In Aedibus Frobenianis apud inclytam Ger_The Oxford Reformers: John Colet, Erasmus, and Thomas More

Januario, Anno M.D.XVIII.

1518. De Optimo Reip. Statu deque nova insula Vtopia libellus vere aureus

... Thomæ Mori.

Epigrammata ... Thomæ Mori.

Epigrammata Des. Erasmi Rot.

Basiliæ apud Joannem Frobenium, mense Martio M.D.XVIII.

1518. Enchiridion militis Christiani. (With prefatory letter to Volzius.)

Disputatiuncula de Pavore, &c. Jesu.

Jo: Coleti Responsio.

Basilius in Esaiam e Græco versus.

Epistola exhortatoria, &c.

Precatio ... ad Jesum.

Pæan ... virgini matri, &c.

Concio de puero Jesu.

Enarratio primi Psalmi.

Ode de casa natalitia pueri Jesu.

Expostulatio Jesu.

Hymni de Michaele, &c.

Basileæ apud Jo. Frobenium, M.D.XVIII. Quintili mense.

1518. Auctarium selectarum aliquot Epistolarum Erasmi Roterodami ad

Eruditos, et horum ad illum.

Apud inclytam Basileam (Prefatory letter of Beatus Rhenanus dated XI.

Calendas Septembreis M.D.XVIII.)

1518. Institutio boni et Christiani principis, &c.

Præcepta Isocratis, &c.

Panegyricus &c. ad Principem Philippum.

Libellus Plutarchi, &c.

Basileæ apud J. Frobenium, mense Julio MDXVIII.

Also, Plutarchi opuscula quædam D. Erasmo Rot. ... Philippo Melanchthone

&c. interpretibus.

Basileæ apud J. Frobenium, mense Septembri M.D.XVIII.

1518. Querela Pacis undique gentium ejectæ ... also:--

In genere Consolatorio de Morte declamatio.

Lipsiæ ex ædibus Valentini Schumann, 1518.

1519. Ratio seu Compendium veræ Theologiæ.

Basileæ apud Jo. Frobenium, mense Januario M.D.XIX.

1519. Paraclesis.

Basileæ apud Jo. Frobenium, mense Februario M.D.XIX.

1519. Novum Testamentum omne, multo quam antehac diligentius ab Erasmo

Rot. recognitum, &c. (Second edition.)

Basileæ in ædibus Joannis Frebenii, M.D.XIX. mense Martio.

1519. D. Erasmi Rot. in Novum Testamentum ab eodem denuo recognitum

Annotationes.

Basileæ apud Joannem Frobenium, mense Martio M.D.XIX.

1519. Collectanea Adagiorum, &c.

Argentorati M. Schurerius ... exscripsit mense Martio 1519.

1519. In Hymnum Aviæ Christi Annæ dictum ab Erasmo Roteradamo Scholia

Jacobi Spiegel Selestadiensis.

In officina excusoria Segismundi Grim. Medici et Marci Vuyrsung,

Augustæ Vindelicorum [Augsburg] M.D.XIX. quarto Non. Mar.

1519. D. Erasmi Rot. Apologia pro declamatione de laude matrimonii.

Apud Joannem Frobenium, mense Maio M.D.XIX.

1519. De ratione studii, &c. (Containing the same pieces as the edition of

1512.)

Argentorati Ex ædibus M. Schurerii, mense Junio M.D.XIX.

1519. In Epistolam Pauli ad Galatas Paraphrasis per Erasmum Rot. recens ab

illo conscripta et nunc primum typis excusa....

Basileæ apud Jo. Frobenium, mense Augusto M.D.XIX.

1519. Ex Novo Testamento Quatuor Evangelia jam denuo ab Erasmo Roter.

recognita, emendata ac liberius versa, &c.

Lipsi ex officina industrii Valentini Schumanni. 1519. 15 Kalendas

Novembris.

1519. Moriæ encomium iterum, pro castigatissimo castigatius, una cum

Listrii commentariis, &c.

Basileæ in ædibus Jo. Frobenii, mense Novembri, M.D.IX.

1519(?). Erasmi Rot. Apologia, refellens suspiciones quorundam

dictitantium dialogum D. Jacobi Latomi.... (To which is added, but in

different type, the ‘Dialogus’ of Latomus.)

Basle. Froben. (The woodcut on the title-page has the inscription,

HANS HOLB.)

1519. Enchiridion, &c. (Containing the same matter as the Basle edition of

1518.)

Coloniæ, apud Eucharium Cervicornum, MDXIX.

1519. D. Erasmi Rot. Opuscula, containing Paraclesis, Ratio seu Compendium

veræ theologiæ, and Argumenta in omneis Apostolorum epistolas.

Lipsiæ apud Melchiorem Lottheaum. 1519.

1519. In Epistolam Pauli ad Galatas Paraphrasis per Erasmum Roterodamum,

recens ab illo conscripta, et nunc primum typis excusa.

Lypsiæ ex officina Schumanniana. 1519.

1520. Enchiridion Militis Christiani (with letter to Volzius). (At the end

is added the Letter of Erasmus to John Colet, from Oxford, Eras. _Op._ v.

p. 1263, and referred to supra, p. 133.)

Moguntiæ, apud Joannem Schœffer, M.D.XX. mense Januario.

1520. Paraphrases D. Erasmi in Epistolas Pauli Apostoli ad Rhomanos,

Corinthios, et Galatas....

Basileæ, in æd. Frob. per Hieronymum Frob. Joan. Filium. Mense

Januario MDXX.

1520. Paraphrases in Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Philippenses et

Colossenses et in duas ad Thessalonicenses....

Basileæ in ædibus Joannis Frobenii, mense Martio MDXX.

1520. Paraphrases in Epistolas Pauli ad Timotheum duas, ad Titum unam et

ad Philemonem unam.

Basileæ in ædibus Joannis Frobenii, mense Martio MDXX.

1520. Annotationes Edovardi Leei in Annotationes Novi Testamenti D.

Erasmi. (With the replies of Erasmus.)

Basileæ ex ædibus Joannis Frobenii, mense Maio M.D.XX.

1520. Annotationes Edovardi Leei in Annotationes Novi Testamenti D.

Erasmi.

Basileæ ex ædibus Joannis Frob. xii. Calendas Augustas M.D.XX.

1520. De Ratione Studii, &c.

Officium Discipulorum ex Quintiliano.

Concio de puero Jesu, &c.

Expostulatio Jesu ad Mortales.

Carmina Scholaria.

Selestadii in ædibus Lazari Schurerii, mense Augusto, anno M.D.XX.

1520. Apologia Erasmi ... de ‘In principio erat Sermo.’

Basileæ apud Jo. Frobenium, M.D.XX.

And also, with continuous paging,

Epistolæ aliquot eruditorum virorum ex quibus perspicuum quanti sit

Eduardi Leei virulentia

Basileæ ex ædibus Joannis Frobenii, MDXX. mense Augusto.

1520. Parabolarum sive Similium Liber. Ex secunda recognitione.

Selestadii in ædibus Lazari Schurerii, mense Augusto M.D.XX.

1520. Adagia. Ex quarta Autoris recognitione.

Basileæ in ædibus Joannis Frobenii, mense Octobri M.D.XX.

1520. Antibarbarorum D. Erasmi Rot. Liber unus.

Basileæ apud Jo. Frobenium, M.D.XX.

1520. D. Erasmi Rot. Epistola ad Cardinalem Moguntinum, qua commonefacit

illius celsitudinem de causa Doctoris Martini Lutheri.

Selestadii in officina Schueriana, sumptu Nicolai Cuferii bibliopolæ

Selestadiensis, M.D.XX.

1521. De duplici copia verborum ac rerum Commentarii duo.

De ratione studii.

De laudibus literariæ societatis, reipublicæ ac magistratuum urbis

Argentinæ.

Basileæ apud Jo. Frobenium, mense Februario, M.D.XXI.

1521. Parabolæ sive similia.

Basileæ apud Joannem Frobenium, mense Julio M.D.XXI.

1521. De duplici Copia verborum ac rerum commentarii duo.

De laudibus literariæ societatis, &c.

Epistola ad Wimphelingum.

Moguntiæ ex ædibus Joannis Schœffer, mense Augusto MD.XXI.

1521. Epistolæ D. Erasmi Roterodami ad diversos, et aliquot aliorum ad

illum per amicos eruditos, ex ingentibus fasciculis schedarum collectæ.

Basileæ apud Jo. Frobenium, M.D.XXI. Pridie Cal. Septembris.

1522. Collectanea Adagiorum, &c.

Moguntiæ in ædibus Joannis Schœffer, Anno supra sesquimillesimum XXII.

mense Februario.

1522. Enchiridion militis Christiani.

Argentinæ apud Joannem Knoblochium mense Februario MDXXII.

1522. Novum testamentum omne tertio jam recognitum.

Anno MDXXII. (Basle).

1522. D. Erasmi Rot. in novum testamentum ab eodem tertio recognitum

Annotationes.

Basileæ M.D.XXII. mense Februario.

1522. Paraphrasis in Evangelium Matthæi, nunc primum nata et ædita, &c.

Basileæ apud Jo. Frob. mense Martio MDXXII.

1522. Querela Pacis.

Argentinæ apud Joannem Knoblouchum, mense Martio M.D.XXII.

1522. Ratio seu Methodus Compendio perveniendi ad veram Theologiam,

postremum ab ipso autore castigata et locupletata. Paraclesis. (Also

Letter from Hutten to Erasmus.)

Basileæ in ædibus Joannis Frobenii, MDXXII. mense Junio.

1522. Moriæ Encomium, &c.

Basileæ apud Jo. Frob. mense Julio MDXXII.

1522. De Conscribendis Epistolis, recognitum ab autore et locupletatum.

Parabolarum sive similium liber ab autore recognitus.

Basileæ apud Jo. Frob. M.D.XXII. mense Augusto.

1522. Familiarium Colloquiorum Formulæ. (The Prefatory Letter to Froben’s

Son is dated ‘pridie Calendas Martias, MDXXII.’)

(A reprint of the first edition of Basle.)

Argentorati expensis Joannis Knoblouchii et Pauli Getz. MDXXII. mense

Octobri.

1522. De Conscribendis Epistolis Opus ... recognitum ab autore et

locupletatum.

Argentorati ex ædibus Joannis Knoblouchii, MDXXII. mense Octobri.

1522. Ad Christophorum Episc. Basil. Epistola Apologetica de interdicto

esu carnium, &c. cum aliis nonnullis novis, &c. (Containing Apologia

contra Stunicam.)

Argentorati ædibus Joannis Knoblouchii MDXXII. octavo calendas decemb.

1522. Ad R. Christophorum Episcopum Basiliensem, epistola apologetica de

interdicto esu carnium, &c.

