the Latin copy be used, but history inexorably ordained its reading from the German, the language of the common people.

This famous Confession-"the mother symbol of Protestantism" -was first drafted by Martin Luther in seventeen sections, known as the Torgau Articles from the place at which they were written; but being under ban, Luther could not bear them to the seat of the Diet. The Torgau Articles were therefore committed to the hands of Melancthon, Luther's learned coadjutor, who, before presenting them to the Diet, expanded them into twenty-eight altogether—twentyone of which stated the doctrinal views of the Reformers, the remaining seven being a series of protests against particular abuses and corruptions introduced into the Church by the papacy. "This Confession was prepared," says the capable editor of Bishop Burnet's work, "for the twofold purpose of rebutting the slanders of the papists and of publishing to Europe the doctrines of the Reformers." In it is seen the germ of every Protestant confession in the world. In it is particularly seen the genesis of our own Articles from which, through the Anglican Articles, they are admittedly, in the main, derived.

The German Confessors expressly claimed to plant themselves in their doctrinal statements on the language of the oldest symbols of the Church. New terms were not sought after. On the contrary, their purpose was to recover the old, so they sounded out a challenge to return to those things which had been approved. The opening declaration of the Augsburg Confession is in this spirit: "Our Churches with one

accord teach that the decree of the council of Nicea concerning the unity of the Divine essence and concerning the three Persons (of the Trinity) is true and ought to be confidently believed." The correctness of this claim of the Reformers to catholic soundness was not disallowed by the papal critics of the Confession in the Refutation which they submitted to the Diet. It was only on the points that ran counter to the decrees and usages of Rome that they asked for anathemas. against the Confessors. An examination of the Nicene and anti-Nicene symbols, beginning with the Creed of St. Irenæus, will show the student how both the Augsburg and the Anglican Articles borrow the language, as the sense, of the old and undisputed formularies. The value of these facts in determining what a statement of doctrines should be has already been considered. We are now to trace the relations of these facts through the whole cycle of Protestant symbol-writing.

It is worthy of note, as explaining why Melancthon so considerably expanded the draft of Luther's Torgau Articles, that when the Reformers reached Augsburg they found in circulation a pamphlet by John Eck, the old-time antagonist of Luther, consisting of four hundred and four theses against the doctrines and demands of the Reformers. The wily polemic had grossly exaggerated the views of his antagonists. But the overtowering scholarship of Melancthon and his. mastery of the new Greek learning made him more than a match for the scholastic papist. The Augsburg document is a monument to his genius, as also a testimony to his unwavering courage and devout

spirit. The history is another link in the argument establishing the fitness and sufficiency of our Methodist Articles. It is historically clear that they had their maternity in theological necessity.

A list of the chief Article headings of the Augsburg Confession will show how closely they were followed by the compilers of the Anglican Articles, and consequently how they have been inherited by the Articles of Methodism. The numbers and titles of the more important tenets submitted by Melancthon to the Diet of Augsburg are as follows: I. "Of God;" II. "Of Natural Depravity;" III. "Of the Son of God and His Mediatorial Work;" IV. "Of Justification;" VII. "Of the Church;" IX. "Of Baptism;" X. “Of the Lord's Supper;" XI. "Of Confession;" XII. "Of Repentance;" XIII. "Of the Use of the Sacraments;" XV. "Of Religious Ceremonies;" XVI. "Of Political Affairs;" XVIII. "Of Free Will;" XX. "Of Good Works;" XXI. "Of the Invocation of Saints ;" XXII. "Of Communion in One Kind;" XXIII. "Of the Celibacy of the Priests;" XXIV. "Of the Mass;" XXV. "Of Confession;" etc.

It is a well-established historical fact that from a period almost immediately following the Diet of Augsburg close relations subsisted between the English and German Reformers. The full significance of the relationship has been pointed out by Archdeacon Hardwick in his "History of the Thirty-Nine Articles." The Protestant era began in England with the accession to power of Cranmer, in 1529, one year before the Diet of Augsburg. In 1531 Henry was declared official head of the Church of England. In that year

the Smalkaldic League, a compact of German Prottestant princes, was formed to resist the execution of the imperial edicts against the Reformers. Henry was several times on the point of joining this League, urged by many of his counselors to do so. He earnestly importuned the German authorities to send Melancthon, his favorite scholar, over to England to assist in reforming the Church. But Melancthon could not be spared from Germany. As a final overture Henry dispatched a company of his own theologians, headed by Bishop Fox, to the Continent to confer with the Smalkaldic princes and the Lutheran divines. This delegation spent no little time in conference with Melancthon and others, and it appears that the Augsburg Articles were found, in the main, to be acceptable to the Englishmen. It has even been asserted that certain writings were entered upon looking to a confessional union. But Henry did not fully know his own mind—in fact, was not yet fully committed to the Reformation and the whole scheme of union failed. Later, however, when Henry felt more deeply the need of German sympathy, he solicited the Lutherans to send a delegation to England to renew the negotiations.

The most distinguished member of the Lutheran embassy to England was Frederick Myconius, next to Melancthon Luther's most trusted and capable assistant. To consult with this embassy Henry appointed a committee of English scholars-bishops and doctors. -who with their German colleagues are referred to as "Orators." It appears that these commissioners could also have easily agreed on the Augsburg Articles, in the main; but Henry's accustomed vacilla

tions and his distrust of the continental princes, as well as his personal ambitions, caused the work of the Orators to come to naught, at least for the time. It is, however, now known that the commissioners reached a joint understanding concerning a list of articlesthirteen in number-which were written down in Latin. These articles represented the first stage of the negotiations. For the reasons given in the case of the former entente-namely, Henry's lack of conviction and constancy-the negotiations proceeded no farther, and the Articles were not then even made public. Instead, Henry caused to be written, or, as some say, himself wrote, certain six canons or statutes-sometimes referred to as "the bloody statutes of the Six Articles," because of their rigorous demands-which the troubled Church of England was forced to accept during the remainder of his reign.

The Thirteen Articles-those compiled by the joint Commission of German and English Orators—were almost literal extracts from the Augsburg Confession. They appear to have fallen into the hands of Archbishop Cranmer, having probably been delivered to him by Myconius, in 1538, on the departure of the German Commissioners to their home. A prophetic foresight no doubt influenced the Primate to preserve them for a future exigency. That exigency arose when, after the death of Henry, Edward VI. of happy memory came to the throne. This is the history of the relations borne to the Thirty-Nine Articles and our own by these cryptic Articles of the Orators: Twenty-one years after the Diet of Augsburg and five years after the death of Luther-that is to say, in 1551