Henry VIII. rises again in the favour of Erasmus.
Now that Henry VIII. had apparently changed his policy, now that he was giving up his pretensions to the crown of France, and no longer talking of invading her shores, now that he seemed to be calling to his counsels the very man who, next to Colet, had spoken more plainly than anyone else in condemnation of that warlike policy in which Henry VIII. had so long indulged, now that Henry VIII. himself seemed to be returning to his first love of letters and the ‘new learning,’ the hopes of Erasmus began once more to rely uponhimrather than upon any other of the princes of Europe. Erasmus had lost his confidence in Leo X. Prince Charles was now going to Spain, leaving the Netherlands in a state of confusion and anarchy, a prey to the devastations of the ‘black band,’ and for the present little could reasonably be expected from him, notwithstanding all the good advice Erasmus had given him in the ‘Christian Prince.’
While Henry VIII. had been wild after military glory, and had seemed ready to sacrifice everything to this dominant passion, Erasmus had thought it useless to waste words upon him which he would not heed; but the war being over in September 1517, he had sent him a copy of the ‘Christian Prince,’ and encouraged his royal endeavours to still the tempests which during the past few years had so violently raged in human affairs. Nor is it without significance that in this letterto Henry VIII. we find him using warm words in commendation of a trait of the King’s character, which Erasmus said he admired above all others; viz. this,—that he delighted ‘in the converse of prudent and learned men,especially of those who did not know how to speak just what they thought would please.’[681]
Under other circumstances such words written to Henry VIII. might have seemed like satire or perhaps empty adulation, but written as they were while Henry was as yet unsuccessfully trying to induce More to enter his service, and only a few months after the publication of the ‘Utopia,’ they do not read like words of flattery.
When in writing to Fisher he had spoken of England as ‘out of the world, or perhaps the least corrupted portion of it,’ he had honestly expressed his real feelings at a time when, whilst continental affairs were in hopeless confusion and anarchy, there were at least some hopeful symptoms that a better policy would be adopted for the future by Henry VIII.
Erasmus thinks More will serve the best of kings.
It was strictly in accordance with the same feelings that, on hearing that More had yielded to the King’s wishes, he wrote to him on April 24, 1518, not to congratulate him on the step he had taken, but to tell him that the only thing which consoled him in regard to it was the consideration that he would serve under ‘the best of kings.’ And from this remark he passed by a natural train of thought to speak of the dangers which would attend his own projected journey southwards through Germany, and bitterly to allude to the ‘novel clemency’ of the Dukes of Cleves, Juliers, andNassau, who had been secretly conspiring to disperse in safety the ‘black band’ of political ruffians, at whose depredations they had too long connived. Had their scheme been successful, it would have cast loose these lawless ruffians upon society without even the control of their robber leaders. But, as it was, the people took the matter into their own hands, and disconcerted the conspiracy of their princes. The peasantry, exasperated by constant depredations, and thirsting for the destruction of the robbers, had risen in a body and surrounded them. A chance blast from a trumpet had revealed their whereabouts, and in themêléewhich followed, more than a thousand were cut to pieces; the rest escaped to continue their work of plunder.[682]It was not remarkable if, living in the midst of anarchy such as this, Erasmus should envy the comparative security of England, and even for the moment be inclined to praise the harsh justice with which English robbers, instead of being secretly protected and encouraged, were sent to the gallows.[683]
Erasmus going to Basle.
Erasmus had decided upon going to Basle, and in writing to Beatus Rhenanus[684]to inform him that he intended to do so in the course of the summer, ‘if it should be safe to travel through Germany,’ he spoke of the condition of Germany as ‘worse than that of the infernal regions,’ on account of the numbers of robbers; and asked what princes could be about to allow such a state of things to exist.
‘All sense of shame,’ he wrote, ‘has vanishedaltogether from human affairs. I see that the very height of tyranny has been reached. The Pope and kings count the people not as men, butas cattle in the market.’
Erasmus leaves Louvain for Basle.