In officina excusoria Sigismundi, Augustæ Vindelicorum [Augsburg],

M.D.XXII.

1522. Paraclesis.

Augustæ Vindelicorum, MDXXII.

1522. Enchiridion Militis Christiani, which may be called in Englische the

Hansom Weapon of a Christen Knight replenished with many Goodly and Godly

Preceptes: made by the famous Clerke Erasmus of Roterdame, and newly

corrected and imprinted.

Imprinted at London by Johan Byddell, dwellynge at the sygne of the

Sonne, against the Cundyte in Fletestrete, where they be for to sell.

Newly corrected in the yere of our Lorde god, M.CCCCC[X]*XII.

* This letter has evidently dropped out of its place in the printing.

1523. Enchiridion Militis Christiani.

Apud Sanctam Ubiorum Agrippinam, M.D.XXIII. In ædibus Eucharii

Cervicorni, impensa et ære integerrimi bibliopolæ Godefridi Hittorpii

civis Coloniensis, mense Martio.

1523. Paraphrasis in Evangelium Joannis Apostoli. (First edition.)

Basileæ apud Jo. Frobenium, mense Martio MDXXIII.

1523. Catalogus omnium Erasmi Lucubrationum, ipso autore, cum aliis

nonnullis. (Containing Letters of Erasmus to Botzhem, and to Marcus

Laurinus.)

Basileæ in ædibus Joannis Frobenii, mense Aprili M.D.XXIII.

1523. Enchiridion Militis Christiani.

Parisiis in ædibus Simonis Colinæi, Pridie Calendas Maii MD.XXIII.

1523. Enchiridion Militis Christiani. (With Letter to Volzius.)

Argentorati excudebat Joan. Knob. mense Octobri M.D.XXIII.

1523. Querela Pacis, &c.

Argent. J. Cnoblochus excudebat apud Turturem, mense Novembri

MD.XXIII.

1523. Virginis Matris apud Lauretum Cultæ Liturgia, per Erasmum

Roterodamum.

Basileæ apud Jo. Frobenium, Anno M.D.XXIII. mense Novembri.

1523. Ratio seu methodus compendio perveniendi ad veram Theologiam,

postremum ab ipso autore castigata et locupletata.

Paraclesis, and letter from Hutten to Erasmus.

Basle. Froben. MDXXIII.

1523. Ad Christophorum episcopum Basiliensem epistola apologetica Erasmi

Roterodami de interdicto esu carnium, &c.

Apud Sanctam Coloniam MD.XX.III.

1523(?). Spongia Erasmi adversus aspergines Hutteni.

Without date or printer’s name.

1523 or 4. Precatio dominica ... opus recens ac modo natum et mox excusum.

(Prefatory letter dated nono calend. Novemb. MDXXIII.)

Froben. Basle.

1524. De Octo orationis partium constructione libellus.

Parisiis in ædibus Simonis Colinæi, mense Januario MDXXIV.

1524. De libero Arbitrio ΔΙΑΤΡΙΒΗ. (Bound with this copy is the De servo

Arbitrio Mar. Lutheri, ad D. Erasmum Roterodamum. Wittembergæ, 1526.)

Basileæ apud Joan. Frob. mense Septemb. M.D.XXIIII.

1524. De Libero Arbitrio ΔΙΑΤΡΙΒΗ, sive Collatio, D. Erasmi Roterod.

Antwerpiæ apud Michaelem Hillenium Hoochstratanum, mense Septemb.

MD.XX.IIII.

1524. De immensa dei misericordia D. Erasmi Rot. Concio.

Virginis et Martyris comparatio per eundem. Nunc primum et condita et

edita.

Basileæ apud Jo. Frob. mense Septemb. MD.XXIV.

1524. Tomus Primus Paraphraseon D. Erasmi Rot. in novum testamentum.

(Containing the Paraphrases on the Four Gospels and the ‘Acts.’)

Basileæ apud Joannem Frobenium MDXXIV.

1524. 1. Exomologesis sive modus Confitendi, opus nunc primum et natum et

excusum.

2. Paraphrasis in tertium Psalmum.

3. Duo diplomata Papæ Adriani sexti cum responsionibus.

4. Epistola de morte.

5. Apologia ad Stunicæ conclusiones.

Basileæ apud Joannem Frob. MD.XXIIII.

1524. D. Eras. Rot. Breviores aliquot Epistolæ, studiosis juvenibus

admodum utiles. (Apparently a selection of Letters from the Basle

collection of 1521.)

Parisiis. Apud Simonem Colinæum.

1526. Familiarium Colloquiorum opus ... recognitum, magnaque accessione

auctum. (From p. 246 to p. 750 is all additional matter not included in

the first edition. This edition is the first which contained the

Vindication of the Colloquies, ‘D. Erasmus Roterodamus De utilitate

colloquiorum, ad lectorem.’)

Basileæ apud Joan. Frob. mense Junio, M.D.XXVI.

1526. Erasmi Rot. Detectio præstigiarum cujusdam libelli germanice

scripti, ficto authoris titulo, cum hac inscriptione, Erasmi et Lutheri

opiniones de Cœna domini.

Norembergæ apud Joan. Petreium M.D.XXVI. mense Junio.

1526. Hyperaspistes Diatribæ ad versus servum Arbitrium Martini Lutheri.

Basileæ apud Jo. Frob. M.D.XXVI.

1526. Moriæ encomium, nunc postremum ab ipso religiose recognitum,

doctissimique Gerardi Listrii commentariis illustratum.

Eucharius Cervicornus excudebat M.D.XXVI.

1526. Lingua, opus novum et hisce temporibus aptissimum. (Prefatory Letter

of Erasmus dated Postridie Idus Augusti 1525.)

[Cologne.] Anno M.D.XXVI.

1527. Novum Testamentum. (Fourth edition.)

Basileæ in ædibus Jo. Frobenii. M.D.XXVII. mense martio.

1527. Hyperaspistæ liber secundus.

Anno M.D.XXVII. mense Novembri. (No name of printer or place where

printed.)

1527. Hyperaspistæ liber secundus, opus nunc primum excusum.

Basileæ apud Joannem Frobenium, MD.XXVII.

1530. Utilissima consultatio de bello Turcis inferendo et obiter enarratus

Psalmum XXVIII. per Des. Erasmum Roterodamum. Opus recens et natum et

æditum.

Lutetiæ Parisiorum, mense Junio MDXXX.

1530. De Civilitate morum Puerilium per Des. Erasmum Rot. Libellus nunc

primum et conditus et æditus.

Parisiis Expensis Christiani Wechel, MDXXX. mense Octobri.

1530. Lingua.

Apud sanctam Coloniam quarto Idus Novembris M.D.XXX.

1532. D. Erasmi Rot. Dilutio eorum quæ Judocus Clithoveus scripsit

adversus declamationem suasoriam matrimonii.

Epistola de delectu ciborum, &c. In elenchum Alberti Pii brevissima

scholia.

Froben, MDXXXII.

1533. De sarcienda Ecclesiæ concordia, &c. (nunc primum typis excusa).

Basileæ ex officina Frobeniana, M.D.XXXIII.

1534. De preparatione ad mortem, nunc primum et conscriptus et æditus.

Accedunt aliquot epistolæ seriis de rebus, in quibus item nihil est non

novum ac recens. (Containing, inter alia, Sir Thos. More’s Letter to

Erasmus on resigning the chancellorship, and appended thereto his

epitaph.)

Basileæ in officina Frobeniana per Hieronymum Frobenium et Nicolaum

Episcopium, MDXXXIIII.

1536. Ecclesiastæ sive de ratione concionandi libri quatuor, opus recens,

denuo ab autore recognitum.

Basileæ in officina Frobeniana per Hieronymum Frobenium et Nicolaum

Episcopium, mense Augusto MDXXXVI.

1542. D. Erasmi Rot. in Novum Testamentum Annotationes ab ipso autore jam

postremum sic recognitæ ac locupietatæ ut propemodum novum opus videri

possit. (Reprint of the fifth and last edition.)

Basileæ in officina Frobeniana M.D.XLII.

APPENDIX F.

EDITIONS OF WORKS OF SIR THOMAS MORE IN MY POSSESSION.

A.D.

1516. (Dec.) Utopia (First edition).--‘Libellus vere aureus nec minus

salutaris quam festivus de optimo reip. statu, deque nova Insula Vtopia

authore clarissimo viro Thoma Moro inclytæ Civitatis Londinensis cive et

Vicecomite, cura M. Petri Aegidii Antuerpiensis, et arte Theodorici

Martini Alustensis, Typographi almæ Louaniensium Academiæ, nunc primum

accuratissime editus.’

Without date, but containing a Prefatory Letter from Petrus Aegidius

to Hier. Buslidius, dated MDXVI. cal. Novembris; and a Letter from

Joannes Paludanus to Petrus Aegidius, dated calen. Decemb.

1518. Utopia (Second edition).--‘De Optimo Reip. statu deque nova Insula

Vtopia, libellus vere aureus,’ &c. Also,

Epigrammata clarissimi disertissimique viri Thomæ Mori. Also,

Epigrammata Des. Erasmi Rot.

Basileæ apud Jo. Frobenium, mense Martio MDXVIII.

1518. Ditto ditto.

Basileæ apud Joannem Frobenium, mense Novembri MDXVIII. (HANS HOLB.

inscribed in the woodcut on the title-page).

1520. Epigrammata clarissimi disertissimique viri Thomæ Mori, Britanni, ad

emendatum exemplar ipsius autoris excusa. (With some additional Epigrams,

including More’s Letter to his Children.)

Basileæ apud Joannem Frobenium, mense Decembri M.D.XX.

1557. The Workes of Sir Thomas More, Knyght, sometime Lorde Chauncellorr

of England, wrytten by him in the Englysh tongve.

Printed at London, at the costes and charges of John Cawod, John Waly,

and Richarde Tottell. Anno 1557.

1563. Thomæ Mori Angliæ ornamenti eximii Lucubrationes, ab innumeris

mendis repurgatæ.

Basil, apud Episcopium F. 1563.

1566. Thomæ Mori Angli ... Omnia, quæ hucusque ad manus nostras

peruenerunt, Latina opera....

Lovanii, apud Joannem Bogardum sub Bibliis Aureis. Anno 1566.

1568. Doctissima D. Thomæ Mori clarissimi ac disertiss. viri Epistola, in

qua non minus facetè quàm piè, respondet Literis Joannis Pomerani, hominis

inter Protestantes nominis non obscuri.

Opusculum ... ex Authoris quidem autographo emendato, dum viveret,

exemplari desumptum, nunquam vero ante hac in lucem editum.

Lovanii, ex officina Joannis Fouleri. MD.LXVIII. (Not included in any

of the above collections of More’s works.)

