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STUDIES
IN
RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
STUDIES
IN
RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
BY
ERNEST RENAN.
AUTHORIZED ËNGLISH EDITION.

LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON,
Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queerr.
1886.
[All Rights Reserved.]
BL
27
„R413
gt- wendy fit
CONTENTS.
PAGE
AUTHOR'S PREFACE -
-
I
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD APPLIED TO RELIGION
PAGANISM
COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY -
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM
NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISM -
- 138
THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE -
- 168
ma
THE TEAZIEHS OF PERSIA -
- 183
JOACHIM DI FLOR AND THE ETERNAL GOSPEL
- 2 IO :
FRANCIS OF ASSISI -
-
-
- 305
A MONASTIC IDYL OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY -
RELIGIOUS ART
RELIGIOUS ART
.
.
.
.
- 367
CONTENTS.
L'AGE
THE CONGREGATIONE 'DE AUXILUS'
- 380
A WORD UPON GALILEO'S TRIAL
-
- 406
PORT-ROYAL
415.
SPINOZA
SPINOZA
-
-
-
-
-
453
NEW STUDIES
OF
RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
-سعهع--
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
TWENTY-SEVEN years ago I published, under the
title of 'Studies of Religious History,' a series of
essays relating to the various creeds of antiquity,
of the Middle Ages and of the East. The following
are essays which may be considered as a sequel
to those which were favourably received in 1857.
In the present work, I but incidentally dwell
upon Greek and Latin antiquity; to compensate
for which I submit a lengthy work upon Buddhism,
and some minute discussions relative to mediæval
questions.
My work on Buddhism was composed in the
latter months of the life of Eugène Burnouf. It
was intended for the Revue des deux Mondes,
and was indeed the first contribution I sent to
I
2 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
that review. M. Buloz, of all men the least
Buddhistic, praised me regarding some accessories;
but, respecting the body of the work, declined to
believe the truth of the assertions it contained.
To him, a real Buddhist in flesh and blood ap-
peared quite inadmissible. In the face of all the
proofs I adduced in support of my thesis, he
obstinately replied: 'It is impossible that people
could be so stupid.' Burnouf died, and my essay
remained in my desk. I now bring it to light
because I consider that the absence of Buddhism
left a gap in my studies of religious history. To
the analysis of Burnouf's views, I have added the
splendid results more recently achieved by some
young and indefatigable searchers, particularly
M. Senart.
Nearly all the essays in this volume that have
to do with the Middle Ages relate to the extra-
ordinary movement of religious reform which fills
the thirteenth century, and, under the pressure
of official orthodoxy, disappears in the fourteenth
or fifteenth. The centre of the revolutionary
agitation was the order of St. Francis; but the
history of the Franciscan sect is unintelligible, if
one does not, beforehand, form an idea of Joachim
di Flor, since Joachim, though not the creation
of the excited imagination of the Franciscans, as
M. Preger has lately maintained, became for them
a subject of legends, a precursor for the most part
apocryphal. I have again taken up the work I
published in 1866 on this point of criticism, and
AUTHORS PREFACE.
have completed it with the help of all that within
the last few years has appeared on the subject.
The article on Francis of Assisi sums up all
my ideas upon a subject which I should have been
delighted to treat at greater length. This essay
appeared in the midst of the controversies raised
by my 'Life of Jesus,' and I meant it as an
answer to certain objections. It was welcomed
by some; at least, it earned for me a warrant of
indulgence which, I hope, will some day be
reckoned in my behalf, like the favours of the
Portiuncula. A Capuchin friar, who often talked
about me to the Princess - , having read the
article in the Débats, said to her : “ He wrote about
Jesus otherwise than he should have done; but
he has spoken well of St. Francis. St. Francis
will save him.' In fact, I have always felt great
devotion for Francis of Assisi, whom, of all
men after Jesus, I regard as possessing the
most purely natural religion. An eminent critic,
M. Scherer, often wondered at my liking for that
mendicant, a liking so thoroughly opposed to
sound ideas of political economy. The reason of
it is that in history, as in real life, sympathies
proceed a great deal more from community of
defects than from that of merits. The defects
that would soon have ruined the work of Francis
of Assisi, if, by giving it a wrong direction, the
universal Church had not endowed it with con-
sistency and durability, are really the same that
have limited my own action upon my contempora-
. 1-2
4
NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
ries to amusing them for the moment. In order to
produce anything lasting, an idealist must have
an intriguer for alter ego. I never had a brother
Elias. To have succeeded in the temporal world
I must have been governed by some very selfish
force that would have worked me to its advantage.
Like the patriarch of Assisi, I have lived in this
world without any serious interest in it; as a mere
tenant, if I may say so. Without having possessed
anything of our own, we both found ourselves
wealthy. God gave us the usufruct of the universe,
and we have been contented to enjoy without pos-
session. Such dispositions will only develop into
doubtful conservatives and very harmless revolu-
tionaries. The abuses which offend me, for in-
stance, are rather those which prevent enjoyment
than those which affect property. A barrier for-
bidding access to some beautiful valley, a stream
polluted for the benefit of some factory, a wall
marking as private property some spot or other
of God's unlimited realm, all which turns the
beautiful into individual estate, which makes truth
a personal possession, all this is repugnant to me,
for it all means diminishing the general happiness.
The common pastures, which form the domain
of the evangelical poor,' are thereby reduced. Yet,
it is evident that those who believe there are here
below “abiding cities,' will regard as dangerous
this way of imitating the birds of the air. Be-
nighted admirers of the Sermon on the Mount,
we ask no civic reward for having been nourished
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
on a chimera. Not only have we done no service
to the cause of order, but, perchance, many a
rebel, in his revolt against that established order,
has found support in our views. We have in
nowise contributed to consolidate anybody's pro-
perty; we are, therefore, in nowise entitled to the
gratitude of the citizen of the future.
Religious history grows indeed strange blossoms,
and its heroes are mostly in poor health. The
study of Christine of Stommeln offers an interesting
case of mystic pathology, as well as a touching
love-story. I believe that if some young student
from the ' Ecole des Chartes' made up his mind
to extract the love-letters contained in the ‘Bol-
landists,' revise the text, and hit upon the exact
rendering, he might make an exceedingly agreeable
little work.
The saints of Port Royal were not haunted by
the hallucinations that distracted the poor visionary
of the Middle Ages. They were correct in their
convulsions; reasonable in their hysterics. In
this volume will be found three Studies which I
have dedicated to them. As a sequel, I have
added the speech I was called upon to deliver at
the Hague, at the time of the second centenary of
the death of Spinoza. In my opinion, Spinoza
belongs a great deal more to religious than to
philosophical history. He has his own church
rather than his own school—a church full of
crude, glaring light, like all the structures of the
sixteenth century—cold because it has too many
6
NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
windows, melancholy because it is too transparent.
Greece alone knew how to give cheerfulness,
colour, warmth, and life to religion.
For want of cheerfulness, theology sometimes
provokes ridicule. The ‘Provinciales' are immortal
comedies, whose only fault is that they succeeded
too well; it is the only instance in which comedy
has been known to correct the defect which it
attacked. To lighten the austerity of this volume,
I have inserted in it a jeu d'esprit which, on leaving
the Seminary of St. Sulpice, was inspired in me
by recollections of scholastic theology. Its sub-
ject is the famous Congregationes de auxiliis divina
gratiæ, which brought about the interminable con-
troversies of Jansenism. In this little sketch, my
object has been to point out one of the pecu-
liarities of Romish theology, viz., the grotesque
association of pretensions to infallibility with the
most subtle quibbles. Infallibility ought, at least,
not to admit of disputes. Is there, indeed, any-
thing more ridiculous than wearing one's self out
to discover the truth, when it has been agreed
beforehand that whatever one decides must be
true ?
The essay at the beginning of this book was
composed under circumstances with which I
acquaint my friends, whenever I wish to provoke a
smile, and which I certainly recollect with pleasure,
since through them I, for one day, became the
collaborator of MM. Taine, Max Müller, and
Emerson. I wrote it, persuaded that no one in
a
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
France would ever read it. M. Taine, I believe,
did the same; the result was a volume which had
a brisker sale than the majority of those which
are written for a public secured in advance. The
movements of the Mahdi have since strengthened
me in the idea that in Asia and Africa religious
experiments of the highest interest could easily be
made with a sum not exceeding twenty or thirty
millions of francs.
In publishing, after the lapse of a quarter of a
century, this continuation of my first 'Studies,' I
am happy to notice considerable progress in the
public mind. Enlightened opinion has still pre-
served the eagerness with which it then followed
those researches; but it now displays more mode-
ration and more maturity. The maledictions
which my first essays drew down would not now
be understood. Some positions for which I was
anathematized, at the beginning of my career, are
now adopted by writers who claim to remain
Catholic. Time is the necessary collaborator of
reason. The main point is to know how to wait.
In reproducing in this work a few pages which,
years ago, I wrote about Galileo, my object has
been to make this understood. Galileo was, as
regards truth, the greatest man that ever lived ;
he was courageous; yet he was not a hero, and
he was right not to be one. People sometimes
wonder why Galileo showed weakness, why he
consented to retract as erroneous propositions
which he knew to be true. It was that he per-
I
8 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
ceived his death would in nowise serve to further
the demonstration of those certainties. Martyr-
dom is only suffered when we wish to prove that
about which we are uncertain. Had the systems
in support of which poor Giordano Bruno suffered
himself to be burnt in the Campo di Flora been
as undeniable as those of Galileo, he, most likely,
would not have deemed it necessary to assert
them at the cost of his life. The theorems of
Archimedes would not have gained anything by
Archimedes' death. When we hold the truth,
further exertions are useless. Truth does not
require to be proclaimed; its exposition is suf-
ficient.
Thus methods which, thirty years ago, all
formalists conspired to denounce as idle and dan-
gerous, have now become laws for all sound
minds. That in the world accessible to man's
experience no supernatural fact takes place, is a
truth which imposes itself more and more on the
conscience of mankind. Men nowadays pray less
and less,* for they know that no prayer was ever
effective. Evidence proves nothing in a question
of this sort. If ever there were a deity whose
power was established by documents apparently
irrefutable, it was the goddess Rabbat Tanit, of
Carthage. Nearly three thousand stelæt bearing
* I take the word 'prayer' in the ordinary acceptation of
request offered to Heaven with some special aim, not in the
meaning of meditation, of inward dwelling on the abstract
principles of duty.
† Monolithic slabs or columns used in ancient times as
memorials.--TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
witness to vows made to that goddess have been
excavated—they are now for the most part pre-
served in the National Library of Paris ; each and
all state that Rabbat Tanit “heard the prayers'
addressed to her. These three thousand witnesses
to a prayer having secured its object certainly
deceived themselves. For, indeed, Rabbat Tanit,
being a false deity, never could grant anyone's
prayer. The efficacy of quinine is proved because,
in numberless cases, quinine or its substitutes
have modified the course of a fever. . Did ever
prayer secure such proofs ? Certainly not. Yet
the fact is easy to test, for millions of prayers are
daily offered to Heaven.
How will the future reconcile these truths,
already established, with the need man feels of
bowing before an Ideal Superior? It is difficult to
say; yet in such matters what we have to do is
evident, though the theory is obscure. From
liberty alone proceeds the practice of religion.
Religion must eventually become entirely free;
that is, it must be placed beyond the interference
of the State, and be as individual a thing as litera-
ture, art, or taste. If, perchance, under the pre-
text of religion, offences should be committed
against common rights, laws exist to punish them.
If there were no more laws to govern religious
matters than there now are to restrict the dress,
studies, or private amusements of citizens, that
would be perfection. A State neutral as regards
religion is the only one that will never be brought
to play the part of persecutor.
10 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
1
Though such a state of things be very remote
from us, that is no reason why we should not
aspire to it; for, in human pursuits, it is equally
wrong to have no ideal, and to believe one's ideal
susceptible of immediate attainment. As a matter
of fact, the ideal of liberty of which we now speak
is more than half realized in France, since with
us no religion is imposed upon citizens; a French-
man may enjoy all civic and political rights with-
out belonging to this or that sect, without even
professing any religious belief.
No doubt a further step remains to be made.
It would consist in putting an end to the Con-
cordat and striking out from the general budget
all grants in aid of particular forms of worship.
This reform, than which nothing could be more
logical, will certainly work itself out; for, despite
many contrary signs, I feel convinced that the
future of Europe belongs to liberty. The State,
being, according to modern conceptions, a simple
guarantee of order for the exercise of individual
activity, is no more justified in keeping up Con-
cordats with religions, than with romanticism, or
realism, or classicism, or any other opinion that
may lawfully be held or not held. But the aban-
donment of Concordats would imply that we
already had a good law of association, regulating
the foundation and the legal existence of unions
of persons for moral purposes. And such a law is
not only wanting, but the Democratic party does
not seem at all disposed to vote for it. It is in
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
II
-
England or in the most liberal States of Northern
America that we should seek for the type of such
a law. Neither the anti-Clerical Democrats nor
the Catholic party will hear of such a solution.
The programme of the anti-Clerical party is the
suppression of the privileges of the clergy, without,
in exchange, granting them the liberty of organiz-
ing themselves in their own way. The Catholic
party claims all the privileges of the Napoleonic
Concordat, without accepting any of its duties.
It wants to be free, as in America, and official, as
it always used to be in France. One cannot, at
the same time, enjoy the benefit of an exceptional
statute and of the common law. If liberty of asso-
ciation were established in France to-morrow, it
should be stipulated that the provisions of such
law would not apply to any corporation which had
formed special Concordats with the State, or to
any college which conferred upon its members
even the appearance of State functionaries. Upon
their renouncing the benefits of their Concordats
religious creeds should enjoy the common law.
With time they would be brought to understand
that liberty for all is also the best and the safest
of charters.
Everything considered, our actual state of reli-
gious legislation, however incoherent, grants suf-
ficient liberty to all. Those who do not belong to
the so-called creed of the majority have nothing to
complain of. As for Catholicism, it is wrong, I
think, to proclaim itself persecuted. The truth.
11
12 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
1
is, it is privileged; and privileges must entail
corresponding duties. Qui sentit commodum debet
sentire et incommodum. The concordatory organiza-
tion admits only dioceses and parishes; in such a
state of things, religious congregations cannot
exist save by the authorization of the State. This
is illiberal; this is quite contrary to liberty, as we
understand it, and as we wish it. We desire a
legislation allowing everybody to dress, to lodge,
and to live as he thinks fit. But the first step
in that direction would be to abandon the Con-
cordat, since the Concordat is itself the negation
of the theory of the State, understood as a pro-
tector of liberties and a stranger to all religious
or literary opinions. The ties which bind Catho-
licism are, in reality, the ties of its privileges-
ties which eighty years ago it was so delighted
to form, and which to-day it is not at all anxious
to sever,
The present state of our religious legislation is
therefore very tolerable, and the times we live in
not being suited for great reforms, we must not
urge fundamental changes, which might carry with
them serious inconvenience. For the present, a
modification of details will be sufficient. In our
actual legal system, liberal principles appear to
me to be seriously infringed only as regards
educational obligations. The State has a right
to teach in every branch, on condition that no ·
one should be compelled to follow its teaching.
Some of the provisions actually in force respecting
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
examinations to be undergone by children who
do not attend public schools may become highly
vexatious. The obligation imposed upon the father
to give elementary instruction to his children does
not necessitate preventive measures. It is also
the father's duty to give his children proper and
sufficient nourishment, yet no surveillance over
him ascertains how he fulfils that duty.
A comparison will explain my meaning. Every
commune possesses its public fountain, where
water can be had gratis. No one, however, is
bound to avail himself of the advantage thus
offered. Any of the inhabitants would even be
perfectly free to say: 'The water from the public
fountain is very injurious; come and take water
from my well;' and his fellow-citizens would have
a right to accept his invitation. But if the owner
of the well were afterwards to say: 'You see now,
everybody prefers the water of my well ; do away
with the public fountain, and give me the money
that is spent in keeping it up,' he should be
plainly told : 'No; public institutions must not
impede individual efforts, but they must not be
dependent upon private will or action.'
The best guarantee of liberty is the general
progress of enlightenment. If we consider the
whole of Europe, such progress is indubitably
real. We may yet see strong religious reactions;
we shall never see a return to fanaticism. Fana-
ticism is only possible to the faith of the masses.
Such faith is much weakened, and it is improbable
1
14 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
that, even in the face of great social disasters, it
will ever be rekindled to any appreciable extent.
Let us suppose the most fearful misfortunes; it
would even then be hard to persuade the people
that such misfortunes were caused by persons who
did not go to mass, and that they should therefore
be attacked. Supernatural beliefs will slowly die
out, undermined by primary instruction and by
the predominance of scientific over literary educa-
tion. These influences are not the result of any
political régime, of true or false theories spread
abroad by publicists; they are the consequence of
the progress of modern societies towards a state
wherein the individual, in order to live, requires a
certain positive instruction. Of yore the peasant,
unable to read, write, or calculate, still lived, pro-
tected by patronage and by a kind of patriarchal
spirit, generally diffused. Nowadays the struggle
for life dooms to starvation any individual placed
in such conditions. Similarly, the man who
has gone through his Greek and Latin studies,
but has neglected geography, the elements of
science, modern languages, will find himself not
so well prepared for the struggle of life as one
whose education has been more modern, not so
refined, perhaps, yet more practical. Classical
education will ensure superiority only to those
who wish to write; that is, to a very limited
number.
But the ordinary and common education, which
will become that of the masses, will be less con-
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
servative of spiritual belief than the old complacent
classicism, which cared little whether a sentence
was true or not, so long as it was well turned.
Men who have not been to the university at all
throw off supernatural notions more readily than
those who have had an incomplete literary educa-
tion ; for the latter have been brought up to admire
exclusively the seventeenth century, and, in most
cases, their masters have not had sufficient strength
of mind to point out the essential distinction be-
tween the excellent type of prose style created by
the seventeenth century and the intellectual child-
ishness too often displayed in the literary produc-
tions of that period. A man is valued now in
proportion to what he knows; and the best
writers of the seventeenth century knew very little,
and can teach us scarcely anything. Historical
sciences were then hardly born; the great natural
sciences existed only in the brain of some rare
genius. A schoolboy of to-day, with his text:
book, knows a great deal more than Bossuet re-
specting a crowd of topics of the first importance.
Our new system of education will make genera-
tions not so cultured, perhaps, but more en-
lightened than those who owe their habit of mind
to a classical education. It is the fault of classical
education which has failed to lead its students to
put on the toga virilis in earnest, and assert their
intellectual majority by dethroning literature and
substituting for it the positive culture of the
human mind. In such conditions, superstition
16 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
77
will still no doubt dispose of very great forces;
but it will then be little more than a social incon-
venience. Fanaticism, which three centuries ago
was able to overwhelm a great country like Spain,
is now but a vanquished Typhon, powerless to do
harm.
We must be prepared to consider calmly the
events which, a few years hence, will brutally
assail our closing century. The aim of human
life will ever be holy. If it is true that henceforth
intellectual culture, even in its humblest degree,
will exclude supernatural belief, it is equally true
that the highest culture will never uproot religion
understood in its loftiest meaning. Man is not
dependent upon some capricious master, who .
makes him live, die, prosper, or suffer indifferently.
But he is dependent on the whole universe, which
has an aim, and which makes everything converge
towards that aim. Man is a subordinate being ;
whatever he may do, he worships, he serves. To
contribute readily and joyfully to the supreme
good, is virtue. To serve ungracefully, to imitate
indifferent soldiers who, though they go into
action like the rest, are constantly grumbling
against their chiefs, is evil. It might be proved
that the worst of men co-operates with provi-
dential views by his unconscious action more than
he thwarts them by his revolt and his misdeeds.
Indeed, the sermon of St. Francis of Assisi to
the birds is the résumé of all good theology:
'Swallows, my little sisters, you are under very
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
17
great obligations to God your Maker, and at all
times you should praise Him, because He has given
you freedom to fly everywhere, and because He
has provided you with a double and treble gar-
ment, and chiefly because of the element of air to
which He has destined you. You neither sow nor
reap; yet God feeds you, and He has made the
streams and the fountains to slake your thirst;
He gave you the mountains and the valleys as
a shelter, and the high trees in which to build
your nests; and although you know neither how
to spin nor how to sow, God has furnished you
with garments for yourselves and for your young
ones; whereby we see how much your Maker
loves you. Therefore beware, my little sisters, of
the sin of ingratitude, and devote yourselves for
ever to praising God... Here is the truth.
The world is a vast choir, wherein each of us has
a part to sustain. Religion consists for everyone
of us in singing while we do our work, in praising
God from morning to night by cheerfulness, good
humour, and patience.
As St. Francis of Assisi very truly remarked,
the bird is in that respect favourably situated,
for singing is natural to it, and it is free from
the cares of a complicated existence. Yet we
may all in various degrees imitate it for some part
of our time. First of all, women, to raise them-
selves to pure worship, have but to consult their
inner selves, to listen to the inward voice of their
sex, that sex being in itself a kind of merciful prc-
.
18 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
fession, an everlasting act of piety. Woman is
religious by simply observing the proprieties of
her state. The robe and girdle of women are the
insignia of an order ; they are garments of holi-
ness. Man has also his ejaculatory, manly prayer,
which, being raised from the hottest of the fray
of life, pierces heaven with short, abrupt, and un-
couth accents. We pray as soon as we cease to
be selfish; and man is not always selfish. If he
sometimes grumbles at Providence, it is because
he does not think it sufficiently just. His very
reproach is often an act of faith; his railings
at any rate are more agreeable to the Eternal
than the hypocritical homage of a bigot. Youth
is fiery; it darts diamond-pointed arrows, like
that of the seraph who pierced St. Theresa's heart.
Even at the age when we mark in white the days
on which we do not suffer, there is the dream (sad
way of worshipping for want of any other); there
are old remnants of ardour, extinguished fires
still warm, some secret belief that even the depth
of night, as recent explorers have ascertained re-
garding the depths of the ocean, is perhaps not
without warmth and life.
Everything considered, there are few situations
in the vast field of existence, on the surface of this
big iron ball which is called the planet Earth,
wherein the balance of debit and credit does
not leave a little surplus of happiness. And this
at a period of the world's history when God, if He
were autocratic, would be regarded, when judged
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
1
nu!
by His government, as a Sovereign of limited in-
telligence and little justice. How much easier
will hearty adherence, homage, and praise become
when reason more widely rules the world, when,
evil being more thoroughly vanquished, good be-
comes stronger; when the number of beings for
whom life is a baneful gift grows insignificant !
Everybody will then, from the bottom of his
heart, follow the solitary voice of the priest when
he sings at mass: Vere dignum et justum est, æquum
et salutare nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere.
Life for everyone, as for the birds of St. Francis
of Assisi, will overflow with love and gratitude.
Melancholy and saddening dogmas will not find
any more believers. The joy of life, now so often
obliterated by suffering, will break out everywhere.
Nihilism, caused by the frightful mass of misery
which centuries upon centuries of violence and
harshness have engendered in the midst of our old
continent, will disappear, or rather, will have no
reason to exist. When the world becomes better,
when gaiety reigns in Russia, as, in good times, it
reigns in Burgundy or in Normandy, heroic pro-
tests will be needless: men will no longer be
atheists out of pity, destroyers out of a spirit of
justice, criminals out of the love of good; the
most fanatic adherents of nihilism will become the
best soldiers of the ideal. May we see, before we
die, some signs of the dawn of these happy days!
My joy, in the decline of my life, is to think
that I have contributed something to this desirable
1
2-2
20 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
end. As I never wrote with the intention of
causing this or that solution to prevail by the skill
of an advocate, but rather always endeavoured
loyally to provoke the free judgment of my reader
by placing before him the elements of the ques-
tion, I am confident that, even when mistaken, I
have been useful. I have served my adversaries
as well as my adherents, and if some day catholic
studies rise again, it will, I hope, be acknowledged
that I have contributed to that result. If, on
the contrary, supernatural beliefs, consummating
their divorce from rational methods, abandon
more and more the field of the human mind, it
may not have been useless that a serious and well-
meaning inquiry has been made into an order of
ideas which is perhaps doomed to lose its im-
portance, but which was everything in the past..
Indeed, religious history possesses this advantage,
that it would still be necessary, even in case
religion itself were to disappear. Though we dis-
believe the mythology of the Homeric poems, we
nevertheless are delighted to read them.' The
lessons of morality given by religious systems need
but a simple transposition to become very sound
philosophy; or rather, is it not we who, from our
own old stock of kindness and instinctive devotion,
have lent to Christianity that excellent moral
philosophy for which we give it credit ? Chris-
tianity has made us, no doubt; but we also have
made Christianity. And so in endeavouring to
gather, outside the particular dogmas of churches,
TY
AUTHORS
21
/
.
'S PREFACET
the elements of rational piety, we are only re-
assuming our property wherever we find it.
Dogmas pass away, but piety is eternal. St. Nil
adapted the maxims of Epictetus to the require-
ments of Christian life. I sometimes form a
similar though infinitely more modest project.
Some persons having expressed to me their satis-
faction with certain passages in my writings, and
having found them capable of edifying and con-
soling, I should like to extract such passages from
the volumes in which they are contained, and to
publish them in a little book, under the name of
Pious Readings. I would divide them into fifty-
two parts, for the fifty-two Sundays in the year.
For each Sunday there would be an extract from
the Gospel and from the Fathers of the Spiritual
Life, a prayer and a spiritual bouquet, after the
manner of St. Francis de Sales; later on, illustra-
tions might be added. But for certain omissions,
a pious woman would not notice any difference
between such a book and the Prayer-book which
she carries with her to church. Perhaps she
might end by, in some respects, preferring it.
This would be a glorious victory. I will not
deny that, of all books, the one of which I am
most envious is the Mass-book. It certainly con-
tains many sublime things. It must, however, be
granted that its success has been singular and out
of all proportion to its intrinsic value. To deserve
to be thus lovingly read in the hours of meditation
and solitude, to enjoy the incomparable privilege
of receiving the unguarded looks of woman, at the
time when she thinks herself alone in the presence
of her Maker, the Prayer-book should be a web of
the purest and costliest texture. But nothing of
the kind. This little book, which so many ex-
quisite beings clasp with a fervent hand, and at
times press to their lips, contains weaknesses,
errors, things that maintain in woman the unfor-
tunate habit of too often countenancing and
accepting absurdities. Those lines, upon which
so many charming eyes are fixed with a kind of
loving intensity, are often almost meaningless. A
great step would be made on the day when we
could place in woman's hand a devotional book
undertaking so delicate a work, in which one
could succeed only by a combination of talent,
tenderness, and simplicity. I would only gather,
in a small-sized book, a few sincere thoughts, for
the benefit of those for whom the old missal no
longer suffices. My last ambition will be gratified,
if I may hope to enter a church after my death,
in the shape of a small 18mo. book, bound in
black morocco, held between the long and slender
fingers of an elegantly gloved hand.
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD APPLIED TO
RELIGION.
An Oriental once said to me: 'You Europeans.
will never fully understand religions, because you
have never beheld the birth of any. As for us,
we daily see some fresh one rising in our midst."
Indeed, all the leading religions of the world
began in Asia. And this creative activity cannot
be said to be exhausted. Even in our days,
active sects have appeared in Asia. Babisini,
which is far from having achieved its destinies, is
quite a recent phenomenon. We cannot abso-
lutely deny that some great religious cyclones,
kinds of Islamisın, substituting a fresh Koran for
that of Mahomet, may yet develop themselves in
Asia. A man sufficiently conversant with Arabic
to write in a fine style a book purporting to define
Adam's religion, might expect to see it adopted
by the tribes bordering on Syria. These tribes,
whose ways and customs are still what they were
twelve hundred years ago, might easily be per-
suaded that Mahomet was a great man for having
re-discovered the religion of Abraham, but that
the religion of Adam is superior, since it applies
24 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
to the whole of Adam's posterity—that is, to man-
kind without exception. Fireworks let off on the
mountain of Safet, and backed up by a few millions
of francs, might easily be passed off as the appa-
rition of the Messiah ; confirmatory evidence
might be procured by a sufficiently generous treat-
ment of the Jews of Tiberias and Safet. By a
rapid coup de inain, Mecca might be taken, and
the Caaba dismantled and turned into a receptacle
for refuse.
In a word, with about fifty millions of francs,
the equivalent of what, twelve hundred and fifty
years ago, was achieved by Mahomet could be
performed in our days ; Islam would thus be
ruined, and a new religion founded, lasting as
long as anything can last, which in the course
of a hundred years would prove its divinity by
miracles, martyrs, etc.
· The experiment might, after all, be worth trying.
Yes, a millionnaire willing to devote his fortune to
the attempt might, without leaving Paris, have
the pleasure of again arousing the religious en-
thusiasm of Asia. He could, while dining at Bre-
bant’s with his friends, have telegrams forwarded
to him respecting the exploits of his disciples, the
heroic virtues displayed by them, the manner in
which, in the course of the day, they had been
tearing their own flesh with iron hooks. I would
advise him to make his religion very difficult, that
it might be all the more attractive ; very absurd,
that it might the more readily þé proclaimed of
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD.
divine origin. In the meantime, the impartial
observer would have rich opportunities of laughing
or weeping at the incurable foolishness of man-
kind and its inexhaustible goodness.
The new religion would not require great doc-
trinal originality. A Persian friend of mine, who
long resided in France, told me that, upon his
return to Persia, he was, in spite of himself, on
the point of becoming the founder of a new religion.
A sort of legend preceded him, to which he vainly
endeavoured to put a stop ; the rumour of the
miracles he was alleged to have performed dis-
tracted him to such an extent that he sometimes
wondered whether it were not true. His motto
was, 'Liberty, equality, fraternity ;' people to
whom he communicated these three sacramental
words fell on their knees struck with amazement.
They used to say they were much more sublime
than the Koran, and that the Divine Spirit alone
was capable of revealing such lofty things.
The cause of this peculiar superiority of Asia,
in the matter of religious creations, is to be found
in certain faculties with which Asia is richly gifted,
and in which we ourselves are almost wholly
wanting. Asia possesses enthusiasm, faith, an
easily inflamed imagination, a boundless hope,
audacious deceit, and, in extreme cases, when the
holy cause is driven to bay, that imperturbable
assurance which maintains an idea in spite of
reality. Our rąces are infinitely more solid,
serious, straightforward than those of Asia; but,
26 NEW lo
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
for these very reasons, they draw back horrified
at what appears to them an imposture; they are
not light enough to be so lifted up; they are
deficient in that sort of double dealing which
enables one to be, at the same time, fanatical and
shrewd, cunning and credulous, impostor and
dupe. We are too honest to persist in such wild
undertakings : were we to try, we should fancy
that people laughed at us. This reminds me of
that good Vulfilaïc of Trèves, of whom Gregory of
Tours* speaks; it seems that he tried, on the
banks of the Mosel, to imitate the Stylites of Syria,
and live upon a column. The sensible bishops made
him understand that such a feat could not be per-
formed by a barbarian like him ; that, being but a
peasant, he must not attempt to imitate the superior
beings who succeeded at Antioch and Chalcis.
To the already enumerated causes which, in
the East, act as stimulants to new religions, we
must also add the enthusiastic craving for martyr-
dom. Religions are founded by martyrs. Indeed,
Eastern races seem to find in tortures endured for
their faith a sort of fierce delight. It is no rare
occurrence in Asia to see people become believers
in order to enjoy the supreme pleasure of
suffering death for their creed. While the long
rows of Bâbist martyrs slowly moved through the
streets of Teheran like a living conflagration,*
© Hist. eccl. franc., v. 15.
† The miserable creatures carried lighted tapers stuck in
every part of their body.
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD.
persons, till then strangers to the sect, would rush
from their houses and join the dreadful procession
of the unfortunate sufferers, so as to be tortured
with them.
This religious incapacity of Europe is the cause
of the long torpor in which, for centuries, pagan
mythologies vegetated. Next to nothing is known
concerning the religions of the Iberic race; yet to
say that they were, morally, little productive, is
probably not going too far. Indo-European
mythology, introduced in the West by the Greeks,
the Italians, the Celts, the Germans, brought about
in Greece a marvellous development of the plastic
arts; but it was almost sterile in moral effect.
Gods formed from Nature by primitive intuitions,
highly poetic, yet devoid of moral sense, could.
not exercise any beneficial influence upon morals.
Hence arose the grotesque phenomenon of popu-
lations kept in religious inferiority, when these:
same populations had already attained the highest
degree of perfection in art, literature, science,
politics, and theories of social organization.
Umbrian and Latin forms of worship never rose
above a coarse formalism, which left no room for
any tender feeling between the god and the man.
Orphism and Mysteries were in Greece fruitless
attempts to foster devotion and piety.
Celtic Druidism more resembles the great re-
ligious reforms that in the East bore the names of
Moses, of Zoroaster, of Buddha; still Druidism is
not sufficient to give the religion of the Celts any
:
28 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
superiority over that of other Western nations.
When, towards the middle of the second century,
Christianity made its sudden appearance at Lyons,
at Vienne, in the heart of Gaul, among the Segu-
siani and the Allobroges, it was enthusiastically
welcomed. All lofty and susceptible souls accepted
it. Christianity appearing suddenly in the midst
of this religious degradation, produced the same
effect as civilization does when contrasted with
barbarism. Our races, with natural piety, were
soon charmed; they adopted Christianity with
all their spiritual strength ; that religion became,
in some way, national to our ancestors; so much
so that, later on, they imagined it was the very
offspring of their hearts, their treasure, their own
personal creation.
In so thinking, our ancestors did not absolutely
deceive themselves. Certainly, Christianity is, in
its origin; a pure Oriental production, an offshoot
from Judaism ; that is, a purely Semitic religion.
But in adopting :it the West made it its own.
St. Bernard, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Elizabeth
of Thuringia, Joan of Arc, are much more closely
related to our old ancestors of the Gallic or
German forests than to David, Esther, or the
authors of the Talmud. Our Breton or Irish
saints, a St. Iltudus, a St. Cadoc, a St. Columba,
bear a closer resemblance to the Druids than to
St. Peter or St. Paul. In adopting Christianity
European races imparted to it both their defects
and their virtues. Their virtues were unusual
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD.
29
depth of feeling, extreme love of nature, overflow-
ing imagination, which threw all the dyes of the
rainbow, all the hues of our fresh fountains over
the dry austerity of Palestinian Messianism. Their
defect was superstition. The Celtic and Italian
races were perhaps the most superstitious of all
races. In becoming Christian, they did not cease
to be superstitious. If ever there was a religion
free from any coarse dross it was that of the first
Christian generation. Transplanted to poly-
theistic races, that religion, originally so pure,
became veritable paganism. The Christians of the
time of Gregory of Tours would have inspired St.
Paul with horror. The famous letter of Pope
Gregory the Great* elevated into a principle the
concessions which must, of necessity, be made to
barbarism :
When you meet our brother Augustine, tell
him that, having long considered within myself the
matter of the English, I think that it is not neces--
sary to destroy their temples, but only the idols
therein. You must provide yourselves with holy
water, with which to sprinkle the pagan shrines ;
you must erect altars upon which you will place
relics; for, if those temples are strongly built, they
must pass from devil-worship to the service of
the true God, in order that the nation, seeing we
preserve the places to which it is accustomed, may
the more readily come there. And because they
have been accustomed to kill many oxen as sacri-
0 Epist. S. Greg., ix. 71.
30 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
fices to devils, festivals should be organized on the
occasion of the dedication of churches or of the com-
memoration of martyrs. Let them hang garlands
round their temples turned into churches, and let
them celebrate such festivals with modest repasts.
Instead of immolating animals to demons, let
them kill such animals and eat them, rendering
thanks to God who feeds them, so that, by allow-
ing them some material pleasures, they may the
more easily be brought to share in spiritual joys;
for it is impossible to expect savage minds to give
up all their customs at once. A mountain cannot
be ascended with one leap; it must be climbed
step by step.'
When we explore a remote spot of Normandy
or Brittany, and stop before each of the shrines
consecrated to local saints, and learn from the
peasantry the special healing powers of each of
such saints—this one protecting sheep against
giddiness, that one setting the broken legs of
donkeys, another curing children of hooping-cough
:-we remember legions of Gallic gods whose
functions were quite similar, and we are led to
believe that, among the lower orders, religion
has undergone but little modification. But in
higher classes the beneficial action of Christianity
reveals itself. Christianity, Greece, and Rome,
these are the three elements which, added to
the qualities of our old Celtic and Germanic races,
were the factors of European civilization. Without
the Semitic element, introduced by Christianity,
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD.
31
something would have been wanting in the foun-
dations of our intellectual and moral culture.
Paganism would never have succeeded in in-
stituting the Church, the congregation of the
faithful, the Sabbath, the Lord's Supper, preach-
ing, the sacraments, the Bible. Above all, the
Bible, thạt book so thoroughly Semitic, which has
become the universal reading-book of the West, is
the great sign which shows the religious privilege
of the Hebrew people, and the providential decree
which appointed the green and fresh pastures of
the West to be, as regards religion, the appanage
of the children of Shem.
By modifying the ideas of all cultured people
respecting the supernatural, that is, respecting the
manner in which the ideal shows itself in human
things, the development of criticism and of the
natural sciences has altered the very essence of
religion. The pagan, believing in numerous
powers who could be worshipped and influenced
by means of formulæ and ceremonies strictly
carried out; the Jew and the Christian, believing
in one sole Monarch of the universe, who is sup-
posed to rule all by decrees formed for some pre-
determined end, equally disagree with a philosophy
the first principle of which is that God is Reason,
and, as Malebranche says, never acts in accord-
ance with special designs. Henceforward religion
seeks refuge in the heart. It has become poetry
and sentiment. And, while dogmas may divide,
sentiment reunites. God preserve us from re-
32 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
pudiating the beautiful name of Christian, which
places us in communion with Jesus and the ideal
of the Gospel, with the Church and all the
treasures of holiness it has produced. But neither
let us disown our naturalistic past. Like that old
Frisian king who, having already one foot in the
baptismal font, drew it back when the missionary
told him that in Paradise he would not meet his
noble ancestors, the Frisian kings,* we will not
have any more anathema, condemnation, ex-
clusive symbols. In this we are true disciples of
Jesus. Jesus was never more divinely a prophet
than at Naplouse,t when He said to the woman of
Samaria,' Believe Me, woman, the time will come
when men will no longer worship on this moun-
tain, nor at Jerusalem, but when true worshippers
will worship in spirit and in truth.'
* Acta SS. Ord. S. Bened., iii. 361. .
. † Or Sichem, a town of Syria, built on the ruins of the
Neapolis of the Greeks ; famous in the Scriptures as the
capital of the kingdom of Samaria.- TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
PAGANISM.
M. ALFRED MAURY,* already known by excellent
works wherein profound erudition is illuminated
by sound criticism, has set himself the task of
writing a complete history of the religions generally
grouped under the name of Paganism. Having
helped M., Guigniaut in the vast collection of
mythology which that learned Academician gave
to France, M. Maury was better fitted than any-
one for a work which might have daunted courage
less than his. The volume he has just published
contains, epoch by epoch, pictures of the religious
revolutions of Greece, from primitive times to
those of Alexander. It fulfils all the hopes con-
ceived by the friends of serious study. When
completed, this work will rank among the writings
which have most contributed to the creation of
the great science of our century—the philosophical
history of the human mind.
Of all the religions professed by civilized peoples,
the Greek religion is the least precise and the least
fixed. The Pelasgic forms of worship generally
* 'Histoire des Religions de la Grèce antique,' by Alfred
Maury, vol. i. (1857).
34 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS -1t
HISTORY.
appear to have been coarse and barbarous. It is
surprising that the people who realized, for the
first time, the complete type of civilization, should
have long remained, in the matter of religion, so
far inferior, not only to the Semitic nations, which
were in ancient times superior in this respect to
the Indo-European peoples, but also to several
branches of the Indo-European family, such as
those of India, Persia, Phrygia. The extreme
difficulty of the study of Greek mythology is pre-
cisely due to this character of dogmatic imperfec-
tion. The ancient Greeks having possessed no
definite rule of faith, their religion, poetically so
charming, is, from the standpoint of our theological
ideas, but a heap of inconsistent fables, the true
sense of which it is difficult to unravel. The new
school very properly gives up all hope of finding
there anything like deep mysteries or lofty sym-
bolism. It consisted of confused recollections of
some ancient worship of nature, traces of primitive
sensations, embodied in personages to whom, by
playing on words, and I dare say by cock-and-
bull stories, similar to those that spring up in a
child's fancy, adventures were attributed. A
lively, active, and forgetful people composed the
exquisite plots of these fables, which, embellished
by poetry and by art, became a mythology common
to all the peoples of the Græco-Roman world.
Greece never had a sacred book; she never had
any symbols, any councils, any sacerdotal caste,
organized for the preservation of dogmas. Her
y
PAGANISM.
poets and her artists were her true theologians ;
the idea of the various deities was almost left to
the arbitrary conception of the individual. Hence
that marvellous freedom which enabled the Greek
mind to move spontaneously in all directions,
without experiencing the constraint of an inspired
text; hence also art, freed from theological con-
trol, and having the right to create, according to
its fancy, types of the divine world, derived in-
comparable facilities; but hence also, for religion,
arose an unfortunate uncertainty, which left its
creed unguided, opened an unlimited career to
the fancies of individual devotion, and ended by
an incredible overflow of follies and nonsense. In
that chaos of inconsistent fables, nothing is more
difficult than to grasp the true essence of the
Hellenic religion, I mean the aliment which it
furnished to the craving for belief. This is the
object of M. Maury's researches. He is less
occupied with the interpretation of particular
myths than with questions relative to worship,
morality, and the forms under which the senti-
ment of piety manifested itself in paganism. To
the student, religions present themselves under
such numerous aspects, that, to be complete, their
history must needs be written from very different
points of view. An extensive history of Christian
theology could be made without touching upon
the history of Christianity as a great social fact ;
one could exhaust the social history of Chris-
tianity without saying one word about Christian
3-2
· 36 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
-
devotion. The same may be said of paganism.
Leaving to others the task of extracting the
poetical element contained in antique fables, M.
Maury confines his labours chiefly to seeking for
the feelings which gave rise to them, and the
amount of positive religion concealed in them.
In the first two chapters of his book, M. Maury
endeavours to unravel the intricate network of the
population of Greece, and to bring to light the
origin of the Hellenic religion. Though not con-
taining the largest display of the author's personal
views, these two chapters are certainly those
which, to French readers, present the newest
ideas.
In them M. Maury has grouped, with both
erudition and judgment, all the results achieved
in Germany by comparative philology, within the
last few years, upon the subject of the primitive
unity of Indo-European religions. These results,
scattered through a host of scientific papers,
especially in the Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprach-
forschung of M. Kuhn, the best philological paper
now published, are of the greatest importance to
history and philosophy. Is there, indeed, a more
striking phenomenon than the occurrence, in the
ancient religions of the race which founded civili-
zation from Ceylon to Iceland, of the same re-
semblance as in their languages ? It is to-day an
incontestable fact that the most diverse peoples
of that great race-the Hindus, the Persians,
the Armenians, the Phrygians, the Greeks, the
PAGANISM.
Italians, the Germanic, Slav, and even Celtic
peoples-primitively had the same creed, consist-
ing in the worship of the forces of nature con-
sidered as free agents. All the systems which
tried to explain Greek mythology as borrowed
from Egypt, Judea, Phænicia, or as based upon
symbolic lore, or founded on revealed truths-all
such systems, I say, must now be abandoned.*
Greek mythology is one of the forms which have
clothed, in course of time, and under the influence ·
of local circumstances, that naturalism, of which
the Vedas offer the most ancient and the purest
type. No doubt the religious patrimony common
to all Indo-European people was inconsiderable,
if we look only to the number and the philo-
sophical value of the ideas it contained; no doubt
every branch of the great race so developed this
primitive groundwork as to make it its own—and
Greece in particular transformed it by her plastic
genius and her delicate taste; but the groundwork
remains everywhere the same: wherever the Indo-
European race preserves any recollection of its
ancient religious state, we meet with an echo,
more or less faint, of the sensations which re-
vealed to man the existence of a divine world con-
cealed behind nature.
Certainly the progress of studies brings us to estimate at
a high figure the indebtedness of Greece to Phænicia in the
matter of mythology ; nevertheless, in the general view of
the Greek religion, the Aryan stock preserves its primitive
and generative influence.
38 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
How did the human mind extract from that
naturalism, so simple in appearance, a vast col-
lection of fables? How did it transform material
elements into personages, and myths concerning
them into adventures the relation of which to the
original signification of the myths is often unre-
cognisable ? This is what modern criticism has
often acutely detected. Sometimes the reason of
such metamorphosis is quite obvious, as, for in-
stance, when the fire of the domestic hearth
(hestia or vesta), and the subterranean fire (vulcanus),
become two deities: the former, pure and vener-
able; the latter, sad and toilsome. At other times
the vagaries of popular fancy, and the impossi-
bility experienced by succeeding generations of
retaining the sense of a legend, were the cause of
strange deviations. Productions of an early age,
when man and nature, scarcely distinct one from
the other, had, so to speak, but one consciousness,
the simple dogmas of primitive religion soon
ceased to be understood, and were degraded to
the level of fables and romances.
I will quote but one instance of this. The serene
and pleasurable emotions awakened by the first
rains of spring inspired the ancestors of the
Indo-European race with an idea found in the
mythologies of nearly all their descendants. Dew
fertilizing the ground was conceived as the
mysterious union of two deities, Heaven and
Earth. “The pure sky,' says Æschylus, excellent
interpreter of the old fables, loves to penetrate
PAGANISM.
39
the earth; the earth, in its turn, aspires to the
union; the rain falling from the amorous sky
fecundates the earth, and the earth brings forth
for the good of mortals pasturage for the cattle
and the gifts of Ceres. As the imagination of
primitive peoples always confused with a sensation
the circumstances accompanying it, the bird whose
song is heard when the showers of spring refresh
the ground, the cuckoo, was involved in the myth,
and its sweet and melancholy cry represented to
the simple men of early ages the amorous sighs
of the divine couple. And do you wish to know
what this myth, at the same time charming and
sublime, became when interpreted by a less deli-
cate period ? An equivocal story, much enjoyed
by Aristophanes, to which the people added ridi-
culous details, and which was the occasion of
coarse practices. It was said that Juno, being on
Mount Thornax one very cold day, a benumbed
cuckoo took refuge in her bosom. The goddess
took pity on the bird; but she had scarcely given
it shelter, when Jupiter (for it was he) reassumed
his natural form. They added that, the goddess
having resisted, Jupiter was obliged to promise to
wed her.
It is not easy to imagine the frequency of such
transformations in antiquity. Greek mythology
is, from beginning to end, but a vast misinter-
pretation, thanks to which the divine forces
invented by the rapture of the men of the early
ages at the first sight of nature were transformed
40 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
into individuals. The same thing occurred in India,
and is still going on there. Small-pox and cholera
are personified ; legends of the great deities are
daily subjected, if not to additions, at least to not-
able modifications as regards the form in which
they are presented. Yet nowhere so much as in
Brahminic worship is the trace of the primitive
worship of nature visible. It is to fire, under the
name it bears as an element (agni, ignis), that the
hymns of the Veda are addressed. The devas
themselves (divi, dil) were not the result of a meta-
physical reasoning analogous to that by which
monotheism deduces the necessity of a supreme
cause: they belong to that class of aërial beings
with which the imagination of the primitive Aryan
peopled nature—beings conceived as in many
respects inferior to man.
It was chiefly in the worship of heroes that
variations of religious sentiment had the oppor-
tunity of showingthemselves, and produced singular
results. Heroes are not, as was long believed,
deified men : they have the same origin as gods.
Nearly always a god and a hero answer to
the same allegory, and, under different figures,
represent the same phenomenon, the same star,
the same meteor. The hero is thus the counter-
part of a deity, the dim reflection and, as it were,
the parhelion of the splendour of a mighty god.
It is true that if we compare the divine legend
with the heroic legend, we shall generally find the
latter much richer. But the reason of that differ-
PAGANISM.
ence is quite simple. The hero, being regarded
as a man, and having, according to common
opinion, left traces of his existence here below,
must necessarily have obtained greater popularity
and appealed more directly to the feelings of the
crowd. It is thus that the saints, in the less en-
lightened regions of Christianity, occupy a more
important place than God Himself, precisely be-
cause, being so much inferior to Him, the distance
superable.
It was chiefly at the time when there was an
endeavour to draw moral teaching from the pagan
religion that the heroes gained in importance and
popularity. It cannot indeed be denied that they
lent themselves to that kind of teaching far better
than the gods. The adventures wherein their
virtue, subjected to sore trials, was seen to succumb
at times in order to rise afterwards, were proposed
by poets as models of resignation and courage.
Hercules in particular was made use of for
this purpose by those whom we may call the
preachers of paganism. Hercules, according to a
highly probable hypothesis, which the demon-
strations of M. Maury almost raise to the rank
of a certainty, was an ancient deity of the air
(Hera-cles), whose worship, in the hands of the
warlike race of the Dorians, assumed an heroic
colour, and was transformed, under the influence
of poets and philosophers, into a pure moral
allegory. This demi-god, like all the other divine
42 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
types of the Hellenes, proceeding from the per-
sonification of natural elements, but strangely
magnified by being confused with the Tyrian
Melkarth, eventually became the ideal of human
perfection-a kind of saint of whom an édifying
biography was made, and by reference to whom
it was endeavoured to arouse the sentiment of
duty. This may appear incredible, but India
furnishes us with many instances of similar trans-
formations. Vishnu, who in Hindu mythology
plays a part analogous to that of Hercules, was, at
the outset, but the personification of air—an image
of the celestial vault lighted up by the sun. Then
labours were attributed to him, taken chiefly from
the beneficent effects of the sun, and he was
transformed into a kind of redeemer devoting
himself to the salvation of mankind.
How could such simple intuitions, corresponding
originally to nothing philosophical or moral, satisfy
during so many centuries and until a period of
brilliant civilization, the religious requirements of
the most refined races? How, in our day, does
a country like India, suffering, it is true, from
secular decadence, but where human thought stirs
with so much might and originality, cling obsti-
nately, despite Christian and Mussulman teaching,
to a religious system which, it would seem, ought
not to have outlived the infancy of mankind ?
Habit, whose influence on religious matters is
most decisive, can alone explain so peculiar a
phenomenon. Handed down by tradition, those
PAGANISM.
fables, in spite of their absurdity, spoke to the
imagination and to the heart, because they were
old. Religious sentiment clings to antiquated
dogma, even when it sees such dogma annihilated
or refuted. Close to a little town of Brittany,
where I spent my childhood, there used to be a
chapel dedicated to the Virgin, and containing a
highly venerated Madonna. One night a fire
broke out in the chapel, and left only the shape-
less and charred trunk of the statue. The alms
of the faithful soon repaired the poor shrine; a
new statue was set upon the altar in place of the
old one, which, to avoid destroying it, was put by
in some remote corner. This was a sore trial to
the simple faith of the neighbouring peasantry.
Despite her rich veil and her bright colours, the
new Virgin could not command any prayers: their
vows were all addressed to the calcined débris
which had been deprived of its honours. This old,
mutilated statue had in the past heard their en-
treaties and received their confidence in trouble;
in their eyes, to pay their homage to another
Virgin, because she was new and possessed finer
garments, would have been infidelity.
The first duty of criticism, therefore, if it would
understand the beliefs of the past, is to take its
standpoint in the past. Physical science, on one
side, by excluding from nature all that resembles
free agents, and monotheism, on the other, by
teaching us to consider the world as a sort of
machine having no other life but that imparted to
44 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
it by the supreme workman, have made it very
difficult for us fully to comprehend a religion based
upon nature conceived as animated. Yet how
many ideas are recorded in religious history, the
reason for which escapes ordinary common-sense,
but which have fascinated whole sections of man-
kind! When persons who are only conversant
with European affairs are told that Buddhism is a
religion without any god, or rather in which the
gods (devas) are beings of so little consequence
that to attain final perfection they are obliged to
become men and to owe their salvation to a man,
it seems to them inconceivable ; yet this is true to
the letter, and the religion in question is the one
which at this moment has more adherents than
any other in the world. As a rule, people do not
take a sufficiently comprehensive view of the
variety of the productions of the human mind.
The comparative study of languages, of literatures,
and of religions, in widening the circle of received
ideas, will alone bring people to understand under
how many different aspects the world has been
and may be considered.
It is certain that, according to our way of
judging, antiquity, if we except its schools of
philosophy, was deficient in one of the elements
which we regard as essential to sound reasoning
-I mean a clear conception of nature and its
unalterable laws. At enlightened periods of the
world's history this deficiency was hardly felt; on
the contrary, the scientific spirit, which Greece
PAGANISM.
TI
will have the eternal honour of inaugurating in
the world, owed in a certain sense its origin to
polytheism. It is, indeed, a fact worthy of notice
that the nomad Semitic peoples, who from the
beginning appear to have been more or less in-
clined to monotheism, never had a science or
philosophy of their own. Islamism, which is the
purest production of Semitic genius, and which
may be looked upon as the ideal of monotheism,
suppressed all curiosity, all inquiry into first
causes. God is great! God knows! Such is the
answer of the Arab to narratives most likely to
provoke his surprise. The Jewish people, though
superior in religion to all the peoples of antiquity,
also offer no trace of scientific movement pre-
vious to their intercourse with Greece. “From
the earliest ages,' says, with much truth, M.
Ravaisson,* 'the Hebraic religion, in order to
account for nature and for man, had invoked the
holy and all-powerful God, the Eternal, anterior
and superior to the world, sole author and law-
giver of the universe. On the contrary, the in-
numerable deities of other religions—notably of
the Hellenic religion-were but special powers, of
reciprocally limited authority, resembling natural
objects, subject nearly to the same imperfections
and to the same vicissitudes. In consequence,
seeing in the universe, in its successive pheno-
mena, and in its various parts, a unity, an order,
0 Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles
Lettres, vol. xxi., ist part, p. I and following. .
46 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
a harmony which neither the discordant wills of
the gods nor their fortuitous adventures could ex-
plain, men early tried to discover, by means of
reason, that universal cause as to which mythology
remained mute. Such was, it seems, with the
Greeks the origin of philosophy.'
So long as the Greek mind preserved its vigour
and originality, the absence of an authorized
religion had its advantages. But when intellectual
culture became weakened, superstition, against
which polytheism opposed too few barriers, spread
over the world, and injured even the finest minds.
In this respect I do not know anything more sad
than the spectacle offered by philosophy from the
commencement of the third century of our era.
What men were Ammonius, Plotinus, Proclus,
Isidorus! What noble minds and great intellects!
Where could we find a martyr who by her austere
charm would be equal to Hypatia ? What a man
above all was Porphyrus, of all antiquity perhaps
the only scholar who possessed exactitude and
critical acumen, as Niebuhr and M. Letronne have
very successfully pointed out! Yet what indelible
blots in the biography of these great men! What
aberrations in all that relates to spirits, to familiar
demons, to theurgy! Porphyrus, excellent critic in
everything else, admits, as regards metempsychosis
and apparitions, things little less absurd than
table-turning and spirit-rapping! Some time ago
I read the lives of these great men, admirable in
so many respects, with the intention of presenting
PAGANISM.
them as the saints of philosophy. Doubtless, by
their lofty character, their high morality, their
noble pride, often also by the legends attached to
their names, they are worthy to rank beside the
most revered Christian ascetics. But their cre-
dulity on the score of spirits wounded my feelings
and prevented me from appreciating the better
sides of their lives. There also lies the venom
which taints the character, otherwise most attrac-
tive, of Julian. If the restoration of paganism
was only destined to revive the gross superstitions
with which that Emperor seems to have been
constantly occupied, it is not easy to understand
why a man of so much intellect should, for the
sake of such absurdities, have earned for himself
the infamous title of Apostate.
But I am anticipating the order of time; I am
speaking of the decadence of paganism, and as
yet M. Maury has only treated of the period when
myths were still full of freshness and life. In the
next volume he will set forth the religious institu-
tions of Greece, all that relates to their mysteries,
to oracles, to festivals, to priesthood, to the
practices of devotion. There it is that M. Maury's
erudition and criticism promise us the most in-
teresting results. Of all the savants of our time
M. Maury is the best acquainted with the organi-
zation and, if I may be permitted the expression,
the vestry details of ancient worship. A book in
which the whole history of Greek polytheism is
depicted-in its gradual transformations, in its
48 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
alliance with the religion of the Romans, in its
struggle with Christianity, in its agony, prolonged
through the superstitions of the Middle Ages
almost to our own day-cannot fail to be of sur-
passing interest.
COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY.
ABOUT ten years ago the study of the religions of
antiquity underwent quite a decisive revolution.
The method of comparative philology then began
to be applied to it, and from this application very
important results followed at once. First of all,
it was ascertained that the division of mythologies
coincides with the division of languages, so much
so that there is an Indo-European mythology, as
there is a family of Indo-European languages.
Afterwards, the essential processes of the formation
of myths were revealed. The glory of that
great discovery belongs to Germany. Eugène
Burnouf had certainly foreseen it, and the last
pages of the preface of the third volume of the
' Bhâgavata Purâna' prove beyond doubt that in
his last years he had arrived at most correct
views concerning the origin of myths. But en-
gaged in works long since begun, and to finish
which he obstinately applied himself, he stopped
on the shores of that vast ocean, and was satisfied
with fixing on it a long and searching look. The
credit of the creation of comparative philology
belongs chiefly to MM. Adalbert Kuhn and Max
2
50 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Yn
Müller. Baron Eckstein, with his unusual shrewd-
ness and penetration–M. Guigniaut, with that
love of truth which pervades all he did, under-
stood it at once. M. Maury, always keeping
pace with the advance of real knowledge, accepted
unhesitatingly the new results in his ' History of
the Religions of Ancient Greece. Lastly, M.
Bréal, possessing the chief instrument of dis-
coveries — scientific knowledge of languages —
entered resolutely on the path of original research,
and took his place, by the side of MM. Kuhn and
Müller, among the most eminent workers. His
two essays upon 'Hercules and Cacus' and the
• Myth of Edipus,'* show what light may be
thrown by the new method upon problems which
the old school solved but imperfectly, or pro-
nounced insoluble.
That method, reduced to general terms, may be
summed up as follows:
. By the necessity of their structure, Indo-Euro-
pean idioms were, from their origin, obliged to
animate each object. To every substantive, even
that which applied to abstract or lifeless ideas, was
assigned a gender; in speech the idea which it re-
presented figured as a man or a woman. Notions
were thus transformed into actions, the duration
of which was determined by the tense in which
the verb was employed. Every idea became a
M. Bréal has published these two essays, and others
besides, in a volume entitled 'Mélanges de Mythologie et de
Linguistique, Paris, 1878.
COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY.
story; every impression became a scene in the
drama of the universe, and as, at the primitive
period of the creation of language, all the forces
of nature were looked upon as personal and free
agents, every one of the facts told about them
was an incident of their history. The air, the
sky, the sun, the dawn were thus predestined, by
the names they bore and the verbs employed when
speaking of them, to become the heroes of romantic
adventures, lending themselves to all sorts of
double meanings and misinterpretations.
These misinterpretations occurred very early,
The primitive gods, each corresponding to some
natural phenomenon, became, as soon as language
began to grow old, individuals of whom long
stories were told. Mythology and religion mani-
fested then a tendency to divorce. These stories
contained numberless absurdities, and were, in
most cases, not at all edifying. Religion, on
the contrary, was aspiring more and more towards
an ideal of morality and piety. Hence a strange
confusion arose. Myths, far from constituting
the religion of ancient peoples, were to them a
cause of perplexity. It became necessary to en-
deavour to explain them, to soften them down.
The gods became types of moral heroism; there
was a thorough contradiction between what they
were expected to be and the deeds attributed
to them. To explain these strange deeds two
theologies were created, the one adopting the
historical interpretation (school of Euemerus), the
r
4-2
52 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
other having recourse to allegorical interpreta-
tion (Stoics). As regards critical science, they
were both erroneous, and completely mistook the
genius of primitive times.
These schools reappear more or less in modern
research. Banier gives the date of Jupiter's
reign, and narrates the political consequences of
the quarrels of Osiris, King of Egypt, with his
brother Typhon. Clavier furnishes the list of
the old dynasties of Hercules, Prometheus, etc.
Typhon, as we find it in the Homeric Odes and
in Hesiod, a political treatise. In our days the
symbolic school, though endowed with a much
truer impression of ancient religions, could not
guard itself against a fundamental error. By
attributing to the supposed inventors of myths
philosophical ideas which were not incorporated
with them until several centuries later, that school
has inverted the order of time. The true, though
too long neglected key to those old fables is the
study of language. The axiom, Nomina numira,
which Burnouf delighted to repeat, is truth itself.
The analysis of words is the analysis of the
oldest religion of the Indo-European race. The
philological school pitilessly unravels the forma-
tion of myths. In them it looks neither for
theology, nor philosophy, nor science, nor morality,
nor history; it only seeks for transformed signs
of the first impressions experienced by our race
in the presence of nature. Mythology as a whole
COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY.
53
becomes thus a vast play upon words. The myth
is formed by the inevitable misuse of a lan-
guage in which each substantive was an ani-
mated being, in which every verb signified a
physical action. Myths are multiplied through the
misuse of synonyms, of homonyms, and by means
of popular etymology, a fruitful source of fables
even in our day. Being a safe instrument of
analysis, comparative philology thus acts as a
guide to the science of myths, and takes the
place of the arbitrary guesses by means of which
the old schools endeavoured to fathom those
strange enigmas. Without the help of philology,
researches in comparative mythology run the risk
of proceeding blindfold, for the field of hypo-
theses is unlimited. But, with the aid afforded by
words, which stamp each fable with an indelible
record of its origin, chances of error are con-
siderably reduced. One single grammatical proof
speaks louder in favour of the affinity between
two myths than the most striking resemblances,
and the closest coincidence in the story is of far
less importance than words preserved in the
various languages of the family, whose identity is
established according to the rules of comparative
grammar.
Such are the principles which M. Bréal, inge-
nious and original disciple of his learned masters
from Germany, applied to two of the most in-
teresting myths of antiquity. The fable of Cacus
has an exclusively Italian appearance. M. Bréal
54 NEW VV
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
very successfully points out that it belongs to a
group of mythic ideas and even of mythic terms,
which, with slight modifications, is to be met
with in Greece, in India, in Persia, in Germany.
With marvellous sagacity, he recognises the cross-
roads in which popular imagination, in quest of
wonders, went astray to alter and embellish the
original narrative. By referring to the great
primitive book of Aryan religions, to the Vedas,
he at last discovers the first, essentially natural-
istic, germ of the myth. Doubtful indications
are here combined with unquestionable pieces of
evidence. But the aim of such researches is not
to explain all with the same degree of accuracy ;
it is to light upon the general processes by which
those strange fantastic creations were formed,
whose secret as regards details may very possibly
escape us for ever.
The myth of Edipus having been formed
mostly on the soil of Greece, draws but indirect
light from Vedic literature. It is a very much
obliterated myth, which soon received develop-
ments foreign to its origin. Perhaps some of M.
Bréal's sentences will occasion misunderstandings.
In explaining these fables, it is highly important
to distinguish most carefully the meaning applied
to mythical personages at different periods. In
mythology, as in the science of language, ety-
mology preserves its full rights; but etymology
must not be asked to fix the sense a word may
have had at relatively modern dates. The words
COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY55
TY
. :
1
thygater, tochter, daughter, have for common
origin the Sanscrit word duhitri, which means
‘milk-maid'-young girls, in the huts of our
earliest ancestors, having been entrusted with the
task of milking the cattle. It would, however, be
most incorrect to translate in that sense the three
words we have cited when found in Homer, in
Goethe, or in Shakespeare. Perhaps, also, M.
Bréal may be accused of speculations not fully
established. But that which, in the young philo-
logist's essay, possesses a high scientific value, is
the etymological analysis of some most important
words. Laius is really the Dasyu of India (let us
bear in mind, for the transition of d into l, Ulysses
=Odysseus), the great enemy of the solar god,
that which the sun kills. Edipus is one of the
thousand forms of the sun struggling with
monsters. The story of the Sphynx proceeds
from a wonderfully simple pun on the very name
of dipus (he who knows the riddle of the feet).
All the details of the fable are far from being
cleared up; but the kernel of the myth, and the
manner in which it was formed, are pointed out
with sufficient precision.
The key to these great discoveries is the study of
Sanscrit, chiefly of Vedic Sanscrit. The exclusively
Hellenic school of the Welkers, of the Lobecks,
who would explain Greece by Greece alone, is
extinct. Greece must be explained by a com-
prehensive survey of the race to which it belongs.
The very qualities of the Greek mind, that charm-
56 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
ing genius which turns to gold all it touches,
made the Hellenes rather indifferent preservers of
early traditions. Every fable becomes in their
hands a subject of individual composition, a pre-
text for ingenious fictions and for works of art of
eternal beauty. Never were mortals more un-
ceremonious with gods. From their genealogies
differently intertwined, poets continually drew
original combinations, unexpected arrangements,
as Glycera used to do with her bouquets. That is
why, the more we study the past of mankind, the
more unique and incomparable does Greece be-
come. Every discovery is a hymn to her glory,
and adds new nobility and perfection to her image.
Sombre fanaticism, horrible scholasticism, with
its endless articles of faith, were always unknown
to her. Provided you spoke of the gods in fine
language, you were absolved. 'Grace,' says
Pindar, the excellent theologian, 'grace which
turns all things into honey for human beings, gives
authority to error and makes the incredible be-
lieved. . . . It is the future which discerns the
truth. But it becomes man to say nothing of
the gods but what is beautiful: the fault is then
less serious.'
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
A DOCTRINE which finds the supreme end of life
in nothing, or, if we prefer it, in a paradise in
which man is reduced to the state of a mummy-
a doctrine which proclaims that the height of per-
fection is the annihilation of the life transmitted
to us-in which man is looked upon as the highest
step in creation-in which the idea of a Supreme
Being only appears at a late period—such a
doctrine is so extraordinary a phenomenon that our
minds admit its possibility with the utmost reluct-
ance. Yet such a doctrine exists. To make the
paradox more complete, this doctrine, in appear-
ance the most despairingly hopeless that ever was
professed, has inspired the most diverse races
with wonders of devotion; the Church of Nihilism
remains to the present time, without any notable
schism, the most compact religious edifice of the
East. This is certainly a fact unique in the
history of the human mind. Fantastic by its
destiny, Buddhism is still more so by its philo-
sophy, its teachings, the legend of its founder, the
strange style of its sacred books. Uniting the
most abstract scholasticism with the strangest
58 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
dreams of imagination, this religion, at first
without a god, and almost without any form of
worship, rushes into the wildest extravagances
of mythology. The religion which at the outset
was the most philosophical, and in which certain
modern schools affect to find the last word of
wisdom, has become the grossest of popular
creeds. Though opposed to all our instincts,
Buddhism yet exerts a morbid fascination, like
those fearful monstrosities which at times unveil
the secret abysses of nature.
Buddhism is really a discovery of our century.
From Marco Polo, who knew the legend of the
* Lalitavistāra,* to Father Horace della Penna,
nothing but fables had reached us from Central
Asia. Seventy-five years ago Buddhism was still
the object of the most contradictory assertions.
To some, Buddha was an African negro, for he
had woolly hair; to others, he was the god Odin
(Wodan); to others, again, a planetary deity.
Certain similarities with Christianity completely
misled inquirers. Some saw in them proof of a
Nestorian origin; others concluded that Buddhism
was the prototype of Christianity. A pope, monks,
confession, saints, relics, bells—what more could
be wanted to establish the close relationship of
the two religions?
The studies of which China and Central Asia
were the subject at the beginning of this century
began to dispel the darkness. But the man who
0 Relation, chap. clxxviii.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
59
really lifted the veil was Mr. Brian Houghton
Hodgson, English resident at the Court of Nepâl.
Called upon by his position as agent of the East
India Company, which made him the almost abso-
lute sovereign of several millions of men, to reside
in the centre of a country where Buddhism is still
flourishing, Mr. Hodgson, as early as 1821,
resolved to take advantage of his sojourn in Kat-
mandhu to study a doctrine about which so little
was known. Hitherto Buddhism had only been
met with in Thibet, Mongolia, China, Japan, Indo-
China, Malaysia, and Ceylon. A keen critic could
already have surmised that the initial impulse
came from India ; but then arose a seemingly in-
surmountable difficulty. If India was the birth-
place of Buddhism, why does India offer hardly,
any trace of it, except in the Himalayan valleys
immediately bordering on Thibet, which are
scarcely considered as part of Hindostan? All
doubts vanished when Mr. Hodgson announced
to the Asiatic Societies of Calcutta, London, and
Paris the existence in the Nepâl monasteries of
a vast collection of Buddhist works written in
Sanscrit, and unknown in the rest of India. The
origin of Buddhism was then discovered; no
doubt could thenceforth be cast either on the
cradle of that fantastic religion, or on the language
which it spoke at its birth.
With the most disinterested generosity, Mr.
Hodgson, anxious that learned Europe should
enjoy the results of his discovery, gave, in 1837,
60 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
to the Asiatic Society of Paris, a most valuable
collection of works written in Sanscrit, which that
Society soon supplemented by the addition of
copies made at its own expense. A philologist
already famous for his critical genius, M. Eugène
Burnouf, thought that the best manner in which
to acknowledge the generous intentions of the
giver was to make known the contents of those
precious volumes. With this object he resolved
to publish one of the books, with commentaries,
and preceded by an introduction, wherein he
would expound the history and the dogmas of
Buddhism. He chose for this purpose the Lotus
of True Faith,'* perhaps the most charac-
teristic of all the canonical books of Nepal.
But, when drawing up the introduction which was
intended to precede the translation, it struck him
that the introduction was becoming the chief
work, and could not even be confined to one volume.
Thus came out, in 1844, the first volume of the
'Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism,'+
a masterpiece of erudition and scientific spirit,
the appearance of which was a landmark in the his-
tory of religions. In it M. Burnouf expounded
with marvellous lucidity the origin of Buddhism
and its vicissitudes. The doctrine was set forth
Saddharma pundarîka; literally, the white lotus of the
law of good men. Nelumbo is the Cingalese name of the
Indian and Chinese lotus (Nelumbium speciosumn).—TRANS-
LATOR'S NOTE.
+ 'Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme indien,' par
Eug. Burnouf. 4to., Paris, 1844.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
according to the texts of Nepâl, which served as:
models for the books of Thibet, Mongolia, and
China. A second volume was to complete the
work, by the exposition of Southern Buddhism,
according to the Pâli books of Ceylon, which were
adopted in Indo-China and Malaysia. Conjointly
with this, the translation of the 'Lotus,' long
since completed, was to appear together with the
memoirs, for which there had been no room in
the introduction. Alas! premature death, in de-
priving France of one of her glories, was to cut
short that noble series of researches. The illus-
trious Orientalist was correcting the last sheets of
the ‘Lotus,' when he felt the first symptoms of
the disease which was about to carry him off
(May, 1852).
Eugène Burnouf worked on such an excellent
system that his productions, even when incomplete,
must remain the corner-stone of the researches.
made after him. This great master was always
extremely cautious in his affirmations. He was.
constantly in fear of imposing his own opinions
and, by the authority of his assertions, exer-
cising an influence inconsistent with the love of
truth. That is why, after a period of thirty
years, the “Introduction and the “Lotus’ have.
lost none of their value.
On the advice of Burnouf, M. Foucaux, one
of his most studious pupils, published, at the
same time, a French translation of the 'Lalita-
vistāra,' or 'Legendary Life of Sakya-Mouni,"
62 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
.
I
according to the Thibetan version. The founda-
tion of the history of Buddhism was thus fairly laid.
It only remained to explain the apparent inco-
herences which at first provoked such legitimate
surprise.
Four facts apparently difficult to reconcile
resulted from that first series of labours, under-
taken with so much steadfastness and judgment.
First we have a legend full of charm and, it may
be said, of piety; then a religious revolution,
which, whatever may be the opinion professed
as to the personality of its founder, preserves all
its importance; then again, a Nihilistic philosophy,
whose connection with the miracles of abnegation
it produced could not be detected ; lastly, a
learned religious organization which in the Middle
Ages was for Central Asia what Christianity was
for barbarous Europe-namely, a superior principle
of morality and civilization. Much fresh light
has been thrown upon these four points; nothing,
however, has yet modified, in any sensible degree,
that which Burnouf's genius had detected at the
first glance.
The books which pretend to set forth the life and
teachings of the Buddha are of two kinds: the
simple Sutras of the south, the developed Sutras
of the north. The simple or primitive Sutras
possess an historical appearance which captivates
at first sight. Every incident contained in them
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
63
takes place in India, and in a defined spot. Sakya
teaches a few disciples, whose names are given, in
the garden of a certain Anâtha-Pindika. They
have discussions; it is obvious that the new doc-
trine still meets with opposition, and must yet
prove what it is worth. In the developed Sutras,
on the contrary, everything occurs before a
fabulous audience of Bôdhisatvas, as imaginary as
the worlds they come from. Nobody has to be
converted; everybody believes. Instead of real
disciples, we see before us myriads of beings with
names impossible to pronounce. In the simple
Sutras there are neither magic, nor extravagant
prodigies, nor celestial Buddhas. The contents of
the work are credible and limited. In the developed
Sutras everything is full of the most absurd hyper-
boles. A fantastic arithmetic sports with numbers
formed of the unit followed by one hundred and
forty ciphers. Multitudes of Bôdhisatvas, as nume-
rous as the grains of sand rolled down by a million
rivers huge as the Ganges, emerge together
from the crevices of the earth, to listen to Sakya.
It all looks like a visionary fabric, a castle in the
air. Like haschisch, these exuberant dreams do
away with time and space. The lassitude they
produce is soon followed by drowsiness. The ex-
position of the ' Lotus 'lasted, we are told, sixty
mean kalpas, * during which the Bôdhisatva re-
An arbitrary measure of time equivalent to one day and
one night of Buddha, or four milliards three hundred and
twenty millions of solar years. - TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
64 NEW YT
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
VI
mained on the same seat, his body as motionless
as his thoughts. All creation, however, listened
to him without suffering the least fatigue either
of mind or body. If the authors of these
strange stories intended to compose a powerful
narcotic, precursor of the nirvana,* it must be
confessed they thoroughly succeeded.
The 'Lalitavistãra 'is certainly the most curious
in the series of writings which reveal the tex@ évta
Ñ mpaxdévra of the atheistic Christ of India.
This Gospel of Nihilism, which offers some
striking resemblances and some still more notable
contrasts with the Gospel of Galilee, is well known
to us, thanks to the valuable publication of M.
Foucaux.f We are going to expose its texture,
by tearing off handfuls of the golden spangles
with which it is overlaid. It will be seen at once
that it is not with the truly infantile naïveté of the
canonical Gospels, but rather with the puerile
tediousness of the apocryphal Gospels of the Child-
A Sanscrit word from nir-gā (to cease to breathe), meaning,
according to Buddhistic theories, the state of one who, being
free from desire for material or immaterial existence, is finally
emancipated from matter, and, having no more individual
existence, is united with the Deity.-TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
The popular view of Nirvana-as representing the en-
trance of the soul into rest; a subduing of all wishes and
desires ; indifference to joy and pain, to good and evil-was
in my opinion the conception of Buddha and his disciples.' -
MAX MÜLLER.
+ 'Rgya-Tchér-Rol-Pa,' or 'Développement des Jeux,'
Paris, 1848. (Translated from the Thibetan version of the
original Sanscrit.)
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
65
2
hood,* that the pretended biography of the
Hindoo Saviour may be compared. The canonical
Gospels possess in the highest degree the art which
India lacks--that of knowing where to stop on
the road to exaggeration. Blinded by belief in the
supernatural, misled by the dangerous taste she
possesses for playing with infinity and losing her-
self in meaningless enumerations, India lets her
imagination run riot, thus violating the first
rule of religious invention, which is to rave
with measure, and to let fiction follow the analo-
gies of truth.
The Bôdhisatva, ripe for deliverance, having
reached the last but one of his temporal peregrina-
tions, abides in Tusitas, one of the heavenly spheres,
where his merits have won for him supreme rank.
Thousands of previous Buddhas, of gods, of genii,
do him homage. But that does not suffice him.
In his desire to attain supreme intelligence, he
prepares to assume the human form, the only
form under which one can become a Buddha.
The duration of his sojourn on earth is fixed at
twelve years. The gods, learning that the Bodhis-
atva is about to enter the womb of a mother, go to
India, disguised as Brahmins, to consult the
Vedas. There they see that the Bodhisatva will,
at his birth, be endowed with the thirty-two
signs marking great men, and will, as a matter
of course, be either king or Buddha. On hear-
ing this, a great number of hermits rise to heaven
* See the episode of Buddha at the writing-school.
66 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Before descending from heaven, the Bôdhisatva
goes through four great examinations to ascertain
where he is to be born. The gods review care-
fully the sixteen royal families of India ; but they
find fault with each; the Bôdhisatva enumerates
the signs by which the privileged family may be
recognised. That of Sakya alone combines all
the required conditions.
