‘For they consider “virtue” austere and hard to strive after; and they deem it the greatest madness for a man not only to exclude all “pleasure” from life, but even voluntarily to suffer pain without prospect of future profit (for what profit can there be, if you gain nothing after death, after having spent the whole of your life without pleasure, that is, in misery?).
‘But now they do not place happiness in the enjoyment of every kind of pleasure, but in that only which is honest and good. For they think that our nature is attracted to happiness, as to its supreme good, by that very “virtue” to which alone the opposite party ascribes happiness. For they define “virtue,” the living in accordance with nature; inasmuch as, to this end, we are created by God. They believe that he follows the guidance of nature who obeys the dictates of reason in the pursuit or avoidance of anything; and they say that reason first of all inflames men with a love and reverence for the Divine Majesty, to whom we owe it both that we exist, and that we are capable of happiness; and secondly, that reason impresses upon us and urges us to pass our lives with the least amount of care and the greatest amount of pleasure ourselves; and, as we are bound to do by the natural ties of society, to give our assistance to the rest of mankind towards attaining the same ends. For never was there a man so stern a follower of “virtue,” or hater of pleasure, who, whilst thus enjoining upon you labours, watchings, and discomfort, would not tell you likewise to relieve the want and misfortunes of others to the utmost of your ability, and would not think it commendable for men to be of mutual help and comfort to one another in the name of humanity. If, then, it be in human nature (and no virtue is more peculiar to man) to relieve the misery of others, and, by removing their troubles, to restore them to the enjoyment of life, that is, to pleasure—does not nature, which prompts men to do this for others, urge them also to do it for themselves? For a joyful life—that is, a life of pleasure—is either an evil—in which case, not only should you not help others to lead such a life, but, as far as you can, prevent them from leading it, as being hurtful and deadly; or, if it be a good thing, and if it be not only lawful, but a matter of duty to enable others to lead such a life—why should it not be good for yourself first of all, who ought not to be less careful of yourself than of others? For when nature teaches you to be kind to others, she does not bid you to be hard and severe to yourself in return. Nature herself then, in their belief, enjoins a happy life—that is, “pleasure”—as the end of all our efforts; and to live by this rule, they call “virtue.”
‘But, since nature urges men to strive together to make life more cheerful (which, indeed, she rightly does; for no man is so much raised above the condition of his fellows as to be the only favourite of nature, which cherishes alike all whom she binds together by the tie of a common shape), she surely bids you urgently to beware of attending so much to your own interest as to prejudice the interest of others. They think, therefore, that not only all contracts between private citizens should be kept, but also public laws, which either a good prince has legally enacted, or a people neither oppressed by tyranny, nor circumvented by fraud, has sanctioned by common consent for the apportionment of the conveniences of life; that is, the material of pleasure. Within the limits of these laws, it is common prudence to look after your own interests; it is a matter of duty to have regard for the public weal also. But to attempt to deprive another of pleasure in favouring your own, is to do a real injury. On the other hand, to deprive yourself of something in order that you may give it to another, that is indeed an act of humanity and kindness which in itself never costs so much as it brings back. For it is not only repaid by the interchange of kindnesses; but also the very consciousness of a good action done and the recollection of the love and gratitude of those whom you have benefited, afford more pleasure to the mind, than the thing from which you have abstained would have afforded to the body. And, lastly, God repays the loss of these small and fleeting pleasures with vast and endless joy; a doctrine of the truth of which religion easily convinces a believing mind.
‘Thus, on these grounds, they determine that, all things being carefully weighed and considered, all our actions, and our very virtues among them, regard pleasure and happiness after all as their object.’—Utopia, 1st ed. Leaf h, ii.et seq.
[566]J. S. Mill’sEssay on Utilitarianism, p. 24.
[567]Utopia1st ed. Leaf i, i.
[568]Leaf i, ii.
[569]Leaf i, iii.
[570]Leaf h, ii.
