The reason was, that the extreme mildness of his own disposition blinded him to the very nature of religious contests, and inspired him with amiable hopes which could not possibly be realized. He may have been a better man than Luther; he may even have been a wiser; he had as great acuteness; he had more learning and a purer and more perspicuous style; he had a more charitable temper; he had a more candid mind; and his love for justice and truth forbade him to reject without due consideration even the argument of an adversary. He was qualified to preside as a judge in the forum of theological litigation; yet was he not well fitted for that which he was called upon to discharge, the office of an advocate. He saw too much, for he saw both sides of the question; his very knowledge, acting upon his natural modesty, made him diffident. He balanced, he reflected, he doubted; and he became, through that very virtue, a tame sectarian and a feeble partisan. But his literary talents were of the highest order, and were directed with great success to almost all the departments of learning. He composed abridgments of all the branches of philosophy, which continued long in use among the students of Germany, and purified the liberal arts from the dross which was mixed up with them. And it was thus that he would have purified religion; and as he had introduced the one reformation without violence, so he thought to accomplish the other without schism. But he comprehended not the character of the Roman Catholic priesthood, nor could he conceive the tenacity and the passion with which men, in other respects reasonable and respectable, will cling to the interests, the prejudices, the abuses, the very vices, which are associated with their profession. It was an easy matter to him to confound the superstitious rites and tenets of Rome by his profound learning and eloquent arguments; but it was another and a far different task to deal with the offended feelings of an implacable hierarchy. And thus it is, that while we admire his various acquirements and eminent literary talents, and praise the moderation of his charitable temper, we remark the wisdom of that Providence which entrusted the arduous commencement of the work of reformation to firmer and ruder hands than his. Melancthon’s printed works are very numerous. The most complete edition of them is that of Wittemberg, in 1680,3, in four volumes folio. [Illustration: _Engraved by J. Posselwhite._ WILLIAM PITT. _From a Picture by Hoppner in the possession of the Publisher._ Under the Superintendance of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. _London, Published by Charles Knight, Ludgate Street._ ] [Illustration] PITT.