Before quitting heaven, the Bodhisatva gives the
gods his last injunctions, and charges them to
follow him, so as to attain with him final deliver-
ance. The gods, weeping, kiss his feet; he
consoles them, saying that when he is gone
Maitreya will teach them the law. The Bôdhisatva
inquires under what shape he is to enter his
mother's womb. Several forms of gods and genii
are proposed to him. A god informs him that
the “Rigveda' mentions that of a young white
elephant, which form the Bôdhisatva eventually
adopts.
In the meantime, eight signs, forerunners of
some great event, appear in the gardens of Sakya.
The birds of the Himalaya come and perch on the
balustrades; all the trees blossom; all the
ponds are covered with lotus; oil and butter,
though used profusely, do not diminish; trom-
bones, theorbos, cymbals, without being touched,
give forth harmonious sounds; a pure light,
cheering both body and soul, pervades everything.
. FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
67
The queen, Maya-Devi, foreseeing her destiny,
asks permission of the king to give herself up
to austerities, to seclude herself, and to offer
numerous alms. The king acquiesces. Mean-
while, the gods and the Bôdhisatvas of all the
universe set out to accompany the Buddha. An
infinite splendour lights up all worlds ; all beings
experience feelings of indescribable kindness and
goodwill; all sufferings are suspended ; the
torments of hell are intermitted; millions of
instruments of music are heard; hundreds of
millions of gods support the Bôdhisatva's car with
their heads, their arms, and their shoulders.
The queen, asleep on her couch, is dreaming.
The Bôdhisatva enters her womb through her right
side, whilst she, in a dream, séęs the mystery
that is taking place. She rises, filled with a
new sensation of well-being, and goes to inform
the king of her felicity. The gods offer their
abode, that Maya may, without being disturbed,
await there the miraculous birth. The king has
a palace built purposely for her; but by a miracle
Maya appears at the same time in the gods'
abode.
The Bôdhisatva, in his mother's womb, seated
with crossed legs, was constantly plunged in medi-
tation. His mother saw him in her womb; she
felt neither oppression nor passion; she had no
disturbing dreams; she never saw anything whose
shape, sound, smell, or taste were unwelcome to
her. During that time the people of Kapilavastou
12
5-2
68 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
were happy and virtuous; they lived in bliss and
innocence.
The time of Buddha's birth is close at hand.
All the flowers open their buds; young fruit-trees
are everywhere rising; lion cubs come rushing
from the Himalaya and roam through Kapi-
lavastou, without hurting anyone. The children
of the gods appear in the women's room,
moving about in all directions; the women of
the Nagas are also seen half clad, flitting about in
the air; ten thousand daughters of gods, holding
in their hands fans of peacocks' feathers, are
beheld motionless in heaven; ten thousand urns,
filled with perfumes, pass round the city of Kapi-
lavastou; ten thousand daughters of gods are
seen carrying parasols, flags, banners; one
hundred thousand children of gods, holding
shells, drums, tambourines, also appear. All
the winds abstain from blowing, and the
streams stop running ; fire no longer burns;
pearl chaplets, thousands of precious stones, are
seen hanging from the galleries, the palaces, the
terraces, the arches of doorways; the jack-
daws, owls, vultures, wolves and jackals cease
their cries; harmonious sounds are alone to be
heard; everywhere in the air large and small
parasols unfold themselves; the timbals of heaven
utter deep notes; the high places and the low
places of the earth assume the same level; all
the gods of the forests, half emerging from the
foliage, are seen stooping and motionless.
Whilst these wonders are taking place the
queen enters the garden of Lumbini; she goes
from grove to grove, examining first one green
tree, then another. Suddenly one of the trees
bows to and greets her. The queen, having
stretched out her arm, takes hold of a branch,
and looks up to heaven in silent prayer. The
Bôdhisatva comes out from her right side without
injuring her. Indra and Brahma receive him in
their arms. An immense lotus shoots through the
ground to serve him as a cradle. Two streams
of water, one hot, the other cold, spring forth
for him to bathe in; from heaven a parasol
comes down to shade him.
But he, reclining upon the lotus, attentively
glance of a great man. He perceives the millions
of worlds, the gods and the men. He proclaims
that he has come to save all creatures, and sprinkle
over all beneficent rain from the great cloud
of the law. A thrill passes through all beings.
A deluge of flowers, of garlands, of ornaments,
and odoriferous powders fills all space; the light
of a hundred thousand blended hues, bringing
comfort to the body and to the soul, breaks over
all worlds. Passion, hatred, ignorance, pride,
sadness, despondency, fear, envy, are banished
from the hearts of all beings. The sound of the
dance is heard in all directions.
It is a law that the mother of a Bôdhisatva
must die seven days after the birth of her son,
70 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
because, seeing him so beautiful, her heart would
break at the moment of his becoming an ascetic,
in order to devote himself to the salvation of
mortals. And so Maya-Devi expires in the midst
of the Apsaras,* who gather round her, and
comes to life again in the midst of the gods.
The king, before returning to the palace, visits
five hundred Sakyas with his son. They all place
their dwellings at the child's disposal, who, mul-
tiplying himself, makes them believe he is the
guest of each. All the women are anxious to
nurse him. His aunt, the venerable Pradjâpatî,
is chosen in preference to all others; eight nurses
are appointed to carry him, eight to suckle him,
eight to wash him, eight to watch him while at
play.
One episode, though it has not the same har-
monious brevity, recalls the episode of the
aged Simeon, in St. Luke's Gospel. A famous
hermit, living on the slope of the Himalaya,
and versed in the five transcendental sciences,
on witnessing these marvellous apparitions, con-
cluded that the great diamond had appeared.
With his all-seeing eye, he saw in the town
of Kapilavastou the child worshipped by all
the worlds. He came through the air, and
stopped at the king's door. The king received
him with respect. O hermit,' said he to him,
'I do not recollect having ever seen you before.
* Apsaras, i.e. ap-sri-as, the name of female divinities,
acting as houris in paradise. - TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
n
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
What is the object of your visit, and what do
you wish ?' The hermit answered: 'Mighty king,
to you a son is born, and I have come here to
see him. The king replied: 'Great hermit, the
child is sleeping; wait a little until he wakes.'
‘Mighty king,' retorted the hermit, 'such beings
do not sleep long. Indeed, the Bodhisatva soon
showed that he was awake; the king, carefully
holding him in his arms, brought him to the
hermit, who, seeing his body was perfect (he
possessed the thirty-two signs that indicate a great
man, as well as the eighty secondary marks),
clasped his hands, kissed the child's feet, took
him in his arms, and remained thoughtful. Seeing
him sigh and shed tears, the king anxiously said
to him: 'O hermit, why do you weep?: 'Mighty
king, it is not over the child that I weep: he has
not the slightest defect. It is for myself that I
shed tears. Mighty king, I am stricken with
years, and this young prince will manifest the
perfect and complete intelligence of Buddha. To
beings afflicted by passion, envy, and distress,
he will restore calmness. Beings held in the
trammels of transitory life, and whose doom is
corruption, this child shall free from their bondage.
Even as the flower of the fig-tree is but seldom
seen in this world, so, great and mighty king,
hundreds of millions of kalpas have to elapse
before the advent of a Buddha. This child shall
enable hundreds of millions of beings to cross over
to the other shore. And I shall not see this pearl
REVIVAL OF LETTERS.
features of this prolonged Religious Phase gradually fade out
as the sun of modern science rises in the heavens; and ecclési-
astical authority recedes, at first, to its normal, unaggressive at-
titude, and then, in turn, crouches beneath the bitter and vin-
dictive revilings of a mad and resurgent spirit of freethinking.
•The rise of the Intellectual Phase of this cycle may be traced
back to the time of Roger Bacon (1214-1294), who "prefer-
red to study nature rather than busy himself in scholastic sub-
tleties." He atoned, however, for his opposition to the spirit
of the times by ten years of imprisonment. (') Eckart (born
after 1250), a chief of the German Mystics, in his independ-
ent attitude, was a forerunner of modern science; and, through
his ethics, prepared the way for the Reformation. He affirmed
that all religious truth lies within the sphere of buman reason.
The “revival of letters” was now fairly inaugurated. The
new literary movement was largely due to the removal into
Italy of learned men from Greece and Constantinople. The
Greeks and Arabs had always kept alive an acquaintance with
the learning of antiquity. The Eastern Christians and the Mo-
hammedans had long since revolted against the decrees of the
early Church; and the latter, especially, had developed an In-
tellectual Phase to which Europe now became largely indebted.
Alkendi (870), Alfarabi (died 950), Avicenna (born 980), and
Algazel (born 1059) in the East, and Averroës (1126–1198) in
the West, exerted an influence which had now spread over the
whole of the civilized world. Averroism, especially, asserted
T
well as Draper, “ The Intellectual Development of Europe,” and “The Con-
flict between Religion and Science.”
(') Roger Bacon was one of the most remarkable intellects which the
world has produced. He is far more worthy than his pompous and pam-
pered namesake, of two centuries later, to be regarded as the restorer of
the inductive method of scientific investigation. For a full notice of Friar
Bacon and his “Opus Majus," sec Whewell, “ History of the Inductive
Sciences," vol. i., p. 512-522.
INTELLECTUAL QUICKENING.
79
its presence in much of the philosophy and theology of the
world down to a recent period. Numerous contributions to
science were also introduced from Arabia. Now, also, occurred
a renewal of industrial and commercial activity. Now arose
free cities and free citizens. Now a new secular form of cult-
ure grew up. "All the natural and moral sentiments proceed-
ing from contact of man with man were brought into promi-
nence in poetry and increased in importance.” To these re-
sults Dante (1265-1321), Petrarch (1304-1374), and Boccac-
cio (1313–1375) greatly contributed. A wonderfully increased
mental activity next resulted from the invention of the art of
printing, in 1440; and then the discovery of America thrilled
the civilized world with new ideas, new projects, and new ac-
tivities. In consonance with the developing spirit of original
inquiry, Vives (1492–1540), returning to the ancient method
of Aristotle, proclaimed, as Friar Bacon had done, that nature
could only be known through direct investigation by way of
experiment and observation. To make no further allusion to
the revolution endogenous within the field of philosophy and
theology, we can not overlook the influence of the external
pressure exerted upon the scholastic system by the develop-
ment of the germs of science which had been planted by Friar
Bacon, Vives, Cesalpino (1509–1603), Columbus (1435–1506),
and Vanini (1585–1619, burned at the stake for naturalism).
Cusanus (1401–1464) had revived the idea of the earth's axial
rotation. Copernicus (1473–1543) established the heliocentric
theory in astronomy. Kepler (1571-1630) discovered the fun-
damental laws of planetary motion. Leonardo da Vinci (1452
-1519), as Hallam says, “ within the compass of a few pages
anticipated almost all the discoveries which have been made in
science from Galileo to the contemporary geologists.” Gas-
sendi (1592–1655), the mediæval Epicurean, is the stepping-
stone, in popular estimation, between Lucretius and Tyndall.
Telesio (1508–1588) abandoned the disputatious philosophy
. 4*
74 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
grass,* at the foot of the tree of intelligence, seats
himself, and, facing the East, vows not to rise
till he has acquired perfect intelligence. All
the trees, all the mountains of the world bow
towards Bôdhimanda. All the children born on
that day sleep with their heads turned in the
direction of Bôdhimanda. . Sakya is subjected
to a final attack from the demons; their missiles
are changed into flowers. He is called upon to
adduce evidence of his virtuous deeds; the earth
bears witness to them. The demon possesses
daughters capable of putting the vocation of
an ascetic to the most dangerous proof; he
incites them to try against the young saint the
thirty-two spells of women. The Bôdhisatva,
by means of undeniable arguments, convinces
them that they are only illusions, and that the
qualities of desire are not qualities.
Henceforth delivered from all which fetters
thought, the royal hermit progresses from medita-
tion to meditation. In the first he does away
with desires; in the second, he eliminates actions
and judgments; in the third, though preserving
recollection, he attains mystical indifference;
finally, in the fourth, he puts aside all personality
and enters into pure thought, exempt from all
According to the 'Lalitavistâra,' the Bôdhisatva having
seen a man named Svastika who was engaged in cutting
grass, requested him to give him some to make a seat with.
Now, Svastikır is the name of a kind of mystical sign,
an emblem of Buddha, which is sometimes accidentally
formed by bits of grass.-TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
75.
changes. Against their father's advice, three of
the demon's daughters attempt again to seduce the
Buddha, who, without even heeding them, changes
them into decrepit old women. Their father
persuades them to confess their fault to the
Buddha, who forgives them and restores them
their first beauty.
Sakya then perceives at a glance all his previous
existences; he traces the causes of disease and
death, and ascertains that the only means of
putting a stop to them is to annihilate birth and in-
dividual existence. Become master of the elements
of life, he exclaims : 'It is thus I shall put an end
to suffering;' and he enters upon the nirvana.
Immediately all beings experience an indescrib-
able feeling of comfort; all the regions of the
world are filled with a light which appeases all
suffering; the timbals of the gods resound in
the air; the earth trembles in six different ways;
all the Buddhas burst forth with shouts of
joy from the ten points of space. Sakya pro-
nounces these words : “ The hermit, like the bird
born from the egg, has broken his shell. I have
attained the law of immortality, profound, calm,
free from perturbation, luminous, beyond idea.
Silent, I shall remain in the shadow of forests, in
the depths of my own nature. No substance
exists here below. For him who knows successive
causes and effects, there is neither being nor
negation.'
75 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
II.
The religious philosophy which pervades this
fantastic gospel is more likely than the gospel
itself to astonish persons unacquainted with the
peculiarities of the human mind. 'Love, sacrifice,
oblation have no reality; our actions, good or
bad, have no result; this world does not exist; as
little does the future world exist; there are no
beings of supernatural birth. As for man, that com-
pound of the four elements, when his time has
come, earth returns to the bulk of the earth, the
water to the bulk of the water, the fire to the bulk
of the fire, the wind to the bulk of the wind; the
organs of sense reascend to the ether; four men
carry the coffin containing the dead body as far
as the rules for the cremation of corpses pre-
scribe; the bones become of a dirty white colour;
the good deeds perish in the flames of the funeral
pile. Those who maintain that something still
exists are, whether ignorant or wise, decomposed
and annihilated after death. There is no mur-
derer, no instigator of the murder, no listening
being, no speaking being, no knowing being, no
teaching being. When a man cuts off a head
with a sword, that deed is not one being depriving
another of life; only, between the head and the
trunk, the sword encounters an empty space.'*
* Extract from the ‘Samanna phala Sutta,' in Burnouf's
'Lotus de la Bonne Loi,' pp. 456, 457.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
Is this a strange mockery? Is it negation
carried to the extreme, with the object of striking
terror into the human conscience, and bringing it
back to faith? It is both. Buddhism delights
in contradictions; the Buddha came to deliver
men from false fancies, by teaching them that
nothing exists. Just as, when a man is troubled
by evil dreams and cries out in his sleep, his
parents and friends call out to him: “Have
no fear, have no fear,” so the blessed Buddhas
teach the law to creatures disturbed by the four
kinds of delusions. “There is,” they say, “neither
man, nor woman, nor creature, nor life, nor spirit,
nor person; these conditions have no reality;
they are all the production of fancy; they all
resemble an illusion, a dream, something fac-
titious, like the image of the moon reflected in
the water.” Human creatures, having heard this
teaching, see all conditions free from passion;
they see them devoid of error, having no nature
of their own. With their thoughts resting on
space, those creatures, as though they had accom-
plished their time, enter completely into the
domain of the nirvana, where no trace is left of
the aggregation of the constituent elements of
existence.'*
'Having completely raised himself above the
idea of form, the idea of resistance having vanished,
the idea of diversity being no longer conceivable
* Extract from the Vinaya Sûtra,' in Burnouf's 'Intro-
duction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme indien,' p. 545.
TT1
78 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
sc
for him, the hermit, having reached the region
of infinity in space, where he says to himself,
“ Space is infinite,” stops there. Having com-
pletely raised himself above the region of infinity
in space, after having reached the region of in-
finity in intelligence, where he says to himself,
"Intelligence is infinite," he stops there. Having
completely raised himself above the region of in-
finity in intelligence, having reached the region
where absolutely nothing exists, and where he says
to himself, “There exists absolutely nothing," he
stops there. Having completely raised himself
above the region where there exists absolutely
nothing, having reached the region where there
are neither ideas nor absence of ideas, he stops
there. Having completely raised himself above
the region where there are neither ideas nor
absence of ideas, having reached cessation of both
idea and perception, he stops there."* The ascetic
is now no more thinking than non-thinking ;
he is neutral as regards ideas and as regards the
absence of ideas alike.
'The man who walks in the perfection of
wisdom must not stop at form, any more than at
sensation, any more than at idea, any more than
at conceptions, any more than at knowledge.
Why so? It is that if he stop at form he walks
in the belief that form exists ; he walks not in the
perfection of wisdom. And in like manner, if he
* Extract from the Säggîti Sutta,' at the end of the “Lotus
de la Bonne Loi,' p. 809.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
79
stop at sensation, idea, conceptions, knowledge,
he walks in the belief that all these exist; he walks
not in the perfection of wisdom. Not achieving
the perfection of wisdom, he will not attain
omniscience, because he believes he can reach that
which cannot be reached. Why so ? It is that
in the perfection of wisdom form is not grasped,
and that the same applies to sensation, to idea,
to conceptions, to knowledge. The perfection of
wisdom itself is not grasped; omniscience itself is
not grasped. The name of Buddha is but a
word; the Buddha himself is like unto an illusion;
the conditions that constitute the Buddha re-
semble an illusion, a dream. The Buddha can-
not be conceived as having beginning, end, or
middle. Why so ? It is that he cannot be con-
ceived at all. His form being without limit, the
Buddha must be looked upon as something
illimitable.'*
Logic carried to the utmost, upsetting at one
stroke all affirmations, whether positive, nega-
tive, or indifferent-such is Buddhism. With it
everything passes away: God, the world, the
Buddha, man, mind, nature. Truth is unspeak-
able, invisible, because it is void itself. Every
thesis is propounded in three different manners-
the one affirmative, the other negative, the third
neither affirmative nor negative. Each of them
* "Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme indien,' pp. 469.
481. E. Burnouf.
† 'Lalitavistâra,' pp. 364, 368. Foucaux.
lim
80 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
--------
is then equally dismissed, because the adoption of
either means the rejection of the two others.
And the sage, perceiving that embracing one
opinion means disagreeing with the others, gives
up the task without adopting any.* For instance,
to this question : 'Does the Buddha exist after
death, or does he not?' it should be replied: 'The
Buddha exists after death; the Buddha does not
exist after death; the Buddha exists and does not
exist after death; the Buddha is no more existent
than he is non-existent after death.' To every
question the sage thus replies by affirmation and
negation, either separately or conjointly: 'No, it
is not so; no, it is not otherwise ; no, it is not
true that it is so; no, it is not true that it is not
because it is not so.'+ To err is to regard as
durable that which is but transient, and to attri-
bute reality to that which only exists in imagina-
tion.
This act of the human consciousness, in which
self-inspection ends merely in self-destruction,
is one of the most extraordinary phenomena of
history. It is difficult to imagine the strange
impression produced by this ever identical
thought, this eternal circle revolving round itself,
and fatally leading to the stupefaction of thought;
it is the witches' dance of logic, the humming of
a void like that of a hollow top. The wheel is
*'Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme indien,' p. 458.
E. Burnouf.
† E. Burnouf, 'Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi,' pp. 459, 460.
V
IS
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
81
--
-
--- --- -
- ---
-
Y
YT
a correct image of this eternal tautology. The
wheel is the perfect symbol of Buddhistic
countries. The devotees always hold in their
hands a wheel, which they set spinning; there
are some large ones, which are put in motion
with the arms; others are set to work by streams;
others, placed on the housetops, are kept moving
by the wind; others again, hung up over the
fireplace, are worked by the smoke. On their
circumference is inscribed the formula : ' Om mani
padme houm!' ( Hail to thee, pearl enclosed in
the lotus !) This formula seems to be the
rhythm of pulsation of Buddhistic life, from one
end of Asia to the other. Men and women, old
people and children, laymen and monks are ever
repeating it on the beads of an endless rosary.
Engraved over the doors, it also hangs in long
streamers from one house to the other, from one
tree to another; sometimes, crossing over a stream
or a ravine, it unites two mountains, casting on
the valley an ever-moving shadow. It may be
read on the bark of trees, on rocks, on heaps
of stones, on dried-up human skulls or shoulder-
blades, on fragments of skeletons heaped up by
the side of public roads. It is the first sentence a
child pronounces; like a perpetual murmur it
resounds through cities and deserts alike; the
caravans measure their steps by these mystic
syllables. No other sound is heard from those
bands of disciples who spend their lives in going
82 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY. :
the round of the Soumêru.* “From the sea of
Japan to the frontiers of Persia,' says a missionary,t
• a long and uninterrupted murmur agitates all
people, animates all ceremonies, is the symbol
of all beliefs, the accompaniment to all festivi-
ties. The trunk of the Buddhistic religion covers
a great part of the world with its gigantic branches,
and everywhere this prayer is the vehicle of
its life and of the movements that animate it.'
Such a nihilism is revolting to us; for in our eyes
life is worth living. But to the Hindu life is an
evil ; rest, non-existence, is the first of blessings.
According to Buddhism, nothing exists except
eternal nature, which manifests itself in two ways
-existence (pravritti), and rest or non - being
(niruritti). The creation and the destruction of
worlds and of individuals are the result of the
infinite succession of these two states of nature.
All compounds are perishable ; deeds alone are
eternal by their consequences. Animated beings,
* The northern part of the Meru (the chief of mounts)
as opposed to Koumêru, its southern part. The dimensions
of that fabulous mountain are, according to the Vishnu
Purâna,' in height 84,000 yộjanas; its depth below the
surface of the earth is 16,000. Its diameter at the summit
32,000 yôjanas; and, at its base, 16,000 ; so that its shape
is that of an inverted cone. The yôjana is, according to
some, equivalent to nine miles ; according to others, five only.
Lieut.-Colonel Cunningham (Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society of Great Britain,' 1843, No. 14) calculated its exact
measure at seven miles.-TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
† L'Abbé Gabet, Journal Asiatique, May, 1847, p. 462 and
following
FIRST, WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
83
among which the highest is man, are capable, by
their efforts, of attaining the supreme felicity of
non-being, and of escaping the necessity of re-
appearing in the fleeting phenomena of existence.
One becomes Buddha when one has thus succeeded
in proclaiming that nothing exists, in abdicating
one's own individuality, in seeking nothing, not
even rest, in acknowledging that all is vanity—even
Buddha's law.* Then, free from all illusion, one
enters upon a state of perfect indifference, in which
pleasure and happiness become meaningless; a
state of apathy in which physical life is almost
reduced to the function of respiration, in which
intellectual life consists in the continuance of pure
intelligence, released from all its tasks. Seven de-
grees lead to that supreme end. Eliminating little
by little all transient data, all conceptions of multi-
plicity and diversity, one must proclaim succes-
sively that there is no space, no intelligence, no
ideas; even this is not sufficient, one must main-
tain that there is not even absence of ideas, nor
absence of absence of ideas, and so on for ever.
Nothingness has too much body for those wor-
shippers of absolute void ; they feel the necessity
of denying it, like all the rest. It is the negation
of negation.
The fundamental idea of Buddhism is the pre-
eminence of man over all the rest of the universe.
To come to life again as a god is an evil. The
* E. Burnouf, ' Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi,' pp. 167, 168.
† Ibid., p. 50.
6-2
84 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
great aim for all beings is to become men,
and, that condition once obtained, to become
monks.* The thought of the sage moves the
earth; meditation creates the world ; creations of
worlds are the result of the behaviour of the
moral beings who inhabit them,t not the work
of a creating God. The Bôdhisatva Gadgadas-
vara plunges himself in such deep meditation,
that all of a sudden eighty-four times a hundred
thousand myriads of kôtis$ of lotuses appear.
Never was moral strength exaggerated to such
an extent. Hell is created by sin. The most
virtuous and the wisest is the mightiest. It is by
his own strength that man rises above nature; he
owes nothing but to himself.
Buddhistic books doindeed make mention of gods
or devas. But these are beings like so many others,
inferior to man-kinds of elves or goblins, with-
out any metaphysical signification, from which,
owing to their complete ignorance of physics, the
Buddhists were unable to free themselves. The
first step to becoming the guide of the world is to
refuse to acknowledge the gods.Ş The gods come
E. Burnouf, 'Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme
indien,' p. 368.
† Since, according to Buddhistic metempsychosis, fresh
incarnation is the punishment of nisdeeds, and before
entering a man's body (which is its only means of salvation)
the soul must have migrated through the bodies of in-
numerable animals or plants.- TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
I According to Hindu numeration, the kóti is equal to ten
millions.- TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
§ E. Burnouf, 'Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi,' p. 581.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.. 85
- -----
respectfully to listen to Buddha and form his re-
tinue; they are but one of the circles of transmigra-
tion; they die like men, and the Bôdhisatva, out of
charity, becomes a deva, so as to preach to and
convert the devas. It is the Buddha who teaches
the devas, like all other beings, to cast off the
burden of their nature and enter upon the great
rest. Brahma himself, in order to obtain deliver-
ance, needs the aid of Sakya. One of the most
peculiar passages of the Lalitavistãra is that in
which Sakya's parents desire to take him to the
temple of the gods. Sakya begins to laugh; he
reminds them that at his birth the gods have
worshipped him. “Where is the god equal or
superior to me, who am the god of gods ? He
who belongs to a great race and carries the signs
of nobility does not bow before gods, whoever
they may be. The gods approve that pride in
the child, and say: 'The Meru does not bow
before the mustard-seed. The sun and the moon
do not bow before the glow-worm.'*
In this manner beings pass through all the
stages of the universe, until they arrive at the full
control of themselves : it is the state of the Bôd-
hisatva, the last stage to be gone through before
reaching nothingness. Then comes death, through
which the Buddha is complete. Every million of
years there appears a privileged being who teaches
men the road to rest and the law by which to
reach it. That law is not eternal. The successor
* Foucaux, ' Lalitavistãra,' pp. 114-116.
TY
86 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
to Sakya-Mouni is already selected; it will be
Maîtreya, who is now pursuing through a series of
universes the course of his evolutions.
This masterpiece of human power is accom-
plished by science. The Buddha is the ‘learned,'
the 'gnostic,'* who, by his adequate science,
breaks the spell of error, raises himself above
nature, and commands it. He sees all in the
thousands of worlds, as a piercing eye might
see the fishes, the shells, the sand, and the aquatic
plants at the bottom of a lake. “In the same
manner as the two parts forming a box are
contained and limited by each other, so with the
Buddha, the object of knowledge and the know-
ledge he possesses of it are contained by each
other and within the same limits. The nirvana
is the supreme equation, the endless intuition of
absolute identity.
The questions which European criticism raises
about the nature of the nirvana, proceed from the
discrepancy between the words and ideas of
Hindu mythology and our own categories.t Is
the nirvâna simply the release from outward cir-
cumstances ? Is it a state in which man feels
within himself but the universal existence in
whose bosom co-exist all the parts of the uni-
* The word Buddha has exactly the same meaning as
YwotiKÓS. I come more and more to think that gnosticism,
particularly the gnosticism that we find in Plotinus, non-
Christian gnosticism, is an offshoot of Buddhism.
+ See especially E. Burnouf's 'Introduction à l'Histoire du
Buddhisnie indien,' p. 516 and following.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
87
ST
verse? In that state does man preserve the
feeling of his personality and his activity? Is
there any distinction between the nirvana and
absolute existence? Is it pure negation? Those
questions are solved differently according to the
different schools, or rather they are devoid of
meaning for Buddhists, who are quite astonished
when questioned on that subject. “The nirvana,
they invariably reply, “is absorption, deliverance
from movement, release from the control of
causes and effects, rest--that is, non-being.'
The circle is complete when one can say:
* Existence exists no more for me; I shall
never see another existence.' The nirvana is
immunity from being, absolute void, the
space wanting its four dimensions, wherefrom
are excluded both the existence and the non-
existence of things, where are seen neither
objects to be admitted nor subjects to admit
them, where all principles are put aside, because
the illusory character of every principle leads
to none being admitted in a word, it is the
negation of both the subject and the object,
and consequently it is absolute rest. To reach
that state, human intellect must be freed from all
that may perturb it; all emotions are to be
avoided ; all pursuits are to be given up; all in-
tellectual discussions relative to the qualities of
things are to be waived; all wishes and desires
are to be foregone; mirth and sadness are alike
to be put away. The being that has attained
88 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
this summit, whose ideas are unfettered-having
cast off the burden of thought-having severed the
ties that bound it to the universe, and completely
mastered its own inward self—having reached
a unity similar to the uniform surface of the
firmament-having entered upon the meditation
called 'the place of endless meditation,'* of all
the functions of life preserves but respiration.
'It is a mind contemplative, perfected, purified,
luminous, free from blots, exempt from vice,
supple, capable of any deed, stable, arrived at
impassibility.'
The aim of life is therefore to withdraw one's
self from the intellectual and moral condition of
mankind by meditation, or rather by the fan-
tastic exercise of imagination. The legend of the
dried-up Arhân, in 'Hiouen-Thsang,'t is charac-
teristic of that complete desiccation of the being
which, for the Buddhist, constitutes perfection.
'Two hundred li I west from the capital, there
is a great mountain bristling with bold and steep
rocks, on the top of which rises a stoúpa.
This is what tradition says:
* E. Burnouf, 'Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi,' p. 3.
† Stanislas Julien, ‘Histoire de Hiouen-Thsang,' p. 275
and following
I The li is a Chinese topographical measure ; its value was,
in Hiouen-Thsang's time, equal to the distance which an
average man can walk in five minutes. Five li are equal to
1643 metres, or a little more than the English mile (1609
metres).-TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
§ Stoupa, a shrine.--TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.:
89
1
Several hundred years ago, the thunder roared
and destroyed part of the mountain, the grottoes
of which sheltered a bhikchou * of extraordinary
size, who was seated with his eyes closed; his
hair and his beard, falling in thick locks, covered
his shoulders and his face. Some wood-fellers
went to inform the king of the occurrence; and
he hastened to go to look at him, and do him
homage. The news having spread, the magis-
trates and the people-an immense crowd-
rushed from all parts to do homage to the
bhikchou, who was soon surrounded by heaps of
flowers.
6“Who is this man?” inquired the king. “He
is," answered a monk, “a lo-han (arhân) who has
left his family, and who, having extinguished the
principle of thought, has entered upon complete
ecstasy. Since then, many years have elapsed.
That is why his hair has grown so wonderfully
long.” “How can we wake him, and make him
get up?" inquired the king. “When a man,” said
the monk, “comes out of ecstasy, after having for
many long years been deprived of food, his body
will soon fall into decomposition. We must first
moisten him with cream and milk, so as to
lubricate his muscles. Afterwards, we shall
strike the gong, in order to startle and rouse
him."
'In accordance with the monk's advice, the
* A hermit, and more especially a religious mendicant.--
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
90 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
corpse was at once besprinkled with milk, and
eyes, and, looking around, asked: “Who are
you all wearing religious garments?” “We are
bhikchous,” they all replied. “Where is now,”
retorted the area, my master Kia-che-po-jou-lai
(Kaçyapatathagata)?” “It is a long, long time,”
they answered, "since he entered upon the nie-pan
(nirvana).”
Upon hearing these words, he gave a cry of
pain; then he went on: “Did Chi-kia-wen-fo
(Sakya-Mouni Buddha) succeed in "reaching com-
plete, unsurpassed intelligence ?'“Yes, indeed;
and, after procuring happiness for all creatures,
he entered upon silence and extinction.”
'Hearing this, the arhân* cast his eyes down ;
then, after a long pause, he raised his long hair
with his hand, and rose majestically in the air.
Then, by a divine miracle, appeared a fiery orb,
which consumed his body, and his bones fell on
the ground. The king and the monks of the great
speaking.'
Materialism, scepticism, atheism—this, then,
is the summary of what may be called the
Buddhism of the books. It is, indeed, the only
instance in the history of mankind of negation
assuming a religious import. When Father Horace
* A person holding a high rank in Buddhistic hierarchy.-
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
91
inquired from the Buddhists of Thibet 'What is
God ? they imperturbably replied: God is the
Assembly of Saints.' An atheistic philosophy
has founded a religious tradition unequalled as
regards its duration and the number of its.
adherents.
This fact of atheism becoming a religion is so
truly amazing that we require the best authority
on the subject before accepting it. The cautious
mind of Eugène Burnouf did not fear to express
the most decided affirmation with regard to it.*
'I imagine,' says he, 'that on entering upon
religious life Sakya-Mouni started from the ideas
furnished by the atheistic doctrines of the
Samkhya, which were in ontology, the absence
of God, the multiplicity and eternity of human
souls; and, in physics, the existence of an eternal
nature, endowed with qualities, transforming itself,
and possessing the elements of the shapes assumed
by the soul of man in the course of its journey
through the world. From that doctrine Sakya-
Mouni borrowed the idea of the non-existence of
God, as well as the theory of the multiplicity of
human souls, that of transmigration, and that of
the nirvana, or deliverance, which last belonged in
common to all Brahminic schools. But it is not
easy to see to-day what he understood by the
nirvana, as he nowhere defines it. Yet, as he
never speaks of God, the nirvana could not have
* "Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme indien," pp.
520, 521.
UL
92 NEW: STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
meant to him the absorption of the individual soul
in the bosom of a universal God, as understood by
orthodox Brahmins; and as he does not mention
matter, his nirvana cannot mean the dissolution
of the human soul into physical elements. The
word void, which appears already on the monu-
ments which are proved to have been the oldest,
induces me to think that Sakya saw supreme
good in complete annihilation of the principle of
thought. He pictured it to himself, to use an
often repeated comparison, as the gradual extinc-
tion of the light in a lamp which is going out.'
The void - this is, indeed, the key-word of
Buddhism. To understand the void is the
supreme science. Meditation is the aim of life;
but meditation is to know that the law is void,
does not exist, is not coming, has not been, is
inexpressible.'* The Sûtra of causes, which
Burnouf translated from beginning to end,t and
in which may be seen the type of Buddha's teach-
ings, is like a machine destined to produce a
vacuum in the soul, by pointing out birth as the
sole cause of all evils. Buddha shall deliver from
birth the innumerable beings subject to be born
by their nature. Having completely freed created
beings from old age, from death, from disease,
from corruption, from despair, from miseries, from
anxieties, having taken them across the ocean of
migratory life, he shall place them in the region
* Eugène Burnouf's 'Lotus de la Bonne Loi,' p. 169.
ť Ibid., Appendix to the ' Lotus,' p. 534 and following.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
93
of imperishable nature, happy, without fear,
exempt from trouble and pain, calm, free from
passion and death.*
No more attached to anything than the dew-
drop to the lotus-leaf; prizing gold no more than
a lump of earth; considering infinite space and
the palm of the hand as equal; having the same
indifference for sandal-wood and the hatchet that
chops it; turning his back upon existence, gain,
honours—the Buddha sees as it is the reunion of
the three worlds. This world, to his eyes, is not
created and does not die ; it does not disappear
and does not come to life; it does not revolve in the
circle of transmigration, and does not enter upon
complete annihilation ; we cannot say that it has
been, nor that it has not been; it is not existing and
it is not non-existing; it is not thus, yet it is not
otherwise; it is not erroneously, yet it is not
really ; it is not otherwise and it is not thus.
It is in this way that the Buddha perceives the
reunion of the three worlds.'t.
Of all this nothing belongs peculiarly to Budd-
hism. Let us recall the definition of the state
of liberation according to Nyaya : "The state of
liberation is like the state of perfect insensibility
of a man soundly sleeping, undisturbed by any
dreams.'I
Thus, for Hinduism as for Christianity, the per-
* E. Foucaux's ' Lalitavistãra,' p. 215.
Ť E. Burnouf's 'Lotus,' p. 193.
# Journal des Savants, June, 1853, p. 342.
11
94 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
ception of the vanity of all things is the beginning
of wisdom; but after 'all is vanity,' Buddhism,
having no Supreme God, cannot add, like the
author of the “Imitation,' except loving and
serving God. In Buddhistic legends, nearly all
conversions are due to the sight of something
horrible.* A short time after his marriage, the
young Sakya is taking a walk in his pleasure-
garden. He meets with an old man. The Bôd-
hisatva, perceiving him, says to his coachman:t
Who is this, coachman? What is the meaning
of this weak and undersized creature, with dried-
up flesh, with muscles stuck to his skin, with
white hair, chattering teeth, thin and shrivelled-
up body, who, leaning on a stick, totters painfully
along ?' The coachman answers: 'My lord, that
man is overburdened with age; his senses are
weakened, suffering has destroyed his energy, he
is despised by his relations, and without a guide ;
useless in business, he is abandoned in the forest
like a heap of dead wood. The Bodhisatva re-
torts : 'Is that the rule in his family, or is it that
of all the creatures of this world? Speak! tell me
quickly what the fact is. Having been informed of
its significance, I will reflect upon the origin of all
this.' The coachman replies: ‘My lord, it is
* Read the touching episodes of Kûnala and Vitaçôka in
Burnouf's 'Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme indien,'
pp. 404 and following, 415 and following ; as also the strange
vision of the cemetery in Foucaux’s ‘Lalitavistãra,' p. 197
and following
† Foucaux's ' Lalitavistãra,' pp. 182, 183.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
neither the law of his family, nor that of the king-
dom. With every creature youth will be van-
quished by age. Your father, your mother, the
crowd of your relations and kinsmen will end by
being old; there is no other end for created
beings.' The Bôdhisatva says: “Then, coachman,
young and ignorant beings, of unsound judgment,
proud of the youth which intoxicates them, do not
foresee old age. As for me, I will depart. Turn my
carriage quickly. If I also am destined to grow
old, what have I to do with joy and pleasure ?
Go back; I will think of how to achieve deliver-
ance.'
All this is indeed a true fruit of India, that
country where life is in turn a golden dream and a
nightmare, a sonbre hell and a dazzling paradise.
Voluptuousness and abnegation are near neigh-
bours. The ascetic who, haunted by the fear of
existence, inflicts torments upon himself in order
to escape it, does not belong to another race than
he who acts according to Krishna's voluptuous
legend. Krishna, incarnation of pleasure and
sensual abandonment, ideal of a mild, unenergetic
people, exposed to all the seductions of nature, is,
at heart, brother to Sakya-Mouni. The frolics of
Krishna with the shepherdesses of the Bradj have
something in common with the enervating abne-
gations of Buddhism ; both imply complete ignor-
ance of the true aim of life, or rather a false idea of
science and the powers of man. For India, con-
scious existence has no superior resulting power ;
96 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
everybody is free, according to his taste, to find it
delightful as an idyl, or dreadful as the torture-
chamber. According to us, the world, through the
reason, the activity, the suffering of man, pursues
an ideal end of justice and righteousness. The
most victimized of creatures has helped, if only by
its tears, to raise an eternal structure ; it has a
ground for hope and consolation.
In speaking of Buddhism, one may appear
paradoxical, though only bringing together the
plainest texts. This frightful nihilism, which
would seem among us the height of impiety, issues
in a very lofty morality. This strange Messiah
speaks of the kingdom of God almost like the
Galilean Messiah. ‘My abode is the strength of
charity; my garment is the robe of patience; the
void is my seat; it is from that seat I teach the
law to all creatures.'* The name of the supreme
virtue of Buddhism, inaîtri, can only be translated
by the word 'charity.' Self-sacrifice and devotion
carried even to suicide, heroic almsgiving, such
are the most salient features of all the legends
relating to Sakya-Mouni. Once he sacrifices the
ten thousand heads he has possessed in previous
existences; at another time, he cuts off his hand,
his feet, his head, to give them to some unfortu-
nates. It is out of compassion for creatures that
he, for the last time, accepts the condition of
humanity. He constantly repeats the maxim,
'Delivered, deliver; having crossed to theother side,
* E. Burnouf's ‘Lotus de la Bonne Loi,' p. 144.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
97
help others to cross it; consoled, console others;
having entered upon complete nirvana, enable
others to attain it.'* The demon tempts him by
offering him the nirvana at once; he refuses until,
by his preaching, he has saved the beings placed
under the control of birth, age, disease and death.
Like a father who sees his children playing in a
house already on fire, the Buddha sees his crea-
tures burnt, consumed, devoured by birth, death,
lamentations, despair—the prey of desires and the
evils which result from them, unceasingly coming
to life in hell and in the womb of animals,
doomed to pass through the state of gods and
men; and, in the midst of that accumulation of
trials and sufferings, they play, divert, enjoy them-
selves—they do not tremble, do not think how
wretched and miserable they are. Then the
Buddha says to himself: 'I am the father of all
these beings; I want to deliver them; I will give
them the incomparable blessing of science. And
he calls out to them: 'Do not amuse yourselves
in the midst of all those shapes, those sounds,
those odours, those tastes, those miserable con-
tacts; for, while attached to this world, you are
consumed by the thirst accompanying the five
sorts of desire.' Blinded by their pleasures and
pursuits, men refuse to believe him and to follow
him out of the house which is in flames. The
Buddha has recourse to stratagems; he entices
0 Legend of Pûrna in Burnouf's "Introduction à l'Histoire
du Buddhisme indien,' p. 248 and following.
98 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
them by means of toys, which are the various
stages of his law, and the more or less tangible
shapes which it assumes to accommodate itself to
human weakness.
Here certainly is the lofty side of Buddhism.
and beneficial. It is catholicism without God,
India knows no measure, in self-devotion or in
anything else. She has gone to the extreme.
One cannot help smiling at the efforts of the
Buddha to convert serpents, birds, vampires,
harpies, and all the fantastic beings with which
Indian imagination has peopled the world. But
that spirit of sympathy was the cause of the ex-
traordinary proselytism which inspired Buddhistic
missionaries, and with which the conquests of
monotheistic religions can alone be compared.
Brahminism, the doctrines of Zoroaster and of
Confucius, only had national destinies.* Sakya-
Mouni's apostles, on the contrary, believed that
the world must become Buddhistic, and in this
they were but half deceived. The least satisfactory
doctrine which man ever dreamed of, captivated
the most diverse countries. A religion which
seemed only intended for the most refined sceptics
-the least intelligible, the least consoling of all
religions--became the creed of races most uncouth
till then. The gentle manners of those pious
* Brahminism made proselytes beyond India (see further
comparison with those of Buddhism.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
atheists, and the generally urbane character of
their preaching, were the cause of their popularity.
The Vedas, severe and exclusive, could never
have succeeded in performing such miracles. The
people embrace a religion only for its outward
appearance. Few are theologians. It is not re-
ligious metaphysics that give efficiency to propa-
ganda. The affability and the kindness of those
good monks threw a veil over their philosophy, a
philosophy of which they themselves were per-
haps scarcely aware. In like manner, Krishna's
success must be ascribed to his meek and sympa-
thetic physiognomy. That amiable and charm-
ing shepherd supplanted the austere Mouni, and
proved once more that the gods of the Mêru, like
those of Olympus, were not eternal gods.
III.
The foundation of a religion is an historical rather
than a doctrinal fact. The clear perception we
have of Buddhistic philosophy hardly explains its
establishment. The character of its founder is
enveloped in obscurity. On the other hand, the
circumstances attending the birth of the new
school are easily understood. At Benares, on the
banks of the Ganges and the Jumna, probably in
the course of the fifth century before Christ, arose
the doctrine which openly proclaimed its pro-
gramme to be the deliverance of mankind from
the tyranny of desire. It long remained an
7-2
100 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
1
obscure sect, a platonic protest in favour of
religious equality, an order of mendicant friars
among many others. It only assumed a political
importance when, towards the middle of the third
century before Christ, King Açoka accepted as laws
the principles which, till then, had only been
objects of meditation for a few ascetics.
It is absolutely beyond doubt that Buddhism
was the offspring of a vast movement of philo-
sophical sects. With the speculative power
always alive in her, India had discussed all pro-
blems, tried all sorts of solutions. The movement
was at first limited to the higher classes; gradually
it stirred the masses. A theory at last obtained
great popularity; it seemed to solve most satis-
factorily the eternal question of being and life in
the universe. Sakya adopted it most decidedly;
but he does not appear to have invented it. The
world is perpetually changing; all beings go
through successive forms of existence; deeds
alone are eternal and transmitted from life to life.
Existence is thus but a trial, a kind of purgatory,
from which we are freed by annihilation, which
keeps us from the law of change. Sakya, or
rather his disciples, promised to take men through
the defiles of existence. “Begin by leaving your
family,' they said to the adept; 'apply yourself to
Buddha's law; annihilate the army of death, as
an elephant upsets a hut of reeds. He who shall,
undisturbed, walk according to the dictates of that
law, escaping birth and the revolutions of the
111
XY
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
101
YXTI
CU
world, will put an end to pain. The law of
miserable existence is closed to him; the pure
road to heaven is opened to him; he has reached
the other shore of the sea of trouble.'
It would be an error to believe that the part
played by Sakya-Mouni required great originality.
Sakya was a hermit like many others, a philo-
sopher like many others, having certain practices
and a mode of teaching of his own. · He did
not admit the extravagant mortifications of the
Brahmins; he used to seat himself comfortably,
and recommended that condition as necessary for
rest; he was dressed decently, and strongly blamed
the acts of the gyinnosophists,* whose sole garment
was space. With as much truth as of Jesus, we
may say of Sakya-Mouni that what we know best
about him is his way of speaking. The form of
teaching adopted by Sakya is pretty faithfully pre-
served in the Sutras; it was a kind of animated
conversation, analogous to the dialectic of Socrates,
in which the master gradually brought his hearer
to acknowledge the negation of all and the infinite
chain of causes; it was long, diffuse, full of repe
titions and beating about the bush, such as oral
teaching requires. The speech was interspersed
with parables set forth in a style easy, popular,
expressive, and touching. From all this resulted
a certain character of mediocrity, an absence of
literary artifice, that inaugurated a revolution
From the Greek youvogomlotns, a sect of Indian philo-
sophers.-TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
102 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
similar to that which the plain, simple, and clear
language of the New Testament brought about
among the Græco-Latin peoples. At the outset, a
new religion is often but a new kind of literature.
Mahomet was indebted for his success to the
revolution he caused in Arabian eloquence by the
rhymed prose of his Koran.
In the process of popularization, every advance
is a fall. It has often been remarked that our
modern tongues, so inferior in beauty to ancient
languages, are far better adapted to the expres-
sion of popular feelings, and correspond with the
advent of Christianity, by which moral culture,
till then the appanage of a select few, was
made accessible to all. Classical stiffness gave
way. The new-born child wanted gruel ; the
strong meat of antiquity did not agree with it.
When ideas spread, they lose their grandeur.
But the eternal mind, which takes advantage of
all circumstances, knows how to derive from
these recoils sufficient force to make a fresh leap.
Castes formed the basis of Hindu society.
Originally instituted as an heroic precaution for
preserving the thin streamlet of Aryan blood in
the midst of an ocean of Allophylian * races, caste
had brought about this result: the Brahmin
was the only religious being. The masses had
thus to labour under the most painful sense of
inferiority; they were considered as having no
From the Greek ürlos=another, and pukij=a tribe. -
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE..
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
103
souls, and, as a matter of course, requiring no
salvation. From that resulted an aristocracy,
the proudest of all—the aristocracy of meditation;
birth exclusively conferred religious capacity.
The mere fact of Sakya being a Kchatria, not a
Brahmin, dealt a mortal blow to that system.
Another fact of no less importance was that truths
which until then had been the privilege of certain
classes were made current coin. Discussions, which
the Brahmins confined to the higher circles of
society, were thus placed within the reach of the
masses. Sakya spoke to all in a familiar language,
clear, prolix, more analytical yet less learned than
classical Sanscrit. The law of religions is,
indeed, the same as that of languages. They con-
stantly, so to speak, lose their nobleness, and be-
come democratic. The most insipid legend is
always the most modern, being made for the greater
number. Sakya turned everything to account. Like
most reformers, he sought his followers amongst
the dregs of society. He beckoned to the humble
and the sinners. He was often reproached with
showing preference for the miserable and the
criminal. A young Brahmin, whom his father
never could teach to read the Vedas, became an
excellent disciple of Sakya. Buddhism was thus
an easy sort of devotion, readily accepted by
feeble minds, as by those who feared the yoke of
caste and the difficulties of Brahminical studies.
The criticisms of the Buddhists upon the Brahmins
and their worldly ways remind us of the attitude
.
104 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
taken, in the Middle Ages, by the pious aris-
tocracy of mendicant friars towards the haughty
ways of the official clergy.
But it was chiefly owing to the influence it
exercised over the poor and the unhappy that
Buddhism succeeded. Numerous texts testify"
that beggars embraced the new sect as a means
of livelihood. The ascetic's robe raised them in
their own eyes, restored their self-esteem. In an
Indian comedy, an unlucky gambler consoles
himself by remarking that he still has the resource
of becoming a Buddhist. “Then,” says he, will I
walk, with head erect, on the highroad.' The
fact of a slave embracing the religious life liberated
him. Numbers of legends signify that it is much
easier for the poor than for the rich to attain faith.
A god, wishing to become a monk, complains of
his exalted condition. “For,' says he, 'it is difficult
to embrace the religious life, if one comes of a
lofty race; but it is easy if of low extraction. A
sudden misfortune also often occasions sone
striking conversion, which makes a saint of a
worldling.
The revolution with which Sakya's name is
associated was therefore a revolution in favour of
equality. 'For an invitation or a marriage,' says
Açoka, “the caste is inquired into; not so when it
is a question of the law; for virtues cause us to
fulfil the law, and they care not about the caste.'
It was from Sakya's lips or from those of his
disciples that India heard for the first time these
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
105
words: 'My law is one of grace and mercy for
all. And what is a law of grace and mercy for
all? It is one under which such wretched beggars
as Durâgata can become monks.* When the
king, Buddha's father, wishes to give him a wife,
he causes the qualities expected from the young
bride to be proclaimed, adding: 'Whether the
young woman be of royal or Brahminical blood,
of Vaicya or Coudraf race, is of no importance.
My son does not prize either family or race; real
and moral qualities, such are the desires of his
heart.'I
It is, therefore, easy to understand among
which class Buddha at first recruited his ad-
herents, as also the opposition he met with. The
caste which had possessed the monopoly of re-
ligious things could not see without wrath its
privilege transferred to people of the lowest con-
ditions. One day Ananda, Sakya-Mouni's servant,
wandering through the country, meets a young girl
drawing water. He asks her to let him drink.
The young girl informs him that, being of the
caste of the Tchandalas, she may defile him by
her contact. 'I do not, sister, inquire about thy
caste or thy family,' replies Ananda. 'I merely
ask thee for water, if thou art willing to give me
* E. Burnouf's ‘Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme
indien,' p. 198.
† Vaicya, trading class, bourgeoisie. Coudra, belonging to
the lower classes—the class of servants.--TRANSLATOR'S
NOTE.
I Foucaux's ' Lalitavistāra,' p. 133.
106 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
some.' Prâkriti (such is her name) feels herself
enamoured at once of Ananda. Taking advan-
tage of the circumstance, Sakya, by a series of
double-meaning questions, which Prâkriti inter-
prets in the sense of her passion, prepares her
heart. Finally the young girl sees her error,
and declares herself resolved upon entering into
religious life.
It is not that the first founders of Buddhism
had the slightest idea of political reform. They
aimed at substituting for a religious class a body
equally religious, recruited from all classes. They
admitted the political consequences of caste, and
only rejected its religious consequences. But
it was hard not to slip from the one to the other.
How was it possible to maintain in social in-
feriority those with whom they professed entire
community of religious interests ? Other philo-
sophers, Kapila and Patandjali, had, before Sakya,
attempted to substitute individual asceticism for
the practices of the Vedas, reserved exclusively
to the Brahmins. On the whole, the latter alone
were the losers by these revolutions. The dis-
tinction between other classes was as marked as
in the past. But the Brahmins could not bear
that any beggar should become their equal, and
that they themselves should be subjected to
noviciate and investitures like others, in order to
obtain that which till then they only owed to
their birth. That is why the objections of the
Brahmins to Buddhism are neither theological nor
.
1
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
107
philosophical; they are purely political. Buddhism
was sapping the very foundations of Indian society;
it had, therefore, to be vanquished, or the old
society must fall to pieces. Social institutions
proved the strongest, and Buddhism disappeared
from India without leaving any recollection. The
castes offered an invincible resistance. Even to the
present day they oppose a powerful obstacle to
Christianity, which in India has only succeeded in
winning over a few pariahs.
Women were also indebted to Buddhism for
a momentary amelioration of their fate. The new
religion gave them religious importance. They
were permitted to embrace monastic life, and to
practise the same rule as mnen. No doubt they
preserved notable inferiority; they could not
directly arrive at the state of Buddha, but they
were enabled to reach that state by being born
again as men. The female sex thus continued to
be a punishment. In the state of perfection there
will be no women. The miracle of a change of
sex is pretty frequent in Buddhistic legends. The
accomplished woman becomes man. That is
what happened to Sugâta's daughter, who achieved
perfection, recognised the equality of all laws and
of all beings, and was always animated by thoughts
of charity and compassion for all creatures. At
the sight of all the worlds she caused the signs of
her sex to disappear. Transformed into a bôd-
Trisatva, she seated herself beneath the tree of in-
telligence, and entered into supreme rest.
108 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
-- .
Were there originally laymen in the sect?
Mr. Hodgson is in favour of the negative.* He
thinks that, at the beginning, to be a Buddhist
meant to embrace the religious state, to make
vows of chastity and mendicity. But that rule
did not last long. In the earliest legends upasakas
-that is, believers or devotees—kings, merchants,
etc., are spoken of. But the monks alone are
'disciples,' properly speaking. At first vagabonds,
living under the trees or in huts of branches,
they used to spend the rainy season among the
rich, devoting their time to preaching or medita-
tion. The rains over, they assembled again, and
formed a council, conferring between themselves
on the subject of their meditations. That was the
origin of the convent or vihara. At first mere
temporary shelters in the woods, without which
modesty would have taken alarm at the total
absence of enclosures, the viharas soon became
roomy structures, little different from our medi-
æval monasteries, and where the separation of the
sexes was rigorously observed.
Judging by its primitive texts, Buddhism ap-
pears like a simple doctrine, without mythology,
devoid of worship, giving scope to unlimited
freedom of thought. There are few creeds,'
says Burnouf, 'based upon so small a number of
dogmas, and imposing fewer sacrifices on common-
See Burnouf's Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme
indien,' p. 281 and following.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
109
sense.'* Buddhism did not do away with vulgar
mythology; it made it subordinate, by establish-
ing the belief that man can attain all his aims by
his merits alone, and that upon reaching the state
of Buddha, he rises far above the gods. To offer
prayers to the devas is sheer puerility. It is a
belief generally admitted in the world that prayers
addressed to the gods secure the birth of either
sons or daughters; but it is not so, otherwise
everybody would have a hundred sons, all of them
sovereign monarchs.'t The gods are pitilessly
sacrificed to the Buddha. And the Buddha is
neither a god, nor the incarnation of a god. He
is a man; he is the hermit of the Sakya's
family'-a king's son become a monk. His
superiority in virtue and science alone commends
him to the people. Like all beings, he has re-
volved within the circle of transmigration; it is
he who will deliver the gods themselves from their
divinity.
Thus in primitive Buddhism the gods are but
useless inventions, simply destined to satisfy the
need felt by the imagination of peopling space.
Monotheism is, however, so natural an inclination
of the human mind, that the religion of atheism
had to give way before it. This is one of the
most curious evolutions of religious history. It
was in Nepal and in Thibet, about the tenth
• Sėe Burnouf's 'Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme
indien,' p. 336.
: † Ibid., p. 132 and following.
1
110 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY1
.
century of our era, that, according to Cosma
de Cörös, was effected this transformation of
atheism into theism, by the creation of an Adi-
Buddha or supreme Buddha, sole god and creator,
quite analogous with Brahma. Nothing could
have been more opposed to the doctrine of early
Buddhism, according to which every being exists
by its own nature, svabhávât* The bôdhisatva
Avalokiteçvara became for other sects a supreme
being, a kind of tutelary god, object of materialistic
worship. Mandjuçri, another bodhisatva, became
also the cause of a whole polytheistic and mytho-
logical development. The Nepâlese are Moguls;
they could not, like the Hindus, content them-
selves with metaphysics, and live without demi-
urgust and incarnations. This was unavoidable
as soon as the most refined production of Hindu
thought was transferred to races quite incapable
of appreciating it. What could those rough
hands grasp of the light texture of dreams
woven by the mystics from the banks of the
Ganges ? Popular child's-play, which the Hindu
founders did not care to eliminate;. chimerical
beings, pretas, hells invented to terrify the
weakest minds. Having begun with pure nega-
tion, Buddhism must thus drift into the most
1
* E. Burnouf's 'Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme
indien,' pp. 120, 121.
+ From the Greek Oplovpyos, an ancient philosophical ex-
pression, the name given by the Platonists to the creating
intelligence.--TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
III.
unrestrained superstition. The needs of the
human heart resumed the ascendant; the in-
fluence of Civaïsm gave access to all mythological
complications. Gods and goddesses, at first re-
duced to nominal importance, regained all their
influence by the tantras, in much the same way as,
with Christianity, the worship of saints was the
revenge of paganism, at first so strictly checked by
Jewish-Christian puritanism. At the same time,
moral character disappears, religion consists only
in turning the wheel, making statuettes of Buddha,
and offering flowers to the statuettes. Pious
Buddhists spend their lives in counting the revo-
lutions of the prayer-wheel, calculating chimerical
numbers, and beating drums in order to drive
away the demons.* All is pure idolatry.t
It is worthy of notice that this only occurs in
the north. In Ceylon, in Ava, in Siam, these
puerilities did not prevail. It may appear singular
that the tantric system, being so superstitious,
should at the same time be theistic or monotheistic.
Yet it has neither become more practical nor lost
any of its nihilism. Putting implicit confidence in
magical formulæ looked upon as infallible means
of salvation, I Nepalese Buddhism has neverthe-
• The Tao-tse themselves no longer understand Lao-Tsen's
metaphysics ; their religion now consists only in outward
practices.
op In Persia, bot has become synonymous with idol. Bot-
kédels is equivalent to 'pagoda.
It is thus that the name of chamanism, that is, the
grossest witchcraft--is connected with Buddhism (chaman=
granadjia).
1
112 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
less fallen into the most extravagant quietism.
'To the ascetic, an enemy or himself, his wife or
his daughter, his mother or a prostitute, are the
same thing.' India baffles all the inductions
drawn from the experience of the rest of mankind.
She seems intended to give the lie to the most
undoubted psychological laws. People were at
first struck by the outward analogies between
Buddhism and Catholicism. They are, no doubt,
real; yet it is evident that the doctrinal starting-
points of these two religions were as far apart as
possible. In religious history, it is prudent not
to assign any rule to the combinations brought
about by centuries. Everything is possible;
opposite poles will often meet; extremes will pro-
duce similar effects. The negation of the very
existence of morality brought forth the height of
devotion ; atheism produced a legend full of an
ineffable sentiment of gentleness and benevolence;
nihilism produced small terrestrial paradises of
sweet and happy life.* Even in our days thé
sight of a lamasery exercises a powerful attraction
and an invincible charm over the most ill-
disposed minds.
See specially the last scenes in the life of Hiouen-
Thsang, translated by M. Julien.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
113
IV.
Strange it is that the two countries where
Buddhism had its greatest success, China and
Japan, are precisely those which seemed least
prepared to receive from India the good tidings of
salvation. Religious sterility often disposes to
credulity Races and individuals wanting in
religious originality are often predestined to
believe and to accept anything.
Among the contrasts offered by the infinite
variety of the human mind, that existing between
India and China is perhaps the most striking, and
the most likely to show in how many divers pro-
portions the intellectual and moral faculties which
compose our nature may be combined. Contrary
qualities and defects never established between
two races a more complete disagreement. During
the four or five thousand years which comprise her
history, China offers us the unique spectacle of a
society founded upon a purely human basis, with-
out a prophet, without a messiah, without a re-
vealer, without a mythology--of a society solely
calculated for temporal welfare and the good
organization of this world. As for India, she
offers the equally surprising spectacle of an ex-
clusively speculative race, living only for the ideal,
building its religion and its literature in the clouds,
without any mixture of historical or real ele-
ments. The characteristic feature of the Chinese
mind is the negation of the supernatural: what
114 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
it cannot understand does not exist for it.*
Confucius, the incarnation of Chinese genius, is
but an economist and a moralist; it is said that,
when his disciples turned the conversation to
divine matters, he used to keep silent or get
out of the difficulty with this ironical query: 'Do
you know earthly things so well that you trouble
yourselves about heavenly ones ?' As for India,
lost in the contemplation of the infinite, she ex-
hausted her activity in the creation of an exube-
rant mythology and of numberless systems of
metaphysics, without ever deeming the study of
nature, of man, of history worthy of a moment's
thought. Simple, lucid, industrial, Chinese litera-
ture froin immemorial times appears to us with
the character of the most positive, or, as the
expression runs, the most utilitarian epoch.
India has to this day been unable to extricate
herself from the infinite maze of her systems and
fables; one of the greatest mythological poems-
the 'Prem-Sagar' of Brahminism, bears date 1804.
China is undoubtedly of all countries that whose
ancient records are best preserved; she possesses,
dynasty after dynasty, and almost year after year,
the official documents of her history, the decrees
of her sovereigns, the rules of her administration,
from the twelfth century before the Christian era.
* Even in St. Francis Xavier's time, the missionaries used
to experience the greatest difficulty in finding a Chinese
word corresponding with the idea of God; some years ago
the Biblical Society experienced similar difficulties.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
115
India, so prodigiously fecund in everything else,
does not possess one single line of history. She has
come down to our days without thinking reality
worth the trouble of being consigned to writing.
From the earliest antiquity China gives the model
of a constitution based on learning and reason,
admitting no other privileges but those conferred
by instruction and merit tested by competitive
examination ; if the problem of social organization
could be solved by reason alone, China would
have solved it three thousand years ago. India
never could rise above the most elementary political
institutions; the caste, under its most severe and
absolute form, remains even in our days the basis
of society. And all this is easily explained: the
present life is for the Chinese the end of human
activity; for the Indian it is an episode in the series
of existences, a passage between two eternities.
On the one side is the race of the finite: respectable,
reasonable, narrow as common sense; on the other
the race of the infinite: dreamy, distracted, led
astray by imagination. Their physical characteris-
tics themselves present a no less striking contrast.
The oblique and shining eyes, the flattened nose,
the thick-set body, the vulgar air of the Chinese,
indicate a shrewd and sensible man, well ac-
quainted with the things of this world; the noble
form of the Indian, his high stature, his large and
calm forehead, his deep and quiet eyes, proclaim
a race born for meditation, and destined by its
8-2
116 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
very aberrations to show the extent of the specu-
lative power of mankind.
Yet-who will credit it?—it is in China, among
this race devoid of metaphysics, or mythology,
almost without poetry, that one of India's boldest
and most original conceptions found an asylum, and
secured the largest number of adherents. Budd-
hism became contagious among the races which
seemed least accessible to it. That fantastically
strange religion, holding out to man annihilation
as the supreme end, pointing out as the height of
perfection the moment when, having succeeded in
shaking off the bad dream of existence, he arrives
at a state where there is no longer thought or
absence of thought, desire or absence of desire ;
that exaggeration of Indian genius, overwhelming
to India herself, since she had no rest until she
succeeded in banishing it from her bosom, ex-
cited ardent mysticism in thousands of Chinese.
Want of originality betrays itself by the ready
acceptance of all doctrines, even the most anti-
pathetic. Deficient in religious invention, the
Chinese, with regard to foreign creeds, presented
a sort of tabula rasa, whereon any doctrine might
be inscribed. Docility is often only a sign of
want of individuality; and a religion never finds
easier acceptance than among those who, to
embrace it, have not to renounce any previous
habit of mind. Hence the astonishing success of
Buddhism with the races of Central and Eastern
Asia ; for them the new creed satisfied a want
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
117
and supplied an omission in their moral constitu-
tion. Hence also that miraculous transformation
by which a selfish and non-idealistic race became,
under the influence of the new creed, devout,
credulous, full of faith, charmingly sensitive-in
one word, pious; those very Chinese who, owing
to the want of that groundwork of spirituality
indispensable to Christians, were destined, later,
to reject Christianity!
Nowhere does this fact, so important in the
history of the human mind, appear with more
originality than in the very curious work which
M. Stanislas Julien has brought before the public.*
It is the biography of a Chinese Buddhist of the
seventh century of our era, whom the ardour of
his piety brought, like many more of his co-re-
ligionists, to the country sanctified by Sakya-
Mouni's preaching. Since the introduction of
Buddhism in China numbers of Chinese, we
know, undertook pilgrimages to India, in order
to study the Buddha's doctrine, to visit the places
made famous by his miracles, and to seek for
more complete texts of the canonical books. With
the accuracy and precision which is in all things
the main feature of the Chinese nation, these
pilgrims on their return often wrote accounts of
their travels, either for the edification of their
readers, or to serve the political purposes of the
* Hiouen-Thsang's Life and Voyages in India, from the
year 618 down to 645,'translated from the Chinese by M.
Stanislas Julien. Paris, 1853.
118 NEJV STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
1
.
Celestial Empire. Hence sprang a class of
writings of peculiar interest, especially if we con-
sider the complete uncertainty which for us sur-
rounds Indian chronology, and the obligation
resting on us to supply, by foreign testimony, the
omissions of India as regards her own history.
Thus the six narratives of this kind handed down
to us at once attracted the attention of the first
scholars who dealt with Buddhism. A man on
whose character it is perhaps permissible to re-
serve one's judgment, but whose lofty range of
mind cannot be doubted by anyone-M. Abel
Remusat — perceived the immense interest of
these curious relations. He translated the most
ancient of all that of Fabian, who started on his
pilgrimage in the year 399 of our era. But several
reasons precluded the work of that eminent
orientalist from attaining all the desired perfection.
The chief of those reasons was no doubt the im-
possibility of recognising at that time, under the
Chinese transcriptions, the corresponding Indian
proper names. The monosyllabic vocalization of
the Chinese tongue is, indeed, so very different
from that of all other languages, particularly from
that of the rich and full sound of Sanscrit, that
Indian names, mutilated and disfigured in that
strange process of transcription, become quite
unrecognisable. Besides which, strange abbre-
viations often complicate the difficulty; thus,
'Buddha' is reduced to 'Fo’ (for ‘Fotho '), and
* Brahma' to 'Fan' (for “Fan-lan-mo'). It is
1
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
119
easy to understand that, for want of a rule enabling
us to detect these deviations of sound, all attempts
to translate Chinese works relative to India could
only result in a barbarous and often unintelligible
text. Chinese translators are, indeed, in the habit
of preserving untranslated a crowd of Sanscrit
words, such as titles of books, names of plants,
and terms considered sacramental or mysterious.
At other times, on the contrary, instead of tran-
scribing proper names, they translate them into
Chinese equivalents in much the same way as if
Theodorus were rendered by God-given' (Dieri-
donné). What, for instance, could we learn
from the mention on each page of the King
Wou-yeou ('free from sorrow ') if we were not
aware of that word being the literal translation
of Açoka's name, so famous in the annals of
Buddhism ? M. Stanislas Julien has traced the
most secret laws of these singular transformations
by an ingenious and safe method, which, in his
preface, he explains with great lucidity. He has
thus enriched philology with a new and highly
important instrument, without which all Chinese
texts relative to India must have remained a dead
letter.
Hiouen-Thsang, the Buddhist pilgrim with
whose life and voyages we are acquainted through
M. Stanislas Julien, started on his long peregrina-
tions in the year 629 of our era, and returned to
his country in the year 645. At that time Budd-
hism was already in decadence in India. In
Y
LI
120 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
several places Hiouen-Thsang found the monas-
teries abandoned; the town of Kapilavastou,
Sakya-Mouni's birthplace, was but a heap of
ruins when he visited it. In the eyes of the
Chinese, however, India was still the country of
Buddhistic orthodoxy, the privileged land which
pious souls longed to visit, as much to collect the
teachings of the most venerated masters as to
do homage there to the relics of Sakya-Mouni's
earthly life. A truly grand and touching spec-
tacle it is to see that poor monk, alone, in the
midst of boundless deserts, with his books, his
horse, and the phantoms of his imagination,
sustained only by the hope of attaining to 'final
deliverance,' and of' saving men carried away by
the torrent of life and death. He often misses
his way; he becomes disheartened; he even
thinks of retracing his steps; suddenly he remem
bers the vow he took of not making one step
towards the East (that is, towards China) until
he had visited the land of Buddha; then he reso-
lutely turns his horse's head towards the west.
Once the skin containing his supply of water slips
from his hands, and its contents are lost. “He
looks in all directions,' says his biographer, 'and
only sees an endless plain, whereon is no trace of
either men or horses. During the night wicked
spirits cause torches as numerous as the stars to
sparkle around him; in the daytime, fearful winds
raise the sand, which falls on him like a torrent of
rain. For four nights and five days, not a drop
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
I21
of water has he wherewith to moisten his mouth
and throat. A burning heat parches him. He
then, believing his last hour has come, stretches
himself on the sand, invoking the name of Avalo-
kiteçvara.* “ Bôdhisatva," he cries, “you know
that, in undertaking this journey, Hiouen-Thsang
seeks not riches nor gain; neither does he wish
for praise or fame. His sole aim is to find higher
intellect and the right law. I respectfully believe,
O Bôdhisatva, that your tender heart applies itself
ceaselessly to free all creatures from the bitter
trials of life.” He prays thus, with indefatigable
fervour, until the middle of the fifth night, when
suddenly a delightful breeze pervades his whole
being, and makes his body and limbs as supple as
though he had bathed in a refreshing stream.
His bedimmed eyes recover sight, and he is en-
abled to take a little sleep; after which he
resumes his journey. He has ridden but a few
miles when his horse alters its course, without his
being able to turn it back. He soon beholds vast
pastures, and a lake whose water is clear and
transparent as a mirror. He takes a long draught,
and thanks to that double godsend, both traveller
and horse recover life and strength for the second
time.'
He thus goes on his way, having no other guide
but the heaps of human bones which line the
road. The effects of mirage fill those solitudes
* Bodhisatva, that is, future Buddha, for whom the
Buddhists of China and Thibet profess the greatest devotion.
122 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
with armies of supernatural beings. He crosses
the immense sandy desert that forms the central
plateau of Asia, traverses the Dzoungaria and the
kingdom of the Oïgours, leaves the high steppes
of Mongolia through the defile which divides the
massive ridges of the Pamir from the Altaïc range
of mountains—the gateway through which the
Tartar hordes have so frequently sallied to ravage
the shores of the Caspian Sea and the Sarmatic
plains — meets the Turks on the banks of the
Taxartes, and gives us the most curious informa-
tion respecting their state at that time.
The scene changes suddenly as he enters India.
He finds himself in the midst of memories of his
faith, readily welcomed in all the monasteries, and
everywhere revered for his piety and his skill in
debate. At every step he meets with relics of
Sakya-Mouni. Here, the stone upon which he
used to wash his garments, and which still bears
threads of their texture; there, the staircase by
which he came down from heaven; elsewhere,
the tree under which he attained supreme intelli-
gence; elsewhere again, the spot where he gave
his eyes away as alms; in another direction, the
place where, to appease the hunger of the seven
cubs of a tigress, he gave away his own body..
With the traveller we follow the track of this
fantastic legend, consecrated by the erection of
innumerable stotipas, a kind of pyramidal mound,
with which the most marvellous ideas are asso-
ciated. The assurance with which Hiouen-Thsang
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
123
relates as phenomena visible to everybody the
most incredible prodigies is really surprising. It
is true he himself confesses that the spectator's
faith is the indispensable condition of the miracle.
There is even Buddha's foot-print, which seems
of more or less size according to the greater or
less faith of the beholder, and there is scarcely
a relic whose description is not wound up with
this invariable formula: 'The persons who worship
it with sincere faith see it surrounded with luminous
rays. After reading the account of these strange
hallucinations, one fully understands what a long
education is needed to raise the human mind to
that degree of reflection and clearness of concep-
tion in which it is no longer the sport of its own
delusions. Then, also, we understand how false
is the too readily accepted opinion, that if research
into causes is the portion only of the learned, the
verification of facts is within everybody's reach.
Certainly, if it be true that public notoriety can
sometimes silence criticism, this ought to apply
to the marvels related by Hiouen-Thsang. Never
were prodigies more palpable, or apparently less
lending themselves to illusion. It seems as if it
would be sufficient to open one's eyes to discover
their falsehood; yet here is one of the most en-
lightened men of his time, a man belonging to the
most sensible and the most accurate race of the
world, who is a dupe like the rest; and, in our
days, the Buddhists still appeal to these perma-
nent marvels in defence of their faith. As regards
.124 NEW 14
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
TH
miracles, men indeed judge with the opinions of
their time a great deal more than with their own
eyes, and I really do not know whether we have
the right to be very severe on Hiouen-Thsang.
At least, seeing with what impunity ridiculous
mystifications go round the whole civilized world
even in our days, far from being surprised at the
credulity of the past, we are compelled to admit
that criticism, that faculty which guards man
against the thousand illusions which surround
him, is an exceptional gift, and that the day when
it will regulate public opinion is still far distant.
One of the stories which best show the pilgrim's
naïveté and good faith, is that of his visit to the
cave where Sakya-Mouni's disciples believe that
their master left his shadow. Nowhere is the
machinery of illusion so thoroughly unveiled.
" This cave,' says the biographer, 'is situate east-
ward of a rivulet flowing between two mountains.
When Hiouen-Thsang first peered into the cave,
it appeared to him plunged in funereal darkness.
“Master,” said his guide to him, “go straight in;
when you have touched the eastern side, go fifty
steps back and look eastward; it is there that the
shadow dwells.” The pilgrim entered the grotto
alone. Having touched the eastern wall, accord-
ing to his guide's instructions, he drew back and
stood still. Animated by the most profound faith,
he then salaamed a hundred times, but he could
not see anything. He bitterly reproached himself
for his sins, he wept and cried aloud, and aban-
1
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
125
doned himself to grief. After that, he devoutly
and with a sincere heart began reciting the
Buddha's praises, taking care to prostrate himself
after each verse.
‘Having thus salaamed about a hundred times,
he noticed on the eastern wall a gleam of light
about as large as a monk's pitcher, which vanished
all at once. Filled with joy, and also with grief
at the disappearance of the apparition, he renewed
his salaams, when the same gleam re-appeared,
this time somewhat larger; it shone and vanished
like lightning. In a transport of admiration and
love, he then swore not to leave the spot until he
had seen the Buddha's shadow. He continued to
pay his homage, and when he had salaamed about
two hundred times more, the whole grotto was
flooded with sudden light, and the Buddha's
shadow of dazzling whiteness majestically dis-
played itself on the wall, as when the clouds open,
and the marvellous image of the golden mountain
is seen. A radiant brilliance lit up his divine
face. Hiouen-Thsang, plunged in ecstasy, long
contemplated the sublime and incomparable ob-
ject of his adoration. The Buddha's body, as well
as his religious vestments, were of a reddish-
yellow. The beauty of his person shone in full
light; on the left, on the right, and behind him
could be seen the shadows of the bôdhisatvas and
çramanas forming his retinue.
'Hiouen-Thsang having clearly seen this divine
phenomenon, respectfully prostrated himself, cele-
126 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
brated the Buddha's praises, and strewed flowers
and perfumes. The Brahmin who accompanied
him was overjoyed and astounded. “Master,"
said he, "had not your faith been so sincere and
your vows so ardent, you would not have wit-
nessed such a marvel.” Out of his six attendants,
five saw the phenomenon, but there was one
who could see nothing; it only lasted a few
instants.'
Among the legends which the pilgrim gleans
on his road, some breathe most delicate moral
feelings. I shall only quote one which appears to
have enjoyed great popularity in India. In a
certain monastery, there used to be a statue of
Buddha which bore on its head a priceless dia-
mond; some thieves, tempted to abstract it,
surreptitiously entered the sanctuary; but, oh
miracle! the statue suddenly grew to an enormous
size, thus raising the diamond to a height no
human arm could have reached. The robbers
withdrew, muttering: 'What they say of Buddha
must be a fable; of yore, it is said, he used to
give away his riches and even his own body, but
now he has become an awful miser!' The Buddha,
smarting under the taunt, caused the statue to
stoop down, and place the diamond in the hands
of the thieves. But when they tried to sell it,
they were arrested, and their only resource was to
assert that Buddha gave them the jewel. They
were then taken to the shrine, where the statue
was found with its head still bent. The king then
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
127
bought back the diamond for an enormous sum,
and replaced it on Buddha's head.
On every page we meet with instances of the
same mildness and benevolence carried even to
puerility. 'Once, the steward of a convent, being un-
able to procure the needful provisions, was greatly
perplexed; at that moment he saw a flock of geese
flying through the air, and facetiously remarked :
“To-day there is no food for the monks; noble
beings, you must make allowance for the circum-
stances.” He had scarcely spoken when the
leader of the flock dropped from the clouds, as
though its wings had been clipped, and fell at the
steward's feet. The latter, filled with fear and
confusion, informed his brother monks of the
occurrence, and they at once broke into tears and
sobs. “That bird," they said to each other,
" was a bodhisatva. How could we dare to eat it?
