ywhere
to circulate and submit them for discussion and subscription. As a
result the _Formula of Concord_ was signed by the electors of Saxony, of
Brandenburg, and of the Palatinate; furthermore by 20 dukes and princes,
24 counts, 4 barons, 35 imperial cities, and about 8,000 pastors and
teachers embracing about two-thirds of the Lutheran territories of
Germany.

The first signatures were those of Andreae, Selneccer, Musculus,
Cornerus, Chytraeus, and Chemnitz, who on May 29, 1577, signed both the
_Epitome_ and the _Thorough Declaration_ the latter with the following
solemn protestation: "Since now, in the sight of God and of all
Christendom, we wish to testify to those now living and those who shall
come after us that this declaration herewith presented concerning all
the controverted articles aforementioned and explained, and no other, is
our faith, doctrine, and confession, in which we are also willing, by
God's grace, to appear with intrepid hearts before the judgment-seat of
Jesus Christ, and give an account of it and that we will neither
privately nor publicly speak or write anything contrary to it but, by
the help of God's grace, intend to abide thereby: therefore, after
mature deliberation we have, in God's fear and with the invocation of
His name, attached our signatures with our own hands." (1103, 40 CONC.
TRIGL. 1103, 40; 842, 31.)

Kolde remarks: "Wherever the civil authorities were in favor of the
_Bergic Book_, the pastors and teachers also were won for its
subscription. That the wish of the ruler contributed to this result
cannot be denied and is confirmed by the Crypto-Calvinistic troubles
reappearing later on in Saxony. But that the influence of the rulers
must not be overestimated, appears, apart from other things from the
frequent additions to the signatures 'With mouth and heart (_cum ore et
corde_).'" Self-evidently the Crypto-Calvinists as well as other
errorists had to face the alternative of either subscribing or being
suspended from the ministry. The very object of the _Formula of Concord_
was to purge the Lutheran Church from Calvinists and others who were not
in sympathy and agreement with the Lutheran Confessions and constituted
a foreign and disturbing element in the Lutheran Church.

As to the manner in which the _Formula_ was submitted for subscription,
it was certainly not indifferentistic, but most solemn and serious, and
perhaps, in some instances, even severe. Coercion, however, was