honored as the mother of so illustrious an offspring. In his youth he was remarkably troubled with "His parents," says he, "were most excellent Catholics, irreproachable in their manners, exemplary in their conduct, careful to maintain in their family the fear of God and a due observance of his commandments, walking before God with a simplicity, a fidelity, and a zeal like that of primitive Christians. I feel myself constrained to state these particulars, that you may remember to attribute to Melancthon's excellent education all that you read or hear said of his sweetness of temper, courtesy, temperance, modesty, and other virtues, for which the Protestants have so much extolled him: and that you may consider these qualities as produced or cherished in the bosom of the Catholic church." Varillas, one of the greatest enemies of the Reformation, has nevertheless spoken of him in the following manner: "He possessed a sweetness and mildness of temper, that rendered him incapable of returning injury for injury. In observing the exactest rules of morality, he only followed his inclination, and notwithstanding the meanness of his birth, he practised the utmost generosity his means would allow. No German wrote the Latin language with greater ease or in a more intelligible manner, yet he was never so attached to his own productions, or so prejudiced in their favor as to refuse making any corrections suggested by his friends." Neither Melancthon's attachment to literature, nor his multifarious engagements in public seduced him from the cultivation of domestic feelings, and the discharge of parental duties. His wife and children, ever dear to his heart, were not forgotten amidst the deepest abstractions of study, or the greatest perplexity of engagement. sleeplessness, which the regularity of his general habits at length overcame. When letters or papers arrived in the evening he always referred them to the next morning for inspection, least the hours devoted to sleep which he found indispensable to the due preservation of health, should be disturbed. His matrimonial connection was not only a happy, but a very lasting one. Formed for each other, this favored pair were not destined to suffer the pangs of early separation; but lived in undisturbed harmony for thirty-seven years. They had four children, two sons and two daughters. Anne, his eldest daughter, appears to have been the favorite child, for she was not only handsome and accomplished, but of a very literary turn. Luther in one of his letters, calls her "the elegant daughter of Philip," On the sixth of November, 1536, she was married to George Sabinus, a native of Brandenburg, who being sent to Melancthon with the powerful recommendation of Erasmus to be educated, became an inmate of his family. His thirst after knowledge was so unbounded, that no labor however great, which was deemed requisite to attain it, damped his inextinguishable zeal. By day and by night he devoted himself to study, and overlooked or despised every obstacle in the path of knowledge. But his taste even surpassed his zeal, particularly in poetic compositions. Camerarius relates that he had seen him weep abundantly when reading an exquisite piece of poetry, and that though he would deeply deplore his own infericity in composition, no one in reality excelled him. His poem entitled "Res gesta Casarum Germanorum," ," procured him not only a very extensive reputation in Germany, but the notice and patronage of the most enlightened princes of the age, and he became successively professor of the Belles Lettres at Frankfort on the Oder, rector of the New Academy of Konigsberg, and counsellor to the Elector of Brandenburg. It will not appear surprising that such a youth, and in such favorable circumstances, should have ingratiated himself into Melancthon's esteem, and attracted the affections of his accomplished daughter. The habits of studious men have sometimes been represented as tending to disqualify them for the familiar intercourse of domestic or social life. It is often long before the clouds which profound study gathers over the mind can be entirely chased away, even by the cheering influence of innocent conviviality. At the same time a great man never appears greater than in descending from the high station where public opinion or extraordinary genius has enthroned him to an approachable familiarity. It is then his friends will no longer censure his abstractions nor his affectionate family deprecate his fame. Melancthon may be appealed to as a pleasing illustration of this remark. A Frenchman one day, found him holding a book in one hand and rocking his child's cradle with the other. Upon his manifesting considerable surprise, Melancthon took occasion from the incident to converse with his visitor on the duties of parents, and on the regard of heaven for little children in such a pious and affectionate manner, that his astonishment was quickly transformed into admiration. The fondness he cherish- to which Stigelius replied, ed for his own family extended to children in general. He possessed, in a very eminent degree, the