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HISTORY 
 
 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 IN ALL AGE^j^D NATIONS. 
 
 BY WILLIAM "hOWITT 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 A CLERGYMAN OF NEW-YORK. 
 
 Help us to save free Gospel from the paw 
 
 Of hireling wolves, whose conscience is their maw. — MiLTOH. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY EFFINGHAM WILSON. 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 REPRINTED FOR THE BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 18 33. 
 
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 ADVERTISEMENT. t^^;^-'' 
 
 ' . ,-r!i Vv ^" ' ' 
 
 This little work presents a concise and concen- 
 trated view of universal Priestcraft, to strengthen 
 the present disposition to abate that nuisance in 
 England: and, I think, it will be sufficient to 
 establish any disinterested person in the convic- 
 tion, that Priestcraft is one of the greatest curses 
 which has afflicted the earth ; and in the per- 
 suasion, that till its hydra heads are crushed 
 there can be no perfect liberty : for nothing is 
 more certain than that priests have, in all ages, 
 followed one system — that of availing themselves 
 of the superstitions of the people for their own 
 interested motives ; and nothing better attested 
 than the crimes and delusions of that order of 
 men treated of in this volume. 
 
 Tliere will be some who will exclaim, Oh ! 
 the author is a dissenter !— I am a dissenter ; 
 and one of the most sturdy and ceremony-despis- 
 ing class; and therefore, having deserted "the 
 beggarly elements" of state creeds, am more 
 anxious to release my fellow-men from the thral- 
 dom of state priests. I am a dissenter; and 
 therefore, feeling the burden and the injustice of 
 being compelled to support a system whose utility 
 I deny, and whose corruptions need no proof, 
 I have the greater reason to raise my voice 
 against it. 
 
 Nottingham, June iih, 1833. 
 
 a2 
 
INVOCATION. 
 
 Oh ' Truth ! immortal Truth ! on what wild ground 
 Stili hast thou trod through this unspintual sphere ! 
 The strong, the brutish, and the vile surround 
 Thy presence, lest thy streaming glory cheer 
 The poor, the many, without price, or bound. 
 Drowning thy voice, they fill the popular ear, 
 In thy high name, with canons, creeds, and laws, 
 Feigning to serve, that they may mar thy cause. 
 
 And the great multitude doth crouch and bear 
 
 The burden of the selfish. That emprise,— 
 
 That lofty spirit of Virtue which can dare 
 
 To rend the bands of error from all eyes. 
 
 And from the freed soul pluck each sensual caxe, 
 
 To them is but a fable. Therefore lies 
 
 Darkness upon the mental desert stiil. 
 
 And wolves devour, and robbers walk at will. 
 
 Yet, ever and anon, from thy bright quiver, 
 The flaming arrows of thy might are strown; 
 And riishing forth, thy dauntless children shiv'er 
 The strength of foes who press too near thy throne. 
 Then, like the sun, or thy Almighty Giver, 
 Thy light is through the startled nations shown ; 
 And generous indignation tramples down 
 The sophist's web, and the oppressor's crown. 
 
 Oh ! might it bum for ever ! But in vain— 
 For vengeance ralhes the alarmed host. 
 Who from men's souls draw their dishonest gam. 
 For thee they smite, audaciously they boast, 
 Even while thy sons are in thy bosom slam. 
 Yet this is thy sure solace— that not lost. 
 Each drop of blood, each tear,— Cadmean seed, 
 Shall send up armed champions at thy need. 
 1627. W.H, 
 

 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR, 
 
 The following delineation of Priestcraft, by Hewitt, 
 the Quaker poet, is devoted to a very interesting and 
 prolific subject. Mr. Howitt's volume is designed to 
 aid in the grand modern employment of " turning the 
 world upside down ;" and doubtless it will contribute 
 to that glorious achievement. It is a book of conden- 
 sation, and comprises a great variety of historical 
 facts, all brought, as a resistless battery, to storm the 
 citadel of English Priestcraft. The purpose is good, 
 and the execution in many respects successful ; but 
 Mr. Hewitt, in the ardour of the contest, has sometimes 
 mistaken his friends for his foes ; or rather has fancied 
 that his strongest coadjutors are traitors to the cause 
 of liberty, truth, and religion. 
 
 This history of Priestcraft among the ancient and 
 modern idolaters in the various countries of the world 
 is a concise but clear development of the rise and 
 progress of that unholy domination, which priests, 
 in all ages, constantly grasped and perpetuated. 
 " Whether the Arkite theory be correct or not, no- 
 thing is more certain than that paganism had one 
 common origin in the early ages of the world," after 
 the Flood : and there is no doubt that it was invented 
 by knaves, who first contrived to brutalize the people, 
 and then to exalt themselves upon the ignorance which 
 they had originated and cherished. Of the three 
 prominent exhibitions of Priestcraft in this volume — 
 the cause, the methods, the criminality, and the mis- 
 chiefs have been identical, only modified and varying 
 as other circumstances Imve operated to aggrandize 
 
yj INTRODUCTION. 
 
 or dimmish the arrogance and rapacity of those um-e- 
 lenting despots. 
 
 The priests of Baal, and Astarte, and Moloch, m the 
 East ; the priests of Jupiter, Bacchus, and Venus, in 
 Cyprus, Greece, and Rome ; the priests of the papal 
 "ten horns of the beast," these modem Babylonian 
 astrologers and magicians, and their "regular suc- 
 cessors" the shrine-making priests connected with 
 " the Church of England," established by act of parlia- 
 ment, and in alliance with the state, all bear the same 
 general characteristics. They are the offspring ot 
 human corruption— they govern through tyrannic 
 usurpation-they are dressed nearly m the same 
 official exterior robes— they are supported by the 
 same ungodly means— they avow similar unholy 
 objects, their own lordly advancement, and the degra- 
 dation of their vassals— and the miseries which they 
 have inflicted have been of the same quality, and, as tar 
 as other circumstances admitted, co-extensive. There 
 is one fact, however, which, in reference to Mr. Howitt s 
 peculiar object, the exposure of the abommations in 
 the Encrlish and Irish state hierarchies, it is astonish- 
 ing that he should have omitted, and which has seldom 
 been brought up in bold relief before the pub he eye ; 
 we mean, the comparative barbarity of the old popish 
 monks and friars in England, with the cruelty of their 
 more modern successors the nominal Protestant eccle- 
 siastics, who are the mere creatures of the civil 
 government. The Apostle John, when m Patmos 
 he saw the scarlet-robed Babylonish mother of harlots 
 drunk with the blood of saints and the martyrs oi 
 Jesus, wondered with great admiration; and well he 
 might, for who can recount the number of Christians 
 whom she has slaughtered; who can measure the 
 blood which she has gorged? and with which she is 
 not yet satisfied,— while, like the craving horse-leech, 
 she still cries, "Give, give!" But did he not also 
 behold in his vision, and marvel at the beldams 
 eldest daughter? For it is a surprising fact, that m 
 Britain, the Protestant hierarchy, so called, has been 
 
INTRODUCTION. VU 
 
 the wicked cause of indescribably more religious per- 
 secution, torment, and bloodshed than even the beast 
 himself. 
 
 We justly denounce the arrogance of Henry VIII. ; 
 but did not James I., Charles I., Charles II., and 
 James II. exhibit equal despotic malignity? We call 
 Mary the bloody queen, and she deserves the appropri- 
 ate title ; but was not Elizabeth her own sister, " whose 
 crimes exceeded the other fury's thoughts ?" W^e 
 execrate Gardiner and Bonner ; but were Aylmer, 
 Laud, Sheldon, and scores of others one particle in- 
 ferior in injustice, cruelty, irreligion, and every other 
 crime ? What peopled North America ? — the racks 
 and tortures, the famine and wretchedness, the rob- 
 beries and prisons, the sufferings and deaths, occa- 
 sioned by incessant religious persecution ; not papists 
 pursuing and exterminating their detested heretics ; 
 but Protestant priests, with popish hearts, destroying 
 their own avowed brethren. In reference to Britain, 
 where Roman butchers slaughtered hundreds — their 
 Episcopalian sons tormented thousands. There are 
 Marian fires and Laudean mutilations — there is a 
 Parisian massacre, and the puritan's prison, all Eng- 
 land — there is the papal slaughter-house, Ireland ; 
 and Scotland, the Episcopal aceldama — there is the 
 Jesuit revocation of the edict of Nantz, and its more 
 flagrant counterpart ; the impious acts of uniformity, 
 with the sacramental test, and the other Babylonish 
 methods of compelling consciences, the fiery furnace, 
 and the den of lions, called the Bishop's Court. But 
 we desist from additional and not less appalling paral- 
 lels, probably in the sight of God still more criminal ; 
 except that, like the popish priests in all the dominions 
 governed by the pontiff of Rome, nine-tenths of the 
 Episcopalian priests in England have ever been, as 
 they are at this day, the unflinching stanch sup- 
 porters of the kingcraft, and the oppression and 
 miseries of the people ; and the unyielding opponents 
 of eveiy measure which may extend the rights of 
 man, the principles of civil and religious freedom. 
 
▼Ill INTRODUCTION. 
 
 genuine intelligence, the melioration of society, and 
 the progress of the gospel of Christ. In short, Priest- 
 craft is a monster despatched from hell to earth, which, 
 like the fabled siren, first charms to sleep, and then 
 devours its unpitied victims. We heartily unite with 
 Mr. Howitt in hoping that every Englishman will do 
 his duty, — chain the monster, tie a huge millstone 
 round his neck, and cast him into the depths of the 
 sea, to be found no more at all for ever. But we must 
 also remember, that the spirit and principle which in- 
 duce men to arrogate to themselves exclusive Chris- 
 tianity — which haughtily asserts, that no man can be- 
 come a " member of Christ, a child of God, and an 
 inheritor of the kingdom of heaven," uadess an Episco- 
 palian priest makes a cross on his forehead — that no 
 man belongs to the covenant of mercy, or can receive 
 the grace of God, unless it is confirmea to him., and 
 communicated through Episcopal fingers — that no man 
 is authorized to preach the gospel, and that he is a 
 " wolf in sheep's clothing," miless he can prove his 
 regular succession from Peter, through that horde of 
 profligate banditti called Popes of Rome, down to that 
 exemplary son of the mother of harlots, the Bishop 
 of Derry; and that modern " hierophantic" persecutor, 
 and marvellously spiritually-minded man, John Moore, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury — and that all evangelical 
 preaching, all Christian ordinances, all scriptural insti- 
 tutions, all faith, all hope, all love, all knowledge, all 
 peace, all obedience, and all piety in possession and 
 prospect, are a delusion, utterly null and void, miless 
 they are connected with an abridged popish liturgy, 
 and an unscriptural form of church government and 
 discipline — the temper and resolution which actuate 
 priests to assert, as " without error," these anti chris- 
 tian dogmas ; in other times, in different circum- 
 stances, and proudly maintained by men unsanctified 
 and unrestrained by Divine Providence, would produce 
 a rc-cxhibition of all the most (hreful and sanguinaiy 
 horrors, which Antiochus or Dioclesian, Gregory or 
 Innocent, Bonner or Laud, or even Dominic himself 
 
INTRODUCTION, IX 
 
 ever invented, to destroy the bodies and agonize the 
 souls of the followers of the Lamb. 
 
 It is to be regretted, however, that Mr. Howitt, in 
 the following work, has not developed more discrimi- 
 nation between the Divine appointments and the off- 
 spring of human corruption — and between the legiti- 
 mate institutions of Jehovah in his mercy to mankind, 
 and the superadditions made by priestly arrogance, 
 rapacity, and ambition. The Priestcraft of the various 
 ancient and existing idolatrous nations, and the eccle- 
 siastical despotism of that modern Babylon, Rome, 
 and the hierarchical system of that triple-headed state 
 monster, in common parlance called "the Church of 
 England," all are doubtless of the '* earth, earthy;" 
 and as they bear " the image of the earthy, they 
 also are earthy." But the Jewish priesthood and 
 the Christian ministry, severed from all corrupt and 
 worldly mixtures, " bear the image of the heavenly, 
 and are heavenly." 
 
 Mr. Howitt is a believer in the Christian reli- 
 gion; and therefore should not have classified the 
 direct ordinances of God for the benefit of the hu- 
 m^n race, with the inventions of the dragon, and 
 the machinations of the beast, which curse and deso- 
 late mankind. No man but a hardened infidel will 
 pretend that the official authority and acts of Eleazar, 
 Phinehas, Samuel, Zadok, Jehoiada, Joshua, and Ezra, 
 with the other priests who exemplified the same piety, 
 wisdom, philanthropy, and every other virtue, per- 
 sonal and social; and that the station which they 
 filled, and the acts which they performed, were in any 
 measure connected with the Priestcraft which Mr. 
 Howitt so accurately describes, and so properly de- 
 nounces. It is therefore not only unjust but mischiev- 
 ous, to place these men in apposition with Annas 
 and Caiaphas and their successors in villany and 
 apostacy ; and then to desecrate the theocracy of the 
 Jews as equally base with the turpitude of an Indian 
 Brahmin, the atheism of a profiigate Leo, or the 
 knavery and licentiousness of the Vicars of Bray. The 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 same exception may be made in a minor degree to 
 Mr. Howitt's want of distinctness in reference to the 
 Christian ministry. We object not to the indignant 
 aversion whicli he displays, either for popery or for 
 the Priestcraft established by the British government, 
 — let those parasites defend them who can : we oelieve 
 them both to be parts of " the mystery of iniquity, and 
 the working of Satan ;" but we maintain that neither 
 the one nor the other have any more relation to Chris- 
 tianity than that they have, Satan-like, assumed a 
 Christian name, more successfully to execute their 
 unhallowed scheme as agents of the adversary of souls, 
 to deceive their blinded followers into the ditch of 
 perdition. We speak not of individuals. Mr. Howitt 
 justly remarks, there are many excellent persons who 
 profess to belong to " the Church of England" whom 
 he knows ; and there are, without doubt, many followers 
 of Christ nominally included in the mystical Babylon, — 
 but they have discarded the " wood, hay, and stubble" 
 which encumbered them — because it is a universal 
 rule without an exception, that persons wiio are 
 nominal adherents of the papacy and of the English 
 hierarchy are pious, enlightened, spiritually-minded, 
 and consistent Christians, in exact proportion as they 
 abandon the peculiar characters of the Priestcraft 
 which environs them. This is true everywhere. No 
 man but an obdurate skeptic, therefore, will pretend that 
 the Christian ministry, in its legitimate appointment 
 and evangelical duties, being the direct institution of 
 the gracious Redeemer, under any modification, is re- 
 lated to that Priestcraft which Mr. Howitt devotes to 
 condign destruction. Is there no dillerence between 
 Peter and Judas, and Paul and Tertullus ? Is there 
 no distinction between John the Apostle and Deme- 
 trius the shrine-maker of Diana ? Is there no con- 
 trast between the synagogue of Satan and Polycarp 
 of Smyrna? Can we perceive no contrariety between 
 Dominic, and John Huss and Jerome of Prague ? 
 Were Luther and Leo identical ? Were Cranmer and 
 Bonner twin-brothers ? Did Whitgift and Cartwright, 
 
INTRODUCTION. JQ 
 
 or Laud and Owen, or Sheldon and Calamy, or Ward 
 and Baxter, or Warburton and WhitlEield, or Lavingtpn 
 and Wesley, belong to the same order of servants of 
 Jesus Christ ? The catalogue might be indefinitely 
 extended ; and the scrutiny would develop that Mr. 
 Howitt's monster Priestcraft and the Christian minis- 
 try, in its strictly executed functions, are separated 
 by the impassable gulf. 
 
 It will be requisite, therefore, for the reader of the 
 ensuing "History of Priestcraft," constantly to re- 
 member the above discriminating marks, that his mind 
 may not be confused with Mr. Howitt's incidental 
 censures ; and especially when he commences the 
 perusal of the chapters devoted to popery and the 
 English ecclesiastical establishment. Mr. Howitt be- 
 longs to the Society of Friends ; and some of his 
 statements, of course, are unavoidably tinctured by the 
 opinions which he has thus imbibed. His facts are 
 undeniable ; but his comments, in reference to the 
 Christian ministry, must be cautiously received. 
 Among almost all the English dissenters, the abomi- 
 nations of Priestcraft are part of their domestic his- 
 tory. The spirit-stirring narrative of the sufferings, 
 imprisonment, and premature death of their puritan 
 and non-conformist ancestors, through the peculation 
 and iron-hearted savageness of their persecutors, 
 is their patrimonial heir-loom. Like the Scotch 
 descendants from the old Covenanters; the memory 
 of their tortured or murdered forefathers is the tale 
 of tiieir firesides. It is one of the first stories which 
 they imbibe from their Christian mothers ; it is the 
 impressive record enforced by their intelligent, stern 
 principled, Caleb-like fathers — in the mind and heart 
 almost of infancy, like Doddridge, learning the Scrip- 
 tures from the painted tiles, it is planted : it " grows 
 with their growth, and strengthens with their strength," 
 in ever-fresh and ever-living remembrance ; and when- 
 ever they talk or think of " the spirits of just men 
 made perfect," they always imbody with them the 
 persons of the persecuted, but sainted dead of their 
 
Xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 own name and blood. The lesson is most salutary, 
 and scarcely ever forgotten. 
 
 In these recollections and impressive facts the 
 Friends largely participate ; and the memorial with 
 them is probably more vividly ever kept awake by 
 their refusal voluntarily to pay the exactions made 
 upon them by the ecclesiastical " hirelings" of the 
 government. The mynnidons of the bishops, or 
 rectors, or vicars always rob by law the property of 
 the Friends for tithes, Easter olferings, and the other 
 numberless church plunder, which they so iniquitoasly- 
 purloin. These violations of equity and religion form 
 a constant part of the details at the various meetings 
 of the Friends ; so that the fire of hatred to " hireling 
 priests" and thieving Priestcraft, never goes out for 
 want of wood. These facts will partially account for 
 Mr. Howitt's indiscriminate censures, and for his con- 
 founding of principles, men, and institutions, which 
 have no more real connexion than the truth of God 
 with the wiles of Satan ; or the wickedness of a rapa- 
 cious ruffian Jesuit, with the benevolence, and compas- 
 sion, and piety of Howard the philanthropist. 
 
 This volume was written, as Mr. Howitt declares, 
 "without fear of one class of men or hope from 
 another ; his only motive, justice to all and kindness 
 to the poor ; his only object, the spread of truth and 
 knowledge, without asking what is politic^ but what is 
 right; and as abuse and hostility are the certain fate 
 of every one who defends the truth — let that be as it 
 may." 
 
 New-York, September 26, 1833. 
 
PRIESTCRAFT IN ALL AGES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GEIVTERAL VIEW OF PRIESTCRAFT. 
 
 The two evil Principles, Kingcraft and Priestcraft, coeval in their 
 Origin— Innumerable Historians of the one, but none singly and 
 entirely of the other— The real and monstrous Character of Priest- 
 craft—Evil Systems attacked in this Work without mercy, but 
 not Men. 
 
 This unfortunate world has been blasted in all ages 
 l)y two evil principles — Kingcraft and Priestcraft — 
 that, taking advantage of two human necessities, in 
 themselves not hard — salutary, and even beneficial in 
 their natural operation — the necessity of civil govern- 
 ment, and that of spiritual instruction, have warped 
 them cruelly from their own pure direction, and con- 
 verted them into the most odious, the most terrible 
 and disastrous scourges of our race. These malign 
 powers have ever begun at the wrong end of things. 
 Kingcraft, seizing upon the ofRce of civil government, 
 not as the gift of popular choice, and to be filled for 
 the good of nations, but with the desperate hand of 
 physical violence, has proclaimed that it was not made 
 for man, but man for it — that it possessed an inherent 
 and divine right to rule, to trample upon men's hearts, 
 to violate their dearest rights, to scatter their limbs 
 and their blood at its pleasure upon the earth ; and, in 
 return for its atrocities, to be v\^orshipped on bended 
 knee, and hailed as a god. Its horrors are on the face 
 of ever}' nation ; its annals are ^vritten in gore in all 
 civilized climes ; and, where pen never was known, 
 it has scored its terrors in the hearts of millions, and 
 
14 PRIESTCRAIT 
 
 left its traces in deserts of everlasting desolation, and 
 in the ferocious spirits of abused and brutalized hordes. 
 What is all the history of this wretched planet but a 
 mass of its bloody wrath and detestable oppressions, 
 whereby it has converted earth into a hell ; men into 
 the worst of demons ; and has turned the human mind 
 from its natural pursuit of knowledge, and virtue, and 
 social happiness, into a career ot" blind rage, bitter 
 and foolish prejudices ; an entailment of awful and 
 crime-creating ignorance ; and has held the universal 
 soul of man in the blackest and most pitiable of bond- 
 age ? Countless are its historians ; we need not add 
 one more to the unavailing catalogue : but, of 
 
 That sister-pest, congregator of slaves 
 Into the shadow of its pinions wide, 
 
 I do not know that there has been one man who has 
 devoted himself solely and completely to the task of 
 tracing its course of demoniacal devastation. Many 
 of its fiendish arts and exploits, undoubtedly, are im- 
 bodied in what is called ecclesiastical history ; many 
 are presented to us in the chronicles of kingcraft ; for 
 the two evil powers have ever been intimately united 
 in their labours. They have mutually and lovingly 
 supported each other ; knowing that individually they 
 are " weak as stubble," yet conjointly, 
 
 Can bind 
 Into a mass iirefragably firm 
 The axes and the rods which awe mankind. 
 
 Thus,' through this pestilential influence, we must 
 r.dmit that too much of its evil nature has been forced 
 on our observation incidentally ; but no one clear and 
 complete picture of it has been presented to our view. 
 It shall now be my task to show that priestcraft in all 
 ages and all nations has been the same ; that its nature 
 is one, and that nature essentially evil ; that its object 
 is self-gratification and self-aggrandizement ; the 
 means it uses — the basest frauds, the most shameless 
 delusions, practised on the popular mind for the acqui- 
 sition of power ; and that power once eained, the 
 
IN ALL AGES. 15 
 
 most fierce and bloody exercise of it, in order to ren- 
 der it at once awful and perpetual. I shall show that 
 nothing is so sei-vilely mean in weakness, so daring in 
 assumption, so arrogant in command : earth, heaven, 
 the very throne and existence of God himself, being 
 used but as the tools of its designs, and appealed 
 to with horrible impudence in the most shameless of 
 its lies. That, professing itself merciful, nothing on 
 this earth, v/hich is by no means wanting in scenes of 
 terror, has ever exhibited itself in shapes of equal 
 cruelly — cruelty, cold, selfish, and impassable ; that, 
 claiming sanctity as its peculiar attribute, nothing has 
 been so grossly debauched and licentious ; that, as- 
 suming the mien of humility, nothing is so impiously 
 proud, so offensively insolent ; that, proclaiming to 
 others the utter vanity of worldly goods, its cupidity is 
 insatiable — of Avorldly honours, its ambition is bound- 
 less ; that, affecting peace and purity, it has per- 
 petrated ths most savage wars, ay, in the very name 
 of Heaven, and spread far and wide the contagion of 
 sensuality ; that, in Europe, usurping the chair of know- 
 ledge, the office of promulgating the doctrines of a re- 
 ligion whose very nature overflows with freedom, and 
 love, and liberal enlightenment, it has locked up the 
 human mind for more than a thousand years in the 
 dens of ignorance ; mocked it with the vilest baubles, 
 the most imbecile legends ; made it a prey to all the 
 restless and savage passions of an uncultured and 
 daily irritated soul ; robbed it of the highest joys of 
 earth or heaven — those of the exercise of a perfected 
 intellect and a benevolent spirit ; and finally, by its 
 tyrannies, its childish puerilities, its inane pomps and 
 most ludicrous dogmas, overwhelmed the middle ages 
 with the horrors of an iron bigotry, and the modern 
 world with the tenfold hoiTors of infidel heartlessness 
 and the wars of atheism. 
 
