THE TEXT. THE INVARIATA AND THE VARIATA. [437]
The Augsburg Confession was first completed in Latin, [438] but the German text was read before the Diet. Both copies were delivered in manuscript to the Emperor, but both disappeared: the German copy, first deposited in the imperial archives at Mayence, was probably sent with other official documents to the Council of Trent (1545), and then to Rome; the Latin copy to Brussels or Spain, and no trace of either has been found. For two hundred years the opinion prevailed that the 'Book of Concord' contained the original text, until Pfaff and Weber, by a thorough investigation on the spot, dispelled this error. [439]
The twenty-two manuscript copies, still extant in public or private libraries, are inaccurate, defective, and represent the various stages of revision through which the Confession passed before the 25th of August under the ever-improving hands of the author. There was no time, it seems, to make authentic copies of the final revision.
The printed editions (six in German, one in Latin), which were hastily issued during the Diet by irresponsible, anonymous publishers, are full of errors and omissions, and were condemned by Melanchthon.
Consequently, we must depend entirely upon the author's own printed editions; but even these differ very much among themselves, and the German text differs from the English. [440] Fortunately the changes are mostly verbal and immaterial, and where they alter the sense (as in the edition of 1540), they can be traced to their proper origin.
By the subscription of the Lutheran Princes and the delivery at the Diet, the Confession had become public property, and should have remained unaltered. But at that time neither editors nor publishers were careful and scrupulous in handling official documents. Luther himself changed the Articles of Smalcald after they had been publicly acknowledged. Melanchthon regarded the Confession, not as a fixed and binding creed, but as a basis for negotiation with the Papists, and as representing a movement still in progress toward clearer light. [441] He therefore kept improving it, openly and honestly, in every new issue, as he would his own work, and in the edition of 1540 he even embodied some doctrinal modifications in the desire of promoting the cause of truth and peace.
The editio princeps was issued by the author in both languages, together with the Latin Apology and a German translation of it by Jonas, at Wittenberg in 1531, in spite of the imperial prohibition, yet with the consent (though not by order) of the Elector of Saxony. [442] The text was taken, not from Melanchthon's own manuscript copy (which had been delivered to the Emperor), but, as he says, ex exemplari bonæ fidei (probably the private copy of the Landgrave Philip of Hesse), and contained already verbal changes and improvements. [443]
The emendations in subsequent editions before 1540, though quite numerous, do not materially affect the sense, and seem to have been approved; at all events, they were acquiesced in by the Lutherans themselves. [444]
But the edition of 1540, which appeared in connection with an improved edition of the Apology, [445] differs so widely from the first that it was subsequently called the Altered Augsburg Confession (Variata), in distinction from the Unaltered (Invariata) of 1530 or 1531. [446] It attracted little attention till after the death of Melanchthon (1560), when it created as much trouble as the insertion of the filioque clause in the Nicene Creed. The Altered Confession, besides a large number of valuable additions and real improvements in style and the order of subjects, [447] embodies the changes in Melanchthon's theology, [448] which may be dated from the new edition of his Loci communes, 1535, and his personal contact with Bucer and Calvin. He gave up, on the one hand, his views on absolute predestination, and gradually adopted the synergistic theory (which brought him nearer to the Roman Catholic system); while on the other hand (departing further from Romanism and approaching nearer to the Reformed Church), he modified the Lutheran theory of the real presence, at least so far as to allow the Reformed doctrine the same right in the evangelical churches. He never liked the Zwinglian view of a symbolical presence, nor did he openly adopt the Calvinistic view of a spiritual real presence, but he inclined to it, and regarded the difference between this and the Lutheran view as no bar to Christian fellowship and church communion.
