Charles Hardwick. "History of the Articles." Chapter Two, 14-30: "The Augsburg Confession." An history of the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion of the

Charles Hardwick. "History of the Articles." Chapter Two, 14-30: "The Augsburg Confession." An history of the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England, a fair, sane, temperate and documented history.

http://www.archive.org/stream/ahistoryarticle00hardgoog/ahistoryarticle00hardgoog_djvu.txt

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CHAPTER II.

THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION.

THE observations made at the conclusion of the previous chapter have enabled us to understand the general drift and purpose of the first of the Reformed Confessions, published in the spring of 1530, and therefore nearly three years anterior to the elevation of Cranmer to the see of Canterbury. It was this remarkable document which suggested the idea so generally adopted in the middle of the sixteenth century ; and had no further basis of affinity subsisted between it and our own Articles of Religion, it might fairly have demanded at our hands a more than passing notice.

But there is a second and imperative reason for embracing an account of the Augsburg Confession in the limitsof the present volume. That Confession is most intimately connected with the progress of the English Reformation ; and besides the influence which it cannot fail to have exerted by its rapid circulation in our country, it contrbuted directly, in a large degree, to the construction of the public Formularies of Faith put forward by the Church of England. The XIII Articles, drawn up, as we shall see, in 1538, were based almost entirely on the language of the great Germanic Confession ; while a similar expression of respect is no less manifest in the Articles of Edward VI., and consequently in that series which is binding now upon the conscience of the English clergy.

For this reason it is necessary to ascertain the temper and position of the Wittenberg Reformers in the year1530, when they laid a formal record of their tenets at the feet of Charles V.

Now it is clear that since the meeting of the Diet of Worms in 1521, the movement, of which Luther was the ruling spirit, had been growing far more moderate in its tone, and far more purely theological. Its earlier vehemence had been expended in decrying all the disciplinary abuses of the age, and the extravagant pretensions of the Roman pontiff. It had afterwards entered for a while into a partial union with the bolder and less balanced followers of Zwingli, and had so incurred the risk of falling in with his political maxims, and accepting the more neoteric of his theological opinions : but the conference held at Marburg in 1529 had proved conclusive, both to others and themselves, that the two schools of reformers (Swiss and Saxon) were in many ways divergent, and that warmly as they might agree in their repudiation of Romish' errors, it was quite impossible to bring them, either by persuasion or by pressure, to subscribe a commpn formulary of faith.

One great historian of the period furnishes an apt epitome of the contending factions in the masterly contrast he has drawn between the animus and idiosyncrasy of their respective leaders : ' Whereas Luther wished to retain everything in the existing ecclesiastical institutions that was not at variance with the express words of Scripture, Zwingli was resolved to get rid of everything that could not be maintained by a direct appeal to Scripture. Luther took up his station on the ground already occupied by the Latin Church; his desire was only to purify, to put an end to the contradictions between the doctrines of the Church and the Gospel. Zwingli, on the other hand, thought it necessary to restore, as far as possible, the primitive and simplest condition of the Church ; he aimed at a complete revolution.'

footnote. See a detailed account of Luther's consternation at the rise of Anabaptism and the outbreak of the Peasants* War, in Hardwick's Reformation, pp. 41 sq.

The peculiar features of this contrast could not fail to be imprinted on the minds of all the Wittenberg reformers, when, immediately after the great breach at Marburg, they proceeded with the compilation of the Augsburg formulary.

The idea of presenting an apology for their religion was suggested by Pontanus (or Brttck), the senior chancellor of Saxony ; and on obtaining the consent of his master, the elector John, the chief promoters of the object took as the main basis of their work a series of somewhat older Articles, which had been carefully compiled in the previous year. This document was known by the name of the Schwabach Articles,' — so entitled from the convent where it was adopted (Oct. 16, 1529), as the indispensable condition of membership in a reforming league. It was also in its turn no more than the corrected version of a test which had in vain been offered to tlie Zwinglian delegates some days before in the great meeting held at Marburg (Oct. 3). The Schwabach Articles are seventeen in number.