[571]Leaves h, i. and ii.
[572]Leaf l, iv.
[573]Ibid.
[574]Leaf m, ii.
[575]Leaf m, i.
[576]Leaf l, iii.
[577]Leaf m, iii.
[578]It is impossible not to see in this a ritualism rather of theDionysianthan of the modern sacerdotal type.
[579]Utopia, 1st ed. ‘De Religionibus Vtopiensium.’
[580]Epist. clxvii. Eras.Op.iii. p. 144, A.
[581]Erasmus to Savage: Epist. clxxvi. June 1, 1516. Brewer, 1976.
[582]‘There is certainly a steadiness of moral principle and Christian endurance, which tells us that it is better not to exist at all than to exist at the price of virtue; but few indeed of the countrymen and contemporaries of Machiavel had any claim to the practice, whatever they might have to the profession, of such integrity.His crime in the eyes of the world, and it was truly a crime, was to have cast away the veil of hypocrisy, the profession of a religious adherence to maxims which at the same moment were violated.’—Hallam’sLiterature of the Middle Ages, chap. vii. s. 31.
[583]‘Whatever may be thought of the long-disputed question as to Machiavelli’s motives in writing, his work certainly presents to us a gloomy picture of the state of public law and European society in the beginning of the sixteenth century: one mass of dissimulation, crime, and corruption, which called loudly for a great teacher and reformer to arise, who should speak the unambiguous language of truth and justice to princes and people, and stay the ravages of this moral pestilence.
‘Such a teacher and reformer wasHugo Grotius, who was born in the latter part of the same century and flourished in the beginning of the seventeenth.... He was one of those powerful minds which have paid the tribute of their assent to the truth of Christianity.’—Wheaton’sElements of International Law: London, 1836, pp. 18, 19.
[584]1st ed. leaf c, i.
[585]1st ed. leaf d, ii. Eras.Op.iv. p. 567.
[586]1st ed. leaf d, iii. Eras.Op.iv. p. 567.
[587]Leaf d, iii.
[588]1st ed. leaf f, ii. Eras.Op.iv. p. 574.
[589]‘Monarchia temperata,’ in the marginal reading.
[590]Abridged quotation, 1st ed. leaf f, iv. Eras.Op.iv. p. 576.
[591]Ibid.
[592]1st ed. leaf g, iii. Eras.Op.iv. p. 579.
[593]Leaf l, i.
[594]1st. ed. leaf l, i. Eras.Op.iv. pp. 593, 594.
[595]Ibid.Charles the Bold was the prince alluded to.
[596]Eras.Op.iv. p. 595,et seq.
[597]1st ed. leaf l, iv.
[598]Leaf m, i.
[599]Eras.Op.iv. 603.
[600]1st ed. leaf o, i. Eras.Op.iv. pp. 607et seq.
[601]1st ed. leaf o, iii.
[602]On August 5 he seems to have been in London, and to have written a letter from thence to Leo X. Eras. Epist. clxxxi. Brewer, ii. 2257.
On August 17 he writes from Rochester to Ammonius, that he is spending ten days there. Eras. Epist. cxlvi. Brewer, ii. 2283. And again on August 22. Eras. Epist. cxlvii. Brewer, ii. 2290. On the 31st he writes to Boville from the same place. Eras. Epist. cxlviii. Brewer, ii. 2321.
[603]Erasmus to Ammonius: Epist. cxxxiii. Brewer, ii. 2323, without date.
[604]Eras. Epist. lxxxvii. App. and ccxviii. Brewer, ii. 2409.
[605]Erasmus Ægidio: Epist. cccxlv. November 18, 1518. The mention of St. Jerome as not yet finished (see Epist. ccxviii.; Brewer, 2409), fixes the date 1516. Brewer, ii. 2558.
[606]Letter from More to Peter Giles, prefixed to ‘Utopia.’
[607]Roper, pp. 9, 10. Eras.Op.iii. pp. 474, 476.
