gurlitt (_Die Zukunft,_ Vol. 17, No. 6, p.222): "At +the beginning of the sixteenth century," he says, "a monk eloped from a +cloister and wrote a religious book of instruction for the German +children. At the time it was a bold innovation, the delight of all +freethinkers and men of progress, of all who desired to serve the +future. This book, which will soon celebrate its five-[four-]hundredth +anniversary, is still the chief book of instruction for German children. +True, its contents already are so antiquated that parents reject almost +every sentence of it for themselves; true, the man of today understands +its language only with difficulty--what of it, the children must gulp +down the moldy, musty food. How we would scoff and jeer if a similar +report were made about the school system of China! To this Lutheran +Catechism, which I would best like to see in state libraries only, are +added many antiquated hymns of mystical turgidity, which a simple youth, +even with the best will does not know how to use. All outlived! Faith in +the Bible owes its existence only to the tough power and law of inertia. +It is purely mechanical thinking and speaking which the schoolmaster +preaches to them and pounds into them. We continue thus because we are +too indolent to fight, or because we fear an enlightened people." + +The best refutation of such and similar aspersions is a reference to the +enormous circulation which Luther's Small Catechism has enjoyed, to its +countless editions, translations, elaborations, and its universal use in +church, school, and home for four centuries. Thirty-seven years after +the publication of Luther's Catechisms, Mathesius wrote: "Praise God it +is said that in our times over one hundred thousand copies have been +printed and used in great numbers in all kinds of languages in foreign +lands and in all Latin and German schools." And since then, down to the +present day, millions and millions of hands have been stretched forth to +receive Luther's catechetical classic. While during the last four +centuries hundreds of catechisms have gone under, Luther's Enchiridion +is afloat to-day and is just as seaworthy as when it was first launched. +A person, however, endowed with an average measure of common sense will +hardly be able to believe that the entire Lutheran Church has, for four +centuries, been so stupid as would have been the case if men of Dr. +Gurlitt's stripe had spoken only half the truth in their criticisms. + +Moreover, the number of detractors disappears in the great host of +friends who down to the present day have not tired of praising the +Catechisms, especially the Enchiridion. They admire its artistic and +perfect form; its harmonious grouping, as of the petals of a flower, the +melody and rhythm of its language, notably in the explanation of the +Second Article, its clarity, perspicuity, and popularity; its +simplicity, coupled with depth and richness of thought; the absence of +polemics and of theological terminology, etc. However, with all this and +many other things which have been and might be said in praise of the +Catechism, the feature which made it what it truly was, a Great Deed of +the Reformation, has not as yet been pointed out. Luther Paulinized, +Evangelicalized, the Catechism by properly setting forth in his +explanations the _finis historiae,_ the blessed meaning of the great +deeds of God, the doctrine of justificaiton. Indeed, also Luther's +Catechism is, in more than one way, conditioned by its times, but in its +kernel, in its doctrine, it contains, as Albrecht puts it, "timeless, +never-aging material. For in it pulsates the heartbeat of the primitive +Christian faith, as witnessed by the apostles, and experienced anew by +the Reformer." (648.) This, too, is the reason why Luther's Enchiridion +is, indeed, as G. v. Zezschwitz remarks, "a booklet which a theologian +never finishes learning, and a Christian never finishes living." + +117. Evaluation of Small Catechism. + +Luther himself reckoned his Catechisms among his most important books. +In his letter to Wolfgang Capito, July 9, 1537, he writes: "I am quite +cold and indifferent about arranging my books, for, incited by a +Saturnine hunger, I would much rather have them all devoured, _eo quod +Saturnina fame percitus magis cuperem eos omnes devoratos._ For none do +I acknowledge as really my books, except perhaps _De Servo Arbitrio_ and +the Catechism." (Enders, 11, 247.) Justus Jonas declares: "The Catechism +is but a small booklet, which can be purchased for six pfennige but six +thousand worlds could not pay for it." He believed that the Holy Ghost +inspired the blessed Luther to write it. Mathesius says "If in his +career Luther had produced and done no other good thing than to give his +two Catechisms to homes, schools, and pulpits, the entire world could +never sufficiently thank or repay him for it." J. Fr. Mayer: "_Tot res +quot verba. Tot utilitates, quot apices complectens. Pagellis brevis, +sed rerum theologicarum amplitudine incomparabilis._ As many thoughts as +words; as many uses as there are characters in the book. Brief in pages, +but incomparable in amplitude of theological thoughts." + +In his dedicatory epistle of 1591, to Chemnitz's _Loci,_ Polycarp Leyser +says: "That sainted man, Martin Luther, never took greater pains than +when he drew up into a brief sum those prolix expositions which he +taught most energetically in his various books.... Therefore he composed +the Short Catechism, which is more precious than gold or gems, in which +the pure doctrine of the prophets and apostles (_prophetica et +apostolica doctrinae puritas_) is summed up into one integral doctrinal +body, and set forth in such clear words that it may justly be considered +worthy of the Canon (for everything has been drawn from the canonical +Scriptures). I can truthfully affirm that this very small book contains +such a wealth of so many and so great things that, if all faithful +preachers of the Gospel during their entire lives would do nothing else +in their sermons than explain aright to the common people the secret +wisdom of God comprised in those few words and set forth from the divine +Scriptures the solid ground upon which each word is built they could +never exhaust this immense abyss." + +Leopold von Ranke, in his _German History of the Time of the +Reformation,_ 1839, declares: "The Catechism which Luther published in +1529, and of which he said that he, old Doctor though he was, prayed it, +is as childlike as it is deep, as comprehensible as it is unfathomable, +simple, and sublime. Blessed is the man who nourishes his soul with it, +who adheres to it! He has imperishable comfort in every moment: under a +thin shell the kernel of truth, which satisfies the wisest of the wise." + +Loehe, another enthusiastic panegyrist of Luther, declares: "The Small +Lutheran Catechism can be read and spoken throughout with a praying +heart; in short, it can be prayed. This can be said of no other +catechism. It contains the most definitive doctrine, resisting every +perversion, and still it is not polemical--it exhales the purest air of +peace. In it is expressed the manliest and most developed knowledge, and +yet it admits of the most blissful contemplation the soul may wish for. +It is a confession of the Church, and of all, the best known, the most +universal, in which God's children most frequently meet in conscious +faith, and still this universal confession speaks in a most pleasing +personal tone. Warm, hearty, childlike, yet it is so manly, so +courageous, so free the individual confessor speaks here. Of all the +confessions comprised in the Concordia of 1580, this is the most +youthful, the clearest, and the most penetrating note in the harmonious +chime, and, withal, as rounded and finished as any. One may say that in +it the firmest objectiveness appears in the garb of the most pleasing +subjectiveness." + +Schmauk writes: "The Small Catechism is the real epitome of Lutheranism +in the simplest, the most practical, the most modern and living, and, at +the same time, the most radical form. It steers clear of all obscure +historical allusions; it contains no condemnatory articles, it is based +on the shortest and the oldest of the ecumenical symbols. It is not a +work for theologians, but for every Lutheran; and it is not nearly as +large as the Augsburg Confession." (_Conf. Prin.,_ 696.) + +McGiffert says: "In 1529 appeared his [Luther's] Large and Small +Catechisms, the latter containing a most beautiful summary of Christian +faith and duty, wholly devoid of polemics of every kind, and so simple +and concise as to be easily understood and memorized by every child. It +has formed the basis of the religious education of German youth ever +since. Though preceded by other catechisms from the pen of this and that +colleague or disciple, it speedily displaced them all, not simply +because of its authorship, but because of its superlative merit, and has +alone maintained itself in general use. The versatility of the Reformer +in adapting himself with such success to the needs of the young and +immature is no less than extraordinary. Such a little book as this it is +that reveals most clearly the genius of the man." (_Life of Luther,_ +316.) + +O. Albrecht writes: "Reverently adhering to the churchly tradition and +permeating it with the new understanding of the Gospel, such are the +characteristics of Luther's Catechisms, especially the Small Catechism." +"On every page new and original features appear beside the traditional +elements." "The essential doctrinal content of the booklet is thoroughly +original; in it Luther offered a carefully digested presentation of the +essence of Christianity, according to his own understanding as the +Reformer, in a manner adapted to the comprehension of children--a +simple, pithy description of his own personal Christian piety, without +polemics and systematization, but with the convincing power of +experienced truth." (W. 30, 1, 647.)--Similar testimonies might easily +be multiplied and have been collected and published repeatedly. + +The best praise, however, comes from the enemy in the form of imitation +or even verbal appropriation. Albrecht says: "Old Catholic catechetes, +and not the worst, have not hesitated to draw on Luther's Large +Catechism. If one peruses the widely spread catechism of the Dominican +monk John Dietenberger, of 1537 (reprinted by Maufang in his work on the +Catholic Catechisms of the sixteenth century, 1881), one is frequently +edified and delighted by the diligence with which, besides older +material, Luther's Large and Small Catechisms, as well as the Nuernberg +Catechism-sermons of 1533, have been exploited" (W. 30, 1, 497.) + +118. Literary Merit of Small Catechism. + +Moenckeberg remarks: The Small Catechism betrays "the imperfection of +the haste in which it had to be finished." As a matter of fact, however, +Luther, the master of German, paid much attention also to its language +in order, by pithy brevity and simple, attractive form, to make its +glorious truths the permanent property of the children and unlearned who +memorized it. In his publication "_Zur Sprache und Geschichte des +Kleinen Katechismus Luthers,_ Concerning the Language and History of +Luther's Small Catechism," 1909, J. Gillhoff writes: "Here, if ever, +arose a master of language, who expressed the deepest mysteries in +sounds most simple. Here, if ever, there was created in the German +language and spirit, and in brief compass, a work of art of German +prose. If ever the gods blessed a man to create, consciously or +unconsciously, on the soil of the people and their needs, a perfect work +of popular art in the spirit of the people and in the terms of their +speech, to the weal of the people and their youth throughout the +centuries, it was here. The explanation of the Second Article is one of +the chief creations of the home art of German poetry. And such it is, +not for the reason that it rises from desert surroundings, drawing +attention to itself alone, but because it sums up and crowns the +character of the book throughout." (16.) + +Speaking in particular of the Second Article, Bang, in 1909, said in his +lecture "_Luthers Kleiner Katechismus, ein Kleinod der Volksschule_ +--Luther's Small Catechism, a Jewel of the Public Schools": "The +Catechism is precious also for the reason that Luther in the +explanations strikes a personal, subjective, confessional note. When at +home I read the text of the Second Article in silence, and then read +Luther's explanation aloud, it seems to me as if a hymn rushing +heavenward arises from the lapidary record of facts. It is no longer the +language of the word, but of the sound as well. The text reports +objectively, like the language of a Roman, writing tables of law. The +explanation witnesses and confesses subjectively. It is Christianity +transformed into flesh and blood. It sounds like an oath of allegiance +to the flag. In its ravishing tone we perceive the marching tread of the +myriads of believers of nineteen centuries; we see them moving onward +under the fluttering banner of the cross in war, victory, and peace. And +we, too, by a power which cannot be expressed in words, are drawn into +the great, blessed experience of our ancestors and champions. Who would +dare to lay his impious hands on this consecrated, inherited jewel, and +rob the coming generations of it?!" (20.) + + +X. The Smalcald War and the Augsburg and Leipzig Interims. + +119. Bulwark of Peace Removed. + +Luther died on the day of Concordia, February 18, 1546. With him peace +and concord departed from the Lutheran Church. His death was everywhere +the signal for action against true Lutheranism on the part of both its +avowed enemies and false brethren. As long as that hero of faith and +prayer was still living, the weight of his personal influence and +authority proved to be a veritable bulwark of peace and doctrinal purity +against the enemies within as well as without the Church. Though enemies +seeking to devour had been lurking long ago, the powerful and commanding +personality of Luther had checked all forces making for war from without +and for dissension from within. The Emperor could not be induced to +attack the Lutherans. He knew that they would stand united and strong as +long as the Hero of the Reformation was in their midst. Nor were the +false brethren able to muster up sufficient courage to come out into the +open and publish their errors while the voice of the lion was heard. + +But no sooner had Luther departed than strife began its distracting +work. War, political as well as theological, followed in the wake of his +death. From the grave of the fallen hero a double specter began to loom +up. Pope and Emperor now joined hands to crush Protestantism by brute +force as they had planned long ago. The result was the Smalcald War. The +secret enemies which Lutheranism harbored within its own bosom began +boldly to raise their heads. Revealing their true colors and coming out +in the open with their pernicious errors, they caused numerous +controversies which spread over all Germany (Saxony, the cradle of the +Reformation, becoming the chief battlefield), and threatened to undo +completely the blessed work of Luther, to disrupt and disintegrate the +Church, or to pervert it into a unionistic or Reformed sect. Especially +these discreditable internal dissensions were a cause of deep +humiliation and of anxious concern to all loyal Lutherans. To the +Romanists and Reformed, however, who united in predicting the impending +collapse of Lutheranism, they were a source of malicious and triumphant +scoffing and jeering. A prominent theologian reported that by 1566 +matters had come to such a pass in Germany that the old Lutheran +doctrine was publicly proclaimed only in relatively few places. In the +Palatinate public thanks were rendered to God in the churches that also +Electoral Saxony was now about to join them. The Jesuits insisted that, +having abandoned the doctrine of the real presence in the Lord's Supper, +the Lutherans were no longer genuine Lutherans and hence no more +entitled to the privileges guaranteed by the Peace of Augsburg (1555). +That the final result of this turmoil, political as well as theological, +proved a blessing to the Lutheran Church must be regarded and ever +gratefully remembered as a special grace and a remarkable favor of +Almighty God. + +120. Luther Foretold Coming Distress. + +Though fully conscious of the gravity of the political and theological +situation, and convinced that war and dissensions were bound to come, +Luther was at the same time confident that it would not occur during his +life. With respect to the coming war he said: "With great earnestness I +have asked God, and still pray daily, that He would thwart their [the +Papists'] plan and suffer no war to come upon Germany during my life. +And I am confident that God surely hears such prayer of mine, and I know +that there will be no war in Germany as long as I shall live." (St. L. +9, 1856.) In his Commentary on the Book of Genesis he wrote: "It is a +great consolation when he says (Is. 57, 1) that the righteous are taken +away from the evil to come. Thus we, too, shall die in peace before +misfortune and misery overtake Germany." (St. L. 1, 1758.) + +Luther spoke frequently also of the impending doctrinal dissensions. As +early as 1531 he declared that the Gospel would abide only a short time. +"When the present pious, true preachers will be dead," said he, "others +will come who will preach and act as it pleases the devil." (8, 72.) In +1546 he said in a sermon preached at Wittenberg: "Up to this time you +have heard the real, true Word; now beware of your own thoughts and +wisdom. The devil will kindle the light of reason and lead you away +from the faith, as he did the Anabaptists and Sacramentarians.... I see +clearly that, if God does not give us faithful preachers and ministers, +the devil will tear our church to pieces by the fanatics +(_Rottengeister_), and will not cease until he has finished. Such is +plainly his object. If he cannot accomplish it through the Pope and the +Emperor, he will do it through those who are [now] in doctrinal +agreement with us.... Therefore pray earnestly that God may preserve +the Word to you, for things will come to a dreadful pass." (12, 1174. +437.) + +Reading the signs of the times, Melanchthon also realized that Luther's +prophecies would be fulfilled. His address to the students of Wittenberg +University, on February 19, 1546, in which he announced the death of +Luther, concludes: "_Obiit auriga et currus Israel._ He is dead, the +chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof, who guided the Church in +this last old age of the world. For the doctrine of the forgiveness of +sins and of faith in the Son of God was not discovered by human +sagacity, but revealed by God through this man. Let us therefore love +his memory and his teaching, and may we be all the more humble and +ponder the terrible calamity and the great changes which will follow +this misfortune." (_C. R._ 6, 59.) + +Nor were these prophecies of Luther mere intuitions or deductions based +on general reflections only. They were inductions from facts which he +had not failed to observe at Wittenberg, even in his immediate +surroundings. Seckendorf relates that Luther, when sick at Smalcald in +1537, told the Elector of Saxony that after his death, discord would +break out in the University of Wittenberg and that his doctrine would be +changed. (_Comm. de Lutheranismo_ 3, 165.) In his Preface to Luther's +Table Talk, John Aurifaber reports that Luther had frequently predicted +that after his death his doctrine would wane and decline because of +false brethren, fanatics, and sectarians, and that the truth, which in +1530 had been placed on a pinnacle at Augsburg, would descend into the +valley, since the Word of God had seldom flourished more than forty +years in one place. (Richard, _Conf. Hist_., 311.) Stephanus Tucher, a +faithful Lutheran preacher of Magdeburg, wrote in 1549: "Doctor Martin +Luther, of sainted memory, has frequently repeated before many +trustworthy witnesses, and also before Doctor Augustine Schurf, these +words: 'After my death not one of these [Wittenberg] theologians will +remain steadfast.'" Tucher adds: "This I have heard of Doctor Augustine +Schurf not once, but frequently. Therefore I also testify to it before +Christ, my Lord, the righteous Judge," etc. (St. L. 12, 1177; Walther, +_Kern und Stern,_ 7.) + +It was, above all, the spirit of indifferentism toward false doctrine, +particularly concerning the Lord's Supper, which Luther observed and +deplored in his Wittenberg colleagues: Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, +Cruciger, Eber, and Major. Shortly before his last journey to Eisleben +he invited them to his house, where he addressed to them the following +solemn words of warning: They should "remain steadfast in the Gospel; +for I see that soon after my death the most prominent brethren will fall +away. I am not afraid of the Papists," he added, "for most of them are +coarse, unlearned asses and Epicureans; but our brethren will inflict +the damage on the Gospel; for 'they went out from us, but they were not +of us' (1 John 2, 19); they will give the Gospel a harder blow than did +the Papists." About the same time Luther had written above the entrance +to his study: "Our professors are to be examined on the Lord's Supper." +When Major, who was about to leave for the colloquy at Regensburg, +entered and inquired what these words signified, Luther answered: "The +meaning of these words is precisely what you read and what they say; and +when you and I shall have returned, an examination will have to be held, +to which you as well as others will be cited." Major protested that he +was not addicted to any false doctrine. Luther answered: "It is by your +silence and cloaking that you cast suspicion upon yourself. If you +believe as you declare in my presence, then speak so also in the church, +in public lectures, in sermons, and in private conversations, and +strengthen your brethren, and lead the erring back to the right path, +and contradict the contumacious spirits; otherwise your confession is +sham pure and simple, and worth nothing. Whoever really regards his +doctrine, faith and confession as true, right, and certain cannot remain +in the same stall with such as teach, or adhere to, false doctrine; nor +can he keep on giving friendly words to Satan and his minions. A teacher +who remains silent when errors are taught, and nevertheless pretends to +be a true teacher, is worse than an open fanatic and by his hypocrisy +does greater damage than a heretic. Nor can he be trusted. He is a wolf +and a fox, a hireling and a servant of his belly, and ready to despise +and to sacrifice doctrine, Word, faith, Sacrament, churches, and +schools. He is either a secret bedfellow of the enemies or a skeptic and +a weathervane, waiting to see whether Christ or the devil will prove +victorious; or he has no convictions of his own whatever, and is not +worthy to be called a pupil, let alone a teacher; nor does he want to +offend anybody, or say a word in favor of Christ, or hurt the devil and +the world." (Walther, 39f.) + +121. Unfortunate Issue of Smalcald War. + +All too soon the predictions of Luther, and the fears expressed by +Melanchthon and others, were realized. June 26, 1546, four months after +Luther's death, Pope and Emperor entered into a secret agreement to +compel the Protestants by force of arms to acknowledge the decrees of +the Council of Trent, and to return to the bosom of the Roman Church. +The covenant provided that, "in the name of God and with the help and +assistance of His Papal Holiness, His Imperial Majesty should prepare +himself for war, and equip himself with soldiers and everything +pertaining to warfare against those who objected to the Council, against +the Smalcald League, and against all who were addicted to the false +belief and error in Germany, and that he do so with all his power and +might in order to bring them back to the old [papal] faith and to the +obedience of the Holy See." The Pope promised to assist the Emperor with +200,000 Krontaler, more than 12,000 Italian soldiers, and quite a number +of horsemen. He furthermore permitted the Emperor to appropriate, for +the purpose of this war, one half of the total income of the church +property in Spain and 500,000 Krontaler from the revenue of the Spanish +cloisters. + +While the Emperor endeavored to veil the real purpose of his +preparations, the Pope openly declared in a bull of July 4, 1546: "From +the beginning of our Papacy it has always been our concern how to root +out the weeds of godless doctrines which the heretics have sowed +throughout Germany.... Now it has come to pass that, by the inspiration +of the Holy Ghost, our dearest son in Christ, Charles, the Roman +Emperor, has decided to employ the sword against these enemies of God. +And for the protection of religion we intend to promote this pious +enterprise with all our own and the Roman Church's possessions. +Accordingly, we admonish all Christians to assist in this war with their +prayers to God and their alms, in order that the godless heresy may be +rooted out and the dissension removed.... To each and all who do these +things we grant the most complete indulgence and remission of all their +sins." (St. L. 17, 1453ff. Walther, 10.) + +The Smalcald War, so called because it was directed against the Smalcald +League, was easily won by the Emperor. Among the causes of this +unfortunate issue were the neutral attitude of Joachim II of Brandenburg +and of other Lutheran princes, and especially the treachery of the +ambitious and unscrupulous Maurice, Duke of Saxony and nephew of Elector +John Frederick of Saxony, who, in order to gain the Electorate of +Saxony, had made a secret agreement with the Emperor according to which +he was to join his forces with those of the Emperor against the +Lutherans. The decisive battle was fought at Muehlberg on the Elbe, +April 24, 1547. It proved to be a crushing defeat for the Protestants. +The Elector himself was taken captive, treated as a rebel, and sentenced +to death. The sentence was read to him while he was playing chess with +his fellow-captive, Duke Ernest of Lueneburg. John Frederick answered, +he did not believe that the Emperor would deal so severely with him; if, +however, he were in earnest, they should let him know that he might +order his affairs with his wife and children. He then calmly turned to +the Duke, saying: "Let us continue the game; it's your move." (Jaekel, +_G. d. Ref._ l, 114.) The day after the battle at Muehlberg, Torgau fell +into the hands of the Emperor; and when he threatened to execute the +Elector, having already erected a scaffold for this purpose, Wittenberg, +too, though well protected by 5,000 soldiers, signed a capitulation on +May 19, in order to save the Elector's life. On the 23d of May, +Wittenberg was occupied by the Emperor. Here Charles, when standing at +the grave of Luther, and urged to have the body of "the heretic" +exhumed, spoke the memorable words that he was warring not with the +dead, but with the living. The death-sentence was rescinded, but, apart +from other cruel conditions forced upon the Elector, he was compelled to +resign in favor of Maurice and promise to remain in captivity as long as +the Emperor should desire. His sons were granted the districts of +Weimar, Jena, Eisenach, and Gotha. Philip of Hesse surrendered without +striking a blow, and was likewise treacherously held in captivity and +humiliated in every possible way by the Emperor. The imperial +plenipotentiaries had assured the Landgrave that he would not be +imprisoned. Afterwards, however, the words in the document, "not any +bodily captivity--_nit eenige Leibesgefangenschaft,_" were fraudulently +changed by Granvella to read, "not eternal captivity--_nit ewige +Leibesgefangenschaft_" (Marheineke, _G. d. Deut. Ref._ 4, 438.) The sons +of the Landgrave remained in possession of his territory. Thus all of +Southern and, barring a few cities, also all of Northern Germany was +conquered by Charles. Everywhere the Lutherans were at the tender mercy +of the Emperor, whose undisputed power struck terror into all Germany. + +122. The Augsburg Interim. + +The first step to reduce the Lutherans to obedience to the Pope was the +so-called Augsburg Interim. It was proclaimed by the Emperor at Augsburg +on May 15, 1548, as the law of the Empire under the title: "Der +roemischen kaiserlichen Majestaet Erklaerung wie es der Religion halben +im heiligen Reich bis zu Austrag des gemeinen Concilii gehalten werden +soll." The people were also forbidden to teach, write, or preach against +the document. The Interim had been prepared by the papal bishops Julius +Pflug and Michael Helding and the court-preacher of Elector Joachim of +Brandenburg, John Agricola, a man with whom Luther had, already since +1540, refused to have any further intercourse owing to his insincerity +and duplicity. "I go forth as the Reformer of all Germany," Agricola +boasted when he left Berlin to attend the Diet at Augsburg, which was to +open September 1, 1547. After the Diet he bragged that in Augsburg he +had flung the windows wide open for the Gospel; that he had reformed the +Pope and made the Emperor a Lutheran, that a golden time had now +arrived, for the Gospel would be preached in all Europe; that he had not +only been present, but had presided at the drafting of the Interim; that +he had received 500 crowns from the Emperor and 500 from King Ferdinand, +etc. (Preger, _M. Flacius Illyricus,_ 1, 119.) + +The document, prepared at the command of the Emperor, was called Interim +because its object was to regulate the church affairs until the +religious controversy would be finally settled by the Council of Trent, +to the resolutions of which the Lutherans were required to submit. It +was, however, essentially papal. For the time being, indeed, it +permitted Protestant clergymen to marry, and to celebrate the Lord's +Supper in both kinds, but demanded the immediate restoration of the +Romish customs and ceremonies, the acknowledgment of papal supremacy +_iure divino,_ as well as the jurisdiction of the bishops, and the +adoption of articles in which the doctrines were all explained in the +sense of the Catholic dogmas, and in which truth and falsehood, in +general, were badly mingled. Transubstantiation, the seven sacraments, +and other papal errors were reaffirmed, while Lutheran tenets, such as +the doctrine of justification by faith alone, were either denied or +omitted. And from the fact that this Interim was nevertheless condemned +by the Pope and the Romanists, who demanded an unqualified, blind, and +unconditional submission, the Lutherans could infer what they were to +expect after consenting to these interimistic provisions. The general +conviction among Catholics as well as Protestants was that the Interim +was but the first step to a complete return to Romanism. Indeed, soon +after its promulgation, the Catholic Electors of Mainz and Koeln +endeavored to rob the Lutherans also of the use of the cup and of the +marriage of the priests. The Elector of Mainz declared all such +marriages void and their children bastards. (Jaekel, 162.) + +In the most important point, the doctrine of justification, the Augsburg +Interim not only omitted the _sola fide,_ but clearly taught that +justification embraces also renewal. When God justifies a man, the +Interim declared, He does not only absolve him from his guilt, but also +"makes him better by imparting the Holy Ghost, who cleanses his heart +and incites it through the love of God which is shed abroad in his +heart." (Frank, _Theologie d. Konkordienformel,_ 2, 80.) A man "is +absolved from the guilt of eternal damnation and renewed through the +Holy Spirit and thus an unjust man becomes just." (143.) Again: "This +faith obtains the gift of the Holy Ghost, by which the love of God is +shed abroad in our hearts; and after this has been added to faith and +hope, we are truly justified by the infused righteousness which is in +man; for this righteousness consists in faith, hope, and love." (81.) + +In Southern Germany, Charles V and his Italian and Spanish troops, +employing brute force, succeeded in rigidly enforcing the Interim +outwardly and temporarily. Free cities rejecting it were deprived of +their liberties and privileges. Constance, having fallen after a heroic +defense, was annexed to Austria. Magdeburg offered the longest +resistance and was outlawed three times. Defiantly its citizens +declared: "We are saved neither by an Interim nor by an Exterim, but by +the Word of God alone." (Jaekel 1, 166.) Refractory magistrates were +treated as rebels. Pastors who declined to introduce the Interim were +deposed, some were banished, others incarcerated, still others even +executed. In Swabia and along the Rhine about four hundred ministers +were willing to suffer imprisonment and banishment rather than conform +to the Interim. They were driven into exile with their families, and +some of them were killed. When Jacob Sturm of Augsburg presented his +grievances to Granvella, the latter answered: "If necessary, one might +proceed against heretics also with fire." "Indeed," Sturm retorted, "you +may kill people by fire, but even in this way you cannot force their +faith." (165.) Bucer and Fagius, preachers in Augsburg, left for +England. Musculus was deposed because he had preached against the +Interim. Osiander was compelled to leave Nuernberg, Erhard Schnepf, +Wuerttemberg. Among the fugitives eagerly sought throughout Germany by +the imperial henchmen was Brenz in Schwaebisch-Hall, the renowned +theologian of Wuerttemberg, who spoke of the Interim only as "Interitus, +Ruin." (_C. R._ 7, 289.) The tombstone of Brenz bears the inscription: +"_Voce, stylo, pietate, fide, ardore probatus_--Renowned for his +eloquence, style, piety, faithfulness, and ardor." (Jaekel, 164.) A +prize of 5,000 gulden was offered for the head of Caspar Aquila, who was +one of the first to write against the Interim. (Preger 1, 12.) Of +course, by persecuting and banishing their ministers, the Emperor could +not and did not win the people. Elector Frederick II of the Palatinate +consented to introduce the Interim. But even in Southern Germany the +success of the Emperor was apparent rather than real. The churches in +Augsburg, Ulm, and other cities stood empty as a silent protest against +the Interim and imperial tyranny. + +In Northern Germany the Emperor met with more than a mere passive +resistance on the part of the people as well as the preachers. The +Interim was regarded as a trap for the Lutherans. The slogan ran: "There +is a rogue behind the Interim! _O selig ist der Mann, Der Gott vertrauen +kann Und willigt nicht ins Interim, Denn es hat den Schalk hinter ihm_!" +The Interim was rejected in Brunswick, Hamburg, Luebeck, Lueneburg, +Goslar, Bremen, Goettingen, Hannover, Einbeck, Eisleben, Mansfeld, +Stolberg, Schwarzburg, Hohenstein, Halle, etc. Joachim of Brandenburg +endeavored to introduce it, but soon abandoned these efforts. At a +convent of 300 preachers assembled in Berlin for the purpose of +subscribing to the Interim, an old minister whose name was Leutinger, +arose and declared in the presence of Agricola, the coauthor of the +Interim: "I love Agricola, and more than him I love my Elector; but my +Lord Jesus Christ I love most," and saying this, he cast the document +handed him for subscription into the flames of the fire burning in the +hearth. Before this, Margrave Hans, of Kuestrin, had flung away the pen +handed him for the subscription of the infamous document, saying: "I +shall never adopt this poisonous concoction, nor submit to any council. +Rather sword than pen; blood rather than ink!" + +The three Counts of Mansfeld, Hans Jorge, Hans Albrecht, and Hans +Ernest, declared in a letter of August 20, 1548, to the Emperor: "Most +gracious Emperor and Lord! As for our government, the greater part of +the people are miners, who have not much to lose and are easily induced +to leave. Nor are they willing to suffer much coercion. Yet the welfare +of our whole government depends upon them. Besides, we know that, if we +should press the matter, all of the preachers would leave, and the +result would be a desolation of preaching and of the Sacraments. And +after losing our preachers, our own lives and limbs would not be safe +among the miners, and we must needs expect a revolt of all the people." +(Walther 19f.) Thus the Interim before long became a dead letter +throughout the greater part of Germany. + +123. Attitude of John Frederick toward Interim. + +In order to obtain his liberty, the vacillating Philip of Hesse, though +he had declined to submit to the resolutions of the Council of Trent, +declared himself willing to adopt the Interim. "It is better," he is +reported to have said, "to hear a mass than to play cards," etc. (Jaekel +1, 130. 162.) Special efforts were also made by the Emperor to induce +John Frederick to declare his submission to the Council and to sanction +the Interim. But the Elector solemnly protested that this was impossible +for him. All attempts to induce him to abandon his religious convictions +met with quiet but determined resistance. One of the cruel conditions +under which the Emperor was willing to rescind the death-sentence passed +on the Elector was, that he should consent to everything the Emperor or +the Council would prescribe in matters of religion. But the Elector +declared: "I will rather lose my head and suffer Wittenberg to be +battered down than submit to a demand that violates my conscience. +_Lieber will ich meinen Kopf verlieren und Wittenberg zusammenschiessen +lassen, als eine Forderung eingehen, die mein Gewissen verletzt._" (1, +116.) Through Granvella the Emperor promised the Elector liberty if he +would sign the Interim. But again the Elector declared decidedly that +this was impossible for him. + +In a written answer to the Emperor the ex-Elector declared, boldly +confessing his faith: "I cannot refrain from informing Your Majesty that +since the days of my youth I have been instructed and taught by the +servants of God's Word, and by diligently searching the prophetic and +apostolic Scriptures I have also learned to know, and (this I testify as +in the sight of God) unswervingly to adhere in my conscience to this, +that the articles composing the Augsburg Confession, and whatever is +connected therewith, are the correct, true, Christian, pure doctrine, +confirmed by, and founded in, the writings of the holy prophets and +apostles, and of the teachers who followed in their footsteps, in such a +manner that no substantial objection can be raised against it.... Since +now in my conscience I am firmly persuaded of this, I owe this +gratefulness and obedience to God, who has shown me such unspeakable +grace, that, as I desire to obtain eternal salvation and escape eternal +damnation, I do not fall away from the truth of His almighty will which +His Word has revealed to me, and which I know to be the truth. For such +is the comforting and also the terrible word of God: 'Whosoever +therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My +Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him +will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven,' If I should +acknowledge and adopt the Interim as Christian and godly, I would have +to condemn and deny against my own conscience, knowingly and +maliciously, the Augsburg Confession, and whatever I have heretofore +held and believed concerning the Gospel of Christ, and approve with my +mouth what I regard in my heart and conscience as altogether contrary +to the holy and divine Scriptures. This, O my God in heaven, would +indeed be misusing and cruelly blaspheming Thy holy name,... for which I +would have to pay all too dearly with my soul. For this is truly the sin +against the Holy Ghost concerning which Christ says that it shall never +be forgiven, neither in this nor in the world to come, _i.e._, in +eternity." (Walther, 16.) + +The Emperor was small enough to punish the heroic refusal and bold +confession of the Elector by increasing the severity of his +imprisonment. For now he was deprived of Luther's writings and even of +the Bible. But the Elector, who drew the line of submission at his +conscience and faith, declared, "that they were able indeed to deprive +him of the books, but could not tear out of his heart what he had +learned from them." And when Musculus and the Lutheran preachers of +Augsburg whom the Emperor had banished because of their refusal to +introduce the Interim, took leave of the Elector, the latter said: +"Though the Emperor has banished you from the realm, he has not banished +you from heaven. Surely, God will find some other country where you may +preach His Word." (Jaekel. 164.) + +124. Melanchthon's Attitude toward the Interim. + +In the beginning, Melanchthon, too, assumed an attitude of defiance over +against the Augsburg Interim. Especially among his friends and in his +private letters he condemned it. In several letters, also to Elector +Maurice, he and his Wittenberg colleagues declared that they disapproved +of the document, and that the doctrine must not be denied, changed, nor +falsified. (_C. R._ 6, 874. 954.) April 25, 1548 he wrote to Camerarius +that the Interim corrupted the truth in the doctrine of justification, +and that he was unable to assent to its sophisms. (878. 900.) April 29, +1548: "The manifest facts teach that efforts at conciliation with our +persecutors are vain. Even though some kind of concord is patched up, +still a peace will be established such as exists between wolves and +lambs. _Etiam cum sarcitur concordia qualiscumque, tamen pax +constituitur, qualis est inter lupos et agnos._" (_C. R._ 6, 889; Frank +4, 90.) In a letter to Christian, King of Denmark (June 13, 1548), he +said that the Interim "confirmed and reestablished many papal errors and +abuses," and that the "abominable book would cause many dissensions in +the German nation." (_C. R._ 6, 923.) June 20 he wrote with reference to +the Interim: "I shall not change the doctrine of our churches, nor +assent to those who do." (946.) July 31, to the Margrave John of +Brandenburg: "As for my person I do not intend to approve of this book, +called Interim, for which I have many weighty reasons, and will commend +my miserable life to God, even if I am imprisoned or banished." (7, 85.) +In a letter of August 10 he speaks of the corruptions "which are found +in the Augsburg sphinx," and declares that he is determined faithfully +to guard the doctrine of the Gospel. (97.) August 13, 1548, he wrote to +Medler: "Brenz, Nopus [Noppius], Musculus, learned, pious, and most +deserving men, have been driven from their churches, and I hear that +everywhere others are being expelled from other places,--and Islebius +[Agricola] is shouting that this is the way to spread the Gospel." +(102.) + +In a criticism of the Augsburg Interim published in the beginning of +July, 1548, Melanchthon declared: "Although war and destruction are +threatened, it is, nevertheless, our duty to regard the Word of God as +higher; that is to say, we must not deny what we know to be the truth of +the Gospel." On November 10, 1548, he said before a convention of +theologians: "Remember that you are the guardians of truth, and consider +what has been entrusted to you for preservation by God through the +prophets and the apostles, and, last of all, through Dr. Luther. If that +man were still living, the misfortune of a change of doctrine would not +be threatening us; but now that there is no one who is clothed with the +authority which he had, now that there is no one who warns as he was +wont to do, and many are accepting error for truth, the churches are +brought to ruin, the doctrine heretofore correctly transmitted is +distorted, idolatrous customs are established, fear, doubt, and strife +are reigning everywhere." (Walther, 21.) + +However, though Melanchthon disapproved of the imperial Interim, he was +afraid to antagonize it openly and unflinchingly. Yet it was just such a +public and decided testimony that was needed, and everywhere expected of +Melanchthon; for he was generally regarded as the logical and lawful +successor of Luther and as the theological leader of the Church. July +22, 1548, Aquila wrote: "What shall I say of the arch-knave Eisleben, +Agricola? He said: 'The Interim is the best book and work making for +unity in the whole Empire and for religious agreement throughout all +Europe. For now the Pope is reformed, and the Emperor is a Lutheran,'" +Imploring Melanchthon to break his silence and sound the public warning, +Aquila continues: "Thou holy man, answer and come to our assistance, +defend the Word and name of Christ and His honor (which is the highest +good on earth) against that virulent sycophant Agricola, who is an +impostor." (7, 78.) + +Such were the sentiments of loyal Lutherans everywhere. But Melanchthon, +intimidated by threats of the Emperor, and fearing for his safety, +turned a deaf ear to these entreaties. While the captive Elector was +determined to die rather than submit to the Interim, and while hundreds +of Lutheran ministers were deposed, banished, imprisoned, and some of +them even executed because of their devotion to the truth, Melanchthon +was unwilling to expose himself to the anger of the Emperor. And before +long his fear to confess and his refusal to give public testimony to the +truth was followed by open denial. At the behest of Elector Maurice he +consented to elaborate, as a substitute for the Augsburg Interim, a +compromise document--the so-called Leipzig Interim. + +125. Melanchthon and the Leipzig Interim. + +After the victory of the Emperor and the proclamation of the Augsburg +Interim, Maurice, the new-fledged Elector, found himself in a dilemma. +Charles V urged him to set a good example in obeying and enforcing the +Interim. Indebted as he was to the Emperor for his Electorate, he, to +some extent, felt bound to obey him also in religious matters. At the +same time, Maurice was personally not at all in agreement with the +radical Augsburg Interim and afraid of forfeiting the sympathies of both +his old and new subjects on account of it. Nor did he fail to realize +the difficulties he would encounter in enforcing it. Accordingly, he +notified the Emperor on May 18 that he was not able to introduce the +Interim at present. Soon after, he commissioned the Wittenberg and +Leipzig theologians to elaborate, as a substitute for the Augsburg +Interim, a compromise, more favorable and acceptable to his subjects. At +the preliminary discussions, especially at Pegau and Celle, the +theologians yielded, declaring their willingness to submit to the will +of the Emperor with respect to the reintroduction of Romish ceremonies +and to acknowledge the authority of the Pope and bishops if they would +tolerate the true doctrine. (Preger 1, 40.) The final upshot of it all +was the new Interim, a compromise document, prepared chiefly by +Melanchthon and adopted December 22, 1548, at Leipzig. This "Resolution +of the Diet at Leipzig" was designated by its opponents the "Leipzig +Interim." Schaff remarks: "It was the mistake of his [Melanchthon's] +life, yet not without plausible excuses and incidental advantages. He +advocated immovable steadfastness in doctrine [?], but submission in +everything else for the sake of peace. He had the satisfaction that the +University of Wittenberg, after temporary suspension, was restored and +soon frequented again by two thousand students. [The school was closed +May 19 and reopened October 16, 1547.] But outside of Wittenberg and +Saxony his conduct appeared treasonable to the cause of the Reformation, +and acted as an encouragement to an unscrupulous and uncompromising +enemy. Hence the venerable man was fiercely assailed from every quarter +by friend and foe." (_Creeds_ 1, 300.) + +It is generally held that fear induced Melanchthon to condescend to this +betrayal of Lutheranism,--for such the Leipzig Interim amounted to in +reality. And, no doubt, there is a good deal of truth in this +assumption. For Melanchthon had been told that because of his opposition +to the Augsburg Interim the anger of the Emperor was directed against +him especially, and that he had already called upon Maurice to banish +this "arch-heretic." It certainly served the purpose of Maurice well +that he had to deal with Melanchthon, whose fear and vacillation made +him as pliable as putty, and not with Luther, on whose unbending +firmness all of his schemes would have foundered. However, it cannot +have been mere temporary fear which induced Melanchthon to barter away +eternal truth for temporal peace. For the theologians of Wittenberg and +Leipzig did not only identify themselves with the Leipzig Interim while +the threatening clouds of persecution were hovering over them, but also +afterwards continued to defend their action. When the representatives of +the Saxon cities protested against some of the provisions of the +Interim, they declared, on December 28, 1548: "We have learned your +request and are satisfied with the articles [Leipzig Interim] delivered, +which not we alone, but also several other superintendents and +theologians prepared and weighed well; therefore we are unable to change +them. For they can well be received and observed without any violence to +good conscience." (_C. R._ 7, 270.) It was as late as September, 1556 +that Melanchthon, though even then only in a qualified way, admitted +that he had sinned in this matter, and should have kept aloof from the +insidious counsels of the politicians. (8, 839.) Indeed, in 1557 and +1560 the Leipzig and Wittenberg theologians still defended the position +they had occupied during the Interim. Evidently, then apart from other +motives of fear, etc., Melanchthon consented to write the Interim +because he still believed in the possibility of arriving at an +understanding with the Romanists and tried to persuade himself that the +Emperor seriously sought to abolish prevailing errors and abuses, and +because the theological views he entertained were not as far apart from +those of the Leipzig compromise as is frequently assumed. + +126. Provisions of Leipzig Interim. + +The professed object of the Leipzig Interim was to effect a compromise +in order to escape persecution and desolation of the churches by +adhering to the doctrine, notably of justification, but yielding in +matters pertaining to ceremonies, etc. December 18, 1548, Melanchthon +(in the name of George of Anhalt) wrote to Burchard concerning the +Interim adopted four days later: "They [Maurice and the estates] hope to +be able to ward off dangers if we receive some rites which are not in +themselves vicious; and the charge of unjust obstinacy is made if in +such things we are unwilling to contribute toward public tranquillity... +In order, therefore, to retain necessary things, we are not too exacting +with respect to such as are unnecessary, especially since heretofore +these rites have, to a great extent, remained in the churches of these +regions.... We know that much is said against this moderation, but the +devastation of the churches, such as is taking place in Swabia, would be +a still greater offense." (7, 251ff.) The plan of Melanchthon therefore +was to yield in things which he regarded as unnecessary in order to +maintain the truth and avoid persecution. + +As a matter of fact, however, the Leipzig Interim, too, was in every +respect a truce over the corpse of true Lutheranism. It was a unionistic +document sacrificing Lutheranism doctrinally as well as practically. The +obnoxious features of the Augsburg Interim had not been eliminated, but +merely toned down. Throughout, the controverted doctrines were treated +in ambiguous or false formulas. Tschackert is correct in maintaining +that, in the articles of justification and of the Church, "the +fundamental thoughts of the Reformation doctrine were catholicized" by +the Leipzig Interim. (508.) Even the Lutheran _sola_ (_sola fide,_ by +faith alone) is omitted in the article of justification. The entire +matter is presented in terms which Romanists were able to interpret in +the sense of their doctrine of "infused righteousness, _iustitia +infusa._" Faith is coordinated with other virtues, and good works are +declared to be necessary to salvation. "Justification by faith," says +Schmauk, "is there [in the Leipzig Interim] so changed as to mean that +man is renewed by the Holy Spirit, and can fulfil righteousness with his +works, and that God will, for His Son's sake accept in believers this +weak beginning of obedience in this miserable, frail nature." (_Conf. +Prin.,_ 596.) + +Furthermore, the Leipzig Interim indirectly admits the Semi-Pelagian +teaching regarding original sin and free will, while other doctrines +which should have been confessed are passed by in silence. It recognizes +the supremacy of the Pope, restores the power and jurisdiction of the +bishops, acknowledges the authority of the council, approves of a number +of ceremonies objectionable as such (_e.g._, the Corpus Christi +Festival), and advocates the reintroduction of these and others in order +to avoid persecution and to maintain outward peace with the Papists. + +Self-evidently, in keeping with the Interim, the Pope also could no +longer be regarded as, and publicly declared to be, the Antichrist. In +1561 Flacius wrote that at that time the suspected Lutherans did not +consider the Pope the Antichrist. Simon Musaeus and others were banished +because they refused to eliminate the hymn "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem +Wort" from their services. (Walther, 25.)--Such, then, being the +character of the Leipzig Interim, it stands to reason that this +document, adopted as it was by Melanchthon and other Lutheran leaders, +was bound to become a fertile source of numerous and violent +controversies. + +127. Flacius and Other Opponents of Interimists. + +The Leipzig Interim was imposed upon the churches of Electoral Saxony as +a directory for teaching, preaching, and worship. Melanchthon declared +that it could be adopted with a good conscience, and hence should be +introduced, as demanded by Maurice, in order to insure the peace of the +Church. At Wittenberg and other places corresponding efforts were made. +But everywhere the result was dissension and strife. The Interim +defeated its own purpose. Pastors who declined to conform were deposed, +banished, incarcerated or abused in other ways. And wherever faithful +ministers were removed, the people refused to be served by the hirelings +who took their places. At the very convention at Leipzig where the +Interim was adopted, Wolfgang Pfentner, Superintendent at Annaberg, +declared: "What caused them to reintroduce such tomfooleries [Romish +ceremonies]? Were they growing childish again? They might do what they +wanted to, but as for himself, he could not consent [to the Interim]. +And even if he should permit himself to be deceived, his parishioners +would not accept it. For in a letter delivered by a messenger on +horseback they had charged him to agree to no ungodly article, or not +return to them. Accordingly, he would have his head cut off at Leipzig +and suffer this with a good conscience rather than give offense to his +church." (Walther, 22.) + +December 24, three days after the adoption of the Interim, +representatives of the cities in Saxony presented complaints to Elector +Maurice and Melanchthon against some of the provisions of the document. +They protested particularly against the reinstitution of Extreme +Unction, the Festival of Corpus Christi, and the use of chrism at +Baptism. (_C. R._ 7, 270.) Even the Wittenberg theologians finally +admitted that in consequence of "the Interim the rupture had become so +great that there was an agreement neither of one church with another, +nor, in the same church, of any deacon, any schoolmaster, or sexton with +his pastor, nor of one neighbor with another, nor of members of the +household with one another." (Walther, 23.) + +Foremost among the champions of true Lutheranism over against the +Interimists were John Hermann, Aquila, Nicholas Amsdorf, John Wigand, +Alberus, Gallus, Matthias Judex, Westphal, and especially Matthias +Flacius Illyricus, then (from 1544 to 1549) a member of the Wittenberg +faculty, where he opposed all concessions to the Adiaphorists. It is +due, no doubt, to Flacius more than to any other individual that true +Lutheranism and with it the Lutheran Church was saved from annihilation +in consequence of the Interims. In 1548 he began his numerous and +powerful publications against them. In the same year, 1548, the +following book of John Hermann appeared: "That during These Dangerous +Times Nothing should be Changed in the Churches of God in Order to +Please the Devil and the Antichrist." In 1549: "Against the Mean Devil +who Now Again is Disguising Himself as an Angel of Light." + +In 1549, when he was no longer safe in Wittenberg, Flacius removed to +Magdeburg then the only safe asylum in all Germany for such as were +persecuted on account of their Lutheran faith and loyalty, where he was +joined by such "exiles of Christ" as Wigand, Gallus, and others, who had +also been banished and persecuted because of their opposition to the +Interim. Here they inaugurated a powerful propaganda by publishing +broadsides of annihilating pamphlets against the Interim, as well as its +authors, patrons, and abettors. They roused the Lutheran consciousness +everywhere, and before long the great majority of Lutherans stood behind +Flacius and the heroes of Magdeburg. The publications emanating from +this fortress caused such an aversion to the Adiaphoristic princes as +well as theologians among the people that from the very outset all their +plans and efforts were doomed to failure, and the sinister schemes of +the Pope and Emperor were frustrated. Because of this able and staunch +defense of Lutheranism and the determined opposition to any unionistic +compromise, Magdeburg at that time was generally called "God's +chancellery, _Gottes Kanzlei._" Nor did the opposition subside when this +Lutheran stronghold, thrice outlawed by the Emperor, was finally, after +a siege of thirteen months, captured by Maurice. In their attacks the +champions of Magdeburg were joined also by the ministers of Hamburg and +other places. Only in Saxony and Brandenburg the policy of Melanchthon +was defended. + +As the conflict extended, it grew in bitterness, revealing with +increasing luridness the insincerity and dishonesty of the Philippists. +True Lutherans everywhere were satisfied that the adoption also of the +Leipzig Interim was tantamount to a complete surrender of Lutheranism. +Their animosity against this document was all the stronger because it +bore the stamp of the Wittenberg and Leipzig theologians and was +sponsored by Melanchthon, the very man whom they had regarded as +Luther's successor and as the leader of the Church. This, too, was the +reason why the Leipzig Interim caused even more resentment among the +Lutherans, especially in Northern Germany, than did the Augsburg +Interim. In their view, Melanchthon and his colleagues had betrayed the +cause of the Reformation and practically joined their forces with those +of the Romanists, even as Maurice had betrayed the Lutherans politically +when fighting at the side of the Emperor against his own coreligionists. +Tschackert remarks: "In view of the fact that at that time about 400 +Evangelical pastors in Southern Germany, because of their refusal to +adopt the Augsburg Interim, had suffered themselves to be driven from +their charges and homes and wandered about starving, many with their +wives and children, the yielding of the theologians of Electoral Saxony +could but appear as unpardonable and as a betrayal of the Church." +(508.) + +128. Grief over Melanchthon's Inconstancy. + +In consequence of his dubious attitude, Melanchthon also, who before +this had been generally honored as the leader of the Lutheran Church, +completely lost his prestige, even among many of his formerly most +devoted friends. The grief and distress experienced by loyal Lutherans +at his wavering and yielding is eloquently expressed by Antonius +Corvinus, Superintendent at Kalenberg-Goettingen, the Lutheran martyr, +who, because of his opposition to the Interim, was incarcerated for +three years, in consequence of which he died, 1553. In a letter dated +September 25, 1549, he implored his friend to abandon the Interim, and +to "return to his pristine candor, his pristine sincerity, and his +pristine constancy," and "to think, say, write, and do what is becoming +to Philip, the Christian teacher, not the court philosopher." Peace, +indeed, was desirable, but it must not be obtained by distracting the +churches. Christ had also declared that He did not come to bring peace, +but the sword. Even the heathen Horatius Flaccus had said: "_Si fractus +illabitur orbis, impavidum ferient ruinae._" How much more should +Christians avoid cowardice! One must not court the cross wantonly, but +it must be borne courageously when for the sake of truth it cannot be +avoided, etc. + +In the original, Corvinus's letter reads, in part, as follows: "O mi +Philippe, o, inquam, Philippe noster, rede per immortalem Christum ad +pristinum candorem, ad pristinam sinceritatem ad pristinam constantiam! +Ne languescito ista tua formidine ac pusillanimitate nostrorum animos +tantopere!... Non sis tantorum in ecclesia offendiculorum autor! Ne +sinas, tua tam egregia scripta, dicta, facta, quibus mirifice hactenus +de ecclesia ac scholis meritus es, isto condonationis, novationis, +moderationis naevo ad eum modum deformari! Cogita, quantum animi ista +vestra consilia et adversariis addant et nostris adimant!... Rogamus, +ut, professionis tuae memor, talem te cum Vitebergensibus tuis iam +geras, qualem te ab initio huius causae gessisti, hoc est, ut ea +sentias, dicas, scribas, agas, quae Philippum, doctorem Christianum, non +aulicum philosophum decent." (Tschackert, 506.) + +In a similar manner Melanchthon was admonished also by Brenz, who +preferred exile and misery to the Interim. In a letter written early in +1549 he said: "It is also most manifest that the Interitus [Ruin, a term +employed by Brenz for Interim] conflicts with the Word of the Lord. What +concord, then, can be found between such conflicting things? You think +that one ought to come to the assistance of the churches and pious +ministers. Correct if such can be done without dishonor to Christ. +Perhaps you believe that the Interimists will tolerate the pious +doctrine if we agree to accept all their ceremonies. But do you not know +that it is clearly commanded in the introduction of the Interitus that +no one shall speak or write against this book? What kind of liberty in +regard to doctrine is this? Therefore, if the Church and the pious +ministers cannot be saved in any other way than by dishonoring the pious +doctrine, let us commend them to Christ, the Son of God. He will take +care of them. Meanwhile let us patiently bear our exile and wait for the +Lord." (_C. R._ 7, 289.) + +June 18, 1550, Calvin also wrote a letter of warning to Melanchthon, in +which he said in substance: "My grief renders me almost speechless. How +the enemies of Christ enjoy your conflicts with the Magdeburgers appears +from their mockeries. Nor do I acquit you altogether of all guilt. +Permit me to admonish you freely as a true friend. I should like to +approve of all your actions. But now I accuse you before your very face +(_ego te nunc apud te ipsum accuso_). This is the sum of your defense: +If the purity of doctrine be retained, externals should not be +pertinaciously contended for (_modo retineatur doctrinae puritas, de +rebus externis non esse pertinaciter dimicandum_). But you extend the +adiaphora too far. Some of them plainly conflict with the Word of God. +Now, since the Lord has drawn us into the fight, it behooves us to +struggle all the more manfully (_eo virilius nos eniti decebat_). You +know that your position differs from that of the multitude. The +hesitation of the general or leader is more disgraceful than the flight +of an entire regiment of common soldiers. Unless you set an example of +unflinching steadfastness, all will declare that vacillation cannot be +tolerated in such a man. By yielding but a little, you alone have caused +more lamentations and complaints than a hundred ordinary men by open +apostasy (_Itaque plures tu unus paululum cedendo querimonias et gemitus +excitasti quam centum mediocres aperta defectione_). I would die with +you a hundred times rather than see you survive the doctrine surrendered +by you. You will pardon me for unloading into your bosom these pitiable, +though useless groans." (Schluesselburg 13, 635; _C. R._ 41 [_Calvini +Opera_ 13], 593; Frank 4, 88.) + +129. Interim Eliminated Politically, But Not Theologically. + +It was also in the interest of allaying the animosity against his own +person that Elector Maurice had prevailed upon Melanchthon to frame the +Leipzig Interim. But in this respect, too, the document proved to be a +dismal failure. Openly the people, his own former subjects included, +showed their contempt for his person and character. Everywhere public +sentiment was aroused against him. He was held responsible for the +captivity and shameful treatment of Philip of Hesse and especially of +John Frederick, whom the people admired as the Confessor of Augsburg and +now also as the innocent Martyr of Lutheranism. Maurice, on the other +hand, was branded a mameluke, condemned as a renegade and an apostate, +despised as the traitor of Lutheranism, and abhorred as the "Judas of +Meissen," who had sold his coreligionists for an electorate. + +At the same time Maurice was provoked by the arbitrary manner in which +the Emperor exploited and abused his victory by a repeated breach of his +promises, and by the treacherous and shameful treatment accorded his +father-in-law, Philip of Hesse. Chagrined at all this and fully +realizing the utter impossibility of enforcing the Interim, Maurice +decided to end the matter by a single stroke which at the same time +would atone for his treachery, and turn shame into glory and the vile +name of a "traitor" into the noble title of "Champion of Protestantism." +Accordingly Maurice, easily the match of Charles in duplicity and +cunning, secretly prepared his plans, and, suddenly turning his army +against the unsuspecting Emperor, drove him from Innsbruck, scared the +"Fathers of Trent" to their homes, and on April 5, 1552, victoriously +entered Augsburg, where he was received with great rejoicing. The fruits +of this victory were the Treaties of Passau August 2, 1552, and of +Augsburg, 1555, which for the first time granted religious liberty to +the Protestants. The latter placed Lutherans and Catholics on an equal +footing in the Empire and, according to the rule: _Cuius regio, eius +religio,_ gave every prince religious control in his own territory, +non-conformists being granted the right of emigration. To the great +advantage of the Romanists, however, the treaty also provided that +territories ruled by bishops must remain Catholic even though the ruler +should turn Protestant. + +But while the Interim was thus eliminated as a political and practical +issue, the theological controversy precipitated by it continued +unabated. Its political elimination cleared the situation toward the +Romanists, but left conditions within the Lutheran Church unsettled. It +neither unified nor pacified the Church. It neither eliminated the false +doctrines and unionistic principles and tendencies injected by the +Interimists, nor did it restore confidence in the doctrinal soundness, +loyalty, and sincerity of the vacillating Philippists, who had caused +the first breach in the Lutheran Church. "Does it agree with the +character of the Lutheran Church to tolerate and approve the doctrines +and principles contained and involved in the Interim, and to harbor and +fellowship such indifferentists as framed, indorsed, and defended this +document?" such and similar were the questions which remained live +issues even after the Interim was politically dead. The theological +situation within the Lutheran Church, therefore, was not changed in the +least when the annihilation threatening her from without was warded off +by the victory of Maurice over the Emperor. The Interim was fraught with +doctrinal issues which made unavoidable the subsequent controversies. + + +XI. Controversies Following the Interim and Settled by the Formula of +Concord. + +130. Three Theological Parties. + +In the theological conflicts after Luther's death three parties may be +distinguished. The first party embraced chiefly the Interimists, the +Synergists, and the Crypto-Calvinists. They were adherents of Philip +Melanchthon, hence called Melanchthonians or, more commonly, +Philippists, and were led by the theologians of Electoral Saxony. Their +object was to supplant the authority and theology of Luther by the +unionistic and liberal views of Melanchthon. Their headquarters were the +universities of Wittenberg and Leipzig. Some of their chief +representatives were: Joachim Camerarius (born 1500, professor of Greek +in Leipzig, a close friend of Melanchthon, died 1574); Paul Eber (born +1511, professor in Wittenberg, died 1568); Caspar Cruciger, Jr. (born +1525, professor in Wittenberg, died at Cassel 1597); Christopher Pezel +(born 1539, professor in Wittenberg, died 1600 or 1604); George Major +(Meier; born 1502, professor in Wittenberg, died 1574); Caspar Peucer +(doctor of medicine, son-in-law of Melanchthon; born 1525, imprisoned +from 1574 till 1586 died 1602); Paul Crell (born 1531, professor in +Wittenberg, died 1579); John Pfefflnger (born 1493, professor in +Leipzig, died 1573); Victorin Strigel (born 1524, 1548 professor in +Jena, died in Heidelberg 1569); John Stoessel (born 1524, died in prison +1576); George Cracow (born 1525, professor of jurisprudence in +Wittenberg, privy counselor in Dresden, died in prison 1575). + +The second party, the so-called Gnesio-Lutherans (genuine Lutherans), +was represented chiefly by the theologians of Ducal Saxony and embraced +such staunch and loyal men as Amsdorf, Flacius, Wigand, Gallus, Matthias +Judex, Moerlin, Tileman Hesshusius, Timann, Westphal, and Simon Musaeus. +Though some of these leaders were later discredited by falling into +extreme positions themselves, they all proved to be valiant champions of +Luther and most determined opponents of the Philippists. The strongholds +of this party were Magdeburg and the University of Jena, founded by the +sons of John Frederick in 1547. Led by Flacius, this university +unflinchingly opposed the modified and unionistic Lutheranism advocated +by the Philippists at Wittenberg and Leipzig. Seeberg says, in +substance: The Gnesio-Lutherans were opposed to the philosophy of the +Philippists and stood for "the simple Biblical truth as Luther had +understood it." Even when opposed by the government, they defended the +truth, and were willing to suffer the consequences. Strict doctrinal +discipline was exercised by them. They opposed with equal determination +the errors also of their fellow-combatants: Amsdorf, Flacius, Poach, and +others. Intellectually they were superior to the Philippists. Seeberg +concludes: "In the forms of their time (which were not outgrown by any +one of the Philippists either) they preserved to the Church genuine +Luther-treasures--_echtes Luthergut._" (_Dogmengeschichte_ 4, 2, 482.) + +The third, or center-party, was composed of the loyal Lutherans who took +no conspicuous part in the controversies, but came to the front when the +work of pacification began. They were of special service in settling the +controversies, framing the Formula of Concord, and restoring a true and +godly peace to our Church. Prominent among them were Brenz, Andreae, +Chemnitz, Selneccer, Chytraeus, Cornerus, Moerlin, and others. These +theologians were, on the one hand, opposed to all unnecessary +logomachies _i.e._, controversies involving no doctrinal differences, +and, at the same time, were most careful not to fall into any extreme +position themselves. On the other hand, however, they approved of all +controversies really necessary in the interest of truth, rejected and +condemned all forms of indifferentism and unionism, and strenuously +opposed every effort at sacrificing, veiling, or compromising any +doctrine by ambiguous formulas for the sake of external peace or any +other policy whatsoever. (CONC. TRIGL., 855f.) + +131. Various Theological Controversies. + +Following is a synopsis and summary of the main controversies within the +Lutheran Church after the death of Luther, which were settled in the +first eleven articles of the Formula of Concord. The sequence of these +articles, however, is not strictly historical and chronological, but +dogmatic. In the main, the arrangement of the Augsburg Confession is +observed. + +The first of these controversies was the so-called Adiaphoristic +Controversy, from 1548 to 1555, in which the Wittenberg and Leipzig +theologians (Melanchthon, Eber, Pfeffinger, etc.) defended the Leipzig +Interim and the reintroduction of Romish ceremonies into the Lutheran +Church. They were opposed by the champions of a consistent and +determined Lutheranism, led by Flacius, who declared: "_Nihil est +adiaphoron in statu confessionis et scandali._ Nothing is an adiaphoron +in case of confession and offense." The controversy was decided by +Article X. + +The second is the Majoristic Controversy, from 1551 to 1562, in which +George Major and Justus Menius defended the phrase of Melanchthon that +good works are necessary to salvation. They were opposed by the loyal +Lutherans, of whom Amsdorf, however, lapsed into the opposite error: +Good works are detrimental to salvation. This controversy was settled +by Article IV. + +The third is the Synergistic Controversy, from 1555 to 1560, in which +Pfeffinger, Eber, Major, Crell, Pezel, Strigel, and Stoessel held with +Melanchthon that man by his own natural powers cooperates in his +conversion. Their opponents (Amsdorf, Flacius, Hesshusius, Wigand, +Gallus, Musaeus, and Judex) taught, as formulated by Flacius: "_Solus +Deus convertit hominem.... Non excludit voluntatem, sed omnem efficaciam +et operationem eius...._ God alone converts man.... He does not exclude +the will, but all efficaciousness and operation of the same." This +controversy was decided and settled by Article II. + +The fourth is the Flacian Controversy, from 1560 to 1575, in which +Flacius, supported by Cyriacus Spangenberg, Christian Irenaeus, Matthias +Wolf, I. F. Coelestinus, Schneider, and others, maintained that original +sin is not an accident, but the very substance of fallen man. The +Lutherans, including the Philippists, were practically unanimous in +opposing this error. It was decided by Article I. + +The fifth was the Osiandristic and the Stancarian Controversy, from 1549 +to 1566, in which Andrew Osiander denied the forensic character of +justification, and taught that Christ is our righteousness only +according to His divine nature, while Stancarus contended that Christ is +our righteousness according to His human nature only. Both, Osiander as +well as Stancarus, were opposed by Melanchthon, Flacius, and practically +all other Lutherans, the Philippists included. This controversy was +settled by Article III. + +The sixth was the Antinomistic Controversy, from 1527 to 1556, in which +various false views concerning the Law and the Gospel were defended, +especially by John Agricola who maintained that repentance (contrition) +is not wrought by the Law, but by the Gospel (a view which, in a +modified form was later on defended also by Wittenberg Philippists), +and, after Luther's death, by Poach and Otto, who rejected the so-called +Third Use of the Law. The questions involved in these Antinomian +controversies were decided by Articles V and VI. + +The seventh was the Crypto-Calvinistic Controversy, from 1560 to 1574, +in which the Philippists in Wittenberg, Leipzig, and Dresden (Peucer, +Cracow, Stoessel, etc.) endeavored gradually to supplant Luther's +doctrines concerning the Lord's Supper and the majesty of the human +nature of Christ by the Calvinistic teachings on these points. These +secret and dishonest enemies of Lutheranism were opposed by true +Lutherans everywhere, notably by the theologians of Ducal Saxony. In +1574 they were publicly unmasked as deceivers and Calvinistic schemers. +The controversy was settled by Articles VII and VIII. + +The two last controversies were of a local nature. The first was chiefly +confined to Hamburg, the second to Strassburg. In the former city John +Aepinus taught that Christ's descent into hell was a part of His +suffering and humiliation. He was opposed by his colleagues in Hamburg. +In Strassburg John Marbach publicly denounced Zanchi, a +Crypto-Calvinist, for teaching that faith, once engendered in a man, +cannot be lost. The questions involved in these two articles are dealt +with in Articles IX and XI, respectively. + +132. Conflicts Unavoidable. + +When describing the conflicts after Luther's death, historians +frequently deplore "the dreadful controversies of these dark days of +doctrinal extremists and the polemical spirit of rigid Lutheranism." G. +J. Planck, in particular, characterized them all as useless quarrels and +personal wranglings of narrow-minded, bigoted adherents of Luther, who +vitiated original Lutheranism by making it essentially a matter of "pure +doctrine." To the present day indifferentistically inclined historians +are wont to mar their pages with similar views. + +True, "pure doctrine," "unity in the pure doctrine of the Gospel," such +was the shibboleth of the faithful Lutherans over against the +Melanchthonians and other errorists. But this was neither reprehensible +doctrinalism nor a corruption of original Lutheranism, but the very +principle from which it was born and for which Luther contended +throughout his life--a principle of life or death for the Lutheran +Church. It was the _false_ doctrine of justification which made Luther a +most miserable man. It was the _pure_ doctrine as taught by St. Paul +which freed his conscience, transported him into Paradise, as he himself +puts it, and made him the Reformer of the Church. Ever since, purity of +doctrine was held, by Luther and all true Lutheran theologians, to be of +paramount import to Christianity and the Church. Fully realizing that +adulteration of any part of the Christian doctrine was bound to infect +also the doctrine of faith and justification and thus endanger +salvation, they earnestly warned against, and opposed, every deviation +from the clear Word of God, no matter how insignificant it might appear. +They loved the truth more than external peace, more even than their own +lives. Hence they found it impossible to be silent, apathetic, and +complacent spectators while the Philippists and others denied, attacked, +and corrupted the truth taught by Luther from the Word of God. + +Accordingly, since the Leipzig Interim involved and maintained doctrines +and principles subversive of genuine Lutheranism and was prepared, +introduced, and defended by the very men who were regarded as pillars of +the Lutheran Church, it was evident from the outset that this document +must of necessity precipitate most serious internal troubles. From the +moment the Wittenbergers cast the Interim as a firebrand into the +Church, a domestic warfare was unavoidable,--if indeed any true +disciples of Luther still remained in the Church of which he, and not +Melanchthon, was the founder. While the Augsburg Interim resulted in an +external theological warfare of the Lutherans against the Romanists, +the Leipzig Interim added a most serious domestic conflict, which +conscientious Lutherans could not evade, though it well-nigh brought our +Church to the brink of destruction. For now the issue was not merely how +to resist the Pope and the Romanists, but, how to purge our own Church +from the Interimists and their pernicious principles. And as long as the +advocates of the Interim or of other aberrations from the old Lutheran +moorings refused to abandon their errors, and nevertheless insisted on +remaining in the Church, there was no real unity in the truth. Hence +there could also be no true peace and brotherly harmony among the +Lutherans. And the way to settle these differences was not indifferently +to ignore them, nor unionistically to compromise them by adopting +ambiguous formulas, but patiently to discuss the doctrines at issue +until an agreement in the truth was reached, which finally was done by +means of the Formula of Concord. + +True, these controversies endangered the very existence of our Church. +But the real cause of this was not the resistance which the loyal +Lutherans offered to the errorists, nor even the unseemly severity by +which the prosecution of these controversies was frequently marred, but +the un-Lutheran spirit and the false principles and doctrines manifested +and defended by the opponents. In so far as divine truth was defended +and error opposed, these controversies were truly wars to end war, and +to establish real peace and true unity within our Church. A cowardly +surrender to the indifferentistic spirit, the unionistic policy, the +false principles, and the erroneous doctrines of the Interimists would +have been tantamount to a complete transformation of our Church and a +total annihilation of genuine Lutheranism. + +The manner in which these controversies were conducted, it is true, was +frequently such as to obstruct, rather than further, mutual +understanding and peace. As a rule, it is assumed that only the genuine +Lutherans indulged in unseemly polemical invective, and spoke and wrote +in a bitter and spiteful tone. But the Melanchthonians were to say the +least, equally guilty. And when censuring this spirit of combativeness, +one must not overlook that the ultimate cause of the most violent of +these controversies was the betrayal of the Lutheran Church by the +Interimists; and that the severity of the polemics of the loyal +Lutherans did not, at least not as a rule, emanate from any personal +malice toward Melanchthon, but rather from a burning zeal to maintain +sound Lutheranism, and from the fear that by the scheming and the +indifference of the Philippists the fruits of Luther's blessed work +might be altogether lost to the coming generations. The "peace-loving" +Melanchthon started a conflagration within his own church in order to +obtain a temporal and temporary peace with the Romanists; while the +loyal Lutherans, inasmuch as they fought for the preservation of genuine +Lutheranism, stood for, and promoted, a truly honorable, godly, and +lasting peace on the basis of eternal truth. And while the latter fought +honestly and in the open, the Philippists have never fully cleared +themselves from the charges of duplicity, dishonesty, and dissimulation. + +133. Melanchthon Prime Mover of Conflicts. + +The Leipzig Interim was the signal for a general and prolonged warfare +within the Lutheran Church. It contained the germs of various doctrinal +errors, and produced a spirit of general distrust and suspicion, which +tended to exaggerate and multiply the real differences. Schmauk says: +"The seeds of the subsequent controversies are all to be found in the +Leipzig Interim." (595.) At any rate, most of the controversies after +Luther's death flowed from, or were in some way or other connected with, +this unfortunate document. Such is the view also of the Formula of +Concord, which declares that the thirty years' controversies which it +settled originated especially in the Interim. (857, 19; 947, 29.) + +Yet the Interim was rather the occasion than the ultimate cause of these +conflicts. Long before the flames of open discord burst forth, the +embers of secret doctrinal dissension had been glowing under the +surface. Even during the life of Luther much powder had been secretly +stored up for which the Interim furnished the spark. This is proved, +among other things, by Luther's predictions (referred to in the +preceding chapter) concerning his own colleagues. And above all it was +the "peace-loving" Philip who first and most successfully sowed the +dragon's teeth of discord. Melanchthon's doctrinal deviations from the +teachings of Luther and from his own former position must be regarded as +the last cause of both the Leipzig Interim and the lamentable +controversies that followed in its wake. Indeed, a tragic sight to +behold: The co-laborer of Luther, the servant of the Reformation second +only to Luther, the Praeceptor Germaniae, the ardent and anxious lover +of peace, etc.--untrue to his confiding friend, disloyal to the cause of +the Reformation, and the chief cause of strife and dissension in the +Lutheran Church! And withal, Melanchthon, mistaking external union for +real unity and temporal peace with men for true peace with God, felt +satisfied that he had spent the efforts of his entire life in the +interest of the true welfare of the Church! Shortly before his death +(April 19, 1560) he expressed his joy that now he would be delivered +from the "fury of the theologians." On a sheet of paper found on his +table were written a number of reasons why he feared death less. One of +them was: "_Liberaberis ab aerumnis et a rabie teologorum._ You will be +delivered from toils and from the fury of the theologians." (_C. R._ 9, +1098.) Thus even in the face of death he did not realize that he himself +was the chief cause of the conflicts that had embittered his declining +years! + +134. Melanchthon's Humanistic and Unionistic Tendencies. + +Till about 1530 Melanchthon seems to have been in complete harmony with +Luther, and to have followed him enthusiastically. To propagate, coin, +and bring into scholastic form the Christian truths once more brought to +light by the Reformer he considered to be his peculiar mission. But his +secret letters and, with gradually increasing clearness and boldness, +also his publications show that later on he began to strike out on paths +of his own, and to cultivate and disseminate doctrines incompatible with +the Lutheranism of Luther. In a measure, these deviations were known +also to the Wittenberg students and theologians, to Cordatus, Stifel, +Amsdorf, the Elector John Frederick, Brueck, and Luther, who also called +him to account whenever sufficient evidence warranted his doing so. +(_Lehre und Wehre_ 1908, 61ff.) + +In a letter to Cordatus, dated April 15, 1537, Melanchthon was bold +enough to state that he had made many corrections in his writings and +was glad of the fact: "_Multa ultro correxi in libellis meis et +correxisse me gaudeo._" (_C. R._ 3, 342.) In discussing the squabble +between Cordatus and Melanchthon whether good works are necessary for +salvation, Luther is reported by the former to have said, in 1536: "To +Philip I leave the sciences and philosophy and nothing else. But I shall +be compelled to chop off the head of philosophy, too." (Kolde, +_Analecta,_ 266.) Melanchthon, as Luther put it, was always troubled by +his philosophy; that is to say, instead of subjecting his reason to the +Word of God, he was inclined to balance the former against the latter. +The truth is that Melanchthon never fully succeeded in freeing himself +from his original humanistic tendencies, a fact which gave his mind a +moralistic rather than a truly religious and Scriptural bent. Even +during the early years of the Reformation when he was carried away with +admiration for Luther and his work, the humanistic undercurrent did not +disappear altogether. January 22, 1525, he wrote to Camerarius: "_Ego +mihi conscius sum, non ullam ob causam unquam tetheologekenai, nisi at +mores meos emendarem_. I am conscious of the fact that I have never +theologized for any other reason than to improve my morals." (_C. R._ 1, +722.) Such, then, being his frame of mind, it was no wonder that he +should finally desert Luther in most important points, lapse into +synergism and other errors, and, in particular value +indifferentistically doctrinal convictions, notably on the real presence +in the Lord's Supper and the person of Christ. "Over against Luther," +says Schaff, "Melanchthon represented the unionistic and liberal type of +Lutheranism." (_Creeds,_ 1, 259.) This is correct; but the stricture +must be added that, since unionism and liberalism are incompatible with +the very essence of Lutheranism, Melanchthonianism as such was in +reality not a "type," but a denial of Lutheranism. + +Melanchthon lacked the simple faith in, and the firm adherence and +implicit submission to, the Word of God which made Luther the undaunted +and invincible hero of the Reformation. Standing four-square on the +Bible and deriving from this source of divine power alone all his +theological thoughts and convictions, Luther was a rock, firm and +immovable. With him every theological question was decided and settled +conclusively by quoting a clear passage from the Holy Scriptures, while +Melanchthon, devoid of Luther's single-minded and whole-hearted devotion +to the Word of God, endeavored to satisfy his reason as well. +Consequently he lacked assurance and firm conviction, wavered and +vacillated, and was never fully satisfied that the position he occupied +was really the only correct one, while, on the other hand, he endeavored +to present his views concerning some of the disputed doctrines in +ambiguous and indefinite terms. "We have twenty-eight large volumes of +Melanchthon's writings," says C. P. Krauth, "and, at this hour, +impartial and learned men are not agreed as to what were his views on +some of the profoundest questions of church doctrine, on which +Melanchthon was writing all his life!" (_Conservative Ref.,_ 291; +Schmauk, 748.) This indefinite and wavering attitude towards divine +truth, the natural consequence of the humanistic bent of his mind, +produced in Melanchthon a general tendency and proneness to surrender or +compromise doctrinal matters in the interest of policy, and to barter +away eternal truth for temporal peace. It made him an indifferentist and +a unionist, always ready to strike a bargain also in matters pertaining +to Christian faith, and to cover doctrinal differences with ambiguous +formulas. While Luther's lifelong attitude on matters of Christian +doctrine is characterized by the famous words spoken by him at Worms in +1521: "_Ich kann nicht anders,_ I cannot do otherwise," Melanchthon, +treating even questions of faith as matters of expediency rather than of +conscience, was the man who, as a rule, could also do otherwise, and who +was great in manufacturing "Polish boots," as the ambiguous phrases by +which he endeavored to unite opposing parties were called by the +Lutherans in Reuss. + +In order to preserve peace with the Romanists at Augsburg in 1530, he +did not hesitate to sacrifice Lutheran truths and to receive into the +bargain a number of what he considered minor papal errors. In his +subsequent overtures to the Reformed he was more than willing to make +similar concessions. The spirit of Melanchthon was the spirit of +religious indifference and of unionism, which, though thoroughly +eliminated by the Formula of Concord, was from time to time revived +within the Lutheran Church by such men as Calixtus, Spener, Zinzendorf, +Neander, and, in our own country, by S. S. Schmucker. + +The unionistic tendencies and doctrinal corruptions which Melanchthon +injected into Lutheranism were all the more dangerous to our Church +because they derived special weight and prestige from the fact that +Luther had unstintingly praised his gifts, his books, and the services +he had rendered the Church (St. L. 18, 1671; 23, 1152), that he was now +generally regarded as Luther's successor with regard to theological +leadership of the Church; and that he was gratefully admired as the +Praeceptor Germaniae by a host of loyal pupils, who made it a point also +to cultivate just those theological peculiarities of Master Philip, as +they called him, in which he differed from Luther. + +135. Melanchthon's "Shameful Servitude." + +That Melanchthon failed our Church in the Interim emergency as well as +in the subsequent controversies is generally ascribed to the fact that +he lacked the bracing influence and assistance of Luther. No doubt, +there is a good deal of truth in this assumption. But the true reason +why he did not measure up to the demands of the times and the +expectations of our Church were not mere moral weaknesses, but rather +the errors and false principles to which he was wedded. How could +Melanchthon have approved himself a leader of the Lutherans when he was +out of sympathy with them, doubted some of their most cherished +doctrines, and long ago had struck out on a path deviating from that +mapped out by Luther? True, the bracing which he received from Luther in +the past had repeatedly kept him from publicly sacrificing the truth, +but even in these instances he did not always yield because he was +really convinced, but because he feared the uncompromising spirit of +Luther. + +That fear of an open conflict with Luther which, he felt, would result +in a crushing defeat for himself, bulked large among the motives which +prompted him to maintain a semblance of true orthodoxy as long as Luther +lived, is clearly admitted by Melanchthon himself. In his notorious and +most discreditable letter to Carlowitz (counselor of Elector Maurice), +written April 28, 1548, eight days after the meeting at Celle, where he +had debauched his conscience by promising submission to the religious +demands of the Emperor, Melanchthon, pouring forth his feelings and +revealing his true inwardness and his spirit of unionism and +indifferentism as much as admitted that in the past he had been +accustomed to hiding his real views. Here he declared in so many words +that it was not he who started, and was responsible for, the religious +controversy between the Lutherans and Romanists, but rather Luther whose +contentious spirit (he said) also had constantly increased the rupture, +and that under Luther he had suffered "a most shameful servitude." + +In the original the letter reads, in part, as follows: "Totum enim me +tibi [Carlowitz] aperio.... Ego, cum decreverit princeps etiamsi quid +non probabo, tamen nihil seditiose faciam, sed vel tacebo, vel cedam, +vel feram, quidquid accidet. _Tuli etiam antea servitutem paene +deformem,_ cum saepe Lutherus magis suae naturae, in qua filoneikia erat +non exigua, quam vel personae suae vel utilitati communi serviret. Et +scio, omnibus aetatibus, ut tempestatum incommoda, ita aliqua in +gubernatione vitia modeste et arte ferenda et dissimulanda esse.... +Fortassis natura sum ingenio servili." (_C. R._ 6, 879f.) + +Even before Melanchthon had, in private letters to his friends, +displayed a similar vein of ill will toward Luther, whom he evidently +feared because of his own secret doctrinal deviations. (_Lehre und +Wehre_ 1908, 61. 68.) No doubt, as stated above, fear was also among the +motives which induced him to identify himself with the Leipzig Interim. +But evidently his own theological attitude, too, differed little from +the spirit pervading this document. At any rate, the letter to Carlowitz +does not support the assumption that Melanchthon really outraged his own +convictions when he wrote and adopted the Interim. As a matter of fact, +he also continued to defend the Interim; and it was as late as 1556 +before he was ready to make even a qualified admission of one of the +errors connected with it. + +While, therefore, the Lutheran Church will always gratefully acknowledge +the splendid services which Melanchthon rendered in the work of Luther's +Reformation, it must at the same time be admitted and cannot be gainsaid +that, in the last analysis, Melanchthon, by reason of his deviations +from Luther, which will be set forth more fully in the following, was +the ultimate cause and originator of most of the dissensions which began +to distract the Lutheran Church soon after the death of Luther. Andrew +Musculus, who assisted in drafting the _Formula of Concord,_ brought out +this fact (though in terms too strong) when he characterized Melanchthon +as a "philosophical theologian and a patriarch of all heretics." +(Meusel, _Handl._ 4, 710.) In a way, Melanchthon may even be regarded as +the indirect cause of the Smalcald War and its unfortunate issue, +inasmuch, namely, as his vacillating and compromising attitude and his +incompetent leadership created conditions of internal weakness among the +Lutherans, which invited the aggression of Pope and Emperor. + + +XII. The Adiaphoristic Controversy. + +136. Contents of the Leipzig Interim. + +To exhibit the insidious character of the Leipzig Interim more fully, we +submit the following quotations. In its Introduction we read: "As far as +the doctrine of the state and nature of man before and after the Fall is +concerned, there is no controversy" (between the Lutherans and +Romanists). The article "Of Justification," in which the Lutheran _sola +fide_ is omitted, declares: "The merciful God does not work with man as +with a block, but draws him, so that his will also cooperates if he be +of understanding years." Again: "And they who have thus received the +forgiveness of sins and the Holy Ghost, and in whom the Holy Ghost +begins faith and trust in the Son of God, love and hope, then become +heirs of eternal salvation for the Savior's sake." In the article "Of +Good Works" we read: "Nevertheless, the new virtues and good works are +so highly necessary that, if they were not quickened in the heart there +would be no reception of divine grace." Again: "It is certainly true +that these virtues, faith, love, hope, and others, must be in us and are +necessary to salvation.... And since the virtues and good works, as has +been said, please God, they merit also a reward in this life, both +spiritual and temporal, according to God's counsel, and still more +reward in the eternal life, because of the divine promise." + +The article "Of Ecclesiastical Power" runs as follows: "What the true +Christian Church gathered in the Holy Ghost, acknowledges, determines, +and teaches in regard to matters of faith is to be taught and preached, +since it neither should nor can determine anything contrary to the Holy +Scriptures." Self-evidently, Romanists construed this as an _a priori_ +endorsement of the Council and its resolutions. In the article "Of +Ecclesiastical Ministers" we read: "And that all other ministers should +be subject and obedient to the chief bishop [the Pope] and to other +bishops who administer their episcopal office according to God's +command, using the same for edification and not for destruction; which +ministers should be ordained also by such bishops upon presentation by +the patrons." This article conceded the primacy of the Pope and the +ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the bishops. The article "Of Ordination" +declares: "Also, that, as has been said, upon presentation by patrons, +ministers should hereafter be ordained with Christian ceremonies by such +bishops as administer their episcopal office, and that no one should be +allowed to be in the ministry unless, as has been said, he be presented +by the patrons and have the permission of the bishops." That was +tantamount to a restoration of the "sacrament" of episcopal ordination. + +The Interim furthermore demanded the immediate reintroduction of +abolished ceremonies, such as exorcism and other ceremonies of Baptism, +confirmation by bishops, auricular confession, extreme unction, +episcopal ordination, and the like. We read: "That repentance, +confession, and absolution, and what pertains thereto, be diligently +taught and preached; that the people confess to the priests, and receive +of them absolution in God's stead, and be also diligently admonished and +urged to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving; also, that no one be admitted +to the highly venerable Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ [in +this indirect way only the cup of the laity is referred to in the +Interim] unless he have first confessed to the priest and received of +him absolution." Again: "Although in this country the unction [Extreme +Unction] has not been in use for many years, yet ... such unction, +according to the apostle, may be hereafter observed." Again: "That +henceforth the mass be observed in this country with ringing of bells, +with lights and vessels, with chants, vestments, and ceremonies." Among +the holidays to be observed the Interim mentions also Corpus Christi and +the festivals of the holy Virgin Mary. Again we read: "The images and +pictures of the sufferings of Christ and of the saints may be also +retained in the churches." Again: "In the churches where the canonical +hours have been formerly observed, the devout Psalms shall be sung in +chapters and towns at the appointed time and on other high festivals, +and also on Sundays." "Likewise, that on Fridays and Saturdays, as well +as during fasts, the eating of meat be abstained from and that this be +observed as an external ordinance at the command of His Imperial +Majesty." The clause, "that this be observed," etc., was regarded by +Flacius and Gallus as implying self-deception and hypocrisy on the part +of the Interimists. (Frank 4 72. 119.) Again, as to the apparel of +priests, that "a distinction be observed between ministers and secular +persons, and that proper reverence be paid the priestly estate." The +Introduction of the Interim gives the assurance that the Lutherans would +obey the Emperor and be found disposed toward peace and unity. The +Conclusion adds the humble promise: "In all other articles we are ready +... in a friendly and submissive manner to confer with Your Beloved and +Princely Graces, and to settle our differences in a Christian way." (_C. +R._ 7, 258. Jacobs, _Book of Concord,_ 2, 260.) + +137. Issue in Adiaphoristic Controversy. + +From the passages quoted it appears that the Leipzig Interim was +inoculated with the germs of many controversies. However, while in the +beginning its offensive doctrinal features were not fully and generally +recognized and realized, the Emperor's demand for, and approval of, the +Wittenberg and Leipzig theologian's reintroduction of the Romish +ceremonies immediately created an acute situation and a great commotion +everywhere. The resulting theological conflict pertaining to the latter +point in particular was called the Adiaphoristic or Interimistic +Controversy. And, as explained above, even after the Interim had become +a dead letter politically, this controversy did not subside, because its +paramount object was not merely to pass a correct judgment on past +events during the Interim, nor even to obtain norms for similar +situations in the future, but, above all, to eliminate from our Church +the spirit of indifferentism, unionism, and of direct as well as +indirect denial of the Gospel-truth. + +Accordingly, the exact issue in the Adiaphoristic Controversy was: May +Lutherans, under conditions such as prevailed during the Interim, when +the Romanists on pain of persecution and violence demanded the +reinstitution of abolished papal ceremonies, even if the ceremonies in +question be truly indifferent in themselves, submit with a good +conscience, that is to say, without denying the truth and Christian +liberty, without sanctioning the errors of Romanism, and without giving +offense either to the enemies or to the friends of the Lutheran Church, +especially its weak members? This was affirmed by the Interimists and +denied by their opponents. + +138. Opposition to the Adiaphorists. + +Prominent among the theologians who participated in the controversy +against the Adiaphorists were Flacius, Wigand, Gallus, and others, who +in Magdeburg opened a most effective fire on the authors, sponsors, and +advocates of the Interim. Following are some of the chief publications +which dealt with the questions involved: "Opinion concerning the +Interim, by Melanchthon, June 16, 1548," published by Flacius without +the knowledge of Melanchthon.--"Report on the Interim by the Theologians +of Meissen," 1548.--"That in These Dangerous Times (in diesen +geschwinden Laeuften) Nothing is to be Changed in the Churches of God in +Order to Please the Devil and the Antichrist," by John Hermann, 1548. A +Latin edition of this publication appeared 1549, mentioning Flacius as +its author.--"A Brief Report (Ein kurzer Bericht) on the Interim from +which One may Easily Learn the Doctrine and Spirit of That Book," +1548.--"A General Protest and Writ of Complaint (Eine gemeine +Protestation und Klageschrift) of All Pious Christians against the +Interim and Other Sinister Schemes and Cruel Persecutions by the Enemies +of the Gospel, by John Waremund, 1548." Waremund was a pseudonym for +Flacius.--"Against the Interim, Papal Mass, Canon, and Master Eisleben," +1519.--"Against the Vile Devil (Wider den schnoeden Teufel), who Now +Again Transforms Himself into an Angel of Light, _i.e._, against the New +Interim, by Carolus Azarias Gotsburgensis, 1549." Of this book, too, +Flacius was the author. (Preger 1, 67.)--"Apology (Entschuldigung) of +Matthias Flacius Illy. to a Certain Pastor," 1549.--"Several Letters of +the Venerable D. M. Luther concerning the Union of Christ and Belial, +Written 1530 to the Theologians at the Diet in Augsburg," 1549, with a +preface by Flacius.--"Apology of Matthias Flacius Illy., Addressed to +the University of Wittenberg, regarding the Adiaphora," 1549.--"Writing +of Matthias Flacius Illy. against a Truly Heathen, yea, Epicurean Book +of the Adiaphorists (in which the Leipzig Interim is Defended) in Order +to Guard Oneself against the Present Counterfeiters of the True +Religion," 1549.--"Answer of Magister Nicolas Gallus and Matthias +Flacius Illy. to the Letter of Some Preachers in Meissen regarding the +Question whether One should Abandon His Parish rather than Don the +Cassock" (_linea vestis, Chorrock_).--"Against the Extract of the +Leipzig Interim, or the Small Interim," by Flacius, 1549.--"Book +concerning True and False Adiaphora (_Liber de Veris et Falsis +Adiaphoris_), in which the Adiaphoristic Controversy is Explained Almost +in Its Entirety, by Flacius, 1549." This book, which is most frequently +quoted and deals most thoroughly with the questions involved, is found +in Schluesselburg's _Catalogus Haereticorum_ 13, 154ff.--"An Admonition +(Vermahnung) to be Constant in the Confession of the Truth, in Cross and +Prayer, by Flacius," 1549.--"A Christian Admonition by Matthias Flacius +Illy. to be Constant in the True, Pure Religion of Jesus Christ and in +the Augsburg Confession," 1550.--"Against the Alleged Power and Primacy +of the Pope, Useful to Read at This Time, when the Whole World Endeavors +again to Place the Expelled Antichrist into the Temple of Christ, by +Matthias Flacius Illy."--"Against the Evangelist of the Holy Chorrock, +D. Geitz Major, by Matthias Flacius Illy., 1552."--For a complete list +of the writings of Flacius against the Interim, see Preger's _Matthias +Flacius Illyricus,_ 2, 540 ff. + +Even the titles of these publications indicate that the Adiaphoristic +Controversy did not lack violence and virulence. This animosity against +the Interimists was chiefly due to the fear that their policy would +finally lead to the complete undoing of the Reformation. For while +Melanchthon still believed in and hoped for, an understanding with the +Romanists, Flacius saw through their schemes and fully realized the +impending danger. In the reintroduction of Catholic ceremonies which +Melanchthon regarded as entirely harmless, Flacius beheld nothing but +the entering wedge, which would gradually be followed by the entire mass +of Romish errors and abuses and the absolute dominance of Pope and +Emperor over the Lutheran Church. The obedience demanded by the Emperor, +said Flacius, consists in this, that "we abandon our true doctrine and +adopt the godless Papacy." In all its details, he explained, the +ultimate purpose of the Interim is none other than the reestablishment +of Popery, of which even such seemingly trifling matters as the +reintroduction of the _Chorrock (linea vestis)_ were but the beginning, +as it were, the breach in the dam which was bound ultimately to result +in a complete submersion of Lutheranism. (Frank 4, 74. 76. 119.) + +Since the loyal Lutherans, in keeping with the teaching of Luther and +the Lutheran Confessions, regarded the Papacy as antichristendom, they +could not but abhor the concessions made by the Interimists as treachery +against the truth. From the very outset Flacius and Gallus insisted that +their opponents answer the question, "whether the Pope with his +government is the true Antichrist in the Church as according to the Word +of God he has been publicly declared to be in our churches, and whether +he still should and must be regarded and confessed as such." And if +Luther's doctrine was to stand, how, then, they argued, could a union be +effected between the enemies of the Gospel (the Antichrist and his +bishops) and the Lutherans without idolatry and denial of the religion +of Christ? (53. 107.) On the title-page of his _Apology,_ of 1549, +Flacius declares: "The upshot [of the Interim] is the establishment of +the Papacy and the installation of the Antichrist in the temple of +Christ, the encouragement of the wicked to flaunt their victory over the +Church of Christ and to grieve the godly, likewise weakening, leading +into doubt, separation and innumerable offenses." (Schaff 1, 301.) +Regarding the acknowledgment of the Pope and bishops by the Interim, +Flacius remarked: "Mark well, here the werewolf (_Baerwolf_), together +with his fellow-wolves, is placed over the little flock of Christ. There +is, however, no danger whatever; for, as is added [in the Interim: "The +Pope should use his power not for destruction, but for edification"], +they have counted the sheep and commanded the wolves to be gentle. In my +opinion this is certainly a good adiaphoron to restore Antichrist to the +temple from which he has been expelled by the Finger of God." (Preger 1, +191.) Accordingly, burning with shame and indignation, and trembling +with fear for the future of Lutheranism, Flacius charged Melanchthon +with want of faith and with treason against the truth, and characterized +the Leipzig Interim as an unholy union of Christ and Belial, of light +and darkness, of Christ and Antichrist. + +While Flacius thus denounced the Interim as well as its authors and +abettors, he at the same time admonished and encouraged the Lutheran +pastors to be steadfast in confessing the truth, in spite of cross and +persecution, and to stand by their flocks as true shepherds. That +minister, he said, who denies or fails to confess the truth, or who +yields to a tyrant, deserts his Church. We must not only confess with +our mouths, but by deeds and actions as well. Not abandonment of the +flock, but suffering is the best way to win the victory over a tyrant. +Flacius also earnestly warned the people against yielding to the princes +and acknowledging, hearing, and following their own ministers if they +advocated and introduced the Interim. Moreover, he encouraged both +pastors and laymen to resist the tyranny of princes demanding the +reinstitution of the Roman ceremonies. "A government," said he in his +_Admonition,_ "no matter which, has not the authority to forbid pastor +to preach the pure doctrine." When the government persecutes the truth, +we must not yield, no matter what the consequences may be. Christians +will sacrifice everything to a tyrannical prince, but not "the truth, +not the consolation of divine grace, nor the hope of eternal life." +(Frank 4, 68. 117.) + +139. Doctrinal Position of Anti-Adiaphorists. + +The theological position occupied by the opponents of the Adiaphorists +may be summarized as follows: Ceremonies which God has neither commanded +nor prohibited are adiaphora (_res mediae, Mitteldinge_) and _ceteris +paribus_ (other things being equal), may be observed or omitted, adopted +or rejected. However, under circumstances testing one's faith they may +become a matter of principle and conscience. Such is the case wherever +and whenever they are demanded as necessary, or when their introduction +involves a denial of the truth, an admission of error, an infringement +of Christian liberty, an encouragement of errorists and of the enemies +of the Church, a disheartening of the confessors of the truth, or an +offense to Christians, especially the weak. Such conditions, they +maintained, prevailed during the time of the Interim, when both Pope and +Emperor plainly declared it to be their object to reestablish the Romish +religion in Lutheran churches; when the adoption of the Interim and the +reinstitution of the papal ceremonies were universally regarded, by +Catholics as well as Protestants, as the beginning of just such a +reestablishment of the Papacy; when the timid Wittenberg and Leipzig +theologians, instead of boldly confessing the Gospel and trusting to God +for the protection of His Church, compromised the truth and yielded to +the demands of the Romanists in order to escape persecution when the +consciences of Lutherans were perplexed and confused wherever the +abolished rites were reinstituted. Accordingly, they declared that under +the prevailing circumstances the reintroduction of the Romish ceremonies +was nothing short of a denial of Christian faith and of Christian love +as well. + +Flacius, in particular, maintained that under the prevailing +circumstances even such ceremonies as were in themselves true adiaphora +ceased to be adiaphora and could not be reintroduced with a good +conscience, because they were forced upon the Lutherans by the enemies +of the Gospel, because they were accepted for reprehensible reasons, +such as fear of persecution and desire for external peace, and because +their reintroduction confounded the consciences, offended the weak, and +gave comfort and encouragement to the enemies of Christ. The people, +Protestants as well as Catholics, said Flacius, would regard such +reintroduction both as an admission on the part of the Lutherans that +they had been in the wrong and the Romanists in the right, and as the +beginning of a general restoration of the Papacy. Explain the +reintroduction of the ceremonies as piously as you may, said he to the +Interimists, the common people, especially the Romanists, always +impressed by ceremonies much more than by the doctrine, will infer that +those teachers who reintroduce the ceremonies approve of the Papacy in +every respect and reject the Evangelical doctrine. In his book _De Veris +et Falsis Adiaphoris_ we read: "Adversarii totum suum cultum, vel certe +praecipua capita suae religionis in ceremoniis collocant, quas cum in +nostris ecclesiis in eorum gratiam restituimus, an non videmur tum eis, +tum aliis eorum impiis cultibus assentiri? Nec dubitant, quin +quandoquidem in tantis rebus ipsis cesserimus, etiam in reliquis cessuri +simus, nostrum errorem agnoscamus, eorumque religionem veram esse +confiteamur." (Schluesselburg 13, 217.) Accordingly, Flacius contended +that under the prevailing circumstances a concession to the Romanists, +even in ceremonies harmless in themselves, was tantamount to a denial of +Lutheranism. The entire argument of the Anti-Adiaphorists was by him +reduced to the following principle or axiom: "_Nihil est adiaphoron in +casu confessionis et scandali._ Nothing is an adiaphoron when confession +and offense are involved." And wherever the Interim was enforced, the +consequences foretold by Flacius showed themselves: consciences were +confused, simple Christians were offended, and the enemies were +strengthened in their error and emboldened in their attacks and in +further demands made upon the Lutherans. + +140. Sophistries of Adiaphorists Refuted. + +The Wittenberg Interimists endeavored to justify their attitude by a +series of sophisms to which they also adhered in the "Final Report +(Endlicher Bericht) of the Theologians of Both Universities of Leipzig +and Wittenberg," 1570. (Frank 4, 87. 2.) By adopting the Interim, the +Wittenbergers, in reality, had assented also to doctrinally false and +dubious statements and to a number of ceremonies objectionable as such. +Yet they pleaded the guilelessness of their intentions and the +harmlessness of their procedure. They maintained that they had yielded +merely in minor matters and ceremonies, which were neither commanded nor +prohibited by the Word of God; that this was done in order to preserve +intact the central Christian truth of justification; to preserve +political peace and to save the Church from ruin; to protect the weak, +whose shoulders were not strong enough to suffer persecution; that in +their concessions they had been guided by the dictates of true wisdom, +which always chooses the lesser of two evils; and that in all this they +had merely followed the example set by Luther himself. They minimized +the entire affair, and endeavored to explain away the seriousness of the +situation. In particular they ridiculed Flacius for shouting and +sounding the fire-alarm when in reality, they said, he had discovered +nothing but a little smoke coming from a Wittenberg chimney. + +But in the ears of all genuine and earnest Lutherans their sophistries +and apologies rang neither true nor sincere. The arguments which they +employed merely served to defeat their own purpose. What else, for +example, than disgust, indignation, and distrust could be the effect on +all honest Lutherans when the Wittenberg theologians, dishonestly +veiling the real facts, declared in their official "Exposition" of 1559 +(when danger of persecution had passed long ago) concerning the +reintroduction of Corpus Christi that they had reintroduced this +festival all the more readily in order that they might be able to +instruct the people in the right use of the Sacrament and in the +horrible abuses and profanations of the most holy Supper of the Lord in +the circumgestation and adoration of the bread which their critics [the +Lutheran opponents of the Interimists, by their doctrine concerning the +Lord's Supper] strengthened and that they might thank God for the +purification of the temple from the Romish idol Maozim, Dan. 11, 38. +(Tschackert, 510.) Frank remarks: "One must see this passage black on +white in order to believe the Wittenbergers really capable of +stultifying themselves in such an incredible manner. It is a +monstrosity, a defense unworthy of an honest man, let alone an +Evangelical Christian." (4, 61. 