chiefly to his ecclesiastical function. Intelligent | consolation could be obtained under a sense of diand pious persons will admit, if he were the means of promoting useful and necessary truth in the church, we ought to be grateful to the providence of God for raising up such a light, while his labors, faith, perseverance, and other virtues, ought to be duly acknowledged and his memory tenderly che-ish absurdity from the church, that God was not to rished by all worthy men.

poses. But it is usual for inferior minds to dislike | cellent and faithful father; but while it is necessary those of a more ardent character. When Aristides to submit to the will of heaven, let us not allow the bserved the mighty affairs which Themistocles by memory of his virtues and his good offices to perish. he impulse of a superior genius undertook and He was an important instrument in the hands of appily accomplished, although he congratulated God of public utility; let us diligently study the he state on the advantage possessed in such a truth he taught, imitating in our humble situations an, he studied every means to divert his zealous his fear of God, his faith, the intensity of his devoind from its pursuits. I do not deny that ardent tions, the integrity of his ministerial character, his irits are sometimes betrayed into undue impetu- purity, his careful avoidance of seditious counsel, ity, for no one is totally exempt from the weak- his ardent thirst of knowledge. And as we freesses incident to human nature, but they often quently meditate upon the pious examples of those erit the praise assigned by the ancient proverb to illustrious guides of the church, Jeremiah, John the ercules, Cimon and other illustrious characters, Baptist and Paul, whose histories are transmitted ough indeed, but distinguished by the best princi- to us, so let us frequently reflect upon the doctrine es. So in the Christian church, the apostle Paul and course of life which distinguished our departed entions such as 'war a good warfare, holding friend. Let the present vast assembly now unite ith and a good conscience,' 1 Timothy, i. 18, 19, with me in grateful thanks and fervent supplicaid who are both pleasing to God and estimable tions, saying in the spirit of ardent devotion mongst pious men. Such an one was Luther, who give thanks to thee, Almighty God, the eternal Fahile he constantly defended the pure doctrines of ther of our Lord Jesus Christ, the author and founChristianity, maintained a conscientious integrity der of thy church, together with thy co-eternal Son of character. No vain licentiousness was ever and the Holy Spirit, wise, good, merciful, just, true, detected in him, no seditious counsels, but on the powerful and sovereign, because thou dost gather a contrary, he often urged the most pacific measures; heritage for thy Son, from amongst the human and never, never did he blend political artifices for race, and dost maintain the ministry of the gospel, the augmentation of power with ecclesiastical af- and hast now reformed thy church by means of fairs. Such wisdom and such virtue, I am persuaded, Luther; we present our ardent supplications that do not result from mere human skill or diligence, thou wouldst henceforth preserve, fix, and impress but the mind must be divinely influenced, especially upon our hearts the doctrines of truth, as Isaiah when it is of the more rough, elevated and ardent prayed for his disciples; and that by thy Holy cast like that of Luther. Spirit thou wouldst enflame our minds with a pure devotion, and direct our feet into the paths of holy obedience!'

"What shall I say of his other virtues? Often have I myself gone to him unawares and found him dissolved in tears and prayers for the church of Christ. He devoted a certain portion of almost every day to the solemn reading of the Psalms of David with which he mingled his own supplications, amidst sighs and tears; and he has frequently declared how indignant he felt against those who hastened over devotional exercises through sloth or the pretence of other occupations. On this account, said he, divine wisdom has prescribed some formularies of prayer, that our minds may be inflamed with devotion by reading them; to which, in his opinion, reading aloud very much conduced. When a variety of great and important deliberations respecting public dangers have been pending, we have witnessed his prodigious vigor of mind, his fearless and unshaken courage. Faith was his sheet anchor, and by the help of God he was resolved never to be driven from it. Such was his penetration, that he perceived at once what was to be done in the most perplexing conjunctures; nor was he as some supposed, negligent of the public good or disregardful of the wishes of others, but he was well acquainted with the interests of the state, and pre-eminently sagacious in discovering the capacity and dispositions of all about him. And although he possessed such extraordinary acuteness of intellect, he read both ancient and modern ecclesiastical writings with the utmost avidity, and histories of every kind, applying the examples they furnished to existing circumstances with remarkable dexterity. The undecaying monuments of his eloquence remain, and in my opinion he equalled any of those who have been most celebrated for their resplendent oratorical powers.

