Fathers

A Candid Inquiry into the Controversies among Evangelicals · §107

§.IV [1]: Even where it agrees with Scripture the Augsburg Confession is particular, not ecumenical

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

§. IV. From this most true description of the Augsburg Confession, admitted on all sides, these points stand out at the very threshold, clearer than noon:

[1.] Even where its substance and articles of faith agree with Holy Scripture, one may call it a universal or θεόπνευσος confession only in a weakened sense — the same way any single person's confession (for example that of blessed John Sigismund, once Elector of Brandenburg) can be called universal insofar as it matches Scripture received by Christians everywhere, and any writing exactly congruent with Scripture can be called θεόπνευσον, yet not without catachresis.

But as to its form — the coherence of its words and articles — as to its authors, subscribers, and approvers, and as to its use, it must be heard as a particular confession, not a universal one, unlike every confession of the ecumenical councils.

Those council confessions, though they too have their own accidental forms, belong as ecumenical to orthodox authors of the churches universal in East and West alike, and they are received by the whole Christian Church wherever it reaches — not by Germany alone, or even by a German part. Hence they are universal.

The Augsburg Confession can no more be called universal than the Anglican, Dutch, Helvetic, or any other confession meant for one region or nation and received there.

Mentzer agrees (Exegesis of the Augsburg Confession, Prolegomena n. 11, p. 9; n. 15 at the end of p. 13), already correcting in advance Calov's Criticum, then still unborn, on its self-contradictory little pages 17–18.

Latin

§. IV. Caeterùm ex hoc verissimâ omnibusque admissâ Confessionis Augustanae Descriptione, in ipso statim limine, luce meridiana clariora sequentia innotescunt: [1.] Confessionem illam, etiamsi quoad Substantiam & res suas, seu Fidei Articulos, Scripturae Sacrae Effatis consentientes, tam Universalis, quam θεόπνευσος Confessio, sensu scil. dici possit diminuto, [per eum scil. modum, quô omnis, unius etiam hominis Confessio, e.g. Confessio Divi Johannis Sigismundi, Electoris quondam Brandenburgici, gloriosissimae memoriae, quatenus cum Scriptura Sacra, Universaliter Christianis recepta, convenit, Confessio Universalis & Scriptum Dictumque quodcunque cum Scriptura Sacra exactè congruens, quatenus & quia ita congruit, θεόπνευσον (non tamen citra catachresin) appellari potest]; tamen, tùm quà Formam suam, seu verborum aequè atque Articulorum suorum Cohaerentiam; tùm quà Auctores, Subsignatores & Approbatores; tùm denique quà Usum, Confessionem [1.] Particularem audire, non Universalem; secus ac Confessiones Oecumenicorum Conciliorum omnes ac singulae: Hae enim, quanquam & ipsae propriis sibi formis accidentalibus gaudent; tamen eo ipsô quòd Oecumenicorum Conciliorum Confessiones sunt, non unius Regionis Christianae, sed Universarum, in Oriente pariter atque Occidente, Theologis Orthodoxis Auctoribus debentur, nec Germanicae solius, vel Partis rectiùs Germanicae, sed Universae, quaquà patet, Ecclesiae Christianae approbatione agnitae atque receptae, eoque Universales sunt. Certè non magis Universalis Confessio appellari poterit Augustana, quàm vel Anglicana, vel Batavica, vel Helvetica, vel quaevis alia, uni vel Regioni, vel Nationi & destinata, & recepta. Consentit Mentzerus, Exeges. August. Confess. Prolegom. n. 11. p. m. 9. & n. 15. in fine pag. 13. Calovii adhuc nascendum tum Criticum, in pagellis suis 17. & 18., per se etiam ipsas contradictoriis, praeveniendo emendaturus.

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

This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.