1588. Tres Thomæ ... D. Thomæ Mori ... Vita, authore Thoma Stapletono

Anglo.

Dvaci, Ex officina Joannis Bogardi. M.D.LXXXVIII.

1612. Ditto ditto.

Coloniæ Agrippinæ, Sumptibus Bernardi Gualteri. MDC.XII.

(Stapleton had access to a collection of More’s papers, made by

Harris, his private secretary, and has preserved Latin translations of

his letters to his children, &c., not in the collected works.)

INDEX.

_Alcor, Alfonso Fernandez_, Archdeacon of, on the circulation of the

‘Enchiridion’ in Spain, 174

_Amerbach_, printer at Basle, 302.

His sons, _id._

_Ammonius_, 223, 256, 270, 283, 284.

Death of, 458.

Describes More’s family, 256

_Aquinas_, the ‘Summa’ of, 108-110, 440.

On Scripture inspiration, 33, 123.

Erasmus and Colet on, 107 _et seq._

_Augustine_, Colet prefers Origen and Jerome to, 16, 41.

Colet differs from, 36, 82.

Luther’s adherence to, 404, 472.

Eck charges Erasmus with not having read his works, 435 _et seq._

The power of his dogmatic theology, 494.

Difference between the Augustinian standpoint and that of the Oxford

Reformers, 494-497

_Baptista, Dr._, Erasmus takes his sons to Italy, 186

_Battus_, tutor to the Marchioness de Vere.

Kindness to Erasmus, 164-167

_Bembo_, secretary to Leo X., 322

_Bishops_, promotion of, 226-230.

Ignorance of some, 227

_Boville_, at Cambridge, Erasmus writes to, 399

_Cain_, conversation on sacrifice of, 97 _et seq._

Erasmus tells a story about, 99

_Chalcondyles_, 14

_Charles, Prince_ (Charles V.), invites Erasmus to Flanders, 279.

Henry VIII. breaks faith with, 308.

‘Institutio Principis Christiani’ written for, 368.

Connives at Indulgences, 422.

Erasmus loses his faith in, 430.

Election to the Empire, 482

_Charnock_, the Prior, head of the College of St. Mary the Virgin at

Oxford, 94.

His reception of Erasmus, 96.

Dines with Colet, Erasmus, &c., 97.

Mention of, 102, 118, 165, 171

_Colet, Sir Henry_, 14, 113

_Colet, John_, ordained deacon, 2, _n._

His father, 14.

His family, 15.

His mother, 15, _n._, 251, 397.

Graduates at Oxford in Arts, 15.

Enters the Church, _id._

His preferments, _id._

Visits France and Italy, and what he studies there, _id._

At Florence (?), 17.

Whether influenced by Savonarola, 18, 37, _n._, 158.

Studies Pico and Ficino’s works, 21, 22.

Returns to Oxford, 22.

Lectures on St. Paul’s Epistles, 1, 32.

His mode of interpretation not textarian, 33.

Acknowledges human element in Scriptures, 34.

Differs from St. Augustine, 36, 82.

MS. on the ‘Romans,’ 33-42.

Rejects theory of uniform inspiration of Scripture, _id._

Acquaintance with Thomas More, 24.

First hears of Erasmus, 27.

Conversation with a priest on St. Paul’s writings, 42.

Letter to Abbot of Winchcombe, 45.

On the Mosaic account of the Creation--theory of accommodation--

letters to Radulphus on, 43-58.

Pico’s ‘Heptaplus,’ 59.

Abstracts of the Dionysian writings, 60-77.

On the object of Christ’s death, 67.

On priests, 68.

On the sacraments, 70.

On sponsors, 71.

On self-sacrifice, 74.

On the Pope and ecclesiastical scandals, 75.

Lectures on I. Corinthians, 78-89.

Whether convinced that the Pseudo-Dionysian writings were spurious, 91.

His warm reception of Erasmus, 95.

His view of Cain and Abel’s sacrifices, 98.

Erasmus’s admiration of his earnestness, 98.

His position at Oxford, 101.

His appreciation of Erasmus, _id._

Conversation with Erasmus on the Schoolmen, 102-112.

Advice to theological students, 106.

Discussion with Erasmus on Christ’s agony in the garden, 116-118.

His love of truth, 121.

On the theory of ‘manifold senses’ of Scripture, 122.

On Scripture inspiration, _id._

Disappointed at Erasmus leaving Oxford, 126.

Urges him to expound Moses or Isaiah, 128, 131.

Left alone at Oxford, 133.

Dean of St. Paul’s, 137, 138.

His work in London, habits, preaching, &c., 139-142.

More on Colet’s school, 251.

Epigrams against French criticisms on the war, 260.

Public duties, 256, 338.

Writes History of Richard III., _id._

His first wife dies, _id._

His practice at the bar--second marriage, 337.

Sent on an embassy, 343.

Second book of ‘Utopia,’ 346-365.

Introductory book to, 378-390.

Attempt of Henry VIII. to make him a courtier, 380.

Visit to Coventry--strange frenzy there, 414-418.

Second embassy, 427.

Enters Henry VIII.’s service, 429.

At the court of Henry VIII., 458.

Letter to the University of Oxford, 459.

A monk attempts his conversion--More’s reply, 470-475.

His character and domestic life, 497-502.

Opinion of character of Colet, 504.

Date of More’s birth, note on, Appendix C.

Works of, App. F

_Morton, Cardinal_, zeal for reform, and against heretics, 8.

More’s connection with, 24, 256, 386

_Moses_, Colet’s views on; his account of the Creation, 46 _et seq._

Colet urges Erasmus to lecture on Moses or Isaiah, 128, 131

_Mountjoy, Lord_, 94, 115, 134, 165, 170, 205, 295, 469, 471

_Neo-platonists_, 9-13, 39, 41, 61, 77, 158, 159

_Origen_, the works of, Colet studies, and prefers to those of

Augustine, 16.

Erasmus studies, 169.

His method of allegorical interpretation, 174, 445

_Original sin_, allusion to, 403, 492

_Oxford Reformers of 1498._

(_See_ ‘Colet,’ ‘Erasmus,’ and ‘More.’)

Difference between their standpoint and that of Luther and all

Augustinian Reformers, 492-497.

Nature of the Reform urged by, 506.

Result of its rejection, 507-509

_Parliament_ of 1503-4.

Subsidy opposed by More in, 145.

Of 1514, 279.

Of 1515, complaints of results of Henry VIII.’s extravagance and the

wars, 338.

Levy taxes on labourers, 268; and interfere with wages, 340-341.

Statute on pasture-farming, 341.

Rigid punishment of crimes, _id._

Eight years without a Parliament, 346

_Pico della Mirandola_, influenced by Savonarola, 19.

Death of, 18-20.

His ‘Heptaplus,’ 19, _n._, 59.

More translates his life and works, 152-158.

His faith in Christianity, and in the laws of nature, 154.

On prayer, 154.

On the Scriptures, 155.

Study of Eastern languages, 156.

His verses, 157.

On the love of Christ, 152-157

_Platonic Academy_, 9, 13, 17, 19

_Plotinus_, 10, 14, 16, 41

_Pole, De la_, 133

_Politian_, 14, 18

_Pomponatius_, sceptical tendencies of, 323

_Popes_, satire of Erasmus on, 201, 426.

Colet on, 74, 75

_Proclus_, 10

_Pyghards_, of Bohemia.

_See_ Hussites

_Radulphus_ (who?), Colet’s letters to, 41-57

_Reuchlin_, mention of, 301.

Erasmus supports, 307.

His ‘Pythagorica,’ &c. Colet’s opinion of, 411, 413

_Rhenanus, Beatus_, 303, 304, 311, 312, 392, 432, 457

_Sacrifice_, Colet’s views on, 39, 206.

Of Cain and Abel, conversation on, 97 _et seq._

_Sadolet_, secretary to Leo X., 321

_Sapidus, John_, escorts Erasmus to Basle, 302

_Savonarola_, influence of, 17-22.

Do. on Colet (?) _id._ and 37, _n._

Whether any connection between his views and Colet’s, _id._

Indirect connection with the Oxford Reformers through More’s

translation of Pico’s life and works, 158, 159

_Saxony, Frederic_, Elector of, protects Luther, 477-483.

His noble conduct on election of Charles V., _id._

_Schlechta’s, Johannes_, of Bohemia, correspondence with Erasmus, 485-491

_Scriptures_, position of study of, at Oxford, 2.

Do. plenary inspiration, 29.

Interpretation textarian, _id._

Theory of ‘manifold senses,’ 31, 121-124.

Aquinas on do., 30, 122.

Tyndale’s account of, 30, 31.

Scriptures practically ignored, 14.

Colet’s mode of interpretation (_see_ Colet).

The theory of accommodation, 52-57.

‘Manifold senses,’ Colet on inspiration, 124.

Valla’s ‘Annotations,’ preface of Erasmus, 177.

Pico on the Scriptures, 155.

Colet translates portions of, 155.

Dorpius maintains verbal inspiration of Vulgate version, 315.

Eck also, 435.

Erasmus rejects it, 317, 331, 436, 443.

Advocates translation of, into all languages, 327.

Method of study of, 329, 445.

Difference between the Oxford and the Wittemberg Reformers on the

inspiration of, 492-497

_Servatius_, prior of Stein monastery, Holland, correspondence with

Erasmus, 295, 299

_Sherborn, Robert_, Bishop of St. David’s, 138

_Spalatin, George_, writes to Erasmus, 402

_St. Andrews_, Archbishop of, under Erasmus’s tuition, 184.

Killed in battle of Flodden, 272

_St. Bertin_, Abbot of, 165.

Letters of Erasmus to, 280.

Erasmus visits, 299

_St. Paul’s School_, founded by Colet, 209.

Salaries of masters, 209.

Cost of, to Colet, 210.

Completion of, 250.

Jealousy against, 251.

Statutes of, 463-466

_Sweating sickness_, 458, 461

_Taxation_, of clergy, for Henry VIII.’s wars, 247.

Amount of a ‘tenth,’ _id._ _n._

Of labourers, 340.

War taxes, 339.

Erasmus on, 374-376.

Amount of a ‘fifteenth,’ 145

_Tunstal_, More on an embassy with, 343.

Erasmus writes to, 503

_Turks_, five times as numerous as Christians, 6, _n._

Threaten to overwhelm Christianity, 6.

Defeat of the Moors in Spain, 7

_Tyndale_, describes position of Scripture study at Oxford, 3, _n._

Estimate of number of Mahometans and Christians, 6, _n._

On the scholastic modes of Scripture interpretation and the theory of

‘manifold senses,’ 31.

At Oxford before Colet leaves, 136.

