History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume I Part 8

(Paradoxa d.a.m.nata, etc., 1749, Moguntiae.)

About the same time, John de Goch, prior at Malines, extolled Christian liberty as the soul of all the virtues. He charged the received doctrine with Pelagianism, and surnamed Thomas Aquinas the "Prince of Error." "Canonical Scripture alone," said he, "deserves full faith, and has an irrefragable authority. The writings of the ancient fathers are of authority only in so far as they are conformable to canonical truth.--There is truth in the common byword, 'What a monk dares undertake, Satan would blush to think.'"

But the most remarkable of the forerunners of the Reformation was undoubtedly John Wessel, surnamed "The Light of the World," a man full of courage and love for the truth, who taught theology successively at Cologne, Louvain, Paris, Heidelberg, and Groningen. Luther said of him, "Had I read his works sooner, it might have been said, Luther has drawn everything from Wessel; so much do his spirit and mine accord."[74] "St. Paul and St. James," says Wessel, "say different but not contrary things. Both hold that the just live by faith, but a faith which works by love. He who understanding the gospel believes, desires, hopes, confides in the good news, and loves Him who justifies and blesses him, gives himself entirely to Him whom he loves, and attributes nothing to himself, knowing that in himself he has nothing.[75] The sheep should distinguish between the things on which they feed, and avoid a hurtful food, though it should be offered by the shepherd. The people ought to follow their shepherds to the pastures, but when they lead them to what is not pasture, they are no more shepherds; and because they are not in their duty, the flock is no longer bound to obey them. Nothing is more effectual in destroying the Church than a corrupt clergy. All Christians, even the meanest and simplest, are bound to resist those who destroy the Church.[76] The commands of prelates and doctors ought to be performed only in the manner prescribed by St. Paul, (1 Thess., v, 21;) namely, in so far as, sitting in the chair of Moses, they speak according to Moses. We are the servants of G.o.d, and not of the pope, according as it is said, 'Thou shalt wors.h.i.+p the Lord thy G.o.d, and him only shalt thou serve.'

The Holy Spirit has reserved to himself to foster, quicken, preserve, and enlarge the unity of the Church, and not abandoned it to the Roman Pontiff, who often gives himself no concern about the matter. Even s.e.x does not hinder a woman, if she is faithful and prudent, and has love shed abroad in her heart, from feeling, judging, approving, and concluding, by a judgment which G.o.d ratifies."

[74] "Antiquorum Patrum scripta tantum habent auctoritatis quantum canonicae veritati sunt conformia." (Epist. Apologet. Anvers, 1521.)

[75] "Adeo spiritus utriusque concordat." (Farrago Wesseli, in Praef.)

[76] "Extentus totus, et propensus in eum quem amat, a quo credit, cupit, sperat, confidit, justificatur, nihil sibi ipsi tribuit, qui scit nihil habere ex se." (De Magnit. Pa.s.sionis, cap. xlvi, Op. p.

553.)

Thus, as the Reformation approaches, the voices which proclaim the truth are multiplied. One would say the Church is bent on demonstrating that the Reformation had an existence before Luther.

Protestantism was born into the Church, the very day that the germ of the Papacy appeared in it, just as in the political world conservative principles began to exist the very moment that the despotism of the great or the disorders of the factious showed open front.

Protestantism was even sometimes stronger than the Papacy in the ages preceding the Reformation. What had Rome to oppose to all these witnesses for the truth at the moment when their voice was heard through all the earth?

But this was not all. The Reformation existed not in the teachers only; it existed also among the people. The doctrines of Wickliffe, proceeding from Oxford, had spread over Christendom, and had preserved adherents in Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia, and Prussia. In Bohemia, from the bosom of discord and war, ultimately came forth a peaceful Christian community, which resembled the primitive Church, and bore lively testimony to the great principle of Evangelical opposition, viz., "That Christ himself, not Peter and his successor, is the rock on which the Church is built." Belonging equally to the German and Slavonian races, these simple Christians had missionaries among the different nations who spoke their tongues, that they might without noise gain adherents to their opinions. At Rostoch, which had been twice visited by them, Nicolas Kuss began in 1511 to preach publicly against the pope.[77]

[77] "Nemo magis Ecclesiam destruit, quam corruptus clerus.

