07070.2 - Colloquy At Leipzig

THE COLLOQUY AT LEIPZIG. A.D. 1631.

See the German text of the Colloquium Lipsiense in Niemeyer, pp. 653-668, and in Böckel, pp. 443-456. In the midst of the fierce polemics between the Churches and the horrors of the Thirty-Years’ War growing out of it, there arose from time to time a desire for union and peace, which was strengthened by the common danger. In 1629, Ferdinand II., a pupil of the Jesuits, issued an edict aiming at the destruction of Protestantism, which might have been accomplished had not Gustavus Adolphus soon afterwards appeared on German soil. It was during this period that the classical union sentence (often erroneously attributed to Augustine), ’In necessary things unity, in doubtful things liberty, in all things charity,’ was first uttered as a prophetic voice in the wilderness by a Lutheran divine of the school of Calixtus, and re-echoed in England by Richard Baxter. [SeeNote #1057]

Under the operation of this feeling and the threatening pressure of Romanism, the Elector Christian William of Brandenburg, accompanied by his chaplain, John Bergius, and the Landgrave William of Hesse, with the theological Professor Crocius and Chaplain Theophilus Neuberger, met at Leipzig with the Elector George of Saxony and the Lutheran divines Matthias Hoë of Hoënegg, Polycarp Leyser, and Henry Höpfner, to confer in a private way about a friendly understanding between the two confessions, hoping to set a good example to other divines of Germany. The conference lasted from March 3 to 23, 1631, and each session continued three hours. The Augsburg Confession of 1530, with Melanchthon’s subsequent explanations, was made the basis of the proceedings, and was discussed article by article. They agreed essentially on all the doctrines except the omnipresence of Christ’s human nature, the oral manducation of his body in the eucharist by worthy and unworthy communicants. The Reformed divines were willing, notwithstanding these differences, to treat the Lutherans as brethren, and to make common cause with them against the Papists. But the Lutherans were not prepared to do more than to take this proposal into serious consideration. The question of election was then also taken up, although it is not expressly mentioned in the Augsburg Confession. They agreed that only a portion of the race was actually saved. The Reformed traced election to the absolute will of God, and reprobation to the unbelief of men; the Lutherans (adhering to the happy inconsistency of the Formula of Concord) brought in God’s foreknowledge of the faith of the elect, but they derived faith itself entirely from God’s free electing grace. The difference was therefore very immaterial, and simply a matter of logic. In conclusion, the theologians declared that the conference was intended not to compromise the Churches and sovereigns, but only to find out whether and to what extent both parties agreed in the Twenty-eight Articles of the Augsburg Confession, and whether there was reason to hope for some nearer approach in the future, whereby the true Church might be strengthened against the Papists. In the mean time the proceedings of the conference were to be regarded as strictly private, and not to be published by either party without the consent of the other. The theologians of the two Churches were to show each other Christian love, praying that ’the God of truth and peace grant that we may be one in him, as he is one with the Son (John 17:21). Amen, Amen in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.’ The document is not signed by the princes who arranged the conference, but only by the theologians -namely, Drs. von Hoënegg, Leyser, Höpfner (Lutherans), and Bergius, Crocius, Neuberger (Reformed). [SeeNote #1058] The proceedings were characterized by great theological ability and an excellent Christian temper, and showed a much closer harmony than was expected. They excited considerable sympathy among the Reformed at home and abroad. But the Lutheran members were severely taken to task for favoring syncretism, and in vindicating themselves they became more uncompromising against Calvinism than before. The conference was in advance of the spirit of the age, and left no permanent effect.

Note #1057

See Lücke’s treatise, Ueber das Alter, den Verfasser, etc., des kirchlichen Friedensspruches, etc., Göttingen, 1850. He traces it to Rupertus Meldenius, the obscure author of Parænesis votiva pro pace ecclesiæ ad theologos Augustanæ Confessionis (before 1635), directed against the philodoxiaand philoneikiaof the theologians, and commending humility and love of peace. Here the sentence occurs, ’Si nos servaremus in necessariis Unitatem, in non necessariis Libertatem, in utrisque Caritatem, optimo certe loco essent res nostræ. ’ A copy of the first edition of this book, though without date, is preserved in the City Library of Hamburg.

Note #1058 The proceedings were published by Hoë of Hoënegg, and by Bergius, 1635. See literature in Niemeyer, Proleg. p. 79.