affairs. Nothing can exceed the pride or violent temper of Cardinal Cajetan, of Charles
Miltitz, of Marinus, of Aleander. They all act upon the principle of the young king who
said, ’My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins.’ As to Aleander, he is a complete
maniac,—a bad, foolish man."
After the Diet of Worms, several events occurred which seemed to confirm his worst fears
about the effects of the Reformation, and imbittered him against its leaders; namely, the disturbances
of Carlstadt at Wittenberg (1521), Luther’s invective against Henry VIII. (1522), and the fierce
attack of his former friend and admirer Ulrich von Hutten (1523).^531
Nevertheless, he advised Pope Adrian VI. to avoid all harsh measures, to deal gently with
errors, to pardon past misdoings, to reform abuses, and to call a general council of moderate men.
The counsel was disregarded.
Glareanus (Loriti) of Basel described Erasmus very well, when he wrote to Zwingli, Jan.
20, 1523, "Erasmus is an old man, and desires rest. Each party would like to claim him, but he does
not want to belong to any party. Neither party is able to draw him. He knows whom to avoid, but
not whom to attach himself to." Glareanus added, however, that Erasmus confessed Christ in his
writings, and that he never heard any unchristian word from his lips.^532
§ 73. The Free-will Controversy. 1524–1527.
See Literature in § 73.
After halting some time between approval and disapproval, Erasmus found it impossible to
keep aloof from the irrepressible conflict. Provoked by Hutten, and urged by King Henry and
English friends, he declared open war against Luther, and broke with the Reformation. He did so
with great reluctance; for he felt that he could not satisfy either party, and that he was out of his
element in a strictly theological dispute. He chose for his attack Luther’s doctrine of total depravity.
Here lay the chief dogmatic difference between the two. Erasmus was an admirer of Socrates,
Cicero, and Jerome; while Luther was a humble pupil of St. Paul and Augustin. Erasmus lacked
that profound religious experience through which Luther had passed in the convent, and sympathized
with the anthropology of the Greek fathers and the semi-Pelagian school.
In September, 1524, Erasmus appeared on the field with his work on the "Freedom of the
Will." It is a defence of freedom as an indispensable condition of moral responsibility, without
which there can be no meaning in precept, repentance, and reward. He maintains essentially the
old semi-Pelagian theory, but in the mildest form, and more negatively than positively; for he
wished to avoid the charge of heresy. He gives the maximum of glory to God, and a minimum to
man. "I approve," he says, "of those who ascribe something to free-will, but rely most upon grace."
We must exert our will to the utmost, but the will is ineffective without the grace of God. He urged
(^531) Erasmus had disowned the poor fugitive Hutten, who turned on him like a wild beast in his Expostulatio cum Erasmo, published at
Strasburg, July, 1523. Erasmus wrote to Pirkheimer, "Emoriar si crediturus eram, in universis Germanis esse tantum inhumanitatis,
impudentiae, vanitatis, virulentiae quantum habet unus libellus Hutteni." He answered by Spongia Erasmi adversus Adspergines Ulrici
Hutteni, Basel, 1523. (Opera, vol. IX. Pars II. 1631-73). Luther judged: "I am not pleased with Hutten’s attack, but still less with Erasmus’s
reply." The Expostulatio and the Spongia were also translated into German. See on this bitter personal controversy, Strauss, Ulrich von
Hutten, pp. 448-484; and Drummond, II. 120 sqq.
(^532) Opera Zw., VII. 263.