⋮ “The Universite, that was a slepe, Gan for to braied, and taken kepe; And at the noise the hedde up cast; Ne never, sithen, slept it [so] fast: But up it stert, and armes toke Ayenst this false horrible boke, All redy battaile for to make, And to the judge the boke thei take.” The Eternal Gospel taught that there were three epochs in the history of the world, two of which were already passed, and the third about to begin. The first was that of the Old Testament, or the reign of the Father; the second, that of the New Testament, or the reign of the Son; and the third, that of Love, or the reign of the Holy Spirit. To use his own words, as quoted by Rousselot, Histoire de l’Évangile Éternel , p. 78:⁠— “As the letter of the Old Testament seems to belong to the Father, by a certain peculiarity of resemblance, and the letter of the New Testament to the Son; so the spiritual intelligence, which proceeds from both, belongs to the Holy Spirit. Accordingly, the age when men were joined in marriage was the reign of the Father; that of the Preachers is the reign of the Son; and the age of Monks, ordo monachorum , the last, is to be that of the Holy Spirit. The first before the law, the second under the law, the third with grace.” The germ of this doctrine, says the same authority, p.