Destruentibus Ecclesiam omnes Christiani tenentur resistre." (De Potestate Eccles. Op. p. 769.)

It is important to attend to this state of things. When wisdom from above will with loud voice deliver her instructions, there will everywhere be intellects and hearts to receive it. When the sower, who has never ceased to walk over the Church, will come forth for a new and extensive sowing, the earth will be ready to receive the grain.

When the trumpet, which the Angel of the covenant has never ceased to blow, will cause it to sound louder and louder, many will make ready for battle.

The Church already feels that the hour of battle is approaching. If, during the last century, more than one philosopher gave intimation of the revolution with which it was to close, can we be astonished, that, at the end of the fifteenth century, several doctors foresaw the impending Reformation which was to renovate the Church?[78]

[78] Wolfii Lect. Memorab. ii, p. 27.

Andre Proles, provincial of the Augustins, who, for more than half a century, presided over this body, and with unshaken courage maintained the doctrines of Augustine within his order, when a.s.sembled with his friars in the Convent of Himmelspforte, near Wernigerode, often stopped during the reading of the word of G.o.d, and addressing the listening monks, said to them "Brethren, you hear the testimony of holy Scripture. It declares, that by grace we are what we are--that by it alone we have all that we have. Whence, then, so much darkness, and so many horrible superst.i.tions?... Oh! brethren, Christianity has need of a great and bold reformation, and I already see its approach."

Then the monks exclaimed, "Why don't you yourself begin this reformation, and oppose all their errors?" "You see, my brethren,"

replied the old provincial, "that I am weighed down with years, and feeble in body, and possess not the knowledge, talent, and eloquence, which so important a matter requires. But G.o.d will raise up a hero, who, by his age, his strength, his talents, his knowledge, his genius, and eloquence, will occupy the first rank. He will begin the reformation, he will oppose error, and G.o.d will give him such courage that he will dare to resist the great."[79] An old monk of Himmelspforte, who had often heard these words, related them to Flacius. In the very order of which Proles was provincial, the Christian hero thus announced by him was to appear.

[79] "Excitabit Dominus heroem aetate viribus...." (Flacii, Catal.

Test. Verit., p. 843.)

In the Franciscan Convent at Isenach, in Thuringia, was a monk named John Hilten. He was a careful student of the Prophet Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John; he even wrote a Commentary on these Books, and censured the most crying abuses of monastic life. The enraged monks threw him into prison. His advanced age, and the filthiness of his dungeon, bringing on a dangerous illness, he asked for the friar superintendant, who had no sooner arrived, than, without listening to the prisoner, he began to give vent to his rage, and to rebuke him harshly for his doctrine, which (adds the chronicle) was at variance with the monk's kitchen. The Franciscan, forgetting his illness, and fetching a deep sigh, exclaims, "I calmly submit to your injustice for the love of Christ; for I have done nothing to shake the monastic state, and have only censured its most notorious abuses. _But_,"

continued he, (this is the account given by Melancthon in his _Apology for the Confession of Augsburg_,) "_another will come in the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred and sixteen; he will destroy you, and you will not be able to resist him._"[80] John Hilten, who had announced the end of the world in the year 1651, was not so much mistaken in the year in which the future Reformer was to appear. He was born not long after at a short distance from Hilten's dungeon, commenced his studies in the same town where the monk was prisoner, and publicly engaged in the Reformation only a year later than the Franciscan had mentioned.

[80] "Alius quidem veniet...." (Apologia Conf. Aug. xiii. De Votis Monasticis.)

CHAP. VII.

