The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

of whose utterance was, as to the matter and the substance of the form,
Luther; as to the finish and grace of the form, Melanchthon: both acting
with the advice, co-labor, and full approval of the clerical and lay
representatives of the Church. Just as we accept this or that point of view,
we may say that the Augsburg Confession is the work of the Evangelical
Church, or of the theologians and laymen at Augsburg, or of Melanchthon,
or of Luther. "The Confession of ours," “our Confession which our Philip
prepared," "your Confession," "my Confession," are all terms employed
by Luther. All these statements are true, and perfectly harmonious--just as
we may say that the Declaration of Independence was the work of the
Thirteen Colonies, or of the Continental Congress, or of its Committee, or
of Thomas Jefferson. Melanchthon, then, was by pre-eminence the
composer of the Confession, not as a private individual, but as chief of a
body of advisers, without whose concurrence nothing was fixed, 174 Luther,
by pre-eminence, as the divinely called representative of the Church, its
author. Hence all candid writers have most heartily indorsed Luther's
own declaration, in which he not only claims the Augsburg Confession as
in one sense his own, but ranks it among his most precious works: 175 "The
Catechism, the Exposition of the Ten Commandments, and the Augsburg
Confession are mine." This claim he puts in, in no sense which conflicts
with the public character of the document, or of Melanchthon's great merit,
as in part the compiler, and as in part the composer of the Confession.
Koellner adds: "And he had the right to say so." Weber 176 says: "As to its
matter, Luther was the author of the Confession, not indeed the only one,
but the primary one." "Melanchthon," says Danz, 177 "was the composer,
the editor, not the author, (Redacteur, nicht Urheber.)" But are there not a
few words of Luther in regard to the Confession, which are in conflict with
this enthusiastic approval? We reply, there is not one word of the kind.
The
174 Melanchthon, June 26. "I would have changed more things if my counsellors would have permitted it."
175 Werke (Walch,) xxii, 4532. Koellner, 181 (45.)
176 L. S. prol. ad C. A. p. viii.
177 A. C. ~ 8.