Ecolampadius-Reformation at Basle [pp. 218-236]

Character of lrasmus.
grateful remembrance. He was a scholar, perhaps the first
scholar of his age; but only a scholar. Nothing could induce
him to link himself with any enterprise, which threatened to
interfere with his literary pursuits, or to rob him of that learned
leisure of which he was so fond. The grievous corruptions of
the Roman church he admitted, and deplored; the moral disorders of the age he attacked with all the weapons which wit,
satire, eloquence, learning, could supply; he made the fat monk
and the ignorant priest the laughing stock of Europe. But-when
others of a more earnest temper sought to remove the abuses
which were the themes of his eloquent invective, and to eradicate
the cause of them, by diffusing the light of gospel truth, he, in
turn, denounced them in the face of Europe, as guilty of fanaticism and folly. To the glorious title of Reformer he has no claim;
for he never handled any weapon in the cause of reform but his
pen, and he was very cautious how he used it. In the field of
action he accomplished nothing, and was ever opposing those
who did bring about great results. He never even attempted to
give effect to his own theoretical views of reform; although, it
must be confessed, that if they had been carried out, the root of
the evil would have remained untouched, and the condition of
the church would not have been essentially changed.
Romanism having been overthrown, the council and the citizens addressed themselves to the important work of reconstructing the church of Basle on the foundation of the Apostles and
prophets; and to this end a Synod was called, to which the
other Cantons were invited to send delegates. By the 1st of
April 1529, the council thus aided had digested a set of ordinances containing a platform of doctrine, discipline, and worship;
a very brief account of which is all that our limits will admit.
The document bears the title of "Order of the city of Basle,
to be observed in town and country, in which the abuses we
have rejected are replaced by a true worship." In the preface
it is said, "It is not enough to remove abuses, but we must so
regulate things that we can derive from them a Christian life.
Hence the following rules, the making of which properly
belonged to our ecclesiastical superiors, and which would have
been made by them if they had had the salvation of our souls at
heart."''
VOL. XXIII.-NO. II. 19
1851.]
233