Volume II Part 7 (1/2)
[Sidenote: The revolt of Wiclif.] 2nd. Of the revolt of Wiclif. We have also considered the state of affairs which aroused the resistance of Wiclif. It is manifested by legal enactments early in the fourteenth century, such as that ecclesiastics shall not go armed, nor join themselves with thieves, nor frequent taverns, nor chambers of strumpets, nor visit nuns, nor play at dice, nor keep concubines--by the Parliamentary bill of 1376, setting forth that the tax paid in England to the pope for ecclesiastical dignities is fourfold as much as that coming to the king from the whole realm; that alien clergy, who have never seen nor care to see their flocks, convey away the treasure of the country--by the homely preaching of John Ball, that all men are equal in the sight of G.o.d. Wiclif's opposition was not only directed against corruptions of discipline in the Church, but equally against doctrinal errors. His dogma that ”G.o.d bindeth not men to believe any thing they cannot understand” is a distinct embodiment of the rights of reason, and the n.o.ble purpose he carried into execution of translating the Bible from the Vulgate shows in what direction he intended the application of that doctrine to be made. Through the influence of the queen of Richard the Second, who was a native of that country, his doctrines found an echo in Bohemia--Huss not only earnestly adopting his theological views, but also joining in his resistance to the despotism of the court of Rome and his exposures of the corruptions of the clergy. The political point of this revolt in England occurs in the refusal of Edward III., at the instigation of Wiclif, to do homage to the pope; the religious, in the translation of the Bible.
Though a bull was sent to London requiring the arch-heretic to be seized and put in irons, Wiclif died in his bed, and his bones rested quietly in the grave for forty-four years. Ecclesiastical vengeance burned them at last, and scattered them to the winds.
There was no remissness in the ecclesiastical authority, but there were victories won by the blind hero, John Zisca. After the death of that great soldier--whose body was left by the road-side to the wolves and crows, and his skin dried and made into a drum--in vain was all that perfidy could suggest and all that brutality could execute resorted to--in vain the sword and fire were pa.s.sed over Bohemia, and the last effort of impotent vengeance tried in England--the heretics could not be exterminated nor the detested translation of the Bible destroyed.
[Sidenote: The revolt of Luther.] 3rd. Of the revolt of Luther. As we shall have, in a subsequent chapter, to consider the causes that led to the Reformation, it is not necessary to antic.i.p.ate them in any detail here. The necessities of the Roman treasury, which suggested the doctrine of supererogation and the sale of indulgences as a ready means of relief, merely brought on a crisis which otherwise could not have been long postponed, the real point at issue being the right of interpretation of the Scriptures by private judgment.
The Church did not restrict her resistance to the use of ecclesiastical weapons--those of a carnal kind she also employed. Yet we look in vain for the concentrated energy with which she annihilated the Albigenses, or the atrocious policy with which the Hussites were met. The times no longer permitted those things. But the struggle was maintained with unflinching constancy through the disasters and successes of one hundred and thirty years. Then came the peace of Westphalia, and the result of the contest was ascertained. The Church had lost the whole of northern Europe.
[Sidenote: The revolt of the philosophers.] 4th. Of the revolt of the philosophers. Besides the actual loss of the nations who openly fell away to Protestantism, a serious detriment was soon found to have befallen those still remaining nominally faithful to the Church. The fact of secession or adherence depending, in a monarchy, on the personal caprice or policy of the sovereign, is by no means a true index of the opinions or relations of the subjects; and thus it happened that in several countries in which there was an outward appearance of agreement with the Church because of the att.i.tude of the government, there was, in reality, a total disruption, so far as the educated and thinking cla.s.ses were concerned. This was especially the case in France.
When the voyage of circ.u.mnavigation of the globe by Magellan had for ever settled all such questions as those of the figure of the earth and the existence of the antipodes, the principles upon which the contest was composed between the conflicting parties are obvious from the most superficial perusal of the history of physics. Free thought was extorted for science, and, as its equivalent, an unmolested state for theology.
It was an armed truce.
It was not through either of the parties to that conflict that new troubles arose, but through the action of a cla.s.s fast rising into importance--literary men. From the beginning to the middle of the last century these philosophers became more and more audacious in their attacks. Unlike the scientific, whose theological action was by implication rather than in a direct way, these boldly a.s.saulted the intellectual basis of faith. The opportune occurrence of the American Revolution, by bringing forward in a prominent manner social evils and political methods for their cure, gave a practical application to the movement in Europe, and the Church was found unable to offer any kind of resistance.
[Sidenote: Summary of the Italian system.] From these observations of the state of the Church at four different epochs of her career we are able to determine her movement. There is a time of abounding strength, a time of feebleness, a time of ruinous loss, a time of utter exhaustion.
What a difference between the eleventh and the eighteenth centuries! It is the noontide and evening of a day of empire.
CHAPTER V.
APPROACH OF THE AGE OF REASON IN EUROPE.
IT IS PRECEDED BY MARITIME DISCOVERY.
