No. IV.

ERASMUS (Desiderius), an illustrious writer, was born at Rotterdam, in the year 1467. At nine years of age, he was sent to Deventer, in Gelderland, where he made a rapid progress in his studies. During his residence at Deventer his mother died of the plague, and the death of his father occurring soon after, our orphan was left to the care of three guardians, who determined upon bringing him up to a religious life, that they might appropriate to themselves his patrimony. Pursuing this base object, they removed him from convent to convent, until in the year 1486, he took the habit among the canons regular at Stein, near Tergou. Disgusted with the monastic life, he cheerfully accepted an invitation from the Archbishop of Cambray, to reside with him. During his abode with this prelate, he was ordained priest; but in 1496, he went to Paris, where he supported himself by giving private lectures. Visiting England in 1497, he met with a liberal reception from the most eminent sholars of the age, and applied to the study of the Greek language, of which he was before ignorant. In 1503, we find him at Louvain, where he

studied divinity, under Dr. Adrian Florent, afterwards Adrian VI. Not long after this, he

again visited England, for discovered a great regard.

From

which country he In 1506, he took his doctor's degree at Turin, from whence he repaired to Bologna, where he continued some time. Removing afterwards to Venice, he resided with the famous Aldus Manutius. Venice he went to Padua, and to Rome, where many inducements were offered him to settle; but having received an invitation from Henry VIII. he set out for England, where he arrived in 1510. Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, having invited him to Cambridge, he was appointed Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, and Greek Professor. In 1514, he appears to have been at Basil, preparing his New Testament and Epistles of Jerome for the press, which were published in 1516. This appears to have been the first time the New Testament was printed in Greek. The reformation, now began under Luther, received an effective, though by no means decided support from the pen of Erasmus. "His reputation and authority were so high in Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and his works were read with such universal admiration, that the effect of these deserves to be mentioned, as one of the circumstances which contributed considerably towards Luther's success. Erasmus, having

in

been destined for the church, and trained up the knowledge of ecclesiastical literature, applied himself more to theological inquiries than any of the revivers of learning in that age. His acute judgment and extensive erudition enabled him to discover many errors, both in the doctrine and worship of the Romish church. Some of these he confuted with great solidity of reasoning, and force of eloquence. Others he treated as objects of ridicule, and turned against them that irresistible torrent of popular and satirical wit, of which he had the command. There was hardly any opinion or practice of the Romish church which Luther endeavoured to reform, but what had been previously animadverted upon by Erasmus, and had afforded him subject either of censure or of raillery. Accordingly, when Luther first began his attack upon the church, Erasmus seemed to applaud his conduct: he courted the friendship of several of his disciples and patrons, and condemned the behaviour and spirit of his adversaries. He concurred openly with him in inveighing against the school divines, as the teachers of a system equally unedifying and obscure. He joined him in endeavouring to turn the attention of men to the study of the holy scriptures, as the only standard of religious truth.

"Various circumstances, however, prevented Erasmus from holding the same course with Luther. The natural timidity of his temper; his want of that strength of mind which alone can prompt a man to assume the character of a reformer; his excessive deference for persons in high station; his dread of losing the pensions and other emoluments, which their liberality had conferred upon him; his extreme love of peace, and hopes of reforming abuses gradually, and by gentle methods, all concurred in determining him, not only to repress and to moderate the zeal with which he had once been animated against the errors of the church, but to assume the character of a mediator between Luther and his opponents. But, though Erasmus soon began to censure Luther as too daring and impetuous, and was at last prevailed upon to write against him, he must, nevertheless, be considered as his forerunner and auxiliary in this war upon the church. He first scattered the seeds, which Luther cherished and brought to maturity. His raillery and oblique censures prepared the way for Luther's invectives and more direct attacks. In this light, Erasmus appeared to the zealous defenders of the Romish church in his own times. In this light he must be considered by every person conversant in the history of that period.

* See Robertson's History of Charles V.

The want of sufficient strength of mind to enable him to take a prominent station among the reformers, is admitted by Erasmus himself. Luther," says he, has given us many a wholesome doctrine, and many a good counsel. I wish he had not defeated the effect of them by intolerable faults. But if he had written every thing in the most unexceptionable manner, I had no inclination to die for the sake of the truth. Every man hath not the courage requisite to make a martyr; and I am afraid, that if I were put to the trial I should imitate St. Peter."*

Dying at Basil, in the year 1536, he was buried in the cathedral of that city. The inhabitants of Rotterdam erected a statue to his memory, in the great square of that city. His works were edited at Leyden, in 1706, in ten volumes, folio, by Le Clerc.

* Epist. Erasmi in Jortin's Life of Erasm. vol. i. p. 273.

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