Wisdom from d'Aubigne
In recalling the "birthday" of the Protestant Reformation (i.e., the anniversary of Martin Luther's nailing his Ninety-five Theses to the palace chapel door) recently, I retrieved my copy of J.M. Merle d'Aubigne's hefty masterpiece History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century. He is in my estimation the greatest historian of that period of history.
We used his tome as the textbook for a course I took in college that was taught be the inimitable Dr. Edward Panosian, so my copy is well marked. As I flipped through its pages, my attention was repeatedly drawn to various statements, some of them d'Aubigne's quotations of the various Reformation luminaries, others his own thoughts.
So profound were d'Aubigne's own statements that I decided to share a few of them with you, the readers of this blog. The quotations I've included refer specifically to historians, their role, the importance of their work, and even warnings about how they present their work. But we all can benefit from what d'Aubigne had to say.
On the role of historians:
"We do not create the times; it is our simple duty to paint them as they really were." (Historians aren't to make up the facts but simply to present them as they are.)
"History does not create, she can only adduce what she finds." (That is, merely to cite, to state, what happened, whether those actions and actors were right or wrong, not to try to make them agree with our current views.)
On the value of studying the mistakes of our predecessors:
The recollection of the errors of our predecessors is perhaps the most useful legacy they have bequeathed to us." (Rather than destroying them or tearing them down, we should study them and learn not to repeat the same mistakes ourselves.)
On the "great man" theory of history:
"A great man may be the personification and the type of the epoch for which God destines him; he is never its creator." (The times make the man what he is, what God intended him to be; he doesn't make the times.)
On warnings to society, especially to historians:
"It is impossible for a society to prosper if it be unfaithful to the principles it lays down. Having abandoned what constituted its life, it can find naught but death." (Respect, honor, and stick with what made the nation successful to begin with.)
To mingle a little error with truth is like throwing a grain of poison into a well-filled dish; this one grain is sufficient to change the nature of the food, and will cause death, slowly perhaps, but surely." (Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!)
Do you have a book that gives similarly wise advice and counsel? What is the title, and who is the author? Did you underlined or highlighted in it any profound thoughts that spoke to you at the time you read it? If so, consider sharing a few of those thoughts in the comments.
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