History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume III Part 41

At the same time he met the vacillations of Erasmus with absolute decision. "We Christians," said he, "ought to be sure of our doctrine, and able to say _yes_ or _no_ without hesitation. To presume to hinder us from affirming our belief with full conviction, is depriving us of faith itself. The Holy Ghost is no sceptic;[563] and He has written in our hearts a firm and strong a.s.surance, which makes us as certain of our faith as we are of life itself."

[563] Der heilige Geist ist kein Scepticus. Ibid. 8.

These words alone suffice to show us on which side strength was to be found. To accomplish a religious transformation, there is need of a firm and living faith. A salutary revolution in the Church will never proceed from philosophical views and mere human opinions. To fertilize the earth after a long drought, the lightning must cleave the cloud and the windows of heaven must be opened. Criticism, philosophy, and even history may prepare the way for the true faith, but cannot supply its place. In vain would you clear the water-courses and repair the dikes, so long as the rain does not come down from heaven. All human learning without faith is but an aqueduct without water.

[Sidenote: WITTICISM OF ERASMUS.]

Whatever might have been the essential difference between Luther and Erasmus, the friends of Luther, and even the reformer himself, had long hoped to see Erasmus unite with them against Rome. Many sayings which his caustic humour let fall were quoted, as showing his disagreement with the most zealous defenders of Romanism. One day, for instance, when he was in England, he had a keen discussion with Thomas More on transubstantiation: "Believe that you have the body of Christ," said the latter, "and you have it really." Erasmus made no reply. Shortly after, when leaving England, More lent him a horse to carry him to the seaside; but Erasmus took it with him to the Continent. As soon as More was informed of this, he wrote very severely to him about it. Erasmus, by way of reply, sent him these lines:--

"You said of the bodily presence of Christ: Believe that you have, and you have him!

Of the nag that I took my reply is the same: Believe that you have, and you have him!"[564]

[564]

Quod mihi dixisti nuper de corpore Christi: Crede quod habes, et habes; Hoc tibi rescribo tantum de tuo caballo: Crede quod habes, et habes.

Paravicini Singularia, p. 71.

It was not only in England and Germany that Erasmus had thus become known. It was said at Paris that Luther had only opened the door, after Erasmus had picked the lock.[565]

[565] Histoire Cathol. de notre temps, par S. Fontaine, de l'ordre de St. Francois, Paris, 1562.

The position taken by Erasmus was by no means easy: "I shall not be unfaithful to the cause of Christ," wrote he to Zwingle, "at least so far as the age will permit me."[566] In proportion as he beheld Rome rising up against the friends of the Reformation, he prudently retreated. He was applied to from all quarters; the pope, the emperor, kings, princes, scholars, and even his most intimate friends, entreated him to write against the reformer.[567] "No work," wrote the pope, "can be more acceptable to G.o.d, and worthier of yourself and of your genius."[568]

[566] Quantum hoc seculum pat.i.tur. Zw. Epp. p. 221.

[567] pontifice, a Caesare, a regibus, et principibus, a doctissimis etiam et carissimis amicis huc provocor. Erasm. Zw. Epp. p. 308.

[568] Nulla te et ingenio, eruditione, eloquentiaque tua dignior esse potest. Adria.n.u.s Papa, Epp. Er. p. 1202.

Erasmus long resisted these solicitations; he could not conceal from himself that the cause of the reformers was the cause of religion as well as of letters. Besides, Luther was an adversary with whom every one feared to try his strength, and Erasmus already imagined he felt the quick and vigorous blows of the Wittemberg champion. "It is very easy to say, Write against Luther," replied he to a Romish theologian; "but it is a matter full of peril."[569] Thus he would--and yet he would not.

[569] Res est periculi plena. Er. Epp. p. 758.

[Sidenote: LUTHER TO ERASMUS.]