rare art of making himself a captivating and instructive companion to them. He descended with the most happy ease to their level, promoted by his jocularity their little pleasures, and engaged with all his heart in their games and festivities. He would often exercise their ingenuity, by devising fictions and puzzles, and took great delight in relating useful scraps of history or memorable tales. He always estimated Time as a most precious possession, It is said of him, that when he made an appointment, he expected not only that the day or the hour, but that the minute should be fixed, in order that time might not be squandered away in the vacuity or idleness of suspense. * The Papists were extremely fond of representing their adversaries as low and baseborn persons, in order, as they imagined, to render their cause contemptible. It is related of Sabinus, that on a certain occasion when he was dining in company with Stigelius and Melancthon, the latter engaged them in an extempore poetical contest. Sabinus being the elder of the two was required to begin, which he did in these words: "Carmina conscribant alii dictante Lyæo, "Carmina componant alii sudante cerebro, The two poetical gladiators had the satisfaction of being equally extolled by Melancthon, the one for his attack, and the other for his defence. Stigelius obtained a considerable poetical notoriety, and Melancthon has expressed a very high opinion of his merit. He wrote a variety of epitaphs, epigrams, and epithalamia, a metrical translation of many of the Psalms of David, with other little compositions, of which the following monumental inscription for himself is not the least curious: Hic ego Stigelius jaceo; quis curat? ut omnis But this apparently happy and suitable connec-rious darkness. The bishop of Breslaw, therefore, tion was destined to become a source of consider- ought to be mentioned for the pleasing singularity able affliction. Sabinus was very different in cha- of his character, as the decided friend of the infant racter from his father-in-law Melancthon. The elegant pleasures of literature did not satisfy him; for he was naturally ambitious, and the fame he acquired by his poetic publications, fed the secret flame till it could no longer be suppressed. Melancthon was attached to the more humble life of a man of letters and a man of piety, nor could he be induced by the most pressing entreaties to pursue any measures for the promotion of his children to posts of civil distinction and emolument. He employed all his skill to cure the raging fever of Sabinus, but in vain; for the poet worshipped fame and wealth. They became therefore discontented with each other, and found it best to separate. The lovely spirit of Melancthon however prevented any serious dissention, and they eventually parted with mutual good will and kindness. Sabinus took his wife into Prussia, where to her father's inexpressible grief, she died, after a residence of four years, at Konigsberg. The youngest daughter of Melancthon was married in the year 1550, to Casper Peucer, whose name is one of the most celebrated in German literature, as well as in the annals of the Reformation. He was a physician, and through the favor of the Elector of Saxony, made professor of Medicine in the University of Wittemberg. He was always sent for to court when any important deliberations of a medical kind were held, and enjoyed free access to the Elector. His writings are numerous in medicine, mathematics, and theology. Above all, he is to be ranked amongst the illustrious sufferers for the cause of truth. After the death of Melanethon, Peucer, in conjunction with the divines of Wittemberg and Leipsic, and of several ecclesiastics and persons of distinction in the court of Saxony, aimed to introduce the Calvinistic sentiments respecting the Eucharist, denying most strenuously the Lutheran doctrine of the corporeal presence of Christ. Great commotions being excited, the Elector Augustus, in the year 1571, called a solemn assembly of the Saxon divines, and of all persons concerned in the administration of ecclesiastical affairs, at Dresden. Augustus commanded them to adopt his opinion respecting the Eucharist, which at that time agreed with that of Peucer and the moderate Lutherans; but he was soon seduced by the insinuations of their adversaries, who represented the church as in danger, to change sides, and in consequence of finding that the Saxon divines, who were the disciples of Melancthon, propagated their sentiments with the utmost assiduity, he called a new convention at Torgaw in the year 1574, where he assumed the dictator's chair and wielded the persecutor's sword. Of those who denied the corporeal presence, some were imprisoned, others banished, and others compelled to renounce their sentiments. Peucer had the honor of suffering amongst the former. He endured the severities of a cruel imprisonment for ten years, and was released at last only through the intercession of the Prince of Anhalt. Among the rare instances of eminent persons attached to the reformed cause in the early period of its progress