Books Fatal to Their Authors | Page 9

Testamento de N. Redemptor y Salvador J. C.
traduzido en lengua castellana (En Amberes, 1543, in-8), dedicated his
work to Charles V. But it caused him to be imprisoned fifteen months.
Happily he discovered a means of escape from his dungeon, and retired
to safe quarters at Geneva. In France he adopted the nom-de-plume of

Dryander, and his History of the Netherlands and of Religion in Spain
forms part of the Protestant martyrology published in Germany. The
author's brother, John Dryander, was burnt at Rome in 1545.
The Jansenist Louis Le Maistre, better known under the name of de
Sacy, was imprisoned in the Bastille on account of his opinions and
also for his French translation of the New Testament, published at
Mons, in 1667, and entitled Le Nouveau Testament de N.S.J.C., traduit
en français selon l'édition Vulgate, avec les différences du grec (2 vols.,
in-12). This famous work, known by the name of the New Testament of
Mons, has been condemned by many popes, bishops, and other
authorities. Louis Le Maistre was assisted in the work by his brother,
and the translation was improved by Arnaud and Nicole. Pope Clement
IX. described the work as "rash, pernicious, different from the Vulgate,
and containing many stumbling- blocks for the unlearned." When
confined in the Bastille, Le Maistre and his friend Nicolas Fontaine
wrote Les Figures de la Bible, which work is usually attributed to the
latter author. According to the Jesuits, the Port-Royalists are
represented under the figure of David, their antagonists as Saul. Louis
XIV. appears as Rehoboam, Jezebel, Ahasuerus, and Darius. But these
fanciful interpretations are probably due to the imagination of the
critics.
The fate of Gaspar Peucer enforces the truth of the old adage that "a
shoemaker ought to stick to his last," and shows that those men court
adversity who meddle with matters outside their profession. Peucer was
a doctor of medicine of the academy of Würtemberg, and wrote several
works on astronomy, medicine, and history. He was a friend of
Melanchthon, and became imbued with Calvinistic notions, which he
manifested in his publication of the works of the Reformer. On account
of this he was imprisoned eleven years. By the favour of the Elector he
was at length released, and wrote a History of his Captivity (Zurich,
1605). A curious work, entitled A Treatise on Divination, was
published by Peucer at Würtemberg, written in Latin, in 1552. He ranks
among the most learned men of Germany of the sixteenth century.
There were many Fatal Books in Holland during the famous

controversy between the Arminians and the Gomarists, which ended in
the famous Synod of Dort, and for vehemence, bigotry, and intolerance
is as remarkable as any which can be found in ecclesiastical history.
The learned historian Grotius was imprisoned, but he wrote no book
which caused his misfortune. Indeed his books were instrumental in his
escape, which was effected by means of his large box containing books
brought into the prison by his wife. When removed from the prison it
contained, not the books, but the author. Vorstius, the successor of
Arminius as Professor of Theology at Leyden, was not so happy. His
book, Tractatus de Deo, seu de naturâ et attributis Dei (Steinfurti,
1610, in-4), aroused the vengeance of the Gomarists, and brought about
the loss of his professorship and his banishment from Holland; but any
injustice might have been expected from that extraordinary Synod,
where theology was mystified, religion disgraced, and Christianity
outraged. [Footnote: Cf. Church in the Netherlands, by P.H. Ditchfield,
chap. xvii.]
Few books have created such a sensation in the world or aroused so
prolonged a controversy as Les Réflexions Morales of Pasquier Quesnel,
published in 1671. The full title of the work is Le Nouveau Testament
en Français, avec des réflexions morales sur chaque verset (Paris, 1671,
i vol., in-12), pour les quatre Evangiles seulement. Praslard was the
publisher. In 1693 and 1694 appeared another edition, containing his
réflexions morales, not only on the Gospels, but also on the Acts and
the Epistles. Many subsequent editions have appeared. Not only France,
but the whole of the Western Church was agitated by it, and its
far-reaching effects have hardly yet passed away. It caused its author a
long period of incarceration; it became a weapon in the hands of the
Jesuits to hurl at the Jansenists, and the Papal Bull pronounced against
it was the cause of the separation of a large body of the faithful from
the communion of the Roman Church. Its author was born at Paris in
1634, and was educated in the congregation of the Oratory. Appointed
director of its school in Paris, he wrote Pensées Chrétiennes sur les
quatre Evangiles, which was the germ of his later work. In 1684 he fled
to Brussels, because he