Although Melanchthon (1497‐1560) preceded Arminius (1560‐1609), his view was substantially the same with that of the Dutch theologian. Melanchthon never experienced the throes and travails of a new spiritual life, as Luther did. His external and internal development was peculiarly placid and serene. This Præceptor Germaniæ had the modesty of the genuine scholar. He was not a dogmatist, and he never entered the ranks of the ministry. He never could be persuaded to accept the degree of Doctor of Theology, though he lectured on theological subjects to audiences of thousands. Dorner says of Melanchthon: “He held at first that the Spirit of God is the primary, and the word of God the secondary, or instrumental, agency in conversion, while the human will allows their action and freely yields to it.” Later, he held that “conversion is the result of the combined action (_copulatio_) of three causes, the truth of God, the Holy Spirit, and the will of man.” This synergistic view in his last years involved the theologian of the German Reformation in serious trouble. Luthardt: “He made a _facultas_ out of a mere _capacitas_.” Dorner says again: “Man’s causality is not to be coördinated with that of God, however small the influence ascribed to it. It is a purely _receptive_, not a productive, agency. The opposite is the fundamental Romanist error.” Self‐love will never induce a man to give up self‐love. Selfishness will not throttle and cast out selfishness. “Such a choice from a selfish motive would be unholy, when judged by God’s standard. It is absurd to make salvation depend upon the exercises of a wholly unspiritual power”; see Dorner, Glaubenslehre, 2:716‐720 (Syst. Doct., 4:179‐183). Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 2:505—“Sin does not first stop, and then holiness come in place of sin; but holiness positively expels sin. Darkness does not first cease, and then light enter; but light drives out darkness.” On the Arminian view, see Bib. Sac., 19:265, 266.