PART II.

Pope Julius II. granted them yet greater privileges CENT. XIV. in the year 1506. Many societies of this kind are yet subsisting at Cologn, and in the cities of Flanders, though they have evidently departed from their ancient rules."

W

XXXVII. Among the Greek writers of this century, Greek writers. the following were the most eminent.

Nicephorus Callistus, whose Ecclesiastical History we have already mentioned;

Matthæus Blastares, who illustrated and explained the canon laws of the Greeks;

Barlaam, who was a very zealous champion in behalf of the Grecian cause against the Latins; Gregorius Acindynus, an inveterate enemy of the palamites, of which sect we shall give some account in its proper place;

Johannes Cantacuzenus, famous for his history of his own time, and his confutation of the mahometan law;

Nicephorus Gregoras, who compiled the Byzantine history, and left some other monuments of his genius to posterity;

Theophanes, bishop of Nice, a laborious defender of the truth of Christianity against the Jews, and the rest of its enemies;

Nilus Cabasilas, Nilus Rhodius, and Nilus Damyla, who most warmly maintained the cause of their nation against all the Latin writers;

Philotheus, several of whose tracts are yet extant, and seem well adapted to excite a devotional temper and spirit;

w Beside many others, whom it is not proper to mention here, see Ægid. Gellenius, De admiranda sacra et civili magnitudine urbis Coloniæ, lib iii. Syntagm. lí. p. 534, 598, 603. Jo. Bapt. Gramaye, in Antiquit, Belgicis. Anton. Sanderus, in Brabantia et Flandria illustratis. Aub. Miræus, in operibus Diplomatico Historicis, and many other writers of this period in many places of their works. I may add, that those who are styled follards are by many called die nollbruder, from nollen, an ancient German word.

CENT. XIV.

PART II.

Gregory Palamas; of whom more hereafter. XXXVIII. From the prodigious number of the LatLatin writers in writers of this century, we shall only select the most famous. Among the scholastic doctors, who blended philosophy with divinity, John Duns Scotus, a franciscan, and the great antagonist of Thomas, held the first rank; and, though not entitled to any praise for his candour and ingenuity, was by no means inferior to any of his contemporaries in acuteness and subtilty of genius.*

After him the most celebrated writers of this class were Durandus, of St. Portian, who combated the commonly received doctrine of the divine cooperation with the human will, Antonius Andræas, Hervæus Natalis, Francis Mayronius, Thomas Bradwardine, an acute ingenious man, Peter Aureolus, John Bacon, William Occam, Walter Burlæus, Peter de Alliaco, Thomas of Strasburg, and Gregory de Rimini.a

Among the mystic divines, Jo. Taulerus, and Jo. Ruysbrockius, though not entirely free from errors, were eminent for their wisdom and integrity;

The very laborious and learned Luc. Waddingus favoured the public with an accurate edition of the works of Scotus, which was printed at Lyons, 1639, in twelve volumes folio. Compare Wood, Antiq. Oxon. tom. i. p. 86, 8. but especially Waddingus, Annal. Minor. fratr. tom. vi. p. 40, 107. Boulay, Hist. Acad. Paris. tom. iv. p. 70, &c.

y See Jo. Launoius, in a small treatise, entitled, Syllabus rationum, quibus Durandi causa defenditur, tom. i. opp. Gallia Christ. tom. ii. p. 723.

z Rich. Simon, Lettres Choisies, tom. iv. p. 232, et Critique de la Bibliotheque des Ecclesiast. par M. Du Pin, tom. i. p. 360. Steph. Soucietus, in Observationibus ad h. l. p. 703. Nouv. Dict. Hist. Crit. tom. ii. p. 500, 8. He was archbishop of Canterbury.

For a full account of all these persons, see Histoire de l'Eglise Gallicane, tom. xiv. p. 11, 12, s.

PART II.

་

Nicholas Lyranus acquired great reputation by CENT. XIV. his Compendious Exposition of the whole Bible; Raynerius Pisanus is celebrated for his Summary of Theology, and Astesanus for his Summary of Cases of Conscience.

CHAPTER III.

