or AUGUSTAN CONFESSION. In 1530, a diet of the German princes
was convened by the emperor Charles V, to meet at Augsburgh, for the
express purpose of composing the religious troubles which then
distracted Germany. On this occasion Melancthon was employed to draw up
this famous confession of faith which may be considered as the creed of
the German reformers, especially of the more temperate among them. It
consisted of twenty-one articles, including the following points:--The
Trinity, original sin, the incarnation, justification by faith, the word
and sacraments, necessity of good works, the perpetuity of the church,
infant baptism, the Lord’s Supper, repentance and confession, the proper
use of the sacraments, church order, rites and ceremonies, the
magistracy, a future judgment, free will, the worship of saints, &c. It
then proceeds to state the abuses of which the reformers chiefly
complained, as the denial of the sacramental cup to the laity, the
celibacy of the clergy, the mass, auricular confession, forced
abstinence from meats, monastic vows, and the enormous power of the
church of Rome. The confession was read at a full meeting of the diet,
and signed by the elector of Saxony, and three other princes of the
German empire.
John Faber, afterward archbishop of Vienna, and two other Catholic
divines, were employed to draw up an answer to this confession, which
was replied to by Melancthon in his “Apology for the Augsburgh
Confession” in 1531. This confession and defence; the articles of
Smalcald, drawn up by Luther; his catechisms, &c, form the symbolical
books of the Lutheran church; and it must be owned that they contain
concessions in favour of some parts of popery, particularly the real
presence, that few Protestants in this country would admit.
was convened by the emperor Charles V, to meet at Augsburgh, for the
express purpose of composing the religious troubles which then
distracted Germany. On this occasion Melancthon was employed to draw up
this famous confession of faith which may be considered as the creed of
the German reformers, especially of the more temperate among them. It
consisted of twenty-one articles, including the following points:--The
Trinity, original sin, the incarnation, justification by faith, the word
and sacraments, necessity of good works, the perpetuity of the church,
infant baptism, the Lord’s Supper, repentance and confession, the proper
use of the sacraments, church order, rites and ceremonies, the
magistracy, a future judgment, free will, the worship of saints, &c. It
then proceeds to state the abuses of which the reformers chiefly
complained, as the denial of the sacramental cup to the laity, the
celibacy of the clergy, the mass, auricular confession, forced
abstinence from meats, monastic vows, and the enormous power of the
church of Rome. The confession was read at a full meeting of the diet,
and signed by the elector of Saxony, and three other princes of the
German empire.
John Faber, afterward archbishop of Vienna, and two other Catholic
divines, were employed to draw up an answer to this confession, which
was replied to by Melancthon in his “Apology for the Augsburgh
Confession” in 1531. This confession and defence; the articles of
Smalcald, drawn up by Luther; his catechisms, &c, form the symbolical
books of the Lutheran church; and it must be owned that they contain
concessions in favour of some parts of popery, particularly the real
presence, that few Protestants in this country would admit.