History of the christian church

The Reformers before the Reformation published in 1841. He followed Flacius, Walch and others before him who had treated them as precursors of the Reformation. Hase: Kirchengesch., II. 551; Köstlin: Leben Luthers, I. 18; Funk, p. 382, and others still hold to this classification. Loofs: Dogmengesch., p. 658, takes another view and says "they were not Reformers before the Reformation, nevertheless they bear witness that, in the closing years of the Middle Ages, the preparation made for the Reformation was not, merely negative." Janssen, I. 745, treats them as followers of Huss.

6¹¹⁶⁶ Goch’s words are Sola scriptura canonica fidem indubiam et irrefragabilem habet auctoritatem. The writer in Wetzer-Welte concedes Goch’s depreciation of the Schoolmen and of Thomas Aquinas in particular, whom at one point Goch calls a prince of error—princeps erroris.

7¹¹⁶⁷ Ullmann, I. 91, 149 sqq., asserts that Goch stated the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Clemen and the writer in Wetzer-Welte modify this judgment. Walch, as quoted by Ullmann, p. 150, gives 9 points in which Goch anticipated the Reformation.

8¹¹⁶⁸ Catholic writers like Funk, p. 390, Wetzer-Welte and Janssen, I. 746, speak of Wesel as one of the false teachers of the Middle Ages and find many of the doctrines of the Reformation in his writings.

9¹¹⁶⁹ For detailed account of the trial, Ullman, I. 383-405.

0¹¹⁷⁰ During his trial, Wesel acknowledged the following writing as his: 1, Super modo obligationis legum humanarum ad quemdam Nicolaum de Bohemia. 2, De potestate actes. 3, De jeuniis. 4, De indulgentiis.

1¹⁷¹ The name, "John" is disputed by Muurling and Wetzer-Welte and shown by Paulus to be a mistake. Gansfort, or Goesevort, was the name of the village from which the family came.

2¹¹⁷² See Ritschl: The Christian Doctr. of Justification and Reconciliation. Edinb. ed., p. 481 sq.

3¹¹⁷³ In a letter accompanying the gift, Honius wrote that the words "This is my body" meant "This represents my body." For Luther’s reply, see Köstlin: Luthers Leben, I. 701. For the lat edd. of Wessel’s works, see Doedes, pp. 435, 442. Doedes in Studien u. Kritiken, for 1870, p. 409, asks, "Who in the latter half of the 15th cent. had so much genuine faith and evangelical knowledge as this man who was always the scholar of the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing else?"

4¹¹⁷⁴ The translation is from Schottmüller, pp. 2, 3. This writer gives two of Savonarola’s letters to his mother.

5¹¹⁷⁵ The one, the Vulgate printed in Basel, 1491, the other in Venice, 1492. See Luotto: Dello Studio, etc. This author draws a parallel between Leo XIII.’s commendation of the study of the Bible and Savonarola’s emphasis upon it as the seat of authority.

6¹¹⁷⁶ Sermon, March 14, 1498. Schottmüller, p. 111. Roscoe: Life of Lorenzo, ch. VIII., says: "The divine word from the lips of Savonarola, descended not amongst his audience like the dews of heaven. It was the piercing hail, the sweeping whirlwind, the destroying sword."

7¹¹⁷⁷ Villari, I. 183 sqq.

8¹¹⁷⁸ So Nov. 1, 1494, etc. See Schottmüller, p. 28 sqq. The motto, cito et velociter, was repeated to Savonarola by the Virgin in his vision of heaven, 1495.

9¹¹⁷⁹ Rudelbach, pp. 333-346, presents an elaborate statement of Savonarola’s attitude to the Bible, and quotes from one of his sermons on the Exodus thus: "The theologians of our time have soiled everything by their unseemly disputations as with pitch. They do not know a shred of the Bible, yea, they do not even know the names of its books."

0¹¹⁸⁰ Lucas, pp. 55-61, gives a translation of the interview. Also Perrens, II. 167-177.

1¹⁸¹ Luotto asserts that the dilemma is presented of the genuineness of Savonarola’s predictions or downright imposture and he boldly supports the former view. Pastor, Villari, Lucas and others show that we are not narrowed down to this dilemma.

2¹¹⁸² In his first letter to Savonarola July 21, 1495. See the text in O’Neil, p. 10 sqq. Savonarola’s reply, p. 26 sqq.

