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069 - 6 Melanchthon and other German Reformers · Short History of the Christian Church

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  Speaker 1: Part three, Chapter six of Short History of the Christian
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  Speaker 1: Church by John Fletcher Hurst. This LibriVox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Chapter six Melanthen and other German Reformers
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  Speaker 1: Philip Mulanthen, the friends and helpers of Luther came from
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  Speaker 1: every class. Of all these. Mlangthen was destined to be
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  Speaker 1: of most service, not only as an immediate co laborer
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  Speaker 1: with Luther, but as a promoter of the general cause
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  Speaker 1: of Protestantism. He was born in Breton, South Germany, in
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  Speaker 1: fourteen ninety seven, and was educated at Forurzheim, Heidelberg and Tubingen.
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  Speaker 1: When only seventeen years of age, he became a professor
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  Speaker 1: in the Tubingen University and began to attract attention by
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  Speaker 1: his remarkable knowledge of the classic writers. He edited Terence
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  Speaker 1: and other writers and threw a new light upon both
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  Speaker 1: Greek and Roman writers. His fame spread abroad into other countries.
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  Speaker 1: Erasmus wrote of him the following, what hopes may we
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  Speaker 1: not conceive of Philip Melancthon, though as yet very young,
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  Speaker 1: almost a boy he was only eighteen, but equally to
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  Speaker 1: be admired for his proficiency in both languages, What quickness
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  Speaker 1: of invention what purity of diction, what vastness of memory,
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  Speaker 1: what variety of reading? What modesty and gracefulness of behavior?
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  Speaker 1: And what a princely mind to equal Impatius the same man.
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  Speaker 1: Erasmus wrote of Melancthon, I have already the highest opinion
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  Speaker 1: and cherished the most magnificent hopes, so much so that
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  Speaker 1: I am persuaded. Christ designs this youth to excel us all.
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  Speaker 1: He will totally eclipse Erasmus. He was called to Wittenberg
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  Speaker 1: as professor in fifteen eighteen, and the same week began
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  Speaker 1: to lecture. He produced a profound impression. Immediately Luther heard
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  Speaker 1: him and was charmed by him. A friendship immediately sprang
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  Speaker 1: up between them, which was never broken until death terminated
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  Speaker 1: the union of twenty eight years. The annals of literature
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  Speaker 1: and theology do not furnish a more beautiful illustration of
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  Speaker 1: the manner in which a great work can be performed
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  Speaker 1: by the combined action of two men than we find
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  Speaker 1: in the case of Luther and Melancthon. There was no
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  Speaker 1: resemblance between them in quality of mind or temperament. The
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  Speaker 1: one thing which they had in common was the great
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  Speaker 1: cause of reform, and to that all other interests and
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  Speaker 1: gifts were made subordinate. The labors of Melancthon were directed
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  Speaker 1: at once to the improvement of the methods of study
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  Speaker 1: in the university. His students increased rapidly, and soon rose
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  Speaker 1: to about twenty five hundred. He insisted that the old
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  Speaker 1: scholastic philosophy was ridiculous and consisted of terms rather than ideas.
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  Speaker 1: He urged the students to the fountain heads of truth
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  Speaker 1: and placed before them the Bible as the only source
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  Speaker 1: of real knowledge. He then entered into the strife concerning indulgences,
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  Speaker 1: Luther going before him, and malengthen following closely, with his
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  Speaker 1: philological lore, his fine logic, and his marvelous unfoldings of
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  Speaker 1: scriptural truth. The life of Melancthon was now so thoroughly
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  Speaker 1: identified with that of Luther that it is difficult to
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  Speaker 1: separate the two. They lived in the same town, Wittenberg.
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  Speaker 1: They were in constant consultation, each doing what he was
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  Speaker 1: most able to do, and both working with unwearied zeal
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  Speaker 1: for the triumph of the cause to which they gave
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  Speaker 1: their lives. During Luther's stay in the Vartburg, melengthen was
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  Speaker 1: sorely grieved. He needed Luther's martial spirit, his strong will,
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  Speaker 1: his quick intuitions as to the best measures to win
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  Speaker 1: new victories. Hence he wrote such words as these, I
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  Speaker 1: feel the need I have of good advice. Our Elijah
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  Speaker 1: is confined at a distance from us, though we are
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  Speaker 1: expecting and anticipating his return. What shall I say more?
