Desiderius Erasmus - A Sermon on the Child Jesus, 1901

A SERMON ON THE CHILD JESUS

TOR

-

8

ERASMI CONCIO DE PVERO IESV

A SERMON

ON THE CHILD JESUS BY

DESIDERIUS ERASMUS IN AN

OLD ENGLISH VERSION OF UNKNOWN AUTHORSHIP,

EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, BY

J.

H.

LATE SURMASTER OF

LUPTON, ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL,

D.D. AND LATE PREACHER

OF GRAY'S INN

LONDON

GEORGE BELL AND

SONS,

YORK STREET

COVENT GARDEN 1901

CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND co.

TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.

INSCRIBED

TO THE GENEROUS DONORS

OF THE MOSAIC OF ERASMUS IN

THE HALL OF

ST.

PAUL'S SCHOOL

WITH EVERY SENTIMENT OF GRATITUDE AND RESPECT.

INTRODUCTION

THE

story of the

be told

little

book here

my own connection

least as

reprinted, so far at

with

it

extends,

may

In the early part of 1879 I was in correspondence with the late Mr. G. W. Napier, of Merchistoun, Alderley Edge, Cheshire. In describing

some

in

few words.

rare books, of

which he was the enviable possessor,

Mr. Napier chanced to mention

this

old translation,

anonymous and undated, of Erasmus's

Concio.

expressing a

little

curiosity to

see

it,

the

On my

book was

courteously sent me, with permission to transcribe desired.

The

made has

transcript then

text of the present edition.

Of

furnished the

After Mr. Napier's

death, a portion of his library was sent to

am

if

the subsequent fortunes

of the book I have no knowledge.

sale.

it,

London

But whether the Sermon was included, or

for

not, I

ignorant.

The book was

a small octavo, and consisted of twentyThe size of four leaves, ending on the verso of C viij. leaf

was

morocco.

5J-

by 3^ inches.

The bottom

The

binding was purple

of the last few leaves

had been

frayed away, and possibly the absence of a date below Inserted the imprint may have been due to this cause.

was a cutting from the catalogue of the bookseller

(Lilly,

Introduction.

viii

1863), from

whom

in

of

any it

the work appeared to have been pur " No copy can be traced

memorandum

chased, with this

:

collection, public or private, neither

to be found

Colet, for

in

whose school

is

any notice

Knight's Lives of Erasmus and '

this

swete sermon

'

was written."

A

second note, pencilled opposite the title, testifies to the copy's being, so far as could be ascertained, abso 1

This being the case, it seemed almost a pious duty to give to the old translator's work, while there was yet time, such an extension of life as it was in lutely unique.

the power of a reprint to bestow. description of the book,

printed throughout in black letter

small 2.

roman

Before leaving the

should be added that

it

;

it

is

quotations being in

type.

A study of the translation itself discloses some strik

ing characteristics. in the passage (leaf

There

a rough vigour about

is

A vi verso) where

it,

as

the author speaks of " Who

" " that great pursuivant of Christ, John Baptist. is of wider imperye," he writes in another place (A v), " than he, which they in heaven magnify, they in hell tremble at, this mid world humbly worshippeth ? " One feature, in particular, the translator has in

of development

:

a high degree

a feature strongly marked also in Ralph

Robinson's translation of

the

I

Utopia.

mean, the

attempt to express the force of a Latin word, not by

one nearest equivalent tion of partial

in English, but

1

Thus "summi reges"

equivalents.

" " most haut and high kings

;

its

by an accumula

" fructus "

is

"

is

profit, fruit

The mention of a copy in the Gand Bibliographia Erasmiana no proof of the contrary. The copy there described is the one referred to in the text ; an account of which I had sent to the editor.

is

Introduction.

ix.

and advantage " (leaf A iv).

The proverbial expression " omnem moves " lapidem (B i verso) is literally rendered

"thou movest every stone"; and

this is

supplemented

" by seekest every way to the wood."

It must be admitted that the translator

home

at

" more "

important," is rendered " " or "

"

flos

as

manner,"

way

ratione,"

vernantis sevi," "

" the flower

cunque" (C

iii

is

not always

"Antiquius," "preferable," or " sooner "

Latin.

in his

bloom of

(A

is

life's

;

springtide," appears " " ut(B v) ;

a flourishing world verso) is rendered "as -of

iii) ;

" reason " (A iv)

it

were"; and

so on.

3.

may have been from

It

a -consciousness of such

defects that the translator gives us

no information about

Beyond the fact that his book was printed by Robert Redman, the rival of Pynson, who began business as a publisher in 1525, and died in 1540, there is nothing himself.

to give us

any clue to his personal history. Nor, with one possible exception, does he add any touches to the local colouring, itself sufficiently scanty, with which

Erasmus embellishes

his subject

The

exception,

if it

found in two passages, where the emphatic Jam vero," with which a sentence begins in the Latin, " is rendered Nowe, syr," in the English. The point may

be one, "

is

be thought a

trivial

the hand of one who,

with the usages of

But the words seem

one. if

to betray

not a Pauline, was acquainted

St. Paul's

School.

Supposing that an

Sermon, had him of what could have sug translating it, bethought to him the introduction of any "Sir," to be gested

outsider, struck with the merits of the Latin

apostrophized

?

The

title

simply stated that the address

Introduction. be delivered by a child before children. " would have seemed out of character, besides the

was

to

that there was nothing to suggest

Sir

fact

But

in the Latin.

it

"

one acquainted with the School would have known that on such an occasion the Founder would probably be present

;

the

High Master

certainly so

also the Surveyors of the Mercers'

;

and possibly

Company,

senting the Governors of the School.

The

as repre

deliverer of

the address would naturally be instructed to show, by

some

suitable gesture, if not by words, that he was aware of the presence in which he spoke : and hence, it may " Sir " of the be, came the English version.

4.

If

we knew with more

which Erasmus wrote

his

certainty the occasion for

Concio,

we should have an

answer to several interesting questions. Some little light is thrown upon the subject by a description of the new given by Erasmus in a letter to Justus Jonas.

Writing soon after Colet's death (September i6th, 1519), he says " Over the high master's chair is a beautifullywrought figure of the Child Jesus, seated, in the attitude

St. Paul's

:

of one teaching

and leave

;

and

all

school, salute

it

the young flock, as they enter

with a hymn.

Over

it

is

the

countenance of God the Father, saying HEAR YE HIM an inscription added at my suggestion."

The

closing

words

deserve

notice,

:

as showing the

strong interest taken by Erasmus in his friend Colet's

listened to.

and the way in which his suggestions were But the whole passage is worth attention.

We discern

from

great work,

in his Statutes

it

that the

name by which

the

Founder

would have had the School designated

was early superseded by one somewhat

different.

Dean

Introduction.

xi

" Colet sets forth that his foundation was meant to be in the honor of Chirst Jesu in puericia and of his blessyd

But from Erasmus's description we

Mother Mary."

should naturally conclude that, whether the School went by the name of Jesus School or not, it was regarded as

having for

its

patron

"Child Jesus" of

St.

"Jesus

Luke,

ii.

His boyhood," the This con 40-52, alone. in

ception, whatever be the cause,

is sedulously fostered by Readers of the Concio de puero lesu will feel once that it justifies its title. Jesus, the Child among

Erasmus. at

children,

the pattern of their

youthful band,

is

life,

the Captain

ever the central figure.

of the

The same

idea

for St. Paul's.

hymns and songs written by Erasmus They too are expressly entitled Carmina

de puero lesu.

At the head of them,

pervades the school

stand the words: literario, is

"Imago

quern nuper

instituit Coletus."

struck in lines like these

" Sedes

as a kind of thesis,

pueri lesu posita

The

in

ludo

key-note

:

hsec puero sacra est lesu,

Formandis pueris dicata ..."

"Quin hunc ad Puerum 5.

The

pueri concurritis

omnes?"

reader will now, I trust, perceive in what

direction these

somewhat

discursive remarks are tending.

for thinking that at some My object time in the year 1512 there was a formal opening of the School, or an unveiling of the image of the Child Jesus, is

to

show reason

some equivalent ceremony. I say 1512, because the foundation of the School is expressly placed by the statutes in that year.

Moreover, the earliest edition of or

the Concio with

its

companion pieces

that from the press

Introduction.

xii

of Matth. Schiirer of Strasbourg

now,

If,

it is

is

dated July, I5I2.

1

reasonable to suppose that so great a work

Dean Colet's School would not be some public ceremony to mark it, a number of compositions by Erasmus,

as the completion of

suffered to pass without

and

we

if

find

upon such an occasion, all published in the year of the School's foundation, and referring to that foundation as a recent event we seem fairly justified in for use

adapted

:

to confine our

concluding, that the Concio de puero lesu selves to that

was written

for delivery at

some opening

ceremony, and would gain in effect by the youthful orator's being able to point to the image of the Child Jesus upon the wall.

A few words remain

6.

to

be said on the relation of

2 Erasmus's Concio to the annual sermon of the Boy Bishop.

There can be nothing improbable in supposing that it was

Episcopus Puerorum on Holy Innocents' day which suggested the idea of the School sermon. In each case the composition was the work

in fact the address of the

of an experienced theologian, though in each case the

But here the resemblance speaker was to be a child.

From the eve of St. Nicholas' day ends. wellnigh

(December 6th) to the close of Innocents' day (Decem1 An undated edition was printed by Oliver Senaut, at Paris, about the same time. with the

De

It

forms one piece in a collection beginning As the prefatory letter of Erasmus to

duplici Copia,

Colet bears date Apr. 2gth, 1512, the volume cannot have ap peared before 1512. *

On

torum

.

see Dr.

this subject, .

S. Pauli, pp. lix.,

.

duction to

Two Sermons ...

Miscellany

;

Review

for

and an

article

January, 1896.

W.

S. Simpson's Registrum Slatu91-93; Dr. E. F. Rimbault's Intro

in vol. vii. of the

by Mr. A. F. Leach

Camden

Society's

in the Fortnightly

Introduction.

xiii

her 28th), the chorister-boy, chosen for exaltation above his fellows, was treated with all the ceremonial observance

To him and

of a real bishop.

their

prebendaries yielded up

own

delivered, as in his

who

canons and

His address was

cathedral, with all the semblance

On

of episcopal dignity.

his retinue, stalls.

the other hand, the schoolboy,

served as the mouthpiece of Erasmus, was simply one

He

of the scholars. his fellow-soldiers

addresses them as his commilitones,

their

;

common leader and commander

being Christ.

7.

actual

But a brief comparison of the Concio with an Boy Bishop's sermon will show better than anything

else the

wide difference between them.

There

exists,

conveniently for our purpose, such a sermon, delivered in Cathedral, as internal evidence shows, between

St. Paul's

1489 and I496. it

has

little

of the

is

in

A glance at

1

common

set,

this enables us to see that

with Erasmus's composition.

It

conventional type, and has a text and

Bidding Prayer. The Concio has neither. But more im portant than the difference in outward form is that ob servable in their subject-matter.

I will not enter here

on

But let the reader notice points of controversial divinity. how the author of the sermon (usually the Almoner of the

Boy Bishop as a mouthpiece, to inveigh in his opinion needed exposure. which against abuses, Otherwise, how inappropriate to the boyish speaker would Cathedral) uses the

1

Another, preached at Gloucester, December 28th, 1558, was first time in 1875, by Dr. Rimbault, in the Camden

printed for the

Miscellany.

