Tranquillity was hardly established when the reformer turned to his dear Melancthon, and demanded his assistance in the final revision of the New Testament which he had brought with him from the Wartburg.[153] As early as the year 1519 Melancthon had laid down the grand principle, that the Fathers must be explained according to Scripture, and not Scripture according to the Fathers.[154] Meditating more profoundly every day on the books of the New Testament, he felt at once charmed by their simplicity and impressed by their depth. "There alone can we find the true food of the soul," boldly asserted this man so familiar with all the philosophy of the ancients. Accordingly he readily complied with Luther's invitation; and from that time the two friends passed many long hours together studying and translating the inspired Word. Often would they pause in their laborious researches to give way to their admiration. Luther said one day, "Reason thinks, Oh! if I could once hear God speak! I would run from one end of the world to the other to hear him......Listen then, my brother man! God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, speaks to thee." [153] Verum omnia nunc elimare cœpimus, Philippus et ego. L. Epp. ii. 176. [154] See Vol. II. p. 71. [Sidenote: EFFECTS OF THE TRANSLATION--EDITIONS.] The printing of the New Testament was carried on with unexampled zeal.[155] One would have said that the very workmen felt the importance of the task in which they were engaged. Three presses were employed in this labour, and ten thousand sheets, says Luther, were printed daily.[156] [155] Ingenti labore et studio. L. Epp. ii. 236. [156] Ante Michaelis non absolvetur, quanquam singulis diebus decies millia chartarum sub tribus prelis excudant......Ibid. At length, on the 21st of September 1522, appeared the complete edition of three thousand copies, in two folio volumes, with this simple title: THE NEW TESTAMENT--GERMAN--WITTEMBERG. It bore no name of man. Every German might henceforward procure the Word of God at a moderate price.[157] [157] A florin and a half, about half a crown.