as from the superstitious belief of a magic influence over the kingdom
of evil spirits."--"The liturgic formula (for exorcism) retained in the
Lutheran church, was first zealously espoused by the populace, when the
Crypto-Calvinists especially in Saxony, raised opposition to it; and
since then it has been regarded as a _criterion of Lutheranism_,
although exorcism is not mentioned in the Saxon Articles of Visitation,
and from an early period it was defended by the Lutheran theologians
merely as a free matter of indifference, with only a figurative
meaning." Here we find not only that exorcism has extensively prevailed
in the Lutheran church of Germany, but that as late as 1846, it still
was adhered to by some in Saxony: and that for a long time after the
rise of Crypto-Calvinism in the latter part of the sixteenth century,
adherence to this rite was regarded as a _test_ of genuine Lutheranism.
How vain therefore the attempt to deny that it was regarded as a part of
symbolic Lutheranism in some parts of the church!

(_d_.) _Dr. Augusti_, Professor of Theology at Bonn, and more recently
at Berlin, the celebrated author of numerous works, bears the following
testimony: "At the close of the sixteenth century the vindication of
exorcism was considered a proof of _Lutheran orthodoxy_ in opposition to
the Reformed and Crypto-Calvinists. In the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries there was much contention for and against it; and even in the
_nineteenth_ century its retention or rejection was not yet regarded as
a matter of indifference." p. 350.

(_e_) In _Siegel's_ Manual of Christian Ecclesiastical Antiquities, (a
learned and excellent work in four volumes, published in Leipsic, 1836,)
vol II. p. 64, 65, 67, we find the following testimony: "Inasmuch as he
(Luther) pronounced this rite not indeed as necessary, but yet as
_highly useful_, in order to remind the people very impressively of the