Mendicants distinguished as Missionaries.

Mendicant orders, and to observe how soon they became the zealous agents of the Holy See in all its worst practices and projects, so should we not forget, that the same were for some time the most active ministers of the Church, in the discharge of its holiest offices. It is not without reason, that Roman Catholic writers vaunt the disinterested devotion of the early Mendicants-how assiduous they were in supplying the spiritual wants of the poor, how frequent in prisons and in hospitals, how forward to encounter the fire or the pestilence; how instant on all those occasions where the peril was imminent, and the reward not in this world. They were equally distinguished in another, and not less righteous, duty, the propagation of Christianity among remote and savage nations We have noticed in a former Chapter the method, by which the Gospel was introduced into the North of Europe, before the middle of the eleventh century. In the twelfth, we observe Boleslaus, Duke of Poland, opening the path for its reception in Pomerania by the sword; and in like manner, both the Sclavonians and Finlanders were prepared for conversion by conquest. Again, Urban III. consecrated Mainhard, an unsuccessful missionary, Bishop of the Livonians, and proclaimed a holy war against them; the Bishop conquered his See, and promulgated at the head of an army the tidings of evangelical concord. The same methods were pursued by Innocent III, But from that time forward we find much more frequent mention of pious missionaries, whose labours were directed to accomplish their great work by legitimate, or, at least, by peaceful means. It may be true, that some of them were satisfied with mere nominál conversions, and that others had chiefly in view either their own advancement, or the extension of the papal sovereignty. But there were likewise many, who were animated by the most admirable motives, and whose exertions, if they failed of complete success, failed not through any want of disinterested devotion. The missions of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were principally directed to the North of Asia. In 1245, Innocent IV. sent an embassy composed of Dominicans and Franciscans to the Tartars; and a friendly communication was so maintained, that the envoys of Abaca, their king, were present, in 1274, at the second Council of Lyons. Nicholas III. (in 1278) and Nicholas IV. (in 1289) renewed those exertions. John of Monte Corvino, a Franciscan, was distinguished during the conclusion of the century by the success of his labours*; and in 1307, Clement V. erected an Archiepiscopal See at Cambalu (Pekin) which he conferred upon that missionary. Seven other Bishops, also Franciscans, were sent to his support by the same Pope; and this distant branch of the hierarchy was carefully nourished by succeeding Pontiffs, especially John XXII. and Benedict XII. It is certain, that the number of Christians was not inconsiderable, both among the Chinese and Moguls, as late as the year 1370,— and they were still increasing, when they were suddenly swept away and almost wholly exterminated by the Mahometan armst. Howbeit, the disastrous overthrow of their establishment detracts nothing from the merit of those who constructed it; and it must not be forgotten that the instru

He is recorded to have translated the Gospels and Psalms into the language of the Tartars.

It is certain (says Mosheim) that we have no account of any members of the Latin Church residing in Tartary, China, or among the Moguls, later than the year 1370; nor could we ever learn the fate of the Franciscan missionaries, who had been sent thither from Rome. Yet some doubtful records may seem to prove, that there were Nestorians in China as late as the sixteenth age.

ments in this work were Mendicants, and, for the most part, Franciscans. But during the following age (the fifteenth), there are no discoverable traces of the same spirit; nor can we refer with any satisfaction to the compulsory proselytism of the Moors of Spain, or to those spiritual conquests which immediately followed the discoveries of the Portuguese and Spaniards.

When we reflect on the various excellencies ascribed in the preceding paragraphs to the Papal system, we cannot fail, however unwillingly, to make two observations; first, that they had declined and almost disappeared before the conclusion of the fifteenth century; next, that the greater part of them were only adapted to times of civil anarchy or general ignorance. But are we therefore to suppose, that, even during the reign of Alexander VI., the great Christian community of the west was wholly destitute of religious instruction, or of examples of sacerdotal piety? that the practice of moral justice, or even of Evangelical righteousness, was entirely confined to the sectarians of Bohemia, or of the Alpine valleys? The prospect is not quite so gloomy; the destinies of man were not thus abandoned by his Creator.

(1.) Under

Mysticism a source of piety.