They imply in their whole structure the profound and almost fundamental separation, winch was thought to have grown up between the Lutlieran body and those who had persisted in their predilections for the rival school of Zwingli (or the German-speaking Swiss). We have no reason, therefore, to anticipate that when Melancthon was deputed to remodel the Schwabach Articles,' and to insert additional matter on the subject of ecclesiastical abuses, he was acting in the least degree as the exponent of other than his own communion ; and on studying the result of his endeavours in the Augsburg Confession, the inference which might thus have been derived from general knowledge of the times, is found to be supported by internal testimony. That production is distinctly LiUheran, — opposed to Zwinglian tenets on all controverted points, and breathing the same cordial deference for the teaching of the past, which characterises nearly all the writings of Melancthon. In the mildness of its tone, the gracefulness of its diction, and the general perspicuity of its arrangement, it is worthy of its gifted author : while in theological terminology it everywhere adheres, as closely as the truth permitted, to existing standards of the Western Church. Melancthon seems ind sins, declares that confession had not been abolished by the Lutherans, but was positively enjoined as a pre-requisite to their participation in the Eucharist. It further taught that absolution is a very great benefit (* maximum beneficium').

The fifth article, de discrimine ciborum et traditioni- Art. v. affirms that an opinion had prevailed in all quarters respecting the efiicacy of those human ordinances in making satisfaction for sin; and then proceeds to dwell on the disastrous consequences which resulted from the error. On the other hand, the Lutherans did not prohibit self-discipline and mortification of the flesh, retaining also such traditional usages as might conduce to the decorous performance of Divine service, but denying to them any meritorious value.

Art vi. The sixth article, 'de votis monachorum,* maintains that in the time of St Augustine religious associations were still purely volimtary, and that vows were only introduced as discipline became corrupt. It discountenances the idea that the monastic is the highest form of Christian life ; and after vindicating the dignity of marriage, dwells upon the dangerous effects of confiding in recluse habits as the
ground of an especial sanctity.

Art. vii. The seventh article, * de potestate ecclesiastica,' distinguishes between the functions of the spiritual and secular authorities, respecting which disputes had long been agitated in all quarters. To the former, as the representatives of the apostles, it assigns the preaching of the Word, the power of the keys, and the administration of the sacraments; while the secular princes are to occupy themselves
in protecting the persons and property of their subjects, and in illustrating the same ordinance of God under a different aspect. It ends by hinting that the Lutherans had no wish to wrest the spiritual jurisdiction from the hands of the lawful bishops, but that schism was likely to ensue, if these persisted in demanding the obedience of the clergy with the same imperious rigour.

It is finally stated in the ' Epilogue,' subjoined to the Confession, that the points above enumerated are 'the principal articles which seemed to be the subjects of controversy;' that a longer list of practical abuses might have been drawn up, extending to the question of indulgences, of pilgrimages, and the like; but that as the Lutherans had been placed on the defensive, they confined themselves to matters respecting which they felt constrained to speak distinctly, lest a handle should be left for the prevailing imputation, that they had embraced as portions of their system what was contrary to Holy Scripture or the Catholic Church.

This meagre abstract of the Augsburg Confession is enough to demonstrate that in presenting it to the imperial "Diet, the Reformers had been influenced by a strong desire to keep within the boundaries of the Latin Church, and to approximate as closely as possible to doctrines generally received. Their moderation is peculiarly discernible in the silence they maintained respecting the encroachment of the papal power, as well as a long series of abuses in the penitential system which had stimulated their original protest. They were now indeed most anxious to assert and justify their own ecclesiastical position, to keep clear of the more violent reformers, whether Zwinglian or Anabaptist, and by following this conciliatory path to win from Charles V. and from the Romish section of the states at least a
plenary toleration, till their grievances could be authoritatively redressed by the assembling of a general council^.

Yet the gentle measures of Melancthon and his colleagues were unable to disarm the rage of their opponents. Some of the more violent among them advocated an immediate appeal to persecution, in obedience to the edict that was levelled at the Saxon friar in the Diet of Worms: but, nevertheless, the counsels of a party more pacific or forbearing were at last adopted by the emperor. On their suggestion, a committee of divines, who liappened then to be at Augsburg, such as Eck, Wimpina, Faber, and CochIseus, was appointed to draw up a formal confutation of the articles which had been recently submitted to their notice. It was not, however, till the third of August that the princes, who employed them, were induced to give a hearing to their spirited report. When read in public, it excited the applause of all the enemies of Lutheranism.

This counter-manifesto is most interesting to the theological student, because it gives an ample opportunity of judging how far the representatives of the scholastic system, at a later period of the conflict, were disposed to hold or to recede from the extreme positions which had proved offensive to the first reformers. It is found that some articles of the Augsburg Confession are therein absolutely
approved; that others are as absolutely rejected; while the remnant are in part accepted and in part condemned.

The articles which fall into the first division are those enunciating the doctrines of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation, the necessity of baptism and the efficacy of the sacraments (the sole objection being that the number seven' is not specified), the mission of the clergy, the authority of the magistrates, the final judgment, and the resurrection. We may also add, the article on the holy Eucharist, with the terms of which no fault is foimd, excepting that the Lutherans are required in explanation of it to accept the doctrine of concomitance, — in other words, to recognise the non-necessity of communion in both kinds.

