PART II.

enumeration of those who wrote upon theological CENT. XV. matters, and even of these we shall only mention the most eminent. At their head we may justly place John Gerson, chancellor of the university of Paris, the most illustrious ornament that this age can boast of, a man of the greatest influence and authority, whom the council of Constance looked upon as its oracle, the lovers of liberty as their patron, and whose memory is yet precious to such among the French, as are at all zealous for the maintenance of their privileges against papal despotism. This excellent man published a considerable number of treatises that were admirably adapted to reform the corruptions of a superstitious worship, to excite a spirit of genuine piety, and to heal the wounds of a divided church; though, in some respects, he does not seem to have understood thoroughly the demands and injunctions of the gospel of Christ. The most eminent among the other theological writers were,

Nicholas de Clemangis, a man of uncommon candour and integrity, who lamented, in the most eloquent and affecting strains, the calamities of the times, and the unhappy state of the christian church ;P

Alphonsus Tostatus, bishop of Avila, who loaded the holy scriptures with an unwieldy and voluminous Commentary, and composed also other

• See Du Pin, Gersonianorum Libri iv. which are prefixed to the edition of the works of Gerson, which we owe to that laborious author, and which was published at Antwerp in five volumes folio, in the year 1706 See also Jo. Launoii Historia Gymnasii Regii Navarreni, part iii. lib. ii. cap. i. p. 514, tom. iv. part i. opp. Herm. van der Hardt, Acta Concil. Constant. tom. i ̧ part iv. p. 26.

See Launoii Histor. Gymnas. Navarr. part iii. lib. ii. cap. iii. p. 555. Longueval, Hist. de l'Eglise Gallicane, tom. xiv. p. 436. The Works of Clemangis were published, some pieces excepted, at Leyden, with a glossary, in the year 1631, by Lydius.

430

CENT. XV. works, in which there is a great mixture of good and bad;

PART II.

Ambrose of Camalduli, who acquired a high degree of reputation by his profound knowledge of the Greek language, and his uncommon acquaintance with Grecian literature, as also by the zeal and industry he discovered in the attempts he made to effectuate a reconciliation between the Greeks and Latins;

Nicholas de Cusa, a man of vast erudition, and no mean genius, though not so famed for the solidity of his judgment, as may appear from a work of his, entitled, Conjectures concerning the last day;a

John Nieder, whose writings are very proper to give us an accurate notion of the manners and spirit of the age in which he lived, and whose voyages and transactions have rendered him famous;

John Capistran, who was in high esteem at the court of Rome, on account of the ardour and vehemence with which he defended the jurisdiction and majesty of the pontiffs against all their enemies and opposers;

John Wesselus and Jerome Savanarola, who may justly be placed among the wisest and worthiest men of this age. The former, who was a native of Groningen, and on account of his extraor dinary penetration and sagacity was called the light of the world, propagated several of those doctrines, which Luther afterward inculcated with greater evidence and energy, and animadverted with freedom and candour upon the corruptions of the Roman church. The latter was a dominican and a

4 Bayle, Reponse aux Questions d'un Provincial, tom. ii. cap. cxvii. p. 517. The works of Nicholas were published, in one volume, at Basil, in the year 1565.

Lenfant, Histoire de la Guerre des Hussites, tom. ii. p. 254. Waddingi Annales Minorum, tom. ix. p. 67.

Jo. Henr. Maii Vita Reuchlini, p. 156.

PART II.

native of Ferrara, remarkable for piety, eloquence, CENT. XV. and learning, who touched the sores of the church with a heavier hand, and inveighed against the pontiffs with greater severity. This freedom cost him dear; he was committed to the flames at Florence in the year 1498, and bore his fate with the most triumphant fortitude and serenity of mind;

Alphonsus Spina, who wrote a book against the Jews and Saracens, which he called Fortalitium Fidei.