[608]More to Erasmus: Eras. Epist. ccxxvii.
[609]Roper, 10.
[610]Erasmus to Hutten: Epist. ccccxlvii. Eras.Op.iii. p. 476, B.
[611]Leaf b, 4.
[612]Leaves b, iv to c, ii. These extracts are somewhat abridged and condensed.
[613]Leaves d, ii.et seq.These extracts are somewhat abridged and condensed.
[614]Eras. Epist. App. xliv. (Brewer, ii. 2748), in which Lord Mountjoy acknowledges the receipt of a copy sent by Erasmus, dated Jan. 4, 1516; i.e. 1517 in modern reckoning.
[615]The extracts from the Utopia, translations of which are given in this chapter, have in all cases been taken from the first edition (Louvain, 1516), but very few alterations were made in subsequent editions. The first edition was published in Dec. 1516. I am indebted to Mr. Lupton for the suggestion that the publication of some letters of Vespucci at Florence, in 1516, may have suggested More’s use of that voyager’s name in his introductory book.
Erasmus, writing from Antwerp to More, March 1 [1517], says: ‘Utopiam tuam recognitam, huc quam primum mittito, et nos exemplar, aut Basilium mittemus aut Lutetiam.’—Epist. ccviii.
Erasmus sent it to Froben of Basle, by whom a corrected edition was published in March, 1518, and another in November of the same year. SeeAppendix F.
[616]Eras. Epist. cclvi. Brewer, ii. 2000; from St. Omer; and see ccxxv. Brewer, ii. 1976.
[617]Epist. clviii. Erasmus to Ammonius: June 5, 1514; in error for 1516.
[618]More to Erasmus: Eras. Epist. lii. App. London, Feb. 25, 1516.
[619]Eras. Epist. lxxxiv. App. Brewer, ii. 2941, dated ‘in die sancti Edwardi, in festosuæ[? secundæ] translationis, sive 13 Octobris, 1516.’ Probably ‘secondtranslation of St. Edward,’ on June 20, 1516. The words ‘sive 13 Oct.’ are not found in the copy of this letter inAliquot Epistolæ, &c.(Basle, 1518, pp. 249, 252), nor in the ed. of 1640. The earlier date seems to harmonise more with the contents of the letter than the later date.
[620]Eras. Epist. lxxxvii. App. Brewer, ii. 2492.
[621]Eras. Epist. Waramus Erasmo, cclxi.Aliquot Epistolæ, &c.Basle, 1518, p. 231.
[622]Eras. Epist. ccxxi. App.
[623]Thomæ Mori ad Monachum Epistola:Epistolæ aliquot Eruditorum Virorum. Basle, 1520, p. 122.
[624]Erasmus to Boville, from the Bishop’s palace at Rochester, pridie calendas Septembris.Aliquot Epistolæ, &c.Basle, 1518, pp. 234-246. Eras. Epist. cxlviii. Brewer, ii. 2321. The above is only an abstract of this letter, and some of the quotations are abridged.
[625]More to Erasmus: Epist. lxxxvii. App. dated Oct. 31, 1516.
[626]Erasmus to Ammonius, from Brussels, December 29, 1516. Brewer, ii. 2709.
[627]Epist. cclvi. June 1517; should be 1516. Brewer, ii. 2000.
[628]Bearing date, Tubingen, Aug. 21, 1516. Eras.Op.iii. p. 1595. It was first printed probably at the back of the titlepage of ‘Epigrammata Des. Erasmi Roterodami.’ Basle, March 1518.
[629]Œcolampadius Erasmo: Eras. Epist. ccxxxviii.; also cxix. App. and ccccxi.
[630]Spalatinus Erasmo: Eras. Epist. xciv. App.
[631]Luther’sBriefe. De Wette, i. 40, No. xxii.
[632]Philippi MelanchthonisVita Martini Lutheri, chap. v. ‘Vita ejus monastica.’
