in the English nation, that have been so hardy as to touch their 'light
within:' but let the quills of these porcupines fly as fast as they
will, I shall not feel them." The good Luther was a violent saint
sometimes. Hear him express himself on the Catholic divines: "The
papists are all asses, and will always remain asses. Put them in
whatever sauce you choose, boiled, roasted, baked, fried, skinned, beat,
hashed, they are always the same asses." Hear him salute the pope: "The
pope was born out of the devil's posteriors. He is full of devils, lies,
blasphemies, and idolatries; he is Antichrist; the robber of churches;
the ravisher of virgins; the greatest of pimps; the governor of Sodom,
etc. If the Turks lay hold of us, then we shall be in the hands of the
devil; but if we remain with the pope, we shall be in hell. What a
pleasing sight would it be to see the pope and the cardinals hanging on
one gallows, in exact order, like the seals which dangle from the bulls
of the pope! What an excellent council would they hold under the
gallows!" And hear him upon Henry VIII.: "It is hard to say if folly can
be more foolish, or stupidity more stupid, than is the head of Henry. He
has not attacked me with the heart of a king, but with the impudence of
a knave. This rotten worm of the earth, having blasphemed the majesty of
my King, I have a just right to bespatter his English majesty with his
own dirt and ordure. This Henry has lied." The good Calvin was alike
violent. He hated Catholic and Lutheran. "His adversaries are never
others than knaves, lunatics, drunkards, and assassins. Sometimes they
are characterized by the familiar appellatives of bulls, asses, cats,
and hogs." Beza, the disciple of Calvin, imitated his master. Upon a
Lutheran minister, Tilleman, he bestowed these titles of honor:
"Polyphemus; an ape; a great ass who is distinguished from other asses
by wearing a hat; an ass on two feet; a monster composed of part of an
ape and wild ass; a villain who merits hanging on the first tree we
find." As to the Catholics, there is no end to the anathemas and curses
of the Fathers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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