Once more, on May 1, Erasmus wrote to Colet before leaving for Basle, to tell him that he really was going, in spite of the dangers of travel through a country full of disbanded ruffians; to complain of the cruel clemency of princes who spare scoundrels and cut-throats, and yet do not spare their own subjects, to whom those who oppress their people are dearer than the people themselves; and to reiterate his intention to fly back to his English friends as soon as his work at Basle should be accomplished. And then he ventured on the journey.[685]
I. ERASMUS ARRIVES AT BASLE—HIS LABOURS THERE (1518).
Erasmus arrived at Basle on Ascension Day, May 13, 1518.[686]
Erasmus reaches Basle and falls ill.
But though he had escaped the robbers, and survived the toils of the journey, he reached Basle in a state of health so susceptible of infection, that, in the course of a day or two, he found himself laid up with that very disease which he had mentioned in his letter to Colet as prevalent at Basle, and as one great reason why he had shrunk from going there.[687]
But even an attack of this ‘plague’ did not prevent him from beginning his work at once.
His reply to Dr. Eck.
Whilst suffering from its early symptoms, during intervals of pain and weakness,[688]he wrote a careful reply to a letter he had received from Dr. Eck, Professor of the University of Ingolstadt in Bavaria, complaining, as Luther had already done, indirectly through Spalatin, of the anti-Augustinian proclivities of the ‘Novum Instrumentum.’[689]
Luther and Eck had already had communicationson theological subjects. The Wittemberg theologian had sent to his Ingolstadt brother for his approval, through a mutual friend, a set of propositions aimed against the Pelagian tendencies of the times.[690]
But Eck and Luther, whilst both admirers of St. Augustine, and both jealous of Erasmus and his anti-Augustinian proclivities, rested their objections on somewhat different grounds.
Dr. Eck holds to plenary inspiration.
Luther looked coldly on the ‘Novum Instrumentum’ mainly because he thought he found in its doctrinal statements traces of Pelagian heresy. Dr. Eck objected not so much to any error in doctrine which it might contain, asto the method of Biblical criticism which it adopted throughout. He objected to the suggestion it contained, that the Apostles quoted the old Testament from memory, and, therefore, not always correctly. He objected to the insinuation that their Greek was colloquial, and not strictly classical.
With regard to the first point, he referred to the well-known, and, as he thought, ‘most excellent argument of St. Augustine’ against the admission ofanyerror in the Scriptures, lest the authority of thewholeshould be lost. And with regard to the second, he charged Erasmus with making himself a preceptor to the Holy Spirit, as though the Holy Spirit had been wanting in attention or learning, and required the defects resulting from his negligence to be now, after so many centuries, supplied by Erasmus.
He made these criticisms, he wrote, not in the spirit of opposition, but because he could not agree with the preference shown by Erasmus to Jerome overAugustine. It was the one point in which the Erasmian creed was at fault. Nearly all the learned world was Erasmian already, but this one thing all Erasmians complained of in Erasmus—that he would not study the works of St. Augustine. If he would but do this, Eck was sure he would acknowledge that it would be rash indeed to assign to St. Augustine any other than the highest place amongst the fathers of the Church.[691]
Reply of Erasmus.
Erasmus replied[692]to the first objection, that, in his judgment, the authority of the whole Scriptures wouldnotfall with any slip of memory on the part of an Evangelist—e.g.if he put ‘Isaiah’ by mistake for ‘Jeremiah’—because no point of importance turns upon it. We do not forthwith think evil of the whole life of Peter because Augustine and Ambrose affirm that even after he had received the Holy Ghost he fell into error on some points; and so our faith is not altogether shaken in a whole book because it has some defects.
With regard to the colloquial Greek of the Apostles, he took the authority of Jerome, and Origen, and the Greek fathers as good evidence on that point.