What mad wretches we are! we have been the
cause of that bird's death!” They then erected a
sacred tower, within which they laid the body of
the goose, affixing to it an inscription, so as to
hand down to posterity the remembrance of its
pious devotion.'
At other times, the pure and lofty morality
which, forming a contrast perhaps unique in its
kind, is found amongst Buddhists closely allied
with the most absurd dogmas, is revealed in edify-
ing episodes of the pilgrim's life. "On leaving
Oude, Hiouen-Thsang embarked on the Ganges
with eighty persons, bound eastward. Having
128 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
sailed a few miles, they found themselves between
two banks thickly covered with asokas trees, whose
foliage was extremely thick; on either side of the
river those trees concealed ten pirate boats. The
latter, by dint of hard rowing, came up the middle
of the stream, surrounded the boat, and towed it
ashore. There they compelled all the passengers to
take off their garments, which they searched to find
whatever valuables they could lay their hands on.
But these brigands worshipped the goddess Dourga.
Every year, in the autumn, they started in quest
of a well-made and good-looking man, whom they
sacrificed to that goddess in order to obtain happi-
ness. Having examined the pilgrim, whose noble
figure and distinguished appearance answered
their cruel designs, they cast at each other looks
of satisfaction. "Not finding any man worthy of
our goddess, we were,” they said, “about to let
the season elapse without offering her the sacrifice
she requires; but this monk is of fine stature and
charming looks; let us kill him to obtain happi-
ness.”
"" If this vile and contemptible body," replied
Hiouen-Thsang, “could fitly meet the aim of your
sacrifice, truly I should not grudge it to you; but,
as I have come from distant countries in order to
procure sacred books and make myself proficient in
the law, and as my vow has not yet been fulfilled,
I fear, generous men, that your taking my life will
bring upon you the greatest misfortunes.” All
the passengers joined their entreaties to his :
Y
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
129
some even offered to suffer death in his place; but
the pirates obstinately refused. Their chief sent
men for water from the midst of the wood of
flowering asokas, and directed them to erect an
altar made of earth kneaded with the mud from
the streamn; then he ordered two of his followers
to draw their sabres, to place Hiouen-Thsang on
the top of the altar, and to sacrifice him without
delay.
'However, the pilgrim, whose face betrayed
neither fear nor emotion, requested the brigands
to grant him a few moments' respite, and not to
hurry him off violently. "Let me,” said he to
them, “enter upon the nirvana with a calm and
joyful soul.” He then thought lovingly of Maît-
reya,* and begged that he might be born in the
heaven of the gods, thence again to descend upon
earth, in order to convert those men who were
about to inflict death upon him, and to rescue
them from their infamous profession, to spread
abroad the benefits of the law, and bring peace
and bliss to all creatures. He afterwards wor-
shipped the Buddhas of the ten countries of the
world, seated himself in the attitude of meditation,
and, with all his might, concentrated his thoughts
upon Maîtreya, without allowing any exterior im-
pressions to disturb him. Then, from the depths
of his enraptured soul, he fancied he was rising to
Mount Meru, and that, having traversed three
heavens, he saw the venerable Maîtreya seated, in
* A much venerated bôdhisatva.
130 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS UT
HISTORY.
the celestial palace, upon a resplendent throne,
and surrounded by countless gods.
"He was thus plunged in bliss, body and soul,
not knowing that he was beside the altar, heedless
of the bloodthirsty pirates, when all at once a
furious wind began to blow, breaking the branches
of the trees, whirling the sand about in all direc-
tions, swelling the stream and capsizing the boats.
The pirates were terrified. One of them having
accidentally touched Hiouen-Thsang's hand, the
pilgrim opened his eyes and said : “Has my hour
come?” “Master,” replied the brigands, “we
dare not injure you; on the contrary, we wish to
express to you our profound respect.” Having
accepted their apology, Hiouen-Thsang taught
them that those who practise murder, theft, and
impious sacrifices shall, in the future life, endure
everlasting torments. “We were,'said the
pirates, “ blind and mad, and we have committed
hateful crimes. From this day, we swear to
renounce our infamous calling, and wish the
master to bear witness to our conversion.” Say-
ing this, they exhorted each other to do good,
gathered together the instruments of murder and
cast them into the stream ; they then returned to
each passenger his wearing apparel and his pro-
visions; after which they respectfully received the
five prohibitions.'
The account of Hiouen-Thsang's death is no
less touching. Informed by a secret warning of
his approaching end, he directs a list to be drawn
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
131
up of the books he had translated, the thousands
of copies of the law which had been made under
his supervision, of the myriads of images of
Buddha he had caused to be painted on silk, of
the persons towards whom he had shown compas-
sion, of the creatures he had redeemed, of the
hundred thousand lamps he had lighted. After
which, he divides his property amongst the
destitute, and gives them a great banquet. He
then invites his disciples to take a joyous leave
of Hiouen-Thsang's impure body, which, having
played its part, no longer deserves to live. 'I
wish,' he added, “to see the merits I may have
acquired by my good deeds imparted to other,
men, born again with them in the heaven of the
gods, and with them attaining transcendental
intelligence. He then became silent and entered
upon meditation. He died successively to the
world of sight, to the world of thought, to the
world of perception of immaterial things. 'Master,'
inquired one of his disciples, ‘have you at last
obtained the privilege of again coming to life in
Maîtreya's assembly ?' 'Yes,' said he, with a
faint voice. His breathing then grew gradually
weaker, and his soul took flight. His face still
preserved its colour; all his features were expres-
sive of joy; his body emitted no odour.
It will easily be conceived that, in the history
of the human mind, nothing can be of greater
interest than to have thus, at a given date and
as in a mirror, the expression of the inmost
942
132 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
feelings of a Buddhist. Buddhism in Hiouen-
Thsang has already existed more than a thousand
years; and it has also undergone the most
thorough transformation. It is no longer that
nihilist and atheistic philosophy which we find
expounded with incredible audacity in the books
most nearly cotemporary with Sakya's preaching.
Buddhism has lost that vigour of negation, that
frightful daring which, at certain moments of
madness, led it to deny its own existence and
that of everything else. It is now but a pure and
lofty morality, a devotion, a collection of pious
legends, a more or less idolatrous worship. The
numerous controversies which fill Hiouen-Thsang's
pilgrimage relate mostly to questions of texts :
there are constant references to the great and the
sinall vehicle, that is, the two kinds of sacred books
or soutras possessed by the Buddhists; the latter
shorter, more simple and more in keeping with
Sakya's primitive teachings; the former more
developed, more mythological, and of a richer
imagination. With Buddhism, as with every other
creed, these disputes seem to have been greatly
prejudicial to charity. They, at least, suppose in
the adversaries peculiar assurance and full con-
viction of the truth of their principles, since,
before each controversy, we see the aggressor
affixing to the door of the convent the these's he
proposes to sustain, with the invariable formula :
'Ifanyone finds in this writing one single erroneous
word, and shows himself capable of refuting it, I
1
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
133
will give him my head to cut off, in order to prove
my gratitude. As a faithful Buddhist, Hiouen-
Thsang never availed himself of the advantages
victory procured him; he contented himself with
taking the defeated heretic into his service for a
few days, in order that he might learn about the
doctrines he was not acquainted with, so as to
prepare their refutation.
To sum up, Hiouen-Thsang remains to the last
a most winning personage. Everywhere we see
the Chinese beneath the Buddhist, and that
combination produces a loftier character than is
usually that of the Chinese-more human in its
proportions and more tangible than that of Indian
ascetics. Filial piety, China's paramount virtue,
is also that of our Buddhist. On his return, his
first care is to obtain leave from the Emperor
to go with his aged sister and remove the
remains of his parents, hurriedly buried at a
period of political trouble. With his own hands
he pulls up the plants that cover their grave, and
places their bodies in a double coffin. The love
of his country never deserts him in the course of
his long voyages. He defends the honour and
the institutions of China against Brahminical pre-
tensions ; in the presence of the barbarians, his
meekness, his politeness, that delicate feeling of
pride and compassion which refined and superior
minds experience when in contact with mere
brutish fellow-creatures, bring about curious con-
trasts, which exhibit in a strong light the distinc-
134 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
tion of his mind and manners. To the great senti-
ment of civilization (a word and a sentiment which
in the Asiatic world only apply to China), he unites
that which only belongs to Buddhism--horror of
bloodshed, delicate sensibility, lofty spirituality.
The consideration he enjoys and the important
rank he occupies in his own country are also
noteworthy facts. The Emperor himself displays
as much interest in his translations as if they
were State matters; and when Hiouen-Thsang
begs him 'to deign to lower his divine pencil and
write in praise of Buddha a preface whose sublime
ideas shall shine like the sun and the moon, whose
characters, precious as silver and jade, shall last
as long as heaven and earth, and shall become an
object of inexhaustible admiration for future gene-
rations,' the Emperor out of modesty long declines
to assent to the request. He eventually writes the
preface so much desired, containing seven hundred
and eighty-one characters, and written in a style
enriched with all the ornaments of Chinese rheto-
ric; he nevertheless thinks fit to apologize for
having defiled the traveller's golden pages, by
strewing gravel and broken tiles in the forest of
pearls.
Such is, in China, the style of Emperors. It
does not seem exaggerated when we bear in mind
the rank held, or at least which used to be held,
in Chinese society, before its decadence, by intel-
lectual pursuits and the men who follow them.
China is perhaps the only country where the
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
135
rights of intellect have been the object of official
sanction, and where ascertained merit has been
admitted to confer a right to govern the State.
Here, again, we find her the antipodes of India,
at the same time walking hand in hand with her.
For India is also the only country where the
monopoly of intellectual and religious studies
formed an aristocracy, recruited by birth, and
claiming as a right the first rank in society.
Between that aristocracy of contemplation which
is Brahminism, and the supremacy of an academy
of inoral and political science, which is the Chinese
system, in one sense there is only a step, and in
another sense the distance is immeasurable. The
gentle manners and the humanity characterising
the Chinese race found another motive for sym-
pathy in the spirit of amenity and benevolence
which is the cause of the success of Buddhism
among the most diverse races. In short, India
and China, violently rushing into opposite ex-
tremes of human thought, have met in that species
of atheism and nihilism which is the foundation
of Sakya's doctrine : India, through the exagge-
ration of that perception of infinity which absorbs
all existence, all conscience, all individuality;
China, through a too exclusive conception of
finiteness, and an absolute absence of intran-
scendental faculties. These concurrences between
widely opposed geniuses throw open to the thinker
singular perspectives of human nature, its capa-
bilities and its various combinations they appear
136 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
like the intersections by means of which geo-
meters determine positions and trace the plan of
a country.
The habits of the European mind, or, if it is
preferred, of the French mind, are with us so
deeply rooted, that such strange studies will long
appear fit only to be classed with objects of
frivolous curiosity. Though Buddhism may be
the religion of two hundred millions of our fellow-
creatures, many people will nevertheless say:
• How can a man be a Buddhist ?' and Jacque-
mont's* impertinences will always, in the eyes of
such people, appear more rational than the patient
investigations of criticism. But earnest men will
persist in thinking that a doctrine which for the
last twenty-five centuries has brought solace and
comfort to a considerable portion of mankind,
must deserve their notice. Buddhism is, indeed,
at the present time, the religion which rules over
the largest number of consciences, and if ever
(which God forbid !) mankind were to submit
religion to universal suffrage, the grand Lama
would obtain at least a relative majority.t It
* Victor Jacquemont, born at Paris in 1801, died at
Bombay in 1832. A French naturalist who travelled officially
many years in India, eminent as a scientist, but whose
appreciation of Buddhism seems rather arbitrary.-TRANS-
LATOR'S NOTE.
† According to M. Garcin de Cassy, Buddhism reckons
a hundred millions more adherents than Catholicism.-
Journal des Débats, July 7, 1854, second page, third column,
first paragraph.
FIRST WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
137
cannot be uninteresting to learn how the inhabi-
tants of one half of Asia understand life and the
ideal. We are at liberty, no doubt, to think that
absurd which in their eyes is sublime, provided
we agree to admit that we appear to them as
foolish as they do to us, and that their superiority
is as obvious to them as ours is to us.
NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISM.*
THE study of Buddhism seems to have especially
devolved upon French science. Abel Remusat,
Eugène Burnouf, Stanislas Julien, gave us the
first-fruits of it. Now that those studies have
attained a high stage of progress, they come back
to us; and though the last word can never be
uttered in such difficult matters, we may be per-
mitted to rank M. Senart's works among those
which sum up a scientific position and evidence
maturity. Those works do the greatest honour
* E. Senart's 'Essai sur la Légende de Buddha, son
Caractère et ses Origines,' and edition, revised and followed
by an index, XXXV-496 pages. Paris, 1882, Leroux, 8vo.
E. Senart's 'The Mahâvastu, Sanscrit text, published for
the first time; to which are added an introduction and
commentary, vol. i., Ixii-635 pages, 8vo (in the Collection
d'Ouvrages orientaux,' published by the Société Asiatique,
2nd series). Paris, 1882, National Printing Office (Leroux).
E. Senart's 'Les Inscriptions de Piyadasi,' vol. i., the four-
teen edicts. Paris, 326 pages, 2 plates. Reprinted from
the Journal Asiatique, 1880 and 1881 (Leroux). See also
Journal Asiatique, April, May, June, August, and September,
1881 ; February March, 1883. A. Bergaigne and A. Barth,
'Les Inscriptions sanscrites du Cambodge, in the Journal
Asiatique, February-March and August-September, 1882.
NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
139
to our young Oriental school. By their solidity
and their conscientious minuteness they call to
mind those of Burnouf; and if that illustrious
master had survived to our day, as the duration
of human life would easily have allowed, he, no
doubt, would have been the first to praise them.
It is true that, on some points, the conclusions of
the two scholars seem to contradict each other.
Thirty years of active researches must have borne
some fruit; and during that period general criti-
cism may also have made some progress. Burnouf
had too scientific a mind to believe that nothing
more was to be done after him; and M. Senart
himself is aware that the intricate problems of
history only approach solution by successive ap-
proximations. He has repeatedly modified his
opinions, and by successive touches given to them
the highest possible degree of precision. .
The life of Buddha is the most striking of all
the Buddhistic legends; it is, also, that which
was known first. 'He practised abstinence,' says
Marco Polo,* 'just as though he had been a
Christian. Had he been one, he would, by reason
of the pure and virtuous life he led, have been
numbered among the saints of our Lord Jesus
Christ.' The Christian Church has long been
of the same opinion. The Lalitavistāra appeared
* Marco Polo's 'Relation,' chap. clxxviii
140 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
n
so beautiful to the Christians of the East, that
from it they derived the materials for the lives of
the saints Barlaam and Josaphat,* which for
centuries have been read in the Church with edifi-
cation. When the Buddhist Gospel was for the
first time translated into French by M. Foucaux, all
people of taste read it with the greatest pleasure,
and thought they were reading a fabulous legend
rather than a myth without any foundation of fact.
An important distinction was soon made, which
appeared a solid standpoint for criticism. In the
developed Soutras, as in the Lalitavistāra, the
details of facts are devoid of historical value.
This is too obvious to need demonstration. But
the simple Soutras look much more historical. In
them we may fancy we touch a real Sakya, we
hear the echo of his preaching, we feel the recoil
of the sympathies and antipathies which he in-
spired. A character human, historical, seemed to
live below these exuberant amplifications; and
though the general outline be that of the ideal
Hindu, some of the traits appeared to preserve the
stamp of individuality.
That is why people were slow to inquire whether
this legend, so brightly coloured, contained a
kernel of fact, or whether, like a soap-bubble, it
possessed. no solidity. Eugène Burnouf fully ad-
* Josaphat is a corruption of Joasaf, a form in use among
Eastern Christians, which itself is but a corruption of
cimd y = Boudasf=Bôdhisatva, due to the errors pro.
duced in Arabic by the omission of the diacritical dots.
1
NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
141
mitted the personality and historical importance of
Buddha. “I do not,' he wrote, “hesitate to say
that Sakya-Mouni never intended to substitute
new objects and new forms of worship for those
of the existing popular creed. He lived, he
taught, and he died as a philosopher, and his
humanity has remained a fact so incontestably
acknowledged by all, that the legend-makers,
whom it cost so little to invent miracles, never
even thought of making a god of him after his
death. It is certain that, placed in the midst of
a Hindu pantheon, Buddha's statue is easily dis-
tinguished. Unlike the hieratic idols, it is not
laden with attributes contrary to nature; it is the
image of a man seated, with crossed legs, in the
attitude of meditation. That absolute quietude,
that naked simplicity, does not in anywise put
us in mind of the demiurgus, the creating and
destroying god. Even the abundant details given
of his physical appearance, though mostly con-
ceived according to the standard of Hindu beauty,
contain particulars not easy to explain on the
hypothesis of a pure à priori creation.*
Such is the problem to which M. Senart applies
his firm and sagacious criticism. M. Senart’s first
essays on the legend of Buddha appeared in the
Journal Asiatique from August, 1873, to Septem-
ber, 1875. They at once enlisted the attention of
cultured readers. Before M. Senart, M. Vassiliew
* See Burnouf's “Lotus de la Bonne Loi,' p. 553 and
following
142 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
had reduced almost to nothing the historical part
played by Buddha; but the true reasons for
doubt were not assigned. M. Senart was the first
to point out that the narrative hitherto called the
life of Buddha is less a legendary biography than
a purely mythological construction, formed of pre-
existing elements, mostly of naturalistic origin.
Placing more accurately than others had done
before him the Buddhistic legend in its Hindu
surroundings, M. Senart endeavoured to prove
that this legend is but the development of the cycle
of ideas which Brahminism grouped round Vishnu
Nârâyâna.* A skilful comparison with Krishnaism
served to explain in what light these mythological
evolutions of a primitive naturalism are to be
understood. Instead of seeing in the life of
Buddha the product of divers influences foreign to
India, M. Senart scarcely considers it an inven-
tion at all. To him Buddhism is simply the ex-
pansion of popular Brahminism. He bases his
arguments chiefly upon two of the records which
were types of Buddha's legend: the Tchakravartin, t
and the Mahapuruscha. M. Senart thinks those
words have had ascribed to them too literal and
* The waters are called Nárá, or the spirit of God
(Vishnu); and since they were his first Ayána, or place of
motion, he thence is named 'Náráyána,' 'moving on the
waters.'-TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
† He who sets the wheel (chakra, Vishnu's discus) in
motion ; it also means, according to Wilson, he who abides
(vartatte) or rules over an extensive territory called a Chakra
(Chakra-verrti).--TRANSLATOR'S NOTE,
NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
143
historic an interpretation. He seeks for their
meaning in Brahminism, and further back in
naturalism. This leads him to conclude that
Buddha was a technical expression rather than a
personality-a dogma rather than an historical
reality. Unlike M. Vassiliew and M. Kern,* he
does not deny the existence of a real personage
who may have served as a support for the legend,
if not as its substratum; but he regards all
attempts at discriminating the myth from the
reality as doomed to failure. According to M.
Senart, the legend of Buddha is no greater proof
of Sakya-Mouni's existence than the Mahabrarata
and the Privanas are of Krishna's. '
In the revised and enlarged edition of the essays
previously published in the Journal Asiatique, M.
Senart has not sensibly modified any of his views;
he simply explains and develops them. M. Senart
acknowledges that all sects have had a founder,
Buddhism like the rest; but he thinks too much
historical consistency has been ascribed to Sakya-
Mouni. His impression is that, by arbitrary altera-
tions, a tissue of fables conceived à priori has com-
placently been transformed into a kind of history,
more or less truthful in appearance. Applied to
a personage who, at a more or less definite period,
in a more or less ascertained spot, may have had
an historical existence, these legends seem to
have absorbed a limited number of recollections
* See Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, Sept.-Oct., 1881;
Jan.-Feb., March-April, 1882.
1:44 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
i
O
founded on facts. The distinction is,' says M.
Senart,* 'indeed, rather difficult to establish....
All that looks suspicious must not necessarily be
rejected. Yet it does not follow that all which,
strictly speaking, seems admissible should be re-
tained. There is no so-called god — neither
Vishnu, nor Krishna, nor Hercules-of whom a
sufficiently reasonable biography might not be
constructed by a process similar to that which has
hitherto been applied to the legend of Buddha.'
The point where M. Senart completely triumphs,
is when he develops the idea that the legend of
Buddha is not at all the peculiar property of
Buddhism; that it is an adaptation-a new version
of traditions long popular and previously unified in
the cycle of Vishnu. A human master was substi-
tuted for the divine master of Vishnuism. "The
human doctor, Sakya-Mouni, or whatever his real
name may have been, inherited the legendary cloak
that fell from the shoulders of the dispossessed god.
Anxiety and discouragement, so natural to the
Hindus, recovered in human guise the consolations
and the hopes of divine visits. All the school
could succeed in doing towards preserving the in-
tegrity of the theory was to suppress divine per-
petuity, to mask celestial origins, to humanize, by
the method of Euemerus, applied no doubt uncon-
sciously, the whole theory and myth.'t
As early as 1874 the author of the present
* 'Essai sur la Légende de Buddha,' p. 142.
† Ibid., p. 455.
NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
145
article, being called upon, as secretary of the
Société Asiatique, to report on M. Senart's work,*
thought fit to make some reserve in that respect.
'India,' he said, “having remained mythological
much longer and to a much greater degree than any
other country, requires special precautions. Else-
where ideal and real biographies may very well
co-exist. Yes, assuredly the life of Buddha was,
as it were, written beforehand. The statue of the
hermit who lived in the sixth century before Christ
was cast in a mould which fixed his most insig-
nificant features before his birth. The proof of
this is that vast literature of the Djatakas, which
shows us the Buddha, living thousands of times,
under divers names and circumstances, the same
life he is to live when born on earth. But the
book of the “ Conformités" also shows us the life.
of Francis of Assisi as realizing a previous ideal,
which is no other than the life of Christ. Yet
Francis of Assisi is quite a real personage, whose
period and life are well known to us. Was not
the life of Christ itself written in the so-called
Messianic prophecies? Like the Tchakravartin,
like the Mahapuruscha, like the Buddha, the Jewish
Messiah was also, in some sort, depicted à priori.
Certain parts of his biography could not be other
than they were; and the influence of the legend
would of itself have been sufficiently powerful to
force the reality, whatever it were, into conformity
Journal Asiatique, July, 1874, pp. 20, 21; July, 1875,
pp. 18, 19; July, 1876, pp. 31, 32.
C
IO
146 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
with the ideal delineated in the texts. But for all
that the Messianic ideal was represented in time and
space by a real person. Let'us proclaim this truth:
in criticism there are no two cases alike; what is
true respecting one epoch, country, or race, may
not with equal accuracy apply to another race,
country, or, epoch. And yet I can hardly believe
that, even in India, the legend does not imply
some historical truth. The general colouring, or
at least the general sentiment, may often, despite
the falsity of all details, imply some higher truth,
truer than material truth, in which the chances of
incidents often hold a prominent place.'
In an excellent criticism recently devoted to the
latest works on the religions of India, * M. Barth,
one of the most learned of our contemporaries in
the whole range of Indian studies, makes similar
observations. M. Barth admits that the Buddha's
biography is so penetrated by solar myths that we
must resign ourselves to knowing little that is
positive about it. The historical kernel preserved
by M. Barth is, however, more considerable than
that retained by M. Senart: in support of the
myths, the former admits a real person very
attractive in the eyes of the people : 'Even if the
life of Krishna were despoiled of half its wonders,
and that of Buddha loaded still more with the
supernatural, the former would still be the life of
a god, and the latter of a man.'
* Revue de l'Histoire des Religionis, February 10, 1882,
p. 23 and following of the reprint.
NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
147
· Those reserves seem just and necessary. Does
not the very name of Sakya point to some real
historical personage? Is not the much more
humane and moral character displayed by Bud-
dhism, when compared with the other creeds of
India, a sufficient reason for believing its origin
to have been different from the origins of Vish-
nuism or Krishnaism ? . Let us take Chris-
tianity in the fourth century, in the time of
Julian. Let us suppose that all the Christian
works of the first, second, and third centuries had
been destroyed. . In comparing the Christianity
and the Paganism of that period, at Antioch, for
instance, a sagacious mind might well say: 'Apollo,
Jupiter, Venus have never been real living per-
sonages; but, at the origin of Christianity, there
is an historical fact connected with a real founder.'
In like manner the legends of Krishna and Vishnu
on the one side, and that of Sakya-Mouni on the
other, present striking differences. The latter
bears a stamp of reality of which the others are
totally devoid. In the first case, we feel we have
before us a god possessing no earthly reality; in
the second, a man totally transfigured by legends.
It is true that, between the life of a humanized
god and that of a deified man, the distinction
may often be difficult to detect. In such questions,
as M. Senart well remarks, if too rigid, one runs
the risk of losing many truths; if too easy, one
may fall into many snares. Experience, which in
physical and natural sciences is the proof of hypo-
10—2
148 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
W1
thesis, cannot apply to such matters. There is
no final appeal between those who have denied
and those who have affirmed too much; for the
phenomena whose character is to be appreciated
disappeared centuries ago, and the possibility of
reproducing them is lost for ever.
Perhaps it is necessary to make similar reserves
respecting M. Senart's views on the originality of
Buddhism. The word ' originality' may be taken
in various acceptations. Christianity at its birth
is composed wholly of Jewish ideas already in
existence; and yet Christianity at its birth is a
fact of undoubted originality. The duty of criti-
cism is at the same time to disentangle the errors
inherent in popular accounts, and to preserve the
part played by individuals, without which we
cannot explain the past. Criticism is an anatomy
which must not destroy the life of the subject it
studies. At least it is well to give legends their
legitimate place by the side of analytical researches.
Legends have a foundation of their own, and to
sacrifice them is to sacrifice one half of history.
II.
M. Senart so thoroughly understood this that
he resolved himself to publish one of those texts
whose deficiency in historical value he has exposed
better than anyone else. Such a task is an un-
grateful one, and, as a rule, but indifferently
rewarded. We can hardly hope for new results
NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
149
from the publication of the Nepâlese Sutras.
Though, since Burnouf's time, our views concern-
ing the real biography of Sakya-Mouni have been
modified, yet the essential lines of Buddhistic
· philosophy, as defined by that great master, have
required scarcely any alteration. The texts read
by Burnouf were the most important, and he
understood them perfectly. The impression at
first produced by those texts was sometimes
erroneous, because by the side of the philosophical
books of a religion there is the popular interpreta-
tion, which may be quite different from the specu-
lations of doctors. Anyone acquainted with Chris-
tianity only through St. Augustin's works would
be greatly deluded if he imagined that they could
teach him the religion of Spanish or Calabrian
peasants. That which is written is not the whole
of a religion, though 'what is writ is writ.' The
Buddhistic texts, whether Nepalese or Singalese,
remain important documents; and M. Senart was
quite justified in thinking that, to complete the
programme of solid studies he drew out for him-
self, he must undertake the publication of some
of those great writings which by their prolixity
had disheartened all scientific zeal less ardent
than Burnouf's.
Four or five Nepalese Sutras, the 'Lalitavistãra,'
the ' Lotus of the Good Law,' the 'Vajrachedika,"
the "Sukhavativyuha Sutra,' the ‘Meghasutra,'*
9 M. Senart points out to ine Rajendralal Mitra's work,
'?The Sanscrit Buddhist Literature of Nepal,' Calcutta, 1882,
150 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
have been placed within the reach of European
readers. Desirous of widening this too narrow
circle, M. Senart selected the 'Mahavastou,' the
choice of which he justified by very good reasons.
Of all unpublished Buddhistic Nepalese texts, the
“Mahavastou' is certainly the most important
one to be well acquainted with. Burnouf pointed
it out several times, and would, no doubt, have
undertaken it had not premature death snatched
him from science. It is the chief manual of
Buddha's life, analogous to the ‘ Lalitavistãra,' for
one of the sects or schools into which Buddhism
is divided; it is the only specimen we possess of
the section Vinaya. Besides, as regards the
language, it is a treatise of paramount interest.
The language of the 'Mahavastou 'is the Gathas
dialect, which had only been met with before in
the metrical texts. Here it is employed in prose
as well as in verse. These are the reasons which
a few years ago determined the Société Asiatique
to include the 'Mahavastou’ in its published col-
lection of Oriental works ( Collection d'Ouvrages
orientaux '). The text is printed by M. Senart
with the most minute care, and all the variations
are indicated. The translation of such a prolix
work in its entirety would have been impossible.
M. Senart's introduction contains an extensive
analysis, which almost does duty for a translation.
as an excellent compendium of Nepalese Buddhistic litera-
ture.
NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
5
151
TIT
Lastly, a vast commentary gives an account of all
the grammatical difficulties. Here we see how
skilful as a philologist is M. Senart. Having to
deal with a text containing two idioms, or rather
two different periods of the same idiom, he points
out with rare sagacity the passage from the learned
to the popular language, and also the return from
the popular language to the learned one, in conse.
quence of the pedantry of the transcribers. When
completed, M. Senart's work will be in three
volumes. Nothing does more honour to our
century than the minute attention given to texts
trivial in themselves, but important to the history
of mankind. In philology no detail is useless.
An indifferent text often teaches as much as a
masterpiece. A peculiarity, which at first sight
seems insignificant, may later on become a funda-
mental element in the solution of important
problems.
III.
While applying the highest and most acute
criticism to the texts of the manuscripts, M.
Senart also availed himself of the invaluable aid of
epigraphy. Taking up, with the help of Cunning-
ham’s Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum,' the
work in which Princep, Burnouf, Kern, Bühler
had already made a great advance, he has pro-
gressed most satisfactorily with the interpretation
of Asoka-Piyadasi's edicts. The character of that
sovereign, the founder of the most extensive power
152 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
existing in India previous to the Christian era,
the second successor of that Sandracottus whose
date is the first fixed point in the uncertain chrono-
logy of India, will soon be known in all its details.
Thanks to the frequent repetition of the same
texts, M. Senart has been able to complete the
inscriptions one by the other, and to arrive at a
certainty seldom afforded by an isolated epigraphic
text.
The epigraphy of all nations does not present
anything more singular than these long pious
edicts which the Buddhist Constantine scattered
over the country in order to instruct and edify
the people. They show the ideal of a State
religion, organized in its most insignificant details,
employing a numerous staff of functionaries, im-
posed upon the people for their happiness, and
multiplying the means of teaching. The precepts
given to the people are based on a respect for
life which even prohibits the killing of animals.
The king, who often confesses his faults, acknow-
ledges that, formerly, some misdeeds were per-
petrated in his kitchen. “But at the time of this
edict being engraved,' he adds, three animals
only are slaughtered for my table—two peacocks
and a gazelle; and the last not as a rule. In
future, even these three animals will no longer
be destroyed.'+ The king applies his authority,
. See the legendary accounts in Burnouf's ' Introduction
à l'Histoire du Buddhisme indien,' pp. 370, 371.
† Inscriptions de Piyadasi,' p. 62.
NEW 153
TT
YY
WORKS ON BUDDHISM..
which is absolute, to multiply usefui trees and
medicinal herbs everywhere ;* to plant the roads
with mango-trees, which shelter both men and
animals from the scorching heat of the sun; io
have pools and wells dug at frequent intervals ; to
establish caravansaries for travellers.t The aim
of Government is the well-being, the universal
happiness, of men and beasts. All good is
summed up in religion. Thus says King Piya-
dasi, beloved of the devas : “ Religion is an ex-
cellent thing. But what is religion ? Religion is
the least possible evil, much good, piety, charity,
veracity, and also purity of life ...."$ The
organization of religion is thus the chief duty of
government. For that purpose, the king appoints
inspectors, distinct from the clergy and the religious
orders, whose work is of a higher importance than
religious creeds and practices : namely, to promote
humanity, good behaviour, and reverence.ll
'Thus says King Piyadasi, beloved of the
devas :1 “In the twenty-seventh year after my
coronation I caused this edict to be engraved.
* 'Inscriptions de Piyadasi,' p. 74.
† Ibid., p. 74; Journal Asiatique, April-June, 1882, p. 410;
August-September, 1882, p. 132.
I Journal Asiatique, April-June, 1882, p. 410.
§ Ibid., April-June, 1832, pp. 409, 410; August-Septem-
ber, 1882, p. 133. Compare ‘Inscriptions de Piyadasi,' pp.
239, 240.
lll 'Inscriptions de Piyadasi,' pp. 91, 92, 113, 114, 143, 144,
173 ; Journal Asiatiqne, April-June, 1882, pp. 113, 131-133 ;
August-September, 1882, pp. 404, 435, 436.
9 Journal Asiatique, April-June, 1882, p. 404.
154 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Y
29
Happiness in this world and in the next is hard
to attain, unless [my officers will display] extreme
zeal for religion, strict supervision, extreme obe-
dience, a most lively sense of responsibility, and
extreme activity. But, thanks to my instructions,
that care, that zeal for religion are growing and
will grow [with them] from day to day. And my
officers-superior, subaltern, and of middle rank—
conform themselves, and lead [the people] in the
right path, so as to keep their consciences un-
burdened. In the same way the inspectors of the
border-countries proceed. For this is the rule :
government by religion, law by religion, progress
by religion, security by religion.”..
Religious progress* among men is obtained in
two ways: by positive rules, and by the senti-
ments with which we inspire them. But, of these
two, positive rules have little value; inspiration
alone gives rules their power. For instance, I
make a positive rule when I forbid the killing of
this or that animal, and in many other religious
edicts which I have issued. But it is only in the
modification of personal sentiments that we
clearly trace the progress of religion ; in the
[general] respect for life, in the care we take not
to sacrifice any being. It is with that object I
have had this inscription made, that it may last
for my sons and grandsons, that it may last as
long as the sun and the moon, that my posterity
may follow my teachings; for, in pursuing this
, Journal Asiatique, August-September, 1882, pp. 133, 134.
NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
155
1
path, we shall secure happiness here and in the
next world.'
Some of these passages, written in the time
of the successors of Alexander, are like maxims
of Marcus Aurelius engraved on stone 420 years
beforehand. “Thus says King Piyadasi, beloved
of the devas :*“Men only see their good deeds;
they say to themselves : 'I accomplished such
and such good deeds. But men do not see
the evil they are guilty of; they do not say: 'I
committed such and such bad deeds. ... It
is true that this self-examination is painful; yet it
is necessary that we should watch over ourselves,
and say: 'Such and such feelings are sinful-
violence of temper, cruelty, wrath, pride. We
must keep strict watch over ourselves, and say:
'I will not give way to envy, I will not calumniate;
that will be for my greatest good in the present
life; that will indeed be for my greatest good in
the future life.' "!
The following law, relating to criminals sen-
tenced to death, was dictated by a lofty idealism:
'From this day,t [I introduce] the [following]
rule: to prisoners tried and sentenced to death
I grant a respite of three days [previous to their
execution]. $ They will be told the exact time
they have to live, so that being forewarned of the
end of their life they may distribute alms and
* Journal Asiatique, April-June, 1882, p. 417.
† Ibid., April-June, 1882, p. 436.
I Sic in orig.
TXT1
156 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
practise fasting. I wish that, though imprisoned,
they may secure their hereafter. I wish them to
observe the divers practices of religion, control
over the senses, and almsgiving.'
What we should least expect to find in such
enactments, is freedom of worship. It is, however,
unequivocally proclaimed. This is the seventh
edict : 'King Piyadasi, beloved of the devas, wishes
all sects to dwell, unmolested, in all places, it
being, indeed, the object of such sects to subdue
the senses, and to attain purity of soul; but the
soul is fickle in its resolutions-changeful in its
pursuits. They will, therefore, practise [their rules]
wholly or in part.**
The sects meant by Piyadasi were religious
orders rather than religions different from each
other. Piyadasi saw clearly that, in religious
matters, we often find the same principles con-
cealed under widely different aspects : 'King Piya-
dasi, beloved of the devas, honours all sects;t
ascetics and heads of families he honours by alms
and all sorts of honours. But the [king], beloved
of the devas, attaches less importance to those
alms and honours than to the desire he has to see
the reign of [the moral virtues which constitute]
their essential part. Such a reign would involve,
it is true, many differences. Yet, for all, it has a
common basis, which is moderation of language
Inscriptions de Piyadasi,' pp. 181-192 (see also p. 143);
Journal Asiatique, August-September, 1882, p. 132.
† 'Inscriptions de Piyadasi,' pp. 263-265.
NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISMTY
157
.
~that is, we must not extol our own sect and
without legitimate cause; we must rather, on every
occasion, render to other sects the honours they
merit. By acting thus, we shall further the
progress of our own sect, and at the same time
serve the others. He who extols his own sect,
and runs down others, does so, no doubt, with the
intention of making his own prominent; but by
acting thus, he only deals a most severe blow to
his own sect. For this reason, concord alone is
good in the sense that all shall listen willingly to
each others' opinions. It is, indeed, the wish of
the [king), beloved of the devas, that all sects
may become learned, that they may profess pure
doctrines. All, of whatever faith, must say to
themselves that the king, beloved of the devas,
attaches less importance to almsgiving and to
outward observances than to the wish he has to
see the reign of essential truths and respect shown
to all sects. It is to this end that the inspectors
of religion, the officers appointed to watch over
women, the superintendents, and other classes of
functionaries, direct their efforts. The result is
the advancement of my own belief, and the
progress of religion.
"Men,' again says the royal moralist, 'observe
various customs in illness, on the marriage of a
son or daughter, on the birth of a child, when
starting on a journey. But those practices, ob-
served by the majority, are vain and worthless.
158 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
TY
Their observance is necessary; yet they bear no
fruit. The practice of religion, on the contrary,
produces striking results ; such as consideration
for slaves and servants, respect for parents and
masters, gentleness to all living creatures, charity
to Sramânas and Brahmins. Such things as
these I call the practice of religion.'*
The thirteenth edict is extremely puzzling. It is
that in whose interpretation M. Senart has made
most progress compared with his predecessors.
'Immense is the Kalinga,t conquered by King
Piyadasi, the devas' beloved. Hundreds of thou-
sands of creatures were carried away from there ;
a hundred thousand were wounded there; many
times that number died there. Then the king,
the beloved of the devas, applied himself to re-
ligion ; he conceived zeal, he strove to diffuse it;
so greatly did the devas' beloved king regret (what
took place] in the conquest of the Kalinga. ...
In fact, the devas' beloved king desires safety for
all creatures, respect for life, peace and kindness.
These are what the devas' beloved king considers
as the conquests of religion. It is in those re-
ligious conquests that the devas' beloved king finds
pleasure, either within his dominions or along all
his frontiers, throughout an extent of many hun-
dreds of yojanas. $ Among his [neighbours are]
* Inscriptions de Piyadasi,' pp. 227-228. Compare p. 249.
† Ibid., pp. 308-311.
| A topographical measure equal to about seven English
miles.--TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
· NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
159
Antiochus, King of the Yavanas, and north of that
Antiochus, four kings: Ptolemy, Antigonus, Magas,
Alexander. In the south the Codas, the Pamdyas,
as far as to Tamdapanni; and also the King of
the Huns (?), Vismavasi (?). Among the Greeks
and the Kambojas, the Nabhakas and the Nabha-
pamptis, the Bhojas and the Petenikas, the
Andhrás and the Pulindas, everywhere they con-
form to the religious instructions of the devas'
beloved king. Wherever the envoys of the devas'
beloved king were sent, the people having, on
behalf of the devas' beloved king, been told the
duties of religion, conform, and always will con-
form to religious instructions, to religion, that
barrier against .... It is thus that all places
have been conquered, and I have felt an inward
joy ; such is the contentment afforded by the con-
quests of religion. But, to tell the truth, content-
ment is a secondary consideration, and the devas’
beloved king attaches value only to the rewards
of a future state. This is why this religious in-
scription has been engraved, that our sons and
grandsons may not believe they are to make fresh
conquests. They must not think that conquests
by means of arrows deserve the name of con-
quests; they are but disturbances and violence.
The conquests of religion alone are real conquests :
they hold good for this world and the next. Let
my sons delight only in the pleasures of religion;
for these alone are of value both in this world and
in the next.
160 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Piyadasi delights to dwell upon his conversion,
which, it appears, was the result of a strong
moral impression.* 'In the past, kings used to
join in parties of pleasure. Hunting and similar
pursuits used to be their delight. In the thirteenth
year of my coronation, I, King Piyadasi, beloved
of the devas, have gained wisdom. My goings
forth are only for religious duties, viz.: alms-
giving to Brahmins and Sramânas, visiting the
aged, distributing money, visiting the people of
the empire, teaching religion, taking counsel on
religious matters. It is thus that from the time of
his conversion King Piyadasi, the beloved of the
devas, has enjoyed, in exchange for worldly joys,
the satisfaction arising from good actions.'+ And
elsewhere : 'All men are my children; as I wish
for my children all prosperity and bliss in this
world and in the next, so do I wish for all men.'I
.
IV.
Texts such as these, whose originals we may
almost be said to possess, and which cast such a
bright light upon the state of India in the middle
of the third century before Christ, are of paramount
interest. It is remarkable that, in the fourteen
edicts, properly so called, Sakya-Mouni's name is
See the legendary account in Eugène Burnouf’s ‘Intro-
duction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme indien,' p. 358 and fol-
lowing.
t 'Inscriptions de Piyadasi,' pp. 196, 197.
| Journal Asiatique, February-March, 1883, pp. 211, 229.
NEW IS
161
WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
not mentioned once, nor does Buddhism appear as
a distinct religion.* The king speaks in the name
of religion itself, not in favour of some special
creed, opposed to other existing forms of worship.
In the inscriptions of Bhabhra and Sahasaram or
Rupnath, on the contrary, which are also Piya-
dasi's,ť. Buddhism is expressly professed. This
silence need not astonish us. It is exactly the
attitude assumed, in the second century after
Christ, by Christian apologists, who scarcely ever
name Jesus, and never separate Him from the
tradition of the previous prophets. In like manner
the unity of Hindu religion is, for Piyadasi, a fact
everywhere understood. An important passage
in the inscription of Sahasaram or Rupnath would
seem to signify, according to M. Bühler's inter-
pretation : 'The gods who, in the Jamboudvipa,
were regarded as true gods, I caused to be recog-
nised as men and false gods.' But such a thought
is so little Buddhistic that M. Senart thinks it
must not be accepted; he is of opinion that
the passage is susceptible of quite a different
meaning.
Indeed, we must no longer think of Buddhism
as a religion distinct from Brahminism, having
had in India a beginning and an end marked by
characteristic events. Buddhism marks a period
* Note, however, the word 'Sambodhi’in the eighth of the
fourteen edicts, pp. 183-197.
† See, on this point, Journal Asiatique, August-September,
1882, p. 103 and following.
II
162 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
in Hindu religion-it is a form under which that
religion was marvellously successful in proselytism
in regions foreign to India ; but that is not the ex-
clusive privilege of Buddhism. Hinduism, under
all its forms, has exercised a most profound in-
fluence upon Eastern Asia. Long ago its monu-
ments were discovered in Java and Bali. In our
time, Cambodia has revealed to us still more im-
portant proofs of its influence.
What, indeed, are those curious monuments of
Angkor, and others of the same kind, about which
such rash hypotheses have been formed? They
are monuments of Hindu religion, devoid of any
special distinction. Are they Buddhistic or
Brahminic? They are both at the same time.
There would not have been so much uncertainty
on this point had we sooner applied ourselves to
deciphering the inscriptions on those monuments.
Thanks to the splendid researches of MM. Ber-
gaigne, Barth, and Senart, the problem is now
solved. These extraordinary structures, which
were at first supposed to be the remains of primi-
tive art, are now ascribed with certainty, to the
ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries of our era.
In them Sivaism and Buddhism are blended ;
and Sivaism appears here even before Buddhism.
The mission entrusted to M. Aymonier in
Indo-China, and which he fulfils with such
laudable activity, will much increase the number
of these inscriptions, and fill up many gaps in the
history of India. Thus we see Sanscrit in its turn
NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
163
TYT
entering the path of epigraphy, like Greek and
Latin, and the ancient Semitic dialects. When,
from manuscripts (and, as regards India, we know
that hers do not go back very far), philology has
derived a knowledge of the language and the
chief texts, it longs to meet with specimens of the
old writing, to lay hold, so to speak, of the very
autographs of the past. As a rule, philology
is revived by this prolific contact, and criticism
acquires a certainty which the intervention of
copyists always weakens—the accuracy of a text
being in inverse ratio to the number of copyists
intervening between us and the original.
The relation between Buddhism and Brah-
minism has sometimes been compared with the
relation between Christianity and Judaism. The
opposition between the two Hindu creeds has
been, in reality, much less marked than that of the
two religions that sprang from Israel. Buddhism
might be compared to Franciscanism (if the word
may be allowed), as it existed in the thought of
the zealous Franciscan friars, with the idea that
Francis was a second Christ, the founder in this
world of the reign of poverty. The Franciscan
monk, like the Buddhist mendicant, is loved by
the people, who contrast his sanctity with the pro-
fane lives of a wealthy clergy who have become
unpopular. The Franciscan rule, like the Bud-
dhistic law, in the thought of the partisans of the
· Eternal Gospel,' was destined to become the uni-
versal law. Had the Franciscan missionaries
II---2
164 NEW STUDIES TTT
OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
succeeded in converting entire countries, as the
Jesuits did in Paraguay, they would certainly
have established their legend of the Conformités;'
and such ideas, when they had disappeared
from the land of their birth, might have been
met with in remote colonies in the shape of
peculiar dogmas.
· Progress, in many classes of studies, consists in
seeing that certain explanations, with which we
were satisfied at first, need to be modified.
Buddhism springing to life at a given moment
from the preaching of one man, and ending at
another given moment through the persecutions
of its enemies—this is an idea which must cer-
tainly be modified. Buddhism, like Vishnuism,
like Krishnaism, was the outcome of momentary
requirements; it was one of those religious fashions
in which the Indian mind delights. As to the
persecutions or religious wars which, in India,
may have put an end to the rule of Buddha, there
are no considerable traces of them to be found.
Sometimes the Buddhist preacher may have been
insulted by those whose prejudices he offended.
'If he who teaches be attacked, while speaking,
with stones, sticks, and spears, if he be insulted
and threatened, let him think of me and endure
all.'* Sometimes, even, he may have suffered
martyrdom.t But religions do not sink under
* Burnouf's 'Lotus de la Bonne Loi,' p. 144; Foucaux's
'L'Enfant égaré,' p. 18.
+ Bournouf's 'Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme
indien,' p. 248 and following.
NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
165
such trifling misadventures. Hiouen-Thsang's
account of the Buddhist massacres, ordered by
King Mahirakoula, and of the patience. displayed
by the victims,* is, no doubt, most striking. On
the death of their persecutor, the saints on whom
he bestowed the crown of martyrdom experience
only a feeling of pity: 'How far he is still,' they
say, 'from the term of transmigration ! But
Hiouen-Thsang in nowise connects that episode
with the destruction of Buddhism in India ; it
had taken place many centuries before the voyage
of the Chinese pilgrim.t
The disappearance of Buddhist Sanscrit books
from India, Nepâl excepted, is at first sight a
surprising fact. But we must remember that, in
Hindustan, books do not last long, and a work
that is not assiduously re-copied is doomed to
perish. The favour with which Sakya-Mouni's
legends were received in the third century before
Christ was changed during the following cen-
turies into strong antipathy ;I but, in the mean-
time, ardent apostles had carried the doctrine of
deliverance to those Mongol races, in whose midst
nihilism has always found its securest stronghold.
The quiet image of Buddha tranquillised the con-
sciences of thousands of millions of human beings.;
for centuries it subdued that feeling of revolt which
* 'Mémoires sur les Contrées occidentales, translation of
Stanislas Julien, vol. i., pp. 196, 197.
+ Ibid., p. 190.
I Théodore Pavie in the Journal Asiatique, March, 1841,
P. 203.
14
166 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
a sad conception of life and a defective social state
make endemic in the central parts of the old
continent.
In becoming a popular religion, Buddhism, like
Christianity, adopted means to which it never had
recourse at the outset. The truth of the saying .
that anything will produce anything is chiefly
illustrated in the history of religions. A religion
idealistic in its origin may become gross paganism
with a different race: a religion quite without
philosophy may become almost purely meta-
physical. This explains the strange contrast
between these Buddhist Sûtras, founded upon a
kind of atheistic or nihilistic philosophy, and
the popular religion of which they are the basis-
a religion, to all appearance, so similar to
Catholicism that it might at first sight have been
mistaken for it. In his edicts, Açoka speaks of
eternal salvation just as a Christian would.
One of the most touching anecdotes in the
Mahavastou '* is that of the King of Kalinga, who
disbelieved the promises of a future life, declaring
that he would change his faith only if his father,
whose virtues must have secured him paradise if
such a place existed, should return in order to
convince him of its reality. The Buddha appeared
to him in his father's shape, and in consequence
the king renounced his false doctrine.
The Buddha delights in thus gratifying every-
one. While crossing a burning plain, millions of
* Senart's edition, p. 38.
NEW WORKS ON BUDDHISM.
167
devas and genii hasten to open parasols over his
head. The blessed one multiplies himself into as
many lesser buddhas as there are parasols, in order
that all his attendants may have the satisfaction
of believing their pious attention accepted. On one
occasion Buddha finds himself on the banks of an
unfordable river. Some beneficent spirits at once
build several bridges for him. The blessed one
multiplies himself according to the number of
bridges, and everyone believes the Buddha to
have crossed over his own bridge, in preference to
the others.* A more exact image could not be
found for expressing the way in which religious
symbols transform themselves, so as to appeal to
most different consciences, without, however, losing
their unity and the mark of their origin; and, if it
may be permitted to call to mind a strophe from
a theological poem of quite a different origin:
'Sumit unus, sumunt mille,
Quantum isti, tantum ille,
Nec sumptus consumitur.'
* 'Mahavastou,' p. 48. Cf. 'Essai 'sur la Légende du
Buddha,' p. 291. These miracles of ubiquity please the
Hindu fancy. When Krishna dances with one of the shep-
herdesses of the Bradj, each of them believes he danced wit
herself.
THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE.*
BESIDES the immense service which the Jews
rendered to the world in the matter of religion,
by converting it to the belief in one God, we
cannot deny that they have also been of the
greatest service to us in the matter of science.
But for the Jews, the Hebrew Bible,, one of
the most important monuments of history
and philology, would have ceased to exist. It
is certain that had Christianity completely ab-
sorbed Judaism in the first centuries of our era,
the Hebrew text of the Bible would have been
lost. Early Christians seem to have very seldom
taken the trouble to consult it; according to
the country they lived in, they were satisfied
with Greek, Latin, or Syriac versions; and even
their arguments respecting the Scriptures are often
based only upon expressions used in those versions.
Almost all of the rare cases in which the Fathers
of the Church appeal to the Hebrew text occur
in their controversies with the Jews, and their
arguřents are then taken in most cases from
the literal version of Aquila. Origen and St.
Jerome are the only exceptions to the foregoing
* Journal des Débats, December 8, 1858.
THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE.
169
rule; but they were both pupils of the Rabbis,
and, though the latter certainly did credit to his
masters, it must be confessed that the former was
but a very poor Hebrew scholar. Besides, we
know the mortifications which the attempt, always
suspicious in pious ears, to appeal to the veritable
Hebrew text, cost St. Jerome, and also the
terrible things he was compelled to hear and
even to speak,* until, become wiser, he realized
the fact that silence alone should be opposed to
such violent anger.t In the Middle Ages again
the Synagogue furnished the Church with the
only creditable Hebrew scholars it possessed-
Raymond Martini, Nicolas de Lyre, Paul of Burgos.
Lastly, the Renaissance applied to Jewish masters
for the grammatical instruction which, long after,
became so fruitful in the hands of European
scholars.
The preservation of the original monuments of
Hebrew literature thus appears to have been ex-
clusively due to the Jews. Do we appreciate what
would have been the enormous loss to the sum of
human knowledge, if the text of the Hebrew
* 'Latrantes canes qui adversum me rabido ore desæviunt
et circumeunt civitatem' (Prologus Galeatus). “Hydræ si-
bilantes' (Præf. in Esdr.). "Me fasarium, me clamitant esse
sacrilegum, qui audeam aliquid in veteribus libris addere,
mutare, corrigere' (Præf. in Evang.). Cf. Prolog. in Job, in
Ps., in Dan.
of Rectius fuerat modum furori eorum silentio meo ponere,
quam quotidie novi aliquid scriptitantem invidorum insanias
provocare'(Prol. in Jerein.).
170 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
writings had disappeared through the neglect
of Christian scholars ? Not only would Semitic
philology have been sterile, but the whole group
of historical studies would have been incomplete
in its most essential parts. Of the three or four
telescopes through which we may obtain a glimpse
of early ages, the most important would be wanting.
In a religious point of view the consequences of
such a loss would have been quite as serious. The
most powerful lever of reformation would not
have existed; sound exegesis would have been
impossible; the critical spirit of modern times
would have wanted the chief stimulus which led
it to leave the narrow circle within which the
humanists of the Renaissance and of the seven-
teenth century tended to confine it.
I do not wish to elevate the Jewish nation by
depreciating two or three other families of the
human race which, at the cost of their blood, have
preserved for us the records of our origin. Two
nations, above all, have in that respect the greatest
resemblance to Israel, and share with it the glory
of having, as depositaries of the secrets of the
primitive world, laid the foundation of philological
science : I mean the Brahmins and the Parsees.
These two chosen races, like the people of
Israel, seem to have had but one object in life
—the preservation of a book; they sacrificed to
that duty all their other political or intellectual
aims. The invaluable service which the Brahmins
rendered to the human mind is not sufficiently
TY
I
THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE. 171
pogona
appreciated. I do not hesitate to say that next to
the Jews we owe most gratitude to the Brahmins.
The Jews gave us a religion far above any that
might have sprung from the ideas of the race to
which we belong; but the Brahmins preserved for
us Sanscrit and the Vedas—that is, the key to our
origin, the primitive revelation of our ancestors,
to which our conversion to Jewish ideas must not
make us indifferent.
A hundred years hence (if these studies, requir-
ing a rare combination of skill, favourable circum-
stances, and encouragements unlikely to be be-
stowed in the future, be still progressing) it
will be seen that the new element introduced by
Sanscrit and the Vedas in the field of European
criticism can only be compared with the unhoped-
for texts with which the Greeks of the fifteenth
century widened the circle of Latin studies. The
marvellous care with which the Brahmins guarded
the sacred deposit confided to them is quite as
praiseworthy. Since M. Adolphe Regnier pub-
lished the ‘Prâtisakya’ of the Rigveda, we know
that the Massorah of the Jews itself could not
bear comparison with the wonderful system of
precautions, thanks to which the Vedas have been
handed down to us without the slightest variation.
And on that subject I cannot repress an exclama-
tion of pity. Harshness towards these thoughtful
and serious races who have supplied our omissions
is atrocious ingratitude. The England of the
past too often forgot this. Her contempt, her
172 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
want of comprehension for the Hindu people (I
do not, of course, mean here the Mussulman
dynasties, so guilty themselves towards that un-
fortunate people) were a crime against humanity,
almost as great as that committed by the Middle
Ages in persecuting the Jews. Learned England
now appreciates the service rendered to the
human mind by those poor mendicants of the
streets of Benares-excellent keepers of records,
whom the future will rank with the Lascarises and
the Bessarions. But she took her time over it.
England did not at first realize the value of the
treasures which India displayed to her. Her Cal-
cutta scholars, her William Jones, her Colebrooke,
though thoroughly conversant with Sanscrit, only
looked upon Indian literature as one more among
the literatures of Asia. When Germany had ap-
plied to those ancient texts her critical genius-
precious gift of the Teutonic race, which, it ap-
pears, Hengist and Horsa forgot to take on board
with them when they crossed the sea-then only
was it recognised that they might contain another
Bible, not indeed destined to popularity, but
supplying the true genealogy of the gods long
worshipped by our race.
The Parsees, guardians of the Zend and of the
books attributed to Zoroaster, though a worthy
people, could not be compared with the Brahmins
and the Jews. Certainly what they have taught us
is of great importance. Without it the philological
value of Sanscrit would not have been understood;
THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE. 173
I
it was the comparison between the Iranian and
the Brahminic worlds that proved the common
ancestors of the Indo-European race to have
had their first settlements in the north of Bac-
triana, at a period when they still shared the same
mythology, the same language, the same institu-
tions. But it must be confessed that the trustees
of those precious documents were far less scru-
pulous in keeping their trust than the Jews and
Brahmins. The text of the sacred writings of
Persia was often revised; their manuscripts were
incorrect, and differed greatly from one another;
lastly, the exegesis of the Parsees was so defective,
that European science was obliged to reconstruct
it; and the interpretation of the Zend-Avesta will
probably always be incomplete. Had Anquetil-
Duperron been born a century later, our position
as regards those books would have been little
different from that we occupy towards the most
perplexing cuneiform inscriptions.
In the question at issue, we must carefully dis-
tinguish between the literal preservation of the
sacred text and the preservation of its tộue sense.
The world is generally surprised to hear modern
philologists claim to understand the Vêdas better
than the Brahmins, and the Bible better than the
ancient Jews. Nevertheless, nothing can be more
simple. A practical knowledge of the modern
tongues of the East helps us but little to under-
stand these monuments. Critical acumen, keen-
ness of mind, the fruits of European culture, are
174 NEW 1.
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
far more necessary. Philology is of modern crea-
tion, and in consequence of the inexperience of
the ancients in such studies, it often happened
that for centuries texts were revered as sacred
whose meaning was completely lost. As I have
already said, the Parsees are pretty much in that
case; they transmitted their legacy to us as a
sealed book, almost without understanding it, and
of late years, when the ardour of the past was
rekindled within them, they found nothing better
to do than to follow the school of Eugène Burnouf.
The Brahmins left us a Vedic exegesis, admirable
from a grammatical point of view, but philosophi-
cally weak. Sayana, theirgreat commentator, helps
us no more to grasp the real meaning of the hymns
of the Rigveda, than the scholastic arguments of
St. Thomas Aquinas enable us to understand
ancient Hebrew poetry.
Here, again, the Jews have great advantages.
Their exegetical tradition, though susceptible of
improvement in niany points, generally deserves to
be taken into consideration. The knowledge of
Biblical Hebrew never was lost to the Jews,
and since the tenth century of our era they have
possessed a system of teaching grammar copied
from that of the Arabs. The perfection with which
that great Arabico-Jewish school works is truly
surprising. Modern science cannot improve upon
it, and it may be said that Rabbi Jona, in the
first half of the eleventh century, already skilfully
applied the comparative methods which, seven or
7
THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE. 175
1911
eight centuries later, were to give to European
philology such incontestable superiority.
In criticism even, the Jewish interpreters always
held far more enlightened opinions than the
Christian exegetics. Strange though it be, it is the
fact that those who only adopted the Old Testament
accepted it far more absolutely than the Israelites.
The idea of a Biblical canon rigorously dividing in-
spired from uninspired writings, is a Christian
idea, not a Jewish one. ' Judaism,' says one of
the most learned Israelites of our day, who is also
an accomplished Orientalist,* though specially
interested in the Old Testament, can accept with
equanimity those truths respecting the age and
the composition of the various parts of the Bible
which no good and sound criticism can possibly
ignore. Our old sages never conceived that hard
and unyielding idea of a canon which the Christian
Church created almost from the beginning. The
ancient Rabbis of the Talmud admit with great
simplicity their uncertainty as to whetherthey ought
to suppress many a book whose authors are revered
to-day as prophets and hagiographers. From the
time of Saadia,t who looks upon ten verses as
badly turned, down to that of Abraham Ben Ezra,
M. Darenbourg, ‘Archives Israëlites,' March, 1856, p. 158.
of Saadias Gaon ben Joseph, Egyptian Rabbi, born in 892,
died at Sorah in 942, famous for his explanations of the most
difficult passages in the Bible, of which he wrote an Arabic
translation, published at Constantinople in 1546.-TRANS-
LATOR'S NOTE.
I A Jewish Rabbi settled among the Arabs.-TRANS-
LATOR'S NOTF.
176 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
who flatly declares that the Book of Isaiah from
chapter xl. to the end does not belong to that
prophet, how many exegetics among our own
most celebrated grammarians and lexicographers
have interpreted Scripture with the freedom of
unprejudiced minds !
Nearly all the opinions upon Hebraical litera-
ture improperly called rash-since it is in reality
the hypotheses of theologians which are gratuitous
and arbitrary—are to be met with among mediæval
rabbis. At the time of the Renaissance those
who see the first glimmer of a rational criticism
of the Scriptures are again Jews. The recent
discovery, at Venice, of the writings of Leo de.
Modena, * who was in his time the oracle of
Judaism, proves that the most advanced ideas
occurred to him. It would be an exaggeration to
say that the synagogues favoured this tendency: the
ghost of the unfortunate Uriel Acostat would rise
to protest against such an assertion. But at any
rate the synagogues did not repress mental
activity. In the seventeenth century, while men like
Richard Simon, Louis Cappel, Moïse Amyrault, I
Famous Rabbi, born at Venice in 1571, died in 1654.
His most important work is the ‘Biblia Hebræa Rabbinica'
(4 vols., Venice, 1610).--TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
† Portuguese nobleman, born at Oporto towards the close
of the sixteenth century, died in 1647. Was in turn Jewish,
Sadducean, sceptical, unbeliever, and ended by suicide.
Owes his reputation to a striking work entitled ' Exemplar
Vitæ Humanæ.'-TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
Richard Simon, French ecclesiastic, wrote the 'Dic-
tionnaire de la Bible' (Lyons, 1693, folio). Louis Cappel,
THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE. 177
isolated, persecuted, saw their attempts at inno-
vation doomed to failure by the dogmatic intoler-
ance of their time; while Bossuet delayed for
more than a century the progress of exegesis, and
left to Germany the glory of its foundation ;
Spinoza, whose posthumous renown as a meta-
physician has led us to forget that during his life
he was an exegetic, in his ‘Tractatus Theologico-
Politicus,' elevated into a general method the
rationalistic interpretation of the books which had
caused his troubled soul so many struggles. It may
then be maintained that, down to the second half
of the eighteenth century, the Jews understood the
Bible better than the Christians. It is true the
Jews were not the initiators of the extraordinary
critical movement which, towards the close of the
last and the beginning of the present century, en-
tirely remodelled Hebraic philology. That move-
ment is connected with two causes : in the first
place, with the progress of Oriental, and especially
of Semitic studies, as the Dutch school of Albert
Schultens understood them; in the second place,
with the great scientific freedom which was
developed in the German universities towards the
close of the eighteenth century. Germany was
A
Protestant theologian, born in 1585 near Sedan, famous by
his ‘Arcanum Punctuationis Revelatum' (Leyden, 1624),
Moïse Amyrault. Protestant theologian, born in Lorraine
in 1596, known by his treatise 'De la Prédestination,' and
his work entitled 'Traité des Religions contre ceux qui les
estiment indifferentes.'-TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
I2
178 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
the first to understand how little honour was
done to the Scriptures by claiming for them mild
rules of criticism and a privileged immunity; she
thought it unnatural that the first condition of
sacred criticism should be the abdication of
ordinary modes of reasoning. Modern exegesis
is thus, taken altogether, an essentially Protestant
production. But though the Israelites did not
found it, they yet had the signal conscientious-
ness to adopt its general method and its chief
results. To a learned Israelite, M. Munk, we
are indebted for the most eloquent defence
of the rational method,* and the best com-
pendium published in France before 1848 of
those doctrines which, when unacquainted with
their history, people characterize as baseless inno-
vations.t Nearly all the great theses of inde-
pendent criticism are proposed therein with perfect
lucidity and courageous sincerity. It may be said
that, since Richard Simon, nothing so truly
scientific has been published in France on the
ancient literature of the Hebrews.
To M. Munk we must add the indefatigable
M. Cahen, # among the earliest promoters of
Hebraic studies, so much neglected with us.
M. Cahen's translation is far from attaining the
* They are inserted in M. Cahen's Bible, vol. ii., beginning.
✓ 'Palestine,' Paris, 1845.
This article was written twenty-five years ago. M.
Reuss's translation, now complete, has infinitely surpassed
all France possessed then in Biblical exegesis.
THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE: 1979
ideal of a French translation of the Bible; but
we must, in justice, confess that ideal to be
unattainable. M. Cahen's object was, above all,
to be literal. I am far from depreciating attempts
of that kind, when they gain in truthfulness
what they lose in elegance ; yet, it must be
acknowledged, a model translation is not to be
sought for in such attempts. It is a mistake to
suppose that expressions opposed to the genius
of the language into which the translation is made
preserve the colour of the original. A language
ought never to be spoken incorrectly. When we
have once begun, there is no reason why we should
stop; and if, under the pretence of being faithful,
we make use of idioms which cannot be understood
without a commentary, why not frankly resort to
that system by which the translator contents him-
self with giving word for word, little caring whether
his translation be as obscure as the original, and
leaving the reader to discover the sense ? Such
licence is, I know, admitted in Ġerman; but that
is one of the facilities I least envy trans-Rhenish
scholars. The French language is puritan;
there is no tampering with it. People are not
compelled to write it; but when they do under-
take that difficult task, they must pass, with
hands bound, under the Caudine forks of an
authorized dictionary and a grammar consecrated
by use.
I admit that these strict obligations give the
translator enormous difficulties, especially as re-
12-2
180 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
gards very ancient works or works created by a
genius very different from ours. Every transla-
tion is essentially imperfect, being the result of a
compromise between two contrary obligations :
the first being to render as faithfully as possible
the expressions of the original; the other, to
remain French. But one of these obligations
admits no half-measure-it is the second. The
translator's duty is fulfilled only when he has
succeeded in rendering the thought of his text
into a perfectly correct French sentence. If the
work he is translating be quite remote from our
habits of mind, that translation must, despite all
his efforts, offer strange features, images out of
keeping with our taste, particulars that require
explanation ; but he is absolutely prohibited from
breaking the rules of the language. The curious
phenomenon which has happened in England,
where translations of the Bible, of very moderate
merit in every respect, are read by everyone--and
in Germany, where the almost literal translation of
the same book from the pen of Luther has become
classic, could not take place in France. With us
a translation will never become a classic. Our
taste is too exclusive to admit any of those
peculiarities which in old books cannot be
suppressed without inaccuracy. This is why
the Bible in the vernacular never had, and does
not seem likely ever to have, in France the
success it has met with everywhere else. The
Middle Ages, from the twelfth century, produced
· THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE. 181
French Bibles fairly good in style,* yet none of
them were ever accepted. The Protestant trans-
lations of the sixteenth century, which were so
efficacious in nourishing the soul, and inspiring a
religion strong even to heroism, never could obtain
their literary consecration. The Jansenist versions
of the seventeenth century are, no doubt, couched
in admirable language ; but the original colour is
effaced. They bear neither an Eastern nor an
ancient stamp; besides which,' in a philological
point of view, they leave much to be desired.
Must we then renounce the hope of ever seeing
parts of the 'Bible translated so as to captivate
the attention of the French public? I do not
think so. First of all, if it correctly represented
the last word of science as regards Biblical
exegesis, such a translation, besides its literary
mérit, would be of paramount importance for all
those interested in religious questions. More-
over, there are passages of ancient Hebraic litera-
ture which, even in our language, could be made
very impressive. I feel convinced that the Can-
ticles, delicately handled, would have infinite
charm. If translated in a simple and pure style,
the Psalms would still retain part of their pene-
trating harmony. I shall shortly try what effect
may be produced on the public by a French trans-
TYY
* Vide M. Reuss's learned essays upon this subject in
M. Colain's Revue de Théologie (January and June, 185!;
January and December, 1852; January, 1853 ; January,
February and March, 1857).
182. NEW TI
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
lation of the Book of Job, which, while preserving
the original rhythm, will make no concession to
the idioms of the text. If the effect produced is not
that of a grand and bold work, bearing the charac-
teristics of the earliest antiquity, it will be the fault
of the translator. But all those attempts can only
result in literary and scientific productions. They.
will never bring forth a book like that which
Luther gave his country. France cut herself off
from the possibility of having a great religious
book in her own tongue on the day when, faithful
to the Roman tradition, she refused to give up
Latin, and proclaimed her language not holy
enough for prayer. One of the most essential
elements in the nobility of ancient tongues has
thus been refused to ours; it has continued
profane; it has missed the stamp of the ideal,
because it has never been made the medium of
man's appeal to God.
'THE TEAZIEHS OF PERSIA.
ASIA, although an irrevocable sentence of decay
long since went forth against her, is not, in our
days, so sterile in a literary point of view as might
be expected. The literature of Hindostan is, in the
nineteenth century, at least as fruitful as it ever has
been. In Syria, and above all at Beyrouth, the
apparently sapless trunk of Arabic literature is
putting forth a vigorous offshoot. Of late years, the
course of study at Constantinople has been lacking
in originality, though presenting some curious
points. But it is Persia which, in spite of her deca-
dence, offers the most remarkable symptoms of
literary renaissance. In the first place, Persia is the
region of Western and Southern Asia which reads
her classical masterpieces with most taste and
enthusiasm. Perhaps, also, there is no Asiatic
country where the ancient spirit of the nation
is more likely to rise again. Persia, thanks to the
schism which isolated her in the midst of Islam,
has preserved the characteristics of her primi-
tive genius better than the countries swayed by
that kind of Catholicity which Sunnism, with its
Khalif Sultan, tried to realize. The wonderful re-
184 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
ligious attempt of the Bâbis illustrated the power
of the old mystic and pantheistic leaven which
the Arab conquest could not eradicate. Sûfism
and dervishism are, in their own way, protests
against the ruling religion. Lastly, the exaggerated
sentiments professed by the Chiites towards Ali, by
providing them with a pretext for anathematizing
Ali's murderers-that is, the very columns of
official Islamism-opened to their imagination a
way of escape from the narrow walls within which
true Mussulmans willingly confine themselves.
From this ever-living source whence the Persians
derive almost all their motives for love or hate-
from the Chiżtish passion, from the singular paradox
of a patriotism at bay, seeking arguments and in-
citements in a murder committed nearly thirteen
hundred years ago and in a retrospective discus-
sion of a question of succession-sprang the most
original cluster of . compositions which Asia
has produced in our days. We know that, to
the Chiites, the tragical deaths of Ali and his
two sons, Hassan and Hossein, are analogous to
what Christ's Passion is to Christians. The
month of Moharram, devoted to those gloomy
recollections, is, like our Holy Week, full of
images and scenes of mourning. The traditional
legend recited on these anniversaries as a dialogue,
reminds us of the form of service in our churches
on Palm Sunday. Europeans who have heard
that recital among the Metuali Chiites of Syria,
assure me that nothing could be more beautiful or
THE TEAZIEHS OF PERSIA.
185
-
-
more touching. From such a recitation, by several
personages, it was but a step to the Mystery,
as a scenic performance. That step, however,
has only been taken in our days. It would be rash
to affirm that in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries Chiitish enthusiasm did not sometimes
give dramatic representations of incidents relating
to the Passion of Ali and of his sons. But it was
not till our days that such representations became
a species of literature, and grew into regular and
well-defined compositions.
2
I.
To M. Alexander Chodzko and to M. de Gobi-
neau we owe the knowledge of these curious
compositions, the result, as we see, of conditions
similar to those that gave rise to our mediæval
Mysteries. In a volume entitled 'Les Religions
et les Philosophies de l'Asie Centrale (Paris,
1865), M. de Gobineau faithfully described their
character, and translated with unusual talent one
of the most original pieces, Kassim's Wedding'
('Les Noces de Cassem'). M. Chodzko bought at
Teheran a manuscript containing thirty-three
similar dramas, which has since been purchased
by the Bibliothèque Nationale. From this plen-
tiful source M. Chodzko selected five pieces, of
which he has just published a translation.*
* Théâtre Persan, choix de Téazies ou Drames,'translated
for the first time from the Persian by M. Chodzko, Assistant
Lecturer to the , Collège de France (Paris, Ernest Leroux,
1878, Elzevir size).
1
186 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
I do not know any more instructive reading.
This little book will charm all who feel an interest
in religious manifestations as the most perfect
image of the genius of different peoples.
We must first of all picture to ourselves the
stage and the material circumstances attending
the performance. This sometimes takes place in
the tekiehs-large porticos built for the purpose;
at other times in public places, in caravansaries,
in the yards of mosques and palaces. In most
cases the expenses are borne by some rich man,
anxious to acquire popularity or to express his
gratitude to Heaven. It is the most meritorious
of deeds ; the indulgences it procures are, as the
Persians say, 'bricks we bake on earth with which
to build our heavenly palace.'
According to the season,* large pieces of
canvas are fixed over the place to protect the
actors from the weather. The galleries and win-
dows overlooking the stage are reserved for the
guests, among whom are always the members of
the Diplomatic Corps and other distinguished
foreigners. The Persians do not hesitate to
admit Christians to their sacred dramas; it is
even remarkable that the Europeans (Frengui),
as opposed to the Turks and to the Arabs, play
in those dramas a part nearly always favourable to
Ali. The Chiites rather delight in showing the
* The Mussulman year being lunar, the month of Mo-
harram may fall in any season.
THE TEAZIEHS OF PERSIA.
187
Christians nearer to the truth, and above all
things more compassionate, more humane, than
the Arabs and the Sunnites. In one of these
dramas we see the European Ambassador sup-
porting the Imâm's rights to the khalifate; in
another, a French lady testifies to an extraordinary
miracle, intended to disclose some previously un-
known instance of the wickedness of Ali's murderers.
The women generally sit in a reserved compart-
ment, on small stools which they bring with them.
The rest of the spectators squat in the Persian
fashion. The sekka (water-sellers), with their
leathern bags slung across the shoulders and a
saucer in their hands, are busy offering water to
the company, in remembrance of the thirst Ali
and his followers suffered when crossing the
desert of Kerbela in the heart of summer. This
is regarded as a good work, and is nearly always
performed in consequence of a vow. For instance,
if a child be sickly, his parents will vow to make a
sekka of him during one or more seasons, in honour
of Imâm Hossein, if he reaches such or such an age.
These little water-carriers are said to be extremely
graceful. Richly clad, their eyelashes and eye-
brows painted deep blue, wearing their hair in
floating curls, their heads adorned with caps of Kash-
meer cloth which glitter with pearls and precious
stones, they move about, offering iced-water and
sometimes sherbet to the audience. Then there
are those who let pipes on hire, dealers in pastilles
made of the earth of the Kerbela desert and per-
188 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Y
fumed with musk, and the sellers of cakes and dain-
ties. The public accommodated in the galleries
and windows sip black coffee and smoke nar-
guilehs. The ferrâches, armed with sticks, walk
gravely about, and keep order.
The space reserved for the performers is sepa-
rated from the pit by a very frail barrier, the pro-
tection of which gives the ferrâches a world of
trouble. That reserved space is in the centre of
the enclosure, so that the actors are visible from
all sides. In the middle is a carpeted platform,
supporting an armchair, upon which is seated the
rouzekhan, or reciter of the traditions, surrounded by
half a dozen children as choristers. The function
of the rouzekhan is to prepare the spectators for
painful impressions by sermons and legends recited
in prose, or sung in verse. At a given moment he
casts his turban to the ground, tears his garments,
smites his breast, and pulls his beard. Nearly
everyone imitates him ; they uncover their shaven
heads, and inflict wounds on them with the points
of their poniards, the blood streaming down their
faces. Then the performance, properly speaking,
begins. There being no scenery and no green-
room, all the actors are on the stage together.
Each speaks in turn, and seats himself when he
has nothing to say.
The style of these open-air dramas too often
shows the prolixity and want of vigour which, for
centuries, have characterized nearly all Eastern
productions. The language employed is quite
THE TEAZIEHS OF PERSIA.
189
commonplace; it does not go beyond the
ordinary resources of exuberant facility. What
astonishes us is the inventive variety displayed
in all the details. Nowhere else does one see
so clearly the difference between Arabian and
Persian genius. Arabia possesses neither drama
nor epic. Persia always had the epic, and begins
to possess a drama. The truth is, they are akin.
Æschylus knew that he was descended from
Homer; drama and epic proceed from a common
source—mythology and national spirit. It seems
strange to speak of mythology in Islam ; but, as
we have said, Persia is only superficially Mussul-
man. It was by a kind of heterodox instinct that
she madly embraced the worship of Ali, as a
revenge on the Arabs and true Islamism. To
these ardent imaginations, Ali is no longer a mere
historical personage ; he is a Vishnu, a Krishna, a
Christ. His life has become an Indian Pûrana,
an apocryphal Gospel. Because of Ali and for
him God created heaven and earth. From pole
to pole, the world has no hope of salvation but
through Ali. Ali is the key to all the enigmas of
humanity, the Nilometer of heaven and earth, the
Kibla of the universe, the sole source of all that
lives, the master of the created world, of mortals
and of spirits. He it is who illuminates the sun
and the moon; he is the giant who supports
the edifice of religion ; the dispenser of the water
of Heaven and the fire of Hell. Hassan and
Hossein are the jewels set in the throne of God;
190 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
their names uttered in the abode of the blessed
cause the seventh heaven to bow with respect.
