in the eighth and ninth centuries, were introduced; and as Gratian entertained very exaggerated notions of the papal authority, this book, which was immediately received as of the highest authority in all the schools of Europe, tended greatly to increase the influence of the popes. The study of canon law became so popular, and led so certainly to advancement in the Church, that theology and the arts were much neglected; and more than one pope felt himself bound to discourage this exclusive application.

From the twelfth century, the writings of the early fathers and the decrees of councils were little known in the schools, except through the medium of The Book of Sentences or the Decretum. This is allowed by a learned Roman Catholic historian, the Abbé Fleury, who says, that "it was the misfortune of the doctors of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries to know but little of the writings of the fathers, especially the more ancient, and to be deficient in the aids requisite for well understanding them. It is not that their books were lost; they existed, for we have them still; but the copies were scarce, and hidden in the libraries of the ancient monasteries, where little use was made of them." He adds, that King Louis IX. of France, in the thirteenth century, caused many of them to be transcribed; and that Vincent of Beauvais made extracts from them, and John of Salisbury cited them frequently: "but," he continues, "this was merely the curiosity of some individuals. The generality of students, and even of doctors, limited themselves to a few books, chiefly those of modern authors, which they understood better than the ancients." "I do not cease to wonder," he continues, "that in such calamitous times, and with such small aid, the doctors so faithfully preserved

to us the deposit of tradition with regard to doctrine." The Abbé Goujet, another Roman Catholic divine, confirms this; and observes also, that the study of Scripture "had been extremely neglected" in these ages. 66 They did not study it even in the schools of theology but with lukewarmness; and often contented themselves with such extracts from it as were found in the writings of some superficial theologian. Hence arose the ignorance of the clergy, and the few defenders which the Church found against heresies. . . . . . . At length the study of holy Scripture caused men to escape from this lethargy; men then perceived the crowd of errors and false opinions which had inundated the whole Church, and had nearly choked the good seed." The fallen state of theological study at the time of the Reformation may be collected from the complaints of the faculty of arts in the university of Paris in 1530. "The study of sacred Scripture," they said, "is neglected. The holy Gospels are no longer cited. The authority of St. Chrysostom, St. Cyprian, St. Augustine, and the other fathers, is not employed. Theology has become nothing but a sophistical science." Under such circumstances it was to be expected that erroneous opinions would become more or less prevalent in the Church. The holy Scriptures had been undoubtedly given by God, that "the man of God might be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works ;" and when this divine means of grace and wisdom was neglected, as it certainly was to a considerable degree in these times, it could not be supposed that the same purity of doctrine or of practice should exist as in the primitive ages of the Church.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE FOREIGN REFORMATION.

A.D. 1517-1839.

HE enormous power usurped by the popes, and the abuses in its exercise, at length paved the way for its own subversion, and for the Reformation. Never were its exactions and abuses so excessive as in the time of what is called the great schism, from 1378 to 1414, when Europe was divided under the domination of rival popes, one of whom resided at Avignon in France, and was acknowledged pope by France and Spain; while the other, who resided at Rome, was obeyed by the rest of Europe. The papacy was greatly lowered in public estimation by this division; and France, on more than one occasion, withdrew itself from the obedience of both popes. The contests which arose between the councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basil, in the early part of the fifteenth century, and the popes, in which each party asserted its own infallibility, and its superiority to the other, excited a spirit of inquiry.

The council of Pisa was called together in 1409 by many of the cardinals of the two contending popes, in order to put an end to the schism. In this council both popes were deposed, and a third was elected; but this measure only increased the division; for there were now three rival popes, each of whom excommunicated and deposed his opponents and all their adherents. This division was terminated by the council of Constance in 1414, when one of the rival popes was degraded, another

resigned, and a third sunk into obscurity and insignificance, after the election of a new pope, who was acknowledged by all Europe. The council of Basil in 1437 having made reforms which were disliked by pope Eugenius IV., the latter called a rival council at Florence; on which he was deposed by the council of Basil in 1439, and a rival pope was elected; but this division did not last long. "The REFORMATION OF THE CHURCH, in its head and members," was now one of the objects avowed by every considerable council that assembled. Wickliffe had, in the preceding century, declaimed against the popes and against several abuses; and he was closely followed by Huss, and Jerome of Prague : but their opinions were mingled with much that was exceptionable; and they seem to have been unfitted rightly to conduct the mighty work of reformation. The revival of learning in the fifteenth century was the great forerunner of improvement. Men now began to study the writings of the fathers, which had only been known at second-hand, from the books of Lombard and Gratian. The introduction of the Greek and Hebrew languages (entirely unknown during the middle ages) rendered the study of Scripture in the originals possible; and the scholastic writers began to lose their credit with men of education.

At length the Reformation began; but not as it could have been desired; not promoted by the heads of the Church, not regulated by the decrees of councils. An individual monk in Saxony was made the involuntary instrument by which this great work was set on foot. Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar, when he declaimed against the scandalous sale of indulgences by the papal agent Tetzel, in 1517, had little notion of opposing the papal supremacy, or reforming the Church. He simply rejected with

indignation the notion, that by purchasing certain indulgences, the soul was to be freed from torments after death; and reminded men that indulgences were originally nothing more than the remission of canonical penance in this life. When assailed by Eckius and many others with the most furious violence, he was led to further investigation; and he shewed, in his conference with Eckius, in 1519, that the Roman Church had not originally any supremacy over the universal Church. He, however, testified to the pope his earnest desire for peace, and submitted himself entirely to him: but when Luther declined to retract, without any discussion, whatever Cardinal Cajetan might censure in his doctrine, the pope, notwithstanding his submissive tone, and his protestations that he did not intend any separation from the Church, excommunicated him and his favourers, in 1521.

Luther, and his friends Melancthon, Carlostadt, and all who were of the same sentiments, were thus separated from the communion of the pope, and of his adherents in Germany, not voluntarily, or by their own act. They were now, however, able to examine and to speak more freely; and a strong controversy immediately arose, in which the prevalent errors and superstitions were assailed unsparingly; while every effort was made by the Romish party to procure the extirpation and destruction of their opponents. The Lutheran party were protected by the electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, and many other princes and states in Germany; and they continually called for the assembling of a free and general council, to whose decision they offered to submit themselves. In the meantime, various abuses were corrected in the churches of those states, and a temporary system of Church-government was established by the Lutherans, which they intended to be re