P. I. MAYERHOFF'S PREFACE. 29 ways and shapes. To the viris obscuris belong all those who would set up and be zealous for any sort of strange fire of their own invention, instead of the Divine light which shines on mankind in Christ. This, therefore, is an invitation to every one to look for themselves into the description of this interesting period given by Dr. Mayerhoff. 'Berlin, June 26, 1830. NEANDER.' Dr. Mayerhoff's own preface follows: In this attempt at a biography of Reuchlin, I present my readers with a work which I was induced to write by my delight in studying the history of the Reformation. The knowledge of the century preceding the Reformation (or at least the time from the middle of the fifteenth century) appeared to me peculiarly worthy of attention, in order to be able to form a just idea of the developement of the Reformation; and yet this time has been generally little regarded, though it affords so much for the history of religion, civilization, and literature. People have usually only employed themselves on a general representation of this period, neglecting the biography of individual great men who were the genii of the times, and thereby have left its history incomplete, which is a disadvantage even in the narrative of the Reformation. To supply this deficiency, according to my small powers, and also out of respect for a man who wholly belongs to this age, I have chosen Johann Reuchlin; and this appeared to me the more desirable, as Erasmus, the parallel character, has had many biographers, and lately in Dr. Müller, one worthy of him. I feel, indeed, the difficulty of my undertaking, but still I venture upon it, that I may at least smooth the way for some future more skilful writer. 'I endeavoured in accomplishing this work to keep 330 PARTS ARE ALSO WHOLES. P. 1. in view the requisites for a biography, and to proceed in describing the exterior life according to the common rules of good narrative and portraiture, to recognize the interior, and analyzing its reciprocal workings with the exterior, to keep to nature and truth in representation, writing neither a panegyric, a bare chronicle, nor a mere character. As to what concerns more profound views, the manner of perception and description depends upon a correct estimate of the relation of individual lives to the history of the world. As the parts of every whole are themselves also wholes, but find their true effective position only in their connexion with the one whole, so is it with the history of the world, which is the perpetual union of the finite and the infinite, in, and by means of time and the history of individuals. A single life, though it forms a separate portion in itself, is yet again on account of this relation only a certain mode of common human nature, and to ascertain this connexion is the problem of historians of every kind. For this reason, the biographer must compare the facts of a life with the general idea of human nature which exists in each mind, more or less complete according to the diversity of capacity, and he has then obtained a correct notion of the individual, when he can thus explain and deduce all the actions of life as a certain modification of the whole. Such an idea, however, arises from the times in which the individuals acted, and therefore can be perceived and described only by and in them. So is it also the task of the biographer to point out the dependence of the individual on the idea (or spirit) of the times, his influence on its formation and progress, and its re-action on himself. Those individual lives in which this influence on futurity is not apparent, can present no materials for biography in the strict sense of the word, and are not matters of general history; yet they constitute epochs more or P. I. IMPULSE OF THE AGE. 31 less, according to their measure in carrying into execution the Divine will. That Reuchlin in this respect deserves a biography, will be abundantly evident from the narrative of his life. That I have attained the perfection of such a biography as I wished and should have done, I dare not hope, how far I have approached it, I leave to the decision of my readers. That the history of Reuchlin's life unfolds the history of his age, follows inevitably in the biography of this great man; for during important revolutions the history of an influential man expands almost into general history, and especially in the peculiar circumstances of these times. 'In what concerns the particulars of the biography, I think I ought to excuse myself to many readers, to whom it may appear, perhaps, that here and there some portions are treated at too great length, for instance the dispute with the Colognese, and the tedious lawsuit of Reuchlin with his enemies. I direct their attention to my particular object, namely, to give a brief account in narrating the combat at Cologne, of the manner in which many of those involved in it thought and acted, as well as of their share in the liberal literary impulse of the age, and to notice several men not generally mentioned in histories of the Reformation; in describing the process accurately, I had occasion frequently to relate occurrences to be found in the well-known Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum. I present my hearty thanks to the principal librarian at Stuttgart, Dr. Stälin, through whose kindness alone I obtained copies of several works of Reuchlin's to be found there. 'May this little treatise, in which the good Father granted me his assistance, prove useful. Written in 1830, at the commemoration of the confession of Augsburg, three centuries back.' |