Thus, though expelled for a time, nature always
returns. Vanquished by Islam, Persia has found
means to re-create for herself a mythology, and at
the same time to gratify her ill-humour by repre-
senting the founders of Islamism as impostors, the
Khalifs as usurpers, and Omar as a vulgar rogue,
insensible to pity.
The fecundity of imagination which the authors
of Persian dramas have placed at the service of
these ardent passions is truly surprising. The
Arabian Kasida, without narrative or stage display,
is like a long arabesque, artistically wrought, cold,
and unimpressive. But here, all is romance.
Shakespeare himself would have witnessed these
mysteries with pleasure; he would have recognised
his kindred by that deep, impressive thrill which
pervades the whole frame and strangely excites the
nerves. M. de Gobineau has skilfully analyzed
one of the most peculiar of these religious dramas,
entitled “The Christian Lady.' The piece seems
to have been composed subsequently to M.
Chodzko's journey, or rather it is a skilful adapta-
tion of the 'Monastery of European Monks,' which
is contained in the manuscript in the ‘ Bibliothèque
Nationale.' The prologue is unequalled for bold-
ness. A European lady, crossing, by accident,
the plains of Kerbela, orders her tent to be
pitched. The first stake is driven into the ground;
à long jet of blood spurts forth from the earth,
T
THE TEAZIEHS OF PERSIA.
191
real red blood, besmearing everything around, and
sending a thrill of horror through all who are
present. A second stake is driven in; blood spurts
forth again; a third, blood spurts forth every-
where. The European lady flees, in horror, from
the spot, and falls asleep. Christ, her prophet,
appears to her in a dream, tells her where she is,
relates the whole story of Kerbela, and, for the
first time, divulges to her a monstrous crime com-
mitted by a Bedouin, which even surpasses the
limits of Arabian wickedness as conceived by
Persians.
The five dramas published by M. Chodzko form
a kind of chronological series, extending from the
last days of Mahomet to the assassination of Ali
and the death of his sons. The great defect of
the historical Mahomet is his extreme im-
passiveness. The legendary Mahomet of the
Chiites is melancholy and tearful. There is great
skill in the scene where an Arab, with the base
and vindictive spirit of his race, insists that, by
the law of retaliation, the dying prophet shall re-
ceive a lash from a whip on his naked shoulders.
The forebodings which fill the last days of
Mahomet, the visions which embitter the close of
his life by revealing to him that the Arabs will kill
all the saints of his family, are very artistic. The
drama entitled 'Fatima's Garden'is exceedingly
touching. The prophet has just died; all good
Mussulmans are in mourning. Ali secludes him-
self in prayer. His rivals take advantage of the
7
192 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
situation to carry on intrigues. Through an ex-
cess of modesty and delicacy Ali, misses his
election to the Khalifate. Omar's brutality then
breaks out. “The reason of the people,' he says,
'is in their eyes.' Aboubekr's Khalifate will be
secure only when Fatima shall have been driven
away from her father's garden, where she spends
her days in tears. Omar undertakes that feat; he
forces the door open, and strikes Fatima, who
miscarries. Ali's life is only spared by the inter-
vention of foreigners and Christians, who go to
Aboubekr and beseech him to put an end to
Omar's barbarity.
There is genuine pathos in the martyrdom of
Ali. The distress of the little Kulsoum, Ali's
daughter, is natural and true. 'Hast thou then for-
gotten thy poor Kulsoum, father dear? To whom
wilt thou leave me? If sometimes I want to kiss
thee, to see thee, where shall I find thee? Who
will console me for thy absence? Do not leave
me here alone. Entrust me to some one as good
and kind as thyself.' Ali's mystical serenity, his
parting with Gamber, his servant, are really fine.
" Ali.-Be calm, be patient, my poor Gam-
ber. Do not give thyself up to despair. When
I am gone, thou wilt wait upon Hassan and Hos-
sein, in order to deserve eternal salvation, beside
the Master of all. Do not distress thyself, friend;
after me my two sons will secure thy welfare on
earth and in heaven.
'Gamber.-Body of the prophet, star of the
THE TEAZIEHS OF PERSIA.
193
1m
(
Y
seventh heaven, soul of God's abode, rose of the
garden of religion, and friend of Allah, ah! what
glorious days were those when, riding Duldul,*
thou usedst to dazzle the eyes of our enemies by the
sun of victory which glittered on the gold of thy
stirrup. I followed thee everywhere, proud of
my master's grandeur ; and Gamber, little atom,
bathed himself in the streams of light of thy glory,
Henceforth, how can I look upon Zulfekar,t oh
my King ? With what eyes shall I behold
Duldul ? Speak, oh! speak, master! At the
sight of thy sword and of thy horse, like myself,
bereaved of their master, what can Gamber do but
rend his beard and his garments ?
‘Ali.—Duldul.will forget me no more than thou,
old friend. Forgive me all the pain thou hast
endured so many long years. Approach, Hassein
and Hossein! I confide Gamber to your care;
he has always served me with devotion and
loyalty; he has had all my confidence. Take care
of him, children, and, by your kindness, make him
forget that I no longer live.
'Gamber.—I have a wish, a prayer, to address
to thee, my prince. Before thou departest from
this land of anguish, I would see thee once more
on Duldul; mount him, oh my sovereign, and let
me once more walk by the side of thy stirrup;
let me gather the dust from the shoes of the noble
* The name of Ali's horse.
† The name of Ali's sword.
194 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
animal. I shall rub my eyes with it, it is a price-
less eye-salve.
‘Ali.I am no longer allowed to ride Duldul.
Death has already saddled his steed for me. I
shall mount him soon, and ride across other fields.
Go, Gamber, my brave equerry, throw a black
shroud over my favourite horse; tell him he no
longer has a master; the cruelty of fate snatches
him away. ...
Gainbey (goes out and comes back, leading the
favourite horse).-Come, Duldul, let me veil thee in
black trappings. The miscreants, the infamous bar-
barians, have martyred our master. Thou art sad ;
thou knowest, my friend Duldul, that thy rider, thy
prince, is expiring in his own blood. Do not re-
sist, let me dress thee in mourning. Let me
cover my head with the dust thou treadest, and
then expire at thy feet. Let me press to my lips
that saddle, those stirrups. Ali was all my joy,
all my wealth.'
IL
II.
The most striking of the dramas published by M.
Chodzko is certainly that entitled 'The Monastery
of European Monks.* The chief personage is the
head of the Imam Hossein. Yezid's army has
retreated, carrying with it the heads of the mar-
tyrs. An alarm suddenly breaks out; a troop of
Ali's partisans comes up to recover the heads.
*' European,''Frengui,' is here synonymous with 'Chris-
tian.
THE TEAZIEHS OF PERSIA.
195
Being close to a Christian convent, the Arabs
seek refuge there for the night.
Chemr.-Inmates of the Christian monastery,
you who obey the laws of Jesus, can you receive
us for one night within your walls? We will enter
'The Prior.-Who art thou, and whence comest
thou with that army? Explain thy secret inten-
tions. What seekest thou amongst monks, chief.
of the warriors ? If thou art looking for one of
ourselves, declare his name.
Chemy.--The army thou seest, composed of
white men and of negroes, marches under the
banner of the Khalif Yediz. An Arab having had
the ambition to become Khalif, our sovereign
directed us to let him know what he thought of it.
He sent me with the whole of his army, and the
edge of my dagger did the rest. Know that,
was made to bite the dust. As for his head, we
are taking it to Damascus as a present for the
Khalif. All the members of his family fell into
our hands. They are here, loaded with chains,
and we return to Damascus vigorous and full of
joy. Overtaken by night in your oasis, we beg
for hospitality under the roof of your monastery.
Do not refuse shelter to our soldiers, exhausted by
a long march.
'The Prior.–Our monastery is not large enough
to accommodate all that crowd. The army
13—2
196 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
should set up its camp outside the boundaries of
the convent. You may entrust your prisoners.
to us; we will take care of them. Let us also
have those heads, radiant with aureoles. The
sight of them fills my heart with affection.
Cheiny.--As thou wilt. Take the heads, brave
monk; they are those of the rebels of the Prophet
Mahomet's family. Guard well the skulls of those
usurpers ; but take especial care of that of the so-
called chief of their religion.
“The Prior (taking the head of Imam Hossein
from a spear).-Good God! that head looks to
me like some newly-opened tulip! The eyes of
this earthly globe would grow blood-red with
weeping over it. Almighty Lord! whence comes
that head besmeared with clotted blood ? TO
what zodiac does that star belong? From what
shell came that royal pearl ?
'The Head of Imam Hossein (speaks in Arabic) -
Do not think that God takes no heed of the
injustices committed by the wicked (Coran, xiv.
43).
The Prior.-Almighty Lord! Have I heard
aright ? Whence comes that voice that stirs my
inmost soul ? Its melodious tones vibrate through
heaven and earth. It has entered the ear of
my mind. Is it a dream? But I am awake . ..
What is it, then? Can it be the angel Asrafil,
sounding the trumpet of the day of resurrection ?
'The Head (recites). — Those who practise
iniquity will some day see what fearful fate
THE TEAZIEHS OF PERSIA.
197
their conduct will bring upon them (Coran, xxvi.
228).
'The Prior.-Brother monks, come hither!
Tell me, did you hear that voice? Tell me, for
the love of God, whence comes that plaintive
melody? It absorbs my senses, and the calm-
ness of my heart abandons me. Those wailings
seem to come from heaven.
"A Monk.-Be convinced, worthy Prior, that
those sighs and groans are uttered by the mouth
of that severed head. The lips move as they
repeat the verses of the Pentateuch; they explain
to us the mysterious meaning of the Gospel ...
But no; when I listen more attentively, how
marvellous ! the movements of that tongue, won-
derfully eloquent, are. piously repeating the verses
of two chapters of the Coran.
'The Prior.--In heaven's name, oh Head! an-
swer me! To what soul of man didst thou
belong ? Faded rose, from what garden hast
thou been plucked? The light of eternal sal-
vation shines on thy cheeks. Tell me, Head !
at the banquet of what monarch art thou the
light ? Ah! if Jesus Christ had left us a successor
like thee in this world! ... Soul of the Universe,
who art thou ? Bleeding skull, answer my ques-
tions ; thou knowest all things. From the midst
of the garden of faith call by its name the bird of
my spirit. Canst thou be Moses, or the miracu-
lous breath of Jesus ? Open thy mouth whence
marvels flow; explain to me this prodigy.
198 NEW II
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
'The Head.-I am the martyr of Kerbela ; my
name is Hossein; my work is to destroy the ene-
mies of God. A newly-blown rose in the flower-
bed of true religion, my grandfather was Ma-
homet, Ali was my father, and the best of women
brought me to life. My birth-place was the city
of Medina; my resting-place is in the sands of
the desert of Kerbela.
“The Prior.-Fruit of the tree of Fatima's
orchard ! Beautiful cypress, which Fatima's
motherly hands delighted in caressing! Oh!
cursed for ever be he who severed thee from thy
body, thou who causedst Fatima's tearful eyes
to shine with joy! Hear me, monks! Hasten
to bring musk and phials of rose-water. It is a
meritorious deed to perfume those heads; I will
embalm them all, especially that of Fatima's be-
loved. Spread amber and perfumes, and strew
flowers over the tresses and the brows of Ma-
homet's family.
'A Monk.-Prior, receive from our hands the
musk and rose-water. It is our duty to adore
these heads. To-morrow they will intercede with
God on our behalf, plunged as we are to the neck
in the slough of sin.
'The Prior.–Would I could fall a victim for
each of the locks of thy hair, Imam Hossein,
martyr of the path of God! Oh, would I were
the ransom of thy tortured soul! Thanks to the
light which beams from thy head, elect of two
worlds ! our cell has become an object of envy
THE TEAZIEHS OF PERSIA.
199
to celestial palaces. Where art thou, Fatima ?
Come and dress the hair of thy beloved son ;
cleanse his locks with thy tears! Where is thy
illustrious grandfather—the messenger of God?
Where is thy glorious lord, Ali, the prince of
men ?
“Enter a Hatef or Public-crier.
'The Hatef.--Heed carefully the scenes of afflic-
tion about to be unrolled before your eyes. Here
is the spirit of the first man created by God: he
comes to this monastery to pay a visit of condo-
lence to the Head of Imam Hossein. Prophet
Adam is here with tearful eyes.
‘Adam.–Martyr of Kerbela, joy of Mahomet's
eyes! why is thy radiant head separated from thy
body ? Hail to thee, glory of both worlds, mar-
tyred on the road to God! Glorious Imam,
accept Adam's homage, who would be proud to
suffer as thy substitute. Resplendent head, thou
shalt henceforth shine in the midst of eternal bliss.
Thanks to thy martyrdom, soul elect of God!
thou wilt appear before His throne, radiant with
purity.
'The Hatef.-Now arrives Abraham, the friend
of God. He comes here, weeping, to pay his visit
of condolence. He utters sighs and groans.
Hasten to meet the friend of God, and to do
him honour; he comes from above, and with sobs
offers to the glorious deceased the tribute of his
grief.
1
200 NEW TU
/
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
* Abraham.—1, the friend of God, have come to
see the head of Imam Hossein. I who built the
sanctuary of Caaba, and laid in it that stone, *
towards which, night and day, are turned all the
looks, all the hopes of true believers, I hail thee,
pride of two worlds, victim of crime! Hail to
thee, joy of the maternal heart of the best of
women. Abraham would indeed think it bliss to
serve as a ransom for thee, radiant head-to die
for thee, blood-stained trunk.
'The Hatef.-Fall back, monks! give place to
Jesus, who has come to mourn over the illustrious
offspring of the line of prophets. He has come
to pay his visit of condolence to the prince of
the universe. Here he is, Mary's child, who, from
the top of the seventh heaven, comes down with
Moses.
'Jesus.--I am Jesus, the Spirit of God, my eyes
swollen with tears. I come here to fulfil the
duties owing to the Head of Hossein. Rose of
Ali's flower-garden, light of his eyes, I hail thee!
Victim of barbarous men, fallen on the desert of
misfortune, receive my homage! Oh that all
the good works for which Jesus, persecuted like
thee, has found merit in the eyes of God, might
serve as thy ransom, noble head! Would I were
In Arabic, the Keblah, a famous black stone said by
Mussulmans to have been presented by the angel Gabriel
to Abraham, on the occasion of his building the original
Caaba, which is said to be still extant, and composed of an
oblong stone building within the great Mosque at Mecca.-
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
THE TEAZIEHS OF PERSIA.
201
sacrificed to thy brow surrounded by a halo, to
thy immaculate forehead! What faithless traitor
committed that unheard-of sacrilege ? How did
they dare to lay hands on that guiltless head !
Draw near, Orator of God,* approach, behold
the features of the King of Piety! This blessed
existence, this ray of light which emanated from
the eyes of the mercy of the two worlds, has been
extinguished !
Moses.-Hail to thee, Hossein's blood-stained
skull! What fiend has defiled himself with such
a crime? A thousand maledictions on the im-
pious one who laid low the palm-like grace of
thy princely stature, oh Hossein!'
The scene reaches the height of pathos when,
to salute the martyr, his father Ali, his grand-
father Mahomet, and his brother Hassan appear
successively. Then takes place a procession of
celebrated women.
'The Hatef. - Stand aside! The Mother of
Mankind approaches. Her eyes full of tears,
Eve visits the grandson of our Prophet. . Adam's
illustrious companion, full of grief, comes to see
the Head of Hossein disfigured with thirst.
: ‘Eve. I salute thee, Head of Hossein, bathed
in blood. That swan-like neck, the favourite
resting-place for the Prophet's brow, has been
severed by the hatred of barbarians. What mur-
• Moses' name among the Mussulmans.
202 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
derer raised a sacrilegious hand against that head
crowned with an aureole ? Tell me. Where are
thy sisters Zeineb and Kulsoum? Why do I not
see here thy mournful orphans ? One word of
thine would thrill my heart with joy.
'The Hatef.- Make room! The mother of Isaac,
the victim of God, draws near, with tearful eyes;
here is the noble Agar,* spouse of Abraham, the
friend of God. She comes to weep over the Head
of Hossein, king of men and demons.t See how
much she suffers, what sighs and lamentations
swell her bosom!
'Agar.-I am Agar, the prey to the deepest
grief; my eyes weep tears of blood. Separated
from thee, martyr, Agar must give herself up to
groans and lamentations. I hail thee, light of
Fatima's eyes! noble head of the edifice which
sheltered mortals. Since thy death the abode
of angels and demons has become a house of
mourning.
?The Hatef.—The Mother of Rachel has come
to wail over the Head of Hossein, the Imam of
the century. She strikes her breast with her
clenched hands, tears her hair, and bursts into
tears—all this she does to honour the obsequies of
the chief of martyrs.
* There is here a confusion between Ishmael and Isaac.
† The word 'demon' is here taken in its original Greek
acceptation-Oaipwr, a spirit similar to those termed angels in
the Scriptures, and therefore not necessarily evil.-TRANS-
LATOR'S NOTE.
THE TEAZIEHS OF PERSIA.
203
"Rachel.-1, Joseph's mother, bring here a heart
broken with sorrow because of the sad end of
Hossein, the prince of the century. I hail thee,
Head of Hossein, steeped in blood. My son
Joseph is thy faithful servant. I would sacrifice
my life to reanimate thy face, pale as the moon !
Accursed for ever be the murderer who insulted
thy mortal remains, Hossein!
'The Hatef.—This woman who approaches with
moans and sadness is Jethro's daughter. The
grief she feels has made her soul resemble a cloak
torn to shreds. She strikes her head with both
hands, and sobs at the sight of Hossein's severed
head.
Jethro's Daughter.— I would a thousand times
have sacrificed my soul to thee, oh Hossein, light
of the eyes of the world! I am Jethro's daugh-
ter. Homage to thy radiant head, oh Imam
Hossein! to that head whose splendour cannot
be dimmed even by the blood that bathes it!
All the cherubs of heaven grieve like me. I have
not strength to gaze longer on thy severed head.
For one look from thee I would myself be slain.
'The Hatef.-I see the Mother of Jesus ap-
proaching. She is distressed, she sighs, she
covers with ashes her floating hair. The nearer
she comes to the Head of Hossein the more
fertile are her lips in ejaculation, her eyes in
tears. She is anxious to honour fitly the demise
of Ali's descendant.
'Mary.-I, Mary, full of grief, distressed and
204 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
distracted, cover myself with ashes because of
thee. Oh, would to God Mary had been sacri-
ficed instead of that beloved head! Would to
God the whole earth had given way rather than
become the scene of so atrocious a crime! Poor
Fatima! when she learns what has happened to
the light of her eyes, when she sees that her
Hossein has been massacred by vile soldiers,
poor mother! her shrieks will bring down the last
judgment on this earth. Accept my homage, light
of the eyeballs of Fatima! Oh seventh heaven,
Mary's eyes, spare her the sight of the mutilated
corpse of the most beloved of Imams!
'The Hatef.--Now comes the mother of Moses,
to look at the Head of the chief of men and of
her brow and her bosom.
Moses' Mother.—Head, fallen under the enemy's
sword, receive my homage. Tell me, who severed
thee from thy beautiful body? Who is the infa-
mous traitor that is guilty of this crime? Hail to
thee, decapitated corpse, abandoned to the wolves
of the desert! May God allow this spectacle to
blind me, that I may never again behold in such a
state the relics of the jewel of the universe !
The emotion reaches its climax when Hadija,
Hossein's grandmother, and his mother Fatima,
make their entrance. The Prior of the Convent,
converted by so many miracles, becomes a Chiite.
THE TEAZIEHS OF PERSIA.
205
'The Prior. — Hossein, remembrance left to
mortals by the gallant Ali, my brain burns with
the love thou hast inspired. Grant my humble
request, martyr fallen under the steel of the im-
pious. I desire thee to convert me to thy creed.
Oh Hossein! I renounce the stole of the Christian
priest.
'The Head.-Recite after me the profession of
faith of Islam; say:
6. I confess that there is no other God than
Allah, and that Mahomet is the messenger
of Allah, and that Ali is the friend of Allah.”
'The Prior.-. Oh God! on the day of the last
judgment, remember the words I pronounce:
6"I confess there is no other God than
Allah.",
Thus the mystic genius of Persia has given
Islamism that in which it was wanting: an ideal
of tenderness and suffering, themes over which to
weep, lamentations, a Passion. This is an abso-
lute necessity in all religions. From the Adonia*
to the Holy Week, every creed has had scenes and
litanies which occasion tears. It is so sweet to
weep over a redeeming God, over a victim who
offers himself for the salvation of the faithful ; to
raise the planctus naturæ, ‘in the midst of that
den of iniquities we call the world. This senti-
* Called thus from Adonis ; they consisted in mournful
religious celebrations in honour of the death of Adonis.-
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE,
206 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
ment is almost foreign to Arabian Islamism, a
purely virile religion, meant solely for men. In
the legend of Jesus, according to the Mussulman
Sunnites, Jesus does not suffer; he is not crucified.
Nor is there anything in Mahomet’s life, as written
by the orthodox, to inspire sentiments of tender-
ness and pity. The Chiites created the virtue of
resignation in the persons of Ali and his sons,
without direct imitation of the Christian Passion,
though based upon the same sentiments. Expia-
tion, of which Sunnism bears no trace, is at the
root of Chiżsın. The old Persian fate—the true
God of Iran-we meet again in these dramas, with
the same sad dignity as in the Shah-nameh. Ali
suffers because it is the will of fate, and also for
his Chiitish people, that the merit of his sufferings
may be placed to their credit. Height of heroism!
To make the sacrifice efficacious, the victim must
accept his martyrdom. A fine scene in the drama
entitled 'The Messenger of God' is that in which
Mahomet obtains the consent of Ali and Fatima
to their sons' death:
'Fatima.—Good God! must they, my two sons,
renounce life and become martyrs ? What have
they done to deserve that punishment, as fearful as
it is disgraceful ? Thou hast ever acted towards
thy people as a sovereign full of solicitude for
their welfare. Are they ungrateful and criminal
enough to dare to raise their hands against the
princes of thy family ?
THE TEAZIEHS OF PERSIA.
207
'The Prophet.—The martyrdom of my offspring
does not proceed from any fault of theirs. They
would all live, if life were the reward of merit.
But their martyrdom alone can ensure the salva-
tion of my followers and testify in their favour on
the day of resurrection. God Himself has decreed
it. Thy husband and I have already acquiesced
in the Divine will ; conform thyself to it in thy
turn, my daughter; ensure the eternal happiness
of my people! Give thy consent and thou shalt
become the dawn of their blessed eternity; thy
assent will shield them against the onslaughts of
evil. God requires that this covenant shall bear
thy seal. On a word of thine depends the salva-
tion of millions of believers.
'Fatima.–Since true believers must be saved
at the price of my misfortune, I consent to be the
most unfortunate of mothers; I consent that this
calamity shall take its course!'
These passages always produce transports of
indignation in the crowd. And when Omar ex-
claims: “Bewail no more, Ali! Recite the
prayers of the dying, and kneel down, that at a
blow I may cut off thy head," loud sobs are heard.
The women who take part in the performance help
in a great measure to give it its character. In con-
trast to the Sunnites, whose women have scarcely
any religion, feminine piety is very strong among
the Chiites. Nearly all the Teaziehs contain a few
well-turned compliments addressed to the female
assistants.
208 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
‘Hossein.-Mother, what wilt thou give to those
women who will honour the remembrance of my
tragical death? For, in the supreme moment of
resurrection, when lifting their heads from the
tomb, they all, as to-day, will hope to see me.
'Fatima.-Reassure thyself, light of my eyes !
I swear to thee, by the unrivalled splendour of
God, that when they reach the gates of Paradise,
standing with uncovered heads, their eyes in tears,
their hearts on fire, as they were when celebrat-
ing thy funeral rites here below, they will find
me there. I shall call to me only those who
wept for thee. Having led them into the gar-
dens of eternal delight, I shall myself install them
there.'
And elsewhere:
* Fatima.—Distress not thyself, oh joy of my
eyes! Truly, as God is glorious and unequalled
in His essence, I shall have, in the abode of the
blessed, no other friends but those women who have
assisted in celebrating the mysteries in thy honour.
I shall wait for them at the gates of Paradise, and
lead them to my palace. They need but come as
they appeared on the anniversary of thy martyr-
dom, their heads uncovered, their eyes full of
tears, and their hearts on fire.'
None of our mediaval Mysteries is, in my
opinion, written with such breadth and passion.
Hatred is wanting in our Mysteries. Christianity
THE TEAZIEHS L
5
203
OF PERSIA.
is uncontested. Odious personages, such as
Herod, the Jews, the Pagans, move in such an
obscure and distant background, that indignation
is blunted before it reaches them. But in Persia,
the rage against the Arabs and the Sunnites gene-
rally never slumbers. An appeal to it will always
command success. It is necessary to read M,
Chodzko’s volume in its entirety, if we would under-
stand the originality and the power of this new kind
of literature, born, so to speak, before our eyes.
Popular spirit alone can produce a living work.
It appears that Persians who are acquainted with
Europe express surprise at the interest we take in
the Teaziehs. 'What !' they say, 'you, who have
such a fine theatre, what can you find in these
productions of an art which is still in its infancy?'
It is because sincerity is everything in literature.
The most imperfect expression of deep feeling is
superior to the cleverest artifices meant to amuse
a worn-out public.
14
JOACHIM DI FLOR AND THE
ETERNAL GOSPEL.
.[The researches which form the greatest part of this work
were made in 1852, at the request of the venerable Dean of
the 'Faculté des Lettres' of Paris, M. Victor le Clerc.
Having to speak of the 'Eternal Gospel’in tome xxiv. of
the 'Histoire littéraire de la France, M. le Clerc was
anxious to know what the Manuscript Department of the
Bibliothèque Nationale, with which I was then connected,
contained respecting that obscure question. Some time
before his death, my learned master returned me the Study
which I had made for him, and authorized me to publish it.
I added to it some generalities intended to enable cultured
readers to grasp the subject, and the whole work appeared
in the Revue des Deux Mondes (ISC July, 1866). In 1861, M.
Xavier Rousselot had published an essay entitled 'Histoire de
l'Evangile éternel,' which was not without merit, but scarcely
approached questions of criticism. In 1867, there appeared
a so-called second edition, under the title of 'Etude d'His-
toire religieuse aux XIIe et XIIIe Siècles; Joachim de
Flore, Jean de Parme, et la Doctrine de l'Evangile éternel.'
In the preface, the author declares that, having read my
work, he found nothing in it to modify his first opinions.
M. Paul Meyer pointed out (Revue Critique, 25th April, 1868)
that, had such modifications been produced in the minds of
the honourable professor, he would have found it difficult to
give them expression, since what he calls a second edition is
but the issue of 1861 with a new title. M. J. A. Schneider's
pamphlet, ' Joachim von Floris und die Apokalyptiker des
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
211
Mittelalters' (Dillingen, 1872), has little original value. In
1874, in the 'Mémoires' of the Academy of Munich (vol. xii.,
part 3), M. Preger published a paper entitled “Das Evan-
gelium æternum und Joachim von Floris. M. Preger was
unacquainted with my work published in 1866. Had he
read it he would, I believe, have avoided some errors, and
not have adopted the paradoxical thesis that all the writings
which bear Joachim's name were, without exception, fabrica-
tions of the sectaries of the middle of the thirteenth century.
In his pamphlet, “ Della Vita, e delle opere dell'Abbate
Gioachino' (Milan, 1872), Dom Bernardo Antonio de Riso,
a monk of Monte Casino, now Bishop of Catanzaro, adopts
my conclusions. In the third volume of his work entitled
* Die Bettelorden und die Universität Paris in der i Hälfte
des 13 Jahrhunderts,' the Rev. Father Denifle will treat of
the question in all its developments. I decided on publish-
ing the present work only after I had ascertained that some
years will elapse before the researches of this learned eccle-
siastic are made public.]
The fundamental idea of Christianity at its birth
was faith in the coming inauguration of the king-
dom of God, which would renew the world and
establish in it the everlasting felicity of saints.
On several occasions, Jesus declared that His
hearers would not taste of death before having
witnessed His second advent; all the first gener-
ation of Christians believed that at any moment
they might behold in the sky the great sign, which
was to foretell the advent of the Son of Man.
The author of the Apocalypse, bolder still, calcu-
lated the days. When, as the world still went on,
complaisant explanations smoothed away these
too precise prophecies, the boundless hopes which
lay at the heart of the new religion did not perish.
14--2
212 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
An uninterrupted line of enthusiasts, in one sen se
very sincere disciples of Jesus, was continued from
century to century, and continued to announce the
approaching fulfilment of the promise. This grand
instinct of the future has been the strength of Chris-
tianity, the secret of its ever-renewed youth. What
are the congregations of the Latter-day Saints (who
find recruits in England and in the United States
even now) but in their own way the remnants of
the old spirit, the direct fruit of the Apocalypse,
a party of belated millenarians cherishing in this
nineteenth century the hopes which consoled the
first believers ? .
Of all the Utopias born of those aspirations
towards a new state of mankind, intended to
realize what before was only image and prophecy,
the most original was incontestably the attempt
of the religious and monastic sect which in the
thirteenth century pretended to reform the
church and the world, and boldly inscribed on its
banner, The Eternal Gospel. The failure of that
attempt, the severities it aroused; destroyed the
monuments by which we might have known it
best. Minute inquiries are necessary to recover
any trace of those bold innovations, and in the
following essay we shall often have to adopt the
methods usually admitted in learned rather than
in popular publications. But the fact which we
are now investigating is, perhaps, the most extra-
ordinary in the most important period of the
· Middle Ages; nothing should appear puerile or
JOACHINI DI FLOR.
213
1.
..
,
over-minute when the object in view is to revive
the memory of those who loved humanity and
suffered in the hope of serving it.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
A half legendary name shines brightly at the .
head of the doctrine of the Eternal Gospel.
Towards the end of the twelfth century, and
during the early part of the thirteenth, there
lived in Calabria a holy Abbot of the Cistercian
order, whose name was Joachim.* Placed on the
borders of the Greek and the Latin Churches,
he discerned with rare foresight the general state
of Christendom. All the Latin world acknowledged
him as a prophet; a new order, that of Flor, took
its name from the place, in the neighbourhood of
Cosenza, to which he retired.
The narrow and mistrustful scholastic theology,
under which all germs of good then existing
were soon to wither, was not yet all-powerful.
Joachim's doctrine was not attacked during his
lifetime. He was honoured by Popes Lucius III.
and Clement III. It was generally admitted that
he had received supernatural light and special
assistance in explaining the oracles contained in
the Scriptures.
Gifted with an ardent imagination, the Cala-
See his Life in the ‘Bollandists,' “Acta SS. Maii,' vol. vii.,
p. 93 et seq.
214 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
brian enthusiast, in his frequent intercourse with
the Greek Church, the faithful guardian of ancient
discipline, and perhaps also with some branch of
the Catharist Church, conceived a deep aversion
to the organization of the Latin Church, the
intrusion of feudalism into sacred things, and the
corrupt and worldly manners of the simoniacal
magnates of the Church. He already possessed in
its entirety the idea which three centuries later was
to bring about a religious revolution-I mean the
profound difference between the mediæval and
the primitive Church. The Bible, and above all
the prophetic books, which were his favourite read-
ing, unveiled to him an historical philosophy
which without hesitation he applied to the
present, and according to which he even pre-
tended to regulate the future. The destinies of
the Catholic Church, such as it had become in the
course of centuries, appeared to him to be on their
decline. The Greek Church, he sometimes said,
is Sodom; the Latin Church, Gomorrah. He
seemed to think Christ's doctrine was not final,
and that the reign of the Holy Spirit obscurely
promised in the Gospel had not yet come.
Such thoughts occurred spontaneously, in divers
countries, to minds alive to the troubles of the
time. The valiant heretics, disciples of Amauri
de Bene, burnt at Champeaux, in December,
0 Epistle “Loquens Dominus Ezechieli,' No. 58 of St.
Germain, last leaf, back.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
215
1210, professed exactly the same ideas, * and
there is absolutely nothing to lead us to suppose
that they were acquainted with Joachim's doc-
trines.
Joachim seems to have already dreamt that
poverty might be a remedy for the corruption of
the period. He is said to have predicted the
appearance of an order of spiritual men, which
would rule from sea to sea and enjoy the vision
of the Father; but Joachim only foresaw what,
twenty years later, was to be realized by Francis
of Assisi. His order of Flor never acquired a
great importance, and after his death the grave
doubts which were entertained of his orthodoxy
prevented a belief in his holiness from prevailing
beyond Calabria. The image of this strange
monk, surrounded with a halo of mystery, re-
mained, however, deeply imprinted on the memory
of his contemporaries. Legend promptly claimed
him. Innumerable miracles were ascribed to him ;
he was reported to have prophesied revolutions in
the Church and in empires. Henceforth imagi-
nation knew no bounds. Dante formally awarded
him a prophet's brevet.† The numerous manu-
scripts containing the predictions attributed to
Joachim constitute even now a curious spectacle.
One sees that they have been read with faith and
anxiety. The margins are laden with notes :
0 Vide M. Hauréau's memoir in the Revue Archéologique,
December, 1864; Fleury, book lxxvi., No. 59.
t 'Paradiso,' xii. 140, 141.
216 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
X
Nota, nota, nota! Nota bene! Nota mirabilen pro-
phetiam ! At the bottom of the pages are figures
and calculations; the anxious readers endeavoured
to endure their terrors, and to ascertain if the
important events announced by the book were
soon to take place.*
Joachim is generally pointed out as the author of
The Eternal Gospel.' The Middle Ages, from the
middle of the thirteenth century, believed, and
modern critics have generally admitted, that
the 'Eternal Gospel' was the title of a secret
book, whose doctrine it was wickedly sought to
substitute for that of Christ's Gospel. But
doubts arise on this point, when we see that
most contemporary authors only speak of such a
book by hearsay, and without ever quoting it
textually—when, besides, there are flagrant contra-
dictions in their testimony as to the nature and
origin of the book. When we see that undis-
coverable volume made the aliment of and pretext
for the passions and interests which in the
thirteenth century divided the world, we are
tempted to place it in the same category with the
book of the “Three Impostors,' which certainly
never existed, t looking upon it as one of those
chimeras invented by calumny, and always kept
in reserve against those whose ruin is desired.
• Vide, for instance, the manuscript No. 427 of the old
Latin collection.
† See my essay on 'Averroës et Averroïsm,' p. 292 et
seg. (second edition).
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
217
The words “ Eternal Gospel,' used as the name
of a school, appear for the first time in the
theological world in 1254. It was the moment
when the quarrels of the University with the
Mendicant Orders and of the Mendicant Orders
between themselves were at their height. In
the general fray, 'The Eternal Gospel became a
weapon for the various factions. The Dominicans
reproached the Franciscans with it, and the
Franciscans the disciples of St. Dominic. The
University, through Guillaume de St. Amour,
attributed it to the Mendicants, and, by a
strange retaliation of public opinion, Guillaume de
St. Amour himself passed as its author. *
We are, in many respects, better able than con-
temporaries to unravel these confusions. The
Eternal Gospel was certainly not the production
of the Dominicans or the University; it emanated
from that dissident faction of St. Francis's con-
gregation, which, in the midst of the general
degeneracy of the Order, preserved the spirit of the
founder, and continued to believe, throughout the
thirteenth century and part of the fourteenth, that
the seraphic rule contained the principle which
would regenerate mankind, a second gospel superior
to the first by its perfection and the duration
assured to it. On this point no doubt is possible ;
• See M. Daunou's article on Jean de Parme, in vol. xx.
of the 'Histoire littéraire de la France,' p. 23 et seq.; and
the notes to the articles on Guillaume de St. Amour and
Gerard d'Abbeville in vol. xxi., p. 458 et seq.
218 NEW 1/11
-
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
but what uncertainties there are in all other re-
spects! Did a work entitled 'The Eternal Gospel
ever really exist? If so, who was its author? Is the
whole or part of the work still extant? Is there any
hope of ever finding it ? Such are the questions
whose solution I am about to attempt by means
of certain documents, either unpublished, or from
which criticism has not yet derived all the in-
formation obtainable. In any case, Joachim's
writings having been the pretext for and furnished
the matter of 'The Eternal Gospel,' a critical
discussion of their authenticity should precede all
investigations concerning that subject. Such a
work having never before found place in any
publication relating to literary or ecclesiastical
history, I am here obliged to attempt it.
II.
DISCUSSION ON THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE
WORKS OF JOACHIM DI FLOR.
In a letter, in the form of a will, and dated
1200,* Joachim, minutely detailing the state of
his writings at that time, mentions three works as
0 It may be read at the beginning of the editions of 'The
Concordance between the Two Testaments’ (Venice, 1519)
and of' The Commentary on the Apocalypse' (Venice, 1527),
or in D'Argentre's Collectio Judiciorum,' i., p. 121, or in the
‘Bollandists,' loc. cit., p. 104. M. Preger believes this letter
to have been fabricated towards the middle of the thirteenth
century, together with Joachim's apocryphal writings. But
the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) seems to have had it in
view (Labbe, Conc. XI., part i., col. 148).
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
219
11
completed, the “Concordance of the Old and
New Testaments,' the Commentary on the
Apocalypse,' and the 'Decachord Psalter," with-
out speaking, he adds, of a few pamphlets against
the Jews and the adversaries of the Catholic faith.
These three writings are the only important
works attributed to Joachim whose authenticity
is well established. According to the most
probable opinion, he died on the 30th of March,
1202; at any rate, his life did not extend long
after 1200. It is difficult to believe that, during
his two or three last years, he should have
composed the other works attributed to him,
which are more voluminous than the productions
of the whole of his previous life. Luke, after-
wards Archbishop of Cosenza, who was his
secretary, only mentions those three works.*
Guillaume de Saint-Amour, combating his errors,
does not refer to any other writings.t The Car-
dinals who condemned his doctrine at Anagni only
cite one letter besides those three productions. I
Florent, Bishop of Saint Jean d'Acre, who played
the part of promoter in this affair, only alleges the
three great works. Guillaume d'Auvergne only
mentions the Commentary on the Apocalypse?
and the 'Concordance.'s Finally, we will shortly
Acta SS.,' loc. cit., p. 93.
† In Martène and Ducand's “Amplissima Collectio,' vol.
ix., col. 1323. See 'Histoire Littéraire de la France, vol.
xxi., p. 474.
I Vide farther on, p. 270 et seq.
§ De Virtutibus,'c. xi., p. 152 (Paris, 1674).
220 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
show that the other books ascribed to the holy
Abbot show internal evidence of being suppositi-
tious.
The three authentic works above mentioned
were printed several times, and are to be found
in a great number of manuscripts. We need not
describe them. It is only necessary to say that
the editing was done very carelessly, and that,
therefore, notes and comments, not by Joachim,
may have crept into the text. It must also be
noted that the six books of the Commentary on
the Apocalypse' are preceded by a ‘Liber Intro-
ductorius in Expositionem Apocalypsis,' often re-
presented as a separate work under the title of
‘Enchiridion' or 'Apocalypsis Nova.'*
The pamphlet against the Jews, spoken of in
Joachim's will, appears to be found in one of the
Dresden manuscripts,t and to be connected with
the ‘Concordance.' It seems, however, that two
letters should be added to Joachim's genuine
works:
(1) An unpublished letter addressed to the faith-
ful, and beginning with these words : ‘Loquens
Domini Ezechieli Prophetæ ;? it is to be met with
© Sorbonne MS., No. 1726, fol. 92 back, lines 27, 28 ;
fol. 103, lines 2, 3.. This same work, in No. 427 of the old
Latin collection, is called, I know not why, ' Liber de Diver-
sitate Mysteriorum Dei? Vide De Visch’s ‘Bibl. Cisterc.,'
p. 172.
† Katalog der Handschriften der Bibl. zu Dresden,
vol. i., p. 57 ; De Visch’s ‘Biblioth. Cisterciensis,' p. 172 ;
Trithème, No. 389.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
221
in the MSS. 3595 of the old collection, fol. 19, at
the back; St. Germain, 58, last page, at the
back; Sorbonne, 1726, fol. 59.
(2) A letter, ? De articulis fidei, ad quemdam
filium suum Joannem,' doubtless identical with a
treatise 'De articulis fidei' mentioned in the
earliest lists of Joachim's writings.* This work
is only known by an extract to be found in the
reports of the Anagni Commission which con-
demned the 'Eternal Gospel' in 1225, and of which
we shall shortly speak.t Joachim advises his
disciple to keep the book carefully concealed, so as
to avoid the suspicions of pseudo-zealots, always
0 Joachim Abbatis et Florensis ordinis Chronologia'
(Cosenza, 1612), p. 92. 'Acta SS. Maii,' vol. vii., pp. 103, 105.
The Bollandists give us only improbable conjectures about
this work.
† It reads as follows (Sorbonne MS., 1725, fol. 104
back): 'Idem habetur apertius in libello ipsius Joachim, “ De
articulis fidei," descripto ad quemdam filium suum Jo-
hannem, quod opus suspectum est ex ipso prologo, ubi sic
incipit dicens : “Rogasti me attentius, fili Johannes, ut tibi
compilatos traderem articulos fidei, et notarem illa quæ
occurrerent Scripturarum loca, in quibus solent simplices
frequenter errare. Ecce in subjecta pagina invenies quod
petisti. Tene apud te, et lege sub silentio, observans ne per-
veniat ad manus eorum qui rapiunt verba de convallibus, et
currunt cum clamore, ut vocentur ab hominibus Rabbi, ha-
bentes quidem speciem pietatis, virtutem autem ejus penitus
abnegantes." Ecce qualiter in hoc prologo vult iste Joachim
articulos fidei legi in abscondito, more hæreticorum qui in
conventiculis dogmatizant. Item inhibet ne tractatus suus
veniat ad manus magistrorum, quos etiam tam impudenter
quam superbe vituperat.'
222 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
in quest of pretexts for scandal. The esoteric and
secret character which Joachim was anxious to
secure for this production fully explains the
scarcity of copies. In it, perhaps, he maintained
those doctrines respecting the Trinity opposed to
Peter Lombard's, which brought upon him the
condemnation of the fourth Lateran Council.* The
Anagni reports also contain two more fragments
of the same work, the one extracted from the first
chapter, entitled 'De fide Trinitatis,' the other
from the last, headed Confessio fidei ejus, id est
Joachim' (fol. 185); but these extracts only con-
tain theological quibbles of hardly any critical
interest.
We may perhaps also attribute to Joachim two
hymns on Paradise, the one in sapphic, the other
in trochaic verse, which are found in the editions
of his works after the 'Decachord Psalter. The
second of these compositions, purporting to be
the relation of a journey through the supernatural
world of spirits, is curious as having preceded the
* Divine Comedy.'t
• The Council seems, however, to refer to a distinct
treatise : "Libellum sive Tractatum quem Abbas Joachim
edidit contra Magistrum Petrum Lombardum, de unitate seu
essentia Trinitatis.' Labbe, ' Conc.,' vol. xi., part 1, pp. 144 et
seq., 240; D'Argentré, ' Coll. Jud.,' i., pp. 120, 121. Vide De
Visch, ‘Bibl. Cisterc.,' p. 173 ; Trithème, 'De Script. Eccl.,'
No. 389; De Lauro, in ‘De Riso,' pp. 150, 151.
† Neither M. Ozanam, nor Labitte, nor Mr. Thomas
Wright, I believe, make any mention of this hymn in their
works on Dante's trilogy.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
223
We will now enter upon the discussion of the
works ascribed to Joachim, but whose authorship
criticism may or must dispute.*
The most important is the Commentary on
Jeremiah,'t supposed to be dedicated to the
Emperor Henry VI., and printed several times at
Venice. Its character is strikingly different from
that of Joachim's authentic works. Whenever
Joachim wishes to prophesy, he does so with self-
control and reserve. He never names anyone:
events are scarcely indicated; the amplitude of
biblical style enables him to make use of those
vague phrases which become prophetic when
events permit, without compromising their author
when facts turn out differently. The Com-
mentary on Jeremiah' is precise in the extreme..
The allusions to the events of the thirteenth
century are obvious. Frederick II., who was only
two years of age at the time when Joachim would
* De Lauro, Trithème, and De Visch make some remarks;
but they are too vague to bear discussion.
of Subsequently to the first composition of this work, there
appeared in the 'Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie'
of M. Hilgenfeld (second year, Jena, 1859), a memoir of
M. Karl Friedrich relative to that commentary, and the
Commentary on Isaiah, also attributed to Joachim. As
regards the question of authenticity, M. Friedrich arrived at
the same result as we did. M. Völter accepts that thesis as
proved. — ' Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte' of Brieger
(fourth year, Gotha, 1880), p. 367 et seq. Without being
acquainted with either M. Friedrich's researches or mine,
M. J. A. Schneider came to similar conclusions ('Joachim
von Floris,' p. 27 et seq.).
224 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
have written that work, is already designated in
it by his enemies' usual metaphors, vipera, regulus.
His reign is denounced as that of a tyrant, hostile
to the Church, the destroyer of its privileges, the
persecutor of its ministers, a new Evilmerodach
who sits in the temple and is worshipped as a
god.
'In his youth,' says the prophet,' he shall appear kind and
amiable, he shall be nurtured by the Spouse of the Lamb ;
but in after time, he, like another Belshazzar, shall only follow
the impulse of his passions, and, with women, shall desecrate
the sacred vessels of God's temple. But if you ask me what
shall be his end, listen to Isaiah, who will teach you. A
superhuman sword shall smite him, a sword which is no
other but that of God's Word shall exterminate him, that you
may know that God does not need the hands of men to drag
this monster from his lair.'
The Guelf of the thirteenth century betrays
himself in the following curious words :
"The Lord shall unsheath His sword, for the German rule
has ever been harsh and cruel to us. Therefore it is necessary
that the Lord shall strike it with the sword of His fury, that
all kings may tremble at the crash of its fall."
And in another passage:
The army of the Chaldeans fighting against Jerusalem
and Juda, with the exception of Lachis and Azecha, repre-
sents the Germans and other persecutors armed against the
Roman Church and the Latin cities of Italy, excepting those
• Fol. 46 and 62 (Venice, 1525). This edition seems
abridged in some passages. The text quoted by Don Ger-
vaise (“Histoire de l'Abbé Joachim,' p. 35 et seq.) is more
complete.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
225
which are strong in their peoples or know how to seek protec-
tion within their walls. The schism between the Church
and the Empire begun by the Normans shall be consum-
mated by the Germans, in whose invading tide shall be
drowned the freedom of the pontiffs-in such a manner that
the Empire, which served at first to raise and protect the
Church, will, in the end, bring about its ruin.'+
"The tendency of the Chaldean rule is annihilation,' says
he again. "The eagle shall come, ferocious as the leopard,
sly as the fox, terrible as the lion, as says the Erythræan Sybil.
Under the pretence of putting down the Paturins, he shall
treacherously march against the Church, and, despite the
resistance of Italy, despite the anathemas of the Church, he
shall satisfy his rage. What dreadful evils shall then weigh
down Liguria and Italy! It will be easier to feel than to
describe them. Under the united efforts of the Franks and
the Germans, all the Roman nobility shall perish; the pontiff
shall be banished, the monasteries pulled down, Christian
worship effaced from the earth.'
France does not excite less apprehensions in
the ultramontane prophet:
"Let the Church be on her guard !. The alliance of
France is like a reed that pierces the hand which leans on
it.' I
Those most disposed to accord the gift of
prophecy to Joachiin will doubtless find it difficult
0 'Exceptis illis quæ vel fortes populariter sunt, vel quæ
esse appetunt in suis munitionibus singulares.'
† Fol. 58 back. Compare 53 back.
I Videat generalis ecclesia si non fiet ei baculus arundi-
neus potentia gallicana, cui siquidemn si quis nititur perforat
manum suam.' Cf. Isaiah xxvi. 6. Vide the chronicle 'De
Rebus in Italia Gestis, published by M. Huillard-Breolles,
p. 257 ; cf. ibid., p. xxxvi. Viide also M. Waitz's extracts in
Pertz, ‘Archives,' vol. xi., third and fourth fascicules, pp. 511,
512 (1855).
15
226 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
LI
to admit that he could have shared so thoroughly
in the passions of a century of which he only saw
the early years. A last proof may, if needed,
suffice to establish our point. The work we speak
of is dedicated to Henry VI., who died in 1197 ;
it must, therefore, have been composed before
that date; but, in the list of his writings, drawn
up in 1200, Joachim makes no mention of the
• Commentary on Jeremiah.'
This work must, therefore, be considered as the
production of the school founded by the Order of
St. Francis, which, as we shall presently see,
endeavoured towards the middle of the thirteenth
century to avail itself of Joachim's name to
ensure the triumph of its doctrines. The ideas of
the Franciscan Joachimites are met with on
every page. According to the theories of that
school, the year 1260 is pointed out as the term
of the great tribulation which will close the reign
of Christ and open that of the Holy Ghost.*
Allusions to the two great mendicant Orders
whose institution was said to have been predicted
by Joachim frequently occur. And, as though
the party which ascribed its opinions to Joachim
feared that thoughts expressed so enigmatically
would not attain the proposed end, some adherents
of that party took care to explain all obscure
passages in a pamphlet preserved in No. 836
of Saint Germain, under the heading of 'Verba
quædam de dictis Joachim abbatis explanativa
Fol. 45 back, 58 back, 62.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
227
super Jeremiam. There, every anathema is ad-
dressed in full, and to every threat is affixed a
proper name.
Our demonstration will be complete when
we see what an important place is held by
these apocryphal productions in the school of
the 'Eternal Gospel. The recently published*
* Chronicle of Fra Salimbene, a Franciscan friar
of the thirteenth century, furnishes us with new
light on the subject. In it, Joachim's .Com-
mentary on Jeremiah’is often quoted. Salimbene
became acquainted with it for the first time in
1248.7 The irreconcilable feud between Frederic
II. and the Italian and Pontifical party having
begun about 1239, the date of the drawing up of
the Commentary on Jeremiah’is brought within
sufficiently narrow limits. I
Commentaries on Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and
the lesser prophets were several times printed at
Venice, and are to be found in some manuscriptsg
* Parma, 1857.
† Pp. 102, 122, 176, 389.
The movement of Hall in Suabia (Fleury, lxxxiii.3) and
the 'Epistola fratris Arnoldi, ordinis prædicatorum, de cor-
rectione ecclesiæ,' published by Winkelmann (Berlin, 1865),
offer the German, Ghibelline, and Dominican counterpart
of the same movement. See M. Völter's memoir in the
* Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte of Brieger, vol. iv., 1880,
p. 360 et seq.
Ş Vide C. de Visch, " Bibli. Cisterc.,' pp. 172, 173; ‘Bol-
landists,' 'Acta SS. Maii,' vol. vii., pp. 103, 105; Fabricius,
• Bibl. Med. et Inf. Latin,' vol. iv., pp. 40, 41; J. Wolf, ‘Lec-
tionum Memorabilium et Reconditarum Centenarii XVI.,'
vol. i., p. 488 et seq.
15—2
228 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
1
under Joachim's name. These productions are
open to the same objections as the Commentary
on Jeremiah.' It is hardly credible that in two
or three years Joachim could have composed so
much. Anachronisms and traces of conjecture
are frequently met with in them.
The “De Oneribus Provinciarum,' given as a
distinct work in No. 836 of St. Germain, and
in some other MSS.,* is an extract from the
‘Commentary on Isaiah.' The author classes in
provinces all the cities of the world of which he
knows the names, and pronounces on each a
prophetic word. Apart from the geographical
interest of such a production, it contains much
historical information respecting the events of the
first half of the thirteenth century. Its author
seems to have been influenced by the same
antipathies as the commentator on Jeremiah.
Hatred of the House of Hohenstaufen breaks out
incessantly. Sicily is the hot-bed of tyranny and
error-alumpna tyrannidis et erroris ; Calabria is
the cavern of wrens, the hole of vipers.t Umbria
and Spain shall see rise, like two stars, two orders
clad in sackcloth and haircloth, whose mission
will be to preach the Gospel of the kingdom.
* De Visch, p. 173 ; De Riso (pp. 122, 153), though
wrongly, admits it as such.
† Fol. 83 back, 84.'
These are names given to the Albigenses and other sects
of the eleventh and twelfth centuries who used to inveigh
against the immorality and simony of the clergy.--TRANS-
LATOR'S NOTE.
1
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
229
The devil shall stir up against them a ferocious
beast,--the sect of the Patarins. *
In the same category are to be classed the
commentaries on the prophecies of Merlin and of
the Erythræan Sybil, also dedicated to Henry VI., †
and attributed to Joachim. They may be read
in No. 3319 of the old collection, and in part in
No. 865 of the St. Victor MSS. These texts, not
quite uniform, used to be cut up according to the
fancy of compilers, and it is very difficult to
ascertain their identity. Thus, No. 3319 contains
in succession two different versions of the Com-
mentary. It is remarkable that Merlin and the
Erythræan Sybil should be frequently quoted in
the 'Commentary on Jeremiah.' Here again
0 Fol. 80 v. I will here quote some other passages on
the Patarins : ‘Hæresis Patarena in Lombardiæ terminis
invalescens adeo suos circumquaque stimulos pravitatis ex-
tendit ut non minus sit infesta Catholicis quam olim pro-
phetis Domini fuit Athalia filia Jezabelis, etc. ... Lom-
bardorum gens impia ... Deo detestabilis . . . qui quæ
de fumo putei, doctrina scilicet seculari, hæreticos imbuit et
aerem ecclesiasticæ puritatis infecit, æternæ rhomphæam
ultionis necesse est ut non evadat ... Verona nutrix
hæresis dirum deflebit excidium filiorum' (fol. 81 back, 82).
Ut si campus tribulis et urticis, scilicet Patarenis, Gazaris et
aliis schismaticis in Tolosa, Livonia (sic), et Ausonia, et
Liguria diversisque partibus per Italiam occupetur, quum de
fumo erroris eorum partes etiam remotissimæ denigrantur'
(fol. 93 back).
+ De Visch, pp. 172, 173; De Lauro in De Riso, p. 151.
I Perhaps in the Joachimite MS. of St. Omer. Vide
supplement to the catalogue of that library by M. Theodore
Duchet. Revue critique, Nov. 15, 1873, pp. 323, 324.
230 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Franciscan ideas break forth at every line. Fra
Salimbene knew all these apocryphal prophecies,
and contrasts them with the Commentary on
Jeremiah.'*
The 'De Oneribus Prophetarum' is a com-
mentary supposed to have been addressed to
Henry VI. on certain chapters of Nahum, Ha-
bakkuk, Zachariah, and Malachi. It is met with
in the MSS. 3593 of the old collection, 836 of
St. Germain, and 865 of St. Victor (incomplete),
and also in the St. Omer MS., No. 278.4 It
was printed at Venice in 1519. It was evidently a
device of the forgers to dedicate all these apo-
cryphal productions to Henry VI. in order to
give them a genuine appearance. We. may add
that the dedicatory epistles are so unbecoming
and so full of threats that their tone would alone
be sufficient to show that they are forgeries. I
In the St. Germain MS., No. 58 (last page
but one), and 3595 of the old collection, fol. 22,
there is, subjoined to other works of Joachim, a
pamphlet without either title or author's name,
under the form of a synoptical table, and begin-
ning with these words : ‘Helyas jam venit, et non
cognoverunt eum.' It is the key to all Joachim's
philosophy of history, symbolically connected with
the opening of the seven seals of the Apocalypse.
Fra Salimbene refers to it under the title of
• Pp. 175, 176; cf. p. 106 et seq.
† De Visch, p. 173 ; Duchet, loc. cit.
I Compare Salimbene, p. 4. .
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
231
' Book of Images.'* It gives the year 1260 as the
end of the New Testament. Then shall appear
Elias, and the Roman Church, destroyed by the
emperor, shall be re-established. The last pope
mentioned in this pamphlet is Innocent III., who
reigned from 1198 to 1216. The author does not
seem to employ any other artifice to pass himself
off as Joachim.
Fra Salimbene declares he received, at Hyères,
from the great Joachimite Hugues de Digne, a
commentary by Joachiin on the four gospels,
which he copied at Aix for John of Parma.t This
work is to be found in one of the Dresden manu-
scripts.] It is certainly an apochryphal produc-
tion.
Ch. de Visch s mentions the existence of
one of Joachim's writings entitled 'De Seminibus
Scripturarum' in a Cistercian convent, near
Saragossa. The learned M. Theodore Duchet
met with this work in No. 278 of the St. Omer
library. Its real title is ‘De Semine Scriptu-
rarum. I would advise some young inquirer to
Pp. 85, 124, 224.
Piatalog dervide also: 'A. Cistercial. The
I 'Katalog der Handschr. der Bibl. zu Dresden,' i., p. 57
(Leipz., 1882). Vide also 'Acta SS.' volume already quoted,
p. 103; De Visch, 'Bibl. Cisterc.,' p. 172; Trithème
No. 389 ; De Lauro in De Riso, p. 151. The 'De septem
sigillis' (De Visch and Trithème, loc. cit.) seems to be an
extract from it (“Katalog,' loc cit.).
§ Op. cit., p. 173.
ll Vide Revile critique, Nov, 15, 1873, p. 323.
232 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
examine this manuscript, and ascertain its cha-
racter, and also its degree of authenticity. The
Saragossa manuscript contained, it seems, a
Joachimite commentary on the ‘Testament of the
Twelve Patriarchs,' with which the Latins only
became acquainted through the translation of
Robert of Lincoln, made about 1242.
The important Dresden manuscript, A, 121,
contains (p. 235 et seq.) two other Joachimite
pamphlets,* whose detailed examination might
also prove of some use.
The Commentary on the Prophecies of Cyrillus,
printed at Venice in 1517, several manuscripts
of which are still in existence, is evidently an
apocryphal work. The prophecies on the popes,
attributed to Joachim, which in the Middle Ages
enjoyed such great popularity, still less deserve to
be discussed. When once the Abbot of Flor was
called a prophet, his name was made a shelter by
many whose political enthusiasm induced them
to foretell the future. One feeling seems to inspire
all the authors of these singular compositions, and
imparts great unity to the apocryphal works of
Joachim: this is hatred of the Court of Rome,
which is identified with the scarlet woman of
the Apocalypse; of the pope, who is identified
with Anti-christ; of the emperor, who is repre-
sented as the oppressor of Italy. All these works
evidently come from the hands of a sect governed.
by the thought of thorough reform and of open.
9 Katalog der Handschr. der Bibl. zu Dresden, i., p. 57. ::.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
233
revolt against the Church. For the present, it
suffices us to have established that the responsi-
bility of those fantastic productions cannot rest
upon the Abbot of Flor, and to have proved that
three great works, viz., 'The Concordance of the
two Testaments,' 'The Commentary on the
Apocalypse,' 'The Psalterion Decachordon,' and
a few letters and treatises of secondary import-
ance, alone deserve to bear Joachim's name.
III.
THE EXALTED FRANCISCAN SCHOOL.-JOHN OF
PARMA.
1
1
The inquiry we have just made into the writings
of the Calabrian prophet has proved that none of
the genuine or apocryphal works which appear
under his name bear the title of Eternal Gospel.'
The supposition (shared by such scholars as
Tillemont, Crevier, and others) that Joachim did
compose a work of that name, proceeds from a
confusion which we will presently explain. It
even appears that Joachim never very clearly
avowed the seditious ideas subsequently attributed
to him. The fourth Lateran Council (1215),
though condemning the opposition he made to
Peter Lombard on a point of metaphysics, ac-
knowledged his submission to the Church and his
perfect docility.
234 NEW 7
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
a second-rate theologian and a bold exegetic, had
not chance brought his name into prominence
and associated it with one of the most daring
attempts recorded in the history of Christian
reformers.
No one has yet pointed out all the historical
significance of the Order of St. Francis. The
historians of the religious orders have mainly con-
cerned themselves with it as a monastic institu-
tion; men of taste and imagination have been
chiefly interested in the wonderful outburst of
poetry which it produced ; and thus the political
and social aspirations concealed under what was
apparently a purely ascetic movement have not
been fully appreciated. The fact is, such hopes had
never been conceived since the earliest days of
Christianity. The 'Conformities,' by Bartholomew
of Pisa, is not an isolated production; it is the
tardy manifesto of the secret thoughts of the Order.
St. Francis's aim was not to add a new rule to
the already long list of monastic rules; it was to
realize the Christian ideal, to show what could be
done by carrying out the Sermon on the Mount
to the letter as a law of life. At the root of
the Franciscan attempt there lay the hope of a
general reform of the world, of a restoration of the
Gospel. It was admitted that, for twelve hundred
years, the Gospel had not been acted upon;
that the essential precept of Jesus, renunciation
of earthly goods, had not been understood; that,
after centuries of widowhood, Poverty had at last
SA
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
- 235
.--... -
found a spouse.* Was not this to confess that
the birth of Francis of Assisi had opened a
new era for Christianity and for mankind ?+
These audacious pretensions, controlled in the
founder by great mystical tenderness and perfect
tact, unveiled themselves only by degrees; but the
idea that holiness consisted solely in the renuncia-
tion of property inevitably bore its fruit. When
it was asserted that man had a right to seek for
higher perfection than that to be found in the
Church, was not this as much as to say that the
Church must come to an end in order to make way
for the society which taught that new perfection?
Even during the lifetime of the founder, but
especially at the first chapter held after his death,
two parties showed themselves in the Order; the
one, incapable of carrying out the superhuman.
undertaking dreamed of by the sublime mendicant,
and wiser according to the flesh than the spirit of
the seraphic institute allowed, thought that the
primitive rigour of the rule was beyond human
strength, that the rule might in certain respects
be made milder, and that the Pope should grant
dispensations accordingly. The other side main-
tained, with surprising courage, that St. Francis's
work had not yet borne all its fruits, that that work
was superior to the Pope and to the Church of
Rome, that the rule was a revelation dependent on
God alone. At the bottom of their heart lay the
* Dante, ' Paradiso,' xi. 58 et seq.
† Vide' Fioretti, chap. xvi., near the end.
236 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
unavowed belief that the appearance of St.
of a second Christ, as great as the first-greater,
even, because of his poverty. Hence that strange
legend in which the Seraph of Assisi, equal to
Christ in all other things, is placed above him,
because he never possessed anything of his own-
not even those things which are consumed by use.
And hence the openly avowed pretension that the
Order of St. Francis was destined to absorb all
other Orders, to supplant the universal Church
itself, and to become the final form of human
society on the eve of its disappearance.
0
U
IIIC
sense and also by the worldly spirit of the majority,
were the secret of a small number when the ap-
pointment of John Borelli, or Buralli, to the dignity
of General of the Order, in 1247, twenty-one years
after the death of the patriarch of Assisi, brought
about a tumult and gave the new doctrine a definite
name. John Buralli, born at Parma about 1209,
was the most decided representative of the party
which, anxious for the literal realization of the
revelations of Monte Alverno, did not recoil before
the most exaggerated social applications of the
principle of poverty. He rejected all interpreta-
tions of the rule, even those which had been pro-
posed by doctors and sanctioned by popes. Per-
suaded that the future of the Church and of
mankind were bound up in the institution of St.
Francis, he conceived the project of reviving the
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
237
-
--
ideas of the founder, which the weakness of his
disciples had allowed to fall into oblivion. The
beginning of his term of office was a return to
the Franciscan ideal in all its purity. The rule
was again enforced in every detail. That which
occurs at the outset of all religions had come to
pass in the Order of Assisi. The true disciples
of the founder, the saints, the ascetics, had soon
become inconvenient; in the years following
Francis's death, the heirs of his spirit had nearly
all been exiled or imprisoned; one or two were
even assassinated. John of Parma recalled the
banished saints. The legend of Francis was
taken up and embellished.* A will, exceeding
in strictness even the prescriptions of the rule,
was supposed to have been dictated by Francis
when stigmatized. By his lofty piety, his con-
tempt for earthly grandeurs, his dislike to the
worldly splendours of ecclesiastical dignities, John
of Parma was, for a time, to the zealots of the
Order, the living image of their sainted founder. In
the nine years of his rule a pious coterie flourished,
which we know marvellously well through the
memoirs of the frank and amiable Frà Salimbene,
one of its members.t Joachim was, next to Francis,
the oracle of this small school. His writings
used to be eagerly read and copied. The Abbot
of Flor, who had only left unknown disciples in
11YY
0 The compilation of the narrative of the “Three Com-
panions' dates from the year 1247.
† See chiefly pp. 98 et seq. ; 101 et seq. ; 104, 317, et seq.
238 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY4
.
Calabria, thus found in a different Order a devoted
family and ardent followers.
1 Here we certainly have the origin of the 'Eternal
Gospel.' Already, in the fourteenth century, the
Dominican Nicolas Eymeric, in his ‘ Directorium
Inquisitorum,' refers to John of Parma as its
author, and this has remained the opinion of nearly
all ecclesiastical critics and historians. The efforts
made by the authors of the literary history of the
Franciscans, Wadding and Sbaraglia, in order
to remove the blot of heresy from a Superior of
their Order, have failed to obscure a truth which
is demonstrably certain.* Yet a great number
of questions remain to be solved. Does the
• Eternal Gospel' exist in any collection of manu-
scripts ? What was its nature? In drawing up
the work, what were the respective shares of the
master and of his disciple Gérard de Borgo San-
Dormino, who, according to Frà Salimbene, was
its sole author ? Here it is that manuscript docu-
ments afford much light. We hope to show that
fragments of the 'Eternal Gospel' and the docu-
ments relating to the trial connected with it have
safely come down to us.
TITI
TY
IV.
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS WHICH THROW LIGHT ON
THE QUESTION OF THE 'ETERNAL GOSPEL.'
These documents are preserved in two MSS.
from the library of the old Sorbonne, now in the
O Vide M. Daunou's article previously quoted.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
239
Bibliothèque Nationale (Sorbonne collection, Nos.
1726, fourteenth century; 1706, fifteenth century),
and in another manuscript which formerly belonged
to the College of Navarre, now in the collection
of the Bibliothèque Mazarine (No. 391, fifteenth
century). These manuscripts have not been wholly
unknown to critics. Quétif and Echard, two
learned Dominicans who applied themselves to
making a careful abstract of the Sorbonne MSS.,
quoted, though incidentally, a passage taken from
No. 1726, with regard to Hugues de St. Cher.*
M. Daunou was acquainted with the fragment
mentioned by Quétif and Echard, and made use
of it in his excellent work on John of Parma ; but
he did not refer to the original manuscript. M.
Victor le Clerc saw at once the importance of
the documents contained in that manuscript, and
the account to which they could be turned. No.
1706, much less complete than No. 1726, was
employed by the Bishop of Tulle, Du Plessis
d'Argentré, for his great compilation, Collectio
Judiciorum de Novis Erroribus' (vol. i., Paris,
1724). M. Hauréau took it up and examined it.
As for the manuscript now deposited in the
Bibliothèque Mazarine, it was pointed out to me
by the learned M. Taranne, who had described it
in view of a catalogue of the manuscripts of the
said library begun by him.t
Script. ord. Præd., vol. i., p. 202. .
† Among the extracts from the MSS. of Rome, by La Porte
du Theil, which are in the MS. department of the Bibliothèque
240 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
DIA
ZA
The extracts relative to the 'Everlasting
Gospel' contained in these three manuscripts are
four in number.
I. In No. 1726 of the Sorbonne, and only in
that manuscript,* is to be found a writing whose
title runs as follows: Exceptiones librorum viri eru-
ditissimi venerabilis Joachim, priini Florentium
abtatis, de pressuris seculi et mundi fine et signis
et terroribus et eruinnis, seri etiain de pseudo-
christis et pseudo-prophetis, quorum plura scripta sunt
in divinis sermonibus, sed idcirco non omnibus clara.
Quia multis sunt nodis perplexa et occultis mysteriis
quæ omnia spiritualiter intellecta ostendunt nobis
multa quæ futura sunt 120vissiinis diebus, laboriosos
Nationale (vol. vii., p. 323 ; vol. xviii., p. 56), is one which
professes to come from No. 4380 of Queen Christina, headed :
“Articuli cujusdam libri, Parisiis combusti, qui dicebatur
Evangelium sempiternum. Incipit, Sequuntur articuli quad-
raginta. I dare not identify this piece with certainty. I re-
commend it to young students of the 'Ecole de Rome.'
0 The Sorbonne MS., 1726, is composed of a collection of
fragments, each bearing a distinct pagination. The only part
of interest to us comprises 106 pages. The last page bears the
following notes written by different hands: “Errores qui
continentur in Introductorio in Evangelium eternum, et in
libro Concordiarum Joachim ;' then : 'In hoc volumine con-
tinentur extractiones librorum Joachim, et extractiones
de Evangelio eterno, et reprobationes eorumdem.-Quod
volumen est pauperum magistrorum de Sorbona, ex legato
magistri Petri de Lemovicis, quondam socii domus hujus.-
Pretii 20 solidorum.—39us inter originalia mixta sanctorum.
-Residuum require in papiro post librum de gradibus elec-
torum.---Chatenabitur.'
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
241
scilicet rerum fines et, post multos et inagnos agones
et certainina, pacem victoribus impertivi.
The work goes on in this strain for seventy-
eight pages, and terminates abruptly, without
explicit or conclusion. It is an extract from
Joachim's authentic or apocryphal works, without
any commentary by the compiler.* The purpose
of this collection is obvious: it was meant to
compress within a very small book all Joachim's
doctrine. We shall have to examine if the com-
pilation contained in our manuscript may be
identified with any of the writings which played
a part in the affair of 1254.
2. The second document found in the three
19 The works thus abridged are seven in number. 1°.
From fol. I to fol. 38 back, there are extracts from the book of
the Concordance between the two Testaments. 20. From fol.
38 back to fol. 48, there are extracts from the Liber introduc-
torius in Apocalypsim,' which, as we saw previously, serves
as an introduction to the ' Exposition of the Apocalypse'
by Joachim. 3º. From fol. 48 to fol. 49, extracts from the
Psalterion Decachordon.' 40. From fol. 49 to fol. 59, extracts
from the 'Commentary on Jeremiah,' attributed to Joachim.
50. From fol. 59 to fol. 63 back, Joachim's letter referred to
above, and beginning with “ Loquens Dominus Ezechieli.' It
is unfinished, and followed by a small French fragment by
a different hand : C'est que len dit es profecies de Joachim
escrit ou grant liure de Concordances : an lan de grace mil
et cc et 1111xx et V serunt batallies es pleins de Nerbone
de quatre rois esqueles morront,' etc. A lacuna, then, from
fol. 65 to fol. 76, extracts from the ' De oneribus prophetarum,'
attributed to Joachim. 7º. From fol. 76 to fol. 78 back, ex-
tracts from the Commentary on Ezekiel,' also attributed to
Joachim.
16
242 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
1
manuscripts before mentioned is an extract from
the heterodox propositions discovered in the book
entitled 'Introductorium in Evangelium æternum'
by the commission of cardinals appointed by Pope
Alexander IV., in 1255, to examine the said work.
Du Plessis d'Argentré published this document
from the manuscript 1706 of the Sorbonne, * which
is the least perfect of the three. D’Argentré's
edition has lacunæ in many important passages,
particularly in the precise references made by the
pontifical censors to the text of the “Introduc-
torium. Whenever it is necessary, to complete
D'Argentré's text, we will give the original in the
notes.* To begin with, it is important to point
out a passage omitted by the learned Bishop:
Towards the end of the twelfth chapter we
read these words: ... Until that angel who car-
ried the sign of the living God and appeared about
the year 1200 of the incarnation, and whom friar
Gérard recognised as no other than St. Francis.'S
This Gérard is assuredly Gérard de Borgo San Don-
Coll. Jud.,' i., p. 193 et seq.
· † This is the opening which has been curtailed by
D'Argentré: 'Hæc notaviimus et extraximus de “Intro-
ductorio in Evangelium æternum," misso ad dominum papam
ab episcopo Parisiensi, et tradito nobis tribus cardinalibus
ad inspiciendum ab eodem domino papa, videlicet O. Tuscu-
lanensi, Stephano Prænestino episcopis, et Hugoni Sanctæ
Sabinæ presbytero cardinali.'
# The stigmata.
$ 'Item in xii. capitulo, versus finem, ponit hæc verba :
“Usque ad illum angelum qui habuit signum Dei vivi, qui
apparuit circa MCC incarnationis dominicæ, quem angelum
frater Gerardus vocat et confitetur sanctum Franciscum." ;
FOACHIM DI FLOR.
243
nino, whom Salimbene considers to have played
the chief part in the affair of the ' Eternal Gospel.'
3. After this enumeration of errors, there follows
in the Sorbonne MS., No. 1726 (fol. 91 back), and
in the MS. of the ' Bibliothèque Mazarine’ (fol. 86
back), an extensive report of one of the sittings
of the Anagni Commission. This document not
being found in No. 1706 has escaped D'Argentré:
it has never been published.
''In the year of our Lord 1255, on the 8th of the ides of
July, at Anagni, before us Eudes, Bishop of Tusculum," and
Friar Hughes, cardinal priest, † commissioners appointed by
the pope, together with the Reverend Father Stephen,Bishop
of Præneste, who has excused himself through his chaplain
and has delegated to us his powers in this affair, there ad-
peared Master Florent, Bishop of Acre, $ who submitted to
us some passages from Joachim's books which appeared
suspicious to him. . . To investigate these passages we have
secured the aid of two other persons, viz. : Friar Bouvalet,
Bishop of ..., and Friar Peter, reader of the preaching
friars of Anagni, one of whom followed the text of the original
books of Joachim di Flor, and ascertained in our presence
* Eudes de Chateauroux, who plays an important part in
the life of St. Louis. Vide Fleury's “ Histoire ecclesiastique,
books lxxxii., No. 33 ; lxxxiii., No. 45 ; lxxxv., No. 7.
+ This is the famous Hugues de Saint-Cher.
I He was a Hungarian and Archbishop of Strigonia. See
Fleury's ' Hist. eccl.,' book lxxxv., No. 7.
§ Florent or Florentin, Bishop of Acre, became afterwards
Archbishop of Arles. We shall find him about 1260 again
condemning the Joachimites at the Council of Arles. Cf.
Gallia christiana,' vol. i., p. 569.
|| The name of the bishopric is doubtful. Can it be the
ecclesia Panidensis of the Oriens christianus,' iii., col.
966-67 ?
16-2
244 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
whether the quotations, which the said Bishop of Acre read or
caused to be read by our registrar, were really contained
in the aforesaid books. He began thus :
""The fundamental principle of Joachim's doctrine is, first
of all, to be noted; it consists in distinguishing three states
in the history of the world ; this he does in the 4th chapter
of the 2nd book, which begins with these words : 'Intelli-
gentia vero illa,' saying : ' Aliud tempus fuit in quo vivebant
homines secundum carnem,'” etc."
What follows is chiefly composed of a series of
passages taken from Joachim's genuine works,
that is, from the 'Concordance,' from the 'Apoca-
lypsis nova' or ' Liber introductorius in Apoca-
* 'Anno Domini M°CC°LV° VIII., idus Julii, Anagniæ, coram
nobis, Odone episcopo Tusculano, et fratre Hugone pres-
bytero cardinali, auditoribus et inspectoribus datis a papa,
una cum reverendo patre Stephano Prænestino episcopo, se
excusante per proprium capellanum suum, et nobis quantum
ad hoc vices suas committente, comparuit magister Floren-
tius, episcopus Acconensis, proponens quædam verba de libris
Joachim extracta, suspecta sibi, ut dicebat, nec publice,
dogmatizanda aut prædicanda, nec in scriptis redigenda, ut
fieret inde doctrina sive liber, pro ut sibi videbatur. Et ad
hæc audienda et inspicienda vocavimus una nobiscum duos
alios, scilicet fratrem Bonevaletum, episcopum Pavendensem,
et fratrem Petrum, lectorem fratrum prædicatorum Anagniæ,
quorum unus tenebat originalia Joachim de Florensi monas-
terio, et inspiciebat coram nobis utrum hæc essent in præ-
dictis libris quæ prædictus episcopus Acconensis legebat et
legi faciebat per tabellionem nostrum, et incipiebat sic :
Primo notandum est fundamentum doctrinæ Joachim.
Et proposuit tres status totius seculi, 1111. capitulo secundi
libri, quod incipit : Intelligentia vero illa, etc., dicens: “Aliud
tempus fuit in quo vivebant homines secundum carnem, cui
initiatio facta est in Adam."' This passage actually occurs
in the 'Concordance' (p. 8 of the edition published at Venice
in 1519).
FOACHIM DI FLOR.
245
lypsim,' and from the 'Decachord Psalter,' with
criticisms on the erroneous propositions found in
them. At intervals, there are quotations from one
of Joachim's commentators named “Frater Ge-
rardus,'* who is no other than Gérard de Borgo
* I give here the chief passages relating to this important
personage :
Fol. 94 of the MS. 1726. 'Quod exponens frater G. scrip-
sit : “ Hæc abominatio erit pseudopapa, ut habetur alibi."
Et istud " alibi” reperitur longe infra, v. libro Concordiæ de
Zacharia propheta, ubi dicitur: “In Evangelio dicitur:
Quum videritis abominationem desolationis quæ dicta est a
Daniele,'” etc. . . Rursus et ibi frater G.: “Hæc abomin-
atio quidam papa erit simoniaca labe respersus, qui circa
finem sexti temporis obtinebit in sede, sicut scribit in quodam
libello ille qui fuit minister hujus operis."
