Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/378

 og2 GERMANY. adopted the Eule of the canons-regular of St. Angustm. Their convent of Windesheim became the model which was universally foUowed, and the order had the honor of training t^» ^"f /^^^ as Thomas-a-Kempis and Erasmus. The Imitation f Christ is the final exquisite flower of the moderated mysticism of Jo^^ "f Kys- broek. Brought down to practical hfe, this mysticism contributed lar-ely to the spiritual movement which culminated in the Ket- ormation, for it taught the superfluity of external works and the dependence of the individual on himself alone fo^^^^^'^J^'^. /^ this the Brethren of the Common Life were active. To them docma became less important than the interior disciphne which should fit men to be really children of God. Preaching among Z people and teaching in the schools such brethren as Henry Harphius, John Brugman, Denis Van Leeuwen, Jon Van Goch and John Wessel of Groningen, were unwittingly underminmg the power of the hierarchy, although they virtuaUy escaped aU im- putation of heresy and danger of persecution.* Less lasting, though more noticeable at the time, was the asso- ciation of Friends of God, which formed itself in the upper Ehine- lands The most prominent disciple of Master Eckart was John Tauler, who retained enough of his master's doctrines to render him amenable to the charge of heresy had there bee^ - *!>-« days a German Inquisition in working order. That he escaped prosecution is the most conclusive evidence l^^l^^^^'^'^^'J^l persecution was thoroughly out of gear. In the heights of his muminated quietism all the personality of the devotee was lost in 1 abyss of Divinity. No human tongue could describe ^*1^;.;-J^ nation to God in which the whole being is merged so that it lost all sense of power of its own. No priestly ministrant or mediator tvas required. The individual could bring his soul into relations v-ith the Godhead so intimate that it ,was virtually lost n the Divine Essence, and he could become so thorough y under the in- fluence of the Holy_Ghos^that_hewas^s^speak, inspired, and ' . Mosheim de Begl>ardis, pp. 305, 483-57.-Jundt, Les Amis de Dieu pp. Mosneim i b i- b.— D'Argentrt, Coll. Judic. I. II..152.- 65-66.— Gersoni 0pp. Ed. 1494, XV. Z, xvi.B. " S ', ,„- ..- 166-188- Altmever Les Prficurseurs de la R«forme aux Pays-Bas, I. 107-117, 166 18». Acquoy Gerardi Magni Epistolae, Amstelod. 1857, pp. 28, 32-5, 37-8, 40-2 48-9 SI 57-60, 69, 83, lOl.-lvon der Hardt, HI. 107-20.-BoBet-Maury, Gerard Groo't, pp. 37-8, 49-54, 62-4, 83-5.