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CHAP. against me, I shall simply say, that I cannot assent to such delusions. And I will not assent to them....I will do to the end as I have hitherto done; wherever I go I will express the same sentiments; I will aim to carry about with me a heart lifted up to God; and I will yet retain my wonted moderation, and avoid exciting seditions."1

Extent of his

The closing sentence of this quotation will be better understood, when it has been seen how he was assailed by men of his own party, for whom he did not go far enough, as well as by those of the opposite party, for whom he went much too far. But hitherto, assuredly, we trace little of that "weakness and timidity" which he is said to have manifested, chiefly perhaps because it is thought that he must have done it, when deprived of the support of Luther. Rather, so far as we have yet gone, we have reason to say that the mantle of Elijah has fallen upon Elisha, and to adore that grace of God which made Melancthon's "strength" proportioned to his exigencies, and raised a man of his temperament to this tone of determined vigour.

But the point on which Melancthon especially Concessions. gave dissatisfaction and offence to many of his brethren (who afterwards affected the name of genuine Lutherans,) was, his maintaining, that in things purely indifferent it was lawful, even in matters of religion, to submit to the commands of an earthly superior. The difficulties attending this position, and the abuse to which it may be liable, from the latitude with which the term indifferent may be interpreted, are obvious they gave rise at this time to a fierce controversy in Germany, characterised by the apAdiaphoris- pellation adiaphoristic, which bordered closely

tic Contro

versy.

2

1 Melch. Ad. in vit. Mel. i. 165.

1 Indifferential.

on one afterwards carried on in England, and which may thus claim our attention at a future stage of our progress. The spirit manifested by Melancthon's opponents will now be universally condemned. "Rather than yield submission," exclaimed Flacius of Magdeburg, the principal leader of them, "we ought to see the churches desolated, and to terrify our rulers with the dread of insurrections." With a great proportion of my readers the question of interest will relate, rather to the extent to which Melancthon carried his concessions under the name of conformity in things indifferent, than to the principle itself which he thus admitted. And here it is not to be denied that he has been generally censured. Calvin, with whom he kept up a friendly correspondence to the end of his life, tells him, that he understood he had "sanctioned some gross corruptions, which tended to weaken and deform the church ;" 2

1 Melch. Ad. i. 165.-Matteo Flacio Illyricus, or the Sclavonian, quitted his native country for the sake of religion, and settled in Germany. He was the principal compiler of the valuable ecclesiastical history entitled Centuria Magdeburgenses, and the author of other esteemed works. He was a man of learning and talents, but intemperate and violent. Melch. Ad. Vit. Flacii, i. 225. M'Crie's Italy, 94. Also, below, vol. iii. 393, 395.

It is striking, however, to observe the moderation of Calvin on this subject. "It is lamentable to think how the enemies of Christ exult at your controversies with the divines of Magdeburg...Excuse me if I cannot altogether release you from blame-whence you may judge what heavy accusations others bring against you. If you have shewn yourself too ready to yield, you must not wonder that you are blamed for it besides which, some of the things which you call indifferent are manifestly at variance with the word of God. Some persons are perhaps too precise and scrupulous, and, as commonly happens when controversy takes place, inveigh against things in which there is no great evil. But, if I have any understanding in divine things, you ought not to have

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CHAP.
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and the current representation of modern writers
may be given in the words of Dr. Robertson:
Many of the protestant ecclesiastics, whom
Maurice consulted, proceeded to class among
the number of things indifferent, several doc-
trines, which Luther had pointed out as gross
and pernicious errors in the Romish creed; and,
placing in the same rank many of those rites
which distinguished the reformed from the
popish worship, they exhorted their people to
comply with the emperor's injunctions concern-
ing these particulars."' How far Melancthon
and his friends, the persons especially consulted
by Maurice, are justly exposed to these charges,
or how far they have suffered from the repre-
sentations of intemperate opponents, the reader
will be enabled in some degree to judge, from
the extracts which it is proposed to lay before
him from the writings of this period; in giving
which, however, it is not my intention merely
to illustrate this point, but to exhibit the doc-
trines maintained, and the spirit displayed, by
these confessedly moderate reformers, after the
impetuous and intemperate Luther (as some have
esteemed him,) was removed from among them.

