censure, and his freedom from anything like the mysticism of Weigel was generally conceded. § 29. Another ground of the charge of mysticism which his opponents advanced, was found in his repeated references in the “True Christianity” to Tauler. Here, too, Arndt made a brilliant defence, by quoting the great Luther as his authority. The latter had obtained possession of a manuscript without a title or an author’s name, which deeply interested him. It dwelt entirely on the communion of the soul with God, and on kindred topics. Luther, whose godliness was healthy and sound, was so much charmed with the work, that he published a part of it at Wittenberg in 1516, and prefixed the title: “A spiritual, noble little work, explaining the distinction between the old and the new man; showing, also, who are the children of Adam and the children of God, and how Adam must die in us, and Christ live in us.” During the course of the next year he published the whole work, with an extended Preface of his own, and adopted the title: “A German Theology”; this general title it has since retained. It was received with unbounded favor, and circulated rapidly throughout Europe, for instance, in three English, seven Latin, four French, etc., translations, besides numerous editions of the original German. It was supposed to have been written by Tauler, a very devout man, who was born in the year 1290. His religious tendencies led him, like Luther, to enter a monastery. The sermons and other writings which he left behind, while their general character assign to him a place among those who are denominated “Mystics,” nevertheless abound in holy and devout aspirations, and were dictated by a spirit that sought and found peace in the grace of God alone.—Arndt entertained the opinion that the “German Theology” was a production of his pen, and so represents the case in his “True Christianity.” It is now, however, generally conceded, in consequence of an allusion in the work itself to Tauler as a religious teacher of an earlier day, that another person, belonging to a later period, was the writer; his name is still involved in impenetrable darkness.—So, too, it is by no means certain that Thomas á Kempis (born in 1380), was the author of the popular book “On the Imitation of Christ,” of which more than two thousand editions in the original language, more than one thousand in French, besides innumerable others in German, English, etc., have been published. The historical arguments, adduced chiefly by French writers, intended to support the claims of the eminent Gerson (born in 1363), as the author, although not entirely conclusive, are still possessed of great weight.—Arndt incidentally remarks in a brief statement respecting the “German Theology,” that his copy, printed at Wittenberg in 1520, contained simply the remark that the book had been written by a devout priest of the city of Frankfort, for devotional purposes, but the author’s name was withheld.