the respectable name of Mysticism much genuine devotion was concealed, and many ardent and humble aspirations poured forth before the Throne of Grace. Since the introduction of the supposed works of Dionysius into the west (in the ninth century), the flame has ever continued to burn with more or less of intensity or languor, of purity or the contrary, according to the principles of the age, the policy of the Church, and the character of the prevalent literature. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, we may search, indeed, almost in vain for any useful records of the piety of the Mystics-in the latter, some traces, which they have left, are strongly marked by visionary enthusiasm, and bear no comparison with the more rational devotion of Anselm. In the twelfth, the age of Abelard and his scholastic disciples, they faintly opposed the progress of that barren system of speculative morality, which grew out of the theology of the Schoolmen, and which spread with such freezing prevalence in the succeeding century. Yet, while those heartless teachers (the Patriarchs of Pedantry') were classifying the duties of man, distinguishing moral from theological virtues, minutely subtilizing and dissecting, and subdividing their subdivisions-while they were creating subjects for angry dispute, rather than holy meditation, and labouring in vain to resolve the difficulties which themselves had created, the Mystic Moralists formed an opposite, and not inconsiderable, party in the Church. They ventured openly to combat the positions of the Scholastics; and they were followed by those with whom religion addressed the affections, rather than the reason, and who more willingly abandoned themselves to an ardent emotion, than engaged in an intellectual controversy. Thus numerously supported, they commanded the respect of their adversaries; and some of these even deigned to write commentaries on the Book of the Areopagite. Though not less opposed to the fashionable 'casuistry' of the fourteenth age, they were then less active, or at least less prominent; it is probable that they employed that interval in the purification of their own system, and in cleansing away those fanciful absurdities which had covered it with dishonour and ridicule. At least, in the fifteenth century, they again came forward with the show of a far more rational piety than had heretofore

* Mosheim (Cent. xii. p. ii. chap. iii.) mentions the names of a few of their works.

distinguished them: insomuch, that the Platonists of the day strove to reconcile the warm devotion of the Mystical scheme with the plausible ingenuity of the Scholastic, and thus to construct a new and more perfect method of moral theology. It is unquestionable that they comprehended, together with the Platonists, many individuals of deep and ardent, though, it might be, misdirected, piety*, and of the purest simplicity of moral conversation. Yet the age in which they flourished was defective in expositions of Scripture; the Oracles of Truth were insufficiently consulted, or injudiciously interpreted, even by the best among the servants of the Church; and the Bookt, by which her pretensions were so soon to be tried, was studied most successfully by her enemies. The merits of the Mystics were not sufficient either to reform, or to preserve, the declining establishment. Their sublime aspirations after the Divine presence removed them too far from the ordinary sphere of human action. In the abstract contemplation of the attributes of the Deity they lost the power of influencing the counsels of men; and their warm imagination was not controlled.by that firin and temperate judgment, which is as essential for the good government of churches, as of empires.

Virtues and Piety of the inferior Clergy.

(2.) The real heroes of Ecclesiastical history are those, whose belief and life are regulated by the laws of Christ; and the very circumstance, which constitutes their excellence, ensures their obscurity. They are not without their reward even in this world-but it is not in the enjoyment of renown, or in the hope of worldly immortality. It is in silence, that they perform their offices of charity; it is in secrecy, that they fulfil the commands of their Master; it is in humility, that they exalt their fellowcreatures; and as soon as their peaceful course of usefulness is over, they disappear, and leave no sort of trace or record of their virtues. It is to the proud, the turbulent, the ambitious, to the fanatic or the hypocrite, that the pages of the annalist are principally consecrated; and those whose life has been an insult to their religion, stand far more prominent in the Ecclesiastical picture, than those who have loved and obeyed it. It is not, that many have not existed, even in the worst ages of the Church, whose almost spontaneous piety has supplied its laws and corrected its abuses, and repaired, as far as their private influence extended, the ruins of its discipline-under whose sacred guardianship the treasures of life have been faithfully dispensed, and whose example has given sanction to their instructions. It is not, that even monastic depravity has not been redeemed by thousands of instances of monastic excellence. But it is, that the vices have been registered and blazoned, while the opposite qualities have either attracted no notice, or have generally been so exaggerated, as to revolt our reason and belief. Among the numerous progeny of saints, so venerated by Catholics, so proscribed by Protestants, there have been some examples of pure Evangelical holiness; there have been some cardinals who have dared to deviate from the rule of profligacy; there have been many prelates, eminent for learning and integrity, as the History of National Churches and General Councils sufficiently demon

* Among the Mystics, Mosheim places Thomas à Kempis, Laurentius Justinianus, Vincent Ferrier, Savonarola, Bernard of Sienna. Among the Platonists, John Gerson, Nicholas Casanus, Dionysius the Carthusian, and others.

The Bible Divines, who had been declining from the thirteenth century, were now become nearly extinct. Books of Sentences and Sums of Schoolmen were the principal objects of study; and when, in 1515, Erasmus published his edition of the New Testament, and thus laid the egg which Luther hatched,' the clergy exclaimed against the act as dangerous, if not impious.

strates. But such characters were far more common among the humble and undistinguished pastors, who were free from the vanity, the enthusiasm, or the ambition, which so often lurks beneath the garb of celebrated sanctity. Yet the eye of the historian is fixed by the austere and wonderworking Saint, by the pompous Prelate, and the intriguing and rapacious Cardinal, while it overlooks the plants which flourish in the lower regions of serenity and fruitfulness. Notwithstanding, it is scarcely too much to affirm, that it was the zeal and piety of the inferior clergy, which so long supported the cumbrous machinery of the Court and Prelacy of Rome. It was their virtues, which sustained the vices of their superiors; it was their humble piety, which enabled mitred apostates so long to outrage the name of Christ. And it was not till the poison had descended to the extremities of the system, and communicated even to the village pastor some portion of its hierarchical malignity, that the Church of Rome reeled to its foundation, and by its weakness and depravity invited and justified the rebellion of its children.

