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.
Imprynted at London in Flete-strete at the sygne of 6 y George by me Robert Redman.
PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
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:
CO.
C
viij
ver.
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