XIII. PART II 245 shrieks, and beholding the firmament with an ai c E N T. of distraction, ferocity, and horror; and all this with a view to obtain the divine mercy for themselves, and others, by their voluntary mortification and penance [r]. This method of appeasing the Deity was perfectly conformable to the notions concerning religion that generally prevailed in this century; nor did these fanatical Whippers do any thing more, in this extravagant discipline, than practise the lessons they had received from the monks, especially from those of the Mendicant orders. Hence they attracted the esteem and veneration, not only of the populace, but also of their rulers, and were honoured and revered by all ranks and orders, on account of their extraordinary sanctity and virtue. Their sect, however, did not continue always in the same high degree of credit and reputation; for though the primitive Whippers were exemplary in point of morals, yet their societies were augmented, as might naturally be expected, by a turbulent and furious rabble, many of whom were infected with the most ridiculous and impious opinions. Hence both the emperors and pontifs thought proper to put an end to this' religious frenzy, by declaring all devout whipping contrary to the divine law, and prejudicial to the soul's eternal interests. terpreting IV. The Christian interpreters and commen- The nietators of this century differ very little from those thod of inof the preceding times. The greatest part of and exthem pretended to draw from the depths of truth plaining the (or rather of their imaginations) what they called little alterthe Internal juice and marrow of the scriptures, ed in this [r] CHRIST. SCHOTGENII Historia Flagellantium.-JAQUES BOILEAU, Histoire des Flaggellans, chap. ix. p. 253. We have also a lively picture of this fanatical discipline of the Whippers, exhibited in MARTENE's Voyage Litteraire de deux Benedictins, tom. ii. p. 105. with which the reader may compare MURATORI Antiqq. ltal, medii ævi, tom. vi. p. 469. scriptures century. PAN T! CENT.i. e. their hidden and mysterious sense; and this XIII. they did with so little dexterity, so little plausibility and invention, that the most of their explications must appear insipid and nauseous to such as are not entirely destitute of judgment and taste. If our readers be desirous of a proof of the justice of this censure, or curious to try the extent of their patience, they have only to peruse the explications that have been given by archbishop LANGTON, HUGH DE ST CHER, and ANTONY of Padua, of the various books of the Old and New Testament. The Mystic doctors carried this visionary method of interpreting scripture to the greatest height, and displayed the most laborious industry, or rather the most egregious folly, in searching for mysteries, where reason and common sense could find nothing but plain and evident truths. They were too penetrating and quicksighted not to perceive clearly in the holy scriptures all those doctrines that were agreeable to their idle and fantastic system. Nor were their adversaries, the school-men, entirely averse to this arbitrary and fanciful manner of interpretation ; though their principal industry was employed rather in collecting the explications given by the ancient doctors, than in inventing new ones, as appears from the writings of ALEXANDER HALES, GUILIELMUS ALVERNUS, and THOMAS AQUINAS himself. We must not, however, omit observing, that the scholastic doctors in general, and more especially these now mentioned, had recourse often to the subtilties of logic and metaphysic, to assist them in their explications of the sacred writings. To facilitate the study and interpretation of these divine books, HUGH DE Sr CHER composed his Concordance [s], and the Dominicans, under the eye of their supreme chief, the [] ECHARDI Scriptor. Ord. Prædicator. tom. i. p. 194. XIII. the learned JORDAN, gave a new edition of the C E N T. Latin translation of the Bible, carefully revised PARTIL and corrected from the ancient copies [t]. The Greeks contributed nothing that deserves attention towards the illustration of the Holy Scriptures; the greatest part of which were expounded with great learning by GREGORY ABULPHARAIUS, that celebrated Syrian, whose erudition was famous throughout all the east, and whom we have already had occasion to mention in the course of this history [u]. dactic the V. Systems of theology and morals were mul- The state tiplied exceedingly in this century; and the of the di number of those writers, who treated of the di-logy. vine perfections and worship, and of the practical rules of virtue and obedience, is too great to permit our mentioning them particularly. All such as were endowed with any considerable degree of genius and eloquence employed their labours upon these noble branches of sacred