113.) + +The weak and insincere arguments of the Adiaphorists were thoroughly and +convincingly refuted by their opponents. To the assertion of the +Wittenbergers that the dispute was concerning mere unimportant +ceremonies which were neither commanded nor prohibited by God, Flacius +and Gallus replied (in their answer to the question of the ministers of +Meissen whether they should leave their charges rather than don the +_Chorrock, lineam vestem induere_) that even with respect to such +seemingly most trifling adiaphora as the cope (_Chorrock, vestis alba_) +one must not overlook what is attached to it. "We do not believe," they +said, "that the robber will let the traveler keep his money, although +first he only asks for his coat or similar things, at the same time, +however, not obscurely hinting that, after having taken these, he will +also demand the rest. We certainly do not doubt that you yourselves, as +well as all men endowed with a sound mind, believe that, since the +beginning is always hardest, these small beginnings of changes are at +present demanded only that a door may be opened for all the other +impieties that are to follow--_quod tantum ideo parva ista mutationum +initia iam proponantur, ut quia principia semper sunt dificillima per ea +aditus reliquis omnibus secuturis impietatibus patefiat._" +(Schluesselburg 13, 644.) + +The Adiaphorists pretended that they had consented to the Interim in the +interest of the weak, who were unable to bear persecution. But the +Lutherans answered that weak Christians could not be strengthened in +their faith by teaching and persuading them to deny it and that the +enemies and persecutors of the Gospel could certainly not be regarded as +weak. (Frank 4, 78.) The protestations of the Adiaphorists that they had +made the changes in ceremonies with the very best of intentions were +answered by Flacius in _De Veris et Falsis Adiaphoris_ as follows: +Hardly ever has a Christian denied Christ without endeavoring to deceive +both God and himself as to his motives. "But one must also consider, as +may be clearly shown from 1 Cor. 10, with what design (_quo animo_) the +adversaries propose such things to us, likewise, how they as well as +others interpret our act." (Schl. 13, 217.) "Even though the intention +of those who receive and use the adiaphora be not an evil one, the +question is," said Martin Chemnitz in his _Iudicium de Adiaphoris,_ +"whether the opinion of the one who commands, imposes, and demands the +adiaphora is impious or wicked, whether such reception and observation +is interpreted and understood as a turning away from the confession of +the true doctrine, and whether the weak are offended and grow faint +thereby." (717.) + +To the claims of the Interimists that they were but following the +example of Luther, who, for the sake of the weak, had tolerated Romish +ceremonies, etc., the Lutherans replied: Distinguish times and +conditions! Luther was dealing with Christians who in their consciences +still felt bound to the Roman usages, while the "weakness" spoken of by +Adiaphorists is not an erring conscience, but fear of persecution. +Moreover Luther tolerated existing Romish ceremonies as long as there +was hope of arriving at an agreement with the Romanists in doctrine, +while the Adiaphorists reinstitute ceremonies which have been abolished, +and this, too, in deference and obedience to irreconcilable adversaries +of the truth. Accordingly, Luther's attitude in this matter flowed from +pure love for truth and from compassion with the weak, whom he +endeavored to win for the truth, while the submission of the +Adiaphorists to the demands of their adversaries is nothing short of +unchristian denial of both true love and faith. (Frank 4, 55.) Brenz +declared: "_Adiaphora ex suis conditionibus iudicanda sunt._ Adiaphora +must be judged from their conditions. For if the condition is good, the +adiaphoron, too, is good, and its observance is commanded. If, however, +the condition is evil, the adiaphoron, too, is evil, and the observance +of it is prohibited." (Schl. 13, 562.) + +Furthermore, when the Wittenberg and Leipzig theologians maintained +that, in preferring the lesser evil (the Roman ceremonies) to the +greater (persecution), they had merely listened to, and followed, the +voice of true wisdom, the Lutherans replied that moral evils must not be +placed on a level with physical evils, nor guilt be incurred in order to +avoid suffering and persecution. Westphal declared in his _Explicatio +Generalis Sententiae, quod a Duobus Malis Minus sit Eligendum: "Impium +est, amoliri pericula per peccata, nec ita removentur aut minuuntur sed +accersuntur et augentur poenae._ It is wicked to avert dangers by sins, +nor are they removed or diminished in this way, but rather superinduced +and increased." (13, 251.) "It is better to take upon oneself +punishments and great dangers than to offend God and to provoke His +wrath by such offense." (250.) "It is better and easier to bear many +evils and to undergo many dangers than to be unfaithful in the least +commandment of God, and burden oneself with the guilt of even a single +sin." (251.) Our paramount duty is not to escape persecution, but to +retain a good conscience. Obey the Lord and await His help! Such was the +counsel of Flacius and the loyal Lutherans. (Frank 4, 65.) + +But our Wittenberg school will be closed, our churches will be +desolated, and our preachers will be banished, exclaimed the +faint-hearted Wittenbergers. The Lutherans answered: It is our duty to +confess the truth regardless of consequences, and, at the same time, to +look to God for the protection of His Church. Flacius said, in _De Veris +et Falsis Adiaphoris:_ Confess the truth and suffer the consequences! A +Christian cannot obtain peace by offending God and serving and +satisfying tyrants. Rather be drowned by the Spaniards in the Elbe with +a millstone about one's neck than offend a Christian, deny the truth, +and surrender the Church to Satan. "Longe satius esset teste Christo +pati, ut alligata mola asinaria in medium Albis ab Hispanis +proiiceremur, quam _unicum_ parvulum Christi scandalizaremus, multo vero +magis haec et quaevis gravissima pati deberemus, quam _tam infinitis_ +(ut iam fit) Christi parvulis offendiculum daremus, ecclesiam Satanae +proderemus et salvificam confessionem veritatis abiiceremus." (Schl. 13, +227.) + +As to the Wittenberg School, Flacius said: "It would certainly be better +that the school were closed not one, but many years than that we, by +avoiding confession, extremely weaken our own religion as well as +strengthen the one opposed to it." (13, 231.) "As for myself, I do not +doubt that, if only the theologians had been steadfast, the Wittenberg +School would have been to-day much firmer than it is.... The Interim +sprang from the timidity of the Wittenberg theologians.... Even a +thousand Wittenberg schools ought certainly not to be valued so highly +by pious men that, in order to preserve them unimpaired, they would +rather suffer the world to be deprived of the light of the Gospel. +_Certe non tanti mille Wittenbergenses scholae piis esse debent, ut +propter earum incolumitatem velint pati orbem terrarum Evangelii luce +privari._" (232.) In a letter to Melanchthon, written in the beginning +of 1549, Brenz said: "If therefore the Church and pious ministers cannot +be preserved in any other way than by bringing reproach upon the pious +doctrine, then let us commend them to Christ, the Son of God; He will +take care of them; and in the mean time let us patiently bear our +banishment and wait for the Lord." (_C. R._ 7, 290.) + +June 30, 1530, Luther had written to Melanchthon, who was then in +Augsburg: "You want to govern things according to your philosophy; you +torment yourself and do not see that this matter is not within your +power and wisdom.... If we fall, Christ, that is to say, the Ruler of +the world, falls with us; and even though He should fall, I would rather +fall with Christ than stand with the Emperor." This passage is contained +in one of the letters of Luther which Flacius published 1548 in order to +dispel Melanchthon's timidity, rouse his Lutheran consciousness, and +cure him of his vain and most dangerous disposition to save the Church +by human wisdom and shrewdness, instead of, as Luther believed, solely +by a bold confession of the truth of God's Word. + +141. Theological Attitude of Flacius Sanctioned. + +The theological position which Flacius and his fellow-combatants +occupied over against the Adiaphorists was embodied in the Tenth Article +of the _Formula of Concord,_ and thus endorsed by the Lutheran Church as +a whole. Frank says concerning this most excellent article which our +Church owes to the faithfulness of the Anti-Melanchthonians, notably +Flacius: "The theses which received churchly recognition in the _Formula +of Concord_ were those of Flacius." The entire matter, too, concerning +the adiaphora had been discussed so thoroughly and correctly that the +subsequent formulation and recognition of the Tenth Article caused but +little difficulties. (Frank 4, 3f.) + +Even Melanchthon, though refusing to confess that he was guilty of any +doctrinal deviations, finally yielded to the arguments of his opponents +and admitted that they were right in teaching as they did regarding the +adiaphora. In his famous letter to Flacius (who, however, was not +satisfied with the manner of Melanchthon's retraction), dated September +5, 1556, he wrote with respect to the Adiaphoristic Controversy: "I knew +that even the least changes [in ceremonies] would be unwelcome to the +people. However, since the doctrine [?] was retained, I would rather +have our people submit to this servitude than forsake the ministry of +the Gospel. _Cum doctrina retineretur integra, malui nostros hanc +servitutem subire quam deserere ministerium evangelii._ And I confess +that I have given the same advice to the Francans (_Francis_). This I +have done; the doctrine of the Confession I have never changed.... +Afterwards you began to contradict. I yielded; I did not fight. In +Homer, Ajax fighting with Hector is satisfied when Hector yields and +admits that the former is victor. You never come to an end with your +accusations. Where is the enemy that does such a thing as striking those +who yield and cast their arms away? Win! I yield. I do not contend +concerning those rites, and I most earnestly wish that the churches +would enjoy sweet concord. I also admit that I have sinned in this +matter, and ask forgiveness of God, that I did not flee far from those +insidious deliberations [in which the Interim was framed]. _Fateor hoc +in re a me peccatum esse, et a Deo veniam peto, quod non procul fugi +insidiosas illas deliberationes_." (_C. R._ 8, 839.) + +On January 17, 1557, Melanchthon wrote to the Saxon pastors: "I was +drawn into the insidious deliberations of the courts. Therefore, if in +any way I have either fallen or been too weak, I ask forgiveness of God +and of the Church, and I shall submit to the judgments of the Church." +(9, 61.) In the _Formula Consensus,_ written by Melanchthon at Worms, in +1557, the Interim is expressly condemned. For here we read: "With the +help of God we retain, and shall retain, the entire doctrine of +justification, agreeing with the Augsburg Confession and with the +confessions which were published in the church of Hamburg against the +book called Interim. Nor do we want any corruptions or ambiguities to be +mixed with it; and we desire most earnestly that the true doctrine in +all its articles be set forth, as far as possible, in identical and +proper forms of speech, and that ambitious innovations be avoided." (9, +369.) The _Frankfurt Recess_ of 1558, also written by Melanchthon and +signed by the princes, maintains: "Where the true Christian doctrine of +the holy Gospel is polluted or persecuted, there the adiaphora as well +as other ceremonies are detrimental and injurious." (9, 501.) + + +XIII. The Majoristic Controversy. + +142. Early Origin of This Error. + +Though not personally mentioned and attacked by the opponents of +Majorism, Melanchthon must be regarded as the real father also of this +controversy. He was the first to introduce and to cultivate the phrase: +"Good works are necessary to salvation." In his _Loci_ of 1535 he taught +that, in the article of justification, good works are the _causa sine +qua non_ and are necessary to salvation, _ad vitam aeternam, ad +salutem._ (Herzog, _R. E._, 1903, 12, 519; Galle, _Melanchthon,_ 345. +134.) Melanchthon defined: "_Causa sine qua non_ works nothing, nor is +it a constituent part but merely something without which the effect does +not occur, or by which, if it were not present, the working cause would +be hindered because it was not added. _Causa sine qua non nihil agit, +nec est pars constituens, sed tantum est quiddam, sine quo non fit +effectus, seu quo, si non adesset, impediretur agens, ideo quia illud +non accessisset."_ (Preger 1, 356.) According to Melanchthon, therefore, +justification cannot occur without the presence of good works. He +explained: "_Et tamen bona opera ita necessaria sunt ad vitam aeternam, +quia sequi reconciliationem necessario debent._ Nevertheless good works +are necessary to eternal life, inasmuch as they must necessarily follow +reconciliation." (_C. R._ 21, 429. 775.) According to the context in +which it is found, this statement includes that good works are necessary +also to justification; for Melanchthon, too, correctly held "that the +adoption to eternal life or the gift of eternal life was connected with +justification, that is, the reconciliation imparted to faith." (453.) + +At Wittenberg Melanchthon's efforts to introduce the new formula met +with energetic opposition, especially on the part of Cordatus and +Amsdorf. The formula: "_Bona opera non quidem esse causam efficientem +salutis, sed tamen causam sine qua non_--Good works are indeed not the +efficient cause of salvation, but nevertheless an indispensable cause," +a necessary antecedent, was launched in a lecture delivered July 24, +1536, by a devoted pupil of Melanchthon, Caspar Cruciger, Sr. [born at +Leipzig, January 1, 1504; professor in Wittenberg; assisted Luther in +translating the Bible and in taking down his lectures and sermons; +present at colloquies in Marburg 1529, in Wittenberg 1536, in Smalcald +1537, in Worms and Hagenau 1540 in Regensburg 1541, in Augsburg 1548; +died November 16, 1548]. According to Ratzeberger, Cruciger had +dictated: "_Bona opera requiri ad salutem tamquam causam sine qua non._" +Cordatus reports Cruciger's dictation as follows: "_Tantum Christus est +causa propter quem; interim tamen verum est, homines agere aliquid +oportere; oportere nos habere contritionem et debere Verbo erigere +conscientiam, ut fidem concipiamus, ut nostra contritio et noster +conatus sunt causae iustificationis sine quibus non_--our contrition and +our endeavor are causes of justification without which it does not take +place." (3, 350.) + +Cordatus immediately attacked the new formula as false. "I know," said +he, "that this duality of causes cannot stand with the simple article of +justification." (3, 350.) He demanded a public retraction from Cruciger. +Before long Amsdorf also entered the fray. September 14, 1536, he wrote +to Luther about the new-fangled teaching of Melanchthon, "that works are +necessary to eternal life." (3, 162; Luther, St. L. 21b, 4104.) Pressed +by Cordatus, Cruciger finally admitted that Melanchthon was back of the +phrases he had dictated. He declared that he was the pupil of Mr. +Philip; that the entire dictation was Mr. Philip's; that by him he had +been led into this matter; and that he did not know how it happened. _Se +esse D. Philippi discipulum, et dictata omnia esse D. Philippi, se ab eo +in illam rem traductum, et nescire quomodo._" [tr. note: no opening +quotation mark in original] (_C. R._ 3, 162.) + +That Melanchthon had been making efforts to introduce the new phrases in +Wittenberg appears from the passage in his _Loci_ of 1535 quoted above, +and especially from his letters of the two following years. November 5, +1536, he wrote to Veit Dietrich: "Cordatus incites the city, its +neighborhood, and even the Court against me because in the explanation +of the controversy on justification I have said that new obedience is +necessary to salvation, _novam obedientiam necessariam esse ad +salutem._" (185. 179.) May 16, 1537, Veit Dietrich wrote to Forester: +"Our Cordatus, driven, I know not, by what furies, writes against Philip +and Cruciger as against heretics, and is determined to force Cruciger to +retract because he has said that good works are necessary to +salvation.... This matter worries Philip very much, and if certain +malicious men do not control themselves, he threatens to leave." (372.) +As for Melanchthon, he made no efforts to shirk the responsibility for +Cruciger's dictation. "_Libenter totam rem in me transfero_--I +cheerfully transfer the entire affair to myself" he wrote April 15, +1537. Yet he was worried much more than his words seem to indicate. +(342.) + +Complaints against the innovations of Melanchthon and Cruciger were also +lodged with Luther by Cordatus, Amsdorf, and Stiefel. Cordatus reports +Luther as saying after the matter had been related to him, October 24, +1536: "This is the very theology of Erasmus, nor can anything be more +opposed to our doctrine. _Haec est ipsissima theologia Erasmi, neque +potest quidquam nostrae doctrinae esse magis adversum._" To say that new +obedience is the "_causa sine qua non--sine qua non contingit vita +aeterna,_" Luther declared, was tantamount to treading Christ and His +blood under our feet. "_Cruciger autem haec, quae publice dictavit, +publice revocabit._ What he has publicly dictated, Cruciger shall +publicly retract." (Kolde, _Analecta,_ 266.) + +According to Ratzeberger, Luther immediately warned and censured +Cruciger "in severe terms." (_C. R._ 4, 1038.) Flacius reports that +Luther had publicly declared more than five times: "_Propositionem: Bona +opera esse necessaria ad salutem, volumus damnatam, abrogatam, ex +ecclesiis et scholis nostris penitus explosam._" (Schluesselburg 7, +567.) After his return from Smalcald, where he had expressed grave fears +as to the future doctrinal soundness of his Wittenberg colleagues, +Luther, in a public disputation on June 1, 1537 "exploded and condemned" +the teaching that good works are necessary to salvation, or necessary to +salvation as a _causa sine qua non_. (_Lehre u. Wehre_ 1908, 65.) Both +parties were present at the disputation, Cordatus as well as Melanchthon +and Cruciger. In a letter to Veit Dietrich, June 27, 1537, Cruciger +reports: Luther maintained that new obedience is an "effect necessarily +following justification," but he rejected the statement: "New obedience +is necessary to salvation, _necessariam ad salutem._" He adds: "_Male +hoc habuit nostrum [Melanchthon], sed noluit eam rem porro agitare._ +Melanchthon was displeased with this, but he did not wish to agitate the +matter any further." (_C. R._ 3, 385.) After the disputation Cruciger +was handed an anonymous note, saying that his "Treatise on Timothy" was +now branded as "heretical, sacrilegious, impious, and blasphemous +(_haeretica, sacrilega, impia et blasphema_)," and unless he retracted, +he would have to be regarded as a Papist, a teacher and servant of Satan +and not of Christ, and that his dictations would be published. (387.) In +a letter to Dietrich, Cruciger remarks that Luther had disapproved of +this anonymous writing, but he adds: "I can't see why he [Luther] gives +so much encouragement to Cordatus." (385.) + +In private, Luther repeatedly discussed this matter also with +Melanchthon. This appears from their Disputation of 1536 on the +question: "Whether this proposition is true: The righteousness of works +is necessary to salvation." (E. 58, 353.) In a letter to Dietrich of +June 22, 1537, Melanchthon, in substance, refers as follows to his +discussions with Luther: I am desirous of maintaining the unity of the +Wittenberg Academy; in this matter I also employ some art; nor does +Luther seem to be inimical; yesterday he spoke to me in a very kind +manner on the questions raised by Quadratus [Cordatus]. What a spectacle +if the Lutherans would oppose each other as the Cadmean brethren! I will +therefore modify whatever I can. Yet I desire a more thorough exposition +of the doctrines of predestination, of the consent of the will, of the +necessity of our obedience, and of the sin unto death. (_C. R._ 3, 383.) + +A number of private letters written by Melanchthon during and +immediately after his conflict with Cordatus, however, reveal much +animosity, not only against Cordatus, but against Luther as well. Nor do +those written after Luther's disputation, June 1, 1537, indicate that he +was then fully cured of his error. (357. 392. 407.) Moreover, in his +_Loci_ of 1538 we read: "_Et tamen haec nova spiritualis obedientia +(nova spiritualitas) necessaria est ad vitam aeternam._ And nevertheless +this new spiritual obedience is necessary to eternal life." (21, 429.) +Evidently, then, Melanchthon did not grasp the matter, and was not +convinced of the incorrectness of his phraseology. Yet he made it a +point to avoid and eliminate from his publications the obnoxious +formula: "_Bona opera necessaria esse ad salutem._" At any rate, his +essay on Justification and Good Works, of October 1537, as well as +subsequent publications of his, do not contain it. In the _Loci_ of +1538, just referred to, he replaced the words _bona opera_ by the phrase +_obedientia haec nova spiritualis,_--indeed, a purely verbal rather than +a doctrinal change. Nor did it reappear even in the _Variata_ of 1540. +In 1541, at Regensburg, Melanchthon consented to the formula "that we +are justified by a living and efficacious faith--_iustificari per fidem +vivam et efficacem._" But when Luther deleted the words "_et efficacem,_ +and efficacious," Melanchthon acquiesced. (4, 499.) In the _Loci_ of +1543 he expunged the appendix "_ad salutem,_ to salvation." At the same +time, however, he retained the error in a more disguised form, _viz._, +that good works are necessary to retain faith. For among the reasons why +good works are necessary he here enumerates also "the necessity of +retaining the faith, since the Holy Spirit is expelled and grieved when +sins against the conscience are admitted." (21, 775.) + +143. Formula Renewed--Abandoned. + +Under the duress of the Augsburg Interim, Melanchthon relapsed into his +old error. July 6, 1548, he (together with Caspar Cruciger, John +Pfeffinger, Daniel Gresser, George Major, and John Foerster) agreed to +the statement: "For this proposition is certainly true that no one can +be saved without love and good works. Yet we are not justified by love +and good works, but by grace for Christ's sake." (7, 22.) In the Leipzig +Interim, adopted several months later, the false teaching concerning the +necessity of good works to salvation was fully restored, as appears from +the quotations from this document cited in the chapter on the +Adiaphoristic Controversy. According to the _Formula of Concord_ this +renewal of the obnoxious formula at the time of the Interim furnished +the direct occasion for the Majoristic Controversy. For here we read: +"The aforesaid modes of speech and false expressions [concerning the +necessity of good works to salvation] were renewed by the Interim just +at a time when there was special need of a clear, correct confession +against all sorts of corruptions and adulterations of the article of +justification." (947, 29.) However, when the controversy on good works +began, and George Major zealously championed the restored formula, +Melanchthon, probably mindful of his former troubles in this matter, +signally failed to support and endorse his friend and colleague. +Moreover, he now advised Major and others to abstain from using the +phrase: Good works are necessary to salvation, "because," said he, "this +appendix [to salvation, _ad salutem_] is interpreted as merit, and +obscures the doctrine of grace." + +In an opinion of December, 1553, Melanchthon explains: "New obedience is +necessary; ... but when it is said: New obedience is necessary to +salvation, the Papists understand that good works merit salvation. This +proposition is false, therefore I relinquish this mode of speech." (_C. +R._ 8, 194.) January 13, 1555, he wrote to the Senate of Nordhausen that +their ministers "should not preach, defend, and dispute the proposition +[Good works are necessary to salvation], because it would immediately be +interpreted to mean that good works merit salvation--_weil doch alsbald +diese Deutung angehaengt wird, als sollten gute Werke Verdienst sein der +Seligkeit._" (410.) September 5, 1556, he said in his letter to Flacius: +"I have always admonished George [Major] not only to explain his +sentence (which he did), but to abandon that form of speech. And he +promised that he would not use it. What more can I ask? The same I did +with others." (842.) + +In the Frankfurt Recess of 1558, written by Melanchthon and signed by +the Lutheran princes, we read: "Although therefore this proposition, +'New obedience is necessary (_Nova obedientia est necessaria, nova +obedientia est debitum_),' must be retained, we nevertheless do not wish +to attach these words, '_ad salutem,_ to salvation,' because this +appendix is interpreted as referring to merit and obscures the doctrine +of grace, for this remains true that man is justified before God and is +an heir of eternal salvation by grace, for the sake of the Lord Christ, +by faith in Him only." (9, 497. 405.) In an opinion written November 13, +1559, Melanchthon (together with Paul Eber, Pfeffinger, and H. Salmut) +again declared: "I say clearly that I do not employ the phrase, 'Good +works are necessary to salvation.'" (969.) In his _Responsiones ad +Articulos Bavaricos_ of 1559 he wrote: "_Ego non utor his verbis: Bona +opera sunt necessaria ad salutem, quia hoc additione 'ad salutem' +intelligitur meritum._ I do not use these words: Good works are +necessary to salvation, because by the addition 'to salvation' a merit +is understood." In his lectures, too, Melanchthon frequently rejected +the appendix (to salvation), and warned his pupils not to use the +phrase. (4, 543; _Lehre und Wehre_ 1908, 78.) + +Thus Melanchthon, time and again, disowned the proposition which he +himself had first introduced. Nowhere, however, did he reject it or +advise against its use because it was inherently erroneous and false as +such but always merely because it was subject to abuse and +misapprehension,--a qualified rejection which self-evidently could not +and did not satisfy his opponents. In an opinion, dated March 4, 1558, +Melanchthon refuses to reject flatly the controverted formula, and +endeavors to show that it is not in disagreement with the mode of speech +employed in the Bible. We read: "Illyricus and his compeers are not +satisfied when we say that the appendix [to salvation] is to be omitted +on account of the false interpretation given it, but demand that we +simply declare the proposition, 'Good works are necessary to salvation,' +to be wrong. Against this it must be considered what also Paul has said, +Rom. 10: Confession is made to salvation (_Confessio fit ad salutem_), +which Wigand maliciously alters thus: Confession is made concerning +salvation (_Confessio fit de salute_). Again, 2 Cor. 7: 'For godly +sorrow worketh repentance to salvation,' Likewise Phil. 2: 'Work out +your own salvation with fear and trembling.' Nor do these words sound +any differently: 'Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be +saved,' Acts 2, 21. But, they say, one must understand these expressions +correctly! That is what we say, too. This disputation however, would be +ended if we agreed to eliminate the appendix and rack our brains no +further--_dass wir den Anhang ausschliessen und nicht weiter +gruebelten._" (9, 474.) + +144. Major Champions Error. + +The immediate cause of the public controversy concerning the question +whether good works are necessary to salvation was George Major, a +devoted pupil and adherent of Melanchthon and a most active member of +the Wittenberg faculty [Major was born April 25, 1502; 1529 Rector of +the school in Magdeburg; 1536 Superintendent in Eisleben; soon after, +preacher and professor in Wittenberg; 1544 Rector of the University of +Wittenberg; in 1548, at Celle, he, too, submitted to the demands of +Maurice, in the Leipzig Interim he merely objected to the insertion of +Extreme Unction; 1552 Superintendent in Eisleben; professor in +Wittenberg from 1553 until his death in 1574]. + +"_That Dr. Pommer_ [Bugenhagen] _and Dr. Major have Caused Offense and +Confusion._ Nicholas Amsdorf, Exul Christi. Magdeburg, 1551,"--such was +the title of a publication which appeared immediately prior to Major's +appointment as Superintendent in Eisleben. In it Bugenhagen (who died +1558) and Major (of course, Melanchthon could and should have been +included) were denounced for their connection with the Leipzig Interim. +Major in particular, was censured for having, in the Interim, omitted +the word _sola,_ "alone," in the phrase "_sola fide justificamur,_ we +are justified by faith alone," and for having emphasized instead that +Christian virtues and good works are meritorious and necessary to +salvation. When, as a result of this publication the preachers of +Eisleben and Mansfeld refused to recognize Major as their superior the +latter promised to justify himself publicly. He endeavored to do so in +his _Answer_ published 1552 at Wittenberg, after he had already been +dismissed by Count Albrecht as Superintendent of Eisleben. The _Answer_ +was entitled: _Auf des ehrenwuerdigen Herrn Niclas von Amsdorfs Schrift, +so jetzund neulich mense Novembri 1551 wider Dr. Major oeffendtlich im +Druck ausgegangen. Antwort Georg Majors._ In it Major disclaimed +responsibility for the Interim (although he had been present at Celle, +where it had been framed), and declared that he had never doubted the +"_sola fide,_ by faith alone." "But," continued Major, "I do confess +that I have hitherto taught and still teach, and henceforth will teach +all my life: that good works are necessary to salvation. And I declare +publicly and with clear and plain words that no one is saved by evil +works, and also that no one is saved without good works. Furthermore I +say, let him who teaches otherwise, even though an angel from heaven, be +accursed (_der sei verflucht_)!" Again: "Therefore it is impossible for +a man to be saved without good works." Major explained that good works +are necessary to salvation, not because they effect or merit forgiveness +of sins, justification, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life +(for these gifts are merited alone by the death of our only Mediator and +Savior Jesus Christ, and can be received only by faith), "but +nevertheless good works _must be present,_ not as a merit, but as due +obedience toward God." (Schlb. 7, 30.) + +In his defiant attitude Major was immediately and firmly opposed by +Amsdorf, Flacius, Gallus, and others. Amsdorf published his "_Brief +Instruction Concerning Dr. Major's Answer, that he is not innocent, as +he boasts._ Ein kurzer Unterricht auf Dr. Majoris Antwort, dass er nicht +unschuldig sei, wie er sich ruehmet," 1552. Major's declaration and +anathema are here met by Amsdorf as follows: "First of all, I would like +to know against whom Dr. George Major is writing when he says: Nobody +merits heaven by evil works. Has even the angry and impetuous Amsdorf +ever taught and written thus? ...We know well, praise God, and confess +that a Christian should and must do good works. Nobody disputes and +speaks concerning that; nor has anybody doubted this. On the contrary, +we speak and dispute concerning this, whether a Christian earns +salvation by the good works which he should and must do.... For we all +say and confess that after his renewal and new birth a Christian should +love and fear God and do all manner of good works, but not that he may +be saved, for he is saved already by faith (_aber nicht darum, dass er +selig werde, denn er ist schon durch den Glauben selig_). This is the +true prophetic and apostolic doctrine, and whoever teaches otherwise is +already accursed and damned. I, therefore, Nicholas von Amsdorf, +declare: Whoever teaches and preaches these words as they read (Good +works are necessary to salvation), is a Pelagian, a mameluke, and a +denier of Christ, and he has the same spirit which prompted Drs. Mensing +and Witzel to write against Dr. Luther, of blessed memory, that good +works are necessary to salvation." (Schlb. 7, 210.) + +Another attack was entitled: "Against the Evangelist of the Holy Gown, +Dr. Miser Major. _Wider den Evangelisten des heiligen Chorrocks, Dr. +Geitz Major,_" 1552. Here Flacius--for he was the author of this +publication--maintained that neither justification, nor salvation, nor +the preservation of the state of grace is to be based on good works. He +objected to Major's propositions because they actually made good works +the antecedent and cause of salvation and robbed Christians of their +comfort. He declared: "When we say: That is necessary for this work or +matter, it means just as much as if we said: It is a cause, or, by this +or that work one effects this or that." As to the practical consequences +of Major's propositions, Flacius remarks: "If therefore good works are +necessary to salvation, and if it is impossible for any one to be saved +without them, then tell us, Dr. Major, how can a man be saved who all +his life till his last breath has led a sinful life, but now when about +to die, desires to apprehend Christ (as is the case with many on their +death-bed or on the gallows)? How will Major comfort such a poor +sinner?" The poor sinner, Flacius continues, would declare: "Major, the +great theologian, writes and teaches as most certain that no one can be +saved without good works, and that good works are absolutely necessary +(_ganz notwendig_) to salvation; therefore I am damned, for I have +heretofore never done any good works." "Furthermore Major will also have +to state and determine the least number of ounces or pounds of good +works one is required to have to obtain salvation." (Preger 1, 363f.) + +In his "Explanation and Answer to the New Subtle Corruption of the +Gospel of Christ--_Erklaerung und Antwort auf die neue subtile +Verfaelschung des Evangelii Christi,_" 1554 Nicholas Gallus maintained +that, if the righteousness presented by Christ alone is the cause of our +justification and salvation, then good works can only be the fruits of +it. In a similar way Schnepf, Chemnitz, and others declared themselves +against Majorism. (Schlb. 7, 55. 162. 205. 534. 572; _C. R._ 9, 475; +Seeberg, _Dogg._ 4, 486.) + +145. Major's Modifications. + +Major answered his opponents in his book of 1553 entitled, _A Sermon on +the Conversion to God of St. Paul and All God-fearing Men._ In it he +most emphatically denied that he had ever taught that good works are +necessary in order to _earn_ salvation, and explained more fully +"whether, in what way, which, and why good works are nevertheless +necessary to salvation." Here he also admits: "This proposition would be +dangerous and dark if I had said without any distinction and +explanation: Good works are necessary to salvation. For thus one might +easily be led to believe that we are saved by good works without faith, +or also by the merit of good works, not by faith alone." "We are not +just and saved by renewal, and because the fulfilment of the Law is +begun in us, as the Interim teaches, but in this life we always remain +just and saved by faith _alone._" (Preger 1, 364ff.) + +Major explains: "When I say: The new obedience or good works which +follow faith are necessary to salvation, this is not to be understood in +the sense that one must earn salvation by good works, or that they +constitute, or could effect or impart the righteousness by which a man +may stand before the judgment-seat of God, but that good works are +effects and fruits of true faith, which are to follow it [faith] and are +wrought by Christ in believers. For whoever believes and is just, he, at +the risk of losing his righteousness and salvation, is in duty bound and +obliged to begin to obey God as his Father, to do that which is good, +and to avoid evil." (370.) + +Major furthermore modified his statement by explaining: Good works are +necessary to salvation, not in order to obtain but to retain, salvation. +"In order to retain salvation and not to lose it again," he said, "they +are necessary to such an extent that, if you fail to do them, it is a +sure indication that your faith is dead and false, a painted faith, an +opinion existing only in your imagination." The reason, said Major +(Menius, too, later on expressed his agreement in this point with +Major), why he had urged his proposition concerning the necessity of +good works to salvation, was the fact that the greater number also of +those who claim to be good evangelical Christians "imagine that they +believe, and imagine and fabricate a faith which may exist without good +works, though this is just as impossible as that the sun should not emit +brightness and splendor." (Tschackert 515; Frank 2, 162. 373.) + +Reducing his teaching to a number of syllogisms, Major argued, in +substance, as follows: Eternal life is given to none but the regenerate; +regeneration, however, is new obedience and good works in the believers +and the beginning of eternal life: hence the new life, which consists in +good works, is necessary to believers for salvation. Again: No one is +saved unless he confesses with his mouth the faith of his heart in +Christ and remains steadfast in such faith, Rom. 10, 9. 10; Matt. 22, +13; hence the works of confessing and persevering faith are necessary to +salvation as fruits of faith, in order that salvation, obtained by +faith, may not be lost by denial and apostasy. (Frank 2, 162.) Again: +The thing without which salvation cannot be preserved is necessary to +salvation; without obedience toward God salvation, received by grace +through faith, cannot be preserved; hence obedience toward God is +necessary in order that by it salvation, received by grace, may be +preserved and may not be lost by disobedience. At the conclusion of his +"Sermon on Paul's Conversion," Major also repeated his anathema against +all those who teach otherwise, and added: "Hiewider moegen nun Amseln +[Amsdorf] oder Drosseln singen und schreien, Haehne [Gallus] kraehen +oder gatzen [gakkern], verloffene und unbekannte Wenden und Walen +[Flacius] laestern, die Schrift verwenden, verkehren, kalumniieren, +schreiben und malen, wie sie wollen, so bin ich doch gewiss, dass diese +Lehre, so in diesem Sermon steht die rechte goettliche Wahrheit ist, +wider welche auch alle hoellischen Pforten nichts Bestaendiges oder +Gruendliches koennen aufbringen, wie boese sie sich auch machen." +(Preger 1, 371. 380.) + +Schluesselburg charges Major also with confounding justification with +sanctification. In proof of this he quotes the following from Major's +remarks on Rom. 8: "Salvation or justification is twofold: one in this +life and the other in eternal life. The salvification in this life +consists, first, in the remission of sins and in the imputation of +righteousness; secondly, in the gift and renewing of the Holy Spirit and +in the hope of eternal life bestowed freely for the sake of Christ. This +salvification and justification is only begun [in this life] and +imperfect; for in those who are saved and justified by faith there still +remains sin, the depravity of nature, there remain also the terrors of +sin and of the Law, the bite of the old Serpent, and death, together +with all miseries that flesh is heir to. Thus by faith and the Holy +Ghost we, indeed, _begin to be justified,_ sanctified, and saved, but we +are not yet _perfectly justified,_ sanctified, and saved. It remains, +therefore, that we become _perfectly just and saved._ Sic per fidem et +Spiritum Sanctum _coepimus quidem iustificari,_ sanctificari, et +salvari, nondum tamen perfecte iusti et salvi sumus. Reliquum igitur +est, ut perfecte iusti et salvi fiamus." (7, 348.) + +146. Menius Sides with Major. + +Prominent among the theologians who were in essential agreement with +Major was Justus Menius. He was born 1499; became Superintendent in +Gotha 1546; was favorably disposed toward the Leipzig Interim; resigned +his position in Gotha 1557; removed to Leipzig, where he published his +polemical writings against Flacius; died August 11, 1558. In 1554 he was +entangled in the Majoristic controversy. In this year Amsdorf demanded +that Menius, who, together with himself, Schnepf, and Stolz, had been +appointed visitors of Thuringia, declare himself against the +Adiaphorists, and, in particular, reject the books of Major, and his +doctrine that good works are necessary to salvation. Menius declined, +because, he said, he had not read these books. As a result Menius was +charged with being a secret adherent of Majorism. + +In 1556, however, Menius himself proved by his publications that this +suspicion was not altogether unwarranted. For in his _Preparation for a +Blessed Death_ and in a _Sermon on Salvation,_ published in that year, +Menius taught that the beginning of the new life in believers is +"necessary to salvation" (Tschackert, 517; _Herzog, R._ 12, 89.) This +caused Flacius to remark in his book, _Concerning the Unity of Those who +in the Past Years have Fought for and against the Adiaphora,_ 1556: +"Major and Menius, in their printed books, are again reviving the error +that good works are necessary to salvation, wherefore it is to be feared +that the latter misfortune will be worse than the former." (Preger 1, +382.) Soon after, Menius was suspended from office and required to clear +himself before the Synod in Eisenach, 1556. Here he subscribed seven +propositions in which the doctrine that good works are necessary to +salvation, or to retain salvation, was rejected. + +The seven Eisenach propositions, signed by Menius, read as follows: "1. +Although this proposition, Good works are necessary to salvation, may be +tolerated in the doctrine of the Law abstractly and ideally (_in +doctrina legis abstractive et de idea tolerari potest_), nevertheless +there are many weighty reasons why it should be avoided and shunned no +less than the other: Christ is a creature. 2. In the forum of +justification and salvation this proposition, Good works are necessary +to salvation, is not at all to be tolerated. 3. In the forum of new +obedience, after reconciliation, good works are not at all necessary to +salvation but for other causes. 4. Faith alone justifies and saves in +the beginning, middle, and end. 5. Good works are not necessary to +retain salvation (_ad retinendam salutem_). 6. Justification and +salvation are synonyms and equipollent or convertible terms, and neither +can nor must be separated in any way (_nec ulla ratione distrahi aut +possunt aut debent_). 7. May therefore the papistical buskin be banished +from our church on account of its manifold offenses and innumerable +dissensions and other causes of which the apostles speak Acts 15." +(Preger 1, 383.) + +In his subscription to these theses Menius declared: "I, Justus Menius, +testify by my present signature that this confession is true and +orthodox, and that, according to the gift given me by God, I have +heretofore by word and writing publicly defended it, and shall continue +to defend it." In this subscription Menius also promised to correct the +offensive expressions in his _Sermon on Salvation._ However, +dissatisfied with the intolerable situation thus created, he resigned, +and soon after became Superintendent in Leipzig. In three violently +polemical books, published there in 1557 and 1558, he freely vented his +long pent-up feelings of anger and animosity, especially against +Flacius. (384f.) + +In these publications, Menius denied that he had ever used the +proposition of Major. However, he not only refused to reject it, but +defended the same error, though in somewhat different terms. He merely +replaced the phrase "good works" by "new life," "new righteousness," +"new obedience," and affirmed "that it is necessary to our salvation +that such be wrought in us by the Holy Ghost." He wrote: The Holy Spirit +renews those who have become children of God by faith in Christ, and +that this is performed in them "this, I say, they need for their +salvation--_sei ihnen zur Seligkeit vonnoeten._" (Frank 2, 223.) Again: +"He [the Holy Spirit] begins righteousness and life in the believers, +which beginning is in this life (as long as we dwell on earth in this +sinful flesh) very weak and imperfect, _but nevertheless necessary to +salvation,_ and will be perfect after the resurrection, that we may walk +in it before God eternally and be saved." (222.) Works, said Menius, +must not be introduced into the article of justification, +reconciliation, and redemption; but when dealing with the article of +sanctification, "then it is correct to say: Sanctification, or renewal +of the Holy Spirit, is necessary to salvation." (Preger 1, 388.) + +With respect to the proposition, Good works are necessary to salvation, +Menius stated that he could not simply condemn it as altogether false +and heretical. Moreover, he argued: "If it is correct to say: +Sanctification, or renewal by the Holy Spirit, is necessary to +salvation, then it cannot be false to say: Good works are necessary to +salvation, since it is certain and cannot be gainsaid that +sanctification and renewal do not and cannot exist without good works." +(386.) Indeed, he himself maintained that "good works are necessary to +salvation in order that we may not lose it again." (387. 391.) At the +same time Menius, as stated above, claimed that he had never employed +Major's proposition, and counseled others to abstain from its use in +order to avoid misinterpretation. The same advice he gave with respect +to his own formula that new obedience is necessary to salvation. (Frank +2, 165. 223.) + +Menius also confounded justification and sanctification. He wrote: "By +faith in Christ alone we become just before God and are saved. Why? +Because by faith one receives first, forgiveness of sins and the +righteousness or obedience of Christ, with which He fulfilled the Law +for us; thereupon, one also receives the Holy Spirit, who effects and +fulfils in us the righteousness required by the Law, here in this life +imperfectly and perfectly in the life to come." (Preger 1, 387.) At the +synod of Eisenach, 1556, the theologians accordingly declared: "Although +it is true that grace and the gift through grace cannot be separated, +but are always together, nevertheless the gift of the Holy Spirit is not +a piece or part, much less a co-cause of justification and salvation, +but an appendix, a consequence, and an additional gift of grace.-- +_Wiewohl es wahr ist, dass gratia und donum per gratiam nicht koennen +getrennt werden, sondern allezeit beieinander sind, so ist doch die Gabe +des Heiligen Geistes nicht ein Stueck oder Teil, viel weniger eine +Mitursache der Justifikation und Salvation, sondern ist ein Anhang, +Folge und Zugab be der Gnade._" (Seeberg 4, 487.) + +147. Attitude of Anti-Majorists. + +With the exception of Menius and other adherents in Electoral Saxony, +Major was firmly opposed by Lutheran ministers and theologians +everywhere. Even when he was still their superintendent, the ministers +of Mansfeld took issue with him; and after he was dismissed by Count +Albrecht, they drafted an _Opinion,_ in which they declared that Major's +proposition obscures the doctrine of God's grace and Christ's merit. +Also the clergy of Luebeck, Hamburg, Lueneburg, and Magdeburg united in +an _Opinion,_ in which they rejected Major's proposition. Chief among +the theologians who opposed him were, as stated, Amsdorf, Flacius, +Wigand, Gallus, Moerlin and Chemnitz. In their publications they +unanimously denounced the proposition that good works are necessary to +salvation, and its equivalents, as dangerous, godless, blasphemous, and +popish. Yet before the controversy they themselves had not all nor +always been consistent and correct in their terminology. + +The _Formula of Concord_ says: "Before this controversy quite a few pure +teachers employed such and similar expressions [that faith is preserved +by good works, etc.] in the exposition of the Holy Scriptures, in no +way, however, intending thereby to confirm the above-mentioned errors of +the Papists." (949, 36.) Concerning the word "faith," 1549, Flacius, for +example had said that our effort to obey God might be called a "_causa +sine qua non,_ or something which serves salvation." His words are: +"Atque hinc apparet, quatenus nostrum studium obediendi Deo dici possit +causa sine qua non, seu huperetikon ti, id est, quiddam subserviens ad +salutem." But when his attention was called to this passage, he first +eliminated the _causa sine qua non_ and substituted _ad vitam aeternam_ +for _ad salutem,_ and afterwards changed this phrase into _ad veram +pietatem._ (Frank 2, 218. 169.) However, as soon as the controversy +began, the Lutherans, notably Flacius, clearly saw the utter falsity of +Major's statements. + +Flacius wrote: "Salvation is forgiveness of sins, as Paul testifies, +Rom. 4, and David, Ps. 32: 'Blessed are they whose sins are forgiven.' +'Thy faith hath made thee whole.' Matt. 9; Mark 5. 10, Luke 7. 8. 18. +Jesus saves sinners and the lost. Matt. 1, 18; 1 Tim. 1. Since, now, +salvation and forgiveness of sins are one and the same thing, consider, +dear Christian, what kind of doctrine this is: No one has received +forgiveness of sins without good works; it is impossible for any one to +receive forgiveness of sins or to be saved without good works; good +works are necessary to forgiveness of sins." (Preger 1, 375.) Again: +"Young children and those who are converted in their last hour (who +certainly constitute the greater part), must confess that they neither +possess, nor will possess, any good works, for they die forthwith. +Indeed, St. Bernard also wrote when on his deathbed: _Perdite vixi_--I +have led a wicked life! And what is still more, all Christians, when in +their dying moments, they are striving with sins, must say: 'All our +good works are like filthy rags; in my life there is nothing good;' and, +as David says, Ps.51: 'Before Thee I am nothing but sin,' as Dr. Luther +explains it." (376.) Again: "We are concerned about this, that poor and +afflicted consciences may have a firm and certain consolation against +sin, death, devil, and hell, and thus be saved. For if a condition or +appendix concerning our good works and worthiness is required as +necessary to salvation, then, as Dr. Major frequently discusses this +matter very excellently, it is impossible to have a firm and solid +consolation." (376.) + +Flacius showed that Major's proposition taken as it reads, can be +interpreted only in a papistical sense, and that no amount of +explanations is able to cure it of its ingrained falsity. Major, said +he, must choose between his proposition or the interpretations which he +places upon it; for the former does not admit of the latter. He added +that a proposition which is in constant need of explanations in order +not to be misunderstood is not adapted for religious instruction. From +the fact, says Flacius, that the justified are obliged to obey the Law, +it follows indeed that good works are necessary, but not that they are +necessary to salvation (as Major and Menius inferred). "From the +premises [that Christians are in duty bound to obey the Law and to +render the new obedience] it merely follows that this obedience is +necessary; but nothing is here said of salvation." (392.) Flacius showed +that Major's proposition, even with the proviso that each and every +merit of works was to be excluded, remained objectionable. The words +"necessary to, _necessaria ad,_" always, he insisted, designate +something that precedes, moves, works, effects. The proposition: +Justification, salvation, and faith are necessary to good works, cannot +be reversed, because good works are not antecedents, but consequents of +justification, salvation, and faith. + +For the same reason Flacius objected to the phrase that good works are +necessary as _causa sine qua non._ "Dear Dr. G." (Major), says he, "ask +the highly learned Greek philosophers for a little information as to +what they say _de causa sine qua non, hon ouk aneu._ Ask I say, the +learned and the unlearned, ask philosophy, reason, and common languages, +whether it is not true that it [_causa sine qua non_] must precede." +(377.) No one, said he would understand the propositions of Major and +Menius correctly. Illustrating this point Flacius wrote: "Can one become +a carpenter without the house which he builds afterwards? Can one make a +wagon or ship without driving or sailing? I say, yes! Or, dear Doctor, +are we accustomed to say: Driving and sailing is necessary to the wagon +and ship respectively, and it is impossible for a wagon or ship to be +made without driving or sailing? I hear: No!" (375.) "Nobody says: +Fruits and leaves are necessary to the tree; wine and grapes are +necessary to the vineyard; or dwelling is necessary to a house; driving +and sailing, to a wagon and ship; riding is necessary to a horse; but +thus they speak: Wagons and horses are necessary to riding, a ship is +necessary to sailing." (391.) + +The charge that Major's proposition robbed Christians of their assurance +of salvation was urged also by Nicholas Gallus. He says: It is giving +with one hand and taking again with the other when Major adds [to his +proposition concerning the necessity of good works to salvation] that +our conscience is not to look upon our works, but on Christ alone. +(Frank 2, 224.) The same point was stressed in the _Opinion_ of the +ministers of Luebeck, Hamburg, Lueneburg, and Magdeburg, published by +Flacius and Gallus in 1553. (220.) The Hamburg theologians declared: +"This appendix [necessary to salvation, _ad salutem_] indicates a cause +and a merit." They added that in this sense also the phrase was +generally understood by the Papists. (Planck, _Geschichte des prot. +Lehrbegriffes_ 5, 505. 497.) Gallus also explained that it was +papistical to infer: By sins we lose salvation, hence it is retained by +good works; or, Sins condemn, hence good works save. (Frank 2, 171.) +Hesshusius wrote to Wigand: "I regard Eber's assertion that good works +are necessary to justification _because they must be present,_ as false +and detrimental. For Paul expressly excludes good works from the +justification of a sinner before God, not only when considered a merit +cause, glory, dignity, price, object or trust, and medium of +application, etc., but also as to the necessity of their presence +(_verum etiam quoad necessitatem praesentiae_). If it is necessary that +good works be present with him who is to be justified, then Paul errs +when he declares that a man is justified without the works of the Law." +(172.) + +Regarding this point, that good works are necessary to justification in +so far as they must be present, the Majorists appealed to Luther, who, +however, had merely stated that faith is never alone, though it alone +justifies. His axiom was: "Faith alone justifies, but it is not alone-- +_Fides sola iustificat, sed non est sola._" According to Luther good +works, wherever they are found, are present in virtue of faith; where +they are not present, they are absent because faith is lacking; nor can +they preserve the faith by which alone they are produced. At the +Altenburg Colloquy (1568 to 1569) the theologians of Electoral Saxony +insisted that, since true faith does not and cannot exist in those who +persevere in sins against their conscience, good works must not be +altogether and absolutely excluded from justification, at least their +necessity and presence must not be regarded as unnecessary. (189.) The +theologians of Ducal Saxony, however, denied "that in the article and +act of justification our good works are necessary by necessity of +presence. _Sed impugnamus istam propositionem, in articulo et actu +iustificationis bona nostra opera necessaria esse necessitate +praesentiae._" "On the other hand, however, they, too, were solicitous +to affirm the impossibility of faith's coexisting with an evil purpose +to sin against God in one and the same mind at the same time." (237; +Gieseler 3, 2, 251.) In the _Apology of the Book of Concord_ the +Lutheran theologians declared: "The proposition (Justification of faith +requires the presence of good works) was rejected [in the _Formula of +Concord_] because it cannot be understood otherwise than of the cause of +justification. For whatever is present in justification as necessary in +such a manner that without its presence justification can neither be nor +occur, that must indeed be understood as being a cause of justification +itself." (238) + +148. Major's Concessions Not Satisfactory. + +In order to put an end to the controversy, Major offered a concession in +his "_Confession concerning the Article of Justification,_ that is, +concerning the doctrine that by faith alone, without any merit, for the +sake of Christ, a man has forgiveness of sins, and is just before God +and an heir of eternal salvation," 1558. Here he states that he had not +used the controverted formula for several years and, in order not to +give further cause for public contention, he promised "not to employ the +words, 'Good works are necessary to salvation,' any more, on account of +the false interpretations placed upon it." (Preger 1, 396.) In making +this concession, however, Major did not at all intend to retract his +teaching or to condemn his proposition as false. He promised to abstain +from its use, not because he was now convinced of his error and viewed +his propositions as false and incorrect as such, but merely because it +was ambiguous and liable to abuse, and because he wished to end the +conflict. (Frank 2, 166f. 223.) + +Nor did Major later on ever admit that he had erred in the matter. In an +oration delivered 1567 he boasted of his intimate relation and doctrinal +agreement with Luther and Melanchthon, adding: "Neither did I ever +deviate, nor, God assisting me, shall I ever deviate, from the truth +once acknowledged. _Nec discessi umquam nec Deo iuvante discedam ab +agnita semel veritate._" He had never thought or taught, said he, that +good works are a cause of justification. And concerning the proposition, +"Good works are necessary to salvation," he had expressly declared that +he intended to abstain from its use "because it had offended some on +account of its ambiguity, _cum propter ambiguitatem offenderit +aliquos._" He continued: "The facts show that we [the professors of +Wittenberg University] are and have remained guardians of that doctrine +which Luther and Melanchthon ... delivered to us, in whose writings from +the time of the [Augsburg] Confession there is neither a dissonance nor +a discrepancy, either among themselves or from the foundation, nor +anything obscure or perplexing." (Frank 2, 224. 167.) + +Also in his Testament (_Testamentum Doctoris Georgii Majoris_), +published 1570, Major emphatically denied that he had ever harbored or +taught any false views concerning justification, salvation, and good +works. Of his own accord he had also abandoned the phrases: "Good works +are necessary to salvation; it is impossible to be saved without good +works; no one has ever been saved without good works--_Bona opera sunt +necessaria ad salutem; impossibile est, sine bonis operibus salvum +fieri; nemo umquam sine bonis operibus salvatus est._" He had done this +in order to obviate the misapprehension as though he taught that good +works are a cause of salvation which contribute to merit and effect +salvation. According to this _Testament,_ he desired his doctrines and +writings to be judged. In future he would not dispute with anybody about +these phrases. (168.) Thus in his _Testament,_ too, Major withdrew his +statements not because they were simply false, but only because they +had been interpreted to mean that good works are the efficient cause of +justification and salvation. And while Major in later writings did +eliminate the appendix "_ad salutem,_ to salvation," or "_ad vitam +aeternam,_ to eternal life," he retained, and continued to teach, +essentially the same error in another garb, namely, that good works are +necessary in order to retain faith. Enumerating, in his _Explanation of +the Letter to the Galatians,_ of 1560, the purposes on account of which +good works ought to be rendered, he mentions as the "first, in order to +retain faith, the Holy Spirit, the grace bestowed, and a good +conscience." (218.) + +Thus Major was willing to abandon as dangerous and ambiguous, and to +abstain from the use of the formula, "Good works are necessary to +salvation," but refused to reject it as false and to make a public +admission and confession of his error. This, however, was precisely what +his opponents demanded; for they were convinced that they could be +satisfied with nothing less. As a result the controversy continued till +Major's death, in 1574. The Jena professors, notably Flacius, have been +charged with prolonging the controversy from motives of personal +revenge. (Schaff, 276.) No doubt, the Wittenbergers had gone to the very +limit of rousing the animosity and resentment of Flacius (who himself, +indeed, was not blameless in the language used against his opponents). +Major had depicted Flacius as a most base and wicked man, as a cunning +and sly adventurer; as a tyrant, who, after having suppressed the +Wittenbergers, would, as a pope, lord it over all Germany; as an +Antinomian and a despiser of all good works, etc. (Preger 1, 397.) In +the address of October 18, 1567 already referred to, Major said: "There +was in this school [Wittenberg] a vagabond of uncertain origin, +fatherland, religion, and faith who called himself Flacius Illyricus.... +He was the first one to spew out against this school, against its +principal Doctors, against the churches of these regions, against the +princes themselves, the poison which he had brewed and imbibed some time +ago, and, having gnawed and consumed with the bite of a serpent the womb +of his mother, to destroy the harmony of these churches, at first by +spreading his dreams, fables, and gossip but now also by calumnies and +manifest lies." (Frank 2, 217.) Melanchthon, too, had repeatedly written +in a similar vein. In an _Opinion_ of his, dated March 4, 1558, we read: +"Even if they [Flacius and his adherents] condemn and banish me, I am +well satisfied; for I do not desire to associate with them, because I +well know that the said Illyricus with his adherents does not seek the +honor of God, but publicly opposes the truth, and as yet has never +declared himself concerning the entire sum of Christian doctrine." (_C. +R._ 9, 463. 476. 311.) In an _Opinion_ of March 9, 1559, Melanchthon +even insinuated that Flacius denied the Trinity. (763.) Before this, +August, 1549, he had written to Fabricius: "The Slavic runagate (Slavus +drapetes) received many benefits from our Academy and from me. But we +have nursed a serpent in our bosom. He deserves to be branded on his +forehead as the Macedonian king did with a soldier: 'Ungrateful +stranger, xevnos acharistos.' Nor do I believe that the source of his +hatred is any other than that the place of Cruciger was not given to +him. But I omit these disagreeable narrations." (7, 449. 478 ff.) This +personal abuse, however, was not the reason why Flacius persisted in his +opposition despite the concessions made by Major and Menius,-- +concessions with which even such moderate men as Martin Chemnitz were +not satisfied. + +Flacius continued his opposition because he could not do otherwise +without sacrificing his own principles, compromising the truth, and +jeopardizing the doctrine of justification. He did not yield because he +was satisfied with nothing less than a complete victory of the divine +truth and an unqualified retraction of error. The truly objective manner +in which he dealt with this matter appears from his _Strictures on the +Testament of Dr. Major (Censura de Testamento D. Majoris)_. Here we +read, in substance: In his _Testament_ Major covers his error with the +same sophism which he employed in his former writings. For he says that +he ascribes the entire efficient cause, merit, and price of our +justification and salvation to Christ alone, and therefore excludes and +removes all our works and virtues. This he has set forth more fully and +more clearly in his previous writings, saying that the proposition, +"Good works are necessary to salvation," can be understood in a double +sense; _viz._, that they are necessary to salvation as a certain merit, +price, or efficient cause of justification or salvation (as the Papists +understand and teach it), or that they are necessary to salvation as a +certain debt or an indispensable cause (_causa sine qua non_), or a +cause without which it is impossible for the effect of salvation to +follow or for any one to obtain it. He now confesses this same opinion. +He does not expressly eliminate "the indispensable cause, or the +obligation without the fulfilment of which it is impossible for any one +to be preserved, as he asserted repeatedly before this, from which it +appears that he adheres to his old error. _Et non diserte tollit causam +sine qua non seu debitum, sine cuius persolutione sit impossibile +quemquam servari, quod toties antea asseruit; facile patet, eum +pristinum illum suum errorem retinere._" (Schlb. 7, 266; Preger 1, 398.) +Flacius demanded an unqualified rejection of the statement, "Good works +are necessary to salvation"--a demand with which Major as well as +Melanchthon refused to comply. (_C. R._ 9, 474 f.) + +The _Formula of Concord_, however, sanctioned the attitude of Flacius. +It flatly rejected the false and dubious formulas of Melanchthon, Major, +and Menius concerning the necessity of good works to salvation, and +fully restored Luther's doctrine. Luther's words concerning "good works" +are quoted as follows: "We concede indeed that instruction should be +given also concerning love and good works, yet in such a way that this +be done when and where it is necessary, namely, when otherwise and +outside of this matter of justification we have to do with works. But +here the chief matter dealt with is the question not whether we should +also do good works and exercise love, but by what means we can be +justified before God and saved. And here we answer with St. Paul: that +we are justified by faith in Christ alone, and not by the deeds of the +Law or by love. Not that we hereby entirely reject works and love, as +the adversaries falsely slander and accuse us, but that we do not allow +ourselves to be led away, as Satan desires, from the chief matter, with +which we have to do here, to another and foreign affair, which does not +at all belong to this matter. Therefore, whereas and as long as we are +occupied with this article of justification, we reject and condemn +works, since this article is so constituted that it can admit of no +disputation or treatment whatever regard ing works. Therefore in this +matter we cut short all Law and works of the Law." (925, 29.) + +The _Formula of Concord_ rejects the Majoristic formula, not because it +is ambiguous, but because it is false. Concerning ambiguous phrases it +declares: "To avoid strife about words, _aequivocationes vocabulorum, +i.e._, words and expressions which are applied and used in various +meanings, should be carefully and distinctly explained." (874, 51.) An +ambiguous phrase or statement need not be condemned, because it may be +made immune from error and misapprehension by a careful explanation. The +statement, "Good works are necessary to salvation," however, does not +admit of such treatment. It is inherently false and cannot be cured by +any amount of explanation or interpretation. Because of this inherent +falsity it must be rejected as such. Logically and grammatically the +phrase, "Good works are necessary to salvation," reverses the correct +theological order, by placing works before faith and sanctification +before justification. It turns things topsy-turvy. It makes the effect +the cause; the consequent, the antecedent, and vice versa. + +Not personal animosity, but this fundamental falsity of the Majoristic +formula was, in the last analysis, the reason why the explanations and +concessions made by Major and Menius did not and could not satisfy their +opponents. They maintained, as explained above, that the words +"necessary to" always imply "something that precedes, moves, effects, +works," and that, accordingly, the obnoxious propositions of Major +"place good works before the remission of sins and before salvation." +(Preger 1, 377.) Even Planck admits that only force could make the +proposition, "Good works are necessary to salvation," say, "Good works +must follow faith and justification." "According to the usage of every +language," says he, "a phrase saying that one thing is necessary to +another designates a causal connection. Whoever dreamt of asserting that +heat is necessary to make it day, because it is a necessary effect of +the rays of the sun, by the spreading of which it becomes day." (4, 542. +485.) Without compromising the truth and jeopardizing the doctrine of +justification, therefore, the Lutherans were able to regard as +satisfactory only a clear and unequivocal rejection of Majorism as it is +found in the _Formula of Concord._ + +149. Absurd Proposition of Amsdorf. + +Nicholas Amsdorf, the intimate and trusted friend of Luther, was among +the most zealous of the opponents of Majorism. He was born December 3, +1483; professor in Wittenberg; 1521 in Worms with Luther; superintendent +in Magdeburg; 1542 bishop at Naumburg; banished by Maurice in 1547, he +removed to Magdeburg; soon after professor and superintendent in Jena; +opposed the Interimists, Adiaphorists, Osiandrists, Majorists, +Synergists, Sacramentarians, Anabaptists, and Schwenckfeldians; died at +Eisenach May 14, 1565. Regarding the bold statements of Major as a blow +at the very heart of true Lutheranism, Amsdorf antagonized his teaching +as a "most pernicious error," and denounced Major as a Pelagian and a +double Papist. But, alas, the momentum of his uncontrolled zeal carried +him a step too far--over the precipice. He declared that good works are +detrimental and injurious to salvation, _bona opera perniciosa_ (noxia) +_esse ad salutem._ He defended his paradoxical statement in a +publication of 1559 against Menius, with whose subscription to the +Eisenach propositions, referred to above, he was not satisfied; chiefly +because Menius said there that he had taught and defended them also in +the past. The flagrant blunder of Amsdorf was all the more offensive +because it appeared on the title of his tract, reading as follows: +"_Dass diese Propositio: 'Gute Werke sind zur Seligkeit schaedlich,' +eine rechte, wahre christliche Propositio sei,_ durch die heiligen +Paulum und Lutherum gelehrt und gepredigt. Niclas von Amsdorf, 1559. +That this proposition, 'Good works are injurious to salvation,' is a +correct, true, Christian proposition taught and preached by Sts. Paul +and Luther." (Frank 2, 228.) + +Luther, to whose writings Amsdorf appealed, had spoken very guardedly +and correctly in this matter. He had declared: Good works are +detrimental to the righteousness of faith, "if one presumes to be +justified by them, _si quis per ea praesumat iustificari._" Wherever +Luther speaks of the injuriousness of good works, it is always _sub +specie iustificationis,_ that is to say, viewing good works as entering +the article of justification, or the forgiveness of sins. (Weimar 7, 59; +10, 3, 373. 374. 387; E. 16, 465. 484; Tschackert, 516.) What vitiated +the proposition as found in Amsdorf's tract was the fact that he had +omitted the modification added by Luther. Amsdorf made a flat statement +of what Luther had asserted, not flatly, _nude et simpliciter,_ but with +a limitation, _secundum quid._ + +Self-evidently the venerable Amsdorf, too, who from the very beginning +of the Reformation had set an example in preaching as well as in living +a truly Christian life, did not in the least intend to minimize, or +discourage the doing of, good works by his offensive phrase, but merely +to eliminate good works from the article of justification. As a matter +of fact, his extravagant statement, when taken as it reads, flatly +contradicted his own clear teaching. In 1552 he had declared against +Major, as recorded above: "Who has ever taught or said that one should +or need not do good works?" "For we all say and confess that after his +renewal and new birth a Christian should love and fear God and do all +manner of good works," etc. What Amsdorf wished to emphasize was not +that good works are dangerous in themselves and as such, but in the +article of salvation. For this reason he added: "_ad salutem,_ to +salvation." By this appendix he meant to emphasize that good works are +dangerous when introduced as a factor in justification and trusted in +for one's salvation. + +Melanchthon refers to the proposition of Amsdorf as "filthy speech, +_unflaetige Rede._" In 1557, at Worms, he wrote: "Now Amsdorf writes: +Good works are detrimental to salvation.... The Antinomians and their +like must avoid the filthy speech, 'Good works are detrimental to +salvation.'" (_C. R._ 9, 405 ff.) Though unanimously rejecting his +blundering proposition, Amsdorf's colleagues treated the venerable +veteran of Lutheranism with consideration and moderation. No one, says +Frank, disputed the statement in the sense in which Amsdorf took it, and +its form was so apparently false that it could but be generally +disapproved. (2, 176.) The result was that the paradox assertion +remained without any special historical consequences. + +True, Major endeavored to foist Amsdorf's teaching also on Flacius. He +wrote: Flacius "endeavors with all his powers to subvert this +proposition, that good works are necessary to those who are to be saved; +and tries to establish the opposite blasphemy, that good works are +dangerous to those who are to be saved, and that they area hindrance to +eternal salvation--_evertere summis viribus hanc propositionem conatur: +bona opera salvandis esse necessaria. Ac contra stabilire oppositam +blasphemiam studet: Bona opera salvandis periculosa sunt et aeternae +saluti officiunt._" Major continues: "Let pious minds permit Flacius and +his compeers, at their own risk, to prostitute their eternal salvation +to the devils, and by their execrations and anathemas to sacrifice +themselves to the devil and his angels." (Frank 2, 221.) This, however, +was slander pure and simple, for Flacius was among the first publicly to +disown Amsdorf when he made his extravagant statement against Menius. +(Preger 1, 392. 384.) + +The _Formula of Concord_ most emphatically rejects the error of Amsdorf +(the bare statement that good works are injurious to salvation) "as +offensive and detrimental to Christian discipline." And justly so; for +the question was not what Amsdorf meant to say: but what he really did +say. The _Formula_ adds: "For especially in these last times it is no +less, needful to admonish men to Christian discipline and good works, +and remind them how necessary it is that they exercise themselves in +good works as a declaration of their faith and gratitude to God, than +that works be not mingled in the article of justification; because men +may be damned by an Epicurean delusion concerning faith, as well as by +papistic and Pharisaical confidence in their own works and merits." +(801, 18.) + +150. Other Points of Dispute. + +Is it correct to say: God requires good works, or, Good works are +necessary, and, Christians are obliged or in duty bound to do good works +(_bona opera sunt necessaria et debita_)? This question, too, was a +point of dispute in the Majoristic controversy. Originally the +controversy concerning these terms and phrases was a mere logomachy, +which, however, later on (when, after the error lurking in the absolute +rejection of them had been pointed out, the phrases were still flatly +condemned), developed into a violent controversy. The _Formula of +Concord_ explains: "It has also been argued by some that good works are +not _necessary (noetig)_, but are _voluntary (freiwillig)_, because they +are not extorted by fear and the penalty of the Law, but are to be done +from a voluntary spirit and a joyful heart. Over against this the other +side contended that good works are _necessary_. This controversy was +originally occasioned by the words _necessitas_ and _libertas_ +["_notwendig_" und "_frei_"], that is, necessary and free, because +especially the word _necessitas,_ necessary, signifies not only the +eternal, immutable order according to which all men are obliged and in +duty bound to obey God, but sometimes also a coercion, by which the Law +forces men to good works. But afterwards there was a disputation not +only concerning the words, but the doctrine itself was attacked in the +most violent manner, and it was contended that the new obedience in the +regenerate is not necessary because of the above-mentioned divine +order." (939, 4f.) + +From the very beginning of the Reformation the Romanists had slandered +Luther also by maintaining that he condemned good works and simply +denied their necessity. A similar charge was made by the Majorists +against their opponents generally. And Melanchthon's writings, too, +frequently create the same impression. But it was an inference of their +own. They argued: If good works are not necessary to salvation, they +cannot be necessary at all. Wigand wrote: "It is a most malicious and +insidious trait in the new teachers [the Majorists] that they, in order +to gloss over their case, cry out with the Papists that the controversy +is whether good works are necessary. But this is not in dispute, for no +Christian ever denied it. Good works are necessary; that is certainly +true. But the conflict arises from the appendix attached to it, and the +patch pasted to it, _viz._, 'to salvation.' And here all God-fearing +men say that it is a detrimental, offensive, damnable, papistic +appendix." (Planck 4, 498. 544.) + +It is true, however, that the Antinomians (who will be dealt with more +extensively in a following chapter) as well as several other opponents +of the Majorists were unwilling to allow the statement, "Good works are +necessary." Falsely interpreting the proposition as necessarily +implying, not merely moral obligation, but also compulsion and coercion, +they rejected it as unevangelical and semipopish. The word "must" is +here not in place, they protested. Agricola, as well as the later +Antinomians (Poach and Otto), rejected the expressions "_necessarium,_ +necessary" and "duty, _debitum,_" when employed in connection with good +works. January 13, 1555, Melanchthon wrote: "Some object to the words, +'Good works are _necessary,_' or, 'One _must_ do good works.' They +object to the two words _necessitas_ and _debitum._ And the +Court-preacher [Agricola] at that time juggled with the word _must: 'das +Muss ist versalzen._' He understood _necessarium_ and _debitum_ as +meaning, coerced by fear of punishment, _extortum coactione_ (extorted +by coercion), and spoke high-sounding words, such as, how good works +came without the Law. Yet the first meaning of _necessarium_ and +_debitum_ is not _extortum coactione,_ but the eternal and immutable +order of divine wisdom; and the Lord Christ and Paul themselves employ +these words _necessarium_ and _debitum._" In December, 1557, he wrote: +"They [the Antinomians] object to the proposition: 'New obedience is +necessary;' again: 'New obedience is a debt (_debitum_).' And now +Amsdorf writes: 'Good works are detrimental to salvation,'and it was +Eisleben's [Agricola's] slogan: 'Das Muss ist versalzen.' In Nordhausen +some one has publicly announced a disputation which contains the +proposition: '_Summa ars Chriatianorum est nescire legem._--The highest +art of a Christian is not to know the Law.'" March 4, 1558: "Some, for +instance, Amsdorf and Gallus, object to the word _debitum._" (_C. R._ 8, +411. 194. 842; 9, 405. 474.) + +Andrew Musculus, professor in Frankfurt on the Oder, is reported to have +said in a sermon, 1558: "They are all the devil's own who teach: 'New +obedience is necessary (_nova obedientia est necessaria_)'; the word +'must (necessary)' does not belong here. 'Good works are necessary to +salvation,' and, 'Good works are necessary, but not to salvation'--these +are both of a cloth--_das sind zwei Hosen aus EINEM Tuch._" (Meusel, +_Handlexikon_ 4, 710; Gieseler 3, 2, 216.) + +Over against this extreme position, Melanchthon, Flacius, Wigand, +Moerlin, and others held that it was entirely correct to say that good +works are necessary. In the _Opinion_ of November 13, 1559, referred to +above, Melanchthon, after stating that he does not employ the phrase, +"Good works are necessary to salvation," continues as follows: "But I do +affirm that these propositions are true, and that one may properly and +without sophistry say, 'The new obedience or good works are necessary,' +because obedience is due to God and because it is necessary that, after +the Holy Spirit has been received, regeneration or conversion be +followed by motions corresponding to the Holy Spirit.... And the words +'duty' and 'necessity' signify the order of God's wisdom and justice; +they do not signify an obedience which is compelled or extorted by +fear." (_C. R._ 9, 969.) The Frankfurt _Rezess_ of 1558 [Rezess, +Rueckzug, Vergleich = Agreement], written by Melanchthon and signed by +the Lutheran princes, declared: "These propositions, '_Nova obedientia +est necessaria, nova obedientia est debitum,_ New obedience is +necessary, is a debt,' shall not be rejected." The _Rezess_ explained: +"It is certainly a divine, immovable truth that new obedience is +necessary in those who are justified; and these words are to be retained +in their true meaning. 'Necessary' signifies divine order. New obedience +is necessary and is a debt for the very reason that it is an immutable +divine order that the rational creature obeys God." (_C. R._ 9, 496. +498.) + +In a similar way this matter was explained by Flacius and other +theologians. They all maintained that it is correct to say, Good works +are necessary. Even Amsdorf wrote 1552 in his _Brief Instruction_ +against Major: "For we all say and confess that a Christian after his +renewal and new birth _should_ and _must_ (_soll und muss_) love and +fear God and do all manner of good works, but not in order to be saved +thereby, for he is saved already by faith." (Schlb. 7, 210.) This view, +which was also plainly taught in the _Augsburg Confession,_ prevailed +and received the sanction of our Church in Article IV of the _Formula of +Concord._ When a Christian spontaneously and by the free impulse of his +own faith does (and would do, even if there were no law at all) what, +according to the holy will of God, revealed in the Ten Commandments, he +is obliged and in duty bound to do--such works, and such only, are, +according to the _Formula of Concord,_ truly good works, works pleasing +to God. It was the doctrine of Luther, who had written, _e.g._, in his +_Church Postil_ of 1521: "No, dear man, you [cannot earn heaven by your +good works, but you] must have heaven and already be saved before you do +good works. Works do not merit heaven, but, on the contrary, heaven, +imparted by pure grace, does good works spontaneouslv, seeking no merit, +but only the welfare of the neighbor and the glory of God. _Nein, lieber +Mensch, du musst den Himmel haben und schon selig sein, ehe du gute +Werke tust. Die Werke verdienen nicht den Himmel, sondern wiederum +[umgekehrt], der Himmel, aus lauter Gnaden gegeben, tut die guten Werke +dahin, ohne Gesuch des Verdienstes, nur dem Naechsten zu Nutz und Gott +zu Ehren._" (E. 7, 174.) Again, in _De Servio Arbitrio_ of 1525: "The +children of God do good entirely voluntarily, seeking no reward, but +only the glory and will of God, ready to do the good even if, assuming +the impossible, there were neither heaven nor hell. _Filii autem Dei +gratuita voluntate faciunt bonum, nullum praemium quaerentes, sed solam +gloriam et voluntatem Dei, parati bonum facere, si per impossibile neque +regnum neque infernus esset._" (E. v. a. 7, 234.) + + +XIV. The Synergistic Controversy. + +151. Relation of Majorism and Synergism. + +The theological connection between Majorism and synergism is much closer +than is generally realized. Both maintain that, in part, or in a certain +respect, salvation depends not on grace alone, but also on man and his +efforts. The Majorists declared good works to be necessary to salvation, +or at least to the preservation of faith and of salvation. Thus +salvation would, in a way, depend on the right conduct of a Christian +after his conversion. The Synergists asserted: Man, too, must do his bit +and cooperate with the Holy Spirit if he desires to be saved. Conversion +and salvation, therefore, would depend, at least in part, on man's +conduct toward converting grace, and he would be justified and saved, +not by grace alone, but by a faith which to a certain extent is a work +of his own. The burden of both, Majorism and synergism, was the denial +of the _sola gratia._ Both coordinated man and God as the causes of our +salvation. Indeed, consistently carried out, both destroyed the central +Christian truth of justification by grace alone and, with it, the +assurance of a gracious God and of eternal salvation--the supreme +religious concern of Luther and the entire Lutheran theology. + +Majorists and Synergists employed also the same line of argument. Both +derived their doctrine, not from any clear statements of the Bible, but +by a process of anti-Scriptural and fallacious reasoning. The Majorists +inferred: Since evil works and sins against conscience destroy faith +and justification, good works are required for their preservation. The +Synergists argued: Since all who are not converted or finally saved must +blame, not God, but themselves for rejecting grace, those, too, who are +converted must be credited with at least a small share in the work of +their salvation, that is to say, with a better conduct toward grace than +the conduct of those who are lost. + +However, while Majorism as well as synergism, as stated, represented +essentially the same error and argued against the doctrine of grace in +the same unscriptural manner, the more subtle, veiled, and hence the +more dangerous of the two, no doubt, was synergism, which reduced man's +cooperation to a seemingly harmless minimum and, especially in the +beginning, endeavored to clothe itself in ambiguous phrases and +apparently pious and plausible formulas. Perhaps this accounts also for +the fact that, though Melanchthon and the Majorists felt constrained to +abandon as described in the preceding chapter, the coarser and more +offensive Majoristic propositions, they had at the same time no +compunctions about retaining and defending essentially the same error in +their doctrine of conversion; and that, on the other hand, their +opponents, who by that time fully realized also the viciousness of +synergism, were not satisfied with Major's concessions in the +controversy on good works, because he and his colleagues in Wittenberg +were known to identify themselves with the Synergists. For the same +reason the dangerous error lurking in the synergistic phrases does not +seem from the first to have been recognized by the Lutherans in the same +degree as was the error contained in the Majoristic propositions, which +indeed had even during Luther's life to some extent become a subject of +dispute. Yet it seems hardly possible that for years they should not +have detected the synergistic deviations in Wittenberg from Luther's +doctrine of free will. Perhaps the fact that at the time when +Melanchthon came out boldly with his synergism, 1548, the Lutherans were +engrossed with the Adiaphoristic and Majoristic controversies may help +to explain, at least to some extent, why the synergistic error caused +small concern, and was given but little consideration in the beginning. +As a matter of fact, although a considerable amount of synergistic +material had been published by 1548, the controversy did not begin till +1556, while the error that good works are necessary to salvation was +publicly opposed soon after its reappearance in the Leipzig Interim. At +the Weimar Disputation, 1560, Strigel referred to this silence, saying: +"I am astonished that I am pressed so much in this matter [concerning +synergism], since three years ago at Worms no mention whatever [?] was +made of this controversy, while many severe commands were given +regarding others." (Richard, _Conf. Prin.,_ 349.) The matter was +mentioned at Worms, but Melanchthon is reported to have satisfied Brenz +and others by declaring that in the passages of his _Loci_ suspected of +synergism he meant "the regenerated will." + +152. Luther's Monergism. + +According to Lutheran theology, the true opposite of synergism is not +Calvinism with its double election, irresistible grace, denial of +universal redemption, etc., but the monergism of grace, embracing +particularly the tenets that in consequence of Adam's fall man is +spiritually dead and utterly unable to contribute in any degree or +manner toward his own justification and conversion; moreover, that, +being an enemy of God, man, of his own natural powers, is active only in +resisting the saving efforts of God, as well as able and prone only to +do so; that God alone and in every respect is the Author of man's +conversion, perseverance, and final salvation; and that, since the grace +of God is universal and earnestly proffered, man alone is responsible +for, and the cause of, his own damnation. + +_"Sola fides iustificat,_ Faith alone justifies"--that was the great +slogan of the Reformation sounded forth by Luther and his followers with +ever increasing boldness, force and volume. And the distinct meaning of +this proposition, which Luther called "_hoc meum dogma,_ this my dogma," +was just this, that we are saved not by any effort or work of our own, +but in every respect by God's grace alone. The restoration of this +wonderful truth, taught by St. Paul, made Luther the Reformer of the +Church. This truth alone, as Luther had experienced, is able to impart +solid comfort to a terror-stricken conscience, engender divine assurance +of God's pardon and acceptance, and thus translate a poor miserable +sinner from the terrors of hell into paradise. + +In the _Seven Penitential Psalms,_ written 1517, Luther says: "If God's +mercy is to be praised, then all [human] merits and worthiness must come +to naught." (Weimar 1, 161.) "Not such are blessed as have no sins or +extricate themselves by their own labors, but only those whose sins are +graciously forgiven by God." (167.) "It is characteristic of God (_es +ist Gottes Natur_) to make something out of nothing. Hence God cannot +make anything out of him who is not as yet nothing.... Therefore God +receives none but the forsaken, heals none but the ill, gives sight to +none but the blind, quickens none but the dead, makes pious none but the +sinners, makes wise none but the ignorant,--in short, He has mercy on +none but the miserable, and gives grace to none but those who are in +disgrace. Whoever therefore, is a proud saint, wise or just, cannot +become God's material and receive God's work within himself, but remains +in his own work and makes an imaginary, seeming, false, and painted +saint of himself, _i.e._, a hypocrite." (183.) "For he whom Thou [God] +dost justify will never become righteous by his works; hence it is +called Thy righteousness, since Thou givest it to us by grace, and we do +not obtain it by works." (192.) "Israel the true [new] man, does not +take refuge in himself, nor in his strength, nor in his righteousness +and wisdom.... For help and grace is not with themselves. They are +sinners and damned in themselves, as He also says through Hosea: O +Israel, with thee there is nothing but damnation, but with Me is thine +help." (210.) "He, He, God Himself, not they themselves, will deliver +the true Israel.... Mark well, Israel has sin and cannot help itself." +(211.) + +In his explanation of Ps. 109 (110), 1518, Luther says: "He calls these +children [conceived from spiritual seed, the Word of God] dew, since no +soul is converted and transformed from Adam's sinful childhood to the +gracious childhood of Christ by human work, but only by God, who works +from heaven like the dew, as Micah writes: 'The children of Israel will +be like the dew given by God which does not wait for the hands of men.'" +(701.) Again: "In every single man God precedes with grace and works +before we pray for grace or cooperate. The Doctors call this _gratiam +primam et praevenientem,_ that is, the first and prevenient grace. +Augustine: _Gratia Dei praevenit, ut velimus, ne frustra velimus._ God's +grace prevenes that we will, lest we will in vain." (710.) + +In his 40 theses for the Heidelberg disputation, also of 1518, Luther +says of man's powers in spiritual matters: "13. Free will after sin [the +Fall] is a mere titular affair [an empty title only], and sins mortally +when it does what it is able to do. _Liberum arbitrium post peccatum res +est de solo titulo et dum facit, quod in se est, peccat mortaliter._" +"16. A man desirous of obtaining grace by doing what he is able to do +adds sin to sin, becoming doubly guilty. _Homo putans, se ad gratiam +velle pervenire faciendo, quod est in se, peccatum addit peccato, ut +duplo reus fiat._" "18. It is certain that a man must utterly despair of +himself in order to become apt to acquire the grace of Christ. _Certum +est, hominem de se penitus oportere desperare, ut aptus fiat ad +consequendam gratiam Christi._" (W. 1, 354.) By way of explanation +Luther added to thesis 13: "The first part [of this thesis, that free +will is a mere empty title] is apparent, because the will is a captive +and a servant to sin, not that it is nothing, but that it is free only +to [do] evil--_non quod sit nihil, sed quod non sit liberum nisi ad +malum._ John 8, 34. 36: 'Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. +If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.' Hence, St. +Augustine says in his book _De Spiritu et Litera:_ Free will without +grace can only sin--_non nisi ad peccandum valet._ And in his second +book against Julianus: You call that a free will which in truth is +captive, etc." To thesis 16 Luther added: "When man does what he is able +to do (_dum facit, quod est in se_), he sins, seeking altogether his +own. And if he is minded to become worthy of, and apt for, grace by a +sin, he adds proud presumption." + +In his sermon of 1519 on Genesis 4, Luther remarked: "This passage ['The +Lord had respect unto Abel'] subverts the entire liberty of our human +will. _Hic locus semel invertit universam libertatem voluntatis +nostrae._" (Weimar 9, 337.) In a sermon of September 8, 1520, we read: +"By nature we are born accursed;... through Christ we are born again +children of life. Thus we are born not by free will, not by works, not +by our efforts. As a child in the womb is not born by its own works, but +suffers itself to be carried and to be given birth, so we are justified +by suffering, not by doing." (474.) "Where, then," Luther exclaimed +about the same time in his _Operationes in Psalmos,_ "will free will +remain? where the doing what one can? _Ubi ergo manebit liberum +arbitrium, ubi facere quod in se?_" (5, 544. 74.) In a sermon of +February 2, 1521, he said: "Whatever grace is in us comes from God +alone. Here free will is entirely dead. All that we attempt to establish +with our powers is lost unless He prevenes and makes us alive through +His grace. Grace is His own work, which we receive in our hearts by +faith. This grace the soul did not possess before, for it is the new +man.... The great proud saints will not do this [ascribe everything to +God and His mercy]. They, too, would have a share in it, saying to our +Lord: 'This I have done by my free will, this I have deserved.'" (9, +573; 5, 544.) + +Thus Luther, from the very beginning of the Reformation, stood for the +doctrine of justification, conversion, and salvation by grace alone. +Most emphatically he denied that man though free to a certain extent in +human and temporal affairs, is able to cooperate with the powers of his +natural, unregenerate will in matters spiritual and pertaining to God. +This was also the position which Luther victoriously defended against +Erasmus in his _De Servo Arbitrio_ of 1525. Goaded on by the Romanists +to come out publicly against the German heretic, the great Humanist, in +his _Diatribe_ of 1524, had shrewdly planned to attack his opponent at +the most vulnerable point. As such he regarded Luther's monergistic +doctrine, according to which it is God alone who justifies, converts, +preserves, and saves men, without any works of their own. In reality, +however, as presently appeared from his glorious classic on the +_sola-gratia_ doctrine, Erasmus had assaulted the strongest gate of +Luther's fortress. For the source of the wonderful power which Luther +displayed throughout the Reformation was none other than the divine +conviction born of the Word of God that in every respect grace alone is +the cause of our justification and salvation. And if ever this blessed +doctrine was firmly established, successfully defended, and greatly +glorified, it was in Luther's book against Erasmus. + +Justification, conversion, perseverance in faith, and final salvation, +obtained not by any effort of ours, but in every respect received as a +gracious gift of God alone--that was the teaching also to which Luther +faithfully, most determinedly, and without any wavering adhered +throughout his life. In his _Large Confession_ of 1528, for example, we +read: "Herewith I reject and condemn as nothing but error all dogmas +which extol our free will, as they directly conflict with this help and +grace of our Savior Jesus Christ. For since outside of Christ death and +sin are our lords, and the devil our god and prince, there can be no +power or might, no wisdom or understanding, whereby we can qualify +ourselves for, or strive after, righteousness and life; but we must be +blinded people and prisoners of sin and the devil's own, to do and to +think what pleases them and is contrary to God and His commandments." +(CONC. TRIGL. 897, 43.) + +153. Luther's Doctrine Endorsed. + +To adhere faithfully to Luther's doctrine of conversion and salvation by +grace alone was also the determination of the loyal Lutherans in their +opposition to the Synergists. Planck correctly remarks that the doctrine +which Flacius and the Anti-Synergists defended was the very doctrine +which "Luther advocated in his conflict with Erasmus." (_Prot. +Lehrbegriff_ 4, 667.) This was substantially conceded even by the +opponents. When, for example, at the colloquy in Worms, 1557, the +Romanists demanded that Flacius's doctrine of free will be condemned by +the Lutherans, Melanchthon declared that herein one ought not to submit +to the Papists, who slyly, under the name of Illyricus [Flacius], +demanded the condemnation of Luther, whose opinion in the doctrine of +free will he [Melanchthon] was neither able nor willing to condemn. +(Gieseler 3, 2, 232.) In their _Confession,_ published in March, 1569, +the theologians of Ducal Saxony (Wigand, Coelestin, Irenaeus, Kirchner, +etc.) declared: "We also add that we embrace the doctrine and opinion of +Dr. Luther, the Elias of these latter days of the world, as it is most +luminously and skilfully set forth in the book _De Servo Arbitrio,_ +against Erasmus, in the _Commentary on Genesis,_ and in other books; and +we hold that this teaching of Luther agrees with the eternal Word of +God." (Schluesselburg, _Catalogus_ 5, 133.) + +Luther's _sola-gratia_-doctrine was embodied also in the _Formula of +Concord,_ and this with a special endorsement of his book _De Servo +Arbitrio._ For here we read: "Even so Dr. Luther wrote of this matter +[the doctrine that our free will has no power whatever to qualify itself +for righteousness, etc.] also in his book _De Servo Arbitrio; i.e._, Of +the Captive Will of Man, in opposition to Erasmus, and elucidated and +supported this position well and thoroughly [_egregie et solide_]; and +afterward he repeated and explained it in his glorious exposition of the +book of Genesis, especially of chapter 26. There likewise his meaning +and understanding of some other peculiar disputations introduced +incidentally by Erasmus, as of absolute necessity, etc., have been +secured by him in the best and most careful way against all +misunderstanding and perversion; to which we also hereby appeal and +refer others." (897, 44; 981, 28.) In the passage of his _Commentary on +Genesis_ referred to by the _Formula,_ Luther does not, as has been +claimed, retract or modify his former statements concerning the +inability of the human will and the monergism of grace, but emphasizes +that, in reading _De Servo Arbitrio,_ one must heed and not overlook his +frequent admonitions to concern oneself with God as He has revealed +Himself in the Gospel, and not speculate concerning God in His +transcendence, absoluteness, and majesty, as the One in whom we live and +move and have our being, and without whom nothing can either exist or +occur, and whose wonderful ways are past finding out. (CONC. TRIGL., +898.) And the fact that the Lutheran theologians, living at the time and +immediately after the framing of the _Formula of Concord,_ objected +neither to the book _De Servo Arbitrio_ itself nor to its public +endorsement by the _Formula of Concord,_ is an additional proof of the +fact that they were in complete agreement with Luther's teaching of +conversion and salvation by grace alone. (Frank 1, 120.) + +This _sola-gratia_-doctrine, the vital truth of Christianity, +rediscovered and proclaimed once more by Luther, was, as stated, the +target at which Erasmus directed his shafts. In his _Diatribe_ he +defined the power of free will to be the faculty of applying oneself to +grace (_facultas applicandi se ad gratiam_), and declared that those are +the best theologians who, while ascribing as much as possible to the +grace of God, do not eliminate this human factor. He wrote: Free will is +"the ability of the human will according to which man is able either to +turn himself to what leads to eternal salvation or to turn away from +it." (St.L. 18, 1612.) Again: "Those, therefore, who are farthest apart +from the views of Pelagius ascribe to grace the most, but to free will +almost nothing; yet they do not abolish it entirely. They say that man +cannot will anything good without special grace, cannot begin anything +good, cannot continue in it, cannot complete anything without the chief +thing, the constant help of divine grace. This opinion seems to be +pretty probable because it leaves to man a striving and an effort, and +yet does not admit that he is to ascribe even the least to his own +powers." (1619.) One must avoid extremes, and seek the middle of the +road, said Erasmus. Pelagius had fallen into Scylla, and Luther into +Charybdis. "I am pleased with the opinion of those who ascribe to free +will something, but to grace by far the most." (1666.) Essentially, +this was the error held, nursed, and defended also by the Synergists, +though frequently in more guarded and ambiguous phrases. But their +theory of conversion also involved, as Schaff and Schmauk put it, "the +idea of a partnership between God and man, and a corresponding division +of work and merit." (_Conf. Principle,_ 600.) + +However, these attempts to revamp the Semi-Pelagian teaching resulted in +a controversy which more and longer than any other endangered and +disquieted the Lutheran Church, before as well as after the adoption of +the _Formula of Concord._ Whether the unregenerate man, when the Word of +God is preached, and the grace of God is offered him, is able to prepare +himself for grace, accept it, and assent thereto, was, according to the +_Formula of Concord,_ "the question upon which, _for quite a number of +years now,_ there has been a controversy among some theologians in the +churches of the Augsburg Confession." (881, 2.) And of all the +controversies after Luther's death the synergistic controversy was most +momentous and consequential. For the doctrine of grace with which it +dealt is the vital breath of every Christian. Without it neither faith +nor the Christian religion can live and remain. "If we believe," says +Luther in _De Servo Arbitrio,_ "that Christ has redeemed men by His +blood, then we must confess that the entire man was lost; otherwise we +make Christ superfluous or the Redeemer of but the meanest part of us, +which is blasphemous and sacrilegious." Reading the book of Erasmus, in +which he bent every effort toward exploding the doctrine of grace, +Luther felt the hand of his opponent clutching his throat. In the +closing paragraph of _De Servo Arbitrio_ Luther wrote: "I highly laud +and extol you for this thing also, that of all others you alone have +gone to the heart of the subject.... You alone have discerned the core +of the matter and have aimed at the throat, for which I thank you +heartily.--_Unus tu et solus cardinem rerum vidisti, et ipsum iugulum +petisti, pro quo ex animo tibi gratias ago, in hac enim causa libentius +versor, quantum favet tempus et otium._" (E. v. a. 7, 367. 137; St. L. +18, 1967; Pieper, _Dogm._ 2, 543.) And so the Synergists, who renewed +the doctrine of Erasmus, also flew at the throat of Christianity. +Genuine Lutheranism would have been strangled if synergism had emerged +victorious from this great controversy of grace versus free will. + +154. The Father of Synergism. + +During the first period of his activity in Wittenberg, Melanchthon was +in perfect agreement with Luther also on the question of man's inability +in spiritual matters and the sole activity, or monergism, of grace in +the work of his salvation. As late as 1530 he incorporated these views +in the _Augsburg Confession,_ as appears, in particular, from Articles +II, V, XVIII, and XIX. His later doctrine concerning the three +concurring causes of conversion (the Holy Spirit, the Word, and the +consenting will of man), as well as his theory explaining +synergistically, from an alleged dissimilar action in man, the +difference why some are saved while others are lost, is not so much as +hinted at in the Confession. But even at this early date (1530) or soon +after, Melanchthon also does not seem any longer to have agreed +whole-heartedly with Luther in the doctrine of grace and free will. And +in the course of time his theology drifted farther and farther from its +original monergistic moorings. Nor was Luther wholly unaware of the +secret trend of his colleague and friend toward--Erasmus. In 1536, when +the deviations of Melanchthon and Cruciger, dealt with in our previous +chapter, were brought to his notice, Luther exclaimed: "_Haec est +ipsissima theologia Erasmi._ This is the identical theology of Erasmus, +nor can there be anything more opposed to our doctrine." (Kolde, +_Analecta,_ 266.) + +That Melanchthon's theology was verging toward Erasmus appears from his +letter of June 22, 1537, to Veit Dietrich, in which he said that he +desired a more thorough exposition also of the doctrines of +predestination and of the _consent of the will._ (_C. R._ 3, 383.) +Before this, in his _Commentary on Romans_ of 1532, he had written that +there is some cause of election also in man; _viz._, in as far as he +does not repudiate the grace offered--"_tamen eatenus aliquam causam in +accipiente esse quatenus promissionem oblatam non repudiat_." (Seeberg 4, +442.) In an addition to his _Loci_ of 1533 he also spoke of a cause of +justification and election residing in man. (_C. R._ 21, 332.) In the +revised editions of 1535 and 1543 he plainly began to prepare the way +for his later bold and unmistakable deviations. For even though unable +to point out a clean-cut and unequivocal synergistic statement, one +cannot read these editions without scenting a Semi-Pelagian and Erasmian +atmosphere. What Melanchthon began to teach was the doctrine that man, +when approached by the Word of God, is able to assume either an attitude +of _pro_ or _con_, _i.e._, for or against the grace of God. The same +applies to the _Variata_ of 1540 in which the frequent "_adiuvari_" +there employed, though not incorrect as such, was not without a +synergistic flavor. + +Tschackert remarks of the _Loci_ of 1535: "Melanchthon wants to make man +responsible for his state of grace. Nor does the human will in +consequence of original sin lose the ability to decide itself when +incited; the will produces nothing new by its own power, but assumes an +attitude toward what approaches it. When man hears the Word of God, and +the Holy Spirit produces spiritual affections in his heart, the will can +either assent or turn against it. In this way Melanchthon arrives at the +formula, ever after stereotype with him, that there are three concurring +causes in the process of conversion: 'the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, +and the human will, which, indeed, is not idle, _but strives against its +infirmity.'_" (520.) + +However, during the life of Luther, Melanchthon made no further +measurable progress towards synergism. Perhaps the unpleasant +experiences following upon his innovations in the doctrine of good works +acted as a check also on the public development of his synergistic +tendencies. During Luther's life Melanchthon, as he himself admitted to +Carlowitz (106), dissimulated, keeping his deviating views to himself +and his intimate friends. After Luther's death, however, he came out +unmistakably and publicly, also in favor of synergism, endorsing even +the Erasmian definition of free will as "the power in man to apply +himself to grace." He plainly taught that, when drawn by the Holy +Spirit, the will is able to decide _pro_ or _con,_ to obey or to resist. +Especially in his lectures, Melanchthon--not indeed directly, but +mentioning the name of Flacius--continually lashed such phrases of +Luther as "purely passive," "block," "resistance,"--a fact to which +Schluesselburg, who had studied in Wittenberg, refers in support of his +assertion that Melanchthon had departed from Luther's teaching on free +will. (_Catalogus_ 5, 32.) While Melanchthon formerly (in his _Loci_ of +1543) had spoken of three causes of a good action (_bonae actionis_) he +now publicly advocated the doctrine of three concurring causes of +_conversion._ Now he boldly maintained that, since the grace of God is +universal, one must assume, and also teach, that there are different +actions in different men, which accounts for the fact that some are +converted and saved while others are lost. According to the later +Melanchthon, therefore, man's eternal salvation evidently does not +depend on the gracious operations of God's Holy Spirit and Word alone, +but also on his own correct conduct toward grace. In his heart, +especially when approaching the mercy-seat in prayer, Melanchthon, no +doubt, forgot and disavowed his own teaching, and believed and practised +Luther's _sola-gratia_-doctrine. But it cannot be denied that, in his +endeavors to harmonize universal grace with the fact that not all, but +some only, are saved, Melanchthon repudiated the monergism of Luther, +espoused and defended the powers of free will in spiritual matters, and +thought, argued, spoke, and wrote in terms of synergism. Indeed, +Melanchthon must be regarded as the father of both synergism and the +rationalistic methods employed in its defense, and as the true father +also of the modern rationalistico-synergistic theology represented by +such distinguished men as Von Hofmann, Thomasius, Kahnis, Luthardt, etc. +(Pieper 2, 582; Frank 1, 231.) + +155. Unsound Statements of Melanchthon. + +Following are some of the ambiguous and false deliverances of +Melanchthon: In the _Loci_ of 1535 the so-called human cause of +conversion which must be added to the Word and Spirit is described as +endeavoring, striving, and wishing to obey and believe. We read: "We do +not say this to ensnare the consciences, or to deter men from the +endeavor to obey and believe, or from making an effort. On the contrary, +since we are to begin with the Word, we certainly must not resist the +Word of God, but strive to obey it.... We see that these causes are +united: the Word, the Holy Spirit, and the will, which is certainly not +idle, but strives against its infirmity. In this manner ecclesiastical +writers are accustomed to join these causes. Basil says: 'Only will, and +God will precede,' God precedes, calls, moves, assists us, but let us +beware lest we resist.... Chrysostom says: He who draws, draws him who +is willing." (_C. R._ 21, 376.) + +In conversion and salvation God certainly must do and does His share, +but man must beware lest he fail to do what is required of him. This is +also the impression received from Melanchthon's statements in the third +elaboration of his _Loci,_ 1543. We read: "Here three causes of a good +action concur (_hic concurrunt tres causae bonae actionis_): the Word +of God, the Holy Spirit, and the human will assenting to and not +resisting the Word of God (_humana voluntas assentiens, nec repugnans +Verbo Dei_). For it could expel [the Spirit], as Saul expelled [Him] of +his own free will. But when the mind hearing and sustaining itself does +not resist, does not give way to diffidence, but, the Holy Spirit +assisting, endeavors to assent,--in such a struggle the will is not +inactive (_in hoc certamine voluntas non est otiosa_). The ancients have +said that good works are done when grace precedes and the will follows. +So also Basil says: '_Monon theleson, kai theos proapanta_, Only will, +and God anticipates. God precedes, calls, moves, assists us; but as for +us, let us see to it that we do not resist. _Deus antevertit nos, vocat, +movet, adiuvat, SED NOS VIDERIMUS, ne repugnemus,_' (21, 658.) And Phil. +1, 6: 'He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the +day of Jesus Christ,' _i.e._, we are assisted by God (_adiuvamur a +Deo_), but we must hear the Word of God and not resist the drawing God." +(916.) "God draws our minds that they will, but we must assent, not +resist. _Deus trahit mentes, ut velint, sed assentiri nos, non repugnare +oportet._" (917.) Here we also meet the remark: "But the will, when +assisted by the Holy Spirit, becomes more free. _Fit autem voluntas +adiuvata Spiritu Sancto magis libera._" (663.) Frank comments +pertinently that the _magis_ presupposes a certain degree of liberty of +the will before the assistance of the Holy Spirit. (1, 198.) + +The boldest synergistic statements are found in the _Loci_ of 1548. It +was the year of the Leipzig Interim, in which the same error was +embodied as follows: "The merciful God does not deal with man as with a +block, but draws him in such a way that his will, too, cooperates." (_C. +R._ 7, 51. 260.) As to the _Loci_ of this year, Bindseil remarks in the +_Corpus Reformatorum:_ "This edition is famous on account of certain +paragraphs inserted by the author in the article on Free Will. For these +additions contain the Erasmian definition of free will (that it is the +faculty of applying oneself to grace), on account of which Melanchthon +was charged with synergism by the Flacians.... For this reason the +edition is called by J. T. Mayer 'the worst of all (_omnium pessima_).'" +At the Weimar colloquy, 1560, even Strigel was not willing to identify +himself openly with the Erasmian definition of free will (_facultas +applicandi se ad gratiam_) as found in one of these sections. When +Flacius quoted the passage, Strigel retorted excitedly: "I do not +defend that definition which you have quoted from the recent edition +[1548]. When did you hear it from me? When have I undertaken to defend +it?" (Frank 1, 199. 135.) At the Herzberg colloquy Andreae remarked: +"The _Loci Communes_ of Melanchthon are useful. But whoever reads the +_locus de libero arbitrio_ must confess, even if he judges most mildly, +that the statements are dubious and ambiguous. And what of the four +paragraphs which were inserted after Luther's death? For here we read: +'There must of necessity be a cause of difference in us why a Saul is +rejected, a David received.'" (Pieper 2, 587.) + +From these additions of 1548 we cite: "Nor does conversion occur in +David in such a manner as when a stone is turned into a fig: but free +will does something in David; for when he hears the rebuke and the +promise, he willingly and freely confesses his fault. And his will does +something when he sustains himself with this word: The Lord hath taken +away your sin. And when he endeavors to sustain himself with this word, +he is already assisted by the Holy Spirit." (_C. R._ 21, 659.) Again: "I +therefore answer those who excuse their idleness because they think that +free will does nothing, as follows: It certainly is the eternal and +immovable will of God that you obey the voice of the Gospel, that you +hear the Son of God, that you acknowledge the Mediator. How black is +that sin which refuses to behold the Mediator, the Son of God, presented +to the human race! You will answer: 'I cannot.' But in a manner you can +(_immo aliquo modo potes_), and when you sustain yourself with the voice +of the Gospel, then pray that God would assist you, and know that the +Holy Spirit is efficacious in such consolation. Know that just in this +manner God intends to convert us, when we, roused by the promise wrestle +with ourselves, pray and resist our diffidence and other vicious +affections. For this reason some of the ancient Fathers have said that +free will in man is the faculty to apply himself to grace (_liberum +arbitrium in homine facultatem esse applicandi se ad gratiam_); _i.e._, +he hears the promise, endeavors to assent, and abandons sins against +conscience. Such things do not occur in devils. The difference therefore +between the devils and the human race ought to be considered. These +matters however, become still clearer when the promise is considered. +For since the promise is universal, and since there are no contradictory +wills in God, there must of necessity be in us some cause of difference +why Saul is rejected and David is received; _i.e._, there must of +necessity be some dissimilar action in these two. _Cum promissio sit +universalis, nec sint in Deo contradictoriae voluntates, necesse est in +nobis esse aliquam discriminis causam, cur Saul abiiciatur. David +recipiatur, id est, necesse est aliquam esse actionem dissimilem in his +duobus._ Properly understood, this is true, and the use [_usus_] in the +exercises of faith and in true consolation (when our minds acquiesce in +the Son of God, shown in the promise) will illustrate this copulation of +causes: the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and the will." (_C. R._ 21, +659f.) + +At the colloquy of Worms, 1557, Melanchthon, interpellated by Brenz, is +reported to have said that the passage in his _Loci_ of 1548 defining +free will as the faculty of applying oneself to grace referred to the +regenerated will (_voluntas renata_), as, he said, appeared from the +context. (Gieseler 3, 2, 225; Frank 1, 198.) As a matter of fact, +however, the context clearly excludes this interpretation. In the +passage quoted, Melanchthon, moreover, plainly teaches: 1. that in +conversion man, too, can do, and really does, something by willingly +confessing his fault, by sustaining himself with the Word, by praying +that God would assist him, by wrestling with himself, by striving +against diffidence, etc.; 2. that the nature of fallen man differs from +that of the devils in this, that his free will is still able to apply +itself to grace, endeavor to assent to it, etc.; 3. that the dissimilar +actions resulting from the different use of this natural ability +accounts for the fact that some are saved while others are lost. Such +was the plain teaching of Melanchthon from which he never receded, but +which he, apart from other publications, reaffirmed in every new +edition of his _Loci._ For all, including the last one to appear during +his life (1559), contain the additions of 1548. "The passage added by +the author [Melanchthon, 1548] after Luther's death is repeated in all +subsequent editions," says Bindseil. (_C. R._ 21, 570.) + +The sections which were added to the _Loci_ after 1548 also breathe the +same synergistic spirit. In 1553 Melanchthon inserted a paragraph which +says that, when approached by the Holy Spirit, the will can obey or +resist. We read: "The liberty of the human will after the Fall, also in +the non-regenerate, is the faculty by virtue of which man is able to +govern his motions, _i.e._, he can enjoin upon his external members such +actions as agree, or such as do not agree, with the Law of God. But he +cannot banish doubts from his mind and evil inclinations from his heart +without the light of the Gospel and without the Holy Spirit. But when +the will is drawn by the holy Spirit, it can obey or resist. _Cum autem +trahitur a Spiritu Sancto, potest obsequi et repugnare._" (21, 1078; 13, +162.) + +Other publications contain the same doctrine. While in his _Loci_ of +1543 he had spoken only of three causes of a good action (_bonae +actionis_), Melanchthon, in his _Enarratio Symboli Nicaeni_ of 1550, +substituted "conversion" for "good action." We read: In conversion these +causes concur: the Holy Spirit, the voice of the Gospel, "and the will +of man, which does not resist the divine voice, but somehow, with +trepidation, assents. _Concurrunt in conversione hae causae: Spiritus +Sanctus ... vox Evangelii ... et voluntas hominis, quae non repugnat +voci divinae, sed inter trepidationem utcumque assentitur_." Again: "And +concerning this copulation of causes it is said: The Spirit comes to the +assistance of our infirmity. And Chrysostom truly says: God draws, but +he draws him who is willing." Again: God's promise is universal, and +there are no contradictory wills in God; hence, though Paul is drawn in +a different manner than Zacchaeus, "nevertheless there is some assent of +the will (_tamen aliqua est voluntatis assensio_)." "God therefore +begins and draws by the voice of the Gospel but He draws him who is +willing, and assists him who assents." "Nor is anything detracted from +the glory of God, but it is truly affirmed that the assistance of God +always concurs in the beginning and afterwards (_auxilium Dei semper +initio et deinceps concurrere_)." (23, 280 ff.) Accordingly, God merely +concurs as one of three causes, among which the will of man is the +third. In his _Examen Ordinandorum_ of 1554, Melanchthon again replaced +the term "good action" by "conversion." He says: "In conversion these +causes concur: the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father and Son +send to kindle our hearts, and our will, assenting and not resisting the +Word of God (_et nostra voluntas assentiens et non repugnans Verbo +Dei_). And lest we yield to diffidence, we must consider that both +preachings are universal, the preaching of repentance as well as the +promise of grace.... Let us therefore not resist but assent to the +promise, and constantly repeat this prayer: I believe, O Lord, but come +to the help of my weakness." (23, 15.) Finally in his _Opinion on the +Weimar Book of Confutation,_ March 9, 1559, Melanchthon remarks: "Again, +if the will is able to turn from the consolation, it must be inferred +that it works something and follows the Holy Spirit when it accepts the +consolation. _Item, so sich der Wille vom Trost abwenden mag, so ist +dagegen zu verstehen, dass er etwas wirket und folget dem Heiligen +Geist, so er den Trost annimmt._" (9, 768.) + +W. Preger is right when he says: "According to Melanchthon's view, +natural man is able to do the following [when the Word of God is +preached to him]: he is able not to resist; he is able to take pains +with respect to obedience; he is able to comfort himself with the +Word.... This [according to Melanchthon] is a germ of the positive good +will still found in natural man which prevenient grace arouses." +(_Flacius Illyricus_ 2, 189 f.) Schmauk writes: Melanchthon found "the +cause for the actual variation in the working of God's grace in man, its +object. This subtle synergistic spirit attacks the very foundation of +Lutheranism, flows out into almost every doctrine, and weakens the +Church at every point. And it was particularly this weakness which the +great multitude of Melanchthon's scholars, who became the leaders of the +generation of which we are speaking, absorbed, and which rendered it +difficult to return, finally, after years of struggle, to the solid +ground, once more recovered in the _Formula of Concord._" (_Conf. +Principle,_ 601.) + +R. Seeberg characterizes Melanchthon's doctrine as follows: "A +synergistic trait therefore appears in his doctrine. In the last +analysis, God merely grants the outer and inner possibility of obtaining +salvation. Without man's cooperation this possibility would not become +reality; and he is able to refuse this cooperation. It is, therefore, in +conversion equally a cause with the others. _Sie [die Mitwirkung des +Menschen] ist also freilich eine den andern Ursachen gleichberechtigte +Ursache in der Bekehrung._" God makes conversion possible, but only the +decision of man's free will makes it actual,--such, according to +Seeberg, was the "synergism" of Melanchthon. (Seeberg, _Dogg.,_ 4, 444. +446.) + +Frank says of Melanchthon's way of solving the question why some are +converted and saved while others are lost: "The road chosen by +Melanchthon has indeed led to the goal. The contradictions are solved. +But let us look where we have landed. We are standing--in the Roman +camp!" After quoting a passage from the _Tridentinum,_ which speaks of +conversion in terms similar to those employed by Melanchthon, Frank +continues: "The foundation stone of Luther's original Reformation +doctrine of salvation by grace alone; _viz._, that nothing in us, not +even our will moved and assisted by God, is the _causa meritoria_ of +salvation, is subverted by these propositions; and it is immaterial to +the contrite heart whether much or little is demanded from free will as +the faculty of applying oneself to grace." Frank adds: "What the +Philippists, synchronously [with Melanchthon] and later, propounded +regarding this matter [of free will] are but variations of the theme +struck by Melanchthon. Everywhere the sequence of thought is the same, +with but this difference, that here the faults of the Melanchthonian +theory together with its consequences come out more clearly." (1, 134f.) +The same is true of modern synergistic theories. Without exception they +are but variations of notes struck by Melanchthon,--the father of all +the synergists that have raised their heads within the Lutheran Church. + +156. Pfeffinger Champions Synergistic Doctrine. + +Prior to 1556 references to the unsound position of the Wittenberg and +Leipzig theologians are met with but occasionally. (Planck 4, 568.) The +unmistakably synergistic doctrine embodied in the _Loci_ of 1548, as +well as in the Leipzig Interim, did not cause alarm and attract +attention immediately. But when, in 1555, John Pfeffinger [born 1493; +1539 superintendent, and 1543 professor in Leipzig; assisted 1548 in +framing the Leipzig Interim; died January 1, 1573] published his "Five +Questions Concerning the Liberty of the Human Will--_De Libertate +Voluntatis Humanae Quaestiones Quinque._ D. Johannes Pfeffinger Lipsiae +Editae in Officina Georgii Hantschi 1555," the controversy flared up +instantly. It was a little booklet containing besides a brief +introduction, only 41 paragraphs, or theses. In these Pfeffinger +discussed and defended the synergistic doctrine of Melanchthon, +maintaining that in conversion man, too, must contribute his share +though it be ever so little. + +Early in the next year Pfeffinger was already opposed by the theologians +of Thuringia, the stanch opponents of the Philippists, John Stolz, +court-preacher at Weimar composing 110 theses for this purpose. In 1558 +Amsdorf published his _Public Confession of the True Doctrine of the +Gospel and Confutation of the Fanatics of the Present Time,_ in which +he, quoting from memory, charged Pfeffinger with teaching that man is +able to prepare himself for grace by the natural powers of his free +will, just as the godless sophists, Thomas Aquinas, Scotus, and their +disciples, had held. (Planck 4, 573. 