CONCERNING THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH DURING
THIS CENTURY.

tion of relig

L. ALL those who are well acquainted with the The corrup history of these times must acknowledge, that re- ion. ligion, whether as taught in the schools, or inculcated upon the people as the rule of their conduct, was so extremely adulterated and deformed, that there was not a single branch of the christian doctrine, which retained the least trace of its primitive lustre and beauty. Hence it may easily be imagined, that the waldenses and others, who longed for a reformation of the church, and had separated themselves from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome, though every where exposed to the fury of the inquisitors and monks, yet increased from day to day, and baffled all the attempts that were made to extirpate them. Many of these poor people having observed, that great numbers of their party perished by the flames and other punishments, fled out of Italy, France, and Germany, into Bohemia and the adjacent countries, where they afterward associated with the hussites and other separatists from the church of Rome.

exegetical or

II. Nicholas Lyranus deservedly holds the first The state of rank among the commentators on the holy scrip- explanatory

theology.

PART II.

CENT. XIV. tures, having explained the books both of the Old and New Testament in a manner far superior to the prevailing taste and spirit of his age. He was a perfect master of the Hebrew language, but not well versed in the Greek, and was therefore much happier in his exposition of the Old Testament, than in that of the New. All the other divines, who applied themselves to this kind of writing, were servile imitators of their predecessors. They either culled choice sentences from the writings of the more ancient doctors; or else, departing from the obvious meaning of the words, they tortured the sacred writers to accommodate them to senses that were mysterious and abstruse. They who are desirous of being acquainted with this art, may have recourse to Vitalis a Furno, his Moral Mirrour of the Scriptures, or to Ludolphus of Saxony, in his Psalter Spiritualized. The philosophers, who commented upon the sacred writings, sometimes proposed subtile questions, drawn from what was called, in this century, internal science, and solved them in a dexterous and artful manner. The didactic III. The greatest part of the doctors of this century, both Greek and Latin, followed the rules of the peripatetic philosophy, in expounding and teaching the doctrines of religion; and the Greeks, from their commerce with the Latins, seemed to have acquired some knowledge of those methods of instruction used in the western schools. Even to this day the Greeks read, in their own tongue, the works of Thomas, and other capital writers of the scholastic class, which in this age were translated and introduced into the Greek church by

divines.

b Rich, Simon, Histoire des principaux Commentateurs du Nos, p. 447, et Critique de la Biblioth. des Auteurs Eccles. par M. Du Pin, tom. i. p. 352. Waddingi Annal. Minor. tom. v. p. 264, s.

Speculum Morale totius Scripturæ.

& Psalterium juxta Spiritualem sensum.

PART II.

Demetrius Cydonius, and others. Prodigious CENT. XIV numbers among the Latins were fond of this subtile method, in which John Scotus, Durandus a S. Portian, and William Occam, peculiarly excelled. Some few had recourse to the decisions of scripture and tradition in explaining divine truths, but they were overborne by the immense tribe of logicians, who carried all before them.

ries of the

The biblical

IV. This superiority of the schoolmen did not The adversa however prevent some wise and pious men among school divines, the mystics, and elsewhere, from severely censuring this presumptuous method of bringing before the tribunal of philosophy matters of pure revelation. Many, on the contrary, were bold enough to oppose the reigning passion, and to recal the youth designed for the ministry, to the study of the scriptures and the writings of the ancient fathers. This proceeding kindled the flame of discord almost every where; but this flame raged with peculiar violence in some of the more famous universities, especially in those of Paris and Oxford, where many sharp disputes were continually carried on against the philosophical divines by those of the biblical party, who, though greatly inferior to their antagonists in point of number, were sometimes victorious. For the philosophical legions, headed by mendicants, dominicans, and franciscans, were often extremely rash in their manner of disputing; they defined and explained the principal doctrines of revealed religion in such a way as really overturned them, and fell often into opinions that were evidently absurd and impious. Hence it came to pass, that some of them were compelled to abjure their er. rors, others to seek their safety by flight; some had their writings publicly burnt, and others were

e

Rich. Simon, Creance de l'Eglise Orientale sur la Transubstantią tion, p. 166.