so; a burgomaster in Antwerp had read the book so often. that he knew it by heart.

Without doubt " Utopia" is the most brilliant achievement which English humanism of that period has to show. The choice Latin which carries on the narrative so smoothly is but one of its lesser merits, for the treatise as a whole makes the impression of a work of art, and also contains a fund of deep thoughts and striking observations. Yet what makes the work, above all, valuable in the estimation of posterity, is the expression of More's unbiased and courageous opinions on political and religious subjects, the peculiar combination of deeply moral and religious seriousness, and thoroughly conservative ideas, with a fearless advance to higher culture. In this respect the work appears to us the matured product of that intellectual movement in which Colet, Erasmus, and with them More, stood as the central figures.

The same year in which "Utopia" was first published, saw Erasmus reach the zenith of his astounding productivity. In August, 1516, appeared his "Instructions of a Christian Prince," written for young Charles of Habsburg, afterwards Emperor Charles V.; some months previously the first edition of his New Testament had appeared, under the title of Novum Instrumentum, also his edition of the Works of St. Jerome. And much in the same way as the first-mentioned work was based upon tendencies absolutely similar to those in "Utopia," the two grand works which he edited were the outcome of the same spirit which had urged More to produce his ideal picture. What these two writers, as well as noble Colet, whom they looked up to with the utmost reverence, were, above all, striving to accomplish, may briefly be stated in a few words. Their endeavour was to do all in their power to throw new life into Christian ideas, and this they hoped to accomplish by independent inquiry into the subject, the study of the languages, conditions, and the master-minds of Antiquity; they further wished to see the life of individuals, and also that of the various States, inspired and guided by a purified form of the Christian conception of the universe. They deeply felt the necessity for a reformation in the Church, but they did not believe that this reformation need

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take the form of any complete break with tradition, or the ecclesiastical power that had developed with the course of history. They hoped that the advance of knowledge, the teaching and the example of nobler minds, would gradually come to exercise a conciliatory influence upon the Head as well as upon all the various members of the Church. They attacked none of the Church dogmas; their whole conception of religion was a wider one, and directed to the very heart of the matter. Dogma interested them much less than the true spirit of Christianity; and, in order to set free this spirit of Christianity, nothing appeared to them more appropriate than to return to the first beginning of the Christian Church, as the living embodiment of the life, the teaching, and the death of its Divine Founder. Hence their earnest study of the Bible, and, above all, of the New Testament, as inaugurated by Colet and continued by Erasmus on the same lines with all the resources of his learning. Hence-in spite of deep reverence for the Scriptures their unbiased attitude in the interpretation of the Bible by a purely historical and philological method, which rejected the system of the Schoolmen who gave subtle or allegorical interpretations, and explained away or disregarded contradictions in details. In fact, they rejected the method which made the Scriptures the basis of an artificial system of dogmas and learned opinions.

What made Erasmus's edition of the Greek Testament a work to mark an epoch, was the spirit in which it was undertaken and the method by which it was carried out. Neither the excellencies nor the errors which the criticism of the text, the Latin translation and Commentary may display, can be set against the two other points. And thus his edition of the New Testament stands in direct connection with his edition of the Works of Jerome, that Father of the Church whom Colet, and all kindred minds, revered most highly among the Latin authors, and regarded as the representative of the old, genuine style of theology and criticism which had "so long been obscured by the subtleties of the School;" for Jerome, in his day, had endeavoured to present the Scriptures in the language of the people.

Erasmus himself, in his Biblical as well as in his other works, in the first instance addresses the learned, but his

intentions went much further. In the introductory "Paraclesis" to his New Testament he writes: "In so moch that the sonne is not more comen and indifferent to all men, then this doctrine of Christ. She forbeddeth no man at all: except he abstayne willinglye, a envyinge his awne profitte. And trulye I do greatly dissent from those men which wold not that the scripture of Christ shuld be translated in to all tonges, that it might be reade diligently of the private and seculare men and women. Other as though Christ had taught soch darke and insensible thinges, that they could scante be understonde of a few divines. Or else as though the pithe and substance of the christen religion consisted chiefly in this, that it be not knowne. Peradventure it were moste expedient that the councels of kings shuld be kept secret, but Christ wold that his councelles and misteries shuld be sprede abrod as moch as is possible. I wold desire that all women shuld reade the gospell and Paules epistles, and I wold to God they were translated in to the tonges of all men. So that they might not only be read and knowne of the scotes and yryshmen, but also of the Turkes and saracenes. . . . I wold to God the plowman wold singe a texte of the scriptures at his plowbeme. And that the wever at his lowme with this wold drive away the tediousness of time. I wold the wayfaringe man with this pastyme wold expelle the wearyness of his jorney."

