468 History of the Spanish Inquisition. { Nov. 
great’ religious enlightening, in which» there have not‘started forth some 
forms of evil—some strange ‘and enthusiastic practicessome’ irregular 
and irrational offence>to the common understanding” of| mankind. | This 
seems to be the -result of that: law of Providence, by whiele alb:things 
connected with man bear the touch of human infirmity.:7oqq1> 9° 
Extravagant sects appeared, to disfigure the ‘rising’ honours’ of the 
true church, as they afterwards appeared at the German reformation and 
at our own; but they subsequently and rapidly perished, ‘or abandoned 
their extravagancies, and were in general purified into the: adoption: of 
the unblemished) doctrine and practice of the Scriptures.>: The ton 
and terrible imprisonment of the human mind had’ disqualified the 
infinite ‘multitude from the native use of their’ capacities. The 
dungeon ‘was now broken up, the chains were cast away for ever, 
and it is the course of nature that the first hours of enlargement should 
have been given to resistless exultation. Calumny, too, didits work, 
and every crime of sects, altogether unconnected with the reformed reli- 
gion, was heaped upon the converts. The severest charge, ‘and one 
which still idly and groundlessly continues to be made against‘them, 
was that of Manicheism.* It is not impossible that Manichzeans oeca- 
‘sionally mingled with them: for every sect which shrank from the seve- 
rity of Rome, would naturally fly to the quarter in which resistance 
‘seemed most resolute and successful: but the “* Confessionof Faith” of 
the reformed is the true answer to this calumny—we see that it is Chris- 
tian in the purest degree. But it is to be remembered that,°by the 
‘canon of Boniface the Lighth, “‘ whoever resisted the papal ‘power ‘was 
declared to be a Manichee;”} and the mere use of the scripture phrase 
of “ Satan, the god of this world,” was pronounced by the Inquisition 
sufficient evidence that the accused was a Manichee:' | But this’ first 
tumult of liberty was soon past, and man began to use'the powers that 
God had given him, unloaded by the arbitrary and ponderous restrictions 
of superstition. A manly, intelligent, and vigorous public mind» grew 
up among the reformers; the arm which had shaken’ off the chain ‘of 
Rome would bear no other; and to the early struggles of the Albigenses 
we owe at once the faith and the freedom of England!) © it Jaga 
From the commencement of the twelfth century the’ power of ithe 
Roman pontiffs had» been deeply shaken. Civil dissensions, excited’ by 
the remote claims of the Popes and Barons; disputed) elections’ ‘to the 
throne; and a long and doubtful war with the German emperor, provoked 
by the demand of papal investiture to the bishoprics and’ abbacies in his 
- dominions, had darkened the early splendours of the Vatican. But the 
spread of ‘the Reformed Church was watched by the sagacity’of Rome 
as its most awful omen. 
The popedom was still powerful ; but it was suddenly ‘to engross still 
more extended power. At the close of the twelfth century, Innocent III. 
ascended the papal throne; a man who, in any age, must have been pro- 
minent, but who was now, of all men, the most fitted forthe support and 
triumph of the popedom. Of princely birth, of a strong and ‘subtle intel- 
‘lect, and of a fiery and remorseless ambition, he was placed; at the age 
of thirty-six, in the highest seat of a church, already arrogating ‘kingly 
Ig9We OF 
* Hallam’s Hist. Midd. Ages. ; 3 to de rigest vs) " 
+ Ranken, vol, iii, p. 206—Canon Unam Sanctum.—Linibrorch’s Hist. Inquis., 
eap. and fol. 40. ae . lsat 