Studies Scriptures there, _id._

Translates the ‘Enchiridion,’ 174

_United brethren_, of Bohemia.

_See_ Hussites

_Utopia_, contents of second book of, 347-365.

Introductory book of, 378-390

_Valla, Laurentius_, Erasmus studies the works of, and writes the

preface to his Annotations of, 177

_Vere_, Marchioness de, aids Erasmus, 164-167

_Volzius_, abbot of monastery at Schelestadt, Erasmus’s letter to, 439

_Walsingham_, pilgrimage to, 269-272.

Erasmus visits, 273-275

_Warham_, Erasmus visits, 184, 205.

Gives Erasmus a pension, 205.

Defends Erasmus against Fitzjames, 254

_Wars_, Colet’s sermons against Henry VIII.’s, 261, 264, 468.

Erasmus against, 203, 280, 311.

More’s ‘Utopian’ opinions on, 351

_Winchcombe_, Kidderminster, Abbot of, Colet’s letter to, 45

_Wolsey_, begins continental wars, 223.

His rapid promotion, 229.

Archbishop of York, 306.

Installed Cardinal, 343.

Lord Chancellor, 346

_Ximenes_, zeal for reform, and against dissent, 7

_Zisca, John_, 486

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Mr. Lupton’s volume (_Bell and Daldy_, 1869) has a double interest.

Apart from the interest it derives from its connection with Colet, it is

also interesting as placing, I believe, for the first time, before the

English reader, a full abstract of two of the Pseudo-Dionysian writings,

to which attention has recently been called by Mr. Westcott’s valuable

article in the _Contemporary Review_.

[2] To avoid any charge of plagiarism I may also state, that a portion of

the materials comprised in this volume has been made use of in articles

contributed by me to the North British Review, in the years 1859 and 1860.

[3] Where not otherwise stated, all references to these letters and to the

collected works of Erasmus (Eras. _Op._), refer to the Leyden edition.

[4] See note on the date of More’s birth in Appendix C.

[5] Of the First Edition. This has since been published by Mr. Lupton.

[6] In a letter written in the winter of 1499-1500, Colet is spoken of as

‘_Jam triennium enarranti_,’ &c. See _Erasmus to Colet_, prefixed to

_Disputatio de Tædio et Pavore Christi_, Eras. _Op._ v. p. 1264, A. Colet

was in Paris, apparently on his way home from his continental tour, soon

after the publication of the work of the French historian Gaguinus, _De

Orig. et Gest. Francorum_. (See Eras. Epist. xi.) The first edition,

according to Panzer and Brunet, of this work, was that of _Paris_. Prid.

Kal. Oct. 1495. Colet may thus have returned home in the spring of 1496,

and proceeded to Oxford after the long vacation. Erasmus states, ‘Reversus

ex Italia, mox relictis parentum ædibus, Oxoniæ maluit agere. Illic

publice et gratis Paulinas Epistolas omnes enarravit.’--_Op._ iii. p. 456,

[7] He was ordained deacon December 17, 1497. Knight’s _Life of Colet_, p.

22 (Lond. 1724), on the authority, doubtless, of Kennett, who refers to

_Reg. Savage, Lond._

[8] Erasmus Jodoco Jonæ: Eras. _Op._ iii. p. 456, C. ‘In theologica

professione nullum omnino gradum nec assequutus erat, nec ambierat.’

[9] ‘The degree of Master in Arts conferred also, and this was practically

its chief value, the right of lecturing, and therefore of receiving money

for lectures, at Oxford.’--_Monumenta Academica_; Rev. II. Anstey’s

_Introduction_, p. lxxxix.

[10] One of the statutes decreed as follows:--‘Item statutum est, quod non

liceat alicui præterquam Bachilaris Theologiæ, legere bibliam

biblice.’--_Ibid._ p. 394. That the word ‘legere,’ in these statutes,

means practically to ‘lecture,’ see Mr. Anstey’s _Introduction_, p.

lxxxix.

[11] It is possible also that Colet’s mode of lecturing did not come

within the meaning of the technical phrase, ‘legere bibliam _biblice_,’

which is said to have meant ‘reading chapter by chapter, with the

accustomed glosses, and such explanations as the reader could

add.’--_Observations on the Statutes of the University of Cambridge_: by

George Peacock, D.D., Dean of Ely. Lond. 1841, p. xlvi. n. See also Mr.

Anstey’s _Introduction_, p. lxxi, on the doubtful meaning of ‘legere

_cursorie_.’

[12] See the remarkable letter of Bishop Grosseteste to the ‘Regents in

Theology’ at Oxford--date 1240 or 1246--_Roberti Grosseteste Epistolæ_,

pp. 346-7, of which the following is Mr. Luard’s summary:--‘Skilful

builders are always careful that foundation stones should be really

capable of supporting the building. The best time is the morning. Their

lectures, therefore, especially in the morning, should be from the Old and

New Testaments, _in accordance with their ancient custom_ and the example

of Paris. Other lectures are more suitable at other times.’--P. cxxix.

[13] It would not be likely that statutes, framed in some points specially

to guard against Lollard views, and probably early in the fifteenth

century, should ignore the Scriptures altogether. Thus, before inception

in theology, by Masters in Theology (see Mr. Anstey’s _Introduction_, p.

xciv), three years’ attendance on biblical lectures was required, and the

inceptor must have lectured on some canonical book of the Bible

(_Monumenta Academica_, p. 391), according to the statutes. They also

contained the following provision:--‘Ne autem lecturæ variæ confundantur,

_et ut expeditius_ in lectura bibliæ procedatur, statutum est, ut bibliam

biblice seu cursorie legentes quæstiones non dicant nisi tantummodo

literales.’--_Ibid._ p. 392. The regular course of theological training at

Oxford may be further illustrated by the following passage from Tindale’s

‘Practice of Prelates.’ Tindale, when a youth, was at Oxford during a

portion of the time that Colet was lecturing on St. Paul’s Epistles.

‘In the universities they have ordained that no man shall look on the

Scripture until he be noselled in heathen learning eight or nine years,

and armed with false principles with which he is clean shut out of the

understanding of the Scripture.... And when he taketh his first degree, he

is sworn that he shall hold none opinion condemned by the Church.... And

then when they be admitted to study divinity, because the Scripture is

locked up with such false expositions and with false principles of natural

philosophy that they cannot enter in, they go about the outside and

dispute all their lives about words and vain opinions, pertaining as much

unto the healing of a man’s heel as health of his soul. Provided yet ...

that none may preach except he be admitted of the Bishops.’--_Practice of

Prelates_, p. 291. Parker Society.

What the biblical lectures were it is difficult to understand, for Erasmus

wrote (Eras. Epist. cxlviii.): ‘Compertum est hactenus quosdam fuisse

theologos, qui adeo nunquam legerant divinas literas, ut nec ipsos

Sententiarum libros evolverent, neque quicquam omnino attingerent præter

quæstionum gryphos.’--P. 130, C.

[14] Ellis’s _Letters_, 2nd series, vol. ii. pp. 61, 62. Letter of Richard

Layton and his Associates to Lord Cromwell, upon his Visitation of the

University of Oxford, Sept. 12, 1535.

[15] ‘Provinciam sumsisti ... (ne quid mentiar) et negotii et invidiæ

plenam.’--Eras. Coleto: Eras. _Op._ v. p. 1264, A.

[16] ‘The Turks being in number five times more than we Christians.’ And

again, ‘Which multitude is not the fifth part so many as they that consent

to the law of Mahomet.’--_Works of Tyndale and Frith_, ii. pp. 55 and 74.

[17] See British Museum Library, under the head ‘Garcilaso,’ No. 1445, _g_

23, being the draft of private instructions from Ferdinand and Isabella to

the special English Ambassador, and headed, ‘Year 1498. The King and Queen

concerning the correction of Alexander VI.’ The original Spanish MS. was

in the hands of the late B. B. Wiffen, Esq., of Mount Pleasant, near

Woburn, and an English translation of this important document was

reprinted by him in the Life of Valdes, prefixed to a translation of his

_CX Considerations_. Lond. Quaritch, 1865, p. 24.

[18] Chap. v.

[19] Chap. vi.

[20] Chap. vii.

[21] Chap. viii.

[22] Chap. ix.

[23] Chap. x.

[24] Chap. xix.

[25] Chap. xx.

[26] Chap. xxii.

[27] Chap. xxiii.

[28] Chaps. xxiv. and xxv.

[29] Chaps. xxvi.-xxxiv.

[30] Chap. xxxvi.

[31] Chap. xxxvii.

[32] _Villari_, in his ‘Life and Times of Savonarola,’ book i. chap. iv.,

does not seem to me to give, by any means, a fair abstract of the ‘_De

Religione Christianâ_,’ though his chapter on Ficino is valuable in other

respects. I have used the edition of Paris, 1510.

[33] ‘Chartism,’ chap. x. ‘Impossible.’

[34] _Pauli Jovii Elogia Doctorum Virorum_: Basileæ, 1556, p. 145. The

period of the stay of Grocyn and Linacre in Italy was probably between

1485 and 1491. They therefore probably returned to England before the

notorious Alexander VI. succeeded, in 1492, to Innocent VIII. See

Johnson’s _Life of Linacre_, pp. 103-150. And Wood’s _Athen. Oxon._ vol.

i. p. 30. Also _Hist. et Antiq. Univ. Oxon._ ii. 134.

[35] Eras. _Op._ iii. p. 455, F.

[36] Erasmus Jodoco Jonæ: _Op._ iii. p. 455, F. Also Sir Henry Colet’s

Epitaph, quoted in Knight’s _Life of Colet_, p. 7.

[37] ‘Et libros Ciceronis avidissime devorarat et Platonis Plotinique

libros non oscitanter excusserat.’--Eras. _Op._ iii. p. 456, A.

[38] Eras. _Op._ iii. p. 455, F. ‘Mater, quæ adhuc superest [in 1520],

insigni probitate mulier, marito suo undecim filios peperit, ac totidem

filias ..., sed ex omnibus ille [Colet] superfuit solus, cum illum nosse

cœpissem’ [in 1498].

[39] See list of Colet’s preferments in the Appendix.

[40] ‘Adiit Galliam, mox Italiam.’--Eras. _Op._ iii. p. 456, A.

[41] Eras. _Op._ iii. p. 459, A.

[42] _Ibid._ p. 456, B. The words of Erasmus are the following:--‘Ibi se

totum evolvendis sacris auctoribus dedit, sed prius per omnium literarum

genera magno studio peregrinatus, priscis illis potissimum delectabatur

Dionysio, Origene, Cypriano, Ambrosio, Hieronymo. Atque inter veteres

nulli erat iniquior quam Augustino. Neque tamen non legit Scotum, ac

Thomam aliosque hujus farinæ, si quando locus postulabat. In utriusque

juris libris erat non indiligenter versatus. Denique nullus erat liber

historiam aut constitutiones continens majorum, quem ille non evolverat.

