From the moment of its presentation to the present day, men have not
tired of praising the Augsburg Confession, which has been called
_Confessio augusta, Confessio augustissima,_ the "_Evangelischer
Augapfel,_" etc. They have admired its systematic plan, its
completeness, comprehensiveness, and arrangement; its balance of
mildness and firmness; its racy vigor, freshness, and directness; its
beauty of composition, "the like of which can not be found in the entire
literature of the Reformation period." Spalatin exclaims: "A Confession,
the like of which was never made, not only in a thousand years, but as
long as the world has been standing!" Sartorius: "A confession of the
eternal truth, of true ecumenical Christianity, and of all fundamental
articles of the Christian faith!" "From the Diet of Augsburg, which is
the birthday of the Evangelical Church Federation, down to the great
Peace Congress of Muenster and Osnabrueck, this Confession stands as the
towering standard in the entire history of those profoundly troublous
times, gathering the Protestants about itself in ever closer ranks, and,
when assaulted by the enemies of Evangelical truth with increasing fury,
is defended by its friends in severe fighting, with loss of goods and
blood, and always finally victoriously holds the field. Under the
protection of this banner the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany has
been built up on firm and unassailable foundations: under the same
protection the Reformed Church in Germany has found shelter. But the
banner was carried still farther; for all Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, and
Prussians have sworn allegiance to it, and the Esthonians, Latts, Finns,
as well as all Lutherans of Russia, France, and other lands recognize
therein the palladium of their faith and rights. No other Protestant
confession has ever been so honored." (Guericke, _Kg._, 3, 116 f.)
Vilmar says in praise of the Confession: "Whoever has once felt a gentle
breath of the bracing mountain air which is wafted from this mighty
mountain of faith [the Augsburg Confession] no longer seeks to pit
against its firm and quiet dignity his own uncertain, immature, and
wavering thoughts nor to direct the vain and childish puff of his mouth
against that breath of God in order to give it a different direction."
(_Theol. d. Tatsachen,_ 76.) In his Introduction to the Symbolical
Books, J. T. Mueller says: "Luther called the Diet of Augsburg 'the last
trumpet before Judgment Day;' hence we may well call the confession
there made the _blast_ of that trumpet, which, indeed, has gone forth
into all lands, even as the Gospel of God which it proclaims in its
purity." (78.) The highest praise, however, is given the Augsburg
Confession by the Church which was born with it, when, _e.g._, in the
Formula of Concord, the Lutherans designate it as "the symbol of our
time," and glory in it as the Confession, which, though frowned upon and
assailed by its opponents, "down to this day has remained unrefuted and
unoverthrown (bis auf diesen Tag unwiderlegt und unumgestossen
geblieben)." (777, 4; 847, 3.)