Fol. 96 back, after a quotation from the 'Commentary on
the Apocalypse,'' Hucusque verba Joachim et fratris Gerardi.'
Fol. 99. 'Item habetur per notulam fratris Gerardi super
principium ejusdem capituli Danielis, ubi dicit sic frater
Gerardus : “Hæc tribulatio, quæ erit talis qualis nunquam
fuit, debet fieri, ut ex multis locis apparet tam in hoc libro
quam in aliis, circa M.CC.LX annum incarnationis dominicæ ;
post quam revelabitur Antichristus. Hæc tribulatio erit in
corporalibus et spiritualibus maxime. Sed tribulatio maxima,
quæ statim sequetur interposito tamen cujusdam spatio
quantulæcumque pacis, erit magis in spiritualibus; unde erit
periculosior quam prima.”)
Fol. 100 back. Super hoc Gerardus in Glossa: “In hoc
mysterio vocat terram scripturam prioris Testamenti, aquam
scripturam novi Testamenti, ignem vero scripturam Evange-
lii æterni.",
Ibid. 'Super hoc glossa fratris Gerardi:“Declaratio est ejus
quod dicitur Evangelium æternum in secundo libro Psalterii
decem chordarum, scilicet xix. capitulo, quod incipit: 112
primo sane tempore."
Fol. 102. 'Notula fratris Gerardi : “In hoc loco vir indutus
246 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
San-Donnino, whose name we found before in the
above mentioned second document. We will
later on draw conclusions from all this.
. 4. The fourth document exists only in No.
1760 of the Sorbonne. D'Argentré published
it from that manuscript with some errors and
omissions. * M. Preger edited it from two
Munich manuscripts.t It is a new enumeration
of the errors contained in the “ Eternal Gospel'-
errors identical with those attributed by Nicolas
Eymeric to John of Parma ;I but Nicolas
Eymeric contents himself with mentioning the
errors without saying where they come from,
whereas our manuscript furnishes important indi-
TY
3
lineis, qui fuit minister hujus operis, loquitur de se et de
duobus qui secuti sunt eum statim post M.ccum annum incar-
nationis dominicæ; quos Daniel dicit se vidisse super ripam
fluminis ; quorum unus dicitur in Apocalypsi Angelus habens
falcem acutam, et alius dicitur Angelus qui habuit signum
Dei vivi, per quem Deus renovabit apostolicam vitam.” Idem
ibidem, super illud verbum Evangelium regni, dicit similiter
Gerardus in notula : “ Evangelium regni vocat Evangelium
spirituale, quod beatus Joachim vocat Evangelium æternum,
quod in adventu Helyæ prædicari oportet omnibus gentibus,
et tunc veniet consummatio."
Fol. 102 back. 'Dicit frater Gerardus in notula : “Iste
doctor sive angelus apparuit circa M.CC. annum incarnationis
dominicæ, hoc est ille liber de quo loquitur hic, in quo vii,
tonitrua locuta sunt voces suas, quæ sunt mysteria vii. sig-
naculorum.'
Coll. Jud.,' i., d. 164 and fol.
+ 'Abhandlungen' of the Munich Academy, vol. xii., 3rd
part, p. 33 and fol.
I Direct. Inq.,' p. 188-89 (Romæ, 1578).
F0ACHIM DI FLOR.
247
cations on that point. Usserius and Meyenberg*
reproduced, from the chronicle of Henry of Hert-
ford, a text resembling that of our manuscript,
much less correct in general, though more com-
plete towards the end. Indeed, instead of conclud- •
ing, like D'Argentré's text, with the errors taken
from the fourth book of the second part, Meyen-
berg's text, in accordance with that of M. Préger,
distinguishes two treatises in that fourth book, t
and gives the errors of both; it then takes up the
fifth book, in which he points out five treatises :
one, ‘De septem diebus ;' another, ' De Jobo;' a
third, ‘De Joseph et pincerna cui somnium,
apparuit;' a fourth, 'De tribus generibus homi-
num, videlicet Israeliticis, Ægyptiacis, Babyloniis;'
a fifth, ' De historia Judith. Towards the end,
in the Munich MSS., we read this curious anno-
tation: ‘Ex hiis autem quæ dicuntur ibi in expo-
sitione hystoriæ de David potest intelligi quod ille
qui composuit opus quod dicitur Evangelium
æternum non fuit Joachim, sed aliquis vel aliqui
moderni temporis, quoniam facit ibi mentionem
de Frederico imperatore, persecutore romanæ
ecclesiæ.' I
'De pseudo Evangelio æterno' (præside J. A. Schmidt),
p. II and fol. (Helmstadt, 1725).
Instead of 'De quarto libro hujus duo errores extrahi
possunt' (D'Argentré), we must read : 'De quarto libro hujus
partis, in primo tractatu, duo errores extrahi possunt.'
Preger, work quoted above, p. 36.
248 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
THE BOOK OF THE 'ETERNAL GOSPEL.'
Having indicated the texts on which I intend
to base my argument, I must now draw the con-
clusions. What are we to think of the book
entitled the 'Eternal Gospel'? Was it distinct
from the ‘Introduction to the Eternal Gospel'?
Is this last-named work still extant? Is Gérard's
work, mentioned in the Anagni trial, identical
with the 'Introduction to the Eternal Gospel'?
What was the relation existing between these
works and the genuine productions of Abbot
Joachim? What is the date of their composition?
We must not be surprised at the difficulties
offered by questions apparently so simple. No
historical questions are more difficult to solve
than those which aim at discovering in the past
qualities created by the spirit of the present.
The scruples of exact bibliography were all but
unknown in the Middle Ages. The rigorous in-
dividuality of a book is a recent idea. Printing
itself, which was to bring about such a thorough
change in that respect, modified but slowly the
public modes of thought.
The form and composition of the 'Eternal
Gospel' are clearly revealed to us by the report
of the Cardinals of Anagni (the second of the
before-mentioned documents). It is there said
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
249
17
expressly* that the 'Eternal Gospel' was divided
into three parts, and formed by the combination
of the three authentic works of Abbot Joachim,-
the ‘Concordance of both Testaments’ being the
first book, the “New Apocalypse 't the second,
and the 'Decachord Psalter' the third. The
fragments left of Gérard's notes lead to the
same inference. Indeed, Gérard designates
Joachim by these words : ‘Ille qui fuit minister
hujus operis.' A curious marginal note in the
manuscript of the Bibliothèque Mazarine, which
belonged to the College of Navarre, has the same
meaning. I This note formally attributes to
Joachim a book entitled “Evangelium æternum,'
and points out the place it occupies in the library
of the College of Navarre. Therefore, in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, there were still
manuscripts in which the three productions of
* D'Argentré, p. 163. After hæc verba, we must add :
'In prirno libro Evangelii æterni, videlicet in secundo
secundæ concordiæ. Et tria prædicta probantur similiter
expresse xxi. capitulo, B, ubi distinguitur triplex littera. Ibi :
“Attendent vero," etc. , . et similiter ante finem ultimi capit-
uli, ubi dicitur : “ Illud attendendum," etc.
+ See above, pp. 218, 219. It must be noticed that the work
referred to here is not the complete commentary on the
Apocalypse, but the preliminary book which Joachim wrote
as an introduction to it.
I Here is the note corresponding with Item quod per virum
in the second document : 'Nota ista usque ad finem de
erroribus contentis in libro abbatis Joachim quem vocavit de
Evangelio æterno, qui liber est in pulpitro affixo parieti.
This note is written in a fifteenth century hand.
250 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Joachim were collected and bore the common
title of ' Evangelium æternum. Such manu-
scripts must have been the fruits of the movement
of 1254, since we have seen that Joachim himself
never gave that title either to any particular work
of his or to the whole collection of his writings.
I believe that at the present day no library
possesses a manuscript with such a title.
Despite an apparent contradiction, the fourth
document enumerated above confirms the result
we have just arrived at concerning the composition
of the ' Eternal Gospel,' and proves that that was
not only the private judgment of the Anagni Com-
missioners. In it we find that the 'Eternal Gospel'
(properly so called) contained at least two parts.
The first was called ! Præparatorium in Evange-
lium æternum,' the second Concordia novi et
Veteris Testamenti,' or 'Concordia veritatis,' and
was divided into five books. It is evident that the
author of this document considered the ‘Intro-
ductorium' or 'Præparatorium in Evangelium
æternum,' which elsewhere is distinguished from
the “ Eternal Gospel,' was the first book of that
same “Eternal Gospel.' The Concordance"
becomes thus the second book. If there is here
no question of the Apocalypse' and the “Deca-
chord Psalter,' this is, no doubt, either because
they were considered as of minor importance,
or because they only repeated the errors of
the ‘Præparatorium' or the Concordia.' But
what unquestionably proves the truth of our
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
251
hypothesis is : Ist, that the errors given in the
fourth document as taken from the first part of
the Eternal Gospel,' entitled 'Præparatorium in
Evangelium æternum,' are identical with those
found in the report of the Cardinals at Anagni as
extracts from the ‘Introductorium in Evangelium
æternum;' 2nd, that the errors given in the
fourth document as extracts from the second part
of the “Eternal Gospel' are really extracted from
Joachim's book the “Concordance,' whose order
and divisions are followed point by point. The
difference is simply a difference of arrangement.
We will adopt as preferable that followed by the
Anagni Commission.
: . It is therefore . an established fact that the
'Eternal Gospel' properly so called was nothing
but the collection of the three chief writings of
Joachim, and that, consequently, the ‘Introduction
to the Eternal Gospel' was distinct from it, though
sometimes subjoined to it as a first book. This
distinction is made evident in the report of the
Anagni Commission. There we see, in fact, that
the cardinals had in their hands a book entitled
*Introductorium in Evangelium æternum,' for-
warded to the pope by the Bishop of Paris; we
learn, besides, that the work was divided into
chapters, not into books; lastly, the conclusion
arrived at by the cardinals, that the 'Eternal
Gospel' was formed by the collection of the three
works of Joachim, is based upon their investigation
of the ‘Introductorium.' Here is another proof
252 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
of the same distinction. This Florent, Bishop
of Acre, who appears as promoter in the trial at
Anagni, becoming subsequently Archbishop of
Arles, presided about the year 1260 over a council
in which he again condemned the errors of
Joachim. From the speech he pronounced at
that council, it appears that the Anagni Commis-
sion meant to condemn pamphlets scattered about
under the title of 'Gospel of the Holy Ghost' and
'Eternal Gospel,' and not Joachim's actual works,
which, till then, had been little read and not dis-
cussed at all.* Lastly, Frà Salimbene calls the
work of his friend Gérard a little book,' libellum.t
Unfortunately, feeling the honour of his Order
compromised by all this affair, he omits to give
us the exact title of Gérard's pamphlet.
* 'Et licet nuper, præsentibus nobis et procurantibus, a
sancta Dei sede apostelica damnata fuerit nova quædam, quæ
ex his pullulaverat, doctrina venenata Evangelii Spiritus
Sancti pervulgata nomine, ac si Christi Evangelium non
æternum nec a Spiritu Sancto nominari debuisset ; tanquam
pestis hujusmodi fundamenta non discussa fuerint nec dam-
nata, liber videlicet Concordantiarum et alii libri Joachitici,
qui a majoribus nostri usque ad hæc tempora remanserunt
intacti, utpote latitantes apud quosdam religiosos in angulis
et antris, doctoribus indiscussi ; a quibus si ruminati fuissent,
nullatenus inter sacros alios et sanctorum codices mixti re-
mansissent, quum alia modica Joachitica opuscula, quæ ad
eorum pervenere notitiam, tam solemniter sint damnata ;'
etc. . . . (Labbe, 'Conc.,' vol. xi., 2nd part, col. 2361, 2362).
Does it not seen as though Florent had under his eyes a
note in which the writings were classified just as in the note
to be seen at the close of MS. 1726 from the Sorbonne collec-
tion, 39us inter originalia mixta sanctorum?
† viii., 102, 233, 235, 236.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
253
YA
We are thus brought to consider the “Intro-
duction to the Eternal Gospel' as a book intended
to sum up the doctrine of Joachim, and to revive i
it for the promotion of Franciscan ideas. At the
same time the want of precision inherent to
mediæval bibliography occasioned endless mis-
takes on the subject. The name of 'Eternal
Gospel' was nearly always applied to the ‘Intro-
duction. We have just had a proof of this in the
words pronounced by Archbishop Florent at the
Council of Arles. Matthieu Paris and Guillaume
de Saint-Amour are both guilty of the same
confusion; the former, when he says that the
friar composed a book which began with these
words: ‘Incipit Evangelium æternum,' a book
which he calls, further on, ‘Novus ille liber quem
Evangelium æternum nominant;* the latter, when
he quotes as from the Eternal Gospel' words which
are not to be found, at least not with the same
meaning, in Joachim's works.f Nicolas Eymeric I
represents as extracts from the 'Eternal Gospel'
the errors found in the 'Liber introductorius' by
the Anagni Commission. The librarian of the
House of Sorbonne who, in the fourteenth century,
added various notes to the end of MS. No. 1726,
carelessly fell into the same confusion.
* viii., 1254 (London edition, 1571).
† Scripta sunt tria ipsa verba Mane Thecel Phares in illo
maledicto libro quem appellant Evangelium æternum, quod
jam in ecclesia propalatum est, propter quod timendum est
de subversione ecclesiæ.'-' De peric. noviss. temp.,' p. 37.
I ‘Directorium Inquisitorium,' p. 188 (Romæ, 1578).
254 NEW YYY
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
* It must be confessed that the Anagni documents
do not, so clearly as might be desired, point to
Gérard as the author of the 'Introduction to the
Eternal Gospel.' The first Anagni document re-
presents the 'Introduction to the Eternal Gospel
as a book composed of a continuous text and
divided into chapters. With respect to that book,
the cardinals cite, indeed, one of Friar Gérard's
opinions, but they do not say whether thať note is
to be found in the work itself, or whether Friar
Gérard is the author of the work. Elsewhere
they vaguely say: 'Scriptor hujus operis,'* and
they accuse him of representing himself as one of
the twelve angels of St. Francis, regarded as a
second Christ.† The second Anagni document,
which no longer relates to the ‘Introduction,'
o This passage is almost wholly omitted by D'Argentré.
Item quod per virum indutum lineis intelligat Joachim scrip-
tor hujusi operis probatur xxi. capitulo, circa medium, per
verba de quinque intelligentiis generalibus et septem typicis,
ubi sic ait: “Vir indutus lineis in apertione mysteriorum
Jeremiæ prophetæ : ecce, ait, præter historicum, moralem,
tropologicum, etc. . .' Item xxii., circa principium, ita
dicitur: “Ad quam Scripturam tenetur populus tertii status
mundi, quemadmodum populus primi status ad Vetus Testa-
mentum, et populus secundi ad Novum, quantumcumque
hoc displiceat hominibus generationis istius.'
t... 'Sic in principio tertii status erunt tres similes
illorum, scilicet vir indutus lineis, et angelus quidam habens
falcem acutam, et alius angelus habens signum Dei vivi'
(here the MS. 1726 bears between the lines : 'scilicet sanc-
tus Franciscus'). 'Et habuit (D'Argentré habebit) 'similiter
angelos duodecim, inter quos ipse fuit unus, etsi Jacob habuit
duodecim in primo statu, et Christus in secundo.'
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
255
always refers to Joachim's works under their
proper divisions, and mentions Gérard's notes as
distinct. The most probable conclusion from
all this is that two works were censured by the
Anagni Commission: first the “Introductorium,'
the continuous text composed by Gérard; in
the second place, a sort of new edition, or rather
a series of extracts from the three authentic works
of Joachim, with Gérard's notes,* either in the
margin or in the text itself. The latter is the work
which Florent (the promoter of the Commission)
held in his hand, and from which he read. The
two assistant readers, Friar Bonvalet and Friar
Peter of Anagni, on the contrary, had before them
Joachim's works themselves, verifying the quota-
tions and distinguishing that which belonged to
Joachim from that which belonged to Gérard.
Sometimes, indeed, the Anagni reports seem to
give the words of the two authors as indis-
tinguishable.
There is, in fact, perfect harmony between the
ideas contained in the notes of Gérard, as quoted
by the Anagni Commission, and the ideas con-
tained in the 'Liber introductorius. All these
notes are written in the spirit of the productions
of John of Parma, and of the 'exalted' section of
the Order of St. Francis. Antipathy against
temporal papacy, hatred of the wealthy clergy,
* The style of the gloss is especially obvious in passages
like the following:... Illæ generationes valde breves erunt,
ut apparebit inferius in multis locis' (omitted by D'Argentré).
256 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
the belief that the final abomination will come
from a worldly and simoniacal pope, the fixing
upon the year 1260 as the fatal date, the belief
that the appearance of Antichrist is at hand and
that that monster will spring up from Rome,
the naming of St. Francis as the renovator of
the century and of Joachim as his precursor-all
these are traits which belong, without doubt, to
that school which, towards the middle of the
thirteenth century, extolled the name of Joachim
as a support for its projects of social and religious
reform. Several of the propositions of that school,
referred to by Salimbene* and by John of Meung,t
are found textually in Gérard's fragments, for
the preservation of which we are indebted to the
Anagni reporters.
parts played by John of Parma and Gérard re-
spectively in the composition of the ‘Introduc-
torium.' The passage in which the author'ranks
himself among the twelve angels of St. Francis is
more in harmony with the character of John of
Parma than with that of Gérard. The reports
mention only Gérard, because, no doubt, they
wanted to spare the General of the Franciscans.
Salimbene, on his part, throws all the responsibility
on Gérard, and displays great zeal in describing
how the Order punished such errors. $ However,
* viii., 123, 240.
7 'Roman de la Rose,' line 12,014 and fol.
I Pp. 103, 203, 236.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
257
he cannot deny that John of Parma was a staunch
Joachimite, and created many difficulties for him-
self by holding such opinions.* Later, Nicolas
Eymeric, not having, as a Dominican, the same
motive for reserve, attributes to John of Parma,
purely and simply, the list of errors constituting
the-doctrine of the “Eternal Gospel.' John of
Parma was doubtless, in one sense, the apostle
and chief interpreter of the doctrines which sought
to derive their authority from the name of Abbot
Joachim. Yet nothing can warrant us in believing
that John of Parma directly participated in draw-
ing up a book pursued by so many anathemas.
As regards Gérard de Borgo San-Donnino, there
are positive proofs. Frà Salimbene, his colleague,
his fellow-countryman and friend, accuses him, in
various instances, of having composed a deplor-
able book falsifying Joachim's doctrine ;t and he
relates the dreadful disgrace which befell him
without relaxing his obstinacy. Affò, who was the
first to become acquainted with this important
text, then unpublished, and after him Sbaraglia
and Tiraboschi, accepted with reason the positive
statements of Frà Salimbene.
The result of all this is that we possess, in the
three chief authentic works of Joachim, the text
of what was called the “ Eternal Gospel.' As for
Gérard's notes, they are, in all probability, irre-
trievably lost, with the exception of the fragments
Pp. 98, 124, 131 and fol.
† P. 103 and fol. ; 233 and fol.
TY
1
YY
258 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
preserved in the indictment submitted to the
Anagni Commission. Still less can we ever hope
to come across the complete text of the “In-
troductorium. The rigour with which heterodox
books used to be prescribed in the Middle Ages
explains this disappearance. Several years after
the sentence of 1255, Salimbene saw a copy of
Gérard's work on paper, which had been copied
at Rome by a notary of Imola. The guardian of
the convent, knowing him to be an old Joachimite,
came to consult him respecting the value of the
manuscript. Salimbene took fright, and, perhaps
fearing some snare, said that the work ought to
be burned there and then; which was accordingly
done.*
The volume used by Florent having had for its
principal text a series of extracts from Joachim's
works, doubts may arise as to whether the com-
pilation contained in No. 1726 of Sorbonne, from
folio I to folio 78 (the first document above re-
ferred to), should not be identified with that mys-
sterious book. But the notes of Friar Gérard,
as we find them in the acts of the Anagni Com-
mission, are not to be found in our manuscript.
We only discover on the margin short scholia,
indicating the principal ideas of Joachim, and
especially those chiefly insisted on by Gérard.
A much more serious difficulty arises from the
fact that in the extracts held by Florent, the
three great authentic works of Joachim were
Pp. 235-36; compare pp. 234-35.
AYA
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
259
XTA
alone quoted, whereas in our manuscript the
apocryphal commentaries on Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
and the 'De oneribus Provinciarum' occupy an
important place. It must be noted that the com-
pilation contained in our No. 1726 seems some-
times to have been made according to the fancy
of the copyist: there are blanks and repetitions.*
It cannot be identified with the edition cited by
Gérard. We are of opinion that, among the
Joachimite writings which have been preserved,
that which is most similar to Gérard's work is
the pamphlet beginning 'Helias jam venit,' men-
tioned above, pp. 230, 231.
What date can be assigned to the composi-
tion of the “Liber introductorius in Evangelium
æternum'? The fourth document above quoted
furnishes us, on this point, with a precise indi-
cation. One of the errors found in the 'Liber
introductorius' is the statement that the reign of
the Holy Ghost will begin in six years, in 1260,+
which brings back the composition of the book
to the year 1254. This is also the exact date
assigned by Guillaume de Saint-Amour, I and well
Florent doubtless alludes to similar compositions in his
Council of Arles : ' Plurima super his phantasiis commentaria
facta descripserunt' (Labbe, vol. xiv., p. 242).
* D'Argentré, p. 164. Quod novum Testamentum non
durabit in virtute sua nisi per sex annos proxime futuros,
scilicet usque ad annum incarnationis M.CC.LX. D'Argentré's
text wrongly gives 1269. Compare D'Argentré, p. 165, at the
top; Salimbene, pp. 123, 223, 231, 240.
I 'Jam publice posita fuit ad explicandum Anno Domine
1254.' ('De peric. noviss. temp.,' Opp., p. 38.)
Y
17-2
250 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
known to all the learned men who have studied
the affairs of the University of Paris and the
Roman Court of that period.*
By collecting the main facts arrived at in this
discussion, we draw the following conclusions :
I. In the opinion of the thirteenth century, the
'Eternal Gospel' meant a doctrine (ascribed to
Abbot Joachim) respecting the arrival of a third
religious state which was to succeed the Gospel
of Christ and become the final law of man-
kind.
2. This doctrine is imperfectly expressed in the
authentic works of Abbot Joachim, who contents
himself with a comparison between the Old and
the New Testaments, and looks but timidly to the
future.
. 3. The name of the Abbot Joachim was raised
from obscurity towards the middle of the thir-
teenth century by the exalted' section of the
Franciscan school. He was said to have pre-
dicted the birth of St. Francis and the creation of
his order; and to have played a part with regard
to Francis of Assisi analogous to that of John the
Baptist with regard to Jesus; lastly, the doctrine
attributed to him received the name of the
*Eternal Gospel.'
4. This expression did not convey the idea of
a distinct work to the mind of most of those who
heard or pronounced it. It was the label of a
0 'Histoire littéraire de la France,' vol. xx., pp. 27-28.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
261
doctrine, just as the phrase the · Three Im-
postors' summed up the averroistic scepticism, -
brought about by the study of the Arab philo-
sophers and the Court of Frederic II.
5. Yet the title of the 'Eternal Gospel' used
to be applied, with a more precise meaning, to
the collection of the principal works of Joachim.
6. Distinct from that collection, there was the
• Introduction to the Eternal Gospel,' a work of
small dimensions, composed, or at least brought
to light, by Gérard de Borgo San-Donnino in the
year 1254.
7. This ‘Introduction’ was the preface to an
abridged edition of Joachim's works, to which
was added a commentary by Gérard. These
two writings, comprised under the compendious
title of the 'Eternal Gospel,' and transmitted to
the pope by the Bishop of Paris in the year 1254,
were the object of the censure of the Commission
of Anagni in 1255.
8. The text of the ‘Introduction to the Eternal
Gospel’seems to have been lost; but its doctrine
has been handed down to us in the acts of the
assembly at Anagni, and in the other sentences
of Sorbonne, 1706, 1726 ; Bibliothèque Mazarine,
391). As for Gérard's notes; some fragments of
them are still extant in the second Anagni docu-
ment.
between these divers texts; also how one pro-
70
Y
262 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
ceeded from the other by amplification or by in-
terpolation. “In chapter viii. of the “ Introduc-
tion to the Eternal Gospel,"? say the cardinals who
sat on the Anagni Commission, the author
pretends that, even as at the beginning of the
first state, there appeared three great men, Abra-
ham, Isaac, and Jacob, the third of whom, that
is Jacob, was surrounded by twelve persons (his
twelve sons); and at the beginning of the second
state there were three great men, Zacharias, John
the Baptist, and Christ, the Divine Man, who, in
like manner, had twelve apostles, so again, at
the beginning of the third state, there shall be
three great men similar to the first-viz., the
man clad in linen, the angel holding the sharp
scythe, and another angel carrying in his hand
the sign of the living God. The latter shall
also be followed by twelve angels, in the same
manner as Jacob had twelve attendants in the
first state, and Christ had twelve followers in the
second. By the man clad in linen,' proceed the
cardinals, the author of this writing means Joa-
chim, as is proved in chapter xxi., towards the
middle ... and in chapter xii., where we find
these words, “ To that angel who carried the sign
of the living God, and who appeared about the
year 1200 of the Lord's incarnation”—an angel,'
add the cardinals, 'whom Friar Gérard recognises
formally as no other than St. Francis.'
That is a clear, well-defined theory, and one
which could only have been produced towards the
FOACHIM DI FLOR.
263
middle of the thirteenth century by the exalted
Franciscan school. If we open Joachim's 'Con-
cordance,' we find, in the second treatise of the
first book, a parallel between Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob on the one hand, and Zachariah, John the
Baptist, and Jesus on the other, occurring several
times, though not expressed with so much preci-
sion; but there is no trace of a future triad destined
to found a new religious state of mankind, and tº
which Joachim would belong. Generally speak-
ing, Joachim's views on a third state meant to
succeed to the New Testament, as that succeeded
to the Old Testament, are very obscure and
scarcely indicated.* The definiteness afterwards
ascribed to his doctrine on this point, his.pro-
phecies respecting the Mendicant Orders, and the
supplanting of the secular clergy by a religious
Order which was to go barefoot in a word, the
prediction of the “Eternal Gospel '—all this was
the work of the thirteenth-century Joachimites,
who, finding in the ideas of the Abbot of Flor
about the parallel between the two Testaments a
useful basis for their theology, adopted these ideas,
and added to them the announcement of a third
revelation, of which Joachim should be the pre-
cursor, St. Francis the Messiah, and they them-
selves the apostles.
0 Vide, however, 'Concordance,' i., iv., last chapter, and
epecially i., V., chap. lxxxiv. These passages may be inter-
polations by Gérard, as also that wherein Joachim expressly
predicts the Mendicant Orders.
264 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
VI.
.
1
THE DOCTRINE OF THE 'ETERNAL GOSPEL.'
The account of Frà Salimbene is therefore con-
firmed on all points by the study of the documents.
The doctrine of the 'Eternal Gospel’ flourished
publicly in the Order of St. Francis, under the
generalship and with the more or less_open pro-
tection of John of Parma; but he himself never
wrote anything under thạt title. The author of
the condemned book was Gérard de Borgo San-
Donnino. But neither Gérard nor John of Parma
were the inventors of the system which startled
Christendom in 1254. Long before this Joachim-
ism had taken root among the ardent disciples of
St. Francis. Salimbene relates * that, about the
year 1240, an aged and holy abbot, of the Order of
Flor, came to Pisa to request a religious Order
there to take charge of the books of Joachim
possessed by his convent. This convent was
situate between Lucca and Pisa, and he was afraid,
as he said, lest it should be ransacked by Fred-
erick II. The best theologians of the Pisan convent
began to read the books brought by the old abbot;
they were struck by the coincidences between
Joachim's prophecies and the events of the time,
and, putting theology aside, they became ardent
Joachimites. It may not be rash to suppose
the books thus mysteriously entrusted to the
0 P. 101.
FOACHIM DI FLOR.
265
Pisan Franciscans to have been Joachim's
apocryphal writings—such as, for instance, the
. Commentary on Jeremiah,' composed about that
period.* Enthusiasm does not understand ve-
racity in the same way as vulgar common-sense;
it does not think itself bound to submit to those
scrupulous rules of literary probity which are
proper to periods of criticism and reflection.
Convinced of the higher truth of his personal
inspiration, a prophet does not hesitate to.call to
his aid what sober-minded men would denounce
as fraud and imposture.
Nearly forty years had elapsed since the death
of the Abbot of Flor; his books, concealed in the
cells of a few monks,t were known to only a small
number of adherents; his person was surrounded
by a legendary halo, his character of prophet was
already universally accepted, and the existing belief
in his having received special inspiration from the
Holy Ghost for predicting the destinies of the
Church, made him an excellent patron for the doc-
trine about to be established, and the germs of
which actually existed in his writings. They put
the patriarch of Flor in connection with the new
movement; he was made to predict the apparition
The adversaries of the Joachimites, seeming to have
doubts as to the authenticity of these writings, call them
prophetias hominum fantasticoruin.'— Salimbene, p. 131.
t... 'Libri joachitici, qui a majoribus nostris usque ad
hæc tempora remanserunt intacti, utpote latitantes apud
quosdam religiosos in angulis et antris, doctoribus indis-
cussi.'—Council of Arles, Labbe, vol. xiv., col. 241.
266 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
of two religious Orders destined to change the face,
of Christendom.* His legend was based upon
that of St. Francis. The great authority of the
latter proceeded from the stigmata which assimi-
lated him to Christ: Joachim also exhibited
stigmata. Like Francis, he used to go about bare-
foot; like him, he included Nature and the ani-
mal world in a universal love. Joachim became
thus sometimes the precursor of Francis of Assisi,
sometimes the founder of a new faith, superior to
that of the Catholic Church, destined to replace
it and to last for ever. He himself was said to
have had a precursor in the person of a certain
Cyril, a hermit of Mount Carmel, a prophet like.
himself, and whose oracles were equally bold and
far-seeing. His writings, whether genuine or
apocryphal, were a sort of revelation in the eyes
of the lower clergy. Being much less under the
bondage of scholastic theology than the Domini-
cans, sometimes, indeed, being scarcely Chris-
tians, the Franciscans displayed in mystical
speculation, and also in science and poetry, a
* Salimbene, pp. 118, 123, 124, 338, 389, 403. A tradition,
highly credited among the chroniclers of Mendicant Orders,
even pretended that Joachiin caused St. Francis and St.
Dominique to be painted in the Church of St. Mark in Venice,
in the costume since accepted and preserved by Christian
iconography. The idea that in the mosaics of St. Mark,
representing scenes taken from the Apocalypse, we
have a representation of Joachim's ideas is scarcely less
improbable. Strange to say, the Jesuits also at a later date
pretended to have been predicted by Joachim. Vide 'Acta
SS. Maii, vol. vii., pp. 141, 142.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
267
-
..
-
-
-
-
-
-
freedom of thought which one would vainly seek
in the Middle Ages outside that body.
Except by reading Frà Salimbene's curious
work, it would be impossible to imagine to what
extent Joachimite ideas had penetrated the Order,
and how they had stimulaed mental activity. A
holy man from Provence, Hugues de Digne, who
preached before St. Louis, was the oracle of
the sect; people flocked from all parts to his cell
at Hyères, to listen to the terrors and the hopes
contained in the new Apocalypse.* He possessed
all Joachim's works written in large characters.
He was generally looked upon as a prophet, and
he was the father of a sort of third Order of roving
mendicants, who went by the name of Saccati
or Boscarioli. Hugues was the intimate friend of
John of Parma, and perhaps his initiator in these
dangerous novelties. Salimbene paid him frequent
visits, and speaks of him as having been inspired.
His sister, St. Douceline, was the foundress of
the Béguiries of Marseilles, and traces of the trials
brought upon her by her relations with John of
Parma and the leaders of the Franciscan move-
ment are still discernible under the truly edifying
tone of her Provençal biography.t
* Salimbene, pp. 98 et seq., 124, 141-42, 148, 319, 320.
Compare 'Histoire littéraire, de la France,' xxi., p. 293 ;
Albanès». Vie de Sainte Douceline,' p. xlvii. and fol.
+ The 'Vie de Sainte Douceline,' published by M. l'Abbé
Albanès (Marseilles, 1879), pp. xlix., 35, 37, 99, 115, 137, 155.
M. Paul Meyer was the first to notice the importance of this
document in the history of the Franciscan movement. Les
derniers Troubadours de la Provence' (1871), p. 19.
268 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
The fever of Joachimism seized upon the loftiest
minds. One of the leading men of his time,
Adam of Marsh, the friend of Roger Bacon, in the
heart of England, gladly received from Italy the
smallest fragments of the works of the Abbot of
Flor, which he used to forward at once to his
friend Robert Grossetête, Bishop of Lincoln, * call-
ing his special attention to the menaces they con-
tained respecting the vices of the clergy. Rapidly
spreading from convent to convent, along the banks
of the Rhône and the Saône, Joachimism reached
Champagne, where it quickly found adherents.
It was at Provins that Salimbene met with
Bartholomew Ghiscolo, of Parma, and Gérard de
Borgo San-Donnino, the two leaders of the sect.t
As a rule, all these Joachimites were true saints,
though very independent believers, attaching to
their own ideas and to their master's writings as
much importance as to the teachings of the Church
and the authority of the Bible. -.-
· The general of the Order, John of Parma,
avowedly shared in these chimeràs ; several of-
the affiliated members ascribed to him a place
among the angelic precursors of the new Gospel ;P
'Paucas particulas de variis expositionibus abbatis
Joachim, quæ ante dies aliquot per quemdam fratrem veni-
entem de partibus transmontanis mihi sunt allatæ,' in the
'Monumenta franciscana,' published by J. S. Brewer (London,
1858), pp. 146, 147. Compare Salimbene, p. 99.
† Salimbene, pp. 101 et seq., 318.
I Ibid., pp. 124, 131-33.
§ Vide above, p. 256.
FOACHIM DI FLOR.
269
they even wanted him to have twelve companions
like St. Francis.* But the most exalted of
Joachimites was friar Gérard de Borgo San Don-
nino. He had been educated in the kingdom of
Sicily; he was still a young man, brought up in
accordance with the fashion of the time, of
amiable character, and pure manners.t As early
as 1248, we find him in the convent at Provins,
plunged in the study of Joachim's writings,
striving to secure proselytes, and already disturb-
ing the whole house with his sombre prophecies.
Ghiscolo and Salimbene took his part, but the friars
of France opposed him actively. About the year
1249 the little Joachimite community of Provins
was dissolved. Ghiscolo was sent to Sens, Salim-
bene to Autun, Gérard to Paris, to represent the
province of Sicily in the University. He studied
there four years: during that time his ideas
became still more lofty, and in 1254 he published
a book which produced a great scandal. Numerous
prophecies already pointed to 1260 as the critical
year of the Christian world. Gérard boldly pre-
dicted that the inauguration of the new era was
to take place in that year. Some misinterpreted
passages from the Apocalypse (xi. 3, xii. 6, XX. 3
and 7) were supposed to give foundation to his
strange calculations. In truth, all the dreams of
the new millenarians were derived, by an exegesis
arbitrary indeed, but in unison with the spirit of
* Salimbene, pp. 317-19.
+ Ibid., pp. 102 and fol., 233 and fol.
270 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
-
the time, from the great source of Christian hope,
the book written at Patmos.
In chapter sixteen of that mysterious book
we read: “I saw another angel fly in the midst of
heaven, having the everlasting (eternal) gospel to
preach unto them that sit upon the earth, and to
every nation and kindred and tongue and people,
(Rev. xiv. 6, authorized version). Mediæval
imagination could not ignore that text: it was
compared with the Sibylline oracles, which were
accepted by the tradition of the fathers of the
Church, and which, themselves the result of the
effervescence of the millenarian sects of antiquity,
contained lofty aspirations. The corruption of
the Church, so remote from the predictions of
the Gospel, compelled the conception of some
imaginary state in which the perfection so often
promised would at last be realized.
'The Father reigned 4000 years in the Old Testament,
said the preachers of the new faith ;* the Son reigned down
to the year 1200; then it was that the spirit of life departed
from the two Testaments to establish the Eternal Gospel; the
year 1260 shall witness the beginning of the era of the Holy
Ghost. The reign of the laity, corresponding with that of
the Father, lasted as long as the ancient law; the reign of
the secular clergy, corresponding with that of the Son, co-
D'Argentré, op. cit., p. 163 and fol. D'Argentré omitted
the following passage : 'Item in iii. capitulo, circa medium,
dicitur : “ Opera quæ fecit Deus trinitas ab initio usque nunc
sunt opera Patris" (MS. 1706 reads. Trinitatis ) « tantum,"
et post pauca : “ Et illud tempus in quod operatus est Deus
Pater est principium temporis Patris, et potest dici primus
status mundi, etc.")
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
271
existed with the new law; in the third age an order shall
reign composed in equal numbers of laymen and clerics," and
specially dedicated to the Holy Ghost. New sacerdotal
rules shall take the place of the old ones ; no one will then be
allowed to teach or become a priest without going barefoot.†.
The sacraments of the new law have but six years longer
to last. I
Jesus Christ and His apostles did not attain their perfec-
tion in a contemplative life. An active life used to confer
sanctity until Joachim's time; now active life has become
useless; it is contemplative life, whose rule is observed by
the successors of Joachim, which justifies. Hence it follows
that the clerical order shall perish, and its place shall be
taken by a third order more perfect, that of the monks,
announced by the Psalmist, where he says : “ Capital ropes
have been assigned to me." $ That order shall become strong
when the clerical order shall decay. It shall be the order
of the humble.|In the first age of the world, the direction
of the Church was entrusted by the Father to certain great
men who were married, and it is this which gives sanction to
that class. In the second age of the world, power was con-
.
© This was one of the peculiarities of the Order of St.
Francis, which admitted laymen in its brotherhood.
† D'Argentré printed, in mistake, independentiun instead
of nudipedum. He left out the indication of the censured
passages, five in number. We read in the fourth document:
Quod nullus est simpliciter idoneus, etc., nisi illi qui nudis
pedibus incedunt.' D'Argentré puts here 'idoneus Evan-
gelio.' Nicolas Eymeric has : 'Quod nullus simplex homo
est idoneus ad instruendum hominem alium de spiritualibus
et æternis, nisi ....
#Quod sacramenta novæ legis non durabunt a modo nisi
per sex annos.'--Preger, p. 36.
: $ I need not point out to Hebrew scholars the curious
misinterpretation here.
ll'Ordo parvulorum,' an allusion to the name of the Fratres
Minores. Cf. Salimbene, p. 122.
272 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
ferred by the Son on certain members of the clerical order,
and this makes the glory of that order. In the third age, the
Holy Ghost shall cause one or more of the order of monks to
reign, and that order shall thus be glorified. When the
preachers of that order shall be persecuted by the clergy,
they may go to the infidels, and it is to be feared,' it is added,
that they will go among them only in order to lead them to
battle against the Roman Church.
'Discernment of the spiritual meaning of the Scriptures
has not been bestowed on the pope ; he can only discern the
literal meaning. If he ventures to decide upon the spiritual
meaning, his judgment is rash, and no account should be
taken of it. Spiritual men are not called upon to obey the
Roman Church, or to acquiesce in its judgment concerning
spiritual things.
"The Greeks have done well to sever the ties which bound
them to the Roman Church ; they follow the dictates of the
spirit more closely than the Latins, and are nearer to salva-
tion.† The Holy Ghost saves the Greeks, the Son redeems
the Latins, the eternal Father watches over the Jews, and
will save them from the hatred of men, without ordaining
that they shall forsake Judaism. I
"The Old Testament, the work of the time when the
Father reigned, may be compared to the newly-created sky,
or to the light of stars; the New Testament, the work of the
time when the Son reigned, may be compared to the second
heaven, or to the rays of the moon; the “ Eternal Gospel,"
the work of the time when the Holy Ghost shall reign, may be
compared to the radiance of the sun. The Old Testament
9. Quod prædicatores et doctores religiosi, quando infesta-
buntur a clericis, transibant ad infideles ; et timendum est ne
ad hoc transeunt ut congreyent eos in prælium contra roma-
nam ecclesiam, juxta doctrinam beati Joannis, Apoc., xvi.
* Quod papa græcus' (Nicolas Eymeric, “populus græcus )
'magis ambulat secundum Evangelium'(Meyenberg, ‘Spirit-
um'). The Magdeburg centuriators have also,' Papa græcus.'
I D'Argentré, p. 165; instead of infime, read in fine.
§ D'Argentré makes another mistake in this passage. We
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
273
represents the vestibule ;the New Testament represents
the holy place; the “ Eternal Gospel” represents the holy of
holies. The first was the age of law and fear ; the second,
the age of grace and faith ; the third will be the age of love.
The first was the period of slavery ; the second the period of
filial servitude; the third will be the period of liberty. The
first was a starry night ; the second was the dawn; the third
will be broad daylight. The first was the image of winter ;:
The first was the shell ; the second the stone; the third will
be the kernel. The first bore nettles; the second roses ; the
third will bear lilies. The first is represented by water ; the
second by wine ; the third by oil : or else, the first by
earth ; the second by water; the third by fire. Septua-
gesima represents the first ; Lent the second ; Easter joy the
third.f The Gospel of Christ is of the letter ; the Eternal .
Gospel will be of the Spirit, and will deserve to be called the.
Gospel of the Holy Ghost. Christ's Gospel has been enig-
matical, the new Gospel shall be free from parables and
images ; as St. Paul said: “We now see as in a glass darkly,
but then that is, in the third state of mankind) shall we see
face to face."I The truth of both Testaments shall be un-
veiled; the Holy Scriptures shall be divided into three parts,
the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Gospel,
must read : '.... comparat vetus Testamentum primo
coelo, Evangelium Christi secundo cælo, Evangelium
æternum tertio cælo.'
* Atrio. D’Argentré gives wrongly Sanctuario, accord-
.ing to No. 1706.
† Vide Concordance,' iv., cap. lxxxiv. I suppose many of
Gérard's interpolations found their way into this part of
Joachim's text.
I This passage is wrongly given by D'Argentré : 'Item, X.
capitulo, D, dicit quod tertius status mundi, qui est proprius
Spiritus Sancti, erit sine aenigniate et sine figuris ; unde,
circa medium ejusdem capituli, ponit hæc verba : “Apos-
tolus, 1 Cor. xiii., loquens de fide et caritate, distinguendo
18
274 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
this last word meaning the “Eternal Gospel." The latter.
shall be as binding for the men of the third state, as the Old
Testament was for the men of the first state, or the New
Testament for the men of the second state,-although this
truth, it is added, 'may displease the men of the present
generation.'
"Three great men presided over the inauguration of the
Old Testament: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the latter at-
tended by twelve persons (the twelve patriarchs). Three
great men presided over the advent of the New Testament :
Zachariah, John the Baptist, and Christ, followed by his
twelve Apostles. In like manner, three great men shall
preside over the foundation of the third state, which will be
that of the monks: the man clad in linen (Joachim), the angel
statum fidei, scilicet secundum statum mundi, qui ænigmati-
cus est, a statu caritatis, qui proprius Spiritus Sancti est et
est sine ænigmate, figuravit duorum Testamentorum [differ-
entiam], ut patet alibi, quia comparando unum ad aliud
dicit : Ex parte cognoscimus et ex parte prophetamus, et
hoc quantum ad secundum statum ; quum aute1il venerit
quod perfectum est, scilicet tempus caritatis, quod est tertius
status mundi, evacuabitur quod ex parte est, quasi dicat: Tunc
cessabunt omnes figuræ, et veritas duorum Testamentorum
sine velamine apparebit ; et statim subdit : Videmus nunc
per speculum," etc.'
* D'Argentré omitted nearly all this passage: 'Item,
xxviii., capitulo, A, dicit Sacram Scripturam divisam in
tres partes, scilicet in vetus Testamentum et Novum et
Evangelium, quod capitulum totum est notabile, et totum
legatur. Idem expresse habetur XXX. capitulo, ubi dicit :
“Hæc tria sacra volumina ;" et eodem capitulo, D, dicit :
“Alia est Scriptura divina quæ data est fidelibus eo tempore
quo Deus Pater dictus est operari, et alia quæ data est
christianis eo tempore quo Deus filius operari dictus est,
et alia quæ nobis data ") (D'Argentré, ‘danda ') < est eo tem-
pore quo Spiritus Sanctus proprietate mysterii operatur”.
(D'Argentré : “Mysterii Trinitatis operabitur ').
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
: 275.
carrying the sharpened scythe. (St. Dominique * ?), and the
angel bearing the sign of the living God (St. Francis), by
whom God renewed apostolic life, and who, like Christ, had
twelve apostles. The year 1200 has thus been that of the
advent of new men, the year in which the Gospel of Christ
lost its pre-eminence.
'Joachim's doctrine supersedes both Testaments. Christ's
Gospel has not been the true gospel of the kingdom ; it has not
succeeded in building the true Church ;t it has never led any-
one to perfection.I Now will begin the reign of the “ Eternal
Gospel,” which, announced by the advent of Elias, is about
to be preached to all nations. The preachers of that new
Gospel shall be superior to those of the primitive Church.
As the solemn day shall draw near, those who preside over the
Order of Monks must withdraw themselves more and more
from the world, and prepare to rejoin the Jews, the ancient
people. The triumph of the Order of the Monks, it is
men who shall be its representatives, and whose glory shall
be that of the Order itself. A man shall appear among
religious orders who shall be preferred to all others in
honours and glory. This triumph shall be preceded by the
reign of abomination, that is, the reign of a simoniacal false
of the sixth age of the world. “This tribulation,” said Friar
Gérard, “will be such as nothing ever approached before,
and it shall affect temporal as well as spiritual things. It
shall come to pass about the year 1260. Then shall Anti-
Christ appear, and, after a short interval of peace, a still
© This interpretation is not given in the manuscripts, no
doubt because the Dominican censors would not have been
pleased to see the name of their patriarch mixed up with
these dangerous doctrines.
+ Nec ædificatorium ecclesiæ,' and not 'Nec ædifi-
catio,' as D'Argentré has it.
I Quod Evangelium Christi neminem ducit ad perfec-
tionem,' omitted by D'Argentré.
18-2
276 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
-- *
*
Hotelinis tire
r-
worse tribulation shall begin. This will be only spiritual,
and consequently more dangerous.”'
The foregoing passages were followed by calcu-
lations borrowed from Joachim, and relating to
the genealogies of the Old Testament considered
as prophetic,* and by a series of predictions in
which the author freely vented his hatred against
the Church of Rome and the powers of the time.
All the prophets were summoned to announce the
imminent substitution of a poor and monastic
clergy for the official Church, the early coming of
Antichrist, and the-abomination of desolation
sitting in the holy place; that is, the advent of a
worldly pope, who would bring into churches his
minions and his horses—in short, the imminent
ruin of that proud Babylon which gorged herself
with the tributes of the whole world, and perse-
cuted just men when they rebuked her for her
impieties. It was reported that Joachim, when
questioned by Richard Cour de Lion about Anti-
christ, replied that he was already born in Rome,
and that he would reign there, in order, as says
the Apostle, to raise himself higher even than
God.t Others asserted that Joachim disapproved
Primus est error enumerandi carnales genealogias,' and
not annales,' as D'Argentré has it. We must then read
as follows: 'Secundus est studium noscendi momenta et
tempora eorum quæ venient vel venerunt in secundo statu
mundi per ea quæ venerunt in primo statu mundi...!
of Roger de Hoveden, apud Savile, ‘Rer. angl. script.,'
pp. 681-82. A similar reply is reported to have been made
by Joachim to Adam de Perseigne. Vide 'Acta SS. Maii,'
+
-
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
277
of the Crusades, because even infidels were less
opposed to the 'Eternal Gospel'than the Latins.*
Whenever people expressed irritation at these
sayings, he is said to have retorted: “Those
who hate the kingdom of heaven do not wish the
kingdom of the world to perish; those who do
not love Jerusalem do not desire the downfall of
Egypt.'+ The strongest images in the Scriptures
were invoked to depict the chastisement of mer-
cenary prelates and the vengeance of the saints.
The abuses of the wealth and the temporal power
of the Church were attacked with a virulence
scarcely known to the most passionate period of
the Reformation.
Such were the strange visions which agitated a
few monks, and which, in 1254, dared to show
themselves in open day. I do not know if I
mistake the real bearing of these productions;
but, considering the persistence with which, under
one form or another, such ideas broke forth for
more than a century, always from within the
Franciscan community ; seeing how closely they
were connected with the heresies, the popular out-
breaks, the political revolutions of the time; con-
sidering that ardent enthusiasts used to declare

YA
vol. vii., pp. 138-39; Haméau, 'Histoire littéraire du Maine,
i., pp. 29-33.
J. Wolf, ' Centenarii,' p. 197. It is remarkable that in
1248 the Joachimites displayed little satisfaction at St.
Louis's departure for the Crusade.-Salimbene, p. 102.
Salimbene, p. 103.
278 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
openly that the schismatical Greeks, the Jews,
the infidels themselves, among whom they hoped
to meet with less opposition, were better than
the Latin Church over which they despaired of
triumphing, I do not think there is any exaggera-
tion in saying that they contained the germs of
an abortive attempt to create a religion. A little
more, and the thirteenth century, so extraordinary
in many respects, might have witnessed the rise
of a new religion, of which the Order of St.
Francis contained the germ. Had the fanatics
of the new Order been able to achieve their end,
the world would have become Franciscan instead
of Christian.* We shall now see how the attempt
was crushed under the scholastic rigour of the
Gallican Church, the firmness of the Court of
Rome, the common-sense of a lay society which
had just come to life, and above all the impractica-
bility of its own schemes. Paris, where the new
gospel elected to be born, was, of all places in the
world, least favourable to its progress. Those
dreams of perfection, those vague aspirations
towards an ideal and superhuman state, broke
down before the practical turn of the French mind.
• Such was certainly the opinion of Guillaume de Saint-
Amour : Jam sunt 55 anni quod aliqui laborant ad mutan-
dum Evangelium Christi in aliud Evangelium, quod dicunt
fore perfectius, melius et dignius, quod appellant Evangelium
Spiritus Sancti, sive Evangelium æternum, quo adveniente,
evacuabitur, ut dicunt, Evangelium Christi.'-'De periculis
novissimorum temporum,' p. 38. (Opera, Constantiæ [Pari-
siis], 1632.)
.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
279
It is surprising with what clearness the chief re-
presentatives of the Paris University of that time,
staunch adversaries of religious mendicity-Guil-
laume de Saint-Amour and Gérard d'Abbeville-
foresaw the social bearing of the new monastic
institutions.* Churchmen who did not share
the exaggerated views of the Franciscans, and
especially the Dominicans, who were their most
steadfast adversaries,t might well complain of the
affectation of confounding the doctrine of con-
ventual poverty with that of the 'Eternal Gospel.'
St. Thomas Aquinas condemned the ideas of the
Joachimite school almost as severely as Guillaume
de Saint-Amour; and Guillaume de Tocco, his
biographer, relates that, having found in a monas-
tery the works of the Abbot of Flor, he read them
through, underlined all that he considered erro-
neous, and imperiously ordered that all that his in-
fallible authority had thus cancelled should be
neither read nor believed. I
No doubt in the heat of the struggle, at a time
when every weapon was good with which one's
adversaries might be attacked, the University
looked upon the ' Eternal Gospel' as a fair pretext
1
Vide M. Daunou's article on John of Parnia ( Hist.
littéraire de la France,' vol. xx.), and especially that of M.
Victor Le Clerc on Guillaume de Saint-Amour and Gérard
d'Abbeville (Ibid., vol. xxi.).
† Salimbene, pp. 104-108.
I 'Ubi aliquid erroneum reperit vel suspectuni, cum linea
subducta damnavit, quia totum legi et credi prohibuit quod
ipse sua docta manu cassavit.'-'Acta SS. Martii,' vol. i., p. 667.
280 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
for casting a slur upon the monks, just as they
themselves used to reproach the University with
Averroïsm and the blasphemy of the Trois Impos-
teurs. Religious disputants seldom refrain from
the disloyal practice of employing against a doc-
trine the exaggerations of which it may be capable.
This time, however, the calumny was not without
foundation. The abuse of logic, and the autho-
rity ascribed to Arabic comments, gave a certain
colour to the accusations against the University.
Between the 'Eternal Gospel' and the doctrine
of religious poverty there existed, on the other
hand, a real affinity, which the doctors of the
University promptly detected. Mendicity had
become the pretext for the strangest doctrines.
Guillaume de Saint-Amour was constantly lectur-
ing against the truands,' the bons-valets,' and
other sects of mendicants, who used to say that
'manual labour is a crime; that we should always
pray; that the earth becomes more fruitful by
prayer than by work. The Bishop of Paris,
wishing to give the University the satisfaction of
seeing a monk convicted of the gravest errors,
referred the “Introduction to the Gospel' to Pope
Alexander IV., who appointed the commission
of three cardinals, which we have already seen
at work. In the month of July, 1255, was pro-
nounced the judgment, whose preliminary reports
are still preserved.
This was a satisfaction given to the University
by the papacy, faithful to its rule of sacrificing
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
281
extremes to each other, but, out of consideration
for the Order at which that sentence seemed to
strike, the pope gave instructions that the con-
demned book should be secretly burnt at Anagni,
whereas the sentence pronounced in the following
year against the ' De periculis novissimorum tem-
porum' of Guillaume de Saint-Amour was carried
out with the greatest publicity.* The worthy
Gallican Church was none the less proud of having
stopped the advance of an erroneous doctrine,
and preserved Christianity from a great danger.
The artless satisfaction of the University in its
victory is shown in the following bad verses, by
Jean de Meung, the University, poet :
‘Et se ne fut la bonne garde
De l'Université qui garde
Le Chief de la Crestienté,
Tout eust été bien tourmenté
Quand, par maulvaise intention,
En l'an de l'Incarnation
Mille et deux cents cinq et cinquante,
N'est homs vivant qui m'en démente,
Fu baillé, et c'est chose voire,
Pour prendre commun exemploire
Ung livre de par le grant diable
Dit l'Évangile pardurable,
Que le Saint Esperit menistre
Si com il aparoit au tistre ...
. * Matthieu Paris, loc. cit. Fabricius points out that the
sentence condemning the ‘Everlasting Gospel' is not even
mentioned in the Bullary, whereas the verdict concerning
the 'De Periculis' is reported fully in it (“Codex apocryphus
N. T., 2nd edition, vol. i., pp. 337-38).
282 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
A Paris, n'eut home ne feme
Au parvis devant Nostre-Dame
Qui lors avoir ne le péust
A transcrire, s'il li pléust ..
L'Université, qui lors ière
Endormie, leva la chière,
Du bruit du livre s'esveilla,
Ains s’arma pour aller encontre,
Quand el vit cet horrible monstre ...
Mais cil qui là le livre mirent
Saillirent sus et le reprirent. . . .
The blow dealt at the Gospel' could not fail to
reach the apostles of the new doctrine. Though
John of Parma had the wisdom to keep in the
background, and to avoid the exaggerations of his
own partisans, his zeal for the observance of the
rule, his severity towards lukewarm members,
created for him numerous enemies, who seized
that opportunity for his overthrow. A general
chapter, held at the Ara Cæli in February, 1257,
raised the gravest charges against him; they
accused him of preferring Joachim's doctrine to
the Catholic faith, and of numbering among his
intimate friends Léonard and Gérard, both of
them declared Joachimists. He was compelled to
resign the generalship. An intermediate party was
formed between the lax portion of the Order and
the rigorists : orthodoxy and a decorous mysticism
carried the day in the person of St. Bonaventura.
• Vide 'Roman de la Rose,' line 11994 and. fol.,_of
Méon's edition. Also‘Historiens de la France, vol. xxi., pp.
"78; 119-20, 698, 768 ; P. Paris, ' Chronique de Saint Denis,'
vol. iv., p. 374 ; 'Ancilloniana,' 1698, i., pp. 117-18.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
283
The first step of the new general was to bring
to trial his predecessor and his two associates,
Léonard and Gérard. These two monks were
sentenced to be put in irons, and to eat the bread of
tribulation and drink the water of anguish; that is
to say, to all the horrors of a subterranean prison,
in which no one was allowed to visit them.
Gérard died there without ever renouncing his
hopes.* He was refused the rites of the Church;
his bones were interred in the part of the garden
used as an ashpit.
· As to John, the sympathies which his noble
character had won for him and the personal friend-
ship of the new general softened his fall. He was
allowed to choose his retreat, and fixed upon the
small convent of Greccia, near Rieti. There he
lived for thirty-two years in complete seclusion.
He maintained his Joachimite opinions undis-
turbed. Two popes even thought, it is said, of
making him a cardinal; the highest personages
of the court of Rome were eager to be taught by
him.t Towards 1289 he re-entered active life for
a short time; his intention was to return to the
Greeks, for whose reconciliation with the Church
of Rome he had laboured in his youth. He fell
ill at Camerino, where he died. His legend began
Salimbene, pp. 102, 133, 233. According to another
version, Gérard was set free by St. Bonaventura eighteen
years afterwards, and Léonard died in prison. Fleury's
· Hist. eccles.,' book lxxxiv., No. 27. Salimbene does not
mention Léonard's fate.
† Salimbene, pp. 131, 133, 317.
-
284 NEW T
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
JUL
in his lifetime; it was modelled, point by point,
on that of St. Francis of Assisi.* Miracles were
worked at his tomb; his party was even powerful
enough to obtain his canonization.
His Joachimite friends, with the exception of
Gérard, all ended their lives as saints. On his
deathbed, Ghiscolo had such wonderful visions
that all the brothers who were present marvelled.t
The good Salimbene continued to lead the un-
fettered life of a spiritual vagabond, sometimes
lamenting the errors of his youth and deploring
the injury done to the Order by John and Gérard,
sometimes avowing with a certain pleasure that
he himself had been a Joachimite, and that he
never before or since knew such pious and amiable
men. I The heroes of this singular movement
being all very young, the expression “Eternal
Gospel' died out long before them. Since 1256
it has disappeared from history, in which it only
figured for a year or two. Its fate was like that of
some ephemeral party banner, raised in a critical
epoch to represent for a moment a cause destined
to take very different forms in the future.
Salimbene, pp. 137-38. As regards the twelve com-
panions, see pp. 317-19. See also the 'Vie de Sainte Douce-
line,' p. 136 and fol. (edition Albanès).
† Salimbene, pp. 101, 318.
# Ibid., pp. 102, 103, 122, 129, 130, 131, 141, 148, 227,
233, 235, 236.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
285
VII.
THE CHEQUERED FORTUNES OF THE DOCTRINE
OF THE 'ETERNAL GOSPEL.”
At the present time nearly all the world is agreed
as to the great divisions of the intellectual history
of the Middle Ages. Far from casting a uniform
shadow, as people often fancy it did, the long
night which extends from the downfall of antique
civilization to the birth of modern civilization
displays to an attentive eye the clear lines of an
intelligible design. The night really only lasted
until the eleventh century. Then came a re-
naissance in philosophy, in poetry, in politics,
in art. This renaissance, which dawned in
France, culminated in the first half of the thir-
teenth century, and then stopped. Fanaticism, the
narrow spirit of scholasticism, the atrocities of the
Dominican inquisition, the pedantry of the Uni-
versity of Paris, the incapacity of most contem-
porary sovereigns, brought about a complete de-
cadence. In all Europe, except Italy, the four-
teenth and fifteenth centuries were stagnant
periods, during which thought existed no longer,
literature was dead, art was dying, and poetry
was mute. New fire, however, smouldered in the
bosom of Italy. The real renaissance was being
prepared ; Italy did a second time for mankind
what Greece had done the first time; she re-
established the laws of truth and beauty; she
V
286 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
became mistress in all arts and sciences, the
teacher of the human race,
There is no great age without its great religious
movement. The renaissance of the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries had its attempts at reform.
It surprises those who closely study mediæval
history that Protestantism did not arise three
centuries earlier. All the causes of a religious
revolution existed in the thirteenth century, but all
were suppressed. There happened in the thir-
teenth century what might have happened in the
sixteenth if Luther had been burnt, if Charles V.
had exterminated the Protestants, if the Inqui-
sition had succeeded throughout Europe as it
succeeded in Spain and Italy. Aspirations towards
--a spiritual church and a purer worship arose on all
sides. The ' Eternal Gospel' was only one among
many other attempts to substitute a new religious
and social order for that founded on the authority
of the Established Church.
Just as the Italian renaissance felt the influence
of the Greek world, so, in many respects, the
religious movements of the thirteenth century had
their origin in the Eastern Church. I have no
doubt that the ' Eternal Gospel' may be traced to
the Greek Church. Throughout the whole of his
career Abbot Joachim was in close intercourse
with Greece. Calabria, where he lived, and where
his school handed down an almost unbroken
tradition, was half Greek. His chief disciples,
the writers of his legend, the prophetic personages
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
· 287
with whom he was connected, were all Greeks. *
He himself visited Greece many times, in order, as
the saying then was, to promote the reunion of the
two Churches. This reconciliation was the chief
object of all his followers. John of Parma spent
several years with the Greeks, and at the close of
his life wished to go and die amongst them.t All
the school of the 'Eternal Gospel,' from Joachim
to Telesphorus of Cosenza, at the end of the
fourteenth century, proclaimed with one voice that
the Eastern Church was superior to the Latin
Church; that it was better prepared for the
reformation about to take place, and that, with
the aid of the Greeks, reform would triumph in
the worldly Church of the Latins-reform which
would only be a return to the Spiritual Church
of the Greeks. Greece was the refuge of the
fraticelli expelled from Italy by Pope Boniface VIII.
At that time Greece appears to have been the
promised land of all reformers. “Perhaps,' says
Fleury, 'they had been struck by some edifying
remains of ancient discipline which they saw there
-especially with the frugality and poverty of the
bishops, so different from the pomp and grandeur
of the Latin bishops of that time.' I
When we remember that Greece was the hot-
bed of Catharism, § whose doctrines were obviously
Acta SS. Maii,' vol. vii., p. 91, etc.
† Salimbene, pp. 148-49, 297, 319.
I'Hist. eccl.,' i., lxxxiv., No. 35.
§ Vide the 'Histoire des Cathares ou Albigeois,' by M. C.
Schmidt, of Strasburg (Geneva, 1848).
TT
288 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
analogous with those of the 'Eternal Gospel ;'
when we see also the school of the “Eternal
Gospel' following a path similar to that of
Catharism, and almost identified with that sect,
we are induced to look upon the former as an off-
shoot of the latter, formed not by direct affiliation,
but by secret influences. Catharism appears thus
to have penetrated to the West by two routes, and
to have given rise in the Middle Ages to two
parallel heresies, whose results were almost iden-
tical, which were confounded with each other by
public opinion, and whose progress was checked
by the same means. These affinities become still
more striking when we see contemporary authors
ascribing to Amauri de Bène, in the early part of
the thirteenth century, doctrines similar to those of
the ' Eternal Gospel.* Amauri's doctrines them-
selves had the closest analogy with those of the
Orleans heretics of 1022; which latter M. Schmidt
does not hesitate to connect with the Catharist
Church.t
Be this as it may, we cannot doubt that such
attempts at reform sprang from a deep-rooted need,
*Cf. J. M. Meyenberg, ‘De pseudo-Evangelio æterno,
$$ 2 and 3. St. Antonine ascribes to Amauri doctrines so
identical with those of the 'Eternal Gospel,' that we are to
suppose that he speaks of him not from direct knowledge, but
by inference merely, and according to what was the recog-
nised type of all sects imbued with Catharism and mysticism,
t 'Histoire des Cathares,' vol. i., p. 28; vol. ii., pp. 151,
287. See Dom Bouquet, vol. X., pp. 35, 536, etc.;' Cartulaire
de St. Père de Chartres, vol. i., p. 100 and fol., and the
introduction by M. Guérard, p. 219 and fol.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
289
Even after their condemnation, Joachimite ideas
existed for nearly a century. They were chiefly
active in the South of France, where the writings
of the sect were industriously copied and circu-
lated.* In 1260, a council, assembled at Arles
by that same Florent who promoted the Anagni
Commission, expressly condemned the partisans
of the Joachimite ternaries and those who pro-
claimed the approaching advent of the Holy
Ghost, the reign of the monks, and the abolition
of images, parables, and sacraments. That same
year, so long announced as fatal, saw, indeed,
many novelties, such as the follies of Gérard
Ségarelle and his apostles, and the first epidemics
of the flagellants.f Never before had there been
such a deluge of prophecies of all kinds, or so
many mendicant sects.Ş Guillaume de Saint-
Amour's last work, which dates from the same year,
that book · De Antichristo,' which so strangely
bore the anagram of Nicolas Oresmé,ll is almost
0 Præsertim quum in partibus provinciarum quibus licet
immeriti in parte præsidemus, jam plurimos etiam litteratos
hujusmodi phantasiis intellexerimus eatenus occupatos et il-
lectos ut plurima super iis commentaria facta descripserint, et,
de manu ad manum dando circumferentes, ad externos trans-
fuderint nationes.'-Council of Arles in 1260, in Labbe's work,
vol. xiv., col. 242.
of Salimbene, 123, 124, 228, 240 ; D'Argentré, 'Coll. Jud.,'i.,
367; ' Hist. litt. de la France,' vol. xxi., p. 477. See the passage
published by M. Boutaric in the 'Notices et Extraits,' vol.
XX., 2nd part, pp. 235-37.
# Salimbene, pp. 234, 235, 265 and fol., 284, 303, 308 and fol.
§ Ibid., pp. 109-124, 241, 242, 262, 330, 331, 371, 372, etc.
| Vide, in this respect, M. V. Le Clerc's discussion (' Hist.
19
· 290 NEW STUDIES IN RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
.
entirely devoted to the refutation of Joachimite
errors, against which, a few years before, the
energetic defender of the University had carried
on such a lively contest. Everyone was thinking
of the future of the Church and its coming trials.
Some,' says Guillaume, like Abbot Joachim,
predict a peaceful era, opening with the advent of
the Holy Ghost, and the appearance of a third
Testament, during which men will be exclusively
spiritual. Others, struck with the decrease of
charity, and the evils multiplying in the Church,
announce for the last days inspired preachers who
will revive faith. Others again, promising peace
and prosperity to the Church, assert that its old
age shall last long, and be as vigorous as any
former period. The inflexible Rector of the
University refuses all these consolatory hypotheses:
he devotes his book to expounding the sombre
theories of the Antichrist, the horrors of the last
tribulation, the flood of errors which shall precede
the Judgment. The great interregnum of the
Roman empire, the arrival of false missionaries
(the mendicants), who invade the field of the
true pastors, the blindness and cowardice of the
prelates, the change in the office of the preachers,
the false security in which the Church sleeps, the
cessation of miracles, the progress of infidelity,
the cooling down of charity, and especially the
announcement of a new law which is to supersede
litt. de la France., vol. xxi., p. 470 and fol.). Guillaume's work
may be read in Martène and Durand's 'Amplissima Collec-
tio,' vol. ix., col. 1,273 and fol.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
291
the Gospel,_all these appear to Guillaume sure
signs of an approaching catastrophe. In connec-
tion with this he denounces with great force
Joachim and his disciples, those ministers not of
the Holy Ghost, but of the Antichrist, who dare
to say that Mane Thekel Phares has already been
written on the walls of the Church, that the
Christian sacraments are dying out, that the
Holy Ghost is still to come. Did not Joachim
predict that about twelve hundred years after
Christ's incarnation, a new chief, the pontiff of
the new Jerusalem, that is of the Church in its third
state, would arise in Babylon ? More than sixty
years have elapsed since that prophecy, and nothing
has happened.* He is, therefore, a false prophet:
I should abandon the plan I have laid down
were I to attempt to follow the influence of the
• Eternal Gospel' through the second half of the
thirteenth century and the first half of the four-
teenth. If we were writing that history, we
should show the Franciscan and Joachimite ideas
inspiring numbers of enthusiasts for more than a
century; we should almost witness its triumph
when the papacy fell into the feeble hands of
Col. 1333-84. In the 'De periculis novissimorum tem-
porum,' p. 38, Guillaume, expressing a similar thought, says
fifty-five years, which puts the composition of the 'De
Antichristo' about five years after that of the ' De periculis.'
† One of the most curious works written under the influ-
ence of Joachim's philosophy is the treatise on Christian sym-
bolics, composed by Jacques de Carreto, and contained in
No. 124 of the St. Germain collection. I would point out
this singular work to some young paleographer.
19-2
292 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Peter Celestine; we should see Boniface VIII.,
the strong successor of that pious and incapable
old man, energetically rescinding the concessions
of his predecessor, and the hatred of the fraticelli
inspiring the bitter satires of Frà Jacopone and
powerfully contributing to the reputation which this
pontiff left behind him.* About the same time, a
fanatic monk, Pierre-Jean d'Olive, takes up, in
the south of France, the most subversive doc-
trines of Gérard de San-Donnino,t pretending
that the millennium is at hand, and that it will
consist in the literal observance of the rule of
St. Francis; that, just as Christ's crucifixion
opened a new era, so the moment of St. Francis's
stigmatization put an end to the worldly Church
and marked the beginning of an age in which
evangelical life shall be thoroughly practised ; that
the virtues and labours of the Minorites will con-
vert the infidels, the Jews, and the Greek Church,
destined to prevail over the Church of the Latins;
Vide Dom Luigi Tosti's 'Storia di Bonifazio VIII.,' i.,
pp. 183 and fol., 188 and fol. The Joachimite prophecies
respecting this pope are overflowing with hatred : 'Ecce
l'huomo della progenie di Scarioto ... Neronicamente reg-
nando, tu morirai sconsolato . . . Perchè tanto desideri il
babilonico principato ? ...
† Gui de Perpignan, in his ‘Summa de hæresibus,' ex-
pressly identifies Joachim's errors with those of Pierre-Jean.
See the pieces published by Father Jeiler in the Historisches
Jahrbuch der Görres-Gesellschaft,' iii., pp. 648-59, and by
Father Zigliara in his. ' De mente concilii Viennensis in
definiendo dogmate unionis animæ humanæ cum corpore'
(Rome, 1878), p. 106 and fol. Compare 'Zeitschrift für
Kirchengeschichte,' vol. vi. (1883), pp. 132-33.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
293
1
that therule of St. Francis being the truly evangelical
law, it is not surprising that it should be persecuted
by the carnal Church, as the Gospel was by the
Synagogue; that, to fill up the measure of its
crimes, the carnal Church must condemn the rule
of St. Francis ; that then the new law, better re-
ceived by the Greeks, the Jews, the Saracens, and
the Tartars, than by the Latins, shall return with
those auxiliaries to crush Rome, who would not
accept it; that that Church, commonly called
universal, catholic, and militant, is the impure
Babylon, the great harlot, given up to simony, to
pride, to all vices, finally to hell, just as the
haughty Vashti was repudiated, and the humble
Esther crowned. The carnal Church shall then
be burnt up by the hatred it has vowed against
the doctrine of saints.
We should see round Pierre-Jean d'Olive a
group of men filled with ardent zeal, preaching
more emphatically than ever the reform of the
world by poverty, and being alternately canonized
and anathematized, according as the admiration
excited by their noble character or the horror in-
spired by their temerity preponderated; by some
called heretics, by others saints who wrought
miracles. Bernard Délicieux, the sworn enemy
of the Inquisition, was an ardent Joachimite. *
The same pretensions put forward by Ubertin de
Casal, Frà Dolcino, Michel de Césène, acquire
special political and social importance from the
Hauréau, ‘Bernard Délicieux' (Paris, 1877), pp. 151-55.

294 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
.
-
-
*
1-
. .
n
alliance of the fanatical portion of the Order of
St. Francis with Louis of Bavaria. Once more
we should see the question of poverty dividing
the Christian world, lighting up fires, creating an
anti-pope; we should see a general of the
Minorites, Michel de Céséne,* taking the part of
Franciscan ideas against popery, and seeking
outside the Church support against that Church
which condemned him. We should see in the
third Order of St. Francis the chief nursery of
those sects, half religious and half secular, whose
ambition alarmed the Church and society : Bé-
guins and Béguines, Fratricelles, Frerots, Bizoques
(Binzocchieri, Frères bis, Bizets), Barbozati,
Frères pyes, Frères agaches, Sack-friars, Friars
of the 'pauvre vie,' Flagellants, Lollards, Apos-
tolical Friars, Apostles even (for they went so far
as to take that name), with whose appearance
corresponds that of several apocryphal Messiahs,
or so-called incarnations of the Holy Ghost, such
as Gonzalve of Cuença.t
We cannot doubt that some bold and popular
idea lay beneath those monastic exteriors, when we
have all these sectarians unanimously declaring
Michel de Céséne's doctrines were word for word those
of Joachim as interpreted by John of Parma and Gérard de
San-Donnino. Vide Baluze's 'Miscell.,' vol. i., p. 272 and fol.
+ Cf. ‘Direct. inq.,' p. 200 ; D'Argentré, i., p. 176; Fleury,
book xci., $$ 42, 59, 60 ; xcvi., S 36 ; Tosti, op. cit., i. p. 185
and fol. ; Schmidt, 'Histoire des Cathares,' passim ; and
above all, Gui de Perpignan’s ‘Summa de hæresibus' (Paris,
1528, folio).
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
295
that they only acknowledge God; that they are
not subject to any obedience; that they imitate
the life of Christ and his Apostles ; and that all
the authority of the Roman Church-that Church
doomed because of the wickedness of its cardinals
and prelates—is to pass into the hands of the
people.* In the Middle Ages, conventual gar-
ments were often only a safeguard, a guarantee
of inviolability, often, also, a pretext for vaga-
bondage, as is seen from the innumerable decrees
of provincial councils against monks and vagrant
scholars, who unlawfully wore the religious habit.
The habit of St. Francis, closely resembling
that of a beggar, was used in Italy and in the
south of France to cover dangerous popular asso-
ciations, such as those who condemned all
work, elevated mendicancy into a duty, de-
clared that perfection would consist in going
wholly unclad, and uttered passionate invectives
against wealthy and worldly men. There were
others who asserted that they alone had the right
to invoke the Holy Ghost by the laying on of
hands; that outside their Order none could be
saved ; that the prelates of the carnal Church
were only deserving of contempt; that the popes,
since the days of St. Sylvester, had all been
seducers, with the sole exception of Peter Celes-
tine; that no excommunication could reach them,
since St. Francis's rule was superior to the pope
and the Church. Taken as a whole, the Order of
Direct. inq.,' p. 201 and fol.
296 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
St. Francis had doubtless the right to repudiate
any responsibility for such extravagances; yet
the belief in a certain degree of relationship be-
tween the various communities of religious mendi-
cants was based upon a real foundation. In the
same way the Catharists, from the length of their
robes and their austerity, were often confused with
the friars of the third Order, under the names of
'Bonshommes’ and · Cagots.' If we glance at
the records of the Toulouse and Carcassonne
Inquisition,* we are rather surprised to find that
all who were condemned by that redoubtable
tribunal were friars of the third Order, or Bé-
guins. Outward appearances, and often indica-
tions slighter still, were evidence enough for
those inquisitors, who sent to the stake unfor-
tunate wretches suspected of Catharism, merely
because of their pale complexions : « Audierat
enim eos solo pallore notare hæreticos, quasi quos
pallere constaret, hæreticos esse certum esset.'t.
0 Ph. de Limborch, “Hist. Inquis., cui subjungitur liber
Sententiarum Inquis. Tolosanæ ab anno 1307 ad 1323'
(Amstelodami, 1692). Baluze, ‘Miscell.,' vol. i., p. 213 and
fol. MSS. of St. Germain, Nos. 395, 396 (Acts of the Toulouse
Inquisition, from 1285 to 1304, unpublished), and several
other pieces of the Doat Collection. Compare (ancient
collection) No. 6,193. Study Bernard Délicieux's trial
(Hauréau, op. cit.). The Minerva library at Rome possesses
many similar documents. Vide chiefly the extracts from
Bernard Gui's 'Practica,' in Molinier's ' L'Inquisition dans
le Midi de la France, pp. 230, 231.
† 'Gesta episcoporum Leodiensium,' in Martène and
Durand's 'Ampliss: Collectio,' vol. iv., col. 901.
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
297
-.-
.-
Without having looked through the original
documents we have just quoted, it is impossible
to understand the importance acquired in the
south of France by such secret societies. The
corruption of the clergy provoked reactions worse
than the original evil. It is remarkable that all
the sympathies of those contemporary writers who
have really transmitted to us the echo of public
opinion, are for the Béguins and Catharists : they
are the saints, and orthodox priests, on the con-
trary, are the heretics.* The same fact is equally
noticeable in Lombardy. Milan especially had
become a centre of-hostility against the Church...
Catharism was openly professed in that city. In
1280, a Béguine named Guillelmina represented
herself as the Holy Ghost, and after her death
miracles occurred at her grave. In the complicated
struggles of those times, it is difficult to trace
with certainty the divisions of the different parties.
