MELANCHTHON.

THE LIFE

OF

PHILIP MELANCHTHON.

BY

CHARLES FREDERICK LEDDERHOSE.

Translated from the German,

BY THE

REV. G. F. KROTEL,

PASTOR OF TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH, LANCASTER, PA.

PHILADELPHIA:

LINDSAY & BLAKISTON.

1855.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by
LINDSAY & BLAKISTON,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

NOTICE.

By an oversight on the part of the pressman whose duty it is to revise the sheets on the press in my Printing Office, the following pages of this work (The Life of Melanchthon), are transposed, 56, 57, 58, 59, and 60. This error makes the book appear at first sight to be incomplete, the reader, however, will find all the pages, as above, but transposed. The error was not discovered until the whole edition of the work was bound, and largely distributed, consequently too late to be corrected in any other way than by this notice.

C. SHERMAN, Printer,
for LINDSAY & BLAKISTON, Publishers.

Philadelphia, Nov. 30, 1854.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

Luther occupies so great, unrivalled, and apostolical a position among the Reformers, that we should not feel surprised to see his life and labors presented to the evangelical community again and again. Although we are far from encouraging an idolatrous worship of the man, we believe we are acting in the spirit of the word of God, when we encourage men to follow his faith. But we should act very ungratefully if, on account of this Prince in Israel, we should lose sight of the other distinguished men of God in the days of the Reformation. And among these, Philip Melanchthon occupies the highest place. The age in which he lived called him the Teacher of the German people, because he exerted a powerful influence upon the scientific and Christian culture of Germany. And we too may give him the same name, for his writings continue to exert a great influence, and justly claim our consideration. To show that this is indeed true, that he is still calculated to be the teacher of the German people, especially of the evangelical community, is the object of this Biography. As this volume was prepared for the general reader, all learned discussions were necessarily avoided. It does not enter into critical investigations, but faithfully appropriates known facts, in order to present them to the reader in an intelligible manner. A candid examination must decide how far the author has succeeded in accomplishing this object. It is the first attempt of the kind, for the Life of Melanchthon has not been written often; and when it was written, it was not treated in a popular manner.

It was therefore the principal aim of the author of the present volume to present a truthful picture of the faith and the life of the Reformer. The man who wrote the Augsburg Confession, and its Apology, Confessions which, after three hundred years, are still a stumbling-block to some, but also an encouragement and consolation to many; a man who, notwithstanding all his scientific attainments, in which he no doubt excelled the great majority in our own day, yet held fast to the fundamental principles of Christianity, to the manifestation of God in the Flesh, to the Redemption, to Justification by Faith, in life and in the hour of death,—undoubtedly deserves to be introduced from the past into the present, in order to preach salvation in Christ to the present generation.

If Melanchthon's godly walk and conversation should be instrumental in leading him who is a stranger to salvation in Christ, to seek this; if it should serve to comfort and strengthen others, then may that word of the Scriptures be remembered: "The memory of the just is blessed;" and may every one gratefully rejoice, with the Reformer, in that glorious promise: "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever."

Ardently desiring that this volume may be useful and profitable unto salvation to very many, we suffer it to go forth upon its way.

St. G.     On the first Sunday in Advent, 1846.

L.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

Melanchthon has been called the most amiable, the purest, and most learned of the celebrated men of the sixteenth century. The distinguished Erasmus confesses, that he was a general favorite, that honest and candid men were fond of him, and even his adversaries cannot hate him. And he has succeeded in securing the affections of posterity, and, more than any other one of the valiant champions of the Reformation, is the general favorite of all evangelical Christians, and still seems to stand as the gentle mediator between the two great divisions of the Protestant Church formed at that time, claimed and loved by both.

Yet, notwithstanding all this, we venture to say, that a very large proportion of Protestant readers know no more of the life of this lovely man of God, than that which is interwoven with the life of Luther. His life has not been written for the people even by his own countrymen, and our author presents us with the first attempt of this kind. In our own language we have but one Life of Melanchthon, the one written by Dr. Cox, the first American edition of which, from the second London edition, is now lying before us, bearing the date 1835. Admirable as this work has been acknowledged to be, we believe the work of Ledderhose to be still more calculated for general reading. Our author assures us that it was "his principal aim to present a truthful picture of the faith and the life of the