Habet gens Britannica qui hoc præstiterunt apud suos, quod Dantes ac

Petrarcha apud Italos. Et horum evolvendis scriptis linguam expolivit, jam

tum se præparans ad præconium sermones Evangelici.’

[43] Savonarola’s first sermon in the Duomo at Florence was preached in

1491.--Villari, i. p. 122.

[44] See Villari, i. 232. Anno 1494.

[45] Lorenzo de’ Medici died in 1492; Pico and Politian in 1494. Colet

left England early in 1494 probably, but as he visited France on his way

to Italy, the exact time of his reaching Italy cannot be determined.

[46] The influence of Savonarola on the religious history of Pico was very

remarkable.

In a sermon preached after Pico’s death, Savonarola said of Pico, ‘He was

wont to be conversant with me, and to break with me the secrets of his

heart, in which I perceived that he was by privy inspiration called of God

unto religion:’ i.e. to become a monk. And he goes on to say that, for

_two years_, he had threatened him with Divine judgment ‘if he

fore-sloathed that purpose which our Lord had put in his mind.’--More’s

_English Works_, p. 9.

Pico died in November, 1494. The intimacy of which Savonarola speaks dated

back therefore to 1492 or earlier.

According to the statement of his nephew, J. F. Pico, the change in Pico’s

life was the result of the disappointment and the troubles consequent upon

his ‘vainglorious disputations’ at Rome in 1486 (when Pico was

twenty-three). By this he was ‘wakened,’ so that he ‘drew back his mind

flowing in riot, and turned it to Christ!’ Pico waited a whole year in

Rome after giving his challenge, and the disappointment and troubles were

not of short duration. They may be said to have commenced perhaps after

the year of waiting, i.e. in 1487, when he left Rome. He was present at

the disputations at Reggio in 1487, and this does not look as though as

yet he had altogether lost his love of fame and distinction. There he met

Savonarola; and there that intimacy commenced which resulted in

Savonarola’s return, _at the suggestion of Pico_, to Florence. (J. F.

Pico’s _Vita Savonarolæ_, chap. vi.; Harford’s _Life of Michael Angelo_,

i. p. 128; and Villari, i. pp. 82, 83.) In 1490, as the result of his

first studies of Holy Scripture, according to J. F. Pico (being

twenty-eight), he published his _Heptaplus_, which is full of his

cabalistic and mystic lore, and betokens a mind still entangled in

intellectual speculations rather than imbued with practical piety. He had,

however, already burnt his early love songs, &c.; and it is evident the

change had for some time been going on.

About the time when Savonarola commenced preaching in Florence, in 1491

(three years before his death, according to J. F. Pico), Pico disposed of

his patrimony and dominions to his nephew, and distributed a large part of

the produce amongst the poor, consulting Savonarola about its disposal (J.

F. Pico’s _Life of Savonarola_, chap. xi. ‘_De mira Hieronymi lenitate et

amore paupertatis_’), and appointing as his almoner _Girolamo Benivieni_,

a devout and avowed believer in Savonarola’s prophetic gifts. This was

doubtless the time when Pico was wont to break to Savonarola ‘the secrets

of his heart;’ the time also to which J. F. Pico alludes when he speaks of

him as ‘talking of the love of Christ;’ and adding, ‘the substance I have

left, after certain books of mine finished, I intend to give out to poor

folk, and fencing myself with the crucifix, barefoot, walking about the

world, in every town and castle, I purpose to preach of Christ.’--Vide

infra, p. 153. In 1492, a few weeks after Lorenzo’s death, he wrote three

beautiful letters to his nephew (Pici _Op._ pp. 231-236. Vide infra, pp.

153-156)--letters as glowing with earnest Christian piety as the

_Heptaplus_ was overflowing with cabalistic subtleties. His religion now,

at all events, had the true ring about it. It belonged to his heart, not

his head only. Then follow the remaining two years of his life when

Savonarola exerted his influence (but without success) to induce him to

enter a religious order. On Sept. 21, 1494, he was present at Savonarola’s

famous sermon, in which he predicted the calamities which were coming upon

Italy and the approach of the French army, listening to which Pico himself

said that he ‘was filled with horror, and that his hair stood on end’

(narrated by Savonarola in his _Compendium Revelationum_); and lastly in

November, as Charles entered Florence, Pico was peacefully dying. He was

buried in the robes of Savonarola’s order and within the precincts of

Savonarola’s church of St. Mark. In the light of Savonarola’s sermon, and

the facts above stated, it can hardly be doubted that whilst, in one

sense, brought about by the disappointment of his worldly ambitions, the

change of life in Pico was at least, _in measure_, the result of his

contact with the great Florentine reformer.

With regard to the history of Savonarola’s influence on _Ficino’s_

religious character, the facts are not so easily traced. In early years he

is said to have been more of a Pagan than a Christian. Before writing his

_De Religione Christianâ_, he seems to have become fully persuaded of the

truth of Christianity. The book itself shows this. And there is a letter

of his (Ficini Op. i. p. 640, Basle ed.), written while he was composing

it, during an illness, in which he says that the words of Christ give him

more comfort than philosophy, and his vows paid to the Virgin more bodily

good than medicine. He also says that his father, a doctor, was once

warned in a dream, while sleeping under an oak tree, to go to a patient

who was praying to the Virgin for aid.

But the religion of a man resting on dreams, and visions, and vows made to

the Virgin, was not necessarily of a very deep and practical character.

Superstition and philosophy were easily united without the heart taking

fire. Schelhorn (in his _Amœnitates Literariæ_, i. p. 73) quotes from

Wharton’s appendix to Cave, the following statement, ‘Rei philosophicæ

nimium deditus, religionis et pietatis curam posthabuisse dicitur, donec

Savonarolæ Florentiam advenientis eloquentiam admiratus, concionibus ejus

audiendis animum adjecit, dumque flosculis Rhetorices inhiavit, pietatis

igniculos recepit: reliquamque dein vitam religionis officiis impendit.’

Wharton does not give his authority. Fleury (vol. xxiv. p. 363) makes a

similar statement; also Brucker (_Historia critica Philosophiæ_, iv. p.

52); also Du Pin; also Harford in his _Life of Michael Angelo_ (i. p. 72)

on the authority of Spondanus, who himself gives no contemporary

authority. See also Mr. Lupton’s _Introduction_ to Colet’s _Celestial and

Ecclesiastical Hierarchies of Dionysius_, where the subject is discussed.

I am informed, through the kindness of Count P. Guicciardini, of Florence,

that in Ficino’s _Apologia_, which exists in the MSS. _Stroziani_ of

_Libr. Magliabecchiana_, class viii. cod. 315, he says of himself that

‘for five years he was one of the many who were deceived by the Hypocrite

of Ferrara,’ whom he calls ‘Antichrist.’ The truth therefore seems to be

that he was profoundly influenced by Savonarola’s enthusiasm, but only for

a time.

[47] Ficino’s editions of his translations of the Dionysian treatises on

the ‘Divine Names’ and the ‘Mystic Theology’ seem to have been published

at Florence in 1492 and 1496.--Fabricii _Bibliotheca Græca_, vii. pp. 10,

11.

[48] Herzog’s _Encyclopædia_, article on ‘Marsilius Ficinus.’

[49] Mr. Harford, in his _Life of Michael Angelo_, vol. i. p. 57, mentions

Colet, among others, as studying at Florence, and cites ‘_Tiraboschi_, vi.

pt. 2, p. 382, edit. Roma, 4to. 1784.’ But I cannot find any mention of

Colet in Tiraboschi, after careful search.

In opposition to the likelihood of his having been at Florence it may be

asked, why Colet never alludes to it in his letters or elsewhere? In

reply, it may be said that we have nothing of Colet’s own writing relating

to his early life. All we know of it is derived from Erasmus, and the only

allusion by Colet to his Italian journey which Erasmus has preserved is

the passing remark that he (Colet) had there become acquainted with

certain _monks_ of true wisdom and piety.--Eras. _Op._ iii. 459, A.

‘Narrans sese apud Italos comperisse quosdam monachos vere prudentes ac

pios.’ Whether Savonarola’s monks were amongst these is a matter of mere

speculation.

[50] See marginal note on his ‘Romans,’ in the Cambridge University

Library, MS. Gg. 4, 26, leaf 3_a_, in which he refers to him--‘_Hec

Mirandula_,’ and cites a passage from Pico’s _Apologia_, Basle edition of

_Pici Opera_, p. 117. There is also a long and almost literal extract from

Pico in the MS. on the ‘Ecclesiastical Hierarchy,’ in the St. Paul’s

School Library. See Mr. Lupton’s translation, p. 161.

[51] See an extract from Ficino in Colet’s MS. on ‘Romans,’ leaf 13_b_.

Another is pointed out by Mr. Lupton, p. 36, _n._

[52] ‘Quem ego sermonem ab eo memini, qui colloquentes audiverat, jam tum

patri meo renunciatum, cum adhuc nulla proditionis ejus suspicio

haberetur.’--Thomæ Mori ‘_Latina Opera_,’ Lovanii, 1566, fol. 46. As to

the authorship of the history of Richard III. see Mr. Gairdner’s preface

to _Letters of Richard III. and Henry VII._ vol. ii. p. xxi. As More was

born in February, 1478, there is no difficulty in accepting the

authenticity of this incident, which, when 1480 was assumed as the date of

More’s birth, seemed quite impossible, as More would only have been three

years old when it occurred, and could not have remembered the

conversation.

[53] Roper, Singer’s ed. p. 3. Morton was not made a cardinal till 1493.

[54] Roper, p. 4.

[55] Ibid.

[56] Colet probably left Oxford for the Continent about 1494. The most

probable date of More’s stay at Oxford was 1492 and 1493. This leaves 1494

and 1495 for his studies at New Inn, previous to his entry at Lincoln’s

Inn, in February, 1496.

[57] Eras. _Op._ iii. p. 477, A. Speaking of More, Erasmus writes:

‘Joannes Coletus, vir acris exactique judicii, in familiaribus colloquiis

subinde dicere solet, Britanniæ non nisi unicum esse ingenium.’

[58] Stapleton’s _Tres Thomæ_, Colon. 1612 ed. chap. i. pp. 155-6. ‘Hanc

ob causam sic ei necessaria subministravit ut ne quidem teruncium in sua

potestate eum habere permitteret, præter id quod ipsa necessitas

postulabat. Quod adeò strictè observavit, ut nec ad reficiendos attritos

calceos, nisi à patre peteret, pecuniam haberet.’ See also Eras. _Op._

iii. p. 475, A, respecting his father’s motive.

