From Rise of Protestantism in France to Publication of the Institutes - James Aitken Wylie

which was perishing, could not clearly see the new
world that was rising to take its place. To save the
world, Melancthon would have put the
Reformation into what would have been its grave.
Had Melancthon had his choice, he would have
pronounced for the calm – the mephitic stillness in
which Christendom was rotting, rather than the
hurricane with its noise and overturnings. Happily
for us who live in this age, the great scholar had
not the matter in his choice. It was the tempest that
came: but if it shook the world by its thunders, and
swept it by its hurricanes, it has left behind it a
purer air, a clearer sky, and a fresher earth.
Footnotes:
1. Gerdesius, Hist. Evang. Renov., tom. 4., p.
124.
2. Ibid.
3. "Non integri, verum mutilati," says Gerdesius
of the king's edition of the articles.
4. Gerdesius, tom. 4., p. 124.
5. Gerdesius, tom. 4., p 125.
6. D'Aubigne, vol. 2., p. 379.
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