With respect to his preference for Jerome over Augustine, he knew what he was about. His preference for Jerome was deliberate, and rested on good grounds. When he came to the passage in Eck’s letter, where he stated that all Erasmians complained of his one fault—not reading Augustine—he could not read it without laughing. ‘I know of nothing in me,’ he wrote, ‘why anyone should wish to beErasmian, and I altogether hate that term of division. We are allChristians, and labour, each in his ownsphere, to advance the glory of Christ.’ But that he had not read the works of Augustine! Why, they were the very first that he did read of the writings of the fathers. He had read them over and over again. Let his critics examine his works, they would find that there was scarcely a work of St. Augustine which was not there quoted many hundred times. Let him compare Augustine and Jerome on their merits. Jerome was a pupil of Origen, and one page of Origen teaches more Christian philosophy than ten of Augustine. Augustine scarcely knew Greek; at all events was not at home in Greek writers. Besides this, by his own confession, he was busied with his bishopric, and could hardly snatch time to learn what he taught to others. Jerome devotedthirty-five yearsto the study of the Scriptures.
In the meantime, in conclusion, he observed that the difference of opinion between himself and Eck upon these points need not interrupt their friendship, any more than the difference of opinion upon the same point between Jerome and Augustine interrupted theirs.
Having despatched this reply to Eck, and recovered from what proved a short but sharp attack of illness, Erasmus wrote to More on the 1st of June to advise him of his safe arrival at Basle, of his illness and recovery, and to express the hope that a few months would see his labours there accomplished. If the Fates were propitious, he hoped to return to Brabant in September.[693]
What were the works which he had come to Basle to publish during these tumultuous times?
New editions of works of Erasmus.
The second edition of the New Testament will require a separate notice by-and-by. A new and corrected edition of More’s ‘Utopia’ was already in hand, and waiting only for a letter which Budæus was writing to be prefixed to it.[694]A new edition of the ‘Institutio Principis Christiani’ was also to come forth from the press of Froben.[695]
It might seem hopeless to put forth works such as these, expressing views so far in advance of the practices of the times, but the fact that new editions were so rapidly called for proved that they were eagerly read. In the same letter in which Erasmus ridiculed to More the projected expedition against the Turks, and spoke of the violence of the German press and the satire which had just appeared, ‘Julius de Cœlo exclusus,’ he spoke of his having seen another edition of the ‘Utopia’ just printed at Paris.[696]
In the previous year, 1517, Froben had printed a sixth edition of the ‘Adagia,’ which had now expanded into a thick folio volume, and become a receptacle for the views of Erasmus on many chance subjects. In this edition he had expressed his indignant feelings against the political anarchy and Papal scandals of the period, and he told More to look particularly at what he had written on the adage, ‘Ut fici oculis incumbunt;’[697]in which was an allusion to the ‘insatiable avarice, unbridled lust, most pernicious cruelty, and great tyranny’ of princes; and to the evil influence of those ecclesiastics who, ever ready to do the dirtywork of princes and popes, abetted and mixed themselves up with the worst scandals.[698]And again it is remarkable to find how rapidly this ponderous edition of the ‘Adagia’ must have been sold to admit of another following in 1520, still further increased in bulk—a large folio volume of nearly 800 pages.
Collections of letters printed.Letter to Volzius.
In addition to these reprints, two separate collections of some of his letters were printed by Froben in 1518,[699]evidently intended to aid in spreading more widely those plain-spoken views on various subjects which he had expressed in his private letters to his friends during the last few years. Another edition was also called for of the ‘Enchiridion;’ and Erasmus, on his arrival at Basle, burning as well he might with increased indignation against the scandals of the times, wrote a new preface, in the form of a letter to Volzius, the Abbot of a monastery at Schelestadt—a letter which, containing in almost every line of it pointed allusion to passing events, was eagerly devoured by thinking men all over Europe, and passed through several editions in a very short space of time.
It was a letter in which he repeated the conviction which he had learned twenty years before from Colet, that the true Christian creed was exceedingly simple, adapted not for the learned alone, but forallmen.
