Roman doctrine of the Eucharist, and distinguished it by the name of Transubstantiation*, he not only secured its universal reception in the west, but also countenanced the super- The Elevation stitious practices which flowed from it. It appears to have of the Host, &c. been during his pontificate, that the custom was introduced of elevating the Host after consecration. The use of the bell to signify to the people to prostrate themselves, while the Holy Sacrament was passing, is ascribed to an ordinance published in 1201, by Guy Paré, the legate of the same at Cologne. And that it may be shown how early this practice was supported by the direct authority of the See, and how widely it was thought expedient to extend it, we may mention that Honorius, the successor of Innocent, addressed an epistle to the Latin prelates of the east, in the Patriarchat of Antioch, in which he instructed them to oblige the people to incline, on the appearance of the Host†. In that age, and at that distance from the centre of orthodoxy, it was not held advisable to inculcate the necessity of absolute genuflexion. A simpler act of devotion was deemed sufficient to recognize the divinity of the consecrated elements. The sufficiency of the Sacrament administered in one kind only is by many considered as an immediate inference from the doc trine of transubstantiation, since the bread, when con- The Retrenchverted into the body of Christ, of necessity contains his ment of the Cup. blood; so that, the object of the sacrifice being thus satisfied, the communication of the cup may be safely retrenched, as a vain and superfluous ceremony. At what precise period this change in the practice of the Church (it was maintained to be no more than that), was introduced, we cannot pronounce with certainty; but its antiquity was pleaded by its defenders at Constance and Basle, and it may be ascribed, without any great error, to the beginning of the thirteenth century. We may consider it as completing the list of those peculiar observances, which the Church of Rome has thought proper, on her own infallible authority, to impose upon her adherents. Probably the motive for this innovation was to add solemnity to the mystery, by excluding the profane from perfect initiation, and at the same time to exalt the dignity of the priesthood, by giving them some exclusive prerogative, even in communion at the Lord's table. Nevertheless, even with that view its policy was extremely questionable; it was founded on the ignorance of preceding ages; it had no foresight of the character of those which were to come. And thus it proved, that, after the lapse of some few generations, men were rather shocked by the public, practical disregard of one of the plainest instructions delivered in the Gospel, than edified by the spectacle of sacerdotal usurpation. The innovation was too rash, too openly at variance with an express command, intelligible to the lowest classes of the vulgar, and sacred with *The following is a part of the celebrated Canon (Can. i. Lat. Concil. IV.) in question Una est fidelium Universalis Ecclesia, extra quam nullus omnino salvatur. In qua idem ipse sacerdos et sacrificium Jesus Christus; cujus corpus et sanguis in sacramento altaris sub speciebus panis et vini veraciter continentur, transsubstantiatis pane in corpus et vino in sanguinem, potestate divina,' &c. &c. Fleury, 1. lxxviii. s. 24. The Institution of the Festival of the Holy Sacrament or Body of Christ, another early consequence of the universal establishment of Transubstantiation, is generally ascribed to Robert, Bishop of Liege-who is said to have been moved thereto by the pretended revelations of a fanatical woman, named Juliana. The event took place in the year 1246. Mosh. Cent. xiii. p. 2, chap. iv. We have not observed that it was formally and universally established by the highest ecclesiastical authority, till it attracted the attention of the Council of Constance. Prohibition of the Scriptures. all who thought their Bible more venerable than their Church. Accordingly we have observed, that the deprivation of this privilege, so clearly granted by Christ to all believers, was the grievance which united the discordant sects of the Hussites—the restoration of the cup was the manifest, incontestable right round which they rallied. To this extent too, they were successful; and their success afforded the first example of any usurpation having been wrested from the hands of Rome by the open rebellion of her subjects. Neither was there any one among the peculiar tenets or observances of Rome, which so taxed the ingenuity of her advocates, as the retrenchment of the cup. This perplexity is attested by the records of Constance and Basle; and it deserves particular remark, that Gerson, in his very elaborate treatise against the Double Communion, discloses the source of his difficulty in this simple complaint. There are many laymen among the heretics who have a version of the Bible in the vulgar tongue, to the great prejudice and offence of the Catholic faith. It has been proposed (he adds) to reprove that scandal in the committee of reform.' That scandal was as old as the heresy of Peter Waldensis; but the practice which it offended certainly grew up in much more distant ages, nor was it peculiar to the Church of Rome. As early as the seventh century the appropriation of the Scriptures to the use of the priesthood was a practice generally established throughout the east*, and the Latins speedily adopted (if they had not already enforced) a precaution so necessary for preserving the unity of the Church and concealing its abuses. It was authorised by the Council of Toulouse in 1229; but the spirit of independence nevertheless gained ground. From the time of Wiclif the unhallowed veil was gradually withdrawn; curiosity was more keenly excited, as it had been more tyrannically