[633]Philippi MelanchthonisVita Martini Lutheri, chap. vi. vii.
[634]Ranke refers to the period before 1516. SeeHist. of Reformation, vol. i. bk. ii. ch. i.
[635]Novum Instrumentum, folio, 433.
[636]Luther to Spalatin: Luther’sBriefe. De Wette, No. xxii.
[637]Luther an Joh. Lange: De Wette, No. xxix. p. 52.
[638]More to Erasmus: Epist. lxxxvii. App. Eras.Op.iii. p. 1575, A and B.
[639]Vol. i. Epist. 2.
[640]Vol. i. App. 1.
[641]Vol. ii. Ep. 9.
[642]Vol. ii. Ep. 49.
[643]Ibid. Ep. 68.
[644]One of the best and most valuable essays on theEpistolæ Obscurorum Virorumwill be found in No. cv. of theEdinburgh Review, March 1831.
[645]Ranke’sHistory of the Reformation, bk. ii. chap. 1.
[646]Epist. cxxxiii. App.
[647]Ibid. ccccxxviii. App.
[648]Ibid. ccxlvi. App.
[649]‘Sed, meo judicio, nulla via assequemur, quam ardenti amore et imitatione Jesu. Quare relictis ambagibus, ad brevitatem brevi compendio eamus: ego pro viribus volo.’ These sentences remind one of the conversation between Tauler and Nicholas of Basle, in the beautiful story of theMaster and the Man, where the master says, ‘Verum est, charissime fili, quod ais. Adhuc enim durior mihi videtur esse hic sermo tuus.’ And the layman replies, ‘Et tamen ipse me rogasti, Domine Magister, ut compendiosissimum ad supremam hujus vitæ perfectionem iter tibi demonstrarem. Et certe securiorem ego, quàm sit ista, viam ad imitandum exemplar sacratissimæ humanitatis Christi nullam novi.’Thauleri Opera, p. 16. Paris. 1623.
[650]Foxe, ed. 1597, p. 887.
[651]Thomæ Mori ad Monachum Epistola.Epistolæ aliquot Eruditorum Virorum: Basle, 1520, pp. 128, 129. The letter does not state exactly the date of this singular occurrence.
[652]On the Romans: Louvain, 1517, at the press of Martins.
[653]Erasmus to Cope, ccv. Brewer, ii. p. 2962. See also cciii. and cciv. and Erasmus to Henry VIII. cclxviii.
[654]Erasmus to Cardinal Grymanus, prefixed to theParaphrases on the Romans. Dated, Id. Nov. 1517.
[655]Mountjoy to Wolsey: Brewer, ii. p. 1259; and Bishop of Worcester to Wolsey: ibid. No. 4179. Ranke’sHist. of the Reformation, bk. ii. chap. 1.
[656]One early edition, without date, has in the margin, ‘Fictæ pontificum condonationes vel indulgentiæ;’ and Lystrius, in his note on this passage, says, ‘Has vulgo vocant indulgentias.’ The marginal note in the Argent. edition of 1511 reads, ‘indulgentias taxat.’
[657]Basle, ed. 1519, p. 141.
[658]Eras. Epist. cclxiv. Aug. 29, 1517.
[659]Bishop of Worcester to Wolsey: Brewer, ii. p. 4179.
[660]Papers relating to the Convocation: Brewer, ii. p. 1312.
[661]Ranke’sHistory of the Reformation, London, 1845, i. p. 333. Brewer, ii. p. 3160 and 3688.
[662]Brewer, ii. p. 3818, and preface, ccv.
[663]Ranke, p. 332.
[664]Ibid. p. 333.
[665]Ibid. p. 350.
[666]Ibid. p. 356.
[667]Erasmus to Beatus Rhenanus: Epist. clxiv. App. Brewer, ii. p. 3614. Ranke, p. 378.
[668]Ranke, pp. 239 and 379.
