The Stafforts Book (1599):

Thus we now, with the full witness of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments and also of the teaching of the Christian church, confess that after the grievous fall of our first parents, man can do nothing at all for his own salvation or conversion, or of his own ability help or cooperate therein. Instead, God alone creates in us a new heart; in the place of our heart that is made a heart of stone by sin, [He] must give us a heart of flesh (Ezek. 36:27). Now we must note the specific means that God uses in our conversion, namely the preaching of the merits of the Lord Christ and the holy, most worthy sacraments, which are the seals and gracious signs, and which are appended to the comforting preaching of de Merito Christi (the merits of Christ). In connection with the teaching of the merits of Christ, this disruptive question of our day intrudes itself into the Protestant churches: whether Christ has died for the sins of the entire world or for the sins of a few, that is, for those who believe! And although this question has its clear explanation in God’s Holy Scriptures, so that man ought not eagerly to rush into self-willed wrangling over a matter in which there should be no strife, nevertheless in order to make Our simple meaning plain, we confess that when one considers the merit of Christ in its worth, power, and complete ability (as Augustine states), the greatness, power, and worth of Christ’s merit is more than sufficiently powerful and precious to take away, redeem, and propitiate not only the sins of the whole world, but rather, the whole world even if the world were much larger than it is. . . .

Now as the Lord Christ says in John 3:18 and 36, “He who believes On the Son has eternal life. He who does not believe on the Son will not see life. Rather, the wrath of God remains on him.” We understand that this heavenly cure, this overwhelmingly precious and all-sufficient medication for sin, in whatever manner it may show its power and effectiveness in us, requires faith. . . .

Because, as has now been shown, only those are redeemed from eternal death by the death of Christ, are reconciled with God, are justified from sins, and are saved, who have received from the holy gospel the death of Christ and his merit through faith, and who Consecrate themselves to Him, so it cannot be otherwise taught (when one considers the meritum Christi quod efficaciam [the merit of Christ regarding its efficacy] and all that it so powerfully accomplishes), than that Christ died only for believers and not for all men in general. For the unbelievers, as long as they remain in unbelief, do not receive any benefit from the merit of Christ. And this is consistent with Holy Scripture. . . .

“The Stafforts Book (1599)” in, Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries in English Translation, ed., James T. Dennison, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Reformation Heritage Books, 2012), 3:768. [Some minor reformatting; italics original; bracketed inserts original; and underlining mine.]

[Note: Dennison surely would have done us all a greater service had he also tracked down and/or translated he sections excised from the above translation and edition. I for one would have loved to see the “explanation.” Hopefully at some point, someone will do this as it would be very helpful in Reformation atonement studies.]

Dennison’s introduction:

The region of Baden-Durlach (Markgrafschaft Baden-Durlach) belonged theologically and ecclesiastically to the Lutheran faith through the convictions of Markgraf Karl II (1529-1577). His Lutheran loyalty would be advanced after his death by Ludwig III ("The Pious;’ 1554-1593) of Wiirtemberg. who would endorse the Formula of Concord (1580). But the "Second Reformation" of Germany was also advancing. Karl’s sons, Ernst Friedrich (1560-1604) and Jacob III (of Baden-Hochberg. 1562-1590), would be influenced by the former Lutheran (become Calvinist), Johannes Pistorius (1546-1608), court physician to their father beginning in 1575. Pistorius was named Privy Counsellor to Jacob III in 1584, but by this time had wearied of the Protestantism of both his previous devotions. He announced that he had become a Roman Catholic in 1588. Jacob followed him back to the "mother church" on July 15, 1590. When Jacob died less rhan a month later (August 7)–to be succeeded by the equally devout Calvinist, Ernst Friedrich–Pistorius left the region to become a Catholic priest in Freiburg in 1591. The third brother, Georg Friedrich (1573- 1638), would endeavor to maintain the Lutheranism of his father. This collage of religious convictions was a reflection of the religious pluralism of late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Germany: Lutheranism vying with "reforming" Calvinism, opposed by reactionary Catholicism. In this ferment, Ernst Friedrich installed Reformed theologians at the Gymnasium in Durlach, established a printing press in his casde at Staffort, and proceeded to declare and enforce his new-found Reformed faith upon his Markgrafschaft. The Stafforts Book was met with stiff resistance, even public protests. The Formula of Concord was deeply loved and engrained. In testimony to this fact, and under the sponsorship of his brother, Georg Friedrich, the region reverted to Lutheranism after Ernst’s death.

The Stafforts Book consists of two versions of Ernst Friedrich’s apologia for his Reformed faith. The longer version, which is contained in pages 1-358 of Christliches Bedencken und erhebliche wolfundirte Motiven . . . , is a lengthy critique of the Formula of Concord as well as a declaration of his Calvinistic convictions. The shorter version of his self-justification (abridged in Müller, see below), contained within pages 359-555 of the above work (entitled Kurtze und einfeltige ausser Gottes Wort und der alten rechtglaubigen Kirchen gestelte Bedandtnus . . .), discusses only those articles in which the supporters of the Augsburg Confession differed from the Reformed.

Our text is from the version printed in Müller, 799-816. We have retained the bracketed page and section numbers from Müller’s text in order to aid in finding the specific portions of the original Kurtze und einfeltige ausser Gottes Wort. . . . The ellipses have also been retained to indicate where abridgment begins. We have also corrected miscited Scripture proof-texts. A translation of either of the larger versions noted above is beyond the scope of this collection. (Dennison, 765-766).

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