A Candid Inquiry into the Controversies among Evangelicals · §105

§.II: The Augsburg Confession is Melanchthon's crafted complex of Christian faith, exhibited to Charles V in 1530

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§. II. If we give no play to party feeling, we must say this: the Augsburg Confession is a complex of the Christian faith in its chief heads.

Luther sketched it; Melanchthon dressed it and ordered it into the verbal and real form it now enjoys.

It was gathered and signed in the name of the chief estates of the Romano-German Empire in Lower Germany by the leading theologians of that region, then exhibited at Augsburg to Emperor Charles V in 1530 as a stand chiefly against papal heterodoxy.

It was not read in a full assembly of all the estates, but it was read publicly in the Emperor's palace. Charles rejected it by solemn decree; those estates nonetheless defended and confirmed it together; and in 1531 it was first issued into public light at Wittenberg by public authority.

Latin

§. II. Augustanam Confessionem, nulli affectui quicquam indulturi, necesse habent dicere, Christianae Fidei, quà praecipua hujus capita, Complexum, à Theologis Inferioris Germaniae praecipuis, delineante Lutherô, adornante autem inque Formam, quâ gaudet, tùm verbalem, tùm realem, digerente Melanchthone, Ordinum Imperii Romano-Germanici, in Germania Inferiori praecipuorum nomine, tàm congestum quam subsignatum, sicque Augustae Vindelicorum, Imperatori Carolo V., ceu Pontificiae cumprimis Heterodoxiae oppositum, Anno 1530. exhibitum; non quidem in Statuum omnium Confessu, in Imperatoris tamen Palatio, publicè praelectum, & licèt à dicto Imperatore, solenni Decreto rejectum, communi interim Statuum istorum consensu defensum, confirmatum, tandemque Anno insequente 1531. Wittenbergae primò omnium, publica Auctoritate, in lucem publicam editum.

About this text

Samuel Strimesius — Prefatio through Controversiae Post Lutherum Controv. III-XIII + XV Tolerantia, Hexades Annotationum Prooemium and Annotatio I through Decem Theses / Francus plus Annotatio II §.I-§.VI and Annotatio III §.I–§.VII (through Cassellanum 1661) from Ingenua in Controversias Evangelicorum (Frankfurt an der Oder, 1708). Honest partial; Prefatio silence reasons, Annotatio III §.VIII+ fruits / §.IX+, Hexades theses body, deeper Controversiae / Part II remain.

English follows the locked 1708 Francofurti ad Viadrum Latin of Prefatio §I–II, Crimina defenses through III, Part I Protheoria through Controversiae Obices/Historia/Varii gradus, Formula Discord/Disparitas, Ulterius confirmatur / Classes / Formula protest / triplex differentia, Coena Domini Controversiae Priores through Precariae Hypotheses (Controv. print pp. 34–40), Controversiae Post Lutherum Natae Controv. III–XV tip (providence through De Tolerantia mutua; Controv. print pp. 40–78), Hexades Annotationum Prooemium H.I–§.III (Hexades print pp. 1–4 / PDF ~182–185), and Annotatio I De Augustana Confessione §.I–§.VIII tip (Hexades print pp. 5–24+ / PDF ~186–205+), reconstructed from Google Books PDF page images (ONB copy, id 3epYAAAAcAAJ) with pdftotext as check. No modern English was copied. Sister Halle digitization of Ingenua in Arminianismum (DOI 10.25673/65287) remains Anubis-blocked — skipped; Controversias only. Prefatio silence reasons, Annotatio I §.IX+, Hexades theses body beyond §.VIII, and remainder of Controversiae / folio remain.

Witnesses

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