And upon this ground he defended the simplicity of his little handy-book, contrasting it with the ‘Summa’ of Aquinas. ‘Let the great doctors, which must needs be but few in comparison with other men, study and busy themselves in those great volumes.’ The ‘unlearned and rude multitude, which Christ died for, ought to be provided for also.’ ‘Christ would that the way should be plain and open to every man,’ and therefore, we ourselves ought to endeavour, with all ‘our strength to make it as easy as can be.’[700]
He then alluded to the war against the Turks, and hinted that it would be better to try to convert them. Do we wonder, he urged, that Christianity does not spread? that we cannot convert the Turks? What is the use of laying before them the ponderous tomes of the Schoolmen, full of ‘thorny and cumbrous and inextricably subtle imaginations of instants, formalities, quiddities,’ and the like? We ought to place before them the simple philosophy of Christ contained in theGospelsandApostolic Epistles, simplifying even their phraseology; giving them in fact the pith of themin as simple and clear a form as possible. And of what use would even this be if our lives belied our creed? They must see that we ourselves are servants and imitators of Jesus Christ, that we do not covet anything of theirs for ourselves, but that we desire their salvation and the glory of Christ. This was the true, pure, and powerful theology which in olden time subjected to Christ the pride of philosophers and the sceptres of kings.
Erasmus then, after a passing censure of the scandals brought upon Christianity by the warlike policy ofpriests and princes, the sale of indulgences, and so forth, proceeded to criticise the religion of modern monks, their reliance on ceremonies, their degeneracy, and worldliness.
‘... Once the monastic life was aretreatorretirementfrom the world, of men who were called out of idolatry to Christ: now those who are called monks are found in the very vortex of worldly business, exercising a sort of tyrannical rule over the affairs of men. They alone are holy, other men are scarcely Christians.Why should we thus narrow the Christian profession, when Christ wished it to be as broad as possible?[701]Except the big name, what is astatebut one great monastery? Let no one despise another because his manner of life is different.... In every path of life let all strive to attain to the mind of Christ [scopum Christi]. Let us assist one another, neither envying those who surpass us, nor despising those who may lag behind. And if anyone should excel another, let him beware lest he be like the Pharisee in the Gospel, who recounted his good deeds to God; rather let him follow the teaching of Christ, and say, “I am an unprofitable servant.” No one more truly has faith than he who distrusts himself. No one is really farther from true religion than he who thinks himself most religious. Nothing is worse for Christian piety than for what is really of the world to be misconstrued to be of Christ—for human authority to be preferred to Divine.’[702]
It was a letter firm and calm in its tone, and welladapted to the end in view. It was dated from Basle, in August, 1518.
The ‘Enchiridion,’ with this prefatory letter, was published in September, together with some minor works, amongst which was the ‘Discussion on the Agony in the Garden,’ including Colet’s reply, in which he had expressed his views on the theory of the ‘manifold senses’ of Scripture, the whole forming an elegant quarto volume printed in the very best type of Froben. Another beautiful edition was published at Cologne in the following year.
II. THE SECOND EDITION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT (1518-19).
The time had come for Erasmus more fully and publicly to reply to the various attacks which had been made upon the ‘Novum Instrumentum.’
Its most bitter opponents had been the ignorant Scotists and monks who were caricatured in the ‘Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum.’ ‘There are none,’ wrote Erasmus to a friend, ‘who bark at me more furiously than they who have never seen even the outside of my book. Try the experiment upon any of them, and you will find what I tell you is true. When you meet any one of these brawlers, let him rave on at my New Testament till he has made himself hoarse and out of breath, then ask him gently whether he has read it. If he have the impudence to say “yes,” urge him to produce one passage that deserves to be blamed. You will find that he cannot.’[703]
To opponents such as these, Erasmus hadsufficiently replied by the re-issue of the ‘Enchiridion’ with the new prefatory letter to Volzius.