568.) About the same time Stolz +published the 110 theses just referred to with a preface by Aurifaber +(_Refutatio Propositionum Pfeffingeri de Libero Arbitrio_). Flacius, +then professor in Jena, added his _Refutation of Pfeffinger's +Propositions on Free Will_ and _Jena Disputation on Free Will._ In the +same year, 1558, Pfeffinger, in turn published his _Answer to the Public +Confession of Amsdorf,_ charging the latter with falsification, and +denouncing Flacius as the "originator and father of all the lies which +have troubled the Lutheran Church during the last ten years." But at the +same time Pfeffinger showed unmistakably that the charges of his +opponents were but too well founded. Says Planck: "Whatever may have +moved Pfeffinger to do so, he could not (even if Flacius himself had +said it for him) have confessed synergism more clearly and more +definitely than he did spontaneously and unasked in this treatise." (4, +574.) Frank: "Pfeffinger goes beyond Melanchthon and Strigel; for the +action here demanded of, and ascribed to, the natural will is, according +to him, not even in need of liberation by prevenient grace.... His +doctrine may without more ado be designated as Semi-Pelagianism." (1, +137.) + +At Wittenberg, Pfeffinger was supported by George Major, Paul Eber, and +Paul Crell and before long his cause was espoused also by Victorin +Strigel in Jena. Disputations by the Wittenberg and Leipzig synergists +(whom Schluesselburg, 5, 16, calls "cooperators" and "die freiwilligen +Herren") and by their opponents in Jena increased the animosity. Both +parties cast moderation to the winds. In a public letter of 1558 the +Wittenberg professors, for example, maligned Flacius in every possible +way, and branded him as "der verloffene undeutsche Flacius Illyricus" +and as the sole author of all the dissensions in the churches of +Germany. (Planck 4, 583.) + +157. Statements of Pfeffinger. + +Following are some of the synergistic deliverances made by Pfeffinger in +his _Five Questions Concerning the Liberty of the Human Will._ Par. 11 +reads: "Thirdly, when we inquire concerning the spiritual actions, it is +correct to answer that the human will has not such a liberty as to be +able to effect the spiritual motions without the help of the Holy Spirit +(_humanam voluntatem non habere eiusmodi libertatem, ut motus +spirituales sine auxilio Spiritus Sancti efficere possit_)." Par. 14: +"Therefore some assent or apprehension on our part must concur (_oportet +igitur nostram aliquam assensionem seu apprehensionem concurrere_) when +the Holy Spirit has aroused (_accenderit_) the mind, the will and the +heart. Hence Basil says: Only will, and God anticipates; and Chrysostom: +He who draws, draws him who is willing; and Augustine: He assists those +who have received the gift of the call with becoming piety, and preserve +the gifts of God as far as man is able. Again: When grace precedes, the +will follows--_praeeunte gratia, comitante voluntate._" In Par. 16 we +read: "The will, therefore, is not idle, but assents faintly. _Voluntas +igitur non est otiosa sed languide assentitur._" + +Paragraph 17 runs: "If the will were idle or purely passive, there would +be no difference between the pious and the wicked, or between the elect +and the damned, as, between Saul and David, between Judas and Peter. God +would also become a respecter of persons and the author of contumacy in +the wicked and damned; and to God would be ascribed contradictory wills, +--which conflicts with the entire Scripture. Hence it follows that there +is in us a cause why some assent while others do not. _Sequitur ergo in +nobis esse aliquam causam, cur alii assentiantur, alii non +assentiantur_." Par. 24: "Him [the Holy Spirit], therefore, we must not +resist; but on the part of our will, which is certainly not like a stone +or block, some assent must be added--_sed aliquam etiam assensionem +accedere nostrae voluntatis, quam non sicut saxum aut incudem se habere +certum est._" Par. 30: "But apprehension on our part must concur. For, +since the promise of grace is universal, and since we must obey this +promise, some difference between the elect and the rejected must be +inferred from our will (_sequitur, aliquod discrimen inter electos et +reiectos a voluntate nostra sumendum esse_), _viz._, that those who +resist the promise are rejected, while those who embrace the promise are +received.... All this clearly shows that our will is not idle in +conversion or like a stone or block in its conduct. _Ex quibus omnibus +manifestissimum apparet, voluntatem nostram non esse otiosam in +conversione, aut se ut saxum aut incudem habere._" + +Par. 34 reads: "Some persons, however, shout that the assistance of the +Holy Spirit is extenuated and diminished if even the least particle be +attributed to the human will. Though this argument may appear specious +and plausible, yet pious minds understand that by our doctrine-- +according to which we ascribe some cooperation to our will; _viz._, some +assent and apprehension (_qua tribuimus aliquam SYNERGIAM voluntati +nostrae, videlicet qualemcumque assensionem et apprehensionem_)-- +absolutely nothing is taken away from the assistance rendered by the +Holy Spirit. For we affirm that the first acts (_primas partes_) must be +assigned and attributed to Him who first and primarily, through the Word +or the voice of the Gospel, moves our hearts to believe, to which +thereupon we, too, ought to assent as much as we are able (_cui deinde +et NOS, QUANTUM IN NOBIS EST, ASSENTIRI oportet_), and not resist the +Holy Spirit, but submit to the Word, ponder, learn, and hear it, as +Christ says: 'Whosoever hath heard of the Father and learned, cometh to +Me.'" Par. 36: "And although original sin has brought upon our nature a +ruin so sad and horrible that we can hardly imagine it, yet we must not +think that absolutely all the knowledge (_notitiae_) which was found in +the minds of our first parents before the Fall has on that account been +destroyed and extinguished after the Fall, or that the human will does +not in any way differ from a stone or a block; for we are, as St. Paul +has said most seriously, coworkers with God, which coworking, indeed, is +assisted and strengthened by the Holy Spirit--_sumus synergi Dei, quae +quidem synergia adiuvatur a Spiritu Sancto et confirmatur._" Evidently +no comment is necessary to show that the passages cited from Pfeffinger +are conceived, born, and bred in Semi-Pelagianism and rationalism. + +Planck furthermore quotes from Pfeffinger's _Answer to Amsdorf,_ 1558: +"And there is no other reason why some are saved and some are damned +than this one alone, that some, when incited by the Holy Spirit, do not +resist, but obey Him and accept the grace and salvation offered, while +others will not accept it, but resist the Holy Spirit, and despise the +grace." (4, 578.) Again: "Although the will cannot awaken or incite +itself to spiritually good works, but must be awakened and incited +thereto by the Holy Ghost, yet man is not altogether excluded from such +works of the Holy Ghost, as if he were not engaged in it and were not to +contribute his share to it--_dass er nicht auch dabei sein und das Seine +nicht auch dabei tun muesse._" (576.) Again: In the hands of the Holy +Spirit man is not like a block or stone in the hands of a sculptor, +which do not and cannot "know, understand, or feel what is done with +them, nor in the least further or hinder what the artist endeavors to +make of them." (576.) "But when the heart of man is touched, awakened, +and moved by the Holy Ghost, man must not be like a dead stone or block, +... but must obey and follow Him. And although he perceives his great +weakness, and, on the other hand, how powerfully sin in his flesh +opposes, he must nevertheless not desist, but ask and pray God for grace +and assistance against sin and flesh." (577.) Planck remarks: According +to Pfeffinger, the powers for all this are still found in natural man, +and the only thing required is, not to recreate them, but merely to +incite them to action. (579.) + +In 1558, in an appendix to his disputation of 1555, Pfeffinger explained +and illustrated his position, in substance, as follows: I was to prove +nothing else than that some use of the will [in spiritual matters] was +left, and that our nature is not annihilated or extinguished, but +corrupted and marvelously depraved after the Fall. Now, to be sure, free +will cannot by its own natural powers regain its integrity nor rise +after being ruined, yet as the doctrine [the Gospel] can be understood +by paying attention to it, so it can also in a manner (_aliquo modo_) be +obeyed by assenting to it. But it is necessary for all who would dwell +in the splendor of the eternal light and in the sight of God to look up +to and not turn away from, the light. Schluesselburg adds: "_Haec certe +est synergia_--This is certainly synergism." (_Catalogus_ 5, 161.) + +Tschackert summarizes Pfeffinger's doctrine as follows: "When the Holy +Spirit, through the Word of God, influences a man, then the assenting +will becomes operative as a factor of conversion. The reason why some +assent while others do not must be in themselves.... Evidently +Pfeffinger's opinion was that not only the regenerate, but even the +natural will of man possesses the ability either to obey the divine +Spirit or to resist Him." (521.) According to W. Preger, Pfeffinger +taught "that the Holy Spirit must awaken and incite our nature that it +may understand, think, will and do what is right and pleasing to God," +but that natural free will is able "to obey and follow" the motions of +the Spirit. (2, 192. 195.) + +No doubt, Pfeffinger advocated, and was a candid exponent and champion +of, nothing but the three-concurring-causes doctrine of Melanchthon, +according to which God never fails to do His share in conversion, while +we must beware (_sed nos viderimus, C. R._ 21, 658) lest we fail to do +our share. Pfeffinger himself made it a special point to cite +Melanchthon as his authority in this matter. The last (41st) paragraph +in his _Five Questions_ begins as follows: "We have briefly set forth +the doctrine concerning the liberty of the human will, agreeing with the +testimonies of the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures, a fuller +explanation of which students may find in the writings of our preceptor, +Mr. Philip (_prolisciorem explicationem requirant studiosi in scriptis +D. Philippi, praeceptoris nostri_)." And when, in the subsequent +controversy Pfeffinger was publicly assailed by Amsdorf, Flacius, and +others, everybody knew that their real target was none other than-- +Master Philip. Melanchthon, too, was well aware of this fact. In his +_Opinion on the Weimar Confutation,_ of March 9, 1559, in which the +synergism of the Philippists is extensively treated, he said: "As to +free will, it is apparent that they attack me, Philip, in particular." +(_C. R._ 9, 763.) + +158. Strigel and Huegel Entering Controversy. + +The synergistic controversy received new zest and a new impetus when, in +1559, Victorin Strigel and Huegel (Hugelius), respectively professor and +pastor at Jena, the stronghold of the opponents of the Wittenberg +Philippists, opposed Flacius, espoused the cause of Pfeffinger, +championed the doctrine of Melanchthon, and refused to endorse the so +called _Book of Confutation_ which Flacius had caused to be drafted +particularly against the Wittenberg Philippists and Synergists, and to +be introduced. The situation thus created was all the more sensational +because, in the preceding controversies, Strigel had, at least +apparently, always sided with the opponents of the Philippists. + +The "_Konfutationsbuch_--Book of Confutation and Condemnations of the +Chief Corruptions, Sects, and Errors Breaking in and Spreading at this +Time" was published in 1559 by Duke John Frederick II as a doctrinal +norm of his duchy. In nine chapters this Book, a sort of forerunner of +the _Formula of Concord,_ dealt with the errors 1. of Servetus, 2. of +Schwenckfeld, 3. of the Antinomians, 4. of the Anabaptists, 5. of the +Zwinglians, 6. of the Synergists, 7. of Osiander and Stancarus, 8. of +the Majorists, 9. of the Adiaphorists. Its chief object, as expressly +stated in the Preface, was to warn against the errors introduced by the +Philippists, whose doctrines, as also Planck admits, were not in any +way misrepresented in this document. (4, 597. 595.) The sixth part, +directed against synergism bore the title: "_Confutatio Corruptelarum +in Articulo de Libero Arbitrio sive de Viribus Humanis_--Confutation of +the Corruptions in the Article Concerning Free Will or Concerning the +Human Powers." The _Confutation_ was framed by the Jena theologians, +Strigel and Huegel also participating in its composition. However, some +of the references to the corruptions of the Philippists must have been +rather vague and ambiguous in the first draft of the book; for when it +was revised at the convention in Weimar, Flacius secured the adoption of +additions and changes dealing particularly with the synergism of the +Wittenbergers, which were energetically opposed by Strigel. + +Even before the adoption of the _Book of Confutation,_ Strigel had been +polemicizing against Flacius. But now (as Flacius reports) he began to +denounce him at every occasion as the "architect of a new theology" and +an "enemy of the _Augsburg Confession._" At the same time he also +endeavored to incite the students in Jena against him. Flacius, in turn, +charged Strigel with scheming to establish a Philippistic party in Ducal +Saxony. The public breach came when the _Book of Confutation_ was +submitted for adoption and publication in the churches and schools. +Pastor Huegel refused to read and explain it from the pulpit, and +Strigel presented his objections to the Duke, and asked that his +conscience be spared. But when Strigel failed to maintain silence in the +matter, he as well as Pastor Huegel were summarily dealt with by the +Duke. On March 27, 1559, at two o'clock in the morning, both were +suddenly arrested and imprisoned. Flacius who was generally regarded as +the secret instigator of this act of violence, declared publicly that +the arrest had been made without his counsel and knowledge. About six +months later (September 5, 1569) Strigel and Huegel after making some +doctrinal concessions and promising not to enter into any disputation on +the Confutation, were set at liberty. (Planck 4, 591. 604.) + +159. Weimar Disputation. + +In order to settle the differences, Flacius and his colleagues (Wigand, +Judex, Simon Musaeus), as well as Strigel, asked for a public +disputation, which John Frederick, too was all the more willing to +arrange because dissatisfaction with his drastic procedure against +Strigel and Huegel was openly displayed everywhere outside of Ducal +Saxony. The disputation was held at Weimar, August 2 to 8, 1560. It was +attended by the Saxon Dukes and their entire courts, as well as by a +large number of other spectators, not only from Jena, but also from +Erfurt, Wittenberg and Leipzig. The subjects of discussion, for which +both parties had submitted theses were: Free Will, Gospel, Majorism, +Adiaphorism, and Indifferentism (_academica epoche,_ toleration of +error). The disputing parties (Flacius and Strigel) agreed that "the +only rule should be the Word of God, and that a clear, plain text of the +Holy Scriptures was to weigh more than all the inferences and +authorities of interpreters" (Planck 4, 606.) + +According to the proceedings of the Weimar Disputation, written by +Wigand and published by Simon Musaeus 1562 and 1563 under the title: +"_Disputatio de Originali Peccato et Libero Arbitrio_ inter M. Flacium +Illyr. et Vict. Strigelium Publice Vinariae Anno 1560 Habita," the only +questions discussed were free will and, incidentally, original sin. +Strigel defended the Melanchthonian doctrine, according to which the +causes of conversion are the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and the will +of man feebly assenting to the Gospel and, at the same time, seeking +strength from God. He repeated the formula: "Concurrunt in conversione +haec tria: Spiritus Sanctus movens corda, vox Dei, voluntas hominis, +quae voci divinae assentitur." Flacius, on the other hand, defended the +_mere passive_ of Luther, according to which man, before he is converted +and endowed with faith, does not in any way cooperate with the Holy +Spirit but merely suffers and experiences His operations. At the same +time, however, he seriously damaged and discredited himself as well as +the sacred cause of divine truth by maintaining that original sin is not +a mere accident, such as Strigel maintained, but the very substance of +man. The discussions were discontinued after the thirteenth session. The +Duke announced that the disputation would be reopened later, charging +both parties in the mean time to maintain silence in public,--a +compromise to which Flacius and his adherents were loath to consent. + +John Wigand and Matthias Judex however continued to enforce the _Book of +Confutation_ demanding an unqualified adoption in every point, _per +omnia._ When the jurist Matthew Wesenbecius declined to accept the book +in this categorical way, he was not permitted to serve as sponsor at a +baptism. John Frederick was dissatisfied with this procedure and action +of the ministers; and when they persisted in their demands, the +autocratic Duke deprived them of the right to excommunicate, vesting +this power in a consistory established at Weimar. Flacius and his +adherents protested against this measure as tyranny exercised over the +Church and a suppression of the pure doctrine. As a result Musaeus, +Judex, Wigand, and Flacius were suspended and expelled from Jena, +December, 1561. (Gieseler 3, 2, 244. 247.) Their vacant chairs at the +university were filled by Freihub, Salmuth, and Selneccer, who had been +recommended by the Wittenberg Philippists at the request of the Duke, +who now evidently favored a compromise with the Synergists. Strigel, +too, was reinstated at Jena after signing an ambiguous declaration. + +Amsdorf, Gallus, Hesshusius, Flacius, and the other exiled theologians +denounced Strigel's declaration as insincere and in conflict with +Luther's book _De Servo Arbitrio,_ and demanded a public retraction of +his synergistic statements. When the ministers of Ducal Saxony also +declined to acknowledge Strigel's orthodoxy, a more definite +"Superdeclaration," framed by Moerlin and Stoessel (but not signed by +Strigel), was added as an interpretation of Strigel's declaration. But +even now a minority refused to submit to the demands of the Duke, +because they felt that they were being deceived by ambiguous terms, such +as "capacity" and "aptitude," which the wily Strigel and the Synergists +used in the active or positive, and not in the passive sense. These +conscientious Lutherans whom the rationalist Planck brands as "almost +insane, _beinahe verrueckt,_" were also deposed and banished, 1562. +Strigel's declaration of March, 1562 however, maintaining that "the will +is passive in so far as God alone works all good, but active in so far +as it must be present in its conversion, must consent, and not resist, +but accept," showed that he had not abandoned his synergism. In the same +year he applied for, and accepted, a professorship in Leipzig. Later on +he occupied a chair at the Reformed university in Heidelberg, where he +died 1569, at the age of only forty-five years. + +In 1567, when John William became ruler of Ducal Saxony, the Philippists +were dismissed, and the banished Lutheran pastors and professors (with +the exception of Flacius) were recalled and reinstated. While this +rehabilitation of the loyal Lutherans formally ended the synergistic +controversy in Ducal Saxony, occasional echoes of it still lingered, due +especially to the fact that some ministers had considered Strigel's +ambiguous declaration a satisfactory presentation of the Lutheran truth +with regard to the questions involved. That the synergistic teaching of +Melanchthon was continued in Wittenberg appears, for example, from the +_Confessio Wittenbergica_ of 1570. + +160. Strigel's Rationalistic Principle. + +Although at the opening of the disputation the debaters had agreed to +decide all questions by clear Scripture-passages alone, Strigel's +guiding principle was in reality not the Bible but philosophy and +reason. His real concern was not, What does Scripture teach concerning +the causes of conversion? but, How may we harmonize the universal grace +of God with the fact that only some are converted and saved? +Self-evidently Strigel, too, quoted Bible-passages. Among others, he +appealed to such texts as John 6, 29; Rom. 1, 16; 10, 17; Luke 8, 18; +Heb. 4, 2; Rev. 3, 20; Luke 11, 13; Mark 9, 24; 1 Thess. 2, 13; Jas. 1, +18. But as we shall show later, his deductions were philosophical and +sophistical rather than exegetical and Scriptural. Preger remarks: In +his disputation Strigel was not able to advance a single decisive +passage of Scripture for the presence and cooperation of a good will at +the moment when it is approached and influenced (_ergriffen_) by grace. +(2, 211.) And the clear, irrefutable Bible-texts on which Flacius +founded his doctrine of the inability of natural will to cooperate in +conversion, Strigel endeavored to invalidate by philosophical reasoning, +indirect arguing, and alleged necessary logical consequences. + +At Weimar and in his _Confession_ of December 5 1560, delivered to the +Duke soon after the disputation, Strigel argued: Whoever denies that +man, in a way and measure, is able to cooperate in his own conversion +is logically compelled also to deny that the rejection of grace may be +imputed to man, compelled to make God responsible for man's damnation; +to surrender the universality of God's grace and call; to admit +contradictory wills in God, and to take recourse to an absolute decree +of election and reprobation in order to account for the fact that some +reject the grace of God and are lost while others are converted and +saved. At Weimar Strigel declared: "I do not say that the will is able +to assent to the Word without the Holy Spirit, but that, being moved and +assisted by the Spirit, it assents with trepidation. If we were unable +to do this, we would not be responsible for not having received the +Word. _Si hoc [utcumque assentiri inter trepidationes] non possemus, non +essemus rei propter Verbum non receptum._" Again, also at Weimar: "If +the will is not able to assent in some way, even when assisted, then we +cannot be responsible for rejecting the Word, but the blame must be +transferred to another, and others may judge how religious that is. _Si +voluntas ne quidem adiuta potest aliquo modo annuere, non possumus esse +rei propter Verbum reiectum, sed culpa est in alium transferenda quod +quam sit religio sum, alii iudicent._" (Planck 4, 689. 719; Luthardt, +_Lehre vom freien Willen,_ 222.) + +Over against this rationalistic method of Strigel and the Synergists +generally, the Lutherans adhered to the principle that nothing but a +clear passage of the Bible can decide a theological question. They +rejected as false philosophy and rationalism every argument directed +against the clear sense of a clear Word of God. They emphatically +objected to the employment of reason for establishing a Christian +doctrine or subverting a statement of the Bible. At Weimar, Flacius +protested again and again that human reason is not an authority in +theological matters. "Let us hear the Scriptures! _Audiamus +Scripturam!_" "Let the woman be silent in the Church! _Mulier taceat in +ecclesia!_" With such slogans he brushed aside the alleged necessary +logical inferences and deductions of Strigel. "You take your arguments +from philosophy," he said in the second session, "which ought not to be +given a place in matters of religion. _Disputas ex philosophia, cui +locus in rebus religionis esse non debet._" Again, at Weimar: "It is +against the nature of inquiring truth to insist on arguing from blind +philosophy. What else corrupted such ancient theologians as Clement, +Origen, Chrysostom, and afterwards also the Sophists [scholastic +theologians] but that they endeavored to decide spiritual things by +philosophy, which does not understand the secret and hidden mysteries of +God. _Est contra naturam inquirendae veritatis, si velimus ex caeca +philosophia loqui. Quid aliud corrupit theologos veteres, ut Clementem, +Originem, Chrysosthomum et postea etiam Sophistas, nisi quod de rebus +divinis ex philosophia voluerunt statuere, quae non intelligit +abstrusissima et occultissima mysteria Dei._" "May we therefore observe +the rule of Luther: Let the woman be silent in the Church! For what a +miserable thing would it be if we had to judge ecclesiastical matters +from logic! _Itaque observemus legem Lutheri: Taceat mulier in ecclesia! +Quae enim miseria, si ex dialectica diiudicandae nobis essent res +ecclesiae!_" (Planck 4, 709.) + +In an antisynergistic confession published by Schluesselburg, we read: +"This doctrine [of conversion by God's grace alone] is simple, clear, +certain, and irrefutable if one looks to God's Word alone and derives +the _Nosce teipsum,_ Know thyself, from the wisdom of God. But since +poor men are blind, they love their darkness more than the light, as +Christ says John 3, and insist on criticizing and falsifying God's +truth by means of blind philosophy, which, forsooth, is a shame and a +palpable sin, if we but had eyes to see and know.... Whatsoever blind +reason produces in such articles of faith against the Word of God is +false and wrong. For it is said: _Mulier in ecclesia taceat!_ Let +philosophy and human wisdom be silent in the Church." (_Catalogus_ 5, +665f.) Here, too, the sophistical objections of the Synergists are +disposed of with such remarks as: "In the first place, this is but spun +from reason, which thus acts wise in these matters. _Denn fuers erste +ist solches nur aus der Vernunft gesponnen, die weiss also hierin zu +kluegeln._" (668.) "This is all spun from reason; but God's Word teaches +us better. _Dies ist alles aus der Vernunft spintisiert; Gottes Wort +aber lehrt es besser._" (670.) + +Evidently Strigel's rationalistic method was identical with that +employed by Melanchthon in his _Loci,_ by Pfeffinger, and the Synergists +generally. Accordingly, his synergism also could not differ essentially +from Melanchthon's. Planck pertinently remarks: "It is apparent from +this [argument of Strigel that natural man must have power to cooperate +in his conversion because otherwise God would be responsible for his +resistance and damnation] that his synergism was none other than that of +the Wittenberg school; for was not this the identical foundation upon +which Melanchthon had reared his [synergism]?" (4, 690.) Like methods +lead to the same results, and _vice versa._ Besides, Strigel had always +appealed to the Wittenbergers; and in his _Opinion on the Weimar +Confutation_ 1559, Melanchthon, in turn, identified himself with +Strigel's arguments. (_C. R._ 9, 766.) The "Confession and Opinion of +the Wittenbergers Concerning Free Will--_Confessio et Sententia +Wittebergensium de Libero Arbitrio_" of 1561 also maintained the same +attitude. + +161. Strigel's Theory. + +Strigel's views concerning the freedom of man's will in spiritual +matters may be summarized as follows: Man, having a will, is a free +agent, hence always able to decide for or against. This ability is the +"mode of action" essential to man as long as he really is a man and in +possession of a will. Even in matters pertaining to grace this freedom +was not entirely lost in the Fall. It was impeded and weakened by +original sin, but not annihilated. To be converted, man therefore +requires that these residual or remaining powers be excited and +strengthened rather than that new spiritual powers be imparted or a new +will be created. Accordingly, persuasion through the Word is the method +of conversion employed by the Holy Spirit. When the will is approached +by the Word, incited and assisted by the Spirit, it is able to admit the +operations of the Spirit and assent to the Word, though but feebly. +Hence, no matter how much of the work of conversion must be ascribed to +the Holy Spirit and the Word the will itself, in the last analysis, +decides for or against grace. Man is, therefore, not purely passive in +his conversion, but cooperates with the Holy Spirit and the Word, not +merely after, but also in his conversion, before he has received the +gift of faith. + +"God who, outside of His essence in external actions, is the freest +agent," said Strigel "created two kinds of natures, the one free, the +other acting naturally (_naturaliter agentes_). The free natures are the +angels and men. Those acting naturally embrace all the rest of the +creatures. A natural agent is one that cannot do anything else [than it +does], nor suspend its action _e.g._, fire. Men and angels were created +differently, after the image of God, that they might be free agents. +_Homines et angeli aliter conditi sunt ad imaginem Dei, ut sint liberum +agens._" (Planck 4, 669.) This freedom, which distinguishes man +essentially from all other creatures, according to Strigel, always +implies the power to will or not to will with respect to any object. He +says: The act of willing, be it good or evil, always belongs to the +will, because the will is so created that it can will or not, without +coercion. "_Ipsum velle, seu bonum seu malum, quod ad substantiam +attinet, semper est voluntatis; quia voluntas sic est condita, UT POSSIT +VELLE AUT NON; sed etiam hoc habet voluntas ex opere creationis quod +adhuc reliquum, et non prorsus abolitum et extinctum est, UT POSSIT +VELLE AUT NON SINE COACTIONE_." (674.) According to Strigel, the very +essence of the will consists in being able, in every instance, to decide +in either direction, for or against. Hence the very idea of will +involves also a certain ability to cooperate in conversion. (689.) + +This freedom or ability to decide _pro_ or _con,_ says Strigel, is the +mode of action essential to man, his mode of action also in conversion. +And in the controversy on free will he sought to maintain that this +alleged mode of action was a part of the very essence of the human will +and being. At Weimar Strigel declared: "I do not wish to detract from +the will the mode of action which is different from other natural +actions. _Nolo voluntati detrahi modum agendi, qui est dissimilis aliis +actionibus naturalibus._" (Planck 4, 668.) Again: "The will is not a +natural, but a free agent; hence the will is converted not as a natural +agent, but as a free agent.... In conversion the will acts in its own +mode; it is not a statue or a log in conversion. Hence conversion does +not occur in a purely passive manner. _Voluntas non est agens naturale, +sed liberum; ergo convertitur voluntas non ut naturaliter agens, sed ut +liberum agens.... Et voluntas suo modo agit in conversione, nec est +statua vel truncus in conversione. Et per consequens non fit conversio +pure passive._" (Luthardt, 217. 219. 209.) + +What Strigel means is that man, being a free agent, must, also in +conversion, be accorded the ability somehow to decide for grace. +According to the _Formula of Concord_ the words, "man's mode of action," +signify "a way of working something good and salutary in divine things." +(905, 61.) The connection and the manner in which the phrase was +employed by Strigel admitted of no other interpretation. Strigel added: +This mode of action marks the difference between the will of man and the +will of Satan, for the devil neither endeavors to assent, nor prays to +God for assistance, while man does. (Luthardt, 220.) Natural man is by +Strigel credited with the power of "endeavoring to assent, _conari +assentiri,_" because he is endowed with a will. But shrewd as Strigel +was, it did not occur to him that, logically, his argument compelled him +to ascribe also to the devils everything he claimed for natural man, +since they, too, have a will and are therefore endowed with the same +_modus agendi,_ which, according to Strigel, belongs to the very idea +and essence of will. Yet this palpable truth, which overthrew his entire +theory, failed to open the eyes of Strigel. + +If, as Strigel maintained, the human will, by virtue of its nature as a +free agent, is, in a way, _able_ to cooperate in conversion, then the +only question is how to elevate this ability to an actuality, in other +words, how to influence the will and rouse its powers to move in the +right direction. Strigel answered: Since the will cannot be forced, +moral suasion is the true method required to convert a man. "The will," +says he "cannot be forced, hence it is by persuasion, _i.e._, by +pointing out something good or evil, that the will is moved to obey and +to submit to the Gospel, not coerced, _but somehow willing. Voluntas non +potest cogi, ergo voluntas persuadendo, id est ostensione alicuius boni +vel mali flectitur ad obediendum et obtemperandum evangelio, non coacta, +sed ALIQUO MODO VOLENS._" (Seeberg 4, 491.) Again: "Although God is +efficacious through the Word, drawing and leading us efficaciously, yet +He does not make assenting necessary for such a nature as the will,--a +nature so created that it is able not to assent, if it so wills, and to +expel Him who dwells in us. This assent therefore is the work of God and +the Holy Spirit, but in so far as it is a free assent, not coerced and +pressed out by force, _it is also the work of the will. Etiam si Deus +est efficax per Verbum et efficaciter nos trahit et ducit, tamen non +affert necessitatem assentiendi tali naturae, qualis est voluntas, id +est, quae sic est condita, ut possit non assentiri, si velit, et +excutere sessorem. Est igitur hic assensus opus Dei et Spiritus Sancti, +sed quatenus est liber assensus, non coactus, expressus vi, EST ETIAM +VOLUNTATIS._" (491.) Strigel evidently means: The fact that man is able +not to assent to grace of necessity involves that somehow (_aliquo +modo_) he is able also to assent, according to man's peculiar mode of +action (freedom) he must himself actualize his conversion by previously +(in the logical order) willing it, deciding for it, and assenting to it; +he would be converted by coercion if his assent to grace were an act of +the will engendered and created solely by God, rather than an act +effected and produced by the powers of the will when incited and +assisted by the Spirit. Man is converted by persuasion only, because God +does not create assent and faith in him but merely elicits these acts +from man by liberating and appealing to the powers of his will to effect +and produce them. + +In defending this freedom of the will, Strigel appealed also to the +statement of Luther: "The will cannot be coerced;... if the will could +be coerced, it would not be volition, but rather nolition. _Voluntas non +potest cogi;... si posset cogi voluntas, non esset voluntas sed potius +voluntas._" However, what Luther said of the form or nature of the will, +according to which it always really wills what it wills, and is +therefore never coerced, was by Strigel transferred to the spiritual +matters and objects of the will. According to Strigel's theory, says +Seeberg, "the will must be free even in the first moment of conversion, +free not only in the psychological, but also in the moral sense." (4, +492.) Tschackert, quoting Seeberg remarks that Strigel transformed the +natural formal liberty into an ethical material liberty--_"indem die +natuerliche formale Freiheit sich ihm unter der Hand [?] verwandelte in +die ethische materiale Freiheit._" (524.) + +162. Strigel's Semi-Pelagianism. + +Strigel's entire position is based on the error that a remnant of +spiritual ability still remains in natural man. True, he taught that in +consequence of original sin the powers of man and the proper use and +exercise of these powers are greatly impeded, weakened, checked, and +insulated, as it were, and that this impediment can be removed solely by +the operation of the Holy Spirit. "Through the Word the Holy Spirit +restores to the will the power and faculty of believing," Strigel +declared. (Luthardt, 250.) But this restoration, he said, was brought +about by liberating, arousing, inciting, and strengthening the powers +inherent in man rather than by divine impartation of new spiritual +powers or by the creation of a new good volition. + +Strigel plainly denied that natural man is truly spiritually dead. He +declared: "The will is so created that it can expel the Holy Spirit and +the Word, or, when assisted by the Holy Spirit, can in some manner will +and obey--to receive is the act of the will; in this I cannot concede +that man is simply _dead--accipere est hominis; in hoc non possum +concedere simpliciter mortuum esse hominem._" (Frank 1, 199.) Natural +man, Strigel explained, is indeed not able to grasp the helping hand of +God with his own hand; yet the latter is not dead, but still retains a +minimum of power. (678.) Again: Man is like a new-born child, whose +powers must first be strengthened with nourishment given it by its +mother, and which, _though able to draw this nourishment out of its +mother's breast,_ is yet unable to lift itself up to it, or to take hold +of the breast, unless it be given it. (Preger 2, 209.) + +With special reference to the last illustration, Flacius declared: +"Strigel, accordingly, holds that we have the faculty to desire and +receive the food, _i.e._, the benefits of God. Forsooth, you thereby +attribute to corrupt man a very great power with respect to spiritual +things. Now, then, deny that this opinion is Pelagian." (209.) "Your +statements agree with those of Pelagius, yet I do not simply say that +you are a Pelagian; for a good man may fall into an error which he does +not see." Pelagius held that man, by his natural powers, is able to +begin and complete his own conversion; Cassianus, the Semi-Pelagian +taught that man is able merely to begin this work; Strigel maintained +that man can admit the liberating operation of the Holy Spirit, and that +after such operation of the Spirit he is able to cooperate with his +natural powers. Evidently, then, the verdict of Flacius was not much +beside the mark. Planck though unwilling to relegate Strigel to the +Pelagians, does not hesitate to put him down as a thoroughgoing +Synergist. (Planck 4, 683f.) Synergism, however, always includes at +least an element of Pelagianism. + +Strigel illustrated his idea by the following analogy. When garlic-juice +is applied to a magnet, it loses its power of attraction, but remains a +true magnet, and, when goat's blood is applied, immediately regains its +efficaciousness. So the will of man is hindered by original sin from +beginning that which is good; but when the impediment has been removed +through the operation of the Holy Spirit, the native powers of the will +again become efficacious and active. (Tschackert, 524; Planck 4, 672; +Preger 2, 198; Luthardt, 211.) Frank remarks: "The example of the +temporarily impeded power of the magnet, which was repeated also at this +juncture [in the disputation at Weimar], immediately points to the +related papal doctrine, for the Catholic Andradius explains the dogma of +the _Tridentinum_ to this effect: The free will of natural man may be +compared to a chained prisoner who, though still in possession of his +locomotive powers, is nevertheless impeded by his fetters." (1, 136.) +Also the _Formula of Concord,_ evidently with a squint at Strigel, +rejects as a Pelagian error the teaching "that original sin is not a +despoliation or deficiency but only an external impediment to these +spiritual good powers, as when a magnet is smeared with garlic-juice, +whereby its natural power is not removed, but only hindered or that this +stain can be easily washed away as a spot from the face or a pigment +from the wall." (865, 22.) + +163. Strigel's "Cooperation." + +When the impediment caused by original sin has been removed, and the +will liberated and aroused to activity, man, according to Strigel, is +able also to cooperate in his conversion. At Weimar he formulated the +point at issue as follows: "The question is whether [in conversion] the +will is present idle, as an inactive, indolent subject, or, as the +common saying is, in a purely passive way; or whether, when grace +precedes, the will follows the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, and in some +manner assents--_an vero praeeunte gratia voluntas comitetur +efficaciam Spiritus Sancti et aliquo modo annuat_." (Luthardt, 222.) +Following are some of his answers to this question: When incited by the +Spirit, the will is able to assent somewhat and to pray for assistance. +_Inter trepidationem utcumque assentitur, simul petens auxilium._ +Contrition and faith, as well as other virtues, are gifts of God, "but +they are given to those only who hear and contemplate God's Word, +embrace it by assenting to it, strive against their doubts and in this +conflict pray for the help of God." (230.) The Holy Ghost converts +those "who hear the Word of God and do not resist stubbornly, but +consent," and God assists such only "as follow His call and pray for +assistance." (229.) "The will and heart do not resist altogether, but +desire divine consolation, when, indeed, they are assisted by the Holy +Ghost." "The will is neither idle nor contumacious; but, in a manner, +desires to obey." (Planck 4, 682.) "Man is dead [spiritually] in as far +as he is not able to heal his wounds with his own powers; but when the +remedy is offered him by the Holy Spirit and the Word, then he, at +least in receiving the benefit, is not altogether dead; for otherwise a +conversion could not occur. For I cannot conceive a conversion where +the process is that of the flame consuming straw (_denn ich kann mir +keine Bekehrung vorstellen, bei der es zugeht, wie wenn die Flamme das +Stroh ergreift_). The nature of the will is such that it can reject the +Holy Spirit and the Word; or, being supported by the Holy Spirit, can +in a manner will and obey. The remedy is heavenly and divine, but the +will--not the will alone, but the will supported by the Holy Spirit--is +able to accept it. One must ascribe at least a feeble consent and an +'Aye' to the will, which is already supported by the Holy Spirit." +(Preger 2, 208.) "In a betrothal, consent is necessary; conversion is a +betrothal of Christ to the Church and its individual members; hence +consent is required," which the will is able to give when assisted by +the Holy Spirit. (Luthardt, 224.) + +It is, however, only a languid, wavering, and weak consent which man is +able to render (_qualiscumque assensio languida, trepida et imbecilla_). +"Compared with the divine operation," Flacius reports Strigel as having +said, "the cooperation of our powers in conversion is something +extremely small (_quiddam pertenue prorsus_). If, after drinking with a +rich man, he paying a _taler_ and I a _heller,_ I would afterwards boast +that I had been drinking and paying with him--such is cooperation, +_talis est synergia._" (Planck 4, 677; Luthardt, 220. 222.) According to +Strigel, therefore, man is not purely passive, but plays an active part +in his conversion. With Melanchthon and Pfeffinger he maintained: "These +three concur in conversion: the Holy Spirit, who moves the hearts; the +voice of God; the will of man, which assents to the divine voice. +_Concurrunt in conversione haec tria: Spiritus Sanctus movens corda, vox +Dei, voluntas hominis, quae voci divinae assentitur._" (Tschackert, +524.) + +Flacius declared with respect to the issue formulated by Strigel: "I +explain my entire view as follows: Man is purely passive (_homo se habet +pure passive_). If you consider the native faculty of the will, its +willing and its powers, then he is purely passive when he receives (_in +accipiendo_). But if that divinely bestowed willing or spark of faith +kindled by the Spirit is considered, then this imparted willing and this +spark is not purely passive. But the Adamic will does not only not +operate or cooperate, but, according to the inborn malice of the heart, +even operates contrarily (_verum etiam pro nativa malitia cordis sui +contra operatur_)." (Planck 4, 697.) Thus Flacius clearly distinguished +between cooperation _before_ conversion (which he rejected absolutely) +and cooperation _after_ conversion (which he allowed). And pressing this +point, he said to Strigel: "I ask whether you say that the will +cooperates _before_ the gift of faith or _after_ faith has been received +whether you say that the will cooperates from natural powers, or in so +far as the good volition has been bestowed by the renovation of the Holy +Spirit. _Quaero, an dicas, voluntatem cooperari ante donum fidei aut +post acceptam fidem; an dicas, cooperari ex naturalibus viribus aut +quatenus ex renovatione Spiritus Sancti datum est bene velle._" (Seeberg +4, 492.) Again: I shall withdraw the charge of Pelagianism if you will +declare it as your opinion "that only the regenerated, sanctified, +renewed will cooperates, and not the other human, carnal, natural will." +"Confess openly and expressly and say clearly: 'I affirm that man +cooperates from faith and the good will bestowed by God, not from the +will he brings with him from his natural Adam--_quod homo cooperetur ex +fide et bono velle divinitus donato, non ex eo, quod attulit ex suo +naturali Adamo.'_" "We say, Only the regenerate will cooperates; if you +[Strigel] say the same, the controversy is at an end." Strigel, however, +who, to use a phrase of Luther (St. L. 18, 1673), was just as hard to +catch as Proteus of old, did not reply with a definite yes or no, but +repeated that it was only a weak assent (_qualiscumque assensio languida +trepida et imbecilla_) which man was able to render when his will was +incited and supported by the prevenient grace of the Holy Spirit. +(Preger 2, 217; Luthardt, 217. 222. 227; Frank 1, 115.) + +164. Objections Answered. + +At Weimar, Strigel insisted: The human will must not be eliminated as +one of the causes of conversion; for without man's will and intellect no +conversion is possible. Flacius replied: The will, indeed, is present in +conversion, for it is the will that is converted and experiences +conversion; but the inborn power of the natural will contributes nothing +to conversion, and therefore the will "is purely passive in the +reception of grace." (Preger 2, 217.) "We are pressed hard with the +sophistical objection that man is not converted without his knowledge +and will. But who doubts this? The entire question is: Whence does that +good knowledge originate? Whence does that good volition originate?" +(216.) "We certainly admit that in conversion there are many motions of +the intellect and will, good and bad. But the dispute among us is not +whether in conversion the intellect understands and the will wills; but +whence is the capability to think right, and whence is that good willing +of the will? Is it of us, as of ourselves, or is this sufficiency of +willing and thinking of God alone?" (Planck 4, 711.) The fact that God +alone converts man, said Flacius, "does not exclude the presence of the +will; but it does exclude all efficaciousness and operation of the +natural will in conversion (_non excludit voluntatem, ne adsit, sed +excludit omnem efficaciam et operationem naturalise voluntatis in +conversione_)." (Seeberg 4, 492.) + +In order to prove man's cooperation in conversion, Strigel declared: +"Both [to will and to perform] are in some way acts of God and of +ourselves; for no willing and performing takes place unless we will. +_Utrumque [velle et perficere] aliquo modo Dei et nostrum est non fit +velle aut perficere nisi nobis volentibus._" Charging Strigel with +ambiguity, Flacius replied: "You speak of one kind of synergism and we +of another. You cannot affirm with a good conscience that these +questions are unknown to you." Strigel, protesting that he was unable to +see the difference, answered: "For God's sake, have a little forbearance +with me, I cannot see the difference. If that is to my discredit, let it +be to my discredit.--_Bitte um Gottes willen, man wolle mir's zugut +halten; ich kann's nicht ausmessen. Ist mir's eine Schand', so sei mir's +eine Schand'_." (Frank 1, 136.) Strigel, however, evidently meant that +man, too, has a share in _producing_ the good volition, while Flacius +understood the phraseology as Luther and Augustine explained it, the +latter, _e.g._, writing in _De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio:_ "It is +certain that we will when we will; but He who makes us will is He of +whom it is written: It is God who worketh in us to will. _Certum est nos +velle cum volumus; sed ille facit, ut velimus, de quo dictum est: Deus +est, qui operatur in nobis velle._" (Frank 1, 238.) + +In his objections to the doctrine that man is purely passive in his +conversion, Strigel protested again and again that man is not like a +block or stone when he is converted. "That is true," said Flacius, "for +a block can neither love nor hate God, while man by nature hates God, +and scoffs at Him. Rom. 8, 1; 1 Cor. 2. Thus God is dealing with one +whose will and heart is altogether against Him. But here [in the denial +that man is purely passive in conversion] is buried a popish _meritum de +congruo_ and a particle of free will." (Preger 2, 191.) Flacius +furthermore explained that in his conversion man is able to cooperate +just as little as a stone can contribute to its transformation into a +statue. Indeed, man's condition is even more miserable than that of a +stone or block (_miserior trunco_), because by his natural powers he +resists, and cannot but resist, the operations of the Spirit. (Planck 4, +696f.) + +Strigel reasoned: If man is converted without his consent, and if he +cannot but resist the operations of the Holy Spirit, conversion is an +impossibility, a contradiction. He said: "If the will, even when +assisted by the Holy Spirit, is unable to assent, it must of necessity +resist Him perpetually, drive out, reject, and repudiate the Word and +Holy Spirit; for it is impossible that motions extremely conflicting and +contradictory, the one embracing, the other repudiating and persistently +rejecting, should be in the same will. _Si voluntas etiam adiuta a +Spiritu Sancto non potest assentiri, necesse est, ut perpetuo ei +repugnet, ut excutiat, reiiciat et repudiet Verbum et Spiritum Sanctum. +Nam impossibile est in eadem voluntate esse motus extreme pugnantes et +contradictorios, quorum alter est amplecti, alter repudiare et quidem +perstare in reiectione._" Flacius replied: You need but distinguish +between the sinful natural will inherited from Adam, which always +resists, and the new consenting will implanted by God in conversion. +"Man consents with the faith given by God, but he resists with the +inborn wickedness of his Old Adam." Your error is that you acknowledge +only an inciting grace, which mere incitation presupposes powers of +one's own to do and to perform (_talis incitatio includit proprias vires +ad perficiendum_). "I plead," said Flacius, "that by original sin man is +not only wounded, but, as the Scriptures affirm, entirely dead, and his +faculties to do that which is good have been destroyed; on the other +hand, however, he is alive and vigorous toward evil (_hominem ... +penitus esse mortuum, extinctum et interfectum ad bonum et contra +insuper vivum et vigentem ad malum_)." "The will is free with respect to +things beneath itself, but not with respect to things above itself. In +spiritual matters it is a servant of Satan." Hence, said Flacius, in +order to cooperate, new spiritual life must first be imparted to, and +created in, man by the grace of God. (Planck 4, 693ff.; Frank 1, 224ff., +Luthardt, 224; Preger 2, 216.) + +Strigel argued: If man is able only to sin and to resist the grace of +God, he cannot be held accountable for his actions. But Flacius replied: +"Also the non-regenerate are justly accused [made responsible for their +actions] for with the remnant of the carnal liberty they are able at +least to observe external decency (_Zucht_), which God earnestly demands +of us, for example, to hear God's Word, to go to church more frequently +than into the tavern." "Furthermore, there are many carnal +transgressions in which natural man could have done something which he +has not done." "God may justly hold us responsible also with respect to +things which we are unable to do because He has bestowed uninjured +powers upon the human race, which, though forewarned, man has shamefully +lost through his own fault." (Preger 2, 214f.) + +Time and again Strigel told Flacius that according to his doctrine man +is coerced to sin and compelled to resist the grace of God. But the +latter replied: As far as his own powers are concerned, the natural will +of man indeed sins and resists inevitably and of necessity (_voluntas +repugnat necessario et inevitabiliter_), but not by coercion or +compulsion. Necessity to resist (_necessitas repugnandi_), Flacius +explained, does not involve coercion to resist (_coactio repugnandi_), +since there is such a thing as a necessity of immutability (_necessitas +immutabilitatis_), that is to say, man may be unable to act otherwise and +yet act willingly. The impossibility of being able to will otherwise +than one really wills, does, according to Flacius, not at all involve +coercion or compulsion. The holy angels are free from compulsion, +although they cannot sin or fall any more. It is the highest degree of +freedom and Christian perfection when, in the life to come, our will to +remain in union with God is elevated to immutability of so willing. +Again, though Satan cannot but sin, yet he is not coerced to sin. Thus +too, of his own powers, natural man is able only to resist grace, yet +there is no compulsion involved. The fact, therefore, that natural man +cannot but sin and resist grace does not warrant the inference that he +is compelled to sin; nor does the fact that natural man is not coerced +to resist prove that he is able also to assent to grace. The fact, said +Flacius, that the wicked _willingly_ will, think, and do only what +pleases Satan does not prove an ability to will in the opposite +spiritual direction, but merely reveals the terrible extent of Satan's +tyrannical power over natural man. (Luthardt 224. 231.) According to +Flacius the will always wills willingly when it wills and what it wills. +In brief: The categories "coercion" and "compulsion" cannot be applied +to the will. This, however, does not imply that God is not able to +create or restore a good will without coercion or compulsion. There was +no coercion or compulsion involved when God, creating Adam, Eve, and the +angels, endowed them with a good will. Nor is there any such thing as +coercion or compulsion when God, in conversion, bestows faith and a good +will upon man. + +In his statements on the freedom of the will, Flacius merely repeated +what Luther had written before him, in _De Servo Arbitrio:_ "For if it +is not we, but God alone, who works salvation in us, then nothing that +we do previous to His work, whether we will or not, is salutary. But +when I say, 'by necessity,' I do not mean by coercion, but, as they say +by the necessity of immutability, not by necessity of coercion, _i.e._, +man, destitute of the Spirit of God, does not sin perforce, as though +seized by the neck [stretched upon the rack] nor unwillingly, as a thief +or robber is led to his punishment but spontaneously and willingly. And +by his own strength he cannot omit, restrain, or change this desire or +willingness to sin, but continues to will it and to find pleasure in it. +For even if he is compelled by force, outwardly to do something else, +within, the will nevertheless remains averse, and rages against him who +compels or resists it. For if it were changed and willingly yielded to +force, it would not be angry. And this we call the necessity of +immutability, _i.e._, the will cannot change itself and turn to +something else, but is rather provoked to will more intensely by being +resisted, as is proved by its indignation. _Si enim non nos, sed solus +Deus operatur salutem in nobis, nihil ante opus eius operamur salutare, +velimus nolimus. Necessario vero dico, NON COACTE, sed, ut illi dicunt, +necessitate immutabilitatis, NON COACTIONIS; id est homo cum vacat +Spiritu Dei, NON QUIDEM VIOLENTIA, velut raptus obtorto collo, NOLENS +facit peccatum, quemadmodum fur aut latro nolens ad poenam ducitur, sed +sponte et libenti voluntate facit. Verum hanc libentiam seu voluntatem +faciendi non potest suis viribus omittere, coercere aut mutare, sed +pergit volendo et lubendo; etiamsi ad extra cogatur aliud facere per +vim, tamen voluntas intus manet aversa et indignatur cogenti aut +resistenti. Non enim indignaretur, si mutaretur ac volens vim +sequeretur. Hoc vocamus modo necessitatem immutabilitatis, id est, quod +voluntas sese mutare et vertere alio non possit, sed potius irritetur +magis ad volendum, dum ei resistitur, quod probat eius indignatio._" (E. +v. a. 7, 155f. 134. 157; St. L. 18 1717. 1692. 1718.) + +Flacius was also charged with teaching that "man is converted resisting +(_hominem converti repugnantem_)." In their _Confession and Opinion +Concerning Free Will,_ of 1561, the Wittenberg theologians repeated the +assertion that Flacius taught "_converti hominem ... repugnantem et +hostiliter Deo convertenti adversantem._" (Planck 4, 688.) But Flacius +protested: "I do not simply say that man is converted resisting +(_hominem repugnantem converti_). But I say that he resists with respect +to his natural and carnal free will." "It is not denied that God +converts us as willing and understanding (_quin Deus nos convertat +volentes et intelligentes_), but willing and understanding not from the +Old Adam but from the light given by God and from the good volition +bestowed through the Word and the Holy Spirit." (692.) "Man is converted +or drawn by the Father to the Son not as a thief is cast into prison, +but in such a manner that his evil will is changed into a good will by +the power of the Holy Spirit." (Preger 2, 218.) It is the very essence +of conversion that by the grace of God unwilling men are made willing. + +In support of his error that natural man is able to cooperate in his +conversion Strigel appealed to Rom. 8, 26: "Likewise the Spirit also +helpeth our infirmities," etc.; and appealing to the _Augustana_ for the +correctness of his interpretation, he declared that this passage proves +that one may speak of a languid and weak assent in man even before he is +endowed with faith. Flacius replied that this Bible-passage referred to +such only as are already converted, and that Strigel's interpretation +was found not in the original _Augustana,_ but in the _Variata._--From +the admonition 2 Cor. 5, 20: "Be ye reconciled to God," Strigel inferred +that free will must to a certain extent be capable of accepting the +grace offered by God. Flacius answered that it was a logical fallacy, +conflicting also with the clear Word of God, to conclude that man by his +own powers is able to perform something because God demands it and +admonishes and urges us to do it.--From Acts 5, 32: "...the Holy Ghost, +whom God hath given to them that obey Him," Strigel argued that the will +is able to consent to the Holy Spirit. But Flacius rejoined that this +passage refers to special gifts bestowed upon such as are already +converted.--In support of his synergism, Strigel also appealed to the +Parable of the Prodigal Son, who himself repented and returned to his +father. But Flacius answered: If every detail of this parable taken from +every-day life were to be interpreted in such a manner, Strigel would +have to abandon his own teaching concerning prevenient grace, since +according to the parable the repentance and return of the son precedes +the grace bestowed by the father. (Preger 2, 210f.) + +165. Teaching of the Anti-Synergists. + +While the Philippists, also in the Synergistic Controversy, endeavored +to supplant the authority and doctrine of Luther by that of Melanchthon, +their opponents, Amsdorf, Flacius, Wigand, Hesshusius, and others +(though not always fortunate in the choice of their phraseology), stood +four-square on Luther's teaching of the _sola gratia,_ which, they were +fully convinced, was nothing but the pure truth of the Gospel itself. +They maintained that, as a result of the Fall, man has lost his original +holiness and righteousness or the image of God; that both as to his +intellect and will he is totally corrupt spiritually; that of his own +powers he is utterly unable to think or will anything that is truly +good; that not a spark of spiritual life is found in natural man by +virtue of which he might assent to the Gospel or cooperate with the Holy +Spirit in his conversion; that his carnal mind is enmity toward God; +that of his own powers he is active only in resisting the work of the +Holy Spirit, nor is he able to do otherwise; that such resistance +continues until he is converted and a new will and heart have been +created in him; that conversion consists in this, that men who by nature +are unwilling and resist God's grace become such as willingly consent +and obey the Gospel and the Holy Spirit; that this is done solely by +God's grace, through Word and Sacrament; that man is purely passive in +his conversion, inasmuch as he contributes nothing towards it, and +merely suffers and experiences the work of the Holy Spirit; that only +after his conversion man is able to cooperate with the Holy Spirit; that +such cooperation, however, flows not from innate powers of the natural +will, but from the new powers imparted in conversion; that also in the +converted the natural sinful will continues to oppose whatever is truly +good, thus causing a conflict between the flesh and the spirit which +lasts till death; in brief, that man's conversion and salvation are due +to grace alone and in no respect whatever to man and his natural powers. + +The _Book of Confutation,_ of 1559, drafted, as stated above, by the +theologians of Jena, designates the synergistic dogma as a "rejection of +grace." Here we also meet with statements such as the following: Human +nature "is altogether turned aside from God, and is hostile toward Him +and subject to the tyranny of sin and Satan (_naturam humanam prorsus a +Deo aversam eique inimicam et tyrannidi peccati ac Satanae subiectam +esse_)." It is impossible for the unregenerate man "to understand or to +apprehend the will of God revealed in the Word, or by his own power to +convert himself to God and to will or perform anything good (_homini non +renato impossibile esse intelligere aut apprehendere voluntatem Dei in +Verbo patefactam aut sua ipsius voluntate ad Deum se convertere, boni +aliquid velle aut perficere_)." "Our will to obey God or to choose the +good is utterly extinguished and corrupted. _Voluntas nostra ad Dei +obedientiam aut ad bonum eligendum prorsus extincta et depravata est_." +(Tschackert, 523; Gieseler 3, 2, 229.) + +The second of the Propositions prepared by Simon Musaeus and Flacius for +the Disputation at Weimar, 1560, reads: "Corrupt man cannot operate or +cooperate toward anything good by true motions, and such as proceed from +the heart; for his heart is altogether dead spiritually, and has utterly +lost the image of God, or all powers and inclinations toward that which +is good. _Homo corruptus nihil boni potest veris ac ex corde +proficiscentibus motibus operari aut cooperari, nom plane est +spiritualiter mortuus et Dei imaginem seu omnes bonas vires et +inclinationes prorsus amisit._" The third: Not only "has he lost +entirely all good powers, but, in addition, he has also acquired +contrary and most evil powers, ... so that, of necessity or inevitably, +he constantly and vehemently opposes God and true piety (_ita [tr. note: +sic on punctuation] ut necessario seu inevitabiliter Deo ac verae +pietati semper et vehementer adversetur._" The fourth thesis states that +God alone, through His Word and the Holy Spirit, converts, draws, and +illumines man, kindles faith, justifies, renews, and creates him unto +good works, while natural or Adamic free will is of itself not only +inactive, but resists (_non solum non cooperante ex se naturali aut +Adamico libero arbitrio, sed etiam contra furente ac fremente_). (Planck +4, 692; Gieseler 3, 2, 245.) + +The same position was occupied by the Mansfeld ministers in a statement +of August 20, 1562, and by Hesshusius in his _Confutation of the +Arguments by which the Synergists Endeavor to Defend Their Error +Concerning the Powers of the Dead Free Will_. They held that in his +conversion man is purely passive and has no mode of action whatever; +that he is but the passive subject who is to be converted (_subiectam +patiens, subiectum convertendum_); that he contributes no more to his +conversion than an infant to its own formation in the womb of its +mother; that he is passive, like a block, inasmuch as he does not in any +way cooperate, but at the same time differs from, and is worse than, a +block, because he is active in resisting the Holy Spirit until he has +been converted. The _Confession_ presented by the theologians of Ducal +Saxony (Wigand, Coelestinus, Irenaeus, Rosinus, Kirchner, etc.) at the +Altenburg Colloquy March, 1569, occupies the same doctrinal position. As +stated before, these theologians made it a special point also to declare +their agreement with Luther's book _De Servo Arbitrio_. (Schluesselburg +5, 316. 133.) + +166. Attitude of Formula of Concord. + +The second article of the _Formula of Concord_, which decided the +questions involved in the Synergistic Controversy, takes a clear, +determined, and consistent stand against all forms and formulas of +synergism. At the same time it avoids all extravagant, improper, +offensive, and inadequate terms and phrases, as well as the numerous +pitfalls lurking everywhere in the questions concerning free will, +against which also some of the opponents of the Synergists had not +always sufficiently been on their guard. Article II teaches "that +original sin is an unspeakable evil and such an entire corruption of +human nature that in it and all its internal and external powers nothing +pure or good remains, but everything is entirely corrupt, so that on +account of original sin man is in God's sight truly spiritually dead, +with all his powers dead to that which is good (_dass der Mensch durch +die Erbsuende wahrhaftig vor Gott geistlich tot und zum Guten mit allen +seinen Kraeften erstorben sei_)" (CONC. TRIGL. 879, 60); "that in +spiritual and divine things the intellect, heart, and will of the +unregenerate man are utterly unable, by their own natural powers, to +understand, believe, accept, think, will, begin, effect, work, or concur +in working, anything, but they are entirely dead to what is good, and +corrupt, so that in man's nature since the Fall, before regeneration, +there is not the least spark of spiritual power remaining, nor present, +by which, of himself, he can prepare himself for God's grace, or accept +the offered grace, nor be capable of it for and of himself, or apply or +accommodate himself thereto, or by his own powers be able of himself, as +of himself, to aid, do, work, or concur in working anything towards his +conversion either wholly, or half, or in any, even the least or most +inconsiderable part; but that he is the servant [and slave] of sin, John +8, 34, and a captive of the devil, by whom he is moved, Eph. 2, 2; +2 Tim. 2, 26. Hence natural free will according to its perverted +disposition and nature is strong and active only with respect to what is +displeasing and contrary to God" (883, 7; 887, 17); that "before man is +enlightened, converted, regenerated, renewed and drawn by the Holy +Spirit he can of himself and of his own natural powers begin work, or +concur in working in spiritual things and in his own conversion or +regeneration just as little as a stone or a block or clay." (891, 24); +that, moreover, "in this respect" [inasmuch as man resists the Holy +Spirit] "it may well be said that man is not a stone or block, for a +stone or block does not resist the person who moves it, nor does it +understand and is sensible of what is being done with it, as man with +his will so long resists God the Lord until he is converted (_donec ad +Deum conversus fuerit_)" (905, 59); that "the Holy Scriptures ascribe +conversion, faith in Christ, regeneration, renewal, and all that belongs +to their efficacious beginning and completion, not to the human powers +of the natural free will, neither entirely, nor half nor in any, even +the least or most inconsiderable part, but _in solidum_, that is, +entirely and solely, to the divine working and the Holy Spirit" (891, +25); that "the preaching and hearing of God's Word are instruments of +the Holy Ghost, by, with, and through which He desires to work +efficaciously, and to convert men to God, and to work in them both to +will and to do" (901, 52); that "as soon as the Holy Ghost ... has begun +in us this His work of regeneration and renewal, it is certain that +through the power of the Holy Ghost we can and should cooperate +(_mitwirken_), although still in great weakness" (907, 65); that this +cooperation, however, "does not occur from our carnal natural powers, +but from the new powers and gifts which the Holy Ghost has begun in us +in conversion," and "is to be understood in no other way than that the +converted man does good to such an extent and so long as God by His Holy +Spirit rules, guides, and leads him, and that as soon as God would +withdraw His gracious hand from him, he could not for a moment persevere +in obedience to God," and that hence it is not a power independent from, +and coordinated with, the Holy Spirit, as though "the converted man +cooperated with the Holy Ghost in the manner as when two horses together +draw a wagon" (907, 66); and finally, that as to the +three-concurring-causes doctrine it is "manifest, from the explanations +presented that conversion to God is a work of God the Holy Ghost alone, +who is the true Master that alone works this in us, for which He uses +the preaching and hearing of His holy Word as His ordinary means and +instrument. But the intellect and will of the unregenerate man are +nothing else than _subiectum convertendum_, that is, that which is to be +converted, it being the intellect and will of a spiritually dead man, in +whom the Holy Ghost works conversion and renewal, towards which work +man's will that is to be converted does nothing, but suffers God alone +to work in him until he is regenerated and then he [cooperates] works +also with the Holy Ghost that which is pleasing to God in other good +works that follow in the way and to the extent fully set forth above" +(915, 90). + +It has been said that originally also the _Formula of Concord_ in its +Torgau draft (_Das Torgausche Buch, i.e._, the draft preceding the +Bergic Book=_Formula of Concord_) contained the three-concurring-causes +doctrine of Melanchthon and the Synergists. As a matter of fact, +however, the Torgau Book does not speak of three causes of conversion, +but of three causes in those who are already converted,--a doctrine +entirely in agreement with the _Formula of Concord_, which, as shown, +plainly teaches that after conversion the will of man also cooperates +with the Holy Spirit. In the Torgau Book the passage in question reads: +"Thus also three causes concur to effect this internal new obedience in +the converted. The first and chief cause is God Father, Son, and Holy +Ghost.... The second is God's Word.... The third is man's intellect, +enlightened by the Holy Spirit, which ponders and understands God's +command [threat and promise], and our new and regenerate will, which is +governed by the Holy Spirit, and now desires with a glad and willing +heart (_herzlich gern und willig_), though in great weakness, to submit +to, and obey, the Word and will of God." In the same sense, at the +colloquy in AItenburg, 1568 to 1569, the Jena theologians also mentioned +as a "third cause" "the mind of man, which is regenerated and renewed, +and yields to, and obeys, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God (_des +Menschen Gemuet, so wiedergeboren und erneuert ist und dem Heiligen +Geiste und Gottes Wort Folge tut und gehorsam ist_)." (Frank 1, 214f.) + + +XV. The Flacian Controversy. + +167. Flacius Entrapped by Strigel. + +Matthias Flacius Illyricus, one of the most learned and capable +theologians of his day and the most faithful, devoted, staunch, zealous, +and able exponent and defender of genuine Lutheranism, was the author of +the malignant controversy which bears his name. Flacius was born March +3, 1520, in Illyria hence called Illyricus. He studied in Basel, +Tuebingen, and Wittenberg. At Wittenberg he was convinced that the +doctrine of the Lutheran Church is in complete agreement with the Word +of God. Here, too, he was appointed Professor of Hebrew in 1544. In +April, 1549, he left the city on account of the Interim. He removed to +Magdeburg where he became the energetic and successful leader of the +opponents of the Interimists and Adiaphorists. He was appointed +professor at the University of Jena, founded 1547, partly in opposition +to Philippism. In December 1561, he and his adherents were banished from +Jena. When the latter returned in 1567, he was not recalled. Persecuted +by his enemies (especially Elector August of Saxony) and forsaken by his +friends, he now moved from one place to another: from Jena to +Regensburg, thence to Antwerp, to Frankfort-on-the-Main, to Strassburg +(from where he was expelled in the spring of 1573), and again to +Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he found a last asylum for himself and his +family (wife and eight children), and where he also died in a hospital, +March 11, 1575. + +In the Adiaphoristic Controversy Flacius had time and again urged the +Lutherans to die rather than deny and surrender the truth. And when in +the controversy about original sin all shunned him and turned against +him he gave ample proof of the fact that he himself was imbued with the +spirit he had endeavored to kindle in others, being willing to suffer +and to be banished and persecuted rather than sacrifice what he believed +to be the truth.--The most important of his numerous books are: +_Catalogus Testium Veritatis_, qui ante nostram aetatem reclamarunt +Papae, 1556; _Ecclesiastica Historia_, or the so-called Magdeburg +Centuries (_Centuriones_), comprising the history of the first thirteen +centuries, and published 1559-1574; _Clavis Scripturae_, of 1567; and +_Glossa Novi Testamenti_. Walther remarks: "It was a great pity that +Flacius, who had hitherto been such a faithful champion of the pure +doctrine, exposed himself to the enemies in such a manner. Henceforth +the errorists were accustomed to brand all those as Flacianists who were +zealous in defending the pure doctrine of Luther." (_Kern und Stern_, +34.) + +The Flacian Controversy sprang from, and must be regarded as an episode +of, the Synergistic Controversy, in which also some champions of +Luther's theology (Amsdorf, Wigand, Hesshusius, and others) had +occasionally employed unguarded, extreme, and inadequate expressions. +Following are some of the immoderate and extravagant statements made by +Flacius: God alone converts man, the Adamic free will not only not +cooperating, "but also raging and roaring against it (_sed etiam contra +furente ac fremente_)." (Preger 2, 212.) The malice of our free will is +a "diabolical malice (_nostra diabolica malitia carnis aut liberi +arbitrii_)." By original sin man is "transformed into the image of Satan +(_ad imaginem Satanae transformatus, eiusque charactere [foeda Satanae +imagine] signatus_)." (Gieseler 3, 2, 245.) By original sin "the +substance of man is destroyed (_substantiam hominis ablatam esse_);" +after the Fall original sin is the substance of man; man's nature is +identical with sin; in conversion a new substance is created by God. In +particular, the assertions concerning the substantiality of original sin +gave rise to the so-called Flacian Controversy. After Strigel, at the +second session of the disputation in Weimar, had dilated on the +philosophical definitions of the terms "substance" and "accident" +("_accidens, quod adest vel abest praeter subiecti corruptionem_"), and +had declared that original sin was an accident which merely impeded free +will in its activity, Flacius, in the heat of the controversy, +exclaimed: "_Originale peccatum non est accidens_. Original sin is not +an accident, for the Scriptures call it flesh, the evil heart," etc. +Thus he fell into the pitfall which the wily Strigel had adroitly laid +for him. Though Flacius seemed to be loath to enter upon the matter any +further, and protested against the use of philosophical definitions in +theology, Strigel now was eager to entangle him still further, plying +him with the question: "_An negas peccatum originis esse accidens?_ Do +you deny that original sin is an accident?" Flacius answered: "_Lutherus +diserte negat esse accidens_. Luther expressly denies that it is an +accident." Strigel: "_Visne negare peccatum esse accidens?_ Do you mean +to deny that sin is an accident?" Flacius: "_Quod sit substantia, dixi +Scripturam et Lutherum affirmare._ I have said that Scripture and Luther +affirm that it is a substance." (Luthardt, 213. 216.) + +After the session in which the fatal phrase had fallen from his lips, +Wigand and Musaeus expostulated with Flacius, designating (according to +later reports of theirs) his statement as "this new, perilous, and +blasphemous proposition of the ancient Manicheans (_haec nova, +periculosa et blasphema veterum Manichaeorum propositio_)." (Planck 4, +611.) Flacius declared that, "in the sudden and pressing exigency, in +the interest of truth, and against Pelagian enthusiasm, he had taken +this expression [concerning the substantiality of original sin] from +Luther's doctrine and books." (Preger 2, 324.) In the following (third) +session, however, he repeated his error, declaring: I must stand by my +statement that original sin is not an accident, but a substance, +"because the testimonies of the Holy Scriptures which employ terms +denoting substance (_quae verbis substantialibus utuntur_) are so +numerous." (Planck 4, 610; Luthardt, 216.) Also later on Flacius always +maintained that his doctrine was nothing but the teaching of the Bible +and of Luther. As to Scripture-proofs, he referred to passages in which +the Scriptures designate sin as "flesh," "stony heart," etc. Regarding +the teaching of Luther, he quoted statements in which he describes +original sin as "man's nature," "essence," "substantial sin," "all that +is born of father and mother," etc. (Preger 2, 318.) + +However, the palpable mistake of Flacius was that he took the +substantial terms on which he based his theory in their original and +proper sense, while the Bible and Luther employ them in a figurative +meaning, as the _Formula of Concord_ carefully explains in its first +article, which decided and settled this controversy. (874, 50.) Here we +read: "Also to avoid strife about words, _aequivocationes vocabulorum_, +that is, words and expressions which are applied and used in various +meanings, should be carefully and distinctly explained, as when it is +said: God creates the nature of men, there by the term _nature_ the +essence, body, and soul of men are understood. But often the disposition +or vicious quality of a thing is called its nature, as when it is said: +It is the nature of the serpent to bite and poison. Thus Luther says +that sin and sinning are the disposition and nature of corrupt man. +Therefore original sin properly signifies the deep corruption of our +nature as it is described in the _Smalcald Articles_. But sometimes the +concrete person or the subject that is, man himself with body and soul +in which sin is and inheres, is also comprised under this term, for the +reason that man is corrupted by sin, poisoned and sinful, as when Luther +says: 'Thy birth, thy nature, and thy entire essence is sin,' that is, +sinful and unclean. Luther himself explains that by nature-sin, +person-sin, essential sin he means that not only the words, thoughts, +and works are sin, but that the entire nature, person and essence of man +are altogether corrupted from the root by original sin." (875, 51f.) + +168. Context in which Statement was Made. + +In making his statement concerning the substantiality of original sin, +the purpose of Flacius was to wipe out the last vestige of spiritual +powers ascribed to natural man by Strigel, and to emphasize the doctrine +of total corruption, which Strigel denied. His fatal blunder was that he +did so in terms which were universally regarded as savoring of +Manicheism. As was fully explained in the chapter of the Synergistic +Controversy Strigel taught that free will, which belongs to the +substance and essence of man, and hence cannot be lost without the +annihilation of man himself, always includes the capacity to choose in +both directions, that also with respect to divine grace and the +operations of the Holy Spirit man is and always remains a _liberum +agens_ in the sense that he is able to decide _in utramque partem;_ that +this ability, constituting the very essence of free will, may be +weakened and impeded in its activity, but never lost entirely. If it +were lost, Strigel argued, the very substance of man and free will as +such would have to be regarded as annihilated. But now man, also after +the Fall, is still a real man, possessed of intellect and will. Hence +original sin cannot have despoiled him of this liberty of choosing _pro_ +or _con_ also in matters spiritual. The loss of original righteousness +does not, according to Strigel, involve the total spiritual disability +of the will and its sole tendency and activity toward what is +spiritually evil. Moreover, despite original corruption, it is and +remains an indestructible property of man to be able, at least in a +measure, to assent to and to admit, the operations of the Holy Spirit, +and therefore and in this sense to be converted "_aliquo modo volens._" +(Planck 4, 667. 675. 681.) + +It was in opposition to this Semi-Pelagian teaching that Flacius +declared original sin to be not a mere accident, but the substance of +man. Entering upon the train of thought and the phraseology suggested by +his opponent, he called substance what in reality was an accident, +though not an accident such as Strigel contended. From his own +standpoint it was therefore a shrewd move to hide his own synergism and +to entrap his opponent, when Strigel plied Flacius with the question +whether he denied that original sin was an accident. For in the context +and the sense in which it was proposed the question involved a vicious +dilemma. Answering with yes or no, Flacius was compelled either to +affirm Strigel's synergism or to expose himself to the charge of +Manicheism. Instead of replying as he did, Flacius should have cleared +the sophistical atmosphere by explaining: "If I say, 'Original sin is an +accident,' you [Strigel] will infer what I reject, _viz._, that the +corrupt will of man retains the power to decide also in favor of the +operations of the Holy Spirit. And if I answer that original sin is not +an accident (such as you have in mind), you will again infer what I +disavow, _viz._, that man, who by the Fall has lost the ability to will +in the spiritual direction, has _eo ipso_ lost the will and its freedom +entirely and as such." As it was, however, Flacius instead of adhering +strictly to the real issue--the question concerning man's cooperation in +conversion--and exposing the sophistry implied in the question put by +Strigel, most unfortunately suffered himself to be caught on the horns +of the dilemma. He blindly walked into the trap set for him by Strigel, +from which also later on he never succeeded in fully extricating +himself. + +With all his soul Flacius rejected the synergism involved in Strigel's +question. His blunder was, as stated, that he did so in terms +universally regarded as Manichean. He was right when he maintained that +original sin is the inherited tendency and motion of the human mind, +will, and heart, not toward, but against God,--a direction, too, which +man is utterly unable to change. But he erred fatally by identifying +this inborn evil tendency with the substance of fallen man and the +essence of his will as such. It will always be regarded as a redeeming +feature that it was in antagonizing synergism and championing the +Lutheran _sola gratia_ that Flacius coined his unhappy proposition. And +in properly estimating his error, it must not be overlooked that he, as +will be shown in the following, employed the terms "substance" and +"accident" not in their generally accepted meaning but in a sense, and +according to a philosophical terminology, of his own. + +169. Formal and Material Substance. + +The terms "substance" and "accident" are defined in Melanchthon's +_Erotemata Dialectices_ as follows: "_Substantia est ens, quod revera +proprium esse habet, nec est in alio, ut habens esse a subiecto._ +Substance is something which in reality has a being of its own and is +not in another as having its being from the subject." (_C. R._ 13, +528.) "_Accidens est quod non per sese subsistit, nec est pars +substantiae, sed in alio est mutabiliter._ Accident is something which +does not exist as such nor is a part of the substance, but is changeable +in something else." (522.) Melanchthon continues: "Accidentium alia sunt +separabilia ut frigus ab aqua, notitia a mente, laetitia, tristitia a +corde. Alia accidentia sunt inseparabilia, ut quantitas seu magnitudo a +substantia corporea, calor ab igni, humiditas ab aqua, non separantur... +Et quia separabilia accidentia magis conspicua sunt, ideo inde sumpta +est puerilis descriptio: Accidens est, quod adest et abest praeter +subiecti corruptionem. Whatever is present or absent without the +corruption of the subject is an accident." (_C. R._ 13, 523; Preger 2, +396. 407; Seeberg 4, 494.) + +Evidently this last definition, which was employed also by Strigel, is +ambiguous, inasmuch as the word "corruption" may signify an +annihilation, or merely a perversion, or a corruption in the ordinary +meaning of the word. In the latter sense the term applied to original +sin would be tantamount to a denial of the Lutheran doctrine of _total_ +corruption. When Jacob Andreae, in his disputation with Flacius, 1571, +at Strassburg, declared that accident is something which is present or +absent without _corruption_ of the subject, he employed the term in the +sense of destruction or annihilation. In the same year Hesshusius stated +that by original sin "the whole nature body and soul, substance as well +as accidents, are defiled, corrupted, and dead," of course, spiritually. +And what he understood by substance appears from his assertion: "The +being itself, the substance and nature itself, in as far as it is +nature, is not an evil conflicting with the Law of God.... Not even in +the devil the substance itself, in as far as it is substance, is a bad +thing, _i.e._, a thing conflicting with the Law." (Preger 2, 397.) + +The _Formula of Concord_ carefully and correctly defines: "Everything +that is must be either _substantia_, that is, a self-existent essence, +or _accidens_, that is, an accidental matter, which does not exist by +itself essentially but is in another self-existent essence and can be +distinguished from it." "Now, then, since it is the indisputable truth +that everything that is, is either a substance or an _accidens_ that is, +either a self-existing essence or something accidental in it (as has +just been shown and proved by testimonies of the church-teachers, and no +truly intelligent man has ever had any doubts concerning this), +necessity here constrains, and no one can evade it if the question be +asked whether original sin is a substance, that is, such a thing as +exists by itself, and is not in another, or whether it is an _accidens_, +that is, such a thing as does not exist by itself, but is in another, +and cannot exist or be by itself, he must confess straight and pat that +original sin is no substance, but an accident." (877, 54; 57.) + +Flacius, however, took the words "substance" and "accident" in a +different sense. He distinguished between the material and formal +substance, and the latter he regarded as man's true original essence. +This essence he explained, consisted in the original righteousness and +holiness of man, in the image of God or the will as truly free and in +proper relation toward God. He said: "Ipsum hominem _essentialiter_ sic +esse formatum, ut recta voluntas esset imago Dei, non tantum eius +accidens." (Seeberg 4, 494.) He drew the conclusion that original sin, +by which the image of God (not the human understanding and will as such) +is lost, cannot be a mere accident, but constitutes the very essence and +substance of fallen man. He argued: The image of God is the formal +essence of man, or the soul itself according to its best part, by +original sin this image is changed into its opposite: hence the change +wrought by original sin is not accidental, but substantial,--just as +substantial and essential as when wine is changed into vinegar or fire +into frost. What man has lost, said Flacius, is not indeed his material +substance (_substantia materialis_), but his true formal substance or +substantial form (_substantia formalis_ or _forma substantialis_). Hence +also original sin, or the corruption resulting from the Fall, in reality +is, and must be designated, the formal substance or substantial form of +natural man. Not all gifts of creation were lost to man by his Fall; the +most essential boon, however, the image of God, was destroyed and +changed into the image of Satan. "In homine," said Flacius, "et mansit +aliquid, et tamen quod optimum in ratione et essentia fuit, nempe imago +Dei, non tantum evanuit, sed etiam in contrarium, nempe in imaginem +diaboli, commutatum est." The devil, Flacius continued, has robbed man +of his original form (_forma_), the image of God, and stamped him with +his own diabolical form and nature. (Luthardt 215; Gieseler 3, 2, 253.) + +170. Further Explanations of Flacius. + +The manner in which Flacius distinguished between material and formal +substance appears from the tract on original sin (_De Peccati Originalis +aut Veteris Adami Appellationibus et Essentia_), which he appended to +his _Clavis Scripturae_ of 1567. There we read: "In this disputation +concerning the corruption of man I do not deny that this meaner matter +(_illam viliorem materiam_) or mass of man created in the beginning has +indeed remained until now, although it is exceedingly vitiated, as when +in wine or aromas the spirituous (_airy_) or fiery substance escapes, +and nothing remains but the earthy and watery substance; but I hold that +the substantial form or the formal substance (_formam substantialem aut +substantiam formalem_) has been lost, yea, changed into its opposite. +But I do not speak of that external and coarse form (although it too, is +corrupted and weakened very much) which a girl admires in a youth, or +philosophy also in the entire man, according to which he consists of +body and soul, has an erect stature two feet, hands, eyes, ears, and the +like, is an animal laughing, counting, reasoning, etc.; but I speak of +that most noble substantial form (_nobilissima substantialis forma_) +according to which especially the heart itself or rather the rational +soul, was formed in such a manner that his very essence might be the +image of God and represent Him, and that his substantial powers, +intellect and will, and his affections might be conformed to the +properties of God, represent, truly acknowledge, and most willingly +embrace Him." (Preger 2, 314; Gieseler 3, 2, 254.) + +Again: "In this manner, therefore, I believe and assert that original +sin is a substance, because the rational soul (as united with God) and +especially its noblest substantial powers, namely, the intellect and +will which before had been formed so gloriously that they were the true +image of God and the fountain of all justice, uprightness, and piety, +and altogether essentially like unto gold and gems, are now, by deceit +of Satan, so utterly perverted that they are the true and living image +of Satan, and, as it were, filthy or rather consisting of an infernal +flame, not otherwise than when the sweetest and purest mass, infected +with the most venomous ferment, is altogether and substantially changed +and transformed into a lump of the same ferment." (Gieseler 3, 2, 254.) +Original sin "is not a mere accident in man, but his inverted and +transformed essence or new form itself, just as when a most wholesome +medicine is changed into the most baneful poison." "The matter remains, +but it receives a new form, namely, the image of Satan." "Man, who in +his essential form was the image of God, has in his essential form +become the image of Satan." "This change may be compared to the change +which the golden image of a beautiful man undergoes when it is +transformed into the image of a dragon, the matter at the same time +being corrupted." (Preger 2, 214. 217. 325.) + +Dilating on the substantiality of original sin, Flacius furthermore +declared: "Original malice in man is not something different from the +evil mind or stony heart itself, not something that destroys him +spiritually as a disease consumes him bodily, but it is ruined and +destroyed nature itself (_sed est tantum ipsa perditissima et iam +destructissima natura_). Original malice was not, as many now think +infused from without into Adam in such a way as when poison or some +other bad substance is thrown or poured into good liquor, so that by +reason of the added bad substance also the rest becomes noxious, but in +such a way as when good liquor or bread itself is perverted so that now +it is bad as such and poisonous or rather poison (_ut illud per se iam +malum ac venenatum aut potius venenum sit_)." (Preger 2, 313.) + +Also concerning the body and soul of fallen man Flacius does not +hesitate to affirm that, since they are permeated and corrupted by +original sin, "these parts themselves are sin, _eas ipsas [partes, +corpus et animam] esse illud nativum malum, quod cum Deo pugnat._" "Some +object," says Flacius, "that the creature of God must be distinguished +from sin, which is not of God. I answer: now do separate, if you can, +the devil from his inherent wickedness!... How can the same thing be +separated from itself! We therefore can not distinguish them in any +other way than by stating that with respect to his first creation and +also his present preservation man, even as the devil himself, is of God, +but that with respect to this horrible transformation (_ratione istius +horrendae metamorphoseos_) he is of the devil, who, by the force of the +efficacious sentence and punishment of angry God: 'Thou shalt die,' not +only captured us to be his vilest slaves, but also recast, rebaked, and +changed, or, so to speak, metamorphosed us into another man, as the +Scripture says, even as he [the devil] himself is inverted." All parts, +talents, and abilities of man, Flacius contends, are "evil and mere +sins," because they all oppose God. "What else are they than armed +unrighteousness!" he exclaims. Even the natural knowledge of God "is +nothing but the abominable source of idolatry and of all superstitions." +(Preger 316f.; Gieseler 3, 2, 255.) + +That the fundamental view of Flacius, however, was much farther apart +from Manicheism than some of his radical phrases imply, appears from his +"_Gnowthi seauton, De Essentia Originalis Institutiae,_" of 1568. After +admitting that Augustine, Luther, and the _Apology of the Augsburg +Confession_ are correct when they define original sin as an inordinate +disposition, a disorder (_ataxia_), perversion, and confusion of the +parts of man, Flacius proceeds: "The substantial form of a certain thing +for the most part, consists in the right position and disposition of the +parts; as, for example, if a human body were born which had its eyes, +ears, and mouth on the belly or feet, and, _vice versa,_ the toes on the +head, no one would say that it was properly a man, but rather a monster. +... It appears, therefore, that the inordinate disposition of the parts +produces an altogether new body or thing. Thus, forsooth, the horrible +perturbation of the soul has also produced, as it were a new kind of +monster fighting against God." (Preger 2, 409.) Accordingly, it was not +man's body and soul as such, but the alteration of the relation of his +powers toward one another and the consequent corruption of these powers, +that Flacius had in mind when he designated original sin as the new +substantial form, or substance, of sinful man. + +Flacius expressly denied that the fall of man or his conversion involved +a physical change. "I do not teach a physical regeneration," he +declared, "nor do I say that two hearts are created, but I say that this +most excellent part of the soul or of man is once more established, or +that the image of God is recast and transformed out of the image of +Satan, even as before the image of God was transformed into the image of +Satan. _Physicam renascentiam non assero nec dico duo corda creari, sed +dico istam praestantissimam animae aut hominis partem denuo condi aut ex +imagine Satanae refundi aut transformari imaginem Dei, sicut antea imago +Dei fuit transformata in imaginem Satanae._" (Seeberg 4, 495.) Gieseler +pertinently remarks: "It is apparent that Flacius did not deviate from +the common concept of original sin, but from the concepts of substance +and accident, but that here, too, he was uncertain, inasmuch as he +employed the terms _substantia, forma substantialis,_ and _substantia +formalis_ promiscuously." (3, 2, 255.) + +If not necessarily involved in, it was at least in keeping with his +extreme position and extravagant phraseology concerning original sin +when Flacius, in his _De Primo et Secundo Capite ad Romanos, quatenus +Libero Arbitrio Patrocinari Videntur,_ rejected the doctrine of an +inborn idea of God and of His Law inscribed in the heart of natural +man. On Rom. 1, 19 he comments: It is only from the effects in the world +that man infers the existence of a supreme cause. And with respect to +Rom. 2, 15 he maintains that Paul's statements were to be understood, +not of a law written in the heart of man, but of a knowledge which the +heathen had derived by inference, from experience, or from tradition of +the fathers. On this point Strigel, no doubt was correct when he +objected: If the knowledge of God's existence were really extinguished +from the heart, there could be no discipline among men; and if man had +no inborn knowledge of the Law, then there could be no such thing as +conscience which condemns him when he sins. The fact that man fears +punishments even when there is no government to fear, as was the case +with Alexander when he had murdered Clitus, proves that in the heart +there is a certain knowledge both of God and of His Law. (Preger 2, +213.) However, Flacius did not, as Strigel seems to insinuate, deny that +natural man has an obscure knowledge of God's existence and Law, but +merely maintained that this knowledge was not inborn or inherited, but +acquired from without. + +171. Controversy Precipitated by Flacius. + +Though Flacius, when he first made his statement concerning the +substantiality of original sin may not have felt absolutely sure of the +exact meaning, bearing, and correctness of his position, yet the facts +do not warrant the assumption that afterwards he was in any way +diffident or wavering in his attitude. Whatever his views on this +subject may have been before 1560--after the fatal phrase had fallen +from his lips, he never flinched nor flagged in zealously defending it. +Nor was he ever disposed to compromise the matter as far as the +substance of his doctrine was concerned. In 1570 Spangenberg of +Mansfeld, who sided with Flacius, suggested that he retain his meaning, +but change his language: "_Teneat Illyricus mentem, mutet linguam._" To +this Flacius consented. On September 28 1570, he published his _Brief +Confession,_ in which he agreed to abstain from the use of the term +"substance." However, what he suggested as a substitute, _viz._, that +original sin be defined as the nature of man (the word "nature," as he +particularly emphasized, to be taken not in a figurative, but in its +proper meaning), was in reality but another way of repeating his error. + +The same was the case in 1572, when Flacius, opposed and sorely pressed +by the ministerium of Strassburg (whence he was banished the following +year), offered to substitute for the word "substance" the phrase +"essential powers." (Preger 2, 371.) Two years later, at the public +disputation in Langenau, Silesia, where Flacius defended his doctrine +with favorable results for himself against Jacob Coler [born 1537; +studied in Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 1564 pastor in Lauban, Upper Lausatia +(Oberlausitz); 1573 in Neukirch; 1574 he opposed Leonard Crentzheim and +Flacius; 1575 professor in Frankfort; afterwards active first as +Praepositus in Berlin and later on as Superintendent in Mecklenburg, +published _Disputatio De Libero Arbitrio;_ died March 7, 1612], he +declared that he did not insist on his phrase as long as the doctrine +itself was adopted and original sin was not declared to be a mere +accident. But this, too, was no real retraction of his error. (Preger 2, +387.) In a similar way Flacius repeatedly declared himself willing to +abstain from the use of the word "substance" in connection with his +doctrine concerning original sin, but with conditions and limitations +which made his concessions illusory, and neither did nor could satisfy +his opponents. + +At the disputation in Weimar, 1560, Wigand and Musaeus, as stated, +warned Flacius immediately after the session in which he had made his +statement. Schluesselburg relates: "Immediately during the disputation, +as I frequently heard from their own lips, Dr. Wigand, Dr. Simon +Musaeus, and other colleagues of his who attended the disputation ... +admonished Illyricus in a brotherly and faithful manner to abstain from +this new, perilous and blasphemous proposition of the ancient +Manicheans, which would cause great turmoil in the Church of God, and to +refute the error of Victorin [Strigel] concerning free will not by means +of a false proposition, but with the Word of God. However, intoxicated +with ambition, and relying, in the heat of the conflict, too much on the +acumen and sagacity of his own mind, Illyricus haughtily spurned the +brotherly and faithful admonitions of all his colleagues." (_Catalogus_ +2, 4.) In his book _De Manichaeismo Renovato_ Wigand himself reports: +"Illyricus answered [to the admonition of his colleagues to abstain from +the Manichean phrase] that he had been drawn into this discussion by his +opponent against his own will. But what happened? Contrary to the +expectations of his colleagues, Illyricus in the following session +continued, as he had begun, to defend this insanity." (Preger 2, 324; +Planck 4, 611.) However, it does not appear that after the disputation +his friends pressed the matter any further, or that they made any +efforts publicly to disavow the Flacian proposition. + +In 1567 Flacius published his tract _De Peccati Originalis aut Veteris +Adami Appellationibus et Essentia,_ "On the Appellations and Essence of +Original Sin or the Old Adam," appending it to his famous _Clavis +Scripturae_ of the same year. He had written this tract probably even +before 1564. In 1566 he sent it to Simon Musaeus, requesting his opinion +and the opinion of Hesshusius, who at that time was celebrating his +marriage with the daughter of Musaeus. In his answer, Musaeus approved +the tract, but desired that the term "substance" be explained as meaning +not the matter, but the form of the substance to which Hesshusius also +agreed. After the tract had appeared, Musaeus again wrote to Flacius, +June 21, 1568, saying that he agreed with his presentation of original +sin. At the same time, however, he expressed the fear that the bold +statement which Flacius had retained, "Sin is substance," would be +dangerously misinterpreted. (Preger 2, 327.) And before long a storm was +brewing, in which animosity registered its highest point, and a +veritable flood of controversial literature (one publication following +the other in rapid succession) was poured out upon the Church, which was +already distracted and divided by numerous and serious theological +conflicts. + +By the publication of this treatise Flacius, who before long also was +harassed and ostracized everywhere, had himself made a public +controversy unavoidable. In the conflict which it precipitated, he was +opposed by all parties, not only by his old enemies, the Philippists, +but also by his former friends. According to the maxim: _Amicus Plato, +amicus Socrates, sed magis amica veritas,_ they now felt constrained, +in the interest of truth, to turn their weapons against their former +comrade and leader. Flacius himself had made it impossible for his +friends to spare him any longer. Nor did he deceive himself as to the +real situation. In a letter written to Wigand he reveals his fear that +the Lutherans and Philippists, then assembled at the Colloquium in +Altenburg (held from October 21, 1568, to March, 1569, between the +theologians of Thuringia and those of Electoral Saxony), would unite in +a public declaration against his teaching. Wigand whose warning Flacius +had disregarded at Weimar, wrote to Gallus: Flacius has forfeited the +right to request that nothing be published against him, because he +himself has already spread his views in print. And before long Wigand +began to denounce publicly the Flacian doctrine as "new and prolific +monsters, _monstra nova et fecunda._" + +172. Publications Pro and Con. + +According to Preger the first decided opposition to the Flacian teaching +came from Moerlin and Chemnitz, in Brunswick, to whom Flacius had also +submitted his tract for approval. Chemnitz closed his criticism by +saying: It is enough if we are able to retain what Luther has won +(_parta tueri_), let us abandon all desires to go beyond (_ulterius +quaerere_) and to improve upon him. (Preger 2, 328.) Moerlin +characterized Flacius as a vain man, and dangerous in many respects. +Flacius answered in an objective manner, betraying no irritation +whatever. (332.) In a letter of August 10, 1568, Hesshusius, who now had +read the tract more carefully charged Flacius with teaching that Satan +was a creator of substance, and before long refused to treat with him +any further. In September of the same year Flacius published his _Gnothi +seauton_ against the attacks of the Synergists and Philippists, notably +Christopher Lasius [who studied at Strassburg and Wittenberg, was active +in Goerlitz, Greussen, Spandau, Kuestrin, Cottbus, and Senftenberg, +wrote _Praelibationes Dogmatis Flaciani de Prodigiosa Hominis +Conversione;_ died 1572]. In the same year Hesshusius prepared his +_Analysis,_ which was approved by Gallus and the Jena theologians. + +Realizing that all his former friends had broken with him entirely, +Flacius, in January 1570, _published_ his _Demonstrations Concerning the +Essence of the Image of God and the Devil,_ in which he attacked his +opponents, but without mentioning their names. His request for a private +discussion was bluntly rejected by the Jena theologians. Wigand, in his +_Propositions on Sin_ of May 5, 1570, was the first publicly to attack +Flacius by name. About the same time Moerlin's _Themata de Imagine Dei_ +and Chemnitz's _Resolutio_ appeared. The former was directed "against +the impious and absurd proposition that sin is a substance", the latter, +against the assertion "that original sin is the very substance of man, +and that the soul of man itself is original sin." Hesshusius also +published his _Letter to M. Flacius Illyricus in the Controversy whether +Original Sin is a Substance._ Flacius answered in his _Defense of the +Sound Doctrine Concerning Original Righteousness and Unrighteousness, or +Sin,_ of September 1, 1570. Hesshusius published his _Analysis,_ in +which he repeated the charge that Flacius made the devil a creator of +substance. + +In his _Brief Confession,_ of September 28 1570, Flacius now offered to +abstain from the use of the term "substance" in the manner indicated +above. A colloquium, however, requested by Flacius and his friends on +the basis of this Confession, was declined by the theologians of Jena. +Moreover, in answer to the _Brief Confession,_ Hesshusius published +(April 21, 1571) his _True Counter-Report,_ in which he again repeated +his accusation that Flacius made the devil a creator of substance. He +summarized his arguments as follows: "I have therefore proved from one +book [Flacius's tract of 1567] more than six times that Illyricus says: +_Satan condidit, fabricavit, transformavit veterem hominem, Satan est +figulus,_ that is: The devil created and made man, the devil is man's +potter." The idea of a creation out of nothing, however, was not taught +in the statements to which Hesshusius referred. (Preger 2, 348.) + +Further publications by Andrew Schoppe [died after 1615], Wigand, +Moerlin, Hesshusius, and Chemnitz, which destroyed all hopes of a +peaceful settlement, caused Flacius to write his _Orthodox Confession +Concerning Original Sin._ In this comprehensive answer, which appeared +August 1, 1571, he declares "that either image, the image of God as well +as of Satan, is an essence, and that the opposite opinion diminishes the +merit of Christ." At the same time he complained that his statements +were garbled and misinterpreted by his opponents, that his was the +position of the man who asked concerning garlic and received an answer +concerning onions, that his opponents were but disputing with +imaginations of their own. (349f.) + +In the same year, 1571, Wigand published a voluminous book, _On Original +Sin,_ in which he charged Flacius with teaching that original sin is the +entire carnal substance of man according to both his body and soul. In +his description of the Flacian doctrine we read: "Original sin is a +substance, as they teach. Accordingly, original sin is an animal, and +that, too, an intelligent animal. You must also add ears, eyes, mouth, +nose, arms, belly, and feet. Original sin laughs, talks, sews, sows, +works, reads, writes, preaches, baptizes, administers the Lord's Supper, +etc. For it is the substance of man that does such things. Behold, where +such men end!" Flacius replied in his _Christian and Reliable Answer to +All manner of Sophistries of the Pelagian Accident,_ 1572, protesting +that the doctrine ascribed to him was a misrepresentation of his +teaching. In the same year Wigand published _Reasons Why This +Proposition, in Controversy with the Manicheans: "Original Sin Is the +Corrupt Nature," Cannot Stand._ Here Wigand truly says: "Evil of the +substance and evil substance are not identical. _Malum substantiae et +mala substantia non sunt idem._" (Preger 2, 353. 410.) + +In several publications of the same year Hesshusius asserted (quoting +testimonies to this effect from Augustine), that the Flacian doctrine +was identical with the tenets of the Manicheans, in substance as well as +terms. Flacius answered in _De Augustini et Manichaeorum Sententia, in +Controversia Peccati,_ 1572, in which he declared: "I most solemnly +condemn the Manichean insanity concerning two creators. I have always +denied that original sin is something, or has ever been something +outside of man; I have never ascribed to this sin any materiality of its +own." (355.) This book was followed by another attack by Hesshusius and +an answer, in turn, by Flacius. + +In the same year Hesshusius, in order to prevent further accessions to +Flacianism, published his _Antidote (Antidoton) against the Impious and +Blasphemous Dogma of Matthias Flacius Illyricus by which He Asserts that +Original Sin Is Substance._ In this book, which was republished in 1576 +and again in 1579, Hesshusius correctly argued: "If original sin is the +substance of the soul, then we are compelled to assert one of two +things, _viz._, either that Satan is the creator of substances or that +God is the creator and preserver of sin. _Si substantia animae est +peccatum originis, alterum a duobus necesse est poni, videlicet, aut +Satanam esse conditorem substantiarum, aut Deum esse peccati creatorem +et sustentatorem._" (Gieseler 3, 2, 256.) At this late hour, 1572, Simon +Musaeus, too, entered the arena with his _Opinion Concerning Original +Sin, Sententia de Peccato Originali._ In it he taught "that original sin +is not a substance, but the utmost corruption of it, in matter as well +as form," and that therefore "Pelagianism no less than Manicheism is to +be excluded and condemned." + +When the ministerium of Strassburg turned against Flacius, he again +published several books defending his position on the controverted +questions, which resulted in his expulsion from the city. In 1573 +Flacius published an answer to Hesshusius's _Antidote_ entitled, _Solid +Refutation of the Groundless Sophistries, Calumnies, and Figments, as +also of the Most Corrupt Errors of the "Antidote" and of Other +Neopelagian Writers._ Flacius charged Hesshusius with misrepresentation, +and demanded that he swear whether he really believed to have found the +alleged errors in his writings. (Preger 2, 364ff.) + +Till his death, on March 11, 1575, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Flacius +consistently adhered to his false terminology as well as teaching, +apparently never for a moment doubting that he was but defending +Luther's doctrine. One of his last books was entitled, _Some Clear and +Splendid Testimonies of Martin Luther Concerning the Evil Essence, +Image, Form, or Shape_ (Wesen, essentia, Bild, Form oder Gestalt) _of +the Earthly Dead Adam and Concerning the Essential Transformation of +Man._ (389.) As stated above, the mistake of Flacius was that he took +literally terms denoting substance which the Bible and Luther employ in +a figurative sense. + +173. Adherents of Flacius. + +The chief supporters of Flacius were the Mansfeldians, Count Vollrath +and Cyriacus Spangenberg [born 1528; studied in Wittenberg; served in +Eisleben, then in Mansfeld; died in Strassburg February 10, 1604]. In +the serious dissensions which arose in Mansfeld in consequence of the +controversy on original sin, the Count and Spangenberg were opposed by +the Jena theologians and Superintendent Menzel [Jerome Menzel, born +1517; studied in Wittenberg; wrote against Spangenberg; died 1590]. As +stated above, it was Spangenberg who endeavored to bring about an +understanding between the contending parties on the principle: "_Teneat +Illyricus mentem, mutet linguam._" A colloquy was held 1572 at Castle +Mansfeld, in which Flacius and his adherents were pitted against Menzel, +Rhode, Fabricius, and others. When Fabricius declared in the +discussions: "Only in so far as our nature is not in conformity with the +Law of God is it corrupt," Flacius exclaimed: "_Non quantum_, not in as +far; but I say it is not in conformity because it is corrupt, _quia +corrupta est_." (Preger 2, 375.) Count Vollrath and his adviser, Caspar +Pflug gave Flacius a written testimony that at the colloquy he had not +been convinced, but found to be correct in the controversy on original +sin. The publication of this testimony by Flacius as also of the minutes +of the Colloquy by Count Vollrath, in 1573, resulted in a number of +further publications by Flacius and his friends as well as his +opponents. At Mansfeld the animosity against the Flacians did not +subside even after the death of Flacius in 1575. They were punished with +excommunication, incarceration, and the refusal of a Christian burial. +Count Vollrath left 1577, and died at Strassburg 1578. Spangenberg, who +also had secretly fled from Mansfeld, defended the doctrine of Flacius +in a tract, _De Peccato Originali, Concerning Original Sin_, which he +published 1586 under a pseudonym. He died without retracting or changing +his views. + +Another adherent of Flacius was F. Coelestinus, professor at Jena. After +his suspension he left the city and participated in the controversy. He +published _Colloquium inter Se et Tilem. Hesshusium_. He died 1572. In +August, 1571, Court-preacher Christopher Irenaeus and Pastors Guenther +and Reinecker were dismissed in Weimar because of Flacianism. Irenaeus +published _Examen Libri Concordiae_ and many other books, in which he +contends that original sin is a substance. Pastors Wolf in Kahla, +Schneider in Altendorf, and Franke in Oberrosla were dismissed in 1572 +for the same reason. They, too, entered the public arena in favor of +Flacius. At Lindau four preachers, who had identified themselves with +Flacius, were also deposed. One of them, Tobias Rupp, held a public +disputation with Andreae. In Antwerp the elders forbade their ministers +to indulge in any public polemics against Flacius. Among the supporters +of Flacius were also his son, Matthias Flacius, and Caspar Heldelin. It +may be noted here that Saliger (Beatus) and Fredeland, who were deposed +at Luebeck in 1568 also taught "that original sin is the very substance +of the body and soul of man," and that Christ had assumed "the flesh of +another species" than ours. (Gieseler 3, 2, 257.) + +In Regensburg four adherents of Flacius were dismissed in 1574, among +them Joshua Opitz [born 1543; died 1585]. These and others emigrated to +the Archduchy of Austria, where the Lutherans were numerous and +influential, Opitz frequently preaching to an audience of 7,000. No less +than 40 of the Lutheran ministers of Austria are said to have shared the +views of Flacius. (Preger 2, 393.) Only a few of them revealed symptoms +of fanaticism, which resulted in their dismissal. Among the latter was +Joachim Magdeburgius, then an exile at Efferding. He taught "that the +bodies of believing Christians after their death were still essential +original sin, and that God's wrath remained over them till the Day of +Judgment." (Joecher, _Lexicon_ 3, 32.) At the same time he branded as +errorists Spangenberg, Opitz, and Irenaeus, who declared their dissent. +In 1581 the Flacians in Austria issued a declaration against the +_Formula of Concord_, charging its teaching to be inconsistent with +Luther's doctrine on original sin. As late as 1604 there were numerous +Flacianists in German Austria. + +174. Decision of Formula of Concord. + +Seeberg remarks: "Flacius was not a heretic, but in the wrangle of his +day he was branded as such, and this has been frequently repeated." (4, +2, 495.) A similar verdict is passed by Gieseler and other historians. +But whatever may be said in extenuation of his error, it cannot be +disputed that the unfortunate phrases of Flacius produced, and were +bound to produce, most serious religious offense, as well as theological +strife, and hopeless doctrinal confusion. Even when viewed in the light +of his distinction between formal substance (man as endowed with the +image of God) and material substance (man as possessed of body and soul, +together with will and intellect), the odiousness of his terminology is +not entirely removed. It was and remained a form of doctrine and trope +or mode of teaching which the Lutherans were no more minded to tolerate +than the error of Strigel. + +Accordingly, the first article of the _Formula of Concord_ rejects both +the synergistic as well as the Manichean aberrations in the doctrine of +original sin. In its Thorough Declaration we read: "Now this doctrine +[of original sin] must be so maintained and guarded that it may not +deflect either to the Pelagian or the Manichean side. For this reason +the contrary doctrine ... should also be briefly stated." (865, 16.) +Accordingly, in a series of arguments, the Flacian error is thoroughly +refuted and decidedly rejected. At the same time the _Formula of +Concord_ points out the offensiveness of the Flacian phraseology. It +refers to the controversy regarding this question as "scandalous and +very mischievous," and declares: "Therefore it is unchristian and +horrible to hear that original sin is baptized in the name of the Holy +Trinity, sanctified, and saved, and other similar expressions found in +the writings of the recent Manicheans, with which we will not offend +simple-minded people." (873, 45. 59.) + +On the other hand, the _Formula of Concord_ is just as determined in +opposing every effort at extenuating the corruption wrought by original +sin. It is solicitous to explain that in designating original sin as an +accident, its corruption is not minimized in the least, if the answer +concerning the nature of this accident is not derived from philosophy +or human reason, but from the Holy Scriptures. "For the Scriptures," +says the _Formula_, "testify that original sin is an unspeakable evil +and such an entire corruption of human nature that in it and all its +internal and external powers nothing pure or good remains, but +everything is entirely corrupt, so that on account of original sin man +in God's sight is truly spiritually dead (_plane sit emortuus_), with +all his powers dead to that which is good." (879, 60.) + +Accordingly, the _Formula of Concord_ rejects the errors of Strigel and +the Semi-Pelagians, "that original sin is only external, a slight, +insignificant spot sprinkled, or a stain dashed, upon the nature of man +... along with and beneath which the nature nevertheless possesses and +retains its integrity and power even in spiritual things. Or that +original sin is not a despoliation or deficiency, but only an external +impediment to these spiritual good powers.... They are rebuked and +rejected likewise who teach that the nature has indeed been greatly +weakened and corrupted through the Fall, but that nevertheless it has +not entirely lost all good with respect to divine, spiritual things, +and that what is sung in our churches, '_Through Adam's fall is all +corrupt, nature and essence human,_' is not true, but from natural +birth it still has something good, small, little, and inconsiderable +though it be, namely, capacity, skill, aptness, or ability to begin, to +effect, or to help effect something in spiritual things." (865, 21ff.) + +While the _Formula of Concord_ does not deny the capacity of fallen man +for salvation, it is careful in defining that this is not an active, but +a passive capacity. That is to say: Man is utterly incapable of +qualifying himself for, or of contributing in the least toward, his own +spiritual restoration; but what is impossible for man is not impossible +with God who, indeed, is able to convert man, endow him with new +spiritual powers, and lead him to eternal salvation,--a goal for the +attainment of which, in contradistinction from inanimate and other +creatures, man, being a rational creature, endowed with intellect and +will, was created by God and redeemed by Christ. In the _Formula of +Concord_ we read: "And although God, according to His just, strict +sentence, has utterly cast away the fallen evil spirits forever, He has +nevertheless, out of special, pure mercy, willed that poor fallen human +nature might again become and be capable and participant of conversion, +the grace of God, and eternal life; not from its own natural, active [or +effective] skill, aptness, or capacity (for the nature of man is +obstinate enmity against God), but from pure grace, through the gracious +efficacious working of the Holy Ghost. And this Dr. Luther calls +_capacitatem_ (_non activam, sed passivam_), which he explains thus: +_Quando patres liberum arbitrium defendunt, capacitatem libertatis eius +praedicant, quod scilicet verti potest ad bonum per gratiam Dei et fieri +revera liberum, ad quod creatum est_. That is: When the Fathers defend +the free will, they are speaking of this, that it is capable of freedom +in this sense, that by God's grace it can be converted to good, and +become truly free, for which it was created in the beginning." (889, +20.) + +This accords with Luther's words in _De Servo Arbitrio_: "It would be +correct if we should designate as the power of free will that [power] by +which man, who is created for life or eternal death, is apt to be moved +by the Spirit and imbued with the grace of God. For we, too, confess +this power, _i.e._, aptitude or, as the Sophists [Scholastic +theologians] say, disposition and passive aptitude. And who does not +know that trees and animals are not endowed with it? For, as the saying +goes, heaven is not created for geese. _Hanc enim vim, hoc est, +aptitudinem, seu, ut Sophistae loquuntur, dispositivam qualitatem et +passivam aptitudinem, et nos confitemur; quam non arboribus neque +bestiis inditam esse, quis est, qui nesciat? Neque enim pro anseribus, +ut dicitur, coelum creavit._" (E. v. a. 158: St. L. 18. 