_Consideration of the definite Epochs of Social Life._
_Experimental Philosophy emerging in the Age of Faith._
_The Age of Reason ushered in by Maritime Discovery and the rise of European Criticism._
MARITIME DISCOVERY.--_The three great Voyages._
COLUMBUS _discovers America_.--DE GAMA _doubles the Cape and reaches India_.--MAGELLAN _circ.u.mnavigates the Earth.--The Material andintellectual Results of each of these Voyages._
DIGRESSION ON THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF AMERICA.--_In isolated human Societies the process of Thought and of Civilization is always the same.--Man pa.s.ses through a determinate succession of Ideas and embodies them in determinate Inst.i.tutions.--The state of Mexico and Peru proves the influence of Law in the development of Man._
[Sidenote: Peculiarities of the Age of Reason.] I have arrived at the last division of my work, the period in national life answering to maturity in individual. The objects to be considered differ altogether from those which have hitherto occupied our attention. We have now to find human authority promoting intellectual advancement, and accepting as its maxim that the lot of man will be ameliorated, and his power and dignity increased, in proportion as he is able to comprehend the mechanism of the world, the action of natural laws, and to apply physical forces to his use.
[Sidenote: Natural periods merge into one another.] The date at which this transition in European life was made will doubtless be differently given according as the investigator changes his point of view. In truth, there is not in national life any real epoch, because there is nothing in reality abrupt. Events, however great or sudden, are consequences of preparations long ago made. In this there is a perfect parity between the course of national and that of individual life. In the individual, one state merges by imperceptible degrees into another, each in its beginning and end being altogether indistinct. No one can tell at what moment he ceased to be a child and became a boy--at what moment he ceased to be a youth and became a man. Each condition, examined at a suitable interval, exhibits characteristics perfectly distinctive, but, at their common point of contact, the two so overlap and blend that, like the intermingling of shadow and light, the beginning of one and end of the other may be very variously estimated.
[Sidenote: Artificial epochs.] In individual life, since no precise natural epoch exists, society has found it expedient to establish an artificial one, as, for example, the twenty-first year. The exigencies of history may be satisfied by similar fictions. A cla.s.sical critic would probably be justified in selecting for his purpose the foundation of Constantinople as the epoch of the commencement of the Age of Faith, and its capture by the Turks as the close. It must be admitted that a very large number of historical events stand in harmony with that arrangement. [Sidenote: Origin and end of the Age of Faith.] A political writer would perhaps be disposed to postpone the date of the latter epoch to that of the treaty of Westphalia, for from that time theological elements ceased to have a recognized force, Protestant, Catholic, Mohammedan, consorting promiscuously together in alliance or at war, according as temporary necessities might indicate. Besides these other artificial epochs might be a.s.signed, each doubtless having advantages to recommend it to notice. But, after all, the chief peculiarity is obvious enough. It is the gradual decline of a system that had been in activity for many ages, and its gradual replacement by another.
[Sidenote: Prelude to the Age of Reason.] As with the Age of Reason in Greece, so with the Age of Reason in Europe, there is a prelude marked by the gradual emergence of a sound philosophy; a true logic displaces the supernatural; experiment supersedes speculation. It is very interesting to trace the feeble beginnings of modern science in alchemy and natural magic in countries where no one could understand the writings of Alhazen or the Arabian philosophers. Out of many names of those who took part in this movement that might be mentioned there are some that deserve recollection.
[Sidenote: Albertus Magnus, the Dominican.] Albertus Magnus was born A.D. 1193. It was said of him that ”he was great in magic, greater in philosophy, greatest in theology.” By religious profession he was a Dominican. Declining the temptations of ecclesiastical preferment, he voluntarily resigned his bishopric, that he might lead in privacy a purer life. As was not uncommon in those days, he was accused of illicit commerce with Satan, and many idle stories were told of the miracles he wrought. At a great banquet on a winter's day, he produced all the beauties of spring--trees in full foliage, flowers in perfume, meadows covered with gra.s.s; but, at a word, the phantom pageant was dissolved, and succeeded by appropriate wastes of snow. This was an exaggeration of an entertainment he gave, January 6th, 1259, in the hot-house of the convent garden. He interested himself in the functions of plants, was well acquainted with what is called the sleep of flowers, studied their opening and closing. He understood that the sap is diminished in volume by evaporation from the leaves. He was the first to use the word ”affinity” in its modern acceptation. His chemical studies present us with some interesting details. He knew that the whitening of copper by a.r.s.enic is not a trans.m.u.tation, but only the production of an alloy, since the a.r.s.enic can be expelled by heat. He speaks of potash as an alkali; describes several acetates; and alludes to the blackening of the skin with nitrate of silver.
[Sidenote: Roger Bacon, discoveries of.] Contemporary with him was Roger Bacon, born A.D. 1214. His native country has never yet done him justice, though his contemporaries truly spoke of him as ”the Admirable Doctor.” The great friar of the thirteenth century has been eclipsed by an unworthy namesake. His claims on posterity are enforced by his sufferings and ten years' imprisonment for the cause of truth.
His history, so far as is known, may be briefly told. He was born at Ilchester, in Somersets.h.i.+re, and studied at the University of Oxford.