The Life of Erasmus; With Historical Remarks on the State of Literature Between the Tenth and Sixteenth Centuries (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1825 edition. Excerpt: ... "cannot be sufficiently praised. I only wish, xf. "and I pray to God that I may be able to f DEGREESTM 'b" "persuade you, that you should renounce all *"" "disputes; and that you do not disturb received "opinions; for although what you say of them "be not absolutely contrary to true piety, it is "more prudent to be silent upon them. What "obliges a man of your eminent learning to "enter the lists with persons inferior to you in "every kind of merit, while the Scriptures hold "out to you a vast field in which you may dis "play all the riches of your genius?" Erasmus replied to Sadolet; * Sadolet returned to the charge, f He observes to Erasmus, in a second letter, that " some things are pious "in themselves, and abuses of them only repre"hensible. Such," he says, "are devotions.to "some saints; and too great a number of "pictures and images in churches; these should "not be quarrelled with; they are not contrary "to faith: it might be better that the mind "should be occupied upon Christ alone, but all "persons are not capable of this sublime piety." Sadolet so highly esteemed Erasmus, that he had recommended Clement VIII to confer upon him a considerable benefice in Germany. It is impossible to read, and not to admire * Epist. 12. I.35. f Epist. si. 1. 25. CHAtexi. the* answer erf Erasmus. * He notices the two .ffit.6 DEGREES68.* observations of the prelate. "I plead guilty, * * 'he says, "to both. I have done many things ""which I wish I had not done. I wish to "God that you had sooner given me these' " councils, or that I had received them from "persons who resembled you. I now experi"mentally feel, that the great applauses which "I have received, were of no great utility to "me. But some calumnies are of such a nature "that it is an...