Augsburg Confession

The knowledge of these fables rapidly spread from Italy into Germany, and their popularity was increased by the favor and sanction given to them by the great fathers of the Reformation, who frequently used them as vehicles for satire and protest against the tricks and abuses of the Romish ecclesiastics.

The zealous and renowned Camararius, who took an active part in the preparation of the Confession of Augsburg, found time, amidst his numerous avocations, to prepare a version for the students in the University of Tübingen.

Martin Luther translated twenty of these fables, and was urged by Melachthon to complete the whole, while Gottfried Arnold, the celebrated Lutheran theologian and librarian of Frederick I, King of Prussia, mentions that the great reformer valued the fables of Aesop next after the Holy Scriptures.

In 1546 A.D., the second printed edition of the collection of the fables, made by Planides, was issued from the printing press of Robert Stevens, in which were inserted some additional fables from a manuscript in the Bibliothèque du Roi at Paris.

But it's the fact that you bear these gifts.

And so the qualifications of the minister, as they're drawing from the Augsburg Confession and from the scriptures, they're solely looking at the gifts.

And they're not taking issue with what the scriptures say about the qualifications of a pastor with all those other things.

But it's that hang up on the body.

And she would have fit the criteria better than any man they could possibly, you know, think of.

She was there even before Christ was born because the angel comes there and says, you will bear in your womb, the son of God, but she's not even considered.

And then they use Augsburg Confession and the power and primacy of the Pope to talk about how the Lutheran confessions also support this.

I was like, you guys are nuts.

All right, the question before us here, since the church is the assembly of all believers in Christ, among whom the gospel is preached and the sacraments are administered, and to obtain faith in Christ, God instituted the ministry of the gospel and sacraments through which the Holy Spirit creates faith in Christ.

By what rationale, according to God's Word, would a Lutheran congregation run a day school? Now to get at that question, if you look at your outline, we're gonna be taking a look at quotations from the Augsburg Confession.

The first one is from Article Seven, The Church.

The second from the Augsburg Confession concerning Civil Government.

Already there you've got two of the three estates.

The third section, Article 20 On Good Works, which flow out of Christians who are believers in Jesus and part of the church, and such good works direct us to civil government and society at large, and to the family in particular.

And then on the next page, not from the Augsburg Confession, but from the Large Catechism, The Fourth Commandment, Honor Your Father and Your Mother, the estate of the family is particularly articulated, uh, from the Lutheran Confessions, out of which then the estate of s- of, um, civil government also is derived.

So I take you back to the Augsburg Confession on the first page, and then we have some bullet observations there on the basis of that text.

The knowledge of these fables rapidly spread from Italy into Germany, and their popularity was increased by the favor and sanction given to them by the great fathers of the Reformation, who frequently used them as vehicles for satire and protest against the tricks and abuses of the Romish ecclesiastics.

The zealous and renowned Camararius, who took an active part in the preparation of the Confession of Augsburg, found time amidst his numerous avocations to prepare a version for the students in the University of Tübingen.

Martin Luther translated twenty of these fables and was urged by Melanchthon to complete the whole, while Gottfried Arnold, the celebrated Lutheran theologian and librarian of Frederick the First, King of Prussia, mentions that the great reformer valued the fables of Aesop next after the Holy Scriptures.

In fifteen forty-six AD, the second printed edition of the collection of the fables made by Planudes was issued from the printing press of Robert Stevens, in which were inserted some additional fables from a manuscript in the Bibliothèque du Roi at Paris.

The Emperor graciously replied, quote, Dear Prince, not head off, not head off, unquote.

