Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran ChurchBente, F. (Friedrich)
Religion
Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
Bente, F. (Friedrich)
Formula Concordiae -- Catechisms; Lutheran Church -- Catechisms
The draft of the Apology presented at Augsburg concluded as follows: "If
the Confutation had been forwarded to us for inspection we would perhaps
have been able to give a more adequate answer on these and additional
points." (_C. R._ 27, 378.) When, therefore, the Emperor had refused to
accept it, Melanchthon determined to revise, reenforce, and augment the
document. September 23 he left Augsburg in the company of the Elector;
and already while _en route_ he began the work. In his _History of the
Augsburg Confession,_ 1730, Salig remarks: "Still the loss of the first
copy [of the Apology] does not seem to be so great, since we now possess
the Apology in a more carefully elaborated form. For while the Diet was
still in session, and also after the theologians had returned home,
Melanchthon was constantly engaged upon it, casting it into an entirely
different mold, and making it much more extensive than it was before.
When the theologians had returned to Saxony from the Diet, Melanchthon,
in Spalatin's house at Altenburg, even worked at it on Sunday, so that
Luther plucked the pen from his hand, saying that on this day he must
rest from such work." (1, 377.) However, since the first draft was
presented to the Emperor on September 22, and Melanchthon, together with
the Elector, left Augsburg on the following day, it is evident that he
could not have busied himself very much with the revision of the Apology
at Augsburg. And that Luther, in the Altenburg incident, should have put
especial stress on the Sunday, for this neither Salig nor those who
follow him (_e.g._, Schaff, _Creeds,_ 1, 243) offer any evidence. In his
_Seventeen Sermons on the Life of Luther,_ Mathesius gives the following
version of the incident: "When Luther, returning home with his
companions from Coburg, was visiting Spalatin, and Philip, constantly
engrossed in thoughts concerning the Apology, was writing during the
meal, he arose and took the pen away from him [saying]: 'God can be
honored not alone by work, but also by rest and recreation; for that
reason He has given the Third Commandment and commanded the Sabbath.'"
(243.) This report of Mathesius certainly offers no ground for a
Puritanic explanation of the incident in Spalatin's home.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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