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It was at any rate a solace to those who believed in human progress; even in matters of conscience, that no other ecclesiastical establishment was ever likely to imitate the matchless machinery for the extermination of heretical vermin which the Church of Rome had found in the Spanish Inquisition.
Rash youth! forensic Quixote! better had you plodded on, without this extra industry and skill, in the hopeless idleness and solitude of your Temple garret better had you burnt your wig and gown outright, with all the airy briefs to come that fluttered round them, than have owned yourself the author of that heretical piece of moral mawkishness 'The Doctrine of Defence, by Henry Clements.
So strongly had this false opinion taken possession of the minds of men, in our European world, even after the revival of learning in the west, that Galileo was imprisoned by the holy inquisitors at Rome for asserting the sphericity of the earth, and the doctrine of antipodes, and had to redeem his liberty and life, by writing a refutation of that heretical doctrine, which satisfied the inquisitors, yet convinced the world of its truth.
It was not wonderful that a sincere impatience should be felt by all the frontier States for the termination of the insurrection of the Netherlands. Would that rebellious and heretical republic only consent to go out of existence, again bow its stubborn knee to Philip and the Pope, what a magnificent campaign might be made against Mahomet!
The "sages of the Gentiles," Hillel tells us, regard Averroes's notion as heretical, and leading besides to the absurd conclusion that the same soul is both rewarded and punished; a view which upsets all religion. Averroes employs a number of arguments to prove his point, among them being the following.
They believed that the sin of heretical pravity was "as the sin of witchcraft;" they regarded them alike with horror, and were persuaded that there was a natural consent and alliance between them.
The Council decided, against the wish of the Bishop, that this "mandate" should neither be complied with, nor even acknowledged, and wrote to him; "in the city of Zurich, its courts and its territories, the Gospel and the Divine Word shall be truly proclaimed, but if any one thinks that heretical matters and articles are preached, let him point them out, whereupon fitting action will be taken in the case."
Hence Roman Catholics themselves are accustomed to consider, that eventual failure is the sure destiny of heresy and schism; what then will they say to us? The English Church has remained in its present state three hundred years, and at the end of the time is stronger than at the beginning. This does not look like an heretical or schismatical Church.
But much information remains to us from the admissions of her supporters as to the depraved condition of the Church at this period; so that we need not believe the allegations or their opponents that a chief inducement to join heretical sects lay in the greater scope for the indulgence of sin.
Any man would rather have his shoes mended by a heretical cobbler than by a person who had subscribed all the thirty-nine articles, but had never handled an awl. Men act thus, not because they are indifferent to religion, but because they do not see what religion has to do with the mending of their shoes.
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