Letters--Revival--Remembrance of Antiquity in Italy--Influence of the Humanists--Christianity of Dante--Valla--Infidelity in Italy--Platonic Philosophy--Rise of Literature in Germany--Youth in Schools--Printing--Character of German Literature--Literati and Schoolmen--A New World--Reuchlin--Reuchlin in Italy--His Works--His Influence in Germany--Mystics--Struggle with the Dominicans.

Thus princes and people, the living members of the Church, and the theologians, laboured, each in their sphere, to prepare the work which the sixteenth century was about to carry into effect. But there was another auxiliary which was to lend its aid to the Reformation,--I mean Literature.

The human mind was expanding--a circ.u.mstance which must of itself have led to its emanc.i.p.ation. If a small seed fall close to an old wall, as it grows into a tree it will push down the wall.

The Pontiff of Rome had become tutor to the nations, and his superior intelligence had made the task easy to him. He had long kept them in a state of minority, but resistance now broke forth on all sides. This venerable tutelage, which had been primarily established by the principles of eternal life, and of civilisation which Rome had imparted to barbarous nations, could no longer be exercised without opposition. A formidable adversary had met her in the face, and was prepared to control her. The natural tendency of the human mind to expand, to investigate, and acquire knowledge, had given birth to this new power. Man opened his eyes, and at every step questioned the proceedings of that long respected guide under whose direction, while blindfolded, he had moved on without saying a word. In regard to the nations of new Europe, the age of infancy had pa.s.sed away, and that of manhood had begun. To the childlike simplicity, which believed everything, had succeeded a spirit of curiosity, an intellect not to be satisfied without sifting everything to the utmost. It was asked for what end G.o.d had spoken to the world, and whether men had a right to station themselves as mediators between G.o.d and their brethren.

There was only one thing which could have saved the Church, and this was to raise herself still higher above the people. To keep on a level with them was not enough. But so far from this, she was even found to be far beneath them, having begun to descend at the same time that they began to rise. At the period when mankind began to ascend to the regions of intellect, the priesthood was grovelling below among earthly pursuits and worldly interests. This phenomenon has repeatedly appeared in history. The wings of the eaglet were full fledged, and what hand was high enough to prevent it from taking its flight?

The human mind made its first start in Italy.

Scholasticism and romantic poetry had at no time reigned unopposed.

Italy never entirely lost the remembrance of antiquity; and this remembrance having been strongly awakened towards the end of the middle ages, soon gave the mind a new impulse.

Even in the fourteenth century, Dante and Petrarch restored the honour of the ancient Roman poets, at the same time that the former gave the most powerful popes a place in his h.e.l.l, and the latter boldly protested for the primitive const.i.tution of the Church. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, John of Ravenna taught Latin literature with applause at Padua and Florence, while Chrysoloras, at Florence and Pavia, interpreted the beautiful writers of Greece.

While in Europe light was thus coming forth from the prisons in which it had been confined, the East was sending new beams to the West. The standard of the Osmanlis, planted in 1453 on the walls of Constantinople, had put the learned to flight. They had, in consequence, transported the literature of Greece into Italy, where the torch of the ancients rekindled minds which had lain smothered for so many ages. George of Trebisond, Argyropolos, Bessarion, Lascaris, Chalcondylas, and many others, inspired the West with their love of Greece and its n.o.blest productions. The patriotic feelings of the Italians were thus stimulated, and a great number of learned men appeared in Italy. Of these, the most ill.u.s.trious were Gasparino, Aretin, Poggio, and Valla, who strove to restore the honour of Roman antiquity, and place it on a footing with that of Greece. In this way, a great flood of light had appeared, and Rome could not but suffer by it.

The pa.s.sion for antiquity, which took possession of the _Humanists_, had a great effect in weakening the attachment to the Church in minds of the highest order; for "no man can serve two masters." At the same time, the studies in which the learned were engaged put them in possession of a new cla.s.s of instruments, which were unknown to the schoolmen, and by means of which they could test and decide upon the lessons of the Church. Finding that beauties which charmed them in cla.s.sical authors existed in profusion in the Bible, and not in the works of theologians, the _Humanists_ were quite prepared to give the Bible precedence before the Doctors. By reforming taste, they prepared a reformation in faith.

