I
Scope of the Present Publication
In this volume are contained the thirty-seven
Sermons of John Tauler, which form the Third Part of the complete editions
published at Frankfort in 1826 and at Prague (ed. Hamberger) in 1872. These are
the Sermons for Festivals (de sanctis), while the First and Second Parts
contain the Sermons for the Christian Year (de tempore); the total
number being 145. Should this volume of the Festal Sermons meet with a
favourable reception, the Sermons for the Christian Year may follow in two or
three volumes. Up to the present time only twenty-seven of Tauler's sermons
have appeared in English, these being contained in Miss Susanna Winkworth's
well-known but now scarce volume, to which Charles Kingsley contributed a
preface.[1] Of the thirty-seven Festal Sermons
Miss Winkworth translated only three (nos. 4, 12, and 31 in the present volume)
so that thirty-four of those now presented to the reader appear here for the
first time in English. The Sermons for the Christian Year were translated into
French by M. Charles Sainte-Foi, and were published in Paris in 1855; but he
did not include the Sermons de sanctis. They are to be found, however,
together with all else that is rightly or wrongly ascribed to Tauler, in the
Latin version, or rather paraphrase, by Laurentius Surius, a Carthusian,[2] which was based on the Cologne German edition
of 1543, and which was reprinted at least twelve times before the end of the
seventeenth century, while it was also translated into Italian, French and
Dutch.
Until the appearance of Hamberger's edition
(Prague, 1872), the standard German edition of the Sermons was that published
at Frankfort, in 1826, without an editor's name. This was used by Miss
Winkworth, and also by M. Sainte-Foi; and it forms the basis of the present
publication, as I have only been able to refer to Hamberger's edition in the
British Museum. In the anonymous Introduction are indicated the MSS. sources on
which the earlier standard German editions (Leipzig, 1498; Augsburg, 1508;
Basle, 1521; Halberstadt, 1523; Cologne, 1543; Frankfort, 1565; Amsterdam,
1588; Antwerp, 1593; and Hamburg, 1621) were based. The original Leipzig
edition (1498) was printed from MSS. at Strasburg, said to be contemporary with
Tauler, and to have been corrected by him. The eighty-four sermons in this
edition may therefore be reckoned as authentic, with the exception of four,
which are known to have been Eckhart's. To the Basle edition of 1521 forty-two
sermons were added, the editor, John Rymann, saying of them that "they have
been more recently discovered and collected with great care and diligence.
Although there may be a doubt about some of them, let not that offend thee, for
it is certain that they have been written by a right learned man of that age,
and are all based on one foundation, namely, true self-surrender and the
preparation of the spirit for God." Some of these are probably to be ascribed
to Eckhart, Suso or Ruysbroek. Such of them as are found in this volume are
distinguished by the mark * in the Table of Contents. Of this Basle edition it
should be noted that it was issued in the interests of the Reformation; and the
article on Tauler in the new edition of the Kirchenlexicon (1899) seems
to ignore these forty-two additional sermons altogether, and to admit as
authentic only five of those added to the Cologne edition presently to be
referred to. Something is said below as to the sense in which alone Tauler can
be described as "a Reformer before the Reformation"; but it may be convenient
here to note that Luther, who in 1517 put forth an edition of the Theologia
Germanica, the work of one of Tauler's contemporaries, had in the previous
year written to Spalatin a commendation of Tauler's sermons, of which, as a
recognition of their Protestant tendency, too much has certainly been made. The
fact that the words were written when Luther was still Prior of Wittenberg, and
before there was any breach with Rome, should have sufficed to secure them from
such misinterpretation.[3] Finally, to the
Cologne edition of 1543 (the standard for all subsequent ones) Petrus
Noviomagus, the editor, added twenty-five sermons more, which he had found
chiefly in the library of St Gertrude's Convent in Cologne; and the
authenticity of these is in a general way supported, both by internal evidence,
and by the fact that to the nuns at St Gertrude's Tauler frequently preached.
Of the Festal Sermons contained in this volume, eighteen are to be found in the
original Leipzig edition, fifteen form part of the Basle supplement, and four
are of those that were added to the Cologne edition. Miss Winkworth, selecting
from the whole number of 145 sermons, took eleven from the original edition,
eleven from the Basle supplement, and five from the Cologne supplement. Of the
Festal Sermons she selected only three, her principle of selection being rather
edification than authenticity.
But, on the general question of authenticity, it
must be confessed that not one of the 145 sermons can claim such as it would
have possessed had it been written by Tauler's own hand and been put forth by
him as representing what he said or desired to say on the occasion. His sermons
were always spoken; and the MSS. are at best only the reports of those who
heard him; and such reports, it is hardly necessary to say, do not reproduce
the sermons as they actually were delivered; though the way in which the
sermons have thus come down to us explains the differences of reading in
various editions and also the obscurity of certain passages. A critical edition
of Tauler's Sermons by a competent hand is doubtless a thing to be desired; but
it would be a misfortune, from the point of view of edification, if, in such an
edition, matter otherwise admirable found no place, on account of the
uncertainty of its authorship.
