From the Diet of Worms to the Augsburg Confession - James Aitken Wylie

system. It was the first attempt of the kind. His
genius admirably fitted him for this work. He was
more of the theologian than Luther, and the grace
of his style lent a charm to his theology, and
enabled him to find readers among the literary and
philosophical classes. The only systems of divinity
the world had seen, since the close of the primitive
age, were those which the schoolmen had given to
it. These had in them neither light nor life; they
were dry and hapless, a wilderness of subtle
distinctions and doubtful speculations. The system
of Melanchthon, drawn from the Bible, exhibiting
with rare clearness and beauty the relationships of
truth, contrasted strikingly with the dark labyrinth
of scholasticism. The Reformation theology was
not a chaos of dogmas, as some had begun to
suppose it, but a majestic unity.
In proportion as Protestantism strengthened
itself at its center, which was Wittenberg, it was
diffused more and more widely throughout
Germany, and beyond its limits. The movement
was breaking out on all sides, to the terror of
Rome, and the discomfiture of her subservient
46