But there was another class of objectors to the ‘Novum Instrumentum’ who were not ignorant and altogether bigoted, and who honestly differed from the views of Erasmus; some of them, like Luther, because he did not follow the Augustinian theology; others, like Eck, who adhered to Augustine’s theory of verbal inspiration; others, again, who were jealous of the tendencies of the ‘new learning,’ and saw covert heresies in all departures from the beaten track.
Second edition of the New Testament.
The reply of Erasmus to these was a second edition of his New Testament; and this was already in course of publication at Froben’s press.[704]
Erasmus took pains in the second edition to correct an immense number of little errors which had crept into the first. But in those points in which it was the expression of the views of the Oxford Reformers, he altered nothing, unless it were to express them more clearly and strongly, or to defend what he had said in the ‘Novum Instrumentum.’
Thus the passage condemned by Luther, in which the resort by theologians to the doctrine of ‘original sin’ was compared to the invention of epicycles by mediæval astronomers, was retained in all essential particulars without modification.[705]
So, too, the passages censured by Eck as inimical to the Augustinian theory of the inspiration of the Scriptures, were not only retained, but amplified, while opportunity was taken to strengthen thearguments in favour of the freer view of inspiration held by the Oxford Reformers.[706]
Again; the main drift and spirit of the body of the work remained unchanged. Its title, however, was altered from ‘Novum Instrumentum’ to ‘Novum Testamentum.’
In speaking of the ‘Novum Instrumentum’ it was observed, that perhaps the most remarkable portion of the work was the prefatory matter, especially the ‘Paraclesis.’
‘Paraclesis.’
This ‘Paraclesis’ remained the same in the second edition as in the ‘Novum Instrumentum,’ including the passages quoted in a former chapter, urging the translation of the New Testament into every language, so that it might become the common property of the ploughman and the mechanic, and even of Turks and Saracens, and ending also with the passage in which Erasmus had so forcibly summed up the value of the Gospels and Epistles, by pointing out how ‘living and breathing a picture’ they presented of Christ ‘speaking, healing, dying, and rising again, bringing his life so vividly before the eye, that we almost seem to have seen it ourselves.’
‘Ratio Veræ Theologiæ.’
Next to the ‘Paraclesis,’ in the first edition, had followed a few paragraphs treating of the ‘method of theological study.’ This in the second edition was so greatly enlarged as to become an important feature of the work. It was also printed separately, and passed through several editions under the title, ‘Ratio Veræ Theologiæ.’
Erasmus in this treatise pointed out, as he had done before, the great advantages of the study of the NewTestament in its original language, and urged that all branches of knowledge, natural philosophy, geography, history, classics, mythology, should be brought to bear upon it, again assigning the reason which he had before given,—‘that we may follow the story, and seem not only to read it but toseeit; for it is wonderful how much light—how muchlife, so to speak—is thrown by this method into what before seemed dry and lifeless.’
Example of the historical method from Origen.
Contrasting the results of this method with that commonly in use in lectures and sermons, he exclaimed, ‘How these very things which were meant to warm and to enliven, themselves lie cold and without any life!’ And then, to give an example of the true method, he recommended the student to study the homily of Origen on ‘Abraham commanded to sacrifice his son,’ in which a type or example is set before our eyes, to show that the power of faith is stronger than all human passions. The object [of Origen] is to point out, dwelling on each little circumstance, by what and how many ways the trial struck home over and over again to the heart of the father. ‘Take, he said, thyson. What parent’s heart would not soften at the name of son? But that the sacrifice might be still greater, it is added—thydearestson—and yet more emphatic—whom thou lovest. Here surely, was enough for a human heart to grapple with.... But Isaac was more than merely a son, he was the son of promise. The good man longed for posterity, and all his hope depended on the life of this one child. He was commanded to ascend a high mountain, and it took himthree daysto get there. During all the time, what conflicting thoughts must have rent the heart of the parent! his human affectionson the one side, the Divine command on the other. As they are going, the boy carrying the wood, calls to his father who bears the fire and the sword, “Father!” and he replies, “What dost thou want, my son?” How must the heart of the old man have throbbed with the pulsations of his love! Who would not have been moved with loving pity for the simplicity of the obedient boy, when he said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the victim?” In how many ways was the faith of Abraham tried! And now mark with what firmness, with what constancy, did he go on doing what he was commanded to do. He did not reply to God, he did not argue with him concerning his promised faithfulness, he did not even mourn with his friends and relations over his childlessness, as most men would have done to lighten their grief. Seeing the place afar off, he told his servants to stop, lest any of them should hinder his carrying out what was commanded.... He himself built the altar; he himself bound the boy and put him on the wood; the sword quivered in his grasp, and would have slain his only son, on whom all his cherished hope of posterity depended, had not suddenly the voice of an angel stayed the old man’s hand.’[707]
Thus (continued Erasmus), but more at length and more elegantly, are these things related by Origen, I hardly know whether more to the pleasure or profit of the reader; although, be it observed, they are construedaltogether according to the historical sense; nor does he apply any other method to the Holy Scriptures than that which Donatus applies to the comedies of Terence when elucidating the meaning of the classics.
