Augsburg Confession

“ With what wisdom, in particular, the confessors of Augsburg protest against that confusion of religion and politics which since the deplorable epoch of Constantine, had changed the kingdom of God into an earthly and carnal institution! Undoubtedly what the Confession stigmatizes with the greatest energy is the intrusion of the Church into the affairs of the State, but can it be thought that it was to approve the intrusion of the State in Church affairs? The evil of the Middle Ages was the having enslaved the State to the Church, and the confessors of Augsburg rose like one man to combat it. ”

“ 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." ”

“ It has often been affirmed by some, who have not examined the history of that eventful diet with particular care, that the Augsburg Confession was prepared under the most favorable circumstances for an impartial and full exhibition of all the views of the confessors, both of positive truth and papal errors. ”

“ In 1530 the emperor, flushed with success in Italy and at peace with his foreign foes, came to Germany with the express intention of putting an end to heresy. In June he opened the diet at Augsburg, and here the Lutherans submitted a summary of their doctrines, afterwards called the Augsburg Confession. Drawn up by Melanchthon, this pronouncement was intended to widen the breach between the Lutherans and the Zwinglians, and to narrow that between the Lutherans and the Romanists; from this time it was regarded as the chief standard of the Lutheran faith. ”

“ As for the attitude of the Augsburg Confession, it declares concerning works—a declaration for which Melanchthon’s cautious pen was solely responsible—“We also teach that such faith [in Christ, whereby man is justified] must produce good fruit and good works, and that we must perform all manner of good works which God has commanded, for God’s sake.” ”

“ Certain synods of the Lutheran Church, and those the most prosperous, hold to the Augsburg Confession more tenaciously than Luther ever did, and believe that beside that Church there is no Church, and outside of that creed no salvation. ”

“ If, when the General Synod affirmed that the fundamentals were correctly taught, she had declared or implied that the non-fundamentals were incorrectly taught, no Lutheran who believed that the Augsburg Confession is sound on all the doctrinal points it touches, or who believed that none but fundamental doctrines are set forth in the Confession, could have received the Formula. She satisfied herself, therefore, with an affirmative about fundamentals, making neither an affirmation nor denial in regard to non-fundamentals. ”

“ Moreover, at its first convention in 1863, the General Synod in the Confederate States, the liberal-minded Bachman presiding, after animated discussions, declared in favor of a qualified subscription to the Augsburg Confession. Unanimously and solemnly the following doctrinal basis was adopted: 1. That the Holy Scriptures are the sole infallible rule of faith and practise; 2. that the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Augustana "contain the fundamental doctrines of the Holy Scriptures" ”

“ Matters concerning salvation were of an individual nature and could not be legislated. Conscience bound them to oppose the resolution. Principles which the Wittenberg monk had declared only eight years before were becoming the national mind.
The Augsburg Confession
Sparks of the Reformation had caught fire elsewhere in Europe developing into Reformed, Mennonite, Anabaptist, and other denominations. A major purpose of the diet called by Emperor Charles at Augsburg in 1530 was to harmonize these various groups and attempt a final reconciliation with Rome. ”

“ II. Modern Confessions of Faith.—The second great creed-making epoch of Church history opens in the 16th century with the Confession of Augsburg. The famous theses which Luther nailed to the door of the church at Wittenberg in 1517 cannot be called a confession, but they expressed a protest which could not rest there. Some reconstruction of popular beliefs was needed by many consciences. There is a striking contrast between the crudeness of much and widely accepted medieval theology and the decrees of the council of Trent. Even from the Roman Catholic standpoint such a need was felt. ”

“ The Augsburg Confession, and other symbols, do teach the tenets ascribed to them in the Platform, and, in the judgment of the great mass of American Lutherans, the Word of God rejects them, and inculcates the contrary. All the invective and vituperation, not of the author of the Plea but of multitudes of old-Lutherans, &c., cannot change the truth, for it is unchangeable and eternal; nor is it their duty to deny it, any more than it is ours. ”

“ Like ourselves, they acknowledge the Augsburg Confession as their common bond of union, and have, ever since the commencement of the last century, sustained a peculiar and intimate relation towards our Church. It is only by discipline and forms of church-government that we are separated, and we trust that the step which has now been taken will draw us still more closely together, and tend to our mutual edification and progress in Christian activity as well as in brotherly love. ”

“ Also on this matter we might cite Luther's numerous statements and expository writings, but we prefer to quote again the Augsburg Confession which grew out of Luther's testimony for the truth. In Article XXVII the Lutheran confessors state: "What is taught on our part concerning monastic vows will be better understood if it be remembered what has been the state of the monasteries, and how many things were daily done in those very monasteries, contrary to the canons. In Augustine's time they were free associations. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In order to share in the Augsburg Peace, he still retained the Augsburg Confession, naturally in the form known as the Variata. In A.D. 1624, he issued a Calvinist confession of his own, the Confessio Sigismundi or Marchica, which sought to reconcile the universality of grace with the particularity of election (§ 168, 1) . His people, however, did not follow the prince, not even his consort, Anne of Prussia. The court preacher, Gedicke, who would not retract his invectives against the prince and the Reformed confession, was obliged to flee from Berlin, as also another preacher, Mart. Willich. ”

