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ERASMUS. 



ERASTUS, THOMAS. 



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for some Ume at Cambridge, where he was appointed Lady Margaret 

 professor (in divinity), and also lectured on Greek. His lodging was 

 in Queen's College, in the grounds of which Erasmus's Walk is still 

 ehown. But not finding his expectations likely to be fulfilled, he 

 accepted an invitation from the archduke, afterwards Charles V., and 

 went to Brabant in 1514, with the office of councillor, and a salary of 

 200 florins. After this we find him resident sometimes in the Nether- 

 lands, sometimes at Basel, where the great work in which he had been 

 many years engaged, the first edition of the New Testament in Greek, 

 was published in 1516, accompanied by a new Latin translation. Some 

 amusing specimens of the objections made to this undertaking by the 

 ignorant clergy will be found in his 'Letters' (vi. 2). 



At the dawn of the Reformation, Erasmus, who in his witty 

 writings had exposed many abuses of the Roman Catholic Church, 

 especially those connected with the monastic system, was much 

 embarrassed. It is clear that at heart he weut a long way with the 

 reformers, whose tenets he cautiously abstains from censuring, even in 

 letters to dignitaries of the church, where he speaks of Luther him- 

 self in no very friendly terms. But he was of a timid temper, 

 disinclined to sacrifice either life or comfort to his opinions, for he 

 Bays of himself, in a letter to Pace, dean of St. Paul's, "Even if 

 Luther had spoken everything in the most unobjectionable manner, 

 I had no inclination to die for the sake of truth. Every man has not 

 the courage to make a martyr; and I am afraid, if I were put to the 

 trial, I nhould imitate St. Peter." This backwardness brought on him 

 gome harsh rebukes from Luther, who nevertheless had an esteem for 

 his person as well as a regard for his talents ; and calls him, in a letter 

 written in 1519 (vi. 3), "Decus nostrum et spes nostra" ("our glory 

 and our hope ''). Neither did the zealots of the other side regard 

 him with more favour. Erasmus, it was said, laid the egg, and Luther 

 hatched it ; and no doubt the pungency of his satire had its effect in 

 opening men's eyes, and preparing for the graver warfare of the great 

 reformer. 



He removed to Basel in 1521, where, in 1522, his celebrated 'Col- 

 loquies ' were published. They were composed ostensibly to supply 

 young persons with an easy school-book in the Latin language, and at 

 the same time to teach them religion and morals. For the purpose 

 of teaching the Latin language this little book seems peculiarly well 

 adapted : it was long used for this purpose in England, in the northern 

 parts of which it was, till very lately, in use, and perhaps still is in 

 some places. In these 'Colloquies,' which are generally very amusing, 

 Era-mus has made some of bis smartest attacks on various super- 

 stitions of the Roman Catholic Church. On this account the book 

 was prohibited. In 1529 Erasmus removed to Freiburg, when the 

 reformed party acquired the ascendancy in Basel : for to the last he 

 never threw off an external adherence at least to the ancient faith. 

 But in 1535 he returned to his former place of abode, endeared as it 

 was by the presence of hi< most valued friends, in hope of renovating 

 his declining health. About this time he received testimonies of high 

 nspect from Pope Paul III., who gave him a benefice, aud expressed 

 the intention of raising him to the rank of cardinal. But these 

 favours came too late to benefit him. He died at Basel, July 12, 1536, 

 leaving an enduring reputation as the first wit of his age, the man of 

 most general learning, and the most active aud serviceable instrument 

 in bringing about the revival of sound learning. Nor were his con- 

 tributions small towards the success of the Reformation ; he was an 

 able Rapper, though he wanted energy to storm the breach with 

 Luther and his associates. 



His 'Encomium Morise' ('Praise of Folly'), written in England iu 

 1510, a very witty production, was meant to show that there are 

 fooU iu all place?, however Ugb, even in the court of Rome. It had 

 a great run, aud Leo X. is said to have been much amused by it ; but 

 at the same time it made its author many enemies among those who 

 loved the abuses or were too partial to see the faults of the church, 

 and did more than any of his works, except the ' Colloquies,' to fix 

 the charge of heterodoxy on him. The 'Adagia' (1498), a large 

 collection of proverbs, explained and commented upon with great 

 learning, is another of his most interesting works. 'Enchiridion 

 Militis Christian! ' (1503) is a valuable manual of practical religion ; 

 the ' Ciceronianus ' is an elegant and stinging satire on the folly of 

 those pedants who, with a blind devotion, refused to use in their 

 compositions any words or phrases not to be found in Cioero. 

 Erasmus's own Latin style is clear and elegant : not always strictly 

 classical, but like that of one who spoke and wrote Latin as readily 

 as his mother tongue. His ' Letters,' comprising those of many learned 

 men to himself, form a most valuable and amusing collection to those 

 who are interested in the manners and literary histories of the age 

 in which they were written ; and several of them iu particular are 

 highly valuable to Englishmen as containing a picture of the manners 

 of the English of that day. Of his numerous works, those which we 

 have mentioned are most likely to be read with pleasure in the present 

 day ; the rest of them consist chiefly of translations, theology, grammar, 

 and occasional treatises addressed to his friends and patrons. 



Hi greatest work however was the edition of the New Testament, 

 in Qreek, from manuscripts, for the first time ; for though that 

 portion of Scripture was printed in the Conpluteusian Polyglot so 

 early as 1514, it was not published till 1522 ; while the Editio Priuceps 

 of Erasmus was published in 1516. It is much commended by 



BIOCJ. DIV. VOL. II. 