3¹¹⁸³ Villari I. 855 and Bonet-Maury, p. 232.

4¹¹⁸⁴ This is the view of Lucas, pp. 69 sq., Pastor, Creighton, III. 248, who pronounces "the prophetic claims a delusion," and Villari. The last author says, I. 362 sqq., "Is it not possible that Savonarola was intoxicated by the feeling that the earlier predictions had been fulfilled, and, as the difficulty of maintaining his position in Florence in the last years of his life increased, he felt forced to appeal more and more to this endowment as though it were real?" Rudelbach gives a long chapter to Savonarola’s prophecies, pp. 281-333. Pastor discusses Savonarola’s alleged prophetic gift thoroughly in his Gesch. d. Päpste, III. 146 sqq., and in refutation of Luotto in his Zur Beurtheilung.

5¹¹⁸⁵ So Pastor, III. 141. The account given of Lorenzo’s interview with Savonarola is based upon Burlamacchi and Mirandola. Politian, in a letter to Jacopo Antiquario, gave a different amount of the three demands and made no mention of Savonarola’s demand that Florence be restored her liberties. He also added that Savonarola left the room pronouncing upon the dying man a blessing. Politian’s version is accepted by Roscoe, ch. X., Creighton, III. 296-299 and Lucas, 83 sq. The version given above is accepted by Villari, 168 sqq., W. Clark, p. 116, and the rigid critic Hase, p. 20. Ranke did not see his way clear to deny its truth and Reumont, II. 443, who denied it in the 1st ed. of his Lorenzo de’ Medici, hesitates in the 2d ed. Pastor proceeds upon the basis of its truth but expresses doubt in a note.

6¹¹⁸⁶ One of Savonarola’s propositions was to levy taxes on real property alone and, it seems, he was not averse to taxing Church property. Landucci, p. 119; Villari, I. 269, 298; II. 81.

7¹¹⁸⁷ See the document in Lucas, p. 180, and O’Neil, p. 9 sq. The original in Rudelbach.

8¹¹⁸⁸ Zur Beurtheilung, p. 66. Pastor is refuting Luotto’s position.

9¹¹⁸⁹ The Italian text in Perrens, I. 471 sq. The sermons of this period were on Amos, Zachariah, Micah and Ruth. According to Burlamacchi, the sultan had some of them translated into Turkish. Villari, II. 87.

0¹¹⁹⁰ Dio Kultur d. Renaissance, II. 200 sq.

1¹⁹¹ The bull is given by Villari, II. 189 sq.; Pastor, III. 411 sq.

2¹¹⁹² Published in 1497, both in Latin and Etruscan, the Etruscan translation being by Savonarola himself.

3¹¹⁹³ Pastor: Beurtheilung, p. 71 sqq.; Villari, II. 252.

4¹¹⁹⁴ See Schnitzer: Feuerprobe, p. 144.

5¹¹⁹⁵ See Alexander’s letters in Perrens, I. 481-485; Pastor, III. 418 sq. O’Neil finds no room for them.

6¹¹⁹⁶ See Schnitzer: Feuerprobe, p. 38 sqq.

7¹¹⁹⁷ For the originals, see Perrens, I. 487-492. Excerpts are given by Villari, II. 292 sq. See also Hase, p. 59, Creighton, III. 237. Of the genuineness of the letters, Villari says there can be no doubt.

8¹¹⁹⁸ Landucci’s account of the fuoco, p. 165 sqq., is most vivid. For Cerretani’s account, Schnitzer’s ed., 59-71.

9¹¹⁹⁹ See Schnitzer: Feuerprobe, p. 49 sq.

0¹²⁰⁰ Schnitzer, p. 54.

1²⁰¹ Schnitzer, p. 64 sq., who goes into the matter at length, and Villari, II. 306 sqq., agree in the opinion that Alexander fully sympathized with the ordeal. They also agree that the Arrabbiati were largely, if not wholly, responsible for the suggestion of the ordeal and making it a matter of public appointment. Pastor, III. 429, represents Alexander as wholly disapproving the ordeal.

2¹²⁰² There is a difference among the contemporary writers about the figures. Landucci, p. 168, gives the length at 50 braccia, width 10 and height 4; Bartolomeo Cerretaui, Schnitzer ed. p. 62, the width as 1 braccio and the height 2.