English

is

See the

extant.

last note.

The

It is said that

no third specimen

in

Boy Bishop sermon was originally The paging of the passages cited in

St. Paul's

printed by Wynkyn de Worde. the text is that of Rimbault's edition.

xiv

Introduction.

" thanked be God, wythout " conspyracy, lordshyp, or symony," he was sette in thys

be the assertion

4) that,

(p.

With more intelligent zest, no doubt, the mitred

degree." "

"

Querester

would join

in the congenial pastime of pay

former masters (pp.

ing off old scores against his

An

3, 4).

ingenious perversion of the virgam vigilantem of

much wit

though hardly of the kind we should have expected in church to wish for his old instructor's promotion at court the Court of King's Jer.

leads him, with

1 1

i.

"

famouse college " he is quite content " that they should be perpetuall felowes and collegeners." as true extends to the very close of life, he And, charity Bench.

Of

that

hopes that their

last

scene might be a procession along which he had read in the " Marte-

that Via Tiburtina^ of

loge of Poules

" :

" in Englysshe as moche to saye as the

highe waye to Tyburne."

Certainly,

the specimens of

if

etymology scattered throughout this

sermon are a

sample of the general instruction given in the

fair

Grammar-

school of the Cathedral, the absence of any superabundant gratitude

on the part of

Kalendce. (p. 9)

moche

(as) to

is

not surprising. derived from colere: " Kalendce is as its

scholars

is

saye quasi colendo" Nona " Nona dicuntur :

parently referred to non for in that

daye the

:

and so

show how

ap

quasi nulla

;

Romayns worshypt no Goddes."

An

Tunica

tua

alternative derivation follows.

unica

(p. 10) is

forth.

(p.

n)

is

Further details are not needed, to

essentially unlike the

Boy Bishop's sermon was

to Erasmus's Concio.

8.

If anyone, admitting this,

that Erasmus's composition was other,

it

be inclined to suggest

meant

to supersede the should be pointed out that Colet's Statutes are a

xv

Introduction.

bar to such a suggestion. For they expressly provide " shall that all the scholars of his school euery Chylder-

masse day come to paulis Church and here the Chylde Bisshoppis sermon and after be at the hye masse and eche of them

offer

d

a

j

Childe bisshopp and with

to the

theme the Maisters and surveyors of the

Erasmus

scole."

would not have gone counter to the declared wishes of his friend in

What may have

such a matter.

influenced

Colet in taking a favourable view of these customs or some part of them is a question we are not called upon to discuss.

It will

be enough to say that he may have

thought them likely to foster in young scholars a spirit of honourable ambition. Or he may have regarded them as of service for enlivening, in some degree, the sombre cast of schoolboy existence as

it

any rate, be disposed to censure Colet

to encourage, the it

Two considerations,

then was.

should be kept in mind by those

at

was

at the

for encouraging, or

Boy Bishop ceremonies.

sermon alone, not

he required the attendance of that, less

being Dean

who may

at

any of the

his scholars.

seeming

One

is,

that

revels, that

The

other

is

of St. Paul's at the time, he would doubt

have been able,

if

necessary, even in the case of the

sermon, to restrict within reasonable

bounds the tendency

to a Fescennina locutio before referred to.

9.

Whether or not the school-sermon which

in its antique dress

of

worthy of reproduction, for

me

Tudor is

a question of which

to forecast the answer.

be conceded to

follows,

English, will be judged

But

if

thus

it is

much

not

merit

it, none will deny that the present is an time for its reappearance.

For some years opportune past there has been in progress a scheme for the internal

xvi

Introduction.

decoration of the

new

St. Paul's, suggested,

supported, by the present

good deeds

to the school

High Master it

least, that latericiam invent t

:

;

and

largely

of whose

many

be recorded, as not the tnarmoream reliquit. In the will

large Hall the walls are being encrusted with mosaics, The figures of St. Paul, the work of Mr. T. R. Spence.

of the Founder, and of Erasmus, are in their places

;

to

be

soon followed by those of Viscount Campden, a muni ficent benefactor, William Lily, the first High Master,

and others

Meanwhile, the central, above the Master's chair, is unoc

in long procession.

highest place of

all,

All recognize for what

cupied.

is

it

destined

:

for the

Child Jesus, as in Erasmus's time. May the coincidence of 1 5 1 2 be repeated. After a lapse of nearly four centuries

may

the

same year witness the reappearance of the

"

" " " image and of the swete sermon by the famous clerk of Rotterdam. Could I aspire to any further reward for my

small pains in the matter,

it

would

be, that

some Pauline

should be led to study more attentively the connection of Erasmus with St. Paul's School ; and then, in widening circle,

the influence that he exercised, partly through this

channel, on the English Reformation.

%*

should add that no changes, beyond those of punctuation, have been made in the Translator's text.

I

For much

my

help,

most

willingly rendered, I

sons, each in his time a scholar,

have to thank

and one a

captain, of

St. Paul's.

J.

H. L.

ermon of

tfyplbt 3fefus

tJje

maDe bp ous

tl)e

cierfte

most fam* 2Dottour

6rasmu]K of iaotetDa,

C Co

be pronoucefc

anli preacljeU of

a

cl)p

lie tonto ct)piUren>

r,

C A SERMON OF THE CHYLDE JESUS MADE BY ERASMUS TO BE PRO NOUNCED AND PREACHED OF A CHYLDE VNTO CHYLDREN. A CHYLDE,

I

>

goynge aboute to

speake

chyldren of the ineffable chylde Jesus,

before

wyll not

wyshe the eloquence of Tullie, whiche myghte stryke the eares with shorte

Chrystes

wysdom

and vayne is

in

pleasure.

dystaunce from the

worlde (the dystaunce

is

wysdom of the vnmeasurable), so much ought

But

from the eloquence of wolde ye myght with brennynge

me

of god, so good a father of the

vowes optayne with

good chylde Jesus, from the chyef of

ij

whom

as fountayne spryngeth

goodnes, and which onely with his maketh the tonges of infauntes copyous

all

plentyfull spirite

A

1

this I

the christen eloquence dyfferre the worlde.

For how much

and eloquent, which is also accustomed even out of the mouth of the suckynge babes to drawe out absolute and perfyte prayse, that lykewyse as our hole lyfe ought to

expresse none other than the spirite 1

ought

dyfferre.

as in Shak./w/. Cess.

2

Jesus Christ (of

For the occasional omission of i.

I.

3,

"You

to after ought,

ought not walk," see Abbott's

349.

Shakesp. Grammar, 1870, a Lat. spfritum lesum, corrected in later editions to if sum Issum, "Jesus himself."

PS.

2 ; xxi. 16.

viii.

Mat.

A

4

Sermon on

the ChildJesus.

whom

this daye we do entende to speake), so lykewyse 1 our sermon maye sauer on hym, represent hym, breath hym, whiche is both the worde of the father and

this

hath Heb.

iv. iz.

all

2

onely

workynge speche

the wordes of lyfe; whose lyuely and is

more percyng then any

.ii.

edged

swerd, percynge to the very inwarde chaumbers of the joh.

vii. 3 8.

3

from whose body flodes of lyuyshe * water do renne, wyll vouche salue by the instrument of my voyce, as it were by the pype of a conduyt, to flowe herte

;

and

into the

that he,

myndes of

all

you, with the plenteous moysture

of the heuenly grace to water them.

This thynge so I truste shall come to passe, most derely beloued felows, if we wyll ioyne to the godly requestes

which be purged and truely thursting ; that is to such eares as that eternall worde requyrynge in the

eares say, ver. 15.

gospell of sayncte Matthew, the

.xi.

Chapitre, saythe

:

Qui habet aures ad audiendum, audiat : that is to saye, I5^ Who hath eares to the entente to heare, let hym But as touching me why may I not be bold to heare. enterpryse this thynge

harde, I wyll not denye, but yet

5

my

ayder and

sauer (savour) on. So "jealous on," "fond on,"

"much made

godly 1

on"

god hymselfe beynge

namely,

See Abbott, 181.

2 all onely, a combination of alone and only. the Mirror for Magistrates, (Coriol. iv. 5. 203).

"

I

speak not

3 :

mine owne."

formed from

lyuyshe, living recognizes the form

mann

this alonly of

Nares quotes, from

"

Stratlife as thievish from thief. " lifisch in his Middle-English Dic

tionary.

4

vouche salue, vouchsafe. namely, in its old sense of "especially"; Lat. prasertim.

Compare the use of namentlich and namlich in German.

5

Aijver

A helper, in

Sermon on

whome

owne powers,

the Child Jesus.

mans

the lesse

more able

the

1

and

affection,

shalbe,

all

thynges

;

that eche

one of them shulde

magnine theyr captayne with that can be

in

whome

Moreouer

?

zele

whiche haue wedded and appoynted them-

selues to the warfare of this worlde, that

deuyll

and

do brenne with such feruent

these persons

syth

infirmyte trusteth in his

it

Paule bosteth that he can do

5

ymagyned

all

extolle,

auaunce and

the solempnitie of prayse

howe muche

;

to saye, of the

is

and soner 2

better

ought we to magnifie, euen anye who can do best, with deuout hymnys and commendations, our mayster, redemer, and captayne, Jesus; and the same also the prynce of all in generall, but of vs chyldren in especial ?

Him let

first

vs

and principaly

prayse

A Kj expresse ; expressed, lette vs

But

enioye

;

whens

more

we

knowen,

;

loued,

let

vs

3

counterfettynge,

;

felicite.

and so vnmeasurable copye* of

we take a begynnyng of our we fynde an ende? syth he of

shal

But as he hymselfe, of nature incom-

syth, since (sithens).

" What ought Perhaps

Lat. Nobis quid prius aut antiquius esse debet, to esteem preferable or of

the translator 3

;

is the very fountayne, the occean see, of all goodnes truely)

and good thynges.

2

vs studie

loue

entende to entreate

or (to speake

1

let

vs

enioynge, let vs take immortal

sermon, or where shall

whome we

let

vs counterfet

let

in so plentyfull

thynges, from

know

to

praysed,

;

meant soner

Lat. imitemur.

more importance than,"

etc.

to be taken in the sense of rather.

Comp.

I

Hen. VI.

ii.

4,

"Your cheeks do

counterfeit our roses."

4

copye, Lat. copia,

"plenty" or "abundance."

"The modern

sense," says Prof. Skeat (Concise Etym. Diet.), "is clue to the multiplication of an original by means of copies"

Phiiipp. iv.

A

6

Sermon on

the Child Jesus.

prehensible and infinyte, yet was contented to compasse

and dryue

owne

his

selfe (as

who

saythe) into a streyght,

so lykewyse our sermon, in expoundynge

his prayses,

which be of themselfes vnmeasurable, must of necessyte put a measure to it selfe.

Ueryly I see that there be thre thynges principally, whiche be wont to kyndle and enflame the hertes eyther of scolers or of souldyours, to do valiauntly and manly.

The

fyrste

guyde

is,

to

be brought

or captayne;

thyrd, the rewarde.

in to

an admiracyon of theyr loue

the secounde, to

Wherfore, to thentent

the

hym;

we myght

*

with more feruent and cherefull courages obey our master

Let vs consyder seuerally A all these thre thynges with a deuout curiositie in hym.

Fyrste of all, howe wonderful! he is on euery syde, and

and captayne Jesus, go we

to

be astoyned

to.