It would almost seem that Erasmus might have read Luther’s letter to Spalatin in which he complained of St. Jerome’s adhering upon principle to thehistoricalsense, and mourned over the tendency he had seen in Erasmus to follow his example. Luther spoke of this literal historical method of interpretation as the reason why, in the hands of commentators since St. Augustine, the Bible had been adeadbook. Erasmus thought, on the other hand, that the only way to restore the position of the Bible as alivingbook was to apply to it the same method which common sense applied to all other books; to resume, in fact, that literal and historical method which had been neglected since the days of St. Jerome, and which Origen had so successfully applied to the story of Abraham in the passage he had cited. It is singular also that, in quoting from Origen this example of the skilful application of the historical method, he was quoting from the father whose rich imagination was mainly responsible for the theory of ‘the manifold senses.’
The adoption of the common sense historical method of interpreting the Scriptures, made it possible and needful to rest faith in Christianity on its own evidences rather than upon the dogmatic authority of the Church, her fathers, doctors, schoolmen, or councils. To this Erasmus seems to have been fully alive. He was not prepared to throw aside the authority of the general consent of Christians, especially of the early fathers, as a thing of naught, but he was too conscious of the fallibility of all such authority to rest wholly upon it. Besides, one evident object he had in view was to gain back again to Christianity those disciples of the new learning who, in revulsion from theChristianity of Alexander VI., Cæsar Borgia, and Julius II., were trying to satisfy themselves with a refined semi-pagan philosophy. And no ecclesiastical authority could avail to undo what ecclesiastical scandal had done in that quarter.
The stress which in this little treatise Erasmus laid upon internal evidence will be best illustrated by a few examples.
Take first the following argument for the truth of Christianity.
Argument for the truth of Christianity.
He recommends the student ‘attentively to observe, in both New and Old Testaments, the wonderful compass and consistency of the whole story, if I may so speak, of Christ becoming a man for our sake. This will help us not only more rightly to understand what we read, but also to read with greater faith. For noliewas ever framed with such skill as in everything to comport with itself. Compare the types and prophecies of the Old Testament which foreshadowed Christ, and these same things happening as they were revealed to the eye of faith. Next to them was the testimony of angels—of Gabriel to the Virgin at his conception, and again of a choir of angels at his birth. Then came the testimony of the shepherds, then that of the Magi, besides that of Simeon and Anna. John the Baptist foretold his coming. He pointed him out with his finger when he came as he whosecomingthe prophets predicted. And lest we should not know what to hope for from him, he added, “Behold him who taketh away the sin of the world!”...
