timate friend and associate of Luther.-In the next chapter, I shall resume the story of Melancthon, and give you some account of his various studies and labours.

CHAPTER V.

In this chapter I promised to say something of Melancthon's diversified studies and labours after he was associated with Luther in the university at Wittemberg. The first thing to be noticed, is his careful and earnest investigation of divine truth. I have remarked how "the gift of a small Bible from his friend Capnio," excited his attention to the Scriptures. But now, another occurrence produced a still greater effect of this kind. It was the hearing of a disputation between Luther and Eckius in 1519. Luther was the bold and zealous supporter of the Reformation, Eckius, of Popery. During ten days these two men publicly discussed the sentiments of the Roman church concerning purgatory, indulgences, repentance, and the supremacy of the popes. This strenuous effort of these two champions, to set forth the merits of their respective causes, furnished the most favourable means for the clear and discerning mind of Melancthon to judge on

which side the truth lay. It also gave him a fine opportunity to learn the true nature and tendency of these two systems of religious sentiment, and what could be said for a cause which, as was the fact concerning that of Eckius, derived so little light from the Bible, and had so little reference to the law and to the testimony.

The effect, as might have been expected, upon a mind so candid and discerning as that of Melancthon, was, a full conviction, of the errors, impiety, and evil tendency of the catholic system, and of the truth and importance of the doctrines advocated by Luther, who uniformly appealed to the word of God as the only decisive authority in matters of religion.

After this, Melancthon applied himself to a more diligent and deep study of the Bible. The consequence was, such a thorough knowledge of divine truth, beyond what almost any other man possessed, as fitted him for great and extensive usefulness, during the remainder of his life.

It was about this time that Eckius sent Melancthon a letter full of contempt and abuse, charging him with great want of theological knowledge. The occasion of this was, the opinion which Melanethon had expressed in a letter to one of his friends, concerning the dis.

pute at Leipsic. To this ungenerous letter Melancthon replied. This reply, says Milner, "Is elegant, acute, and temperate. It displays the scholar and the Christian.-It did excellent service to the Lutheran cause."

After this, when the enemies of Luther and of the Reformation, determined to destroy him at once, by a violent death, and thus to put an end to his labours and influence; some of his friends contrived effectually to protect him. This they did by concealing him in the castle of Wertburg, where he remained almost a year.

During this time Melancthon stood forth, in the same cause, at the head of those who were labouring to promote the reformation by diffusing a knowledge of the Scriptures on every hand. Besides attending to his pupils in the university, he now had to perform many of the ministerial duties which used to be dis charged by Luther. How well he succeeded in that difficult situation, and those perilous times, may be seen from what Luther wrote to him, at a period when he supposed it doubtful whether he should ever return to Wittemberg. "The accounts," says L. "which I receive of Your abundant success in religion and learning during my absence, rejoice my heart exceedingly, and make me endure this separation much better. The very circumstance of your

going on so prosperously while I am absent, is most peculiarly delightful to me; because it may serve to convince those wicked ones, that however they may rage and foam, their desires shall perish; and Christ will finish the work which He has begun.”

In addition to his Greek professorship, he was appointed theological lecturer in the same university. For several years he "read very laborious and useful lectures on the Scriptures without any salary at all."

As the controversy between the Roman catholics and the reformers went onward, he was constrained to maintain an extensive correspondence, to write many letters on many subjects. He composed and published many books, to refute the errors of the Roman catholics, and to defend and illustrate the doctrines of Scripture. He wrote commentaries on several parts of the Bible. Speaking of that upon the Epistle to the Colossians, Luther "declared that he preferred the works of Melancthon to his own, and was more desirous that they should be read than any thing which he himself had composed." "I" says he, " am born to be a rough controversialist; I clear the ground, pull up weeds, fill up ditches, an smooth the roads. But to build, to plant, to sow, to water, to adorn the country, belongs, by the grace of God, to Melancthon."

Sometimes he was called to perform considerable journeys, to appoint and regulate the order of churches and academies, and in various other respects to aid the cause of learning and of truth. At other seasons, his presence and labours were required at the public meetings of the German princes, which were called Diets. There, it was demanded of him, to explain the sentiments of the reformers, and answer the objections of the catholics. This was a business which required much learning, deep study, and no little time. On one of these occassions, he displayed so much wisdom and good feeling, with so much ability and firmness, as greatly moderated the feelings and proceedings of the papal party in the Diet. On another occasion at Worms, in a conferenee, that is a meeting of various classes of men of both parties, which the emperor of Germany had appointed for a familiar discussion of the matters in debate, Melancthon held a dispute with Eckius for three days.

There was another field of labour in which Melancthon was very useful to the cause of true religion. The Popes and Church at Rome had kept the Bible from the people. Luther resolved to translate it into the German language, that the people might have the means of reading the Scriptures and judging for themselves what was there taught. He translated the