The Watchtower Society and John and Morton Edgar - A2Z.org

ZION'S WATCH TOWERrival heads of Christendom had produced so much literature,or literature of such mer~t nnd significance. Michael of Uesena,the General of the Franciscan Order, John of Janduu, and Williamof Ockham, the cInvincible Doctor,' exhuated the subtletiesof the scholastic philosophy in tbeir lampionship of theimperial position agaht F'apal prehnaions. Above all, Marsiglioof Padua, in his great work, the D c f m P&, examinedwith equal acuteness and insight the fundamental relationsof the spiritual end eecalar powers, and laid down principleswhich were destined to find, at any rate, partial expreesionin the Reformation This outburst of literary and philosophicalactivity was due in great part to the fact that for theArst time in the long struggle between Papacy and Empire, thestruggle involved doctrinal ideas. Hitherto, the contest hadbeen between church and state, and the church had been for themost part united. But on the present occasion the church wanprofoundly divided. In spite of all the advantages on the sideof the Emperor, the quarrel ended, not exactly in a Papaltriumph, yet in the complete and humiliating discomfiture ofLewis. Doubtless the peraonal character of the Emperor amtributedessentially to this result. He could take strenuonemeasures under the influence of a stronger will, but when helost his adviser, Marsiglio, hie habitual irresolution and hissuperstitioue dread of excommunication returned upon him. Incommunication, for instance, embnnot rightly be decreed by myprieet or any council of prieata. The verdict belongs to thecommunity of the faithful. The power of the clergy is entirelyrestricted to spiritual affairs; it can only be given deet tolf spiritual mew. Of heresy u such there is but one judge,esua Christ, and his sentence ie in the world to come. Errorsof o inion lie beyond the cognieence of human judicature. InRthe ew Testament, bishop and priest are convertible design*tions of the same persons, and the popedom is a later institutionof which the historid growth ie clearly traceable. St.Peter had no authority over the other apostles; but even supposing he hd, it is hazardous to assert that he communicatedit to his successors in the Roman See, since we cannot say forcertain that he himself ever visited, far less was Bishop of,Rome at $1. The Pope in his quality of Christian Bishop cancIaim no right of supreme judgment in human thinga, evenover the clergy. The keys of St. Peter open and close thedoor of forgiveneas, but forgiveness is the act of God, determinedby the repentance of the sinner. The Turnkey is not theJudge. Marsiglio goes through the etandard argumente infavor of the Papal assumptions, and rejeeta them one after another,partly by his reeolute insistence on a rational interpretationof the texts of Scripture, partly by the asentiel distinc-Return of the Israelites from the Babylonian Captivity 636to restore the Temple at Jerusalem. Only the fo~ndetionslaid. (Ezra 1:l-3; 3:lO).Restoration of the Temple in Ed to 6th years of Dariue 631(Ezra 4:24; 8:15).Ezra's commission in the 7th year of Artaxerxes to 467restore vessels to Temple. (Ezra 7 :7, 19.)1309 The beginning of what is known as the "BabylonianaptiviyJ of ae % at Avignon.Generally recognized as thToundation ofthe Reformation.1324 Publication by Marniglio of Padua of the"Defensor Pads."1378 The year of the Great Papal Schism whichcaused Wycliffe in name year (1) to comeout aa the Reformer, (2) to translate Bibleinto English, (3) to renounce transubatantiation.f3 E.hNehemiah's commission in 20th year ofArtaxerxes to rebuild walls of Jerusalem.(Neh. 2:l) !houblous timea.~d of the 7 d* fobwed b mom farorable timee..A. D.Advent of Messiah as Prinee. 29 1874 Advent of Messiah aa King.1878 Resurrection of the &te. 4Cruciflxion and resurrection of Jm. 33&ginning of the outing off of the Jews at '' Beginning of the casting-& of the church.end of exclusive favor to Jewa1881 End af exclusive favor to church.Destruction of Jerusalem and of Jews' national polity. 69Full loss of favor to the Jews, and anarchy. 701914 Full loss of favor to churchianitg.1915 ~uction of nominal Christendom in enarchy.Full return of favor to the Jews.January, 1328, he wes crowned Emperor two biahopa who tion between the aaered calling of the riesthood and their exhadbeen excommunicated. In May, Peter di Corvara, rBan- trinsic or worldly con~~ectione. My &$om is not of tblsciscan friar, nominnted by the Emperor, and accepted by the world. The ministers of the church should be mpported byacclamations of the citizens, assumed the Papal title ea Nich- those to whom they minister, but only in the necessaries ofolas V. Lewis had committed himself to an enterprise which he life; but no one of the faithful is bound by Scripture to payhad neither the moral nor the material force to carry through. them a tenth or any other part of his income. The clergrnanHe retired to the Ghibelline strongholds in the north, accom- might well supply his needs by other means, aa by handicraft,panied by his Antipope. !L%e Roman populace, with character- sfter the example of the apOet1ea. But now that the churchistic inconstancy, expelled the imperial futiieans, and opened has been enriched by ample endowments, the question ariaes,their gates to the Orsini and the Neapo itan troopn To whom do these belong? Maraiilio replies that the propertyThe following extract from Poole'a Age of WycZiffe, p. Ui, can only belong to the person or pereons who gave it, or toindicates some of the chief though& in Maraiglio'a teaching. the state. Nor CWI the clergyman claim the entire use of it;"Mkrniglio's chief work, the Defeneor &cis, was written in he is the administrator of a trust, and what is left over after1324, while he was still at the University of Paris. Be taught his daily food and raiment are supplied, must b distributedRepublicmuism. The community of all the citizen8 or their ma- to the poor. Wycliffe waa seen by Pope Gregory xi. to be thejority, expressing its will either by elected representatives or succet%or of Bfarsiglio."h their assembled maas, in the supreme power in the state. I have given this eomewhat fully, as it is eo much in lineThe people must chose n ruler, but to the hereditary principle he with ow own views, eetting them down in the order in whichwill make no concession whatever. The name church belongs thy occurred to me in the course of my investigations. Onto the entire body of Christian men. It is intolerable that iteprerogatives should be usurped by the sacerdotal order. Ex-mewing them, I feel more certain than ever that the handof God has been in the dairs of men. Such wrrespdeneies[3578]