science, more especially the academical and public teachers, among whom the Dominicans and Franciscans held the most eminent rank. It is, indeed, neither necessary to mention the names, nor to enumerate the productions of these doctors, since whoever is acquainted with the characters and writings of ALBERT the Great and THOMAS AQUINAS, will know every thing that is worthy of note in the rest, who were no more than their echos. The latter of these two truly great men, who is commonly called the Angel of the schools, or the Angelic Doctor, sat unrivalled at the head of the divines of this century, and deservedly obtained the principal place among those who digested the doctrines of Christianity into a regular R 4 [] RICH. SIMON, Critique de la Bibliotheque des Auteurs Eccles. par M. DU PIN. [u] Jos. SIM. ASSEMANNI Biblioth. Orieut. Vatican, ton. ii. P. 277. PART II. CEN T.gular system, and illustrated and explained them XIII. in a scientific manner. For no sooner had his system or sum of theology and morals seen the light, than it was received universally with the highest applause, placed in the same rank with the famous Book of Sentences of PETER LOMBARD, and admitted as the standard of truth and the great rule according to which the public teachers formed their plans of instruction, and the youth their method of study. Certain writers, indeed, have denied that THOMAS was the author of the celebrated system that bears his name [w]; but the reasons they allege in support of this notion are utterly destitute of evidence and solidity [n]. 'The scho- the most VI. The greatest part of these doctors followed ARISTOTLE as their model, and made use of the logical and metaphysical principles of that subtile philosopher, in illustrating the doctrines of Christianity, and removing the difficulties with which some of them were attended. In their philosophical explications of the more sublime truths of that divine religion they followed the hypothesis of the Realists, which sect, in this century, was much more numerous and flourishing than that of the Nominalists, on account of the lustre and credit it derived from the authority of THOMAS AQUINAS and ALBERT, its learned and venerable patrons. Yet notwithstanding all the subtilty and pénetration [w] See Jo. LAUNOII Traditio Ecclesiæ circa Simoniam p. 290. [x] See NATALIS ALEXANDER, Histor. Eccles. Sæc. xiii. p. 391.-ECHARD and QUETIF, Scriptor. Ordin. Prædicator. Sac. xiii. tom. i. p. 293.-ANT. TOURON, Vie de St Thomas, p. 604. *In the original we find Positivi in the margin, which is manifestly a fault; since the Positivi were quite opposite, in their method of teaching, to the schoolmen, and were the same with Biblici mentioned in the following section. See above, Cent. XII. Part II. Ch. III. sect. VIII. XIII. penetration of these irrefragable, seraphic, and an-C EN T. gelic doctors, as they were commonly styled, they PART II, often appeared wiser in their own conceit, than they were in reality, and frequently did little more than involve in greater obscurity the doctrines which they pretended to place in the clearest light. For, not to mention the ridiculous oddity of many of their expressions, the hideous barbarity of their style, and their extravagant and presumptuous desire of prying into matters that infinitely surpass the comprehension of shortsighted mortals, they were chargeable with defects in their manner of reasoning, which every true philosopher will, of all others, be most careful to avoid. For they neither define their terms accurately, and hence arose innumerable disputes merely about words; nor did they divide their subject with perspicuity and précision, and hence they generally treated it in a confused and unsatisfactory manner. The great Angelic Doctor himself, notwithstanding his boasted method, was defective in these respects; his definitions are often vague, or obscure, and his plans or divisions, though full of art, are frequently destitute of clearness and proportion. Biblicists *. VII. The method of investigating divine truth. The numby reason and philosophy prevailed universally, ber of comand was followed with such ardour, that the pilers or number of those, who, in conformity with the greatly diexample of the ancient doctors, drew their systems of theology from the holy scriptures and the writings * In the margin of the original, instead of Biblicists, which we find in the text, Dr MOSHEIM has wrote Sententiarii which is undoubtedly an oversight. The Sententiarü, or followers of PETER LOMBARD, who is considered as the father of the scholastic philosophy, are to be placed in the same class with the philosophical divines, mentioned in the preceding section, and were quite opposite to the Biblici, both in their manner of thinking and teaching. See above, Cent. XII. Part II. Ch. III. sect. VIII. minished. |