Maxims  of  the  Fathers  of  the  church  were  appealed  to  by  each  side,  and
with  equal  justice.  To  extricate  the  matter  from  this  contradiction,  Me-
lanchthon laid  it  down  in  a  little  treatise,  published  August,  15 19,  that
the  Scripture  was  not  to  be  expounded  according  to  the  Fathers,  but  that
these  were  to  be  understood  according  to  the  sense  of  Scripture.1  He
maintained  that  the  expositions  of  the  great  pillars  of  the  Latin  church,
Ambrose,  Jerome  and  even  Augustine,  were  often  erroneous.  This
principle — that  a  Christian  (or,  as  he  expresses  it,  a  Catholic)  is  not  bound
to  receive  any  thing  but  what  is  contained  in  Scripture — he  treated  more
at  large  in  September,  15 19.  What  he  had  said  of  the  Fathers,  he  now
repeated  of  councils — that  their  authority  was  of  no  account  when  com-
pared to  that  of  Scripture.  Having  reached  this  point,  doubt  on  doubt
inevitably  presented  itself  to  his  mind,  as  to  the  entire  system  of  authorita-
tive dogmas.  If  Luther  was  resolute  in  action,  Melanchthon  was  no  less
so  in  speculation.  Even  in  September,  15 19,  he  stated  the  polemical
maxims  in  which  he  attacked  the  two  most  important  fundamental  doc-
trines of  the  whole  system  ;  that  of  transubstantiation,  and  that  of  the
sacerdotal  character  ;  whereon  the  mystery  of  the  visible  church,  as  well
as  the  sacramental  ritual  which  governs  the  whole  course  of  human  life,
rest.2  The  boldness  of  the  attack,  and  the  ingenuity  with  which  it  was
carried  on,  filled  everyone  with  surprise.  "  He  has  now  appeared  to  all,"
says  Luther,  "  as  wonderful  as  he  really  is.  He  is  the  most  powerful
enemy  of  Satan  and  of  the  schoolmen  ;  he  knows  their  folly  and  the  rock


die  Welt  tuth  verkeren  mit  seyner  falschen  Lere  und  Rat  des  Teufels,  auch  wie
darnach  die  zween  Propheten  Enoch  und  Helyas  die  Christenheit  wieder  bekerne
mit  predigen  den  Christen  Glauben."  "Little  Book  concerning  Antichrist's
Life  and  Rule  through  God's  Providence,  how  he  doth  pervert  the  World  with  his
false  Doctrine  and  Counsel  of  the  Devil ;  also  how,  thereafter,  the  two  Prophets,,
Enoch  and  Elias,  again  convert  Christendom  with  preaching  of  Christ's  faith."
In  1 5 16  this  book  was  reprinted  at  Erfurt.  We  see  how  it  came  about  that
Luther  was  occasionally  called  Elias  by  his  followers.
