The Life of Philip Melanchthon

Ulrich of Würtemberg, and also manifested a brave loyalty to its hereditary sovereign in the war of the peasants. It is now included in the Grand-Duchy of Baden. It has acquired an

pid advances. "For the boy was so ingenious, that, as we commonly say, his hands could imitate whatever his eyes saw. He could forge as neatly as if it had been done with a file." In a few years he was able to make everything needful for the tournament. The Elector again took him to Court, and appointed him an armorer or armor-bearer. He became so celebrated, that even foreign potentates courted him. Even the German Emperor Maximilian had his armor made by him. For a very skilful suit of armor, the Emperor presented him with a family coat of arms, representing a lion sitting upon a shield and helmet, holding tongs and a hammer in his paws. George's son, our Philip, never made use of this coat of arms, his own representing the serpent upon the cross, alluding to the well-known typical event in the wilderness. When George was thirty years old, the Elector thought of having him married. A well-known citizen of Bretten, Hans Reuter, "a very fine, sensible man, who had even studied," enjoying great respect, having served as Mayor of the place for several years, had a daughter called Barbara. "She was a virtuous and

shes to co

plough ca

last com

upon the

ed the name of Philip. "Thus does God bless this pious and godly man with the gift of such a child, which afterwards became a blessing to the whole land, yea, many

pupils a thorough education. He took especial pains in his Latin instructions. Melanchthon, who was "a master in that language," in after years could not sufficiently praise the teacher of his youth. He says of him: "He loved me as a son, and I loved him as a father." Unger was afterwards made court chaplain of the Margrave Philip of Baden, and continued to preach the gospel faithfully in Pforzheim to a very advanced age. "When their grandfather observed the diligence of the boys, he bought them a Missal, in order that they might become familiar with the hymns of the chur

, and afterwards, he would seek out his friends, in order to converse more about what he had learned. It was impossible not to love the boy, for he was peculiarly amiable and modest. His talkativeness found a great obstacle in his

ived for four years after this, but in a very helpless condition. About the very time when grandfather Reuter died, Schwartzerd was also lying upon his death-bed. Three days before his death, he expressed himself to the following effect: "These three things I will also leave my little children when I die-that they are in the bosom of the true Christian Church, that they are one in Him, and united among each other, and heirs of eternal life." When he felt the approach of death, he called for Philip, then ten years old, commended him to God, and exhorted him to fear God. Dying, he said, "I have experienced many changes in the world, but greater ones are coming. My prayer is, that God may rule you in them. I counsel thee, my son, to fear God, and live honestly." These words were treasured in the boy's memory as long as he lived. In order that he might not behold the death of his father, he was sent to Spire. He was naturally very

ed the meaning of the Greek and Latin Poets to me, and introduced me to a purer philosophy." He met with this teacher again in the University at Tübingen. In Pforzheim he was fortunate enough to become better acquainted with the celebrated John Reuchlin, who then resided in Würtemberg, as President of the Swabian Court of the Confederates. Reuchlin took great delight in the talented boy, gave him his paternal regard, called him his son, and presented him with beautiful and useful books. On a certain occasion he also gave hi

he admits the use of the Legends of the saints in the words: "It was a part of our domestic discipline rather to employ the boys with these matters, than to permit them to run about the streets, or engage in wild noise." As a matter of course, such food, as the Church then profferred, could not satisfy an inquiring mind like that of Philip. The law, as it was then exclusively employed by the Catholic Church, was barely able to plow up the soil of the heart. But when it is yet consid