worship, and looked with contempt on monastic rules of discipline, and other things held sacred. Not a few of this description, being apprehended by the Inquisitors, expired cheerfully and calmly in the flames. "But there were others of a worse character among them, and whose piety was as foolish as it was dangerous. These maintained, that by persevering contemplation, all the instincts of nature might be eradicated, and excluded from the godlike soul, and a kind of holy or divine stupor be brought over the mind." Carrying out this principle, they set decency at defiance, and seemed to think that the utmost elevation of man is to exhibit the senselessness of the brute.

CENTURY XIV.

1. Religious wars.-2. Literature.-3. Pope's claims of authority, and bull Unam Sanctam.-4. Two popes.-5. Mendicants.-6. John Wickliffe.-7. Contests of Franciscans.8. Cellites.-9. Theology.-10. Ceremonies.-11. Sects.

I. MANY efforts were male by the popes, in this century, to renew the holy wars against the Turks and Saracens. Several armies were raised at different times, and considerable preparations were made to fit out expeditions to Palestine; but from one cause and another, they all failed, and nothing was done. During this century, the Christian religion was almost extirpated in the East by the Turks and Tartars. Tamerlane, the powerful emperor of the Tartars, as a disciple

of Mohammed, thought it his duty to make war upon the Christians, in order to convert them to the true faith, and therefore inflicted upon them numberless evils; cruelly butchering some, and dooming others to perpetual slavery.

During this century, the barbarians in the north of Europe that still adhered to their ancient idolatry, were, by one means and another, brought over to the Christian faith. In this work, the Teutonic knights performed no small share, by wars and massacres. The Jews suffered great persecution in many countries in this century; and many of them were compelled to profess Christianity, in order to save their lives. The Saracens, or Moors, still maintained a footing in Spain; and against them continual wars were waged by the Christian kings of Castile, Aragon, and Navarre.

II. The literature and philosophy of this age, although generally improving, were yet very imperfect, and not very profitable. Aristotle reigned in the schools, and violent contests were carried on between the Realists and Nominalists. Among the latter, William Occam and John Buridan distinguished themselves. Astrology, or .he art of prognosticating the fortunes of men by the stars, was extensively cultivated by the philosophers of this day. Yet caution was necessary in order to avoid impeachment for magic, and to escape the hands of the Inquisitors. This caution was not sufficiently observed by Ceccus Asculanus, a very noted peripatetic philosopher, astrologer, mathematician, and physician. For, having by mechanical arts performed some things that appeared miraculous to the vulgar, and uttered predictions that proved to be trie, he fell under suspicion of

having intercourse with the devil, and was committed to the flames by the Inquisition at Florence, A. D. 1327. Thomas Bradwardine, an Englishman, and archbishop of Canterbury, distinguished himself as a mathematician. The celebrated Petrarch and Dante, in Italy, gave a spring to the cultivation of polite literature.

III. The popes and the clergy of this age were exceedingly corrupt, and almost every kind of wickedness was practised and carried on under the guise of religion. All honest and good men ardently wished for a reformation of the church, both in its head and its members, as it was usual to express it. But so great was now the papal power, that it was no easy matter to accomplish it. Yet this dominion of the Roman pontiffs, impregnable and durable as it seemed to be, was gradually undermined and weakened in this century, partly by the rash insolence of the pontiffs themselves, and partly by the occurrence of cer tain unexpected events. The commencement of the weakening of the papal power is referred to the contest between Boniface VIII., who governed the Latin church at the beginning of this century, and Philip the Fair, king of France. In a very haughty letter addressed to Philip, Boniface maintained that all kings and persons whatsoever, by divine command, owed perfect obedience to the Roman pontiffs; and this not only in religious matters, but likewise in secular and human affairs. The king replied with great severity. Boniface then published the celebrated bull, called Unam Sanctam. "In this bull, the pontiff asserts that there is but one church of Christ, under one head, as there was but one ark under the command of Noah; all out of which necessarily

perish that the sole head of the church or earth is Christ's vicegerent, St. Peter and his successors, who are amenable to none but God: that both swords, the spiritual and the material, are in the power of the church; the latter to be wielded for the church, or by the kings and soldiers, at the nod and pleasure of the priesthood, and the former to be wielded by the church or the priesthood: that the temporal power is subjected to the spiritual; otherwise the church would be a double-headed monster: that whosoever resists this order of things, resists the ordinance of God: and he concludes thus:-" We declare, determine, and decree, that it is absolutely necessary to salvation, that every human being should be subject to the Roman pontiff." The king, on the contrary, in an assembly of his nobles, publicly charged the pontiff with heresy, simony, dishonesty, and other enormities; and urged the calling of a general council, in order to depose the guilty pontiff from his office. The pontiff, in return, excommunicated the king and all his adherents, A. D. 1303. Upon this, Philip sent William de Nogaret, a famous lawyer, and a bold and fearless man, who raised a small force, suddenly attacked Boniface, who was living securely at Anagni, made him prisoner, wounded him, and, among other severe indignities, struck him on the head with his iron gauntlet. The pope was rescued out of his hands, but died soon after, from the violence of his rage and anguish of mind. This taught succeeding popes the salutary lesson that sometimes it was necessary to fear the wrath of a king, and to conciliate the civil powers. Philip managed to have a Frenchmar created pontiff at Rome, A. D. 1305 ove" whom he could

exercise control. He assumed the name of Clement V., and, in compliance with the wishes of the French king, remained in France, and transferred the pontifical court to Avignon, where it continued for seventy years. This period the Italians call the Babylonish captivity. The residence of the popes at Avignon tended in no small degree to lessen their power and influence. The Ghibelline faction in Italy, hostile to the popes, assumed greater boldness, and several cities revolted from the popes. Rome itself became the parent and fomenter of tumults, cabals, and civil wars; and the laws and decrees sent thither from France, were publicly treated with contempt and that not merely by the mobs, but also by the common citizens. A great part of Europe followed the example of Italy; and numberless examples show that the people of Europe attributed far less power to the fulminations and decrees issued from France, than to those issued from Rome.

IV. After the death of Gregory XI., A. D. 1378, two popes were chosen one assumed the name of Urban VI., and resided at Rome; the other assumed the name of Clement VII., and resided at Avignon. The cardinals chose the first to please the people of Rome, and the second, to please themselves and others; and which of these was the legitimate and true pontiff, still remains uncertain; nor can it be fully ascertained from all the documents, which have been published in great abundance by both parties. France, Spain, Scotland, Sicily, and Cyprus, espoused the cause of Clement; the other countries of Europe regarded Urban as the true vicegerent of Christ. Thus the unity of the Latin church," says Mos