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CEN T. other writers, who trod the same intricate paths PART II of metaphysical divinity, were many in number,

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and several of them justly admired, though much inferior in renown to the celebrated triumvirate now mentioned; such were Alexander de Hales, the interpreter of Aristotle, William of Paris [b], Robert Capito [i], Thomas Cantipratensis, John de Peckham, William Durand, Roger Bacon, [k], Richard Middleton, Ægidius de Columna, Armand de Bello Visu, and several others.

HUGO DE ST CARO gained much applause by the Concordance, which he composed, of the Holy Bible [1].

GUILLAUME DE ST AMOUR carried on with great spirit and resolution, but with little success, a literary and theological war against the Mendicant Friars, who looked upon begging as a mark of sanctity.

HUMBERT DE ROMANIS drew up a system of rules and precepts, with a view to put under a better regulation the lives and manners of the monastic orders.

GUI

Histoire de la vie et du Culte de S. Bonaventure, par un Religieux Cordelier, a Lyon, 1747, in 8vo.

[b] See the Gallia Christiana, published by the Benedictines, tom. vii. p. 95.

[i] The learned ANTHONY WOOD has given an ample ac count of ROBERT CAPITO, in his Antiquitat. Oxoniens. tom. i. p. 81. 105.

[] We are surprised to find ROGER BACON thrust here into a crowd of vulgar literati, since that great man, whose astonishing genius and universal learning have already been taken notice of, was, in every respect, superior to ALBERT and BONAVENTURA, two of the heroes of Dr MOSHEIM's triumvirate.

[1] HUGO DE ST CARO, or St Cher, composed also a very learned collection of the various readings of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin manuscripts of the Bible. This work, which he entitled Correctorium Biblia, is preserved in manuscript in the Sorbonne library. We must not forget to observe also, that his Concordance is the first that ever was compiled.

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GUILIELMUS PERALDUS arose in this century to c ENT. the highest degree of literary renown, in conse- PART II. quence of a system of morals he published under the title, of Summa Virtutum et Vitiorum [m].

RAYMOND MARTIN yet survives the oblivion that has covered many of his cotemporaries; and his Pugio Fidei, or Sword of Faith, which he drew against the Jews and Saracens, has escaped the ruins of time.

JOHN of PARIS deserves an eminent rank among | the glorious defenders of truth, liberty, and justice; since he maintained the authority of the civil powers, and the majesty of kings and princes, against the ambitious stratagems and usurpations of the Roman pontifs, and declared openly his opposition to the opinion that was commonly adopted with respect to the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and the presence of CHRIST in that holy ordinance [n].

CHA P. III.

Concerning the doctrine of the Christian church du·ring this century.

1.

TOWEVER numerous and deplorable the The gene were, of

Hcorruptions and superstitious abuses were, rai giste

that had hitherto reigned in the church, and deformed the beautiful simplicity of the gospel, they were nevertheless increased in this century, instead of being reformed, and the religion of VOL. III. CHRIST

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[m] See COLONIA, Histoire Litteraire de la Ville de Lyon. tom. ii. p. 322.

[n] We may learn his opinion concerning the eucharist from his treatise, entitled, Determinatio de S. Cena, and published in 8vo at London, by the learned Dr ALIX, in the year 1686.See also ECHARDI Scriptor. Dominican. tom. i. p. 501.BALUZII Vita Pontif. Avenionens. tom. i. p. 4. 576. 577.

religion.

CEN T. CHRIST continued to suffer under the growing PART, tyranny of fanaticism and superstition.

