188 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 To 1580.
His fame spread so rapidly that he received calls from the universities of Ingolstadt, Leipzig, and Wittenberg. He concluded to go to Wittenberg as professor of Greek, at the modest salary of one hundred guilders. This salary was doubled in 1526, but Luther and the Elector had difficulty to induce him to accept.}
Reuchlin had strongly recommended him to the Elector Frederick. “I know no man among the Germans,” he wrote, “who is superior to Master Philip Schwarzerd except Erasmus Roterodamus, who is a Hollander, and surpasses us all in Latin.”* He applied to his nephew, in prophetic anticipation, the promise of God to Abraham, Gen. 12: 1-3.3
So far the aged scholar did great service to the cause of the Reformation. But when it threatened to end in a split of the Church, Reuchlin withdrew, like Erasmus and Staupitz. He was afraid of being called a heretic. He moved from Stuttgart to Ingolstadt in 1519, and lived for a while in the house of Dr. Eck. He even tried to draw Melanchthon from Wittenberg to Ingolstadt, but in vain; he recalled his promise to bequeath to him his valuable library, and gave it to his native city of Pforzheim. The pestilence drove him from Bavaria back to Wirtemberg; he taught Greek and Hebrew grammar at Tibingen in 1521, and died at Stuttgart in the communion of the Roman Church, June 80, 1522.4
1 Luth. ad Principem Electorem, Feb. 9, 1526: ‘‘ Hs hat EH. Κ΄. F. 6. in der Ordnung der Universitat befehlen lassen M. Philippsen 200 fl. jahrlich zu geben. Nun beschwert sich der Mensch, solches zu nehmen ; denn weil er nicht vermag so steif und taglich in der Schrift zu lesen, mocht er’s nicht mit gutem Gewissen nehmen,”’ etc.
2 In a German letter to Frederick, dated July 25, 1518. See ‘‘Corp. Reform.,’’? I. 33.
3 He wrote to him from Stuttgart, July 24, 1518 (ibid. I. 32): ‘‘ Egredere de terra tua... et magnificabo nomen tuum, erisque benedictus. Ἠώς Genesis xii. Ita mihi presagit animus, ita spero futurum de te, mi Philippe, meum opus et meum solatium.’’
4 Geiger, Joh. Reuchlin, sein Leben und seine Werke, Leipz., 1871; Horawitz, Zur Biographie und Correspondenz J. Reuchlin’s, Wien, 1877; Strauss, Ulrich v. Hutten, Bk. I. chap. 7 (p. 182 sqq. of the 4th ed.); and Kliipfel, in Herzog? xii. 715-724.
ὃ 40. MELANCHTHON’S EARLY LABORS. 189
ὃ 40. Melanchthon’s Early Labors.
Although yet a youth of twenty-one years of age, Melanchthon at once gained the esteem and admiration of his colleagues and hearers in Wittenberg. He was small of stature, unprepossessing in his outward appearance, diffident and timid. But his high and noble forehead, his fine blue eyes, full of fire, the intellectual expression of his countenance, the courtesy and modesty of his behavior, revealed the beauty
_ and strength of his inner man. His learning was undoubted, his moral and religious character above suspicion. His introductory address, which he delivered four days after his arrival (Aug. 29), on “The Improvement of the Studies of Youth,” 1 dispelled all fears: it contained the programme of his academic teaching, and marks an epoch in the history of liberal education in Germany. He desired to lead the youth to the sources of knowledge, and by a careful study of the languages to furnish the key for the proper understanding of the Scriptures, that they might become living members of Christ, and enjoy the fruits of His heavenly wisdom. He studied and taught theology, not merely for the enrichment
» of the mind, but also and chiefly for the promotion of virtue and piety.”
He at first devoted himself to philological pursuits, and did more than any of his contemporaries to revive the study of Greek for the promotion of biblical learning and the cause of the Reformation. He called the ancient languages the swaddling-clothes of the Christ-child: Luther compared them to the sheath of the sword of the Spirit. Melanchthon was master of the ancient languages; Luther, master of the
1 De Corrigendis Adolescentium Studiis, in the ‘‘ Corpus Reformatorum,”’ XI. 15 sqq. See Schmidt, l.c. 29 sq.
2 He wrote to his friend Camerarius, Jan. 22, 1525 (‘‘ Corp. Ref.’’ I. 722): “Ego mihi ita conscius sum, non aliam ob causam unquam τεθεολογηκέναι, nisi ut vitam emendarem.”’