which is now under review, comprising the year 1520, the name of John Thurzo, Bishop of Breslaw, in Silesia, claims a distinguished notice. It is true little, too little is known of him; but as the early traveller watches the commencement and the gradual progress of the dawning day, by the first beams that strike successively upon surround Reformation. He died in peace in the month of August, meriting this noble eulogium. This was expressed in a letter addressed to the bishop, which he did not live long enough to receive. Luther wrote to him at the same time, in language indicative of an equal esteem. "Who is there," says Melancthon, "that does not love the man, who, so far as I know, is the only man in Germany, that by his authority, learning, and piety, has furnished an example of what a bishop ought to be? If the Christian world could but produce ten persons of a similar stamp and cast of thinking (sumphradmones,) as Homer says, I should not doubt of seeing the kingdom of Christ in some measure restored." CHAPTER V. The Pope's Bull against Luther-His retaliation-Diet of Worms Luther's seizure and imprisonment at the castle of WartenbergFeelings of Melancthon-Condemnation of Luther by the Sarbonne-Melancthon's satirical rejoinder-His publication under the feigned name of Thomas Placentinus-His declamation on the study of Paul-Extracts froin his Loci Communes, or Theological Common Places-Transactions relative to the abolition of private masses. 1520, 1521. RETURNING from the disputations at Leipsic, Eckius resolved if possible to ruin Luther, and pursued his purpose with inveterate malignity and unremitting zeal. He flew to Rome, implored Leo X. to excommunicate this heretic, and obtained the vigorous co-operation of the Dominicans, then in high favor at court, who were willing to revenge the quarrel of their brother Tetzel. At length on the fifteenth of June, 1520, the Pope issued a Bull against Luther, in which after calling upon Christ, St. Peter, St. Paul, and all the saints to interpose in behalf of the church, forty-one propositions are extracted from his writings, and condemned as pestilential, scandalous and offensive to pious minds; all persons are interdicted from reading them upon pain of excommunication, and unless the heretic should present himself at Rome, within sixty days, in order to take his trial before the supreme Pontiff, he is fully EXCOMMUNICATED. But these menaces were ineffectual; in many places the decree was delayed or evaded-even at Leipsic it was violently opposed, and at Erfurt it was forcibly wrested from Eckius, torn in pieces and thrown into the river by a body of academicians. Many of the Roman Catholic writers condemn the imprudence of Leo in this and other hasty proceedings against the Saxon Reformer, but it is more than probable that had the effect been different, they would have spared the Tiara. Immediately previous to the publication of this celebrated anathema, Luther had been offered an asylum from his persecutors, by Sylvester Schaumberg, a Franconían knight, whose son was under the tuition of Melancthon. " I offer you," said he, "my own protection, and that of one hundred noblemen in Franconia, with whom you can live in safety until your doctrine has undergone a deliberate investigation." The state of his mind at this critical juncture may be ascertained from his own language to his friend Spalatine, the Elector's secretary, upon transmitting to him the generous letter of Schaumberg. "As for me, the die is cast. I equally despise the favor and fury of Rome, I have no longer any wish to be connected with or reconciled to them. Let them condemn me and burn my books, and if I do not in return publicly condemn ing objects, so the observant reader will unite with and burn the whole pontifical code, it will only be the vigilant biographer, in hailing each indication from want of fire." "In fact, on the tenth of Deof increasing light in a world enveloped in myste- cember, 1520, in the presence of an immense con course of people of all ranks, he committed the Bull of Leo, the decretals of the Pontiffs, and other similar documents to the flames, in testimony of his everlasting separation from the Romish communion. Nor did he neglect to use the pen as well as the torch, by which he appealed from the Pope to a general council, and exposed the pretensions and corruption of the church of Rome in several tracts. A second Bull was issued against him in the month of January, 1521, in which the Pope styles himself "the divinely appointed dispenser of spiritual and temporal punishments:" it consisted of a recapitulation of the preceding Bull, and a formal excommunication of Luther. During these transactions the Elector Frederic acted with a prudence and discretion which proved eminently serviceable to the Reformation. Had he been less the friend of Luther and of truth, he would have delivered him up to his enraged adversaries; had he been more zealous it would have been equally fatal, by exposing himself to the papal anathemas, and the infant cause, which he secretly and therefore effectually patronized, to