 This is a mighty and an awful charge. Alas ! the 
 annals of all people are but too afiiuent in proofs of its 
 justice. I shall prove this through the most popular 
 histories, that the general reader may, if he please, 
 
16 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 easily refer to tliem, and be satisfied ol" the correctness 
 of my statements. Whde I proceed, however, to 
 draw these })roofs from the most accessible works, 1 
 shall carefully war alone with the principle, not with 
 individual men. The Aery worst systems have often 
 involved in their blind intricacies the best of men : 
 and in some of those which it will be my duty, as a 
 man, to denounce, there have been, and there are at 
 the present moment, numbers of sincere and excel- 
 lent beings, who are an honour and a blessing to their 
 race. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ORIGIN OF PAGANISM. 
 
 nism distinguished nniversally by the same great leading Prin- 
 ciples — Suppo.'^pd to originate in'the Corruption of the Patriarchal 
 ReUgion alter the Flood— Probable diffusion of original Polytheism 
 —Origin of the Doctrine of Three Gods, in Greece, Egypt," Persia, 
 Syria, among the Tartars, Chinese, Goths, Americans,' and others 
 —Preservation of tlie Ark in the religious Ceremonies of all Pagan 
 Nations — Doctrine of a Succession of Worlds and of a Deluge — 
 Ancient Mysteries celebrated, especially by the Greeks, Egyptians, 
 Hindoos, and Druids— Advantage taken i)v Priests of this great 
 System of Superstition. 
 
 Priestcraft and kingcraft began at much the same 
 time, an early age of the world, to exercise their bane- 
 ful influence over it. Whether they existed, and if so, 
 what they did, in the antediluvian world, we know 
 not ; but immediately after the flood, they became con- 
 spicuous. Niinrod is usually supposed to be the flrst 
 monarch; the first man who, not satisfied with the 
 mild patriarchal rule over his brethren, is believed to 
 have collected armies, dispossessed the peaceful chil- 
 dren of Shem of part of their territories by violence, 
 and swayed all whom he could by the terrors of over- 
 whelming force. Priestcraft, it is evident by many 
 indubitable signs, was busily at work at the same 
 
IN ALL AGES. 17 
 
 moment. Certain common principles running through 
 idolatrous worship in every known part of the globe, 
 have convinced the most acute and industrious anti- 
 quarians, that every pagan worship in the world has 
 the same origin ; and that origin could have coincided 
 only with some early period, when the whole human 
 family was together in one place. This fact, now that 
 countries, their habits and opinions, have been so ex- 
 tensively examined, would have led learned men of 
 the present day, had not the Bible been in our posses- 
 sion, to the confident conclusion that mankind had, at 
 first, but one source, and one place of abode ; that 
 their religious opinions had been at that time uniform ; 
 and that, dispersing from that point of original resi- 
 dence, they had carried these opinions into all regions 
 of the earth, where, through the progress of ages, they 
 had received many modifications, been variously dark- 
 ened and disfigured, but not to such an extent as to ex- 
 tinguish those great leading features which mark them 
 as the offspring of one primeval parent. But the Bible 
 not only shows that such was the origin of the various 
 human families, not only shows the time when they 
 dwelt in one place, when and how they were thence 
 dispersed, but also furnishes us with a certain key to 
 the whole theory of universal paganism. 
 
 We see at once that every system of heathen my- 
 thology had its origin in the corruption of patriarchal 
 worship before the dispersion at Babel. There the 
 whole family of man was collected in the descendants 
 of Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet ; and 
 thence, at that time, they were scattered abroad by 
 the hand of God over the world. Japhet colonized the 
 whole of Europe, all those northern regions called 
 Tartary and Siberia, and, in process of time, by the 
 easy passage of Behring's Straits, the entire continent 
 of America. His son Gomer seems clearly to have 
 been the father of those who were originally called 
 Gomerians ; and by slight variations, were afterward 
 termed Comarians, Cimmerians, Cymbri, Cumbri, Cam- 
 bri, and Umbri ; and, in later years, Celts, Gauls, and 
 
18 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 Gaels. These extended themselves over the regions 
 north of Armenia and IJactriana ; thence over nearly 
 all Europe, and lirst planted Britain and Ireland. Ma- 
 gog, Tul)al, and Mesech, as wc learn from Ezekiel, 
 dwelt far to the north of Judea, and hccame the ances- 
 tors of tlie great Sclavonic or Sarmatian families ; the 
 name of Magog still existing in the appellations of 
 Mogli, Monguls, and Mongolians ; those of Tubal and 
 Mesech, in Tobolski, Moschici, and Moscow and Mos- 
 covites : Madai was fatlier of the ^ledes, and Javan 
 of the original inhabitants of Greece, where we may- 
 trace the names of his sons Elishali, Tarshish, Kittim, 
 and Dodanim, in Elis, Tarsus, Cittium, and Dodona. 
 
 The posterity of Shem were confined to southern 
 Asia ; founding by his sons Elam or Persia, Ashur, or 
 Assyria, a province of Iran, or great Assyrian empire 
 of Nimrod, whose son Cush appears to have subdued 
 these descendants of Shem. Arphaxad became the 
 father of the Hebrews and other kindred nations ; 
 his descendant Peleg founded Babylonia ; and Joktan, 
 stretching far towards the east, probably became the 
 fatherof the Hindoos. Opiiir, oneofthesonsof Joktan, 
 is often mentioned in Scripture as dwelling in a land of 
 gold, to which voyages were made by ships issuing 
 from the Red Sea, and sailing eastward ; but Elam 
 and Cush occupied the whole sea-coast of Persia, as 
 far as the Indus. This, therefore, brings us to the 
 great peninsula of Hindostan for the seat of Ophir. 
 Lud, the fourth son of Shem, is presumed to be the 
 founder of Lydia ; and Aram, the fifth, the father of 
 Mesopotamia and Syria. 
 
 Ham was at first mixed with Shem throughout 
 southern Asia, and became the sole occupant of Africa. 
 Of his sons, Cush became the founder of Iran, or 
 Central Asia, the great Assyrian empire, and the pro- 
 genitor of all those called (hishim, Cushas, Cuths, 
 Goths, Scuths, Scyths, Scots, or Gauls. Mizraim 
 peopled Egypt ; Phut, the Avestern frontier of Egypt, 
 and thence passing west and south, spread over the 
 greater part of Africa : and Canaan, it is well known, 
 
IN ALL AGES. 19 
 
 peopled the tract afterward inhabited by the Israel- 
 ites. 
 
 Thus, it is said, was the world peopled ; and that it 
 was thus peopled, we learn not only from Moses but 
 from profane writers ; and find both accoimts con- 
 firmed by abundant evidence in the manners, tradi- 
 tions, language, and occupance of the different races of 
 the present day. Sir V/illiam Jones found only three 
 great original languages to exist — Arabic, Sclavonic, 
 and Sanscrit ; and the three all issue from one point, 
 central Asia, Avhence, by consent of the most ancient 
 records and traditions of the great primeval nations, 
 their original ancestors spread. 
 
 But before they were thus scattered, they had cor- 
 rupted the religious doctrines they had received from 
 their great progenitor, Noah ; or rather, had set them 
 aside, in order to deify Noah and his three sons, whom 
 they had come to regard as a reappearance of Adam 
 and his three sons, Cain, Abel, and Seth. The singu- 
 lar coincidence of circumstances between Adam and 
 Noah, forced this upon their imaginations. Adam the 
 first man, and father of the first world, and Noah, the 
 first man and father of the second world, had each 
 three sons conspicuous in history ; and of these three, 
 one in each case* was a bad one — Cain and Ham. 
 Led by this, to consider the second family but an 
 avatar of the first, they regarded them as immortal, 
 and worshipped them. Hence we have in all pagan 
 mythologies a triad of principal gods. In the Greek — 
 Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto ; in the Hindoo — Brahma, 
 Vishnu, and Siva; in the Egyptian — Osiris, Horns, 
 and Typhon ; one of whom, in each case, is a deity 
 of a dark nature, like Cain and Ham. The Persians 
 had their Ormuzd, Mithras, and Ahriman; the Syrians, 
 their Monimus, Aziz, and Ares ; the Canaanites, their 
 Baal-Shalisha, or self-triplicated Baal ; the Goths, their 
 Odin, Vile, and Ve, who ,are described as the three 
 sons of the mysterious cow, a symbol of the ark ; the 
 Jakuthi Tartars, their Artugon, Schugo-teugon, and 
 Tangara, the last, even in name, the Tanga-tanga of 
 
20 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 the Peruvians : for this singular fact stops not with 
 the great primitive nations ; it extends itself to all 
 others, even to those discovered in modern times. 
 Like China and Japan, the Penivians were found, on 
 the discovery of America, to have their triads, Apomti, 
 (.'huranti, and Intiquoaqui ; or the father-sun, the broflier- 
 sun, and the son-sun. The Mexicans had also their 
 Mcxitli, 'J'laloc, and Tezcallipuca ; the last the god of 
 repentance. The Virginians, Iroquois, and various 
 nations of North American Indians, held similar no- 
 tions. The New Zealanders believe that three gods 
 made the first man, and tlie first woman from the 
 man's rib ; and their general term for bone is Eve. 
 The Otaheitans had a similar idea. 
 
 The postdiluvians likewise held the Ark in the most 
 sacred veneration. It was that into which their gi'eat 
 father of all living things had entered and floated away 
 safely over the destroying waters. It was the type 
 of the earth into which Adam had entered by death ; 
 and, as they supposed, reappeared in Noah. Hence, 
 an ark is to be found in nearly every system of pagan 
 worship. After it were fashioned the most ancient 
 temples. It was borne in the most religious proces- 
 sions of Osiris, Adonis, Bacchus, Ceres, and among 
 the Druids ; and has been found, to the astonishment 
 of discoverers and missionaries, among the Mexi- 
 cans, the North American Indians, and the South-sea 
 Islanders. 
 
 Hence, also, the doctrine of a succession of Avorlds, 
 from the supposed reappearance oi' Adam and his 
 three sons in Noah and his three sons, which has ex- 
 panded itself into the great system of transmigrations 
 and avatars of the Hindoos. Hence, also, the tradi- 
 tions of a universal deluge, to be found among all the 
 ancient nations ; among the wild tribes of America ; 
 among the Hindoos in the east, and the Celts in the 
 west. Hence, the close connexion of lakes with hea- 
 then temples ; and hence, lastly, the ancient myste- 
 ries, which were but a symbolical representation of 
 entering the ark, or great cave of death and life; 
 
I\ ALL AGES. ^ 21 
 
 which, as the old world was purilied by the Hood, was 
 supposed to purity and confer a new life on those who 
 passed through those mysteries, which were celebrated 
 with striking similarity in Greece, India, Egypt, and 
 among the Druids in these islands. These, and 
 many other general features of paganism, — for abun- 
 dant illustration of which, I refer my reader to the 
 learned works of Calmet, Bryant, Faber, and Spencer, 
 De Legibus Ritualibus Hebraeorum — sufficiently tes- 
 iiiy to the common origin of all heathen systems of 
 worship ; and we shall presently find how amply the 
 priests of all ages and all the gentile nations, have 
 laid hold on these rich materials, and converted them 
 into exuberant sources of wealth, and power, and 
 honour to themselves, and of terror, deception, and 
 degTadation to their victims — the people. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be said that they themselves were 
 but the slaves of superstition, in common with those 
 they taught; and that it would be unfair to charge 
 them with tlie v/ilful misleading of their auditors, when 
 they themselves were blinded by the common delu- 
 sions of their times and countries. But we must 
 recollect, that thougli the people were taught by them 
 to believe, and could not, in dark times, easily escape 
 the influence of their doctrines and practices, studi- 
 ously adapted to dazzle and deceive the senses, yet it 
 was impossible for the priests to enter upon their 
 office, without discovering that those terrors were fic- 
 titious, — without finding that they were called upon to 
 maintain a series of utter fallacies. The people might 
 listen to oracles, uttered amid a multitude of imposing 
 pageants, aijd awful solemnities ; in the sacred gloom 
 of temples and groves ; and might really believe that a 
 god spoke. But where were the priests? Behind 
 these scenes ! — and must soon have found that, instead 
 of the inspiration of a present god, they themselves 
 were the actors of the vilest impositions ; which, 
 through the temptations of power, and fame, and 
 wealth, they became the willing means of fixing on 
 their countrymen. 
 
22 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 When did any one, in any nation, on discovering 
 that he had enteied an order ot" impostors, renounce 
 their connexion, and abandon his base calling I Never ! 
 — the spirit of priestcraft was too subtly potent for 
 him. He either acquiesced readily in measures, which 
 were to him pregnant with honour, case, and abund- 
 ance ; or saw that instant destruction awaited him, 
 from the wily and merciless spirit of priestcraft, if he 
 gave but a symptom of abjuring or disclosing its ar- 
 cana of gainful deceit. As the entrance of the Adytus 
 of the mysteries, so the vestibule of the priestly office 
 was ])n)bably guarded by naked swords, and oaths full 
 of destruction to the backslider. Be that as it may, 
 there is not a fact on the lace of history more con- 
 spicuous than this — that no order of men has ever 
 clung to the service of its caste, or has fulfilled its 
 purposes, however desperate or infamously cruel they 
 might be, with the same fiery and unflinching zeal as 
 priests. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 MYTHOLOGY OF THE ASSYRIANS AND SYRIANS. 
 
 Mylliology of the Assyrians and Syrians — The horrors of Moloch — 
 Chemosh — Baal, and Baal Fires — Bryant's theory of the Cuthic 
 tribes agrees with the existence of Castes in all Pagan nations — 
 Spirit of the Syrian Priests as shown in the Jewish history — 
 Vile deceptions of Priests — The Wife of the god — Priestly arts 
 exposed by Daniel. ♦ 
 
 We have seen how idolatry was diffused over the 
 globe, forming a field of no less amplitude than the 
 world itself for priestcraft to exercise itself in ; full 
 of ignorance, and full of systems prolific in all the 
 wild creation of superstition, so auspicious to priestly 
 desires ; and we shall soon see that such advantages 
 were not neglected by that evil power, but were 
 
IN ALL AGES. 23 
 
 eagerly laid hold on, and by its indefatigable activity 
 the earth was speedily overrun by eveiy curse, and 
 horror, and pollution, that can fix itself on unfortunate 
 humanity. 
 
 We shall take a survey of its progress in the an- 
 cient nations, Syria and Assyria ; we shall then fol- 
 low the course of Druidism ; and, without regard to 
 the order of time, glance at the confirmation of this 
 ancient state of things, by that which was found to 
 exist at the time of their discovery in America and the 
 isles of the Indian Ocean. By this plan we shall 
 have our course clear in a direct progress through an- 
 cient Egypt, Greece, and Hindostan; where Ave shall 
 leave the review of priestcraft as it existed in Pagan- 
 ism, and contemplate its aspect in Judea ; then, under 
 Christianity, in the Romish church ; and, finally, in the 
 ecclesiastical establishment of our own countr}\ 
 
 The Bible furnishes us with abundant evidences of 
 what idolatry was in Syria and the neighbouring king- 
 doms of Philistia, Moab, Amalek, and others. The 
 principal gods of these countries were Baal, Moloch, 
 and Chemosh : but the number of false gods, alto- 
 gether, was extremely numerous. The more gods, the 
 more shrines, the more priestly gains and influence. 
 The principal characteristics of the whole idol dy- 
 nasty, were horrible cruelty and gross licentiousness. 
 Chemosh v/as the god of the Moabites, and his rites 
 were particularly distinguislied by their lasciviousness. 
 In Syria those of Ashtaroth, or Astarte, the queen of 
 heaveii, were similar ; but Baal and Moloch were the 
 very impersonations of savage atrocity. Moloch is 
 represented as a huge metallic image in a sitting pos- 
 ture, which, on days of sacrifice, was heated to red- 
 ness in a pit of fire, and young children were brought 
 as victims, and placed in his extended and burning 
 arms, where they were consumed in the most exqui- 
 site agonies, while the devilish band of priests and 
 their retainers drowned their piercing cries with the 
 stunning din of drums, cymbals, horns, and trumpets. 
 
 Baal was, however, the principal idol of all those 
 
 
24 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 countries; and associated as he was in idea with the 
 sun, as was the chief god of all pagan nations, from 
 a fanciful process of imagination, treated of at large 
 by writers on this subject, but which we need not 
 trace here — to him, on almost eveiy lofty eminence, 
 fires were kindled at stated periods, and human sac- 
 rifices performed in the midst of iinboimded and infer- 
 nal glee. The IJeal-tires, or Baal-Hres, kindled on the 
 mountains of Scotlantl and Ireland by the peasantry 
 at Beltane, or May Eve, are the last remains of this 
 most ancient and universal superstition. 
 
 When we recollect over what an immense extent 
 of country, in fact over the greater part of the habitable 
 globe, this idolatry extended : and the number of ages. 
 I'rom the time of the Hood to the time of Christianity, 
 a period of upwards of t^vo thousand years ; what a 
 terrible sum of miseries must have been inflicted on our 
 race by the diabolical zeal and cupidity of pagan 
 priestcraft ! From the temple of Buddh and Jagger- 
 nath in India, to the stony circles of Druidism in Eu- 
 rope ; from the snowy wastes of Siberia and Scandi- 
 navia in the north, to the most southern lands in x\frica 
 and America, the fires of these bloody deities rejoiced 
 the demoniac priests and consumed the people. 
 
 Mr. Bryant contends, and his theory seems to be 
 supported by strong facts, and is generally admitted by 
 intelligent historians, that the kindred of Nimrod, the 
 tribe of Cush, a haughty and dominant race, disdain- 
 ing laboiu* or commerce, disdaining all professions but 
 those of arms or the priesthood, Ibllowed the progress 
 of diffusive population into all regions, and either sub- 
 duing the original settlers or insinuating themselves 
 among them, as they had been their general corrup- 
 ters, became their generals, priests, and kings. 
 This theory certainly agrees well with what the 
 researches of late years have made known of the 
 great tribes of emigration from the East ; agrees well 
 with what we know of the Gothic or Cuthic na- 
 tions, and with the establishment of the despotism of 
 the feudal system. Castes, which remain so unbroken 
 
IN ALL AGES. '26 
 
 to the present day in Hiiidostaii, and on which we 
 shall have presently to remark, prevailed, in a greater 
 or less degree, all over the v\^orld. In Egypt, Hero- 
 dotus shows it to have been the case. None but kings 
 and priests were noble. In Greece they had their 
 race of demigods, or descendants of the ancient Pe- 
 lasgi, or Cuthites, from whom their priests, augurs, 
 and kings were chosen. Such was the case among 
 the Gauls and Britons. The Druids were a sacred 
 and noble caste, who disdained to work or mingle 
 with the people ; an insult to one of whom was in- 
 stant death, as it is with the Brahmins at the present 
 day : and the strong spirit of caste throughout all the 
 feudal nations of Europe, not only all past history, but 
 present circumstances, show us. Be the origin of 
 dominant castes what it may, nothing is more con- 
 spicuous than their existence, and the evils, scorns, 
 and ignominious burdens they have heaped upon the 
 people. 
 
 Of the rancorous activity of the heathen priesthood 
 to proselyte and extend their influence on all sides, 
 the Jewish history is full. Scarcely had the Hebrews 
 escaped from Egypt and entered the desert, when the 
 Moabites came among them with their harlot daugh- 
 ters, carrying beneath their robes the images of Che- 
 mosh, and scattering among the trail Jews the min- 
 gled hres of sensual and idolatrous passion. Through 
 the whole period of the administration of the Judges, 
 they were indefatigably at work, and brought upon the 
 backsliding' Hebrews the vengeance of their own liv- 
 ing and indignant God. The wise and magnificent 
 Solomon they plucked from the height of his peerless 
 knowledge and glory, and rendered the reigns of his 
 successors continual scenes of reproof and desolation, 
 till the whole nation was swept into captivity. 
 
 There cannot be a more expressive instance of the 
 daring hardihood and fanatic zeal of the priests of 
 Baal, nor a finer one of their defeat and punishment, 
 than that given on Mount Carmel in the days of Ahab 
 ?ind Jezebel. Those pestilential wretches had actu^ 
 13 
 
26 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 ally, under royal patronage, coiyiipted or destroyed the 
 whole legitimate priesthood. There were but left 
 seven thousand, even of the people, " who had not 
 bowed the knee to Baal, nor kissed him." They were 
 in pursuit of the noble prophet himself, when he came 
 forth and challenged them to an actual proof of the 
 existence of their respective deities. 
 
 It may be argued that tlie readiness with which 
 they accepted this challenije, is sufficient evidence 
 that they themselves were believers in the existence 
 of their deity; and it may be that some were stupid, 
 or fanatic enough to be so; but it is far likelier that, 
 possessing royal patronage, and a whole host of base 
 and besotted supporters, they hoped to entrap the soli- 
 tary man ; that, knowing the emptiness of their own 
 pretensions, they were of opinion that Elijah's were 
 equally empty, and therefore came boldly to a contest, 
 in which, if neither party won, an individual against a 
 host would easily be sacrificed to priestly fury and 
 popular credulity. Be it as it might, nothing is more 
 certain than that the ferocious zeal of priestcraft, for 
 its own objects, has been in all ages so audacious as 
 not to fear rushing in the face of the world, on the 
 most desperate attempts. This event was most illus- 
 trative of this blind sacerdotal hardihood ; for, not- 
 withstanding their signal exposure and destruction, yet 
 in every successive age of the Hebrew kingdom, the 
 pagan priests ceased not to solicit the Israelites to 
 their ruin. The Hebrew kings, ever and anon, awoke 
 from the trance of delusion into which they drew 
 them, and executed ample vengeance ; hewing down 
 their groves and overturning their altars ; but it was 
 not till the general captivity, — till Judah was humbled 
 for a time, before Babylon, and Israel was wholly and 
 for ever driven from the land, that the pest was anni- 
 hilated. 
 
 The mythology of Assyria was of much the same 
 nature ; — Baal, however, being there held in far higher 
 honour than all other gods ; for the priesthood accord- 
 ing to the servile cimiiing of its policy, had flattered 
 
IN ALL AGES. 27 
 
 the royal house by deifying its founder, and identifying 
 him with the sim by the name of Belus, or Bel. 
 What I have already said of this god will suffice ; and 
 I shall only state that, as the priesthood there had 
 shown its usual character of adulation to the high, and 
 cruelty to the low, so it displayed almost more than ils 
 customary lewdness. Herodotus tells us, that " at the 
 top of the tower of Belus, in a chapel, is placed a 
 couch magnificently adorned : and near it a table of 
 solid gold ; but there is no statue in the place. No 
 man is suffered to sleep here, but a female occupies 
 the apartment, whom the Chaldean priests affirm their 
 deity selects from the whole nation as the object of 
 his pleasures. They declare that their deity enters 
 this apartment by night, and reposes upon this couch. 
 A similar assertion is made by the Egyptians of 
 Thebes ; for in the interior part of the temple of the 
 Thebean Jupiter, a woman, in like manner, sleeps. 
 Of these two women, it is presumed, that neither of 
 them have any commimication with the other sex. In 
 which predicament, the priestess of the temple of Pa- 
 terae, in Lycia, is also placed. Here is no regular 
 oracle ; but whenever a divine communication is ex- 
 pected, the woman is obliged to pass the preceding 
 night in the temple." That is, the priests made their 
 god the scape-goat of their own unbridled sensuality ; 
 and, under the pretext of providing a sacrifice of beauty 
 to the deity, selected the most lovely woman of the 
 nation for themselves. 
 
 This species of detestable deception seems to have 
 been carried on to an enormous extent in ancient times. 
 If we are to believe all the Grecian stories, and es- 
 pecially the Homeric ones, of the origin of their demi- 
 gods, we can only explain them in this manner. A 
 circumstance of the same nature is related by Jose- 
 phus ; which is curious, because the priests of the 
 temple in that case, were induced by a young noble to 
 inveigle a married lady of whom he had become en- 
 amoured, into the temple, under pretence that the god 
 had a loving desire of her company, and showed that 
 B3 
 
2d PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 the gratification, not merely of themselves, but of men 
 in power, by frauds however infamous or diabolical, 
 has been always a priestly practice. 
 
