MARBURG BIBLE. See Bibles, Annotated, I., § 3.

MARBURG, CONFERENCE OF: A gathering of Protestant theologians at Marburg Oct. 2-4, 1529. The controversy on the Lord's Supper had already assumed considerable dimensions, when in the summer of 1526 the Diet of Speyer convened; therefore the Protestants took pains Preliminary to come to an agreement in order to ftegotia- present a united front to their oppobona nents. The efforts at harmony originated among the Strasburg theologians, but were frustrated by Luther's firm adherence to his convictions. An attempt of Butzer in the summer of 1526 to influence Luther through Justus

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Jonas was also without result. Jonas first suggested that perhaps by a personal meeting of the leaders a remedy might be found; but it was Johann Haner, former preacher of the cathedral in Würzburg, who approached Landgrave Philip of Hesse with the proposal of a conference. Ulrich of Württemberg used his influence upon the young prince for the same purpose. From the beginning political machinations were a factor in the efforts at harmony. In Feb., 1528, Duke Ulrich invited Œcolampadius and Butzer to the court of the landgrave at Marburg, probably for the purpose of winning the support of Philip for the South Germans. Philip, however, was very anxious to bring together Luther and GJcolampadius, and the development of affairs at the Diet of Speyer about 1529 made it necessary to strive for agreement. The Strasburg theologians presented at Speyer a formula of the Lord's Supper which so skilfully concealed the opposition of the contending parties as to offer a basis for a temporary alliance between Saxony, Hesse, Nuremberg, Strasburg, and Uhn on Apr. 22,1529. The leading authorities, however, saw that these preliminary negotiations would lead to a result only in case of a real agreement on the Lord's Supper. The landgrave therefore invited Zwingli on the same day to a religious conference, and Zwingli declared his willingness to attend. The theologians of Wittenberg took a different attitude. Melanchthon was evidently offended by the political nature of the proposed alliance, and Luther dissuaded the elector from giving his consent because "no improvement was to be hoped for among the principal opponents" (Zwingli), even if the members of the conference should come to an agreement. After June 10 the theologians of Wittenberg received a formal invitation from Philip to meet at Marburg. Under the influence of the elector, Luther and Melanchthon gave their final con nt on July 8, but unwillingly and with no hope good results. The landgrave, however, persevered, and Zwingli was full of zeal, both aiming at a great political alliance of all Evangelical states. Neither the Wittenberg theologians nor the elector knew of the political intentions of the landgrave.

On Sept. 27, 1529, Zwingli and Ulrich Funk from Zurich, C;colampadius and Rudolph Frey from Basel, Butzer, Hedio, and Jacob Sturm from strasburg arrived at Marburg. Even before the arrival of Luther, Zwingli had come to an The understanding with the landgrave on

Conference. political questions; but in order to make it effective, it was necessary to reconcile Luther. He arrived at Marburg on Sept. 30, with Melanchthon, Jonas, Cruciger, Veit Dietrich and Georg Rorer from Wittenberg, Myconius from Gotha, Menius and Eberhard von der Thann from Eisenach. Duke Ulrich of Württemberg arrived the same night. The colloquy began on OCt. 2, after the arrival of the South German Lutherans Osiander, Brenz, and Stephan Agricola. Although a great crowd had gathered at Marburg, only fifty to sixty Persona were admitted. At the beginning it was agreed that the question of the Lord's Supper should be the primary point of discussion. Luther adhered to the plain and simple words of

