1. The Drafting of the Confession. In 1530 Charles V assembled a diet at Augsburg. Contrary to common expectation his proclamation was very friendly, saying that in this assembly all animosity was to be put aside and everyone's views were to be heard in all love and kindness. Elector John the Steadfast thereupon commissioned his theologians to draw up a brief and clear summary of the principal doctrines of evangelical truth, that he and his party might be ready to confess their faith and their hope in a clear and unmistakable manner. The theologians carried out this order and drew up a document upon the basis of 17 articles composed by Luther at an earlier date. In April of 1530 Elector John, together with Luther, Melanchthon, Spalatin, Jonas, and Agricola, started off for Augsburg to fight a good fight. As the ban of the empire was still in force against Luther, and the city of Augsburg had protested against his coming, the elector had him taken to the fortress Coburg, on the morning of the 23d of April, that, in case of necessity, he might be near at hand. Luther complied, although very unwillingly. In order not to expose the elector to any danger the theologians requested him also to remain away, and offered to go to Augsburg alone and give an account of their teachings. But the elector answered courageously, "God forbid that I should be excluded from your company. I will confess my Lord Christ with you." Catholic estates, both spiritual and temporal lords, among them Dr. Eck and Faber, were traveling the same road. In Augsburg Melanchthon again set to work, and in agreement with Luther and the other confessors completed the writing out of the confession. He then sent a copy of it to Luther at Coburg for inspection. When returning it Luther wrote: "I am well pleased with it, and cannot see that I could improve or change it; nor would it be proper for me to attempt this, for I cannot step so softly and gently. Christ, our Lord, grant that it may bring forth rich abundance of precious fruit. That is our hope and prayer. Amen." This is the origin of the confession which is known as the Augsburg Confession. It is a pure, correct, and irrefutable confession of the divine truths of Holy Scripture. Therefore it is also the holy banner around which all true Lutherans everywhere gather, and to this day the Lutheran church acknowledges only those as its members who accept the Unaltered Augsburg Confession in all its articles, without any exception.

2. Heroism of the Lutheran Princes. Slowly the emperor finally approached the city of Augsburg where the assembled estates were expectantly waiting for him. In great pomp he entered the city on the 15th of June, followed by his brother Ferdinand and many other princes. With amazement he at once noticed how great the contrast had grown in the nine years between the Catholics and the Protestants. For when at the entrance of the emperor the papal legate blessed the princes and all others kneeled down in the customary fashion the princes of Saxony and Hesse remained standing. And when, on the same evening, the emperor demanded of the evangelical princes that on the following day they should take part in the great Corpus Christi procession they declared that by their participation they were not minded to encourage such human ordinances which were evidently contrary to the Word of God and the command of Christ. Upon this occasion Margrave George of Brandenburg uttered these heroic words, "Rather than deny my God and His Gospel I would kneel here before your Imperial Majesty and have my head cut from my body." The emperor graciously replied, "Dear Prince, not head off! not head off!"

3. Signing the Confession. So the ever memorable day, the 24th of June, approached, on which the little band of Lutheran confessors were to confess the Lord Christ before the emperor and the diet. On the evening before Elector John invited his brethren in the faith to his lodgings. At the upper end of a long table sat the elector. He arose, and the rest followed him. In his hand was a roll of manuscript. He seized a pen and subscribed his name with a firm hand. In doing so he said, "May Almighty God grant us His grace continually that all may redound to His glory and praise." In fervent words he admonished those present to stand firm, saying, "All counsels that are against God must fail, and the good cause will, without doubt, finally triumph." Now the others also signed the confession. After the Prince of Anhalt, a right chivalrous lord, had signed he cried with flashing eyes, "I have been in many a fray to please others, why should I not saddle my horse, if it is necessary, in honor of my Lord and Savior, and, sacrificing life and limb, hurry into heavenly life to receive the eternal crown of glory?" The meeting closed with a fervent prayer for blessing and success on the coming day.

Luther, in the mean time, remained at Coburg, but in spirit he participated in the holy cause at Augsburg. Every day he spent three hours in prayer for the victory of the beloved Gospel. He was continually crying to God to preserve the brethren in true faith and sound doctrine. In hours of anxiety and trial he wrote on the walls of his room with his own hands the precious words of the 118th Psalm: "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord." He addressed many consoling letters to the confessors in which he admonished them to constancy. At this time there lived in his own heart that trust in God which he had expressed in his heroic song, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God."

4. Submittal and Reception of the Confession. On Saturday, the 25th of June, 1530, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the diet assembled in the episcopal palace, where the confession was to be read. The German emperor presided, and the highest dignitaries of the Roman empire had gathered to hear the confession. Then the evangelical confessors arose cheerfully, and in their name the two electoral chancellors, Dr. Brueck and Dr. Baier, stepped into the center of the room, the first with a Latin, the latter with a German copy of the confession. When the emperor demanded that the Latin copy should be read, Elector John replied, "Upon German ground and soil it is but fair to read and hear the German tongue." The emperor permitted it. And now Dr. Baier began to read in a loud and audible voice, so that even the assembled multitude without in the courtyard could plainly understand every word of the confession. Everyone was deeply touched by it. The learned Catholic Bishop of Augsburg publicly admitted, "Everything that was read is the pure, unadulterated, undeniable truth." Duke William of Bavaria pressed the hand of Elector John in a friendly manner and said to Dr. Eck, who was standing close by, "I have been told something entirely different of Luther's doctrine than I have now heard from their confession. You have also assured me that their doctrine could be refuted." Eck replied, "I would undertake to refute it with the fathers, but not with the Scriptures." Thereupon the duke rejoined, "I understand, then, that the Lutherans sit entrenched in the Scriptures, and we are on the outside." Luther wrote to one of his friends: "You have confessed Christ and offered peace. You have worthily engaged in the holy work of God as becometh the saints. Now for once rejoice in the Lord also and be glad, ye righteous. Look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh." Spalatin said that such a confession had not been made since the world exists. Mathesius also aptly testifies, "There has not been a greater and higher work and a more glorious testimony since the days of the apostles than this at Augsburg before the whole Roman empire." Very soon the confession was translated in many different languages and spread in every land. Thereby many received true information on the Lutheran doctrine, recognized its entire agreement with Holy Scriptures and with the doctrine of the Apostolic Church, and joyfully accepted it as their own.

At the emperor's command the papal theologians at once drew up a paper in which they tried to refute the Augsburg Confession. This document, called Confutation, proved to be such a miserable failure that it had to be returned for revision. Melanchthon then wrote an excellent defense of the confession, the Apology, which, however, the emperor would neither receive nor permit to be read. He simply declared the case to be closed, and said, "If the evangelical princes will not submit, then I, the protector of the Roman church, am not disposed to permit a schism of the church in Germany."

Before the close of the diet he issued a severe edict which granted the evangelicals six months to consider matters and commanded them, before the expiration of this time, to return to the Catholic church. Thereupon the faithful confessors declared that, because they had not received a thorough refutation from the Word of God, they were determined to abide by the faith of the prophets and apostles, and everything else they would commend to the gracious will of God. When taking leave of the emperor, Elector John, rightly called the "Steadfast," spoke the memorable words, "I am sure that the doctrine contained in the Confession will stand even against the gates of hell." The emperor answered, "Uncle, Uncle, I did not expect to hear such words from your Grace. You will lose your electoral crown and your life, and your subjects will perish, together with their women and children."