“In this they distinctly and unreservedly declared the points which were believed and publicly taught in the evangelical and reformed churches, in respect to the principal articles; (especially in respect to those articles which had become subjects of dispute between themselves and the Papists). Our adversaries received this Confession with great displeasure, indeed, but to this day they have not been able either to refute or to overthrow it.

Embracing with our whole heart this pious Augsburg Confession, built as it is upon the unshaken foundation of the Word of God, we now again publicly and solemnly profess it; and we adhere to that simple, pure, and perspicuous doctrine which its own expressions exhibit. We conceive it to be the pious symbol of our day, which devout minds ought to adopt next to the invincible authority of the Word of God. In the same manner very serious religious controversies formerly arose in the church of God, and confessions and pious symbols were written, which sincere teachers and hearers embraced with their whole soul, and publicly professed. And indeed, assisted by the grace of Almighty God, we shall firmly persevere to the latest breath in the doctrine of this pious Confession, as it was exhibited to the emperor Charles V., A. D. 1530. Nor do we design in this or any other writing, to depart an hair-breadth from said Confession, or to frame a different or a new Confession” (Formula of Concord, Full Declaration, Preface, Henkel p.593-594).

“A Full Declaration:  A complete, clear, correct, and final repetition and declaration of certain articles of the Augsburg Confession, concerning which, for some time, disputes had been maintained among some theologians attached to that confession; in which these disputes are determined and reconciled according to the authority of the Word of God, and to the summary contents of our Christian doctrine.

PREFACE.  By the inestimable goodness and mercy of Almighty God, the doctrine concerning the principal articles of our Christian religion, which had been shamefully obscured during the Papacy by the opinions and traditions of men, has now again been clearly unfolded and purified, according to the rule and analogy of the Word of God, by the labors of Dr. Luther, of blessed memory, while Papistical errors, abuses, and idolatry have been seriously rebuked. By this pious reformation, our adversaries supposed that new doctrines were introduced into the church of God; and as if this reformation were repugnant to the Word of God, and entirely subversive of all pious institutions, they assailed it with violence, but without truth, and loaded it with almost infinite calumnies, on grounds which were not even plausible. Influenced by this consideration, those electors, princes, and estates of the empire, who were distinguished by their piety, and who had at that time embraced the pure doctrine of the Gospel, and had reformed their own churches according to the rule of the Word of God, at the numerous and celebrated Diet of Augsburg, held A. D. 1530, carefully provided that a pious Confession, derived from the holy Scriptures, should be drawn up in writing; and they exhibited that confession to the emperor Charles V” (Formula of Concord, Full Declaration, Preface, Henkel p.593).

“If we wish to stand upon the councils and counsels of men, we lose the Scriptures altogether and remain in the devil’s possession body and soul.  He is Satan, and Satan is his name, i.e. an adversary.  He must obstruct and cause misfortune; he cannot do otherwise. Moreover, he is the prince and god of this world, so that he has sufficient power to do so. Since he is able and determined to do all this, we must not imagine that we shall have peace from him. He takes no vacation and he does not sleep. Choose, then, whether you prefer to wrestle with the devil or whether you prefer to belong to him. If you consent to be his, you will receive his guarantee to leave you in peace with the Scriptures. If you refuse to be his, defend yourself, go at him! He will not pass you by; he will create such dissension and sectarianism over the Scriptures that you will not know where Scriptures, faith, Christ, and you yourself stand.

Woe betide all our teachers and authors, who go their merry way and spew forth whatever is uppermost in their minds, and do not first turn a thought over ten times to be sure it is right in the sight of God! These think the devil is away for a while in Babylon, or asleep at their side like a dog on a cushion. They do not consider that he is round about them with all his venomous flaming darts which he puts into them, such superlatively beautiful thoughts adorned with Scripture that they are unaware of what is happening. Here no admonition, no warnings, no threats are of any avail. The devil is master of a thousand arts. If God does not defend and help us, all our actions and counsels are nothing. No matter which way you look at it, the devil is the prince of this world. He who does not know this, let him try and see. I have had some experience in this matter. But no one will believe me until he experiences it also” (Luther’s Works, vol. 37, p.17-18).

“However, he does not leave the matter there, but quick as a flash goes to work on the sacraments, although in this respect he has already torn at least ten rips and loopholes in the Scriptures. I have never read of a more shameful heresy, which from the outset has gathered to itself so many heads, so many factions and dissensions, although on the main point, the persecution of Christ, they are united. But he will keep on and attack still other articles of faith, as he already declares with flashing eyes that baptism, original sin, and Christ are nothing.  Once more there will arise a brawl over the Scriptures, and such dissension and so many factions that we may well say with St. Paul, ‘The mystery of lawlessness is already at work’ [II Thess. 2:7], just as he also saw that many more factions would arise after him.

