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To the Readers, one and all, of these Writings of ours, we, the Electors, Princes, and Deputies of the
Holy Roman Empire in Germany, adherents of the Augsburg Confession, who have subscribed our
names to the same, announce and declare, according to the dignity and rank of each one, our devotion,
friendship, and greeting, combined with willing service.
It is a remarkable favor of Almighty God that in these last times and in this old age of the world He has
willed, according to His unspeakable love, forbearance, and mercy, that after the darkness of papistical
superstitions the light of His Gospel and Word, through which alone we receive true salvation, should
arise and shine clearly and purely in Germany, our most beloved fatherland. And on this account, indeed,
a brief and succinct confession was prepared from the Word of God, and the most holy writings of the
Prophets and Apostles, and at the Diet of Augsburg, in the year 1530, was offered, by our most godly
ancestors, in the German and Latin languages, to the Emperor Charles V, of excellent memory, and laid
before [all] the deputies of the Empire, and finally, being circulated publicly among all men professing
Christian doctrine, and thus in the entire world, was diffused everywhere, and began to be current in the
mouths and speech of all.
Complete Book of Concord attached below.
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