do
your enemies say that, in deposing Arnulphus, we should have waited for
the judgment of the Roman bishop? Can they say that his judgment is
before that of God which our synod pronounced? The Prince of the Roman
bishops and of the apostles themselves proclaimed that God must be
obeyed rather than men; and Paul, the teacher of the Gentiles, announced
anathema to him, though he were an angel, who should preach a doctrine
different to that which had been delivered. Because the pontiff
Marcellinus offered incense to Jupiter, must, therefore, all bishops
sacrifice?" In all this there is obviously an insurgent spirit against
the papacy, or, rather, against its iniquities.

[Sidenote: His ecclesiastical advancement.] In the progress of the
political movements Gerbert was appointed to the archbishopric of
Rheims. On this occasion, it is not without interest that we observe his
worldly wisdom. It was desirable to conciliate the clergy--perhaps it
might be done by the encouragement of marriage. He had lived in the
polygamic court of the khalif, whose family had occasionally boasted of
more than forty sons and forty daughters. Well then may he say, "I
prohibit not marriage. I condemn not second marriages. I do not blame
the eating of flesh." His election not only proved unfortunate, but, in
the tortuous policy of the times, he was removed from the exercise of
his episcopal functions and put under interdict. The speech of the Roman
legate, Leo, who presided at his condemnation, gives us an insight into
the nature of his offence, of the intention of Rome to persevere in her
ignorance and superstition, and is an amusing example of ecclesiastical
argument: "Because the vicars of Peter and their disciples will not have
for their teachers a Plato, a Virgil, a Terence, and the rest of the
herd of philosophers, who soar aloft like the birds of the air, and dive
into the depths like the fishes of the sea, ye say that they are not
worthy to be door-keepers, because they know not how to make verses.
Peter is, indeed, a door-keeper--but of heaven!" He does not deny the
systematic bribery of the pontifical government, but justifies it. "Did
not the Saviour receive gifts of the wise men?" Nor does he deny the
crimes of the pontiffs, though he protests against those who would
expose them, reminding them that "Ham was cursed for uncovering his
father's nakedness." In all this we see the beginning of that struggle
between Mohammedan learning an