SECTION III.

On various Attempts to reform or subvert the Church.

I. An attentive consideration of the facts and remarks advanced in the preceding sections will show, that in almost every particular, whether of internal polity, or ghostly authority, or doctrinal purity, or discipline, or morals, the Church of Rome stood lower at the end of the fifteenth century than at any preceding period. There was one circumstance only in which it had gained ground. The temporal power of St. Peter had been exalted into a durable monarchy, and the limits of the sacred patrimony extended and secured, during the last decay of the spiritual fabric. The era of Boniface VIII. was probably that, in which the various pretensions of the See combined with the greatest effect for its aggrandizement. Its territorial domains were then respectable; its clergy were generally exempt from civil jurisdiction; its divine right to worldly power was not universally disputed; its abuses were comparatively inoffensive; its domestic enemies were almost harmless. Then commenced its downfall; and it was precipitated through two centuries of progressive calamity and disgrace. Its constitution, which by the co-operation of the Pope with the Cardinals and General Councils presented the means of regeneration, was suspended and perverted by Eugenius IV. and the succeeding pontiffs. In the pageantry of its ceremonies, in the character of its festivals and its controversies, it receded farther and farther from the soberness of reason and the simplicity of the Gospel: and its moral degeneracy kept pace with its other depravations. On the other hand, the general principles of society were improved, and the laity had begun to shake off the deep slumber of obedience and conformity. The corruption was universal, the danger imminent; many even among the prelates of the Church were not insensible to either; and some, who might perhaps have tolerated the scandal, were moved by the peril. Thus there grew up a large party within the Church, who proclaimed the necessity of Reform. The necessity of some reform having aroused the wisest and most virtuous among the churchmen, questions might naturally

Nature of have grown up among them, to what extent, and on

the Reform attempted by the Churchmen,

what principles their work ought to be conducted? Yet on this subject no important difference appears to have arisen. A sacred barrier was placed before them

which separated that, which might be touched, from that, which was inviolate; and it was guarded by irresistible prejudices. On this side lay the field of discipline and temporalities-on the other were the mysterious regions of Faith, embracing all that mass of mingled truth and superstition, which the Infallible Mother had imposed with equal rigour, as equally holy, upon her believing children. Into the former space the Fathers of Constance and Basle entered with some boldness of upright determination; but it had been sacrilege and heresy to have invaded the latter. Hence it arose that the most dangerous wounds were not examined, perhaps not even suspected. In a mortal disease lenitives were administered and oil applied*;' and if some outward impurities were feebly remedied, their inward causes were purposely covered from all inquiry with a venerable veil. Thus, while all the genius and learning of the Church were combined to repress the abuses of Pontifical power-while the Pontiff was essaying every art in defence of those abuses-while anathemas were interchanged, and the contending parties seemed to be emulating each other's rancour no question was for a moment started as to the legitimacy of that power. It was thought much to deny the infallibility of the Pope, to contest his absolute despotism; but his supremacy was as sacred as the Church itself, and the Church was identified with the religion. In this delusion both parties were equally sincere; and though the high Papists were certainly the farthest removed from any consideration of Gospel truth, it must be admitted, that their opponents were almost equally destitute of evangelical principles. The Church was the exclusive object, to which their education, their interests, their prejudices, their enthusiasm, their very piety attached them. Within it whatever was holy and righteous was concentrated. Without it, all was blindness and rebellion and blasphemy; and their belief was not so much, that the Church was founded on the Bible, as that the Bible was comprehended in the Church.

From men with such principles, it was to be expected, that those who pleaded Scripture as an independent testimony of truth-that those who spoke even of truth as independent of ecclesiastical authority, would meet with no sympathy, and little mercy. Accordingly, their advances towards reform were made in the very bosom of orthodoxy. The most frivolous superstitions were rather encouraged, than restrained; no innovation was introduced, which could have startled the bigotry of the most rigid Romanist. Nothing was even remotely intended for change, except the discipline. Yet even this department presented ample employment for the hand of the reformer, had he entered upon his work honestly and fearlessly. Howbeit, even on this ground, unhallowed as it was by any spiritual prejudices, those fathers did not penetrate, in their boldest attempts, to the roots of the evil. They confined their hostility to the abuses which were of modern origin. Their veneration for antiquity, that professional reverence for established practices, which so strongly characterized the clergy of that Church, forbade them to search very deeply or very generally. They endeavoured, indeed, to correct some disorders, which had notoriously grown up during the two or three preceding ages; it was a specious object to abolish the corruptions of Avignon, to repair the ruins. of the schism! But they were awed by the holy obscurity of earlier times; and the clumsy forgery of a monk of the eighth century arrested the most enlightened among the doctors of Constance and Basle.

The Bishop of Segovia addressed this expression to the Fathers of Trent, who, under still more dangerous circumstances, were following the same policy. See Padre Paolo, b. vi.