Lutheran movement in england during the reigns of henry VIII. And edward VI

CHAPTER XXVII. THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES.

Archdeacon Hardwick’s Researches. Dr. Schaff’s “Creeds of Christendom.” Retrospect to Preparatory Work in the preceding Reign. The XLII. Articles of 1552. Revision under Queen Elizabeth. Table showing the parts of each article taken from the Augsburg Confession, Apology, Smalcald Articles and Würtemberg Confession.

The minute investigations which Archdeacon Hardwick has made, and whose results are embodied in his well-known “History of the Articles of Religion,” relieve us of the necessity of any extended examination. So thorough has been his work, and so full his treatment of the relation of the articles of his Church to the Augsburg and Würtemberg Confessions, that, it will supply the most needed information concerning what yet remains. He has overlooked, however, the connection of the Articles with the Apology and Smalcald Articles. The first volume of Dr. Schaff’s “Creeds of Christendom” also presents a very satisfactory summary. The pamphlet of Dr. Morris has collected the statements of many English writers on the fact, which no scholar, or well-informed person will any longer venture to dispute, that the Thirty-Nine Articles are of Lutheran origin.

We have above traced the history of the Wittenberg negotiations of 1535-6, the Ten Articles of 1536, the Memoranda of 1538, etc. After the accession of Edward, Cranmer seems to have delayed the preparation of a Confession, possibly in the hope that the various Protestant communions might be induced to unite in one common Confession against Rome. [[@Page:340]]

The first sketch of the English Articles was made in the summer of 1551, chiefly, as cotemporaries affirm, by Cranmer himself. This rough draft was submitted to the bishops throughout the country, and after receiving their suggestions, was submitted to two learned laymen, Sir William Cecil and Sir John Cheke. Then it was submitted to the King, and referred to his six chaplains, among whom was John Knox. Revised again by Cranmer, the Articles finally were issued with authority in 1553.³³⁹ In the previous year, however, they seem to have been privately circulated. They are known as the XLII. Articles of 1552.

Ten years later, after the accession of Elizabeth had restored the Reformation in England, Archbishop Parker undertook a revision of the XLII. Articles, in which he made free use of the Würtemberg Confession³⁴⁰ prepared by Dr. John Brentz in 1551, and published under the authority of Duke Christopher, for submission to the Council of Trent. The document, thus completed, is known as the XXXIX. Articles of 1562. It omitted the 10th, 16th, 19th and 41st articles of 1552, and introduced as new articles, the 5th, 12th, 29th and 30th. The Convocation did not ratify the last three, and the 29th was omitted during printing, making the number actually only thirty-eight. But in 1571, when the final revision occurred, the 29th was reintroduced, and then the entire document, receiving the sanction of Parliament, was made obligatory upon the clergy. The following table will show the relation of the several Articles to the Lutheran formularies.

[[I >> 39art:1]]. [[Aug. Conf., Art. I >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:1]].; XIII. Articles, 1538.

[[II >> 39art:2]]. [[Aug. Conf., III >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:3]].; XIII. Articles 1538; Revision of 1562 introduced: “Begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God of one substance with the Father,” from the Würtemberg Confession. [[@Page:341]]

[[III. and IV >> 39art:3-4]]. Each following a clause in [[Aug. Conf., Art. III >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:3]]., but not identical with the Confession.

[[V >> 39art:5]]. Würtemberg Confession, Art. III. Not in 1552.

[[VI >> 39art:6]]. [V. of 1552.] —————

[[VII >> 39art:7]]. [VI. of 1552.] —————

[[VIII >> 39art:8]]. [VII. 1552]. Articles of 1536, I. Saxon Arts., (1551, Melanchthon), I.

[[IX >> 39art:9]]. [VIII., 1552]. [[Aug. Conf., II >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:2]].; XIII. Articles (1538), II.

[[X >> 39art:10]]. [IX]. Former Sentence from close of Art. III,, Würtemberg Confession; “the latter almost verbatim from St. Augustine.”

[[XI >> 39art:11]]. [[Aug. Conf. IV >> BookofConcord:AC:I:4]].; Arts, of 1536, V.; XIII. Arts., IV. See preceding chapter on Homilies.

