Secret of papal strength
Never has the world seen such an enduring system as the papacy. Patterned so nearly after the truth of God, and resembling so closely, both in church government and educational principles, the plan delivered to the chosen nation, that only an expert, guided by the Spirit of truth, could judge between the true and the counterfeit, it had, as had the Jews before them, replaced the life by the mere form. Nevertheless, so firmly laid was the foundation, and so substantially built were the walls, that for centuries it baffled all attempts at overthrow.
This structure had as its foundation an educational system; the mortar which held the bricks in the wall was educational methods, and should the building fall, the foundation itself must be attacked.
As a civil power, the papacy was periodically attacked by ambitious kings and princes; but these shocks scarcely disturbed the serenity of the papal head, so firm was his throne. The sword of the Mohammedans was broken at Tours; and the Crescent, instead of advancing to the full by encircling the Mediterranean, waned as its light receded to the shores of Africa and the west of Asia.
The revival of learning
What the Turk could not do by force of arms, he did in another way. In 1453 Constantinople fell into the hands of the calif, yet this did not affect the strength of the papal hierarchy. But as the Turk came into Greece, Greek art and literature fled to Italy. Here is the attack on the papacy which came from the east. Painter says: “The revival of classical learning, which had its central point in the downfall of Constantinople in 1453, exerted a favorable influence. It opened the literary treasures of Greece and Rome, provided a new culture for the mind, awakened dissatisfaction with the scholastic teaching of the church, and tended to emancipate thought from subjection to ecclesiastical authority.”[110] The taking of Constantinople did still more toward hastening the Reformation. Venice had controlled the commerce of the eastern Mediterranean, but Turkish supremacy in those waters transferred that power to her rival, Genoa, on the other side of Italy; and from this latter center began the search for a western passage to the East Indies which led to the accidental discovery of America.
Greek classics
Again, “The revival of learning was so intimately related to the Reformation, and to the educational advancement dating from that time, that it calls for consideration in some detail. It had its origin in Italy.... Eager scholars from England, France, and Germany sat at the feet of Italian masters, in order afterward to bear beyond the Alps the precious seed of the new culture.”[111] However, this Greek culture, or new learning, was nothing more nor less than a revival of the study of Greek paganism. Notwithstanding that fact, a life and enthusiasm attended its study which drew students from the papal universities, and induced men to travel hundreds of miles for the sake of sitting at the feet of masters of the Greek classics.
This was the attempted reform of the papacy made by classic literature. Its results can not but interest us. Painter further says: “The revival of letters produced different results in different countries. Everywhere it contributed to the emancipation of the human mind, but in Italy it tended strongly to paganize its adherents.”
Bear in mind that the classics were attempting to reform the papacy. Here was the result in Italy. Italian schools undoubtedly needed reforming, for the words of Luther describing German schools are applicable to all papal institutions. Of these he said: “What have they been taught in the universities and convents, but to become blockheads? A man has studied twenty, forty years, and has learned neither Latin nor German.” But as much as reform was needed, Greek classics “in Italy tended strongly to paganize its adherents.” We can not look for the classics, then, to Christianize the Italian papists.