"The removal of such a character from amongst us, of one who was endowed with the greatest intellectual capacity, well instructed and long experienced in the knowledge of Christian truth, adorned with numerous excellencies and with virtues of the most heroic cast, chosen by divine Providence to reform the church of God, and cherishing for all of us a truly paternal affection-the removal, I say, of such a man demands and justifies our tears. We resemble orphans bereft of an ex

We

"As the removal of illustrious men from the church, is frequently a means of punishing their survivors, such of us as are entrusted with the office of tuition, myself personally, and all of us collectively, entreat you to reflect upon the present calamities that threaten the whole earth. Yonder, the Turks are advancing, here, civil discord threatens, and there, other adversaries released at last from the apprehension of Luther's censures, will proceed with a perverse ingenuity, and with increased boldness to corrupt the genuine truth. That God may avert these evils, let us be more diligent in the regulation of our lives and studies, always retainind a deep impression of this sentiment in our minds, that as long as we maintain, hear, obey, and love the pure doctrines of the gospel, God will always have a church and a dwelling place among us. If,' said Jesus Christ, 'a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.' John xv. 23. Encouraged by this ample promise, let us be stimulated to inculcate the truth of heaven, knowing that the church will be the preservation of the human race, and the security of established governments; and let us constantly elevate our minds to that future and eternal state of being, to which God himself calls our attention, who has not given so many witnesses, nor sent his Son into the world in vain, but delights in the communication of these magnificent blessings. Amen."

Melancthon composed the following tributary lines to the memory of Luther:

Occidit omnigena venerandus laude Lutherns
Qui Christum docuit non dubitante fide
Ereptum deflet vero hunc ecclesia luctu
Cujus erat doctor, verius, imo pater.
Occidit Israel præstans auriga Lutherus
Quem mecum sanus lugeat omnis homo
Nunc luctumque suum lacrymoso carmine prodat
Hoc etenim orbatos flere, dolore decet.

LUTHER, illustrious name! is now no more;-
Let the true church with streaming eyes deplore

A TEACHER firm in faith-nay, rather say
A FATHER, from his children snatch'd away.
Luther is gone-the pilot of our course:
O let the tearful Muse his name rehearse—
Let all the pious join with me to mourn,
Orphans should thus bedew a father's urn.

|fectly agreed, but they were perfectly united. Mutual forbearance admitted the free exercise of an independent mind, and secured the rights of conscience and the purity of principle. Societies have been distracted, famílies divided, and even empires convulsed, from the existence of differences in religious sentiment or practice, far less considerable The sympathizing heart will naturally linger up- than those which subsisted between these eminent on the affecting consideration of Luther's decease. friends. They knew each other, and did not allow It was the earthly termination of an uninterrupted the whirlwinds of a temporary passion to dissipate and unusual intimacy of nearly TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS feelings founded on the best principles, and cherishwith Philip Melancthon. To judge of the survi-ed by an unreserved intercourse. There were many vor's feelings requires either a mind of remarkable who at different times endeavored to divide them, sensibility, or the experience of a similar loss. by fomenting discord, in order to gain their respectThis deprivation of Luther's valuable counsels, ive influence and authority to some other party or and friendly reproofs, of his consoling sympathy interest: but they were too confident in each other, amidst the trials of life, and of his directing wis- and too well persuaded of the magnitude of the dom amidst the peculiar difficulties incident to the cause which claimed their mutual co-operation and circumstances of the age in which they lived, must incessant efforts, to be cajoled into disagreement. have inflicted a deep and lasting pang. Their at- If, therefore, our friendships were formed upon tachment, founded on principle, was so completely more solid principles of union than they frequently mutual, that they were become almost necessary to are, it is obvious they would prove more satisfactoeach other. The agony of separation, therefore, ry, more beneficial and more permanent. In all must have been exquisite:our religious intercourse, it would be wise to aim at securing the essentials of Christianity, rather than to be solicitous of accomplishing what is noto riously impossible, a perfect agreement in points of

"O the soft commerce! O the tender ties, Close twisted with the fibres of the heart! Which, broken, break them, and drain off the soul inferior consideration. The pious Baxter has adOf human joy, and make it pain to liveAnd is it then to live? When such friends part, 'Tis the survivor dies—

Young's Night Thoughts, 5.

mirably remarked, "Were we all bound together by a confession or subscription of the true fundamentals, and those other points that are next to fundamentals only, and there took up our Christianity and unity, yielding to each other a freedom of dif