almost inevitable destruction. His conduct and character cannot be more accurately depicted than in the words of Melancthon. "This most excellent prince was much concerned to foresee the contests and disorders which would ensue, though the first attacks made by Luther were upon very plausible grounds. By his own judgment and sagacity, and by long experience in the art of government, he well knew the danger of revolutions. But being a truly religious man and one who feared God, he consulted not the dictates of mere worldly and political wisdom, which might have inclined him to stifle at once all symptoms of innovation. He determined to prefer the glory of God to all other considerations, and to listen to the divine command which enjoins obedience to the gospel. He knew that it was a horrible profaneness to resist the truth when plainly seen and known. He had studiously examined Luther's works, and accurately weighed his proofs and testimonies; and he would not suffer doctrines to be oppressed and smothered which he judged to be the word of God. The Holy Spirit confirmed and supported him in these excellent resolutions, so that though the Emperors Maximilian and Charles, and the Roman Pontiffs urged this prince, and not without menaces, to hinder Luther from writing and preaching in his dominions, he was not in the least degree shaken or intimidated. Yet he presumed not to rely entirely on his own judgment in a matter of such great importance, but took the advice of other persons who were venerable for their rank, learning, and experience." After the death of Maximilian I. the unanimous vote of the electoral college placed Charles V. upon the imperial throne, who was publicly crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, on the twenty-third of October, 1520, the year after his election. Leo immediately applied to him to inflict an exemplary punishment on Luther for disobedience to papal authority, while Frederic exerted his influence, an influence derived from the personal obligations of Charles, who had been created Emperor chiefly through his exertions, to obtain a public and fair investigation of his cause in Germany previous to the promulgation of any condemnatory edict. The result was that the Emperor appointed a diet at Worms in January, 1521, to which, under the protection of a safe conduct, Luther repaired in April. His friends recollecting the fate of John Huss, were extremely apprehensive, and would have dissuaded him from venturing amongst his enemies. Their fears increased as he approached the city. Every argument was used to prevent his perseverance, and when at Oppenheim he was met by Bu cer, who had been sent to entreat him to take refuge in a neighboring castle; upon which occasion he uttered that heroic and most characteristic declaration which both Protestant and Papist historians have recorded: "I am lawfully called to appear in the city of Worms, and thither will I go in the name of the Lord, though as many devils as there are tiles on the houses were there combined against me." At this crisis Melancthon thus expresses himself in a letter to one of his friends. "Martin still lives and prospers, notwithstanding the indignation and fury of Leo, to whom all things have hitherto been supposed possible. Nobody approves the Bull which Eckius is entorcing, unless it be those who are more concerned for their own ease and indulgence than for the success of the gospel. We are certainly in no danger from it at present, though the hierarchy raves and thunders. O that you knew with what trembling hesitation this pontifical mandate is executed, for its abettors are in a complete strait betwixt the general opinion on the one hand, and the anger of the Roman Pontiff on the other, while there are many who would rather be openly accused of any crime than appear to be deficient in religious zeal for the Pope. You are doubtless acquainted with the proceedings at Worms, though I may say a word or two on that subject. Charles is constantly urged to proscribe Luther by an imperial edict, and there are great deliberations and debatings about it. If the Papists could prevail, in their rage they would destroy us, and they are vexed at the inefficiency of the pontifical decrees. They are in hopes that those which they are using every means, but I trust in vain, to extort from the emperor, will prove availing. Nothing can terrify Martin Luther, who would willingly purchase the advancement and glory of the gospel AT THE PRICE OF HIS BLOOD." Private conferences and public examinations, violent threats and gentle entreaties, were alternately employed to cajole or to force him into a recantation of his heretical opinions and a submission to the Roman Pontiff. It was all in vain. He was neither to be compelled nor seduced into compliance. He COULD suffer death, but he COULD NOT violate the dictates of conscience! The wonder is, that when his enemies were so inveterate and himself so intrepid and resolute, he should have been allowed to depart from Worms in peace; but the members of the Diet refused to expose themselves to the reproach of a