[669]Ibid. p. 359.
[670]Ranke, p. 239.
[671]Ibid. p. 241.
[672]Erasmus to Fisher: cccvi. App. Brewer, ii. p. 3989.
[673]Eras. Epist. App. cccv. Brewer, ii. p. 3992.
[674]Eras. Epist. App. cclxix.
[675]Epist. App. cclxv. Brewer, ii. p. 3991.
[676]Ægidius to Erasmus: Epist. ccccxxxvi. Brewer, ii. p. 4238.
[677]See Brewer’s preface to vol. ii. pp. cxlvii-clvii.
[678]See Brewer, ii. cxlii-clxi (preface).
[679]Roper, p. 11.
[680]Roper, p. 48.
[681]Epist. cclxviii.
[682]Epist. App. cccxi. and cclxxxii. Brewer, ii. p. 4111.
[683]Erasmus to Henry VIII.: Brewer, iii. No. 226.
[684]March 13, 1518. Eras. Epist. App. cclxxiv. Brewer, ii. p. 4005.
[685]Epist. ccxlvii. Brewer, ii. p. 4138. Eras. Epist. Basle, 1521, p. 217.
[686]Eras. Epist. App. cclxxxiv.-v.
[687]Ibid. App. cccv.
[688]Eras.Op.iii. 401 E.
[689]Eras. Epist. ccciii. first printed inAuctarium selectarum Epistolarum Erasmi, &c.Basle, 1518, p. 39.
[690]Luther’sBriefe. De Wette. Epist. No. xxxvii.
[691]Eras. Epist. ccciii.
[692]Epist. ccclxxvi. dated May 15, 1518, and first printed at p. 45 of theAuctarium selectarum Epistolarum, &c.Basle, 1518.
[693]Erasmus to More, App. cclxxxv. Brewer, ii. p. 4204; and in App. cclxxxiv. Ibid. ii. p. 4203.
[694]Brewer, ii. p. 3991. Eras. Epist. App. cclxv.
[695]Lucubrationum Erasmi Index: Frobenius, Basle, 1519.
[696]Epist. cclxv. App. Brewer, ii. p. 3991. Dated March 5, 1518.
[697]Eras. Epist. App. cccxi. Brewer, ii. p. 4110.
[698]Adagia: Basle, 1520-21, p. 494. I have not seen the edition of 1517, but it is mentioned inLucubrationum Erasmi Index; Basle, 1519.
[699]Auctarium selectarum aliquot Epistolarum Erasmi, &c.: Basle, with preface by Beatus Rhenanus, dated xi. Calendas Septembris, 1518, and ‘Aliquot Epistolæ sane quam elegantes Erasmi Roterodami, et ad hunc aliorum eruditissimorum hominum.’ Basle, Jan. 1518. The latter includes Colet’s letter to Erasmus on theNovum Instrumentum. An edition, containing some of the letters of Erasmus and others, had also been printed by Martins at Louvain in April, 1517.
[700]English translation. London: Jno. Byddell, 1522.
[701]‘Cur sic arctamus Christi professionem quam ille latissime voluit patere?’
[702]These passages are condensed in the translation.
[703]Erasmus to Laurinus: Epist. ccclvi. See Jortin, i. 140.
[704]The Epistle at the beginning from Leo X. to Erasmus, bears date Sept. 1518. March 1519 is the date printed at the end.
[705]Novum Testamentum, 2nd ed. p. 266.
[706]Novum Testamentum, pp. 209, 93, 82, 83.
[707]Novum Testamentum, 2nd ed. pp. 19, 20.
[708]Novum Testamentum, 2nd ed. pp. 28, 29.
[709]Novum Testamentum, 2nd ed. pp. 34, 35.
[710]Ibid.p. 32.
[711]Novum Testamentum, 2nd ed. p. 32. These passages are abridged in the translation.
[712]Novum Testamentum, 2nd ed. pp. 35, 36.
