RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. Primacy of Abp. Theodore Wilfrid Anglo-Saxon independence of the papacy Subsequent reception of it The Benedictine system Invocation of angelic and departed spirits Purgatory Penitential doctrines Transubstantiation 411 414 CENTURY XII. Contests of the Mendicants with the university of Paris Their contemptuous treatment of other ecclesiastics. Relaxation of their rule The Book of Joachim Franciscan attack on the papacy The Coelestine Eremites of St. Francis The Fratricelli. The Beghards and Beguines Ecclesiastical writers Transubstantiation synodically decreed The Stigmata of St. Francis 665 The Alcoran of the Franciscans Franciscan schism . Persecution of the intractable Franciscans Dispute as to the property of Christ and his Apostles The apostolic clerks, or Jesuates The Cellites, or brethren and sisters of St. Alexius Procopius of Gaza to be wholly excluded from this class, although he sometimes followed his own judgment. The others followed the footsteps of Origen, and neglecting wholly the literal meaning, run after allegories and moral precepts, deducing whatever they wish or desire from the sacred books, by the aid of a roving imagination. Of this class, is Anastasius Sinaita, whose Anagogical Contemplations on the Hexaëmeron expose the ignorance and credulity of the author; likewise Gregory the Great, whose Morals on Job were formerly extolled undeservedly; also Isidorus of Seville, in his Book of allegories on Scripture; and Primasius, in his Mystic exposition of the Apocalypse; and many others. § 5. An accurate knowledge of religious doctrines, and a simple and lucid exposition of them, no one will expect from the teachers of these times. Most of them reasoned, as blind men do about colours; and thought they acquitted themselves nobly when they had thrown out their crude and indigested thoughts, and overwhelmed their opposers with words. Yet among the writers of this age may be clearly traced some indications and marks of that threefold manner of treating theology, which still prevails both among the Greeks and the Latins. For some collected together sentences from the ancient doctors and councils, backed by citations from the scriptures. Such was Isidore of Seville, among the Latins, whose three Books of sentences are still extant; and among the Greeks, Leontius of Cyprus, whose Loci Communes, or Common-placebook, compiled from the works of the ancients, have been commended. From these originated that species of theology which the Latins afterwards called Positive Theology. Others attempted to unfold the nature of religious doctrines by reasoning; which was the method generally adopted by those who disputed against the Nestorians, Eutychians, and Pelagians. These may be fitly called Scholastics. Others again, who believed that all divine truth must be learned by internal feeling, and by contemplation, assumed the name of Mystics. This threefold method of treating religious subjects, has continued down to the present day. A proper and complete system of theology, no one of this age produced; but various parts of theology were occasionally illustrated. |