‘Next observe the whole course of his life, how he grew up to youth, always in favour with both Godand man.... At twelve years of age, teaching and listening in the temple, he first gave a glimpse of what he was. Then by his first miracle, at the marriage feast, in private, he made himself known to a few. For it was not until after he had been baptized and commended by the voice of his Father and the sign of the dove; lastly, not until after he had been tried and proved by the forty days’ fast and the temptation of Satan, that he commenced the work ofpreaching. Mark his birth, education, preaching, death; you will find nothing but a perfect example of poverty and humility, yea of innocence. The whole range of his doctrine, as it was consistent with itself, so it was consistent with his life, and also consistent with his nature. He taught innocence; he himself so lived that not even suborned witnesses, after trying in many ways to do so, could find anything that could plausibly be laid to his charge. He taught gentleness: he himself was led as a lamb to the slaughter. He taught poverty, and we do not read that he ever possessed anything. He warned against ambition and pride: he himself washed his disciples’ feet. He taught that this was the way to true glory and immortality: he himself, by the ignominy of the cross, has obtained a name which is above every name; and whilst he sought no earthly kingdom, he earned the empire both of heaven and earth. When he rose from the dead, he taught what he had taught before. He had taught that death is not to be feared by the good, and on that account he showed himself risen again. In the presence of the same disciples he ascended into heaven, that we might know whither we are to strive to follow. Lastly, that heavenly Spiritdescended which by its inspiration made his apostles what Christ wished them to be. You may perhaps find in the books of Plato or Seneca what is not inconsistent with the teaching of Christ; you may find in the life of Socrates some things which are certainly consistent with the life of Christ; but this wide range, and all things belonging to it in harmonious agreementinter se, you will find inChristalone. There are many things in the prophets both divinely said and piously done, many things in Moses and other men famous for holiness of life, but this complete range you will not find in anyman.’[708]...
From this general view of the ‘wonderful compass and consistency of the whole story’ let us pass with Erasmus to details. We shall find him following the same method in treating of each point, taking pains to rest his belief rather on the evidence offactsthan upon mere dogmatic authority.
Proofs of the innocence of Christ.
Thus in treating of the ‘innocenceof Christ,’ it would have been easy to have quoted a few authoritative passages from the Apostolic epistles, and to have relied upon these, but Erasmus chose rather to rest on the variety of evidence afforded by the many different kinds of witnesses whose testimony is recorded in the New Testament. After alluding to the testimony of the voice from heaven, of John the Baptist, and of thefriendsof Jesus, he thus proceeds:—
‘... The men who were sent to take him bore witness that “never man spake as this man.”...Pilatealso bore witness, “I am pure from the blood of thisjust man; see ye to it.” Pilate’swifealso borewitness, “have nothing to do with thatjust person.”... Hostile judges recognised his innocence, rejecting the evidence of the many witnesses. They declared, and themselves were witnesses, that the suborned menlied: they had nothing to object but the saying about the destruction and rebuilding of the temple.... The wretchedJudasconfessed, “I have sinned, in betrayinginnocentblood.” The centurion at the cross confessed, “truly this was the Son of God.” The wicked Pharisees confessed that they had nothing to lay to his charge why he should be crucified, but the saying about the temple. Thus was he so guiltless, that nothing could even beinventedagainst him with any show ofprobability.’[709]
Proofs of Christ’s humanity.
In the same way, in order to show that Christ was truly aman, instead of quoting texts to prove it, he pointed to the facts ‘that he called himself the “Son of man;” that he grew up through the usual stages of growth; that he slept, ate, hungered, and thirsted; that he was wearied by travel; that he was touched by human passions. We read in Matthew that he pitied the crowd; in Mark, that he was angry and grieved and groaned in spirit; in John, that his mind was moved before his passion; that such was his anguish in the garden that his sweat was like drops of blood; that he thirsted on the cross, which was what usually happened during crucifixion; that he wept over the city of Jerusalem; that he wept and was moved at the grave of Lazarus.’[710]
Proofs of the divinity of Christ.
And in the same way to prove Christ’s divinity, Erasmus pointed to his miracles, and their consistencywith his own declarations. Again he wrote, ‘Who indeed would look for true salvation from a mere man?... He said that he was sent from heaven, that he was the Son of God, that he had been in heaven. He called God his Father; and the Jews understood what he meant by it, for they said, “Thou, a man, makest thyself God.” Lastly, he rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sent down the Paraclete, by whom the Apostles were suddenly refreshed.’[711]
The mode by which Christ influenced the world.
