Progress From the First to the Fourteenth Century - James Aitken Wylie

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patriarch, and exercised lordship over the heritage of Christ. The gates of the sanctuary once forced, the stream of corruption continued to flow with ever-deepening volume. The declensions in doctrine and worship already introduced had changed the brightness of the Church's morning into twilight; the descent of the Northern nations, which, beginning in the fifth, continued through several successive centuries, converted that twilight into night. The new tribes had changed their country, but not their superstitions; and, unhappily, there was neither zeal nor vigor in the Christianity of the age to effect their instruction and their genuine conversion. The Bible had been withdrawn; in the pulpit fable had usurped the place of truth; holy lives, whose silent eloquence might have won upon the barbarians, were rarely exemplified; and thus, instead of the Church dissipating the superstitions that now encompassed her like a cloud, these superstitions all but quenched her own light. She opened her gates to receive the new peoples as they were. She sprinkled them with the baptismal water; she inscribed their names in her registers; she taught 14
them in their invocations to repeat the titles of the Trinity; but the doctrines of the Gospel, which alone can enlighten the understanding, purify the heart, and enrich the life with virtue, she was little careful to inculcate upon them. She folded them within her pale, but they were scarcely more Christian than before, while she was greatly less so. From the sixth century down-wards Christianity was a mongrel system, made up of pagan rites revived from classic times, of superstitions imported from the forests of Northern Germany, and of Christian beliefs and observances which continued to linger in the Church from primitive and purer times. The inward power of religion was lost; and it was in vain that men strove to supply its place by the outward form. They nourished their piety not at the living fountains of truth, but with the "beggarly elements" of ceremonies and relics, of consecrated lights and holy vestments. Nor was it Divine knowledge only that was contemned; men forbore to cultivate letters, or practice virtue. Baronius confesses that in the sixth century few in Italy were skilled in both Greek and Latin. Nay, even Gregory the Great acknowledged that he was 15
Page 1 and 2: PROGRESS FROM THE FIRST TO THE FOUR
Page 3 and 4: would be untrue alike to philosophy
Page 5 and 6: with the authority of the Word of G
Page 7 and 8: Chapter 2 Declension of the Early C
Page 9 and 10: empire which thought that it had cr
Page 11 and 12: from the lofty chair of the Patriar
Page 13: their obedience in this or in any o
Page 17 and 18: white robes and chrism, milk, honey
Page 19 and 20: It was not even a rule of life but
Page 21 and 22: ises is the cause of his rising —
Page 23 and 24: humble pastor from the mitered king
Page 25 and 26: imperial manifesto (445) of Valenti
Page 27 and 28: eing the same as that which provoke
Page 29 and 30: given, another emperor might take a
Page 31 and 32: study of Christian doctrine, or the
Page 33 and 34: In the eighth century there came a
Page 35 and 36: head of the Church, and he had beco
Page 37 and 38: A rare piece of modesty this on the
Page 39 and 40: Popes of the Middle Ages. Abounding
Page 41 and 42: Chapter 4 Development of the Papacy
Page 43 and 44: the Papal throne, Gregory fully gra
Page 45 and 46: case the luxury of wielding this mo
Page 47 and 48: appointed all bishops; he summoned
Page 49 and 50: the spiritual." Such are a few of t
Page 51 and 52: espect, the ablest race of rulers t
Page 53 and 54: What else do the words of Cardinal
Page 55 and 56: march, as shown in history down to
Page 57 and 58: Chapter 5 Mediaeval Protestant Witn
Page 59 and 60: ung; the episcopal palace beset; an
Page 61 and 62: evident that he did not regard as n
Page 63 and 64: southern provinces of France, even
Page 65 and 66:
that faith alone saves us. On this
Page 67 and 68:
Claude. For though they differed fr
Page 69 and 70:
Christ was fastened to it, how many
Page 71 and 72:
Bishop of Lyons, fought by the side
Page 73 and 74:
out our conclusion. The Church of R
Page 75 and 76:
Chapter 6 The Waldenses Their Valle
Page 77 and 78:
especting the dioceses of Milan and
Page 79 and 80:
the truths of which they made open
Page 81 and 82:
in front serves as a defense agains
Page 83 and 84:
— the gateway, namely — being t
Page 85 and 86:
which descend from the snows of the
Page 87 and 88:
torrent, which is heard thundering
Page 89 and 90:
patient labor that man is able to e
Page 91 and 92:
language of the troubadours and of
Page 93 and 94:
divided into parishes. In each pari
Page 95 and 96:
e had. Many of the troubadours were
Page 97 and 98:
een spurned as missionaries. The do
Page 99 and 100:
future day to break in pieces the f
Page 101 and 102:
just as the Waldenses were branded
Page 103 and 104:
Constantine, whose zeal, constancy,
Page 105 and 106:
successive reigns. Foremost in this
Page 107 and 108:
lackening over the Eastern Empire,
Page 109 and 110:
this moment that her power begins t
Page 111 and 112:
light. This was in fact a second gi
Page 113 and 114:
living machinery which worked indef
Page 115 and 116:
extinguish the movement: it but mad
Page 117 and 118:
had chased it out of the world. The
Page 119 and 120:
ordered to halt, to return westward
Page 121 and 122:
helped to quicken these seeds into
Page 123 and 124:
all who should afford them defense
Page 125 and 126:
Innocent in person, with a discours
Page 127 and 128:
the future. They had the word of th
Page 129 and 130:
followed each preacher armed with s
Page 131 and 132:
approaching, who made it their sole
Page 133 and 134:
and a place of great strength, the
Page 135 and 136:
Holding out to Raymond Roger the ho
Page 137 and 138:
Chapter 10 Erection of Tribunal of
Page 139 and 140:
Innocent III. and St. Dominic share
Page 141 and 142:
a psalter, a breviary for the Divin
Page 143 and 144:
council, she enunciated them in dog
Page 145 and 146:
Protestantism even at that early st
Page 147 and 148:
Chapter 11 Protestants Before Prote
Page 149 and 150:
fiction of Paschasius, and the alar
Page 151 and 152:
with the heart also, as the two can
Page 153 and 154:
their death. Of the citizens of Orl
Page 155 and 156:
accuses them of having fallen into
Page 157 and 158:
ecords in his letters, St. Bernard
Page 159 and 160:
downwards, were engrossed in secula
Page 161 and 162:
ulers of the State, and let the min
Page 163 and 164:
he without the countenance of some
Page 165 and 166:
the action was not so desperate as
Page 167 and 168:
of the world. "He propounded to the
Page 169 and 170:
argained with Frederic Barbarossa,
Page 171 and 172:
Chapter 12 Abelard, and Rise of Mod
Page 173 and 174:
second irruption of Paganism, reinf
Page 175 and 176:
The opponents of the Albigenses and
Page 177 and 178:
was the first person in Christendom
Page 179:
Gothic corruptions. Secondly, there
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Progress From the First to the Fourteenth Century - James Aitken Wylie

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