§ 35. THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. 285
Hodge, the Presbyterian divine, said it has diffused itself like incense through the aisles and alcoves of the Universal Church. 1
Tlie number. of counted editions exceeds 2QQj^. The British Museum has more than 1000 editions on its shelves.^
Originalljc written in the Latin, a French translation was made as early as 1447, which still remains in manuscript. The first printed French copies appeared in Toulouse, 1488. The earliest German translation was" made in T^Sf'and'is preserved in Cologne, and printed editions in German begin with the Augsburg edition of 1486. Men eminent in the annals of German piety, such as Arndt, 1621, Gossner, 1824, and Tersteegen, 1844, have issued editions with prefaces. The work first appeared in print in English, 1502, the translation being partly by the hand of Margaret, the mother of Henry VH. Translations appeared in Italian in Venice and Milan, 1488, in Spanish at Seville, 1536, in Arabic at Rome, 1663, in Arminian at Rome, 1674, and in other languages. ^
The Imitation of Christ consists of four bookg, and derives its title from the heading of the first book, De imitatione Christi et contemptu omnium vanitatum mundi, the imitation of Christ and the contempt of all the vanities of the world. It seems to have been written in metre.* The four books are not found in all the manuscripts nor invariably arranged in the same order, facts which have led some to suppose that
1 System. TheoL, I. 79. For Gladstone's judgment, see Morley, II. 186. Butler, p. 191, gives a list of 3.3 English translations from 1502-1900. De Quincey said : " The book came forward in answer to the sighing of Christian Europe for light from heaven. Excepting the Bible in Protestant lands, no book known to man has had the same distinction. It is the most marvellous biblical fact on record." Quoted by Kettlewell, I.
2 Backer, in his Essai bihliogr., enumerates 545 Latin editions, and about 900 editions in French. There are more than 60 editions belonging to the fifteenth century. See Funk, p. 426. The BuUingen collection, donated to the city library of Cologne, 1838, contained at the time of the gift 400 different edd. Montmorenci, p. xxii sq., gives the dates of 29 edd., 1471-1503, with places of issue.
8 Corneille produced a poetical translation in French, 1651. A polyglot edition appeared at Sulzbach, 1837, comprising the Latin text and translations in Italian, French, German, Greek and English.
* Hirsche discovered the rhythm and made it known, 1874.
286 THE MIIiULE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
they were not all written at the same time. The work is a manual of devotion, intended to help the soul in its communion with Gad* Its sententious statements are pitched in the highest key of Christian experience. Within and through all its reflections runs the word, self-renjUQciatiQii. Its opening words, "whoso followeth me, shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life," John 8 : 12, are a fitting announcement of the contents. The life of Christ is represented as the highest study it is possible for a mortal to take up. He who has his spirit has found the hidden manna. What can the world confer without Jesus? To be without him is the direst hell; to be with liim, the sweetest paradise.
Here are counsels to read the Scriptures, statements about the uses of adversity and advice for submission to authority, warnings against temptations, reflections upon death, the judgment and paradise. Here are meditations on Christ's oblation on the cross and the advantages of the communion, and also admonitions to flee the vanities and emptiness of the world and to love God, for he that loveth, knoweth God. Christ is more than all the wisdom of the schools. He lifts up the mind in a moment of time to perceive more reasons for eternal truth than a student might learn over books in ten years. He teaches without confusion of words, without the clashing of opinions, without the pride of reputation, — sine fastu honoris, — the contention of arguments. The concluding words are : " My eyes are unto Thee. My God, in Thee do I put my trust, O Thou Father of mercies. Accompany thy servant with Thy grace and direct him by the path of peace to the land of unending light — patriam perpetuce claritatis.''^
The plaintive minor key, the gently persuasive tone of the work are adapted to attract serious souls seeking the inner chamber of religiouspeace andpurity of thouglit,but especially those who are under the shadow of pain and sorrow. The praise of Christ is so unstinted, and the dependence upon him so unaffected, that one cannot help but feel, in reading this book, that he is partaking of tlie essence of the Gospel. The work, hQ:gever, juiflg^nts only one sideofthg Christianjife^ It commends humility, submission, gentleness and the passive