The Literati, it is true, loudly protested that their pursuits were not at variance with the belief of the Church; but yet they had a.s.sailed the schoolmen long before the Reformers began to do it, and played off their wit on these barbarians--those "Teutons who living, lived not."[81] Some even proclaimed doctrines of the gospel, and a.s.sailed Rome in the objects of her dearest affection. Already Dante, while adhering to many Roman dogmas, had proclaimed the power of faith in terms similar to those which the first Reformers employed. "It is true faith," he said, "that makes us citizens of heaven.[82] Faith, according to the gospel doctrine, is the principle of life; it is the feeble spark which, spreading always wider and wider, at length becomes a living flame, and s.h.i.+nes within us like a star in heaven.

Without faith, no good works, no honesty of life, can give us aid. How great soever our sins may be, the arms of divine grace are greater still, and wide enough to embrace whatever turns towards G.o.d.[83] The soul is not lost by the anathema of the pontiffs; and eternal love can always reach it, so long as there remains one bloom of hope.[84] From G.o.d, from G.o.d alone, through faith our justice comes." And speaking of the Church, Dante exclaims, "O my bark! how ill loaded thou art! O Constantine! what mighty evil was engendered, I will not say by thy conversion, but by that offering which the rich father then received from thee!"

[81] "Qui ne viventes quidem vivebant." (Politiani, Ep. ix, 3.)

[82] Parad., xxiv, 44.

[83]

Orribil furon li peccati miei; Ma la bonta infinita ha si gran braccia Che prende ci che si revolve a lei.

(Purgator. iii, 121-124.)

[84]

Per lor maladizion si non si perde.

Che non possa tornar l'eterno amore, Mentre che la speranza ha fior del verde?

(Ibid., 134-136.)

At a later period, Laurentius Valla, applying the study of antiquity to the opinions of the Church, denies the authenticity of the correspondence between Christ and King Abgarus, rejects the tradition as to the origin of the Apostles' Creed, and saps the foundation of the pretended inheritance which the popes held of Constantine.[85]

[85] De ement.i.ta Constantini donatione declamatio ad Papam." (Op.

Basil., 1543.)

Still, however, the great light which the study of antiquity threw out in the fifteenth century, was fitted only to destroy, and not to build up. The honour of saving the Church could not be given either to Homer or Virgil. The revival of letters, sciences, and arts did not found the Reformation. The Paganism of the poets, on reappearing in Italy, rather strengthened the Paganism of the heart. The scepticism of the school of Aristotle, and a contempt of everything not connected with philology, took possession of many of the Literati, and engendered an infidelity which, while it affected submission to the Church, in reality attacked the most important truths of religion. Peter Pomponatius, the most famous representative of this impious tendency, taught at Bologna and Padua, that the immortality of the soul and providence are only philosophical problems.[86] John Francis Pica, nephew of Pica de la Mirandola, tells of a pope who did not believe a G.o.d,[87] and of another who, having confessed to one of his friends, that he did not believe in the immortality of the soul, appeared one night after his death to the same friend, and said to him, "Ah! the eternal fire that consumes me, makes me but too sensible of the immortality of that soul, which, according to the view I held, was to die with the body." This reminds us of the celebrated words which Leo X is alleged to have said to his Secretary Bembo, "All ages know well enough of what advantage this fable about Christ has been to us and ours."[88]... Frivolous superst.i.tions were attacked, but their place was supplied by infidelity, with its disdainful sneering laugh. To laugh at things, however sacred, was fas.h.i.+onable, and a proof of wit; and if any value was set on religion, it was merely as a mean of governing the people. "I have a fear," exclaimed Erasmus in 1516, "and it is, that, with the study of ancient literature, ancient Paganism will re-appear."

[86] De Immortalitate Animae, de Predestinatione et Providentia, etc.

[87] Qui nullum Deum credens." (J. F. Pici de Fide, Op. ii, p. 820.) Who believing in G.o.d.