granted so much to the papists; for in so doing you have
loosed some of those things which God binds in his word. I
do not understand your saying that at Magdeburg they raise
contentions only about a surplice: for the use of surplices,
and other follies are retained with them as well as with you.
But good and pious men every where complain that you have
sanctioned gross corruptions &c." Calv. Epist. p. 54-5:
Op. ix. It is observable, from the last sentence, that the
writer spoke much from the reports which he had received
from others. Further examination fully confirms the infer-
ence which I had here drawn. In fact Calvin's principles and
practice upon this subject seem to have differed little from
those of Melancthon. See below, vol. iii. 353, 354, 392
-395. (1831.)
1 Robertson, iv. 15.

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1548.

of Melanc

Justifica

The earlier articles of the Interim, "on the creation and fall of man, original sin, and recovery by Christ," Melancthon and his friends Doctrines remark, might be allowed to pass without par- thon and ticular censure; but the article on justification, his friends. they affirmed, subverted the very foundations of true doctrine. It taught, "that faith is only tion our preparation for justification; that love follows, and by it a man is (made) righteous," or justified. This," say they, "is all one with making us righteous for the sake of our own works and virtues: and thus the light of the true doctrine, that a man is accounted righteous and accepted of God, only for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, by faith, is extinguished, and the darkness and errors of past ages are introduced again." "St. Paul's words, We are justified by faith, are here made to mean, By faith we are prepared to receive somewhat else whereby we are justified. Thus is a man led away from Christ, to reliance on himself, and deprived of the consolation provided for him in the Son of God." 2

They readily admit, that penitence, love, and other graces must coexist with faith, and obedience follow in the justified man, yet not these things but his faith in Christ, or reliance on him alone, justifies him. "It is no strife of words therefore," they contend, "to say, that by faith only we are justified. Other virtues must be in us, but we place not our confidence in them, (for they are all weak and imperfect,) but only in the Son of God.' "13

The necessity for this doctrine is feelingly and beautifully traced out. "This is the immut

1 Consil. ii. 30, 38. 2 Ib. 9, 10, 17, 18, 26, 30, 38, &c. 3 Ib. 31, 32, 33, 39, &c.

CHAP.

X.

able truth of the gospel, plain and easy to be understood, and necessary to be kept constantly in view in all our attempts to approach unto God. When you pray, it will not prove sufficient for you to look into yourself, and require the existence of love and other virtues, (though they must exist there;) but, besides these feeble and imperfect graces, we must possess this true consolation, namely an affiance in the Mediator, and a belief that God is assuredly ready to accept us, and to hear our cries and groans, and not to reject us. And this confidence must be rested on the Son of God, and not on our own holiness and Christian graces.All our virtues in this life are weak and imperfect, and much evil and corruption remain in our hearts. We must needs therefore fly to the Mediator, lay hold on him, and seek grace and mercy through him.-We are filled with horror at the view of the greatness of our own sins and miseries, and therefore are compelled, when we would find peace of mind, to fly to the one only Propitiator, whom God in infinite mercy and wisdom hath proposed to us; and then, as the apostle testifies, being justified by faith we have peace with God." 1

And this doctrine, they affirm, "had not at any time been wholly lost; though the devil, from the very time of Adam's fall and recovery, had never relaxed his efforts to suppress it. Even when most obscured, it was yet to be traced in the experience, the spiritual exercises, of all pious humble minds.2 In the protestant churches it was now so thoroughly known and received, that the errors of the Interim would

1 Consil. ii. 33, 39, 40, &c.

Ib. 36, 40, 52.

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