The-papacy-its-history-dogmas-genius-and-prospects-wylie

92 PROGRESS OF THE TEMPORAL SUPREMACY.extinct, and little appeared to be left, especially in France," but convents scattered here and there amid vast tracts offorest,"* this populous tract, rich in the marvels of industryand the virtues of true religion, resembled a strip of verduredrawn across the wastes of the desert. Will it be believedthat human hands rooted out this paradise, which a pureChristianity had created in the very heart of the desert ofEuropean Catholicism ? Rome about this time had broughtto an end her wars with the empire, and her popes were reposing,after their struggle of centuries, in the proud consciousnessof undoubted supremacy. The light had beenspreading unobserved, and the Reformation was on thepoint of being anticipated. The demon Innocent III. wasthe first to descry the streaks of day on the crest of theAlps. Horror-stricken, he started up, and began to thunderfrom his pandemonium against a faith which had alreadysubjugated provinces, and was threatening to dissolvethe power of Rome in the very flush of her victoryover the empire. In order to save the one half of Europefrom perishing by heresy, it was decreed that the other halfshould perish by the sword. The monarchs of Europe darednot disobey a summons which was enforced by the mostdreadful adjurations and threats. They assembled theirvassals, and girded on the sword, not to repel an invader orto quell insurrection, but to extirpate those very men whoseindustry had enriched their realm, and whose virtue andloyalty formed the stay of their power.Lest the work of vengeance should slacken, Rome heldout dazzling bribes, equally compounded of paradise andgold. She could afford to be prodigal of both, for neithercost her anything. Paradise is always in her gift for thosewho will do her work, and the wealth of the heretic is thelawful plunder of the faithful.With such a bank, and permissionto draw upon it to an unlimited amount, Rome hadno motive, and certainly would have had no thanks, for* Sismondi's Fall of the Eoraan Empire, vol. ii. p. 169.