 But to return to Assyria. The seeds of licentious- 
 ness, sown by their early priests, grew and spread 
 abundantly in after ages. When the Assyrian merged 
 in the Babylonian empire, the orgies of the temple of 
 Mylitta, the Babylonian Venus, were infamous above 
 ail others ; so much so, that every woman, wliether 
 high or low, was bound by the national practice to 
 present herself before the temple once in her life, and 
 there submit to prostitute herself Avith whoever tirst 
 chose her ; and the price; of her shame was paid into 
 the treasury, to swell the revenues of the priests. So 
 horrible a fact has been doubted ; but Herodotus 
 seriously asserts it, and it has been confirmed by other 
 authorities. 
 
 That these crafty and voluptuous priests were not 
 among those deceived by their own devices, but 
 were solely deceivers, living in honour and abundance 
 by juggling tlu' people, we need no better testimony 
 than that of the story ol' Bel and the Dragon. They 
 are tliere represented as setting before the idol splendid 
 banquets, which he was asserted to devour in the night; 
 but Daniel scattering sand on tlie floor showed the 
 people in the moniingthe footsteps of the priests, their 
 wives and children, who had, as they were regularly 
 accustomed, Hocked into the temple at night and helped 
 the god to despatch liis viands. 
 
 Though this story is one of those called apocryplial, 
 it is certainly so far true, that it shows what were the 
 opinions of the wise at that day of the priests, founded, 
 no doubt on sufficient observation. 
 
jS all ages. 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CELTS AND GOTHS. 
 
 Tlie same system of Superstition iuid Priestcraft wiiich prevailed in 
 Asia, existmg also among the Celts and Goths of ancient Europe 
 — Evei7 where Priests the donoinant Caste — In Britain, Gaul, 
 and Germany, their state shown by Caesar and Tacitus — Notions, 
 Sacrifices, and Superstitions of Scandinavia. 
 
 Without iollowing minutely the progress of original 
 migration, from east to west, through the great Scythian 
 deserts, we will now at once open upon the human 
 family as it appeared in Europe, when the Romans 
 began to extend their conquests into the great forests 
 and wild lands of its north-western regions ; and here, 
 again, we behold with surprise, how exactly the na- 
 tions had preserved those features of idolatrous super- 
 stition which I have before stated to be universal, and 
 which we have been contemplating in central Asia. 
 
 Part of southern Europe appears to have bee?i 
 peopled by one great branch of the descendants of 
 Japhet, under the name of Sclavonians, and to have 
 maintained their settlements against all future comers ; 
 but another great branch, the Gomerians, or Celts, had 
 been followed by the w^arlike and domineering Goths, 
 and had, in some cases, received from them teachers 
 and governors ; in others, had been totally expelled by 
 them, or lost character, language, and every thing in 
 their overwhelming tide. The northern parts of Brit- 
 ain, Ireland, Wales, Gaul, and some other districts, 
 retained the Celtic character ; while England, Scan- 
 dinavia, Germany, Belgium, and some other tracts, 
 became decidedly Gothic. Of these facts, the very 
 langirages of the respective countries, at»thc present 
 day, remain living proofs. But whatever was the 
 name, the language, or the government of the differ- 
 ent parts of Europe, everywhere its religion was 
 
30 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 essentially the same ; everywhere the same Cuthic 
 race of domineering priests. Everywhere, says a 
 sagacious anti([uarian, " we iind, first, an order of 
 priests ; secondly, an order of military nobles ; thirdly, 
 a subjugated multitude ; and institutions, the spirit of 
 which is that of thrusting the lower orders Irom all 
 place and authority, and systematically dooming them 
 to an unalterable state of servile depression." Who- 
 ever M'ill examine the system of the Diniids, as he 
 may in 'Poland's history of them, in Borlace's Corn- 
 wall, or Davis's Celtic Mythology, will be perfectly 
 convinced of its identity with that of Persia, Egypt, 
 and Hindostan. Their triads, their own assumed 
 sanctity of character, their worship of the god IIu, 
 the Buddlui of the east ; their traditions of the flood ; 
 the ark, which their circular stone temples symbolized ; 
 their human sacrifices ; their doctrine of transmigra- 
 tion ; and other abundant characteristics, are not 
 to be mistaken. Dr. Borlace was so struck with the 
 perfect resemblance of the Druids to the Persian Magi 
 and the Indian Brahmins, that he declart.d it was im- 
 possible to doubt th(Mr identity. Mr. Rowland iirgues in 
 the same manner with regard to the Irish Druids, Avho 
 as usual, constituted th-e first of the tln-ee classes into 
 which the community was divided. He feels assured 
 that they must have been Magi. Long indeed before 
 our time, Pliny had made the same remark, applying 
 the very term of Magi to them. 
 
 In Gaul, Ca?sar found precisely the same state of 
 things — the same dominant class ; and has left so lucid 
 an account of them, that his representation will at 
 once place before us the actual condition of both Caul 
 and Britain. "Over all Gaul there are oidy two orders 
 of men in any degree of honour and esteem ; for the 
 common people are little better than slaves, attempt 
 nothing of themselves, and have no share in the pub- 
 lic deliberations. As they are generally oppressed 
 with debt, heavy tributes, or the exactions of their su- 
 periors, they make themselves vassals to the great, 
 who exercise over them the same jurisdiction that 
 
IS ALL AGES. 31 
 
 masters do over slaves. The two orders of men 
 Avith whom, as we have said, all authority and distinc- 
 tions reside, are the Druids and nobles. The Druids 
 preside in matters of religion, have the care of public 
 and private sacrifices, and interpret the will of the 
 gods. They have the direction and education of the 
 youth, by whom they are held in great honour. In 
 almost all controversies, whether public or private, the 
 decision is left to them ; and if any crime is com- 
 mitted, any murder perpetrated, if any dispute arises 
 touching an inheritance, or the limits of adjoining 
 estates, in all such cases they are supreme judges. 
 They decree rewards and punishments ; and if any 
 one refuse to submit to their sentence, whether magis- 
 trate or private man, they interdict him the sacrifices. 
 This is the greatest punishment that can be inflicted 
 upon the Gauls ; because, such as are under this pro- 
 hibition, are considered as impious and v/icked ; all 
 men shun them, and decline their conversation and 
 fellowship, lest they should suffer from the contagion 
 of their misfortunes. They can neither have recourse 
 to the law for justice, nor are capable of any public 
 oflice. The Druids are all under one chief. Upon 
 his death, a successor is elected by suffrage ; but 
 sometimes they have recourse to arms before the 
 election can be brought to issue. Once a year they 
 assemble at a consecrated place in the territories of 
 the Carnutes, whose country is supposed to be in the 
 middle of Gaul. Hither such as have any suits de- 
 pending flock from all parts, and submit implicitly to 
 their decrees. Their institution is supposed to have 
 come originally from Britain ; and even at this day, 
 such as are desirous of being perfect in it, travel 
 thither for instruction. The Druids never go to war, 
 are exempt from taxes and military service, and enjoy 
 all manner of imnmnities. These mighty encourage- 
 ments induce multitudes of their own accord to follow 
 that profession, and many are sent by their parents. 
 They are taught to repeat a great number of verses by 
 heart, and often spend twenty years upon this institu- 
 
32 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 lion ; lor ii is deemed unlawful to commit their statutes 
 to writing, though on other matters private or public 
 they use Greek characters. They seem to have 
 adopted this method for two reasons, — to hide their 
 mysteries from the knowledge of the vulgar, and to 
 exercise the memory of their scholars. It is one of 
 their principal maxims, that the soul never dies, but 
 after death passes from one body to another. They 
 teach likewise many things relative to the stars, the 
 magnitude of the world and our earth, the nature of 
 things, and the power and prerogative of the immortal 
 gods. 
 
 " The other order ot men is the nobles, whose study 
 and occupation is war. Before Caesar's arrival in 
 Oaul, they were almost every year at war, ofiensive 
 or defensive ; and they judge of the power and quality 
 of their nobles, by the vassals and number of men they 
 keep in pay. 
 
 "The whole nation of the Gauls is extremely ad- 
 dicted to superstition, whence, in threatening distem- 
 pers, and the imminent danger of war, they make no 
 scruple to sacrifice men, or engage themselves by vow 
 to such sacrifices; m which case, they make use of 
 the ministry of the Druids ; lor it is a prevalent opinion 
 among them, that nothing but the life of man can atone 
 for the life of man, insomuch that they have estab- 
 lished even public sacrifices of this kind. Some pre- 
 pare huge Colossuses of osier twigs, into which they 
 put men alive, and setting fire to them, those within 
 expire among the fiames. They prefer for victims such 
 as have been convicted of theft, robbery, or other 
 crimes, believing them the most acceptable to the 
 gods : but when such are wanting, the innocent are 
 made to sufier. 
 
 "The Gauls fancy themselves to be descended from 
 the god Pluto, which it seems, is an established tradi- 
 tion among the Druids ; and for this reason they com- 
 pute time by nights, not by days. 
 
 " The men have power of life and death over their 
 wives and families ; and when any father of a family 
 
IN ALL AGES. 33 
 
 of illustrious rank dies, his relations assemble, and 
 upon the least ground of suspicion, put even his wives 
 to the torture, like slaves. Their funerals are magni- 
 ficent and sumptuous, according to their quality. Every- 
 thing that was dear to the deceased, even animals, 
 are thrown into the fire ; and formerly, such of their 
 slaves and clients as they loved most, sacrificed them- 
 selves at the funeral of their lords." 
 
 In this valuable account, the striking resemblance 
 of the Druids to the Brahmins must impress every 
 one, — not the least their funeral rites, and doctrine of 
 metempsychosis. But there are some other things 
 equally curious. We have here the Ban, — that tre- 
 mendous ecclesiastical engine, which the Romish 
 church most probably borrowed of the Goths ; ^nd 
 which we shall find it hereafter wielding to such ap- 
 palling purpose. The tradition of the Druids, that 
 they are descended of Pluto, is, too, a most remark- 
 able circumstance ; agreeing so perfectly with the 
 theory of Bryant that they were Cuths, the descend- 
 ants of Ham, the Pluto of mythology. 
 
 Caesar proceeds to give Roman names to Gallic 
 gods. This was the common practice of the Romans ; 
 a fact which, as it is known from other sources that 
 the Druids never gave them such names, only proves 
 that the Romans named them from their obvious attri- 
 butes ; again confirming Bryant's theory, that however 
 the ethnic gods be named, they are essentially identi- 
 cal. Caesar also adds, that the Germans difl^c red widely 
 from the Gauls, having no Druids, and troubling not 
 themselves about sacrifices : but Tacitus, who is better 
 evidence than Caesar, where the Germans are con- 
 cerned, assures us that they had priests and bards. 
 That "jurisdiction is vested in the priests ; it is theirs 
 to sit in judgment on all offences. By them delin- 
 quents are put in irons, and chastised with stripes ; the 
 power of punishing is in no other hands." He 
 adds, " to impress on their minds the idea of a tutelar 
 deity, they carry with them to the field of battle certain 
 images and banners, taken from their usual deposito- 
 B3 
 
34 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 ries the groves ; and that one of these symbols was a 
 ship — the emblem of Isis." 'I'his, from what we now 
 know of mytliologies, is a certain evidence of the east- 
 ern origin oi' their religion : the ship being tlie ark, 
 or ship of the world ; and Isis, the great mother of all 
 things, the earth. Ht; assures us that they had also 
 human sacrifices. 
 
 The last European comitiy we will now notice, shall 
 be Scandinavia. M. Mallet's most interesting antiqui- 
 ties of those regions were written before our Eastern 
 knowledge was so much enlarged, and before Mr. Bry- 
 ant had promulgated his theory of the origin of pagan- 
 ism ; and, tlierefore, when we come to open his vol- 
 umes, we are propoitionably astonished and delighted 
 to find all the curious particulars he has collected of 
 the Scandinavian gods and religious rites so absolutely 
 confirmatory of that theory. Here again we have the 
 same gods, under the different names of Odin, Thor, 
 Loke, with Frigga or Frea, the goddess of the earth, the 
 great mother. Here again we have the same domi- 
 nant caste of priests reigning amid the same assem- 
 blage of horrors and pollution. 
 
 The priests, he says, of these nihuman gods were 
 called Drottes, a name equivalent to Druids. They 
 were frequently styled prophets, wise men, divine men. 
 At Upsal, each of the three superior deities had their 
 respective priests, the principal of whom to the num- 
 ber of twelve, presided over the sacrifices, and exer- 
 cised an unlimited authority over every tiling which 
 .seemed to have connexion with religion. The respect 
 shown to them was suitable to their authority. Sprung, 
 for the most pan, frojn the same family^ like those of 
 the Jews, they persuaded the people that this family 
 had God himself for its founder. They often united 
 the priesthood and the sovereignty in their own per- 
 sons, after the example of Odin their progenitor. The 
 goddess Frigga was usually served by kings' daughters, 
 whom they called prophetesses and goddesses. These 
 pronounced oracles ; devoted themselves to perpetual 
 virginity ; and kept up the sacred fire in the temple. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 35 
 
 The power of inflicting pains and penalties, of striking 
 and binding a criminal, was vested in the priests alone ; 
 and men so haughty that they thought themselves dis- 
 honoured if they did not revenge the slightest offence, 
 would tremblingly submit to blows, and even death 
 itself, from the hand of a pontiff, v/hom they took for 
 the instrument of an angry deity. In short, the credu- 
 lity of the people, and the craft and presumption of the 
 priests went so far, that these pretended interpreters 
 of the divine will dared even to demand, in the name 
 of heaven, the blood of kings themselves, and obtained 
 it ! To succeed in this, it was requisite only for them 
 to avail themselves of those times of calamity, when 
 the people, distracted with fear and sorrow, laid their 
 minds open to the most horrid impressions. At these 
 times, while the prince was slaughtered at one of the 
 altars of the gods, the others were covered with the 
 offerings, which were heaped up on all sides for their 
 ministers. 
 
 But the general cause which regulated these sacri- 
 fices, was a superstitious opinion, which made the north- 
 ern natives regard the number three as sacred and 
 peculiarly dear to the gods. Thus, every ninth month 
 they renewed this bloody ceremony, which was to last 
 nine days, and every day they offered up nine victims, 
 whether men or animals. But the most solemn sacri- 
 fices were those which were offered at Upsal in Swe- 
 den, every ninth year. Then the king, the senate, and 
 all the principal citizens were obliged to appear in 
 person, and to bring offerings, which were placed in 
 the great temple. Those who could not come sent 
 their presents by others, or paid their value in money 
 to priests whose business it was to receive the offer- 
 ings. Strangers flocked there in crowds from all parts, 
 and none were excluded except those whose honour 
 was stained, and especially such as had been accused 
 of cowardice. Then they chose among the captives, 
 in time of war, and among the slaves in time of peace, 
 nine persons to be sacrificed. The choice was partly 
 regulated by the opinion of by-standers, and partly by 
 
so PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 lot. The wretches upon whom it fell were then treated 
 with such honours by all the assembly — they were so 
 overwhelmed with caresses for the present, and prom- 
 ises for the life to come — that they sometimes congrat- 
 ulated themselves on their destiny. But they did not 
 always sacrifice such mean persons. In great calami- 
 ties, in a pressing famine, for example, if they thought 
 they had some pretext to impute the cause of it to the 
 king, they sacrificed him without hesitation, as the 
 highest price they could pay for the divine favour. In 
 this manner the first king of Vermland was burnt in 
 honour of Odin, to put away a great death. The 
 kings in their turn did not spare the blood of their 
 people ; and many of them even that of their children. 
 Hacon, king of Norway, offered his son in sacrifice to 
 obtain a victory over his enemy, Harold. Aune, king 
 of Sweden, devoted to Odin the blood of his nine 
 sons, to prevail on the god to prolong his life. The 
 ancient history of the north abounds in similar ex- 
 amples. 
 
 These abominable sacrifices were accompanied with 
 various ceremonies. When the victim was chosen, 
 they conducted him towards the ahar, where the sa- 
 cred fire was kept burning night and day. It was 
 surrounded by all sorts of iron and brazen vessels. 
 Among them one was distinguished by its superior 
 size ; in this they received the blood of their victim. 
 When they offered up animals, they speedily killed 
 them at the foot of the altar ; then they opened their 
 entrails and drew auguries from them, as among the 
 Romans : but when they sacrificed men, those they 
 pitched upon were laid upon a large stone, and quickly 
 strangled or knocked on the head. Sometimes they 
 let out the blood, for no presage was more respected 
 than that which drew I'rom the greater or less degree 
 of impetuosity with which the blood gushed out. The 
 bodies were afterward burnt, or suspended in a sacred 
 grove near the temple. Part of the blood wag sprink- 
 led upon the people, on the grove, on the idol, altar, 
 benches, and wall of the temple, within and without. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 37 
 
 Sometimes the sacrifices were varied. There was 
 a deep well in the neighbourhood of the temple ; the 
 chosen person was thrown headlong in, commonl}' in 
 honour of Goya, or the earth. If it went at once to 
 the bottom, it had proved agreeable to the goddess ; 
 if not, she refused it, and it was hung up in a sacred 
 forest. Near the temple of Upsal there was a gTove 
 of this sort, every tree and every leaf of which was 
 regarded as the most sacred thing in the world. This, 
 which was named Odin's grove, was full of the bodies 
 of men and animals Vv^hich had been sacrificed. The 
 temple at Upsal was as famous for its oracles as its 
 sacrifices. There were also celebrated ones at Dalia, 
 a province of Sweden, in Norway, and Denmark. It 
 should seem that the idols of the gods themselves de- 
 livered the oracles vitia voce. In an ancient Icelandic 
 chronicle, we read of one Indred, who went from home 
 to wait for Thorstein, his enemy. Thorstein, upon 
 his arrival, went into the temple. In it was a stone, 
 probably a statue, which he had been accustomed to 
 worship. He prostra'ied himself before it and prayed 
 it to inform him of his destiny. Indred, who stood 
 without, heard the stone chant forth these verses — 
 " It is for the last time : it is with feet drawing near 
 to the grave, that thou art come to this place, for it is 
 most certain that before the sun riseth the valiant 
 Indred shall make thee feel his hatred." 
 
 The people persuaded themselves sometimes that 
 these idols ansv»-ered by a gesture, or nod of the head. 
 Thus in the history of Olave Tryggeson, king of Nor- 
 way, we see a lord named Hacon, who enters into a 
 temple, and prostrates himself before an idol which, 
 held in its .hand a great bracelet of gold. Hacon, 
 adds the historian, easily conceiving that so long as 
 the idol would not part with the bracelet, it was not 
 disposed to be reconciled to him, and having made 
 some fruitless eflx)rts to take the bracelets away, began 
 to pray afresh, and to off'er it presents ; then getting 
 up a second time, the idol loosed the bracelet, and he 
 went ^vrs-Y very well pleased. 
 
38 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 But they liave not only their bloody sacrifices, and 
 their oracles, hut tlieir orgies of licentiousness. These 
 occurred on the occasion of the feast of Frigga, the 
 goddess of love and pleasure ; and at Uulel, the feast 
 of Thor, in which the license was carried to such a 
 pitch as to become merely bacchanalian meetings, 
 where, amid shouts, dancing, and indecent gestures, 
 so many unseemly actions were committed as to dis- 
 gust the wiser part of the community. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 NORTHERN INDIANS, MEXICANS, AND PERUVIANS. 
 
 The same system discovered, to the surprise of the learned, in 
 America — Gods, Doctrines, and Practices of the Northern Indians, 
 Mexicans and Peruvians — Dominance of the Priests and Nobles, 
 and Slavery of tlu; People — their bloody Sacrifices and fearful Or- 
 gies, similar to those of the Asiatics— Amazinp: number of then- 
 Human Sacritices recorded by the Spanisli writers — Strikincr pic- 
 ture of Priestcraft in Southey's Madoc. 
 
 We have just seen that the same baleful superstitions 
 extended themselves from the East to the very extremi- 
 ties of Europe ; but we must now share in the aston- 
 ishment of the discoverers of America, tu find them 
 equally reigning and rendering miserable the people 
 there. A new Morld M'as found, wliicli had been hid- 
 den from the day of creation to the iifieentli Christian 
 age ; yet there, through that lonu" lapsi* ol' tinu^, it was 
 discovered, the same dominant spirit, i^.nd the same 
 terrible system of paganism had been existing. The 
 learned of Europe, on this great event, were extremely 
 puzzled for a time, to conceive how and whence this 
 distant continent had been peopled. The proven prox- 
 imity of Asia at Beiiring's Straits, solved the mystery. 
 But had not this become apparent, so identical are the 
 
IN ALL AGES. 39 
 
 superstitions, the traditions, and practices of the Amer- 
 icans, with tliose of ancient Asia, that we might have 
 confidently pronounced them to have come from that 
 great seminary of tlie human race. 
 
 The North American Indians, who preserved both 
 most of their liberty, their simplicity of life and of 
 sentiment, M-orshippmg only the Great Spirit, and re- 
 fusing to have any image of deity ; having in general 
 no priest, yet retained many, and very clear, traditions 
 of the primeval world. So striking were these facts, 
 combined with the Asiatic aspects of the Indians in 
 their better days, before European oppressions and 
 European vices had wasted and degraded them, that 
 the early missionaries and visitants of America, Adair, 
 Brainard, Charlevoix, nay, William Penn himself, 
 were strongly persuaded that they had found the lost 
 ten tribes of Israel. Vvhen they saw them carrying be- 
 I'ore them to battle an ark ; saw them celebrating feasts 
 oi" new moons, and heard them talk of the times when 
 the angels of God walked upon earth with their an- 
 cestors ; talk of the tu'O first people ; ot" the two first 
 brothers, one oi" whom slew the other ; of the flood, 
 and similar traditionary facts ; it is not wonderful that 
 they should liave adopted such a notion, — not perceiv- 
 ing, as w^e do now, that these aie familiar features of 
 the Asiatic nations ; and that though they did not prove 
 them to be Hebrews, they did to a certainty prove 
 them to be Asiatics. 
 
 I must here passingly notice one inference, which 
 seems unaccountably to have escaped the minds of 
 antiquarians, connected with the peopling of this conti- 
 nent. In the North American wilds, exist strange 
 mounds and foundations of old fortifications, cairns, or 
 Innying-places, in which earthen vessels and other 
 artiiicial remains are found, which prove that some 
 people occupied these forests long before the present 
 race of Indians ; a people who had more of the arts 
 of civilized life among them than these ever possessed. 
 In certain caves of Kentucky, mummies have even 
 been I'ound. Now connecting these facts with the 
 
40 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 universal traditions ot' the Mexicans and South Ameri- 
 cans, that they came originally from a country far to 
 the north-west, does it not seem clear enough that 
 these remains were the traces of^ the earlier Asiatics 
 who entered America, and who, if the same as the 
 Mexicans and Peruvians, unquestionably possessed 
 more of civilization and its arts tlian the northern 
 tribes ? — that other tribes more savage and warlike 
 followed them ; and that they themselves gradually 
 sought fresh settlements, in accordance with their own 
 traditions. This simple theory seems to solve tlie 
 problem which has so long puzzled both the European 
 and American antiquarians. 
 
 The Natchez, who had advanced far before other 
 tribes in their civil institutions, worshipped the sun, 
 and maintained, like the Persians, the perpetual tire, 
 his symbol, in their temples. They burnt, on the 
 funeral pile of their chiefs, himian victims ; giving 
 them, according to M. Dumont, large piles of tobacco 
 to stupify them, as the Bralmiins intoxicate their vic- 
 tims to the same hideous custom. Ministers were 
 appointed to watch and maintain the sacred fire ; the 
 lirst function of the great chief, every morning, M'as 
 an act of obeisance to the sun ; and festivals, at stated 
 periods, were held in his honour. Among the people 
 of Bogota, the sun and moon Avere likev. ise the great 
 objects of adoration. Their system of religion was 
 more regular and complete, though less pure, than that 
 of the Natchez. They had temples, altars, priests, 
 sacritices, and that long train of ceremonies which 
 superstition iiitroduces, wherever she has fully estab- 
 lished her influence over the human mind. But the 
 rites of their worship were bloody and cruel ; they 
 ofTered human victims to their deities, and nearly 
 resembled the Mexicans in the genius of their religion. 
 
