nded more than tenfold. January
31, he was still hard at work on this article. Kolde says: "This was due
to the fact that he suppressed five and one-half sheets [preserved by
Veit Dietrich] treating this subject because they were not satisfactory
to him, and while he at first treated Articles 4 to 6 together, he now
included also Article 20, recasting anew the entire question of the
nature of justification and the relation of faith and good works.
Illness and important business, such as the negotiations with Bucer on
the Lord's Supper, brought new delays. He also found it necessary to be
more explicit than he had contemplated. Thus it came about that the work
could first appear, together with the Augustana, end of April, or, at
the latest, beginning of May." (37) According to the resolution of the
Diet, the Lutherans were to have decided by April 15, 1531, whether they
would accept the Confutation or not. The answer of the Lutherans was the
appearance, on the bookstalls, of the Augustana and the Apology, and a
few days prior, of Luther's "Remarks on the Alleged Imperial Edict,
_Glossen auf das vermeinte kaiserliche Edikt._"

56. German Translation by Jonas.

The Apology was written in Latin. The _editio princeps_ in quarto of
1531 contained the German and the Latin texts of the Augsburg
Confession, and the Latin text of the Apology. From the very beginning,
however, a German translation was, if not begun, at least planned. But,
though announced on the title-page of the quarto edition just referred
to, it appeared six months later, in the fall of 1531. It was the work
of Justus Jonas. The title of the edition of 1531 reads: "_Apologie der
Konfession, aus dem Latein verdeutscht durch Justus Jonas, Wittenberg._
Apology of the Confession done into German from the Latin by Justus
Jonas, Wittenberg." For a time Luther also thought of writing a "German
Apology." April 8, 1531, Melanchthon wrote to Brenz: "_Lutherus nunc
instituit apologiam Germanicam._ Luther is now preparing a German
Apology." (_C. R._ 2, 494. 501.) It is, however, hardly possible that
Luther was contemplating a translation. Koellner comments on
Melanchthon's words: "One can understand them to mean that Luther is
working on the German Apology." _Instituit,_ however, seems to indicate
an independent work rather than a translation. Koestlin is of the
opinion that Luther thought of writing an Apology of his own, because he
was not entirely satisfied with Melanc