Alliances between extremes were not unfrequent.
We thus see the Catharists openly protected by
the Ghibellines, and the 'exalted’ Franciscan
party more than once allied with the emperor
against the pope.
But neither these deceptive coalitions, nor any of
the stratagems employed by the sectarians to mis-
lead the authorities, sufficed to protect them. The
Roman Church, aided by an order more disciplined
than that of St. Francis, ceaselessly persecuted the
popular associations which sprang from the rule
* Vide C. Schmidt's “ Histoire des Cathares, vol. 1., p. 189.
298 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
.
.
-
of Assisi. On the one hand she strove to direct
the harmless portions of those devout crowds ;
on the other, she punished seditious factions with
imprisonment and fire. Thousands of Béguins
and friars of the third Order were burned alive in
the north of Italy and the south of France, in
Flanders and in Germany, while elsewhere their
co-religionists were looked upon as saints, and
obtained the honours of popular canonization.
There are the same contradictions in the his-
torical accounts of their characters, their lives,
and their morals. In one they are represented as
idlers, delighting in vagabondage and depravity;
in another as industrious associations, working
for their livelihood, and of great purity of morals.
It is probable that, in different countries and
under different names, these societies deserved to
be differently estimated. All that they really
had in common was their dress, like that of the
religious mendicants, and that austere and
pious appearance which won the affection of the
masses, but roused the suspicions of the Church-
people, and excited the ridicule of men of the
world.
The name of heresy being applied, in the Middle
Ages, to any deviation from the rule of the Church,
could not fail to be applied to them. This must
not lead us to suppose that they always had a
secret doctrine and a settled creed. Sometimes,
no doubt, Catharist ideas, more often still those
of the Gospel of the Holy Ghost, lay hid beneath
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
299
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
---
-
the robes of the monks; but, in most cases, their
heresy consisted only in their suspicious mode ofy
living. After the middle of the fourteenth century,
these associations became only pious brother-
hoods, subject to the Church, and directed by her;
and it is thus that they still survive in Belgium,
in Italy, and in the south of France. The idea of
reform which they contained at the outset, con-
tinually opposed by the official Church, by the
universities, by secular society, was thus stifled
or limited to a small number of followers, made
powerless by the ruling spirit of their order and
of their epoch.
These aspirations towards an unknown religious
future did, however, break forth at intervals up to
- -
-
-
beyond it. The deplorable spectacle presented
by the papacy at the close of the fourteenth and
towards the beginning of the fifteenth centuries i
again stirred religious feeling. In his severity
against the high clergy and his Christian boldness,
the prophet of Avignon, John de Rochetaillade,
emulates Joachim himself.* A hermit of Calabria,
Telesphorus, or Theolosphorus, of Cosenza, en-
deavoured to revive the authority of the name of
his fellow-countryman, Joachim.t On Easter
* D'Argentré's Coll. jud.,' i., pp. 374-76; Fleury, book
xcvi., S 33.
t'Acta SS. Maii,' vol. vii., pp. 139, 140. Mayenberg, 'De
pseudo-Evangelio æterno,' p. 21 and fol. “Histoire littéraire
de la France,' vol. xxv., p. 257. Laporte du Theil's ' Extraits,'
300 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
morning, in the year 1386, as he was weeping
over the great schism and the decline of the
Church, an angel appeared to him and ordered
him to read the prophecies of Cyrillus and
Joachim, informing him that he would find the
present misfortunes and the end ordained by God
predicted in them. Telesphorus hastened to
collect Joachim's prophecies, which he found
scattered over the monasteries of Calabria, and
wrote a book applying them to his century. He
tried to prove, by means of those mysterious
oracles, that the Romish Church was on the eve
of being exterminated by the Greeks, the Sara-
cens, and the Tartars, instruments of the divine
wrath, who would purify it by depriving it of the
temporal goods which had corrupted it; that,
instead of the false pontiff, there would appear an
angelic pastor, who, combining his power with
that of the emperor, would spread the 'Eternal
Gospel' throughout the earth.* Then would
come the reign of the Holy Ghost, an age of bliss
and perfection, during which the schisms and
scandals which tried the Church in past centuries
should completely disappear. Knowledge should be
given to everyone, for a contemplative life should
be open to all without needing instruction from the
Insurget sanctissima et nova religio, quæ erit libera et
spiritualis, in qua romanus pontifex dominabitur spiritualiter
in omni gente a mari usque ad mare. Erit autem illud in
tempore vel circa tempus persecutionis Babylonis novæ, id
est Romæ, tempore angelici Pastoris, quando afflicta nimis
ecclesia liberabitur a jugo servitutis illius.'
JOACHIM DI FLOR.
301
doctors. The Greeks and the Jews, whom evan-
gelical law was powerless to bring into the fold,
should be converted, and surpass in holiness and
fervour the ancient Latin people. This was
simply a reproduction of the dreams of Joachim, .
of John of Parma, of Pierre-Jean d'Olive.
In 1388 these ideas were again disseminated in
Paris by Thomas of Puglia, who, like thousands
of others, proclaimed the reign of the Holy Ghost,
the end of the rule of the prelates, and the inutility
of sacraments. The Bishop of Paris, Pierre d'Ouge-
but since the reign of Charles V. common-sense
had acquired a certain influence in the world :
the physicians declared him mad, and his book
alone was burned.* Wilhelm of Hildernissem and
the 'intellectual brotherhood' disseminated the
same doctrines in the Flemish countries about
1411.In Pierre d'Ailly, then Bishop of Cambrai,
they met with another Guillaume de Saint-Amour
-I mean a zealous guardian of the Gallican tradi-
tion, a tradition essentially episcopal, and always
opposed to the sectarian and monastic spirit.
The sixteenth century saw several renewals of
these efforts. It is worthy of remark that the
early reformers regarded Joachim as an ally. His
apocryphal works were read eagerly by Protestant
• D'Argentré, ' Coll. jud.,' i., 2nd part, p. 151.
+ Ibid., i., 2nd part, p. 207.
I See, on this point, Meyenberg's monograph, already
quoted several times.
302 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
writers, anxious to discover their predecessors.
J. Wolf, especially, in a compilation entitled
'Lectionum memorabilium et reconditarum cen-
tenarii xvi.' (Lauingen, 1600), embodied all the
passages from Joachim and the Joachimists which
favoured the doctrines or the antipathies of his
co-religionists.* It is the most peculiar collec-
Here are some of those curious passages (Wolf, i., p.
488 and fol.). I have verified most of them, and found they
were corect :
'Nullus populorum legitur ad tantam amaritudinem per-
duxisse Romanam Ecclesiam sicut domesticus Alemannus.-
Videat Ecclesiam si, de acceptandis et improbandis elec-
tionibus principum, confusionis maculam non incurrit : qui
tangit picem inquinatur ab ea ; qui communicat superbo
induet superbiam.-Intra Ecclesiam romanam sunt mer-
cenarii plurimi non pastores qui etiam bestiæ dicuntur a
vastando, dracones a sæviendo, struthiones a simulando,
sirenæ a luxuriando, pilosi a propinquos amando.--Tran-
scendit papale prætorium cunctas curias in calumniosis
litibus et quæstibus extorquendis.Ad Petrum dictum fuit :
quum senueris, alius te cinget et ducet quo tu non vis. Quid
dicam de summo pontifice Aarone, qui modernos præsules
representat, qui ad instantiam populi qui egressus fuerat de
Ægypto vitulum conflavit et sculptile, quod totum ad librum
Decretalium referendum est, in quo omnis dolus et calumnia
perseverat : ac per hoc curia Sedis Petri nullum pontificat
qui hujus simulacra non adorat.—Quod Deus minus puniet
laicos quam clericos et prælatos, quia minus voluntatem Dei
cognoverunt.-Quod principes alemannorum jura temporalia
executient ab Ecclesia romana. Quod Ecclesia prius con-
fundenda et spolianda et prædanda ac captivanda est ab
Imperio. Quod Ecclesia putabit ut Imperium alemannorum
et regnum Franciæ sibi favorem impenderent et a cunctis
molestiis eam liberarent, sed nihil ab eis habebit prosperum. -
Quod auctor usque modo prohibitus est revelare et denudare
FOACHIM DI FLOR.
303
tion of maledictions imaginable. The tone of im-
placable hostility and concentrated fury would
rather surprise those who look back to the Middle
Ages as a period of perfect submission to the
Church.
We will abstain from inquiring whether, in our
days, Joachim could still claim any legitimate
successors. * To preserve the exact meaning of the
words “Eternal Gospel,' they should be applied
solely to the first phase of that vast movement, the
centre of which is in the Order of St. Francis, and
which gave rise to such curious popular-aberra-
tions. Such as it is, despite its faults and its
failure, that endeavour is nevertheless the boldest
attempt at religious creation made in modern
times; and it would have changed the face of the
world, had not its progress been arrested by the
ignominiam matris suæ Ecclesiæ, sed nunc cogitur prodere
ejus iniquitates. Ait enim : Pudorem mihi ingero, quia mea
matris pudenda denudo.—Quod oppressi ab ecclesiasticis
clamant ad Deum dicentes: O Deus quousque non vindicas
sanguinem innocentum sub altari clamantium.—Quod Eccle-
sia Latina et Romana graviora quam Græca passura est in
proximo, quia nequiora commisit. - Quod ipsi prælati et
Ecclesia carnalis erubescere deferent ad redargutionem
virorum spiritualium et doctorum et a culpa desistere. Sed
quia factus est eis fronis meretricis et induruit malitia, nolunt
erubescere.-- Quod apprehendendus est Petrus, scilicet Sum-
mus Pontifex, et ligandus,' etc.
0 We must not, however, forget the beautiful romance of
Spiridion, in which Joachim's figure was skilfully drawn
and brought into the picture with marvellous art. On this
point Madame Sand owed much to M. Pierre Leroux,
304 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
disciplined intelligence of the thirteenth century.
The Roman Church, the Paris University, the
Order of St. Dominic, the civil power, so often
opposed to each other, entered into a league
against pretensions which would have shaken the
very groundwork of human society. The extreme
severity of the means employed to annihilate
these strange doctrines is revolting to us; many
praiseworthy aspirations were included in the
same condemnation; yet true progress-owed little
to these good sectarians. It sprang from the
parallel_movement which directed the human
mind towards science, political reform, the de-
finitive constitution of society. As early as 1255,
it was easy to see that progress, as modern
societies understand it, comes from above, not
from below; from reason, not from imagination ;
from common-sense, not from enthusiasm ; from
wise men, not from illuminati who seek in
chimeras for the secrets of destiny. No doubt
thinkers must respect men who, impelled by a
lofty ideal of human life, protest against the im-
perfections inherent in all social states, and dream
of some ideal law in conformity with the require-
ments of their hearts; but no human efforts can
remove the bounds of possibility. The world is
the result of causes too intricate to allow it ever
to be compressed within an absolute system. No
symbol can ever represent the progress of man-
kind in the past, much less serve as the rule of its
future.
FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
M. KARL HASE's work, entitled "Franz von
Assisi' (Leipzig, 1856), is a little masterpiece of
religious criticism. M. Hase treats ecclesiastical
history in a way of his own. A professor of
theology and member of the Upper Council of the
Saxon Church, at the same time that he is devoid
of prejudice, and convinced that God does not
regard forms or symbols, but only the heart of
man, he has invented phrases of admirable dis-
cretion and nicety, in order to state important
religious facts without any reference to confessional
considerations. If in some portions of his numer-
ous writings, and above all in his ‘History of the
Church,' his determined moderation, which is
somewhat assumed, and his tone, at once ironical
and caressing, lead him into a certain obscurity,
into far-fetched allusions and a trick of half-ex-
pressing what he means, which may be thought
laboured and affected, in his ' Life of St. Francis
of Assisi' such defects are scarcely seen. Here
one has nothing but praise for his sound judg-
ment, his accurate style, and his mastery of his
subject. It is fortunate that this excellent book
20
306 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
has found a competent translator. In this little
volume M. Charles Berthoud has displayed perfect
knowledge of religious history, and great aptitude
for scholarly investigations. It is not exactly a
translation which he has given us. M. Hase's
thought is throughout scrupulously respected, but
according to a custom prevalent in our own days
in translating German works, and which, for my
part, I regret, M. Berthoud has altered certain
chapters and omitted some of the notes. Such as
it is, M. Berthoud's is certainly the best, work
extant in French on the life of him whom one of
his disciples calls the 'patriarch of mendicants.'*
Francis of Assisi has unparalleled interest for
religious criticism. Of all men, after Jesus, he
possessed the clearest conscience, the most perfect
simplicity, the strongest sense of his filial relation
to the Heavenly Father. God was truly his begin-
ning and his end. In him, Adam seemed never to
have sinned. His life is a poetic madness, a
perpetual intoxication of divine love. For a whole
week he lived on the chirp of a grasshopper. His
eyes, clear and deep as those of a child, penetrated
to the inmost secrets, those things which God
conceals from the wise and reveals to the humble.
* François d'Assise, étude historique, d'après le docteur
Karl Hase, professeur à l'Université d'Iéna, par M. Charles
Berthoud.' Paris, Lévy, 1864, small 8vo. M. Frédéric
Morin's work, 'St. François d'Assise et les Franciscans
(Paris, Hachette, 1858), is very valuable in parts. But it
represents Francis too much as an organizer, almost as a
politician.
1
27
11
FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
307
We can closely study that prodigy of holiness,
that miracle of meekness and simplicity in one
who achieved enormous popularity, who was
always conspicuous, and who proved himself a
great man of action and a successful originator.
Centuries deficient in virtue like ours are essen-
tially sceptical. Judging everyone by themselves,
they call the great ideal figures of the past impos-
sible and chimerical. To please certain minds,
history should be constructed without a single
surpassing the level of mediocrity to which they
are accustomed, they accuse you of introducing
legend. into history. They believe that all men
have been as base and selfish as themselves. Now
legends. Francis of Assisi stands before us in a
light as ethereal as Jesus and Sakya.Muni. And
yet, we have abundant proof that, apart from its
miraculous surroundings, the real character of
Francis of Assisi answered exactly to the portrait
which remains of him. To me, Francis of Assisi
has always been one of the most powerful reasons
for believing Jesus to have been nearly such as the
synoptical evangelists described him. Recent
examples might lead us to imagine that the great
founders of the faith were egotists, full of self-
importance, entirely preoccupied by their mission
and sacrificing everything to it. It is certain that
if any man, in our time, should attempt to do
even part of what Francis of Assisi did, he would
20_2
308. NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
soon be ruined. But let us never take our own
age as our criterion when we would judge of any-
thing great in history. Francis experienced the
most extraordinary popularity without showing
the smallest vanity or self-consciousness. The
people made a saint of him before his death, and
yet he never lost his simplicity. .
Though legendary and tinged with the super-
natural, the life of Francis of Assisi is, nevertheless,
well known to us. Paintings almost contemporary
have preserved his features. We see, as though
it were still alive, that fine Italian face, thin and
pale, with its large eyes, its regular features, its
almost playful smile, its extreme mobility. The
three legends of Francis of Assisi-one (that of
Thomas of Celano) written three years after his
death; the second (that of the “Three Com-
panions,' Leo, Rufinus, Angelus) seventeen years
later than that of Thomas of Celano; the third,
composed by St. Bonaventura, yet seventeen years
later-are masterpieces of simple compilation, in
which one sees clearly what may be attributed to
imagination and what to historical fact. These
great legends, at once ideal and real, were the
special heritage of the Order of St. Francis, or
perhaps of the thirteenth century. The book of
the ‘Dits des quatre ancelles,' or ' Life of St.
Elizabeth,' composed from the narratives of the
four women who waited on her, is a mirror of
wonderful lucidity. These are the texts we must
read to understand what a legend is; how a narra-
FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
309
7
tive full of anecdote, and fabulous in form, may
be truer than truth itself; how the glory of a
legend belongs in a measure to the great man on
whose life it is founded, and who so worked on
the imagination of his humble admirers as to
enable them to see in him features which without
him they could never have invented.
Unfortunately this is not always the case. The
physiognomy of great leaders is often transformed
by their disciples. Sometimes the legend creates
the hero, but often also the hero creates his own
legend. In other words, there are legends which
without being biographies or histories (these words
must be limited to statements of facts, in which
there is nothing supernatural) are true portraits.
In such cases a simple operation will discover the
truth : discard all that is marvellous, the tendency
to the concrete and the anecdote, which material-
ises the idea and concentrates in a particular story
the features which revealed themselves piecemeal
in the course of a life. Those who think that
the fabulous character of a biography totally
deprives it of historical worth, should assert that
Francis of Assisi never existed, that he was a myth
created to express the ideal conceived by his dis-
ciples. The reverse of that opinion is the true
one. The Franciscan movement had its initiative
in the strong impression made by Francis of
Assisi on some disciples of kindred spirit, though
much inferior to himself. The legend of St.
Francis presents the aspect with which we are
310 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
acquainted because it really was his own person-
ality whose image he impressed on the minds of his
disciples. The beauty of the portrait belongs in
this case to the original, not to the genius of the
artist who painted it.
The cause of this remarkable exception is quite
simple. That which distinguishes Francis of
Assisi, in his century and in all centuries, is his
complete originality. He is undoubtedly a Chris-
tian, and even a Christian obedient to the Church ;
but his piety is of a unique kind. It is probable
that in France, or, indeed, anywhere but in that
sweet and shady Umbrian valley, he would have
been accused of heresy. He drew little from
the Bible, which he seldom read. He was no
scholastic; he was neither priest nor theologian.
He was equally free from mediæval superstition,
specially that relative to saints ; without avowing
it, he knew he was their equal. His character
was moulded first by Umbria, the 'seraphic pro-
vince ?-the Galilee of Italy, at once fertile and
wild, smiling and austeremthen by Provençal
poetry. He was fond of the troubadours ; in many
respects he took them as his models. He used
their tongue for praying and singing. From their
name (jugleor), he called his disciples · Jongleurs
de Dieu.',
What belongs to himself alone is his way of feel-
ing. Even Buddhism has nothing like it. Francis
is superior to the Buddhistic arhân.' He delights
in reality; he disdains nothing; he is indifferent to
FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
311
nothing; he loves everything; he has a smile and
a tear for all ; a flower sends him into ecstasies ;
he sees in Nature only brothers and sisters. What
most revolts us in Oriental asceticism is the fright-
ful baldness to which it reduces life. I saw one
of those Eastern ascetics in an Egyptian village,
near the desert.* He had been there for twenty
years, sitting on the sand, plunged in lethargy,
neither seeing nor hearing ; his legs were as thin
as the bones of a skeleton. The sun, scorching
his skull, had shrivelled up all consciousness; he
had less life than the reed or the palm-tree.
Stylites and Fakirs create a void around them till
they stupefy themselves. Francis of Assisi was
the reverse of this. For him everything had
meaning and beauty. We know that admirable
canticle which he is believed to have named the
• Creatures' Song;' it is the finest religious poem
since the Gospels, the most complete expression
of modern religious sentiment.t
' Highest omnipotent good Lord,
Glory and honour to Thy Name adored,
And praise and every blessing.
Of everything Thou art the source.
No man is worthy to pronounce Thy Name.
At Tel-el-Kébir, on the borders of the isthmus of Suez.
† The authenticity of this canticle seems indubitable; but
it must be noticed that we do not possess the Italian original.
The existing Italian text is translated from a Portuguese
version, which was a translation from the Spanish. The
original canticle was versified by Friar Pacificus. The
present text is written in prose.
312 NEW TT
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
' Praised by His creatures all,
Praised be the Lord my God,
By Messer Sun, my brother above all,
Who by His rays, lights us and lights the day-
Radiant is she, with His great splendour stored,
Thy glory, Lord, confessing.
* By Sister Moon and stars my Lord is praised,
Where clear and fair they in the heavens are raised.
' By Brother Wind, my Lord, Thy praise is said,
By air and clouds and the blue sky o'erhead,
By which Thy creatures all are kept and fed.
* By one most humble, useful, precious, chaste,
By Sister Water, O my Lord, Thou art praised.
"And praised is my Lord
By Brother Fire-he who lights up the night;
Jocund, robust is he, and strong and bright.
'Praised art Thou, my Lord, by Mother Earth,
Thou who sustainest her and governest,
And to her flowers, fruit, herbs, dost colour give and birth.
· Praised by our Sister Death, my Lord, art Thou,
From whom no living man escapes.
Who die in mortal sin have mortal woe;
But blessed they who die doing Thy will,
The second death can strike at them no blow.'"
Here is none of the constraint of Port Royal
and the mystics of the French school of the
seventeenth century, none of the exaggeration and
frenzy of the Spanish mystics. At the point to
which Francis of Assisi had attained, death
became meaningless. In his eyes no natural
* We quote from the admirable version given by Mrs.
Oliphant in her 'Francis of Assisi,'as it would be impossible
to supply a new one equally excellent.-TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
1
FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
313
object was antipathetic or contemptible. He used
to pick up the worms from the roads that they
might not be trodden upon; he exerted his in-
genuity to save lambs from death or from the
rough attacks of goats ; he used to release animals
caught in traps, giving them good advice so that
they might not again fall into danger. He loved
even the purity of a drop of water, and tried to
prevent it from being sullied. That great mark of
a mind free from vulgar pedantry, affection for
animals and sympathy with them, was stronger in
him than in any other man. Far removed from
the brutality of the false spiritualism of the Car-
tesians, he only acknowledged one sort of life;
he recognised degrees in the scale of being, but
no sudden interruptions ; like the sages of India,
he could not admit that false classification which
places man on one side, and, on the other, those
thousand forms of life of which we only see the
outside, and in which, though our eyes detect only
uniformity, there may lie infinite diversity. For
Francis nature had but one voice. One day, as
he was returning to his hermitage at Monte
Alverno, he heard crowds of birds chirping near
his cell. See, brother,' he said, 'how our sisters
seem to rejoice at our arrival!' Later, in the hour
of his death, St. Bonaventura relates with wonder
that larks, those lovers of light, circled joyously
round the roof of his house, already wrapt in the
shade of evening.
His thorough goodness makes these miracles of
314 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
simplicity appear credible. He had acquired the
indulgent tenderness of a great artist, of all beings
the one nearest to God. Imitating the Heavenly
Father, who causes His light to shine alike on the
just and the unjust, or the sun which every morn-
ing smiles equally on the great swarms of men
rising to go each where his desire leads him, he
does not believe in evil: he does not admit its
existence. Not that he was indifferent; but,
reading all hearts, he considered meanness the
only unpardonable sin. Avarice, the narrow sen-
timent of the father of a family, who thinks of his
children more than of his soul, is the only vice
on which he is severe. Weakness and error are
to him scarcely sins. He wishes brigands to be
well treated; he is persuaded that hunger is the
cause of all misdeeds. To a man who had just
been robbed, and who was uttering blasphemous
imprecations, he offered all he possessed, provided
the man would no longer rail at Providence. Like
the Heavenly Father, he also has a secret sym-
pathy for sinners; certain weaknesses appear to
him marks of goodness, certain errors to proceed
from the vivacity of strength. We all know the
story of the wolf of Gubbio. Francis having
stipulated that he should have a daily allowance,
the wolf, duly fed from house to house, renounced
his murderous habits. This M. Hase, not without
reason, compares with the paternal processes of
the old pontifical government, which used to
pension brigands in order to convert them.
7n
FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
318
We may say that Francis of Assisi was the only
perfect Christian since Jesus. He stands alone,
as having with boundless faith and love en-
deavoured to fulfil the law laid down in Galilee.
His rule was simply the Sermon on the Mount,
with nothing altered or explained away. Francis
never wished to be the head of any particular
order; his only desire was to practise evangelical
morality, to realize the primitive ideal of Christian
perfection. The thesis of the book of the 'Con-
formities’ is the true one: Francis was really a
second Christ-or rather, he was a faithful mirror
of Christ. The fundamental idea of the gospel is
the vanity of worldly cares which turn men aside
from the joys of the kingdom of God. Such is
also the essential principle of Francis of Assisi.
To him, as to Jesus, birds seem to lead a perfect
life: they possess no barns ; they sing unceas-
ingly; they always live on God's gifts, and never
want anything. Dante, whose sentiment is in
many respects much more Umbrian than Tuscan,
said in admirable verse : ‘Bereaved of her first
husband, Poverty, that spouse to whom, as to
Death, no one willingly opens his door, had been
despised and neglected for eleven hundred years,
when this one, before the Heavenly Father and the
celestial court, took her for his bride and daily
loved her more. Our century, whose essential
feature is to judge things, not by their æsthetic or
moral value, but by their material disadvantages,
cannot understand such absolute idealism. Its
316 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
pretension is to do great things without moral
greatness. Its inexperience in history, its assump-
tion of inaugurating a new era, inspire it with ex-
aggerated confidence in wealth. Here is a poor
man, the son of a tradesman of Assisi, a sort of
lunatic_b.y turns beggar, cook, and vagabond-
who achieves a work such as will never be achieved
by our great men of action and our capitalists,-
a work which lasts for seven or eight centuries,
and which implies principles true for all time.
Y
II.
The leading idea of Francis of Assisi, the idea
that it is wrong to possess anything; that it is
more noble to be poor than to be rich; that men-
dicity is a fine thing and even a virtue, requires
close examination. In the first place, it must be
noticed that Francis forbids appropriation, but
by no means forbids enjoyment. Now there
are cases where enjoyment supposes possession;
but there are others where possession excludes
enjoyment, the best things being by their nature
indivisible. What things afford man the fullest
joy? Precisely those which belong to nobody,
such as national glory, a great past, the master-
pieces of poetry, religious impressions, the sea,
uncultured plains, forests, deserts, the snow-clad
mountain-tops. There is no poetry in Beauce or
Normandy. A country intersected with boundary
walls, where we tread excellent roads, where
FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
317
everybody enjoys nature within his own garden,
is scarcely poetic. At first sight it seems as
though the dream of Francis of Assisi would
have put an end to art and noble life. And yet
this sordid mendicant was the father of Italian
art. Painting his legend on his tomb brought
the genius of Cimabué and Giotto to light. Art,
that refined aristocrat, obstinately refuses its ser-
vices to the rich ; it works either for princes or
for the poor. In spite of her millions, wealthy
England will never have an art worthy of the
name. Art is the child of a society with lofty
aims, living for glory and the ideal. It can
accommodate itself to municipal republics, to the
princely life of an almost sovereign aristocracy,
and to monastic life, because that life permits of
broad extensions, of great works undertaken in
common. I see clearly what kings, republics,
princes, nobles, monks, and the poor have done
for civilization; but I cannot conceive what grand
achievement could be the result of a society
founded upon the selfishness of individual posses-
sion. I fear the final result of such a society
would only be deplorable mediocrity.
I should no doubt be accused of paradox, were
I to assert that the ideas of Francis of Assisi are
the remedy for this evil of our time. The theory
of the pre-eminent merit of almsgiving will not,
in these days, meet with many partisans. We
must also acknowledge that the enmity of the
Franciscan school to wealth and economy was
318 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
in many respects exaggerated. Possession is not
an evil. It is, indeed, true that the acquisition of
riches implies some imperfection : because if the
wealthy man had been less eager for gain, less
engrossed in business, more mindful of his spiritual
life; if he had given more alms and shown more
of that liberality which marks a lofty mind, he
would not have been so rich. We make our
fortunes by our faults: to become wealthy, we
must insist on our rights, be careful of our money,
take advantage of others, go to law-things which,
though not wrong, are not the best, nor the fit work
of lofty minds. Where the treasure is, there is the
heart also. Property narrows and weighs down
the soul. The bird is more active than the snail,
which drags its shell after it.
But there is another Franciscan idea which is
truer still: it is the principle that spiritual things
are not to be bought. The disproportion between
those things and any price that could be paid for
them is such that they would still be given, not
purchased. With her exquisite tact in spiritual
things, the Church saw this. She does not admit
that she is ever repaid. Though wealthy, she calls
herself poor, because, if all the world were offered
her, she would still say it was not enough. Men
devoted to noble professions will never admit that
their work is paid for. I was told in my childhood
that, in the times of the pirates, the Breton sea-
men used to come home from their heroic expe-
ditions laden with gold. But, despising booty
FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
319
:
which would have made mercenaries of them,
those proud men invented a peculiar pastime.
They made their gold pieces red-hot, and then
threw them into the street, amused at the efforts
made by the mob to get hold of them. Having
the glory, they abandoned the profit to the coarser
natures which it suited.
We, whose lot it is to drag on our lives in the
mud of a submerged Atlantis,* may draw from
these grand dreams of a vanished heaven a true,
a deep, an inward consolation. Let us picture
to ourselves the first Chapter of the Order, those
five thousand mendicants in huts made of straw
and boughs from the trees at the foot of the
mountain of Assisi, and the amazed bystanders
exclaiming : 'Yes, this is indeed the camp of
God!' Or, better still, the distribution of the
great indulgence of the Portiuncula. From the
first stroke of the vesper bell on the first of August
until the vespers on the following day, the crowd
pressed, half stifled under the burning sun, to cross
the little chapel and obtain the full pardon. My
good people,' the Dominicans would say, 'why do
you expose yourselves to this heat, to this fatigue?
The indulgence you are promised is not so great
as you are told, and the Minorites cannot show
the pope's license.' That was true; the pope
* Atlantis is said to have been an immense island outside
the Pillars of Hercules, once the seat of a mighty empire,
the degeneracy of whose inhabitants Jupiter punished with
the total submersion of their country.
320 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
never gave any written authority to Francis :
*Christ is my advocate,' the holy man used to
say, "and the angels are my witnesses!' In the
evening an old woman died; she appeared to the
pilgrims, and said: 'By virtue of this indulgence,
I entered straight into Heaven.
The beauty of the Franciscan legend is its having
sprung in its entirety from the popular conscience
without ecclesiastical intervention. It is the glory
of Italy that her people are polished in speech,
refined in taste, and of exquisite tact, able to
inspire beautiful things, to help to produce them,
to appreciate them. Next to Christianity the
Franciscan movement is the greatest popular work
recorded in history. We trace in it the simplicity
of men who know nothing but nature on the one
hand, and what they have seen and heard in
church on the other, and mix all this together
with the utmost freedom. We find ourselves a
thousand miles removed from scholasticism.
Francis of Assisi is almost the only man in the
Middle Ages who was never tainted by that
leprosy, whose mind was never infected by the
subtleties of the schools. He had no more theo-
logical instruction than the humblest believer.
He preached from the abundance of his heart;
if he found that words were wanting, he would
give the people his blessing and dismiss them.
Once, however, when he had to preach before
Pope Honorius and his cardinals, he carefully
studied his discourse and learnt it by rote. He
FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
321
had scarcely begun when his memory failed him.
He then abandoned the sermon he had so care-
fully prepared, began to improvise, and found
much more impressive words. He gesticulated
with his hands and feet as though on the point of
taking flight; yet it never occurred to anyone that
he was ridiculous, although his friend, the Cardinal
of Ostia, was silently praying that the simplicity
of such a man might not bring him into contempt.
As an Italian, he possessed that instinctive
ability which accomplishes without effort the most
difficult undertakings. Again and again we wonder
that he did not come into fatal collision with the
narrow orthodoxy of his time. His meekness dis-
armed everyone. Moreover, when a certain degree
of holiness has been attained, heresy is impossible;
for at a certain height dogma no longer exists, and
there is no ground for controversy. His relations
with Innocent III. are represented by his bio-
graphers in different ways, but all do honour to
his judgment. Associations similar to his—that
of the ' Pauvres de Lyons,' for instance—had been
harshly repressed. Religious inendicity, outward
austerity, were features which called to mind the
Cathari, and excited to the utmost the suspicions
of the higher clergy. Marvels of honest simpli-
city were required to avoid striking on that rock.
As for the mighty of the world, Francis never
knew them. His policy was most simple. He
sometimes dreamt of seeing the emperor. 'I
should ask him,' he said, 'for the love of God and
21
322 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
for love of me, to publish an edict against catching
my sisters the larks, or doing them any harm,
and ordaining that on the holy Christmas night
he who has an ox or a donkey shall take special
care of it, and also that the poor shall then be
abundantly fed from the table of the rich.'
In his hands everything took a poetical and
concrete form. He lived in that state of mind
which creates those primitive images which serve
as the basis of language and mythology. On a
winter night, one of his disciples saw him enter
his garden and make figures of snow, saying to
himself: 'Here: this big one is thy wife; these
two are thy sons; these others are thy daughters,
and these thy man-servant and thy maid-servant.
Make haste to clothe them, for they are perishing
with cold. But if that is too much trouble for
thee, be content to serve the Lord.' All this is
thousands of years old. For him every idea be-
came a little drama; each of his sensations took
bodily shape and received a sort of external
realization.
His followers were like him-slightly unortho-
dox, very untheological; they were beggars, un-
successful poets, women, converted brigands,
outcasts of all kinds. They were all of a jovial
humour, and used sometimes to indulge in fits of
wild mirth, like a holy carnival. Francis cherished
principles which did not allow much severity in
the choice of his disciples. He was too kindly
to be suspicious, or to have what is called know-
.
FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
323
1
ledge of the world. He made thieves and honest
men equally welcome. As a rule, the thieves,
touched by his kindness, became saints; but
sometimes their natural propensities reappeared.
Francis often put confidence in unworthy persons.
We know the history of that Elias of Cortona
who was his confidant and successor. He was an
intriguer who, both before and after the saint's
death, played a most equivocal part. Francis
had a regard for him, just because he was so
unlike him. Elias was a consummate politician
and an able administrator. The holy man,
dazzled by the qualities in which he was himself
deficient, made Elias his right hand, and his last
blessing rested on the head of an impostor, who
gave a very strange direction to the pious work.
It is true that without Elias it is questionable
whether it would ever have succeeded. It was he
who brought the too lofty ideal of the founder
within the limits of possibility, and accommodated
it to human weakness. The first rule, written by
Francis's own hand, and which was believed to
be an inspiration received by him on the moun-
tain, enforced absolute poverty. This did not suit
Elias. He destroyed the manuscript, of which he
was the guardian, and pretended to have acci-
dentally lost it. He represented that element of
charlatanism without which (such is the stupidity
of men) it seems that no great popular cause can
prosper. M. Hase thinks, and I am quite of his
opinion, that the stigmata, which entitled St.
21–2
324 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Francis to an exceptional rank in the Christian
heaven, were invented by Elias.
The discussion relating to the stigmata is
perhaps the most interesting part of M. Hase's
book. This miracle, the greatest in the history
of the mediæval Church, is also remarkable for
being attested by contemporary witnesses. Not
only is it referred to by Thomas de Celano, the
‘Three Companions,'and St. Bonaventura (though
with important variations); not only is it men-
tioned in passages from writers not belonging to
the Order, whose authenticity cannot be doubted,
and which were written only five or six years after
the saint's death, but we have also a decisive
document. Elias, who for the last six months
before the death of St. Francis never left him for
an instant, in whose arms he expired, and who
from that moment ruled the Order in his stead
Elias, almost in the presence of the corpse, wrote
a circular letter to inform the brethren in France of
the patriarch's demise. In that document, which
was preserved in the Convent of Valenciennes,
and which Wadding transcribed from a copy,
Elias speaks of the new miracle that took place
on the body of the saint a short time before his
death,' and describes the miracle conformably
with the other texts, though rather more timidly.
It is, therefore, impossible to think here of a
legendary elaboration, a tardy rumour arising
from the wish to conform the life of Francis
of Assisi to that of his divine model. No: on
FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
325
the very day of St. Francis's death, his stigmata
were spoken of. There is no proof of their
having been mentioned previously, so that we are
almost compelled to conclude either that Elias
invented the whole story, thinking that it would
only reach Assisi after the interment of the body,
or that he himself inflicted the sacred marks on
the corpse, which was left a whole night in his
care.*
This second hypothesis is not devoid of pro-
bability. Immediately after death the body was
seen at Assisi by thousands of persons: for many
years it was the chief object of interest to Umbria,
to the popes, to the whole of Christendom. It
would have been very dangerous to rest such a belief
on a fact capable of being contradicted. It is
certain that the interment of the corpse was singu-
larly hurried; the saint died on the Saturday
evening, and on the Sunday morning his body
was carried first to the Convent of Santa Clara,
and then to the Cathedral of Assisi. Contrary to
Italian custom, the coffin was closed; it had to
be opened to enable Clara and her virgins to kiss
the patriarch's hand, through the little window
where the nuns receive the Holy Sacrament. The
sequel is still stranger. On the removal of the
remains, which took place on Holy Saturday in the
0 Doubts arose as early as the thirteenth century :' An pia
fuisset illusio, sive sulorum fratrum simulata intentio. These
words may be read in the ' Légende Dorée' of Jacques de
Voragine.
326 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
year 1239, to their final resting-place in the great
basilica at Assisi, built for that purpose within
the three years and a half following the saint's
death, we see again the hand of Elias. That artful
personage seems to take precautions -lest anyone
should see the corpse. The people wanted to
know, at any cost, if, as it was affirmed, the
body really preserved its appearance of life; they
were still more anxious to touch the stigmata.
This was forbidden; the refusal occasioned a
fearful riot, for which Elias was held responsible.
It is a tradition in the Order that Elias carried
This prompt and strange disappearance leads us
to suppose that there was some powerful reason
for withholding the holy man's corpse from the
sight of the public. What seems most probable
is that the body bore marks which, with a little
credulity, might pass for the sacred stigmata, but
which would not have borne a close examination.
Many circumstances confirm this supposition.
A few days before his death, the saint had to
undergo cauterization. It was then that he
exclaimed, "My brother fire, the Lord made thee
useful and beautiful ; be thou gentle to me in this
hour.' It is quite possible that traces of these
cauterizations, found by Elias on the corpse,
suggested the fraud to him, and saved him the
trouble of committing it with his own hands.
1
FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
327
possesses the saint's heart, the wound in the side
also finds a natural explanation in the opera-
tions which must have been performed after
death.
We ought to read in M. Hase's work the impos-
ing legends which constantly arose from that
strange tomb. · Underneath the two splendid
churches raised one upon the other, Umbrian
imagination built a third, yet larger and more
beautiful. There, in his doubly subterranean
shrine, surrounded by lighted tapers, St. Francis
awaits the day of judgment. He stands on the
marble altar, untouched by corruption; his hands
crossed, his five wounds dripping with blood. With
eyes raised to heaven, he prays for men.* Some
privileged persons, who were at prayer in the
lower church, warned by earthquakes, saw the
ground open, and were enabled to descend. Wild
stories were spread abroad. Paul V. forbade, on
pain of excommunication, all search for the holy
tomb. In 1818 this wonderful legend was destroyed.
The General of the Franciscans, authorized by
Pius VII., caused excavations to be made. The
0 'He lies there under the great altar, as tradition tells us,
but no one knows the precise spot of his grave; and a mys-
terious legend has crept about, whispered in the twilight for
ages, that far underneath, lower even than the subterranean
church, the great saint, erect and pale, with sacred drops of
blood upon his five wounds, and an awful silence round him,
waits, rapt in some heavenly meditation, for the moment when
he, like his Lord, and with his Lord, shall rise again.'– Oli-
phant's 'Francis of Assisi.'- TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
328 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
skeleton of St. Francis was said to have been
discovered in a stone sarcophagus, under the high
altar. The splendid ideal cathedral was then
shattered like a glass, and a miserable little sub-
terranean chapel in the worst style took its place.
Who will give us a complete account of the
first century of Franciscan history? No popular
revolution was ever subjected to more regular
laws. We should see, after the death of the
saint, his mission rent asunder, if I may say so,
by two contrary parties: the one faithful to the
master's ideal, anxious to regenerate the world
through poverty, ending in 1254 in the bold
attempt of the 'Eternal Gospel,' and whose chief
representatives are John of Parma, Pierre-Jean
d'Olive, Ubertin de Casas, Frà Dolcino, and
Michel de Césène; the other, more worldly, more
easily controlled, and more speedily enlisted by
the Court of Rome. Two things, then, appear to
have originated with St. Francis: first, a religious
Order, which did more evil than good ; secondly,
a fermentation of popular thought, which gave
birth to most of the innovators of the second half
of the Middle Ages. In many respects. the ex-
lalted Franciscan_school was a forerunner of the
Reformation; Friar Elias, Michel of Césène,
Marsile of Padua, practised in many cases the
policy of John Huss and Luther. Like them they
invited German princes to reform the corrupt
church, and appealed_to civil society against
| the papacy and the episcopate.
*
FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
329
But the development of these ideas would carry
us too far. We thank M. Berthoud for his attrac-
tive little volume, which gives us a complete pic-
ture of the 'Pater Seraphicus;' and we hope he will
keep the promise made in his preface of giving us
also in French M. Hase's work on St. Catherine
of Sienna. The religious history of the Middle
Ages, whose original documents have long since
been brought to light, will gain by such labours
the enlightened criticism and nice appreciation
which has hitherto been wanting to it.
A MONASTIC IDYL OF THE THIRTEENTH
CENTURY.
Yo
CHRISTINE OF STOMMELN.
The learned philologists who, in our own time,
have endeavoured to experiment upon the ill-de-
fined limits of the body and the soul, have justly
perceived how much light could be thrown on
their researches by the study of religious en-
thusiasm. When attentively read and placed in
the broad light of recent discoveries, the legends
of ecstatics and accounts of possession receive
most striking confirmation, or rather, most con-
clusive commentaries. The facts which they
relate have been observed, analyzed, almost re-
produced at will. Of all mediæval mystics,
Christine of Stommeln is perhaps the one whose
life best lends itself to this kind of study. We
possess her correspondence, and the diary of her
trials. The good faith of these is beyond sus-
picion. The patience of the Bollandists,* who
devoted three hundred folio pages to these
chimeras, enables us to follow in its most minute
0 Acta SS. Junii,' vol. iv., p. 270 and fol. Compare Quétif
and Echard, 'Script. ord. Præd.,' i., p. 407 and fol.
A MONASTIC IDYL.
331
details one of the most peculiar pathological cases
contained in the annals of hallucination, and to
realize at the same time how the soul may com-
bine the most pious sentiments and the strangest
delusions.
The visionary of whom we now speak was born
in the year 1242. Her parents were well-to-do
peasants in the village of Stommeln, about fifteen
miles north-west of Cologne. Her father's name
was Henry Brusius, her mother's Hilla. The
house where she first saw the light is still extant,
and still bears the name of Brusius-Haus. She
never learned to write, and could only read her
Psalter, from which she seems to have acquired
some knowledge of Latin ; she understood that
language when it was read slowly.* Her life did
not differ essentially from that of many other
saintly women in whom ardent devotion and an
excitable temperament produced visions, extra-
ordinary sensations, or stigmata. From her
earliest years, she, like St. Catherine of Sienna,
contracted a mystical union with him whom she
used to call “her most sweet, most dear, most
tender spouse.' She was subject to devout trances,
ecstasies, convulsions, spasms, which lasted a long
time. She saw Jesus Christ, fancied she felt his
hand resting on her, and remained for days under
the impression of that contact. After hearing
*'Rogo ut ea quæ Christinæ exponitis ponderetis, ut possit
intelligere ea quæ dicuntur.'—Acta SS. Junii, vol. iv., p. 418.
332 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
certain German canticles, she would swoon for
hours.
Her patience was soon put to strange proof.
Demons got possession of her, subjected her to
most atrocious tortures, filled her imagination with
hideous images, made her most frightful sugges-
tions. Father Papebroch wrote a long disserta-
tion to show that this was not an unusual
occurrence, and that it often pleased God to
subject His elect to severe trials. Christine
remained immovable. She suffered a martyrdom
without parallel. All the pain of Jesus Christ's
passion seemed renewed in her person. Plunged
into uninterrupted meditation on the sufferings of
Christ, she felt every detail of that appalling
tragedy. The most characteristic of those details
-stigmata on the hands and feet-soon showed
themselves. Ever since the companions of St.
Francis of Assisi thought it incumbent on them
to raise the reputation of their master's holi-
ness by that strange imitation of Christ, stigmata
were looked upon as the mark of the highest
sanctity. Pierre de Dace, of whom we shall
shortly speak, confessed he dreamed of them
from his childhood. Half a century earlier, a
visionary from St. Trond en Hasbain, bearing the
same Christian name, and surnamed Mirabilis,
originated another order of ideas : the possibility
of descending into purgatory and into hell to
share the torments endured there. It is more than
probable that Christine of Stommeln was aware of
A MONASTIC IDYL.
333
the reputation of her predecessor, made famous by
Thomas de Cantimpré. She, perhaps, was in-
debted to her for her name, having been born, it
was said, on her fête-day, and she hoped to inherit
the supernatural privilege by which Christine Mira-
bilis was enabled to bear the purgatorial pains of
those she loved. But in her immoderate use of
that privilege, Christine of Stommeln surpassed
the saint whom she took as a model, and who had
been less lavish of such self-devotion.
Her pretensions were at first unwelcome to her
family, especially when, acting upon the rights
given her by her precocious holiness, she left the
parental roof to lead in Cologne the wandering
life of a mendicant, which, but for the especial
protection of heaven, would have been full of
dangers. She was equally misunderstood in a
convent which she had joined. They called
her insane, and smiled at the strange trials to
which she was subjected by demons. Certainly
in these days her wonderful diary would be classed
among the records of nervous diseases. Those
hideous visions, those alternations of heavenly
joy and profound sadness, those temptations to
suicide, those attacks of catalepsy, those total
perversions of the senses of touch, ending in the
most horrible sensations--illusions which she mis-
took for realities—are all the symptoms of diseases
now classified and carefully studied. The unfor-
tunate girl who was subject to these paroxysms
would doubtless have remained unknown, had
334 NEW T
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
she not, like St. Catherine of Sienna, and like
Catherine of Emmerich in our days, met with a
person of talent, able to interpret her feelings and
create her reputation.
This was a young Swedish Dominican, a native
of the Island of Gothland, and who, according to
the custom of the time, was called 'Petrus de
Dacia.' Like nearly all young friars at that
period, his superiors sent him first to Cologne
and then to Paris to study theology. He was a
dreamer, inclined to what he himself terms acedia;
although very pious, he found monastic life op-
pressively sad. Constant meditation on the
passion of Jesus Christ, the anguish of the Virgin,
the sufferings of the martyrs, produced in him
habitual melancholy. He sought for a soul in
harmony with his own, and which would realize
his ideal of holy suffering. On December 21, 1267,
he saw Christine for the first time, and that day
decided his whole life. The feelings of joy and
consolation he then experienced, the ardent devo-
tion with which he was filled, appeared to him
supernatural. He felt himself thoroughly changed.
He marvelled at the miracles which he believed he
saw. He was touched by the young girl's pensive
and wandering looks. Christine was friendly and
at her ease with him. She called him by his name,
and from the first took him as her spiritual
brother, treated him with perfect confidence, and
freely accepted his help. He spent the night
near her. The pity he experienced on seeing her
A MONASTIC IDYL.
335
1
blood flow and her wounds re-open increased his
love. He encouraged her by setting before her
the example of the saints. Twice the sufferer
took from beneath her clothes a blood-stained
nail to which a fragment of her flesh clung. She
gave the young monk one of these nails. Peter
preserved it as a relic, on which both his eyes
and his heart were fixed. "O felix nox!' he ex-
claimed; 'O beata nox! .... O dulcis et delec-
tabilis nox, in qua mihi primum est degustare
datum quam suavis est Dominus !'
When he returned to his convent at Cologne,
Peter still dreamt only of what he had seen at
Stommeln. He used to curse the night he had
spent there for being called 'nox'—word of ill-
omen- eo quod oculis noceat;' it should have
been called day. As the Virgin conceived the Son
of God in the night, so he in this night con-
ceived God. He spent the following Christmas-
tide in a sort of ecstasy.* His soul was so full
of the image of Christine, that no longer could
he think of God without thinking also of her.
His reading of the Scriptures only furnished him
with texts relative to his passion : 'Nox illuminatio
mea in deliciis meis. ... Dies quam fecit
Dominus, exultemus et lætemur in ea.'
Peter naturally seized every opportunity for
again meeting the spiritual friend who had
Quasi parturiens fui, nihilque tunc libentius fecissem
quam quod tunc cum persona prædicta fuissem. Æstimabam
enim eo citius illud in fructum pullulaturum, si fuisset calore
genitricis confortum.'-' Acta SS.,' vol. above quoted, p. 282.
336 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
-
1
touched his heart. Those opportunities were
frequent. The Dominicans of Cologne often used
to call at the village of Stommeln, which was in
some sort under their religious jurisdiction. Peter
never absented himself from one of those visits.
On February 24, 1268, he again saw the person
who had left on him such a deep impression.
This was one of her quiet intervals. The curé
invited her to dine with him. Except in her
hours of trial, Christine appears to have been a
pleasing young woman, simple, smiling, amiable,
innocent, graceful in her movements.* Her re-
ligious garment, composed of a long veil in which
she was wrapped from head to foot, became her
well. Poor Peter was more charmed than ever,
and his enthusiasm inspired him with a poem
which is surely one of the most peculiar compo-
sitions that could be quoted. The author felt
obliged to write a commentary on it himself, and
to give ingenious philosophical, theological, and
mystical interpretations of every word.
This visit was followed, in the course of 1268
and the first months of 1269, by several others,
whose details were carefully recorded by Peter.
His accounts are extremely frank. In allowing
himself to profess the tenderest sentiments for his
spiritual companion, Peter evidently did not sus-
pect for a moment that he was failing in his duty.
On her part, Christine showed the fullest confi-
dence in the young monk. She was then living
** Decenter affabilem et religiose jucundam.'
A MONASTIC IDYL.
337
with her family, and often used to go to Cologne
to gain indulgences and see her friend. When-
ever Peter and his companions came to Stom-
meln, the curé used to summon Christine ; some-
times the monks were even invited to the farm
where her father lived. She used to pour water
over the hands of the guests and to wait upon
them; as for Peter, he used to spend the days
and nights beside her, praying with her, answer-
ing her pious questions, sometimes explaining to
her the hierarchies of Dionysius Areopagite, and
at other times the degrees of contemplation of
Richard de Saint-Victor. During her ecstasy he
used to lay his hand on her, to count her sighs,
to measure. her breathing. These two innocent
souls related their dreams to each other, and
stimulated each other's enthusiasm. There is a
touching account of a walk* they took together,
in the course of which Christine asked him the
most simple questions.
Peter's companions, nearly all Swedes like him-
self, took no less pleasure in these visits. As we
have said, the Preaching Friars at Cologne had
much intercourse with Stommeln. Hence arose
a little Dominican society, composed of Christine,
the curate of Stommeln, his sister Gertrude, who
sang hymns very sweetly, á few pious women in
the dress of the Béguines, and the venerable Geva,
Abbess of the Convent of St. Cecilia at Cologne,
whose country-seat lay at Stommeln. Peter took
Acta SS.,' vol. already quoted, p. 287.
22
338 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
pleasure and showed some skill in describing these
different personages. The one he prefers, next to
Christine, is evidently her intimate friend, Hilla van
den Berghe. He greatly extols the serenity which
filled her mind, the youthful innocence which sur-
rounded her. “Her gaiety,' he says, ' was serious,
and her seriousness full of gaiety. ... After
Christine, I never saw a young girl of greater
purity; it seemed to me that she did not know
how to sin, and God is my witness that I never
saw in her any levity of manner or speech, though
I have lived with her often and long together, on
terms of the greatest intimacy. Old Aleida, who
had lost her eyesight through weeping, was a
model of patience. The Abbess Geva, always
surrounded by young ladies of birth whose educa-
tion she superintended, was on the best of terms
with the members of the Order of St. Dominic.*
They formed a devout coterie in which the
utmost cordiality reigned, and of which Peter
may be said to have been the soul. The pious
women loved to hear him discuss the most diffi-
cult theological points, comment on religious
canticles, or explain by means of the circles of
Ptolemy the hymn used at the maidens' ser-
vice, ‘Post te canentes cursitant.' Geva had
never heard a theological controversy. One day
she asked Peter and his Italian companion, Aldo-
brandini, to argue the following question: 'To
whom did Jesus give the most important trust-
Mater quasi fratrum erat.'
A MONASTIC IDYL.
339
11111
DIV
to St. Peter, to whom He left the care of His
Church, or to St. John, to whom He confided
His mother?' Aldobrandini, who belonged to
St. Peter's patrimony, pleaded in favour of the
chief of the Apostles ; the Swede contended for
St. John.
The Minorites, as might have been expected,
decried the little society to which they were not
admitted. They did not even refrain from
calumny, and their malice against Christine was
expressed in all sorts of ways. Though she never
belonged to the Order of St. Dominic, even as
a tertiary, she was nevertheless affiliated to it by
letters of fraternity; her confessors and her confi-
dants were members of the Order; she, therefore,
was virgo devota ordinis Prædicatorum.
This intercourse, which evidently made all the
happiness of two simple minds, furnished Peter
with pictures strikingly truthful, and which would
have a charm of their own if shockingly realistic
details did not too often intrude upon spiritual
effusions, to which, at times, one feels inclined to
say:
"Fallit te incautam pietas tua.'
The tender affection of these saintly persons, the
naïveté with which they describe their pleasure
in being together, the rare qualities which render
them amiable to each other, and the little presents
they exchange, make it all the more painful to
read the passages devoted to the attacks of the
devil, which are invariably ridiculous, and which
CIT
1
22-2
340 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY,
show an utter want of both taste and tact in
the good Peter. It is astonishing to learn that
so faultless a young girl as Christine should have
imagined such horrible things. Sometimes it is a
loathsome toad she feels slowly creeping under
her garments, and sticking its claws into her
flesh; she drives it off; the reptile drops on the
floor with a noise like the fall of an old worn-out
boot. At other times she fancies her food changed
into spiders or toads; she feels the creatures cold
in her mouth, and vomits them forth. On various
occasions she thought a snake was crawling into
her body and devouring her. Once, this halluci-
nation lasted for eight whole days, which seemed
equal to purgatory. The most shocking of those
episodes is the one which brought Peter of Dacia
to Stommeln for the ninth time. No pen could
now be found to transcribe those pages which the
good old Bolland has copied with a firm hand.
Other trials, of a still more delicate nature, are
narrated with the greatest simplicity. In these
souls, ignorant of modern refinements, the purest
thoughts were allied with expressions which would
now be unpardonably coarse.
Christine usually concealed her stigmata, and
expressed annoyance when they were spoken of.
Peter was anxious to see them, and took advan-
tage of the occasions when the hands of his friend
appeared from beneath her veil to steal a glimpse
of them. They generally presented the appear-
ance of red scars, of the size of a penny-piece,
1
A MONASTIC IDYL.
341
YN
7
superficial and varying in width. Sometimes they
resembled red crosses ornamented with flowers;
sometimes they formed a cross from the arms of
which sprang two smaller ones. Sometimes also
the palm of the hand exhibited round the central
wound fifteen red spots, symmetrically arranged.
Her feet showed similar wounds, which bled
frequently. Lastly, her forehead and her heart
presented also the bleeding impression of the
wounds of Christ. At the sight of these wonders
Peter's devotion used to break forth in tears and
enthusiastic exclamations, and sometimes he would
resort to innocent frauds in order to procure for
himself and others the spectacle which filled him
with rapture. “An inward feeling,' he says,
'assured me that the affection I bore to Christine
came from heaven. One day, when he supported
her in his arms during one of her paroxysms, he
had such a blissful sensation as he never before
experienced.
These spiritual delights came to an end about
Easter in the year 1269. Peter of Dacia was
ordered by his superiors to start for Paris, there
to pursue his theological studies. Echard says
that there he very probably had St. Thomas
Aquinas as his master. Be this as it may, Peter
never for a moment forgot his friend during his
sojourn in Paris. Thus arose a correspondence
extending from the Ioth of May, 1269, when Peter
arrived in Paris, until the 27th of July, 1270, when
he left. This correspondence forms one of the
342 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
most curious records which have reached us of the
life of mystics in the thirteenth century. Pre-
served by Peter of Dacia himself, and by Chris-
tine's friends at Stommeln, then transferred to
Juliers with her remains, it was copied at a later
period by Bolland. At first Christine wrote
through the pen of her confessor, Gérard de
Griffon. No doubt she dictated in German.
The Latin of these letters is simple, and quite
different from that of Peter of Dacia. Such
expressions as mille bene valete could not have come
from so elegant a scholar as Peter.
The separation had been cruel. The first letter
Peter wrote to his friend is touching, in spite of
the affectation of pious rhetoric which disfigures
it.* He hesitates to say what he feels, because
he cannot express it, and perhaps, also, because he
ought not to do so. The recollection of the past
fills him with sadness.t He reminds her of the
tears she shed at his departure. He regrets that
he gave way to timidity, that he did not prolong
his leave-taking from her, that he did not salute
her more familiarly for the last time.
Christine's answers are full of tenderness.
Carissimæ in Virginis filio virgini Christi Christina, in
visceribus caritatis in Spiritu Sancto in æternum dilectæ.'
-'Acta SS.,' vol. already quoted, pp. 299, 300.
t . Quum mihi in memoriam venerunt dies præteriti in
quibus in domo Dei ambulabamus, . . . quando interdum,
licet raro et modice ab ubertate domus Dei inebriabamur et
torrente voluptatis potabamur .... 0 commutatio lacry-
mosa, tædiosa, laboriosa.'-— Ibid.
A MONASTIC IDYL.
343
1
She had always hoped that his hands would lay
her in the grave; she still had many confidences
to make to him; her state is worse than ever;
she never thinks of him without tears; she is
confident of his being faithful to her; her only
consolation is to listen to his letters, which she
preserves carefully until his return. She cannot
help feeling sad whenever she sees Brother
Maurice, who accompanied Peter on his last visit
to Stommeln. On that occasion she also could
not express all that was in her thoughts; no one
can ever fill his place in her heart. Above all, she
implores him, for the love of God, if he should
depart from this world, not to leave her long behind,
an exile.
The fifth, eighth, ninth, and tenth letters are
fine examples of mystical literature. Peter en-
deavours to prove that their mutual affection has
and must have only God for its object. This
mysticism does not forbid very ardent expressions.
'I cannot tell you all,' adds Christine, ‘for you
know how easily I blush.'* Peter rebukes her
gently in these words: Conqueror vobis de
absentia Dilecti,' which does not prevent his rush-
ing into transports of metaphysical tenderness.
Letters from Gérard and Maurice and from the
Vobis sicut mihi est in corde non possum, propter eru-
bescentiam quam scitis in me esse, intimare.'-Ibid., p. 307.
† 'Hoc ideo dico quia non solum diligere sed et diligi me
sentio. Conjicio enim de quo exierit caritatis fervore et quo
continebatur verecundiæ virginalis pudore, ac si hoc sit quod
dicitur : Absque es quod intrinsecus latet.'—Ibid., p. 311.
344 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
curé of Stommeln are added to those of Chris-
tine and Peter, and increase their interest. Little
presents, sometimes very simple, very personal,
are exchanged between these pious persons. The
amiable Hilla van den Berghe and the good old
blind Aleida are often mentioned. Maurice tells
Peter all the gossip of the curés house. All
this takes place under the eyes of the superiors,
who, far from finding fault with it, never write to
Peter but to give him news of her whom they call
your beloved Christine.' Then Peter would re-
double his attempts at fine writing, loading his
artificial style with high-sounding phrases, but
being truthful and edifying in spite of all. The
last letter he wrote from Paris, on the state of his
soul, is full of information respecting religious life
in the thirteenth century. In Paris he found
perfect models of piety; but he suffered from
great dryness of soul. It was only when saying
mass that he experienced any real joy: 'Tunc
nova progenies cælo demittitur alto ; tunc redit
et virgo. Heu mihi! dilectissima, quid dixi et
quid nemimi!' This recalls what Fénélon said of
St. Augustine : 'In him alone have I found one
thing of which I will tell you: he is still touching
even when sarcastic.'
About Easter, 1270, Peter was recalled by his
superiors to Cologne. He was delayed on his
way, and did not arrive at Stommeln till the 13th
of August. At first he only intended to make a
brief stay there, but it was prolonged, owing to
A MONASTIC IDYL.
345
several incidents which he considered providential.
The same simplicity and mutual confidence marked
his relations with Christine. She used to provide
for his expenses, and had saved up eight Cologne
in need. The devil stole them. On the 29th
September, Peter paid a last visit to Stommeln.
'Brother Peter,' said Christine, 'as thou art about
to leave me, tell me a great secret. If thou knowest
it, tell me the reason of our mutual affection.'
Peter, taken by surprise, hesitated, and answered
vaguely, 'God is the author of all affection' and
friendship.' 'No,' she said; “I have doubts as
to that answer. I wish to know if thou hast not
received any warning, any special grace in this
respect ?' Peter was embarrassed, and still re-
mained silent. Christine added, “I know that
the moment of our separation and of my desolation
approaches-that is why I am about to reveal to
thee a secret which, but for that, I should not have
disclosed. Do you * remember how, when you
came to see me for the first time, with Brother
Walter, of pious memory, towards twilight, I had
a cushion placed between you and me, upon
which I reclined ??--'Yes, I recollect it.'-'At
that time the Lord appeared to me. I saw my
beloved, and I heard him say, “ Christine, observe
carefully the man beside whom thou art reclining,
because he is, and will always be, thy friend.
The singular and plural are thus interchanged in the
original.
346 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
1
Know, moreover, that he shall be by thy side in
everlasting life.” This is, Brother Peter, the
reason why I love thee and put such confidence in
thee. I reveal this to thee now, though I never
meant to do so, because we shall soon be sepa-
rated ; and I do not know whether we shall ever
see one another again in this life. I therefore
tell thee this that it may give thee consolation.'
Peter departed on the following day. All the
little society of Stommeln started the good Swede
on his way. The account he gives of the
separation is very natural. His companion, a
Swede like himself, was moved to tears. From
that day he became Christine's devotee, and gave
to her his rosary, which he had worn for four years.
Peter had often asked Christine to put in
writing an account of her feelings and trials. She
had complied, through the pen of the curé of
Stommeln. On Peter's departure, she gave him
the papers, and he took them away. These con-
fessions, which the Swede intended as materials for
writing Christine's life, have been preserved, and
show that, in spite of her unsettled imagination, her
that where Christine describes de visu purgatory
and hell.t Her description is rather summary,
*Carissime pater, rogo vos, intuitu Dei et suæ passionis,
quatenus ea quæ vobis narrare propono de amica vestra
diebus vitæ meæ nunquain alicui homini reveletis.'--'Acta
$S.,' same vol. as heretofore, p. 276.
t 'Malleos percutientes, caloris pænam et frigoris.'
A MONASTIC IDYL.
347
NU
and does not equal that of Christine de Saint-
Trond, which has been regarded as a forerunner of
the ‘ Divine Comedy.'
The journey to Sweden was long and difficult.
It took place in the depth of winter, and the cold
that year was intense. Two of Peter's letters
have been preserved ; one dated from Minden,
the other from Halmstad, in the Halland. They
are both beautiful, and make us much regret the
loss of other letters written during the same
journey. The sentiment they express is elevated;
we find no trace of superstition in them. They
deserve to be quoted as models of the ecclesias-
tical Latin of the thirteenth century, which has
a charm of its own; a gentle sadness, or rather a
melancholy gaiety fills them. Peter was credulous,
though honest and affectionate. The promises of
Scripture and the mystic joy of reciprocated love
make him oblivious of the fatigues of the way.
The two pious friends have but one wish: to die
together, not to survive each other even by a day.
On his arrival in Sweden, 6th February, 1271,
Peter was appointed lecturer at Skenninge (dio-
cese of Linköping). He wrote many letters to
Christine; but two years elapsed before he
received one from her. Christine's letters had
to pass through the Dominican Convent at
Cologne, and were often, it seems, detained.
Those of Peter were also much delayed; and
to reach Stommeln, sometimes passed through
Paris. At the Chapter of Aarhuus (1272), Peter
348 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
received at last four of his friend's melancholy
letters. The curé of Stommeln acted as Chris-
tine's secretary at that time. She is now quite
alone; for, though the brothers are full of kind-
ness towards her, she has not found a heart like
that of Peter, compassionate to her infirmities
and understanding her confidences. She lives
on his letters, which she has read to her con-
stantly, and waters with her tears. The demon
tempts her in the most dreadful manner. The
greatest suffering she has experienced was when
for eight days the evil spirit suggested to her this
fearful thought : 'Brother Peter is dead; he has
been killed by robbers.' In one of his letters
Peter has dared to tell her, “You will forget me.'
Does he not know that Christine's sole hope is
to share eternal life with him ? If only she
could write to him herself, and tell him secrets
she can reveal to him alone. She is quite sure
that she has all his heart.* Only on great occa-
sions does she wear the dress he sent her; that
dress must last all her life. He has been so kind
to her! But now what a difference! 'I impose
silence upon my mouth,' she says; ‘for I find
nobody like you-to tell the truth, I do not care
to look. During his journey she was constantly
noticing the wind, thinking of his fatigues, of the
04... Me solam esse vestri. Sed heu ! dilectissime, non
est sicut heri et nudius tertius, quando cum fratre Aldobran.
dino mecum in Ossindorp dignabanimi ire, exhibentes mul-
tam et acceptissimam consolationem.'
A MONASTIC IDYL.
349 -
reception he would meet with. If she should live
after his death, he must try to find a faithful
friend for her, or, better still, ask of God that she
may not survive him. To enter the kingdom of
heaven together, leaning on her beloved-what a
beautiful dream! If possible, he must visit her
once more : unless he does, many wonderful
secrets will remain unknown to everyone.
Caro, cariori, carissimo fratri ... Christina
sua tota. Such is the beginning of another
melancholy letter, bearing date 1272. All her
friends are dead or have left Cologne. Gérard de
Griffon has been appointed prior at Coblentz.
Her father has been ruined, and lives at Cologne
in poverty; her mother broke her arm when going
to see him, and nearly died. Christine is alone in
the farm; the wounds in her feet prevent her
wearing shoes; she is cold, and suffers much.
Peter consoles her; he calls her 'Cor suum et
animæ dimidium,' and once more indulges in
metaphysics. He too has sorrows; he meets
with many difficulties in his Order. But God has
given him new spiritual daughters, some of whom
wear the habit of his Order; others that of the
Béguines; others again lay dresses. One of
them, seventy years old, is favoured with super-
natural gifts. Another leads a life as full of
suffering and ecstasy as that of Christine. She
also sometimes displays stigmata and the signs of
the passion. There is not the slightest trace of
jealousy between those two saintly persons. She
350 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
resembles her father,' writes the Dominican, 'for
she loves you intensely. She calls you her sister,
because I told her you were my daughter.* The
Swedish ecstatic wishes to see Christine, and
Peter hopes some day to see his three miraculous
friends in the same Swedish convent. He dreams
unceasingly of his paradise at Stommeln. Lost
as he is in a wild country,t deprived of communi-
cation with the world, he feels lonely. He re-
quests Christine to greet for him all the Hillas,'
all his old friends. I
Christine's misfortunes increase towards 1276.
Her father dies; she becomes very poor; the
world forsakes her; the farm has been sold ; the
house where they lived together is falling into
ruins. She has no one to whom she can tell her
secrets. Ah, if she could only reveal them to
Peter before her death! Peter has invited her to
enter a convent of Dominican nuns in Sweden.
She dares not start until Peter advises her to do so
by word of mouth. These sad tidings go to Peter's
heart. At any cost he will see her; the year shall
not close without his having had that happiness.
She must come. He has six spiritual daughters,
with whom she will live, and who will supply all
her wants.Ş
'In hoc optime patrizat quod vos miro affectu diliget.
Vocat autem vos semper sororem, eo quod dixi ei vos meam
esse filiam.'
t . In profundo terrarum.'
I Omnes amicos meos antiquos.'
§ His expressions are as burning as ever : 'Ut evidens
A MONASTIC IDYL.
351
The house has come down at last (1277); the
curé is dead; his mother accuses Christine of
having misappropriated his property. Peter can
no longer resist. It seems that, about that time,
he had become lecturer in the island of Gothland,
his own country, no doubt at Wisby (1278).
' Amor improbus omnia vincit,' he constantly says
to himself, and in 1279 he obtains permission to
revisit Cologne under divers pretexts, the chief
being to obtain some of those relics of which the
religious metropolis of Germany was the inex-
haustible emporium. His health was weak, yet
he, who usually swooned several times if he walked
a mile, now performs an enormous journey without
fatigue. The surprise he caused to the pious
women at Stommeln by taking them unawares is
cleverly described. It was the 15th of September,
1279, at the hour of mass. Many persons had
already forgotten him; the wife of the bell-ringer
asked his name and country. On hearing them,
she rushed out, crying hastily, ' Christine, Chris-
tine, come quick !' Christine's delight, her
ecstasy when, after vespers, Peter preached from
a text she had herself selected, may be easily
imagined. She came out of her ecstasy only to
mihi fiat quoniam germani sibi mutuo sint Christus et Chris-
tina, amicus et amica, spousus et sponsa ut in hoc certitu-
dinaliter probem ex quo fonte procedat dilectio qua vos diligo
et a vobis diligor. Carissima, æstimo quod dulcedinem con-
solationis quam littera vestra continebat solus sensit qui
recepit, quia sola novit quæ misit.'
352 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
say twice, ‘Let us love God for all His goodness.'
She was then living with the Recluses or Béguines.
She thought she must take certain precautions
either because she wished to prevent slander, or
because she was beset by one of her usual scruples,
and affected, in her ecstasy, not to recognise her
friend. 'Brother Peter,' said she, “if thou wilt
speak of God, it is well; if not, do what thou hast
to do as quickly as possible and depart, otherwise
we shall soon grow tired of thee.' This strange
behaviour was much talked about. She pretended
next day to have no recollection of it.
Peter remained three days with her, after which
he went to visit his convent at Cologne. Gérard
de Griffon was then sub-prior. He still loved
Christine. She was the only subject of conversa-
tion between him and Peter. On the 30th of
September, the latter returned to Stommeln; and
the Béguines gave a great dinner,* at which all
the confraternity was present. They spoke of the
miracle of St. Agnes, as it is related in the
'Golden Legend,'t of the ring given and accepted
by the image of the saint as a token of her mystical
union. This greatly excited Christine's imagina-
tion. She asserted that a similar thing had hap-
pened to her. “I am,' she said to Peter, ‘going
to tell thee a secret I never before revealed to any
living being. From my childhood I knew thee in
spirit; I could discern thy face and thy voice,
Pulchrum prandium.
† Chapter xxiv.
· A MONASTIC IDYL.
353
and I loved thee so much that I often feared my
affection might become a temptation to me.
Never could I separate the thought of thee from
the object of my prayers. I prayed for thee as
much as for myself, and in all my trials thou wert
my companion. Having long asked God if these
feelings came from Him, I was assured that they
did on the day of St. Agnes; because, during cele-
bration, a ring was openly given me and put on
my finger. And when thou salutedst me for the
first time, I knew thy voice and distinctly re-
cognised thy face. Many other proofs were
divinely given me which modesty prevents my
revealing to thee. For instance, I often received
the distinct impression of a ring. Indeed, the
curé (th en dead) had spoken of having seen that
ring, not painted on the skin, but impressed into
the flesh with various ornaments, sometimes in
the form of a cross, sometimes with the name of
Jesus Christ in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin cha-
racters. The schoolmaster testified to the same
thing.
On the 21st of October, Peter returned to
Stommeln for a farewell visit. He was literally
laden with relics. The parting supper took place
on the evening of the 24th. Christine was not
so melancholy as usual; she even seemed gay.
While saying her vespers under a tree, she had
been assured by Christ Himself that Peter's
journey would be safely accomplished. “I have
planted your mutual love in me, and in me will I
23
354 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
preserve it,' the Saviour added.* On the follow-
ing day, after mass, they dined. Peter pro-
nounced an address upon Convertere, anima
mea, in requiem tuam, quia Dominus benefecit
tibi,' and they parted, after recommending each
other to God.
The letters begin again from that time. From
Lübeck Peter writes three letters at least; one to
Christine, another to John the schoolmaster, the
third to Hilla van den Berghe. He congratulates
the schoolmaster on the favour God has bestowed
on him in confiding to him his tabernacle and his
spouse. He compares him with St. John, to
whom Mary was entrusted. With what delight,
if the Order would allow it, would he change
places with John! He begs to hear of all the
marvels which John may witness. To himself,
Sweden will be a land of exile; he will be like
Adam driven from Paradise. His letter to Hilla
van den Berghe is charming. He pays her a
passing compliment on her virtue and simplicity.
From Calmar (January 3rd, 1280) Peter writes
again to Christine, to John, and to the Béguines
of Stommeln. The letter to Christine is more
ardent in its mysticism than ever.t. People evi-
* 'Ego amorem vestrum mutuum in me plantavi, et in me
eum conservabo.
† They both can say 'Diligo et diligor.' After in scholastic
fashion putting to himself the question : 'Diligenda est ergo
Christina ?' Peter enumerates the reasons, 'quia expressa est
Christi similitudo ... In verbis ejus Christus auditur ...
In præsentia ejus Christi figura cernitur ... In convictu
TO
A MONASTIC IDYL.
355
2
dently used to smile at his transports. "Well,' he
says, 'the world may rail at me, slander me, con-
demn me; it will not prevent me from loving the
spouse of my God, from loving in her, her spouse,
himself.'* There is no danger of his loving
Christine more than Christ; for it is the rule that
'the cause of a thing is greater than the thing
itself.' + Christine has led him to honour, to love,
to enjoy Christ. Peter congratulates John on his
having been appointed 'servant, secretary, and
chaplain to the spouse of God. It would have
made him so happy to be chosen to fill even one
of those offices!
Peter resumes his functions as lecturer at
Wisby. Christine's letters in the years 1280-82
relate demoniacal trials still more cruel than be-
fore. John the schoolmaster is her secretary, and
sometimes describes these strange occurrences in
his own language. The demons torment Christine
incredibly; one day they cut off her head, which
does not prevent her from triumphing over them,
and enduring purgatory for the curé. Far from
combating these follies, the schoolmaster encour-
ages her in what we can only call her madness.
ejus Christus sentitur, et (ut cuncta brevi verbo concludamus)
ecce Christus in ea omnia factus est vel potius omnia fecit.'
-Acta SS.,' vol. already quoted, pp. 328 and fol., 416,
417.
Clamet ergo mundus, irrideat, detrahat, irascatur et
dehortetur, sponsam tamen Domini mei ex intimo corde meo
diligam propter sponsum ipsum.'
† 'Propter quod unumquodque, ipsum magis.'
23—2
356 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
1
The poor girl has other more serious cares: she
wishes to place* her brother Séguin in the Order
of St. Dominic. Everybody is poor at Stommeln.
The schoolmaster has lost his pupils; he is
starving. He is about to be ordained priest;
Peter must send from Sweden all the requisites
for his first mass. Christine entreats Peter to
come again. Nothing goes right without him at
Stommeln. What is to become of her if the
schoolmaster is obliged to go away? They are
both thinking of leaving the country and joining
the Dominicans in Sweden. The Dominicans of
Cologne help them, though not willingly. Séguin
enters the Order on the 29th of August, 1282;
his admission required Peter's most active inter-
vention. The schoolmaster and his brother are
also very anxious to be admitted. But, in the
eyes of the chiefs of the Order, practical reasons
had more weight than the spiritual vocation of
the candidates. They must learn some useful
trade, without which their admission is very
doubtful.'
Peter warmly encourages Christine's wish to
start for Sweden. A Swedish gentleman, a friend
of the Dominicans, had two sisters, who both
wore the habit of St. Dominic. They were long
the only nuns of the Order in Sweden. One of
them was named Christine; she is dead. Let
Christine of Stommeln come and fill her place.
To remove all doubts, the good Swede writes to
* Collocare.
A MONASTIC IDYL.
357
Christine himself. Two sisters, both Béguines,
offer to share their house with her. The Domi-
nican convent is definitely founded. Peter re-
doubles his entreaties; Berthold, Prior of Wisby,
joins in them. Christine has her prebend assured;
she may wear what dress she likes, either the one
she wears now or that of the Order. Peter had
evidently succeeded in inculcating all his Swedish
brethren with his ideas of Christine’s saintliness.
At Cologne, the Superiors seem to think that this
canonization of living people is rather dangerous.
One of the letters addressed to her from the con-
vent bears a superscription which one might be
tempted to suppose ironical: Christine in Stuin-
bele, frater . . . salutem mentis et corporis. It is
also noteworthy that Peter's letters are much
more simply addressed than they used to be.
Peter, appointed Prior of Wisby in the close of
1283, obtains permission for Christine's brother
to be sent to his convent. In 1285, he despairs
of ever seeing her again; he has a fever. All
communication is stopped, war having broken out
between the island of Gothland and the Continent.
In 1286 he again begins to hope. He tells Chris-
tine that he is about to start with his provincial
for the general chapter to be held (at Bordeaux) in
the following year. He will visit Stommeln on
his way back. He hopes to be there about the
24th of June. His letter expresses some fears.,
The reserve Christine sometimes showed on his
last visit had, it seems, weighed upon his heart.
358 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
It is more than probable that Peter made his
journey to Bordeaux in 1287. On the ist of June
of that year. we find him at Louvain. From that
town he writes to his friends at Stommeln. This
journey, undertaken to console them, has enfeebled
him; he now wants them to console him. He
limps badly. with the left foot, his strength is
exhausted; but all this does not prevent his
hoping to see them in the course of the following
week.