1720.) + + +XVI. The Osiandrian and Stancarian Controversies. + +175. Osiander in Nuernberg and in Koenigsberg. + +In the writings of Luther we often find passages foreboding a future +corruption of the doctrine of justification, concerning which he +declared in the _Smalcald Articles_: "Of this article nothing can be +yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth, and whatever will +not abide, should sink to ruin.... And upon this article all things +depend which we teach and practise in opposition to the Pope, the devil, +and the world. Therefore we must be sure concerning this doctrine, and +not doubt, for otherwise all is lost, and the Pope and devil and all +things gain the victory and suit over us." (461, 5.) Martin Chemnitz +remarks: "I frequently shudder, because Luther--I do not know by what +kind of presentiment--in his commentaries on the Letter to the Galatians +and on the First Book of Moses so often repeats the statement: 'This +doctrine [of justification] will be obscured again after my death.'" +(Walther, _Kern und Stern_, 26.) + +Andrew Osiander was the first to fulfil Luther's prophecy. In 1549 he +began publicly to propound a doctrine in which he abandoned the forensic +conception of justification by imputation of the merits of Christ, and +returned to the Roman view of justification by infusion _i.e._, by +infusion of the eternal essential righteousness of the divine nature of +Christ. According to his own statement, he had harbored these views ever +since about 1522. He is said also to have presented them in a sermon +delivered at the convention in Smalcald, 1537. (Planck 4, 257.) Yet he +made no special effort to develop and publicly to disseminate his ideas +during the life of Luther. After the death of the Reformer, however, +Osiander is reported to have said: "Now that the lion is dead, I shall +easily dispose of the foxes and hares"--_i.e._, Melanchthon and the +other Lutheran theologians. (257.) Osiander was the originator of the +controversy "Concerning the Righteousness of Faith before God," which +was finally settled in Article III of the _Formula of Concord_. + +Osiander, lauded by modern historians as the only real "systematizer" +among the Lutherans of the first generation, was a man as proud, +overbearing, and passionate as he was gifted, keen, sagacious, learned, +eloquent, and energetic. He was born December 19, 1498, at Gunzenhausen, +Franconia, and died October 17, 1552, at Koenigsberg, where he was also +buried with high honors in the Old City Church. In 1522 he was appointed +priest at St. Lawrence's Church in the Free City of Nuernberg. Here he +immediately acted the part of a determined champion of the Reformation. +Subsequently he also participated in some of the most important +transactions of his day. He was present at the Marburg Colloquy, 1529, +where he made the personal acquaintance of Luther and the Wittenbergers. +He also took part in the discussions at the Diet in Augsburg, 1530; at +Smalcald, 1537; at Hagenau and Worms, 1540. Nor were his interests +confined to theological questions. When, at Nuernberg, 1543, the work of +Copernicus, _De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium_, "Concerning the +Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies," was published for the first time, +Osiander read the proof-sheets and wrote the Preface, in which he +designated the new theory as "hypotheses," thus facilitating its +circulation also among the Catholics, until in the 17th century the book +was placed on the _Index Librorum Prohibitorum_, where it remained till +the 18th century. + +When the Augsburg Interim was introduced in Nuernberg, Osiander +resigned, and with words of deep emotion (in a letter of November 22, +1548, addressed to the city council) he left the place where he had +labored more than a quarter of a century. January 27 1549, he arrived in +Koenigsberg. Here he was joyously received by Count Albrecht of Prussia, +whom he had gained for the Reformation in 1523. Moved by gratitude +toward Osiander, whom he honored as his "spiritual father," Count +Albrecht appointed him pastor of the Old City Church and, soon after, +first professor of theology at the University of Koenigsberg, with a +double salary, though Osiander had never received an academic degree. +The dissatisfaction which this unusual preferment caused among his +colleagues, Briessman, Hegemon, Isinder, and Moerlin, soon developed +into decided antipathy against Osiander, especially because of his +overbearing, domineering ways as well as his intriguing methods. No +doubt, this personal element added largely to the animosity and violence +of the controversy that was soon to follow, and during which the +professors in Koenigsberg are said to have carried firearms into their +academic sessions. (Schaff, _Creeds_ 1, 273.) Yet it cannot be regarded +as the real cause or even as the immediate occasion, of the conflict, +which was really brought about by the unsound, speculative, and mystical +views of Osiander on the image of God and, particularly, on +justification and the righteousness of faith,--doctrinal points on which +he deviated from the Lutheran teaching to such an extent that a +controversy was unavoidable. Evidently, his was either a case of relapse +into Romanism, or, what seems to be the more probable alternative, +Osiander never attained to a clear apprehension of the Lutheran truth +nor ever fully freed himself from the Roman doctrine, especially in its +finer and more veiled form of mysticism. + +176. Opposed by Moerlin and Lutherans Generally. + +Osiander, as stated, had conceived the fundamental thoughts of his +system long before he reached Koenigsberg. In 1524, when only twenty-six +years of age, he laid down the outlines of his theory in a publication +entitled: "_A Good Instruction (Ein gut Unterricht) and Faithful Advice +from the Holy Divine Scriptures What Attitude to Take in These +Dissensions Concerning Our Holy Faith and Christian Doctrine_, dealing +especially with the questions what is God's Word and what human +doctrine, what Christ and what Antichrist." Here he says: "Whoever +hears, retains, and believes the Word, receives God Himself, for God is +the Word. If, therefore, the Word of God, Christ, our Lord, dwells in us +by faith and we are one with Him, we may say with Paul: 'I live, though +not I, but Christ lives in me,' and then we are justified by faith." +(Gieseler 3, 2, 270.) In the following year, 1525, he wrote in his +_Action of the Honorable Wise Council in Nuernberg with their Preachers +(Handlung eines ehrsamen weisen Rats zu Nuernberg mit ihren +Praedikanten)_: "The one and only righteousness availing before God is +God Himself. But Christ is the Word which we apprehend by faith, and +thus Christ in us, God Himself, is our Righteousness which avails before +God." "The Gospel has two parts; the first, that Christ has satisfied +the justice of God; the other, that He has cleansed us from sin, and +justifies us by dwelling in us (_und uns rechtfertigt, so er in uns +wohnet_)." (271.) The embryonic ideas of these early publications +concerning the image of God and justification were fully developed by +Osiander in his book of 1550, _Whether the Son of God would have had to +be Incarnated (An Filius Dei fuerit Incarnandus), if Sin had Not Entered +the World;_ and especially in his confession of September, 1551, +_Concerning the Only Mediator Jesus Christ (Von dem einigen Mittler Jesu +Christo) and Justification of Faith_ which appeared also in Latin under +the title _De Unico Mediatore_, in October of the same year. + +The public conflict began immediately after Osiander had entered upon +his duties at the university. In his inaugural disputation of April 5, +1549, "Concerning the Law and Gospel (De Lege et Evangelio)," Osiander's +vanity prompted him at least to hint at his peculiar views, which he +well knew were not in agreement with the doctrine taught at Wittenberg +and in the Lutheran Church at large. His colleague, Matthias Lauterwald, +a Wittenberg master, who died 1555, immediately took issue with him. On +the day following the disputation, he published theses in which he +declared: "Osiander denied that faith is a part of repentance." October +24 of the following year Osiander held a second disputation ("On +Justification, De Iustificatione") in which he came out clearly against +the doctrine hitherto taught in the Lutheran Church. But now also a +much more able and determined combatant appeared in the arena, Joachim +Moerlin, who henceforth devoted his entire life to defeat Osiandrism +and to vindicate Luther's forensic view of justification. + +Moerlin (Moehrlein) was born at Wittenberg April 6, 1514, he studied +under Luther and was made Master in 1537 and Doctor in 1540; till 1543 +he was superintendent in Arnstadt, Thuringia, and superintendent in +Goettingen till 1549, when he was compelled to leave because of his +opposition to the Augsburg Interim. Recommended by Elizabeth Duchess of +Braunschweig-Lueneburg, the mother-in-law of Duke Albrecht, he was +appointed preacher at the Dome of Koenigsberg in 1550. Clearly +understanding that solid comfort in life and death is possible only as +long as our faith rests solely on the _aliena iustitia_, on the +objective righteousness of Christ, which is without us, and is offered +in the Gospel and received by faith; and fully realizing also that +Christian assurance is incompatible with such a doctrine as Osiander +taught, according to which our faith is to rely on a righteous condition +within ourselves, Moerlin publicly attacked Osiander from his pulpit, +and in every way emphasized the fact that his teaching could never be +tolerated in the Lutheran Church. Osiander replied in his lectures. The +situation thus created was most intolerable. At the command of the Duke +discussions were held between Moerlin and Osiander, but without result. + +In order to settle the dispute, Duke Albrecht, accordingly, on October +5, 1551, placed the entire matter before the evangelical princes and +cities with the request that the points involved be discussed at the +various synods and their verdicts forwarded to Koenigsberg. This aroused +the general interest and the deepest concern of the entire Lutheran +Church in Germany. Numerous opinions of the various synods and +theologians arrived during the winter of 1551 to 1552. With the +exception of the Wuerttemberg _Response (Responsum)_, written by John +Brenz, and the _Opinion_ of Matthew Vogel, both of whom regarded +Osiander's teaching as differing from the doctrine received by the +Lutheran Church in terms and phrases rather than in substance, they were +unfavorable to Osiander. At the same time all, including the opinions of +Brenz and Vogel, revealed the fact that the Lutherans, the theologians +of Wittenberg as well as those of Jena, Brandenburg, Pomerania, Hamburg, +etc., were firmly united in maintaining Luther's doctrine, _viz._, that +the righteousness of faith is not the essential righteousness of the Son +of God, as Osiander held but the obedience of Christ the God-man imputed +by grace to all true believers as their sole righteousness before God. + +Feeling safe under the protection of Duke Albrecht, and apparently not +in the least impressed by the general opposition which his innovations +met with at the hands of the Lutherans, Osiander continued the +controversy by publishing his _Proof (Beweisung) that for Thirty Years I +have Always Taught the Same Doctrine_. And irritated by an opinion of +Melanchthon (whom Osiander denounced as a pestilential heretic), +published with offensive explanations added by the Wittenbergers, he in +the same year (April, 1552) wrote his _Refutation (Widerlegung) of the +Unfounded, Unprofitable Answer of Philip Melanchthon_. In this +immoderate publication Osiander boasted that only the Philippian rabble, +dancing according to the piping of Melanchthon, was opposed to him. + +Before long, however, also such opponents of the Philippists as Flacius, +Gallus, Amsdorf, and Wigand were prominently arraigned against Osiander. +Meanwhile (May 23, 1552) Moerlin published a large volume entitled: +_Concerning the Justification of Faith_. Osiander replied in his +_Schmeckbier_ of June 24 1552, a book as keen as it was coarse. In 1552 +and 1553 Flacius issued no less than twelve publications against +Osiander, one of them bearing the title: _Zwo fuernehmliche Gruende +Osiandri verlegt, zu einem Schmeckbier_; another: _Antidotum auf +Osiandri giftiges Schmeckbier_. (Preger 2, 551) + +When the controversy had just about reached its climax, Osiander died, +October 17, 1552. Soon after, the Duke enjoined silence on both parties, +and Moerlin was banished. He accepted a position as superintendent in +Brunswick, where he zealously continued his opposition to Osiandrism as +well as to other corruptions of genuine Lutheranism. At Koenigsberg the +Osiandrists continued to enjoy the protection and favor of Duke Albrecht +and gradually developed into a quasi-political party. The leader of the +small band was John Funck, the son-in-law of Osiander and the chaplain +of the Duke. In 1566, however, the king of Poland intervened, and Funck +was executed as a disturber of the public peace. Moerlin was recalled +and served as bishop of Samland at Koenigsberg from 1567 till his death +in 1571. The _Corpus Doctrinae Pruthenicum_, or _Borussicum_, framed by +Moerlin and Chemnitz and adopted 1567 at Koenigsberg, rejected the +doctrines of Osiander. Moerlin also wrote a history of Osiandrism +entitled: _Historia, welcher gestalt sich die Osiandrische Schwaermerei +im Lande zu Preussen erhaben_. + +177. Corruptions Involved in Osiander's Teaching. + +Osiander's theory of justification according to which the righteousness +of faith is the eternal, essential holiness of the divine nature of +Christ inhering and dwelling in man, consistently compelled him to +maintain that justification is not an act by which God declares a man +just, but an act by which He actually makes him inherently just and +righteous; that it is not an imputation of a righteousness existing +outside of man, but an actual infusion of a righteousness dwelling in +man; that it is not a mere acquittal from sin and guilt, but +regeneration, renewal, sanctification and internal, physical cleansing +from sin that it is not a forensic or judicial act outside of man or a +declaration concerning man's standing before God and his relation to +Him but a sort of medicinal process within man, that the righteousness +of faith is not the alien (strange, foreign) righteousness, _aliena +iustitia_ (a term employed also by Luther), consisting in the obedience +of Christ, but a quality, condition, or change effected in believers by +the essential righteousness of the divine nature dwelling in them +through faith in Christ; that faith does not justify on account of the +thing outside of man in which it trusts and upon which it relies, but +by reason of the thing which it introduces and produces in man; that, +accordingly, justification is never instantaneous and complete, but +gradual and progressive. + +Osiander plainly teaches that the righteousness of faith (our +righteousness before God) is not the obedience rendered by Christ to the +divine Law, but the indwelling righteousness of God (_iustitia Dei +inhabitans_),--essentially the same original righteousness or image that +inhered in Adam and Eve before the Fall. It consists, not indeed in good +works or in "doing and suffering," but in a quality (_Art_) which +renders him who receives it just, and moves him to do and to suffer what +is right. It is the holiness (_Frommigkeit_) which consists in the +renewal of man, in the gifts of grace, in the new spiritual life, in the +regenerated nature of man. By His suffering and death, said Osiander, +Christ made satisfaction and acquired forgiveness for us, but He did not +thereby effect our justification. His obedience as such does not +constitute our righteousness before God, but merely serves to restore +it. It was necessary that God might be able to dwell in us, and so +become our life and righteousness. Faith justifies, not inasmuch as it +apprehends the merits of Christ, but inasmuch as it unites us with the +divine nature, the infinite essential righteousness of God, in which our +sins are diluted, as it were, and lost, as an impure drop disappears +when poured into an ocean of liquid purity. + +According to the teaching of Osiander therefore, also the assurance that +we are justified and accepted by God does not rest exclusively on the +merits of Christ and the pardon offered in the Gospel, but must be based +on the righteous quality inhering in us. Our assurance is conditioned +not alone upon what Christ has done outside of us and for us but rather +upon what He is in us and produces in us. The satisfaction rendered by +Christ many centuries ago is neither the only ground on which God +regards us as just, nor a sufficient basis of our certainty that we are +accepted by God. Not the Christ for us, but rather the Christ in us, is +the basis both of our justification and assurance. Accordingly in order +to satisfy an alarmed sinner, it is not sufficient to proclaim the +Gospel-promise of divine absolution. In addition, an investigation is +required whether the righteousness and holiness of God is also really +found dwelling in him. While Luther had urged alarmed consciences to +trust in the merits of Christ alone for their justification and +salvation, Osiander led them to rely on the new life of divine wisdom, +holiness, and righteousness dwelling in their own hearts. From the very +beginning of the controversy, Moerlin, Melanchthon, and the Lutherans +generally were solicitous to point out that Osiander's doctrine robs +Christians of this glorious and only solid comfort that it is not a +subjective quality in their own hearts, but solely and only the +objective and absolutely perfect obedience rendered by Christ many +hundred years ago, which God regards when He justifies the wicked, and +upon which man must rely for the assurance of his acceptance and +salvation. + +Consistently developed, therefore, the innovation of Osiander was bound +to vitiate in every particular the doctrine of justification restored +once more by Luther. In fact, his theory was but a revamping of just +such teaching as had driven the Lutherans out of the Church of Rome. +True, Osiander denied that by our own works we merit justification; that +our righteousness consists in our good works; that our good works are +imputed to us as righteousness. But the fact that he held a subjective +condition to be our righteousness before God gives to his doctrine an +essentially Roman stamp, no matter how widely it may differ from it in +other respects. Moehler, the renowned Catholic apologist, declared that +properly interpreted and illucidated, Osiander's doctrine was "identical +with the Roman Catholic doctrine." (Frank 2, 5. 91.) As stated before, +his teaching was Romanism in its finer and more veiled form of +mysticism. + +178. Excerpts from Osiander's Writings. + +In his publication of January 10, 1552 _Wider den lichtfluechtigen +Nachtraben_, Osiander endeavors to prove that he is in complete +doctrinal agreement with Luther. In it he gives the following summary, +but guarded, presentation of his views. "I understand it this way," says +he. "1. It flowed from His pure grace and mercy that God sacrificed His +only Son for us. 2. The Son became man and was made under the Law, and +He has redeemed us from the Law and from the curse of the Law. 3. He +took upon Himself the sins of the whole world, for which He suffered, +died, shed His blood, descended into hell, rose again, and thus overcame +sin, death, and hell, and merited for us forgiveness of sin, +reconciliation with God, the grace and gift of justification, and +eternal life. 4. This is to be preached in all the world. 5. Whoever +believes this and is baptized, is justified and blessed (_selig_) by +virtue of such faith. 6. Faith apprehends Christ so that He dwells in +our hearts through faith, Eph. 3, 17. 7. Christ, living in us through +faith, is our Wisdom, Righteousness, Holiness, and Redemption, 1 Cor. 1, +30, Jer. 23, 6; 33, 16. 8. Christ, true God and man, dwelling in us +through faith, is our Righteousness according to His divine nature, as +Dr. Luther says: 'I rely on the righteousness which is God Himself; this +He cannot reject. Such is, says Luther, the simple, correct +understanding; do not suffer yourself to be led away from it.'" (Frank +2, 7f.) Seeberg cites the following passage: "But if the question be +asked what is righteousness, one must answer: Christ dwelling in us by +faith is our Righteousness according to His divinity; and the +forgiveness of sins, which is not Christ Himself, but merited by Christ, +is a preparation and cause that God offers us His righteousness, which +He is Himself." (_Dogg_. 4, 498.) Incidentally Osiander's appeal to +Luther is unwarranted. For according to him Christ is our Righteousness +because His obedience is God's obedience, the work not only of His human +nature, but, at the same time, also of His divine nature, while +according to Osiander everything that Christ did for us merely serves to +bring about the indwelling of the divine nature of Christ, whose +essential holiness is our righteousness before God. That Osiander was +not in agreement with Luther, as he claimed, appears also from his +assertion that such statements of Luther as: Christ's death is our life, +forgiveness of sins is our righteousness, etc., must be explained +figuratively, as words flowing from a joyous heart. (2, 23.) + +The manner in which Osiander maintained that Christ is our Righteousness +only according to His divine nature appears from the following excerpts: +"If the question be asked according to what nature Christ, His whole +undivided person, is our Righteousness, then just as when one asks +according to what nature He is the Creator of heaven and earth, the +clear, correct, and plain answer is that He is our Righteousness +according to His divine, and not according to His human nature, although +we are unable to find, obtain or apprehend such divine righteousness +apart from His humanity." (Frank 2, 12.) Again: "When we say: Christ is +our Righteousness, we must understand His deity, which enters us through +His humanity. When Christ says: I am the Bread of Life, we must +understand His deity which comes into us through His humanity and is our +life. When He says: My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink +indeed, we must take it to mean His deity which is in the flesh and +blood and is meat and drink for us. Thus, too, when John says, 1 John 1, +7: The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin, we must understand the +deity of Christ which is in the blood; for John does not speak of the +blood of Christ as it was shed on the cross, but as it, united with the +flesh of Christ, is our heavenly meat and drink by faith." (23.) +Osiander, therefore, is but consistent when he reiterates that the Son +of God, the Holy Spirit, and the Father are our Righteousness, because +their divine essence which by faith dwells in Christians, is one and the +same. + +Osiander emphasizes that the essential righteousness of the divine +nature of Christ alone is able to save us. He says: "For of what help +would it be to you if you had all the righteousness which men and angels +can imagine, but lacked this eternal righteousness which is itself the +Son of God, according to His divine nature, with the Father and the Holy +Ghost? For no other righteousness can lift you up to heaven and bring +you to the Father. But when you apprehend this righteousness through +faith, and Christ is in you, what can you then be lacking which you do +not possess richly, superabundantly, and infinitely in His deity?" +Again: "Since Christ is ours and is in us, God Himself and all His +angels behold nothing in us but righteousness on account of the highest, +eternal, and infinite righteousness of Christ, which is His deity itself +dwelling in us. And although sin still remains in, and clings to, our +flesh, it is like an impure little drop compared with a great pure +ocean, and on account of the righteousness of Christ which is in us God +does not want to see it." (Frank 2, 100. 102.) + +To this peculiarity of Osiander, according to which he seems to have had +in mind a justification by a sort of mystico-physical dilution rather +than by imputation, the _Formula of Concord_ refers as follows: "For one +side has contended that the righteousness of faith, which the apostle +calls the righteousness of God, is God's essential righteousness, which +is Christ Himself as the true, natural, and essential Son of God, who +dwells in the elect by faith and impels them to do right, and thus is +their righteousness, compared with which righteousness the sins of all +men are as a drop of water compared with the great ocean." (917, 2; 790, +2.) + +In his confession _Concerning the Only Mediator_, of 1551, Osiander +expatiates on justification, and defines it as an act by which +righteousness is "infused" into believers. We read: "It is apparent that +whatever part Christ, as the faithful Mediator, acted with regard to +God, His heavenly Father, for our sakes, by fulfilling the Law and by +His suffering and death, was accomplished more than 1,500 years ago, +when we were not in existence. For this reason it cannot, properly +speaking, have been, nor be called, our justification, but only our +redemption and the atonement for us and our sins. For whoever would be +justified must believe; but if he is to believe, he must already be born +and live. Therefore Christ has not justified us who _now_ live and die; +but we are redeemed by it [His work 1,500 years ago] from God's wrath, +death, and hell.... This, however, is true and undoubted that by the +fulfilment of the Law and by His suffering and death He merited and +earned from God, His heavenly Father, this great and superabounding +grace, namely, that He not only has forgiven our sin and taken from us +the unbearable burden of the Law, but that He also _wishes to justify us +by faith in Christ, to infuse justification or the righteousness +(sondern auch uns durch den Glauben an Christum will rechtfertigen, die +Gerechtmachung eingiessen)_, and, if only we obey, through the operation +of His Holy Spirit and through the death of Christ, in which we are +embodied by the baptism of Christ, _to mortify, purge out, and entirely +destroy sin_ which is already forgiven us, but nevertheless still dwells +in our flesh and adheres to us. Therefore the _other part_ of the office +of our dear faithful Lord and Mediator Jesus Christ is now to turn +toward us in order to deal also with us poor sinners as with the guilty +party, that we acknowledge such great grace and gratefully receive it by +faith, _in order that He by faith may make us alive and just from the +death of sin, and that sin, which is already forgiven, but nevertheless +still dwells and inheres in our flesh, may be altogether mortified and +destroyed in us. And this, first of all, is the act of our +justification._" (Tschackert, 492f.; Planck 4, 268.) + +That Osiander practically identified justification with regeneration, +renewal, and gradual sanctification appears from the following +quotations. To justify, says he, means "to make a just man out of an +unjust one, that is to recall a dead man to life--_ex impio iustum +facere, hoc est, mortuum ad vitam revocare._" (Seeberg 4, 499.) Again: +"Thus the Gospel further shows its power and also justifies us, _i.e._, +it makes us just, even as, and in the same degree as, He also makes us +alive (_eben und in aller Masse, wie er uns auch lebendig macht_)." +(Frank 2, 18.) "And here you see again how terribly those err who +endeavor to prove by this passage of David and Paul that our +righteousness is nothing else than forgiveness of sin; for they have +overlooked the covering of sin with the [essential] righteousness of +Christ whom we put on in Baptism; _they have also removed from +justification the renewal of the inner man effected by regeneration._" +(102.) + +Osiander was fanatical in denouncing those who identified justification +with the forgiveness of sins. In his Disputation of October 24, 1550, he +declared: "The entire fulness of the deity dwells in Christ bodily, +hence in those also in whom Christ dwells.... Therefore we are just by +His essential righteousness.... Whoever does not hold this manner of our +justification is certainly a Zwinglian at heart, no matter what he may +confess with his mouth.... They also teach things colder than ice [who +hold] that we are regarded as righteous only on account of the +forgiveness of sins, and not on account of the [essential] righteousness +of Christ who dwells in us through faith. _Glacie frigidiora docent nos +tantum propter remissionem peccatorum reputari iustos, et non etiam +propter iustitiam Christi per fidem in nobis inhabitantis. Non enim tam +iniquus Deus est, ut eum pro iusto habeat, in quo verae iustitiae +prorsus nil est._" (Frank 2, 97; Tschackert, 494; Seeberg 4, 497.) They +are errorists, Osiander declared, "who say, teach, and write that the +righteousness is outside of us." (Frank 2, 100.) "The [essential] +righteousness of Christ is indeed, imputed to us, but only when it is in +us." "For God is not so unrighteous, nor such a lover of unrighteousness +that He regards him as just in whom there is absolutely nothing of the +true righteousness; as it is written, Ps. 5, 4: 'For Thou art not a God +that hath pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil dwell with Thee,'" +(Planck 4, 273.) Evidently, Osiander rejected or had never fully grasped +Paul's clear statement and teaching concerning the God who justifies the +ungodly, Rom. 4, 5: "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him +that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." + +179. Attitude of Brenz and Melanchthon. + +With the exception of Brenz and Vogel, who, as stated before, regarded +Osiander's doctrine as differing from the generally received view in +phraseology and mode of presentation rather than in substance, the +Lutherans everywhere were unanimous in rejecting Osiander's theory as a +recrudescence of the Romish justification not by imputation, but by +infusion. And as to Brenz, who put a milder construction on the +statements of Osiander, Melanchthon wrote October 1, 1557: "Concerning +the affair with Osiander, my writings are publicly known, which I hope +will be of benefit to many. Brenz also is agreed with us doctrinally. He +said he had advised peace, for he did not take Osiander's expressions to +be as dangerous as the opponents did, and for this reason could not as +yet condemn his person; but in doctrine he was agreed with us and would +unite in condemning Osiander if the charges made against him were +proved." Melanchthon himself fully realized the viciousness of +Osiander's error, although at the colloquy in Worms, 1557, he, too, was +opposed to condemning Osiandrism together with Zwinglianism, Majorism, +and Adiaphorism, as the theologians of Ducal Saxony demanded. (_C. R._ +9, 311. 402.) + +In May, 1551, Melanchthon wrote to Osiander that by the essential +righteousness of Christ renewal is effected in us, but that we have +forgiveness of sins and are reputed to be righteous on account of the +merit of Christ whose blood and death appeased the wrath of God. In his +confutation of the Osiandric doctrine, written in September, 1555, we +read: "Osiander's definition of righteousness is: Righteousness is that +which makes us do what is righteous.... Hence man is righteous by doing +what is righteous.... Thereupon Osiander, in order to say something also +concerning forgiveness of sins, tears remission of sins from +righteousness. He expressly declares that the sins are forgiven to all +men; Nero however, is damned because he does not possess the essential +righteousness; and this, he says, is God Himself, Father, Son, and Holy +Spirit.... Osiander contends that man is just on account of the +indwelling of God, or on account of the indwelling God, not on account +of the obedience of the Mediator, not by the imputed righteousness of +the Mediator through grace. And he corrupts the proposition, 'By faith +we are justified,' into, By faith we are prepared that we may become +just by something else, _viz._, the inhabiting God. Thus he in reality +says what the Papists say: 'We are righteous by our renewal,' except +that he mentions the cause where the Papists mention the effect. _Ita re +ipsa dicit, quod Papistae dicunt, sumus iusti novitate, nisi quod +nominat causam, ubi nominant Papistae effectum_. We are just when God +renews us. He therefore detracts from the honor due to the Mediator, +obscures the greatness of sin, destroys the chief consolation of the +pious, and leads them into perpetual doubt. For faith cannot exist +unless it looks upon the promise of mercy concerning the Mediator. Nor +is there an inhabitation unless the consolation is received by this +faith. And it is a preposterous way of teaching that one is to believe +first the inhabitation, afterwards forgiveness of sins (_prius credere +inhabitationem, postea remissionem peccatorum_). Since therefore this +dogma of Osiander is both false and pernicious to consciences, it must +be shunned and damned." (_C. R._ 7, 781; 8, 579ff.) + +In another essay, of September, 1556, signed also by Melanchthon, the +following propositions are rejected: 1. Man becomes righteous on +account of the essential righteousness. 2. Man becomes righteous on +account of the essential righteousness of God the Father, Son, and Holy +Spirit. 3. Man becomes righteous before God on account of the indwelling +of God. 4. Righteousness consists in the indwelling of Christ, on +account of which God imputes righteousness to us.... 5. Nor must one say +there are two or more parts of justification: faith, inhabitation, good +works, etc. For justification before God is to receive forgiveness of +sins and to become acceptable to God on account of Christ.... 6. This +proposition, too, is false: The regenerate after the Fall are righteous +in the same manner as Adam was before the Fall, namely, not by +imputation, but by inhabitation or original righteousness.... 8. It is +also false when some say we are righteous by faith, namely, in a +preparative way in order afterwards to be righteous by the essential +righteousness. At bottom this is Popish and destructive of faith.... 9. +The following propositions must be rejected altogether: The obedience of +Christ is called righteousness in a tropical sense; Christ justifies +accidentally (_per accidens_). (_C. R._ 8, 561f.; 9, 3l9. 451. 455. +457.) + +180. Osiander's Views on Image of God. + +Osiander's corruption of the doctrine of justification was closely +connected with his peculiar view concerning the image of God (the +central idea of his entire system), of which, however, he declared that +he did not consider it essential, and would not contend with anybody +about it. Nor were the questions involved disputed to any extent or +dealt with in the _Formula of Concord_. As to Osiander, however, the +train of his thoughts runs as follows:-- + +The Logos, the divine Word, is the image of God, into whom His entire +essence flows in a manner and process eternal. In a temporal and +historical way the same image is destined to be realized in the nature +of man. Divine essential righteousness indwelling and efficacious in +humanity--such was the eternal plan of God. For the realization of this +purpose the Logos, God's image, was to become man, even if the human +race should not have fallen. This was necessary because in finite man +there is absolutely no similarity with the infinite essence of the +non-incarnate Logos. Without the incarnation, therefore, this infinite +dissimilarity would have remained forever (_esset et maneret simpliciter +infinita dissimilitudo inter hominem et Verbum Dei_). And in order that +man might be capable of God and share His divine nature (_capax Dei et +divinae naturae consors_), God created him according to His image; +_i.e._, according to the idea of the incarnate Logos. "God formed the +body of man," said Osiander, "that it should be altogether like unto the +future body of Christ. Thereupon He breathed into it the breath of life, +_i.e._, a rational soul together with the human spirit, adorned with the +proper powers, in such a manner that it, too, should be like unto the +future soul of Christ in everything." (Frank 2, 104.) + +In the incarnate Logos, however, according to whom man was created, +humanity and divinity are personally united. When the Word was made +flesh, the divine essence was imparted to His human nature. And Christ, +in turn, imparts the same essence to all who by faith are one with Him. +From eternity the incarnate Word was destined to be the head of the +congregation in order that the essential righteousness of God might flow +from Him into His body, the believers. Before the Fall the Son of God +dwelled in Adam, making him just by God's essential righteousness. By +the Fall this righteousness was lost. Hence the redemption and atonement +of Christ were required in order again to pave the way for the renewal +of the lost image or the indwelling of God's essential righteousness in +man. The real source of this righteousness and divine life in man, +however, is not the human, but the divine nature of Christ. In the +process of justification or of making man righteous, the human nature of +Christ merely serves as a medium, or as it were, a canal, through which +the eternal essential wisdom, holiness, and righteousness of Christ's +divine nature flows into our hearts. + +Christ, the "inner Word" (John 1), says Osiander, approaches man in the +"external Word" (the words spoken by Jesus and His apostles), and +through it enters the believing soul. For through Word, Sacrament, and +faith we are united with His humanity. In the Lord's Supper, for +instance, we become the flesh and blood of Christ, just as we draw the +nourishment out of natural food and transform it into our flesh and +blood. And since the humanity of Christ, with which we become one in the +manner described, is personally united with the deity, it imparts to us +also the divine essence, and, as a result, we, too, are the abode of the +essential righteousness of God. "We cannot receive the divine nature +from Christ," says Osiander, "if we are not embodied in Him by faith and +Baptism, thus becoming flesh and blood and bone of His flesh, blood, and +bone." As the branches could not partake of the nature of the vine if +they were not of the wood of the vine, even so we could not share the +divine nature of Christ if we had not, incorporated in Him by faith and +Baptism, become flesh, blood, and bone of His flesh, blood, and bone. +Accordingly, as Christ's humanity became righteous through the union +with God, the essential righteousness which moved Him to obedience +toward God, thus we also become righteous through our union with Christ +and in Him with God. (Frank 2, 104. 20ff.; Seeberg 4, 497f.) + +In view of such speculative teaching, in which justification is +transformed into a sort of mystico-physical process, it is not +surprising that the charge of pantheism was also raised against +Osiander. The theologians of Brandenburg asserted that he inferred from +his doctrine that the believers in Christ are also divine persons, +because the Father, Son and Holy Ghost dwell in them essentially. But +Osiander protested: "Creatures we are and creatures we remain, no matter +how wonderfully we are renewed; but the seed of God and the entire +divine essence which is in us by grace in the same manner as it is in +Christ by nature and remains eternally in us (_das also aus Gnaden in +uns ist wie in Christo von Natur und bleibt ewiglich in uns_) is God +Himself, and no creature, and will not become a creature in us or on +account of us but will eternally remain in us true God." Frank says +concerning the doctrine of Osiander: It is not pantheism or a mixture of +the divine and human nature, "but it is a subjectivism by which the +objective foundation of salvation as taught by the Lutheran Church is +rent to the very bottom. It is a mysticism which transforms the Christ +_for us_ into the Christ _in us_, and, though unintentionally, makes the +consciousness of the _inhabitatio essentialis iustitiae_ (indwelling of +the essential righteousness) the basis of peace with God." (2, 19. 10. +13. 95. 103.) In his teaching concerning the image of God and +justification, Osiander replaced the comforting doctrine of the Bible +concerning the substitutionary and atoning work of Christ in His active +and passive obedience unto death with vain philosophical speculations +concerning divinity and humanity or the two natures of Christ. It was +not so very far beside the mark, therefore, when Justus Menius +characteized his theory as "a new alchmistic theology." (Planck 4, 257.) + +181. Error of Stancarus. + +The Stancarian dispute was incidental to the Osiandric conflict. Its +author was Francesco Stancaro (born in Mantua, 1501), an Italian +ex-priest, who had emigrated from Italy on account of his Protestant +views. Vain, opinionated, haughty, stubborn, and insolent as he was, he +roamed about, creating trouble wherever he appeared, first in Cracow as +professor of Hebrew, 1551 in Koenigsberg then in Frankfort-on-the-Oder, +next at various places in Poland, Hungary, and Transylvania. He died at +Stobnitz, Poland, November 12, 1574. Stancarus treated all of his +opponents as ignoramuses and spoke contemptuously of Luther and +Melanchthon, branding the latter as an antichrist. In Koenigsberg he +immediately felt called upon to interfere in the controversy which had +just flared up. He opposed Osiander in a fanatical manner, declaring +him to be the personal antichrist. The opponents of Osiander at +Koenigsberg however, were not elated over his comradeship, particularly +because he fell into an opposite error. They were glad when he resigned +and left for Frankfort the same year he had arrived at Koenigsberg. In +Frankfort, Stancarus continued the controversy, publishing, 1552, his +_Apology against Osiander--Apologia contra Osiandrum_. But he was +ignored rather than opposed by the Lutheran theologians. In 1553 +Melanchthon wrote his _Answer (Responsio) Concerning Stancar's +Controversy_. Later on, 1561, when Stancarus was spreading his errors in +Poland, Hungary, and Transylvania, Calvin and the ministers of Zurich +also wrote against him. The chief publication in which Stancarus set +forth and defended his views appeared 1562, at Cracow, under the title: +_Concerning the Trinity (De Trinitate) and the Mediator, Our Lord Jesus +Christ_. As late as 1585 Wigand published his book _Concerning +Stancarism--De Stancarismo_. + +Stancarus had been trained in scholastic theology and was a great +admirer of Peter Lombard. In his book _De Trinitate et Mediatore_ he +says: "One Peter Lombard is worth more than a hundred Luthers, two +hundred Melanchthons, three hundred Bullingers, four hundred Peter +Martyrs, five hundred Calvins out of whom, if they were all brayed in a +mortar, not one drop of true theology would be squeezed. _Plus valet +unus Petrus Lombardus quam centum Lutheri, ducenti Melanchthones, +trecenti Bullingeri, quadringenti Petri Martyres et quingenti Calvini, +qui omnes, si in mortario contunderentur, non exprimeretur una mica +verae theologiae._" (J. G. Walch, _Religionsstreitigkeiten_ 4, 177.) + +Concerning Christ's obedience Peter Lombard taught: "_Christus Mediator +dicitur secundum humanitatem, non secundum divinitatem.... Mediator est +ergo, in quantum homo, et non in quantum Deus_. Christ is called +Mediator according to His humanity, not according to His divinity.... He +is therefore Mediator inasmuch as He is man, and not inasmuch as He is +God." (Planck 4, 451; Seeberg 4, 507.) In accordance with this teaching, +Stancarus maintained, in pointed opposition to Osiander, that Christ is +our Righteousness only according to His human nature, and not according +to His divine nature. The divine nature of Christ, Stancarus declared +must be excluded from the office of Christ's mediation and priesthood; +for if God the Son were Mediator and would do something which the Father +and the Holy Spirit could not do, then He would have a will and an +operation and hence also a nature and essence different from that of the +Father and the Holy Spirit. He wrote: "Christ, God and man, is Mediator +[and Redeemer] only according to the other nature, namely, the human, +not according to the divine; Christ made satisfaction for us according +to His human nature, but not according to His divine nature; according +to His divine nature Christ was not under the Law, was not obedient unto +death, etc." (Frank 2, 111.) Stancarus argued: "Christ is one God with +the Father and the Holy Spirit. Apart from the three personal properties +of '_paternitas, filiatio, and spiratio passiva_' the three divine +persons are absolutely identical in their being and operation. Their +work is the sending of the Mediator, whose divine nature itself, in an +active way, participates in this sending; hence only the human nature of +the God-man is sent, and only the human nature of the Mediator acts in a +reconciling way. Men are reconciled by Christ's death on the cross; but +the blood shed on the cross and death are peculiar to the human nature, +not to the divine nature; hence we are reconciled by the human nature of +Christ only, and not by His divine nature (_ergo per naturam humanam +Christi tantum sumus reconciliati et non per divinam_)." (Schluesselburg +9, 216ff.) + +Consistently, the Stancarian doctrine destroys both the unity of the +person of Christ and the sufficiency of His atonement. It not only +corrupts the doctrine of the infinite and truly redeeming value of the +obedience of the God-man, but also denies the personal union of the +divine and human natures in Christ. For if the divine nature is excluded +from the work of Christ, then it must be excluded also from His person, +since works are always acts of a person. And if it was a mere human +nature that died for us, then the price of our redemption is altogether +inadequate, and we are not redeemed, as Luther so earnestly emphasized +against Zwingli. (CONC. TRIGL. 1028, 44.) True, Stancarus protested: +"Christ is Mediator according to the human nature only; this exclusive +'only' does not exclude the divine nature from the person of Christ, but +from His office as Mediator." (Frank 2, 111.) However, just this was +Luther's contention, that Christ is our Mediator also according to His +divine nature, and that the denial of this truth both invalidates His +satisfaction and divides His person. + +The Third Article of the _Formula of Concord_, therefore, rejects the +error of Stancarus as well as that of Osiander. Against the latter it +maintains that the active and passive obedience of Christ is our +righteousness before God: and over against the former, that this +obedience was the act of the entire person of Christ, and not of His +human nature alone. We read: "In opposition to both these parties +[Osiander and Stancarus] it has been unanimously taught by the other +teachers of the _Augsburg Confession_ that Christ is our Righteousness +not according to His divine nature alone, nor according to His human +nature alone, but according to both natures; for He has redeemed, +justified, and saved us from our sins as God and man, through His +complete obedience; that therefore the righteousness of faith is the +forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and our adoption as God's +children only on account of the obedience of Christ, which through faith +alone, out of pure grace is imputed for righteousness to all true +believers, and on account of it they are absolved from all their +unrighteousness." (917, 4.) + +182. Deviations of Parsimonious and Hamburg Ministers. + +In 1563 a collateral controversy concerning the obedience of Christ was +raised by Parsimonius (George Karg). He was born 1512; studied under +Luther in Wittenberg; 1547 he became pastor in Schwabach, and 1556 +superintendent in Ansbach; 1563 he was deposed because of erroneous +theses published in that year; he was opposed by Hesshusius and Ketzmann +in Ansbach; 1570, having discussed his difference with the theologians +in Wittenberg, Karg retracted and was restored to his office; he died +1576. In his theses on justification Parsimonius deviated from the +Lutheran doctrine by teaching that Christ redeemed us by His passive +obedience only, and by denying that His active obedience had any +vicarious merit, since as man He Himself owed such obedience to the Law +of God,--a view afterwards defended also by such Reformed divines as +John Piscator, John Camero, and perhaps Ursinus. (Schaff 1, 274.) + +Over against this error the _Formula of Concord_ explains and declares: +"Therefore the righteousness which is imputed to faith or to the +believer out of pure grace is the obedience suffering, and resurrection +of Christ, since He has made satisfaction for us to the Law, and paid +for our sins. For since Christ is not man alone, but God and man in one +undivided person, He was as little subject to the Law (because He is the +Lord of the Law) as He had to suffer and die as far as His person is +concerned. For this reason, then, His obedience, not only in suffering +and dying, but also in this, that He in our stead was voluntarily made +under the Law and fulfilled it by this obedience, is imputed to us for +righteousness, so that, on account of this complete obedience which He +rendered His heavenly Father for us, by doing and suffering, in living +and dying, God forgives our sins, regards us as godly and righteous, and +eternally saves us." (919, 16.)-- + +In their zealous opposition to the doctrine of Osiander according to +which the indwelling essential holiness of the divine nature of Christ +is our righteousness before God, also the Hamburg ministers went a step +too far in the opposite direction. They denied, or at any rate seemed to +deny, the indwelling of the Holy Trinity as such in believers. In their +_Response (Responsio)_ of 1552 they declared: "God is said to dwell +where He is present by His grace and benevolence, where He gives the +Word of His grace, and reveals His promises concerning His mercy and the +remission of sins, where He works by His Spirit, etc." (Frank 2, 107.) +Again: "That His indwelling pertains to His efficacy and operation +appears from many passages which describe without a figure the efficacy +and operation of Christ and of the Holy Spirit dwelling in believers." +"The dwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers signifies that they are +led by the Spirit of God." "But it cannot be proved by the Scripture +that the fulness of God dwells bodily in us as it dwells in Christ +Jesus. The inhabitation of God in us is a matter of grace, not of +nature; of gift, not of property." (107.) + +In 1551 Melanchthon had written: "It must be admitted that God dwells in +our hearts, not only in such a manner that He there is efficacious, +though not present with His own essence, but that He is both present and +efficacious. A personal union, however, does not take place in us, but +God is present in us in a separable manner as in a separable domicile." +(_C. R._ 7, 781.) This was the view of the Lutheran theologians +generally. Article III of the _Formula of Concord_, too, is emphatic in +disavowing a personal union of the deity and humanity in believers, as +well as in asserting that God Himself, not merely His gifts, dwell in +Christians. (935, 54; 937, 65.) In addition to the aberrations +enumerated, Article III rejects also some of the Roman and the +Romanizing errors concerning justification in the Leipzig Interim, and +some views entertained by Majorists which are extensively and _ex +professo_ dealt with in Article IV. (CONC. TRIGL. 917, 5.) + + +XVII. The Antinomistic Controversy. + +183. Distinction between Law and Gospel of Paramount Import. + +Zwingli, who was a moralist and a Humanist rather than a truly +evangelical reformer, taught: "In itself the Law is nothing else than a +Gospel; that is, a good, certain message from God by means of which He +instructs us concerning His will." (Frank 2, 312.) While Zwingli thus +practically identified Law and Gospel, Luther, throughout his life, held +that the difference between both is as great as that between life and +death or the merits of Christ and our own sinful works; and that no one +can be a true minister of the Christian Church who is unable properly to +distinguish and apply them. For, according to Luther, a commingling of +the Law and the Gospel necessarily leads to a corruption of the doctrine +of justification, the very heart of Christianity. And as both must be +carefully distinguished, so both must also be upheld and preached in the +Church; for the Gospel presupposes the Law and is rendered meaningless +without it. Wherever the Law is despised, disparaged, and corrupted, the +Gospel, too, cannot be kept intact. Whenever the Law is assailed, even +if this be done in the name of the Gospel, the latter is, in reality, +hit harder than the former. The cocoon of antinomianism always bursts +into antigospelism. + +Majorism, the mingling of sanctification and justification, and +synergism, the mingling of nature and grace, were but veiled efforts to +open once more the doors of the Lutheran Church to the Roman +work-righteousness, which Luther had expelled. The same is true of +antinomianism in all its forms. It amounts to nothing less than apostasy +from true Evangelicalism and a return to Romanism. When Luther opposed +Agricola, the father of the Antinomians in the days of the Reformation, +he did so with the clear knowledge that the Gospel of Jesus Christ with +its doctrine of justification by grace and faith alone was at stake and +in need of defense. "By these spirits," said he, "the devil does not +intend to rob us of the Law, but of Christ, who fulfilled the Law." (St. +L. 20, 1614; Pieper, _Dogm_. 3, 279; Frank 2, 268. 325.) + +With the same interest in view, to save the Gospel from corruption, the +_Formula of Concord_ opposes antinomianism and urges that the +distinction between the Law and the Gospel be carefully preserved. The +opening paragraph of Article V, "Of the Law and the Gospel," reads: "As +the distinction between the Law and Gospel _is a special brilliant +light_ which serves to the end that God's Word may be rightly divided, +and the Scriptures of the holy prophets and apostles may be properly +explained and understood, we must guard it with especial care, in order +that these two doctrines may not be mingled with one another, or a Law +be made out of the Gospel, whereby the merit of Christ is obscured and +troubled consciences are robbed of their comfort, which they otherwise +have in the holy Gospel when it is preached genuinely and in its purity, +and by which they can support themselves in their most grievous trials +against the terrors of the Law." (951, 1.) The concluding paragraph of +this article declares that the proper distinction between the Law and +the Gospel must be preserved, "in order that both doctrines, that of the +Law and that of the Gospel, be not mingled and confounded with one +another, and what belongs to the one may not be ascribed to the other, +_whereby the merit and benefits of Christ are easily obscured and the +Gospel is again turned into a doctrine of the Law_, as has occurred in +the Papacy, and thus Christians are deprived of the true comfort which +they have in the Gospel against the terrors of the Law, and the door is +again opened in the Church of God to the Papacy." (961, 27.) The blessed +Gospel, our only comfort and consolation against the terrors of the Law, +will be corrupted wherever the Law and the Gospel are not properly +distinguished,--such, then, was the view also of the _Formula of +Concord_. + +Articles V and VI of the _Formula_ treat and dispose of the issues +raised by the Antinomians. In both Luther's doctrine is maintained and +reaffirmed. Article V, "Of the Law and Gospel," teaches that, in the +proper sense of the term, everything is Law that reveals and rebukes +sin, the sin of unbelief in Christ and the Gospel included; that Gospel, +in the proper and narrow sense, is nothing but a proclamation and +preaching of grace and forgiveness of sin, that, accordingly, the Law as +well as the Gospel are needed and must be retained and preached in the +Church. This was precisely what Luther had taught. In one of his theses +against Agricola he says: "Whatever discloses sin, wrath, or death +exercises the office of the Law; Law and the disclosing of sin or the +revelation of wrath are convertible terms. _Quidquid ostendit peccatum, +iram seu mortem, id exercet officium legis; lex et ostensio peccati seu +revelatio irae sunt termini convertibiles_." Article VI "Of the Third +Use of the Law," teaches that although Christians, in as far as they are +regenerate, do the will of God spontaneously, the Law must nevertheless +be preached to them on account of their Old Adam, not only as a mirror +revealing their sins and as a check on the lusts of the flesh, but also +as a rule of their lives. This, too, is precisely what Luther had +maintained against Agricola: "The Law," said he, "must be retained [in +the Church], that the saints may know which are the works God requires." +(Drews, _Disputationen Dr. Martin Luthers_, 418; _Herzog R._ I, 588; +Frank 2, 272; Tschackert, 482.) + +184. Agricola Breeding Trouble. + +In the Lutheran Church antinomianism appeared in a double form: one +chiefly before the other after the death of Luther. The first of these +conflicts was originated by Agricola who spoke most contemptuously and +disparagingly of the Law of God, teaching, in particular, that true +knowledge of sin and genuine contrition is produced, not by the Law, but +by the Gospel only, and that hence there is in the Church no use +whatever for the Law of God. After Luther's death similar antinomistic +errors were entertained and defended by the Philippists in Wittenberg, +who maintained that the sin of unbelief is rebuked not by the Law, but +by the Gospel. Poach, Otto, and others denied that, with respect to good +works, the Law was of any service whatever to Christians after their +conversion. + +Barring Carlstadt and similar spirits, John Agricola (Schnitter, +Kornschneider, Magister Islebius--Luther called him Grickel) was the +first to strike a discordant note and breed trouble within the Lutheran +Church. Born April 20, 1492, at Eisleben, he studied at Leipzig, and +from 1515 to 1516 at Wittenberg. Here he became an enthusiastic +adherent and a close friend of Luther and also of Melanchthon, after the +latter's arrival in 1518. In 1539 Luther himself declared that Agricola +had been "one of his best and closest friends." (St. L. 20, 1612.) In +1519 he accompanied both to the great debate in Leipzig. In 1525 he +became teacher of the Latin school and though never ordained, pastor of +the church in Eisleben. Being a speaker of some renown he was frequently +engaged by the Elector of Saxony, especially on his journeys--to Speyer +1526 and 1529, to Augsburg 1530, to Vienna 1535. At Eisleben, Agricola +was active also in a literary way, publishing sermons, a catechism, and, +1526, a famous collection of 300 German proverbs (the Wittenberg edition +of 1592 contains 750 proverbs). + +When the new theological professorship created 1526 at Wittenberg was +given to Melanchthon, Agricola felt slighted and much disappointed. In +the following year he made his first antinomian attack upon Melanchthon. +The dispute was settled by Luther, but only for a time. In 1536 +Agricola, through the influence of Luther (whose hospitality also he and +his large family on their arrival in Wittenberg enjoyed for more than +six weeks), received an appointment at the university. He rewarded his +generous friend with intrigues and repeated renewals of the antinomian +quarrels, now directing his attacks also against his benefactor. By 1540 +matters had come to such a pass that the Elector felt constrained to +institute a formal trial against the secret plotter, which Agricola +escaped only by accepting a call of Joachim II as courtpreacher and +superintendent at Berlin. After Luther's death, Agricola, as described +in a preceding chapter, degraded and discredited himself by helping +Pflug and Sidonius to prepare the Augsburg Interim (1547), and by +endeavoring to enforce this infamous document in Brandenburg. He died +September 22, 1566. + +Vanity, ambition, conceit, insincerity, impudence, arrogance, and +ungratefulness were the outstanding traits of Agricola's character. +Luther said that Agricola, swelled with vanity and ambition, was more +vexatious to him than any pope; that he was fit only for the profession +of a jester, etc. December 6, 1540, Luther wrote to Jacob Stratner, +courtpreacher in Berlin: "Master Grickel is not, nor ever will be, the +man that he may appear, or the Margrave may consider him to be. For if +you wish to know what vanity itself is you can recognize it in no surer +image than that of Eisleben. _Si enim velis scire, quidnam ipsa vanitas +sit, nulla certiore imagine cognosces quam Islebii._" (St. L. 21b, +2536.) Flacius reports that shortly before Luther's death, when some +endeavored to excuse Agricola, the former answered angrily: "Why +endeavor to excuse Eisleben? Eisleben is incited by the devil, who has +taken possession of him entirely. You will see what a stir he will make +after my death! _Ihr werdet wohl erfahren, was er nach meinem Tod fuer +einen Laerm wird anrichten!_" (Preger 1, 119.) + +185. Agricola's Conflict with Melanchthon. + +The antinomian views that repentance (contrition) is not wrought by the +Law, but by the Gospel, and that hence there is no room for the Law and +its preaching in the Christian Church, were uttered by Agricola as early +as 1525. In his _Annotations to the Gospel of St. Luke_ of that year he +had written: "The Decalog belongs in the courthouse, not in the pulpit. +All those who are occupied with Moses are bound to go to the devil. To +the gallows with Moses!" (Tschackert 481; _Herzog R._ 1, 688; E. 4, +423.) The public dispute began two years later when Agricola criticized +Melanchthon because in the latter's "Instructions to the Visitors of the +Churches of Saxony" (Articles of Visitation, _Articuli, de quibus +Egerunt per Visitatores in Regione Saxionae_, 1527) the ministers were +urged first to preach the Law to their spiritually callous people in +order to produce repentance (contrition), and thus to prepare them for +saving faith in the Gospel the only source of truly good works. +Melanchthon had written: "Pastors must follow the example of Christ. +Since He taught repentance and remission of sins, pastors also must +teach these to their churches. At present it is common to vociferate +concerning faith, and yet one cannot understand what faith is, unless +repentance is preached. Plainly they pour new wine into old bottles who +preach faith without repentance, without the doctrine of the fear of +God, without the doctrine of the Law, and accustom the people to a +certain carnal security, which is worse than all former errors under the +Pope have been." (_C. R._ 26, 9.) Agricola considered these and similar +exhortations of Melanchthon unfriendly and Romanizing, and published his +dissent in his _130 Questions for Young Children_, where he displayed a +shocking contempt for the Old Testament and the Law of God. In +particular, he stressed the doctrine that genuine repentance +(contrition) is wrought, not by the Law, but by the Gospel only. In +letters to his friends, Agricola at the same time charged Melanchthon +with corrupting the evangelical doctrine. (Frank 2, 252.) + +At a meeting held at Torgau, November 26 to 28, 1527, the differences +were discussed by Agricola and Melanchthon in the presence of Luther and +Bugenhagen. The exact issue was: Does faith presuppose contrition? +Melanchthon affirmed the question, and Agricola denied it. Luther +finally effected an agreement by distinguishing between general and +justifying faith, and by explaining that repentance (contrition), +indeed, presupposes a general faith in God, but that justifying faith +presupposes the terrors of conscience (contrition) wrought by the Law. +His decision ran "that the term faith should be applied to justifying +faith which consoles us in these terrors [produced by the threats of the +Law] but that the word repentance correctly includes a general faith," +_viz._, that there is a God who threatens transgressors, etc. (_C. R._ +1, 916.) + +In agreement herewith Melanchthon wrote in the German _Unterricht der +Visitatoren_, published 1528 at Wittenberg, that, in the wider and more +general sense, the term "faith" embraces contrition and the Law, but +that in the interest of the common people the word "faith" should be +reserved for the special Christian or justifying faith in Christ. We +read: "Denn wiewohl etliche achten, man solle nichts lehren vor dem +Glauben, sondern die Busse aus und nach dem Glauben folgend lehren, auf +dass die Widersacher [Papisten] nicht sagen moegen, man widerrufe unsere +vorige Lehre, so ist aber doch anzusehen, weil [dass] die Busse und +Gesetz auch zu dem gemeinen Glauben gehoeren. Denn man muss ja zuvor +glauben, dass Gott sei, der da drohe, gebiete, schrecke usw. So sei es +fuer den gemeinen, groben Mann, dass man solche Stuecke des Glaubens +lasse bleiben unter dem Namen Busse, Gebot, Gesetz, Furcht usw., auf +dass sie desto unterschiedlicher den Glauben Christi verstehen, welchen +die Apostel _iustificantem fidem_, das ist, der da gerecht macht und +Suende vertilgt, nennen, welches der Glaube von dem Gebot und Busse +nicht tut und doch der gemeine Mann ueber dem Wort Glauben irre wird und +Fragen aufbringt ohne Nutzen." (_C. R._ 26, 51f.) + +186. Luther's First Disputation against the Antinomians. + +At Wittenberg, in 1537, Agricola renewed his antinomianism by secretly +and anonymously circulating a number of propositions (_Positiones inter +Fratres Sparsae_) directed against both Luther and Melanchthon, whom he +branded as "contortors of the words of Christ," urging all to resist +them in order to preserve the pure doctrine. Quotations from Luther and +Melanchthon were appended to the theses in order to show that their +teaching concerning the "mode of justification (_modus +iustificationis_)" was sometimes "pure," sometimes "impure." Agricola +wrote: "Impure [among the statements of Melanchthon and Luther] are: 1. +In the _Saxon Visitation:_ 'Since Christ commands that repentance and +remission of sins is to be preached in His name, hence the Decalog is +to be taught,' 2. Again ... 'As the Gospel therefore teaches that the +Law has been given to humiliate us, in order that we may seek Christ,' +etc. 3. In his _Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians_ Luther says +that it is the office of the Law to torment and to terrify the +conscience, that it may know Christ more readily. Many similar passages +are found in this commentary, which we reject as false, in order to +maintain the purity of the doctrine." (E., v. a. 4, 422f.; St. L. 20, +1627.) + +Luther answered by publishing, December 1, 1537, the theses of Agricola +together with _Other Antinomian Articles (Alii Articuli Antinomi)_, +compiled from written and verbal expressions of Agricola and his +followers. In his introductory remarks Luther not only disowned and +emphatically condemned (_nos ab eiusmodi portentis prorsus abhorrere_) +Agricola's _Positiones inter Fratres Sparsae_, but also announced a +number of disputations against antinomianism. (E. 4, 420.) The first was +held December 18, 1537, in which Luther maintained: Contrition is +wrought by the preaching of the Law; but a man is able to make a good +resolution and to hate sin out of love toward God only after the Gospel +has comforted his alarmed conscience. + +Following are some of the 39 theses discussed by Luther in his first +disputation against the Antinomians: "4. The first part of repentance, +contrition, is [wrought] by the Law alone. The other part, the good +purpose, cannot be [wrought] by the Law. 24. And they [the Antinomians] +teach perniciously that the Law of God is simply to be removed from the +church, which is blasphemous and sacrilegious. 25. For the entire +Scripture teaches that repentance must begin from the Law, which also +the order of the matter itself as well as experience shows. 31. +Necessarily, then, sin and death cannot be revealed by the Word of Grace +and Solace, but by the Law. 32. Experience teaches that Adam is first +reproved as a transgressor of the Law and afterwards cheered by the +promised Seed of the woman. 33. Also David is first killed by the Law +through Nathan, saying: 'Thou art the man,' etc.--afterwards he is saved +by the Gospel, declaring: 'Thou shalt not die,' etc. [2 Sam. 12, 7. 13.] +34. Paul, prostrated by the Law, first hears: 'Why persecutest thou Me?' +Afterwards he is revived by the Gospel: 'Arise,' etc. [Acts 9, 4. 6.] +35. And Christ Himself says, Mark 1, 15: 'Repent ye and believe the +Gospel, for the kingdom of God is at hand.' 36. Again: 'Repentance and +remission of sins should be preached in His name,' [Luke 24, 47.] 37. +Likewise the Spirit first reproves the world of sin, in order to teach +faith in Christ, _i.e._, forgiveness of sin. [John 16, 8.] 38. In the +Epistle to the Romans Paul observes this method, first to teach that all +are sinners, and thereupon, that they are to be justified solely through +Christ." (Drews, 253ff.; St. L. 20, 1628ff.) + +187. Luther's Second Disputation against the Antinomians. + +Since Agricola did not appear at the first public disputation against +the Antinomians, moreover secretly [_"im Winkel"_] continued his +opposition and intrigues, Luther insisted that his privilege of +lecturing at the university be withdrawn. Thus brought to terms +Agricola, through his wife, sued for reconciliation. Luther demanded a +retraction to be made at his next disputation, which was held January +12, 1538. (Drews, 248. 334f.; _C. R._ 25, 64; 3, 482f.) Here Luther +explained that, though not necessary to justification, the Law must not +be cast out of the church, its chief object being to reveal the guilt of +sin; moreover, that the Law must be taught to maintain outward +discipline, to reveal sin, and to show Christians what works are +pleasing to God. (Drews, 418.) + +Following are some of the 48 theses discussed by Luther in his second +disputation: "3. When treating of justification, one cannot say too much +against the inability of the Law [to save] and against the most +pernicious trust in the Law. 4. For the Law was not given to justify or +vivify or help in any way toward righteousness. 5. But to reveal sin and +work wrath, _i.e._, to render the conscience guilty. [Rom. 3, 20; 4, +15.] 8. In brief, as far as heaven is from the earth, so far must the +Law be separated from justification. 9. And nothing is to be taught, +said, or thought in the matter of justification but only the word of the +grace exhibited in Christ. 10. From this, however, it does not follow +that the Law is to be abolished and excluded from the preaching of [done +in] the church. 11. Indeed, just for the reason that not only is it not +necessary to justification, but also cannot effect it, it is the more +necessary to teach and urge it. 12. In order that man, who is proud and +trusts in his own powers, may be instructed that he cannot be justified +by the Law. 18. Whatever reveals sin, wrath, or death exercises the +office of the Law, whether it be in the Old or in the New Testament. 19. +For to reveal sin is nothing else, nor can it be anything else, than the +Law or an effect and the peculiar power of the Law. 20. Law and +revelation of sin or of wrath are convertible terms. 24. So that it is +impossible for sin to be, or to be known, without the Law written or +inscribed [in the heart]. 27. And since the Law of God requires our +obedience toward God, these Antinomians (_nomomachi_) abolish also +obedience toward God. 28. From this it is manifest that Satan through +these his instruments teaches about sin, repentance, and Christ in words +only (_verbaliter tantum_). 29. But in reality he takes away Christ, +repentance, sin, and the entire Scripture, together with God, its +Author. 46. For the Law, as it was before Christ, did indeed accuse us; +but under Christ it is appeased through the forgiveness of sins, and +thereafter it is to be fulfilled through the Spirit. 47. Therefore the +Law will never, in all eternity, be abolished, but will remain, either +to be fulfilled by the damned, or already fulfilled by the blessed. 48. +These pupils of the devil however, seem to think that the Law is +temporary only, which ceased under Christ even as circumcision did." +(Drews, 336ff.; St. L. 20, 1632ff.) + +Following is a summary of the views expressed by Luther in his second +disputation: "Why is the Law to be taught? The Law is to be taught on +account of discipline, according to the word of Paul, 1 Tim. 1, 9: 'The +Law is made for the lawless,' and that by this pedagogy men might come +to Christ as Paul says to the Galatians (3, 24): 'The Law was our +schoolmaster to bring us to Christ,' In the second place, the Law is to +be taught to reveal sin, to accuse, terrify, and damn the consciences, +Rom. 3, 20: 'By the Law is the knowledge of sin;' again, chapter 4, 15: +'The Law worketh wrath,' In the third place, the Law is to be retained +that the saints may know what kind of works God requires in which they +may exercise their obedience toward God. _Lex est retinenda, ut sciant +sancti, quaenam opera requirat Deus, in quibus obedientiam exercere erga +Deum possint._" (Drews, 418; _Herzog R_. 1, 688.) + +188. Third and Fourth Series of Luther's Theses against Antinomianism. + +Having complied with the conditions, and publicly (also in two sermons +delivered April 23) retracted his error, and declared his assent to the +views expressed in Luther's second disputation, Agricola was again +permitted to preach and teach. As a result, Luther also, though he had +no faith in the sincerity of Agricola's retraction, did not carry out +his original plan of discussing a third and fourth series of theses +which he had prepared against antinomianism. (Drews, 419ff.; E. 4, +430ff.) + +From the third series, comprising 40 theses, we quote the following: "1. +The repentance of the Papists, Turks, Jews, and of all unbelievers and +hypocrites is alike in every respect. 2. It consists in this, that they +are sorry and make satisfaction for one or several sins, and afterwards +are secure as to other sins or original sin. 5. The repentance of +believers in Christ goes beyond the actual sins, and continues +throughout life, till death. 8. For the sin in our flesh remains during +the entire time of our life, warring against the Spirit, who resists it. +[Rom. 7, 23.] 9. Therefore all works after justification are nothing +else than a continuous repentance, or a good purpose against sin. 10. +For nothing else is done than that sin, revealed by the Law and forgiven +in Christ, is swept out. 17. The Lord's Prayer, taught by the Lord +Himself to the saints and believers, is a part of repentance, containing +much of the doctrine of the Law. 18. For whoever prays it aright +confesses with his own mouth that he sins against the Law and repents. +27. Therefore also the Lord's Prayer itself teaches that the Law is +before, below, and after the Gospel (_legem esse ante, sub et post +evangelium_), and that from it repentance must begin. 30. From this it +follows that these enemies of the Law [Antinomians] must abolish also +the Lord's Prayer if they abolish the Law. 31. Indeed, they are +compelled to expunge the greatest part of the sermons of Christ Himself +from the Gospel-story. 32. For Matt. 5, 17ff. He does not only recite +the Law of Moses, but explains it perfectly, and teaches that it must +not be destroyed. 34. Everywhere throughout the Gospel He also reproves, +rebukes, threatens, and exercises similar offices of the Law. 35. So +that there never has been nor ever will be more impudent men than those +who teach that the Law should be abolished." (St. L. 20, 1636ff.; E. 4, +430ff.) + +From the fourth series of 41 theses directed by Luther against the +Antinomians we quote: "12. Therefore we must beware of the doctrine of +the Papists concerning repentance as of hell and the devil himself. 13. +Much more, however, must we avoid those who leave no repentance whatever +in the Church. 14. For those who deny that the Law is to be taught in +reality simply wish that there be no repentance. 15. The argument: +'Whatever is not necessary to justification, neither in the beginning, +nor in the middle, nor in the end, must not be taught,' etc., amounts to +nothing. 17. It is the same as though you would argue: The truth that +man is dead in sin is not necessary to justification, neither in the +beginning, nor in the middle, nor in the end; hence it must not be +taught. 18. To honor parents, to live chaste, to abstain from murders, +adulteries, and thefts is not necessary to justification; hence such +things must not be taught. 22. Although the Law helps nothing toward +justification it does not follow therefrom that it ought to be abolished +and not to be taught. 26. Everywhere in Paul [the phrase] 'without the +Law' must be understood (as Augustine correctly explains) 'without the +assistance of the Law,' as we have always done. 27. For the Law demands +fulfilment, but helps nothing toward its own fulfilment. 35. But faith +in Christ alone justifies, alone fulfils the Law, alone does good works, +without the Law. 37. It is true that after justification good works +follow spontaneously, without the Law, _i.e._, without the help or +coercion of the Law. 38. In brief, the Law is neither useful nor +necessary for justification, nor for any good works, much less for +salvation. 39. On the contrary, justification, good works, and salvation +are necessary for the fulfilment of the Law. 40. For Christ came to save +that which was lost [Luke 19, 10], and for the restitution of all +things, as St. Peter says [Acts 3, 21]. 41. Therefore the Law is not +destroyed by Christ, but established, in order that Adam may become such +as he was, and even better." (St. L. 20. 1639ff.; E. 4. 433.) + +189. Luther's Third Public Disputation against the Antinomians. + +Soon after his second disputation Luther obtained evidence of Agricola's +relapse into his former errors and ways. The upshot was another +disputation on a fifth series of theses held September 13, 1538, in +which Luther denounced the Antinomians as deceivers, who lulled their +hearers into carnal security. He also explained that the passages culled +from his own writings were torn from their historical context, and hence +misinterpreted. His former statements, said Luther, had been addressed +to consciences already alarmed, and therefore in immediate need of the +consolation of the Gospel; while now the Antinomians applied them to +secure consciences, who, first of all, were in need of the terrifying +power of the Law. (Drews, 421f.; Tschackert, 482.) + +From the 70 theses treated by Luther in his third disputation, we submit +the following: "1. The Law has dominion over man as long as he lives. +[Rom. 7, 1.] 2. But he is freed from the Law when he dies. 3. +Necessarily, therefore, man must die if he would be free from the Law. +7. These three: Law, sin, and death, are inseparable. 8. Accordingly so +far as death is still in man, in so far sin and the Law are in man. 9. +Indeed, in Christ the Law is fulfilled, sin abolished, and death +destroyed. 11. That is, when, through faith we are crucified and have +died in Christ, such things [the Law fulfilled, sin abolished, and death +destroyed] are true also in us. 13. But the fact itself and experience +testify that the just are still daily delivered to death. 14. +Necessarily, therefore, in as far as they are under death, they are +still also under the Law and sin. 15. They [the Antinomians] are +altogether inexperienced men and deceivers of souls who endeavor to +abolish the Law from the church. 16. For this is not only foolish and +wicked, but also absolutely impossible. 17. For if you would abolish the +Law, you will be compelled to abolish also sin and death. 18. For death +and sin are present by virtue of the Law, as Paul says [2 Cor. 3, 6]: +'The letter killeth,' and [1 Cor. 15, 56]: 'The strength of sin is the +Law,' 19. But since you see that the just die daily what a folly is it +to imagine that they are without the Law! 20. For if there were no Law, +there would be neither sin nor death. 21. Hence they should have first +proved that the just are altogether without sin and death. 22. Or that +they no longer live in the flesh, but are removed from the world. 23. +Then it might justly be taught that also the Law is altogether removed +from them and must not be taught in any way. 24. This they cannot prove, +but experience itself shows the contrary to their very faces. 25. So, +then, the impudence of the teachers who wish to remove the Law from the +church is extraordinary. 26. Yet it is a much greater impudence, or +rather insanity, when they assert that even the wicked should be freed +from the Law, and that it should not be preached to them. 29. If, +however, they pretend that their church or their hearers simply are all +pious men and Christians, without the Law, 30. Then it is evident that +they are altogether of unsound mind and do not know what they say or +affirm. 31. For this is nothing else than to imagine that all their +hearers have been removed from this life. 35. Thus it [the Law] is also +given to the pious, in so far as they are not yet dead and still live in +the flesh. 40. Now, in as far as Christ is raised in us, in so far we +are without Law, sin, and death. 41. But in as far as He is not yet +raised in us, in so far we are under the Law, sin, and death. 42. +Therefore the Law (as also the Gospel) must be preached, without +discrimination, to the righteous as well as to the wicked. 44. To the +pious, that they may thereby be reminded to crucify their flesh with its +affections and lusts, lest they become secure. [Gal. 5, 24.] 45. For +security abolishes faith and the fear of God, and renders the latter end +worse than the beginning. [2 Pet. 2, 20.] 46. It appears very clearly +that the Antinomians imagine sin to have been removed through Christ +essentially and philosophically or juridically (_formaliter et +philosophice seu iuridice_) 47. And that they do not at all know that +sin is removed only inasmuch as the merciful God does not impute it [Ps. +32, 2], and forgives it (_solum reputatione et ignoscentia Dei +miserentis_). 61. For if the Law is removed, no one knows what Christ +is, or what He did when He fulfilled the Law for us. 66. The doctrine of +the Law, therefore, is necessary in the churches, and by all means is to +be retained, as without it Christ cannot be retained. 67. For what will +you retain of Christ when (the Law having been removed which He +fulfilled) you do not know what He has fulfilled? 69. In brief, to +remove the Law and to let sin and death remain, is to hide the disease +of sin and death to men unto their perdition. 70. When death and sin are +abolished (as was done by Christ), then the Law would be removed +happily; moreover, it would be established, Rom. 3, 31." (Drews 423ff.; +St. L. 20, 1642ff.; E. 4, 436ff.) + +190. Agricola's Retraction Written and Published by Luther. + +Seeing his position in the Wittenberg University endangered, Agricola +was again ready to submit. And when a public retraction was demanded, he +even left it to Luther to formulate the recantation. Luther did so in a +public letter to Caspar Guettel in Eisleben, entitled, _Against the +Antinomians--Wider die Antinomer_, which he published in the beginning +of January, 1539. (St. L. 20, 1610.) In a crushing manner Luther here +denounced "the specter of the new spirits who dare thrust the Law or the +Ten Commandments out of the church and relegate it to the courthouse." + +Complaining of "false brethren," Luther here says: "And I fear that, if +I had died at Smalcald [1537], I should forever have been called the +patron of such [antinomian] spirits, because they appeal to my books. +And all this they do behind my back, without my knowledge and against +my will, not even considering it worth while to inform me with as much +as a word or syllable, or at least to ask me regarding the matter. Thus +I am compelled to proceed against Magister John Agricola," etc. (1611.) +"But since he was afraid that he might not express it in a manner such +as would be considered satisfactory, he has fully authorized and also +requested me to do it [write the retraction for Agricola] as well as I +could, which, he being satisfied, I agreed to do, and herewith have +done, especially for the reason that after my death neither Master +Eisleben himself nor anybody else might be able to pretend that I had +done nothing in this matter and simply allowed everything to pass and go +on as fully satisfactory to me." (1612.) + +Referring to his former statements appealed to by Agricola, Luther +continues: "I have indeed taught, and still teach, that sinners should +be led to repentance by the preaching of, and meditation upon, the +suffering of Christ, so that they may realize how great God's wrath is +over sin, seeing that there is no other help against it than that God's +Son must die for it.... But how does it follow from this that the Law +must be abandoned? I am unable to discover such an inference in my +logic, and would like to see and hear the master who would be able to +prove it. When Isaiah says, chap. 53, 8: 'For the transgression of My +people was He stricken,' tell me, dear friend, is the Law abandoned +when here the suffering of Christ is preached? What does 'for the +transgression of My people' mean? Does it not mean: because My people +have sinned against, and not kept, My Law? Or can any one imagine that +sin is something where there is no law? Whoever abolishes the Law must +with it also abolish sins. If he would allow sins to remain, he must +much more allow the Law to remain. For Rom. 6, 13 [4, 15] we read: +'Sin is not imputed where there is no law.' If there is no sin Christ +is nothing. For why does He die if there be neither Law nor sin for +which He was to die? From this we see that by this spiritism +[_Geisterei_] the devil does not mean to take away the Law, but Christ, +who fulfilled the Law. [Matt. 5, 17.] For he well knows that Christ may +well and easily be taken away, but not so the Law, which is written in +the heart." (1613f.) "Therefore I request of you, my dear Doctor +[Guettel], that, as you have done heretofore, you would continue in the +pure doctrine and preach that sinners should and must be led to +repentance not only by the sweet grace and suffering of Christ, who has +died for us, but also by the terrors of the Law." (1615.) "For whence +do we know what sin is if there is no Law and conscience? And whence +shall we learn what Christ is, what He has done for us, if we are not +to know what the Law is which He has fulfilled for us, or what sin is, +for which He has atoned? And even if we did not need the Law for us and +were able to tear it out of our hearts (which is impossible), we +nevertheless must preach it for the sake of Christ (as also is done and +must be done), in order that we may know what He has done and suffered +for us. For who could know what and for what purpose Christ has suffered +for us if no one were to know what sin or the Law is? Therefore the Law +must certainly be preached if we would preach Christ." (1616.) "This, +too, is a peculiar blindness and folly, that they imagine the revelation +of wrath to be something else than the Law (which is impossible); for +the revelation of wrath is the Law when realized and felt, as Paul says +[Rom. 4, 15]: '_Lex iram operatur_. The Law worketh wrath.'" (1618.) + +By way of conclusion Luther remarked: "Let this suffice at present, for +I hope that since Master Eisleben is converted and retracts, the others, +too, who received it [the antinomian error] from him, will abandon it, +which God may help them to do! Amen." (1619.) At the same time, however +he did not withhold the opinion that Agricola's self humiliation would +hardly be of long duration. "If he continues in such humility," said +Luther, "God certainly can and will exalt him; if he abandons it, then +God is able to hurl him down again." (1612.) + +191. Luther's Fourth Disputation against the Antinomians. + +Luther's distrust was not unfounded, for Agricola continued secretly to +teach his antinomianism, abetted in his sentiments among others also by +Jacob Schenck [since 1536 first Lutheran pastor in Freiberg, Saxony; +1538 dismissed on account of his antinomianism 1540 professor in +Leipzig; later on deposed and finally banished from Saxony]. Indeed in +March, 1540, Agricola even lodged a complaint with the Elector, charging +Luther with "calumnies." In the first part of the following month Luther +answered these charges in a _Report to Doctor Brueck Concerning Magister +John Eisleben's Doctrine and Intrigues_. (St. L. 20, 1648ff.) About the +same time; Count Albrecht of Mansfeld denounced Agricola to the Elector +as a dangerous, troublesome man. Hereupon the Elector on June 15 1540, +opened formal legal proceedings against Agricola, who, as stated above, +removed to Berlin in August without awaiting the trial, although he had +promised with an oath not to leave before a legal decision had been +rendered. (Drews, 611.) Incensed by the treacherous conduct of Agricola, +Luther, September 10, 1540, held a final disputation on a sixth series +of theses against the Antinomians, charging them with destroying all +order human as well as divine. (St. L. 20, 1647; E. 4, 441.) + +Regarding Agricola's duplicity, Luther, in his _Report_ to Brueck, said +in substance: According to the statements of Caspar Guettel and +Wendelin Faber, Agricola had for years secretly agitated against the +Wittenbergers and founded a sect at Eisleben calling themselves +Minorish [Minorists]; he had branded and slandered their doctrine as +false and impure, and this, too, without conferring with them or +previously admonishing them; he had come to Wittenberg for the purpose +of corrupting and distracting the Church; his adherents had made the +statement that Eisleben would teach the Wittenbergers theology and +logic; he had inveigled Hans Lufft into printing his Postil by falsely +stating that it had been read and approved by Luther; in his dealings +with the Wittenbergers he had acted not as an honest man, let alone a +pious Christian and theologian, but treacherously and in keeping with +his antinomian principles; parading as a loyal Lutheran at public +conventions and laughing and dining with them, he had misled "his old, +faithful friend" [Luther] to confide in him, while secretly he was +acting the traitor by maligning him and undermining his work. In the +_Report_ we read: "Agricola blasphemes and damns our doctrine as impure +and false (_i.e._, the Holy Spirit Himself in His holy Law); he slanders +and defames us Wittenbergers most infamously wherever he can; and all +this he does treacherously and secretly, although we have done him no +harm, but only did well by him, as he himself must admit. He deceives +and attacks us [me], his best friend and father, making me believe that +he is our true friend. Nor does he warn me, but, like a desperate +treacherous villain, secretly works behind our back to cause the people +to forsake our doctrine and to adhere to him, thus treating us with an +ungratefulness, pride, and haughtiness such as I have not frequently met +with before." (1656.) + +In his charge against Luther, Agricola had said that it was dangerous to +preach the Law without the Gospel, because it was a ministry of death +(_ministerium mortis_). Luther answered in his _Report_ to Brueck: +"Behold now what the mad fool does. God has given His Law for the very +purpose that it should bite, cut, strike, kill, and sacrifice the old +man. For it should terrify and punish the proud ignorant, secure Old +Adam and show him his sin and death, so that, being humiliated, he may +despair of himself, and thus become desirous of grace, as St. Paul says: +'The strength of sin is the Law; the sting of death is sin,'[1 Cor. 15, +56.] For this reason he also calls it _bonam, iustam, sanctam_--good, +just, holy. Again, Jeremiah [23, 29]: 'My Word is like a hammer that +breaketh the rock to pieces.' Again: '_Ego ignis consumens_, etc.--I am +a consuming fire,' Ps. 9, 21 [20]: '_Constitue legislatorem super eos, +ut sciant gentes, se esse homines, non deos, nec Deo similes_--Put them +in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men.' +Thus St. Paul does Rom. 1 and 2 and 3 making all the world sinners by +the Law, casting them under the wrath of God, and entirely killing them +before God. But here our dear Master Grickel appears on the scene and +invents a new theology out of his own mad and reckless fool's head and +teaches: One must not kill and reprove the people, _i.e._, one must not +preach the Law. Here he himself confesses publicly in his suit [against +Luther] that he has condemned and prohibited the preaching of the Law." +(St. L. 20, 1657.) + +The _Report_ continues: "Since, now, the little angry devil who rides +Master Grickel will not tolerate the Law, _i.e., mortificantem, +irascentem, accusantem, terrentem, occidentem legem_,--the mortifying, +raging, accusing, terrifying, killing Law,--it is quite evident what he +intends to do through Master Grickel's folly (for he nevertheless wishes +to be praised as preaching the Law after and under the Gospel, etc.), +_viz._, to hide original sin and to teach the Law no further than +against future actual sins, for such is the manner of his entire Postil; +even as the Turks, Jews, philosophers, and Papists teach who regard our +nature as sound; but Master Grickel does not see that it is just this +which his little spirit [devil] aims at by his bragging and boasting, +that he, too, is preaching the Law.... Thus Christ and God are +altogether vain and lost. And is not this blindness beyond all blindness +that he does not want to preach the Law without and before the Gospel? +For are these not impossible things? How is it possible to preach of +forgiveness of sins if previously there have been no sins? How can one +proclaim life if previously there is no death? Are we to preach to +angels who have neither sin nor death concerning forgiveness of sins +and redemption from death? But how can one preach of sins or know that +there are sins, if the Law does not reveal them? For according to its +proper office the Gospel does not say who [is a sinner] and what is sin; +it does, however, indicate that there must be some great hurt, since so +great a remedy is required; but it does not say how the sin is called, +or what it is. The Law must do this. Thus Master Eisleben must in fact +(_re ipsa_) allow the Law to perform its duty (_occidere_, to kill, +etc.) prior to the [preaching of the] Gospel, no matter how decidedly +he, with words only, denies it, to spite the Wittenbergers, in order +that he also, as _novus autor_ (new author), may produce something of +his own and confuse the people and separate the churches." (1658.) + +From the 20 theses which Luther treated in his last disputation against +the Antinomians we cull the following: "1. The inference of St. Paul: +'For where no law is there is no transgression' [Rom. 4, 15] is valid +not only theologically, but also politically and naturally (_non solum +theologice, sed etiam politice et naturaliter_). 2. Likewise this too: +Where there is no sin, there is neither punishment nor remission. 3. +Likewise this too: Where there is neither punishment nor remission, +there is neither wrath nor grace. 4. Likewise this too: Where there is +neither wrath nor grace, there is neither divine nor human government. +5. Likewise this too: Where there is neither divine nor human +government, there is neither God nor man. 6. Likewise this too: Where +there is neither God nor man, there is nothing except perhaps the devil. +7. Hence it is that the Antinomians, the enemies of the Law, evidently +are either devils themselves or the brothers of the devil. 8. It avails +the Antinomians nothing to boast that they teach very much of God, +Christ, grace, Law, etc. 10. This confession of the Antinomians is like +the one when the devils cried: 'Thou art the Son of the living God,' +[Luke 4, 34; 8, 28.] 12. Whoever denies that the damning Law must be +taught in reality simply denies the Law. 14. A law which does not damn +is an imagined and painted law as the chimera or tragelaphus. 15. Nor is +the political or natural law anything unless it damns and terrifies +sinners Rom. 13, 1. 5; 1 Pet. 2, 13ff. 17. What the Antinomians say +concerning God, Christ, faith, Law, grace, etc., they say without any +meaning as the parrot says its '_chaire_, Good day!' 18. Hence it is +impossible to learn theology or civil polity (_theologiam aut politiam_) +from the Antinomians. 19. Therefore they must be avoided as most +pestilential teachers of licentious living who permit the perpetration +of all crimes. 20. For they serve not Christ, but their own belly [Rom. +16, 18], and, madmen that they are, seek to please men, in order that +from them, as a man's judgment, they may gain glory." (Drews, 613; St. +L. 20, 1647; E. 4, 441.)--Regarding Luther's disputations against the +Antinomians Planck pertinently remarks that they compel admiration for +his clear and penetrating mind, and rank among the very best of his +writings. (1, 18; Frank 2, 311.) + +192. "Grickel" Remained Grickel. + +At the instance of Elector Joachim, negotiations were begun with Luther, +which finally led to a sort of peaceful settlement. Agricola was +required to send (which he also did) a revocation to the preachers, the +council, and the congregation at Eisleben. However, the new and enlarged +edition (1541) of the catechism which Agricola had published in 1527 +revealed the fact that also this last recantation was insincere; for in +it he repeated his antinomistic teaching, though not in the original +defiant manner. Little wonder, then, that despite the formal settlement, +cordial relations were not restored between Luther and Agricola. When +the latter visited Wittenberg in 1545, Luther refused to see the man +whom he regarded incurably dishonest. "Grickel," said he, "will remain +Grickel to all eternity, _Grickel wird in alle Ewigkeit Grickel +bleiben_." + +And "Grickel" he did remain; for in 1565 he published a sermon in which +he said: "Every one who is to be appointed as teacher and preacher shall +be asked: What do you intend to teach in the church? He shall answer: +The Gospel of Jesus Christ. But when further asked: What does the Gospel +preach? he shall answer: The Gospel preaches repentance and forgiveness +of sins." Considering this a further evidence that Agricola still +adhered to, and was now ready once more to champion, his old errors, the +preachers of Mansfeld registered their protest in a publication of the +same year. A controversy, however, did not materialize, for Agricola +died the following year. (Planck 5, 1, 47; Frank 2, 267.) + +193. False Propositions of Agricola. + +Following are some of Agricola's radical statements concerning the Law +and the Gospel. The first thesis of his _Positions_ of 1537 reads: +"Repentance is to be taught not from the Decalog or from any law of +Moses, but from the violation of the Son through the Gospel. +_Poenitentia docenda est non ex decalogo aut ulla lege Mosis, sed ex +violatione Filii per evangelium_." (E. 4. 420.) Thesis 13: "In order to +keep the Christian doctrine pure, we must resist those [Luther and +Melanchthon] who teach that the Gospel must be preached only to such +whose hearts have previously been terrified and broken by the Law. +_Quare pro conservanda puritate doctrinae resistendum est iis, qui +docent, evangelium non praedicandum nisi animis prius quassatis et +contritis per legem_." (421.) Thesis 16: "The Law merely rebukes sin, +and that, too, without the Holy Spirit; hence it rebukes to damnation." +Thesis 17: "But there is need of a doctrine which does not only condemn +with great efficacy, but which saves at the same time; this, however, is +the Gospel, a doctrine which teaches conjointly repentance and remission +of sins." (421.) In his _Brief Summary of the Gospel_, Agricola says: +"In the New Testament and among Christians or in the Gospel we must not +preach the violation of the Law when a man breaks or transgresses the +Law, but the violation of the Son, to wit that he who does not for the +sake of the kingdom of heaven willingly omit what he should omit, and +does not do what he should do, crucifies Christ anew." (St. L. 20, +1622ff.; Frank 2, 313, Gieseler 3, 2, 137; Pieper, _Dogm_. 3, 265ff.) + +A commingling of the Law and Gospel always results in a corruption of +the doctrines of conversion, faith, and justification. Such was the case +also with respect to Agricola, who taught that justification follows a +contrition which flows from, and hence is preceded by, love toward God. +Turning matters topsy-turvy, he taught: Repentance consists in this, +that the heart of man, experiencing the kindness of God which calls us +to Christ and presents us with His grace, turns about, apprehends God's +grace, thanks Him heartily for having spared it so graciously, begins to +repent, and to grieve heartily and sorrowfully on account of its sins, +wishes to abstain from them, and renounces its former sinful life. +"This," says Agricola, "is repentance (_poenitentia, Buessen_) and the +first stage of the new birth, the true breathing and afflation of the +Holy Spirit. After this he acquires a hearty confidence in God, +believing that He will condone his folly and not blame him for it, since +he did not know any better, although he is much ashamed of it and wishes +that it had never happened; he also resolves, since he has fared so +well, never to sin any more or to do anything that might make him +unworthy of the benefit received as if he were ungrateful and forgetful; +he furthermore learns to work out, confirm, and preserve his salvation +in fear and trembling...: this is forgiveness of sins." (Frank 2, 247.) +These confused ideas plainly show that Agricola had a false conception, +not only of the Law and Gospel, but also of original sin, repentance, +faith, regeneration, and justification. Essentially, his was the Roman +doctrine, which makes an antecedent of what in reality is an effect and +a consequence of conversion and justification. Viewed from this angle, +it occasions little surprise that Agricola consented to help formulate +and introduce the Augsburg Interim in which the essentials of +Lutheranism were denied. + +194. Poach, Otto, Musculus, Neander. + +The antinomistic doctrines rejected, in particular, by Article VI of the +_Formula of Concord_, were represented chiefly by Andrew Poach, Anton +Otto, Andrew Musculus, and Michael Neander. Poach, born 1516, studied +under Luther and was an opponent of the Philippists, he became pastor in +Halle in 1541; in Nordhausen, 1547; in Erfurt, 1550; Uttenbach, near +Jena, 1572, where he died 1585. At Erfurt, Poach was deposed in 1572 on +account of dissensions due to the antinomistic controversies. He signed +the _Book of Concord_.--Otto [Otho; also called Herzberger, because he +was born in Herzberg, 1505] studied under Luther; served as pastor in +Graefenthal, and from 1543 in Nordhausen where he was deposed in 1568 +for adherence to Flacius. However, when Otto, while antagonizing +Majorism and synergism, in sermons on the Letter to the Galatians of +1565 rejected the Third Use of the Law, he was opposed also by Flacius, +who reminded him of the fact that here on earth the new man resembles a +child, aye, an embryo, rather than a full-fledged man. + +In his zealous opposition to the Majorists, Andrew Musculus (Meusel, +born 1514; studied at Leipzig 1532-1538, then at Wittenberg; became a +zealous and passionate adherent of Luther, whom he considered the +greatest man since the days of the apostles; from 1540 till his death, +September 29, 1581, professor and pastor, later on, General +Superintendent, in Frankfurt-on-the-Oder) also made some extreme +statements. Later on, however, he cooperated in preparing and revising +the _Formula of Concord_. Musculus wrote of Luther: "There is as great a +difference between the dear old teachers and Luther as there is between +the light of the sun and that of the moon; and beyond all doubt, the +ancient fathers, even the best and foremost among them, as Hilary and +Augustine, had they lived contemporaneously with him, would not have +hesitated to deliver the lamp to him, as the saying is." (Meusel, +_Handl_. 4, 709; Richard, 450.) + +The most prominent opponents of these Antinomians were the well-known +theologians Moerlin, Flacius, Wigand, and Westphal (chiefly in letters +to Poach). The controversy was carried on with moderation, and without +any special efforts to cause trouble among the people. The main issue +was not--as in the conflict with Agricola--whether the Law is necessary +in order to effect contrition and prepare men for the Gospel, but the +so-called Third Use of the Law (_tertius usus legis_), _i.e._, whether +the Law is, and is intended to be, of service to Christians after their +regeneration; in particular, whether the regenerate still need the Law +with respect to their new obedience. + +The conflict with Poach arose from the Majoristic controversy. Dealing +in particular with the aberrations of Menius, the Synod at Eisenach, +1556, adopted seven theses which Menius was required to subscribe. The +first declared: "Although the proposition, Good works are necessary to +salvation, may be tolerated hypothetically and in an abstract way in the +doctrine of the Law (_in doctrina legis abstractive et de idea tolerari +potest_), nevertheless there are many weighty reasons why it ought and +should be avoided no less than this one: Christ is a creature." (Preger +1, 383.) While Flacius, Wigand, and Moerlin defended the thesis, Amsdorf +(who first, too, adopted it, but later on withdrew his assent; Seeberg +4, 488), Aurifaber, and especially Poach rejected it. This marked the +beginning of the so-called Second Antinomistic Controversy. Poach denied +that the Law has any promise of salvation. Even the most perfect +fulfilment of the Law, said he, is but the fulfilment of a duty which +merits no reward. The only thing one may acquire by a perfect fulfilment +is freedom from guilt and punishment. Fulfilment of our duty (_solutio +debiti_) does not warrant any claim on salvation. Yet Poach was careful +to declare that this did not apply to the fulfilment of the Law which +Christ rendered for us. Why? Poach answered: Because Christ, being the +Son of God, was not obliged to fulfil the Law. When, therefore, He did +fulfil it in our stead, He rendered satisfaction to divine justice, so +that righteousness can now be imputed to us and we become partakers of +eternal life. + +Poach wrote: "It would not be correct to say: In the doctrine of the Law +all the works commanded in the Law are necessary to salvation. _In +doctrina legis omnia opera mandata in lege sunt necessaria ad salutem_." +(Schluesselburg 4, 343.) Again: "The works of Christ, which are the +fulfilment of the Law, are the merit of our salvation. Our works, which +ought to have been the fulfilment of the Law, do not merit salvation, +even though they were most perfect, as the Law requires,--which, +however, is impossible. The reason is that we are debtors to the Law. +Christ, however, is not a debtor to the Law. Even if we most perfectly +fulfilled all the commandments of God and completely satisfied the +righteousness of God, we would not be worthy of grace and salvation on +that account, nor would God be obliged to give us grace and salvation as +a debt. He justly demands the fulfilment of His Law from us as obedience +due Him from His creature, which is bound to obey its Creator. _Etiamsi +nos omnia mandata Dei perfectissime impleremus et iustitiae Dei penitus +satisfaceremus, tamen non ideo digni essemus gratia et salute, nec Deus +obligatus esset, ut nobis gratiam et salutem daret ex debito. Sed iure +requirit impletionem legis suae a nobis, ut debitam obedientiam a sua +creatura, quae conditori suo obedire tenetur_." (274.) Again: "The Law +has not the necessity of salvation, but the necessity of obligation +(_non habet lex necessitatem salutis, sed necessitatem debiti_). For, as +said, even though a man would most perfectly do the works of the Law, he +would not obtain salvation on account of these works. Nor is God under +obligation to man, but man is under obligation to God. And in the Law +God requires of man the obedience he owes; He does not require an +obedience with the promise of salvation." (276.) + +As to Otto, he distinguished, in a series of Latin theses a double +office of the Law, the ecclesiastical; and political--_officium +ecclesiasticum_ and _officium politicum_. The former is to give +knowledge of sin; the latter, to coerce the old man and maintain order +among the obstinate. He denied that the Law in any way serves Christians +with respect to good works. Otto declared: "The Law is useful and +necessary neither for justification nor for any good works. But faith in +Christ the Mediator alone is useful and necessary both for justification +and the good works themselves. _Lex enim non modo ad iustificationem sed +neque ad ulla bona opera utilis et necessaria est. Sed sola fides in +Christum mediatorem utilis et necessaria est tam ad iustificationem quam +ad ipsa bona opera_." Quoting Luther, he said: "The highest art of +Christians is to know nothing of the Law, to ignore works. _Summa ars +Christianorum est nescire legem, ignorare opera_," _i.e._, in the +article of justification, as Otto did not fail to add by way of +explanation. (Luther, Weimar 40, 1, 43; Tschackert, 485.) Seeberg +remarks that in reality, Poach and Otto were merely opposed to such an +interpretation of the Third Use of the Law as made the Law a motive of +good works, and hence could not be charged with antinomianism proper. +(4, 488f.) + +Planck, Frank, and other historians have fathered upon Otto also a +series of radical German theses, which, however, were composed, not by +Otto, but probably by some of his adherents. These theses, in which all +of the errors of Agricola are revamped, were discussed at the Altenburg +colloquy, 1568 to 1569; their author, however, was not mentioned. We +submit the following: "1. The Law does not teach good works, nor should +it be preached in order that we may do good works. 3. Moses knew nothing +of our faith and religion. 5. Evangelical preachers are to preach the +Gospel only, and no Law. 7. A Christian who believes should do +absolutely nothing, neither what is good nor what is evil. 10. We should +pray God that we may remain steadfast in faith till our end, without all +works. 14. The Holy Spirit does not work according to the norm or rule +of the Law, but by Himself, without the assistance of the Law. 16. A +believing Christian is _supra omnem obedientiam_, above all Law and all +obedience. 17. The rebuking sermons of the prophets do not at all +pertain to Christians. 21. The Law, good works, and new obedience have +no place in the kingdom of Christ, but in the world just as Moses and +the government of the Pope. 25. The Law has no place in the Church or in +the pulpit, but in the court-house (_Rathaus_). 28. The Third Use of the +Law is a blasphemy in theology and a monstrosity in the realm of nature +(_portentum in rerum natura_). 29. No man can be saved if the Third Use +of the Law is true and is to be taught in the Church. The Holy Spirit in +man knows nothing of the Law; the flesh, however, is betimes in need of +the Law." (Tschackert, 485; Planck 5, 1, 62.) Frank also quotes: "The +Christians or the regenerate are deified (_vergoettert_); yea, they are +themselves God and cannot sin. God has not given you His Word that you +should be saved thereby (_dass du dadurch sollst selig werden_); and +whoever seeks no more from God than salvation (_Seligkeit_) seeks just +as much as a louse in a scab. Such Christians are the devil's own, +together with all their good works." (2, 326. 275.) + +Also Musculus is numbered among the theologians who were not always +sufficiently discreet and guarded in their statements concerning the +necessity of good works and the use of the Law. All expressions of the +Apostle Paul regarding the spiritual use of the Law, said Musculus, must +be understood as referring to such only as are to be justified, not to +those who are justified (_de iustificandis, non de iustificatis_). But +he added: "For these, in as far as they remain in Christ, are far +outside of and above every law. _Hi enim, quatenus in Christo manent, +longe extra et supra omnem legem sunt_." (Tschackert. 486.) + +Michael Neander of Ilfeld, a friend of Otto was also suspected of +antinomianism. He denied that there is any relation whatever between the +Law and a regenerate Christian. But he, too, was careful enough to add: +"in as far as he is just or lives by the spirit, _quatenus est iustus +seu spiritu vivit_." In a letter, Neander said: "I adhere to the opinion +that the Law is not given to the just in any use or office whatsoever, +in so far as he is just or lives by the spirit.... 'For the Law,' as +Luther says in his marginal note to Jeremiah, chap. 31, 'is no longer +over us, but under us, and does not surround us any more.' Love rules +and governs all laws, and frequently something is true according to the +Law, but false according to love (_saepeque aliquid lege verum, +dilectione tamen falsum est_). For love is the statute, measure, norm, +and rule of all things on earth.... The Law only accuses and damns, and +apart from this it has no other use or office, _i.e._, the Law remains +the norm of good works to all eternity, also in hell after the Last Day, +but for the unjust and reprobate, and for the flesh in every man. To the +just, regenerated, and new man, however, it is not the norm of good +works, _i.e._, the Law does not govern, regulate, and teach the just +man; _i.e._, it is not active with respect to him as it is with respect +to an unjust man, but is rather regulated and governed and taught by the +just man. It no longer drives the just (as it did before conversion and +as it still drives the flesh), but is now driven and suffers, since as +just men we are no longer under the Law, but above the Law and lords of +the Law. How, therefore, can the Law be a norm to the just man when he +is the lord of the Law, commands the Law, and frequently does what is +contrary to the Law (_cum iustus legis sit dominus, legi imperet et +saepe legi contraria faciat_)?... When the just man meditates in the Law +of the Lord day and night, when he establishes the Law by faith, when he +loves the Law and admires the inexhaustible wisdom of the divine Law, +when he does good works written and prescribed in the Law (as indeed he +alone can), when he uses the Law aright,--all these are neither the +third, nor the fourth, nor the twelfth, nor the fiftieth use or office +of the Law,... but fruits of faith, of the Spirit, or regeneration.... +But the Old Man, who is not yet new, or a part of him which is not as +yet regenerated, has need of this Law, and he is to be commanded: 'Put +on the new man; put off the old.'" (Schluesselburg 4, 61; Tschackert, +484.) + +195. Melanchthon and the Philippists. + +A further controversy concerning the proper distinction between the Law +and the Gospel was caused by the Philippists in Wittenberg whose +teaching was somewhat akin to that of Agricola. They held that the +Gospel, in the narrow sense of the term, and as distinguished from the +Law, is "the most powerful preaching of repentance." (Frank 2, 327.) +Taking his cue from Luther, Melanchthon, in his _Loci_ of 1521 as well +as in later writings, clearly distinguished between Law and Gospel. (_C. +R._ 21, 139; 23, 49; 12, 576.) True, he had taught, also in the +_Apology_, that, in the wider sense, the Gospel is both a preaching of +repentance and forgiveness of sin. But this, as the _Formula of Concord_ +explains, was perfectly correct and in keeping with the Scriptures. +However, in repeating the statement that the Gospel embraces both the +preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins, Melanchthon was not +always sufficiently careful to preclude misapprehension and +misunderstanding. Indeed, some of the statements he made after Luther's +death are misleading, and did not escape the challenge of loyal +Lutherans. + +During a disputation in 1548, at which Melanchthon presided, Flacius +criticized the unqualified assertion that the Gospel was a preaching of +repentance, but was satisfied when Melanchthon explained that the term +Gospel was here used in the wider sense, as comprising the entire +doctrine of Christ. However, when Melanchthon, during another +disputation, 1556, declared: The ministry of the Gospel "rebukes the +other sins which the Law shows, as well as the saddest of sins which is +revealed by the Gospel (_hoc tristissimum peccatum, quod in Evangelio +ostenditur_), _viz._, that the world ignores and despises the Son of +God." Flacius considered it his plain duty to register a public protest. +It was a teaching which was, at least in part, the same error that +Luther, and formerly also Melanchthon himself, had denounced when +espoused by Agricola, _viz._, that genuine contrition is wrought, not by +the Law, but by the Gospel; by the preaching, not of the violation of +the Law, but of the violation of the Son. (_C. R._ 12, 634. 640.) + +These misleading statements of Melanchthon were religiously cultivated +and zealously defended by the Wittenberg Philippists. With a good deal +of animosity they emphasized that the Gospel in its most proper sense is +also a preaching of repentance (_praedicatio poenitentiae, +Busspredigt_), inasmuch as it revealed the baseness of sin and the +greatness of its offense against God, and, in particular, inasmuch as +the Gospel alone uncovered, rebuked, and condemned the hidden sin +(_arcanum peccatum_) and the chief sin of all, the sin of unbelief +(_incredulitas et neglectio Filii_), which alone condemns a man. These +views, which evidently involved a commingling of the Law and the Gospel, +were set forth by Paul Crell in his Disputation against John Wigand, +1571, and were defended in the _Propositions Concerning the Chief +Controversies of These Times_ (also of 1571), by Pezel and other +Wittenberg theologians. (Frank 2, 277. 323.) + +As a consequence, the Philippists, too, were charged with antinomianism, +and were strenuously opposed by such theologians as Flacius, Amsdorf, +and Wigand. Wigand attacked the Wittenberg _Propositions_ in his book of +1571, _Concerning Antinomianism, Old and New_. Pezel answered in his +_Apology of the True Doctrine on the Definition of the Gospel_, 1571; +and Paul Crell, in _Spongia, or 150 Propositions Concerning the +Definition of the Gospel, Opposed to the Stupid Accusation of John +Wigand_, 1571. The teaching of the Philippists was formulated by Paul +Crell as follows: "Since this greatest and chief sin [unbelief] is +revealed, rebuked, and condemned by the Gospel alone, therefore also the +Gospel alone is expressly and particularly, truly and properly, a +preaching and a voice of repentance or conversion in its true and proper +sense. _A solo evangelio, cum peccatum hoc summum et praecipuum +monstretur, arguatur et damnetur expresse ac nominatim solum etiam +evangelium vere ac proprie praedicatio ac vox est poenitentiae sive +conversionis vere et proprie ita dictae_." (277. 