 To the Mexicans and Peruvians we shall, indeed, 
 principally confine our observations. These nations 
 had grown to comparative greatness, and assumed a 
 decided form of civil polity, and many of the rites of 
 what is called civilized life ; and in such nations the 
 
INf ALL AGES. ' 41 
 
 combined power of kingcraft and priestcraft has been 
 always found to be proportionably strong. In those 
 conspicuous nations there were found all the great 
 leatures of that superstition which they had brought 
 v.-iththem from Asia, and which we have already seen 
 spread and tyrannized over every quarter of the old 
 vvorld. They had their triads of gods ; their worshij) 
 of the sun ; their worship of the evil and vindictive 
 principle ; and worship of serpents. They had the 
 same dominant caste of priests and nobles ; the same 
 abject one of the common people ; human sacrifices ; 
 the burning of slaves and dependants on the funeral 
 pile ; they had the ark ; the doctrine of successive 
 worlds ; and the patriarchal traditions. 
 
 In the first place, their castes. Robertson, on the au- 
 thority of Herrera, says, — " In tracing the great lines of 
 the Mexican constitution, an image of feudal policy rises 
 to our view, in its most rigid form ; and we discern, iu 
 their distinguishing characters, a nobility possessing 
 almost i;idependent authority ; a people depressed into 
 the lowest state of dejection ; and a king intrusted 
 with the executive power of the state. Its spirit and 
 principles seem to have operated in the new world in 
 the same manner as in the ancient. The jurisdiction 
 of the crown Vv^as extremely limited ; all real and 
 effective authority was retained by the nobles. In 
 order to secure full effect to these constitutional re- 
 straints, the Mexican nobles did not permit tlie crown 
 to descend by inheritance, but disposed of it by elec- 
 tion. The great body of the people was in a most 
 Iiuniiliating state. A considerable number, known by 
 the name of Mayeques, could not change their place 
 of residence without permission of the superior to 
 v;hom they belonged. They were conveyed, together 
 with the lands on whicli ihey were settled, from one 
 proprietor to another ; and were bound to cultivate the 
 ground, and perform several kinds of servile work. 
 Others vv^ere reduced to the lowest form of subjection, 
 that of domestic servitude, and felt the utmost rigour 
 of that v/retched state. Their condition was held to 
 
42 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 be so vile, and their lives deemed of so little value, 
 that a person who killed one of them was not subjected 
 10 any punishment. Even those considered as free- 
 men were treated by their haughty lords as beings of 
 an inferior species. The nobles, possessed of ample 
 territories, were divided into various classes, to each 
 of which peculiar titles of honour belonged. The 
 people, not allowed to wear a dress of the same 
 fashion, or to dwell in houses of a form similar to 
 those of the nobles, accosted them with the most sub- 
 missive reverence. In the presence of tiieir sovereign 
 they durst not lift their eyes from the ground, or look 
 him in the face. The nobles themselves, when ad- 
 mitted to an audience, entered barefooted, in mean 
 garments, and as slaves paid him homage approach- 
 ing to adoration. The respect due from inferiors to 
 those above them in rank, was prescribed with such 
 ceremonious accuracy, that it incorporated with the 
 language, and influenced its genius and idiom. The 
 style and appellations used in the intercourse between 
 equals, would have been so unbecoming in the mouth 
 of an inferior to one of higher rank that it would have 
 been deemed an insult." 
 
 What a lively picture of that system of domination 
 in the few, and slavery in the multitude, which we 
 have seen, or soon shall see, to have prevailed m 
 all regions ; in the feudal lands of Europe ; in India 
 and Egypt : and how perfect is the resemblance, 
 •when we find, as we shall, that at the head of all 
 these were the priests, who, says Faber, formed a 
 regular hierarchy, and dwelt together in cloisters at- 
 tached to their temples. So likewise in Peru, the 
 royal family, that which constituted the nobility, were 
 viewed as an entirely distinct race by the abject ple- 
 beians ; and they studiously preserved the purity of their 
 high blood, by iiUermarrying solely among them- 
 selves. With these in the government of the com- 
 monalty were associated the priesthood, who, as in 
 Mexico, were no straggling body, but a well-organized 
 fraternity, 
 
IN ALL AGES. 48 
 
 With respect to their triads, the same author says, 
 the Peruvians supposed Viracocha to be the creator of 
 the gods ; suborclinate to him, they believed two triads ; 
 connecting, like the natives of the eastern continent, 
 the triple offspring of the great father with the sun; 
 and, as in the case of Jupiter, with the thunder. The 
 lirst consisted of Chuquilia, Catuilla, and Intyllapa ; 
 or the father-thunder, the son-thunder, and the brother- 
 thunder ; the second of Apomti, Churunti, and Inti- 
 quaoqui ; as the father-sun, the son-sun, and the brother- 
 sun. Nor were they satisfied with these two principal 
 triads. So strongly were they impressed with the 
 notion of three deities inferior to that primeval god 
 who sprung from the sea, that they had likewise three 
 images of Chuquilia, himself a person of the first triad; 
 as the Persian Mythras was not only one with Oro- 
 masdes and Ahriman, but was also said to have tripli- 
 cated himself. They had also an idol Tangatanga, 
 which they said was one-in-three and three-in-one. 
 Added to these, they venerated, like the pagans of the 
 eastern hemisphere, a great universal mother; and 
 what shows further the genuine character of this great 
 demiurgic man of the sea, Noah, the superior of their 
 multiplied triad, the badge of the Inca was a rainbow 
 and two snakes ; the one allusive to the deluge, the 
 other the symbols of the two great parents of both 
 gods and men. Purchas, in his Pilgrimage, quaintly 
 calls this triad an apish imitation of the Trinity brought 
 in by the devil. Their worship was sufficiently dia- 
 bolical, being debased with all the abominable impuri- 
 ties of the arkite superstitions. 
 
 Remarks not dissimilar might be made on the 
 deity of the Mexicans, believed to be the creator of the 
 world. They call him Mexitli, or Vitzliputzli. His 
 image was seated on an azure-coloured stool, placed 
 in a litter ; his complexion was also azure ; and in his 
 hand he held an azure staff, fashioned in the shape of 
 a waving serpent. Their next deity they named 
 Tlaloc ; their third Tezcallipuca. Him they esteemed 
 the god of repentance. As for the superior divinity 
 
44 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 of this trind, he was phiced on a liigh uUar, in a r>niall 
 box, decked with leatliers and ornaments of gold ; and 
 the tradition ol" the Mexicans was, that when tliey 
 journeyed by diiVerent stations from a remote coun- 
 try to the north-west, tlicy bore this oracuhir imas,^e 
 along with them, seated in a coti'er made of reeds. 
 Whenever they rested, they placed the ark of their 
 deity on an altar ; and at length, by his special direc- 
 tion, they built tlieir principal city in the midst ol a 
 lake. 
 
 They went forwards, says Purchas, " bearing tjicir 
 idol with them in an ark of reeds, supported by four of 
 their principal priests, with whom he talked and com- 
 municated his oracles and directions. He likewise 
 gave them laws, and taught them the sacrifices and 
 ceremonies tiiey still observe. And even as the pillar 
 of cloud and of tire conducted the Israelites in their pas- 
 sage through the wilderness, so this apish devil gave 
 them notice when to advance and when to stay." 
 
 Every particular of this superstition shows its dihi- 
 vian origin; and proves the supposed demiurge to be 
 no other than the great i'ather. The ark of Mexitli 
 is the same machine as that in which the Hammon, or 
 Osiris of Egypt was borne in his procession ; the same 
 as the ark ol' Bacchus ; the ship of Isis, and the Argha 
 of Iswary. His dark complexion is that of the Vishnu 
 of the Indian, and Cneph of the Egyptian triads. He 
 was oracular, like the .ship Argo of the Greeks ; the 
 Baris of Hammon ; the chief arkite gods of all gen- 
 tile nations. He connects his city with a lake, like 
 the ancient Cabiri, like that of liuto on the Lake 
 Chemmis in Egypt ; and has evident connexion with 
 the lake and floating islands of all the pagan mytholo- 
 gies. 
 
 It is a curious circumslance, that we tind the doc- 
 trine of the succession of worlds, and ol" the death and 
 revival of the hero-gods, also among the Mexicans. 
 They doubtless brought it out of eastern Asia, with a 
 mythology which is substantially the same as that of 
 the larger continent, agTeeably to their standing tradi- 
 
IN ALL AGES. 45 
 
 tion respecting the route of their ancestors. They 
 supposed the world to have been made by the gods, 
 but imagine that since the creation, four suns have 
 successively appeared and disappeared. The first sun 
 perished by a deluge; the second fell from heaven 
 when there were many giants in the country ; the third 
 was consumed by fire ; the fourth was dissipated by a 
 tempest of wind. Three days after the last sun be- 
 came visible, all the former gods died : then, in pro- 
 cess of time, were produced those whom they have 
 since worshipped. This resemblance to the tradition 
 of the Hindoos is striking enough, as well as to that 
 of the Egyptians, who told Herodotus that the same 
 sun had four times deviated from his course, having 
 twice risen in the vv-est, and twice set in the east. 
 
 When the Mexicans brought their arkite god out of 
 Asia, they also brought with him the ancient mysteries 
 of that deity. Like the idolaters whom they had left 
 behind, they sacrificed on the tops of mountains in 
 traditional commemoration of the sacrifice on Ara- 
 rat ; and adored their bloody gods in dark caverns, 
 similar to those of the worship of Mythras. Their 
 orgies, like all the other orgies of the gentiles, appear 
 to have been of a peculiarly gloomy and terrific nature ; 
 sufficient to strike with terror even the most un- 
 daunted hearts-. Hence their priests, in order that 
 they might be enabled to go through the dreadful rites 
 without shuddering, anointed themselves with a pecu- 
 liar ointment, and used various fantastic ceremonies 
 to banish fear. Thus prepared, they boldly sallied 
 forth to celebrate their nocturnal rites in wild moun- 
 tains and the deep recesses of obscure caves, much in 
 the same manner as the nightly orgies of Bacchus, 
 Ceres, and Ceridwen were celebrated by their respec- 
 tive nations. A similar process enabled them to offer 
 up those hecatombs of human victims, by which their 
 blood-stained superstition was more eminently distin- 
 o-iiished than even those of Moloch, Cali, Cronus, or 
 Jaggernath. They had also their vestal virgins ; and 
 both those women and the priests were won frantically to 
 
46 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 cut themselves with knives, while ('nguftffl in the 
 worship of their idols, like the voturies of Baal and 
 Bellona . 
 
 Of their hloody saerilices, the Spanish writers are 
 full ; particularly Herrera, Acosta, and Bernal Diaz. 
 Fear, says those authors, v.as the soul of the Mexican 
 worship/ They never approached tlnMr altars without 
 sprinkling- them with l)lood, drawn from their own 
 bodies. But of all oflerin*rs, human sacrifices were 
 deemed the most acceptable. Tliis lielief, mingling 
 with the spirit of vengeance, added more force to it ; 
 every captive taken in war was In-ouoht to (he temple 
 and sacritlced with horrid cruelties. The head and 
 the heart were devoted to the gods : tlie body was 
 carried ofT by the warrior who look the captive, to 
 feast himself'and his friends. Hence, the spirit of the 
 Mexicans became pro])orlionai!y unfeeling; and the 
 genius of tlieir redigion so far counteraettnl t!ie influ- 
 ence of policy and arts, that, notwithstanding their pro- 
 gress in botli, their manners, instead of soitening. be- 
 came more lierce. Those nations in the New World, 
 who liad made the greater progress in the arts of 
 social life, were, in several respects, the most fero- 
 cious ; and the barbarity of their actions exceeded even 
 those of the savage stale. 
 
 The Spanisli writers have been chargj^l with exag- 
 trerating the number of human victims aimually sacri- 
 ficed by the Mexicans. Gomara says, there was no 
 year in which twenty thousand were not immolated. 
 The skulls of tliese unhappy persons were ranged in 
 order, in a buihUng erected for that purpose : and two 
 of Cortes's officers \vho had counted them, told Gomara 
 they amounted to a hundred and thirty-six thousand. 
 Herrera declares that live-and-twenty thousand have 
 been sacrificed in one day. The hrst bisliop of Mex- 
 ico, in a letter to the chai)ter-general of his order, 
 states the annual average at twenty thousand. On 
 the other hand, Bernal Diaz asserts that the Francis- 
 can monks, who were sent into New Spain iunnedi- 
 ately after tlic conquest, ibund, on particular incpiiry 
 
IN ALL AGES. 47 
 
 that they did not exceed annually two thousand five 
 hundrr'd. Probably the numbers varied with the vary- 
 ing circumstances of war and other occin-rences ; but 
 from all authorities, it appears that their bloody rites 
 v»-ere carried to an enormous extent. 
 
 But enough of tliese terrible and revolting trophies 
 of priestcraft. We might follow the coiu'seof this pes- 
 tilence into Africa and the South Sea Isles ; but I shall 
 rather choose to refer all those who may be curious on 
 the subject to the narratives of our travellers and mis- 
 sionaries, in which they will see the same causes 
 operating the same effects. I prefer to give a con- 
 cluding page or two in this chapter, to the vivid pic- 
 ture of priestcraft vvhich Mr. Southey has drawn in his 
 noble poem of Madoc. No man has felt and de- 
 scribed the true spirit of this terrible race of men 
 more forcilily than Mr. Southey. His Madoc was a 
 Welch prince, who, according to Cambrian tradition, 
 first ili^covered America, and there settled with a col- 
 ony ol" his countrymen. On this foundation xMr. Sou- 
 they has formed one of his delightful poems ; full of 
 nalure, of the working of strong a flections, and of the 
 spirit of the subject. 
 
 Madoc discovers land, and I'alls in with a native 
 who had iied I'rom his country to avoid being sacri- 
 ficed by the priests. This youth, Lincoya, leads 
 Madoc to his native land, wheii he is soon introduced 
 to Erillvab, the widowed queen, who sits before her 
 door, near the war-pole of her deceased husband ; — 
 a truly noble woman. 3Tadoc, in his own narrative 
 say?,— 
 
 She welcomed us 
 Willi a proud sorrow iii her mien ; fresh fruits 
 Were spread before us, and her gesture said 
 That when he lived whose hand was wont to wield 
 Those weapons, — tliat in better days, — that ere -t 
 
 She let the tresses other widowhood 
 Grow wild, she could have given to guests like us 
 A worthier welcome. Soon a man approached, 
 Hooded with sable ; his half-naked limbs 
 Smeared black : the people at his sigh drew round; 
 The women wailed and wept ; the children turned 
 
48 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 And hid their faces in their mothers' knees. 
 
 He to the queen addressed his speech, then looked 
 
 Around the children, and laid hands on two 
 
 Of different sexes, but of age alike. 
 
 Some six years old, who at his touch shrieked out. 
 
 But then Lincoya rose, and to my feet 
 
 Led them, and told me that the conqueror claimed 
 
 Tlipse innocents for tribute ; that the priest 
 
 Would lay them on the altar of his god, — 
 
 Tear out their little hearts in sacrifice, 
 
 Vea, with more cursed wickedness, hdmself 
 
 Feast on their flesh. 
 
 Madoc defends tlie children ; sends away the dis- 
 appointed priest ; and, in consequence, gets into war 
 with the Azticas, the powerful tribe which has seized 
 upon Aztlan, the city of the Hoamen, the people of 
 queen Erillyab. He soon, however, obliges them to 
 come to terms ; to renounce their bloody rites, and, 
 having put things into a fair train, returns lo Europe 
 for fresh stores and emigrants. In his absence, the 
 priests of Aztlan, according to the wont of all priests, 
 stir up the king of Aztlan again to %var. They cry, if not 
 exactly " Great is Diana of the Ephesians," great is 
 Mexitli of the Azticas. They pretend to hear voices 
 and see prodigies ; they pretend the gods cry out for 
 the blood of their enemies, and forbode all manner of 
 destruction from them, if they be not appeased. Ma- 
 doc does but just arrive in time to save his colony. A 
 desperate war is commenced ; an occasion is given 
 for the full display of the reckless atrocity, the perfidv, 
 and vile arts of the priests, and for many noble and 
 touching incidents arising out of the contact of better 
 natures with the casualties of battle and stratasem. 
 Hoel, a child, the nephew of Madoc, is carried off, at 
 the instigation of the priests, to be sacriliced. Madoc, 
 in following his captives, falls himself into an ambush, 
 and is doomed a victim to Mexitli ; but escapes 
 through a national custom of allowing a great warrior 
 to fight for his life at the altar-stone, by the tnuely 
 arrival of his friends, and by the assistance of a native 
 maiden, to whom also Hoel owes his rescue from the 
 den of Tlaloc, where he was left to starve. The 
 
IN ALL AGES. 49 
 
 Azticas are defeated, and finally abandon their terri- 
 tory, going onward and founding Mexico ; calling it 
 after the name of their chief deity. 
 
 To quote all the passages which seem especially 
 made for our purpose would fill this volume ; but 1 
 must select one or two. The description of the idol : 
 
 On a huge throne, with four huge silver snakes, 
 
 As if the keeper of the sanctuary 
 
 Circlec], with scretching neck and fangs displayed, 
 
 MexiUi sat ; another graven snake 
 
 Belted with scales of gold his monstrous bulk. 
 
 Around his neck a loathsome collar hung 
 
 Of human hearts ; the face was masked with gold ; 
 
 His specular eyes seemed fire ; one hand upreared 
 
 A club, the other, as in battle, held 
 
 The shield ; and over all suspended hung 
 
 l^e banner of the nation. 
 
 The chief priest, Tezozomoc, when about to pre- 
 sent little liocl to the idol, and the child, terrified at 
 his hideous appearance, shrieks and recoils from 
 him : — 
 
 His (lark aspect, 
 Which nature with her harshest characters 
 Had featured, art made worse. His covv^i was white ; 
 Ills untriinmed hair, a long and loathsome mass, 
 With cotton cords entwisted, clung with gum, 
 And matted with the blood which every morn 
 He from his temples drew before the god, 
 In sacrifice ; bare v/ere his arms> and smeared 
 Black ; but his countenance a stronger dread 
 Than all the horrors of tliat Outward garb 
 Struck, with quick instinct, to young Heel's heart. 
 It was a face whose settled suilenness 
 No gentle feeling ever had disturbed : 
 Which when he probed a victim's living breast, 
 Retained its hard composure. 
 
 The Vv'hole work is alive with the macliinations, arts^ 
 and fanatic deeds of the priesthood. The king of the 
 Azticas, in an early conference witli Madoc, says, 
 speaking of the priests, — 
 
 Awe them, for they awe me : 
 
 and his queen, after he has been killed in batUej ancl 
 
 g 
 
50 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 she is about fo perish on his funeral pile, calls out to 
 his brother and successor, — 
 
 Take heed, king ! 
 Beware these wicked men ! They to the war 
 Forced my dead lord. . . Thou knowest, and I know, 
 He loved the strangers ; that his noljle mind, 
 Enhghtened by their lore, had willingly 
 Put down these cursed altars ! As she spake 
 They dragged her to the stone. . . Nay : nay ! she cried, 
 There needs not force ! I go to join my lord ! 
 His blood and mine be on you ! Ere she ceased. 
 The knife was in her breast. Tezozomoc, 
 Trembling with wrath, held up towards the sun 
 The reekmg heart. 
 
 When the war is terminated, Madoc declares, 
 
 No priest must dwell among us, — that hath been 
 The cause of all tliis misery ! 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 Priest-ridden condition of Eg}-pt notorious— Involved in the same 
 system of Priestcraft already noticed — Robertson's Theory of the 
 Uniformity of Pagan Creeds insufficient, and why — Egyptian 
 Superstitions — Excessive Veneration of Animals, and consequent 
 singular Rites and Facts — Horrid ;ind licentious Customs — Policy 
 of their Priests to conceal Knowledge from the People ; place 
 tliemselves above the Nobles and eventhe Kings; regulate all the 
 daily actions of the Kings— Striking Ulustrations of Uie verity of 
 the Greek accounts in the History of Joseph — Priests supposed to 
 have been sole Kings in Egj'pt for ages. 
 
 We have now traversed an immense space of 
 country, and of time ^ and found one great imiform 
 spirit of priestcraft, one uniform system of paganism, 
 presiding over and oppressing the semi-barbarous na- 
 tions of the earth ; it remains for us to inquire whedier 
 tlie three, great nations of antiquity, Greece, Eg>-pt, 
 ^nd India, so early celebrated for their science, phi- 
 
INf ALL AGES. 51 
 
 losophy, and political importance, were affected by the 
 same mighty and singular influence ; and here we shall 
 find it triumphing in its clearest form, and existing in 
 its highest perfection. 
 
 The priestridden condition of Egypt is notorious 
 to all readers of history. Lord Shaftesbury calls it, 
 " the mother-land of superstitions." So completely 
 had the lordly and cunning priesthood here contrived 
 to fix themselves on the shoulders of the people, so 
 completely to debase and stupify them with an over- 
 whelming abundance of foolish veneration, that the 
 country swarmed with temples, gods, and creatures, 
 which, in themselves most noxious or loathsome, were 
 objects of adoration. Juvenal laughs at them, as 
 making gods of their onions ; grovv^ing gods in their 
 garden-beds by thousands — 
 
 O sanctas gentes, quibus hssc nascunter in hortis 
 Numina ! 
 
 and dogs, cats, lizards, and other creatures were cher- 
 ished with extraordinary veneration. Diodorus Sicu- 
 lus says, that a Roman soldier having by accident 
 killed a cat, the common people instantly surrounded 
 his house with every demonstration of fury. The 
 king's guards were . immediately despatched to save 
 him from their rage, but in vain ; his authority and 
 the Roman name were equally unavailing. 
 
 The accounts we possess, of the extreme populous- 
 ness of ancient Egypt ; of the number and splendour 
 of their temples ; of the knowledge and authority of 
 their priests ; and the mighty remains of some of their 
 sacred buildings, sufiiciently testify to the splendour 
 and absolute dominance of this order in this great 
 kingdom. 
 
 To show that the priestcraft of this ancient realm 
 was part of the same system that we have been tra- 
 cing, a part of that still existing in India, will require 
 but little labour. We shall see that the Greek, phi- 
 losophers themselves assert the derivation of their 
 C2 
 
$% PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 mythology from Egypt; -.ind so strikingly similar are 
 those ol" Indi'd and E<iypt, that it has been a matter ol' 
 debate among l<;arned men, which nation borrowed its 
 religion from the otiier. The fact appears to be, that 
 neither borrowed from the other, but that both drew 
 from one common source, a source we have already 
 pointed out — that of the Cuthic tribes. Egypt was 
 jieopled by the children of Ham : and by whomsoever 
 India was peopled, the great priestly and military caste 
 early found its way there, and introduced the very 
 same superstitions, founded on the worship of Noah 
 and his sons ; and sliadowed out with emblems and 
 ceremonies derived from the memory of the flood. 
 Both nations are of the highest antiquity ; both arrived 
 at extraordinary knowledge of astronomy, of archi- 
 tecture, of many of the mechanic arts, of govern- 
 ment, and of a certain moral and theologic philosophy, 
 which the priests retained to themselves, and made 
 use of as a mighty engine to enslave the people. 
 Their knowledge was carefully shrouded from the 
 multitude ; the populace were crammed with all sorts 
 of fabulous puerilities ; and were made to feel the dis- 
 play of science in the hands of the priesthood, as evi- 
 dence of supernatural powers. 
 
