230 THE MIDDLE ACES. A.D. 1294-1517.
Ferrer's apostolic labors began in 1399. He itinerated through Spain, Northern Italy and France, preaching two and three times a day on the great themes of repentance and the nearness of the judgment. He has the reputation of being the most successful of missionaries among the Jews and MohatQmedans. Twenty-five thousand Jews and eight thousand Mohammeclans are said to have yielded to his persuasions. Able to speak only Spanish, his sermons, though they were not interpreted, are reported to have been understood in France and Italy. The gift of tongues was ascribed to him by his contemporaries as well as the gift of miracles. Priests and singers accompanied him on his tours, and some of the hymns sung were Vincent's own compositions. His audiences are given as high as 70,000, an incredible number, and he is said to have preached twenty thousand times. He also preached to the Waldenses in their valleys and to the remnant of tlie Cathari, and is said to have made numerous converts. He himself was not above the suspicion of heresy, and Eymerich made the charge against him of declaring that Judas Iscariot hanged himself because the people would not permit him to live, and that he found pardon with God.^ He was canonized by Calixtus III., 1455^ The tale is that Ferrer noticed this member of the Borgia family as a young priest in Valencia, and made the prediction that one day he would reach the highest office open to mortal man. 2
On his itineraries Ferrer was also accompanied by bands of Flagellants. He himself joined in the flagellatioiis^ and the scourge with which he scourged himself daily, consisting of six thongs, is said still to be preserved in the Carthusian convent of Catalonia, scala cceli. Both Gerson and D'Ailly attacked Ferrer for his adoption of the Flagellant delusion. In a letter addressed to the Spanish preacher, written during the sessions of the Council of Constance, Gerson took the ground that both the Old Testament and the New Testament forbid
1 Lea: Inquisition, 11. 156, 176, 258, 264.
2 Razanno, a fellow-Dominican, wrote the first biography of Ferrer, 1455. The Standard Life is by P. Fages, Hist, de s. Vine. Ferrer apotre de VEurope, 2 vols., 2d ed,, Louvain, 1901. The best ife written by a Protestant is by L. Heller, Berlin, 1830. It is commended in Wetzer-Welte, XII. 978-983.
§ 26. POPULAR PREACHERS. 231
violence done to the body, quoting in proof Deut. 14 : 1, "Ye shall not cut yourselves." He invited him to come to Constance, but the invitation was not accepted. i
1 For German preaching in the fourteenth century, other than that of the mystics, see Linsenmeyer, Gesch. der Predigt in Dentschland bis zum Ausgange d.l4ten Jahrh., Munich, 188(3, pp. 391-470; Cruel : Gesch. d. deutschen Predigt im M.A., p. 414 sqq.; A, Franz: Drei deutsche Minoritenprediger des Xllten und XlVten Jahrh., Freiburg, 1907, pp. 160. The best-known German preachers were the Augustinians Henry of Frimar, d. 1340, and Jordan of Quedlinburg, d. about 1375. See for the fifteenth century, ch. IX.
CHAPTER IV.
THE GERMAN MYSTICS.
§ 27. Sources and Literature.
General Works. — * Franz Pfeiffer : Deutsche Mystiker, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1857, 2d ed. of vol. I., Gottingen, 1906. — * R. Langenberg : Quellen und ForschxuKjen zur Gesch. der deutschen Mystik, Bonn, 1902. — F. Galle : GeistlU'he Stimmen aus dem 31. A., zur Erbauung, Halle, 1841.
— Mrs. F. Bevan: Three Friends of God, Trees planted by the liiver, London.— * W. R. Inge: Light, Life and Love, London, 1904. Selections from EcKART, Tauler, Suso, Ruysbroeck, etc. — The works given under Eckart, etc., in the succeeding sections. — R. A. Vaughan : Hours with the Mystics. For a long time the chief English authority, offensive by the dialogue style it pursues, and now superseded. — *W. Preger : Gesch. der deutschen 3Iystik im Mittelalter, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1874-1893. — G. Ullmann : Reformatoren vor der Beformation, vol. IL, Hamburg, 1841. — *Inge: Christian Mysticism, pp. 148 sqq., London, 1890. — Eleanor C. Gregory: An Introd. to Christ. Mysticism, London, 1901. — W. R. Nicoll : The Garden of Nuts, London, 1905. The first four chapp. give a general treatment of mysticism. — P. Mehlhorn : D. Bluthezeit d. deutschen Mystik, Freiburg, 1907, pp. 64. — *S. M. Deutsch: Mystische Theol. in Herzog, XIX. 631 sqq.
— Cruel : Gesch. d. deutschen Predigt im M.A., pp. 370-414. — A. Ritschl : Gesch. d. Pietismus, 3 vols., Bonn, 1880-1886. — Harnack : Dogmengesch., in. 376 sqq. — LooFS : Dogmengesch., ith ed., Halle, 1906, pp. 621-633.— W. James : T7ie Varieties of Jielig. Experience, chs. XVI., XVII.
For § 29. Meister Eckart. — German Sermons bound in a vol. with Tauler's Sermons, Leipzig, 1498, Basel, 1521. — Pfeiffer: Deutsche Mystiker, etc., vol. II., gives 110 German sermons, 18 tracts, and 60 fragments.
— * Denifle : M. Eckeharfs Lateinische Schriften und die Grundanschauung seiner Lehre, in Archiv fur Lit. und Kirchengesch., II. 416-652. Gives excerpts from his Latin writings. — F. Jostes : M. Eckehart und seine Jilnger, ungedruckte Teste zur Gesch. der deutschen Mystik, Freiburg, 1895.
— * H. BiJTTNER : M. Eckeharfs Schriften und Predigten aus dem Mittelhochdeutschen ubersetzt, Leipzig, 1903. Gives 18 German sermons and writings.— G. Landauer: EckharVs mystische Schriften in unsere Sprache ubertragen, Berlin, 1903. — H. Martensen : M. Eckart, Hamburg, 1842. — A. Lasson : M. E. der Mystiker, Berlin, 1868. Also the section on Eckart by Lasson in Ueberweg's Hist, of Phil. — A. Jundt : Essai .s«r le my.iticisme speculatif d. M.E., Stras.sburg, 1871 ; also //i.s-<. du pantheisme populaire au moyen cLge, 1875. Gives 18 of Eckart's sermons. — Preger, I. 309-