the Christian truths once more brought to
light by the Reformer he considered to be his peculiar mission. But his
secret letters and, with gradually increasing clearness and boldness,
also his publications show that later on he began to strike out on paths
of his own, and to cultivate and disseminate doctrines incompatible with
the Lutheranism of Luther. In a measure, these deviations were known
also to the Wittenberg students and theologians, to Cordatus, Stifel,
Amsdorf, the Elector John Frederick, Brueck, and Luther, who also called
him to account whenever sufficient evidence warranted his doing so.
(_Lehre und Wehre_ 1908, 61ff.)

In a letter to Cordatus, dated April 15, 1537, Melanchthon was bold
enough to state that he had made many corrections in his writings and
was glad of the fact: "_Multa ultro correxi in libellis meis et
correxisse me gaudeo._" (_C. R._ 3, 342.) In discussing the squabble
between Cordatus and Melanchthon whether good works are necessary for
salvation, Luther is reported by the former to have said, in 1536: "To
Philip I leave the sciences and philosophy and nothing else. But I shall
be compelled to chop off the head of philosophy, too." (Kolde,
_Analecta,_ 266.) Melanchthon, as Luther put it, was always troubled by
his philosophy; that is to say, instead of subjecting his reason to the
Word of God, he was inclined to balance the former against the latter.
The truth is that Melanchthon never fully succeeded in freeing himself
from his original humanistic tendencies, a fact which gave his mind a
moralistic rather than a truly religious and Scriptural bent. Even
during the early years of the Reformation when he was carried away with
admiration for Luther and his work, the humanistic undercurrent did not
disappear altogether. January 22, 1525, he wrote to Camerarius: "_Ego
mihi conscius sum, non ullam ob causam unquam tetheologekenai, nisi at
mores meos emendarem_. I am conscious of the fact that I have never
theologized for any other reason than to improve my morals." (_C. R._ 1,
722.) Such, then, being his frame of mind, it was no wonder that he
should finally desert Luther in most important points, lapse into
synergism and other errors, and, in particular value
indifferentistically doctrinal convictions, notably on the real presence
in the Lord's Supper and the person of Christ. "Over against Luther,"
says Schaff, "Melanchthon represented the unionistic and liberal type of
Lutheranism." (_Cre