"But, as we know that he is mistaken, we have thought good to write to your Highness, and exhort you, according to the Lord, to be vigilant for the honour of your name as a Christian prince, and to defend yourself from these calumnies—yourself the ornament, the glory, and sweet savour of your noble race—and to guard, not only against a fault so grave as that which is imputed to you, but also against even the suspicion which the insensate hardihood of this friar tends to excite against you."
Leo X, at the same time, announced to Frederick that he had charged Cardinal Saint Sixtus to examine the affair, and he enjoined him to put Luther into the hands of the legate, "lest," added he, returning again to his favourite argument, "lest the pious people of our time, and of future times, may one day lament and say, The most pernicious heresy with which the Church of God has been afflicted was excited by the favour and support of this high and honourable House."505
Thus Rome had taken all her measures. With one hand she diffused the perfume of praise, which is always so intoxicating, while the other held terrors and vengeance.
All the powers of the earth, emperor, pope, princes, and legates, began to move against this humble friar of Erfurt, whose internal combats we have already traced. "The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers took counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed."
Chapter III.
The Armourer Schwarzerd—His Wife—Philip—His Genius—His Studies—The Bible—Call to Wittemberg—Melancthon's Departure and Journey—Leipsic—Mistake—Luther's Joy—Parallel—Revolution in Education—Study of Greek.
The letter and brief had not reached Germany, and Luther was still fearing that he would be obliged to appear at Rome, when a happy event gave comfort to his heart. He needed a friend to whom he could unbosom his sorrows, and whose faithful love would solace him in his hours of depression. All this God gave him in Melancthon.
On the 14th February 1497, George Schwarzerd, a skilful armour-master of Bretten, a small town in the Palatinate, had a son born to him, who was named Philip, and who afterwards distinguished himself under the name of Melancthon. Patronised by the Palatine princes, and those of Bavaria and Saxony, George was a man of unimpeachable integrity. He often refused the price which purchasers offered him, and on learning that they were poor, insisted on returning their money. He rose regularly at midnight, and on his knees offered up a prayer. If on any occasion morning arrived without his having done it, he felt dissatisfied with himself the whole day. Barbara, Schwarzerd's wife, was daughter of an honourable magistrate named John Reuter. She was of a gentle temper, somewhat inclined to superstition, but otherwise remarkable for wisdom and prudence. From her we have the old well-known German rhymes—
The giving of alms impoverisheth not;
Attendance at Church impedeth not;
Greasing the wheel retardeth not;
Ill-gotten gear enricheth not;
The Book of God deceiveth not.
And again—
Those who are pleased more to expend
Than their fields can render,
Must come to ruin in the end,
It may be to a halter.506
Young Philip was not eleven when his father died. Two days before, George called his son to his bed-side, and exhorted him to have the thought of God always present. "I foresee," said the dying armourer, "that dreadful storms are coming to shake the world. I have seen great things, but greater are in preparation. May God guide and direct you!" Philip, after receiving his father's blessing, was sent to Spires, that he might not be present at his death. He departed crying bitterly.
The young boy's grandfather, the worthy bailie Reuter, who had also a son, acted as a father to him, and took him, together with his brother, George, under his own roof. Shortly after he gave the three boys for tutor John Hungarus, an excellent man, who afterwards, and at a very advanced age, became a powerful preacher of the gospel. He let nothing pass in the young man, punishing him for every fault, yet with discretion. "In this way," says Melancthon in 1554, "he made me a grammarian. He loved me as a son, I loved him as a father, and we will meet, I trust, in eternal life."507
Philip was remarkable for the excellence of his understanding, and for his facility in learning, and expounding what he had learned. He could not endure idleness, and always sought out some one with whom he might discuss what he had heard.508 It often happened that educated strangers passed through Bretten, and visited Reuter. The bailie's grandson instantly accosted them, entered into conversation with them, and so pressed them in discussion as to excite the wonder of those present. To a powerful genius he joined great sweetness of temper, and was hence a general favourite. He had a stammer, but, like the celebrated orator of the Greeks, made such exertions to overcome it, that it afterwards completely disappeared.
His grandfather having died, Philip was sent with his brother and his young uncle, John, to the school of Pforzheim. The boys resided with one of their relatives, the sister of the famous Reuchlin. Eager for knowledge, Philip, under the tuition of George Simler, made rapid progress in science, and especially in the study of Greek, for which he had a real passion. Reuchlin often came to Pforzheim, and having become acquainted with his sister's young boarders, was soon struck with Philip's answers, and gave him a Greek grammar and a Bible. These two books were to be the study of his whole life.
When Reuchlin returned from his second journey into Italy, his young relative, then twelve years of age, with some friends, performed a Latin comedy of his own composition before him, in honour of his arrival. Reuchlin, in raptures with the talents of the youth, embraced him tenderly, called him his dear son, and jocularly gave him the red bonnet which he had received on being made doctor. It was at this time Reuchlin changed his name of Schwarzerd into that of Melancthon. Both words, the one German, and the other Greek, mean black earth. It was a general custom with the learned thus to change their names into Greek or Latin.
Melancthon, at twelve, repaired to the university of Heidelberg, and began to gratify his eager thirst for knowledge. He was admitted Bachelor at fourteen. In 1512 Reuchlin invited him to Tubingen, which contained a great number of distinguished literary men. Here he attended at the same time lectures on theology, medicine, and jurisprudence. There was no branch of knowledge which he did not think it his duty to study. His object was not praise, but the possession of science and the benefits of it.
The Holy Scriptures particularly occupied him. Those who frequented the church of Tubingen had often observed a book in his hands, which he studied between the services. This unknown volume seemed larger than the common prayer-books, and the report spread that Philip when in church read profane books. It turned out that the object of their suspicion was a copy of the Holy Scriptures, printed a short time before at Bâsle by John Frobenius. This volume he studied through life with unwearied application. He had it always with him, carrying it to all the public meetings to which he was invited.509 Rejecting the vain system of the schoolmen, he devoted himself to the simple word of the Gospel. Erasmus at this time wrote to Œcolampadius, "Of Melancthon I have the highest opinion, and the highest hopes. Jesus grant that this young man may have a long life! He will completely eclipse Erasmus."510 Melancthon, nevertheless, shared in the errors of his age. "I shudder," says he, in advanced life, "when I think of the honour which I paid to images when I was still in the papacy."511