[59] Stapleton’s _Tres Thomæ_, Colon. 1612, p. 156.

[60] ‘Juvenis ad Græcas literas ac philosophiæ studium sese applicuit adeo

non opitulante patre ... ut ea conantem omni subsidio destitueret ac pene

pro abdicato haberet, quod a patriis studiis desciscere videretur, nam is

Britannicarum legum peritiam profitetur.’--Eras. _Op._ iii. p. 475, A.

[61] ‘Sic voluit pater qui eum ad Græcarum literarum et philosophiæ

studium omni subsidio destituit, ut ad istud (i.e. English Law)

induceret.’--Stapleton’s _Tres Thomæ_, p. 168.

[62] XII. February,--11 Henry VII. Foss’s _Judges of England_, v. p. 207.

[63] Vide supra, p. 1, _n._

[64] Eras. _Op._ iii. p. 456, B. ‘Nullus erat liber, _historiam_ aut

constitutiones continens majorum, quod non evolverat.’

[65] Eras. Epist. App. ccccxxxvii.

[66] Eras. Epist. xi.

[67] ‘Ut tribuatur lapsui memoriæ in evangelista gravatim audio. Qui si

spiritu sancto inspiratus scripsit, memoria falli non potuit, nisi et ille

etiam falli potuerit, quo ductore scripsit. Dicit mihi Ezechiel: Quocunque

ibat spiritus, illuc pariter et rotæ elevabantur sequentes

eum.’--_Annotationes Ed. Leei in annotationes Novi Testamenti Desiderii

Erasmi._ Basil. 1520, pp. 25, 26. Lee studied at Oxford during a portion

of the time of Colet’s residence there. Knight states that he was sent to

St. Mary Magd. College (the college where Colet is supposed to have taken

his degree of M.A.) in 1499.--_Knight’s Erasmus_, p. 286.

[68] ‘Quod dicis (non est nostrum definire, quomodo spiritus ille suum

temperârit organum) verum quidem est, sed spiritus ipse in Ezechiele

definivit: Rotæ non elevabantur nisi sequentes spiritum.’--_Annotationes

Edvardi Leei_, p. 26.

[69] Aquinas, _Summa_, pt. 1, quest. i. article x.

[70] Tyndale’s _Obedience of a Christian Man_, chap. ‘On the Four Senses

of the Scriptures.’

[71] Preface to the Five Books of Moses.

[72] Tyndale’s _Obedience of a Christian Man_, chap. ‘On the Four Senses

of Scripture.’ That Tyndale was at Oxford during Colet’s stay there (i.e.

before 1506), see the evidence given by his biographers. It appears that

he was born about 1484. Fox says ‘_he was brought up from a child in the

University of Oxford_,’ and there is no reason to suppose that he removed

to Cambridge before 1509. See Tyndale’s _Doctrinal Treatises_, xiv. xv.

and authorities there cited.

[73] Sir Thomas More in a letter to the University of Oxford (Jortin’s

_Erasmus_, ii. App. p. 664, 4to ed.) complains of a Scotist preacher

because ‘_neque integrum ullum Scripturæ caput tractavit, quæ res in usu

fuit veteribus_ [this was the old method revived by Colet]; neque dictum

aliquod brevius e Sacris literis, qui mos apud nuperos inolevit [the

scholastic method]; sed thematum loco delegit Britannica quædam anilia

proverbia.’ [The practical result of the textarian method when pushed to

its ultimate results.]

[74] Eras. Jodoco Jonæ: Eras. _Op._ iii. p. 456, C. ‘Nullus erat illic

doctor vel theologiæ vel juris, nullus abbas, aut alioqui dignitate

præditus, quin illum audiret, etiam allatis codicibus.’

[75] Eras. Coleto: Eras. _Op._ iii. p. 40, F. Epist. xli.

[76] ‘Tamen certe multum ac diu rogatus a quibusdam amicis, et eisdem

interpretantibus nobis Paulum fidis auditoribus, quibuscum pro amicicia

quod in superiorem epistolæ partem scriptum est a nobis communicavi,

adductus fui tandem ut promitterem, quod est ceptum modo me perrecturum,

et in reliquam epistolam quod reliquum est enarrationis

adhibiturum.’--Cambridge University Library MS. Gg. 4, 26, fol. 27_b_.

[77] A copy of Colet’s exposition of ‘Romans,’ with corrections apparently

in Colet’s handwriting, is in the Cambridge University Library; MS. Gg. 4,

26. A fair copy, apparently by Peter Meghen, is in the Library of Corpus

Christi College Cambridge, MS. No. 355.

Amongst the ‘Gale MSS.’ in Trinity Library, Cambridge, is a MS. (O. 4, 44)

said to be Colet’s, containing short notes or abstracts of the Apostolic

Epistles. Through the kindness of Mr. Wright I had a copy taken of this

MS., but on close comparison of passages with the _Annotationes_ of

Erasmus, I was obliged to conclude that the writer had before him an

edition of the latter not earlier than that of 1522. This MS. cannot,

therefore, have been written by Colet. Possibly it may have been written

by Lupset, Colet’s disciple. The copy in the Trinity Library is in a later

hand.

[78] This appears to have been the character also of the Expositions of

Marsilio Ficino. See Fragment on ‘Romans.’--Ficini _Opera_, ed. 1696, pp.

426-472.

[79] The _names_ of Origen, Jerome, Chrysostom, and Augustine are

mentioned, but incidentally, and without any quotations of any length

being given from them.

[80] ‘--est ex vehementia loquendi imperfecta et suspensa

sententia.’--MSS. Gg. 4, 26, fol. 23, _in loco_. Rom. ix. 22.

[81] ‘Ita Paulus mira prudentia et arte temperat orationem suam in hac

epistola, et eam quasi librat tam pari lance, et Judeos et Gentes simul,

etc.’--Ibid. fol. 26.

[82] MSS. Gg. 4, 26, fols. 59_b_, 61_a_.

[83] Ibid. fol. 60. ‘Sed ille homo magno animo, fide, et amore Christi,

fuit paratus non solum ligari,’ &c.

[84] Ibid. fols. 42-45 (_in loco_, Rom. xiii.). In these pages Colet

compares with great care the information to be collected from passages in

the Epistle to the Romans and in the Acts of the Apostles with what is

recorded by Suetonius, and admires St. Paul’s ‘sapientissima admonitio

opportune sane adhibita.’--Ibid. fols. 42_b_ and 43_a_. Again, at fol.

44_a_, Colet says, ‘Hæc autem refero ut magna Pauli consideratio et

prudentia animadvertatur; qui cum non ignoravit Claudium Cesarem tenuisse

rempublicam, qui fuit homo vario ingenio et improbis moribus, &c.’...

[85] In his exposition of Romans (chap. iv.) he says:--‘Sed caute

circumspicienda sunt omnia Pauli, antequam de ejus mente aliqua feratur

sentencia. Nunquam enim censuisset revocandum ad ecclesiam fornicatorem

illum, quem tradidit Sathanæ in prima Epistola ad Corinthios, si

peccatoribus post baptismum nullum penitendi locum reliquisset.’--Ibid.

fol. 6_b_.

[86] It would be difficult in short quotations to give a correct

impression of the doctrinal standpoint assumed by Colet in his exposition

of the Epistle to the Romans. But it may be interesting to enquire,

whether any connection can be traced between his views and those of

Savonarola, on this point.

Now _Villari_ states that a ‘fundamental point’ in Savonarola’s doctrine

was his ‘_conception of love_, which he sometimes says is the _same as

grace_,’ and that it was through this conception of love that Savonarola,

‘to a certain extent,’ explained the ‘mystery of human liberty and Divine

omnipotence.’--Villari’s _Savonarola and his Times_, bk. i. c. vii. p.

110.

Whether there be any real connection between Savonarola’s teaching and the

following passages from Colet’s exposition, I leave the reader to judge.

‘Wherefore St. Paul concludes, men are justified by faith, and trusting in

God alone by Jesus Christ, are reconciled to God and restored into grace;

so that with God they stand, and remain themselves sons of God.... If He

loved us when alienated from Him, how much more will He love us when we

are reconciled; and preserve those whom He loves. Wherefore we ought to be

firm and stable in our hope and joy, and, nothing doubting, trust in God

through Jesus Christ, by whom alone men are reconciled to God.’--MS. fol.

5. After speaking of that _grace_ which where sin had abounded did much

more abound unto eternal life, Colet proceeds:--‘But here it is to be

noted that this _grace_ is nothing else than the _love_ of God towards

men--towards those, i.e. whom He wills to love, and, in loving, to inspire

with His Holy Spirit; which itself is love and the love of God; which (as

the Saviour said, according to St. John’s Gospel) _blows where it lists_.

But, loved and inspired by God, they are also _called_; so that accepting

this love, they may love in return their loving God, and long for and wait

for the same love. This waiting and hope springs from _love_. _This love

truly is ours because He loves us_: not (as St. John writes in his 2nd

Epistle) as though we had first loved God, but because He first loved us,

even when we were worthy of no love at all; but indeed impious and wicked,

destined by right to eternal death. But some, i.e. those whom He knew and

chose, He also loved, and in loving called them, and in calling them

justified them, and in justifying them glorified them. This gracious love

and charity in God towards men is _in itself_ the calling and

justification and glorification.... And when we speak of men as drawn,

called, justified, and glorified by _grace_, we mean nothing else than

that men _love in return God who loves them_.’--MS. Gg. 4, 26, fol. 6.

Again: ‘Thus you see that things are brought about by a providing and

directing God, and that they happen as He wills in the affairs of men, not

from any force from without (_illata_)--since nothing is more remote from

force than the Divine action--but by the natural desire and will of man,

the Divine will and providence secretly and silently, and, as it were,

naturally accompanying (_comitante_) it, and going along with it so

wonderfully, that whatever you do and choose was known by God, and what

God knew and decreed to be, of necessity comes to pass.’--MS. fol. 18.

The following passage is from Colet’s exposition of the Epistle to the

Corinthians (MS. 4, 26, p. 80). ‘The mind of man consists of _intellect_

and _will_. By the _intellect_ we know: by the _will_ we have power to act

(_possumus_). From the knowledge of the intellect comes faith: from the

power of the will charity. But Christ, the power of God, is also the

wisdom of God. Our minds are illuminated to faith by Christ, “_who

illumines every man coming into this world_, and He gives power to become

the sons of God to those who believe in His name.” By Christ also our

wills are kindled in charity to love God and our neighbour; in which is

the fulfilment of the law. From God alone therefore, through Christ, we

have both knowledge and power; for by Him we are in Christ. Men, however,

have in themselves a blind intellect, and a depraved will, and walk in

darkness, not knowing what they do.... Those who by the warm rays of his

divinity are so drawn that they keep close in communion with Him, are

indeed they whom Paul speaks of as called and elected to His glory,’ &c.

