(1546)
Born in 1497, died in 1560; Professor of Greek at Wittenberg in 1518; revised the Augsberg Confession in 1530; drew up the "Apology" in 1580; active as a collaborator with Luther, taking part in various Protestant conferences with the Roman Catholics.
God has always preserved a proportion of His servants upon the earth, and now, through Martin Luther, a more splendid period of light and truth has appeared. Solon, Themistocles, Scipio, Augustus, and others, who either established or ruled over mighty empires, were indeed truly great men, but far, far inferior to our illustrious leaders, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, Augustine, and Luther, and it becomes us to study this distinction. What, then, are those great and important things which Luther has disclosed to our view, and which render his life so remarkable; for many are exclaiming against him as a disturber of the Church and a promoter of inexplicable controversies? Luther explained the true and important doctrine of penitence, which was involved in the profoundest darkness. He showed in what it consists and where refuge and consolation could be obtained
- ↑ From the funeral oration, pronounced after the death of Luther, in February, 1546.
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