 Dr. Robertson, in his Disquisition on Ancient India, 
 and in his History of America, has endeavoured to ex- 
 j)lain the uniformity of pagan belief, by supposing that 
 rude nations would everywhere be influenced by the 
 same great powers and appearances of nature ; — by 
 the beneficial influence of the sun and moon ; of tlie 
 fruitful earth ; by the contemplation of the awfulness 
 of the ocean, of tempests and thunder; and would come 
 to adore those great olijects as gods. But this will, 
 by no means, iiccount for the striking identity of the 
 i^reat principles and practices of paganism, as Ave 
 have seen them existing. Diflerent nations, (^spe- 
 cially under the diflerent aspects of widely divided 
 climates, would have imagined widely diflerent dei- 
 ties ; and the ceremonies in which they would have 
 adored tliem, would have been as infinite as the vaga- 
 
I\ ALL AGES. .53 
 
 ries of the human fancy. But would they have all 
 produced gods so positively of the same family, that, 
 whoever went from one nation to another, however 
 distant, among people of totally different habits and 
 genius, would have immediately recognised their own 
 goils, and have given them their ov/n names ? Would 
 Caesar and Tacitus have beheld Roman gods in Ger- 
 many and Gaul ? Herodotus, Pluto, and Pythagoras 
 have found those of Greece in Egypt ? Would these 
 gods be, in every country, attended by the same tra- 
 ditionary theory of origin, — the three sons of one 
 great father, multiplying themselves into the eight 
 persons of the original gods — the precise number of 
 those enclosed in the ark ? Would traditions of the 
 iiood in all countries, most full and remarkable, and, 
 in the oldest Hindoo writings, almost word for word 
 with the one in the Bible, have Existed, as may be 
 seen in the histories of the various countries ; and as 
 may be found carefully collected by Faber and Bryant 
 in their works on the pagan mythologies? This 
 could not be ; — nor would so many nations, in different 
 parts of the world, retain the ark ; nor celebrate mys- 
 teries, substantially the same, in the same temiic 
 manner in caves ; nor v/ould they have all hit on the 
 horrid sacrifice of men ; nor the same doctrine of trans- 
 migration ; nor have permitted an imperious caste of 
 priests and nobles to rule over them witfi absolute 
 domination. To suppose all this to happen, except 
 from one great and universal cause, is as rational as 
 to suppose the system of earth and heaven to be the 
 work of chance : and the further we go, the ^ more 
 clearly shall we see this demonstrated. 
 
 The Egyptians, like all other nations, had their triad 
 of gods ; — Horus, Osiris, and Typhon. This was the 
 popular one ; but the priests had another of a more in- 
 tellectual nature, Emeph, Eicton, and Phtha. They 
 had also their great mother Isis, Ceres, or the earth : 
 but they had besides many inferior deities, which we 
 need not enumerate. Every god had his shrine ; every 
 shrine its train of priests ; besides which there wero 
 
54 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 the shrines of tlie oracles, so that there was plenty 
 of influence and profit for the priesthood. They bore 
 tiie ark of Osiris once a year in procession ; setting 
 it afloat on the Nile at a certain place, and lamenting 
 it for a time as lost. It was taken up at another place, 
 with great rejoicings that the god was found again. It 
 was said to be pursued by the great evil serpent Ty- 
 phon in the ocean ; but in time was triumphant over 
 him — a direct allusion to the going of Noah into the 
 ark, and being driven by the great power of waters 
 for a time ; when he returned to land, and peopled 
 the world anew. 
 
 Their doctrine of transmigration, Herodotus tells 
 us, some of his countrymen, whom he could name but 
 does not choose, meaning, however, Pytl^agoras and 
 others, carried thence into Greece. The Egyptians, 
 says the venerable Greek, believe that, on the disso- 
 lution of the body, the soul immediately enters into 
 some other animal ; and that, after using as vehicles 
 every species of terrestrial, aquatic, and winged crea- 
 tures, it finally enters a second time into a human 
 body. They afHrm that it undergoes all these changes 
 in the space of three thousand years. 
 
 This is precisely the doctrine of the Hindoos, and 
 of those nations we have already noticed ; and hence 
 proceeded that excessive veneration of the people for 
 every species of animal ; fearing to hurt or destroy 
 them, lest they should dislodge the soul of a relative 
 or friend. We have noticed their fury about a cat : 
 their veneration for dogs was equally extreme till after 
 the celebrated expedition of Cambyses, the Persian, 
 who, with the zeal of his country against all images 
 of deity, threw down their idols, and slew their sacred 
 animals, which the dogs devoured, and thereby became 
 objects of abhorrence to the Egyptians. 
 
 Their laws, says Herodotus, compel them to cher- 
 ish animals. A certain number of men and women 
 are appointed to this oflicc, which is esteemed so lion- 
 ourabh^ that it descends in succession from father to 
 son. In the presence of these animals the ijiliabitants 
 
IN ALL AGES. ^g 
 
 of the cities perform their vows. They address them- 
 selves as siipi)licants to the divinity which is supposed 
 to be represented by the animal in whose presence 
 they are. They then cut off their childrens' hair ; 
 sometimes the whole, sometimes the half, at others 
 a third. This they weigh in a balance against a piece 
 of silver. As soon as the silver preponderates, they 
 give it to the vv^oman who keeps the beast. It is a 
 capital offence to kill one of these animals. To de- 
 stroy one accidentally is punishable by a line paid to 
 the priests ; but he who kills an ibis or a hawk, how- 
 ever involuntarily, cannot by any means escape death. 
 Whenever a cat dies there is universal mourning in a 
 family ; and every member of it cuts off his eye- 
 brows : but when a dog dies, they shave their heads 
 and every part of their bodies. This, after the days 
 of Cambyses, would, of course, be somewhat altered. 
 The cats, when dead, are carried to sacred buildings, 
 saked, and afterward buried in the city of Bubastes. 
 Female dogs are buried in sacred chests, wherever 
 they happen to die, as are ichneumons ; shrew-mice 
 and havv'ks are buried at Butos ; bears and wolves where 
 they die. Otters and eels also excited great venera- 
 tion. The crocodile was held to be divine by one 
 part of the kingdom ; by another it was execrated. 
 Where it was reverenced, it had temples, a large train 
 of attendants, and, after death, was embalmed. Maxi- 
 mus Tyrius says, a woman reared a young crocodile, 
 and the Egyptians esteemed her highly fortunate as 
 the nurse of a deity. The woman had a child which 
 used to play with the crocodile, till the animal one day 
 turned fierce, and ate it up ; the woman exulted, and 
 counted the child's fate blessed in the extreme, to have 
 been the victim of her domestic god. Such is the 
 melancholy stupidity into which priestcraft can plunge 
 the human mind ! 
 
 1 shall not pursue the superstitions of this people 
 further, but refer my readers to Herodotus, Plutarch, 
 Diodorus, and Porphyrins, for all further particulars ; 
 except to state that the Egyptians, were we to credit 
 
56 rRlESTCRAFT 
 
 Herodotus, were singular in one respect — having no 
 human sacrifices, save, perhaps, in the very earUest ages, 
 'i'his however is so remarkable an exception to the 
 universality of the system, that we find it difficult of 
 belief; and, on turning to Strabo, we are assured that 
 they annually sacrificed to the Nile a noble virgin ; a 
 statement confirmed by the Arabian writer Murtadi, 
 who relates that they arrayed her in rich robes, and 
 hurled her into the stream. Diodorus affirms, that 
 they sacrificed red-haired men at the tomb of Osiris, 
 because his mortal enemy, Typhon, was of that colour. 
 Busiris sacrificed Thraciaiis to appease the angry 
 Nile ; and three men were daily sacrificed to Lucina at 
 Ileliopolis ; instead of Avhich Amasis afterward hu- 
 manely substituted waxen images. 
 
 They not only practised these horrors, but the 
 Phallic rites in all their loathsomeness ; and ingrafted 
 a vulgar and indecent character on the national man- 
 ners. They propagated the abominations of Priapis, 
 and the Bacchanalian and Saturnalian orgies, among 
 tlie Greeks. The priests had so fast bound the people 
 in the strongest bonds — knowledge in their own order, 
 and ignorance in the multitude, — in puerile forms and 
 ceremonies, and the serpent-folds of sensuality, — that 
 they had established themselves in the most absolute 
 manner on their shoulders. Rome and India can alone 
 present similar examples. 
 
 As we have seen in all other countries, so here tliey 
 were the lordly caste. The nation, say the authorities 
 1 have above quoted, is divided into three castes — 
 priests, nobles, and people : the latter of whom are 
 confined to mechanic or rural employments, utterly 
 excluded from knowledge, advancement, and power. 
 As in India to tliis day, the son must succeed his la- 
 ther in his trade. "I know not," says Herodotus, 
 " whether the Greeks have borrowed this custom from 
 them, but I have seen the same thing in various parts 
 of Thrace, Scythia, Persia, and Lydia. It seems, in- 
 deed, to be an established prejudice among nations, 
 even the least refined, to consider mechanics andtJieir 
 
IN ALL AGES. 57 
 
 descendants as the lowest sort of citizens, and to es- 
 teem those most noble who are of no profession. Th<3 
 soldiers and the priests are the only ranks in Egypt 
 which are honom'ably distinguished ; these, each of 
 them, receive from the public a portion of land of 
 twelve acres, free from all taxes ; besides this, the 
 jnilitary enjoy, in their turn, other advantages ; one 
 thousand are every year, in turn, on the king's guard, 
 and receive, besides their land, a daily allowance of 
 tlve pounds of bread, two of beef, and four austeres of 
 wine." 
 
 Plato, Plutarch, and Diodorus agree with him in 
 this particular. A prince, say they, cannot reign in 
 Egypt if he be ignorant of sacred afiairs. The king- 
 must be either of the race of priests or soldiers ; these 
 two classes being distinguished, the one by their wis- 
 dom, the other by their valour. When they have 
 chosen a warrior for king, he is immediately admitted 
 into the order of priests, who instruct him in their 
 mysterious philosophy. The priests may censure the 
 king ; give him advice ; and regulate his actions. By 
 them is fixed the time v/hen he shall walk, bathe, or 
 even visit his wife. The sacred ministers possess, in 
 return, many and great advantages. They are not 
 o])liged to consume any part of their domestic property; 
 each has a portion of sacred viands, ready dressed, 
 assigned him, besides a large daily allowance of beef, 
 and geese, and wine. 
 
 What a striking illustration is this of what we find 
 ill Genesis, chap, xlvii. 22, of the doings of Joseph, 
 iirst of gathering up the corn from all the land of 
 Egypt, and then selling it out, in the horrors of fam- 
 ine, to tlie people for their possessions, whereby the 
 whole kingdom became the purchased property of 
 Pharaoh, except that of the priests — " only the land 
 of the priests bought he not, for the priests had a por- 
 tion assigned them of Pharaoh." 
 
 The priests, indeed, were too powerful for Josepli, 
 or even for Pharaoh himself. Diirius wished only to 
 l)lacc a statue of himself in a temple ; the priests 
 C3 
 
58 rRIESTCRAFt 
 
 violently resisted it, and Darius was obliged to sub- 
 mit. Herodotus tells us that the priests showed him 
 the images of their predecessors for three hundred and 
 forty-one descents : and M. Larcher even supposes 
 that these priests were, for many ages, tlie sole princes 
 of this strange country ; a most triumphant reign of 
 priestcraft indeed ! 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 Popular Theology of the Greeks— Occult Theolog>'— Effect of the 
 Poetry of Homer on his ConntrvTiien— His noble Maxims— Priest- 
 craft compelled to adopt a nice policy by the free spirit of the 
 Greeks ; yet bloody and licentious Rites introduced, and the 
 People eflectually enslaved by means of Festivals, Gomes, Sacri- 
 tices. Oracles, Augury, and Mysteries — The immense mfluence of 
 Oracles — Description of the .Mysteries — Etryptjan darkness re- 
 specting them— Taliesin's allusions to them— Priestly Avarice. 
 
 The popular theology of this noble and celebrated 
 nation, as it existed during its most enlightened ages, 
 has been made familiar to every mind by its literature 
 being taught in all schools, and furnishing perpetual 
 allusions and embellishments to all writers. Hero- 
 dotus savs that Hesiod and Homer invented the theo- 
 gony of Greece ; that iy, they, no doubt, methodized the 
 confused traditions of their ancestors, and organized 
 them into that very beautiful system, which Ave still 
 admire when it has become the most I'abulous oi' fables, 
 more than the kindred creations of all other people. 
 'I'hough it had the same origin as all other mytholo- 
 gies, yet passing through the glorious minds of these 
 poets, it assumed all those characters of grace and 
 beauty which they conferred on their literature, their 
 philosophy, and on all the arts and embellishments 
 of life. Familiar as Homer has made us all with that 
 
IN ALL AGES. 59 
 
 hierarchy of gods which figure so conspiciioiisly in 
 his writings, M^e are continually furnished by him with 
 glimpses of a more ancient dynasty, and with theories 
 of their origin, which clash with his more general 
 one, and at lirst puzzle and confound us. When wa 
 come, however, to trace up these casual revealino-g, 
 we soon find ourselves in a new world. These gods 
 which he at first taught us were all the oflspring of 
 Saturn, and of his three sons Jupiter, Neptune, and 
 Pluto, we discover, to our astonishment, are the gods 
 of all other nations, — gods assuming all the character 
 of the highest antiquity, and deriving their being in a 
 manner totally at variance with the more modern sys- 
 tem. His Hercules, Bacchus, Apollo, Ceres, Venus, 
 &c., instead of being the comparatively recent chil- 
 dren of Jove, are found to blend and become synony- 
 mous with him or the great Mother. Surprised at 
 this strange discovery, we pursue the inquiry, and are 
 led into those very regions where we have lately 
 been — into Central Asia, and to the period of the Flood. 
 The tombs of the gods were existing in Greece ; they 
 were, therefore, but deified men, — and whence came 
 these men? From the Flood. Traditions of floods 
 were the most familiar of things in Greece ; and they 
 agreed, both that of Deucalion and others, with all the 
 particulars of the real one. Herodotus tells us that 
 the Egyptians, into whose religion he was initiated, 
 invented the names of the twelve great gods ; but we 
 have already seen 'whence the Egyptians drew their 
 deities. Plutarch contends that they came from Phs- 
 nicia. And who were the gods of the Phenicians ? 
 Ilus, or Ark-Ilus, or Hercules, i. e. Noah ; and Dagon ; 
 the old man, On, or Oannes, who, according to Sanco- 
 niatho, came out of the sea, and taught them to plant 
 corn and the vine. Others say, that the gods came 
 into Greece from Samothrace, with the Pelasgi, an 
 ancient wandering people, who bore in the ark with 
 them the Cabiri, or mighty ones. These Cabiri have 
 been the subject of much contention ; but all writers 
 admit that they were three, or eight, that is, the three 
 sons of Noah, or the eight people of the ark. It is 
 
60 PRlF.STCRArT 
 
 most likely that from all tliose sourcos portions of the 
 same great system of corrupted worship were derived. 
 So conspicuous is the real oriiriii of all the Grecian 
 traditions that I shall not dwell upon it. It is enough 
 to state that they celebrated tlic salne mysteries, prac- 
 tised the same human sacrilices, were contamin;ited 
 Avith the same Phallic abominations, as all the otiier 
 nations of paganism ; in fact, all the characters of the 
 great Noachic superstitions were ingrafted upon them. 
 The bold and free genius of the nation., — that splendid 
 and extraordinary emanation of intellect, which not 
 only made it the wonder of the ancient world, but has 
 constituted it the well-spring of knowledge to all ages, 
 and almost the creator of the universal modern mind, — 
 saved it from the utmost horrors and degTadatious of 
 priestcraft. The national spirit operating in the soul 
 of Homer, again through him operated v/ith tenfold 
 ibrce on the minds of his countrymen. In all other 
 countries the priests were the monopolists of know- 
 ledge. "Immured," says Maurice, in his Indian An- 
 tiquities, "in the errors of polytheism, as was the 
 great body of the Egyptian nation, it has been incon- 
 testably proved by the immortal Cudworth, that the 
 hierophant or arch-priest, in the secret rites of their 
 religion,^ taught the doctrine of the unity of the God- 
 head ; but this noble sentiment, though they had the 
 magnanimity to conceive, they wanted the gcnerositv 
 to impart to the deluded populace ; for it was thought 
 dangerous both to the church and state to shake tlie 
 I'oundations of the reigning superstitions." This, if I 
 have not already shown, it would be easy to show, 
 was the practice the world over ; but this knowledge 
 lalling on the mind of Homer, he disdained to make it 
 an instrument of slavery, but poured it abroad like 
 light through the earth ; and his countrymen, listening 
 to his glorious poems with enthusiasm, became imbued 
 with the same dauntless, untameable spirit, ;'like intol- 
 erant of the despotism of tlu' throne or the altar. Many 
 of his more timid compatriots, iiuleed, were terrified 
 at the fre«Hloin of his treatment of the gods. Every- 
 whtry we perceive that ho regarded them but us con- 
 
IN ALL ACES. 01 
 
 venient poetical machinery. Ever and anon we find 
 him rising into such sublime notions of Deity and the 
 Divine government, that we feel that he possessed that 
 true knowledge of the Creator which Socrates and 
 Plato, and Cicero, in Rome, afterward displayed. 80 
 strikingly, indeed, does he evince this, that many have 
 thought that in his wanderings he had come in con- 
 tact with the Hebrew doctrines. I doubt this. I 
 believe, rather, it came to him from the earliest ages, 
 by other sources; but his description of the gods ex- 
 erting their power is almost worthy of Isaiah : — 
 
 Mars shouts to Siniois from his beauteous hill ; 
 The mountain shook, the rapid stream stood still. 
 Above, the sire of gods his thunder rolls. 
 And peals on peals redoubled rend the poles. 
 Beneath, stern Neptune sliakes the solid ground ; 
 The forests wave, the mountains nod around : 
 Tlirough all their summits tremble kla's woods, 
 And from their sources boil her hundred floods. 
 Troy's turrets totter on the roclving plai;i. 
 And the tossed navies beat the heaving main. 
 
 Pope's Translation,) B. ii. 
 
 The sentiments that aljound in the Odyssey are 
 worthy, not merely of a Hebrew, but of a Christian ; 
 as this fine and just opinion of slavery : — 
 
 Jove fixed it certain, that whatever day 
 
 Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away. — B. xviii. 
 
 This noble description of the power of conscience : — 
 
 Pirates and conquerors of hardened mind, 
 The foes of peace, and scourges of mankind, 
 To whom oftending men are made a prey. 
 When Jove m vengeance gives a land away ; 
 Even these, when of their lU-got spoils 
 Find sure tormentors in the gxiilty breast 
 Some voice of God, close whispering within— 
 " Wretch ! this is villany ; and this is sin !" 
 
 And those many declarations of God's guardianship 
 of the poor and the stranger : — 
 
 'Tis Jove unfolds our hospitable door ; 
 
 'Tis Jove that sends the stranger and the poor. — B. xiv. 
 
 Let first the herald due libations pay 
 
 To Jove, who glides the wanderer on his way.^B, vii^ 
 
62 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 By Jove the stranger and the poor are sent, 
 And what to them we give, to Jove is lent. 
 
 Low at thy knee, thy succour we implore ; 
 
 Respect us human, and relieve us poor ; 
 
 At least some hospitable gifts bestow, 
 
 'Tis what the happy to the unhappy owe. 
 
 'Tis what the gods require : — those gods revere, — 
 
 The poor and stranger are their constant care. 
 
 To Jove their cause, and their revenge belongs — 
 
 He wanders with them, and he feels their wrongs.— B. ix. 
 
 From Homer's mind truth glanced abroad witli a 
 divine and dreadless honesty ; unlike that of poor 
 Herodotus, who at the utterance of a bolder sentiment 
 hopes he has not given ofience to gods or men. 
 
 We see in his writings not only continual indica- 
 tions of great moral truths, but the same integrity 
 evinced in sketching the manners of the early ages of 
 his country. We see his favourite hero dragging his 
 noble foe at his chariot, and immolating men at the 
 funeral of his friend. What Greece would have been 
 in the hands of priests, but for its own elastic spirit, 
 and for the miglity influence of its poets and sages, 
 we have seen pictured in other nations ; what it was, 
 we have now to see. Priestcraft here did not rule 
 with the same unmasked mien, and mircstrained hand, 
 as in other countries ; it adapted its policy to the 
 spirit of the people. It gratified their curiosity after 
 philosophic knoAvledge, and after the future, by mys- 
 teries and oracles ; their love of grace and festivity, 
 by beautifid processions and joyous festivals ; it cap- 
 tivated and awed their sensitive imaginations, by call- 
 ing to its aid the fine arts, as the papal church did 
 afterward by its adherents, — erecting the most mag- 
 nificent temples, and setting before their eyes those 
 miracles of paintings now lost, except in the eulo- 
 giums of antiquity ; and of scidpture, some of which 
 remain to command the admiration, if not the Avorship, 
 of the world. By these means they attained their 
 end, — immense; wealth and influence, — an influence, 
 the strength of which, on the common mind, may be 
 estimated by facts about to be given, but perhaps more 
 
IN ALL AGES. 63 
 
 by the circumstance of Socrates, the most sagacious 
 of tlieir philosophers, at the hour of his death, and 
 when he was delivering the most sublime sentiments, 
 enjoining his friends to sacrifice on his behalf a cock 
 to .^Esculapius. 
 
 Let us now briefly run over the great features of 
 priestcraft in Greece ; and first, of human sacrifices. 
 Archbishop Potter, in his Antiquities of Greece, chap. ' 
 IV., says, " Neither was it lawful to sacrifice oxen 
 only, but also men. Examples of this sort of inhu- 
 manity were very common in most of the barbarous 
 nations. Among the primitive Grecians it was ac- 
 counted an act of so uncommon cruelty and impiety, 
 that Lycaon, king of Arcadia, was feigned by the 
 poets to have been turned into a wolf, because he 
 offered a human sacrifice to Jupiter. In latter days it 
 was undoubtedly more common and familiar. Aristo- 
 menes, the Messinian, sacrificed three hundred men ; 
 among whom was Theopompus, one of the kings of 
 Sparta, to Jupiter of Ithome. Themistocles, in order 
 to procure the assistance of the gods against the Per- 
 sians, sacrificed some captives of that nation, as we 
 find in Plutarch. Bacchus had an altar in Arcadia, 
 upon which young damsels were beaten to death with 
 bundles of rods ; something like to which was prac- 
 tised by the Lacedaemonians, who scourged the chil- 
 dren, sometimes to deatli, in honour of Diana Orthia. 
 To the manes and infernal gods such sacrifices were 
 very often oflfered. Hence we read of Polyxena's 
 bemg sacrificed to Achilles ; and Homer relates how 
 that hero butchered twelve Trojan captives at the funeral 
 of Patroclus. iEneas, whom Virgil celebrates for his 
 piety, is an example of the same practice : — 
 
 Sulmone creates • 
 
 QuaUior hie juvenes, totidem, quos educat Ufens, 
 Viventes rapit ; inferias quos immolet uuibris, 
 Captivoque rogi perfuudat sanguine Jiammas. — Lib. x. 
 
 "Whoever desires to see more instances of humau 
 
64 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 sacrifices may consult Clemens of Aiexandria, Eu.se- 
 bius, and other ( •hristian apologists." 
 
 To this wo may add the well-known sacritice of 
 Iphygenia, by tlie assembled Grecian powers on their 
 way to Troy ; the sacrifice of two chihlren by Mene- 
 laus, related by Herodotus ; and, wliat Plutarch says, 
 that the Greeks sacrificed many children annually to 
 Saturn ; so that we see this famous people was suffi- 
 ciently infected by this bloody superstition. 
 
 Of their PhalUc rites we shall, for decency's sake, 
 refer to their own writers, whose descriptions of the 
 Bacchic and Priapic orgies are astonishing. 
 
 For their religious festivals and processions, we 
 refer to Potter ; and shall only say that in these, every 
 charm of grace, every intoxication of festivity was 
 exhausted, to fascinate a people so alive to such influ- 
 ences ; and they were made to contribute abundantly 
 to the coflers of the priests. 
 