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  Speaker 1: His absence absolutely torments me. On the other hand, Luther
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  Speaker 1: felt the need of Melancthon's calm spirit, and, among many
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  Speaker 1: other words of the same character, he wrote from the
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  Speaker 1: Vartburg for the glory of the Word of God and
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  Speaker 1: the mutual consolation of myself and others. I would rather
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  Speaker 1: be consumed in a blazing fire than remain here, half
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  Speaker 1: alive and utterly useless. If I perish, the Prophet of
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  Speaker 1: Christ will not perish, and you, I hope, like another Elisha,
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  Speaker 1: will succeed Elijah. Luther, however, was sometimes out of patience
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  Speaker 1: with Malanngthon's great infirmity despondency, and wrote m the following
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  Speaker 1: in reply to Mulanngthen's gloomy picture of the Protestant outlook.
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  Speaker 1: Let those who please talk against us, but why are
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  Speaker 1: we to be always looking on the dark side of things?
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  Speaker 1: Why not indulge hopes of better times. He compared Paul's
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  Speaker 1: appearance with Malanthans in the following words, Paul must have
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  Speaker 1: been an insignificant looking person with no presence, a poor,
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  Speaker 1: dry little man like Master Philip. While Luther was still
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  Speaker 1: in the Vartburg, he nevertheless longed for the society of
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  Speaker 1: his poor dry little man, more than for all the
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  Speaker 1: robust men of the fatherland. So when he returned to
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  Speaker 1: Wittenberg and put the Fanatics to shame and flight, he
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  Speaker 1: wrote with great joy to a relative, I am in
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  Speaker 1: Amsdorf's house with my beloved friend Philip Mulanthen. Mulanngthen's regularity
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  Speaker 1: in work was a marvel. He was seldom known to
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  Speaker 1: miss a lecture any cause. On the day in fifteen twenty,
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  Speaker 1: when he was married to Catherine Crappin, the Burgomaster's daughter,
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  Speaker 1: he departed for once from his inflexible punctuality and posted
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  Speaker 1: on the roster the following release of his students from
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  Speaker 1: hearing him on Paul's epistle to the Romans. Astudeis Hodier
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  Speaker 1: fassit O Tigradia, Philippus Necnobus, Pauley, Dogmata Sacra Legate rest
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  Speaker 1: from your studies. Philips says, you may will read no
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  Speaker 1: lectures on Saint Paul today. Year after year passed by,
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  Speaker 1: and molengthen was always at his post, lecturing to the
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  Speaker 1: many students who had come from different countries to hear him.
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  Speaker 1: If in the interests of the good cause of reform,
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  Speaker 1: he was absent for a day or two, he always
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  Speaker 1: returned to his post with renewed vigor. His lecture room
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  Speaker 1: was his throne. He was devoted to theological students and
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  Speaker 1: made them his trusted friends. In his last illness, he
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  Speaker 1: thought of them and wished, when too weak, to be
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  Speaker 1: dressed and deliver a lecture to them. He died in
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  Speaker 1: fifteen sixty. A short time before his death, he wrote
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  Speaker 1: his reasons why it is better for the Christian to
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  Speaker 1: die than to live, the column on the right containing
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  Speaker 1: the blessings gained by dying, and that on the left
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  Speaker 1: the evils avoided, evils removed. You leave your sins. You
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  Speaker 1: are delivered from controversy and the rage of theologians. Advantage
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  Speaker 1: is gained. You come to the light. You will see God,
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  Speaker 1: you will contemplate the Son of God. You will understand
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  Speaker 1: those wonderful mysteries which you cannot comprehend in this life,
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  Speaker 1: namely why we are made as we are and the
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  Speaker 1: union of the two natures in Christ. No man appreciated
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  Speaker 1: Melanchthon's character and work more highly than Luther. Of his
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  Speaker 1: theological commonplaces Losai Theologici, Luther said, for theological study, it
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  Speaker 1: is the best book next to the Bible. Molengthen has
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  Speaker 1: no ground for fear of Malanngthen's books as a whole.