3¹²⁰³ Schnitzer, p. 159 sq., who says the signory and the Franciscans joined "in packing the cards."

4¹²⁰⁴ Etiam per torturam. Alexander’s letter in Lucas, p. 372.

5¹²⁰⁵ The reports of Savonarola’s trial and confessions are of uncertain value, as they were garbled by the reporter Ser Ceccone. See Pastor, III. 432 sq. Landucci says that from 9 A. M. till nightfall the cries of Domenico and Sylvestro under the strain of torture could be heard in the city prison.

6¹²⁰⁶ See the miserable letters sent by the papal commission to Alexander, Lucas, pp. 434-436.

7¹²⁰⁷ Weimar ed. XII. 248. Twenty-three edd. of Savonarola’s exposition appeared within two years of the author’s death and, before half a century elapsed, it had been translated into Spanish, German, English and French. In Italy, it was used as a tract and put into the hands of prisoners condemned to death. It was embodied in the Salisbury Primer,1538, and in Henry VIII.’s Primer,1543.

8¹²⁰⁸ See the excellent remarks of Burckhardt: Renaiss., II. 200.

9¹²⁰⁹ Pastor, III. 436 says that Savonarola was always true to Catholic dogma in theory. His only departure was disobeying the pope and appealing to a council. Father Proctor, Pref. to Triumph of the Cross, p. xvii, calls Savonarola "Of Catholics the most Catholic."

0¹²¹⁰ Cardinal Capecelatro in his Life of St. Ph. Neri. trsl. by Father Pope, I. 278, says, "Philip often read Savonarola’s writings especially the Triumph of the Cross, and used them in the instruction of his spiritual children." Quoted by Proctor, Preface, p. 6. For Catherine de Ricci, see her Life by F. M. Capes, Lond.,1908, pp. 48, 49, 53,270 sq. She was devoted in her cult of Savonarola and wrote a laud to him. This was the chief objection to her beatification in 1716, but the arguments for an unfavorable judgment of Savonarola were answered on that occasion.

1²¹¹ Villari, II. 417, following Schwab and other Catholic writers. The interpretation put upon Benedict’s words is denied by Pastor: Beurtheilung, p. 16 sq., and Lucas.

2¹²¹² Father O’Neil, a Dominican, in his work, Was Savonarola really excommunicated? takes this position and says, p. 132, "Alexander did not inflict any censure on Savonarola." The fact, however, is that in his letters to the signory, Alexander proceeded on the basis of his brief of excommunication. He stated distinctly the reasons for his being excommunicated and he called upon the priests of Florence to publicly announce his sentence of May 12,1497, upon pain of drawing ecclesiastical censure upon themselves. O’Neil replies that a papal decision, based upon a false charge, is invalid, p. 175 sqq.

3¹²¹³ Rechtlos hingemordert, Kirchengesch., p. 503. Ranke’s statement that view making Savonarola a hero is a Dominican legend "worked out after the preacher’s death" has been rendered untenable by the latest research by the eminent Savonarola scholar, the Catholic Professor Schnitzer. See his Feuerprobe, p. 152.

4¹²¹⁴ Sermon VIII. in Prato ed. quoted by Rudelbach. Bayonne wrote his work in 1879 to dispose of this charge and to prepare the way for Savonarola’s canonization.

5¹²¹⁵ Canonizat eum Christus per nos, rumpanter etiam papae et papistae simul. Weimar ed. XII. 248.

6¹²¹⁶ Kirchengesch., II. 566.

7¹²¹⁷ So sober a writer as Reuss, p. 607, speaks of the commentaries on the Canticles, as being without number.

8¹²¹⁸ Summa, I. 1 art. x.

9¹²¹⁹ See Lupton, p. 104, and Seebohm, pp. 30, 124 sq., 445-447.

0¹²²⁰ Farrar, p. 295.

1²²¹ The Obedience of a Christian Man, Parker Soc., p. 303 sq. The author of the Epp. obscurorum virorum speaks of having listened to a lecture on poetry, in which Ovid was explained naturaliter, literaliter, historialiter et spiritualiter. In his preface to the Pentateuch, p. 394, Tyndale said, "The Scripture hath but one simple, literal sense whose light the owls cannot abide."