The scope of Miss Winkworth's edition of Tauler's
Sermons differed from that of the present publication. She had learnt to admire
them by hearing some of them read in German Protestant households as a part of
domestic worship; and her idea was to introduce a previously unknown preacher
to an English audience, compiling "a volume of sermons for the Sundays and
Holy-days of the year, such as any head of a family might read to his
household, or any district visitor among the poor." But as she was very
properly anxious to publish in their entirety such sermons as she selected, she
felt compelled to omit such as, either in whole or in part, were "too much
imbued with references to the Romish ritual and discipline to be suitable for
the Protestant common people." I cannot say that any of the sermons strike me
as particularly suitable for such a purpose. They contain, indeed, many thought
that have become pulpit commonplaces since Tauler's day, and other thoughts
that might very well acquire such acceptance; but for such a use as Miss
Winkworth contemplated, the sermons need more than mere translation. Their
spirit must first be made his own by any man who is to expound it profitably;
and this he then must do in his own language. My idea has therefore rather been
to present these sermons of Tauler's in such a form as may aid towards a more
accurate historical appreciation of the man and his teaching. I have had no
thought of either pruning or adapting his words. He was a Dominican friar of
the fourteenth century, and he held all the beliefs of his age and of his
Church without any trace of reserve. The ardour of his Marian devotion is
especially noticeable; and it would be as improper to omit this or to tone it
down in a translation, as it would be to correct any other illustrations of his
beliefs and practices, crude and almost grotesque as some of them undoubtedly
are.[4] Indeed, in order to preserve throughout
the impression of a Catholic preacher addressing a Catholic congregation, I
have even gone out of my way to give the English translation of the Scripture
texts from the Douai version; since, though that did not exist in Tauler's day
any more than our own Authorized Version, it is a faithful translation from the
Vulgate, which Tauler used in the pulpit, translating it into German for the
benefit of his hearers. Such at least has been my intention; though, from
inadvertence and a greater familiarity with King James' version, I may not have
adhered to it throughout. To the lady, by her own desire anonymous, to whose
patient labour the bulk of the translation of the Sermons is due, I desire here
to record my most sincere thanks. Tauler's sentences are sometimes obscure
because they are so long; and that obscurity the translator has in many cases
succeeded in removing by breaking up a sentence into two or more; but it has
not been found possible to remove in all cases the obscurity of the original.
(See, at the end of this Introduction, an illustration of the methods used by
some earlier translators of Tauler.) The version here presented will, however,
be found as a whole, readable and easy; and it should serve to render more
familiar one of the most notable figures in the history of the Christian
Church; one whose teaching shows how essential is the unity that underlies a
spiritual conception of the Christian Creed, however much its exponents may
differ as to matters of form.
A word must be said in explanation of the title,
"The Inner Way," which the present volume bears. It is used merely by way of
convenience, at the urgent request of the publishers. For myself, I had thought
that "Tauler's Festal Sermons" would have amply sufficed to identify the
contents of the volume for all those whom it is likely to interest; and that
any additional title might even cause perplexity, especially to those who know
that all the spiritual works, except the sermons, once attributed to Tauler,
are now generally regarded as unauthentic. But it appears that, in book selling
regarded as a business, the word "Sermons" bears a fatal significance, and must
be avoided at any cost. Thus urged, I have selected a title which marks the
general character of Tauler's teaching, and which will not, I trust, give rise
to any misconception as to what the volume professes to be.
[1] "The History and Life of the Reverend
Doctor John Tauler of Strasbourg; with Twenty-five of his Sermons (temp. 1340)
translated from the German with additional Notices of Tauler's Life and Times,
by Susanna Winkworth." London, 1857.
[2] D. Joannis Thauleri preaclarissimi viri
sublimisque theologi tam de tempore quam de sanctis conciones plane
pilassimae...eaeteraque opera omnia...nune primum ex Germanico idiomate in
Latinum transfusa sermonem, interprete Laurentio Surio, Lubecensi, Carthusiae
Coloniensis alumno, Coloniae, 1548.
[3] Luther's commendation is as follows: - "Si
te dilectat puram, solidam, antiquae simillimam theologiam legere in Germanica
lingua effusam, sermones Johannis Tauleri, praedictoriae professionis, tibi
comparare potes, cujus totius velut epitomen ecce hic tibi mitto. Neque enim in
Latina neque in nostra lingua theologiam vidi salubriorem et cum Evangelio
consonantiorem." On this Weiss, in the Biographic universelle (edition of 1826)
comments as follows: - "Les eloges donnes a ses i.e. Tauler's ouvrages par
Luther, Melanchthon, et la plupart des chefs de la reforme religieuse, avaient
fait soupconner ia purete des principes de Tauler; mais d'illustres ecrivian
catholiques ont pris soin de justifier sa menoire; et Bossuet dit ("Instruction
sur les etats d'oraison") qu'il le regarde comme un des plus solides et des
plus corrects des mystiques."
[4] With reference to the singularly detailed
account of the way in which the Blessed Virgin occupied her time, given by
Tauler in the Sermon here numbered vii., the Rev. Andrew Burn, rector of
Kynnersley, Salop has called my attention to similar language in the gnomes
of the Nicene Synod, quoted by Professor Achelis (Journal of Theological
Studies, II., 128) which certainly suggests that the two have a common source
in traditions contained in some now lost Apocryphal Gospel. The Gnomes
are at present only available in two Coptic MSS.; the supposed date of the
treatise is c.400.