[155] Wilkins, Concilia, iii. 717.
[156] Sermo Exhortatorius, W. de Worde.
[157] Gairdner, Calendar of Papers Foreign and Domestic, v., preface, ix.
[158] Froude’s translation.
[159] Opera, ed. Leclerc, iii. col. 102.
[160] Ibid., Ep. 144.
[161] In one of his works Erasmus gives the highest praise to English ecclesiastics for their single-minded devotion to their clerical duties. He contrasts them with clerics of other nations in regard to worldly ambitions, &c. “Those who are nearest to Christ,” he writes, “should keep themselves free from the baser things of this world. How ill the word ‘general’ sounds when connected with that of ‘Cardinal,’ or ‘duke’ with that of ‘bishop,’ ‘earl’ with that of ‘abbot,’ or ‘commander’ with that of ‘priest.’ In England the ecclesiastical dignity is the highest, and the revenues of churchmen abundant. In that country, however, no one who is a bishop or abbot has even a semblance of temporal dominion, or possesses castles or musicians or bands of retainers, nor does any of them coin his own money, excepting only the Archbishop of Canterbury, as a mark of dignity and honour, which has been conferred on him on account of the death of Saint Thomas; he is, however, never concerned in matters of war, but is occupied only in the care of the churches.” (Consultatio de Bello Turcico. Opera, ed. Leclerc, tom. v. p. 363.)
[162] Opera, &c., ut sup., Ep. 149.
[163] Ibid., Ep. 175.
[164] Ibid., Ep. 216.