 Another potential source of power and wealth was 
 auguiy. Augurs were a class of men frequently 
 priests, but always bearing much the same relation to 
 the pagan priesthood that the monks did to those of 
 the papal hierarchy. They were b\it varieties of the 
 same class of animals of prey. They pretended to 
 discern and declare the will of the gods, by the flight 
 of birds, by the intestines of animals, and by various 
 other signs. But it w^is through the medium of the 
 oracles that priestcraft awed, and practised on, the 
 public mind most efl'ectually. These were situated 
 in solemn temples, or fearful, sacred groves ; were 
 surrounded by every thing which could terrify and 
 confound the imagination ; and, accompanied by dread 
 and mysterious sounds, and by the cries and contor- 
 tions of the priest or priestess, Avere supposed to pro- 
 claim the dicta of the gods. They were, conse- 
 quently, a mine of wcaltli and power to the priests. 
 "(M' all sorts of divination," says Potter, "oracles 
 had always the greatest repute, as being thought to 
 proceed in an immediate manner from the gods ; 
 Avhereas others were delivered by men, and had a 
 
IN ALL AGES. 65 
 
 greater dependence on them, who mij^ht, either out 
 of ignorance, mistake, or out of fear, hope, or other 
 unlawful and base ends, conceal or betray the truth ; 
 whereas they thought the gods, who were neither 
 obnoxious to the anger, nor stood in need of the 
 rewards, nor cared for the promises of mortal, could 
 not be prevailed upon to do either of them. Upon 
 this account, oracles obtained so great credit and 
 esteem, that, in all doubts and disputes, their deter- 
 minations were held sacred and inviolable. Whence, 
 as Strabo reports, vast niunbers flocked to them to 
 be resolved in all manner of doubts, and to ask 
 counsel about the management of their affairs ; inso- 
 much that no business of great consequence was 
 undertaken, — scarce any war w^aged, peace concluded, 
 new form of government instituted, or new laws 
 enacted, without the advice and approbation of an 
 oracle. Crcesus, before he durst venture to declare 
 war against the Persians, consulted not only all the 
 most famous oracles of Greece, but sent ambassadors 
 to Libya, to ask advice of Jupiter Ammon. Minos, 
 the Cretan lawgiver, conversed with Jupiter, and 
 received instructions from him, how he might new- 
 model his government. Lycurgus also made visits to 
 the Delphian Apollo, and received from him that 
 platform which he afterward communicated to the 
 Lacedaemonians. Nor does it matter whether these 
 thino-s were true or not, when lawgivers, and men of 
 the greatest authority, were forced to make use of 
 these methods to win them into compliance. My 
 author also goes higher, and tells us that inspired 
 persons were thought worthy of the greatest honour 
 and trusts : insomuch, that we sometimes find them 
 advanced to the throne, and invested with the royal 
 power: for that, being admitted to the councils of 
 the o-ods, they were best able to provide for the wel- 
 fare of men. 
 
 "This representation stood the priests, who had 
 their dependence on the oracle, in no small stead ; 
 lor finding their credit thus thoroughly established, 
 
66 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 they allowed no man to consult their gods before he 
 had offered costly sacrifices, and made rich presents 
 to them. Wlicrehy it came to pass that few besides 
 great and wealthy men were admitted to ask their 
 advice ; the rest being unable to pay the charges re- 
 (|uired on that account, which contributed very much 
 to raise the esteem of oracles among the common peo- 
 ple ; men being generally apt to admire the things 
 they are kept at some distance from, and, on the other 
 hand, to contemn what they are familiarly acquainted 
 with. Wherefore, to keep up their esteem with the 
 better sort, even they were only admitted on a few 
 stated days; at other times, neither the greatest 
 prince could purchase, nor persons of the greatest 
 quality any way obtain, an answer. Alexander him- 
 self was peremptorily denied by the Pythia, till she 
 was by downright force compelled to ascend the tri- 
 pos, when, finding herself unable to resist any longer, 
 she cried out, 'Thou art invincible!' which words 
 were thought a very lucky omen, and accepted instead 
 of a further oracle." 
 
 Thus we see how artfully and triumphantly the 
 priests had managed to enslave this great and most 
 intelligent of people, holding them in abject and utter 
 tliraldom even while they imagined themselves free. 
 To the priests they were obliged to come for their 
 original civil constitutions, and these they took care 
 so to frame as to make themselves necessary in every 
 act and hour of existence, as they have done through 
 the universal world. Our author miglit have told us, 
 liowever, what tricks statesmen were suficred to play 
 with the oracles when it suited them so to do ; he 
 might have added what prodigies and portents The- 
 mistocles caused to appear in these oracular temples, 
 when he wished to rouse the Greeks against Persia. 
 The arms of the temple at Delphi were shifted from 
 the interior to the front of the fane in the night, as 
 if done by divine hands ; they Avcre heard to clasli 
 as if by invisible power ; rocks fell, and tlumdered 
 tlown in the faces of the enemy as they approached 
 
IlSr ALL AGES'. 67 
 
 these sacred defiles, and friends and foes were im- 
 pressed with an idea that the gods were present to 
 defend their sanctuaries. 
 
 Their sacred festivals, games, and celebration of 
 mysteries were almost innumerable ; some occurring 
 yearly, others monthly, so that they were seldom 
 without something of the kind to occupy their atten- 
 tion, and bind them to the national religion. 
 
 These have occupied much of the curiosity of the 
 learned ; and their researches have shown incontest- 
 ably, that the mysteries celebrated in all ages and 
 nations were substantially the same. Whether they 
 were celebrated in Egypt in honour of Isis and 
 Osiris ; in Syria of Baal ; in Phrygia, in Crete, in 
 Phenicia, in Lemnos, in Samothrace, in Cyprus, in 
 India, or the British Isles ; or in the Mythratic caves 
 of Persia ; they had all the same object, and were 
 attended by the same ceremonies. In Greece there 
 might be differing particulars in the orgies of Bac- 
 chus, Ceres, Jupiter, Pan, Silenus, Rhea, Venus, or 
 Diana, yet their leading traits v/ere the same. Their 
 objects have been stated variously ; but they appear, 
 in fact, to have been various, yet all subservient to 
 one great object, — which was, to teach the primal 
 unity of the Deity, notwithstanding the popular mul-- 
 titude of gods, and to shadow out the grand doctrine 
 of the fall and repm-ification of the human soul. They 
 appear evidently derived from the flood ; representing 
 a descent into the darkness of that death which Noah's 
 entrance into the ark indicated to the world, and his 
 subsequent return to life. In all, there was a person' 
 lost, and sought after vv^ith lamentation ; whether Isis 
 was seeking Osiris, Ceres seeking Proserpine ; or 
 Thammuz, Bacchus, Pan, Jupiter, or some other was 
 .lamented with tears, and sought through terrors, and 
 afterward rejoiced in as found. In all, the aspirants 
 descended to darkness as of death, passed over a 
 water in an ark or boat, and came into Elysium. The 
 accounts in Homer and Virgil of the descent of Hcr- 
 plijes, Ul^ssesj and i^neas into hell aro considered 
 
58 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 to be but details of what is represented in the myste- 
 ries In Avhatever mode they were celebrated, we 
 invariublv lind a certain door or gate, viewed as ot 
 primary importance. Sometimes it was the door ot 
 the temple ; sometimes the door of the consecrated 
 arotto ; sometimes it was the hatchway ot the boat 
 within which the aspirant was enclosed ; sometimes 
 a hole, either natural or urtiticial, between rocks ; 
 and sometimes a gate in the sun, moon, or planets. 
 Through this the initiated were born again ; antirom 
 this the profane were excluded. The notion evidently 
 originated from the door in the side of the ark through 
 Avhich the primary cpopts were admitted, while the 
 profane antediluvians were shut out. So sacred and 
 secret were these mysteries in all countries, that 
 whoever revealed anv portion of them was instantly 
 put to death. The scrupulosity of the Romans with 
 regard to the orgies of the Bona Dea, at which Avomen 
 only were admitted, is familiar to every reader ot 
 Cicero, by his harangue agamst Clodius, who violated 
 this custom. Those who consuhed the oracle oi 
 Trophonius had to pass through darkness, and descend 
 by a ladder into the cave, with offerings of cakes ol 
 honey ; and drank of the waters of oblivion to iorget 
 all past cares, and of the waters of remembrance, to 
 recollect what they were about to see. 
 
 Thev who had 1)een initiated into the mysteries 
 
 were held to be extremely wise, and to be possessed 
 
 of motives to the highest honour and purity ot hie ; 
 
 yet it cannot be denied that they were made, by the 
 
 introduction of the Phallic obscenities, a means as 
 
 much of debauchery as of refining the people. A 
 
 little reflection, says Mr. Maurice, will soon convince 
 
 us, that as persons of either sex were promiscuouslv 
 
 allowed to be initiated, when the original physical 
 
 cause came to be forgotten, what a general dus.sipation 
 
 —what a boundless immorality would be promoted l)y 
 
 so scandalous an exhibition as awaited them. 'Ihe 
 
 season of nocturnal gloom in which tbese mysteries 
 
 were performed, and the inviolable secrecy which 
 
IN ALL AGES, 69 
 
 accompanied the celebration of them, added to the in- 
 viting solitude of the scene, conspired at once to break 
 down all the barriers of restraint, to overturn all the 
 fortitude of manly virtue, and to rend tlie veil of mo- 
 desty from the blushing face of virgin innocence. 
 At length licentious passion trampled upon the most 
 sacred obstacles which law and religion united to 
 raise against it. The bacchanal, frantic with mid- 
 night intemperance, polluted the secret sanctuary, 
 and prostitution sat throned upon the very altars of 
 the gods. 
 
 The effect upon the vulgar multitude cannot be 
 doubted, however different it might be upon the few 
 of higher intellect and higher pursuit. By them the 
 most sublime portions of the ancient mysteries would 
 be awfully felt. Nothing can be conceived more 
 solemn than the rites of initiation into the greater 
 mysteries as described by Apuleius and Dion Chry- 
 sostome, who had both gone through the awful cere- 
 mony, — nothing more tremendous than the scenery 
 exhibited before the eyes of the terrified aspirant. 
 After entering the grand vestibule of the mystic 
 shrine, he was led by the hierophant, amid surround- 
 ing darkness and incumbent horrors, through all 
 those extended aisles, winding avenues, and gloomy 
 adyta, equally belonging to the mystic temples of 
 Egypt, Eleusis, and India. " It was," says Stobseus, 
 as quoted by Warburton, in his Divine Legation of 
 Moses, " a wide and fearful march through night and 
 darkness. Presently the ground began to rock be- 
 neath his feet, the whole temple trembled, and strange 
 and dreadful voices were heard through the midnight 
 silence. To these succeeded other louder and more 
 terrific noises, resembling thimder; while quick and 
 vivid flashes of lightning darted through the cavern, 
 displaying to his view man}^ ghastly sights and hid- 
 eous spectres, emblematical of the various vices, 
 diseases, infirmities, and calamities incident to that 
 state of terrestrial bondage from which his struggling 
 soul was now going to emerge, as well as of the hor-- 
 
70 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 rors and penal torments of the guilty in a future state. 
 The temple of the Cecropian goddess roared from its 
 inmost recesses : the holy torches of Eleusis were 
 waved on high l>y mimic furies ; the snakes of Trip- 
 tolemns hissed a loud deliance, and the howling of the 
 infcTual dogs resounded througli the awful gloom, 
 w^hich resembled the nudignant and imperfect light 
 of the moon when partially obscured by clouds. At 
 this period, all the pageants of vulgar idolatry — all 
 the train of gods, supernal and infernal, passed in 
 awful succession before him ; and a hymn, called the 
 Theology of Idols, recounting the genealogy and 
 functions of each, was sung ; afterward tlie whole 
 fabulous detail was solemnly recanted by the mysta- 
 gogue ; a divine hymn, in honour of Eternal and 
 Immutable Truth, was chanted, and the profounder 
 mysteries conmienced. And now, arrived on the 
 verge of death and initiation, every thing wears a 
 dreadful aspect ; it is all horror, trembling, and aston- 
 ishment. An icy chillness seizes his limbs ; a 
 copious dew% like the damp of real death, bathes his 
 temples ; he staggers, and his senses begin to fail, 
 when the scene is of a sudden changed, and the doors 
 of the interior and splendidly illumined temple are 
 thrown wide open. A miracidous and divine light 
 discloses itself, and shining plains and flowering 
 meadows open on all hands before him. ' Accessi 
 confinium mortis,' says Apuleius, ' et calcato Proser- 
 pin2e limine, per onmia vectus elementa remeavi ; 
 iiocte medio solem candido coruscantem lumine.' 
 Arrived at the bourn of mortality, after having trod 
 the gloomy threshold of Troserpinc, I passed rapidly 
 through all the surrounding elements, and, at deep 
 midnight, beheld the sun shining in meridian splen- 
 dour. The clouds of mental error, and the shades of 
 real darkness being now alike dissipated, both the 
 soul and the body of the initiated experienced a de- 
 lightful vicissitude; and while the latter, purified 
 with lustrations, bounded in a blaze of glory, the lor- 
 mer dissolved in a tide of overwhelming transport. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 71 
 
 At that period of virtuous and triumphant exaltation, 
 according to the divine Plato, they saw celestial 
 beauty in all die dazzling radiance of its perfection ; 
 when, joinrng with the glorified chorus, they were 
 admitted to the beatific vision^ and were initiated into 
 the most blessed of all mysteries." 
 
 'Jlie author of the apocryphal Wisdom of Solo- 
 3I0N has preserved a most curious Jewish tradition, 
 relative to the nature of the Egyptian plague of darli- 
 ness, wnich intimates that the votaries of Osiris were 
 A'isited wirh the very terrors which they employed in 
 his mysteries. The passage is not only strikingly 
 illustrative of waat is gone before, but is extremely 
 sublime : — 
 
 " When unrighteous men thought to oppress the 
 holy nation, they, being shut up in their houses, the 
 prisoners of darkness, and fettered with the bonds of 
 a long night, lay there fugitives from the Eternal 
 Providence. For while they were supposed to lie 
 hid in their secret sins, they were scattered under a 
 dark veil of fors'.ertulness, being horribly astonished, 
 and troubled wilh strange apparitions. For, neither 
 might the corner mat held them keep them from fear, 
 but noises, as of waters falling down, sounded about 
 them, and sad vi'?.ions appeared unto them with heavy 
 countenances. I^Jo power of tlie fire might give them 
 light, neither coulil Uie bright flames of the stars en- 
 dure to lighten that norril)le night. Only there ap- 
 peared unto them a lire kindled of itself, very dread- 
 ful ; for being muc)i terrified, they thought the things 
 they saw to be worse than the sight they saw not. 
 As for the illusions of art magic, they were put down, 
 and their vaunting in wisdom was reproved with dis- 
 grace ; for they who promised to drive away terrors 
 and troubles from a sick soul were sick themselves 
 of fear, worthy to ?je laughed at. For though no ter- 
 rible thing did fear them, yet, being scared with 
 beasts that passed by, and hissing of serpents, they 
 died for fear, refusing to look upon the air, which 
 could on no side be avoided ; they, sleeping the same 
 
72 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 sleep tliat night, wherein they could do nothing, and 
 which came upon them out of the bottoms of inevit- 
 able hell, were partly vexed with monstrous appari- 
 tions, and partly fainted, their heart fading them — 
 for sudden fear, and unlooked-for, came upon them. 
 So, then, M-liosocver fell down was straitly kept, shut 
 U]) in a prison without iron bars. Whether it were a 
 whislUng wind or a melodious noise of birds among 
 tlie spreading branches, or a pleasing fall of water 
 running violently, or a hideous noise of stones cast 
 dovx^i, or a running that could not be seen of skipping 
 beasts, or a roaring voice of most savage wild beasts, 
 or a rebounding echo from the hollow mountains ; 
 these things made them to swoon for fear. For the 
 whole world shined with light, and none were hindered 
 in their labour ; over them only was spread a \w<i\y 
 night, an image of that darkness which should after- 
 ward receive them." 
 
 On this interesting subject it would be easy to follow 
 through the mysteries of all nations, and write a vol- 
 ume ; but after merely stating that the initiatoiy cere- 
 monies of Freemasons, and those of the Yehme Gericht, 
 or secret tribunal, once existing in Germany, seem to 
 derive their origin from this source, I shall merely give 
 a few words of Taliesin, relative to their celebration 
 in Britain, and return to the regular order of my subject. 
 
 Among the apparatus of the art magic which the 
 Druids used in this ancient ceremony of being born 
 again, was a caldron ; and, as in all other mysteries, 
 and in the initiation of a Freemason, men with naked 
 swords stood within the portal to cut down every 
 coward who would fain turn back before he had passed 
 through the ten-ors of inauguration ; the Druids also, 
 it appears, had to sail over the water in this ceremony. 
 
 " Thrice the number," says Taliesin, " that would 
 have filled Prydwen the magic shield of Arthur, in 
 which he saUed with seven champions, we entered 
 upon the deep, — excepting seven, none have returned 
 from Caer Sidi. Am I not contending for the praise 
 of that lore which was four tunes reviewed in the 
 
m ALL AGES. 73 
 
 quadrangular enclosure ? As the first sentence, was 
 it not uttered from the caldron? Is not this the 
 caldron of the ruler of the deep ? With the ridge of 
 pearls around its border, it will not boil the food of a 
 coward who is not bound by his oatli. Against )iim 
 will be lifted the briglit-gleaming sword, and in the 
 liand of the sword-bearer shall he be left ; and before 
 tiio gates of hell shall the horns of light be burning. 
 W^licn we went with Arthur in his splendid labours, 
 excepting seven, none returned from Caer Vediwid. 
 Am I not contending for the honour of a lore which 
 deserves attention ? In the quadrangular enclosure, in 
 the island with the strong door, the twilight and the 
 pitchy darkness were mixed together, while bright 
 wine was the beverage placed before the narrow circle. 
 Thrice the number that would have filled Prydwen wa 
 embarked upon the sea; excepting seven, none re- 
 turned from Caer Rigor. I will not redeem the mul- 
 titudes with the ensign of the governor. Beyond the 
 enclosure of glass they beheld not the prowess of Ar- 
 thur. They knew not on what day the stroke would 
 be given, nor at what hour in the serene day the agi- 
 tated person would be born, or who preserved his going 
 into the dales of the possession of the waters. They 
 knew not the brindled ox with the thick headband. 
 When we went with Arthur of mournful memory, ex- 
 cepting seven, none returned from Caer Vandwy." 
 
 Caer Rigor, Sidi, Vediwid, &c., are but different 
 names for the Druidical enclosure of Stonehenge, or, 
 as they styled it, the Ark of the World. The number 
 seven has evidently reference to the seven persons of 
 the ark ; Noah himself being represented, according 
 to custom, by Arthur. 
 
 In another place Taliesin alludes to the doctrine of 
 the Metempsychosis, which was taught in those mys- 
 teries. " I ^vas first modelled in the form of a pure 
 man, in the hall of Ceridwen the ship goddess, who 
 subjected me to penance. Though small within my 
 ark, and modest in my deportment, I was great. A 
 sanctuary carried me above the surface of the earth. 
 D 
 
74 PRIESTCUAFT 
 
 While I was enclosed within its ribs inc sweet awen 
 rendered me complete ; and my law, without audible 
 language, was imparted to me by the old giantess darkly 
 smiling in her wrath ; but her claim was not regretted 
 when she set sail. 1 fled in the form of a fair grain 
 of pure v.'heat ; upon the edge of a covering cloth she 
 caught me in her fangs. In appearance she was as 
 large as a proud mare, which she also resembled, the 
 Ceres-IIippa of the Greeks, wlio similarly received 
 Bacchus into her womb ; then ^vas she swelling-out, 
 like a ship upon the waters. Into a dark receptacle 
 she cast me. She carried me back into the sea of 
 Dylan. It was an auspicious omen to me when she 
 happily suffocated me ; Gody the Lord, freely set me 
 at large." 
 
 To a timid aspirant, the liierophant says, " Thy 
 coming without external purity is a pledge that I will 
 not receive thee. Take out tlie gloomy one. Out of 
 the receptacle which is thy aversion did I obtain the 
 rainbow." — See Davis's Celtic MytJiology. 
 
 It may seem widely v/andering from Greece to 
 Britain ; but it only shows more strikingly the oneness 
 of the pagan faith. 
 
 The priests, thus providing for the tastes of all parties, 
 wealth, power, and unlimited influence became their 
 own. AH these thino^s were sources of gain ; and 
 whoever would form some idea of the wealth of the 
 Grecian priesthood, let him read in Herodotus of the 
 immense riches conferred on the oracular temples by 
 (Jro3sus and other monarchs. Let him also learn the 
 following particulars from Diodorus Siculus : " The 
 principal hordes of treasure, both in bullion and coined 
 money, were in their temples, which were crowded 
 with presents of immense value, brought by the super- 
 stitious from every part of Greece. These temples 
 were considered as national banks ; and the priests 
 officia'-ed as bankers, — not always, indeed, the most 
 honest, as was once proved at AthiMis, where the state 
 treasurers, having expended or embezzled the public 
 money, had tlie audacity to set fjre to that ])art of the 
 
IN ALL AGEH. 75 
 
 temple of Minerva wliere the treasure was contained ; 
 by which sacrilegious act that magnificent lane was 
 near being wholly consumed. Their purpose, however, 
 was fully answered, since the registers of the temple 
 were reported to have perished with the treasures, and 
 all responsibility precluded." 
 
 The temple just mentioned, the superb fane of Ju- 
 piter Olympius, at Eiis, and that of Apollo at Delphi, 
 were the principal of the three sacred depositories. 
 The priests at all times concealed the total sum of the 
 treasures lodged in them with too much caution for us 
 to know the amount ; yet, when the Phocenses, urged 
 to despair by the exactions of the Thebans, seized on 
 the treasures of Delphi, they amounted to 10,000 tal- 
 ents — above 2,250,000/. sterling — and probably that 
 was but a small portion of what holy perfidy had pre- 
 viously secured. The deposites at the great temple of 
 Ephesus, considered through all ages as inviolable, 
 probably far exceeded those of the three last men- 
 tioned. 
 
 The spirit of avarice, which in all times character- 
 ized the priesthood, and prompted them to such 
 inimense accumulation, is not more detestable than 
 tiangerous ; for, let any one reflect what muct be the 
 consequence to a nation where the monarch and the 
 priest are in coalition, as is usually the case, and the 
 monarch, as is usually the case too, is watching to 
 extinguish every spark of popular freedom : what, I 
 say, must be the consequence ^vhen such overwhelming 
 resources are within his reach ? The fate of Greece 
 is a melancholy warning on the subject. These im- 
 mense treasures were eventually seized upon by rapa- 
 cious conquerors, and their soldiers paid by them to 
 enslave these renowned states ; and thus the coin 
 drained from the people by the hands of priestcraft 
 became in the hands of kingcraft the means of their 
 destruction. So has it been in every country — in an- 
 cient Rome — in Constantinople: and so pre-eminently 
 in India. 
 
 D2 
 
^6 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 India — Priestcraft in its boldest aspect — Doctrines — Sacrifices and 
 licentious Rites — Women of the Temple — Immense Wealth accu- 
 mulated by the Brahmins — Seized by the Arabians — Mahmoud 
 of Gazna — Feast at Canaugha — Adventure at the Temple of Sum- 
 naut — Paternal Slaver>' stamped by the Brahmins on the Hindoos 
 by tlie Institution of Castes — Inviolable sanctity and immunities 
 of the Brahmins — Sooders — Chandelahs — Remarks. 
 
