Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

ON TIIK MORALS OF CIIIITSTIANS. 255l.Tir*. "Tlio year 130S wns marked l»y I1h> rosdiiition of Pctpo Clcmcnf V. to take up liiarcsidcnco at Avi;^non. Two years allcrwanl, ho appointcil tlircc cardinalH to oxarninc tlioAvittie.ssos aj;aiiist the former pope, IJoiiifacc N'lll., and Cardinal Cajotaii ; and tlie testimonytaken on tlie occasion proved them both to liavo been downri;^bt alhelHts, It wasin substance as follows:l.'ilC). "Niiholiis, a priest and canon of the cathedral, Sec, on oath, said, that bein;; atNajiles, under the jxintincato of Celcstin V., viz. A, n. 1274, in the bouse of Marin Sichinulfo,wiiero Cardinal JJenediet Cajetan dwelt, ho entered the chuml)er of the cardinal intho suite of the IJishop of Friccnti, and found there a cIcmU disputing with him, in jirepcncoof several persons, upon the (|uestions, which was the best law or religi(in, that oftho Christians, of tho Jews, or of the Saracens? and who those were that best observedtheir own? Then the cardinal said, What arc all these reli;^ions? They arc the inventionsof men. Wo need not put ourselves to any trouble, except for this world, since thereis no other life but the present. lie said also, on tho same occasion, that tliis world hasliad no beginning, and would not have an end. Nicholas, Abbot of St. Benedict, &(;., deposedto tlie same fact, adding that the Cardinal Cajetan had said that the bread was notchanged in the sacrament of the altar, and that it was false that it was the body of JesusChrist; that (here is no resurrection; that the soul dies with the body; that this was hisopinion and that of all men of letters, but that tho simple and ignorant thought otherwise.The witness being asked if the cardinal did not thus speak jestingl}^^ replied thathe said these things seriously and in good faith.1317. '' Manfred, a lay citizen of Lucca, said, that in the year 1300, before Christmas,being in the chamber of Pope Eoniface, in presence of the ambassadors of Florence, ofBoulogne, and of Lucca, and many other persons, a man, who appeared to be the Pope'schaplain, (old his holiness of the death of a certain knight who had been a wickedman, and therefore it was ncccssar^y to pray for him, that Jesus Christ might have pityon his soul. Upon which Boniface treated him as if he were a fool; and after havingspoken injuriously of Jesus Christ, he added: This knight has already received all thogood and evil he can have, and there is no other life than this, nor any other paradise orhell than what is in this world. The witness testified to another discourse of Boniface,which modesty does not allow of our reporting; and another witness recited a story abouthim still more impious than the foregoing.13 IS, " 'What remains of this information,' says Fleury, 'comprehends the depositionsof thirteen witnesses, all to a similar efTect. Another information which appeared the following3'ear contained the evidence of twenty-three witnesses to the same facts, withothers equally scandalous. But as the affair was never brought to judgment, it is superfluousto enter into any further details.'1319. "Now here is a very extraordinary and powerful evidence to prove that at leastone poi^e, and he a very distinguished one, Boniface VIII., and one cardinal, of high reputation,were not only infidels themselves, but claimed to be of the same class with 'allmen of letters.' That the testimony was satisfactory seems incontrovertible ; because thewitnesses were thirty-six in number, unimpeached in character, and thought sufficient byPhilip the Fair, King of France, and all his leading nobility. He proposed that Bonifaceshould be arraigned, though dead, for heresy, and that his bones should be disinterredand burned, according to the modern fashion established by the Roman Church. It mayseem strange, however, that even if Boniface and Cajetan had held such sentiments, theyshould have been so foolish as to utter them in the presence of so many. To this two answersmay be given. First, that the influence of the philosophy which we have alreadynoted in the University of Paris was so prevalent, that the clerg}'- and the upper ranks ofthe laity were generally infected with it, and religion was looked upon, by nearly all, asa thing of policy, necessary to keep the vulgar in order, but only professed by the higherclasses, as it was in heathen Rome, 'for the sake of appearances.' Unhappily, there aremany proofs too strong to be doubted that this infidel philosophy was rife among thepriesthood; and perhaps there is no other way of accounting for the manifest fact thattho church, like the state, was governed for so many ages by the machinery of force andfear, as if there was no inward conscience to appeal to, except among a few pious souls,here and there—enough to perpetuate the church, according to the promise of Christ, butnot enough to affect the general sentiment."Aiif/ reIi'(jion, like that of Moses j ichich does not mahe Immortality a primari/consideration j must he cliiejly confined to worldly ohJectSj and ofcourse unv:orthy of consideration or respect.1320. While the silence of the Pentateuch respecting immortality throwsthe authority of the " word of God," so called, against the endowment ofthe human soul with that all-important attribute, thelanguage of the de-