"If you are convinced that in the Eucharist there is nothing but bread and wine, I would rather be torn limb from limb than profess what you profess and would rather suffer anything than depart this life with such a crime confessed against my own conscience.... I will suffer you to babble out before all men whatever I have said, in intimate discourse, sober or drunk, in jest or in earnest, but I will not suffer you to make me the author or the supporter of that dogma; for it was never either on my tongue or in my heart."
The best summary of the view he wished others to take of his own opinions on this point is found in a letter to his former pupil, the Polish baron John à Lasco.[165]
"I seem to read between the lines of Luther's writings, that Pelicanus has given him some hints from our conversations,—the same who has nearly stirred up another disturbance here. He had spread a rumour that he had the same opinions on the Eucharist as I had. I wrote him a letter of remonstrance, but without giving names. This letter of [to?] Pelicanus was shown by Berus and Cantiuncula to a few persons, was even read in the Council, and finally was translated into German and spread far and wide, to my great distress. Pelicanus replied by letter. I wrote him to stop his writing and, if he wanted anything of me, to come to me. He came. I asked the man what he meant by his letters. He tried various evasions, but when I pressed him he finally confessed that he had said he believed the same as I. I asked him what then he did believe that could be in agreement with me? He replied after many attempts at evasion: 'I believe that in the Eucharist are the body and blood of the Lord; isn't that what you believe?' 'Assuredly,' I replied. 'Do you believe they are there by way of a symbol?' 'No,' he said, 'but I believe the efficacy (virtutem) of Christ is present.' I went on: 'Don't you believe that the substance of the body is present?' He confessed that he did not believe it. After that I asked him if he had ever professed this opinion in my presence. He confessed what is the truth, that he had never done so. Then I demanded whether he had ever heard this opinion from me. He said he had never heard it and, what was more, he had often heard the opposite. I continued: 'You pretend to others that I agree with you, and when you say this, you understand in your own mind that you agree with me so far as to believe that the body of the Lord is present; while those who hear you understand that I agree with you in accepting the opinion of Œcolampadius.'"
The more Erasmus protested, the less could he convince the advanced reformers that he did not in his heart agree with them. His fate was that of any man who tries to shift and shuffle in a crisis when honest men are forming their opinions and are grouping themselves accordingly. He was left outside all the groups, and could not even persuade the one all-embracing, ever hospitable Church that he belonged heartily within her fold.
CHAPTER XI
FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES—NEW TESTAMENT PARAPHRASES—CONTROVERSIAL AND DIDACTIC WRITINGS—REMOVAL TO FREIBURG—LAST REFORMATORY TREATISES—RETURN TO BASEL—DEATH
1523-1536
With all Erasmus' anxiety to demonstrate in words his entire independence of the rapidly organising reform parties and his unswerving loyalty to the papacy, his action during these critical years was as far as possible from timidity or half-heartedness. Of this no better proof can be given than the repeated editions of his Familiar Colloquies. The Colloquies, like the Adages, have a history of their own. They were begun, probably, as early as the residence of Erasmus in Paris,[166] about the year 1500, and consisted at first of brief conversations on familiar subjects, arranged for the use of beginners in Latin.
As years went on, these early experiments were extended, partly by expansion, partly by addition. In 1523-24 appeared an edition, practically complete, with a charming little dedication to the author's namesake, John Erasmius Froben, the eight-year-old son of the publisher. This dedication, we have a right to believe, represents fairly the serious thought of Erasmus as to the real meaning and purpose of his book.[167]