 The ancient and venerable Hindostan furnishes our 
 last and most triumphant demonstration of the nature 
 of i^agan priestcraft. In Greece we have seen that, 
 notwithstanding the daring, restless, and intellectual 
 character of the people, it contrived to obtain a most 
 signal influence ; but in India, with a people of a 
 gentler temperament, and where no bold spirits, like 
 Homer and the philosophers of Greece, had ventured 
 to make the national theology popularly familiar, 
 priestcraft assumed its most fearless and determined 
 air. In all other lands it did not fail to place itself in 
 the first rank of honour and power ; in this it went a 
 step further, — and promulgating a dogma diametrically 
 opposite to the humanizing doctrine of the Bible, that 
 " God made of one blood all the nations of the earth ;'' 
 it riveted its chains indissolubly on the mind of th;it 
 mighty empire. Priestcraft here exhibits a marvellous 
 spectacle. The perfection of its craft, and tlie utter 
 sollishness of its spirit, are proclaimed by the fact of 
 millions on millions bound, from the earliest ages to 
 the present hovn*, in the chains of the most slavish and 
 soid-quelling castes, and in the servility of a religious 
 creed so subtly framed, that it almost makes hopeless 
 the moral regeneration of the swarming myriads of 
 these vast regions. I have already repeatedly stated 
 that it partakes, in connnou Mith the Mhole pagan 
 
IN A£L AGES. 77 
 
 world, in one general mythological system, and I shall 
 not dwell on its features more particularly. In Mau- 
 rice's copious Indian Antiquities, whence I shall chiefly 
 draw what I have to say, may be found ample details 
 of the Hindoo religion. It is well known, from a va- 
 riety of works, that this venerable empire claims \hv. 
 liighest antiquity, not merely of national existence, but 
 of the possession of knowledge in philosophy, litera- 
 ture, and the arts ; it is equally known, too, since Sir 
 William Jones laid open the antique stores of the 
 Sanscrit language, that this religion has all the com- 
 mon features of those mythologies on which I have 
 already dwelt. It has its triad of gods, its doctrine of 
 metempsychosis, its practice of the Phallic licentious- 
 ness, and the horrors of human sacrifice and seli- 
 immolation. Who has not heard of the burning ol" 
 Indian widows — of the bloody and wholesale self- 
 slaughter at the temple of Jaggernath — of the destruc- 
 tion of children, now restrained by British interference 
 — and of the absolute dominance of the Brahmins? I 
 shall pass, therefore, hastily over these matters, and 
 confine myself principally to the task of displaying, in 
 the Brahminical hierarchy, an example of priest- 
 craft in its most decided, undisguised, subtle, and tri- 
 umphant character, — priestcraft, at once in full flower 
 and full fruit ; in that state at w^hich it has always 
 aimed, but never, not even in the bloody reign of the 
 papal church, ever attahied elsewhere,— stamping 
 itself on the heart of a great nation in the broadest and 
 most imperishable style, in all its avowed despotism, 
 icy selfishness, imperturbable pride, and cool arrogance 
 of fanatical power. 
 
 Two gTeat sects exist here, — those of Buddh and 
 Brahma, which preserve an inviolable separation, ex- 
 cept in the temple of Jaggernath, where, seeming to 
 forget all their former prejudices, they unite in the 
 commission of lust and cruelty. 
 
 It is to the Brahminical sect, as the most predomi- 
 nant, that I shall principally confine my remarks. 
 These profess the mildest of doctrines, refuse to kill 
 
■Jfg. PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 any living creature for food, and snl)sist on milk, fruit, 
 and vegetables. Yet, what is at lirst sight most re- 
 markable, and what eannot be accounted for by any 
 other means than that of tlic immutable nature of cor- 
 rupted religion, they not only inflict on themselves, 
 under the character of Yogees, the most horrible aus- 
 terities ; but have for ages encouraged the destruction 
 of female children; do to the present time encouraoe. 
 and under the influence of the most powerful of social 
 causes render almost necessary, the immolation of 
 Avidows ; sanction and stimulate, annually, thousands 
 of simple victims to destroy themselves at the shrine 
 of the monstrous .Taggernath ; and, till recently, sacri- 
 ficed, not only animals, but men. 
 
 Of human sacrifices, the express ordination of the 
 Rudhiradhyaya, or sanguinary chapter of the C'alica 
 Purana, in the fifth volume of the Asiatic Researches, 
 is sufiicient testimony. No precepts can be conceived 
 more express, nor, indeed, more horrible, than those 
 which this tremendous chapter enjoins. 
 
 " By a hiunan sacrifice, attended with the forms 
 here laid down, Deva, the goddess Cali, the black god- 
 dess of destruction, is pleased 1000 years. 
 
 *' By a human sacrifice, Camachya, Chandica, and 
 Bhairava, who assume any shape, are pleased 1000 
 years. An oblation of blood m hich has been rendered 
 })ure by holy texts is equal to ambrosia ; the head and 
 flesh also aflbrd much delight to Chandica. Let, 
 therefore, the learned, when paying adoration to the 
 goddess, ofier blood and the head, and when perform- 
 mg the sacrifice to fire, make oblations of flesh.'' 
 
 Here follow mniierous minute directions, none of 
 which I shall quote, except one, — itself sufficiently 
 horrid. 
 
 "Let the sacrificer say, Hrang, bring! Cali, Cali! 
 O, horrid-toothed goddess ! eat, cut, destroy all tlic 
 malignant ; cut with this axe : bind, bind ; seize, seize ; 
 (hink blood ! spheng, spheng ! secure, secure! saluta- 
 lions to Cali !" 
 
 For the Phallic contamiaations, let this passage 
 
IN ALL AGES. 79 
 
 from Maurice suffice. Abundant matter of the like 
 nature might be added ; but the less said on this sub- 
 ject the better. Of the recent existence of such things, 
 Buchanan's account of tlie temple of Jaggcrnath may 
 satisfy the curious reader. 
 
 " What I shall offer on this head will be taken from 
 two authentic books, written at veiy different periods, 
 and therefore fully decisive as to the general preva- 
 Jence of the institution from age to age, — the Anciennes 
 Relations, and Les Voyages de M. Tavernier, — 
 the former written in the 9th, the latter in the 17th 
 century. 
 
 " Incited, unquestionably, by the hieroglyphic em- 
 blems of vice so conspicuously elevated and strikingly 
 painted in tlie temple of Mahadeo, the priests of that 
 deity industriously selected the most beautiful females 
 that could be found, and in their tenderest years, with 
 great pomp and solemnity, consecrated them, as it is 
 impiously called, to the service of the divinity of the 
 pagoda. They were trained in every art to delude and 
 delight ; and, to the fascination of external beauty, their 
 artful betrayers added the attractions arising from men- 
 tal accomplishments. Thus was an invariable rule of 
 the Hindoos, that women have no concern with literature, 
 dispensed with on this infamous occasion. The moment 
 these hapless creatures reached maturity, they fell vic- 
 tims to the lust of the Brahmins. They vv^ere early taught 
 to practise the most alluring blandishments, to roll the 
 expressive eye of wanton pleasure, and to invite to 
 criminal indulgence by stealing upon the beholder the 
 tender look of voluptuous languishing. They were 
 instructed to moidd their elegant and airy forms into 
 the most enticing attitudes and the most lascivious 
 gestures, while the rapid and most graceful motion of 
 their feet, adorned with golden bells and glittering with 
 jewels, kept unison with the exquisite melody of their 
 voices. Every pagoda has a band of these young 
 syrens, whose business on great festivals is to dance 
 m public before the idol, to sing hymns in his honour, 
 Hnd in private to enrich the treasury of the pagoda by 
 
80 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 the wages of prostitution. These Vv'omeh are not, 
 however, regarded in a dishonourable light ; they are 
 considered as wedded to the idol, and they partake the 
 veneration paid to him. They are forbidden ever 
 to desert the pagoda v/here they are educated, and 
 are never permitted to marry ; but the offspring, 
 if any, of their criminal embraces, are considered 
 sacred to the idol : the boys are taught to play on the 
 sacred instruments used at the festivals ; and the 
 daughters are devoted to the abandoned occupation of 
 their mothers. 
 
 *' The reader has, doubtless, heard and read fre- 
 (juently of the degeneracy and venality of Priests ; 
 and we know from Herodotus Avhat scandalous pros- 
 titutions were suffered in honour of ■Mylitta ; but a 
 system of' corruption, so systematical, so deliberate, 
 and so nefarious, — and that professedly carried on in 
 the name and for the advantage of religion, — stands 
 perhaps unrivalled in the history of the world, and the 
 annals of infamy. It was by degrees that the Eleusi- 
 nian worship arrived at the point of its extreme enor- 
 mity ; and the obscenities, finally prevalent, were 
 equally regretted and disclaimed by the institutors ; 
 but in India we see an avowed plan of shameless seduc- 
 tion and debauchery : the priest himself converted into 
 a base procurer ; and the pagoda itself a public brothel. 
 The Mohammedan traveller, whose journey in India, in 
 the ninth century has been published by M. Ilenaudot, 
 and Irom which account this description is partly taken, 
 concludes the article by a solemn thanksgiving to the 
 Almighty, that he and his nation were delivered from 
 the errors of inlidelity, and were unstained by the 
 enormities of so criminal a devotion." 
 
 In a country so immensely rich, and so obedient to 
 tlie dictations of priestcraft, the avarice of the sacerdo- 
 tal tribe would accumulate enormous treasures. We 
 have recently alluded to the hordes gathered by priestly 
 hands into the temples of Greece. In the temple of 
 Belus in Assyria there were three prodigious statues, 
 not of cast, but of beaten gold, of Jupiter, Juno, and 
 
IN ALL AGES, 81 
 
 Rhea. That of Jupiter was erect, in a walking atti- 
 tude ; forty feet in height ; and weighed a thousand 
 Babylonian talents. The statue of Rhea was of the 
 same weight, but sitting on a throne of gold, with two 
 lioiis standing before her, and two huge serpents in 
 silver, each weighing thirty talents. Juno was erect; 
 weighed eight hundred talents ; her right hand grasped 
 a serpent by the head, and her left a golden sceptre, 
 incrusted with gems. Before these statues stood an 
 altar of beaten gold, forty feet long, fifteen broad, and 
 five hundred talents in weight. On this altar stood two 
 vast flagons, each weighing thirty talents ; two censers 
 for incense, each five hundred talents ; and, finally, 
 three vessels for the consecrated wine, weighing nine 
 hundred talents. 
 
 The statue^ of Nebuchadnezzar, in the plain of 
 Dura, formed,;^ of the gold heaped up by David and 
 Solomon, Dr.- Prideaux calculated at one thousand 
 talents of gold, in value three millions and a half 
 sterling. 
 
 Herodotus tells us, that CroGsus frequently sent to 
 Delphi amazing presents ; and burnt, in one holocaust, 
 beds of gold and silver, ornamented vessels of the 
 same metals, purple robes, silken carpets, and other 
 rich furniture, which he consumed in one pile, to ren- 
 der that oracle propitious ; while the wealthiest citi- 
 zens of Sardis threw into the fire their most costly fur- 
 niture ; so that out of the melted mass, one hundred 
 and seventeen golden tiles were cast ; the least three 
 spans long, the largest six, but all one span in thick- 
 ness ; which were placed in the temple. 
 
 When Cambyses burnt the temple of Thebes in 
 Egypt, there were saved from the flames three hundred 
 talents of gold, and two thousand three hundred talents 
 of silver ; and among the spoils of that temple was a 
 stupendous circle of gold inscribed with the zodiacal 
 ciiaracters, and astronomical figures, which encircled 
 the tomb of Oxymandias. At Memphis he obtained 
 still greater sacred wealth. 
 
 These seem astounding facts ; but before the sacer- 
 D3 
 
82 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 dotal wealth and temphir splendour of India, they 
 shrink into insignificance. The prhicipal use which 
 the Indians seem to have made of the immense (juanti- 
 ties of bullion from ;ige to age imported into their 
 empire, v.as to melt it down into statues of their dei- 
 ties ; if, indeed, by that title we may denominate the 
 personified attitudes of the Almighty, and the elements 
 of nature. Their pagodas were crowned with these 
 golden and silver statues ; tliey thought any inferior 
 metal must degrade the divinity. Every house, too, 
 Avas crowded with statues of their ancestors ; those 
 ancestors that were exalted to the stars for their pieiy 
 or valour. The ver\' altars of the temples were of 
 massy gold ; the incense ilamed in censers of gold, 
 and golden chalices bore their sacred oil, honey, and 
 wi:ic. The temple of Auruna, the day-star, had its 
 lofty walls of porphyry internally covered with broad 
 plates of gold, sculptured in rays, that, diverging every 
 Avay, dazzled the beholder ; Mdiile tlic radiant image 
 of the deity burned in gems of inrmite variety and un- 
 equalled beauty, on the spangled floor. The floor of 
 the great temple of Naiigracut, even so late as in llie 
 time of Mandcsloe, was covered with plates of gold ; 
 and thus the Hindoo, in his devotion, trampled upon 
 the god of half mankind. 
 
 In the processions, also, made in honour of their 
 idols the utmost magniflcence prevailed. They then 
 brought fortli all the v/ealth of the temple ; and every 
 order of people strove to outvie each other in dis- 
 playing their riclies, and adding to the pomp. The 
 elephants marched flrst, richly decorated with gold 
 and silver ornaments, studded with precious stones ; 
 chariots overlaid with those metals, and loaded with 
 them in ingots, advanced next ; then followed the sa- 
 cred steers, coupled together with yokes of gold, and 
 a train of the noblest and most beautiful beasts of the 
 forest, by nature flerce and sanguinary, but rendered 
 mild and tractable by die skill of man ; an immense 
 multitude of priests carrying vessels, plates, dishes, 
 and other utensils, of gold, adorned with (hamonds, 
 
IN ALL AGES. 83 
 
 rubies, and sapphires, for tlie suniptiioiis feast of 
 which the gods were to partake, brought up the roar. 
 During all this time, the air was rent with the sound 
 of various instruments, martial and ft^stive ; and the 
 dancing girls displayed in their sumptuous apparel 
 tlic wealtli of whole provinces, exhausted to decorate 
 beauty davoted to religion. 
 
 Tiie Arabians burst upon India like a torrent ; — 
 their merciless grasp seized the whole prey ! The 
 Avcstern provinces first felt their fury. The Rajah of 
 Laliore, when taken, had aljout his neck sixteen 
 strings of jewels ; each of which was valued at u 
 hundred and eighty thousand rupees : and the whole 
 at three hundred and twenty thousand pounds sterling. 
 A sum, hov.-ever, comparatively trifling, when com- 
 pared Vvitli that of which the Sullan of Gazna after- 
 ward became master in his irruption into that province ; 
 and which Mirkhond states at seven millions of coin 
 in gold, seven hundred maunds of gold in ingots, to- 
 gether with an inestimable quantity of pearls and pre- 
 cious stones. The maund is a Persian weight never 
 estimated at less than forty pounds. 
 
 Let us attend this valiant marauder on another or 
 two of his plundering expeditions into Hindcstan. ki 
 the holy fane of Kreeshna, at ISfetlmra, he found five 
 great idols of pure gold, v, itli eyes of rubies, of im- 
 mense value. Ke found also three Imndred idols of 
 silver, which, being melted down, loaded as many 
 camels v/ith bullion ; the usual load of a camel being 
 jrom seven hundred to one thousand two hundred 
 pounds v/eight. At the great temple of Sumnaut, he 
 found many thousands of gold and silver idols oi" 
 smaller magnitude ; a chain of gold, Vt^hicli was sus- 
 pended from the roof, and vreighed Ibrty maunds ; 
 besides an inestimable horde of jewels of the first 
 water. This prince, a day or two before his death, 
 ordered his whole treasury to be placed before him ; 
 and having for some time, from his throne, feasted his 
 eyes on the innumerable sacks of gold, and caskets 
 of preciott8 stones, burst into tears — perhaps from the 
 
84 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 recollection of the bloodshed and atrocities by which 
 they had been accumulated — but more probably Jrom 
 the feeling of the vanity of all human cupidity and 
 power, — a dismal conviction that they could not save 
 him, but that they must pass to other hands, and he to 
 ilie doom of eternity. 
 
 Immense quantities of the beautiful coins of Greece 
 and Rome are supposed to have passed to India in the 
 great trade of the ancients with it, for spices, silks, 
 gems, and other precious articles, and to have been 
 melted down in the crucible, without the least regard 
 to the grandeur of their design, the majesty of the 
 characters impressed, or the beauty of their execu- 
 tion, and went to swell the magnificence of the pago- 
 das. We are well assured, that all the great pagodas 
 of India had complete sets, amounting to an immense 
 number, of the avatars and deities, which were deemed 
 degraded if they were of baser metal than silver and 
 gold ; except in those instances where their religion 
 required their idol to be of stone, as Jaggernath ; 
 which had, however, the richest jewels of Golconda 
 for eyes ; and Vishnu, in the great basin of Catmandu, 
 in Nepaul. Such was the wealth gathered by the 
 Tartars in this wonderful country, that Mahmoud of 
 Gazna made feasts that lasted a month ; and the offi- 
 cers of his army rode on saddles of gold, glittering 
 with precious stones ; and his descendant, Timur, 
 made a feast on a delightful plain, called Canaugha, 
 or the treasury of roses, at which was exhibited such 
 a display of gold and jewels, that in comparison the 
 riches of Xerxes and Darius were trifling. The trea- 
 sures which Timur took in Delhi were most enor- 
 mous : — precious stones, pearls, rubies, and diamonds, 
 thousands of which were torn from the ears and necks 
 of the native women ; and gold and gems from their 
 arms, ankles, and dress : gold and silver vessels, money, 
 and bullion were caiTied away in such profusion by 
 the army that the common soldiers absolutely refused 
 to encumber themselves with more ; and an abundant 
 harvest of plunder was left to future invaders. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 85 
 
 Mahmoiid of Gazna, hearing astonishing accounts 
 of the riches of the great pagoda of Siimnaut, whose 
 roof was covered Avith plates of gold, and encircled 
 with rubies^ emeralds, and other precious stones, be- 
 sieged the place, and took it. On entering the tem- 
 ple, he was struck with astonishment at the inestima- 
 ble riches it contained. In the fury of his Mohamme- 
 dan zeal against idols, he smote off the nose of the great 
 image. A crowd of Brahmins, frantic at his treatment 
 of their god, offered the most extravagant sums for his 
 desistance ; but the soldiers of Mahmoud only proceeded 
 with greater ardour to demolish it, when behold ! 
 on breaking its body, it was found to be hollow and to 
 contain an infinite variety of diamonds, rubies, and 
 pearls of a water so pure, and a magnitude so uncom- 
 mon, that the beholders were overwhelmed with as- 
 tonishment. But the riches accumulated by the priests 
 of t]iis afHuent region were so immense, that they ex- 
 ceed the pov/erof the imagination to grasp them ; and 
 I shall leave the subject with what Mr. Orme, in his 
 History of Hindostan, tells us : — that the Brahmins 
 slumbered in the most luxurious repose in these splen- 
 did pagodas ; and that the numbers accommodated in 
 the body of the great ones was astonishing. He ac- 
 quaints us that pilgrims came from all parts of the 
 peninsula to worship at that of Seringham, but none 
 without an ofTering of money ; that a large part of the 
 revenue of the island is allotted for the maintenance 
 of the Brahmins who inhabit it ; and that these, with 
 their families, formerly composed a multitude, not less 
 in number than forty thousand souls, supported with- 
 out labour, by the liberality of superstition. 
 
 So much for the ease and affluence of the Brali- 
 minical life ; now for a glance at that system which 
 they had rendered so prolific of good things, — 
 a system the most awful that ever proceeded from 
 the genius of priestcraft, fertile in cimning and profit- 
 able schemes. I have already shown that in all 
 nations the priests placed themselves at the head, and 
 
•B6 priestcraft 
 
 even controlled the king, as they often chose him. 
 But in India, the Brahmins went, as I have remarked, 
 still further. Here, in order to rivet for ever their 
 chains on the people, they did not merely represent 
 themselves as a noble and inviolable race, but they 
 divided the whole comnmnity into four castes. They 
 Avrote a l)ook, and entitled it, " The Institutes of 
 Menu," the son of Brahma. This book contained the 
 whole code of their religious laws, which, as proceed- 
 ing from the divinity, were to last for all time, — be for 
 ever and indissolubly binding on every Hindoo ; and 
 not to be violated in the smallest degree, except on 
 pain of forfeiting all civil privileges and enjoyments, 
 of life itself, and of incurring the tonnents of hell. 
 These castes were to preserve for ever their respective 
 stations. Those born in one were not only not to 
 pass into another, but every man was bomid to follow 
 the profession of his father. Whatever might be the 
 difierencc of genius, it must be crushed ; whatever 
 desire to amend the condition of life, it must be extin- 
 guished ; all variety of mind, all variations of physi- 
 cal constitution, all unlitncss for one trade, station, or 
 pursuit, went for nothing : to this most infernal of 
 priestly impositions, man, with all his hopes and de- 
 sires, his bodily weaknesses, his mental aspirations, 
 or repugnances, must succumb, and be lulled, or 
 rather cramped, into an everlasting stupor, that the privi- 
 leged Brahmin might tax him and terrify him, and 
 live upon his labours, in the boundless enjoyment of 
 his own pride, and insolence, and lust. " By this ar- 
 rangement," says Mr. Maurice, " it should be remem- 
 bered, the happiness and security of a vast empire 
 was preserved through a long series of ages under 
 their early sovereigns ; by curbing the fiery spirits of 
 ambitious individuals, intestine feuds were, in a great 
 measure, prevented ; the wants of an immense popu- 
 lation were amply provided for by the industry of 
 the labouring classes ; and the several branches of 
 trade and manufacture were carried to the utmost de- 
 gree of attainable perfection." A singidar kind of 
 
IN ALL AGES. S7 
 
 Iiappiness, and one which none but a priest could 
 have a conception of. To plunge a gTeat nation into 
 the everlasting sleep and sluggishness of ecclesiasti- 
 cal despotism is to secure its happiness ! — the hap- 
 piness of beasts maintained for the value of their 
 labour, and fattened for the butcher ; a happiness 
 which, in the very sentence preceding, the writer 
 terms " a barbarous attempt to chain down the powers 
 of the human soul, to check the ardour of emulation, 
 and damp the lire of genius." 
 
 To establish this system the Brahmins resorted to 
 the daring fraud of representing Menu — supposed to 
 be Noah — as not " making all men of the same blood," 
 but as producing four dilierent tribes of men. The 
 first, the Brahmins, from his mouth ; the second, the 
 Kettri, or Rajahs, from his arm ; the third, the Bice, or 
 merchants, from his thigh ; and the fourth, the Sooder, 
 or labouring tribe, from his foot ! Thus this doctrine, 
 once received as true, an everlasting and impassable 
 bar was placed between each tribe — divine authority. 
 That it should not be endangered, the land of India 
 was declared holy ; and the Hindoos were forbidden, 
 by all the terrors of temporal and eternal penalties, to 
 go out of it. The Brahmins, having thus, in the early- 
 ages of superstitious ignorance, taken this strong 
 ground, proceeded to fortify it still further. The Rajahs, 
 or provincial rulers, were all chosen from their own, 
 or the war-tribe ; and the Marajah, or supreme king, 
 was always chosen by them, often from themselves, 
 and was entirely in their hands. By them he was 
 educated, and moulded to their wishes ; they were ap- 
 pointed, by these divine institutes, his guardians, and 
 perpetual, inalienable counsellors. 
 
 Having thus firmly seized and secured the whole 
 political power, they had only to nile and enrich them- 
 selves out of a nation of slaves, at their pleasure ; pay- 
 ing them with promises of future happiness, or terrify- 
 ing them by threats of future vengeance into perfect 
 passiveness; and so completely had this succeeded 
 that for thousands of years their system has continued ; 
 
88 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 and it is the opinion of Sir AVilliani Jones, tliat so 
 ingeniously is it woven into the souls of the Hindoos, 
 that they will be the very last people converted to 
 Christianity. For what, indeed, can be done with a 
 nation who, from time immemorial, have been accus- 
 tomed to regard their priests as beings of a higher na- 
 ture — their laws as emanations i'rom heaven — and them- 
 selves as the creatures of an unescapable destiny : 
 who, on the one hand, are stumied with lear of future 
 torments, and, on the other, are exposed to the dagger 
 of the first man they meet, authorized by those pre- 
 tendedly divine institutes to cut down every apostale 
 that he encounters ! From such a consummate laby- 
 rinth of priestly art nothing short of a miracle seems 
 capable of rescuing them. 
 
 The Brahmins, like the popish priests, for the arts 
 of priests are the same everywhere, reserve to them- 
 selves the inviolable right of reading the Vedas, or holy 
 books, and thus impose on the people what doctrines 
 they please. So scrupulously clo they guard against 
 the exposure of their real contents, that it is only in 
 comparatively modern times that they have become 
 known. A singular story is told of the Emperor Akbar, 
 who, desiring to learn the Hindoo tenets, applied to the 
 Brahmins, and was refused. Hereupon he had the 
 brother of his faithful minister, Abul Fazil, a youlh, 
 brought up with a Brahmin under a feigned character : 
 but, after a residence of ten years, and at the moment 
 of being about to return to court, owing to his attach- 
 ment to the Brahmin's daughter, he confessed the fraud, 
 and would have been instantly stabbed by his pre- 
 ceptor, had he not entreated him for mercy on his 
 knees, and bound himself by the most solemn oaths 
 not to translate the Vedas, nor reveal the mysteries of 
 the Brahmin creed. These oaths he faithfully kept 
 during the life of the old Brahmin ; but alterward he 
 conceived himself absolved from them, and to him we 
 owe the publication of the real contents of those sacred 
 volumes. 
 