Hence in the edition of 1540 he laid greater stress on the necessity of repentance and good works, and softened down the strong expressions against the freedom of will. The other and more important change which gave most offense to orthodox Lutherans, is in the tenth article, concerning the Lord's Supper, where the clause on the real presence, and the disapproval of dissenting views are omitted, and the word exhibeantur is substituted for distribuantur. In other words, the article is so changed that Calvin could give it his hearty consent, and even Zwingli--with the exception, perhaps, of the word truly--might have admitted it. [449] The difference will best appear from the following comparison:
Edition 1530. Latin Text. Edition 1540.
'De Cæna Domini docent, quod corpus et sanguis Christi vere adsint, et distribuantur vescentibus in Cæna Domini; et improbant secur docentes.' [450]
'De Coena Domini docent, quod cum pane et vino vere exhibeantur corpus et sanguis Christi vescentibus in Cæna Domini.'
'Concerning the Lord's Supper, they teach that the body and blood of Christ are truly present, and are distributed (communicated) to those that eat in the Lord's Supper. And they disapprove of those that teach otherwise.'
'Concerning the Lord's Supper, they teach that with bread and wine are truly exhibited the body and blood of Christ to those that eat in the Lord's Supper.'
The difference between the two editions was first observed, not by Protestants, but by the Roman controversialist, Dr. Eck, at a religious conference in Worms early in the year 1541. Melanchthon and the Saxon theologians made there the altered edition the basis of negotiations, but Eck complained of changes, especially in Art. X., from the original copy of 1530, which he had procured from the archives of Mayence. Nevertheless, the Variata was again used, either alone or alongside with the Invariata, at several subsequent conferences, probably at Ratisbon, 1541, certainly at Ratisbon in 1546, and at Worms, 1557. It was expressly approved by the Lutheran Princes at a convention in Naumburg, 1561, as an innocent and, in some respects, improved modification and authentic interpretation of the Invariata. It was introduced into many Lutheran churches and schools, and printed (with the title and preface of the edition of 1530) in the first collection of Lutheran symbols, called Corpus Doctrinæ Philippicum, or Misnicum (1559). [451]
But after 1560, strict Lutheran divines, such as Flacius and Heshusius, attacked the Variata, as heretical and treacherous, and overwhelmed it with coarse abuse. A violent theological war was waged against Melanchthonianism and Crypto-Calvinism, and ended in the triumph of genuine Lutheranisrn and the transition of some Lutheran countries to the Reformed Church. The 'Book of Concord' (1580) gave the text of the Invariata in the happy illusion of presenting it, especially the German, in its original form. The Melanchthonians and the Reformed still adhered to the Variata. The Westphalian Treaty, in 1648, formally embraced the Reformed, together with the Roman Catholics and Lutherans, in the peace of the German Empire; and henceforth subscription to the Augsburg Confession of 1530 or 1540 ceased to be a necessary condition of toleration. [452]
The Confession, as delivered before the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, or, in the absence of the original text, the edition of 1531, carefully prepared by Melanchthon himself, is the proper historical Confession of Augsburg, and will always remain so. At the same time, the altered edition of 1540, though not strictly speaking a symbolical book of binding authority any where, [453] is yet far more than a private document, and represents an important element in the public history of the Lutheran Church in the sixteenth century, and the present theological convictions of a very large party in that denomination.
[406] The imperial letter convening the diet, dated Bologna, Jan. 21, 1530, was purchased by J. P. Morgan, 1911, for $25,000 and presented to William II., who, in turn, decorated Mr. Morgan with the order of the Black Eagle.--Ed.
[407] By Dr. Christian Baier, Vice-Chancellor of the Elector of Saxony, after some introductory remarks of Chancellor Brück, who composed the Preface and the Epilogue; see below. The Emperor at first did not want to have it read at all, but simply presented; yielding this point, he sought to diminish its effect by having it read in Latin, but the Lutheran Princes resisted, and carried their point. 'We are on German soil,' said the Elector John, 'and therefore I hope your Majesty will allow the German language.' He did not allow it, however, to be read in a public session of the Diet in the large City Hall, but merely before a select company of Princes, counselors, and deputies of cities, in the small chapel of the episcopal palace, where he resided.
