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

doctrine of justification by faith, and should find; that owing to the brevity
of his statement, the uncultured had misunderstood it, or the malicious had
taken occasion to pervert it, he might very properly, on the next Lord's
Day, amplify his statement, and thus "change his creed by addition," for
every sermon is a minister's creed. If his doing so is a fallacy, it is surely
not a common fallacy with his retractation, denial or. evasion on the
second Lord's Day, of what he taught on the first; not a common fallacy,
even if his second statement were needlessly extended, and though it
introduced many statements on other closely associated doctrines.
General judgment of the Church as to desirableness of ample
definition.
IV. We object also to all unnecessary multiplication of the number or
extension of the bulk of creeds. So does the Lutheran Church, as a whole.
For nearly three centuries, no addition has been made to her Symbolical
Books; and although it is quite possible that, for local reasons, parts of our
Church may enunciate more largely particular elements of her faith, we do
not think it likely that the Lutheran Church, as a whole, will ever add to
her Symbols, not merely anything which can have such relations to them
as the Augsburg Confession has (which would be impossible), but not
even such as the Formula of Concord has.
But this does not settle the question now before us. We think we
have shown, that to have creeds additional to the Augsburg Confession, is
not in itself inconsistent or wrong. Now to the point: Is it necessary or
desirable that there should be any such additional statements? To this
question, our whole Church, without a solitary exception, which we can
recall, certainly with no important exception, has returned the same reply,
to wit: that it is desirable and necessary. For while it is a fact, that no
creed, exclusively hers, except the Augsburg Confession, has been
formally accepted in every part of the Lutheran Church, it is equally true
that there is no important part of that Church which has not had, in
addition, some other Creed. No national, or great Lutheran Church, from
the beginning of her full organization, to this hour, has had nothing but the
Augsburg Confession as a statement of her faith. For not