Death of Ralbag-Birth of Abarbanel. 153 books of the Hebrew Scriptures; "which," says Bartiloccio, "he expounds historically, literally, and not seldom philosophically; not, however, without the rehearsal even in them of some of the errors, which we have just pointed out. Ralbag died in Perpignan, in the department of Eastern Pyrenees, in the year of our Lord 1370, being in the eightieth year of his age. The last rabbi of note that we mentioned is Abarbanel. Let us briefly sketch his life and labours. Rabbi Isaac Abarbanèl, or Abravanèl, was born in the city of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, in the year of our Lord 1437. Abarbanel boasted that he was a descendant of the royal house of David; but, however that may be, there can be no doubt that the Abarbanels were a most ancient and respectable family among the Sephardim, or Spanish Jews. Abarbanel, during his life, was fond of assuming the title of Don before his name, not without a mixture of Spanish pride, and the Jews have not scrupled to call him Rab, an appellation which they give to the more learned and distinguished of their rabbis. The life of Abarbanel is full of eventful interest, both as a man and as an author. He served in the court of Alphonso V. of Portugal; he was also employed by his son, John II.; but, being charged with grave offences, he fled with the utmost precipitation into the kingdom of Castille. In that kingdom, true to the habits of his nation, he employed himself as a money-lender, or stockjobber; and, ingratiating himself into the favour of Ferdinand and Isabella, he carried things with so high a hand, that, what with his ambition and pride and grinding oppression, and strong animosity against the Roman Catholic faith, he became a considerable element in bringing about the banishment of the Jews from Spain. This sad event took place in the year 1492, by the decree of Ferdinand and Isabella, in consequence of which, no less than three hundred thousands of Jews emigrated from the kingdom of Spain within the space of three months. Abarbanel, his wife and children, were among the number of the banished. He repaired to Naples, the residence of the king of the Two Sicilies; and, with his accustomed skill and address, speedily acquired great influence in the court of Ferdinand, the reigning monarch. On the expedition of Charles VIII. of France against Naples, and the death of King Ferdinand, Abarbanel followed his successor, Alphonso II., to Messina, in Sicily; but, on the death of Alphonso, in 1495, he resided for a short time in the island of Corfu. Leaving Corfu in the following year, he returned to the kingdom of Naples, and lived in Monopoli for about seven years. He then left *Vita Celebrium, Rabbinorum, p. 104. † Ibid. p. 117. Monopoli for Venice, in which he spent the last five years of his life. He died in Venice in the year 1508, being in the seventy-first year of his age. From Venice, his body was transferred to Pavia, where he was buried in the Jewish cemetery, outside of the gate called 7, Zanab aruch, that is, Cauda longa. But, according to Bertoloccio, the cemetery of the Jews, during the time of war, was dug up, and a public street led through it, so that, at this day, the tomb of Abarbanel cannot be discovered.* The writings of Abarbanel are not less remarkable than the rapid changes of his eventful life. Born in the midst of affluence, possessed of powers naturally quick and precocious, and having his faculties educated to the highest pitch, Abarbanel grew up at once a man of the world, and a man of letters; and, whilst he had all Jacob's subtlety and cunning, we are not sure if he was endowed with Jacob's faith. That he had within himself great resources and immense powers of application, increased by long watchings and uncommon abstemiousness, carried out into the practice of severe fasting, there can be no doubt. And the energy and rapid impetuosity with which he threw off some of his commentaries on the books of sacred Scripture, remind us of the reckless strength and ease with which a celebrated noble poet of our own day dashed off some of his most admired productions, as if the elaboration of a "Corsair," or a "Giaour," or a "Lara," or a "Manfred," were to him but a playful or an ordinary entertainment. Abarbanel composed his Commentary on the Book of Joshua in sixteen days, beginning with the tenth day of the month Chasvan, that is, October, and ending with the twenty-sixth day of the same month, in the year of our Lord 1484. After an interval of five days, he composed his Commentary on the Book of Judges in twenty-five days, beginning with the first day of the month of Chislen, that is, November, and ending with the twenty-fifth day of the same month, in the same year. After another intermission of five days, he composed his Commentaries on the Two Books of Samuel in two months and thirteen days beginning with the first day of Zebheth, or December, and ending on the thirteenth day of Adar, that is, February, in the same Jewish, year. So that Abarbanel completed his commentaries on those four books of the Bible, with the short repeated breathing-time of five days, within the contracted period of little more than three months and a-half. He had, no doubt, matured his mind beforehand, by deep research and meditation; and, when the period of composition came, he had simply to direct the wellspring of thought that gushed forth spontaneously. But the *Vita Celebrium Rabbinorum, pp. 118, 141. Banishment from Spain: his Writings. 155 effort of mind required for such a serious and continued task must be allowed to be extraordinary; yet, nothing wearied with the toil,-or, shall we not rather say, the labour of love?— Abarbanel was just beginning to buckle on his armour for writing his Commentaries on the Two Books of Kings, when he had been summoned to the councils of Ferdinand the Catholic, in whose service he continued eight years, reaching down to the time of the Jews' banishment from Spain. After his exile he wrote his commentaries on these two books, in Naples, in the year 1493. These particulars are detailed in the first preface to the author's Commentary on the Book of Daniel. The preface is written by R. Baruch, and contains the leading events of Abarbanel's life, which are given in chronological order.