[408] So Brentius, who was at Augsburg at the time, reports (cum Confessio legeretur, obdormivit). Considering the length of the document, this is not inconsistent with the other statement of Jonas and Spalatin, that he, like most of the other Princes, was quite attentive (satis attentus erat Cæsar). Nor must his drowsiness be construed as a mark of disrespect to the Lutherans, for he was likewise soundly asleep on the third of August when the Romish Confutation was read before the Diet.
[409] The best text, Latin and German, of the Confutatio Confessionis Augustanæ, with ample Prolegomena and the Summary of Cochlæus, see in the 27th volume of the Corpus Reformatorum (1859), pp. 1-243.
[410] See the masterly delineation of this Prince by Ranke, in his Deutsche Geschichte, etc., Book V. Ch. 9 (Vol. III. pp. 211 sqq.).
[411] Comp. Rückert: Luther's Verhältniss zum Augsb. Bek., Jena, 1854; Calinich: Luther und die Augsb. Conf., Leipz. 1861 (against Rückert and Heppe); Heppe: Entstehung and Fortbildung des Lutherthums, Cassel, 1863, pp. 234 sqq.; Knaake: Luther's Antheil an der Augsb. Conf., Berl. 1863; Ratz: Was hat Luther durch Melanchthon gewonnen? in the Zeitschrift f. hist. Theol., Leipz. 1870, No. III.; Zöckler: l.c. pp. 8 sqq.
[412] The German autograph of the Marburg Articles, in the handwriting of the Reformers, was discovered in the archives of Cassel and published by Prof. H. Heppe, of Marburg, Cassel, 1847, and also by Bindseil, in the Corpus Reform. Vol. XXVI. pp. 122-127 (in German), with the textual variations. The Articles are signed by Luther, Jonas, Melanchthon, Osiander, Agricola, and Brentius, on the part of the Lutherans, and by OEcolampadius, Zwingli, Bucer, and Hedio on the part of the Reformed. Fourteen of them were fully approved by Zwingli and his friends, and in the 15th, which treats of the Lord's Supper, they agree to disagree as to the mode of Christ's presence.
[413] The Articuli XVII. Suobacences (which must not be confounded with the Twenty-two Articles of a previous convent at Schwabach, near Nuremberg. A.D. 1528, see Corp. Ref. Vol. XXVI. pp. 132 sqq.) were composed by Luther, with the aid of Melanchthon, Jonas, Osiander, Brentius, and Agricola. They are only a Lutheran revision and enlargement of the Marburg Articles, and seem to have been drawn up in that town, and then presented before a convent of Lutheran princes and delegates at Schwabach, Oct. 16, and again before a similar convent at Smalcald, Nov. 29. They were first published in February or March, 1530, without the knowledge of Luther, under the title: 'Das Bekenntniss Martini Luthers auf den angestellten Reichstag zu Augsburg einzulegen, in 17 Artikel verfasst;' then by Luther himself, Wittenb. 1530; and again by Frick, in his edition of Seckendorf's Ausführl. Historie vom Lutherthum. See Corp. Ref. Vol. XXVI. pp. 129-160.
[414] The Torgau Articles (Articuli Torgavienses) were formerly often confounded with the Schwabach Articles, till Förstemann first discovered them in the archives at Weimar, and brought them to light, in 1833, in the first volume of his 'Urkundenbuch,' republished in the Corp. Ref. Vol. XXVI. pp. 161-200. They were drawn up by Luther, Melanchthon, Jonas, and Bugenhagen, at the command of the Elector of Saxony (then residing at Torgau), for presentation at the approaching Diet of Augsburg, and discuss the controverted articles on the marriage of priests, the communion of both kinds, the mass, the confession, the episcopal jurisdiction, ordination, monastic vows, invocation of saints, faith and works, etc.