For the Latin of these extracts see Appendix (A).

In further proof that Colet’s views (like Savonarola’s) were not

Augustinian upon the question of the ‘freedom of the will,’ may be cited

the following words of Colet (see _infra_, chap, iv.): ‘But in especial is

it necessary for thee to know that God of his great grace hath made thee

his image, having regard to thy memory, understanding, and _free-will_.’

Probably both Colet and Savonarola, in common with other mystic

theologians, had imbibed their views directly or indirectly from the works

of the Pseudo-Dionysius and the Neo-Platonists.

[87] ‘Ex quodam nostro studio et pietate in homines ... non tam verentes

legentium fastidium, quam cupientes confirmacionem infirmorum et

vacillantium.’--Fol. 22_b_.

[88] MS. Gg. 4, 26, fols. 13_b_ to 15_a_.

[89] Ibid. fol. 3_b_.

[90] Ibid. fols. 28_b_ and 29.

[91] Ibid. fol. 29.

[92] MS. Gg. 4, 26, fol. 30_b_.

[93] Ibid. fol. 59_b_. ‘Elicienda est dulci doctrina prompta voluntas non

acerba exaccione extorquenda pecunia nomine decimarum et oblacionum.’

[94] Ibid. fol. 60_a_.

[95] See particularly fol. 27 and 61_b_.

[96] MS. Gg. 4, 26, fol. 3_a_.

[97] Ibid. fol. 7_b_.

[98] Ibid. fol. 15_b_. _Ioannes Baptista Mantuanus_, general of the

Carmelites, an admirer of Pico.--See Pici _Opera_, p. 262.

[99] ‘Ibi se totum evolvendis sacris auctoribus dedit.’--Eras. _Op._ iii.

p. 456 B.

[100] ‘... conatique sumus quoad potuimus divina gratia adjuti veros

illius sensus exprimere. Quod quam fecimus haud scimus sane, voluntatem

tamen habuimus maximam faciendi.’--_ffinis argumenti in Epistolam Pauli ad

Romanos._ Oxonie.

[101] Cambridge University Library, MSS. Gg. 4, 26, p. 62, _et seq._, and

printed in Knight’s _Life of Colet_, App. p. 311.

[102] In the volume of manuscripts marked 355.

[103] ‘In quibus mihi videtur tanta caligo ut totus ille sermo contentus

in ipsis tribus capitulis appareat esse ille abyssus super cujus faciem

dicit Moises tenebras fuisse.’

[104] ‘Non me latet plures esse sensus, sed unum persequar cursim.’

[105] ‘... universa simul creasse sua eternitate.’

[106] ‘In principio (i.e. eternitate) creavit Deus cœlum (formam) et

terram (materiam).’

[107] ‘... inanis et vacua.’

[108] ‘Terra (materia) erat inanis et vacua (hoc est sine solida et

substantiali entitate) et tenebræ, &c. (i.e. tenebrosa fuit materia,

&c.).’

[109] ‘Vide quam bellè pergit ordine, significans summariam creacionem

copulationemque formæ cum materia.’

[110] ‘... forma et terminacio rerum.’

[111] ‘Quæ sequuntur in Moyse est repetitio et latior explicacio

superiorum, ac _speciatim_ distinctio earum rerum quas primum _generatim_

complexus est. Tu aliud si sentis fac nos te queso participes. Vale.’

[112] ... ‘Particulatim res aggreditur, et mundi digestionem ante oculos

ponit, quod sic facit _meo judicio_, ut sensus vulgi et rudis multitudinis

quam docuit racionem habuisse videatur.’

[113] See quotation from Chrysostom to a similar effect: _Summa_, prima

pars, lxvii. art. iv. conclusio. After speaking of the views of Augustine

and Basil, Aquinas says:--

‘Chrysostomus (Homil. 2 in Gen. circa medium illius tom. i.) autem

assignat aliam rationem quia Moyses loquebatur rudi populo qui nihil nisi

corporalia poterat capere, quem etiam ab idololatria revocare volebat,’

&c.

[114] ‘... Et hoc more poetæ alicujus popularis, quo magis consulat

spiritui simplicis rusticitatis, fingens successionem rerum operum et

temporum cujusmodi apud tantum Opificem certè nulla esse potest.’

[115] ‘Crassiter et pingue docenda fuit stulta illa et macra multitudo.’

[116] ‘(1) Moysen digna Deo loqui voluisse. (2) In rebus vulgo cognitis

vulgo satisfacere. (3) Ordinem rerum servare. In primis populum ad

religionem et cultum unius Dei traducere.’

[117] ‘Partim quia sex numero facile in rebus homini in mentem venire

possunt.’

[118] ‘Maxime ... ut imitacio divina (quem, more poetæ, finxit sex dies

operatum esse, septimo quievisse) populum septimo quoque die ad quietem et

contemplacionem Dei et cultum adduceret.’

[119] ‘Nunquam dierum numerum statuisset, nisi ut illo utilissimo et

sapientissimo figmento, quasi quodam proposito exemplari populum ad

imitandum provocaret, ut sexto quoque die diurnis actibus fine imposito,

septimo in summa Dei contemplatione persisterent.’

[120] ‘Salve Radulphe, ac cum salute puto te rediisse quod tibi opto.

Quatuor ut arbitror dies transiisti: ego interea vix unum Moysaicum diem

transii. Immo tu elaborâsti in die sub sole; ego hoc tempore in nocte et

tenebris vagatus sum, nec vidi quo eundum esset: nec quo perveni

intelligo. Sed incepto pergendum erat, ac tandem inveni exitum ut poteram.

In quo difficili errore, videor mihi apud Moysen magnum errorem

deprehendisse. Nam quum cujusque diei opus concluserat hiis verbis, _Et

factum est vespere et mane dies unus, secundus, tercius_, non addidisset

dies sed _nox_ pocius _una_, _secunda_, et _tercia_, propterea quod

inchoante vespere deinde mane sequente, est necesse quod intercedat inter

antecedens vesper et subsequens mane nox sit. Dies enim incipit mane,

vesperi terminatur. Sed maxime profecto quæ Moyses scribens in dies

distinxerat, noctes appellâsset magis, propterea quod offuse sint tantis

tenebris ut nihil possit nocti videri similius quam dies Moysaicus. Quas

nocturnas tenebras cum opinione aliqua lucis conati sumus discutere,

fortasse nos quoque tenebrosi tenebras auximus, noctesque produximus.

Attamen prestat nos recte facere voluisse, ac quicquid est quod egimus, si

tibi obscurum videatur infunde tum aliquid luminis tui, ut et nos videas,

utque nos eciam simul tecum Moysen videre possimus.’

[121] ‘More boni piique poetæ.’

[122] ‘Homunculorum cordi consuleret.’

[123] ... ‘A sua sublimitate degenerent.’

[124] ‘Honestissimo et piissimo figmento simul inescare et trahere eos ut

Deo inserviant.’

[125] For the above abstracts of these interesting letters I am mainly

indebted to the kind assistance of my friend Henry Bradshaw, Esq., of

King’s College, Cambridge, who has also furnished me with the following

description of the manuscript.

_Letters to Radulphus._

1. Beginning (p. 195): ‘Miror sane te optime Radulphe quum voluisti

...;’ ending (p. 199): ‘... fac nos te queso participes. Vale.’

2. Beginning (p. 199): ‘Parumper de reliquis diebus uti petis in calce

Epistole. Facta mentione de materia et forma ...;’ ending (p. 207);

‘... scribendi paululum levaverim. Vale.’

3. Beginning (p. 207): ‘Tercium nunc deinceps diem aggrediamur,

memores semper ...;’ ending (p. 222): ‘... leviter nos in hiis rebus

lucubrasse. Vale.’

4. Beginning (p. 222): ‘Salve Radulphe, ac cum salute puto te rediisse

quod tibi opto ...’ breaking off at the end of the quire (p. 226):

‘... id licere facere docet Macrobius in Comen[tario edito]....’

⁂ These letters follow Colet’s Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, in

the volume marked 355, in Corpus Christi College Library.

The _Exposition_ is written in the handwriting of Colet’s scribe, Peter

Meghen, the ‘monoculus Brabantinus,’ and there are corrections and

alterations throughout, evidently by Colet himself.

The _letters to Radulphus_ are merely _bound with_ the other. Only two

quires are now remaining: the handwriting is not the same, but similar.

[126] The following appears to be the passage Colet was about to quote:

‘Aut sacrarum rerum notio, sub _figmentorum_ velamine, _honestis_ et tecta

rebus et vestita nominibus enuntiatur; et hoc est solum figmenti genus,

quod cautio de divinis rebus admittit.’--_In Somnium Scipionis_, lib. i.

c. 2. The ‘aut’ with which the sentence begins refers to its being an

alternative of two kinds of mythical writing, about which Macrobius has

been speaking. I am indebted to Mr. Lupton for this reference.

[127] The following passage from Mr. Lupton’s translation of Colet’s

abstract of Dionysius’s _De celesti Hierarchiâ_ (pp. 12, 13) will show

that he may have derived some of his thoughts from that source. ‘Thus led

he forth those uninstructed Hebrews, like boys, to school; in order that

like children, playing with dolls and toys, they might represent in shadow

what they were one day to do in reality as men: herein imitating little

girls, who in early age play with dolls, the images of sons, being

destined afterwards in riper years to bring forth real sons: ... “When I

was a child,” says St. Paul, “I understood as a child; but when I became a

man, I put away childish things.” From childishness and images and

imitations Christ has drawn us, who has shone upon our darkness, and has

taught us the truth, and has made us that believe to be men, in order that

we, “with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, may be

changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of

the Lord.”’...

‘In these foreshadowings and signs, metaphors are borrowed from all

quarters by Moses--a theologian and observer of nature of the deepest

insight--inasmuch as there are not words proper to express the Divine

attributes. For nothing is fitted to denote God Himself, who is not only

unutterable but even inconceivable. Wherefore he is most truly expressed

by negations; since you may state what He is not, but not what He is; for

whatever positive statement you make concerning Him, you err, seeing that

He is none of those things which you can say. Still because a hidden

principle of the Deity resides in all things, on account of that faint

resemblance, the sacred writers have endeavoured to indicate Him by the

names of all objects, not only of the better but of the worse kind, lest

the duller sort of people, attracted by the beauty of the fairer objects,

should think God to be that very thing which He is called.’

The above is _Colet’s amplification_ of the passage in Dionysius (chap.

ii.). The latter part of it is a pretty close rendering of the original.

[128] ‘Heptaplus Johannis Pici Mirandulæ de Septiformi sex dierum Geneseos

Enarratione.’

