Noble character of Tauler.

153

himself against the extravagances of asceticism. There are some who thoughtlessly maim and torture their miserable flesh, and yet leave untouched the inclinations which are the root of evil in their hearts. Ah, my friend, what hath thy poor body done to thee that thou shouldst so torment it? Oh, folly! mortify and slay thy sins, not thine own flesh and blood.' When we remember that the sermons from which the above extracts are quoted were written chiefly in the first half of the fourteenth century, we shall appreciate what remarkable productions they were for so early a date. Hallam calls Tauler 'the first German writer in prose.' ' Heinsius says that Tauler, in his German sermons, mingled many expressions invented by himself, which were the first attempt at a philosophical language, and displayed surprising eloquence for the age in which he lived. It may be justly said of him that he first gave to prose that direction in which Luther afterwards advanced so far.'' Luther himself deeply valued Tauler, and said 'he was a teacher such as had been none since the time of the apostles.' 3

'3

But it was the character of Tauler, even more than his writings, which helped to recommend the doctrines he taught. At a time of deep depression, when his countrymen were ready to sink into despair, Tauler stood forth as their undaunted champion against the formidable combination of temporal and spiritual weapons wielded by the King of France and the Pope. When Strasbourg was visited by a deadly pestilence, it was Tauler who sustained

'Literature of Europe, i. 48. In another passage of the same work (ii. 378) the writer says: Tauler's sermons in the native language (German) are supposed to have been translated from Latin.'

3 See Ewald, p. 35.

2 Heinsius, iv. 76, quoted by Hallam. For an interesting account of the state of Germany in Tauler's time, see Miss Winkworth's Introduction to the translation of Theologia Germanica,' p. xxxiii. All the 'Friends of God' (Gottes Freunde) were more or less mystics.

the spirits of the survivors, and taught them to find in religion the support they sorely needed.' On the whole, Tauler was perhaps as exemplary a specimen of the Christian mystic as one can find in any age, and thoroughly deserved the high esteem in which he was held by William Law.

His reputation is all the more remarkable when we remember that the account of him has come down to us mainly through sources which were greatly prejudiced against him. Not only did he at Cologne oppose the pantheistic notion of the Beghards, not only did he fearlessly attack the vices and follies of his fellow-monks, but he set himself, so far as politics were concerned, against the whole hierarchy of Rome. He never separated, or wished to separate, himself from the Roman obedience; but he was always a patriot first, a Romanist afterwards. And, in point of fact, though perhaps unintentionally, he was, in his doctrine, as well as in his conduct, a precursor of Luther. Indeed, all these mystics of the fourteenth century, and Tauler more than all, tended to pave the way for the Reformation. And therefore Romish writers speak of them with grave suspicion, and while admitting their merits, warn their readers against the tendency of their teaching.2

Belonging to this same group, though somewhat later in date, is a little anonymous work entitled 'Theologia Germanica.' It contains a sort of summary of mystical

1 See inter alia, Winkworth, p. xlv., and Vaughan's Hours with the Mystics.

2 Maître Eckart fut en rapport avec les Beghards, Taulère fut un des plus ardents propaga eurs de l'association des Amis de Dieu, dont quelques-uns se séparèrent plus tard ouvertement de l'église, sous le nom de l'audois. Ces mystiques exaltés et hardis de la Germanie du xive siècle justifièrent, par l'influence diverse qu'eurent leurs écrits, et l'indulgence avec laquelle on les traita, et la défiance qu'ils avaient excitée.' (Bonnel: De la Controverse de Bossuet et de Fénelon sur le Quiétisme. Introd. xiii.) See also Ullmann's Reformatoren vor der Reformation.

theology, expressed in pointed and pithy language, and deeply affected many minds of various casts. William Law valued it very highly, and recommended it to the more advanced among his disciples, as appears from his second letter to John Wesley in 1738. Referring to some depreciation of the Theologia Germanica' which Wesley made in his reply to Law's first answer to him, Law writes: 'If you remember the "Theologia Germanica" so imperfectly as only to remember something of Christ our Pattern, but nothing express of Christ our Atonement, it is no wonder that you can remember so little of my conversations with you. I put that author into your hands not because he is fit for the first learners of the rudiments of Christianity, who are to be prepared for baptism, but because you were a clergyman, that had made profession of divinity, had read, as you said, with much approbation and benefit the two practical discourses ['Christian Perfection' and the Serious Call '], and many other good books; and because you seemed to me to be of a very inquisitive nature, and much inclined to meditation: in this view, nothing could be more reasonable for you than that book, which most deeply, excellently, and fully contains the whole system of Christian faith and practice, and is an excellent guide against all mistakes, both in faith and works. What that book has not taught you, I am content that you should not have learnt from me.'

