It was a severe blow to the Lutheran Church when Bremen and the
Palatinate fell a prey to Calvinism. And the fears were not unfounded
that before long the Electorate of Saxony would follow in their wake,
and Wittenberg, the citadel of the Lutheran Reformation, be captured by
Calvin. That this misfortune, which, no doubt, would have dealt a final
and fatal blow to Lutheranism, was warded off, must be regarded as a
special providence of God. For the men (Melanchthon, Major, etc.) whom
Luther had accused of culpable silence regarding the true doctrine of
the Lord's Supper, were, naturally enough, succeeded by theologians who,
while claiming to be true Lutherans adhering to the Augsburg Confession
and, in a shameful manner deceiving and misleading Elector August
zealously championed and developed the Melanchthonian aberrations, in
particular with respect to the doctrines concerning the Lord's Supper
and the person of Christ, and sedulously propagated the views of Calvin,
at first secretly and guardedly, but finally with boldness and abandon.
Gieseler says of these Philippists in Wittenberg: "Inwardly they were
out-and-out Calvinists, although they endeavored to appear as genuine
Lutherans before their master," Elector August. (3, 2, 250.)
The most prominent and influential of these so-called Philippists or
Crypto-Calvinists were Dr. Caspar Cruciger, Jr., Dr. Christopher Pezel,
Dr. Frederick Widebram, and Dr. Henry Moeller. The schemes of these men
were aided and abetted by a number of non-theological professors:
Wolfgang Crell, professor of ethics, Esrom Ruedinger, professor of
philosophy; George Cracow, professor of jurisprudence and, later, privy
councilor of Elector August; Melanchthon's son-in-law, Caspar Peucer,
professor of medicine and physician in ordinary of the Elector, who
naturally had a great influence on August and the ecclesiastical
affairs of the Electorate. He held that Luther's doctrine of the real
presence had no more foundation in the Bible than did the Roman
transubstantiation. To these must be added John Stoessel, confessor to
the Elector and superintendent at Pirna; Christian Schuetze,
court-preacher at Dresden, Andrew Freyhub and Wolfgang Harder
professors in Leipzig, and others. The real leaders of these Philippists
were Peucer and Cracow. Their scheme was to prepossess the Elector
against the loyal adherents of Luther, especially Flacius, gradually to
win him over to their liberal views, and, at the proper moment, to
surrender and deliver Electoral Saxony to the Calvinists. In prosecuting
this sinister plan, they were unscrupulous also in the choice of their
means. Thus Wittenberg, during Luther's days the fountainhead of the
pure Gospel and the stronghold of uncompromising fidelity to the truth,
had become a veritable nest of fanatical Crypto-Calvinistic schemers
and dishonest anti-Lutheran plotters who also controlled the situation
in the entire Electorate.
The first public step to accomplish their purpose was the publication of
the _Corpus Doctrinae Christianae_, or _Corpus Doctrinae Misnicum_, or
_Philippicum_, as it was also called. This collection of symbolical
books was published 1560 at Leipzig by Caspar Peucer, Melanchthon's
son-in-law, with a preface to both the German and Latin editions written
by Melanchthon and dated September 29, 1559, and February 16, 1560,
respectively,--an act by which, perhaps without sufficiently realizing
it, Melanchthon immodestly assumed for himself and his views the place
within the Lutheran Church which belonged not to him, but to Luther. The
title which reveals the insincerity and the purpose of this publication,
runs as follows: _"Corpus Doctrinae, i.e._, the entire sum of the true
and Christian doctrine ... as a testimony of the steadfast and unanimous
confession of the pure and true religion in which the schools and
churches of these Electoral Saxon and Meissen territories have remained
and persevered in all points according to the _Augsburg Confession_ for
now almost thirty years against the unfounded false charges and
accusations of all lying spirits, 1560." As a matter of fact, however,
this _Corpus_ contained, besides the Ecumenical Symbols, only writings
of Melanchthon, notably the altered _Augsburg Confession_ and the
altered _Apology_ of 1542, the Saxon Confession of 1551, the changed
_Loci_, the _Examen Ordinandorum_ of 1554, and the _Responsiones ad
Impios Articulos Inquisitionis Bavaricae_.
