retired to Zerbst, where he ended his days in EN T. peace [x].

XVI. SECT. llf.

XXXIX. The schemes of the Crypto-Calvinists, PART I or secret abettors of Calvinism, being thus dis-The form concerted, the elector of Saxony, and the other of Concord. princes who had entered into his views, redoubled their zeal and diligence in promoting the Form of Concord that has been already mentioned. Accordingly, various conferences were held preparatory to this important undertaking; and, in the year 1576, while the Saxon divines were convened at Torgaw by the order of AUGUSTUS, a treatise was composed by JAMES ANDREA, with a design to heal the divisions of the Lutheran church, and as a preservative against the opinions of the Reformed doctors [a]. This production, which received the denomination of the Book of Torgaw, from the place where it was composed, having been carefully examined, reviewed, and corrected, by the greatest part of the Lutheran doctors in Germany, the matter was again proposed to the deliberations of a select number of divines, who met at Berg, a Benedictine monastery in the neighbourhood of Magdeburg [b]. Here all things relating to

the

[x] See SCHLUSSELBURGII Theologia Calvinistica, lib. ii. p. 207. lib. iii. Præf. & p. 1—22. 52-57. 69. lib. iv. p. 246. -HUTTERI Concordia Concors, cap. i-viii.-ARNOLDI Histor. Ecclesiast. lib. xvi. cap. xxxii. p. 369-395.-LOSCHERI Historia motuum inter Lutheranos et Reformat. part II. p. 176. part III. P. 1.-All these are writers favourable to the rigid Lutherans; see therefore, on the other side, CASP. PEUCERI Historia Carcerum et Liberationis Divine, which was publish ed in 8vo at Zurich, in the year 1605, by Pezelius.

[a] The term Reformed was used to distinguish the other Protestants of various denominations from the Lutherans; and it is equally applied to the friends of episcopacy and presbytery. See the following chapter.

[] The book that was composed by Andreæ and his associates at Torgaw, was sent, by the elector of Saxony, to almost all the Lutheran princes, with a view of its being examined, approved, and received by them. It was, however,

rejected

XVI

CENT-intended project were accurately weighed, the ST. . opinions of the assembled doctors carefully disPART II cussed, and the result of all was the famous Form

of Concord, which has made so much noise in the world. The persons who assisted ANDREE in the composition of this celebrated work, or at least in the last perusal of it at Berg, were MARTIN CHEMNITZ, NICOLAS SELNECCER, ANDREW MusCULUS, CHRISTOPHER CORNERUS, and DAVID CHYTRAUS [c]. This new confession of the Lutheran faith was adopted first by the Saxons, in consequence of the strict order of AUGUSTUS; and their example was afterwards followed by the greatest part of the Lutheran churches, by some sooner, by others later [d]. The authority of this confession,

rejected by several princes, and censured and refuted by seve ral doctors. These censures engaged the compilers to review and correct it; and it was from this book, thus changed and new modelled, that the Form of Concord, published at Berg, was entirely drawn.

[c] The Form of Concord, composed at Torgaw, and reviewed at Berg, consists of two parts. In the first is contained a system of doctrine, drawn up according to the fancy of the six doctors here mentioned. In the second is exhibited one of the strongest instances of that persecuting and tyrannical spirit, which the protestants complained of in the church of Rome, even a formal condemnation of all those who differed from these six doctors, particularly in their strange opinions concerning the majesty and omnipresence of Christ's body, and the real manducation of his flesh and blood in the eucharist. This condemnation branded with the denomination of heretics, and excluded from the communion of the church, all Christians, of all nations, who refused to subscribe these doctrines. More particularly in Germany, the terrors of the sword were solicited against these pretended heretics, as may be seen in the famous testament of Brentius. For a full account of the Confession of Torgaw and Berg, see HOSPINIAN's Concordia discors, where the reader will find large extracts out of this confession, with an ample account of the censures it underwent, the opposition that was made to it, and the arguments that were used by its learned adversa

ries.

[d] A list of the writers, who have treated concerning the Form of Concord, may be found in Jo. GEORG. Walchi In

troduct.

XVI.

confession, as is sufficiently known, was employed CENT. for the two following purposes, first, to terminate SBCT. IL the controversies, which divided the Lutheran PART I: church, more especially after the death of its founder; and, secondly, to preserve that church against the opinions of the Reformed, in relation to the eucharist.

turbance

by the Re.