I said it was the earthly termination of their in-fering in smaller or more difficult points, or in extimacy, for religious friendship can never, never end. If the soul of man be immortal, and if, as seems more than probable, it will carry with it into another world those principles of action, those modes of thinking, those characteristic qualities, which constituted each one's individuality and very being upon earth, then the connections of time will be perpetuated amidst the raptures of eternity. For though distances and separations are incident to the condition of the present life, it neither comports with our ideas of the benevolence of the Deity, nor with the representations of Scripture, nor indeed with our most ennobling desires and hopes, to suppose these imperfections of our temporal destiny will attach to our future existence. And not only will the recollection of past friendship endear our future intercourse, but the superiority of our celestial character, acquired by a nearer and more constant approach to the source of light and holiness, will infinitely purify it. Friendship founded on just principles arises from the perception of moral excellence, associated with any other striking or attractive qualities, besides a consciousness of some natural similarity of taste or character; it must be allowed, therefore, that the increase of what constitutes the principle of mutual attraction, will necessarily produce a proportionate increase of attachment. If moral excellence be now esteemed in its present imperfect degree and degraded state, associated as it is with glaring defects, dwarfish in its growth, irregular in its shape and full of infirmity, unquestionably it will prove hereafter in its maturity and glory, a stronger bond of union. And because every principle and faculty is capable of continual improvement, and will hereafter, under happier circumstances, admit of more rapid increase, and more extensive augmentation, than at present, the friendship of another world may be considered as everlastingly progressive, and, from the constitution of celestial spirits, indissoluble.

The conduct of Melancthon and Luther to each other, affords an admirable illustration of the true basis of religious friendship. They were not per

pressing ourselves in different terms, and so did live peaceably and lovingly together, notwithstanding such differences, as men that all knew the mysteriousness of divinity, and the imperfection of their own understandings, and that here we know but in part, and therefore shall most certainly err and differ in part, what a world of mischief might this course prevent? I oft think on the examples of Luther and Melancthon. It was not a few things that they differed in, nor such as would now be accounted small, besides the imperious harshness of Luther's disposition, as Carlosladt could witness, and yet how sweetly and peaceably and lovingly did they live together, without any considerable breach or disagreement. As Mel. Adamus says of them, 'Etsi tempora fuerunt ad distractiones proclivia hominumque levitas dissidiorum cupida tamen cum alter alterius vitia nosset, nunquam inter eos simultas extitit ex qua animorum alienatio subsecuta sit;'-so that their agreement arose not hence, that either was free from faults or error, but knowing each other's faults, they did more easily bear them. Certainly if every difference in judgment in matters of religion should seem intolerable or make a breach in affection, then no two men on earth must live together, or tolerate each other, but every man must resolve to live by himself, for no two on earth but differ in one thing or other, except such as take all their faith upon trust, and explicitly believe nothing at all. God hath not made our judgments all of a complexion no more than our faces, nor our knowledge all of a size any more than our bodies; and methinks they that be not resolved to be any thing in religion, should be afraid of making the articles of their faith so namerous, lest they should shortly become heretics themselves, by disagreeing from themselves; and they should be afraid of making too strict laws for those that differ in judgment in controvertible points, lest they should shortly change their judg ments, and so make a rod for their own backs; for how know they, in difficult disputable cases, but within this twelve-months, themselves may be of ano

had acquired him a high reputation in every country of Europe, he became at once elevated to an undisputed pre-eminence amongst the leading reformers of the age.

The zealous efforts of Bucer to unite the Swiss and German churches by an agreement on the subject of the sacrament having been defeated by Luther's determined hostility, his death seemed to fur

ther mind, except they are resolved never to change for fear of incurring the reproach of novelty and mutability; and then they were best resolve to study no more, or ever to be wiser. I would we knew at what age a man must receive this principle against changing his judgment. I am afraid lest at last they should teach it their children, and lest many divines did learn it too young: and if any besides Christ and his apostles must be standard and foun-nish a favorable opportunity for the accomplishdation of our faith, I would we could certainly tell who they are, for I have heard yet of none but the Pope or his general council expressly lay claim to the prerogative of infallibility, and I think there is few that have appeared more fallible."

ment of this long-projected reconciliation. Melancthon and his followers were known to be extremely solicitous of this union, and were disposed to go to the utmost length which their consciences would permit to extinguish the flame of discord. The high mutual esteem subsisting between Bucer and John Calvin, the celebrated Pastor and Professor of Divinity at Geneva, appeared to facilitate this design. Anxious to promote Bucer and Melancthon's views, Calvin proposed a mode of explaining the subject, which, while it denied the cor

cy communicated by Christ with the bread and wine of the sacrament to those who partook of it with a lively faith and integrity of heart: but he has been generally censured by Protestants for making unwarrantable concessions for the sake of peace. The fair prospect, however, soon became obscured, in consequence of the occupation of Melancthon in other violent controversies to be mentioned hereafter, which left him no leisure for that co-operation with Calvin which probably might have produced the happiest results; and still more

Westphal, pastor of the church at Hamburg, who both adopted the sentiments and manifested the 100 uncharitable spirit of Luther.