To all these we must join the whole tribe of the scholastic writers, whose chief ornaments were, John Capreolus, John de Turrecremata, Antoninus of Florence, Dionysius a Ryckel, Henry Gorcomius, Gabriel Biel, Stephen Brulifer, and others. The most remarkable among the mystics were, Vincentius Ferrerinus, Henr. Harphius, Laurentius Justinianus, Bernardinus Senensis, and Thomas a Kempis, who shone among these with a superior lustre, and to whom the famous book concerning the Imitation of Christ, is commonly at. tributed."

umes,

B. Jo. Franc. Buddei Parerga Historico Theologica. The life of Savanarola was written by J. Francis Picus, and published in two vol8vo. at Paris, with various annotations, letters, and original pieces by Quetif, in the year 1674. The same editor published also at Paris, that same year, the Spiritual and Ascetic Epistles of Savanarola, translated from the Italian into Latin. See Echard, Scriptor. Prædicator tom. i. p. 884.

The late abbe Langlet de Fresnoy promised the world a demone stration that this famous book, whose true author has been so much disputed among the learned, was originally written in French by a person. named Gersen, or Gerson, and only translated into Latin by Thomas a Kempis. See Granetus in Luunoianis, part ii. tom. iv. part ii. opp. p. 414, 415. The history of this famous book is given by Vincentius Thuillierius, in the Opera Posthuma Mabilloni et Ruinarti, tom. iii. p. 54.

CHAPTER III

GENT, XV.
VARI 11.

CONCERNING THE STATE OF RELIGION, AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE
CHURCH DURING THIS CENTURY

1. THE state of religion was become so corrupt among the Latins, that it was utterly destitute of The company thing that could attract the esteem of the truly state of ni virtuous and judicious part of mankind. This is a fact, which even they whose prejudices render them unwilling to acknowledge it, will never presume to deny. Among the Greeks and orientals, religion had scarcely a better aspect than among the Latins; at least, if the difference was in their favour, it was far from being considerable. The worship of the Deity consisted in a round of frivolous and insipid ceremonies. The discourses of those who instructed the people in public, were not only destitute of sense, judgment, and spirit, but even of piety and devotion, and were in reality nothing more than a motley mixture of the grossest fic. tions, and the most extravagant inventions. The reputation of christian knowledge and piety was easily acquired; it was lavished upon those who professed a profound veneration for the sacred order, and their ghostly head the Roman pontiff, who studied to render the saints, i. e. the clergy, their ministers, propitious by frequent and rich donations, who were exact and regular in the observance of the stated ceremonies of the church, and who had wealth enough to pay the fines which the papal quæstors had annexed to the commission of all the different degrees of transgression; or, in other words, to purchase indulgences. Such were the ingredients of ordinary piety; but such as added to these a certain degree of austerity and bodily mortification, were placed in the highest order of wor

PART 11.

thies, and considered as the peculiar favourites of CENT. XV. heaven. On the other hand, the number of those who were studious to acquire a just notion of religious matters, to investigate the true sense of the sacred writings, and to model their lives and manners after the precepts and example of the divine Saviour, was extremely small, and such had much difficulty in escaping the gibbet, in an age where virtue and sense were looked upon as heretical.

of

the true relig.

Providence in

several places.

II. This miserable state of things, this enormous Defenders perversion of religion and morality throughout al- ion raised by most all the western provinces, was observed and deplored by many wise and good men, who all endeavoured, though in different ways, to stem the torrent of superstition, and to reform a corrupt church. In England and Scotland, the disciples of Wickliff, whom the multitude had stigmatized with the odious title of lollards, continued to inveigh against the despotic laws of the pontiffs, and the licentious manners of the clergy." The waldenses, though persecuted and oppressed on all sides, and from every quarter, raised their voices even in the remote vallies and lurking places whither they were driven by the violence of their enemies, and called aloud for succour to the expiring cause of religion and virtue. Even in Italy, many, and among others the famous Savanarola, had the courage to declare, that Rome was become the image of Babylon; and this notion was soon adopted by multitudes of all ranks and conditions. But the greatest part of the clergy and monks, persuaded that their honours, influence, and riches would diminish in proportion to the increase of knowledge among the people, and would receive inexpressible detriment from the downfal of superstition, opposed, with all their might, every thing that had the remotest aspect of a reformation, and imposed silence upon these importu

w See Wilkins, Concilia Magne Britann. et Hibern. tom. iv. Wood, Antiq. Oxon. tom. i. p. 202, 204.