§ 36. THE GERMAN THEOLOGY. 293
printed editions of the fifteenth century, at least 13 present Thomas as the author, from the edition of Augsburg, 1472, to the editions of Paris, 1493, 1500.
3. Style and contents. These agree closely with k Kempis' other writings, and the flow of thought is altogether similar to that of his Meditation on Chrisfs Incarnation. Spitzen seems to have made it at least very probable that the author was acquainted with the writings of Ruysbroeck, John of Schoenhoven, and other mystics and monks of the Lowlands. Funk has brought out references to ecclesiastical customs which fit the book into the time between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Hirsche laid stress on Germanisms in the style.
Among recent German scholars, Denifle sets aside k Kempis' claims and ascribes the work to some unknown canon regular of the Lowlands. Karl Mtiller, in a brief note, Kirchengesch., II. 122, and Loof's Dogmengesch., 4th ed., p. 633, pronounce the k Kempis authorship more than doubtful. On the other hand, Schwab, Hirsche, Schulze and Funk agree that the claims of Thomas are almost beyond dispute. It is almost impo.ssible to give a reason why the Imitation should have been ascribed to the Dutch mystic, if he were not indeed its author. The explanation given by Kentenich, p. 603, seems to be utterly insuflScient.
§ 36. The German Theology.
The evangelical teacliijigs of the little_book^^njiBa). aa. The- German Theology^ leH (J limann tojglace jts^author JiLiJi&Jist oTthe Reformers before the Reformation. ^ Theauthoxwas one of the Friends of God, and no writing issuing from that circle has had a more honorable and useful career. Together with the Imitation of Christ., it has been the most profitable of the writings of the German mystics. Its fame is derived from Luther's high praise as much as from its own excellent contents. The Reformer issued two editions of it, 1516, with a partial text, and 1518, in the second edition giving it the name which remains with it to this day, Ein Deutsch Theologia — A German treatise of Theology.^ Luther desig-_
1 The best German ed., Stuttgart, 1858. The text is taken from Pfeiffer's ed., Strassburg, 1851, 3d ed. unchanged ; Giitersloh, 1876, containing Luther's Preface of 1518 and the Preface of Joh. Arndt, 1632. Pfeiffer used the MS. dated 1497, the oldest in existence. The best Engl, trans., by Susannah Winkworth, from Pfeiffer's text, London, 1854, Andover, 1856. The Andover ed. contains an Introd. by Miss Winkworth, a Letter from Chevalier Bunsen and Prefaces by Canon Kingsley and Prof. Calvin E. Stowe.
2 Luther's full title in the ed. of 1518 is Ein Deutsch Theologia, das ist ein edles Blichlein vom rechten Verstande was Adain und Christus sei und toie
294 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
natedas its aiitjiflaia-£j.aiikfiirt- prLeaVa^^I^Qitonic knis^htj but for a time it was ascribed to Tauler. The Preface of the oldest MS., dated 1497, and found in 1850, made this view impossible, for Tauler is himself quoted in ch. XIII. Here the author is called a Frankfurt priest and a true Friend of God.
Luther announced his high obligation to the teachings of the manual of the way of salvation when he said that next to the Bible and St. Augustine, no book had come into his hands from which he had learnt more of what God and man and all things are and would wish to learn more. The author, he affirmed, was a pure Israelite who did not take the foam from the surface, but drew from the bed of the Jordan. Here, he continued, the teachings of the Scriptures are set forth as plain as day which have been lying under the desk of the universities, nay, have almost been left to rot in dust and muck. With his usual patriotism, he declared that in the book he had found Christ in the German tongue as he and the other German theologians had never found him in Greek, Latin or Hebrew.
The German Theology sets forth man's sinful and helpless condition^ T^fst'^s perfection and mediatorial work and calls upon men to have access to God through him as the door. In all its fifty-f.our chapters no rejereiic-c is iiiailc to Ma^' or to the justifying nature of good works or the merit of sacramental observances. 1 It abounds as no other writing of the German mystics did in quotations from the New Testament. In its pages the wayfaring man may find the path of salvation marked out without mystification.
The book, starting out with the words of St. Paul, " when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be
Adam in uns sterben und Christus in tins erstehen soil. A German theology, that is, a right noble little book about the right comprehension of what Adam and Christ are, and how Adam is to die in us and Christ is to arise. Cohrs in Herzog, XIX. 62(3, mentions 28 editions as having appeared in High German previous to 1742. Luther's Prefaces are given in the Weimar ed. of his Works, pp. 153, 370-378.
1 Dr. Calvin E. Stowe said " the book sets forth the essential principle of the Gospel in its naked simplicity," Winkworth's ed., p. v.