Fathers

A Candid Inquiry into the Controversies among Evangelicals · §109

§.IV II: Melanchthon's authority in framing and interpreting the Confession equals Luther's

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II. Philip Melanchthon's authority — no less than Luther's — in framing and writing the Augsburg Confession, and in explaining and interpreting it, is to be held with reverence.

Luther's reading can claim no more public right or force in the church of Lower Germany than Melanchthon's, except insofar as those German estates in whose name the Confession was made, offered, and defended prefer one reading to the other.

That matters all the more because the Apology of the Augsburg Confession — matching it part for part and article for article — was also composed in the name of the Empire's Protestant estates not by Luther but by Melanchthon. Chytraeus praises it at length in the place cited (p. 326).

Yet Chytraeus distinguishes Melanchthon's shorter earlier Apology of 1530 from the later, fuller one finished in 1531. The first was dressed with the estates' consent; the second was not — for in Article X it cites certain things from Bulgarus (or Vulgarius) that lean too far toward papal transubstantiation (see Johannes Museus, Lectures on the Formula of Concord, p. 34; Sohnius in the same place, p. 6 near the end).

Latin

II. Philippi Melanchthonis, non minus atque Lutheri, uti in adornanda & conscribenda, ita in explicanda & interpretanda Augustana Confessione, autoritatem, reverenter habendam esse; nec Lutheri magis, atque Philippi Melanchthonis interpretationem, publici juris valorisque quicquam in Germaniae inferioris Ecclesia obtinere posse, quam quatenus alterutra ab illis Statibus Ecclesiae Germanicae, quorum nomine Confessio Augustana fabricata, oblata atque defensa est, alteri praelata seu antehabita intelligitur; maximè, cùm & Apologia Confess. August. [totidem partibus & Articulis cum ista constans] etiam imperii Ordinum Protestantium nomine, non à Luthero, sed à Melanchthone composita sit, Chytraeo, loco citato, p. 326. multum prolixèque laudata, quanquam Chytraeus distinguat inter Apologiam priorem brevioremque Melanchthonis, Anno 1530, & inter posteriorem ac fusiorem Anno 1531. confectam, quarum ista quidem Statuum Consensu adornata fuerit, non item haec, quippe in Articulo X. in Bulgaro, seu Vulgario, allegata quaedam continens, quae Transubstantiationi Pontificiae nimiùm favent, vid. Joh. Museum in Praelect. ad Formulam Concord. p. 34. & Sohnium l. c. p. 6. circa finem.

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.

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