The
worship of the devil, far from being an invention of fanatical monks,
actually existed, and was often the last consolation of those who held
themselves forsaken by God. The hierarchy did not hesitate a moment to
make the utmost use or the power conferred upon them by the mental
attitude of the people. The government of kings and princes, in addition
to the ecclesiastical government, could only be a transient, sinful
condition; the time was bound to come when the pope would be king of the
earth, and the great lords of the world his vassals, appointed by him to
keep the wicked world in check, and deposed by him if he found them
incapable, worshippers of the devil, or disobedient to the Church. The
whole world was a hierarchy whose apex reached heaven and bore, as the
representative of its invisible summit, the pope. He stood, to quote
Innocent III., "in the middle, between God and humanity." The same great
pope has left us a document entitled _On the Contempt of the World_,
which treats of the absolute futility of all things mundane.
Pages:
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80