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XX
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
the
church.
In
earthly
governments,
a substitute
may be found qua-
lified
for
all the functions of
the
sovereign;
but
in
the
spiritual king-
dom of
the
church,
this
miserable vicar
is
incapable of performing a
single
act
of
that
office
which
Christ
executes as
king
of
Zion.
He
can
neither
give
repentance to Israel, nor
the
remission of
sins,
can
neither
subdue
the
hearts nor
conquer
the
enemies of his people,
can
neither
sanctify
nor
save
their
souls,
can
neither
bless
the
ordinances of grace
nor manage
the
operations of providence.
He
has
the
name of a spiritual monarch,
but
not a
shred of
the thing
itself;
he
has "
the
likeness of
a kingly
crown,"
but not
the
reality.
He
is
the
greatest anomaly in this
world,
the
earthly head
of
a
spi-
ritual
body,
a
despot without
power,
a
viceroy
without
commission,
a
shadow
without
a
substance!
One
thing
only
was
wanting
to
complete
this
climax of fictitious
authority,
the
assumption
of
temporal in
conjunction
with and
springing
from
the
spiritual jurisdiction.
With
regard to
the
former,
history attests
the
consequences_
of
the temporal authority
with
which
the
popes were invested.
We
may
content
ourselves
with
the
follow-
ing sketch of
them
by
Guicciardini,
the
celebrated
Florentine
his-
torian
:
"
By
these foundations
and
means,
being raised to an earthly
power,
forgetting
by
little
and little
the
salvation
of
souls
and
the
commandments
of
God,
and
bending
all
their thoughts to
worldly greatness, no longer
using
the
spiritual
power
but
as
an
instrument
of
the
temporal, resembling
rather
secular princes
than
popes
or
bishops,
their
cares
and
endeavours were now no
longer sanctity of
life,
no longer propagation
of
religion, no
longer
zeal
and charity towards
their
neighbours,
but
to raise arms, and to
make
war against
Christians,
managing
their
sacrifices
with
bloody
hands and thoughts. Theybegan to
gather
treasure, to
make
new laws, to invent new
tricks and
new
devices
to get
money on all
sides,
to use
the
spiritual armswithout respect, for this
onlyend,
to
profane sacred things
without
shame,
for this
only
purpose.
The
great
wealth
lavishly bestowed upon
them and
their
whole
court
was accompanied
with pride, luxury,
dishonesty, lust,
and
abominable pleasures;
their
successors
having no care
of the perpetual
dignity
of the Papacy. Instead
whereof they had an ambitious and pestilent
desire to
exalt
their
children,
nephews,
and
kindred, not
only
to
excessive
riches,
but to
principalities and kingdoms; no longer conferring dignities upon men of
desert
and
virtue,
but
almost always
either
selling
them to the most
giver,
or
distributing
them to persons most fit for
their
ambition, avarice,
and other
shameful
plea-
sures."*
But
on
this point
we
must
carefully distinguish between
the
tem-
poral honours and
possessions
conferred on
the
Roman pontiff
and
the
temporal jurisdiction
which
he
claims
in virtue
of his
office.
*
The
above
is
part
of
the
famous passage
in
Guicciardini's
"
History of the Wars
of
Italy,"
which was expunged from
the Italian and Latin
editions,
but
restored
by
old
Fenton in his translation
of 1618, p. 177.