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* * * * *
NOTES OF A READER.
* * * * *
CORRUPT STATE OF THE WESTERN CHURCH IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.
From the following facts an inference may be drawn of the tendency of
the Western church to a system of externals, applying itself solely to
continual discipline and fasting, instead of the improvement of the
heart. For the perusal of the sacred writings and spiritual lessons of
the ancient fathers of the church, was substituted that of legends and
decretals, and the Book of Canons, by which the whole Western church was
governed. Images and relics of the saints acquired an excessive
adoration; and continual discoveries were being made of the bodies of
miracle-working saints. Impostors were to be found, appearing every day
under new names and with fresh miracles, imposing on the credulity of
the public, and amassing wealth by defrauding the pious multitude. Some
of these impostors, too insolent in their practices, were discovered and
punished, whilst others derived from them their whole fortune and
subsistence.
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