Nausea returned to Heidelberg, without having effected his object; but Melanchthon received another visit, from three professors of the University. These did not come to alienate him from _that_ cause, which was the cause of God. On the contrary, they presented him with a richly ornamented goblet, as an acknowledgment of his meritorious services, for which he returned his cordial thanks in a letter. Whilst Melanchthon was spending most agreeable days in Bretten, his travelling-companions sojourned in Basle. ERASMUS of Rotterdam resided in this city, and by his great reputation also attracted these Wittenbergians. This will be the proper place to say something of the relations existing between this renowned scholar and Melanchthon. It was Erasmus who, at a very early period, recognized and admired Melanchthon's talents and great acquirements. Melanchthon had taken this great man, who exerted such an influence upon the restoration of the sciences, for his model. But Erasmus was a man who preferred standing on neutral ground, and considered the Reformation commenced by Luther, and supported by Melanchthon's learning, as by far too extravagant. He was very fond of the honor of this world, which prevents so many learned men from arriving at a knowledge of the truth. Although he, therefore, at first expressed his approbation of the work in Wittenberg, he gradually became more and more opposed to it. He manifested his hostility particularly in his work "ON FREE WILL." He shows in this, like all persons who do not consult the word of God, and a deep inward experience, that the great corruption of this world of sin, and the indescribable riches of divine grace, were both mysteries to him. He also expressed his views more fully in a letter to his friend at Wittenberg, on the 6th of September, 1524; and did not forget to state that he could not agree on all points with Melanchthon's book, Loci Communes, in which he had, however, found much that was excellent. Nothing else could have been expected, for Melanchthon had most decidedly expressed the doctrine of the renewed Church. He could, therefore, neither be satisfied with Erasmus' publication against Luther, nor with his letter to himself. It is well known to every one acquainted with these disputes, that Erasmus had found a powerful opponent in Luther, by means of his work "Of the Bond Will," which is one of the ablest and most powerful productions of the Reformer. The gulf between these two men became wider and wider. All mediation was impossible.