violation of faith, and the Emperor was unwilling to contend with them from political motives. Luther was allowed twenty-one days to return home, and required not to preach to the people in the course of his journey. A few days after he had withdrawn, an edict was issued by the authority of the Diet in the Emperor's name, declaring him a member cut off from the church, a schismatic, a notorious and obstinate heretic: forbidding all persons, under penalty of high treason, loss of goods, and being put under the BAN of the Empire, to receive, defend, maintain or protect him, either in word or writing; and all his adherents, followers, and favorers to suffer the confiscation of their property, unless they had left his party, and had received absolution by apostolic authority! The formidable edict of Worms however was in * Martin Bucer was born at Shelestadt in Alsace. He spent several days with Luther, at Worms, and embraced his opinions. He afterwards preached the doctrines of the Reformation at Strasberg and was extremely active in endeavoring to reconcile the Lutherans and Zuinglians. In the year 1549, Archbishop Cranmer invited him to England, and he became a lecturer in Divinity, in the University of Cambridge, where he died in 1551, at the age of sixty-one. a great measure superseded by two circumstances, Patmos, reflecting all the day on the wretched namely, the multiplicity of the Emperor's engage-condition of the church. I bemoan the hardness ments arising out of commotions in Spain, and the wars of Italy and the Low Countries; and a curious, but well concerted and well timed contrivance of his wary friend the Elector of Saxony. Foreseeing the meditated attack upon Luther, Frederic employed several trusty persons in masks to seize upon him as he was passing a forest in Thuringia, near Altenstein, and convey him to the castle of Wartenberg, which was situated on a high mountain in the vicinity of Eisenach. In his retreat he passed for a country gentleman, under the assumed name of Yonker George. The consequence of this sudden disappearance was unfavorable to his adversaries who were suspected of having plotted his destruction, the Imperial edict missed its aim, and his opinions or rather, "The word of the Lord grew, and was multiplied." Acts xi. 24. Luther's confinement in the castle of Wartenberg, placed Melancthon at the head of the reformed cause, who was well aware of the responsibility of his situation. After a considerable lapse of time he writes to his friend Hess: "I feel the need I have of good advice. Our Elijah is still confined at a distance from us, though we are expecting and anticipating his return. What shall I say more? His absence absolutely torments me." Though there was indeed an alloy of constitutional timidity, which cannot but be considered as some deprecia tion of his sterling value in the peculiar situation of ecclesiastical affairs, no one was so well qualified to maintain the respectability and promote the success of the Lutheran cause. The great Reformer well knew his extraordinary merit, and requested him to assist in the discharge of some of those clerical duties for which he was incapacitated by absence. In one of his letters he addresses him thus: "For the glory of the word of God and the mutual consolation of myself and others, I would rather be consumed in a blazing fire, than remain here half alive and utterly useless. If I perish, the gospel of Christ will not perish, and you, I hope, like another Elisha, will succeed Elijah." Again he writes, "The accounts which I receive of your abundant success in religion and learning during my absence, rejoice my heart exceedingly, and very much diminish the miseries of separation. The circumstance of your going on so prosperously while I am absent, is peculiarly delightful to me, because it may serve to convince the wicked one, that however he may rage and foam, their desires shall perish and Christ will finish the work which he has begun." Melancthon was constitutionally hypochondriacal; and as even trifling circumstances frequently disturb the peace of such persons, it was to be expected that the state of things at this momentous crisis would produce a powerful effect upon his mind. His heart was interested in the cause of pure Christianity, his happiness was deeply involved in it, his sensibilities were perpetually wrought upon by surrounding occurrences, and his spirits ebbed and flowed according to the success or decline of that cause which was to him the dearest upon earth. In fact the situation of Melancthon and the friends of the Reformation was peculiarly afflictive. The transactions at Worms and the subsequent concealment of Luther, had inspired Frederic with an unusual degree of caution amounting to timidity, in his proceedings. The writings of Luther were not allowed to be published, and the academicians were interdicted the discussion of questions likely to offend persons of distinction, who were attached to Popery. That Luther deeply sympathized with his friend and participated in his sentiments, is obvious from his own words. "I sit here in