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Influence of Reuchlin upon Melanchthon.

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light did the young Reformer expatiate over the fields of divine truth, plucking and gathering the wholesome fruits which divine wisdom has here caused to grow. "In reading this book," he says, "he was so constant that nobody would believe that the volume which he always carried in his bosom, was a sacred one, but rather that he was enamored with some profane author." Through this steady application to the sacred writings, his eyes were opened to perceive into what a barren desert Christianity had been borne by her bishops and clergy. For example, a friar read from the pulpit a proposition of Aristotle; another preached that the wooden shoe of the Franciscans was made of the tree of knowledge in Paradise. While such puerilities were proclaimed in the house of God, Melanchthon often read the Bible in silence, during the time of public worship, though sometimes thereby subjecting himself to malevolent remark. His love for the truth and for free inquiry, was much heightened by the result of the controversy which the Cologne theologians had waged with Reuchlin. This eminent scholar had been compelled for his own justification, to prepare some papers to be sent partly to the Papal court and partly to that of the emperor. An elegant transscript of these, Melanchthon made with his own hands, for the use of the author. This friendly service greatly contributed to enlighten his own judgment in respect to the state of the church and the demands of the age. Still more useful was the frequent personal intercourse which he now enjoyed with Reuchlin, who then lived at Stuttgard and often rode to Tübingen to spend several days with his young friend. Their love was like that of a father and his child. The enlightened and unprejudiced mind of the elder necessarily exerted a great influence on the susceptible heart of the younger.

In the Providence of God, Reuchlin became the means by which Melanchthon was directed to a wider and important field of labor. Frederic the Wise, Elector of Saxony, was now in search of a competent teacher of the Greek language for his newly founded university at Wittenberg. Reuchlin being consulted,

1 Reuchlin was accustomed to read the Bible very diligently, and to carry the New Testament with him on his travels. When at Innspruck, as ambassador to Maximilian, he took a Greek New Testament, written in golden letters which Erasmus used in his edition of that volume. Two Venetian ambassadors were then at the court, one of them said to his companion, "Lo! those who know this language are applauded in Germany, but are despised among us in Italy.”

could recommend no one for the post with greater confidence than Melanchthon. "He will promote," writes Reuchlin, "the honor, reputation and usefulness of the university. For I know no one among the Germans who surpasses him, except Erasmus of Rotterdam, who is a Hollander. Melanchthon also goes beyond us all in Latin." To Melanchthon he wrote July 24, 1518; "Lo! a letter has arrived from our gracious prince, under his own signature, in which he promises you pay and favor. So I will not now address you in the words of the poet, but of the promise of God which was vouchsafed to believing Abraham, 'Get thee out from thy native land and from thy kindred and from thy father's house to the land which I shall show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be blessed.' Such is the presentiment of my mind. So I hope of thee, my Philip, my care, my consolation. Go then, with joy and good courage."

Melanchthon as Professor of Greek.

Melanchthon travelled on horseback from Tübingen to Wittenberg. At an age so young and with a heart so susceptible, he must have been the subject of various and conflicting emotions. He was quitting a university where he had labored indefatigably to sow the seeds of true learning. But instead of generous support, he had been met, for the most part with the envy and malice of the defendants of the old philosophy; his motives had been traduced, and his doctrines, as they could not be refuted by argument, were made the butt of poor attempts at wit. With the exception of Simler, professor of law, he seems to have had little sympathy among the leading men in that ancient and bigoted institution. On the other hand, he was now leaving the exciting scenes of Southern Germany, the places of his birth, and education. He had bid farewell to not a few young men whom he had charmed by his enthusiasm and made his firm friends by his gentleness and love. And above all, he was leaving the honored Reuchlin, who had been to him more than a father. Besides, he was now entering upon a new and untried sphere. To an adult, experienced in the various fortunes of life, the future would have occasioned some solicitude. How much more must a heart like that of the sensitive and youthful Reformer have been affected? The thought of meeting Luther whose fame was now extending over Christendom, must have been alternately elevat

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Luther's first Impression of Melanchthon.

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ing and depressing. He had never seen the son of the miner, whose spiritual hammer was ringing on the old fortresses of papacy. The ruddy and bashful stripling might seem small in the eyes of the champion of Protestantism, who was not always very considerate towards his weaker brethren. But he went on, trusting in his Almighty Guardian, who was opening before him "a wide field of labor," not free indeed from sharp thorns, but at first full of flowers. At Nüremberg, he formed an intimate acquaintance with the celebrated Pirckheimer. At Leipsic, he was treated with marked hospitality, especially by George Mosella. nus, professor of Greek. A splendid entertainment was provided in honor of the youthful guest. On the 25th of August, 1518, he reached Wittenberg and first introduced himself to Luther. His reception was not very exhilarating to his spirits. Luther had some misgivings, as he noticed the timidity and unimposing exterior of the young Grecian. On the 29th, Melanchthon delivered his first lecture in the hall of the university, on Improvements in the Education of Youth. Before him sat all the citizens who made any pretensions to learning, and the Professors of all the Faculties with their pupils. Luther listened to him with the closest attention. Three or four days afterwards, he wrote: "Philip had a crowded auditory. As long as he lives, I desire no other teacher of Greek. He has excited in all the theologians, the highest as well as the lowest, a zeal for the study of Greek." It may be readily imagined how delighted the Reformer would be with this fresh accession to the strength of a university with which, in his view, were bound up the hopes of the church as well as of true learning, A few weeks subsequently, he addressed him with the words, Mi dulcissime Philippe! Melanchthon, on his part, felt strongly attracted towards an individual, who, with indomitable courage, had entered the field against the foes of truth, and who was withal a man of the warmest and most generous feelings. In him the youthful Professor recognized the genuine honest German heart, true and unfeigned piety, rare acquaintance with the Scriptures, joined to an exemplary practice of their precepts and extraordinary endowments of intellect.