After that,

at.

howe

greatly he

is

to

be

And last loued, and for that cause also to be folowed. of all, what hyghe profyte, frute, and auantage shall arryse vnto vs

Nowe

is

it

oration, to

this loue.

shewe -ensamples of noble prynces, to

purpose and

whom

by

the vsage of Rhetoricians, in this kynd of

entent, that,

by the comparyson of

they prayse with other, his nobles

2

this

hym

and vertues

myght appere the greater. But our captayne so greatly and wonderfully surmounteth all the heyth of humane 1 The word originally courages,, "heanty desires," Lat. studiis. meant "hearts" (Jow Lat. coragiunt), as in Chaucer: Cant. Tales,

Pro!.

1.

ii,

" 1

So-prike{h

nobles, Fr. noblessz.

llines

lower down.

hem Nature

in here corages."

But the word

is

written noblenes a few

iij

ver.

A dignite

Sermon on

and hyghnes,

that

the Child Jesus.

whom

souever a

7

man

sheweth,

be he neuer so worthy, excellent and hygh, yet he shal seme to adde darkenes and not lyght.

For whose progenye and noblenes shall not seme smoke, if thou compareste hym with Jesus ? whiche by an vnspeakable, nay, with an vnthynkable reason,

alwaye without tyme

and most hyghe A

iv

;

1

is

borne god of god

parent.

Howe

humane

be

it,

though we go no a

pray you, do not easyly enshadowe and obscure the clearnes of further than to his

;

egall in all thynges to his eternall

natiuitie, I

other kynges and prynces in the worlde

?

it

al

as he whiche

3

wonderfully, aboue the course of nature, his father of

heuen beyng the worker and authour, the holy ghoste 4

aungel beyng the massanger, without mans industrie, was borne a virgyne, of a virgyne beynge breathyng, the

pregnant and with chylde by the handworke of the heuenly father, and was borne a man, and in tyme and :

5

6 agayne was so borne a man, that nother he lefte god, nor yet he drew none of our fylthynes vnto hym

to

be

at all.

what can be ymagyned more ample than 6 he, whiche, beynge infounded through all, yet restreyned in no place, abydeth in hymselfe vncompassable and vn-

Now,

1

a I.

with do.

301,

syr,

.

.

The

.

reason

:

rather, in

.

.

.

manner, Lat.

rations.

construction finds a parallel in Shak., 2 Hen. VI.,

" Men's

flesh preserv'd so

iii.

whole do seldom win."

3

as he which, Lat. quippe qui, "in that he."

4 massanger. The form survives in the proper singer."

5

But the Latin word

is

name " Mas-

pronubo.

nother, a middle-English form of neither, as other of either.

6

lefte,

Lat. desineret, "ceased," "left off."

Comp. Gen.

12, "left at the youngest."

7

infounded, Lat. infusus, formed like "confounded."

xliv.

A

8

measurable

Sermon on What

?

is

Child Jesus.

the

more ryche than

very chyef and principal! goodnes

;

he,

which

whome

from

all

is

the

good

do issue, and yet he is not therby dyminyshed ?

What is more renoumed than he, whiche is the renoume thynges

J

joh.

Mat.

i.

9.

xxviii.

of his fathers glorie, and whiche onely lygthtneth euery

man commynge into than he, to whome

10.

power

this

and

in heuen

worlde

What

?

is

more myghty A iv ver.

the father almyghty hath gyuen all in earthe

What

?

is

of

more

force

than he, whiche with a symple becke made all ; at whose commaundement the see falleth, the shappes 2 of thynges

be turned, the dyseases

flee,

the

armed

fall

downe, the

deuyls are dryuen awaye, the elementes obey, the rockes of stone are cutte in sender, the dead waxe a lyue agayne, the synners be conuerted, fynally all thynges be made new ? Who is of wider imperye * than he, whiche

they in heuen magnifie, they in helle tremble at, this mydde worlde humbly worshyppeth ; to the comparyson of

whome

themselues stronger

and hygh kynges confesse What is wretched wormes?

the moste haut to be

but

and more

death, whiche was to

victorious all

than he, whiche alone

other inuincible, ouercam with

and whiche layd downe and abated the tyrannye of Satan by his heuenly prowes and vertue ?

What is more triumphaunt than he whiche, breakynge his

owne death

;

helle, accompaynyed with so manye godly A a valiant soules, lyke conquerour, ascended vp to heven,

and spoylynge

1

renoumed, Fr. renomml.

2

shappes^ Lat. species,

"appearances" as at Cana of Galilee.

Nares quotes the form imperie from Taverner's In Hen. V., i. 2, we have "large and ample emAdagies, 1552.

3

imperye.

pery."

v

A

the Child Jesus.

g

sytteth at the ryght syde of his father ? What 1 than he, which with so wonderfull reason

and there is

Sermon on

wyser

created al thynges, that euen in the very lytle bees

hath

so

lefte

many and so greate miracles of

his

2

he

wysdom ?

and which, with so wonderful ordre of thynges and harmonye, knytteth, conteyneth, admynistreth all ; whiche goyth rounde aboute all, and yet departeth not from hymselfe

shakyng

folyshe in

wysdom

mouyng

;

all,

beyng

all,

hymselfe quyet

vnmoued

which

is

;

most

passeth by longe dystaunce the hole

hym

of the wyse

ought so much

hymselfe

fynally, that

;

men

of the world

more be the

the

;

whose authorite

greatter vnto vs, that the

hymselfe openly wytnesseth of hym, saynge 3 1^" Here is my welbeloued sonne in whome is my

father

:

t

pleasaunce ; harken to hym.

What

is

whose eyes all thynges be open ? What is so to be 4 as he, which with his only becke can sende both

to

drad

soule

and bodye

into hell?

What

is

more

than he, whose countenaunce to beholde

A

v

ver.

ioy ?

Fynally,

antiquitie,

what

if

many thynges be had

is

more auncient than

reason, rather

"manner"

beautyfull

is

the hygh

precious for the

he,

which neyther

had begynnyng nor shal haue endyng ?

But it were perchaunce more conuenient 1

that chyldern

(Lat. ratione), as before, p. 7.

2

Erasmus may have had in his mind the passage of Pliny Hist.

Nat. xi. 5. But the illustration is a very familiar one. Comp. Lyly's :

Euphues (Arber's ed. pp. 262-264), cited by W. A. Wright notes on Shak., Hen. V., i. 2. 187 ff.

3

Here.

The

hie of the Vulgate

is

ambiguous.

The

in his

translator,

not knowing, or disregarding, the evidence of the Greek, has taken it

adverbially.

4

drad,

" dreaded

" :

Mat.

xvii. 5.

Mat.

x. 28.

so reuerend as he,

a form found in Spenser.

A

io

Sermon on

the

Child Jesus.

shulde wonder at the chyld ; for here also he appereth wonderfull, in so much that the lowest of hym is more

hygh than those thynges which be most hygh in men.

Howe great was he, whom, beyng but a babe, cryeng, wrapped in cloutes, caste lyke an abiecte thyng in the crybbe, yet the aungels from heuen magnifie with theyr songe, the shephardes worshyp, yea she that bare

hym

worshyppeth, the brute beastes acknowledge, the sterre shewth, the wyse astronomers reuerence, kynge Herode

Hierusalem tremble

feareth,

all

braceth,

Anna

1

at,

2

in to hope of saluation. and hygh lownes If we wonder

Oh

brought

!

lyke thyng was euer outher

we marueyle

If

holy

Symeon em-

prophesieth, the well disposed people are

3

at

the low hyghnes

new

thynges, what

done, or herde, or thought

at greate thynges,

what can be by

maner of meanes more ample than our

Jesus,

?

all

whome no

creature can outher expresse with the voyce, or conceyue

whose greatnes who wyll compasse with wordes, he doth much folysher than if he went about to draw vp the wyde occean see with a lytle dysch. His with thought

;

immensytie is rather to be worshypped than expounded ; at which we ought so much the more to wonder that we can not atteyne

it.

And why

shulde we not so do

?

syth

that great purseuaunt,* Mk.

i.

7

.

selfe

Johan Baptist, pronounceth hymvn worthy to vnlose the latchettes of his shoes ?

Go ye to, pryde in 1

a 3 *

then, swete chyldren, let vs glorie with an holy

this so

noble a chylde Jesus, our mayster ; in

The verb is plural, as Hierusalem is used for the people of H.. brought, Lat. eriguntur, "are raised" or "encouraged." outher.

See note before, p. 7, on nother. pursetiaunt, "pursuivant," "herald."

A

A this so

Sermon on

worthy a captayn

to enterpryse deuoutly selfes

that,

;

;

hym

that

is

1 1

hyghnes encourage vs

let his

in

all

thynkyng

;

the Child Jesus.

let

onely his to

be

vs please our

common

to vs

we may iudge and count our selfes better, than (beynge ones addicte to suche a captayne) to serue the

all,

world, or vices, so vyle

and

fylthy masters.

C THE SECOUNDE PART. IUT

B

the deuyls do wonder and also tremble at

onely

good men

loueth hym.

hym

;

Wherfore the other

it goeth more nyghe vnto vs, so be herde with more attentyfe eares; that is to wyte, for how many causes Jesus is to be loued of vs ; nay to be reloued, rather for he loued vs not yet created

parte of this sermon, as Aviver.

is

it

to

before all

all

tyme

thynges.

in

And

hym

selfe, in

whom

therefore by his

euen than

vs

2 any maner beste but man

and he formed

that

is

;

were

natyue goodnes, whan

we were nought, he formed ;

*

and he formed vs not to his

owne

to wyte, receyuable of the highe ioy;

lykenes; and with the holy breath of his mouth he dyd put into vs the breath of lyfe.

Besyde this, all other beastes and fowles

commaunded 3

nient

more ouer the aungels appoynted out 4

1

*

;

to

at

our commaundeto protecte

than, originally the same word as then. " " any maner, any kind of. For the adjectival use of manner

with "any," "no," "all," ed. of 3

be obedyent

etc., see

Mayor's note at

p.

260 of his

Ascham's Scholemaster.

commaunded,

that

" is,

having been commanded."

So ap

poynted out just after.

4 retain the use of out with point, but not with appoint.

We

For

jas.

i.

A

12

Sermon on

and defende

vs

the Child Jesus.

he assygned and gaue

;

wyde and goodly buyldyng of the worlde *

behoues

:

whiche he hath

in

set vs in

moste

this

all

to our vses

to the entent that in the thynges created

full stage,

and

a certayne wonder-

we

myght wonder vpon the wysdom of the maker, loue the goodnes, haue in reuerence and veneration the power; and

that

we myght

the

more do

he hathe furnyshed

thus,

many helpes of senses, and hath garnyshed vs A vij many good qualities of mynde, and hath decked so bryght and quycke lyght of wytte.

What can

vs with so

with so vs with

be ymagyned outher more wonderfull or happyer than

But oh cursed enuye, alway the com2 paygnion of welth.

Agayne, by the subtyltie of the serpent, he fell wretchedly into synne ; that is to wyte, this creature

!

!

But here agayne thou, oh

into worse than naught.

!

good

Jesu, with what vnspecable prouidence, with what vnherd

an example, with what incomparable charite, haste thou restored that worke that thou dydest create.

For on suche wyse thou dydest restore

them

that they felle

:

and

whiche 3 not without cause were

al that

it,

that in

maner

this faute there is

calleth

myght be bound to

it

hym

it

auayled

one person

an happy

We

faute.

that created vs

;

but

the thought, comp. the collect for St. Michael and all angels : "So

by Thy appointment they may succour and defend us on earth."