Another subject upon which Erasmus dwelt was ‘the way which was adopted by Christ to draw the world under his influence.’ He showed how the prophets and the preaching of John had prepared the way for him. ‘He did not seek suddenly to change the world; for it is difficult to remove from men’s minds what they have imbibed in childhood, and what has been handed down to them by common consent from their ancestors. First, John went before with the baptism of repentance; then the Apostles went forth, not yet announcing the coming Messiah, but only that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. By means of poor and unlearned men the thing began, ... and for a long while he bore with the rudeness and distrust of even these, that they might not seem to have believed rashly. Thomas pertinaciously disbelieved, and not until he had touched the marks of the nails and the spear did he exclaim, “My Lord and my God!” When about to ascend to heaven, he upbraided all of them for their hardness of heart and difficulty in believing what they had seen.... He added the evidence of miracles, but even these were nothing but acts ofkindness. He never worked a miracle for anyone who had not faith. The crowd were witnesses of nearly all he did. He sent the lepers to the priests, not that they might be healed, but that it might be more clearly known that they were healed.... And for all the benefits he rendered, he never once took any reward, nor glory, nor money, nor pleasure, nor rule, so that the suspicion of a corrupt motive might not be imputed to him. And it was not till after the Holy Spirit had been sent that the Gospel trumpet was sounded through the whole world,lest it should seem that he had sought anything for himself while alive. Moreover, there is no testimony held more efficacious amongst mortals than blood. By his own death, and that of his disciples, he set a seal to the truth of his teaching. I have already alluded to the consistency of his whole life.’[712]
Precepts of the New Testament.
These passages will serve as examples of the means by which, in this treatise, Erasmus sought to bring out the facts of the life of Christ as the true foundation of the Christian faith, instead of the dogmas of scholastic theology. After thus thoughtfully dwelling upon the facts of the life of Christ, he proceeds to examine his teaching, and he concludes that there were two things which he peculiarly and perpetually inculcated—faith and love—and, after describing them more at length, he writes, ‘Read the New Testament through, you will not find in it any precept which pertains toceremonies. Where is there a single word of meats or vestments? Where is there any mention of fasts and the like?Lovealone He callsHisprecept.Ceremonies give rise to differences; from love flows peace.... And yetweburden those who have been made free by the blood of Christ with all these almost senseless and more than Jewish constitutions!’[713]
Finally, turning from the New Testament and its theology to the Schoolmen and theirs, he exclaimed, ‘What a spectacle it is to see a divine of eighty years old knowing nothing but mere sophisms!’[714]and ended with the sentences which have already been quoted as the conclusion of the shorter treatise prefixed to the ‘Novum Instrumentum.’
This somewhat lengthy examination of ‘the method of true theology’ will not have been fruitless, if it should place beyond dispute what was pointed out with reference to the ‘Novum Instrumentum,’ that its value lay more in its prefaces, and its main drift and spirit as a whole, than in the critical exactness of its Greek text or the correctness of its readings. If it could be said of the ‘Novum Instrumentum’ that much of its value lay in its preface—in its beautiful ‘Paraclesis’—it may also be said that the importance of the second edition was greatly enhanced by the addition of the ‘Ratio Veræ Theologiæ.’
And as, like its forerunner, this second edition went forth under the shield of Leo X.’s approval, with the additional sanction of the Archbishops of Basle and of Canterbury, and with all the prestige of former success, it must have been felt to be not only a firm and dignified, but also a triumphant reply to the various attacks which had been made upon Erasmus—a reply more powerful than the keenest satire or the most bitterinvective could have been—a reply in which the honest dissentient found a calm restatement of what perhaps he had only half comprehended; the candid critic, the errors of which he complained corrected; and the blind bigot, the luxury of something further to denounce.[715]
III. ERASMUS’S HEALTH GIVES WAY (1518).