ECCLESIASTICAL FEUDS. 



167 



and absolution from the greatest crimes could ea 

 sily be procured, either by penance, or by money. 



The absurd principle, that Religion consists in 

 acts of austerity, produced the most extravagant 

 behaviour in certain devotees, and reputed saints. 

 They lived among the wild beasts; they ran 

 naked through the lonely deserts, with a furious 

 aspect, and with all the agitations of madness and 

 frenzy ; they prolonged their wretched lives, by 

 grass and wild herbs ; avoided the sight and con 

 versation of men, and remained almost motion 

 less for several years, exposed to the rigour and 

 inclemency of the seasons ; and all this was con 

 sidered as an acceptable method of worshipping 

 the Deity, and of attaining a share in his favour. 

 But of all the instances of superstitious frenzy, 

 which disgraced those times, none was held in 

 higher veneration than that of a certain order of 

 men, who obtained the name of Pillar iaints. 

 These were persons of a most singular and extra 

 vagant turn of mind, who stood motionless on the 

 tops of pillars, expressly raised for this exercise of 

 their patience, and remained there for several 

 years, amidst the admiration and applause of a 

 stupid and wondering populace. This strange 

 superstitious practice began in the fifth century, 

 and continued in the East for more than six 

 hundred years. To the same principle are to be 

 attributed the revolting practices of the Flagel 

 lants, a sect of fanatics who chastised themselves 

 with whips in public places. Numbers of per 

 sons of this description, of all ages and sexes, 

 made processions, walking two by two, with their 

 shoulders bare, which they whipped till the blood 

 ran down in streamlets ; in order to obtain mercy 

 from God, and appease his indignation against 

 the wickedness of the age. They held, among 

 other things, that flagellation was of equal virtue 

 with baptism, and the other sacraments ; that 

 the forgiveness of all sins was to be obtained by 

 it, without the merits of Jesus Christ; that the 

 old law of Christ was soon to be abolished, and 

 that a new law, enjoining the baptism ofblood, to 

 be administered by whipping, was to be substi 

 tuted in its place. 



The enormous power conferred on the ministers 

 of religion was another source of immorality and 

 of the greatest excesses. The pope and the cler 

 gy reigned over mankind without control, and 

 made themselves masters of almost all the wealth 

 of every country in Europe. They were im 

 mersed in crimes of the deepest dye ; and the 

 laity, imagining themselves able to purchase the 

 pardon of their sins for money, followed the ex- 

 wtnple of their pastors without remorse. The 

 most violent contentions, animosities, and hatred, 

 reigned among the different orders of monks, and 

 between the clergy of all ranks and degrees. 

 &quot; Instead of consecrating ecclesiastical censures 

 solely to spiritual purposes, they converted them 

 into a weapon for defending their privileges, and 

 upporting their pretensions. The priesthood, 



which was principally designed to bless, was most 

 frequently employed in cursing. Excommunica 

 tion was made the instrument of damning, instead 

 of saving souls, and was inflicted according lo the 

 dictates of policy or of revenge.&quot; The great 

 and the noble, and even kings and emperors, were 

 excommunicated, when it was designed to rob, or 

 to enslave them; and this invisible engine, 

 which they wielded with a powerful and a sove 

 reign hand, was used to foment dissensions be 

 tween the nearest relatives, and to kindle the 

 most bloody wars. The generality of priests and 

 monks kept wives and concubines, without shame 

 or scruple, and even the papal throne was the 

 seat of debauchery and vice. The possessions of 

 the church were either sold to the highest bidder, 

 or turned into a patrimony for the bastards of the 

 incumbents. Marriages, wills, contracts, the in 

 terests of families and of courts, the state of the 

 living and the dead, were all converted into in 

 struments for promoting their credit, and increas 

 ing their riches. It was, therefore, a necessa 

 ry result from such a state of things, that vices of 

 every description abounded, that morals were 

 ruined, and that the benevolence of the divine 

 law was trampled under foot. 



The theological speculations in which they in 

 dulged, corresponded to the degrading practices 

 to which I have adverted, and tended to with- 

 drawthe mind from the substantial realities both of 

 science and of religion. Sophisms and falsehoods 

 were held forth as demonstrations. They at 

 tempted to argue after they had lost the rules of 

 common sense. The cultivation of letters was 

 neglected ; eloquence consisted in futile decla 

 mations ; and philosophy was lost in the abyss 

 of scholastic and sophistical theology. &quot;They 

 attempted to penetrate into mysteries, and to de 

 cide questions which the limited faculties of the 

 human mind are unable to comprehend or to 

 resolve ;&quot; and such vain speculations they endea 

 voured to incorporate into the system of religion, 

 and to render theology a subject of metaphysical 

 refinement, and of endless controversy. A false 

 logic was introduced, which subtilized upon 

 words, but gave no idea of things ; which em 

 ployed itself in nice and refined distinctions 

 concerning objects and operations which lie be 

 yond the reach of human understanding, which 

 confounded every thing by attempting to analyze 

 every thing, and which opened an arena for men 

 of fiery zeal to kindle the flame of controversy, 

 and to give birth to numerous heresies. The 

 following are a few instances, out of many, whicu 

 might be produced, of the questions and contro 

 versies which occupied the attention of bishops 

 and seraphical doctors, and gave rise to furious 

 contentions : Whether the conception of the 

 Blessed Virgin was immaculate ? Whether 

 Mary should be denominated the Mother of God, 

 or the Mother of Christ ? Whether the bread 

 and wine used in the eucharist were digested ? 