[713]Novum Testamentum, 2nd ed. p. 42.
[714]Ibid.p. 61.
[715]When, after the 3rd edition had been published and a 4th was in preparation, in 1526, a Doctor of the Sorbonne attacked the New Testament of Erasmus, he was able triumphantly to ask him, ‘what he wanted?’ His New Testament had already been ‘scattered abroad by the printers in thousands of copies over and over again.’ His critic ‘should have written in time!’—Erasmus to the Faculty of Paris. Jortin, ii. App. No. xlix. p. 492.
[716]Eras.Op.iii. pp. 374, 375.
[717]Eras.Op.iii. p. 432, D and E.
[718]Eras. Epist. ccclvii.
[719]Eras.Op.iii. 1490, D. Brewer, ii. Nos. 3670, 3671, dated Sept. 1517.
[720]Brewer, preface, ccxi.
[721]Jortin’sLife of Erasmus, App. p. 662-667.
[722]Eras.Op.iii. p. 408, b.
[723]Eras.Op.iii. p. 408.
[724]Four Years at the Court of Henry VIII.ii. p. 127.
[725]Eras.Op.iii. p. 457, E. See also Mr. Lupton’sIntroductionto his edition ofDean Colet on the Sacraments of the Church, pp. 19 and 26.
[726]Eras.Op.iii. p. 457, E.
[727]Ibid.p. 459, A and B.
[728]William Lilly was married and had several children. The sur-master, John Rightwyse, married his daughter. Mr. Lupton informs me, that in vol. iv. of Stow’sHistorical Collections(Harleian, No. 450), fol. 58b, is a Latin epitaph, in ten lines, by Lilly on his wife. Her name is spelt ‘Hagnes,’ and (if the reading be correct) they appear to have had fifteen children.
[729]Knight’sLife of Colet.Miscellanies, No. v.
[730]The original of this book with Colet’s signature is still preserved at the Mercers’ Hall.
[731]Knight, p. 227. He drew up a body of statutes, which, however, were never accepted by the chapter.—Milman’sAnnals of St. Paul’s, p. 124.
[732]Eras.Op.iii. p. 460, A.
[733]Ibid.p. 445, B.
[734]Ibid.p. 751, E.
[735]Strausz. Leipzig, 1858, vol. i. p. 123.
[736]Epistolæ aliquot Eruditorum, &c.Appended toApologia Erasmi, &c.Basil 1520, pp. 139, 140.
[737]This letter possibly may not have reached England before Colet’s death; but it is most likely that the date is wrong, as so often is the case with these letters—the year not being often added by the writer himself at the time, but by some copyist subsequently.
[738]‘Epistola clarissimi viri Thomæ Mori, qua refellit rabiosam maledicentiam monachi cujusdam juxta indocti atque arrogantis.’—Epistolæ aliquot Eruditorum Virorum, &c.Basileæ,M.DXX.pp. 92-138. Also Jortin’sLife of Erasmus, Appendix.
[739]‘Nisi quod Lutherus fertur Augustini doctrinam mordicus tenens antiquatam sententiam rursus instaurare.’—p. 99.
[740]For the above particulars see Ranke’sHistory of the Reformation, bk. ii. c. iii.
[741]Melanchthonis Epistolæ: Bretschneider, i. p. 63, and p. 66.
[742]March 1519, Bretschneider, i. p. 75.
[743]Erasmus to Œcolampadius, 1518, Epist. cccliv.
[744]Dated January 5, from Wittemberg. Bretschneider, i. p. 59.
[745]Epist. ccccxi.
[746]Luther’sBriefe. De Wette, vol. i. Epist. cxxx. p. 249.
[747]Louvain, May 30, 1519. Eras. Epist. ccccxxvii.
[748]Eras.Op.iii. p. 444, E and F.
[749]Epist. cccxvii. May 8, 1519.