This irresolution on the part of Erasmus drew on him the attacks of the most violent men of both parties. Luther himself knew not how to reconcile the respect he felt for Erasmus's learning with the indignation he felt at his timidity. Resolving to free himself from so painful a dilemma, he wrote him a letter in April 1524, which he intrusted to Camerarius. "You have not yet received from the Lord,"

said Luther, "the courage necessary to walk with us against the papists. We put up with your weakness. If learning flourishes: if by its means the treasures of Scripture are opened to all; this is a gift which G.o.d has bestowed on us through you; a n.o.ble gift, and for which our thanksgivings ascend to heaven! But do not forsake the task that has been imposed upon you, and pa.s.s over to our camp. No doubt your eloquence and genius might be very useful to us; but since you are wanting in courage, remain where you are. I could wish that our people would allow your old age to fall asleep peacefully in the Lord. The greatness of our cause has long since gone beyond your strength. But on the other hand, my dear Erasmus, refrain from scattering over us with such profusion that pungent salt which you know so well how to conceal under the flowers of rhetoric; for it is more dangerous to be slightly wounded by Erasmus than to be ground to powder by all the papists put together. Be satisfied to remain a spectator of our tragedy;[570] and publish no books against me; and for my part, I will write none against you."

[570] Spectator tantum sis tragdiae nostrae. L. Epp. ii. 501.

[Sidenote: ERASMUS DETERMINES TO ATTACK LUTHER.]

Thus did Luther, the man of strife, ask for peace; it was Erasmus, the man of peace, who began the conflict.

Erasmus received this communication from the reformer as the bitterest of insults; and if he had not yet determined to write against Luther, he probably did so then. "It is possible," he replied, "that Erasmus by writing against you will be of more service to the Gospel than certain dunces who write for you,[571] and who do not permit him to be a simple spectator of this tragedy."

[571] Quidam stolidi scribentes pro te. Unschuldige Nachricht, p. 545.

But he had other motives besides.

Henry VIII. of England, and the n.o.bility of that kingdom, earnestly pressed him to declare himself openly against the Reformation.

Erasmus, in a moment of courage, suffered the promise to be wrung from him. His equivocal position had become a source of constant trouble to him; he loved repose, and the necessity he felt of continually justifying his conduct disturbed his existence; he was fond of glory, and already men were accusing him of fearing Luther, and of being too weak to answer him; he was accustomed to the highest seat, and the little monk of Wittemberg had dethroned the mighty philosopher of Rotterdam. He must then, by some bold step, recover the position he had lost. All Christendom that adhered to the old worship implored him to do so. A capacious genius and the greatest reputation of the age were wanted to oppose the Reformation. Erasmus answered the call.

[Sidenote: LUTHER'S SENTIMENTS.]

But what weapons will he employ? Will he hurl the thunders of the Vatican? Will he defend the abuses that disgrace the papacy? Erasmus could not act thus. The great movement that agitated men's minds after the lethargy of so many centuries filled him with joy, and he would have feared to trammel it. Unable to be the champion of Romanism in what it has added to Christianity, he undertook to defend it in what it had taken away. In attacking Luther, Erasmus selected the point where Romanism is lost in Rationalism,--the doctrine of free will, or the natural power of man. Thus, while undertaking the defence of the Church, Erasmus gratified the men of the world, and while battling for the popes, he contended also on behalf of the philosophers. It has been said that he had injudiciously confined himself to an obscure and unprofitable question.[572] Luther, the reformers, and their age, judged very differently; and we agree with them. "I must acknowledge," said Luther, "that in this controversy you are the only man that has gone to the root of the matter. I thank you for it with all my heart; for I would rather be occupied with this subject than with all these secondary questions about the pope, purgatory, and indulgences, with which the enemies of the Gospel have hitherto pestered me."[573]

[572] On this subject, M. Nisard says (Erasme, Revue des deux mondes, iii. 411), "We are grieved for our kind, when we see men capable of grappling with eternal truths, fencing all their lives against trivialities, like gladiators fighting against flies."

[573] L. Opp. xix. 146.

His own experience and an attentive study of the Holy Scriptures, and of St. Augustine, had convinced Luther that the natural powers of man are so inclined to evil, that he cannot, of himself, reach any farther than a certain outward rect.i.tude, altogether insufficient in the eyes of the Deity. He had at the same time recognised that it was G.o.d who gives true righteousness, by carrying on freely the work of faith in man by his Holy Spirit. This doctrine had become the mainspring of his religion, the predominant idea in his theology, and the point on which the whole Reformation turned.

While Luther maintained that every good thing in man came down from G.o.d, Erasmus sided with those who thought that this good proceeded from man himself. G.o.d or man,--good or evil,--these are certainly no paltry questions; and if "trivialities" exist, they must be looked for elsewhere.

