The Wittemberg divine then proceeds to show how man is saved from this wretchedness. "The apostle!" said he, "invites thee to contemplate the Son of God sitting at the right hand of the Father, mediating and interceding for us;[167] and calls upon thee to feel assured that thy sins are forgiven thee, that thou art reputed righteous, and accepted by the Father for the sake of that Son who suffered for us on the cross." [167] Vult te intueri Filium Dei sedentem ad dextram Patris, mediatorem interpellantem pro nobis. Ibid. [Sidenote: EFFECT OF THE COMMON-PLACES.] The first edition of the _Common-places_ is especially remarkable for the manner in which the theologian of Germany speaks of free will. He saw more clearly perhaps than Luther, for he was a better theologian than he, that this doctrine could not be separated from that which constituted the very essence of the Reformation. Man's justification before God proceeds from faith alone: this is the first point. This faith enters man's heart by the grace of God alone: here is the second. Melancthon saw clearly that if he allowed that man had any natural ability to believe, he would be throwing down in the second point that great doctrine of grace which he had stated in the first. He had too much discernment and understanding of the Holy Scriptures to be mistaken in so important a matter. But he went too far. Instead of confining himself within the limits of the religious question, he entered upon metaphysics. He established a fatalism which might tend to represent God as the author of evil,--a doctrine which has no foundation in Scripture. "As all things which happen," said he, "happen necessarily, according to the Divine predestination, there is no such thing as liberty in our wills."[168] [168] Quandoquidem omnia quæ eveniunt, necessario eveniunt juxta divinam prædestinationem, nulla est voluntatis nostræ libertas. Loc. Com. Theol. Basle, 1521, p. 35. But the object Melancthon had particularly in view was to present theology as a system of piety. The schoolmen had so dried up the doctrine as to leave no traces of vitality in it. The task of the Reformation was therefore to reanimate this lifeless doctrine. In the subsequent editions, Melancthon felt the necessity of expounding these doctrines with greater clearness.[169] But such was not precisely the case in 1521. "To know Christ," said he, "is to know his blessings.[170] Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, desiring to give a summary of the christian doctrines, does not philosophize on the mystery of the Trinity, on the mode of incarnation, on active or passive creation; of what then does he speak?--of the law,--of sin,--of grace. On this our knowledge of Christ depends."