A row of three decorative woodcut headpiece ornaments featuring symmetrical scrollwork and floral motifs.

A CATHOLIC CONFESSION

that is,

OF THE CATHOLIC

AND EVANGELICAL DOCTRINE,

WHICH THE CHURCHES ADHERING TO THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION The primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church, delivered to Emperor Charles V in 1530. PROFESS, A CONFIRMATION FROM THE TESTIMONIES OF ROMAN CATHOLIC WRITERS.

PREFACE.

A square decorative woodcut initial 'D' embellished with intricate vine and floral patterns.It is recorded in the monuments of Church History concerning the Emperor Julian Known as Julian the Apostate (reigned 361–363 AD), he was the last pagan emperor of Rome and attempted to suppress Christianity and restore Hellenistic polytheism. that he prohibited by public law that Christians be instructed in the learning of the Gentiles original: "gentium"; referring here to the classical Greek and Roman literature and philosophy.. Many causes for this edict are recounted by Socrates Socrates Scholasticus, a 5th-century Christian church historian. in Book 3 of his Ecclesiastical History, chapter 14; by Sozomen in Book 5 of his Ecclesiastical History, chapter 17; and by Nicephorus in Book 10 of his Ecclesiastical History, chapter 26. Among these reasons, it is not the least that he feared lest the pagan idolatry to which he was devoted might be attacked from the very books of the Gentiles. Theodoret A dynamic bishop and influential theologian of the 5th century. [records] in Book 3 of his History, chapter 7: Julian forbade the children of the Galileans (for so he called the followers of our Savior) from being taught Poetry, Rhetoric, and Philosophy.

For we are struck, he says, by our own feathers, according to the proverb. For being armed from our own writings, they undertake a war against us. Gerhard translates the Greek into Latin in the original text: "Nostris, inquit, ipsorum pennis juxta proverbium percellimur..." The proverb refers to an eagle being shot by an arrow that was fletched with its own feathers.

And indeed, if we leaf through the books of those who argued against the Gentiles—namely Justin Justin Martyr (c. 100–165 AD), an early Christian apologist., Tertullian, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, Arnobius, Lactantius, Minucius Felix, Eusebius Pamphili, Julius Firmicus Julius Firmicus Maternus, a 4th-century lawyer and Christian convert who wrote against paganism. and others, [we find...]