Fathers

A Candid Inquiry into the Controversies among Evangelicals · §111

§.V: What the Confession is we settled; of what kind forces a digression on varied editions — the αὐτόγραφον

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§. V. What the Augsburg Confession is, we have already set out in a clear description.

Of what kind it is — that inquiry is forced on us by its many and altered editions, and by the huge quarrels and pitched fights that have grown up around them.

Either it is an αὐτόγραφον, or ἀρχέτυπον: the very copy shown to the Emperor.

Chytraeus remembers that copy as Latin only, and therefore unique (History of the Augsburg Confession, p. 81).

Celestine rather describes both a Latin and a German together — a pair (Tom. II, pp. 151 and 169).

After the Saxon chancellor Christian Pontanus had read the German aloud, Charles took both copies into his own hand.

He gave the German to his secretary Alexander Schweiß to offer to the Elector of Mainz; it later went into the Mainz archive (Celestine, Tom. I p. 141 and Tom. III p. 190).

He kept the Latin himself and at last lodged it in the Brussels archive.

Both lay hidden for many years in those archives, as Bellarmine notes (Judgment on the Book of Concord, Tom. II, Controversies, p. 485).

Dorsche adds that soon afterward one of them — I guess the German — was cut out of the volume of public acts gathered at the Augsburg Diet (Dissertation on Divine Providence concerning the Augsburg Confession, Rostock 1555).

So a genuine exemplar of the unvaried Confession no longer survives — Bacler rightly draws that conclusion (Memorial cited above, p. 406 at the end).

[Note: Justus Jonas writes Luther, in Chytraeus p. 74 mid-page, that the Emperor had the Confession put into Italian and French for himself; I take that to mean translated into those tongues.]

Latin

§. V. QUID sit Augustana Confessio, indubia quâdam Descriptione elucidavimus; QUAE autem sit, ut inquiramus, variae ejus variataeque Editiones, & ingentes de his ipsis subortae altercationes ac digladiationes efflagitant. Namque VEL Αὐτόγραφον est, seu Ἀρχέτυπον, i. e. illud ipsum Exemplar, quod Caesari exhibitum fuit; idque sive Latinum tantum, eóque unicum, à Chytraeo memoratum, Hist. August. Confess. p. 81. sive Latinum potiùs & Germanicum simul, eóque binum, Caelestino descriptum utrumque Tom. II. pag. 151. & p. 169. Ambo Exemplaria, post praelectionem Exemplaris Germanici per Cancellarium Saxonicum Christianum Pontanum factam, Caesaris manu apprehensa sunt, Germanicum Secretario Imperatoris Alexandro Sveis, Electori Moguntino offerendum, à Caesare datum, Caelest. Tom. I. p. 141. & Tom. III. p. 190. & ad Moguntinum Archivum deinceps relatum; Latinum à Caesare retentum, tandemque ad Bruxellense archivum depositum est. Utrumque in dictis archivis, multis annis latuit, teste Bellarmino, Judicio de Libro Concordiae Tom. II. Controv. p. 485.; Quin paulò post alterum [Germanicum auguror] è Tomo Actorum publicorum, in Comitiis Augustanis tum collectorum, excisum esse adserit Dorscherius, Dissert. de Providentia Divina circa August. Confess. Ao. 1555. Rostochii habitâ; ut adeò Genuinum non-variatae augustanae Confessionis Exemplum hodie, non ampliùs exstet, rectè sic inferente Baclero, Memoriali sup. cit. p. m. 406. in fine. [Nota: Justus Jonas Luthero scribit, apud Chytraeum pag. 74. in med. Caesarem sibi fecisse Confessionem Augustanam Italicâ & Gallicâ linguâ reddi, hoc verò in linguas has transferri interpretor.]

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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