These wishes of Erasmus were, in a certain measure, to be fulfilled, but under very different conditions to those he had had in his mind. If he entertained the hope that under Leo X.-who had accepted the dedication of his "Novum Instrumentum "-learning as well as religion would reach their full development in Rome, and if he and his friends believed it possible that the reforms in the Church could be settled amicably-it was their Utopia.

A year after the publication of Erasmus's New Testament and of More's "Utopia "-in 1517-Dr. Martin Luther commenced in Wittenberg that mighty struggle which was to exercise a conclusive influence on the fate of Germany and of Europe. The idea with which Rome at first comforted itself, that the disturbance in Germany was a mere quarrel among the monks, could no longer be entertained. It soon became evident that there had arisen against the established

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Church system an opponent more determined, ready, and fierce in combat than any before him. And with terror it was now perceived that his words and deeds reverberated throughout Germany; that, everywhere, people eagerly devoured the treatises which flowed from his fearless pen, and that they were quickly circulated in all directions by the young printing-press. What Luther now uttered, thousands had already felt in the depths of their hearts, while some were only dimly conscious of it; it was as if the German conscience had become incarnate, and arose before all the world to give its testimony.

In

Barely four years had passed since the commencement of the struggle when persons with an insight into matters must have clearly foreseen that any peaceable settlement, any reconciliation, between Wittenberg and Rome had become impossible. In his address "To the Christian Nobles of the German Nation" (1520) Luther had powerfully aroused German pride and German uprightness against the arrogance and perfidy of Rome, had sketched his programme for the reformation of the Church with bold strokes, and solemnly exhorted all the nobles of the land, with the Emperor at their head, to take the great work in hand. his treatise "On Christian Liberty" (1520) the great Man of the People had revealed his inmost thoughts and the central idea of his religious views, with affecting as well as captivating force. The Pope had hurled his bull of excommunication against Luther, and his books had been publicly burnt in Cologne and Louvain; but, on the oth of December, 1520, Luther himself cast the Papal bull and decretals into the flames. A few months later, at Worms, he stood before the Emperor and the assembled representatives of the empire in the whole steadfastness of his faith. No other decision was possible than to condemn him as an outlaw; but it became more and more evident how great had become his influence among the German people in all directions.

While this movement, which was agitating Germany, was still in its first stages, the death of venerable Colet took place in 1519. Erasmus was watching the struggle of intellects with sympathy, surprise, and perplexity; when the waves began to roll high, he appealed to both parties in his

endeavour to mediate. The turn which matters subsequently took, brought him disappointment upon disappointment, and caused him increased perplexity of mind. Sir Thomas More, who was perhaps the most courageous of the three friends in theory, and the most conservative in practice, had, at an early date, recognized the vast difference between Luther's Reformation and the aims of his own party.

This difference is very remarkable, and of such a kind that an investigator of our day-were he a true child of his age would, in the first instance, be disposed to give his whole sympathy to the Oxford men. For it cannot be denied, theoretically at least, that the latter stand much nearer our modern point of view, and that Luther, when compared with them, seems still to belong completely to the Middle Ages. Luther attached himself to Augustine, like the Middle Ages in general, while the Oxford men followed Jerome. The former avowed his adherence to an uncompromising theory in the (literal) inspiration of the Scriptures; the latter, with all reverence for the Word of God, held more liberal views. With the former, dogmatism formed the centre of the religious interest; with the latter it was the primitive history of Christianity and Christian morality. Strict adherence to the Confession was maintained by the former, whereas the latter showed a decided leaning to tolerance. But all this was light in weight compared with the two points which, in the judgment of History, have to be placed in the scales in Luther's favour. For Luther gave his own day what it required, and had the courage and the power to carry the multitude with him. Colet, Erasmus, and More were unable to do either the one or the other.

How premature the standpoint of tolerance adopted by the Oxford men was, is revealed with horrible clearness by the position in which generous-hearted More subsequently found himself when, in all seriousness, he was called upon to defend the airy principles he had put forward by his own actions. It had been easy to discourse, playfully as it were, on wider views as long as there seemed no immediate danger that the existing system of Church and State would thereby be imperilled, as long as no manifest signs of the beginning of a struggle were apparent to force