s, and repeated to him her prayers, which
were free from superstition. "Go on, mother," said he, "to believe and
to pray as you have done, and never trouble yourself about religious
controversies."

Note 2. As this oath is a literary curiosity, we subjoin it, in the
original, for the gratification of our learned readers: Ego juro
Domino Decano et Magistris Facultatis Theologiae obedientiam et
reverentiam debitam, et in quocunque statu utilitatem universitatis,
et maxime Facultatis Theologicae, _pro virili mea_ procurabo, et omnes
actus theologicos exercebo in mitra, (nisi fuerit religiosus) vanas,
peregrinas _doctrinas, ab ecclesia damnatas, et piarum aurium
offensivas non dogmatisabo_, sed dogmatisantem Dn. Decano denunciabo
intra octendium, et manutenebo consuetudines, libertates et privilegia
Theologicae Facultatis _pro virili mea_, ut me Deus adjuvet, et
Sanctorum evangeliorum conditores. _Juro etiam Romanae ecclesiae
obedientiam_, et procurabo pacem inter Magistros et Scholasticos
seculares et religiosos, et _biretum_ in nullo alio gymnasio
recipiam." Lib. Statutorum facultatis theol. Academiae Wittemberg.
Cap. 7.

Note 3. An der Apologie (Confession) aendere ich taeglich Vieles. Den
Abschnitt von den Geluebden, der zu mager war, habe ich gestrichen
und den Gegenstand ausfuehrlicher abgehandelt. Eben so verfahre ich
jetzo mit dem Abschnitt von "den Schluesseln." Ich wuenschte, du
haettest die "Glaubensartikel" ueberblickt, wo ich dann, wenn du nichts
fehlerhaftes darin gefunden, das uebrige, so gut es gehen will,
abhandeln werde. Denn es musz zum oeftern an den Glaubensartikeln
abgeaendert werden, und man musz sie den Gelegenheiten anbequemen. In
the Latin: Vellem percurisses articulos fidei, in quibus si nihil
putaveris esse vitii, reliqua utcunque tractabimus. "_Subinde enim,
mutandi stint atque ad occasiones accommodandi." Christian Niemeyer's
Philip Melancthon_, im Jahre der Augsburgischen Confession, pp. 13, 14.

CHAPTER II.
REPLY TO THE GENERAL OBSERVATIONS OF THE PLEA.

In replying to the general observations, which constitute the
introduction of the Plea, we shall pursue the order of their occurrence.

"We shall, in this short tract," says the author, "not speak of the
objections, which in the Definite Platform are set forth against some
errors, contained in some other symbolical books of the Lutheran Church,
but we shall confine ourselves exclusively to the errors pointed out in
the Augsburg Confe