2¹²²² Lyra’s work was printed 8 times before 1500. The ed. printed at Rome,1471-1473, is in 5 vols.

3¹²²³ De veritate scr. sac., I. 275. Wyclif quotes Lyra, II. 100, etc.

4¹²²⁴ Prol. 2. Omnes presupponunt sensum Lit. tanquam fundamentum, unde sicut aedificium declinans a fundamento disponitur ad ruinam expositio mystica discrepans a sensu lit. reputanda est indecens et inepta. See Reuss, p. 610.

5¹²²⁵ Du Pin’s ed.,1728, I. 3, etc.

6¹²²⁶ Sensus lit. scripturae est utrobique verus, De ver., I. 73,122.

7¹²²⁷ Gerson, De sensu lit. scr. sac. Du Pin’s ed.,1728, I. 2 sq., says, sensus lit. semperest verus and sensus lit. judicandus est Prout ecclesia a Sp. S. inspirata determinat et non ad cujuslibet arbitrium.

8¹²²⁸ Paraclesis.

9¹²²⁹ Falk, pp. 24, 91-97, gives a full list with the places of issue. Walther gives a list of 120 MSS. of the Bible in German translation. The Lenox Library in New York has a copy of the Mazarin Bible. The first book bearing date, place and name of printers was the Psalterium issued by Fust and Schöffer, Aug. 14,1457. See Copinger: Incunabula biblica or the First Half Century of the Latin Bible, Lond.,1892.

0¹²³⁰ Often only a brief selection of Psalms was given. Such collections were meant as manuals of devotion and perhaps also to be used In memorizing. See Falk, p. 28 sqq.

1²³¹ Falk, p. 32. The word postilla comes from post illa verba sicut textus evangelii and its use goes back to the 13th century.

2¹²³² Janssen, I. 23, 75 attempts to establish it as a fact that the copies struck off were numerous. He cites in confirmation the edition of the Latin Grammar of Cochlaeus,1511, which included 1,000 copies, and of a work of Bartholomew Arnoldi, 1517, 2,000 copies. Sebastian Brant declared that all lands were full of the Scriptures, and the Humanist, Celti, that the priests could find a copy in every inn if they chose to look. 6,000 copies of Tyndale’s New Testament were printed in a single edition. The Koberger firm of Nürnberg has the honor of having produced no less than 26 editions, 1476-1520. Its Vulgate was on sale in London as early as 1580.

3¹²³³ Hase: Ch. Hist., II. 2, p. 493. Faulkner: Erasmus, p. 127 sqq. Dorpius’ letter is given by Nichols, II. 168 sqq.

4¹²³⁴ Migne CCXIV:695 sq.

5¹²³⁵ Ne praemissos libros laici habeant in vulgari translatos arctissime inhibemus, Mansi, XXIII. 194.

6¹²³⁶ Prohibendam esse vulgarem translationem librorum sac, etc. Contra vanam curiositatem, Du Pin’s ed., I. 105.

7¹²³⁷ Basel ed., V. 117 sq.

8¹²³⁸ Falk, p. 18. Janssen, I. 72, is careful to tell that the peasant, Hans Werner, who could read, knew his Bible so well by heart that he was able to give the places where this text and that were found.

9¹²³⁹ Es ist fast ein bös Ding dass man die Bibel zu deutsch druckt. Quoted by Frietsche-Nestle in Herzog, II. 704.

0¹²⁴⁰ The text is given In Mirbt: Quellen zur Gesch. d. Papsttums, p. 173.

1²⁴¹ Quis enim dabit idiotis et indoctis hominibus et femineo sexui, etc.

2¹²⁴² Reuss, p. 534. The last four editions of the old German Bible were 1490, Augsburg, 1494, Lübeck, Augsburg, 1508, 1518.

3¹²⁴³ We might have expected some definite utterance in regard to Bible translations from Pecock, in his Repressor of Overmuch Blaming of the Clergy, 1450-1460. What he says is in the progress of his refutation of the Lollards’ position that all things necessary to be believed and done are to be found in the Scriptures. He adds, Rolls Series, I. 119, "And thou shalt not find expressly in Holy Scripture that the New and Old Testaments should be writ in English tongue to laymen or in Latin tongue to clergy."