[750]Epist. ccccxiii. Ap. 23, 1519.
[751]Eras. Epist. Laurentio: Louvain, Feb. 1519, prefixed to the Basle edition of the Five Epistles, 1520.
[752]Apologia pro Declamatione de Laude Matrimonii: Basil. 1519.
[753]Colet seems even to have retired from the office of preacher before the King on Good Friday, which he had filled in 1510, 1511, 1512, 1513, 1515, 1516, and 1517. Brewer, ii. pp. 1445-1474. In 1518 the sermon was preached by the Dean of Sarum, p. 1477.
[754]Epist. cccclxxiv. Erasmus to Fisher: Louvain, Oct. 17, 1519.
[755]Ranke, bk. ii. c. iii. De Wette, i. No. ccviii. p. 425. That Luther had found a point of unison between himself and the Hussites, not only in their common opposition to Papal authority, but also in their common adoption of the severest views of St. Augustine, see ‘Assertio omnium articulorum M. Lutheri per Bullam Leonis X. novissimam damnatorum.’ Mense MartioM.DXXI.Leaves Kk, ii. and iii. ‘Habes, miserande Papa, quid hic oggannias. Unde et hunc articulum necesse est revocare, male enim dixi quod liberum arbitrium ante gratiam sit res de solo titulo, sed simpliciter debui dicere, lib. arb. est figmentum in rebus, seu titulus sine re. Quia nulli est in manu sua quippiam cogitare mali aut boni, sed omnia (ut Viglephi articulusConstantiædamnatus recte docet) de necessitate absoluta eveniunt.’ These articles were condemned as a part of the heresy of John Huss, of whom Luther in the same treatise had said:—‘Et in faciem tuam sanctissime Vicarie Dei, tibi libere dico, omnia damnata Joannis Huss esse evangelica et Christiana,’ &c. (Ibid.leaf Hh, iii.)
[756]See Epist. ccccxii. Louvain, April 23, 1519.
[757]History of the Protestant Church of the United Brethren.By the Rev. John Holmes. London, 1825, vol. i. chaps. i. and ii.
[758]This middle party were called ‘Calixtines.’ See introduction to Holmes’sHistory, vol. i. p. 21, where the facts mentioned in this letter are detailed, very much in accordance with Schlechta’s account.
[759]John Zisca was a Hussite. He died in 1424, nine years after the death of Huss, and on his monument was inscribed, ‘Here lies John Zisca, who having defended his country against the encroachments of Papal tyranny, rests in this hallowed place in spite of the Pope.’—Ibid. p. 20.
[760]Epist. cccclxiii. Dated Oct. 10, 1519.
[761]Epist. cccclxxviii. Dated Nov. 1, 1519. The letter is a long one, and these quotations are somewhat abridged in translation.
[762]Luther replied:—‘Absint a nobis Christianis Sceptici.... Nihil apud Christianos notius et celebratius, quam assertio. Tolle assertiones et Christianissimum tulisti.... Spiritus Sanctus non est scepticus, nec dubia aut opiniones in cordibus nostris scripsit, sed assertiones, ipsa vita, et omni experientia, certiores et firmiores.’—De Servo ArbitrioMar. Lutheri. Wittembergæ, 1526, pp. 7-12.
[763]‘Ideo alteram est judicium externum, quo non modo pro nobis ipsis, sed et pro aliis et propter aliorum salutem, certissime judicamus spiritus et dogmata omnium. Hoc judicium est publici ministerii in verbo et officii externi, et maxime pertinet ad duces et præcones verbi &c.’—De Servo ArbitrioMar. Lutheri. Wittembergæ, 1526, p. 82.