Evidently this _Corpus Philippicum_, which was introduced also in
churches outside of Electoral Saxony, particularly where the princes or
leading theologians were Melanchthonians, was intended to alienate the
Electorate from the old teaching of Luther, to sanction and further the
Melanchthonian tendency, and thus to pave the way for Calvinism. It was
foisted upon, and rigorously enforced in, all the churches of Electoral
Saxony. All professors, ministers, and teachers were pledged by an oath
to teach according to it. Such as refused to subscribe were deposed,
imprisoned, or banished. Among the persecuted pastors we find the
following names: Tettelbach, superintendent in Chemnitz; George Herbst,
deacon in Chemnitz and later superintendent in Eisleben; Graf,
superintendent in Sangerhausen; Schade, Heine, and Schuetz, pastors in
Freiberg. When ministers who refused their signatures appealed to
Luther's writings, they were told that Luther's books must be
understood and explained according to Melanchthon's _Corpus_. At
Wittenberg the opposition to Luther and his teaching bordered on
fanaticism. When, for example, in 1568 Conrad Schluesselburg and Albert
Schirmer, two Wittenberg students, entered a complaint against
Professors Pezel and Peucer because of their deviations from Luther in
the doctrine of the Lord's Supper and refused to admit that Peucer and
his colleagues represented the pure doctrine in this matter, they were
expelled from the university, anathematized, and driven from the city.
(Schluesselburg 13, 609. 730; Gieseler 3, 2, 250.)
Immediately after its appearance, the _Corpus Philippicum_ was
denounced by loyal Lutherans, notably those of Reuss, Schoenfeld, and
Jena. When the charges of false teaching against the Wittenberg
theologians increased in number and force, Elector August arranged a
colloquy between the theologians of Jena and Wittenberg. It was held at
Altenburg and lasted from October, 1568, to March, 1569 because the
Wittenbergers, evidently afraid of compromising themselves, insisted on
its being conducted in writing only. The result of this colloquy was a
public declaration on the part of Wigand, Coelestinus, Kirchner Rosinus,
and others to the effect that the Wittenberg and Leipzig theologians had
unmistakably revealed themselves as false teachers. At the colloquy the
Jena theologians objected in particular also to the _Corpus Misnicum_
because it contained the altered _Augustana_, concerning which they
declared: Melanchthon "has changed the said _Augsburg Confession_ so
often that finally he has opened a window through which the
Sacramentarians and Calvinists can sneak into it. One must watch
carefully, lest in course of time the Papists also find such a loophole
to twist themselves into it." (Gieseler 3, 2, 252.)
The Philippists of Leipzig and Wittenberg in turn, denounced the Jena
theologians as Flacian fighting cocks (_Flacianische Haderkatzen_). They
also succeeded in persuading Elector August to adopt more rigorous
measures against the malcontents in his territories. For in addition to
the adoption of the _Corpus Philippicum_ the ministers were now required
to subscribe to a declaration which was tantamount to an endorsement of
all of the false doctrines entertained by the Wittenbergers. The
declaration read: "I do not adhere to the dangerous Flacian Illyrian
errors, contentions, poisonous backbitings, and fanaticism (_zaenkischem
Geschmeiss, giftigem Gebeiss und Schwaermerei_) with which the schools
and churches of this country are burdened [by Flacius] concerning the
imagined adiaphorism, synergism, and Majorism and other false
accusations, nor have I any pleasure in it [the quarreling], and in the
future I intend, by the help of God, to abstain from it altogether, to
damn, flee, and avoid it, and as much as I am able, to prevent it."
(Gieseler 3, 2, 253; Walther, 49.)