Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 3 of 4

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Excerpt from Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 3 of 4: The ReformationWhen, indeed, the sixteenth century Opened, Rome had apparently regained much of the ground that she had lost at a former period. But this appearance was delusive. A tempo rary calm had come over the religious world, leaving all the materials for a mighty storm in full, though concealed activity. By that very calm was the explosion hastened. Had Rome been trembling, as she was a hundred years before, under dis eussions upon the limits between papal and conciliar authority, grand conceptions for her improvement as the Christian capital never would have been entertained, and bold experiments to realise them upon popular fears of purgatory, would have been discouraged. While the west, however, save a pertinacious few cowering under persecution, seemed all blind submission, the lofty spirit of Julius II. Was easily tempted into such an enter prise as rearing the majestic dome of St. Peter's, and could see no danger in meeting so vast a drain upon the papal exchequer, by abusing the credulity of mankind. Yet this very abuse roused Luther from his cell, and thus drove a mind once superstitiously favourable to the papacy, into such a merciless examination of its pretensions, as nearly overthrew it at the time, and has threatened its existence ever since.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.