1 Behoof, in the sense of "advantage," is found in Shak., 2 Hen. VI. iv. 7. " z in the sense of Lat. ,

well-being,"

toelth,

3

felidtatis.

there is one person whiche, Lat. quidam.

which

I

have to thank the Rev.

College),

is

W. H. Milman,

The

reference (for

Librarian of Sion

to a passage in the Service for

Roman and Sarum

Missals.

Holy Saturday in the In the form there used for the bless

" ing of the Paschal Candle, occur the words : talem ac tantum meruithabere Redemptorem."

O

felix culpa, quae

A to

hym

Sermon on

1

3

*

we owe more than all. Wylfully downe from the kyngdom of the

that repared vs

thou keste thy

the Child Jesus.

selfe

; to the entente thou myghtest which were before banyshed and dryuen out of

father into this our exile

make

vs,

paradyse, the cytyzens of heuen.

A vij ver. our humanite,

Thou

tokest vpon the

2

to call vs to the felowshyp of thy diuinitye.

Thou

dydest put vpon the this our slyme, to the entent 3 thou myghtest cladde vs with the glorie of immortalitie.

Beynge couered

in our shappe, thou woldest lyue

yeres with vs in this wretched worlde, that thou

bryng vs yea crepst vp for vs,

4

thus in to the loue of the.

into this lyght, nay nyght rather.

thou dydst crye lyke a babe

thurst, suffer

and

woldeste be thrall

exempted from that

Naked, thou With vs, nay,

thou dydst hungre, heate, cold, labour, wetynes, neade, watch-

fastynge;

ynge,

many myght

;

all

to

so

many

;

euyls

of ours thou

to the entente thou shuldest bryng vs

euyls into the

communion

of the;

to say, of the

is

hygh ioy. Furthermore, through out al the hole proces of thy most holy lyfe, with how lyuely ensamples doyst thou enflame our hertz ? with how holsom preceptes doyst thou nourture and forme vs? how wonderfull miracles doyste thou awaken vs?

with

with howe fayre monitions doyste thou drawe vs? with how sure promises doyst thou inuyte? so that there is

by thy owne whiche onely art the waye, the trouth, and lyfe.

But thou hast not pnely shewd the way, but also thou

none more commodious way

A viij

selfe

1

a

to the than

;

to

hym

that repared vs, Lat. reparatori,

"thee," Anglo-Saxon $/. cladde, "clothe," Anglo-Saxon yea, used like the German ja. the,

3

*

cldf>.

"to our

restorer."

job. xiv.

A

14

Sermon on

the Child Jesus.

haste opened it ; whyle thou woldest for vs be bounde, drawen, damned, skorned, whypped, bespytted, be bete, 1 be reuyled, and at laste also vpon the rode of the crosse,

lyke a lambe without spotte, be offered;

that by thy bondes thou myghtest losen vs ; by thy woundes heale vs ; with thy bloud wesh vs with thy death brynge vs to ;

immortalitie.

Brefly thou bestowedst thyselfe holly

vpon by the losse of the (if it were possyble) thou myght saue vs whiche were lost. When thou wert re stored agayne to lyfe, thou apearedst so often to thy

vs

;

that

and

disciples,

that they

in

myght

theyr syght dydest flye vp to heuen trust to

com

theyr hede to haue gone before them.

the entent thou myghtest yet

;

wher they sawe

thyther, 2

This done, to

more conferme thy

frendes,

thy father pacified, thou dydest sende that noble pledge

of thy perpetuall loue, the holy ghoste worlde, we myght blessedly than we I

lyue

now

;

in the farre

lyue by this our

owne

that,

dead to the

more

truely

and

spirite.

beseche you, what can be added to these proues of

hygh charite ? Nor these so many and so greate coulde not satysfye thy most brennyng* loue toward vs. For

who can

reherse with

howe many deathes of martyrs thou

doyst encourage vs to despyse this worlde? with

many ensamples chastitie ? with

how

of virgyns doyst thou kyndle vs to

howe many monuments of

thou attyse vs to deuoutnes of mynde

?

saynctes doyst

with

how wonder-

1

the rode of the crosse, Lat. ara cruets, "the altar of the cross."

In strictness, the rood was itself the cross or crucifix. * *

Compare

the collect for the

Sunday

brennyng, "burning, "ardent.

for the transposition of r,

after Ascension-day.

Comp. German brennen ; and,

"burst," and "breast."

A ful

Sermon on

the Child Jesus.

1

5

sacramentes of thy churche doyst thou fortifie and ? howe doyst thou comforte, left vp, arme, '

enryche vs

teache, monyshe, drawe, rauyshe, chaunge, transforme vs

with thy mysticall and diuyne wrytynges, in which thou a woldest certayne lyuyshe sparkes of the to be hydde,

whiche myght

who

styre vs

3

a greate enkyndyllyng of loue, 4 with a deuout

so laboreth to dryue them out

howe art thou euery where in our we myght not forgette the ? Besyde this, how fatherly doyst thou suffre vs when we synne? how mercyfully doyst thou receyue vs when we retourne ?

Nor thou doyste not impute thy good dedes for them that dyligence.

Fynally

waye, to the entent

be kynde; 5 B

i

agaynste vs

thou

nor our euyll dedes thou doyst not lay howe euer amonge 8 doyst

whan we repente

plucke

vs,

:

and draw vs with

secret

instinc-

7

howe doyste thou amende and chastyse vs by aduersityes ? howe entysest us by prosperities ? howe tions?

moueste thou euery stone, sekeste euery way to the 1

left,

"

unless a provincialism (as in Norfolk

whip "), a misprint

for

we hear "whep"

for

lift.

3

lyuyshe, "live." See note above, p. 4.

Hence for vs read vp, styre vs, Lat. excitaturas. " 4 dryue them out: rather "strike them (the sparks).

3

5

kynde, Lat. gratis, "to the thankful." If men show gratitude He will not hold them as indebted to Him for

God's benefits, them.

for

euer amonge, Lat. subinde, " from time to time." In Dr. Mur Two will ray's Dictionary examples of this idiom are given.

6

suffice

Shak., 2 Hen. IV.,

:

"

merrily

among."

;

v. 3. 21 (in

a ballad), " euer

among

so

Holland, Sueton., 26, "admonishing his soldiers ever and In the former of these, the meaning is probably " all the

while."

T

instinctions , incentives;

goad.

lit.

"prickings on," as of oxen by the

1

A

6

Sermon on

wode? 1 thy most ardent

the Child Jesus. charite neuer nor

cessing in confortyng, reuengyng, defendyng, vs blessed

no where

and makyng

?

But what a few thynges of so innumerable haue I rehersed, o gentyl compaygnyons and yet ye se what vn:

mesurable an hepe of benefites it is. Go now, who lusteth, and let hym magnyfie Pylades, Orestes, Pyrithoos, Theseus,

Damon and all

2

Pythias,

with paynted

but tryfuls to these.

gyuen

And

all

3

wordes

owne mere motion

frely of his

;

whiche be

these benefytes hath he to vs,

which haue

nothyng deserued them; nay, whan we were renaweys, traytours, and ennemyes, and whiche coulde do hym no If with meane* kyndnesses men be kyndeled to loue a man, shall we not at leste waye reloue our creatour, redemer, so louyng, so kynde? for he re-

pleasure agayne.

quyreth none other amendes of vs; 5

powreth agayne

to our lucre.

with gootes mylke

whiche he also

The adamante

melteth

6 :

egyls, lyons, leopardes, dolphyns,

dragons, knowlege and requyte kyndnes

:

and oh

hardnes of mans herte, harder than the adamant,

!

the if it

1 This latter proverb is an amplification by the translator ; the Latin having simply omtiem moues lapidem, a rendering of the familiar irdvra XiOov ictwi/, "to leave no stone unturned."

2

Typical examples of ancient friendship.

3

paynted, Lat. phaleratis, "ornamented."

Ter. PAor. t iii. 2. 16, for "fine speeches."

4

meane, "moderate."

5

Lat The

8

Dictis ph.

is

used in

" Comp. our use of refund." " blood." For the popular belief, see 2: " Adamantem, opum Nat., Lib. xx. Procem.

refundit.

Latin has sanguine,

Pliny, Hist.

gaudium, infragilem omni cetera vi et invictum, sanguine hircino rumpente. ..." In using myIke t the translator seems to have thought that hircino was co-extensive with caprino.

Biver.

A

Sermon on

the ChildJesus.

1

7

melteth not by suche kyndnes, whiche hath not be herde of.

O ingratitude, more vnkynde than wylde beastes, if

O

can forgette so greate deseruynges.

it

1

shamefastnes, nay madnes

rather,

if,

notorious vn-

so created, so re

stored, so enryched, opprest with so great kyndnes, called a

to so greate hopes, can

loue any thynge saue onely hym,

whome and from whome be

in

vs parte with

hym

of

all

all

;

and whiche gyueth

And

although euery mortal creature taketh these commodities, yet we especially

be bound vnto

thynges.

hym because that by many probations he hath declared hymselfe to be of a syngular tendernes and fauour towarde our ordre, I meane towarde vs chyldren.

Fyrste that (as he was promysed by the saynges of

prophetes) ij

;

it

pleased

hym

to

be borne a yong chyld, all measure and quan-

where as in dede he was without titie.

Moreouer

virgynes

yet closed in the deene

that,

wombe, he reioysed

to

3

of the

be saluted with the

spryngynge and lepyng of an infaunt also not yet borne.

Besyde this, that forthwith he wolde his natiuitye to be halowed with the bloud of innocent chyldren ; so that with these lyght harnysed souldyers (as

I myght saye) the most inuycte captayne myght begynne his batell. To this maye be added that, his tryumphale deathe approch-

ynge, he, 1

commynge

to Hierusalem,

wolde be gloriously

" modesty," occurs in Chaucer See also Ascham, Schohmaster (ed. Mayor), p. 25.

Some word seems to be omitted. But the incompleteness may Schamfastnesse, in the sense of

:

Prol. 840.

2

have been intentional, to produce a closer imitation of the Latin.

In this (si sic conditus fotest), homo has to be supplied from .

the preceding

.

.

humani cordis.

deem, "hollow," Lat. latebris. The word "dene," in various spellings, is found attached to many English names of places.

3

C

Luk.

i.

4 i.

1

A

8

Sermon on

the Child Jesus.

receyued with the procession, metynge, and louynge kyndnes of chyldren, rather then of men ; and wolde haue his

Mat. xxL

prayses to be songe and proclamed with the swete voyces 1 of chyldren. No we, syr, how louyng and busye a de2

Mk.

fendour and proctour was he of chyldren ; which, whan the mothers offered theyr chyldren vnto hym, that they

x. 13.

myght be blessed by touching of hym,

beyng dis contented with his disciples that they wolde not suffre them to come vnto hym, sayd Let the babes come vnto he,

3

:

Nor he dyd not onely blysse them, but also he that noman myght come to heuen that wolde not sayd humble hymselfe according to the yong babes. Agayne howe louyngly dyd he also, when he so sore frayeth 4 me.

:i>.

ver. 15.

Mat. xviii.

6.

* /'/ were offendynge his lytle ones, saying better for a man to haue a myhtone henge aboute his necke, and be caste into the see, than that he shulde greue one of

men from

:

And

these babes.

to these wordes

addicyon he made b.

ver. to.