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The

progress of reason and truth was retarded among the Greeks and Orientals, by their immoderate aversion to the Latins, their blind admiration of whatever bore the stamp of antiquity, the indolence of their bishops, the stupidity of their clergy, and the calamities of the times. Among the Latins, many concurring causes united to augment the darkness of that cloud that had already been cast over the divine lustre of genuine Christianity. On the one hand, the Roman pontifs could not bear the thoughts of any thing that might have the remotest tendency to diminish their authority, or to encroach upon their prerogatives; and therefore they laboured assiduously to keep the multitude in the dark, and to blast every attempt that was made towards a reformation in the doctrine or discipline of the church. On the other hand, the school divines, among whom the Dominican and Franciscan monks made the greatest figure on account of their unintelligible jargon, and subtilty, shed perplexity and darkness over the plain truths of religion by their intricate distinctions and endless divisions, and by that cavilling, quibbling, disputatious spirit, that is the mortal enemy both of truth and virtue. It is true, that these scholastic doctors were not all equally chargeable with corrupting the truth; the most enormous and criminal corrupters of Christianity were those who led the multitude into the two following abominable errors that it was in the power of man to perform, if he pleased, a more perfect obedience than God required; and that the whole of religion consisted in an external air of gravity, and in certain composed bodily gestures.

II. It will be easy to confirm this general account of the state of religion by particular facts.

In

In the fourth council of the Lateran that was held CENT.

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Р ART

New arti

III.

by INNOCENT III. in the year 1215, and at w ich pT II. a prodigious number of ecclesiastics were assem- →→→→→→ bled [], that imperious pontif, without deign-s of faith ing to consult any body, published no less than impos d by seventy laws or decrees, by which not only the Innocent authority of the popes and the power of the clergy were confirmed and extended, but also new doctrines, or articles of faith, were imposed upon Christians. Hitherto the opinions of the Christian doctors, concerning the manner in which the body and blood of CHRIST were present in the eucharist, were extremely different; nor had the church determined by any clear and positive decree, the sentiment that was to be embraced in relation to that important matter. It was reserved for INNOCENT to put an end to the liberty, which every Christian had hitherto enjoyed, of interpreting this presence in the manner he thought most agreeable to the declarations of scripture, and to decide in favour of the most monstrous doctrine that the frenzy of superstition was capable of inventing. This audacious pontif pronounced the opinion, that is embraced at this day in the church of Rome relating to that point, to be the only true and orthodox account of the matter; and he had the honour of introducing and establishing the use of the term Transubstantiation, which was hitherto absolutely unknown [p]. The same pontif placed, by his own authority, among the duties prescribed by the divine laws, that of auricular confession to a priest; a confession that implied not only a general acknowledgment, but also a particular enumeration of the sins and follies of the penitent. Before

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[o] At this council there were present 412 bishops, 8ɔɔ abbots and priors, besides the ambassadors of almost all the European princes.

IP] See EDM. ALBERTINUS, De Eucharistia, lib. iii. p. 972.

سنتا

XIII.

CEN T. Before this period several doctors, indeed, looked PART II, upon this kind of confession, as a duty inculcated by divine authority; but this opinion was not publicly received as the doctrine of the church. For though the confession of sins was justly looked upon as an essential duty, yet it was left to every Christian's choice, to make this confession mentally to the Supreme being, or to express it in words to a spiritual confident and director [q]. These two laws, which, by the authority of INNOCENT, were received as laws of God, and adopted, of consequence, as laws of the church, occasioned a multitude of new injunctions and rites, of which not even the smallest traces are to be found in the sacred writings, or in the apostolic and primitive ages, and which were much more adapted to establish and extend the reign of superstition, than to open the eyes of the blinded multitude upon the enormous abuses of which it had been the source.

The sect of

III. There is nothing that will contribute more the Flagel- to convince us of the miserable state of religion. Whippers. in this century, and of the frenzy that almost

lantes, or

generally prevailed in the devotion of these unhappy times, than the rise of the sect called Flagellantes, or Whippers, which sprung up in Italy in the year 1260, and was propagated from thence through almost all the countries of Europe. The societies that embraced this new discipline, presented the most hideous and shocking spectacle that can well be conceived; they ran in multitudes, composed of persons of both sexes, and of all ranks and ages, through the public places of the most populous cities, and also through the fields and desarts, with whips in their hands, lashing their naked bodies with the most astonishing severity, filling the air with their wild shrieks,

[9] See the book of the learned DAILLE, concerning Auricular Confession.

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