In all the churches of Saxony thanksgiving services were held to praise
God for the final triumph of genuine Lutheranism. A memorial coin
celebrating the victory over the Crypto-Calvinists, bearing the date
1574, was struck at Torgau. The obverse exhibits Elector August handing
a book to Elector John George of Brandenburg. The inscription above
reads: "_Conserva Apud Nos Verbum Tuum, Domine_. Preserve Thy Word among
Us, O Lord." Below, the inscription runs: "_Augustus, Dei Gratia Dux
Saxionae et Elector_. Augustus, by the Grace of God Duke of Saxony and
Elector." The reverse represents Torgau and its surroundings, with
Wittenberg in the distance. The Elector, clad in his armor, is standing
on a rock bearing the inscription: "_Schloss Hartenfels_" (castle at
Torgau). In his right hand he is holding a sword, in his left a balance,
whose falling scale, in which the Child Jesus is sitting, bears the
inscription: "_Die Allmacht_, Omnipotence." The lighter and rising pan,
in which four Wittenberg Crypto-Calvinists are vainly exerting
themselves to the utmost in pulling on the chains of their pan in order
to increase its weight, and on the beam of which also the devil is
sitting, is inscribed: "_Die Vernunft_, Reason." Above, God appears,
saying to the Elector, "Joshua 1, 5. 6: _Confide, Non Derelinquam Te_.
Trust, I will not forsake thee." Below we read: "_Apud Deum Non Est
Impossibile Verbum Ullum_, Lucae 1. _Conserva Apud Nos Verbum Tuum,
Domine_. 1574. Nothing is impossible with God, Luke 1. Preserve Thy Word
among us, Lord. 1574."
The obverse of a smaller medal, also of 1574 shows the bust of Elector
August with the inscription: "_Augustus, Dei Gratia Dux Saxoniae Et
Elector_." The reverse exhibits a ship in troubled waters with the
crucified Christ in her expanded sails, and the Elector in his armor and
with the sword on his shoulder, standing at the foot of the mast. In the
roaring ocean are enemies, shooting with arrows and striking with
swords, making an assault upon the ship. The fearlessness of the Elector
is expressed in the inscription: "_Te Gubernatore_, Thou [Christ] being
the pilot." Among the jubilee medals of 1617 there is one which
evidently, too, celebrates the victory over Zwinglianism and Calvinism.
Its obverse exhibits Frederick in his electoral garb pointing with two
fingers of his right hand to the name Jehovah at the head of the medal.
At his left Luther is standing with a burning light in his right hand
and pointing with the forefinger of his left hand to a book lying on a
table and bearing the title: "_Biblia Sacra: V[erbum] D[ei] M[anet] I[n]
Ae[ternum]_." The reverse represents the Elector standing on a rock
inscribed: "_Schloss Hartenfels_, Castle Hartenfels." In his right hand
he is holding the sword and in his left a balance. Under the falling
scale, containing the Child Jesus, we read: "_Die Allmacht_,
Omnipotence," and under the rising pan, in which the serpent is lying:
"_Die Vernunft_, Reason." The marginal inscription runs. "_Iosua 1:
Confide. Non Derelinquam Te_. Joshua 1: Trust. I will not forsake thee."
(Ch. Junker, _Ehrengedaechtnis Dr. M. Luthers_, 353. 383.)
Self-evidently, Elector August immediately took measures also to
reestablish in his territories Luther's doctrine of the Lord's Supper.
The beginning was made by introducing a confession prepared by reliable
superintendents and discussed, adopted, and subscribed at the Diet of
Torgau, September, 1574, and published simultaneously in German and
Latin. Its German title ran: "_Brief Confession (Kurz Bekenntnis) and
Articles Concerning the Holy Supper of the Body and Blood of Christ_,
from which may clearly be seen what heretofore has been publicly taught,
believed, and confessed concerning it in both universities of Leipzig
and Wittenberg, and elsewhere in all churches and schools of the Elector
of Saxony, also what has been rebuked and is still rebuked as
Sacramentarian error and enthusiasm." The Torgau Confession, therefore,
does not reject the _Corpus Doctrinae Misnicum_ of 1560 nor even the
_Consensus Dresdensis_ of 1571, and pretends that Melanchthon was in
doctrinal agreement with Luther, and that only a few Crypto-Calvinists
had of late been discovered in the Electorate. This pretense was the
chief reason why the Confession did not escape criticism. In 1575 Wigand
published: "Whether the New Wittenbergers had hitherto always taught
harmoniously and agreeably with the Old, and whether Luther's and
Philip's writings were throughout in entire harmony and agreement."
As for its doctrine, however, the Torgau Confession plainly upholds the
Lutheran teaching. Article VII contends that in the distribution of the
Lord's Supper the body and blood of Christ "are truly received also by
the unworthy." Article VIII maintains the "oral eating and drinking,
_oris manducatio_." Calvin, Beza, Bullinger, Peter Martyr and the
Heidelberg theologians are rejected, and their names expressly
mentioned. On the other hand, the "ubiquity [local extension] of the
flesh of Christ" is disavowed and a discussion of the mode and
possibility of the presence of the body and blood of Christ is declined
as something inscrutable. The Latin passage reads: "_Ac ne carnis quidem
ubiquitatem, aut quidquam, quod vel veritatem corporis Christi tollat,
vel ulli fidei articulo repugnet, propter praesentiam in Coena fingimus
aut probamus. Denique de modo et possibilitate praesentiae corporis et
sanguinis Domini plane nihil disputamus. Nam omnia haec imperscrutabilia
statuimus_." (Gieseler 3, 2, 268.)
Caspar Cruciger, Jr., Henry Moeller, Christopher Pezel, and Frederick
Widebram, who refused to subscribe the _Brief Confession_, were first
arrested, then, after subscribing with a qualification, released, but
finally (1574) banished. Widebram and Pezel removed to Nassau, Moeller
to Hamburg, and Cruciger to Hesse. At Leipzig, Andrew Freyhub, who
appealing to the _Consensus Dresdensis_, taught that Christ was exalted
according to both natures, that divine properties were not communicated
to His humanity, and that His body was inclosed in a certain place in
heaven was deposed in 1576.
Thus ended the Crypto-Calvinistic drama in Electoral Saxony. Henceforth
such men as Andreae, Chemnitz, and Selneccer were the trusted advisers
of August, who now became the enthusiastic, devoted, and
self-sacrificing leader of the larger movement for settling all of the
controversies distracting the Lutheran Church, which finally resulted in
the adoption of the _Formula of Concord_.