a wretched class of men, of low degree, yet full of malice;
not less dingy, nor less filthy, nor less vile than beetles; who
nevertheless by a certain obstinate malignity of disposition, tho they
can never do good to any mortal, become frequently troublesome to the
great. They frighten by their ugliness, they molest by their noise,
they offend by their stench; they buzz round us, they cling to us,
they lie in ambush for us, so that it is often better to be at enmity
with powerful men than to attack these beetles; whom it is a disgrace
even to overcome, and whom no one can either shake off or encounter
without some pollution.[40]

[Footnote 40: Erasmus here refers to mendicant friars.]

The generality of mankind place religion in ceremonies or creeds; a
certain appointment of psalms, or in bodily exercises. If you examine
them about spiritual matters, you will find them merely carnal.

God despised the burnt-offerings, new moons and Sabbaths, the calling
of assemblies, and the appointed feasts of His people, while they were
evil-doers, altho He Himself had commanded them; and will any man dare
to compare his own paltry institutions with the divine precepts? You
may read in Isaiah what contempt and loathing he expresses concerning
them. When He speaks of rites, ceremonies, and the multitude of
prayers, does He not, as it were, point at those men who measure
religion by psalms, prayers, creeds, or other human institutions?

Christ is nothing else than love, simplicity, patience, purity,--in
short, all that He himself is; and the devil is nothing but that which
draws us away from these ideals.

What shall I say of such as cry up and maintain the cheat of pardons
and indulgences? that by these compute the time of each soul's
residence in purgatory, and assign them a longer or shorter
continuance according as they purchase more or fewer of these paltry
pardons? By this easy way of purchasing pardons, any notorious
highwayman, any plundering soldier, any bribe-taking judge, shall
disburse some part of his unjust gains and so think all his grossest
impieties atoned for. So many perjuries, lusts, drunkennesses,
quarrels, bloodsheds, cheats, treacheries, debaucheries, shall all be,
as it were, struck a bargain for; and such a contract made as if they
had paid off all arrears and might now begin a new score.

Among these some make a good profitable trade of beggary, going abroad
from house to house, not like the apostles to