Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1895-12-07
After the ApOstaCy.
glimpse of the Church of the Middle Ages.

complete as Is this. What minds must
have been employed in shutting out the
light OF heaven aud in burying the
manna which fell IN showers so extend
ed What systeml To gather all the
books In the world and put them all
within the stone walls OF the monastery
and cloister, to crush schools, except in
these came monasteries, In which they
trained up men to become more aud
more skillul In doing the work OF ruin,
TO delude the world with ceremonies and
iouleries, while the Bible was taken
away, and religion muttered her rites in
an unknown tongue and all this the re-
suit OF a settled plan to debase the in.
tellect aud mock poor human nature"
We love the above writer but think
him too radical In this sweeping denun
cation. We believe that at least the
first cause OF the shutting up OF "all the
books IN the world within the stone
walls OF the monastery" was the savage
attacks Of the northern barbarians who
would have destroyed them by FIRE but
for this protection. AS time wore on,
however, and the nations had recovered
from the anarchical invasions Of bar.
harlan conquest and rule, the intellectual,
subsefvience and ignorance oil the peo-
pie was undoubtedly taken advantage
Of, and we find, after all, too much
Justification In the bitter exclamation OF
Todd. "And when the reformation held
up all these denominations to light, what
masterpiece was the last plan aid to
stiff. the reason forevefl The inquisi.
tom II was reared throughout the
Christian world: the decree, by a single
blow, prescribed between sixty and
seventy printing presses, and excom-
municated all VINO should ever read any
thing which they might produce. A
philosopher who, like Calico, could
pour light upon science and astouish the
world by his discoveries, must repeated
~ TALL into the cruel mercies OF the I'M
QUESTION. The ingenuity Of hell secured
tasked to invent methods by which the
human mind might be shut up In
| Egyptian darkness; and never has a
Catholic community been known TO be
other than degraded, ignorant, super
stitious and sunken. Let light in, and
| all who receive 1t rush to iniidelity. But
what a mass OF mind has been. and still
is, employed in upholding the systeml
| And what loss has II produced In
quenching, in everlasting darkness, the
uncounted millions OF glorious minds
which have been destroyed by III II
could find II In any heart 10 anathematize
any order OF men-and ! hope can
motif would be those who are thus
taking away the key Of knowledge and
preventing all within the compass OF
/ their influence from fulfilling the great
object for which they were created"
This IS sweeping and alasl much Is
too true; but Guizot says that, nothing
/ tortures history more than logic" and
we are often surprised to find that actual
results Of cratic principles are not al.
ways so grave as might be logically
apptehended. So In this case. a spirit
OF protest, natural 10 the human heart,
| kept alive a spark OF independence and
| love OF liberty that finally set ablaze-
not the fires Of the lnquisition but the
day dawn OF truth. OF manhood, and
pufer worship Of Christ, in the reiorma.
ton.
Some reproaeh the Middle Age
church ior her organized existence, be-
lieving that religion has no right TO
exercise exterior authority which IS al
most sure to result when thus organized.
We have no space here to discuss this
subject but we have pointed out In a
former article, that this organization was
an essential factor In the temporal sal
walton OF the invaded countries when
the empire fell under the Goths and
, other northern migrations. In that time
| OF dire anarchy the church still gave
men some form Of law TO cling unto.
And her policy was, after all, democratic
as well as vigorous, for she invited the
J capable OF all degrees to share her
| Offices oil trust. the poorest lad might
hope to occupy her highest chair.
And still she was ambitious and OPP
pressiye. Guizot, with all his kind
words Tor her, with all his defense and
| apology for her saysi "What she
undertook to govern was human
] thought, human liberty, private morals,
individual opinions And we claim that
in the exercise OF her usurped authority,
she was arrogant, crafty and unscrupu-
lous, caring little what laws were violat-
ed, human or divine, so long as It was
/ required to accomplish her designs.
| Thus when the sons OF Louis the Debon-
air rebelled against their father they
received the backing OF the Pope, who
| hoped thereby to dethrone the latter
Hallam thinks that this gave the Papacy
a taste OF tfampling on crowned heads
which II became eager to repeat. Later,
| In the quarrsls Of these same sons OF
Louis, Charles the Bald and Louis OF
Bavarid set bad example to future
| Popes by requesting council OF bishops
to sit in judgment on their conquered
| brother Lolhain, who was!adjudged by
| sh.s, 10 al nnnn IA fhWanes