[129] The first edition is without date, but the publisher’s letter at the

commencement, to Lorenzo de’ Medici, shows that it was published during

the lifetime of the latter, i.e. before 1492--probably in 1490.

[130] The letter preceding the abstract of the ‘Celestial Hierarchy,’ in

the Cambridge MS. Gg. 4, 26, is evidently a copy by the same hand as the

letter to the Abbot of Winchcombe. Possibly the Abbot may be the person to

whom it was addressed.

[131] These treatises were:--1. ‘De Compositione Sancti Corporis Christi

mistici.’--Camb. MS. Gg. 4, 26.

2. ‘On the Sacraments of the Church,’ printed with a very valuable

introduction and notes, by the Rev. J. H. Lupton, M.A., from the MS. in

the St. Paul’s School Library. (Bell and Daldy, 1867.)

3. A short essay in the Camb. MS. Gg. 4, 26, commencing ‘Deus immensum

bonum,’ &c.

Mr. Lupton is publishing Colet’s abstracts of the ‘Celestial’ and

‘Ecclesiastical’ Hierarchy of Dionysius, from the MSS. at St. Paul’s

School; and it will be seen how much use I have made in this chapter of

his admirable translation. I have expressed in the preface to this edition

the obligations I am under to Mr. Lupton for bringing to light these

interesting MSS., and thus materially assisting in restoring some lost

links in the history of Colet’s inner life and opinions.

[132] Balthasar Corderius, in his prefatory observations to his edition of

the works of St. Dionysius (Paris 1644), speaks of Dionysius as being the

originator of the Scholastic Theology, and proves it by giving four folio

pages of references to passages in the ‘Summa’ of Aquinas, where the

authority of Dionysius is quoted.

[133] Mr. Lupton’s translation, pp. 135, 136.

[134] ‘God, who is one, beautiful and good--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:

the Trinity which created all things--is at once the purification of

things to unity, their illumination to what is beautiful, and their

perfection to what is good.’--Mr. Lupton’s translation, pp. 15, 24.

[135] ‘God created all things because He is good (p. 16); and because He

is good, He also recalls to himself all things according to their

capacity, that He may bountifully communicate himself to them.’

[136] All after this is Colet’s own addition to what is said in Dionysius.

[137] Mr. Lupton’s translation of Colet’s Abstract of the _Eccl. Hier._ p.

92. In a short essay contained in the MSS. Gg. 4, 26, of the Cambridge

University Library, entitled ‘De compositione sancti corporis Christi

mistici, quæ est ecclesia, quæ sine anima ejus, Spiritu scilicet,

dispergitur et dissipatur.’ Colet, after showing how men, if left to

themselves, would wander apart and become scattered; and that the purpose

of God is, that they should be united in one body the church by the

Spirit, as by a magnet, goes on to say, ‘Predestinatum fuit hominem qui

decidit a Deo retrahi ad Deum non posse quidem nisi per Deum factum

hominem.... Mortuus est ut liberos faceret homines ad talem vitam, ut

debita cujusque hominum in illius morte soluta, nunc desinentes peccare

deinceps liberi sint justiciæ, ut non amplius maneamus in peccato,’

&c.--Ff. 70_b_, 71_a_.

[138] Wilberforce, in his _Doctrine of the Incarnation_, third edition,

1850, thus expressed the modern sacerdotal theory. In the word _Priest_,

in primitive languages, ‘the notion of the setting apart those who should

act _on man’s behalf towards God_ is everywhere visible.’--P. 229.

‘Now if Christ is still maintaining a real intercession (if He still

pleads that sacrifice) then is there ample place for that sacerdotal

system, by which some actual _thing_ is still to be effected, and in which

some agents must still be employed.’--P. 381. ‘We put the Priestly office

under the law in a line with the ministerial office under the Gospel; we

assert, that if the title of Priest could be given fitly to the first, it

belongs also to the second.’--P. 383. ‘Any persons who discharge an office

which has reference to God, and who present to Him what is offered by men,

may be called Priests.’--P. 384.

[139] See the same views expressed by Colet in his exposition of

‘Corinthians.’--Emmanuel Col. MS. 3, 3, 12, leaf g, 2.

[140] Colet’s Abstract of the _Ecc. Hier._ ch. ii. s. 2. Mr. Lupton’s

translation, pp. 61, 62. Colet writes a little further on:--‘The office of

the bishop is, like Christ, to preach constantly and diligently the truth

he has received. For he is, as it were, a messenger midway between God and

men, to announce to men heavenly things, as Christ did.’--Pp. 63, 64.

[141] ‘Through this bread and this cup, that which is offered as a true

sacrifice in heaven is present as a real though immaterial agent in the

church’s ministrations. So that what is done by Christ’s ministers below

is a constituent part of that general work which the one great High Priest

performs in heaven: through the intervention of his heavenly Head, the

earthly sacrificer truly exhibits to the Father that body of Christ which

is the one only sacrifice for sins; each visible act has its efficacy

through those invisible acts of which it is the earthly expression, and

things done on earth are one with those done in heaven.’--Wilberforce’s

_Doctrine of the Incarnation_, pp. 372, 373.

[142] Colet’s abstract of the _Eccl. Hier._ ch. iii. Mr. Lupton’s

translation, pp. 78-94. Whilst not disapproving in _others_ daily

attendance ‘ad mensam Dominicam,’ Erasmus tells us that Colet did not make

a _daily_ habit of it _himself_.--Eras. _Op._ iii. p. 459, E.

[143] _Eccl. Hier._ ch. ii. Colet speaks in his abstract (Mr. Lupton’s

translation, p. 65) of the Christian being ‘brought to the captain of the

army, the bishop,’ that by the soldier’s oath, &c. ‘_he may own himself a

soldier of Christ_.’ He concludes this section as follows:--

‘Such was the custom and ceremony of baptism and the washing of

regeneration in the primitive church, instituted by the holy apostles,

_whereby the more excellent baptism of the inner man is signified_. And

this form differs very greatly from the one we make use of in this age.

And herein I own that I marvel!... The apostles being fully taught by

Jesus Christ, knew well what are convenient symbols and appropriate signs

for the mysteries. So that one may suspect either rashness or neglect on

the part of their successors in what has been added to or taken from their

ordinances.’

Then follows a section on the ‘spiritual contemplation of baptism,’ in

which occurs the passage beginning ‘Gracious God!’ &c.--_Infra_, p. 73.

_Eccl. Hier._ ch. ii. s. 3, pp. 76, 77 of Mr. Lupton’s translation.

[144] ‘Meanwhile the foster father who has undertaken the rearing of the

child in Christ, gives a pledge and sacred promise, on behalf of the

infant, of all things that true Christianity demands, viz. a renouncing of

all sin, &c.... And this he says, _not in the child’s stead_, since it

would be a fond thing for another to speak in place of one that was in

ignorance; but when, in his own person, he speaks of renouncing, he

professes that _he will bring it to pass, so far as he can_, that the

little infant, as soon as ever it is capable of instruction, shall in

reality and in his life utterly renounce, &c....

‘When the bishop, I say, hears him saying, “I renounce,” _which means, as

Dionysius explains it_, “_I will take care that the infant_ renounce,”

&c.... Thus we see how in the primitive church, by the ordinance of the

apostles, infants were not admitted unreservedly to the sacred rights, but

on condition only that some one would be surety for them, that when they

came to years of discretion they should thenceforward set before them in

reality the pattern of Christ.

‘Mark thus how great a burden he takes upon himself who promises to be a

godfather,’ &c.--Mr. Lupton’s translation of Colet’s abstract of the

_Eccl. Hier._ ch. viii. pp. 158, 159.

[145] ‘Men execute the previous decisions of God, and by the ministry of

men that is at length disclosed on earth,’ &c.--Mr. Lupton’s translation,

p. 149. ‘It must be heedfully marked, lest bishops should be presumptuous,

that it is not the part of men to loose the bonds of sins: nor does the

power pertain to them of loosing or binding anything.’... ‘And if they do

not proceed according to revelation, moved by the Spirit of God ... they

abuse the power given to them, both to the blaspheming of God and the

destruction of the Church.’--_Ibid._ 150.

[146] See Eras. _Op._ iii. p. 459, C and D.

[147] Mr. Lupton’s translation of Colet’s abstract of the _Eccl. Hier._ p.

83. This was a strictly Dionysian thought and one shared also by Pico.

‘The little affection of an old man or an old woman to Godward (were it

never so small), he set more by than all his own knowledge as well of

natural things as godly.’... He writeth thiswise [to Politian], ‘Love God

(while we be in this body), we rather may than either know Him, or by

speech utter Him.’--Life of Picus, E. of Mirandula, _Sir Thomas More’s

Works_, p. 7.

To the same purport is the passage from Ficino, quoted by Colet in his MS.

on the ‘Romans.’--Vide supra, p. 37.

[148] Mr. Lupton’s translation, pp. 76, 77.

[149] Ibid. p. 73.

[150] Mr. Lupton’s translation, pp. 150, 151.

[151] Mr. Lupton’s translation, pp. 90, 91. See also pp. 123-126, where

Colet inveighs warmly against the nomination by secular princes of worldly

bishops.

[152] Camb. University Library, MS. Gg. 4, 26. There is a beautiful copy

embodying these corrections in the hand of Peter Meghen, in the Library of

Emmanuel College, Cambridge, MS. 3, 3, 12.

[153] Emmanuel Col. MS. leaf e, 5: ‘Homo unus omnium divinissimus et

consideratissimus.’ See also leaf k, 6.

[154] Leaf a, 5. ‘Quod tamen facit ubique modestissime homo piissimus.’

[155] ‘Velit ergo prudentissimus Paulus.’--Leaf k, 3.

[156] Leaf k, 6, and p. 8.

[157] In another place Colet writes, ‘Fuit illa græca natio illis argutiis

versatilibus humani ingenii semper prompta ad arguendum et

redarguendum.’--Leaf c, 2.

[158] Emmanuel Col. MS. 3, 3, 12, leaf a, 4, and Appendix (B, a).

[159] Abridged quotation. Leaf a, 5, and Appendix (B, a).

[160] Emmanuel Col. MS. leaf a, 5, 6, and Appendix (B, a).

[161] Leaf b, 4, and Appendix (B, b). See a very similar remark with

reference to St. Paul and Dionysius in _Joan. Fran. Pici Mirand. De Studio

Div. et Hum. Philosophiæ_ lib. i. ch. iii. J. F. Pico was living when

Colet was in Italy.

[162] Appendix (B, c).

[163] Appendix (B, d). Emmanuel Coll. MS. leaf b, 6, and b, 8.

In Aedibus Frobenianis apud inclytam Germaniae Basiliam; mense