Holland's Influence on English Language and Literature

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Chapter XVI On Thomas a Kempis

Quite different from that of the Dutch Prognostications, was the influence of Thomas a Kempis on the spirit of the English people, and, consequently, on the expression of that spirit in English literature. The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis, has a world-wide fame, and its influence can hardly be overestimated. ‘In 1828 M. Languinais reckoned the editions and translations of the “Imitation,” a book which Johnson said the world had opened its arms to receive, at more than two thousand. He saw in the library of the Vatican, translations in the Catalan, Castilian, Flemish, Portuguese, Dutch, Bohemian, Polish, Greek, English, Hungarian, Illyrian, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Turkish, Armenian, Persian, and other languages; so that the words of Samuel Johnson, cited in the preface, “that the book had been reprinted as many times as there were months since its first production,” are not exaggerated, if we consider the many versions which have been printed of this singular book.’¹ The original Latin edition was spread over all Europe since the time of its first appearance in the year 1471. English editions followed soon, within a few years after the printing press was introduced into England. We find at least the following English editions:

1.	Mayrtes, William, the Imitation or the following of Christ. London, W. de Worde

1 English edition of Samson Low, Son and Marston. London, 1865, Preface, XXIII.

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	and Rich. Pinson in 4^o, without date, probably about the end of the 15th century. Reprinted by Rich. Pinson, London, 1503.
2.	Atkinson, the Imitation, etc., Lon. W. de Worde and Pinson, 1504. This translation was made at the express command of the mother of Henry VII.
3.	Hake, Edward, of Gray's Inn. The Imitation, or following of Christ, and the contending of worldly vanities, at first written by Thomas Kempise, a Dutchman, amended and polished by Sebastien Castalio, an Italian, and Englished by Edward Hake, London, 1567, reprinted 1568.
4.	Rogers, Thomas. The Imitation or following of Christ, 1584. This contains only the first three books. In 1592 Rogers published the fourth, under the title of ‘Soliloquium Animae.’ ‘The Sole Talke of Soule; or a Spiritual and Heauenlie Dialogue between the Soule of Man and God.’ Reprinted 1596.
5.	Page, William. The Imitation or following of Christ, London, 1597.
6.	Milburne, Luke. The Imitation or following of Christ, translation in verse, 1697.
7.	Stanhope, Dean. The Christian's Pattern, or a treatise on the Imitation of Christ, 6th edition, in 1708. The text is herein much mutilated.
8.	Payne, John. The Imitation of Christ, 1763, in 8vo. Dove reproduced this in his Classics. Payne was a government clerk and afterwards a bookseller. Dibdin has used this translation.
9.	Challoner, The Rev. The Imitation or following of Christ. A very faithful translation, often reprinted.
10.	Dibdin, Thomas Frognall. Of the Imitation of Jesus Christ, translated from the Latin original, ascribed to Thomas a Kempis, with an introduction and notes. William Pickering, London, printed by William Nicol at the Shakespeare Press, 1828.

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During the nineteenth century many more English editions were published, and even at the present time, in nearly every book store, in America as well as in England, an English version of the Imitation is in stock.

Not without reason one may ask: What was the attraction of this wonderful book? What was its influence? What was the spiritual and literary movement, and who was the author that produced this marvel in the history of human literature, and blessed with it the Christian world of the 15th century? Let me answer these questions with a few words.

Its attraction is in the wonderful piety and honesty, the simplicity and naiveté with which the author speaks to the very heart of the reader. The author's faith is so thoroughly that of a Christian ‘pure and simple,’ his love of God is so intense, his admiration of the love and mercy of God is so fresh, and ever present, that it not only attracts but overpowers, at least for a moment, every reader in whose soul is left the slightest idea of religion.

Its influence was, and is, in making a revival of religion in the heart of the reader; in laying the sound foundation of every real reformation; in interpreting the word of the Lord: ‘Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew XI:28); in bringing back the restless human soul face to face with its heavenly Father, and with the Christ Consolator. The immense consequences of the influence of the Imitation on the religious movement of the 15th and the 16th centuries can hardly be overestimated. Without talking about the outward form and government of the Church, it lays full stress on inner, personal piety and devotion. If the outward form of Church government proves

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to be an obstacle to that inward piety, the nations soon will change that outward Church. In that way Thomas a Kempis became one of the great precursors of Luther, Calvin and Knox.

The spiritual and literary movement, in the midst of which the author lived from his twelfth year till his death, was that of the ‘brethren of common life’ in the Netherlands during the 15th century. Gerard Groot of Deventer, and Florentius Radewÿn, are the founders of this Brotherhood of Common Life. From the Southern Netherlands, from Johannes Ruysbroek at Groenendaal, near Brussels, this revival, this reformation of inner Christian life came to the northern Provinces. Two years after the death of Gerard Groot, in the year 1386, the monastery of Agnetenberg, near Windeshiem, four miles to the southeast of Zwolle, was founded by this Brotherhood, and it was in this monastery that Thomas a Kempis spent the greater part of his life and there he wrote his Imitation of Christ. The Congregation of Common Life, founded by Gerard Groot and Florentius Radewÿn, became a famous center of learning and education in the midst of the corruption of the late mediaeval time. ‘Strange and troubled were those times, and fraught with scandal and confusion. Human ambition and the curses of wealth and worldliness had eaten their way, so far as God permitted, in the very fold of Christ. Prosperity had done its worst. What persecution had failed to do, luxury bade fair to accomplish. To a considerable extent the morals of the people and even of the clergy, from the highest to the lowest, were deeply corrupted, and the church appeared in urgent danger.’¹ In such a time, the thoughts that filled the minds of Gerard

1 F.R. Cruise, Thomas á Kempis, London, 1887, p. 33.

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Groot and Florentius Radewÿn, when they inaugurated the Congregation of Common Life, were as follows: ‘In the first place, it was designed that its members should endeavor, from their hearts, to return to the life of the early Christians; to such a life as the Apostles led when following our Lord Jesus Christ on earth, and which they and their companions carried out after His ascent into heaven. All were to live in common, to work for the general good, to hold their worldly possessions in community, and to spend their leisure hours in prayer and works of charity.’¹

In this community, Thomas a Kempis entered as a boy of twelve years, and stayed there till he died at the age of ninety-one. He was born at Kempen, near Cologne in Germany, not far from the borderline between the Netherlands and Germany, and in one of those provinces where was spoken the same low German dialect which was the language of the Dutch Provinces along the border of Germany. So he was by his birth what we should call in America ‘Pennsylvania Dutch.’ But in his twelfth year, he left Germany, and stayed the remaining seventy-eight years in the Netherlands, and as far as his education, the spirit of his works, and of his life is concerned, he was a son of the Brethren of Common Life in the Netherlands.

1 Ibid, p. 64.