as impossible to reply to this most necessary question; it is also impossible to console or pacify the conscience really in temptations,

unless we answer in this manner :

It was God's determination and command from the beginning of the world, that sins should be remitted unto us through faith in the blessed seed; that is, through faith for Christ's sake, without merit. But if any one doubts it or wavers, he makes God a liar in his promise, as John says, 1 John 5, 10. Therefore we say that a Christian should firmly believe this to be the command of God; and if he thus holds it, he is assured, and feels peace and consolation.

Our adversaries, after spending much time in disseminating their doctrine, leave the poor conscience of man in doubt; in such case it is impossible for him to be at peace, or to have a joyful and tranquil heart, if he doubts whether God is merciful: because, doubting whether he has a merciful God, whether he does right, whether he has the forgiveness of sins, how can he call on God in such doubt? how can he rest assured that God regards and hears his prayers? Consequently his whole life is without faith, and he cannot serve God rightly. This is what Paul says to the Romans, Rom. 14, 23: "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." And when men always and perpetually continue in such doubt, they never experience what God, what Christ, or what faith is; and they ultimately die in desperation, without God and without any knowledge of

him.

Such is the infamous doctrine of our adversaries,-a doctrine which is calculated to abolish the Gospel, to reject Christ, and finally to lead persons into desperation, feeling the pain and grief of their consciences, when temptations arise.

Your imperial Majesty will graciously consider, that this does not concern gold or silver, but our souls and consciences. And here all honest and intelligent individuals will carefully reflect on this matter, and form some idea of its nature. We may here likewise permit all candid people to judge, which have taught the most beneficial doctrine for Christian consciences, we or our adversaries? For indeed every person must feel convinced, that it is not agreeable for us to be engaged in disputations and dissensions; and if the greatest and most weighty reasons affecting the dictates of our conscience and the salvation of our souls, had not induced us to contend ardently with our adversaries, we would have remained silent: but inasmuch as they deny the holy Gospel, the divine truth, all the expressive writings of the Apostles, we cannot, consistently with the will of God and the dictates of our own conscience, deny

this salutary doctrine, this heavenly truth, from which we expect our highest, our final, and eternal consolation, when this frail, transitory life shall cease, and when there shall be no resort to human aid; nor can we in any way forsake this cause, which does not only affect ourselves but the whole Christian church, and Jesus Christ our richest treasure.

We have now shown for what reasons we have laid down these two parts in repentance, viz. contrition and faith. And we have pursued this course, because we find various passages concerning repentance in different places in the books of our adversaries; passages which they have quoted in a mutilated form, from the writings of Augustine and other ancient Fathers, and which they have every where so explained and distorted, as to overthrow entirely the doctrine concerning faith. Such passages as these, they have introduced:-Repentance is a pain by which sins are punished; again, repentance is to bemoan the committed sins, and not to do the regretted sins again. In these passages faith is not at all taken into consideration, nor in their schools do they consider it, where they discuss similar passages at length.

In order, then, that the doctrine concerning faith might be the more clearly understood, we have laid down faith as a part of repentance. For those passages which relate to our contrition and our works, and do not touch upon the subject of faith, are very dangerous, as experience has shown. Now, if they had taken into consideration the great danger of souls and consciences, the Sententiaries and the Canonists would naturally have written more cautiously concerning their Decree: for, if the Fathers speak of the other part of repentance also, not only concerning one part, but concerning both, concerning contrition and faith, our adversaries should have presented both together.

Tertullian speaks of faith in a very consolatory manner, and he especially commends the divine oath of which the prophet speaks, Ezekiel 33, 11: "As I live, sayeth the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live." "Inasmuch as God swears," says he, "that he delights not in the death of the sinner, he certainly requires faith, that we should believe his oath and his swearing, that he will forgive us our sins. The promises of God independent of this, we should view in the most exalted light. But the promises of God are confirmed by an oath;" therefore if any one holds that sins are not forgiven him, he makes God a liar, which is the greatest blasphemy. For Tertullian further says: Invitat ad salutem, jurans etiam etc.;

that is: "God invites us to our own salvation by his own oath, so that we may believe him. O, happy the man, for whose sake God swears! Woe unto us poor people, if we do not believe the divine oath!"

And here we should know that faith must really give credence to the fact, that God forgives our sins through grace for Christ's sake, not on account of our works, or our confession, or our expiation. For as soon as we base ourselves on our works, we become doubtful; because men whose consciences are alarmed, immediately discern that their best works are of no avail in the sight of God. Wherefore, the words of Ambrose concerning repentance are excellent, where he says: "We must repent, and also believe that grace is imparted to us, provided that we look for grace through faith; for faith awaits and obtains grace as from a handwriting. Again, faith is even this, the veil by which sins are covered." Hence these are clear passages in the writings of the Fathers, relative not only to works, but also to faith. But our adversaries, not understanding the true nature of repentance, do likewise not understand the passages of the Fathers. They select some passages in a mutilated condition from those Fathers, concerning the one part of repentance, viz. contrition and works, and that which is said with respect to faith, they pass over.