Michaelis, who says " Natural abilities, profound learning, a readiness 

 in detecting errors, with every qualification that is requisite to produce 

 critical sagacity, Erasmus possessed in the highest degree ; and perhaps 

 there never existed a more able editor of the New Testament. As an 

 edition for common use however, it is of course superseded, in conse- 

 quence of the accumulated knowledge of later labourers, and the 

 great improvement in biblical criticism. Erasmus superintended the 

 first Greek edition of the Geography of Ptolemxus, which was printed 

 I at Basel by Frobeuius in 1533, 4to. The edition was founded ou good 

 j manuscript, but it contains numerous typographical errors. At Rot- 

 | terdam there is a fine bronze statue of Erasmus, erected iu 1622 ; at 

 i Basel there is a portrait of him by Holbein. The last edition of the 

 complete works of Erasmus is that of Leyden, by Leclerc, 1703, 

 10 vols. folio, often bound iu eleven. 



ERASTUS, THOMAS, a physician, and the author of various 

 medical works, but better known for the u j e made of his name in 

 ecclesiastical discussions than in connection with his own profession, 

 was born at Baden in Switzerland, on the 7th of September 1524. 

 He obtained the rudiments of his education iu his native placo, aud 

 studied in the neighbouring city of Basel in 1540. There in 1514 he 

 was attacked by the plague, and narrowly escaped death. He is said 

 to have either on that or some other occasion lost the use of his right 

 hand, but to have acquired the power of writing rapidly with the loft. 

 At Basel he seems to have studied divinity, philosophy, and literature. 

 He afterwards went to Bologna, where he studied medicine, and 

 appears to have speedily acquired a high scientific reputation. After 

 having remained nine years in Italy, he went to Germany, aud was by 

 the Elector Palatine Frederic III. made professor of physic iu the 

 University of Heidelberg. The scientific character which he acquired 

 in his cwn profession appears to have been that of one who did not 

 take dogmas or theories for granted, but acted on induction from his 

 own experience. He was appointed phvsicUu to the prince, aud held 

 rank as councillor of state in the Palatinate. He soon afterwards 

 entered into polemical controversy. In 1564 a conference was held 

 in the monastery of Maulbronn ou the question of the real presence, 

 or rather on the question whether the reference to the body aud blood 

 was not entirely figurative, at which Erastus maintained the view that 

 it is figurative. He soon afterwards became involved iu his celebrated 

 controversy as to excommunication. A sort of fanaticism in favour of 

 the use of ecclesiastical censures and punishments had been introduced 

 by Olevianus, a refugee from Trier or Treves, and by several fugitives 

 from the cruelties of the Duko of Alva in the Low Countries, and had 

 spread among the Protestants of the Palatinate. Erastus termed it 

 ' febris excommunicatoria,' and thought it an unwise policy for the 

 Protestants, surrounded by their enemies, to be zealous in cutting off 

 members from their own communion. He examined the principles 

 and biblical authority of ecclesiastical censures, and carried on a con- 

 troversy in which* he was violently opposed by Dathenus, and more 

 mildly by his friend Beza. ThU controversy would have probably 

 died as a local dispute, had it not been revived by Castelvetro, who 

 had married the widow of Erastus, publishing from his papers the 

 theses called ' Explicatio Quaestionia gravissirnae de Excommunicatione,' 

 which bears to have been written in 1568, aud was thus published in 

 1589. The general principle adopted by Erastus is, that ecclesiastical 

 censures and other inflictions are not the proper method of punishing 

 crimes, but that the administration of the penal law, and of the law 

 for compelling performance of civil obligations, should rest with the 

 temporal magistrate. He held that the proper ground on which a 

 person could be prohibited from receiving the ordinances of a church 

 such as the sacrament or communion of the Lord's Supper was not 

 vice or immorality, but a difference in theological opinion with the 

 church from which he fought the privilege. The church was to decide 

 who were its members, and thereby entitled to partake in its privi- 

 leges, but was not entitled to take upon itself the punishment of 

 offences by withholding these privileges, or by inflicting any other 

 punishments, on the ground of moral misconduct. 



Few authors so often referred to have been so little read as Erastus. 

 The original theses are very rare. An English translation was pub- 

 lished iu 1669, aud was re edited by the Rev. Robert Lee in 1815. By 

 some inscrutable exaggeration, it had become the popular view of the 

 doctrines of Erastus, that his leading principle was to maintain the 

 authority of the civil magistrate over the conscience, and to subject 

 all ecclesiastical bodies to his direction and control, both in their 

 doctrine and their discipline. In the discussions in the Church of 

 Scotland, of which the result was the secession of a large body of the 

 clergy and people because it was found that the Church could not 

 make a law to nullify the operation of lay patronage, those who main- 

 tained within the church the principle that it had no such power were 

 called Enistians "as a term of reproach. As iu all cases where such 

 words as Socinian, Arian, Antinomian, c., are used iu polemical 

 debates, the party rejected with disdain the name thus applied to it 

 But it is singular that iu the course of this dispute no one seems to 

 have thought of explaining that the controversy in which Krastus was 

 engaged was about .1 totally different matter, aud that only a few 

 general and very vague remarks iu his writings have given occasion for 

 the supposition that he must have held the principle that all ecclesi- 

 astical authorities are subordinate to the civil. Erastus died at Basel 

 on the 31st of December 15S'', leaving a considerable sum for the 



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