The Man Who Laid the Egg by Louise Vernon

Author:Louise Vernon [Vernon, Louise A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8361-1828-5
Publisher: MennoMedia
Published: 2012-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Watchful Waiting

The attacks on Erasmus took various forms. Gerhard found out that a doctor in Constance hung up Erasmus’ picture just to spit on it every time he passed. A few months before, Erasmus, with Henry von Eppendorf and Beatus Rhenanaus, visited John Botzheim at Constance. Had the doctor met Erasmus there? Why would he become an enemy? Gerhard never found the answer but he thought more and more about all kinds of ideas—such as the church and what it stood for. Why were people so upset when someone like Erasmus tried to make it better? But then wasn’t Luther trying to make it better, too?

People on the street discussed the unrest, read tracts, and took sides either openly or on the sly. Gerhard heard one man at the marketplace say, “Erasmus is an enemy of the gospel.” Someone called out, “Who said so?”

“William Farel. Read his tract.”

Erasmus joked about it. “I should make less of it were I to be kicked by a mule or a madman. Still, I prefer not to be kicked at all, as I have said before.” Many people claimed Luther had split the Christian world in two, and Erasmus had incited him by word and example. The old joke about Erasmus laying the egg that Luther hatched was still going around, but with more bitterness. “Why can’t I be allowed to remain an onlooker of this tragedy?” Erasmus asked when discussions turned to the punishments, exiles, and executions of people trying to reform the church.

“I desire the glory of Christ,” Erasmus declared. “On both sides I see things that displease me. From all parts of the world I am daily thanked by many who have never seen me, but know and love me from my books. Many have read Holy Scripture who otherwise would never have read it.”

To those visitors who managed to coax Margaret into letting them in, Erasmus offered the same advice. “To learn about Christ, go to the sources. Pick the apple off the tree yourself. Christ desired that His mysteries be spread as widely as possible. I’d like to see the wives read the Gospels, the farmer sing of them while ploughing, the weaver remember them at his loom, the traveler recall them on horseback or boat.”

If a visitor timidly suggested that Luther wanted the same thing, Erasmus said, “I acknowledge Christ. Luther I know not. I acknowledge the Roman Church. From this church not even death shall tear me. I shall not depart by a breadth of a fingernail from those who are in accord with the Catholic Church.” He added, “If Luther had remained within the fold of the church, I would have rallied to his side.”

“Ah, then you are against Luther, I see,” a visitor would exclaim.

Erasmus would not admit any such thing. “Luther acted hastily, maybe, but certainly not with evil intent. Not every error is heretical. It would have been wiser, wouldn’t it, to enlighten Luther rather than insult and irritate him?” Erasmus indicated

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