my of my heart, that I am not dissolved in tears on * At length these bosom friends contrived a mode of alleviating the anxiety that was so intolerable, and of obtaining each other's assistance in the present crisis. This was a secret visit of Luther to Wittemberg, which was hastened by the prevalence of various evils, especially the conduct of Carlo stadt, which will be noticed in a subsequent page He states the circumstance to Spalatine: "I came to Wittemberg and amongst the delightful intercourse enjoyed with my friends, I found this bitter, that my little pamphlets and letters had neither been heard of nor seen, for which you shall judge, whether I was not justly displeased. However, on the whole, what I have seen and heard has afforded me the greatest satisfaction. May the Lord comfort those who are interested in the cause: but on my way I was vexed with the various rumors I heard of the imprudences of some of our friends, and I propose to publish some suitable exhortations as soon as I return to my asylum. Commend me to our illustrious prince, from whom I wish to conceal my journey to Wittemberg, for a reason of which you are aware. Farewell. I am in Amsdorff's house with my beloved friend Philip Melanethon." Luther, Ep. 253. In England Henry VII III. published a book against Luther and in defence of the seven sacraments of the Romish Church, for which he received the title never yet relinquished by his successors, of Defender of the Faith. In France, the divines of the Sorbonne, published a formal condemnation of Luther's writings, dated the 15th of April, 1521, in which they show the danger to which Christians are exposed from his poisonous errors, and charge him with rashness in preferring his own judgment to that of the Universities and Holy Fathers of the Church, as though God had given him the knowledge of many truths necessary for salvation, which the church had been ignorant of during the past ages, being left by Jesus Christ her spouse in the darkness of error. Melancthon immediately gave them a very suitable flagellation in a small piece, entitled "Adversus furiosum Parisiensium Teologastrorum decretum pro Luthero apologia;- An apology for Luther, in opposition to the furious decree of the Parisian Theologasters." This was gratifying to his friend Yonker George, in confinement at Wartenberg. "I have seen," says he, "the Decree of the Parisian Sophists, together with the Apology of Philip, and from my very heart I rejoice: for Christ would not have given them up to such blindness had not he determined to *The term applied to the faculty of Theology at Paris. The college of the University in which they assembled was called the house of the Sorbonne, which was first erected and endowed in the year 1250, by a wealthy favorite of Louis, whose name was Robert de Sorbonne. That theological society was, at that period, in the highest repute. promote his own cause, and to put a stop to the despotism of its adversaries." In this satirical pamphlet Melancthon begins by remarking, that, "during the past year, the Sophists of Cologne and Louvain condemned the gospel in a set of naked propositions, unsupported by either reason or Scripture, and that now the Parisian divines had acted in the same irrational manner. By the spirit which pervades the Decree it may be determined whether it is from God, who is not the author of malice, or from another quarter!" It appeared almost incredible that such a work should have proceeded from such a university, distinguished as it had been by remarkable men, and especially by the great and pious Gerson. A letter was prefixed to the Decree which he supposed must have been written by some hired declaimer, because it displayed such womanish violence, that it was too silly for a divine! "What does it contain? 'Oh! Luther is a Manichæan! a Montanist! he despises us forsooth!-he is mad!-he must be brought to his senses by fire and flames!' What feminine, what monkish weakness! "Luther is accused of heresy, not because he differs from SCRIPTURE, but from the Holy Fathers, Councils, and Universities, whose opinions are received as the first principles of religion!! But are Holy Fathers, and Councils, and Universities to decree the articles of Christian faith? And how can this be the case, when they are so liable to err, Occam himself being judge, if you will not credit me? Is our faith to depend upon the opinions of men? So did not Paul determine when he affirmed, that 'other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.'