Once more, let us listen to the the [sic] testimony of that
learned and impartial historian of our own country, _Dr. Murdock_,
himself, though a native American, a highly respectable German scholar:
"The XXVIII. Article of Augsburg Confession," says he, "teaches that as
to Sundays and other holy days, and rites and forms of worship, bishops
may and should appoint such as are convenient and suitable; and the
people should observe them, NOT AS DIVINE ORDINANCES, but as conducive
to good order and edification." Murdock's Mosheim, Vol. iii., p. 53,
Harper's edition.
I. _What is the charge of the Definite Platform against the Augsburg
Confession on this subject?_ It is, that
The Augsburg Confession "treats the Sabbath as a mere Jewish
institution, and supposes it to be totally revoked whilst the propriety
of our retaining the Lord's Day or Christian Sabbath as a day of
religious worship, is supposed to rest only on the agreement of the
churches for the convenience of general convocation.
II. What ground does the Plea take?
It denies the position, and affirms the contrary, as above stated, while
it supposes the Confession to object not to the divine institution and
obligation of the Lord's Day, but to the corruptions which the Romish
church had connected with it, and especially the idea that the
observance of the Lord's Day was a meritorious work, which would secure
our justification before God.
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