of

CENT. Gregorias Acindynus, an inveterate enemy XIV. the Palamites, of which sect we shall give some account in its proper place;

PARTIL

Latin wri

ters.

Johannes Cantacuzenus, famous for his history. of his own time, and his confutation of the Mahometan law;

Nicephorus Gregoras, who compiled the Byzantine history, and left some other monuments of his genius to posterity;

Theophanes, bishop of Nice, a laborious defender of the truth of Christianity against the Jews, and the rest of its enemies ;

Nilus Cabasilas, Nilus Rhodius, and Nilus Damyla, who most warmly maintained the cause of their nation against all the Latin writers;

Philotheus, several of whose tracts are yet extant, and seem well adapted to excite devotional temper and spirit ;

ter.

Gregory Palamas; of whom more hereaf

XXXVIII. From the prodigious number of the Latin writers of this century, we shall only select the most famous. Among the scholastic doctors, who blended philosophy with divinity, John Duns Scotus, a Franciscan, and the great antagonist of Thomas, held the first rank, and, though not entitled to any praise for his candour and ingenuity, was by no means inferior to any of his contemporaries in acuteness and subtilty of genius (x).

After him the most celebrated writers of this class were Durandus of St Portian, who combated

the

[x] The very laborious and learned Luc. WADDINGUS favoured the public with an accurate edition of the works of SCOTUS, which was printed at Lyons, 1639, in twelve volumes folio, Compare WOOD, Antiqq. Oxon. tom. i. p. 86. s. but especially WADDINGUS, Annal. Minor. fratr. tom. vi. p. 40 107.-BOULAY, Hist. Acad. Paris. tom. iv. P. 70, &c.

XIV.

the commonly received doctrine of the divine C E N T. co-operation with the human will (y), Antonius PART II. Andreas, Hervæus Natalis, Francis Mayronius, Thomas Bradwardine, an acute ingenious man [z], Peter Aureolus, John Bacon, William Occam, Walter Burlæus, Peter de Alliaço, Thomas of Strasburg, and Gregory de Rimini [a].

Among the mystic divines, Jo. Taulerus and Jo. Ruysbrockius, though not entirely free from errors, were eminent for their wisdom and integrity;

Nicholas Lyranus acquired great reputation by his Compendious Exposition of the whole Bible; Raynerius Pisanus is celebrated for his Summary of Theology, and Astesanus for his Summary of Cases of Conscience,

I.

CHAP II.

Concerning the doctrine of the Christian church during this century.

A

LL those who are well acquainted with The corruption the history of these times must acknow-of religion. ledge, that religion, whether as taught in the schools, or inculcated upon the people as the rule of their conduct, was so extremely adulterated and deformed, that there was not a single branch of

[y] See Jo. LAUNOIS, in a small treatise, entitled, Syllabus rationum, quibus Durandi caussa defenditur, tom. i. opp.Gallia Christ. tom. ii. p. 723.

[x] RICH. SIMON, Lettres Choisies, tom. iv. p. 232. & Critique de la Bibliotheque des Ecclesiast. par M. Du PIN, tom. i. p. 360.-STEPH. SOUCIETUS, in Observationibus ad h. 1. p. 703.-Nouv. Dict. Hist. Crit. tom. ii. p. 500. s. He was archbishop of Canterbury.

[a] For a full account of all these persons, see Histoire de l'Eglise Gallicane, tom. xiv. p. 11, 12. S.

PART II.

CENT. of the Christian doctrine, which retained the XIV, least trace of its primitive lustre and beauty. Hence it may easily be imagined, that the Waldenses and others, who longed for a reformation of the church, and had separated themselves from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome, though every where exposed to the fury of the inquisitors and monks, yet increased from day to day, and baffled all the attempts that were made to extirpate them. Many of these poor people having observed, that great numbers of their party perished by the flames and other punishments, fled out of Italy, France, and Germany, into Bohemia and the adjacent countries, where they afterwards associated with the Hussites and other Separatists from the church of Rome.

