The synergistic controversy received new zest and a new impetus when, in
1559, Victorin Strigel and Huegel (Hugelius), respectively professor and
pastor at Jena, the stronghold of the opponents of the Wittenberg
Philippists, opposed Flacius, espoused the cause of Pfeffinger,
championed the doctrine of Melanchthon, and refused to endorse the so
called _Book of Confutation_ which Flacius had caused to be drafted
particularly against the Wittenberg Philippists and Synergists, and to
be introduced. The situation thus created was all the more sensational
because, in the preceding controversies, Strigel had, at least
apparently, always sided with the opponents of the Philippists.
The "_Konfutationsbuch_--Book of Confutation and Condemnations of the
Chief Corruptions, Sects, and Errors Breaking in and Spreading at this
Time" was published in 1559 by Duke John Frederick II as a doctrinal
norm of his duchy. In nine chapters this Book, a sort of forerunner of
the _Formula of Concord,_ dealt with the errors 1. of Servetus, 2. of
Schwenckfeld, 3. of the Antinomians, 4. of the Anabaptists, 5. of the
Zwinglians, 6. of the Synergists, 7. of Osiander and Stancarus, 8. of
the Majorists, 9. of the Adiaphorists. Its chief object, as expressly
stated in the Preface, was to warn against the errors introduced by the
Philippists, whose doctrines, as also Planck admits, were not in any
way misrepresented in this document. (4, 597. 595.) The sixth part,
directed against synergism bore the title: "_Confutatio Corruptelarum
in Articulo de Libero Arbitrio sive de Viribus Humanis_--Confutation of
the Corruptions in the Article Concerning Free Will or Concerning the
Human Powers." The _Confutation_ was framed by the Jena theologians,
Strigel and Huegel also participating in its composition. However, some
of the references to the corruptions of the Philippists must have been
rather vague and ambiguous in the first draft of the book; for when it
was revised at the convention in Weimar, Flacius secured the adoption of
additions and changes dealing particularly with the synergism of the
Wittenbergers, which were energetically opposed by Strigel.
Even before the adoption of the _Book of Confutation,_ Strigel had been
polemicizing against Flacius. But now (as Flacius reports) he began to
denounce him at every occasion as the "architect of a new theology" and
an "enemy of the _Augsburg Confession._" At the same time he also
endeavored to incite the students in Jena against him. Flacius, in turn,
charged Strigel with scheming to establish a Philippistic party in Ducal
Saxony. The public breach came when the _Book of Confutation_ was
submitted for adoption and publication in the churches and schools.
Pastor Huegel refused to read and explain it from the pulpit, and
Strigel presented his objections to the Duke, and asked that his
conscience be spared. But when Strigel failed to maintain silence in the
matter, he as well as Pastor Huegel were summarily dealt with by the
Duke. On March 27, 1559, at two o'clock in the morning, both were
suddenly arrested and imprisoned. Flacius who was generally regarded as
the secret instigator of this act of violence, declared publicly that
the arrest had been made without his counsel and knowledge. About six
months later (September 5, 1569) Strigel and Huegel after making some
doctrinal concessions and promising not to enter into any disputation on
the Confutation, were set at liberty. (Planck 4, 591. 604.)