RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Formula of Concord
changed his position; there was no attempt any longer to conceal anything that might be disagreeable to the Philippists. The original thought of reconciling Lutherans and Philippists by a formula of compromise had been abandoned as impossible. The plan now was to draw up a formula that should consolidate all Lutherans against Philippists and Calvinists. Through the mediation of the theological faculty in Tubingen, the sermons of Andrea were not unfavorably received in North Germany by leaders like Martin Chemnitz of Brunswick, Joachim Westphal of Hamburg, David Cbytraus and the theological faculty of Rostock. Andrea was asked to put his sermons in the form of articles. Thus originated the so-called Swabian Concordia, which showed great similarity to the later Formula of Concord. It was signed by the theologians in Tubingen and the members of the consistory in Stuttgart, and in Mar., 1574, was sent to Duke Julius of Brunswick and to Chemnitz, that they might enter into negotiations with the churches of Lower Saxony.
After the overthrow of Philippism in Electoral Saxony, the elector himself felt the need of ending the disastrous controversies by a generally accepted formula. In Nov., 1575, at the instance of Count George Ernest of Henneberg, Duke Louis of Wiirttemberg and Margrave Charles of Baden, Lucas Osiander, court preacher of Wiirttem-
3. The berg, Balthasar Bidembach, provost
Formulas of at Stuttgart, and Abel Scherdinger,
Maulbronn court preacher of Henneberg, with
and several theologians of Baden, com-
Torgau. posed the Formula of Maulbronn, which was signed in the monastery of Maulbronn Jan. 19, 1576. This formula agreed with the Swabian Concordia in content, but departed from it in that it preserved the order of articles in the Augsburg Confession. Both formulas were sent to Elector August, who asked Andrea for an opinion on them. Andrea gave the preference to the Formula of Maulbronn and at the same time induced the elector to convoke an assembly of theologians for the purpose of establishing a common corpus doctrince. The time was favorable, as many of the old polemical agitators had died. In Feb., 1576, there was a convention at Lichtenberg, and from May 28 to June 7 at Torgau. The leading theologians were Nicolaus Selnecker, Andrea, Chemnitz, Chytraeus, and Andreas Musculus. On the basis of the Swabian and Maulbronn formulas there was established a third one acceptable to all parties, the Book of Torgau, of which Elector August sent copies to most of the Evangelical estates of Germany. As Landgrave William and others criticized the prolixity of the Book of Torgau, Andrea made an epitome (Kurzer summarischer Auszug der Artikel, so zwischen den Theologen augsburgischer Konfession vide, Jaime streitig, zu Torgau durch die daselbst versamrnelten und unterschriebenen Theologen im Monat Junto 1576 christlich verglichen worden).
By Feb., 1577, most of the requested criticisms on the Book of Torgau had been sent to Dresden. Elector August then commissioned Andrea, Chemnitz and Selnecker to come to an agreement on the
final form of the confession. After having been joined later by Andreas Musculus and Christof
Korner of Electoral Brandenburg, and
4. The by David Chytrseus of Rostock, they
Formula of began their meetings at Bergen, near
Concord. Magdeburg; and on May 28, 1577,
there was laid before the elector the Book of Bergen (Bergen Formula), which is identical with the Solida declaratio of the Formula of Concord. At the same time Andrea's epitome of the Book of Torgau was carefully read, article by article, and approved. The electors of Saxony and Brandenburg now sent copies of the Book of Bergen for approbation and subscription to all estates whose consent to the new plan was undoubted. It is not strange that the confession was not received everywhere with the same willingness. Churches which had gone through a different process of confessional development and had adopted the later doctrines of Melanchthon, in order to retain their connection with the Calvinistic Church, rejected the confession of Bergen and were driven to the Reformed confession. At the instigation of Queen Elizabeth of England, Count Palatine John Casimir, an adherent of the Reformed faith, attempted to obstruct the acceptance of the Formula of Concord by forming a counterunion of all the Reformed Churches at the Convention of Frankfort (1577), but without success.
The " Book of Concord " was published, in German, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Augsburg Confession (June 25, 1580). The first authorized Latin text appeared in 1584, in Leipsic. The confession was signed by three electors, twenty dukes and princes, twenty-four counts, four barons, thirty-eight free cities, and nearly eight thousand preachers and teachers. It was rejected by Hesse, Anhalt, Pfalz-Zweibriicken, Brunswick, Schleswig- Holstein, Denmark, Frankfort-on-the-Main, Danzig, Bremen, Speyer, Worms, Nuremberg, Strasburg, Magdeburg, and Nordhausen. Silesia did not take part in the negotiations. Some of the dissenting State Churches accepted the Formula of Concord at a later time. Although it does not and can not speak the last word of the religious knowledge of Lutheranism, it was a historical necessity. The doctrinal differences produced by Melanchthonian ideas necessitated a separation of churches. The more Philippism approached Calvinism and Gnesio- Lutheranism stepped out of the limits of a party, the less possible was a union. Andrea perceived this at the right moment. A concord among the friends of Lutheranism and the establishment of a uniform corpus doctrinee was possible only if the extreme Philippists together with the Calvinists were excluded. The great importance of the Formula of Concord and of the Book of Concord lies in the fact that by them the Lutheran Church maintained its independence over against Calvinism. It must not be imagined that a theological party had here merely obtruded its views upon the Lutheran Church; in the Formula of Concord there have come to their full development the germs of a really existing consensus of belief. Not only the extremes of Philippism, but also those of the Gnesio-Lutherans, such as Flacius, Amsdorf, and
Forney Fortunatus