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The History of Protestantis

James A. Wylie

A Voice from the Philadelphian Church Age

J. A. Wylie As I Knew Him

by C. A. Salmond, M.A., Edinburgh,
by Rev. James Aitken Wylie

Author of "The Papacy," "Daybreak in Spain," "Protestantism, the sacred cause of God's Light and Truth against the Devil's Falsity and Darkness."-Carlyle.

Cassell & Company, Limited:

London, Paris & New York.

Preface
James Aitken Wylie was born in Scotland in 1808. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD" (Psalm 37:23). His collegiate preparation was at Marischal College, Aberdeen (a North Sea port city and industrial center of northeastern Scotland) and at St. Andrews (Fife, East Scotland). "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth"(Lamentations 3:27) Though we could find no account of his conversion, he entered the Original Seccession Divinity Hall, Edinburgh (Scotland, the land of John Knox) in 1827, and was ordained to the Christian ministry in 1831; hence, the name "Rev. J. A. Wylie" is affixed to most of his written works. "And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus".

His disposition to use the pen as a mighty "Sword of the LORD" (Judges 7:18) is evidenced by his assumption of the sub-editorship of the Edinburgh "Witness" in 1846. "My tongue is the pen of a ready writer"(Psalm 45:1). In 1852, after joining the Free Church of Scotland-- which was only inaugurated in 1843 (Dr. Chalmers as moderator),insisting on the Crown Rights of King Jesus as the only Head and King of the Church-- Wylie edited their "Free Church Record" until 1860. "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage"(Galatians 5:1). The Protestant Institute appointed him Lecturer on Popery in 1860. He continued in this role until his death in 1890. "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" 2Corinthians 10:5)

Aberdeen University awarded him an honorary doctorate (LL.D.) in 1856."Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my LORD: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ" (Philippians 3:8).His travels took him to many of the far-flung places, where the events of Protestant history transpired. "So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also" (Romans 1:15). As a prominent spokesman for Protestantism, Dr. Wylie's writings included "The Papacy: Its History, Dogmas, Genius, and Prospects"-- which was awarded a prize by the Evangelical Alliance in 1851-- and, his best known writing, "The History of Protestantism" (1878). "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the Common Salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints" (Jude 3).

It is a solemn and sad reflection on the spiritual intelligence of our times that J. A. Wylie's classic, "The History of Protestantism" went out of publication in the 1920's."Little children, it is the Last Time: and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the Last Time" (1John 2:18). But-- "we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul" (Hebrews 10:39). And, wecontinueto "look for Him" (Hebrews 9:28)to come for us to cause us to "escape all these things" (Luke 21:36)in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, while we intently "occupy" (19:13)for Him in the Gospel fields, which are "white already to harvest" (John 4:35). "Even so, come[quickly], LORD Jesus" (Revelation 22:20).

Amen, and Amen.
BOOK FIRST

PROGRESS FROM THE FIRST TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY

<tbody>

Chapter 1	PROTESTANTISM Protestantism – The Seed of Arts, Letters, Free States, etc. – Its History a Grand Drama – Its Origin – Outside Humanity – A Great Creative Power – Protestantism Revived Christianity.</td> </tr>
Chapter 2</td>	<b>DECLENSION OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH Early Triumphs of the Truth – Causes – The Fourth Century – Early Simplicity lost – The Church remodeled on the Pattern of the Empire – Disputes regarding Easter-day – Descent of the Gothic Nations – Introduction of Pagan Rites into the Church – Acceleration of Corruption – Inability of the World all at once to receive the Gospel in its greatness.</td> </tr>
Chapter 3</td>	<b>DEVELOPMENT OF THE PAPACY FROM THE TIMES OF CONSTANTINE TO THOSE OF HILDEBRAND. Imperial Edicts – Prestige of Rome – Fall of the Western Empire – The Papacy seeks and finds a New Basis of Power – Christ's Vicar – Conversion of Gothic Nations – Pepin and Charlemagne – The Lombards and the Saracens – Forgeries and False Decretals – Election of the Roman Pontiff.</td> </tr>
Chapter 4</td>	<b>DEVELOPMENT OF THE PAPACY FROM GREGORY VII. TO BONIFACE VIII. The Wax of Investitures – Gregory VII. and Henry IV. – The Miter Triumphs over the Empire – Noon of the Papacy under Innocent III. – Continued to Boniface VIII. – First and Last Estate of the Roman Pastors Contrasted – Seven Centuries of Continuous Success – Interpreted by Some as a Proof that the Papacy is Divine – Reasons explaining this Marvelous Success – Eclipsed by the Gospel's Progress</td> </tr>
Chapter 5</td>	<b>MEDIAEVAL PROTESTANT WITNESSES. Ambrose of Milan – His Diocese – His Theology – Rufinus, Presbyter of Aquileia – Laurentius of Milan – The Bishops of the Grisons – Churches of Lombardy in Seventh and Eighth Centuries – Claude in the Ninth Century – His Labors – Outline of his Theology – His Doctrine of the Eucharist – His Battle against Images – His Views on the Roman Primacy – Proof thence arising – Councils in France approve his Views – Question of the Services of the Roman Church to the Western Nations.</td> </tr>
Chapter 6</td>	<b>THE WALDENSES – THEIR VALLEYS Submission of the Churches of Lombardy to Rome – The Old Faith maintained in the Mountains – The Waldensian Churches – Question of their Antiquity – Approach to their Mountains – Arrangement of their Valleys – Picture of blended Beauty and Grandeur.</td> </tr>
Chapter 7</td>	<b>THE WALDENSES – THEIR MISSIONS AND MARTYRDOMS Their Synod and College – Their Theological Tenets – Romaunt Version of the New Testament – The Constitution of their Church – Their Missionary Labors – Wide Diffusion of their Tenets – The Stone Smiting the Image.</td> </tr>
Chapter 8</td>	<b>THE PAULICIANS The Paulicians the Protesters against the Eastern, as the Waldenses against the Western Apostasy – Their Rise in A.D. 653 – Constantine of Samosata-Their Tenets Scriptural – Constantine Stoned to Death – Simeon Succeeds – Is put to Death – Sergius – His Missionary Travels – Terrible Persecutions-The Paulicians Rise in Arms – Civil War – The Government Triumphs – Dispersion of the Paulicians over the West – They Blend with the Waldenses – Movement in the South of Europe – The Troubadour, the Barbe, and the Bible, the Three Missionaries – Innocent III. – The Crusades.</td> </tr>
Chapter 9</td>	<b>CRUSADES AGAINST THE ALBIGENSES Rome founded on the Dogma of Persecution – Begins to act upon it – Territory of the Albigenses – Innocent III. – Persecuting Edicts of Councils – Crusade preached by the Monks of Citeaux – First Crusade launched – Paradise – Simon de Montfort – Raymond of Toulouse – His Territories Overrun and Devastated – Crusade against Raymond Roger of Beziers – Burning of his Towns – Massacre of their Inhabitants – Destruction of the Albigenses.</td> </tr>
Chapter 10</td>	<b>ERECTION OF TRIBUNAL OF INQUISITION The Crusades still continued in the Albigensian Territory – Council of Toulouse, 1229 – Organizes the Inquisition – Condemns the Reading of the Bible in the Vernacular – Gregory IX., 1233, further perfects the Organization of the Inquisition, and commits it to the Dominicans – The Crusades continued under the form of the Inquisition – These Butcheries the deliberate Act of Rome – Revived and Sanctioned by her in our own day – Protestantism of Thirteenth Century Crushed – Not alone – Final Ends.</td> </tr>
Chapter 11</td>	<b>PROTESTANTS BEFORE PROTESTANTISM Berengarius– The First Opponent of Transubstantiation – Numerous Councils Condemn him – His Recantation – The Martyrs of Orleans – Their Confession – Their Condemnation and Martyrdom – Peter de Bruys and the Petrobrusians – Henri – Effects of his Eloquence – St. Bernard sent to Oppose him – Henri Apprehended – His Fate unknown – Arnold of Brescia – Birth and Education – His Picture of his Times – His Scheme of Reform – Inveighs against the Wealth of the Hierarchy – His Popularity – Condemned by Innocent II. and Banished from Italy – Returns on the Pope's Death – Labors Ten Years in Rome – Demands the Separation of the Temporal and Spiritual Authority – Adrian IV. – He Suppresses the Movement – Arnold is Burned</td> </tr>
Chapter 12</td>	<b>ABELARD, AND RISE OF MODERN SKEPTICISM Number and Variety of Sects – One Faith – Who gave us the Bible? – Abelard of Paris – His Fame – Father of Modern Skepticism – The Parting of the Ways – Since Abelard three currents in Christendom – The Evangelical, the Ultramontane, the Skeptical.</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> BOOK FIRST PROGRESS FROM THE FIRST TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY CHAPTER 1 PROTESTANTISM Protestantism – The Seed of Arts, Letters, Free States, etc. – Its History a Grand Drama – Its Origin – Outside Humanity – A Great Creative Power – Protestantism Revived Christianity. THE History of Protestantism, which we propose to write, is no mere history of dogmas. The teachings of Christ are the seeds; the modern Christendom, with its new life, is the goodly tree which has sprung from them. We shall speak of the seed and then of the tree, so small at its beginning, but destined one day to cover the earth. How that seed was deposited in the soil; how the tree grew up and flourished despite the furious tempests that warred around it; how, century after century, it lifted its top higher in heaven, and spread its boughs wider around, sheltering liberty, nursing letters, fostering art, and gathering a fraternity of prosperous and powerful nations around it, it will be our business in the following pages to show. Meanwhile we wish it to be noted that this is what we understand by the Protestantism on the history of which we are now entering. Viewed thus – and any narrower view would be untrue alike to philosophy and to fact – the History of Protestantism is the record of one of the grandest dramas of all time. It is true, no doubt, that Protestantism, strictly viewed, is simply a principle. It is not a policy. It is not an empire, having its fleets and armies, its officers and tribunals, wherewith to extend its dominion and make its authority be obeyed. It is not even a Church with its hierarchies, and synods and edicts; it is simply a principle. But it is the greatest of all principles. It is a creative power. Its plastic influence is all-embracing. It penetrates into the heart and renews the individual. It goes down to the depths and, by its omnipotent but noiseless energy, vivifies and regenerates society. It thus becomes the creator of all that is true, and lovely, and great; the founder of free kingdoms, and the mother of pure churches. The globe itself it claims as a stage not too wide for the manifestation of its beneficent action; and the whole domain of terrestrial affairs it deems a sphere not too vast to fill with its spirit, and rule by its law. Whence came this principle? The name Protestantism is very recent: the thing itself is very ancient. The term Protestantism is scarcely older than 350 years. It dates from the protest which the Lutheran princes gave in to the Diet of Spires in 1529. Restricted to its historical signification, Protestantism is purely negative. It only defines the attitude taken up, at a great historical era, by one party in Christendom with reference to another party. But had this been all, Protestantism would have had no history. Had it been purely negative, it would have begun and ended with the men who assembled at the German town in the year already specified. The new world that has come out of it is the proof that at the bottom of this protest was a great principle which it has pleased Providence to fertilize, and make the seed of those grand, beneficent, and enduring achievements which have made the past three centuries in many respects the most eventful and wonderful in history. The men who handed in this protest did not wish to create a mere void. If they disowned the creed and threw off the yoke of Rome, it was that they might plant a purer faith and restore the government of a higher Law. They replaced the authority of the Infallibility with the authority of the Word of God. The long and dismal obscuration of centuries they dispelled, that the twin stars of liberty and knowledge might shine forth, and that, conscience being unbound, the intellect might awake from its deep somnolency, and human society, renewing its youth, might, after its halt of a thousand years, resume its march towards its high goal. We repeat the question – Whence came this principle? And we ask our readers to mark well the answer, for it is the key-note to the whole of our vast subject, and places us, at the very outset, at the springs of that long narration on which we are now entering. Protestantism is not solely the outcome of human progress; it is no mere principle of perfectibility inherent in humanity, and ranking as one of its native powers, in virtue of which when society becomes corrupt it can purify itself, and when it is arrested in its course by some external force, or stops from exhaustion, it can recruit its energies and set forward anew on its path. It is neither the product of the individual reason, nor the result of the joint thought and energies of the species. Protestantism is a principle which has its origin outside human society: it is a Divine graft on the intellectual and moral nature of man, whereby new vitalities and forces are introduced into it, and the human stem yields henceforth a nobler fruit. It is the descent of a heaven-born influence which allies itself with all the instincts and powers of the individual, with all the laws and cravings of society, and which, quickening both the individual and the social being into a new life, and directing their efforts to nobler objects, permits the highest development of which humanity is capable, and the fullest possible accomplishment of all its grand ends. In a word, Protestantism is revived Christianity. CHAPTER 2 DECLENSION OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH Early Triumphs of the Truth – Causes – The Fourth Century – Early Simplicity lost – The Church remodeled on the Pattern of the Empire – Disputes regarding Easter-day – Descent of the Gothic Nations – Introduction of Pagan Rites into the Church – Acceleration of Corruption – Inability of the World all at once to receive the Gospel in its greatness. ALL through, from the fifth to the fifteenth century, the Lamp of Truth burned dimly in the sanctuary of Christendom. Its flame often sank low, and appeared about to expire, yet never did it wholly go out. God remembered His covenant with the light, and set bounds to the darkness. Not only had this heaven-kindled lamp its period of waxing and waning, like those luminaries that God has placed on high, but like them, too, it had its appointed circuit to accomplish. Now it was on the cities of Northern Italy that its light was seen to fall; and now its rays illumined the plains of Southern France. Now it shone along the course of the Danube and the Moldau, or tinted the pale shores of England, or shed its glory upon the Scottish Hebrides. Now it was on the summits of the Alps that it was seen to burn, spreading a gracious morning on the mountain-tops, and giving promise of the sure approach of day. And then, anon, it would bury itself in the deep valleys of Piedmont, and seek shelter from the furious tempests of persecution behind the great rocks and the eternal snows of the everlasting hills. Let us briefly trace the growth of this truth to the days of Wicliffe. The spread of Christianity during the first three centuries was rapid and extensive. The main causes that contributed to this were the translation of the Scriptures into the languages of the Roman world, the fidelity and zeal of the preachers of the Gospel, and the heroic deaths of the martyrs. It was the success of Christianity that first set limits to its progress. It had received a terrible blow, it is true, under Diocletian. This, which was the most terrible of all the early persecutions, had, in the belief of the Pagans, utterly exterminated the "Christian superstition" So far from this, it had but afforded the Gospel an opportunity of giving to the world a mightier proof of its divinity. It rose from the stakes and massacres of Diocletian, to begin a new career, in which it was destined to triumph over the empire which thought that it had crushed it. Dignities and wealth now flowed in upon its ministers and disciples, and according to the uniform testimony of all the early historians, the faith which had maintained its purity and rigor in the humble sanctuaries and lowly position of the first age, and amid the fires of its pagan persecutors, became corrupt and waxed feeble amid the gorgeous temples and the worldly dignities which imperial favor had lavished upon it. From the fourth century the corruptions of the Christian Church continued to make marked and rapid progress. The Bible began to be hidden from the people. And in proportion as the light, which is the surest guarantee of liberty, was withdrawn, the clergy usurped authority over the members of the Church. The canons of councils were put in the room of the one infallible Rule of Faith; and thus the first stone was laid in the foundations of "Babylon, that great city, that made all nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." The ministers of Christ began to affect titles of dignity, and to extend their authority and jurisdiction to temporal matters, forgetful that an office bestowed by God, and serviceable to the highest interests of society, can never fail of respect when filled by men of exemplary character, sincerely devoted to the discharge of its duties. The beginning of this matter seemed innocent enough. To obviate pleas before the secular tribunals, ministers were frequently asked to arbitrate in disputes between members of the Church, and Constantine made a law confirming all such decisions in the consistories of the clergy, and shutting out the review of their sentences by the civil judges. 1 Proceeding in this fatal path, the next step was to form the external polity of the Church upon the model of the civil government. Four vice-kings or prefects governed the Roman Empire under Constantine, and why, it was asked, should not a similar arrangement be introduced into the Church? Accordingly the Christian world was divided into four great dioceses; over each diocese was set a patriarch, who governed the whole clergy of his domain, and thus arose four great thrones or princedoms in the House of God. Where there had been a brotherhood, there was now a hierarchy; and from the lofty chair of the Patriarch, a gradation of rank, and a subordination of authority and office, ran down to the lowly state and contracted sphere of the Presbyter 2 It was splendor of rank, rather than the fame of learning and the luster of virtue, that henceforward conferred distinction on the ministers of the Church. Such an arrangement was not fitted to nourish spirituality of mind, or humility of disposition, or peacefulness of temper. The enmity and violence of the persecutor, the clergy had no longer cause to dread; but the spirit of faction which now took possession of the dignitaries of the Church awakened vehement disputes and fierce contentions, which disparaged the authority and sullied the glory of the sacred office. The emperor himself was witness to these unseemly spectacles. "I entreat you," we find him pathetically saying to the fathers of the Council of Nice, "beloved ministers of God, and servants of our Savior Jesus Christ, take away the cause of our dissension and disagreement, establish peace among yourselves." 3 While the, "living oracles" were neglected, the zeal of the clergy began to spend itself upon rites and ceremonies borrowed from the pagans. These were multiplied to such a degree, that Augustine complained that they were "less tolerable than the yoke of the Jews under the law." 4 At this period the Bishops of Rome wore costly attire, gave sumptuous banquets, and when they went abroad were carried in litters 5 They now began to speak with an authoritative voice, and to demand obedience from all the Churches. Of this the dispute between the Eastern and Western Churches respecting Easter is an instance in point. The Eastern Church, following the Jews, kept the feast on the 14th day of the month Nisan 6 – the day of the Jewish Passover. The Churches of the West, and especially that of Rome, kept Easter on the Sabbath following the 14th day of Nisan. Victor, Bishop of Rome, resolved to put an end to the controversy, and accordingly, sustaining himself sole judge in this weighty point, he commanded all the Churches to observe the feast on the same day with himself. The Churches of the East, not aware that the Bishop of Rome had authority to command their obedience in this or in any other matter, kept Easter as before; and for this flagrant contempt, as Victor accounted it, of his legitimate authority, he excommunicated them. 7 They refused to obey a human ordinance, and they were shut out from the kingdom of the Gospel. This was the first peal of those thunders which were in after times to roll so often and so terribly from the Seven Hills. Riches, flattery, deference, continued to wait upon the Bishop of Rome. The emperor saluted him as Father; foreign Churches sustained him as judge in their disputes; heresiarchs sometimes fled to him for sanctuary; those who had favors to beg extolled his piety, or affected to follow his customs; and it is not surprising that his pride and ambition, fed by continual incense, continued to grow, till at last the presbyter of Rome, from being a vigilant pastor of a single congregation, before whom he went in and out, teaching them from house to house, preaching to them the Word of Life, serving the Lord with all humility in many tears and temptations that befell him, raised his seat above his equals, mounted the throne of the patriarch, and exercised lordship over the heritage of Christ. The gates of the sanctuary once forced, the stream of corruption continued to flow with ever-deepening volume. The declensions in doctrine and worship already introduced had changed the brightness of the Church's morning into twilight; the descent of the Northern nations, which, beginning in the fifth, continued through several successive centuries, converted that twilight into night. The new tribes had changed their country, but not their superstitions; and, unhappily, there was neither zeal nor vigor in the Christianity of the age to effect their instruction and their genuine conversion. The Bible had been withdrawn; in the pulpit fable had usurped the place of truth; holy lives, whose silent eloquence might have won upon the barbarians, were rarely exemplified; and thus, instead of the Church dissipating the superstitions that now encompassed her like a cloud, these superstitions all but quenched her own light. She opened her gates to receive the new peoples as they were. She sprinkled them with the baptismal water; she inscribed their names in her registers; she taught them in their invocations to repeat the titles of the Trinity; but the doctrines of the Gospel, which alone can enlighten the understanding, purify the heart, and enrich the life with virtue, she was little careful to inculcate upon them. She folded them within her pale, but they were scarcely more Christian than before, while she was greatly less so. <p>From the sixth century down-wards Christianity was a mongrel system, made up of pagan rites revived from classic times, of superstitions imported from the forests of Northern Germany, and of Christian beliefs and observances which continued to linger in the Church from primitive and purer times. The inward power of religion was lost; and it was in vain that men strove to supply its place by the outward form. They nourished their piety not at the living fountains of truth, but with the "beggarly elements" of ceremonies and relics, of consecrated lights and holy vestments. Nor was it Divine knowledge only that was contemned; men forbore to cultivate letters, or practice virtue. Baronius confesses that in the sixth century few in Italy were skilled in both Greek and Latin. Nay, even Gregory the Great acknowledged that he was ignorant of Greek. "The main qualifications of the clergy were, that they should be able to read well, sing their matins, know the Lord's Prayer, psalter, forms of exorcism, and understand how to compute the times of the sacred festivals. Nor were they very sufficient for this, if we may believe the account some have given of them. Musculus says that many of them never saw the Scriptures in all their lives. It would seem incredible, but it is delivered by no less an authority than Amama, that an Archbishop of Mainz, lighting upon a Bible and looking into it, expressed himself thus: 'Of a truth I do not know what book this is, but I perceive everything in it is against us.'" 8 Apostasy is like the descent of heavy bodies, it proceeds with ever-accelerating velocity. First, lamps were lighted at the tombs of the martyrs; next, the Lord's Supper was celebrated at their graves; next, prayers were offered for them and to them; 9 next, paintings and images began to disfigure the walls, and corpses to pollute the floors of the churches. Baptism, which apostles required water only to dispense, could not be celebrated without white robes and chrism, milk, honey, and salt. 10 Then came a crowd of church officers whose names and numbers are in striking contrast to the few and simple orders of men who were employed in the first propagation of Christianity. There were sub-deacons, acolytes, exorcists, readers, choristers, and porters; and as work must be found for this motley host of laborers, there came to be fasts and exorcisms; there were lamps to be lighted, altars to be arranged, and churches to be consecrated; there was the Eucharist to be carried to the dying; and there were the dead to be buried, for which a special order of men was set apart. When one looked back to the simplicity of early times, it could not but amaze one to think what a cumbrous array of curious machinery and costly furniture was now needed for the service of Christianity. Not more stinging than true was the remark that "when the Church had golden chalices she had wooden priests." So far, and through these various stages, had the declension of the Church proceeded. The point she had now reached may be termed an epochal one. From the line on which she stood there was no going back; she must advance into the new and unknown regions before her, though every step would carry her farther from the simple form and vigorous life of her early days. She had received a new impregnation from an alien principle, the same, in fact, from which had sprung the great systems that covered the earth before Christianity arose. This principle could not be summarily extirpated; it must run its course, it must develop itself logically; and having, in the course of centuries, brought its fruits to maturity, it would then, but not till then, perish and pass away. Looking back at this stage to the change which had come over the Church, we cannot fail to see that its deepest originating cause must be sought, in the inability of the world to receive the Gospel in all its greatness. It was a boon too mighty and too free to be easily understood or credited by man. The angels in their midnight song in the vale of Bethlehem had defined it briefly as sublimely, "goodwill to man." Its greatest preacher, the Apostle Paul, had no other definition to give of it. It was not even a rule of life but "grace," the "grace of God," and therefore sovereign, and boundless. To man fallen and undone the Gospel offered a full forgiveness, and a complete spiritual renovation, issuing at length in the inconceivable and infinite felicity of the Life Eternal. But man's narrow heart could not enlarge itself to God's vast beneficence. A good so immense, so complete in its nature, and so boundless in its extent, he could not believe that God would bestow without money and without price; there must be conditions or qualifications. So he reasoned. And hence it is that the moment inspired men cease to address us, and that their disciples and scholars take their place – men of apostolic spirit and doctrine, no doubt, but without the direct knowledge of their predecessors – we become sensible of a change; an eclipse has passed upon the exceeding glory of the Gospel. As we pass from Paul to Clement, and from Clement to the Fathers that succeeded him, we find the Gospel becoming less of grace and more of merit. The light wanes as we travel down the Patristic road, and remove ourselves farther from the Apostolic dawn. It continues for some time at least to be the same Gospel, but its glory is shorn, its mighty force is abated; and we are reminded of the change that seems to pass upon the sun, when after contemplating him in a tropical hemisphere, we see him in a northern sky, where his slanting beams, forcing their way through mists and vapors, are robbed of half their splendor. Seen through the fogs of the Patristic age, the Gospel scarcely looks the same which had burst upon the world without a cloud but a few centuries before. This disposition – that of making God less free in His gift, and man less dependent in the reception of it: the desire to introduce the element of merit on the side of man, and the element of condition on the side of God – operated at last in opening the door for the pagan principle to creep back into the Church. A change of a deadly and subtle kind passed upon the worship. Instead of being the spontaneous thanksgiving and joy of the soul, that no more evoked or repaid the blessings which awakened that joy than the odors which the flowers exhale are the cause of their growth, or the joy that kindles in the heart of man when the sun rises is the cause of his rising – worship, we say, from being the expression of the soul's emotions, was changed into a rite, a rite akin to those of the Jewish temples, and still more akin to those of the Greek mythology, a rite in which lay couched a certain amount of human merit and inherent efficacy, that partly created, partly applied the blessings with which it stood connected. This was the moment when the pagan virus inoculated the Christian institution. This change brought a multitude of others in its train. Worship being transformed into sacrifice – sacrifice in which was the element of expiation and purification – the "teaching ministry" was of course converted into a "sacrificing priesthood." When this had been done, there was no retreating; a boundary had been reached which could not be recrossed till centuries had rolled away, and transformations of a more portentous kind than any which had yet taken place had passed upon the Church. CHAPTER 3 Table of Contents DEVELOPMENT OF THE PAPACY FROM THE TIMES OF CONSTANTINE TO THOSE OF HILDEBRAND. Imperial Edicts – Prestige of Rome – Fall of the Western Empire – The Papacy seeks and finds a New Basis of Power – Christ's Vicar – Conversion of Gothic Nations – Pepin and Charlemagne – The Lombards and the Saracens – Forgeries and False Decretals – Election of the Roman Pontiff. BEFORE opening our great theme it may be needful to sketch the rise and development of the Papacy as a politico-ecclesiastical power. The history on which we are entering, and which we must rapidly traverse, is one of the most wonderful in the world. It is scarcely possible to imagine humbler beginnings than those from which the Papacy arose, and certainly it is not possible to imagine a loftier height than that to which it eventually climbed. He who was seen in the first century presiding as the humble pastor over a single congregation, and claiming no rank above his brethren, is beheld in the twelfth century occupying a seat from which he looks down on all the thrones temporal and spiritual of Christendom. How, we ask with amazement, was the Papacy able to traverse the mighty space that divided the humble pastor from the mitered king? We traced in the foregoing chapter the decay of doctrine and manners within the Church. Among the causes which contributed to the exaltation of the Papacy this declension may be ranked as fundamental, seeing it opened the door for other deteriorating influences, and mightily favored their operation. Instead of "reaching forth to what was before," the Christian Church permitted herself to be overtaken by the spirit of the ages that lay behind her. There came an after-growth of Jewish ritualism, of Greek philosophy, and of Pagan ceremonialism and idolatry; and, as the consequence of this threefold action, the clergy began to be gradually changed, as already mentioned, from a "teaching ministry" to a "sacrificing priesthood." This made them no longer ministers or servants of their fellow-Christians; they took the position of a caste, claiming to be superior to the laity, invested with mysterious powers, the channels of grace, and the mediators with God. Thus there arose a hierarchy, assuming to mediate between God and men. The hierarchical polity was the natural concomitant of the hierarchical doctrine. That polity was so consolidated by the time that the empire became Christian, and Constantine ascended the throne (311), that the Church now stood out as a body distinct from the State; and her new organization, subsequently received, in imitation of that of the empire, as stated in the previous chapter, helped still further to define and strengthen her hierarchical government. Still, the primacy of Rome was then a thing unheard of. Manifestly the 300 Fathers who assembled (A.D. 325) at Nicaea knew nothing of it, for in their sixth and seventh canons they expressly recognize the authority of the Churches of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and others, each within its own boundaries, even as Rome had jurisdiction within its limits; and enact that the jurisdiction and privileges of these Churches shall be retained. 1 Under Leo the Great (440 – 461) a forward step was taken. The Church of Rome assumed the form and exercised the sway of an ecclesiastical principality, while her head, in virtue of an imperial manifesto (445) of Valentinian III., which recognized the Bishop of Rome as supreme over the Western Church, affected, the authority and pomp of a spiritual sovereign. Still further, the ascent of the Bishop of Rome to the supremacy was silently yet Powerfully aided by that mysterious and subtle influence which appeared to be indigenous to the soil on which his chair was placed. In an age when the rank of the city determined the rank of its pastor, it was natural that the Bishop of Rome should hold something of that pre-eminence among the clergy which Rome held among cities. Gradually the reverence and awe with which men had regarded the old mistress of the world, began to gather round the person and the chair of her bishop. It was an age of factions and strifes, and the eyes of the contending parties naturally turned to the pastor of the Tiber. They craved his advice, or they submitted their differences to his judgment. These applications the Roman Bishop was careful to register as acknowledgments of his superiority, and on fitting occasions he was not forgetful to make them the basis of new and higher claims. The Latin race, moreover, retained the practical habits for which it had so long been renowned; and while the Easterns, giving way to their speculative genius, were expending their energies in controversy, the Western Church was steadily pursuing her onward path, and skillfully availing herself of everything that could tend to enhance her influence and extend her jurisdiction. The removal of the seat of empire from Rome to the splendid city on the Bosphorus, Constantinople, which the emperor had built with becoming magnificence for his residence, also tended to enhance the power of the Papal chair. It removed from the side of the Pope a functionary by whom he was eclipsed, and left him the first person in the old capital of the world. The emperor had departed, but the prestige of the old city – the fruit of countless victories, and of ages of dominion – had not departed. The contest which had been going on for some time among the five great patriarchates – Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Constantinople, and Rome – the question at issue being the same as that which provoked the contention among the disciples of old, "which was the greatest," was now restricted to the last two. The city on the Bosphorus was the seat of government, and the abode of the emperor; this gave her patriarch Powerful claims. But the city on the banks of the Tiber wielded a mysterious and potent charm over the imagination, as the heir of her who had been the possessor of all the power, of all the glory, and of all the dominion of the past; and this vast prestige enabled her patriarch to carry the day. As Rome was the one city in the earth, so her bishop was the one bishop in the Church. <p>A century and a half later (606), this pre-eminence was decreed to the Roman Bishop in an imperial edict of Phocas. Thus, before the Empire of the West fell, the Bishop of Rome had established substantially his spiritual supremacy. An influence of a manifold kind, of which not the least part was the prestige of the city and the empire, had lifted him to this fatal pre-eminence. But now the time has come when the empire must fall, and we expect to see that supremacy which it had so largely helped to build up fall with it. But no! The wave of barbarism which rolled in from the North, overwhelming society and sweeping away the empire, broke harmlessly at the feet of the Bishop of Rome. The shocks that overturned dynasties and blotted out nationalities, left his power untouched, his seat unshaken. Nay, it was at that very hour, when society was perishing around him, that the Bishop of Rome laid anew the foundations of his power, and placed them where they might remain immovable for all time. He now cast himself on a far stronger element than any the revolution had swept away. He now claimed to be the successor of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and the Vicar of Christ. The canons of Councils, as recorded in Hardouin, show a stream of decisions from Pope Celestine, in the middle of the fifth century, to Pope Boniface II. in the middle of the sixth, claiming, directly or indirectly, this august prerogative. 2 When the Bishop of Rome placed his chair, with all the prerogatives and dignities vested in it, upon this ground, he stood no longer upon a merely imperial foundation. Henceforward he held neither of Caesar nor of Rome; he held immediately of Heaven. What one emperor had given, another emperor might take away. It did not suit the Pope to hold his office by so uncertain a tenure. He made haste, therefore, to place his supremacy where no future decree of emperor, no lapse of years, and no coming revolution could overturn it. He claimed to rest it upon a Divine foundation; he claimed to be not merely the chief of bishops and the first of patriarchs, but the vicar Of the Most High God. With the assertion of this dogma the system of the Papacy was completed essentially and doctrinally, but not as yet practically. It had to wait the full development of the idea of vicarship, which was not till the days of Gregory VII. But here have we the embryotic seed – the vicarship, namely – out of which the vast structure of the Papacy has sprung. This it is that plants at the center of the system a pseudo-divine jurisdiction, and places the Pope above all bishops with their flocks, above all king with their subjects. This it is that gives the Pope two swords. This it is that gives him three crowns. The day when this dogma was proclaimed was the true birthday of the Popedom. The Bishop of Rome had till now sat in the seat of Caesar; henceforward he was to sit in the seat of God. From this time the growth of the Popedom was rapid indeed. The state of society favored its development. Night had descended upon the world from the North; and in the universal barbarism, the more prodigious any pretensions were, the more likely were they to find both belief and submission. The Goths, on arriving in their new settlements, beheld a religion which was served by magnificent cathedrals, imposing rites, and wealthy and powerful prelates, presided over by a chief priest, in whose reputed sanctity and ghostly authority they found again their own chief Druid. These rude warriors, who had overturned the throne of the Caesars, bowed down before the chair of the Popes. The evangelization of these tribes was a task of easy accomplishment. The "Catholic faith," which they began to exchange for their Paganism or Arianism, consisted chiefly in their being able to recite the names of the objects of their worship, which they were left to adore with much the same rites as they had practiced in their native forests. They did not much concern themselves with the study of Christian doctrine, or the practice of Christian virtue. The age furnished but few manuals of the one, and still fewer models of the other. The first of the Gothic princes to enter the Roman communion was Clovis, King of the Franks. In fulfillment of a vow which he had made on the field of Tolbiac, where he vanquished the Allemanni, Clovis was baptized in the Cathedral of Rheims (496), with every circumstance of solemnity which could impress a sense of the awfulness of the rite on the minds of its rude proselytes. Three thousand of his warlike subjects were baptized along with him. 3 The Pope styled him "the eldest son of the Church," a title which was regularly adopted by all the subsequent Kings of France. When Clovis ascended from the baptismal font he was the only as well as the eldest son of the Church, for he alone, of all the new chiefs that now governed the West, had as yet submitted to the baptismal rite. The threshold once crossed, others were not slow to follow. In the next century, the sixth, the Burgundians of Southern Gaul, the Visigoths of Spain, the Suevi of Portugal, and the Anglo-Saxons of Britain entered the pale of Rome. In the seventh century the disposition was still growing among the princes of Western Europe to submit themselves and refer their disputes to the Pontiff as their spiritual father. National assemblies were held twice a year, under the sanction of the bishops. The prelates made use of these gatherings to procure enactments favorable to the propagation of the faith as held by Rome. These assemblies were first encouraged, then enjoined by the Pope, who came in this way to be regarded as a sort of Father or protector of the states of the West. Accordingly we find Sigismund, King of Burgundy, ordering (554) that all assembly should be held for the future on the 6th of September every year, "at which time the ecclesiastics are not so much engrossed with the worldly cares of husbandry." 4 The ecclesiastical conquest of Germany was in this century completed, and thus the spiritual dominions of the Pope were still farther extended. In the eighth century there came a moment of supreme peril to Rome. At almost one and the same time she was menaced by two dangers, which threatened to sweep her out of existence, but which, in their issue, contributed to strengthen her dominion. On the west the victorious Saracens, having crossed the Pyrenees and overrun the south of France, were watering their steeds at the Loire, and threatening to descend upon Italy and plant the Crescent in the room of the Cross. On the north, the Lombards – who, under Alboin, had established themselves in Central Italy two centuries before – had burst the barrier of the Apennines, and were brandishing their swords at the gates of Rome. They were on the point of replacing Catholic orthodoxy with the creed of Arianism. Having taken advantage of the iconoclast disputes to throw off the imperial yoke, the Pope could expect no aid from the Emperor of Constantinople. He turned his eyes to France. The prompt and powerful interposition of the Frankish arms saved the Papal chair, now in extreme jeopardy. The intrepid Charles Martel drove back the Saracens (732), and Pepin, the Mayor of the palace, son of Charles Martel, who had just seized the throne, and needed the Papal sanction to color his usurpation, with equal promptitude hastened to the Pope's help (Stephen II.) against the Lombards (754). Having vanquished them, he placed the keys of their towns upon the altar of St. Peter, and so laid the first foundation of the Pope's temporal sovereignty. The yet more illustrious son of Pepin, Charlemagne, had to repeat this service in the Pope's behalf. The Lombards becoming again troublesome, Charlemagne subdued them a second time. After his campaign he visited Rome (774). The youth of the city, bearing olive and palm branches, met him at the gates, the Pope and the clergy received him in the vestibule of St. Peter's, and entering "into the sepulcher where the bones of the apostles lie," he finally ceded to the pontiff the territories of the conquered tribes. 5 It was in this way that Peter obtained his "patrimony," the Church her dowry, and the Pope his triple crown. The Pope had now attained two of the three grades of power that constitute his stupendous dignity. He had made himself a bishop of bishops, head of the Church, and he had become a crowned monarch. Did this content him? No! He said, "I will ascend the sides of the mount; I will plant my throne above the stars; I will be as God." Not content with being a bishop of bishops, and so governing the whole spiritual affairs of Christendom, he aimed at becoming a king of kings, and so of governing the whole temporal affairs of the world. He aspired to supremacy, sole, absolute, and unlimited. This alone was wanting to complete that colossal fabric of power, the Popedom, and towards this the pontiff now began to strive. Some of the arts had recourse to in order to grasp the coveted dignity were of an extraordinary kind. An astounding document, purporting to have been written in the fourth century, although unheard of till now, was in the year 776 brought out of the darkness in which it had been so long suffered to remain. It was the "Donation" or Testament of the Emperor Constantine. Constantine, says the legend, found Sylvester in one of the monasteries on Mount Soracte, and having mounted him on a mule, he took hold of his bridle rein, and walking all the way on foot, the emperor conducted Sylvester to Rome, and placed him upon the Papal throne. But this was as nothing compared with the vast and splendid inheritance which Constantine conferred on him, as the following quotation from the deed of gift to which we have referred will show: – "We attribute to the See of Peter all the dignity, all the glory, all the authority of the imperial power. Furthermore, we give to Sylvester and to his successors our palace of the Lateran, which is incontestably the finest palace on the earth; we give him our crown, our miter, our diadem, and all our imperial vestments; we transfer to him the imperial dignity. We bestow on the holy Pontiff in free gift the city of Rome, and all the western cities of Italy. To cede precedence to him, we divest ourselves of our authority over all those provinces, and we withdraw from Rome, transferring the seat of our empire to Byzantium; inasmuch as it is not proper that an earthly emperor should preserve the least authority, where God hath established the head of his religion." 6 A rare piece of modesty this on the part of the Popes, to keep this invaluable document beside them for 400 years, and never say a word about it; and equally admirable the policy of selecting the darkness of the eighth century as the fittest time for its publication. To quote it is to refute it. It was probably forged a little before A.D. 754. It was composed to repel the Longobards on the one side, and the Greeks on the other, and to influence the mind of Pepin. In it, Constantine is made to speak in the Latin of the eighth century, and to address Bishop Sylvester as Prince of the Apostles, Vicar of Christ, and as having authority over the four great thrones, not yet set up, of Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Constantinople. It was probably written by a priest of the Lateran Church, and it gained its object – that is, it led Pepin to bestow on the Pope the Exarchate of Ravenna, with twenty towns to furnish oil for the lamps in the Roman churches. During more than 600 years Rome impressively cited this deed of gift, inserted it in her codes, permitted none to question its genuineness, and burned those who refused to believe in it. The first dawn of light in the sixteenth century sufficed to discover the cheat. In the following century another document of a like extraordinary character was given to the world. We refer to the "Decretals of Isidore." These were concocted about the year 845. They professed to be a collection of the letters, rescripts, and bulls of the early pastors of the Church of Rome – Anacletus, Clement, and others, down to Sylvester – the very men to whom the terms "rescript" and "bull" were unknown. The burden of this compilation was the pontifical supremacy, which it affirmed had existed from the first age. It was the clumsiest, but the most successful, of all the forgeries which have emanated from what the Greeks have reproachfully termed "the native home of inventions and falsifications of documents." The writer, who professed to be living in the first century, painted the Church of Rome in the magnificence which she attained only in the ninth; and made the pastors of the first age speak in the pompous words of the Popes of the Middle Ages. Abounding in absurdities, contradictions, and anachronisms, it affords a measure of the intelligence of the age that accepted it as authentic. It was eagerly laid hold of by Nicholas I. to prop up and extend the fabric of his power. His successors made it the arsenal from which they drew their weapons of attack against both bishops and kings. It became the foundation of the canon law, and continues to be so, although there is not now a Popish writer who does not acknowledge it to be a piece of imposture. "Never," says Father de Rignon, "was there seen a forgery so audacious, so extensive, so solemn, so persevering." 7Yet the discovery of the fraud has not shaken the system. The learned Dupin supposes that these decretals were fabricated by Benedict, a deacon of Mainz, who was the first to publish them, and that, to give them greater currency, he prefixed to them the name of Isidore, a bishop who flourished in Seville in the seventh century. "Without the pseudo-Isidore," says Janus, "there could have been no Gregory VII. The Isidorian forgeries were the broad foundation which the Gregorians built upon." 8 All the while the Papacy was working on another line for the emancipation of its chief from interference and control, whether on the side of the people or on the side of the kings. In early times the bishops were elected by the people. 9 By-and-by they came to be elected by the clergy, with consent of the people; but gradually the people were excluded from all share in the matter, first in the Eastern Church, and then in the Western, although traces of popular election are found at Milan so late as the eleventh century. The election of the Bishop of Rome in early times was in no way different from that of other bishops – that is, he was chosen by the people. Next, the consent of the emperor came to be necessary to the validity of the popular choice. Then, the emperor alone elected the Pope. Next, the cardinals claimed a voice in the matter; they elected and presented the object of their choice to the emperor for confirmation. Last of all, the cardinals took the business entirely into their own hands. Thus gradually was the way paved for the full emancipation and absolute supremacy of the Popedom. CHAPTER 4 DEVELOPMENT OF THE PAPACY FROM GREGORY VII. TO BONIFACE VIII. The Wax of Investitures – Gregory VII. and Henry IV. – The Miter Triumphs over the Empire – Noon of the Papacy under Innocent III. – Continued to Boniface VIII. – First and Last Estate of the Roman Pastors Contrasted – Seven Centuries of Continuous Success – Interpreted by Some as a Proof that the Papacy is Divine – Reasons explaining this Marvelous Success – Eclipsed by the Gospel's Progress WE come now to the last great struggle. There lacked one grade of power to complete and crown this stupendous fabric of dominion. The spiritual Supremacy was achieved in the seventh century, the temporal sovereignty was attained in the eighth; it wanted only the pontifical supremacy – sometimes, although improperly, styled the temporal supremacy to make the Pope supreme over kings, as he had already become over peoples and bishops, and to vest in him a jurisdiction that has not its like on earth – a jurisdiction that is unique, inasmuch as it arrogates all powers, absorbs all rights, and spurns all limits. Destined, before terminating its career, to crush beneath its iron foot thrones and nations, and masking an ambition as astute as Lucifer's with a dissimulation as profound, this power advanced at first with noiseless steps, and stole upon the world as night steals upon it; but as it neared the goal its strides grew longer and swifter, till at last it vaulted over the throne of monarchs into the seat of God. This great war we shall now proceed to consider. When the Popes, at an early stage, claimed to be the vicars of Christ, they virtually challenged that boundless jurisdiction of which their proudest era beheld them in actual possession. But they knew that it would be imprudent, indeed impossible, as yet to assert it in actual fact. Their motto was Spes messis in semine. Discerning "the harvest in the seed," they were content meanwhile to lodge the principle of supremacy in their creed, and in the general mind of Europe, knowing that future ages would fructify and ripen it. Towards this they began to work quietly, yet skillfully and perseveringly. At length came overt and open measures. It was now the year 1073. The Papal chair was filled by perhaps the greatest of all the Popes, Gregory VII., the noted Hildebrand. Daring and ambitious beyond all who had preceded, and beyond most of those who have followed him on the Papal throne, Gregory fully grasped the great idea of Theocracy. He held that the reign of the Pope was but another name for the reign of God, and he resolved never to rest till that idea had been realized in the subjection of all authority and power, spiritual and temporal, to the chair of Peter. "When he drew out," says Janus, "the whole system of Papal omnipotence in twenty-seven theses in his 'Dictatus,' these theses were partly mere repetitions or corollaries of the Isidorian decretals; partly he and his friends sought to give them the appearance of tradition and antiquity by new fictions." [[#4-1\|1] We may take the following as samples. The eleventh maxim says, "the Pope's name is the chief name in the world;" the twelfth teaches that "it is lawful for him to depose emperors;" the eighteenth affirms that "his decision is to be withstood by none, but he alone may annul those of all men." The nineteenth declares that "he can be judged by no one." The twenty-fifth vests in him the absolute power of deposing and restoring bishops, and the twenty-seventh the power of annulling the allegiance of subjects. 2 Such was the gage that Gregory flung down to the kings and nations of the world – we say of the world, for the pontifical supremacy embraces all who dwell upon the earth. Now began the war between the miter and the empire; Gregory's object in this war being to wrest from the emperors the power of appointing the bishops and the clergy generally, and to assume into his own sole and irresponsible hands the whole of that intellectual and spiritual machinery by which Christendom was governed. The strife was a bloody one. The miter, though sustaining occasional reverses, continued nevertheless to gain steadily upon the empire. The spirit of the times helped the priesthood in their struggle with the civil power. The age was superstitious to the core, and though in no wise spiritual, it was very thoroughly ecclesiastical. The crusades, too, broke the spirit and drained the wealth of the princes, while the growing power and augmenting riches of the clergy cast the balance ever more and more against the State. For a brief space Gregory VII. tasted in his own case the luxury of wielding this more than mortal power. There came a gleam through the awful darkness of the tempest he had raised – not final victory, which was yet a century distant, but its presage. He had the satisfaction of seeing the emperor, Henry IV. of Germany – whom he had smitten with excommunication – barefooted, and in raiment of sackcloth, waiting three days and nights at the castle-gates of Canossa, amid the winter drifts, suing for forgiveness. But it was for a moment only that Hildebrand stood on this dazzling pinnacle. The fortune of war very quickly turned. Henry, the man whom the Pope had so sorely humiliated, became victor in his turn. Gregory died, an exile, on the promontory of Salerno; but his successors espoused his project, and strove by wiles, by arms, and by anathemas, to reduce the world under the scepter of the Papal Theocracy. For well-nigh two dismal centuries the conflict was maintained. How truly melancholy the record of these times! It exhibits to our sorrowing gaze many a stricken field, many an empty throne, many a city sacked, many a spot deluged with blood! But through all this confusion and misery the idea of Gregory was perseveringly pursued, till at last it was realized, and the miter was beheld triumphant over the empire. It was the fortune or the calamity of Innocent III. (1198-1216) to celebrate this great victory. Now it was that the pontifical supremacy reached its full development. One man, one will again governed the world. It is with a sort of stupefied awe that we look back to the thirteenth century, and see in the foreground of the receding storm this Colossus, uprearing itself in the person of Innocent III., on its head all the miters of the Church, and in its hand all the scepters of the State. "In each of the three leading objects which Rome has pursued," says Hallam – "independent sovereignty, supremacy over the Christian Church, control over the princes of the earth it was the fortune of this pontiff to conquer." 3 "Rome," he says again, "inspired during this age all the terror of her ancient name; she was once more mistress of the world, and kings were her vassals." 4 She had fought a great fight, and now she celebrated an unequaled triumph. Innocent appointed all bishops; he summoned to his tribunal all causes, from the gravest affairs of mighty kingdoms to the private concerns of the humble citizen. He claimed all kingdoms as his fiefs, all monarchs as his vassals; and launched with unsparing hand the bolts of excommunication against all who withstood his pontifical will. Hildebrand's idea was now fully realized. The pontifical supremacy was beheld in its plenitude – the plenitude of spiritual power, and that of temporal power. It was the noon of the Papacy; but the noon of the Papacy was the midnight of the world. The grandeur which the Papacy now enjoyed, and the jurisdiction it wielded, have received dogmatic expression, and one or two selections will enable it to paint itself as it was seen in its noon. Pope Innocent III. affirmed "that the pontifical authority so much exceeded the royal power as the sun doth the moon." 5 Nor could he find words fitly to describe his own formidable functions, save those of Jehovah to his prophet Jeremiah: "See, I have set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down." "The Church my spouse," we find the same Pope saying, "is not married to me without bringing me something. She hath given me a dowry of a price beyond all price, the plenitude of spiritual things, and the extent of things temporal; 6 the greatness and abundance of both. She hath given me the miter in token of things spiritual, the crown in token of the temporal; the miter for the priesthood, and the crown for the kingdom; making me the lieutenant of him who hath written upon his vesture, and on his thigh, 'the King of kings and the Lord of lords.' I enjoy alone the plenitude of power, that others may say of me, next to God, 'and out of his fullness have we received.' 7 "We declare," ,says Boniface VIII. (1294-1303), in his bull Unam Sanetam, "define, pronounce it to be necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff." This subjection is declared in the bull to extend to all affairs. "One sword," says the Pope, "must be under another, and the temporal authority must be subject to the spiritual power; whence, if the earthly power go astray, it must be judged by the spiritual." 8 Such are a few of the "great words" which were heard to issue from the Vatican Mount, that new Sinai, which, like the old, encompassed by fiery terrors, had upreared itself in the midst of the astonished and affrighted nations of Christendom. What a contrast between the first and the last estate of the pastors of the Roman Church! – between the humility and poverty of the first century, and the splendor and power in which the thirteenth saw them enthroned! This contrast has not escaped the notice of the greatest of Italian poets. Dante, in one of his lightning flashes, has brought it before us. He describes the first pastors of the Church as coming "barefoot and lean, Eating their bread, as chanced, at the first table." And addressing Peter, he says: "E'en thou went'st forth in poverty and hunger <p>To set the goodly plant that, from the Vine It once was, now is grown unsightly bramble." 9Petrarch dwells repeatedly and with more amplification on the same theme. We quote only the first and last stanzas of his sonnet on the Church of Rome: – <p>"The fire of wrathful heaven alight, And all thy harlot tresses smite, Base city! Thou from humble fare, Thy acorns and thy water, rose To greatness, rich with others' woes, Rejoicing in the ruin thou didst bear." "In former days thou wast not laid On down, nor under cooling shade; Thou naked to the winds wast given, And through the sharp and thorny road Thy feet without the sandals trod; But now thy life is such it smells to heaven." 10 There is something here out of the ordinary course. We have no desire to detract from the worldly wisdom of the Popes; they were, in that respect, the ablest race of rulers the world ever saw. Their enterprise soared as high above the vastest scheme of other potentates and conquerors, as their ostensible means of achieving it fell below theirs. To build such a fabric of dominion upon the Gospel, every line of which repudiates and condemns it! to impose it upon the world without an army and without a fleet! to bow the necks not of ignorant peoples only, but of mighty potentates to it! nay, to persuade the latter to assist in establishing a power which they could hardly but foresee would clash themselves! to pursue this scheme through a succession of centuries without once meeting any serious check or repulse – for of the 130 Popes between Boniface III. (606), who, in partnership with Phocas, laid the foundations of the Papal grandeur, and Gregory VII., who tint realized it, onward through other two centuries to Innocent III. (1216) and Boniface VIII. (1303), who at last put the top-stone upon it, not one lost an inch of ground which his predecessor had gained! – to do all this is, we repeat, something out of the ordinary course. There is nothing like it again in the whole history of the world. This success, continued through seven centuries, was audaciously interpreted into a proof of the divinity of the Papacy. Behold, it has been said, when the throne of Caesar was overturned, how the chair of Peter stood erect! Behold, when the barbarous nations rushed like a torrent into Italy, overwhelming laws, extinguishing knowledge, and dissolving society itself, how the ark of the Church rode in safety on the flood! Behold, when the victorious hosts of the Saracen approached the gates of Italy, how they were turned back! Behold, when the miter waged its great contest with the empire, how it triumphed! Behold, when the Reformation broke out, and it seemed as if the kingdom of the Pope was numbered and finished, how three centuries have been added to its sway! Behold, in fine, when revolution broke out in France, and swept like a whirlwind over Europe, bearing down thrones and dynasties, how the bark of Peter outlived the storm, and rode triumphant above the waves that engulfed apparently stronger structures! Is not this the Church of which Christ said, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it?" What else do the words of Cardinal Baronius mean? Boasting of a supposed donation of the kingdom of Hungary to the Roman See by Stephen, he says, "It fell out by a wonderful providence of God, that at the very time when the Roman Church might appear ready to fall and perish, even then distant kings approach the Apostolic See, which they acknowledge and venerate as the only temple of the universe, the sanctuary of piety, the pillar of truth, the immovable rock. Behold, kings – not from the East, as of old they came to the cradle of Christ, but from the North – led by faith, they humbly approach the cottage of the fisher, the Church of Rome herself, offering not only gifts out of their treasures, but bringing even kingdoms to her, and asking kingdoms from her. Whoso is wise, and will record these things, even he shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord." 11But the success of the Papacy, when closely examined, is not so surprising as it looks. It cannot be justly pronounced legitimate, or fairly won. Rome has ever been swimming with the tide. The evils and passions of society, which a true benefactress would have made it her business to cure – at least, to alleviate – Rome has studied rather to foster into strength, that she might be borne to power on the foul current which she herself had created. Amid battles, bloodshed, and confusion, has her path lain. The edicts of subservient Councils, the forgeries of hireling priests, the arms of craven monarchs, and the thunderbolts of excommunication have never been wanting to open her path. Exploits won by weapons of this sort are what her historians delight to chronicle. These are the victories that constitute her glory! And then, there remains yet another and great deduction from the apparent grandeur of her success, in that, after all, it is the success of only a few – a caste – the clergy. For although, during her early career, the Roman Church rendered certain important services to society – of which it will delight us to make mention in fitting place when she grew to maturity, and was able to develop her real genius, it was felt and acknowledged by all that her principles implied the ruin of all interests save her own, and that there was room in the world for none but herself. If her march, as shown in history down to the sixteenth century, is ever onwards, it is not less true that behind, on her path, lie the wrecks of nations, and the ashes of literature, of liberty, and of civilization. Nor can we help observing that the career of Rome, with all the fictitious brilliance that encompasses it, is utterly eclipsed when placed beside the silent and sublime progress of the Gospel. The latter we see winning its way over mighty obstacles solely by the force and sweetness of its own truth. It touches the deep wounds of society only to heal them. It speaks not to awaken but to hush the rough voice of strife and war. It enlightens, purifies, and blesses men wherever it comes, and it does all this so gently and unboastingly! Reviled, it reviles not again. For curses it returns blessings. It unsheathes no sword; it spills no blood. Cast into chains, its victories are as many as when free, and more glorious; dragged to the stake and burned, from the ashes of the martyr there start up a thousand confessors, to speed on its career and swell the glory of its triumph. Compared with this how different has been the career of Rome! – as different, in fact, as the thunder-cloud which comes onward, mantling the skies in gloom and scathing the earth with fiery bolts, is different from the morning descending from the mountain-tops, scattering around it the silvery light, and awakening at its presence songs of joy. CHAPTER 5 MEDIAEVAL PROTESTANT WITNESSES. Ambrose of Milan – His Diocese – His Theology – Rufinus, Presbyter of Aquileia – Laurentius of Milan – The Bishops of the Grisons – Churches of Lombardy in Seventh and Eighth Centuries – Claude in the Ninth Century – His Labors – Outline of his Theology – His Doctrine of the Eucharist – His Battle against Images – His Views on the Roman Primacy – Proof thence arising – Councils in France approve his Views – Question of the Services of the Roman Church to the Western Nations. The apostasy was not universal. At no time did God leave His ancient Gospel without witnesses. When one body of confessors yielded to the darkness, or was cut off by violence, another arose in some other land, so that there was no age in which, in some country or other of Christendom, public testimony was not borne against the errors of Rome, and in behalf of the Gospel which she sought to destroy. The country in which we find the earliest of these Protesters is Italy. The See of Rome, in those days, embraced only the capital and the surrounding provinces. The diocese of Milan, which included the plain of Lombardy, the Alps of Piedmont, and the southern provinces of France, greatly exceeded it in extent. 1 It is an undoubted historical fact that this powerful diocese was not then tributary to the Papal chair. "The Bishops of Milan," says Pope Pelagius I. (555), "do not come to Rome for ordination." He further informs us that this "was an ancient custom of theirs." 2 Pope Pelagius, however, attempted to subvert this "ancient custom," but his efforts resulted only in a wider estrangement between the two dioceses of Milan and Rome. For when Platina speaks of the subjection of Milan to the Pope under Stephen IX., 3 in the middle of the eleventh century, he admits that "for 200 years together the Church of Milan had been separated from the Church of Rome." Even then, though on the very eve of the Hildebrandine era, the destruction of the independence of the diocese was not accomplished without a protest on the part of its clergy, and a tumult on the part of the people. The former affirmed that "the Ambrosian Church was not subject to the laws of Rome; that it had been always free, and could not, with honor, surrender its liberties." The latter broke out into clamor, and threatened violence to Damianus, the deputy sent to receive their submission. "The people grew into higher ferment," says Baronius; 4 "the bells were rung; the episcopal palace beset; and the legate threatened with death." Traces of its early independence remain to this day in the Rito or Culto Ambrogiano, still in use throughout the whole of the ancient Archbishopric of Milan. One consequence of this ecclesiastical independence of Northern Italy was, that the corruptions of which Rome was the source were late in being introduced into Milan and its diocese. The evangelical light shone there some centuries after the darkness had gathered in the southern part of the peninsula. Ambrose, who died A.D. 397, was Bishop of Milan for twenty-three years. His theology, and that of his diocese, was in no essential respects different from that which Protestants hold at this day. The Bible alone was his rule of faith; Christ alone was the foundation of the Church; the justification of the sinner and the remission of sins were not of human merit, but by the expiatory sacrifice of the Cross; there were but two Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and in the latter Christ was held to be present only figuratively. 5 Such is a summary of the faith professed and taught by the chief bishop of the north of Italy in the end of the fourth century. 6 Rufinus, of Aquileia, first metropolitan in the diocese of Milan, taught substantially the same doctrine in the fifth century. His treatise on the Creed no more agrees with the catechism of the Council of Trent than does the catechism of Protestants. 7 His successors at Aquileia, so far as can be gathered from the writings which they have left behind them, shared the sentiments of Rufinus. To come to the sixth century, we find Laurentius, Bishop of Milan, holding that the penitence of the heart, without the absolution of a priest, suffices for pardon; and in the end of the same century (A.D. 590) we find the bishops of Italy and of the Grisons, to the number of nine, rejecting the communion of the Pope, as a heretic, so little then was the infallibility believed in, or the Roman supremacy acknowledged. 8 In the seventh century we find Mansuetus, Bishop of Milan, declaring that the whole faith of the Church is contained in the Apostles' Creed; from which it is evident that he did not regard as necessary to salvation the additions which Rome had then begun to make, and the many she has since appended to the apostolic doctrine. The Ambrosian Liturgy, which, as we have said, continues to be used in the diocese of Milan, is a monument to the comparative purity of the faith and worship of the early Churches of Lombardy. In the eighth century we find Paulinus, Bishop of Aquileia, declaring that "we feed upon the divine nature of Jesus Christ, which cannot be said but only with respect to believers, and must be understood metaphorically." Thus manifest is it that he rejected the corporeal manducation of the Church at Rome. He also warns men against approaching God through any other mediator or advocate than Jesus Christ, affirming that He alone was conceived without sin; that He is the only Redeemer, and that He is the one foundation of the Church. "If any one," says Allix, "will take the pains to examine the opinions of this bishop, he will find it a hard thing not to take notice that he denies what the Church of Rome affirms with relation to all these articles, and that he affirms what the Church of Rome denies." 9 It must be acknowledged that these men, despite their great talents and their ardent piety, had not entirely escaped the degeneracy of their age. The light that was in them was partly mixed with darkness. Even the great Ambrose was touched with a veneration for relics, and a weakness for other superstitious of his times. But as regards the cardinal doctrines of salvation, the faith of these men was essentially Protestant, and stood out in bold antagonism to the leading principles of the Roman creed. And such, with more or less of clearness, must be held to have been the profession of the pastors over whom they presided. And the Churches they ruled and taught were numerous and widely planted. They flourished in the towns and villages which dot the vast plain that stretches like a garden for 200 miles along the foot of the Alps; they existed in those romantic and fertile valleys over which the great mountains hang their pine forests and snows, and, passing the summit, they extended into the southern provinces of France, even as far as to the Rhone, on the banks of which Polycarp, the disciple of John, in early times had planted the Gospel, to be watered in the succeeding centuries by the blood of thousands of martyrs. Darkness gives relief to the light, and error necessitates a fuller development and a clearer definition of truth. On this principle the ninth century produced the most remarkable perhaps of all those great champions who strove to set limits to the growing superstition, and to preserve, pure and undefiled, the faith which apostles had preached. The mantle of Ambrose descended on Claudius, Archbishop of Turin. This man beheld with dismay the stealthy approaches of a power which, putting out the eyes of men, bowed their necks to its yoke, and bent their knees to idols. He grasped the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and the battle which he so courageously waged, delayed, though it could not prevent, the fall of his Church's independence, and for two centuries longer the light continued to shine at the foot of the Alps. Claudius was an earnest and indefatigable student of Holy Scripture. That Book carried him back to the first age, and set him down at the feet of apostles, at the feet of One greater than apostles; and, while darkness was descending on the earth, around Claude still shone the day. The truth, drawn from its primeval fountains, he proclaimed throughout his diocese, which included the valleys of the Waldenses. Where his voice could not reach, he labored to convey instruction by his pen. He wrote commentaries on the Gospels; he published expositions of almost all the epistles of Paul, and several books of the Old Testament; and thus he furnished his contemporaries with the means of judging how far it became them to submit to a jurisdiction so manifestly usurped as that of Rome, or to embrace tenets so undeniably novel as those which she was now foisting upon the world. 10 The sum of what Claude maintained was that there is but one Sovereign in the Church, and He is not on earth; that Peter had no superiority over the other apostles, save in this, that he was the first who preached the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles; that human merit is of no avail for salvation, and that faith alone saves us. On this cardinal point he insists with a clearness and breadth which remind one of Luther. The authority of tradition he repudiates, prayers for the dead he condemns, as also the notion that the Church cannot err. As regards relics, instead of holiness he can find in them nothing but rottenness, and advises that they be instantly returned to the grave, from which they ought never to have been taken. Of the Eucharist, he writes in his commentary on Matthew (A.D. 815) in a way which shows that he stood at the greatest distance from the opinions which Paschasius Radbertus broached eighteen years afterwards. Paschasius Radbertus, a monk, afterwards Abbot of Corbei, pretended to explain with precision the manner in which the body and blood of Christ are present in the Eucharist. He published (831) a treatise, "Concerning the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ." His doctrine amounted to the two following propositions: – Of the bread and wine nothing remains after consecration but the outward figure, under which the body and blood of Christ are really and locally present.</li> 2. This body present in the Eucharist is the same body that was born of the Virgin, that suffered upon the cross, and was raised from the grave. <p>This new doctrine excited the astonishment of not a few, and called forth several powerful opponents – amongst others, Johannes Scotus. 11 Claudius, however, thought that the Lord's Supper was a memorial of Christ's death, and not a repetition of it, and that the elements of bread and wine were only symbols of the flesh and blood of the Savior. 12 It is clear from this that transubstantiation was unknown in the ninth century to the Churches at the foot of the Alps. Nor was it the Bishop of Turin only who held this doctrine of the Eucharist; we are entitled to infer that the bishops of neighboring dioceses, both north and south of the Alps, shared the opinion of Claude. For though they differed from him on some other points, and did not conceal their difference, they expressed no dissent from his views respecting the Sacrament, and in proof of their concurrence in his general policy, strongly urged him to continue his expositions of the Sacred Scriptures. Specially was this the case as regards two leading ecclesiastics of that day, Jonas, Bishop of Orleans, and the Abbot Theodemirus. Even in the century following, we find certain bishops of the north of Italy saying that "wicked men eat the goat and not the lamb," language wholly incomprehensible from the lips of men who believe in transubstantiation. 13 The worship of images was then making rapid strides. The Bishop of Rome was the great advocate of this ominous innovation; it was on this point that Claude fought his great battle. He resisted it with all the logic of his pen and all the force of his eloquence; he condemned the practice as idolatrous, and he purged those churches in his diocese which had begun to admit representations of saints and divine persons within their walls, not even sparing the cross itself. 14 It is instructive to mark that the advocates of images in the ninth century justified their use of them by the very same arguments which Romanists employ at this day; and that Claude refutes them on the same ground taken by Protestant writers still. We do not worship the image, say the former, we use it simply as the medium through which our worship ascends to Him whom the image represents; and if we kiss the cross we do so in adoration of Him who died upon it. But, replied Claude – as the Protestant polemic at this hour replies in kneeling to the image, or kissing the cross, you do what the second commandment forbids, and what the Scripture condemns as idolatry. Your worship terminates in the image, and is the worship not of God, but simply of the image. With his argument the Bishop of Turin mingles at times a little raillery. "God commands one thing," says he, "and these people do quite the contrary. God commands us to bear our cross, and not to worship it; but these are all for worshipping it, whereas they do not bear it at all. To serve God after this manner is to go away from Him. For if we ought to adore the cross because Christ was fastened to it, how many other things are there which touched Jesus Christ! Why don't they adore mangers and old clothes, because He was laid in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes? Let them adore asses, because He, entered into Jerusalem upon the foal of an ass." 15 On the subject of the Roman primacy, he leaves it in no wise doubtful what his sentiments were. "We know very well," says he, "that this passage of the Gospel is very ill understood – 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church: and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,' under pretense of which words the stupid and ignorant common people, destitute of all spiritual knowledge, betake themselves to Rome in hopes of acquiring eternal life. The ministry belongs to all the true superintendents and pastors of the Church, who discharge the same as long as they are in this world; and when they have paid the debt of death, others succeed in their places, who enjoy the same authority and power. Know thou that he only is apostolic who is the keeper and guardian of the apostle's doctrine, and not he who boasts himself to be seated in the chair of the apostle, and in the meantime doth not acquit himself of the charge of the apostle." 16 We have dwelt the longer on Claude, and the doctrines which he so powerfully advocated by both voice and pen, because, although the picture of his times – a luxurious clergy but an ignorant people, Churches growing in magnificence but declining in piety, images adored but the true God forsaken – is not a pleasant one, yet it establishes two points of great importance. The first is that the Bishop of Rome had not yet succeeded in compelling universal submission to his jurisdiction; and the second that he had not yet been able to persuade all the Churches of Christendom to adopt his novel doctrines, and follow his peculiar customs. Claude was not left to fight that battle alone, nor was he crushed as he inevitably would have been, had Rome been the dominant power it came soon thereafter to be. On the contrary, this Protestant of the ninth century received a large amount of sympathy and support both from bishops and from synods of his time. Agobardus, the Bishop of Lyons, fought by the side of his brother of Turin 17 In fact, he was as great an iconoclast as Claude himself. 18 The emperor, Louis the Pious (le Debonnaire), summoned a Council (824) of "the most learned and judicious bishops of his realm," says Dupin, to discuss this question. For in that age the emperors summoned synods and appointed bishops. And when the Council had assembled, did it wait till Peter should speak, or a Papal allocution had decided the point? "It knew no other way," says Dupin, "to settle the question, than by determining what they should find upon the most impartial examination to be true, by plain text of Holy Scripture, and the judgment of the Fathers." 19 This Council at Paris justified most of the principles for which Claude had contended, 20 as the great Council at Frankfort (794) had done before it. It is worthy of notice further, as bearing on this point, that only two men stood up publicly to oppose Claude during the twenty years he was incessantly occupied in this controversy. The first was Dungulas, a recluse of the Abbey of St. Denis, an Italian, it is believed, and biased naturally in favor of the opinions of the Pope; and the second was Jonas, Bishop of Orleans, who differed from Claude on but the one question of images, and only to the extent of tolerating their use, but condemning as idolatrous their worship – a distinction which it is easy to maintain in theory, but impossible to observe, as experience has demonstrated, in practice. And here let us interpose an observation. We speak at times of the signal benefits which the "Church" conferred upon the Gothic nations during the Middle Ages. She put herself in the place of a mother to those barbarous tribes; she weaned them from the savage usages of their original homes; she bowed their stubborn necks to the authority of law; she opened their minds to the charms of knowledge and art; and thus laid the foundation of those civilized and prosperous communities which have since arisen in the West. But when we so speak it behooves us to specify with some distinctness what we mean by the "Church" to which we ascribe the glory of this service. Is it the Church of Rome, or is it the Church universal of Christendom? If we mean the former, the facts of history do not bear out our conclusion. The Church of Rome was not then the Church, but only one of many Churches. The slow but beneficent and laborious work of evangelizing and civilizing the Northern nations, was the joint result of the action of all the Churches – of Northern Italy, of France, of Spain, of Germany, of Britain – and each performed its part in this great work with a measure of success exactly corresponding to the degree in which it retained the pure principles of primitive Christianity. The Churches would have done their task much more effectually and speedily but for the adverse influence of Rome. She hung upon their rear, by her perpetual attempts to bow them to her yoke, and to seduce them from their first purity to her thinly disguised paganisms. Emphatically, the power that molded the Gothic nations, and planted among them the seeds of religion and virtue, was Christianity – that same Christianity which apostles preached to men in the first age, which all the ignorance and superstition of subsequent times had not quite extinguished, and which, with immense toil and suffering dug up from under the heaps of rubbish that had been piled above it, was anew, in the sixteenth century, given to the world under the name of Protestantism. CHAPTER 6 <p>THE WALDENSES – THEIR VALLEYS Submission of the Churches of Lombardy to Rome – The Old Faith maintained in the Mountains – The Waldensian Churches – Question of their Antiquity – Approach to their Mountains – Arrangement of their Valleys – Picture of blended Beauty and Grandeur. WHEN Claude died it can hardly be said that his mantle was taken up by any one. The battle, although not altogether dropped, was henceforward languidly maintained. Before this time not a few Churches beyond the Alps had submitted to the yoke of Rome, and that arrogant power must have felt it not a little humiliating to find her authority withstood on what she might regard as her own territory. She was venerated abroad but contemned at home. Attempts were renewed to induce the Bishops of Milan to accept the episcopal pall, the badge of spiritual vassalage, from the Pope; but it was not till the middle of the eleventh century (1059), under Nicholas II., that these attempts were successful. 1 Petrus Damianus, Bishop of Ostia, and Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, were dispatched by the Pontiff to receive the submission of the Lombard Churches, and the popular tumults amid which that submission was extorted sufficiently show that the spirit of Claude still lingered at the foot of the Alps. Nor did the clergy conceal the regret with which they laid their ancient liberties at the feet of a power before which the whole earth was then bowing down; for the Papal legate, Damianus, informs us that the clergy of Milan maintained in his presence, "That the Ambrosian Church, according to the ancient institutions of the Fathers, was always free, without being subject to the laws of Rome, and that the Pope of Rome had no jurisdiction over their Church as to the government or constitution of it." 2 But if the plains were conquered, not so the mountains. A considerable body of Protesters stood out against this deed of submission. Of these some crossed the Alps, descended the Rhine, and raised the standard of opposition in the diocese of Cologne, where they were branded as Manicheans, and rewarded with the stake. Others retired into the valleys of the Piedmontese Alps, and there maintained their scriptural faith and their ancient independence. What we have just related respecting the dioceses of Milan and Turin settles the question, in our opinion, of the apostolicity of the Churches of the Waldensian valleys. It is not necessary to show that missionaries were sent from Rome in the first age to plant Christianity in these valleys, nor is it necessary to show that these Churches have existed as distinct and separate communities from early days; enough that they formed a part, as unquestionably they did, of the great evangelical Church of the north of Italy. This is the proof at once of their apostolicity and their independence. It attests their descent from apostolic men, if doctrine be the life of Churches. When their co-religionists on the plains entered within the pale of the Roman jurisdiction, they retired within the mountains, and, spurning alike the tyrannical yoke and the corrupt tenets of the Church of the Seven Hills, they preserved in its purity and simplicity the faith their fathers had handed down to them. Rome manifestly was the schismatic, she it was that had abandoned what was once the common faith of Christendom, leaving by that step to all who remained on the old ground the indisputably valid title of the True Church. Behind this rampart of mountains, which Providence, foreseeing the approach of evil days, would almost seem to have reared on purpose, did the remnant of the early apostolic Church of Italy kindle their lamp, and here did that lamp continue to burn all through the long night which descended on Christendom. There is a singular concurrence of evidence in favor of their high antiquity. Their traditions invariably point to an unbroken descent from the earliest times, as regards their religious belief. The Nobla Leycon, which dates from the year 1100, 3 goes to prove that the Waldenses of Piedmont did not owe their rise to Peter Waldo of Lyons, who did not appear till the latter half of that century (1160). The Nobla Leycon, though a poem, is in reality a confession of faith, and could have been composed only after some considerable study of the system of Christianity, in contradistinction to the errors of Rome. How could a Church have arisen with such a document in her hands? Or how could these herdsmen and vine-dressers, shut up in their mountains, have detected the errors against which they bore testimony, and found their way to the truths of which they made open profession in times of darkness like these? If we grant that their religious beliefs were the heritage of former ages, handed down from an evangelical ancestry, all is plain; but if we maintain that they were the discovery of the men of those days, we assert what approaches almost to a miracle. Their greatest enemies, Claude Seyssel of Turin (1517), and Reynerius the Inquisitor (1250), have admitted their antiquity, and stigmatized them as "the most dangerous of all heretics, because the most ancient." Rorenco, Prior of St. Roch, Turin (1640), was employed to investigate the origin and antiquity of the Waldenses, and of course had access to all the Waldensian documents in the ducal archives, and being their bitter enemy he may be presumed to have made his report not more favorable than he could help. Yet he states that "they were not a new sect in the ninth and tenth centuries, and that Claude of Turin must have detached them from the Church in the ninth century." Within the limits of her own land did God provide a dwelling for this venerable Church. Let us bestow a glance upon the region. As one comes from the south, across the level plain of Piedmont, while yet nearly a hundred miles off, he sees the Alps rise before him, stretching like a great wall along the horizon. From the gates of the morning to those of the setting sun, the mountains run on in a line of towering magnificence. Pasturages and chestnut-forests clothe their base; eternal snows crown their summits. How varied are their forms! Some rise strong and massy as castles; others shoot up tall and tapering like needles; while others again run along in serrated lines, their summits torn and cleft by the storms of many thousand winters. At the hour of sunrise, what a glory kindles along the crest of that snowy rampart! At sunset the spectacle is again renewed, and a line of pyres is seen to burn in the evening sky. Drawing nearer the hills, on a line about thirty miles west of Turin, there opens before one what seems a great mountain portal. This is the entrance to the Waldensian territory. A low hill drawn along in front serves as a defense against all who may come with hostile intent, as but too frequently happened in times gone by, while a stupendous monolith – the Castelluzzo – shoots up to the clouds, and stands sentinel at the gate of this renowned region. As one approaches La Torre the Castelluzzo rises higher and higher, and irresistibly fixes the eye by the perfect beauty of its pillar-like form. But; to this mountain a higher interest belongs than any that mere symmetry can give it. It is indissolubly linked with martyr-memories, and borrows a halo from the achievements of the past. How often, in days of old, was the confessor hurled sheer down its awful steep and dashed on the rocks at its foot! And there, commingled in one ghastly heap, growing ever the bigger and ghastlier as another and yet another victim was added to it, lay the mangled bodies of pastor and peasant, of mother and child! It was the tragedies connected with this mountain mainly that called forth Milton's well-known sonnet: – Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughter'd saints, whose bones Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold. <p> * * * In Thy book record their groans Who were Thy sheep, and in their ancient fold, Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, That roll'd Mother with infant down the rocks. their moans The vales redoubled to the hills, and they To heaven." The elegant temple of the Waldenses rises near the foot of the Castelluzzo. The Waldensian valleys are seven in number; they were more in ancient times, but the limits of the Vaudois territory have undergone repeated curtailment, and now only the number we have stated remain, lying between Pinerolo on the east and Monte Viso on the west – that pyramidal hill which forms so prominent an object from every part of the plain of Piedmont, towering as it does above the surrounding mountains, and, like a horn of silver, cutting the ebon of the firmament. The first three valleys run out somewhat like the spokes of a wheel, the spot on which we stand – the gateway, namely – being the nave. The first is Luserna, or Valley of Light. It runs right out in a grand gorge of some twelve miles in length by about two in width. It wears a carpeting of meadows, which the waters of the Pelice keep ever fresh and bright. A profusion of vines, acacias, and mulberry-trees fleck it with their shadows; and a wall of lofty mountains encloses it on either hand. The second is Rora, or Valley of Dews. It is a vast cup, some fifty miles in circumference, its sides luxuriantly clothed with meadow and corn-field, with fruit and forest trees, and its rim formed of craggy and spiky mountains, many of them snow-clad. The third is Angrogna, or Valley of Groans. Of it we shall speak more particularly afterwards. Beyond the extremity of the first three valleys are the remaining four, forming, as it were, the rim of the wheel. These last are enclosed in their turn by a line of lofty and craggy mountains, which form a wall of defense around the entire territory. Each valley is a fortress, having its own gate of ingress and egress, with its caves, and rocks, and mighty chestnut-trees, forming places of retreat and shelter, so that the highest engineering skill could not have better adapted each several valley to its end. It is not less remarkable that, taking all these valleys together, each is so related to each, and the one opens so into the other, that they may be said to form one fortress of amazing and matchless strength – wholly impregnable, in fact. All the fortresses of Europe, though combined, would not form a citadel so enormously strong, and so dazzlingly magnificent, as the mountain dwelling of the Vaudois. "The Eternal, our God," says Leger "having destined this land to be the theater of His marvels, and the bulwark of His ark, has, by natural means, most marvelously fortified it." The battle begun in one valley could be continued in another, and carried round the entire territory, till at last the invading foe, overpowered by the rocks rolled upon him from the mountains, or assailed by enemies which would start suddenly out of the mist or issue from some unsuspected cave, found retreat impossible, and, cut off in detail, left his bones to whiten the mountains he had come to subdue. These valleys are lovely and fertile, as well as strong. They are watered by numerous torrents, which descend from the snows of the summits. The grassy carpet of their bottom; the mantling vine and the golden grain of their lower slopes; the chalets that dot their sides, sweetly embowered amid fruit-trees; and, higher up, the great chestnut-forests and the pasture-lands, where the herdsmen keep watch over their flocks all through the summer days and the starlit nights: the nodding crags, from which the torrent leaps into the light; the rivulet, singing with quiet gladness in the shady nook; the mists, moving grandly among the mountains, now veiling, now revealing their majesty; and the far-off summits, tipped with silver, to be changed at eve into gleaming gold – make up a picture of blended beauty and grandeur, not equaled perhaps, and certainly not surpassed, in any other region of the earth. In the heart of their mountains is situated the most interesting, perhaps, of all their valleys. It was in this retreat, walled round by "hills whose heads touch heaven," that their barbes or pastors, from all their several parishes, were wont to meet in annual synod. It was here that their college stood, and it was here that their missionaries were trained, and, after ordination, were sent forth to sow the good seed, as opportunity offered, in other lands. Let us visit this valley. We ascend to it by the long, narrow, and winding Angrogna. Bright meadows enliven its entrance. The mountains on either hand are clothed with the vine, the mulberry, and the chestnut. Anon the valley contracts. It becomes rough with projecting rocks, and shady with great trees. A few paces farther, and it expands into a circular basin, feathery with birches, musical with falling waters, environed atop by naked crags, fringed with dark pines, while the white peak looks down upon one out of heaven. A little in advance the valley seems shut in by a mountainous wall, drawn right across it; and beyond, towering sublimely upward, is seen an assemblage of snow-clad Alps, amid which is placed the valley we are in quest of, where burned of old the candle of the Waldenses. Some terrible convulsion has rent this mountain from top to bottom, opening a path through it to the valley beyond. We enter the dark chasm, and proceed along on a narrow ledge in the mountain's side, hung half-way between the torrent, which is heard thundering in the abyss below, and the summits which lean over us above. Journeying thus for about two miles, we find the pass beginning to widen, the light to break in, and now we arrive at the gate of the Pra. There opens before us a noble circular valley, its grassy bottom watered by torrents, its sides dotted with dwellings and clothed with corn-fields and pasturages, while a ring of white peaks guards it above. This was the inner sanctuary of the Waldensian temple. The rest of Italy had turned aside to idols, the Waldensian territory alone had been reserved for the worship of the true God. And was it not meet that on its native soil a remnant of the apostolic Church of Italy should be maintained, that Rome and all Christendom might have before their eyes a perpetual monument of what they themselves had once been, and a living witness to testify how far they had departed from their first faith? 4 <p>CHAPTER 7 <p>THE WALDENSES – THEIR MISSIONS AND MARTYRDOMS Their Synod and College – Their Theological Tenets – Romaunt Version of the New Testament – The Constitution of their Church &ndash Their Missionary Labors – Wide Diffusion of their Tenets – The Stone Smiting the Image. <p>ONE would like to have a near view of the barbes or pastors, who presided over the school of early Protestant theology that existed here, and to know how it fared with evangelical Christianity in the ages that preceded the Reformation. But the time is remote, and the events are dim. We can but doubtfully glean from a variety of sources the facts necessary to form a picture of this venerable Church, and even then the picture is not complete. The theology of which this was one of the fountainheads was not the clear, well-defined, and comprehensive system which the sixteenth century gave its; it was only what the faithful men of the Lombard Churches had been able to save from the wreck of primitive Christianity. True religion, being a revelation, was from the beginning complete and perfect; nevertheless, in this as in every other branch of knowledge, it is only by patient labor that man is able to extricate and arrange all its parts, and to come into the full possession of truth. The theology taught in former ages, in the peak-environed valley in which we have in imagination placed ourselves, was drawn from the Bible. The atoning death and justifying righteousness of Christ was its cardinal truth. This, the Nobla Leycon and other ancient documents abundantly testify. The Nobla Leycon sets forth with tolerable clearness the doctrine of the Trinity, the fall of man, the incarnation of the Son, the perpetual authority of the Decalogue as given by God, 1 the need of Divine grace in order to good works, the necessity of holiness, the institution of the ministry, the resurrection of the body, and the eternal bliss of heaven. 2 This creed, its professors exemplified in lives of evangelical virtue. The blamelessness of the Waldenses passed into a proverb, so that one more than ordinarily exempt from the vices of his time was sure to be suspected of being a Vaudes. 3 If doubt there were regarding the tenets of the Waldenses, the charges which their enemies have preferred against them would set that doubt at rest, and make it tolerably certain that they held substantially what the apostles before their day, and the Reformers after it, taught. The indictment against the Waldenses included a formidable list of "heresies." They held that there had been no true Pope since the days of Sylvester; that temporal offices and dignities were not meet for preachers of the Gospel; that the Pope's pardons were a cheat; that purgatory was a fable; that relics were simply rotten bones which had belonged to no one knew whom; that to go on pilgrimage served no end, save to empty one's purse; that flesh might be eaten any day if one's appetite served him; that holy water was not a whit more efficacious than rain water; and that prayer in a barn was just as effectual as if offered in a church. They were accused, moreover, of having scoffed at the doctrine of transubstantiation, and of having spoken blasphemously of Rome, as the harlot of the Apocalypse. 4 There is reason to believe, from recent historical researches, that the Waldenses possessed the New Testament in the vernacular. The "Lingua Romana" or Romaunt tongue was the common language of the south of Europe from the eighth to the fourteenth century. It was the language of the troubadours and of men of letters in the Dark Ages. Into this tongue – the Romaunt – was the first translation of the whole of the New Testament made so early as the twelfth century. This fact Dr. Gilly has been at great pains to prove in his work, The Romaunt Version 5 of the Gospel according to John. The sum of what Dr. Gilly, by a patient investigation into facts, and a great array of historic documents, maintains, is that all the books of the New Testament were translated from the Latin Vulgate into the Romaunt, that this was the first literal version since the fall of the empire, that it was made in the twelfth century, and was the first translation available for popular use. There were numerous earlier translations, but only of parts of the Word of God, and many of these were rather paraphrases or digests of Scripture than translations, and, moreover, they were so bulky, and by consequence so costly, as to be utterly beyond the reach of the common people. This Romaunt version was the first complete and literal translation of the New Testament of Holy Scripture; it was made, as Dr Gilly, by a chain of proofs, shows, most probably under the superintendence and at the expense of Peter Waldo of Lyons, not later than 1180, and so is older than any complete version in German, French, Italian, Spanish, or English. This version was widely spread in the south of France, and in the cities of Lombardy. It was in common use among the Waldenses of Piedmont, and it was no small part, doubtless, of the testimony borne to truth by these mountaineers to preserve and circulate it. Of the Romaunt New Testament six copies have come down to our day. A copy is preserved at each of the four following places, Lyons, Grenoble, Zurich, Dublin; and two copies are at Paris. These are plain and portable volumes, contrasting with those splendid and ponderous folios of the Latin Vulgate, penned in characters of gold and silver, richly illuminated, their bindings decorated with gems, inviting admiration rather than study, and unfitted by their size and splendor for the use of the People. The Church of the Alps, in the simplicity of its constitution, may be held to have been a reflection of the Church of the first centuries. The entire territory included in the Waldensian limits was divided into parishes. In each parish was placed a pastor, who led his flock to the living waters of the Word of God. He preached, he dispensed the Sacraments, he visited the sick, and catechized the young. With him was associated in the government of his congregation a consistory of laymen. The synod met once a year. It was composed of all the pastors, with an equal number of laymen, and its most frequent place of meeting was the secluded mountain-engirdled valley at the head of Angrogna. Sometimes as many as a hundred and fifty barbes, with the same number of lay members, would assemble. We can imagine them seated – it may be on the grassy slopes of the valley – a venerable company of humble, learned, earnest men, presided over by a simple moderator (for higher office or authority was unknown amongst them), and intermitting their deliberations respecting the affairs of their Churches, and the condition of their flocks, only to offer their prayers and praises to the Eternal, while the majestic snow-clad peaks looked down upon them from the silent firmament. There needed, verily, no magnificent fane, no blazonry of mystic rites to make their assembly august. The youth who here sat at the feet of the more venerable and learned of their barbes used as their text-book the Holy Scriptures. And not only did they study the sacred volume; they were required to commit to memory, and be able accurately to recite, whole Gospels and Epistles. This was a necessary accomplishment on the part of public instructors, in those ages when printing was unknown, and copies of the Word of God were rare. Part of their time was occupied in transcribing the Holy Scriptures, or portions of them, which they were to distribute when they went forth as missionaries. By this, and by other agencies, the seed of the Divine Word was scattered throughout Europe more widely than is commonly supposed. To this a variety of causes contributed. There was then a general impression that the world was soon to end. Men thought that they saw the prognostications of its dissolution in the disorder into which all things had fallen. The pride, luxury, and profligacy of the clergy led not a few laymen to ask if better and more certain guides were not to be had. Many of the troubadours were religious men, whose lays were sermons. The hour of deep and universal slumber had passed; the serf was contending with his seigneur for personal freedom, and the city was waging war with the baronial castle for civic and corporate independence. The New Testament – and, as we learn from incidental notices, portions of the Old – coming at this juncture, in a language understood alike in the court as in the camp, in the city as in the rural hamlet, was welcome to many, and its truths obtained a wider promulgation than perhaps had taken place since the publication of the Vulgate by Jerome. After passing a certain time in the school of the barbes, it was not uncommon for the Waldensian youth to proceed to the seminaries in the great cities of Lombardy, or to the Sorbonne at Paris. There they saw other customs, were initiated into other studies, and had a wider horizon around them than in the seclusion of their native valleys. Many of them became expert dialecticians, and often made converts of the rich merchants with whom they traded, and the landlords in whose houses they lodged. The priests seldom cared to meet in argument the Waldensian missionary. To maintain the truth in their own mountains was not the only object of this people. They felt their relations to the rest of Christendom. They sought to drive back the darkness, and re-conquer the kingdoms which Rome had overwhelmed. They were an evangelistic as well as an evangelical Church. It was an old law among them that all who took orders in their Church should, before being eligible to a home charge, serve three years in the mission field. The youth on whose head the assembled barbes laid their hands saw in prospect not a rich benefice, but a possible martyrdom. <p>The ocean they did not cross. Their mission field was the realms that lay outspread at the foot of their own mountains. They went forth two and two, concealing their real character under the guise of a secular profession, most commonly that of merchants or peddlers. They carried silks, jewelry, and other articles, at that time not easily purchasable save at distant marts, and they were welcomed as merchants where they would have been spurned as missionaries. The door of the cottage and the portal of the baron's castle stood equally open to them. But their address was mainly shown in vending, without money and without price, rarer and more valuable merchandise than the gems and silks which had procured them entrance. They took care to carry with them, concealed among their wares or about their persons, portions of the Word of God, their own transcription commonly, and to this they would draw the attention of the inmates. When they saw a desire to possess it, they would freely make a gift of it where the means to purchase were absent. There was no kingdom of Southern and Central Europe to which these missionaries did not find their way, and where they did not leave traces of their visit in the disciples whom they made. On the west they penetrated into Spain. In Southern France they found congenial fellow-laborers in the Albigenses, by whom the seeds of truth were plentifully scattered over Dauphine and Languedoc. On the east, descending the Rhine and the Danube, they leavened Germany, Bohemia, and Poland 6 with their doctrines, their track being marked with the edifices for worship and the stakes of martyrdom that arose around their steps. Even the Seven-hilled City they feared not to enter, scattering the seed on ungenial soil, if perchance some of it might take root and grow. Their naked feet and coarse woolen garments made them somewhat marked figures, in the streets of a city that clothed itself in purple and fine linen; and when their real errand was discovered, as sometimes chanced, the rulers of Christendom took care to further, in their own way, the springing of the seed, by watering it with the blood of the men who had sowed it. <p>7Thus did the Bible in those ages, veiling its majesty and its mission, travel silently through Christendom, entering homes and hearts, and there making its abode. From her lofty seat Rome looked down with contempt upon the Book and its humble bearers. She aimed at bowing the necks of kings, thinking if they were obedient meaner men would not dare revolt, and so she took little heed of a power which, weak as it seemed, was destined at a future day to break in pieces the fabric of her dominion. By-and-by she began to be uneasy, and to have a boding of calamity. The penetrating eye of Innocent III. detected the quarter whence danger was to arise. He saw in the labors of these humble men the beginning of a movement which, if permitted to go on and gather strength, would one day sweep away all that it had taken the toils and intrigues of centuries to achieve. He straightway commenced those terrible crusades which wasted the sowers but watered the seed, and helped to bring on, at its appointed hour, the catastrophe which he sought to avert.8 CHAPTER 8 THE PAULICIANS The Paulicians the Protesters against the Eastern, as the Waldenses against the Western Apostasy – Their Rise in A.D. 653 – Constantine of Samosata-Their Tenets Scriptural – Constantine Stoned to Death – Simeon Succeeds – Is put to Death – Sergius – His Missionary Travels – Terrible Persecutions-The Paulicians Rise in Arms – Civil War – The Government Triumphs – Dispersion of the Paulicians over the West – They Blend with the Waldenses – Movement in the South of Europe – The Troubadour, the Barbe, and the Bible, the Three Missionaries – Innocent III. – The Crusades. BESIDES this central and main body of oppositionists to Rome – Protestants before Protestantism – placed here as in an impregnable fortress, upreared on purpose, in the very center of Roman Christendom, other communities and individuals arose, and maintained a continuous line of Protestant testimony all along to the sixteenth century. These we shall compendiously group and rapidly describe. First, there are the Paulicians. They occupy an analogous place in the East to that which the Waldenses held in the West. Some obscurity rests upon their origin, and additional mystery has on purpose been cast over it, but a fair and impartial examination of the matter leaves no doubt that the Paulicians are the remnant that escaped the apostasy of the Eastern Church, just as the Waldenses are the remnant saved from the apostasy of the Western Church. Doubt, too, has been thrown upon their religious opinions; they have been painted as a confederacy of Manicheans, just as the Waldenses were branded as a synagogue of heretics; but in the former case, as in the latter, an examination of the matter satisfies us that these imputations had no sufficient foundation, that the Paulicians repudiated the errors imputed to them, and that as a body their opinions were in substantial agreement with the doctrine of Holy Writ. Nearly all the information we have of them is that which Petrus Siculus, their bitter enemy, has communicated. He visited them when they were in their most flourishing condition, and the account he has given of their distinguishing doctrines sufficiently proves that the Paulicians had rejected the leading errors of the Greek and Roman Churches; but it fails to show that they had embraced the doctrine of Manes, 1 or were justly liable to be styled Manicheans. In A.D. 653, a deacon returning from captivity in Syria rested a night in the house of an Armenian named Constantine, who lived in the neighborhood of Samosata. On the morrow, before taking his departure, he presented his host with a copy of the New Testament. Constantine studied the sacred volume. A new light broke upon his mind: the errors of the Greek Church stood clearly revealed, and he instantly resolved to separate himself from so corrupt a communion. He drew others to the study of the Scriptures, and the same light shone into their minds which had irradiated his. Sharing his views, they shared with him his secession from the established Church of the Empire. It was the boast of this new party, now grown to considerable numbers, that they adhered to the Scriptures, and especially to the writings of Paul. "I am Sylvanus," said Constantine, "and ye are Macedonians," intimating thereby that the Gospel which he would teach, and they should learn, was that of Paul; hence the name of Paulicians, a designation they would not have been ambitious to wear had their doctrine been Manichean. 2 These disciples multiplied. A congenial soil favored their increase, for in these same mountains, where are placed the sources of the Euphrates, the Nestorian remnant had found a refuge. The attention of the Government at Constantinople was at length turned to them, and persecution followed. Constantine, whose zeal, constancy, and piety had been amply tested by the labors of twenty-seven years, was stoned to death. From his ashes arose a leader still more powerful. Simeon, an officer of the palace who had been sent with a body of troops to superintend his execution, was converted by his martyrdom; and, like Paul after the stoning of Stephen, forthwith began to preach the faith which he had once persecuted. Simeon ended his career, as Constantine had done, by sealing his testimony with his blood; the stake being planted beside the heap of stones piled above the ashes of Constantine. Still the Paulicians multiplied; other leaders arose to fill the place of those who had fallen, and neither the anathemas of the hierarchy nor the sword of the State could check their growth. All through the eighth century they continued to flourish. The worship of images was now the fashionable superstition in the Eastern Church, and the Paulicians rendered themselves still more obnoxious to the Greek authorities, lay and clerical, by the strenuous opposition which they offered to that idolatry of which the Greeks were the great advocates and patrons. This drew upon them yet sorer persecution. It was now, in the end of the eighth century, that the most remarkable perhaps of all their leaders, Sergius, rose to head them, a man of truly missionary spirit and of indomitable energy. Petrus Siculus has given us an account of the conversion of Sergius. We should take it for a satire, were it not for the manifest earnestness and simplicity of the writer. Siculus tells us that Satan appeared to Sergius in the shape of an old woman, and asked him why he did not read the New Testament? The tempter proceeded further to recite portions of Holy Writ, whereby Sergius was seduced to read the Scripture, and so perverted to heresy; and "from sheep," says Siculus, "turned numbers into wolves, and by their means ravaged the sheepfolds of Christ." 3 During thirty-four years, and in the course of innumerable journeys, he preached the Gospel from East to West, and converted great numbers of his countrymen. The result was more terrible persecutions, which were continued through successive reigns. Foremost in this work we find the Emperor Leo, the Patriarch Nicephorus, and notably the Empress Theodora. Under the latter it was affirmed, says Gibbon, "that one hundred thousand Paulicians were extirpated by the sword, the gibbet, or the flames." It is admitted by the same historian that the chief guilt of many of those who were thus destroyed lay in their being Iconoclasts. 4 The sanguinary zeal of Theodora kindled a flame which had well-nigh consumed the Empire of the East. The Paulicians, stung by these cruel injuries, now prolonged for two centuries, at last took up arms, as the Waldenses of Piedmont, the Hussites of Bohemia, and the Huguenots of France did in similar circumstances. They placed their camp in the mountains between Sewas and Trebizond, and for thirty-five years (A.D. 845 – 880) the Empire of Constantinople was afflicted with the calamities of civil war. Repeated victories, won over the troops of the emperor, crowned the arms of the Paulicians, and at length the insurgents were joined by the Saracens, who hung on the frontier of the Empire. The flames of battle extended into the heart of Asia; and as it is impossible to restrain the ravages of the sword when once unsheathed, the Paulicians passed from a righteous defense to an inexcusable revenge. Entire provinces were wasted, opulent cities were sacked, ancient and famous churches were turned into stables, and troops of captives were held to ransom or delivered to the executioner. But it must not be forgotten that the original cause of these manifold miseries was the bigotry of the government and the zeal of the clergy for image-worship. The fortune of war at last declared in favor of the troops of the emperor, and the insurgents were driven back into their mountains, where for a century afterwards they enjoyed a partial independence, and maintained the profession of their religious faith. After this, the Paulicians were transported across the Bosphorus, and settled in Thrace. 5 This removal was begun by the Emperor Constantine Copronymus in the middle of the eighth century, was continued in successive colonies in the ninth, and completed about the end of the tenth. The shadow of the Saracenic woe was already blackening over the Eastern Empire, and God removed His witnesses betimes from the destined scene of judgment. The arrival of the Paulicians in Europe was regarded with favor rather than disapproval. Rome was becoming by her tyranny the terror and by her profligacy the scandal of the West, and men were disposed to welcome whatever promised to throw additional weight into the opposing scale. The Paulicians soon spread themselves over Europe, and though no chronicle records their dispersion, the fact is attested by the sudden and simultaneous outbreak of their opinions in many of the Western countries. 6 They mingled with the hosts of the Crusaders returning from the Holy Land through Hungary and Germany; they joined themselves to the caravans of merchants who entered the harbor of Venice and the gates of Lombardy; or they followed the Byzantine standard into Southern Italy, and by these various routes settled themselves in the West. 7 They incorporated with the preexisting bodies of oppositionists, and from this time a new life is seen to animate the efforts of the Waldenses of Piedmont, the Albigenses of Southern France, and of others who, in other parts of Europe, revolted by the growing superstitions, had begun to retrace their steps towards the primeval fountains of truth. "Their opinions," says Gibbon, "were silently propagated in Rome, Milan, and the kingdoms beyond the Alps. It was soon discovered that many thousand Catholics of every rank, and of either sex, had embraced the Manichean heresy." 8 From this point the Paulician stream becomes blended with that of the other early confessors of the Truth. To these we now return. When we cast our eyes over Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, our attention is irresistibly riveted on the south of France. There a great movement is on the eve of breaking out. Cities and provinces are seen rising in revolt against the Church of Rome. Judging from the aspect of things on the surface, one would have inferred that all opposition to Rome had died out. Every succeeding century was deepening the foundations and widening the limits of the Romish Church, and it seemed now as if there awaited her ages of quiet and unchallenged dominion. It is at this moment that her power begins to totter; and though she will rise higher ere terminating her career, her decadence has already begun, and her fall may be postponed, but cannot be averted. But how do we account for the powerful movement that begins to show itself at the foot of the Alps, at a moment when, as it seems, every enemy has been vanquished, and Rome has won the battle? To attack her now, seated as we behold her amid vassal kings, obedient nations, and entrenched behind a triple rampart of darkness, is surely to invite destruction. The causes of this movement had been long in silent operation. In fact, this was the very quarter of Christendom where opposition to the growing tyranny and superstitions of Rome might be expected first to show itself. Here it was that Polycarp and Irenaeus had labored. Over all those goodly plains which the Rhone waters, and in those numerous cities and villages over which the Alps stretch their shadows, these apostolic men had planted Christianity. Hundreds of thousands of martyrs had here watered it with their blood, and though a thousand years well-nigh had passed since that day, the story of their terrible torments and heroic deaths had not been altogether forgotten. In the Cottian Alps and the province of Languedoc, Vigilantius had raised his powerful protest against the errors of his times. This region was included, as we have seen, in the diocese of Milan, and, as a consequence, it enjoyed the light which shone on the south of the Alps long after Churches not a few on the north of these mountains were plunged in darkness. In the ninth century Claude of Turin had found in the Archbishop of Lyons, Agobardus, a man willing to entertain his views and to share his conflicts. Since that time the night had deepened here as everywhere else. But still, as may be conceived, there were memories of the past, there were seeds in the soil, which new forces might quicken and make to spring up. Such a force did now begin to act. It was, moreover, on this spot, and among these peoples – the best prepared of all the nations of the West – that the Word of God was first published in the vernacular. When the Romance version of the New Testament was issued, the people that sat in darkness saw a great light. This was in fact a second giving of Divine Revelation to the nations of Europe; for the early Saxon renderings of portions of Holy Writ had fallen aside and gone utterly into disuse; and though Jerome's translation, the Vulgate, was still known, it was in Latin, now a dead language, and its use was confined to the priests, who though they possessed it cannot be said to have known it; for the reverence paid it lay in the rich illuminations of its writing, in the gold and gems of its binding, and the curiously-carved and costly cabinets in which it was locked up, and not in the earnestness with which its pages were studied. Now the nations of Southern Europe could read, each in "the tongue wherein he was born," the wonderful works of God. This inestimable boon they owed to Peter Valdes or Waldo, a rich merchant in Lyons, who had been awakened to serious thought by the sudden death of a companion, according to some, by the chance lay of a traveling troubadour, according to others. We can imagine the wonder and joy of these people when this light broke upon them through the clouds that environed them. But we must not picture to ourselves a diffusion of the Bible, in those ages, at all so wide and rapid as would take place in our day when copies can be so easily multiplied by the printing press. Each copy was laboriously produced by the pen; its price corresponded to the time and labor expended in its production; it had to be carried long distances, often by slow and uncertain conveyances; and, last of all, it had to encounter the frowns and ultimately the prohibitory edicts of a hostile hierarchy. But there were compensatory advantages. Difficulties but tended to whet the desire of the people to obtain the Book, and when once their eyes lighted on its page, its truths made the deeper an impression on their minds. It stood out in its sublimity from the fables on which they had been fed. The conscience felt that a greater than man was speaking from its page. Each copy served scores and hundreds of readers. Besides, if the mechanical appliances were lacking to those ages, which the progress of invention has conferred on ours, there existed a living machinery which worked indefatigably. The Bible was sung in the lays of troubadours and minnesingers. It was recited in the sermons of barbes. And these efforts reacted on the Book from which they had sprung, by leading men to the yet more earnest perusal and the yet wider diffusion of it. The Troubadour, the Barbe, and, mightiest of all, the Bible, were the three missionaries that traversed the south of Europe. Disciples were multiplied: congregations were formed: barons, cities, provinces, joined the movement. It seemed as if the Reformation was come. Not yet. Rome had not filled up her cup; nor had the nations of Europe that full and woeful demonstration they have since received, how crushing to liberty, to knowledge, to order, is her yoke, to induce them to join universally in the struggle to break it. Besides, it happened, as has often been seen at historic crises of the Papacy, that a Pope equal to the occasion filled the Papal throne. Of remarkable vigor, of dauntless spirit, and of sanguinary temper, Innocent III. but too truly guessed the character and divined the issue of the movement. He sounded the tocsin of persecution. Mail-clad abbots, lordly prelates, "who wielded by turns the crosier, the scepter, and the sword;" 9 barons and counts ambitious of enlarging their domains, and mobs eager to wreak their savage fanaticism on their neighbors, whose persons they hated and whose goods they coveted, assembled at the Pontiff's summons. Fire and sword speedily did the work of extermination. Where before had been seen smiling provinces, flourishing cities, and a numerous, virtuous, and orderly population, there was now a blackened and silent desert. That nothing might be lacking to carry on this terrible work, Innocent III. set up the tribunal of the Inquisition. Behind the soldiers of the Cross marched the monks of St. Dominic, and what escaped the sword of the one perished by the racks of the other. In one of those dismal tragedies not fewer than a hundred thousand persons are said to have been destroyed. <p>10 Over wide areas not a living thing was left: all were given to the sword. Mounds of ruins and ashes alone marked the spot where cities and villages had formerly stood. But this violence recoiled in the end on the power which had employed it. It did not extinguish the movement: it but made the roots strike deeper, to spring up again and again, and each time with greater vigor and over a wider area, till at last it was seen that Rome by these deeds was only preparing for Protestantism a more glorious triumph, and for herself a more signal overthrow. But these events are too intimately connected with the early history of Protestantism, and they too truly depict the genius and policy of that power against which Protestantism found it so hard a matter to struggle into existence, to be passed over in silence, or dismissed with a mere general description. We must go a little into detail. CHAPTER 9 CRUSADES AGAINST THE ALBIGENSES Rome founded on the Dogma of Persecution – Begins to act upon it – Territory of the Albigenses – Innocent III. – Persecuting Edicts of Councils – Crusade preached by the Monks of Citeaux – First Crusade launched – Paradise – Simon de Montfort – Raymond of Toulouse – His Territories Overrun and Devastated – Crusade against Raymond Roger of Beziers – Burning of his Towns – Massacre of their Inhabitants – Destruction of the Albigenses. THE torch of persecution was fairly kindled in the beginning of the thirteenth century. Those baleful fires, which had smoldered since the fall of the Empire, were now re-lighted, but it must be noted that this was the act not of the State but of the Church. Rome had founded her dominion upon the dogma of persecution. She sustained herself "Lord of the conscience." Out of this prolific but pestiferous root came a whole century of fulminating edicts, to be followed by centuries of blazing piles. It could not be but that this maxim, placed at the foundation of her system, should inspire and mold the whole policy of the Church of Rome. Divine mistress of the conscience and of the faith, she claimed the exclusive right to prescribe to every human being what he was to believe, and to pursue with temporal and spiritual terrors every form of worship different from her own, till she had chased it out of the world. The first exemplification, on a great scale, of her office which she gave mankind was the crusades. As the professors of an impure creed, she pronounced sentence of extermination on the Saracens of the Holy Land; she sent thither some millions of crusaders to execute her ban; and the lands, cities, and wealth of the slaughtered infidels she bestowed upon her orthodox sons. If it was right to apply this principle to one pagan country, we do not see what should hinder Rome – unless indeed lack of power – from sending her missionaries to every land where infidelity and heresy prevailed, emptying them of their evil creed and their evil inhabitants together, and re-peopling them anew with a pure race from within her own orthodox pale. But now the fervor of the crusades had begun sensibly to abate. The result had not responded either to the expectations of the Church that had planned them, or to the masses that had carried them out. The golden crowns of Paradise had been all duly bestowed, doubtless, but of course on those of the crusaders only who had fallen; the survivors had as yet inherited little save wounds, poverty, and disease. The Church, too, began to see that the zeal and blood which were being so freely expended on the shores of Asia might be turned to better account nearer home. The Albigenses and other sects springing up at her door were more dangerous foes of the Papacy than the Saracens of the distant East. For a while the Popes saw with comparative indifference the growth of these religious communities; they dreaded no harm from bodies apparently so insignificant; and even entertained at times the thought of grafting them on their own system as separate orders, or as resuscitating and purifying forces. With the advent of Innocent III., however, came a new policy. He perceived that the principles of these communities were wholly alien in their nature to those of the Papacy, that they never could be made to work in concert with it, and that if left to develop themselves they would most surely effect its overthrow. Accordingly the cloud of exterminating vengeance which rolled in the skies of the world, whithersoever he was pleased to command, was ordered to halt, to return westward, and discharge its chastisement on the South of Europe. Let us take a glance at the region which this dreadful tempest is about to smite. The France of those days, instead of forming an entire monarchy, was parted into four grand divisions. It is the most southerly of the four, or Narbonne-Gaul, to which our attention is now to be turned. This was an ample and goodly territory, stretching from the Dauphinese Alps on the east to the Pyrenees on the south-west, and comprising the modern provinces of Dauphine, Provence, Languedoc or Gascogne. It was watered throughout by the Rhone, which descended upon it from the north, and it was washed along its southern boundary by the Mediterranean. Occupied by an intelligent population, it had become under their skillful husbandry one vast expanse of corn-land and vineyard, of fruit and forest tree. To the riches of the soil were added the wealth of commerce, in which the inhabitants were tempted to engage by the proximity of the sea and the neighborhood of the Italian republics. Above all, its people were addicted to the pursuits of art and poetry. It was the land of the troubadour. It was further embellished by the numerous castles of a powerful nobility, who spent their time in elegant festivities and gay tournaments. But better things than poetry and feats of mimic war flourished here. The towns, formed into communes, and placed under municipal institutions, enjoyed no small measure of freedom. The lively and poetic genius of the people had enabled them to form a language of their own – namely, the Provencal. In richness of vocables, softness of cadence, and picturesqueness of idiom, the Provencal excelled all the languages of Europe, and promised to become the universal tongue of Christendom. Best of all, a pure Christianity was developing in the region. It was here, on the banks of the Rhone, that Irenaeus and the other early apostles of Gaul had labored, and the seeds which their hands had deposited in its soil, watered by the blood of martyrs who had fought in the first ranks in the terrible combats of those days, had never wholly perished. Influences of recent birth had helped to quicken these seeds into a second growth. Foremost among these was the translation of the New Testament into the Provencal, the earliest, as we have shown, of all our modern versions of the Scriptures. The barons protected the people in their evangelical sentiments, some because they shared their opinions, others because they found them to be industrious and skillful cultivators of their lands. A cordial welcome awaited the troubadour at their castle-gates; he departed loaded with gifts; and he enjoyed the baron's protection as he passed on through the cities and villages, concealing, not unfrequently, the colporteur and missionary under the guise of the songster. The hour of a great revolt against Rome appeared to be near. Surrounded by the fostering influences of art, intelligence, and liberty, primitive Christianity was here powerfully developing itself. It seemed verily that the thirteenth and not the sixteenth century would be the date of the Reformation, and that its cradle would be placed not in Germany but in the south of France. The penetrating and far-seeing eye of Innocent III. saw all this very clearly. Not at the foot of the Alps and the Pyrenees only did he detect a new life: in other countries of Europe, in Italy, in Spain, in Flanders, in Hungary – wherever, in short, dispersion had driven the sectaries, he discovered the same fermentation below the surface, the same incipient revolt against the Papal power. He resolved without loss of time to grapple with and crush the movement. He issued an edict enjoining the extermination of all heretics. 1 Cities would be drowned in blood, kingdoms would be laid waste, art and civilization would perish, and the progress of the world would be rolled back for centuries; but not otherwise could the movement be arrested, and Rome saved. A long series of persecuting edicts and canons paved the way for these horrible butcheries. The Council of Toulouse, in 1119, presided over by Pope Calixtus II., pronounced a general excommunication upon all who held the sentiments of the Albigenses, cast them out of the Church, delivered them to the sword of the State to be punished, and included in the same condemnation all who should afford them defense or protection. 2 This canon was renewed in the second General Council of Lateran, 1139, under Innocent II. 3 Each succeeding Council strove to excel its predecessor in its sanguinary and pitiless spirit. The Council of Tours, 1163, under Alexander III., stripped the heretics of their goods, forbade, under peril of excommunication, any to relieve them, and left them to perish without succor. 4 The third General Council of Lateran, 1179, under Alexander III., enjoined princes to make war upon them, to take their possessions for a spoil, to reduce their persons to slavery, and to withhold from them Christian burial. 5 The fourth General Council of Lateran bears the stern and comprehensive stamp of the man under whom it was held. The Council commanded princes to take an oath to extirpate heretics from their dominions. Fearing that some, from motives of self-interest, might hesitate to destroy the more industrious of their subjects, the Council sought to quicken their obedience by appealing to their avarice. It made over the heritages of the excommunicated to those who should carry out the sentence pronounced upon them. Still further to stimulate to this pious work, the Council rewarded a service of forty days in it with the same ample indulgences which had aforetime been bestowed on those who served in the distant and dangerous crusades of Syria. If any prince should still hold back, he was himself, after a year's grace, to be smitten with excommunication, his vassals were to be loosed from their allegiance, and his lands given to whoever had the will or the power to seize them, after having first purged them of heresy. That this work of extirpation might be thoroughly done, the bishops were empowered to make an annual visitation of their dioceses, to institute a very close search for heretics, and to extract an oath from the leading inhabitants that they would report to the ecclesiastics from time to time those among their neighbors and acquaintances who had strayed from the faith. 6 It is hardly necessary to say that it is Innocent III. who speaks in this Council. It was assembled in his palace of the Lateran in 1215; it was one of the most brilliant Councils that ever were convened, being composed of 800 abbots and priors, 400 bishops, besides patriarchs, deputies, and ambassadors from all nations. It was opened by Innocent in person, with a discourse from the words, "With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you." We cannot pursue farther this series of terrific edicts, which runs on till the end of the century and into the next. Each is like that which went before it, save only that it surpasses it in cruelty and terror. The fearful pillagings and massacrings which instantly followed in the south of France, and which were re-enacted in following centuries in all the countries of Christendom, were but too faithful transcripts, both in spirit and letter, of these ecclesiastical enactments. Meanwhile, we must note that it is out of the chair of the Pope – out of the dogma that the Church is mistress of the conscience – that this river of blood is seen to flow. Three years was this storm in gathering. Its first heralds were the monks of Citeaux, sent abroad by Innocent III. in 1206 to preach the crusade throughout France and the adjoining kingdoms. There followed St. Dominic and his band, who traveled on foot, two and two, with full powers from the Pope to search out heretics, dispute with them, and set a mark on those who were to be burned when opportunity should offer. In this mission of inquisition we see the first beginnings of a tribunal which came afterwards to bear the terrible name of the "Inquisition." These gave themselves to the work with an ardor which had not been equaled since the times of Peter the Hermit. The fiery orators of the Vatican but too easily succeeded in kindling the fanaticism of the masses. War was at all times the delight of the peoples among whom this mission was discharged; but to engage in this war what dazzling temptations were held out! The foes they were to march against were accursed of God and the Church. To shed their blood was to wash away their own sins – it was to atone for all the vices and crimes of a lifetime. And then to think of the dwellings of the Albigenses, replenished with elegances and stored with wealth, and of their fields blooming with the richest cultivation, all to become the lawful spoil of the crossed invader! But this was only a first installment of a great and brilliant recompense in the future. They had the word of the Pope that at the moment of death they should find the angels prepared to carry them aloft, the gates of Paradise open for their entrance, and the crowns and delights of the upper world waiting their choice. The crusader of the previous century had to buy forgiveness with a great sum: he had to cross the sea, to face the Saracen, to linger out years amid unknown toils and perils, and to return – if he should ever return – with broken health and ruined fortune. But now a campaign of forty days in one's own country, involving no hardship and very little risk, was all that was demanded for one's eternal salvation. Never before had Paradise been so cheap! The preparations for this war of extermination went on throughout the years 1207 and 1208. Like the mutterings of the distant thunder or the hoarse roar of ocean when the tempest is rising, the dreadful sounds filled Europe, and their echoes reached the doomed provinces, where they were heard with terror. In the spring of 1209 these armed fanatics were ready to march, 7 One body had assembled at Lyons. Led by Arnold, Abbot of Citeaux and legate of the Pope, it descended by the valley of the Rhone. A second army gathered in the Agenois under the Archbishop of Bordeaux. A third horde of militant pilgrims marshaled in the north, the subjects of Philip Augustus, and at their head marched the Bishop of Puy. 8 The near neighbors of the Albigenses rose in a body, and swelled this already overgrown host. The chief director of this sacred war was the Papal legate, the Abbot of Citeaux. Its chief military commander was Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester a French nobleman, who had practiced war and learnt cruelty in the crusades of the Holy Land. In putting himself at the head of these crossed and fanatical hordes he was influenced, it is believed, quite as much by a covetous greed of the ample and rich territories of Raymond, Count of Toulouse, as by hatred of the heresy that Raymond was suspected of protecting. The number of crusaders who now put themselves in motion is variously estimated at from 50,000 to 500,000. The former is the reckoning of the Abbot of Vaux Cernay, the Popish chronicler of the war; but his calculation, says Sismondi, does not include "the ignorant and fanatical multitude which followed each preacher armed with scythes and clubs, and promised to themselves that if they were not in a condition to combat the knights of Languedoc, they might, at least, be able to murder the women and children of the heretics." 9 This overwhelming host precipitated itself upon the estates of Raymond VI., Count of Toulouse. Seeing the storm approach, he was seized with dread, wrote submissive letters to Rome, and offered to accept whatever terms the Papal legate might please to dictate. As the price of his reconciliation, he had to deliver up to the Pope seven of his strongest towns, to appear at the door of the Church, where the dead body of the legate Castelneau, who had been murdered in his dominions, lay, and to be there beaten with rods. 10 Next, a rope was put about his neck, and he was dragged by the legate to the tomb of the friar, in the presence of several bishops and an immense multitude of spectators. After all this, he was obliged to take the cross, and join with those who were seizing and plundering his cities, massacring his subjects, and carrying fire and sword throughout his territories. Stung by these humiliations and calamities, he again changed sides. But his resolution to brave the Papal wrath came too late. He was again smitten with interdict; his possessions were given to Simon de Montfort, and in the end he saw himself reft of all. 11 Among the princes of the region now visited with this devastating scourge, the next in rank and influence to the Count of Toulouse was the young Raymond Roger, Viscount of Beziers. Every day this horde of murderers drew nearer and nearer to his territories. Submission would only invite destruction. He hastened to put his kingdom into a posture of defense. His vassals were numerous and valiant, their fortified castles covered the face of the country; of his towns, two, Beziers and Carcassonne, were of great size and strength, and he judged that in these circumstances it was not too rash to hope to turn the brunt of the impending tempest. He called round him his armed knights, and told them that his purpose was to fight: many of them were Papists, as he himself was; but he pointed to the character of the hordes that were approaching, who made it their sole business to drown the earth in blood, without much distinction whether it was Catholic or Albigensian blood that they spilled. His knights applauded the resolution of their young and brave liege lord. The castles were garrisoned and provisioned, the peasantry of the surrounding districts gathered into them, and the cities were provided against a siege. Placing in Beziers a number of valiant knights, and telling the inhabitants that their only hope of safety lay in making a stout defense, Raymond shut himself up in Carcassonne, and waited the approach of the army of crusaders. Onward came the host: before them a smiling country, in their rear a piteous picture of devastation – battered castles, the blackened walls and towers of silent cities, homesteads in ashes, and a desert scathed with fire and stained with blood. In the middle of July, 1209, the three bodies of crusaders arrived, and sat down under the walls of Beziers. The stoutest heart among its citizens quailed, as they surveyed from the ramparts this host that seemed to cover the face of the earth. "So great was the assemblage," says the old chronicle, "both of tents and pavilions, that it appeared as if all the world was collected there." 12 Astonished but not daunted, the men of Beziers made a rush upon the pilgrims before they should have time to fortify their encampment. It was all in vain The assault was repelled, and the crusaders, mingling with the citizens as they hurried back to the town in broken crowds, entered the gates along with them, and Beziers was in their hands before they had even formed the plan of attack. The knights inquired of the Papal legate, the Abbot of Citeaux, how they might distinguish the Catholics from the heretics. Arnold at once cut the knot which time did not suffice to loose by the following reply, which has since become famous; "Kill all! kill all! The Lord will know His own. 13 " The bloody work now began. The ordinary population of Beziers was some 15,000; at this moment it could not be less than four times its usual number, for being the capital of the province, and a place of great strength, the inhabitants of the country and the open villages had been collected into it. The multitude, when they saw that the city was taken, fled to the churches, and began to toll the bells by way of supplication. This only the sooner drew upon themselves the swords of the assassins. The wretched citizens were slaughtered in a trice. Their dead bodies covered the floor of the church; they were piled in heaps round the altar; their blood flowed in torrents at the door. "Seven thousand dead bodies," says Sismondi, "were counted in the Magdalen alone. When the crusaders had massacred the last living creature in Beziers, and had pillaged the houses of all that they thought worth carrying off, they set fire to the city in every part at once, and reduced it to a vast funeral pile. Not a house remained standing, not one human being alive. Historians differ as to the number of victims. The Abbot of Citoaux, feeling some shame for the butchery which he had ordered, in his letter to Innocent III. reduces it to 15,000; others make it amount to 60,000." 14 The terrible fate which had overtaken Beziers – in one day converted into a mound of ruins dreary and silent as any on the plain of Chaldaea – told the other towns and villages the destiny that awaited them. The inhabitants, terror-stricken, fled to the woods and caves. Even the strong castles were left tenantless, their defenders deeming it vain to think of opposing so furious and overwhelming a host. Pillaging, burning, and massacring as they had a mind, the crusaders advanced to Carcassonne, where they arrived on the lst of August. The city stood on the right bank of the Aude; its fortifications were strong, its garrison numerous and brave, and the young count, Raymond Roger, was at their head. The assailants advanced to the walls, but met a stout resistance. The defenders poured upon them streams of boiling water and oil, and crushed them with great stones and projectiles. The attack was again and again renewed, but was as often repulsed. Meanwhile the forty days' service was drawing to an end, and bands of crusaders, having fulfilled their term and earned heaven, were departing to their homes. The Papal legate, seeing the host melting away, judged it perfectly right to call wiles to the aid of his arms. Holding out to Raymond Roger the hope of an honorable capitulation, and swearing to respect his liberty, Arnold induced the viscount, with 300 of his knights, to present himself at his tent. "The latter," says Sismondi, "profoundly penetrated with the maxim of Innocent III., that 'to keep faith with those that have it not is an offense against the faith,' caused the young viscount to be arrested, with all the knights who had followed him." When the garrison saw that their leader had been imprisoned, they resolved, along with the inhabitants, to make their escape overnight by a secret passage known only to themselves – a cavern three leagues in length, extending from Carcassonne to the towers of Cabardes. The crusaders were astonished on the morrow, when not a man could be seen upon the walls; and still more mortified was the Papal legate to find that his prey had escaped him, for his purpose was to make a bonfire of the city, with every man, woman, and child within it. But if this greater revenge was now out of his reach, he did not disdain a smaller one still in his power. He collected a body of some 450 persons, partly fugitives from Carcassonne whom he had captured, and partly the 300 knights who had accompanied the viscount, and of these he burned 400 alive and the remaining 50 he hanged. 15 CHAPTER 10 <p>ERECTION OF TRIBUNAL OF INQUISITION The Crusades still continued in the Albigensian Territory – Council of Toulouse, 1229 – Organizes the Inquisition – Condemns the Reading of the Bible in the Vernacular – Gregory IX., 1233, further perfects the Organization of the Inquisition, and commits it to the Dominicans – The Crusades continued under the form of the Inquisition – These Butcheries the deliberate Act of Rome – Revived and Sanctioned by her in our own day – Protestantism of Thirteenth Century Crushed – Not alone – Final Ends. THE main object of the crusades was now accomplished. The principalities of Raymond VI., Count of Toulouse, and Raymond Roger, Viscount of Beziers, had been "purged" and made over to that faithful son of the Church, Simon de Montfort. The lands of the Count of Foix were likewise overrun, and joined with the neighboring provinces in a common desolation. The Viscount of Narbonne contrived to avoid a visit of the crusaders, but at the price of becoming himself the Grand Inquisitor of his dominions, and purging them with laws even more rigorous than the Church demanded, 1 The twenty years that followed were devoted to the cruel work of rooting out any seeds of heresy that might possibly yet remain in the soil. Every year a crowd of monks issued from the convents of Citeaux, and, taking possession of the pulpits, preached a new crusade. For the same easy service they offered the same prodigious reward – Paradise – and the consequence was, that every year a new wave of fanatics gathered and rolled toward the devoted provinces. The villages and the woods were searched, and some gleanings, left from the harvests of previous years, were found and made food for the gibbets and stakes that in such dismal array covered the face of the country. The first instigators of these terrible proceedings – Innocent III., Simon de Montfort, the Abbot of Citeaux – soon passed from the scene, but the tragedies they had begun went on. In the lands which the Albigenses – now all but extinct – had once peopled, and which they had so greatly enriched by their industry and adorned by their art, blood never ceased to flow nor the flames to devour their victims. It would be remote from the object of our history to enter here into details, but we must dwell a little on the events of 1229. This year a Council was held at Toulouse, under the Papal legate, the Cardinal of St. Angelo. The foundation of the Inquisition had already been laid. Innocent III. and St. Dominic share between them the merit of this good work. 2 In the year of the fourth Lateran, 1215, St. Dominic received the Pontiff's commission to judge and deliver to punishment apostate and relapsed and obstinate heretics. 3 This was the Inquisition, though lacking as yet its full organization and equipment. That St. Dominic died before it was completed alters not the question touching his connection with its authorship, though of late a vindication of him has been attempted on this ground, only by shifting the guilt to his Church. The fact remains that St. Dominic accompanied the armies of Simon de Montfort, that he delivered the Albigenses to the secular judge to be put to death – in short, worked the Inquisition so far as it had received shape and form in his day. But the Council of Toulouse still further perfected the organization and developed the working of this terrible tribunal. It erected in every city a council of Inquisitors consisting of one priest and three laymen, 4 whose business it was to search for heretics in towns, houses, cellars, and other lurking-places, as also in caves, woods, and fields, and to denounce them to the bishops, lords, or their bailiffs. Once discovered, a summary but dreadful ordeal conducted them to the stake. The houses of heretics were to be razed to their foundations, and the ground on which they stood condemned and confiscated – for heresy, like the leprosy, polluted the very stones, and timber, and soil. Lords were held responsible for the orthodoxy of their estates, and so far also for those of their neighbors. If remiss in their search, the sharp admonition of the Church soon quickened their diligence. A last will and testament was of no validity unless a priest had been by when it was made. A physician suspected was forbidden to practice. All above the age of fourteen were required on oath to abjure heresy, and to aid in the search for heretics. 5 As a fitting appendage to those tyrannical acts, and a sure and lasting evidence of the real source whence that thing called "heresy," on the extirpation of which they were so intent, was derived, the same Council condemned the reading of the Holy Scriptures. "We prohibit," says the fourteenth canon, "the laics from having the books of the Old and New Testament, unless it be at most that any one wishes to have, from devotion, a psalter, a breviary for the Divine offices, or the hours of the blessed Mary; but we forbid them in the most express manner to have the above books translated into the vulgar tongue." 6 In 1233, Pope Gregory IX. issued a bull, by which he confided the working of the Inquisition to the Dominicans. 7 He appointed his legate, the Bishop of Tournay, to carry out the bull in the way of completing the organization of that tribunal which has since become the terror of Christendom, and which has caused to perish such a prodigious number of human beings. In discharge of his commission, the bishop named two Dominicans in Toulouse, and two in each city of the province, to form the Tribunal of the Faith; 8 and soon, under the warm patronage of Saint Louis (Louis IX.) of France, this court was extended to the whole kingdom. An instruction was at the same time furnished to the Inquisitors, in which the bishop enumerated the errors of the heretics. The document bears undesigned testimony to the Scriptural faith of the men whom the newly-erected court was meant to root out. "In the exposition made by the Bishop of Tournay, of the errors of the Albigenses," says Sismondi, "we find nearly all the principles upon which Luther and Calvin founded the Reformation of the sixteenth century." 9 Although the crusades, as hitherto waged, were now ended, they continued under the more dreadful form of the Inquisition. We say more dreadful form, for not so terrible was the crusader's sword as the Inquisitor's rack, and to die fighting in the open field or on the ramparts of the beleaguered city, was a fate less horrible than to expire amid prolonged and excruciating tortures in the dungeons of the "Holy Office." The tempests of the crusades, however terrible, had yet their intermissions; they burst, passed away, and left a breathing-space between their explosions. Not so the Inquisition. It worked on and on, day and night, century after century, with a regularity that was appalling. With steady march it extended its area, till at last it embraced almost all the countries of Europe, and kept piling up its dead year by year in ever larger and ghastlier heaps. These awful tragedies were the sole and deliberate acts of the Church of Rome. She planned them in solemn council, she enunciated them in dogma and canon, and in executing them she claimed to act as the vicegerent of Heaven, who had power to save or to destroy nations. Never can that Church be in fairer circumstances than she was then for displaying her true genius, and showing what she holds to be her real rights. She was in the noon of her power; she was free from all coercion whether of force or of fear; she could afford to be magnanimous and tolerant were it possible she ever could be so; yet the sword was the only argument she condescended to employ. She blew the trumpet of vengeance, summoned to arms the half of Europe, and crushed the rising forces of reason and religion under an avalanche of savage fanaticism. In our own day all these horrible deeds have been reviewed, ratified, and sanctioned by the same Church that six centuries ago enacted them: first in the Syllabus of 1864, which expressly vindicates the ground on which these crusades were done – namely, that the Church of Rome possesses the supremacy of both powers, the spiritual and the temporal; that she has the right to employ both swords in the extirpation of heresy; that in the exercise of this right in the past she never exceeded by a hair's breadth her just prerogatives, and that what she has done aforetime she may do in time to come, as often as occasion shall require and opportunity may serve. And, secondly, they have been endorsed over again by the decree of Infallibility, which declares that the Popes who planned, ordered, and by their bishops and monks executed all these crimes, were in these, as in all their other official acts, infallibly guided by inspiration. The plea that it was the thirteenth century when these horrible butcheries were committed, every one sees to be wholly inadmissible. An infallible Church has no need to wait for the coming of the lights of philosophy and science. Her sun is always in the zenith. The thirteenth and the nineteenth century are the same to her, for she is just as infallible in the one as in the other. So fell, smitten down by this terrible blow, to rise no more in the same age and among the same people, the Protestantism of the thirteenth century. It did not perish alone. All the regenerative forces of a social and intellectual kind which Protestantism even at that early stage had evoked were rooted out along with it. Letters had begun to refine, liberty to emancipate, art to beautify, and commerce to enrich the region, but all were swept away by a vengeful power that was regardless of what it destroyed, provided only it reached its end in the extirpation of Protestantism. How changed the region from what it once was! There the song of the troubadour was heard no more. No more was the gallant knight seen riding forth to display his prowess in the gay tournament; no more were the cheerful voices of the reaper and grape-gatherer heard in the fields. The rich harvests of the region were trodden into the dust, its fruitful vines and flourishing olive-trees were torn up; hamlet and city were swept away; ruins, blood, and ashes covered the face of this now "purified" land. But Rome was not able, with all her violence, to arrest the movement of the human mind. So far as it was religious, she but scattered the sparks to break out on a wider area at a future day; and so far as it was intellectual, she but forced it into another channel. Instead of Albigensianism, Scholasticism now arose in France, which, after flourishing for some centuries in the schools of Paris, passed into the Skeptical Philosophy, and that again, in our day, into Atheistic Communism. It will be curious if in the future the progeny should cross the path of the parent. It turned out that this enforced halt of three centuries, after all, resulted only in the goal being more quickly reached. While the movement paused, instrumentalities of prodigious power, unknown to that age, were being prepared to give quicker transmission and wider diffusion to the Divine principle when next it should show itself. And, further, a more robust and capable stock than the Romanesque – namely, the Teutonic – was silently growing up, destined to receive the heavenly graft, and to shoot forth on every side larger boughs, to cover Christendom with their shadow and solace it with their fruits. CHAPTER 11 <p>PROTESTANTS BEFORE PROTESTANTISM</br> <p>Berengarius– The First Opponent of Transubstantiation – Numerous Councils Condemn him – His Recantation – The Martyrs of Orleans – Their Confession – Their Condemnation and Martyrdom – Peter de Bruys and the Petrobrusians – Henri – Effects of his Eloquence – St. Bernard sent to Oppose him – Henri Apprehended – His Fate unknown – Arnold of Brescia – Birth and Education – His Picture of his Times – His Scheme of Reform – Inveighs against the Wealth of the Hierarchy – His Popularity – Condemned by Innocent II. and Banished from Italy – Returns on the Pope's Death – Labors Ten Years in Rome – Demands the Separation of the Temporal and Spiritual Authority – Adrian IV. – He Suppresses the Movement – Arnold is Burned IN pursuing to an end the history of the Albigensian crusades, we have been carried somewhat beyond the point of time at which we had arrived. We now return. A succession of lights which shine out at intervals amid the darkness of the ages guides our eye onward. In the middle of the eleventh century appears Berengarius of Tours in France. He is the first public opponent of transubstantiation. 1 A century had now passed since the monk, Paschasius Radbertus, had hatched that astounding dogma. In an age of knowledge such a tenet would have subjected its author to the suspicion of lunacy, but in times of darkness like those in which this opinion first issued from the convent of Corbei, the more mysterious the doctrine the more likely was it to find believers. The words of Scripture, "this is my body," torn from their context and held up before the eyes of ignorant men, seemed to give some countenance to the tenet. Besides, it was the interest of the priesthood to believe it, and to make others believe it too; for the gift of working a prodigy like this invested them with a superhuman power, and gave them immense reverence in the eyes of the people. The battle that Berengarius now opened enables us to judge of the wide extent which the belief in transubstantiation had already acquired. Everywhere in France, in Germany, in Italy, we find a commotion arising on the appearance of its opponent. We see bishops bestirring themselves to oppose his "impious and sacrilegious" heresy, and numerous Councils convoked to condemn it. The Council of Vercelli in 1049, under Leo IX., which was attended by many foreign prelates, condemned it, and in doing so condemned also, as Berengarius maintained, the doctrine of Ambrose, of Augustine, and of Jerome. There followed a succession of Councils: at Paris, 1050; at Tours, 1055; at Rome, 1059; at Rouen, 1063; at Poitiers, 1075; and again at Rome, 1078: at all of which the opinions of Berengarius were discussed and condemned. 2 This shows us how eager Rome was to establish the fiction of Paschasius, and the alarm she felt lest the adherents of Berengarius should multiply, and her dogma be extinguished before it had time to establish itself. Twice did Berengarius appear before the famous Hildebrand: first in the Council of Tours, where Hildebrand filled the post of Papal legate, and secondly at the Council of Rome, where he presided as Gregory VII. The piety of Berengarius was admitted, his eloquence was great, but his courage was not equal to his genius and convictions. When brought face to face with the stake he shrank from the fire. A second and a third time did he recant his opinions; he even sealed his recantation, according to Dupin, with his subscription and oath. 3 But no sooner was he back again in France than he began publishing his old opinions anew. Numbers in all the countries of Christendom, who had not accepted the fiction of Paschasius, broke silence, emboldened by the stand made by Berengarius, and declared themselves of the same sentiments. Matthew of Westminster (1087) says, "that Berengarius of Tours, being fallen into heresy, had already almost corrupted all the French, Italians, and English." 4 His great opponent was Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, who attacked him not on the head of transubstantiation only, but as guilty of all the heresies of the Waldenses, and as maintaining with them that the Church remained with them alone, and that Rome was "the congregation of the wicked, and the seat of Satan. " 5 Berengarius died in his bed (1088), expressing deep sorrow for the weakness and dissimulation which had tarnished his testimony for the truth. "His followers," says Mosheim, "were numerous, as his fame was illustrious." 6 We come to a nobler band. At Orleans there flourished, in the beginning of the eleventh century, two canons, Stephen and Lesoie, distinguished by their rank, revered for their learning, and beloved for their numerous alms-givings. Taught of the Spirit and the Word, these men cherished in secret the faith of the first ages. They were betrayed by a feigned disciple named Arefaste. Craving to be instructed in the things of God, he seemed to listen not with the ear only, but with the heart also, as the two canons discoursed to him of the corruption of human nature and the renewal of the Spirit, of the vanity of praying to the saints, and the folly of thinking to find salvation in baptism, or the literal flesh of Christ in the Eucharist. His earnestness seemed to become yet greater when they promised him that if, forsaking these "broken cisterns," he would come to the Savior himself, he should have living water to drink, and celestial bread to eat, and, filled with "the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," would never know want again. Arefaste heard these things, and returned with his report to those who had sent him. A Council of the bishops of Orleans was immediately summoned, presided over by King Robert of France. The two canons were brought before it. The pretended disciple now became the accuser. 7 The canons confessed boldly the truth which they had long held; the arguments and threats of the Council were alike powerless to change their belief, or to shake their resolution. "As to the burning threatened," says one, "they made light of it even as if persuaded that they would come out of it unhurt." 8 Wearied, it would seem, with the futile reasonings of their enemies, and desirous of bringing the matter to an issue, they gave their final answer thus – "You may say these things to those whose taste is earthly, and who believe the figments of men written on parchment. But to us who have the law written on the inner man by the Holy Spirit, and savor nothing but what we learn from God, the Creator of all, ye speak things vain and unworthy of the Deity. Put therefore an end to your words! Do with us even as you wish. Even now we see our King reigning in the heavenly places, who with His right hand is conducting us to immortal triumphs and heavenly joys." 9 They were condemned as Manicheans. Had they been so indeed, Rome would have visited them with contempt, not with persecution. She was too wise to pursue with fire and sword a thing so shadowy as Manicheism, which she knew could do her no manner of harm. The power that confronted her in these two canons and their disciples came from another sphere, hence the rage with which she assailed it. These two martyrs were not alone in their death. Of the citizens of Orleans there were ten, 12 some say twelve, who shared their faith, and who were willing to share their stake. 11 They were first stripped of their clerical vestments, then buffeted like their Master, then smitten with rods; the queen, who was present, setting the example in these acts of violence by striking one of them, and putting out his eye. Finally, they were led outside the city, where a great fire had been kindled to consume them. They entered the flames with a smile upon their faces 12 Together this little company of fourteen stood at the stake, and when the fire had set them free, together they mounted into the sky; and if they smiled when they entered the flames, how much more when they passed in at the eternal gates! They were burned in the year 1022. So far as the light of history serves us, theirs were the first stakes planted in France since the era of primitive persecutions. 13 Illustrious pioneers! They go, but they leave their ineffaceable traces on the road, that the hundreds and thousands of their countrymen who are to follow may not faint, when called to pass through the same torments to the same everlasting joys. We next mention Peter de Bruys, who appeared in the following century (the twelfth), because it enables us to indicate the rise of, and explain the name borne by, the Petrobrussians. Their founder, who labored in the provinces of Dauphine, Provence, and Languedoc, taught no novelties of doctrine; he trod, touching the faith, in the steps of apostolic men, even as Felix Neff, five centuries later, followed in his. After twenty years of missionary labors, Peter de Bruys was seized and burned to death (1126) 14 in the town of St. Giles, near Toulouse. The leading tenets professed by his followers, the Petrobrussians, as we learn from the accusations of their enemies, were – that baptism avails not without faith; that Christ is only spiritually present in the Sacrament; that prayers and alms profit not dead men; that purgatory is a mere invention; and that the Church is not made up of cemented stones, but of believing men. This identifies them, in their religious creed, with the Waldenses; and if further evidence were wanted of this, we have it in the treatise which Peter de Clugny published against them, in which he accuses them of having fallen into those errors which have shown such an inveterate tendency to spring up amid the perpetual snows and icy torrents of the Alps. 15 When Peter de Bruys had finished his course he was succeeded by a preacher of the name of Henri, an Italian by birth, who also gave his name to his followers – the Henricians. Henri, who enjoyed a high repute for sanctity, wielded a most commanding eloquence. The enchantment of his voice was enough, said his enemies, a little envious, to melt the very stones. It performed what may perhaps be accounted a still greater feat; it brought, according to an eye-witness, the very priests to his feet, dissolved in tears. Beginning at Lausanne, Henri traversed the south of France, the entire population gathering round him wherever he came, and listening to his sermons. "His orations were powerful but noxious," said his foes, "as if a whole legion of demons had been speaking through his mouth." St. Bernard was sent to check the spiritual pestilence that was desolating the region, and he arrived not a moment too soon, if we may judge from his picture of the state of things which he found there. The orator was carrying all before him; nor need we wonder if, as his enemies alleged, a legion of preachers spoke in this one. The churches were emptied, the priests were without flocks, and the time-honored and edifying customs of pilgrimages, of fasts, of invocations of the saints, and oblations for the dead were all neglected. "How many disorders," says St. Bernard, writing to the Count of Toulouse, "do we every day hear that Henri commits in the Church of God! That ravenous wolf is within your dominions, clothed with a sheep's skin, but we know him by his works. The churches are like synagogues, the sanctuary despoiled of its holiness, the Sacraments looked upon as profane institutions, the feast days have lost their solemnity, men grow up in sin, and every day souls are borne away before the terrible tribunal of Christ without first being reconciled to and fortified by the Holy Communion. In refusing Christians baptism they are denied the life of Jesus Christ." 16 Such was the condition in which, as he himself records in his letters, St. Bernard found the populations in the south of France. He set to work, stemmed the tide of apostasy, and brought back the wanderers from the Roman fold; but whether this result was solely owing to the eloquence of his sermons may be fairly questioned, for we find the civil arm operating along with him. Henri was seized, carried before Pope Eugenius III., who presided at a Council then assembled at Rheims, condemned and imprisoned. 17 From that time we hear no more of him, and his fate can only be guessed at. 18 It pleased God to raise up, in the middle of the twelfth century, a yet more famous champion to do battle for the truth. This was Arnold of Brescia, whose stormy but brilliant career we must briefly sketch. His scheme of reform was bolder and more comprehensive than that of any who had preceded him. His pioneers had called for a purification of the faith of the Church, Arnold demanded a rectification of her constitution. He was a simple reader in the Church of his native town, and possessed no advantages of birth; but, fired with the love of learning, he traveled into France that he might sit at the feet of Abelard, whose fame was then filling Christendom. Admitted a pupil of the great scholastic, he drank in the wisdom he imparted without imbibing along with it his mysticism. The scholar in some respects was greater than the master, and was destined to leave traces more lasting behind him. In subtlety of genius and scholastic lore he made no pretensions to rival Abelard; but in a burning eloquence, in practical piety, in resoluteness, and in entire devotion to the great cause of the emancipation of his fellow-men from a tyranny that was oppressing both their minds and bodies, he far excelled him. From the school of Abelard, Arnold returned to Italy – not, as one might have feared, a mystic, to spend his life in scholastic hair-splittings and wordy conflicts, but to wage an arduous and hazardous war for great and much-needed reforms. One cannot but wish that the times had been more propitious. A frightful confusion he saw had mingled in one anomalous system the spiritual and the temporal. The clergy, from their head downwards, were engrossed in secularities. They filled the offices of State, they presided in the cabinets of princes, they led armies, they imposed taxes, they owned lordly domains, they were attended by sumptuous retinues, and they sat at luxurious tables. Here, said Arnold, is the source of a thousand evils – the Church is drowned in riches; from this immense wealth flow the corruption, the profligacy, the ignorance, the wickedness, the intrigues, the wars and bloodshed which have overwhelmed Church and State, and are ruining the world. A century earlier, Cardinal Damiani had congratulated the clergy of primitive tunes on the simple lives which they led, contrasting their happier lot with that of the prelates of those latter ages, who had to endure dignities which would have been but little to the taste of their first predecessors. "What would the bishops of old have done," he asked, concurring by anticipation in the censure of the eloquent Breseian, "had they to endure the torments that now attend the episcopate? To ride forth constantly attended by troops of soldiers, with swords and lances; to be girt about by armed men like a heathen general! Not amid the gentle music of hymns, but the din and clash of arms! Every day royal banquets, every day parade! The table loaded with delicacies, not for the poor, but for voluptuous guests! while the poor, to whom the property of light belongs, are shut out, and pine away with famine." Arnold based his scheme of reform on a great principle. The Church of Christ, said he, is not of this world. This shows us that he had sat at the feet of a greater than Abelard, and had drawn his knowledge from diviner fountains than those of the scholastic philosophy. The Church of Christ is not of this world; therefore, said Arnold, its ministers ought not to fill temporal offices, and discharge temporal employments. 19 Let these be left to the men whose duty it is to see to them, even kings and statesmen. Nor do the ministers of Christ need, in order to the discharge of their spiritual functions, the enormous revenues which are continually flowing into their coffers. Let all this wealth, those lands, palaces, and hoards, be surrendered to the rulers of the State, and let the ministers of religion henceforward be maintained by the frugal yet competent provision of the tithes, and the voluntary offerings of their flocks. Set free from occupations which consume their time, degrade their office, and corrupt their heart, the clergy will lead their flocks to the pastures of the Gospel, and knowledge and piety will again revisit the earth. Attired in his monk's cloak, his countenance stamped with courage, but already wearing traces of care, Arnold took his stand in the streets of his native Brescia, and began to thunder forth his scheme of reform. 20 <p>His townsmen gathered round him. For spiritual Christianity the men of that age had little value, still Arnold had touched a chord in their hearts, to which they were able to respond. The pomp, profligacy, and power of Churchmen had scandalized all classes, and made a reformation so far welcome, even to those who were not prepared to sympathize in the more exclusively spiritual views of the Waldenses and Albigenses. The suddenness and boldness of the assault seem to have stunned the ecclesiastical authorities; and it was not till the Bishop of Brescia found his entire flock, deserting the cathedral, and assembling daily in the marketplace, crowding round the eloquent preacher and listening with applause to his fierce philippics, that he bestirred himself to silence the courageous monk. Arnold kept his course, however, and continued to launch his bolts, not against his diocesan, for to strike at one miter was not worth his while, but against that lordly hierarchy which, finding its center on the Seven Hills, had stretched its circumference to the extremities of Christendom. He demanded nothing less than that this hierarchy, which had crowned itself with temporal dignities, and which sustained itself by temporal arms, should retrace its steps, and become the lowly and purely spiritual institute it had been in the first century. It was not very likely to do so at the bidding of one man, however eloquent, but Arnold hoped to rouse the populations of Italy, and to bring such a pressure to bear upon the Vatican as would compel the chiefs of the Church to institute this most necessary and most just reform. Nor was he without the countenance of some persons of consequence. Maifredus, the Consul of Brescia, at the first supported his movement. 21 The bishop, deeming it hopeless to contend against Arnold on the spot, in the midst of his numerous followers, complained of him to the Pope. Innocent II. convoked a General Council in the Vatican, and summoned Arnold to Rome. The summons was obeyed. The crime of the monk was of all others the most heinous in the eyes of the hierarchy. He had attacked the authority, riches, and pleasures of the priesthood; but other pretexts must be found on which to condemn him. "Besides this, it was said of him that he was unsound in his judgment about the Sacrament of the altar and infant baptism." "We find that St. Bernard sending to Pope Innocent II. a catalogue of the errors of Abelardus," whose scholar Arnold had been, "accuseth him of teaching, concerning the Eucharist, that the accidents existed in the air, but not without a subject; and that when a rat doth eat the Sacrament, God withdraweth whither He pleaseth, and preserves where He pleases the body of Jesus Christ." 22 The sum of this is that Arnold rejected transubstantiation, and did not believe in baptismal regeneration; and on these grounds the Council found it convenient to rest their sentence, condemning him to perpetual silence. Arnold now retired from Italy, and, passing the Alps, "he settled himself," Otho tells us, "in a place of Germany called Turego, or Zurich, belonging to the diocese of Constance, where he continued to disseminate his doctrine," the seeds of which, it may be presumed, continued to vegetate until the times of Zwingle. Hearing that Innocent II. was dead, Arnold returned to Rome in the beginning of the Pontificate of Eugenius III. (1144-45). One feels surprise, bordering on astonishment, to see a man with the condemnation of a Pope and Council resting on his head, deliberately marching in at the gates of Rome, and throwing down the gage of battle to the Vatican – "the desperate measure," as Gibbon calls it, 23 "of erecting his standard in Rome itself, in the face of the successor of St. Peter." But the action was not so desperate as it looks. The Italy of those days was perhaps the least Papal of all the countries of Europe. "The Italians," says M'Crie, "could not, indeed, be said to feel at this period" (the fifteenth century, but the remark is equally applicable to the twelfth) "a superstitious devotion to the See of Rome. This did not originally form a discriminating feature of their national character; it was superinduced, and the formation of it can be distinctly traced to causes which produced their full effect subsequently to the era of the Reformation. The republics of Italy in the Middle Ages gave many proofs of religious independence, and singly braved the menaces and excommunications of the Vatican at a time when all Europe trembled at the sound of its thunder. 24 In truth, nowhere were sedition and tumult more common than at the gates of the Vatican; in no city did rebellion so often break out as in Rome, and no rulers were so frequently chased ignominiously from their capital as the Popes. Arnold, in fact, found Rome on entering it in revolt. He strove to direct the agitation into a wholesome channel. He essayed, if it were possible, to revive from its ashes the flame of ancient liberty, and to restore, by cleansing it from its many corruptions, the bright form of primitive Christianity. With an eloquence worthy of the times he spoke of, he dwelt on the achievements of the heroes and patriots of classic ages, the sufferings of the first Christian martyrs, and the humble and holy lives of the first Christian bishops. Might it not be possible to bring back those glorious times? He called on the Romans to arise and unite with him in an attempt to do so. Let us drive out the buyers and sellers who have entered the Temple, let us separate between the spiritual and the temporal jurisdiction, let us give to the Pope the things of the Pope, the government of the Church even, and let us give to the emperor the things of the emperor – namely, the government of the State; let us relieve the clergy from the wealth that burdens them, and the dignities that disfigure them, and with the simplicity and virtue of former times will return the lofty characters and the heroic deeds that gave to those times their renown. Rome will become once more the capital of the world. "He propounded to the multitude," says Bishop Otho, "the examples of the ancient Romans, who by the maturity of their senators' counsels, and the valor and integrity of their youth, made the whole world their own. Wherefore he persuaded them to rebuild the Capitol, to restore the dignity of the senate, to reform the order of knights. He maintained that nothing of the government of the city did belong to the Pope, who ought to content himself only with his ecclesiastical." Thus did the monk of Brescia raise the cry for separation of the spiritual from the temporal at the very foot of the Vatican. For about ten years (1145-55) Arnold continued to prosecute his mission in Rome. The city all that time may be said to have been in a state of insurrection. The Pontifical chair was repeatedly emptied. The Popes of that era were short-lived; their reigns were full of tumult, and their lives of care. Seldom did they reside at Rome; more frequently they lived at Viterbo, or retired to a foreign country; and when they did venture within the walls of their capital, they entrusted the safety of their persons rather to the gates and bars of their stronghold of St. Angelo than to the loyalty of their subjects. The influence of Arnold meanwhile was great, his party numerous, and had there been virtue enough among the Romans they might during these ten favorable years, when Rome was, so to speak, in their hands, have founded a movement which would have had important results for the cause of liberty and the Gospel. But Arnold strove in vain to recall a spirit that was fled for centuries. Rome was a sepulcher. Her citizens could be stirred into tumult, not awakened into life. The opportunity passed. And then came Adrian IV., Nicholas Breakspear, the only Englishman who ever ascended the throne of the Vatican. Adrian addressed himself with rigor to quell the tempests which for ten years had warred around the Papal chair. He smote the Romans with interdict. They were vanquished by the ghostly terror. They banished Arnold, and the portals of the churches, to them the gates of heaven, were re-opened to the penitent citizens. But the exile of Arnold did not suffice to appease the anger of Adrian. The Pontiff bargained with Frederic Barbarossa, who was then soliciting from the Pope coronation as emperor, that the monk should be given up. Arnold was seized, sent to Rome under a strong escort, and burned alive. We are able to infer that his followers in Rome were numerous to the last, from the reason given for the order to throw his ashes into the Tiber, "to prevent the foolish rabble from expressing any veneration for his body." <p>25 Arnold had been burned to ashes, but the movement he had inaugurated was not extinguished by his martyrdom. The men of his times had condemned his cause; it was destined, nevertheless, seven centuries afterwards, to receive the favorable and all but unanimous verdict of Europe. Every succeeding Reformer and patriot took up his cry for a separation between the spiritual and temporal, seeing in the union of the two in the Roman princedom one cause of the corruption and tyranny which afflicted both Church and State. Wicliffe made this demand in the fourteenth century; Savonarola in the fifteenth; and the Reformers in the sixteenth. Political men in the following centuries reiterated and proclaimed, with ever-growing emphasis, the doctrine of Arnold. At last, on the 20th of September, 1870, it obtained its crowning victory. On that day the Italians entered Rome, the temporal sovereignty of the Pope came to an end, the scepter was disjoined from the miter, and the movement celebrated its triumph on the same spot where its first champion had been burned. CHAPTER 12 ABELARD, AND RISE OF MODERN SKEPTICISM Number and Variety of Sects – One Faith – Who gave us the Bible? – Abelard of Paris – His Fame – Father of Modern Skepticism – The Parting of the Ways – Since Abelard three currents in Christendom – The Evangelical, the Ultramontane, the Skeptical. ONE is apt, from a cursory survey of the Christendom of those days, to conceive it as speckled with an almost endless variety of opinions and doctrines, and dotted all over with numerous and diverse religious sects. We read of the Waldenses on the south of the Alps, and the Albigenses on the north of these mountains. We are told of the Petrobrussians appearing in this year, and the Henricians rising in that. We see a company of Manicheans burned in one city, and a body of Paulicians martyred in another. We find the Peterini planting themselves in this province, and the Cathari spreading themselves over that other. We figure to ourselves as many conflicting creeds as there are rival standards; and we are on the point, perhaps, of bewailing this supposed diversity of opinion as a consequence of breaking loose from the "center of unity" in Rome. Some even of our religious historians seem haunted by the idea that each one of these many bodies is representative of a different dogma, and that dogma an error. The impression is a natural one, we own, but it is entirely erroneous. In this diversity there was a grand unity. It was substantially the same creed that was professed by all these bodies. They were all agreed in drawing their theology from the same Divine fountain. The Bible was their one infallible rule and authority. Its cardinal doctrines they embodied in their creed and exemplified in their lives. Individuals doubtless there were among them of erroneous belief and of immoral character. It is of the general body that we speak. That body, though dispersed over many kingdoms, and known by various names, found a common center in the "one Lord," and a common bond in the "one faith" Through one Mediator did they all offer their worship, and on one foundation did they all rest for forgiveness and the life eternal. They were in short the Church – the one Church doing over again what she did in the first ages. Overwhelmed by a second irruption of Paganism, reinforced by a flood of Gothic superstitions, she was essaying to lay her foundations anew in the truth, and to build herself up by the enlightening and renewing of souls, and to give to herself outward visibility and form by her ordinances, institutions, and assemblies, that as a universal spiritual empire she might subjugate all nations to the obedience of the evangelical law and the practice of evangelical virtue. It is idle for Rome to say, "I gave you the Bible, and therefore you must believe in me before you can believe in it." The facts we have already narrated conclusively dispose of this claim. Rome did not give us the Bible – she did all in her power to keep it from us; she retained it under the seal of a dead language; and when others broke that seal, and threw open its pages to all, she stood over the book, and, unsheathing her fiery sword, would permit none to read the message of life, save at the peril of eternal anathema. We owe the Bible – that is, the transmission of it – to those persecuted communities which we have so rapidly passed in review. They received it from the primitive Church, and carried it down to us. They translated it into the mother tongues of the nations. They colported it over Christendom, singing it in their lays as troubadours, preaching it in their sermons as missionaries, and living it out as Christians. They fought the battle of the Word of God against tradition, which sought to bury it. They sealed their testimony for it at the stake. But for them, so far as human agency is concerned, the Bible would, ere this day, have disappeared from the world. Their care to keep this torch burning is one of the marks which indubitably certify them as forming part of that one true Catholic Church, which God called into existence at first by His word, and which, by the same instrumentality, He has, in the conversion of souls, perpetuated from age to age. But although under great variety of names there is found substantial identity of doctrine among these numerous bodies, it is clear that a host of new, contradictory, and most heterogeneous opinions began to spring up in the age we speak of. The opponents of the Albigenses and the Waldenses – more especially Alanus, in his little book against heretics; and Reynerius, the opponent of the Waldenses – have massed together all these discordant sentiments, and charged them upon the evangelical communities. Their controversial tractates, in which they enumerate and confute the errors of the sectaries, have this value even, that they present a picture of their times, and show us the mental fermentation that began to characterize the age. But are we to infer that the Albigenses and their allies held all the opinions which their enemies impute to them? that they at one and the same time believed that God did and did not exist; that the world had been created, and yet that it had existed from eternity; that an atonement had been made for the sin of man by Christ, and yet that the cross was a fable; that the joys of Paradise were reserved for the righteous, and yet that there was neither soul nor spirit, hell nor heaven? No. This were to impute to them an impossible creed. Did these philosophical and skeptical opinions, then, exist only in the imaginations of their accusers? No. What manifestly we are to infer is that outside the Albigensian and evangelical pale there was a large growth of sceptical and atheistical sentiment, more or less developed, and that the superstition and tyranny of the Church of Rome had even then, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, impelled the rising intellect of Christendom into a channel dangerous at once to her own power and to the existence of Christianity. Her champions, partly from lack of discrimination, partly from a desire to paint in odious colors those whom they denominated heretics, mingled in one the doctrines drawn from Scripture and the speculations and impieties of an infidel philosophy, and, compounding them into one creed, laid the monstrous thing at the door of the Albigenses, just as in our own day we have seen Popes and Popish writers include in the same category, and confound in the same condemnation, the professors of Protestantism and the disciples of Pantheism. From the twelfth century and the times of Peter Abelard, we can discover three currents of thought in Christendom. Peter Abelard was the first and in some respects the greatest of modern skeptics. He was the first person in Christendom to attack publicly the doctrine of the Church of Rome from the side of free-thinking. His Skepticism was not the avowed and fully-formed infidelity of later times: he but sowed the seeds; he but started the mind of Europe – then just beginning to awake – on the path of doubt and of philosophic Skepticism, leaving the movement to gather way in the following ages. But that he did sow the seeds which future laborers took pains to cultivate, cannot be doubted by those who weigh carefully his teachings on the head of the Trinity, of the person of Christ, of the power of the human will, of the doctrine of sin, and other subjects. 1 And these seeds he sowed widely. He was a man of vast erudition, keen wit, and elegant rhetoric, and the novelty of his views and the fame of his genius attracted crowds of students from all countries to his lectures. Dazzled by the eloquence of their teacher, and completely captivated by the originality and subtlety of his daring genius, these scholars carried back to their homes the views of Abelard, and diffused them, from England on the one side to Sicily on the other. Had Rome possessed the infallibility she boasts, she would have foreseen to what this would grow, and provided an effectual remedy before the movement had gone beyond control. She did indeed divine, to some extent, the true character of the principles which the renowned but unfortunate 2 teacher was so freely scattering on the opening mind of Christendom. She assembled a Council, and condemned them as erroneous. But Abelard went on as before, the laurel round his brow, the thorn at his breast, propounding to yet greater crowds of scholars his peculiar opinions and doctrines. Rome has always been more lenient to sceptical than to evangelical views. And thus, whilst she burned Arnold, she permitted Abelard to die a monk and canon in her communion. But here, in the twelfth century, at the chair of Abelard, we stand at the parting of the ways. From this time we find three great parties and three great schools of thought in Europe. First, there is the Protestant, in which we behold the Divine principle struggling to disentangle itself from Pagan and Gothic corruptions. Secondly, there is the Superstitious, which had now come to make all doctrine to consist in a belief of "the Church's" inspiration, and all duty in an obedience to her authority. And thirdly, there is the Intellectual, which was just the reason of man endeavoring to shake off the trammels of Roman authority, and go forth and expatiate in the fields of free inquiry. It did right to assert this freedom, but, unhappily, it altogether ignored the existence of the spiritual faculty in man, by which the things of the spiritual world are to be apprehended, and by which the intellect itself has often to be controlled. Nevertheless, this movement, of which Peter Abelard was the pioneer, went on deepening and widening its current century after century, till at last it grew to be strong enough to change the face of kingdoms, and to threaten the existence not only of the Roman Church, 3 but of Christianity itself. FOOTNOTES VOLUME FIRST BOOK FIRST VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- CHAPTER 1 VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST CHAPTER 2 1 Eusebius, De Vita Const., lib. 4, cap. 27. Dupin, Eccles. Hist., vol. 1, p. 162; Dublin. 1723. </div>2 Eusebius, De Vita Const., lib. 4, cap. 24. Mosheim, Eccles. Hist., vol. 1, cent. 4, p. 94; Glasgow, 1831. </div>3 Eusebius, Eccles. Hist., lib. 3, cap. 12, p. 490; Parisiis, 1659. Dupin, Eccles. Hist., vol. 2, p. 14; Lond., 1693. </div>4 Baronius admits that many things have been laudably translated from Gentile superstition into the Christian religion (Annal., ad An. 58). And Binnius, extolling the munificence of Constantine towards the Church, speaks of his superstitionis gentiliae justa aemulatio ("just emulation of the Gentile superstition"). – Concil., tom. 7, notae in Donat. Constan. </div>5 Ammian. Marcel., lib. 27, cap. 3. Mosheim, vol. 1, cent. 4, p. 95. </div>[[#12-6\|6]\|] Nisan corresponds with the latter half of our March and the first half of our April. 7 The Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325, enacted that the 21st of March should thenceforward be accounted the vernal equinox, that the Lord's Day following the full moon next after the 21st of March should be kept as Easter Day, but that if the full moon happened on a Sabbath, Easter Day should be the Sabbath following. This is the canon that regulates the observance of Easter in the Church of England. "Easter Day," says the Common Prayer Book, "is always the first Sunday after the full moon which happens upon or next after the 21st day of March; and if the full moon happens upon a Sunday, Easter Day is the Sunday after." </div>8 Bennet's Memorial of the Reformation, p. 20; Edin., 1748. 986 </div>9 These customs began thus. In times of persecution, assemblies often met in churchyards as the place of greatest safety, and the "elements" were placed on the tombstones. It became usual to pray that the dead might be made partakers in the "first resurrection." This was grounded on the idea which the primitive Christians entertained respecting the millennium. After Gregory I., prayers for the dead regarded their deliverance from purgatory. 10 Dupin, EccIes. Hist., vol. 1, cent. 3. VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 3 1 Hardouin, Acta Concil., tom. 1, col 325; Parisiis, 1715. Dupin, Eccles. Hist., vol. 1, p. 600; Dublin edition. 2 Hard. 1. 1477; 2. 787,886. Baron. 6. 235. 3 Muller, Univ. History, vol. 2, p. 21; Lond., 1818. 4 Muller, vol. 2, p. 23. 5 Muller, vol. 2, p. 74. 6 We quote from the copy of the document in Pope Leo's letter in Hardouin's Collection. Epistola I., Leonis Papoe IX.; Acta Conciliorum et Epistoloe Decretales, tom. 6, pp. 934, 936; Parisiis, 1714. The English reader will find a copy of the pretended original document in full in Historical Essay on the Power of the Popes, vol. 2, Appendix, tr. from French; London, 1838. 7 Etudes Religieuses, November, 1866. 8 The Pope and the Council, by "Janus," p. 105; London, 1869. 9 The above statement regarding the mode of electing bishops during the first three centuries rests on the authority of Clement, Bishop of Rome, in the first century; Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, in the third century; and of Gregory Nazianzen. See also De Dominis, De Repub. Eccles.; Blondel, Apologia; Dean Waddington; Barrow, Supremacy; and Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., cent. 1. VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 4 1 The Pope and the Council, p. 107. 2 Binnius, Concilia, vol. 3, pars. 2, p. 297; Col. Agrip., 1618. 987 3 Hallam, 2. 276. 4 Hallam, 2. 284. 5 P. Innocent III. in Decret. Greg., lib. 1, tit. 33. 6 "Spiritualium plenitudinem, et latitudinem temporalium." 7 Itinerar. Ital., part 2, De Coron. Rom. Pont. 8 "Oportet gladium esse sub gladio, et temporalem authoritatem spirituali subjici potestati. Ergo, si deviat terrena potestas judicabitur a potestate spirituali." (Corp. Jur. Can. a Pithoeo, tom. 2, Extrav., lib. 1, tit. 8, cap. 1; Paris, 1671.) 9 Paradiso, canto 24. 10 Le Rime del Petrarca, tome 1, p. 325. ed. Lod. Castel. 11 Baronius, Annal., ann. 1000, tom. 10, col. 963; Col. Agrip., 1609. VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 5 1 Allix, Ancient Churches of Piedmont, chap. 1; Lond., 1690. M'Crie, Italy, p. 1; Edin., 1833. 2 "Is mos antiquus fuit." (Labbei et Gab. Cossartii Concil., tom. 6, col. 482; Venetiis, 1729.) 3 A mistake of the historian. It was under Nicholas II. (1059) that the independence of Milan was extinguished. Platina's words are: – "Che [chiesa di Milano] era forse ducento anni stata dalla chiesa di Roma separata." (Historia delle Vite dei Sommi Pontefici, p. 128; Venetia, 1600.) 4 Baronius, Annal., ann. 1059, tom. 11, col. 277; Col. Agrip., 1609. <5 Allix, Churches of Piedmont, chap. 3. 6 "This is not bodily but spiritual food," says St. Ambrose, in his Book of Mysteries and Sacraments, "for the body of the Lord is spiritual." (Dupin, Eccles. Hist., vol. 2, cent. 4.) 7 Allix, Churches of Piedmont, chap. 4. 8 Ibid., chap. 5. 9 Allix, Churches of Piedmont, chap. 8. 988 10 "Of all these works there is nothing printed," says Allix (p. 60), "but his commentary upon the Epistle to the Galatians. The monks of St. Germain have his commentary upon all the epistles in MS., in two volumes, which were found in the library of the Abbey of Fleury, near Orleans. They have also his MS. commentaries on Leviticus, which formerly belonged to the library of St. Remy at Rheims. As for his commentary on St. Matthew, there are several MS. copies of it in England, as well as elsewhere." See also list of his works in Dupin. 11 See Mosheim, Eccles. Hist., cent. 9. '12 "Hic [panis] ad corpus Christi mystice, illud [vinum] refertur ad sanguinem" (MS. of Com. on Matthew.) 13 Allix, chap. 10. 14 Dupin, Eccles. Hist., cent. 9. The worship of images was decreed by the second Council of Nice; but that decree was rejected by France, Spain, Germany, and the diocese of Milan. The worship of images was moreover condemned by the Council of Frankfort, 794. Claude, in his letter to Theodemir, says: – "Appointed bishop by Louis, I came to Turin. I found all the churches full of the filth of abominations and images... If Christians venerate the images of saints, they have not abandoned idols, but only changed their names." (Mag. Bib., tome 4, part 2, p. 149.) 15 Allix, chap. 9. 16 Allix, pp. 76, 77. 17 Dupin, Eccles. Hist., cent. 9. 18 Allix, chap. 9. 19 Dupin, vol. 7, p. 2; Lond., 1695. 20 Allix, cent. 9. VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 6 1 Baronius, Annal., ann. 1059, tom. 11, cols. 276, 277. 2 Petrus Damianus, Opusc., p. 5. Allix, Churches of Piedmont, p. 113. M'Crie, Hist. of Reform. in Italy, p. 2. 989 3 Recent German criticism refers the Nobla Leycon to a more recent date, but still one anterior to the Reformation. 4 This short description of the Waldensian valleys is drawn from the author's personal observations. He may here be permitted to state that he has, in successive journeys, continued at intervals during the past thirty-five years, traveled over Christendom, and visited all the countries, Popish and Protestant, of which he will have occasion particularly to speak in the course of this history. VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 7 1 This disproves the charge of Manicheism brought against them by their enemies. 2 Sir Samuel Morland gives the Nobla Leycon in full in his History of the Churches of the Waldenses. Allix (chap. 18) gives a summary of it. 3 The Nobla Leycon has the following passage: – "If there be an honest man, who desires to love God and fear Jesus Christ, who will neither slander, nor swear, nor lie, nor commit adultery, nor kill, nor steal, nor avenge himself of his enemies, they presently say of such a one he is a Vaudes, and worthy of death." 4 See a list of numerous heresies and blasphemies charged upon the Waldenses by the Inquisitor Reynerius, who wrote about the year 1250, and extracted by Allix (chap. 22). 5 The Romaunt Version of the Gospel according to John, from MS. preserved in Trinity College, Dublin, and in the Bibliotheque du Roi, Paris. By William Stephen Gilly, D.D., Canon of Durham, and Vicar of Norham. Lond., 1848. 6 Stranski, apud Lenfant's Concile de Constance, quoted by Count Valerian Krasinski in his History of the Rise, Progress, and Decline of the Reformation in Poland, vol. 1, p. 53; Lond., 1838. Illyricus Flaccins, in his Catalogus Testium Veritatis (Amstelodami, 1679), says: "Pars Valdensium in Germaniam transiit atque apud Bohemos, in Polonia ac Livonia sedem fixit." Leger says that the Waldenses had, about the year 1210, Churches in Slavonia, Sarmatia, and Livonia. (Histoire Generale des Eglises Evangeliques des Vallees du Piedmont ou Vaudois. vol. 2, pp. 336, 337; 1669.) 990 7 M'Crie, Hist. Ref. in Italy, p. 4. 8 Those who. wish to know more of this interesting people than is contained in the above rapid sketch may consult Leger, Des Eglises Evangeliques; Perrin, Hist. De Vaudois; Reynerius, Cont. Waldens.; Sir. S. Morland, History of the Evangelical Churches of Piedmont; Jones, Hist. Waldenses; Rorenco, Narative; besides a host of more modern writers – Gilly, Waldensian Researches; Muston, Israed of the Alps; Monastier, etc. etc. VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 8 1 Manes taught that there were two principles, or gods, the one good and the other evil; and that the evil principle was the creator of this world, the good principle of the world to come. Manicheism was employed as a term of compendious condemnation in the East, as Heresy was in the West. It was easier to calumniate these men than to refute them. For such aspersions a very ancient precedent might be pleaded. "He hath a devil and is mad," was said of the Master. The disciple is not above his Lord. 2 "Among the prominent charges urged against the Paulicians before the Patriarch of Constantinople in the eighth century, and by Photius and Petrus Siculus in the ninth, we find the following – that they dishonored the Virgin Mary, and rejected her worship; denied the life-giving efficacy of the cross, and refused it worship; and gainsaid the awful mystery of the conversion of the blood of Christ in the Eucharist; while by others they are branded as the originators of the Iconoclastic heresy and the war against the sacred images. In the first notice of the sectaries in Western Europe, I mean at Orleans, they were similarly accused of treating with contempt the worship of martyrs and saints, the sign of the holy cross, and mystery of transubstantiation; and much the same too at Arras." (Elliott, Horoe Apocalypticoe, 3rd ed., vol. 2, p. 277.) 3 "Multos ex ovibus lupos fecit, et per eos Christi ovilia dissipavit." (Pet. Sic., Hist. Bib. Patr., vol. 16, p. 761.) 4 Gibbon, vol. 10, p. 177; Edin., 1832. Sharon Turner, Hist. of England, vol. 5, p. 125; Lond., 1830.991 5 Pet. Sic., p. 814. 6 Emericus, in his Directory for Inquisitors, gives us the following piece of news, namely, that the founder of the Manicheans was a person called Manes, who lived in the diocese of Milan! (Allix, p. 134.) 7 Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., cent. 11, part 2, chap. 5. 8 Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. 10, p. 186. In perusing the chapter (54) which this historian has devoted to an account of the Paulicians, one hardly knows whether to be more delighted with his eloquence or amazed at his inconsistency. At one time he speaks of them as the "votaries of St. Paul and of Christ," and at another as the disciples of Manes. And though he says that "the Paulicians sincerely condemned the memory and opinions of the Manichean sect," he goes on to write of them as Manicheans. The historian has too slavishly followed his chief authority and their bitter enemy, Petrus Siculus. 9 Gibbon, vol. 10, p. 185. 10 Gerdesius, Historia Evangelii Renovati, tom. 1, p. 39; Groningae, 1744. VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 9 1 Hardouin, Concil. Avenion. (1209), tom. 6, pars. 2, col. 1986. This edict enjoins bishops, counts, governors of castles, and all men-at-arms to give their aid to enforce spiritual censures against heretics. "Si opus fuerit," continues the edict, "jurare compellat sicut illi de Montepessulano juraverunt, praecipue circa exterminandos haereticos." 2 "Tanquam haereticos ab ecclesia Dei pellimus et damnamus: et per porestates exteras coerceri praecipimus, defensores quoque ipsorum ejusdem damnationis vinculo donec resipuerint, mancipamus." (Concilium Tolosanum – Hardouin, Acta Concil. et .Epistoloe Decretales, tom. 6, pars. 2, p. 1979; Parisiis, 1714.) 3 Acta Concil., tom. 6, pars. 2, p. 1212. 4 "Ubi cogniti fuerint illius haeresis sectatores, ne receptaculum quisquam eis in terra sua praebere, aut praesidium impertire praesumat. Sed nec in venditione aut eruptione aliqua cum eis omnino commercium habaetur: ut solatio saltem humanitatis amisso, ab errore viae suae resipiscere compellantur." – Hardouin, Acta Concil., tom. 6, p. 1597. 992 5 Ibid., can. 27, De Haereticis, p. 1684. 6 Ibid., tom. 7, can. 3, pp. 19-23. 7 Sismondi, Hist. of Crusades, p. 28. 8 Petri Vallis, Cern. Hist. Albigens., cap. 16, p. 571. Sismondi, p. 30. 9 Sismondi, p. 29. 10 Hardouin, Concil. Montil., tom. 6, pars. 2, p. col. 1980. 11 Hardouin, Concil. Lateran. 4., tom. 7, p. 79. 12 Historia de los Faicts d'Armas de Tolosa, pp. 9, 10. quoted by Sismondi, p. 35. 13 Caesar, Hiesterbachiensis, lib. 5, cap. 21. In Bibliotheca Patrum Cisterciensium, tom. 2, p. 139, Sismondi, p. 36. 14 Hist. Gen. de Languedoc, lib. 21, cap. 57, p. 169. Historia de los Faicts d'Armas de Tolosa, p. 10. Sismondi, p. 37. 15 Sismondi, History of the Crusades against the Albigenses, pp. 40-43. VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 10 '1 Histoire de Languedoc, lib. 21, cap. 58, p. 169. Sismondi, p. 43. 2 Concil. Lateran. 4, can. 8, De Inquisitionibus. Hardouin, tom. 7, col. 26. 3 Malvenda, ann. 1215; Alb. Butler, 76. Turner, Hist. Eng., vol 5, p. 103; ed. 1830. 4 Hardouin, Concilia, tom. 7, p. 175. 5 Concilium Tolosanum, cap. 1, p. 428. Sismondi, 220. 6 Labbe, Concil. Tolosan., tom. 11, p. 427. Fleury, Hist. Eccles., lib. 79, n. 58. 7 Percini, Historia Inquisit. Tholosanoe. Mosheim, vol. 1, p. 344; Glas. edit., 1831. 8 Hist. de Languedoc, lib. 24, cap. 87, p. 394. Sismondi, 243. 9 Hist. of Crusades against the Albigenses, p. 243. VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 11 1 John Scotus Erigena had already published his book attacking and refuting the then comparatively new and strange idea of Paschasius, viz., that 993 by the words of consecration the bread and wine in the Eucharist became the real and veritable flesh and blood of Christ. 2 Dupin, Eccl. Hist., cent. 11. Concil., tom. 10; edit. Lab., p. 379. 3 Dupin, .Eccl. Hist., cent. 11, chap. 1, p. 9. 4 Allix, p. 122. 5 Among other works Berengarius published a commentary on the Apocalypse; this may perhaps explain his phraseology. 6 Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., cent. 11, part 2, chap. 3, sec. 18. In a foot-note Mosheim quotes the following words as decisive of Berengarius' sentiments, that Christ's body is only spiritually present in the Sacrament, and that the bread and wine are only symbols: – "The true body of Christ is set forth in the Supper; but spiritual to the inner man. The incorruptible, uncontaminated, and indestructible body of Christ is to be spiritually eaten [spiritualiter manducari] by those only who are members of Christ." (Berengarius' Letter to Almannus in Martene's Thesaur., tom. 2, p. 109.) 7 Dupin, Eccles. Hist., cent. 11, chap. 13. 8 Rodulphus Glaber, a monk of Dijon, who wrote a history of the occurrence. 9 "Jam Regem nostrum in coelestibus regnantem videmus; qui ad immortales triumphos dextra sua nos sublevat, dans superna gandia." (Chartuulary of St. Pierre en Vallee at Chartres.) 10 Hard., Acta Concil., tom. 6, p. 822. 11 Mosheim, Eccles. Hist., vol. 1, p. 270. Dupin, Eccles. Hist., cent. 11, chap. 13. 12 "Ridentes in medio ignis." (Hard., Acta Concil., tom. 6, p. 822.) 13 Gibbon has mistakenly recorded their martyrdom as that of Manicheans. Of the trial and deaths of these martyrs, four contemporaneous accounts have come down to us. In addition to the one referred to above, there is the biographical relation of Arefaste, their betrayer, a knight of Rouen; there is the chronicle of Ademar, a monk of St. Martial, who lived at the time of the Council; and there is the narrative of John, a monk of Fleury, near Orleans, written probably within a few weeks of the transaction. Accounts, taken from these original 994 documents, are given in Baronius' Annals (tom. 11, col. 60, 61; Colon. ed.) and Hardouin's Councils. 14 Mosheim says 1130. Bossuet, Faber, and others have assigned to Peter de Bruys a Paulician or Eastern origin. We are inclined to connect him with the Western or Waldensian confessors. 15 Peter de Cluny's account of them will be found in Bibliotheca P. Max. 22, pp. 1034, 1035. 16 Baron., Annal., ann. 1147, tom. 12, col. 350, 351. Dupin, Eccles. Hist., cent. 12, chap. 4 17 Baron., Annal., ann. 1148, tom. 12, col. 356. 18 Mosheim, cent. 12, part 2, chap. 5, sec. 8. 19 Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. 12, p. 264. 20 The original picture of Arnold is by an opponent – Otho, Bishop of Frisingen (Chron. de Gestibus, Frederici I., lib. 1, cap. 27, and lib. 2, cap. 21). 21 Otho Frisingensis, quoted by Allix, p. 171. 22 Allix, pp. 171, 174. See also summary of St. Bernard's letters in Dupin, cent. 12, chap. 4. 23 Gibbon, Hist., vol. 12, p. 266. 24 M'Crie, Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in Italy, p. 41; 2nd edit., 1833. 25 Allix, p. 172. We find St. Bernard writing letters to the Bishop of Constance and the Papal legate, urging the persecution of Arnold. (See Dupin, Life of St. Bernard, cent. 12, chap. 4.) Mosheim has touched the history of Arnold of Breseia, but not with discriminating judgment, nor sympathetic spirit. This remark applies to his accounts of all these early confessors. VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- CHAPTER 12 1 P. Bayle, Dictionary, Historical and Critical, vol. 1, arts. Abelard, Berenger, Amboise; 2nd edit., Lond., 1734. See also Dupin, Eccl. Hist., cent. 12, chap. 4, Life of Bernard. As also Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., cent. 12, chap. 2, secs. 18, 22; chap. 3, secs. 6 – 12. 995 2 Lord Macaulay, in his essay on the Church of Rome, has characterized the Waldensian and Albigensian movements as the revolt of the human intellect against Catholicism. We would apply that epithet rather to the great scholastic and pantheistic movement which Abelard inaugurated; that was the revolt of the intellect strictly viewed. The other was the revolt of the conscience quickened by the Spirit of God. It was the revival of the Divine principle. 3

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-<h2>PRECIOUS BIBLE PROMISES</h2>
+==The History of Protestantis==
-Also, known as <em>Clarke's Scripture Promises. </em>
-Compiled by Samuel Clarke, D.D. (1675-1729).
+<p>James A. Wylie<br><br>
-Reformatted by Tom Stewart
-with
+<p>A Voice from the Philadelphian Church Age<br>
+  <br>
+J. A. Wylie As I Knew Him
+<br><br>
+by C. A. Salmond, M.A., Edinburgh,<br>
+by Rev. James Aitken Wylie<br><br>
+<p>Author of "The Papacy," "Daybreak in Spain,"
-An Historical Perspective of <em>Precious Bible Promises </em>
+"Protestantism, the sacred cause of God's Light and Truth against the Devil's Falsity and Darkness."<font size="2" color="#663300" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">-Carlyle.<font size="4" color="#663300" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br><br>
+<p>Cassell &amp; Company, Limited:<br><br>
-by Tom Stewart
+<p>London, Paris &amp; New York.<font size="1" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: -webkit-center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br>
+<br><br>
-and
+<p>Preface<br>
+James Aitken Wylie was born in Scotland in 1808.
-Notice by Dr. Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
-PRECIOUS BIBLE PROMISES Also, known as <em>Clarke's Scripture Promises. </em>Compiled by Samuel Clarke, D.D. (1675-1729). Reformatted by Tom Stewart with An Historical Perspective of <em>Precious Bible Promises </em> by Tom Stewart and Notice by Dr. Isaac Watts (1674-1748) 1
+<p>"The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD" (Psalm 37:23). His collegiate preparation was at Marischal College, Aberdeen (a North Sea port city and industrial center of northeastern Scotland) and at St. Andrews (Fife, East Scotland). "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth"(Lamentations 3:27) Though we could find no account of his conversion, he entered the Original Seccession Divinity Hall, Edinburgh (Scotland, the land of John Knox) in 1827, and was ordained to the Christian ministry in 1831; hence, the name "Rev. J. A. Wylie" is affixed to most of his written works. "And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus".<br>
+<br>
+His disposition to use the pen as a mighty "Sword of the LORD" (Judges 7:18) is evidenced by his assumption of the sub-editorship of the Edinburgh "Witness" in 1846. "My tongue is the pen of a ready writer"(Psalm 45:1). In 1852, after joining the Free Church of Scotland-- which was only inaugurated in 1843 (Dr. Chalmers as moderator),<b>insisting on the Crown Rights of King Jesus as the only Head and King of the Church-- Wylie edited their "Free Church Record" until 1860. "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage"(Galatians 5:1). The Protestant Institute appointed him Lecturer on Popery in 1860. He continued in this role until his death in 1890. "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" 2Corinthians 10:5)<br>
+<br>
+Aberdeen University awarded him an honorary doctorate (LL.D.) in 1856."Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my LORD: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ" (Philippians 3:8).<b>His travels took him to many of the far-flung places, where the events of Protestant history transpired. "So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also" (Romans 1:15). As a prominent spokesman for Protestantism, Dr. Wylie's writings included "The Papacy: Its History, Dogmas, Genius, and Prospects"-- which was awarded a prize by the Evangelical Alliance in 1851-- and, his best known writing, "The History of Protestantism" (1878). "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the Common Salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints" (Jude 3).<br>
+<br>
+It is a solemn and sad reflection on the spiritual intelligence of our times that J. A. Wylie's classic, "The History of Protestantism" went out of publication in the 1920's."Little children, it is the Last Time: and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the Last Time" (1John 2:18). But-- "we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul" (Hebrews 10:39). And, we<b>continueto "look for Him" (Hebrews 9:28)to come for us to cause us to "escape all these things" (Luke 21:36)in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, while we intently "occupy" (19:13)for Him in the Gospel fields, which are "white already to harvest" (John 4:35). "Even so, come[quickly], LORD Jesus" (Revelation 22:20).<br>
+  <br>
+  Amen, and Amen.
+ <br>
+  BOOK FIRST<br>
+  <br>
+  PROGRESS FROM THE FIRST TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY
+<br><br>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
+  <tbody>
+<tr>
+  <td nowrap="">[[Chapter 1]]</td>
+  <td><b>PROTESTANTISM<br>
+Protestantism &ndash; The Seed of Arts, Letters, Free States, etc. &ndash; Its History a Grand Drama &ndash; Its Origin &ndash; Outside Humanity &ndash; A Great Creative Power &ndash; Protestantism Revived Christianity.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td nowrap="">[[Chapter 2]]</td>
+  <td><b>DECLENSION OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH<br>
+Early Triumphs of the Truth &ndash; Causes &ndash; The Fourth Century &ndash; Early Simplicity lost &ndash; The Church remodeled on the Pattern of the Empire &ndash; Disputes regarding Easter-day &ndash; Descent of the Gothic Nations &ndash; Introduction of Pagan Rites into the Church &ndash; Acceleration of Corruption &ndash; Inability of the World all at once to receive the Gospel in its greatness.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td nowrap="">[[Chapter 3]]</td>
+  <td><b>DEVELOPMENT OF THE PAPACY FROM THE TIMES OF CONSTANTINE TO THOSE OF HILDEBRAND.<br>
+Imperial Edicts &ndash; Prestige of Rome &ndash; Fall of the Western Empire &ndash; The Papacy seeks and finds a New Basis of Power &ndash; Christ's Vicar &ndash; Conversion of Gothic Nations &ndash; Pepin and Charlemagne &ndash; The Lombards and the Saracens &ndash; Forgeries and False Decretals &ndash; Election of the Roman Pontiff.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td nowrap="">[[Chapter 4]]</td>
+  <td><b>DEVELOPMENT OF THE PAPACY FROM GREGORY VII. TO BONIFACE VIII.<br>
+The Wax of Investitures &ndash; Gregory VII. and Henry IV. &ndash; The Miter Triumphs over the Empire &ndash; Noon of the Papacy under Innocent III. &ndash; Continued to Boniface VIII. &ndash; First and Last Estate of the Roman Pastors Contrasted &ndash; Seven Centuries of Continuous Success &ndash; Interpreted by Some as a Proof that the Papacy is Divine &ndash; Reasons explaining this Marvelous Success &ndash; Eclipsed by the Gospel's Progress</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td nowrap="">[[Chapter 5]]</td>
+  <td><b>MEDIAEVAL PROTESTANT WITNESSES.<br>
+Ambrose of Milan &ndash; His Diocese &ndash; His Theology &ndash; Rufinus, Presbyter of Aquileia &ndash; Laurentius of Milan &ndash; The Bishops of the Grisons &ndash; Churches of Lombardy in Seventh and Eighth Centuries &ndash; Claude in the Ninth Century &ndash; His Labors &ndash; Outline of his Theology &ndash; His Doctrine of the Eucharist &ndash; His Battle against Images &ndash; His Views on the Roman Primacy &ndash; Proof thence arising &ndash; Councils in France approve his Views &ndash; Question of the Services of the Roman Church to the Western Nations.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td nowrap="">[[Chapter 6]]</td>
+  <td><b>THE WALDENSES &ndash; THEIR VALLEYS<br>
+Submission of the Churches of Lombardy to Rome &ndash; The Old Faith maintained in the Mountains &ndash; The Waldensian Churches &ndash; Question of their Antiquity &ndash; Approach to their Mountains &ndash; Arrangement of their Valleys &ndash; Picture of blended Beauty and Grandeur.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td nowrap="">[[Chapter 7]]</td>
+  <td><b>THE WALDENSES &ndash; THEIR MISSIONS AND MARTYRDOMS<br>
+Their Synod and College &ndash; Their Theological Tenets &ndash; Romaunt Version of the New Testament &ndash; The Constitution of their Church &ndash; Their Missionary Labors &ndash; Wide Diffusion of their Tenets &ndash; The Stone Smiting the Image.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td nowrap="">[[Chapter 8]]</td>
+  <td><b>THE PAULICIANS<br>
+The Paulicians the Protesters against the Eastern, as the Waldenses against the Western Apostasy &ndash; Their Rise in A.D. 653 &ndash; Constantine of Samosata-Their Tenets Scriptural &ndash; Constantine Stoned to Death &ndash; Simeon Succeeds &ndash; Is put to Death &ndash; Sergius &ndash; His Missionary Travels &ndash; Terrible Persecutions-The Paulicians Rise in Arms &ndash; Civil War &ndash; The Government Triumphs &ndash; Dispersion of the Paulicians over the West &ndash; They Blend with the Waldenses &ndash; Movement in the South of Europe &ndash; The Troubadour, the Barbe, and the Bible, the Three Missionaries &ndash; Innocent III. &ndash; The Crusades.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td nowrap="">[[Chapter 9]]</td>
+  <td><b>CRUSADES AGAINST THE ALBIGENSES<br>
+Rome founded on the Dogma of Persecution &ndash; Begins to act upon it &ndash; Territory of the Albigenses &ndash; Innocent III. &ndash; Persecuting Edicts of Councils &ndash; Crusade preached by the Monks of Citeaux &ndash; First Crusade launched &ndash; Paradise &ndash; Simon de Montfort &ndash; Raymond of Toulouse &ndash; His Territories Overrun and Devastated &ndash; Crusade against Raymond Roger of Beziers &ndash; Burning of his Towns &ndash; Massacre of their Inhabitants &ndash; Destruction of the Albigenses.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td nowrap="">[[Chapter 10]]</td>
+  <td><b>ERECTION OF TRIBUNAL OF INQUISITION<br>
+The Crusades still continued in the Albigensian Territory &ndash; Council of Toulouse, 1229 &ndash; Organizes the Inquisition &ndash; Condemns the Reading of the Bible in the Vernacular &ndash; Gregory IX., 1233, further perfects the Organization of the Inquisition, and commits it to the Dominicans &ndash; The Crusades continued under the form of the Inquisition &ndash; These Butcheries the deliberate Act of Rome &ndash; Revived and Sanctioned by her in our own day &ndash; Protestantism of Thirteenth Century Crushed &ndash; Not alone &ndash; Final Ends.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td nowrap="">[[Chapter 11]]</td>
+  <td><b>PROTESTANTS BEFORE PROTESTANTISM<br>
+Berengarius&ndash; The First Opponent of Transubstantiation &ndash; Numerous Councils Condemn him &ndash; His Recantation &ndash; The Martyrs of Orleans &ndash; Their Confession &ndash; Their Condemnation and Martyrdom &ndash; Peter de Bruys and the Petrobrusians &ndash; Henri &ndash; Effects of his Eloquence &ndash; St. Bernard sent to Oppose him &ndash; Henri Apprehended &ndash; His Fate unknown &ndash; Arnold of Brescia &ndash; Birth and Education &ndash; His Picture of his Times &ndash; His Scheme of Reform &ndash; Inveighs against the Wealth of the Hierarchy &ndash; His Popularity &ndash; Condemned by Innocent II. and Banished from Italy &ndash; Returns on the Pope's Death &ndash; Labors Ten Years in Rome &ndash; Demands the Separation of the Temporal and Spiritual Authority &ndash; Adrian IV. &ndash; He Suppresses the Movement &ndash; Arnold is Burned</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td nowrap="">[[Chapter 12]]</td>
+  <td><b>ABELARD, AND RISE OF MODERN SKEPTICISM<br>
+Number and Variety of Sects &ndash; One Faith &ndash; Who gave us the Bible? &ndash; Abelard of Paris &ndash; His Fame &ndash; Father of Modern Skepticism &ndash; The Parting of the Ways &ndash; Since Abelard three currents in Christendom &ndash; The Evangelical, the Ultramontane, the Skeptical.</td>
+</tr>
+  </tbody>
+</table>
-[[#_Toc118697008|Part 1 – Blessings Promised to believers]] 7
+BOOK FIRST<br>
+<br>
+PROGRESS FROM THE FIRST TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY<br>
+<br>
+CHAPTER 1
+PROTESTANTISM<br>
+Protestantism &ndash; The Seed of Arts, Letters, Free States, etc. &ndash; Its History a Grand Drama &ndash; Its Origin &ndash; Outside Humanity &ndash; A Great Creative Power &ndash; Protestantism Revived Christianity.<br><br>
+<p>THE History of Protestantism, which we propose to write, is no mere history of dogmas. The teachings of Christ are the seeds; the modern Christendom, with its new life, is the goodly tree which has sprung from them. We shall speak of the seed and then of the tree, so small at its beginning, but destined one day to cover the earth.<br><br>
+How that seed was deposited in the soil; how the tree grew up and flourished despite the furious tempests that warred around it; how, century after century, it lifted its top higher in heaven, and spread its boughs wider around, sheltering liberty, nursing letters, fostering art, and gathering a fraternity of prosperous and powerful nations around it, it will be our business in the following pages to show. Meanwhile we wish it to be noted that this is what we understand by the Protestantism on the history of which we are now entering. Viewed thus &ndash; and any narrower view would be untrue alike to philosophy and to fact &ndash; the History of Protestantism is the record of one of the grandest dramas of all time. It is true, no doubt, that Protestantism, strictly viewed, is simply a principle. It is not a policy. It is not an empire, having its fleets and armies, its officers and tribunals, wherewith to extend its dominion and make its authority be obeyed. It is not even a Church with its hierarchies, and synods and edicts; it is simply a principle. But it is the greatest of all principles. It is a creative power. Its plastic influence is all-embracing. It penetrates into the heart and renews the individual. It goes down to the depths and, by its omnipotent but noiseless energy, vivifies and regenerates society. It thus becomes the creator of all that is true, and lovely, and great; the founder of free kingdoms, and the mother of pure churches. The globe itself it claims as a stage not too wide for the manifestation of its beneficent action; and the whole domain of terrestrial affairs it deems a sphere not too vast to fill with its spirit, and rule by its law.<br><br>
+Whence came this principle? The name Protestantism is very recent: the thing itself is very ancient. The term Protestantism is scarcely older than 350 years. It dates from the protest which the Lutheran princes gave in to the Diet of Spires in 1529. Restricted to its historical signification, Protestantism is purely negative. It only defines the attitude taken up, at a great historical era, by one party in Christendom with reference to another party. But had this been all, Protestantism would have had no history. Had it been purely negative, it would have begun and ended with the men who assembled at the German town in the year already specified. The new world that has come out of it is the proof that at the bottom of this protest was a great principle which it has pleased Providence to fertilize, and make the seed of those grand, beneficent, and enduring achievements which have made the past three centuries in many respects the most eventful and wonderful in history. The men who handed in this protest did not wish to create a mere void. If they disowned the creed and threw off the yoke of Rome, it was that they might plant a purer faith and restore the government of a higher Law. They replaced the authority of the Infallibility with the authority of the Word of God. The long and dismal obscuration of centuries they dispelled, that the twin stars of liberty and knowledge might shine forth, and that, conscience being unbound, the intellect might awake from its deep somnolency, and human society, renewing its youth, might, after its halt of a thousand years, resume its march towards its high goal.<br><br>
+We repeat the question &ndash; Whence came this principle? And we ask our readers to mark well the answer, for it is the key-note to the whole of our vast subject, and places us, at the very outset, at the springs of that long narration on which we are now entering.<br><br>
+Protestantism is not solely the outcome of human progress; it is no mere principle of perfectibility inherent in humanity, and ranking as one of its native powers, in virtue of which when society becomes corrupt it can purify itself, and when it is arrested in its course by some external force, or stops from exhaustion, it can recruit its energies and set forward anew on its path. It is neither the product of the individual reason, nor the result of the joint thought and energies of the species. Protestantism is a principle which has its origin outside human society: it is a Divine graft on the intellectual and moral nature of man, whereby new vitalities and forces are introduced into it, and the human stem yields henceforth a nobler fruit. It is the descent of a heaven-born influence which allies itself with all the instincts and powers of the individual, with all the laws and cravings of society, and which, quickening both the individual and the social being into a new life, and directing their efforts to nobler objects, permits the highest development of which humanity is capable, and the fullest possible accomplishment of all its grand ends. In a word, Protestantism is revived Christianity.<br><br>
-[[#_Toc118697009|Chapter 1- Promises of temporal blessings]] 7
+CHAPTER 2
-[[#_Toc118697010|1. General promises to believers]] 7
+'''DECLENSION OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH'''<br><br>
+Early Triumphs of the Truth &ndash; Causes &ndash; The Fourth Century &ndash; Early Simplicity lost &ndash; The Church remodeled on the Pattern of the Empire &ndash; Disputes regarding Easter-day &ndash; Descent of the Gothic Nations &ndash; Introduction of Pagan Rites into the Church &ndash; Acceleration of Corruption &ndash; Inability of the World all at once to receive the Gospel in its greatness.<br><br>
+ALL through, from the fifth to the fifteenth century, the Lamp of Truth burned dimly in the sanctuary of Christendom. Its flame often sank low, and appeared about to expire, yet never did it wholly go out. God remembered His covenant with the light, and set bounds to the darkness. Not only had this heaven-kindled lamp its period of waxing and waning, like those luminaries that God has placed on high, but like them, too, it had its appointed circuit to accomplish. Now it was on the cities of Northern Italy that its light was seen to fall; and now its rays illumined the plains of Southern France. Now it shone along the course of the Danube and the Moldau, or tinted the pale shores of England, or shed its glory upon the Scottish Hebrides. Now it was on the summits of the Alps that it was seen to burn, spreading a gracious morning on the mountain-tops, and giving promise of the sure approach of day. And then, anon, it would bury itself in the deep valleys of Piedmont, and seek shelter from the furious tempests of persecution behind the great rocks and the eternal snows of the everlasting hills. Let us briefly trace the growth of this truth to the days of Wicliffe.<br><br>
+The spread of Christianity during the first three centuries was rapid and extensive. The main causes that contributed to this were the translation of the Scriptures into the languages of the Roman world, the fidelity and zeal of the preachers of the Gospel, and the heroic deaths of the martyrs. It was the success of Christianity that first set limits to its progress. It had received a terrible blow, it is true, under Diocletian. This, which was the most terrible of all the early persecutions, had, in the belief of the Pagans, utterly exterminated the "Christian superstition" So far from this, it had but afforded the Gospel an opportunity of giving to the world a mightier proof of its divinity. It rose from the stakes and massacres of Diocletian, to begin a new career, in which it was destined to triumph over the empire which thought that it had crushed it. Dignities and wealth now flowed in upon its ministers and disciples, and according to the uniform testimony of all the early historians, the faith which had maintained its purity and rigor in the humble sanctuaries and lowly position of the first age, and amid the fires of its pagan persecutors, became corrupt and waxed feeble amid the gorgeous temples and the worldly dignities which imperial favor had lavished upon it.<br><br>
+From the fourth century the corruptions of the Christian Church continued to make marked and rapid progress. The Bible began to be hidden from the people. And in proportion as the light, which is the surest guarantee of liberty, was withdrawn, the clergy usurped authority over the members of the Church. The canons of councils were put in the room of the one infallible Rule of Faith; and thus the first stone was laid in the foundations of "Babylon, that great city, that made all nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." The ministers of Christ began to affect titles of dignity, and to extend their authority and jurisdiction to temporal matters, forgetful that an office bestowed by God, and serviceable to the highest interests of society, can never fail of respect when filled by men of exemplary character, sincerely devoted to the discharge of its duties. The beginning of this matter seemed innocent enough. To obviate pleas before the secular tribunals, ministers were frequently asked to arbitrate in disputes between members of the Church, and Constantine made a law confirming all such decisions in the consistories of the clergy, and shutting out the review of their sentences by the civil judges.<br><br>
+<div id="22-1"></div>[[#2-1|'''1''']] Proceeding in this fatal path, the next step was to form the external polity of the Church upon the model of the civil government. Four vice-kings or prefects governed the Roman Empire under Constantine, and why, it was asked, should not a similar arrangement be introduced into the Church? Accordingly the Christian world was divided into four great dioceses; over each diocese was set a patriarch, who governed the whole clergy of his domain, and thus arose four great thrones or princedoms in the House of God. Where there had been a brotherhood, there was now a hierarchy; and from the lofty chair of the Patriarch, a gradation of rank, and a subordination of authority and office, ran down to the lowly state and contracted sphere of the Presbyter<br><br>
+<div id="22-2"></div>[[#2-2|'''2''']] It was splendor of rank, rather than the fame of learning and the luster of virtue, that henceforward conferred distinction on the ministers of the Church.<br><br>
+Such an arrangement was not fitted to nourish spirituality of mind, or humility of disposition, or peacefulness of temper. The enmity and violence of the persecutor, the clergy had no longer cause to dread; but the spirit of faction which now took possession of the dignitaries of the Church awakened vehement disputes and fierce contentions, which disparaged the authority and sullied the glory of the sacred office. The emperor himself was witness to these unseemly spectacles. "I entreat you," we find him pathetically saying to the fathers of the Council of Nice, "beloved ministers of God, and servants of our Savior Jesus Christ, take away the cause of our dissension and disagreement, establish peace among yourselves."<br><br>
+<div id="22-3"></div>[[#2-3|'''3''']] While the, "living oracles" were neglected, the zeal of the clergy began to spend itself upon rites and ceremonies borrowed from the pagans. These were multiplied to such a degree, that Augustine complained that they were "less tolerable than the yoke of the Jews under the law."<br><br>
+<div id="22-4"></div>[[#2-4|4]] At this period the Bishops of Rome wore costly attire, gave sumptuous banquets, and when they went abroad were carried in litters<br><br>
+<div id="22-5"></div>[[#2-5|'''5''']] They now began to speak with an authoritative voice, and to demand obedience from all the Churches. Of this the dispute between the Eastern and Western Churches respecting Easter is an instance in point. The Eastern Church, following the Jews, kept the feast on the 14th day of the month Nisan<br><br>
+<div id="22-6"></div>[[#2-6|'''6''']] &ndash; the day of the Jewish Passover. The Churches of the West, and especially that of Rome, kept Easter on the Sabbath following the 14th day of Nisan. Victor, Bishop of Rome, resolved to put an end to the controversy, and accordingly, sustaining himself sole judge in this weighty point, he commanded all the Churches to observe the feast on the same day with himself. The Churches of the East, not aware that the Bishop of Rome had authority to command their obedience in this or in any other matter, kept Easter as before; and for this flagrant contempt, as Victor accounted it, of his legitimate authority, he excommunicated them.<br><br>
+<div id="22-7"></div>[[#2-7|'''7''']] They refused to obey a human ordinance, and they were shut out from the kingdom of the Gospel. This was the first peal of those thunders which were in after times to roll so often and so terribly from the Seven Hills.<br><br>
+Riches, flattery, deference, continued to wait upon the Bishop of Rome. The emperor saluted him as Father; foreign Churches sustained him as judge in their disputes; heresiarchs sometimes fled to him for sanctuary; those who had favors to beg extolled his piety, or affected to follow his customs; and it is not surprising that his pride and ambition, fed by continual incense, continued to grow, till at last the presbyter of Rome, from being a vigilant pastor of a single congregation, before whom he went in and out, teaching them from house to house, preaching to them the Word of Life, serving the Lord with all humility in many tears and temptations that befell him, raised his seat above his equals, mounted the throne of the patriarch, and exercised lordship over the heritage of Christ. The gates of the sanctuary once forced, the stream of corruption continued to flow with ever-deepening volume. The declensions in doctrine and worship already introduced had changed the brightness of the Church's morning into twilight; the descent of the Northern nations, which, beginning in the fifth, continued through several successive centuries, converted that twilight into night.<br><br>The new tribes had changed their country, but not their superstitions; and, unhappily, there was neither zeal nor vigor in the Christianity of the age to effect their instruction and their genuine conversion. <br><br>The Bible had been withdrawn; in the pulpit fable had usurped the place of truth; holy lives, whose silent eloquence might have won upon the barbarians, were rarely exemplified; and thus, instead of the Church dissipating the superstitions that now encompassed her like a cloud, these superstitions all but quenched her own light. She opened her gates to receive the new peoples as they were. She sprinkled them with the baptismal water; she inscribed their names in her registers; she taught them in their invocations to repeat the titles of the Trinity; but the doctrines of the Gospel, which alone can enlighten the understanding, purify the heart, and enrich the life with virtue, she was little careful to inculcate upon them. She folded them within her pale, but they were scarcely more Christian than before, while she was greatly less so.
+<p>From the sixth century down-wards Christianity was a mongrel system, made up of pagan rites revived from classic times, of superstitions imported from the forests of Northern Germany, and of Christian beliefs and observances which continued to linger in the Church from primitive and purer times. The inward power of religion was lost; and it was in vain that men strove to supply its place by the outward form. They nourished their piety not at the living fountains of truth, but with the "beggarly elements" of ceremonies and relics, of consecrated lights and holy vestments. Nor was it Divine knowledge only that was contemned; men forbore to cultivate letters, or practice virtue. Baronius confesses that in the sixth century few in Italy were skilled in both Greek and Latin. Nay, even Gregory the Great acknowledged that he was ignorant of Greek. "The main qualifications of the clergy were, that they should be able to read well, sing their matins, know the Lord's Prayer, psalter, forms of exorcism, and understand how to compute the times of the sacred festivals. Nor were they very sufficient for this, if we may believe the account some have given of them. Musculus says that many of them never saw the Scriptures in all their lives. It would seem incredible, but it is delivered by no less an authority than Amama, that an Archbishop of Mainz, lighting upon a Bible and looking into it, expressed himself thus: 'Of a truth I do not know what book this is, but I perceive everything in it is against us.'"<br><br>
+<div id="22-8"></div>[[#2-8|'''8''']] Apostasy is like the descent of heavy bodies, it proceeds with ever-accelerating velocity. First, lamps were lighted at the tombs of the martyrs; next, the Lord's Supper was celebrated at their graves; next, prayers were offered for them and to them;<br><br>
+<div id="22-9"></div>[[#2-9|'''9''']] next, paintings and images began to disfigure the walls, and corpses to pollute the floors of the churches. Baptism, which apostles required water only to dispense, could not be celebrated without white robes and chrism, milk, honey, and salt.<br><br>
+<div id="22-10"></div>[[#2-10|'''10''']] Then came a crowd of church officers whose names and numbers are in striking contrast to the few and simple orders of men who were employed in the first propagation of Christianity. There were sub-deacons, acolytes, exorcists, readers, choristers, and porters; and as work must be found for this motley host of laborers, there came to be fasts and exorcisms; there were lamps to be lighted, altars to be arranged, and churches to be consecrated; there was the Eucharist to be carried to the dying; and there were the dead to be buried, for which a special order of men was set apart. When one looked back to the simplicity of early times, it could not but amaze one to think what a cumbrous array of curious machinery and costly furniture was now needed for the service of Christianity. Not more stinging than true was the remark that "when the Church had golden chalices she had wooden priests."<br><br>
+So far, and through these various stages, had the declension of the Church proceeded. The point she had now reached may be termed an epochal one. From the line on which she stood there was no going back; she must advance into the new and unknown regions before her, though every step would carry her farther from the simple form and vigorous life of her early days. She had received a new impregnation from an alien principle, the same, in fact, from which had sprung the great systems that covered the earth before Christianity arose. This principle could not be summarily extirpated; it must run its course, it must develop itself logically; and having, in the course of centuries, brought its fruits to maturity, it would then, but not till then, perish and pass away.<br><br>
+Looking back at this stage to the change which had come over the Church, we cannot fail to see that its deepest originating cause must be sought, in the inability of the world to receive the Gospel in all its greatness. It was a boon too mighty and too free to be easily understood or credited by man. The angels in their midnight song in the vale of Bethlehem had defined it briefly as sublimely, "goodwill to man." Its greatest preacher, the Apostle Paul, had no other definition to give of it. It was not even a rule of life but "grace," the "grace of God," and therefore sovereign, and boundless. To man fallen and undone the Gospel offered a full forgiveness, and a complete spiritual renovation, issuing at length in the inconceivable and infinite felicity of the Life Eternal. But man's narrow heart could not enlarge itself to God's vast beneficence.<br><br>
+A good so immense, so complete in its nature, and so boundless in its extent, he could not believe that God would bestow without money and without price; there must be conditions or qualifications. So he reasoned. And hence it is that the moment inspired men cease to address us, and that their disciples and scholars take their place &ndash; men of apostolic spirit and doctrine, no doubt, but without the direct knowledge of their predecessors &ndash; we become sensible of a change; an eclipse has passed upon the exceeding glory of the Gospel. As we pass from Paul to Clement, and from Clement to the Fathers that succeeded him, we find the Gospel becoming less of grace and more of merit. The light wanes as we travel down the Patristic road, and remove ourselves farther from the Apostolic dawn. It continues for some time at least to be the same Gospel, but its glory is shorn, its mighty force is abated; and we are reminded of the change that seems to pass upon the sun, when after contemplating him in a tropical hemisphere, we see him in a northern sky, where his slanting beams, forcing their way through mists and vapors, are robbed of half their splendor. Seen through the fogs of the Patristic age, the Gospel scarcely looks the same which had burst upon the world without a cloud but a few centuries before.<br><br>
+This disposition &ndash; that of making God less free in His gift, and man less dependent in the reception of it: the desire to introduce the element of merit on the side of man, and the element of condition on the side of God &ndash; operated at last in opening the door for the pagan principle to creep back into the Church. A change of a deadly and subtle kind passed upon the worship. Instead of being the spontaneous thanksgiving and joy of the soul, that no more evoked or repaid the blessings which awakened that joy than the odors which the flowers exhale are the cause of their growth, or the joy that kindles in the heart of man when the sun rises is the cause of his rising &ndash; worship, we say, from being the expression of the soul's emotions, was changed into a rite, a rite akin to those of the Jewish temples, and still more akin to those of the Greek mythology, a rite in which lay couched a certain amount of human merit and inherent efficacy, that partly created, partly applied the blessings with which it stood connected. This was the moment when the pagan virus inoculated the Christian institution.<br><br>
+This change brought a multitude of others in its train. Worship being transformed into sacrifice &ndash; sacrifice in which was the element of expiation and purification &ndash; the "teaching ministry" was of course converted into a "sacrificing priesthood." When this had been done, there was no retreating; a boundary had been reached which could not be recrossed till centuries had rolled away, and transformations of a more portentous kind than any which had yet taken place had passed upon the Church.<br><br>
+'''CHAPTER 3'''<br><br>
+'''Table of Contents'''
+<br>
+'''DEVELOPMENT OF THE PAPACY FROM THE TIMES OF CONSTANTINE TO THOSE OF HILDEBRAND.'''<br>
+<br>
+Imperial Edicts &ndash; Prestige of Rome &ndash; Fall of the Western Empire &ndash; The Papacy seeks and finds a New Basis of Power &ndash; Christ's Vicar &ndash; Conversion of Gothic Nations &ndash; Pepin and Charlemagne &ndash; The Lombards and the Saracens &ndash; Forgeries and False Decretals &ndash; Election of the Roman Pontiff.<br><br>
+BEFORE opening our great theme it may be needful to sketch the rise and development of the Papacy as a politico-ecclesiastical power. The history on which we are entering, and which we must rapidly traverse, is one of the most wonderful in the world. It is scarcely possible to imagine humbler beginnings than those from which the Papacy arose, and certainly it is not possible to imagine a loftier height than that to which it eventually climbed. He who was seen in the first century presiding as the humble pastor over a single congregation, and claiming no rank above his brethren, is beheld in the twelfth century occupying a seat from which he looks down on all the thrones temporal and spiritual of Christendom. How, we ask with amazement, was the Papacy able to traverse the mighty space that divided the humble pastor from the mitered king?<br><br>
+We traced in the foregoing chapter the decay of doctrine and manners within the Church. Among the causes which contributed to the exaltation of the Papacy this declension may be ranked as fundamental, seeing it opened the door for other deteriorating influences, and mightily favored their operation. Instead of "reaching forth to what was before," the Christian Church permitted herself to be overtaken by the spirit of the ages that lay behind her. There came an after-growth of Jewish ritualism, of Greek philosophy, and of Pagan ceremonialism and idolatry; and, as the consequence of this threefold action, the clergy began to be gradually changed, as already mentioned, from a "teaching ministry" to a "sacrificing priesthood." This made them no longer ministers or servants of their fellow-Christians; they took the position of a caste, claiming to be superior to the laity, invested with mysterious powers, the channels of grace, and the mediators with God. Thus there arose a hierarchy, assuming to mediate between God and men.<br><br>
+The hierarchical polity was the natural concomitant of the hierarchical doctrine. That polity was so consolidated by the time that the empire became Christian, and Constantine ascended the throne (311), that the Church now stood out as a body distinct from the State; and her new organization, subsequently received, in imitation of that of the empire, as stated in the previous chapter, helped still further to define and strengthen her hierarchical government. Still, the primacy of Rome was then a thing unheard of. Manifestly the 300 Fathers who assembled (A.D. 325) at Nicaea knew nothing of it, for in their sixth and seventh canons they expressly recognize the authority of the Churches of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and others, each within its own boundaries, even as Rome had jurisdiction within its limits; and enact that the jurisdiction and privileges of these Churches shall be retained.<br><br>
+<div id="33-1"></div>[[#3-1|'''1''']] Under Leo the Great (440 &ndash; 461) a forward step was taken. The Church of Rome assumed the form and exercised the sway of an ecclesiastical principality, while her head, in virtue of an imperial manifesto (445) of Valentinian III., which recognized the Bishop of Rome as supreme over the Western Church, affected, the authority and pomp of a spiritual sovereign.<br><br>
+Still further, the ascent of the Bishop of Rome to the supremacy was silently yet Powerfully aided by that mysterious and subtle influence which appeared to be indigenous to the soil on which his chair was placed. In an age when the rank of the city determined the rank of its pastor, it was natural that the Bishop of Rome should hold something of that pre-eminence among the clergy which Rome held among cities. Gradually the reverence and awe with which men had regarded the old mistress of the world, began to gather round the person and the chair of her bishop. It was an age of factions and strifes, and the eyes of the contending parties naturally turned to the pastor of the Tiber. They craved his advice, or they submitted their differences to his judgment. These applications the Roman Bishop was careful to register as acknowledgments of his superiority, and on fitting occasions he was not forgetful to make them the basis of new and higher claims. The Latin race, moreover, retained the practical habits for which it had so long been renowned; and while the Easterns, giving way to their speculative genius, were expending their energies in controversy, the Western Church was steadily pursuing her onward path, and skillfully availing herself of everything that could tend to enhance her influence and extend her jurisdiction.<br><br>
+The removal of the seat of empire from Rome to the splendid city on the Bosphorus, Constantinople, which the emperor had built with becoming magnificence for his residence, also tended to enhance the power of the Papal chair. It removed from the side of the Pope a functionary by whom he was eclipsed, and left him the first person in the old capital of the world. The emperor had departed, but the prestige of the old city &ndash; the fruit of countless victories, and of ages of dominion &ndash; had not departed. The contest which had been going on for some time among the five great patriarchates &ndash; Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Constantinople, and Rome &ndash; the question at issue being the same as that which provoked the contention among the disciples of old, "which was the greatest," was now restricted to the last two. The city on the Bosphorus was the seat of government, and the abode of the emperor; this gave her patriarch Powerful claims. But the city on the banks of the Tiber wielded a mysterious and potent charm over the imagination, as the heir of her who had been the possessor of all the power, of all the glory, and of all the dominion of the past; and this vast prestige enabled her patriarch to carry the day. As Rome was the one city in the earth, so her bishop was the one bishop in the Church.<br><br>
+<p>A century and a half later (606), this pre-eminence was decreed to the Roman Bishop in an imperial edict of Phocas. Thus, before the Empire of the West fell, the Bishop of Rome had established substantially his spiritual supremacy. An influence of a manifold kind, of which not the least part was the prestige of the city and the empire, had lifted him to this fatal pre-eminence. But now the time has come when the empire must fall, and we expect to see that supremacy which it had so largely helped to build up fall with it. But no! The wave of barbarism which rolled in from the North, overwhelming society and sweeping away the empire, broke harmlessly at the feet of the Bishop of Rome. The shocks that overturned dynasties and blotted out nationalities, left his power untouched, his seat unshaken. Nay, it was at that very hour, when society was perishing around him, that the Bishop of Rome laid anew the foundations of his power, and placed them where they might remain immovable for all time. He now cast himself on a far stronger element than any the revolution had swept away. He now claimed to be the successor of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and the Vicar of Christ. The canons of Councils, as recorded in Hardouin, show a stream of decisions from Pope Celestine, in the middle of the fifth century, to Pope Boniface II. in the middle of the sixth, claiming, directly or indirectly, this august prerogative.<br><br>
+<div id="33-2"></div>[[#3-2|'''2''']] When the Bishop of Rome placed his chair, with all the prerogatives and dignities vested in it, upon this ground, he stood no longer upon a merely imperial foundation. Henceforward he held neither of Caesar nor of Rome; he held immediately of Heaven. What one emperor had given, another emperor might take away. It did not suit the Pope to hold his office by so uncertain a tenure. He made haste, therefore, to place his supremacy where no future decree of emperor, no lapse of years, and no coming revolution could overturn it. He claimed to rest it upon a Divine foundation; he claimed to be not merely the chief of bishops and the first of patriarchs, but the vicar Of the Most High God.<br><br>
+With the assertion of this dogma the system of the Papacy was completed essentially and doctrinally, but not as yet practically. It had to wait the full development of the idea of vicarship, which was not till the days of Gregory VII. But here have we the embryotic seed &ndash; the vicarship, namely &ndash; out of which the vast structure of the Papacy has sprung. This it is that plants at the center of the system a pseudo-divine jurisdiction, and places the Pope above all bishops with their flocks, above all king with their subjects. This it is that gives the Pope two swords. This it is that gives him three crowns. The day when this dogma was proclaimed was the true birthday of the Popedom. The Bishop of Rome had till now sat in the seat of Caesar; henceforward he was to sit in the seat of God. From this time the growth of the Popedom was rapid indeed. The state of society favored its development. Night had descended upon the world from the North; and in the universal barbarism, the more prodigious any pretensions were, the more likely were they to find both belief and submission.<br><br>
+The Goths, on arriving in their new settlements, beheld a religion which was served by magnificent cathedrals, imposing rites, and wealthy and powerful prelates, presided over by a chief priest, in whose reputed sanctity and ghostly authority they found again their own chief Druid. These rude warriors, who had overturned the throne of the Caesars, bowed down before the chair of the Popes. The evangelization of these tribes was a task of easy accomplishment. The "Catholic faith," which they began to exchange for their Paganism or Arianism, consisted chiefly in their being able to recite the names of the objects of their worship, which they were left to adore with much the same rites as they had practiced in their native forests. They did not much concern themselves with the study of Christian doctrine, or the practice of Christian virtue. The age furnished but few manuals of the one, and still fewer models of the other.<br><br>
+The first of the Gothic princes to enter the Roman communion was Clovis, King of the Franks. In fulfillment of a vow which he had made on the field of Tolbiac, where he vanquished the Allemanni, Clovis was baptized in the Cathedral of Rheims (496), with every circumstance of solemnity which could impress a sense of the awfulness of the rite on the minds of its rude proselytes. Three thousand of his warlike subjects were baptized along with him.<br><br>
+<div id="33-3"></div>[[#3-3|'''3''']] The Pope styled him "the eldest son of the Church," a title which was regularly adopted by all the subsequent Kings of France. When Clovis ascended from the baptismal font he was the only as well as the eldest son of the Church, for he alone, of all the new chiefs that now governed the West, had as yet submitted to the baptismal rite.<br><br>
+The threshold once crossed, others were not slow to follow. In the next century, the sixth, the Burgundians of Southern Gaul, the Visigoths of Spain, the Suevi of Portugal, and the Anglo-Saxons of Britain entered the pale of Rome. In the seventh century the disposition was still growing among the princes of Western Europe to submit themselves and refer their disputes to the Pontiff as their spiritual father. National assemblies were held twice a year, under the sanction of the bishops. The prelates made use of these gatherings to procure enactments favorable to the propagation of the faith as held by Rome. These assemblies were first encouraged, then enjoined by the Pope, who came in this way to be regarded as a sort of Father or protector of the states of the West. Accordingly we find Sigismund, King of Burgundy, ordering (554) that all assembly should be held for the future on the 6th of September every year, "at which time the ecclesiastics are not so much engrossed with the worldly cares of husbandry."<br><br>
+<div id="33-4"></div>[[#3-4|'''4''']] The ecclesiastical conquest of Germany was in this century completed, and thus the spiritual dominions of the Pope were still farther extended.<br><br>
+In the eighth century there came a moment of supreme peril to Rome. At almost one and the same time she was menaced by two dangers, which threatened to sweep her out of existence, but which, in their issue, contributed to strengthen her dominion. On the west the victorious Saracens, having crossed the Pyrenees and overrun the south of France, were watering their steeds at the Loire, and threatening to descend upon Italy and plant the Crescent in the room of the Cross. On the north, the Lombards &ndash; who, under Alboin, had established themselves in Central Italy two centuries before &ndash; had burst the barrier of the Apennines, and were brandishing their swords at the gates of Rome. They were on the point of replacing Catholic orthodoxy with the creed of Arianism. Having taken advantage of the iconoclast disputes to throw off the imperial yoke, the Pope could expect no aid from the Emperor of Constantinople. He turned his eyes to France. The prompt and powerful interposition of the Frankish arms saved the Papal chair, now in extreme jeopardy.<br><br>The intrepid Charles Martel drove back the Saracens (732), and Pepin, the Mayor of the palace, son of Charles Martel, who had just seized the throne, and needed the Papal sanction to color his usurpation, with equal promptitude hastened to the Pope's help (Stephen II.) against the Lombards (754). Having vanquished them, he placed the keys of their towns upon the altar of St. Peter, and so laid the first foundation of the Pope's temporal sovereignty. The yet more illustrious son of Pepin, Charlemagne, had to repeat this service in the Pope's behalf. The Lombards becoming again troublesome, Charlemagne subdued them a second time. After his campaign he visited Rome (774). The youth of the city, bearing olive and palm branches, met him at the gates, the Pope and the clergy received him in the vestibule of St. Peter's, and entering "into the sepulcher where the bones of the apostles lie," he finally ceded to the pontiff the territories of the conquered tribes.<br><br>
+<div id="33-5"></div>[[#3-5|'''5''']] It was in this way that Peter obtained his "patrimony," the Church her dowry, and the Pope his triple crown.<br><br>
+The Pope had now attained two of the three grades of power that constitute his stupendous dignity. He had made himself a bishop of bishops, head of the Church, and he had become a crowned monarch. Did this content him? No! He said, "I will ascend the sides of the mount; I will plant my throne above the stars; I will be as God." Not content with being a bishop of bishops, and so governing the whole spiritual affairs of Christendom, he aimed at becoming a king of kings, and so of governing the whole temporal affairs of the world. He aspired to supremacy, sole, absolute, and unlimited. This alone was wanting to complete that colossal fabric of power, the Popedom, and towards this the pontiff now began to strive.<br><br>
+Some of the arts had recourse to in order to grasp the coveted dignity were of an extraordinary kind. An astounding document, purporting to have been written in the fourth century, although unheard of till now, was in the year 776 brought out of the darkness in which it had been so long suffered to remain. It was the "Donation" or Testament of the Emperor Constantine. Constantine, says the legend, found Sylvester in one of the monasteries on Mount Soracte, and having mounted him on a mule, he took hold of his bridle rein, and walking all the way on foot, the emperor conducted Sylvester to Rome, and placed him upon the Papal throne. But this was as nothing compared with the vast and splendid inheritance which Constantine conferred on him, as the following quotation from the deed of gift to which we have referred will show: &ndash;<br><br>"We attribute to the See of Peter all the dignity, all the glory, all the authority of the imperial power. Furthermore, we give to Sylvester and to his successors our palace of the Lateran, which is incontestably the finest palace on the earth; we give him our crown, our miter, our diadem, and all our imperial vestments; we transfer to him the imperial dignity. We bestow on the holy Pontiff in free gift the city of Rome, and all the western cities of Italy. To cede precedence to him, we divest ourselves of our authority over all those provinces, and we withdraw from Rome, transferring the seat of our empire to Byzantium; inasmuch as it is not proper that an earthly emperor should preserve the least authority, where God hath established the head of his religion."<br><br>
+<div id="33-6"></div>[[#3-6|'''6''']] A rare piece of modesty this on the part of the Popes, to keep this invaluable document beside them for 400 years, and never say a word about it; and equally admirable the policy of selecting the darkness of the eighth century as the fittest time for its publication. To quote it is to refute it. It was probably forged a little before A.D. 754. It was composed to repel the Longobards on the one side, and the Greeks on the other, and to influence the mind of Pepin. In it, Constantine is made to speak in the Latin of the eighth century, and to address Bishop Sylvester as Prince of the Apostles, Vicar of Christ, and as having authority over the four great thrones, not yet set up, of Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Constantinople. It was probably written by a priest of the Lateran Church, and it gained its object &ndash; that is, it led Pepin to bestow on the Pope the Exarchate of Ravenna, with twenty towns to furnish oil for the lamps in the Roman churches.<br><br>
+During more than 600 years Rome impressively cited this deed of gift, inserted it in her codes, permitted none to question its genuineness, and burned those who refused to believe in it. The first dawn of light in the sixteenth century sufficed to discover the cheat.<br><br>
+In the following century another document of a like extraordinary character was given to the world. We refer to the "Decretals of Isidore." These were concocted about the year 845. They professed to be a collection of the letters, rescripts, and bulls of the early pastors of the Church of Rome &ndash; Anacletus, Clement, and others, down to Sylvester &ndash; the very men to whom the terms "rescript" and "bull" were unknown. The burden of this compilation was the pontifical supremacy, which it affirmed had existed from the first age. It was the clumsiest, but the most successful, of all the forgeries which have emanated from what the Greeks have reproachfully termed "the native home of inventions and falsifications of documents." The writer, who professed to be living in the first century, painted the Church of Rome in the magnificence which she attained only in the ninth; and made the pastors of the first age speak in the pompous words of the Popes of the Middle Ages. Abounding in absurdities, contradictions, and anachronisms, it affords a measure of the intelligence of the age that accepted it as authentic.<br><br>
+It was eagerly laid hold of by Nicholas I. to prop up and extend the fabric of his power. His successors made it the arsenal from which they drew their weapons of attack against both bishops and kings. It became the foundation of the canon law, and continues to be so, although there is not now a Popish writer who does not acknowledge it to be a piece of imposture. "Never," says Father de Rignon, "was there seen a forgery so audacious, so extensive, so solemn, so persevering."<br><br>
+<div id="33-7"></div>[[#3-7|'''7''']]Yet the discovery of the fraud has not shaken the system. The learned Dupin supposes that these decretals were fabricated by Benedict, a deacon of Mainz, who was the first to publish them, and that, to give them greater currency, he prefixed to them the name of Isidore, a bishop who flourished in Seville in the seventh century. "Without the pseudo-Isidore," says Janus, "there could have been no Gregory VII. The Isidorian forgeries were the broad foundation which the Gregorians built upon."<br><br>
+<div id="33-8"></div>[[#3-8|'''8''']] All the while the Papacy was working on another line for the emancipation of its chief from interference and control, whether on the side of the people or on the side of the kings. In early times the bishops were elected by the people.
+<br><br>
+<div id="13-9"></div>[[#3-9|'''9''']] By-and-by they came to be elected by the clergy, with consent of the people; but gradually the people were excluded from all share in the matter, first in the Eastern Church, and then in the Western, although traces of popular election are found at Milan so late as the eleventh century. The election of the Bishop of Rome in early times was in no way different from that of other bishops &ndash; that is, he was chosen by the people. Next, the consent of the emperor came to be necessary to the validity of the popular choice. Then, the emperor alone elected the Pope. Next, the cardinals claimed a voice in the matter; they elected and presented the object of their choice to the emperor for confirmation. Last of all, the cardinals took the business entirely into their own hands. Thus gradually was the way paved for the full emancipation and absolute supremacy of the Popedom.<br><br>
-[[#_Toc118697011|2. Temporal blessings in General]] 8
+'''CHAPTER 4'''<br>
+'''DEVELOPMENT OF THE PAPACY FROM GREGORY VII. TO BONIFACE VIII.'''<br><br>
+The Wax of Investitures &ndash; Gregory VII. and Henry IV. &ndash; The Miter Triumphs over the Empire &ndash; Noon of the Papacy under Innocent III. &ndash; Continued to Boniface VIII. &ndash; First and Last Estate of the Roman Pastors Contrasted &ndash; Seven Centuries of Continuous Success &ndash; Interpreted by Some as a Proof that the Papacy is Divine &ndash; Reasons explaining this Marvelous Success &ndash; Eclipsed by the Gospel's Progress
+<br><br>
+WE come now to the last great struggle. There lacked one grade of power to complete and crown this stupendous fabric of dominion. The spiritual Supremacy was achieved in the seventh century, the temporal sovereignty was attained in the eighth; it wanted only the pontifical supremacy &ndash; sometimes, although improperly, styled the temporal supremacy to make the Pope supreme over kings, as he had already become over peoples and bishops, and to vest in him a jurisdiction that has not its like on earth &ndash; a jurisdiction that is unique, inasmuch as it arrogates all powers, absorbs all rights, and spurns all limits. Destined, before terminating its career, to crush beneath its iron foot thrones and nations, and masking an ambition as astute as Lucifer's with a dissimulation as profound, this power advanced at first with noiseless steps, and stole upon the world as night steals upon it; but as it neared the goal its strides grew longer and swifter, till at last it vaulted over the throne of monarchs into the seat of God.<br><br>This great war we shall now proceed to consider. When the Popes, at an early stage, claimed to be the vicars of Christ, they virtually challenged that boundless jurisdiction of which their proudest era beheld them in actual possession. But they knew that it would be imprudent, indeed impossible, as yet to assert it in actual fact. Their motto was Spes messis in semine. Discerning "the harvest in the seed," they were content meanwhile to lodge the principle of supremacy in their creed, and in the general mind of Europe, knowing that future ages would fructify and ripen it. Towards this they began to work quietly, yet skillfully and perseveringly. At length came overt and open measures. It was now the year 1073. The Papal chair was filled by perhaps the greatest of all the Popes, Gregory VII., the noted Hildebrand. Daring and ambitious beyond all who had preceded, and beyond most of those who have followed him on the Papal throne, Gregory fully grasped the great idea of Theocracy.<br><br>He held that the reign of the Pope was but another name for the reign of God, and he resolved never to rest till that idea had been realized in the subjection of all authority and power, spiritual and temporal, to the chair of Peter. "When he drew out," says Janus, "the whole system of Papal omnipotence in twenty-seven theses in his 'Dictatus,' these theses were partly mere repetitions or corollaries of the Isidorian decretals; partly he and his friends sought to give them the appearance of tradition and antiquity by new fictions."<br><br>
+<div id="44-1"></div>[[#4-1|'''1'''] We may take the following as samples. The eleventh maxim says, "the Pope's name is the chief name in the world;" the twelfth teaches that "it is lawful for him to depose emperors;" the eighteenth affirms that "his decision is to be withstood by none, but he alone may annul those of all men." The nineteenth declares that "he can be judged by no one." The twenty-fifth vests in him the absolute power of deposing and restoring bishops, and the twenty-seventh the power of annulling the allegiance of subjects.<br><br>
+<div id="44-2"></div>[[#4-2|'''2''']] Such was the gage that Gregory flung down to the kings and nations of the world &ndash; we say of the world, for the pontifical supremacy embraces all who dwell upon the earth.<br><br>
+Now began the war between the miter and the empire; Gregory's object in this war being to wrest from the emperors the power of appointing the bishops and the clergy generally, and to assume into his own sole and irresponsible hands the whole of that intellectual and spiritual machinery by which Christendom was governed. The strife was a bloody one. The miter, though sustaining occasional reverses, continued nevertheless to gain steadily upon the empire. The spirit of the times helped the priesthood in their struggle with the civil power. The age was superstitious to the core, and though in no wise spiritual, it was very thoroughly ecclesiastical. The crusades, too, broke the spirit and drained the wealth of the princes, while the growing power and augmenting riches of the clergy cast the balance ever more and more against the State.<br><br>
+For a brief space Gregory VII. tasted in his own case the luxury of wielding this more than mortal power. There came a gleam through the awful darkness of the tempest he had raised &ndash; not final victory, which was yet a century distant, but its presage. He had the satisfaction of seeing the emperor, Henry IV. of Germany &ndash; whom he had smitten with excommunication &ndash; barefooted, and in raiment of sackcloth, waiting three days and nights at the castle-gates of Canossa, amid the winter drifts, suing for forgiveness. But it was for a moment only that Hildebrand stood on this dazzling pinnacle. The fortune of war very quickly turned. Henry, the man whom the Pope had so sorely humiliated, became victor in his turn. Gregory died, an exile, on the promontory of Salerno; but his successors espoused his project, and strove by wiles, by arms, and by anathemas, to reduce the world under the scepter of the Papal Theocracy. For well-nigh two dismal centuries the conflict was maintained. How truly melancholy the record of these times! It exhibits to our sorrowing gaze many a stricken field, many an empty throne, many a city sacked, many a spot deluged with blood!<br><br>
+But through all this confusion and misery the idea of Gregory was perseveringly pursued, till at last it was realized, and the miter was beheld triumphant over the empire. It was the fortune or the calamity of Innocent III. (1198-1216) to celebrate this great victory. Now it was that the pontifical supremacy reached its full development. One man, one will again governed the world. It is with a sort of stupefied awe that we look back to the thirteenth century, and see in the foreground of the receding storm this Colossus, uprearing itself in the person of Innocent III., on its head all the miters of the Church, and in its hand all the scepters of the State. "In each of the three leading objects which Rome has pursued," says Hallam &ndash; "independent sovereignty, supremacy over the Christian Church, control over the princes of the earth it was the fortune of this pontiff to conquer."<br><br>
+<div id="44-3"></div>[[#4-3|'''3''']] "Rome," he says again, "inspired during this age all the terror of her ancient name; she was once more mistress of the world, and kings were her vassals."<br><br>
+<div id="44-4"></div>[[#4-4|'''4''']] She had fought a great fight, and now she celebrated an unequaled triumph. Innocent appointed all bishops; he summoned to his tribunal all causes, from the gravest affairs of mighty kingdoms to the private concerns of the humble citizen. He claimed all kingdoms as his fiefs, all monarchs as his vassals; and launched with unsparing hand the bolts of excommunication against all who withstood his pontifical will. Hildebrand's idea was now fully realized. The pontifical supremacy was beheld in its plenitude &ndash; the plenitude of spiritual power, and that of temporal power. It was the noon of the Papacy; but the noon of the Papacy was the midnight of the world.<br><br>
+The grandeur which the Papacy now enjoyed, and the jurisdiction it wielded, have received dogmatic expression, and one or two selections will enable it to paint itself as it was seen in its noon. Pope Innocent III. affirmed "that the pontifical authority so much exceeded the royal power as the sun doth the moon."<br><br>
+<div id="44-5"></div>[[#4-5|'''5''']] Nor could he find words fitly to describe his own formidable functions, save those of Jehovah to his prophet Jeremiah: "See, I have set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down." "The Church my spouse," we find the same Pope saying, "is not married to me without bringing me something. She hath given me a dowry of a price beyond all price, the plenitude of spiritual things, and the extent of things temporal;<br><br>
+<div id="44-6"></div>[[#4-6|'''6''']] the greatness and abundance of both. She hath given me the miter in token of things spiritual, the crown in token of the temporal; the miter for the priesthood, and the crown for the kingdom; making me the lieutenant of him who hath written upon his vesture, and on his thigh, 'the King of kings and the Lord of lords.' I enjoy alone the plenitude of power, that others may say of me, next to God, 'and out of his fullness have we received.'<br><br>
+<div id="44-7"></div>[[#4-7|'''7''']] "We declare," ,says Boniface VIII. (1294-1303), in his bull Unam Sanetam, "define, pronounce it to be necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff." This subjection is declared in the bull to extend to all affairs. "One sword," says the Pope, "must be under another, and the temporal authority must be subject to the spiritual power; whence, if the earthly power go astray, it must be judged by the spiritual."<br><br>
+<div id="44-8"></div>[[#4-8|'''8''']] Such are a few of the "great words" which were heard to issue from the Vatican Mount, that new Sinai, which, like the old, encompassed by fiery terrors, had upreared itself in the midst of the astonished and affrighted nations of Christendom.<br>
+<br>
+What a contrast between the first and the last estate of the pastors of the Roman Church! &ndash; between the humility and poverty of the first century, and the splendor and power in which the thirteenth saw them enthroned! This contrast has not escaped the notice of the greatest of Italian poets. Dante, in one of his lightning flashes, has brought it before us. He describes the first pastors of the Church as coming "barefoot and lean, Eating their bread, as chanced, at the first table."<br><br>
+And addressing Peter, he says: "E'en thou went'st forth in poverty and hunger<br><br>
+<p>To set the goodly plant that,<br>
+  from the Vine It once was,<br>
+  now is grown unsightly bramble." <br><br>
+<div id="44-9"></div>[[#4-9|'''9''']]Petrarch dwells repeatedly and with more amplification on the same theme. We quote only the first and last stanzas of his sonnet on the Church of Rome: &ndash;<br><br>
-[[#_Toc118697012|3. Food and Raiment]] 8
+<p>"The fire of wrathful heaven alight,<br>
+  And all thy harlot tresses smite,<br>
+  Base city! Thou from humble fare,<br>
+  Thy acorns and thy water, rose<br>
+  To greatness, rich with others' woes,<br>
+  Rejoicing in the ruin thou didst bear."<br>
+"In former days thou wast not laid<br>
+  On down, nor under cooling shade;<br>
+  Thou naked to the winds wast given,<br>
+  And through the sharp and thorny road<br>
+  Thy feet without the sandals trod;<br>
+  But now thy life is such it smells to heaven."<br><br>
+<div id="44-10"></div>[[#4-10|'''10''']] There is something here out of the ordinary course. We have no desire to detract from the worldly wisdom of the Popes; they were, in that respect, the ablest race of rulers the world ever saw. Their enterprise soared as high above the vastest scheme of other potentates and conquerors, as their ostensible means of achieving it fell below theirs. To build such a fabric of dominion upon the Gospel, every line of which repudiates and condemns it! to impose it upon the world without an army and without a fleet! to bow the necks not of ignorant peoples only, but of mighty potentates to it! nay, to persuade the latter to assist in establishing a power which they could hardly but foresee would clash themselves! to pursue this scheme through a succession of centuries without once meeting any serious check or repulse &ndash; for of the 130 Popes between Boniface III. (606), who, in partnership with Phocas, laid the foundations of the Papal grandeur, and Gregory VII., who tint realized it, onward through other two centuries to Innocent III. (1216) and Boniface VIII. (1303), who at last put the top-stone upon it, not one lost an inch of ground which his predecessor had gained! &ndash; to do all this is, we repeat, something out of the ordinary course.<br><br>
+There is nothing like it again in the whole history of the world. This success, continued through seven centuries, was audaciously interpreted into a proof of the divinity of the Papacy. Behold, it has been said, when the throne of Caesar was overturned, how the chair of Peter stood erect! Behold, when the barbarous nations rushed like a torrent into Italy, overwhelming laws, extinguishing knowledge, and dissolving society itself, how the ark of the Church rode in safety on the flood! Behold, when the victorious hosts of the Saracen approached the gates of Italy, how they were turned back! Behold, when the miter waged its great contest with the empire, how it triumphed! Behold, when the Reformation broke out, and it seemed as if the kingdom of the Pope was numbered and finished, how three centuries have been added to its sway! Behold, in fine, when revolution broke out in France, and swept like a whirlwind over Europe, bearing down thrones and dynasties, how the bark of Peter outlived the storm, and rode triumphant above the waves that engulfed apparently stronger structures! Is not this the Church of which Christ said, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it?"<br><br>
+What else do the words of Cardinal Baronius mean? Boasting of a supposed donation of the kingdom of Hungary to the Roman See by Stephen, he says, "It fell out by a wonderful providence of God, that at the very time when the Roman Church might appear ready to fall and perish, even then distant kings approach the Apostolic See, which they acknowledge and venerate as the only temple of the universe, the sanctuary of piety, the pillar of truth, the immovable rock. Behold, kings &ndash; not from the East, as of old they came to the cradle of Christ, but from the North &ndash; led by faith, they humbly approach the cottage of the fisher, the Church of Rome herself, offering not only gifts out of their treasures, but bringing even kingdoms to her, and asking kingdoms from her. Whoso is wise, and will record these things, even he shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord."<br><br>
+<div id="44-11"></div>[[#4-11|'''11''']]But the success of the Papacy, when closely examined, is not so surprising as it looks. It cannot be justly pronounced legitimate, or fairly won. Rome has ever been swimming with the tide. The evils and passions of society, which a true benefactress would have made it her business to cure &ndash; at least, to alleviate &ndash; Rome has studied rather to foster into strength, that she might be borne to power on the foul current which she herself had created. Amid battles, bloodshed, and confusion, has her path lain. The edicts of subservient Councils, the forgeries of hireling priests, the arms of craven monarchs, and the thunderbolts of excommunication have never been wanting to open her path. Exploits won by weapons of this sort are what her historians delight to chronicle. These are the victories that constitute her glory! And then, there remains yet another and great deduction from the apparent grandeur of her success, in that, after all, it is the success of only a few &ndash; a caste &ndash; the clergy. For although, during her early career, the Roman Church rendered certain important services to society &ndash; of which it will delight us to make mention in fitting place when she grew to maturity, and was able to develop her real genius, it was felt and acknowledged by all that her principles implied the ruin of all interests save her own, and that there was room in the world for none but herself. If her march, as shown in history down to the sixteenth century, is ever onwards, it is not less true that behind, on her path, lie the wrecks of nations, and the ashes of literature, of liberty, and of civilization.<br><br>
+Nor can we help observing that the career of Rome, with all the fictitious brilliance that encompasses it, is utterly eclipsed when placed beside the silent and sublime progress of the Gospel. The latter we see winning its way over mighty obstacles solely by the force and sweetness of its own truth. It touches the deep wounds of society only to heal them. It speaks not to awaken but to hush the rough voice of strife and war. It enlightens, purifies, and blesses men wherever it comes, and it does all this so gently and unboastingly! Reviled, it reviles not again. For curses it returns blessings. It unsheathes no sword; it spills no blood. Cast into chains, its victories are as many as when free, and more glorious; dragged to the stake and burned, from the ashes of the martyr there start up a thousand confessors, to speed on its career and swell the glory of its triumph. Compared with this how different has been the career of Rome! &ndash; as different, in fact, as the thunder-cloud which comes onward, mantling the skies in gloom and scathing the earth with fiery bolts, is different from the morning descending from the mountain-tops, scattering around it the silvery light, and awakening at its presence songs of joy.<br><br>
-[[#_Toc118697013|4. Long Life and Health]] 8
+'''CHAPTER 5'''<br><br>
+'''MEDIAEVAL PROTESTANT WITNESSES.'''<br>
+<br>
+Ambrose of Milan &ndash; His Diocese &ndash; His Theology &ndash; Rufinus, Presbyter of Aquileia &ndash; Laurentius of Milan &ndash; The Bishops of the Grisons &ndash; Churches of Lombardy in Seventh and Eighth Centuries &ndash; Claude in the Ninth Century &ndash; His Labors &ndash; Outline of his Theology &ndash; His Doctrine of the Eucharist &ndash; His Battle against Images &ndash; His Views on the Roman Primacy &ndash; Proof thence arising &ndash; Councils in France approve his Views &ndash; Question of the Services of the Roman Church to the Western Nations.<br><br>
+The apostasy was not universal. At no time did God leave His ancient Gospel without witnesses. When one body of confessors yielded to the darkness, or was cut off by violence, another arose in some other land, so that there was no age in which, in some country or other of Christendom, public testimony was not borne against the errors of Rome, and in behalf of the Gospel which she sought to destroy.<br><br>
+The country in which we find the earliest of these Protesters is Italy. The See of Rome, in those days, embraced only the capital and the surrounding provinces. The diocese of Milan, which included the plain of Lombardy, the Alps of Piedmont, and the southern provinces of France, greatly exceeded it in extent.<br><br>
+<div id="55-1"></div>[[#15-1|'''1''']] It is an undoubted historical fact that this powerful diocese was not then tributary to the Papal chair. "The Bishops of Milan," says Pope Pelagius I. (555), "do not come to Rome for ordination." He further informs us that this "was an ancient custom of theirs."<br><br>
+<div id="55-2"></div>[[#5-2|'''2''']] Pope Pelagius, however, attempted to subvert this "ancient custom," but his efforts resulted only in a wider estrangement between the two dioceses of Milan and Rome. For when Platina speaks of the subjection of Milan to the Pope under Stephen IX.,<br><br>
+<div id="55-3"></div>[[#5-3|'''3''']] in the middle of the eleventh century, he admits that "for 200 years together the Church of Milan had been separated from the Church of Rome." Even then, though on the very eve of the Hildebrandine era, the destruction of the independence of the diocese was not accomplished without a protest on the part of its clergy, and a tumult on the part of the people. The former affirmed that "the Ambrosian Church was not subject to the laws of Rome; that it had been always free, and could not, with honor, surrender its liberties." The latter broke out into clamor, and threatened violence to Damianus, the deputy sent to receive their submission. "The people grew into higher ferment," says Baronius;<br><br>
+<div id="55-4"></div>[[#5-4|'''4''']] "the bells were rung; the episcopal palace beset; and the legate threatened with death." Traces of its early independence remain to this day in the Rito or Culto Ambrogiano, still in use throughout the whole of the ancient Archbishopric of Milan.<br><br>
+One consequence of this ecclesiastical independence of Northern Italy was, that the corruptions of which Rome was the source were late in being introduced into Milan and its diocese. The evangelical light shone there some centuries after the darkness had gathered in the southern part of the peninsula. Ambrose, who died A.D. 397, was Bishop of Milan for twenty-three years. His theology, and that of his diocese, was in no essential respects different from that which Protestants hold at this day. The Bible alone was his rule of faith; Christ alone was the foundation of the Church; the justification of the sinner and the remission of sins were not of human merit, but by the expiatory sacrifice of the Cross; there were but two Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and in the latter Christ was held to be present only figuratively.<br><br>
+<div id="55-5"></div>[[#5-5|'''5''']] Such is a summary of the faith professed and taught by the chief bishop of the north of Italy in the end of the fourth century.<br><br>
+<div id="55-6"></div>[[#5-6|'''6''']] Rufinus, of Aquileia, first metropolitan in the diocese of Milan, taught substantially the same doctrine in the fifth century. His treatise on the Creed no more agrees with the catechism of the Council of Trent than does the catechism of Protestants.<br><br>
+<div id="55-7"></div>[[#5-7|'''7''']] His successors at Aquileia, so far as can be gathered from the writings which they have left behind them, shared the sentiments of Rufinus.<br><br>
+To come to the sixth century, we find Laurentius, Bishop of Milan, holding that the penitence of the heart, without the absolution of a priest, suffices for pardon; and in the end of the same century (A.D. 590) we find the bishops of Italy and of the Grisons, to the number of nine, rejecting the communion of the Pope, as a heretic, so little then was the infallibility believed in, or the Roman supremacy acknowledged.<br><br>
+<div id="55-8"></div>[[#5-8|'''8''']] In the seventh century we find Mansuetus, Bishop of Milan, declaring that the whole faith of the Church is contained in the Apostles' Creed; from which it is evident that he did not regard as necessary to salvation the additions which Rome had then begun to make, and the many she has since appended to the apostolic doctrine. The Ambrosian Liturgy, which, as we have said, continues to be used in the diocese of Milan, is a monument to the comparative purity of the faith and worship of the early Churches of Lombardy.<br><br>In the eighth century we find Paulinus, Bishop of Aquileia, declaring that "we feed upon the divine nature of Jesus Christ, which cannot be said but only with respect to believers, and must be understood metaphorically." Thus manifest is it that he rejected the corporeal manducation of the Church at Rome. He also warns men against approaching God through any other mediator or advocate than Jesus Christ, affirming that He alone was conceived without sin; that He is the only Redeemer, and that He is the one foundation of the Church. "If any one," says Allix, "will take the pains to examine the opinions of this bishop, he will find it a hard thing not to take notice that he denies what the Church of Rome affirms with relation to all these articles, and that he affirms what the Church of Rome denies."<br><br>
+<div id="55-9"></div>[[#5-9|'''9''']] It must be acknowledged that these men, despite their great talents and their ardent piety, had not entirely escaped the degeneracy of their age. The light that was in them was partly mixed with darkness. Even the great Ambrose was touched with a veneration for relics, and a weakness for other superstitious of his times. But as regards the cardinal doctrines of salvation, the faith of these men was essentially Protestant, and stood out in bold antagonism to the leading principles of the Roman creed. And such, with more or less of clearness, must be held to have been the profession of the pastors over whom they presided. And the Churches they ruled and taught were numerous and widely planted. They flourished in the towns and villages which dot the vast plain that stretches like a garden for 200 miles along the foot of the Alps; they existed in those romantic and fertile valleys over which the great mountains hang their pine forests and snows, and, passing the summit, they extended into the southern provinces of France, even as far as to the Rhone, on the banks of which Polycarp, the disciple of John, in early times had planted the Gospel, to be watered in the succeeding centuries by the blood of thousands of martyrs. <br><br>
+Darkness gives relief to the light, and error necessitates a fuller development and a clearer definition of truth. On this principle the ninth century produced the most remarkable perhaps of all those great champions who strove to set limits to the growing superstition, and to preserve, pure and undefiled, the faith which apostles had preached. The mantle of Ambrose descended on Claudius, Archbishop of Turin. This man beheld with dismay the stealthy approaches of a power which, putting out the eyes of men, bowed their necks to its yoke, and bent their knees to idols. He grasped the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and the battle which he so courageously waged, delayed, though it could not prevent, the fall of his Church's independence, and for two centuries longer the light continued to shine at the foot of the Alps. Claudius was an earnest and indefatigable student of Holy Scripture. That Book carried him back to the first age, and set him down at the feet of apostles, at the feet of One greater than apostles; and, while darkness was descending on the earth, around Claude still shone the day.<br><br>
+The truth, drawn from its primeval fountains, he proclaimed throughout his diocese, which included the valleys of the Waldenses. Where his voice could not reach, he labored to convey instruction by his pen. He wrote commentaries on the Gospels; he published expositions of almost all the epistles of Paul, and several books of the Old Testament; and thus he furnished his contemporaries with the means of judging how far it became them to submit to a jurisdiction so manifestly usurped as that of Rome, or to embrace tenets so undeniably novel as those which she was now foisting upon the world.<br><br>
+<div id="55-10"></div>[[#5-10|'''10''']] The sum of what Claude maintained was that there is but one Sovereign in the Church, and He is not on earth; that Peter had no superiority over the other apostles, save in this, that he was the first who preached the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles; that human merit is of no avail for salvation, and that faith alone saves us. On this cardinal point he insists with a clearness and breadth which remind one of Luther. The authority of tradition he repudiates, prayers for the dead he condemns, as also the notion that the Church cannot err. As regards relics, instead of holiness he can find in them nothing but rottenness, and advises that they be instantly returned to the grave, from which they ought never to have been taken.<br><br>
+Of the Eucharist, he writes in his commentary on Matthew (A.D. 815) in a way which shows that he stood at the greatest distance from the opinions which Paschasius Radbertus broached eighteen years afterwards.<br><br>
+Paschasius Radbertus, a monk, afterwards Abbot of Corbei, pretended to explain with precision the manner in which the body and blood of Christ are present in the Eucharist. He published (831) a treatise, "Concerning the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ." His doctrine amounted to the two following propositions: &ndash;<br><br>
+Of the bread and wine nothing remains after consecration but the outward figure, under which the body and blood of Christ are really and locally present.</li>
+  <li>2. This body present in the Eucharist is the same body that was born of the Virgin, that suffered upon the cross, and was raised from the grave.</li>
+<p>This new doctrine excited the astonishment of not a few, and called forth several powerful opponents &ndash; amongst others, Johannes Scotus.<br><br>
+<div id="55-11"></div>[[#5-11|'''11''']] Claudius, however, thought that the Lord's Supper was a memorial of Christ's death, and not a repetition of it, and that the elements of bread and wine were only symbols of the flesh and blood of the Savior.<br><br>
+<div id="55-12"></div>[[#5-12|'''12''']] It is clear from this that transubstantiation was unknown in the ninth century to the Churches at the foot of the Alps. Nor was it the Bishop of Turin only who held this doctrine of the Eucharist; we are entitled to infer that the bishops of neighboring dioceses, both north and south of the Alps, shared the opinion of Claude. For though they differed from him on some other points, and did not conceal their difference, they expressed no dissent from his views respecting the Sacrament, and in proof of their concurrence in his general policy, strongly urged him to continue his expositions of the Sacred Scriptures. Specially was this the case as regards two leading ecclesiastics of that day, Jonas, Bishop of Orleans, and the Abbot Theodemirus. Even in the century following, we find certain bishops of the north of Italy saying that "wicked men eat the goat and not the lamb," language wholly incomprehensible from the lips of men who believe in transubstantiation.<br><br>
+<div id="55-13"></div>[[#5-13|'''13''']] The worship of images was then making rapid strides. The Bishop of Rome was the great advocate of this ominous innovation; it was on this point that Claude fought his great battle. He resisted it with all the logic of his pen and all the force of his eloquence; he condemned the practice as idolatrous, and he purged those churches in his diocese which had begun to admit representations of saints and divine persons within their walls, not even sparing the cross itself.<br><br>
+<div id="55-14"></div>[[#5-14|'''14''']] It is instructive to mark that the advocates of images in the ninth century justified their use of them by the very same arguments which Romanists employ at this day; and that Claude refutes them on the same ground taken by Protestant writers still. We do not worship the image, say the former, we use it simply as the medium through which our worship ascends to Him whom the image represents; and if we kiss the cross we do so in adoration of Him who died upon it. But, replied Claude &ndash; as the Protestant polemic at this hour replies in kneeling to the image, or kissing the cross, you do what the second commandment forbids, and what the Scripture condemns as idolatry. <br>
+<br>
+Your worship terminates in the image, and is the worship not of God, but simply of the image. With his argument the Bishop of Turin mingles at times a little raillery. "God commands one thing," says he, "and these people do quite the contrary. God commands us to bear our cross, and not to worship it; but these are all for worshipping it, whereas they do not bear it at all. To serve God after this manner is to go away from Him. For if we ought to adore the cross because Christ was fastened to it, how many other things are there which touched Jesus Christ! Why don't they adore mangers and old clothes, because He was laid in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes? Let them adore asses, because He, entered into Jerusalem upon the foal of an ass."<br><br>
+<div id="55-15"></div>[[#5-15|'''15''']] On the subject of the Roman primacy, he leaves it in no wise doubtful what his sentiments were. "We know very well," says he, "that this passage of the Gospel is very ill understood &ndash; 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church: and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,' under pretense of which words the stupid and ignorant common people, destitute of all spiritual knowledge, betake themselves to Rome in hopes of acquiring eternal life. The ministry belongs to all the true superintendents and pastors of the Church, who discharge the same as long as they are in this world; and when they have paid the debt of death, others succeed in their places, who enjoy the same authority and power. Know thou that he only is apostolic who is the keeper and guardian of the apostle's doctrine, and not he who boasts himself to be seated in the chair of the apostle, and in the meantime doth not acquit himself of the charge of the apostle."<br><br>
+<div id="55-16"></div>[[#5-16|'''16''']] We have dwelt the longer on Claude, and the doctrines which he so powerfully advocated by both voice and pen, because, although the picture of his times &ndash; a luxurious clergy but an ignorant people, Churches growing in magnificence but declining in piety, images adored but the true God forsaken &ndash; is not a pleasant one, yet it establishes two points of great importance. The first is that the Bishop of Rome had not yet succeeded in compelling universal submission to his jurisdiction; and the second that he had not yet been able to persuade all the Churches of Christendom to adopt his novel doctrines, and follow his peculiar customs. Claude was not left to fight that battle alone, nor was he crushed as he inevitably would have been, had Rome been the dominant power it came soon thereafter to be. On the contrary, this Protestant of the ninth century received a large amount of sympathy and support both from bishops and from synods of his time. <br>
+<br>Agobardus, the Bishop of Lyons, fought by the side of his brother of Turin<div id="55-17"></div>[[#5-17|'''17''']] In fact, he was as great an iconoclast as Claude himself.<br><br>
+<div id="55-18"></div>[[#5-18|'''18''']] The emperor, Louis the Pious (le Debonnaire), summoned a Council (824) of "the most learned and judicious bishops of his realm," says Dupin, to discuss this question. For in that age the emperors summoned synods and appointed bishops. And when the Council had assembled, did it wait till Peter should speak, or a Papal allocution had decided the point? "It knew no other way," says Dupin, "to settle the question, than by determining what they should find upon the most impartial examination to be true, by plain text of Holy Scripture, and the judgment of the Fathers."<br><br>
+<div id="55-19"></div>[[#5-19|'''19''']] This Council at Paris justified most of the principles for which Claude had contended,<br><br>
+<div id="55-20"></div>[[#5-20|'''20''']] as the great Council at Frankfort (794) had done before it. It is worthy of notice further, as bearing on this point, that only two men stood up publicly to oppose Claude during the twenty years he was incessantly occupied in this controversy. The first was Dungulas, a recluse of the Abbey of St. Denis, an Italian, it is believed, and biased naturally in favor of the opinions of the Pope; and the second was Jonas, Bishop of Orleans, who differed from Claude on but the one question of images, and only to the extent of tolerating their use, but condemning as idolatrous their worship &ndash; a distinction which it is easy to maintain in theory, but impossible to observe, as experience has demonstrated, in practice.<br><br>
+And here let us interpose an observation. We speak at times of the signal benefits which the "Church" conferred upon the Gothic nations during the Middle Ages. She put herself in the place of a mother to those barbarous tribes; she weaned them from the savage usages of their original homes; she bowed their stubborn necks to the authority of law; she opened their minds to the charms of knowledge and art; and thus laid the foundation of those civilized and prosperous communities which have since arisen in the West. But when we so speak it behooves us to specify with some distinctness what we mean by the "Church" to which we ascribe the glory of this service. Is it the Church of Rome, or is it the Church universal of Christendom? If we mean the former, the facts of history do not bear out our conclusion. <br><br>
+The Church of Rome was not then the Church, but only one of many Churches. The slow but beneficent and laborious work of evangelizing and civilizing the Northern nations, was the joint result of the action of all the Churches &ndash; of Northern Italy, of France, of Spain, of Germany, of Britain &ndash; and each performed its part in this great work with a measure of success exactly corresponding to the degree in which it retained the pure principles of primitive Christianity. The Churches would have done their task much more effectually and speedily but for the adverse influence of Rome. She hung upon their rear, by her perpetual attempts to bow them to her yoke, and to seduce them from their first purity to her thinly disguised paganisms. Emphatically, the power that molded the Gothic nations, and planted among them the seeds of religion and virtue, was Christianity &ndash; that same Christianity which apostles preached to men in the first age, which all the ignorance and superstition of subsequent times had not quite extinguished, and which, with immense toil and suffering dug up from under the heaps of rubbish that had been piled above it, was anew, in the sixteenth century, given to the world under the name of Protestantism.<br><br>
-[[#_Toc118697014|5. Safety under the Divine Protection]] 9
-[[#_Toc118697015|6. Promises of Peace]] 11
-[[#_Toc118697016|7. Direction]] 11
-[[#_Toc118697017|8. Honour]] 11
-[[#_Toc118697018|9. Success and Prosperity]] 12
-[[#_Toc118697019|10. Plenty and Riches]] 12
-[[#_Toc118697020|11. Of Children]]13
-[[#_Toc118697021|12. A Blessing upon all the Believer has]] 13
-[[#_Toc118697022|13. A Blessing upon the children of Believers]] 14
-[[#_Toc118697023|14. A Blessing upon the Families of the good]] 14
-[[#_Toc118697024|Chapter 2 – Promises relating to the Troubles of Life]] 15
-[[#_Toc118697025|1. In General]] 15
-[[#_Toc118697026|Preservation from Trouble]] 15
-[[#_Toc118697027|Deliverance from Trouble]] 15
-[[#_Toc118697028|Support in Trouble]] 16
-[[#_Toc118697029|2. Promises relating to Sickness. Old Age, etc]] 18
-[[#_Toc118697030|Deliverance from Sickness]] 18
-[[#_Toc118697031|Support in Sickness]] 18
-[[#_Toc118697032|In Old Age]]19
-[[#_Toc118697033|3. Deliverance from Famine and Want]] 19
-[[#_Toc118697034|4. Deliverance from War and Enemies]] 19
-[[#_Toc118697035|From War]] 20
-[[#_Toc118697036|From Enemies]] 20
-[[#_Toc118697037|5. From Oppression and Injustice]] 21
-[[#_Toc118697038|6. From Slander and Reproach]] 22
-[[#_Toc118697039|Slander]] 22
-[[#_Toc118697040|Reproach]] 22
-[[#_Toc118697041|7. From Witchcraft]] 22
-[[#_Toc118697042|8. Promises to the Stranger and the Exile]] 22
-[[#_Toc118697043|9. To the Poor and Helpless]] 23
-[[#_Toc118697044|10. To the Fatherless and Widow]]23
-[[#_Toc118697045|11. To the Childless]] 24
-[[#_Toc118697046|12. To the Prisoner and Captive]] 24
-[[#_Toc118697047|13. Deliverance from Death]] 24
-[[#_Toc118697048|Chapter 3 – Promises of Spiritual Blessings in this Life]] 25
-[[#_Toc118697049|1. In General]] 25
-[[#_Toc118697050|2. Of Justification, Pardon, and Reconciliation]] 26
-[[#_Toc118697051|Justification]] 26
-[[#_Toc118697052|Pardon of Sin]] 26
-[[#_Toc118697053|Of the most Heinous Sins]] 27
-[[#_Toc118697054|Of all Sins]] 27
-[[#_Toc118697055|Of Backsliding]] 28
-[[#_Toc118697056|Pardon through Christ]] 28
-[[#_Toc118697057|Reconciliation]] 29
-[[#_Toc118697058|3. Adoption]] 29
-[[#_Toc118697059|4. Union and Communion with the Church]] 30
-[[#_Toc118697060|5. Free access to God, with acceptance]] 31
-[[#_Toc118697061|6. Of Hearing Prayer]] 31
-[[#_Toc118697062|7. Sanctifying Grace in General]] 32
-[[#_Toc118697063|8. Of Converting Grace]] 33
-[[#_Toc118697064|The Grace of Repentance]] 34
-[[#_Toc118697065|The Grace of Faith]] 34
-[[#_Toc118697066|Grace to Fear God]] 34
-[[#_Toc118697067|9. Knowledge, Wisdom, etc]]35
-[[#_Toc118697068|Knowledge]] 35
-[[#_Toc118697069|Wisdom]] 36
-[[#_Toc118697070|Divine Teaching]] 36
-[[#_Toc118697071|Divine Guidance]] 36
-[[#_Toc118697072|Ability for Good Disclosure]] 37
-[[#_Toc118697073|10. The Means of Grace]] 37
-[[#_Toc118697074|A Blessing upon Ordinances]] 38
-[[#_Toc118697075|11. Of Grace against Sin and Temptation]] 38
-[[#_Toc118697076|To Mortify Sin]] 38
-[[#_Toc118697077|Against Temptation]] 39
-[[#_Toc118697078|From the Enticement of Sinners]] 39
-[[#_Toc118697079|Victory over the World]] 39
-[[#_Toc118697080|Victory over the Devil]] 40
-[[#_Toc118697081|12. Strength, Courage, and Resolution]] 40
-[[#_Toc118697082|13. Fruitfulness and Increase of Grace]] 41
-[[#_Toc118697083|Fruitfulness]] 41
-[[#_Toc118697084|In Old Age]] 41
-[[#_Toc118697085|Increase in Grace]] 41
-[[#_Toc118697086|The Grace of Meekness]] 42
-[[#_Toc118697087|14. Grace to Persevere]] 42
-[[#_Toc118697088|15. Sanctified Afflictions]] 43
-[[#_Toc118697089|16. Grace to the Children of Israel]] 44
-[[#_Toc118697090|17. An Interest in God]] 45
-[[#_Toc118697091|As our God]] 45
-[[#_Toc118697092|Our Portion]] 45
-[[#_Toc118697093|Our Glory]] 45
-[[#_Toc118697094|His Presence with Us]] 46
-[[#_Toc118697095|His Love]] 46
-[[#_Toc118697096|His Mercy]] 47
-[[#_Toc118697097|His Help]] 48
-[[#_Toc118697098|His Care]] 48
-[[#_Toc118697099|His Covenant with his People]] 49
-[[#_Toc118697100|God will not forsake them]]49
-[[#_Toc118697101|18. An Interest in Christ]] 49
-[[#_Toc118697102|All Grace from Christ]] 50
-[[#_Toc118697103|Redemption by Christ]] 50
-[[#_Toc118697104|Life from Him]] 51
-[[#_Toc118697105|His Intercession]] 52
-[[#_Toc118697106|His Love]] 52
-[[#_Toc118697107|His Care of His Church]] 52
-[[#_Toc118697108|His Presence with His People]] 53
-[[#_Toc118697109|19. Promises of the Spirit]] 53
-[[#_Toc118697110|His Teaching]] 54
-[[#_Toc118697111|Help in Prayer]] 54
-[[#_Toc118697112|To Witness our Adoption]] 54
-[[#_Toc118697113|To Seal our Redemption]] 54
-[[#_Toc118697114|To be our Comforter]] 55
-[[#_Toc118697115|The Joys of the Holy Ghost]] 55
-[[#_Toc118697116|20. The Ministry of Angels]] 55
-[[#_Toc118697117|21. That we shall be Kings and Priests unto God]] 55
-[[#_Toc118697118|22. Peace of Conscience, Comfort, and Hope]] 56
-[[#_Toc118697119|Peace of Conscience]] 56
-[[#_Toc118697120|Comfort]] 56
-[[#_Toc118697121|Hope]] 57
-[[#_Toc118697122|23. Delight and Joy in God]] 57
-[[#_Toc118697123|24. Support in Death]] 59
-[[#_Toc118697124|Chapter 4 – Promises of Blessings in the Future World]] 59
-[[#_Toc118697125|1. Deliverance from Hell]] 59
-[[#_Toc118697126|2. Happiness immediately after Death]]60
-[[#_Toc118697127|3. A Glorious Resurrection]]61
-[[#_Toc118697128|4. Everlasting Happiness in Heaven]] 62
-[[#_Toc118697129|Freedom from all Sorrow]] 63
-[[#_Toc118697130|Joy in Heaven]] 64
-[[#_Toc118697131|Glory in Heaven]] 64
-[[#_Toc118697132|The Kingdom of Heaven]] 64
-[[#_Toc118697133|The Heavenly Inheritance]] 65
-[[#_Toc118697134|Enjoyment of God]] 65
-[[#_Toc118697135|Eternal Life]] 65
-[[#_Toc118697136|Part Two – Promises for the Exercise of Duties and Glories]] 66
-[[#_Toc118697137|Chapter 1 – In Fulfillment of Duty toward God]] 66
-[[#_Toc118697138|1. To Faith in Christ]] 66
-[[#_Toc118697139|Confessing Christ]] 67
-[[#_Toc118697140|2. Repentance]] 67
-[[#_Toc118697141|To them that mourn for the wickedness of the land]] 69
-[[#_Toc118697142|Repenting In Affliction]] 69
-[[#_Toc118697143|Confession of Sin]] 69
-[[#_Toc118697144|3. Obedience]] 69
-[[#_Toc118697145|Obeying Christ]] 72
-[[#_Toc118697146|4. To Sincerity and Uprightness]] 72
-[[#_Toc118697147|5. To the Love of God]] 73
-[[#_Toc118697148|To the Love of Christ]] 74
-[[#_Toc118697149|6. To Trusting and Patiently waiting on God]] 74
-[[#_Toc118697150|7. To the Fear of God]] 75
-[[#_Toc118697151|Honoring God]] 76
-[[#_Toc118697152|8. To Prayer]] 76
-[[#_Toc118697153|Seeking God]] 77
-[[#_Toc118697154|Secret Prayer]] 78
-[[#_Toc118697155|Praising God]] 78
-[[#_Toc118697156|Desires of Grace]] 78
-[[#_Toc118697157|9. To Wisdom]]79
-[[#_Toc118697158|To the Wise]] 79
-[[#_Toc118697159|Love and Study of Wisdom]] 80
-[[#_Toc118697160|Knowledge of God and Christ]] 81
-[[#_Toc118697161|Learning of Christ]] 81
-[[#_Toc118697162|10. Ta a Due Regard to the Word of God]] 81
-[[#_Toc118697163|To Hearing and reading the Word]] 81
-[[#_Toc118697164|Loving the Word]] 82
-[[#_Toc118697165|Trembling at the Word]] 82
-[[#_Toc118697166|11. Meditation]] 82
-[[#_Toc118697167|12. Fasting]] 83
-[[#_Toc118697168|Fasting in Secret]] 83
-[[#_Toc118697169|13. To Baptism]] 83
-[[#_Toc118697170|14. The Lord's Supper]] 84
-[[#_Toc118697171|15. To Good Disclosure]] 84
-[[#_Toc118697172|The government of the Tongue]] 85
-[[#_Toc118697173|16. To Watchfulness]] 85
-[[#_Toc118697174|17. To Keeping Good Company]] 85
-[[#_Toc118697175|Avoiding Evil]] 86
-[[#_Toc118697176|18. To Performing Oaths]] 86
-[[#_Toc118697177|19. To keeping the sabbath]] 86
-[[#_Toc118697178|Chapter 2 – In the Performance of Duty Toward Men]] 87
-[[#_Toc118697179|1. To Obedience to Parents]] 87
-[[#_Toc118697180|2. To Good Education]] 87
-[[#_Toc118697181|Correction of Children]] 87
-[[#_Toc118697182|3. To a good Wife]] 88
-[[#_Toc118697183|4. To Faithful Servants]] 88
-[[#_Toc118697184|5. To Good Kings and Magistrates]] 88
-[[#_Toc118697185|6. To Obedient Subjects]] 89
-[[#_Toc118697186|7. To Faithful Ministers]] 89
-[[#_Toc118697187|8. To them that Receive and Hearken to Ministers]] 90
-[[#_Toc118697188|9. To Love and Unity]] 90
-[[#_Toc118697189|To the Peacemakers]] 91
-[[#_Toc118697190|Love to God's People]] 91
-[[#_Toc118697191|10. To the Charitable, Merciful, and Liberal to God's Ministers]] 91
-[[#_Toc118697192|To Alms in Secret]] 93
-[[#_Toc118697193|To the Supporting God's Ministers and Worship]] 93
-[[#_Toc118697194|To the Merciful]] 94
-[[#_Toc118697195|11. To the Giving and Receiving of Reproofs]] 94
-[[#_Toc118697196|12. To Forgiving Injuries]] 94
-[[#_Toc118697197|13. To Chastity and Purity]] 95
-[[#_Toc118697198|14. To Diligence]] 95
-[[#_Toc118697199|To Improving our Talents]] 95
-[[#_Toc118697200|Moderation in Sleep]] 95
-[[#_Toc118697201|15. To the Just and Honest]] 96
-[[#_Toc118697202|16. To Truth]] 96
-[[#_Toc118697203|17. To Candor]] 97
-[[#_Toc118697204|18. To Contentment and Mortification]] 97
-[[#_Toc118697205|Contentment]] 97
-[[#_Toc118697206|Mortification of Sin]] 97
-[[#_Toc118697207|To the Spiritually Minded]] 97
-[[#_Toc118697208|Chapter 3 – In Cultivation of Christian Character]] 97
-[[#_Toc118697209|1. To the Meek, Humble, Contrite]] 97
-[[#_Toc118697210|The Meek]] 97
-[[#_Toc118697211|To the Humble]] 98
-[[#_Toc118697212|The Contrite and Mourners]] 99
-[[#_Toc118697213|2. To them that Suffer for Righteousness' Sake]] 99
-[[#_Toc118697214|To them that are Excommunicated Unjustly]] 100
-[[#_Toc118697215|3. Patience and Submission]] 100
-[[#_Toc118697216|4. To Perseverance]] 101
-[[#_Toc118697217|To Him that Overcomes]] 101
-[[#_Toc118697218|Part 3 – Promises of the Growth and Glory of the Church]] 102
-[[#_Toc118697219|1. The Enlargement of the Church, and Spread of the Gospel, and Kingdom of Christ]] 102
-[[#_Toc118697220|2. Glory of the Church]] 105
-[[#_Toc118697221|3. Increase of Light and knowledge, and of the means of Grace]] 106
-[[#_Toc118697222|4. Increase of Purity, Holiness, and Righteousness]] 106
-[[#_Toc118697223|5. Peace, Love, and Unity]] 107
-[[#_Toc118697224|6. Submission and destruction of the Enemies of the Church]] 107
-[[#_Toc118697225|The Destruction of Antichrist, Babylon, etc]] 108
-[[#_Toc118697226|7. Favor and Submission of Kings to the Kingdom of Christ]] 108
-[[#_Toc118697227|8. The Security, Tranquility, and Prosperity of the Church]] 109
-[[#_Toc118697228|9. Perpetual Continuance of the Church]] 110
-[[#_Toc118697229|10. The Conversion and Restoration of the Jews]] 110
-[[#_Toc118697230|Part 4 – Promises of Christ's Second Coming – That Christ will come again]] 113
-[[#_Toc118697231|Conclusion]] 115
-[[#_Toc118697232|That God will perform all His Promises]] 115
-<
-<div id="_Toc118697008">Part 1 – Blessings Promised to believers </div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697009">Chapter 1- Promises of temporal blessings '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697010">1. General promises to believers '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697008">Part 1 – Blessings Promised to believers '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697009">Chapter 1- Promises of temporal blessings '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697010">1. General promises to believers '''</div>
-The LORD is our protector and glorious king, blessing us with kindness and honor. He does not refuse any good thing to those who do what is right. (Psa 84:11)
-How wonderful are your gifts to me how good they are! (Psa 16:6)
-A sinner may commit a hundred crimes and still live. Oh yes, I know what they say: If you obey God, everything will be all right, (Ecc 8:12) .
-The righteous will be happy, and things will go well for them. They will get to enjoy what they have worked for. (Isa 3:10)
-People will say, The righteous are indeed rewarded there is indeed a God who judges the world. (Psa 58:11)
-You bless those who obey you, LORD your love protects them like a shield. (Psa 5:12)
-Victory comes from the LORD --- may he bless his people. (Psa 3:8)
-Be kind and honest and you will live a long life others will respect you and treat you fairly. (Pro 21:21)
-Good people will receive blessings. The words of the wicked hide a violent nature.The righteous get what they want, but the wicked will get what they fear most.The hopes of good people lead to joy, but wicked people can look forward to nothing. (Pro 10:6, 24, 28)
-The LORD hates people who use dishonest scales. He is happy with honest weights. Wicked people do not really gain anything, but if you do what is right, you are certain to be rewarded. Anyone who is determined to do right will live, but anyone who insists on doing wrong will die. Those who depend on their wealth will fall like the leaves of autumn, but the righteous will prosper like the leaves of summer. (Pro 11:1, 18, 19, 28)
-because the LORD hates people who do evil, but he takes righteous people into his confidence. (Pro 3:32)
-The LORD is pleased with good people, but condemns those who plan evil. (Pro 12:2)
-The righteous are like a light shining brightly the wicked are like a lamp flickering out. Trouble follows sinners everywhere, but righteous people will be rewarded with good things. (Pro 9, 13:21)
-I know that your goodness and love will be with me all my life and your house will be my home as long as I live. (Psa 23:6)
-Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son---will he not also freely give us all things? (Rom 8:32)
-No one, then, should boast about what human beings can do. Actually everything belongs to you: Paul, Apollos, and Peter this world, life and death, the present and the future---all these are yours, 1Co 3:21, 22
-Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, because it promises life both for the present and for the future. (1Ti 4:8)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697011">2. Temporal blessings in General '''</div>
-The LORD is my shepherd I have everything I need. You prepare a banquet for me, where all my enemies can see me you welcome me as an honoured guest and fill my cup to the brim. (Psa 23:1,5)
-Honour the LORD, all his people those who obey him have all they need. Even lions go hungry for lack of food, but those who obey the LORD lack nothing good. (Psa 34:9,10)
-Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things. (Mat 6:33)
-And with all his abundant wealth through Christ Jesus, my God will supply all your needs. (Phi 4:19)
-Well, religion does make us very rich, if we are satisfied with what we have.Command those who are rich in the things of this life not to be proud, but to place their hope, not in such an uncertain thing as riches, but in God, who generously gives us everything for our enjoyment. (1Ti 6:1,17)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697012">3. Food and Raiment '''</div>
-<strong>Food </strong>
-Trust in the LORD and do good live in the land and be safe. (Psa 37:3)
-He provides food for those who honor him he never forgets his covenant. (Psa 111:5)
-I will richly provide Zion with all she needs I will satisfy her poor with food. (Psa 132:15)
-He keeps your borders safe and satisfies you with the finest wheat. (Psa 147:14)
-The righteous have enough to eat, but the wicked are always hungry. (Pro 13:25)
-Look at the birds: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren't you worth much more than birds? (Mat 6:26)
-Now you will have plenty to eat, and be satisfied. You will praise the LORD your God, who has done wonderful things for you. My people will never be despised again. (Joe 2:26)
-And so I tell you that those who worship and obey me will have plenty to eat and drink, but you will be hungry and thirsty. They will be happy, but you will be disgraced. (Isa 65:13)
-<strong>Raiment </strong>
-This is why I tell you: do not be worried about the food and drink you need in order to stay alive, or about clothes for your body. After all, isn't life worth more than food? And isn't the body worth more than clothes? It is God who clothes the wild grass---grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won't he be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have! So do not start worrying: 'Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes?' (These are the things the pagans are always concerned about.) Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. (Mat 6:25, 30, 31, 32)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697013">4. Long Life and Health '''</div>
-<strong>LONG LIFE </strong><a href="http://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Promises/Clarkes_Bible_Promises_Tex.html#T LONG LIFE#T LONG LIFE"></div>
-Obey them all, so that everything will go well with you and so that you will continue to live in the land that you are going to occupy. (Deu 5:33)
-As long as you live, you and your descendants are to honor the LORD your God and obey all his laws that I am giving you, so that you may live in that land a long time. (Deu 6:2)
-Like wheat that ripens till harvest time, you will live to a ripe old age. (Job 5:26)
-Would you like to enjoy life? Do you want long life and happiness? Then keep from speaking evil and from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good strive for peace with all your heart. (Psa 34:12-14)
-I will reward them with long life I will save them. (Psa 91:16)
-My teaching will give you a long and prosperous life. Wisdom offers you long life, as well as wealth and honor. (Pro 3:2, 16)
-Wisdom will add years to your life. (Pro 9:11)
-<strong>HEALTH </strong><a href="http://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Promises/Clarkes_Bible_Promises_Tex.html#T HEALTH#T HEALTH"></div>
-He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He keeps me from the grave and blesses me with love and mercy. He fills my life with good things, so that I stay young and strong like an eagle. (Psa 103:3-5)
-Never let yourself think that you are wiser than you are simply obey the LORD and refuse to do wrong. If you do, it will be like good medicine, healing your wounds and easing your pains. (Pro 3:7,8)
-They will give life and health to anyone who understands them. (Pro 4:22)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697014">5. Safety under the Divine Protection '''</div>
-(Deu 33:12) About the tribe of Benjamin he said: This is the tribe the LORD loves and protects He guards them all the day long, And he dwells in their midst.
-(Pro 18:10) The LORD is like a strong tower, where the righteous can go and be safe.
-(Psa 16:8) I am always aware of the LORD's presence he is near, and nothing can shake me.
-(Psa 112:7) He is not afraid of receiving bad news his faith is strong, and he trusts in the LORD.
-(1Pe 3:13) Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?
-(Job 4:7) Think back now. Name a single case where someone righteous met with disaster.
-(Job 11:18) You will live secure and full of hope God will protect you and give you rest.
-(Job 5:23) The fields you plow will be free of rocks wild animals will never attack you.
-(Hos 2:18) At that time I will make a covenant with all the wild animals and birds, so that they will not harm my people. I will also remove all weapons of war from the land, all swords and bows, and will let my people live in peace and safety.
-(Eze 34:25,28) I will make a covenant with them that guarantees their security. I will get rid of all the dangerous animals in the land, so that my sheep can live safely in the fields and sleep in the forests. The heathen nations will not plunder them any more, and the wild animals will not kill and eat them. They will live in safety, and no one will terrify them.
-(Gen 9:2) All the animals, birds, and fish will live in fear of you. They are all placed under your power.
-(Job 11:18-19) You will live secure and full of hope God will protect you and give you rest. You won't be afraid of your enemies many people will ask you for help.
-(Psa 4:8) When I lie down, I go to sleep in peace you alone, O LORD, keep me perfectly safe.
-(Psa 127:2) It is useless to work so hard for a living, getting up early and going to bed late. For the LORD provides for those he loves, while they are asleep.
-(Pro 3:24) You will not be afraid when you go to bed, and you will sleep soundly through the night.
-He protects the lives of his faithful people, but the wicked disappear in darkness a man does not triumph by his own strength. (1 Samuel 2:9)
-The LORD is my light and my salvation I will fear no one. The LORD protects me from all danger I will never be afraid. (Psalms 27:1)
-the LORD preserves them completely not one of their bones is broken. (Psalms 34:20)
-Whoever goes to the LORD for safety, whoever remains under the protection of the Almighty, can say to him, You are my defender and protector. You are my God in you I trust. He will cover you with his wings you will be safe in his care his faithfulness will protect and defend you. and so no disaster will strike you, no violence will come near your home. (Psalms 91:1, 2, 4,10)
-I look to the mountains where will my help come from? My help will come from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let you fall your protector is always awake. The protector of Israel never dozes or sleeps. The LORD will guard you he is by your side to protect you. The sun will not hurt you during the day, nor the moon during the night. The LORD will protect you from all danger he will keep you safe. He will protect you as you come and go now and forever.
-Our help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. (Psalms 124:8)
-As the mountains surround Jerusalem , so the LORD surrounds his people, now and forever. (Psalms 125:2)
-You can go safely on your way and never even stumble. (Proverbs 3:23)
-But whoever listens to me will have security. He will be safe, with no reason to be afraid. (Proverbs 1:33)
-Then over Mount Zion and over all who are gathered there, the LORD will send a cloud in the daytime and smoke and a bright flame at night. God's glory will cover and protect the whole city. His glory will shade the city from the heat of the day and make it a place of safety, sheltered from the rain and storm. (Isaiah 4:5-6)
-Then you will be safe you will be as secure as if in a strong fortress. You will have food to eat and water to drink. (Isaiah 33:16)
-When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you your troubles will not overwhelm you. When you pass through fire, you will not be burned the hard trials that come will not hurt you. For I am the LORD your God, the holy God of Israel, who saves you. I will give up Egypt to set you free I will give up Ethiopia and Seba. (Isaiah 43:2-3)
-I watch over it and water it continually. I guard it night and day so that no one will harm it. (Isaiah 27:3)
-The LORD has promised that he himself will be a wall of fire around the city to protect it and that he will live there in all his glory. (Zechariah 2:5)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697015">6. Promises of Peace '''</div>
-I will give you peace in your land, and you can sleep without being afraid of anyone. I will get rid of the dangerous animals in the land, and there will be no more war there. (Leviticus 26:6)
-The LORD gives strength to his people and blesses them with peace. (Psalms 29:11)
-But when you punish the wicked, punish also those who abandon your ways. Peace be with Israel ! (Psalms 125:5)
-Those who love your law have perfect security, and there is nothing that can make them fall. (Psalms 119:165)
-He keeps your borders safe and satisfies you with the finest wheat. (Psalms 147:14)
-You will give us prosperity, LORD everything that we achieve is the result of what you do. (Isaiah 26:12)
-God's people will be free from worries, and their homes peaceful and safe. (Isaiah 32:18)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697016">7. Direction '''</div>
-The LORD guides us in the way we should go and protects those who please him. (Psalms 37:23)
-This God is our God forever and ever he will lead us for all time to come. (Psalms 48:14)
-You guide me with your instruction and at the end you will receive me with honor. (Psalms 73:24)
-Remember the LORD in everything you do, and he will show you the right way. (Proverbs 3:6)
-Honesty makes a good person's life easier, but the wicked will cause their own downfall. (Proverbs 11:5)
-You may make your plans, but God directs your actions. (Proverbs 16:9)
-They know how to do their work, because God has taught them. (Isaiah 28:26)
-I will lead my blind people by roads they have never traveled. I will turn their darkness into light and make rough country smooth before them. These are my promises, and I will keep them without fail. (Isaiah 42:16)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697017">8. Honour '''</div>
-The LORD your God will make you the leader among the nations and not a follower you will always prosper and never fail if you obey faithfully all his commands that I am giving you today. (Deuteronomy 28:13)
-A good person will never fail he will always be remembered. He gives generously to the needy, and his kindness never fails he will be powerful and respected. (Psalms 112:6, 9)
-I, the LORD God of Israel , promised in the past that your family and your clan would serve me as priests for all time. But now I say that I won't have it any longer! Instead, I will honor those who honor me, and I will treat with contempt those who despise me. (1 Samuel 2:30)
-Obey the LORD, be humble, and you will get riches, honor, and a long life. (Proverbs 22:4)
-Wisdom offers you long life, as well as wealth and honor. (Proverbs 3:16)
-Love wisdom, and she will make you great. Embrace her, and she will bring you honor. (Proverbs 4:8)
-Good people will be remembered as a blessing, but the wicked will soon be forgotten. (Proverbs 10:7)
-God says, I will save those who love me and will protect those who acknowledge me as LORD. When they call to me, I will answer them when they are in trouble, I will be with them. I will rescue them and honor them. (Psalms 91:14, 15)
-Whoever wants to serve me must follow me, so that my servant will be with me where I am. And my Father will honor anyone who serves me. (John 12:26)
-Listen! As for that group that belongs to Satan, those liars who claim that they are Jews but are not, I will make them come and bow down at your feet. They will all know that I love you. (Revelation 3:9)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697018">9. Success and Prosperity '''</div>
-They are like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do. (Psalms 1:3)
-Give yourself to the LORD trust in him, and he will help you (Psalms 37:5)
-Your work will provide for your needs you will be happy and prosperous. (Psalms 128:2)
-I call to God, the Most High, to God, who supplies my every need. (Psalms 57:2)
-People will build houses and get to live in them---they will not be used by someone else. They will plant vineyards and enjoy the wine---it will not be drunk by others. Like trees, my people will live long lives. They will fully enjoy the things that they have worked for. The work they do will be successful, and their children will not meet with disaster. I will bless them and their descendants for all time to come. (Isaiah 65:22, 23)
-Then face the world again, firm and courageous. Your life will be brighter than sunshine at noon, and life's darkest hours will shine like the dawn. (Job 11:15, 17)
-You will succeed in all you do, and light will shine on your path. (Job 22:28)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697019">10. Plenty and Riches '''</div>
-If you do, he will send rain on your land when it is needed, in the autumn and in the spring, so that there will be grain, wine, and olive oil for you, and grass for your livestock. You will have all the food you want. (Deuteronomy 11:14, 15)
-He will send rain in season from his rich storehouse in the sky and bless all your work, so that you will lend to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any. (Deuteronomy 28:12)
-The LORD will make you prosperous in all that you do you will have many children and a lot of livestock, and your fields will produce abundant crops. He will be as glad to make you prosperous as he was to make your ancestors prosperous, (Deuteronomy 30:9) The LORD will give you many children, many cattle, and abundant crops in the land that he promised your ancestors to give you. (Deuteronomy 28:11)
-Throw away your gold dump your finest gold in the dry stream bed. (Job 22:24)Let Almighty God be your gold, and let him be silver, piled high for you. (Job 22:25)
-He blessed his people, and they had many children he kept their herds of cattle from decreasing. (Psalms 107:38)
-His family will be wealthy and rich, and he will be prosperous forever. (Psalms 112:3)
-Wisdom offers you long life, as well as wealth and honor. (Proverbs 3:16)
-I have riches and honor to give, prosperity and success. (Proverbs 8:18)
-What you get from me is better than the finest gold, better than the purest silver. (Proverbs 8:19)
-Righteous people keep their wealth, but the wicked lose theirs when hard times come. (Proverbs 15:6)
-Whenever you plant your crops, the Lord will send rain to make them grow and will give you a rich harvest, and your livestock will have plenty of pasture. (Isaiah 30:23)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697020">11. Of Children '''</div>
-He will love you and bless you, so that you will increase in number and have many children he will bless your fields, so that you will have grain, wine, and olive oil and he will bless you by giving you many cattle and sheep. He will give you all these blessings in the land that he promised your ancestors he would give to you. (Deuteronomy 7:13)
-The LORD will make you prosperous in all that you do you will have many children and a lot of livestock, and your fields will produce abundant crops. He will be as glad to make you prosperous as he was to make your ancestors prosperous, (Deuteronomy 30:9)
-You will have as many children as there are blades of grass in a pasture. (Job 5:25)
-Children are a gift from the LORD they are a real blessing. The sons a man has when he is young are like arrows in a soldier's hand. Happy is the man who has many such arrows. He will never be defeated when he meets his enemies in the place of judgment. (Psalms 127:3-5)
-May the LORD give you children--- you and your descendants! (Psalms 115:14)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697021">12. A Blessing upon all the Believer has '''</div>
-If you worship me, the LORD your God, I will bless you with food and water and take away all your sicknesses. (Exodus 23:25)
-Be grateful for the good things that the LORD your God has given you and your family and let the Levites and the foreigners who live among you join in the celebration. (Deuteronomy 26:11)
-The LORD will bless your towns and your fields. The LORD will bless you with many children, with abundant crops, and with many cattle and sheep. The LORD will bless your grain crops and the food you prepare from them. The LORD will bless everything you do. (Deuteronomy 28:3-6)The LORD your God will bless your work and fill your barns with grain. He will bless you in the land that he is giving you. (Deuteronomy 28:8)
-The little that a good person owns is worth more than the wealth of all the wicked, (Psalms 37:16)
-It is the LORD's blessing that makes you wealthy. Hard work can make you no richer. (Proverbs 10:22)
-Better to be poor and fear the LORD than to be rich and in trouble. (Proverbs 15:16)
-God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to those who please him, but he makes sinners work, earning and saving, so that what they get can be given to those who please him. It is all useless. It is like chasing the wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:26)
-All of us should eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for. It is God's gift. (Ecclesiastes 3:13)
-If God gives us wealth and property and lets us enjoy them, we should be grateful and enjoy what we have worked for. It is a gift from God. Since God has allowed us to be happy, we will not worry too much about how short life is. (Ecclesiastes 5:19, 20)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697022">13. A Blessing upon the children of Believers '''</div>
-Obey all his laws that I have given you today, and all will go well with you and your descendants. You will continue to live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to be yours forever. (Deuteronomy 4:40) If only they would always feel this way! If only they would always honour me and obey all my commands, so that everything would go well with them and their descendants forever. (Deuteronomy 5:29)
-Good people will have wealth to leave to their grandchildren, but the wealth of sinners will go to the righteous. (Proverbs 13:22)
-Reverence for the LORD gives confidence and security to a man and his family. (Proverbs 14:26)
-You can be sure that evil people will be punished, but the righteous will escape. (Proverbs 11:21)
-Children are fortunate if they have a father who is honest and does what is right. (Proverbs 20:7)
-Our children will live in safety, and under your protection their descendants will be secure. (Psalms 102:28)
-The good man's children will be powerful in the land his descendants will be blessed. (Psalms 112:2)
-They will always be prosperous, and their children will possess the land. (Psalms 25:13)
-I am old now I have lived a long time, but I have never seen good people abandoned by the LORD or their children begging for food. At all times they give freely and lend to others, and their children are a blessing. (Psalms 37:25-26)
-He keeps your gates strong he blesses your people. (Psalms 147:13)
-I will give them a single purpose in life: to honor me for all time, for their own good and the good of their descendants. (Jeremiah 32:39)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697023">14. A Blessing upon the Families of the good '''</div>
-Then you will live at peace in your tent when you look at your sheep, you will find them safe. (Job 5:24)
-if you are so honest and pure, then God will come and help you and restore your household as your reward. All the wealth you lost will be nothing compared with what God will give you then. (Job 8:6, 7)
-Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in your home, and your children will be like young olive trees around your table. A man who obeys the LORD will surely be blessed like this. May the LORD bless you from Zion ! May you see Jerusalem prosper all the days of your life! May you live to see your grandchildren! Peace be with Israel ! (Psalms 128:3-6)
-The LORD puts a curse on the homes of the wicked, but blesses the homes of the righteous. (Proverbs 3:33)
-The wicked meet their downfall and leave no descendants, but the families of the righteous live on. (Proverbs 12:7)
-A good person's house will still be standing after an evildoer's house has been destroyed. (Proverbs 14:11)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697024">Chapter 2 – Promises relating to the Troubles of Life '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697025">&#149 In General '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697026">Preservation from Trouble '''</div>
-So all your loyal people should pray to you in times of need when a great flood of trouble comes rushing in, it will not reach them. You are my hiding place you will save me from trouble. I sing aloud of your salvation, because you protect me. (Psalms 32:6, 7)
-Time after time he will save you from harm (Job 5:19)
-Love the LORD, all his faithful people. The LORD protects the faithful, but punishes the proud as they deserve. (Psalms 31:23)
-and so no disaster will strike you, no violence will come near your home. (Psalms 91:10)
-Nothing bad happens to righteous people, but the wicked have nothing but trouble. (Proverbs 12:21)
-If you are lazy, you will meet difficulty everywhere, but if you are honest, you will have no trouble. (Proverbs 15:19)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697027">Deliverance from Trouble '''</div>
-But God will never abandon the faithful or ever give help to evil people. He will let you laugh and shout again, (Job 8:20, 21)
-Then all your troubles will fade from your memory, like floods that are past and remembered no more. (Job 11:16)
-God brought you out of trouble, and let you enjoy security your table was piled high with food. (Job 36:16)
-His anger lasts only a moment, his goodness for a lifetime. Tears may flow in the night, but joy comes in the morning. (Psalms 30:5)
-Good people suffer many troubles, but the LORD saves them from them all (Psalms 34:19)
-Why am I so sad? Why am I so troubled? I will put my hope in God, and once again I will praise him, my savior and my God. (Psalms 42:11)
-figures of doves covered with silver, whose wings glittered with fine gold. (Why did some of you stay among the sheep pens on the day of battle?) (Psalms 68:13)
-You have sent troubles and suffering on me, but you will restore my strength you will keep me from the grave. (Psalms 71:20)
-You save those who are humble, but you humble those who are proud. O LORD, you give me light you dispel my darkness. (Psalms 18:27-28)
-and gives sight to the blind. He lifts those who have fallen he loves his righteous people. (Psalms 146:8)
-Then in their trouble they called to the LORD, and he saved them from their distress. (Psalms 107:19)
-Let those who wept as they planted their crops, gather the harvest with joy! Those who wept as they went out carrying the seed will come back singing for joy, as they bring in the harvest. (Psalms 126:5-6)
-The righteous are protected from trouble it comes to the wicked instead. (Proverbs 11:8)
-The wicked are trapped by their own words, but honest people get themselves out of trouble. (Proverbs 12:13)
-No matter how often honest people fall, they always get up again but disaster destroys the wicked. (Proverbs 24:16)
-I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for. (Jeremiah 29:11)
-They will come and sing for joy on Mount Zion and be delighted with my gifts--- gifts of grain and wine and olive oil, gifts of sheep and cattle. They will be like a well-watered garden they will have everything they need. Then the young women will dance and be happy, and men, young and old, will rejoice. I will comfort them and turn their mourning into joy, their sorrow into gladness. (Jeremiah 31:12-13)
-The people say, Let's return to the LORD! He has hurt us, but he will be sure to heal us he has wounded us, but he will bandage our wounds, won't he? (Hosea 6:1)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697028">Support in Trouble '''</div>
-The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a place of safety in times of trouble. (Psalms 9:9)
-He does not neglect the poor or ignore their suffering he does not turn away from them, but answers when they call for help. (Psalms 22:24)
-My father and mother may abandon me, but the LORD will take care of me. (Psalms 27:10)Trust in the LORD. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the LORD. (Psalms 27:14)
-If they fall, they will not stay down, because the LORD will help them up. (Psalms 37:24)The LORD saves the righteous and protects them in times of trouble. (Psalms 37:39)
-The LORD is my protector he is my strong fortress. My God is my protection, and with him I am safe. He protects me like a shield he defends me and keeps me safe. (Psalms 18:2)
-God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths even if the seas roar and rage, and the hills are shaken by the violence. (Psalms 46:1-3)
-Leave your troubles with the LORD, and he will defend you he never lets honest people be defeated. (Psalms 55:22)
-I will be glad and rejoice because of your constant love. You see my suffering you know my trouble. (Psalms 31:7)
-Then the LORD said, I have seen how cruelly my people are being treated in Egypt  I have heard them cry out to be rescued from their slave drivers. I know all about their sufferings, (Exodus 3:7)
-Happy are those who are concerned for the poor the LORD will help them when they are in trouble. (Psalms 41:1)
-Be my secure shelter and a strong fortress to protect me you are my refuge and defence. (Psalms 71:3)
-Light shines in the darkness for good people, for those who are merciful, kind, and just. (Psalms 112:4)
-He did not forget us when we were defeated his love is eternal (Psalms 136:23)
-When I am surrounded by troubles, you keep me safe. You oppose my angry enemies and save me by your power. (Psalms 138:7)
-My mind and my body may grow weak, but God is my strength he is all I ever need. (Psalms 73:26)
-He helps those who are in trouble he lifts those who have fallen. (Psalms 145:14)
-The poor and the helpless have fled to you and have been safe in times of trouble. You give them shelter from storms and shade from the burning heat. Cruel enemies attack like a winter storm, (Isaiah 25:4)
-The LORD punished his people by sending them into exile. He took them away with a cruel wind from the east. (Isaiah 27:8)
-God does not need to set a time for us to go and be judged by him. (Job 34:23)
-All of you that honour the LORD and obey the words of his servant, the path you walk may be dark indeed, but trust in the LORD, rely on your God. (Isaiah 50:10)
-The Lord is merciful and will not reject us forever. He may bring us sorrow, but his love for us is sure and strong. He takes no pleasure in causing us grief or pain. (Lamentations 3:31-33)
-LORD, you are the one who protects me and gives me strength you help me in times of trouble. Nations will come to you from the ends of the earth and say, Our ancestors had nothing but false gods, nothing but useless idols. (Jeremiah 16:19)
-I will come to you and save you. I will destroy all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not destroy you. I will not let you go unpunished but when I punish you, I will be fair. I, the LORD, have spoken. (Jeremiah 30:11)
-Our enemies have no reason to gloat over us. We have fallen, but we will rise again. We are in darkness now, but the LORD will give us light. We have sinned against the LORD, so now we must endure his anger for a while. But in the end he will defend us and right the wrongs that have been done to us. He will bring us out to the light we will live to see him save us. (Micah 7:8, 9)
-The LORD is good he protects his people in times of trouble he takes care of those who turn to him. (Nahum 1:7)
-Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
-I have told you this so that you will have peace by being united to me. The world will make you suffer. But be brave! I have defeated the world! (John 16:33)
-Just as we have a share in Christ's many sufferings, so also through Christ we share in God's great help. (2 Corinthians 1:5)
-We are often troubled, but not crushed sometimes in doubt, but never in despair there are many enemies, but we are never without a friend and though badly hurt at times, we are not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8,9)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697029">2. Promises relating to Sickness. Old Age, etc '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697030">Deliverance from Sickness '''</div>
-If you worship me, the LORD your God, I will bless you with food and water and take away all your sicknesses. (Exodus 23:25)
-He said, If you will obey me completely by doing what I consider right and by keeping my commands, I will not punish you with any of the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians. I am the LORD, the one who heals you. (Exodus 15:26)
-In mercy the angel will say, Release them! They are not to go down to the world of the dead. Here is the ransom to set them free. Their bodies will grow young and strong again when they pray, God will answer they will worship God with joy God will set things right for them again. (Job 33:24-26)He kept me from going to the world of the dead, and I am still alive. (Job 33:28)
-He will keep you safe from all hidden dangers and from all deadly diseases. (Psalms 91:3)You need not fear any dangers at night or sudden attacks during the day or the plagues that strike in the dark or the evils that kill in daylight. (Psalms 91:5-6)
-He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. (Psalms 103:3)
-The LORD will protect you from all sickness, and he will not bring on you any of the dreadful diseases that you experienced in Egypt , but he will bring them on all your enemies. (Deuteronomy 7:15)
-But I will heal this city and its people and restore them to health. I will show them abundant peace and security. (Jeremiah 33:6)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697031">Support in Sickness '''</div>
-The LORD will help them when they are sick and will restore them to health. (Psalms 41:3)
-The LORD protects the helpless when I was in danger, he saved me. (Psalms 116:6)
-But a woman will be saved through having children, if she perseveres in faith and love and holiness, with modesty. (1 Timothy 2:15)
-He will love you and bless you, so that you will increase in number and have many children he will bless your fields, so that you will have grain, wine, and olive oil and he will bless you by giving you many cattle and sheep. He will give you all these blessings in the land that he promised your ancestors he would give to you. (Deuteronomy 7:13)
-It is your father's God who helps you, The Almighty God who blesses you With blessings of rain from above And of deep waters from beneath the ground, Blessings of many cattle and children, (Genesis 49:25)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697032">In Old Age '''</div>
-Do not reject me now that I am old do not abandon me now that I am feeble. (Psalms 71:9)
-I am your God and will take care of you until you are old and your hair is gray. I made you and will care for you I will give you help and rescue you. (Isaiah 46:4)
-Long life is the reward of the righteous gray hair is a glorious crown. (Proverbs 16:31)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697033">3. Deliverance from Famine and Want '''</div>
-when famine comes, he will keep you alive, and in war protect you from death. You will laugh at violence and hunger and not be afraid of wild animals. (Job 5:20,22)
-The LORD watches over those who obey him, those who trust in his constant love. He saves them from death he keeps them alive in times of famine. (Psalms 33:18,19)
-They will not suffer when times are bad they will have enough in time of famine. (Psalms 37:19)
-he judges in favour of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free (Psalms 146:7)
-When my people in their need look for water, when their throats are dry with thirst, then I, the LORD, will answer their prayer I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them. (Isaiah 41:17)
-I will save you from everything that defiles you. I will command the grain to be plentiful, so that you will not have any more famines. I will increase the yield of your fruit trees and your fields, so that there will be no more famines to disgrace you among the nations. (Ezekiel 36:29, 30)
-Ask the LORD for rain in the spring of the year. It is the LORD who sends rain clouds and showers, making the fields green for everyone. (Zechariah 10:1)
-He satisfies those who are thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. (Psalms 107:9)
-Even though the fig trees have no fruit and no grapes grow on the vines, even though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no grain, even though the sheep all die and the cattle stalls are empty, I will still be joyful and glad, because the LORD God is my saviour. (Habakkuk 3:17, 18)
-But Jesus answered, The scripture says, 'Human beings cannot live on bread alone, but need every word that God speaks.'  (Matthew 4:4)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697034">4. Deliverance from War and Enemies '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697035">From War '''</div>
-The LORD your God is going with you, and he will give you victory.' (Deuteronomy 20:4)Keep your camp ritually clean, because the LORD your God is with you in your camp to protect you and to give you victory over your enemies. Do not do anything indecent that would cause the LORD to turn his back on you. (Deuteronomy 23:14)
-when famine comes, he will keep you alive, and in war protect you from death. (Job 5:20)
-With God on our side we will win he will defeat our enemies. (Psalms 60:12)
-God himself is our leader and his priests are here with trumpets, ready to blow them and call us to battle against you. People of Israel , don't fight against the LORD, the God of your ancestors! You can't win! (2 Chronicles 13:12)
-You will not have to worry about sudden disasters, such as come on the wicked like a storm. The LORD will keep you safe. He will not let you fall into a trap. (Proverbs 3:25, 26)
-Those who are angry with you will know the shame of defeat. Those who fight against you will die and will disappear from the earth. (Isaiah 41:11, 12)
-But I, the LORD, will protect you, and you will not be handed over to the people you are afraid of. I will keep you safe, and you will not be put to death. You will escape with your life because you have put your trust in me. I, the LORD, have spoken. (Jeremiah 39:17, 18)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697036">From Enemies '''</div>
-Don't be afraid, Elisha answered. We have more on our side than they have on theirs. (2 Kings 6:16)
-Asa prayed to the LORD his God, O LORD, you can help a weak army as easily as a powerful one. Help us now, O LORD our God, because we are relying on you, and in your name we have come out to fight against this huge army. LORD, you are our God no one can hope to defeat you. (2 Chronicles 14:11)
-You shall obey me, the LORD your God, and I will rescue you from your enemies. (2 Kings 17:39)
-Reveal your wonderful love and save me at your side I am safe from my enemies. (Psalms 17:7)
-In times of trouble he will shelter me he will keep me safe in his Temple and make me secure on a high rock. So I will triumph over my enemies around me. With shouts of joy I will offer sacrifices in his Temple  I will sing, I will praise the LORD. (Psalms 27:5, 6)
-Wicked people watch good people and try to kill them (Psalms 37:32)
-but the LORD will not abandon them to their enemy's power or let them be condemned when they are on trial. (Psalms 37:33) He helps them and rescues them he saves them from the wicked, because they go to him for protection. (Psalms 37:40)
-The LORD loves those who hate evil he protects the lives of his people he rescues them from the power of the wicked. (Psalms 97:10)
-He is not worried or afraid he is certain to see his enemies defeated. (Psalms 112:8)
-It is the LORD who helps me, and I will see my enemies defeated. (Psalms 118:7)
-The wicked will not always rule over the land of the righteous if they did, the righteous themselves might do evil. (Psalms 125:3)
-but he will bring disgrace on those who hate you, and the homes of the wicked will vanish. (Job 8:22)
-When you please the LORD, you can make your enemies into friends. (Proverbs 16:7)
-like drought in a dry land. But you, LORD, have silenced our enemies you silence the shouts of cruel people, as a cloud cools a hot day. (Isaiah 25:5)
-Whoever attacks you, does it without my consent whoever fights against you will fall. But no weapon will be able to hurt you you will have an answer for all who accuse you. I will defend my servants and give them victory. The LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 54:15, 17)
-The LORD will defeat your enemies when they attack you. They will attack from one direction, but they will run from you in all directions. (Deuteronomy 28:7)
-Now, will God not judge in favor of his own people who cry to him day and night for help? Will he be slow to help them? I tell you, he will judge in their favor and do it quickly. But will the Son of Man find faith on earth when he comes? ( Luke 18:7, 8)
-for I am with you. No one will be able to harm you, for many in this city are my people. (Acts 18:10)
-Let us be bold, then, and say, The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me? (Hebrews 13:6) The LORD is with me, I will not be afraid what can anyone do to me? (Psalms 118:6)
-that he would save us from our enemies, from the power of all those who hate us. ( Luke 1:71) so that we might be holy and righteous before him all the days of our life. ( Luke 1:75)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697037">5. From Oppression and Injustice '''</div>
-If you take someone's cloak as a pledge that he will pay you, you must give it back to him before the sun sets, because it is the only covering he has to keep him warm. What else can he sleep in? When he cries out to me for help, I will answer him because I am merciful. (Exodus 22:26, 27)
-But now I will come, says the LORD, because the needy are oppressed and the persecuted groan in pain. I will give them the security they long for. (Psalms 12:5)
-With all my heart I will say to the LORD, There is no one like you. You protect the weak from the strong, the poor from the oppressor. (Psalms 35:10)
-May the king judge the poor fairly may he help the needy and defeat their oppressors. (Psalms 72:4)
-He rescues them from oppression and violence their lives are precious to him. (Psalms 72:14)
-because he defends the poor and saves them from those who condemn them to death. (Psalms 109:31)
-he judges in favour of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free (Psalms 146:7)
-Don't be surprised when you see that the government oppresses the poor and denies them justice and their rights. Every official is protected by someone higher, and both are protected by still higher officials. (Ecclesiastes 5:8)
-Justice and right will make you strong. You will be safe from oppression and terror. (Isaiah 54:14)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697038">6. From Slander and Reproach '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697039">Slander '''</div>
-God will rescue you from slander he will save you when destruction comes. (Job 5:21)
-Then face the world again, firm and courageous. (Job 11:15)
-he will make your righteousness shine like the noonday sun. (Psalms 37:6)
-You hide them in the safety of your presence from the plots of others in a safe shelter you hide them from the insults of their enemies. (Psalms 31:20)
-He will answer from heaven and save me he will defeat my oppressors. God will show me his constant love and faithfulness. (Psalms 57:3)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697040">Reproach '''</div>
-Listen to me, you that know what is right, who have my teaching fixed in your hearts. Do not be afraid when people taunt and insult you they will vanish like moth-eaten clothing! But the deliverance I bring will last forever my victory will endure for all time. (Isaiah 51:7, 8)
-Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers. Be happy and glad, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. This is how the prophets who lived before you were persecuted. (Matthew 5:11, 12)
-He reckoned that to suffer scorn for the Messiah was worth far more than all the treasures of Egypt , for he kept his eyes on the future reward. (Hebrews 11:26)
-Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ's followers this means that the glorious Spirit, the Spirit of God, is resting on you. (1 Peter 4:14)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697041">7. From Witchcraft '''</div>
-There is no magic charm, no witchcraft, That can be used against the nation of Israel . Now people will say about Israel , 'Look what God has done!' (Numbers 23:23)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697042">8. Promises to the Stranger and the Exile '''</div>
-He makes sure that orphans and widows are treated fairly he loves the foreigners who live with our people, and gives them food and clothes. (Deuteronomy 10:18)
-He protects the strangers who live in our land he helps widows and orphans, but takes the wicked to their ruin. (Psalms 146:9)
-Now tell your fellow exiles what I am saying. I am the one who sent them to live in far-off nations and scattered them in other countries. Yet, for the time being I will be present with them in the lands where they have gone. (Ezekiel 11:16)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697043">9. To the Poor and Helpless '''</div>
-The needy will not always be neglected the hope of the poor will not be crushed forever. (Psalms 9:18)
-your people made their home there in your goodness you provided for the poor. (Psalms 68:10)
-The LORD listens to those in need and does not forget his people in prison. (Psalms 69:33)
-I will richly provide Zion with all she needs I will satisfy her poor with food. (Psalms 132:15)
-The LORD will be a shepherd to the poor of his people and will let them live in safety. But he will send a terrible famine on you Philistines, and it will not leave any of you alive. (Isaiah 14:30)
-so that he will rule over your people with justice and govern the oppressed with righteousness. (Psalms 72:2)He rescues the poor who call to him, and those who are needy and neglected. He has pity on the weak and poor he saves the lives of those in need. (Psalms 72:12-13)
-He will hear his forsaken people and listen to their prayer. (Psalms 102:17)
-But he rescued the needy from their misery and made their families increase like flocks. (Psalms 107:41)
-He raises the poor from the dust he lifts the needy from their misery (Psalms 113:7)
-Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD! He rescues the oppressed from the power of evil people. (Jeremiah 20:13)
-But God saves the poor from death he saves the needy from oppression. He gives hope to the poor and silences the wicked. (Job 5:15-16)
-But God teaches people through suffering and uses distress to open their eyes. (Job 36:15)
-Those Christians who are poor must be glad when God lifts them up, (James 1:9)
-Listen, my dear friends! God chose the poor people of this world to be rich in faith and to possess the kingdom which he promised to those who love him. (James 2:5)
-But Abraham said, 'Remember, my son, that in your lifetime you were given all the good things, while Lazarus got all the bad things. But now he is enjoying himself here, while you are in pain. ( Luke 16:25)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697044">10. To the Fatherless and Widow '''</div>
-Do not mistreat any widow or orphan. If you do, I, the LORD, will answer them when they cry out to me for help, and I will become angry and kill you in war. Your wives will become widows, and your children will be fatherless. (Exodus 22:22-24)
-He makes sure that orphans and widows are treated fairly he loves the foreigners who live with our people, and gives them food and clothes. (Deuteronomy 10:18)
-But you do see you take notice of trouble and suffering and are always ready to help. The helpless commit themselves to you you have always helped the needy. (Psalms 10:14)You will hear the cries of the oppressed and the orphans you will judge in their favor, so that mortal men may cause terror no more. (Psalms 10:18)
-God, who lives in his sacred Temple , cares for orphans and protects widows. (Psalms 68:5)
-He protects the strangers who live in our land he helps widows and orphans, but takes the wicked to their ruin. (Psalms 146:9)
-The LORD will destroy the homes of arrogant men, but he will protect a widow's property. (Proverbs 15:25)
-Never move an old property line or take over land owned by orphans. The LORD is their powerful defender, and he will argue their case against you. (Proverbs 23:10, 11)
-Leave your orphans with me, and I will take care of them. Your widows can depend on me. (Jeremiah 49:11)
-Assyria can never save us, and war horses cannot protect us. We will never again say to our idols that they are our God. O LORD, you show mercy to those who have no one else to turn to. (Hosea 14:3)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697045">11. To the Childless '''</div>
-He gives the lonely a home to live in and leads prisoners out into happy freedom, but rebels will have to live in a desolate land. (Psalms 68:6)
-He honours the childless wife in her home he makes her happy by giving her children. Praise the LORD! (Psalms 113:9)
-The LORD says to such a man, If you honour me by observing the Sabbath and if you do what pleases me and faithfully keep my covenant, then your name will be remembered in my Temple and among my people longer than if you had sons and daughters. You will never be forgotten. (Isaiah 56:4, 5)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697046">12. To the Prisoner and Captive '''</div>
-He gives the lonely a home to live in and leads prisoners out into happy freedom, but rebels will have to live in a desolate land. (Psalms 68:6)
-he judges in favor of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free (Psalms 146:7)
-Even if you are scattered to the farthest corners of the earth, the LORD your God will gather you together and bring you back, (Deuteronomy 30:4)
-The LORD listens to those in need and does not forget his people in prison. (Psalms 69:33)
-He brought them out of their gloom and darkness and broke their chains in pieces. (Psalms 107:14)
-Those who are prisoners will soon be set free they will live a long life and have all the food they need. (Isaiah 51:14)
-The LORD replies, That is just what is going to happen. The soldier's prisoners will be taken away, and the tyrant's loot will be seized. I will fight against whoever fights you, and I will rescue your children. (Isaiah 49:25)
-LORD, may all their curses come true if I have not served you well, if I have not pleaded with you on behalf of my enemies when they were in trouble and distress. (Jeremiah 15:11)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697047">13. Deliverance from Death '''</div>
-He kept me from going to the world of the dead, and I am still alive. (Job 33:28)
-Our God is a God who saves he is the LORD, our Lord, who rescues us from death. (Psalms 68:20)
-Praise our God, all nations let your praise be heard. He has kept us alive and has not allowed us to fall. (Psalms 66:8, 9)
-The LORD looked down from his holy place on high, he looked down from heaven to earth. He heard the groans of prisoners and set free those who were condemned to die. (Psalms 102:19, 20)
-they couldn't stand the sight of food and were close to death. Then in their trouble they called to the LORD, and he saved them from their distress. (Psalms 107:18, 19)
-How painful it is to the LORD when one of his people dies! (Psalms 116:15)
-A thousand may fall dead beside you, ten thousand all around you, but you will not be harmed. (Psalms 91:7)
-Be merciful to me, O LORD! See the sufferings my enemies cause me! Rescue me from death, O LORD, (Psalms 9:13)
-The LORD kills and restores to life he sends people to the world of the dead and brings them back again. (1 Samuel 2:6)
-I, and I alone, am God no other god is real. I kill and I give life, I wound and I heal, and no one can oppose what I do. (Deuteronomy 32:39)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697048">Chapter 3 – Promises of Spiritual Blessings in this Life '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697049">1. In General''' </div>
-With faithfulness and love he leads all who keep his covenant and obey his commands. (Psalms 25:10)
-The LORD is the friend of those who obey him and he affirms his covenant with them. (Psalms 25:14)
-Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world. (Ephesians 1:3)
-Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him. Because of his love (Ephesians 1:4)
-For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God, (Ephesians 1:7) which he gave to us in such large measure! In all his wisdom and insight (Ephesians 1:7, 8)
-God's divine power has given us everything we need to live a truly religious life through our knowledge of the one who called us to share in his own glory and goodness. In this way he has given us the very great and precious gifts he promised, so that by means of these gifts you may escape from the destructive lust that is in the world, and may come to share the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:3, 4)
-As for those who follow this rule in their lives, may peace and mercy be with them---with them and with all of God's people! (Galatians 6:16)
-And so those whom God set apart, he called and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his glory with them. (Romans 8:30)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697050">2. Of Justification, Pardon, and Reconciliation '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697051">Justification '''</div>
-I foresee that Israel 's future Will bring her no misfortune or trouble. The LORD their God is with them They proclaim that he is their king. (Numbers 23:21)
-I, the LORD, will rescue all the descendants of Jacob, and they will give me praise. (Isaiah 45:25)
-After a life of suffering, he will again have joy he will know that he did not suffer in vain. My devoted servant, with whom I am pleased, will bear the punishment of many and for his sake I will forgive them. (Isaiah 53:11)
-I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that has defiled you. (Ezekiel 36:25)
-But by the free gift of God's grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free. (Romans 3:24)
-There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)Who will accuse God's chosen people? God himself declares them not guilty! Who, then, will condemn them? Not Christ Jesus, who died, or rather, who was raised to life and is at the right side of God, pleading with him for us! (Romans 8:33, 34)
-so that by his grace we might be put right with God and come into possession of the eternal life we hope for. (Titus 3:7)
-Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
-you are to know that everyone who believes in him is set free from all the sins from which the Law of Moses could not set you free. (Acts 13:39)
-Now that we have been put right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1) By his blood we are now put right with God how much more, then, will we be saved by him from God's anger! (Romans 5:9) So then, as the one sin condemned all people, in the same way the one righteous act sets all people free and gives them life. And just as all people were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man, in the same way they will all be put right with God as the result of the obedience of the one man. (Romans 5:18, 19)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697052">Pardon of Sin '''</div>
-I keep my promise for thousands of generations and forgive evil and sin but I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their parents. (Exodus 34:7)
-on account of their sins. Our faults defeat us, but you forgive them. (Psalms 65:3)
-And yet, I am the God who forgives your sins, and I do this because of who I am. I will not hold your sins against you. (Isaiah 43:25)
-But you forgive us, so that we should stand in awe of you. (Psalms 130:4)He will save his people Israel from all their sins. (Psalms 130:8)
-No one who lives in our land will ever again complain of being sick, and all sins will be forgiven. (Isaiah 33:24)
-I have swept your sins away like a cloud. Come back to me I am the one who saves you. (Isaiah 44:22)
-He does not keep on rebuking he is not angry forever. (Psalms 103:9)
-He does not punish us as we deserve or repay us according to our sins and wrongs. (Psalms 103:10)
-As high as the sky is above the earth, so great is his love for those who honor him. (Psalms 103:11)
-As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sins from us. (Psalms 103:12)
-How can I give you up, Israel ? How can I abandon you? Could I ever destroy you as I did Admah, or treat you as I did Zeboiim? My heart will not let me do it! My love for you is too strong. I will not punish you in my anger I will not destroy Israel again. For I am God and not a mere human being. I, the Holy One, am with you. I will not come to you in anger. (Hosea 11:8, 9)
-There is no other god like you, O LORD you forgive the sins of your people who have survived. You do not stay angry forever, but you take pleasure in showing us your constant love. You will be merciful to us once again. You will trample our sins underfoot and send them to the bottom of the sea! (Micah 7:18, 19)
-And then he says, I will not remember their sins and evil deeds any longer. (Hebrews 10:17)
-None of them will have to teach a neighbour to know the LORD, because all will know me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the LORD, have spoken. (Jeremiah 31:34)
-I will forgive their sins and will no longer remember their wrongs. (Hebrews 8:12)
-I tell you, then, the great love she has shown proves that her many sins have been forgiven. But whoever has been forgiven little shows only a little love. Then Jesus said to the woman, Your sins are forgiven. But Jesus said to the woman, Your faith has saved you go in peace. ( Luke 7:47, 48, 50)). [See Repentance, part 2, chap. 1, sect. 2]
-For this reason I tell you: people can be forgiven any sin and any evil thing they say but whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who says something against the Son of Man can be forgiven but whoever says something against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven---now or ever. (Matthew 12:31,32)
-Happy are those whose sins are forgiven, whose wrongs are pardoned. Happy is the one whom the LORD does not accuse of doing wrong and who is free from all deceit. (Psalms 32:1, 2)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697053">Of the most Heinous Sins '''</div>
-The LORD says, Now, let's settle the matter. You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as clean as snow. Although your stains are deep red, you will be as white as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697054">Of all Sins '''</div>
-He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. (Psalms 103:3)
-I will purify them from the sins that they have committed against me, and I will forgive their sins and their rebellion. (Jeremiah 33:8)
-I will forgive the sins he has committed, and he will live because he has done what is right and good. (Ezekiel 33:16)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697055">Of Backsliding '''</div>
-He told me to go and say to Israel , Unfaithful Israel, come back to me. I am merciful and will not be angry I will not be angry with you forever. (Jeremiah 3:12) Return, all of you who have turned away from the LORD he will heal you and make you faithful. You say, Yes, we are coming to the LORD because he is our God. (Jeremiah 3:22)
-The LORD says, I will bring my people back to me. I will love them with all my heart no longer am I angry with them. (Hosea 14:4)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697056">Pardon through Christ '''</div>
-When that time comes, says the LORD Almighty, a fountain will be opened to purify the descendants of David and the people of Jerusalem from their sin and idolatry. (Zechariah 13:1)
-She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus---because he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)
-All of you, my fellow Israelites, are to know for sure that it is through Jesus that the message about forgiveness of sins is preached to you you are to know that everyone who believes in him is set free from all the sins from which the Law of Moses could not set you free. (Acts 13:38)
-For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God, (Ephesians 1:7)
-In order to set us free from this present evil age, Christ gave himself for our sins, in obedience to the will of our God and Father. (Galatians 1:4)
-This is a true saying, to be completely accepted and believed: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I am the worst of them, (1 Timothy 1:15)
-I passed on to you what I received, which is of the greatest importance: that Christ died for our sins, as written in the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3)
-He reflects the brightness of God's glory and is the exact likeness of God's own being, sustaining the universe with his powerful word. After achieving forgiveness for the sins of all human beings, he sat down in heaven at the right side of God, the Supreme Power. (Hebrews 1:3)
-for then he would have had to suffer many times ever since the creation of the world. Instead, now when all ages of time are nearing the end, he has appeared once and for all, to remove sin through the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:26) In the same manner Christ also was offered in sacrifice once to take away the sins of many. He will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:28)
-With one sacrifice, then, he has made perfect forever those who are purified from sin. (Hebrews 10:14)
-The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)
-this is my blood, which seals God's covenant, my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:28)
-But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received. All of us were like sheep that were lost, each of us going his own way. But the LORD made the punishment fall on him, the punishment all of us deserved. (Isaiah 53:5, 6)
-I am writing this to you, my children, so that you will not sin but if anyone does sin, we have someone who pleads with the Father on our behalf---Jesus Christ, the righteous one. (1 John 2:1) I write to you, my children, because your sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ. (1 John 2:12)
-But if we live in the light---just as he is in the light---then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin. (1 John 1:7) But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing. (1 John 1:9)
-You know that Christ appeared in order to take away sins, and that there is no sin in him. (1 John 3:5)
-Christ himself carried our sins in his body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. It is by his wounds that you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)
-and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first to be raised from death and who is also the ruler of the kings of the world. He loves us, and by his sacrificial death he has freed us from our sins (Revelation 1:5)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697057">Reconciliation '''</div>
-But if the enemies of my people want my protection, let them make peace with me. Yes, let them make peace with me. (Isaiah 27:5)
-By his blood we are now put right with God how much more, then, will we be saved by him from God's anger! We were God's enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Now that we are God's friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ's life! (Romans 5:9-10)
-All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also. Our message is that God was making all human beings his friends through Christ. God did not keep an account of their sins, and he has given us the message which tells how he makes them his friends. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
-But now, in union with Christ Jesus you, who used to be far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies. He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace. By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God. So Christ came and preached the Good News of peace to all---to you Gentiles, who were far away from God, and to the Jews, who were near to him. (Ephesians 2:13-17)
-At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought. But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence. You must, of course, continue faithful on a firm and sure foundation, and must not allow yourselves to be shaken from the hope you gained when you heard the gospel. It is of this gospel that I, Paul, became a servant---this gospel which has been preached to everybody in the world. (Colossians 1:21-23)
-This means that he had to become like his people in every way, in order to be their faithful and merciful High Priest in his service to God, so that the people's sins would be forgiven. (Hebrews 2:17)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697058">3. Adoption '''</div>
-My people will return weeping, praying as I lead them back. I will guide them to streams of water, on a smooth road where they will not stumble. I am like a father to Israel , and Ephraim is my oldest son. (Jeremiah 31:9)
-You are our father. Our ancestors Abraham and Jacob do not acknowledge us, but you, LORD, are our father, the one who has always rescued us. (Isaiah 63:16)
-But you are our father, LORD. We are like clay, and you are like the potter. You created us, (Isaiah 64:8)
-Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, Father! my Father! (Romans 8:14, 15)
-And in the very place where they were told, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called the children of the living God. (Romans 9:26)
-I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:18)
-It is through faith that all of you are God's children in union with Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)
-But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God's children. So then, you are no longer a slave but a child. And since you are his child, God will give you all that he has for his children. (Galatians 4:4, 5, 7)
-God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children---this was his pleasure and purpose. Let us praise God for his glorious grace, for the free gift he gave us in his dear Son! (Ephesians 1:5, 6)
-Some, however, did receive him and believed in him so he gave them the right to become God's children. (John 1:12)
-See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God's children---and so, in fact, we are. This is why the world does not know us: it has not known God. My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is. (1 John 3:1, 2)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697059">4. </div>Union and Communion with the Church '''
-Instead, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem , with its thousands of angels. You have come to the joyful gathering of God's first-born, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, who is the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people made perfect. You have come to Jesus, who arranged the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that promises much better things than does the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24)
-It is we, not they, who have received the true circumcision, for we worship God by means of his Spirit and rejoice in our life in union with Christ Jesus. We do not put any trust in external ceremonies. (Philippians 3:3)
-So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women you are all one in union with Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are the descendants of Abraham and will receive what God has promised. (Galatians 3:28, 29)
-But the heavenly Jerusalem is free, and she is our mother. Now, you, my friends, are God's children as a result of his promise, just as Isaac was. (Galatians 4:26, 28)
-What we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you will join with us in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3)
-At that time you were apart from Christ. You were foreigners and did not belong to God's chosen people. You had no part in the covenants, which were based on God's promises to his people, and you lived in this world without hope and without God. But now, in union with Christ Jesus you, who used to be far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So then, you Gentiles are not foreigners or strangers any longer you are now citizens together with God's people and members of the family of God. In union with him you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:12, 13, 19, 22)
-Some of the branches of the cultivated olive tree have been broken off, and a branch of a wild olive tree has been joined to it. You Gentiles are like that wild olive tree, and now you share the strong spiritual life of the Jews. (Romans 11:17)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697060">5. Free access to God, with acceptance '''</div>
-It is through Christ that all of us, Jews and Gentiles, are able to come in the one Spirit into the presence of the Father. (Ephesians 2:18)
-There in the land, on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel , all you people of Israel will worship me. I will be pleased with you and will expect you to bring me your sacrifices, your best offerings, and your holy gifts. After I bring you out of the countries where you have been scattered and gather you together, I will accept the sacrifices that you burn, and the nations will see that I am holy. (Ezekiel 20:40, 41)
-In union with Christ and through our faith in him we have the boldness to go into God's presence with all confidence. (Ephesians 3:12)
-We have, then, my friends, complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means of the death of Jesus. He opened for us a new way, a living way, through the curtain---that is, through his own body. (Hebrews 10:19, 20)
-Let us praise God for his glorious grace, for the free gift he gave us in his dear Son! (Ephesians 1:6)
-Come to the Lord, the living stone rejected by people as worthless but chosen by God as valuable. Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple, where you will serve as holy priests to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4, 5)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697061">6. Of Hearing Prayer '''</div>
-When you pray, he will answer you, and you will keep the vows you made. (Job 22:27)
-Remember that the LORD has chosen the righteous for his own, and he hears me when I call to him. (Psalms 4:3)
-The helpless call to him, and he answers he saves them from all their troubles. The LORD watches over the righteous and listens to their cries The righteous call to the LORD, and he listens he rescues them from all their troubles. (Psalms 34:6, 15, 17)
-Call to me when trouble comes I will save you, and you will praise me. (Psalms 50:15)
-because you answer prayers. People everywhere will come to you (Psalms 65:2)
-When they call to me, I will answer them when they are in trouble, I will be with them. I will rescue them and honor them. (Psalms 91:15)
-He supplies the needs of those who honour him he hears their cries and saves them. (Psalms 145:19)
-When good people pray, the LORD listens, but he ignores those who are evil. (Proverbs 15:29)
-You people who live in Jerusalem will not weep any more. The LORD is compassionate, and when you cry to him for help, he will answer you. (Isaiah 30:19)
-When you pray, I will answer you. When you call to me, I will respond. If you put an end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and to every evil word (Isaiah 58:9)
-Even before they finish praying to me, I will answer their prayers. (Isaiah 65:24)
-Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you. (Jeremiah 29:12)
-And I will test the third that survives and will purify them as silver is purified by fire. I will test them as gold is tested. Then they will pray to me, and I will answer them. I will tell them that they are my people, and they will confess that I am their God. (Zechariah 13:9)
-Ask, and you will receive seek, and you will find knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks will receive, and anyone who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to those who knock. As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7, 8, 11)
-If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. (Matthew 21:22)
-If you remain in me and my words remain in you, then you will ask for anything you wish, and you shall have it. (John 15:7)
-When that day comes, you will not ask me for anything. I am telling you the truth: the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name ask and you will receive, so that your happiness may be complete. (John 16:23, 24)
-And I will do whatever you ask for in my name, so that the Father's glory will be shown through the Son. If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it. (John 14:13, 14)
-This prayer made in faith will heal the sick the Lord will restore them to health, and the sins they have committed will be forgiven. So then, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you will be healed. The prayer of a good person has a powerful effect. (James 5:15, 16)
-We receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. (1 John 3:22)
-We have courage in God's presence, because we are sure that he hears us if we ask him for anything that is according to his will. He hears us whenever we ask him and since we know this is true, we know also that he gives us what we ask from him. If you see a believer commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray to God, who will give that person life. This applies to those whose sins do not lead to death. But there is sin which leads to death, and I do not say that you should pray to God about that. (1 John 5:14-16)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697062">7. Sanctifying Grace in General '''</div>
-The LORD is our protector and glorious king, blessing us with kindness and honor. He does not refuse any good thing to those who do what is right. (Psalms 84:11)
-Dedicate them to yourself by means of the truth your word is truth. And for their sake I dedicate myself to you, in order that they, too, may be truly dedicated to you. (John 17:17, 19)
-God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)
-because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose. (Philippians 2:13)
-I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me. (Philippians 4:13)
-There is nothing in us that allows us to claim that we are capable of doing this work. The capacity we have comes from God (2 Corinthians 3:5)
-May the God who gives us peace make you holy in every way and keep your whole being---spirit, soul, and body---free from every fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess 5:23)
-And with joy give thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to have your share of what God has reserved for his people in the kingdom of light. At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought. But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence. (Colossians 1:12, 21, 22)
-We must thank God at all times for you, friends, you whom the Lord loves. For God chose you as the first to be saved by the Spirit's power to make you his holy people and by your faith in the truth. (2 Thess 2:13)
-He gave himself for us, to rescue us from all wickedness and to make us a pure people who belong to him alone and are eager to do good. (Titus 2:14)
-The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be this: I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33)
-With a solemn oath to our ancestor Abraham he promised to rescue us from our enemies and allow us to serve him without fear, so that we might be holy and righteous before him all the days of our life. (Luke 1:74, 75)
-Instead, they will serve me, the LORD their God, and a descendant of David, whom I will enthrone as king. (Jeremiah 30:9)
-Some of you were like that. But you have been purified from sin you have been dedicated to God you have been put right with God by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11)
-All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms us into his likeness in an ever greater degree of glory. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697063">8. Of Converting Grace '''</div>
-The LORD your God will give you and your descendants obedient hearts, so that you will love him with all your heart, and you will continue to live in that land. (Deuteronomy 30:6)
-I will give them the desire to know that I am the LORD. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will return to me with all their heart. (Jeremiah 24:7)
-I hear the people of Israel say in grief, ' LORD, we were like an untamed animal, but you taught us to obey. Bring us back we are ready to return to you, the LORD our God. (Jeremiah 31:18)
-On the day you fight your enemies, your people will volunteer. Like the dew of early morning your young men will come to you on the sacred hills. (Psalms 110:3)
-he saved us. It was not because of any good deeds that we ourselves had done, but because of his own mercy that he saved us, through the Holy Spirit, who gives us new birth and new life by washing us. (Titus 3:5)
-I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart. (Ezekiel 36:26)
-He saved us and called us to be his own people, not because of what we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. He gave us this grace by means of Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, (2 Timothy 1:9)
-I will give them a new heart and a new mind. I will take away their stubborn heart of stone and will give them an obedient heart. Then they will keep my laws and faithfully obey all my commands. They will be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:19, 20)
-The LORD says, When that time comes, the people of both Israel and Judah will come weeping, looking for me, their God. They will ask the way to Zion and then go in that direction. They will make an eternal covenant with me and never break it. (Jeremiah 50:4, 5)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697064">The Grace of Repentance '''</div>
-I will fill the descendants of David and the other people of Jerusalem with the spirit of mercy and the spirit of prayer. They will look at the one whom they stabbed to death, and they will mourn for him like those who mourn for an only child. They will mourn bitterly, like those who have lost their first-born son. (Zechariah 12:10)
-And so God chose his Servant and sent him to you first, to bless you by making every one of you turn away from your wicked ways. (Acts 3:26)
-God raised him to his right side as Leader and Saviour, to give the people of Israel the opportunity to repent and have their sins forgiven. (Acts 5:31)
-You will remember your evil conduct and the wrongs that you committed, and you will be disgusted with yourselves because of your sins and your iniquities. (Ezekiel 36:31)
-So I am going to fence her in with thorn bushes and build a wall to block her way. She will run after her lovers but will not catch them. She will look for them but will not find them. Then she will say, I am going back to my first husband---I was better off then than I am now. (Hosea 2:6, 7)
-Go and find out what is meant by the scripture that says: 'It is kindness that I want, not animal sacrifices.' I have not come to call respectable people, but outcasts. (Matthew 9:13)
-Then you will remember all the disgraceful things you did and how you defiled yourselves. You will be disgusted with yourselves because of all the evil things you did. (Ezekiel 20:43)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697065">The Grace of Faith '''</div>
-For you have been given the privilege of serving Christ, not only by believing in him, but also by suffering for him. (Philippians 1:29)
-For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it. (Ephesians 2:8)
-The prophets wrote, 'Everyone will be taught by God.' Anyone who hears the Father and learns from him comes to me. (John 6:45)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697066">Grace to Fear God '''</div>
-I will give them a single purpose in life: to honour me for all time, for their own good and the good of their descendants. (Jeremiah 32:39)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697067">9. Knowledge, Wisdom, etc '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697068">Knowledge '''</div>
-Evil people do not know what justice is, but those who worship the LORD understand it well. (Proverbs 28:5)
-and their people will say, Let us go up the hill of the LORD, to the Temple of Israel 's God. He will teach us what he wants us to do we will walk in the paths he has chosen. For the LORD's teaching comes from Jerusalem  from Zion he speaks to his people. (Isaiah 2:3)
-The God who said, Out of darkness the light shall shine! is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God's glory shining in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
-If you do, you will know what it means to fear the LORD and you will succeed in learning about God. If you listen to me, you will know what is right, just, and fair. You will know what you should do. (Proverbs 2:5, 9)
-There will be a highway there, called The Road of Holiness. No sinner will ever travel that road no fools will mislead those who follow it. (Isaiah 35:8)
-When that day comes, the deaf will be able to hear a book being read aloud, and the blind, who have been living in darkness, will open their eyes and see. Foolish people will learn to understand, and those who are always grumbling will be glad to be taught. (Isaiah 29:18, 24)
-Let us try to know the LORD. He will come to us as surely as the day dawns, as surely as the spring rains fall upon the earth. (Hosea 6:3)
-In time to come you will acknowledge that I am God and that I have spoken to you. (Isaiah 52:6)
-At that time Jesus said, Father, Lord of heaven and earth! I thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what you have hidden from the wise and learned. (Matthew 11:25)
-We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we know the true God. We live in union with the true God---in union with his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this is eternal life. (1 John 5:20)
-None of them will have to teach a neighbour to know the LORD, because all will know me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the LORD, have spoken. (Jeremiah 31:34)
-to tell his people that they will be saved by having their sins forgiven. Our God is merciful and tender. He will cause the bright dawn of salvation to rise on us and to shine from heaven on all those who live in the dark shadow of death, to guide our steps into the path of peace. (Luke 1:77-79)
-The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed (Luke 4:18)
-Their eyes and ears will be open to the needs of the people. (Isaiah 32:3)
-You will open the eyes of the blind and set free those who sit in dark prisons. (Isaiah 42:7)
-Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. I am the light of the world, he said. Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness. (John 8:12)
-Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God's Spirit. Such a person really does not understand them, and they seem to be nonsense, because their value can be judged only on a spiritual basis. Whoever has the Spirit, however, is able to judge the value of everything, but no one is able to judge him. (1 Corinthians 2:14, 15)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697069">Wisdom '''</div>
-I praise the LORD, because he guides me, and in the night my conscience warns me. (Psalms 16:7)
-It is the LORD who gives wisdom from him come knowledge and understanding. He provides help and protection for those who are righteous and honest. (Proverbs 2:6, 7)
-God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to those who please him, but he makes sinners work, earning and saving, so that what they get can be given to those who please him. It is all useless. It is like chasing the wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:26)
-Sincerity and truth are what you require fill my mind with your wisdom. (Psalms 51:6)
-But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you because God gives generously and graciously to all. (James 1:5)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697070">Divine Teaching '''</div>
-The LORD says, I will teach you the way you should go I will instruct you and advise you. (Psalms 32:8)
-Whoever is willing to do what God wants will know whether what I teach comes from God or whether I speak on my own authority. (John 7:17)
-Because the LORD is righteous and good, he teaches sinners the path they should follow. Those who have reverence for the LORD will learn from him the path they should follow. (Psalms 25:8, 12)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697071">Divine Guidance '''</div>
-If you wander off the road to the right or the left, you will hear his voice behind you saying, Here is the road. Follow it. (Isaiah 30:21)
-The LORD says, I love justice and I hate oppression and crime. I will faithfully reward my people And make an eternal covenant with them. (Isaiah 61:8)
-You guide me with your instruction and at the end you will receive me with honor. (Psalms 73:24)
-And I will always guide you and satisfy you with good things. I will keep you strong and well. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring of water that never goes dry. (Isaiah 58:11)
-He gives me new strength. He guides me in the right paths, as he has promised. (Psalms 23:3)
-they will never be hungry or thirsty. Sun and desert heat will not hurt them, for they will be led by one who loves them. He will lead them to springs of water. (Isaiah 49:10)
-He found them wandering through the desert, a desolate, wind-swept wilderness. He protected them and cared for them, as he would protect himself. Like an eagle teaching its young to fly, catching them safely on its spreading wings, the LORD kept Israel from falling. The LORD alone led his people without the help of a foreign god. (Deuteronomy 32:10-12)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697072">Ability for Good Disclosure '''</div>
-Righteous people speak wisdom, but the tongue that speaks evil will be stopped. Righteous people know the kind thing to say, but the wicked are always saying things that hurt. (Proverbs 10:31, 32)
-They will not be impatient any longer, but they will act with understanding and will say what they mean. (Isaiah 32:4)
-We may make our plans, but God has the last word. (Proverbs 16:1)
-The Spirit gives one person a message full of wisdom, while to another person the same Spirit gives a message full of knowledge. (1 Corinthians 12:8)
-because I will give you such words and wisdom that none of your enemies will be able to refute or contradict what you say. (Luke 21:15)
-<div id="_Toc118697073">10. The Means of Grace </div>
-He lets me rest in fields of green grass and leads me to quiet pools of fresh water. (Psalms 23:2)
-I will say to the prisoners, 'Go free!' and to those who are in darkness, 'Come out to the light!' They will be like sheep that graze on the hills they will never be hungry or thirsty. Sun and desert heat will not hurt them, for they will be led by one who loves them. He will lead them to springs of water. (Isaiah 49:9, 10)
-How wonderful it is to see a messenger coming across the mountains, bringing good news, the news of peace! He announces victory and says to Zion , Your God is king! Those who guard the city are shouting, shouting together for joy. They can see with their own eyes the return of the LORD to Zion . (Isaiah 52:7, 8)
-On your walls, Jerusalem , I have placed sentries They must never be silent day or night. They must remind the LORD of his promises And never let him forget them. (Isaiah 62:6)
-I will give you rulers who obey me, and they will rule you with wisdom and understanding. (Jeremiah 3:15)
-I will make rivers flow among barren hills and springs of water run in the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water and the dry land into flowing springs. (Isaiah 41:18)
-They will come and sing for joy on Mount Zion and be delighted with my gifts--- gifts of grain and wine and olive oil, gifts of sheep and cattle. They will be like a well-watered garden they will have everything they need. I will fill the priests with the richest food and satisfy all the needs of my people. I, the LORD, have spoken. (Jeremiah 31:12, 14)
-The Lord will make you go through hard times, but he himself will be there to teach you, and you will not have to search for him any more. (Isaiah 30:20)
-I will bring you to Zion , my sacred hill, give you joy in my house of prayer, and accept the sacrifices you offer on my altar. My Temple will be called a house of prayer for the people of all nations. (Isaiah 56:7)
-I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will find them a place to rest. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken. (Ezekiel 34:15)
-It was he who gave gifts to people he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature. (Ephesians 4:11-13)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697074">A Blessing upon Ordinances '''</div>
-We feast on the abundant food you provide you let us drink from the river of your goodness.You are the source of all life, and because of your light we see the light. (Psalms 36:8, 9)
-Let me see you in the sanctuary let me see how mighty and glorious you are. Your constant love is better than life itself, and so I will praise you. I will give you thanks as long as I live I will raise my hands to you in prayer. My soul will feast and be satisfied, and I will sing glad songs of praise to you. (Psalms 63:2-5)
-Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my dearest compared to other men. I love to sit in its shadow, and its fruit is sweet to my taste. (Song of Solomon 2:3)
-They are like trees planted in the house of the LORD, that flourish in the Temple of our God, (Psalms 92:13)
-O God, your march of triumph is seen by all, the procession of God, my king, into his sanctuary. (Psalms 68:24)
-Happy are those whom you choose, whom you bring to live in your sanctuary. We shall be satisfied with the good things of your house, the blessings of your sacred Temple . (Psalms 65:4)
-How happy are the people who worship you with songs, who live in the light of your kindness! Because of you they rejoice all day long, and they praise you for your goodness. (Psalms 89:15, 16)
-How happy are those who live in your Temple , always singing praise to you. The LORD is our protector and glorious king, blessing us with kindness and honor. He does not refuse any good thing to those who do what is right. (Psalms 84:4, 11)
-The holy God of Israel, the LORD who saves you, says: I am the LORD your God, the one who wants to teach you for your own good and direct you in the way you should go. (Isaiah 48:17)
-As fresh water brings joy to the thirsty, so God's people rejoice when he saves them. (Isaiah 12:3)
-All the sheep of Kedar and Nebaioth Will be brought to you as sacrifices And offered on the altar to please the LORD. The LORD will make his Temple more glorious than ever. (Isaiah 60:7)
-For where two or three come together in my name, I am there with them. (Matthew 18:20)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697075">11. Of Grace against Sin and Temptation '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697076">To Mortify Sin''' </div>
-The people of Israel will have nothing more to do with idols I will answer their prayers and take care of them. Like an evergreen tree I will shelter them I am the source of all their blessings. (Hosea 14:8)
-What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ! This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God's law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin. (Romans 7:24, 25)
-And we know that our old being has been put to death with Christ on his cross, in order that the power of the sinful self might be destroyed, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin. Sin must not be your master for you do not live under law but under God's grace. (Romans 6:6, 14)
-What I say is this: let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature. (Galatians 5:16)
-you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32)
-He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit. (John 15:2)
-For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death. What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending his own Son, who came with a nature like our sinful nature, to do away with sin. God did this so that the righteous demands of the Law might be fully satisfied in us who live according to the Spirit, and not according to human nature. (Romans 8:2-4)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697077">Against Temptation '''</div>
-No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! (Romans 8:37)
-Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm at the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
-Avoid both extremes. If you have reverence for God, you will be successful anyway. (Ecclesiastes 7:18)
-And so the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials and how to keep the wicked under punishment for the Day of Judgment, (2 Peter 2:9)
-But his answer was: My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak. I am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ's power over me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
-And now he can help those who are tempted, because he himself was tempted and suffered. (Hebrews 2:18)
-But you belong to God, my children, and have defeated the false prophets, because the Spirit who is in you is more powerful than the spirit in those who belong to the world. (1 John 4:4)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697078">From the Enticement of Sinners '''</div>
-and prevent you from doing the wrong thing. They will keep you away from people who stir up trouble by what they say---You will be able to resist any immoral woman who tries to seduce you with her smooth talk, (Proverbs 2:12, 16)
-I found something more bitter than death---the woman who is like a trap. The love she offers you will catch you like a net, and her arms around you will hold you like a chain. A man who pleases God can get away, but she will catch the sinner. (Ecclesiastes 7:26)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697079">Victory over the World '''</div>
-I have told you this so that you will have peace by being united to me. The world will make you suffer. But be brave! I have defeated the world! (John 16:33)
-As for me, however, I will boast only about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ for by means of his cross the world is dead to me, and I am dead to the world. (Galatians 6:14)
-In order to set us free from this present evil age, Christ gave himself for our sins, in obedience to the will of our God and Father. (Galatians 1:4)
-I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but I do ask you to keep them safe from the Evil One. (John 17:15)
-because every child of God is able to defeat the world. And we win the victory over the world by means of our faith. Who can defeat the world? Only the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:4, 5)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697080">Victory over the Devil '''</div>
-So then, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you. (James 4:7)
-I will make you and the woman hate each other her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel. (Genesis 3:15)
-Simon, Simon! Listen! Satan has received permission to test all of you, to separate the good from the bad, as a farmer separates the wheat from the chaff. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you turn back to me, you must strengthen your brothers. ( Luke 22:31,32)
-And God, our source of peace, will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. (Romans 16:20)
-I write to you, my children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who has existed from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you are strong the word of God lives in you, and you have defeated the Evil One. (1 John 2:14)
-We know that no children of God keep on sinning, for the Son of God keeps them safe, and the Evil One cannot harm them. (1 John 5:18)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697081">12. Strength, Courage, and Resolution '''</div>
-He will not break off a bent reed nor put out a flickering lamp. He will bring lasting justice to all. (Isaiah 42:3)
-God is my saviour I will trust him and not be afraid. The LORD gives me power and strength he is my saviour. (Isaiah 12:2)
-He strengthens those who are weak and tired. Even those who are young grow weak young people can fall exhausted. But those who trust in the LORD for help will find their strength renewed. They will rise on wings like eagles they will run and not get weary they will walk and not grow weak. (Isaiah 40:29-31)
-Then face the world again, firm and courageous. (Job 11:15)
-But his answer was: My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak. I am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ's power over me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
-Be strong, be courageous, all you that hope in the LORD. (Psalms 31:24)
-I will make my people strong they will worship and obey me. The LORD has spoken. (Zechariah 10:12)
-How awesome is God as he comes from his sanctuary--- the God of Israel! He gives strength and power to his people. Praise God! (Psalms 68:35)
-At that time the LORD will protect those who live in Jerusalem , and even the weakest among them will become as strong as David was. The descendants of David will lead them like the angel of the LORD, like God himself. (Zechariah 12:8)
-Give strength to hands that are tired and to knees that tremble with weakness. Tell everyone who is discouraged, Be strong and don't be afraid! God is coming to your rescue, coming to punish your enemies. (Isaiah 35:3, 4)
-The LORD roars from Mount Zion  his voice thunders from Jerusalem  earth and sky tremble. But he will defend his people. (Joel 3:16)
-For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid instead, his Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:7)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697082">13. Fruitfulness and Increase of Grace '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697083">Fruitfulness '''</div>
-These are the qualities you need, and if you have them in abundance, they will make you active and effective in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:8)
-I will be to the people of Israel like rain in a dry land. They will blossom like flowers they will be firmly rooted like the trees of Lebanon . The people of Israel will have nothing more to do with idols I will answer their prayers and take care of them. Like an evergreen tree I will shelter them I am the source of all their blessings. (Hosea 14:5, 8)
-They are like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do. (Psalms 1:3)
-They will come and sing for joy on Mount Zion and be delighted with my gifts--- gifts of grain and wine and olive oil, gifts of sheep and cattle. They will be like a well-watered garden they will have everything they need. (Jeremiah 31:12)
-He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit. I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit for you can do nothing without me. (John 15:2, 5)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697084">In Old Age '''</div>
-that still bear fruit in old age and are always green and strong. (Psalms 92:14)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697085">Increase in Grace '''</div>
-Those who claim to be respectable are more and more convinced they are right. (Job 17:9)
-They grow stronger as they go they will see the God of gods on Zion . (Psalms 84:7)
-The righteous will flourish like palm trees they will grow like the cedars of Lebanon. (Psalms 92:12)
-The road the righteous travel is like the sunrise, getting brighter and brighter until daylight has come. (Proverbs 4:18)
-But for you who obey me, my saving power will rise on you like the sun and bring healing like the sun's rays. You will be as free and happy as calves let out of a stall. (Malachi 4:2)
-For the person who has something will be given more, so that he will have more than enough but the person who has nothing will have taken away from him even the little he has. (Matthew 13:12)
-But the grace that God gives is even stronger. As the scripture says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697086">The Grace of Meekness '''</div>
-Wolves and sheep will live together in peace, and leopards will lie down with young goats. Calves and lion cubs will feed together, and little children will take care of them. Cows and bears will eat together, and their calves and cubs will lie down in peace. Lions will eat straw as cattle do. Even a baby will not be harmed if it plays near a poisonous snake. On Zion , God's sacred hill, there will be nothing harmful or evil. The land will be as full of knowledge of the LORD as the seas are full of water. (Isaiah 11:6-9)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697087">14. Grace to Persevere '''</div>
-I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from me. What my Father has given me is greater than everything, and no one can snatch them away from the Father's care. (John 10:28, 29)
-But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and keep you safe from the Evil One. (2 Thessalonians 3:3)
-It is God himself who makes us, together with you, sure of our life in union with Christ it is God himself who has set us apart, (2 Corinthians 1:21)
-He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be faultless on the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:8)
-And now I am coming to you I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. Holy Father! Keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one just as you and I are one. (John 17:11)
-And so I am sure that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)
-May the God who gives us peace make you holy in every way and keep your whole being---spirit, soul, and body---free from every fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you will do it, because he is faithful. (1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24)
-For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below---there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38, 39)
-Storms come, and the wicked are blown away, but honest people are always safe. (Proverbs 10:25)
-I said, I am falling but your constant love, O LORD, held me up. (Psalms 94:18)
-They are for you, who through faith are kept safe by God's power for the salvation which is ready to be revealed at the end of time. (1 Peter 1:5)
-To him who is able to keep you from falling and to bring you faultless and joyful before his glorious presence--- (Jude 1:24)
-So then, my friends, try even harder to make God's call and his choice of you a permanent experience if you do so, you will never abandon your faith. (2 Peter 1:10)
-You will do everything you have promised LORD, your love is eternal. Complete the work that you have begun. (Psalms 138:8)
-We know that no children of God keep on sinning, for the Son of God keeps them safe, and the Evil One cannot harm them. (1 John 5:18)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697088">15. Sanctified Afflictions '''</div>
-Happy is the person whom God corrects! Do not resent it when he rebukes you. God bandages the wounds he makes his hand hurts you, and his hand heals. (Job 5:17, 18)
-Remember that the LORD your God corrects and punishes you just as parents discipline their children. (Deuteronomy 8:5)
-The LORD corrects those he loves, as parents correct a child of whom they are proud. (Proverbs 3:12)
-I will take action against you. I will purify you the way metal is refined, and will remove all your impurity. (Isaiah 1:25)
-LORD, how happy are those you instruct, the ones to whom you teach your law! You give them rest from days of trouble until a pit is dug to trap the wicked. (Psalms 94:12, 13)
-Before you punished me, I used to go wrong, but now I obey your word. My punishment was good for me, because it made me learn your commands. I know that your judgments are righteous, LORD, and that you punished me because you are faithful. (Psalms 119:67, 71, 75)
-But if people are bound in chains, suffering for what they have done, God shows them their sins and their pride. He makes them listen to his warning to turn away from evil. (Job 36:8-10)
-I have tested you in the fire of suffering, as silver is refined in a furnace. But I have found that you are worthless. (Isaiah 48:10)
-But Israel 's sins will be forgiven only when the stones of pagan altars are ground up like chalk, and no more incense altars or symbols of the goddess Asherah are left. (Isaiah 27:9)
-But we are judged and punished by the Lord, so that we shall not be condemned together with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:32)
-We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance brings God's approval, and his approval creates hope. (Romans 5:3-4)
-For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. (2 Corinthians 4:16, 17)
-So I am going to fence her in with thorn bushes and build a wall to block her way. She will run after her lovers but will not catch them. She will look for them but will not find them. Then she will say, I am going back to my first husband---I was better off then than I am now. (Hosea 2:6, 7)
-I rebuke and punish all whom I love. Be in earnest, then, and turn from your sins. (Revelation 3:19)
-because I know that by means of your prayers and the help which comes from the Spirit of Jesus Christ I shall be set free. (Philippians 1:19)
-Some of those wise leaders will be killed, but as a result of this the people will be purified. This will continue until the end comes, the time that God has set. (Daniel 11:35)
-for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure. Happy are those who remain faithful under trials, because when they succeed in passing such a test, they will receive as their reward the life which God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:3, 12)
-Because the Lord corrects everyone he loves, and punishes everyone he accepts as a child. (Hebrews 12:6)
-Endure what you suffer as being a father's punishment your suffering shows that God is treating you as his children. Was there ever a child who was not punished by his father? Our human fathers punished us for a short time, as it seemed right to them but God does it for our own good, so that we may share his holiness. When we are punished, it seems to us at the time something to make us sad, not glad. Later, however, those who have been disciplined by such punishment reap the peaceful reward of a righteous life. (Hebrews 12:6, 7, 10, 11)
-Many people will be purified. Those who are wicked will not understand but will go on being wicked only those who are wise will understand. (Daniel 12:10)
-Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1:7)
-And I will test the third that survives and will purify them as silver is purified by fire. I will test them as gold is tested. Then they will pray to me, and I will answer them. I will tell them that they are my people, and they will confess that I am their God. (Zechariah 13:9)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697089">16. Grace to the Children of </div>Israel '''
-The LORD your God will give you and your descendants obedient hearts, so that you will love him with all your heart, and you will continue to live in that land. (Deuteronomy 30:6)
-I will keep my promise to you and to your descendants in future generations as an everlasting covenant. I will be your God and the God of your descendants. God said to Abraham, You also must agree to keep the covenant with me, both you and your descendants in future generations. (Genesis 17:7, 9)
-For the unbelieving husband is made acceptable to God by being united to his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made acceptable to God by being united to her Christian husband. If this were not so, their children would be like pagan children but as it is, they are acceptable to God. (1 Corinthians 7:14)
-For God's promise was made to you and your children, and to all who are far away---all whom the Lord our God calls to himself. (Acts 2:39)
-They answered, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved---you and your family. (Acts 16:31)
-I myself will teach your people and give them prosperity and peace. (Isaiah 54:13)
-When Jesus noticed this, he was angry and said to his disciples, Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Then he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on each of them, and blessed them. (Mark 10:14, 16)
-I will give water to the thirsty land and make streams flow on the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit on your children and my blessing on your descendants. They will thrive like well-watered grass, like willows by streams of running water. One by one, people will say, 'I am the LORD's.' They will come to join the people of Israel . They each will mark the name of the LORD on their arms and call themselves one of God's people. (Isaiah 44:3-5)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697090">17. An Interest in God '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697091">As our God '''</div>
-I will keep my promise to you and to your descendants in future generations as an everlasting covenant. I will be your God and the God of your descendants. (Genesis 17:7)
-I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: Now God's home is with people! He will live with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God. (Revelation 21:3)
-(SEE Jer  30:21) (Jeremiah 30:22)
-How can God's temple come to terms with pagan idols? For we are the temple of the living God! As God himself has said, I will make my home with my people and live among them I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:16)
-Now, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel in the days to come, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (Hebrews 8:10)
-I will be with you I will be your God, and you will be my people. (Leviticus 26:12)
-This God is our God forever and ever he will lead us for all time to come. (Psalms 48:14)
-Do not be afraid---I am with you! I am your God---let nothing terrify you! I will make you strong and help you I will protect you and save you. (Isaiah 41:10)
-Your Creator will be like a husband to you--- the LORD Almighty is his name. The holy God of Israel will save you--- he is the ruler of all the world. (Isaiah 54:5)
-I, the LORD, will be their God, and a king like my servant David will be their ruler. I have spoken. You, my sheep, the flock that I feed, are my people, and I am your God, says the Sovereign LORD. (Ezekiel 34:24, 31)
-Instead, it was a better country they longed for, the heavenly country. And so God is not ashamed for them to call him their God, because he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:16)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697092">Our Portion '''</div>
-After this, Abram had a vision and heard the LORD say to him, Do not be afraid, Abram. I will shield you from danger and give you a great reward. (Genesis 15:1)
-You, LORD, are all I have, and you give me all I need my future is in your hands. (Psalms 16:5)
-The LORD is all I have, and so in him I put my hope. (Lamentations 3:24)
-My mind and my body may grow weak, but God is my strength he is all I ever need. (Psalms 73:26)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697093">Our Glory '''</div>
-A day is coming when the LORD Almighty will be like a glorious crown of flowers for his people who survive. (Isaiah 28:5)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697094">His Presence with Us '''</div>
-The righteous will praise you indeed they will live in your presence. (Psalms 140:13)
-The LORD said, I will go with you, and I will give you victory. (Exodus 33:14)
-I foresee that Israel 's future Will bring her no misfortune or trouble. The LORD their God is with them They proclaim that he is their king. (Numbers 23:21)
-Do not be afraid---I am with you! I am your God---let nothing terrify you! I will make you strong and help you I will protect you and save you. (Isaiah 41:10)
-Everyone will know that I protect Israel and that they are my people. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken. (Ezekiel 34:30)
-and he went to meet King Asa. He called out, Listen to me, King Asa, and all you people of Judah and Benjamin! The LORD is with you as long as you are with him. If you look for him, he will let you find him, but if you turn away, he will abandon you. (2 Chronicles 15:2)
-The LORD himself will lead you and be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you, so do not lose courage or be afraid. (Deuteronomy 31:8)
-Jesus answered him, Those who love me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and my Father and I will come to them and live with them. (John 14:23)
-Then, Israel , you will know that I am among you and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other. My people will never be despised again. (Joel 2:27)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697095">His Love '''</div>
-Remember that the LORD has chosen the righteous for his own, and he hears me when I call to him. (Psalms 4:3)
-He will love you and bless you, so that you will increase in number and have many children he will bless your fields, so that you will have grain, wine, and olive oil and he will bless you by giving you many cattle and sheep. He will give you all these blessings in the land that he promised your ancestors he would give to you. (Deuteronomy 7:13)
-May the LORD show his constant love during the day, so that I may have a song at night, a prayer to the God of my life. (Psalms 42:8)
-and gives sight to the blind. He lifts those who have fallen he loves his righteous people. (Psalms 146:8)
-The LORD says, I will bring my people back to me. I will love them with all my heart no longer am I angry with them. (Hosea 14:4)
-The LORD hates the ways of evil people, but loves those who do what is right. (Proverbs 15:9)
-No longer will you be called Forsaken, Or your land be called The Deserted Wife. Your new name will be God Is Pleased with Her. Your land will be called Happily Married, Because the LORD is pleased with you And will be like a husband to your land. (Isaiah 62:4)
-Like a young man taking a virgin as his bride, He who formed you will marry you. As a groom is delighted with his bride, So your God will delight in you. (Isaiah 62:5)
-I will give up whole nations to save your life, because you are precious to me and because I love you and give you honor. (Isaiah 43:4)
-I appeared to them from far away. People of Israel , I have always loved you, so I continue to show you my constant love. (Jeremiah 31:3)
-I will take pleasure in doing good things for them, and I will establish them permanently in this land. (Jeremiah 32:41)
-The LORD your God is with you his power gives you victory. The LORD will take delight in you, and in his love he will give you new life. He will sing and be joyful over you, (Zephaniah 3:17)
-But God's mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, (Ephesians 2:4)
-This is what he says in the book of Hosea: The people who were not mine I will call 'My People.' The nation that I did not love I will call 'My Beloved.' (Romans 9:25)
-He keeps me from the grave and blesses me with love and mercy. (Psalms 103:4)
-for the Father himself loves you. He loves you because you love me and have believed that I came from God. (John 16:27)
-May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and in his grace gave us unfailing courage and a firm hope, (2 Thess 2:16)
-I in them and you in me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the world may know that you sent me and that you love them as you love me. I made you known to them, and I will continue to do so, in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and so that I also may be in them. (John 17:23, 26)
-This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven. And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them. We love because God first loved us. (1 John 4:10, 16, 19)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697096">His Mercy '''</div>
-The LORD says to Jerusalem , Foreigners will rebuild your walls, And their kings will serve you. In my anger I punished you, But now I will show you my favor and mercy. (Isaiah 60:10)
-He is a merciful God. He will not abandon you or destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant that he himself made with your ancestors. (Deuteronomy 4:31)
-Israel , you are my dearest child, the one I love best. Whenever I mention your name, I think of you with love. My heart goes out to you I will be merciful. (Jeremiah 31:20)
-I will establish my people in the land and make them prosper. I will show love to those who were called Unloved, and to those who were called Not-My-People I will say, You are my people, and they will answer, You are our God. (Hosea 2:23)
-In order that people will praise my name, I am holding my anger in check I am keeping it back and will not destroy you. (Isaiah 48:9)
-And yet the LORD is waiting to be merciful to you. He is ready to take pity on you because he always does what is right. Happy are those who put their trust in the LORD. (Isaiah 30:18)
-As a father is kind to his children, so the LORD is kind to those who honour him. But for those who honour the LORD, his love lasts forever, and his goodness endures for all generations (Psalms 103:13, 17)
-How can I give you up, Israel ? How can I abandon you? Could I ever destroy you as I did Admah, or treat you as I did Zeboiim? My heart will not let me do it! My love for you is too strong. I will not punish you in my anger I will not destroy Israel again. For I am God and not a mere human being. I, the Holy One, am with you. I will not come to you in anger. (Hosea 11:8, 9)
-He would tell you there are many sides to wisdom there are things too deep for human knowledge. God is punishing you less than you deserve. (Job 11:6)
-The LORD answered, I will make all my splendour pass before you and in your presence I will pronounce my sacred name. I am the LORD, and I show compassion and pity on those I choose. (Exodus 33:19)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697097">His Help '''</div>
-The LORD Almighty is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge. (Psalms 46:11)
-In view of all this, what can we say? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)
-I will destroy you, people of Israel ! Then who can help you? (Hosea 13:9)
-I am weak and poor, O Lord, but you have not forgotten me. You are my saviour and my God--- hurry to my aid! (Psalms 40:17)
-God has always been your defence his eternal arms are your support. He drove out your enemies as you advanced, and told you to destroy them all. Israel , how happy you are! There is no one like you, a nation saved by the LORD. The LORD himself is your shield and your sword, to defend you and give you victory. Your enemies will come begging for mercy, and you will trample them down. (Deuteronomy 33:27, 29)
-Let us be bold, then, and say, The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me? (Hebrews 13:6)
-Do not be afraid---I am with you! I am your God---let nothing terrify you! I will make you strong and help you I will protect you and save you. I am the LORD your God I strengthen you and tell you, 'Do not be afraid I will help you.'  The LORD says, Small and weak as you are, Israel , don't be afraid I will help you. I, the holy God of Israel, am the one who saves you. (Isaiah 41:10, 13,14)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697098">His Care '''</div>
-Anyone who strikes you strikes what is most precious to me. So the LORD Almighty sent me with this message for the nations that had plundered his people: (Zechariah 2:8)
-Leave all your worries with him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)
-The LORD watches over those who obey him, those who trust in his constant love. (Psalms 33:18)
-Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all who are left of my people. I have cared for you from the time you were born. I am your God and will take care of you until you are old and your hair is gray. I made you and will care for you I will give you help and rescue you. (Isaiah 46:3, 4)
-But not a single hair from your heads will be lost. (Luke 21:18)
-As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. (Matthew 10:30)
-from all their suffering. It was not an angel, but the LORD himself who saved them. In his love and compassion he rescued them. He had always taken care of them in the past, (Isaiah 63:9)
-Like an eagle teaching its young to fly, catching them safely on its spreading wings, the LORD kept Israel from falling. The LORD alone led his people without the help of a foreign god. (Deuteronomy 32:11, 12)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697099">His Covenant with his People '''</div>
-Listen now, my people, and come to me come to me, and you will have life! I will make a lasting covenant with you and give you the blessings I promised to David. (Isaiah 55:3)
-And that is how God will bless my descendants, because he has made an eternal covenant with me, an agreement that will not be broken, a promise that will not be changed. That is all I desire that will be my victory, and God will surely bring it about. (2 Samuel 23:5)
-Israel , I will make you my wife I will be true and faithful I will show you constant love and mercy and make you mine forever. I will keep my promise and make you mine, and you will acknowledge me as LORD. (Hosea 2:19, 20)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697100">God will not forsake them '''</div>
-The LORD says,  Israel , remember this remember that you are my servant. I created you to be my servant, and I will never forget you. (Isaiah 44:21)
-I will live among you in my sacred Tent, and I will never turn away from you. (Leviticus 26:11)
-The LORD will not abandon his people he will not desert those who belong to him. But the people of Jerusalem said, The LORD has abandoned us! He has forgotten us. So the LORD answers, Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore? Even if a mother should forget her child, I will never forget you. Jerusalem , I can never forget you! I have written your name on the palms of my hands. (Isaiah 49:14-16)
-In the time of Noah I promised never again to flood the earth. Now I promise not to be angry with you again I will not reprimand or punish you. The mountains and hills may crumble, but my love for you will never end I will keep forever my promise of peace. So says the LORD who loves you. (Isaiah 54:9, 10)
-Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, I will never leave you I will never abandon you. (Hebrews 13:5)
-Those who know you, LORD, will trust you you do not abandon anyone who comes to you. (Psalms 9:10)
-I will lead my blind people by roads they have never travelled. I will turn their darkness into light and make rough country smooth before them. These are my promises, and I will keep them without fail. (Isaiah 42:16)
-for the LORD loves what is right and does not abandon his faithful people. He protects them forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be driven out. (Psalms 37:28)
-The Lord is merciful and will not reject us forever. He may bring us sorrow, but his love for us is sure and strong. (Lamentations 3:31, 32)
-I will make an eternal covenant with them. I will never stop doing good things for them, and I will make them fear me with all their heart, so that they will never turn away from me. (Jeremiah 32:40)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697101">18. An Interest in Christ '''</div>
-I made him a leader and commander of nations, and through him I showed them my power. (Isaiah 55:4)
-A child is born to us! A son is given to us! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
-My lover is mine, and I am his. He feeds his flock among the lilies (Song of Solomon 2:16)
-Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me, (John 6:37)
-For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
-I will give them a king like my servant David to be their one shepherd, and he will take care of them. (Ezekiel 34:23)
-But for you who obey me, my saving power will rise on you like the sun and bring healing like the sun's rays. You will be as free and happy as calves let out of a stall. (Malachi 4:2)
-I, the LORD, have called you and given you power to see that justice is done on earth. Through you I will make a covenant with all peoples through you I will bring light to the nations. (Isaiah 42:6)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697102">All Grace from Christ '''</div>
-Out of the fullness of his grace he has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another. God gave the Law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:16, 17)
-The church is Christ's body, the completion of him who himself completes all things everywhere. (Ephesians 1:23)
-They will say that only through me are victory and strength to be found but all who hate me will suffer disgrace. (Isaiah 45:24)
-But God has brought you into union with Christ Jesus, and God has made Christ to be our wisdom. By him we are put right with God we become God's holy people and are set free. (1 Corinthians 1:30)
-God raised him to his right side as Leader and Saviour, to give the people of Israel the opportunity to repent and have their sins forgiven. (Acts 5:31)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697103">Redemption by Christ '''</div>
-I will say to the prisoners, 'Go free!' and to those who are in darkness, 'Come out to the light!' They will be like sheep that graze on the hills (Isaiah 49:9)
-You will open the eyes of the blind and set free those who sit in dark prisons. (Isaiah 42:7)
-For you know what was paid to set you free from the worthless manner of life handed down by your ancestors. It was not something that can be destroyed, such as silver or gold it was the costly sacrifice of Christ, who was like a lamb without defect or flaw. (1 Peter 1:18, 19)
-For even the Son of Man did not come to be served he came to serve and to give his life to redeem many people. (Mark 10:45)
-But by becoming a curse for us Christ has redeemed us from the curse that the Law brings for the scripture says, Anyone who is hanged on a tree is under God's curse. (Galatians 3:13)
-For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God, (Ephesians 1:7)
-Your life must be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and gave his life for us as a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God. (Ephesians 5:2)
-But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God's children. (Galatians 4:4, 5)
-Since this is true, how much more is accomplished by the blood of Christ! Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will purify our consciences from useless rituals, so that we may serve the living God. For this reason Christ is the one who arranges a new covenant, so that those who have been called by God may receive the eternal blessings that God has promised. This can be done because there has been a death which sets people free from the wrongs they did while the first covenant was in effect. (Hebrews 9:14, 15)
-You must remove the old yeast of sin so that you will be entirely pure. Then you will be like a new batch of dough without any yeast, as indeed I know you actually are. For our Passover Festival is ready, now that Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5:7)
-They sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to break open its seals. For you were killed, and by your sacrificial death you bought for God people from every tribe, language, nation, and race. (Revelation 5:9)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697104">Life from Him '''</div>
-In a little while the world will see me no more, but you will see me and because I live, you also will live. (John 14:19)
-The living Father sent me, and because of him I live also. In the same way whoever eats me will live because of me. (John 6:57)
-For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory! (Colossians 3:3, 4)
-so that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. (Galatians 2:20)
-In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins. that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved. In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world. (Ephesians 2:1, 5, 6)
-Whoever has the Son has this life whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:12)
-The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life---life in all its fullness. (John 10:10)
-Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, in the same way the Son gives life to those he wants to. (John 5:21)
-For even though it was in weakness that he was put to death on the cross, it is by God's power that he lives. In union with him we also are weak but in our relations with you we shall share God's power in his life. (2 Corinthians 13:4)
-Since we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. In the same way you are to think of yourselves as dead, so far as sin is concerned, but living in fellowship with God through Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:8, 11)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697105">His Intercession '''</div>
-And so I will give him a place of honour, a place among the great and powerful. He willingly gave his life and shared the fate of evil men. He took the place of many sinners and prayed that they might be forgiven. (Isaiah 53:12)
-And so he is able, now and always, to save those who come to God through him, because he lives forever to plead with God for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
-Who, then, will condemn them? Not Christ Jesus, who died, or rather, who was raised to life and is at the right side of God, pleading with him for us! (Romans 8:34)
-For Christ did not go into a Holy Place made by human hands, which was a copy of the real one. He went into heaven itself, where he now appears on our behalf in the presence of God. (Hebrews 9:24)
-Let us, then, hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we have a great High Priest who has gone into the very presence of God---Jesus, the Son of God. Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin. Let us have confidence, then, and approach God's throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it. (Hebrews 4:14-16)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697106">His Love '''</div>
-I love you just as the Father loves me remain in my love. (John 15:9)
-It was now the day before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. He had always loved those in the world who were his own, and he loved them to the very end. And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:1, 34)
-Listen! As for that group that belongs to Satan, those liars who claim that they are Jews but are not, I will make them come and bow down at your feet. They will all know that I love you. (Revelation 3:9)
-Your beauty will make the king desire you he is your master, so you must obey him. (Psalms 45:11)
-Your life must be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and gave his life for us as a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God. (Ephesians 5:2)
-I belong to my lover, and he desires me. (Song of Solomon 7:10)
-The look in your eyes, my sweetheart and bride, and the necklace you are wearing have stolen my heart. (Song of Solomon 4:9)
-and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first to be raised from death and who is also the ruler of the kings of the world. He loves us, and by his sacrificial death he has freed us from our sins (Revelation 1:5)
-No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! (Romans 8:37)
-He brought me to his banquet hall and raised the banner of love over me. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand caresses me. (Song of Solomon 2:4, 6)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697107">His Care of His Church '''</div>
-To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven gold lamp stands. (Revelation 2:1)
-He will take care of his flock like a shepherd he will gather the lambs together and carry them in his arms he will gently lead their mothers. (Isaiah 40:11)
-He will not break off a bent reed nor put out a flickering lamp. He will bring lasting justice to all. (Isaiah 42:3)
-Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it. He did this to dedicate the church to God by his word, after making it clean by washing it in water, in order to present the church to himself in all its beauty---pure and faultless, without spot or wrinkle or any other imperfection. (None of us ever hate our own bodies. Instead, we feed them, and take care of them, just as Christ does the church (Ephesians 5:25-27, 29)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697108">His Presence with His People '''</div>
-What we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you will join with us in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3)
-When I go, you will not be left all alone I will come back to you. Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. My Father will love those who love me I too will love them and reveal myself to them. (John 14:18, 21)
-Listen! I stand at the door and knock if any hear my voice and open the door, I will come into their house and eat with them, and they will eat with me. (Revelation 3:20)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697109">19. Promises of the Spirit '''</div>
-Listen when I reprimand you I will give you good advice and share my knowledge with you. (Proverbs 1:23)
-But once more God will send us his spirit. The wasteland will become fertile, and fields will produce rich crops. (Isaiah 32:15)
-I will put my spirit in you and will see to it that you follow my laws and keep all the commands I have given you. (Ezekiel 36:27)
-As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:13)
-And I make a covenant with you: I have given you my power and my teachings to be yours forever, and from now on you are to obey me and teach your children and your descendants to obey me for all time to come. (Isaiah 59:21)
-Jesus answered, If you only knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water. but those who drink the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give them will become in them a spring which will provide them with life-giving water and give them eternal life. (John 4:10, 14)
-Through the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us, keep the good things that have been entrusted to you. (2 Timothy 1:14)
-Christ did this in order that the blessing which God promised to Abraham might be given to the Gentiles by means of Christ Jesus, so that through faith we might receive the Spirit promised by God. (Galatians 3:14)
-We have not received this world's spirit instead, we have received the Spirit sent by God, so that we may know all that God has given us. (1 Corinthians 2:12)
-whoever believes in me should drink. As the scripture says, 'Streams of life-giving water will pour out from his side.'  Jesus said this about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were going to receive. At that time the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not been raised to glory. (John 7:38, 39)
-I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever. He is the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God. The world cannot receive him, because it cannot see him or know him. But you know him, because he remains with you and is in you. (John 14:16, 17)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697110">His Teaching '''</div>
-For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say. (Luke 12:12)
-But it was to us that God made known his secret by means of his Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, even the hidden depths of God's purposes. (1 Corinthians 2:10)
-When, however, the Spirit comes, who reveals the truth about God, he will lead you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own authority, but he will speak of what he hears and will tell you of things to come. (John 16:13)
-But as for you, Christ has poured out his Spirit on you. As long as his Spirit remains in you, you do not need anyone to teach you. For his Spirit teaches you about everything, and what he teaches is true, not false. Obey the Spirit's teaching, then, and remain in union with Christ. (1 John 2:27)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697111">Help in Prayer '''</div>
-To show that you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, Father, my Father. (Galatians 4:6)
-I will fill the descendants of David and the other people of Jerusalem with the spirit of mercy and the spirit of prayer. They will look at the one whom they stabbed to death, and they will mourn for him like those who mourn for an only child. They will mourn bitterly, like those who have lost their first-born son. (Zechariah 12:10)
-For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, Father! my Father! In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. And God, who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of his people and in accordance with his will. (Romans 8:15, 26, 27)
-You will listen, O LORD, to the prayers of the lowly you will give them courage. (Psalms 10:17)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697112">To Witness our Adoption '''</div>
-God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children. (Romans 8:16)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697113">To Seal our Redemption '''</div>
-who has placed his mark of ownership upon us, and who has given us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the guarantee of all that he has in store for us. (2 Corinthians 1:22)
-And do not make God's Holy Spirit sad for the Spirit is God's mark of ownership on you, a guarantee that the Day will come when God will set you free. (Ephesians 4:30)
-God is the one who has prepared us for this change, and he gave us his Spirit as the guarantee of all that he has in store for us. (2 Corinthians 5:5)
-This hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to us. (Romans 5:5)
-And you also became God's people when you heard the true message, the Good News that brought you salvation. You believed in Christ, and God put his stamp of ownership on you by giving you the Holy Spirit he had promised. The Spirit is the guarantee that we shall receive what God has promised his people, and this assures us that God will give complete freedom to those who are his. Let us praise his glory! (Ephesians 1:13, 14)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697114">To be our Comforter '''</div>
-I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever. When I go, you will not be left all alone I will come back to you. (John 14:16, 18)
-And so it was that the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had a time of peace. Through the help of the Holy Spirit it was strengthened and grew in numbers, as it lived in reverence for the Lord. (Acts 9:31)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697115">The Joys of the Holy Ghost '''</div>
-For God's Kingdom is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of the righteousness, peace, and joy which the Holy Spirit gives. (Romans 14:17)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697116">20. The Ministry of Angels '''</div>
-His angel guards those who honor the LORD and rescues them from danger. (Psalms 34:7)
-What are the angels, then? They are spirits who serve God and are sent by him to help those who are to receive salvation. (Hebrews 1:14)
-God will put his angels in charge of you to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands to keep you from hurting your feet on the stones. (Psalms 91:11, 12)
-See that you don't despise any of these little ones. Their angels in heaven, I tell you, are always in the presence of my Father in heaven. (Matthew 18:10)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697117">21. That we shall be Kings and Priests unto God '''</div>
-and made us a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father. To Jesus Christ be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen. (Revelation 1:6)
-a people dedicated to me alone, and you will serve me as priests. (Exodus 19:6)
-You have made them a kingdom of priests to serve our God, and they shall rule on earth. (Revelation 5:10)
-But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation, God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvellous light. (1 Peter 2:9)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697118">22. Peace of Conscience, Comfort, and Hope '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697119">Peace of Conscience '''</div>
-Because everyone will do what is right, there will be peace and security forever. (Isaiah 32:17)
-They will always be prosperous, and their children will possess the land. (Psalms 25:13)
-But Jesus said to the woman, Your faith has saved you go in peace. (Luke 7:50)
-I am listening to what the LORD God is saying he promises peace to us, his own people, if we do not go back to our foolish ways. (Psalms 85:8)
-He heals the broken-hearted and bandages their wounds. (Psalms 147:3)
-May the Lord himself, who is our source of peace, give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with you all. (2 Thess 3:16)
-The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:15)
-Peace is what I leave with you it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset do not be afraid. (John 14:27)
-I offer peace to all, both near and far! I will heal my people. (Isaiah 57:19)
-And God's peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697120">Comfort '''</div>
-A day is coming when people will sing, I praise you, LORD! You were angry with me, but now you comfort me and are angry no longer. (Isaiah 12:1)
-When I go, you will not be left all alone I will come back to you. (John 14:18)
-Sing, heavens! Shout for joy, earth! Let the mountains burst into song! The LORD will comfort his people he will have pity on his suffering people. (Isaiah 49:13)
-I have seen how they acted, but I will heal them. I will lead them and help them, and I will comfort those who mourn. (Isaiah 57:18)
-The LORD said to his people, Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths and where the best road is. Walk in it, and you will live in peace. But they said, No, we will not! (Jeremiah 6:16)
-For one brief moment I left you with deep love I will take you back. I turned away angry for only a moment, but I will show you my love forever. So says the LORD who saves you. (Isaiah 54:7, 8)
-The Sovereign LORD has filled me with his Spirit. He has chosen me and sent me To bring good news to the poor, To heal the broken-hearted, To announce release to captives And freedom to those in prison. He has sent me to proclaim That the time has come When the LORD will save his people And defeat their enemies. He has sent me to comfort all who mourn, To give to those who mourn in Zion Joy and gladness instead of grief, A song of praise instead of sorrow. They will be like trees That the LORD himself has planted. They will all do what is right, And God will be praised for what he has done. (Isaiah 61:1-3)
-The LORD says, I am the one who strengthens you. Why should you fear mortals, who are no more enduring than grass? (Isaiah 51:12)
-Bad people will get what they deserve. Good people will be rewarded for their deeds. (Proverbs 14:14)
-But God, who encourages the downhearted, encouraged us with the coming of Titus. (2 Corinthians 7:6)
-May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and in his grace gave us unfailing courage and a firm hope, encourage you and strengthen you to always do and say what is good. (2 Thess 2:16, 17)
-You will enjoy her prosperity, like a child at its mother's breast. I will comfort you in Jerusalem , as a mother comforts her child. (Isaiah 66:11, 13)
-Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father, the God from whom all help comes! He helps us in all our troubles, so that we are able to help others who have all kinds of troubles, using the same help that we ourselves have received from God. (2 Corinthians 1:3, 4)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697121">Hope '''</div>
-Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure. (1 John 3:3)
-Be strong, be courageous, all you that hope in the LORD. (Psalms 31:24)
-Why am I so sad? Why am I so troubled? I will put my hope in God, and once again I will praise him, my saviour and my God. (Psalms 42:11)
-There are these two things, then, that cannot change and about which God cannot lie. So we who have found safety with him are greatly encouraged to hold firmly to the hope placed before us. (Hebrews 6:18)
-We have this hope as an anchor for our lives. It is safe and sure, and goes through the curtain of the heavenly temple into the inner sanctuary. (Hebrews 6:19)
-Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because of his great mercy he gave us new life by raising Jesus Christ from death. This fills us with a living hope, So then, have your minds ready for action. Keep alert and set your hope completely on the blessing which will be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from death and gave him glory and so your faith and hope are fixed on God. (1 Peter 1:3, 13, 21)
-Sovereign LORD, I put my hope in you I have trusted in you since I was young. (Psalms 71:5)
-Whenever I am anxious and worried, you comfort me and make me glad. (Psalms 94:19)
-When the true message, the Good News, first came to you, you heard about the hope it offers. So your faith and love are based on what you hope for, which is kept safe for you in heaven. You must, of course, continue faithful on a firm and sure foundation, and must not allow yourselves to be shaken from the hope you gained when you heard the gospel. It is of this gospel that I, Paul, became a servant---this gospel which has been preached to everybody in the world. God's plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God. (Colossians 1:5, 23, 27)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697122">23. Delight and Joy in God '''</div>
-Now go home and have a feast. Share your food and wine with those who don't have enough. Today is holy to our Lord, so don't be sad. The joy that the LORD gives you will make you strong. (Nehemiah 8:10)
-You will leave Babylon with joy you will be led out of the city in peace. The mountains and hills will burst into singing, and the trees will shout for joy. (Isaiah 55:12)
-But the righteous are glad and rejoice in his presence they are happy and shout for joy. (Psalms 68:3)
-But the joy that you have given me is more than they will ever have with all their grain and wine. (Psalms 4:7)
-All righteous people will rejoice because of what the LORD has done. They will find safety in him all good people will praise him. (Psalms 64:10)
-My soul will feast and be satisfied, and I will sing glad songs of praise to you. (Psalms 63:5)
-They will sing for joy, but you will cry with a broken heart. (Isaiah 65:14)
-Listen to the glad shouts of victory in the tents of God's people: The LORD's mighty power has done it! (Psalms 118:15)
-Light shines on the righteous, and gladness on the good. (Psalms 97:11)
-Then you will always trust in God and find that he is the source of your joy. (Job 22:26)
-Let those who wept as they planted their crops, gather the harvest with joy! Those who wept as they went out carrying the seed will come back singing for joy, as they bring in the harvest. (Psalms 126:5, 6)
-How happy are the people who worship you with songs, who live in the light of your kindness! Because of you they rejoice all day long, and they praise you for your goodness. (Psalms 89:15, 16)
-Your shame and disgrace are ended. You will live in your own land, And your wealth will be doubled Your joy will last forever. Jerusalem rejoices because of what the LORD has done. She is like a bride dressed for her wedding. God has clothed her with salvation and victory. (Isaiah 61:7, 10)
-He has brought us by faith into this experience of God's grace, in which we now live. And so we boast of the hope we have of sharing God's glory! (Romans 5:2)
-You will toss them in the air the wind will carry them off, and they will be scattered by the storm. Then you will be happy because I am your God you will praise me, the holy God of Israel. (Isaiah 41:16)
-We are glad because of him we trust in his holy name. (Psalms 33:21)
-Take me with you, and we'll run away be my king and take me to your room. We will be happy together, drink deep, and lose ourselves in love. No wonder all women love you! (Song of Solomon 1:4)
-That is how it is with you: now you are sad, but I will see you again, and your hearts will be filled with gladness, the kind of gladness that no one can take away from you. (John 16:22)
-You have given them great joy, Lord you have made them happy. They rejoice in what you have done, as people rejoice when they harvest grain or when they divide captured wealth. (Isaiah 9:3)
-You love him, although you have not seen him, and you believe in him, although you do not now see him. So you rejoice with a great and glorious joy which words cannot express, (1 Peter 1:8)
-Those whom you have rescued will reach Jerusalem with gladness, singing and shouting for joy. They will be happy forever, forever free from sorrow and grief. (Isaiah 51:11)
-I will still be joyful and glad, because the LORD God is my savior. (Habakkuk 3:18)
-I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:11)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697123">24. Support in Death '''</div>
-Wicked people bring about their own downfall by their evil deeds, but good people are protected by their integrity. (Proverbs 14:32)
-Notice good people, observe the righteous peaceful people have descendants, (Psalms 37:37)
-But God will rescue me he will save me from the power of death. (Psalms 49:15)
-This God is our God forever and ever he will lead us for all time to come. (Psalms 48:14)
-My mind and my body may grow weak, but God is my strength he is all I ever need. (Psalms 73:26)
-For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below---there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38, 39)
-The Sovereign LORD will destroy death forever! He will wipe away the tears from everyone's eyes and take away the disgrace his people have suffered throughout the world. The LORD himself has spoken. (Isaiah 25:8)
-For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)
-and it is for this reason that I suffer these things. But I am still full of confidence, because I know whom I have trusted, and I am sure that he is able to keep safe until that Day what he has entrusted to me. (2 Timothy 1:12)
-Even if I go through the deepest darkness, I will not be afraid, LORD, for you are with me. Your shepherd's rod and staff protect me. (Psalms 23:4)
-I will not save this people from the world of the dead or rescue them from the power of death. Bring on your plagues, death! Bring on your destruction, world of the dead! I will no longer have pity for this people. (Hosea 13:14)
-Where, Death, is your victory? Where, Death, is your power to hurt? But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Corinthians 15:55, 57)
-Since the children, as he calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus himself became like them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through his death he might destroy the Devil, who has the power over death, and in this way set free those who were slaves all their lives because of their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14, 15)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697124">Chapter 4 – Promises of Blessings in the Future World '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697125">1. Deliverance from Hell '''</div>
-But Israel is saved by the LORD, and her victory lasts forever her people will never be disgraced.'  (Isaiah 45:17)
-Wealth you get by dishonesty will do you no good, but honesty can save your life. Riches will do you no good on the day you face death, but honesty can save your life. (Proverbs 10:2, 11:4)
-Wise people walk the road that leads upward to life, not the road that leads downward to death. (Proverbs 15:24)
-How great is your constant love for me! You have saved me from the grave itself. (Psalms 86:13)
-By his blood we are now put right with God how much more, then, will we be saved by him from God's anger! (Romans 5:9)
-I am telling you the truth: whoever obeys my teaching will never die. (John 8:51)
-and to wait for his Son to come from heaven---his Son Jesus, whom he raised from death and who rescues us from God's anger that is coming. (1 Thessalonians 1:10)
-For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
-God did not choose us to suffer his anger, but to possess salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Thess 5:9)
-Happy and greatly blessed are those who are included in this first raising of the dead. The second death has no power over them they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they will rule with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697126">2. Happiness immediately after Death '''</div>
-Those who live good lives find peace and rest in death. (Isaiah 57:2)
-We are full of courage and would much prefer to leave our home in the body and be at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8)
-But Abraham said, 'Remember, my son, that in your lifetime you were given all the good things, while Lazarus got all the bad things. But now he is enjoying himself here, while you are in pain. (Luke 16:25)
-You guide me with your instruction and at the end you will receive me with honour. (Psalms 73:24)
-But God will rescue me he will save me from the power of death. (Psalms 49:15)
-Jesus said to him, I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me. (Luke 23:43)
-For what is life? To me, it is Christ. Death, then, will bring more. I am pulled in two directions. I want very much to leave this life and be with Christ, which is a far better thing (Philippians 1:21, 23)
-Instead, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem , with its thousands of angels. You have come to the joyful gathering of God's first-born, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, who is the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people made perfect. (Hebrews 12:22, 23)
-In the grave wicked people stop their evil, and tired workers find rest at last. Even prisoners enjoy peace, free from shouts and harsh commands. (Job 3:17, 18)
-Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write this: Happy are those who from now on die in the service of the Lord! Yes indeed! answers the Spirit. They will enjoy rest from their hard work, because the results of their service go with them. (Revelation 14:13)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697127">3. A Glorious Resurrection </div>
-'''
-Many of those who have already died will live again: some will enjoy eternal life, and some will suffer eternal disgrace. (Daniel 12:2)
-And so I am thankful and glad, and I feel completely secure, because you protect me from the power of death. I have served you faithfully, and you will not abandon me to the world of the dead. (Psalms 16:9, 10)
-Those of our people who have died will live again! Their bodies will come back to life. All those sleeping in their graves will wake up and sing for joy. As the sparkling dew refreshes the earth, so the LORD will revive those who have long been dead. (Isaiah 26:19)
-Do not be surprised at this the time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice and come out of their graves: those who have done good will rise and live, and those who have done evil will rise and be condemned. (John 5:28, 29)
-but the men and women who are worthy to rise from death and live in the age to come will not then marry. They will be like angels and cannot die. They are the children of God, because they have risen from death. (Luke 20:35, 36)
-Even after my skin is eaten by disease, while still in this body I will see God. I will see him with my own eyes, and he will not be a stranger. My courage failed because you said, (Job 19:26, 27)
-And it is the will of him who sent me that I should not lose any of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last day. For what my Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life. And I will raise them to life on the last day. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. (John 6:39, 40, 54)
-For we know that when this tent we live in---our body here on earth---is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last forever. And now we sigh, so great is our desire that our home which comes from heaven should be put on over us by being clothed with it we shall not be without a body. While we live in this earthly tent, we groan with a feeling of oppression it is not that we want to get rid of our earthly body, but that we want to have the heavenly one put on over us, so that what is mortal will be transformed by life. (2 Corinthians 5:1-4)
-If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his Spirit in you. (Romans 8:11)
-For just as death came by means of a man, in the same way the rising from death comes by means of a man. This is how it will be when the dead are raised to life. When the body is buried, it is mortal when raised, it will be immortal. When buried, it is ugly and weak when raised, it will be beautiful and strong. When buried, it is a physical body when raised, it will be a spiritual body. There is, of course, a physical body, so there has to be a spiritual body. Just as we wear the likeness of the man made of earth, so we will wear the likeness of the Man from heaven. Listen to this secret truth: we shall not all die, but when the last trumpet sounds, we shall all be changed in an instant, as quickly as the blinking of an eye. For when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised, never to die again, and we shall all be changed. For what is mortal must be changed into what is immortal what will die must be changed into what cannot die. So when this takes place, and the mortal has been changed into the immortal, then the scripture will come true: Death is destroyed victory is complete! (1 Corinthians 15:21, 42-44, 49, 51-54)
-Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die (John 11:25)
-We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus to life, will also raise us up with Jesus and take us, together with you, into his presence. (2 Corinthians 4:14)
-Don't you know that God's people will judge the world? Well, then, if you are to judge the world, aren't you capable of judging small matters? Do you not know that we shall judge the angels? How much more, then, the things of this life! (1 Corinthians 6:2, 3)
-He will change our weak mortal bodies and make them like his own glorious body, using that power by which he is able to bring all things under his rule. (Philippians 3:21)
-We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will take back with Jesus those who have died believing in him. W_ hat we are teaching you now is the Lord's teaching: we who are alive on the day the Lord comes will not go ahead of those who have died. There will be the shout of command, the archangel's voice, the sound of God's trumpet, and the Lord himself will come down from heaven. Those who have died believing in Christ will rise to life first then we who are living at that time will be gathered up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thess 4:14-17)
-but now it has been revealed to us through the coming of our Saviour, Christ Jesus. He has ended the power of death and through the gospel has revealed immortal life. (2 Timothy 1:10)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697128">4. Everlasting Happiness in Heaven '''</div>
-Some people keep on doing good, and seek glory, honour, and immortal life to them God will give eternal life. (Romans 2:7)
-We were God's enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Now that we are God's friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ's life! It is true that through the sin of one man death began to rule because of that one man. But how much greater is the result of what was done by the one man, Jesus Christ! All who receive God's abundant grace and are freely put right with him will rule in life through Christ. (Romans 5:10, 17)
-All of this proves that God's judgement is just and as a result you will become worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering. and he will give relief to you who suffer and to us as well. He will do this when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven with his mighty angels, when he comes on that Day to receive glory from all his people and honour from all who believe. You too will be among them, because you have believed the message that we told you. In this way the name of our Lord Jesus will receive glory from you, and you from him, by the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thess 1:5, 7, 10,12)
-As it is, however, there still remains for God's people a rest like God's resting on the seventh day. (Hebrews 4:9)
-they are doomed to die like sheep, and Death will be their shepherd. The righteous will triumph over them, as their bodies quickly decay in the world of the dead far from their homes. (Psalms 49:14)
-But we wait for what God has promised: new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness will be at home. (2 Peter 3:13)
-But a few of you there in Sardis have kept your clothes clean. You will walk with me, clothed in white, because you are worthy to do so. (Revelation 3:4)
-There are many rooms in my Father's house, and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so. And after I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am. (John 14:2, 3)
-By faith he lived as a foreigner in the country that God had promised him. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who received the same promise from God. For Abraham was waiting for the city which God has designed and built, the city with permanent foundations. Instead, it was a better country they longed for, the heavenly country. And so God is not ashamed for them to call him their God, because he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:9, 10,16)
-There shall be no more night, and they will not need lamps or sunlight, because the Lord God will be their light, and they will rule as kings forever and ever. Your days of grief will come to an end. I, the LORD, will be your eternal light, More lasting than the sun and moon. (Revelation 22:5) (Isaiah 60:20)
-because you are receiving the salvation of your souls, which is the purpose of your faith in him. So then, have your minds ready for action. Keep alert and set your hope completely on the blessing which will be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1:9, 13)
-For this reason Christ is the one who arranges a new covenant, so that those who have been called by God may receive the eternal blessings that God has promised. This can be done because there has been a death which sets people free from the wrongs they did while the first covenant was in effect. (Hebrews 9:15)
-That is why they stand before God's throne and serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will protect them with his presence. Never again will they hunger or thirst neither sun nor any scorching heat will burn them, because the Lamb, who is in the center of the throne, will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 7:15-17)
-However, as the scripture says, What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)
-My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is. (1 John 3:2)
-The heathen were filled with rage, because the time for your anger has come, the time for the dead to be judged. The time has come to reward your servants, the prophets, and all your people, all who have reverence for you, great and small alike. The time has come to destroy those who destroy the earth! (Revelation 11:18)
-I gave them the same glory you gave me, so that they may be one, just as you and I are one: Father! You have given them to me, and I want them to be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory, the glory you gave me for you loved me before the world was made. (John 17:22, 24)
-I did not see a temple in the city, because its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. The city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God shines on it, and the Lamb is its lamp. (Revelation 21:22, 23)
-Don't be afraid of anything you are about to suffer. Listen! The Devil will put you to the test by having some of you thrown into prison, and your troubles will last ten days. Be faithful to me, even if it means death, and I will give you life as your prize of victory. (Revelation 2:10)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697129">Freedom from all Sorrow '''</div>
-Nothing that is under God's curse will be found in the city. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. (Revelation 22:3)
-Your days of grief will come to an end. I, the LORD, will be your eternal light, More lasting than the sun and moon. (Isaiah 60:20)
-Instead, store up riches for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal. (Matthew 6:20)
-He will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared. (Revelation 21:4)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697130">Joy in Heaven '''</div>
-'Well done, you good and faithful servant!' said his master. 'You have been faithful in managing small amounts, so I will put you in charge of large amounts. Come on in and share my happiness!' (Matthew 25:21)
-To him who is able to keep you from falling and to bring you faultless and joyful before his glorious presence--- (Jude 1:24)
-You will show me the path that leads to life your presence fills me with joy and brings me pleasure forever. (Psalms 16:11)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697131">Glory in Heaven '''</div>
-Then God's people will shine like the sun in their Father's Kingdom. Listen, then, if you have ears! (Matthew 13:43)
-Rather be glad that you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may be full of joy when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:13)
-Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory! (Colossians 3:4)
-and so I endure everything for the sake of God's chosen people, in order that they too may obtain the salvation that comes through Christ Jesus and brings eternal glory. (2 Timothy 2:10)
-Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share his glory. I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:17, 18)
-And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever. (2 Corinthians 4:17, 18)
-The wise leaders will shine with all the brightness of the sky. And those who have taught many people to do what is right will shine like the stars forever. (Daniel 12:3)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697132">The </div>Kingdom of Heaven '''
-Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom. (Luke 12:32)
-And the Lord will rescue me from all evil and take me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen. (2 Timothy 4:18)
-Then the King will say to the people on his right, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world. (Matthew 25:34)
-In this way you will be given the full right to enter the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:11)
-and just as my Father has given me the right to rule, so I will give you the same right. You will eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and you will sit on thrones to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel . (Luke 22:29, 30)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697133">The Heavenly Inheritance '''</div>
-I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people, (Ephesians 1:18)
-Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because of his great mercy he gave us new life by raising Jesus Christ from death. This fills us with a living hope, and so we look forward to possessing the rich blessings that God keeps for his people. He keeps them for you in heaven, where they cannot decay or spoil or fade away. (1 Peter 1:3, 4)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697134">Enjoyment of God '''</div>
-then we who are living at that time will be gathered up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
-You are the source of all life, and because of your light we see the light. (Psalms 36:9)
-But I will see you, because I have done no wrong and when I awake, your presence will fill me with joy. (Psalms 17:15)
-Nothing that is under God's curse will be found in the city. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3, 4)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697135">Eternal Life '''</div>
-These, then, will be sent off to eternal punishment, but the righteous will go to eternal life. (Matthew 25:46)
-And this is what Christ himself promised to give us---eternal life. (1 John 2:25)
-I am telling you the truth: he who believes has eternal life. (John 6:47) See verses 51, 54.
-For sin pays its wage---death but God's free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
-If you plant in the field of your natural desires, from it you will gather the harvest of death if you plant in the field of the Spirit, from the Spirit you will gather the harvest of eternal life. (Galatians 6:8)
-They will be like angels and cannot die. They are the children of God, because they have risen from death. (Luke 20:36)
-which is based on the hope for eternal life. God, who does not lie, promised us this life before the beginning of time, (Titus 1:2)
-My sheep listen to my voice I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from me. (John 10:27, 28)
-Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die and those who live and believe in me will never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25, 26)
-Some people keep on doing good, and seek glory, honour, and immortal life to them God will give eternal life. (Romans 2:7)
-The testimony is this: God has given us eternal life, and this life has its source in his Son. I am writing this to you so that you may know that you have eternal life---you that believe in the Son of God. (1 John 5:11, 13)
-For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697136">Part Two – Promises for the Exercise of Duties and Glories '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697137">Chapter 1 – In Fulfilment of Duty toward God '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697138">1. To Faith in Christ </div>
-'''
-This, now, is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am placing in Zion a foundation that is firm and strong. In it I am putting a solid cornerstone on which are written the words, 'Faith that is firm is also patient.' (Isaiah 28:16)
-For the scripture says, I chose a valuable stone, which I am placing as the cornerstone in Zion  and whoever believes in him will never be disappointed. (1 Peter 2:6)
-I have come into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. (John 12:46)
-For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. Those who believe in the Son are not judged but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God's only Son. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life whoever disobeys the Son will not have life, but will remain under God's punishment. I am telling you the truth: he who believes has eternal life. (John 3:16, 18, 36 6:47)
-For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it. (Ephesians 2:8)
-But Jesus said to the woman, Your faith has saved you go in peace. (Luke 7:50)
-Turn to me now and be saved, people all over the world! I am the only God there is. (Isaiah 45:22)
-Yes, said Jesus, if you yourself can! Everything is possible for the person who has faith. (Mark 9:23)
-For Christ has brought the Law to an end, so that everyone who believes is put right with God. (Romans 10:4)
-They answered, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved---you and your family. (Acts 16:31)
-Look, I place in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall. But whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. (Romans 9:33)
-But those who depend on faith, not on deeds, and who believe in the God who declares the guilty to be innocent, it is this faith that God takes into account in order to put them right with himself. (Romans 4:5)
-All the prophets spoke about him, saying that all who believe in him will have their sins forgiven through the power of his name. (Acts 10:43)
-Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
-My righteous people, however, will believe and live but if any of them turns back, I will not be pleased with them. We are not people who turn back and are lost. Instead, we have faith and are saved. (Hebrews 10:38, 39)
-I am the bread of life, Jesus told them. Those who come to me will never be hungry those who believe in me will never be thirsty. Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me, (John 6:35, 37)
-Abraham believed and was blessed so all who believe are blessed as he was. You should realize, then, that the real descendants of Abraham are the people who have faith. But the scripture says that the whole world is under the power of sin and so the gift which is promised on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ is given to those who believe. (Galatians 3:9, 7, 22)
-Come to the Lord, the living stone rejected by people as worthless but chosen by God as valuable. Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple, where you will serve as holy priests to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4, 5) See Justification, part 1, chap. 3, sect. 2.
-Jesus said to him, Do you believe because you see me? How happy are those who believe without seeing me! (John 20:29)
-We struggle and work hard, because we have placed our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all and especially of those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:10)
-We do not want you to become lazy, but to be like those who believe and are patient, and so receive what God has promised. (Hebrews 6:12)
-Some, however, did receive him and believed in him so he gave them the right to become God's children. (John 1:12)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697139">Confessing Christ '''</div>
-If we declare that Jesus is the Son of God, we live in union with God and God lives in union with us. (1 John 4:15)
-Those who declare publicly that they belong to me, I will do the same for them before my Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:32)
-If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God it is by our confession that we are saved. (Romans 10:9, 10)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697140">2. Repentance '''</div>
-Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the destruction that I intend to bring on them, they will turn from their evil ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins. (Jeremiah 36:3)
-but now I say to you, 'Return to me, and I will return to you. You, like your ancestors before you, have turned away from my laws and have not kept them. Turn back to me, and I will turn to you. But you ask, 'What must we do to turn back to you?' (Zechariah 1:3) (Malachi 3:7)
-If you return to the LORD, then those who have taken your relatives away as prisoners will take pity on them and let them come back home. The LORD your God is kind and merciful, and if you return to him, he will accept you. (2 Chronicles 30:9)
-Jerusalem , wash the evil from your heart, so that you may be saved. How long will you go on thinking sinful thoughts? (Jeremiah 4:14)
-if they pray to me and repent and turn away from the evil they have been doing, then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous again. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
-Perhaps the people will listen and give up their evil ways. If they do, then I will change my mind about the destruction I plan to bring on them for all their wicked deeds. You must change the way you are living and the things you are doing, and must obey the LORD your God. If you do, he will change his mind about the destruction that he said he would bring on you. (Jeremiah 26:3, 13)
-but then that nation turns from its evil, I will not do what I said I would. (Jeremiah 18:8)
-Let the wicked leave their way of life and change their way of thinking. Let them turn to the LORD, our God he is merciful and quick to forgive. (Isaiah 55:7)
-If someone evil stops sinning and keeps my laws, if he does what is right and good, he will not die he will certainly live. All his sins will be forgiven, and he will live, because he did what is right. Do you think I enjoy seeing evil people die? asks the Sovereign LORD. No, I would rather see them repent and live. Now I, the Sovereign LORD, am telling you Israelites that I will judge each of you by what you have done. Turn away from all the evil you are doing, and don't let your sin destroy you. Give up all the evil you have been doing, and get yourselves new minds and hearts. Why do you Israelites want to die? I do not want anyone to die, says the Sovereign LORD. Turn away from your sins and live. (Ezekiel 18:21-23, 30-32)
-Turn away from evil and do good, and your descendants will always live in the land (Psalms 37:27)
-Listen when I reprimand you I will give you good advice and share my knowledge with you. (Proverbs 1:23)
-But even now, says the LORD, repent sincerely and return to me with fasting and weeping and mourning. Let your broken heart show your sorrow tearing your clothes is not enough. Come back to the LORD your God. He is kind and full of mercy he is patient and keeps his promise he is always ready to forgive and not punish. Perhaps the LORD your God will change his mind and bless you with abundant crops. Then you can offer him grain and wine. (Joel 2:12-14)
-I may warn someone evil that he is going to die, but if he stops sinning and does what is right and good---for example, if he returns the security he took for a loan or gives back what he stole---if he stops sinning and follows the laws that give life, he will not die, but live. I will forgive the sins he has committed, and he will live because he has done what is right and good. When someone evil quits sinning and does what is right and good, he has saved his life. (Ezekiel 33:14-16, 19)
-Yes, you must humbly return to God and put an end to all the evil that is done in your house. (Job 22:23)
-for anything that is clearly revealed becomes light. That is why it is said, Wake up, sleeper, and rise from death, and Christ will shine on you. (Ephesians 5:14)
-Peter said to them, Each one of you must turn away from your sins and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven and you will receive God's gift, the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)
-Repent, then, and turn to God, so that he will forgive your sins. If you do, (Acts 3:19)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697141">To them that mourn for the wickedness of the land '''</div>
-Go through the whole city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the forehead of everyone who is distressed and troubled because of all the disgusting things being done in the city. Kill the old men, young men, young women, mothers, and children. But don't touch anyone who has the mark on his forehead. Start here at my Temple . So they began with the leaders who were standing there at the Temple . (Ezekiel 9:4, 6)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697142">Repenting In Affliction '''</div>
-The people say, Let's return to the LORD! He has hurt us, but he will be sure to heal us he has wounded us, but he will bandage our wounds, won't he? (Hosea 6:1)
-Each one will say in public, I have sinned. I have not done right, but God spared me. He kept me from going to the world of the dead, and I am still alive. (Job 33:27, 28)
-When you are in trouble and all those things happen to you, then you will finally turn to the LORD and obey him. He is a merciful God. He will not abandon you or destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant that he himself made with your ancestors. (Deuteronomy 4:30, 31)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697143">Confession of Sin '''</div>
-You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up then God will show mercy to you. (Proverbs 28:13)
-Then I confessed my sins to you I did not conceal my wrongdoings. I decided to confess them to you, and you forgave all my sins. You are my hiding place you will save me from trouble. I sing aloud of your salvation, because you protect me. (Psalms 32:5, 7)
-But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing. (1 John 1:9)
-Father,' the son said, 'I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.' But the father called to his servants. 'Hurry!' he said. 'Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. (Luke 15:21, 22)
-But your descendants will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors, who resisted me and rebelled against me, and caused me to turn against them and send them into exile in the land of their enemies. At last, when your descendants are humbled and they have paid the penalty for their sin and rebellion, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and with Isaac and with Abraham, and I will renew my promise to give my people the land. (Leviticus 26:40-42)
-He told me to go and say to Israel , Unfaithful Israel, come back to me. I am merciful and will not be angry I will not be angry with you forever. Only admit that you are guilty and that you have rebelled against the LORD, your God. Confess that under every green tree you have given your love to foreign gods and that you have not obeyed my commands. I, the LORD, have spoken. (Jeremiah 3:12-13)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697144">3. Obedience </div>
-'''
-Happy are those who obey his commands, who always do what is right. (Psalms 106:3)
-So then, whoever disobeys even the least important of the commandments and teaches others to do the same, will be least in the Kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, whoever obeys the Law and teaches others to do the same, will be great in the Kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19)
-Then Moses said to the people, Obey all the laws that I am teaching you, and you will live and occupy the land which the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Obey them faithfully, and this will show the people of other nations how wise you are. When they hear of all these laws, they will say, 'What wisdom and understanding this great nation has!' (Deuteronomy 4:1, 6)
-Obey faithfully all the terms of this covenant, so that you will be successful in everything you do. (Deuteronomy 29:9)
-a blessing, if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today (Deuteronomy 11:27)
-If only they would always feel this way! If only they would always honor me and obey all my commands, so that everything would go well with them and their descendants forever. (Deuteronomy 5:29)
-If you listen to these commands and obey them faithfully, then the LORD your God will continue to keep his covenant with you and will show you his constant love, as he promised your ancestors. (Deuteronomy 7:12)
-Listen to them, people of Israel , and obey them! Then all will go well with you, and you will become a mighty nation and live in that rich and fertile land, just as the LORD, the God of our ancestors, has promised. Do what the LORD says is right and good, and all will go well with you. You will be able to take possession of the fertile land that the LORD promised your ancestors, and you will drive out your enemies, as he promised. (Deuteronomy 6:3, 18, 19)
-Obey all the LORD's laws and commands, so that you may live in safety in the land. The land will produce its crops, and you will have all you want to eat and will live in safety. (Leviticus 25:18, 19)
-All will go well with you if you honour the LORD your God, serve him, listen to him, and obey his commands, and if you and your king follow him. (1 Samuel 12:14)
-he said, Be sure to obey all these commands that I have given you today. Repeat them to your children, so that they may faithfully obey all of God's teachings. These teachings are not empty words they are your very life. Obey them and you will live long in that land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy. (Deuteronomy 32:46, 47)
-Do not keep for yourselves anything that was condemned to destruction, and then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and show you mercy. He will be merciful to you and make you a numerous people, as he promised your ancestors, if you obey all his commands that I have given you today, and do what he requires. (Deuteronomy 13:17, 18)
-But you must be strong and not be discouraged. The work that you do will be rewarded. (2 Chronicles 15:7)
-With faithfulness and love he leads all who keep his covenant and obey his commands. (Psalms 25:10)
-If they obey God and serve him, they live out their lives in peace and prosperity. (Job 36:11)
-Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people, (Exodus 19:5)
-Happy are those whose lives are faultless, who live according to the law of the LORD. Happy are those who follow his commands, who obey him with all their heart. If I pay attention to all your commands, then I will not be put to shame. (Psalms 119:1, 2, 6)
-And may the LORD your God give you insight and wisdom so that you may govern Israel according to his Law. If you obey all the laws which the LORD gave to Moses for Israel , you will be successful. Be determined and confident, and don't let anything make you afraid. (1 Chronicles 22:12, 13)
-Keep God's laws and you will live longer if you ignore them, you will die. (Proverbs 19:16)
-If only you had listened to my commands! Then blessings would have flowed for you like a stream that never goes dry. Victory would have come to you like the waves that roll on the shore. (Isaiah 48:18)
-Happy are those who wash their robes clean and so have the right to eat the fruit from the tree of life and to go through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:14)
-But I did command them to obey me, so that I would be their God and they would be my people. And I told them to live the way I had commanded them, so that things would go well for them. (Jeremiah 7:23)
-and do what the LORD your God orders you to do. Obey all his laws and commands, as written in the Law of Moses, so that wherever you go you may prosper in everything you do. (1 Kings 2:3)
-Today I am giving you a choice between good and evil, between life and death. If you obey the commands of the LORD your God, which I give you today, if you love him, obey him, and keep all his laws, then you will prosper and become a nation of many people. The LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are about to occupy. (Deuteronomy 30:15, 16)
-The world and everything in it that people desire is passing away but those who do the will of God live forever. (1 John 2:17)
-Now that you know this truth, how happy you will be if you put it into practice! (John 13:17)
-Giving thanks is the sacrifice that honours me, and I will surely save all who obey me. (Psalms 50:23)
-Whoever is willing to do what God wants will know whether what I teach comes from God or whether I speak on my own authority. (John 7:17)
-Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants is my brother, my sister, and my mother. (Matthew 12:50)
-We receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. (1 John 3:22)
-Not everyone who calls me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do. (Matthew 7:21)
-But if you look closely into the perfect law that sets people free, and keep on paying attention to it and do not simply listen and then forget it, but put it into practice---you will be blessed by God in what you do. (James 1:25)
-A nation without God's guidance is a nation without order. Happy are those who keep God's law! (Proverbs 29:18)
-For it is not by hearing the Law that people are put right with God, but by doing what the Law commands. (Romans 2:13)
-If you will only obey me, you will eat the good things the land produces. (Isaiah 1:19)
-Put into practice what you learned and received from me, both from my words and from my actions. And the God who gives us peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:9)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697145">Obeying Christ '''</div>
-If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. (John 15:10)
-When he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him, (Hebrews 5:9)
-But if you obey him and do everything I command, I will fight against all your enemies. (Exodus 23:22)
-All of you that honour the LORD and obey the words of his servant, the path you walk may be dark indeed, but trust in the LORD, rely on your God. (Isaiah 50:10)
-I am telling you the truth: whoever obeys my teaching will never die. (John 8:51)
-I am telling you the truth: those who hear my words and believe in him who sent me have eternal life. They will not be judged, but have already passed from death to life. (John 5:24)
-So then, anyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, and the wind blew hard against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on rock. (Matthew 7:24, 25)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697146">4. To Sincerity and Uprightness '''</div>
-O LORD, you are faithful to those who are faithful to you completely good to those who are perfect. (Psalms 18:25)
-I know that you test everyone's heart and are pleased with people of integrity. In honesty and sincerity I have willingly given all this to you, and I have seen how your people who are gathered here have been happy to bring offerings to you. (1 Chronicles 29:17)
-The LORD is righteous and loves good deeds those who do them will live in his presence. (Psalms 11:7)
-The LORD keeps close watch over the whole world, to give strength to those whose hearts are loyal to him. You have acted foolishly, and so from now on you will always be at war. (2 Chronicles 16:9)
-The LORD protects honest people, but destroys those who do wrong. (Proverbs 10:29)
-Righteousness protects the innocent wickedness is the downfall of sinners. (Proverbs 13:6)
-May I perfectly obey your commandments and be spared the shame of defeat. (Psalms 119:80)
-LORD, do good to those who are good, to those who obey your commands. (Psalms 125:4)
-The LORD takes care of those who obey him, and the land will be theirs forever. (Psalms 37:18)
-LORD, who may enter your Temple ? Who may worship on Zion , your sacred hill? Those who obey God in everything and always do what is right, whose words are true and sincere, (Psalms 15:1, 2)
-If you are good, you are guided by honesty. People who can't be trusted are destroyed by their own dishonesty. Righteousness rescues those who are honest, but those who can't be trusted are trapped by their own greed. The LORD hates evil-minded people, but loves those who do right. (Proverbs 11:3, 6, 20)
-He provides help and protection for those who are righteous and honest. Righteous people---people of integrity---will live in this land of ours. (Proverbs 2:7, 21)
-The LORD is pleased when good people pray, but hates the sacrifices that the wicked bring him. (Proverbs 15:8)
-The LORD hates liars, but is pleased with those who keep their word. (Proverbs 12:22)
-Do you think the people of Israel are under a curse? Has the LORD lost his patience? Would he really do such things? Doesn't he speak kindly to those who do right? (Micah 2:7)
-And so, my dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have courage in God's presence. (1 John 3:21)
-Keep what you believe about this matter, then, between yourself and God. Happy are those who do not feel guilty when they do something they judge is right! (Romans 14:22)
-The wicked bring on themselves the suffering they try to cause good people. (Proverbs 21:18)
-if you are so honest and pure, then God will come and help you and restore your household as your reward. (Job 8:6)
-If you trick an honest person into doing evil, you will fall into your own trap. The innocent will be well rewarded. Be honest and you will be safe. If you are dishonest, you will suddenly fall. Honest people will lead a full, happy life. But if you are in a hurry to get rich, you are going to be punished. (Proverbs 28:10, 18, 20)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697147">5. To the Love of God </div>
-'''
-LORD God of Heaven! You are great, and we stand in fear of you. You faithfully keep your covenant with those who love you and do what you command. (Nehemiah 1:5)
-We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
-God says, I will save those who love me and will protect those who acknowledge me as LORD. (Psalms 91:14)
-Seek your happiness in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desire. (Psalms 37:4)
-But I show my love to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my laws. (Exodus 20:6)
-Remember that the LORD your God is the only God and that he is faithful. He will keep his covenant and show his constant love to a thousand generations of those who love him and obey his commands, (Deuteronomy 7:9)
-So then, obey the commands that I have given you today love the LORD your God and serve him with all your heart. If you do, he will send rain on your land when it is needed, in the autumn and in the spring, so that there will be grain, wine, and olive oil for you, (Deuteronomy 11:13, 14)
-He protects everyone who loves him, but he will destroy the wicked. (Psalms 145:20)
-But the person who loves God is known by him. (1 Corinthians 8:3)
-So may all your enemies die like that, O LORD, but may your friends shine like the rising sun! And there was peace in the land for forty years. (Judges 5:31)
-Listen, my dear friends! God chose the poor people of this world to be rich in faith and to possess the kingdom which he promised to those who love him. (James 2:5)
-However, as the scripture says, What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)
-I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed the sins of my people. I said, Lord God, you are great, and we honor you. You are faithful to your covenant and show constant love to those who love you and do what you command. (Daniel 9:4)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697148">To the Love of Christ </div>
-'''
-Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. My Father will love those who love me I too will love them and reveal myself to them. (John 14:21)
-And now there is waiting for me the victory prize of being put right with God, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day---and not only to me, but to all those who wait with love for him to appear. (2 Timothy 4:8)
-May God's grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with undying love. (Ephesians 6:24)
-Happy are those who remain faithful under trials, because when they succeed in passing such a test, they will receive as their reward the life which God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12)
-I love those who love me whoever looks for me can find me. giving wealth to those who love me, filling their houses with treasures. (Proverbs 8:17, 21)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697149">6. To Trusting and Patiently waiting on God '''</div>
-This God---how perfect are his deeds! How dependable his words! He is like a shield for all who seek his protection. (Psalms 18:30)
-and bow down to him or else his anger will be quickly aroused, and you will suddenly die. Happy are all who go to him for protection. (Psalms 2:12)
-Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion , which can never be shaken, never be moved. (Psalms 125:1)
-Trust in the LORD. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the LORD. (Psalms 27:14)
-How wonderful are the good things you keep for those who honor you! Everyone knows how good you are, how securely you protect those who trust you. Be strong, be courageous, all you that hope in the LORD. (Psalms 31:19, 24)
-Declare me innocent, O LORD, because I do what is right and trust you completely. (Psalms 26:1)
-Find out for yourself how good the LORD is. Happy are those who find safety with him. LORD Almighty, how happy are those who trust in you! (Psalms 34:8) (Psalms 84:12)
-Happy are those who trust the LORD, who do not turn to idols or join those who worship false gods. (Psalms 40:4)
-I trust in God and am not afraid I praise him for what he has promised. What can a mere human being do to me? (Psalms 56:4)
-When it happens, everyone will say, He is our God! We have put our trust in him, and he has rescued us. He is the LORD! We have put our trust in him, and now we are happy and joyful because he has saved us. (Isaiah 25:9)
-He is not afraid of receiving bad news his faith is strong, and he trusts in the LORD. He is not worried or afraid he is certain to see his enemies defeated. (Psalms 112:7, 8)
-Trust in the LORD and do good live in the land and be safe. Those who trust in the LORD will possess the land, but the wicked will be driven out. He helps them and rescues them he saves them from the wicked, because they go to him for protection. (Psalms 37:3, 9, 40)
-And yet the LORD is waiting to be merciful to you. He is ready to take pity on you because he always does what is right. Happy are those who put their trust in the LORD. (Isaiah 30:18)
-Kings will be like fathers to you queens will be like mothers. They will bow low before you and honor you they will humbly show their respect for you. Then you will know that I am the LORD no one who waits for my help will be disappointed. (Isaiah 49:23)
-Selfishness only causes trouble. You are much better off to trust the LORD. (Proverbs 28:25)
-Happy are those who have the God of Jacob to help them and who depend on the LORD their God, (Psalms 146:5)
-Ask the LORD to bless your plans, and you will be successful in carrying them out. Pay attention to what you are taught, and you will be successful trust in the LORD and you will be happy. (Proverbs 16:3, 20)
-You, LORD, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you. Trust in the LORD forever he will always protect us. (Isaiah 26:3, 4)
-But I will bless the person who puts his trust in me. He is like a tree growing near a stream and sending out roots to the water. It is not afraid when hot weather comes, because its leaves stay green it has no worries when there is no rain it keeps on bearing fruit. (Jeremiah 17:7, 8)
-For it was by hope that we were saved but if we see what we hope for, then it is not really hope. For who of us hopes for something we see? (Romans 8:24)
-The LORD is good he protects his people in times of trouble he takes care of those who turn to him. (Nahum 1:7)
-It is dangerous to be concerned with what others think of you, but if you trust the LORD, you are safe. (Proverbs 29:25)
-Leave all your worries with him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)
-But I will watch for the LORD I will wait confidently for God, who will save me. My God will hear me. (Micah 7:7)
-When you cry for help, let those idols of yours save you! A puff of wind will carry them off ! But those who trust in me will live in the land and will worship me in my Temple . (Isaiah 57:13)
-The LORD will save his people those who go to him for protection will be spared. (Psalms 34:22)
-The LORD is good to everyone who trusts in him, So it is best for us to wait in patience---to wait for him to save us--- (Lamentations 3:25, 26)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697150">7. To the Fear of God '''</div>
-Surely he is ready to save those who honour him, and his saving presence will remain in our land. (Psalms 85:9)
-He will bless everyone who honours him, the great and the small alike. (Psalms 115:13)
-Be loyal and faithful, and God will forgive your sin. Obey the LORD and nothing evil will happen to you. (Proverbs 16:6)
-A sinner may commit a hundred crimes and still live. Oh yes, I know what they say: If you obey God, everything will be all right, (Ecclesiastes 8:12)
-Happy are those who obey the LORD, who live by his commands. (Psalms 128:1)
-How wonderful are the good things you keep for those who honour you! Everyone knows how good you are, how securely you protect those who trust you. (Psalms 31:19)
-The LORD is the friend of those who obey him and he affirms his covenant with them. (Psalms 25:14)
-As high as the sky is above the earth, so great is his love for those who honour him. (Psalms 103:11)
-Never let yourself think that you are wiser than you are simply obey the LORD and refuse to do wrong. If you do, it will be like good medicine, healing your wounds and easing your pains. (Proverbs 3:7, 8)
-Reverence for the LORD gives confidence and security to a man and his family. Do you want to avoid death? Reverence for the LORD is a fountain of life. (Proverbs 14:26, 27)
-but he takes pleasure in those who honour him, in those who trust in his constant love. (Psalms 147:11)
-from one generation to another he shows mercy to those who honour him. (Luke 1:50)
-My fellow Israelites, descendants of Abraham, and all Gentiles here who worship God: it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent! (Acts 13:26)
-Those who fear him and do what is right are acceptable to him, no matter what race they belong to. (Acts 10:35)
-But for you who obey me, my saving power will rise on you like the sun and bring healing like the sun's rays. You will be as free and happy as calves let out of a stall. (Malachi 4:2)
-Obey the LORD and you will live a long life, content and safe from harm. (Proverbs 19:23)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697151">Honoring God '''</div>
-I, the LORD God of Israel , promised in the past that your family and your clan would serve me as priests for all time. But now I say that I won't have it any longer! Instead, I will honour those who honour me, and I will treat with contempt those who despise me. (1 Samuel 2:30)
-Honour the LORD by making him an offering from the best of all that your land produces. (Proverbs 3:9)
-If you do, your barns will be filled with grain, and you will have too much wine to store it all. (Proverbs 3:10)
-'''
-    <div id="_Toc118697152">8. To Prayer </div>
-'''
-He is near to those who call to him, who call to him with sincerity. (Psalms 145:18)
-I call to the LORD, and he saves me from my enemies. Praise the LORD! (Psalms 18:3)
-when they pray, God will answer they will worship God with joy God will set things right for them again. (Job 33:26)
-You will listen, O LORD, to the prayers of the lowly you will give them courage. (Psalms 10:17)
-After I have driven out the nations before you and extended your territory, no one will try to conquer your country during the three festivals. (Exodus 34:24)
-No other nation, no matter how great, has a god who is so near when they need him as the LORD our God is to us. He answers us whenever we call for help. (Deuteronomy 4:7)
-You are good to us and forgiving, full of constant love for all who pray to you.I call to you in times of trouble, because you answer my prayers. (Psalms 86:5, 7)
-But as for me, how wonderful to be near God, to find protection with the Sovereign LORD and to proclaim all that he has done! (Psalms 73:28)
-Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you hypocrites! (James 4:8)
-But all who ask the LORD for help will be saved. As the LORD has said, 'Some in Jerusalem will escape those whom I choose will survive.'  (Joel 2:32)
-he listens to my cry for help and will answer my prayer. (Psalms 6:9)
-Call to me, and I will answer you I will tell you wonderful and marvelous things that you know nothing about. (Jeremiah 33:3)
-The Sovereign LORD says, I will once again let the Israelites ask me for help, and I will let them increase in numbers like a flock of sheep. (Ezekiel 36:37)
-Let us, then, hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we have a great High Priest who has gone into the very presence of God---Jesus, the Son of God. Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin. Let us have confidence, then, and approach God's throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it. (Hebrews 4:14-16) See Promises of Hearing Prayer, part 1, chap. 3, sect. 6.
-Morning, noon, and night my complaints and groans go up to him, and he will hear my voice. (Psalms 55:17)
-Now, Job, make peace with God and stop treating him like an enemy if you do, then he will bless you. (Job 22:21)
-This includes everyone, because there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles God is the same Lord of all and richly blesses all who call to him. As the scripture says, Everyone who calls out to the Lord for help will be saved. (Romans 10:12, 13)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697153">Seeking God </div>
-'''
-And to Solomon he said, My son, I charge you to acknowledge your father's God and to serve him with an undivided heart and a willing mind. He knows all our thoughts and desires. If you go to him, he will accept you but if you turn away from him, he will abandon you forever. (1 Chronicles 28:9)
-You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)
-There you will look for the LORD your God, and if you search for him with all your heart, you will find him. (Deuteronomy 4:29)
-But turn now and plead with Almighty God if you are so honest and pure, then God will come and help you and restore your household as your reward. (Job 8:5, 6)
-The LORD says to the people of Israel , Come to me, and you will live. (Amos 5:4)
-When the oppressed see this, they will be glad those who worship God will be encouraged. (Psalms 69:32)
-Those who know you, LORD, will trust you you do not abandon anyone who comes to you. (Psalms 9:10)
-I have not spoken in secret or kept my purpose hidden. I did not require the people of Israel to look for me in a desolate waste. I am the LORD, and I speak the truth I make known what is right. (Isaiah 45:19)
-I would have been ashamed to ask the emperor for a troop of cavalry to guard us from any enemies during our journey, because I had told him that our God blesses everyone who trusts him, but that he is displeased with and punishes anyone who turns away from him. (Ezra 8:22)
-I said, 'Plow new ground for yourselves, plant righteousness, and reap the blessings that your devotion to me will produce. It is time for you to turn to me, your LORD, and I will come and pour out blessings upon you.' (Hosea 10:12)
-The LORD is good to everyone who trusts in him, (Lamentations 3:25)
-He did this so that they would look for him, and perhaps find him as they felt around for him. Yet God is actually not far from any one of us (Acts 17:27)
-and he went to meet King Asa. He called out, Listen to me, King Asa, and all you people of Judah and Benjamin! The LORD is with you as long as you are with him. If you look for him, he will let you find him, but if you turn away, he will abandon you. (2 Chronicles 15:2)
-No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697154">Secret Prayer </div>
-'''
-But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you. (Matthew 6:6)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697155">Praising God </div>
-'''
-Praise the LORD, because he is good sing praises to his name, because he is kind. (Psalms 135:3)
-I will praise God with a song I will proclaim his greatness by giving him thanks. This will please the LORD more than offering him cattle, more than sacrificing a full-grown bull. (Psalms 69:30, 31)
-How good it is to give thanks to you, O LORD, to sing in your honour, O Most High God, to proclaim your constant love every morning and your faithfulness every night, (Psalms 92:1, 2)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697156">Desires of Grace </div>
-'''
-I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt . Open your mouth, and I will feed you. (Psalms 81:10)
-And he said, It is done! I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end. To anyone who is thirsty I will give the right to drink from the spring of the water of life without paying for it. (Revelation 21:6)
-Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires God will satisfy them fully! (Matthew 5:6)
-The Spirit and the Bride say, Come! Everyone who hears this must also say, Come! Come, whoever is thirsty accept the water of life as a gift, whoever wants it. (Revelation 22:17)
-The LORD says, Come, everyone who is thirsty--- here is water! Come, you that have no money--- buy grain and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk--- it will cost you nothing! (Isaiah 55:1)
-On the last and most important day of the festival Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, Whoever is thirsty should come to me, and whoever believes in me should drink. As the scripture says, 'Streams of life-giving water will pour out from his side.'  (John 7:37, 38)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697157">9. To Wisdom </div>
-'''
-'''<div id="_Toc118697158">To the Wise '''</div>
-Those who find me find life, and the LORD will be pleased with them. (Proverbs 8:35)
-These proverbs can even add to the knowledge of the wise and give guidance to the educated, so that they can understand the hidden meanings of proverbs and the problems that the wise raise. (Proverbs 1:5, 6)
-Intelligence wins respect, but those who can't be trusted are on the road to ruin. (Proverbs 13:15)
-You are the one who will profit if you have wisdom, and if you reject it, you are the one who will suffer. (Proverbs 9:12)
-People who listen when they are corrected will live, but those who will not admit that they are wrong are in danger. (Proverbs 10:17)
-Do not abandon wisdom, and she will protect you love her, and she will keep you safe. Love wisdom, and she will make you great. Embrace her, and she will bring you honour. She will be your crowning glory. (Proverbs 4:6, 8, 9)
-Happy is anyone who becomes wise---who comes to have understanding. There is more profit in it than there is in silver it is worth more to you than gold. Wisdom is more valuable than jewels nothing you could want can compare with it. Wisdom offers you long life, as well as wealth and honour. Wisdom can make your life pleasant and lead you safely through it. Those who become wise are happy wisdom will give them life. Wise people will gain an honourable reputation, but stupid people will only add to their own disgrace. (Proverbs 3:13-18, 35)
-Those who bring trouble on their families will have nothing at the end. Foolish people will always be servants to the wise. (Proverbs 11:29)
-Wise people live in wealth and luxury, but stupid people spend their money as fast as they get it. (Proverbs 21:20)
-Do yourself a favor and learn all you can then remember what you learn and you will prosper. (Proverbs 19:8)
-Pay attention to what you are taught, and you will be successful trust in the LORD and you will be happy. Wisdom is a fountain of life to the wise, but trying to educate stupid people is a waste of time. (Proverbs 16:20, 22)
-and will give you as much security as money can. Wisdom keeps you safe---this is the advantage of knowledge. (Ecclesiastes 7:12)
-Homes are built on the foundation of wisdom and understanding. Where there is knowledge, the rooms are furnished with valuable, beautiful things. Being wise is better than being strong yes, knowledge is more important than strength. My child, eat honey it is good. And just as honey from the comb is sweet on your tongue, you may be sure that wisdom is good for the soul. Get wisdom and you have a bright future. (Proverbs 24:3-5, 13, 14)
-If your ax is dull and you don't sharpen it, you have to work harder to use it. It is smarter to plan ahead. (Ecclesiastes 10:10)
-It is foolish to follow your own opinions. Be safe, and follow the teachings of wiser people. (Proverbs 28:26)
-If you are intelligent, you will be praised if you are stupid, people will look down on you. (Proverbs 12:8)
-Wise people walk the road that leads upward to life, not the road that leads downward to death. (Proverbs 15:24)
-Only the wise know what things really mean. Wisdom makes them smile and makes their frowns disappear. (Ecclesiastes 8:1)
-He controls the times and the seasons he makes and unmakes kings it is he who gives wisdom and understanding. (Daniel 2:21)
-May those who are wise understand what is written here, and may they take it to heart. The LORD's ways are right, and righteous people live by following them, but sinners stumble and fall because they ignore them. (Hosea 14:9)
-The wise leaders will shine with all the brightness of the sky. And those who have taught many people to do what is right will shine like the stars forever. Many people will be purified. Those who are wicked will not understand but will go on being wicked only those who are wise will understand. (Daniel 12:3, 10)
-May those who are wise think about these things may they consider the LORD's constant love. (Psalms 107:43)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697159">Love and Study of Wisdom </div>
-'''
-Let us try to know the LORD. He will come to us as surely as the day dawns, as surely as the spring rains fall upon the earth. (Hosea 6:3)
-I love those who love me whoever looks for me can find me. (Proverbs 8:17)
-Always remember what you have learned. Your education is your life---guard it well. (Proverbs 4:13)
-If you listen to advice and are willing to learn, one day you will be wise. (Proverbs 19:20)
-Yes, beg for knowledge plead for insight. Look for it as hard as you would for silver or some hidden treasure. If you do, you will know what it means to fear the LORD and you will succeed in learning about God. (Proverbs 2:3-5)
-God replied to Solomon, You have made the right choice. Instead of asking for wealth or treasure or fame or the death of your enemies or even for long life for yourself, you have asked for wisdom and knowledge so that you can rule my people, over whom I have made you king. I will give you wisdom and knowledge. And in addition, I will give you more wealth, treasure, and fame than any king has ever had before or will ever have again. (2 Chronicles 1:12)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697160">Knowledge of God and Christ </div>
-'''
-God says, I will save those who love me and will protect those who acknowledge me as LORD. (Psalms 91:14)
-And eternal life means to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom you sent. (John 17:3)
-May grace and peace be yours in full measure through your knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. God's divine power has given us everything we need to live a truly religious life through our knowledge of the one who called us to share in his own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:2, 3)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697161">Learning of Christ '''</div>
-Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit and you will find rest. (Matthew 11:29)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697162">10. Ta a Due Regard to the Word of God </div>
-'''
-'''<div id="_Toc118697163">To Hearing and reading the Word '''</div>
-Those who listen to me will be happy--- those who stay at my door every day, waiting at the entrance to my home. (Proverbs 8:34)
-and their people will say, Let us go up the hill of the LORD, to the Temple of Israel 's God. He will teach us what he wants us to do we will walk in the paths he has chosen. For the LORD's teaching comes from Jerusalem  from Zion he speaks to his people. (Isaiah 2:3)
-For God in his wisdom made it impossible for people to know him by means of their own wisdom. Instead, by means of the so-called foolish message we preach, God decided to save those who believe. (1 Corinthians 1:21)
-You study the Scriptures, because you think that in them you will find eternal life. And these very Scriptures speak about me! (John 5:39)
-He also said to them, Pay attention to what you hear! The same rules you use to judge others will be used by God to judge you---but with even greater severity. Those who have something will be given more, and those who have nothing will have taken away from them even the little they have. (Mark 4:24, 25)
-Why spend money on what does not satisfy? Why spend your wages and still be hungry? Listen to me and do what I say, and you will enjoy the best food of all. Listen now, my people, and come to me come to me, and you will have life! I will make a lasting covenant with you and give you the blessings I promised to David. My word is like the snow and the rain that come down from the sky to water the earth. They make the crops grow and provide seed for planting and food to eat. So also will be the word that I speak--- it will not fail to do what I plan for it it will do everything I send it to do. You will leave Babylon with joy you will be led out of the city in peace. The mountains and hills will burst into singing, and the trees will shout for joy. (Isaiah 55:2, 3, 10-12)
-So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through preaching Christ. (Romans 10:17)
-Happy is the one who reads this book, and happy are those who listen to the words of this prophetic message and obey what is written in this book! For the time is near when all these things will happen. (Revelation 1:3)
-I have complete confidence in the gospel it is God's power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles. (Romans 1:16)
-So get rid of every filthy habit and all wicked conduct. Submit to God and accept the word that he plants in your hearts, which is able to save you. (James 1:21)
-So we are even more confident of the message proclaimed by the prophets. You will do well to pay attention to it, because it is like a lamp shining in a dark place until the Day dawns and the light of the morning star shines in your hearts. (2 Peter 1:19)
-The law of the LORD is perfect it gives new strength. The commands of the LORD are trustworthy, giving wisdom to those who lack it. The laws of the LORD are right, and those who obey them are happy. The commands of the LORD are just and give understanding to the mind. They give knowledge to me, your servant I am rewarded for obeying them. (Psalms 19:7, 8, 11)
-Their instructions are a shining light their correction can teach you how to live. (Proverbs 6:23)
-and you remember that ever since you were a child, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:15)
-Your word is a lamp to guide me and a light for my path. (Psalms 119:105)
-The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together. It judges the desires and thoughts of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697164">Loving the Word </div>
-'''
-Those who love your law have perfect security, and there is nothing that can make them fall. (Psalms 119:165)
-Be like newborn babies, always thirsty for the pure spiritual milk, so that by drinking it you may grow up and be saved. (1 Peter 2:2)
-Praise the LORD! Happy is the person who honors the LORD, who takes pleasure in obeying his commands. (Psalms 112:1)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697165">Trembling at the Word </div>
-'''
-If you refuse good advice, you are asking for trouble follow it and you are safe. (Proverbs 13:13)
-I myself created the whole universe! I am pleased with those who are humble and repentant, who fear me and obey me. (Isaiah 66:2)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697166">11. Meditation </div>
-'''
-You will earn the trust and respect of others if you work for good if you work for evil, you are making a mistake. (Proverbs 14:22)
-They keep the law of their God in their hearts and never depart from it. (Psalms 37:31)
-Be sure that the book of the Law is always read in your worship. Study it day and night, and make sure that you obey everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Joshua 1:8)
-Remember these commands and cherish them. Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder. Then you and your children will live a long time in the land that the LORD your God promised to give to your ancestors. You will live there as long as there is a sky above the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:18, 21)
-How can young people keep their lives pure? By obeying your commands. (Psalms 119:9)
-You welcome those who find joy in doing what is right, those who remember how you want them to live. You were angry with us, but we went on sinning in spite of your great anger we have continued to do wrong since ancient times. (Isaiah 64:5)
-Plan carefully what you do, and whatever you do will turn out right. (Proverbs 4:26)
-My soul will feast and be satisfied, and I will sing glad songs of praise to you. As I lie in bed, I remember you all night long I think of you, (Psalms 63:5, 6)
-But for those who honor the LORD, his love lasts forever, and his goodness endures for all generations of those who are true to his covenant and who faithfully obey his commands. (Psalms 103:17, 18)
-Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the LORD, and they study it day and night. They are like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do. (Psalms 1:2,3)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697167">12. Fasting </div>
-'''
-Blow the trumpet on Mount Zion  give orders for a fast and call an assembly! Gather the people together prepare them for a sacred meeting bring the old people gather the children and the babies too. Even newly married couples must leave their homes and come. The priests, serving the LORD between the altar and the entrance of the Temple , must weep and pray: Have pity on your people, LORD. Do not let other nations despise us and mock us by saying, 'Where is your God?'  Then the LORD showed concern for his land he had mercy on his people. (Joel 2:15-18)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697168">Fasting in Secret </div>
-'''
-When you go without food, wash your face and comb your hair, so that others cannot know that you are fasting---only your Father, who is unseen, will know. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you. (Matthew 6:17, 18)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697169">13. To Baptism </div>
-'''
-Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:16)
-Peter said to them, Each one of you must turn away from your sins and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven and you will receive God's gift, the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)
-You were baptised into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself. (Galatians 3:27)
-And now, why wait any longer? Get up and be baptised and have your sins washed away by praying to him.' (Acts 22:16)
-In the same way, all of us, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or free, have been baptised into the one body by the same Spirit, and we have all been given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Corinthians 12:13)
-For when you were baptised, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him from death. (Colossians 2:12)
-These were the spirits of those who had not obeyed God when he waited patiently during the days that Noah was building his boat. The few people in the boat---eight in all---were saved by the water, which was a symbol pointing to baptism, which now saves you. It is not the washing off of bodily dirt, but the promise made to God from a good conscience. It saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (1 Peter 3:20, 21)
-For surely you know that when we were baptised into union with Christ Jesus, we were baptised into union with his death. By our baptism, then, we were buried with him and shared his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, so also we might live a new life. (Romans 63, 4)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697170">14. The Lord's Supper </div>
-'''
-In the same way, all of us, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or free, have been baptised into the one body by the same Spirit, and we have all been given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Corinthians 12:13)
-The cup we use in the Lord's Supper and for which we give thanks to God: when we drink from it, we are sharing in the blood of Christ. And the bread we break: when we eat it, we are sharing in the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:16)
-While they were eating, Jesus took a piece of bread, gave a prayer of thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples. Take and eat it, he said this is my body. Then he took a cup, gave thanks to God, and gave it to them. Drink it, all of you, he said this is my blood, which seals God's covenant, my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:26-28)
-Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. For my flesh is the real food my blood is the real drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. The living Father sent me, and because of him I live also. In the same way whoever eats me will live because of me. What gives life is God's Spirit human power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God's life-giving Spirit. (John 6:54-57, 63)
-I have entered my garden, my sweetheart, my bride. I am gathering my spices and myrrh I am eating my honey and honeycomb I am drinking my wine and milk. Eat, lovers, and drink until you are drunk with love! (Song of Solomon 5:1)
-Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my dearest compared to other men. I love to sit in its shadow, and its fruit is sweet to my taste. He brought me to his banquet hall and raised the banner of love over me. (Song of Solomon 2:3, 4)
-Here on Mount Zion the LORD Almighty will prepare a banquet for all the nations of the world---a banquet of the richest food and the finest wine. (Isaiah 25:6)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697171">15. To Good Disclosure </div>
-'''
-Kind words bring life, but cruel words crush your spirit. What a joy it is to find just the right word for the right occasion! (Proverbs 15:4, 23)
-Then the people who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened and heard what they said. In his presence, there was written down in a book a record of those who feared the LORD and respected him. They will be my people, says the LORD Almighty. On the day when I act, they will be my very own. I will be merciful to them as parents are merciful to the children who serve them. (Malachi 3:16, 17)
-Good people will be rewarded for what they say, but those who are deceitful are hungry for violence. (Proverbs 13:2)
-Kind words are like honey---sweet to the taste and good for your health. (Proverbs 16:24)
-You will have to live with the consequences of everything you say. (Proverbs 18:20)
-What you say can preserve life or destroy it so you must accept the consequences of your words. Find a wife and you find a good thing it shows that the LORD is good to you. (Proverbs 18:21, 22)
-The words of the wicked are murderous, but the words of the righteous rescue those who are threatened. Your reward depends on what you say and what you do you will get what you deserve. Thoughtless words can wound as deeply as any sword, but wisely spoken words can heal. (Proverbs 12:6, 14,18)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697172">The government of the Tongue </div>
-'''
-Proud fools talk too much the words of the wise protect them. (Proverbs 14:3)
-If you want to stay out of trouble, be careful what you say. (Proverbs 21:23)
-As the scripture says, If you want to enjoy life and wish to see good times, you must keep from speaking evil and stop telling lies. (1 Peter 3:10)
-Be careful what you say and protect your life. A careless talker destroys himself. (Proverbs 13:3)
-Your words will be used to judge you---to declare you either innocent or guilty. (Matthew 12:37)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697173">16. To Watchfulness </div>
-'''
-If you think you are standing firm you had better be careful that you do not fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12)
-Always obey the LORD and you will be happy. If you are stubborn, you will be ruined. (Proverbs 28:14)
-Watch, then, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming---it might be in the evening or at midnight or before dawn or at sunrise. If he comes suddenly, he must not find you asleep. What I say to you, then, I say to all: Watch! (Mark 13:35-37)
-Listen! I am coming like a thief ! Happy is he who stays awake and guards his clothes, so that he will not walk around naked and be ashamed in public! (Revelation 16:15)
-How happy are those servants whose master finds them awake and ready when he returns! I tell you, he will take off his coat, have them sit down, and will wait on them. How happy they are if he finds them ready, even if he should come at midnight or even later! (Luke 12:37, 38)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697174">17. To Keeping Good Company </div>
-'''
-People learn from one another, just as iron sharpens iron. (Proverbs 27:17)
-Keep company with the wise and you will become wise. If you make friends with stupid people, you will be ruined. (Proverbs 13:20)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697175">Avoiding Evil </div>
-'''
-Happy are those who reject the advice of evil people, who do not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God. (Psalms 1:1)
-And so the Lord says, You must leave them and separate yourselves from them. Have nothing to do with what is unclean, and I will accept you. (2 Corinthians 6:17)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697176">18. To Performing Oaths </div>
-'''
-LORD, who may enter your Temple ? Who may worship on Zion , your sacred hill? They despise those whom God rejects, but honor those who obey the LORD. They always do what they promise, no matter how much it may cost. (Psalms 15:1, 4)
-Those who are pure in act and in thought, who do not worship idols or make false promises. The LORD will bless them and save them God will declare them innocent. (Psalms 24:4, 5)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697177">19. To keeping the sabbath </div>
-'''
-In six days I, the LORD, made the earth, the sky, the seas, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That is why I, the LORD, blessed the Sabbath and made it holy. (Exodus 20:11)
-The LORD says, If you treat the Sabbath as sacred and do not pursue your own interests on that day if you value my holy day and honour it by not travelling, working, or talking idly on that day, then you will find the joy that comes from serving me. I will make you honoured all over the world, and you will enjoy the land I gave to your ancestor, Jacob. I, the LORD, have spoken. (Isaiah 58:13, 14)
-I will bless those who always observe the Sabbath and do not misuse it. I will bless those who do nothing evil. And the LORD says to those foreigners who become part of his people, who love him and serve him, who observe the Sabbath and faithfully keep his covenant: I will bring you to Zion , my sacred hill, give you joy in my house of prayer, and accept the sacrifices you offer on my altar. My Temple will be called a house of prayer for the people of all nations. (Isaiah 56:2, 6, 7)
-And Jesus concluded, The Sabbath was made for the good of human beings they were not made for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)
-This is the day of the LORD's victory let us be happy, let us celebrate! (Psalms 118:24)
-On Saturday evening we gathered together for the fellowship meal. Paul spoke to the people and kept on speaking until midnight, since he was going to leave the next day. (Acts 20:7)
-Make the Sabbath a holy day, so that it will be a sign of the covenant we made, and will remind you that I am the LORD your God. (Ezekiel 20:20)
-It was late that Sunday evening, and the disciples were gathered together behind locked doors, because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities. Then Jesus came and stood among them. Peace be with you, he said. (John 20:19)
-On the Lord's day the Spirit took control of me, and I heard a loud voice, that sounded like a trumpet, speaking behind me. It said, Write down what you see, and send the book to the churches in these seven cities: Ephesus , Smyrna , Pergamum , Thyatira, Sardis , Philadelphia , and Laodicea . (Revelation 1:10, 11)
-Tell these people that they must obey all my commands. They must not carry any load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath. They must observe the Sabbath as a sacred day and must not do any work at all. Then their kings and princes will enter the gates of Jerusalem and have the same royal power that David had. Together with the people of Judah and of Jerusalem , they will ride in chariots and on horses, and the city of Jerusalem will always be filled with people. (Jeremiah 17:24, 25)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697178">Chapter 2 – In the Performance of Duty Toward Men </div>
-'''
-'''<div id="_Toc118697179">1. To Obedience to Parents '''</div>
-Children, it is your Christian duty to obey your parents, for this is the right thing to do. Respect your father and mother is the first commandment that has a promise added: so that all may go well with you, and you may live a long time in the land. (Ephesians 6:1-3)
-My child, pay attention to what your father and mother tell you. Their teaching will improve your character as a handsome turban or a necklace improves your appearance. (Proverbs 1:8-9)
-But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they should learn first to carry out their religious duties toward their own family and in this way repay their parents and grandparents, because that is what pleases God. (1 Timothy 5:4)
-Children, it is your Christian duty to obey your parents always, for that is what pleases God. (Colossians 3:20)
-Son, do what your father tells you and never forget what your mother taught you. Keep their words with you always, locked in your heart. Their teaching will lead you when you travel, protect you at night, and advise you during the day. (Proverbs 6:20-22)
-Then I told the Rechabite clan that the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, had said, You have obeyed the command that your ancestor Jonadab gave you you have followed all his instructions, and you have done everything he commanded you. So I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, promise that Jonadab son of Rechab will always have a male descendant to serve me. (Jeremiah 35:18, 19)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697180">2. To Good Education </div>
-'''
-I have chosen him in order that he may command his sons and his descendants to obey me and to do what is right and just. If they do, I will do everything for him that I have promised. (Genesis 18:19)
-Teach children how they should live, and they will remember it all their life. (Proverbs 22:6)
-Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working. Write them on the doorpost of your houses and on your gates. Then you and your children will live a long time in the land that the LORD your God promised to give to your ancestors. You will live there as long as there is a sky above the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:19-21)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697181">Correction of Children </div>
-'''
-Children just naturally do silly, careless things, but a good spanking will teach them how to behave. (Proverbs 22:15)
-Don't hesitate to discipline children. A good spanking won't kill them. As a matter of fact, it may save their lives. (Proverbs 23:13, 14)
-Correction and discipline are good for children. If they have their own way, they will make their mothers ashamed of them. Discipline your children and you can always be proud of them. They will never give you reason to be ashamed. (Proverbs 29:15, 17)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697182">3. To a good Wife '''</div>
-Homes are made by the wisdom of women, but are destroyed by foolishness. (Proverbs 14:1)
-A gracious woman is respected, but a woman without virtue is a disgrace. Lazy people will never have money, but aggressive people will get rich. (Proverbs 11:16)
-A good wife is her husband's pride and joy but a wife who brings shame on her husband is like a cancer in his bones. (Proverbs 12:4)
-How hard it is to find a capable wife! She is worth far more than jewels! She is strong and respected and not afraid of the future. Her children show their appreciation, and her husband praises her. Charm is deceptive and beauty disappears, but a woman who honors the LORD should be praised. Give her credit for all she does. She deserves the respect of everyone. (Proverbs 31:10, 25, 28, 30, 31)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697183">4. To Faithful Servants '''</div>
-Take care of a fig tree and you will have figs to eat. Servants who take care of their master will be honored. (Proverbs 27:18)
-A shrewd servant will gain authority over a master's worthless son and receive a part of the inheritance. (Proverbs 17:2)
-Kings are pleased with competent officials, but they punish those who fail them. (Proverbs 14:35)
-Slaves, obey your human masters in all things, not only when they are watching you because you want to gain their approval but do it with a sincere heart because of your reverence for the Lord. Remember that the Lord will give you as a reward what he has kept for his people. For Christ is the real Master you serve. (Colossians 3:22, 24)
-Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling and do it with a sincere heart, as though you were serving Christ. Do this not only when they are watching you, because you want to gain their approval but with all your heart do what God wants, as slaves of Christ. Do your work as slaves cheerfully, as though you served the Lord, and not merely human beings. Remember that the Lord will reward each of us, whether slave or free, for the good work we do. (Ephesians 6:5-8)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697184">5. To Good Kings and Magistrates''' </div>
-Kings cannot tolerate evil, because justice is what makes a government strong. (Proverbs 16:12)
-A king will remain in power as long as his rule is honest, just, and fair. (Proverbs 20:28)
-If a king defends the rights of the poor, he will rule for a long time. (Proverbs 29:14)
-A day is coming when the LORD Almighty will be like a glorious crown of flowers for his people who survive. He will give a sense of justice to those who serve as judges, and courage to those who defend the city gates from attack. (Isaiah 28:5, 6)
-When he becomes king, he is to have a copy of the book of God's laws and teachings made from the original copy kept by the levitical priests. He is to keep this book near him and read from it all his life, so that he will learn to honour the LORD and to obey faithfully everything that is commanded in it. This will keep him from thinking that he is better than other Israelites and from disobeying the LORD's commands in any way. Then he will reign for many years, and his descendants will rule Israel for many generations. (Deuteronomy 17:18-20)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697185">6. To Obedient Subjects''' </div>
-For the sake of the Lord submit yourselves to every human authority: to the Emperor, who is the supreme authority, and to the governors, who have been appointed by him to punish the evildoers and to praise those who do good. For God wants you to silence the ignorant talk of foolish people by the good things you do. (1 Peter 2:13-15)
-As long as you obey his commands, you are safe, and a wise person knows how and when to do it. (Ecclesiastes 8:5)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697186">7. To Faithful Ministers '''</div>
-I said, I have worked, but how hopeless it is! I have used up my strength, but have accomplished nothing. Yet I can trust the LORD to defend my cause he will reward me for what I do. (Isaiah 49:4)
-How happy everyone will be with plenty of water for the crops and safe pasture everywhere for the donkeys and cattle. (Isaiah 32:20)
-I will fill the priests with the richest food and satisfy all the needs of my people. I, the LORD, have spoken. (Jeremiah 31:14)
-I, who am an elder myself, appeal to the church elders among you. I am a witness of Christ's sufferings, and I will share in the glory that will be revealed. I appeal to you to be shepherds of the flock that God gave you and to take care of it willingly, as God wants you to, and not unwillingly. Do your work, not for mere pay, but from a real desire to serve. Do not try to rule over those who have been put in your care, but be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the glorious crown which will never lose its brightness. (1 Peter 5:1-4)
-To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven gold lamp stands. (Revelation 2:1)
-Watch yourself and watch your teaching. Keep on doing these things, because if you do, you will save both yourself and those who hear you. (1 Timothy 4:16)
-The wise leaders will shine with all the brightness of the sky. And those who have taught many people to do what is right will shine like the stars forever. (Daniel 12:3)
-and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)
-The one who reaps the harvest is being paid and gathers the crops for eternal life so the one who plants and the one who reaps will be glad together. (John 4:36)
-The Lord answered, Who, then, is the faithful and wise servant? He is the one that his master will put in charge, to run the household and give the other servants their share of the food at the proper time. How happy that servant is if his master finds him doing this when he comes home! Indeed, I tell you, the master will put that servant in charge of all his property. ( Luke 12:42, 44)
-I will bless her priests in all they do, and her people will sing and shout for joy. (Psalms 132:16)
-But you, LORD, are on my side, strong and mighty, and those who persecute me will fail. They will be disgraced forever, because they cannot succeed. Their disgrace will never be forgotten. (Jeremiah 20:11)
-Now I will make you as stubborn and as tough as they are. I will make you as firm as a rock, as hard as a diamond don't be afraid of those rebels. (Ezekiel 3:8, 9)
-To this the LORD replied, If you return, I will take you back, and you will be my servant again. If instead of talking nonsense you proclaim a worthwhile message, you will be my prophet again. The people will come back to you, and you will not need to go to them. I will make you like a solid bronze wall as far as they are concerned. They will fight against you, but they will not defeat you. I will be with you to protect you and keep you safe. I will rescue you from the power of wicked and violent people. I, the LORD, have spoken. (Jeremiah 15:19-21)
-because I will give you such words and wisdom that none of your enemies will be able to refute or contradict what you say. ( Luke 21:15)
-That is why the tribe of Levi received no land as the other tribes did what they received was the privilege of being the LORD's priests, as the LORD your God promised.) (Deuteronomy 10:9)
-LORD, help their tribe to grow strong Be pleased with what they do. Crush all their enemies Let them never rise again. (Deuteronomy 33:11)
-When they bring you to trial, do not worry about what you are going to say or how you will say it when the time comes, you will be given what you will say. For the words you will speak will not be yours they will come from the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. (Matthew 10:19, 20)
-But the LORD said to me, Do not say that you are too young, but go to the people I send you to, and tell them everything I command you to say. Do not be afraid of them, for I will be with you to protect you. I, the LORD, have spoken! Listen, Jeremiah! Everyone in this land---the kings of Judah, the officials, the priests, and the people---will be against you. But today I am giving you the strength to resist them you will be like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall. They will not defeat you, for I will be with you to protect you. I, the LORD, have spoken. (Jeremiah 1:7, 8, 19)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697187">8. To them that Receive and Hearken to Ministers '''</div>
-Jesus said to his disciples, Whoever listens to you listens to me whoever rejects you rejects me and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me. ( Luke 10:16)
-Early the next morning the people went out to the wild country near Tekoa. As they were starting out, Jehoshaphat addressed them with these words: People of Judah and Jerusalem ! Put your trust in the LORD your God, and you will stand your ground. Believe what his prophets tell you, and you will succeed. (2 Chronicles 20:20)
-Whoever welcomes you welcomes me and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes God's messenger because he is God's messenger, will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes a good man because he is good, will share in his reward. (Matthew 10:40, 41)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697188">9. To Love and Unity </div>
-'''
-If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples. (John 13:35)
-If we love others, we live in the light, and so there is nothing in us that will cause someone else to sin. (1 John 2:10)
-And now, my friends, good-bye! Strive for perfection listen to my appeals agree with one another live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. (2 Corinthians 13:11)
-How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God's people to live together in harmony! It is like the precious anointing oil running down from Aaron's head and beard, down to the collar of his robes. It is like the dew on Mount Hermon, falling on the hills of Zion . That is where the LORD has promised his blessing--- life that never ends. (Psalms 133:1-3)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697189">To the Peacemakers '''</div>
-Those who plan evil are in for a rude surprise, but those who work for good will find happiness. (Proverbs 12:20)
-Happy are those who work for peace God will call them his children! (Matthew 5:9)
-As the scripture says, If you want to enjoy life and wish to see good times, you must keep from speaking evil and stop telling lies. You must turn away from evil and do good you must strive for peace with all your heart. (1 Peter 3:10, 11)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697190">Love to God's People </div>
-'''
-Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : May those who love you prosper. (Psalms 122:6)
-LORD, who may enter your Temple ? Who may worship on Zion , your sacred hill? They despise those whom God rejects, but honor those who obey the LORD. They always do what they promise, no matter how much it may cost. (Psalms 15:1, 4)
-No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in union with us, and his love is made perfect in us. (1 John 4:12)
-The nation is like a mighty lion When it is sleeping, no one dares wake it. Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, And whoever curses Israel will be cursed. (Numbers 24:9)
-God is not unfair. He will not forget the work you did or the love you showed for him in the help you gave and are still giving to other Christians. (Hebrews 6:10)
-We know that we have left death and come over into life we know it because we love others. Those who do not love are still under the power of death. My children, our love should not be just words and talk it must be true love, which shows itself in action. This, then, is how we will know that we belong to the truth this is how we will be confident in God's presence. (1 John 3:14, 18, 19)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697191">10. To the Charitable, Merciful, and Liberal to God's Ministers '''</div>
-If you want to be happy, be kind to the poor it is a sin to despise anyone. (Proverbs 14:21)
-When you give to the poor, it is like lending to the LORD, and the LORD will pay you back. (Proverbs 19:17)
-I am old now I have lived a long time, but I have never seen good people abandoned by the LORD or their children begging for food. At all times they give freely and lend to others, and their children are a blessing. (Psalms 37:25, 26)
-Some people spend their money freely and still grow richer. Others are cautious, and yet grow poorer. Be generous, and you will be prosperous. Help others, and you will be helped. If your goals are good, you will be respected, but if you are looking for trouble, that is what you will get. (Proverbs 11:24, 25, 27)
-Happy is the person who is generous with his loans, who runs his business honestly. A good person will never fail he will always be remembered. He gives generously to the needy, and his kindness never fails he will be powerful and respected. (Psalms 112:5, 6, 9)
-Happy are those who are concerned for the poor the LORD will help them when they are in trouble. The LORD will protect them and preserve their lives he will make them happy in the land he will not abandon them to the power of their enemies. The LORD will help them when they are sick and will restore them to health. (Psalms 41:1-3)
-You can be sure that whoever gives even a drink of cold water to one of the least of these my followers because he is my follower, will certainly receive a reward. (Matthew 10:42)
-Invest your money in foreign trade, and one of these days you will make a profit. Put your investments in several places---many places even---because you never know what kind of bad luck you are going to have in this world. (Ecclesiastes 11:1, 2)
-Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives. Then my favour will shine on you like the morning sun, and your wounds will be quickly healed. I will always be with you to save you my presence will protect you on every side. if you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon. And I will always guide you and satisfy you with good things. I will keep you strong and well. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring of water that never goes dry. (Isaiah 58:7, 8, 10, 11)
-But an honourable person acts honestly and stands firm for what is right. (Isaiah 32:8)
-Be generous and share your food with the poor. You will be blessed for it. (Proverbs 22:9)
-If you get rich by charging interest and taking advantage of people, your wealth will go to someone who is kind to the poor. They never use a heavy club to beat out dill seeds or cumin seeds instead they use light sticks of the proper size. (Isaiah 28:8, 27)
-And Jesus went on to say, And so I tell you: make friends for yourselves with worldly wealth, so that when it gives out, you will be welcomed in the eternal home. (Luke 16:9)
-Then the King will say to the people on his right, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world. I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.' The righteous will then answer him, 'When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? The King will reply, 'I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!' (Matthew 25:34-36, 40)
-But give what is in your cups and plates to the poor, and everything will be ritually clean for you. (Luke 11:41)
-Sell all your belongings and give the money to the poor. Provide for yourselves purses that don't wear out, and save your riches in heaven, where they will never decrease, because no thief can get to them, and no moth can destroy them. (Luke 12:33)
-When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind and you will be blessed, because they are not able to pay you back. God will repay you on the day the good people rise from death. (Luke 14:13, 14)
-Give to others, and God will give to you. Indeed, you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your hands---all that you can hold. The measure you use for others is the one that God will use for you. (Luke 6:38)
-And God is able to give you more than you need, so that you will always have all you need for yourselves and more than enough for every good cause. And God, who supplies seed for the sower and bread to eat, will also supply you with all the seed you need and will make it grow and produce a rich harvest from your generosity. (2 Corinthians 9:8, 10)
-Do not forget to do good and to help one another, because these are the sacrifices that please God. (Hebrews 13:16)
-Jesus looked straight at him with love and said, You need only one thing. Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven then come and follow me. (Mark 10:21)
-If you are eager to give, God will accept your gift on the basis of what you have to give, not on what you don't have. (2 Corinthians 8:12)
-Remember that the person who plants few seeds will have a small crop the one who plants many seeds will have a large crop. You should each give, then, as you have decided, not with regret or out of a sense of duty for God loves the one who gives gladly. (2 Corinthians 9:6, 7)
-Give to them freely and unselfishly, and the LORD will bless you in everything you do. (Deuteronomy 15:10)
-Command those who are rich in the things of this life not to be proud, but to place their hope, not in such an uncertain thing as riches, but in God, who generously gives us everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share with others. In this way they will store up for themselves a treasure which will be a solid foundation for the future. And then they will be able to win the life which is true life. (1 Timothy 6:17-19)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697192">To Alms in Secret </div>
-'''
-But when you help a needy person, do it in such a way that even your closest friend will not know about it. Then it will be a private matter. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you. (Matthew 6:3, 4)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697193">To the Supporting God's Ministers and Worship </div>
-'''
-Honour the LORD by making him an offering from the best of all that your land produces. If you do, your barns will be filled with grain, and you will have too much wine to store it all. (Proverbs 3:9, 10)
-This food is for the Levites, since they own no property, and for the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. They are to come and get all they need. Do this, and the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. (Deuteronomy 14:29)
-Bring the full amount of your tithes to the Temple , so that there will be plenty of food there. Put me to the test and you will see that I will open the windows of heaven and pour out on you in abundance all kinds of good things. I will not let insects destroy your crops, and your grapevines will be loaded with grapes. Then the people of all nations will call you happy, because your land will be a good place to live. (Malachi 3:10-12)
-If you are being taught the Christian message, you should share all the good things you have with your teacher. Do not deceive yourselves no one makes a fool of God. You will reap exactly what you plant. If you plant in the field of your natural desires, from it you will gather the harvest of death if you plant in the field of the Spirit, from the Spirit you will gather the harvest of eternal life. (Galatians 6:6-8)
-It is not that I just want to receive gifts rather, I want to see profit added to your account. Here, then, is my receipt for everything you have given me---and it has been more than enough! I have all I need now that Epaphroditus has brought me all your gifts. They are like a sweet-smelling offering to God, a sacrifice which is acceptable and pleasing to him. And with all his abundant wealth through Christ Jesus, my God will supply all your needs. (Philippians 4:17-19)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697194">To the Merciful </div>
-'''
-You do yourself a favour when you are kind. If you are cruel, you only hurt yourself. (Proverbs 11:17)
-Happy are those who are merciful to others God will be merciful to them! (Matthew 5:7)
-O LORD, you are faithful to those who are faithful to you completely good to those who are perfect. (Psalms 18:25)
-Never let go of loyalty and faithfulness. Tie them around your neck write them on your heart. If you do this, both God and people will be pleased with you. (Proverbs 3:3, 4)
-If he is poor, do not keep it overnight return it to him each evening, so that he can have it to sleep in. Then he will be grateful, and the LORD your God will be pleased with you. (Deuteronomy 24:12, 13)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697195">11. To the Giving and Receiving of Reproofs </div>
-'''
-Judges who punish the guilty, however, will be prosperous and enjoy a good reputation. (Proverbs 24:25)
-Correct someone, and afterwards he will appreciate it more than flattery. (Proverbs 28:23)
-Someone who will not learn will be poor and disgraced. Anyone who listens to correction is respected. (Proverbs 13:18)
-A warning given by an experienced person to someone willing to listen is more valuable than gold rings or jewellery made of the finest gold. (Proverbs 25:12)
-If you pay attention when you are corrected, you are wise. If you refuse to learn, you are hurting yourself. If you accept correction, you will become wiser. (Proverbs 15:31, 32)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697196">12. To Forgiving Injuries </div>
-'''
-Don't take it on yourself to repay a wrong. Trust the LORD and he will make it right. (Proverbs 20:22)
-No! Love your enemies and do good to them lend and expect nothing back. You will then have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High God. For he is good to the ungrateful and the wicked. Do not judge others, and God will not judge you do not condemn others, and God will not condemn you forgive others, and God will forgive you. (Luke 6:35, 37)
-But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil. (Matthew 5:44, 45)
-If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. (Matthew 6:14)
-And when you stand and pray, forgive anything you may have against anyone, so that your Father in heaven will forgive the wrongs you have done. (Mark 11:25)
-Do not pay back evil with evil or cursing with cursing instead, pay back with a blessing, because a blessing is what God promised to give you when he called you. (1 Peter 3:9)
-If your enemies are hungry, feed them if they are thirsty, give them a drink. (Proverbs 25:21)
-You will make them burn with shame, and the LORD will reward you. (Proverbs 25:22) See Rom. 12:20.
-'''<div id="_Toc118697197">13. To Chastity and Purity '''</div>
-Happy are the pure in heart they will see God! (Matthew 5:8)
-Suppose there is a truly good man, righteous and honest. He doesn't worship the idols of the Israelites or eat the sacrifices offered at forbidden shrines. He doesn't seduce another man's wife or have intercourse with a woman during her period. Such a man obeys my commands and carefully keeps my laws. He is righteous, and he will live, says the Sovereign LORD. (Ezekiel 18:5, 6, 9)
-Everything is pure to those who are themselves pure but nothing is pure to those who are defiled and unbelieving, for their minds and consciences have been defiled. (Titus 1:15)
-You are pure to those who are pure, but hostile to those who are wicked. (Psalms 18:26)
-God is indeed good to Israel , to those who have pure hearts. (Psalms 73:1)
-Who has the right to go up the LORD's hill? Who may enter his holy Temple ? Those who are pure in act and in thought, who do not worship idols or make false promises. (Psalms 24:3, 4)
-Those who make themselves clean from all those evil things, will be used for special purposes, because they are dedicated and useful to their Master, ready to be used for every good deed. (2 Timothy 2:21)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697198">14. To Diligence </div>
-'''
-Being lazy will make you poor, but hard work will make you rich. The more easily you get your wealth, the sooner you will lose it. The harder it is to earn, the more you will have. (Proverbs 13:4, 11)
-Plan carefully and you will have plenty if you act too quickly, you will never have enough. (Proverbs 21:5)
-Show me someone who does a good job, and I will show you someone who is better than most and worthy of the company of kings. (Proverbs 22:29)
-A hard-working farmer has plenty to eat. People who waste time will always be poor. (Proverbs 28:19)
-A hard-working farmer has plenty to eat, but it is stupid to waste time on useless projects.
-Hard work will give you power being lazy will make you a slave. If you are lazy, you will never get what you are after, but if you work hard, you will get a fortune. (Proverbs 12:111, 24, 27)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697199">To Improving our Talents </div>
-'''
-'Well done, you good and faithful servant!' said his master. 'You have been faithful in managing small amounts, so I will put you in charge of large amounts. Come on in and share my happiness!' For to every person who has something, even more will be given, and he will have more than enough but the person who has nothing, even the little that he has will be taken away from him. (Matthew 25:23, 29). See Matt. 13:12.
-'''<div id="_Toc118697200">Moderation in Sleep '''</div>
-If you spend your time sleeping, you will be poor. Keep busy and you will have plenty to eat. (Proverbs 20:13)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697201">15. To the Just and Honest </div>
-'''
-Try to make a profit dishonestly, and you get your family in trouble. Don't take bribes and you will live longer. (Proverbs 15:27)
-The LORD hates people who use dishonest scales. He is happy with honest weights. (Proverbs 11:1)
-Nothing bad happens to righteous people, but the wicked have nothing but trouble. (Proverbs 12:21)
-Honest people will lead a full, happy life. But if you are in a hurry to get rich, you are going to be punished. (Proverbs 28:20)
-Always be fair and just, so that you will occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you and so that you will continue to live there. (Deuteronomy 16:20)
-You can survive if you say and do what is right. Don't use your power to cheat the poor and don't accept bribes. Don't join with those who plan to commit murder or to do other evil things. Then you will be safe you will be as secure as if in a strong fortress. You will have food to eat and water to drink. (Isaiah 33:15, 16)
-It is better to have a little, honestly earned, than to have a large income, dishonestly gained. (Proverbs 16:8)
-Do what is right and fair that pleases the LORD more than bringing him sacrifices. (Proverbs 21:3)
-They make loans without charging interest and cannot be bribed to testify against the innocent. Whoever does these things will always be secure. (Psalms 15:5)
-Use true and honest weights and measures, so that you may live a long time in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. (Deuteronomy 25:15)
-Suppose there is a truly good man, righteous and honest. He doesn't cheat or rob anyone. He returns what a borrower gives him as security he feeds the hungry and gives clothing to the naked. He doesn't lend money for profit. He refuses to do evil and gives an honest decision in any dispute. Such a man obeys my commands and carefully keeps my laws. He is righteous, and he will live, says the Sovereign LORD. (Ezekiel 18:5, 7-9)
-The LORD says to his people, Do what is just and right, for soon I will save you. I will bless those who always observe the Sabbath and do not misuse it. I will bless those who do nothing evil. (Isaiah 56:1, 2)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697202">16. To Truth''' </div>
-As the scripture says, If you want to enjoy life and wish to see good times, you must keep from speaking evil and stop telling lies. (1 Peter 3:10) See Psa. 34:12, 13.
-A lie has a short life, but truth lives on forever. The LORD hates liars, but is pleased with those who keep their word. (Proverbs 12:19, 22)
-LORD, who may enter your Temple ? Who may worship on Zion , your sacred hill? Those who obey God in everything and always do what is right, whose words are true and sincere, and who do not slander others. They do no wrong to their friends nor spread rumours about their neighbours. (Psalms 15:1-3)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697203">17. To Candor '''</div>
-Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, for God will judge you in the same way you judge others, and he will apply to you the same rules you apply to others. (Matthew 7:1, 2)
-LORD, who may enter your Temple ? Who may worship on Zion , your sacred hill? and who do not slander others. They do no wrong to their friends nor spread rumours about their neighbours. (Psalms 15:1, 3)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697204">18. To Contentment and Mortification '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697205">Contentment '''</div>
-Well, religion does make us very rich, if we are satisfied with what we have. (1 Timothy 6:6)
-Peace of mind makes the body healthy, but jealousy is like a cancer. (Proverbs 14:30)
-Being cheerful keeps you healthy. It is slow death to be gloomy all the time. (Proverbs 17:22)
-The life of the poor is a constant struggle, but happy people always enjoy life. (Proverbs 15:15)
-Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, I will never leave you I will never abandon you. (Hebrews 13:5)
-Don't be envious of sinful people let reverence for the LORD be the concern of your life. If it is, you have a bright future. (Proverbs 23:17, 18)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697206">Mortification of Sin '''</div>
-For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live. (Romans 8:13)
-So if your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose a part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose one of your limbs than to have your whole body go off to hell. (Matthew 5:29, 30)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697207">To the Spiritually Minded''' </div>
-To be controlled by human nature results in death to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace. (Romans 8:6)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697208">Chapter 3 – In Cultivation of Christian Character''' </div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697209">&#149 To the Meek, Humble, Contrite '''</div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697210">The Meek '''</div>
-Turn to the LORD, all you humble people of the land, who obey his commands. Do what is right, and humble yourselves before the LORD. Perhaps you will escape punishment on the day when the LORD shows his anger. (Zephaniah 2:3)
-A gentle answer quiets anger, but a harsh one stirs it up. Hot tempers cause arguments, but patience brings peace. (Proverbs 15:1, 18)
-You should not use outward aids to make yourselves beautiful, such as the way you fix your hair, or the jewellery you put on, or the dresses you wear. Instead, your beauty should consist of your true inner self, the ageless beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of the greatest value in God's sight. (1 Peter 3:3, 4)
-If you stay calm, you are wise, but if you have a hot temper, you only show how stupid you are. (Proverbs 14:29)
-Happy are those who are humble they will receive what God has promised! (Matthew 5:5)
-He leads the humble in the right way and teaches them his will. (Psalms 25:9)
-He raises the humble, but crushes the wicked to the ground. (Psalms 147:6)
-The LORD takes pleasure in his people he honors the humble with victory. (Psalms 149:4)
-but the humble will possess the land and enjoy prosperity and peace. (Psalms 37:11)
-he will judge the poor fairly and defend the rights of the helpless. At his command the people will be punished, and evil persons will die. (Isaiah 11:4)
-The poor will eat as much as they want those who come to the LORD will praise him. May they prosper forever! (Psalms 22:26)
-Poor and humble people will once again find the happiness which the LORD, the holy God of Israel, gives. (Isaiah 29:19)
-Any fool can start arguments the honourable thing is to stay out of them. (Proverbs 20:3)
-If you are sensible, you will control your temper. When someone wrongs you, it is a great virtue to ignore it. (Proverbs 19:11)
-It is better to be patient than powerful. It is better to win control over yourself than over whole cities. (Proverbs 16:32)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697211">To the Humble''' </div>
-God brings down the proud and saves the humble. (Job 22:29)
-God remembers those who suffer he does not forget their cry, and he punishes those who wrong them. (Psalms 9:12)
-You will listen, O LORD, to the prayers of the lowly you will give them courage. (Psalms 10:17)
-He has no use for conceited people, but shows favor to those who are humble. (Proverbs 3:34)
-People who are proud will soon be disgraced. It is wiser to be modest. (Proverbs 11:2)
-But the grace that God gives is even stronger. As the scripture says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6) See 1 Peter 5:5.
-Even though you are so high above, you care for the lowly, and the proud cannot hide from you. (Psalms 138:6)
-Obey the LORD, be humble, and you will get riches, honour, and a long life. (Proverbs 22:4)
-Arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected. (Proverbs 29:23)
-Reverence for the LORD is an education in itself. You must be humble before you can ever receive honors. (Proverbs 15:33)
-No one is respected unless he is humble arrogant people are on the way to ruin. (Proverbs 18:12)
-It is better to be humble and stay poor than to be one of the arrogant and get a share of their loot. (Proverbs 16:19)
-The greatest in the Kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself and becomes like this child. (Matthew 18:4)
-Whoever makes himself great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be made great. (Matthew 23:12) See Luke 18:14.
-'''<div id="_Toc118697212">The Contrite and Mourners '''</div>
-The LORD is near to those who are discouraged he saves those who have lost all hope. (Psalms 34:18)
-He heals the broken-hearted and bandages their wounds. (Psalms 147:3)
-Sorrow is better than laughter it may sadden your face, but it sharpens your understanding. (Ecclesiastes 7:3)
-I myself created the whole universe! I am pleased with those who are humble and repentant, who fear me and obey me. (Isaiah 66:2)
-My sacrifice is a humble spirit, O God you will not reject a humble and repentant heart. (Psalms 51:17)
-Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them! Happy are those who mourn God will comfort them! (Matthew 5:3, 4)
-I am the high and holy God, who lives forever. I live in a high and holy place, but I also live with people who are humble and repentant, so that I can restore their confidence and hope. (Isaiah 57:15)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697213">2. To them that Suffer for Righteousness' Sake''' </div>
-Those who try to gain their own life will lose it but those who lose their life for my sake will gain it. (Matthew 10:39)
-If we continue to endure, we shall also rule with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. (2 Timothy 2:12)
-And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake, will receive a hundred times more and will be given eternal life. (Matthew 19:29)
-Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them! Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers. Be happy and glad, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. This is how the prophets who lived before you were persecuted. (Matthew 5:10-12)
-Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share his glory. Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death? As the scripture says, For your sake we are in danger of death at all times we are treated like sheep that are going to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! (Romans 8:17, 35-37)
-there are many enemies, but we are never without a friend and though badly hurt at times, we are not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:9)
-But even if you should suffer for doing what is right, how happy you are! Do not be afraid of anyone, and do not worry. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if this should be God's will, than for doing evil. (1 Peter 3:14, 17)
-You shared the sufferings of prisoners, and when all your belongings were seized, you endured your loss gladly, because you knew that you still possessed something much better, which would last forever. Do not lose your courage, then, because it brings with it a great reward. (Hebrews 10:24, 35)
-My dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful test you are suffering, as though something unusual were happening to you. Rather be glad that you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may be full of joy when his glory is revealed. Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ's followers this means that the glorious Spirit, the Spirit of God, is resting on you. (1 Peter 4:12-14)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697214">To them that are Excommunicated Unjustly '''</div>
-Listen to what the LORD says, you that fear him and obey him: Because you are faithful to me, some of your own people hate you and will have nothing to do with you. They mock you and say, 'Let the LORD show his greatness and save you, so that we may see you rejoice.' But they themselves will be disgraced! (Isaiah 66:5)
-Happy are you when people hate you, reject you, insult you, and say that you are evil, all because of the Son of Man! Be glad when that happens and dance for joy, because a great reward is kept for you in heaven. For their ancestors did the very same things to the prophets. (Luke 6:22,23)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697215">3. Patience and Submission''' </div>
-We do not want you to become lazy, but to be like those who believe and are patient, and so receive what God has promised. (Hebrews 6:12)
-So it is best for us to wait in patience---to wait for him to save us--- And it is best to learn this patience in our youth. When we suffer, we should sit alone in silent patience We should bow in submission, for there may still be hope. The Lord is merciful and will not reject us forever. (Lamentations 3:26-29, 31)
-The hopes of good people lead to joy, but wicked people can look forward to nothing. (Proverbs 10:28)
-We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance brings God's approval, and his approval creates hope. (Romans 5:3, 4)
-My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure. Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Happy are those who remain faithful under trials, because when they succeed in passing such a test, they will receive as their reward the life which God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:2-4, 12)
-Be patient, then, my friends, until the Lord comes. See how patient farmers are as they wait for their land to produce precious crops. They wait patiently for the autumn and spring rains. You also must be patient. Keep your hopes high, for the day of the Lord's coming is near. We call them happy because they endured. You have heard of Job's patience, and you know how the Lord provided for him in the end. For the Lord is full of mercy and compassion. (James 5:7, 8, 11)
-Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:10)
-For what credit is there if you endure the beatings you deserve for having done wrong? But if you endure suffering even when you have done right, God will bless you for it. (1 Peter 2:20)
-Humble yourselves, then, under God's mighty hand, so that he will lift you up in his own good time. (1 Peter 5:6)
-Do not lose your courage, then, because it brings with it a great reward. You need to be patient, in order to do the will of God and receive what he promises. For, as the scripture says, Just a little while longer, and he who is coming will come he will not delay. (Hebrews 10:35-37)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697216">4. To Perseverance''' </div>
-So let us not become tired of doing good for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest. (Galatians 6:9)
-Be on your guard, then, so that you will not lose what we have worked for, but will receive your reward in full. Anyone who does not stay with the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God. Whoever does stay with the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (2 John 1:8, 9)
-Everyone will hate you because of me. But whoever holds out to the end will be saved. (Matthew 10:22)
-See Matt. 24:13.
-Don't be afraid of anything you are about to suffer. Listen! The Devil will put you to the test by having some of you thrown into prison, and your troubles will last ten days. Be faithful to me, even if it means death, and I will give you life as your prize of victory. (Revelation 2:10)
-So Jesus said to those who believed in him, If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31, 32)
-So then, my dear friends, stand firm and steady. Keep busy always in your work for the Lord, since you know that nothing you do in the Lord's service is ever useless. (1 Corinthians 15:58)
-Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can trust God to keep his promise. Do not lose your courage, then, because it brings with it a great reward. (Hebrews 10:10, 35)
-Be sure, then, to keep in your hearts the message you heard from the beginning. If you keep that message, then you will always live in union with the Son and the Father. Yes, my children, remain in union with him, so that when he appears we may be full of courage and need not hide in shame from him on the Day he comes. (1 John 2:24, 28)
-If you remain in me and my words remain in you, then you will ask for anything you wish, and you shall have it. (John 15:7)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697217">To Him that Overcomes''' </div>
-Do not let evil defeat you instead, conquer evil with good. (Romans 12:21)
-Those who win the victory will receive this from me: I will be their God, and they will be my children. (Revelation 21:7)
-If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches! To those who win the victory I will give the right to eat the fruit of the tree of life that grows in the Garden of God . (Revelation 2:7)
-Those who win the victory will be clothed like this in white, and I will not remove their names from the book of the living. In the presence of my Father and of his angels I will declare openly that they belong to me. I will make those who are victorious pillars in the temple of my God, and they will never leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which will come down out of heaven from my God. I will also write on them my new name. To those who win the victory I will give the right to sit beside me on my throne, just as I have been victorious and now sit by my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:5, 12, 21)
-If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches! Those who win the victory will not be hurt by the second death. If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches! To those who win the victory I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give each of them a white stone on which is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it. To those who win the victory, who continue to the end to do what I want, I will give the same authority that I received from my Father: I will give them authority over the nations, to rule them with an iron rod and to break them to pieces like clay pots. I will also give them the morning star. (Revelation 2:11, 17, 26-28)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697218">Part 3 – Promises of the Growth and Glory of the Church''' </div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697219">1. The Enlargement of the Church, and Spread of the Gospel, and Kingdom of Christ '''</div>
-Ask, and I will give you all the nations the whole earth will be yours. You will break them with an iron rod you will shatter them in pieces like a clay pot.'  (Psalms 2:8, 9)
-The LORD will reveal himself to the Egyptian people, and then they will acknowledge and worship him, and bring him sacrifices and offerings. They will make solemn promises to him and do what they promise. When that time comes, Israel will rank with Egypt and Assyria , and these three nations will be a blessing to all the world. The LORD Almighty will bless them and say, I will bless you, Egypt , my people you, Assyria, whom I created and you, Israel , my chosen people. (Isaiah 19:21, 24,25)
-Ambassadors will come from Egypt  the Ethiopians will raise their hands in prayer to God. (Psalms 68:31)
-so that the whole world may know your will so that all nations may know your salvation. God has blessed us may all people everywhere honour him. (Psalms 67:2, 7)
-His kingdom will reach from sea to sea, from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth. All kings will bow down before him all nations will serve him. May the king's name never be forgotten may his fame last as long as the sun. May all nations ask God to bless them as he has blessed the king. Praise his glorious name forever! May his glory fill the whole world. Amen! Amen! (Psalms 72:8, 11, 17,19)
-In days to come the mountain where the Temple stands will be the highest one of all, towering above all the hills. Many nations will come streaming to it, and their people will say, Let us go up the hill of the LORD, to the Temple of Israel 's God. He will teach us what he wants us to do we will walk in the paths he has chosen. For the LORD's teaching comes from Jerusalem  from Zion he speaks to his people. (Isaiah 2:2, 3) See Micah 4:2.
-All the nations that you have created will come and bow down to you they will praise your greatness. (Psalms 86:9)
-On the day you fight your enemies, your people will volunteer. Like the dew of early morning your young men will come to you on the sacred hills. (Psalms 110:3)
-A day is coming when the new king from the royal line of David will be a symbol to the nations. They will gather in his royal city and give him honour. (Isaiah 11:10)
-The nations will fear the LORD all the kings of the earth will fear his power. When the LORD rebuilds Zion , he will reveal his greatness. (Psalms 102:15, 16)
-All nations will remember the LORD. From every part of the world they will turn to him all races will worship him. The LORD is king, and he rules the nations. (Psalms 22:27, 28)
-The money she earns by commerce will be dedicated to the LORD. She will not store it away, but those who worship the LORD will use her money to buy the food and the clothing they need. (Isaiah 23:18)
-In the days to come the people of Israel , the descendants of Jacob, will take root like a tree, and they will blossom and bud. The earth will be covered with the fruit they produce. (Isaiah 27:6)
-A voice cries out, Prepare in the wilderness a road for the LORD! Clear the way in the desert for our God! Fill every valley level every mountain. The hills will become a plain, and the rough country will be made smooth. Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it. The LORD himself has promised this. (Isaiah 40:3-5)
-The LORD says, Here is my servant, whom I strengthen--- the one I have chosen, with whom I am pleased. I have filled him with my Spirit, and he will bring justice to every nation. He will not lose hope or courage he will establish justice on the earth. Distant lands eagerly wait for his teaching. I, the LORD, have called you and given you power to see that justice is done on earth. Through you I will make a covenant with all peoples through you I will bring light to the nations. You will open the eyes of the blind and set free those who sit in dark prisons. (Isaiah 42:1, 4, 6, 7)
-My promise is true, and it will not be changed. I solemnly promise by all that I am: Everyone will come and kneel before me and vow to be loyal to me. They will say that only through me are victory and strength to be found but all who hate me will suffer disgrace. (Isaiah 45:24) See verse 14.
-The LORD said to me, I have a greater task for you, my servant. Not only will you restore to greatness the people of Israel who have survived, but I will also make you a light to the nations--- so that all the world may be saved. My people will come from far away, from the north and the west, and from Aswan in the south. Look around and see what is happening! Your people are assembling---they are coming home! As surely as I am the living God, you will be proud of your people, as proud as a bride is of her jewels. Your people who were born in exile will one day say to you, 'This land is too small--- we need more room to live in!' (Isaiah 49:6,12,18,20) See verses 8, 9, 11, 19, 21, 22, and chapter 60:4.
-The LORD will use his holy power he will save his people, and all the world will see it. (Isaiah 52:10)
-Nations will be drawn to your light, And kings to the dawning of your new day. What are these ships that skim along like clouds, Like doves returning home? They are ships coming from distant lands, Bringing God's people home. They bring with them silver and gold To honor the name of the LORD, The holy God of Israel, Who has made all nations honor his people. The LORD says to Jerusalem , Foreigners will rebuild your walls, And their kings will serve you. In my anger I punished you, But now I will show you my favor and mercy. (Isaiah 60:3, 8-10) See verses 4-7, 11, 16.
-Listen to me, my people, listen to what I say: I give my teaching to the nations my laws will bring them light. I will come quickly and save them the time of my victory is near. I myself will rule over the nations. Distant lands wait for me to come they wait with hope for me to save them. I stretched out the heavens and laid the earth's foundations I say to Jerusalem , 'You are my people! I have given you my teaching, and I protect you with my hand.'  (Isaiah 51:4, 5, 16)
-I made him a leader and commander of nations, and through him I showed them my power. Now you will summon foreign nations at one time they did not know you, but now they will come running to join you! I, the LORD your God, the holy God of Israel, will make all this happen I will give you honor and glory. (Isaiah 55:4, 5)
-From east to west everyone will fear him and his great power. He will come like a rushing river, like a strong wind. The LORD says to his people, I will come to Jerusalem to defend you and to save all of you that turn from your sins. (Isaiah 59:19, 20)
-Jerusalem , you have been like a childless woman, but now you can sing and shout for joy. Now you will have more children than a woman whose husband never left her. Make the tent you live in larger lengthen its ropes and strengthen the pegs! You will extend your boundaries on all sides your people will get back the land that the other nations now occupy. Cities now deserted will be filled with people. (Isaiah 54:1-3)
-And this Good News about the Kingdom will be preached through all the world for a witness to all people and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)
-Has anyone ever seen or heard of such a thing? Has a nation ever been born in a day? Zion will not have to suffer long, before the nation is born. Do not think that I will bring my people to the point of birth and not let them be born. The LORD has spoken. I know their thoughts and their deeds. I am coming to gather the people of all the nations. When they come together, they will see what my power can do and will know that I am the one who punishes them. But I will spare some of them and send them to the nations and the distant lands that have not heard of my fame or seen my greatness and power: to Spain , Libya , and Lydia , with its skilled archers, and to Tubal and Greece . Among these nations they will proclaim my greatness. They will bring back all your people from the nations as a gift to me. They will bring them to my sacred hill in Jerusalem on horses, mules, and camels, and in chariots and wagons, just as Israelites bring grain offerings to the Temple in ritually clean containers. On every New Moon Festival and every Sabbath people of every nation will come to worship me here in Jerusalem  says the LORD. (Isaiah 66:8, 9, 18-20, 23)
-The LORD said, Sing for joy, people of Jerusalem ! I am coming to live among you! At that time many nations will come to the LORD and become his people. He will live among you, and you will know that he has sent me to you. (Zechariah 2:10, 11)
-At the time of those rulers the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never end. It will never be conquered, but will completely destroy all those empires and then last forever. (Daniel 2:44)
-During this vision in the night, I saw what looked like a human being. He was approaching me, surrounded by clouds, and he went to the one who had been living forever and was presented to him. He was given authority, honor, and royal power, so that the people of all nations, races, and languages would serve him. His authority would last forever, and his kingdom would never end. The power and greatness of all the kingdoms on earth will be given to the people of the Supreme God. Their royal power will never end, and all rulers on earth will serve and obey them. (Daniel 7:13, 14, 27)
-Then the LORD will be king over all the earth everyone will worship him as God and know him by the same name. (Zechariah 14:9)
-I assure you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 8:11)
-The LORD says, A day is coming when I will restore the kingdom of David , which is like a house fallen into ruins. I will repair its walls and restore it. I will rebuild it and make it as it was long ago. And so the people of Israel will conquer what is left of the land of Edom and all the nations that were once mine, says the LORD, who will cause this to happen. (Amos 9:11, 12)
-The LORD says, It was my will that he should suffer his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness. And so he will see his descendants he will live a long life, and through him my purpose will succeed. After a life of suffering, he will again have joy he will know that he did not suffer in vain. My devoted servant, with whom I am pleased, will bear the punishment of many and for his sake I will forgive them. And so I will give him a place of honour, a place among the great and powerful. He willingly gave his life and shared the fate of evil men. He took the place of many sinners and prayed that they might be forgiven. (Isaiah 53:10-12)
-When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me. (John 12:32)
-Men who live far away will come and help to rebuild the Temple of the LORD. And when it is rebuilt, you will know that the LORD Almighty sent me to you. This will all happen if you fully obey the commands of the LORD your God. (Zechariah 6:15)
-The LORD says, I am making a new earth and new heavens. The events of the past will be completely forgotten. (Isaiah 65:17)
-People from one end of the world to the other honour me. Everywhere they burn incense to me and offer acceptable sacrifices. All of them honour me! (Malachi 1:11)
-Those from one city will say to those from another, 'We are going to worship the LORD Almighty and pray for his blessing. Come with us!' Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to worship the LORD Almighty and to pray for his blessing. In those days ten foreigners will come to one Jew and say, 'We want to share in your destiny, because we have heard that God is with you.'  (Zechariah 8:21-23)
-Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The power to rule over the world belongs now to our Lord and his Messiah, and he will rule forever and ever! (Revelation 11:15) See Rev. 7:9, 10 12:10.
-'''<div id="_Toc118697220">2. Glory of the Church '''</div>
-The Spirit took control of me, and the angel carried me to the top of a very high mountain. He showed me Jerusalem , the Holy City , coming down out of heaven from God and shining with the glory of God. The city shone like a precious stone, like a jasper, clear as crystal. I did not see a temple in the city, because its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. The city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God shines on it, and the Lamb is its lamp. The peoples of the world will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their wealth into it. The gates of the city will stand open all day they will never be closed, because there will be no night there. The greatness and the wealth of the nations will be brought into the city. (Revelation 21:10, 11, 22-26)
-The princess is in the palace---how beautiful she is! Her gown is made of gold thread. (Psalms 45:13)
-The LORD says, O Jerusalem, you suffering, helpless city, with no one to comfort you, I will rebuild your foundations with precious stones. I will build your towers with rubies, your gates with stones that glow like fire, and the wall around you with jewels. (Isaiah 54:11, 12)
-Arise, Jerusalem , and shine like the sun The glory of the LORD is shining on you! Other nations will be covered by darkness, But on you the light of the LORD will shine The brightness of his presence will be with you. The wood of the pine, the juniper, and the cypress, The finest wood from the forests of Lebanon , Will be brought to rebuild you, Jerusalem , To make my Temple beautiful, To make my city glorious. You will no longer be forsaken and hated, A city deserted and desolate. I will make you great and beautiful, A place of joy forever and ever. No longer will the sun be your light by day Or the moon be your light by night I, the LORD, will be your eternal light The light of my glory will shine on you. (Isaiah 60:1, 2, 13, 15, 19)
-Listen, city of God , to the wonderful things he says about you: (Psalms 87:3)
-I am bringing the day of victory near--- it is not far away at all. My triumph will not be delayed. I will save Jerusalem and bring honor to Israel there. (Isaiah 46:13)
-Jerusalem , the nations will see you victorious! All their kings will see your glory. You will be called by a new name, div id given by the LORD himself. You will be like a beautiful crown for the LORD. (Isaiah 62:2, 3)
-Zion , the mountain of God , is high and beautiful the city of the great king brings joy to all the world. People of God, walk around Zion and count the towers take notice of the walls and examine the fortresses, so that you may tell the next generation: (Psalms 48:2, 12, 13)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697221">3. Increase of Light and knowledge, and of the means of Grace '''</div>
-I myself will teach your people and give them prosperity and peace. (Isaiah 54:13)
-He said to me, And now, Daniel, close the book and put a seal on it until the end of the world. Meanwhile, many people will waste their efforts trying to understand what is happening. (Daniel 12:4)
-On Zion , God's sacred hill, there will be nothing harmful or evil. The land will be as full of knowledge of the LORD as the seas are full of water. (Isaiah 11:9)
-Here on Mount Zion the LORD Almighty will prepare a banquet for all the nations of the world---a banquet of the richest food and the finest wine. Here he will suddenly remove the cloud of sorrow that has been hanging over all the nations. (Isaiah 25:6, 7)
-I will make rivers flow among barren hills and springs of water run in the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water and the dry land into flowing springs. I will make cedars grow in the desert, and acacias and myrtles and olive trees. Forests will grow in barren land, forests of pine and juniper and cypress. (Isaiah 41:18, 19) See Isa. 35:6-8.
-How wonderful it is to see a messenger coming across the mountains, bringing good news, the news of peace! He announces victory and says to Zion , Your God is king! Those who guard the city are shouting, shouting together for joy. They can see with their own eyes the return of the LORD to Zion . (Isaiah 52:7, 8)
-When that day comes, the deaf will be able to hear a book being read aloud, and the blind, who have been living in darkness, will open their eyes and see. Foolish people will learn to understand, and those who are always grumbling will be glad to be taught. (Isaiah 29:18, 24)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697222">4. Increase of Purity, Holiness, and Righteousness''' </div>
-How great the LORD is! He rules over everything. He will fill Jerusalem with justice and integrity and give stability to the nation. He always protects his people and gives them wisdom and knowledge. Their greatest treasure is their reverence for the LORD. (Isaiah 33:5, 6)
-Your people will all do what is right, And will possess the land forever. I planted them, I made them, To reveal my greatness to all. (Isaiah 60:21)
-Everyone who is left in Jerusalem , whom God has chosen for survival, will be called holy. By his power the Lord will judge and purify the nation and wash away the guilt of Jerusalem and the blood that has been shed there. (Isaiah 4:3, 4)
-She has been given clean shining linen to wear. (The linen is the good deeds of God's people.) (Revelation 19:8)
-But once more God will send us his spirit. The wasteland will become fertile, and fields will produce rich crops. Everywhere in the land righteousness and justice will be done. (Isaiah 32:15, 16)
-He will come to judge like one who refines and purifies silver. As a metalworker refines silver and gold, so the LORD's messenger will purify the priests, so that they will bring to the LORD the right kind of offerings. Then the offerings which the people of Judah and Jerusalem bring to the LORD will be pleasing to him, as they used to be in the past. (Malachi 3:3, 4)
-At that time even the harness bells of the horses will be inscribed with the words Dedicated to the LORD. The cooking pots in the Temple will be as sacred as the bowls before the altar. Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in all Judah will be set apart for use in the worship of the LORD Almighty. The people who offer sacrifices will use them for boiling the meat of the sacrifices. When that time comes, there will no longer be any merchant in the Temple of the LORD Almighty. (Zechariah 14:20, 21)
-May your people worship you as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon gives light, for ages to come. (Psalms 72:5)
-I will send victory from the sky like rain the earth will open to receive it and will blossom with freedom and justice. I, the LORD, will make this happen. (Isaiah 45:8)
-As surely as seeds sprout and grow, The Sovereign LORD will save his people, And all the nations will praise him. (Isaiah 61:11)
-Love and faithfulness will meet righteousness and peace will embrace. Human loyalty will reach up from the earth, and God's righteousness will look down from heaven. Righteousness will go before the LORD and prepare the path for him. (Psalms 85:10, 11, 13)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697223">5. Peace, Love, and Unity''' </div>
-He will settle disputes among great nations. They will hammer their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nations will never again go to war, never prepare for battle again. (Isaiah 2:4)
-I pray not only for them, but also for those who believe in me because of their message. I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me. I gave them the same glory you gave me, so that they may be one, just as you and I are one: I in them and you in me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the world may know that you sent me and that you love them as you love me. (John 17:20-23)
-Wolves and sheep will live together in peace, and leopards will lie down with young goats. Calves and lion cubs will feed together, and little children will take care of them. Cows and bears will eat together, and their calves and cubs will lie down in peace. Lions will eat straw as cattle do. Even a baby will not be harmed if it plays near a poisonous snake. On Zion , God's sacred hill, there will be nothing harmful or evil. The land will be as full of knowledge of the LORD as the seas are full of water. The kingdom of Israel will not be jealous of Judah any more, and Judah will not be the enemy of Israel . (Isaiah 11:6-9, 13)
-May the land enjoy prosperity may it experience righteousness. May righteousness flourish in his lifetime, and may prosperity last as long as the moon gives light. (Psalms 72:3, 7)
-Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love. (Ephesians 4:16)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697224">6. Submission and destruction of the Enemies of the Church </div>
-'''
-On that day the LORD will use his powerful and deadly sword to punish Leviathan, that wriggling, twisting dragon, and to kill the monster that lives in the sea. (Isaiah 27:1)
-From Zion the LORD will extend your royal power. Rule over your enemies, he says. The Lord is at your right side when he becomes angry, he will defeat kings. He will pass judgment on the nations and fill the battlefield with corpses he will defeat kings all over the earth. (Psalms 110:2, 5, 6)
-From east to west everyone will fear him and his great power. He will come like a rushing river, like a strong wind. (Isaiah 59:19)
-he will judge the poor fairly and defend the rights of the helpless. At his command the people will be punished, and evil persons will die. (Isaiah 11:4)
-Those who are angry with you will know the shame of defeat. Those who fight against you will die and will disappear from the earth. (Isaiah 41:12) See verses 15, 16.
-Can you take away a soldier's loot? Can you rescue the prisoners of a tyrant? The LORD replies, That is just what is going to happen. The soldier's prisoners will be taken away, and the tyrant's loot will be seized. I will fight against whoever fights you, and I will rescue your children. I will make your oppressors kill each other they will be drunk with murder and rage. Then all people will know that I am the LORD, the one who saves you and sets you free. They will know that I am Israel 's powerful God. (Isaiah 49:24-26)
-The descendants of those who oppressed you will come And bow low to show their respect. All who once despised you will worship at your feet. They will call you 'The City of the LORD,' ' Zion , the City of Israel's Holy God.' (Isaiah 60:14)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697225">The Destruction of Antichrist, Babylon , etc,/div>
-'''
-Then the Wicked One will be revealed, but when the Lord Jesus comes, he will kill him with the breath from his mouth and destroy him with his dazzling presence. (2 Thessalonians 2:8) See Dan. 7:24-26.
-A third angel followed the first two, saying in a loud voice, Those who worship the beast and its image and receive the mark on their forehead or on their hand will themselves drink God's wine, the wine of his fury, which he has poured at full strength into the cup of his anger! All who do this will be tormented in fire and sulfur before the holy angels and the Lamb. (Revelation 14:9, 10)
-The Sovereign LORD says: I will make you as desolate as ruined cities where no one lives. I will cover you with the water of the ocean depths. I will make you a terrifying example, and that will be the end of you. People may look for you, but you will never be found. The Sovereign LORD has spoken. (Ezekiel 26:19, 21)
-He cried out in a loud voice: She has fallen! Great Babylon has fallen! She is now haunted by demons and unclean spirits all kinds of filthy and hateful birds live in her. (Revelation 18:2) See to the end of the chapter.
-Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered to fight against the one who was riding the horse and against his army. The beast was taken prisoner, together with the false prophet who had performed miracles in his presence. (It was by those miracles that he had deceived those who had the mark of the beast and those who had worshiped the image of the beast.) The beast and the false prophet were both thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. (Revelation 19:19, 20)
-After the thousand years are over, Satan will be set loose from his prison, and he will go out to deceive the nations scattered over the whole world, that is, Gog and Magog. Satan will bring them all together for battle, as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. They spread out over the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people and the city that he loves. But fire came down from heaven and destroyed them. (Revelation 20:7-9) See Ezek. 38, 39.
-'''<div id="_Toc118697226">7. Favor and Submission of Kings to the Kingdom of Christ '''</div>
-But now many nations will marvel at him, and kings will be speechless with amazement. They will see and understand something they had never known. (Isaiah 52:15)
-Israel's holy God and savior says to the one who is deeply despised, who is hated by the nations and is the servant of rulers: Kings will see you released and will rise to show their respect princes also will see it, and they will bow low to honor you. This will happen because the LORD has chosen his servant the holy God of Israel keeps his promises. Kings will be like fathers to you queens will be like mothers. They will bow low before you and honor you they will humbly show their respect for you. Then you will know that I am the LORD no one who waits for my help will be disappointed. (Isaiah 49:7, 23)
-Nations will be drawn to your light, And kings to the dawning of your new day. The LORD says to Jerusalem , Foreigners will rebuild your walls, And their kings will serve you. In my anger I punished you, But now I will show you my favor and mercy. Day and night your gates will be open, So that the kings of the nations May bring you their wealth. Nations and kings will care for you As a mother nurses her child. You will know that I, the LORD, have saved you, That the mighty God of Israel sets you free. (Isaiah 60:3, 10, 11, 16)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697227">8. The Security, Tranquility, and Prosperity of the Church''' </div>
-I will show compassion to Jerusalem , to all who live in her ruins. Though her land is a desert, I will make it a garden, like the garden I planted in Eden . Joy and gladness will be there, and songs of praise and thanks to me. (Isaiah 51:3)
-Look at Zion , the city where we celebrate our religious festivals. Look at Jerusalem ! What a safe place it will be to live in! It will be like a tent that is never moved, whose pegs are never pulled up and whose ropes never break. The LORD will show us his glory. We will live beside broad rivers and streams, but hostile ships will not sail on them. All the rigging on those ships is useless the sails cannot be spread! We will seize all the wealth of enemy armies, and there will be so much that even the lame can get a share. The LORD himself will be our king he will rule over us and protect us. (Isaiah 33:20-22)
-And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. (Matthew 16:18)
-Justice and right will make you strong. You will be safe from oppression and terror. Whoever attacks you, does it without my consent whoever fights against you will fall. But no weapon will be able to hurt you you will have an answer for all who accuse you. I will defend my servants and give them victory. The LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 54:14, 15, 17)
-Rejoice with Jerusalem  be glad for her, all you that love this city! Rejoice with her now, all you that have mourned for her! You will enjoy her prosperity, like a child at its mother's breast. The LORD says, I will bring you lasting prosperity the wealth of the nations will flow to you like a river that never goes dry. You will be like a child that is nursed by its mother, carried in her arms, and treated with love. (Isaiah 66:10-12) See verses 13, 14.
-The people of Judah and of Jerusalem will be rescued and will live in safety. The city will be called 'The LORD Our Salvation.' (Jeremiah 33:16)
-On that day the LORD will say of his pleasant vineyard, I watch over it and water it continually. I guard it night and day so that no one will harm it. (Isaiah 27:2, 3)
-The power and greatness of all the kingdoms on earth will be given to the people of the Supreme God. Their royal power will never end, and all rulers on earth will serve and obey them. (Daniel 7:27)
-You will rise and take pity on Zion  the time has come to have mercy on her this is the right time. Your servants love her, even though she is destroyed they have pity on her, even though she is in ruins. When the LORD rebuilds Zion , he will reveal his greatness. (Psalms 102:13, 14, 16)
-Then over Mount Zion and over all who are gathered there, the LORD will send a cloud in the daytime and smoke and a bright flame at night. God's glory will cover and protect the whole city. His glory will shade the city from the heat of the day and make it a place of safety, sheltered from the rain and storm. (Isaiah 4:5, 6)
-Be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. The new Jerusalem I make will be full of joy, and her people will be happy. I myself will be filled with joy because of Jerusalem and her people. There will be no weeping there, no calling for help. (Isaiah 65:18, 19)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697228">9. Perpetual Continuance of the Church''' </div>
-Just as the new earth and the new heavens will endure by my power, so your descendants and your name will endure. (Isaiah 66:22)
-The LORD provides the sun for light by day, the moon and the stars to shine at night. He stirs up the sea and makes it roar his name is the LORD Almighty. He promises that as long as the natural order lasts, so long will Israel be a nation. If one day the sky could be measured and the foundations of the earth explored, only then would he reject the people of Israel because of all they have done. The LORD has spoken. (Jeremiah 31:35, 37) See Jer. 33:20-22, 25, 26.
-and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)
-and he will be the king of the descendants of Jacob forever his kingdom will never end! (Luke 1:33)
-He was given authority, honor, and royal power, so that the people of all nations, races, and languages would serve him. His authority would last forever, and his kingdom would never end. (Daniel 7:14)
-Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The power to rule over the world belongs now to our Lord and his Messiah, and he will rule forever and ever! (Revelation 11:15)
-At the time of those rulers the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never end. It will never be conquered, but will completely destroy all those empires and then last forever. (Daniel 2:44)
-And I make a covenant with you: I have given you my power and my teachings to be yours forever, and from now on you are to obey me and teach your children and your descendants to obey me for all time to come. (Isaiah 59:21)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697229">10. The Conversion and Restoration of the Jews </div>
-'''
-The people will live there in safety, no longer threatened by destruction. (Zechariah 14:11) See the whole chapter.
+'''CHAPTER 6'''
-But I will honour the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will make a covenant with you that will last forever. You will remember how you have acted, and be ashamed of it when you get your older sister and your younger sister back. I will let them be like daughters to you, even though this was not part of my covenant with you. (Ezekiel 16:61) See also verses 62, 63.
-The people of Israel will become like the sand of the sea, more than can be counted or measured. Now God says to them, You are not my people, but the day is coming when he will say to them, You are the children of the living God! The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited. They will choose for themselves a single leader, and once again they will grow and prosper in their land. Yes, the day of Jezreel will be a great day! (Hosea 1:10, 11)
+<p>THE WALDENSES &ndash; THEIR VALLEYS<br><br>
+Submission of the Churches of Lombardy to Rome &ndash; The Old Faith maintained in the Mountains &ndash; The Waldensian Churches &ndash; Question of their Antiquity &ndash; Approach to their Mountains &ndash; Arrangement of their Valleys &ndash; Picture of blended Beauty and Grandeur.<br><br>
+WHEN Claude died it can hardly be said that his mantle was taken up by any one. The battle, although not altogether dropped, was henceforward languidly maintained. Before this time not a few Churches beyond the Alps had submitted to the yoke of Rome, and that arrogant power must have felt it not a little humiliating to find her authority withstood on what she might regard as her own territory. She was venerated abroad but contemned at home. Attempts were renewed to induce the Bishops of Milan to accept the episcopal pall, the badge of spiritual vassalage, from the Pope; but it was not till the middle of the eleventh century (1059), under Nicholas II., that these attempts were successful.<br><br>
+<div id="66-1"></div>[[#6-1|'''1''']] Petrus Damianus, Bishop of Ostia, and Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, were dispatched by the Pontiff to receive the submission of the Lombard Churches, and the popular tumults amid which that submission was extorted sufficiently show that the spirit of Claude still lingered at the foot of the Alps. Nor did the clergy conceal the regret with which they laid their ancient liberties at the feet of a power before which the whole earth was then bowing down; for the Papal legate, Damianus, informs us that the clergy of Milan maintained in his presence, "That the Ambrosian Church, according to the ancient institutions of the Fathers, was always free, without being subject to the laws of Rome, and that the Pope of Rome had no jurisdiction over their Church as to the government or constitution of it."<br><br>
+<div id="66-2"></div>[[#6-2|'''2''']] But if the plains were conquered, not so the mountains. A considerable body of Protesters stood out against this deed of submission. Of these some crossed the Alps, descended the Rhine, and raised the standard of opposition in the diocese of Cologne, where they were branded as Manicheans, and rewarded with the stake. Others retired into the valleys of the Piedmontese Alps, and there maintained their scriptural faith and their ancient independence. What we have just related respecting the dioceses of Milan and Turin settles the question, in our opinion, of the apostolicity of the Churches of the Waldensian valleys.<br><br>
+It is not necessary to show that missionaries were sent from Rome in the first age to plant Christianity in these valleys, nor is it necessary to show that these Churches have existed as distinct and separate communities from early days; enough that they formed a part, as unquestionably they did, of the great evangelical Church of the north of Italy. This is the proof at once of their apostolicity and their independence. It attests their descent from apostolic men, if doctrine be the life of Churches. When their co-religionists on the plains entered within the pale of the Roman jurisdiction, they retired within the mountains, and, spurning alike the tyrannical yoke and the corrupt tenets of the Church of the Seven Hills, they preserved in its purity and simplicity the faith their fathers had handed down to them. Rome manifestly was the schismatic, she it was that had abandoned what was once the common faith of Christendom, leaving by that step to all who remained on the old ground the indisputably valid title of the True Church.<br><br>
+Behind this rampart of mountains, which Providence, foreseeing the approach of evil days, would almost seem to have reared on purpose, did the remnant of the early apostolic Church of Italy kindle their lamp, and here did that lamp continue to burn all through the long night which descended on Christendom. There is a singular concurrence of evidence in favor of their high antiquity. Their traditions invariably point to an unbroken descent from the earliest times, as regards their religious belief. The Nobla Leycon, which dates from the year 1100,<br><br>
+<div id="66-3"></div>[[#6-3|'''3''']] goes to prove that the Waldenses of Piedmont did not owe their rise to Peter Waldo of Lyons, who did not appear till the latter half of that century (1160). The Nobla Leycon, though a poem, is in reality a confession of faith, and could have been composed only after some considerable study of the system of Christianity, in contradistinction to the errors of Rome. How could a Church have arisen with such a document in her hands? Or how could these herdsmen and vine-dressers, shut up in their mountains, have detected the errors against which they bore testimony, and found their way to the truths of which they made open profession in times of darkness like these? If we grant that their religious beliefs were the heritage of former ages, handed down from an evangelical ancestry, all is plain; but if we maintain that they were the discovery of the men of those days, we assert what approaches almost to a miracle. Their greatest enemies, Claude Seyssel of Turin (1517), and Reynerius the Inquisitor (1250), have admitted their antiquity, and stigmatized them as "the most dangerous of all heretics, because the most ancient."<br><br>
+Rorenco, Prior of St. Roch, Turin (1640), was employed to investigate the origin and antiquity of the Waldenses, and of course had access to all the Waldensian documents in the ducal archives, and being their bitter enemy he may be presumed to have made his report not more favorable than he could help. Yet he states that "they were not a new sect in the ninth and tenth centuries, and that Claude of Turin must have detached them from the Church in the ninth century."<br><br>
+Within the limits of her own land did God provide a dwelling for this venerable Church. Let us bestow a glance upon the region. As one comes from the south, across the level plain of Piedmont, while yet nearly a hundred miles off, he sees the Alps rise before him, stretching like a great wall along the horizon. From the gates of the morning to those of the setting sun, the mountains run on in a line of towering magnificence. Pasturages and chestnut-forests clothe their base; eternal snows crown their summits. How varied are their forms! Some rise strong and massy as castles; others shoot up tall and tapering like needles; while others again run along in serrated lines, their summits torn and cleft by the storms of many thousand winters. At the hour of sunrise, what a glory kindles along the crest of that snowy rampart! At sunset the spectacle is again renewed, and a line of pyres is seen to burn in the evening sky.<br><br>
+Drawing nearer the hills, on a line about thirty miles west of Turin, there opens before one what seems a great mountain portal. This is the entrance to the Waldensian territory. A low hill drawn along in front serves as a defense against all who may come with hostile intent, as but too frequently happened in times gone by, while a stupendous monolith &ndash; the Castelluzzo &ndash; shoots up to the clouds, and stands sentinel at the gate of this renowned region. As one approaches La Torre the Castelluzzo rises higher and higher, and irresistibly fixes the eye by the perfect beauty of its pillar-like form. But; to this mountain a higher interest belongs than any that mere symmetry can give it. It is indissolubly linked with martyr-memories, and borrows a halo from the achievements of the past. How often, in days of old, was the confessor hurled sheer down its awful steep and dashed on the rocks at its foot! And there, commingled in one ghastly heap, growing ever the bigger and ghastlier as another and yet another victim was added to it, lay the mangled bodies of pastor and peasant, of mother and child! It was the tragedies connected with this mountain mainly that called forth Milton's well-known sonnet: &ndash;<br><br>
+Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughter'd saints, whose bones<br>
+Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold.<br><br>
+<p>
+    * * *<br>
+    In Thy book record their groans<br>
+    Who were Thy sheep, and in their ancient fold,<br>
+    Slain by the bloody Piedmontese,<br>
+    That roll'd Mother with infant down the rocks. their moans<br>
+    The vales redoubled to the hills, and they<br>
+    To heaven."
-I will make Judah and Israel prosperous, and I will rebuild them as they were before. I will purify them from the sins that they have committed against me, and I will forgive their sins and their rebellion. Jerusalem will be a source of joy, honour, and pride to me and every nation in the world will fear and tremble when they hear about the good things that I do for the people of Jerusalem and about the prosperity that I bring to the city. At that time I will choose as king a righteous descendant of David. That king will do what is right and just throughout the land. The people of Judah and of Jerusalem will be rescued and will live in safety.
+The elegant temple of the Waldenses rises near the foot of the Castelluzzo. The Waldensian valleys are seven in number; they were more in ancient times, but the limits of the Vaudois territory have undergone repeated curtailment, and now only the number we have stated remain, lying between Pinerolo on the east and Monte Viso on the west &ndash; that pyramidal hill which forms so prominent an object from every part of the plain of Piedmont, towering as it does above the surrounding mountains, and, like a horn of silver, cutting the ebon of the firmament.<br><br>
+The first three valleys run out somewhat like the spokes of a wheel, the spot on which we stand &ndash; the gateway, namely &ndash; being the nave. The first is Luserna, or Valley of Light. It runs right out in a grand gorge of some twelve miles in length by about two in width. It wears a carpeting of meadows, which the waters of the Pelice keep ever fresh and bright. A profusion of vines, acacias, and mulberry-trees fleck it with their shadows; and a wall of lofty mountains encloses it on either hand. The second is Rora, or Valley of Dews. It is a vast cup, some fifty miles in circumference, its sides luxuriantly clothed with meadow and corn-field, with fruit and forest trees, and its rim formed of craggy and spiky mountains, many of them snow-clad. The third is Angrogna, or Valley of Groans. Of it we shall speak more particularly afterwards. Beyond the extremity of the first three valleys are the remaining four, forming, as it were, the rim of the wheel. These last are enclosed in their turn by a line of lofty and craggy mountains, which form a wall of defense around the entire territory. <br><br>
+Each valley is a fortress, having its own gate of ingress and egress, with its caves, and rocks, and mighty chestnut-trees, forming places of retreat and shelter, so that the highest engineering skill could not have better adapted each several valley to its end. It is not less remarkable that, taking all these valleys together, each is so related to each, and the one opens so into the other, that they may be said to form one fortress of amazing and matchless strength &ndash; wholly impregnable, in fact. All the fortresses of Europe, though combined, would not form a citadel so enormously strong, and so dazzlingly magnificent, as the mountain dwelling of the Vaudois. "The Eternal, our God," says Leger "having destined this land to be the theater of His marvels, and the bulwark of His ark, has, by natural means, most marvelously fortified it." The battle begun in one valley could be continued in another, and carried round the entire territory, till at last the invading foe, overpowered by the rocks rolled upon him from the mountains, or assailed by enemies which would start suddenly out of the mist or issue from some unsuspected cave, found retreat impossible, and, cut off in detail, left his bones to whiten the mountains he had come to subdue.<br><br>
+These valleys are lovely and fertile, as well as strong. They are watered by numerous torrents, which descend from the snows of the summits. The grassy carpet of their bottom; the mantling vine and the golden grain of their lower slopes; the chalets that dot their sides, sweetly embowered amid fruit-trees; and, higher up, the great chestnut-forests and the pasture-lands, where the herdsmen keep watch over their flocks all through the summer days and the starlit nights: the nodding crags, from which the torrent leaps into the light; the rivulet, singing with quiet gladness in the shady nook; the mists, moving grandly among the mountains, now veiling, now revealing their majesty; and the far-off summits, tipped with silver, to be changed at eve into gleaming gold &ndash; make up a picture of blended beauty and grandeur, not equaled perhaps, and certainly not surpassed, in any other region of the earth.<br><br>
+In the heart of their mountains is situated the most interesting, perhaps, of all their valleys. It was in this retreat, walled round by "hills whose heads touch heaven," that their barbes or pastors, from all their several parishes, were wont to meet in annual synod. It was here that their college stood, and it was here that their missionaries were trained, and, after ordination, were sent forth to sow the good seed, as opportunity offered, in other lands. Let us visit this valley. We ascend to it by the long, narrow, and winding Angrogna. Bright meadows enliven its entrance. The mountains on either hand are clothed with the vine, the mulberry, and the chestnut. Anon the valley contracts. It becomes rough with projecting rocks, and shady with great trees. A few paces farther, and it expands into a circular basin, feathery with birches, musical with falling waters, environed atop by naked crags, fringed with dark pines, while the white peak looks down upon one out of heaven. A little in advance the valley seems shut in by a mountainous wall, drawn right across it; and beyond, towering sublimely upward, is seen an assemblage of snow-clad Alps, amid which is placed the valley we are in quest of, where burned of old the candle of the Waldenses. Some terrible convulsion has rent this mountain from top to bottom, opening a path through it to the valley beyond. We enter the dark chasm, and proceed along on a narrow ledge in the mountain's side, hung half-way between the torrent, which is heard thundering in the abyss below, and the summits which lean over us above. Journeying thus for about two miles, we find the pass beginning to widen, the light to break in, and now we arrive at the gate of the Pra.<br><br>
+There opens before us a noble circular valley, its grassy bottom watered by torrents, its sides dotted with dwellings and clothed with corn-fields and pasturages, while a ring of white peaks guards it above. This was the inner sanctuary of the Waldensian temple. The rest of Italy had turned aside to idols, the Waldensian territory alone had been reserved for the worship of the true God. And was it not meet that on its native soil a remnant of the apostolic Church of Italy should be maintained, that Rome and all Christendom might have before their eyes a perpetual monument of what they themselves had once been, and a living witness to testify how far they had departed from their first faith? [[#6-4|'''4''']]<br><br>
+<p>'''CHAPTER 7'''
+  <br>
+<p>THE WALDENSES &ndash; THEIR MISSIONS AND MARTYRDOMS<br>
+<br>
+Their Synod and College &ndash; Their Theological Tenets &ndash; Romaunt Version of the New Testament &ndash; The Constitution of their Church &ndash
+Their Missionary Labors &ndash; Wide Diffusion of their Tenets &ndash; The Stone Smiting the Image.<br><br>
+<p>ONE would like to have a near view of the barbes or pastors, who presided over the school of early Protestant theology that existed here, and to know how it fared with evangelical Christianity in the ages that preceded the Reformation. But the time is remote, and the events are dim. We can but doubtfully glean from a variety of sources the facts necessary to form a picture of this venerable Church, and even then the picture is not complete. <br>
+<br>
+The theology of which this was one of the fountainheads was not the clear, well-defined, and comprehensive system which the sixteenth century gave its; it was only what the faithful men of the Lombard Churches had been able to save from the wreck of primitive Christianity. True religion, being a revelation, was from the beginning complete and perfect; nevertheless, in this as in every other branch of knowledge, it is only by patient labor that man is able to extricate and arrange all its parts, and to come into the full possession of truth. The theology taught in former ages, in the peak-environed valley in which we have in imagination placed ourselves, was drawn from the Bible. The atoning death and justifying righteousness of Christ was its cardinal truth. This, the Nobla Leycon and other ancient documents abundantly testify. The Nobla Leycon sets forth with tolerable clearness the doctrine of the Trinity, the fall of man, the incarnation of the Son, the perpetual authority of the Decalogue as given by God,<br><br>
+<div id="77-1"></div>[[#7-1|'''1''']] the need of Divine grace in order to good works, the necessity of holiness, the institution of the ministry, the resurrection of the body, and the eternal bliss of heaven.<br><br>
+<div id="77-2"></div>[[#7-2|'''2''']] This creed, its professors exemplified in lives of evangelical virtue. The blamelessness of the Waldenses passed into a proverb, so that one more than ordinarily exempt from the vices of his time was sure to be suspected of being a Vaudes.<br><br>
+<div id="77-3"></div>[[#7-3|'''3''']] If doubt there were regarding the tenets of the Waldenses, the charges which their enemies have preferred against them would set that doubt at rest, and make it tolerably certain that they held substantially what the apostles before their day, and the Reformers after it, taught. The indictment against the Waldenses included a formidable list of "heresies." They held that there had been no true Pope since the days of Sylvester; that temporal offices and dignities were not meet for preachers of the Gospel; that the Pope's pardons were a cheat; that purgatory was a fable; that relics were simply rotten bones which had belonged to no one knew whom; that to go on pilgrimage served no end, save to empty one's purse; that flesh might be eaten any day if one's appetite served him; that holy water was not a whit more efficacious than rain water; and that prayer in a barn was just as effectual as if offered in a church. They were accused, moreover, of having scoffed at the doctrine of transubstantiation, and of having spoken blasphemously of Rome, as the harlot of the Apocalypse.<br><br>
+<div id="77-4"></div>[[#7-4|'''4''']] There is reason to believe, from recent historical researches, that the Waldenses possessed the New Testament in the vernacular. The "Lingua Romana" or Romaunt tongue was the common language of the south of Europe from the eighth to the fourteenth century. It was the language of the troubadours and of men of letters in the Dark Ages. Into this tongue &ndash; the Romaunt &ndash; was the first translation of the whole of the New Testament made so early as the twelfth century. This fact Dr. Gilly has been at great pains to prove in his work, The Romaunt Version<br><br>
+<div id="77-5"></div>[[#7-5|'''5''']] of the Gospel according to John. The sum of what Dr. Gilly, by a patient investigation into facts, and a great array of historic documents, maintains, is that all the books of the New Testament were translated from the Latin Vulgate into the Romaunt, that this was the first literal version since the fall of the empire, that it was made in the twelfth century, and was the first translation available for popular use. There were numerous earlier translations, but only of parts of the Word of God, and many of these were rather paraphrases or digests of Scripture than translations, and, moreover, they were so bulky, and by consequence so costly, as to be utterly beyond the reach of the common people.<br><br>
+This Romaunt version was the first complete and literal translation of the New Testament of Holy Scripture; it was made, as Dr Gilly, by a chain of proofs, shows, most probably under the superintendence and at the expense of Peter Waldo of Lyons, not later than 1180, and so is older than any complete version in German, French, Italian, Spanish, or English. This version was widely spread in the south of France, and in the cities of Lombardy. It was in common use among the Waldenses of Piedmont, and it was no small part, doubtless, of the testimony borne to truth by these mountaineers to preserve and circulate it. Of the Romaunt New Testament six copies have come down to our day. A copy is preserved at each of the four following places, Lyons, Grenoble, Zurich, Dublin; and two copies are at Paris. These are plain and portable volumes, contrasting with those splendid and ponderous folios of the Latin Vulgate, penned in characters of gold and silver, richly illuminated, their bindings decorated with gems, inviting admiration rather than study, and unfitted by their size and splendor for the use of the People.<br><br>
+The Church of the Alps, in the simplicity of its constitution, may be held to have been a reflection of the Church of the first centuries. The entire territory included in the Waldensian limits was divided into parishes. In each parish was placed a pastor, who led his flock to the living waters of the Word of God. He preached, he dispensed the Sacraments, he visited the sick, and catechized the young. With him was associated in the government of his congregation a consistory of laymen. The synod met once a year. It was composed of all the pastors, with an equal number of laymen, and its most frequent place of meeting was the secluded mountain-engirdled valley at the head of Angrogna. Sometimes as many as a hundred and fifty barbes, with the same number of lay members, would assemble. We can imagine them seated &ndash; it may be on the grassy slopes of the valley &ndash; a venerable company of humble, learned, earnest men, presided over by a simple moderator (for higher office or authority was unknown amongst them), and intermitting their deliberations respecting the affairs of their Churches, and the condition of their flocks, only to offer their prayers and praises to the Eternal, while the majestic snow-clad peaks looked down upon them from the silent firmament. There needed, verily, no magnificent fane, no blazonry of mystic rites to make their assembly august.<br><br>
+The youth who here sat at the feet of the more venerable and learned of their barbes used as their text-book the Holy Scriptures. And not only did they study the sacred volume; they were required to commit to memory, and be able accurately to recite, whole Gospels and Epistles. This was a necessary accomplishment on the part of public instructors, in those ages when printing was unknown, and copies of the Word of God were rare. Part of their time was occupied in transcribing the Holy Scriptures, or portions of them, which they were to distribute when they went forth as missionaries. By this, and by other agencies, the seed of the Divine Word was scattered throughout Europe more widely than is commonly supposed. To this a variety of causes contributed. There was then a general impression that the world was soon to end. Men thought that they saw the prognostications of its dissolution in the disorder into which all things had fallen. The pride, luxury, and profligacy of the clergy led not a few laymen to ask if better and more certain guides were not to be had. Many of the troubadours were religious men, whose lays were sermons. The hour of deep and universal slumber had passed; the serf was contending with his seigneur for personal freedom, and the city was waging war with the baronial castle for civic and corporate independence. The New Testament &ndash; and, as we learn from incidental notices, portions of the Old &ndash; coming at this juncture, in a language understood alike in the court as in the camp, in the city as in the rural hamlet, was welcome to many, and its truths obtained a wider promulgation than perhaps had taken place since the publication of the Vulgate by Jerome.<br><br>
+After passing a certain time in the school of the barbes, it was not uncommon for the Waldensian youth to proceed to the seminaries in the great cities of Lombardy, or to the Sorbonne at Paris. There they saw other customs, were initiated into other studies, and had a wider horizon around them than in the seclusion of their native valleys. Many of them became expert dialecticians, and often made converts of the rich merchants with whom they traded, and the landlords in whose houses they lodged. The priests seldom cared to meet in argument the Waldensian missionary. To maintain the truth in their own mountains was not the only object of this people. They felt their relations to the rest of Christendom. They sought to drive back the darkness, and re-conquer the kingdoms which Rome had overwhelmed. They were an evangelistic as well as an evangelical Church. It was an old law among them that all who took orders in their Church should, before being eligible to a home charge, serve three years in the mission field. The youth on whose head the assembled barbes laid their hands saw in prospect not a rich benefice, but a possible martyrdom. <br><br>
+<p>The ocean they did not cross. Their mission field was the realms that lay outspread at the foot of their own mountains. They went forth two and two, concealing their real character under the guise of a secular profession, most commonly that of merchants or peddlers. They carried silks, jewelry, and other articles, at that time not easily purchasable save at distant marts, and they were welcomed as merchants where they would have been spurned as missionaries. The door of the cottage and the portal of the baron's castle stood equally open to them. But their address was mainly shown in vending, without money and without price, rarer and more valuable merchandise than the gems and silks which had procured them entrance. They took care to carry with them, concealed among their wares or about their persons, portions of the Word of God, their own transcription commonly, and to this they would draw the attention of the inmates. When they saw a desire to possess it, they would freely make a gift of it where the means to purchase were absent.<br><br>
+There was no kingdom of Southern and Central Europe to which these missionaries did not find their way, and where they did not leave traces of their visit in the disciples whom they made. On the west they penetrated into Spain. In Southern France they found congenial fellow-laborers in the Albigenses, by whom the seeds of truth were plentifully scattered over Dauphine and Languedoc. On the east, descending the Rhine and the Danube, they leavened Germany, Bohemia, and Poland<br><br>
+<div id="77-6"></div>[[#7-6|'''6''']] with their doctrines, their track being marked with the edifices for worship and the stakes of martyrdom that arose around their steps. Even the Seven-hilled City they feared not to enter, scattering the seed on ungenial soil, if perchance some of it might take root and grow. Their naked feet and coarse woolen garments made them somewhat marked figures, in the streets of a city that clothed itself in purple and fine linen; and when their real errand was discovered, as sometimes chanced, the rulers of Christendom took care to further, in their own way, the springing of the seed, by watering it with the blood of the men who had sowed it.<br><br>
+<div id="77-7"></div>
+<p>[[#7-7|'''7''']]Thus did the Bible in those ages, veiling its majesty and its mission, travel silently through Christendom, entering homes and hearts, and there making its abode. From her lofty seat Rome looked down with contempt upon the Book and its humble bearers. She aimed at bowing the necks of kings, thinking if they were obedient meaner men would not dare revolt, and so she took little heed of a power which, weak as it seemed, was destined at a future day to break in pieces the fabric of her dominion. By-and-by she began to be uneasy, and to have a boding of calamity. The penetrating eye of Innocent III. detected the quarter whence danger was to arise. He saw in the labors of these humble men the beginning of a movement which, if permitted to go on and gather strength, would one day sweep away all that it had taken the toils and intrigues of centuries to achieve. He straightway commenced those terrible crusades which wasted the sowers but watered the seed, and helped to bring on, at its appointed hour, the catastrophe which he sought to avert.[[#7-8|'''8''']]<br>
+  </p>
+<p><br>
-The city will be called 'The LORD Our Salvation.' Have you noticed how people are saying that I have rejected Israel and Judah, the two families that I chose? And so they look with contempt on my people and no longer consider them a nation. But I, the LORD, have a covenant with day and night, and I have made the laws that control earth and sky. And just as surely as I have done this, so I will maintain my covenant with Jacob's descendants and with my servant David. I will choose one of David's descendants to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will be merciful to my people and make them prosperous again. (Jeremiah 33:7-9, 15, 16, 24-26) To the same purpose see the whole chapter. See also chapter 50:4, 5, 19, 20.
+  '''CHAPTER 8'''</p>
+<p>'''THE PAULICIANS'''<br>
-But I will gather you together, all you people of Israel that are left. I will bring you together like sheep returning to the fold. Like a pasture full of sheep, your land will once again be filled with many people. God will open the way for them and lead them out of exile. They will break out of the city gates and go free. Their king, the LORD himself, will lead them out. (Micah 2:12, 13)
+  <br>
+  The Paulicians the Protesters against the Eastern, as the Waldenses against the Western Apostasy &ndash; Their Rise in A.D. 653 &ndash; Constantine of Samosata-Their Tenets Scriptural &ndash; Constantine Stoned to Death &ndash; Simeon Succeeds &ndash; Is put to Death &ndash; Sergius &ndash; His Missionary Travels &ndash; Terrible Persecutions-The Paulicians Rise in Arms &ndash; Civil War &ndash; The Government Triumphs &ndash; Dispersion of the Paulicians over the West &ndash; They Blend with the Waldenses &ndash; Movement in the South of Europe &ndash; The Troubadour, the Barbe, and the Bible, the Three Missionaries &ndash; Innocent III. &ndash; The Crusades.<br>
-I will make people and cattle increase in number. There will be more of you than ever before, and you will have many children. I will let you live there as you used to live, and I will make you more prosperous than ever. Then you will know that I am the LORD. I will take you from every nation and country and bring you back to your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that has defiled you. I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart. The Sovereign LORD says, When I make you clean from all your sins, I will let you live in your cities again and let you rebuild the ruins. (Ezekiel 36:11, 24-26, 33) See the whole chapter also chapter 37.
+  <br>
+  BESIDES this central and main body of oppositionists to Rome &ndash; Protestants before Protestantism &ndash; placed here as in an impregnable fortress, upreared on purpose, in the very center of Roman Christendom, other communities and individuals arose, and maintained a continuous line of Protestant testimony all along to the sixteenth century. These we shall compendiously group and rapidly describe. First, there are the Paulicians. They occupy an analogous place in the East to that which the Waldenses held in the West. Some obscurity rests upon their origin, and additional mystery has on purpose been cast over it, but a fair and impartial examination of the matter leaves no doubt that the Paulicians are the remnant that escaped the apostasy of the Eastern Church, just as the Waldenses are the remnant saved from the apostasy of the Western Church. Doubt, too, has been thrown upon their religious opinions; they have been painted as a confederacy of Manicheans, just as the Waldenses were branded as a synagogue of heretics; but in the former case, as in the latter, an examination of the matter satisfies us that these imputations had no sufficient foundation, that the Paulicians repudiated the errors imputed to them, and that as a body their opinions were in substantial agreement with the doctrine of Holy Writ. Nearly all the information we have of them is that which Petrus Siculus, their bitter enemy, has communicated. He visited them when they were in their most flourishing condition, and the account he has given of their distinguishing doctrines sufficiently proves that the Paulicians had rejected the leading errors of the Greek and Roman Churches; but it fails to show that they had embraced the doctrine of Manes,<div id="88-1"></div>[[#8-1|'''1''']] or were justly liable to be styled Manicheans.<br>
-Some will be killed by the sword, and others will be taken as prisoners to all countries and the heathen will trample over Jerusalem until their time is up. (Luke 21:24)
+<br>
+In A.D. 653, a deacon returning from captivity in Syria rested a night in the house of an Armenian named Constantine, who lived in the neighborhood of Samosata. On the morrow, before taking his departure, he presented his host with a copy of the New Testament. Constantine studied the sacred volume. A new light broke upon his mind: the errors of the Greek Church stood clearly revealed, and he instantly resolved to separate himself from so corrupt a communion. He drew others to the study of the Scriptures, and the same light shone into their minds which had irradiated his. Sharing his views, they shared with him his secession from the established Church of the Empire. It was the boast of this new party, now grown to considerable numbers, that they adhered to the Scriptures, and especially to the writings of Paul. "I am Sylvanus," said Constantine, "and ye are Macedonians," intimating thereby that the Gospel which he would teach, and they should learn, was that of Paul; hence the name of Paulicians, a designation they would not have been ambitious to wear had their doctrine been Manichean.<div id="88-2"></div>[[#8-2|'''2''']]<br><br>
-They will live on the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where their ancestors lived. They will live there forever, and so will their children and all their descendants. A king like my servant David will rule them forever. (Ezekiel 37:25)
+These disciples multiplied. A congenial soil favored their increase, for in these same mountains, where are placed the sources of the Euphrates, the Nestorian remnant had found a refuge. The attention of the Government at Constantinople was at length turned to them, and persecution followed. Constantine, whose zeal, constancy, and piety had been amply tested by the labors of twenty-seven years, was stoned to death. From his ashes arose a leader still more powerful. Simeon, an officer of the palace who had been sent with a body of troops to superintend his execution, was converted by his martyrdom; and, like Paul after the stoning of Stephen, forthwith began to preach the faith which he had once persecuted. Simeon ended his career, as Constantine had done, by sealing his testimony with his blood; the stake being planted beside the heap of stones piled above the ashes of Constantine.<br>
+<br>
-I will show you my power and my anger when I gather you together and bring you back from all the countries where you have been scattered. I will bring you into the 'Desert of the Nations,' and there I will condemn you to your face. I will take firm control of you and make you obey my covenant. I will take away from among you those who are rebellious and sinful. I will take them out of the lands where they are living now, but I will not let them return to the land of Israel . Then you will know that I am the LORD. There in the land, on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel , all you people of Israel will worship me. I will be pleased with you and will expect you to bring me your sacrifices, your best offerings, and your holy gifts. (Ezekiel 20:34, 35, 37, 38, 40) See also verses 41, 44.
+Still the Paulicians multiplied; other leaders arose to fill the place of those who had fallen, and neither the anathemas of the hierarchy nor the sword of the State could check their growth. All through the eighth century they continued to flourish. The worship of images was now the fashionable superstition in the Eastern Church, and the Paulicians rendered themselves still more obnoxious to the Greek authorities, lay and clerical, by the strenuous opposition which they offered to that idolatry of which the Greeks were the great advocates and patrons. This drew upon them yet sorer persecution. It was now, in the end of the eighth century, that the most remarkable perhaps of all their leaders, Sergius, rose to head them, a man of truly missionary spirit and of indomitable energy. Petrus Siculus has given us an account of the conversion of Sergius. We should take it for a satire, were it not for the manifest earnestness and simplicity of the writer. Siculus tells us that Satan appeared to Sergius in the shape of an old woman, and asked him why he did not read the New Testament? The tempter proceeded further to recite portions of Holy Writ, whereby Sergius was seduced to read the Scripture, and so perverted to heresy; and "from sheep," says Siculus, "turned numbers into wolves, and by their means ravaged the sheepfolds of Christ."<br><br>
+<div id="88-3"></div>[[#8-3|'''3''']] During thirty-four years, and in the course of innumerable journeys, he preached the Gospel from East to West, and converted great numbers of his countrymen. The result was more terrible persecutions, which were continued through successive reigns. Foremost in this work we find the Emperor Leo, the Patriarch Nicephorus, and notably the Empress Theodora. Under the latter it was affirmed, says Gibbon, "that one hundred thousand Paulicians were extirpated by the sword, the gibbet, or the flames." It is admitted by the same historian that the chief guilt of many of those who were thus destroyed lay in their being Iconoclasts.<br><br>
-I will take pleasure in doing good things for them, and I will establish them permanently in this land. (Jeremiah 32:41) See from verse 37 to the end.
+<div id="88-4"></div>[[#8-4|'''4''']] The sanguinary zeal of Theodora kindled a flame which had well-nigh consumed the Empire of the East. The Paulicians, stung by these cruel injuries, now prolonged for two centuries, at last took up arms, as the Waldenses of Piedmont, the Hussites of Bohemia, and the Huguenots of France did in similar circumstances. They placed their camp in the mountains between Sewas and Trebizond, and for thirty-five years (A.D. 845 &ndash; 880) the Empire of Constantinople was afflicted with the calamities of civil war. Repeated victories, won over the troops of the emperor, crowned the arms of the Paulicians, and at length the insurgents were joined by the Saracens, who hung on the frontier of the Empire. The flames of battle extended into the heart of Asia; and as it is impossible to restrain the ravages of the sword when once unsheathed, the Paulicians passed from a righteous defense to an inexcusable revenge. Entire provinces were wasted, opulent cities were sacked, ancient and famous churches were turned into stables, and troops of captives were held to ransom or delivered to the executioner. But it must not be forgotten that the original cause of these manifold miseries was the bigotry of the government and the zeal of the clergy for image-worship. The fortune of war at last declared in favor of the troops of the emperor, and the insurgents were driven back into their mountains, where for a century afterwards they enjoyed a partial independence, and maintained the profession of their religious faith.<br><br>
+After this, the Paulicians were transported across the Bosphorus, and settled in Thrace.<br><br>
-I will give them a king like my servant David to be their one shepherd, and he will take care of them. I, the LORD, will be their God, and a king like my servant David will be their ruler. I have spoken. The heathen nations will not plunder them any more, and the wild animals will not kill and eat them. They will live in safety, and no one will terrify them. I will give them fertile fields and put an end to hunger in the land. The other nations will not sneer at them any more. (Ezekiel 34:23, 24, 28, 29) See also verses 11, 16, and from verse 22 to the end of the chapter.
+<div id="88-5"></div>[[#8-5|'''5''']] This removal was begun by the Emperor Constantine Copronymus in the middle of the eighth century, was continued in successive colonies in the ninth, and completed about the end of the tenth. The shadow of the Saracenic woe was already blackening over the Eastern Empire, and God removed His witnesses betimes from the destined scene of judgment. The arrival of the Paulicians in Europe was regarded with favor rather than disapproval. Rome was becoming by her tyranny the terror and by her profligacy the scandal of the West, and men were disposed to welcome whatever promised to throw additional weight into the opposing scale. The Paulicians soon spread themselves over Europe, and though no chronicle records their dispersion, the fact is attested by the sudden and simultaneous outbreak of their opinions in many of the Western countries.<br><br>
+<div id="88-6"></div>[[#8-6|'''6''']] They mingled with the hosts of the Crusaders returning from the Holy Land through Hungary and Germany; they joined themselves to the caravans of merchants who entered the harbor of Venice and the gates of Lombardy; or they followed the Byzantine standard into Southern Italy, and by these various routes settled themselves in the West.<br><br>
-So I am going to take her into the desert again there I will win her back with words of love. I will give back to her the vineyards she had and make Trouble Valley a door of hope. She will respond to me there as she did when she was young, when she came from Egypt . Israel , I will make you my wife I will be true and faithful I will show you constant love and mercy and make you mine forever. (Hosea 2:14, 15, 19) See from verse 16 to the end.
+<div id="88-7"></div>[[#8-7|'''7''']] They incorporated with the preexisting bodies of oppositionists, and from this time a new life is seen to animate the efforts of the Waldenses of Piedmont, the Albigenses of Southern France, and of others who, in other parts of Europe, revolted by the growing superstitions, had begun to retrace their steps towards the primeval fountains of truth. "Their opinions," says Gibbon, "were silently propagated in Rome, Milan, and the kingdoms beyond the Alps. It was soon discovered that many thousand Catholics of every rank, and of either sex, had embraced the Manichean heresy."<br><br>
+<div id="88-8"></div>[[#8-8|'''8''']] From this point the Paulician stream becomes blended with that of the other early confessors of the Truth. To these we now return.<br><br>
+When we cast our eyes over Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, our attention is irresistibly riveted on the south of France. There a great movement is on the eve of breaking out. Cities and provinces are seen rising in revolt against the Church of Rome. Judging from the aspect of things on the surface, one would have inferred that all opposition to Rome had died out. Every succeeding century was deepening the foundations and widening the limits of the Romish Church, and it seemed now as if there awaited her ages of quiet and unchallenged dominion. It is at this moment that her power begins to totter; and though she will rise higher ere terminating her career, her decadence has already begun, and her fall may be postponed, but cannot be averted. But how do we account for the powerful movement that begins to show itself at the foot of the Alps, at a moment when, as it seems, every enemy has been vanquished, and Rome has won the battle? To attack her now, seated as we behold her amid vassal kings, obedient nations, and entrenched behind a triple rampart of darkness, is surely to invite destruction.<br><br>
+The causes of this movement had been long in silent operation. In fact, this was the very quarter of Christendom where opposition to the growing tyranny and superstitions of Rome might be expected first to show itself. Here it was that Polycarp and Irenaeus had labored. Over all those goodly plains which the Rhone waters, and in those numerous cities and villages over which the Alps stretch their shadows, these apostolic men had planted Christianity. Hundreds of thousands of martyrs had here watered it with their blood, and though a thousand years well-nigh had passed since that day, the story of their terrible torments and heroic deaths had not been altogether forgotten. In the Cottian Alps and the province of Languedoc, Vigilantius had raised his powerful protest against the errors of his times. This region was included, as we have seen, in the diocese of Milan, and, as a consequence, it enjoyed the light which shone on the south of the Alps long after Churches not a few on the north of these mountains were plunged in darkness.<br><br>
+In the ninth century Claude of Turin had found in the Archbishop of Lyons, Agobardus, a man willing to entertain his views and to share his conflicts. Since that time the night had deepened here as everywhere else. But still, as may be conceived, there were memories of the past, there were seeds in the soil, which new forces might quicken and make to spring up. Such a force did now begin to act. It was, moreover, on this spot, and among these peoples &ndash; the best prepared of all the nations of the West &ndash; that the Word of God was first published in the vernacular. When the Romance version of the New Testament was issued, the people that sat in darkness saw a great light. This was in fact a second giving of Divine Revelation to the nations of Europe; for the early Saxon renderings of portions of Holy Writ had fallen aside and gone utterly into disuse; and though Jerome's translation, the Vulgate, was still known, it was in Latin, now a dead language, and its use was confined to the priests, who though they possessed it cannot be said to have known it; for the reverence paid it lay in the rich illuminations of its writing, in the gold and gems of its binding, and the curiously-carved and costly cabinets in which it was locked up, and not in the earnestness with which its pages were studied. Now the nations of Southern Europe could read, each in "the tongue wherein he was born," the wonderful works of God.<br><br>
+This inestimable boon they owed to Peter Valdes or Waldo, a rich merchant in Lyons, who had been awakened to serious thought by the sudden death of a companion, according to some, by the chance lay of a traveling troubadour, according to others. We can imagine the wonder and joy of these people when this light broke upon them through the clouds that environed them. But we must not picture to ourselves a diffusion of the Bible, in those ages, at all so wide and rapid as would take place in our day when copies can be so easily multiplied by the printing press. Each copy was laboriously produced by the pen; its price corresponded to the time and labor expended in its production; it had to be carried long distances, often by slow and uncertain conveyances; and, last of all, it had to encounter the frowns and ultimately the prohibitory edicts of a hostile hierarchy. But there were compensatory advantages. Difficulties but tended to whet the desire of the people to obtain the Book, and when once their eyes lighted on its page, its truths made the deeper an impression on their minds. It stood out in its sublimity from the fables on which they had been fed. The conscience felt that a greater than man was speaking from its page. Each copy served scores and hundreds of readers.<br><br>
+Besides, if the mechanical appliances were lacking to those ages, which the progress of invention has conferred on ours, there existed a living machinery which worked indefatigably. The Bible was sung in the lays of troubadours and minnesingers. It was recited in the sermons of barbes. And these efforts reacted on the Book from which they had sprung, by leading men to the yet more earnest perusal and the yet wider diffusion of it. The Troubadour, the Barbe, and, mightiest of all, the Bible, were the three missionaries that traversed the south of Europe. Disciples were multiplied: congregations were formed: barons, cities, provinces, joined the movement. It seemed as if the Reformation was come. Not yet. Rome had not filled up her cup; nor had the nations of Europe that full and woeful demonstration they have since received, how crushing to liberty, to knowledge, to order, is her yoke, to induce them to join universally in the struggle to break it.<br><br>
+Besides, it happened, as has often been seen at historic crises of the Papacy, that a Pope equal to the occasion filled the Papal throne. Of remarkable vigor, of dauntless spirit, and of sanguinary temper, Innocent III. but too truly guessed the character and divined the issue of the movement. He sounded the tocsin of persecution. Mail-clad abbots, lordly prelates, "who wielded by turns the crosier, the scepter, and the sword;"<div id="88-9"></div>[[#8-9|'''9''']] barons and counts ambitious of enlarging their domains, and mobs eager to wreak their savage fanaticism on their neighbors, whose persons they hated and whose goods they coveted, assembled at the Pontiff's summons. Fire and sword speedily did the work of extermination. Where before had been seen smiling provinces, flourishing cities, and a numerous, virtuous, and orderly population, there was now a blackened and silent desert. That nothing might be lacking to carry on this terrible work, Innocent III. set up the tribunal of the Inquisition. Behind the soldiers of the Cross marched the monks of St. Dominic, and what escaped the sword of the one perished by the racks of the other. In one of those dismal tragedies not fewer than a hundred thousand persons are said to have been destroyed.<br><br>