No doubt he carried out his intention, though
we have no precise proof of it. As it is certain
that he returned to Wisby, we can hardly suppose
that he omitted to visit a spot which lay on
his road and was so dear to him. The letter
announcing Peter's death, written by Brother
Folquin, his constant companion, and sent from
Wisby to Christine, was found in the correspon-
dence she left behind; but the date of the year is not
given. Echard, who has corrected Papebroch's
errors relating to this period, believes it was 1288.
The good Folquin asks Christine to take him
henceforth as her intimate friend* in Peter's
place, and to confide all her secrets to him. We
possess no more of these documents, stamped
with such truthfulness in spite of the strange
aberrations they relate. What Christine dreaded
as the worst of all her trials occurred. She sur-
vived her friend many years, since she did not die
till 1312.
Familiarem,
A NIONASTIC IDYL.
359
From the first, Peter intended to write a life of
Christine, for the edification of the Christian
world-partly as an eye-witness, partly compiled
from her letters to him, and partly from the
attempt, a kind of preliminary book, entitled 'De
virtutibus sponsæ Christi Christinæ,' was sent by
him to Stommeln. The schoolmaster read it to
Christine. It is a vague composition, scarcely
intelligible, bearing no indication of time, place,
or person, relating no more to Christine .than
to any other ecstatic, so that the Bollandists
thought it useless to publish it. The most curious
thing about it is that Christine did not recognise
the portrait of herself. You must know,' says the
schoolmaster, that I have read to her from begin-
ning to end the part you sent me, in which you
speak figuratively of your daughter Christine :
she was wonderfully comforted by it, and listened
with so much simplicity that she exclaimed in
wonder: “But he never spoke to me of that
person!”!! John asks anxiously for the rest.
Christine herself says that she had it read to her
· twice, and it gave her great pleasure. ' But what
surprises me,' she adds, “is that in all these years
of intimacy, you never said one word to me of
this girl, this friend.'*
3
'Et supra modum admiror, quum mihi tam multis tem-
poribus familiaris fueritis, quare mihi de hac filia seu amica
nunquam mentionem aliquam fecistis.' -'Acta SS.,' vol.
above quoted, pp. 335, 337, 343, 418, 425.
360 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Fortunately, Peter did not rest satisfied with
this unsatisfactory attempt. He wrote a minute
and accurate account of his visits to Stommeln,
inserting all the letters at his disposal. This
important narrative does not go farther than 1282.
In the meantime, by Peter's advice, John the
schoolmaster, on his. part, wrote a description of
the marvels related to him by Christine, and which
he believed he had witnessed. John had not Peter's.
high mind and purity of heart. He lived on the
poor girl, and made capital out of a friendship
which brought him into contact with a wealthy
religious Order. The Bollandists had the courage
to publish this tedious composition, which it is
impossible to read, and painful even to glance
at. In it Christine is subjected to the tortures of
purgatory countless times.* Still more innumer-
able are the demons which beset her. Once the
schoolmaster reckons their number at trecenti et
tria inillia, that is, three thousand three hundred.
Papebroch writes in the margin 'three hundred
and three thousand,'t which is too many. The
tortures inflicted on her by serpents and toads
are described with revolting realism. The account
of the demon of the acedia is, however, not devoid
of interest. A squalid demon appears to her; to
his rags hang little phials full of poison. “I am,'
says he, the demon who entraps the greatest
Acta SS.,' vol. already quoted, pp. 391, 392, 393, 394,
400, 454.
† Ibid., pp. 348, 385.
A MONASTIC IDYL.
361
number of monks. I pour over them the contents
of my little phials, and, filled with dislike for religious
life, their appetite for earthly things is excited.
This has just happened to thy brother, Séguin.'
So long as Christine's sufferings are confined
to herself there is nothing in them to surprise
those conversant with the symptoms of nervous
disease in women. The peculiarity of the illusions
produced by such disease is to transform inward
sensations into phenomena supposed to be external.
But it is another thing when those strange stories
relate to so-called facts, to events of the time.
What are we to think, for instance, of the in-
credible story of seven brigands whom Christine
is said to have converted by means of prodigies
which are supposed to have been witnessed by the
whole country? Psychological and pathological
explanations no longer suffice to account for such
stories, and we must confess that the dull con-
science of those troubled times admitted a laxity
in the matter of truth-telling which could not be
tolerated by the enlightened and rigorous con-
science of our days.
The schoolmaster's narrative ends in November,
1286, almost at the time when Christine received
Peter's letter informing her of his intended journey
in 1287. Very likely this news interrupted John's
narrative. What could be the use of writing
stories which Christine herself would soon be able
to relate ? If, as Echard believes, Peter revisited
Stommeln in the summer of 1287, we must also
362 NEW YT
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
admit, with that learned critic, that he received
from Christine and took to Sweden the manuscript
dictated at his request and for his use.
Besides the letters given by Peter of Dacia in
the account of his relations with Christine, several
addressed to her are to be found in the Juliers
manuscript. We have analyzed them, following,
as much as possible, their chronological order.
We will here point out a letter from Brother
Aldobrandini, which, though written in the involved
style of a student of rhetoric, is yet interesting, and
gives a better idea than any of the others of the
childish naïveté of the little society at Stommeln.
A letter from Brother Maurice, dated Paris,
deserves also to be quoted. The poor brother is
quite lost in the house in the Rue St. Jacques.
The change of diet has been very trying to him:
'I am now obliged to devour rotten eggs, given
out more stingily than the eggs of Eifel which
our brothers at Cologne eat. Oh! when I think
of the fresh eggs and vegetables we used to eat,
while, seated round the saucepan, we watched the
meat boiling! How many times I go back in
spirit to that Egypt of Stommeln! And my com-
panions are like me: we would all go there in the
body, even if Stommeln were ten miles farther
from Paris than it is from Cologne ! He knows
he is watched; he dares not avow the friendship
he has for her, "for fear of the Jews.'* He
• An allusion to the propter metum judæorum, often re-
peated in the Gospel according to St. John.
A MONASTIC IDYL.
. 363
cautions her not to show his letter to anyone, lest,
through ill-natured interpretations, it might bring
a severe reprimand on the writer. He adds, in
a postscript: 'Tell Dame Beatrix to prepare fresh
eggs and cherry jam for the friars on their way back
from the chapter, and to remember me, seeing that
she is so well provided for amongst the Béguines.'*
We must also mention a letter from Brother
Folquin, specifying the little presents he is send-
ing from Sweden to Stommeln. They consist of
horn spoons, some black, others white with black
handles. A pious letter, addressed to Christine by
a young English monk, shows that she inspired
the same feelings in very different persons.
This collection of documents, in Christine's
possession at Stommeln, passed, along with her
body, into the hands of the Canons of Juliers.
There Bolland copied them almost entirely; Pape-
broch published them in spite of their prolixity,
and added to them anotherLife of Christine,'
composed by a monk of the Dominican Convent
at Cologne, between 1312 and 1325, perhaps in
view of her canonization. This life does not
throw any fresh light on the original papers. It
merely informs us that the trials of the saint
ended in 1288. According to the author, this
coincided with an event famous in that country,
the battle of Woringen, fought between Siffroi,
Archbishop of Cologne, and John, Duke of
Brabant (June 5, 1288). Christine’s intercession
Acta SS.,' vol. already referred to, pp. 410, 412.
364 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
influenced, they say, the issue of that battle ; she
saved the souls of many of the combatants by
taking upon herself the torments they had de-
served. After this she lived in perfect peace. The
fact that she was then forty-six years old, and
had probably heard of Peter's death, no doubt did
more to cure her than the battle of Woringen.
By his simple admiration, Peter unintentionally
encouraged a state fatal to the recovery of his
friend.
The volume of the Bollandists containing these
curious records appeared in time for Father
Echard to read them, and to submit them to
acute criticism in the first volume of the 'Scrip-
tores ordinis Prædicatorum.' He points out
several erroneous suppositions into which Pape-
broch had been led by imperfect acquaintance
with the private history of the Dominican Order.
Christine lived for twenty-four years in the
exercise of a piety, less extraordinary than that to
which she owed her celebrity. The advanced
age she attained shows that her excitable tem-
perament at last grew calm. She died on the
6th of November, 1312. She was quietly interred
in the cemetery at Stommeln, but soon a rumour
of miracles performed by her intercession attracted
attention to her grave. About 1315 or 1320, her
body was exhumed and placed in the church
at Stommeln. In 1342 it was transferred to
Nideggen, on the Roer; and, about 1584, to
Juliers, where it still rests in a little mausoleum
A MONASTIC IDYL.
365
at the entrance of the choir. Her name is still
held in veneration, although the first steps towards
her canonization, taken shortly after her death,
were never followed up. It was through the
stigmata of St. Catherine of Sienna that the Order
of St. Dominic compensated itself for the stigmata
of Francis of Assisi. Christine is commemorated,
not on the anniversary of her death, but on the
22nd of June, perhaps the day when her remains
were transferred to Juliers.
Christine's reputation for holiness scarcely ex-
tended beyond the neighbourhood of Clèves and
Juliers. She has often been mistaken for Chris-
tine de Saint-Trond, who, being more widely
known, may be said to have absorbed her name-
sake, as sometimes happens in hagiography.
Thus the stigmata attributed to Christine de
Saint-Trond are a sort of larceny from Christine
de Stommeln. The Bollandists have proved that
St. Christine de Saint-Trond was never known to
exhibit stigmata. The designation of Sponsa
Christi,' bestowed on both these holy women, led
to other confusions.
In our time a 'Life of Christine' has been
written by M. Wollersheim,* an ecclesiastic of the
Diocese of Cologne. The principles of this bio-
grapher were nearly the same as those of Joseph
Gerres. He admitted the reality of the facts re-
corded in the Bollandists. He collated with the
Das Leben der ekstatischen Jungfrau Christina von
Stommeln.' Cologne, 1859, small 8vo.
366 NEW SP
N
.
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORYoriginal manuscripts several of the texts published
by Papebroch, and often corrected them. He
was unacquainted with Echard's observations ;
but, to the data of his predecessors, he added
many particulars which could only have been
obtained in Christine's native place.
M. Alfred Maury ranked the saint among the
ecstatics and stigmatized persons, with whom
physiology will henceforth associate her.* In
future, poor Christine will probably be studied
only as a patient. Yet, to do her justice, we must
not forget her love-story. The human heart will
always assert its rights. It triumphs alike over
the coldest materialism and over the most unreal
mysticism. Between the doctors who would
stretch her on the rack of experiment, and the
faithful who would place her on an altar, Chris-
tine, thanks to Peter of Dacia, remains an inter-
esting study for those who love to search for the
little flower in the half-frozen fjords of Norway,
to discover the sunbeam in polar regions, the
smile of the soul in the most melancholy ages,
genuine emotion in the midst of the strangest
delusions. There are times when the Loffoden
Islands and the gloomy Archipelago of Tromsoë
are as much to us as Ischia and Capri; no doubt
their hours of beauty are infinitely more rare; but
in those hours we feel that there is indeed in this
world only one sun, one sea, one sky.
O Revue des deux Mondes of the ist of November, 1854,
essay on the 'Hallucinations of Christian Mysticism.'
RELIGIOUS ART.
THOSE who have pondered over the delicate
problem of the intimate connection between art
and religion, will read with much pleasure and
profit the excellent pages in which M. Coquerel
has, with unusual frankness, expressed the scruples
of a liberal Protestant with regard to. Italian art.*
I do not believe a more just and accurate view of
that difficult subject has ever been formed. Ardent
piety does not necessarily imply sound taste; pure
and lofty religious sentiments do not always ac-
company appreciation of the plastic arts. What
charms us in M. Coquerel is the union of two
qualities seldom found together: the spiritual
religion produced by the teaching of the Reformed
Churches in noble hearts and lofty minds; and
the feeling for form which we are wont to consider
an especial glory of the Roman Catholic Church,
and which the peculiar conditions of its worship
have, in fact, helped to develop.
The judgments of Protestants on Italy are gener:
0 'Des beaux arts en Italie, au point de vue religieux,' by
Ath. Coquerel, jun., assistant minister of the Reformed Church
of Paris. Paris, 1857.
368 NEW T
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
ally very severe. Those of M. Coquerel have a sym-
pathy, a broadness, a spirit of justice and tolerance,
which leave impartial philosophy nothing to desire.
No one could rise higher above sectarian preju-
dices, or regard beliefs he does not share from a
point of view more truly Christian. Often, no
doubt, M. Coquerel becomes critical; but criticism
of great things always includes praise, and is, in
a certain sense, only a tribute to their greatness.
In art, as in the development of her political,
moral, and religious history, Italy often touches
the lowest depths; she is seldom mediocre; we
hate her--and end by loving even her faults. She
is truly the scarlet woman of the Apocalypse, who
seduced the world; but where would the world
have been but for the poison she poured over it ?
The decadence of art is seen in Italy more
emphatically than anywhere else; one might
almost say that, without visiting Italy, we can
form no idea of bad taste in full display and un-
checked insolence. I never saw any church in
Paris which could even suggest the architectural
extravagance of Borromini, or the absurdities
encountered at every step in the streets of Rome
and Naples. Yet that bad taste is never vulgar;
it always has character, and one grows almost to
like it. I remorsefully remember having more
than once caught myself taking pleasure in the
Giesià and other edifices which my reason told me
were puerile and meretricious. Italy is never
either coarse or dull. Excepting in a few northern
1.
RELIGIOUS ART.
369
towns, more or less subjected to French influence,
everything there is alive and real, everything bears
the impress of personality. No one, walking down
our finest streets—the 'Rue de l'Université,' or
the 'Rue de Varenne,' for instance_would dream
of stopping to look at any of those gorgeous
mansions which, in Italy, would be termed palaces
In the streets of an Italian city, on the contrary,
we are tempted to stop before each balcony and
each doorway. The paintings or the sculptures
they exhibit were not made merely because it is
the duty of a great State to encourage art; the
buildings were not erected only to employ so many
masons. Everything has its own style; every-
thing is either bad or good, because it is the work
of an individual, and satisfies some real want.
Italy owes half, and perhaps the most durable
half, of her glory to religious art. The schools
of Sienna and Perugia, the domes of Pisa and
Orvieto, anterior at least to a certain extent to
the Renaissance, have often been quoted as
expressing the ideal of purely Christian art. I
might be reproached with hypercriticism were I
to maintain that the productions of Italy in the
Middle Ages (excepting of course those of Angelico
da Fiesole) are more artistic than Christian in
their tendency; and that the cathedrals of Pisa,
Orvieto, and Sienna are perfect buildings in a
worldly sense rather than stamped with a high
religious ideal. I shall therefore confine myself, in
order to avoid all appearance of paradox, to saying
24
370 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORYEL
.
that, . generally, the forms given by Italy to
Christian art scarcely satisfy all the various senti-
ments—the gravity, the sadness, the poetry, the
morality—which northern nations introduce into
their religion. We have only two conceptions
of Christian art: the first takes the mediaval
form, austere, sublime, in keeping with the faith
of masses of men, rough and uncultured, though
imbued with profound religious sentiment; the
second takes the modern form, represented as yet
only by a few illustrious examples, but destined
to a great future (if anything is to have a future)
--a form more abstract, more refined, correspond-
ing less with a faith generally accepted and
dogmatically defined than with individual senti-
ment. Never was the problem of religious art
more completely solved than in the Middle Ages,
in the sense that at no other period of the history
of mankind did religion manifest itself in forms
more imposing or coming closer to the Deity.
The mediæval church is a living whole, like the
cherub of Ezekiel, speaking in every particle of its
being, breathing out through every pore the hymn
of infinitude. Its porticoes, its walls, its floors, its
windows, are an encyclopædia wherein we find the
image of the world, the history of mankind and
the secrets of the future. It has an outward
voice--the bells, themselves sacred objects, bear-
. ing their own names, and having an almost bap-
tismal consecration ; it has an inward voice—the
solemn chants issuing from many powerful throats;
r
1
RELIGIOUS ART.
371
it has its celestial court in the saints sculptured
on its pillars, drawn on its cupolas and ceilings,
painted on its windows; it has its hell in the
terrible images blended with heavenly visions.
Ugliness itself finds its place here as a dissonance
necessary in the kingdom of God; it asserts itself
in those inferior creatures who show their heads
here and there, degraded, but made subservient
to the triumph of beauty.
In our time, when religion has become so
much more individualized, we cannot hope for
such high harmony: outward pageants have little
effect on us; architecture, which only lives by the
multitude, cannot lay the foundations of a great
future in beliefs which, when they escape from
dry officialism, tend more and more to be con-
fined within the heart. But music may find fit
themes in religious emotion. And painting, above
all, by interpreting religious symbols, and finding
in them motives for lofty thoughts and grand
sentiments, may elevate and purify the soul with-
out theatrical display, without mystical refine--
ments, and without archäological subtleties.
It is obvious that religious art, in the sense just
indicated, is not to be found in Italy. Such art,
the fruit of that refinement in thought and senti-
ment attained by cultured minds of late years, has
a complex origin : Protestantism, philosophy,
German idealism, the pure and noble feelings which
in England have given rise to Unitarianism and
other exalted forms of Christianity, have all contri-
24-2
372 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
buted to it; but Italy has had nothing to do with
it. Did the great Christian art of the Middle Ages
flourish better there ? It is difficult to say Italy
never had a Middle Age; she remained ancient
very late, and became modern very early; the
sentiment of the infinite, the greatest acquisition
made by mankind during its thousand years of
slumber, does not exist for her. Excepting at
Milan and Naples, Italy has no important struc-
ture which can be called Gothic; and that name
itself is to her synonymous with barbaric.* The
Duomo at Milan is an isolated structure; and,
moreover, its exotic origin is seen in the cold and
artificial air which characterises all imitations.
Naples, owing to her Norman and Angevine
dynasties, had some really Gothic buildings. But
it is curious to see what has become of them.
M. Vitett shows by a curious instance how the
architectural forms of a country will eventually
prevail over those imposed upon it; how a
Byzantine church with five cupolas, a regular
copy of St. Mark of Venice, planted at Péri-
gueux towards the close of the tenth century, has
become a church without any external prominence,
* I have no doubt the word Gothic, whose origin has given
rise to so many controversies, is Italian. The memory of Italy
gave to all the barbaric destroyers of the Roman empire indis-
criminately the name of Goti; gotico became thus synony-
mous with barbaric; Gothic times are barbaric times, and
this is why the Renaissance in its contempt for mediæval
edifices called them gotici.
† Journal des Savants, February, 1853.
RELIGIOUS ART.
373
heavily surmounted by a great double - storied
roof. Naples did exactly the same. “She took
infinite pains and expended enormous sums in
transforming Gothic into Italian churches. The
graceful pillars which rose to the summit were
encased in a thick coating of stucco, so as to form
a heavy column of sham marble with a huge gilt
capital. Pointed arches became round arches.
The vaults in which the bold mediæval moulding
used to be intertwined were concealed under a
coloured ceiling or pretentious paintings. This is
not the history of one exceptional church ; it is the
history of all the churches of the capital and the
chief towns in the kingdom.' They say that Pius
VII. in the same spirit admired nothing in Paris
but the Virgin's Chapel in the Church of St. Sul-
pice, with its oppressively gorgeous decoration.
The fact is that Italy, even when Christian, is
always classical and still a little pagan. The in-
finite displeases and wearies her. In this respect
Rome usually surprises Catholics who bring thither
their Northern imagination. Those massive walls
and heavy ceilings, that absence of perspective
and mystery, are painful to them. The papacy and
the Roman Court, having become Italian after
the great schism, had no stronger wish than to
revert to ancient and purely Roman art, just as
Arnold of Brescia and Colà de Rienzi, dreaming
of a political part to be played by their country,
had but one idea,—to recreate the senate and the
374 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOỤS HISTORY.
tribunes. All the Christian art of modern Italy
has the effect to me of the Gospels translated into
Latin verse; it is like the poetry of Prudentius and
Sedulius. It is a strange mistake to suppose that
Rome has preserved any tradition of primitive
Christian art. It is now proved, for example,
that the chants of the Sistine Chapel, which were
supposed to bear traces of very ancient Christian
music, are only an echo of the poorest dramatic
music of the eighteenth century, inferior in an-
tiquity as in taste to the plain song of our humblest
villages. *
After the close of the sixteenth century, and
the great reaction represented by the Council
of Trent, Pius VI., and Charles Borromeo, Italian
art, I know, suddenly altered its character;
it became Catholic, or rather Jesuitic; but it was
not at all more Christian. It was devoid of lofty
ideas; Spanish materialism, in its revolting credu-
lity, dominated it entirely. Do the canvases
of Barbieri Guercino reveal any high conceptions
i of moral beauty? No; they are but the coarse
assertions of an orthodoxy which crushes the
object it would embrace, of a pious realism which
must touch where it ought to be content with
believing, and which, like St. Thomas, brutally
thrusts its fingers into the wound. When entering
the Giesù, or any of the Neapolitan churches, do
0 Vide M. F. Danjou's report in the Archives des Missions
scientifiques, published by the French Ministry of Public
Instruction, November, 1850, p. 631 and fol.
RELIGIOUS ART.
375
.
we realize the dignity of humanity, or the infinite
glory of God ? Certainly not; all care for har-
mony and beautiful form has disappeared ; it is no
longer a question of ennobling and purifying the
faithful who come to pray: the sole aim is to do
honour to a material object containing the real
presence of the Deity by a gorgeous pageantry
similar to that surrounding Eastern potentates.
Such a display would indeed have seemed puerile
in mediæval churches, where God was not enclosed
in a tabernacle a few feet wide, and where holy
awe filled the whole edifice; but here God dwells
in one particular spot, and as we approach that
spot we require a crescendo of gorgeous ornaments,
draperies, twisted columns, railings, canopies, etc.
M. Coquerel appears to me to have expressed
with perfect justice this essentially materialistic
character of what may be called devout art.
Art is only at its ease when it is symbolic-
reality oppresses and lowers it. But in modern
Italy symbols are always taken for reality;
they become direct objects of worship, and
consequently exclude art. A statue is supposed
to do honour to some sacred personage not
by its beauty, but by its rich attire. Misled by
the Spanish notions that saints and the Deity Him-
self are flattered by the pecuniary sacrifices made
for them, believers lavish gold and precious stones
upon it. The more massive a silver image is, the
greater is the merit of the donor-masterpieces are
valued by weight. This is why Naples, the most
376 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Catholic city in the world, in the sense we have
just indicated, is at the same time the least
artistic: outside the museums one finds not a
single work of any merit. The same phenomenon re-
curs wherever Catholic piety is predominant. The
ultramontane school of our day, which cannot be
accused of inconsistency, has declared that the
works of the great masters are out of place in
churches, and has given the preference to gilded
statues, or pictures artistically worthless but more
capable of exciting devotion. That certainly is
not the sentiment which Raphael, Michael Angelo,
or Titian excite in us. The productions of these
great men, like all that is stimulating and ele-
vating, elevate our opinion of human nature,
raise man in his own esteem, and inspire him with
a sort of proud freedom which is not precisely
Christian piety. In a very interesting appendix,
entitled Iconography of the Immaculate Con-
ception,' with which M. Coquerel closes his work,
there is a curious illustration of the errors into
which a form of worship may fall by becoming
more and more materialistic,-I speak of the
directions given by two Belgian bishops as to the
manner in which the new dogma is to be pic-
torially represented. If such rules had existed in
Raphael's time, should we have had those charm-
ing Madonnas, so little orthodox, but so truly
religious, inasmuch as they are the perfect ex-
pression of beauty ?
I must not be accused of taking too seriously
RELIGIOUS ART.
377
harmless platitudes, appropriate even in their in-
feriority to the simple public, for whom they are
destined. The coarse realism which corrupts re-
ligious art extends much further than is generally
supposed. It has surprised and pained me to
detect it in the last works of a man who did honour
to art by the seriousness with which he treated it,
and by the dignity of his character. Some time
before his death, M. Delaroche wished to paint
Scriptural scenes. Instead of seeking in those
admirable subjects themes whose simplicity and
grandeur would have conveyed a lofty moral, he
endeavoured to depict the Gospels as he had
depicted history; he worked on apocryphal anec-
dotes, he sought pathos in minute details and
material objects. Instead of rendering the general
sentiment of a scene, he dwelt on circumstances
which had not even a traditional consecration-
the Virgin in contemplation before the crown of
thorns; St. Peter, on the return from Calvary,
carrying the same crown, and similar subjects
embodying only the materialistic idea of a 'relic.'
Instead of the Gospel, he painted the Apocrypha,
the visions of Mary of Agreda or of Catherine
Emmerich. It is, no doubt, possible that in
Christ's last hours there occurred scenes affecting
from a purely human point of view ; but for high
art those do not exist. There is only one incom-
parable symbol, consecrated by mankind, adopted
by everyone, and to which nothing may be added.
Anecdotical painting applied to such subjects is a
378 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
1
profanation; yet in these days materialism so
pervades religion that no one protested against
the sacrilege, and almost everybody was weak
enough to applaud it.
Artists must not be theologians. They must
not invent dogmas for their own use, but rest
satisfied with broadly interpreting old texts con-
secrated by faith. All which tends to give his-
torical reality to those scenes for which we have
a conventional standard ought to be deprecated.
Archæology itself has its limits. For instance, I
cannot forgive M. Vernet for having transformed
the patriarchs of the Bible into Bedouins wear-
ing the burnous. I will not cavil over details
with that clever artist; I will not insist upon the
circumstance that the burnous is not exactly the
costume of Eastern Arabs, that neither the name
nor the thing are often found out of Africa ; I will
forget that the Crimean Jews, whom M.Vernet says
he took as models, * are, with the Jews of Abys-
sinia, almost the only. Jews in the world who do
not belong to the race of Israel. But I venture
to regret that a grand and remote ideal should
have been dwarfed to the proportions of genre
painting. Like subjects taken from the Gospels,
though in a less degree, subjects drawn from patri-
archal history are consecrated by tradition; and it
is far more important to give expression to the
See a highly interesting pamphlet entitled 'Opinions
sur certains rapports qui existent entre le costume des anciens
Hébreux et celui des Arabes modernes' (Paris, 1856), p. 16.
RELIGIOUS ART.
379
sentiment or the idea attached to them, than to
represent the manner in which the facts actually
took place.
I should never end were I to utter all the re-
flections suggested to me by M. Coquerel's excel-
lent book. Protestantism has often been taunted
with want of artistic sentiment. This may have
been true at certain epochs and in certain branches
of the great Protestant family; but such a reproach
can no longer be made general. M. Coquerel's
book contains the purest, and for us the only
possible theory of religious art. From theory to
practice there is only one step; I have no doubt
that the Reformed Churches of France will be
able to take it. Every religion has had recourse to
art in order to attain its aim of raising man to the
comprehension of his celestial origin and his mys-
terious destiny. The zeal of the Iconoclasts may
have been laudable, so long as it was feared that
symbols might become objects of worship and
excuses for superstition in the minds of ignorant
people. Such apprehensions can no longer exist
in the Reformed Churches, and M. Coquerel's
book is the best proof that Protestantism has
every essential for the development of a very noble
art at no distant future.
THE CONGREGATIONS ‘DE AUXILIIS.'
AN EPISODE IN THE HISTORY OF THEOLOGY.*
DURING the last years of the sixteenth century,
while Papists and Huguenots were cutting each
other's throats in Europe, and Montaigne, the
only sage of those days, was laughing at them
both on his small estate in Perigord, a war, quite
as desperate, though less bloody, was raging in
The details contained in the following narrative are all
extracts from the original documents, viz.: 1°. ‘Acta omnia con-
gregationum ac disputationum quæ coram SS. Clemente VIII.
et Paulo V., summis pontificibus, sunt celebratæ in causa et
controversia illa magna de auxiliis divinæ gratiæ, quas dis-
putationes ego F. Thomas de Lemos, eadem gratia adjutus,
sustinui contra plures ex Societate.' Lovanii, 1707, folio. 2º.
Historia congregationum de auxiliis divinæ gratiæ' (by Father
Serry, under the pseudonym of Auguste Leblanc). Lovanii,
1700, folio. 3º. ' Abrège de l'histoire de la congregation de
Auxiliis. Frankfort, 1687, without the mention of the author's
name, to which is added : 'Brevis enarratio actorum omnium,
ad compendium redactorum, quæ circa controversiam de
auxiliis divinæ gratiæ,' etc., by Father Nugnez Coronel, secre-
tary to the congregations. I have been unable to consult
the history of the Jesuit Meyer. But I have compared the
account of the two Dominicans with that given by the most
orthodox church historians and those most favourable to the
Society of Jesus.
.
11de
THE CONGREGATIONS ‘DE AUXILIIS. 381
Spain between the Jesuits and the preaching
friars, under the rival flags of Bañez and of
Molina. The cause of the contest was physical
predeterinination. Pray do not smile, reader; this
quarrel was to inspire Pascal, to be the cause of
Arnold's persecution, to destroy Port-Royal, and,
for more than a century, to convulse Catho-
licism. The day may come when posterity will
laugh at our struggles, just as we now laugh at
the struggles of the past. And yet, after all,
· honour be to a century capable of a passion for
abstract subtleties! No one will ever accuse our
century of such an aberration.
1.
Predetermination, or physical premotion, the
latest product of Scholasticism, that is to say, of
that singular combination of credulity and pre-
sumptuous rationalism which was the snare of the
human mind in the period of its decrepitude, was
in reality only a supposititious child of St. Thomas.
It originated with Bañez; but it was the name of
the ' Angelic Doctor' that made its fortune, and
attracted its crowd of followers. Adopted by a
powerful Order, it became almost an article of faith.
The Dominican Father Jacques assures us that
the angels who rejected the doctrine of predestina-
tion, which had been put to them as a test, were
turned intodemons.* According to another author,
* "Nova Cassiopex stella' (Ist edition, Langres, 1667),
chaps. i. and ii.
382 ' NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
this dogma was the subject of the dispute be-
tween St. Peter and Simon the Magician, in
consequence of which the latter avowed himself
a heretic. It was also formally professed by
Aristotle.* According to the Predestinarians, God
forestalls the human will, and compels the action
which appears to be one of choice. The freedom
of man, under the direction of God, is like that
of a pupil when being taught to write by his
master, or of a child carried by a giant.f The
common-sense of the laity may think that a hand ·
guided by another deserves but little credit for
writing well, and that the liberty of a child in the
arms of a giant is rather limited. No matter;
the Thomists affirmed positively that liberty and
predestination could coexist. When they were
asked how that marvel worked, they simply re-
plied, 'O altitudo!
At the same time that the new theory was
gaining new disciples, terrible storms were raised
against it. The Jesuit Montemajor, a theologian
of Salamanca, was the first to draw the sword,
and attack, in a solemn thesis, the creation of
Bañez. The latter defended his work, and de-
nounced to the Inquisition at Valladolid sixteen
propositions taken from his adversary's thesis.
In those days it was a point of honour with the
Jesuits that not one of their body had incurred
theological censure. They all sided with Monte-
** Lemos, “ Acta, col. 1049-1059.
t Ibid., col. 1108.
THE CONGREGATIONS 'DE AUXILIIS. 383
major. War was declared. Theologians were
already flocking round the two champions, when
a great event complicated the quarrel, and en-
larged its proportions. In 1588, the Jesuit
Molina published his celebrated book, "The
Concord.' I am not joking when I call this a
great event. How many masterpieces, how many
books full of life and truth have made less noise
than this theological quibble! What fruitful
ideas have been buried in oblivion, while for
nearly two centuries attention has been thrown
away on a mediocre book, which troubled the
lives of thousands, disturbed whole countries, and
engrossed the minds of statesmen. Ah! it was
.. a fine thing to be a theologian in those days.
Molina's object was to substitute ' simultaneous
concurrence' for “predetermination,' “mediate
knowledge'for absolute foreknowledge,' and suffi-
cient grace' for 'efficacious grace. Few persons
now take the trouble to find out whether they
are Thomists or Molinists. However minutely we
examined ourselves, we never observed that we
were predetermined to an action from without;
and, as for simultaneous concourse, we are also
weak enough to believe that when we act we act
alone ... But, God forgive me! this is called,
I believe, being a Pelagian.*
Members of that society (Jesuits) held and asserted very
generally towards the end of the sixteenth century, that the
human will possesses a faculty of disposing itself to make a
384 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Y.
1
It is certain that Bañez was furious when he
heard that Molina had dared to seek and find a
system of his own. A sceptical century like ours
can scarcely understand the anger of a theologian
of the old school. Except in politics, we have for-
gotten how to get angry, and many people think
that we are not angry enough even about politics.
Bañez denounced Molina’s ‘Concord' as heretical
before its publication. But the wind was favour-
able. Scientia media and sufficient grace became as
fashionable as predestination had been. Molinism
was defended in public theses at Sarragossa, at
Toledo, at Seville, at Granada; in France, in
Lorraine, and in Germany. When censure was
dreaded, the theses were dedicated to some
Tic
good use of Divine grace ; that grace sufficient for conversion
is bestowed on all, but that, inasmuch as it does not act in
the way of positive compulsion or necessity, it may either be
complied with or rejected ; and that God predestines to sal-
vation those only by whom He foresees that His gifts will be
faithfully employed. . According to Molina, the Divine intel-
lect comprehends three different species or modes of know-
ledge : “scientia naturalis," or that which relates to events
caused immediately by God Himself; “scientia libera," which
belongs to things depending on His own free will and choice;
and "scientia media,” which is concerned with future contin-
gencies, dependent on the agency of man under particular
circumstances. ... Molina, while admitting the necessity
both of prevenient and assisting grace, yet held that without
the adhesion of the natural will grace does not become effec-
tual to its designed purpose.'- Jervis's 'Gallican Church and
the Revolution,' vol. i., pp. 383, 384.—TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
THE CONGREGATIONS 'DE AUXILIIS. 385
cardinal, whose red gown concealed the dangerous
innovations.*
It would be a mistake to suppose that the im-
pending battle was to be fought for the sake of
truth alone. The Jesuits and the Dominicans
had long cherished a secret but terrible jealousy.
The Order of St. Ignatius was invading Christen-
dom: its disciples preached, taught, disputed in
all the chairs of all the universities. Burning with
zeal for the salvation of the wealthy, and especially
of kings (so much so, that, in order to make salva-
tion easier to them, they had discovered a means,
as was humorously remarked, for blotting out the
sins of the world), they soon superseded the
sons of St. Dominic, who since the thirteenth
century had been privileged to direct royal con-
sciences. As may be supposed, the Preaching
Friars objected to be deprived of so fruitful an
evangelical harvest, and were in a very bad temper
with those who aimed at supplanting them. In
their eyes the new theological system was even
heretical. The Dominicans preached against the
Jesuits in their churches. Father Avendano called
them heretics, seducers, magicians, imps of Satan;
and believed that his special vocation was to de-
stroy their Order. Never, he said, did he celebrate
mass without feeling fresh zeal for that good work.
The quarrel grew more and more bitter. In
vain Rome, faithful to her practice of reserving
doctrinal decisions for a time when they may have
Serry, 'Hist.,' col. 148.
25
T
political importance, tried to impose silence on
both parties. Both wanted to fight, not to hold
their tongues. A martial spirit pervaded the
Jesuit and Dominican convents. Besides, ex-
perience proves that theologians always prefer
condemnation to silence. At last, on the Ioth of
January, 1595, Clement VIII. referred the case
to the Inquisition of Castile. Eight chancellors
were appointed, and the trial of Molina was insti-
tuted. I call it the trial of Molina because,
according to theological custom, the discussion
Molina deserve to be condemned ?'
The Jesuits were well pleased with the way the
question was put. For, supposing the doctrine
should be censured, they reserved to themselves
the question of fact: ‘Is the condemned doctrine
really that of Molina ?** Sixty-one propositions,
extracted from the book "The Concord,' were
judged contrary to sound doctrine. The peril
was imminent; the sentence was drawn up. The
Jesuits were on the point of signing peace on the
hardest conditions, when the hero of the pre-
destinarians, Thomas of Lemos, unwilling to let
slip such a fine opportunity for displaying his
powers, declared that reconciliation would be
worse than defeat.t The elevation of Bellarmin
to the dignity of cardinal, and of Acquaviva to
that of general, induced the Jesuits to hope that
* Serry, ‘Hist.,' col. 358.
†. Id., ibid., col. 229.
THE CONGREGATIONS “DE AUXILIIS. 387
they might make better terms for themselves at a
later period. Moreover, Spain stood in the way.
Philip II.- was believed to be a Molinist. * Be-
tween the Courts of Rome and Madrid there was
a perpetual interchange of requests and diplomatic
notes as on a matter of the first importance.
Then, for the first time, scholastic disputes were
heard of; hitherto the debate had consisted
anything that could be called argument. The
champion of the Jesuits was the first thus to
throw down the gauntlet. Lemos took it up. So
be it,' said he. Let us dispute for two years; I
do not shrink from the contest.'t
Clement VIII., dissatisfied with his advisers,
January, 1598, solemn discussions were opened in
one of the halls of the Vatican. The pope him-
self presided ; on either side were the cardinals,
and opposite to him the secretaries. In the
middle of the arena stood the combatants. Each
Order had selected its most skilful tilter, who was
supported during the conflict by his general.
The pope opened the sittings with a prayer
to the Holy Ghost, which was thought most
beautiful. I The dispute was thus carried on for
-1.
Serry, col. 154.
† Concedantur a Reverendissimis Dominis disputationes,
et disputemus per duos annos; quia ego non refugio illas.'
-Serry, col. 266.
Frankfort abridgment, p. 50.
25—2
388 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
seven years, during which seventy-seven congre-
gations were held. So long as he lived, Clement
never missed one of them. It surprises us now
that the making of a dogma should cost an infal-
lible authority so much trouble: but in those days
no one was surprised to see the Holy Spirit hesi-
tating, changing its opinions, and inflicting on
itself the same tortures as are experienced by the
poor human spirit which has no pretension to
infallibility.
II.
The first to step into the arena was the redoubt-
able Lemos. Endowed with a voice of thunder, a
wide chest, a firm and sometimes terrible look, in-
defatigable in debate,* inaccessible to embarrass-
ment or hesitation, this vigorous child of scholasti-
cism was never worsted in the combats of the'schools.
By adroit distinctions he evaded the strictest syl-
logisms, and by antagonistic quotations destroyed
hopes founded on the most precise texts. He had
been brought upin those Spanish universities, where
had been taught for centuries a petrified science,
which had not progressed one step since the days
of Peter Lombard, and whose immutable poles
are St. Augustine and St. Thomas. Lemos knew
those two doctors better than any of his col-
leagues. Long habit had accustomed him to the
0 'Ferrea et infragilis illi vox, sermonis robur, pectus soli-
dum, ingenium acre ac vehemens ; quæ dotes, singulari
præsertim eruditioni conjunctæ, quantum in contentiosa dis-
putatione valeant nemo nescit.'-Serry, col. 356.
THE CONGREGATIONS 'DE AUXILIIS. 389
most intricate arguments, and his untiring lungs
secured him the victory in those conflicts in which
he who holds out the longest is the conqueror.
The Jesuits knew this, and wishing to withdraw
him from Rome, induced Philip III. to offer him
a bishopric. But Lemos saw the trap, and pre-
ferred to carry on the controversy rather than to
accept the mitre.*
Lemos was opposed by the Jesuit Valentia, less
brilliant than his adversary in controversial fenc-
ing, but clever, artful, rich in mental reservations,
and worthy to figure among the four animals in
the apocalyptic allegory which Escobar has intro-
duced in the preface to his “Moral Theology.'t
When he joined in the debate he obstinately
refused to take the usual oath, and nothing could
be obtained from him but these words : "I swear
what the others have sworn.'I As he was com-
pelled prematurely to abandon the contest, it is
impossible to say what subtlety that reticence con-
cealed, or what advantage he expected to derive
from it. Valentia's words were sharp and insult-
ing;S he sometimes had to make humiliating
apologies for his sallies. One day he accused the
whole congregation of forgery; when the accuracy
of the text was proved, he excused himself by
Serry, col. 356, 357.
Ť See 'Provinciales,' 5th letter.
I Serry, col. 250.
§ Contumeliose magis quain theologice occurs several times
in the reports of the sittings (Serry, col. 259, 273).
390. NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
saying he only used the reproach in a harmless
and classical sense.* He had a wonderful talent
for finding side issues, avoiding the most difficult
points, and finding plausible reasons for adjourning
the debate whenever he was hard pressed. The
rules of scholastic controversy always furnished him
with some expedient, which made the pope and
cardinals very impatient. Lemos affected to be
vexed at it, andt maliciously proposed to resume
the debate every day. Valentia, on his side, seemed
to have nothing so much at heart as to bring the
contest to a speedy conclusion, and began his
discourse with these words : ‘Illuxit optata dies
qua nobis disputandum est.?!
They began by verifying the propositions of
Molina. As the strong point of the Jesuits was
that the condemned doctrine did not represent
that of their brother, they employed all sorts of
stratagems in order to avoid agreeing on that
preliminary, and to retain the power of making
protests. They pleaded headaches,ſ the obliga-
tions of their professorships, etc., in order to
absent themselves from this sitting ; it was post-
* In significatione honesta et latina illud sumi cupimus.'
--Serry, col. 263, 264.
+ Serry, col. 248. Lemos, col. 180. "Semper hic pater
quærit dilationes et alias congregationes,' said Clement VIII.
(Ibid., 541).
I 'Serry,' col. 546, etc.
Ś Capitis vertiginem causatus' (Serry, col. 379). “Tum
propter ægram valetudinem patris Cobos, qui fere semper
dolore capitis torquetur' (Ibid., chap. ccxlviii.).
THE CONGREGATIONS 'DE AUXILIIS.
391
poned. The general appeared alone, and the
inquiry began; he observed that Valentia's
presence was indispensable. They waited several
hours. Valentia had scarcely arrived when the
general went away. Valentia remarked that
however anxious he might be to remain, his vow
of obedience compelled him to follow his superior.
He returned half an hour later to request that the
sitting might be deferred. The secretaries refused,
and compelled him to stay; but a few moments
later a messenger from the general summoned
Valentia on pressing business, and he had to obey,
to the great annoyance of the secretaries, who
began to tire of these subterfuges.* They waited
for another hour, after which he coolly sent them
word that, reserving the right of expounding
Molina's doctrine as he understood it, he refused
to accept any preliminary exposition.
Lemos stamped with impatience while awaiting
the contest. Father Choquet, in his book, 'Des
entrailles maternelles de la Sainte Vierge pour
l'ordre des frères prêcheurs' (p. 326, edition of
1634), assures us that at the opening of the Con-
gregations Lemos was surrounded by a halo that
dazzled the eyes of the cardinals.t But Lemos
was a man who could dispense with miracles. He
Gratum nuntium lætus excepit, et abiit; relictis ea in
cella secretariis, qui se tam lepida scena ludi plus satis
obstupescebant.'-Serry col. 35€.
+ In his order, Lemos was regarded as a thaumaturge.
See Serry, p. 36, and Lemos, p. 12.
392 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
-
had already severely wounded Valentia in nine
consecutive tournaments, when an incident un-
heard of in theological records unhorsed his
clever adversary, and put him out of the lists for
ever. Valentia's strongest hopes rested on a text
of St. Augustine’s. To make it agree better with
his views, the Jesuit altered one word-only one !
... Et instead of Scilicet.* The fraud was
very innocent, and no doubt he might have found
among the casuists of his society a score of texts
to authorize it.t But the manoeuvre did not
escape Lemos. Whether, as he himself asserts,
supernaturally inspired by the Divine grace whose
champion he was, or whether, in uttering his little
fraud, Valentia risked a timid glance to ascertain
whether it would pass unnoticed, the unfortunate
disciple of Ignatius met the relentless and scruti-
nizing gaze of the Dominican, and turned pale
beneath it. Lemos instantly asked permission of
the pontiff, rushed forward, seized the book,
which Valentia held behind his back, and, ap-
proaching the papal throne, restored the altered
text. The pope, indignant at such an imposition,
O'F. Thomas de Lenios, quum librum De civitate Dei
apud se non haberet, ex divino tamen auxilio efficaciter acl-
jutus, recordatus fuit in illo loco sancti Augustini esse ver-
buin quoddam scilicet, quod tamen P. Valentia non legerat.'
-Lemos, col. 279.
† According to others, the Jesuits had printed for the
purpose a spurious edition of St. Augustine's works, by com-
paring which with the Vatican edition Lemos pointed out the
fraud (Serry, col. 369, 370).
THE CONGREGATIONS · DE AUXILIIS. 393
raised his hands towards heaven, exclaiming, 'Oh!
oh!' This was too much for the wretched Jesuit.
'Abandoned by the grace which he had insulted,'
says a contemporary, * 'he dropped on the floor
motionless, breathless. His general raised him
and led him out; but from that time his health
failed, and he wasted away; he was sent to
Naples for purer air, and there he soon died of
grief for his mischance.'t
Valentia's catastrophe was called a miracle by
OJusto Dei judicio, ut creditur, derelictus ab illius gratia,
quam furore quodam arreptus impugnabat, deliquio animi
correptus in terram corruebat. Inde eductus semper se
male habuit, et frequentibus capitis debilitatibus laboravit.
... Prænuntiaverat longo antea tempore vir quidam catho-
licus futurum ut patenti aliquo miraculo Deus hujus hominis
audaciam esset cohibiturus.' – Pegna, quoted by Serry, col.
374, 375.
t Tunc facto signo a sanctissimo, ut illius librum accipe-
rem, accessi ad ipsum ; quia librum manu tenens quodam
modo retinebat et abscondebat post tergum ; et arripiens
ipsum quasi vi dixi : Sanctissimus præcepit. . . Tunc ipse
pontifex cum indignatione magna intuens ipsum Valentiam,
manibus et gestu dixit : Ho! ho! Et post pauca quum vellet
P. Valentia respondere, passus est tam potentem vertiginem
ut, cadens in terram, extra se totus jaceret ; quem suus
generalis inclinatus conabatur elevare, dicens pontifici :
Quod passus erat P. Valentia vertiginem' (Lemos, col. 279,
282). In this dispute De auxiliis,' says Duperron, 'all the
Jesuits were at their wits' end. Valentia was ashamed and
confused by his misadventure; he broke his heart through
the grief it caused him’ (Serry, col. 375, foot note). An
engraving, inserted in Lemos's 'Actes,' humorously repre-
sents his adversary's discomfiture.
394 NEW-
V
.
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
-!
the predestinarians,* and powerfully assisted their
cause. The Jesuit Arrubal took the place of his
unfortunate brother, and endured the assaults of
Lemos for more than a year. The Molinists re-
sorted to ingenious devices to parry the hard
blows of the Dominican; they published two
different versions of Molina's works, and when a
text was cited against them, they used to pretend
that the right edition did not contain it; besides
which, the arrangement of the book being changed,
their adversaries had the greatest difficulty in
finding the passages, and often failed to find them
at all, at which Loyola's disciples exulted. But
nothing could resist the subtle dialectics and
powerful voice of Lemos. One day, his adversary
had the effrontery to deny the major premise of
his syllogism : denying the major is to a schoolman
the greatest insult which can be offered him, for in
a well-conducted argument that proposition must
always be incontestable; it is therefore equivalent
to telling him to his face that he does not under-
stand logic. I Lemos, justly indignant, threw his
01... Ad pedes pontificis in apoplexim inciderat. Quod
etsi minus mirari liceat (quum etiam Diodorus Cronus dialec-
iicus, in ipso scholæ suggestu, præ pudore interierit, quod
Stilponis problema solvere nesciisset), ab adversariis tamen
in suæ doctrinæ commendationem instar miraculi jactatum
est,' says a contemporaneous historian, quoted by Serry,
col. 376.
of Serry, col. 88.
I This is why, in an argument, the formula : Salva
reverentia or Pace tua, must always accompany the negation
of a major.
THE CONGREGATIONS' DE AUXILIIS. 39.
doctor's cap on the floor, and vowed that he
would not pick it up until they had granted him
the contested proposition. From time to time
he fortified his voice, which must have been sorely
tried : after each attack upon the enemy he tossed
off a full glass.
In the month of October, 1602, Arrubal was
worn out, and was sent to Naples, where he found
Valentia at the point of death. He received the
last sigh of that martyr to Molinism, * whose
death caused a great sensation in Rome. Stories
were told which boded ill for his salvation.
Clement VIII. was talking to his nephew, Car-
dinal Peter Aldobrandini, when he heard of the
Jesuit's death; the cardinal asked him what he
thought of the deceased's soul: “If he had no
other grace than the one he defended,' replied the
pope, ‘he must have had difficulty in entering
heaven.’t Some days later, the cardinal met the
triumphant Dominican: 'Father Lemos,' he said,
'the pope intends to pronounce you irregular, be-
cause you have killed Valentia.' 'It was not I
who killed him,' replied Lemos modestly, it was
the pope himself, who is incapable of being irre-
gular; or, rather, we should say the unfortunate
4. . . Ut gratiæ molinisticæ martyri, extremum agonem
agenti, justa persolveret' (Serry, col. 379). "Manibus ejus
bene precor : absit tamen ut tales colat ecclesia martyres,'
adds the Dominican historian (Serry, col. 377).
Ť 'Se non ha havuto altra gratia di quella che ha diſesa,
non sarà andato in paradiso.' 'Jocosum quidem, sed interim
notandum pontificis dictum ! adds Serry (col. 378).
396 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Jesuit killed St. Augustine, since he falsified his
exquisite taste.
Predetermination was carrying everything
before it. The champions of the Jesuits were
all struck down with fever or vertigo, and this
passage from the Scriptures was applied to them:
* Dominus miscuit in medio ejus spiritum verti-
ginis, et errare fecit Ægyptum in omni opere
suo.' | They used to represent themselves as
persecuted, now complaining of having been con-
victed without being heard, whereas the members
of the council said they had listened till they were
tired; now demanding a council, now pretending
that it was not an article of faith that Clement VIII.
was the true pope;exactly the same subterfuges
for which the Jansenists were afterwards treated
granted them before their condemnation to dis-
seminate their doctrine in the universities, and
frighten the pope with the threat of a schism ; |||
last of all, they had recourse to celestial revelations:
many books were published, whose authors, pre-
Serry, col. 377, 378.
† Gratiæ victrici jam canebatur Io triumphe.'— Serry, col.
699.
I'Præ doloris acerbitate in febrim incidit Petrus Arrubal.
Bastida vero, qui generalis vices in congregationibus iden-
tidem egerat, eodem ac ipse vertigine agitari cæpit, adeo ut
publicum in urbe scomma volitaret : Dominus, etc.-Serry,
col. 379, 380).
§ Serry, col. 305, 321, 333. Frankfort Abridgment, p. 41.
1] Ibid., col. 312, 317, 329.
· THE CONGREGATIONS 'DE AUXILIIS. 397
1
tending to an intuitive knowledge of theology, said
they had read the secrets of Molinism in the mind
of God. A nun, named Marina Escobar, dreamt
that she saw St. Dominic, who directed her to
pray more fervently than ever for the imperilled
Society of Jesus. Naturally enough, Marina was
surprised that the patriarch should recommend her
to pray for the enemies of his Order; but Dominic
explained to her that, in Abraham's bosom,
nothing is thought of but the glory of God.*
All this did not prevent the danger from being
imminent. All the members of the council but
two were hostile to Molina. Clement VIII. him-
self scarcely concealed his sympathy with pre-
destination; in all things he yielded to the influence
of Cardinal Alexander Peretti, to whom he owed
the tiara, and that of Francis Pegna, secretary of
the Rota, who was so unfriendly to the Jesuits that
he strongly opposed the beatification of Loyola.
The Marquis de Villena, Ambassador of Spain,
urged on the condemnation of Molina, in order
to checkmate the Jesuits, who had displeased his
Court by countenancing the absolution of Henri
IV. The censure was already drawn up, and,
had Clement VIII. lived a few weeks longer, pre-
destination would have been an article of faith.
III.
But Heaven had decided otherwise. Clement
VIII. died of fatigue from attending all the con-
:: :Serry, col. 331 and fol.
398 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
gregations, whose debates he followed with the
greatest eagerness. The good pope took the
whole thing seriously. He was often met in the
early morning, going on foot and unattended, from
Monte Cavallo to Santa Maria Maggiore, where he
would prostrate himself for two or three hours,
dressed as a penitent, ad limina apostolorum.* To
preside over the congregations was indeed no easy
task, because of the martial humour of the com-
batants; and the pontiff, out of patience, often said,
"Voi credete che siete sulla piazza Navona.'t His
death, regarded by the Jesuits as a visitation from
Providence, seems to have injuriously affected his
infallibility, as the general opinion was that every-
thing must be begun over again. People often
quoted a saying of Bellarmin's, which they thought
prophetic, when Cardinal Montalto told him that
Clement was about to give judgment in favour of
the Thomists. “I do not deny,' replied the Jesuit,
'that he is able to do so, or that he is willing to
do so; but I am certain that he will not do so.'!
This sentence, construed in various ways, gave
rise to many conjectures.
Leo XI., successor to Clement VIII., only wore
the tiara one month. Paul V., who followed him,
was little more favourable to the Jesuits than
Clement. But powerful influences were about to
come to the aid of the ambitious Order which
every day said more proudly, 'Catholicism, it is
* Frankfort Abridgment, p. 63.
† Lemos, p. 241, 341. Serry, col. 311, 312.
(1
)
THE CONGREGATIONS 'DE AUXILIIS.
399
.
I: Bellarmin, Francis of Sales, Duperron, openly
supported the theology of the Society. Bellarmin
did not hesitate to confess his theoretical sym-
pathies with Thomism; yet, as a good brother,
he lost no opportunity of helping the cause of
Molina.*
Arrubal was succeeded by La Bastide, who
was haughty and self-assertive. At first Lemos
assumed towards him a tone of superiority justi-
· fied by his past victories. “Do you think,' said
the Jesuit, that you are dealing with a be-
ginner? You have before you a veteran, who has
been teaching for several years in the public chairs
of Spain, and has broken many a lance with your
people.'t La Bastide changed the tactics which
had been adopted by Molina's apologists. They
had kept on the defensive, content to justify their
brother from charges made against him. This
was inviting defeat, for everyone acquainted with
the rules of scholastic debate knows that of two
adversaries the one obliged to defend himself is
sure to be beaten. La Bastide knew this, and
availed himself of a good opportunity for taking
the offensive against predestination. Great Lemos,
what must have been your indignation at hearing
an irreverent and shameless attack on the doctrine
consecrated by the name of the “ Angel of the
* Serry, col. 158-62.
to Putas cum tirone loqui ? Agis cum veterano, qui
publice multos annos in Hispania docuit, et sæpius cum
vestris concertationes habuit.'--Serry, col. 483.
400 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Schools '! . .. . It was even worse when, in a long
discourse, La Bastide drew out under twenty
heads a parallel between the doctrines of Bañez and
Calvin, and showed their complete identity. This
was a murderous manæuvre. To prove pre-
destination contrary to reason was of no great
consequence; but to prove it in accordance with
Calvin was to deal it a deadly blow.
Lemos knew this, and mustered all his forces.
Calvin's name, continually repeated by La Bas-
tide, had left a deep impression on the minds of
the cardinals : he replied by the epithets Pelagian
and semi - Pelagian, which he hurled at his ad-
versary. The distinction between divided meaning
and compound meaning helped him to ward off the
attack for a time, but without fully satisfying the
judges.* Lemos was diving into his dialectics and
struggling desperately under La Bastide's terrible
parallel, when a sudden flash of light helped him
out of his difficulty. “Yes,' said he, in his firmest
tone, Calvin, like Bañez, held that grace was
effectual in itself, independently of will. But,
after all, this is not the point on which he was
mistaken: his error lay in believing the consent
of will to be necessary as necessity of consequent,
whereas it is necessary only as necessity of conse-
quence.'t
A cry of admiration welcomed this stroke of
genius. Lemos, tempted to take pride in so great
* Lemos, col. 844-46, 977 and fol.
† Ibid., col. 985, 986, 1020 and. fol. ; 1195, 1198, 1232.
THE CONGREGATIONS 'DE AUXILIIS. 401
a triumph, passed his hand across his forehead,
and exclaimed in order to avert the sinful thought:
It is by the grace of God that I am what I am'
- Gratia Dei sum id quod sum.' The sitting
lasted six hours; the cardinals on leaving the
room unanimously declared that Brother Thomas
had never spoken so well before.*
But times were altered. The most adroit fencing
of Lemos could not prevail against political reasons
which had recently acquired predominance. The
simple schoolman fancied himself still in the time of
Clement VIII., when the pope himself mixed with
the combatants, and honestly tried to understand
them. Paul V. stood in need of the Jesuits; they
had served him well in his struggle against Venice
and Fra Paolo; he could not now offend them.
Duperron made him understand that it was im-
possible to condemn such zealous allies. Besides,
Henri IV._most competent judge !-remember-
ing the services they had rendered him, interested
himself on their behalf, and his intercession out-
weighed all the arguments of Lemos. The pope
thought he could not do better than put the whole
affair into Duperron's hands. It seems to us
that, if we were infallible by divine right, we should
. 'Fuit ista congregatio celebris, de qua multi mirati sunt
quod tot ac tantis, ubi fecerunt summum prælium patres socie-
tatis, sic ex tempore fuisset responsum. . . Omnes in univer-
sum cardinales et censores audientes cum pontifice dixerunt :
nunquam sic locutum fuisse fratrem Thomam.'-Lemos, col.
1232, 1318.
Ť Serry, col. 791-802.
26
402 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
NOY
III
not dream of handing over causes submitted to
our judgment to a man liable to err. But either
from modesty, or from mistrust of his celestial
gifts, or because he did not feel the inward en-
lightenment of the Holy Spirit, Paul V. delegated
his infallibility in order not to compromise him-
self. In short, the sun of predetermination was
setting fast. Lemos himself, the indefatigable
Lemos, vanquished, though not by the arms of
scholasticism, was compelled to withdraw from
the fray, and his place was for the time taken by
Alvarez.
To the sixty congregations of Clement VIII.
were added seventeen, presided over by Paul V.
The members of the council were exhausted, the
heroes of the struggle were either dead or tired
out; the contest was about to cease for want of
combatants. It was generally reported that the
bull against Molina was ready for promulgation ;
so that predestination, after having been an
article of faith in the mind of Clement VIII., was
now in the pocket of Paul V. But this afforded
small satisfaction to the Dominicans. Of what
use was it to know as theologians that they
had conquered, if they were to appear vanquished
before the eyes of Christendom? Their prayers,
their entreaties were useless. On August 28,
1607, Paul V., in the midst of the Sacred College,
declared that he would proclaim his decision
whenever he should think fit; and, in the mean-
time, enjoined silence on both parties, forbidding
THE CONGREGATIONS 'DE AUXILIIS. 403
them to speak ill of each other, or to treat each
other as heretics.
It is unnecessary to say that this last injunction
was not obeyed.
Thus ended a struggle which had lasted twelve
years, cost the life of a pope and three or four
doctors, engrossed three pontificates, and occupied
a whole generation of theologians, prelates, and
cardinals. When the pope's decision was made
known, the dismay of the Dominicans, and the
delight of the Jesuits, knew no bounds. The
latter, who had lived so long in dread of the
Romish thunders, felt the wildest joy. With
amazing falsehood they said that mercy had
been shown to their adversaries, but that they
were really condemned, and that henceforth the
Society's opinion became a dogma, certain though
not defined, like the Immaculate Conception.
In Spain they assumed an air of such insolent
triumph, that people used to point at the preach-
ing friars as beaten men.* When the fathers
of the Society visited ladies, they talked of
nothing but their victory.t They held public
rejoicings at Salamanca, Valladolid, Medina del
Campo, Palencia, Toledo, and Valentia. All the
Usque adeo jesuitæ falsis reportatæ victoria rumoribus
plebem universam occupaverant, ut pene prædicatores digito
monstrarentur.'-Serry, col. 713.
† 'Mulieres invisentes, tam supreniæ quam infimæ notæ,
sine aliqua prorsus distinctione, de hac re verba faciunt.'
-Letter of the provincial of the Dominicans of Spain to
Paul V., quoted by Serry, col. 716.
26-2
404 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Jesuits' colleges had three days' vacation; there
were fireworks, theatrical performances, bull-
fights, triumphal arches, on which appeared, in
letters of gold, 'MOLINA VICTOR;* and, in the
midst of all this amusement, were solemn thanks-
giving masses, processions walking with lighted
candles to the sound of trumpets.t They even
gave to Molina the title of 'Holy Father :' the
success of the whole affair was attributed to him. I
Paul V. could not help laughing when he read the
following letter, written by one of the Superiors of
the Society to an officer of the King of Spain: ‘By
the grace of God most High, we have just learned
the happiest news we ever received since the found-
ation of our Society, or ever can receive. The Sove-
reign Pontiff has decided in favour of the Society.
... Henceforward the doctrine of the preaching
friars must be looked upon as heretical, or, at
least, as suspicious. We, therefore, intend to
spend this night in feasting and games, and to
celebrate to-morrow, at matins, a solemn thanks-
*' Feriæ universis studentibus triduum indictæ ; volatilium
ignium festivi apparatus ; publicæ fabularum actiones ; tauri
per plateas et vicos agitati; triumphales arcus magna mole
positi, quorum in fronte aureis litteris incisum erat : Molina
victor,' etc.-Serry, col. 713 and fol.
· † 'Accersitis civibus cereis luminaribus accensis, sonitu clan-
goreque tubarum,' etc. (Ibid., col. 716). All these particulars
are taken from the authentic documents referred to by Serry,
I Fuere qui, varias inter Molinæ laudes, sacros ei titulos
deferrent, victoriamque quanta erat, hujusce sancti patris (sic
etenim loquebantur) ineritis adscriberent.'- Serry, col. 713,
714.
THE CONGREGATIONS'DE AUXILIIS. 405
giving mass. In consequence, we beg your excel-
lency to be good enough to send us, as soon as
possible, the musicians and drummers of your
regiment, to remain to-night and to-morrow until
evening. We have given the bearer of this letter
money to buy fireworks; that is the chief object
of his mission. Your excellency will be good
enough to spread the news throughout your terri-
tory, and acquaint even the preaching friars with
it, should an opportunity offer.'*
41... In hujus rei gratiam, nobis in animo esset noctem
hanc festivis ludis transigere, missamque admodum solem-
nem crastina luce matutinis horis celebrare, pro gratiis re-
ferendis. Quapropter dignabitur Dominatio Vestra, castri
sui tibicines et tympanotribas mittere quantocitius, qui hic
totam noctem diemque crastinum, ad horas usque serotinas,
permaneant. Pecuniam præsentium latori muneravimus, ad
coemendos ignitos tubulos volatiles,' etc.-Serry, col. 714.
A WORD UPON THE TRIAL OF
GALILEO.
GALILEO's trial was a crisis in the history of the
human mind. Then it was that scholastic science,
that weak compound of the Bible and of Aris-
totle misunderstood, had to face true science,
proving itself by itself. The old pedantry began
the conflict boldly; it denounced as false and
contrary to the faith the system which was truth
itself. As usual, religious interests complicated
the question. Setting aside sophisms, this is a
fair account of how things came to pass.
In 1616, Rome expressly condemned the system
of Copernicus, which it pronounced'heretical and
philosophically absurd. In the name of the In-
quisition, Galileo was enjoined to submit to that
decree. He submitted in appearance, but, with
the intellectual duplicity which the religious
tyranny of those times occasioned, and even to a
certain extent excused, he endeavoured to evade
the difficulty, and to set forth the system of Coper-
nicus as at least an hypothesis which explained
the facts. For that purpose, he adopted what
seemed to him the least compromising form-
A WORD UPON THE TRIAL OF GALILEO. 407
that of a dialogue on the ‘Systems of the World,'
between a peripatetic and two partisans more or
less declared of the new ideas. The peripatetic
is naturally defeated on all points ; nevertheless
the part he plays is not made ridiculous. This is
important, because it appears that Galileo was
not afraid to ascribe to the beaten controver-
sialist some arguments which had really been
uttered by the reigning pope, Urban VIII.-as;
zealous a partisan of Aristotle in philosophy as of
his own authority in matters of faith.
The dialogue was issued with the inprimatur of
the ecclesiastical censor. The venom it contained
was not perceived at first. As soon as it was dis-
covered, Galileo was summoned to Rome. The
Grand Duke of Tuscany, whose protection he
then enjoyed, could obtain him no dispensation
from the journey. He had to start in spite of his
infirmities. He arrived in Rome on the 13th of
February, 1633, and his first place of confinement
was the palace of the Florentine ambassador.
The case progressed but slowly. On the 12th
of April, Galileo was imprisoned in the Holy
Office, but was not thrown into a dungeon. Out
of regard for the grand duke, he was treated with
kindness. On the 30th of April, he returned to
the palace of the embassy to recover from an
illness. On the evening of the 20th of June, he
was again sent for to the Holy Office. He went
there on the morning of the 21st. On that day the
official inquiry took place. When confronted by the
1
408 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Inquisition, Galileo unhesitatingly renounced the
Copernican system. He resisted only on the
question of intention. His adversaries, deeply
wounded by the dialogue on the Systems of the
World,' reproached him with having offered in
that work an indirect apology for the heretical
opinions. He obstinately denied that intention,
and maintained that his sole object was to discuss
the arguments pro and contra, in order to prove to
foreigners that if Rome condemned the system of
Copernicus on theological grounds, she was not
ignorant of all that could be said in its favour.
This was subtle; but all inquiries into matters
which rest entirely on the conscience necessarily
lead to artifice.
Did they put Galileo to torture ? His silence
on this point and the absence of any particulars
on the subject in the correspondence of Niccolini,
ambassador from the Grand Duke of Tuscany to
Rome, have been regarded as proofs of the nega-
tive, and, no doubt, they have much weight. It
should nevertheless be recollected that, in con-
formity with the rules of the Inquisition, the first
thing demanded from Galileo was solemnly to
bind himself not to divulge anything that should
take place between himself and the formidable
tribunal. He kept his promise with the fidelity
of terror. The official documents relating to the
trial could alone throw light on the question ; but
a kind of fatality has prevented the publication
of these documents. From the archives of the
"A WORD UPON THE TRIÁL OF GALILEO. 409
TY
Inquisition, where they had been carefully hidden,
they were brought to Paris in 180g. Some one
undertook to publish them with a French trans-
lation. The translation was already far advanced
when the Restoration took place. The pope re-
claimed the documents; but Louis XVIII., out
of sheer curiosity, kept them for some time in
his study. One day the papers disappeared, and
were sought for in vain in all the Government
offices. Rome continued to demand their restitu-
tion until 1845, when M. Rossi, it is said, promised
to return them, on condition that they should be
published in their entirety; and they were placed
in the hands of Pius IX.
If this statement is correct, * there is reason for
surprise that the authorities in Paris should have
returned such important documents without pre-
viously having them copied. At all events, if the
promise of publication was ever made, it has not
been kept. At the present time nothing is known
of the official documents except part of the French
translation, discovered in 1821 by Delambre.
Monsignor Marino Marini, who had them all
under his eyes, composed a work on the subject.
But he took care not to give the documents in
extenso. He only quoted the passages which
suited him. The system followed at Rome in the
publication of historical documents does not
induce the belief that Monsignor Marini displayed
much impartiality in his selections. As a rule,
* It is that of M. Biot, Journal des Savants, July, 1858.
A dd
CA
410 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Rome grants access to documents and authorizes
their publication only when assured that an
author will be the apologist of papal history.
Nearly all the collections of historical documents
which appear in Rome are systematically incom-
plete. It is probable that if, among the docu-
ments relative to the trial, Monsignor Marini met
with texts contrary to the theses of Catholic
apologists, he withheld them. The acrimonious
tone of his Memoir, and his haughty attitude in
controversy, are bad signs. What would they not
do at Rome ad evitandum scandalum ? The dif-
ferent paginations cited by Marini seem even to
indicate that the manuscript he worked upon had
been mutilated before it reached him. We are
therefore obliged to read, in the fragmentary docu-
ments given us, the probable meaning of parts
cut out by the scissors of interested parties. And
it must be confessed that, among the sentences
published, there are some which seem to contra-
dict the apologist, or at least give rise to doubts.
In a fragment of the interrogation of the 21st of
June, published by Marini, Galileo is asked
whether, after the injunction received in 1616, he
did not persist in supporting the Copernican
system. He replies in the negative. He is then
informed that they will have to resort against him
to the opportune legal remedies-that is to say, to
torture; ‘Devenietur ad torturam,' says a passage
quoted by Marini. The threat of torture is there-
fore proved. The report adds that, as nothing
A WORD UPON THE TRIAL OF GALILEO. 411
more could be obtained from him, “remissus est
in locum suum.' What, then, took place, and
what was that 'locus suus' to which he was sent
back ? According to Marini, it was the palace of
the Tuscan ambassador. But this is false, as
M. Biot shows; for a letter from that ambassador,
dated 26th of June, states that Galileo was de-
tained at the Holy Office during all the time that
elapsed between his examination and his recanta-
tion; that locus suus' was therefore the apart-
ment occupied by the accused at the Holy Office.
Marini was acquainted with the ambassador's
letter, for, in reference to another point, he quotes
a passage from it.
How was Galileo treated in the interval between
the examination and the recantation? In the
absence of authentic documents, we are reduced
to conjectures based upon the sentence of con-
demnation pronounced on the 22nd of June.
•Whereas it appeared to us that you did not
reveal the whole truth concerning your intention,
we deemed it necessary to have recourse to a
rigorous examination of your person, at which
examination you replied like a true Catholic in
the matter of the above-mentioned intention.'
On the 21st, Galileo denied having had the in-
tention; he was threatened with torture; on the
evening of the 21st or on the morning of the 22nd,
the 'rigorous examination’ was proceeded with.
That examination was nothing else than an inquiry
accompanied with torture. Marini maintains that,
412 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
C
in Galileo's case, the threat was not carried out.
That may be. It is, however, noteworthy that,
until the rigorous examination, Galileo did not
reply to the satisfaction of his judges. After the
rigorous examination, it appears that he answered
like 'a true Catholic.' It must be confessed that
the conversion took place just at the right mo-
ment. Be this as it may, we must say with
Dr. Parchappe that the doubt of history is the
deserved chastisement of the secret of the inquisi-
torial procedure, obstinately preserved for the last
two hundred and twenty-seven years.'* This
doubt would have been cleared up, had it so
pleased Monsignor Marini, or rather had the
precious documents of the Roman archives been
placed in the hands of persons acting solely in the
interests of truth.
After all, as M. Bertrand truly observes in his
fine essay on Galileo, this is but a secondary
point. Even supposing Galileo to have been
subjected to the question, it is quite certain he
was not maimed. Preparations for the punish-
ment probably sufficed to satisfy the severity of
the inquisitorial code and obtain the Catholic
answer. In any case, a few minutes of torture,
if Galileo really suffered it, must have been trifling
compared with the moral anguish which filled his
latter years. From the time of his condemnation,
the unfortunate man lived in constant dread, quite
* Galilée, sa vie, ses découvertes et ses travaux.' Hach-
ette, 1866, 8º.
TO
A WORD UPON THE TRIAL OF GALILEO. 413
secluded, speaking to no one on the subject of his
discoveries and ideas, avoiding all intercourse with
learned foreigners, whose very approach might
have compromised him. And the shame of all
these evasions, tergiversations, subtle subterfuges !
... Such was the moral degradation to which re-
ligious terror had brought Italy in the seventeenth
century, that Galileo did not perhaps consider
these as his most cruel torments.
Nothing that relates to a genius like Galileo
should be indifferent to us. He is truly the great
founder of modern science. He is far superior
not only to Bacon, whom English vanity has much
overrated, but to Descartes, who did not make
experiments—to Pascal, who did not carry his
researches so far as he might have done, but
allowed himself to be drawn away by chimeras;
he is second only to Newton. While the schoolmen
at Padua were quietly enjoying the premiums
which teaching bodies offer to routine and medio-
crity, Galileo made researches on his own account;
he studied nature instead of traditional books. I
have seen, at Padua, programmes of the beginning
of the seventeenth century, in which his name
appears with trifling emoluments, beside those of
obscure pedants in receipt of large stipends. The
latter were regarded as the great men of their
time, the honour of their school, and the defenders
of sound philosophy. Knowledge must indeed
possess intrinsic worth, the divine impulse which
urges the universe towards the accomplishment of
414 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
its ends must be greatly interested in the discovery
of truth, to enable the student, whose mission it
is to reveal the laws of reality, to follow his voca-
tion, without hope of reward, in spite of persecu-
tions and insults, and heedless of the advantages
of all kinds which accrue to those who humour
the delusions of men and accommodate themselves
to the general mediocrity.
SY
PORT-ROYAL.*
U
FIRST ESSAY, AUGUST 28, 1860.
M. SAINTE-BEUVE has completed his fine history
of Port-Royal. Many persons have shown surprise
at the preference given by the gifted critic to a
subject which appears out of his usual range.
They did not sufficiently consider the secret ties
uniting all branches of mental research, nor did
they do full justice to M. Sainte-Beuve's talent.
The profound observation and the taste for the
serious study of the mind which characterize the
illustrious Academician must have attracted him
to religious history, which reveals human nature
in its rarest and most singular moods; and in the
history of religion there are few passages that can
have so much interest as that of Port-Royal for a
philosophical historian. That abortive attempt
to reform French Catholicism is full of warnings
and examples. There are subjects more attrac-
tive to the imagination : the history of the religi-
ous Orders in the middle ages—the Franciscan
movement, for instance-offers far more vivid pic-
'Port-Royal,' by M. Sainte-Beuve, 2nd edition. Five
vols., 1859, 1860.
416 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
tures. Others are more imposing, and certainly
the Reformation of the sixteenth century occupies
a place in the world's history to which the obscure
work of such men as Arnauld and Lemaître can
never lay claim. But, within a restricted area,
Port-Royal witnessed the development of charac-
ters of the noblest stamp. In the battle of life
the struggle is a better thing than the prize.
Doctrines are not so important as the devotion
and the heroism they have inspired. Like those
little municipalities of antiquity and of mediæval
Italy, whose internal revolutions still excite our
enthusiasm, because such men as Miltiades, Aris-
tides, Dante, or Savonarola were involved in them,
Port-Royal has imparted to devotional narratives
and conventual anecdotes the proportions of his-
tory. The results were meagre, and the arena
of the struggle was narrow, but the souls were
great. And the sympathy of posterity is not com-
mended by success, nor by the truth of a doctrine,
nor by the large proportions of an event. The
soul alone triumphs over time, and while revolu-
tions effected by violence leave on the memory but
a barren narrative, every noble heart which has
left its trace in some corner of the world's annals
will in due time, whatever may be the changes of
opinion or the injustice of the schools, find friends
and admirers.
The perfection with which M. Sainte-Beuve has
treated his subject is his best justification for
choosing it. The skilful historian never produced
PORT-ROYAL.
417
a more finished picture, more vivid, more com-
plete in all its details. What entitles M. Sainte-
Beuve to a special place among the critics of our
century is the lofty philosophy which underlies all
his judgments. This philosophy is not anxious to
display itself, and M. Sainte-Beuve is far too much
master of his art to fix his theory of the universe
within a formula. But that theory is the hidden
soul, the mysterious breath whence proceed those
charming utterances whose origin remains un-
known to the vulgar. He has seen the link unit-
ing all things, has touched the limits of the actual,
and having, in thought, reached the point where
the most contrary appearances explain and justify
themselves, he watches the birth of human
opinions, sees that they correspond to legitimate
though necessarily incomplete principles, grasps
them, adopts them in part, and then points out
where they are weak and doomed to decay. I
sometimes wonder why, having thus penetrated to
the very beginnings of consciousness, he has not
more constantly seen how near to God are the
foundations of man's being, and how impossible
it is that a series of finite destinies leading to
nothing higher can account for the existence of
things, and especially of mankind. Perhaps the
study of reflective literature reveals less clearly than
the study of the spontaneous productions of the
mind (languages, primitive poetry, popular beliefs,
mythologies, religions) that divine force, that
wonderful purpose, superior to all liberty, which
27
418 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
fulfils itself through the agency of the world and
of man; and it is chiefly to the productions of
reflective centuries that M. Sainte-Beuve has
devoted himself. Never before were the different
aspects of the world of the finite spirit so brightly
and forcibly depicted. If he does not always sub-
mit to the strict conditions of the chastened style
handed down to us from the close of the seven-
teenth and the eighteenth centuries, it is because
those conditions would sometimes exclude the
points he wishes to express.* As for me, I con-
fess, of three or four literary passions, to which I
have always returned, after many attempts to
break my chains, that for M. Sainte-Beuve is the
one which has resisted the hardest trials. I have
often differed from him as regards the present,
for the present is doubtful and incomplete; but as
regards the past, which alone fully exists, since
it alone is complete, unalterable, with all its con-
sequences attached, I do not think we can ever
seriously disagree.
The peculiar bent of M. Sainte-Beuve leads him
to study men rather than the abstract' march of
events. Although the divers phases through which
Port-Royal passed have been admirably sketched
by him, they do not constitute the most important
feature of his narrative. Besides, part of M.
