[1231] “In plerisque controversiis iudicandis meam opinionem ad tuam sententiam libenter adiungo.” Letter of May 12, 1536, “Corp. ref.,” 3, p. 68 seq.
[1232] His theses on the Primacy and his other polemical statements (see below, xx. 4) are scarcely “better-sounding.” A good resolution here made runs as follows: “Ad has materias tractandas afferam aliquanto plus curæ ac studii quam antea.”
[1233] Kawerau’s opinion, p. 33.
[1234] To Camerarius, November 30, 1536, “Corp. ref.,” 3, p. 193. After mentioning the report Melanchthon adds: “Nihil mihi obicitur, nisi quod dicor plusculum laudare bona opera”; all the truth in this was that “quædam minus horride dico quam ipsi,” i.e. than Luther and his more enthusiastic followers.
[1235] With the expression “unhappy fate” we may compare his lament over the “rixæ religionum, in quas meo quodam fato incidi” (To the Imperial Secretary Obernburger, June 23, 1532, “Corp. ref.,” 2, p. 602). Kawerau remarks (p. 15): “It is indeed sad to find Luther’s greatest friend speaking of his having been involved in the ecclesiastical struggles of his time as a misfortune.”
[1236] Ellinger, ibid., p. 313: “He probably made use here of an intentionally ambiguous phrase in order to curry favour with the Bishop, for it is clear that he never meant to promote a restoration of the hierarchical order, though Cricius may well have supposed this from his letter. Hence we see that in the execution of his plans, Melanchthon was not above having recourse to craft.”
[1237] Letter of October 27, 1532. For its publication by T. Wierzbowski see Kawerau, p. 78, n. 17. Kawerau rightly emphasises the fact that, according to the text of the letter, Melanchthon refuses to break with Luther merely “on the weak ground that he, as a right-minded man (vir bonus), could not make up his mind to approve, let alone admire, the cruel and bloodthirsty plans of the Romanists.... Should the ‘moderata consilia’ prevail amongst the Catholic bishops, then he would be quite willing to come to terms.... We cannot but see how gladly he would have taken refuge in a haven where he would be safe from the theological storm. This letter shows him as a moderate, and, at the same time, as a true representative of Humanist interests.” For the further efforts of Cricius, who wrote in 1535, that he was acting on behalf of, or at least with the express sanction of, the Pope and the Cardinals, see Kawerau, p. 18 ff. Melanchthon’s writing of August, 1532, to the Elector-Cardinal Albert of Mayence, in which, in the most respectful terms, he begs the Primate of Germany, so hated by Luther, “to procure a milder remedy (cp. ‘moderata consilia’) for the dissensions in the Churches,” is also of importance; all right-minded men in Europe (boni omnes) were looking to him. “Corp. ref.,” 2, p. 611 seq. In these letters we see his earnest efforts “to bring about peace and avert civil war,” as he writes to Erasmus.
[1238] On January 31, 1532, “Corp. ref.,” 2, p. 567.
[1239] Ellinger, “Melanchthon,” p. 353.
[1240] Cp. Köstlin-Kawerau, 2, p. 445 seq.