upon it.^225 On several occasions he showed, no doubt, too much timidity and weakness; but his
concessions to the enemy, and his disposition to compromise for the sake of peace and unity,
proceeded always from pure and conscientious motives.
The two Wittenberg Reformers were brought together by the hand of Providence, to supply
and complete each other, and by their united talents and energies to carry forward the German
Reformation, which would have assumed a very different character if it had been exclusively left
in the hands of either of them.
Without Luther the Reformation would never have taken hold of the common people:
without Melanchthon it would never have succeeded among the scholars of Germany. Without
Luther, Melanchthon would have become a second Erasmus, though with a profounder interest in
religion; and the Reformation would have resulted in a liberal theological school, instead of giving
birth to a Church. However much the humble and unostentatious labors and merits of Melanchthon
are overshadowed by the more striking and brilliant deeds of the heroic Luther, they were, in their
own way, quite as useful and indispensable. The "still small voice" often made friends to
Protestantism where the earthquake and thunder-storm produced only terror and convulsion.
Luther is greatest as a Reformer, Melanchthon as a Christian scholar. He represents in a
rare degree the harmony of humanistic culture with biblical theology and piety. In this respect he
surpassed all his contemporaries, even Erasmus and Reuchlin. He is, moreover, the connecting link
between contending churches, and a forerunner of Christian union and catholicity which will
ultimately heal the divisions and strifes of Christendom. To him applies the beatitude: "Blessed are
the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God."
The friendship of Luther and Melanchthon drew into its charming circle also some other
worthy and remarkable residents of Wittenberg,—Lucas Cranach the painter, who lent his art to
the service of the Reformation; Justus Jonas, who came to Wittenberg in 1521 as professor and
provost of the castle church, translated several writings of Luther and Melanchthon into German,
and accompanied the former to Worms (1521), and on his last journey to Eisleben (1546); and
Johann Bugenhagen, called Doctor Pomeranus, who moved from Pomerania to Wittenberg in 1521
as professor and preacher, and lent the Reformers most effective aid in translating the Bible, and
organized the Reformation in several cities of North Germany and in Denmark.
§ 42. Ulrich von Hutten and Luther.
Böcking’s edition of Ulrichi Hutteni equitis Germani Opera. Lips, 185–1861. 5 vols. with three
supplements, 1864–1870. Davie, Friedrich Strauss (the author of the Leben Jesu): Gespräche
von Ulrich von Hutten, übersetzt und erläutert, Leipz. 1860, and his biography of Ulrich von
Hutten, 4th ed., Bonn, 1878 (pp. 567). A masterly work by a congenial spirit. Compare K.
Hagen, Deutschlands liter. und Rel. Verh. in Reformationszeitalter, II. 47–60; Ranke, D. Gesch.
I. 289–294; Janssen, II. 53 sqq. Werckshagen: Luther u. Hutten, 1888.
While Luther acquired in Melanchthon, the head of the Christian and theological wing of the
humanists, a permanent and invaluable ally, he received also temporary aid and comfort from the
pagan and political wing of the humanists, and its ablest leader, Ulrich von Hutten.
(^225) Der Schmerz der Kirchenspaltung ist tief durch seine schuldlose Seele gegangen."Hase, Kirchengesch., 11th ed. (1886), p. 372.