Christ, "This is my body," which he wrote with a piece of chalk on the table, rejecting any metaphorical interpretation. Œcolampadius, who replied first, started from John vi. and then pointed to the existence of numerous metaphors in Holy Scripture, which Luther, of course, did not deny. What he demanded, however, was justification for the assumption of a metaphor in the passage on the Lord's Supper where the text is clear without it. He also declared that he in no way rejected the spiritual eating, as mentioned in John vi. 53; he even regarded it as necessary, but from this, he said, it did not follow that the bodily eating instituted and commanded by Christ was of no use or unnecessary. This was the point on which the controversy hinged-whether beside spiritual eating which both parties equally emphasized, bodily eating was also necessary. A further point of debate was the question of the ubiquity of the body of Christ, which Zwingli rejected on the basis of Rom. viii. 3; Phil. ii. 7; Heb. ii. 7. The characteristic difference in the fundamental conceptions of Zwingli and Luther showed itself in their estimate of reason. Luther conceded to it no right of decision in questions of faith, while Zwingli replied that God would not propose to us for our belief anything inconceivable. At the end of the debate nothing had been accomplished. Then Butzer, as chief representative of the Strasburg theologians, stated their doctrine of the Trinity, original sin, baptism, etc., and asked Luther for a testimony of his orthodoxy, but Luther did not comply with his request. "Our spirit and your spirit do not agree," he said; for the same spirit could not, in his opinion, dwell in people who simply believed the word of Christ and those who vehemently combated it and gave it the lie. Therefore he wished to leave his opponents to the judgment of God; they might teach as they thought it justifiable before God.

Thus the official negotiations were ended, but still the landgrave hoped to succeed by personal influence in his efforts at union. Luther now de- clared himself willing to draw up a statement of the most important points of doctrine on

Articles of which an agreement was possible. Thus

Marburg. originated on Oct. 4 the so-called

"Articles of Marburg." Fourteen theses testified to agreement on the doctrine of the

Trinity, the person of Christ, faith and justification, the Word of God, baptism, good works, confession, secular authority, tradition or human order, and infant baptism. The fifteenth article, on the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, confesses as uniform doctrine the necessity of partaking of it in both kinds and rejection of the mass, and also that the spiritual eating of the body and blood is principally necessary for every Christian. As to the disputed point in the Lord's Supper, Christian charity should be shown toward each other. The document was signed in three copies by the ten official participants in the colloquy, Luther,.Jonas,

Melanchthon, Osiander, Agricola, Brenz, G;colam padius, Butzer, Hedio, and Zwingli. By signing the articles, Zwingli had evidently gone to the ex treme limit of concession in the interest of his great plans. Not entirely without reason, Melanchthon thought that the Swiss had " followed Luther's

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opinion." As the Wittenberg circle had no idea of the political machinations which called forth Zwingli's love of peace, they naturally carried away an impression of the complete humiliation of their opponents. But Zwingli ascribed the victory not less to himself and explained the articles in his own sense. It soon became obvious that instead of bridging over the opposition, the conference of Marburg had brought it to fuller expression.

(T. Kolde)

Bibliography: The Articles were printed by H. Heppe, Die 15 Marburger Artikel, Cassel, 1854; by Bindseil, in CR, xxvi. 122-127; and by T. Kolde, in Die Augsburg ische Konfession, pp. 119 sqq., Gotha, 1896. Sources for the history are the Opera of Zwingli, ed. Schuler and Schultheiss, vols. vii.-viii.; the Briefe of Luther, ed. De Wette, vols. iii. iv., or Enders' Luthers Briefwechsel, vol. vii.; in T. Kolde, Analecta Lutherana, Gotha, 1893; the Briefwechsel of J. Jonas, ed. Kawerau, Halle, 1884 sqq.; the reports of contemporaries such as Melanchthon, in CR, i. 1099 sqq.; of Jonas, ib., p. 1095; of Butzer in his Commentary on the Gospels, Strasburg, 1530. Consult further: L. K. Schmidt, Das Religionagesprach zu Marburg, 18,29, Marburg, 1840; J. Kradolfer, Das Marburger Religionsgespr�ch, 1629, Berlin, 1871; Schirrmacher, Briefe und Akten zur Geschichte des Religionsgespr�chs zu Marburg, 1629, Gotha, 1876; M. Lenz, ZKG, iii (1879), 28 sqq., 220 sqq., 429 sqq.; A. Erichson, Das Marburge' Religions gesprdeh, 1629, Strasburg, 1880; Egli, in Theologischer Zeitschrift aus der Schweiz, i (1884 ), 1 sqq.; F. H. Foster, in Bibliotheca Sacra, April, 1887, pp. 363-369; Schaff, Christian Church, vi. 629-653; T. M. Lindsay, Hist. Ref., i. 352-359; the literature under Jonas, Justin; Luther; Melanchthon; Zwingli; and also the principal works on the Reformation.