SAVONAROLA, Giralomo

Sermons
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Go thou to Rome and throughout Christendom...There thou seest the great prelates with splendid mitres of gold and precious stones on their heads, and silver crosiers in hand; there they stand at the altar, decked with fine, chanting those beautiful vespers and masses.

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What doest Thou, O Lord? Why dost Thou slumber? Arise and come to Deliver Thy church from the hands of the devils! Hasten then the chastisement and the scourge, that it may be quickly granted us to return to Thee. Be ye not scandalized, O my brethren. The only hope is that the sword of God may soon smite the earth.

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In these days, prelates and preachers are chained to the earth by the love of earthly things. The care of souls is no longer their concern. They are content with the receipt of revenue. The preachers preach to please princes and to be praised by them. They have done worse. They have not only destroyed the Church of God. They have built up a new church after their own pattern. Go to Rome and see! Thou shalt find them all with the books of the humanities in their hands and telling one another that they can guide men's souls by means of Virgil, Horace and Cicero. Dost thou not know what I would tell thee? What doest thou, O Lord! Arise, and come to deliver thy Church from the hands of devils, from the hands of tyrants, from the hands of iniquitous prelates.

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It begins in Rome where the clergy make mock of Christ ... They traffic in the sacraments. They sell benefices to the highest bidder. Have not the priests in Rome courtesans and grooms and horses and dogs? Have they not palaces full of tapestries and silks, of perfumes and lackeys? Seemeth it, that this is the Church of God?

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