But it is gratifying to know that Luther never said one unkind word of Calvin, who was
twenty-five years younger. He never saw him, but read some of his books, and heard of him through
Melanchthon. In a letter to Bucer, dated Oct. 14, 1539, he sent his respectful salutations to John
Sturm and John Calvin, who lived at that time in Strassburg, and added that he had read their books
with singular delight. This includes his masterly answer to the letter of Bishop Sadolet (1539).^896
Melanchthon sent salutations from Luther and Bugenhagen to Calvin, and informed him that he
was in high favor with Luther,"^897 notwithstanding the difference of views on the real presence,
and that Luther hoped for better opinions, but was willing to bear something from such a good
man.^898 Calvin had expressed his views on the Lord’s Supper in the first edition of his Institutes,
which appeared in 1536,^899 incidentally also in his answer to Sadolet, which Luther read "with
delight,"^900 and more fully in a special treatise, De Coena Domini, which was published in French
at Strassburg, 1541, and then in Latin, 1545.^901 Luther must have known these views. He is reported
to have seen a copy of Calvin’s tract on the eucharist in a bookstore at Wittenberg, and, after reading
it, made the remark: "The author is certainly a learned and pious man: if Zwingli and Oecolampadius
had from the start declared themselves in this way, there would probably not have arisen such a
controversy."^902
Calvin returned Luther’s greetings through Melanchthon, and sent him two pamphlets with
a letter, dated Jan. 21, 1545, addressing him as "my much respected father," and requesting him to
solve the scruples of some converted French refugees. he expresses the wish that "he might enjoy
for a few hours the happiness of his society," though this was impossible on earth.
Melanchthon, fearing a renewal of the eucharistic controversy, had not the courage to deliver
this letter—the only one of Calvin to Luther—"because," he says, "Doctor Martin is suspicious,
and dislikes to answer such questions as were proposed to him."^903
Calvin regretted "the vehemence of Luther’s natural temperament, which was so apt to boil
over in every direction," and to "flash his lightning sometimes also upon the servants of the Lord;"
but he always put him above Zwingli, and exhorted the Zurichers to moderation. When he heard
Luthers mit Melanchthon über den Abendmahlsstreit, Göttingen, l874; Köstlin’s review of Diestelmann, in the "Studien und Kritiken,"
1876, p. 385 sqq.; and Walte in the "Jahrb. für prot. Theol.," 1883. It is a pity that the story cannot be sufficiently authenticated, for it
certainly expresses what ought to have been Luther’s last confession on the subject.(^896) De Wette, V. 211: "Bene vale et salutabis Dr. Joannem Sturmium et Johannem Calvinum reverenter, quorum libellos cum singulari
voluptate legi. Sadoleto optarem, ut crederet Deum esse creatorem hominum etiam extra Italiam." From the last sentence it appears that
he read Calvin’s answer to Bishop Sadolet. He is reported to have remarked to Cruciger: "This answer has hand and foot, and I rejoice
that God raises such men who will give popery the last blow, and finish the war against Antichrist which I began." Calvin alludes to these
salutations in his Secunda Defensio adv. Westphalum (Opera, ed. Reuss, IX. 92).
(^897) "Calvinus magnam gratiam iniit."
(^898) This letter of Melanchthon is lost, but Calvin alludes to it in a letter to Farel, 1539. Opera, X. 432. The words of Luther are: "Spero
ipsum [Calvinum] olim de nobis melius sensurum, sed aequum est a bono ingenio nos aliquid ferre."
(^899) Ch. IV. p. 236 sqq. (De Coena Domini), Opera, I. 118 sqq.
(^900) Opera Calc., ed. Reuss vol. V. 385-416. On fol. 400 Calvin rejects the "localis corporis Christ praesentia" in the eucharist, but
asserts "veram carnis et sanguinis communicationem quae fidelibus in coena exhibetur."
(^901) Opera, V. 429-460.
(^902) Pezel, Ausführliche Lehre vom Sacramentstreit, Bremen, 1600, p. 137 sqq. See Gieseler, vol. IV. 414 sq. (New York ed. of the E.
transl.); Stähelin, Joh. Calvin, I. 227 (with Pezel’s report in full); Müller, Dogmat. Abhandlungen, p. 406; Köstlin, M. L., II. 615 and 687.
It is remarkable in this connection that Luther spoke in high terms of the Swabian Syngramma, which was directed against the Swiss
theory, but leaves no room for an oral manducation, and comes nearest to the Calvinistic view. Comp. Köstlin, Luthers Theologie, II. 147.
(^903) Opera, ed. Reuss, XII. 6 sq., 61 sq. Letters, ed. Constable, I. 416 sq.