I say

Truely of the father.

whiche

whome

commendacyon

of chyldren

O

!

good mayster

I

See the remarks

proctour, from procurator,

Jesus, thy lytle flocke,

in the Introduction,

the editor's Life of Colet, p. 275

lit. .

3,

and

discontented, Lat. indignans, "displeased." " " " is used for in Ascham's displeasure

Mayor),

"frightens,"

frayeth,

" none shall 5 whome it

A iv ver.

.So

" discontentn-

Scholemaster (ed.

p. 161.

4

Lut

leaf

"agent" or "manager." See Here, however, the word used

by Erasmus ispatronnm.

3

HiT

vnto the, gyue thankes vnto the; beseche that thou wylt vouchsaue always to lay

2

tion

:

vnto you, theyr aungels do always see theface

1

syr.

marke what a goodly

offered

is 5

in

.

.

looks as

.

"deters."

Comp. Deut.

xxviii.

26,

them away." them. These words may be used pleonastically. if the translator meant whome to be governed by

fray

B

ij

A

Sermon on

the Child Jesus.

19

thy holy handes vpon them, and defende them from all greuaunce. And is not this also a great token of loue,

when he dyd

a chylde in myddes of his disciples, to

set

be an example

for

them

to folowe, saynge

fueritis, et efficiamini sicut

this babe

ye shall not entre into

is,

Hytherto also Biij

maunded

Lo

that

;

iste,

belongeth

that,

Mat.

xviii.

intrabitis in

and

be

made as

kyngdom of heuen. whan Nicodemus dethe

way he myght come to he demaunded hym to be borne

joh. ills.

of Christe by what

euerlastyng blysse,

agayne

paruulus

Oneles ye be conuerted,

ccelorum.

regnum

Nisi conuersi

:

non

is

to wyte, to

come agayne

a.

ver. 3.

into a chylde.

so greatly infauncy pleaseth Christ our captayne,

!

that he enforceth also the aged

agayne,

besyde

if

men

they wyll be receyued into

whome

there

is

waxe chyldren

to his

no hope of

compaygnye

;

Nor

saluation.

Peter doth not disagree from his mayster Christe, where as he aduertiseth vs-, as newe borne chyldren, to S.

couet mylke.

Nor holy Paule dysaccordeth

Filioli met, quos

in vobis.

not, saynge iterum parturio, doneeformetur Christus

O my

lytle

chyldren, quoth Paule,

chyldbed, while Christ be formed in you.

B

Hj ver.

at

and holy

scriptures.

one worde to speake the thynge

:

Generally

Christianitie

is

;

is

beseche ;

Latin

:

none other thynge saue a beynge a chylde agayn. in

which case he has mistaken the construction of the admovere velis. . . .

cut quceso ut

2.

Gal.

iv. 19.

whome I

none other thynge in the worlde but a certayne newe and byrth, whiche in the Byble is called a regeneration that

ii.

:

gyueth his lytle babes (for so he calleth them) mylke to There be ryght many suche sorte of fede on in Christe.

and

Pet.

woman lyenge in The same Paule

agayne do beare and bryng forth, fyke the

places in the mysticall

i

*

Cor.

iii.

2.

A

2O Create

Sermon on than

is

x

the Child Jesus.

the mysterie of a chyld, great

is

the

wherin Jesus so greately was Let not vs then despyce our age, whiche that 2 true praysour and estemer of thynges hath made so mysterie of chyldhode,

delyted.

muche deuour

of.

3

this

Onely

that

one thynge:

lette

we may be suche chyldren

vs gyue our

as Jesus loveth.

Surely he loueth innocent and harmelesse chyldren, redy

And let vs also relearne, and symple. thynge that this chyldhode, so greatly and so derely beloued of Christe, lyeth not in yeres but in 4 myndes ; it consysteth not in tymes but in maners. For

and apte to

membre

there

is

this

:

a certayne kynde and sorte of chyldren, which 5

cleane ouertwart, and greatly to be fledde of vs

;

is

whiche

haue smothe chynnes, and roughe myndes; chyldren

and berdles

in age, but olde in vityous sleyght, soteltie,

and myscheyfe.

1

a

than, "then," as before, p,

praysour,

p. 286) uses

"

"appraiser," "

praised

for

1 1.

"valuer."

*

Parker

Soc.,

For the termination, comp. the

deuour, "devoir," "duty." " endeavour." cognate word 4

Bale (ed.

"appraised."

So, in the sermon of the

Boy Bishop

at

St.

Paul's

before

explained that by the "chil dren" of Matt. xix. 14, ''is not oonly underetonde those that bene referred to (Introd,

6), p, 5,

it

is

chylderne of age, but those that bene chylderne pure in clennesse from synne and malyce." In the sermon at Gloucester, 1558 (ibid.), pp. 22-25, is an almost fierce invective against the manners of school-children at that period, especially the behaviour of choir

boys in church.

5 "Overthwart," as adv., "across" (comp. "athwart in Chaucer: Knight es Tale, 1133, " I-clenched overthwart and endelong."

As

means "cross," "contradictory." In the present pas used to represent praposterum, " perverse."

adj., it

sage

it is

") occurs

A

Sermon on

Wherfore there hode, whiche

is

chyldysshenes

;

is

the

Child Jesus.

also a certayne

alowed

l

of Christ

2

1

newe kynde of chyldea chyldhode without

;

and, generally to speake, a certayne aged

chyldehode, which standeth not in the noumbre of yeres, but in innocentie and simplycitye of wytte.

Doth not

when he sayth omnem dolum, et

Peter openly shewe the same, igitur

omnem

maliciam, et

modo

et inuidias, et detractationes? sicut

Deponentes

:

i Pet.;;. i,

simulationes,

geniti infantes,

rationabile et sine dolo lac ccmcupiscite, vt in eo crescatis in

That

salutem.

to say

is

Wherfore, laying a parte al

:

enuyes,

and

backebytynges, as newe gotten infauntes, reasonable*

and

and

malyce,

all wyle,

and

and

hypocrisies,

without gyle, couet ye mylke, that by

Why

into saluation.

it ye maye encrease added he reasonable 1 Truely, be

cause he wolde exclude fowlyshnes

;

which customably

is

wont commonly to be the compaygnyon of this age. Why doth he contracte and take awaye enuyes, simulations,

and the other

men ?

vicyes,

which especyally taygne

surely to the entent

4

we shulde vnderstand

in olde

that the

Biwer. chyldren of Christ be estemed by theyr simplicite and

purenesse, and not by theyr byrth.

Paule also saith

S.

alowed, that

French.

Malicia paruuli

In malice (quoth he)

perfecti.

1

:

is,

And estate,

stirring

wyse

whence

ye

allouer in

dwarf we do allowance give

Before a sleeping giant."

1

detractationes.

3

The

Leg. detractiones.

to

"infauntes."

(rationabile, not rationabiles), 4

and without gyle" But he gives the Latin correctly and has no support for his rendering.

translator appears to take "reasonable

as referring

taygne,

if

obtain," "prevail."

Cor. 20.

be babes, but in wytte be

praised, from allaudare, Tro. and Cr., ii. 3,

Comp. Shak.

"A

in lyke

sensibus autem

Fr. tenir, Lat. tenere.

A

22

Sermon on

Howe

perfecte.

be

it

there

the

is

Child Jesus.

vniuersally in the very age

of chyldren a certayne natyue and naturall goodnes as

it

and

;

were a certayne shadowe and ymage of innocencye

;

and dysposition of a goodnes to come a softe mynde, and plyable to euery behauour ; shamefastor a hope rather 1

which

nes,

of vyces

;

:

a good kepar of innocencie ; a wytte voyde a bryghtnes of bodye ; and as it were a flower of is

a floryshyng worlde 4

thynge alye and

3 ;

and

(I

can not

tell

familiare to spirites.

how) a certayne For it is not for

naught that as ofte as the aungels appeare, [with] they ' shewe themselfes in chylderns lykenes yea, moreouer, :

they that vse art magicke,

whan

so euer they fetch

up

with theyr enchauntementes, as men say, they be 6 But howe called vp in lykenesse of a bodely chylde. spirites

1

See note above,

a

Lat. nitor, a

sleek

and

in

p. 17.

word used, with

good condition "

"Glycerse nitor,"

;

its

cognates, of animals,

when

then of personal beauty in general.

Liparei nitor Hebri," and similar examples,

will occur at once.

3

See the Introduction,

4

alye,

"bound

Fr. to,"

allit,

in

2.

old Fr.

alit (a

word used by Wyclif

)

:

and so "akin."

"

4

are represented as in the bloom of Angels, in Christian art, youth "( Walcott Sacred Archeology, p. 29). If Erasmus means no more than this by puerili specie, his statement will pass unques :

But if we give the words their natural sense, as in the text, See the not easy to see on what authority the statement rests. art. "Angels" in Smith's Diet, of Chr. Antiquities. tioned. it is

8 Erasmus does not say in puerili corpore, but in puerile corpus, which the translator has misunderstood. The point is not that spirits evoked by a necromancer appeared in the likeness of children, but that they were summoned to enter the body of a boy murdered The argument a fortiori then has its proper for the purpose.

place.

For the cruel superstition referred

to,

about which the writings of

.

A

much more

Sermon on

the Child Jesus.

23

gladly wyll that heuenly spirite, called

vpon

with deuout and holy vowes, enter into suche mansions B

v

?

Wherfore to these gyftes of nature if imitation of that 1 hyghe and absolute chylde be caste vnto, then fynally shall chyldren

also worthy

seme louyng and kynde towardes hym, and

and

fytte for

a

prouoketh who can is

hym

for the chylde that so

:

not but loue

Vndowtedly, suche

?

the vertue and violent operation of true loue, that thou

wylt couet to be so lyke as

may be possyble vnto the thynge which thou louest. Whiche thyng if humayne loue worketh in vs, what zele of folowynge shall diuyne 3 loue kyndle ; to which the other compared is vnneth a lytle

shadowe of loue

?

Wherfore,

if truely

and with herte,

not with onely wordes, we loue Jesus, let vs endeuer for our power to express Jesus ; or rather to be transformed into

And

hym.

if

we can not folowe

the man, let vs

Howe be it, this is no chyldren folowe the chylde. childes fete ; yea, it passeth the powers of aged persons ; but it is a thyng which in maner neuer chaunseth more happely than in chyldren.

For so

oft as the

matter de-

pende on mans helpe, theyr strenght, age, the distinction of male and female, is pondered and consydered but :

where the matter standeth B

v ver.

spirite

sheweth his wonderfull worke so

that there St. art.

1

*

is

but

lytle

helpe and

much

the more,

trust in the fleshe.

Chrysostom, Prudentius, and others, leave no doubt, see the

" Necromantia"

in the Dictionary just cited.

be caste vnto, Lat. accesserit,

Lat. promeritum, " cedent merit.

3

in grace, not in nature, there

"be added."

"that so deserveth," referring to "ante

vnneth, "scarcely": so wel unethe, Chaucer's Legend (ed. Skeat), Prol. 33.

"scarcely at all," in

A

24

Sermon on

the Child Jesus.

what doubt we or

Finally,

distruste, syth

he hymselfe

formeth, fashoneth, and transformeth vs, whom we endeuour to express ? Who added so great prudence to the

chylde Daniel great

?

*

wysdom ?

Who to the Who to the

chyld Salomon 3

.iii.

2

gaue so

Joined so great

chyldren

Who made child Hely worthy to come to goddes Who to chylde Nicholas,* to Gylys, to Benet, 7 1

pacience?