[Sidenote: ERASMUS ON FREE WILL.]

It was in the autumn of 1524 that Erasmus published his famous treatise ent.i.tled _Dissertation on the Freedom of the Will_; and it had no sooner appeared, than the philosopher could hardly believe his own boldness. With eyes fixed on the arena, he looked tremblingly at the gauntlet he had flung to his adversary. "The die is cast," wrote he with emotion to Henry VIII.; "the book on _free will_ has appeared.--Trust me, this is a daring act. I expect I shall be stoned for it.--But I console myself by the example of your majesty, whom the rage of these people has not spared."[574]

[574] Jacta est alea......audax, mihi crede, facinus......expecto lapidationem. Er. Epp. p. 811.

His alarm soon increased to such a degree that he bitterly regretted the step he had taken. "Why was I not permitted to grow old in the garden of the Muses?" exclaimed he. "Here am I, at sixty, driven into the arena, and holding the cestus and the net of the gladiator, instead of the lyre!--I am aware," wrote he to the Bishop of Rochester, "that in writing upon free will, I have gone beyond my sphere......You congratulate me upon my triumphs! Ah! I know not that I triumph. The faction (_i.e._ the Reformation) is spreading daily.[575] Was it then fated, that at my time of life I should be transformed from a friend of the Muses into a wretched gladiator!"

[575] Quomodo triumphans nescio......Factio crescit in dies latius.

Ibid. 809.

It was no doubt an important matter for the timid Erasmus to have risen up against Luther; he was, however, far from showing any very great boldness. In his book he seems to ascribe but little to man's will, and to leave the greater portion to Divine grace; but at the same time he chose his arguments in a manner to make it be believed that man does everything, and G.o.d nothing. Not daring openly to express his thoughts, he affirms one thing and proves another; and hence we may be allowed to suppose that he believed what he proved and not what he affirmed.

[Sidenote: THREE OPINIONS--EFFECT ON LUTHER.]

He distinguishes three several opinions, opposed in three different degrees to Pelagianism. "Some think," said he, "that man can neither will, nor commence, and still less perform, any good work, without the special and continual aid of Divine grace; and this opinion seems probable enough. Others teach that man's will is powerless except for evil, and that it is grace alone which works in us any good; and finally, there are some who a.s.sert that there has never been any free will either in angels, or in Adam, or in us, either before or after grace, but that G.o.d works in man both good and evil, and that everything happens from an absolute necessity."[576]

[576] De libero arbitrio Diatribe. Eras. Opp. ix. 1215, sqq.

Erasmus, while seeming to admit the former of these opinions, makes use of arguments that confute it, and which the most decided Pelagian might employ. In this manner, quoting the pa.s.sages of Scripture in which G.o.d offers man the choice between good and evil, he adds: "Man must therefore have the power to will and to choose; for it would be ridiculous to say to any one, Choose! when it was not in his power to do so."

Luther did not fear Erasmus. "Truth," said he, "is mightier than eloquence. The victory remains with him who lisps out the truth, and not with him who puts forth a lie in flowing language."[577] But when he received Erasmus's treatise in the month of October 1524, he found it so weak that he hesitated to reply to it. "What! so much eloquence in so bad a cause!" said he; "it is as if a man were to serve up mud and dung on dishes of silver and gold.[578] One cannot lay hold of you. You are like an eel that slips through the fingers; or like the fabulous Proteus who changed his form in the very arms of those who wished to grasp him."

[577] Victoria est penes balbutientem veritatem, non apud mendacem eloquentiam. L. Epp. ii. 200.

[578] Als wenn einer in silbern oder guldern Schusseln wolte Mist und Unflath auftragen. L. Opp. xix. 4.

But as Luther did not reply, the monks and scholastic divines began to utter shouts of victory: "Well, where is your Luther now? Where is the great Maccabeus? Let him come down into the lists! let him come forth!

Ah, ah! he has met with his match at last! He has learnt now to remain in the back-ground; he has found out how to hold his tongue."[579]

[579] Sehet, sehet nun da zu! wo ist nun Luther. L. Opp. xix. 3.

[Sidenote: LUTHER'S REPLY.]