The one were heretics who opposed the Church by
deliberately spreading false doctrine; the other were Epicureans, and
their sin against the Church lay in their general disposition, which
was summed up in the belief that the soul dies with the body. The
Church was well aware that this one doctrine, if it gained ground, must
be more ruinous to her authority than all the teachings of the
Manichaeans and Paterines, since it took away all reason for her
interference in the affairs of men after death. That the means which
she used in her struggles were precisely what had driven the most
gifted natures to unbelief and despair was what she naturally would not
herself admit.
Dante's loathing of Epicurus, or of what he took to be his doctrine,
was certainly sincere. The poet of the life to come could not but
detest the denier of immortality; and a world neither made nor ruled by
God, no less than the vulgar objects of earthly life which the system
appeared to countenance, could not but be intensely repugnant to a
nature like his. But if we look closer, we find that certain doctrines
of the ancients made even on him an impression which forced the
biblical doctrine of the Divine government into the background unless,
indeed, it was his own reflection, the influence of opinions then
prevalent, or loathing for the injustice that seemed to rule this
world, which made him give up the belief in a special Providence His
God leaves all the details of the world's government to a deputy,
Fortune, whose sole work it is to change and change again all earthly
things, and who can disregard the wailings of men in unalterable
beatitude.
Pages:
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568