6

speach

?

1

Daniel, Dan.

3

Dan.

4 iii.

i.

2

17.

Salomon,

I

Kings,

9, 28.

iii.

23, 28.

iii.

Hely, Eli

:

apparently a slip of Erasmus for Samuel.

Sam.

I

4.

5 Nicholas, St., Bishop of Myra, in Lycia, at the time of the Diocletian persecution, was regarded as the patron-saint of children.

Hence, no doubt, the prominence given to him here. His com

memoration-day was December 6th, was chosen. See the Introduction, saint in this country

shown by the

is

at

which time the Boy Bishop

The

6.

fact that

popularity of the

376 English churches

are dedicated in his name.

6

Gylys, Giles, St., in Latin Aegidius,

is

known with certainty. He is thought Greece (his name being Greek), about A. D. is

one of

whom

very

little

to have been born in

640.

Making

his

way

he lived as a hermit on the banks of the Guerdon, a Here he founded the abbey bearing his tributary of the Rhone. name ; round which, in after time, grew up the town of St. Gilles.

Being lame, he came to be reputed the patron of cripples. It is to Provence,

remarked that churches dedicated the entrance, or

in

in his

name were

usually near

the outskirts, of towns.

Thus, in London, the fields." See the

"St.

Giles' Cripplegate,"

art.

"Aegidius, St.," in the Diet, of Chr. Biography,

"St. Giles'

in

vol.

i.

pp.

47-48.

7

Benet, or Benedict, St., of Nursia (ob. c. 540) was the great He founded the monastery of Monte reviver of monastic discipline.

His "rule" Cassino, on the frontiers of Latium and Campania.

was the

first

to recognize literary studies as proper for the inmates Erasmus, in his Ecclesiastes (ed. Froben, 1536,

of a convent. p.

405), has

some severe

educating the young.

strictures

on the Benedictine system of

A to Agnes,

1

to Cesyly,

2

the Child Jesus.

to so

many

25

so tender virgyns,

Truely not manly and inuincible vertue? and where nature lesse helpeth, there

so

gaue

Sermon on

nature, but grace

:

more wonderfully worketh

grace.

Wherfore, bearing our-

selues bold of this grace, let vs with a great hert

and

stomacke enteerpryse the studie to folow the chylde Jesus ; and let vs neuer moue our eyes from hym ; beynge We haue a perfyte and (as who shulde saye) our marke.

an absolute exemplar softe.

3

there

:

is

nothyng

All his lyf continually cryeth what

els

where to be

we ought

to do.

For what teacheth vs that moste pure chylde, that he was borne of a moste pure virgyne, but to eschue all fylthe B

vi

and defowlementes of

this worlde,

tayne angelycall lyfe euen

and

to meditate a cer-

nowe in erthe that is, to we shalbe contynyully ? ;

meditate that here, which there

Jesu generally abhorreth and hateth but fylthynes, specyally that beastly luste and vtterly man.

What taught he vs, in that he was for vnworthy

Truely the

spirite of

all

borne from home

mother

in another countre, delyuered of his

in a vyle cotage, cast

downe

in a cribbe,

wrapped

aboute with vyle cloutes, but that we shulde always remembre that we be here straungers for a fewe dayes ; and that, all

ryches troden vnder

fete,

and the

false

honours

1

Agnes, St. , a youthful martyr under Diocletian. The accounts we have of her are vague and legendary. Her commemoration-day,

January 3

aist,

is

retained in the calendar of the Church of England.

Cesyly, or Csecilia, St.,

But

struments of music. the fifteenth century.

Agnes and

is

represented in modern art with in probably not older than

this tradition is

Bede couples together the names of SS. but the dates are very un

Caecilia, as virgin martyrs,

certain.

3

softe,

sought.

"draft," "draught."

Comp.

"druft"

(provincial),

"drought";

A

26

Sermon on

of the worlde despyseth,

and

lyght

lose as

maye

vertuose labours;

countre

we ought

in

1

the Child Jesus.

we shulde

haste vs, beynge as

be, to our heuenly countre through

which our heuenly and natyue

alredy to lyue in mynde, although

we

touche as yet the erthe with our corporall fete ? Agayne, what monyshed he vs in that he fledde into Egypt, but that by all meanes we shulde eschue to entermedle with contagious people, whiche labour to put out Christ in B ; that is to wyte, innocencye, and the despysyng of the

vs

world

?

but that

What taught he vs, we shulde cut off all

he was circuncised, carnall affections, whiche

that

and that, beynge dead ; be and nouryshed onely led selues, of Jesu ? What taught he vs, in that he

disturbe vs hastyng vnto Christ as

it

were in our owne

with the spirite

was offered vp in the temple, but that we shulde holly offer vp and dedicate our selues, euen from our in-

god and

fauncie, to

vessell of our

into vs Jesu

naye

rather,

to holy thinges

mynde beynge

For no age none other age

?

learne Christe, than that

and

forthwith, the

freshe, drynke vnrype to learne holynes

yet is

;

newe and

;

more tymely and mete to whiche knoweth not yet the is

worlde.

Nowe

a consyder ye with our selues, oh

!

chyldren,

howe holy studyes and occupacyons that same chylde, so borne, so offered vp to god, dyd passe ouer his Not with ydelnes, not with eatynge and chyldhode. with

drynkyng, not with slepe, not with vayne sportes and playes, not with fowlyshe fables, not with straynges abrode (as the common sort of chyldren are wont to do) ; 1

despyseth 2

:

read despysed, in the same construction as troden.

our: readj/0#r.

vi

ve

A Bvij

1

but outher

Sermon on

the Child Jems.

27

with minystryng and seruyng his parentes, hearynge the preachers and

or with holy prayers, or teachers, or with 2

deuout meditations, or with holy and

Hath not in Luke his saynte gospell comprysed brefly all these and many other lyke, when he wryteth in this maner Puer crescebat et confortabatur, plenus sapientia, et gratia arnest

communications with other chyldren.

:

del erat in

illo.

That

is

to say

:

Luk.

ii.

40.

The chylde grewe and

wexed stronge, full of wysdom, and

the grace of god was in not a newe kynde of see ye manifestly Of the in chyldehode? chyldren tymes paste it was

hym

sayd saye

Do

?

:

:

That

Stultitia colligata est in corde pueri. is

Foly

teyed together in

a chyldes

herte.

to

is

Of

Prov. xxii.

the

newe chylde ye here Plenus sapientia, full of wysdom.

Why do we any longer excuse our rudenes vnder the :

when we heare a chyld not but full of wysdom ? Se howe this chylde onely wyse hathe inuerted all order of thinges, which sayth in the cloke of our tender age,

Apocalyps Lo, B

vij ver.

:

I make

Ecce ego noua facio omnia. all newe.

That

The wysdom

is

to saye

of the aged

:

Rev. xxi.

5.

is

destroyed, and the prudence of the prudent is dysalowed, and chyldren be replenyshed with wysdom.

And for

cause he gyueth thankes to his father, saying Quoniam abscondisti hcec a sapientibus, et reuelasti ea

this very

paruulis.

:

Because thou haste hydde

hast dysclosed them to infauntes.

and we shulde

these from wyse,

But, leste

here couette and studye for the fowlyshe and desceytfull

wysdom 1 a

of this worlde, he addeth forthwith

outher, "either," as above, p. 10.

For the change of vowel, arnest, earnest.

money.

Skeat says that the base of the word

:

Et gratia dei

comp.

ARM.

is

arles, earnest-

Mat.

xi. as.

A

28 erat in is

Sermon on

the Child Jesus.

The grace of god was in hym. He, whan all the wyse man, and hathe the ryghte knowledge,

illo. is

done,

whiche to the worlde

is

but a

fole,

and whiche sauereth

nothynge but Christe. He is knowen, not by the bokes of the phylosophers, nor yet by subtyll and sophistycall argumentes

but by pure faythe he

;

is

knowen, by hope he

1

Howe manye thynges holden, by charitie he is wonne. hathe this chylde taught by his ensample When he was but .xii. yeres of age, he stale awaye preuely from his is

!

parentes

;

whiche coulde not be founde neyther among nor among his acquayntaunce at last was B

his kynsfolke,

founde

;

after the

space of

.iii.

beseche you, was he founde ?

dayes.

In fayres

But wheare, ?

I

in markettes ?

in tauerns ?

daunsyng or synging ? Harken, ye chyldren, where the chylde Jesus was founde, leuyng his frendes, and in maner a fugityue and a renaway ; and in

Luk.

ii.

46.

ways

?

ye shall easyly vnderstande where ye ought to be conIn the temple, I saye, he was founde ; syttynge

sernaunt.

in the myddes of the doctours hearynge theyr reasons, * and demaundynge questions of them. What hath Jesus ;

taught vs by these so wonderfull deades ? that he hath taught vs some great thynge,

No

doubt but

som

earneste

be hyghly folowed and what is that ? that whyle Christ waxe bygge in vs (for he also is Surely borne in vs, and hath his degrees of ages, vntyl he growe matter, and

to

:

vp to a stronge and perfet man, and into the measure of 1 is wonne, Lat. devindtur, which the translator appears to have read with the penult short.

But the analogy of spe tenetur, just

before, points to devindtur

',

2

"

is fast

bound."

asking, as in the Baptismal Office

demaundynge, therefore, Dost thou

.

.

.," etc.

" :

I

demand

vnj

A his fulnes)

Sermon on

the ChildJesus.

29

wherfore whyle, I say, he waxe bygge in

:

vs,

he E Ph.

teacheth vs to transferee and shyft our naturall affections,

whiche be towarde our parentes and other frendes, vpon B

viij

ver.

nothyng to loue here, nothyng to magnifie, but in Let vs remembre that we Christe, and Christ in all.

god

;

haue our true

But

father, countre, kynsfolke,

foloweth them.

lest

Et

:

Nay

none more

a

and

frendes, in

man wold ymagyn

with this neglectyng of parentes shuld sauer any pryde or disobediencie, it

heuen.

erat subditus

rather,

illis.

none more

And he was

subiet vnto

truely loueth his parentes,

naturally honoreth them,

none obeyeth them

more obsequiosly, than he which thus contemneth them.

What

is

to sytte in the temple, but to rest in holy

it

thynges, and

to

worldly cares

?

brynge a mynde to learne, quyet from al Nothynge is more turbulent than vyces ;

and agayne wysdom loueth

J

layser

Now

and quyetnes.

2

person shall we disdayne to lerne ; howe we to gyue to our maysters ; whan that heuenly chyld Jesus, the wysdom of god his father, sytteth in myddes of the doctours ; hearyng, and agayne of what any

attentyfe eares ought

demaundyng

of them, and aunswerynge

ynge that

wondered on

all

syth he was suche one

3

to

his

wysdom

whome

;

?

the

all

but so aunswer-

Nor no wonder,

wysdom

of the

1 Laser is given by Stratmann as a Middlelayser, leisure.

English form of the word. * of what any, Lat. a quo tandem. The addition of any makes "of what person, be he any soever, the -what more comprehensive :

shall

"what 3

etc.

we," else

stiche

"

Comp.

the colloquial use of

= " every thing

one.

else," in Shak. 3

For the omission of the

"what all"; and

Hen. VI.,

indefinite

iii.

I.

article

51. after

"such," "what," "many," and some other words, see Abbott, as before,

86.

5v. 13.

A

3O world

thyng

is

Sermon on

the Child Jesus.

