"in every quarter; raise up those to whom thou "hast been a stumbling block, and whom thou hast "blinded, although by reason of thy excessive stupidity, thou accountest it as nothing.". 66 " "into the Schools where the first elements are taught, and say, 'I am a destroyer and persecu" 'tor of images,' and immediately the children " will throw their books at thy head, so that what "thou couldst not be taught by wise men, thou "mayst learn from babes." "Dost thou not con"sider that this thy effort, whereby thou hast risen 66 up against images, is a turbulent, an insolent, "and a proud act of wickedness? When the "churches of God enjoyed a profound peace, thou "hast raised up fightings, and hatreds, and offen. The Pope afterwards mentions in terms of commendation the conduct of the women who had slain an imperial officer when in the act of break, ing an image of Christ, and he thus justifies the double crime of sedition and murder committed in defence of idolatry. The epistle concludes as follows." May God himself infuse his fear into thy heart, and convert thee from those things "which thou hast perversely brought into the "world; and let me receive letters from thee as "soon as possible, announcing thy conversion; "and may that God who came down from heaven "and entered into the womb of the holy virgin, "mother of God, for our salvation dwell in thy "heart, and drive out those who now dwell in thee, "and bring in offences, and may He give peace to "all the Christian Churches, world without end, "Amen."* On the reception of the imperial edict for the destruction of images in Rome and Italy, we are informed by history that the Pope armed against the Emperor his Sovereign, as against an enemy. At the call of the Pontiff Ravenna, Venice and other cities also flew to arms in defence of the images of the saints, and the Exarch of Ravenna was slain in attempting to resist the insurrection. From this period, Rome and Italy were lost to the eastern empire, and though the Exarch was permitted to reside within the walls of Ravenna, it was as a captive rather than a master. Not satisfied with these measures of temporal vengeance, Pope Gregory convened a synod of ninety For the original epistle from which I have translated these extracts, See Sacro-Sancta concilia, ad Regiam Edit. Exacta. Lutitiæ Parisiorum, 1671, Tom. VII. p. 3-22. three bishops, against what was termed the heresy of the Iconoclasts, or image breakers.—With their consent a general excommunication was pronounced against all, who by word or deed should attack the images of the saints,* or in other words, against all who should presume to obey the commandment of the Lord, which says, thou shalt not make unto thyself, any graven image, or any likeness of any thing in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. In this transaction, we therefore behold a power seated in the temple of God, opposing and exalting itself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, i. e. above the highest kingly and imperial authorities upon earth. We see this power like ancient Babylon, mad on its idols,t inflamed to a pitch of fury in defence of image worship, treating the emperor whom it professed to acknowledge as its rightful sovereign, with proud, supercilious, and disdainful insolence, when he presumed to interdict that which God had forbid. * Gibbon's Decline and Fall, Chapter xlix. den: and finally, we see this power rising in rebellion against the emperor, rather than obey the edict for the abolition of images. Thus did this antichristian power, in effect, arrogate to itself the authority of God himself, by setting up its own will, in opposition to, and in subversion of the commandment of the Lord, forbidding the worship of images. The next example which I shall adduce from history of the exercise of antichristian power by the Popes, is as follows:-" Pepin who was mayor of the palace to Childeric III, king of France, "and was possessed in reality of the royal power "and authority, not contented with this, aspired "to the titles and honours of majesty, and formed "the design of dethroning his sovereign. For "this purpose the states of the realm were assem"bled by Pepin, A. D. 751, and though they "were devoted to the interests of this ambitious 66 usurper, they gave it as their opinion, that the "bishop of Rome was previously to be consulted, "whether the execution of such a project was “lawful or not. In consequence of this, ambas "sadors were sent by Pepin to Zachary the reign"ing pontiff, with the following question: Wheth"er the Divine law did not permit a valiant and "warlike people, to dethrone a pusillanimous and "indolent monarch, who was incapable of exercising any of the functions of royalty, and to substitute "in his place, one more worthy to rule, and who "had already rendered most important services to "the state?-The situation of Zachary who stood "much in need of the succours of Pepin against "the Greeks and Lombards, rendered his answer "such as the usurper desired. And when this "favourable decision of the Roman oracle was "published in France, the unhappy Childeric was stripped of royalty without the least opposition; "and Pepin without the smallest resistance from "any quarter, stepped into the throne of his "master and his sovereign." The coronation of Pepin was twice performed, first with the sanction of the Pope, by Boniface, Bishop of Metz, and the apostle of Germany, and again by Pope Stephen the third, who in the monastery of St. Denis, placed the diadem on the head of his benefactor. "The royal unction of "the kings of Israel was dexterously applied: "The successor of St. Peter assumed the char"acter of a divine ambassador, a German chieftan * Mosheim Ecclesiast. Hist. Century viii. Part ii. |