* In the great synagogue of Lisbon, young Abarbanel had delivered lectures on Deuteronomy, at the early age of twenty. But, chiefly intent on acquiring wealth and honours in his native country, it is not until after having left the place of his birth, that we see him in all the lands of his adoption, during the course of his exile, engaged in a bright and ardent career of literary exertion. Whether he is found wandering in Castille, or Naples, or Corfu, or Monopoli, or Venice, he is busily employed with his pen in the production of works, destined to immortality. It was in Castille that he threw off his commentaries on Joshua, and Judges, and the two books of Samuel; in Naples, he resumed his labours on the books of Kings, and finished his commentaries on the former prophets; in Corfu, he commenced his commentaries on the latter prophets, and retouched the lectures of his youth, that he had delivered to the admiring synagogue of Lisbon; at Monopoli, in the old country of Apulia, in what is now called the intendancy of Terra di Bari-whither he had retired for fear of the French soldiers, he completed his commentaries on the law; and, at Venice, and different places in Italy, in which he sojourned during sixteen years, from the period of the Spanish exile, to the day of his death, he produced writings, composed in an easy and fluent style, in which he exercised the discriminating judgment of an independent thinker; entered the lists with the most eminent of the rabbis,* and handled the nicest and most difficult subjects of Hebrew theology. Of Abarbanel's three sons, Judah, the eldest, was at once a physician, a scholar, and a poet; Joseph, the second, followed the fortunes and soothed the exile of his father; and Samuel, the third, became a Christian, and received his name in baptism from Alfonso, the grand Duke of Ferrara. * Vitæ Celebrium Rabbinorum, p. 120. + Particularly in some treatises against Maimonides. Amidst all the vicissitudes of Isaac Abarbanel, expiring at an advanced age, a stranger in a strange land, it may not be uninteresting to know, that whether by the dint of worldly wisdom, or by that peculiar arrangement in providence, by which a Jew still receives no small share of the good things of this life, Isaac, although often reduced to straits, left his family wealthy. So that, when a few years after his father's death,* Samuel left Naples, he carried with him substance valued to the amount of two hundred thousand ducats; that is, reckoning the ducat at 3s. 64d. each, there was then in the hands of the rabbi's family, the sum of £35,416, 13s. 4d. sterling; a sum not to be compared to the enormous wealth of one of the Rothschilds, but certainly no contemptible fortune for the old councillor of Castille, and the ex-minister of Naples. Happy had Abarbanel, before he died, come to the knowledge of Him who is "the hope of Israel;" happy had he laid hold of Him who is "the Desire of all nations; thrice happy, had he realised Him in whom "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom aud knowledge!" ART. VIII.-German History of the Reformation. Geschichte d. Evangelischen Kirche b. z. Augsburger Reichstage (History of the Evangelical Church until the Diet at Augsburg). V. GUSTAV PLITT. 1867. THIS There have HIS work of Gustav Plitt fills up a gap. been various histories of the Reformation in general, and of the German Reformation in special, which have either secured favour among scholars, or won the meed of popular approbation. D'Aubignè has carried the name of the German reformer all over Protestant Christendom. Ranke has won the suffrages of scholars on the Protestant side, and been listened to with respect by many on the Romanist side. But a book was wanting, which, within a moderate compass, and from a fresh study of Luther's own works, and of the most important literature of the time, should present to our notice the order of the reformer's convictions on the great questions of doctrine and discipline, which constitute the essence of the Lutheran Church as distinguished from the Romish and the Calvinistic. * Namely, thirty-two years, in the year 1540. Luther's Early Views. 157 In a modest and thoughtful preface, Plitt declares the object of his work, which is intended to set forth the Evangelical Church as fully represented by its great earthly founder, "to delineate the era with all possible brevity, but so as to pass over or do injustice to no matter of importance." In order to accomplish this, Plitt has diligently made himself acquainted with the numerous monographs upon primary or even secondary agents in the Reformation, which have issued from the German press. He has been wisely solicitous to give due attention to all the influences which, under God, combined to the breaking off of the fatherland from Rome. We could have wished, however, that he had reminded his readers of the careful abstract of the period which has been given by Schrökh in the first volume of his Post-Reformation Church History. The work of Plitt is divided into nineteen chapters, preceded by an introduction. In the introduction, taking the confession of Augsburg as his standpoint, he proceeds to shew how every confession must be viewed in the light of the times in which it originated, and that this confession was the expression of the evangelical sentiment of the age, rising up by God's guidance against the false religion of Rome. In the church of the middle ages there was a false theology, that of Rome; a worldly power, that of the empire, submissive to Rome; and a false learning, concentrated in Paris, equally accomplishing the ends of Popery. All these required to be brought down, and were, by the influence of God's truth. Germany was the fittest place for a reform to arise, as it was the foremost of the heathen nations brought under the sway of Christianity. This introduction is not a historical delineation of stages of progress or decline, it is an exhibition of great principles, which form the basis of the work that follows. The first chapter is devoted to Luther's first development. In this division, Plitt carefully and critically sifts the established from the doubtful or legendary. Step by step, by the help of his letters and sermons, the progress, intellectual and spiritual, of the great reformer is traced. His careful training at home, according to the traditional religion of the day; his entrance against his relations' wish into the cloister at Erfurt; his spiritual anguish on account of sin, and vain efforts after self-betterment; and the comfort which came to him from his "preceptor," pointing him to the word that the Lord commanded us to hope; all are set vividly before our view. The general opinion is that Staupitz was his comforter, but Plitt thinks it more likely to have been the much less known brother Augustinian |