4¹²⁴⁴ Pref. to the Pentateuch, Parker Soc. ed., Tyndale’s Doctr. Works, p. 392. Arundel did not adduce any errors in Wyclif’s version. Abbot Gasquet, in The Old Engl. Bible, p. 108, and Eve of the Reform., p. 209 sqq., attempts to show that the Bible was not a proscribed book in England before the Reformation. The testimonies he adduces, commending the Scriptures, are so painfully few as to seem to make his case a hopeless one. Dixon, Hist. of the Ch. of Engl., I. 451, speaks of Arundel’s "proclaiming the war of authority against English versions."

5¹²⁴⁵ Cochlaeus informed the English authorities of Tyndale’s presence in Wittenberg and his proposed issue of the English N. T., in order to prevent "the importation of the pernicious merchandise." Tonstall professed to have discovered no less than 2000 errors in Tyndale’s N. T. See Fulke’s Defence in Parker Soc. ed., p. 61. Tyndale, Pref. to the Pent., p. 373, says, that "the papists who had found all their Scripture before in their Duns or such like devilish doctrine, now spy out mistakes in my transl., even if it be only the dot of an i."

6¹²⁴⁶ See Baird: Hist. of the Huguenots, I. 57; Lindsay: The Reformation, II. 80.

7¹²⁴⁷ Book of Martyrs, V. 355.

8¹²⁴⁸ Ed. Reuss: D. deutschen Historienbibeln vor d. Erfindung d. Bücherdrucks,1855.—J. T. Berjeau: Biblia pauperum, Lond.,1859.—Laib u. Schwarz: D. Biblia pauperum n. d. original in d. Lyceumbibl. zu Constanz, Zürich,1867,—Th. Merzdorf: D. deutschen Historienbibeln nach 40 Hdschriften, Tüb., 1870, 2 vols.—R. Muther: D. ältesten deutschen Bilderbibeln, 1883.—Falk: D. Bibel an Ausgange d.MA, p. 77 sqq.—Biblia pauperum n. d. Wolfenbüttel Exemplare jetzt in d. Bibl. nationale, ed. P. Heintz, mit Einleitung über d. Entstehung d. biblia pauperum, by W. L. Schreiber, Strass., 1903.—Artt. Bilderbibel, in Herzog, III 214 and Historienbibel, in Herzog, VIII. 155 sqq. and Bib. pauperum, in Wetzer-Welte, II. 776 sq.—Reuss: Gesch. d. N. T., 524 sqq.

9¹²⁴⁹ The Constance copy in the Rosengarten museum contains many pictures, with explanatory notes on each page. I was particularly struck with the execution of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem.

0¹²⁵⁰ Bezold, p. 112, speaks of the number of these manuals as massenhaft and Dr. Barry, Cambr. Hist., I. 641, with rhetorical unprecision speaks of them as sold in all book-markets. See J. Geffcken: D. Bibelcatechismen d. 15 Jahrh., Leipz.,1855.—B. Hasak. D. christl. Glaube d. deutschen Volkes beim Schlusse d. MA, Regensb., 1868.—P. Bahlmann: Deutschland’s kathol. Katechismen his zum Ende d. 16 Jahrh., Münster, 1894.—F. Falk: D. deutschen Sterbebüchlein bis 1520, Col., 1890. Also Drei Beichtbüchlein nach den 10 Geboten, Münster, 1907. Also D. Druckkunst im Dienste d. Kirche bis 1520, Col., 1879.—F. W. Battenberg; Joh. Wolff, Beichtbüchlein, Giessen, 1907.—Janssen-Pastor, I. 82 sqq.—Achelis: Prak. Theol., II. 497 sqq.—Wiegand: D. Apost. Symbol in MA, p. 50 sqq

1²⁵¹ Printed at Mainz, by Peter Schöffer,1498, 47 pp.

2¹²⁵² See list of the editions in Bahlmann, p. 13 sq. The Cologne ed. of 1474 is in the London museum.

3¹²⁵³ Bahlmann, pp. 17-19. The first dated MS. copy is 1470.

4¹²⁵⁴ Bahlmann, p. 7, gives as the probable date of composition,1450. The 1st printed ed., Augsburg, 1484. See also Geffcken, pp. 107-119.

5¹²⁵⁵ Bahlmann gives it in full, pp. 63-74.

6¹²⁵⁶ See Falk: