A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume ILea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume I
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- History
"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are
spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;
considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ."
Christ had commanded his disciples to forgive their brethren seventy
times seven, and as yet his teachings had been too recent to be buried
beneath a mass of observances and doctrines in which the letter which
kills overpowered the spirit which saves. The great primal principles of
Christianity were enough for the fervor of the faithful. Dogmatic
theology, with its endless complexities and metaphysical subtleties, as
yet was not. Even its vocabulary had still to be created and its
innumerable points of faith to be evolved out of the chance expressions
of writers on other topics, and by the literal interpretation of the
imagery of poetical diction.
It is an inexpressible relief to turn from the heated wranglings over
questions scarce appreciable by the average human intellect to St.
Paul's reproof to the Ephesians for giving heed to fables and endless
genealogies, and questions which had in them little of godly
edification, for "the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure
heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned" (I. Tim. I. 4,
5). Those who indulged in these vain janglings he denounces as men
"desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say
nor whereof they affirm" (Ib. 7), and he commands his chosen disciple,
"But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they engender
strife" (II. Tim. II. 23). The Ebionitic section of the Church agreed
with the Pauline branch in this simplicity of teaching--"Pure religion
and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless
and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the
world" (James, I. 27).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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