§.IV III–IV: Palace reading adds no precedence over the Tetrapolitan; authority is great yet not absolute
III. That the Confession was read to the Emperor in the palace wins it no authority beyond another confession of the same age written in Upper Germany and commonly called the Tetrapolitan — likewise shown to Charles, though not read aloud to him.
Both were struck down and cast out by one and the same imperial decree, as Chytraeus narrates (History of the Augsburg Confession, Frankfurt edition 1578; and Celestine, Tom. III and Tom. IV).
IV. Meanwhile its authority on the chief dogmas of faith is great and outstanding — even much outweighing the authority of many particular confessions and of the Formula of Concord. The celebrated Wittenberg divine Philipp Ludwig Hanneken owns as much in his Theological Declaration on the true estimation of the Augsburg Confession (preliminary qq. 8–9), if I rightly catch a mind set out a little darkly.
I say, first: as to the chief Christian dogmas. The Confession does not reach to everything; so Hutter is wrong to claim it as the most ready and powerful antidote against every heresy whatever (Explanation of the Formula of Concord).
I say, second: a comparatively great and outstanding authority belongs to it, yet not an absolute one. Under that name the Neustadt theologians hint very soberly that they do not (at least principally) rest the confirmation of their doctrine on its consent or patronage, as if under that cover they might sell or force it on others.
By God's gift their faith and confession stand on better ground than to need men's testimonies or props, still less a borrowed agreement with them. So they need not fret whether the Augsburg Confession stands with them or not, provided they are sure the confession of the Prophets and Apostles does — and if they agree with that, they are free to dissent from Augsburg and from every human confession (ch. 5).
They had already protested in the preceding fourth chapter (p. 116) that they did not mean to reject or tear apart the Augsburg Confession, but rather to keep for it a fitting authority — lest, like its immoderate heralds, by giving it an unjust authority they strip away even the just one.
Here Annotatio I §.IV closes before §.V on the varied editions and the fights over autograph, apograph, and print.
Latin
III. Augustanam Confessionem per id, quòd Caesari praelecta in palatio est, nihil quicquam Auctoritatis, prae alia ejusdem aetatis, in Superiori Germania conscripta, ac vulgò Tetrapolitana appellata, Caesari etiam non minùs, atque ista, exhibita, etsi eidem haud praelecta, acquirere, quòd nihilominus utramque, unô etiam eodemque Decreto Imperiali proscriptam eliminatamque esse constat, narrante Chytraeo, Hist. August. Confess. edit. Francof. Anni 1578. p. 389. 393. collat. cum p. 379. & Caelestino Tom. III. p. 137. & Tom. IV. p. 120. Interim IV. Autoritatem August. Confess. quà fidei Dogmata praecipua, esse magnam atque eximiam, quin, ut multarum Confessionum particularium, ita & Formulae Concordiae Autoritatem, multum praevalentem, agnoscente id etiam celeberr. Wittenbergens. Theologo, Philippo Ludov. Hannekenio, Declarat. Theol. de vera Aug. Conf. aestimatione, Quest. praelimin. 8. pag. 28. & Quest. 9. pag. 32. si alioquin mentem ejus obscuriùs paulò expositam, rectè assequor. DICO [1.] quà praecipua fidei Christ. Dogmata: Neque enim ad omnia sese porrigit, ut proinde perperam de ea Hutterus affirmet, in universum omni haeresi praesentissimum efficacissimumque eam opponere antidoton, Expl. Form. Conc. p. m. 22. DICO [2.] Autoritatem comparatè magnam eximiamque, non tamen absolutam Augustanae Confessioni competere; quô nomine Neostadienses perquam sobriè innuunt, se Doctrinae suae Confirmationem non (puta principaliter) ponere in Consensu seu patrocinio illius, ut istius praetextu eam hominibus venditent seu obtrudant: Dei enim beneficio melioribus fundamentis niti suam Fidem & Confessionem, quàm ut hominum testimoniis, aut praesidiis, nedum assimilatâ cum illis consensione, indigant; itaque non esse sibi anxiè laborandum, an Augustana Confessio à suis partibus stet, nec ne, dummodo certi sint, à se stare Confessionem Prophetarum & Apostolorum, cum hac si consentiant, liberum sibi esse ab Augustana & omnium hominum Confessionibus dissentire. Cap. 5. pag. 154. Postquam scil. Cap. praecedente 4to, pag. 116. protestati fuerant, suum non esse Consilium, ut August. Confessionem velint improbare, aut convellere, sed potiùs convenientem illi autoritatem asserere, ne, [sicut faciunt immodici illius praecones,] injustam ei autoritatem tribuentes, etiam justam adimant.