The Life of Philip Melanchthon

Obvious typographical errors have been corrected without note; however, irregularities with quotation marks have been retained from the original.

Pages 56-60 were printed out of order as described in the "Notice" after page 2. These pages have been put into the correct order in this eText.

[Illustration: MELANCHTHON.]

THE LIFE OF PHILIP MELANCHTHON.

BY CHARLES FREDERICK LEDDERHOSE.

Translated from the German, BY THE REV. G. F. KROTEL, PASTOR OF TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH, LANCASTER, PA.

PHILADELPHIA: LINDSAY & BLAKISTON. 1855.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by LINDSAY & BLAKISTON, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

NOTICE.

By an oversight on the part of the pressman whose duty it is to revise the sheets on the press in my Printing Office, the following pages of this work (The Life of Melanchthon), are transposed, 56, 57, 58, 59, and 60. This error makes the book appear at first sight to be incomplete, the reader, however, will find all the pages, as above, but transposed. The error was not discovered until the whole edition of the work was bound, and largely distributed, consequently too late to be corrected in any other way than by this notice.

C. SHERMAN, Printer, for LINDSAY & BLAKISTON, Publishers.

PHILADELPHIA, NOV. 30, 1854.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

Luther occupies so great, unrivalled, and apostolical a position among the Reformers, that we should not feel surprised to see his life and labors presented to the evangelical community again and again. Although we are far from encouraging an idolatrous worship of the man, we believe we are acting in the spirit of the word of God, when we encourage men to follow his faith. But we should act very ungratefully if, on account of this Prince in Israel, we should lose sight of the other distinguished men of God in the days of the Reformation. And among these, PHILIP MELANCHTHON occupies the highest place. The age in which he lived called him the Teacher of the German people, because he exerted a powerful influence upon the scientific and Christian culture of Germany. And we too may give him the same name, for his writings continue to exert a great influence, and justly claim our consideration. To show that this is indeed true, that he is still calculated to be the teacher of the German people, especially of the evangelical community, is the object of this Biography. As this volume was prepared for the general reader, all learned discussions were necessarily avoided. It does not enter into critical investigations, but faithfully appropriates known facts, in order to present them to the reader in an intelligible manner. A candid examination must decide how far the author has succeeded in accomplishing this object. It is the first attempt of the kind, for the Life of Melanchthon has not been written often; and when it was written, it was not treated in a popular manner.