327.) + +This doctrine of the Philippists, according to which the Gospel in the +narrow and proper sense, and as distinguished from the Law, is a +preaching of repentance, was rejected by Article V of the _Formula of +Concord_ as follows: "But if the Law and the Gospel, likewise also Moses +himself as a teacher of the Law and Christ as a preacher of the Gospel, +are contrasted with one another, we believe, teach, and confess that the +Gospel is not a preaching of repentance or reproof, but properly nothing +else than a preaching of consolation, and a joyful message which does +not reprove or terrify, but comforts consciences against the terrors of +the Law, points alone to the merit of Christ, and raises them up again +by the lovely preaching of the grace and favor of God, obtained through +Christ's merit." (803, 7.) + + +XVIII. The Crypto-Calvinistic Controversy. + +196. Contents and Purpose of Articles VII and VIII. + +In all of its articles the _Formula of Concord_ is but a reafflrmation +of the doctrines taught and defended by Luther. The fire of prolonged +and hot controversies through which these doctrines passed after his +death had but strengthened the Lutherans in their conviction that in +every point Luther's teaching was indeed nothing but the pure Word of +God itself. It had increased the consciousness that, in believing and +teaching as they did, they were not following mere human authorities, +such as Luther and the Lutheran Confessions, but the Holy Scriptures, by +which alone their consciences were bound. Articles VII and VIII of the +_Formula of Concord_, too, reassert Luther's doctrines on the Lord's +Supper and the person of Christ as being in every particular the clear +and unmistakable teaching of the divine Word,--two doctrines, by the +way, which perhaps more than any other serve as the acid test whether +the fundamental attitude of a church or a theologian is truly Scriptural +and fully free from every rationalistic and enthusiastic infection. + +The Seventh Article teaches the real and substantial presence of the +true body and blood of Christ; their sacramental union in, with, and +under the elements of bread and wine; the oral manducation or eating and +drinking of both substances by unbelieving as well as believing +communicants. It maintains that this presence of the body and blood of +Christ, though real, is neither an impanation nor a companation, neither +a local inclusion nor a mixture of the two substances, but illocal and +transcendent. It holds that the eating of the body and the drinking of +the blood of Christ, though truly done with the mouth of the body, is +not Capernaitic, or natural, but supernatural. It affirms that this real +presence is effected, not by any human power, but by the omnipotent +power of Christ in accordance with the words of the institution of the +Sacrament. + +The Eighth Article treats of the person of Christ, of the personal union +of His two natures, of the communication of these natures as well as of +their attributes, and, in particular, of the impartation of the truly +divine majesty to His human nature and the terminology resulting +therefrom. One particular object of Article VIII is also to show that +the doctrine of the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the +Holy Supper, as taught by the Lutheran Church, does not, as was +contended by her Zwinglian and Calvinistic adversaries, conflict in any +way with what the Scriptures teach concerning the person of Christ, His +human nature, His ascension, and His sitting at the right hand of God +the Father Almighty. The so-called Appendix, or Catalogus, a collection +of passages from the Bible and from the fathers of the ancient Church, +prepared by Andreae and Chemnitz was added to the _Formula of Concord_ +(though not as an authoritative part of it) in further support of the +Lutheran doctrine particularly concerning the divine majesty of the +human nature of Christ. + +Both articles, the seventh as well as the eighth, were incorporated in +the _Formula of Concord_ in order thoroughly to purify the Lutheran +Church from Reformed errors concerning the Lord's Supper and the person +of Christ, which after Luther's death had wormed their way into some of +her schools and churches, especially those of Electoral Saxony, and to +make her forever immune against the infection of Calvinism +(Crypto-Calvinism)--a term which, during the controversies preceding the +_Formula of Concord_ did not, as is generally the case to-day, refer to +Calvin's absolute decree of election and reprobation, but to his +doctrine concerning the Lord's Supper, as formulated by himself in the +_Consensus Tigurinus_ (Zurich Consensus), issued 1549. The subtitle of +this confession reads: "Consensio Mutua in Re Sacramentaria Ministrorum +Tigurinae Ecclesiae, et D. Iohannis Calvini Ministri Genevensis +Ecclesiae, iam nunc ab ipsis autoribus edita." In this confession, +therefore, Calvin declares his agreement with the teaching of Zwingli as +represented by his followers in Zurich, notably Bullinger. Strenuous +efforts were made by the Calvinists and Reformed everywhere to make the +_Consensus Tigurinus_ the basis of a pan-Protestant union, and at the +same time the banner under which to conquer all Protestant countries, +Lutheran Germany included, for what must be regarded as being +essentially Zwinglianism. The _Consensus_ was adopted in Switzerland, +England, France, and Holland. In Lutheran territories, too, its teaching +was rapidly gaining friends, notably in Southern Germany, where Bucer +had prepared the way for it, and in Electoral Saxony where the +Philippists offered no resistance. Garnished as it was with glittering +and seemingly orthodox phrases, the _Consensus Tigurinus_ lent itself +admirably for such Reformed propaganda. "The consequence was," says the +_Formula of Concord_, "that many great men were deceived by these fine, +plausible words--_splendidis et magnificis verbis_." (973, 6.) To +counteract this deception, to establish Luther's doctrine of the real +presence of the body and blood of Christ, and to defend it against the +sophistries of the Sacramentarians: Zwinglians, Calvinists, and +Crypto-Calvinists--such was the object of Articles VII and VIII of the +_Formula of Concord_. + +197. John Calvin. + +Calvin was born July 10, 1509, in Noyon, France. He began his studies in +Paris, 1523 preparing for theology. In 1529 his father induced him to +take up law in Orleans and Bourges. In 1531 he returned to his +theological studies in Paris. Here he experienced what he himself +describes as a "sudden conversion." He joined the Reformed congregation, +and before long was its acknowledged leader. In 1533 he was compelled to +leave France because of his anti-Roman testimony. In Basel, 1535, he +wrote the first draft of his _Institutio Religionis Christianae_. In +Geneva where he was constrained to remain by William Farel [born 1489; +active as a fiery Protestant preacher in Meaux, Strassburg, Zurich, +Bern, Basel, Moempelgard, Geneva, Metz, etc.; died 1565], Calvin +developed and endeavored to put into practise his legalistic ideal of a +theocratic and rigorous puritanical government. As a result he was +banished, 1538. He removed to Strassburg, where he was held and engaged +by Bucer. He attended the conventions in Frankfort, 1539; Hagenau, 1540; +Worms, 1540; and Regensburg, 1541. Here he got acquainted with the +Lutherans notably Melanchthon. September 13, 1541, he returned to +Geneva, where, woefully mixing State and Church, he continued his +reformatory and puritanical efforts. One of the victims of his +theocratic government was the anti-Trinitarian Michael Servetus, who, +at the instance of Calvin, was burned at the stake, October 27, 1553. +In 1559 Calvin established the Geneva School, which exercised a +far-reaching theological influence. He died May 27, 1564. + +Calvin repeatedly expressed his unbounded admiration for Luther as a +"preeminent servant of Christ--_praeclarus Christi servus_." (_C. R._ +37, 54.) In his _Answer_ of 1543 against the Romanist Pighius he said: +"Concerning Luther we testify without dissimulation now as heretofore +that we esteem him as a distinguished apostle of Christ, by whose labor +and service, above all, the purity of the Gospel has been restored at +this time. _De Luthero nunc quoque sicut hactenus non dissimulanter +testamur, eum nos habere pro insigni Christi apostolo, cuius maxime +opera et ministerio restituta hoc tempore fuerit Evangelii puritas_." +(Gieseler 3, 2, 169.) Even after Luther had published his _Brief +Confession_, in which he unsparingly denounces the Sacramentarians +(deniers of the real presence of Christ's body and blood in the Lord's +Supper), and severs all connection with them, Calvin admonished +Bullinger in a letter dated November 25, 1544, to bear in mind what a +great and wonderfully gifted man Luther was, and with what fortitude, +ability, and powerful teaching he had shattered the kingdom of +Antichrist and propagated the salutary doctrine. "I am frequently +accustomed to say," he declared, "that, even if he should call me a +devil I would accord him the honor of acknowledging him to be an eminent +servant of God." In the original the remarkable words of Calvin read as +follows: "_Sed haec cupio vobis in mentem venire, primum quantus sit vir +Lutherus, et quantis dotibus excellat, quanta animi fortitudine et +constantia quanta dexteritate, quanta doctrinae efficacia hactenus ad +profligandum Antichristi regnum et simul propagandam salutis doctrinam +incubuerit. Saepe dicere solitus sum, etiamsi me diabolum vocaret, me +tamen hoc illi honoris habiturum, ut insignem Dei servum agnoscam, qui +tamen, ut pollet eximiis virtutibus, ita magnis vitiis laboret_." +(Gieseler 3, 2, 169; _C. R._ 39 [_Calvini Opp._ 11], 774.) + +However, though he admired the personality of Luther, Calvin, like +Zwingli and Oecolampadius at Marburg 1529, revealed a theological spirit +which was altogether different from Luther's. In particular, he was +violently opposed to Luther's doctrines of the real presence in the +Lord's Supper and of the majesty of the human nature of Christ. +Revealing his animus, Calvin branded the staunch and earnest defenders +of these doctrines as the "apes" of Luther. In his _Second Defense_ +against Westphal, 1556, he exclaimed: "O Luther, how few imitators of +your excellences, but how many apes of your pious ostentation have you +left behind! _O Luthere, quam paucos tuae praestantiae imitatores, quam +multas vero sanctae tuae iactantiae simias reliquisti!_" (Gieseler 3, 2, +209.) + +True, when in Strassburg, Calvin signed the _Augsburg Confession_ (1539 +or 1540), and was generally considered a Lutheran. However, in his _Last +Admonition_ to Westphal, of 1557 and in a letter of the same year to +Martin Schalling, Calvin wrote: "Nor do I repudiate the _Augsburg +Confession_, to which I have previously subscribed, _in the sense in +which the author himself_ [Melanchthon in the _Variata_ of 1540] _has +interpreted it. Nec vero Augustanam Confessionem repudio, cui pridem +volens ac libens subscripsi, sicut eam auctor ipse interpretatus est._" +(_C. R._ 37, 148.) According to his own confession, therefore, Calvin's +subscription to the _Augustana_, at least as far as the article of the +Lord's Supper is concerned, was insincere and nugatory. In fact Calvin +must be regarded as the real originator of the second controversy on +the Lord's Supper between the Lutherans and the Reformed, even as the +first conflict on this question was begun, not by Luther, but by his +opponents, Carlstadt, Zwingli, and Oecolampadius. For the adoption of +the _Consensus Tigurinus_ in 1549, referred to above, cannot but be +viewed as an overt act by which the Wittenberg Concord, signed 1536 by +representative Lutheran and Reformed theologians, was publicly +repudiated and abandoned by Calvin and his adherents, and whereby an +anti-Lutheran propaganda on an essentially Zwinglian basis was +inaugurated. Calvin confirmed the schism between the Lutherans and the +Reformed which Carlstadt, Zwingli, and Oecolampadius had originated. + +198. Calvin's Zwinglianism. + +The doctrine of Calvin and his adherents concerning the Lord's Supper is +frequently characterized as a materially modified Zwinglianism. Schaff +maintains that "Calvin's theory took a middle course, retaining, on the +basis of Zwingli's exegesis, the religious substance of Luther's faith, +and giving it a more intellectual and spiritual form, triumphed in +Switzerland, gained much favor in Germany and opened a fair prospect for +union." (_Creeds_ 1, 280.) As a matter of fact, however, a fact admitted +also by such Calvinists as Hodge and Shedd, Calvin's doctrine was a +denial _in toto_ of the real presence as taught by Luther. (Pieper, +_Dogm._ 3, 354.) Calvin held that after His ascension Christ, according +to His human nature, was locally enclosed in heaven, far away from the +earth. Hence he denied also the real presence of Christ's body and blood +in the Holy Supper. In fact, Calvin's doctrine was nothing but a +polished form of Zwingli's crude teaching, couched in phrases +approaching the Lutheran terminology as closely as possible. Even where +he paraded as Luther, Calvin was but Zwingli disguised (and poorly at +that) in a seemingly orthodox garb and promenading with several +imitation Lutheran feathers in his hat. + +In the _Formula of Concord_ we read: "Although some Sacramentarians +strive to employ words that come as close as possible to the _Augsburg +Confession_ and the form and mode of speech in its churches, and confess +that in the Holy Supper the body of Christ is truly received by +believers, still, when we insist that they state their meaning properly, +sincerely, and clearly, they all declare themselves unanimously thus: +that the true essential body and blood of Christ is absent from the +consecrated bread and wine in the Holy Supper as far as the highest +heaven is from the earth.... Therefore they understand this presence of +the body of Christ not as a presence here upon earth, but only _respectu +fidei_ (with respect to faith), that is, that our faith, reminded and +excited by the visible signs, just as by the Word preached, elevates +itself and ascends above all heavens, and receives and enjoys the body +of Christ, which is there in heaven present, yea, Christ Himself, +together with all His benefits, in a manner true and essential, but +nevertheless spiritual only;... consequently nothing else is received by +the mouth in the Holy Supper than bread and wine." (971, 2f.) This is, +and was intended to be, a presentation of Calvinism as being nothing but +Zwinglianism clothed in seemingly orthodox phrases. + +That this picture drawn by the _Formula of Concord_ is not a caricature +or in any point a misrepresentation of Calvinism appears from the +_Consensus Tigurinus_ itself, where we read: "In as far as Christ is a +man, He is to be sought nowhere else than in heaven and in no other +manner than with the mind and the understanding of faith. Therefore it +is a perverse and impious superstition to include Him under elements of +this world. _Christus, quatenus homo est, non alibi quam in coelo nec +aliter quam mente et fidei intelligentia quaerendus est. Quare perversa +et impia superstitio est, ipsum sub elementis huius mundi includere._" +Again: "We repudiate those [who urge the literal interpretation of the +words of institution] as preposterous interpreters." "For beyond +controversy, they are to be taken figuratively,... as when by metonymy +the name of the symbolized thing is transferred to the sign--_ut per +metonymiam ad signum transferatur rei figuratae nomen._" Again: "Nor do +we regard it as less absurd to place Christ under, and to unite Him +with, the bread than to change the bread into His body. _Neque enim +minus absurdum iudicamus, Christum sub pane locare vel cum pane +copulare, quam panem transubstantiare in corpus eius._" Again: "When we +say that Christ is to be sought in heaven, this mode of speech expresses +a distance of place,... because the body of Christ,... being finite and +contained in heaven, as in a place, must of necessity be removed from us +by as great a distance as the heaven is removed from the earth--_necesse +est, a nobis tanto locorum intervallo distare, quanto caelum abest a +terra._" (Niemeyer, _Collectio Confessionum_, 196.) Such was the +teaching cunningly advocated by Calvin and his adherents the +Crypto-Calvinists in Germany included but boldly and firmly opposed by +the loyal Lutherans, and finally disposed of by Articles VII and VIII of +the _Formula of Concord_. + +199. Melanchthon's Public Attitude. + +As stated, Calvin's doctrine of the Lord's Supper was received with +increasing favor also in Lutheran territories, notably in Southern +Germany and Electoral Saxony, where the number of theologians and laymen +who secretly adopted and began to spread it was rapidly increasing. They +were called Crypto-Calvinists (secret or masked Calvinists) because, +while they subscribed to the _Augsburg Confession_, claimed to be loyal +Lutherans, and occupied most important positions in the Lutheran Church, +they in reality were propagandists of Calvinism, zealously endeavoring +to suppress Luther's books and doctrines, and to substitute for them the +views of Calvin. Indeed, Calvin claimed both privately and publicly that +Melanchthon himself was his ally. And, entirely apart from what the +latter may privately have confided to him, there can be little doubt +that Calvin's assertions were not altogether without foundation. In +fact, theologically as well as ethically, Melanchthon must be regarded +as the spiritual father also of the Crypto-Calvinists. + +True, originally Melanchthon fully shared Luther's views on the Lord's +Supper. At Marburg, 1529, he was still violently opposed to the +Zwinglians and their "profane" teaching in an _Opinion_ on Carlstadt's +doctrine, of October 9, 1625, he affirms that Christ, both as God and +man, _i.e._, with His body and blood is present in the Supper. (_C. R._ +1, 760.) In September of the following year he wrote to Philip Eberbach: +"Know that Luther's teaching [concerning the Lord's Supper] is very old +in the Church. _Hoc scito, Lutheri sententiam perveterem in ecclesia +esse_." (823.) This he repeats in a letter of November 11, also to +Eberbach. In an _Opinion_ of May 15 1529: "I am satisfied that I shall +not agree with the Strassburgers all my life, and I know that Zwingli +and his compeers write falsely concerning the Sacrament." (1067.) June +20 1529, to Jerome Baumgaertner: "I would rather die than see our people +become contaminated by the society of the Zwinglian cause. _Nam mori +malim, quam societate Cinglianae causae nostros contaminare_. My dear +Jerome, it is a great cause, but few consider it. I shall be lashed to +death on account of this matter." (_C. R._ 1, 1077; 2, 18.) November 2, +1529, to John Fesel: "I admonish you most earnestly to avoid the +Zwinglian dogmas. Your Judimagister [Eberbach], I fear, loves these +profane disputations too much. I know that the teaching of Zwingli can +be upheld neither with the Scriptures nor with the authority of the +ancients. Concerning the Lord's Supper, therefore, teach as Luther +does." (1, 1109.) In February, 1530, he wrote: "The testimonies of +ancient writers concerning the Lord's Supper which I have compiled are +now being printed." (2, 18.) In this publication Melanchthon endeavored +to show by quotations from Cyril, Chrysostom Vulgarius, Hilary, Cyprian, +Irenaeus, and Augustine that Zwingli's interpretation of the words of +institution does not agree with that of the ancient Church. (23, 732.) +According to his own statement, Melanchthon embodied Luther's doctrine +in the _Augsburg Confession_ and rejected that of the Zwinglians. (2, +142. 212.) + +At Augsburg, Melanchthon was much provoked also when he heard that Bucer +claimed to be in doctrinal agreement with the Lutherans. In his _Opinion +Concerning the Doctrine of the Sacramentarians_, written in August, +1530, we read: "1. The Zwinglians believe that the body of the Lord can +be present in but one place. 2. Likewise that the body of Christ cannot +be anywhere except locally only. They vehemently contend that it is +contrary to the nature of a body to be anywhere in a manner not local; +also, that it is inconsistent with the nature of a body to be in +different places at the same time. 3. For this reason they conclude that +the body of Christ is circumscribed in heaven in a certain place, so +that it can in no way be elsewhere at the same time and that in truth +and reality it is far away from the bread, and not in the bread and with +the bread. 4. Bucer is therefore manifestly wrong in contending that +they [the Zwinglians] are in agreement with us. For we say that it is +not necessary for the body of Christ to be in but one place. We say that +it can be in different places, whether this occurs locally or in some +other secret way by which different places are as one point present at +the same time to the person of Christ. We, therefore, affirm a true and +real presence of the body of Christ with the bread. 5. If Bucer wishes +to accept the opinion of Zwingli and Oecolampadius, he will never dare +to say that the body of Christ is really with the bread without +geometric distance. 9. Here they [the Zwinglians] wish the word +'presence' to be understood only concerning efficacy and the Holy +Spirit. 10. We, however, require not only the presence of power, but of +the body. This Bucer purposely disguises. 11. They simply hold that the +body of Christ is in heaven, and that in reality it is neither with the +bread nor in the bread. 12. Nevertheless they say that the body of +Christ is truly present, but by contemplation of faith, _i.e._, by +imagination. 13. Such is simply their opinion. They deceive men by +saying that the body is truly present, yet adding afterwards, 'by +contemplation of faith,' _i.e._, by imagination. 14. We teach that +Christ's body is truly and really present with the bread or in the +bread. 15. Although we say that the body of Christ is really present, +Luther does not say that it is present locally, namely, in some mass, by +circumscription; but in the manner by which Christ's person or the +entire Christ is present to all creatures.... We deny +transubstantiation, and that the body is locally in the bread," etc. (2, +222. 311. 315.) + +Such were the views of Melanchthon in and before 1530. And publicly and +formally he continued to adhere to Luther's teaching. In an _Opinion_ +written 1534, prior to his convention with Bucer at Cassel, he said: "If +Christ were a mere creature and not God, He would not be with us +essentially, even if He had the government; but since He is God, He +gives His body as a testimony that He is essentially with us always. +This sense of the Sacrament is both simple and comforting.... Therefore +I conclude that Christ's body and blood are truly with the bread and +wine, that is to say, Christ essentially, not figuratively. But here we +must cast aside the thoughts proffered by reason, _viz._, how Christ +ascends and descends, hides Himself in the bread, and is nowhere else." +(2. 801.) In 1536 Melanchthon signed the Wittenberg Concord, which +plainly taught that the body and blood of Christ are received also by +unworthy guests. (CONC. TRIGL. 977, 12ff.) In 1537 he subscribed to the +_Smalcald Articles_, in which Luther brought out his doctrine of the +real presence in most unequivocal terms, declaring that "bread and wine +in the Supper are the true body and blood of Christ, and are given and +received not only by the godly, but also by wicked Christians." (CONC. +TRIGL. 493, 1.) In his letter to Flacius of September 5, 1556, +Melanchthon solemnly declared: "I have never changed the doctrine of the +Confession." (_C. R._ 8, 841.) September 6, 1557, he wrote: "We all +embrace and retain the Confession together with the _Apology_ and the +confession of Luther written previous to the Synod at Mantua." (9, 260.) +Again, in November of the same year: "Regarding the Lord's Supper, we +retain the _Augsburg Confession_ and _Apology_." (9, 371.) In an +_Opinion_ of March 4, 1558, Melanchthon declared that in the Holy Supper +the Son of God is truly and substantially present in such a manner that +when we use it, ["]He gives us with the bread and wine His body," etc., +and that Zwingli was wrong when he declared "that it is a mere outward +sign, and that Christ is not essentially present in it, and that it is a +mere sign by which Christians know each other." (9, 472f.) Several +months before his death, in his preface to the _Corpus Philippicum_, +Melanchthon declared that in the Holy Supper "Christ is truly and +substantially present and truly administered to those who take the body +and blood of Christ," and that in it "He gives His body and blood to him +who eats and drinks." (Richard. 389.) + +200. Melanchthon's Private Views. + +While Melanchthon in a public and formal way, continued, in the manner +indicated, to maintain orthodox appearances till his death, he had +inwardly and in reality since 1530 come to be more and more of a +stranger to Luther's firmness of conviction, also with respect to the +doctrine of the Lord's Supper. Influenced by an undue respect for the +authority of the ancient fathers and misled by his reason or, as Luther +put it, by his philosophy, he gradually lost his firm hold on the clear +words of the institution of the Holy Supper. As a result he became a +wavering reed, driven to and fro with the wind, now verging toward +Luther, now toward Calvin. Always oscillating between truth and error, +he was unable to rise to the certainty of firm doctrinal conviction, and +the immovable stand which characterized Luther. In a letter dated May +24, 1538, in which he revealed the torments of his distracted and +doubting soul, he wrote to Veit Dietrich: "Know that for ten years +neither a night nor a day has passed in which I did not reflect on this +matter," the Lord's Supper. (_C. R._ 3, 537.) And his doubts led to a +departure from his own former position,--a fact for which also +sufficient evidences are not wholly lacking. "Already in 1531," says +Seeberg, "Melanchthon secretly expressed his opinion plainly enough to +the effect that it was sufficient to acknowledge a presence of the +divinity of Christ in the Lord's Supper, but not a union of the body and +the bread. _Ep._, p.85." (_Dogg._ 4, 2, 447.) + +That Melanchthon's later public statements and protestations concerning +his faithful adherence to the doctrine of the _Augsburg Confession_ must +be more or less discounted, appears, apart from other considerations, +from his own admission that he was wont to dissimulate in these and +other matters; from his private letters, in which he favorably refers to +the symbolical interpretation of the words of institution; from his +communication to Philip of Hesse with regard to Luther's article on the +Lord's Supper at Smalcald, referred to in a previous chapter; from the +changes which he made 1540 in Article X of the _Augsburg Confession_; +from his later indefinite statements concerning the real presence in the +Holy Supper; from his intimate relations and his cordial correspondence +with Calvin; from his public indifference and neutrality during the +eucharistic controversy with the Calvinists; and from his unfriendly +attitude toward the champions of Luther in this conflict. + +201. Misled by Oecolampadius and Bucer. + +That Melanchthon permitted himself to be guided by human authorities +rather than by the clear Word of God alone, appears from the fact that +Oecolampadius's _Dialogus_ of 1530--which endeavored to show that the +symbolical interpretation of the words of institution is found also in +the writings of the Church Fathers, notably in those of St. Augustine, +and which Melanchthon, in a letter to Luther (_C. R._ 2, 217), says, was +written "with greater exactness (_accuratius_) than he is otherwise wont +to write"--made such a profound impression on him that ever since, as is +shown by some of his private letters, to which we shall presently refer, +he looked with increasing favor on the figurative interpretation. As a +result, Melanchthon's attitude toward the Southern Germans and the +Zwinglians also underwent a marked change. When he left to attend the +conference with Bucer at Cassel, in December, 1534, Luther in strong +terms enjoined him to defend the sacramental union and the oral eating +and drinking; namely, that in and with the bread the body of Christ is +truly present, distributed, and eaten. Luther's _Opinion_ in this +matter, dated December 17, 1534, concludes as follows "Und ist Summa das +unsere Meinung, dass wahrhaftig in und mit dem Brot der Leib Christi +gegessen wird, also dass alles, was das Brot wirkt und leidet, der Leib +Christi wirke und leide, dass er ausgeteilt [ge]gessen und mit den +Zaehnen zerbissen werde." (St. L. 17, 2052.) Self-evidently, when +writing thus, Luther had no Capernaitic eating and drinking in mind, his +object merely being, as stated to emphasize the reality of the +sacramental union. January [1]0, 1535, however, the day after his return +from Cassel, Melanchthon wrote to his intimate friend Camerarius that at +Cassel he had been the messenger not of his own, but of a foreign +opinion. (_C. R._ 2, 822) + +As a matter of fact, Melanchthon returned to Wittenberg a convert to the +compromise formula of Bucer, according to which Christ's body and blood +are truly and substantially received in the Sacrament, but are not +really connected with the bread and wine, the signs or _signa +exhibitiva_, as Bucer called them. Stating the difference between Luther +and Bucer, as he now saw it, Melanchthon said: "The only remaining +question therefore is the one concerning the physical union of the bread +and body,--and of what need is this question? _Tantum igitur reliqua est +quaestio de physica coniunctione panis et corporis, qua quaestione quid +opus est?_" (_C. R._ 2, 827. 842; St. L. 17, 2057.) To Erhard Schnepf he +had written: "He [Bucer] confesses that, when these things, bread and +wine, are given, Christ is truly and substantially present. As for me I +would not demand anything further." (_C. R._ 2, 787.) In February he +wrote to Brenz: "I plainly judge that they [Bucer, etc.] are not far +from the view of our men; indeed in the matter itself they agree with us +(_reipsa convenire_); nor do I condemn them." (2, 843; St. L. 17, 2065.) +This, however, was not Luther's view. In a following letter Melanchthon +said: "Although Luther does not openly condemn it [the formula of +Bucer], yet he did not wish to give his opinion upon it as yet. +_Lutherus, etsi non plane damnat, tamen nondum voluit pronuntiare_." (_C. +R._ 2, 843; St. L. 17, 2062.) A letter of February 1, 1535, to Philip of +Hesse and another of February 3, to Bucer, also both reveal, on the one +hand, Melanchthon's desire for a union on Bucer's platform and, on the +other, Luther's attitude of aloofness and distrust. (_C. R._ 2, 836. +841.) + +202. Secret Letters and the Variata of 1540. + +In the letter to Camerarius of January 10, 1535, referred to in the +preceding paragraph, Melanchthon plainly indicates that his views of the +Holy Supper no longer agreed with Luther's. "Do not ask for my opinion +now," says he, "for I was the messenger of an opinion foreign to me, +although, forsooth, I will not hide what I think when I shall have heard +what our men answer. But concerning this entire matter either personally +or when I shall have more reliable messengers. _Meam sententiam noli +nunc requirere; fui enim nuntius alienae, etsi profecto non dissimulabo, +quid sentiam, ubi audiero, quid respondeant nostri. Ac de hac re tota +aut coram, aut cum habebo certiores tabellarios_." (2, 822.) Two days +later, January 12, 1535, Melanchthon wrote a letter to Brenz (partly in +Greek, which language he employed when he imparted thoughts which he +regarded as dangerous, as, _e.g._, in his defamatory letter to +Camerarius, July 24, 1525, on Luther's marriage; _C. R._ 1, 754), in +which he lifted the veil still more and gave a clear glimpse of his own +true inwardness. From this letter it plainly appears that Melanchthon +was no longer sure of the correctness of the literal interpretation of +the words of institution, the very foundation of Luther's entire +doctrine concerning the Holy Supper. + +The letter reads, in part, as follows: "You have written several times +concerning the Sacramentarians, and you disadvise the Concord, even +though they should incline towards Luther's opinion. My dear Brenz, if +there are any who differ from us regarding the Trinity or other +articles, I will have no alliance with them, but regard them as such who +are to be execrated.... Concerning the Concord, however, no action +whatever has as yet been taken. I have only brought Bucer's opinions +here [to Wittenberg]. But I wish that I could talk to you personally +concerning the controversy. I do not constitute myself a judge, and +readily yield to you, who govern the Church, and I affirm the real +presence of Christ in the Supper. I do not desire to be the author or +defender of a new dogma in the Church, but I see that there are many +testimonies of the ancient writers who without any ambiguity explain the +mystery typically and tropically [_peri tupou kai tropikos_], while the +opposing testimonies are either more modern or spurious. You, too, will +have to investigate whether you defend the ancient opinion. But I do +wish earnestly that the pious Church would decide this case without +sophistry and tyranny. In France and at other places many are killed on +account of this opinion. And many applaud such judgments without any +good reason, and strengthen the fury of the tyrants. To tell the truth, +this matter pains me not a little. Therefore my only request is that you +do not pass on this matter rashly, but consult also the ancient Church. +I most fervently desire that a concord be effected without any +sophistry. But I desire also that good men may be able to confer on this +great matter in a friendly manner. Thus a concord might be established +without sophistry. For I do not doubt that the adversaries would gladly +abandon the entire dogma if they believed that it was new. You know that +among them are many very good men. Now they incline toward Luther, being +moved by a few testimonies of ecclesiastical writers. What, then, do you +think, ought to be done? Will you forbid also that we confer together? +As for me, I desire that we may be able frequently to confer together on +this matter as well as on many others. You see that in other articles +they as well as we now explain many things more skilfully (_dexterius_) +since they have begun to be agitated among us more diligently. However, +I conclude and ask you to put the best construction on this letter, and, +after reading it, to tear it up immediately, and to show it to nobody." +(_C. R._ 2, 823f.; Luther, St. L. 17, 2060.) + +In a letter to Veit Dietrich, dated April 23, 1538, Melanchthon +declares: "In order not to deviate too far from the ancients, I have +maintained a sacramental presence in the use, and said that, when these +things are given, Christ is truly present and efficacious. That is +certainly enough. I have not added an inclusion or a connection by which +the body is affixed to, concatenated or mixed with, the bread. +Sacraments are covenants [assuring us] that something else is present +when the things are received. _Nec addidi inclusionem aut coniunctionem +talem, qua affigeretur to arto, to soma, aut ferruminaretur, aut +misceretur. Sacramenta pacta sunt, ut rebus sumptis adsit aliud_.... +What more do you desire? And this will have to be resorted to lest you +defend what some even now are saying, _viz._, that the body and blood +are tendered separately--_separatim tradi corpus et sanguinem_. This +too, is new and will not even please the Papists. Error is fruitful, as +the saying goes. That physical connection (_illa physica coniunctio_) +breeds many questions: Whether the parts are separate; whether included; +when [in what moment] they are present; whether [they are present] apart +from the use. Of this nothing is read among the ancients. Nor do I, my +dear Veit, carry these disputations into the Church; and in the _Loci_ I +have spoken so sparingly on this matter in order to lead the youth away +from these questions. Such is in brief and categorically what I think. +But I wish that the two most cruel tyrants, animosity and sophistry, +would be removed for a while, and a just deliberation held concerning +the entire matter. If I have not satisfied you by this simple answer, I +shall expect of you a longer discussion. I judge that in this manner I +am speaking piously, carefully, and modestly concerning the symbols, and +approach as closely as possible to the opinion of the ancients." (_C. +R._ 3, 514f.) A month later, May 24, Melanchthon again added: "I have +simply written you what I think, nor do I detract anything from the +words. For I know that Christ is truly and substantially present and +efficacious when we use the symbols. You also admit a synecdoche. But to +add a division and separation of the body and blood, that is something +altogether new and unheard of in the universal ancient Church." (3, 536; +7, 882.) + +Evidently, then, Melanchchton's attitude toward the Reformed and his +views concerning the Lord's Supper had undergone remarkable changes +since 1530. And in order to clear the track for his own changed +sentiments and to enable the Reformed, in the interest of an ultimate +union, to subscribe the _Augsburg Confession_, Melanchthon, in 1540, +altered its Tenth Article in the manner set forth in a previous chapter. +Schaff remarks: Calvin's view of the Lord's Supper "was in various ways +officially recognized in the _Augsburg Confession_ of 1540." (1, 280.) +Such at any rate was the construction the Reformed everywhere put on the +alteration. It was generally regarded by them to be an essential +concession to Calvinism. Melanchthon, too, was well aware of this; but +he did absolutely nothing to obviate this interpretation--no doubt, +because it certainly was not very far from the truth. + +203. Not in Sympathy with Lutheran Champions. + +When Westphal, in 1552, pointed out the Calvinistic menace and sounded +the tocsin, loyal Lutherans everywhere enlisted in the controversy to +defend Luther's doctrine concerning the real presence and the divine +majesty of Christ's human nature. But Melanchthon again utterly failed +the Lutheran Church both as a leader and a private. For although +Lutheranism in this controversy was fighting for its very existence, +Master Philip remained silent, non-committal, neutral. Viewed in the +light of the conditions then prevailing, it was impossible to construe +this attitude as pro-Lutheran. Moreover, whenever and wherever +Melanchthon, in his letters and opinions written during this +controversy, did show his colors to some extent, it was but too apparent +that his mind and heart was with the enemies rather than with the +champions of Lutheranism. For while his letters abound with flings and +thrusts against the men who defended the doctrines of the sacramental +union and the omnipresence of the human nature of Christ, he led Calvin +and his adherents to believe that he was in sympathy with them and their +cause. + +Melanchthon's animosity ran high not only against such extremists as +Saliger (Beatus) and Fredeland (both were deposed in Luebeck 1568 and +Saliger again in Rostock 1569) who taught that in virtue of the +consecration before the use (_ante usum_) bread and wine are the body +and blood of Christ, denouncing all who denied this as Sacramentarians +(Gieseler 3, 2, 257), but also against all those who faithfully adhered +to, and defended, Luther's phraseology concerning the Lord's Supper. He +rejected the teaching of Westphal and the Hamburg ministers, according +to which in the Lord's Supper, the bread is properly called the body of +Christ and the wine the blood of Christ, and stigmatized their doctrine +as "bread-worship, _artolatreia_." (_C. R._ 8, 362. 660. 791; 9, 470. +962.) + +In a similar manner Melanchthon ridiculed the old Lutheran teaching of +the omnipresence of Christ according to His human nature as a new and +foolish doctrine. Concerning the _Confession and Report of the +Wuerttemberg Theologians_, framed by Brenz and adopted 1559, which +emphatically asserted the real presence, as well as the omnipresence of +Christ also according to His human nature, Melanchthon remarked +contemptuously in a letter to Jacob Runge, dated February 1, 1560 and in +a letter to G. Cracow, dated February 3, 1560, that he could not +characterize "the decree of the Wuerttemberg Fathers (_Abbates +Wirtebergenses_) more aptly than as Hechinger Latin (_Hechingense +Latinum, Hechinger Latein_)," _i.e._, as absurd and insipid teaching. +(9, 1035f.; 7, 780. 884.) + +204. Melanchthon Claimed by Calvin. + +In 1554 Nicholas Gallus of Regensburg republished, with a preface of his +own, _Philip Melanchthon's Opinions of Some Ancient Writers Concerning +the Lord's Supper_. The timely reappearance of this book, which +Melanchthon, in 1530, had directed against the Zwinglians, was most +embarrassing to him as well as to his friend Calvin. The latter, +therefore, now urged him to break his silence and come out openly +against his public assailants. But Melanchthon did not consider it +expedient to comply with this request. Privately, however, he answered, +October 14, 1554: "As regards your admonition in your last letter that I +repress the ignorant clamors of those who renew the strife concerning +the bread-worship, know that some of them carry on this disputation out +of hatred toward me in order to have a plausible reason for oppressing +me. _Quod me hortaris, ut reprimam ineruditos clamores illorum, qui +renovant certamen peri artolatreias, scito, quosdam praecipue odio mei +eam disputationem movere, ut habeant plausibilem causam ad me +opprimendum_." (8, 362.) + +Fully persuaded that he was in complete doctrinal agreement with his +Wittenberg friend on the controverted questions, Calvin finally, in his +_Last Admonition_ (_Ultima Admonitio_) _to Westphal_, 1557, publicly +claimed Melanchthon as his ally, and implored him to give public +testimony "that they [the Calvinists and Zwinglians] teach nothing +foreign to the _Augsburg Confession, nihil alienum nos tradere a +Confessione Augustana_." "I confirm," Calvin here declared, "that in +this cause [concerning the Lord's Supper] Philip can no more be torn +from me than from his own bowels. _Confirmo, non magis a me Philippum +quam a propriis visceribus in hoc causa posse divelli_." (_C. R._ 37 +[_Calvini Opp_. 9], 148. 149. 193. 466; Gieseler 3, 2, 219, Tschackert, +536.) Melanchthon, however, continued to preserve his sphinxlike +silence, which indeed declared as loud as words could have done that he +favored the Calvinists, and was opposed to those who defended Luther's +doctrine. To Mordeisen he wrote, November 15, 1557: "If you will permit +me to live at a different place, I shall reply, both truthfully and +earnestly to these unlearned sycophants, and say things that are useful +to the Church." (_C. R._ 9, 374.) + +After the death of Melanchthon, Calvin wrote in his _Dilucida +Explicatio_ against Hesshusius, 1561: "O Philip Melanchthon! For it is +to you that I appeal, who art living with Christ in the presence of God +and there waiting for us until we shall be assembled with you into +blessed rest. A hundred times you have said, when, fatigued with labor +and overwhelmed with cares, you, as an intimate friend, familiarly laid +your head upon my breast: Would to God I might die on this bosom! But +afterwards I have wished a thousand times that we might be granted to be +together. You would certainly have been more courageous to engage in +battle and stronger to despise envy, and disregard false accusations. In +this way, too, the wickedness of many would have been restrained whose +audacity to revile grew from your pliability, as they called it. _O +Philippe Melanchthon! Te enim appello, qui apud Deum cum Christo vivis, +nosque illic exspectas, donec tecum in beatam quietem colligamur. +Dixisti centies, quum fessus laboribus et molestiis oppressus caput +familiariter in sinum meum deponeres: Utinam, utinam moriar in hoc sinu! +Ego vero millies postea optavi nobis contingere, ut simul essemus. Certe +animosior fuisses ad obeunda certamina et ad spernendam invidiam +falsasque criminationes pro nihilo ducendas fortior. Hoc quoque modo +cohibita fuisset multorum improbitos, quibus ex tua mollitie, quam +vocabant, crevit insultandi audacia_." (_C. R._ 37 [_Calvini Opp_. 9], +461f.) It was not Melanchthon, but Westphal, who disputed Calvin's claim +by publishing (1557) extracts from Melanchthon's former writings under +the title: _Clarissimi Viri Ph. Melanchthonis Sententia de Coena Domini, +ex scriptis eius collecta_. But, alas, the voice of the later +Melanchthon was not that of the former! + +205. Advising the Crypto-Calvinists. + +In various other ways Melanchthon showed his impatience with the +defenders of Luther's doctrine and his sympathy with their Calvinistic +opponents. When Timann of Bremen, who sided with Westphal, opposed +Hardenberg, a secret, but decided Calvinist, Melanchthon admonished the +latter not to rush into a conflict with his colleagues, but to +dissimulate. He says in a letter of April 23, 1556: "_Te autem oro, ne +properes ad certamen cum collegis. Oro etiam, ut multa dissimules_." +(_C. R._ 8, 736.) Another letter (May 9, 1557), in which he advises +Hardenberg how to proceed against his opponents, begins as follows: +"Reverend Sir and Dear Brother. As you see, not only the controversy, +but also the madness (_rabies_) of the writers who establish the +bread-worship is growing." (9, 154.) He meant theologians who, like +Timann and Westphal, defended Luther's doctrine that in the Lord's +Supper the bread is truly the body of Christ and the wine truly the +blood of Christ and that Christ is truly present also according to His +human nature. Again, when at Heidelberg, in 1569, Hesshusius refused to +acknowledge the Calvinist Klebitz (who had publicly defended the +Reformed doctrine) as his assistant in the distribution of the Lord's +Supper, and Elector Frederick III, the patron of the Crypto-Calvinists, +who soon after joined the Reformed Church, demanded that Hesshusius +come to an agreement with Klebitz, and finally deposed the former and +dismissed the latter, Melanchthon approved of the unionistic methods of +the Elector, and prepared ambiguous formulas to satisfy both parties. + +In the _Opinion_ requested by the Elector, dated November 1, 1559, +Melanchthon said: "To answer is not difficult, but dangerous.... +Therefore I approve of the measure of the illustrious Elector, +commanding silence to the disputants on both sides [Hesshusius and the +Calvinist Klebitz], lest dissension occur in the weak church.... The +contentious men having been removed, it will be profitable that the rest +agree on one form of words. It would be best in this controversy to +retain the words of Paul: 'The bread which we break is the communion +(_koinonia_) of Christ.' Much ought to be said concerning the fruit of +the Supper to invite men to love this pledge and to use it frequently. +And the word 'communion' must be explained: Paul does not say that the +nature of the bread is changed, as the Papists say; He does not say, as +those of Bremen do, that the bread is the substantial body of Christ; he +does not say that the bread is the true body of Christ, as Hesshusius +does; but that it is the communion, _i.e._, that by which the union +occurs (_consociatio fit_) with the body of Christ, which occurs in the +use, and certainly not without thinking, as when mice gnaw the bread.... +The Son of God is present in the ministry of the Gospel, and there He is +certainly efficacious in the believers, and He is present not on account +of the bread, but on account of man, as He says, 'Abide in Me and I in +you,' Again: 'I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you,' And in +these true consolations He makes us members of His, and testifies that +He will raise our bodies. Thus the ancients explain the Lord's Supper." +(_C. R._ 9, 961.) No doubt, Calvin, too, would readily have subscribed +to these ambiguous and indefinite statements. C. P. Krauth pertinently +remarks: "Whatever may be the meaning of Melanchthon's words in the +disputed cases, this much is certain, that they practically operated as +if the worse sense were the real one, and their mischievousness was not +diminished, but aggravated, by their obscurity and double meaning. They +did the work of avowed error, and yet could not be reached as candid +error might." (_Cons. Ref._, 291.) + +206. Historians on Melanchthon's Doctrinal Departures. + +Modern historians are generally agreed that also with respect to the +Lord's Supper the later Melanchthon was not identical with the earlier. +Tschackert: "Melanchthon had long ago [before the outbreak of the second +controversy on the Lord's Supper] receded from the peculiarities of the +Lutheran doctrine of the Lord's Supper; he was satisfied with +maintaining the personal presence of Christ during the Supper, leaving +the mode of His presence and efficacy in doubt." (532.) Seeberg, who +maintains that Melanchthon as early as 1531 departed from Luther's +teaching concerning the Lord's Supper, declares: "Melanchthon merely +does not want to admit that the body of Christ is really eaten in the +Supper, and that it is omnipresent as such." (4, 2, 449.) Theo. Kolde: +"It should never have been denied that these alterations in Article X of +the _Augustana_ involved real changes.... In view of his gradually +changed conception of the Lord's Supper, there can be no doubt that he +sought to leave open for himself and others the possibility of +associating also with the Swiss." (25.) Schaff: "Melanchthon's later +view of the Lord's Supper agreed essentially with that of Calvin." (1, +280.) + +Such, then, being the attitude of Melanchthon as to the doctrine of the +Lord's Supper, it was but natural and consistent that his pupils, who +looked up to Master Philip with unbounded admiration, should become +decided Calvinists. Melanchthon, chiefly, must be held responsible for +the Calvinistic menace which threatened the Lutheran Church after the +death of Luther. In the interest of fraternal relations with the Swiss, +he was ready to compromise and modify the Lutheran truth. Sadly he had +his way, and had not the tendency which he inaugurated been checked, the +Lutheran Church would have lost its character and been transformed into +a Reformed or, at least, a unionistic body. In a degree, this guilt was +shared also by his older Wittenberg colleagues: Caspar Cruciger, Sr., +Paul Eber, John Foerster, and others, who evidently inclined toward +Melanchthon's view and attitude also in the matter concerning the Lord's +Supper. Caspar Cruciger, for example, as appears from his letter to Veit +Dietrich, dated April 18, 1538, taught the bodily presence of Christ in +the use of the Lord's Supper, but not "the division or separation of the +body and blood." (_C. R._ 3, 610.) Shortly before his death, as related +in a previous chapter, Luther had charged these men with culpable +silence with regard to the truth, declaring: "If you believe as you +speak in my presence then speak the same way in church, in public +lectures, in sermons, and in private discussions, and strengthen your +brethren, and lead the erring back to the right way, and contradict the +wilful spirits; otherwise your confession is a mere sham and will be of +no value whatever." (Walther, 40.) Refusal to confess the truth will +ultimately always result in rejection of the truth. Silence here is the +first step to open denial. + +207. Westphal First to Sound Tocsin. + +Foremost among the men who saw through Calvin's plan of propagating the +Reformed doctrine of the Lord's Supper under phrases coming as close as +possible to the Lutheran terminology, and who boldly, determinedly and +ably opposed the Calvinistic propaganda was Joachim Westphal of Hamburg +[born 1510; 1527 in Wittenberg; since 1541 pastor in Hamburg; died +January 16, 1574]. Fully realizing the danger which threatened the +entire Lutheran Church, he regarded it as his sacred duty to raise his +voice and warn the Lutherans against the Calvinistic menace. He did so +in a publication entitled: "_Farrago Confusanearum et inter se +Dissidentium Opinionum de Coena Domini_--Medley of Confused and Mutually +Dissenting Opinions on the Lord's Supper, compiled from the books of the +Sacramentarians," 1552. In it he proved that in reality Calvin and his +adherents, despite their seemingly orthodox phrases, denied the real +presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper just as +emphatically and decidedly as Zwingli had done. At the same time he +refuted in strong terms the Reformed doctrine in the manner indicated by +the title, and maintained the Lutheran doctrine of the real presence, +the oral eating and drinking (_manducatio oralis_), also of unbelievers. +Finally he appealed to the Lutheran theologians and magistrates +everywhere to guard their churches against the Calvinistic peril. "The +_Farrago_," says Kruske, "signified the beginning of the end of Calvin's +domination in Germany." Schaff: "The controversy of Westphal against +Calvin and the subsequent overthrow of Melanchthonianism completed and +consolidated the separation of the two Confessions," Lutheran and +Reformed. (_Creeds_ 1, 280.) + +Thus Westphal stands preeminent among the men who saved the Lutheran +Church from the Calvinistic peril. To add fuel to the anti-Calvinistic +movement, Westphal, in the year following, published a second book: +"_Correct Faith (Recta Fides) Concerning the Lord's Supper_, +demonstrated and confirmed from the words of the Apostle Paul and the +Evangelists," 1553. Here he again called upon all true disciples of +Luther to save his doctrine from the onslaughts of the Calvinists, who, +he declared, stooped to every method in order to conquer Germany for +Zwinglianism. + +Westphal's fiery appeals for Lutheran loyalty received a special +emphasis and wide publicity when the Pole, John of Lasco (Laski), who in +1553, together with 175 members of his London congregation, had been +driven from England by Bloody Mary, reached the Continent. The liberty +which Lasco, who in 1552 had publicly adopted the _Consensus Tigurinus_, +requested in Lutheran territories for himself and his Reformed +congregation, was refused in Denmark, Wismar, Luebeck and Hamburg, but +finally granted in Frankfort-on-the-Main. Soon after, in 1554, the +Calvinistic preacher Micronius, who also sought refuge in Hamburg, was +forbidden to make that city the seat of Reformed activity and +propaganda. As a result, Calvin decided to enter the arena against +Westphal. In 1555 he published his _Defensio Sanae et Orthodoxae +Doctrinae de Sacramentis_, "Defense of the Sound and Orthodox Doctrine +Concerning the Sacraments and Their Nature, Power, Purpose, Use, and +Fruit, which the pastors and ministers of the churches in Zurich and +Geneva before this have comprised into a brief formula of the mutual +Agreement" (_Consensus Tigurinus_). In it he attacked Westphal in such +an insulting and overbearing manner (comparing him, _e.g._, with "a mad +dog") that from the very beginning the controversy was bound to assume a +personal and acrimonious character. + +208. Controversial Publications. + +After Calvin had entered the controversy Westphal was joined by such +Lutherans as John Timann, Paul v. Eitzen, Erhard Schnepf, Alber, Gallus, +Flacius, Judex, Brenz, Andreae and others. Calvin, on the other hand, +was supported by Lasco, Bullinger, Ochino, Valerandus Polanus, Beza (the +most scurrillous of all the opponents of Lutheranism), and Bibliander. +In 1555 Westphal published three additional books: _Collection +(Collectanea) of Opinions of Aurelius Augustine Concerning the Lord's +Supper_, and _Faith (Fides) of Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, Concerning +the Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ_, and _Adversus cuiusdam +Sacramentarii Falsam Criminationem Iusta Defensio_, "Just Defense +against the False Accusation of a Certain Sacramentarian." The last +publication was a personal defense against the insults and invectives of +Calvin and a further proof of the claim that the Calvinists were united +only in their denial of the real presence of Christ in the Lord's +Supper. Coming to the support of Westphal, John Timann, Pastor in +Bremen, published in 1555: "_Medley (Farrago) of Opinions Agreeing in +the True and Catholic Doctrine Concerning the Lord's Supper_, which the +churches of the Augsburg Confession have embraced with firm assent and +in one spirit according to the divine Word." + +In the following year Calvin wrote his _Secunda Defensio ... contra J. +Westphali Calumnias_, "Second Defense of the Pious and Orthodox Faith, +against the Calumnies of J. Westphal," a vitriolic book, dedicated to +the Crypto-Calvinists, _viz._, "to all ministers of Christ who cultivate +and follow the pure doctrine of the Gospel in the churches of Saxony and +Lower Germany." In it Calvin declared: "I teach that Christ, though +absent according to His body, is nevertheless not only present with us +according to His divine power, but also makes His flesh vivifying for +us." (_C. R._ 37 [_Calvini Opp_. 9], 79.) Lasco also wrote two books +against Westphal and Timann, defending his congregation at Frankfort, +and endeavoring to show the agreement between the Calvinian doctrine of +the Lord's Supper and the _Augsburg Confession_. In 1556 Henry Bullinger +appeared on the battlefield with his _Apologetical Exposition, +Apologetica Expositio_, in which he endeavored to show that the +ministers of the churches in Zurich do not follow any heretical dogma in +the doctrine concerning the Lord's Supper. + +In the same year, 1556, Westphal published _Epistola, qua Breviter +Respondet ad Convicia I. Calvini_--"Letter in which He [Westphal] +Answers Briefly to the Invectives of J. Calvin," and "_Answer +(Responsum) to the Writing of John of Lasco_, in which he transforms the +_Augsburg Confession_ into Zwinglianism." In the same year Westphal +published "_Confession of Faith (Confessio Fidei) Concerning the +Sacrament of the Eucharist_, in which the ministers of the churches of +Saxony maintain the presence of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus +Christ in the Holy Supper, and answer regarding the book of Calvin +dedicated to them." This publication contained opinions which Westphal +had secured from the ministeriums of Magdeburg (including Wigand and +Flacius), of Mansfeld, Bremen, Hildesheim, Hamburg, Luebeck, Lueneburg, +Brunswick (Moerlin and Chemnitz), Hannover, Wismar, Schwerin, etc. All +of these ministeriums declared themselves unanimously and definitely in +favor of Luther's doctrine, appealing to the words of institution as +they read. In 1557 Erhard Schnepf [born 1595; active in Nassau, Marburg, +Speier, Augsburg; attended convents in Smalcald 1537; in Regensburg +1546, in Worms 1557; died 1558], then in Jena, published his _Confession +Concerning the Supper_. In the same year Paul von Eitzen [born 1522; +died 1598; refused to sign _Formula of Concord_] published his _Defense +of the True Doctrine Concerning the Supper of Our Lord Jesus Christ_. +Westphal also made a second attack on Lasco in his "_Just Defense +against the Manifest Falsehoods of J. A. Lasco_ which he spread in his +letter to the King of Poland against the Saxon Churches," 1557. In it he +denounces Lasco and his congregation of foreigners, and calls upon the +magistrates to institute proceedings against them. + +Calvin now published his _Ultima Admonitio_, "Last Admonition of John +Calvin to J. Westphal, who, if he does not obey (_obtemperet_) must +thenceforth be held in the manner as Paul commands us to hold obstinate +heretics; in this writing the vain censures of the Magdeburgians and +others, by which they endeavored to wreck heaven and earth, are also +refuted" 1557. Here Calvin plainly reveals his Zwinglianism and says: +"This is the summary of our doctrine, that the flesh of Christ is a +vivifying bread because it truly nourishes and feeds our souls when by +faith we coalesce with it. This, we teach, occurs spiritually only, +because the bond of this sacred unity is the secret and incomprehensible +power of the Holy Spirit." (_C. R._ 37 [_Calvini Opp_. 9], 162.) In this +book Calvin also, as stated above, appeals to Melanchthon to add his +testimony that "we [the Calvinists] teach nothing that conflicts with +the _Augsburg Confession_." + +Though Calvin had withdrawn from the arena, Westphal continued to give +public testimony to the truth. In 1558 he wrote several books against +the Calvinists. One of them bears the title: "_Apologetical Writings +(Apologetica Scripta) of J.W._, in which he both defends the sound +doctrine concerning the Eucharist and refutes the vile slanders of the +Sacramentarians," etc. Another is entitled: _Apology of the Confession +Concerning the Lord's Supper against the Corruptions and Calumnies of +John Calvin_. In 1559 Theodore Beza donned the armor of Calvin and +entered the controversy with his "_Treatise (Tractatio) Concerning the +Lord's Supper_, in which the calumnies of J. Westphal are refuted." +Lasco's _Reply to the Virulent Letter of That Furious Man J. Westphal_, +of 1560, appeared posthumously, he having died shortly before in Poland. + +209. Brenz and Chemnitz. + +Foremost among the influential theologians who besides Westphal, took a +decided stand against the Calvinists and their secret abettors in +Lutheran territories were John Brenz in Wuerttemberg and Martin Chemnitz +in Brunswick. John Brenz [born 1499, persecuted during the Interim, +since 1553 Provost at Stuttgart, died 1570], the most influential +theologian in Wuerttemberg, was unanimously supported in his +anti-Calvinistic attitude by the whole ministerium of the Duchy. He is +the author of the _Confession and Report (Bekenntnis und Bericht) of the +Theologians in Wuerttemberg Concerning the True Presence of the Body and +Blood of Christ in the Holy Supper_, adopted at the behest of Duke +Christopher by the synod assembled in Stuttgart, 1559. The occasion for +drafting and adopting this _Confession_ had been furnished by +Bartholomew Hagen, a Calvinist. At the synod in Stuttgart he was +required to dispute on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper with Jacob +Andreae, with the result that Hagen admitted that he was now convinced +of his error, and promised to return to the Lutheran teaching. + +The _Confession_ thereupon adopted teaches in plain and unmistakable +terms that the body and blood of Christ are orally received by all who +partake of the Sacrament, and that Christ, by reason of the personal +union, is omnipresent also according to His human nature, and hence well +able to fulfil the promise He gave at the institution of the Holy +Supper. It teaches the real presence (_praesentia realis_), the +sacramental union (_unio sacramentalis_), the oral eating and drinking +(_manducatio oralis_), also of the wicked (_manducatio impiorum_). It +holds "that in the Lord's Supper the true body and the true blood of our +Lord Jesus Christ are, through the power of the word [of institution], +truly and essentially tendered and given with the bread and wine to all +men who partake of the Supper of Christ; and that, even as they are +tendered by the hand of the minister, they are at the same time also +received with the mouth of him who eats and drinks it." Furthermore, +"that even as the substance and the essence of the bread and wine are +present in the Lord's Supper, so also the substance and the essence of +the body and blood of Christ are present and truly tendered and received +with the signs of bread and wine." (Tschackert, 541.) It protests: "We +do not assert any mixture of His body and blood with the bread and wine, +nor any local inclusion in the bread." Again: "We do not imagine any +diffusion of the human nature or expansion of the members of Christ +(_ullam humanae naturae diffusionem aut membrorum Christi +distractionem_), but we explain the majesty of the man Christ by which +He, being placed at the right hand of God, fills all things not only by +His divinity, but also as the man Christ, in a celestial manner and in a +way that to human reason is past finding out, by virtue of which majesty +His presence in the Supper is not abolished, but confirmed." (Gieseler +3, 2, 239f.) Thus, without employing the term "ubiquity," this +_Confession_ prepared by Brenz restored, in substance, the doctrine +concerning the Lord's Supper and the person of Christ which Luther had +maintained over against Zwingli, Carlstadt, and the Sacramentarians +generally. + +As stated above, Melanchthon ridiculed this _Confession_ as "Hechinger +Latin." In 1561 Brenz was attacked by Bullinger in his _Treatise +(Tractatio) on the Words of St. John 14_. In the same year Brenz replied +to this attack in two writings: _Opinion (Sententia) on the Book of +Bullinger_ and _On the Personal Union (De Personali Unione) of the Two +Natures in Christ and on the Ascension of Christ into Heaven and His +Sitting at the Right Hand of the Father_, etc. This called forth renewed +assaults by Bullinger, Peter Martyr, and Beza. Bullinger wrote: "_Answer +(Responsio)_, by which is shown that the meaning concerning 'heaven' and +the 'right hand of God' still stands firm," 1562. Peter Martyr: _Dialogs +(Dialogi) Concerning the Humanity of Christ, the Property of the +Natures, and Ubiquity_, 1562. Beza: _Answers (Responsiones) to the +Arguments of Brenz_, 1564. Brenz answered in two of his greatest +writings, _Concerning the Divine Majesty of Christ (De Divina Maiestate +Christi)_, 1562, and _Recognition (Recognito) of the Doctrine Concerning +the True Majesty of Christ_, 1564. In the _Dresden Consensus (Consensus +Dresdensis)_ of 1571 the Philippists of Electoral Saxony also rejected +the omnipresence (which they termed ubiquity) of the human nature of +Christ. + +In order to reclaim the Palatinate (which, as will be explained later, +had turned Reformed) for Lutheranism the Duke of Wuerttemberg, in April, +1564, arranged for the Religious Discussion at Maulbronn between the +theologians of Wuerttemberg and the Palatinate. But the only result was +a further exchange of polemical publications. In 1564 Brenz published +_Epitome of the Maulbronn Colloquium ... Concerning the Lord's Supper +and the Majesty of Christ_. And in the following year the Wuerttemberg +theologians published _Declaration and Confession (Declaratio et +Confessio) of the Tuebingen Theologians Concerning the Majesty of the +Man Christ_. Both of these writings were answered by the theologians of +the Palatinate. After the death of Brenz, Jacob Andreae was the chief +champion in Wuerttemberg of the doctrines set forth by Brenz. + +In his various publications against the Calvinists, Brenz, appealing to +Luther, taught concerning the majesty of Christ that by reason of the +personal union the humanity of Christ is not only omnipotent and +omniscient, but also omnipresent, and that the human nature of Christ +received these as well as other divine attributes from the first moment +of the incarnation of the Logos. Following are some of his statements: +"Although the divine substance [in Christ] is not changed into the +human, and each has its own properties, nevertheless these two +substances are united in one person in Christ in such a manner that the +one is never in reality separated from the other." "Wherever the deity +is, there is also the humanity of Christ." "We do not ascribe to Christ +many and various bodies, nor do we ascribe to His body local extension +or diffusion; but we exalt Him beyond this corporeal world, outside of +every creature and place, and place Him in accordance with the condition +of the hypostatic union in celestial majesty, which He never lacked, +though at the time of His flesh in this world He hid it or, as Paul +says, He humbled Himself (_quam etsi tempore carnis suae in hoc saeculo +dissimulavit, seu ea sese, ut Paulus loquitur, exinanivit, tamen numquam +ea caruit_)." According to Brenz the man Christ was omnipotent, +almighty, omniscient while He lay in the manger. In His majesty He +darkened the sun, and kept alive all the living while in His humiliation +He was dying on the cross. When dead in the grave, He at the same time +was filling and ruling heaven and earth with His power. (Gieseler 3, 2, +240f.) + +In Brunswick, Martin Chemnitz (born 1522; died 1586), the Second Martin +(_alter Martinus_) of the Lutheran Church, entered the controversy +against the Calvinists in 1560 with his _Repetition (Repetitio) of the +Sound Doctrine Concerning the True Presence of the Body and Blood of +Christ in the Supper_, in which he based his arguments for the real +presence on the words of institution. Ten years later he published his +famous book _Concerning the Two Natures in Christ (De Duabus Naturis in +Christo)_, etc.,--preeminently the Lutheran classic on the subject it +treats. Appealing also to Luther, he teaches that Christ, according to +His human nature was anointed with all divine gifts; that, in +consequence of the personal union, the human nature of Christ can be and +is present where, when, and in whatever way Christ will; that therefore +in accordance with His promise, He is in reality present in His Church +and in His Supper. Chemnitz says: "This presence of the assumed nature +in Christ of which we now treat is not natural or essential [flowing +from the nature and essence of Christ's humanity], but voluntary and +most free, depending on the will and power of the Son of God (_non est +vel naturalis vel essentialis, sed voluntaria et liberrima, dependens a +voluntate et potentia Filii Dei_); that is to say, when by a definite +word He has told, promised, and asseverated that He would be present +with His human nature, ... let us retain this, which is most certainly +true, that Christ can be with His body wherever, whenever, and in +whatever manner He wills (_Christum suo corpore esse posse, ubicunque, +quandocunque et quomodocunque vult_). But we must judge of His will from +a definite, revealed word." (Tschackert, 644; Gieseler 3, 2, 259.) + +The _Formula of Concord_ plainly teaches, both that, in virtue of the +personal union by His incarnation, Christ according to His human nature +possesses also the divine attribute of omnipresence, and that He can be +and is present wherever He will. In the Epitome we read: This majesty +Christ always had according to the personal union, and yet He abstained +from it in the state of His humiliation until His resurrection, "so that +now not only as God, but also as man He knows all things, can do all +things, _is present with all creatures_, and has under His feet and in +His hand everything that is in heaven and on earth and under the earth. +... And this His power He, _being present_, can exercise everywhere, and +to Him everything is possible and everything is known." (821, 16. 27. +30.) The Thorough Declaration declares that Christ "truly fills all +things, and, being present everywhere, not only as God, but also as man, +rules from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth." (1025, 27ff.) +Again: "We hold ... that also according to His assumed human nature and +with the same He [Christ] _can be, and also is, present where He will_, +and especially that in His Church and congregation on earth He is +present as Mediator, Head, King, and High Priest, not in part, or +one-half of Him only, but the entire person of Christ, to which both +natures, the divine and the human, belong, is present not only +according to His divinity, but also according to, and with, His assumed +human nature, according to which He is our Brother, and we are flesh of +His flesh and bone of His bone." (1043 78f.) In virtue of the personal +union Christ is present everywhere also according to His human nature; +while the peculiarly gracious manner of His presence in the Gospel, in +the Church, and in the Lord's Supper depends upon His will and is based +upon His definite promises. + +210. Bremen and the Palatinate Lost for Lutheranism. + +The indignation of the Lutherans against the Calvinistic propaganda, +roused by Westphal and his comrades in their conflict with Calvin and +his followers, was materially increased by the success of the crafty +Calvinists in Bremen and in the Palatinate. In 1547 Hardenberg [Albert +Rizaeus from Hardenberg, Holland, born 1510] was appointed Dome-preacher +in Bremen. He was a former priest whom Lasco had won for the +Reformation. Regarding the doctrine of the Lord's Supper he inclined +towards Zwingli. Self-evidently, when his views became known, the +situation in Bremen became intolerable for his Lutheran colleagues. How +could they associate with and fellowship, a Calvinist! To acknowledge +him would have been nothing short of surrendering their own views and +the character of the Lutheran Church. The result was that John Timann +[pastor in Bremen; wrote a tract against the Interim, died February 17, +1557], in order to compel Hardenberg to unmask and reveal his true +inwardness, demanded that all the ministers of Bremen subscribe to the +_Farrago Sententiarum Consentientium in Vera Doctrina et Coena Domini_ +which he had published in 1555 against the Calvinists. Hardenberg and +two other ministers refused to comply with the demand. In particular, +Hardenberg objected to the omnipresence of the human nature of Christ +taught in Timann's _Farrago_. In his _Doctrinal Summary (Summaria +Doctrina)_ Hardenberg taught: "St. Augustine and many other fathers +write that the body of Christ is circumscribed by a certain space in +heaven, and I regard this as the true doctrine of the Church." +(Tschackert, 191.) Hardenberg also published the fable hatched at +Heidelberg (_Heidelberger Landluege_, indirectly referred to also in the +_Formula of Concord_, 981, 28), but immediately refuted by Joachim +Moerlin, according to which Luther is said, toward the end of his life, +to have confessed to Melanchthon that he had gone too far and overdone +the matter in his controversy against the Sacramentarians; that he, +however, did not want to retract his doctrine concerning the Lord's +Supper himself, because that would cast suspicion on his whole teaching; +that therefore after his death the younger theologians might make amends +for it and settle this matter.... In 1556 Timann began to preach against +Hardenberg, but died the following year. The Lower Saxon Diet, however, +decided February 8, 1561, that Hardenberg be dismissed within fourteen +days, yet "without infamy or condemnation, _citra infamiam et +condemnationem_." Hardenberg submitted under protest and left Bremen +February 18, 1561 (he died as a Reformed preacher at Emden, 1574). Simon +Musaeus who had just been expelled from Jena, was called as +Superintendent to purge Bremen of Calvinism. Before long, however, the +burgomaster of the city, Daniel von Bueren, whom Hardenberg had secretly +won for the Reformed doctrine, succeeded in expelling the Lutheran +ministers from the city and in filling their places with Philippists, +who before long joined the Reformed Church. Thus ever since 1562 Bremen +has been a Reformed city. + +A much severer blow was dealt Lutheranism when the Palatinate, the home +of Melanchthon, where the Philippists were largely represented, was +Calvinized by Elector Frederick III. Tileman Hesshusius [Hesshusen, born +1527; 1553 superintendent at Goslar; 1556 professor and pastor at +Rostock; 1557 at Heidelberg; 1560 pastor at Magdeburg; 1562 +court-preacher at Neuburg; 1569 professor at Jena; 1573 bishop of +Samland, at Koenigsberg; 1577 professor at Helmstedt where he died 1588] +was called in 1557 by Elector Otto Henry to Heidelberg both as professor +and pastor and as superintendent of the Palatinate. Here the Calvinists +and Crypto-Calvinists had already done much to undermine Lutheranism; +and after the death of Otto Henry, February 12, 1559, Hesshusius who +endeavored to stem the Crypto-Calvinistic tide, was no longer able to +hold his own. Under Elector Frederick III, who succeeded Otto Henry, the +Calvinists came out into the open. This led to scandalous clashes, of +which the Klebitz affair was a typical and consequential instance. In +order to obtain the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, William Klebitz, the +deacon of Hesshusius, published, in 1560 a number of Calvinistic theses. +As a result Hesshusius most emphatically forbade him henceforth to +assist at the distribution of the Holy Supper. When Klebitz nevertheless +appeared at the altar, Hesshusius endeavored to wrest the cup from his +hands. Elector Frederick ordered both Hesshusius and Klebitz to settle +their trouble in accordance with the _Augustana_ (Variata). Failing to +comply with this unionistic demand, Hesshusius was deposed, September +16, 1559, and Klebitz, too was dismissed. In a theological opinion, +referred to above, Melanchthon approved of the action. Hereupon +Hesshusius entered the public controversy against Calvinism. In 1560 he +published _Concerning the Presence (De Praesentia) of the Body of Christ +in the Lord's Supper_ and his _Answer (Responsio) to the Prejudicial +Judgement (Praeiudicium) of Philip Melanchthon on the Controversy +Concerning the Lord's Supper_ [with Klebitz]. + +After the dismissal of Hesshusius, Elector Frederick III, who had +shortly before played a conspicuous role in endeavoring to win the day +for Melanchthonianism at the Lutheran Assembly of Naumburg, immediately +began to Calvinize his territory. In reading the controversial books +published on the Lord's Supper, he suffered himself to be guided by the +renowned physician Thomas Erastus [died 1583], who was a Calvinist and +had himself published Calvinistic books concerning the Lord's Supper and +the person and natures of Christ. As a result the Elector, having become +a decided Reformedist, determined to de-Lutheranize the Palatinate in +every particular, regarding practise and divine service as well as with +respect to confessional books, doctrines, and teachers. The large number +of Philippists, who had been secret Calvinists before, was increased by +such Reformed theologians as Caspar Olevianus (1560), Zacharias Ursinus +(1561), and Tremellius (1561). Images, baptismal fonts, and altars were +removed from the churches; wafers were replaced by bread, which was +broken; the organs were closed; the festivals of Mary, the apostles, and +saints were abolished. Ministers refusing to submit to the new order of +things were deposed and their charges filled with Reformed men from the +Netherlands. The Calvinistic _Heidelberg Catechism_, composed by +Olevianus and Ursinus and published 1563 in German and Latin, took the +place of Luther's Catechism. This process of Calvinization was completed +by the introduction of the new Church Order of November 15, 1563. At the +behest of Frederick III the _Swiss Confession (Confessio Helvetica)_ was +published in 1566, in order to prove by this out-and-out Zwinglian +document, framed by Bullinger, "that he [the Elector of the Palatinate] +entertained no separate doctrine, but the very same that was preached +also in many other and populous churches, and that the charge was untrue +that the Reformed disagreed among themselves and were divided into +sects." Thus the Palatinate was lost to the Lutheran Confession, for +though Ludwig VI (1576-1583), the successor of Frederick III, +temporarily restored Lutheranism, Frederick IV (1583 to 1610) returned +to Calvinism. + +211. Saxony in the Grip of Crypto-Calvinists. + +It was a severe blow to the Lutheran Church when Bremen and the +Palatinate fell a prey to Calvinism. And the fears were not unfounded +that before long the Electorate of Saxony would follow in their wake, +and Wittenberg, the citadel of the Lutheran Reformation, be captured by +Calvin. That this misfortune, which, no doubt, would have dealt a final +and fatal blow to Lutheranism, was warded off, must be regarded as a +special providence of God. For the men (Melanchthon, Major, etc.) whom +Luther had accused of culpable silence regarding the true doctrine of +the Lord's Supper, were, naturally enough, succeeded by theologians who, +while claiming to be true Lutherans adhering to the Augsburg Confession +and, in a shameful manner deceiving and misleading Elector August +zealously championed and developed the Melanchthonian aberrations, in +particular with respect to the doctrines concerning the Lord's Supper +and the person of Christ, and sedulously propagated the views of Calvin, +at first secretly and guardedly, but finally with boldness and abandon. +Gieseler says of these Philippists in Wittenberg: "Inwardly they were +out-and-out Calvinists, although they endeavored to appear as genuine +Lutherans before their master," Elector August. (3, 2, 250.) + +The most prominent and influential of these so-called Philippists or +Crypto-Calvinists were Dr. Caspar Cruciger, Jr., Dr. Christopher Pezel, +Dr. Frederick Widebram, and Dr. Henry Moeller. The schemes of these men +were aided and abetted by a number of non-theological professors: +Wolfgang Crell, professor of ethics, Esrom Ruedinger, professor of +philosophy; George Cracow, professor of jurisprudence and, later, privy +councilor of Elector August; Melanchthon's son-in-law, Caspar Peucer, +professor of medicine and physician in ordinary of the Elector, who +naturally had a great influence on August and the ecclesiastical +affairs of the Electorate. He held that Luther's doctrine of the real +presence had no more foundation in the Bible than did the Roman +transubstantiation. To these must be added John Stoessel, confessor to +the Elector and superintendent at Pirna; Christian Schuetze, +court-preacher at Dresden, Andrew Freyhub and Wolfgang Harder +professors in Leipzig, and others. The real leaders of these Philippists +were Peucer and Cracow. Their scheme was to prepossess the Elector +against the loyal adherents of Luther, especially Flacius, gradually to +win him over to their liberal views, and, at the proper moment, to +surrender and deliver Electoral Saxony to the Calvinists. In prosecuting +this sinister plan, they were unscrupulous also in the choice of their +means. Thus Wittenberg, during Luther's days the fountainhead of the +pure Gospel and the stronghold of uncompromising fidelity to the truth, +had become a veritable nest of fanatical Crypto-Calvinistic schemers +and dishonest anti-Lutheran plotters who also controlled the situation +in the entire Electorate. + +The first public step to accomplish their purpose was the publication of +the _Corpus Doctrinae Christianae_, or _Corpus Doctrinae Misnicum_, or +_Philippicum_, as it was also called. This collection of symbolical +books was published 1560 at Leipzig by Caspar Peucer, Melanchthon's +son-in-law, with a preface to both the German and Latin editions written +by Melanchthon and dated September 29, 1559, and February 16, 1560, +respectively,--an act by which, perhaps without sufficiently realizing +it, Melanchthon immodestly assumed for himself and his views the place +within the Lutheran Church which belonged not to him, but to Luther. The +title which reveals the insincerity and the purpose of this publication, +runs as follows: _"Corpus Doctrinae, i.e._, the entire sum of the true +and Christian doctrine ... as a testimony of the steadfast and unanimous +confession of the pure and true religion in which the schools and +churches of these Electoral Saxon and Meissen territories have remained +and persevered in all points according to the _Augsburg Confession_ for +now almost thirty years against the unfounded false charges and +accusations of all lying spirits, 1560." As a matter of fact, however, +this _Corpus_ contained, besides the Ecumenical Symbols, only writings +of Melanchthon, notably the altered _Augsburg Confession_ and the +altered _Apology_ of 1542, the Saxon Confession of 1551, the changed +_Loci_, the _Examen Ordinandorum_ of 1554, and the _Responsiones ad +Impios Articulos Inquisitionis Bavaricae_. + +Evidently this _Corpus Philippicum_, which was introduced also in +churches outside of Electoral Saxony, particularly where the princes or +leading theologians were Melanchthonians, was intended to alienate the +Electorate from the old teaching of Luther, to sanction and further the +Melanchthonian tendency, and thus to pave the way for Calvinism. It was +foisted upon, and rigorously enforced in, all the churches of Electoral +Saxony. All professors, ministers, and teachers were pledged by an oath +to teach according to it. Such as refused to subscribe were deposed, +imprisoned, or banished. Among the persecuted pastors we find the +following names: Tettelbach, superintendent in Chemnitz; George Herbst, +deacon in Chemnitz and later superintendent in Eisleben; Graf, +superintendent in Sangerhausen; Schade, Heine, and Schuetz, pastors in +Freiberg. When ministers who refused their signatures appealed to +Luther's writings, they were told that Luther's books must be +understood and explained according to Melanchthon's _Corpus_. At +Wittenberg the opposition to Luther and his teaching bordered on +fanaticism. When, for example, in 1568 Conrad Schluesselburg and Albert +Schirmer, two Wittenberg students, entered a complaint against +Professors Pezel and Peucer because of their deviations from Luther in +the doctrine of the Lord's Supper and refused to admit that Peucer and +his colleagues represented the pure doctrine in this matter, they were +expelled from the university, anathematized, and driven from the city. +(Schluesselburg 13, 609. 730; Gieseler 3, 2, 250.) + +Immediately after its appearance, the _Corpus Philippicum_ was +denounced by loyal Lutherans, notably those of Reuss, Schoenfeld, and +Jena. When the charges of false teaching against the Wittenberg +theologians increased in number and force, Elector August arranged a +colloquy between the theologians of Jena and Wittenberg. It was held at +Altenburg and lasted from October, 1568, to March, 1569 because the +Wittenbergers, evidently afraid of compromising themselves, insisted on +its being conducted in writing only. The result of this colloquy was a +public declaration on the part of Wigand, Coelestinus, Kirchner Rosinus, +and others to the effect that the Wittenberg and Leipzig theologians had +unmistakably revealed themselves as false teachers. At the colloquy the +Jena theologians objected in particular also to the _Corpus Misnicum_ +because it contained the altered _Augustana_, concerning which they +declared: Melanchthon "has changed the said _Augsburg Confession_ so +often that finally he has opened a window through which the +Sacramentarians and Calvinists can sneak into it. One must watch +carefully, lest in course of time the Papists also find such a loophole +to twist themselves into it." (Gieseler 3, 2, 252.) + +The Philippists of Leipzig and Wittenberg in turn, denounced the Jena +theologians as Flacian fighting cocks (_Flacianische Haderkatzen_). They +also succeeded in persuading Elector August to adopt more rigorous +measures against the malcontents in his territories. For in addition to +the adoption of the _Corpus Philippicum_ the ministers were now required +to subscribe to a declaration which was tantamount to an endorsement of +all of the false doctrines entertained by the Wittenbergers. The +declaration read: "I do not adhere to the dangerous Flacian Illyrian +errors, contentions, poisonous backbitings, and fanaticism (_zaenkischem +Geschmeiss, giftigem Gebeiss und Schwaermerei_) with which the schools +and churches of this country are burdened [by Flacius] concerning the +imagined adiaphorism, synergism, and Majorism and other false +accusations, nor have I any pleasure in it [the quarreling], and in the +future I intend, by the help of God, to abstain from it altogether, to +damn, flee, and avoid it, and as much as I am able, to prevent it." +(Gieseler 3, 2, 253; Walther, 49.) + +212. Bold Strides Forward. + +Feeling themselves firm and safe in the saddle, the Wittenberg +Philippists now decided on further public steps in the direction of +Calvinism. In 1570 they published _Propositions (Propositiones) +Concerning the Chief Controversies of This Time_, in which the Lutheran +doctrine regarding the majesty of the human nature of Christ was +repudiated. In the following year they added a new Catechism, entitled: +"_Catechesis_ continens explicationem simplicem et brevem decalogi, +Symboli Apostolici, orationis dominicae, doctrinae Christianae, quod +amplectuntur ac tuentur Ecclesiae regionum Saxonicarum et Misnicarum +quae sunt subiectae editioni Ducis Electoris Saxoniae, edita in Academia +Witebergensi et accommodata ad usum scholarum puerilium. 1571." + +This Catechism, written, according to Wigand, by Pezel, appeared +anonymously. Its preface, signed by the Wittenberg theological faculty, +explains that the new Catechism was an epitome of the _Corpus Doctrinae +Misnicum_ and merely intended as a supplement of Luther's Catechism for +progressed scholars who were in need of additional instruction. As a +matter of fact, however, its doctrine concerning the person of Christ +and the Lord's Supper was in substantial agreement with the teaching of +Calvin. Under the odious name of "ubiquity" it rejected the omnipresence +of Christ according to His human nature, and sanctioned Calvin's +teaching concerning the local inclusion of Christ in heaven. Acts 3, 21 +was rendered in Beza's translation: "_Quem oportet coelo capi_. Who must +be received by the heaven." + +The Catechism declares: "The ascension was visible and corporeal; the +entire Antiquity has always written that Christ's body is restricted to +a certain place, wherever He wishes it to be; and a bodily ascension +was made upwards. _Ascensio fuit visibilis et coporalis, et semper ita +scripsit tota antiquitas, Christum corporali locatione in aliquo loco +esse, ubicumque vult, et ascensio corporalis facta est sursum_." +Concerning the real presence, the Catechism merely states: "The Lord's +Supper is the communication of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus +Christ as it is instituted in the words of the Gospel; in which eating +(_sumptione_) the Son of God is truly and substantially present, and +testifies that He applies His benefits to the believers. He also +testifies that He has assumed the human nature for the purpose of +making us, who are ingrafted into Him by faith, His members. He finally +testifies that He wishes to be in the believers, to teach, quicken and +govern them." (Gieseler 3, 2, 263.) The sacramental union, oral eating +and drinking, and the eating and drinking of the wicked are not +mentioned. Tschackert remarks that every Calvinist would readily have +subscribed to the teaching of this Catechism. (545.) + +When the Wittenberg Catechism was warned against and designated as +Calvinistic by Chemnitz, Moerlin, and other theologians of Brunswick, +Lueneburg, Mansfeld, Jena, and Halle, the Wittenbergers answered and +endeavored to defend their position in the so-called _Grundfeste_, Firm +Foundation, of 1571. It was a coarse and slanderous publication, as even +the title indicates, which reads: "Firm Foundation of the True Christian +Church Concerning the Person and Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ +against the Modern Marcionites, Samosatenes, Sabellians, Arians, +Nestorians, Eutychians, and Monothelites among the Flacian Rabble +Published by the Theologians in Wittenberg." In this _Grundfeste_ the +Wittenbergers present the matter as though the real issue were not the +Lord's Supper, but Christology. They enumerate as heretics also the +"Ubiquitists," including Brenz, Andreae, and Chemnitz. With respect to +their own agreement with Calvin, they remark that their teaching is the +doctrine of the early Church, in which point, they said, also Calvin +agreed. (Tschackert, 546.) + +This daring Calvinistic publication again resulted in numerous protests +against the Wittenbergers on the part of alarmed Lutherans everywhere +outside of Electoral Saxony, which induced Elector August to require his +theologians to deliver at Dresden, October 10, 1571, a definite +statement of their faith. The confession which they presented was +entitled: "_Brief Christian and Simple Repetition of the Confession of +the Churches of God in the Territories of the Elector of Saxony +Concerning the Holy Supper_," etc. The _Consensus Dresdensis_, as the +document was called, satisfied the Elector at least temporarily, and was +published also in Latin and low German. Essentially, however, the +indefinite and dubious language of the Catechism was here but repeated. +Concerning the majesty of Christ the _Dresden Consensus_ declares that +after the resurrection and ascension the human nature of Christ "was +adorned with higher gifts than all angels and men." In His ascension, +the _Consensus_ continues, Christ "passed through the visible heavens +and occupied the heavenly dwelling, where He in glory and splendor +retains the essence, property, form, and shape of His true body, and +from there He, at the last day, will come again unto Judgment in great +splendor, visibly." + +In a similar vague, ambiguous, and misleading manner Christ's sitting at +the right hand of God is spoken of. Omitting the oral eating and +drinking and the eating and drinking of the wicked, the _Consensus_ +states concerning the Lord's Supper that "in this Sacrament Christ gives +us with the bread and wine His true body sacrificed for us on the cross, +and His true blood shed for us, and thereby testifies that He receives +us, makes us members of His body, washes us with His blood, presents +forgiveness of sins, and wishes truly to dwell and to be efficacious in +us." (Tschackert, 546.) The opponents of the Wittenbergers are branded +as unruly men, who, seeking neither truth nor peace, excite offensive +disputations concerning the real presence in the Lord's Supper as well +as with regard to other articles. Their doctrine of the real +communication ("_realis seu physica communicatio_") is characterized as +a corruption of the article of the two natures in Christ and as a +revamping of the heresies of the Marcionites, Valentinians, Manicheans, +Samosatenes, Sabellians, Arians, Nestorians, Eutychians, and +Monothelites. (Gieseler 3, 2, 264f.) + +213. Apparently Victorious. + +All the Crypto-Calvinistic publications of the Wittenberg and Leipzig +Philippists were duly unmasked by the Lutherans outside of Electoral +Saxony, especially in Northern Germany. Their various opinions were +published at Jena, 1572, under the title: "_Unanimous Confession +(Einhelliges Bekenntnis) of Many Highly Learned Theologians and +Prominent Churches_ 1. concerning the New Catechism of the New +Wittenbergers, and 2. concerning their _New Foundation (Grundfeste)_, +also 3. concerning their _New Confession (Consensus Dresdensis)_, +thereupon adopted." However, all this and the repeated warnings that +came from every quarter outside of his own territories, from Lutheran +princes as well as theologians, do not seem to have made the least +impression on Elector August. Yet he evidently was, and always intended +to be a sincere, devoted, true-hearted, and singleminded Lutheran. When, +for example, in 1572 Beza, at the instance of the Wittenberg +Philippists, dedicated his book against Selneccer to Elector August, the +latter advised him not to trouble him any further with such writings, as +he would never allow any other doctrine in his territory than that of +the _Augsburg Confession_. + +However, blind and credulous as he was, and filled with prejudice and +suspicion against Flacius and the Jena theologians generally, whom he, +being the brother of the usurper Maurice, instinctively feared as +possibly also political enemies, Elector August was easily duped and +completely hypnotized, as it were, by the men surrounding him, who led +him to believe that they, too, were in entire agreement with Luther and +merely opposed the trouble-breeding Flacians, whom they never tired of +denouncing as zealots, fanatics, bigots, wranglers, barkers, alarmists, +etc. While in reality they rejected the doctrine that the true body and +blood of Christ is truly and essentially present in the Holy Supper, +these Crypto-Calvinists pretended (and Elector August believed them) +that they merely objected to a _local_ presence and to a Capernaitic +eating and drinking of the body and blood of Christ in the Holy Supper. +And while in reality they clearly repudiated Luther's teaching, +according to which the divine attributes (omnipotence, omnipresence, +etc.) are communicated to the human nature of Christ, they caused the +Elector to believe that they merely opposed a delusion of the +"Ubiquitists," who, they said, taught that the body of Christ was +_locally extended_ over the entire universe. This crass localism, they +maintained, was the teaching of their opponents, while they themselves +faithfully adhered to the teachings of Luther and Philip, and, in +general, were opposed only to the exaggerations and excrescences +advocated by the bigoted Flacians. (Walther, 43.) + +Such was the manner in which the Elector allowed himself to be duped by +the Philippists who surrounded him,--men who gradually developed the art +of dissimulation to premeditated deceit, falsehood, and perjury. Even +the Reformed theologian Simon Stenius, a student at Wittenberg during +the Crypto-Calvinistic period, charges the Wittenbergers with dishonesty +and systematic dissimulation. The same accusation was raised 1561 by the +jurist Justus Jonas in his letters to Duke Albrecht of Prussia. +(Gieseler 3, 2, 249.) And evidently believing that Elector August could +be fooled all the time, they became increasingly bold in their +theological publications, and in their intrigues as well. + +To all practical purposes the University of Wittenberg was already +Calvinized. Calvinistic books appeared and were popular. Even the work +of a Jesuit against the book of Jacob Andreae on the Majesty of the +Person of Christ was published at Wittenberg. The same was done with a +treatise of Beza, although, in order to deceive the public, the +title-page gave Geneva as the place of publication. Hans Lufft, the +Wittenberg printer, later declared that during this time he did not know +how to dispose of the books of Luther which he still had in stock, but +that, if he had printed twenty or thirty times as many Calvinistic +books, he would have sold all of them very rapidly. + +Even Providence seemed to bless and favor the plans of the plotters. For +when on March 3, 1573, Duke John William, the patron and protector of +the faithful Lutherans, died, Elector August became the guardian of his +two sons. And fanaticized by his advisers, the Elector, immediately upon +taking hold of the government in Ducal Saxony, banished Wigand, +Hesshusius, Caspar Melissander [born 1540; 1571 professor of theology in +Jena; 1578 superintendent in Altenburg; died 1591] Rosinus [born 1520; +1559 superintendent in Weimar 1574 superintendent in Regensburg; died +1586], Gernhard, court-preacher in Weimar, and more than 100 preachers +and teachers of Ducal Saxony. The reason for this cruel procedure was +their refusal to adopt the _Corpus Philippicum_, and because they +declined to promise silence with respect to the Philippists. + +214. "Exegesis Perspicua." + +In 1573, the Calvinization of Electoral and Ducal Saxony was, +apparently, an accomplished fact. But the very next year marked the +ignominious downfall and the unmasking of the dishonest Philippists. For +in this year appeared the infamous _Exegesis_, which finally opened the +eyes of Elector August. Its complete title ran: "_Exegesis Perspicua et +ferme Integra Controversiae de Sacra Coena_--Perspicuous and Almost +Complete Explanation of the Controversy Concerning the Holy Supper." The +contents and make-up of the book as well as the secret methods adopted +for its circulation clearly revealed that its purpose was to deal a +final blow to Lutheranism in order to banish it forever from Saxony. +Neither the author, nor the publisher, nor the place and date of +publication were anywhere indicated in the book. The paper bore Geneva +mark and the lettering was French. The _prima facie_ impression was that +it came from abroad. + +Before long, however, it was established that the _Exegesis_ had been +published in Leipzig by the printer Voegelin, who at first also claimed +its authorship. But when the impossibility of this was shown, Voegelin, +in a public hearing, stated that Joachim Curaeus of Silesia, a physician +who had left Saxony and died 1573, was the author of the book. Valentin +Loescher, however, relates (_Historia Motuum_ 3, 195) that probably +Pezel and the son-in-law of Melanchthon, Peucer, had a hand in it; that +the Crypto-Calvinist Esram Ruedinger [born 1523, son-in-law of +Camerarius, professor of physics in Wittenberg, died 1591] was its real +author; that it was printed at Leipzig in order to keep the real +originators of it hidden, and that, for the same purpose, the Silesian +Candidate of Medicine Curaeus had taken the responsibility of its +authorship upon himself. (Tschackert, 547.) + +Self-evidently, the Wittenberg theologians disclaimed any knowledge of, +or any connection with, the origin of the _Exegesis_. However, they were +everywhere believed to share its radical teachings, and known to have +spread it among the students of the university, and suspected also of +having before this resorted to tactics similar to those employed in the +_Exegesis_. As early as 1561, for example, rhymes had secretly been +circulated in Wittenberg, the burden of which was that faith alone +effects the presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, and that the mouth +receives nothing but natural bread. One of these ran as follows: "Allein +der Glaub' an Jesum Christ Schafft, dass er gegenwaertig ist, Und speist +uns mit sei'm Fleisch und Blut Und sich mit uns einigen tut. Der Mund +empfaeht natuerlich Brot, Die Seel' aber speist selber Gott." (Walther, +46.) Of course, the purpose of such dodgers was to prepare the way for +Calvinism. And on the very face of it, the _Exegesis Perspicua_ was +intended to serve similar secret propaganda. + +The chief difference between the preceding publications of the +Philippists and the _Exegesis_ was that here they came out in clear and +unmistakable language. The sacramental union, the oral eating and +drinking (_manducatio oralis_), and the eating and drinking of the +wicked, which before were passed by in silence, are dealt with +extensively and repudiated. The _Exegesis_ teaches: The body of Christ +is inclosed in heaven; in the Holy Supper it is present only according +to its efficacy, there is no union of the body of Christ with the bread +and wine; hence, there neither is nor can be such a thing as oral eating +and drinking or eating and drinking of unbelievers. The "ubiquity," as +the _Exegesis_ terms the omnipresence of Christ's human nature, is +condemned as Eutychian heresy. The _Exegesis_ declared: "In the use of +the bread and wine the believers by faith become true and living members +of the body of Christ, who is present and efficacious through these +symbols, as through a ministry inflaming and renewing our hearts by His +Holy Spirit. The unbelieving, however, do not become partakers, or +_koinonoi_, but because of their contempt are guilty of the body of +Christ." (Seeberg, _Grundriss_ 146.) + +After fulsome praise of the Reformed, whose doctrine, the _Exegesis_ +says, is in agreement with the symbols of the ancient Church, and who as +to martyrdom surpass the Lutherans, and after a corresponding +depreciation of Luther, who in the heat of the controversy was said +frequently to have gone too far, the _Exegesis_ recommends that the +wisest thing would be to follow the men whom God had placed at the side +of Luther, and who had spoken more correctly than Luther. Following +Melanchthon, all might unite in the neutral formula, "The bread is the +communion of the body of Christ," avoiding all further definition +regarding the ubiquity [the omnipresence of Christ's human nature] and +the eating of the true body of Christ, until a synod had definitely +decided these matters. (Tschackert, 547.) + +All purified churches (all churches in Germany, Switzerland, etc., +purified from Roman errors), the _Exegesis_ urges, "ought to be in +accord with one another; and this pious concord should not be disturbed +on account of this difference [regarding the Holy Supper]. Let us be +united in Christ and discontinue those dangerous teachings concerning +the ubiquity, the eating of the true body on the part of the wicked, and +similar things. The teachers should agree on a formula which could not +create offense. They should employ the modes of speech found in the +writings of Melanchthon. It is best to suppress public disputations, and +when contentious men create strife and disquiet among the people, the +proper thing to do, as Philip advised [in his opinion to the Elector of +the Palatinate], is to depose such persons of either party, and to fill +their places with more modest men. The teachers must promote unity, and +recommend the churches and teachers of the opposite party." (Walther, +51.) Such was the teaching and the theological attitude of the +_Exegesis_. It advocated a union of the Lutherans and the Reformed based +on indifferentism, and a surrender in all important doctrinal points to +Calvinism, the Lutherans merely retaining their name. This unionistic +attitude of the _Exegesis_ has been generally, also in America, termed +Melanchthonianism. + +215. Plotters Unmasked. + +The plain and unmistakable language of the _Exegesis_ cleared the +atmosphere, and everywhere dispelled all doubts as to the real nature of +the theological trend at Wittenberg and Leipzig. Now it was plain to +everybody beyond the shadow of a doubt that Electoral Saxony was indeed +infested with decided Calvinists. And before long also the web of deceit +and falsehood which they had spun around the Elector was torn into +shreds. The appearance of the _Exegesis_ resulted in a cry of +indignation throughout Lutheran Germany against the Wittenberg and +Leipzig Philippists. Yet, in 1574, only few books appeared against the +document, which, indeed, was not in need of a special refutation. Wigand +published _Analysis of the New Exegesis_, and Hesshusius: _Assertion +(Assertio) of the True Doctrine Concerning the Supper, against the +Calvinian Exegesis_. At the same time Elector August was again urged by +Lutheran princes notably the King of Denmark and Duke Ludwig of +Wuerttemberg, also by private persons, to proceed against the Calvinists +in his country and not to spare them any longer. (Gieseler 3, 2, 267.) +The aged Count of Henneberg made it a point to see the Elector +personally in this matter. But there was little need for further +admonitions, for the _Exegesis_ had opened the Elector's eyes. And soon +after its publication discoveries were made which filled August with +deep humiliation and burning indignation at the base deception practised +on him by the very men whom he had trusted implicitly and placed in most +important positions. By lying and deceit the Philippists had for a long +period succeeded in holding the confidence of Elector August; but now +the time for their complete and inglorious unmasking had arrived. + +Shortly after the _Exegesis_ had appeared, Peucer wrote a letter to the +Crypto-Calvinist Christian Schuetze, then court-preacher in Dresden +[who studied at Leipzig; became superintendent at Chemnitz in 1550, +court-preacher of Elector August in 1554; when he was buried, boys threw +a black hen over his coffin, crying, 'Here flies the Calvinistic devil;' +Joecher, _Lexicon_ 4, 372], which he had addressed to the wife of the +court-preacher in order to avoid suspicion. By mistake the letter was +delivered to the wife of the court-preacher Lysthenius [born 1532; +studied in Wittenberg; became court-preacher of Elector August in 1572 +and later on his confessor; opposed Crypto-Calvinism; was dismissed 1590 +by Chancellor Crell; 1591 restored to his position in Dresden, died +1596]. After opening the letter and finding it to be written in Latin, +she gave it to her husband, who, in turn, delivered it to the Elector. +In it Peucer requested Schuetze dexterously to slip into the hands of +Anna, the wife of the Elector, a Calvinistic prayer-book which he had +sent with the letter. Peucer added: "If first we have Mother Anna on our +side, there will be no difficulty in winning His Lordship [her husband] +too." + +Additional implicating material was discovered when Augustus now +confiscated the correspondence of Peucer, Schuetze, Stoessel, and +Cracow. The letters found revealed the consummate perfidy, dishonesty, +cunning, and treachery of the men who had been the trusted advisers of +the Elector, who had enjoyed his implicit confidence, and who by their +falsehoods had caused him to persecute hundreds of innocent and faithful +Lutheran ministers. The fact was clearly established that these +Philippists had been systematically plotting to Calvinize Saxony. The +very arguments with which Luther's doctrine of the Lord's Supper and the +Person of Christ might best be refuted were enumerated in these letters. +However, when asked by the Elector whether they were Calvinists, these +self-convicted deceivers are said to have answered that "they would not +see the face of God in eternity if in any point they were addicted to +the doctrines of the Sacramentarians or deviated in the least from Dr. +Luther's teaching." (Walther, 56.) The leaders of the conspiracy were +incarcerated. Cracow died in prison, 1575; Stoessel, 1576. It was as +late as 1586 that Peucer regained his liberty, Schuetze in 1589. + +216. Lutheranism Restored. + +In all the churches of Saxony thanksgiving services were held to praise +God for the final triumph of genuine Lutheranism. A memorial coin +celebrating the victory over the Crypto-Calvinists, bearing the date +1574, was struck at Torgau. The obverse exhibits Elector August handing +a book to Elector John George of Brandenburg. The inscription above +reads: "_Conserva Apud Nos Verbum Tuum, Domine_. Preserve Thy Word among +Us, O Lord." Below, the inscription runs: "_Augustus, Dei Gratia Dux +Saxionae et Elector_. Augustus, by the Grace of God Duke of Saxony and +Elector." The reverse represents Torgau and its surroundings, with +Wittenberg in the distance. The Elector, clad in his armor, is standing +on a rock bearing the inscription: "_Schloss Hartenfels_" (castle at +Torgau). In his right hand he is holding a sword, in his left a balance, +whose falling scale, in which the Child Jesus is sitting, bears the +inscription: "_Die Allmacht_, Omnipotence." The lighter and rising pan, +in which four Wittenberg Crypto-Calvinists are vainly exerting +themselves to the utmost in pulling on the chains of their pan in order +to increase its weight, and on the beam of which also the devil is +sitting, is inscribed: "_Die Vernunft_, Reason." Above, God appears, +saying to the Elector, "Joshua 1, 5. 6: _Confide, Non Derelinquam Te_. +Trust, I will not forsake thee." Below we read: "_Apud Deum Non Est +Impossibile Verbum Ullum_, Lucae 1. _Conserva Apud Nos Verbum Tuum, +Domine_. 1574. Nothing is impossible with God, Luke 1. Preserve Thy Word +among us, Lord. 1574." + +The obverse of a smaller medal, also of 1574 shows the bust of Elector +August with the inscription: "_Augustus, Dei Gratia Dux Saxoniae Et +Elector_." The reverse exhibits a ship in troubled waters with the +crucified Christ in her expanded sails, and the Elector in his armor and +with the sword on his shoulder, standing at the foot of the mast. In the +roaring ocean are enemies, shooting with arrows and striking with +swords, making an assault upon the ship. The fearlessness of the Elector +is expressed in the inscription: "_Te Gubernatore_, Thou [Christ] being +the pilot." Among the jubilee medals of 1617 there is one which +evidently, too, celebrates the victory over Zwinglianism and Calvinism. +Its obverse exhibits Frederick in his electoral garb pointing with two +fingers of his right hand to the name Jehovah at the head of the medal. +At his left Luther is standing with a burning light in his right hand +and pointing with the forefinger of his left hand to a book lying on a +table and bearing the title: "_Biblia Sacra: V[erbum] D[ei] M[anet] I[n] +Ae[ternum]_." The reverse represents the Elector standing on a rock +inscribed: "_Schloss Hartenfels_, Castle Hartenfels." In his right hand +he is holding the sword and in his left a balance. Under the falling +scale, containing the Child Jesus, we read: "_Die Allmacht_, +Omnipotence," and under the rising pan, in which the serpent is lying: +"_Die Vernunft_, Reason." The marginal inscription runs. "_Iosua 1: +Confide. Non Derelinquam Te_. Joshua 1: Trust. I will not forsake thee." +(Ch. Junker, _Ehrengedaechtnis Dr. M. Luthers_, 353. 383.) + +Self-evidently, Elector August immediately took measures also to +reestablish in his territories Luther's doctrine of the Lord's Supper. +The beginning was made by introducing a confession prepared by reliable +superintendents and discussed, adopted, and subscribed at the Diet of +Torgau, September, 1574, and published simultaneously in German and +Latin. Its German title ran: "_Brief Confession (Kurz Bekenntnis) and +Articles Concerning the Holy Supper of the Body and Blood of Christ_, +from which may clearly be seen what heretofore has been publicly taught, +believed, and confessed concerning it in both universities of Leipzig +and Wittenberg, and elsewhere in all churches and schools of the Elector +of Saxony, also what has been rebuked and is still rebuked as +Sacramentarian error and enthusiasm." The Torgau Confession, therefore, +does not reject the _Corpus Doctrinae Misnicum_ of 1560 nor even the +_Consensus Dresdensis_ of 1571, and pretends that Melanchthon was in +doctrinal agreement with Luther, and that only a few Crypto-Calvinists +had of late been discovered in the Electorate. This pretense was the +chief reason why the Confession did not escape criticism. In 1575 Wigand +published: "Whether the New Wittenbergers had hitherto always taught +harmoniously and agreeably with the Old, and whether Luther's and +Philip's writings were throughout in entire harmony and agreement." + +As for its doctrine, however, the Torgau Confession plainly upholds the +Lutheran teaching. Article VII contends that in the distribution of the +Lord's Supper the body and blood of Christ "are truly received also by +the unworthy." Article VIII maintains the "oral eating and drinking, +_oris manducatio_." Calvin, Beza, Bullinger, Peter Martyr and the +Heidelberg theologians are rejected, and their names expressly +mentioned. On the other hand, the "ubiquity [local extension] of the +flesh of Christ" is disavowed and a discussion of the mode and +possibility of the presence of the body and blood of Christ is declined +as something inscrutable. The Latin passage reads: "_Ac ne carnis quidem +ubiquitatem, aut quidquam, quod vel veritatem corporis Christi tollat, +vel ulli fidei articulo repugnet, propter praesentiam in Coena fingimus +aut probamus. Denique de modo et possibilitate praesentiae corporis et +sanguinis Domini plane nihil disputamus. Nam omnia haec imperscrutabilia +statuimus_." (Gieseler 3, 2, 268.) + +Caspar Cruciger, Jr., Henry Moeller, Christopher Pezel, and Frederick +Widebram, who refused to subscribe the _Brief Confession_, were first +arrested, then, after subscribing with a qualification, released, but +finally (1574) banished. Widebram and Pezel removed to Nassau, Moeller +to Hamburg, and Cruciger to Hesse. At Leipzig, Andrew Freyhub, who +appealing to the _Consensus Dresdensis_, taught that Christ was exalted +according to both natures, that divine properties were not communicated +to His humanity, and that His body was inclosed in a certain place in +heaven was deposed in 1576. + +Thus ended the Crypto-Calvinistic drama in Electoral Saxony. Henceforth +such men as Andreae, Chemnitz, and Selneccer were the trusted advisers +of August, who now became the enthusiastic, devoted, and +self-sacrificing leader of the larger movement for settling all of the +controversies distracting the Lutheran Church, which finally resulted in +the adoption of the _Formula of Concord_. + +217. Visitation Articles. + +Elector August, the stanch defender of genuine Lutheranism, died 1586. +Under his successor, Christian I, and Chancellor Nicholas Crell, +Crypto-Calvinism once more raised its head in Electoral Saxony. But it +was for a short period only, for Christian I died September 25, 1591, +and during the regency of Duke Frederick William, who acted as guardian +of Christian II, Lutheranism was reestablished. In order effectually and +permanently to suppress the Crypto-Calvinistic intrigues, the Duke, in +February of 1592, ordered a general visitation of all the churches in +the entire Electorate. For this purpose Aegidius Hunnius [born 1550; +1576 professor in Marburg and later superintendent and professor in +Wittenberg; attended colloquy at Regensburg 1601; wrote numerous books, +particularly against Papists and Calvinists, died 1603], Martin Mirus +[born 1532, died 1593], George Mylius [born 1544; 1584 expelled from +Augsburg because he was opposed to the Gregorian almanac, since 1585 +professor in Wittenberg and Jena, died 1607], Wolfgang Mamphrasius [born +1557; superintendent in Wurtzen; died 1616], and others, who were to +conduct the visitation, composed the so-called _Visitation Articles_ +which were printed in 1593. The complete title of these articles runs: +"_Visitation Articles in the Entire Electorate of Saxony_, together with +the Negative and Contrary Doctrines of the Calvinists and the Form of +Subscription, as Presented to be Signed by Both Parties." + +As a result of the visitation, the Crypto-Calvinistic professors in +Wittenberg and Leipzig were exiled. John Salmuth [born 1575; +court-preacher in Dresden since 1584; died 1592] and Prierius, also a +minister in Dresden, were imprisoned. As a bloody finale of the +Crypto-Calvinistic drama enacted in Electoral Saxony, Chancellor Crell +was beheaded, October 9, 1601, after an imprisonment of ten years. Crell +was punished, according to his epitaph, as "an enemy of peace and a +disturber of the public quiet--_hostis pacis et quietis publicae +turbator_," or, as Hutter remarks in his _Concordia Concors_, "not on +account of his religion, but on account of his manifold perfidy--_non ob +religionem, sed ob perfidiam multiplicem_." (448. 1258.) For a long +period (till 1836) all teachers and ministers in Electoral Saxony were +required to subscribe also to the Visitation Articles as a doctrinal +norm. Self-evidently they are not an integral part of the _Book of +Concord_. + + +XIX. Controversy on Christ's Descent into Hell. + +218. Luther's Doctrine. + +While according to medieval theologians the descent into hell was +regarded as an act by which Christ, with His soul only, entered the +abode of the dead; and while according to Calvin and the Reformed +generally the descent into hell is but a figurative expression for the +sufferings of Christ, particularly of His soul, on the cross, Luther, +especially in a sermon delivered 1533 at Torgau, taught in accordance +with the Scriptures that Christ the God-man, body and soul, descended +into hell as Victor over Satan and his host. With special reference to +Ps. 16, 10 and Acts 2, 24. 27, Luther explained: After His burial the +whole person of Christ, the God-man, descended into hell, conquered the +devil, and destroyed the power of hell and Satan. The mode and manner, +however, in which this was done can no more be comprehended by human +reason than His sitting at the right hand of the Father, and must +therefore not be investigated, but believed and accepted in simple +faith. It is sufficient if we retain the consolation that neither hell +nor devil are any longer able to harm us. Accordingly, Luther did not +regard the descent into hell as an act belonging to the state of +humiliation, by which He paid the penalty for our sins, but as an act of +exaltation, in which Christ, as it were, plucked for us the fruits of +His sufferings which were finished when He died upon the cross. + +Luther's sermon at Torgau graphically describes the descent as a +triumphant march of our victorious Savior into the stronghold of the +dismayed infernal hosts. From it we quote the following: "Before Christ +arose and ascended into heaven, and while yet lying in the grave, He +also descended into hell in order to deliver also us from it, who were +to be held in it as prisoners.... However I shall not discuss this +article in a profound and subtle manner, as to how it was done or what +it means to 'descend into hell,' but adhere to the simplest meaning +conveyed by these words, as we must represent it to children and +uneducated people." "Therefore whoever would not go wrong or stumble had +best adhere to the words and understand them in a simple way as well as +he can. Accordingly, it is customary to represent Christ in paintings on +walls, as He descends, appears before hell, clad in a priestly robe and +with a banner in His hand, with which He beats the devil and puts him to +flight, takes hell by storm, and rescues those that are His. Thus it was +also acted the night before Easter as a play for children. And I am well +pleased with the fact that it is painted, played, sung and said in this +manner for the benefit of simple people. We, too, should let it go at +that, and not trouble ourselves with profound and subtle thoughts as to +how it may have happened, since it surely did not occur bodily inasmuch +as He remained in the grave three days." + +Luther continues: "However since we cannot but conceive thoughts and +images of what is presented to us in words, and unable to think of or +understand anything without such images, it is appropriate and right +that we view it literally, just as it is painted, that He descends with +the banner, shattering and destroying the gates of hell; and we should +put aside thoughts that are too deep and incomprehensible for us." "But +we ought ... simply to fix and fasten our hearts and thoughts on the +words of the Creed, which says: 'I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the +Son of God, dead, buried, and descended into hell,' that is, in the +entire person, God and man, with body and soul, undivided, 'born of the +Virgin, suffered, died, and buried'; _in like manner I must not divide +it here either, but believe and say that the same Christ, God and man in +one person, descended into hell_ but did not remain in it; as Ps. 16, 10 +says of Him: 'Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell nor suffer Thine Holy +One to see corruption.' By the word 'soul,' He, in accordance with the +language of the Scripture, does not mean, as we do, a being separated +from the body, but the entire man, the Holy One of God, as He here calls +Himself. But how it may have occurred that the man lies there in the +grave, and yet descends into hell--that, indeed, we shall and must leave +unexplained and uncomprehended; for it certainly did not take place in a +bodily and tangible manner although we can only paint and conceive it in +a coarse and bodily way and speak of it in pictures." "Such, therefore +is the plainest manner to speak of this article, that we may adhere to +the words and cling to this main point, that for us, through Christ, +hell has been torn to pieces and the devil's kingdom and power utterly +destroyed, for which purpose He died, was buried, and descended,--so +that it should no longer harm or overwhelm us, as He Himself says, Matt. +16, 18...." (CONC. TRIGL., 1050) + +219. Aepinus in Hamburg. + +The two outstanding features of Luther's sermon are that Christ +descended into hell body and soul, and that He descended as a triumphant +Victor, and not in order to complete His suffering and the work of +atonement. The denial of these two points, in particular, caused a new +controversy, which however, was of brief duration only, and practically +confined to the city of Hamburg, hence also called the Hamburg Church +Controversy, _der Hamburger Kirchenstreit_. Its author was John Aepinus +[Huck or Hoeck; born 1499; studied under Luther; persecuted in +Brandenburg and banished; rector in Stralsund; 1532 pastor and later +superintendent in Hamburg; wrote 1547 against the Interim; sided with +Flacius against the Philippists; published books in Latin and Low +German; dealt with Christ's descent to hell especially in his +_Commentary on Psalm 16_, of 1544, and in his _Explanation of Psalm 68_, +of 1553; died May 13, 1553]. + +Aepinus taught that Christ's descent is a part of His suffering and +atonement. While the body was lying in the grave, His soul descended +into hell in order to suffer the qualms and pangs required to satisfy +the wrath of God, complete the work of redemption, and render a plenary +satisfaction, _satisfactio plenaria_. The descent is the last stage of +Christ's humiliation and suffering, His triumph first beginning with the +resurrection. Though we know His sufferings in hell to have been most +sad and bitter, yet we are unable to say and define what they were in +particular, or to describe them concretely, because Scripture is silent +on this question. + +But while Aepinus originally held that the soul of Christ suffered in +hell the punishment of eternal death, he later on distinguished between +the first and the second death (eternal damnation) asserting the +suffering Christ endured in hell to have been a part of the punishment +of the first death, and that He did not suffer the _cruciatus AETERNI +tartarei ignis_.