Of a conversation about the suspicion which Luther had at that time, in regard to Melanchthon's faith, in the point about Holy Communion, we find certain details neither in Melanchthon's nor in Luther's letters from that time. But not only does Melanchthon report on November 25: “Although the day (of my interrogation) had already been announced to me after the consultations that were recently held about me, Luther's illness nevertheless prevented anything from being negotiated, upon which an armistice occurred” (p. 452); but Melanchthon has without doubt given Luther reassuring explanations about this point as well. It is a fact that Melanchthon, as we have already proved above with Melanchthon's own words, rejected Zwinglianism and professed his faith in the correct doctrine of Holy Communion. Thus Luther's wrath was laid to rest, and even the strong suspicion against Melanchthon disappeared from his loyal heart, so easily calmed by good words. **)
.jpg "Johannes Agricola")
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**) The example of the wretched [Johannes] Agricola shows how quickly Luther, even if a severely erring man recanted, allowed himself to be satisfied. Read Cruciger's letter to Dietrich, Corp. Ref. III, 482: Even to a Cruciger, Luther's procedure here seemed too mild, because he hated Agricola. [See Bente's elaboration LuW 53, 487 ff.]
.JPG "Nicholas Amsdorf")
Even [Nicholas] Amsdorf, whom Luther held in such high esteem, could not therefore tear Melanchthon out of Luther's heart in the long run, although he wrote to Luther, pointing to Melanchthon, that he "nurtured a serpent in his bosom.” (p. 503) —
.jpg "Johann Wigand, (Wikipedia)")
Although it has been claimed that Melanchthon altered the Augsburg Confession with Luther's knowledge and approval in 1540, this was contrary to historical truth. In the Nochmaligen Haupt-Vertheidigung des Augapfels (Leipzig 1673 [1630 Google Books; see here; Hoe von Hoenegg?]) we read rather:
“Dr. [Johann] Wigand writes in the History of the Augsburg Confession p. 31 that Melanchthon solus, alone, without the advice of others, changed the Confession; which good people resent. Thus also the Jena theologians” (on the occasion of the Altenburg Colloquium) “have also responded sufficiently to the intercession of the Philippists and have thus said: ‘The gentlemen would do well, and not speak so presumptuously against the eighth commandment, that they may subject the simple-minded to talk, as if it were as they give. But some of us have heard more than once that the man of God Luther of holy memory complains quite a few times that the Augsburg Confession is changed so often, and said to Philip: ““Dear Philip, the book is not yours, but the book of all the confessing churches; (LuW 360) therefore I will not give you the right to change such a book so often and in so many ways.””’ Likewise, in the History of the Augsburg Confession Against the Disguised Ambros. Wolfium p. 365, that blessed Luther often addressed Philip and asked him to abstain from changing and multiplying the Augsburg Confession; at times he even expostulated with him and said, ‘Who has commanded you?’” (p. 343)
That Luther did not intervene more seriously against Melanchthon because of his change of the Augsburg Confession without asking about a conflict arising from this was doubtless due to two reasons in particular. First of all, the first changes were not a direct blackening of false doctrine, but merely a weakening of the confession. *)
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*) Although Dr. C. [Carl] Schmidt claims in his [1861] biography of Melanchthon p. 423 that the word "exhibentur", which Melanchthon used in the 10th Article of the modified Augsburg Confession, means, (body and blood) are "offered", “which presupposes faith in the receiving ones”; this is obviously wrong, however. Exhibere means more than offerre, to offer, i.e. "to offer, to answer”. Now, since Melanchthon's modified text reads: "Quod cum pane et vino exhibeantur corpus et sanguis Christi vescentibus" (not credentibus!) “in Coena Domini," only he who believes in a real presence and in the enjoyment of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper, of which all who enjoy the Lord's Supper are partakers, can sign these words without reservatio. Hence also Melanchthon in the following year [1541], as Schmidt himself reports, p. 398 f., at the Colloquium at Regensburg,
“declared: ‘The Protestants hold the common teaching of the catholic Church that in the Lord's Supper, when the bread and wine are consecrated, the body and blood of Christ are essentially present and are taken’; they also reject the opinion of those who deny the presence of Christ, since it ‘comes from human reason alone, without the Word of God’.”
Melanchthon, incidentally, referred here to the words of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession: “Testati sumus etiam in A. C., nos 'improbare' eos, qui negant, adesse et sumi verum corpus Christi”. (Corp. Ref. IV, 276)
%20w%20border.jpg "Title page, F. Bente's \"Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books…\"")
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