Other minds of a very different tone from Law's were equally fascinated with the work. Luther published an edition of it,' and wrote in his Preface, 'This precious little book, poor and unadorned as it is in words of human wisdom, is so much the more costly and rich in Divine wisdom. As to myself, next to the Bible and S. Augustine,

Indeed, according to its English translator, he discovered the work and first brought it into notice in his edition of 1512.'

156

'De Imitatione Christi.

not one book has been published from which I have learned more of what God, Christ, man, and all things are. I thank God that I can thus seek and find my God in the German tongue, as I have hitherto not been able to find him, either in the Greek, Latin, or Hebrew tongues. God grant that this little book may become better known; so shall we find that the "German Theology" is without doubt the best theology. Arndt, a sort of reviver of Luther's work in the succeeding century, published a new edition and spoke most highly of it. Spener, a reviver of Arndt's work in the later part of the century, and the founder of the school of Halle pietists, says of it: 'It must be profitable, that this simple little book, the "German Theology," as well as the writings of Tauler, from both of which equally, next to the Scriptures, our dear Luther became what he was, should be more placed into the hands of students, and its use recommended to them.' Henry More, the famous Cambridge Platonist, speaks of it as 'that golden little book which first so pierced and affected me.' In later times Charles Kingsley admired it greatly, and wrote a preface to a new edition of it; and Ewald devotes more than twenty pages to this little work in his small volume on Mysticism." The Chevalier Bunsen placed it next to the Bible.

A somewhat kindred treatise to the 'Theologica Germanica,' but far better known, is the famous 'De Imitatione

Luther cannot be called a mystic, yet in many respects he agreed with the mystics. He was a professed enemy of the conventional Aristotle and the dogmas of the scholastic philosophy; he had some leaning towards Platonism, and was a deep admirer of Augustine; his regard for Tauler and the 'Theologia Germanica' appears from the text.

2 See A Short Defence of the Mystical Writers, &c., appended to 'Paradise Restored,' &c., by T. Hartley, Rector of Winwick.

See Ewald, p. 201.

See Life of Kingsley, i. 426; and Miss Winkworth's translation of Theologia Germanica. Seventeen editions of the work appeared during Luther's 5 Ewald, pp. 200-222.

lifetime.

Christi.'

'De Imitatione Christi.

157

But the two works have not altogether the same scope. The German Theology' is a mystic treatise, and nothing else; the author of the 'Imitation of Christ' was an ascetic at least as much as a mystic. None but those who have a tendency to mysticism would care about reading the former; but the latter has found readers and admirers among all classes, mystic and non-mystic, Romanist and Protestant. The former certainly helped to prepare the way for the Reformation. The latter, though it dwells largely upon the interior life, still devotes a fair share of its pages to the advocacy of doctrines and practices which were decidedly opposed to those of the Reformers. The 'Imitatio Christi,' however, may be regarded as a mystic treatise, inasmuch as most of the essential features of mysticism are found in it. The duty and blessedness of turning from the outer to the inner life, the entire abnegation of self,3 the doctrine of the cross expressed after the mystic fashion,' the Christian's pure and disinterested love to God, rest in God as the highest blessing, the union of the soul with God," the blessedness of silent

·

It is needless to enter into the vexed question of the authorship of the De Imitatione. Law evidently assumed it to be the work of à Kempis. Those who desire to see the claims of à Kempis fully stated may be referred to Mr. Kettlewell's interesting work on The Authorship of De Imitatione Christi.' 2 'Learn to despise exterior things, and give thyself to the interior, and thou shalt see the kingdom of God will come into thee.' (Book II. c. i.) 'Happy ears, indeed, which hearken to truth itself teaching within, and not to the voice which soundeth without. Happy eyes which are shut to outward (Book III. c. i.)

things and attentive to the interior.'

'One thing is chiefly necessary for him, and what is that? That having left all things else, he leave also himself and wholly go out of himself,' &c. (Book II. c. xi.)

* See the whole chapter 'Of the King's Highway of the Holy Cross.' (Book II. c. xii.)

5 See Book III. chap. vi. (the whole): 'Of the Proof a True Lover.'

• See Book III. chap. xxi: 'That we are to rest in God above all goods and gifts.'

''Join me to Thyself by an inseparable bond of love,' &c. (Book III. c. xxiii. § 10). 'Ah! Lord God, when shall I be wholly united to Thee, and absorpt in Thee,' &c. (Book IV. c. xiii.)