--Such were the views advocated, developed, and +variously modified by Aepinus in his theological lectures and +publications. From the Latin "_Consummatum est_, It is finished," the +teaching that Christ finished His suffering and the work of atonement by +His death on the cross was stigmatized by Aepinus as "_error +consummaticus_," and its advocates as "Consummatists," while these, in +turn, dubbed Aepinus and his adherents "Infernalists." (Frank 3,440.) + +Among the statements of Aepinus are the following: "I believe that hell +is a place prepared by divine justice to punish the devils and wicked +men according to the quality of their sins." (437.) "On account of our +redemption Christ descended to hell, just as He suffered and died for +us." (437.) "Theologians who either deny that the soul of Christ +descended into hell, or say that Christ was present in hell only in +effect and power, and not by His presence, deprive the Church of faith +in the sufficient, complete, and perfect satisfaction and redemption of +Christ and leave to Satan the right over pious souls after their +separation from the body. For by denying that Christ sustained and bore +those punishments of death and hell which the souls were obliged to bear +after their separation from the body, they assert that complete +satisfaction has not been made for them." (439.) "I believe that the +descent of the soul of Christ to hell is a part of the Passion of +Christ, _i.e._, of the struggles, dangers, anguish, pains, and +punishments which He took upon Himself and bore in our behalf; for, in +the Scriptures, to descend to hell signifies to be involved in the +highest struggles, pain, and distress. I believe that the descent of +Christ to hell is a part of His obedience foretold by the prophets and +imposed on Him because of our sins." (440.) "I believe that the descent +of Christ pertains to His humiliation, not to His glorification and +triumph." (441.) "The descent to hell was by God's judgment laid upon +Christ as the last degree of His humiliation and exinanition and as the +extreme part of His obedience and satisfaction." (441.) "Peter clearly +teaches, Acts 2, that the soul of Christ felt the pangs of hell and +death while His body was resting in the sepulcher." (441.) "What Christ +experienced when He descended into hell is known to Himself, not to us; +may we acknowledge and accept with grateful minds that He descended +into hell for us. But let us not inquire what it was that He experienced +for us in His descent, for we may piously remain ignorant of matters +which God did not reveal to His Church, and which He does not demand +that she know." (444.) + +220. Opposed by His Colleagues. + +The views of Aepinus, first presented in lectures delivered 1544 before +the ministers of Hamburg, called forth dissent and opposition on the +part of his colleagues. Before long, however (1549), the controversy +began to assume a virulent character. While the conduct of Aepinus was +always marked by dignity, moderation, and mildness, his opponents +Tileman Epping, John Gartz, and Caspar Hackrott, ventilated and +assailed his teaching in their pulpits. + +The chief argument against Aepinus was that his doctrine conflicted +with, and invalidated, the words of Christ, "It is finished," "To-day +shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." Aepinus rejoined that the word +"to-day" is an ambiguous term, denoting both the immediate presence and +the indefinite near future (_pro praesenti et imminente tempore +indefinito_). (414.) However, it was not in every respect Luther's +position which was occupied by some of the opponents of Aepinus. Gratz +is reported to have taught that the article concerning the descent of +Christ was not necessary to salvation that _descendere_ (descend) was +identical with _sepeliri_ (to be buried), that the descent to hell +referred to the anguish and temptation of Christ during His life; that +Christ immediately after His death entered paradise together with the +malefactor, that the work of atonement and satisfaction was completed +with His death. (446.) + +In 1550 the city council of Hamburg asked Melanchthon for his opinion. +But Melanchthon's answer of September, 1550, signed also by Bugenhagen, +was rather indefinite, vague, and evasive. He said, in substance: +Although we have frequently heard the Reverend Doctor Luther speak on +this matter and read his writings, yet, since a controversy has now been +raised, we have written also to others for their views, in order to +present a unanimous opinion, and thus avoid dissensions later on. In his +_Commentary on Genesis_ and in his Torgau sermon, Luther referred +Descent only to the victory of the Son of God, indicating that the rest +must not be searched out. The Son of God did indeed overcome the +torments of hell; but the Psalms show that the pains of hell are not to +be restricted only to the time after the separation of the soul +(_dolores inferorum non restringendos esse tantum ad tempus post animae +separationem_). Luther, said Melanchthon, expressed it as his opinion +"that this article concerning the Descent must be retained even when +referred only to the victory of Christ, confessing that the tyranny of +the devil and hell is destroyed _i.e._, that all who believe in Christ +are liberated from the power of the devil and hell, according to the +word: 'No one shall pluck My sheep out of My hands.' And in a certain +way the Son of God manifested this victory to the devils, and, no doubt, +the devils felt that their power was broken by this Victor, and that the +head of the serpent was truly bruised by the Seed of the Woman, by +Christ, God and man. And among the signs of His victory was the +resurrection of many dead." With respect to the controverted point, +concerning the sufferings of the soul of Christ after its separation +from the body, Melanchthon advised that the council of Hamburg "enjoin +both parties to await the opinions of others also, and in the mean time +to avoid mentioning this question in sermons, schools, or other public +meetings." Not the article concerning the Descent itself, but "only the +investigation of this particular point, concerning the suffering of His +departed soul in hell, is to be omitted, an inquiry which also Dr. +Luther did not consider necessary." (_C. R._ 7, 667.) + +Before this Melanchthon had written in a similar vein of compromise to +Aepinus and his colleague, John Gartz. "I wish," said he in a letter of +April 4, 1550, "that there would be an amnesty between you in this +entire strife" about the descent of Christ. "Let us cultivate peace with +one another, and cover up certain wounds of ours, lest sadder +disputations originate." (7, 569; compare 6, 116.) In the following year +the Hamburg Council, acting on the advice of Melanchthon, deposed and +expelled the leaders of the opposition to Aepinus, which, however, was +not intended as a decision in favor of the doctrine of Aepinus, but +merely as a measure to restore peace and silence in the city. + +221. Other Participants in This Controversy. + +Though the controversy was suppressed in Hamburg, and Aepinus died May +13, 1553, the theological questions involved were not settled, nor had +all of the advocates of the views set forth by Aepinus disappeared from +the scene. Even such theologians as Westphal, Flacius, Gallus, and +Osiander were partly agreed with him. Osiander says in an opinion: "I am +asked whether the descent of Christ pertains to the satisfaction made +for us or only to His triumph over the enemies. I answer briefly that +the descent of Christ into hell pertained to the satisfaction He merited +for us as well as to the triumph over the enemies, just as His death on +the cross does not belong to the one only, but to both.... Thus by +descending into hell He rendered satisfaction for us who merited hell, +according to Ps. 16." On the other hand, a synod held July 11, 1554, at +Greifswald made it a point expressly to deny that the descent of Christ +involved any suffering of His soul, or that it was of an expiatory +nature, or that this article referred to the anguish of His soul before +His death, or that it was identical with His burial. They affirmed the +teaching of Luther, _viz._, that the entire Christ, God and man, body +and soul, descended into hell after His burial and before His +resurrection, etc. (Frank, 446f.; 416.) + +Furthermore, in a letter to John Parsimonius, court-preacher in +Stuttgart, dated February 1, 1565 John Matsperger of Augsburg taught +that, in the article of the descent of Christ, the word "hell" must not +be taken figuratively for torments, death, burial, etc., but literally, +as the kingdom of Satan and the place of the damned spirits and souls +wherever that might be, that the entire Christ descended into this place +according to both divinity and humanity, with His body and soul, and not +only with the latter, while the former remained in the grave; that this +occurred immediately after His vivification or the reunion of body and +soul in the grave and before His resurrection; that the Descent was +accomplished in an instant, _viz._, in the moment after His vivification +and before His resurrection; and that Christ descended, not to suffer, +but, as a triumphant Victor, to destroy the portals of hell for all +believers. Parsimonius, too, maintained that Christ did not in any way +suffer after His death, but denied emphatically that "hell" was a +definite physical locality or place in space, and that the descent +involved a local motion of the body. Brenz assented to the views of +Parsimonius, and the preachers of Augsburg also assented to them. In +order to check his zeal against his opponents, Matsperger was deposed +and imprisoned. (Frank, 450 f.) + +Such being the situation within the Lutheran Church concerning the +questions involved in the Hamburg Controversy, which by the way, had +been mentioned also in the Imperial Instruction for the Diet at +Augsburg, 1555, the _Formula of Concord_ considered it advisable to pass +also on this matter. It did so, in Article IX, by simply reproducing +what Luther had taught in the sermon referred to above. Here we read: +"We simply believe that the entire person, God and man after the burial, +descended into hell, conquered the devil, destroyed the power of hell +and took from the devil all his might." (1051, 3.) "But how this +occurred we should [not curiously investigate, but] reserve until the +other world, where not only this point [this mystery], but also still +others will be revealed, which we here simply believe, and cannot +comprehend with our blind reason." (827, 4.) Tschackert remarks: "Ever +since [the adoption of the Ninth Article of the _Formula of Concord_] +Lutheran theology has regarded the Descent of Christ as the beginning of +the state of exaltation of the human nature of the God-man." (559.) + + +XX. The Eleventh Article of the Formula of Concord: On Predestination. + +222. Why Article XI was Embodied in the Formula. + +The reason why Article XI was embodied in the _Formula of Concord_ is +stated in the opening paragraph of this article: "Although among the +theologians of the _Augsburg Confession_ there has not occurred as yet +any public dissension whatever concerning the eternal election of the +children of God that has caused offense, and has become wide-spread, yet +since this article has been brought into very painful controversy in +other places, and even among our theologians there has been some +agitation concerning it; moreover, since the same expressions were not +always employed concerning it by the theologians: therefore in order, by +the aid of divine grace, to prevent disagreement and separation on its +account in the future among our successors, we, as much as in us lies, +have desired also to present an explanation of the same here, so that +every one may know what is our unanimous doctrine, faith, and confession +also concerning this article." (1063, 1.) + +The statements contained in these introductory remarks are in agreement +with the historical facts. For, while serious dissensions pertaining to +election did occur in Reformed countries, the Lutheran Church, ever +since the great conflict with Erasmus on free will, in 1525 had not been +disturbed by any general, public, and offensive controversy on this +question, neither _ad intra_ among themselves, nor _ad extra_ with the +Calvinists. Hence the chief purpose for embodying Article XI in the +_Formula_ was not to settle past or present disputes, but rather, as +stated in the paragraph quoted, to be of service in avoiding future +differences and conflicts. + +This earnest concern for the future peace of our Church, as well as for +the maintenance of its doctrinal purity, was partly due to +apprehensions, which, indeed, were not without foundation. As a matter +of fact, long before the _Formula_ was drafted, the theological +atmosphere was surcharged with polemical possibilities and probabilities +regarding predestination,--a doctrine which is simple enough as long as +faith adheres to the plain Word of God, without making rationalistic and +sophistical inferences, but which in public controversies has always +proved to be a most intricate, crucial, and dangerous question. + +Calvin and his adherents boldly rejected the universality of God's +grace, of Christ's redemption, and of the Spirit's efficacious operation +through the means of grace, and taught that, in the last analysis, also +the eternal doom of the damned was solely due to an absolute decree of +divine reprobation (in their estimation the logical complement of +election), and this at the very time when they pretended adherence to +the _Augsburg Confession_ and were making heavy inroads into Lutheran +territory with their doctrine concerning the Lord's Supper and the +person of Christ,--which in itself was sufficient reason for a public +discussion and determined resentment of their absolute +predestinarianism. The Synergists, on the other hand, had long ago been +busy explaining that the only way to escape the Stoic dogma of +Calvinism, and to account for the difference why some are accepted and +elected, while the rest are rejected, was to assume a different conduct +in man--_aliqua actio dissimilis in homine_. And as for their Lutheran +opponents, it cannot be denied that some of their statements were not +always sufficiently guarded to preclude all misapprehensions and false +inferences. + +Thus controversial material had been everywhere heaped up in +considerable quantities. Considering these factors, which for decades +had been making for a theological storm, one may feel rather surprised +that a controversy on predestination had not arisen long ago. Tschackert +says: "They [the Lutheran theologians] evidently feared an endless +debate if the intricate question concerning predestination were made a +subject of discussion." (559.) Sooner or later, however, the conflict +was bound to come with dire results for the Church, unless provisions +were made to escape it, or to meet it in the proper way. Well aware of +this entire critical situation and the imminent dangers lurking therein, +the framers of the _Formula of Concord_ wisely resolved to embody in it +also an article on election in order to clear the theological +atmosphere, maintain the divine truth, ward off a future controversy, +and insure the peace of our Church. + +223. Unguarded Statements of Anti-Synergists. + +That the occasional dissimilar and inadequate references to eternal +election and related subjects made by some opponents of the Synergists +were a matter of grave concern to the authors of the _Formula of +Concord_ appears from the passage quoted from Article XI, enumerating, +among the reasons why the article on predestination was embodied in the +_Formula_, also the fact that "the same expressions were not always +employed concerning it [eternal election] by the theologians." These +theologians had staunchly defended the _sola gratia_ doctrine, but not +always without some stumbling in their language. In their expositions +they had occasionally employed phrases which, especially when torn from +their context, admitted a synergistic or Calvinistic interpretation. +The framers of the _Formula_ probably had in mind such inadequate and +unguarded statements of Bucer, Amsdorf, and others as the following. + +Bucer had written: "The Scriptures do not hesitate to say that God +delivers some men into a reprobate mind and drives them to perdition. +Why, then, is it improper to say that God has afore-determined to +deliver these into a reprobate mind and to drive them to perdition? +_Scriptura non veretur dicere, Deum tradere quosdam homines in sensum +reprobum et agere in perniciem. Quid igitur indignum Deo, dicere, etiam +statuisse antea, ut illos in sensum reprobum traderet et ageret in +perniciem?_" (Frank 4, 264.) The _Formula of Concord_, however, is +careful to explain: "Moreover, it is to be diligently considered that +when God punishes sin with sins, that is, when He afterwards punishes +with obduracy and blindness those who had been converted, because of +their subsequent security, impenitence, and wilful sins this should not +be interpreted to mean _that it never had been God's good pleasure_ that +such persons should come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved." +(1001, 83.) + +Brenz had said: "To the one of the entire mass of the human race God +gives faith in Christ, whereby he is justified and saved, while He +leaves the other in his incredulity that he may perish. _Deus ex +universa generis humani massa alteri quidem donat fidem in Christum, qua +iustificetur et salvetur, alterum autem relinquit in sua incredulitate, +ut pereat_." (Frank 4, 256.) Again: It was God's will to elect Jacob and +to leave Esau in his sin. What is said of these two must be understood +of the election and rejection of all men in general. "_Potuisset Deus +optimo iure ambos abiicere;... sed sic proposuerat Deus, sic visum est +Deo, sic erat voluntas Dei, sic erat bene placitum Dei, ut Iacobum +eligeret, Esau autem in peccato suo relinqueret; quod de his duobus +dictum est, hoc intelligendum erit generaliter de omnium hominum +electione et abiectione_." (256.) Hesshusius: "In this respect God does +not will that all be saved, for He has not elected all. _Hoc respectu +Deus non vult, ut omnes salventur; non enim omnes elegit_." +(Schluesselburg 5, 320. 548.) Such statements, when torn from their +context, gave color to the inference that God's grace was not universal. +The _Formula of Concord_, therefore, carefully urges that God earnestly +endeavors to save all men, also those who are finally lost, and that man +alone is the cause of his damnation. + +In his _Sententia de Declaratione Victorini_ of 1562 Nicholas Amsdorf +said: "God has but one mode of working in all creatures.... Therefore +God works in the same way in man who has a will and intellect as in all +other creatures, rocks and blocks included, _viz._, through His willing +and saying alone.... As rocks and blocks are in the power of God, so and +in the same manner man's will and intellect are in the will of God, so +that man can will and choose absolutely nothing else than what God wills +and says, be it from grace or from wrath. _Non est nisi unus modus +agendi Dei cum omnibus creaturis.... Quare eodem modo cum homine volente +et intelligente agit Deus, quemadmodum cum omnibus creaturis reliquis, +lapide et trunco, per solum suum velle et dicere.... Sicut lapides et +trunci sunt in potestate Dei, ita et eodem modo voluntas et intellectus +hominis sunt in voluntate Dei, ut homo nihil prorsus velle et eligere +possit nisi id, quod vult et dicit Deus, sive ex gratia, sive ex ira, +derelinquens eum in manu consilii eius_." (Schlb. 5, 547; Gieseler 3, 2, +230; Frank 4, 259.) This, too, was not embodied in the _Formula of +Concord_, which teaches that, although man before his conversion has no +mode of working anything good in spiritual things, God nevertheless has +a different way of working in rational creatures than in irrational and +that man is not coerced, neither in his sinning nor in his conversion. +(905, 60ff.) + +224. Synergistic Predestination. + +The connection between the doctrines of conversion and election is most +intimate. A correct presentation of the former naturally leads to a +correct presentation of the latter, and vice versa. Hence Melanchthon, +the father of synergism in conversion, was also the author of a +synergistic predestination. In his first period he speaks of +predestination as Luther did, but, as Frank puts it, "with less of +mysticism conformably to reason, following the same line of thought as +Zwingli (_mit weniger Mystik, auf verstandesmaessige, Zwinglis +Ausfuehrungen aehnliche Weise_." [transcriber: sic on punctuation] (1, +125; _C. R._ 21, 88. 93.) In reality he probably had never fully grasped +the truly religious and evangelical view of Luther, which, indeed, would +account for his later synergistic deviations as well as for the charges +of Stoicism he preferred against Luther. After abandoning his former +doctrine, he, as a rule, was noncommittal as to his exact views on +election. But whenever he ventured an opinion, it savored of synergism. +September 30, 1531, he wrote to Brenz: "But in the entire _Apology_ I +have avoided that long and inexplicable disputation concerning +predestination. Everywhere I speak as though predestination follows our +faith and works. And this I do intentionally, for I do not wish to +perturb consciences with these inexplicable labyrinths. _Sed ego in tota +Apologia fugi illam longam et inexplicabilem disputationem de +praedestinatione. Ubique sic loquor, quasi praedestinatio sequatur +nostram fidem et opera. Ac facio hoc certo consilio; non enim volo +conscientias perturbare illis inexplicabilibus labyrinthis_." (_C. R._ +2, 547.) + +In the third, revised edition of his _Explanation of the Epistle to the +Romans_, 1532, he suggests "that divine compassion is truly the cause of +election, but that there is some cause also in him who accepts, namely, +in as far as he does not repudiate the grace offered. _Verecundius est, +quod aliquamdiu placuit Augustino, misericordiam Dei vere causam +electionis esse, sed tamen eatenus aliquam causam in accipiente esse, +quatenus promissionem oblatam non repudiat, quia malum ex nobis est_." +(Gieseler 3, 2, 192; Seeberg 4, 2, 442.) In an addition to his _Loci_ in +1533, Melanchthon again speaks of a cause of justification and election +residing in man, in order to harmonize the statements that the promise +of the Gospel is both gratis and universal. (_C. R._ 21, 332.) In the +_Loci_ edition of 1543 we read: "God elected because He had decreed to +call us to the knowledge of His Son, and desires His will and benefits +to be known to the human race. He therefore approves and elected those +who obey the call. _Elegit Deus, quia vocare nos ad Filii agnitionem +decrevit et vult generi humano suam voluntatem et sua beneficia +innotescere. Approbat igitur ac elegit obtemperantes vocationi_." (21, +917.) + +The bold synergistic views concerning conversion later on developed by +Melanchthon plainly involve the doctrine that there must be in man a +cause of discrimination why some are elected while others are rejected. +In his _Loci_ of 1548 he had written: "Since the promise is universal, +and since there are no contradictory wills in God, some cause of +discrimination must be in us why Saul is rejected and David accepted +(_cur Saul abiiciatur David recipiatur_), that is, there must be some +dissimilar action in these two." (21, 659.) Self-evidently Melanchthon +would not have hesitated to replace the phrase "why Saul was rejected +and David accepted," with "why Saul was rejected and David elected." + +Melanchthon held that the sole alternative of and hence the only escape +from, the doctrine of absolute necessity (_Stoica anagke_) and from the +absolute decree, which makes God responsible also for sin and eternal +damnation, was the synergistic assumption of man's "ability to apply +himself to grace--_facultas applicandi se ad gratiam_." Accordingly, as +he dubbed those who opposed his Calvinizing views on the Lord's Supper +as "bread-worshipers," so he stigmatized as Stoics all Lutherans who +opposed his synergistic tendencies. (_C. R._ 8, 782. 783. 916; 9, 100. +565. 733; 23, 392.) Seeberg summarizes Melanchthon's doctrine as +follows: "Grace alone saves, but it saves by imparting to man the +freedom to decide for himself. This synergistic element reappears in his +doctrine of election." (4, 2, 446.) "God elects all men who desire to +believe." (_Grundriss_, 144.) + +Naturally the Synergists of Wittenberg and other places followed Master +Philip also in the doctrine of election. In 1555, John Pfeffinger +declared in his _Quaestiones Quinque_ (extensively quoted from in the +chapter on the Synergistic Controversy), thesis 17: "If the will were +idle or purely passive [in conversion], there would be no distinction +between the pious and the impious, or the elect and the damned, as +between Saul and David, between Judas and Peter. God would become a +respecter of persons and the author of contumacy in the wicked and +damned. Moreover, contradictory wills would be ascribed to God which +conflicts with the entire Scripture. Hence it follows that there is in +us some cause why some assent while others do not assent." Thesis 23: +"For we are elected and received because we believe in the Son. (_Ideo +enim electi sumus et recepti, quia credimus in Filium_.) But our +apprehension must concur. For since the promise of grace is universal, +and we must obey the promise, it follows that between the elect and the +rejected some difference must be inferred from our will, _viz._, that +those are rejected who resist the promise while contrariwise those are +accepted who embrace the promise." + +The Synergists argued: If in every respect grace alone is the cause of +our salvation, conversion, and election, grace cannot be universal. Or, +since man's contempt of God's Word is the cause of his reprobation, +man's acceptance of God's grace must be regarded as a cause of his +election. Joachim Ernest of Anhalt, for instance, in a letter to +Landgrave William of Hesse, dated April 20, 1577, criticized the +_Formula of Concord_ for not allowing and admitting this argument. +(Frank 4, 135. 267.) + +225. Calvinistic Predestination. + +While the Synergists, in answering the question why only some are saved, +denied the _sola gratia_ and taught a conversion and predestination +conditioned by the conduct of man, John Calvin and his adherents, on the +other hand, made rapid progress in the opposite direction, developing +with increasing clearness and boldness an absolute, bifurcated +predestination, _i.e._, a capricious election to eternal damnation as +well as to salvation, and in accordance therewith denied the +universality of God's grace, of Christ's redemption, and of the +efficacious operation of the Holy Spirit through the means of grace. In +his "_Institutio Religionis Christianae_, Instruction in the Christian +Religion," of which the first edition appeared 1535, the second in 1539, +and the third in 1559, Calvin taught that God created and foreordained +some to eternal life, others to eternal damnation. Man's election means +that he has been created for eternal life, man's reprobation, that he +has been created for eternal damnation. We read (_Lib_. 3, cap. 21, 5): +"_Praedestinationem vocamus aeternum Dei decretum, quo apud se +constitutum habuit, quid de unoquoque homine fieri vellet. Non enim pari +conditione creantur omnes; sed aliis vita aeterna, aliis damnatio +aeterna praeordinatur. Itaque prout in alterutrum finem quisque conditus +est, ita vel ad vitam, vel ad mortem praedestinatum dicimus_." (Tholuck, +_Calvini Institutio_ 2, 133.) In the edition of 1559 Calvin says that +eternal election illustrates the grace of God by showing "that He does +not adopt all promiscuously unto the hope of salvation, but bestows on +some what He denies to others--_quod non omnes promiscue adoptat in spem +salutis, sed dat aliis, quod aliis negat_." (Gieseler 3, 2, 172.) Again: +"I certainly admit that all the sons of Adam have fallen by the will of +God into the miserable condition of bondage, in which they are now +fettered; for, as I said in the beginning, one must always finally go +back to the decision of the divine will alone, whose cause is hidden in +itself. _Fateor sane, in hanc qua nunc illigati sunt conditionis +miseriam Dei voluntate cecidisse universos filios Adam; atque id est, +quod principio dicebam, redeundum tandem semper esse ad solum divinae +voluntatis arbitrium, cuius causa sit in ipso abscondita_." (173.) +Calvin's successor in Geneva, Theodore Beza, was also a strict +supralapsarian. At the colloquy of Moempelgard (Montbeliard), 1586, in +disputing with Andreae, he defended the proposition "that Adam had +indeed of his own accord fallen into these calamities, yet, +nevertheless, not only according to the prescience, but also according +to the ordination and decree of God--_sponte quidem, sed tamen non modo +praesciente, sed etiam iuste ordinante et decernente Deo_." (186.) +"There never has been, nor is, nor will be a time," said he, "when God +has wished, wishes, or will wish, to have compassion on every individual +person. _Nullum tempus fuit vel est vel erit, quo voluerit, velit aut +voliturus sit Deus singulorum misereri_." (Pieper, _Dogm_. 2, 25. 50.) + +In foisting his doctrine of election on the Reformed churches, Calvin +met with at least some opposition. The words in the paragraph of the +_Formula of Concord_ quoted above: "Yet, since this article [of +predestination] has been brought into very painful controversy in other +places," probably refer to the conflicts in Geneva and Switzerland. +October 16, 1551, Jerome Bolsec [a Carmelite in Paris, secretly spread +Pelagianism in Geneva; sided with the Protestants in Paris and Orleans +after his banishment from Geneva; reembraced Romanism when persecution +set in; wrote against Calvin and Beza, died 1584] was imprisoned in +Geneva because of his opposition to Calvin's doctrine of predestination. +Melanchthon remarks in a letter of February 1, 1552: "Laelius [Socinus] +wrote me that in Geneva the struggle concerning the Stoic necessity is +so great that a certain one who dissented from Zeno [Calvin] was +incarcerated. What a miserable affair! The doctrine of salvation is +obscured by disputations foreign to it." (_C. R._ 7, 932.) Although the +German cantons (Zurich, Bern, Basel) advised moderation, Bolsec was +banished from Geneva, with the result however, that he continued his +agitation against Calvin in other parts of Switzerland. In Bern all +discussions on predestination were prohibited by the city council. +Calvin complained in a letter of September 18, 1554: "The preachers of +Bern publicly declare that I am a heretic worse than all the Papists." +(Gieseler 3, 2, 178.) January 26, 1555, the council of Bern renewed its +decree against public doctrinal discussions, notably those on +predestination--"_principalement touchant la matiere de la divine +predestination, qui nous semble non etre necessaire_," etc. (179.) Later +on the doctrine of Calvin was opposed by the Arminians from +Semi-Pelagian principles. + +226. Calvinistic Confessions. + +The essential features of Calvin's doctrine of predestination were +embodied in most of the Reformed confessions. The _Consensus Genevensis_ +of January 1, 1552, written by Calvin against Albert Pighius [a +fanatical defender of Popery against Luther, Bucer, Calvin; died +December 26, 1542] and adopted by the pastors of Geneva, is entitled: +"_Concerning God's Eternal Predestination_, by which He has elected some +to salvation and left theothers to their perdition--_qua in salutem +alios ex hominibus elegit, alios suo exitio reliquit_." (Niemeyer, +_Collectio Confessionum_, 218. 221.) The _Confessio Belgica_, of 1559, +and the _Confessio Gallicana_, of 1561, teach the same absolute +predestinarianism. In Article XVI of the Belgic Confession we read: In +predestination God proved Himself to be what He is in reality, _viz._, +merciful and just. "Merciful by liberating and saving from damnation and +perdition those whom ... He elected; just, by leaving the others in +their fall and in the perdition into which they precipitated themselves. +_Iustum vero, alios in illo suo lapsu et perditione relinquendo, in quam +sese ipsi praecipites dederunt_." (Niemeyer, 370.) The _Gallic +Confession_ [prepared by Calvin and his pupil, De Chandieu; approved by +a synod at Paris 1559; delivered by Beza to Charles IX, 1561, translated +into German 1562, and into Latin, 1566; adopted 1571 by the Synod of La +Rochelle] maintains that God elected some but left the others in their +corruption and damnation. In Article XII we read: "We believe that from +this corruption and general damnation in which all men are plunged, God, +according to His eternal and immutable counsel, calls those whom He has +chosen by His goodness and mercy alone in our Lord Jesus Christ, without +consideration of their works, to display in them the riches of His +mercy, leaving the rest in this same corruption and condemnation to show +in them His justice. _Credimus ex hac corruptione et damnatione +universali, in qua omnes homines natura sunt submersi, Deum alios quidem +eripere, quos videlicet aeterno et immutabili suo consilio sola sua +bonitate et misericordia, nulloque operum ipsorum respectu in Iesu +Christo elegit; alios vero in ea corruptione et damnatione relinquere, +in quibus nimirum iuste suo tempore damnandis iustitiam suam demonstret, +sicut in aliis divitias misericordiae suae declarat_." (Niemeyer, 332; +Schaff 3, 366.) + +The _Formula Consensus Helveticae_ of 1675 says, canon 13: "As from +eternity Christ was elected Head, Leader, and Heir of all those who in +time are saved by His grace, thus also in the time of the New Covenant +He has been the Bondsman for those only who by eternal election were +given to Him to be His peculiar people, seed, and heredity. _Sicut +Christus ab aeterno electus est ut Caput, Princeps et Haeres omnium +eorum, qui in tempore per gratiam eius salvantur, ita etiam in tempore +Novi Foederis Sponsor factus est pro iis solis qui per aeternam +electionem dati ipsi sunt ut populus peculii, semen et haereditas +eius_," etc. (Niemeyer, 733.) + +The same Calvinistic doctrines were subsequently embodied in the _Canons +of the Synod of Dort_, promulgated May 6, 1619, and in the _Westminster +Confession of Faith_, published 1647. In the former we read: "That some +receive the gift of faith from God, and others do not receive it, +proceeds from God's eternal election.... According to His just judgment +He leaves the non-elect to their own wickedness and obduracy." (Schaff +3, 582.) "The elect, in due time, though in various degrees and in +different measures, attain the assurance of this eternal and +unchangeable election, not by inquisitively prying into the secret and +deep things of God, but by observing in themselves, with a spiritual joy +and holy pleasure, the infallible fruits of election pointed out in the +Word of God, such as a true faith in Christ, filial fear, a godly sorrow +for sin, a hungering and thirsting after righteousness, etc." (583.) +"Not all, but some only, are elected, while others are passed by in the +eternal decree; whom God, out of His sovereign, most just, +irreprehensible, and unchangeable good pleasure, hath decreed to leave +in the common misery into which they have wilfully plunged themselves, +and not to bestow upon them saving faith and the grace of conversion." +... (584.) "For this was the sovereign counsel and most gracious will +and purpose of God the Father, that the quickening and saving efficacy +of the most precious death of His Son should extend to all the elect, +for bestowing _upon them alone_ the gift of justifying faith, thereby to +bring them infallibly to salvation; that is, it was the will of God that +Christ by the blood of the cross whereby He confirmed the New Covenant +should effectually redeem out of every people, tribe, nation, and +language all those, _and those only_, who were from eternity chosen to +salvation, and given to Him by the Father." (587.) "But God, who is rich +in mercy, according to His unchangeable purpose of election, does not +_wholly_ withdraw the Holy Spirit from His own people, even in their +melancholy falls, nor suffer them to proceed so far as to lose the grace +of adoption and forfeit the state of justification," etc. (Schaff 3, +593; Niemeyer, 716.) + +The _Westminster Confession_ declares: "By the decree of God, for the +manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto +everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death." +(Schaff 3, 608.) "As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath +He, by the eternal and most free purpose of His will, foreordained all +the means thereunto. Wherefore they who are elected being fallen in +Adam, are redeemed by Christ are effectually called unto faith in Christ +by His Spirit working in due season; are justified, adopted, sanctified, +and kept by His power through faith unto salvation. Neither are any +other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, +sanctified, and saved but the elect only." (609.) "The rest of mankind +God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of His own will, +whereby He extends or withholds mercy as He pleases for the glory of His +sovereign power over His creatures, _to pass by_, and to ordain them to +dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious +justice." (610; Niemeyer, _Appendix_ 6. 7.) + +227. Marbach and Zanchi in Strassburg. + +In view of the situation portrayed in the preceding paragraphs, it is +certainly remarkable that a general public controversy, particularly +with the Calvinists and Synergists had not been inaugurated long before +the _Formula of Concord_ was able to write that such a conflict had not +yet occurred. Surely the powder required for a predestinarian +conflagration was everywhere stored up in considerable quantities, +within as well as without the Lutheran Church. Nor was a local skirmish +lacking which might have served as the spark and been welcomed as a +signal for a general attack. It was the conflict between Marbach and +Zanchi, probably referred to by the words quoted above from Article XI: +"Something of it [of a discussion concerning eternal election] has been +mooted also among our theologians." This controversy took place from +1561 to 1563, at Strassburg, where Lutheranism and Calvinism came into +immediate contact. In 1536 Strassburg had adopted the _Wittenberg +Concord_ and with it the _Augsburg Confession_ which since took the +place of the _Tetrapolitana_ delivered to Emperor Charles at the Diet +of Augsburg, 1530. The efficient and zealous leader in Lutheranizing +the city was John Marbach a graduate of Wittenberg and, together with +Mathesius, a former guest at Luther's table. He was born in 1521 and +labored in Strassburg from 1545 to 1581, the year of his death. He had +Bucer's Catechism replaced by Luther's, and entered the public +controversy against the Calvinists with a publication entitled, +_Concerning the Lord's Supper, against the Sacramentarians_, which +defends the omnipresence of Christ also according to His human nature. + +In his efforts to Lutheranize the city, Marbach was opposed by the +Crypto-Calvinist Jerome Zanchi (born 1516, died 1590), a converted +Italian and a pupil of Peter Martyr [born September 8, 1500; won for +Protestantism by reading books of Bucer, Zwingli, and others; professor, +first in Strassburg, 1547 in Oxford; compelled to return to the +Continent (Strassburg and Zurich) by Bloody Mary; died November 12, +1562, when just about to write a book against Brenz]. From 1553 to 1563 +Zanchi was professor of Old Testament exegesis in Strassburg. Though he +had signed the _Augsburg Confession_, he was and remained a rigid +Calvinist, both with respect to the doctrine of predestination and that +of the Lord's Supper, but withheld his public dissent until about 1561. +It was the Calvinistic doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, +according to which grace once received cannot be lost, upon which Zanchi +now laid especial emphasis. According to Loescher (_Historia Motuum_ 3, +30) he taught: "1. To the elect in this world faith is given by God only +once. 2. The elect who have once been endowed with true faith ... can +never again lose faith altogether. 3. The elect never sin with their +whole mind or their entire will. 4. When Peter denied Christ, he, +indeed, lacked the confession of the mouth, but not the faith of the +heart. _1. Electis in hoc saeculo semel tantum vera fides a Deo datur. +2. Electi semel vera fide donati Christoque per Spiritum Sanctum insiti +fidem prorsus amittere ... non possunt. 3. In electis regeneratis duo +sunt homines, interior et exterior. Ii, quum peccant, secundum tantum +hominem exteriorem, i.e., ea tantum parte, qua non sunt regeniti, +peccant; secundum vero interiorem hominem nolunt peccatum et +condelectantur legi Dei; quare non toto animo aut plena voluntate +peccant. 4. Petrum, quum negavit Christum, defecit quidem fidei +confessio in ore sed non defecit fides in corde_." (Tschackert 560; +Frank 4, 261.) + +This tenet, that believers can neither lose their faith nor be eternally +lost, had been plainly rejected by Luther. In the _Smalcald Articles_ we +read: "On the other hand, if certain sectarists would arise, some of +whom are perhaps already extant, and in the time of the insurrection [of +the peasants, 1525] came to my own view, holding that all those who had +once received the Spirit or the forgiveness of sins, or had become +believers, even though they should afterwards sin, would still remain in +the faith, and such sin would not harm them, and hence crying thus: 'Do +whatever you please; if you believe, it all amounts to nothing: faith +blots out all sins,' etc.--they say, besides, that if any one sins after +he has received faith and the Spirit, he never truly had the Spirit and +faith: I have had before me many such insane men, and I fear that in +some such a devil is still remaining [hiding and dwelling]. It is, +accordingly, necessary to know and to teach that when holy men, still +having and feeling original sin, also daily repenting of and striving +with it, happen to fall into manifest sins, as David into adultery, +murder, and blasphemy, that then faith and the Holy Ghost has departed +from them. For the Holy Ghost does not permit sin to have dominion, to +gain the upper hand, so as to be accomplished, but represses and +restrains it so that it must not do what it wishes. But if it does what +it wishes, the Holy Ghost and faith are not present. For St. John says, +1 Ep. 3, 9: 'Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin,... and he +cannot sin.' And yet it is also the truth when the same St. John says, +1 Ep. 1, 8: 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and +the truth is not in us.'" (491, 42f.) + +In an opinion of March 9, 1559, Melanchthon remarks that about 1529 some +Antinomians maintained and argued "that, since in this life sin remains +in saints, they remain holy and retain the Holy Spirit and salvation +even when they commit adultery and other sins against their +conscience.... There are many at many places who are imbued with this +error [that righteousness, Holy Spirit, and sins against the conscience +can remain in a man at the same time], regard themselves holy although +they live and persevere in sins against their consciences." (_C. R._ 9, +764. 405. 473; 8, 411.) + +The perseverance of saints as taught by Zanchi was the point to which +Marbach immediately took exception. A long discussion followed, which +was finally settled by the _Strassburg Formula of Concord_ of 1563, +outside theologians participating and acting as arbiters. This +_Formula_, which was probably prepared by Jacob Andreae, treated in its +first article the Lord's Supper; in its second, predestination. It +rejected the doctrine that, once received, faith cannot be lost, and +prescribed the _Wittenberg Concord_ of 1536 as the doctrinal rule +regarding the Holy Supper. The document was signed by both parties, +Zanchi stating over his signature: "_Hanc doctrinae formam ut piam +agnosco, ita eam recipio_." Evidently his mental reservation was that he +be permitted to withdraw from it in as far as he did not regard it as +pious. Later Zanchi declared openly that he had subscribed the _Formula_ +only conditionally. Soon after his subscription he left Strassburg, +serving till 1568 as preacher of a Reformed Italian congregation in +Chiavenna, till 1576 as professor in the Reformed University of +Heidelberg, and till 1582 as professor in Neustadt. He died at +Heidelberg as professor emeritus November 19, 1590. Marbach continued +his work at Strassburg, and was active also in promoting the cause of +the _Formula of Concord_. His controversy with Zanchi, though of a local +character, may be regarded as the immediate cause for adding Article XI. +The thorough Lutheranizing of the city was completed by Pappus, a pupil +of Marbach. In 1597 Strassburg adopted the _Formula of Concord_. + +228. The Strassburg Formula. + +The _Strassburg Formula of Concord_ sets forth the Scriptural and +peculiarly Lutheran point of view in the doctrine of election, according +to which a Christian, in order to attain to a truly divine assurance of +his election and final salvation, is to consider predestination not _a +priori_, but _a posteriori_. That is to say, he is not to speculate on +the act of eternal election as such, but to consider it as manifested to +him in Christ and the Gospel of Christ. Judging from his own false +conception of predestination, Calvin remarked that the _Strassburg +Formula_ did not deny but rather veiled, the doctrine of election,--a +stricture frequently made also on Article XI of the _Formula of +Concord_, whose truly Scriptural and evangelical view of election the +Reformed have never fully grasped and realized. + +The _Strassburg Formula_ taught that, in accordance with Rom. 15, 4, the +doctrine of predestination must be presented so as not to bring it into +conflict with the doctrines of repentance and justification nor to +deprive alarmed consciences of the consolation of the Gospel, nor in any +way to violate the truth that the only cause of our salvation is the +grace of God alone; that the consolation afforded by election, +especially in tribulations (that no one shall pluck us out of the hands +of Christ), remains firm and solid only as long as the universality of +God's promises is kept inviolate, that Christ died and earned salvation +for all, and earnestly invites all to partake of it by faith, which is +the gift of grace, and which alone receives the salvation proffered to +all; that the reason why the gift of faith is not bestowed upon all men, +though Christ seriously invites all to come to Him, is a mystery known +to God alone, which human reason cannot fathom; that the will of God +proposed in Christ and revealed in the Bible, to which all men are +directed, and in which it is most safe to acquiesce, is not +contradictory of the hidden will of God. (Loescher, _Hist Mot_. 2, 229; +Frank 4, 126. 262; Tschackert, 560.) + +Particularly with respect to the "mystery," the _Strassburg Formula_ +says: "The fact that this grace or this gift of faith is not given by +God to all when He calls all to Himself, and, according to His infinite +goodness, certainly calls earnestly: 'Come unto the marriage, for all +things are now ready,' is a sealed mystery known to God alone, past +finding out for human reason; a secret that must be contemplated with +fear and be adored, as it is written: 'O the depth of the riches both of +the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and +His ways past finding out!' Rom. 11, 33. And Christ gives thanks to the +Father because He has hid these things from the wise and prudent and +revealed them unto babes. Matt. 11, 25. Troubled consciences, however, +must not take offense at this hidden way of the divine will but look +upon the will of God revealed in Christ, who calls all sinners to +Himself." This was also the teaching of the contemporary theologians. +Moerlin wrote: "God has revealed to us that He will save only those who +believe in Christ, and that unbelief is chargeable to us. Hidden, +however, are God's judgments--why He converts Paul but does not convert +Caiaphas; why He receives fallen Peter again and abandons Judas to +despair." Chemnitz: "Why, then, is it that God does not put such faith +into the heart of Judas so that he, too, might have believed and been +saved through Christ? Here we must leave off questioning and say, Rom. +11: 'O the depth!'... We cannot and must not search this nor meditate +too deeply upon such questions." Kirchner: "Since, therefore, faith in +Christ is a special gift of God, why does He not bestow it upon all? +Answer: We must defer the discussion of this question unto eternal life, +and in the mean time be content to know that God does not want us to +search His secret judgments, Rom. 11: 'O the depth,' etc." In a similar +way Chemnitz, Selneccer, and Kirchner expressed themselves in their +_Apology of the Book of Concord_, of 1582, declaring that, "when asked +why God does not convert all men, we must answer with the apostle: 'How +unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!' but not +ascribe to God the Lord the willing and real cause of the reprobation +or damnation of the impenitent." (Pieper, _Dogm_. 2, 585f.) + +229. Predestination according to Article XI of Formula of Concord. + +In keeping with her fundamental teaching of _sola gratia_ and _gratia +universalis_, according to which God's grace is the only cause of man's +salvation, and man's evil will the sole cause of his damnation, the +Lutheran Church holds that eternal election is an election of grace, +_i.e._, a predestination to salvation only. God's eternal election, says +the _Formula of Concord_, "does not extend at once over the godly and +the wicked, but only over the children of God, who were elected and +ordained to eternal life before the foundation of the world was laid, as +Paul says, Eph. 1, 4. 5: 'He hath chosen us in Him, having predestinated +us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ.'" (1065, 5.) This +election, the _Formula_ continues, "not only foresees and foreknows the +salvation of the elect, but is also, from the gracious will and pleasure +of God in Christ Jesus, a cause which procures, works, helps, and +promotes our salvation, and what pertains thereto; and upon this [divine +predestination] our salvation is so founded that the gates of hell +cannot prevail against it, Matt. 16, 18, as is written John 10, 28: +'Neither shall any man pluck My sheep out of My hand,' And again, Acts +13, 48: 'And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.'" (1065, +8.) While thus election is a cause of faith and salvation, there is no +cause of election in man. The teaching "that not only the mercy of God +and the most holy merit of Christ but also in us there is a cause of +God's election on account of which God has elected us to everlasting +life," is rejected by the _Formula of Concord_ as one of the +"blasphemous and dreadful erroneous doctrines whereby all the comfort +which they have in the holy Gospel and the use of the holy Sacraments is +taken from Christians." (837, 20f.) + +Concerning the way of considering eternal election, the _Formula_ +writes: "If we wish to think or speak correctly and profitably +concerning eternal election, or the predestination and ordination of the +children of God to eternal life, we should accustom ourselves not to +speculate concerning the bare, secret, concealed, inscrutable +foreknowledge of God, but how the counsel, purpose, and ordination of +God in Christ Jesus, who is the true Book of Life, is revealed to us +through the Word, namely, that the entire doctrine concerning the +purpose, counsel, will, and ordination of God pertaining to our +redemption, call, justification, and salvation should be taken together; +as Paul treats and has explained this article Rom. 8, 29f.; Eph. 1, 4f., +as also Christ in the parable, Matt. 22, 1ff." (1067, 13.) + +While according to the Lutheran Church election is the cause of faith +and salvation, there is no such a thing as an election of wrath or a +predestination to sin and damnation, of both of which God is not the +cause and author. According to the _Formula_ the vessels of mercy are +prepared by God alone, but the vessels of dishonor are prepared for +damnation, not by God, but by themselves. Moreover, God earnestly +desires that all men turn from their wicked ways and live. We read: "For +all preparation for condemnation is by the devil and man, through sin, +and in no respect by God, who does not wish that any man be damned; how, +then, should He Himself prepare any man for condemnation? For as God is +not a cause of sins, so, too, He is no cause of punishment, of +damnation; but the only cause of damnation is sin; for the wages of sin +is death. Rom. 6, 23. And as God does not will sin, and has no pleasure +in sin, so He does not wish the death of the sinner either, Ezek. 33, +11, nor has He pleasure in his condemnation. For He is not willing that +any one should perish, but that all should come to repentance, 2 Pet. 3, +9. So, too, it is written in Ezek. 18, 23; 33, 11: 'As I live, saith the +Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the +wicked turn from his way and live,' And St. Paul testifies in clear +words that from vessels of dishonor vessels of honor may be made by +God's power and working, when he writes 2 Tim. 2, 21: 'If a man, +therefore, purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, +sanctified and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good +work,' For he who is to purge himself must first have been unclean, and +hence a vessel of dishonor. But concerning the vessels of mercy he says +clearly that the Lord Himself has prepared them for glory, which he does +not say concerning the damned, who themselves, and not God, have +prepared themselves as vessels of damnation." (1089, 81f.) "Hence the +apostle distinguishes with special care the work of God, who alone makes +vessels of honor, and the work of the devil and of man, who by the +instigation of the devil, and not of God, has made himself a vessel of +dishonor. For thus it is written, Rom. 9, 22f.: 'God endured with much +long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, that He might +make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had +afore prepared unto glory.' Here, then, the apostle clearly says that +God endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath, but does not +say that He made them vessels of wrath; for if this had been His will, +He would not have required any great long-suffering for it. The fault, +however, that they are fitted for destruction belongs to the devil and +to men themselves, and not to God." (1089, 79f.) + +It is man's own fault when he is not converted by the Word or afterwards +falls away again. We read: "But the reason why not all who hear it [the +Word of God] believe and are therefore condemned the more deeply, is not +because God had begrudged them their salvation; but it is their own +fault, as they have heard the Word in such a manner as not to learn, but +only to despise, blaspheme, and disgrace it, and have resisted the Holy +Ghost, who through the Word wished to work in them, as was the case at +the time of Christ with the Pharisees and their adherents." (1089, 78.) +"For few receive the Word and follow it; the greatest number despise the +Word, and will not come to the wedding, Matt. 22, 3ff. The cause of this +contempt for the Word is not God's foreknowledge [or predestination], +but the perverse will of man, which rejects or perverts the means and +instrument of the Holy Ghost, which God offers him through the call, and +resists the Holy Ghost, who wishes to be efficacious, and works through +the Word, as Christ says: 'How often would I have gathered you together, +and ye would not!' Matt. 23, 37. Thus many receive the Word with joy, +but afterwards fall away again, Luke 8, 13. But the cause is not as +though God were unwilling to grant grace for perseverance to those in +whom He has begun the good work, for that is contrary to St. Paul, Phil. +1, 6; but the cause is that they wilfully turn away again from the holy +commandment, grieve and embitter the Holy Ghost, implicate themselves +again in the filth of the world, and garnish again the habitation of the +heart for the devil. With them the last state is worse than the first." +(1077 41f.; 835, 12.) + +It is not because of any deficiency in God that men are lost; for His +grace is universal as well as serious and efficacious. The _Formula of +Concord_ declares: "However, that many are called and few chosen is not +owing to the fact that the call of God, which is made through the Word, +had the meaning as though God said: Outwardly, through the Word, I +indeed call to My kingdom all of you to whom I give My Word; however, in +My heart I do not mean this with respect to all, but only with respect +to a few; for it is My will that the greatest part of those whom I call +through the Word shall not be enlightened nor converted, but be and +remain damned, although through the Word, in the call, I declare Myself +to them otherwise. _Hoc enim esset Deo contradictorias voluntates +affingere_. For this would be to assign contradictory wills to God. That +is, in this way it would be taught that God, who surely is Eternal +Truth, would be contrary to Himself [or say one thing, but revolve +another in His heart], while, on the contrary, God [rebukes and] +punishes also in men this wickedness, when a person declares himself to +one purpose, and thinks and means another in the heart, Ps. 5, 9; 12, +2f." (1075, 36.) + +It is a punishment of their previous sins and not a result of God's +predestination when sinners are hardened; nor does such hardening +signify that it never was God's good pleasure to save them. "Moreover," +says the _Formula_, "it is to be diligently considered that when God +punishes sin with sins, that is when He afterwards punishes with +obduracy and blindness those who had been converted because of their +subsequent security, impenitence, and wilful sins, this should not be +interpreted to mean that it never had been God's good pleasure that such +persons should come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. For both +these facts are God's revealed will: first, that God will receive into +grace all who repent and believe in Christ; secondly, that He also will +punish those who wilfully turn away from the holy commandment, and again +entangle themselves in the filth of the world 2 Pet. 2, 20, and garnish +their hearts for Satan, Luke 11, 25f., and do despite unto the Spirit of +God, Heb. 10, 29, and that they shall be hardened, blinded, and +eternally condemned if they persist therein." (1091, 83.) + +"But that God ... hardened Pharaoh's heart, namely, that Pharaoh always +sinned again and again, and became the more obdurate the more he was +admonished, that was a punishment of his antecedent sin and horrible +tyranny, which in many and manifold ways he practised inhumanly and +against the accusations of his heart towards the children of Israel. And +since God caused His Word to be preached and His will to be proclaimed +to him, and Pharaoh nevertheless wilfully reared up straightway against +all admonitions and warnings, God withdrew His hand from him and thus +his heart became hardened and obdurate, and God executed His judgment +upon him; for he was guilty of nothing else than hell-fire. Accordingly, +the holy apostle also introduces the example of Pharaoh for no other +reason than to prove by it the justice of God which He exercises towards +the impenitent and despisers of His Word; by no means, however, has he +intended or understood it to mean that God begrudged salvation to him or +any person, but had so ordained him to eternal damnation in His secret +counsel that he should not be able, or that it should not be possible +for him, to be saved." (1091, 85f.) + +230. Agreement of Articles XI and II. + +In the _Formula of Concord_, Article XI is closely related to most of +the other articles particularly to Article I, Of Original Sin, and +Article II, Of Free Will and Conversion. Election is to conversion what +the concave side of a lens is to the convex. Both correspond to each +other in every particular. What God does for and in man when He +converts, justifies, sanctifies, preserves, and finally glorifies him, +He has in eternity resolved to do,--that is one way in which eternal +election may be defined. Synergists and Calvinists, however have always +maintained that the Second Article is in a hopeless conflict with the +Eleventh. But the truth is, the Second fully confirms and corroborates +the Eleventh, and _vice versa;_ for both maintain the _sola gratia_ as +well as the _universalis gratia_. + +Both articles teach that in every respect grace alone is the cause of +our conversion and salvation, and that this grace is not confined to +some men only, but is a grace for all. Both teach that man, though +contributing absolutely nothing to his conversion and salvation, is +nevertheless the sole cause of his own damnation. Both disavow Calvinism +which denies the universality of grace. Both reject synergism, which +corrupts grace by teaching a cooperation of man towards his own +conversion and salvation. Teaching therefore, as they do, the same +truths, both articles will and must ever stand and fall together. It +was, no doubt, chiefly due to this complete harmony between the Second +and the Eleventh Article that after the former (which received its +present shape only after repeated changes and additions) had been +decided upon the revision of the latter (the Eleventh) caused but little +delay. (Frank 4, V. 133.) + +Concerning the alleged conflict between Articles II and XI, we read in +Schaff's _Creeds of Christendom:_ "There is an obvious and +irreconcilable antagonism between Article II and Article XI. They +contain not simply opposite truths to be reconciled by theological +science, but contradictory assertions, which ought never to be put into +a creed. The _Formula_ adopts one part of Luther's book _De Servo +Arbitrio_, 1525, and rejects the other, which follows with logical +necessity. It is Augustinian, yea, hyper-Augustinian and +hyper-Calvinistic in the doctrine of human depravity, and +anti-Augustinian in the doctrine of divine predestination. It endorses +the anthropological premise, and denies the theological conclusion. If +man is by nature like a stone and block, and unable even to accept the +grace of God, as Article II teaches, he can only be converted by an act +of almighty power and irresistible grace, which Article XI denies. If +some men are saved without any cooperation on their part, while others, +with the same inability and the same opportunities, are lost, the +difference points to a particular predestination and the inscrutable +decree of God. On the other hand if God sincerely wills the salvation of +all men, as Article XI teaches, and yet only a part are actually saved, +there must be some difference in the attitude of the saved and the lost +towards converting grace, which is denied in Article II. The Lutheran +system, then, to be consistent, must rectify itself, and develop either +from Article II in the direction of Augustinianism and Calvinism, or +from Article XI in the direction of synergism and Arminianism. The +former would be simply returning to Luther's original doctrine [?], +which he never recalled, though he may have modified it a little; the +latter is the path pointed out by Melanchthon, and adopted more or less +by some of the ablest modern Lutherans." (1, 314. 330.) Prior to Schaff, +similar charges had been raised by Planck, Schweizer, Heppe, and others, +who maintained that Article XI suffers from a "theological confusion +otherwise not found in the _Formula_." + +Apart from other unwarranted assertions in the passage quoted from +Schaff, the chief charges there raised against the _Formula of Concord_ +are: 1. that Articles XI and II are contradictory to each other, 2. that +the Lutheran Church has failed to harmonize the doctrines of _sola +gratia_ and _gratia universalis_. However, the first of these strictures +is based on gross ignorance of the facts, resulting from a superficial +investigation of the articles involved, for the alleged disagreement is +purely imaginary. As a matter of fact, no one can read the two articles +attentively without being everywhere impressed with their complete +harmony. In every possible way Article XI excludes synergism, and +corroborates the _sola gratia_ doctrine of Article II. And Article II, +in turn, nowhere denies, rather everywhere, directly or indirectly, +confirms, the universal grace particularly emphasized in Article XI. + +The framers of the _Formula_ were well aware of the fact that the least +error in the doctrine of free will and conversion was bound to manifest +itself also in the doctrine of election, and that perhaps in a form much +more difficult to detect. Hence Article XI was not only intended to be a +bulwark against the assaults on the doctrine of grace coming from + Calvinistic quarters, but also an additional reenforcement of the +article of Free Will against the Synergists, in order to prevent a +future recrudescence of their errors in the sphere of predestination. +Its object is clearly to maintain the doctrine of the Bible, according +to which it is grace alone that saves, a grace which, at the same time, +is a grace for all, and thus to steer clear of synergism as well as of +Calvinism, and forever to close the doors of the Lutheran Church to +every form of these two errors. + +According to the Second Article, Christians cannot be assured of their +election if the doctrine of conversion [by grace alone] is not properly +presented. (901, 47. 57.) And Article XI most emphatically supports +Article II in its efforts to weed out every kind of synergistic or +Romanistic corruption. For here we read: "Thus far the mystery of +predestination is revealed to us in God's Word; and if we abide thereby +and cleave thereto, it is a very useful salutary, consolatory doctrine; +for it establishes very effectually the article that we are justified +and saved without all works and merits of ours, purely out of grace +alone, for Christ's sake. For before the time of the world, before we +existed, yea, before the foundation of the world was laid, when, of +course, we could do nothing good, we were according to God's purpose +chosen by grace in Christ to salvation, Rom. 9, 11; 2 Tim. 1, 9. +Moreover, all opinions and erroneous doctrines concerning the powers of +our natural will are thereby overthrown, because God in His counsel, +before the time of the world, decided and ordained that He Himself, by +the power of His Holy Ghost, would produce and work in us, through the +Word, everything that pertains to our conversion." (1077, 43f.; 837, +20.) + +Again: "By this doctrine and explanation of the eternal and saving +choice of the elect children of God, His own glory is entirely and fully +given to God, that in Christ He saves us out of pure [and free] mercy, +without any merits or good works of ours, according to the purpose of +His will, as it is written Eph. 1, 5f.: 'Having predestinated us,'... +Therefore it is false and wrong when it is taught that not alone the +mercy of God and the most holy merit of Christ, but that also in us +there is a cause of God's predestination on account of which God has +chosen us to eternal life." Indeed, one of the most exclusive +formulations against every possible kind of subtile synergism is found +in Article XI when it teaches that the reason why some are converted and +saved while others are lost, must not be sought in man, _i.e._, in any +minor guilt or less faulty conduct toward grace shown by those who are +saved, as compared with the guilt and conduct of those who are lost. +(1081, 57f.) If, therefore, the argument of the Calvinists and +Synergists that the _sola gratia_ doctrine involves a denial of +universal grace were correct, the charge of Calvinism would have to be +raised against Article XI as well as against Article II. + +In a similar manner the Second Article confirms the Eleventh by +corroborating its anti-Calvinistic teaching of universal grace and +redemption; of man's responsibility for his own damnation; of man's +conversion, not by compulsion or coercion, etc. The Second Article most +emphatically teaches the _sola gratia_, but without in any way limiting, +violating, or encroaching upon, universal grace. It is not merely +opposed to Pelagian, Semi-Pelagian and synergistic errors, but to Stoic +and Calvinistic aberrations as well. While it is not the special object +of the Second Article to set forth the universality of God's grace, its +anti-Calvinistic attitude is nevertheless everywhere apparent. + +Article II plainly teaches that "it is not God's will that anyone should +be damned, but that all men should be converted to Him and be saved +eternally. Ezek. 33, 11: 'As I live.'" (901, 49.) It teaches that +"Christ, in whom we are chosen, offers to all men His grace in the Word +and holy Sacraments, and wishes earnestly that it be heard, and has +promised that where two or three are gathered together in His name, and +are occupied with His holy Word, He will be in their midst." (903, 57.) +It maintains that through the Gospel the Holy Ghost offers man grace and +salvation, effects conversion through the preaching and hearing of God's +Word, and is present with this Word in order to convert men. (787, 4ff.; +889, 18.) It holds that "all who wish to be saved ought to hear this +preaching, because the preaching and hearing of God's Word are the +instruments of the Holy Ghost, by, with, and through which He desires to +work efficaciously, and to convert men to God, and to work in them both +to will and to do." (901, 52ff.) It admonishes that no one should doubt +that the power and efficacy of the Holy Ghost is present with, and +efficacious in, the Word when it is preached purely and listened to +attentively, and that we should base our certainty concerning the +presence, operation, and gifts of the Holy Ghost not on our feeling, but +on the promise that the Word of God preached and heard is truly an +office and work of the Holy Ghost, by which He is certainly efficacious +and works in our hearts, 2 Cor. 2, 14ff.; 3, 5ff." [tr. note: sic on +punctuation] (903, 56.) It asserts that men who refuse to hear the Word +of God are not converted because they despised the instrument of the +Holy Spirit and would not hear (903, 58); that God does not force men to +become godly; that those who always resist the Holy Ghost and +persistently oppose the known truth are not converted (905, 60). If, +therefore, the inference were correct that the doctrine of universal +grace involved a denial of the _sola gratia_, then the charge of +synergism would have to be raised against Article II as well as against +Article XI. Both articles will always stand and fall together; for both +teach that the grace of God is the only cause of our conversion and +salvation, and that this grace is truly universal. + +231. Mystery in Doctrine of Grace. + +The second charge raised by Calvinists and Synergists against the +_Formula of Concord_ is its failure to harmonize "logically" what they +term "contradictory doctrines": _sola gratia_ and _universalis gratia_, +--a stricture which must be characterized as flowing from rationalistic +premises, mistaking a divine mystery for a real contradiction, and in +reality directed against the clear Word of God itself. Says Schaff, who +also in this point voices the views of Calvinists as well as Synergists: +"The _Formula of Concord_ sanctioned a compromise between Augustinianism +and universalism, or between the original Luther and the later +Melanchthon, by teaching both the absolute inability of man and the +universality of divine grace, without an attempt to solve these +contradictory positions." (304.) "Thus the particularism of election and +the universalism of vocation, the absolute inability of fallen man, and +the guilt of the unbeliever for rejecting what he cannot accept, are +illogically combined." (1, 330.) The real charge here raised against the +_Formula of Concord_ is, that it fails to modify the doctrines of _sola +gratia_ or _universalis gratia_ in a manner satisfactory to the demands +of human reason; for Synergists and Calvinists are agreed that, in the +interest of rational harmony, one or the other must be abandoned, either +_universalis gratia seria et efficax_, or _sola gratia_. + +In judging of the charge in question, it should not be overlooked that, +according to the _Formula of Concord_, all Christians, theologians +included, are bound to derive their entire doctrine from the Bible +alone; that matters of faith must be decided exclusively by clear +passages of Holy Scripture, that human reason ought not in any point to +criticize and lord it over the infallible Word of God; that reason must +be subjected to the obedience of Christ, and dare not hinder faith in +believing the divine testimonies even when they seemingly contradict +each other. We are not commanded to harmonize, says the _Formula_, but +to believe, confess, defend, and faithfully to adhere to the teachings +of the Bible. (1078, 52ff.) In the doctrine of conversion and salvation, +therefore, Lutherans confess both the _sola gratia_ and the _universalis +gratia_, because they are convinced that both are clearly taught in the +Bible, and that to reject or modify either of them would amount to a +criticism of the Word of God, and hence of God Himself. Synergists +differ from Lutherans, not in maintaining universal grace (which in +reality they deny as to intention as well as extension, for they corrupt +the Scriptural content of grace by making it dependent on man's conduct, +and thereby limit its extension to such only as comply with its +conditions), but in denying the _sola gratia_, and teaching that the +will of man enters conversion as a factor alongside of grace. And +Calvinists differ from Lutherans not in maintaining the _sola gratia_, +but in denying universal grace. + +But while, in accordance with the clear Word of God, faithfully adhering +to both the _sola gratia_ and _universalis gratia_, and firmly +maintaining that whoever is saved is saved by grace alone, and whoever +is lost is lost through his own fault alone, the _Formula of Concord_ at +the same time fully acknowledges the difficulty presenting itself to +human reason when we hold fast to this teaching. In particular, it +admits that the question, not answered in the Bible, _viz_., why some +are saved while others are lost, embraces a mystery which we lack the +means and ability of solving, as well as the data. Accordingly, the +_Formula_ also makes no efforts whatever to harmonize them, but rather +discountenances and warns against all attempts to cater to human reason +in this respect, and insists that both doctrines be maintained intact +and taught conjointly. Lutherans are fully satisfied that here every +effort at rational harmonization cannot but lead either to Calvinistic +corruption of universal grace or to synergistic modification of _sola +gratia_. + +Thus the Lutheran Church not only admits, but zealously guards, the +mystery contained in the doctrine of grace and election. It +distinguishes between God in as far as He is known and not known; in as +far as He has revealed Himself, and in as far as He is still hidden to +us, but as we shall learn to know Him hereafter. The truths which may be +known concerning God are contained in the Gospel, revealed in the Bible. +The things still hidden from us include the unsearchable judgments of +God, His wonderful ways with men, and, in particular, the question why +some are saved while others are lost. God has not seen fit to reveal +these mysteries. And since reason cannot search or fathom God, man's +quest for an answer is both presumptuous and vain. That is to say, we +are utterly unable to uncover the divine counsels, which would show that +the mysterious judgments and ways proceeding from them are in complete +harmony with the universal grace proclaimed by the Gospel. + +Yet Lutherans believe that the hidden God is not in real conflict with +God as revealed in the Bible, and that the secret will of God does not +in the least invalidate the gracious will of the Gospel. According to +the _Formula of Concord_ there are no real contradictions in God; in Him +everything is yea and amen; His very being is pure reality and truth. +Hence, when relying on God as revealed in Christ, that is to say, +relying on grace which is pure grace only and at the same time grace for +all, Christians may be assured that there is absolutely nothing in the +unknown God, _i.e._, in as far as He has not revealed Himself to them, +which might subvert their simple faith in His gracious promises. The +face of God depicted in the Gospel is the true face of God. Whoever has +seen Christ has seen the Father as He is in reality. + +Indeed, also the hidden God, together with His secret counsels, +unsearchable judgments, and ways past finding out, even the majestic +God, in whom we live and move and have our being, the God who has all +things well in hand, and without whom nothing can be or occur, must, in +the light of the Scriptures, be viewed as an additional guarantee that, +in spite of all contingencies, the merciful divine promises of the +Gospel shall stand firm and immovable. Upon eternal election, says the +_Formula of Concord_, "our salvation is so [firmly] founded 'that the +gates of hell cannot prevail against it.'" (1065, 8.) As for us, +therefore, it remains our joyous privilege not to investigate what God +has withheld from us or to climb into the adyton of God's transcendent +majesty, but merely to rely on, and securely trust in, the blessed +Gospel, which proclaims grace for all and salvation by grace alone, and +teaches that whoever is saved must praise God alone for it, while +whoever is damned must blame only himself. + +Regarding the mystery involved in predestination, the _Formula of +Concord_ explains: "A distinction must be observed with especial care +between that which is expressly revealed concerning it [predestination] +in God's Word and what is not revealed. For in addition to what has been +revealed in Christ concerning this, of which we have hitherto spoken, +God has still kept secret and concealed much concerning this mystery, +and reserved it for His wisdom and knowledge alone, which we should not +investigate, nor should we indulge our thoughts in this matter, nor draw +conclusions nor inquire curiously, but should adhere to the revealed +Word. This admonition is most urgently needed. For our curiosity has +always much more pleasure in concerning itself with these matters +[investigating things abstruse and hidden] than with what God has +revealed to us concerning this in His Word, because we cannot harmonize +it [cannot by the acumen of our natural ability harmonize the intricate +and involved things occurring in this mystery], which, moreover, we have +not been commanded to do." + +The _Formula_ enumerates as such inscrutable mysteries: Why God gives +His Word at one place, but not at another; why He removes it from one +place, and allows it to remain at another; why one is hardened, while +another, who is in the same guilt, is converted again. Such and similar +questions, says the _Formula_, we cannot answer and must not endeavor to +solve. On the contrary, we are to adhere unflinchingly to both truths, +_viz_., that those who are converted are saved, not because they are +better than others, but by pure grace alone; and that those who are not +converted and not saved cannot accuse God of any neglect or injustice +but are lost by their own fault. The _Formula_ concludes its paragraphs +on the mysteries in predestination by saying: "When we proceed thus far +in this article [maintaining that God alone is the cause of man's +salvation and man alone is the cause of his damnation, and refusing to +solve the problems involved], we remain on the right [safe and royal] +way, as it is written Hos. 13, 9: 'O Israel, thou hast destroyed +thyself; but in Me is thy help.' However, as regards these things in +this disputation which would soar too high and beyond these limits, we +should, with Paul, place the finger upon our lips, remember and say, +Rom. 9, 20: 'O man, who art thou that repliest against God?'" (1078, +52ff.) + +232. Predestination a Comforting Article. + +Christian doctrines, or doctrines of the Church, are such only as are in +exact harmony with the Scriptures. They alone, too, are able to serve +the purpose for which the Scriptures are given, _viz_., to convert and +save sinners, and to comfort troubled Christians. Scriptural doctrines +are always profitable, and detrimental doctrines are never Scriptural. +This is true also of the article of eternal election. It is a truly +edifying doctrine as also the _Formula of Concord_ is solicitous to +explain. (1092, 89ff.) However, it is comforting only when taught in its +purity, _i.e._, when presented and preserved in strict adherence to the +Bible; that is to say, when both the _sola gratia_ and _gratia +universalis_ are kept inviolate. Whenever the doctrine of predestination +causes despair or carnal security, it has been either misrepresented or +misunderstood. + +In the introductory paragraphs of Article XI we read: "For the doctrine +concerning this article, if taught from, and according to the pattern of +the divine Word, neither can nor should be regarded as useless or +unnecessary, much less as offensive or injurious, because the Holy +Scriptures not only in but one place and incidentally, but in many +places thoroughly treat and urge the same. Moreover, we should not +neglect or reject the doctrine of the divine Word on account of abuse or +misunderstanding, but precisely on that account, in order to avert all +abuse and misunderstanding the true meaning should and must be explained +from the foundation of the Scriptures." (1063, 2; 1067, 13.) + +"If it is treated properly," says also the Epitome, the doctrine of +predestination "is a consolatory article" (830, 1); that is to say, if +predestination is viewed in the light of the Gospel, and particularly, +if _sola gratia_ as well as _gratia universalis_ are kept inviolate. +Outside of God's revelation in the Gospel there is no true and wholesome +knowledge whatever concerning election, but mere noxious human dreams. +And when the universality of grace is denied, it is impossible for any +one to know whether he is elected, and whether the grace spoken of in +the Gospel is intended for or belongs to him. "Therefore," says the +_Formula of Concord_, "if we wish to consider our eternal election to +salvation with profit, we must in every way hold sturdily and firmly to +this, that, as the preaching of repentance, so also the promise of the +Gospel is _universalis_ (universal), that is, it pertains to all men, +Luke 24, 47," etc. (1071, 28.) By denying that universal grace is meant +seriously and discounting the universal promises of the Gospel, "the +necessary consolatory foundation is rendered altogether uncertain and +void, as we are daily reminded and admonished that only from God's Word, +through which He treats with us and calls us, we are to learn and +conclude what His will toward us is, and that we should believe and not +doubt what it affirms to us and promises." (1075, 36.) If God cannot be +trusted in His universal promises, absolutely nothing in the Bible can +be relied upon. A doctrine of election from which universal grace is +eliminated, necessarily leads to despair or to contumaciousness and +carnal security. Calvin was right when he designated his predestination +theory, which denies universal grace, a "horrible decree." It left him +without any objective foundation whatever upon which to rest his faith +and hope. + +In like manner, when the doctrine of election and grace is modified +synergistically, no one can know for certain whether he has really been +pardoned and will be saved finally, because here salvation is not +exclusively based on the sure and immovable grace and promises of God, +but, at least in part, on man's own doubtful conduct--a rotten plank +which can serve neither foot for safely crossing the great abyss of sin +and death. Only when presented and taught in strict adherence to the +Bible is the doctrine of election and grace fully qualified to engender +divine certainty of our present adoption and final salvation as well, +since it assures us that God sincerely desires to save all men (us +included), that He alone does, and has promised to do, everything +pertaining thereto, and that nothing is able to thwart His promises, +since He who made them and confirmed them with an oath is none other +than the majestic God Himself. + +Accordingly, when Calvinists and Synergists criticize the _Formula of +Concord_ for not harmonizing (modifying in the interest of rational +harmony) the clear doctrines of the Bible, which they brand as +contradictions, they merely display their own conflicting, untenable +position. For while professing to follow the Scriptures, they at the +same time demand that its doctrines be corrected according to the +dictate of reason, thus plainly revealing that their theology is not +founded on the Bible, but orientated in rationalism, the true ultimate +principle of Calvinism as well as synergism. + +In the last analysis, therefore, the charge of inconsistency against +the _Formula of Concord_ is tantamount to an indirect admission that the +Lutheran Church is both a consistently Scriptural and a truly +evangelical Church. Consistently Scriptural, because it receives in +simple faith and with implicit obedience every clear Word of God, all +counter-arguments to the contrary notwithstanding. Truly evangelical, +because in adhering with unswerving loyalty to the seemingly +contradictory, but truly Scriptural doctrine of grace, it serves the +purpose of the Scriptures, which--praise the Lord--is none other than to +save, edify, and comfort poor disconsolate sinners. + +233. Statements of Article XI on Consolation Offered by Predestination. + +The purpose of the entire Scripture, says the _Formula of Concord_, is +to comfort penitent sinners. If we therefore abide by, and cleave to, +predestination as it is revealed to us in God's Word, "it is a very +useful, salutary, consolatory doctrine." Every presentation of eternal +election, however which produces carnal security or despair, is false. +We read: "If any one presents the doctrine concerning the gracious +election of God in such a manner that troubled Christians cannot derive +comfort from it, but are thereby incited to despair, or that the +impenitent are confirmed in their wantonness, it is undoubtedly sure and +true that such a doctrine is taught, not according to the Word and will +of God, but according to [the blind judgment of human] reason and the +instigation of the devil. For, as the apostle testifies, Rom. 15, 4: +'Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, +that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.' +But when this consolation and hope are weakened or entirely removed by +Scripture, it is certain that it is understood and explained contrary to +the will and meaning of the Holy Ghost." (1093, 91f., 837, 16; 1077, +43.) + +Predestination is comforting when Christians are taught to seek their +election in Christ. We read: "Moreover, this doctrine gives no one a +cause either for despondency or for a shameless, dissolute life, namely, +when men are taught that they must seek eternal election in Christ and +His holy Gospel, as in the Book of Life, which excludes no penitent +sinner, but beckons and calls all the poor, heavy-laden, and troubled +sinners who are disturbed by the sense of God's wrath, to repentance and +the knowledge of their sins and to faith in Christ, and promises the +Holy Ghost for purification and renewal, and thus gives the most +enduring consolation to all troubled, afflicted men, that they know that +their salvation is not placed in their own hands (for otherwise they +would lose it much more easily than was the case with Adam and Eve in +Paradise, yea, every hour and moment), but in the gracious election of +God which He has revealed to us in Christ, out of whose hand no man +shall pluck us, John 10, 28; 2 Tim. 2, 19." (1093, 89.) + +In order to manifest its consolatory power predestination must be +presented in proper relation to the revealed order of salvation. We +read: "With this revealed will of God [His universal, gracious promises +in the Gospel] we should concern ourselves, follow and be diligently +engaged upon it, because through the Word, whereby He calls us, the Holy +Ghost bestows grace, power, and ability to this end [to begin and +complete our salvation], and should not [attempt to] sound the abyss of +God's hidden predestination, as it is written in Luke 13, 24, where one +asks: 'Lord, are there few that be saved?' and Christ answers: 'Strive +to enter in at the strait gate.' Accordingly, Luther says [in his +Preface to the Epistle to the Romans]: 'Follow the Epistle to the Romans +in its order, concern yourself first with Christ and His Gospel, that +you may recognize your sins and His grace; next that you contend with +sin, as Paul teaches from the first to the eighth chapter; then, when in +the eighth chapter you will come into [will have been exercised by] +temptation under the cross and afflictions,--this will teach you in the +ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters how consolatory predestination is,' +etc." (1073, 33.) + +Predestination, properly taught, affords the glorious comfort that no +one shall pluck us out of the almighty hands of Christ. The _Formula_ +says: "Thus this doctrine affords also the excellent glorious +consolation that God was so greatly concerned about the conversion, +righteousness, and salvation of every Christian, and so faithfully +purposed it [provided therefor] that before the foundation of the world +was laid, He deliberated concerning it, and in His [secret] purpose +ordained how He would bring me thereto [call and lead me to salvation], +and preserve me therein. Also, that He wished to secure my salvation so +well and certainly that, since through the weakness and wickedness of +our flesh it could easily be lost from our hands, or through craft and +might of the devil and the world be snatched and taken from us, He +ordained it in His eternal purpose, which cannot fail or be overthrown, +and placed it for preservation in the almighty hand of our Savior Jesus +Christ, from which no one can pluck us, John 10, 28. Hence Paul also +says, Rom. 8, 28. 39: 'Because we have been called according to the +purpose of God, who will separate us from the love of God in Christ?' +[Paul builds the certainty of our blessedness upon the foundation of the +divine purpose, when, from our being called according to the purpose of +God, he infers that no one can separate us, etc.]" (1079, 45.) "This +article also affords a glorious testimony that the Church of God will +exist and abide in opposition to all the gates of hell, and likewise +teaches which is the true Church of God, lest we be offended by the +great authority [and majestic appearance] of the false Church, Rom. 9, +24. 25." (1079, 50.) + +Especially in temptations and tribulations the doctrine of eternal +election reveals its comforting power. We read: "Moreover, this doctrine +affords glorious consolation under the cross and amid temptations, +namely, that God in His counsel, before the time of the world determined +and decreed that He would assist us in all distresses [anxieties and +perplexities], grant patience, give consolation, excite [nourish and +encourage] hope, and produce such an outcome as would contribute to our +salvation. Also, as Paul in a very consolatory way treats this, Rom. 8, +28. 29. 35. 38. 39, that God in His purpose has ordained before the time +of the world by what crosses and sufferings He would conform every one +of His elect to the image of His Son, and that to every one his cross +shall and must work together for good, because they are called according +to the purpose, whence Paul has concluded that it is certain and +indubitable that neither tribulation nor distress, nor death, nor life, +etc., shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in +Christ Jesus, our Lord." (1079, 48.) + + +XXI. Luther and Article XI of the Formula of Concord. + +234. Luther Falsely Charged with Calvinism. + +Calvinists and Synergists have always contended that Luther's original +doctrine of predestination was essentially identical with that of John +Calvin. Melanchthon was among the first who raised a charge to this +effect. In his _Opinion_ to Elector August, dated March 9, 1559, we +read: "During Luther's life and afterwards I rejected these Stoic and +Manichean deliria, when Luther and others wrote: All works, good and +bad, in all men, good and bad, must occur as they do. Now it is apparent +that such speech contradicts the Word of God, is detrimental to all +discipline and blasphemes God. Therefore I have sedulously made a +distinction, showing to what extent man has a free will to observe +outward discipline, also before regeneration," etc. (_C. R._ 9, 766.) +Instead of referring to his own early statements, which were liable to +misinterpretation more than anything that Luther had written, +Melanchthon disingenuously mentions Luther, whose real meaning he +misrepresents and probably had never fully grasped. The true reason why +Melanchthon charged Luther and his loyal adherents with Stoicism was his +own synergistic departure from the Lutheran doctrine of original sin and +of salvation by grace alone. Following Melanchthon, rationalizing +Synergists everywhere have always held that without abandoning Luther's +doctrine of original sin and of the _gratia sola_ there is no escape +from Calvinism. + +In this point Reformed theologians agree with the Synergists, and have +therefore always claimed Luther as their ally. I. Mueller declared in +_Lutheri de Praedestionatione et Libero Arbitrio Doctrina_ of 1832: "As +to the chief point (_quod ad caput rei attinet_), Zwingli's view of +predestination is in harmony with Luther's _De Servo Arbitrio_." In his +_Zentraldogmen_ of 1854 Alexander Schweizer endeavored to prove that the +identical doctrine of predestination was originally the central dogma of +the Lutheran as well as of the Zwinglian reformation. "It is not so much +the dogma [of predestination] itself," said he (1, 445), "as its +position which is in dispute" among Lutherans and Calvinists. Schweizer +(1, 483) based his assertion on the false assumption "that the doctrines +of the captive will and of absolute predestination [denial of universal +grace] are two halves of the same ring." (Frank 1, 12. 118. 128; 4, +262.) Similar contentions were made in America by Schaff, Hodge, Shedd, +and other Reformed theologians. + +As a matter of fact, however, also in the doctrine of predestination +Zwingli and Calvin were just as far and as fundamentally apart from +Luther as their entire rationalistic theology differed from the simple +and implicit Scripturalism of Luther. Frank truly says that the +agreement between Luther's doctrine and that of Zwingli and Calvin is +"only specious, _nur scheinbar_." (1, 118.) Tschackert remarks: "Whoever +[among the theologians before the _Formula of Concord_] was acquainted +with the facts could not but see that in this doctrine [of +predestination] there was a far-reaching difference between the Lutheran +and the Calvinistic theology." (559.) F. Pieper declares that Luther and +Calvin agree only in certain expressions, but differ entirely as to +substance. (_Dogm_. 3, 554.) + +The _Visitation Articles_, adopted 1592 as a norm of doctrine for +Electoral Saxony, enumerate the following propositions on +"Predestination and the Eternal Providence of God" which must be upheld +over against the Calvinists as "the pure and true doctrine of our +[Lutheran] churches": "1. That Christ has died for all men, and as the +Lamb of God has borne the sins of the whole world. 2. That God created +no one for condemnation, but will have all men to be saved, and to come +to the knowledge of the truth. He commands all to hear His Son Christ in +the Gospel, and promises by it the power and working of the Holy Ghost +for conversion and salvation. 3. That many men are condemned by their +own guilt who are either unwilling to hear the Gospel of Christ, or +again fall from grace, by error against the foundation or by sins +against conscience. 4. That all sinners who repent are received into +grace and no one is excluded, even though his sins were as scarlet, +since God's mercy is much greater than the sins of all the world, and +God has compassion on all His works." (CONC. TRIGL. 1153.) Not one of +these propositions, which have always been regarded as a summary of the +Lutheran teaching in contradistinction from Calvinism, was ever denied +by Luther. + +235. Summary of Luther's Views. + +Luther distinguished between the hidden and the revealed or "proclaimed" +God, the secret and revealed will of God; the majestic God in whom we +live and move and have our being, and God manifest in Christ; God's +unsearchable judgments and ways past finding out, and His merciful +promises in the Gospel. Being truly God and not an idol, God, according +to Luther, is both actually omnipotent and omniscient. Nothing can exist +or occur without His power, and everything surely will occur as He has +foreseen it. This is true of the thoughts, volitions, and acts of all +His creatures. He would not be God if there were any power not derived +from, or supplied by Him, or if the actual course of events could annul +His decrees and stultify His knowledge. Also the devils and the wicked +are not beyond His control. + +As for evil, though God does not will or cause it,--for, on the +contrary, He prohibits sin and truly deplores the death of a sinner--yet +sin and death could never have entered the world without His permission. +Also the will of fallen man receives its power to will from God, and its +every resolve and consequent act proceeds just as God has foreseen, +ordained, or permitted it. The evil quality of all such acts, however, +does not emanate from God, but from the corrupt will of man. Hence free +will, when defined as the power of man to nullify and subvert what God's +majesty has foreseen and decreed, is a nonent, a mere empty title. This, +however, does not involve that the human will is coerced or compelled to +do evil, nor does it exclude in fallen man the ability to choose in +matters temporal and subject to reason. + +But while holding that we must not deny the majesty and the mysteries of +God, Luther did not regard these, but Christ crucified and justification +by faith in the promises of the Gospel, as the true objects of our +concern. Nor does he, as did Calvin, employ predestination as a +corrective and regulative norm for interpreting, limiting, invalidating, +annulling, or casting doubt upon, any of the blessed truths of the +Gospel. Luther does not modify the revealed will of God in order to +harmonize it with God's sovereignty. He does not place the hidden God in +opposition to the revealed God, nor does he reject the one in order to +maintain the other. He denies neither the revealed universality of God's +grace, of Christ's redemption, and of the efficaciousness of the Holy +Spirit in the means of grace, nor the unsearchable judgments and ways of +God's majesty. Even the Reformed theologian A. Schweizer admits as much +when he says in his _Zentraldogmen_ (1, 445): "In the Zwinglio-Calvinian +type of doctrine, predestination is a dogma important as such and +regulating the other doctrines, yea, as Martyr, Beza, and others say, +the chief part of Christian doctrine; while in the Lutheran type of +doctrine it is merely a dogma supporting other, more important central +doctrines." (Frank 4, 264.) + +Moreover, Luther most earnestly warns against all speculations +concerning the hidden God as futile, foolish, presumptuous, and wicked. +The secret counsels, judgments, and ways of God cannot and must not be +investigated. God's majesty is unfathomable, His judgments are +unsearchable, His ways past finding out. Hence, there is not, and there +cannot be, any human knowledge, understanding, or faith whatever +concerning God in so far as He has not revealed Himself. For while the +fact that there are indeed such things as mysteries, unsearchable +judgments, and incomprehensible ways in God is plainly taught in the +Bible, their nature, their how, why, and wherefore, has not been +revealed to us and no amount of human ingenuity is able to supply the +deficiency. Hence, in as far as God is still hidden and veiled, He +cannot serve as a norm by which we are able to regulate our faith and +life. Particularly when considering the question how God is disposed +toward us individually, we must not take refuge in the secret counsels +of God, which reason cannot spy and pry into. According to Luther, all +human speculations concerning the hidden God are mere diabolical +inspirations, bound to lead away from the saving truth of the Gospel +into despair and destruction. + +What God, therefore, would have men believe about His attitude toward +them, must according to Luther, be learned from the Gospel alone. The +Bible tells us how God is disposed toward poor sinners, and how He wants +to deal with them. Not His hidden majesty, but His only-begotten Son, +born in Bethlehem, is the divinely appointed object of human +investigation. Christ crucified is God manifest and visible to men. +Whoever has seen Christ has seen God. The Gospel is God's only +revelation to sinful human beings. The Bible, the ministry of the Word, +Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and absolution are the only means of knowing +how God is disposed toward us. To these alone God has directed us. With +these alone men should occupy and concern themselves. + +And the Gospel being the Word of God, the knowledge furnished therein is +most reliable. Alarmed sinners may trust in its comforting promises with +firm assurance and unwavering confidence. In _De Servo Arbitrio_ Luther +earnestly warns men not to investigate the hidden God, but to look to +revelation for an answer to the question how God is minded toward them, +and how He intends to deal with them. In his _Commentary on Genesis_ he +refers to this admonition and repeats it, protesting that he is innocent +if any one is misled to take a different course. "I have added" [to the +statements in _De Servo Arbitrio_ concerning necessity and the hidden +God] Luther here declares, "that we must look upon the revealed God. +_Addidi, quod aspiciendus sit Deus revelatus_." (CONC. TRIGL. 898.) + +This Bible-revelation, however, by which alone Luther would have men +guided in judging God, plainly teaches both, that grace is universal, +and that salvation is by grace alone. Luther always taught the +universality of God's love and mercy, as well as of Christ's redemption, +and the operation of the Holy Spirit in the means of grace. Also +according to _De Servo Arbitrio_, God wants all men to be saved, and +does not wish the death of sinners, but deplores and endeavors to remove +it. Luther fairly revels in such texts as Ezek. 18, 23 and 31, 11: "As I +live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, +but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye from your evil +ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" He calls the above a +"glorious passage" and "that sweetest Gospel voice--_illam vocem +dulcissimi Evangelii_." (E. v. a. 7, 218.) + +Thus Luther rejoiced in universal grace, because it alone was able to +convince him that the Gospel promises embraced and included also him. In +like manner he considered the doctrine that salvation is by grace alone +to be most necessary and most comforting. Without this truth divine +assurance of salvation is impossible, with it, all doubts about the +final victory of faith are removed. Luther was convinced that, if he +were required to contribute anything to his own conversion, +preservation, and salvation, he could never attain these blessings. +Nothing can save but the grace which is grace alone. In _De Servo +Arbitrio_ everything is pressed into service to disprove and explode the +assertion of Erasmus that the human will is able to and does "work +something in matters pertaining to salvation," and to establish the +monergism or sole activity of grace in man's conversion. (St. L. 18, +1686, 1688.) + +At the same time Luther maintained that man alone is at fault when he is +lost. In _De Servo Arbitrio_ he argues: Since it is God's will that all +men should be saved, it must be attributed to man's will if any one +perishes. The cause of damnation is unbelief, which thwarts the gracious +will of God so clearly revealed in the Gospel. The question, however, +why some are lost while others are saved, though their guilt is equal, +or why God does not save all men, since it is grace alone that saves, +and since grace is universal, Luther declines to answer. Moreover, he +demands that we both acknowledge and adore the unsearchable judgments of +God, and at the same time firmly adhere to the Gospel as revealed in the +Bible. All efforts to solve this mystery or to harmonize the hidden and +the revealed God, Luther denounces as folly and presumption. + +Yet Luther maintains that the conflict is seeming rather than real. +Whatever may be true of the majestic God, it certainly cannot annul or +invalidate what He has made known of Himself in the Gospel. There are +and can be no contradictory wills in God. Despite appearances to the +contrary, therefore, Christians are firmly to believe that, in His +dealings with men, God, who saves so few and damns so many, is +nevertheless both truly merciful and just. And what we now believe we +shall see hereafter. When the veil will have been lifted and we shall +know God even as we are known by Him, then we shall see with our eyes no +other face of God than the most lovable one which our faith beheld in +Jesus. The light of glory will not correct but confirm, the truths of +the Bible, and reveal the fact that in all His ways God was always in +perfect harmony with Himself. + +Indeed, according to Luther, the truth concerning the majestic God, in +whom we live and move and have our being, and without whom nothing can +be or occur, in a way serves both repentance and faith. It serves +repentance and the Law inasmuch as it humbles man, causing him to +despair of himself and of the powers of his own unregenerate will. It +serves faith inasmuch as it guarantees God's merciful promises in the +Gospel. For if God is supreme, as He truly is, then there can be nothing +more reliable than the covenant of grace to which He has pledged Himself +by an oath. And if God, as He truly does, controls all contingencies, +then there remains no room for any fear whether He will be able to +fulfil His glorious promises, also the promise that nothing shall pluck +us out of the hands of Christ.--Such, essentially was the teaching set +forth by Luther in _De Servo Arbitrio_ and in his other publications. + +236. Object of Luther's "De Servo Arbitrio." + +The true scope of _De Servo Arbitrio_ is to prove that man is saved, not +by any ability or efforts of his own, but solely by grace. Luther says: +"We are not arguing the question what we can do when God works [moves +us], but what we can do ourselves, _viz_., whether, after being created +out of nothing, we can do or endeavor [to do] anything through that +general movement of omnipotence toward preparing ourselves for being a +new creation of His Spirit. This question should have been answered, +instead of turning aside to another." Luther continues: "We go on to +say: Man, before he is renewed to become a new creature of the kingdom +of the Spirit, does nothing, endeavors nothing, toward preparing himself +for renewal and the kingdom; and afterwards, when he has been created +anew, he does nothing, endeavors nothing, toward preserving himself in +that kingdom; but the Spirit alone does each of these things in us, both +creating us anew without our cooperation and preserving us when +recreated,--even as Jas. 1, 18 says: 'Of His own will begat He us by the +Word of Truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures,' +He is speaking here of the renewed creature." (E. v. a. 7, 317; St. L. +18, 1909; compare here and in the following quotations Vaughan's _Martin +Luther on the Bondage of the Will_, London, 1823.) + +Man lacks also the ability to do what is good before God. Luther: "I +reply: The words of the Prophet [Ps. 14, 2: "The Lord looketh down from +heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did +understand and seek God. They are all gone aside," etc.] include both +act and power; and it is the same thing to say, 'Man does not seek after +God,' as it would be to say, 'Man cannot seek after God.'" (E. 330; St. +L. 1923.) Again: "Since, therefore, men are flesh, as God Himself +testifies, they cannot but be carnally minded (_nihil sapere possunt +nisi carnem_); hence free will has power only to sin. And since they +grow worse even when the Spirit of God calls and teaches them, what +would they do if left to themselves, without the Spirit of God?" (E. +290; St. L. 1876.) "In brief, you will observe in Scripture that +wherever flesh is treated in opposition to the Spirit, you may +understand by flesh about everything that is contrary to the Spirit, as +in the passage [John 6, 63]: 'The flesh profiteth nothing.'" (E. 291; St. +L. 1877.) "Thus also Holy Scripture, by way of emphasis (_per +epitasin_), calls man 'flesh,' as though he were carnality itself, +because his mind is occupied with nothing but carnal things. _Quod nimio +ac nihil aliud sapit quam ea, quae carnis sunt_." (E. 302; St. L. 1890.) + +According to Luther there is no such thing as a neutral willing in man. +He says: "It is a mere logical fiction to say that there is in man a +neutral and pure volition (_medium et purum velle_); nor can those prove +it who assert it. It was born of ignorance of things and servile regard +to words, as if something must straightway be such in substance as we +state it to be in words, which sort of figments are numberless among the +Sophists [Scholastic theologians]. The truth of the matter is stated by +Christ when He says [Luke 11, 23]: 'He that is not with Me is against +Me,' He does not say, 'He that is neither with Me nor against Me, but in +the middle,' For if God be in us, Satan is absent, and only the will for +good is present with us. If God be absent, Satan is present, and there +is no will in us but towards evil. Neither God nor Satan allows a mere +and pure volition in us; but, as you have rightly said, having lost our +liberty, we are compelled to serve sin; that is sin and wickedness we +will, sin and wickedness we speak, sin and wickedness we act." (E. 199; +St. L. 1768.) + +In support of his denial of man's ability in spiritual matters Luther +quotes numerous Bible-passages, and thoroughly refutes as fallacies _a +debito ad posse_, etc., the arguments drawn by Erasmus from mandatory +and conditional passages of Scripture. His own arguments he summarizes +as follows: "For if we believe it to be true that God foreknows and +preordains everything, also, that He can neither be deceived nor +hindered in His foreknowledge and predestination furthermore that +nothing occurs without His will (a truth which reason itself is +compelled to concede), then, according to the testimony of the selfsame +reason, there can be no free will in man or angel or any creature. +Likewise, if we believe Satan to be the prince of the world, who is +perpetually plotting and fighting against the kingdom of Christ with all +his might, so that he does not release captive men unless he be driven +out by the divine power of the Spirit, it is again manifest that there +can be no such thing as free will. Again, if we believe original sin to +have so ruined us that, by striving against what is good, it makes most +troublesome work even for those who are led by the Spirit, then it is +clear that in man devoid of the Spirit nothing is left which can turn +itself to good, but only [what turns itself] to evil. Again, if the +Jews, following after righteousness with all their might rushed forth +into unrighteousness, and the Gentiles, who were following after +unrighteousness, have freely and unexpectingly attained to +righteousness, it is likewise manifest, even by very deed and +experience, that man without grace can will nothing but evil. In brief, +if we believe Christ to have redeemed man by His blood, then we are +compelled to confess that the whole man was lost; else we shall make +Christ either superfluous, or the Redeemer only of the vilest part [of +man] which is blasphemous and sacrilegious." (E. 366; St. L. 1969.) + +237. Relation of Man's Will toward God's Majesty. + +According to Luther man has power over things beneath himself, but not +over God in His majesty. We read: "We know that man is constituted lord +of the things beneath him, over which he has power and free will, that +they may obey him and do what he wills and thinks. But the point of our +inquiry is whether he has a free will toward God, so that God obeys and +does what man wills; or, whether it is not rather God who has a free +will over man, so that the latter wills and does what God wills, and can +do nothing but what God has willed and does. Here the Baptist says that +man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven: wherefore +free will is nothing." (E. 359, St. L. 1957.) + +God as revealed in the Word may, according to Luther, be opposed and +resisted by man, but not God in His majesty. We read: "Lest any one +should suppose this to be my own distinction, [let him know that] I +follow Paul, who writes to the Thessalonians concerning Antichrist (2 +Thess. 2, 4) that he will exalt himself above every God that is +proclaimed and worshiped, plainly indicating that one may be exalted +above God, so far as He is proclaimed and worshiped, that is, above the +Word and worship by which God is known to us, and maintains intercourse +with us. Nothing, however, can be exalted above God as He is in His +nature and majesty (as not worshiped and proclaimed); rather, everything +is under His powerful hand." (E. 221; St. L. 1794.) + +God in His majesty is supreme and man cannot resist His omnipotence, nor +thwart His decrees, nor foil His plans, nor render His omniscience +fallible. Luther: "For all men find this opinion written in their +hearts, and, when hearing this matter discussed, they, though against +their will, acknowledge and assent to it, first, that God is omnipotent, +not only as regards His power, but also, as stated His action; else He +would be a ridiculous God; secondly, that He knows and foreknows all +things, and can neither err nor be deceived. These two things, however, +being conceded by the hearts and senses of all men they are presently, +by an inevitable consequence, compelled to admit that, even as we are +not made by our own will, but by necessity, so likewise we do nothing +according to the right of free will, but just as God has foreknown and +acts by a counsel and an energy which is infallible and immutable. So, +then, we find it written in all hearts alike that free will [defined as +a power independent of God's power] is nothing, although this writing +[in the hearts of men] be obscured through so many contrary disputations +and the great authority of so many persons who during so many ages have +been teaching differently." (E. 268; St. L. 1851.) + +The very idea of God and omnipotence involves that free will is not, and +cannot be, a power independent of God. Luther: "However, even natural +reason is obliged to confess that the living and true God must be such a +one who by His freedom imposes necessity upon us, for, evidently, He +would be a ridiculous God or, more properly, an idol, who would either +foresee future events in an uncertain way, or be deceived by the events, +as the Gentiles have asserted an inescapable fate also for their gods. +God would be equally ridiculous if He could not do or did not do all +things, or if anything occurred without Him. Now, if foreknowledge and +omnipotence are conceded, it naturally follows as an irrefutable +consequence that we have not been made by ourselves, nor that we live or +do anything by ourselves, but through His omnipotence. Since, therefore, +He foreknew that we should be such [as we actually are], and even now +makes, moves, and governs us as such, pray, what can be imagined that is +free in us so as to occur differently than He has foreknown or now +works? God's foreknowledge and omnipotence, therefore, conflict directly +with our free will [when defined as a power independent of God]. For +either God will be mistaken in foreknowing, err also in acting (which is +impossible), or we shall act, and be acted upon, according to His +foreknowledge and action. By the omnipotence of God, however, I do not +mean that power by which He can do many things which He does not do but +that active omnipotence by means of which He powerfully works all things +in all, in which manner Scripture calls Him omnipotent. This omnipotence +and prescience of God, I say, entirely abolish the dogma of free will. +Nor can the obscurity of Scripture or the difficulty of the matter be +made a pretext here. The words are most clear, known even to children; +the subject-matter is plain and easy, judged to be so even by the +natural reason common to all, so that ever so long a series of ages, +times, and persons writing and teaching otherwise will avail nothing." +(E. 267; St. L. 1849.) + +According to Luther, therefore, nothing can or does occur independently +of God, or differently from what His omniscience has foreseen. Luther: +"Hence it follows irrefutably that all things which we do, and all +things which happen, although to us they seem to happen changeably and +contingently, do in reality happen necessarily and immutably, if one +views the will of God. For the will of God is efficacious and cannot be +thwarted since it is God's natural power itself. It is also wise, so +that it cannot be deceived. And since His will is not thwarted, the work +itself cannot be prevented, but must occur in the very place, time, +manner, and degree which He Himself both foresees and wills." (E. 134; +St. L. 1692.) + +238. God Not the Cause of Sin. + +Regarding God's relation to the sinful actions of men, Luther held that +God is not the cause of sin. True, His omnipotence impels also the +ungodly; but the resulting acts are evil because of man's evil nature. +He writes: "Since, therefore, God moves and works all in all, He +necessarily moves and acts also in Satan and in the wicked. But He acts +in them precisely according to what they are and what He finds them to +be (_agit in illis taliter, quales illi sunt, et quales invenit_). That +is to say, since they are turned away [from Him] and wicked, and [as +such] are impelled to action by divine omnipotence, they do only such +things as are averse [to God] and wicked, just as a horseman driving a +horse which has only three or two [sound] feet (_equum tripedem vel +bipedem_) will drive him in a manner corresponding to the condition of +the horse (_agit quidem taliter, qualis equus est_), _i.e._, the horse +goes at a sorry gait. But what can the horseman do? He drives such a +horse together with sound horses, so that it sadly limps along, while +the others take a good gait. He cannot do otherwise unless the horse is +cured. Here you see that when God works in the wicked and through the +wicked, the result indeed is evil (_mala quidem fieri_), but that +nevertheless God cannot act wickedly, although He works that which is +evil through the wicked; for He being good, cannot Himself act wickedly, +although He uses evil instruments, which cannot escape the impulse and +motion of His power. The fault, therefore, is in the instruments, which +God does not suffer to remain idle, so that evil occurs, God Himself +impelling them, but in no other manner than a carpenter who, using an ax +that is notched and toothed, would do poor work with it. Hence it is +that a wicked man cannot but err and sin continually, because, being +impelled by divine power, he is not allowed to remain idle, but wills, +desires, and acts according to what he is (_velit, cupiat, faciat +taliter, qualis ipse est_)." (E. 255; St. L. 1834.) "For although God +does not make sin, still He ceases not to form and to multiply a nature +which, the Spirit having been withdrawn is corrupted by sin, just as +when a carpenter makes statues of rotten wood. Thus men become what +their nature is, God creating and forming them of such nature." (E. 254; +St. L. 1833.) + +Though God works all things in all things the wickedness of an action +flows from the sinful nature of the creature. Luther: "Whoever would +have any understanding of such matters, let him consider that God works +evil in us, _i.e._, through us, not by any fault of His, but through our +own fault. For since we are by nature evil, while God is good, and since +He impels us to action according to the nature of His omnipotence, He, +who Himself is good, cannot do otherwise than do evil with an evil +instrument, although, according to His wisdom, He causes this evil to +turn out unto His own glory and to our salvation." (E. 257; St. L. +1837.) "For this is what we assert and contend, that, when God works +without the grace of His Spirit [in His majesty, outside of Word and +Sacrament], He works all in all, even in the wicked; for He alone moves +all things, which He alone has created, and drives and impels all things +by virtue of His omnipotence, which they [the created things] cannot +escape or change, but necessarily follow and obey, according to the +power which God has given to each of them--such is the manner in which +all, even wicked, things cooperate with Him. Furthermore, when He acts +by the Spirit of Grace in those whom He has made righteous, _i.e._, in +His own kingdom, He in like manner impels and moves them; and, being new +creatures, they follow and cooperate with Him; or rather, as Paul says, +they are led by Him." (E. 317; St. L. 1908.) "For we say that, without +the grace of God, man still remains under the general omnipotence of +God, who does, moves, impels all things, so that they take their course +necessarily and without fail, but that what man, so impelled, does, is +nothing, _i.e._, avails nothing before God, and is accounted nothing but +sin." (E. 315; St. L. 1906.) + +Though everything occurs as God has foreseen, this, according to Luther, +does not at all involve that man is coerced in his actions. Luther: "But +pray, are we disputing now concerning coercion and force? Have we not in +so many books testified that we speak of the necessity of immutability? +We know ... that Judas of his own volition betrayed Christ. But we +affirm that, if God foreknew it, this volition would certainly and +without fail occur in this very Judas.... We are not discussing the +point whether Judas became a traitor unwillingly or willingly, but +whether at the time foreappointed by God it infallibly had to happen +that Judas of his own volition betrayed Christ." (E. 270; St. L. 1853.) +Again: "What is it to me that free will is not coerced, but does what it +does willingly? It is enough for me to have you concede that it must +necessarily happen, that he [Judas] does what he does of his own +volition, and that he cannot conduct himself otherwise if God has so +foreknown it. If God foreknows that Judas will betray, or that he will +change his mind about it,--whichever of the two He shall have foreknown +will necessarily come to pass, else God would be mistaken in foreknowing +and foretelling,--which is impossible. Necessity of consequence effects +this: if God foreknows an event, it necessarily happens. In other words, +free will is nothing" [it is not a power independent of God or able to +nullify God's prescience]. (E. 272; St. L. 1855.) + +To wish that God would abstain from impelling the wicked is, according +to Luther, tantamount to wishing that He cease to be God. Luther: "There +is still this question which some one may ask, 'Why does God not cease +to impel by His omnipotence, in consequence of which the will of the +wicked is moved to continue being wicked and even growing worse?' The +answer is: This is equivalent to desiring that God cease to be God for +the sake of the wicked, since one wishes His power and action to cease, +_i.e._, that He cease to be good, lest they become worse!" (E. 259; St. +L. 1839.) + +239. Free Will a Mere Empty Title. + +Luther considers free will (when defined as an ability in spiritual +matters or as a power independent of God) a mere word without anything +corresponding to it in reality (_figmentum in rebus seu titulus sine +re_, E.v.a. 5, 230), because natural will has powers only in matters +temporal and subject to reason, but none in spiritual things, and +because of itself and independently of God's omnipotence it has no power +whatever. We read: "Now it follows that free will is a title altogether +divine and cannot belong to any other being, save only divine majesty, +for He, as the Psalmist sings [Ps. 115, 3], can do and does all that He +wills in heaven and in earth. Now, when this title is ascribed to men, +it is so ascribed with no more right than if also divinity itself were +ascribed to them,--a sacrilege than which there is none greater. +Accordingly it was the duty of theologians to abstain from this word +when they intended to speak of human power, and to reserve it +exclusively for God, thereupon also to remove it from the mouth and +discourse of men, claiming it as a sacred and venerable title for their +God. And if they would at all ascribe some power to man, they should +have taught that it be called by some other name than 'free will,' +especially since we all know and see that the common people are +miserably deceived and led astray by this term, for by it they hear and +conceive something very far different from what theologians mean and +discuss. 