THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
preaching was correctly ecclesiastical. His sermons in German have perished, and there is extant only a collection of Latin sermons, the Postilla studevtiurn, homilies upon the pericopes from the Gospels, allegorical and scholastic in character. Like Conrad, devoted to ethical reform, was Militsch of Rremsier (q.v.); his pupil Mathias of Janow (d. 1394) left a collection of homilies. John Huss is in a not unworthy sense dependent upon Wyclif . He was noted for his activities as preacher before synods as for his popular sermons in the fields and woods, in the large centers of population and in the little villages. His synodal sermons in Latin are extant, preached before the clergy. What is striking is the courage with which he attacked the vices of the pastoral clergy. His sermons to the people often contain patristic citations, and the Biblical exegesis is not free from arbitrariness. To be named with Huss is his friend Jerome of Prague (q.v.). In this class must be placed Savonarola (q.v.), whose work was done chiefly through preaching, at first outside and then in Florence. He himself issued only his sermons on Ps. Ixxiii.; but others in Italian exist in the reports of his friends, those on I John in the Latin. These sermons differ both in occasion and method. Those on I John are exegetical with practical application, while others have little relation to the text and are more exactly practical. Formally his sermons are based on the Bible, really they are made the basis of the expression of his weighty thought. He was a mighty preacher of repentance, a scourge of the vices of the times, especially of the priests, possessed of a warmth of sentiment, keen perceptions, command of his mother speech, dramatic gestures, and a melodious voice.
3. Close of the Middle Ages : It is not easy to pronounce upon the preaching at the end of the Middle Ages. Its practise was often enjoined, and it appears to have been frequent in the cities, but the villages were almost bereft of it. x- ^re^n" In 1511 in the diocese of Mainz many
~.y_tj°' - priests were pronounced completely the Sermon, disqualified for preaching, while toward the end of the fifteenth century in the South German states it cost a considerable sum to secure a preacher for certain festivals. In Breslau the bishop limited the preaching on Sundays to a single sermon, during the rest of the year only on Friday except in the fasting and advent seasons, when there was preaching also on Wednesday. In some parts the secular clergy had only a small part in the function of preaching; thus in Halle there were preachers from the Augustinians, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Servites, but only one secular preacher is named; in Nuremberg the preachers were all monks. Yet the general practise was to have preaching on Sundays and festivals, and on many other occasions, such as New Year's day In the cloisters sermons from abroad were read at mealtimes; in the churches such sermons were practically worked over; there is a varying degree of independence shown in different cases. The general worth of these sermons was small. A special class of addresses were the indulgence-sermons. The preachers of these spared no pains to
ual Preachers.
make them attractive and effectual. The assailants of the indulgence were pictured as sent by Satan; and the indulgence was urged by reference to the sufferings of Jesus Christ, by praise of Mary, by appeals to the hearers' affection and sympathy. The structure of the sermon was still under the influence of scholasticism; a formula of greeting, the text or theme, the exordium and divisions, the Lord's prayer or Ave Maria, the discussion, a short conclusion, and the Amen or dixi (" I have spoken ") or both, was the usual order. The whole period is one of decline in homiletical power. This opinion has been controverted by Pfieger (Zur Geschichte des Predigtwesens in Strassburg vor Geiler von Kaysersberg, Strasburg, 1907), who has in mind the orthodoxy and religious earnestness of a series of less prominent preachers of Strasburg in the first half of the fifteenth century. But his own work affords no data for the second half of that century, and does not require a withdrawing of the statement.
Preachers of this period who belong to the Brothers of the Common Life (see Common Life, Brethren of the) were Johann Veghe (q.v.) and Thomas a Kempis (q.v.). Notable too were the festival sermons (Quadragesimale) of the Franciscan Johann Gritsch of Basel, delivered in German . _\ " V1r" and then translated into Latin with learned scholastic discussions and many citations from the classics, fables, anecdotes, and moral applications; the Sermones aurei of the Dominican Johann Nider; the sermons of Johann Herolt, popular because of their practicality and concreteness; the Dormi secure (" sleep in safety") of Johann von Werden (c. 1450); the Horhdus reginae of the beloved Meffreth of Meissen, all which passed through many editions. The sermons of Jakob Jiiterbock (d. 1465) reveal the vanishing of the hope for a general reformation of the Church. The sermons of Nicholas of Cusa (q.v.) are humanistic, logical, rhetorical, and rational; Gabriel Biel (q.v.) was diligent and keen, but had a clumsy, detailed style. A type of the preacher of indulgences is found in Johann Jenser von Paltz (q.v.), whose Himmliche Fundgrube includes a number of sermons published in response to the desires of several princes. He published also a Latin collection, Ccelifodina, and in 1502 a Supplementum Cadifodince as a pattern for indulgence sermons. The Hungarian Franciscan Pelbart of Temesvar (c. 1500) shows how to dissect a text into its minutest parts in his Sermones pomarii de tempore et Sanctis. Ulrich Krafft of Ulm (d. 1516) was instructive, earnest, thorough, and popular; Johann Meder of Basel (1494) used extensively the dialogue; Johann Trithemius (q.v.) was simple, practical, and Biblical in his Sermones et exhortationes ad monachos; Johannes Hegelin de Lapide was an earnest wisher of reform in the Church; Silvester Prierias (q.v.) exhibited a lingering scholasticism in his Rosa aurea (1503). Danish preachers were Martin Petri (d. 1515) and Christiern Pedersen; in Spain there was Vincent Ferrar (q.v.), the Franciscan Bernhardin of Sienna with his Sermones de evangelio oeterno, Giovanni di Capistrano (see Capistrano, Giovanni di); in Italy there were Lconhard of