Sainte-Beuve's work served as a course of public
lectures; and the arrangement of topics required
The last volumes are absolutely perfect in style. See
some admirable pages, vol. iii., p. 272 and fol.
PORT-ROYAL...
419
by a lecture is quite different from that which
şuits a book. Hence, at times, the reader's view
is a little obstructed; the general movement is
hidden by episodes and portraits. But what
charm, what acute observation, what sound judg-
ment, what faithful colouring! M. Cousin alone
has been equally successful in giving us the atmos-
phere of old French society, and interesting us
in its conflicts. The art of those two masters
has nothing in common; the result is the same.
M. Cousin throws himself unreservedly into the
epoch of his choice; he speaks its language,
adopts its ideas, espouses all its quarrels. M.
Sainte-Beuve remains beyond and above the con-
troversy he relates. He does not adopt any
prejudice; he speaks as a critic of the nineteenth
century; yet his picture is none the less finished.
The involuntary faith of the reader is a decisive
test of the truth of the picture. If we compare
Racine's poor 'Histoire de Port-Royal' with this
lively narrative, we shall at once see the differ-
ence. Instead of the partisan zeal which led
Racine to remove every trace of weakness from
his history; instead of the timidity with which
he omitted heroic scenes whenever he thought
their details too startling, suppressing, for in-
stance, the very original story of the 'Journée du
Guichet,' Sainte-Beuve has exhibited all the rude
vigour of time and place. To write the history
of religious movements successfully, one must not
love them too much, or rather, must love them
27-2
420 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
as their historian, not as their disciple. No one
can write the history of his ancestors well. M.
Sainte-Beuve would doubtless have pleased us
less had he held a strong opinion on the book of
Jansen, and had he not been indifferent to the
question of grace.
Everybody has ancestors in the past, but ours
were not at Port-Royal. The masters of Port-
Royal contributed little to the scientific work of
free inquiry from which has sprung the positive
philosophy of modern times. Neither the physical
nor the historical sciences are much indebted to
them. The false spiritualism which, in biology, led
them with inexorable logic to consider animals auto-
mata, blinded them to a true conception of nature.
Their philology was also second-rate. The ex-
clusiveness with which they sought in books only
for what might edify or cultivate judgment or
taste, forbade their becoming proficient in that
delicate science. Tillemont's histories are master-
pieces of conscientiousness; but conscientious-
ness is not criticism. The worthy Lancelot
improved a few elementary works; but he con-
tributed much to introduce amongst us the
artificial and mechanical method of learning the
dead languages: he was the forerunner of Lho-
mond.* Port-Royal cannot be compared to the
. Lhomond (Charles François), born at Chaulnes
(Somme) in 1727, died at Paris in 1794. He is known by
his' Elements of Latin Grammar,' and his ' Epitome historia
sacræ.'— TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
PORT-ROYAL.
421
Italian schools of the sixteenth century for free-
dom of thought, or to Protestantism for grandeur
of results, religious and intellectual. It is
rather to the latter that we must look for our
ancestors. Historical criticism is the true
daughter of Protestantism. The sceptical Italy
of the sixteenth century knew as little of it as the
sceptical France of the eighteenth; and as to
Catholicism, it so resolutely asserts its secular
unity and its divine homogeneousness, that any im-
partial history founded on the idea of the organic
growth of doctrine is regarded by it as dangerous.
The discussion of the history of dogma, which is
the basis of Protestantism, can alone make these
delicate and troublesome researches sufficiently
interesting to enlist whole generations of workers.
If Greek had not been the language of the New
Testament, and possessed paramount theological
interest, Henri Etienne's "Trésor de la langue
grecque' would never have seen the light.
The foundation of historical and philological
science is in this way the work of Protestantism.
It is also, in a very true sense, the work of
France; for it was by a series of Frenchmen,
Protestants or affiliated to Protestantism-Casta--
lion, Turnèbe, Lambin, J. Scaliger, the brothers
Etienne, Casaubon, Saumaise, Bochart, Lefèvre,
Louis Cappel, the Saumur school, and the first
(almost entirely Protestant) generation of the
College of France~that it was mainly accom-
plished. These are our ancestors. It is worthy
422 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
of notice that, in the first half of the seven-
teenth century, France was as proficient in
philology and criticism as Germany became a
hundred and fifty years later. Bochart and Cappel
are equal to Michaelis; Casaubon and Saumaise
to Heine and Wolf; Henry Etienne has no equal.
The vast progress which Germany has made for
more than a century in all branches of philology
is but the continuation of what had been begun
by France, so free, so enlightened, so clear-sighted
in the reigns of Henri IV., Louis XIII., and the
first half of that of Louis XIV. It was when
France, by a series of measures culminating in
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, compelled
her most learned men-Saumaise, Leclerc, Bayle,
Beausobre, Basnage—to expatriate themselves,
that the domain of historical studies was trans-
ferred to Holland and Germany. God forbid that
I should make this accusation too sweeping !
The mediæval studies of Du Cange and the Bene-
dictine school have never been surpassed in con-
scientiousness. The Académie des Inscriptions
et Belles-Lettres have rendered distinguished ser-
vice to the study of classical literature, and produced
two eminent men, Fréret and Barthélemy. Montes-
quieu takes a high place amongst those who
created the philosophy of history. But, after all,
the eighteenth century did very little for the pro-
gress of historical criticism. When the Jesuits
would be bold, they break out into the absurdities
of Père Hardouin. The university, more cautious,
PORT-ROYAL.
423
contents itself with the sweet simplicity of
Rollin. Philosophical writers do not display any
more seriousness. What superficial arrogance
there is in their judgments on the past! What
shallow presumption in their scorn!. Voltaire did
more harm to historical studies than an invasion
of barbarians; with his light wit and his deceitful
facility he discouraged the Benedictines; and it
is his fault if, for fifty years, Dom Bouquet's col-
lection was sold to the grocers for waste-paper,
and the publication of the 'Histoire littéraire de
la France' had to be given up for want of readers.
At the opposite extreme to Voltaire stands, not
Catholicism (there is more affinity between the
two than people think), but liberal Protestantism,
creating the criticism of the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries, and issuing towards the close of
the eighteenth century in Schleiermacher, Herder,
Fichte, and that marvellous blossom of German
Christianity, the finest intellectual and religious
development yet produced by the reflective con-
sciousness.
In the progress of the critical spirit, which is
also the modern spirit, what place should be
assigned to the masters of Port-Royal ? An
intermediate and limited one, it must be con-
fessed. The historical sense, which can create a
living past from the dead letter of old chronicles,
was blunted in them by dogmatic theology. 'La
perpétuité de la foi’ and the vast labours it in-
volved were stultified at the outset by the assump-
424 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Catholicism has never changed. The object of
minds so biased is not to grasp the diverse
thought of various ages, but to show that all ages
thought alike. The Benedictines of the Congre-
gation of St. Maur are, in this respect, much
more akin to ourselves, and have done more for
the future. Tolerance, the daughter of criticism,
was equally unknown at Port-Royal. Its inmates
were always unjust to Protestants, and applauded
the iniquitous measures taken against them. It
is curious to see with what indignation St. Cyran
speaks of heretics. On a well-known occasion, *
Pascal played the part of informer for the Holy
Office. The idea of religious liberty never occurred
to these rigid believers : when they declaim against
never in that of liberty.
Was it then without cause that Port-Royal left
such a mark and excited so much sympathy ?
No, indeed. Unimportant, if considered in the
light of modern ideas, with which it has little in
common, this school was unequalled in the great-
ness of the characters it formed. Nowhere else
have been seen so many brave and loyal spirits
devoted absolutely to their ideal of righteousness.
Their pride was sublime, and their recognition of
the nothingness of worldly greatness and the
equality of mankind in misery and sin was truly
O See the Vie de Pascal,' by Madame Perrier, pp. 4, 5 of
M. Havet's edition, and the judicious remarks of the editor.
PORT-ROYAL.
425
Christian. What strength of will they showed,
and how noble an example of what the human
soul can do when convinced that it possesses the
truth! In those days of official grandeur, when
the saints themselves acknowledged the mighty of
this world to be images of the Deity, and more
likely than others to find favour in His eyes, it is
comforting to find men thus proclaiming the
Christian democracy, and showing this respect
for manual labour, this proud contempt, this
roughness of behaviour towards the great. Now
it is the gardener of the abbey (a converted noble-
man) who resists the archbishop, and stoutly
argues with him. Again it is M. Singlin who
receives with freezing indifference Madame de
Guéméné's advances. “You are not used to this
language,' said St. Cyran to Lancelot, then a
young recruit. In the world people do not speak
thus; but here are six feet of earth where we do
not fear the chancellor or anyone else. No human
power can prevent our speaking the truth. We
have a Master,' he says again, 'whom we must
serve, and for whose sake we must endure the
hatred of men. I wish no harm to those who
persecute me, and I have not forgiven the person
in question* because he has not offended me.
If I were a worthy servant of God, I should not
be persecuted, but crushed.'
Thus Port-Royal rises in the midst of the seven-
teenth century like a triumphal column, a temple
0 M. Zamet.
426 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
to manliness and truth. Certainly freedom to
worship God has had other martyrs. The struggle
of Protestantism was more heroic, since it was
even unto death. But, in those days, Protestant-
ism had already become a stranger to France.
Here it was from French citizens, represented by
a few old Parisian families, enlightened and serious
minded, that resistance came. The nuns of Port-
Roy.al did more than bishops, more than the
Gallican Church, more than the pope himself-
they kept conscience alive. With his seraglio
insolently paraded before all Christendom, Louis
XIV., so far as in him lay, lowered the morality of
France to the Oriental level. Fortunately some
women resisted him. The admirable saying, 'The
king can make princes of the blood," he may also
make martyrs,' is the revenge of a Frenchwoman
for the insult she received at Versailles. From
Port-Royal proceeded the only opposition Louis
XIV. met with at home, the only protest against the
encroachments of the government on the province
of the mind. Those who think that Richelieu and
Louis XIV. started France on the road which
was to lead to the Revolution, and after the
Revolution to a series of fruitless ventures, cannot
prize too highly the school which gave France
the only characters which did not bow to the
fascination of a power abounding in present seduc-
tions and future perils.
0 In allusion to the legitimation of the natural children of
Louis XIV.
PORT-ROYAL.
427
Seen in this light, St. Cyran acquires the pro-
portions of a national hero. One of the merits of
M. Sainte-Beuve is to have revealed the grandeur
of this wonderful figure, neglected by history
because it had none of the external glitter which
secures renown. St. Cyran has proved that it is
possible to be at the same time an insufferable
writer and a noble character. At first sight, it is
difficult to understand how the obscure author of
unintelligible books could have been the chosen
director of the strongest minds of his time, the
promoter of a vast intellectual and religious move-
ment, one of those men who exact most from their
disciples, and who, the more they exact, are the
more beloved. M. Sainte-Beuve explains it all.
The special qualities of men powerful in sentiment
and action differ widely from those of writers.
The writer has many disadvantages in the rela-
tions between man and man. The powerful
weapons he wields render conversation, corre-
spondence, private exhortation irksome to him.
Instead of speaking to one person at a time, he
is always tempted to address thousands. A man
of speech or action, on the contrary, accustomed
to see face to face the person whom he influences,
and to realize instantly the effect of his words,
does not comprehend the refinement and ramifi-
cation of written thought. His success depends
on the impression he makes upon one individual
or a few persons at a time. His discourse must
be judged not by absolute rules, but by 'the fruit
428 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
it bears. If, instead of St. Cyran's insipid
volumes, we read his conversations and his
exhortations as the nuns he directed reported
them from memory, the metamorphosis is com-
plete. Thanks to his disciples, the mediocre
writer grows eloquent. The thought which by
itself could not find expression is all aglow with
life when it has traversed the crystal of a sympa-
thetic spirit and received from the souls it in-
fluenced the light which without them it did not
possess.
Among all the remarkable men produced by
the Catholic renaissance which occurred in France
about 1600-François de Sales, Vincent de Paul,
Olier, Berulle, etc.—St. Cyran was the most logical
and vigorous. François de Sales had, no doubt,
more vivacity and charm; but his influence on
Catholicism in general was unimportant. The
laity, unacquainted with mysticism, and accus-
tomed to estimate religion only by its results, will
think the career of Vincent de Paul much more
fruitful as the founder of the great apostolate of
modern Catholicism, that of charity. But re-
ligion has an ideal object, distinct from the good it
does. The object for which man was created being
to realize the highest contemplation of the uni-
verse, or in other words the most perfect worship
of God, and that object involving of necessity, or
(if the expression be preferred) without the will of
the Creator, an enormous amount of suffering, every
effort to diminish that suffering is work for God.
PORT-ROYAL.
429
11
Only secondary work, however; the greatest allevia-
tion that charity can effect in human misery will
be but a negative benefit, without any direct moral
value. Man is not intended to live without suffer-
ing. One hour of the meditation of St. Theresa
or Spinoza is worth a whole day of St. Vincent
de Paul. The ascetics and the Stoics of all ages
have done their part in the work of the world by
reminding man of the stern and lofty sadness of
his destiny. In like manner St. Cyran, in probing
to the bottom the wounds of the spirit, and aus-
terely enforcing belief in duty, has done as much
for mankind as those who are rightly called its
benefactors.
His inflexible execution of his design was admir-
able. He alone thoroughly recognised the great
danger of Catholicism, exaggerated obedience,
abnegation of conscience, a tendency towards
automatic religion. The keen penetration of
François de Sales perceived this evil. 'My
daughter, said he to Mère Angélique, * 'we can
only weep for this misfortune. To denounce it to
the world in its present state would be to provoke
useless scandal. These patients love their
disease and do not wish to be cured. Ecumeni-
cal councils, being above the pope, ought to
reform the head and the members. But popes
get angry when the Church does not submit
entirely to them, although, according to the law
of God, the Church is above them when a
Sainte-Beuve, i., p. 221.
430 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
council is canonically assembled. I know this
as well as the doctors; but discretion induces me
to keep silence, because I hope for no good from
speech.' Frederic Borromeo also understood the
gravity of the evil. “Zeal and grief for the dis-
orders of Rome,' said he to M. de Belley,* 'in-
duced me to write a book three fingers thick, where
they were nearly all described. But, seeing every
door shut against reform, and understanding that
God alone could bring it about through His
providence, I burned the book, seeing that it was
only likely to cause scandal by making public the
excesses of those who have no wish to mend their
morals, and have become politicians rather than
ecclesiastics.'+ So they all respectfully veiled
their faces. But St. Cyran boldly struck at the
root of the mischief. The efficacy of grace alone
was the heroic remedy he opposed to an effete and
state-ridden Christianity. No compromise was
possible. God and the conscience, terrified at the
are face to face. God is incorruptible. The
timidity of François de Sales, the compromises
of Bossuet, the Jesuitical method of trafficking in
salvation, the indulgences of the Borgias and
with this bold suppression of all which might
excuse frailty or console feebleness.
This was the master-stroke of St. Cyran; here
* Camus, the friend of François de Sales.
† Sainte-Beuve, i., p. 222.
PORT-ROYAL.
431
lay the secret of the extraordinary influence he
possessed over the minds of his contemporaries.
We must not hesitate at the apparent contradic-
tion between a theology which crushes man, and
a morality which raises him. The nature of
Christianity explains this peculiarity, which occurs
several times in the course of its history. The
greatest danger to Christianity, the cause which
has often relaxed the springs of this great religious
machine, has always been the extreme importance
it attaches to its official establishment. The
priest, the pope, the Church, the saints, are in the
Christian organization so important that, unless
we are very careful, they threaten to eclipse God
Himself, and to monopolize the whole work of
salvation. It is certain that a Catholic who
wishes to be saved has more to do with the Church
than with God. When Richelieu threw St. Cyran
into prison for maintaining that the love of God
is necessary in attrition, the cardinal was not so
foolish as he seemed. Had the abbot's doctrine
prevailed, Louis XIII., who naïvely confessed that
he did not love God, would have slipped through
the hands of his confessor, and of the cardinal
also. This substitution of man for God, and, if I
may venture to say so, this suppression of the
Deity, being the great evil which undermines the
work of Christ, every reform of Christianity,
every awakening of Christian spirit, consists in a
return to the strict doctrine of grace. In the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (the lowest period
432 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
of Christianity), the evil reached its height. The
Reformation opposed to it the doctrine of justifi-
cation through Christ. In the seventeenth century,
the political influence of Spain and the Jesuits
having again eclipsed the faith of St. Paul and
of St. Augustine, St. Cyran was the Calvin who
took in hand the cause of God. Experience proves
that man never uses his liberty better than when
he believes himself bound by the dogma of grace.
On that occasion this strong reaction produced its
usual effects. A manly Christianity appeared as a
the simple priest resumed his dignity; there was
hope that the Church might cease to be a com-
promise between popes and kings; a great religious
republic, whose fundamental principle was the
election of bishops, seemed on the point of
being established. It is easy to understand the
enthusiasm produced in a little group of believers
by that dawn of a Christian renaissance; but it is
also easy to foresee the obstacles which beset the
new apostles when they attempted to impart to
the Universal Church their ideal of a pure
Christianity and a strictly spiritual religion.
1
SECOND ESSAY, AUGUST 30, 1860.
The Jansenist reformation, unlike that of the
sixteenth century, only succeeded in schools and
monasteries. The fixed resolve of its founders to
PORT-ROYAL.
433
remain within the pale of the Church cut it off
from a future. Jansenism held out for some time,
because Catholicism was still deeply sincere-the
fruit of personal convictions; but it was unable to
realize any of its aspirations, because the contra-
diction between the end in view and the means
employed was too flagrant. If St. Cyran may
be compared to Calvin as regards his doctrinal
tendencies, his want of success and his false
position in the Church remind one of Lamennais.
Like Lamennais, St. Cyran aimed at reforming
the Church through the priests and a pious laity,
rather than by the ordinary means of the hier-
archy. Relying on the attachment they inspired,
and the talent and social importance of their
disciples, both alike avoided preferment, which
would have restricted their spiritual freedom of
action, and aspired to rule the Church by means
of a central agency undefined in character. That
was where they deceived themselves; they over-
looked the fact that, in a highly organized society
like ours, one can only overthrow a hierarchy by
entering it. Both were condemned by the official
Church, outside which they wished to place them-
selves, though acknowledging its divine right; and
both fell victims to their simple confidence in the
power of naked truth. But the uncertainty of life
and the changes in the times made their end very
different. St. Cyran died at a critical moment,
as though Lamennais had died before the ‘Paroles
d'un Croyant'appeared. Lamennais outlived him-
11
28
434 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY..
şelf, struggling for twenty years against the weight
of his past. St. Cyran's protest was carried on by
his disciples; it created a tradition which is scarcely
extinct in our days. The school of Lamennais
was shattered at one blow, and the sentence which
struck the master did not leave him a single dis-
ciple. Our century has not faith enough to pro-
duce a heresy. The resistance of Jansenism,
which so scandalizes the Catholics of our day,
proves how active the Christian spirit was in the
seventeenth century. Then, people trusted to
reason; belief was individual ; orthodoxy still left
room for private opinion. In our day, faith is the
abdication of reason; people accept it, they do.
not acquire it. In such a state of things a sect is
an absurdity. The principle of authority has now
assumed such proportions that to resist the
Catholic Church is to break with her. Rebellion
is the only possible form of opposition; remon,
strance is justly looked upon as temerity.
This is the great lesson in religious history
taught us by Port-Royal. The failure of St.
Cyran should discourage for ever those who
dream of reforming Catholicism without quitting
it. Jansenism will be the last of the heresies;
Port-Royal the last feudal castle stormed by
Catholic unity. Orthodoxy triumphed on its
ruins; it must take care : when monarchic unity
triumphed in the extinction of the last vestige of
local independence, it was on the eve of the
Revolution. The awful silence enforced by
X
PORT-ROYAL.
435
Catholicism reminds me, I know not why, of
France under Louis XV. Catholicism will perish
in a convulsion which will be in religion what the
Revolution was in politics. If it falls, it will fall
because it has stifled within its breast all life and
speech.
To sum up, the influence Port-Royal exercised
over France was purely literary. The Port-Royal
style, simple, severely true, even when rather
slovenly, is a kind of prose which most resembles
that of the ancients. I do not entirely share M.
Sainte-Beuve's preference for the style of the
Academy to that of the Port-Royal recluses. The
best work is that which shows no literary after-
thought, which does not make one suspect that
the author wrote for the sake of writing, which
has not the slightest flavour of rhetoric. And,
in the seventeenth century, Port-Royal was the
only place where rhetoric did not penetrate. The
rigid rule of those perfect Christians had an ex-
cellent effect in this respect; they would have
suspected themselves of vanity and mistrust of
grace had they adorned truth with frivolous orna-
ments. They were, it is true, deficient in poetry,
unless it be that poetry of the soul which is deepest
when it least expresses itself. Santeuil's Latin
verse, which they inspired or at least admired, has
the same effect on me as Boileau's odes; the age
of Christian poetry was past. But thought, tem-
perate, self-restrained, and well-regulated, was
never better expressed. Pascal himself, who is
28-2
436 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORI.
certainly not indebted to them for his genius, owes
his truthfulness to them. Had he been brought up
in the Academical school, he would not, I think,
have been so free from affectation. The usual
note of the Academical prose of the seventeenth
century is that of Seneca. The fine effect pro-
duced by the works of that able rhetorician when
translated into French, and even by the tragic
declamations ascribed to him, always alarmed
me. Seneca—we must beware of the fact-is our
model ; when our style is pitched in his key it is
considered sober. Port-Royal alone knew the
simplicity of antiquity, the style that exactly fits
the thought, and like a well-made garment leaves
everyone his own figure, not giving an air of
genius to those devoid of it, nor seeking any other
elegance than that of suitability.
The destruction of that grand school of virtue
and common sense is one of the most inexcusable
acts of Louis XIV.'s government. Never was
there a more painful instance of the chief defect
of centralized countries, whatever their constitu-
tion may be—the jealous hatred of independence
evinced by the state. St. Cyran was un hoinine
sans prises, with whom neither caresses nor threats
availed. He refused a bishopric; and despotic
powers always regard as seditious those whom
they cannot bribe. He was arrested. “The late
Cardinal Richelieu was then at Compiègne,' the
Archbishop of Paris said to the nuns; 'I was
master of his bed-chamber; he sent for me, and
PORT-ROYAL.
437
said, “ Beaumont, I have done to-day a thing for
which a great many people will blame me. By
order of the king I had the Abbé de St. Cyran
arrested. I foresee that all learned and good
By
ee that all Abbé de St
granted the abbé belongs to both classes. So all
who know him, and many persons of quality
whose director he is, will think I have done a
" Whatever may be said of me on this occasion,
I am convinced both the State and the Church
ought to be grateful for the service I have ren-
dered them. For I am told that the abbé holds
peculiar and dangerous opinions, which might
some day cause scandal and discord in the
Church ; and it is one of my maxims that what-
ever unsettles religion will also disturb the State,
to prevent which is a signal service to both.".
This error of the great cardinal was repeated
with additions in the following reign. More and
more the State became the universal peacemaker,
preventing divisions by extinguishing that which
makes life worth living—freedom of thought. The
government considered that it was responsible for
all that was said or done in the kingdom; so
much so, that no convent could reform itself, and
no religious quarrel could be settled without its
interference. Port-Royal, it must be admitted,
furnished the pretext for all this interference.
Mère Angélique made a very French mistake,
when, unable to attain her ideal of austere dis-
438 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
cipline under the 'good customs' of Citeaux,
she solicited the Court of Rome to place her
convent under the jurisdiction of the Ordinary.
At first sight, what could have been more proper ?
The 'good customs' of Citeaux, which the lax party
desired to maintain, were what are called abuses.
The holy abbess, no doubt, believed that, in
appealing to the king and the pope to destroy
them, she was performing an act of Christian
policy. She had not yet learnt by hard experi-
ence that abuses are better than reforms when
the latter are due to administrative intervention
and an appeal to distant powers. The fall of
Port-Royal was the consequence. To escape the
laxities of the Cistercian rule they submitted to
the archbishop: that was submitting to the Court.
Port-Royal was defenceless on the day when its
independence gave offence, and when the Court
realized that within its walls were minds capable
of thinking for themselves.
The littleness of the motives which guided
Louis XIV. on this occasion would be incredible
were it not attested by the very persons who
carried out his orders. Pressed by the nuns, M. de
Hardy at last avowed them. 'Good heavens!' he
cried; 'cannot you understand ? People are
always talking about Port-Royal ; the king does
not like what makes so much noise. A little while
ago he told M. Arnauld that he objected to his
holding meetings at home; that there would be no
harm in his seeing all sorts of people like anybody
PORT-ROYAL.
439
else ; but why were certain persons always meet-
ing at his house; and why had he so much to do
with them? If he wrote books, he could easily
take the advice of those public persons whose
want to be in communication with those gentle-
men? The king will not have any association :
a body without a head is always dangerous in the
State ; he wants to do away with it, and not to
hear people continually talking about “Those
gentlemen -- those gentlemen of Port-Royal !”
He repeated eight or ten times the phrase “ asso-
ciation” (ralliement), and applied it to everyone.
“Not that we blame any of those persons in-
dividually,” he took care to remark; “ on the con-
trary, taken individually, one may say they are all
good; but when they associate together you have
a body without a head.” ?
Thus the true crime of Port-Royal was its
importance. It formed a society sufficient to
itself and living by itself. That constituted a
sort of challenge from the recluses to the king.
Louis declared that ‘he would put an end to the
cabal; that it was his own affair, and concerned
his own person; and that, in dealing with it, he
would be more Jesuitic than the Jesuits.' He
kept his word. A poor old nun, on her death-
bed, having expressed a wish to see her banished
confessor, the archbishop was appealed to.
The prelate replied that he could not presume
to grant the request, as it rested entirely with
440 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
the king; that if they liked he would speak to
the king, but that he was certain beforehand
that the king would refuse.'
The Duc de Luynes had two daughters at
Port-Royal. Colbert advised him to remove
them, saying that nothing would be done for
the other children so long as those two remained
at Port-Royal; and that those persons whose
daughters were being educated there must not
expect to be welcome at Court. It is strange,
added Colbert, 'that I have so often spoken of
this to you, yet you never trouble yourself about
it: you have seven children; you ought to think
of them.'
The Duc de Luynes removed his two daughters.
President Guedreville wished to know the cause
of these severe measures. He asked the arch-
bishop whether anything objectionable had been
noticed in the education at Port-Royal. As
usual, the archbishop began a pompous eulogium
on the holy house. The president having in-
sisted. 'Why, sir, you do not understand me,'
replied the archbishop; 'that is the very reason
why these measures were resorted to. The
convent enjoyed too great a reputation. Persons
of quality entrusted their daughters to these nuns;
people went about saying how well satisfied they
were: thus new friends were made who joined
with the friends of the convent and formed a party
opposed to the State. The king could not allow
this; he believes that such unions are dangerous
x
TYY
PORT-ROYAL.
441
in a State; this is what he is resolved to put
down. Pressed again to explain himself, the
archbishop summed up as follows the grievances
against Port-Royal: “The first was the intercourse
carried on by those gentlemen with strangers from
all countries; the second, that, outside Port-Royal
des Champs, there were lodgings which would
accommodate two hundred people; the third,
that, though the revenue of the monastery was
but limited, a large community lived there, which
gave rise to conjectures that the nuns must be
assisted by their friends; and the king was afraid
that those alms might be applied to purposes
which would not please him.'
What a fatal conclusion is this from the
principles of despotism! Here is a sovereign
possessing rare gifts, here is the master of
Europe, on the morrow of the Treaty of
Nimèguen, occupied with the pious coteries of the
Faubourg Saint-Jacques, spying into the rela-
tions between his subjects, waging war against a
convent where a few of the elect have attracted
some harmless followers. Certainly the exagge-
rated vanity which was one of the most con-
spicuous faults of Louis XIV. was responsible for
much of this meanness. But I am still more
struck by the false position of a sovereign com-
pelled by the principles he represents to stoop to
such tricks.* Even if Louis XIV. had been free
* I find in the Journal inédit' of the Marquis de Torcy,
recently published by M. Frédéric Masson (Paris, 1884),
442 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
from all personal weakness, circumstances would
still have made him a theologian. A monarch
invested with the absolute authority of the State
must have an opinion on every point and the
last word on every subject. The atrocious per-
secution of the Protestants, the severity shown
to Port-Royal, the ridiculous persistence with
which the king pressed for Rome's judgment in
the affair of the Quietists, were deplorable but
perfectly logical. The principle of State supre-
macy was pushed to such a point that a popular
boarding-school had become the rival of royalty
and a danger to society.
It is such enormities as these that explain the
sudden collapse of a brilliant, refined, and en-
lightened society, which in one day is shattered
completely and for ever-a collapse unparalleled
since the days of the Sassanidæ.* Superficial
thinkers have agreed to accept this government as
the king's councils (Nov. Toth, 1709), at which some most
important business was transacted : 'When I began read-
ing the despatches, the king said that a sort of miracle had
taken place at Amiens. One of the nuns from Port-Royal
des Champs ... had expressed great repentance for her
obstinacy. ... She eventually died like a saint in sorrow
and penitence. The story which reached the king respecting
the retractation of the old nun was at least doubtful. Dom
Clémencet, 'Histoire générale de Port-Royal,' vol. ix., p. 502
and fol.
• The name of a Persian dynasty, from Sassan, its founder.
-TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
PORT-ROYAL.
443
TA
WA
responsible for the ordeal through which she
afterwards passed are regarded as cavillers. People
forget that this government purchased its
ephemeral greatness at the cost of the future.
The Revolution only carried on its criminal
policy: the violent extinction of individual de-
velopment, the pursuit of a fatal uniformity—in a
word, the principle that everything which can
unite men is a crime against the State. The
remotest generations will reap the fruits of this
short-sighted policy. All evils can be cured except
the abnegation of self. Individualities once de-
stroyed by the State cannot reconstitute them-
selves; for the liberties which the State has once
absorbed it never restores.
A sad thought haunts us constantly while we
read this beautiful story so skilfully told by M.
Sainte-Beuve. These holy men and women who,
in the midst of the seventeenth century, revived the
days of antiquity, and made a Thebaid close to
Versailles—what purpose have they served ? The
reforms, to carry out which they did violence to
nature, trampled under foot legitimate instincts,
defied common-sense, and invited anathemas,
appear puerile to us. Their ideal of life is not
ours. We are in favour of the abuses they
reformed, and Sister Morel, who so long scan-
dalized the whole establishment by refusing to
give up her little garden, does not seem very guilty
in our eyes. Moreover, seeing how they hold
apart from human life, how unmoved they are by
444 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
its joys and its sorrows, we miss something in
them, and their perfection seems to border on
heartlessness. Le Maître de Sacy confessing his
mother on her death-bed, St. Françoise de Chantal
forsaking her children to follow François de Sales,
Madame de Maintenon stealing daughters from
their mother for the salvation of their souls,
appear to us to sin against nature. What purpose,
then, do the saints serve us ? What purpose did
the Stoics serve? What purpose was served by
all those noble souls in the fading past ? What
purpose was served by those Indian Buddhists, so
meek that their opponents succeeded in effacing
every trace of them? If we held to a narrow
conception of human life, we could never dispel
these doubts. The most sublime miracles of
patience and devotion have been fruitless; but
when we understand what duty is, we come to
believe that in morality the effort is more valuable
than the result. The result holds good for time
only; the effort holds good for eternity. Living
witnesses to the transcendental nature of man,
the saints are thus the corner-stone of the world
and the foundation of our hopes. They make
immortality necessary; thanks to them, moral
despondency and practical scepticism can be
triumphantly refuted. Sister Marie-Claire, ex-
claiming Victory! victory!' with her last breath,
may have been sustained by a faith which is no
longer ours; but she proved that man by his will
creates a force the law of which is not the law of
PORT-ROYAL.
445
the flesh; she set forth the nature of the spirit by
an argument superior to all those of Descartes,
and, in showing us the soul quitting the body as a
ripe fruit drops from its stalk, she taught us not to
pronounce too lightly on the limits of its destiny.
THIRD ESSAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1867.
During a painful illness courageously borne,
M. Sainte-Beuve has finished his third edition of
· his ' History of Port-Royal.'* Some years ago, I
said what I thought of this admirable book, a
masterpiece of criticism and art, and a model of
the style in which religious history should be
written. The right of passing judgment on this
new edition belongs to a more competent critic,
one to whom the subject of Port-Royal is a sort
of inheritance.t It is enough to say, for the
present, that M. Sainte-Beuve has made valuable
additions to his work. Some subordinate per-
sonages have been dealt with more in detail. The
author has received from the Jansenist Church
of Holland documents of great interest. From
amongst the bitter attacks on Port-Royal in the
recently published 'Mémoires' of Père Rapin, M.
Sainte-Beuve has extracted some curious informa-
tion. M. de Chantelauze has kindly anticipated
the publication of the work on which he is
engaged, and communicated to the eminent
Port-Royal,' six volumes, 8vo. Hachette.
† M. de Sacy. The three essays reproduced here appeared
in the Journal des Débats.
446 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
historian a long paper on the relations between
Cardinal de Retz and the Jansenists, which sets
that singular ecclesiastic in a new light. The
account of M. de Pontchâteau, received from the
Jansenists of Utrecht, is extremely interesting;
it gives a grand and simple picture of the life and
death of a saint. The work also contains un-
published and important information on Nicole,
Racine, and M. Olier.
What M. Sainte-Beuve, with great justice,
especially insists upon is the national significance
of Port-Royal and the kind of interest it pos-
sesses for us. Port-Royal is one of the glories
of France. It is the best contradiction to those
who pretend that our country is incapable of
being serious. Port-Royal was an attempt to
inake France an enlightened, honest, truth-loving
nation, more anxious to be than to appear as
Germany and Holland are. Had it succeeded,
we should have had neither the regency, nor what
was superficial in the philosophy of the eighteenth
century, nor the Revolution, nor neo-Catholicism.
The men of that school were very thorough
Christians; they were at least learned and in-
telligent Christians, and nothing more is required.
Certainly Tillemont's criticism is narrow and
timid, but it is perfectly conscientious. If that
sincere school had continued, it would soon have
attained complete independence. To derive Chris-
tian Baur from Le Nain de Tillemont two genera-
tations of savants are necessary. Freedom of
PORT-ROYAL.
447
thought proceeds either from want of religion or
from being serious about religion. Respecting
M. le Tourneux, accused of a tendency to deism,
M. Sainte-Beuve says: 'A Jansenist, far from
doubting the divinity of Jesus Christ, would
believe in it doubly.' Assuredly; but the Jan-
senist’s belief was the result of a serious exercise
of reason. And the same serious exercise of
reason may perhaps bring his grandson to believe
nothing at all. When we profess a dogma in
consequence of our own reflections, we are not
far from ceasing to profess it and from avowing
the change. It is only in politics and matters of
routine that we never doubt, or rather never avow
1
often, in our days, more enlightened. Protestants
than the orthodox flock. An intellectual culture,
akin to that of German universities, might have
proceeded from Port-Royal, or rather from the
mental and moral influence of that great society.
The result of the Jesuits' teachings was Voltaire.
I own that to Port-Royal I prefer the French
Protestant school, such as it became from the
reign of Henri IV. to the revocation of the Edict
of Nantes. But that school alienated itself from
us; it completely abandoned French traditions ;
1
France). Port-Royal, on the contrary, may be
our model in every respect. First of all, the
language of the writers of Port-Royal is per-
fection. It possesses the crowning merit of prose,
-448 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
that which includes all others: it is natural. Its
sole aim is to express its meaning clearly, without
making any display. This has raised it above all
scientific and intellectual revolutions. On the
deepest subjects we think differently from these
great prose-writers of the seventeenth century;
their ideas in history and philosophy do not satisfy
us; but their language is always sufficient. It
may equally well express thoughts opposed to
theirs, for its only law is good sense, the love of
clearness and truth. The qualities which make
good wriťers also, strange to say, make saints.
The capital defect in writing as much as in morals
is self-love and the desire to shine: forgetfulness
of self and scorn of consequences are the golden
rule in all things.
The method of tuition at Port-Royal is also
worthy of imitation. Its schools were far superior
to those of the Jesuits. Our University, unfortu-
nately, too faithfully copied the latter with their
artificial processes, only aiming at college honours;
their science, which is no training of the intellect,
but merely a superficial veneer; their recipes for
shining in competitive examinations; their scholar-
ship shut up in note-books and extracts, but never
bringing the pupil face to face with antiquity.
Above all, the spirit of the Port-Royalists should
inspire the few men in France who still protest
against false taste. We may not share their
religious convictions; but we should endeavour
to resemble them in everything except their faith.
• PORT-ROYAL.
449
12
‘Do not you see,' some one may reply, that this
is asking for the effect without the cause ? That
faith was the origin of their strength, their earnest-
ness, their self-sacrifice.' Alas! can it be true
that nothing great or lasting is to be achieved
without obstinate convictions, narrow ideas, and
violent prejudices? Is the free intellect con-
demned to be powerless in politics, virtue, and
art ? Do not let us exaggerate. Religion
alone,' says Fontenelle, ‘has sometimes made
wonderful conversions; but it seldom makes an
equable and consistent life, unless grafted upon a
philosophical nature.' In moral force, self-control
and literary austerity, M. Littré rivals the noblest
characters of Port-Royal, yet he has not any of
their faith. In the universities and academies
of Germany there are Le Nain de Tillemonts
who do not believe in the supernatural. That'cir-
cumcision of heart and mind,' to which M. Sainte-
Beuve justly points as the essential feature of the
pious ascetics whose history he has written, is
more the effect of race and education than of
this or that abstract symbol. Who now love and
defend those great men of other days ? We, whom
they would certainly have looked upon as libertines.
Let us then thank M. Sainte-Beuve for having
given us this touching picture of sublime virtues,
of courageous struggles animated by the love of
truth. To write a good history of a sect, of a
school, of a church, one must love it, but one
must not belong to it. M. Sainte-Beuve fulfils
►
29
450 NEW TYY
STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
these conditions. His sympathy for Port-Royal
is not dogmatic. It leaves his judgment free.
Among the additions which increase the value
of this new edition, the finest is perhaps the
farewell of the author to his heroes. Gibbon
tells us how sad he felt when he wrote the last
lines of his great history in his garden at Lau-
sanne. One day in the month of August, 1857,
having just completed his work, the author of
'Port-Royal' took up the pen again to write, by
way of conclusion, the following pages :
A
'I have finished this history, begun so long ago, and from
which, whatever my apparent occupations might be, I have
never really separated myself—this faithful description of a
race of holy men.
: What was my aim ? What have I done? What have I
gained ?
Young, restless, suffering, prompted by loving curiosity
to seek for hidden beauty, my chief aim was, at first, by
penetrating the mystery of these pious souls, of these se-
cluded lives, to gather the poetry which pervaded them.
But scarcely had I advanced one step when that poetry
vanished or gave place to sterner aspects : I saw nothing
but their religion in all its severity, their Christianity in all
its bareness.
'It was impossible for me to enter into that religion except
as its student and expounder. I pleaded for it before the
unbelievers and scoffers ; I pleaded on behalf of grace; I
pleaded on behalf of penitence; I exhibited its lofty side,
venerable in its austerity, even lovable in its tenderness; I
endeavoured to measure its degrees ; I counted the steps of
Jacob's ladder. This was the limit of my part, this the fruit
of my labours.
You wise and learned directors, illustrious recluses, right-
eous confessors and priests, virtuous laymen who also might
PORT-ROYAL.
451
have been priests but presumed not to aspire to the altar,
you good men all and true, whatever respect I vowed to you,
with whatever devotion I studied the least vestige you left
behind, I could not place myself in your ranks. If you were
still alive, if you could return to earth, should I throw myself
at your feet? I might perhaps visit you once or twice as a
duty, and also to verify the accuracy of my portraits ; but I
should not be your disciple. I have been your biographer,
I dare not say your limner; in this sense only am I yours.
"What I should like to think I have done is at least to bring
others to the point I have myself reached in regard to you,
that is, to appreciate your virtues and your merits as well as
your peculiarities, to perceive your greatness and your
miseries, what is healthy in you and what is unhealthy (for
you too are not whole)-in a word, through the contemplation
of your features to kindle and to feel that spark which is
called divine, though it shines but for a moment, and then
leaves the mind as free, as serene in its coldness, as impartial
as before.
"A still greater advantage might perhaps have been derived
from intercourse with you, a practical and moral advantage.
While I studied you, I suffered ; but my suffering had
nothing elevating in it. I was more engrossed with my
wounded vanity than with your troubles. I did not imitate
you. I never dreamed, as you did, of laying at the foot of the
Cross (which is only the most tangible form of the idea of
God) the disappointments, nay, the humiliation and injustice
which I experienced through you and on your account.
'For all that I have done, I have been and I ain but an
investigator, a sincere, attentive, and exact observer. More-
over, as I progressed, the charm having vanished, I did
not wish to be anything else. It seemed to me that in default
of the poetic flame which illumines but which decoys, there
could be no more legitimate and honourable employment for
the mind than to see men and things as they are, and to
describe them as we see them ; to depict, in the cause of
science, the varieties of the species, the many forms assumed
by human nature, as modified by social restrictions and the
artificial web of doctrine. And what doctrine could be more
29-2
452 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS 0
HISTORY.
artificial than yours? You have always talked about truth,
and have sacrificed everything to what appeared to you to be
true : in my own way I have also been a man of truth, so far
as I was able to discern it.
But how little is that after all! How limited is our sight!
how soon extinguished ! how like a pale torch kindled for a
moment in the middle of a boundless night! And he whose
heart was most set on knowing his subject, who was most
ambitious to seize it, who took most pride in portraying it,
how powerless, how unequal to his task does he feel on the
day when, as he sees his work almost finished and its fruit
gathered, his enthusiasm passes off, and is succeeded by that
loss of strength and of the power of enjoyment which is
inevitable as the end approaches, when he perceives that he
too is but one of the most transitory illusions in a world of
illusion.
Could better words be found for a sage of the
gentle school of Ecclesiastes, who, not in sceptical
bitterness, but from mature experience, used to
cry unceasingly : “All is vanity'?
SPINOZA.
A CONFERENCE HELD AT THE HAGUE, FEBRUARY
12, 1877, THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY
OF SPINOZA'S DEATH.
YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS,* LADIES AND GENTLE-
MEN,-On this day two hundred years ago, at about
this time in the afternoon, and a few yards from
this spot, there died, at forty-three years of age, a
poor man whose life had been so profoundly silent
that his last breath was scarcely heard. He occu-
pied an out-of-the-way room on the quiet quay of
Pavilioengracht, in the house of a worthy citizen
who revered without understanding him. On the
morning of his death he visited his host and hostess
as usual. They had been to divine service; the
gentle philosopher talked with the good people of
what the minister had said, approved of his advice,
and counselled them to follow it. The host and
hostess (let us name them, gentlemen, for their
honest sincerity deserves a place in this idyl of the
Hague, related by Colerus), Van der Spyk and his
wife, returned to their devotions. When they came
© His Royal Highness Prince Alexander of the Netherlands.
17
454 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
home their kindly guest was dead. The funeral
took place on the 25th of February, as though he
had been a good Christian, in the new church on the
Spuy. All the neighbours regretted the sage who
had lived amongst them as one of themselves.
His hosts cherished his memory, and those who
had known him always spoke of him with the cus-
tomary epithet as 'the blessed Spinoza.'
Anyone able to discern the current of opinion
among the "enlightened' Pharisees of the time,
would have seen this philosopher, so beloved by
the simple and the pure of heart, becoming by a
strange contradiction the bugbear of the narrow
orthodoxy which pretended to have a monopoly
of truth. A rogue, a scourge, an imp of Satan,
the most wicked atheist, a man steeped in crime-
such, in the opinion of sound theologians and
philosophers, was the recluse of Pavilioengracht.
Portraits of him were scattered about, which re-
presented him as 'bearing on his face the signs
of reprobation.' A great philosopher, as daring
as himself, though less consistent and sincere,
called him ' a wretch. But justice had its turn.
When towards the end of the eighteenth century,
in Germany especially, a more moderate theology
and a broader philosophy came in vogue, Spinoza
was hailed as the precursor of a new Gospel.
Jacobi let the public into the secret of a con-
versation he had with Lessing, whom he had
visited in the hope that he would come to his
assistance against Spinoza. What was his sur-
SPINOZA.
455
prise at finding Lessing an avowed Spinozist !
<“Ev nai Tãv,' he said, that is the whole of philo-
sophy. The man who for a century had been
called an atheist, Novalis declared “intoxicated
with God.' His long-forgotten books are pub-
lished and eagerly sought for. Schleiermacher,
Goethe, Hegel, Schelling, proclaim Spinoza the
father of modern thought. Perhaps there was
some exaggeration in the first impulse of tardy
reparation; but time, which puts all things in
their right places, has confirmed Lessing's verdict,
and to-day all enlightened thinkers admit that
Spinoza had more spiritual insight than any of his
contemporaries. It is in that belief, gentlemen,
that you have assembled to do honour to a humble
grave. It is the common affirmation of an un-
fettered faith in the infinite which to-day unites,
on the very spot which witnessed so much virtue,
the choicest assemblage which could gather round
the tomb of a man of genius. A sovereign, as dis-
tinguished by the gifts of her mind as by the
qualities of her heart, is with us in spirit. A
prince, capable of appreciating every kind of merit,
testifies by his presence, which adds special éclat
to this solemnity, that none of Holland's glories
are indifferent to him, and that no thought, how-
ever lofty, can escape his enlightened judgment, :
his philosophic admiration.
456 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
The illustrious Baruch Spinoza was born at
Amsterdam at the time when your republic reached
the climax of its glory and power. He belonged
to that great race which, by the influence it has
exercised and the services it has rendered, occupies
so exceptional a place in the history of civilization.
A miracle in its own way, the development of the
Jewish people takes its place side by side with that
other miracle, the development of the Greek mind;
for if Greece was the first to realize the ideal of
poetry, of science, of philosophy, of art, of secular
life (if I may so express myself), the Jewish
people created the religion of mankind. Its
prophets inaugurated the idea of justice, and
vindicated the rights of the weak, a vindication
all the harder for them, because, having no idea
of a future state, they dreamed of the realisation
of their ideal upon this earth and in a near
future. A Jew—Isaiah-750 years before Christ,
dared to say that sacrifices availed nothing, and
that purity of heart was alone important. Then,
when the course of events has utterly destroyed
those bright visions, Israel effects a change of
front without parallel. Transferring to the pro-
vince of pure idealism that kingdom of God
· never to be established on earth, one half of
his sons founded Christianity, while the other
half, amidst the stakes and faggots of the Middle
Ages, imperturbably repeated, 'Hear, O Israel !
SPINOZA.
457
Jehovah, thy God, is the only God; holy is His
name. This potent tradition of idealism, of
hoping against hope, this was the healthy and
bracing atmosphere in which Spinoza was brought
up. His education was at first exclusively Jewish.
The literature of Israel was his first and in truth
his constant mistress, the subject of his medita-
tion all his life long.
As is usually the case, Hebrew literature, when
it took the character of a sacred book, became the
subject of a conventional exegesis, whose object
was less to interpret ancient texts according to the
meaning of their authors than to adapt them to
the moral and religious wants of the times. The
penetrating mind of the young Spinoza soon saw
the defects in the exegesis of the synagogues. The
Bible as it was taught to him was disfigured by the
accumulated errors of more than two thousand
years. He resolved to pierce through them. At
heart he was in accord with the true fathers of
Judaism, especially the great Maimonides,* who
)
• Maimonides (Moses ben Maimoun, in Arabic, Abou
Amran Monça ben Maimoun ben Obeidallah), a Jewish
philosopher born at Cordova, 30th March, 1135, died in 1204.
According to some authorities, he was a pupil of Averrhoes
(Ibn Roschu). By way of distinction he has been called
'The Doctor,' and 'The Eagle of the Doctors.' He was a
skilful linguist and physician. Saladin, Sultan of Egypt,
appointed him his physician. Albert and Thomas Aquinas
were his disciples. His chief works are a' Commentary on
the Mislina,' in Arabic ; a' Compendium of the Talmud,“Jad
Chazekeh,' or the 'Strong Hand;" 'More Nevochim,' or
458 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
TA
S
had leavened Judaism with the strongest and
boldest philosophy. With marvellous sagacity
he foresaw the great critical exegesis which, a
hundred and twenty-five years later, was to ac-
quaint the world with the finest productions of
Hebrew genius. Was that destroying the Bible ?
Has that invaluable book lost anything by being
seen as it is, instead of being banished beyond the
pale of the common laws of humanity ? Certainly
not. The truths which science reveals always
surpass the dreams which it destroys. Laplace's
world is more beautiful than that of a Cosmas
Indicopleustes,* representing the universe as a
box, on the lid of which the stars move in grooves
at a few leagues' distance from us. In like manner
Guide of the Perplexed;' a Compendium of the works of
Galen; a Commentary upon the Aphorisms of Hippocrates
(two Hebrew MSS. of which are preserved in the Bodleian
Library at Oxford, and in that of the Vatican), etc.-TRANS-
LATOR'S NOTE.
* Cosmas, an Egyptian merchant living in the sixth
century of the Christian era : having made several voyages
to India, he acquired the surname of 'Indicopleustes' (the
Indian navigator). He wrote several works, amongst them
a' Description of the Earth,'now lost, ' Astronomical Tables,'
and a ' Christian Topography. The only work of his which
has reached us is his Christian Topography,' in Greek, con-
taining curious details relative to India and Ceylon. In it
the author, in the name of the Bible, denies the sphericity of
the earth, which he asserts to be an oblong plane 12,000 miles
in length from east to west, and 6,000 in breadth from north
to south, surrounded by high walls, covered by the firma-
ment as with a canopy or vault.—TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
SPINOZA.
459
the Bible is more beautiful when we trace in it,
on a background of a thousand years, every sigh,
every aspiration, every prayer of the most pro-
foundly religious minds the world has ever known,
than when we force ourselves to regard it as a
book unlike any other book, written, preserved,
and interpreted in defiance of all the ordinary
rules of the human mind.
But mediæval persecutions had their usual
results. The Jewish mind grew narrow and timid.
Some years before, at Amsterdam, the unfortu-
nate Uriel Acosta was cruelly punished for doubts
which fanaticism deemed as criminal as avowed
infidelity. The audacity of the young Spinoza
met with an even worse reception. He was
anathematized and excommunicated. A very old
story this, gentlemen! Religious communities,
beneficent cradles of so much piety and virtue,
cannot endure any attempt to pass beyond their
bounds; they would imprison for ever the life
whose beginnings they have sheltered; they regard
as apostasy the natural effort of the new-fledged
spirit to fly alone. It is like the egg accusing of
ingratitude the bird that has escaped from it.
The egg is necessary for a time; then it becomes
a hindrance and must be broken. Marvellous
indeed that Erasmus should have felt cramped
in his cell, that Luther should not have preferred
his monastic vows to the more holy vow which
binds every man to follow truth! Had Erasmus
persisted in his monastic routine, or Luther con-
460 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
tinued to distribute 'indulgences, they would
indeed have been apostates. Spinoza was the
· greatest of modern Jews, and Judaism exiled
him ; so it had to be; so it always will be.
Finite symbols, prisons of the infinite spirit,
protest eternally against the efforts of idealism
to enlarge them. The spirit on its side struggles
eternally for air and light. Eighteen hundred
and fifty years ago Judaism denounced as a false
guide him who would have made Judaism the
first religion of the world. And the Christian
Church, how often has not she expelled from her
bosom those children who would have done her
most honour! In such cases we have amply
done our duty, gentlemen, if we gratefully re-
member the education we received in our infancy.
The old churches are at liberty to call those who
leave them sacrilegious; they will obtain from us
no sentiment but gratitude; for, after all, the
harm they can do to us is nothing compared to
the good they have done to us.
II.
Behold, then, the excommunicated of the
Amsterdam synagogue obliged to build himself a
spiritual abode outside the house which has ex-
pelled him! He had great sympathy with Chris-
tianity; but he had learnt to dread all chains, and
did not embrace it. The enlightened rationalism
of Descartes had revived philosophy; Descartes
was Spinoza's master; he took up the problems
1
SPINOZA.
461
of the age where that great genius had left them;
he saw that fear of the Sorbonne had made
Descartes' theology hard and dry. When Olden-
burg asked what fault he found with Descartes'
and Bacon's philosophy, Spinoza said their chief
defect was that they did not sufficiently consider
the First Cause. Perhaps his reminiscences of
Jewish theology, that ancient wisdom of the
Hebrews for which he often shows his reverence,
gave him higher views and loftier aspirations. No
conception of the Deity seemed to him adequate
-neither that held by the people nor that formed
in the schools. He saw that the infinite could
not be limited; that divinity must be all or
nothing; that if it were really anything, it must
pervade everything. For twenty years he pon-
dered over those problems. Our dislike of
abstract systems prevents our accepting unre-
servedly the propositions in which he believed he
had formulated the secrets of the infinite. To
Spinoza as to Descartes the universe was nothing
but extension and thought; chemistry and physio-
logy were wanting to that great school, too ex-
clusively geometrical and mechanical. Unac-
quainted with the ideas of life and of the con-
stitution of bodies revealed by chemistry, and
still too much attached to the scholastic expres-
sions substance and attribuite, Spinoza had no vision
of that living and fruitful infinite which the
science of nature and of history shows us direct-
ing in boundless space a constantly progressive
y
462 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
·
-
-
-
development. Yet, apart from some crudity of
expression, what grandeur there is in that in-
flexible geometrical deduction, resulting in the
conclusion: 'It is in the nature of substance to
develop itself necessarily through an infinity of
infinite attributes, infinitely modified’! God is
thus absolute thought, the universal conscious-
ness. The ideal exists; nay, it is the only true
existence; all else is illusion. Bodies and souls
are pure rodes, whose substance is God; modes
alone are in time; substance is eternal. On this
theory, God has not to be proved-His existence
follows from His idea : everything involves and
presupposes Him. God is the condition of all
existence, of every thought. If God did not exist,
thought could conceive more than nature could
supply, which is a contradiction.
Spinoza did not clearly grasp universal pro-
gress; the world, as he conceived it, appears
crystallized in a matter which is indestructible
space, in a soul which is immutable thought;
exclusive contemplation of the divine unfits him
for comprehending the human: lost in infinity,
he did not sufficiently discern the divinity which
is hidden under temporal manifestations : but no
one has so clearly seen the eternal identity which
serves as the basis of all transitory evolution.
Everything limited seemed to him frivolous and
unworthy of a philosopher's attention. In his
daring flight, he attained the lofty snow-clad
mountain-tops, without one glance at the richly
TTT
SPINOZA.
463
blooming vales below. On those heights where any
other lungs than his would be suffocated, he lives,
he enjoys: there he breathes freely as the generality
of men do in the milder climate of temperate
regions. He delights in the sharp and bracing
air of the glacier. He asks no one to follow him
there; he is like Moses, to whom holy mysteries
were unveiled on the mountain. But believe me,
gentlemen, he was the seer of his age—the man
who had the deepest and keenest perception of
God.
III.
TXT
Isolated on those snowy sumrnits, he must have
been astray in human affairs, an optimist or a
scornful sceptic? No such thing, gentlemen. He
was constantly occupied in applying his principles
to human societies. The pessimism of Hobbes
and the dreams of Thomas More were equally
repugnant to him. One half at least of the Trac-
tatus theologico-politicus, published in 1670, might
be reprinted' to-day without losing any of its per-
tinence. Listen to the admirable title: ‘Trac-
tatus theologico-politicus, continens dissertationes
aliquot quibus ostenditur libertatem philosophandi
non tantum salva pietate et reipublicæ pace posse
concedi sed eamdem nisi cum pace reipublicæ
ipsaque pietate coli non posse. For centuries
people had believed that society was based on
metaphysical dogmas; but Spinoza saw that the
dogmas believed to be indispensable to humanity
464 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
could not escape discussion; and that revelation
itself, if there be a revelation, having reached us,
through human channels, must be equally open to
criticism. I wish I could quote the whole of that
admirable twentieth chapter, in which the great
writer, with magisterial dignity, enunciates the
dogma, unknown then and disputed still, which is
called liberty of conscience: 'The ultimate pur-
pose of the State,' he says, 'is not to rule men, to
keep them in fear, to subject them to the will of
others, but, on the contrary, to allow each as far
as possible to live in security, that is, to preserve
for each his natural right to live without harm to
himself or to his neighbour. No, I repeat, the
object of the State is not to transform reasonable
beings into animals or automata ; its object is to
enable the citizens to develop in security their
bodies and their minds, freely to employ their
reason. The true end of the State therefore is
liberty. . . . Whoever respects the sovereign’s
rights must not act against his decrees; yet
everybody has a right to think what he likes, and
to say what he thinks, provided that he confines
himself to speaking and teaching in the name of
reason alone, and does not introduce innovations
into the State on his own private authority. For
instance, a citizen proves that a law is opposed to
sound reason and thinks that it ought therefore to
be rescinded ; if he submits his opinion to the
judgment of the sovereign-to whom alone belongs
the right of making and abolishing laws—and if
SPINOZA.
465
in the meantime he does not break the law, he
„certainly acts like a good citizen and deserves
well of the State. ...
"... Even if it be possible to enslave men
to such an extent that they dare not utter a
word without the approbation of their sovereign,
nothing can control their thoughts. What then
will follow ? Men will think one way and speak
another. Good faith, so essential to a State, will
decay; adulation and perfidy will flourish, to the
destruction of all good and healthy habits. ...
What can be more fatal to a State than to exile
honest citizens because they do not hold the
opinions of the crowd and know not how to dis-
semble ? What can be more fatal than to destroy
as enemies men whose only crime is independence
of thought? Then the scaffold, which should be
the terror of the wicked, becomes the glorious
theatre where tolerance and virtue shine out in all
their brightness and in the sight of all men cover
the sovereign majesty with disgrace. Truly that
spectacle can only teach us either to imitate those
noble martyrs, or, if we fear death, to become the
abject flatterers of the great. Nothing, therefore,
can be so dangerous as to make divine right the
arbitrator of pure speculation, and to impose laws
upon opinions which are or may be the subject of
discussion among men. If the right of the State
were limited to the control of acts and speech
were left free, controversies would not so often
turn into conspiracies.'
30
466 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
Wiser than many so-called practical men, our
-speculator sees that reasonable governments alone
are durable, and tolerant governments alone are
reasonable. Far from absorbing the individual
in the State, he would create solid guarantees
against its omnipotence. He is not a revolutionist,
he is a moderate ; he transforms, he explains, he
does not destroy. His God is not one of those
who delight in ceremonies, in sacrifices, in the
smell of incense: and yet Spinoza in nowise
wishes to overthrow religion; he has a profound
and tender veneration for Christianity. The
supernatural is meaningless to him; according to
his principles, anything beyond nature would be
beyond existence, and consequently could not be
conceived ; prophets were men like other men.
'To believe,' he says, 'that prophets had human
bodies and not human souls, and that conse-
quently their knowledge and their sensations were
different from ours, is not to think, it is to dream.'
Prophecy was not the monopoly of one nation, of
not the privilege of one man. .. .. To speak
plainly, it is not absolutely necessary for salvation
to know Christ according to the flesh; but it is
quite a different matter if we speak of the Son
of God, that is, of that eternal wisdom of God,
manifested in all things, but especially in the
human soul, and above all in Jesus Christ.
Without that wisdom none can ever attain to
beatitude, since it alone teaches us what is true
SPINOZA.
467
TI
or false, good or evil. ... As to the teach-
ings of certain Churches, I have expressly said
that I do not know what they mean, and I
confess they seem to me to use the same sort of
language as one who should maintain that a circle
had put on the nature of a square.' Has Schleier-
macher spoken differently? And is not Spinoza,
who, with Richard Simon, was the founder of the
Biblical exegesis of the Old Testament, also the
precursor of the liberal theologians who in our day
have shown that Christianity can preserve all its
influence without the supernatural? His letters
to Oldenburg on the resurrection and the way in
which St. Paul understood it, are masterpieces
which, a hundred and fifty years later, would have
been looked upon as the manifesto of a whole
school of critical theology.
It matters little in Spinoza's eyes how we
interpret miracles, provided we understand them
in a pious sense ; the only aim of religion is piety;
we must ask from religion a rule of life, not meta-
physics. The Scriptures, like all other revelations,
are summed up in one precept, “ Love your neigh-
bour.' The fruit of religion is beatitude; every-
body shares it in proportion to his capacity
and his efforts. Minds ruled by reason, philo-
sophic minds, which even in this world live in
God, are beyond the reach of death ; what death
deprives them of is worthless; but weak or passion-
ate minds perish almost entirely, and death, in-
stead of being a mere accident, goes to the very
1
30--2
468 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
U
root of their being. . . The ignorant man, swayed
by blind passion, is agitated in a thousand ways
by outward causes, and never enjoys true peace
of mind; for him to cease to suffer is to cease
to exist. The soul of the sage on the contrary
can scarcely be disturbed. Having, by a kind of
eternal necessity, the consciousness of himself, of
God, and of the world, he never ceases to exist,
and always preserves true peace of mind.
Spinoza could not bear people to consider his
speculations irreligious or subversive. The timid
Oldenburg admitted that some of his opinions
were supposed to be dangerous. All that is con-
sistent with reason,' answered Spinoza,' I believe
to be helpful to the practice of virtue.' The
alleged superiority of fixed ideas on religion and
the future life found him intractable. 'Is it reject-
ing religion,' he asked, 'to acknowledge God as
the supreme good, and to think that we ought
to love Him as such with a free heart? To main-
tain that our freedom and happiness consist in
that love; that the prize of virtue is virtue itself,
and that a weak and blind mind finds its punish-
ment in its blindness-is that abjuring religion ?'
The attacks on Spinoza were prompted, he thought,
by very unworthy feelings. Those who inveighed
against disinterested religion showed that they had
no real love for reason and virtue, and were only
prevented by fear from indulging all their pas-
sions. “Thus,' he adds, 'they abstain from evil
and do good reluctantly, like slaves, and as the
1
SPINOZA.
469
wages of their slavery they expect from God re-
wards which have infinitely more value in their
eyes than the Divine love. The more unpleasant
it is to them to be virtuous, the more they expect
to be rewarded for it, and they fancy that all who
are not restrained by the same fear as themselves
live as they would like to do—that is to say, law-
lessly. It seemed to him unreasonable to expect
to go to heaven for doing what was worthy of
hell, and absurd to expect to please God by avow-
ing that if we were not afraid of Him we should
not love Him.
IV.
He saw the danger of interfering with beliefs
in which few persons admit these subtle dis-
tinctions. Caute was his favourite maxim. His
friends having made him understand that an
explosion would follow the appearance of his
*Ethics,' he kept it unpublished until his death.
He had no literary vanity, and did not court
fame, perhaps because he was sure it would
come to him unsought. He was perfectly happy;
he has told us so, and we may take his word.
And he has done even better; he has given us
his secret. Listen, gentlemen, listen to the
recipe of the prince of atheists' for securing
happiness. It is to love God. To love God is
to live in Him. Life in God is the best and the
most perfect, because it is the most reasonable,
470 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
1
the happiest, the richest; in a word, because it
gives us a fuller existence than any other life,
and more completely satisfies our essential needs.
Spinoza's life was entirely regulated by these
maxims. That life was a masterpiece of good
sense and judgment. It was governed by the
wisdom of the sage who only wants one thing,
and always obtains it at last. No politician ever
adapted means to ends more skilfully. Had he
been less cautious, he would perhaps have in-
curred the same fate as the unfortunate Acosta.
Loving truth for itself, he was indifferent to
all the insults brought upon him by speaking
it; he never replied a word to the attacks made
upon him. He never attacked anyone. “It is
not my habit,' he used to say, 'to try to detect
the errors of other people. Had he wished to
hold any office he would no doubt have been
persecuted, or at least calumniated. He was
nothing, and he wished to be nothing. Ama
nesciri,' was his motto, as it was that of the
author of the 'Imitation.' He sacrificed every-
thing to his wish to be undisturbed in his medita-
tions; and in this he was not selfish, for his thoughts
were important to us all. He several times re-
fused to be made rich, and was satisfied with the
necessaries of life. The King of France offered
him a pension: he declined it. The Elector
Palatine offered him a Chair at Heidelberg :
*Your freedom will be complete,' he was told,
'for the prince is convinced that you will not
SPINOZA.
471
take advantage of it to disturb the established
religion.' 'I do not quite understand,' he replied,
“how far the freedom of thought which you are
so good as to promise me will be limited by the
condition that the established religion is not to :
be disturbed ; besides, my being engaged in teach-
ing the young would be a bar to my own progress
in philosophy. I have secured a quiet life only
by giving up all public tuition. He felt that his
work was to think: he was indeed thinking for
mankind, whose ideas he anticipated by more
than a century.
He showed the same instinctive ability in all the
relations of life; he knew that public opinion
time; being a freethinker, he considered himself
bound to live as a saint. But I should not have
said this. Was not that meek and pure life rather
the direct expression of his untroubled conscience?
Atheists used to be considered in those days as
assassins armed with daggers. Spinoza was always
gentle, humble, and pious. His opponents ob-
jected to this; they would have had him conform
to the established type, and after living like an
incarnate demon, come to a suitable end. Spinoza
smiled at that curious demand, and refused to
change his conduct to oblige his enemies.
He made excellent friends, was brave when
necessary, and protested against popular outbreaks
whenever he thought them unjust. Repeated
disappointments did not shake his faith in the
472 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
1
republican party; his principles were not at the
mercy of events. Perhaps what did him most
honour was the sincere esteem and affection of the
simple beings with whom he lived. The esteem of
the humble is priceless, gentlemen ; their judgment
is nearly always that of God Himself. The worthy
Van der Spyks evidently considered Spinoza an
ideal lodger. “No one ever gave less trouble,' they
told Colerus, some years after his death. “When
at home he never interfered with anyone ; most of
his time he spent quietly in his room. When
tired of study, he would come down and join in
our conversation, even about trifles.' There never
was a more agreeable neighbour. He often used
to chat with his hostess, and also with the other
lodgers, especially if they were ill or in trouble.
He used to tell the children to go to divine ser-
vice, and when they came back would ask what they
could remember of the sermon. He nearly always
endorsed the advice of the preacher. Among
those whom he most esteemed was the pastor
Cordes, an excellent man, who explained the Scrip-
tures well. Spinoza sometimes went to hear him,
and urged his host never to miss the preaching of
so able a minister. One day his hostess asked him
whether she might hope for salvation in the religion
she professed. “Your religion is good,' he replied ;
'do not look for another, or doubt that you will
be saved if you are good as well as pious.'
He was wonderfully self-denying and economi-
cal. He supplied his daily wants by the labour
X
SPINOZA.
473
of his hands, — by polishing spectacle - glasses,
at which he was an adept. The Van der Spyks
gave Colerus some scraps of paper on which he
had put down his expenses; they amounted on
an average to about twopence half-penny a day.
He used to balance his accounts carefully every
quarter, in order to spend neither more nor
less than he had. His dress was simple, almost
shabby, but his aspect and manner were tranquil
and easy. He had evidently found a system which
gave him perfect contentment.
He never was either sad or merry, and the even-
ness of his temper was marvellous. He perhaps
felt some little disappointment when the daughter
of his teacher Van den Ende preferred Kerkering
to him, but I imagine that he soon consoled himself.
• Reason is my only enjoyment,' he said, “and joy
and peace is what I aim at in this life.' He never
could bear to hear anyone commend sadness. It
is superstition,' he said, 'that makes sadness a good
and every source of joy an evil. God would be a
spiteful being if He rejoiced in my weakness and
suffering. The truth is that the greater joy we
feel the greater perfection do we attain, the more
fully do we partake of the divine nature. ... Joy,
then, can never be evil so long as it is in accord-
ance with the true purpose of our existence. The
virtuous life is not a sad and gloomy life, a life of
privations and austerities. How could God take
pleasure in the sight of my weakness, or reckon
to my credit the tears, sobs, and terrors which are
TY
Y
474 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
the signs of a feeble soul? Yes,' he added vehe-
mently, “it is wise to use the good things of this
life and enjoy them as much as possible, to re-
cruit our strength moderately with pleasant food,
to charm our senses with the colour and perfume
of flowers, even to adorn our garments, to delight
in music, games, spectacles, and every kind of
innocent amusement.' People are always talking
about repentance, humility, death; but repent-
ance is not a virtue, it is the consequence of sin;
humility is not a virtue either, since it arises from
a consciousness of inferiority. As for the thought
of death, it is the child of fear, and its favourite
dwelling-place is a feeble mind. Of all things in
the world,' he said, that on which a free man
thinks least is death. Wisdom is meditation, not
on death, but on life.'
with the sense of the divine as that of Spinoza.
In the twelfth, the thirteenth, and the sixteenth
centuries, rationalist philosophy boasted some
very great men; but it had no saint. There was
often something hard and repulsive in the finest
characters among the leaders of Italian thought.
There was no religion in those lives which re-
belled against divine as well as human laws, and
whose last example was poor Vanini. With
SPINOZA.
475
Spinoza, freedom of thought as a form of piety
is the product of religion. Religion in his system
is not merely a part of life, but life itself. What
is important is not to acquire some more or less
correct metaphysical phrase, but to give life a
pole-star, a supreme direction, an ideal.
It was thus, gentlemen, that your illustrious
countryman raised a standard capable, even now,
of sheltering all who think and feel nobly. Yes,
religion is eternal; it answers to the most pressing
need of primitive as well as of cultured men; it
can only perish with mankind itself, or rather its
disappearance would prove that man had so
degenerated as to be about to revert to the animal
from which he sprang. And yet no dogma, no
form of worship, no formula can in these days be
adequate to the religious sentiment. These two
apparently contradictory assertions must be
maintained each against the other. Woe to those
who pretend that religion has had its day! Woe
to those who imagine that they can impart to
symbols, which the world has outgrown, the au-
thority they possessed when they were rooted in
the unassailable dogmatism of the past! We
must renounce that dogmatism now; we must
renounce those fixed creeds which gave rise to
so much strife and agony, but also to such ardent
faith. We must renounce the idea that it de-
pends on us to maintain in others beliefs which
we no longer share. Spinoza did well to detest
hypocrisy; hypocrisy is cowardly and dishonest;
XT
0
476 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
YITH
but above all it is useless. The persistence of the
higher classes in parading before the uneducated
masses the religious rites of former days, can only
have one result: it will destroy their authority in
critical times, when it is of the first importance
that there should be some men in whose wisdom
and virtue the people can still confide.
Honour, then, to Spinoza, who dared to say:
Reason before everything !" Reason cannot be
contrary to the true interests of mankind. But let
us remind the impatient and unreflecting, that to
Spinoza religious revolutions were only a change
of formulas. To him the substance remained the
same though expressed in other terms. If, on the
one hand, he energetically disclaimed the theocratic
power of a priesthood distinct from civil society,
and the tendency of the State to meddle with
metaphysics, on the other hand, he never rejected
either State or Religion. He wished the State to
be tolerant, and Religion to be free. We ask no
more for ourselves. We cannot impose on others
beliefs which we do not hold. When the believers
of other days persecuted, their action was tyran-
nical, but at least it was consistent: for us now-a-
days to do as they did would be simply absurd.
Our religion is a sentiment susceptible of taking
many forms. These forms are far from being of
equal value, yet none of them has power or au-
thority to banish the others. Liberty was the
last word of Spinoza's religious policy. Let it be
SPINOZA.
477
course, and also perhaps the safest and most
effectual for the progress of civilization.
Mankind certainly advances on the path of
progress with very uneven steps. The rude and
violent Esau grows impatient at the slow move-
ments of Jacob's flock. We must give everything
its time. We certainly must not allow prejudice
and ignorance to shackle the free action of the
mind; but on the other hand we must not hurry
the slow progress of more sluggish spirits. Some
must be free to be foolish in order that others
may be free to be wise. Spiritual development
cannot by assisted by force. It is natural enough
that those who have no genuine care for truth
should compel outward submission. But how can
we, who believe that truth is something real and
supremely valuable, dream of compelling an ad-
hesion which is worthless when it is not the
fruit of free conviction ? We no longer admit
sacramental formulas, acting of themselves inde-
pendently of the state of mind of the person to
whom they apply. To us a belief has no value
unless the individual has won it by his own re-
flection, unless he has grasped and assimilated it.
Conviction by word of command is as nonsensical
as love taken by force or sympathy made to
order. Let us bind ourselves, gentlemen, always
to defend our own liberty, and also, if need be,
to defend the liberty of those who did not always
respect ours, and who, if they had the power,
would probably not respect it now.
478 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
It was Holland, gentlemen, which, more than
two hundred years ago, had the glory of demon-
strating the feasibility of these theories by putting
them into practice. “Is it,' asked Spinoza, 'neces-
sary to prove that freedom of thought has no bad
results, but teaches men most widely divided in
opinion to respect each other's rights? Instances
abound, and we have not far to look for them.
See Amsterdam, whose growth, admired by other
nations, is the result of that freedom. Men of all
countries and creeds live in perfect concord in
that flourishing republic, that renowned city ...
and no sect, however odious, is refused protection
by its magistrates, provided it does not trespass
on the rights of others.' Descartes was of the
same opinion when he sought in your country
the tranquillity necessary for his studies. Thus,
thanks to that noble privilege of freedom which
your forefathers gloriously achieved, your Holland
became the asylum where, shielded from the
tyrannies which were devastating Europe, the
spirit of man found air to breathe, a public to
understand it, and organs through which to mul-
tiply its voice, which elsewhere was silenced.
Great, no doubt, are the sufferings of our cen-
tury, and cruel its perplexities. It is never safe
to raise so many problems before possessing the
necessary elements for solving them. It was not
we who shattered that aërial paradise whose
crystal walls reflected silvery and azure rays which
inspired and comforted so many longing eyes.
SPINOZA.
479
ITY
But it lies in ruins; what is broken is broken, and
no thoughtful mind will undertake the idle task of
bringing back the ignorance that has been dis-
pelled or restoring the lost illusions. Almost every-
where the inhabitants of large towns have given
up faith in the supernatural; even if we sacrificed
our own convictions and our sincerity, we could not
induce them to return to it. But the supernatural,
as it was formerly understood, is not the ideal. The
cause of the supernatural is lost. The cause of
the ideal has suffered no reverse; it never will.
The ideal is the soul of the world, the permanent
God, the primordial, efficient and final cause of
this universe. Here we have the foundation of
the religion which can never die. We have no
more need of miracles or selfish prayers to lead
us to worship God than Spinoza had. So long
as there is a fibre in the human heart to thrill
in response to all that is just and honourable,
so long as the soul that has the instinct of right
prefers virtue to life, so long as there are friends
of truth who will sacrifice repose to science;
friends of the public good who will devote them-
selves to the useful and saintly works of mercy,
womanly hearts to love all that is good and
beautiful and pure, and artists to express it in
inspired sounds, colours, and words, so long will
God live in us. Only if selfishness, baseness of
heart, narrowness of mind, indifference to science,
.contempt for the rights of man, forgetfulness of
all that is grand and noble, were to dominate this
480 NEW STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
world, would God cease to dwell in man. But
far from us be such thoughts. Our aspirations,
our sufferings, even our faults and our rash-
ness, are proofs that the ideal lives in us.
Yes, human life is still divine. Our apparent
negations are often but the scruples of timorous
minds who fear to go beyond what they know.
They are a more worthy tribute to the Deity
than the hypocritical worship of the formalist.
God is still in us, gentlemen; God is in us.
Est Deus in 120bis.
Let us all do homage, gentlemen, to the great
and illustrious thinker who, two hundred years
ago, showed as no else had shown, by the example
of his life, and by the power of his writings, which
time has not yet abated, that such thoughts
abound in spiritual joy and holy unction. Let us
with Schleiermacher offer the best we are capable
of as an oblation to the manes of the saintly and
misrepresented Spinoza. “The sublime spirit of
the universe had penetrated him; the infinite was
his beginning and his end, the universal was the
object of his one and lifelong passion. Living in
holy innocence and profound humility, he saw in
the imperishable world the reflection of himself,
and knew that he also was a worthy mirror for
the world ; he was filled with religion, and filled
with the Holy Ghost; he appears to us unique and
unequalled, a master of his craft, but raised above
the common level, without disciples and without
the freedom of any city.'
TY
SPINOZA.
481
----
TY
That freedom you are about to confer upon him,
gentlemen. The monument you raise to his
memory will be the link uniting his genius and
this earth. His soul will hover, like a tutelary
genius, above the spot where he accomplished his
short earthly pilgrimage. Woe to any passer-by
who should insult that meek and thoughtful
figure! He would be punished, as base minds
always are, by his own baseness, and his inability
to comprehend the divine. From his granite
pedestal Spinoza will teach us all to follow the
path which led him to happiness, and, centuries
hence, men of culture, crossing the Pavilioen-
gracht, will say to themselves : “It is perhaps from
this spot that God was most clearly seen.'
May the mernory of this fête be to all of us a
consolatory and a cherished recollection !
THE END.
BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.
G., C. & Co.

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MAR 19 1981
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OCT 2 5 1995
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