Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1521-1530.djvu/480

 the landgrave, "My gracious lord, the Elector, will iwt give us permission at this time." Thus his Grace would be silenced with a polite answer. I humbly beg that your Grace will take this matter (which, in my judgment, is no small one) under advisement, and graciously give me an answer, so that I may reply to my gracious lord, the landgrave, as I have to do. God keep your Grace eternally, by His mercy.

Your Grace's humble servant,

Phiup Melanchthon.

?30. MELANCHTHON'S OPINION CONCERNING A COLLO- QUY WITH ZWINGLI AND OECOLAMPADIUS.

CR., i, 1066. German. (Wittenberg, May 14, 1529.)

So far as I am concerned, I am not afraid to discuss the sacrament with Oecolampadius and his like, and, therefore, I did not decline the landgrave's proposal. Would to God it could be done in a proper way, for their case sounds well, and, for reasons that I know, it has a great following among the men throughout Germany who are reputed to be learned, but it has one great defect, — they do not yet know how hard it is to stand before God without God's Word. Curiosity and conceit can act in no other way than they act.

It is quite useless to deal with Zwingli, and so it is pur- posed to invite not him,^ but Oecolampadius, and even if he were invited it is not to be hoped that he would come. If the others, who dance this dance as Zwingli wants them to, are well enough instructed, they will be afraid to measure them- selves with us. Then, too, if we were to come together, it ought not to be only they and our people, but there should be some papists present, learned and reasonable men, to listen to the arguments on both sides; otherwise there would be great talk about the Lutherans and Zwinglians coming to- gether to make conspiracies, etc.; besides, if there were no neutral parties there the Zwinglians would probably do more boasting. I have told the landgrave, therefore, that if we came together there ought to be some papists there because they would be neutral. I know some of them' who I hope

^ Bat Zwingli had already been invited; ef. supra, no. 826. '/.#., of the Zwinglians.

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