The Pope and the Emperor were now resolved to accomplish the ruin of the Protestants. The coun

The principal points of difference between Melancthon and Luther were three: 1. Melancthon thought that the ancient form of ecclesiastical government might be retained, on condition of not annulling the authority of Scriptural truth; to which Luther could not assent. 2. Melancthon conceived that Luther carried his doctrine respect-poreal presence, allowed a divine virtue and efficaing justification by faith only to such an extent as to nullify the importance and obligation of good works, so that his statements required explanation. 3. Melancthon appears to have differed from Luther in his opinion respecting the sacrament, particularly in the latter period of his life. He did not believe that the opinions of the Zuinglians ought to occasion a disunion among the reformers; but Luther was decided upon this point to his dying day. Maclaine very unnecessarily corrects Mosheim in his statement of this subject. It is obvious that at first, as Mosheim represents, " Melanc-on account of the intemperate zeal of Joachim thon adopted the sentiments of Luther in relation to the Eucharist," but in consequence of serious examination, his mind became enlightened, so that he admitted the scriptural idea by degrees, and towards the close of his life in his letters to Calvin, intimates his persuasion of the erroneous and idola-cil of Trent decreed, that the apocryphal writings trous nature of the doctrine of consubstantiation. should be received as of equal authority with the The character of Melancthon has been misunder- books which the Jews and primitive Christians adstood on this as on other occasions. It has been in- mitted into the sacred canon, that the traditions of timated that an unwarrantable timidity prevented the church should be equally regarded with the his avowing explicitly his opinions respecting the doctrines and precepts of the inspired apostles, that sacrament. It is true it did arise from his appre. the Vulgate translation should be read in the hension lest such an avowal should inflame discord churches, and deemed authentic and canonical: and injure the great and general cause of the re- and that all who disputed these truths were anatheformation. But whether this apprehension were matized in the name of the Holy Ghost. By this well or ill founded, or whether such a policy were means they aimed a deadly blow at the very root justifiable or unjustifiable, and we are by no means and principle of Protestantism; and the Pope soon prepared to defend it, such was Melancthon's real afterwards exhibited a striking proof of his disposiprinciple of action, and not any mean timidity or tion to exterminate it root and branch. Availing fear of personal danger or suffering. If this con- himself of the appeal of the canons of Cologne cealment for the sake of peace had really involved against their archbishop, he convicted him of herehim in personal suffering instead of shielding him sy, and issued a bull by which he was deprived of from it, it is due to the greatness of his character his ecclesiastical dignity, and his subjects absolved and the conscientious scrupulousness of his mind, from their oath of allegiance to him as their prince. to believe he would nevertheless have adhered to it. There was no reason to doubt the concurrence of It was not from personal considerations only that the Emperor in this sentence, who was maturing Melancthon felt the bitterness of his bereavement the most deep-laid schemes for the subversion of in the death of Luther; he was sensible of the pub- the Protestant faith, under an impenetrable veil of lic loss, and of the great and daily increasing diffi- dissimulation. In the month of March he conculties of his own situation. Political affairs had trived to have an interview with the Landgrave of never yet assumed so alarming an appearance, and Hesse, who was more suspicious of his design than they became almost identified with ecclesiastical any of the other confederates, and he made such proones, owing to the conspicuous part which was act-fessions of attachment to the interests of Germany, ed by the most distinguished of the German princes. Though during the past ten years he had been called to take the lead in most of the public transacions relative to religion, having been employed to write every thing that was to be written, and to do almost every thing that was to be done, yet he had constantly profited by his unreserved familiarity with Luther, with whom he consulted and corresponded on every occasion. Now he was required to act in a great measure alone, and in consequence of his rare merit as a divine and a scholar, which

Number 12.

and of his dislike to violent measures, stoutly denying that he was engaged in any military preparations, that the Landgrave, cajoled by his plausibility, dismissed his own apprehensions, and quieted the fears of the Smalcaldian confederacy.

At length public affairs were brought to such a crisis, that the Emperor and the Protestants were at open war. No decisive superiority was acquired on either side during the autumn of 1546; but Maurice Duke of Saxony, and uncle to John Frederic, by an act of verfidy as strange and unnatural as al