-1 Corinthians, iii. 11. "Luther then does not dissent from SCRIPTURE, but from YOUR judgment, and from the sense which the Fathers, Councils and Schools have adopted; and this I see is the great cause of the controversy, and the great sin he has committed! But what after all is decreed by the Councils, when some things are false and some true, some conformable to Scripture, and some contrary to it; so that Scripture must be the final appeal, and if any passages be obscure, they are to be compared with others, and thus Scripture will explain itself. If an angel from heaven,' says the apost apostle, 'preach any other gospel than what I preach let him be accursed.'Galatians, i. 10. Surely then Luther may oppose the obvious sentiment of Scripture to Councils, Fathers, and Universities! What can these SoWhat sort of logic and what kind of phists reply ? glosses can they use to avoid the inference from these statements? Either deny that there is any certain sense in Scripture, or acknowledge that Luther is justifiable in placing its dictates in opposition to human opinion. "After all he is not inclined to concede that Luther and the ancient Fathers and Councils disagrec. On various points he is completely supported by the sentiments of Augustine, Cyprian, Hilary, and Chrysostom; though it is true many things are to be found in the writings of Luther on the sacraments, vows, and other subjects, which cannot be discovered in them. No wonder, for that age knew nothing of the tyrannical laws of Roman Pontiffs, nothing of our Parisian Masters and their articles of faith. That period may, perhaps, be considered as the noon-day of evangelical truth; ours as the declining evening in which darkness covers the minds of sinners as a punishment for their guilt; and that is darkness indeed in which the Sorbonne divinity prevails, a divinity which extols human opinion as paramount to scriptural truth! Does not the spirit of God, by his prophets, threaten such a punishment, and does not Paul speak of those who should teach for doctrines the commandments of men?-and to whom can he refer but to the Sorbonne divines, or such as they? "Nay more, whatever criminality may be supposed to attach to any persons for opposing the Fathers, is to be charged upon these very Parisian disputants themselves, who diametrically contradict them. The very best of the Fathers denounce whatever is not from the spirit of Christ, as sinful; but these not only do not allow of their guilt, but absolutely affirm many of them to be meritorious. The Fathers deny that mere human strength is adequate to fulfil the divine law, these Parisians state the very reverse. "It is written, if an offender refuse to hear the church let him be as a heathen man and a publican. I pray now what do you call the church? No doubt, the French, or Sorbonne Church. But how can that be the church of Christ which has not the word of Christ, who testifies that his sheep hear his voice? We denominate that his true church which is built upon THE WORD OF GOD, and which is nourished, fed, and governed by it; in a word, which derives every thing, and judges of every thing, by THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, for 'he that is of God heareth the words of God.' "You, the Sorbonne Church, without appealing to reason or Scripture, condemn Luther and exclude him from the communion of the pious. But it did not become you to condemn, but to accuse. You do not accuse or convince by argument, but contrary both to divine and human laws, at once condemn, and for no other reason than because you are the Sorbonne divines, and lords of our faith, to be sure! For shame! for shame!!! But stay, I must not treat the Sorbonne so irreverently! for these lords over our faith say they imitate the example of the apostles, when they issue decisions without scriptural authority. I wish, however, they would verify this statement by some reference. Christ himself quotes the authority of Scripture. Paul does the same; and what are all the apostolic discourses but the testimonies derived from the records of the Old Testament concerning Christ? The Sorbonne only is to be believed without SCRIP TURE! "He imagines this fraternity must be of Egyptian origin, and the descendants of Jannes and Jambres, who resisted Moses. The truth of the Lutheran doctrines, however, he is satisfied will remain inmoveable and unshaken, not only by their opposition, but in spite of the rulers of darkness." Soon after the publication of this performance a mock answer appeared in the name of the Parisian divines, written in a ludicrous style and intended to make them appear ridiculous. Dupin imputes it to Luther, and Seckendorf expresses a doubt whether it were written by him or some other friend. Another controversial piece of the present year, under the feigned name of Didymus Faventinus, against Thomas Placentinus, and on behalf of Luther, is to be attributed to Melancthon. It consists of forty-four folio pages. In this performance he details the history of the Lutheran controversy, and refutes the various calumnies of the enemies of truth and the reformation. "Luther," says he, "is most iniquitously condemned for having delivered his country from the papal impositions, for daring to eradicate the errors of so many centuries, and restoring to the light pure Christianity, which had been nearly extinguished by the impicus decrees of the Popes, and the vain sophistries of the schoolmen. I am not alone in ascribing this inerit to Luther; the learned universally do the same: and I state this lest you should imagine that he is the sole author of the present commotions, which ought rather to be imputed to those who have done |