'Free will' is too magnificent, extensive, and comprehensive a +term; by it common people understand (as also the import and nature of +the word require) a power which can freely turn to either side, and +neither yields nor is subject to any one," (E. 158; St. L. 1720.) + +If the term "free will" be retained, it should, according to Luther, be +conceived of as a power, not in divine things, but only in matters +subject to human reason. We read: "So, then, according to Erasmus, free +will is the power of the will which is able of itself to will and not to +will the Word and work of God, whereby it is led to things which exceed +both its comprehension and perception. For if it is able to will and not +to will, it is able also to love and to hate. If it is able to love and +to hate, it is able also, in some small degree, to keep the Law and to +believe the Gospel. For if you will or do not will, a certain thing, it +is impossible that by that will you should not be able to do something +of the work, even though, when hindered by another, you cannot complete +it." (E. 191; St. L. 1759.) "If, then, we are not willing to abandon +this term altogether, which would be the safest and most pious course to +follow, let us at least teach men to use it in good faith (_bona fide_) +only in the sense that free will be conceded to man, with respect to +such matters only as are not superior, but inferior to himself, _i.e._, +man is to know that, with regard to his means and possessions, he has +the right of using, of doing, and of forbearing to do according to his +free will; although also even this is directed by the free will of God +alone whithersoever it pleases Him. But with respect to God, or in +things pertaining to salvation or damnation, he has no free will, but is +the captive, subject, and servant, either of the will of God or of the +will of Satan." (E. 160; St. L. 1722.) "Perhaps you might properly +attribute some will (_aliquod arbitrium_) to man, but to attribute free +will to him in divine things is too much, since in the judgment of all +who hear it the term 'free will' is properly applied to that which can +do and does with respect to God whatsoever it pleases, without being +hindered by any law or authority. You would not call a slave free who +acts under the authority of his master. With how much less propriety do +we call men or angels truly free, who, to say nothing of sin and death, +live under the most complete authority of God, unable to subsist for a +moment by their own power." (E. 189; St. L. 1756.) + +Lost liberty, says Luther, is no liberty, just as lost health is no +health. We read: "When it has been conceded and settled that free will, +having lost its freedom, is compelled to serve sin, and has no power to +will anything good, I can conceive nothing else from these expressions +than that free will is an empty word, with the substance lost. My +grammar calls a lost liberty no liberty. But to attribute the title of +liberty to that which has no liberty is to attribute an empty name. If +here I go astray, let who can correct me; if my words are obscure and +ambiguous, let who can make them plain and definite. I cannot call +health that is lost health. If I should ascribe it to a sick man, I +believe to have ascribed to him nothing but an empty name. But away with +monstrous words! For who can tolerate that abuse of speech by which we +affirm that man has free will, and in the same breath assert that he, +having lost his liberty, is compelled to serve sin, and can will nothing +good? It conflicts with common sense, and utterly destroys the use of +speech. The _Diatribe_ is rather to be accused of blurting out its words +as if it were asleep, and giving no heed to those of others. It does not +consider, I say, what it means, and what it all includes, if I declare: +Man has lost his liberty, is compelled to serve sin, and has no power to +will anything good." (E. 200; St. L. 1769.) + +Satan causes his captives to believe themselves free and happy. Luther: +"The Scriptures set before us a man who is not only bound, wretched, +captive, sick, dead, but who (through the operation of Satan, his +prince) adds this plague of blindness to his other plagues, that he +believes himself to be free, happy, unfettered, strong, healthy, alive. +For Satan knows that, if man were to realize his own misery, he would +not be able to retain any one in his kingdom, because God could not but +at once pity and help him who recognizes his misery and cries for +relief. For throughout all Scripture He is extolled and greatly praised +for being nigh unto the contrite in heart, as also Christ testifies, +Isaiah 61, 1. 2, that He has been sent to preach the Gospel to the poor +and to heal the broken-hearted. Accordingly, it is Satan's business to +keep his grip on men, lest they recognize their misery, but rather take +it for granted that they are able to do everything that is said." (E. +213; St. L. 1785.) + +240. The Gospel to be Our Only Guide. + +According to _De Servo Arbitrio_ God's majesty and His mysterious +judgments and ways must not be searched, nor should speculations +concerning them be made the guide of our faith and life. Luther says: +"Of God or of the will of God proclaimed and revealed, and offered to +us, and which we meditate upon, we must treat in a different way than of +God in so far as He is not proclaimed, not revealed, and not offered to +us, and is not the object of our meditations. For in so far as God hides +Himself, and desires not to be known of us, we have nothing to do with +Him. Here the saying truly applies, 'What is above us does not concern +us.'" (E. 221, St. L. 1794.) "We say, as we have done before, that one +must not discuss the secret will of [divine] majesty, and that man's +temerity, which, due to continual perverseness, disregards necessary +matters and always attacks and encounters this [secret will], should be +called away and withdrawn from occupying itself with scrutinizing those +secrets of divine majesty which it is impossible to approach; for it +dwells 'in the light which no man can approach unto,' as Paul testifies, +1 Tim. 6, 16." (E. 227; St. L. 1801.) This statement, that God's majesty +must not be investigated, says Luther, "is not our invention, but an +injunction confirmed by Holy Scripture. For Paul says Rom. 9, 19-21: +'Why doth God yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will? Nay but, O +man, who art thou that repliest against God?... Hath not the potter +power,' etc.? And before him Isaiah, chapter 58, 2: 'Yet they seek Me +daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, +and forsook not the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the +ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God,' These +words, I take it, show abundantly that it is unlawful for men to +scrutinize the will of majesty." (E. 228; St. L. 1803.) + +Instead of searching the Scriptures, as they are commanded to do, men +unlawfully crave to investigate the hidden judgments of God. We read: +"But we are nowhere more irreverent and rash than when we invade and +argue these very mysteries and judgments which are unsearchable. +Meanwhile we imagine that we are exercising incredible reverence in +searching the Holy Scriptures, which God has commanded us to search. +Here we do not search, but where He has forbidden us to search, there we +do nothing but search with perpetual temerity, not to say blasphemy. Or +is it not such a search when we rashly endeavor to make that wholly free +foreknowledge of God accord with our liberty, and are ready to detract +from the prescience of God, if it does not allow us liberty, or if it +induces necessity, to say with the murmurers and blasphemers, 'Why doth +He find fault? Who shall resist His will? What is become of the most +merciful God? What of Him who wills not the death of the sinner? Has He +made men that He might delight Himself with their torments?' and the +like, which will be howled out forever among the devils and the damned." +(E. 266, St. L. 1848.) + +God's unknowable will is not and cannot be our guide. Luther: "The +_Diatribe_ beguiles herself through her ignorance, making no distinction +between the proclaimed and the hidden God, that is between the Word of +God and God Himself. God does many things which He has not shown us in +His Word. He also wills many things concerning which He has not shown us +in His Word that He wills them. For instance, He does not will the death +of a sinner namely, according to His Word, but He wills it according to +His inscrutable will. Now, our business is to look at His Word, +disregarding the inscrutable will; for we must be directed by the Word, +not by that inscrutable will (_nobis spectandum est Verbum +relinquendaque illa voluntas imperscrutabilis; Verbo enim nos dirigi, +non voluntate illa inscrutabili oportet_). Indeed, who could direct +himself by that inscrutable and unknowable will? It is enough merely to +know that there is such an inscrutable will in God; but what, why, and +how far it wills, that is altogether unlawful for us to inquire into, to +wish [to know], and to trouble or occupy ourselves with; on the +contrary, we should fear and adore it." (E. 222; St. L. 1795) + +Instead of investigating the mysteries of divine majesty, men ought to +concern themselves with God's revelation in the Gospel. Luther: "But let +her [human temerity] occupy herself with the incarnate God or, as Paul +says, with Jesus Crucified, in whom are hidden all the treasures of +wisdom and knowledge. For through Him she has abundantly what she ought +to know and not to know. It is the incarnate God, then, who speaks here +[Matt. 23]: 'I would, and thou wouldest not.' The incarnate God, I say, +was sent for this purpose, that He might will, speak, do, suffer, and +offer to all men all things which are necessary to salvation, although +He offends very many who, being either abandoned or hardened by that +secret will of His majesty, do not receive Him who wills, speaks, works, +offers, even as John says: 'The light shineth in darkness, and the +darkness comprehendeth it not;' and again: 'He came unto His own and His +own received Him not.'" (E. 227f., St. L. 1802.) + +241. God's Grace Is Universal and Serious. + +All men are in need of the saving Gospel, and it should be preached to +all. We read in _De Servo Arbitrio_: "Paul had said just before: 'The +Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; +to the Jew first and also to the Greek,' These words are not obscure or +ambiguous: 'To the Jews and to the Greeks,' that is, to all men, the +Gospel of the power of God is necessary, in order that, believing, they +may be saved from the revealed wrath." (E. 322; St. L. 1915.) "He [God] +knows what, when, how, and to whom we ought to speak. Now, His +injunction is that His Gospel, which is necessary for all, should be +limited by neither place nor time, but be preached to all, at all times, +and in all places." (E. 149; St. L. 1709.) + +The universal promises of the Gospel offer firm and sweet consolation to +poor sinners. Luther: "It is the voice of the Gospel and the sweetest +consolation to poor miserable sinners when Ezekiel says [18, 23. 32]: 'I +have no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but rather that he be +converted and live,' Just so also the thirtieth Psalm [v. 5]: 'For His +anger endureth but a moment; in His favor is life [His will rather is +life].' And the sixty-ninth [v.16]: 'For Thy loving-kindness is good +[How sweet is Thy mercy, Lord!]' Also: 'Because I am merciful,' And that +saying of Christ, Matt. 11, 28: 'Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are +heavy laden, and I will refresh you,' Also that of Exodus [20, 6], 'I +show mercy unto thousands of them that love Me,' Indeed, almost more +than half of Holy Scripture,--what is it but genuine promises of grace, +by which mercy, life, peace, and salvation are offered by God to men? +And what else do the words of promise sound forth than this: 'I have no +pleasure in the death of a sinner'? Is it not the same thing to say, 'I +am merciful,' as to say, 'I am not angry,' 'I do not wish to punish,' +'I do not wish you to die,' 'I desire to pardon,' 'I desire to spare'? +Now, if these divine promises did not stand [firm], so as to raise up +afflicted consciences terrified by the sense of sin and the fear of +death and judgment, what place would there be for pardon or for hope? +What sinner would not despair?" (E. 218; St. L. 1791.) + +God, who would have all men to be saved deplores and endeavors to remove +death, so that man must blame himself if he is lost. Luther: "God in His +majesty and nature therefore must be left untouched [unsearched] for in +this respect we have nothing to do with Him, nor did He want us to deal +with Him in this respect; but we deal with Him in so far as He has +clothed Himself and come forth in His Word, by which He has offered +Himself to us. This [Word] is His glory and beauty with which the +Psalmist, 21, 6, celebrates Him as being clothed." Emphasizing the +seriousness of universal grace, Luther continues: "Therefore we affirm +that the holy God does not deplore the death of the people which He +works in them, but deplores the death which He finds in the people, and +endeavors to remove (_sed deplorat mortem, quam invenit in populo, et +amovere studet_). For this is the work of the proclaimed God to take +away sin and death, that we may be saved. For He has sent His Word and +healed them." (E. 222; St. L. 1795.) "Hence it is rightly said, If God +wills not death, it must be charged to our own will that we perish. +'Rightly,' I say, if you speak of the proclaimed God. For He would have +all men to be saved, coming, as He does, with His Word of salvation to +all men; and the fault is in the will, which does not admit Him, as He +says, Matt. 23, 37: 'How often would I have gathered thy children +together, and ye would not!'" (E. 222; St.L. 1795.) + +242. Sola gratia Doctrine Engenders Assurance. + +Luther rejoices in the doctrine of _sola gratia_ because it alone is +able to engender assurance of salvation. He writes: "As for myself, I +certainly confess that, if such a thing could somehow be, I should be +unwilling to have free will given me, or anything left in my own hand, +which might enable me to make an effort at salvation; not only because +in the midst of so many dangers and adversities and also of so many +assaulting devils I should not be strong enough to remain standing and +keep my hold of it (for one devil is mightier than all men put together, +and not a single man would be saved), but because, even if there were no +dangers and no adversities and no devils, I should still be compelled to +toil forever uncertainly, and to beat the air in my struggle. For though +I should live and work to eternity, my own conscience would never be +sure and at ease as to how much it ought to do in order to satisfy God. +No matter how perfect a work might be, there would be left a doubt +whether it pleased God, or whether He required anything more, as is +proved by the experience of all who endeavor to be saved by the Law +(_iustitiariorum_), and as I, to my own great misery, have learned +abundantly during so many years. But now, since God has taken my +salvation out of the hands of my will, and placed it into those of His +own and has promised to save me, not by my own work or running, but by +His grace and mercy, I feel perfectly secure, because He is faithful and +will not lie to me; moreover, He is powerful and great, so that neither +devils nor adversities can crush Him, or pluck me out of His hand. No +one, says He, shall pluck them out of My hand; for My Father, who gave +them unto Me, is greater than all. Thus it comes to pass that, though +not all are saved, at least some, nay, many are, whereas by the power of +free will absolutely none would be saved, but every one of us would be +lost. We are also certain and sure that we please God, not by the merit +of our own work, but by the favor of His mercy which He has promised us, +and that, if we have done less than we ought, or have done anything +amiss, He does not impute it to us, but, as a father, forgives and +amends it. Such is the boast of every saint in his God." (E. 362; St. L. +1961f.) + +In the _Apology of the Augsburg Confession_ this thought of Luther's is +repeated as follows: "If the matter [our salvation] were to depend upon +our merits, the promise would be uncertain and useless, because we never +could determine when we would have sufficient merit. And this +experienced consciences can easily understand [and would not, for a +thousand worlds, have our salvation depend upon ourselves]." (CONC. +TRIGL. 145, 84; compare 1079, 45f.) + +243. Truth of God's Majesty Serves God's Gracious Will. + +Luther regarded the teaching that everything is subject to God's majesty +as being of service to His gracious will. We read: "Two things require +the preaching of these truths [concerning the infallibility of God's +foreknowledge, etc.]; the first is, the humbling of our pride and the +knowledge of the grace of God; the second, Christian faith itself. +First, God has certainly promised His grace to the humbled, _i.e._, to +those who deplore their sins and despair [of themselves]. But man cannot +be thoroughly humbled until he knows that his salvation is altogether +beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will, and works, and depends +altogether upon the decision, counsel, will, and work of another, +_i.e._, of God only. For as long as he is persuaded that he can do +anything toward gaining salvation, though it be ever so little, he +continues in self-confidence, and does not wholly despair of himself; +accordingly he is not humbled before God, but anticipates, or hopes for, +or at least wishes for, a place, a time, and some work by which he may +finally obtain salvation." (E. 153. 133; St. L. 1715. 1691.) "More than +once," says Luther, "I myself have been offended at it [the teaching +concerning God's majesty] to such an extent that I was at the brink of +despair, so that I even wished I had never been created a man,--until I +learned how salutary that despair was and how close to grace." (E. 268; +St. L. 1850.) + +Of the manner in which, according to Luther, the truth concerning God's +majesty serves the Gospel, we read: "Moreover, I do not only wish to +speak of how true these things are,... but also how becoming to a +Christian, how pious, and how necessary it is to know them. For if these +things are not known, it is impossible for either faith or any worship +of God to be maintained. That would be ignorance of God indeed; and if +we do not know Him, we cannot obtain salvation, as is well known. For if +you doubt that God foreknows and wills all things, not contingently, but +necessarily and immutably, or if you scorn such knowledge, how will you +be able to believe His promises, and with full assurance trust and rely +upon them? When He promises, you ought to be sure that He knows what He +is promising, and is able and willing to accomplish it, else you will +account Him neither true nor faithful. That, however, is unbelief, +extreme impiety, and a denial of the most high God. But how will you be +confident and sure if you do not know that He certainly, infallibly, +unchangeably, and necessarily knows, and wills, and will perform what He +promises? Nor should we merely be certain that God necessarily and +immutably wills and will perform [what He has promised], but we should +even glory in this very thing, as Paul does, Rom. 3, 4: 'Let God be +true, but every man a liar.' And again, Rom. 9, 6; 4, 21; 1 Sam. 3, 19: +'Not that the Word of God hath taken none effect.' And in another place, +2 Tim. 2, 19: 'The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, +The Lord knoweth them that are His.' And in Titus 1, 2: 'Which God, that +cannot lie, hath promised before the world began.' And in Heb. 11, 6: +'He that cometh to God must believe that God is, and that He is a +rewarder of them that hope in Him.' So, then, Christian faith is +altogether extinguished, the promises of God and the entire Gospel fall +absolutely to the ground, if we are taught and believe that we have no +need of knowing the foreknowledge of God to be necessary and the +necessity of all things that must be done. For this is the only and +highest possible consolation of Christians in all adversities to know +that God does not lie, but does all things immutably, and that His will +can neither be resisted, nor altered, nor hindered." (E. 137. 264; St. +L. 1695. 1845.) + +244. There Are No Real Contradictions in God. + +Among the mysteries which we are unable to solve Luther enumerates the +questions: Why did God permit the fall of Adam? Why did He suffer us to +be infected with original sin? Why does God not change the evil will? +Why is it that some are converted while others are lost? We read: "But +why does He not at the same time change the evil will which He moves? +This pertains to the secrets of His majesty, where His judgments are +incomprehensible. Nor is it our business to investigate, but to adore +these mysteries. If, therefore, flesh and blood here take offense and +murmur, let them murmur; but they will effect nothing, God will not be +changed on that account. And if the ungodly are scandalized and leave in +ever so great numbers, the elect will nevertheless remain. The same +answer should be given to those who ask, 'Why did He allow Adam to fall, +and why does He create all of us infected with the same sin when He +could have preserved him [Adam], and created us from something else, or +after first having purged the seed?' He is God, for whose will there is +no cause or reason which might be prescribed for it as a standard and +rule of action; for it has no equal or superior, but is itself the rule +for everything. If it had any rule or standard, cause or reason, it +could no longer be the will of God. For what He wills is right, not +because He is or was in duty bound so to will, but, on the contrary, +because He wills so, therefore what occurs must be right. Cause and +reason are prescribed to a creature's will, but not to the will of the +Creator, unless you would set another Creator over Him." (E. 259; St. L. +1840.) + +Regarding the question why some are converted while others are not, we +read: "But why this majesty does not remove this fault of our will, or +change it in all men (seeing that it is not in the power of man to do +so), or why He imputes this [fault of the will] to man when he cannot be +without it, it is not lawful to search, and although you search much, +you will never discover it, as Paul says, Rom. 9, 20: 'O man, who art +thou that repliest against God?'" (E. 223, St. L. 1796.) "But as to why +some are touched by the Law and others are not, so that the former +receive, and the latter despise, the grace offered, this is another +question, and one not treated by Ezekiel in this place, who speaks of +the preached and offered mercy of God, not of the secret and +to-be-feared will of God, who by His counsel ordains what and what kind +of persons He wills to be capable and partakers of His preached and +offered mercy. This will of God must not be searched, but reverently +adored, as being by far the most profound and sacred secret of divine +majesty, reserved for Himself alone, and prohibited to us much more +religiously than countless multitudes of Corycian Caves." (E. 221; St. +L. 1794.) + +Christians firmly believe that in His dealings with men God is always +wise and just and good. Luther: "According to the judgment of reason it +remains absurd that this just and good God should demand things that are +impossible of fulfilment by free will, and, although it cannot will that +which is good but necessarily serves sin, should nevertheless charge +this to free will; and that, when He does not confer the Spirit, He +should not act a whit more kindly or more mercifully than when He +hardens or permits men to harden themselves. Reason will declare that +these are not the acts of a kind and merciful God. These things exceed +her understanding too far, nor can she take herself into captivity to +believe God to be good, who acts and judges thus; but setting faith +aside, she wants to feel and see and comprehend how He is just and not +cruel. She would indeed comprehend if it were said of God: 'He hardens +nobody, He damns nobody, rather pities everybody, saves everybody,' so +that, hell being destroyed and the fear of death removed, no future +punishment need be dreaded. This is the reason why she is so hot in +striving to excuse and defend God as just and good. _But faith and the +spirit judge differently, believing God to be good though he were to +destroy all men_." (E. 252; St. L. 1832.) "The reason why of the divine +will must not be investigated, but simply adored, and we must give the +glory to God that, being alone just and wise, _He does wrong to none, +nor can He do anything foolish or rash, though it may appear far +otherwise to us. Godly men are content with this answer_." (E. 153; St. +L. 1714.) + +According to Luther, divine justice must be just as incomprehensible to +human reason as God's entire essence. We read: "But when we feel ill at +ease for the reason that it is difficult to vindicate the mercy and +equity of God because He damns the undeserving, _i.e._, such ungodly men +as are born in ungodliness, and hence cannot in any way prevent being +and remaining ungodly and damned, and are compelled by their nature to +sin and perish, as Paul says [Eph. 2, 3]: 'We were all the sons of wrath +even as others,' they being created such by God Himself out of the seed +which was corrupted through the sin of the one Adam,--then the most +merciful God is to be honored and revered in [His dealings with] those +whom He justifies and saves, although they are most unworthy, and at +least a little something ought to be credited to His divine wisdom by +believing Him to be just where to us He seems unjust. For if His justice +were such as could be declared just by human understanding, it would +clearly not be divine, differing nothing from human justice. But since +He is the one true God, and entirely incomprehensible and inaccessible +to human reason, it is proper, nay, necessary, that His justice also be +incomprehensible, even as Paul also exclaims, Rom. 11, 33, saying: 'O +the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How +unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!' Now, +they would not be incomprehensible if we were able, in everything He +does, to comprehend why they are just. What is man compared with God? +How much is our power capable of as compared with His? What is our +strength compared with His powers? What is our knowledge compared with +His wisdom? What is our substance compared with His substance? In short, +what is everything that is ours as compared with everything that is +His?" (E. 363; St. L. 1962.) + +Christians embrace the opportunity offered by the mysterious ways of God +to exercise their faith. Luther: "This is the highest degree of faith, +to believe that He is merciful, who saves so few and condemns so many, +to believe Him just, who by His will [creating us out of sinful seed] +necessarily makes us damnable, thus, according to Erasmus, seeming to be +delighted with the torments of the wretched, and worthy of hatred rather +than of love. If, then, I could in any way comprehend how this God is +merciful and just who shows such great wrath and [seeming] injustice, +there would be no need of faith. But now, since this cannot be +comprehended there is to be an opportunity for the exercise of faith +when these things are preached and published, even as when God kills, +our faith in life is exercised in death." (E. 154; St. L. 1716.) + +245. Seeming Contradictions Solved in Light of Glory. + +Christians are fully satisfied that hereafter they will see and +understand what they here believed, _viz_., that in His dealings with +men God truly is and always was absolutely just. Luther: "If you are +pleased with God for crowning the unworthy, you ought not to be +displeased with Him for condemning the undeserving [who were not worse +or more guilty than those who are crowned]. If He is just in the former +case, why not in the latter? In the former case He scatters favor and +mercy upon the unworthy, in the latter He scatters wrath and severity +upon the undeserving [who are guilty in no higher degree than those who +are saved]. In both cases He is excessive and unrighteous before [in the +judgment of] men but just and true in His own mind. For how it is just +that He crowns the unworthy is incomprehensible to us now; _but we shall +understand it when we have come to that place where we shall no longer +believe, but behold with our face unveiled_. So, too, how it is just +that He condemns the undeserving we cannot comprehend now, yet we +believe it until the Son of Man shall be revealed." (E. 284; St. L. +1870.) "Of course, in all other things we concede divine majesty to God; +only in His judgment we are ready to deny it, and cannot even for a +little while believe that He is just, since He has promised us that, +_when he will reveal His glory, we all shall then both see and feel that +He has been, and is, just_." (E. 364; St. L. 1964.) + +Again: "Do you not think that since the light of grace has so readily +solved a question which could not be solved by the light of nature, the +light of glory will be able to solve with the greatest ease the question +which in the light of the Word or of grace is unsolvable? In accordance +with the common and good distinction let it be conceded that there are +three lights--the light of nature, the light of grace, and the light of +glory. In the light of nature it is unsolvable that it should be just +that the good are afflicted while the wicked prosper. The light of +grace, however, solves this [mystery]. In the light of grace it is +unsolvable how God may condemn him who cannot by any power of his own do +otherwise than sin and be guilty. There the light of nature as well as +the light of grace declares that the fault is not in wretched man, but +in the unjust God. For they cannot judge otherwise of God, who crowns a +wicked man gratuitously without any merits, and does not crown another, +but condemns him, who perhaps is less, or at least not more wicked [than +the one who is crowned]. _But the light of glory pronounces a different +verdict_, and when it arrives, it will show God, whose judgment is now +that of incomprehensible justice, to be a Being of most just and +manifest justice, which meanwhile we are to believe, admonished and +confirmed by the example of the light of grace, which accomplishes a +like miracle with respect to the light of nature." (E. 365; St. L. +1965.) + +246. Statements Made by Luther before Publication of "De Servo +Arbitrio." + +Wherever Luther touches on predestination both before and after 1525, +essentially the same thoughts are found, though not developed as +extensively as in _De Servo Arbitrio_. He consistently maintains that +God's majesty must be neither denied nor searched, and that Christians +should be admonished to look and rely solely upon the revealed universal +promises of the Gospel. In his _Church Postil_ of 1521 we read: "The +third class of men who also approve this [the words of Paul, Rom. 11, +34. 35: 'For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His +counselor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed +unto Him again?'] are those who indeed hear the Word of Revelation. For +I am not now speaking of such as deliberately persecute the Word (they +belong to the first class, who do not at all inquire about God) but of +those who disregard the revelation and led by the devil, go beyond and +beside it, seeking to grasp the ways and judgments of God which He has +not revealed. Now, if they were Christians, they would be satisfied and +thank God for giving His Word, in which He shows what is pleasing to +Him, and how we are to be saved. But they suffer the devil to lead them, +insist on seeking other revelations, ponder what God may be in His +invisible majesty, how He secretly governs the world, and what He has in +particular decreed for each one in the future. For nature and human +reason cannot desist; they will meddle in His judgment with their +wisdom, sit in His most secret council, instruct Him and master Him. +This is the pride of the foul fiend, who was cast into the abyss of hell +for trying to meddle in [matters of] divine majesty, and who in the same +way eagerly seeks to bring man to fall, and to cast him down with +himself, as he did in Paradise in the beginning, tempting also the +saints and even Christ with the same thing, when he set Him on the +pinnacle of the Temple, etc. Against such in particular St. Paul here +introduces these words [Rom. 11, 34. 35] to the inquisitive questions of +wise reason: Why did God thus punish and reject the Jews while He +permitted the condemned heathen to come to the Gospel? Again, Why does +He govern on this wise, that wicked and evil men are exalted while the +pious are allowed to undergo misfortune and be suppressed? Why does He +call Judas to be an apostle and later on reject him while He accepts the +murderer and malefactor? By them [his words, Rom. 11] Paul would order +such to cease climbing up to the secret Majesty, and to adhere to the +revelation which God has given us. For such searching and climbing is +not only in vain, but also harmful. Though you search in all eternity, +you will never attain anything, but only break your neck." + +"But if you desire to proceed in the right way, you can do no better +than busying yourself with His Word and works, in which He has revealed +Himself and permits Himself to be heard and apprehended, to wit, how He +sets before you His Son Christ upon the cross. That is the work of your +redemption. There you can certainly apprehend God, and see that He does +not wish to condemn you on account of your sins if you believe, but to +give you eternal life, as Christ says: 'God so loved the world that He +gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not +perish, but have everlasting life,' (John 3, 16.) In this Christ, says +Paul, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Col. 2, 3.) +And that will be more than enough for you to learn, study, and consider. +This lofty revelation of God will also make you marvel and will engender +a desire and love for God. It is a work which in this life you will +never finish studying; a work of which, as Peter says, even the angels +cannot see enough, but which they contemplate unceasingly with joy and +delight. (1 Pet. 1, 12.)" + +"This I say that we may know how to instruct and direct those (if such +we should meet with) who are being afflicted and tormented by such +thoughts of the devil to tempt God, when he entices them to search the +devious ways of God outside of revelation, and to grope about trying to +fathom what God plans for them--whereby they are led into such doubt and +despair that they know not how they will survive. Such people must be +reminded of these words [Rom. 11], and be rebuked with them (as St. Paul +rebukes his Jews and wiseacres) for seeking to apprehend God with their +wisdom and to school Him, as His advisers and masters, and for dealing +with Him by themselves without means, and for giving Him so much that He +must requite them again. For nothing will come of it; He has carefully +built so high that you will not thus scale Him by your climbing. His +wisdom, counsel, and riches are so great that you will never be able to +fathom or to exhaust them. Therefore be glad that He permits you to know +and receive these things somewhat by revelation." (E. 9, 15 sqq.; St. L. +12, 641 sqq.) + +In a sermon on 2 Pet. 1, 10, delivered in 1523 and published in 1524, +Luther said: "Here a limit [beyond which we may not go] has been set for +us how to treat of predestination. Many frivolous spirits, who have not +felt much of faith, tumble in, strike at the top, concerning themselves +first of all with this matter, and seek to determine by means of their +reason whether they are elected in order to be certain of their +standing. From this you must desist, it is not the hilt of the matter. +If you would be certain, you must attain to this goal by taking the way +which Peter here proposes. Take another, and you have already gone +astray; your own experience must teach you. If faith is well exercised +and stressed, you will finally become sure of the matter, so that you +will not fail." (E. 52, 224, St. L. 9, 1353.) + +After a discussion at Wittenberg with a fanatic from Antwerp, in 1525, +Luther wrote a letter of warning to the Christians of Antwerp, in which +he speaks of God's will with respect to sin in an illuminating manner as +follows: "Most of all he [the fanatic] fiercely contended that God's +command was good, and that God did not desire sin, which is true without +a doubt; and the fact that we also confessed this did not do us any +good. But he would not admit that, although God does not desire sin, He +nevertheless permits (_verhaengt_) it to happen, and such permission +certainly does not come to pass without His will. For who compels Him to +permit it? Aye, how could He permit it if it was not His will to permit +it? Here he exalted his reason, and sought to comprehend how God could +not desire sin, and still, by permitting sin, will it, imagining that he +could exhaust the abyss of divine majesty: how these two wills may exist +side by side.... Nor do I doubt that he will quote me to you as saying +that God desires sin. To this I would herewith reply that he wrongs me, +and as he is otherwise full of lies, so also he does not speak the truth +in this matter. I say that God has forbidden sin, and does not desire +it. This will has been revealed to us, and it is necessary for us to +know it. But in what manner God permits or wills sin, this we are not to +know; for He has not revealed it. St. Paul himself would not and could +not know it, saying, Rom. 9, 20: 'O man, who art thou that repliest +against God?' Therefore I beseech you in case this spirit should trouble +you much with the lofty question regarding the secret will of God, to +depart from him and to speak thus: 'Is it too little that God instructs +us in His public [proclaimed] will, which He has revealed to us? Why, +then, do you gull us seeking to lead us into that which we are forbidden +to know, are unable to know, and which you do not know yourself? Let the +manner in which that comes to pass be commended to God; it suffices us +to know that He desires no sin. In what way, however, He permits or +wills sin, this we shall leave unanswered (_sollen wir gehen lassen_). +The servant is not to know his master's secrets but what his master +enjoins upon him, much less is a poor creature to explore and desire to +know the secrets of the majesty of its God,'--Behold, my dear friends, +here you may perceive that the devil always makes a practise of +presenting unnecessary, vain, and impossible things in order thereby to +tempt the frivolous to forsake the right path. Therefore take heed that +you abide by that which is needful, and which God has commanded us to +know, as the wise man says: 'Do not inquire for that which is too high +for you, but always remain with that which God has commanded you,' We +all have work enough to learn all our lifetime God's command and His Son +Christ." (E. 53, 345; St. L. 10, 1531; Weimar 18, 549f.) + +247. Statements Made by Luther in 1528. + +In a letter of comfort written July 20, 1528, Luther says: "A few days +ago my dear brother Caspar Cruciger, Doctor of Divinity, informed me +with grief that on his various visitations he learned from your friends +that you are afflicted with abnormal and strange thoughts pertaining to +God's predestination, and are completely confused by them; also that you +grow dull and distracted on account of them, and that finally it must be +feared that you might commit suicide,--from which Almighty God may +preserve you!... Your proposition and complaints are: God Almighty knows +from eternity who are to be and who will be saved, be they dead, living +or still to live in days to come,--which is true, and shall and must be +conceded; for He knows all things, and there is nothing hidden from Him, +since He has counted and knows exactly the drops in the sea, the stars +in the heavens, the roots, branches, twigs, leaves of all trees, also +all the hair of men. From this you finally conclude that, do what you +will, good or evil, God still knows whether you shall be saved or not +(which is indeed true) yet, at the same time, you think more of +damnation than of salvation and on that account you are faint-hearted, +nor do you know how God is minded toward you; hence you grow dispirited +and altogether doubtful." + +"Against this I, as a servant of my dear Lord Jesus Christ, give you +this advice and comfort, that you may know how God Almighty is disposed +toward you, whether you are elected unto salvation or damnation. +Although God Almighty knows all things, and all works and thoughts in +all creatures must come to pass according to His will (_iuxta decretum +voluntatis suae_), it is nevertheless His earnest will and purpose, aye, +His command, decreed from eternity, to save all men and make them +partakers of eternal joy, as is clearly stated Ezek. 18, 23, where He +says: God does not desire the death of the wicked but that the wicked +turn and live. Now, if He desires to save and to have saved the sinners +who live and move under the wide and high heaven, then you must not +separate yourself from the grace of God by your foolish thoughts, +inspired by the devil. For God's grace extends and stretches from east +to west from south to north, overshadowing all who turn, truly repent, +and make themselves partakers of His mercy and desire help. For He is +'rich unto all that call upon Him,' Rom. 10, 12. This, however requires +true and genuine faith, which expels such faint-heartedness and despair +and is our righteousness, as it is written Rom. 3, 22: 'the +righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all and upon +all.' Mark these words, _in omnes, super omnes_ (unto all, upon all), +whether you also belong to them, and are one of those who lie and grovel +under the banner of the sinners." "Think also as constantly and +earnestly of salvation as you [now] do of damnation, and comfort +yourself with God's Word, which is true and everlasting, then such ill +winds will cease and pass entirely." + +"Thus we are to comfort our hearts and consciences, silence and resist +the evil thoughts by and with the divine Scriptures. For one must not +speculate about God's Word, but be still, drop reason and, holding the +Word to be true, believe it, and not cast it to the winds, nor give the +Evil Spirit so much power as to suffer ourselves to be overcome, and +thus to sink and perish. For the Word, by which all things and creatures +in all the wide world, no matter what they are called, have been created +and made and by which all that lives and moves is still richly +preserved, is true and eternal; and it must be accounted and held to be +greater and more important, mightier and more powerful than the +fluttering, empty, and vain thoughts which the devil inspires in men. +For the Word is true, but the thoughts of men are useless and vain. One +must also think thus: God Almighty has not created, predestinated, and +elected us to perdition, but to salvation, as Paul asserts, Eph. 1, 4; +nor should we begin to dispute about God's predestination from the Law +or reason, but from the grace of God and the Gospel, which is proclaimed +to all men." "Hence these and similar thoughts about God's +predestination must be judged and decided from the Word of God's grace +and mercy. When this is done, there remains no room or occasion for a +man thus to pester and torment himself,--which neither avails anything +even if he should draw the marrow out of his bones, leaving only skin +and hair." (E. 54, 21ff.) + +248. Statements Made by Luther in 1531 and 1533. + +In a letter of comfort, dated April 30, 1531, Luther refers to the fact +that he, too, had passed through temptation concerning predestination. +"For," says he, "I am well acquainted with this malady, having lain in +this hospital sick unto eternal death. Now, in addition to my prayer I +would gladly advise and comfort you, though writing is weak in such an +affair. However, I shall not omit what I am able to do (perhaps God will +bless it), and show you how God helped me out of this affliction, and by +what art I still daily maintain myself against it. In the first place, +you must be firmly assured in your heart that such thoughts are without +doubt the inspiration and the fiery darts of the foul fiend.... Hence it +is certain that they do not proceed from God, but from the devil, who +therewith plagues a heart that man may become an enemy of God and +despair,--all of which God has strictly forbidden in the First +Commandment, bidding men to trust, love, and praise Him--whereby we +live. Secondly: When such thoughts come to you, you must learn to ask +yourself, 'Friend, in what commandment is it written that I must think +or treat of this?'... Fourthly: The chief of all the commandments of God +is that we picture before our eyes His dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. +He is to be the daily and the chief mirror of our heart, in which we see +how dear we are to God, and how much He has cared for us as a good God, +so that He even gave His dear Son for us." + +"Here, here, I say, and nowhere else, a man can learn the true art of +predestination. Then it will come to pass that you believe on Christ. +And if you believe, then you are called; if you are called, then you are +also surely predestinated. Do not suffer this mirror and throne of grace +to be plucked from the eyes of your heart. On the contrary when such +thoughts come and bite like fiery serpents, then under no circumstances +look at the thoughts or the fiery serpents, but turn your eyes away from +them and look upon the brazen serpent, _i.e._, Christ delivered for us. +Then, by the grace of God, matters will mend." (St. L. 10, 1744 sq.; E. +54, 228.) + +In Luther's _House Postil_ of 1533 we read: "From the last passage: +'Many are called, but few are chosen,' wiseacres draw various false and +ungodly conclusions. They argue: He whom God has elected is saved +without means; but as for him who is not elected, may he do what he +will, be as pious and believing as he will, it is nevertheless ordained +that he must fall and cannot be saved; hence I will let matters take +what course they will. If I am to be saved, it is accomplished without +my assistance; if not, all I may do and undertake is nevertheless in +vain. Now every one may readily see for himself what sort of wicked, +secure people develop from such thoughts. However, in treating of the +passage from the Prophet Micah on the day of Epiphany, we have +sufficiently shown that one must guard against such thoughts as against +the devil, undertake another manner of studying and thinking of God's +will, and let God in His majesty and with respect to election untouched +[unsearched]; for there He is incomprehensible. Nor is it possible that +a man should not be offended by such thoughts, and either fall into +despair or become altogether wicked and reckless." + +"But whoever would know God and His will aright must walk the right way. +Then he will not be offended, but be made better. The right way, +however, is the Lord Jesus Christ, as He says: 'No one cometh unto the +Father but by Me,' Whoever knows the Father aright and would come unto +Him must first come to Christ and learn to know Him, _viz_., as follows: +Christ is God's Son, and is almighty, eternal God. What does the Son of +God now do? He becomes man for our sakes, is made under the Law to +redeem us from the Law, and was Himself crucified in order to pay for +our sins. He rises again from the dead, in order by His resurrection to +pave the way to eternal life for us, and to aid us against eternal +death. He sits at the right hand of God in order to represent us, to +give us the Holy Spirit, to govern and lead us by Him, and to protect +His believers against all tribulations and insinuations of Satan. That +means knowing Christ rightly." + +"Now when this knowledge has been clearly and firmly established in your +heart, then begin to ascend into heaven and make this conclusion: Since +the Son of God has done this for the sake of men, how, then, must God's +heart be disposed to us, seeing that His Son did it by the Father's will +and command? Is it not true that your own reason will compel you to say: +Since God has thus delivered His only-begotten Son for us, and has not +spared Him for our sakes, He surely cannot harbor evil intentions +against us? Evidently He does not desire our death, for He seeks and +employs the very best means toward assisting us to obtain eternal life. +In this manner one comes to God in the right way, as Christ Himself +declares, John 3, 16: God so loved the world that He gave His +only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, +but have everlasting life. Now contrast these thoughts with those that +grow out of the former opinion, and they will be found to be the +thoughts of the foul fiend, which must offend a man, causing him either +to despair, or to become reckless and ungodly, since he can expect +nothing good from God." + +"Some conceive other thoughts, explaining the words thus: 'Many are +called', _i.e._, God offers His grace to many, but few are chosen, +_i.e._, He imparts such grace to only a few; for only a few are saved. +This is an altogether wicked explanation. For how is it possible for one +who holds and believes nothing else of God not to be an enemy of God, +whose will alone must be blamed for the fact that not all of us are +saved? Contrast this opinion with the one that is formed when a man +first learns to know the Lord Christ, and it will be found to be nothing +but devilish blasphemy. Hence the sense of this passage, 'Many are +called,' etc., is far different. For the preaching of the Gospel is +general and public, so that whoever will may hear and accept it. +Furthermore, God has it preached so generally and publicly that every +one should hear, believe, and accept it, and be saved. But what happens? +As the Gospel states: 'Few are chosen,' _i.e._, few conduct themselves +toward the Gospel in such a manner that God has pleasure in them. For +some do not hear and heed it; others hear it, but do not cling to it, +being loath either to risk or suffer anything for it; still others hear +it, but are more concerned about money and goods, or the pleasures of +the world. This, however, is displeasing to God, who has no pleasure in +such people. This Christ calls 'not to be chosen,' _i.e._, conducting +oneself so that God has no pleasure in one. Those men are chosen of God +and well-pleasing to Him who diligently hear the Gospel, believe in +Christ, prove their faith by good fruits, and suffer on that account +what they are called to suffer." + +"This is the true sense, which can offend no one, but makes men better, +so that they think: Very well, if I am to please God and be elected, I +cannot afford to live so as to have an evil conscience, sin against +God's commandments, and be unwilling to resist sin; but I must go to +church, and pray God for His Holy Spirit; nor must I permit the Word to +be taken out of my heart, but resist the devil and his suggestions, and +pray for protection, patience, and help. This makes good Christians, +whereas those who think that God begrudges salvation to any one either +become reckless or secure, wicked people, who live like brutes, +thinking: It has already been ordained whether I am to be saved or not; +why, then, should I stint myself anything? To think thus is wrong; for +you are commanded to hear God's Word and to believe Christ to be your +Savior, who has paid for your sin. Remember this command and obey it. If +you notice that you are lacking faith, or that your faith is weak, pray +God to grant you His Holy Ghost, and do not doubt that Christ is your +Savior, and that if you believe in Him, _i.e._, if you take comfort in +Him, you shall by Him be saved. Dear Lord Jesus Christ, grant this unto +us all! Amen." (E. 1, 204; St. L. 13, 199.) + +249. Statements Made by Luther in 1538 and 1545. + +In his remarks of 1538 on Matt. 11, 25. 26, Luther says: "Christ speaks +especially against those who would be wise and judge in religious +matters, because they have on their side the Law and human reason, which +is overwise, exalting itself against the true religion both by teaching +and by judging. Hence Christ here praises God as doing right when He +conceals His secrets from the wise and prudent, because they want to be +over and not under God. Not as though He hid it in fact or desired to +hide it (for He commands it to be preached publicly under the entire +heaven and in all lands), but that He has chosen that kind of preaching +which the wise and prudent abhor by nature, and which is hidden from +them through their own fault, since they do not want to have it--as is +written Is. 6, 9: 'See ye indeed, but perceive not,' Lo, they see, +_i.e._, they have the doctrine which is preached both plainly and +publicly. Still they do not perceive, for they turn away from it and +refuse to have it. Thus they hide the truth from themselves by their own +blindness. And so, on the other hand, He reveals it to the babes; for +the babes receive it when it is revealed to them. To them the truth is +revealed since they wish and desire it." (W. 7, 133.) + +In a letter giving comfort concerning predestination, dated August 8, +1545, Luther wrote: "My dear master and friend N. has informed me that +you are at times in tribulation about God's eternal predestination, and +requested me to write you this short letter on that matter. Now to be +sure, this is a sore tribulation. But to overcome it one must know that +we are forbidden to understand this or to speculate about it. For what +God wants to conceal we should be glad not to know. This is the apple +the eating of which brought death upon Adam and Eve and upon all their +children, when they wanted to know what they were not to know. For as it +is sin to commit murder, to steal, or to curse, so it is also sin to +busy oneself searching such things. As an antidote to this God has given +us His Son, Jesus Christ. Of Him we must daily think; in Him we must +consider ourselves (_uns in ihm spiegeln_). Then predestination will +appear lovely. For outside of Christ everything is only danger, death, +and the devil; in Him, however, there is nothing but peace and joy. For +if one forever torments himself with predestination, all one gains is +anguish of soul. Hence flee and avoid such thoughts as the affliction of +the serpent of Paradise, and, instead, look upon Christ. God preserve +you!" (E. 56, 140; St. L. 10. 1748.) + +250. Statements Made by Luther in His Commentary on Genesis. + +Luther's _caeterum censeo_, that we are neither to deny nor to search +the hidden God (who cannot be apprehended in His bare majesty--_qui in +nuda sua maiestate non potest apprehendi_, E., Op. Lat. 2, 171), but to +adhere to the revelation He has given us in the Gospel, is repeated +again and again also in his _Commentary on Genesis_, which was begun in +1536 and completed in 1545. In the explanation of chap. 26, 9 we read, +in part: "I gladly take occasion from this passage to discuss the +question concerning doubt, concerning God and God's will. For I hear +that everywhere among the nobles and magnates profane sayings are spread +concerning predestination or divine prescience. For they say: 'If I am +predestinated, I shall be saved, whether I have done good or evil. If I +am not predestinated, I shall be damned, without any regard whatever to +my works.' Against these ungodly sayings I would gladly argue at length +if my ill health would permit. For if these sayings are true, as they +believe them to be, then the incarnation of the Son of God, His +suffering and resurrection, and whatever He did for the salvation of the +world, is entirely abolished. What would the prophets and the entire +Holy Scriptures profit us? what the Sacraments? Let us therefore abandon +and crush all this," all these ungodly sayings. + +Luther proceeds: "These thoughts must be opposed by the true and firm +knowledge of Christ, even as I frequently admonish that above all it is +useful and necessary that our knowledge of God be absolutely certain, +and being apprehended by firm assent of the mind, cleave in us, as +otherwise our faith will be in vain. For if God does not stand by His +promises, then our salvation is done for, while on the contrary this is +to be our consolation that, although we change, we may nevertheless flee +to Him who is unchangeable. For this is what He affirms of Himself, Mal. +3, 6: 'I am the Lord, I change not,' and Rom. 11, 29: 'For the gifts and +calling of God are without repentance.' Accordingly, in the book _De +Servo Arbitrio_ and elsewhere I have taught that we must distinguish +when we treat of the knowledge of God or, rather, of His essence. For +one must argue either concerning the hidden or the revealed God. +Concerning God, in so far as He has not been revealed to us, there is no +faith, no knowledge, no cognition whatever. Here one must apply the +saying: What is above us does not concern us (_Quae supra nos, nihil ad +nos_). For such thoughts as search for something higher, beyond or +without the revelation of God, are altogether diabolical; and by them +nothing else is achieved than that we plunge ourselves into perdition, +because they are occupied with an unsearchable object, _i.e._, the +unrevealed God. Indeed, rather let God keep His decrees and mysteries +concealed from us, for there is no reason why we should labor so much +that they be disclosed to us. Moses, too, asked God to show His face, or +glory, to him. But the Lord answered, Ex. 33, 23: 'Thou shalt see My +back parts; but My face shall not be seen. _Posteriora mea tibi +ostendam, faciem autem meam videre non poteris_.' For this curiosity is +original sin itself, by which we are impelled to seek for a way to God +by natural speculation. But it is an enormous sin and a useless and vain +endeavor. For Christ says, John 6, 65; 14, 6: 'No man cometh unto the +Father but by Me.' Hence, when we approach the non-revealed God, there +is no faith, no word, nor any knowledge, because He is an invisible God +whom you will not make visible." + +With special reference to his book _De Servo Arbitrio_ Luther continues: +"It was my desire to urge and set forth these things, because after my +death many will quote my books and by them try to prove and confirm all +manner of errors and follies of their own. Now, among others I have +written that all things are absolute and necessary; but at the same time +(and very often at other times) I added that we must look upon the +revealed God, as we sing in the Psalm: '_Er heisst Jesus Christ, der +Herr Zebaoth, und ist kein andrer Gott_,' 'Jesus Christ it is, of +Sabaoth Lord, and there's none other God.' But they will pass by all +these passages, and pick out those only concerning the hidden God. You, +therefore, who are now hearing me, remember that I have taught that we +must not inquire concerning the predestination of the hidden God, but +acquiesce in that which is revealed by the call and the ministry of the +Word. For there you can be certain regarding your faith and salvation +and say: I believe in the Son of God who said: 'He that believeth on the +Son hath everlasting life,' John 3, 36. In Him therefore is no damnation +or wrath, but the good will of God the Father. But these very things I +have set forth also elsewhere in my books, and now I transmit them +orally, too, _viva voce;_ hence I am excused--_ideo sum excusatus_." +(E., Op. Exeg. 6, 200. 292. 300; CONC. TRIGL. 897f.) + +251. Luther Never Retracted His Doctrine of Grace. + +It has frequently been asserted that Luther in his later years recalled +his book _De Servo Arbitrio_, and retracted, changed and essentially +modified his original doctrine of grace, or, at least silently, +abandoned it and relegated it to oblivion. Philippi says in his +_Glaubenslehre_ (4, 1, 37): "In the beginning of the Reformation [before +1525] the doctrine of predestination fell completely into the +background. But when Erasmus, in his endeavors to restore +Semi-Pelagianism, injected into the issue also the question of +predestination, Luther, in his _De Servo Arbitrio_ with an overbold +defiance, did not shrink from drawing also the inferences from his +position. He, however, not only never afterwards repeated this doctrine, +but in reality taught the very opposite in his unequivocal proclamation +of the universality of divine grace, of the all-sufficiency of the +merits of Christ, and of the universal operation of the means of grace; +and he even opposed that doctrine [of _De Servo Arbitrio_] expressly as +erroneous, and by his corrections took back his earlier utterances on +that subject." Endorsing Philippi's view as "according well with the +facts in the case," J. W. Richard, who, too, charges the early Luther +with "absolute predestinarianism," remarks: "But this is certain: the +older Luther became, the more did he drop his earlier predestinarianism +into the background and the more did he lay stress on the grace of God +and on the means of grace, which offer salvation to all men (_in omnes, +super omnes_) without partiality, and convey salvation to all who +believe." (_Conf. Hist._, 336.) + +Time and again similar assertions have been repeated, particularly by +synergistic theologians. But they are not supported by the facts. +Luther, as his books abundantly show, was never a preacher of +predestinarianism (limited grace, limited redemption, etc.), but always +a messenger of God's universal grace in Christ, offered in the means of +grace to all poor and penitent sinners. In his public preaching and +teaching predestination never predominated. Christ Crucified and His +merits offered in the Gospel always stood in the foreground. In _De +Servo Arbitrio_ Luther truly says: "We, too, teach nothing else than +Christ Crucified." (St. L. 18, 1723; E. v. a. 7, 160.) Luther's sermons +and books preached and published before as well as after 1525 refute the +idea that he ever made predestination, let alone predestinarianism, the +center of his teaching and preaching. It is a fiction that only very +gradually Luther became a preacher of universal grace and of the means +of grace. In fact, he himself as well as his entire reformation were +products of the preaching, not of predestinarianism, but of God's grace +and pardon offered to all in absolution and in the means of grace. The +bent of Luther's mind was not speculative, but truly evangelical and +Scriptural. Nor is it probable that he would ever have entered upon the +question of predestination to such an extent as he did in _De Servo +Arbitrio_, if the provocation had not come from without. It was the +rationalistic, Semi-Pelagian attack of Erasmus on the fundamental +Christian truths concerning man's inability in spiritual matters and his +salvation by grace alone which, in Luther's opinion, called for just +such an answer as he gave in _De Servo Arbitrio_. Wherever the occasion +demanded it Luther was ready to defend also the truth concerning God's +majesty and supremacy, but he always was and remained a preacher of the +universal mercy of God as revealed in Christ Crucified. + +Nor is there any solid foundation whatever for the assertion that Luther +later on retracted his book against Erasmus or abandoned its doctrine, +--a fact at present generally admitted also by disinterested historians. +(Frank 1, 129. 135. 125.) In his criticism of the _Book of Confutation_, +dated March 7, 1559 Landgrave Philip of Hesse declared: "As to free +will, we a long time ago have read the writings of Luther and Erasmus of +Rotterdam as well as their respective replies; and, although in the +beginning they were far apart, Luther some years later saw the +disposition of the common people and gave a better explanation (_und +sich besser erklaeret_); and we believe, if a synod were held and one +would hear the other, they would come to a brotherly agreement in this +article." (_C. R._ 9, 760.) But Flacius immediately declared that this +assertion was false, as appeared from Luther's _Commentary on Genesis_ +and his letter to the Elector concerning the Regensburg Interim. (Preger +2, 82.) Schaff writes: "The Philippist [Christopher] Lasius first +asserted, 1568 that Luther had recalled his book _De Servo Arbitrio;_ +but this was indignantly characterized by Flacius and Westphal as a +wretched lie and an insult to the evangelical church. The fact is that +Luther emphatically reaffirmed this book, in a letter to Capito [July +9], 1637, as one of his very best." (_Creeds_ 1, 303.) In his letter to +Capito, Luther says: "_Nullum enim agnosco meum iustum librum nisi forte +'De Servo Arbitrio' et 'Catechismum_,'" thus endorsing _De Servo +Arbitrio_ in the same manner as his Catechism. (Enders 11, 247.) Before +this Luther had said at his table: "Erasmus has written against me in +his booklet _Hyperaspistes_, in which he endeavors to defend his book +_On Free Will_, against which I wrote my book _On the Enslaved Will_, +which as yet he has not refuted, and will never in eternity be able to +refute. This I know for certain, and I defy and challenge the devil +together with all his minions to refute it. For I am certain that it is +the immutable truth of God." (St. L. 20, 1081.) Despite numerous +endeavors, down to the present day, not a shred of convincing evidence +has been produced showing that Luther ever wavered in this position, or +changed his doctrine of grace. + +Luther's extensive reference to _De Servo Arbitrio_ in his _Commentary +on Genesis_, from which we freely quoted above, has frequently been +interpreted as a quasi-retraction. But according to the _Formula of +Concord_ these expositions of Luther's merely "repeat and explain" his +former position. They certainly do not offer any corrections of his +former fundamental views. Luther does not speak of any errors of his +own, but of errors of others which they would endeavor to corroborate by +quoting from his books--"_post meam mortem multi meos libros proferrent +in medium et inde omnis generis errores et deliria sua confirmabunt_." +Moreover, he declares that he is innocent if some should misuse his +statements concerning necessity and the hidden God, because he had +expressly added that we must not search the hidden majesty of God, but +look upon the revealed God to judge of His disposition toward us-- +"_addidi, quod aspiciendus sit Deus revelatus.... Ideo sum excusatus_." +(CONC. TRIGL., 898.) Luther's entire theological activity, before as +well as after 1525, was an application of the principle stressed also in +_De Servo Arbitrio, viz._, that we must neither deny nor investigate or +be concerned about the hidden God, but study God as He has revealed +Himself in the Gospel and firmly rely on His gracious promises in the +means of grace. + +252. Luther's Doctrine Approved by Formula of Concord. + +Flacius, who himself did not deny the universality of grace, declared at +the colloquy in Weimar, 1560, that, when taken in their context, +Luther's statements in _De Servo Arbitrio_ contained no inapt +expressions (_nihil incommodi_). He added: "I do not want to be the +reformer of Luther, but let us leave the judgment and discussion +concerning this book to the Church of sound doctrine. _Nolo reformator +esse Lutheri, sed iudicium et discussionem istius libri permittamus +sanae ecclesiae_." (Planck 4, 704, Frank 4, 255.) In Article II of the +_Formula of Concord_ the Church passed on Luther's book on the bondage +of the will together with his declarations in his _Commentary on +Genesis_. In referring to this matter the _Formula_ gives utterance to +the following thoughts: 1. that in _De Servo Arbitrio_ Luther +"elucidated and supported this position [on free will, occupied also by +the _Formula of Corcord_] well and thoroughly, _egregie et solide_"; 2. +that "afterwards he repeated and explained it in his glorious exposition +of the Book of Genesis, especially of chapter 26;" 3. that in this +exposition also "his meaning and understanding of some other peculiar +disputations, introduced incidentally by Erasmus, as of absolute +necessity, etc., have been secured by him in the best and most careful +way against all misunderstanding and perversion;" 4. that the _Formula +of Concord_ "appeals and refers others" to these deliverances of Luther. +(CONC. TRIGL. 896, 44.) + +The _Formula of Concord_, therefore, endorsed Luther's _De Servo +Arbitrio_ without expressing any strictures or reservations whatever, +and, particularly in Articles I, II and XI, also embodied its essential +thoughts though not all of its phrases statements, and arguments. The +said articles contain a guarded reproduction and affirmation of Luther's +doctrine of grace, according to which God alone is the cause of man's +salvation while man alone is the cause of his damnation. In particular +they reaffirm Luther's teaching concerning man's depravity and the +inability of his will to cooperate in conversion; the divine monergism +in man's salvation; the universality of grace and of the efficaciousness +of the means of grace; man's responsibility for the rejection of grace +and for his damnation; God's unsearchable judgments and mysterious ways; +the mystery why some are lost while others are saved, though all are +equally guilty and equally loved by God; the solution of this problem in +the light of glory where it will be made apparent that there never were +contradictory wills in God. In its doctrine of predestination as well as +of free will, therefore, the _Formula of Concord_ is not a compromise +between synergism and monergism, but signifies a victory of Luther over +the later Melanchthon. + +253. Attitude of Apology of the Book of Concord. + +The attitude of the _Formula of Concord_ with respect to Luther's _De +Servo Arbitrio_ was shared by contemporary Lutheran theologians. They +expressed objections neither to the book itself nor to its public +endorsement by the _Formula of Concord_. In 1569 the theologians of +Ducal Saxony publicly declared their adherence to the doctrine "set +forth most luminously and skilfully (_summa luce et dexteritate +traditum_)" in _De Servo Arbitrio_, the _Commentary on Genesis_, and +other books of Luther. (Schluesselburg 6, 133.) That the authors of the +_Formula of Concord_ were fully conscious of their agreement with +Luther's _De Servo Arbitrio_ and his _Commentary on Genesis_ appears +also from the _Apology of the Book of Concord_, composed 1582 by +Kirchner Selneccer, and Chemnitz. Instead of charging Luther with +errors, these theologians, who were prominent in the drafting of the +_Formula or Concord_, endorse and defend his position, _viz_., that we +must neither deny nor investigate the hidden God, but search the Gospel +for an answer to the question how God is disposed toward us. + +In this _Apology_ the opening paragraph of the section defending Article +XI of the _Formula of Concord_ against the Neustadt theologians reads as +follows: "In their antilog [antilogia--attack on Article XI of the +_Formula of Concord_] regarding God's eternal election and +predestination they merely endeavor to persuade the people that in this +article the doctrine of the _Christian Book of Concord_ [_Formula of +Concord_] conflicts with the teaching of Doctor Luther and his book _De +Servo Arbitrio_, while otherwise we ourselves are accustomed to appeal +to Luther's writings. They accordingly charge the _Book of Concord_ with +condemning Luther, who in the book called _Servum Arbitrium_ maintained +the proposition that it was not superfluous but highly necessary and +useful for a Christian to know whether God's foreknowledge (_Versehung_) +is certain or uncertain, changeable, etc. Now, praise the Lord, these +words of Dr. Luther are not unknown to us, but, besides, we also well +know how Dr. Luther in his last explanation of the 26th chapter of the +First Book of Moses explains and guards these words of his." (Fol. +204a.) After quoting the passages from Luther's Genesis, which we cited +above (p. 223f.), the _Apology_ continues: "With this explanation of +Luther we let the matter rest. If our opponents [the Neustadt +theologians] wish to brood over it any further and in their +investigating and disputing dive into the abyss or unfathomable depth of +this mystery, they may do so for themselves [at their own risk] and +suffer the consequences of such an attempt. As for us we are content to +adhere to God in so far as He has revealed Himself in His Word, and lead +and direct Christianity thereto, reserving the rest for the life to +come." (405a.) + +254. Agreement of Apology with Formula of Concord and Luther. + +Doctrinally also, the _Apology of the Book of Concord_ is in agreement +with both Luther and the _Formula of Concord_. This appears from the +following excerpts: "Nor does the _Christian Book of Concord_ [_Formula +of Concord_] deny that there is a reprobation in God or that God rejects +some; hence also it does not oppose Luther's statement when he writes in +_De Servo Arbitrio_ against Erasmus that it is the highest degree of +faith to believe that God, who saves so few, is nevertheless most +merciful; but it does not intend to ascribe to God the efficient cause +of such reprobation or damnation as the doctrine of our opponents +teaches; it rather holds that, when this question is discussed all men +should put their finger on their lips and first say with the Apostle +Paul, Rom. 11, 20: '_Propter incredulitatem defracti sunt_--Because of +unbelief they were broken off,' and Rom. 6, 23: 'For the wages of sin is +death.' In the second place: When the question is asked why God the Lord +does not through His Holy Spirit convert, and bestow faith upon, all +men, etc. (which He is certainly able to do--_das er doch wohl +koennte_), that we furthermore say with the Apostle [Rom. 11, 33]: +'_Quam incomprehensibilia sunt iudicia eius et impervestigabiles viae +eius_--How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding +out,' but not in any way ascribe to the Lord God Himself the willing and +efficient cause of the reprobation and damnation of the impenitent." +"But when they, pressing us, declare, 'Since you admit the election of +the elect, you must also admit the other thing, _viz_., that in God +Himself there is from eternity a cause of reprobation, also apart from +sin,' etc., then we declare that we are not at all minded to make God +the author [_Ursacher_] of reprobation (the cause of which properly lies +not in God, but in sin), nor to ascribe to Him the efficient cause of +the damnation of the ungodly, but intend to adhere to the word of the +Prophet Hosea, chapter 13, where God Himself says: 'O Israel, thou hast +destroyed thyself; but in Me is thy help.' Nor do we intend to search +our dear God in so far as He is hidden and has not revealed Himself. For +it is too high for us anyway, and we cannot comprehend it. And the more +we occupy ourselves with this matter, the farther we depart from our +dear God, and the more we doubt His gracious will toward us." (206.) + +The _Apology_ continues: "Likewise the _Book of Concord_ [_Formula of +Concord_] does not deny that God does not work in all men in the same +manner. For at all times there are many whom He has not called through +the public ministry. However, our opponents shall nevermore persuade us +to infer with them that God is an efficient [_wirkliche_] cause of the +reprobation of such people, and that He decreed absolutely from His mere +counsel [_fuer sich aus blossem Rat_] to reject and cast them away +eternally, even irrespective of their sin [_auch ausserhalb der +Suende_]. For when we arrive at this abyss of the mysteries of God, it +is sufficient to say with the Apostle Rom. 11: 'His judgments are +unsearchable,' and 1 Cor. 15, 57: 'But thanks be to God, which giveth us +the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' Whatever goes beyond this +our Savior Christ Himself will reveal to us in eternal life." + +"Nor is there any cause for the cry that the _Book of Concord_ did not +distinguish between _malum culpae, i.e._, sin which God neither wills, +nor approves, nor works, and _malum poenae_, or the punishments which He +wills and works. For there [in Article XI] the purpose was not to +discuss all questions which occur and might be treated in this matter +concerning God's eternal election, but merely to give a summary +statement of the chief points of this article; and elsewhere this +distinction is clearly explained by our theologians. Nor is there any +one among us who approves of this blasphemy, that God wills sin, is +pleased with it, and works it; moreover, we reject such speech as a +blasphemy against God Himself. Besides, it is plainly stated, p. 318 +[edition of 1580; CONC. TRIGL. 1065, 6], that God does not will evil +acts and works, from which it is apparent that the _Book_ [_Formula_] +_of Concord_ does not at all teach that God is the author of _malum +culpae_ or of sins in the same manner as He executes and works the +punishments of sins." (206 b.) + +255. Apology on Universalis Gratia Seria et Efficax. + +Emphasizing the universality and seriousness of God's grace and the +possibility of conversion and salvation even for those who are finally +damned, the _Apology_ proceeds: "And why should we not also reject [the +proposition]: 'The reprobate cannot be converted and saved,' since it is +undoubtedly true that, with respect to those who are finally rejected +and damned, we are unable to judge with certainty who they are, and +there is hope for the conversion of all men as long as they are still +alive? For the malefactor, Luke 23, was converted to God at his last +end; concerning whom, according to the judgment of reason everybody +might have said that he was one of the reprobates. The passage John 12, +39: 'Therefore they could not believe,' etc., does not properly treat of +eternal reprobation, nor does it say with so many words that no +reprobate can be converted and saved.... It is therefore the meaning +neither of the prophet [Is. 6, 9. 10] nor of the evangelist [John 12, +39] that God, irrespective of the sins and wickedness of such people, +solely from His mere counsel, purpose, and will, ordains them to +damnation so that they cannot be saved. Moreover, the meaning and +correct understanding of this passage is, that in the obstinate and +impenitent God punishes sin with sins, and day by day permits them to +become more blind, but not that He has pleasure in their sin and +wickedness, effectually works in them blindness and obstinacy, or that +He, solely from His purpose and mere counsel, irrespective also of sins, +has foreordained them to damnation so that they cannot convert +themselves and be saved. In all such and similar passages, therefore, we +shall and must be sedulously on our guard, lest we spin therefrom this +blasphemy, that out of His free purpose and counsel, irrespective also +of sin, God has decreed to reject eternally these or others...." (207.) + +With respect to the seriousness of universal grace we furthermore read: +"They [the Neustadt theologians] say that in His Word God declares what +He approves, and earnestly demands of, all men, but not what He wishes +to work and effect in all of them. For, they say, He reveals His secret +counsel in no other way than by working in man, _viz_., through +conversion or final hardening of those who are either converted or +hardened and damned.... With regard to this we give the following +correct answer, _viz_.: that we are not minded in the least to carry on +a dispute or discussion with our opponents concerning God and His secret +counsel, purpose, or will in so far as He has not in His Word revealed +Himself and His counsel. The reason is the one quoted above from the +words of Luther himself, _viz_., that concerning God, so far as He has +not been revealed [to us], or has not made Himself known in His Word, +there is neither faith nor knowledge, and one cannot know anything of +Him, etc., which also in itself is true. Why, then, should we, together +with our opponents dive into the abyss of the incomprehensible judgments +of God and presumptuously assert with them that from His mere counsel, +purpose, and will, irrespective also of sin, God has ordained some to +damnation who cannot be converted, moreover, whom He, according to His +secret purpose, does not want to be converted, despite the fact that +through the office of the ministry He declares Himself friendly towards +them and offers them His grace and mercy? My dear friend, where is it +written in the Word of God that it is not the will of God that all +should be saved, but that, irrespective of their sin, He has ordained +some to damnation only from His mere counsel, purpose, and will, so that +they cannot be saved? Never in all eternity, try as they may, will they +prove this proposition from God's revealed Word. For nowhere do the Holy +Scriptures speak thus. Yet from sheer foolhardiness they dare employ, +contrary to Scripture, such blasphemous doctrine and speech and spread +it in all Christendom." (108 b.) + +256. Apology on God's Mysterious Judgments and Ways. + +Concerning the mysterious judgments and ways of God the _Apology_ says: +"At the same time we do not deny that God does not work alike in all +men, enlightening all,--for neither does He give His Word to all,--and +that nevertheless He is and remains both just and merciful, and that +nobody can justly accuse Him of any unfaithfulness, envy, or tyranny, +although He does not, as said, give His Word to all and enlighten them. +But we add that, when arriving at this mystery, one should put his +finger on his lips and not dispute or brood over it [_gruebeln_--from +the facts conceded infer doctrines subversive of God's universal serious +grace], but say with the apostle: 'How unsearchable are His judgments, +and His ways past finding out!' Much less should one rashly say, as our +opponents do, that of His free will, and irrespective of sin, God has +ordained that some should be damned. For as to what God holds and has +decreed in His secret, hidden counsel, nothing certain can be said. Nor +should one discuss this deeply hidden mystery, but reserve it for yonder +life, and meanwhile adhere to the revealed Word of God by which we are +called to repentance, and by which salvation is faithfully offered us. +And this Word, or revealed will, of God concerning the giving rest to +all those that labor and are heavy laden, is certain, infallible, +unwavering, and not at all opposed to the secret counsel of God, with +which alone our opponents are occupied. Accordingly nothing that +conflicts with the will revealed in the Word of God should be inferred +from it, even as God Himself in His Word has not directed us to it. +Because of the fact, therefore, that not all accept this call, we must +not declare that from His free purpose and will, without regard to sin, +God in His secret counsel, has ordained those who do not repent to +damnation, so that they cannot be converted and saved (for this has not +been revealed to us in the Word), but adhere to this, that God's +judgments in these cases are unsearchable and incomprehensible." + +"It is impossible that the doctrine of the opponents concerning this +article should not produce in the hearers either despair or Epicurean +security, when in this doctrine it is taught that God, from His mere +counsel and purpose and irrespective of sin, has ordained some to +damnation so that they cannot be converted. For as soon as a heart hears +this, it cannot but despair of its salvation, or fall into these +Epicurean thoughts: If you are among the reprobate whom, from His free +purpose and without regard to sin, God has ordained to damnation, then +you cannot be saved, do what you will. But if you are among those who +shall be saved, then you cannot fail; do what you will, you must +nevertheless be saved, etc. We do not in the least intend to join our +opponents in giving occasion for such things. God also shall protect us +from it." (209.) + +Again: "They [the opponents] also say that we stress the universal +promises of grace, but fail to add that these belong and pertain to +believers. But herein they wrong us. For we urge both, _viz_., that the +promises of grace are universal, and that, nevertheless, only believers, +who labor and are heavy laden, Matt. 11, become partakers of them. But +their [our opponents'] object is to have us join them in saying that +some are ordained to damnation from the free purpose of God, also +without regard to sin, whom He does not want to be saved, even though He +calls them through the Word and offers His grace and salvation to them, +--which, however, we shall never do. For our heart is filled with horror +against such a Stoic and Manichean doctrine." (209 b.) + + +XXII. Article XII of the Formula of Concord: Of Other Heretics and +Sects. + +257. Purpose of Article XII. + +The purpose of the first eleven articles of the _Formula of Concord_ was +not only to establish peace within the Lutheran Church and to ward off +future controversies, but also to meet the ridicule and obloquy of the +Papists and to brand before the whole world as slander, pure and simple, +their assertions that the Lutherans were hopelessly disagreed and had +abandoned the _Augsburg Confession_, and that the Reformation was bound +to end in utter confusion and dissolution. The _Formula of Concord_ was +to leave no doubt regarding the fact that the Lutheran Church offers a +united front in every direction: against the Romanists, the Calvinists, +the errorists that had arisen in their own midst, and self-evidently +also against the sects and fanatics, old and modern, with whom the +Romanists slanderously identified them. + +Summarizing the errors which Lutherans repudiate, the _Formula of +Concord_ declares: "First, we reject and condemn all heresies and errors +which were rejected and condemned in the primitive, ancient, orthodox +Church, upon the true, firm ground of the holy divine Scriptures. +Secondly, we reject and condemn all sects and heresies which are +rejected in the writings, just mentioned, of the comprehensive summary +of the confession of our churches [the Lutheran symbols, preceding the +_Formula of Concord_]. Thirdly, we reject also all those errors which +caused dissension within the Lutheran Church, and which are dealt with +and refuted in the first eleven articles of the _Formula of Concord_." +(857, 17ff.) Among the errors rejected in the _Augsburg Confession_ and +the subsequent Lutheran symbols were those also of the Anabaptists, +Antitrinitarians, and others. (CONC. TRIGL. 42, 6; 44, 4; 46, 3; 48, 7; +50, 3. 4; 138, 66; 244, 52; 310, 13; 356, 43; 436, 49; 744, 55; 746, +58.) And this is the class of errorists which Article XII of the +_Formula of Concord_ makes it a special point to characterize summarily +and reject by name. Before this the _Book of Confutation_, composed 1559 +by the theologians of Duke John Frederick, had enumerated and rejected +the doctrines of such errorists as Servetus, Schwenckfeld, and the +Anabaptists. + +From the very beginning of the Reformation, and especially at Augsburg, +1530, Eck and other Romanists had either identified the Lutherans with +the Anabaptists and other sects, or had, at least, held them responsible +for their origin and growth. Both charges are denied by the _Formula of +Concord_. For here we read: "However, lest there be silently ascribed to +us the condemned errors of the above enumerated factions and sects +(which, as is the nature of such spirits, for the most part, secretly +stole in at localities, and especially at a time when no place or room +was given to the pure word of the holy Gospel, but all its sincere +teachers and confessors were persecuted, and the deep darkness of the +Papacy still prevailed and poor simple men who could not help but feel +the manifest idolatry and false faith of the Papacy, in their +simplicity, alas! embraced whatever was called Gospel, and was not +papistic), we could not forbear testifying also against them publicly, +before all Christendom, that we have neither part nor fellowship with +their errors, be they many or few, but reject and condemn them, one and +all, as wrong and heretical, and contrary to the Scriptures of the +prophets and apostles, and to our Christian _Augsburg Confession_, well +grounded in God's Word." (1097, 7f.) + +258. The Anabaptists. + +The Anabaptistic movement originated in Zurich. Their leaders were +Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and the monk George of Chur (also called +_Blaurock_, Bluecoat), who was the first to introduce anabaptism. In +rapid succession Anabaptistic congregations sprang up in Swabia, Tyrol, +Austria, Moravia, etc. Because of their attitude toward the civil +government the Anabaptists were regarded as rebels and treated +accordingly. As early as January, 1527, some of them were executed in +Zurich. Persecution increased after the council held by Anabaptists in +the autumn of 1527 at Augsburg, which then harbored a congregation of +more than 1,100 "Apostolic Brethren," as the Anabaptists there called +themselves. In Germany the imperial mandate of September 23, 1529, +authorized the governments to punish Anabaptists, men and women of +every age, by fire or sword "without previous inquisition by spiritual +judges." They suffered most in Catholic territories. By 1531 about +1,000 (according to Sebastian Franck 2,000) had been executed in Tyrol +and Goerz. + +The most prominent of the early Anabaptistic leaders and protagonists +were Hubmaier, Denk, Dachser, and Hans Hutt. Besides these we mention: +Ludwig Haetzer, published a translation of the prophets from the Hebrew, +1527, for which he was praised by Luther, was executed as adulterer +February 4, 1529, at Constance; Eitelhans Langenmantel, a former soldier +and son of the Augsburg burgomaster, expelled from the city October 14, +1527, impassionate in his writings against the "old and new Papists," +_i.e._, Luther and others who adhered to the real presence of Christ in +the Lord's Supper, decapitated May 12, 1528, at Weissenburg; Christian +Entfelder, 1527 leader of the Brethren at Eisenschuetz Moravia, and +later on counselor of Duke Albrecht of Prussia; Hans Schlaffer, a former +priest, active as Anabaptistic preacher and author, executed 1528; Joerg +Haug, pastor in Bibra; Wolfgang Vogel, pastor near Nuernberg, executed +1527; Siegmund Salminger, imprisoned 1527 in Augsburg; Leonard Schiemer, +former Franciscan, bishop of the Brethren in Austria, an +Antitrinitarian, executed 1528; Ulrich Hugwald, professor in Basel; +Melchior Rinck, pastor in Hesse; Pilgram Marbeck; Jacob Buenderlin; +Jacob Kautz, preacher and author in Worms; Clemens Ziegler; Peter +Riedemann, an Anabaptistic author and preacher, who was frequently +imprisoned and died 1556; Melchior Hofmann, an Anabaptistic lay-preacher +and prolific author, who died in prison at Strassburg, 1543. +(Tschackert, 148ff.; Schlottenloher, _Philipp Ulhart, ein Augsburger +Winkeldrucker und Helfershelfer der "Schwaermer" und "Wiedertaeufer,"_ +1523--1529, p. 59ff.) + +The various errors of the Anabaptists are enumerated in the Twelfth +Article of the _Formula of Concord_. The Epitome remarks: "The +Anabaptists are divided among themselves into many factions, as one +contends for more, another for less errors; however they all in common +propound such doctrine as is to be tolerated or allowed neither in the +church, nor in the commonwealth and secular government, nor in domestic +life." (839, 2.) Urbanus Regius said in his book _Against the New +Baptistic Order:_ "Not all [of the Anabaptists] know of all of these +errors [enumerated in his book]; it is therefore not our intention to do +an injustice to any one; we mean such public deceivers in the Baptistic +Order as John Denk and Balthasar Friedberger," Hubmaier. +(Schlottenloher, 80.) + +While some of the Anabaptists, as Hubmaier, were more conservative, +others (Denk, Schiemer) went so far as to deny even the doctrine of the +Trinity. They all were agreed, however, in their opposition to infant +baptism, and to the Lutheran doctrines of justification, of the means of +grace, of the Sacraments, etc. What their preachers stressed was not +faith in the atonement made by Christ, but medieval mysticism, +sensation-faith (_Gefuehlsglaube_), and the law of love as exemplified +by Christ. Tschackert quotes from one of their sermons: "Whoever follows +the voice which constantly speaks in his heart always finds in himself +the true testimony to sin no more, and an admonition to resist the +evil." (153.) In his introduction to a publication of hymns of Breuning, +Salminger said: "Whoever speaks in truth to what his own heart testifies +will be received by God." Schlottenloher remarks: "It was medieval +mysticism from which they [the Anabaptists] derived their consuming +desire for the complete union of the soul with God and the Spirit." +(83.) + +259. Balthasar Hubmaier. + +Hubmaier (Hubmoer, Friedberger, Pacimontanus) was born at Friedberg, +near Augsburg, and studied under Eck. In 1512 he became Doctor and +professor of theology at Ingolstadt; 1516 preacher in Regensburg; 1522 +pastor in Waldshut on the Rhine. Before he came to Waldshut, he had read +the books of Luther. He joined Zwingli in his opposition to Romanism. In +January, 1525, however, he wrote to Oecolampadius that now "he +proclaimed publicly what before he had kept to himself," referring in +particular to his views on infant baptism. On Easter Day of the same +year he was rebaptized together with 60 other persons, after which he +continued to baptize more than 300. In July of 1525 he published his +book _Concerning Christian Baptism of Believers_, which was directed +against Zwingli, whose name, however, was not mentioned. At Zurich, +whither he had fled from Waldshut after the defeat of the peasants in +their rebellion of 1525, he was compelled to hold a public disputation +with Zwingli on infant baptism. This led to his imprisonment from which +he was released only after a public recantation, 1526. He escaped to +Nicolsburg, Moravia, where, under the protection of a powerful nobleman, +he developed a feverish activity and rebaptized about 12,000 persons. +When the persecutions of the Anabaptists began, Hubmaier was arrested, +and after sulphur and powder had been well rubbed into his long beard, +he was burned at the stake in Vienna, March 10, 1528. Three days after, +his wife, with a stone about her neck, was thrust from the bridge into +the Danube. + +Hubmaier denounced infant baptism as "an abominable idolatry." He +taught: Children are incapable of making the public confession required +by Baptism; there is no Scriptural reason for infant baptism; it robs us +of the true baptism, since people believe that children are baptized +while in reality they are nothing less than baptized. He says: "Since +the alleged infant baptism is no baptism, those who now receive +water-baptism according to the institution of Christ cannot be charged +with anabaptism." + +Concerning the Lord's Supper, Hubmaier taught: "Here it is apparent that +the bread is not the body of Christ, but only a reminder of it. Likewise +the wine is not the blood of Christ, but also a mere memorial that He +has shed and given His blood to wash all believers from their sins." "In +the Lord's Supper the body and blood of Christ are received spiritually +and by faith only." In the Supper of Christ "bread is bread and wine is +wine and not Christ. For He has ascended to heaven and sits at the right +hand of God, His Father." + +Hubmaier did not regard the Word as a means of grace nor Baptism and the +Lord's Supper as gracious acts of God, but as mere works of man. "In +believers," he says, "God works both to will and to do, by the inward +anointing of His Holy Spirit." Concerning church discipline he taught: +Where the Christian ban is not established and used according to the +command of Christ, there sin, shame, and vice control everything. A +person who is expelled must be denied all communion until he repents. In +connection with his deliverances on the ban, Hubmaier, after the fashion +of the Papists, made the Gospel of Christian liberty as preached by +Luther responsible for the carnal way in which many abused it. The +socialistic trend of Anabaptism, however, was not developed by Hubmaier. +(Tschackert 132. 172. 234.) + +260. Dachser and Hutt. + +Jacob Dachser was one of the most zealous members and leaders of the +large Anabaptistic congregation in Augsburg, where he was also +imprisoned, 1527. He, not Langenmantel, is the author of the +"_Offenbarung von den wahrhaftigen Wiedertaeufern_. Revelation of the +True Anabaptists," secretly published by the Anabaptistic printer Philip +Ulhart in Augsburg and accepted as a sort of confession by the council +held by the Anabaptists in the fall of 1527 at Augsburg. The book of +Urban Regius: "_Wider den neuen Tauforden notwendige Warnung an alle +Christenglaeubigen_--Against the new Baptistic Order, a Necessary +Warning to All Christians," was directed against Dachser's _Revelation_. +In 1529 Dachser published his _Form and Order of Spiritual Songs_, the +first hymn-book of the Anabaptists, containing hymns of Luther, +Speratus, Muenzer, Hutt, Pollio, and Dachser. + +In his _Revelation_ Dachser said: "The entire world is against each +other; we don't know any more where the truth is. While all are +convinced that the Pope has erred and deceived us, the new preachers, by +reviling and maligning each other, betray that they, too, are not sent +by God." "In their pulpits the false teachers [Lutherans, etc.] +themselves confess that the longer they preach, the less good is done. +But since they do not forsake a place where they see no fruits of their +doctrine, they thereby reveal that they are not sent by God." "God draws +us to Himself through the power which is in us, and warns us against +wickedness and through the Teacher Christ, who in His Word has taught us +the will of God." "Christ sent His disciples to preach the Gospel to all +creatures and to baptize such as believe. And such as obey this command +are called 'Anabaptists'!" "By our evil will original purity has been +defiled; from this uncleanness we must purge our heart. Who does not +find this uncleanness in himself, neither without nor within, is a true +child of God, obedient to the Word of God. Who, in accordance with the +command of Christ, preaches and baptizes such as believe, is not an +Anabaptist, but a cobaptist [_Mittaeufer_] of Christ and the Apostles." +"All such as preach, teach, and baptize otherwise than Christ commanded, +are the real Anabaptists [opponents of Baptism], acting contrary to the +Son of God, by first baptizing, instead of first teaching and awaiting +faith, as Christ commanded." "We need but strive with Christ to do the +will of the Father then we receive from God through the Holy Ghost the +power to fulfil the divine command." (Schlottenloher, 72ff.) + +Hans Hutt (Hut), a restless bookbinder in Franconia, attended the +Anabaptistic council in Augsburg, where he was opposed by Regius and +incarcerated. He died 1527 in an attempt to escape from prison. As a +punishment his body was burned. Hutt must not be confounded with Jacob +Huter or Hueter, an Anabaptist in Tyrol. The followers of Hans Hutt in +the city of Steyr developed the socialistic tendencies of Anabaptism. +They taught: Private ownership is sinful; all things are to be held in +common; Judgment Day is imminent; then the Anabaptists will reign with +Christ on earth. Some also taught that finally the devil and all the +damned would be saved; others held that there is neither a devil nor a +hell, because Christ had destroyed them. (Tschackert 134ff. 141. 153.) +Article XVII of the _Augsburg Confession_ condemns "the Anabaptists, who +think that there will be an end to the punishments of condemned men and +devils...; also others, who are now spreading certain Jewish opinions, +that before the resurrection of the dead the godly shall take possession +of the kingdom of the world, the ungodly being everywhere suppressed." +(CONC. TRIGL., 51) + +261. John Denk. + +Denk, who was called the "Archbaptist," the "Bishop," "Pope," and +"Apollo" of the Anabaptists, was born in Bavaria and trained in Basel. +In 1523 he became Rector of St. Sebald in Nuernberg where he was opposed +by Osiander. Banished in the following year, he escaped to St. Gallen. +Expelled again, he fled to Augsburg. Here he was rebaptized by immersion +and became an active member of the Anabaptistic "Apostolic Brethren," +who at that time numbered about 1,100 persons. Denk was the leader of +the council held by the Anabaptists in 1527 in Augsburg. Expelled from +the city, Denk died during his flight, 1527, at Basel. His "Retraction, +_Widerruf_" (a title probably chosen by the printer), published 1527 +after his death, does not contain a retraction, but a summary of his +teaching. (Schlottenloher, 84.) The mystic mind of Denk runs a good deal +in the channels of the author of the "German Theology, _Deutsche +Theologie_," and of his pantheistic contemporary, Sebastian Franck. + +Denk taught: God is one, and the source of unity. To return from all +divisions to this unity must be our constant aim. The only way is entire +surrender to God and submission in tranquillity. He says: "Nothing is +necessary for this salvation [reunion with God] but to obey Him who is +in us, and to be tranquil and wait for Him in the true real Sabbath and +tranquillity, losing ourselves and all that is ours, so that God may +both work and suffer in us. He who is in us is ready every hour and +moment to follow, if we are but willing. His hour is always, but ours is +not. He calls and stretches forth His arms the entire day, always ready; +nobody answers Him, nobody admits Him or suffers Him to enter. Do but +seek the Lord, then you will find Him; yea, He is already seeking you; +only suffer yourselves to be found. Indeed He has already found you, and +even now is knocking. Do but open unto Him and let Him in. Apprehend and +know the Lord, even as you are apprehended and known of Him." + +Denk held that the source of religious and moral knowledge is not the +Scriptures, but the voice of God in the heart of man, or Christ Himself, +who speaks and writes the divine Law into the hearts of those who are +His. [Before Denk, Thomas Muenzer had said: "_Was Bibel! Bibel, Bubel, +Babel!_"] Whoever has this divine Law in his heart lacks nothing that is +needed to fulfil the will of God. According to Denk a man may be saved +without the preaching of the Word, without the Scriptures, and without +any knowledge of the historical Christ and His work. Nor can the +Scriptures be understood without heeding the revelation of God in our +own bosom. The Scriptures must indeed be regarded as higher than "all +human treasures, but not as high as God's Word" [in our own bosom]. +Baptism is a mere outward sign that one has joined the number of +believers; hence it can be administered to such only as are conscious of +their faith. Ceremonies in themselves are not sin, says Denk, "but +whoever imagines to obtain grace through them, either by Baptism or by +the Breaking of Bread, is given to superstition." (Tschackert, 143; +Meusel, _Handl_. 2, 142.) + +262. The Schwenckfeldians. + +Caspar Schwenckfeldt, of Ossig in Liegnitz a descendent of a noble +family in Silesia, was born 1490 and studied in Cologne. In 1524 he +helped to introduce the Reformation in Liegnitz. He was twice in +Wittenberg; 1522, when he met Carlstadt and Thomas Muenzer and 1525, +when he visited Luther. He endeavored to interest Luther in the +formation of conventicles, and particularly in his mystical theory +concerning the Lord's Supper, which he considered the correct middle +ground on which Lutherans and Zwinglians might compromise. But Luther +had no confidence in the enthusiast, whom he characterized as a "mad +fool," "possessed by the devil." He said: "In Silesia Schwenckfeldt has +kindled a fire which as yet has not been quenched and will burn on him +eternally." + +Because of the troubles and dissensions created in Liegnitz, +Schwenckfeldt, in 1529, was compelled to leave. Having removed to +Strassburg he was zealous in propagating his enthusiasm in Southern +Germany by establishing conventicles of "Lovers of the Glory of Christ," +as the adherents of Schwenckfeldt called themselves. At a colloquy in +Tuebingen, 1535, he promised not to disquiet the Church. In 1539 he +published his _Summary of Several Arguments that Christ according to His +Humanity Is To-day No Creature, but Entirely Our God and Lord_. He +called it the doctrine of the "Deification of the Flesh of Christ." When +this teaching was rejected as Eutychianism, Schwenckfeldt published his +_Large Confession_, 1540. At the convention of Smalcald, also 1540, his +views were condemned and his books prohibited and burned. Compelled to +leave Strassburg, he spent the remainder of his life in Augsburg, in +Speier and in Ulm (where he died, December 10, 1561). Schwenckfeldt +exchanged controversial writings with many contemporary theologians, +whom he kept in constant excitement. In Liegnitz he was supported by the +ministers Valentin Krautwald, Fabian Eckel, Sigismund Werner, and +Valerius Rosenheyn. His adherents were called "Neutrals," because they +declined to affiliate with any of the existing churches. + +263. Schwenckfeldt's Doctrine. + +In 1526 Schwenckfeldt wrote to Paul Speratus: Since by the preaching of +the Gospel as set forth by Luther so few people amended their lives, the +thought had occurred to him that "something must still be lacking, +whatever that may be." Endeavoring to supply this defect, Schwenckfeldt +taught: Grace cannot be imparted by any creature, bodily word, writing, +or sacrament, but only by the omnipotent, eternal Word proceeding from +the mouth of God. Whatever is external is a mere symbol and image of +God, able neither to bring God into the soul nor to produce faith or an +inward experience of divine life. "Mark well" says he, "God is not in +need of external things and means for His internal grace and spiritual +action. For even Christ, according to the flesh, was a hindrance to +grace and [the Spirit] of God, and had to be translated into the +heavenly mode of being that the grace of the Holy Spirit might come to +us.... Whoever endeavors to come from without and through external means +into the inner [the heart] does not understand the course of grace. God +works without all means and pictures.... Man must forget and drop +everything, and be free and tranquil for the inbreathing [_Einsprechen_, +inspiration], and be drawn away from all creatures, giving himself up to +God altogether." + +Schwenckfeldt continues: The Holy Spirit enters the quiet soul only +through the eternal Word, which "proceeds from the mouth of God without +means and not at all through Scripture, external Word, Sacrament, or any +creature in heaven or on earth. God wants to have this honor reserved +solely to Himself through Himself [without any means] He wants to pardon +man, teach him, impart the Holy Spirit to him, and save him. He does not +want to grant His grace, and effect illumination and salvation through +any creature; for even the flesh of Christ was not a sufficient +instrument for this purpose before He was glorified, translated into the +heavenly places, and removed from our eyes." "Scripture is for the +external man; the Holy Spirit teaches everything to the elect inwardly +and is not in need of Scripture to give faith to them and to save them." +Schwenckfeldt, who employed the term "revelation" for this immediate +operation of God, was inconsistent in not rejecting Scripture, +preaching, etc., altogether. But when admitting these, he adds that he +distinguishes "God's own inner work from the external service." + +Self-evidently, these views concerning the means of grace had a +corrupting influence also on other doctrines. Saving faith, according to +Schwenckfeldt, is not trust in God's promise of pardon for Christ's +sake, but an immediate mystical relation of the soul to God. +Justification, says he, "is not only forgiveness and non-imputation of +sin, but also renewal of the heart." "We must seek our justification and +righteousness not in Christ according to His first state [of +humiliation], in a manner historical," but according to His state of +glorification, in which He governs the Church. In order to enhance the +"glory of Christ" and have it shine and radiate in a new light, +Schwenckfeldt taught the "deification of the flesh of Christ," thus +corrupting the doctrine of the exaltation and of the person of Christ in +the direction of Monophysitism. And the more his views were opposed, the +more he was enamored of, and engrossed by, them, calling himself the +"confessor and lover of the glory of Christ." + +Concerning the Lord's Supper, Schwenckfeldt taught that the deified +humanity of Christ is really imparted and appropriated, not indeed +through bread and wine, but immediately (without the intervention of any +medium), internally, spiritually. The words of institution mean: My +body, which is given for you, is what bread is, a food, _i.e._, a food +for souls; and the new testament in My blood is a chalice, _i.e._, a +drink for the elect to drink in the kingdom of God. Baptism, says +Schwenckfeldt, is the "baptizing of the heavenly High Priest Jesus +Christ, which occurs in the believing soul by the Holy Ghost and by +fire. Infant baptism is a human ordinance, not merely useless, but +detrimental to the baptism of Christ." (Tschackert, 159ff.) + +264. The Antitrinitarians. + +The first article of the _Augsburg Confession_ makes a special point of +rejecting not only the ancient, but also the "modern Samosatenes," +_i.e._, the Antitrinitarians, who in the beginning of the Reformation +began their activity in Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Germany. Most of +these "modern Arians and Antitrinitarians," as they are called in the +Twelfth Article of the _Formula of Concord_ came from the skeptical +circles of Humanists in Italy. Concerning these rationalists and +Epicureans the _Apology_ remarks: "Many [in Italy and elsewhere] even +publicly ridicule all religions, or, if they approve anything, they +approve such things only as are in harmony with human reason, and +regard the rest as fabulous and like the tragedies of the poets." (CONC. +TRIGL., 235, 28; _C. R._ 9, 763.) Pope Leo X was generally regarded as +being one of those who spoke of the profitable "fables concerning +Christ." + +According to a letter of warning to the Christians in Antwerp, 1525, a +fanatic (_Rumpelgeist_) there taught: "Every man has the Holy Spirit. +The Holy Spirit is our reason and understanding (_ingenium et ratio +naturalis_). Every man believes. There is neither hell nor damnation. +Every one will obtain eternal life. Nature teaches that I should do unto +my neighbor as I would have him do unto me--to desire which is faith. +The Law is not violated by evil lust as long as I do not consent to +lust. Who has not the Holy Ghost has no sin for he has no reason." (E. +53, 344; St. L. 21a 730; Enders 5, 147.) + +In his report on the Marburg Colloquy, October 5, 1529, Melanchthon +remarks: "We have heard that some of them [the Strassburgers] speak of +the Deity as the Jews do, as though Christ were not God by nature. (_C. +R._ 1, 1099.) At Marburg, Zwingli remarked that some had spoken +incorrectly concerning the Trinity, and that Haetzer had written a book +against the divinity of Christ, which he, Zwingli, had not permitted to +be published." (1103.) + +In a letter of Luther to Bugenhagen, 1532 we read: "Your undertaking [of +publishing a writing of Athanasius concerning the Trinity] is Christian +and wholesome in this our most corrupt time, in which all articles of +faith in general are attacked by the servants of Satan, and the one +concerning the Trinity is in particular beginning to be derided +confidently by some skeptics and Epicureans. These are ably assisted not +only by those Italian grammarians [Humanists] and orators, which they +flatter themselves to be, but also by some Italico-German vipers and +others, or, as you are accustomed to call them, viper-aspides, who sow +their seed here and there in their discourses and writings, and, as Paul +says [2 Tim. 2, 17], eat as doth a canker (_gar sehr um sich fressen_) +and promote godlessness, about which they, when among themselves, laugh +so complacently and are so happy that one can hardly believe it." (St. +L. 14, 326; Enders 9, 252.) + +Some Antitrinitarians who affiliated with the Anabaptists have already +been referred to. Denk, Haetzer, and others rejected the Apostles' Creed +because of their opposition to the doctrine of the Trinity. Haetzer, as +stated wrote a book against the deity of Christ in which he denied the +tripersonality of God and the preexistence of the Logos, and +blasphemously designated the belief in the deity of Christ as +"superstition" and the trust in His satisfaction as "drinking on the +score of Christ (_ein Zechen auf die Kreide Christi_)." According to +Denk, Christ is merely an example showing us how to redeem ourselves +which we are all able to do because there is still within us a seed of +the divine Word and light. (Tschackert, 143, 461.) It was of Denk that +Capito wrote, 1526: "At Nuernberg the schoolteacher at St. Sebald denied +that the Holy Ghost and the Son are equal to the Father, and for this +reason he was expelled." (Plitt, _Augustana_ 1, 153.) + +At Strassburg the Anabaptists were publicly charged, in 1526, with +denying the Trinity; in 1529, with denying the deity of Christ. In 1527 +Urban Regius spoke of the Anabaptists in Augsburg as maintaining that +Christ was merely a teacher of a Christian life. In the same year +Althamer of Nuernberg published his book _Against the New Jews and +Arians under the Christian Name Who Deny the Deity of Christ_. In 1529 +Osiander wrote concerning Anabaptists in Nuernberg: "It is well known, +and may be proved by their own writings, that they deny and contradict +the sublime article of our faith concerning the Holy Trinity, from which +it follows immediately that they also deny the deity of Christ." "Christ +is not the natural, true Son of God," such was also the accusation made +by Justus Menius in his book concerning the _Doctrines and Secrets of +the Anabaptists_. In his _Sermons on the Life of Luther_, Mathesius said +"Now the Anabaptists speak most contemptuously of the deity of Jesus +Christ.... This was their chief article that they despised the written +Word, the Holy Bible, and believed nothing or very little of Jesus +Christ the eternal Son of God." + +265. Franck, Campanus, Ochino, Servetus, Blandrata, etc. + +Sebastian Franck and John Campanus must also be numbered among the +Antitrinitarians. Franck was a pantheist, who had been pastor in the +vicinity of Nuernberg till 1528, when he resigned and engaged in soap +manufacturing, writing, and printing. Campanus appeared in Wittenberg, +1527. At the Colloquy of Marburg he endeavored to unite Luther and +Zwingli by explaining the words: "This is My body" to mean: This is a +body created by Me. In 1530 he published a book: "Against the Entire +World after the Apostles--_Contra Totum post Apostolos Mundum_," in +which he taught that the Son is inferior to the Father, and denied the +personality of the Holy Spirit. "He argues," says Melanchthon, who in +his letters frequently refers to the "blasphemies of Campanus," "that +Christ is not God; that the Holy Spirit is not God; that original sin is +an empty word. Finally there is nothing which he does not transform into +philosophy." (_C. R._ 2, 33. 34. 93. 29. 513; 9, 763; 10, 132.) When +Campanus endeavored to spread his doctrines, he was banished from +Saxony, 1531. He returned to Juelich, where he preached on the imminence +of Judgment Day, with the result that the peasants sold their property +and declined to work any longer. Campanus was imprisoned for twenty +years and died 1575. + +Prominent among the numerous Antitrinitarians who came from Italy were +Ochino, Servetus, Gribaldo, Gentile, Blandrata, and Alciati. Bernardino +Ochino, born 1487, was Vicar-General of the Capuchins and a renowned +pulpit orator in Siena. In 1542 he was compelled to leave Italy in order +to escape the Inquisition. He served the Italian congregation in Zurich +from 1555 to 1564, when he was banished because he had defended +polygamy. He died in Austerlitz, 1665. In his _Thirty Dialogs_, +published 1563, he rejects the doctrines of the Trinity, of the deity of +Christ, and of the atonement. (_Herzog R_. 14, 256.)--Michael Servetus +was born in 1511 and educated at Saragossa and Toulouse. In 1531, at +Hagenau, Alsace, he published _De Trinitatis Erroribus Libri VII_. He +was opposed by Zwingli and Oecolampadius. In 1540 he wrote his +_Christianismi Restitutio_, a voluminous book, which he published in +1553. In it he opposes the Trinity as an unbiblical and satanic +doctrine, and at the same time rejects original sin and infant baptism. +The result was that, while passing through Geneva on his way to Italy, +he was arrested at the instance of Calvin, tried, condemned, and burned +at the stake, October 27, 1553--an act which was approved also by +Melanchthon. (_C. R._ 8, 362; 9, 763.)--Matteo Gribaldo, in 1554, +uttered tritheistic views concerning the Trinity in the Italian +congregation at Geneva. Arrested in Bern, he retracted his doctrine. He +died 1564.--John Valentine Gentile also belonged to the Italian +fugitives in Geneva. In 1558 he signed an orthodox confession concerning +the Trinity. Before long, however, he relapsed into his Antitrinitarian +errors. He was finally beheaded at Bern. (_Herzog R_. 6, 518.) + +George Blandrata, born 1515, was influenced by Gribaldo. Fearing for his +liberty, he left Geneva and went to Poland and thence to Transylvania. +Here he published his _Confessio Antitrinitaria_, and was instrumental +in introducing Unitarianism into Transylvania. He died after 1585. In +1558 Gianpaolo Alciati of Piedmont accompanied Blandrata to Poland. He +taught that Christ was inferior to the Father, and denied that there +were two natures in Christ. + +266. Davidis and Socinus. + +Francis Davidis in Transylvania was an Antitrinitarian of the most +radical stripe. He had studied in Wittenberg 1545 and 1548. In 1552 he +joined the Lutherans, in 1559 the Calvinists. Secretly after 1560 and +publicly since 1566 he cooperated with Blandrata to introduce +Unitarianism in Transylvania. In numerous disputations he attacked the +doctrine of the Trinity as unscriptural and contradictory. In 1567 he +published his views in _De Falso et Vera Unius Dei Patris, Filii et +Spiritus Sancti Cognitione Libri Duo_. He contended that the doctrine of +the Trinity was the source of all idolatry in the Church; that Christ, +though born of Mary in a supernatural way, was preexistent only in the +decree of God, and that the Holy Spirit was merely a power emanating +from God for our sanctification. He also rejected infant baptism and the +Lord's Supper. After the prince and the greater part of the nobility had +been won for Unitarianism, Davidis, in 1568, was made Superintendent of +the Unitarian Church in Transylvania. In 1571 religious liberty was +proclaimed, and Unitarians, Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists were +tolerated equally. Before long, however, a reaction set in. The Catholic +Stephan Bathory, who succeeded to the throne, removed the Unitarians +from his court and surrounded himself with Jesuits. On March 29, 1579, +Davidis delivered a sermon against the adoration of Christ, declaring it +to be the same idolatry as the invocation of Mary and the saints. Three +days after he was deposed and imprisoned. In the proceedings instituted +against him he was convicted as a blasphemer and sentenced to +imprisonment for life. He died in prison, November 15, 1579, prophesying +the final downfall of all "false dogmas," meaning, of course, the +doctrines which he had combated. + +In Poland, especially since 1548, the humanistic and liberal-minded +nobility opposed the Catholic clergy and protected Protestants and later +on also fugitive Antitrinitarians. Among these were the Italians Francis +Lismanio, Gregory Pauli, and Peter Statorius. These Unitarians, however, +lacked unity and harmony. They disagreed on infant baptism, the +preexistence and adoration of Christ, etc. These dissensions continued +until Faustus Socinus (born at Siena 1539, died 1604 in Poland) arrived. +He was the nephew of the skeptical and liberal-minded Laelius Socinus +(Lelio Sozzini) who left Italy in 1542, when the Inquisition was +established there, and died in Zurich, 1562. + +Faustus Socinus claimed that he had received his ideas from his uncle +Laelius. In 1562 he published anonymously an explanation of the first +chapter of the Gospel of St. John, which, contained the entire program +of Unitarianism. In 1578 he followed an invitation of Blandrata to +oppose non-adorantism (the doctrine that Christ must not be adored) as +taught by Davidis. In the following year Faustus removed to Poland, +where he endeavored to unite the various Unitarian parties: the +Anabaptists, Non-adorantes, the believers in the preexistence of Christ, +etc., and their opponents. The growth of Unitarianism in Poland was +rapid. A school flourished in Rakow numbering in its palmy days about +1,000 scholars. However here, too, a Jesuitic reaction set in. In 1638 +the school at Rakow was destroyed, the printery closed, and the teachers +and ministers expelled. In 1658 the Unitarians generally were banished +as traitors, and in 1661 the rigorous laws against Unitarianism were +confirmed. + +The chief source of the Antitrinitarian and Socinian doctrine is the +Racovian Catechism, published 1605 in the Polish and 1609 in the Latin +language under the title: "_Catechism of the Churches in the Kingdom of +Poland_ which affirm that no one besides the Father of our Lord Jesus +Christ is that One God of Israel." It teaches: There is but one divine +person; Christ is a mere man; the doctrine concerning the deity of +Christ is false; as a reward for His sinless life, God has given Christ +all power in heaven and on earth; as such, as God's representative +(_homo Deus factus_, the man made God), He may be adored; there is no +original sin; with the help of God, that is to say, with the +commandments and promises of God revealed by Christ, man may acquire +salvation; he is able to keep these commandments, though not perfectly; +man's shortcomings are pardoned by God on account of his good intention; +an atonement by Christ is not required for this purpose; moreover, the +doctrine of atonement must be opposed as false and pernicious; by His +death Christ merely sealed His doctrine; all who obey His commandments +are adherents of Christ; these will participate in His dominion; the +wicked and the devils will be annihilated; there is no such thing as +eternal punishment; whatever in the Bible comports with human reason and +serves moral ends is inspired; the Old Testament is superfluous for +Christians, because all matters pertaining to religion are contained +better and clearer in the New Testament. (Tschackert, 473.) + +Evidently, in every detail, Antitrinitarianism and Socinianism are +absolutely incompatible with, and destructive of, the very essence of +Christianity. The _Apology_ declares that the deniers of the doctrine of +the Holy Trinity "are outside of the Church of Christ and are idolaters, +and insult God." (103, 1.) This verdict is confirmed by Article XII of +the _Formula of Concord_. (843, 30; 1103, 39.) + + +XXIII. Origin, Subscription, Character, etc., of Formula of Concord. + +267. Lutherans Yearning for a Godly Peace. + +A holy zeal for the purity and unity of doctrine is not at all +incompatible, rather always and of necessity connected with an earnest +desire for peace; not, indeed, a peace at any price, but a truly +Christian and godly peace, a peace consistent with the divine truth. +Also in the loyal Lutherans, who during the controversies after Luther's +death faithfully adhered to their Confessions, the fervent desire for +such a godly peace grew in proportion as the dissensions increased. +While Calvinists and Crypto-Calvinists were the advocates of a +unionistic compromise, true Lutherans everywhere stood for a union based +on the truth as taught by Luther and contained in the Lutheran +Confessions. Though yearning for peace and praying that the +controversies might cease, they were determined that the Lutheran Church +should never be contaminated with indifferentism or unionism, nor with +any teaching deviating in the least from the divine truth. + +As a result, earnest and repeated efforts to restore unity and peace +were made everywhere by Lutheran princes as well as by theologians, +especially the theologians who had not participated in the +controversies, but for all that were no less concerned about the +maintenance of pure Lutheranism and no less opposed to a peace at the +expense of the divine truth than the others. As early as 1553 Flacius +and Gallus published their _Provokation oder Erbieten der adiaphorischen +Sachen halben, auf Erkenntnis und Urteil der Kirchen_. In this Appeal +they urged that ten or twenty competent men who hitherto had not +participated in the public controversy be appointed to decide the chief +differences between themselves and the Interimists. In the two following +years Flacius and Gallus continued their endeavors to interest +influential men in Saxony and other places for their plan. Melanchthon +and his Wittenberg colleagues, however, maintained silence in the +matter. + +At the behest of the dukes of Thuringia, Amsdorf, Stolz, Aurifaber, +Schnepf, and Strigel met at Weimar in the early part of 1553 to discuss +the conditions of peace. Opposed as they were to a peace by agreeing to +disagree or by ignoring the differences and past contentions, they +demanded that synergism, Majorism, adiaphorism, as also the doctrines of +Zwingli, Osiander, and Schwenckfeldt, be publicly rejected by the +Wittenbergers. (Preger 2, 4. 