grace is not confined to
some men only, but is a grace for all. Both teach that man, though
contributing absolutely nothing to his conversion and salvation, is
nevertheless the sole cause of his own damnation. Both disavow Calvinism
which denies the universality of grace. Both reject synergism, which
corrupts grace by teaching a cooperation of man towards his own
conversion and salvation. Teaching therefore, as they do, the same
truths, both articles will and must ever stand and fall together. It
was, no doubt, chiefly due to this complete harmony between the Second
and the Eleventh Article that after the former (which received its
present shape only after repeated changes and additions) had been
decided upon the revision of the latter (the Eleventh) caused but little
delay. (Frank 4, V. 133.)

Concerning the alleged conflict between Articles II and XI, we read in
Schaff's _Creeds of Christendom:_ "There is an obvious and
irreconcilable antagonism between Article II and Article XI. They
contain not simply opposite truths to be reconciled by theological
science, but contradictory assertions, which ought never to be put into
a creed. The _Formula_ adopts one part of Luther's book _De Servo
Arbitrio_, 1525, and rejects the other, which follows with logical
necessity. It is Augustinian, yea, hyper-Augustinian and
hyper-Calvinistic in the doctrine of human depravity, and
anti-Augustinian in the doctrine of divine predestination. It endorses
the anthropological premise, and denies the theological conclusion. If
man is by nature like a stone and block, and unable even to accept the
grace of God, as Article II teaches, he can only be converted by an act
of almighty power and irresistible grace, which Article XI denies. If
some men are saved without any cooperation on their part, while others,
with the same inability and the same opportunities, are lost, the
difference points to a particular predestination and the inscrutable
decree of God. On the other hand if God sincerely wills the salvation of
all men, as Article XI teaches, and yet only a part are actually saved,
there must be some difference in the attitude of the saved and the lost
towards converting grace, which is denied in Article II. The Lutheran
system, then, to be consistent, must rectify itself, and develop either
from Article II in the direction of Augustinianism and Calvinism, or
from Article XI in the direction of synergism and Arminianism. The
former would be