and I have given evidence of my views in six hundred pub- lished pamphlets and letters. Not only did I separate myself from this faction, but, what is more, I have always held care- fully aloof, even though I could not yet guess what monsters that faction would produce, and not only did I hold aloof myself, but I urged everyone I could to do the same. As for the fact that I have not refuted any of Luther's dogmas with a special book, how long was Hilary * silent, while the Arians were capturing the world? Even if I had had the leisure, I had good reasons to know that it was neither necessary nor expedient for me to do otherwise than I did; nevertheless I did not fear to teach in my books things very different from the deliverances of Luther. I wrote to Pope Adrian* telling him how this matter could be put down in such a way that it would not come up again ; and what has been accomplished by the clamors and the books against Luther, by the censures and the edicts? If it had been decided to do away with this evil by means of irons and burnings and confiscations, then there is no need for me to do anything toward it. And yet, though I am neither born nor trained for these gladiatorial fights, nevertheless, so far as in me lies, I have never failed, nor will I fail the Church of God, especially when I see that the princes of the Church are moved by a sincere desire to win glory for Christ and salvation for His flock. Even though I shall not see this, certainly I shall always be, as I have always been, far from Luther's faction. Farewell, your Highness.
637. MELANCHTHON TO ERASMUS. OR., i, 674. (WnTENBERc), September 30, 1524.
You are quite right in your complaints of those who pro- fess the Gospel these days, my dear Erasmus. Those who have railed at your dignity seem to me to have forgotten both humanity and religion. Of the republic of letters and of this age you have earned better thanks than this, and those who with seditious speeches are rousing the multitude against the churches are preparing themselves a kingdom; they are not teaching Christ. Luther is altogether different from these"^
1 Hilary of Poitiers (died 367). "the Athanasius of the West"
- This letter, undated, in Epistolae, 1642, xviii, ao.
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