on so haughtily without confessing, we conclude that you are no Christian, and that you should also not enjoy the sacrament of the Lord's Supper; for you despise that which no Christian should despise, and by this means render it impossible for you to have remission of sins. It is a sure sign too that you contemn the Gospel.

In a word, we would know of no constraint; but we have nothing to do with those who neither hear nor obey our preaching and admonition; nor shall they enjoy any of the privileges of the Gospel. If you were a Christian, you should be glad to embrace the opportunity of going even a hundred miles or more to make confession, and not permit yourself to be compelled, but come and urge us. For here the constraint must be reversed, so that we are subjected to the command, and you be vested with the liberty; we force no one, but permit ourselves to be urged, even as we are constrained to preach, and to administer the sacraments.

When we admonish to confession, therefore, we do nothing else but admonish every one to become a Christian; if I succeed in bringing you to this, I have also brought you to confession. For those who long to be pious Christians, to be free from their sins, and to have joyful consciences, have the right hunger and thirst already, eagerly to grasp this bread, even as the hart when pursued, and wearied with heat and thirst, as the 42d Psalm, verse 1 says: "As the - hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." That is, as aching and anxious as the hart is after the fresh brooks, so anxious and concerned am I about God's word or absolution and sacrament. Behold, this would be correct teaching concerning confession; thus we could create a love and desire for it, so that people would come to it, and solicit us more than we might wish or desire. We shall let the papists plague and torment themselves and other people who do not esteem this treasure, and debar themselves from it; but let us lift up our hands, and praise and thank God, that we have arrived at this knowledge and grace. Amen.

FORM OF CONCORD.

PART I.

EPITOME;

OR

SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLES, CONCERNING WHICH CONTROVERSIES HAVE ARISEN BE TWEEN THE THEOLOGIANS OF THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION, AND WHICH ARE IN THE FOLLOWING REPETITION EXPLAINED AND COMPARED IN A CHRISTIAN MANNER, ACCORDING TO THE AUTHORITY OF THE WORD OF GOD.

OF THE SUMMARY, RULE, AND STANDARD, ACCORDING TO WHICH ALL DOCTRINES ARE TO BE JUDGED, AND THE ERRORS WHICH HAVE ARISEN, ARE TO BE. DETERMINED AND EXPLAINED IN A PIOUS MANNER.

1. We believe, confess, and teach, that the only rule and standard, according to which all doctrines and teachers alike ought to be tried and judged, are the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures alone of the Old and New Testaments, as it is written, Psalm 119, 105: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." And St. Paul, Gal. 1, 8, says: "Though an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."

Other writings, however, of ancient and modern teachers, whatever their reputation may be, shall not be held of equal authority with the holy Scripture, but shall all be subordinate to it, and not received otherwise or further than as testimonies respecting the manner in which, after the Apostolic age, and the places in which, such doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles, was held.

2. And as, immediately after the time of the Apostles, and even while they were yet living, false teachers and' heretics insinuated themselves, against whom Symbols, that is, short, plain confessions, were drawn up in the first churches, and these were unanimously held as the universal Christian faith and confession of the orthodox and true churches, namely, the Apostolic Symbol, the Nicene Sytn

bol, and the Athanasian Symbol; we acknowledge these, and hereby reject all heresies and doctrines, which, contrary to these, have been introduced into the church of God.

3. But so far as it pertains to the division in matters of faith, which has arisen in our day, we hold as the unanimous conception and explanation of our Christian faith and confession,-particularly in opposition to the papacy and its false methods of worship, to idolatry, and superstition, and other sects,-the symbol of our time, the original, unaltered Augsburg Confession, delivered to the Emperor Charles V. at Augsburg, anno 1530, in the great Diet; together with the Apology of the same, and the Articles drawn up at Smalcald, anno 1537, and subscribed by the most eminent theologians at that time.

And inasmuch as these matters also touch the common laity, and the salvation of their souls, we also acknowledge the Smaller and Larger Catechisms of doctor Luther, as both these Catechisms are comprised in the writing of Luther, as a bible of the laity, in which are comprised all that is treated copiously in holy writ, and all that is necessary for a Christian to know for his salvation.

To this authority, mentioned above, all doctrines must be conformed, and what is contrary to it, must be rejected and condemned, as being repugnant to the unanimous declaration of our faith.

In this manner the difference between the holy Scripture of the Old and New Testaments and all other writings, will be preserved, and the holy Scripture alone will remain the only authority, rule, and standard, according to which, as the only touchstone, all doctrines shall and must be understood and judged whether they be good or bad, right or wrong.

But the other symbols and writings mentioned, are not authorities like the holy Scripture; they are only testimonics and declarations of faith, how at any time the holy Scriptures were understood and interpreted and the doctrines contrary thereto rejected and condemned in controverted articles in the church of God, by those who then lived.

I. OF ORIGINAL SIN.

The chief question in this controversy.

Whether original sin is properly, and without any discrimination, the nature, substance, and essence of corrupted man, or indeed the principal and noblest part of his essence,-as the rational soul itself in its highest faculties and powers? Or, whether there is a differ

ence between the substance, nature, essence, body, and soul of man, and original sin, even after the fall, so that the one is the nature and the other original sin, which clings to this corrupted nature, and contaminates it?

AFFIRMATIVE.

Pure doctrine, faith, and confession, by virtue of the
prescribed standard, and Summary Declaration.

1. We believe, teach, and confess, that there is a difference between the nature of man, not only as it was created of God in the beginning, pure and holy, without sin, but also as we now find it since the fall, that is, between the nature, which even since the fall is and remains a creature of God, and original sin; and that this difference is as great as the difference between the work of God, and that of Satan.

2. We also believe, teach, and confess, that this difference must be observed with the greatest diligence, since this doctrine, that there can be no difference between our corrupted nature, and original sin, militates against the chief articles of our Christian faith, concerning creation, redemption, sanctification, and the resurrection of the body, and is incompatible with them.

For God created not only the bodies and souls of Adam and Eve before the fall, but also our bodies and souls since the fall, though they are now corrupted; and he acknowledges them still as his work, as it is written, Job 10, 8: "Thine hands have made me, and fashioned me together round about." (Deut. 32; Isa. 45, 54, 64; Acts 17; Job 10; Psalms 100, 139; Eccl. 12.)

Likewise has the Son of God in the unity of his person, assumed this human nature, yet without sin, and not a superhuman flesh, but our own, and according to the same flesh, he became our true brother, Heb. 2, 14:"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same." Again, verses 16 and 17: "For verily he took not on him the nature of angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things," sin excepted, "it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren." Thus also has Christ redeemed it as his work, he sanctifies it as his work, renovates it from the dead, and adorns it gloriously as his work: but he did not create original sin, nor assume it, nor redeem it, nor sanctify it, nor will he renovate it, nor adorn it, nor save it in the elect, but in the resurrection it will be entirely eradicated.