XL. It so fell out, however, that this very The Form Form, which was designed to restore peace and produces concord in the church, and had actually produced much disthis effect in several places, became nevertheless a source of new tumults, and furnished matter for the most violent dissentions and contests. it 18 opposed immediately met with a warm opposition from the formed, or Reformed, and also from all those who were either Calvinists. secretly attached to their doctrine, or who, at least, were desirous of living in concord and communion with them, from a laudable zeal for the common interests of the protestant cause. Nor was their opposition at all unaccountable, since they plainly perceived, that this Form removed all the flattering hopes they had entertained, of seeing the divisions that reigned among the friends of religious liberty happily healed, and entirely excluded the Reformed from the communion of the Lutheran church. Hence they were filled with indignation against the authors of this new Con

fession

troduct. in Libros Symbolicos, lib. i. cap. vii. p. 707. & KOECHERI Biblioth. Theol. Symbolicæ, p. 188. There are also several documents in MSS. relative to this famous confession, of which there is an account in the German work entitled, Uuschuld Nachricht. A. 1753. p. 322.—The principal writers who. have given the history of the Form of Concord, and the transactions relating to it, are Hospinian, an eminent divine of Zurich, in his Concordia Discors; and Leon Hutter, in his Concordia Concors. These two historians have written on opposite sides, and whoever will be at the pains of comparing their accounts with attention and impartiality, will casily perceive where the truth lies, and receive satisfactory information with respect to the true state of these controversies, and the motives that animated the contending parties.

CENTfession of Faith, and exposed their uncharitable SECT. III. proceedings in writings full of spirit and vehePART II. Mence. The Swiss doctors, with HOSPINIAN at

XVI.

And even

therans

them

selves.

their head, the Belgic divines [e], those of the Palatinate [f], together with the principalities of Anhalt and Bade, declared war against the Form of Concord. And accordingly from this period the Lutheran, and more especially the Saxon doctors, were charged with the disagreeable task of defending this new Creed and its compilers, in many laborious productions [g].

XLI. Nor were the followers of ZUINGLE and by the Lu- CALVIN the only opposers of this Form of Concord; it found adversaries, even in the very bosom of Lutheranism, and several of the most eminent churches of that communion rejected it with such firmness and resolution, that no arguments nor entreaties could engage them to admit it as a rule of faith, or even as a mean of instruction. It was rejected by the churches of Hessia, Pomerania, Nuremberg, Holstein, Silesia, Denmark, Brunswick, and others [6]. But though they all united in opposing

[e] See PETRII VILERII Epistola Apologetica Reformatarum in Belgio Ecclesiarum ad et contra Auctores Libri Bergensis dicti" Concordia."-This work was published a second time with the Annotations of Lud. Gerhard à Renesse, by the learned Dr Gerdes of Groningen, in his Scrinium Antiquarium seu Miscellan. Groningens. Nov. tom. i. p. 121. Add to these the Unschuld. Nachricht, A. 1747. P. 957.

[f] JOHN CASIMIR, Prince Palatine, convoked an assembly of the Reformed divines at Frankfort, in the year 1577, in order to annul and reject this Form of Concord. See HEN. ALTINGII Histor. Eccles. Palatin. sect. clxxix. p. 143.

[g] See Jo. GEORG. WALCHII Introd. in Libros Symbolicos Lutheranor. lib. i. cap. vii. p. 734

[b] For an account of the ill success the Form of Concord met with in the Dutchy of Holstein, see the German work entitled, Die Damische Bibliothec. vol. iv. p. 212. vol. v. p. 355vol. viii. p. 333-461. vol. ix. P. 1.- -MUHLII Dissert. Histor Theol. Diss. 1. de Reformat. Holsat. p. 108.-ARN. GREVIE Memoria PAULI ab LITZEN. The transactions in Denmark in

relation

opposing it, their opposition was nevertheless c EN T. ΧΥΙ. founded on different reasons, nor did they all act SECT. III. in this affair from the same motives and the same PART T II. principles. A waim and affectionate veneration for the memory of MELANCTHON was, with some, the only, or at least the predominant, motive that induced them to declare against the Form in question; they could not behold, without the utmost abhorrence, a production, in which the sentiments of this great and excellent man were so rudely treated. In this class we may rank the Lutherans of Holstein. Others were not only animated in their opposition by a regard for MELANCTHON, but also by a persuasion, that the opinions, condemned in the new Creed, were more conformable to truth, than those that were substituted in their place. A secret attachment to the sentiments of the Helvetic doctors prevented some from approving of the Form under consideration; the hopes of uniting the Reformed and Lutheran churches engaged many to declare against it; and a considerable number refused their assent to it from an apprehension, whether real or pretended, that adding a new Creed to the ancient confessions of faith would be really a source of disturbance and discord in the Lutheran church.

It

relation to this form, and the particular reasons for which it was rejected there may be seen in the Danish Library above quoted, vol. iv. p. 222.-282. and also in PONTOPPIDAN'S Annal. Eccles. Danica Diplomatici, tom. iii. p. 456. This latter author evidently proves (p. 476.) a fact which Herman ab Elswich, and other authors, have endeavoured to represent as dubious, viz. that Frederick II. king of Denmark, as soon as he received a copy of the form in question, threw it into the fire, and saw it consumed before his eyes.-The opposition that was made by the Hessians to the same form, may be seen in TIELEMANNI Vita Theologor. Marpurgens. p. 99. Danischen Bibliothec. vol. vii. p. 273-364 tom. ix. p. 1-87.-The ill fate of this famous Confession, in the principalities of Lignitz and Brieg, is amply related in the German work, entitled, Unschuld. Nachricht. A. 1745. P. 173.