[3] Bellarmine, an honored author of the Roman Church, one competent
to judge concerning the state of things at that time, and not
over-forward to confess it, says: "For some years before the Lutheran
and Calvinistic heresies were published there was not (as contemporary
authors testify) any rigor in ecclesiastical judicatories, any
discipline with regard to morals, any knowledge of sacred literature,
any reverence for divine things: THERE WAS ALMOST NO RELIGION
REMAINING."--_Bellarm._, Concio xviii., Opera, tom. vi. col. 296,
edit. Colon., 1617, apud _Gerdesii Hist. Evan. Renovati_, vol. i. p.
25.