VI. OF CONFESSION AND EXPIATION.

Pious individuals, having the fear of God before their eyes, are enabled to judge by this, that much depends on having and retaining in the churches a true, and an indubitable doctrine concerning contrition and faith. For the great deception of indulgences, &c., and the inadmissible doctrines of the sophists, have given us sufficient experience to know the great evils and dangers arising from misconceptions on this subject. How did pious men under popery seek with great labor the right way by these instructions, and in such darkness they were unable to find it!

We have, for these reasons, always been diligent in teaching clearly and correctly on this subject. With respect to confession and expiation we have not contended particularly; because we also retain confession, on account of absolution which is the word of God, through which the power of the keys absolves us from our sins. It would, therefore, be contrary to the will of God thus to abolish absolution in the churches.

Those who contemn absolution, can have no conception of the remission of sins or of the power of the keys. But in our Confession we profess to maintain that God has not commanded the enu

meration of sins. For their declaration,-that, as every judge must hear the cases and the crimes before he pronounces judgment, so must sins be enumerated, &c.-is not applicable to the case. Absolution is merely a command to announce the remission of sins, and it is not a new jurisdiction to investigate sins; for God is the judge. He committed unto the Apostles not the office of judge, but the execution of grace, to absolve those who desire it. And it also releases and absolves us from sins which do not come within our memory. Absolution is therefore a voice of the Gospel, through which we receive consolation, but it is not a judgment or a law.

It is vain and absurd in the view of intelligent men, to allege in this place the declaration of Solomon, Prov. 27, 23, where he says: Diligenter cognosce vultum pecoris tui, that is, "Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks," &c., as relating to confession or absolution; for Solomon does not speak here concerning confession; but he commanded husbandmen to be satisfied with their own possessions, and to abstain from that which did not belong to them; and these words only command each one to be diligent in taking care of his flocks and possessions; yet not forgetting through avarice, the fear, the command, and the word of God.

But our adversaries give the Scripture whatever coloring suits their own fancy, contrary to the natural import of the plain terms in this place, Cognosce vultum pecoris, &c. Here cognoscere must signify hearing of confession; cattle or sheep must here signify men; and stabulum, we think, must mean a school in which there are such doctors and orators. It is, however, no strange thing for those who thus distort the holy Scriptures and all good arts, to err so grossly in grammar. If any one felt a desire to compare a husbandman, concerning whom Solomon speaks, with a pastor of the church, vultus would here have to signify, not arcana conscientiæ, but the external walk.

But we shall pass this by. The word confession is mentioned in several places in the Psalms; as in the 32 Psalm, verse 5: "I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid." The confession and acknowledgment which are made to God, are the contrition itself: for when we confess to God, we must acknowledge in our hearts that we are sinners, and not merely mention the words with the mouth, as hypocrites do. Therefore the confession which is made to God, is a contrition in the heart, in which state we feel the real displeasure and wrath of God, and justify him in being angry, and in not being reconciled by our merits; and yet we should

seek mercy here, inasmuch as God has promised grace in Christ. A similar confession is that in the 51 Psalm and the 4th verse: "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight; that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest:" that is, I confess that I am a sinner, and that I deserve eternal wrath, and cannot appease thy wrath with my works or with my merit; I therefore say that thou art just, and doest justly punish us: I give thee right, even if the hypocrites judge thee, that thou art unjust in not regarding their merits and good works: yes I know that my works cannot stand before thy judgment; but through thy mercy we shall be justified, if thou esteem us as just.

The declaration of James may at the same time be produced by some: "Confess your faults one to another," James 5, 16. But he does not speak of a confession which is made to a priest, but of a reconciliation and an acknowledgment by which men often reconcile themselves to their neighbors.

And our adversaries must, to a considerable extent, condemn their own doctrine, if they wish to maintain that it is necessary to make an enumeration of sins, and that God has commanded it. For, although we retain confession, and assert that it is necessary to question youth and inexperienced people, for the purpose of affording opportunity to give them the better instructions; yet it must be so moderated as not to ensnare their consciences, which can never be at peace, while they are under the impression that to enumera their sins is an obligation to God.

Therefore the declaration of our adversaries, that it is essential to salvation to make a confession in which no sin is concealed, is entirely false, because such confession is impossible. O, how dreadfully have they perplexed and tormented many pious consciences, by teaching that confession must be entire, and that no sin must remain unconfessed! for how can a person be certain that he has confessed entirely?

The Fathers likewise have adverted to confession; they do not, however, speak of the enumeration of secret sins, but of a ceremony of public repentance: because in former times those who lived in open vices, were not reinstated in the church, without public ceremonies and reproofs. It was therefore necessary for them, to confess their sins by name to the priest, so that according to the enormity of the crime, expiation might be imposed. The whole circumstance is, however, not similar to the enumeration of sins, about which we contend; for this confession and acknowledgment was not