ese controversies.
Perhaps the grave character of the master-points at issue with Romanism
demanded these closely-succeeding expressions of doctrinal opinion; but
we question if the advantage was not much less than the outlay. First of
all came Melanchthon's celebrated _Augsburg Confession_, in 1530. The
Roman Catholics replied by their _Confutation_, which, in turn, was
answered by Melanchthon in the _Apology of the Confession_. Luther
followed in 1536-'37 with his _Articles of Smalcald_, and still later by
his two _Catechisms_. In 1577 came the _Formula Concordiae_, and in 1580
the symbolical canon entitled _Liber Concordiae_.

Amid this mass of doctrinal opinion in which many conflicting points
were easy enough to find, it was no small task to know what to accept.
The air was filled with the sounds of strife. Those who had fought so
steadfastly against Papacy were now turning their weapons in deadly
strife against each other.

The very names by which Church History has recorded the memory of these
strifes indicate the real littleness of many of the points in question.
The _Antinomian Controversy_ originated with John Agricola during
Luther's life-time. Agricola, in many severe expressions, contended
against the utility of the Law; though Mosheim thinks he intended to say
nothing more than that the ten laws of Moses were intended chiefly for
the Jews, and that Christians are warranted in laying them aside. The
_Adiaphoristic Controversy_ was caused by the difference between the
moderate views of Melanchthon and the more rigid doctrines of the
orthodox Lutherans. We have next the controversy between George Major
and Nicolas Amsdorf, as to whether good works are necessary to
salvation, or whether they possess a dangerous tendency. The
_Synergistic Controversy_ considered the relations of divine grace and
human liberty. The dispute between Victorin Strigel and Matthias Flacius
was on the nature of Original Sin. Then we have the _Osiandric
Controversy_, on the relation of justification to sanctification; and
the _Crypto-Calvinistic Controversy_, concerning the Lord's Supper,
which extended through the Palatinate to Bremen and through Saxony. The
_Formula Concordiae_ thus sums up the Lutheran controversies: 1. Against
the Antinomians insisting on the preaching of the law. 2. Justification
as a declarative act, against Osiander; good works are its fruits. 3.
Synergism is disavowed, but the difficulty left indefinite. 4. Ad