7.) + +268. Pacific Overtures of Flacius. + +Soon after the convention in Weimar, Gottschalk Praetorius, rector of +the school in Magdeburg, and Hubertus Languet from Burgundy (an intimate +friend of Melanchthon and a guest at his table, who later on maliciously +slandered Flacius) had an interview with Flacius, in which the latter +submitted the conditions on which peace might be established. However, a +letter written in this matter by Praetorius, in April, 1556, was not +answered by Melanchthon, who, moreover, insinuated that Flacius's object +merely was to kindle hatred. (_C. R._ 8, 794.) + +In May, 1556, Flacius, continuing his peace efforts, forwarded to Paul +Eber his "Mild Proposals, _Linde Vorschlaege_, dadurch man gottselige +und notwendige friedliche Vergleichung machen koennte zwischen den +Wittenbergischen und Leipzigischen Theologen in causa Adiaphoristica und +den andern, so wider sie geschrieben haben." According to these +_Proposals_, Flacius demanded that, in a publication signed by the +theologians of both parties, the Pope be denounced as the true +Antichrist, the Augsburg Interim be rejected, the proposition: "Good +works are necessary to salvation," be condemned, also the errors of +Zwingli and Osiander. "The good Lord knows," said Flacius, "that every +day and hour I consider and plan earnestly how the affair of the +Adiaphorists might be settled in a Christian manner." But he added that +he could not be satisfied until, by repentance, "they wipe out their +sin, denial, apostasy, and persecution, instead of increasing them by +their excuses." But Flacius received an answer neither from Eber nor +from Melanchthon. Instead, the Wittenbergers, with the silent consent +of Melanchthon, circulated a caricature in which Flacius was accorded +the role of a braying ass being crowned by other asses with a soiled +crown. (Preger 2, 11. 13.) + +Another offer of Flacius to meet Melanchthon in Wittenberg and discuss +the matter personally was also declined. July 15, 1556, Melanchthon +wrote: "I enjoyed a sweet friendship and familiarity with Illyricus, and +I would gladly confer with him on the entire doctrine. But before this +he has spread things which I had neither said nor thought, wherefore +now, too, I fear treachery (_insidias metuo_)." Timid as he was, +Melanchthon really feared for his life at the contemplated colloquy, +because the statement of Chytraeus: "As long as Flacius and Melanchthon +are alive, unity will not be restored," had been reported to him in the +form: unless Philip were put out of the way, unity would not be +possible. "None of my friends," he wrote, "is willing to attend the +colloquy, and they believe that it is not safe for me to confer with him +[Flacius] alone." (_C. R._ 8, 798.) Considering Melanchthon's answer as +insincere and sophistical, Flacius declared that, after having earnestly +sought peace in a private way, he would now appeal to the Church. He did +so by publishing "_Von der Einigkeit_, Concerning Unity," a book which +he had written before he made his pacific overtures to Melanchthon. +(Preger 2, 17. 22.) + +However, induced by a letter of Fabricius of Meissen (August 24, 1556), +Flacius made a further effort, addressing Melanchthon in a letter of +September 1, 1556, in which he implored him to make his peace with God +and the Church by an unequivocal disavowal of Adiaphorism. As a result, +Melanchthon wrote his famous letter of September 5, 1556, referred to in +our chapter on the Adiaphoristic Controversy, in which he admitted in a +qualified way that he had sinned in the matter. In his reply of +September 16, 1556, Flacius again declared that his object was not any +triumph or glory for himself, but "only the maintenance of truth and the +rooting out of error," and that nothing was able to remove the offense +given by Melanchthon and the Adiaphorists but a clear confession of the +truth and an unequivocal rejection of error. Melanchthon, however, broke +off the correspondence and continued to nurse his animosity against +Flacius. (Preger 2, 29f.) + +269. Lower Saxons Endeavoring to Mediate between Melanchthon and +Flacius. + +Despite his experiences with Melanchthon, Flacius did not allow himself +to be discouraged in his efforts to bring about unity and peace. +Embracing an opportunity which a correspondence with the clergy of Lower +Saxony concerning Schwenckfeldt offered him, he requested the Lower +Saxons to mediate between himself and Melanchthon, submitting for this +purpose articles, differing from the _Mild Proposals_ only in expressly +mentioning also the Leipzig Interim. The request was granted, and four +superintendents, accompanied by four ministers, were delegated for the +purpose to Wittenberg. The delegates were: from Luebeck: Valentin +Curtius and Dionysius Schunemann; from Hamburg: Paul von Eitzen and +Westphal; from Lueneburg: F. Henning and Antonius Wippermann; from +Brunswick: Moerlin and Chemnitz. After agreeing, at Brunswick, January +14, 1557, on theses based on those of Flacius, and after conferring with +Flacius in Magdeburg, January 17, 1557 they unexpectedly, January 19, +arrived in Wlttenberg, offering their services as mediators. + +Melanchthon received them in a friendly manner, but when, on the +following day, Moerlin read the articles of agreement, he denounced +Flacius and Gallus as having slandered him, and declined to treat with +the Lower Saxons on the basis of the "Flacian theses." On January 21 the +delegation submitted eight new articles. Of these the third read: "All +corruptions which militate against the pure apostolic doctrine and that +of the _Augsburg Confession_ shall be eliminated from the article of +justification, in particular the corruption concerning the necessity of +good works to salvation." Article VII requested Melanchthon to make a +public statement concerning the adiaphora and the necessity of good +works, declaring his agreement with the confession of our Church. +(Preger 2, 37.) + +The presentation of these articles had a most unfavorable effect on +Melanchthon. The Saxon mediators report that he was excited to such an +extent that they feared he would be taken seriously ill. In a most +violent manner Melanchthon charged the delegation with treacherously +conspiring with Flacius to ensnare him. However, appeased by Paul Eber, +he finally consented to reply in writing on the morrow, January 22. In +his answer Melanchthon declared: For thirty years he had borne the heavy +burdens of the Church and encountered most insidious conflicts; they +therefore ought now to have had compassion with him instead of +assaulting him alone; it was being fulfilled what Sturm had once told +him on leaving: We shall meet again to crucify you. Sparing Flacius, +they had presented articles with the sole purpose of forcing him and +others to cut their own throats. As to the articles themselves, +Melanchthon objected to the third, because, he said, it falsely charged +him and others with having taught and defended errors regarding +justification. He declined Article VII because the publication there +required was unnecessary, since it might easily be learned from his many +writings what he had taught in the matter there referred to. (Preger 2, +38. 40.) + +Fearing that the Lower Saxon mediators might yield and make concessions +detrimental to the truth, Flacius and his adherents (Wigand, +Baumgartner, Judex, Albert Christiani, P. Arbiter, H. Brenz, Antonius +Otto) assembled in Coswig, a place not very far from Wittenberg. In a +letter, dated January 21, 1557, they admonished the Saxon mediators not +to yield anything contrary to the divine truth but firmly to insist on +the elimination of the errors connected with the Interim (_ut id iugulum +recte iuguletis_). Flacius also requested Count of Ungnad first to meet +them in Coswig, and then go to Wittenberg in order to assist in winning +Melanchthon for his peace proposals. In the letter to the Count, Flacius +remarked: he feared that the mediators were administering to Melanchthon +"sweet rather than wholesome and strong medicine." (Preger 2, 42.) In a +similar manner Pastor Michael Stiefel was urged to go to Wittenberg to +influence Melanchthon. At the same time Judex was sent to implore the +Saxon delegates not to discontinue their efforts, and adopt no +resolution before submitting it also to them [the Magdeburgers] for +consideration. No news having arrived by Saturday, January 23, an +additional letter was dispatched to Wittenberg, written in the same +spirit of anxiety, and urging the mediators to stand firm, not to yield, +and to continue their efforts until successful, since failure, they said +would not only expose them to ridicule, but greatly damage the Church. +(2, 42f.) + +On the evening of the same day Moerlin Hennig, and Westphal arrived in +Coswig. Moerlin reported on their discussions, and submitted the +articles presented to Melanchthon together with the latter's answer. At +the same time he requested the Flacians to overlook the harsh language +of Philip, telling also of the animosity and general opposition they had +met with in Wittenberg, where the students, he said, had even threatened +to stone them. Having heard the report the Flacians withdrew for a brief +consultation. Their impression was (which they neither made any efforts +to hide) that in deference to Melanchthon the Saxons had not been +sufficiently careful in seeking only the honor of God, the welfare of +the Church, and the true conversion of sinners. In a meeting held on +Sunday, January 24, Wigand and Flacius declared their dissatisfaction +with the proceedings in Wittenberg. Referring particularly to the +shocking stubbornness of Melanchthon, the former urged the Saxon +delegates to regard God higher than men, and earnestly and openly to +call the Wittenbergers to repentance. He thereupon handed the delegates, +besides a list of Adiaphoristic errors and of offensive statements +culled from Major's homilies, two sealed letters, which contained their +strictures on the eight articles presented to Melanchthon, their answer +to Melanchthon's charges, etc. Flacius said in the meeting: This matter +troubled him day and night; hope for the conversion of the Adiaphorists +who had despised the admonition, not of men but of the Holy Spirit, was +constantly decreasing; having already yielded more than he should have +done, he now must insist that, in a publication signed by both parties, +the Leipzig Interim be condemned by name, and that also in the future +the people be warned against such sins and be called to repentance. +Flacius furthermore declared that his theses should have been either +retained or refuted. In this he was supported by Otto of Nordhausen. +Moerlin answered, irritated: They had presented other articles because +Melanchthon had declined the first; if any one was able to frame better +theses, he was at liberty to do so. Discouraged and ill-humored, the +delegation returned to Wittenberg, where, too, animosity had reached its +climax. For in his sermon, delivered Sunday in Bugenhagen's pulpit, and +in the presence of Melanchthon and the other professors, John Curio had +spoken of Flacius as "the rascal and knave (_Schalk und Bube_)," and +even referred to the Lower Saxon delegates in unfriendly terms. Also a +filthy and insulting pasquil, perhaps composed by Paul Crell, in which +Flacius and the Saxon delegates were reviled, was circulated in +Wittenberg and even sent to Coswig. (Preger 2, 49.) The first lines of +the pasquil ran thus; "_Qui huc venistis legati Illyrici permerdati, Ab +illo concacati, Polypragmones inflati, Illius natibus nati, Quae +communio veritati, Mendacio et vanitati?_" (_C. R._ 9, 50. 235.) + +Having read the sealed letters and convinced themselves that Melanchthon +could never be induced to accede to the demands of the Magdeburgers, the +delegation (with the exception of Chemnitz) immediately returned to +Coswig, January 25. Here they declared: They had not delivered the list +of errors to Melanchthon; if they had done so, deliberations would have +been broken off immediately; only the charges with respect to +justification had been transmitted; they therefore requested the +Magdeburgers to declare their agreement with the articles already +submitted to Melanchthon. Seeing no other course, the Magdeburgers +finally yielded, though reluctantly, and not without protests and some +changes in the articles. Flacius, too, consented, but "only with a +wounded conscience," as he declared. Having returned to Wittenberg, the +delegates transmitted the modified articles together with the additions +of the Magdeburgers to Melanchthon. + +In his answer of January 27 to the Lower Saxon pastors, Melanchthon said +in part: "You know that in the last thirty years a great confusion of +opinions obtained in which it was difficult not to stumble somewhere. +And many hypocrites have been, and still are, hostile in particular to +me. I was also drawn into the insidious deliberations of the princes. +If, therefore, I have either stumbled anywhere or been too lukewarm in +any matter, I ask God and the churches to forgive me and shall submit to +the verdict of the Church.... As to the Flacian quarrels, however, +concerning which you are now treating with me so eagerly, and into which +Flacius has injected many foreign matters, you yourselves know that this +affair pertains also to many others, and that, without offending them, I +cannot decide and settle anything (_me aliquid statuere posse_).... This +now I desire to be my last answer (_hanc volo nunc meam postremam +responsionem esse_); if it does not satisfy you, I appeal to the verdict +of the Church in which you, too, will be judges. May the Son of God +govern all of us, and grant that we be one in Him!" As to the articles +submitted by the delegates, Melanchthon rejected all the changes and +additions suggested by the Magdeburgers. He declared that he was not +willing to enter into a discussion of the adiaphora, nor in any way to +censure the honorable men who had participated in the deliberations +concerning the Leipzig Interim. (_C. R._ 9, 62.) + +Toward evening Flacius received Melanchthon's answer, together with the +information that the Saxon delegates would depart on the morrow, and +that now the Magdeburgers might do what seemed best to them. Early next +morning they dispatched another letter written by Flacius, in which they +modified their demands, and urged the Saxon delegates to continues their +efforts to induce the Wittenbergers to reject the Adiaphoristic errors. +"We call upon God as our witness," they said, "that we most earnestly +desire a godly peace, and that, if it is not brought about, the fault +lies not with us, but with them, who expressly say and confess +concerning themselves that they absolutely refuse to condemn the +Adiaphoristic errors--the real issue of the entire controversy." (_C. +R._ 9, 67.) But the messenger arrived too late; he met the delegation +when they were about to leave the gates of Wittenberg. Increased +animosity on both sides was the only result of the mediation-efforts of +the Lower Saxon theologians. + +270. Futile Efforts of Duke John Albrecht. + +Four weeks later Duke John Albrecht of Mecklenburg sent messengers to +Wittenberg for the same purpose, _viz._, of mediating between +Melanchthon and Flacius, Melanchthon in particular having previously +requested him to frame articles which might serve as a basis of peace. +The articles, composed by the theologians and counselors of the Duke, +were more severe than those of the Lower Saxons. George Venetus, +professor at Rostock, and Counselor Andrew Mylius were commissioned to +present them, first at Wittenberg, then at Magdeburg. When the articles +were submitted to Melanchthon, he again fell into a state of violent +agitation. The report says: "As soon as he noticed that Adiaphorism was +criticized, and that he was requested to reject it even if only in a +mild form, he instantly sprang up with great impatience and would not +permit them [the delegates] to finish their speech (although they most +earnestly, in the name of their prince, requested to be heard), but +burst forth into invectives and denunciations of Illyricus and others, +and finally also declaimed against the prince himself and his delegates, +vociferating that Illyricus secretly entertained many repulsive errors, +etc." On February 27, Melanchthon delivered his answer to the delegates. +When these urged him to give a more favorable reply, he again +interrupted them, exclaiming: "Oppress me, if you so desire; such is the +lot of the peaceful.... I commend myself to God." After Melanchthon had +left, Peucer, who had accompanied him, harshly told the delegates: +"Don't trouble my father-in-law any more with such matters. _Ihr sollt +forthin meinen Schwaeher zufrieden lassen mit solchen Haendeln_." (9, +106f.) + +Regarding the last (8) of the articles submitted by the delegates of +Duke Albrecht which dealt with the Adiaphora, Melanchthon declared in +his answer of February 27: "I should not be astonished to have these two +conditions [to confess the Adiaphoristic errors, etc.] imposed on me if +I had been an enemy. The action of the Saxon pastors was milder. I may +have been lukewarm in some transactions, but I certainly have never been +an enemy.... Therefore I clearly state that I do not assent to these +presentations [of Duke Albrecht], which are cunningly framed so that, if +I accept them, I myself may cut my throat (_ut me, si eas recepero, ipse +iugulem_)." (_C. R._ 9, 104.) + +The Magdeburgers refused to participate in these efforts of Count +Albrecht, chiefly because, as they said, there was no hope for peace as +long as Melanchthon remained under the influence of his Wittenberg +friends. But even now Flacius did not entirely abandon his attempts to +bring about a godly peace. In 1557 he asked Paul Vergerius, who passed +Jena on his way to Wittenberg, to treat with Melanchthon on the +Adiaphoristic question. Melanchthon, however is reported to have said: +"Omit that; let us treat of other things." Flacius also wrote to King +Christian III of Denmark to influence Elector August to abolish the +Adiaphoristic errors, but apparently without any result. + +271. Clash at Colloquy in Worms, 1557. + +The Diet at Regensburg, which adjourned in March of 1557, resolved that +a colloquy be held at Worms to bring about an agreement between the +Lutheran and Roman parties of the Empire. In order to prepare for the +colloquy, a convention was held by the Lutherans in June, 1557, at +Frankfort-on-the-Main. June 30 a resolution was adopted to the effect +that all controversies among the Lutherans be suspended, and the +Romanists be told at the prospective colloquy that the Lutherans were +all agreed in the chief points of doctrine. Against this resolution +Nicholas Gallus and several others entered their protest. +Self-evidently, also Flacius and his adherents who had always held that +the controverted issues involved essential points of doctrine, could not +assent to the resolution without violating their conscience, and denying +their convictions and the truth as they saw it. Such being the +situation, the wise thing for the Lutherans to do would have been to +decline the colloquy. For, since also Ducal Saxony with its stanch +Lutherans was held to attend it, a public humiliating clash of the +Lutherans was unavoidable. + +Before the formal opening of the colloquy, the Thuringian delegates at +Worms received a letter from Flacius, dated August 9, 1557 in which he +admonished them to make a determined confession, and to induce the other +Lutheran theologians to reject the Interim, Adiaphorism, Majorism, +Osiandrism and Zwinglianism. This was necessary, said Flacius, because +the Romanists would, no doubt exploit the concessions made in the +Leipzig Interim and the dissensions existing among the Lutherans. (_C. +R._ 9, l99ff.). Flacius expressed the same views in an opinion to the +dukes of Saxony, who, in turn, gave corresponding instructions to their +delegates in Worms. In a letter dated August 20, 1557 Duke John +Frederick said it was impossible that, in defending the _Augsburg +Confession_ against the Romanists, the Lutherans could stand as one man +and speak as with one mouth (_fuer einen Mann und also ex uno ore_), if +they had not previously come to an agreement among themselves and +condemned the errors. For otherwise the Papists would be able to defeat +the Lutherans with their own sword, _i.e._, their own polemical +publications. (231.) On the same day, August 20, 1557, Flacius repeated +his sentiments and admonitions in letters to Schnepf, Moerlin, and +Sarcerius. (232ff.) + +In a meeting of the Lutheran theologians at Worms, held September 5, Dr. +Basilius Monner, professor of jurisprudence at Jena made a motion in +keeping with his instructions and the admonitions of Flacius, whereupon +Erhard Schnepf, professor in Jena, read a list of the errors that ought +to be rejected. But the majority, led by Melanchthon, opposed the +motion. A breach seemed unavoidable. For Duke John Frederick had decided +that his theologians could not participate in the colloquy with +Lutherans who refused to reject errors conflicting with the _Augsburg +Confession_, nor recognize them as pure, faithful, loyal, and true +members and adherents of the _Augsburg Confession_, the _Apology_, and +the _Smalcald Articles_. (Preger 2, 67.) The imminent clash was +temporarily warded off by the concession on the part of the +Melanchthonians that the Thuringian theologians should be allowed freely +to express their opinion on any article discussed at the colloquy. At +the session held September 11, 1667, however, Bishop Michael Helding +demanded to know whether the Lutherans excluded the Zwinglians, +Calvinists, Osiandrists and Flacians (in the doctrine _de servo +arbitrio_) from the _Augsburg Confession_. The Jesuit Canisius plied the +Lutherans with similar questions: Whether they considered Osiander, +Major, and others adherents of the _Augustana_. Melanchthon declared +evasively that all evangelical delegates and pastors present were agreed +in the _Augsburg Confession_. As a result the Thuringians decided to +enter their protest. In a special meeting of the Lutherans the majority +threatened to exclude the Thuringians from all following sessions if +they dared to express their protest [containing the list of errors which +they rejected] before the Papists. The consequence was that the +Thuringians presented their protest in writing to the President, Julius +Pflug, and departed from Worms. The Romanists, who from the beginning +had been opposed to the colloquy, refused to treat with the remaining +Lutheran theologians, because they said, it was impossible to know who +the true adherents of the _Augsburg Confession_ were with whom, +according to the Regensburg Resolution, they were to deal. + +272. Efforts of Princes to Restore Unity: Frankfort Recess. + +The Colloquy of Worms had increased the enmity and animosity among the +Lutherans. It had brought their quarrels to a climax, and given official +publicity to the dissensions existing among them,--a situation which was +unscrupulously exploited by the Romanists also politically, their +sinister object being to rob the Lutherans of the privileges guaranteed +by the Augsburg Peace, and to compel them to return to the Roman fold. +In particular the Jesuits stressed the point that the dissensions among +the Lutherans proved conclusively that they had abandoned the _Augsburg +Confession_ to the adherents of which alone the provisions of the +Augsburg Peace of 1555 applied. At the same time they embraced the +opportunity to spread false reports concerning all manner of heresies +that were tolerated in the Lutheran churches. This roused the Lutheran +princes, who according to the Augsburg Peace Treaty were responsible to +the Empire for the religious conditions within their territories, to +bend all their energies toward healing the breach and restoring +religious unity within their churches. Efforts to this effect were made +especially at Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1558, and at Naumburg, 1561. But +instead of promoting peace among the Lutherans also these conventions of +the princes merely poured oil into the flames by adding new subjects of +dissension, increasing the general distrust, and confirming the +conviction that Luther's doctrine of the Lord's Supper was in danger +indeed. For, instead of insisting on a clear confession of the truth and +an unequivocal rejection of error, the princes endeavored to establish +peace by ignoring, veiling, and compromising the differences. + +At Frankfort, Otto Henry of the Palatinate, Augustus of Saxony, Joachim +of Brandenburg, Wolfgang of Zweibruecken, Christopher of Wuerttemberg, +and Philip of Hesse discussed the religious situation and, on March 18, +1558, signed the so-called _Frankfort Recess_ (Agreement), in which they +again solemnly pledged their adherence to the Holy Scriptures, the +Ecumenical Symbols, the _Augsburg Confession_ of 1530, and its +_Apology_. (_C. R._ 9, 494.) In the _Recess_ the princes stated that the +existing dissensions encouraged the Romanists to proceed against the +Lutherans, who, the princes declared, were not disagreed in their +confession. In four articles the controverted questions concerning +justification, good works, the Lord's Supper, and the adiaphora were +dealt with, but in vague and ambiguous terms, the articles being based +on Melanchthon's anti-Flacian opinion of March 4, 1558. (499ff.; 462ff.) + +When the _Frankfort Recess_ was submitted for subscription to the +estates who had not been present at Frankfort, it failed to receive the +expected approval. It was criticized by the theologians of Anhalt, +Henneberg, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, the Lower Saxon cities, and +Regensburg. The strongest opposition, however, came from Ducal Saxony, +where Flacius attacked the _Recess_ in two books. The first was +entitled: "_Refutatio Samaritani Interim_, in quo vera religio cum +sectis et corruptelis scelerate et perniciose confunditur--Refutation of +the Samaritan Interim, in which the true religion is criminally and +perniciously confounded with the sects." The other: "_Grund und Ursach', +warum das Frankfurtisch Interim in keinem Wege anzunehmen sei_--Reason +and Cause why the Frankfort Interim must Not be Adopted." The chief +objections of Flacius were: 1. The _Smalcald Articles_ should have been +included in the confessions subscribed to. 2. The differences within the +Lutheran Church should not have been treated as questions of minor +import. 3. Major's statement should have been rejected as simply false, +and not merely when falsely interpreted. 4. The statements concerning +the Lord's Supper are "dark, general, and ambiguous," hence +Crypto-Calvinistic. 5. The article on the adiaphora is ambiguous and +altogether unsatisfactory. 6. The measures adopted to suppress +theological discussions and controversies would lead to suppression of +the truth ("binding the mouth of the Holy Ghost") and tyrannizing of the +churches by the princes. (Preger 2, 74.) + +In his attitude Flacius was supported by his colleagues in Jena and by +Duke John Frederick. When a delegation appeared requesting him to sign +the _Recess_, he declined and ordered his theologians to set forth his +objection in a special book. Elector August, in turn, charged +Melanchthon to write an apology of the _Recess_ against the ducal +theologians; which, again, was answered by Flacius. In order to unite +the opponents of the _Recess_, John Frederick invited the Lower Saxons +to attend a convention in Magdeburg. When this failed, Flacius induced +the Duke to publish a book treating particularly the doctrinal +differences within the Lutheran Church. In the drafting and revision of +this _Book of Confutation_, as it was called, the following theologians +participated: Strigel, Schnepf, Andrew Huegel, John Stoessel, Simon +Musaeus, Joachim Moerlin, Sarcerius, Aurifaber, and Flacius. November +28, 1558, it received the sanction of the dukes. Among the +Melanchthonians the _Book of Confutation_, which had made it a special +point to refute and reject the errors of the Wittenberg Philippists, +caused consternation and bitter resentment. For evidently its +theological attitude was incompatible with the _Recess_, and hence the +breach now seemed incurable and permanent. By order of Elector August, +Melanchthon, in the name of the Wittenberg faculty, wrote an opinion of +the _Book of Confutation_. (_C. R._ 9, 763.) But contents as well as +form of this opinion merely served to confirm the ducal theologians in +their position. The Philippists also fortified themselves by publishing +the _Corpus Doctrinae_ (_Corpus Philippicum_ or _Misnicum_), which +contained writings only of Melanchthon. The _Frankfort Recess_, +therefore, instead of bringing relief to the Lutherans, only increased +their mutual enmity and distrust. In order to reconcile John Frederick, +the Duke of Wuerttemberg suggested a convention of princes at Fulda, on +January 20, 1559. But when Elector August heard that besides the Duke of +Saxony also other opponents of the _Frankfort Recess_ were invited, he +foiled the plan by declining to attend. + +273. General Lutheran Council advocated by Flacianists. + +To heal the breach and end the public scandal, Flacius and his adherents +fervently advocated the convocation of a General Lutheran Synod. In 1559 +they published "_Supplicatio Quorundam Theologorum ... pro Libera +Christiana et Legitima Synodo_, Supplication of Some Theologians ... for +a Free, Christian and Lawful Synod." The document was signed by 51 +superintendents, professors, and pastors, "who after Luther's death," as +they emphasized, "had contended orally and in writing against the +corruptions and sects." The signatures represented theologians from +Ducal Saxony, Hamburg, Bremen, Luebeck, Rostock, Wismar, Brunswick, +Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Koethen, Nordhausen, Schweinfurt, Regensburg, +Lindau, Upper Palatinate, Hesse, Brandenburg, Electoral Saxony, +Nuernberg, Augsburg, Baden, etc. Some of the first were: Amsdorf, +Musaeus, Joachim Moerlin, Hesshusius, Max Moerlin, Gallus, Wigand, +Judex, Westphal, John Freder of Wismar, Anton Otto of Nordhausen, +Flacius. The _Supplication_ showed why a General Synod was necessary and +how it was to be conducted. Its chief object, the _Supplication_ said, +would be to pass on adiaphorism, Majorism, and synergism, all +participants in the Synod having previously been pledged on the +_Augsburg Confession_, the _Apology_, and the _Smalcald Articles_, +according to which all questions were to be decided. (Preger 2, 86f.) + +The most violent opponent of this plan was Melanchthon. Fearing that the +Flacianists might get control of the prospective general council, he, in +advance, denounced and branded it as a "Robber Synod (_Raeubersynode_), +advocated by the ignorant Flacian rabble." Three weeks before his death, +March 28, 1560 he wrote: "Since they [the Flacians] cannot kill me, the +object of these hypocrites is to expel me. For long ago they have said +that they would not leave a foot of ground for me in Germany. _Hoc agunt +isti hypocritae, ut me pellant, cum sanguinem meum haurire non possint; +et quidem oratio istorum vetus est, qua dixerunt, se mihi non relicturos +esse in Germania vestigium pedis_." (_C. R._ 9, 1079.) Philip of Hesse +consented to attend the general synod with the proviso that the power of +the Jena theologians be curbed and also the Swiss be admitted. (Preger +2, 93.) That the plan of the Flacianists failed was chiefly due to +Elector August, who declined to attend the synod. + +274. Futile Efforts of Princes at Naumburg. + +In lieu of the General Lutheran Council advocated by the Flacians, +Christopher of Wuerttemberg, in March, 1559, recommended as the best +means to heal the breach a convention of all the Lutheran princes and +estates to be held at Naumburg, deliberations to begin January 20, 1561. +The object of this assembly, he said, was neither to discuss the +differences among the Lutherans, nor to formulate any condemnations, but +only to renew the subscription to the _Augsburg Confession_ and to +consider how the Lutherans might present a united front and a unanimous +confession at the next diet and at the prospective papal council. All +finally consented to attend, including Duke John Frederick, Elector +August (who, instigated by Melanchthon, first had declined +participation), and the Crypto-Calvinist, Elector Frederick of the +Palatinate. Expecting no results favorable to genuine Lutheranism from +this assembly, the Jena theologians renewed their request for a general +synod and sent their _Supplication_ to Naumburg with an additional +writing, dated January 23, 1561, in which they admonished the princes +not to enter into an ungodly and unionistic agreement, rather to +eliminate the errors of Major, Osiander, etc. But the princes, whose +object was to settle matters without the theologians, declined to +consider their petition, and, on February 8, the last day of the +convention, returned the documents to their authors in Jena. + +After comparing the various editions of the _Augsburg Confession_, the +Naumburg Assembly decided to subscribe to the _Confession_ as delivered +1530 in Augsburg and published 1531 in German and Latin at Wittenberg. +But when, in the interest of Calvinism, whither he at that time already +was openly tending, Elector Frederick, supported by Elector August, +demanded that the edition of 1540 be recognized as the correct +explanation of the original _Augustana_, the majority of the princes +yielded, and, as a result, the Variata of 1540 alone was mentioned in +the Preface (_Praefatio_), in which the princes stated the reasons for +renewing their subscription to the _Augsburg Confession_ at Naumburg. +This Preface, prepared by Elector Frederick and the Wittenberg +Crypto-Calvinist Cracow, also asserted that hitherto no doctrinal +corruptions or deviations from the _Augsburg Confession_ had been +tolerated among the Lutherans. It mentioned neither the controversies +within the Lutheran Church nor the _Smalcald Articles_. + +Evidently, to subscribe to this Preface was impossible for genuine +Lutherans. Duke John Frederick was told by his theologians Moerlin and +Stoessel that, if he signed it, they would resign and leave. The duke +replied that he, too, would mount his horse and depart rather than put +his signature to a document in which the errors introduced by the +Philippists, etc., were not rejected. Ulrich of Mecklenburg took the +same stand. And failing in his efforts to have the Preface changed in +accordance with his convictions, the Duke entered his protest and left +Naumburg without any further conference with the princes. When hereupon +the latter sent messengers to Weimar, John Frederick remained firm. As +conditions of his subscription the Duke demanded that in the Preface the +apostasy during the Interim be confessed, the distinctive features of +the Lutheran doctrine concerning the Lord's Supper be brought out +clearly, the recognition of the Variata of 1540 as a doctrinal norm be +eliminated, and the _Smalcald Articles_ be recognized with the rest of +the Lutheran symbols. Unwilling to accede to these demands, the princes +closed the discussions at Naumburg without the Duke,--hence also without +having attained their goal: peace among the Lutherans. + +The Preface containing the objectionable features was signed by the +Electors of the Palatinate, Saxony, and Brandenburg, by Christopher of +Wuerttemberg, Philip of Hesse, Carl of Baden, and quite a number of +other princes and cities. However, Duke John Frederick did not by any +means stand alone in his opposition to the ambiguous, unionistic +Naumburg document. He was supported by Ulrich of Mecklenburg (who also +left Naumburg before the close of the convention), Ernest and Philip of +Brunswick, Albrecht of Mecklenburg, Adolf of Holstein, Francis of +Saxon-Lauenburg, the counts of Schwartzburg, Mansfeld, Stolberg, Barby, +and a number of other princes and cities, among the latter Regensburg, +Augsburg, Strassburg, Nuernberg and Windsheim. Besides, the loyal +Lutherans were represented also in the territories of almost all the +princes who had signed the Preface. Margrave John of Brandenburg +emphatically declared his dissatisfaction with the subscription of his +delegate at Naumburg. Before long also August of Saxony, Wolfgang of the +Palatinate, Christopher of Wuerttemberg, and Joachim of Brandenburg +signified their willingness to alter the Preface in accordance with the +views and wishes of John Frederick, especially regarding the doctrine +of the Lord's Supper. Indeed, the princes declared that from the +beginning they had understood the Preface in the strict Lutheran sense. +In the Preface of the _Book of Concord_ signed by the Lutheran princes, +we read: "Now, our conferences and those of our illustrious +predecessors, which were undertaken with a godly and sincere intention, +first at Frankfort-on-the-Main and afterwards at Naumburg, and were +recorded in writing, not only did not accomplish that end and peaceful +settlement which was desired, but from them even a defense for errors +and false doctrines was sought by some, while it had never entered our +mind, by this writing of ours, either to introduce, furnish a cover for, +and establish any false doctrine, or in the least even to recede from +the Confession presented in the year 1530 at Augsburg, but rather, as +many of us as participated in the transactions at Naumburg, wholly +reserved it to ourselves, and promised besides that if in the course of +time, anything would be desired with respect to the _Augsburg +Confession_, or as often as necessity would seem to demand it, we would +further declare all things thoroughly and at length." (CONC. TRIGL. 15.) +Even Philip of Hesse finally consented to the changes demanded by Duke +John Frederick. Elector Frederick of the Palatinate, however, who had +misled and, as it were, hypnotized the Lutheran princes at Naumburg, +openly embraced the Reformed confession and expelled all consistent +Lutherans. For the cause of Lutheranism the loss of the Palatinate +proved a great gain internally, and helped to pave the way for true +unity and the formulation and adoption of the _Formula of Concord_. And +more than any other individual it was Flacius who had helped to bring +about this result. (Preger 2, 102.) + +275. Andreae and Chemnitz. + +The theologians who were first in adopting effective methods and +measures to satisfy the general yearning for a real peace in the divine +truth were Jacob Andreae and Martin Chemnitz. Andreae was born 1528 in +Weiblingen, Wuerttemberg. He studied at Stuttgart and Tuebingen. In 1546 +he became pastor in Stuttgart, where, two years later, he was deposed +because of his refusal to consent to the Interim. In 1549 he became +pastor and later on superintendent in Tuebingen. Since 1562 he was also +professor and chancellor of the university. He died 1590. Andreae has +been called "the spiritual heir of John Brenz." Hoping against hope, he +incessantly labored for the unity and peace of the Lutheran Church. +Being a man of great energy and diplomatic skill, he served her at +numerous occasions and in various capacities. In his pacification +efforts he made more than 120 journeys, visiting nearly all evangelical +courts, cities, and universities in Northern and Southern Germany. With +the consent of the Duke of Wuerttemberg, Andreae entered the service of +Elector August, April 9, 1567, and lived with his family in Saxony till +his dismissal in December, 1580. Here he was engaged in directing the +affairs of the churches and universities, and in promoting the work of +Lutheran pacification and concord at large. During his efforts to unite +the Lutherans he was maligned by the Philippists, and severely +criticized also by the strict Lutherans. The latter was largely due to +the fact that in his first attempts at pacification he allowed himself +to be duped by the Wittenberg Philippists, being even blind enough to +defend them against the charges of Calvinism in the doctrine of the +Lord's Supper made by their opponents in Jena and in Lower Saxony. While +thus Andreae was the able and enthusiastic promoter of the pacification +which culminated in the adoption of the _Formula of Concord_, he lacked +the theological insight, acumen, and consistency which characterized +Martin Chemnitz. + +Martin Chemnitz was born November 9, 1522, at Treuenbritzen in +Brandenburg. As a boy he attended, for a brief period, the school in +Wittenberg, where he "rejoiced to see the renowned men of whom he had +heard so much at home, and to hear Luther preach." From 1539 to 1542 he +attended the Gymnasium at Magdeburg; from 1543 to 1545 he studied in +Frankfort-on-the-Oder; in 1545 he went to Wittenberg, where Melanchthon +directed his studies. In 1548 he became rector of the school in +Koenigsberg, and 1550 librarian of Duke Albrecht, with a good salary. +Owing to his participation in the Osiandrian controversy, Chemnitz lost +the favor of Albrecht, and in 1553 he removed to Wittenberg. On June 9, +1554, he began his lectures on Melanchthon's _Loci Communes_ before a +large and enthusiastic audience, Melanchthon himself being one of his +hearers. In November, 1554, he accepted a position as pastor, and in +1567 as superintendent, in the city of Brunswick. He died April 8, 1586. +Chemnitz was the prince of the Lutheran divines of his age and, next to +Luther, the greatest theologian of our Church. Referring to Luther and +Chemnitz, the Romanists said: "You Lutherans have two Martins; if the +second had not appeared, the first would have disappeared (_si posterior +non fuisset, prior non stetisset_)." Besides the two Lutheran classics: +_Examen Concilii Tridentini_, published 1565--1573, and _De Duabus +Naturis in Christo_, 1570, Chemnitz wrote, among other books: _Harmonia +Evangelica_, continued and published 1593 by Leyser and completed by +John Gerhard, and _Foundations_ (_Die Fundamente_) _of the Sound +Doctrine concerning the Substantial Presence, Tendering, and Eating and +Drinking of the Body and Blood of the Lord in the Supper_, 1569. + +Andreae and Chemnitz became acquainted with each other in 1568, when +Duke Julius invited the former to conduct the visitation in Brunswick +together with Chemnitz. They jointly also composed the Brunswick Church +Order of 1569, which was preceded by the _Corpus Doctrinae Iulium_, +compiled by Chemnitz and containing the _Augsburg Confession_, the +_Apology_, the _Smalcald Articles_, the Catechisms of Luther, and a +"short [rather long], simple, and necessary treatise on the prevalent +corruptions." Andreae and Chemnitz are the theologians to whom more than +any other two men our Church owes the _Formula of Concord_ and the +unification of our Church in the one true Christian faith as taught by +Luther. However, it is Chemnitz who, more than Andreae or any other +theologian, must be credited with the theological clarity and the +correctness which characterizes the _Formula_. + +276. First Peace Efforts of Andreae Fail. + +In his first attempts to unify the Lutheran Church, Andreae endeavored +to reconcile all parties, including the Wittenberg Philippists, who then +were contemplating an agreement with the Calvinists. In 1567, at the +instance of Landgrave William of Hesse-Cassel and Duke Christopher of +Wuerttemberg, Andreae composed his "_Confession and Brief Explanation of +Several Controverted Articles_, according to which a Christian unity +might be effected in the churches adhering to the _Augsburg Confession_, +and the offensive and wearisome dissension might be settled." In five +articles he treated: 1. Justification, 2. Good Works, 3. Free Will, 4. +The Adiaphora, 5. The Lord's Supper. The second article maintains that +we are neither justified nor saved by good works, since Christ has +earned for us both salvation and righteousness by His innocent +obedience, suffering, and death alone, which is imputed as righteousness +to all believers solely by faith. It rejects all those who teach +otherwise, but not directly and expressly the statement: Good works are +necessary to salvation. The third article maintains that, also after the +Fall, man is not a block, but a rational creature having a free, though +weak, will in external things; but that in divine and spiritual matters +his intellect is utterly blind and his will is dead; and that hence, +unless God creates a new volition in him, man is unable of himself, of +his own powers, to accept the grace of God offered in Christ. It rejects +all who teach otherwise. The fourth article states that ceremonies are +no longer free, but must be abandoned, when their adoption is connected +with a denial of the Christian religion, doctrine, and confession. It +rejects all those who teach otherwise. The fifth article emphasizes that +also the wicked when they partake of the Lord's Supper, receive the body +of Christ, but to their damnation. It furthermore declares: Since it is +objected that the body and blood cannot be present in the Holy Supper +because Christ ascended to heaven with His body, it is necessary "to +explain the article of the incarnation of the Son of God, and to +indicate, in as simple a way as possible, the manner in which both +natures, divine and human, are united in Christ, wherefrom it appears to +what height the human nature in Christ has been exalted by the personal +union." (Hutter, _Concordia Concors_, 110ff.) + +In 1568, at the Brunswick Visitation, referred to above, Andreae +submitted, his five articles to Duke Julius, and succeeded in winning +him for his plan. In the same interest he came to Wittenberg, January 9, +1569. Furnished with letters of commendation from Duke Julius and +Landgrave William of Hesse, he obtained an interview also with Elector +August, who referred him to his theologians. On August 18, 1569, Andreae +held a conference with the Wittenbergers. They insisted that the basis +of the contemplated agreement must be the _Corpus Misnicum_ +(_Philippicum_). When Andreae, unsophisticated as he still was with +respect to the real character of Philippism, publicly declared that the +Wittenbergers were orthodox teachers, and that the _Corpus Misnicum_ +contained no false doctrine he was supplied with a testimonial in which +the Wittenbergers refer to their _Corpus_, but not to Andreae's +articles, to which also they had not fully consented. The result was +that the Jena theologians, in particular Tilemann Hesshusius, denounced +Andreae's efforts as a unionistic scheme and a betrayal of true +Lutheranism in the interest of Crypto-Calvinism. They rejected Andreae's +articles because they were incomplete, and contained no specific +rejection of the errors of the Philippists. + +At the instance of Andreae, May 7, 1570, a conference met at Zerbst in +Anhalt, at which twenty theologians represented Electoral Saxony, +Brunswick, Hesse, Brandenburg, Anhalt, and Lower Saxony (the Ducal Saxon +theologians declining to participate). The conference decided that a new +confession was not needed, and unanimously recognized the _Augsburg +Confession_, its _Apology_, the _Smalcald Articles_, and the Catechisms +of Luther. Andreae was elated. In his "Report" to the Emperor and the +princes he gloried in "the Christian unity" attained at Zerbst. But also +this apparent victory for peace and true Lutheranism was illusory rather +than real, for the Wittenberg theologians qualified their subscription +by formally declaring that they interpreted and received the confessions +enumerated only in as far as they agreed with the _Corpus Philippicum_. +And before long the Crypto-Calvinistic publications, referred to in the +chapter on the Crypto-Calvinistic Controversy, began to make their +appearance. The only result of these first peace efforts of Andreae, +which lacked in single-minded devotion to the truth, and did not +sufficiently exclude every form of indifferentism and unionism, was that +he himself was regarded with increasing suspicion by the opponents of +the Philippists. As for Andreae, however, the dealings which he had with +the dishonest Wittenbergers opened his eyes and convinced him that it +was impossible to win Electoral Saxony for a truly Lutheran union as +long as the Crypto-Calvinists were firmly seated in the saddle. + +277. Andreae's Sermons and the Swabian Concordia. + +Abandoning his original scheme, which had merely served to increase the +animosity among the Lutherans and to discredit himself, Andreae resolved +henceforth to confine his peace efforts to true Lutherans, especially +those of Swabia and Lower Saxony, and to unite them in opposition to the +Zwinglians, Calvinists, and Philippists, who, outside of Electoral +Saxony, were by this time generally regarded as traitors to the cause of +Lutheranism. In 1573 he made his first move to carry out this new plan +of his by publishing sermons which he had delivered 1572 on the +doctrines controverted within the Lutheran Church. The title ran: "_Six +Christian Sermons_ concerning the dissensions which from the year 1548 +to this 1573d year have gradually arisen among the theologians of the +_Augsburg Confession_, as to what attitude a plain pastor and a common +Christian layman who may have been offended thereby should assume toward +them according to his Catechism." These sermons treat of justification, +good works, original sin, free will, the adiaphora, Law and Gospel, and +the person of Christ. As the title indicates, Andreae appealed not so +much to the theologians as to the pastors and the people of the Lutheran +Church, concerning whom he was convinced that, adhering as they did, to +Luther's Catechism, they in reality, at least in their hearts, were even +then, and always had been, agreed. Andreae sent these sermons to +Chemnitz, Chytraeus, Hesshusius, Wigand, and other theologians with the +request that they be accepted as a basis of agreement. In the preface, +dated February 17, 1573, he dedicated them to Duke Julius of Brunswick +whose good will and consent in the matter he had won in 1568, when he +assisted in introducing the Reformation in his territories. Before this +Nicholas Selneccer, then superintendent of Wolfenbuettel, in order to +cultivate the friendly relations between Swabia and Lower Saxony, had +dedicated his _Instruction in the Christian Religion_ (_Institutio +Religionis Christianae_) to the Duke of Wuerttemberg, praising the +writings of Brenz, and lauding the services rendered by Andreae to the +duchy of Brunswick. + +The sermons of Andreae were welcomed by Chemnitz, Westphal in Hamburg, +David Chytraeus in Rostock, and others. They also endeavored to obtain +recognition for them from various ecclesiastical ministries of Lower +Saxony. But having convinced themselves that the sermonic form was not +adapted for a confession, they, led by Chemnitz, advised that their +contents be reduced to articles in "thesis and antithesis," and that +this be done "with the assistance of other theologians." Andreae +immediately acted on this suggestion and the result was what is known as +the _Swabian Concordia_ (_Schwaebische Konkordie_)--the first draft of +the _Formula of Concord_. This document, also called the Tuebingen Book, +was submitted to, and approved by, the theologians of Tuebingen and by +the Stuttgart Consistory. In substance it was an elaboration of the _Six +Sermons_ with the addition of the last two articles. It contains eleven +articles, treating 1. Original Sin; 2. Free Will; 3. The Righteousness +of Faith before God; 4. Good Works; 5. Law and Gospel; 6. The Third Use +of the Law; 7. The Church Usages Called Adiaphora; 8. The Lord's Supper; +9. The Person of Christ: 10. Eternal Election; 11. Other Factions and +Sects. In the introduction Andreae also emphasizes the necessity of +adopting those symbols which were afterwards received into the _Book of +Concord_. + +278. The Swabian-Saxon Concordia. + +On March 22, 1574, Andreae sent the _Swabian Concordia_ to Duke Julius +and Chemnitz with the request to examine it and to have it discussed in +the churches of Lower Saxony. On the twelfth of May the Duke ordered +Chemnitz to prepare an opinion on the book and to present it to the +clergy for their examination and approval. Under the leadership of +Chemnitz numerous conferences were held, and the various criticisms +offered led to a revision of the document. This work was begun in April, +1575, by the theological faculty of Rostock. Apart from numerous changes +and additions everywhere, the articles on Free Will and on the Lord's +Supper were completely remodeled by Chytraeus and Chemnitz. + +The new confession, known as the _Swabian [Lower] Saxon Concordia_, was +subscribed by the theologians and pastors of the duchies of Brunswick, +Mecklenburg, Mansfeld, Hoya, and Oldenburg. It acknowledges as its +doctrinal basis the Holy Scriptures, the three Ecumenical Creeds, the +_Augsburg Confession_, its _Apology_, the _Smalcald Articles_, and +Luther's two Catechisms. It discusses the following articles in the +following order: 1. Of Original Sin; 2. Of the Person of Christ; 3. Of +the Righteousness of Faith before God; 4. Of Good Works, 5. Of the Law +and the Gospel; 6. Of the Third Use of the Law of God; 7. Of the Holy +Supper; 8. Of God's Eternal Providence and Election; 9. Of Church Usages +which are Called Adiaphora or Things Indifferent; 10. Of Free Will or +Human Powers; 11. Of Other Factions and Sects which have Never +Acknowledged the _Augsburg Confession_. + +While this new _Concordia_ was adopted in Lower Saxony, the Swabians, to +whom it was forwarded, September 5, 1575, were not quite satisfied with +its form, but did not object to its doctrinal contents. They criticized +the unevenness of its style, its frequent use of Latin technical terms, +its quotations (now approved, now rejected) from Melanchthon, etc. +Particularly regarding the last mentioned point they feared that the +references to Melanchthon might lead to new dissensions; hence they +preferred that citations be taken from Luther's writings only, which was +done in the _Formula of Concord_ as finally adopted. + +279. The Maulbronn Formula. + +The movement for a general unity within the Lutheran Church received a +powerful impetus by the sudden and ignominious collapse of +Crypto-Calvinism in Electoral Saxony, 1574. By unmasking the +Philippists, God had removed the chief obstacle of a godly and general +peace among the Lutherans. Now the clouds of dissension began to +disappear rapidly. As long as the eyes of Elector August were closed to +the dishonesty of his theologians, there was no hope for a peace +embracing the entire Lutheran Church in Germany. Even before the public +exposure of the Philippists, August had been told as much by Count +Henneberg and other princes, _viz._, that the Wittenberg theologians +were universally suspected, and that peace could not be established +until their Calvinistic errors had been condemned. For in the doctrines +of the Lord's Supper and of the person of Christ, as has been shown in +the chapter on the Crypto-Calvinistic Controversy, the Philippists of +Electoral Saxony and of other sections of Germany were Calvinists rather +than Lutherans. It was the appearance of the Calvinistic _Exegesis +Perspicua_ of 1574 which left no doubt in the mind of the Elector that +for years he had been surrounded by a clique of dishonest theologians +and unscrupulous schemers, who, though claiming to be Lutherans, were +secret adherents of Calvinism. And after the Elector, as Chemnitz +remarks, had discovered the deception of his theologians in the article +on the Lord's Supper, he began to doubt their entire contention. +(Richard, 426.) + +Among Lutherans generally the humiliating events in Saxony increased the +feeling of shame at the conditions prevailing within their Church as +well as the earnest desire for a genuine and lasting peace in the old +Lutheran truths. And now Elector August, who, despite his continued +animosity against Flacius, always wished to be a true Lutheran, but up +to 1574 had not realized that the Philippistic type of doctrine dominant +in his country departed from Luther's teaching, was determined to +satisfy this universal longing for unity and peace. Immediately after +the unmasking of the Philippists he took measures to secure the +restoration of orthodox Lutheranism in his own lands. At the same time +he placed himself at the head of the larger movement for the +establishment of religious peace among the Lutherans generally by the +elaboration and adoption of a doctrinal formula settling the pending +controversies. To restore unity and peace to the Lutheran Church, which +his own theologians had done so much to disturb, was now his uppermost +desire. He prosecuted the plan of pacification with great zeal and +perseverance. He also paid the heavy expenses (80,000 gulden), incurred +by the numerous conventions, etc. And when, in the interest of such +peace and unity, the theologians were engaged in conferences the pious +Elector and his wife were on their knees, asking God that He would crown +their labor with success. + +The specific plan of the Elector was as appears from his rescript of +November 21, 1575, to his counselors, that pacific theologians, +appointed by the various Lutheran princes "meet in order to deliberate +how, by the grace of God, all [the existing various _corpora doctrinae_] +might be reduced to one _corpus_ which we all could adopt, and that this +book or _corpus doctrinae_ be printed anew and the ministers in the +lands of each ruler be required to be guided thereby." Before this +Elector August had requested Count George Ernest of Henneberg to take +the initiative in the matter. Accordingly, in November, 1575 Henneberg, +Duke Ludwig of Wuerttemberg and Margrave Carl of Baden agreed to ask a +number of theologians to give their opinion concerning the question as +to how a document might be prepared which would serve as a beginning to +bring about true Christian concord among the churches of the _Augsburg +Confession_. The theologians appointed were the Wuerttemberg +court-preacher Lucas Osiander (born 1534; died 1604), the Stuttgart +provost Balthasar Bidembach (born 1533; died 1578) and several +theologians of Henneberg and Baden. Their opinion, delivered November +14, 1575, was approved by the princes, and Osiander and Bidembach were +ordered to prepare a formula of agreement in accordance with it. The +document which they submitted was discussed with theologians from +Henneberg and Baden at Cloister Maulbronn, Wuerttemberg and subscribed +January 19, 1576. + +The _Maulbronn Formula_, as the document was called, differs from the +_Swabian-Saxon Concordia_ in being much briefer (about half as +voluminous), in avoiding technical Latin terms, in making no reference +whatever to Melanchthon, in quoting from Luther's works only, and in +omitting such doctrinal points (Anabaptism, Schwenckfeldianism, +Antitrinitarianism, etc.) as had not been controverted among the +Lutherans. Following the order of the _Augustana_, this _Formula_ treats +the following articles. 1. Of Original Sin; 2. Of the Person of Christ; +3. Of Justification of Faith 4. Of the Law and Gospel; 5. Of Good Works; +6. Of the Holy Supper of Our Lord Christ; 7. Of Church Usages, Called +Adiaphora or Things Indifferent; 8. Of Free Will; 9. Of the Third Use of +God's Law. + +280. The Torgau Book. + +On February 9, 1576, the _Maulbronn Formula_, approved by Count Ludwig +of Wuerttemberg, Margrave Carl of Baden, and Count George Ernest of +Henneberg, was transmitted to Elector August, who had already received a +copy of the Swabian-Saxon Concordia from Duke Julius of Brunswick. The +Elector submitted both to Andreae for an opinion, whom formal reasons +induced to decide in favor of the _Maulbronn Formula_. At the same time +Andreae advised the Elector to arrange a general conference of prominent +theologians to act and decide in this matter, suggesting as two of its +members Chemnitz and Chytraeus of Rostock. This being in agreement with +his own plans, the Elector, at the convention at Lichtenberg, February +15, 1576 submitted the suggestions of Andreae to twelve of his own +theologians, headed by Nicholas Selneccer, then professor in Leipzig. +[Selneccer was born December 6, 1530. In 1550 he took up his studies in +Wittenberg, where he was much impressed and influenced by Melanchthon. +In 1557 he was appointed court-preacher in Dresden. Beginning with 1565 +after the banishment of Flacius and his colleagues, he was professor in +Jena. He returned to Leipzig in 1568. In 1570 he accepted a call from +Duke Julius as court-preacher and superintendent in Brunswick, but +returned to Leipzig in 1574. Before the unmasking of the +Crypto-Calvinists his theological attitude lacked clearness and +determination. Ever after, however, he was the leader of the Lutheran +forces in Electoral Saxony. At the Lichtenberg Convention, convoked +February 16, 1576, by Elector August, Selneccer successfully advocated +the removal of the Wittenberg Catechism, the _Consensus Dresdensis_, and +the _Corpus Philippicum_. In their place he recommended the adoption of +a new _corpus doctrinae_ containing the three Ecumenical Creeds, the +_Unaltered Augsburg Confession_, the _Apology_, the _Smalcald Articles_, +the Catechisms of Luther, and, if desired, Luther's _Commentary on +Galatians_. Finally he advised that the electors and princes arrange a +convention of such representative theologians as, _e.g._, Chytraeus, +Chemnitz, Andreae, and Marbach, to discuss the doctrinal differences. +Selneccer's recommendations were adopted by the convention and +transmitted to Elector August. Though contributing little to the +contents of the _Formula of Concord_, Selneccer heartily cooperated in +its preparation, revision, and adoption. In 1580, of his own accord, he +published the Latin _Book of Concord_, which was followed in 1584 by an +edition authorized by the princes. Selneccer also participated in +preparing the _Apology of the Book of Concord_, first published 1582 in +Magdeburg. In May, 1589, after the Crypto-Calvinistic reaction under +Christian I, Selneccer, whom the Calvinists hated more than others of +the theologians who had participated in the promulgation of the _Formula +of Concord_, was deposed, harassed, and reduced to poverty because of +his testimony against Chancellor Crell and his earnest and continued +warnings against the Calvinists. After the death of Christian I, +Selneccer was recalled to Leipzig, where he arrived May 19, 1592, five +days before his death, May 24, 1592.] + +Having through the influence of Selneccer, at Lichtenberg, obtained the +consent of his clergy to his plans of unification, and, also in +accordance with their desire, called Andreae to Saxony, Elector August +immediately made arrangements for the contemplated general convention of +theologians. It was held at Torgau, from May 28 to June 7, 1576, and +attended by Selneccer, the Saxon ministers who had participated in the +Lichtenberg convention, Andreae, Chemnitz, Andrew Musculus [General +Superintendent of Brandenburg], Christopher Cornerus [professor in +Frankfurt-on-the-Oder; born 1518; died 1549], and David Chytraeus [born +February 26, 1530, in Wuerttemberg; awarded degree of magister in +Tuebingen when only fourteen years old; began his studies 1544 in +Wittenberg, where he also heard Luther; was professor in Rostock from +1551 till his death, June 25, 1600]. The result of the Torgau +deliberations, in which much time was spent on the articles of Original +Sin and Free Will, was the so-called _Torgau Book_. On the seventh of +June the theologians informed the Elector that, on the basis of the +Swabian-Saxon and the Maulbronn documents, they, as desired by him, had +agreed on a _corpus doctrinae_. + +The _Torgau Book_ was essentially the _Swabian-Saxon Concordia_, recast +and revised, as urged by Andreae, with special reference to the +desirable features (enumerated above) of the _Maulbronn Formula_. The +majority decided, says Chemnitz, that the Saxon Concordia should be +retained, but in such a manner as to incorporate also the quotations +from Luther, and whatever else might be regarded as useful in the +_Maulbronn Formula_. The _Torgau Book_ contained the twelve articles of +the later _Formula of Concord_ and in the same sequence; Article IX, "Of +the Descent of Christ into Hell," had been added at Torgau. The Book was +entitled: "_Opinion_ as to how the dissensions prevailing among the +theologians of the _Augsburg Confession_ may, according to the Word of +God, be agreed upon and settled in a Christian manner." It was signed as +"their faith, doctrine, and confession" by the six men who were chiefly +responsible for its form and contents: Jacob Andreae, Martin Chemnitz, +Nicholas Selneccer, David Chytraeus, Andrew Musculus, and Christopher +Cornerus. The convention was closed with a service of thanksgiving to +Almighty God for the blessed results of their labors and the happy +termination and favorable issue of their discussions, Selneccer +delivering the sermon. Similar services were held at other places, +notably in Mecklenburg and Lower Saxony. + +In a letter to Hesshusius, Chemnitz says concerning the Torgau +Convention: "Everything in this entire transaction occurred aside from, +beyond, above, and contrary to the hope, expectation, and thought of +all. I was utterly astounded, and could scarcely believe that these +things were done when they were done. It seemed like a dream to me. +certainly a good happy and desired beginning has been made toward the +restoration of purity of doctrine, toward the elimination of +corruptions, toward the establishment of a godly confession." In a +letter of July 24, 1576, to Hesshusius and Wigand, Andreae wrote in a +similar vein, saying: "Often were they [Chemnitz and Chytraeus] almost +overwhelmed with rejoicing and wonder that we were there [at Torgau] +brought to such deliberation. Truly, this is the change of the right +hand of the Most High, which ought also to remind us that since the +truth no longer suffers, we should do everything that may contribute to +the restoration of good feeling." (Richard, 428. 430.) + +281. The Bergic Book or the Formula of Concord. + +In accordance with the recommendation of the Torgau convention the +Elector of Saxony examined the _Torgau Book_ himself and had copies of +it sent to the various Lutheran princes and estates in Germany with the +request to have it tested by their theologians, and to return their +opinions and censures to Dresden. Of these (about 25) the majority were +favorable. The churches in Pomerania and Holstein desired that +Melanchthon's authority be recognized alongside of Luther's. On the +other hand, Hesshusius and Wigand demanded that Flacius, Osiander, +Major, Melanchthon, and other "originators and patrons of corruptions" +be referred to by name and condemned as errorists. Quite a number of +theologians objected to the _Torgau Book_ because it was too bulky. To +meet this objection the _Epitome_, a summary of the contents of the +_Torgau Book_, was prepared by Andreae with the consent of the Elector. +Originally its title read: "_Brief Summary_ of the articles which, +controverted among the theologians of the _Augsburg Confession_ for many +years, were settled in a Christian manner at Torgau in the month of +June, 1576, by the theologians which there met and subscribed." + +After most of the censures had arrived, the "triumvirate" of the +_Formula of Concord_ (as Chytraeus called them 1581), Andreae, +Selneccer, and Chemnitz, by order of the Elector met on March 1, 1577, +at Cloister Bergen, near Magdeburg, for the consideration of the +criticisms and final editing of the new confession. They finished their +work on March 14. Later when other criticisms arrived and a further +revision took place (also at Bergen, in May 1577), Musculus, Cornerus, +and Chytraeus were added to their number. Though numerous changes, +additions, and omissions were made at Bergen, and in Article IX the +present form was substituted for the sermon of Luther, the doctrinal +substance of the _Torgau Book_ remained unchanged. The chief object of +the revisers was to eliminate misunderstandings and to replace ambiguous +and dark terms with clear ones. At the last meeting of the six revisers +(at Bergen, in May) the _Solid Declaration_ was quickly and finally +agreed upon, only a few changes of a purely verbal and formal nature +being made. On May 28, 1577, the revised form of the _Torgau Book_ was +submitted to Elector August. It is known as the _Bergic Book_, or the +_Solid Declaration_, or the _Formula of Concord_, also as the _Book of +Concord_ (a title which was afterwards reserved for the collection of +all the Lutheran symbols). Of course, the _Epitome_, prepared by +Andreae, was also examined and approved by the revisers at Cloister +Bergen. + +In order to remove a number of misunderstandings appearing after the +completion of the _Bergic Book_, a "Preface" (Introduction to the _Book +of Concord_) was prepared by the theologians and signed by the princes. +The _Catalog of Testimonies_, added first with the caption "Appendix" +and later without the same, or omitted entirely, is a private work of +Andreae and Chemnitz, and not a part of the confession. Its special +purpose is to prove that the Lutheran doctrine concerning the person of +Christ and the majesty of His human nature as set forth in Article VII +of the _Formula of Concord_, is clearly taught by the Scriptures as well +as by the Fathers of the ancient Church. The _Formula of Concord_ +(German) was first published at Dresden, 1580, as a part of the _Book of +Concord_. The first authentic Latin edition appeared in Leipzig, 1584. +(Compare chapter on "The Book of Concord.") + +282. Subscription to the Formula of Concord. + +Originally Elector August planned to submit the _Bergic Book_ to a +general convention of the evangelical estates for approval. But fearing +that this might lead to new discussions and dissensions, the six +theologians, in their report (May 28, 1577) on the final revision of the +_Bergic Book_, submitted and recommended a plan of immediate +subscription instead of an adoption at a general convention. Consenting +to their views, the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg forthwith sent +copies of the _Bergic Book_ to such princes and estates as were expected +to consent. These were requested to multiply the copies, and everywhere +to circulate and submit them for discussion and subscription. As a +result the _Formula of Concord_ was signed by the electors of Saxony, of +Brandenburg, and of the Palatinate; furthermore by 20 dukes and princes, +24 counts, 4 barons, 35 imperial cities, and about 8,000 pastors and +teachers embracing about two-thirds of the Lutheran territories of +Germany. + +The first signatures were those of Andreae, Selneccer, Musculus, +Cornerus, Chytraeus, and Chemnitz, who on May 29, 1577, signed both the +_Epitome_ and the _Thorough Declaration_ the latter with the following +solemn protestation: "Since now, in the sight of God and of all +Christendom, we wish to testify to those now living and those who shall +come after us that this declaration herewith presented concerning all +the controverted articles aforementioned and explained, and no other, is +our faith, doctrine, and confession, in which we are also willing, by +God's grace, to appear with intrepid hearts before the judgment-seat of +Jesus Christ, and give an account of it and that we will neither +privately nor publicly speak or write anything contrary to it but, by +the help of God's grace, intend to abide thereby: therefore, after +mature deliberation we have, in God's fear and with the invocation of +His name, attached our signatures with our own hands." (1103, 40 CONC. +TRIGL. 1103, 40; 842, 31.) + +Kolde remarks: "Wherever the civil authorities were in favor of the +_Bergic Book_, the pastors and teachers also were won for its +subscription. That the wish of the ruler contributed to this result +cannot be denied and is confirmed by the Crypto-Calvinistic troubles +reappearing later on in Saxony. But that the influence of the rulers +must not be overestimated, appears, apart from other things from the +frequent additions to the signatures 'With mouth and heart (_cum ore et +corde_).'" Self-evidently the Crypto-Calvinists as well as other +errorists had to face the alternative of either subscribing or being +suspended from the ministry. The very object of the _Formula of Concord_ +was to purge the Lutheran Church from Calvinists and others who were not +in sympathy and agreement with the Lutheran Confessions and constituted +a foreign and disturbing element in the Lutheran Church. + +As to the manner in which the _Formula_ was submitted for subscription, +it was certainly not indifferentistic, but most solemn and serious, and +perhaps, in some instances, even severe. Coercion, however, was nowhere +employed for obtaining the signatures. At any rate, no instance is +recorded in which compulsion was used to secure its adoption. Moreover, +the campaign of public subscription, for which about two years were +allowed, was everywhere conducted on the principle that such only were +to be admitted to subscription as had read the _Formula_ and were in +complete agreement with its doctrinal contents. Yet it was probably true +that some, as Hutter assumes, signed with a bad conscience [Hutter: +"_Deinde esto: subscripserunt aliqui mala conscientia Formulae +Concordiae";_ Mueller, _Einleitung_, 115]; for among those who affixed +their names are quite a few of former Crypto-Calvinists--men who had +always found a way of escaping martyrdom, and, also in this instance, +may have preferred the retaining of their livings to following their +conviction. The fact is that no other confession can be mentioned in the +elaboration of which so much time, labor, and care was expended to bring +out clearly the divine truth, to convince every one of its complete +harmony with the Bible and the Lutheran symbols, and to hear and meet +all objections, as was the case with respect to the _Formula of +Concord_. + +"In reply to the criticism [of the Calvinists in the _Neustadt +Admonition_, etc.] that it was unjust for only six theologians to write +a Confession for the whole Church, and that a General Synod should have +been held before the signing of the Confession, the Convention of +Quedlinburg, in 1583, declared it untrue that the _Formula of Concord_ +had been composed by only six theologians, and reminded the critics how, +on the contrary, the articles had first been sent, a number of times, to +all the Lutheran churches in Germany; how, in order to consider them, +synods and conferences had been held on every side, and the articles had +been thoroughly tested, how criticisms had been made upon them; and how +the criticisms had been conscientiously taken in hand by a special +commission. The Quedlinburg Convention therefore declared in its minutes +that, indeed, 'such a frequent revision and testing of the _Christian +Book of Concord_, many times repeated, is a much greater work than if a +General Synod had been assembled respecting it to which every province +would have commissioned two or three theologians, who in the name of all +the rest would have helped to test and approve the book. For in that way +only one synod would have been held for the comparing and testing of +this work, but, as it was, many synods were held; and it was sent to +many provinces, which had it tested by the weighty and mature judgment +of their theologians, in such manner as has never occurred in the case +of any book or any matter of religion since the beginning of +Christianity, as is evident from the history of the Church,'... We are +solemnly told [by Andreae, Selneccer, etc.] that no one was forced by +threats to sign the _Formula of Concord_, and that no one was tempted to +do so by promises. We know that no one was taken suddenly by surprise. +Every one was given time to think. As the work of composition extended +through years, so several years were given for the work of signing. We +very much doubt whether the Lutheran Church to-day could secure any +democratic subscription so clean, so conscientious, so united, or so +large as that which was given to the _Book of Concord_." (Schmauk, +663f.) + +283. Subscription in Electoral Saxony, Brandenburg, etc. + +In Electoral Saxony, where Crypto-Calvinism had reigned supreme for many +years, prevailing conditions naturally called for a strict procedure. +For Calvinists could certainly not be tolerated as preachers in Lutheran +churches or as teachers in Lutheran schools. Such was also the settled +conviction and determination of Elector August. When he learned that the +Wittenberg professors were trying to evade an unqualified subscription, +he declared: By the help of God I am determined, as long as I live to +keep my churches and schools pure and in agreement with the _Formula of +Concord_. Whoever does not want to cooperate with me may go, I have no +desire for him. God protect me, and those belonging to me, from Papists +and Calvinists--I have experienced it. (Richard, 529.) + +The Elector demanded that every pastor affix his own signature to the +_Formula_. Accordingly, in every place, beginning with Wittenberg, the +commissioners addressed the ministers and schoolteachers, who had been +summoned from the smaller towns and villages, read the _Formula_ to +them, exhorted them to examine it and to express their doubts or +scruples, if they had any, and finally demanded subscription of all +those who could not bring any charge of false doctrine against it. +According to Planck only one pastor, one superintendent (Kolditz, who +later on subscribed), and one schoolteacher refused to subscribe. (6, +560.) Several professors in Leipzig and Wittenberg who declined to +acknowledge the _Formula_ were dismissed. + +However, as stated, also in Electoral Saxony coercion was not employed. +Moreover, objections were listened to with patience, and time was +allowed for consideration. Indeed, in the name of the Elector every one +was admonished not to subscribe against his conscience. I. F. Mueller +says in his _Historico-Theological Introduction to the Lutheran +Symbols_: "At the Herzberg Convention, 1578, Andreae felt justified in +stating: 'I can truthfully say that no one was coerced to subscribe or +banished on that account. If this is not true, the Son of God has not +redeemed me with His blood; for otherwise I do not want to become a +partaker of the blood of Christ.' Pursuant to this declaration the +opponents were publicly challenged to mention a single person who had +subscribed by compulsion, but they were unable to do so. Moreover, even +the Nuernbergers, who did not adopt the _Formula of Concord_, +acknowledged that the signatures had been affixed without employment of +force." (115.) True, October 8, 1578, Andreae wrote to Chemnitz: "We +treated the pastors with such severity that a certain truly good man and +sincere minister of the church afterwards said to us in the lodging +that, when the matter was proposed so severely, his mind was seized with +a great consternation which caused him to think that he, being near +Mount Sinai, was hearing the promulgation of the Mosaic Law (_se animo +adeo consternato fuisse, cum negotium tam severiter proponeretur, ut +existimaret, se monti Sinai proximum legis Mosaicae promulgationem +audire_).... I do not believe that anywhere a similar severity has been +employed." (116.) But the term "severity" here employed does not mean +force or compulsion, but merely signifies religious seriousness and +moral determination to eliminate Crypto-Calvinism from the Lutheran +Church in Electoral Saxony. The spirit in which also Andreae desired +this matter to be conducted appears from his letter of November 20, +1579, to Count Wolfgang, in which he says: Although as yet some +ministers in his country had not subscribed to the _Formula_, he should +not make too much of that, much less press or persuade them; for whoever +did not subscribe spontaneously and with a good conscience should +abstain from subscribing altogether much rather than pledge himself with +word and hand when his heart did not concur--_denn wer es nicht mit +seinem Geist und gutem Gewissen tue, bleibe viel besser davon, als dass +er sich mit Worten und mit der Hand dazu bekenne und das Herz nicht +daran waere_. (115.) + +Also Selneccer testifies to the general willingness with which the +ministers in Saxony affixed their signatures. With respect to the +universities of Wittenberg and Leipzig, however, he remarks that there +some were found who, while willing to acknowledge the first part of the +_Book of Concord_, begged to be excused from signing the _Formula_, but +that they had been told by the Elector: If they agreed with the first +part, there was no reason why they should refuse to sign the second, +since it was based on the first. (Carpzov, _Isagoge_ 20.) While thus in +Electoral Saxony subscription to the _Formula_ was indeed demanded of +all professors and ministers, there is not a single case on record in +which compulsion was employed to obtain it. + +In Brandenburg the clergy subscribed unconditionally, spontaneously, and +with thankfulness toward God and to their "faithful, pious ruler for his +fatherly care of the Church." Nor was any opposition met with in +Wuerttemberg, where the subscription was completed in October, 1577. In +Mecklenburg the ministers were kindly invited to subscribe. Such as +refused were suspended and given time for deliberation, with the proviso +that they abstain from criticizing the _Formula_ before the people. When +the superintendent of Wismar and several pastors declined finally to +adopt the _Formula_, they were deposed. + +Accordingly, it was in keeping with the facts when the Lutheran electors +and princes declared in the Preface to the _Formula of Concord_ "that +their theologians, ministers, and schoolteachers" "did with glad heart +and heartfelt thanks to God the Almighty voluntarily and with +well-considered courage adopt, approve, and subscribe this _Book of +Concord_ [_Formula of Concord_] as the true and Christian sense of the +_Augsburg Confession_, and did publicly testify thereto with heart, +mouth and hand. Wherefore also this Christian Agreement is not the +confession of some few of our theologians only, but is called, and is in +general, the unanimous confession of each and every one of the ministers +and schoolteachers of our lands and provinces." (CONC. TRIGL. 12f.) + +284. Where and Why Formula of Concord was Rejected. + +Apart from the territories which were really Calvinistic (Anhalt, Lower +Hesse, the Palatinate, etc.), comparatively few of the German princes +and estates considered adherents of the _Augsburg Confession_ declined +to accept the _Formula of Concord_ because of any doctrinal +disagreement. Some refused to append their names for political reasons; +others, because they were opposed on principle to a new symbol. With +still others, notably some of the imperial cities, it was a case of +religious particularism, which would not brook any disturbance of its +own mode of church-life. Also injured pride, for not having been +consulted in the matter, nor called upon to participate in the +preparation and revision of the _Formula_, was not altogether lacking as +a motive for withholding one's signature. In some instances personal +spite figured as a reason. Because Andreae had given offense to Paul von +Eitzen, Holstein rejected the _Formula_, stating that all the articles +it treated were clearly set forth in the existing symbols. Duke Julius +of Brunswick, though at first most zealous in promoting the work of +pacification and the adoption of the _Book of Concord_, withdrew in +1583, because Chemnitz had rebuked him for allowing his son to be +consecrated Bishop of Halberstadt. (Kolde, 73f.) However, despite the +unfriendly attitude of Duke Julius, some of the Brunswick theologians +openly declared their agreement with the _Formula_ as well as their +determination by the help of God, to adhere to its doctrine. No doubt +but that much more pressure was exercised in hindering than in urging +Lutherans to subscribe to the _Formula_. For the reasons enumerated the +_Formula of Concord_ was not adopted in Brunswick, Wolfenbuettel, +Holstein, Hesse, Pomerania (where however, the _Formula_ was received +later), Anhalt, the Palatinate (which, after a short Lutheran +interregnum, readopted the Heidelberg Catechism under John Casimir, +1583), Zweibruecken, Nassau, Bentheim, Tecklenburg, Solms, Ortenburg, +Liegnitz, Brieg, Wohlau, Bremen, Danzig, Magdeburg, Nuernberg, +Weissenburg, Windsheim, Frankfort-on-the-Main, Worms, Speyer, +Strassburg. + +In Sweden and Denmark, Frederick II issued an edict, July 24, 1580, +forbidding (for political reasons) the importation and publication of +the _Formula of Concord_ on penalty of execution and confiscation of +property. He is said to have cast the two elegantly bound copies of the +_Formula_ sent him by his sister, the wife of Elector August of Saxony, +into the fireplace. Later on, however, the _Formula_ came to be esteemed +also in the Danish Church and to be regarded as a symbol, at least in +fact, if not in form. + +While some of the original signatories subsequently withdrew from the +_Formula of Concord_ a larger number acceded to it. Among the latter +were Holstein, Pomerania, Krain, Kaernthen, Steiermark, etc. In Sweden +the _Formula_ was adopted 1593 by the Council of Upsala; in Hungary, in +1597. With few exceptions the Lutheran synods in America and Australia +all subscribed also to the _Formula of Concord_. + +285. Formula Not a New Confession Doctrinally. + +The _Formula of Concord_ purified the Lutheran Church from Romanism, +Calvinism, indifferentism, unionism, synergism, and other errors and +unsound tendencies. It did so, not by proclaiming new exclusive laws and +doctrines, but by showing that these corruptions were already excluded +by the spirit and letter of the existing Lutheran symbols. Doctrinally +the _Formula of Concord_ is not a new confession, but merely a +repetition and explanation of the old Lutheran confessions. It does not +set forth or formulate a new faith or tenets hitherto unknown to the +Lutheran Church. Nor does it correct, change, or in any way modify any +of her doctrines. On the contrary its very object was to defend and +maintain the teaching of her old symbols against all manner of attacks +coming from without as well as from within the Lutheran Church. The +_Formula_ merely presents, repeats, reaffirms explains, defends, clearly +defines, and consistently applies the truths directly or indirectly, +explicitly or implicitly confessed and taught in the antecedent Lutheran +confessions. The _Augsburg Confession_ concludes its last paragraph: "If +there is anything that any one might desire in this Confession, we are +ready God willing, to present ampler information (_latiorem +informationem_) according to the Scriptures." (94, 7.) Close scrutiny +will reveal the fact that in every detail the _Formula_ must be regarded +as just such an "ampler information, according to the Scriptures." The +Lutheran Church, therefore, has always held that whoever candidly adopts +the _Augsburg Confession_ cannot and will not reject the _Formula of +Concord_ either. + +As for the _Formula_ itself, it most emphatically disclaims to be +anything really new. In their Preface to the _Book of Concord_ the +Lutheran princes declared: "We indeed (to repeat in conclusion what we +have mentioned several times above) have wished, in this work of +concord, _in no way to devise anything new_, or to depart from the truth +of the heavenly doctrine, which our ancestors (renowned for their piety) +as well as we ourselves have acknowledged and professed. We mean that +doctrine, which, having been derived from the prophetic and apostolic +Scriptures, is contained in the three ancient Creeds, in the _Augsburg +Confession_, presented in the year 1530 to Emperor Charles V, of +excellent memory, then in the _Apology_, which was added to this, in the +_Smalcald Articles_, and lastly in both the Catechisms of that excellent +man, Dr. Luther. _Therefore we also have determined not to depart even a +finger's breadth either from the subjects themselves, or from the +phrases which are found in them_, but, the Spirit of the Lord aiding us, +to persevere constantly, with the greatest harmony, in this godly +agreement, and we intend to examine all controversies according to this +true norm and declaration of the pure doctrine." (CONC. TRIGL. 23.) In +the Comprehensive Summary we read: "We [the framers and signers of the +_Formula of Concord_] have declared to one another with heart and mouth +that we will not make or receive _a separate or new confession of our +faith_, but confess the public common writings which always and +everywhere were held and used as such symbols or common confessions in +all the churches of the _Augsburg Confession_ before the dissensions +arose among those who accept the _Augsburg Confession_, and as long as +in all articles there was on all sides a unanimous adherence to the pure +doctrine of the divine Word, as the sainted Dr. Luther explained it." +(851, 2. 9.) The _Formula of Concord_ therefore did not wish to offer +anything that was new doctrinally. It merely expressed the consensus of +all loyal Lutherans, and applied the truths contained in the existing +symbols to the questions raised in the various controversies. + +286. Formula a Reaffirmation of Genuine Lutheranism. + +To restore Luther's doctrine, such was the declared purpose of the +promoters and authors of the _Formula of Concord_. And in deciding the +controverted questions, they certainly did most faithfully adhere to +Luther's teaching. The _Formula_ is an exact, clear, consistent, and +guarded statement of original Lutheranism purified of all foreign +elements later on injected into it by the Philippists and other +errorists. It embodies the old Lutheran doctrine, as distinguished not +merely from Romanism and Calvinism, but also from Melanchthonianism and +other innovations after the death of Luther. Surely Luther would not +have hesitated to endorse each and all of its articles or doctrinal +statements. Even Planck, who poured contempt and sarcasm on the loyal +Lutherans, admits: "It was almost beyond controversy that the _Formula_, +in every controverted article, established and authorized precisely the +view which was most clearly sanctioned by the _Unaltered Augsburg +Confession_, by its _Apology_ according to the edition of the year 1531, +by the _Smalcald Articles_, and by the Catechisms of Luther." (6, 697.) +This complete agreement with Luther also accounts for the fact that the +_Formula_ was immediately acknowledged by two-thirds of the Protestants +in Germany. + +As for Luther, the _Formula of Concord_ regards him as the God-given +Reformer and teacher of the Church. We read: "By the special grace and +mercy of the Almighty the doctrine concerning the chief articles of our +Christian religion (which under the Papacy had been horribly obscured by +human teachings and ordinances) _were explained and purified again from +God's Word by Dr. Luther, of blessed and holy memory_." (847, 1.) Again: +"In these last times God, out of special grace has brought the truth of +His Word to light again from the darkness of the Papacy _through the +faithful service of the precious man of God, Dr. Luther_." (851, 5.) +Luther is spoken of as "this highly illumined man," "the hero illumined +with unparalleled and most excellent gifts of the Holy Ghost," "the +leading teacher of the _Augsburg Confession_." (980, 28; 983, 34.) "Dr. +Luther," says the _Formula_, "is to be regarded as the most +distinguished (_vornehmste, praecipuus_) teacher of the Churches which +confess the _Augsburg Confession_, whose entire doctrine as to sum and +substance is comprised in the articles of the _Augsburg Confession_." +(985, 41.) Again: "Dr. Luther, who, above others, certainly understood +the true and proper meaning of the _Augsburg Confession_, and who +constantly remained steadfast thereto till his end, and defended it, +shortly before his death repeated his faith concerning this article [of +the Lord's Supper] with great zeal in his last Confession." (983, 33.) +Accordingly, only from Luther's writings quotations are introduced by +the _Formula_ to prove the truly Lutheran character of a doctrine. In +this respect Luther was considered the highest authority, outweighing by +far that of Melanchthon or any other Lutheran divine. Everywhere +Luther's books are referred and appealed to, _e.g._, his "beautiful and +glorious exposition of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians," his +book concerning Councils, his _Large Confession_, his _De Servo +Arbitrio_, his _Commentary on Genesis_, his sermon of 1533 at Torgau, +etc. (925, 28; 937, 67; 823, 21; 897, 43; 827, 2; 1051, 1; cf. 1213ff.) + +Luther's doctrine, according to the _Formula of Concord_, is embodied in +the old Lutheran symbols, and was "collected into the articles and +chapters of the _Augsburg Confession_." (851, 5.) The _Augsburg +Confession_, the _Apology_, the _Smalcald Articles_, and the _Small_ and +the _Large Catechism_, says the _Formula_, "have always been regarded as +the norm and model of the doctrine which Dr. Luther, of blessed memory, +has admirably deduced from God's Word, and firmly established against +the Papacy and other sects; and to his full explanations in his +doctrinal and polemical writings we wish to appeal, in the manner and as +far as Dr. Luther himself in the Latin preface to his published works +has given necessary and Christian admonition concerning his writings." +(853, 9.) According to the _Formula_ there were no dissensions among the +Lutherans "as long as in all articles there was on all sides a unanimous +adherence to the pure doctrine of the divine Word _as the sainted Dr. +Luther explained it_." (851, 2.) Melanchthon, Agricola, Osiander, Major, +and the Philippists, departing from Luther, struck out on paths of their +own, and thus gave rise to the controversies finally settled by the +_Formula of Concord_. + +As for the _Formula of Concord_ itself, the distinct object also of its +promoters and authors was to restore, reaffirm, and vindicate the +doctrine of Luther. In a letter of July 24, 1576, to Hesshusius and +Wigand, Andreae giving an account of the results of the Torgau +Convention, remarks: "For this I dare affirm and promise sacredly that +the illustrious Elector of Saxony is bent on this alone that the +doctrine of Luther, which has been partly obscured, partly corrupted, +partly condemned openly or secretly, shall again be restored pure and +unadulterated in the schools and churches, and accordingly Luther shall +live, _i.e._, Christ, whose faithful servant Luther was--_adeoque +Lutherus, hoc est, Christus, cuius fidelis minister Lutherus fuit, +vivat_. What more do you desire? Here [in the _Torgau Book_] nothing is +colored, nothing is dressed up, nothing is concealed, but everything is +in keeping with the spirit of Luther which is Christ's. _Nihil hic +fucatum, nihil palliatum, nihil tectum est, sed iuxta spiritum Lutheri, +qui Christi est_." (Schaff 1, 339.) Also the _Formula of Concord_, +therefore, contains Luther's theology. + +It has been asserted that the _Formula of Concord_ is a compromise +between Luther and Melanchthon, a "synthesis or combination of the two +antagonistic forces of the Reformation, a balance of mutually +destructive principles," etc. The _Formula_, says also Seeberg +represents a "Melanchthonian Lutheranism." But the plain truth is that +the _Formula_ is a complete victory of Luther over the later Melanchthon +as well as the other errorists who had raised their heads within the +Lutheran Church. It gave the floor, not to Philip, but to Martin. True, +it was the avowed object of the _Formula_ to restore peace to the +Lutheran Church, but not by compromising in any shape or form the +doctrine of Luther, which, its authors were convinced, is nothing but +divine truth itself. In thesis and antithesis, moreover, the _Formula_ +takes a clearly defined stand against all the errorists of those days: +Anabaptists, Schwenckfeldians, Antitrinitarians, Romanists, Zwinglians, +Calvinists, Crypto-Calvinists, Adiaphorists, Antinomians, Synergists, +Majorists, the later Flacianists, etc. It did not acknowledge, or leave +room for, any doctrines or doctrinal tendencies deviating in the least +from original genuine Scriptural Lutheranism. At every point it occupied +the old Lutheran ground. Everywhere it observed a correct balance +between two errors (_e.g._, Romanism and Zwinglianism, Calvinism and +synergism, Majorism and antinomianism); it steered clear of Scylla as +well as Charybdis avoiding errors to the right as well as pitfalls to +the left. The golden highway of truth on which it travels was not +Melanchthon nor a middle ground between Luther and Melanchthon, but +simply Luther and the truths which he had brought to light again. + +Melanchthonianism may be defined as an effort to inoculate Lutheranism +with a unionistic and Calvinistic virus. The distinct object of the +_Formula_, however, was not merely to reduce, but to purge the Lutheran +Church entirely from, this as well as other leaven. The _Formula's_ +theology is not Lutheranism modified by, but thoroughly cleansed from, +antinomianism, Osiandrianism, and particularly from Philippism. +Accordingly, while in the _Formula_ Luther is celebrated and quoted as +the true and reliable exponent of Lutheranism, Melanchthon is nowhere +appealed to as an authority in this respect. It is only in the _Preface +of the Book of Concord_ that his writings are referred to as not to be +"rejected and condemned", but the proviso is added, "in as far as +(_quatenus_) they agree throughout with the norm laid down in the _Book +of Concord_." (16.) + +287. Scripture Sole Standard and Rule. + +From the high estimation in which Luther was held by the _Formula of +Concord_ it has falsely been inferred that this Confession accords +Luther the "highest authority" as Hase says, or considers him "the +regulative and almost infallible expounder" of the Bible, as Schaff +asserts. (_Creeds_ 1, 313.) But according to the _Formula_ the supreme +arbiter and only final rule in all matters of religion is the inspired +Word of God; and absolutely all human teachers and books, including +Luther and the Lutheran symbols, are subject to its verdict. When, after +Luther's death, God permitted doctrinal controversies to distract the +Church, His purpose, no doubt, being also to have her fully realize not +only that Luther's doctrine is in complete harmony with Scripture, but, +in addition, that in matters of faith and doctrine not Luther, not the +Church, not the symbols, nor any other human authority but His Word +alone is the sole rule and norm. The _Formula_ certainly learned this +lesson well. In its opening paragraph we read: "We believe, teach, and +confess that the sole rule and standard according to which both all +doctrines and all teachers should be estimated and judged are the +prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament +alone.... Other writings, however, of ancient or modern teachers, +whatever name they bear must not be regarded as equal to the Holy +Scriptures, but all of them together be subjected to them." (777, 1.) +And in this, too, the _Formula_ was conscious of being in agreement with +Luther. Luther himself, it declares, "has expressly drawn this +distinction namely, that the Word of God alone should be and remain the +only standard and rule of doctrine, to which the writings of no man +should be regarded as equal, but to which everything should be +subjected." (853, 9.) Scripture is, and always must remain, the only +_norma normans_, the standard that rules everything,--such was the +attitude of the _Formula of Concord_. + +Accordingly, the proof proper for the truth of any doctrinal statement +is taken by the _Formula_ neither from the Lutheran symbols nor the +writings of Luther, but from the Word of God. And the only reason why +the promoters and framers of the _Formula_ were determined to restore +the unadulterated teaching of Luther was because, in the controversies +following his death, they had thoroughly convinced themselves that, on +the one hand, the doctrines proclaimed by Luther were nothing but the +purest gold mined from the shafts of God's Word, and that, on the other +hand, the various deviations from Luther's teaching, which had caused +the dissensions, were aberrations not only from the original Lutheran +Confessions, but also from Holy Scripture. The thirty years of +theological discussion had satisfied the Lutherans that to adhere to the +Bible was tantamount to adhering to the teaching of Luther, and _vice +versa_. Accordingly, the _Formula_ also declared it as its object to +prove that the doctrines it presented were in harmony with the Bible, as +well as with the teaching of Luther and the _Augsburg Confession_. (856, +19.) This agreement with the Word of God and the preceding Lutheran +symbols constitutes the _Formula_ a Lutheran confession, which no one +who is a true Lutheran can reject or, for doctrinal reasons, refuse to +accept. + +288. Formula Benefited Lutheran Church. + +It has frequently been asserted that the _Formula of Concord_ greatly +damaged Lutheranism, causing bitter controversies, and driving many +Lutherans into the fold of Calvinism, _e.g._, in the Palatinate (1583), +in Anhalt, in Hesse, and in Brandenburg (1613). Richard says: "The +_Formula of Concord_ was the cause of the most bitter controversies, +dissensions, and alienations. The position taken by the adherents of the +_Formula of Concord_ that this document is the true historical and +logical explanation of the older confessions and is therefore the test +and touchstone of Lutheranism, had the effect, as one extreme generates +a counter-extreme, of driving many individual Lutherans and many +Lutheran churches into the Calvinistic fold, as that fold was +represented in Germany by the Heidelberg Catechism as the chief +confession of faith." (516.) + +But this entire view is founded on indifferentism and unionism flowing +from the false principle that quality must be sacrificed to quantity, +eternal truth to temporal peace and unity to external progress and +temporary success. Viewed in the light of God's Word, error is the +centrifugal force and the real cause of dissension and separations among +Christians, while divine truth always acts as a centripetal or a truly +unifying power. The _Formula_ therefore, standing clearly as it does for +divine truth only, cannot be charged with causing dissension and +breeding trouble among Christians. It settled many controversies and +healed dissensions, but produced none. True, the _Formula_ was condemned +by many, but with no greater justice and for no other reasons than those +for which the truths of God's Word have always been assailed by their +enemies. + +Nor is the statement correct that the _Formula of Concord_ drove loyal +Lutherans out of their own churches into Calvinistic folds. It clearly +stated what, according to God's Word and their old confessions, +Lutherans always will believe, teach, and confess, as also what they +always must reject as false and detrimental to the cause of the Church +of Christ; however, in so doing, it did not drive Lutherans into the +ranks of the Calvinists, but drove masked Calvinists out of the ranks of +loyal Lutherans into those folds to which they really belonged. Indeed, +the _Formula_ failed to make true Lutherans of all the errorists; but +neither did the _Augsburg Confession_ succeed in making friends and +Lutherans of all Papists, nor the Bible, in making Christians of all +unbelievers. However, by clearly stating its position in thesis and +antithesis, the _Formula_ did succeed in bringing about a wholesome +separation, ridding the Lutheran Church of antagonistic spirits, unsound +tendencies, and false doctrines. In fact, it saved the Church from slow, +but sure poisoning at the hands of the Crypto-Calvinists; it restored +purity, unity, morale, courage, and hope when she was demoralized, +distracted, and disfigured by many dissensions and corruptions. +Whatever, by adopting the _Formula of Concord_ the Lutheran Church +therefore may have lost in extension, it won in intention; what it lost +in numbers, it won in unity, solidity, and firmness in the truth. + +True, the _Formula of Concord_ completely foiled Melanchthon's plan of a +union between the Lutheran and Reformed churches on the basis of the +Variata of 1540,--a fact which more than anything else roused the ire of +Philippists and Calvinists. But that was an ungodly union, contrary to +the Word of God; a union involving a denial of essential Christian +truths; a union incompatible with the spirit of Lutheranism, which +cannot survive where faith is gagged and open confession of the truth is +smothered; a union in which Calvinism, engrafted on Lutheranism, would +have reduced the latter to a mere feeder of a foreign life. However, +though it shattered the ungodly plans of the Philippists and Calvinists, +the _Formula_ did not in the least destroy the hope of, or block the way +for, a truly Christian agreement. On the contrary, it formulated the +only true basis for such a union, which it also realized among the +Lutherans. And if the Lutheran and Reformed churches will ever unite in +a true and godly manner it must be done on the basis of the truths set +forth by the _Formula_. + +289. Necessity of Formula of Concord. + +Several Lutheran states, as related above, declined to accept the +_Formula of Concord_, giving as their reason for such action that there +was no need of a new confession. The fact, however, that the _Formula_ +was adopted by the great majority of Lutheran princes, professors, +preachers, and congregations proves conclusively that they were of a +different opinion. A new confession was necessary, not indeed because +new truths had been discovered which called for confessional coining or +formulation, but because the old doctrines, assailed by errorists, were +in need of vindication, and the Lutheran Church, distracted by prolonged +theological warfare, was sorely in need of being restored to unity, +peace, and stability. The question-marks suspended everywhere in Germany +after Luther's death were: Is Lutheranism to die or live? Are its old +standards and doctrines to be scrapped or vindicated? Is the Church of +Luther to remain, or to be transformed into a unionistic or Reformed +body? Is it to retain its unity, or will it become a house divided +against itself and infested with all manner of sects? + +Evidently, then, if the Lutheran Church was not to go down ingloriously, +a new confession was needed which would not only clear the religious and +theological atmosphere, but restore confidence, hope, and normalcy. A +confession was needed which would bring out clearly the truths for which +Lutherans must firmly stand if they would be true to God, true to His +Word, true to their Church, true to themselves, and true to their +traditions. A confession was needed which would draw exactly, clearly, +and unmistakably the lines which separate Lutherans, not only from +Romanists, but also from Zwinglians, Calvinists, Crypto-Calvinists, +unionists, and the advocates of other errors and unsound tendencies. +Being essentially the Church of the pure Word and Sacrament, the only +way for the Lutheran Church to maintain her identity and independence +was to settle her controversies not by evading or compromising the +doctrinal issues involved, but by honestly facing and definitely +deciding them in accordance with her principles: the Word of God and the +old confessions. Particularly with respect to the doctrine of the Lord's +Supper, Melanchthon by constantly altering the _Augsburg Confession_, +had muddied the water to such an extent that the adoption of the +_Augustana_ was no longer a clear test of Lutheran orthodoxy and +loyalty. Even Calvin, and the German Reformed generally subscribed to +it, "in the sense," they said, "in which Melanchthon has explained it." +The result was a corruption of Lutheranism and a pernicious Calvinistic +propaganda in Lutheran territories. A new confession was the only means +of ending the confusion and checking the invasion. + +290. Formula Fully Met Requirements. + +The _Formula of Concord_ was just such a confession as the situation +called for. The Preface to the _Apology of the Book of Concord_, signed +by Kirchner, Selneccer, and Chemnitz, remarks that the purpose of the +_Formula_ was "to establish and propagate unity in the Lutheran churches +and schools, and to check the Sacramentarian leaven and other +corruptions and sects." This purpose was fully attained by the +_Formula_. It maintained and vindicated the old Lutheran symbols. It +cleared our Church from all manner of foreign spirits which threatened +to transform its very character. It settled the controversies by +rendering a clear and correct decision on all doctrinal questions +involved. It unified our Church when she was threatened with hopeless +division, anarchy, and utter ruin. It surrounded her with a wall of fire +against all her enemies. It made her a most uncomfortable place for such +opponents of Lutheranism as Crypto-Calvinists, unionists, etc. It +infused her with confidence, self-consciousness, conviction, a clear +knowledge of her own position over against the errors of other churches +and sects, and last, but not least, with a most remarkable vitality. + +Wherever and whenever, in the course of time, the _Formula of Concord_ +was ignored, despised, or rejected, the Lutheran Church fell an easy +prey to unionism and sectarianism; but wherever and whenever the +_Formula_ was held in high esteem, Lutheranism flourished and its +enemies were confounded. Says Schaff: "Outside of Germany the Lutheran +Church is stunted in its normal growth, or undergoes with the change of +language and nationality, an ecclesiastical transformation. This is the +case with the great majority of Anglicized and Americanized Lutherans, +who adopt Reformed views on the Sacraments, the observance of Sunday, +church discipline, and other points." But the fact is that, since Schaff +wrote the above, the Lutheran Church developed and flourished nowhere as +in America, owing chiefly to the return of American Lutherans to their +confessions, including the _Formula of Concord_. The _Formula of +Concord_ fully supplied the dire need created by the controversies after +Luther's death; and, despite many subsequent controversies, also in +America, down to the present day, no further confessional deliverances +have been necessary, and most likely such will not be needed in the +future either. + +The _Formula of Concord_, therefore, must ever be regarded as a great +blessing of God. "But for the _Formula of Concord_," says Krauth, "it +may be questioned whether Protestantism could have been saved to the +world. It staunched the wounds at which Lutheranism was bleeding to +death; and crises were at hand in history in which Lutheranism was +essential to the salvation of the Reformatory interest in Europe. The +Thirty Years' War, the war of martyrs, which saved our modern world, lay +indeed in the future of another century, yet it was fought and settled +in the Cloister of Bergen. But for the pen of the peaceful triumvirate, +the sword of Gustavus had not been drawn. Intestine treachery and +division in the Church of the Reformation would have done what the arts +and arms of Rome failed to do. But the miracle of restoration was +wrought. From being the most distracted Church on earth, the Lutheran +Church had become the most stable. The blossom put forth at Augsburg, +despite the storm, the mildew, and the worm, had ripened into the full +round fruit of the amplest and clearest Confession in which the +Christian Church has ever embodied her faith." (Schmauk, 830.) + +291. Formula Attacked and Defended. + +Drawing accurately and deeply, as it did, the lines of demarcation +between Lutheranism, on the one hand, and Calvinism, Philippism, etc., +on the other, and thus also putting an end to the Calvinistic propaganda +successfully carried on for decades within the Lutheran Church, the +_Formula of Concord_ was bound to become a rock of offense and to meet +with opposition on the part of all enemies of genuine Lutheranism within +as well as without the Lutheran Church. Both Romanists and Calvinists +had long ago accustomed themselves to viewing the Lutheran Church as +moribund and merely to be preyed upon by others. Accordingly, when, +contrary to all expectations, our Church, united by the _Formula_, rose +once more to her pristine power and glory, it roused the envy and +inflamed the ire and rage of her enemies. Numerous protests against the +_Formula_, emanating chiefly from Reformed and Crypto-Calvinistic +sources, were lodged with Elector August and other Lutheran princes. +Even Queen Elizabeth of England sent a deputation urging the Elector not +to allow the promulgation of the new confession. John Casimir of the +Palatinate, also at the instigation of the English queen, endeavored to +organize the Reformed in order to prevent its adoption. Also later on +the Calvinists insisted that a general council (of course, participated +in by Calvinists and Crypto-Calvinists) should have been held to decide +on its formal and final adoption! + +Numerous attacks on the _Formula of Concord_ were published 1578, 1579, +1581, and later, some of them anonymously. They were directed chiefly +against its doctrine of the real presence in the Lord's Supper, the +majesty of the human nature of Christ, and eternal election, +particularly its refusal to solve, either in a synergistic or in a +Calvinistic manner, the mystery presented to human reason in the +teaching of the Bible that God alone is the cause of man's salvation, +while man alone is the cause of his damnation. In a letter to Beza, +Ursinus, the chief author of the Heidelberg Catechism, shrewdly advised +the Reformed to continue accepting the _Augsburg Confession_, but to +agitate against the _Formula_. He himself led the Reformed attacks by +publishing, 1581, "_Admonitio Christiana de Libro Concordiae_, Christian +Admonition Concerning the Book of Concord," also called "_Admonitio +Neostadiensis_, Neustadt Admonition." Its charges were refuted in the +"Apology or Defense of the Christian Book of Concord--_Apologia oder +Verantwortung des christlichen Konkordienbuchs_, in welcher die wahre +christliche Lehre, so im Konkordienbuch verfasst, mit gutem Grunde +heiliger, goettlicher Schrift verteidiget, die Verkehrung aber und +Kalumnien, so von unruhigen Leuten wider gedachtes christliche Buch +ausgesprenget, widerlegt worden," 1583 (1582). Having been prepared by +command of the Lutheran electors, and composed by Kirchner, Selneccer, +and Chemnitz, and before its publication also submitted to other +theologians for their approval, this guardedly written _Apology_, also +called the Erfurt Book, gained considerable authority and influence. + +The Preface of this Erfurt Book enumerates, besides the Christian +Admonition of Ursinus and the Neustadt theologians, the following +writings published against the _Formula of Concord_: 1. _Opinion and +Apology_ (_Bedencken und Apologie_) of Some Anhalt Theologians; 2. +_Defense_ (_Verantwortung_) of the Bremen Preachers; Christian Irenaeus +on Original Sin; _Nova Novorum_ ("ein famos Libell"); other libelli, +satyrae et pasquilli; _Calumniae et Scurrilia Convitia of Brother Nass_ +(_Bruder Nass_); and the history of the _Augsburg Confession_ by +Ambrosius Wolf, in which the author asserts that from the beginning the +doctrine of Zwingli and Calvin predominated in all Protestant churches. +The theologians of Neustadt, Bremen, and Anhalt replied to the Erfurt +Apology; which, in turn, called forth counter-replies from the +Lutherans. Beza wrote: _Refutation of the Dogma Concerning the +Fictitious Omnipresence of the Flesh of Christ_. In 1607 Hospinian +published his _Concordia Discors_," [tr. note: sic on punctuation] to +which Hutter replied in his _Concordia Concors_. The papal detractors of +the _Formula_ were led by the Jesuit Cardinal Bellarmin, who in 1589 +published his _Judgment of the Book of Concord_. + +292. Modern Strictures on Formula of Concord. + +Down to the present day the _Formula of Concord_ has been assailed +particularly by unionistic and Reformed opponents of true Lutheranism. +Schaff criticizes: "Religion was confounded with theology, piety with +orthodoxy, and orthodoxy with an exclusive confessionalism." (1, 259.) +However, the subjects treated in the _Formula_ are the most vital +doctrines of the Christian religion: concerning sin and grace, the +person and work of Christ, justification and faith, the means of grace, +--truths without which neither Christian theology nor Christian religion +can remain; "Here, then," says Schmauk, "is the one symbol of the ages +which treats almost exclusively of Christ--of His work, His presence, +His person. Here is the Christ-symbol of the Lutheran Church. One might +almost say that the _Formula of Concord_ is a developed witness of +Luther's explanation of the Second and Third Articles of the Apostles' +Creed, meeting the modern errors of Protestantism, those cropping up +from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, in a really modern way." +(751.) Tschackert also designates the assertion that the authors of the +_Formula of Concord_ "abandoned Luther's idea of faith and established a +dead scholasticism" as an unjust charge. (478.) Indeed, it may be +questioned whether the doctrine of grace, the real heart of +Christianity, would have been saved to the Church without the _Formula_. + +R. Seeberg speaks of the "ossification of Lutheran theology" caused by +the _Formula of Concord_, and Tschackert charges it with transforming +the Gospel into a "doctrine." (571.) But what else is the Gospel of +Christ than the divine doctrine or statement and proclamation of the +truth that we are saved, not by our own works, but by grace and faith +alone, for the sake of Christ and His merits? The _Formula of Concord_ +truly says: "_The Gospel is properly a doctrine which teaches what man +should believe_, that he may obtain forgiveness of sins with God, +namely, that the Son of God, our Lord Christ, has taken upon Himself and +borne the curse of the Law, has expiated and paid for all our sins, +through whom alone we again enter into favor with God, obtain +forgiveness of sins by faith, are delivered from death and all the +punishments of sins, and eternally saved." (959, 20.) Says Schmauk: "The +_Formula of Concord_ was ... the very substance of the Gospel and of the +_Augsburg Confession_, kneaded through the experience of the first +generation of Protestantism, by incessant and agonizing conflict, and +coming forth from that experience as a true and tried teaching, a +standard recognized by many." (821.) The _Formula of Concord_ is truly +Scriptural, not only because all its doctrines are derived from the +Bible, but also because the burden of the Scriptures, the doctrine of +justification, is the burden also of all its expositions the living +breath, as it were, pervading all its articles. + +Another modern objection to the _Formula_ is that it binds the future +generations to the _Book of Concord_. This charge is correct, for the +_Formula_ expressly states that its decisions are to be "a public, +definite testimony, not only for those now living, but also for our +posterity, what is and should remain (_sei und bleiben solle--esseque +perpetuo debeat_) the unanimous understanding and judgment of our +churches in reference to the articles in controversy." (857, 16.) +However, the criticism implied in the charge is unwarranted. For the +Lutheran Confessions, as promoters, authors, and signers of the +_Formula_ were fully persuaded, are in perfect agreement with the +eternal and unchangeable Word of God. As to their contents, therefore, +they must always remain the confession of every Church which really is +and would remain loyal to the Word of God. + +293. Formula Unrefuted. + +From the day of its birth down to the present time the _Formula of +Concord_ has always been in the limelight of theological discussion. But +what its framers said in praise of the _Augsburg Confession_, _viz._, +that, in spite of numerous enemies, it had remained unrefuted, may be +applied also to the _Formula_: it stood the test of centuries and +emerged unscathed from the fire of every controversy. It is true today +what Thomasius wrote 1848 with special reference to the _Formula_: +"Numerous as they may be who at present revile our Confession, not one +has ever appeared who has refuted its chief propositions from the +Bible." (_Bekenntnis der ev.-luth. Kirche_, 227.) + +Nor can the _Formula_ ever be refuted, for its doctrinal contents are +unadulterated truths of the infallible Word of God. It confesses the +doctrine which Christians everywhere will finally admit as true and +divine indeed, which they all in their hearts believe even now, if not +explicitly and consciously, at least implicitly and in principle. The +doctrines of the _Formula_ are the ecumenical truths of Christendom; for +true Lutheranism is nothing but consistent Christianity. The _Formula_, +says Krauth, is "the completest and clearest confession in which the +Christian Church has ever embodied her faith." Such being the case, the +_Formula of Concord_ must be regarded also as the key to a godly peace +and true unity of entire Christendom. + +The authors of the _Formula_ solemnly declare: "We entertain heartfelt +pleasure and love for, and are on our part sincerely inclined and +anxious to advance with our utmost power that unity [and peace] by which +His glory remains to God uninjured, nothing of the divine truth of the +Holy Gospel is surrendered, no room is given to the least error, poor +sinners are brought to true, genuine repentance, raised up by faith, +confirmed in new obedience, and thus justified and eternally saved alone +through the sole merit of Christ." (1095, 95.) Such was the godly peace +and true Christian unity restored by the _Formula of Concord_ to the +Lutheran Church. And what it did for _her_ it is able also to do for the +Church at large. Being in complete agreement with Scripture, it is well +qualified to become the regeneration center of the entire present-day +corrupted, disrupted, and demoralized Christendom. + +Accordingly Lutherans, the natural advocates of a truly wholesome and +God-pleasing union based on unity in divine truth, will not only +themselves hold fast what they possess in their glorious Confession, but +strive to impart its blessings also to others, all the while praying +incessantly, fervently, and trustingly with the pious framers of the +_Formula_: "May Almighty God and the Father of our Lord Jesus grant the +grace of His Holy Ghost that we all may be one in Him, and constantly +abide in this Christian unity, which is well pleasing to Him! Amen." +(837, 23.) + +SOLI DEO GLORIA! + +[tr. note: original printed text ends with a 10 page index that is not +included in this transcription] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Historical Introductions to the +Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, by Friedrich Bente + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOOKS OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH *** + +***** This file should be named 26909.txt or 26909.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/9/0/26909/ + +Produced by Kurt A. T. Bodling, Concordia Seminary, St. +Louis, Class of 1980 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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