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greater strength of resolution than true Christians . St . Bernard answered this letter from Evervin , saying , that the courage they appeared to possess did not come from God , but from the devil ; he called them all sorts of names , foxes , hypocrites , dogs ; but after all is compelled to say that they behaved very well , did not deceive any one , had very good morals , did not commit violence , &c .: good qualities which he charitably attributes to hypocrisy . Muratori observes that none of the contemporary historians found fault with the behaviour of Dolcino and his followers in a moral point of view .
Dr . M'Crie would pass over the exertions of many excellent men by telling us , that many Italians had discovered the corruptions of the Roman Church , who entertained no thought of renouncing her communion , and he quotes three or four passages from the Divina Commedia to prove his opinion . Now this , in its strict sense , would apply to almost all men who see abuses in their country ' s institutions . Their first thought is , not to destroy , but to reform ; not being always sure that if they overthrow they shall set
up something better . The Nonconformists of England laboured long to avoid what they called the sin of schism , and so did many very honest reformers , who , for one reason or another , saw no necessity to destroy in all respects the system of ecclesiastical government of those from whom they differed in some particulars . That Dante " entertained no thought of renouncing the communion of the Roman Church , " if opportunity served and redress could be had no other way , is a very easy assertion , but one which has little to support it . A man who , as Dante did , cried out loudly against the
mass , the indulgences , the decretals , the temporal power of the popes , and their avarice ; the hypocrisy and riches and idleness and ignorance of the friars of all denominations ; who scorned their interpretation of the Bible , charging them with distorting its sense , and advising his fellow-creatures to read it and follow its precepts ; who boldly puts into hell Pope Celestin , thpugh canonized as a saint ; who declared the Roman see vacant , in the sight of God , when filled by an unworthy pope ( Boniface VIII . )—this man certainly looks like one who would not have been very averse to renouncing the communion of the Roman Church . After what Foscolo and Rosetti have
written on Dante ' s inclination and intentions on the subject of reform , ( particularly the former in his preliminary volume , ) Dr . M'Crie would perhaps alter hjs opinion . To understand Dante , it is necessary to have a somewhat more intimate acquaintance with him than that which Dr . M * Crie appears to possess . His quotations remind us of the inquisitors of Spain , who put the jpoem in the Index expurgatorius , until three passages were expunged from it . Those learnedj jivines did not see any other part to be dangerous . The Italian divines were wiser—they wrote very learned books and notes to
prove his orthodoxy ; not daring to proscribe his poem , and seeing that it would be necessary to destroy it altogether to do any good to their cause , unless they could make the world put an entirely different construction upon its meaning . The poem of Dante cannot be understood without a full acquaintance with the religious history of his time , nor is that religious history intelligible without a thorough knowledge of his poem . Many of his opinions are those professed by the Italian sectarians in matters of morals , reformation of ceremonies , &c . In doctrinal speculations he placed Aristotle above Plato ; but
. stilJ , in his system of the heavens , in his metaphysics , and in his theological disputations , he follows in preference the school of Plato and Pythagoras . N evertheless , many of his poetical fancies are to be traced to the opinions of the heretics of his days , and sometimes to those of some of the heathen
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Hevtew '—M ' Crie ' s Italian Reformation . iO £
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VOL . II . I
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1828, page 105, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2557/page/33/
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