[[XII >> 39art:12]]. Hardwick refers this in part to the Würtemberg Confession. It is nearer the argument of the Apology which in fact it condenses, and may possibly be connected with the Homilies. Almost the very words of Apology however reappear, [[p. 139: §172 >> BookOfConcord:AP:3, 172]].

[[XIII >> 39art:13]]. [XII]. Also condensing the thought of the Apology, pp. 89; 147 sqq.; 230.

[[XIV >> 39art:14]]. [XII]. Apology, 285: 24, 25.

[[XV >> 39art:15]]. [XIV]. Amplifying a thought of [[Aug. Conf., Art. II >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:2]].

[[XVI >> 39art:16]]. [XV]. Partly from [[Aug. Conf., Art. XII >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:12]].

[[XVII >> 39art:17]]. —————

[[XVIII >> 39art:18]]. —————

[[XIX >> 39art:19]]. [XX]. Aug. Conf., [[Art. VII >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:7]]; [[XIII >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:13]]. Arts., V.

[[XX >> 39art:20]]. [XXI]. Cf. [[Aug. Conf., Art. XXVIII >> BookOfConcord:AC:II:28]]. Melanchthon’s Appendix to Smalcald Articles, II.

[[XXI >> 39art:21]]. [XXII.] —————

[[XXII >> 39art:22]]. [XXIII]. Possibly from [[Smalcald Articles, Part II: Art. II., 12 >> BookOfConcord:Smalcald:II, 2, 12]]. “Purgatory and every solemnity, rite, and profit connected with it, is to be regarded nothing but a spectre of the devil. (“Mera diaboli larva)” Eng. Art: “Res est futilis.” [[@Page:342]]

[[XXIII >> 39art:23]]. [XXIV]. Based on [[Aug. Conf , Art. XIV >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:14]].; XIII. Arts., X.

[[XXIV >> 39art:24]]. [XXV]. Cf. [[Apology, 259: 4 >> BookOfConcord:AP:24, 4]]

[[XXV >> 39art:25]]. [XXIV]. Based on [[Aug. Conf., Art. XIII >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:13]].; XIII. Arts., IX.

[[XXVI >> 39art:26]]. [XXV]. [[Aug. Conf. Art. VIII >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:8]]; XIII. Arts.,X.

[[XXVII >> 39art:27]]. [XXVIII]. The Articles of 1536 and 1538, based on Augsburg Confession and Melanchthon “Against the Anabaptists,” were probably, as Hardwick supposes, before the compiler; but there was a very decided weakening to conform it to the Calvinistic doctrine.

[[XXVIII >> 39art:28]]. (XXIX) ————— (Calvinistic).

[[XXIX >> 39art:29]]. §————— Calvinistic. First published in 1571.

[[XXX >> 39art:30]]. Cf. [[Aug. Conf., Art. XXII >> BookOfConcord:AC:II:22]]. Added in 1562.

[[XXX >> 39art:31]]. (XXX). Based on [[Aug. Conf., Art. XXIV: 22-27 >> BookOfConcord:AC:II:24, 22-27]].

[[XXXII >> 39art:32]]. (XXXI) Cf. [[Aug. Conf., Art. XXIII: 3 sqq >> BookOfConcord:AC:II:23]].

[[XXXIII >> 39art:33]]. (XXXII). —————

[[XXXIV >> 39art:34]]. (XXXIII). Based on [[Aug. Conf. Art. XV >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:15]]. Cf. [[Apology, Art. XV: 1, 3, 8, 51 >> BookOfConcord:AP:15]].

[[XXXV >> 39art:35]]. (XXXIV) —————

[[XXXVI >> 39art:36]]. (XXXV). —————

[[XXXVII >> 39art:37]]. (XXXVI). Partly from [[Aug. Conf., Art. XVI >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:16]].

[[XXXVIII >> 39art:38]]. (XXXVII). Partly from [[Aug. Conf., Art. XVI >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:16]], and its explanation by [[Apology, Art. XVI: 36, 61, etc >> BookOfConcord:AP:16]].

[[XXXIX >> 39art:39]]. (XXXVIII). From same Article.

The suppressed Art. XLI. of 1552 was based on [[Aug. Conf., Art. II >> BookOfConcord:AC:I:2]]. [[@Page:343]]