In also the full account, inserted in our own former volume, of the Confession of Augsburg. pursuance of the same design, we propose now to conclude our history of Melancthon with a particular notice of one among his numerous compositions-the most important of all those which were published in his own name alone. The work intended is his "Common Places," or brief discussions of the principal topics of theology. Independently of the great value of the work itself, it furnishes a very interesting article of literary and theological history.' nary A. D. 1560. From its very first publication, in the year Extraordi1521, (when its author was only twenty-four celebrity of years of age,) this work obtained an extra- the work. ordinary celebrity. Luther spoke of it as "invincible, worthy not only of immortality, but of being sanctioned by a canon of the church: " pronounced it far superior to any writings of his own-" the best book in the world next to the Bible;" and one which, thoroughly digested, was sufficient, with the holy scriptures, to make an accomplished divine: and, in his controversy with Erasmus, he told that learned writer, that it had, by anticipation, ground all the arguments of his Diatribe to powder:" and he con 66 1 It appears clearly to have been Dr. Milner's intention to give some further account than he has done of this important volume. He says, (vol. v. (922,) 332,) "As the first edition of Melancthon's Common Places, or Theological Tracts, is exceedingly scarce, I have given in the Appendix a fuller account of its contents, as far as they relate to the difficult subject of the divine decrees. See Appendix, Melancthon's Common Places." Yet, on turning to the Appendix referred to, we find nothing but references to certain texts of scripture which Melancthon had quoted in the argument! It is added, however, "Some things contained in this performance may be referred to with advantage on a future occasion.” CHAP. XII. 66 tinued to speak of it in the same strain to the end 3 Bp. Atterbury calls him, "A senseless and venomous writer." 4 Cox, 174. Augusti, ubi infra, p. 174. Senebier (Hist. Lit. de Geneve, i. 236-7, 251,) says this translation of Calvin's was first published in 1546. 5 Augusti. 6 Von der Hardt, Hist. Lit. Ref. iv. 30. M'Crie's Ref. in Italy, p. 35. Melancthon is Greek for his proper name Schwartzerd, which means black earth. A.D. 1560. republica tion. so great the impressions would not be small ones. From the year 1595 to 1821, however, only one edition is known to have been printed,' besides that inserted in Von der Hardt's Literary History and into so great neglect has this once celebrated work, from one cause or other, fallen, especially in the country which gave it birth, that Professor Augusti,2 who in the last-men- Its recent tioned year reprinted the work at Leipsig, complains that" scarcely three in a hundred of the German divines and theological students have ever seen the book, which their forefathers held in such high estimation." The appearance of his edition, with the republication of some other pieces of the era of that reformation by the same editor, may be numbered, we trust, among the circumstances which indicate a favourable change to be taking place in Germany. He states that he thus brings it out anew at the expiration of the third centenary from its original publication, not only from respect to the venerable author's memory, but because "the times seem specially to need true biblical theology, like that of Melancthon." "From profound ignorance of the author and his writings, he has been supposed," Augusti says, " to patronize what is called modern theology, but which the reformer would rather have denominated atheology." He presses the study of the work therefore on the rising generation of divines, as "a preservative against prevailing scepticism on the one hand, and mysticism on the other."3 But other circumstances besides those already mentioned render the history of this work cu 1 At Francfort, 1620. Augusti, p. 190. 2 "S. Theologiæ Doctor, et Professor in Universitate Borussica Rhenanâ." 3 In præf. Changes by the made in it author. CHAP. XII. rious and interesting. Not only were various After the work had been about four years be- afresh, doubled in size, and introduced by a long and interesting dedication to our Henry VIII, which was continued till that prince had proved himself unworthy of such a mark of respect from a leading reformer.1 Edition again rapidly succeeded edition of the book in this form, till the year 1543, when it appeared a second time remodeled, and again nearly doubled in size. The number of articles is here reduced from thirty-nine to twenty-four-nearly the original amount: but this is effected not by omission, but by making some, which had formed separate heads, subdivisions of others. A. D. 1560. We have therefore, in fact, three distinct series Three series of editions, those from 1521 to 1525, those from of editions. 1535 to 1542 inclusive, and those subsequent to the last of these dates. The most material variations are between the first and second series: those between the second and third being made rather by addition than by alteration. The ten years' interval, during which the work was in a manner suspended, from 1525 to 1535, was an important period. To name no other events, the controversy between Luther and Erasmus on the will, and the preparation, discussion, and defence of the Confession of Augsburg, had fallen within that term: and no one who knows the 1 In the year of this dedication Henry recommended to the university of Cambridge the study of Melancthon's writings. Soames, ii. 78. His acknowledgment of the dedication, which was accompanied by a present of two hundred ducats, is given in Gerdes, Hist. Ref. iv. 251: Melancthon's reply, among his Epistles, i. 27.—All the former part of the dedication is also to be seen in the Epistles, i. 9, and that part which immediately addresses the king, in iii. 6, with the two following lines subjoined, in which the author laments the change for the worse which had taken place in his patron: "Dum laudandus erat, regem laudavimus Anglum : |