The knowledge

folyshe.

the science of philosophic

;

profession of diuinitie

But who heareth

is

of lawes is

a goodly Ci

is

a noble thyng

;

the

a thynge hyghly to be magnified.

1

waxe thynge But our aunswer, though it can not styre a folyshe. myracle of wysdom,* at lest way let it sauer of sobernes

and

discretion

you,

how

;

Jesus,

let it

obeysaunt,

forthwith

all

sauer innocencie.

how

seruyable,

I

Agayn,

becommeth

beseche vs to

it

syth that

and maysters (whome we ought to as they whiche be the parentes of the wytte), lorde of all, at what tyme he was of that depe

wysdom

that his parentes vnderstode

be

to our parentes

preferre,

hym

not, yet

he

returned with them to Nazareth, submyttyng hymselfe

vnto them.

We

owe

this to the reuerence

this to the naturall loue

towarde our parentes

;

;

we owe

that other-

whyles we gyue place to theyr wyl, though we see better what is to be done than they.

Luk.

ii.

s.

But now it is good to see with howe mete an ende Luke hath concluded the chyldehode of Jesus. Et Jesus (quoth he) prqficiebat sapientia, atate et gratia apud deurn C homines.

et

apud Jesus (quoth sayncte Luke) dyd s further in wysdom, age, and grace with god and with men.

Howe many thynges in howe fewe wordes hath he taught vs

!

Fyrste of

all,

that with the growe

*

and the

encreace of age the encreace also of holynes ought to be

copied 1

leste that

;

thynge

(pi.).

sayng be ryghtly spoke vpon

Stratmann quotes "in

alle

vs,

which

thinge" from the

Ormulum. *

That

3

dyd ftirther, a

is,

"excite astonishment at" our understanding. literal rendering of the Latin proficiebat,

advancing."

4

growe, growth.

"was

i

ver.

A

Sermon on 1

sayncte Augustyn

Qui maior in

3

1

spake vpon the common sort of men maior est iniquitate : \. The greater :

est cefate,

the greater in

age,

the Child Jesus.

lewdnes

;

or

lest,

most

in this

goodly and fayer batell, we shulde at any tyme reste vs and stande styll, or thynke that we haue wonne the fylde

;

but, after the

maner of them whiche renne

at

a

game, neglectyng that whiche we haue lefte behynde vs, contende alwayes and labour fourther vp, and alwaye assaye to clyme from good to better, from better to the best

tyll at laste it

;

to the

ende of

be come to the marke, 2 that

is

to saye,

this lyfe.

3

Socrates, what

Cij

tyme he was very aged, euen as though he knewe nothynge, always he thursted to learne; and that of any one.

So lykewyse we, the more we be in Christ, the lesse

we

profyt in

him

we

shal please our selues,

truely.

So

if

so be that

that always the standyng in

a mans owne conceyt is the very pestilence and vtter destruction both of studies and also of goodnes and, 4 after Quintilian, the ouer rype kynde of wyttes com:

meth not 1

lyghtly to thryste

5

neyther of lernyng nor

cannot trace this quotation from St. Augustine In the 1629 edn. of Erasmus's Adagia, it stands in the Index of Proverbs under Major ; but, unfortunately, the paginal to

I regret that I

its

source.

reference 2

stinatum 3

is

to the

wrong. marke, Lat. ad metam, in place of the Vulg.

(Phil.

iii.

In what follows, Erasmus

statements of

ad

de-

14).

may have had

Xenophon (Mem,

lib.

iii.

c.

in

view the familiar

10, etc.);

but more

probably Plutarch's Treatise, An sent respublica gerenda sit. See Hampden's The Fathers of Greek Philosophy, 1862, pp. 316 ff.

4 De institut. oratoria, I. iii., "Illud ingeniorum velut prsecox genus non temere umquam pervenit ad frugem."

5 tkryste, a misprint for thryfte, Lat. frugem*

phiiipp. Hi.

A

32

I

goodnes.

Sermon on

the

Child Jesiis.

thynke that the order also

is

not in vayne

:

apud deum, et apud homines, with god and with men.

So that we ought to vnderstand that cheyfly and fyrst of

we muste apply vs, that our lyf may please god we do so, the fauour of man shall folow alone.

all

:

and

1

if

is

nothyng amiable

;

more

after

whome a

prayse

to folowe, the lesse that

With

For

more

fayer than vertue,

it

is

nothynge accustomed the more

be coueted.

we myght, we haue expressed vnto you, chyldren, an exampler and president 3 of a chylde; whom we ought both to loue most and folow as fewe wordes as

And

muche

we seme to loue, as we shall folow hym.

Agayne, howe much the more ardently we shall loue hym, so muche the fuller we c most

effectually.

shall folowe

of

hym

hym.

surely so

Wherfore

require this one thynge

with dayly and pure prayers

vs to brenne in his loue chaste, pure,

is,

let vs

;

shall

:

that he wyl graunt

to proue lyke vnto

hym

;

that

mylde, symple, easy to

vnspotted,

be

entreated, voyde of craft, ignorant of gyle, knowynge not what enuye meaneth, obeysant to the parentes, obsequious

comaundement of our maysters, despysers of the 4 worlde, auowed to holy thynges, attent and wedded to to the

5

godly letters, passynge our selues dayly in goodnes, allowed of god, well accepted among men, and by the fauour and smelle of our good name alluryng very many 1

2

alone,

wkome

"of itself," unsought,

Lat. ultra.

by a kind of personification, to vertue as its ante cedent.

Comp. Shak., 2 Hen. IV. v. 2, "Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down after my seeming." refers,

,

|

3

4

president, precedent. auowed, Lat. deditos, devoted.

1

passynge^ surpassing.

Comp.

2 Sam.

i.

26.

ij

ver

A

Sermon on

These thynges

to Christ.

the Child Jesus.

(I say) continually let vs re-

these let vs attempt both with handes

quyre ; whyle our age serue

For

2

if

Quintilian

whiche wyll

vs,

3

and fyrste

and

els flee shortly

monyssheth a ryght, saynge

statim ac primo discenda.

33

The

i.

fete

*

;

away.

Optima

:

beste thynges are by

and

praye you, what ought to be learned soner than Christ, whiche is beste of all thynges ? by

Nay

to be learned, I

man

what other thyng ought a Christian

rather,

whome

C iij learne than hym,

knowe

to

is

to

life ?

euerlastynge

4

as hymselfe wytnesseth, praynge his father in the gospell. Jh5

Which thynge if we do, we shall as it were for our power yelde thankes, and acquyte his kyndnes and singular goodnes toward vs

;

vnto

and

in thus

And

acquytyng

the

hym we

more 7

we

shall

wynne hym fully howe much the more vehemently we shal reloue hym. So much the more we shal reloue hym, howe muche vs.

shall

acquyte,

1

manibjts pedibusque,

Lat.

"tooth and Ter. And., 2

See the

nail," for

I.

i.

"by

a proverbial expression, like our

every means in our power."

Comp.

134.

De Instil.

Orat.,

I. viii.,

where the subject

is

discussed.

De

pueris instituendis (ed. 1526, leaf 10 ver.) Erasmus " statim optima discenda." repeats the same maxim : 3 of "immediately," as in St. Luke, and in its sense old by by,

In his

xxi. 9.

4 5

Comp.

the Collect for St. Philip and St. James's day. "in any case."

Lat. utcunque,

6 and acquyte. . . . This is an unnecessary extension of the rendering of gratiam referemus, already given. The notion of "acquitting" in this connection seems to be, that by gratitude to

God we 7

The

and lay to rest ("acquit" is from ad quietum) has upon us. obscured by the relative clause being put second : "the more we return the love of God, the more

shall settle

the claim which sense

We should fully shall

is

say

we

:

He

acquit

Him,"

etc.

D

*vii. 3 .

34

A

the more

we

Sermon on expresse

hym

the Child Jesus. in lyfe

and manners.

more we expresse hym, so much the more we

And

the

shal be

enryched in hym.

C THE THYRDE PARTE. >UT

B

in the

meane whyle some per chaunce

wyll

an hard warfare, to cast vp all and take the crosse with Christ. But let vs remembre, most dere brethern, that the nature of the worlde and of thynke that

Christ

is

this is

farre contrarye

and dyuerse.

The

worlde, as

it

were a paynted harlat, at the fyrst syght sheweth it selfe vnto vs amyable, and as it were golden. But after, the c iij deper yt entre

muche

the

in,

and the more narre

more and more

ye loke

in,

so

and bytter be them that behold

fowle, stynkyng,

Contrary wyse Christ, to a farre of, he semeth somwhat hard

all together.

hym

l

whyle we see

;

and the despysyng of pleasurs and of lyfe. But who that with a trusty and bolde hert casteth hymselfe

crosses,

holly

vpon hym, he

more

at large,

shal fynde nothyng softer, nothynge

nothynge sweter.

Oneles perchaunce he

hymselfe, beyng the very trouth, speketh not the trouth Mat.

xi. 29,

where he sayth

in the gospel,

2 :

Colligite

iugum meum

super vos, et inuenietis requiem animabus vestris. iugum enim meum suaue esf, et onus meum leue. Take my yocke ttarre t for nerrey "near" (strictly a comparative form), is quoted by Stratmann from the Corpus Christi Plays at York, 1300 1

1500 A.D. 2

Colligite.

the Vulgate

I

know

tollite.

of no authority for this reading, in place of

A

Sermon on

the Child Jesus.

35

vpon you (sayth Christ), and ye shall fynde reste to your hertes : my yocke is swe/e, and my burden is lyte.

This

vndoubtedle is the very hard way of vertue, which in l olde tyme, longe before Christes commyng, Hesiodus in

maner dremed on

;

at the fyrst enteryng in

and commyng

but after one be a whyle to, sumwhat roughe and harde it is alwaye more and more easy and pleasaunt. entered, But admitte it to be a very sharpe waye of it selfe I ;

c

iv

:

praye you, howe can to so certayne

way

it

seme sharpe, syth by

it

and so greate a rewarde ?

we go If,

the

accord-

a

ynge wyse man, Spes premii minuit vim flagelli, The hope of the reward doth minyshe the violence of the skorge, who in this transitorie lyfe wolde to the saynge of the

it lyte and swete, wherby he getteth that heuenly and which shal neuer forsake him to raygne eternally

not iudge lyfe,

:

with Christ; to behold continually that hygh ioy and

goodnes ; to be conuersaunt in the companye of aungels ; to be farre from all feare of euyls ? Who, I praye you, rewarde wolde not gladly bye, yea, with And this so greate a stypend doth

this so greate a

a thousand deathes ?

lesus our captayne promise to his souldyers ; whiche wyll not lye nor can not deceyue. Now ponder with your selues the frutes, the eternite,

greatnes therof 1

:

agaynste whiche set the shorte tyme of

Works and Days, 289 TTJQ

&

2

:

fiaicpbc; Se

Kal opOioQ olpOQ

g avTfjv

rat rpi/x^c rovpwrov'

ITTJJV S' tig

pijiSir) ST) iirtira TriXit,

xaXeiri] irtp tovaa.

The form Books

sqq.

dptTTJe iSpUJra 9toi irpoirdpoiQtv tdr}icav

aQavaroc

tial

and the magnitude and

axpov

(icqrat,

of the reference seems to point to one of the Sapien but I regret that I have ;

as the source of the quotation

not succeeded in discovering the passage.

