680 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
§ 75. Doctrinal Reformers.
A group of t.hftnlogians npppj^irpilm North wpst.prn G£rF'i3J"'y
whOj on the one hand, were closely associated by locality and training with the Brothers of the Common Life and, on the other, anticipated tlie coming age b^ the doctrinal xoform^ \vhich they^propossjd. On the latter account, John of .GiQiih, Johnof Wesel and ^Vessel of Gansfmt liavi; l)een properjy classed with Wyclif and Huss as Reformers before the Iiefi)rmatioii.i Erasmus has no place at their side for, with his satire on ceremonies and church conditions, the question is always raised of his sincerity. Savonarola suggested no doctrinal changes. Among the new views emphasized by one or all of J-hese three men were the final autliority of the Scriptures, the fallibility of the pope, the sul'liciency of divine grace for saL; vation irrespective of priestly mediation, and the distinction between the visible and the invisible Church. However, but for the Protestant Reformation, it is not probable their voices would have been heard beyond the century in which they lived.
John Pupper, 1400-1475,^ iisiially called Johnof Gocji from his birthplace, a hamlet on the lower Rhine near Cleves, seems to have been trained in one of the schools of the Brothers of the Common Life, and then studied in Cologne and perhaps inJParii^. He founded a house of Augustinians near Mecheln, remaining at its head till his death. His writings were not published till after the beginning of the Reformation. He anticipated that movement iiijisseiLtiiLgilifi_supjeme authority nf fhft ]piK1a. The Fathers are to be accepted only so far as they follow the canonical Scriptures. In contrast to the works of the philosophers and the Schoolmen, the Bible is a
1 This group of men forms the subject of UUmann's notable work The Heformers before the Beformation published in 1841. lie followed Flacius, Walch and others before him who had treated tliem as precursors of the Keformation. llase : Kirchengcsch., II. 551 ; Kiistlin: Lebcn Luthers, I. 13 ; Funk, p. 382, and others still hold to this classification. Loofs : Docimenrjesch., p. 058, takes another view and says " they were not Reformers before the Keformation, nevertheless they bear witness that, in the closinj^ years of the Middle Ages, the preparation made for the Keforination was not merely negative." Jansseu, I. 745, treats them as followers of IIuss.
§ 75. DOCTRINAL REFORMERS. 681
book of life ; theirs, books of death. ^ He also called in question the merit of monastic vows and the validity of the distinction between the higher and lower morality upon which monasticism laid stress. What is included under the higher morality is within the reach of all Christians and not the property of monks only. He renounced the Catholic view of justification without stating with clearness the evangelical theory." 2
John Ruchratk vou We&el^ d. 1481, attacked ihe hierarchy and indulgences and was charged on his trial with calling in question almost all the distinctive Roman Catholic tenets. He was born in Oberwesel on the Rhine between Mainz and Coblentz. He taught j,t_tIie_University of _Erf ui't and, in 1458, was chosen its vice-rector. Luther bore testimony to his influence when he said, " I remember how Master John Wesalia ruled the University of Erfurt by his writings through the study of which I also became a master." ^ Leaving Erfurt, he wasjuccessively professor in Basel and cathedral preacher in Mainz and Worms.
In 1479, Wesel was arraigned for heresy before the Inquisition at Mainz. ^ Among the charges were that the Scriptures are alone a trustworthy source of authority ; the names of the predestinate are written in the book of life and cannot be erased by a priestly ban ; indulgences do not profit ; Christ is not pleased with festivals of fasting, pilgrimages or priestly celibacy ; Christ's body can be in the bread without any change of the bread's substance : pope and councils are not to be obeyed if they are out of accord with the Scriptures ;
1 Goch's words are Sola scriptura canonica fidem induhiam et irrefragahilem liahet mcctoritatem. The writer in Wetzer-Welte concedes Goch's depreciation of the Schoolmen and of Thomas Aquinas in particular, whom at one point Goch calls a prince of error — princeps erroris.
2 Ullmann, I. 91, 149 sqq., asserts that Goch stated the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Clemen and the writer in Wetzer-Welte modify this judgment. Walch, as quoted by Ullmann, p. 150, gives 9 points in which Goch anticipated the Reformation.
3 Catholic writers like Funk, p. 390, Wetzer-Welte and Janssen, I. 746, speak of Wesel as one of the false teachers of the Middle Ages and find many of the doctrines of the Reformation in his writings.
4 For detailed account of the trial, UUman, I. 383-405.