DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61904#0037
GLASTONBURY ABBEY.
25
which the Romifh Church then fought to draw people to what
they called Chriftianity. Can any one wonder that, as foon as
light dawned, all thefe fpurious trumperies, all the lying
miracles which kept them company, and of which we have
moft ludicrous examples in our chronicler John, and all the
purgatorial inventions following after them, fhould not only
move difguft, but tend to deftroy faith in the real miracles,
and the real hereafter of revelation ? The blow given to a
vital faith in Chriftianity by the Church of Rome by thefe
bafe and felfifh arts, and of which their own hiftorians are the
atteftors, is felt even in the prefent day, in the feeble credence
of profefled believers, and in the vaft fpread of a hopelefs
materialifm.
Sailors at fea bait for fifh with a mere bit of red rag, the
mockery of a piece of flefh ; but the Romanifts of the middle
ages baited for fouls with more empty and faplefs things. Yet
for the cupidity of the rich and powerful, God made them un-
confcioufly and blindly bait with fubftantial temptations. Their
vaft hoarded wealth, their gold and filver veflels, their fhrines
garnifhed and loaded with jewels, their pictures by the greateft
mafters, and ftill more their magnificent eftates, drew the eyes
and hearts of kings and nobles even as they pretended to wor-
fhip, and at length they laid rapacious hands on the whole
ftupendous prey. The fyftem was built on the delufive
fands of impofitioh, and when the floods and tempefts of
fecular power beat upon it, it fell, and great was the fall
thereof. What a moral in this worldlinefs ! The very things
which they imagined were building up their ftrength were
preparing their deftrudtion.
What a right royal eftate did that of Glaftonbury grow to !
From the wicker church and the ten hides of marfhy, thicketty
land — in the time of the abbot Richard Beere, in the year
E
25
which the Romifh Church then fought to draw people to what
they called Chriftianity. Can any one wonder that, as foon as
light dawned, all thefe fpurious trumperies, all the lying
miracles which kept them company, and of which we have
moft ludicrous examples in our chronicler John, and all the
purgatorial inventions following after them, fhould not only
move difguft, but tend to deftroy faith in the real miracles,
and the real hereafter of revelation ? The blow given to a
vital faith in Chriftianity by the Church of Rome by thefe
bafe and felfifh arts, and of which their own hiftorians are the
atteftors, is felt even in the prefent day, in the feeble credence
of profefled believers, and in the vaft fpread of a hopelefs
materialifm.
Sailors at fea bait for fifh with a mere bit of red rag, the
mockery of a piece of flefh ; but the Romanifts of the middle
ages baited for fouls with more empty and faplefs things. Yet
for the cupidity of the rich and powerful, God made them un-
confcioufly and blindly bait with fubftantial temptations. Their
vaft hoarded wealth, their gold and filver veflels, their fhrines
garnifhed and loaded with jewels, their pictures by the greateft
mafters, and ftill more their magnificent eftates, drew the eyes
and hearts of kings and nobles even as they pretended to wor-
fhip, and at length they laid rapacious hands on the whole
ftupendous prey. The fyftem was built on the delufive
fands of impofitioh, and when the floods and tempefts of
fecular power beat upon it, it fell, and great was the fall
thereof. What a moral in this worldlinefs ! The very things
which they imagined were building up their ftrength were
preparing their deftrudtion.
What a right royal eftate did that of Glaftonbury grow to !
From the wicker church and the ten hides of marfhy, thicketty
land — in the time of the abbot Richard Beere, in the year
E