“ These, accordingly, were delivered to the elector by Luther, and served as the basis of the celebrated Augsburg Confession, written “by the elegant and accurate pen of Melancthon”—a work which has been admired by many even of its enemies, for its perspicuity, piety, and erudition. It contains twenty-eight chapters, the leading topics of which are, the true and essential divinity of Christ; his substitution and vicarious sacrifice; original sin; human inability; the necessity, freedom, and efficacy of divine grace ”

“ In 1530 he becomes the founder of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and aided by Melancthon, succeeds in translating and giving to the German people the Bible in their own language, and in preparing the Augsburg confession that has since served as a standard of faith and bond of union for the Lutheran churches in Europe and America.
Emotion and imaginative piety have become the hand-maids of superstition; and patriotism, lacking courage, has covered its face. He writes hymns and patriotic songs, that inspire the German heart with loyalty to the truth and devotion to their Fatherland. ”

“ The Augsburg Confession "treats the Sabbath as a mere Jewish institution, and supposes it to be totally revoked whilst the propriety of our retaining the Lord's Day or Christian Sabbath as a day of religious worship, is supposed to rest only on the agreement of the churches for the convenience of general convocation. ”

“ S. Sprecher's inaugural address at Wittenberg College, Springfield, O., the Lutheran Observer, October 26, 1849, declared that Lutherans [of the General Synod] , in adopting the confessions, "do not bind their conscience to more than what all evangelical Christians [denominations] regard as fundamental doctrines of the Bible. We are bound to believe only that the sublime plan of the Gospel is taught in the Augsburg Confession. ”

“ When, we turn to our History of the American Lutheran Church, published in 1852, we find on pages 240, 241, the following statement:— "The mass, that is, the name and some of the ceremonies of the Romish mass, were retained in the Augsburg Confession; although the errors in doctrine, by which the Romish mass grew out of the Scripture doctrine of the Lord's Supper, were rejected in that as well as subsequent symbols." "Our churches," (says the Augsburg Confession, Art. XXIV.) "are unjustly charged with having rejected the mass, (messe.) ”

“ The general sense of unrest, aggravated perhaps by some alarm lest the Augsburg Confession should attract adherents—especially since the Lutherans had been told that there might be room for its discussion—led to the enunciation of the first of the Anglican formulae of Faith, known as the Ten Articles "for establishing Christian Quietness," in July 1536: professedly prepared by the King's own hand. ”

“ From the history of the Reformation it is evident that the Protestants were called upon to deliver their confession of faith before the diet assembled at Augsburg. Every Christian is not only privileged, but also commanded to confess what he believes. Although the Scriptures be a sufficient guide without any other, and though there be but one explanation of them which can be correct, yet not all who profess Christianity explain them alike, for their views are widely different. ”

“ But the truth is, that the rejection of the custom of requiring assent to the Augsburg Confession by the fathers in the Pennsylvania Synod fifty years ago, is proof enough of their dissatisfaction with that document. ”

“ They are responsible for the fact that hymns are sung in public worship in which the saints are lauded with every blessing just as if they were colleagues of God.431
In conformity with these thoughts, the Confessions of the Reformation all agree in reprobating prayers to the saints. The Augsburg Confession says:
“The Scripture teacheth not to invoke saints, nor to ask the help of saints, because it propoundeth to us one Christ, the Mediator, Propitiatory, High Priest, and Intercessor. ”

“ Though outwardly modest, simple, mortified and urbane, they are in reality furies and atheists — far worse indeed than atheists and [272] idolaters. The children confided to them are constrained to join with their swinish instructors in grunting at the Divine Majesty" (Janssen, VIII, 339) . "They are not only poisoners but conspirators and assassins. Their purpose is to slay all those who have accepted the Confession of Augsburg. ”

“ The bold stand taken by Luther against this rebellion strengthened him with the princes. Not only Saxony, Hesse, and Brunswick and many free cities, but the Augustine order of monks, a part of the Franciscans, and a number of priests had embraced the new doctrine contained in the "Augsburg Confession," the creed or summary of belief which was prepared by Luther's friend, Philip Melancthon.
The principles asserted in this were that men are justified by faith alone; that an assembly of believers constitutes a Church ”

“ See Wagenseil, Geschichte der Stadt Augsburg (Augs., 1820-1822) ; Werner, Geschichte der Stadt Augsburg (1899) ; Roth, Augsburg’s Reformationsgeschichte (1902) .
AUGSBURG, CONFESSION OF, the most important Protestant statement of belief drawn up at the Reformation. In summoning a diet for April 1530, Charles V. offered a fair hearing to all religious parties in the Empire. Luther, Justus Jonas, Melanchthon and Johann Bugenhagen were appointed to draw up a statement of the Saxon position. These “Torgau Articles” (March 1530) tell merely why Saxony had abolished certain ecclesiastical abuses. ”

“ You make use of an argument which appears to you of the greatest strength, namely, that you agree in the Confession of Augsburg and with Luther. Although we concurred with you in this, we would not declare that Confession to be a gospel, nor Luther to have dominion over our faith. Let things contend with things, differences with differences, arguments with arguments. None of us have ever brandished before you the great names of Zuinglius or OEcolampadius, of Calvin, Bucer, Melancthon or Martyr, who nevertheless, do far exceed Luther in learning. ”