Chapter XXXI: Appendix: F (4)

[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 Martio M.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 articulus _Constantiæ_ damnatus 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’s _History_, 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 Arbitrio_ Mar. 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 Arbitrio_ Mar. Lutheri. Wittembergæ, 1526, p. 82.

[764] See Mozley’s _Augustinian 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, but _want 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 door
Be 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 sings
Strains, Philomel, like thine;

While still thy raptured gaze
Is on her accents hung,
As words of honied grace
Steal from her honied tongue.

Quoted from _Philomorus_, p. 42.

[769] More’s English _Works_, 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 entitled _Amicitia_.

[777] Stapleton’s _Tres 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 the _Utopia_ in 1518, and does not contain these verses.

[780] Mackintosh’s _Life 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., and _Epistolæ 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’s _Urkundenbuch zur Geschichte der evangelischen Kirchen-Reformation_, vol. i. p. 70: Hamburg, 1842.

[791] I am mainly indebted to Mr. Lupton for this list.

Transcriber’s Notes:

Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.

Superscripted characters are indicated by {superscript}.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Oxford Reformers, by Frederic Seebohm