The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1898-09-08
could not last long One or other
would have to give way.


would have to give way.
Lorenzo as personifying the State
was the first to surrender. The de-
bauched dictator was about to die.
he sent messenger for Savonarola's
presence and priestly blessing. Lor-
EMO was man with excellent COM
mon sense notwithstanding his bad
and sinful life and knowing that the
intercession of wretched padre would
have only infiamed and insulted an al
ready angry God he sought for tho
benediction of an honest, upright, and
righteous exponent of the life and eX-
amples of Christ. Savonarclas an
swer was worthy OF him. He offered
to help Lorenzo to the Throne of Grace
upon these three conditions. First.
Lorenzo was to make a declaration nf
faith in God and his Church. This
condition shows that Savonarola diff
fered largely from the subsequent ca
reer Of those reforrners of whom Luth-
er is probably the best type. savon-
arola unlike Luther never ceased to be
a Catholic In spirit, sympathy and af-
filiations. The second condition was
that Lorenzo was to restore to the peo-
pie all the illegal tribute he had wrung
from them in order to enrich his FAM
lily and to endow churches and to build
libraries. Thirdly he was to restore
also the political liberties of the Re-
public of Florence. Lorenzo gladly
offered to comply with the first of
these conditions, but he declined the
last two. Savonarola now left the
death chamber and the tyrant went to
Heaven without an exequatur.
Then soon after the death of Loren
20 the Magnificent holy boycott was
proclaimed from Rome against Saw
onarola. A secret society was or
ganized in Florence for the purposes
of his persecution. The pulpit from
which he uttered the truths of his
Creator was filled with the refuse and
the filth Of the streets. Nails were
hammered upwards so that their
points protruded through the pulpits
upon which he used to strike his
hands in driving home to the hearts
of men the great truths which inspired
him. He was eventually burned in the
public square of Florence, May 20.
1893.
Contrast the lives and characters of
the two men-of Lorenzo and the al
most forgotten friar-recall the accu-
rate application Of Lowells line
Truth forever on the scaffold; wrong
forever on the throne"
and wonderingly asked also whether
such can be as true OF Heaven as Il
unquestionably was Of the Medieval
despot. If SO We may well deny our
selves such place and prefer the COM
pany of those pious Italians who in
spite of every anathema still annually
strew with flowers the place where
Savonarola was crucified. II religion
is ever to recover the ground it seems
to have lost such viii only be done by
the clergy keeping the model of this
brave and immortal man steadily be-
fore their minds. The spectacle of a
modern Savonarola telling Rookie
feller or a Carnegie of his delinquencies
In the very temple which he had reared
and to his face would do more to re-
vive popular interest in the churches
than all the revivals and sermons and
Sunday schools Of whole century.
Bishop Potter attempted this role in a
mild way in st. Paul's Church In New
York in 1888 in the cases of the poll
ticians and in the presence of Pres
ident Harrison but his example feeble
though it was hasn't found among the
pastors of America one single imita-
tor.