Abandoning his original scheme, which had merely served to increase the
animosity among the Lutherans and to discredit himself, Andreae resolved
henceforth to confine his peace efforts to true Lutherans, especially
those of Swabia and Lower Saxony, and to unite them in opposition to the
Zwinglians, Calvinists, and Philippists, who, outside of Electoral
Saxony, were by this time generally regarded as traitors to the cause of
Lutheranism. In 1573 he made his first move to carry out this new plan
of his by publishing sermons which he had delivered 1572 on the
doctrines controverted within the Lutheran Church. The title ran: "_Six
Christian Sermons_ concerning the dissensions which from the year 1548
to this 1573d year have gradually arisen among the theologians of the
_Augsburg Confession_, as to what attitude a plain pastor and a common
Christian layman who may have been offended thereby should assume toward
them according to his Catechism." These sermons treat of justification,
good works, original sin, free will, the adiaphora, Law and Gospel, and
the person of Christ. As the title indicates, Andreae appealed not so
much to the theologians as to the pastors and the people of the Lutheran
Church, concerning whom he was convinced that, adhering as they did, to
Luther's Catechism, they in reality, at least in their hearts, were even
then, and always had been, agreed. Andreae sent these sermons to
Chemnitz, Chytraeus, Hesshusius, Wigand, and other theologians with the
request that they be accepted as a basis of agreement. In the preface,
dated February 17, 1573, he dedicated them to Duke Julius of Brunswick
whose good will and consent in the matter he had won in 1568, when he
assisted in introducing the Reformation in his territories. Before this
Nicholas Selneccer, then superintendent of Wolfenbuettel, in order to
cultivate the friendly relations between Swabia and Lower Saxony, had
dedicated his _Instruction in the Christian Religion_ (_Institutio
Religionis Christianae_) to the Duke of Wuerttemberg, praising the
writings of Brenz, and lauding the services rendered by Andreae to the
duchy of Brunswick.
The sermons of Andreae were welcomed by Chemnitz, Westphal in Hamburg,
David Chytraeus in Rostock, and others. They also endeavored to obtain
recognition for them from various ecclesiastical ministries of Lower
Saxony. But having convinced themselves that the sermonic form was not
adapted for a confession, they, led by Chemnitz, advised that their
contents be reduced to articles in "thesis and antithesis," and that
this be done "with the assistance of other theologians." Andreae
immediately acted on this suggestion and the result was what is known as
the _Swabian Concordia_ (_Schwaebische Konkordie_)--the first draft of
the _Formula of Concord_. This document, also called the Tuebingen Book,
was submitted to, and approved by, the theologians of Tuebingen and by
the Stuttgart Consistory. In substance it was an elaboration of the _Six
Sermons_ with the addition of the last two articles. It contains eleven
articles, treating 1. Original Sin; 2. Free Will; 3. The Righteousness
of Faith before God; 4. Good Works; 5. Law and Gospel; 6. The Third Use
of the Law; 7. The Church Usages Called Adiaphora; 8. The Lord's Supper;
9. The Person of Christ: 10. Eternal Election; 11. Other Factions and
Sects. In the introduction Andreae also emphasizes the necessity of
adopting those symbols which were afterwards received into the _Book of
Concord_.