three signing the confession so the ever memorable day the twenty fourth of june approached on which the little band of lutheran confessors were to confess the lord christ before the emperor and the diet on the evening before elector john invited his brethren in the faith to his lodgings at the upper end of a long table sat the elector he arose and the rest followed him in his hand was a roll of manuscript he seized a pen and subscribed his name with a firm hand in doing so he said may almighty god grant us his grace continually that all may redound to his glory and praise in fervent words he admonished those present to stand firm saying all counsels that are against god must fail and the good cause will without doubt finally triumph now the others also signed the confession after the prince of anhalt a right chivalrous lord had signed he cried with flashing eyes i have been in many a fray to please others why should i not saddle my horse if it is necessary in honor of my lord and saviour and sacrificing life and limb hurry into heavenly life to receive the eternal crown of glory the meeting closed with a fervent prayer for blessing and success on the coming day luther in the meantime remained at coburg but in spirit he participated in the holy cause at augsburg every day he spent three hours in prayer for the victory of the beloved gospel he was continually crying to god to preserve the brethren in true faith and sound doctrine in hours of anxiety and trial he wrote on the walls of his room with his own hands the precious words of the one hundred eighteenth psalm i shall not die but live and declare the works of the lord he addressed many consoling letters to the confessors in which he admonished them to constancy at this time there lived in his own heart that trust in god which he had expressed in his heroic song a mighty fortress is our god four submittal and reception of the confession on saturday the twenty fifth of june fifteen thirty at three o'clock in the afternoon the diet assembled in the episcopal palace where the confession was to be read the german emperor presided and the highest dignitaries of the roman empire had gathered to hear the confession then the evangelical confessors arose cheerfully and in their name the two electoral chancellors dr brooke and dr byer stepped into the centre of the room the first with a latin the latter with a german copy of the confession when the emperor demanded that the latin copy should be read elector john replied upon german ground and soil it is but fair to read and hear the german tongue the emperor permitted it and now dr byer began to read in a loud and audible voice so that even the assembled multitude without in the courtyard could plainly understand every word of the confession every one was deeply touched by it the learned catholic bishop of augsburg publicly admitted everything that was read is the pure unadulterated undeniable truth duke william of bavaria pressed the hand of elector john in a friendly manner and said to dr eck who was standing close by i have been told something entirely different of luther's doctrine than i have now heard from their confession you have also assured me that their doctrine could be refuted." Eck replied, "'I would undertake to refute it with the Fathers, but not with the Scriptures.'" Thereupon the Duke rejoined, "'I understand, then, that the Lutherans sit entrenched in the Scriptures, and we are on the outside.'" luther wrote to one of his friends you have confessed christ and offered peace you have worthily engaged in the holy work of god as becometh the saints now for once rejoice in the lord also and be glad ye righteous look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh spalatin said that such a confession had not been made since the world exists methesias also aptly testifies there has not been a greater and higher work and a more glorious testimony since the days of the apostles than this at augsburg before the whole roman empire very soon the confession was translated in many different languages and spread in every land thereby many received true information on the lutheran doctrine recognized its entire agreement with holy scriptures and with the doctrine of the apostolic church and joyfully accepted it as their own at the emperor's command the papal theologians at once drew up a paper in which they tried to refute the augsburg confession this document called confutation proved to be such a miserable failure that it had to be returned for revision melancthon then wrote an excellent defence of the confession the apology which however the emperor would neither receive nor permit to be read he simply declared the case to be closed and said if the evangelical princes will not submit then i the protector of the roman church am not disposed to permit a schism of the church in germany before the close of the diet he issued a severe edict which granted the evangelicals six months to consider matters and commanded them before the expiration of this time to return to the catholic church thereupon the faithful confessors declared that because they had not received a thorough refutation from the word of god they were determined to abide by the faith of the prophets and apostles and everything else they would commend to the gracious will of god when taking leave of the emperor elector john rightly called the steadfast spoke the memorable words i am sure that the doctrine contained in the confession will stand even against the gates of hell the emperor answered uncle uncle i did not expect to hear such words from your grace you will lose your electoral crown and your life and your subjects will perish together with their women and children end of chapter fifteen chapter sixteen of life of luther by gustav a just translated by frederick william herzberger and martin samuel somer this librivox recording is in the public domain chapter sixteen bible catechism and hymn book one bible among the many priceless treasures for which all christendom owes thanks under god to luther the translation of the bible into german is one of the grandest and one of the most glorious in the churches of that time latin bibles were used exclusively the people however were not acquainted with them for in the first place laymen could not read them and in the second place they were forbidden to read the bible in addition to this the bibles of that time were far too expensive an ordinary latin bible cost three hundred sixty florins and one nicely written out by monks even brought five hundred dollars it is true there were german translations of the bible even before luther but they were so inexact and composed in such poor german that the people could not use them and yet if every christian was to read and learn the gospel which luther preached and proclaimed if he was to convince himself from the scriptures of the errors of popery if he was effectively to arm himself against them and if the bible was to make him wise unto salvation then he had to have it in his own language luther was long since convinced of this and had therefore already translated the seven penitential psalms when in fifteen twenty one the wartburg sheltered him against his enemies he for the first undertook the translation of the new testament he wrote till easter i will remain here in seclusion by that time i will translate the postal and new testament into the people's language that is demanded by our friends after completing the work he wrote to spalatin in my patmos i had translated not only the gospel according to john but the entire new testament now we are at it to polish the whole philip and i god willing it will prove a fine work on the twenty first of september fifteen twenty two it appeared and sold at one and a half florins although the book was proscribed in many countries the entire first edition was sold in a few weeks in the same year several new editions had to be issued then luther with his friends entered upon the translation of the whole bible it was a most difficult task luther said of it it frequently happened that we searched and inquired fourteen days aye three or four weeks for a single word and yet at times did not find it but god permitted him to complete the great work upon which amid countless battles and labors his heart had been set for many years in fifteen thirty four the complete bible appeared great was the joy with which luther's translation was received at that time melancthon exclaimed the german bible is one of the greatest miracles which god has worked through dr martin luther before the end of the world and methusias added for to an attentive bible reader it seems indeed as if the holy spirit had spoken through the mouth of the prophets and the apostles in our german language now many thousand thirsting souls could drink as often as they wished from that fountain closed so long and which offers pure sweet and truly satisfying water and they did it a violent opponent of luther writes luther's new testament has been so multiplied by the printers and scattered in such numbers that even tailors and shoemakers ay even women and the simple who had learned to read only the german on ginger-cakes read it with intense longing many carried it about with them and learned it by heart so that in a few months they arrogantly began to dispute with priests and monks on the faith and the gospel indeed even poor women were found who engaged with learned doctors in a debate and thus it happened that in such conversations lutheran laymen could extemporaneously quote more bible passages than the monks and priests 2.

Catechism Another treasure which God gave to Christianity through Luther is the small catechism.

In order to inform himself on the condition of the churches and schools, Luther had early urged the elector to order a general visitation of the churches.

Is that a good place to start? So let me share something with your listeners that I think is really instructive.

So our Lutheran confessions, it kicks off with the Augsburg Confession.

And the confessors treated this confession almost like a creed.

So they were sort of pinning a creedal confession, the thing that they were going to stake their life on, this confession.