Edward Cairns, Ph.D.: "Christianity Through the Centuries:" Ch.14: Medie...
One can understand the gathering forces leading to
the liberation and enlightenment of the Reformation. And we haven’t even gotten
to the Reformatory Councils of the 15th century yet. People knew things
needed reforming on several levels. John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, Jerome of Prague and
Savanarola arose, indicators and witnesses to the massive corruption. Wycliffe averred
sola scriptura, denied cannibalism at the Lord’s Table, and decried the wanton lusts
of the clerks for money and power. Hus and Jerome embraced Wycliffism and defended
God’s cause in Bohemia. Reformatory Councils arose. Marsilius of Padua’s Defensor
Pacis denied an absolutist hierarchy to either church or state, affirming that government
resided with the people. Had Marsilius’s ideas obtained, the Man of Sin’s government
would have become a constitutional monarchy instead of its absolutist form. The
Council of Pisa, 1409, deposed two competing Men of Sin, Benedict 13 and Gregory
12, appointing Alexander 5 as the new Roman sinner. But, the other two rejected
the Council, so there were 3 Men of Sin recriminating each other in demonic contempt
of each other. The Council of Constance, 1414-1418, cleaned up the Papal heats and
elected Martin V, tossing the other hustlers. This Council also condemned Wycliffe
and burned Huss at the stake. The other reformatory councils were Basel, Ferrara,
and Florence, all dealing with the mud and pond scum of the Great Schism. The mystics,
proto-Reformers and Councils were early indications of a Church long in need of
a major cleanup. Soon enough, Renaissance writers and Reformers will take off the
gloves and punk-slap the Papist devils.
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