the
Confession." (_C. R._ 8, 841.) September 6, 1557, he wrote: "We all
embrace and retain the Confession together with the _Apology_ and the
confession of Luther written previous to the Synod at Mantua." (9, 260.)
Again, in November of the same year: "Regarding the Lord's Supper, we
retain the _Augsburg Confession_ and _Apology_." (9, 371.) In an
_Opinion_ of March 4, 1558, Melanchthon declared that in the Holy Supper
the Son of God is truly and substantially present in such a manner that
when we use it, ["]He gives us with the bread and wine His body," etc.,
and that Zwingli was wrong when he declared "that it is a mere outward
sign, and that Christ is not essentially present in it, and that it is a
mere sign by which Christians know each other." (9, 472f.) Several
months before his death, in his preface to the _Corpus Philippicum_,
Melanchthon declared that in the Holy Supper "Christ is truly and
substantially present and truly administered to those who take the body
and blood of Christ," and that in it "He gives His body and blood to him
who eats and drinks." (Richard. 389.)

200. Melanchthon's Private Views.

While Melanchthon in a public and formal way, continued, in the manner
indicated, to maintain orthodox appearances till his death, he had
inwardly and in reality since 1530 come to be more and more of a
stranger to Luther's firmness of conviction, also with respect to the
doctrine of the Lord's Supper. Influenced by an undue respect for the
authority of the ancient fathers and misled by his reason or, as Luther
put it, by his philosophy, he gradually lost his firm hold on the clear
words of the institution of the Holy Supper. As a result he became a
wavering reed, driven to and fro with the wind, now verging toward
Luther, now toward Calvin. Always oscillating between truth and error,
he was unable to rise to the certainty of firm doctrinal conviction, and
the immovable stand which characterized Luther. In a letter dated May
24, 1538, in which he revealed the torments of his distracted and
doubting soul, he wrote to Veit Dietrich: "Know that for ten years
neither a night nor a day has passed in which I did not reflect on this
matter," the Lord's Supper. (_C. R._ 3, 537.) And his doubts led to a
departure from his own former position,--a fact for which also
sufficient evidences are not wholly lacking. "Already in 1531," says
Seeberg, "Melanchthon secretly expressed his opinion plainly enough to
the effect th