+<div id="88-10"></div>
+<p>[[#8-10|'''10''']] Over wide areas not a living thing was left: all were given to the sword. Mounds of ruins and ashes alone marked the spot where cities and villages had formerly stood. But this violence recoiled in the end on the power which had employed it. It did not extinguish the movement: it but made the roots strike deeper, to spring up again and again, and each time with greater vigor and over a wider area, till at last it was seen that Rome by these deeds was only preparing for Protestantism a more glorious triumph, and for herself a more signal overthrow.<br>
+  <br>
+But these events are too intimately connected with the early history of Protestantism, and they too truly depict the genius and policy of that power against which Protestantism found it so hard a matter to struggle into existence, to be passed over in silence, or dismissed with a mere general description. We must go a little into detail.<br>
+</p>
+<p><br>
-Even today, whenever they read the Law of Moses, the veil still covers their minds. But it can be removed, as the scripture says about Moses: His veil was removed when he turned to the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:15, 16)
-The LORD said, Sing for joy, people of Jerusalem ! I am coming to live among you! Once again Judah will be the special possession of the LORD in his sacred land, and Jerusalem will be the city he loves most of all. (Zechariah 2:10, 12)
+  '''CHAPTER 9'''</p>
+<p>'''CRUSADES AGAINST THE ALBIGENSES'''<br>
-So the LORD will abandon his people to their enemies until the woman who is to give birth has her son. Then those Israelites who are in exile will be reunited with their own people. When he comes, he will rule his people with the strength that comes from the LORD and with the majesty of the LORD God himself. His people will live in safety because people all over the earth will acknowledge his greatness, The people of Israel who survive will be like refreshing dew sent by the LORD for many nations, like showers on growing plants. They will depend on God, not people. I will destroy your idols and sacred stone pillars no longer will you worship the things that you yourselves have made. (Micah 5:3, 4, 7, 13)
+  <br>
-See the whole chapter, chapter 4, and chapter 7:14, 17. See also Zeph. 3:9, to the end.
+  Rome founded on the Dogma of Persecution &ndash; Begins to act upon it &ndash; Territory of the Albigenses &ndash; Innocent III. &ndash; Persecuting Edicts of Councils &ndash; Crusade preached by the Monks of Citeaux &ndash; First Crusade launched &ndash; Paradise &ndash; Simon de Montfort &ndash; Raymond of Toulouse &ndash; His Territories Overrun and Devastated &ndash; Crusade against Raymond Roger of Beziers &ndash; Burning of his Towns &ndash; Massacre of their Inhabitants &ndash; Destruction of the Albigenses.<br>
+  <br>
-But on Mount Zion some will escape, and it will be a sacred place. The people of Jacob will possess the land that is theirs by right. The victorious men of Jerusalem will attack Edom and rule over it. And the LORD himself will be king. (Obadiah 1:17, 21)
+  THE torch of persecution was fairly kindled in the beginning of the thirteenth century. Those baleful fires, which had smoldered since the fall of the Empire, were now re-lighted, but it must be noted that this was the act not of the State but of the Church. Rome had founded her dominion upon the dogma of persecution. She sustained herself "Lord of the conscience." Out of this prolific but pestiferous root came a whole century of fulminating edicts, to be followed by centuries of blazing piles. It could not be but that this maxim, placed at the foundation of her system, should inspire and mold the whole policy of the Church of Rome. Divine mistress of the conscience and of the faith, she claimed the exclusive right to prescribe to every human being what he was to believe, and to pursue with temporal and spiritual terrors every form of worship different from her own, till she had chased it out of the world. The first exemplification, on a great scale, of her office which she gave mankind was the crusades. As the professors of an impure creed, she pronounced sentence of extermination on the Saracens of the Holy Land; she sent thither some millions of crusaders to execute her ban; and the lands, cities, and wealth of the slaughtered infidels she bestowed upon her orthodox sons. If it was right to apply this principle to one pagan country, we do not see what should hinder Rome &ndash; unless indeed lack of power &ndash; from sending her missionaries to every land where infidelity and heresy prevailed, emptying them of their evil creed and their evil inhabitants together, and re-peopling them anew with a pure race from within her own orthodox pale.<br>
+  <br>
-In just this way the people of Israel will have to live for a long time without kings or leaders, without sacrifices or sacred stone pillars, without idols or images to use for divination. But the time will come when the people of Israel will once again turn to the LORD their God and to a descendant of David their king. Then they will fear the LORD and will receive his good gifts. (Hosea 3:4, 5)
+  But now the fervor of the crusades had begun sensibly to abate. The result had not responded either to the expectations of the Church that had planned them, or to the masses that had carried them out. The golden crowns of Paradise had been all duly bestowed, doubtless, but of course on those of the crusaders only who had fallen; the survivors had as yet inherited little save wounds, poverty, and disease. The Church, too, began to see that the zeal and blood which were being so freely expended on the shores of Asia might be turned to better account nearer home. The Albigenses and other sects springing up at her door were more dangerous foes of the Papacy than the Saracens of the distant East. For a while the Popes saw with comparative indifference the growth of these religious communities; they dreaded no harm from bodies apparently so insignificant; and even entertained at times the thought of grafting them on their own system as separate orders, or as resuscitating and purifying forces. With the advent of Innocent III., however, came a new policy. He perceived that the principles of these communities were wholly alien in their nature to those of the Papacy, that they never could be made to work in concert with it, and that if left to develop themselves they would most surely effect its overthrow. Accordingly the cloud of exterminating vengeance which rolled in the skies of the world, whithersoever he was pleased to command, was ordered to halt, to return westward, and discharge its chastisement on the South of Europe.<br>
+  <br>
-The LORD says, At that time I will restore the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem . I will gather all the nations and bring them to the Valley of Judgement . There I will judge them for all they have done to my people. They have scattered the Israelites in foreign countries and divided Israel , my land. Then, Israel , you will know that I am the LORD your God. I live on Zion , my sacred hill. Jerusalem will be a sacred city foreigners will never conquer it again. I will avenge those who were killed I will not spare the guilty. But Judah and Jerusalem will be inhabited forever, and I, the LORD, will live on Mount Zion . (Joel 3:1, 2, 17, 20) See also verses 7, 14, 16, 18, 21.
+  Let us take a glance at the region which this dreadful tempest is about to smite. The France of those days, instead of forming an entire monarchy, was parted into four grand divisions. It is the most southerly of the four, or Narbonne-Gaul, to which our attention is now to be turned. This was an ample and goodly territory, stretching from the Dauphinese Alps on the east to the Pyrenees on the south-west, and comprising the modern provinces of Dauphine, Provence, Languedoc or Gascogne. It was watered throughout by the Rhone, which descended upon it from the north, and it was washed along its southern boundary by the Mediterranean. Occupied by an intelligent population, it had become under their skillful husbandry one vast expanse of corn-land and vineyard, of fruit and forest tree. To the riches of the soil were added the wealth of commerce, in which the inhabitants were tempted to engage by the proximity of the sea and the neighborhood of the Italian republics. Above all, its people were addicted to the pursuits of art and poetry. It was the land of the troubadour. It was further embellished by the numerous castles of a powerful nobility, who spent their time in elegant festivities and gay tournaments.<br>
+  <br>
-I will make the people of Judah strong I will rescue the people of Israel . I will have compassion on them and bring them all back home. They will be as though I had never rejected them. I am the LORD their God I will answer their prayers. I will call my people and gather them together. I will rescue them and make them as numerous as they used to be. Though I have scattered them among the nations, yet in far-off places they will remember me. They and their children will survive and return home together. (Zechariah 10:6, 8, 9) See the whole chapter.
+  But better things than poetry and feats of mimic war flourished here. The towns, formed into communes, and placed under municipal institutions, enjoyed no small measure of freedom. The lively and poetic genius of the people had enabled them to form a language of their own &ndash; namely, the Provencal. In richness of vocables, softness of cadence, and picturesqueness of idiom, the Provencal excelled all the languages of Europe, and promised to become the universal tongue of Christendom. Best of all, a pure Christianity was developing in the region. It was here, on the banks of the Rhone, that Irenaeus and the other early apostles of Gaul had labored, and the seeds which their hands had deposited in its soil, watered by the blood of martyrs who had fought in the first ranks in the terrible combats of those days, had never wholly perished. Influences of recent birth had helped to quicken these seeds into a second growth. Foremost among these was the translation of the New Testament into the Provencal, the earliest, as we have shown, of all our modern versions of the Scriptures. The barons protected the people in their evangelical sentiments, some because they shared their opinions, others because they found them to be industrious and skillful cultivators of their lands. A cordial welcome awaited the troubadour at their castle-gates; he departed loaded with gifts; and he enjoyed the baron's protection as he passed on through the cities and villages, concealing, not unfrequently, the colporteur and missionary under the guise of the songster. The hour of a great revolt against Rome appeared to be near. Surrounded by the fostering influences of art, intelligence, and liberty, primitive Christianity was here powerfully developing itself. It seemed verily that the thirteenth and not the sixteenth century would be the date of the Reformation, and that its cradle would be placed not in Germany but in the south of France.<br>
+  <br>
+  The penetrating and far-seeing eye of Innocent III. saw all this very clearly. Not at the foot of the Alps and the Pyrenees only did he detect a new life: in other countries of Europe, in Italy, in Spain, in Flanders, in Hungary &ndash; wherever, in short, dispersion had driven the sectaries, he discovered the same fermentation below the surface, the same incipient revolt against the Papal power. He resolved without loss of time to grapple with and crush the movement. He issued an edict enjoining the extermination of all heretics.<br>
+  <br>
+</p>
+<div id="99-1"></div>[[#9-1|'''1''']] Cities would be drowned in blood, kingdoms would be laid waste, art and civilization would perish, and the progress of the world would be rolled back for centuries; but not otherwise could the movement be arrested, and Rome saved.<br><br>
+A long series of persecuting edicts and canons paved the way for these horrible butcheries. The Council of Toulouse, in 1119, presided over by Pope Calixtus II., pronounced a general excommunication upon all who held the sentiments of the Albigenses, cast them out of the Church, delivered them to the sword of the State to be punished, and included in the same condemnation all who should afford them defense or protection.<br><br>
+<div id="99-2"></div>[[#9-2|'''2''']] This canon was renewed in the second General Council of Lateran, 1139, under Innocent II.<br><br>
+<div id="99-3"></div>[[#9-3|'''3''']] Each succeeding Council strove to excel its predecessor in its sanguinary and pitiless spirit. The Council of Tours, 1163, under Alexander III., stripped the heretics of their goods, forbade, under peril of excommunication, any to relieve them, and left them to perish without succor.<br><br>
+<div id="99-4"></div>[[#9-4|'''4''']] The third General Council of Lateran, 1179, under Alexander III., enjoined princes to make war upon them, to take their possessions for a spoil, to reduce their persons to slavery, and to withhold from them Christian burial.<br><br>
+<div id="99-5"></div>[[#9-5|'''5''']] The fourth General Council of Lateran bears the stern and comprehensive stamp of the man under whom it was held. The Council commanded princes to take an oath to extirpate heretics from their dominions. Fearing that some, from motives of self-interest, might hesitate to destroy the more industrious of their subjects, the Council sought to quicken their obedience by appealing to their avarice. It made over the heritages of the excommunicated to those who should carry out the sentence pronounced upon them. Still further to stimulate to this pious work, the Council rewarded a service of forty days in it with the same ample indulgences which had aforetime been bestowed on those who served in the distant and dangerous crusades of Syria. If any prince should still hold back, he was himself, after a year's grace, to be smitten with excommunication, his vassals were to be loosed from their allegiance, and his lands given to whoever had the will or the power to seize them, after having first purged them of heresy. That this work of extirpation might be thoroughly done, the bishops were empowered to make an annual visitation of their dioceses, to institute a very close search for heretics, and to extract an oath from the leading inhabitants that they would report to the ecclesiastics from time to time those among their neighbors and acquaintances who had strayed from the faith.<br><br>
+<div id="9-6"></div>[[#9-6|'''6''']] It is hardly necessary to say that it is Innocent III. who speaks in this Council. It was assembled in his palace of the Lateran in 1215; it was one of the most brilliant Councils that ever were convened, being composed of 800 abbots and priors, 400 bishops, besides patriarchs, deputies, and ambassadors from all nations. It was opened by Innocent in person, with a discourse from the words, "With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you."<br><br>
+We cannot pursue farther this series of terrific edicts, which runs on till the end of the century and into the next. Each is like that which went before it, save only that it surpasses it in cruelty and terror. The fearful pillagings and massacrings which instantly followed in the south of France, and which were re-enacted in following centuries in all the countries of Christendom, were but too faithful transcripts, both in spirit and letter, of these ecclesiastical enactments. Meanwhile, we must note that it is out of the chair of the Pope &ndash; out of the dogma that the Church is mistress of the conscience &ndash; that this river of blood is seen to flow.<br><br>
+Three years was this storm in gathering. Its first heralds were the monks of Citeaux, sent abroad by Innocent III. in 1206 to preach the crusade throughout France and the adjoining kingdoms. There followed St. Dominic and his band, who traveled on foot, two and two, with full powers from the Pope to search out heretics, dispute with them, and set a mark on those who were to be burned when opportunity should offer. In this mission of inquisition we see the first beginnings of a tribunal which came afterwards to bear the terrible name of the "Inquisition." These gave themselves to the work with an ardor which had not been equaled since the times of Peter the Hermit. The fiery orators of the Vatican but too easily succeeded in kindling the fanaticism of the masses. War was at all times the delight of the peoples among whom this mission was discharged; but to engage in this war what dazzling temptations were held out!<br><br>
+The foes they were to march against were accursed of God and the Church. To shed their blood was to wash away their own sins &ndash; it was to atone for all the vices and crimes of a lifetime. And then to think of the dwellings of the Albigenses, replenished with elegances and stored with wealth, and of their fields blooming with the richest cultivation, all to become the lawful spoil of the crossed invader!<br><br>But this was only a first installment of a great and brilliant recompense in the future. They had the word of the Pope that at the moment of death they should find the angels prepared to carry them aloft, the gates of Paradise open for their entrance, and the crowns and delights of the upper world waiting their choice.<br><br>
+The crusader of the previous century had to buy forgiveness with a great sum: he had to cross the sea, to face the Saracen, to linger out years amid unknown toils and perils, and to return &ndash; if he should ever return &ndash; with broken health and ruined fortune. But now a campaign of forty days in one's own country, involving no hardship and very little risk, was all that was demanded for one's eternal salvation. Never before had Paradise been so cheap! The preparations for this war of extermination went on throughout the years 1207 and 1208. Like the mutterings of the distant thunder or the hoarse roar of ocean when the tempest is rising, the dreadful sounds filled Europe, and their echoes reached the doomed provinces, where they were heard with terror. In the spring of 1209 these armed fanatics were ready to march,<div id="99-7"></div>[[#9-7|'''7''']]<br><br>
+One body had assembled at Lyons. Led by Arnold, Abbot of Citeaux and legate of the Pope, it descended by the valley of the Rhone. A second army gathered in the Agenois under the Archbishop of Bordeaux. A third horde of militant pilgrims marshaled in the north, the subjects of Philip Augustus, and at their head marched the Bishop of Puy.<br><br>
+<div id="99-8"></div>[[#9-8|'''8''']] The near neighbors of the Albigenses rose in a body, and swelled this already overgrown host. The chief director of this sacred war was the Papal legate, the Abbot of Citeaux. Its chief military commander was Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester a French nobleman, who had practiced war and learnt cruelty in the crusades of the Holy Land. In putting himself at the head of these crossed and fanatical hordes he was influenced, it is believed, quite as much by a covetous greed of the ample and rich territories of Raymond, Count of Toulouse, as by hatred of the heresy that Raymond was suspected of protecting. The number of crusaders who now put themselves in motion is variously estimated at from 50,000 to 500,000. The former is the reckoning of the Abbot of Vaux Cernay, the Popish chronicler of the war; but his calculation, says Sismondi, does not include "the ignorant and fanatical multitude which followed each preacher armed with scythes and clubs, and promised to themselves that if they were not in a condition to combat the knights of Languedoc, they might, at least, be able to murder the women and children of the heretics."<div id="99-9"></div>[[#9-9|'''9''']]<br>
+<br>
+This overwhelming host precipitated itself upon the estates of Raymond VI., Count of Toulouse. Seeing the storm approach, he was seized with dread, wrote submissive letters to Rome, and offered to accept whatever terms the Papal legate might please to dictate. As the price of his reconciliation, he had to deliver up to the Pope seven of his strongest towns, to appear at the door of the Church, where the dead body of the legate Castelneau, who had been murdered in his dominions, lay, and to be there beaten with rods.<br><br>
+<div id="9-10"></div>[[#9-10|'''10''']] Next, a rope was put about his neck, and he was dragged by the legate to the tomb of the friar, in the presence of several bishops and an immense multitude of spectators. After all this, he was obliged to take the cross, and join with those who were seizing and plundering his cities, massacring his subjects, and carrying fire and sword throughout his territories. Stung by these humiliations and calamities, he again changed sides. But his resolution to brave the Papal wrath came too late. He was again smitten with interdict; his possessions were given to Simon de Montfort, and in the end he saw himself reft of all.<div id="99-11"></div>[[#9-11|'''11''']]<br><br>
+Among the princes of the region now visited with this devastating scourge, the next in rank and influence to the Count of Toulouse was the young Raymond Roger, Viscount of Beziers. Every day this horde of murderers drew nearer and nearer to his territories. Submission would only invite destruction. He hastened to put his kingdom into a posture of defense. His vassals were numerous and valiant, their fortified castles covered the face of the country; of his towns, two, Beziers and Carcassonne, were of great size and strength, and he judged that in these circumstances it was not too rash to hope to turn the brunt of the impending tempest. He called round him his armed knights, and told them that his purpose was to fight: many of them were Papists, as he himself was; but he pointed to the character of the hordes that were approaching, who made it their sole business to drown the earth in blood, without much distinction whether it was Catholic or Albigensian blood that they spilled. His knights applauded the resolution of their young and brave liege lord.<br><br>
+The castles were garrisoned and provisioned, the peasantry of the surrounding districts gathered into them, and the cities were provided against a siege. Placing in Beziers a number of valiant knights, and telling the inhabitants that their only hope of safety lay in making a stout defense, Raymond shut himself up in Carcassonne, and waited the approach of the army of crusaders. Onward came the host: before them a smiling country, in their rear a piteous picture of devastation &ndash; battered castles, the blackened walls and towers of silent cities, homesteads in ashes, and a desert scathed with fire and stained with blood.<br><br>
+In the middle of July, 1209, the three bodies of crusaders arrived, and sat down under the walls of Beziers. The stoutest heart among its citizens quailed, as they surveyed from the ramparts this host that seemed to cover the face of the earth. "So great was the assemblage," says the old chronicle, "both of tents and pavilions, that it appeared as if all the world was collected there."<br><br>
+<div id="99-12"></div>[[#9-12|'''12''']] Astonished but not daunted, the men of Beziers made a rush upon the pilgrims before they should have time to fortify their encampment. It was all in vain The assault was repelled, and the crusaders, mingling with the citizens as they hurried back to the town in broken crowds, entered the gates along with them, and Beziers was in their hands before they had even formed the plan of attack. The knights inquired of the Papal legate, the Abbot of Citeaux, how they might distinguish the Catholics from the heretics. Arnold at once cut the knot which time did not suffice to loose by the following reply, which has since become famous; "Kill all! kill all! The Lord will know His own.<div id="99-13"></div>[[#9-13|'''13''']] "<br><br>
+The bloody work now began. The ordinary population of Beziers was some 15,000; at this moment it could not be less than four times its usual number, for being the capital of the province, and a place of great strength, the inhabitants of the country and the open villages had been collected into it. The multitude, when they saw that the city was taken, fled to the churches, and began to toll the bells by way of supplication. This only the sooner drew upon themselves the swords of the assassins. The wretched citizens were slaughtered in a trice. Their dead bodies covered the floor of the church; they were piled in heaps round the altar; their blood flowed in torrents at the door. "Seven thousand dead bodies," says Sismondi, "were counted in the Magdalen alone. When the crusaders had massacred the last living creature in Beziers, and had pillaged the houses of all that they thought worth carrying off, they set fire to the city in every part at once, and reduced it to a vast funeral pile. Not a house remained standing, not one human being alive. Historians differ as to the number of victims. The Abbot of Citoaux, feeling some shame for the butchery which he had ordered, in his letter to Innocent III. reduces it to 15,000; others make it amount to 60,000."<div id="99-14"></div>[[#9-14|'''14''']]<br><br>
+The terrible fate which had overtaken Beziers &ndash; in one day converted into a mound of ruins dreary and silent as any on the plain of Chaldaea &ndash; told the other towns and villages the destiny that awaited them. The inhabitants, terror-stricken, fled to the woods and caves. Even the strong castles were left tenantless, their defenders deeming it vain to think of opposing so furious and overwhelming a host. Pillaging, burning, and massacring as they had a mind, the crusaders advanced to Carcassonne, where they arrived on the lst of August. The city stood on the right bank of the Aude; its fortifications were strong, its garrison numerous and brave, and the young count, Raymond Roger, was at their head. The assailants advanced to the walls, but met a stout resistance. The defenders poured upon them streams of boiling water and oil, and crushed them with great stones and projectiles. The attack was again and again renewed, but was as often repulsed. Meanwhile the forty days' service was drawing to an end, and bands of crusaders, having fulfilled their term and earned heaven, were departing to their homes. The Papal legate, seeing the host melting away, judged it perfectly right to call wiles to the aid of his arms. Holding out to Raymond Roger the hope of an honorable capitulation, and swearing to respect his liberty, Arnold induced the viscount, with 300 of his knights, to present himself at his tent. "The latter," says Sismondi, "profoundly penetrated with the maxim of Innocent III., that 'to keep faith with those that have it not is an offense against the faith,' caused the young viscount to be arrested, with all the knights who had followed him."<br><br>
+When the garrison saw that their leader had been imprisoned, they resolved, along with the inhabitants, to make their escape overnight by a secret passage known only to themselves &ndash; a cavern three leagues in length, extending from Carcassonne to the towers of Cabardes. The crusaders were astonished on the morrow, when not a man could be seen upon the walls; and still more mortified was the Papal legate to find that his prey had escaped him, for his purpose was to make a bonfire of the city, with every man, woman, and child within it. But if this greater revenge was now out of his reach, he did not disdain a smaller one still in his power. He collected a body of some 450 persons, partly fugitives from Carcassonne whom he had captured, and partly the 300 knights who had accompanied the viscount, and of these he burned 400 alive and the remaining 50 he hanged.<div id="99-15">
+  <p>[[#9-15|'''15''']]<br>
+    </p>
+  <p><br>
-God has not rejected his people, whom he chose from the beginning. You know what the scripture says in the passage where Elijah pleads with God against Israel : The sin of the Jews brought rich blessings to the world, and their spiritual poverty brought rich blessings to the Gentiles. Then, how much greater the blessings will be when the complete number of Jews is included! For when they were rejected, all other people were changed from God's enemies into his friends. What will it be, then, when they are accepted? It will be life for the dead! And if the Jews abandon their unbelief, they will be put back in the place where they were for God is able to do that. You Gentiles are like the branch of a wild olive tree that is broken off and then, contrary to nature, is joined to a cultivated olive tree. The Jews are like this cultivated tree and it will be much easier for God to join these broken-off branches to their own tree again.
-There is a secret truth, my friends, which I want you to know, for it will keep you from thinking how wise you are. It is that the stubbornness of the people of Israel is not permanent, but will last only until the complete number of Gentiles comes to God. And this is how all Israel will be saved. As the scripture says, The Savior will come from Zion and remove all wickedness from the descendants of Jacob. I will make this covenant with them when I take away their sins. Because they reject the Good News, the Jews are God's enemies for the sake of you Gentiles. But because of God's choice, they are his friends because of their ancestors. For God does not change his mind about whom he chooses and blesses. For God has made all people prisoners of disobedience, so that he might show mercy to them all. How great are God's riches! How deep are his wisdom and knowledge! Who can explain his decisions? Who can understand his ways? (Romans 11:2, 12, 15, 23-29, 32, 33)
-The LORD says, The time is coming when I will be the God of all the tribes of Israel , and they will be my people. Once again I will rebuild you. Once again you will take up your tambourines and dance joyfully. The LORD says, Nations, listen to me and proclaim my words on the far-off shores. I scattered my people, but I will gather them and guard them as a shepherd guards his flock. There is hope for your future your children will come back home. I, the LORD, have spoken. The LORD says, The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah . It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt . Although I was like a husband to them, they did not keep that covenant. The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be this: I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. The time is coming, says the LORD, when all of Jerusalem will be rebuilt as my city, from Hananel Tower west to the Corner Gate. (Jeremiah 31:1, 4, 10, 17, 31-33, 38) See the whole chapter.
-At that time I will make the clans of Judah like a fire in a forest or in a field of ripe grain---they will destroy all the surrounding nations. The people of Jerusalem will remain safe in the city. I will fill the descendants of David and the other people of Jerusalem with the spirit of mercy and the spirit of prayer. They will look at the one whom they stabbed to death, and they will mourn for him like those who mourn for an only child. They will mourn bitterly, like those who have lost their first-born son. (Zechariah 12:6, 10) See the whole chapter.
-I will bring my people back to their land. They will rebuild their ruined cities and live there they will plant vineyards and drink the wine they will plant gardens and eat what they grow. I will plant my people on the land I gave them, and they will not be pulled up again. The LORD your God has spoken. (Amos 9:14, 15)
+CHAPTER 10
-Instead, they will serve me, the LORD their God, and a descendant of David, whom I will enthrone as king. My people, do not be afraid people of Israel , do not be terrified. I will rescue you from that faraway land, from the land where you are prisoners. You will come back home and live in peace you will be secure, and no one will make you afraid. (Jeremiah 30:9, 10) See to the end of the chapter.
-'''<div id="_Toc118697230">Part 4 – Promises of Christ's Second Coming – That Christ will come again '''</div>
-So you should not pass judgement on anyone before the right time comes. Final judgement must wait until the Lord comes he will bring to light the dark secrets and expose the hidden purposes of people's minds. And then all will receive from God the praise they deserve. (1 Corinthians 4:5)
-And now there is waiting for me the victory prize of being put right with God, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day---and not only to me, but to all those who wait with love for him to appear. (2 Timothy 4:8)
-There will be the shout of command, the archangel's voice, the sound of God's trumpet, and the Lord himself will come down from heaven. Those who have died believing in Christ will rise to life first (1 then we who are living at that time will be gathered up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17)
-Watch out, then, because you do not know what day your Lord will come. (Matthew 24:42)
-You heard me say to you, 'I am leaving, but I will come back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father for he is greater than I. (John 14:28)
-and to wait for his Son to come from heaven---his Son Jesus, whom he raised from death and who rescues us from God's anger that is coming. (1 Thess 1:10)
-I will fill the descendants of David and the other people of Jerusalem with the spirit of mercy and the spirit of prayer. They will look at the one whom they stabbed to death, and they will mourn for him like those who mourn for an only child. They will mourn bitterly, like those who have lost their first-born son. (Zechariah 12:10)
-Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory! (Colossians 3:4)
-But I know there is someone in heaven who will come at last to my defence. (Job 19:25)
-At that time he will stand on the Mount of Olives, to the east of Jerusalem . Then the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west by a large valley. Half of the mountain will move northward, and half of it southward. (Zechariah 14:4)
-This means that every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:26)
-May the Lord lead you into a greater understanding of God's love and the endurance that is given by Christ. (2 Thessalonians 3:5)
-Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and all the peoples of earth will weep as they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30)
-My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is. (1 John 3:2)
-And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the glorious crown which will never lose its brightness. (1 Peter 5:4)
-Look, he is coming on the clouds! Everyone will see him, including those who pierced him. All peoples on earth will mourn over him. So shall it be! (Revelation 1:7)
-I am, answered Jesus, and you will all see the Son of Man seated at the right side of the Almighty and coming with the clouds of heaven! (Mark 14:62)
-and he will give relief to you who suffer and to us as well. He will do this when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven with his mighty angels, (2 Thess 1:7)
-And after I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am. (John 14:3)
-For the Son of Man will come like the lightning which flashes across the whole sky from the east to the west. (Matthew 24:27)
-as we wait for the blessed Day we hope for, when the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ will appear. (Titus 2:13)
-and said, Galileans, why are you standing there looking up at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven. (Acts 1:11)
-For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his deeds. (Matthew 16:27)
-When the Son of Man comes as King and all the angels with him, he will sit on his royal throne, (Matthew 25:31)
-times of spiritual strength will come from the Lord, and he will send Jesus, who is the Messiah he has already chosen for you. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for all things to be made new, as God announced through his holy prophets of long ago. (Acts 3:20, 21)
-In the same manner Christ also was offered in sacrifice once to take away the sins of many. He will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:28)
-Listen! says Jesus. I am coming soon! I will bring my rewards with me, to give to each one according to what he has done. He who gives his testimony to all this says, Yes indeed! I am coming soon! So be it. Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:12, 20)
-In this way he will strengthen you, and you will be perfect and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all who belong to him. (1 Thess 3:13)
-that you have not failed to receive a single blessing, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be faultless on the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:7, 8)
-During this vision in the night, I saw what looked like a human being. He was approaching me, surrounded by clouds, and he went to the one who had been living forever and was presented to him. He was given authority, honor, and royal power, so that the people of all nations, races, and languages would serve him. His authority would last forever, and his kingdom would never end. (Daniel 7:13, 14)
-We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven. He will change our weak mortal bodies and make them like his own glorious body, using that power by which he is able to bring all things under his rule. (Philippians 3:20, 21)
-First of all, you must understand that in the last days some people will appear whose lives are controlled by their own lusts. They will make fun of you and will ask, He promised to come, didn't he? Where is he? Our ancestors have already died, but everything is still the same as it was since the creation of the world! But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that Day the heavens will disappear with a shrill noise, the heavenly bodies will burn up and be destroyed, and the earth with everything in it will vanish. (2 Peter 3:3, 4, 10)
-'''<div id="_Toc118697231">Conclusion''' </div>
-'''<div id="_Toc118697232">That God will perform all His Promises '''</div>
-Remember that the LORD your God is the only God and that he is faithful. He will keep his covenant and show his constant love to a thousand generations of those who love him and obey his commands, (Deuteronomy 7:9)
-Your word, O LORD, will last forever it is eternal in heaven. Your faithfulness endures through all the ages you have set the earth in place, and it remains. The heart of your law is truth, and all your righteous judgements are eternal. (Psalms 119:89, 90, 160)
-God is not like people, who lie He is not a human who changes his mind. Whatever he promises, he does He speaks, and it is done. (Numbers 23:19)
-There are these two things, then, that cannot change and about which God cannot lie. So we who have found safety with him are greatly encouraged to hold firmly to the hope placed before us. (Hebrews 6:18)
-This God---how perfect are his deeds! How dependable his words! He is like a shield for all who seek his protection. (Psalms 18:30)
+<p>ERECTION OF TRIBUNAL OF INQUISITION<br>
+<br>
+The Crusades still continued in the Albigensian Territory &ndash; Council of Toulouse, 1229 &ndash; Organizes the Inquisition &ndash; Condemns the Reading of the Bible in the Vernacular &ndash; Gregory IX., 1233, further perfects the Organization of the Inquisition, and commits it to the Dominicans &ndash; The Crusades continued under the form of the Inquisition &ndash; These Butcheries the deliberate Act of Rome &ndash; Revived and Sanctioned by her in our own day &ndash; Protestantism of Thirteenth Century Crushed &ndash; Not alone &ndash; Final Ends.<br>
+<br>
+THE main object of the crusades was now accomplished. The principalities of Raymond VI., Count of Toulouse, and Raymond Roger, Viscount of Beziers, had been "purged" and made over to that faithful son of the Church, Simon de Montfort. The lands of the Count of Foix were likewise overrun, and joined with the neighboring provinces in a common desolation. The Viscount of Narbonne contrived to avoid a visit of the crusaders, but at the price of becoming himself the Grand Inquisitor of his dominions, and purging them with laws even more rigorous than the Church demanded,<div id="110-1"></div>[[#10-1|'''1''']]<br><br>
+The twenty years that followed were devoted to the cruel work of rooting out any seeds of heresy that might possibly yet remain in the soil. Every year a crowd of monks issued from the convents of Citeaux, and, taking possession of the pulpits, preached a new crusade. For the same easy service they offered the same prodigious reward &ndash; Paradise &ndash; and the consequence was, that every year a new wave of fanatics gathered and rolled toward the devoted provinces. The villages and the woods were searched, and some gleanings, left from the harvests of previous years, were found and made food for the gibbets and stakes that in such dismal array covered the face of the country. The first instigators of these terrible proceedings &ndash; Innocent III., Simon de Montfort, the Abbot of Citeaux &ndash; soon passed from the scene, but the tragedies they had begun went on. In the lands which the Albigenses &ndash; now all but extinct &ndash; had once peopled, and which they had so greatly enriched by their industry and adorned by their art, blood never ceased to flow nor the flames to devour their victims. It would be remote from the object of our history to enter here into details, but we must dwell a little on the events of 1229. This year a Council was held at Toulouse, under the Papal legate, the Cardinal of St. Angelo. The foundation of the Inquisition had already been laid. Innocent III. and St. Dominic share between them the merit of this good work.<br><br>
+<div id="110-2"></div>[[#10-2|'''2''']] In the year of the fourth Lateran, 1215, St. Dominic received the Pontiff's commission to judge and deliver to punishment apostate and relapsed and obstinate heretics.<br><br>
+<div id="110-3"></div>[[#10-3|'''3''']] This was the Inquisition, though lacking as yet its full organization and equipment. That St. Dominic died before it was completed alters not the question touching his connection with its authorship, though of late a vindication of him has been attempted on this ground, only by shifting the guilt to his Church. The fact remains that St. Dominic accompanied the armies of Simon de Montfort, that he delivered the Albigenses to the secular judge to be put to death &ndash; in short, worked the Inquisition so far as it had received shape and form in his day. But the Council of Toulouse still further perfected the organization and developed the working of this terrible tribunal. It erected in every city a council of Inquisitors consisting of one priest and three laymen,<br><br><div id="110-4"></div>[[#10-4|'''4''']] whose business it was to search for heretics in towns, houses, cellars, and other lurking-places, as also in caves, woods, and fields, and to denounce them to the bishops, lords, or their bailiffs. Once discovered, a summary but dreadful ordeal conducted them to the stake. <br><br>
+The houses of heretics were to be razed to their foundations, and the ground on which they stood condemned and confiscated &ndash; for heresy, like the leprosy, polluted the very stones, and timber, and soil. Lords were held responsible for the orthodoxy of their estates, and so far also for those of their neighbors. <br><br>If remiss in their search, the sharp admonition of the Church soon quickened their diligence. A last will and testament was of no validity unless a priest had been by when it was made. A physician suspected was forbidden to practice. All above the age of fourteen were required on oath to abjure heresy, and to aid in the search for heretics.<br><br>
+<div id="110-5"></div>[[#10-5|'''5''']] As a fitting appendage to those tyrannical acts, and a sure and lasting evidence of the real source whence that thing called "heresy," on the extirpation of which they were so intent, was derived, the same Council condemned the reading of the Holy Scriptures. "We prohibit," says the fourteenth canon, "the laics from having the books of the Old and New Testament, unless it be at most that any one wishes to have, from devotion, a psalter, a breviary for the Divine offices, or the hours of the blessed Mary; but we forbid them in the most express manner to have the above books translated into the vulgar tongue."<br><br>
+<div id="110-6"></div>[[#10-6|'''6''']] In 1233, Pope Gregory IX. issued a bull, by which he confided the working of the Inquisition to the Dominicans.<br><br>
+<div id="110-7"></div>[[#10-7|'''7''']] He appointed his legate, the Bishop of Tournay, to carry out the bull in the way of completing the organization of that tribunal which has since become the terror of Christendom, and which has caused to perish such a prodigious number of human beings. In discharge of his commission, the bishop named two Dominicans in Toulouse, and two in each city of the province, to form the Tribunal of the Faith;<br><br><div id="110-8"></div>[[#10-8|'''8''']] and soon, under the warm patronage of Saint Louis (Louis IX.) of France, this court was extended to the whole kingdom. An instruction was at the same time furnished to the Inquisitors, in which the bishop enumerated the errors of the heretics. The document bears undesigned testimony to the Scriptural faith of the men whom the newly-erected court was meant to root out. "In the exposition made by the Bishop of Tournay, of the errors of the Albigenses," says Sismondi, "we find nearly all the principles upon which Luther and Calvin founded the Reformation of the sixteenth century."<div id="110-9"></div>[[#10-9|'''9''']]<br><br>
+Although the crusades, as hitherto waged, were now ended, they continued under the more dreadful form of the Inquisition. We say more dreadful form, for not so terrible was the crusader's sword as the Inquisitor's rack, and to die fighting in the open field or on the ramparts of the beleaguered city, was a fate less horrible than to expire amid prolonged and excruciating tortures in the dungeons of the "Holy Office." The tempests of the crusades, however terrible, had yet their intermissions; they burst, passed away, and left a breathing-space between their explosions. Not so the Inquisition. It worked on and on, day and night, century after century, with a regularity that was appalling. With steady march it extended its area, till at last it embraced almost all the countries of Europe, and kept piling up its dead year by year in ever larger and ghastlier heaps. These awful tragedies were the sole and deliberate acts of the Church of Rome. <br><br>
+She planned them in solemn council, she enunciated them in dogma and canon, and in executing them she claimed to act as the vicegerent of Heaven, who had power to save or to destroy nations. Never can that Church be in fairer circumstances than she was then for displaying her true genius, and showing what she holds to be her real rights. She was in the noon of her power; she was free from all coercion whether of force or of fear; she could afford to be magnanimous and tolerant were it possible she ever could be so; yet the sword was the only argument she condescended to employ. She blew the trumpet of vengeance, summoned to arms the half of Europe, and crushed the rising forces of reason and religion under an avalanche of savage fanaticism. In our own day all these horrible deeds have been reviewed, ratified, and sanctioned by the same Church that six centuries ago enacted them: first in the Syllabus of 1864, which expressly vindicates the ground on which these crusades were done &ndash; namely, that the Church of Rome possesses the supremacy of both powers, the spiritual and the temporal; that she has the right to employ both swords in the extirpation of heresy; that in the exercise of this right in the past she never exceeded by a hair's breadth her just prerogatives, and that what she has done aforetime she may do in time to come, as often as occasion shall require and opportunity may serve. And, secondly, they have been endorsed over again by the decree of Infallibility, which declares that the Popes who planned, ordered, and by their bishops and monks executed all these crimes, were in these, as in all their other official acts, infallibly guided by inspiration. The plea that it was the thirteenth century when these horrible butcheries were committed, every one sees to be wholly inadmissible. An infallible Church has no need to wait for the coming of the lights of philosophy and science. Her sun is always in the zenith. The thirteenth and the nineteenth century are the same to her, for she is just as infallible in the one as in the other.<br><br>
+So fell, smitten down by this terrible blow, to rise no more in the same age and among the same people, the Protestantism of the thirteenth century. It did not perish alone. All the regenerative forces of a social and intellectual kind which Protestantism even at that early stage had evoked were rooted out along with it. Letters had begun to refine, liberty to emancipate, art to beautify, and commerce to enrich the region, but all were swept away by a vengeful power that was regardless of what it destroyed, provided only it reached its end in the extirpation of Protestantism. How changed the region from what it once was! There the song of the troubadour was heard no more. No more was the gallant knight seen riding forth to display his prowess in the gay tournament; no more were the cheerful voices of the reaper and grape-gatherer heard in the fields. The rich harvests of the region were trodden into the dust, its fruitful vines and flourishing olive-trees were torn up; hamlet and city were swept away; ruins, blood, and ashes covered the face of this now "purified" land.<br><br>
+But Rome was not able, with all her violence, to arrest the movement of the human mind. So far as it was religious, she but scattered the sparks to break out on a wider area at a future day; and so far as it was intellectual, she but forced it into another channel. Instead of Albigensianism, Scholasticism now arose in France, which, after flourishing for some centuries in the schools of Paris, passed into the Skeptical Philosophy, and that again, in our day, into Atheistic Communism. It will be curious if in the future the progeny should cross the path of the parent.<br><br>
+It turned out that this enforced halt of three centuries, after all, resulted only in the goal being more quickly reached. While the movement paused, instrumentalities of prodigious power, unknown to that age, were being prepared to give quicker transmission and wider diffusion to the Divine principle when next it should show itself. And, further, a more robust and capable stock than the Romanesque &ndash; namely, the Teutonic &ndash; was silently growing up, destined to receive the heavenly graft, and to shoot forth on every side larger boughs, to cover Christendom with their shadow and solace it with their fruits.<br><br>
-Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can trust God to keep his promise. (Hebrews 10:23)
-LORD, you are my God I will honour you and praise your name. You have done amazing things you have faithfully carried out the plans you made long ago. (Isaiah 25:1)
-I will not break my covenant with him or take back even one promise I made him. (Psalms 89:34)
+'''CHAPTER 11'''
-I am calling a man to come from the east he will swoop down like a hawk and accomplish what I have planned. I have spoken, and it will be done. (Isaiah 46:11)
+<p>PROTESTANTS BEFORE PROTESTANTISM</br>
-He will keep his covenant forever, his promises for a thousand generations. (Psalms 105:8)
+<p>Berengarius&ndash; The First Opponent of Transubstantiation &ndash; Numerous Councils Condemn him &ndash; His Recantation &ndash; The Martyrs of Orleans &ndash; Their Confession &ndash; Their Condemnation and Martyrdom &ndash; Peter de Bruys and the Petrobrusians &ndash; Henri &ndash; Effects of his Eloquence &ndash; St. Bernard sent to Oppose him &ndash; Henri Apprehended &ndash; His Fate unknown &ndash; Arnold of Brescia &ndash; Birth and Education &ndash; His Picture of his Times &ndash; His Scheme of Reform &ndash; Inveighs against the Wealth of the Hierarchy &ndash; His Popularity &ndash; Condemned by Innocent II. and Banished from Italy &ndash; Returns on the Pope's Death &ndash; Labors Ten Years in Rome &ndash; Demands the Separation of the Temporal and Spiritual Authority &ndash; Adrian IV. &ndash; He Suppresses the Movement &ndash; Arnold is Burned<br><br>
+IN pursuing to an end the history of the Albigensian crusades, we have been carried somewhat beyond the point of time at which we had arrived. We now return. A succession of lights which shine out at intervals amid the darkness of the ages guides our eye onward. In the middle of the eleventh century appears Berengarius of Tours in France. He is the first public opponent of transubstantiation.<br><br>
+<div id="1111-1"></div>[[#11-1|'''1''']] A century had now passed since the monk, Paschasius Radbertus, had hatched that astounding dogma. In an age of knowledge such a tenet would have subjected its author to the suspicion of lunacy, but in times of darkness like those in which this opinion first issued from the convent of Corbei, the more mysterious the doctrine the more likely was it to find believers. The words of Scripture, "this is my body," torn from their context and held up before the eyes of ignorant men, seemed to give some countenance to the tenet. Besides, it was the interest of the priesthood to believe it, and to make others believe it too; for the gift of working a prodigy like this invested them with a superhuman power, and gave them immense reverence in the eyes of the people. The battle that Berengarius now opened enables us to judge of the wide extent which the belief in transubstantiation had already acquired. Everywhere in France, in Germany, in Italy, we find a commotion arising on the appearance of its opponent. We see bishops bestirring themselves to oppose his "impious and sacrilegious" heresy, and numerous Councils convoked to condemn it. The Council of Vercelli in 1049, under Leo IX., which was attended by many foreign prelates, condemned it, and in doing so condemned also, as Berengarius maintained, the doctrine of Ambrose, of Augustine, and of Jerome. There followed a succession of Councils: at Paris, 1050; at Tours, 1055; at Rome, 1059; at Rouen, 1063; at Poitiers, 1075; and again at Rome, 1078: at all of which the opinions of Berengarius were discussed and condemned.<br><br>
+<div id="1111-2"></div>[[#11-2|'''2''']] This shows us how eager Rome was to establish the fiction of Paschasius, and the alarm she felt lest the adherents of Berengarius should multiply, and her dogma be extinguished before it had time to establish itself. Twice did Berengarius appear before the famous Hildebrand: first in the Council of Tours, where Hildebrand filled the post of Papal legate, and secondly at the Council of Rome, where he presided as Gregory VII.<br><br>
+The piety of Berengarius was admitted, his eloquence was great, but his courage was not equal to his genius and convictions. When brought face to face with the stake he shrank from the fire. A second and a third time did he recant his opinions; he even sealed his recantation, according to Dupin, with his subscription and oath.<br><br>
+<div id="1111-3"></div>[[#11-3|'''3''']] But no sooner was he back again in France than he began publishing his old opinions anew. Numbers in all the countries of Christendom, who had not accepted the fiction of Paschasius, broke silence, emboldened by the stand made by Berengarius, and declared themselves of the same sentiments. Matthew of Westminster (1087) says, "that Berengarius of Tours, being fallen into heresy, had already almost corrupted all the French, Italians, and English."<br><br>
+<div id="1111-4"></div>[[#11-4|'''4''']] His great opponent was Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, who attacked him not on the head of transubstantiation only, but as guilty of all the heresies of the Waldenses, and as maintaining with them that the Church remained with them alone, and that Rome was "the congregation of the wicked, and the seat of Satan.<br><br>
+"<div id="1111-5"></div>[[#11-5|'''5''']] Berengarius died in his bed (1088), expressing deep sorrow for the weakness and dissimulation which had tarnished his testimony for the truth. "His followers," says Mosheim, "were numerous, as his fame was illustrious."<div id="1111-6"></div>[[#11-6|'''6''']]<br><br>
+We come to a nobler band. At Orleans there flourished, in the beginning of the eleventh century, two canons, Stephen and Lesoie, distinguished by their rank, revered for their learning, and beloved for their numerous alms-givings. Taught of the Spirit and the Word, these men cherished in secret the faith of the first ages. They were betrayed by a feigned disciple named Arefaste. Craving to be instructed in the things of God, he seemed to listen not with the ear only, but with the heart also, as the two canons discoursed to him of the corruption of human nature and the renewal of the Spirit, of the vanity of praying to the saints, and the folly of thinking to find salvation in baptism, or the literal flesh of Christ in the Eucharist. His earnestness seemed to become yet greater when they promised him that if, forsaking these "broken cisterns," he would come to the Savior himself, he should have living water to drink, and celestial bread to eat, and, filled with "the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," would never know want again. Arefaste heard these things, and returned with his report to those who had sent him.<br><br>
+A Council of the bishops of Orleans was immediately summoned, presided over by King Robert of France. The two canons were brought before it. The pretended disciple now became the accuser.<br><br>
+<div id="1111-7"></div>[[#11-7|'''7''']] The canons confessed boldly the truth which they had long held; the arguments and threats of the Council were alike powerless to change their belief, or to shake their resolution. "As to the burning threatened," says one, "they made light of it even as if persuaded that they would come out of it unhurt."<br><br>
+<div id="1111-8"></div>[[#11-8|'''8''']] Wearied, it would seem, with the futile reasonings of their enemies, and desirous of bringing the matter to an issue, they gave their final answer thus &ndash; "You may say these things to those whose taste is earthly, and who believe the figments of men written on parchment. But to us who have the law written on the inner man by the Holy Spirit, and savor nothing but what we learn from God, the Creator of all, ye speak things vain and unworthy of the Deity. Put therefore an end to your words! Do with us even as you wish. Even now we see our King reigning in the heavenly places, who with His right hand is conducting us to immortal triumphs and heavenly joys."<div id="1111-9"></div>[[#11-9|'''9''']]<br><br>
+They were condemned as Manicheans. Had they been so indeed, Rome would have visited them with contempt, not with persecution. She was too wise to pursue with fire and sword a thing so shadowy as Manicheism, which she knew could do her no manner of harm. The power that confronted her in these two canons and their disciples came from another sphere, hence the rage with which she assailed it. These two martyrs were not alone in their death. Of the citizens of Orleans there were ten,<div id="1111-10"></div>[[#11-12|'''12''']] some say twelve, who shared their faith, and who were willing to share their stake.<br><br>
+<div id="111-11"></div>[[#11-11|'''11''']] They were first stripped of their clerical vestments, then buffeted like their Master, then smitten with rods; the queen, who was present, setting the example in these acts of violence by striking one of them, and putting out his eye. Finally, they were led outside the city, where a great fire had been kindled to consume them. They entered the flames with a smile upon their faces&nbsp;<br><br><div id="1111-12"></div>[[#11-12|'''12''']] Together this little company of fourteen stood at the stake, and when the fire had set them free, together they mounted into the sky; and if they smiled when they entered the flames, how much more when they passed in at the eternal gates! They were burned in the year 1022. So far as the light of history serves us, theirs were the first stakes planted in France since the era of primitive persecutions.<br><br><div id="1111-13"></div>[[#11-13|'''13''']] Illustrious pioneers! They go, but they leave their ineffaceable traces on the road, that the hundreds and thousands of their countrymen who are to follow may not faint, when called to pass through the same torments to the same everlasting joys.<br><br>
+We next mention Peter de Bruys, who appeared in the following century (the twelfth), because it enables us to indicate the rise of, and explain the name borne by, the Petrobrussians. Their founder, who labored in the provinces of Dauphine, Provence, and Languedoc, taught no novelties of doctrine; he trod, touching the faith, in the steps of apostolic men, even as Felix Neff, five centuries later, followed in his. After twenty years of missionary labors, Peter de Bruys was seized and burned to death (1126)<br><br><div id="1111-14"></div>[[#11-14|'''14''']] in the town of St. Giles, near Toulouse. The leading tenets professed by his followers, the Petrobrussians, as we learn from the accusations of their enemies, were &ndash; that baptism avails not without faith; that Christ is only spiritually present in the Sacrament; that prayers and alms profit not dead men; that purgatory is a mere invention; and that the Church is not made up of cemented stones, but of believing men. This identifies them, in their religious creed, with the Waldenses; and if further evidence were wanted of this, we have it in the treatise which Peter de Clugny published against them, in which he accuses them of having fallen into those errors which have shown such an inveterate tendency to spring up amid the perpetual snows and icy torrents of the Alps.<div id="1111-15"></div>[[#11-15|'''15''']]<br><br>
+When Peter de Bruys had finished his course he was succeeded by a preacher of the name of Henri, an Italian by birth, who also gave his name to his followers &ndash; the Henricians. Henri, who enjoyed a high repute for sanctity, wielded a most commanding eloquence. The enchantment of his voice was enough, said his enemies, a little envious, to melt the very stones. It performed what may perhaps be accounted a still greater feat; it brought, according to an eye-witness, the very priests to his feet, dissolved in tears. Beginning at Lausanne, Henri traversed the south of France, the entire population gathering round him wherever he came, and listening to his sermons. "His orations were powerful but noxious," said his foes, "as if a whole legion of demons had been speaking through his mouth."<br><br>
+St. Bernard was sent to check the spiritual pestilence that was desolating the region, and he arrived not a moment too soon, if we may judge from his picture of the state of things which he found there. The orator was carrying all before him; nor need we wonder if, as his enemies alleged, a legion of preachers spoke in this one. The churches were emptied, the priests were without flocks, and the time-honored and edifying customs of pilgrimages, of fasts, of invocations of the saints, and oblations for the dead were all neglected. "How many disorders," says St. Bernard, writing to the Count of Toulouse, "do we every day hear that Henri commits in the Church of God! That ravenous wolf is within your dominions, clothed with a sheep's skin, but we know him by his works. The churches are like synagogues, the sanctuary despoiled of its holiness, the Sacraments looked upon as profane institutions, the feast days have lost their solemnity, men grow up in sin, and every day souls are borne away before the terrible tribunal of Christ without first being reconciled to and fortified by the Holy Communion. In refusing Christians baptism they are denied the life of Jesus Christ."<div id="1111-16"></div>[[#11-16|'''16''']]<br><br>
+Such was the condition in which, as he himself records in his letters, St. Bernard found the populations in the south of France. He set to work, stemmed the tide of apostasy, and brought back the wanderers from the Roman fold; but whether this result was solely owing to the eloquence of his sermons may be fairly questioned, for we find the civil arm operating along with him. Henri was seized, carried before Pope Eugenius III., who presided at a Council then assembled at Rheims, condemned and imprisoned.<div id="1111-17"></div>[[#11-17|'''17''']] From that time we hear no more of him, and his fate can only be guessed at.<br><br>
+<div id="1111-18"></div>[[#11-18|'''18''']] It pleased God to raise up, in the middle of the twelfth century, a yet more famous champion to do battle for the truth. This was Arnold of Brescia, whose stormy but brilliant career we must briefly sketch. His scheme of reform was bolder and more comprehensive than that of any who had preceded him. His pioneers had called for a purification of the faith of the Church, Arnold demanded a rectification of her constitution. He was a simple reader in the Church of his native town, and possessed no advantages of birth; but, fired with the love of learning, he traveled into France that he might sit at the feet of Abelard, whose fame was then filling Christendom. Admitted a pupil of the great scholastic, he drank in the wisdom he imparted without imbibing along with it his mysticism. The scholar in some respects was greater than the master, and was destined to leave traces more lasting behind him. In subtlety of genius and scholastic lore he made no pretensions to rival Abelard; but in a burning eloquence, in practical piety, in resoluteness, and in entire devotion to the great cause of the emancipation of his fellow-men from a tyranny that was oppressing both their minds and bodies, he far excelled him.<br><br>
+From the school of Abelard, Arnold returned to Italy &ndash; not, as one might have feared, a mystic, to spend his life in scholastic hair-splittings and wordy conflicts, but to wage an arduous and hazardous war for great and much-needed reforms. One cannot but wish that the times had been more propitious. A frightful confusion he saw had mingled in one anomalous system the spiritual and the temporal. The clergy, from their head downwards, were engrossed in secularities. They filled the offices of State, they presided in the cabinets of princes, they led armies, they imposed taxes, they owned lordly domains, they were attended by sumptuous retinues, and they sat at luxurious tables. Here, said Arnold, is the source of a thousand evils &ndash; the Church is drowned in riches; from this immense wealth flow the corruption, the profligacy, the ignorance, the wickedness, the intrigues, the wars and bloodshed which have overwhelmed Church and State, and are ruining the world.<br><br>
+A century earlier, Cardinal Damiani had congratulated the clergy of primitive tunes on the simple lives which they led, contrasting their happier lot with that of the prelates of those latter ages, who had to endure dignities which would have been but little to the taste of their first predecessors. "What would the bishops of old have done," he asked, concurring by anticipation in the censure of the eloquent Breseian, "had they to endure the torments that now attend the episcopate? To ride forth constantly attended by troops of soldiers, with swords and lances; to be girt about by armed men like a heathen general! Not amid the gentle music of hymns, but the din and clash of arms! Every day royal banquets, every day parade! The table loaded with delicacies, not for the poor, but for voluptuous guests! while the poor, to whom the property of light belongs, are shut out, and pine away with famine."<br><br>
+Arnold based his scheme of reform on a great principle. The Church of Christ, said he, is not of this world. This shows us that he had sat at the feet of a greater than Abelard, and had drawn his knowledge from diviner fountains than those of the scholastic philosophy. The Church of Christ is not of this world; therefore, said Arnold, its ministers ought not to fill temporal offices, and discharge temporal employments.<br><br>
+<div id="1111-19"></div>[[#11-19|'''19''']] Let these be left to the men whose duty it is to see to them, even kings and statesmen. Nor do the ministers of Christ need, in order to the discharge of their spiritual functions, the enormous revenues which are continually flowing into their coffers. Let all this wealth, those lands, palaces, and hoards, be surrendered to the rulers of the State, and let the ministers of religion henceforward be maintained by the frugal yet competent provision of the tithes, and the voluntary offerings of their flocks. Set free from occupations which consume their time, degrade their office, and corrupt their heart, the clergy will lead their flocks to the pastures of the Gospel, and knowledge and piety will again revisit the earth.<br><br>
+Attired in his monk's cloak, his countenance stamped with courage, but already wearing traces of care, Arnold took his stand in the streets of his native Brescia, and began to thunder forth his scheme of reform.<div id="1111-20"></div>[[#11-20|'''20''']] <br><br>
+<p>His townsmen gathered round him. For spiritual Christianity the men of that age had little value, still Arnold had touched a chord in their hearts, to which they were able to respond. The pomp, profligacy, and power of Churchmen had scandalized all classes, and made a reformation so far welcome, even to those who were not prepared to sympathize in the more exclusively spiritual views of the Waldenses and Albigenses. The suddenness and boldness of the assault seem to have stunned the ecclesiastical authorities; and it was not till the Bishop of Brescia found his entire flock, deserting the cathedral, and assembling daily in the marketplace, crowding round the eloquent preacher and listening with applause to his fierce philippics, that he bestirred himself to silence the courageous monk.<br><br>
+Arnold kept his course, however, and continued to launch his bolts, not against his diocesan, for to strike at one miter was not worth his while, but against that lordly hierarchy which, finding its center on the Seven Hills, had stretched its circumference to the extremities of Christendom. He demanded nothing less than that this hierarchy, which had crowned itself with temporal dignities, and which sustained itself by temporal arms, should retrace its steps, and become the lowly and purely spiritual institute it had been in the first century. It was not very likely to do so at the bidding of one man, however eloquent, but Arnold hoped to rouse the populations of Italy, and to bring such a pressure to bear upon the Vatican as would compel the chiefs of the Church to institute this most necessary and most just reform. Nor was he without the countenance of some persons of consequence. Maifredus, the Consul of Brescia, at the first supported his movement.<br><br>
+<div id="1111-21"></div>[[#11-21|'''21''']] The bishop, deeming it hopeless to contend against Arnold on the spot, in the midst of his numerous followers, complained of him to the Pope. Innocent II. convoked a General Council in the Vatican, and summoned Arnold to Rome. The summons was obeyed. The crime of the monk was of all others the most heinous in the eyes of the hierarchy. He had attacked the authority, riches, and pleasures of the priesthood; but other pretexts must be found on which to condemn him. "Besides this, it was said of him that he was unsound in his judgment about the Sacrament of the altar and infant baptism." "We find that St. Bernard sending to Pope Innocent II. a catalogue of the errors of Abelardus," whose scholar Arnold had been, "accuseth him of teaching, concerning the Eucharist, that the accidents existed in the air, but not without a subject; and that when a rat doth eat the Sacrament, God withdraweth whither He pleaseth, and preserves where He pleases the body of Jesus Christ."<br><br>
+<div id="1111-22"></div>[[#11-22|'''22''']] The sum of this is that Arnold rejected transubstantiation, and did not believe in baptismal regeneration; and on these grounds the Council found it convenient to rest their sentence, condemning him to perpetual silence.<br><br>
+Arnold now retired from Italy, and, passing the Alps, "he settled himself," Otho tells us, "in a place of Germany called Turego, or Zurich, belonging to the diocese of Constance, where he continued to disseminate his doctrine," the seeds of which, it may be presumed, continued to vegetate until the times of Zwingle.<br><br>
+Hearing that Innocent II. was dead, Arnold returned to Rome in the beginning of the Pontificate of Eugenius III. (1144-45). One feels surprise, bordering on astonishment, to see a man with the condemnation of a Pope and Council resting on his head, deliberately marching in at the gates of Rome, and throwing down the gage of battle to the Vatican &ndash; "the desperate measure," as Gibbon calls it,<br><br>
+<div id="1111-23"></div>[[#11-23|'''23''']] "of erecting his standard in Rome itself, in the face of the successor of St. Peter." But the action was not so desperate as it looks. The Italy of those days was perhaps the least Papal of all the countries of Europe. "The Italians," says M'Crie, "could not, indeed, be said to feel at this period" (the fifteenth century, but the remark is equally applicable to the twelfth) "a superstitious devotion to the See of Rome. This did not originally form a discriminating feature of their national character; it was superinduced, and the formation of it can be distinctly traced to causes which produced their full effect subsequently to the era of the Reformation. The republics of Italy in the Middle Ages gave many proofs of religious independence, and singly braved the menaces and excommunications of the Vatican at a time when all Europe trembled at the sound of its thunder.<br><br>
+<div id="1111-24"></div>[[#11-24|'''24''']] In truth, nowhere were sedition and tumult more common than at the gates of the Vatican; in no city did rebellion so often break out as in Rome, and no rulers were so frequently chased ignominiously from their capital as the Popes.<br><br>
+Arnold, in fact, found Rome on entering it in revolt. He strove to direct the agitation into a wholesome channel. He essayed, if it were possible, to revive from its ashes the flame of ancient liberty, and to restore, by cleansing it from its many corruptions, the bright form of primitive Christianity. With an eloquence worthy of the times he spoke of, he dwelt on the achievements of the heroes and patriots of classic ages, the sufferings of the first Christian martyrs, and the humble and holy lives of the first Christian bishops.<br><br>
+Might it not be possible to bring back those glorious times? He called on the Romans to arise and unite with him in an attempt to do so. Let us drive out the buyers and sellers who have entered the Temple, let us separate between the spiritual and the temporal jurisdiction, let us give to the Pope the things of the Pope, the government of the Church even, and let us give to the emperor the things of the emperor &ndash; namely, the government of the State; let us relieve the clergy from the wealth that burdens them, and the dignities that disfigure them, and with the simplicity and virtue of former times will return the lofty characters and the heroic deeds that gave to those times their renown. Rome will become once more the capital of the world. "He propounded to the multitude," says Bishop Otho, "the examples of the ancient Romans, who by the maturity of their senators' counsels, and the valor and integrity of their youth, made the whole world their own. Wherefore he persuaded them to rebuild the Capitol, to restore the dignity of the senate, to reform the order of knights. He maintained that nothing of the government of the city did belong to the Pope, who ought to content himself only with his ecclesiastical." Thus did the monk of Brescia raise the cry for separation of the spiritual from the temporal at the very foot of the Vatican.<br><br>
+For about ten years (1145-55) Arnold continued to prosecute his mission in Rome. The city all that time may be said to have been in a state of insurrection. The Pontifical chair was repeatedly emptied. The Popes of that era were short-lived; their reigns were full of tumult, and their lives of care. Seldom did they reside at Rome; more frequently they lived at Viterbo, or retired to a foreign country; and when they did venture within the walls of their capital, they entrusted the safety of their persons rather to the gates and bars of their stronghold of St. Angelo than to the loyalty of their subjects. The influence of Arnold meanwhile was great, his party numerous, and had there been virtue enough among the Romans they might during these ten favorable years, when Rome was, so to speak, in their hands, have founded a movement which would have had important results for the cause of liberty and the Gospel. But Arnold strove in vain to recall a spirit that was fled for centuries. Rome was a sepulcher. Her citizens could be stirred into tumult, not awakened into life.<br><br>
+The opportunity passed. And then came Adrian IV., Nicholas Breakspear, the only Englishman who ever ascended the throne of the Vatican. Adrian addressed himself with rigor to quell the tempests which for ten years had warred around the Papal chair. He smote the Romans with interdict. They were vanquished by the ghostly terror. They banished Arnold, and the portals of the churches, to them the gates of heaven, were re-opened to the penitent citizens. But the exile of Arnold did not suffice to appease the anger of Adrian. The Pontiff bargained with Frederic Barbarossa, who was then soliciting from the Pope coronation as emperor, that the monk should be given up. Arnold was seized, sent to Rome under a strong escort, and burned alive. We are able to infer that his followers in Rome were numerous to the last, from the reason given for the order to throw his ashes into the Tiber, "to prevent the foolish rabble from expressing any veneration for his body."<div id="1111-25"></div>
+<p>[[#11-25|'''25''']]<br>
+    <br>
+  Arnold had been burned to ashes, but the movement he had inaugurated was not extinguished by his martyrdom. The men of his times had condemned his cause; it was destined, nevertheless, seven centuries afterwards, to receive the favorable and all but unanimous verdict of Europe. Every succeeding Reformer and patriot took up his cry for a separation between the spiritual and temporal, seeing in the union of the two in the Roman princedom one cause of the corruption and tyranny which afflicted both Church and State. Wicliffe made this demand in the fourteenth century; Savonarola in the fifteenth; and the Reformers in the sixteenth. Political men in the following centuries reiterated and proclaimed, with ever-growing emphasis, the doctrine of Arnold. At last, on the 20th of September, 1870, it obtained its crowning victory. On that day the Italians entered Rome, the temporal sovereignty of the Pope came to an end, the scepter was disjoined from the miter, and the movement celebrated its triumph on the same spot where its first champion had been burned.<br><br>
-Now my time has come to die. Every one of you knows in his heart and soul that the LORD your God has given you all the good things that he promised. Every promise he made has been kept not one has failed. (Joshua 23:14) See also 1Kings 8:56.
-The mountains and hills may crumble, but my love for you will never end I will keep forever my promise of peace. So says the LORD who loves you. (Isaiah 54:10)
-If we are not faithful, he remains faithful, because he cannot be false to himself. (2 Timothy 2:13)
-The Lord is not slow to do what he has promised, as some think. Instead, he is patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins. (2 Peter 3:9)
+    CHAPTER 12<br>
+    <br>
+    ABELARD, AND RISE OF MODERN SKEPTICISM<br>
+    <br>
+    Number and Variety of Sects &ndash; One Faith &ndash; Who gave us the Bible? &ndash; Abelard of Paris &ndash; His Fame &ndash; Father of Modern Skepticism &ndash; The Parting of the Ways &ndash; Since Abelard three currents in Christendom &ndash; The Evangelical, the Ultramontane, the Skeptical.<br>
+    <br>
+    ONE is apt, from a cursory survey of the Christendom of those days, to conceive it as speckled with an almost endless variety of opinions and doctrines, and dotted all over with numerous and diverse religious sects. We read of the Waldenses on the south of the Alps, and the Albigenses on the north of these mountains. We are told of the Petrobrussians appearing in this year, and the Henricians rising in that. We see a company of Manicheans burned in one city, and a body of Paulicians martyred in another. We find the Peterini planting themselves in this province, and the Cathari spreading themselves over that other. We figure to ourselves as many conflicting creeds as there are rival standards; and we are on the point, perhaps, of bewailing this supposed diversity of opinion as a consequence of breaking loose from the "center of unity" in Rome. Some even of our religious historians seem haunted by the idea that each one of these many bodies is representative of a different dogma, and that dogma an error. The impression is a natural one, we own, but it is entirely erroneous. In this diversity there was a grand unity. It was substantially the same creed that was professed by all these bodies. They were all agreed in drawing their theology from the same Divine fountain. The Bible was their one infallible rule and authority. Its cardinal doctrines they embodied in their creed and exemplified in their lives.<br>
+    <br>
+    Individuals doubtless there were among them of erroneous belief and of immoral character. It is of the general body that we speak. That body, though dispersed over many kingdoms, and known by various names, found a common center in the "one Lord," and a common bond in the "one faith" Through one Mediator did they all offer their worship, and on one foundation did they all rest for forgiveness and the life eternal. They were in short the Church &ndash; the one Church doing over again what she did in the first ages. Overwhelmed by a second irruption of Paganism, reinforced by a flood of Gothic superstitions, she was essaying to lay her foundations anew in the truth, and to build herself up by the enlightening and renewing of souls, and to give to herself outward visibility and form by her ordinances, institutions, and assemblies, that as a universal spiritual empire she might subjugate all nations to the obedience of the evangelical law and the practice of evangelical virtue.<br>
+    <br>
+    It is idle for Rome to say, "I gave you the Bible, and therefore you must believe in me before you can believe in it." The facts we have already narrated conclusively dispose of this claim. Rome did not give us the Bible &ndash; she did all in her power to keep it from us; she retained it under the seal of a dead language; and when others broke that seal, and threw open its pages to all, she stood over the book, and, unsheathing her fiery sword, would permit none to read the message of life, save at the peril of eternal anathema.<br>
+    <br>
+    We owe the Bible &ndash; that is, the transmission of it &ndash; to those persecuted communities which we have so rapidly passed in review. They received it from the primitive Church, and carried it down to us. They translated it into the mother tongues of the nations. They colported it over Christendom, singing it in their lays as troubadours, preaching it in their sermons as missionaries, and living it out as Christians. They fought the battle of the Word of God against tradition, which sought to bury it. They sealed their testimony for it at the stake. But for them, so far as human agency is concerned, the Bible would, ere this day, have disappeared from the world. Their care to keep this torch burning is one of the marks which indubitably certify them as forming part of that one true Catholic Church, which God called into existence at first by His word, and which, by the same instrumentality, He has, in the conversion of souls, perpetuated from age to age.<br>
+    <br>
+    But although under great variety of names there is found substantial identity of doctrine among these numerous bodies, it is clear that a host of new, contradictory, and most heterogeneous opinions began to spring up in the age we speak of. The opponents of the Albigenses and the Waldenses &ndash; more especially Alanus, in his little book against heretics; and Reynerius, the opponent of the Waldenses &ndash; have massed together all these discordant sentiments, and charged them upon the evangelical communities. Their controversial tractates, in which they enumerate and confute the errors of the sectaries, have this value even, that they present a picture of their times, and show us the mental fermentation that began to characterize the age. But are we to infer that the Albigenses and their allies held all the opinions which their enemies impute to them? that they at one and the same time believed that God did and did not exist; that the world had been created, and yet that it had existed from eternity; that an atonement had been made for the sin of man by Christ, and yet that the cross was a fable; that the joys of Paradise were reserved for the righteous, and yet that there was neither soul nor spirit, hell nor heaven? No. This were to impute to them an impossible creed.<br>
+    <br>
+    Did these philosophical and skeptical opinions, then, exist only in the imaginations of their accusers? No. What manifestly we are to infer is that outside the Albigensian and evangelical pale there was a large growth of sceptical and atheistical sentiment, more or less developed, and that the superstition and tyranny of the Church of Rome had even then, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, impelled the rising intellect of Christendom into a channel dangerous at once to her own power and to the existence of Christianity. Her champions, partly from lack of discrimination, partly from a desire to paint in odious colors those whom they denominated heretics, mingled in one the doctrines drawn from Scripture and the speculations and impieties of an infidel philosophy, and, compounding them into one creed, laid the monstrous thing at the door of the Albigenses, just as in our own day we have seen Popes and Popish writers include in the same category, and confound in the same condemnation, the professors of Protestantism and the disciples of Pantheism.<br>
+    <br>
+    From the twelfth century and the times of Peter Abelard, we can discover three currents of thought in Christendom. Peter Abelard was the first and in some respects the greatest of modern skeptics. He was the first person in Christendom to attack publicly the doctrine of the Church of Rome from the side of free-thinking. His Skepticism was not the avowed and fully-formed infidelity of later times: he but sowed the seeds; he but started the mind of Europe &ndash; then just beginning to awake &ndash; on the path of doubt and of philosophic Skepticism, leaving the movement to gather way in the following ages. But that he did sow the seeds which future laborers took pains to cultivate, cannot be doubted by those who weigh carefully his teachings on the head of the Trinity, of the person of Christ, of the power of the human will, of the doctrine of sin, and other subjects.<br>
+    <br>
+</p>
+<div id="1112-1"></div>[[#12-1|'''1''']] And these seeds he sowed widely. He was a man of vast erudition, keen wit, and elegant rhetoric, and the novelty of his views and the fame of his genius attracted crowds of students from all countries to his lectures. Dazzled by the eloquence of their teacher, and completely captivated by the originality and subtlety of his daring genius, these scholars carried back to their homes the views of Abelard, and diffused them, from England on the one side to Sicily on the other. Had Rome possessed the infallibility she boasts, she would have foreseen to what this would grow, and provided an effectual remedy before the movement had gone beyond control.<br><br>
+She did indeed divine, to some extent, the true character of the principles which the renowned but unfortunate <div id="1112-2"></div>[[#12-2|'''2''']] teacher was so freely scattering on the opening mind of Christendom. She assembled a Council, and condemned them as erroneous. But Abelard went on as before, the laurel round his brow, the thorn at his breast, propounding to yet greater crowds of scholars his peculiar opinions and doctrines. Rome has always been more lenient to sceptical than to evangelical views. And thus, whilst she burned Arnold, she permitted Abelard to die a monk and canon in her communion.<br><br>
+But here, in the twelfth century, at the chair of Abelard, we stand at the parting of the ways. From this time we find three great parties and three great schools of thought in Europe. First, there is the Protestant, in which we behold the Divine principle struggling to disentangle itself from Pagan and Gothic corruptions. Secondly, there is the Superstitious, which had now come to make all doctrine to consist in a belief of "the Church's" inspiration, and all duty in an obedience to her authority. And thirdly, there is the Intellectual, which was just the reason of man endeavoring to shake off the trammels of Roman authority, and go forth and expatiate in the fields of free inquiry. It did right to assert this freedom, but, unhappily, it altogether ignored the existence of the spiritual faculty in man, by which the things of the spiritual world are to be apprehended, and by which the intellect itself has often to be controlled. Nevertheless, this movement, of which Peter Abelard was the pioneer, went on deepening and widening its current century after century, till at last it grew to be strong enough to change the face of kingdoms, and to threaten the existence not only of the Roman Church,<div id="1112-3"></div>[[#12-3|'''3''']] but of Christianity itself.<br><br>
-He was absolutely sure that God would be able to do what he had promised. (Romans 4:21)
-for it is he who is the Yes to all of God's promises. This is why through Jesus Christ our Amen is said to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 1:20)
+<p>'''FOOTNOTES'''
-which is based on the hope for eternal life. God, who does not lie, promised us this life before the beginning of time, (Titus 1:2)
+'''VOLUME FIRST'''<br>
+<br>
+'''BOOK FIRST'''
+<br>
+'''VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- CHAPTER 1'''<br>
-Israel 's majestic God does not lie or change his mind. He is not a human being---he does not change his mind. (1 Samuel 15:29)
+<br>'''VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST'''
-He is a merciful God. He will not abandon you or destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant that he himself made with your ancestors. (Deuteronomy 4:31)
+CHAPTER 2<br>
+<div id="2-1"></div>[[#12-1|'''1''']] Eusebius, De Vita Const., lib. 4, cap. 27. Dupin, Eccles. Hist., vol. 1, p. 162; Dublin. 1723.<br>
+<div id="2-2"></div></div>[[#12-2|'''2''']] Eusebius, De Vita Const., lib. 4, cap. 24. Mosheim, Eccles. Hist., vol. 1, cent. 4, p. 94; Glasgow, 1831.<br>
+<div id="2-3"></div></div>[[#12-3|'''3''']] Eusebius, Eccles. Hist., lib. 3, cap. 12, p. 490; Parisiis, 1659. Dupin, Eccles. Hist., vol. 2, p. 14; Lond., 1693.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="2-4"></div></div>[[#12-4|'''4''']] Baronius admits that many things have been laudably translated from Gentile superstition into the Christian religion (Annal., ad An. 58). And Binnius, extolling the munificence of Constantine towards the Church, speaks of his superstitionis gentiliae justa aemulatio ("just emulation of the Gentile superstition"). &ndash; Concil., tom. 7, notae in Donat. Constan.<br>
+<div id="2-5"></div></div>[[#12-5|'''5''']] Ammian. Marcel., lib. 27, cap. 3. Mosheim, vol. 1, cent. 4, p. 95.<br>
+<div id="2-6"></div></div>[[#12-6|'''6''']|] Nisan corresponds with the latter half of our March and the first half of our April.<br>
+<div id="2-7"></div>[[#12-7|'''7''']] The Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325, enacted that the 21st of March should thenceforward be accounted the vernal equinox, that the Lord's Day following the full moon next after the 21st of March should be kept as Easter Day, but that if the full moon happened on a Sabbath, Easter Day should be the Sabbath following. This is the canon that regulates the observance of Easter in the Church of England. "Easter Day," says the Common Prayer Book, "is always the first Sunday after the full moon which happens upon or next after the 21st day of March; and if the full moon happens upon a Sunday, Easter Day is the Sunday after."<br>
+<div id="2-8"></div></div>[[#12-8|'''8''']] Bennet's Memorial of the Reformation, p. 20; Edin., 1748. 986<br>
+<div id="2-9"></div></div>[[#12-9|'''9''']] These customs began thus. In times of persecution, assemblies often met in churchyards as the place of greatest safety, and the "elements" were placed on the tombstones. It became usual to pray that the dead might be made partakers in the "first resurrection." This was grounded on the idea which the primitive Christians entertained respecting the millennium. After Gregory I., prayers for the dead regarded their deliverance from purgatory.<br>
+<div id="2-10"></div>[[#12-10|'''10''']] Dupin, EccIes. Hist., vol. 1, cent. 3.<br>
+<br>
-Those who know you, LORD, will trust you you do not abandon anyone who comes to you. (Psalms 9:10)
+VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 3<br>
+<div id="3-1"></div>[[#13-1|'''1''']] Hardouin, Acta Concil., tom. 1, col 325; Parisiis, 1715. Dupin, Eccles. Hist., vol. 1, p. 600; Dublin edition.<br>
+<div id="3-2"></div>[[#13-2|'''2''']] Hard. 1. 1477; 2. 787,886. Baron. 6. 235.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="3-3"></div>[[#13-3|'''3''']] Muller, Univ. History, vol. 2, p. 21; Lond., 1818.<br>
+<div id="3-4"></div>[[#13-4|'''4''']] Muller, vol. 2, p. 23.<br>
+<div id="3-5"></div>[[#13-5|'''5''']] Muller, vol. 2, p. 74.<br>
+<div id="3-6"></div>[[#13-6|'''6''']] We quote from the copy of the document in Pope Leo's letter in Hardouin's Collection. Epistola I., Leonis Papoe IX.; Acta Conciliorum et Epistoloe Decretales, tom. 6, pp. 934, 936; Parisiis, 1714. The English reader will find a copy of the pretended original document in full in Historical Essay on the Power of the Popes, vol. 2, Appendix, tr. from French; London, 1838.<br>
+<div id="3-7"></div>[[#13-7|'''7''']] Etudes Religieuses, November, 1866.<br>
+<div id="3-8"></div>[[#13-8|'''8''']] The Pope and the Council, by "Janus," p. 105; London, 1869.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="3-9"></div>[[#13-9|'''9''']] The above statement regarding the mode of electing bishops during the first three centuries rests on the authority of Clement, Bishop of Rome, in the first century; Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, in the third century; and of Gregory Nazianzen. See also De Dominis, De Repub. Eccles.; Blondel, Apologia; Dean Waddington; Barrow, Supremacy; and Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., cent. 1.<br>
+<br>
+VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 4<br>
+<div id="4-1"></div>[[#14-1|'''1''']] The Pope and the Council, p. 107.<br>
+<div id="4-2"></div>[[#14-2|'''2''']] Binnius, Concilia, vol. 3, pars. 2, p. 297; Col. Agrip., 1618. 987<br>
+<div id="4-3"></div>[[#14-3|'''3''']] Hallam, 2. 276.<br>
+<div id="4-4"></div>[[#14-4|'''4''']] Hallam, 2. 284.<br>
+<div id="4-5"></div>[[#14-5|'''5''']] P. Innocent III. in Decret. Greg., lib. 1, tit. 33.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="4-6"></div>[[#14-6|'''6''']] "Spiritualium plenitudinem, et latitudinem temporalium."<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="4-7"></div>[[#14-7|'''7''']] Itinerar. Ital., part 2, De Coron. Rom. Pont.<br>
+<div id="4-8"></div>[[#14-8|'''8''']] "Oportet gladium esse sub gladio, et temporalem authoritatem spirituali subjici potestati. Ergo, si deviat terrena potestas judicabitur a potestate spirituali." (Corp. Jur. Can. a Pithoeo, tom. 2, Extrav., lib. 1, tit. 8, cap. 1; Paris, 1671.)<br>
+<div id="4-9"></div>[[#14-9|'''9''']] Paradiso, canto 24.<br>
+<div id="4-10"></div>[[#14-10|'''10''']] Le Rime del Petrarca, tome 1, p. 325. ed. Lod. Castel.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="4-11"></div>[[#14-11|'''11''']] Baronius, Annal., ann. 1000, tom. 10, col. 963; Col. Agrip., 1609.<br>
+<br>
+VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 5<br>
+<div id="5-1"></div>[[#15-1|'''1''']] Allix, Ancient Churches of Piedmont, chap. 1; Lond., 1690. M'Crie, Italy, p. 1; Edin., 1833.<br>
+<div id="5-2"></div>[[#15-2|'''2''']] "Is mos antiquus fuit." (Labbei et Gab. Cossartii Concil., tom. 6, col. 482; Venetiis, 1729.)<br>
+<div id="5-3"></div>[[#15-3|'''3''']] A mistake of the historian. It was under Nicholas II. (1059) that the independence of Milan was extinguished. Platina's words are: &ndash; "Che [chiesa di Milano] era forse ducento anni stata dalla chiesa di Roma separata." (Historia delle Vite dei Sommi Pontefici, p. 128; Venetia, 1600.)<br>
+<div id="5-4"></div>[[#15-4|'''4''']] Baronius, Annal., ann. 1059, tom. 11, col. 277; Col. Agrip., 1609.<br>
+<div id="5-5"></div><[[#15-5|'''5''']] Allix, Churches of Piedmont, chap. 3.<br>
+<div id="5-6"></div>[[#15-6|'''6''']] "This is not bodily but spiritual food," says St. Ambrose, in his Book of Mysteries and Sacraments, "for the body of the Lord is spiritual." (Dupin, Eccles. Hist., vol. 2, cent. 4.)<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="5-7"></div>[[#15-7|'''7''']] Allix, Churches of Piedmont, chap. 4.<br>
+<div id="5-8"></div>[[#15-8|'''8''']] Ibid., chap. 5.<br>
+<div id="5-9"></div>[[#15-9|'''9''']] Allix, Churches of Piedmont, chap. 8. 988<br>
+<div id="5-10"></div>[[#15-10|'''10''']] "Of all these works there is nothing printed," says Allix (p. 60), "but his commentary upon the Epistle to the Galatians. The monks of St. Germain have his commentary upon all the epistles in MS., in two volumes, which were found in the library of the Abbey of Fleury, near Orleans. They have also his MS. commentaries on Leviticus, which formerly belonged to the library of St. Remy at Rheims. As for his commentary on St. Matthew, there are several MS. copies of it in England, as well as elsewhere." See also list of his works in Dupin.<br>
+<div id="5-11"></div>[[#15-11|'''11''']] See Mosheim, Eccles. Hist., cent. 9.<br>
+<div id="5-12"></div>[[#15-12|''''12''']] "Hic [panis] ad corpus Christi mystice, illud [vinum] refertur ad sanguinem" (MS. of Com. on Matthew.)<br>
+<div id="5-13"></div>[[#15-13|'''13''']] Allix, chap. 10.<br>
+<div id="5-14"></div>[[#15-14|'''14''']] Dupin, Eccles. Hist., cent. 9. The worship of images was decreed by the second Council of Nice; but that decree was rejected by France, Spain, Germany, and the diocese of Milan. The worship of images was moreover condemned by the Council of Frankfort, 794. Claude, in his letter to Theodemir, says: &ndash; "Appointed bishop by Louis, I came to Turin. I found all the churches full of the filth of abominations and images... If Christians venerate the images of saints, they have not abandoned idols, but only changed their names." (Mag. Bib., tome 4, part 2, p. 149.)<br>
+<div id="5-15"></div>[[#15-15|'''15''']] Allix, chap. 9.<br>
+<div id="5-16"></div>[[#15-16|'''16''']] Allix, pp. 76, 77.<br>
+<div id="5-17"></div>[[#15-17|'''17''']] Dupin, Eccles. Hist., cent. 9.<br>
+<div id="5-18"></div>[[#15-18|'''18''']] Allix, chap. 9.<br>
+<div id="5-19"></div>[[#15-19|'''19''']] Dupin, vol. 7, p. 2; Lond., 1695.<br>
+<div id="5-20"></div>[[#15-20|'''20''']] Allix, cent. 9.<br>
+<br>
+VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 6<br>
+<div id="6-1"></div>[[#16-1|'''1''']] Baronius, Annal., ann. 1059, tom. 11, cols. 276, 277.<br>
+<div id="6-2"></div>[[#16-2|'''2''']] Petrus Damianus, Opusc., p. 5. Allix, Churches of Piedmont, p. 113. M'Crie, Hist. of Reform. in Italy, p. 2. 989<br>
+<div id="6-3"></div>[[#16-3|'''3''']] Recent German criticism refers the Nobla Leycon to a more recent date, but still one anterior to the Reformation.<br>
+<div id="6-4"></div>[[#16-4|'''4''']] This short description of the Waldensian valleys is drawn from the author's personal observations. He may here be permitted to state that he has, in successive journeys, continued at intervals during the past thirty-five years, traveled over Christendom, and visited all the countries, Popish and Protestant, of which he will have occasion particularly to speak in the course of this history.<br>
+<br>
+VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 7<br>
+<div id="7-1"></div>[[#17-1|'''1''']] This disproves the charge of Manicheism brought against them by their enemies.<br>
+<div id="7-2"></div>[[#17-2|'''2''']] Sir Samuel Morland gives the Nobla Leycon in full in his History of the Churches of the Waldenses. Allix (chap. 18) gives a summary of it.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="7-3"></div>[[#17-3|'''3''']] The Nobla Leycon has the following passage: &ndash; "If there be an honest man, who desires to love God and fear Jesus Christ, who will neither slander, nor swear, nor lie, nor commit adultery, nor kill, nor steal, nor avenge himself of his enemies, they presently say of such a one he is a Vaudes, and worthy of death."<br>
+<div id="7-4"></div>[[#17-4|'''4''']] See a list of numerous heresies and blasphemies charged upon the Waldenses by the Inquisitor Reynerius, who wrote about the year 1250, and extracted by Allix (chap. 22).<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="7-5"></div>[[#17-5|'''5''']] The Romaunt Version of the Gospel according to John, from MS. preserved in Trinity College, Dublin, and in the Bibliotheque du Roi, Paris. By William Stephen Gilly, D.D., Canon of Durham, and Vicar of Norham. Lond., 1848.<br>
+<div id="7-6"></div>[[#17-6|'''6''']] Stranski, apud Lenfant's Concile de Constance, quoted by Count Valerian Krasinski in his History of the Rise, Progress, and Decline of the Reformation in Poland, vol. 1, p. 53; Lond., 1838. Illyricus Flaccins, in his Catalogus Testium Veritatis (Amstelodami, 1679), says: "Pars Valdensium in Germaniam transiit atque apud Bohemos, in Polonia ac Livonia sedem fixit." Leger says that the Waldenses had, about the year 1210, Churches in Slavonia, Sarmatia, and Livonia. (Histoire Generale des Eglises Evangeliques des Vallees du Piedmont ou Vaudois. vol. 2, pp. 336, 337; 1669.) 990<br>
+<div id="7-7"></div>[[#17-7|'''7''']] M'Crie, Hist. Ref. in Italy, p. 4.<br>
+<div id="7-8"></div>[[#17-8|'''8''']] Those who. wish to know more of this interesting people than is contained in the above rapid sketch may consult Leger, Des Eglises Evangeliques; Perrin, Hist. De Vaudois; Reynerius, Cont. Waldens.; Sir. S. Morland, History of the Evangelical Churches of Piedmont; Jones, Hist. Waldenses; Rorenco, Narative; besides a host of more modern writers &ndash; Gilly, Waldensian Researches; Muston, Israed of the Alps; Monastier, etc. etc.<br>
+<br>
+VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 8<br>
+<div id="8-1"></div>[[#18-1|'''1''']] Manes taught that there were two principles, or gods, the one good and the other evil; and that the evil principle was the creator of this world, the good principle of the world to come. Manicheism was employed as a term of compendious condemnation in the East, as Heresy was in the West. It was easier to calumniate these men than to refute them. For such aspersions a very ancient precedent might be pleaded. "He hath a devil and is mad," was said of the Master. The disciple is not above his Lord.<br>
+<div id="8-2"></div>[[#18-2|'''2''']] "Among the prominent charges urged against the Paulicians before the Patriarch of Constantinople in the eighth century, and by Photius and Petrus Siculus in the ninth, we find the following &ndash; that they dishonored the Virgin Mary, and rejected her worship; denied the life-giving efficacy of the cross, and refused it worship; and gainsaid the awful mystery of the conversion of the blood of Christ in the Eucharist; while by others they are branded as the originators of the Iconoclastic heresy and the war against the sacred images. In the first notice of the sectaries in Western Europe, I mean at Orleans, they were similarly accused of treating with contempt the worship of martyrs and saints, the sign of the holy cross, and mystery of transubstantiation; and much the same too at Arras." (Elliott, Horoe Apocalypticoe, 3rd ed., vol. 2, p. 277.)<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="8-3"></div>[[#18-3|'''3''']] "Multos ex ovibus lupos fecit, et per eos Christi ovilia dissipavit." (Pet. Sic., Hist. Bib. Patr., vol. 16, p. 761.)<br>
+<div id="8-4"></div>[[#18-4|'''4''']] Gibbon, vol. 10, p. 177; Edin., 1832. Sharon Turner, Hist. of England, vol. 5, p. 125; Lond., 1830.991<br>
+<div id="8-5"></div>[[#18-5|'''5''']] Pet. Sic., p. 814.<br>
+<div id="8-6"></div>[[#18-6|'''6''']] Emericus, in his Directory for Inquisitors, gives us the following piece of news, namely, that the founder of the Manicheans was a person called Manes, who lived in the diocese of Milan! (Allix, p. 134.)<br>
+<div id="8-7"></div>[[#18-7|'''7''']] Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., cent. 11, part 2, chap. 5.<br>
+<div id="8-8"></div>[[#18-8|'''8''']] Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. 10, p. 186. In perusing the chapter (54) which this historian has devoted to an account of the Paulicians, one hardly knows whether to be more delighted with his eloquence or amazed at his inconsistency. At one time he speaks of them as the "votaries of St. Paul and of Christ," and at another as the disciples of Manes. And though he says that "the Paulicians sincerely condemned the memory and opinions of the Manichean sect," he goes on to write of them as Manicheans. The historian has too slavishly followed his chief authority and their bitter enemy, Petrus Siculus.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="8-9"></div>[[#18-9|'''9''']] Gibbon, vol. 10, p. 185.<br>
+<div id="8-10"></div>[[#18-10|'''10''']] Gerdesius, Historia Evangelii Renovati, tom. 1, p. 39; Groningae, 1744.<br>
+<br>
+VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 9<br>
+<div id="9-1"></div>[[#19-1|'''1''']] Hardouin, Concil. Avenion. (1209), tom. 6, pars. 2, col. 1986. This edict enjoins bishops, counts, governors of castles, and all men-at-arms to give their aid to enforce spiritual censures against heretics. "Si opus fuerit," continues the edict, "jurare compellat sicut illi de Montepessulano juraverunt, praecipue circa exterminandos haereticos."<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="9-2"></div>[[#19-2|'''2''']] "Tanquam haereticos ab ecclesia Dei pellimus et damnamus: et per porestates exteras coerceri praecipimus, defensores quoque ipsorum ejusdem damnationis vinculo donec resipuerint, mancipamus." (Concilium Tolosanum &ndash; Hardouin, Acta Concil. et .Epistoloe Decretales, tom. 6, pars. 2, p. 1979; Parisiis, 1714.)<br>
+<div id="9-3"></div>[[#19-3|'''3''']] Acta Concil., tom. 6, pars. 2, p. 1212.<br>
+<div id="9-4"></div>[[#19-4|'''4''']] "Ubi cogniti fuerint illius haeresis sectatores, ne receptaculum quisquam eis in terra sua praebere, aut praesidium impertire praesumat. Sed nec in venditione aut eruptione aliqua cum eis omnino commercium habaetur: ut solatio saltem humanitatis amisso, ab errore viae suae resipiscere compellantur." &ndash; Hardouin, Acta Concil., tom. 6, p. 1597. 992<br>
+<div id="9-5"></div>[[#19-5|'''5''']] Ibid., can. 27, De Haereticis, p. 1684.<br>
+<div id="9-6"></div>[[#19-6|'''6''']] Ibid., tom. 7, can. 3, pp. 19-23.<br>
+<div id="9-7"></div>[[#19-7|'''7''']] Sismondi, Hist. of Crusades, p. 28.<br>
+<div id="9-8"></div>[[#19-8|'''8''']] Petri Vallis, Cern. Hist. Albigens., cap. 16, p. 571. Sismondi, p. 30.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="9-9"></div>[[#19-9|'''9''']] Sismondi, p. 29.<br>
+<div id="9-10"></div>[[#19-10|'''10''']] Hardouin, Concil. Montil., tom. 6, pars. 2, p. col. 1980.<br>
+<div id="9-11"></div>[[#19-11|'''11''']] Hardouin, Concil. Lateran. 4., tom. 7, p. 79.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="9-12"></div>[[#19-12|'''12''']] Historia de los Faicts d'Armas de Tolosa, pp. 9, 10. quoted by Sismondi, p. 35.<br>
+<div id="9-13"></div>[[#19-13|'''13''']] Caesar, Hiesterbachiensis, lib. 5, cap. 21. In Bibliotheca Patrum Cisterciensium, tom. 2, p. 139, Sismondi, p. 36.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="9-14"></div>[[#19-14|'''14''']] Hist. Gen. de Languedoc, lib. 21, cap. 57, p. 169. Historia de los Faicts d'Armas de Tolosa, p. 10. Sismondi, p. 37.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="9-15"></div>[[#19-15|'''15''']] Sismondi, History of the Crusades against the Albigenses, pp. 40-43.<br>
+<br>
+VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 10<br>
+<div id="110-1"></div>[[#10-1|'''1'']] Histoire de Languedoc, lib. 21, cap. 58, p. 169. Sismondi, p. 43.<br>
+<div id="110-2"></div>[[#10-2|'''2''']] Concil. Lateran. 4, can. 8, De Inquisitionibus. Hardouin, tom. 7, col. 26.<br>
+<div id="110-3"></div>[[#10-3|'''3''']] Malvenda, ann. 1215; Alb. Butler, 76. Turner, Hist. Eng., vol 5, p. 103; ed. 1830.<br>
+<div id="110-4"></div>[[#10-4|'''4''']] Hardouin, Concilia, tom. 7, p. 175.<br>
+<div id="110-5"></div>[[#10-5|'''5''']] Concilium Tolosanum, cap. 1, p. 428. Sismondi, 220.<br>
+<div id="110-6"></div>[[#10-6|'''6''']] Labbe, Concil. Tolosan., tom. 11, p. 427. Fleury, Hist. Eccles., lib. 79, n. 58.<br>
+<div id="110-7"></div>[[#10-7|'''7''']] Percini, Historia Inquisit. Tholosanoe. Mosheim, vol. 1, p. 344; Glas. edit., 1831.<br>
+<div id="110-8"></div>[[#10-8|'''8''']] Hist. de Languedoc, lib. 24, cap. 87, p. 394. Sismondi, 243.<br>
+<div id="110-9"></div>[[#10-9|'''9''']] Hist. of Crusades against the Albigenses, p. 243.<br>
+<br>
+VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- <b>CHAPTER 11<br>
+<div id="111-1"></div>[[#11-1|'''1''']] John Scotus Erigena had already published his book attacking and refuting the then comparatively new and strange idea of Paschasius, viz., that 993<br>
+by the words of consecration the bread and wine in the Eucharist became the real and veritable flesh and blood of Christ.<br>
+<div id="111-2"></div>[[#11-2|'''2''']] Dupin, Eccl. Hist., cent. 11. Concil., tom. 10; edit. Lab., p. 379.<br>
+<div id="111-3"></div>[[#11-3|'''3''']] Dupin, .Eccl. Hist., cent. 11, chap. 1, p. 9.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="111-4"></div>[[#11-4|'''4''']] Allix, p. 122.<br>
+<div id="111-5"></div>[[#11-5|'''5''']] Among other works Berengarius published a commentary on the Apocalypse; this may perhaps explain his phraseology.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="111-6"></div>[[#11-6|'''6''']] Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., cent. 11, part 2, chap. 3, sec. 18. In a foot-note Mosheim quotes the following words as decisive of Berengarius' sentiments, that Christ's body is only spiritually present in the Sacrament, and that the bread and wine are only symbols: &ndash; "The true body of Christ is set forth in the Supper; but spiritual to the inner man. The incorruptible, uncontaminated, and indestructible body of Christ is to be spiritually eaten [spiritualiter manducari] by those only who are members of Christ." (Berengarius' Letter to Almannus in Martene's Thesaur., tom. 2, p. 109.)<br>
+<div id="111-7"></div>[[#11-7|'''7''']] Dupin, Eccles. Hist., cent. 11, chap. 13.<br>
+<div id="111-8"></div>[[#11-8|'''8''']] Rodulphus Glaber, a monk of Dijon, who wrote a history of the occurrence.<br>
+<div id="111-9"></div>[[#11-9|'''9''']] "Jam Regem nostrum in coelestibus regnantem videmus; qui ad immortales triumphos dextra sua nos sublevat, dans superna gandia." (Chartuulary of St. Pierre en Vallee at Chartres.)<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="111-10"></div>[[#11-10|'''10''']] Hard., Acta Concil., tom. 6, p. 822.<br>
+<div id="111-11"></div>[[#11-11|'''11''']] Mosheim, Eccles. Hist., vol. 1, p. 270. Dupin, Eccles. Hist., cent. 11, chap. 13.<br>
+<div id="111-12"></div>[[#11-12|'''12''']] "Ridentes in medio ignis." (Hard., Acta Concil., tom. 6, p. 822.)<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="111-13"></div>[[#11-13|'''13''']] Gibbon has mistakenly recorded their martyrdom as that of Manicheans. Of the trial and deaths of these martyrs, four contemporaneous accounts have come down to us. In addition to the one referred to above, there is the biographical relation of Arefaste, their betrayer, a knight of Rouen; there is the chronicle of Ademar, a monk of St. Martial, who lived at the time of the Council; and there is the narrative of John, a monk of Fleury, near Orleans, written probably within a few weeks of the transaction. Accounts, taken from these original 994<br>
+documents, are given in Baronius' Annals (tom. 11, col. 60, 61; Colon. ed.) and Hardouin's Councils.<br>
+<div id="111-14"></div>[[#11-14|'''14''']] Mosheim says 1130. Bossuet, Faber, and others have assigned to Peter de Bruys a Paulician or Eastern origin. We are inclined to connect him with the Western or Waldensian confessors.<br>
+<div id="111-15"></div>[[#11-15|'''15''']] Peter de Cluny's account of them will be found in Bibliotheca P. Max. 22, pp. 1034, 1035.<br>
+<div id="111-16"></div>[[#11-16|'''16''']] Baron., Annal., ann. 1147, tom. 12, col. 350, 351. Dupin, Eccles. Hist., cent. 12, chap. 4<br>
+<div id="111-17"></div>[[#11-17|'''17''']] Baron., Annal., ann. 1148, tom. 12, col. 356.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="111-18"></div>[[#11-18|'''18''']] Mosheim, cent. 12, part 2, chap. 5, sec. 8.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="111-19"></div>[[#11-19|'''19''']] Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. 12, p. 264.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="111-20"></div>[[#11-20|'''20''']] The original picture of Arnold is by an opponent &ndash; Otho, Bishop of Frisingen (Chron. de Gestibus, Frederici I., lib. 1, cap. 27, and lib. 2, cap. 21).<br>
+<div id="111-21"></div>[[#11-21|'''21''']] Otho Frisingensis, quoted by Allix, p. 171.<font color="#830000"><br>
+<div id="111-22"></div>[[#11-22|'''22''']] Allix, pp. 171, 174. See also summary of St. Bernard's letters in Dupin, cent. 12, chap. 4.<br>
+<div id="111-23"></div>[[#11-23|'''23''']] Gibbon, Hist., vol. 12, p. 266.<br>
+<div id="111-24"></div>[[#11-24|'''24''']] M'Crie, Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in Italy, p. 41; 2nd edit., 1833.<br>
+<div id="111-25"></div>[[#11-25|'''25''']] Allix, p. 172. We find St. Bernard writing letters to the Bishop of Constance and the Papal legate, urging the persecution of Arnold. (See Dupin, Life of St. Bernard, cent. 12, chap. 4.) Mosheim has touched the history of Arnold of Breseia, but not with discriminating judgment, nor sympathetic spirit. This remark applies to his accounts of all these early confessors.<br>
+<br>
-In this way he has given us the very great and precious gifts he promised, so that by means of these gifts you may escape from the destructive lust that is in the world, and may come to share the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4)
+VOLUME FIRST- BOOK FIRST- CHAPTER 12<br>
+<div id="1112-1"></div>[[#12-1|'''1''']] P. Bayle, Dictionary, Historical and Critical, vol. 1, arts. Abelard, Berenger, Amboise; 2nd edit., Lond., 1734. See also Dupin, Eccl. Hist., cent. 12, chap. 4, Life of Bernard. As also Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., cent. 12, chap. 2, secs. 18, 22; chap. 3, secs. 6 &ndash; 12. 995<br>
+<div id="1112-2"></div>[[#12-3|'''2''']] Lord Macaulay, in his essay on the Church of Rome, has characterized the Waldensian and Albigensian movements as the revolt of the human intellect against Catholicism. We would apply that epithet rather to the great scholastic and pantheistic movement which Abelard inaugurated; that was the revolt of the intellect strictly viewed. The other was the revolt of the conscience quickened by the Spirit of God. It was the revival of the Divine principle.<div id="1112-3"></div>[[#12-3|'''3''']]<br>
+<br>