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

Confession, the Smaller Catechism for the people, and in its Theological
Seminary, originally, both Catechisms were mentioned in the Professor's
oath. In its present form the Smaller Catechism is retained. But if the
Smaller Catechism be adopted, and an ampler statement of doctrine be an
unlawful change, that Catechism alone must be adopted, and the
Augsburg Confession which appeared a year later, be thrown out.
Book of Concord, Contents of.
The Book of Concord may be divided generically into two parts: the
first part selected, the second part original. The first is formed by our
Church Creeds, which it simply collected. The second is the Formula of
Concord, in two parts, Epitome and Declaratio, which it first set forth.
Every part of both these divisions, except the first part of the first, would be
rejected on the principle we now discuss; in fact, if the principle were
pressed through, logically, not only would the Augsburg Confession, but
the Apostles' Creed itself be sacrificed to it. The Church would have to
recover the earliest form of the Creed, or be creedless altogether.
First of all, then, let it be remembered, that five-sevenths of what now
forms the Book of Concord, were accepted in the Lutheran Church before
that Book was compiled: secondly, that the directly confessional part of
the Formula (the Epitome) is very little larger than the Augsburg
Confession, the "Solid Declaration" being simply an exegesis and defence
of the Epitome. Let us for the present look at these earlier, parts of the
Book of Concord. Taking then, one by one, the Symbols which follow the
Augsburg Confession in the Book of Concord, let us ask whether it be
wrong, to acknowledge officially, that they set forth the faith of our
Church? To begin with the first of these,--
IS IT WRONG TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE APOLOGY AS A
SYMBOL OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH? This question we will
answer by a few facts.
The Apology.
I. It will not be denied that it presents one and the same system of
faith with the Augsburg Confession. It is in its first sketch the Answer from
the hand of the great Melanchthon, with the' advice and co-labor of the
other theologians,