# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1873_S19
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 19 —

...ecumenical Symbols in itself. For it is one thing to be an ecumenical Symbol; another thing to have and contain in itself the doctrine of the ecumenical Symbol." (Isagoge in libr. symb. p. 110.)

Calov: "Although the Unaltered Augsburg Confession cannot be placed on a par with the ecumenical Symbols with regard to its authority in the Church, and also cannot be called universal (universalis) with regard to its authors, it is nevertheless a truly universal (catholicum) Symbol, both with regard to the doctrines of faith and with regard to the orthodox churches, all of which hold the A. C. as a Symbol or at least accept the articles contained in it." (Synopsis controvers. etc. p. 4.)

On the fourth thesis: This thesis is directed against such congregations or church bodies which, like for example the so-called Lutheran General Synod, will not let go of the Lutheran name, although it is proved to them over and over that they are not Lutheran; indeed the said General Synod, if it were honest, would have to give itself another name, in that it does not let the Augsburg Confession stand in all its propositions, and even declares the doctrine of individual articles of it to be papistic leaven, as it has even declared of itself in a letter to Germany that it stands wholly on the standpoint of the Union church.

Testimonies:

Formula of Concord: "To the same Christian Augsb. Conf., well grounded in God's Word, we confess ourselves once more herewith from the ground of our heart, abiding by its same simple, clear and pure understanding, as the words bring with them, and hold the said Confession to be a purely Christian Symbolum, by which in this time true Christians next to God's Word are to be found; as also formerly in the Church of God, in the face of several great controversies that had arisen, Christian Symbols and confessions were set forth, to which the pure teachers and hearers confessed themselves with heart and mouth at that time. We purpose also, by the grace of the Almighty, to persevere steadfastly to the end of our life in the often-mentioned Christian Confession as Emperor Charles V delivered it in the year 30, etc., and it is not our intention, either in this or in other writings, to deviate in the least from the oft-mentioned Confession" (“vel transversum, ut ajunt, unguem” — also not, as one says, a finger's breadth across) "or to set up another and (aut — or) new Confession." (Repetition, fol. 255.)

J. Gerhard: "We can attribute to our churches a threefold unity. The first is the canonical, by virtue of which the doctrine confessed by us agrees in everything with the canonical writings of the Old and New Testaments; for as yet no Papist has been able to convict us of any error in articles of faith from Holy Scripture, indeed the most eminent papistic writers are compelled to acknowledge that from Holy Scripture our Confession can by no means be refuted. The second is the churchly, by virtue of which our doctrine agrees with the churchly writers, whom one calls the Church Fathers, namely with those who were nearest to the time of the Apostles; for we are ready, in all individual controverted articles, to bring forward striking and clear testimonies for our