[133] The Protestants have dwelt with malicious pleasure on these characters of Antichrist; but to a philosophic eye, the vices of the clergy are far less dangerous than their virtues.

After a long series of scandal, the apostolic see was reformed and exalted by the austerity and zeal of Gregory VII.

That ambitious monk devoted his life to the execution of two projects.

I.
To fix in the college of cardinals the freedom and independence of election, and forever to abolish the right or usurpation of the emperors and the Roman people.II.To bestow and resume the Western empire as a fief or benefice [134] of the church, and to extend his temporal dominion over the kings and kingdoms of the earth.

After a contest of fifty years, the first of these designs was accomplished by the firm support of the ecclesiastical order, whose liberty was connected with that of their chief.