Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/336

 320 GERMANY. from the Aristotelian philosophy, as transmitted through the Arab commentators, adulterated with neo-Platonic elements, which trans- muted the theism of the Greek into a kind of mystic pantheism. These speculations were carried still further by his f eUow-school- man, Amauri de Bene, a favorite of the heir-apparent, Prmce Louis. His views were condemned by the university in 1204 ; he appealed to the Holy See, but was compelled to abjure in 1207, when he is said to have died of mortification. He had disciples, however, who propagated his doctrines in secret. They were mostly men of education and inteUigence, theologians of the uni- versity and priests, except a certain goldsmith named GuiUaume, who was esteemed as the prophet of the little sect. It was im- possible that bold speculations of this nature should remain station- ary, and the theoretical premises of David and Amauri were carried to unexpected conclusions in the effort to reduce them into a system for proselytism among the people. Amauri had tauo-ht that God was the essence of all creatures, and, as hght could not°be seen of itself, but only in the air, so God was invisible ex- cept in his creatures. The inevitable deduction from this was that after death all beings would return to God, and in him be unified in eternal rest. This swept away the doctrines of future retribu- tion, purgatory, and hell, and, as the Amaurians did not fail to point out, the innumerable observances through which the Church controlled the consciences and the wealth of men through its power over the keys and the treasury of salvation. As this was de- structive to the ecclesiastical system, so was the doctrine equally subversive of morahty, which taught that such was the virtue of love and charity that whatever was done in their behalf could be no sin, and, further, that any one fiUed with the Holy Ghost was impeccable, no matter what crime he might commit, because that Spirit, which is God, cannot sin, nor can man, who is nothing of himself, so long as the Spirit of God is in him.* There was in these utterances an irresistible attraction to -C^sar Heisterbac. v. 22.-Nich. Trivetti Chron. ann. 1215 (D'Achery Spicileg. Ill 185 -Rio-ord. de Gest. Phil. Aug. ann. 1210. - Guillel. Nangiac. ann. 1210.- Eymeric. Direct. Inquis. P. ii. Q- vli.-Cf. Renan, Averrofes et 1' Averroisme, 3d Ed. pp. 220-4.
 * Tocco L'Heresia nel Medio Evo, p. 21.-D'Argentr6, Collect. Judic. 1. 1. 127.