Wittenberg. After all, he was more benefited by the disputation and the controversies growing out
of it, than his opponents.
The importance of this theological tournament lies in this: that it marks a progress in Luther’s
emancipation from the papal system. Here for the first time he denied the divine right and origin
of the papacy, and the infallibility of a general council. Henceforward he had nothing left but the
divine Scriptures, his private judgment, and his faith in God who guides the course of history by
his own Spirit, through all obstructions by human errors, to a glorious end. The ship of the
Reformation was cut from its moorings, and had to fight with the winds and waves of the open sea.
From this time Luther entered upon a revolutionary crusade against the Roman Church until
the anarchical dissensions in his own party drove him back into a conservative and even reactionary
position.
Before we proceed with the development of the Reformation, we must make the acquaintance
of Melanchthon, who had accompanied Luther to the Leipzig disputation as a spectator, suggesting
to him and Carlstadt occasional arguments,^219 and hereafter stood by him as his faithful colleague
and friend.
§ 38. Philip Melanchthon. Literature (Portrait).
The best Melanchthon collection is in the Royal Library of Berlin, which I have consulted for this
list (July, 1886). The third centenary of Mel.’s death in 1860, and the erection of his monument
in Wittenberg, called forth a large number of pamphlets and articles in periodicals.
I. Works of Melanchthon. The first ed. appeared at Basel, 1541, 5 vols. fol.; another by Peucer (his
son-in-law), Wittenberg, 1562–64, 4 vols. fol.; again 1601. Selection of his German works by
Köthe. Leipzig, 1829–30, 6 vols. Best ed. of Opera omnia (in the "Corpus Reformatorum")
by Bretschneider and Bindseil. Halle, 1834–60, 28 vols. 4°. The most important vols. for church
history are vols. i.-xi. and xxi.-xxviii. The last vol. (second part) contains Annates Vitae (pp.
1–143), and very ample Indices (145–378).
Add to these: Epistolae, Judicia, Consilia, Testimonia, etc., ed. H. E. Bindseil. Halle, 1874. 8°. A
supplement to the "Corpus Reform." Compare also Bindseil’s Bibliotheca Melanthoniana. Halis
1868 pp. 28). Carl Krause: Melanthoniana, Regesten und Briefe über die Beziehungen Philipp
Mel. zu Anhalt und dessen Fürsten. Zerbst, 1885. pp. 185.
II. Biographies of Mel. An account of his last days by the Wittenberg professors: Brevis narratio
exponens quo fine vitam in terris suam clauserit D. Phil. Mel. conscripta a professoribus
academiae Vitebergensis, qui omnibus quae exponuntur interfuerunt. Viteb. 1560. 4°. The same
in German. A funeral oration by Heerbrand: Oratio in obitum Mel. habita in Academia
Tubingensi die decima quinta Maji. Vitebergae, 1560. Joachim Camerarius: Vita Mel. Lips.
1566; and other edd., one with notes by Strobel. Halle, 1777; one with preface by Neander in
the Vitae quatuor Reformatorum. Berlin, 1841.
Strobel: Melanchthoniana. Altdorf, 1771: Die Ehre Mel. gerettet, 1773; and other works. A. H.
Niemeyer: Phil. Mel. als Praeceptor Germaniae. Halle, 1817. Fr. Aug. Cox: Life of Mel.,
comprising an account of the Reform. Lond. 1815, 2d ed. 1817. G. L. Fr. Delbrück: Ph. Mel.
(^219) This excited the anger of Eck, who broke out, "Tace tu, Philippe, ac tua studia cura, ne me perturba."