Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/367

THE SERMON. 363 thought he deserved it, and would have done it had it not been for respect to the place. Le. The reverence of a place ought not to pro- tect such as profane it by their impiety. As he that within the verge of the court murders a man, it is not meet the church should be a sanctuary to him ; so in like manner, he that in sacred discourses abuses not only people's patience but also the sanctity of the place, ought not to be screened by the place that he has by his temerity profaned. He was commended by the ancients that would not permit any person to be consul who had not been a senator ; so it is not meet that he should be a clergyman that knows not how to preach a sermon.

Hi. Folks are afraid of the bishops' thunderbolts, si quis instigante diabolo, &c. You know the law. Le. The bishops ought rather to level their thunderbolts at such railers. Hi. They themselves are afraid of these fellows. Le. Who are they afraid of? Hi. Why, of these bawling fellows. Le. Why so ? Hi. Because they are bawling fellows. Le. The apostles were not afraid of the menaces of kings and rulers, and are they afraid of a single beggar ? Hi. For that very reason they are the more to be feared, because they are beggars ; they have nothing to lose, but they have tongues to hurt. Go but to a wasp's or hornet's nest, and do but touch one of them with your finger, and if you come off well come to me again, and then call the bishops drones that are afraid of irritating one of these beggars. Do not the most powerful monarchs of the Christian world revere the pope, nay, and perhaps are afraid of him too 1 Le. That is no wonder, inasmuch as he is the vicar of Christ. Hi. Well ; but it is reported of pope Alex- ander VI., who was no fool, nor blockhead neither, that he used to say he had rather offend one of the greatest monarchs than the least brother of the order of Mendicants.

Le. Well, let us not meddle with popes. -But when the princes that were at Augsburg heard it, did they not punish him for it ? Hi. They were all highly provoked at him, but especially King Ferdinand and his sister Mary, the ornament of her sex in this age, and Bernard, Cardinal of Trent, and Balthasar, Bishop of Constance; and this preacher was severely chid, but by nobody more severely than by John Faber, Bishop of Vienna. Le. What signifies chiding 1 an ass minds nothing but a cudgel. Hi. Especially if you give him belly-timber. But what should princes trouble their heads about such a silly fellow as he for 1 ? they had things of far greater consequence to mind. Le. They should at least have silenced him from preaching, and taken away his pension. Hi. But the cunning rogue put off the spitting his venom till just at the breaking up of the diet, and they were just going away. Le. They say the devil goes away so, leaving a stink behind him. Hi. He was dismissed by King Ferdinand, but was in very good case as to his corpus, for the chiding he met with did not make him abate of his flesh. It is reported of St. Francis that he preached a sermon to his sisters the birds, but he seems only fit to preach to his brethren the asses and hogs.

Le. But whither went he when he had done 1 Hi. Whither should he go but to his cell, where he was received with applause by his comrades for having acted his part so bravely and successfully; and when they got over their cups, instead of lo triumphe, they sung Te Deum, Le, This Merdardus deserves to wear his rope about his