If the world lasts much longer, men will, as the ancients did, once more turn to human schemes on account of this dissension, and again issue laws and regulations to keep the people in the unity of the faith. Their success will be the same as it was in the past.

In short, the devil is too clever and too mighty for us. He resists and hinders us at every point. When we wish to deal with Scripture, he stirs up so much dissension and quarreling over it that we lose our interest in it and become reluctant to trust it. We must forever be scuffling and wrestling with him” (Luther’s Works, vol. 37, p.16-17).

“This is the way the plot worked out for the fathers: Since they contrived to have the Scriptures without quarreling and dissension, they thereby became the cause of men’s turning wholly and completely away from the Scriptures to mere human drivel. Then, of course, dissension and contention over the Scriptures necessarily ceased, which is a divine quarrel wherein God contends with the devil, as St. Paul says in Ephesians 6[:12], ‘We have to contend not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in the air.’ But in place of this, there has broken out human dissension over temporal honor and goods on earth, yet there remain a united blindness and ignorance of the Scriptures and a loss of the true Christian faith, i.e. a united obedience to the glosses of the fathers and to the holy see at Rome. Isn’t this also a piece of devilish craftiness? No matter what play we make, he is a master and an expert at the game.

Now in our day, having seen that Scripture was utterly neglected and the devil was making captives and fools of us by the mere straw and hay of man-made laws, we have tried by God’s grace to offer some help in the matter. With immense and bitter effort indeed we have brought the Scriptures to the fore again and released the people from man-made laws, freed ourselves and escaped the devil, although he stubbornly resisted and still continues to do so. However, even though he has had to let us go, he does not forget his tricks. He has secretly sown his seed among us so that they may take hold of our teachings and words, not to aid and assist us in fostering the Scriptures, but, while we were leading in the fight against human drivel, to fall upon our host from the rear, incite rebellion and raise an uproar against us, in order that caught between two enemies, we may be more easily destroyed. This is what I call throwing quicksilver into the pond!” (Luther’s Works, vol. 37, p.15-16).

“When the devil saw this he jeered and thought: now I have won! Scripture lies prostrate, the fortress is destroyed, the weapons are beaten down. In their place they now weave walls of straw and make weapons of hay, i.e. they intend now to array themselves against me with man-made laws.  Ah, this is serious! What shall I do? I shall not fight against this, but pitch in and help them build so that they remain nicely united, and help them gather enough straw and hay. It serves my purpose well that they should neglect the Word and not dispute over the Scriptures, but that at this very point they should be at peace and believe what the councils and the fathers say. But within this peace and unity I shall stir up many another controversy and quarrel, so that the pope will contend against emperor and kings, bishops against princes and lords, scholars against scholars, clerics against clerics, and everyone against the other, for the sake of temporal honor, possessions, and pleasure, yet leaving untouched their unity of belief in the holy fathers. The fools! What can they expect to accomplish with quarrels over the Scriptures and the things of God they do not understand? It is better for them to quarrel over honor, kingdoms, principalities, property, pleasure, and bodily needs, which they do understand, and meanwhile remain faithful Christians united in the glossed faith of the fathers, i.e. a flimsy faith” (Luther’s Works, vol. 37, p.14-15).

     “How very true is the proverb that the devil is master of a thousand arts! This he proves beyond question in all the stratagems by which he rules his world, as in outward, palpable deeds of guile, intrigues, wickedness, sins, murder, destruction, etc. But especially and supremely does he demonstrate his craftiness in spiritual, inward matters which concern the glory of God and conscience. How he can slither and squirm, twist and turn in all directions, and hinder and thwart us on all sides, that no one may be saved and persevere in the Christian truth. As an example of the devil’s work let us take the history of Christianity (I shall not mention the ancient fathers and the Jews). In the beginning of the gospel, when God’s Word was preached by the apostles purely and clearly, and no human commandments but simply the holy Scriptures were set forth, it seemed as if there would never be any trouble, since holy Scripture was the empress among the Christians.

But what could the devil not do? He finally permitted the Scriptures to be the sole authority, and allowed no pharisaical, Jewish commandments or laws concerning works to prevail any longer. But he also had some of his followers in the Christians’ schools, and through them he stealthily sneaked and crept into the holy Scriptures. Once he had wormed his way in and had things under control, he burst out on all sides, creating a real brawl over Scripture and producing many sects, heresies, and factions among Christians” (Luther’s Works, vol. 37, p.13).