The state

II. NICHOLAS LYRANUS deservedly holds the of Exegeti- first rank among the commentators on the Holy cal or ex- Scriptures, having explained the Books both of planatory theology. the Old and New Testament in a manner far

superior to the prevailing taste and spirit of his age. He was a perfect master of the Hebrew language, but not well versed in the Greek, and was therefore much happier in his exposition of the Old Testament, than in that of the New [b]. All the other divines, who applied themselves to this kind of writing, were servilę imitators of their predecessors. They either culled choice sentences from the writings of the more ancient doctors; or else, departing from the obvious meaning of the words, they tortured the sacred writers to accommodate them to senses that were mysterious and abstruse. They who are desirous of being acquainted with this art, may have recourse to VITALIS A FURNO, his Moral Mirrour of

[b] RICH. SIMON, Histoire des principaux Commentateurs du Nos, p. 447. & Critique de la Biblioth. des Auteurs Eccles. par M. DU PIN, tom. i. p. 352.-WADDINGI Annal. Minor. tom. v. p. 264. s.

XIV.

of the Scriptures [c], or to LUDOLPHUS of Saxony, CENT. in his Psalter Spiritualized [d]. The philoso-p phers, who commented upon the sacred writings, sometimes proposed subtile questions drawn from what was called, in this century, Internal Science, and solved them in a dexterous and artful

manner.

tic divines.

III. The greatest part of the doctors of this The didac century, both Greek and Latin, followed the rules of the peripatetic philosophy, in expounding and teaching the doctrines of religion; and the Greeks, from their commerce with the Latins, seemed to have acquired some knowledge of those methods of instruction used in the western schools. Even to this day the Greeks read, in their own tongue, the works of THOMAS, and other capital writers of the scholastic class, which in this age were translated and introduced into the Greek church by DEMETRIUS CYDONIUS, and others [e]. Prodigious numbers among the Latins were fond of this subtile method, in which JOHN SCOTUS, DURANDUS A S. PORTIAN, and WILLIAM OCCAM, peculiarly excelled, Some few had recourse to the decisions of Scripture and Tradition in explaining divine truths, but they were overborne by the immense tribe of logicians, who carried all before them.

saries of the

The Bibli

IV. This superiority of the schoolmen did not, The adverhowever, prevent some wise and pious men among school dithe Mystics, and elsewhere, from severely censur- vines. ing this presumptuous method of bringing before cal divines. the tribunal of philosophy matters of pure revelation. Many, on the contrary, were bold enough to oppose the reigning passion, and to recal the youth designed for the ministry, to the study of

[c] Speculum Morale totius Scripturæ.

[d] Psalterium juxta Spiritualem sensum.

the

[e] RICH. SIMON, Creance de l'Eglise Orientale sur la Transubstantiation, p. 166.

CEN T. the scriptures and the writings of the ancient faPARTIL thers. This proceeding kindled the flame of dis

XIV.

Contentions

cord almost every where; but this flame raged with peculiar violence in some of the more famous universities, especially in those of Paris and Oxford, where many sharp disputes were continually carried on against the philosophical divines by those of the biblical party, who though greatly inferior to their antagonists in point of number, were sometimes victorious. For the philosophical legions, headed by Mendicants, Dominicans, and Franciscans, were often extremely rash in their manner of disputing; they defined and explained the principal doctrines of revealed religion in such a way as really overturned them, and fell often into opinions that were evidently absurd and impious. Hence it came to pass, that some of them were compelled to abjure their errors, others to seek their safety by flight; some had their writings publicly burnt, and others were thrown into prison [f]. However, when these commotions were quelled, most of them returned, though with prudence and caution, to their former way of thinking, perplexed their adversaries by various contrivances, and deprived them of their reputation, their profits, and many of their followers.

V. It is remarkable, that the scholastic docamong the tors, or philosophical theologists, far from agreeing

schoolmen.

'The Scotists and

among

[f] See BOULAY, Histor. Acad. Paris. tom. iv. passim.Thomists In the year 1340, several opinions of the schoolmen, concerning the Trinity and other doctrines, were condemned, p. 266.— In the year 1347, M. Jo. DE MERCURIA and NICH. DE ULTRICURIA were obliged to abjure their errors, p. 298. 308.In 1348, one SIMON was convicted of some horrible errors, P. 322. The same fate, A. 1354. befel GUIDO of the Augustine order, p. 329. A. 1362, the like happened to one LEWIS, P. 374. to Jo. DE CALORE, p. 377. A. 1365, to DION, SOULLECHAT, p. 382. Oxford also had its share in transactions of this nature. See ANT. WOOD, Antiquit. Oxon. tom. i. p. 153. 183. s.