[764]See Mozley’sAugustinian Doctrine of Predestination. Chap. x.Scholastic Doctrine of Predestination.And see the particular instance there given on the subject of infants dying in original sin, p. 307. ‘Being by nature reprobate, and not being included within the remedial decree of predestination, they were ... [according to the pure Augustinian doctrine] ... subject to the sentence of eternal punishment.... The Augustinian schoolman [Aquinas] could not expressly contradict this position, but what he could not contradict he could explain. Augustine had laid down that the punishment of such children was the mildest of all punishment in hell.’... Aquinas ‘laid down the further hypothesis, that this punishment was not pain of body or mind, butwant of the Divine vision.’
[765]Epist. ccccxlvii.
[766]See note on the date, More’s birth,Appendix C.
[767]Eras.Op.iii. p. 475, E.
[768]Ibid.C and D. One is tempted to think that More intended to describe his first wife in the epigram, ‘Ad Candidum qualis uxor deligenda,’ very freely translated into English verse by Archdeacon Wrangham as follows:—
Far from her lips’ soft doorBe noise or silence stern,And hers be learning’s store,Or hers the power to learn.With books she’ll time beguile,And make true bliss her own,Unbuoyed by Fortune’s smile,Unbroken by her frown.So still thy heart’s delight,And partner of thy way,She’ll guide thy children right,When myriads go astray.So left all meaner things,Thou’lt on her breast recline,While to her lyre she singsStrains, Philomel, like thine;While still thy raptured gazeIs on her accents hung,As words of honied graceSteal from her honied tongue.
Quoted fromPhilomorus, p. 42.
[769]More’s EnglishWorks, p. 1420.
[770]Eras.Op.iii. p. 475, D and E.
[771]Eras.Op.iii. p. 476, D, &c.
[772]Ibid.p. 474, B.
[773]Ibid.p. 474, E.
[774]Ibid.p. 477, B.
[775]Ibid.p. 474, E and F.
[776]Colloquy entitledAmicitia.
[777]Stapleton’sTres Thomæ, p. 257.
[778]Eras.Op.i. p. 511, E.
[779]Mori Epigrammata: Basle, 1520, p. 110. The first edition was printed at Basle along with theUtopiain 1518, and does not contain these verses.
[780]Mackintosh’sLife of Sir Thomas More, p. 73, quoting ‘City Records.’
[781]Roper, p. 12.
[782]Ellis,Original Letters, 3rd series, letter lxxx.
[783]Epist. cccclxvii.
[784]Ibid. cccclxx.
[785]Epist. cccclxxi.
[786]Ibid. cccclxxiv.
[787]Eras.Op.iii. Epist. cccclxxxi., andEpistolæ aliquot Eruditorum Virorum: Basil. 1520, p. 46.
[788]Ibid. p. 122. ‘Coletum nomino, quo uno viro neque doctior neque sanctior apud nos aliquot retro seculis quisque fuit.’
[789]Ashmolean MSS. Oxford 77-141 a. I have to thank Mr. Coxe for the following copy of the inscription: ‘Joannes Coletus, Henrici Coleti iterum prætoris Londini filius, et hujus templi decanus, magno totius populi mœrore, cui, ob vitæ integritatem et divinum concionandi munus, omnium sui temporis fuit chariss., decessit anno a Christo nato 1519 et inclyti regis Henrici Octavi 11, mensis Septembris 16. Is in cœmeterio Scholam condidit ac magistris perpetua stipendia contulit.’
[790]Luther in his famous speech at the Diet, after alluding to his doctrinal and devotional works, and offering to retract whatever in them was contrary to Scripture, emphatically refused to retract what he had written against the Papacy, on the ground that were he to do so, it would be ‘like throwing both doors and windows right open’ to Rome to the injury of the German nation. And in his German speech he added an exclamation, most characteristic, at the very idea of the absurdity of its being thought possible, that he could retract anything on this point:—‘Good God, what a great cloak of wickedness and tyranny should I be!’ See Förstermann’sUrkundenbuch zur Geschichte der evangelischen Kirchen-Reformation, vol. i. p. 70: Hamburg, 1842.
[791]I am mainly indebted to Mr. Lupton for this list.