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  Speaker 1: He said, I love his books better than my own.
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  Speaker 1: He plows and plants, and sows and waters with joy,
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  Speaker 1: while I am only a coarse forester, digging up the
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  Speaker 1: roots and tearing out the thorns. Molengthen was the theological
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  Speaker 1: builder for the German Reformation. He wrote the two symbols
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  Speaker 1: of the Lutheran Church, the Augsburg Confession fifteen thirty and
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  Speaker 1: the Apology for the Augsburg Confession, both admirable statements of doctrine,
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  Speaker 1: and he presented the so called Saxon Confession, a declaration
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  Speaker 1: of the Protestant Faith, to the Council of Trent fifteen
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  Speaker 1: fifty one. The friendship between Lutheran Melancthon as a powerful
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  Speaker 1: factor towards the success of the Reformation was only an
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  Speaker 1: illustration of a general fact. There were other attachments not
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  Speaker 1: less charming. The whole period of the planting of Protestantism
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  Speaker 1: abounds in remarkable adjustments and surrenders of individual tastes and
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  Speaker 1: capacities for the achievement of a great end. Each man
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  Speaker 1: was as necessary to the rest as their joint work
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  Speaker 1: was necessary to the success of the whole movement. It
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  Speaker 1: was a harmony of opposites and as complete a providential
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  Speaker 1: blending of diverse natures as the world had seen since
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  Speaker 1: the days of the Apostles. All temperaments and all classes
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  Speaker 1: of society were drawn upon to make the one harmonious
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  Speaker 1: picture of a young and vigorous Protestantism. Some of Luther's
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  Speaker 1: first and strongest friends were of the princely and noble
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  Speaker 1: class of the rulers. We count no less than six
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  Speaker 1: who were devoted friends of the new movement for the
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  Speaker 1: liberation of the conscience, and followed the leadership of Luther,
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  Speaker 1: namely George Maurice, Frederick the Wise, John and John Frederick,
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  Speaker 1: all Princes of Saxony, and Philip of Hesse. While enjoying
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  Speaker 1: the full confidence of these men, Luther never faltered in
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  Speaker 1: the assertion of personal independence. He never compromised a principle.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, he gained the confidence of the princes not
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  Speaker 1: merely by his valiant defense of the truth, but by
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  Speaker 1: his candor towards them. With the princes, we must not
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  Speaker 1: omit to join two fearless knights as friend of Protestantism,
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  Speaker 1: Ulrich von Hutten and Franz von Sickenjin. These men offered
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  Speaker 1: Luther the use of their swords and a home in
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  Speaker 1: their castles, but he declined them both, saying that his
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  Speaker 1: was a spiritual conflict. In Luther's immediate circle as co
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  Speaker 1: workers with him, the scholars Justice Jonas, George Roher, Crusager, Forster,
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  Speaker 1: and Bugenhagen stand next to Melanthon. These men were mostly
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  Speaker 1: one to the cause of reform by the reading of
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  Speaker 1: Luther's writings or the hearing of his lectures, or by
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  Speaker 1: his hymns, and having once come within the charm of
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  Speaker 1: his person, became his willing co operators in the various
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  Speaker 1: departments for which each was fitted. Bugenhagen was elected pastor
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  Speaker 1: in Wittenberg through Luther's influence, and was a powerful organizer
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  Speaker 1: of the new Protestant Church in North Germany. Jonas was
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  Speaker 1: a professor in the university, and through his eloquence the
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  Speaker 1: city of Halley was led to adopt the Protestant cause.
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  Speaker 1: Lucas Cranach, the most celebrated German painter of his times,
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  Speaker 1: was an intimate friend of Luther, and through him we
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  Speaker 1: have accurate portraits of the parents, the entire family of
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  Speaker 1: lefe Uther, and nearly all his friends and fellow workers.
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  Speaker 1: Krannak had a keen sense of the grotesque and satirical,
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  Speaker 1: and it was his pleasure to furnish woodcuts as adjuncts
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  Speaker 1: to Luther's stinging words against the abuses of the times.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter six