Revelation 11: The Two Witnesses - Part 16
William of St. Amour Denounces the Mendicant Friars, AD 1256
[N.B. How often we have heard Roman Catholic apologists claim their Church is unified while the Protestants have numerous sectarian denominations. Major schisms in the Roman Church throughout its history are provable facts which their apologists would rather conceal. (Not to mention their ever-increasing religious orders of men and women, all having their own specific vows and rules by which they are to conduct themselves.) A quick perusal of comments on Breitbart’s articles concerning the Pope & Roman Church will reveal the animosity of professing Catholics toward the current papal officeholder and his Church. So much for ‘unity.’
William of St. Amour, held a position of prominence as Master of Theology at the acclaimed University of Paris in the mid-13th century. Numerous websites, secular and religious, contain easily accessible abbreviated biographies. The treatise in question,
De periculis novissimorum temporum – On the Dangers of the Last Days – is now available online in English translation. This is the
translation by Jonathan Robinson utilized.
The title is taken from the Latin Vulgate, 2 Timothy 3:1, which is translated by the Douay-Rheims as
Know also this, that, in the last days, shall come dangerous times. Particularly fascinating is the author’s use of verse 6 -
For of these sort are they who creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, who are led away with divers desires. Anyone with a modicum of knowledge pertaining to priests’ assaults on children understand that such assaults are frequently made
within the parents’ home, having befriended them, engendering their trust.
Although concerted efforts were made to suppress the treatise through burning and banning, along with the excommunication and exile of its author, this work still remained in the hands of those who protested the fraternal orders, as well as the Church who authorized them. William viewed the friars as forerunners of Antichrist. To that end he used all pertinent Scriptures delineating end times to prove that very point.]
“
5 how the aforesaid dangerous men will cunningly proceed in introducing the dangers
Concerning the fifth [chapter], namely how those seducers will go about cunningly to introduce the mentioned dangers, the Apostle warns of, saying consequently that although they would not have the
cura, or the direction of souls entrusted to them, they would none the less cunningly sneak into the homes of individuals under their own authority, searching out everybody's personal affairs(
proprietates) or secrets. But, it is agreed, this could not happen if they did not impose themselves [on others] in order to hear their confessions. Yet when they will have sought out men's secrets and properties through their confessions (or some other way), then they will first seduce the women with deceitful and cunning words; afterwards they will seduce their men through them, just as the Devil first seduced Eve, and Adam through her.
“Besides the women, they will also seduce the men, whom they find capable of being seduced (
seductibiles) after the fashion (
ad modum) of the women. They will seduce them so much—that is, to themselves, or lead them to their own counsels—that they will render them unto their own power as if they were captives. In other words, ensuring, by binding them (
ad stringendo) through either oaths or vows………..And the Apostle says this in these words:
Amongst these are they who penetrate homes and lead away captive the women burdened with sins; according to which the Gloss [i.e.
Glossa Ordinaria] explains, if his words are well pondered, in this way: `
They penetrate homes, literally, they enter the homes of seducible women and men and pry into everybody's private affairs;
and lead captive, that is, seduce the women first, and after them their men, just like the Devil first seduced Eve, and Adam through her.' Similarly, the Gloss [on]
lead the women captive, `that is, seduce seducible men like the women', that is, lead them from the counsels of their prelates to their own counsels. For this word `to seduce' is thus explained in Revelation 20,
Satan shall be loosed, and seduce the nations: the Gloss, `that is, lead them away from Christ to themselves'.
“Similarly, the consciences of the faithful of Christ is their home. Ecclesiasticus 32:
Run first into your home—the Gloss: `that is, into the home of your conscience'. A stranger should not be received into this home. Ecclesiasticus 11:
Do not receive every man into your home, for many are insidious or deceitful. And below, in the same chapter:
Admit the stranger to yourself, and he will overturn you in a whirlwind, and he will alienate you from your own…..”
[N.B. It is well documented how the confessional is
a gateway to the inner thoughts and secrets of the confessor, allowing the priest means to exploit the weaknesses divulged.]
NEXT: The witness of Czech Reformers.
