? Who, I say, in this perverse name, is
set forth for imitation but he, who despised the legions of angels joined
as companions to himself, and endeavoured to rise to a height unapproached
by all, that he might seem to be subject to none, and be alone superior to
all. Who also said, 'I will ascend into heaven: I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation,
on the sides of the North. I will ascend above the height of the clouds: I
will be like the Most High.'

"For what are all your brethren, the Bishops of the Universal Church, but
the stars of heaven? Whose life and language together shine amid the sins
and errors of men, as among the shades of night. And while you seek to set
yourself over these by a proud term, and to tread under foot their name, in
comparison with your own, what else do you say, but 'I will ascend into the
heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.' Are not all the
Bishops clouds, who rain down the words of their preaching, and shine with
the light of good works? And while your brotherhood despises them, and
endeavours to put them under you, what else do you say but this, which is
said by the old enemy: 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds?' And
when I see all these things with sorrow, and fear the secret judgments of
God, my tears increase, my heart contains not my groans, that that most
holy man, the Lord John, of such abstinence and humility, seduced the
persuasion of those about him, hath proceeded to such pride, that in
longing after a perverse name, he endeavours to be like him, who, desiring
in his pride to be as God, lost even the grace of that likeness to God
which had been given him; and so forfeited true blessedness, because he
sought false glory. _Surely Peter, the first of the Apostles, a member of
the holy universal Church, Paul, Andrew, John, what else are they but the
heads of particular communities? and yet all are members under one head._
And to comprehend all in one brief expression, the saints before the law,
the saints under the law, the saints under grace, all these making up the
body of the Lord, are disposed among members of the Church, and no one ever
wished to be called Universal. Let, then, your Holiness acknowledge how
great is your pride, who seek to be called by that name, by which no one
has presumed to be called who was really holy."[145]

Now had these passages occurred in the writings of some a