Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/420

 384 Readings in European History But thou, heretic, 1 wilt say : " Christ said to his disciples, 1 Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them'; therefore the priest who does not receive the Holy Ghost because he is wicked cannot absolve." Even if a wicked priest has neither charity nor the Holy Ghost as a private man, nevertheless his priest- hood is worthy as far as the efficacy of the sacraments goes, though he himself may be unworthy of the priesthood. . . . For example, a red rose is equally red in the hands of an emperor or of a dirty old woman ; likewise a carbuncle in the hand of a king or of a peasant ; and my servant cleans the stable just as well with a rusty iron hoe as with a golden one adorned with gems. No one doubts that in the time of Elijah there were many swans in the world, but the Lord did not feed the prophet by swans, but by a black crow. It might have been pleasanter for him to have had a swan, but he was just as well fed by a crow. And though it may be pleasanter to drink nectar from a golden goblet than from an earthen vessel, the draught intoxicates just the same, wherever it comes from. V. ATTITUDE OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT TOWARD HERETICS The following document is a good example of the cordial manner in which the temporal rulers cooperated with the Church in the detection and punishment of heresy, which was universally regarded as the most hor- rible of crimes (see above, p. 364). It is taken from the laws of the enlightened Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. 2 The heretics endeavor to rend the seamless garment of our Lord, and in accordance with their vicious name, which 1 The Waldensians against whom the writer is arguing, maintained, as did the Albigenses (see above, p. 382) that only good priests could administer the sacraments so that they would benefit the sinners. 2 Extracts from the laws in France and Germany relating to heretics will be found in Translations and Reprints, Vol. Ill, No. 6.