The first accusation of heresy which I bring against the pope and his church, on the score of the bad instruction which they give to the Catholics, is therefore well founded.
I accuse the pope and cardinals of being heretics, under this second head.
I accuse them of not possessing the acquirements requisite to qualify them for directing the faithful in the way of their salvation.
I accuse them of giving a bad education to the public teachers, and of not requiring of those whom they invest with the office of the priesthood, the knowledge which is necessary to render them valuable pastors, capable of directing aright the flock which is committed to their charge.
Theology is the only science which they teach in the seminaries; theology is the only science which the pope and the cardinals think themselves obliged to cultivate; theology is the only science which the chiefs of the clergy exact from those who, as rectors, bishops, archbishops, &c. are destined to direct the conduct of the faithful.
Now, I ask, what is theology? and I find that it is the science of argumentation upon questions relating to dogma and worship. This science is certainly the most important of all for the heretical clergy, inasmuch as it furnishes them the means of fixing the attention of the faithful upon trifles, and making the Christians lose sight of the great terrestrial object which they ought to pursue, in order to obtain eternal life—namely, the most rapid possible amelioration of the moral and physical condition of the poorest classes.
But theology could never possess great importance with a clergy truly Christian, which ought to consider worship and dogma as only religious accessories, and to present morality alone as the true religious doctrine, and only to use dogma and worship as means often useful to fix upon it the attention of all Christians.
The Roman clergy maintained their orthodoxy until the accession of Leo X. to the papal throne; because, until that epoch, they were superior to the laity in all
