Given that "only a few" will "find the way to life," "the general confession [(das gemeinsame Bekenntnis)]" of faith "must be composed in such a way as to render it suitable
for [both] those who have been born again and those who have not [(Wiedergeborene und Unwiedergeborene)].
My memory is that one year [Pastor Mumssen] put but a single question to his
confirmands: “If you are able to confirm that I have born witness to this faith in your presence,
then answer Yes [(Bestätigt ihr mir, daß ich euch diesen Glauben bezeugt habe, so antwortet mir: Ja)]."
Pastor Carl Richter, Pastor und Propst Rudgar Mumssen, Hamburg (geboren 7. Dezember 1876, gestorben 30 März 1944): Erinnerungen aus dem Leben meines Konfirmators, Sonderdruck aus dem Gnadauer Gemeinschafstblatt, Dezember 1962 (Detmold / Lippe, 1962), 2-3.
Though confirmation wasn't, for Luther, a sacrament, this still seems odd. Is that because Mumssen doesn't even require an outward confession, but only confirmation that they've been instructed? Because the confirmands give confirmation (but not even that they assent to anything, if only outwardly!), not the church?
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