repressed; the invention of the press increased the facility of possessing the sacred oracles; and before the preaching of Luther, the scandal, which had been deplored a century earlier by the orthodox reformer of the Church, had made very general progress amongst the educated classes, in almost every nation in Europe. Those prodigious impostures, which in the eyes of Laurentius Vallat surpassed the impiety of the Pagans, and which were False Miracles, ascribed by Gerson to the phantastic somnolency of a decrepit world, were continued with unrestrained temerity, even to the days of Erasmus. The impostures were the same, which had so long been employed to delude the people of Christ—but the people were changed. A spirit of inquiry was spreading over the surface of Europe, and it was seen and felt by all, except the monks and bigots, to whom alone it was dangerous. But these persevered in the same blind path of habitual fraud and momentary profit, which at length conducted them to the precipice, whither it had always tended. Certain other unscriptural practices, long inherent in the Romish system, never had flourished with greater luxuriance, than at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The abuse of images had been carried at no period to *See Chapter XXVI., p. 607. De Donatione Constantini. Nostri Fabulatores passim inducunt Idola loquentia quod ipsi Gentiles et idolorum cultores non dicunt, et sincerius negant, quam Christiani affirmant.' The passage of Gerson is, Mundus senescens patitur phantasias falsorum miraculorum, sicut homo senex phantasiatur in somno; propterea sunt habenda miracula valde suspecta. Both these passages are cited by Semler. The detection of the artifices practised upon Jetzer at Berne, for the confirmation of the Dominican opinion respecting the immaculate conception, created a notorious scandal, which assisted in preparing the path for Zuinglius, 1 a more unpardonable extent. The popular adoration of the saints had never deviated farther from the professed moderation of the Church*relics had never been approached with a reverence more superstitious, or one more directly encouraged by the priesthoodt. The pomp and order of the ceremonies had been at no time more entirely at variance with the character of a spiritual religion. Indeed, some of the festivals which were instituted or revived during the fifteenth century, seem designedly established to turn away men's minds from the substance of Christianity to vain formalities, or wicked fables. And in this place it will be proper to instance, more particularly, in what manner the highest ecclesiastical authorities were supplying the spiritual necessities of the faithful, at the very moment when the cry for reformation was resounding (in various notes indeed, but with general concord) from one end of Europe to the other. Later Festivals, Disputes, Controversies, &c. The first regulation for the 'Exposition of the Holy Sacrament' was published in 1452, by the Pope's Legate in Germany, at a Council held at Cologne; and the expressions of the edict are entirely worthy of its object. If a comet appeared (as in 1456), or the country was ravaged by inundation or pestilence (as happened twenty years later), the Pope of the day immediately pressed to offer his indulgences to all who should celebrate the feast of the Holy Sacrament, or of the Immaculate Conception to all who should thrice repeat the Lord's Prayer, or the Angelic Salutation. About the end of the year 1480 Sixtus IV. was invited to settle a dispute between the inhabitants of Perugia and Sienna, on a very remarkable subject. The former were accused of having obtained fraudulent possession of the nuptial ring of St. Catharine, the hereditary property of the latter, her compatriots. The object was holy; and its sanctity was enhanced (as a grave historian§ informs us) by its various virtues, frequently experienced by the faithful, especially that of reconciling conjugal differences. This quarrel was prolonged for some time under Sixtus and his successor. In the Book of Conformities' between the life of Jesus Christ and that of St. Francis, the fanatic is exalted to the level, if not above the level, of the Saviour. To complete the resemblance, the former carried about with him the marks of the five wounds of Christ; and the belief in these stigmata was enjoined to all the faithful by Alexander V. But, in the age following St. Francis, the same miraculous impressions were claimed, on the same authority, by the female impostor of Sienna ||. And when *The following is the doctrine of modern Roman Catholic Divines:-'That the saints reigning with Christ offer up their prayers to God for men: that it is good and useful suppliantly to invoke them and to have recourse to their prayers, help and assistance, to obtain favours from God, through his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is alone our Redeemer and Saviour.' Alas! ask the peasant of Romagna or the Sicilian mariner for his explanation of the doctrine! We refer the reader to Beausobre's account (Hist. Reform. lib. iv. p. 243) of the holy contents of the Church of All Saints at Wittenberg, which had been most profusely enriched by the bulls of Julius II. and Leo X. The whole number of relics exceeded 19,000, divided into twelve classes, according to the dignity of the saints. There were bulls to the effect that all who visited this Church on certain days, might retain all property dishonestly acquired, to the amount of twenty-five golden ducats; and that any one who doubted the validity of such indulgencies was ipso facto excommunicated, without power of absolution even by the Pope himself, and in articulo mortis.' See the continuator of Fleury, lib. cx. s. 97. Raynaldus, ann. 1480, n. 44. See Semler, cent. xv. cap. ii., and Bzovius, ann. 1480. It is perhaps proper to mention that the Dominicans