le went on. Papal Rome manifested no
consideration, but rather hatred, for classical Rome, The pontiffs had
been subordinates of the Byzantine sovereigns, then lieutenants of the
Frankish kings, then arbiters of Europe; their government had changed as
much as those of any of the surrounding nations; there had been complete
metamorphoses in its maxims, objects, claims. In one point only it had
never changed--intolerance. Claiming to be the centre of the religious
life of Europe, it steadfastly refused to recognize any religious
existence outside of itself, yet both in a political and theological
sense it was rotten to the core. Erasmus and Luther heard with amazement
the blasphemies and witnessed with a shudder the atheism of the city.

The historian Ranke, to whom I am indebted for many of these facts,
has depicted in a very graphic manner the demoralization of the great
metropolis. The popes were, for the most part, at their election, aged
men. Power was, therefore, incessantly passing into new hands. Every
election was a revolution in prospects and expectations. In a community
where all might rise, where all might aspire to all, it necessarily
followed that every man was occupied in thrusting some other into the
background. Though the population of the city at the inception of the
Reformation had sunk to eighty thousand, there were vast crowds of
placemen, and still greater ones of aspirants for place. The
successful occupant of the pontificate had thousands of offices to give
away--offices from many of which the incumbents had been remorselessly
ejected; many had been created for the purpose of sale. The integrity
and capacity of an applicant were never inquired into; the points
considered were, what services has he rendered or can he render to the
party? how much can he pay for the preferment? An American reader can
thoroughly realize this state of things. At every presidential election
he witnesses similar acts. The election of a pope by the Conclave is not
unlike the nomination of an American president by a convention. In both
cases there are many offices to give away.

William of Malmesbury says that in his day the Romans made a sale of
whatever was righteous and sacred for gold. After his time there was
no improvement; the Church degenerated into an instrument for the
exploitation of money. Vast sums were collected in Italy; vast sums
were drawn under all manner of pretenses from surrounding and reluctant
count