A

36

is no longer than the very lyf ; which than a vapor aperynge for a lytel tyme, * or a slepe of one houre ? But we go to of this inestimable

this warfare, jas. ir. 14.

'Sermon on the Child Jesus.

what

lyf

is

whiche

it

els

:

rewarde

let

vs a whyle be styll

howe abundantly

;

and

let

vs

now

see with c

greate rewardes our guyde and captayne

recompenseth the labours of his souldyers also in this and howe an a onlyke haruest they repe whiche be lyfe ;

souldyers of the world, and they which fyght vnder Christ

Let vs here what the wycked men themselfes say boke of Sapientie Lassati sumus in via iniquitatis perditions^ ambulauimus vias difficiles, viam autem

Jesu.

wud.

v.

7

.

in the et

:

That

domini ignorauimus.

way

is

and of perdition ;

ofiniquitie

We

wery in the we haue walked harde

to say

:

be

ways ; but the way of the lords we haue not knowen. The world entyseth vs with his cloked and counterfet shadows of goodes, which be nothyng els but poysons couered with honye.

And by and by, when we be ones plucked

saken, lord god

!

3

were put out of seruyce and for into what cares, what thoughtes, what

out of them, and as

it

what disworshippes, 4 into what vex ation of the conscience of the mynde, into what wretched troubles,

what

ende, doth

myght seme 1

3

it

losses,

So

that they

haue suffered penaunce ynough

for theyr

bring the vnhappy persons

to

Lat. agedum, "go we to." howe an onlyke haruest. For

?

this transposition of the article,

see Abbott, as before,

422.

3 put out of seruyce, Lat. inauthoratos. The Romans could say auctorare se, for "to hire oneself out to service," especially as a

Hence inauthoralus might be supposed capable of " meaning discharged from service." But the word appears to have no authority. gladiator.

4

disworshippes,

"

dishonours," or "disgraces": Lat. dedecora.

iv ver.

A c

v

Sermon on

wyckednes, though no all

the Child Jesus.

hell shulde

ensewe.

37

But he whiche,

the deceytes of the worlde reiected, fixeth his hole

loue, care,

thynge

and studie vpon Jesus ; ' holly on hym

and hang

;

that ;

he,

the hyghe good accordyng to the

is,

promise of the gospell, shal not onely possesse eternal lyfe, but also shall receyue in this worlde an hundreth

tymes folde so muche. And what is it to receyue an hundreth tymes so muche ? Veryly, for forged and coun terfeited

goodes,

true;

quy etnes

for

;

for

vncertayne,

certayne;

for

for

enuennemed, pure; for cares, vexation of mynde, truste and confidence ;

transitorie, eternal;

for troublesomnes, tranquillitie

;

for losses, profyte; for

torment of conscience, secrete lewdnes, goodnes ; and ineffable ioy; for a fowle and miserable ende, a for the

and triumphant deathe.

glorious

Thou

haste despysed ryches for Christes loue in hym thou shalt fynde true tresures. Thou haste reiected false honours so muche in hym thou shalt be the more honor :

:

Thou hast neglected the affections of thy parentes so much the more tenderly wyll the true father cheryshe Cwer. the, which is in heuens. Thou haste set at nought the wysdom of the world in Christ thou shalt much more Thou hast despysed truely be wyse, and more happyly. able.

:

:

pestiferous pleasurs deynties.

secrete

:

in

and

shalt thou fynd farre other

hym

Brefly to speake,

when thou

true ryches of Christ, the

seyst ones the

mysty clowde of the

world dryuen in sender, then all thynges whiche here to fore semed pleasaunte, whiche dyd sollicite the, thou shalt not only not magnifie and haue them in admiration, but hang, a change from the mood of fixeth. of indie, and subj., comp. Abbott, as before, 1

D

2

For the interchange 371.

A

38 a

*

Sermon on

the Child Jesus.

certayn pestilent destructions and poysons, thou shalt cast of.

flee, reiect,

For

it

chaunseth wonderfully

that,

so sone as that heuenly lyghte toucheth throughly our

myndes, sodenly a certayne newe face of all thynges a spryngeth forthe ; so that it, whiche a lytle to fore semed dulcet,

now waxeth

tart;

whiche sower, waxeth swete,

3 whiche semed vnfarynge, waxeth amyable ; whiche semed amyable, waxeth vnfarynge ; whiche tofore gorgyous, nowe

whiche myghty, weake; which beautyfull, defourme; whiche noble, vnnoble; whiche ryche, nedy; whiche hygh, lowe; whiche gaynes, dammage; which fylthy;

wyse, folyshe

be fledde

to

;

;

whiche

death

lyfe,

and contrary wyse.

;

which to be desyred, So that sodenly, the

face of thynges chaunged, thou wolt iuge lesse than

Christ truely,

4

that

which

semed

it

it

be nothyng Wherfore in

to

before.

good thynges be founde compendiously and of which the vayne and counterfet ymages and

all

shadows, and as

5

were ioglynge castes, this worlde whiche the wretched common sort of people sheweth; it

pursueth and seketh, with so greate trouble of mynde, with so great losses, with so great daungers, by ryght and wronge. I beseche you, what blysse can ye compare with this mynde, which 1

2

Should be as : Lat. perinde Still

of Ath., 3

is

nowe

2.

from errour,

free

vt.

retained by us in heretofore. iii.

free

Shakesp. has

to-fore in

Tim.

294.

Shakespeare (Sonnets,

verb, in the sense of

5,

quoted by Abbott) uses

"to deface," "render

to

unsightly."

unfair as a Stratmann

has the adj. unfair, " frightful."

4 That is, "anything rather than."

5

"Cheating throws," as of the dice;

generally.

hence "impostures"

c>

A from

Sermon on

the Child Jesus.

affections, without care, always

39

ioynge for the

monie of conscience, vexed with nothynge, and next to heuen, and nowe aboue the

testi-

haut, hygh, lot of

man

;

which in Christ, the most hygh pyllar and rocke, beynge borne and steyed vp, all the falsities of this worlde, the troubles, frayes

and stormes, depely laugheth at, dispyseth, For what shulde he feare which hath

or rather reweth.

c

vi ver.

his protectour

god is

shulde he feare reproche

?

an hyghe glorie to

suffer

reproche for Christ.

?

Nay,

nay, the burdayn of ryches he gladly casteth awaye,

so hasteth

hym

to Christ.

Death? nay,

it

Pouertie

?

who

he most

for that

1

wysheth, wherby he is assured to be set ouer to immortall lyfe.

For what thyng shuld he take thought, whose Father in heuen hath not so much but 2 his heares

numbred and

told

Christ possesseth

and what shulde he

?

all

thynges

?

For what

membres and to the hede? mans not onely felicitie, but also

to the

3

lyuyshe

be

al

membre

which

couet, is

Now how dignitie,

in

common

not

great

to

is

be a

of the most holy body, the church ? to

one with Christ

;

the

same

fleshe, the

same

spirite

;

one father with hym in heuens; to haue Christe our brother; to be destinate with hym to the haue

to

all

same enherytaunce

;

and, shortly to conclude, to be no

Put hereunto a certayne taste com, which the good and vertu-

longer a man, but a god ? of the

that

4 mynd do

ous 1

felicitie

is

to

perceyue and enioy euer among.

Lat. transmittendum.

Hence

5

This

sent over should probably be

read.

2

not so

much

but,

"not

so

much excepted as";

expression for "even."

3 lyuyshe: see note above, p. 4.

5 euer among: see note above, p. 15.

*

a cumbrous

do: see note above,

p. 7.

A

4O

Sermon on

vndoubtedly saw, is.

Uiv.

4.

Nee auris

Child Jesus.

the

this felt the prophete,

whan he

saith

:

audiuit, nee oculus vidit, nee in cor hominis 1

diligentibus te.

Neyther eare c vij hath herd, nor eye hath sene, nor it hath not ascended into mans herte, whiche thou, oh ! god, haste prepared to them aseendit,

qua parasti, Deus,

that loue wyll

PS. xcii. 12.

Wherfore, most dere companyons,

the.

do our deuour

8

that

we may be

truely the

if

we

membres

of Christ, accordynge to the saynge of the prophete: lustus vt palma florebit ; the ryghte wyseman shall flower lyke the palme tre

and

;

yea, also in this lyfe

we

shall

spryng

floryshe with a certayne perpetual youth, not onely in

mynde but

also in bodye.

For

like as

spirite of Jesu shall redounde into our

ours shall flowe into his bodye

shalbe transformed into

it.

;

spirite,

and, so

Nor

that flowryng

much

so agayne as may,

this so greate

it

beauty

both of body and mynde can not beare the fylthynes of For our mynde is the habitation of god ; the garments.

body as

is

who

shall

it

the habitation of the

mynde ; and

the garment

is

shuld say in maner the bodye of the bodye. So com to passe that all the hole man shalbe cor-

respondaunt to the puritie and cleanes of the hede vntyll at laste, this lyfe fynyshed, we be ledde awaye to euer:

c

lastynge ioy.

1

2

parasti, Vulg. prceparasti. deuour: see note above, p. 20.

vij

A

Sermon on

the Child Jesus.

4

1

C THE EPILOGE.

GO

ye

to, then,

good felowes

to this so greate felicitie

:

labour with our hole myght.

Let vs onely magnifie and haue in admiration our captayne Jesu ; then whom nothyng is greater ; nay rather, without whom nolette vs

Hym onely let vs loue ; then whom can be better, nay rather, without whom no nothynge thing at al is good.

Hym let vs folowe ; whiche onely is

thyng

at al great.

is

the true and perfyte exemplar of goodnes ; without whom who so semeth wyse is a fowle. 1 To hym onely let vs cleaue

hym

;

take fruition

onely ;

in

let

whom

vs embrace

the

is

sum

hym

in onely

let

What neadeth many wordes ?

of al good thynges.

Besyde hym

let

magnifie nothing, loue nothyng, desyre nothyng: 1

onely

c

viij

vs

the true pear, ioy, tranquillitie,

pleasure, lyfe, immortalitie.

He

;

a

is

let vs studie to please.

remembre

Lette vs

vs

hym that

vnder his eyes, and vnder the eyes of his angels, whiche shalbe our wytnesses in tyme comynge, we do al thyng what so euer we do. He is ialous, nor can suffre any

Wherfor

fylthynes of this world.

and angelycal our

al

lyfe.

lyfe

:

let

Hym

hym be to 3

through

maners

let

let

vs lyue in

him a pure

vs in hert, in mouth, in vs sauer;

hym let hym let

vs

In

vs speake ; hym set our busynes, our quyetnes, ioy, solace, hope, all our trust and confidence.

Let hym neuer departe from our in

1

3

" fool

vs expresse.

"

(from Lat. foUit). pear, a misprint for peace, through, "thoroughly," Lat. penitus.

fowle, 1

let

adverbially in the phrase

' '

We

still

through and through."

use the

word

A

42

Sermon on

myndes, when we be wake

the

;

Child Jesus.

and

in our slepe let us con-

dreme of hym. Hym let our lernyng and studie, and our playe and dysportes also sauer and smell of

tynually yea,

:

by hym and

in

hym

we be growen vp

let

vs encrease

tyll at laste

to a perfyte to

ende, brought triumphe with hym in heuen. valiantly

and waxe,

man; and, our warfare we may kepe a perpetual

AMEN.

C

Thus endeth the swete sermon of the chylde lesu made by the most famous clerke Doctour Erasmus of Roterda.

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