Melanchthon's success in teaching was such as might be anticipated. He was convinced that it was only by a fundamental philological training, that young men could be prepared for the service of the church. Beautifully he somewhere writes: "To neglect the youth in a State is like taking away the Spring from

the year. Indeed, we take it away when we let the schools run to waste, for without them religion cannot be maintained. If the study of the sciences is neglected, terrible darkness will come over the entire commonwealth." In his passion for the study of Greek literature, Melanchthon surpassed all the teachers of his age. The youth and children committed to his care, were thoroughly instructed in the grammars of the two classical languages. He delivered lectures on various Greek and Latin authors; for example, on Homer's Iliad in 1519, and on Pliny's Natural History in 1520. At that period when so many treasures of classical learning could be found only in the MSS. of libraries, the hindrances, which he had to surmount, were often incredible. "I remember," says Winsheim, "that while I was at Wittenberg-about two years-and heard our dearest teacher lecture on the Philippic orations of Demosthenes, there were only three hearers besides myself; as we were compelled, for want of copies, to transcribe for our own use from the single copy of our instructer; yet, notwithstanding all these difficulties, he labored with inconceivable patience, though suffering much from want of sleep and general ill-health." In this branch of labor, Melanchthon followed closely in the footsteps of Erasmus; while the latter advanced classical culture, more by his writings, the former aided it effectually by his oral instructions. Professor Heerbrand of Tübingen, in his funeral oration for Melanchthon, says that his hearers sometimes amounted to two thousand, and among these were princes, counts, barons and multitudes of the nobility. At the same time, this illustrious scholar spoke of himself with the utmost modesty. Writing to Wolfgang Fabricius, he says: "Erasmus, that glory not only of the present age, but of all ages, has cast the die for us, you, Wolfgang and Oecolampadius, must follow next. I think Martin and Carlstadt will do something. These I shall follow, sed longo intervallo."

Before the end of September, Melanchthon dedicated to the elector Frederic a Translation of one of Lucian's works; in October, he printed the Epistle to Titus and a small Dictionary; in November, he wrote the preface to a Hebrew Grammar. He immediately undertook a more elaborate work, on Rhetoric, which appeared in three books, in January, 1519. In February, followed another discourse; in March and April, editions of several of Plutarch's writings with a preface. In 1520 his Compend of Dialectics was published. An edition of this book and of the Rhetoric appeared afterwards with many alterations. All these

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His Theological Studies.

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things were done during a very diversified and laborious course of teaching, for Melanchthon undertook to give instruction in Hebrew as well as Greek.

The scholars caught the enthusiasm of their teacher. "They are as industrious as ants at the university," says Luther. Reforms in the mode of instruction were proposed; with the approbation of Frederic, lectures were discontinued which had no value but for the scholastic system, and others were substituted. founded on classical studies; the conditions upon which academ. ical degrees were granted were rendered less severe; new views and ideas were introduced, all which tended to place Wittenberg in strong contrast with the other universities.

"It was an important circumstance," says Ranke,1 "that a perfect master of Greek arose at this moment at a university, where the development of the Latin theology already led to a return to the first genuine documents of primitive Christianity. Luther now began to pursue this study with earnestness. His mind was relieved and his confidence strengthened, when the sense of a Greek phrase threw a sudden light on his theological ideas. When, for example, he learned that the idea of repentance (poenitentia), which, according to the language of the Latin church, signified expiation or satisfaction, signified in the original conception of Christ and his apostles, nothing but a change in the state of the mind, it seemed as if a mist was suddenly withdrawn from before his eyes."

Melanchthon as Theological Professor.

Melanchthon, not long after he came to Wittenberg, began to labor directly for theology. With his exact knowledge of Greek, his lectures on the New Testament could not have occasioned him much difficulty. With restless enthusiasm he sought to supply in a short time his defective knowledge of Hebrew. "Our Philip," says Luther in 1519, "is now engaged in Hebrew; so great is the fidelity and industry of the man that he scarcely grudges any pains." His zeal for theological studies was much augmented by the famous disputation at Leipsic, in the summer of 1519, when he became more deeply convinced of the contrariety of the prevailing church doctrines to divine truth. The taunting language of the pompous Eck: "Keep still, Philip,

Ranke's History of the Reformation, Bk. 2. Ch. 3.
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VOL. III. No. 10.

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