With reference to those points, where approbation was most positively withheld, it is important to observe how far the Romish theologians modified the language of their masters. They no longer taught that sacraments justify 'ex opere operato,' apart from the volition or the receptivity of the human subject, nor thiat works done without grace are of the same nature as those which are the fruits of the
Holy Spirit. They were far more willing to repudiate all theories of human merit, and while censuring the Lutheran formula of ' sola fides,' they maintained that faith and good works are the free gifts of God, and absolutely nothing ('nulla sunt et nihil'), when compared with the rewards which He haa mercifully attached to them. The Lutheran definition 'de ecclesia,' was rejected as seeming to imply that sinners are in no way members of the Church. Those also bearing on the invocation of saints, the denial of the cup, and the compulsory celibacy of the priesthood, were assailed by references to Holy Scripture, to the usage of the Primitive Church, and to the statements of the Forged Decretals, The propitiatory sacrifice of the mass, the use of the Latin language, monastic vows, and other kindred topics, were all similarly re-affirmed and justified by the citation of authorities: and even where some hope was given that disciplinary abuses should hereafter be corrected, there is no abatement of those magisterial claims which had been long propoimded by tlie Latin Church and recognised by many of its members.

Of the articles accepted in some measure only, one was that relating to original sin, (exception being taken to the term 'concupiscence'): others were the Lutheran definitions of confession and of penitence ; the first of which was censured as too lax ; the second as underrating or denying the necessity of satisfaction.

It was obvious that the general feeling of the Diet, after much listening to this Confutation, was more hostile than before to Luther and his party. Charles himself avowed a fierce determination to proceed as the hereditary champion of the holy Roman Church; and there is reason for believing that if he had not been alarmed by the unflinching attitude of the Elector of Saxony and rumours of a Turkish war,
he would have finally abandoned all attempts at mediation.

Consented once again to the suggestions of the more moderate members of his party, and, on the 16th of August, a conference was opened with a view of framing some pacificatory scheme, and so of re-establishing the unity of the Germanic Churches. The reformers were, on this occasion, represented by Melancthon, Brente, end Schnepf.

We are told that the dogmatical points at issue presented no insuperable difliculties. On the article of orignal sin, Eck gave way as soon as Melancthon proved to him that an expression objected to in his definition was, in fact, merely a popular explanation of an ancient scholastic one. Respecting the article on justification " through faith alone," Wimpina expressly declared that no work was meritorious, if performed without grace ; he required the union of love with faith, and only in so far he objected to the word " alone." In this sense, however, the protestants had no desire to retain it; they consented to its erasure; their meaning had always been merely that a reconciliation with God must be effected by inward devotion, not by outward acts. On the other hand, Eck declared, that the satisfaction which the catholic Church required to be made by penitence was nothing else than reformation; an explanation which certainly left nothing further to be objected to the doctrine of the necessity of satisfaction. Even on the difficult point of the sacrifice of the mass, there was a great approximation. Eck explained the sacrifice as merely a sacramental sign, in remembrance of that which was offered on the cross. The presence of Christ in the Eucharist was not debated. The protestants were easily persuaded to acknowledge not only a true, but also a real or corporal presence. It was certainly not the diflference in the fundamental conceptions of the Christian dogma

The agent of this rupture was the papal legate Campeggio who, though recognising the approximation of the the Lutheran disputants in point of doctrine, was, on other grounds, the most implacable of Luther's enemies. He argued that the ordinances of the Church, to some of which the Lutherans ventured to object, were all dictated by the Holy Spirit ; and the States, alarmed and irritated by his representations, finally decreed, that till the verdict of the long-expected council, the reformers should appoint no more married priests; that they should inculcate the absolute necessity of confession as practised in former years; that they should neither omit the canon of the mass, nor put a stop to private masses; and, especially, that they should hold communion in one kind to be as valid as in both.

It was this arbitrary edict of the Augsburg diet that extinguished the last hope of reconciliation, hitherto so warmly cherished by the moderate of both parties: for although another effort was eventually made, in 1541, under the auspices of Gaspar Contarini, whom the pope deputed as his legate to the colloquy of Ratisbon, it also was completely thwarted, on the one hand by the arrogance and stiffness of the Roman court, and on the other by the sten uncompromising spirit of the more decided Lutherans.

The approbation of the pontiff and of Luther was equally withheld from the conclusions of that mediating body ; and a few years after, the council of Trent was placing an insuperable bar against all efforts, by its rigorous definition of the Romish tenets, and its absolute denunciation of the Lutheran movement.