likewise claimed the stigmata for their patron; but they were compelled to admit, that his extreme humility had prevented him from disclosing them, 692 A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. [Chap. all who thought their Bible more venerable than their Church. A Prohibition of the retrenchment of the cup Tb. VILJA HISTORY OF THE CHTELE. from the professed moderation of the 2 rdonable extent. The popular adorator de to me farther couraged by the priesthoodt. The pomp PA been at no time more entirely at varaser W..” “m d) from one end of Europe to the of the Holy Sacrament' was Germany, Later Festivals, acomet uzed by ars later), the Pope of troversies, &c. Dipuler, Con treatise against the Double Communior As of the Scriptures to the us cated classes, i False Mir e Sressions of Domi cans on the onastic jealousy. establish the doctrine, the contrary. A feast was ate Conception, and it received Sixtus IV. Yet not thus was the e show of concord restored between the g the inexhaustible subject of monastic dissennat a violent dispute arose in this age between the . the hermits of St. Augustine, respecting the dress original monks of that father. The clamour ascended cal chair and commanded the attention of Sixtus IV. He 4 Bull, in which he wisely enjoined peace to both partiesat vainly; for the controversy (as it was called) continued for Eurc me longer to disturb the harmony of those holy brethren. who difference, respecting the kind of worship, which is due to the Blood pa Christ, first arose at Barcelona, in 1351, between the Dominicans and even to ' so long were * Earlier in the same century, an opinion was propagated 'that those who die in the habit of St. Francis, and making profession of the third order, remain only one year in purgatory; because the saint descends thither once a year, and takes away all those of his order to heaven with him.' This proposition was not beneath the notice of the Council of Basle on the contrary, it was solemnly condemned (May 19, 1443) in the forty-fourth or forty-fifth session. +As early as the ninth century-some ascribe the origin of the opinion to Paschasius Radbertus. See Padre Paolo, Hist. Concil. Trident, lib. ii. § Semler (Sec. xiv. cap. 1) mentions 1384 as the year in which the controversy on the Im'naculate Conception broke out between the rival orders at Paris. In 1387 the faculty red John de Montesono for maintaining the less exalted opinion-that is, the opiSt. Bernard and the Dominicans. Nevertheless, the war continued to rage. bull of Sixtus is given by the continuator of Fleury, lib. cxv. s. 102. XXVIII.] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 695 It was renewed at Brixen in 1462. James a Marchia, a ublicly maintained, that the blood, which Christ shed on the elong to the divine nature, and consequently was not an The Dominicans were roused to fury by an assertion Redeemer; and the preacher was immediately sumuisition. Pius II. made some ineffectual attempts v; but, finding his authority insufficient for that ed the question to a commission of divines. highly inflamed, that the doctors were At length the Pontiff published a ions might be lawfully maintained, isure and opportunity for examining ⚫ this moment. XXVIII] A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 693 pardonable extent. pinds from the substance of Christianity ing the fifteenth century, seem designedly one end of Europe to the y Sacrament' was Later Festivals, gites, Cun of oundations of the Church of as immediately proclaimed Christ. The belief was Helena, mother of this tradition, and to have possessed the exander VI. pronounced the Roman title, and recom devotion of the faithful. On the ambassador from Bajazet arrived, pe, the head of the true lance. All the a to receive it, and the Pontiff assisted in ammery. Raynaldus likewise assures us (on us Rosius) that the sponge and the reed were e occasion: such were the offerings with which the the superstition of Christendom, and found his ready ost zealous accomplice in the Pope. le the spiritual guides of the faithful were thus degradingly yed-while absurdity and imposture seemed triumphant in the urch, and the monks and the clergy were lending, in rivalry, their aid o nourish them-a far different spirit was growing up among those who had sought their instruction elsewhere. Many pious Laymen had already explored the forbidden treasures of Scripture. They had long ago abhorred the vices of the ecclesiastical system; they now discovered that whatever in it was wicked was likewise unfounded in truth. They advanced with increasing confidence towards evangelical perfection, just as the Churchmen were rushing most wildly in the opposite direction, and casting wisdom and piety, as if in scorn and detestation, behind them. Yet was there some reason even in this their madness. The superstitions of Rome were closely connected with her authority, and these exerted on each other a reciprocal and potent influence. The superstitions enslaved the consciences, and thus commanded the riches of the faithful; and so they ministered to the Papal power-while, on the other hand, that power Semler, cent. xv. cap. ii. While such were the subjects on which monastic absurdity was exhausted, a very different description of nonsense was in vogue, proceeding more directly from the scholastic method-the following may serve as a specimen. One Jean de Mercœur was condemned in 1346 for errors, among which were the following: (1) Jesus Christ, through his created will, may have willed something, which has never come to pass. (3) In whatsoever manner God wills, he wills efficaciously, that it come to pass. (4) God wills, that such a one sin and be a sinner, and he wills it by his will, at his free pleasure. (5) No one sins in willing otherwise than God wills, that he will,' &c. More may be found in Fleury, lib. xcv, s. 37. |