 But let us look at the system a little more at large. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 89 
 
 " Though," says Maurice, " the functions of govern- 
 ment by the hiws of Menu devolved on the Kettri, or 
 Rajah tribe ; yet it is certain that in every age of the 
 Indian empire, aspiring Brahmins have usurped and 
 swayed the imperial sceptre. But, in fact, there was 
 no necessity for the Brahmhi to grasp at empire — he 
 wielded both the empir<^ and the monarch. By an 
 overstrained conception of the priestly character, art- 
 fully encouraged for political purposes by the priest 
 himself, and certainly not justified by any precept given 
 by Noah to his posterity, the Brahmin stood in the place 
 of Deity to the infatuated sons of Indian superstition ; 
 the will of Heaven was thought to issue from his lips ; 
 and his decision was reverenced as the fiat of destiny. 
 Thus boasting the positive interposition of the Deity 
 in the fabrication of its singular institutions — guarded 
 from infraction by the terror of exciting the Divine 
 wrath — and directed principally by the sacred tribe, 
 the Indian government may be considered as a theo- 
 cracy — a theocracy the more terrible, because the 
 name of God was perverted to sanction and support the 
 most dreadful species of despotism, — a despotism 
 which, not content with subjugating the body, tyran- 
 nized over the prostrate faculties of the enslaved mind. 
 
 " An assembly of Brahmins sitting in judgment on a 
 vicious, a tyrannical king, may condemn him to death ; 
 and the sentence is recorded to have been executed ; 
 but no crime affects the life of a Brahmin. He may 
 suffer temporary degradation from his caste, but his 
 blood must never stain th^ sword of justice ; he is a 
 portion of the Deity. He is inviolable ! he is invul- 
 nerable ! he is immortal ! 
 
 " In eastern climes, where despotism has ever reigned 
 in its meridian terror, in order to impress the deeper 
 awe and respect upon the crowd that daily thronged 
 aromid the tribmial, the hall of justice was anciently 
 surromided with the ministers of vengeance, who gen- 
 erally inflicted in presence of the monarch the sentence 
 10 which the culprit was doomed. The envenomed 
 serpent which was to sting him to death, — the enraged 
 
90 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 elephant tliat was to trample him beneath its feet, — the 
 dreadful instruments that were to rend open his bowels, 
 to tear his lacerated eye from the socket, to impale 
 alive, or saw the shuddering wretch asmider, were 
 constantly at hand. The audience chamber, with the 
 same view, was decorated with the utmost cost and 
 magnificence, and the East was rifled of its jewels to 
 adorn it. Whatever little credit may in general be due 
 to Philostratus, his description of the palace of Mu- 
 sicanus too nearly resembles the accounts of our own 
 countrymen, of the present magnificence of some of 
 the Rajahs, to be doubted, especially in those times 
 when the hoarded wealth of India had not been pil- 
 laged. The artificial vines of gold, adorned with buds 
 of various colours in jewelry, and thick set with 
 precious stones, emeralds, and rubies, hanging in clus- 
 ters to resemble gTapes in their different stages to ma- 
 turity : the silver censers of perfume constantly borne 
 before the ruler as a god : the robe of gold and purple 
 with which he was invested; and the litter of gold 
 fringed with pearls, in which he was carried in a 
 march, or to the chase, — these were the appropriate 
 ornaments and distinctions of an Indian monarch. 
 
 " In short, whatever could warmly interest the feel- 
 ings, and strongly agitate the passions of men, — what- 
 ever influences hope — excites terror — all the engines 
 of a most despotic superstition and a most refined 
 policy, were set at work for the purpose of chaining 
 down to the prescribed duties of his caste the mind of 
 the bigoted Hindoo. Hence his mialtered, mialterabk^ 
 attachment to the national code and the Brahniinical 
 creed. As it has been in India from the begimiing, so 
 will it contmue to the end of time. For the daring 
 culprit who violates either. Heaven has no forgiveness, 
 and earth no place of shelter or repose ! 
 
 " An adultress is condermied to be devoured alive 
 by dogs in the public market-place. The adidtcrer is 
 doomed to be bomid to an iron bed, heated red-hot, and 
 burnt to death. But what is not a little reiiiarkable, 
 
IN ALL AGES. ^X 
 
 for the same crime a Brahmin is only to he punished 
 with ignominious tonsure. 
 
 " For insuUing a Brahmin, an iron stile, ten fingers 
 long, shall be thrust, red-hot, down the culprit's mouth. 
 For offering only to instruct him in his profession, 
 boiling oil shall be dropped in his mouth and ears. 
 For stealing kine belonging to priests, the offender 
 shall instantly lose half one foot. An assaulter of a 
 Erahmin, with intent to kill, shall remain in hell for a 
 hundred years ; for actually striking him, with like 
 intent, a thousand years. But though sucb^ frequent 
 exceptions occur in favour of Brahmins, none are 
 made in favour of kings ! The Brahmin — eldest-boni 
 of the gods, — who loads their altars with incense, who 
 feeds them with clarified honey, and whose, in fact, is 
 the wealth of the whole world, ever keeps his elevated 
 station. To maintain him in holy and voluptuous 
 indolence, the Kettri, or Rajah, exposes his life in 
 front of battle ; the merchant covers the ocean with 
 his ships ; the toiling husbandman incessantly tills the 
 burning soil of India. We cannot doubt, after this, 
 which of the Indian castes compiled this volume from 
 the rememhered Institutes of Menu. 
 
 " The everlasting servitude of the Soodra tribe is 
 riveted upon that unfortunate caste by the laws of des- 
 tiny ; since the Soodra was born a slave, and even 
 when emancipated by his indulgent master, a slave he 
 must continue: for^ of a state vjkich is natural to him, 
 hj whom can he be divested ? The Soodra must be 
 contented to serve ; this is his mialterable doom. To 
 serve in the family of a Brahmin is the highest glory, 
 and leads him to beatitude." 
 
 There is, however, a fifth tribe — that of the outcasts 
 from all the rest — the Chandelahs ; those who have 
 lost caste, and the children of mixed marriages, that 
 abhorrence of the Hindoo code, for, if once permitted, 
 it would overturn the wdiole artful system. It is 
 ordained that the Chandelah exist remote from their 
 fellow-creatures, amid the dirt and filth of the suburbs. 
 Their sole wealth must consist in dogs and as§es i 
 
92 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 their clothes must be the polluted mantles of the dead ; 
 their dishes for food, broken pots ; their ornaments, 
 rusty iron ; their food must be given tliem in potsherds, 
 at a distance, that the giver may not be defiled by the 
 shade of their outcast bodies. Their business is to 
 carry out the corpses of those who die without kindred ; 
 they are the public executioners ; and the whole that 
 they can be heirs to are the clothes and miserable 
 property of the wretched malefactors. Many other 
 particulars of this outcast tribe are added by authors on 
 India, and they form in themselves no weak proof of 
 the unrelenting spirit of the Hindoo code, that could 
 thus doom a vast class of people — a fifth of the nation 
 — to unpitied and unmerited Avretchedness. An Indian, 
 in his bigoted attachment to the metempsychosis, 
 would fly to save the life of a noxious reptile ; but, 
 were a Chandelah falling down a precipice, he would 
 not extend a hand to save him from destruction. In 
 such abomination are the Chandelahs held on the Mala- 
 bar side of India, that if one chance to touch one of a 
 superior tribe, he draws his sabre and cuts him down 
 on the spot. Death itself, that last refuge of tlu? un- 
 fortunate, offers no comfort to him, atlbrds no view of 
 felicity or reward. The gates of J aggernath itself are 
 shut against him ; and he is driven with equal disgrace 
 from the society of men and the temples of the gods. 
 Such is the picture of priestcraft in India ; such the 
 terrible spectacle of its effects, as they have existed 
 tliere from nearly the days of the Flood. Towards this 
 horrible and disgusting goal it has laboured to lead 
 men in all countries and all ages ; but here alone, in 
 the whole pagan world, it has succeeded to the extent 
 of its diabolical desires. We might add numberless 
 other features : the propitiatory sacrifice of cows, 
 and trees of gold, prescribed by the avaricious Brah- 
 mins ; the imimmities and privileges with which they 
 have surrounded themselves; the bloody rites they 
 have laid on others, especially among the Mahrattas, 
 where, even at the present day, Iniman sacrifices are 
 supposed to abound ; the tortures they have induced 
 
IN ALL AGES. 
 
 the infatuated Yogees to inflict on themselves — some 
 going naked ail their lives, sufl'ering their hair and 
 beard to grow till they cover their M^hole bodies, — 
 standing motionless, in the sun, in the most painful 
 attitudes, for years, till their arms gTow fast above their 
 heads, and their nails pierce through their clenched 
 liands, — scorching themselves over fires, — enclosing 
 themselves in cages, — and enacting other incredible 
 liorrors on themselves, for the hope inspired by the 
 Brahmins of attaining everlasting felicity. But the 
 subject is too revolting; I turn from it in indignation. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE HEBREWS. 
 
 Hebrews— Comparison of the Old Man of the Sea, and tlie Old Man 
 of the Church — Hebrew Priesthood divinely ordained, yet evil in 
 its tendency and fatal to the nation. 
 
 We have now gone to and fro in the earth, and 
 have walked up and down in it ; not, like a certain 
 celebrated character, seeking whom we might devour, 
 but inquiring who have been devoured of priests ; and 
 everywhere we have made but one discovery ; every- 
 where, in lands however distant, and times however 
 remote, a suffering people, and a proud and imperious 
 priesthood have been found. Sinbad the sailor, in his 
 multifarious and adventurous wanderings, once chanced 
 to land on a desert island, in which a strange creature, 
 the Old Man of the Sea, leaped upon his shoulders, and 
 there, spite of all his efforts to dislodge him, night 
 and day, for a long time maintained his station. By 
 day, he compelled poor Sinbad by a vigorous application 
 of his heels to his ribs, to go where he pleased, — be- 
 neath the trees whence he plucked fruit, or to the stream 
 where ho drank. By night he still clung, even in his 
 
94 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 sleep, with such sensitiveness to his neck, tliat it was 
 impossible to unseat him. At length a successful strat- 
 agem presented itself to Sinbad. He found a gourd, and 
 squeezed into it the juice of the grape, and set it in a 
 certain place till it had fermented, and became strong 
 wine. This he put to the mouth of the Old jNlan of 
 the Sea, wlio drank it greedily, became drunk, and lell 
 asleep so soundly, that Sinbad unfolded his clingiug 
 legs from his breast, Jun-led him from his shoulders, 
 and, as he lay, crushed his head with a stone. The 
 adventure of Sinbad was awkA\ ard enough, but that 
 of poor human nature has been infinitely worse. The 
 OLD MAN OF THE CHURCH, from age to age, from land to 
 land, has ridden on the shoulders of humanity, and set 
 at defiance all endeavours and all schemes to dislodge 
 him. Unlike the Old Man of the Sea, whose best 
 beverage was a brook, he is too well inured to strong 
 drinks to be readily overcome by them. He is one of 
 those drinkers called deep-stomached, and strong- 
 headed ; who sit out all guests, dare and bear all 
 spirituous potations, and laugh in invulnerable comfort 
 over the intoxication of the prostrated multitude. And 
 what wonder? His seat has ever been at the boards of 
 princes. The most sparkling cup has not passed him 
 by untasted ; the most fiery fluid has not daunted him. 
 He has received the vintages reserved solely for kings 
 and their favourites ; and though there was blood in it, 
 he has not blenched. The tears of misery dropped 
 into it could not render it too bitter ; the bloody 
 sweatdrops of despair too poisonous ; though the sound 
 of battle was in his ears, he ceased not to grasp the 
 flagon, — it was music ; though martyrs burneil at their 
 stakes before him, and the very glow of their fires 
 came strongly upon him, he interrupted not his carouse, 
 but only cooled more gratefully his wine. He has 
 quaff'ed the juice of all vines : presided at the festivi- 
 ties of all nations ; poured libations to all gods; in the 
 wild orgies of the ancient Gerjnan and British forests 
 he has revelled ; in tlie midnight feast of scidls he has 
 pledged the savage and the cannibal ; the war-feast of 
 
IN ALL AGES. 95 
 
 the wilderness, or the sacred banquet of the refined 
 Greek, alike found him a guest ; he has taken the cup 
 of pollution from the hand of the Babylonian harlot ; 
 and pledged in the robes of the Gallic primate re- 
 nunciation of the Christian religion with the Atheist. 
 Lover of all royal fetes ; delighter in the crimson- 
 cushioned ease of all festivals in high places ; soul of 
 all jollity where the plunderers and the deluders of man 
 met to rejoice over their achievements ; inspirer of all 
 choice schemes for the destruction of liberty and 
 genuine knowledge when the vintage of triumphant 
 Iraud ferments in his brain, till the wine of God's 
 wrath, in the shape of man's hidignation, confound 
 him — what shall move him from his living throne ? 
 From the days of the Flood to those of William the 
 Fourth of England he has ridden on, exultingly, the 
 everlasting incubus of the groaning world. 
 
 We have perambulated the prime nations of paganism. 
 It would have been easy to have extended our researches 
 farther, to have swelled our details to volumes ; but 
 the object was only to give a sample from the immense 
 mass of ecclesiastical enormities. We now come 
 to the Holy Land ; and to the only priesthood ever 
 expressly ordained of Heaven. It might have been 
 expected that this would prove a splendid exception to 
 the general character of the order ; but, alas ! — as the 
 Jewish dispensation was formed under the pressing- 
 necessity of guarding against the idolatry of sur- 
 rounding nations, and as merely preparatory to a more 
 spiritual one, so it would seem as if one design of the 
 Almighty had been to show how radically mischievous 
 and prone to evil an ecclesiastical order is under 
 any circumstances. The Jewish priests had this 
 advantage over all others whatever, that they were one 
 tribe of a gi'eat family, to whom, in sharing out the 
 land given to them of God, the altar was made their 
 sole inheritance, — the whole country being divided 
 among the other eleven tribes. But, notwithstanding 
 this fair title, so strongly did the universal spirit of 
 priestcraft work in them, tliat their history may be 
 
96 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 comprised in a few sentences, and is one of the most 
 striking in the world. It began in Aaron with idolatry, 
 accompanied by most pitil'ul evasions ; it shov>-ed 
 itself in its prime in the sons of Eli, in shameless 
 peculation and lewdness; and it ended in the crucifixion 
 of Christ ! Snch a beginning, a middle, and an end, 
 t!ie world besides cannot show. 
 
 When we hear Aaron telling the people, in the face 
 of the most astounding miracles, — when the sound of 
 God's trumpets, which had shaken them to the eartli, 
 in terror, had yet scarcely ceased to ring in their ears, 
 — when God himself, in a fiery majesty, that made the 
 mountain before them smoke and tremble to its base, 
 was at hand delivering to Moses his eternal law — hear 
 him telling them to bring their golden ornaments, and 
 he would make a god to go before them ; and, in 
 the next moment, telling Moses that the people con- 
 strained him, and he threw the gold into the fire, and 
 "out came this calf," as if by accident, — we are filled 
 with contempt for sacerdotal sycophancy and time- 
 serving. 
 
 When we read that " the sons of Eli were the sons 
 of Belial, — they knew not the Lord ; and the priest's 
 custom Avas, that when any man offered sacrifice, the 
 priest's servant came while the flesh was in seething, 
 with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand ; and he 
 struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot ; 
 all that the flesh-hook brought up the priest took for 
 himself. So they did in Shiloh, to all the Israelites 
 that came thither. Also, before they burnt the fat the 
 priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacri- 
 ficed, ' Give flesh to roast for the priest, for he will not 
 have sodden flesh of thee, but raw.' And if any man 
 said unto him, 'Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, 
 and then take as much as thy soul desireth :' and then 
 he would answer him, — ' Nay, but thou shalt give it 
 me now; and if not, I will take it by force.' There- 
 fore the sin of the young men was very great before 
 the Lord ; for men abhorred the oflering of the Lord. 
 Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did 
 
m ALL AGES. 97 
 
 unto all Israel ; and how they lay with the women that 
 assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congrega- 
 tion." When we read this, we are on fire with indigna- 
 tion. But when we hear the chief priests crying out 
 against Christ — the hope, nay, the great object of the 
 formation of their nation, — the most meek, and pure, 
 and beneficent being that ever existed — '• Away with 
 this fellow ! he is not fit to live ! Away ^vith him ! 
 crucify him !" we are thmiderstruck with astonisli- 
 ment ! — we are silenced, and satisfied for ever of the 
 rooted and incurable malignancy of priestcraft. If God 
 himself descended from heaven, and charged a priesth' 
 hierarchy with corruption, they would tell him to his 
 face that he lied. They would assail him as a slanderer 
 and misrepresenter of the good, and raise, if possible, 
 his own world in arms against him ! If the fate of all 
 ether nations spoke to us in vain^that of the Jews 
 should be an eternal warning. The very priests which 
 God ordained first corrupted, and then destroyed, the 
 kingdom. They ]:>egan with idolatry, and ended with 
 killing the Son of God himself. Their victims, the 
 Jews, still walk before our eyes, a perpetual and fear- 
 ful testimony against them. It was the priests v.iio 
 mainly contributed to annihilate them for ever as a 
 people, and to disperse them through all regions, the 
 objects of the contempt, the loathing, and the pitiless 
 persecution of all ages, and of every racc.^'' 
 
 *■ Appendix! I, 
 
 E 
 
98 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 POPERY. 
 
 opery— Christ and Christianity— The latter speedily conrupteJ- 
 Acts by which the Papal Church seized Power. 
 
 O that the free would stamp the impious name 
 
 Of Pope into the dust ! or write it there, 
 So that this blot upon the paa-e of fame 
 
 Were as a serpent's path, which tlie li^ht air 
 Erases, and the flat sands close behind ! 
 
 Ye the oracle have heard ; 
 
 Lift the victory -Hashing sword, 
 And cut the snaky knots of this foul Gordian word, 
 
 Which, weak itself as stubble, yet can bind 
 Into a mass irrcfragably tirm, 
 
 The axes and the rods which awe mankind. 
 The sound has poison in it — 'tis the sperm 
 Of what makes life foul, cankerous, and abhorred ; 
 
 Disdain not then, at thine appointed term, 
 
 To set thine armed heel on this reUictant wonn. 
 
 Shellev. 
 
 Christ appeared; the career ol' paganisin was 
 checked; the fate oi' Judaism was sealed. A character 
 and arelisionwere placed hefore the eyes of men hith- 
 erto inconceivable in the beauty and philanthropy of 
 their natwe. LI id ike all other founders of a religious 
 faith, Christ had no seltishness, no desire of dominance ; 
 and his system, unlike all other systems of worship, 
 was bloodless, boundlessly beneficent, inexpressibly 
 pure, and, most marvellous of all, went to break all 
 bonds of body and soid ; and to cast down every tem- 
 poral and every spiritual tyranny. It was a system 
 calculated for the wliole Avidc universe ; adapted to 
 embrace men of all climes, all ages, all ranks of life, or 
 intellect; for the riclt and for the poor; for the savage 
 and \]\o civilized ; for the fool and the philosopher ; 
 ^'or mini, woman, and child ; which, recognising the 
 
IN ALL AGES. 99 
 
 grand doctrine, that " God made of one blood all the 
 nations of the earth," represented the Almighty as the 
 father, and all men as brethren born to one universal 
 love, — to the same inalienable rights, — to the same 
 eternal hope. He liimself was the living personilica- 
 tion of his principles. Demolishing the most inveter- 
 ate prejudices of men, by appearing a poor man among 
 the poor ; by tearing from aristocratic pride and priestly 
 insolence their masks of most orthodox assurance ; by 
 proclaiming that the truth which he taught should 
 make all men Iree ; by declaring that the gentiles 
 lorded it over and oppressed one another, but that it 
 should not be so with liis followers ; ])y pulling down 
 with indignation spiritual pride in high places, and 
 calling the poor and afflicted his brethren, and the 
 objects of his tenderest regard, — he laid the founda- 
 tions of civil and religious freedom, of mental power 
 growing out of unrestrained mental energies, and of 
 love and knowledge co-equal in extension with the 
 world. Tliis perl'ect freedom of miiversal man he 
 guarded by great and everlasting principles, intelligible 
 to the mind and conscience of the whole human race ; 
 and on which men in all countries might found institu- 
 tions most consonant to their wants. By declaring 
 that " wherever two or three were met together in his 
 name, he would be in the midst of them," he cut off, 
 for ever, every claim, the most specious, of priestlv 
 dominance ; and by expressing his unqualified and 
 indignant abhon-ence of every desire of his disciples 
 " to call down fire from heaven upon his enemies," 
 or to forbid those to preach and work miracles in his 
 name who did not immediately follow him, and con- 
 form to their notions, he left to his clmrch a light more 
 resplendent than that of the sun, on the subject of non- 
 interference with the sacred liberty and prerogatives of 
 conscience. 
 
 One would have thought that from this epoch, the 
 
 arm of priestcraft would have been broken, — that it 
 
 would never more have dared to raise its head : but it 
 
 is a principle of shameless avidity and audacity ; auc( 
 
 E2 ' 
 
100 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 it is exactly from this time that we trace the most 
 •amazing career of its delusions and atrocities, down to 
 the very day of our own oxistencc. 
 
 Who is not familiar with the horrors and arrogant 
 assimiptions of the papal churcli ? Scarcely liad the 
 persecutions of tlie pagan emperors ceased, when the 
 Christian clunxh became inundated with corruptions 
 and superstitions of every kind. Constant ine embraced 
 Christianity; and almost the whole world embraced it 
 nominally with him. Frmu a conversion of such a 
 kind, the work of regal example and popular interested 
 hopes, what effects were to be expected i The martial 
 tyranny of ancient Rome, which had sulidued the w^orld, 
 was coming to an end. The wealth of which a thou- 
 sand states had been stripped had turned to poison in 
 her bosom, and brouglit upon the stern mistress of blood- 
 shed and tears that retribution from which national 
 rapine and injustice never eventually escape. But as 
 if the ghost of departed despotism hovered over the 
 Seven Hills, and sought only a fresh liody to arise in 
 a worse shape, a new tyranny commenced in the form 
 of priestcraft, ten times more terrible and hateful than 
 the old, — because it was one which sought to subjugate 
 not merely the persons of men, but to extinguish know- 
 ledge ; to' crush into everlasting childishness the hu- 
 man mind ; and to rule it, in its fatuity, with mysteries 
 and terrors. The times favoured the attempt. With 
 the civil power of the Roman empire, science and 
 literature were disappearing. A licentious army 
 controlled the destiny of a debauched and effeminated 
 people ; and the Gothic and Hunnish nations, nishing 
 in immense torrents over the superannuated states of 
 Europe, scattered, for a time, desolation, poverty, and 
 ignorance. At this ciisis, while it had to deal with 
 hordes of rough warriors, who, strong in body and 
 boisterous in manner, had yet minds not destitute of 
 gi-eat energies, and many traditional maxims of moral 
 and judicial excellence, but clothed in all the simple 
 credulity of children, — up rose the spirit of priestcral't 
 in Rome, and assumed all its ancient and inflated 
 
IN ALL AGES. 101 
 
 claims. As if the devil, stricken with malice at the 
 promulgation of Christianity, which threatened to anni- 
 hilate his power, had watched tlie opportunity to inflict 
 on it the most fatal wound, and had found no instru- 
 ment so favourable to his purpose as a priest, — such a 
 glorious and signal triumph never yet was his from the 
 creation of the world. Had he devised a system for 
 himself, he could nol have pitched upon one like popery; 
 — a system which, pretending to be tliat of Christ, 
 suppressed the Bible,— extinguished knowledge, — 
 locked up the human mind, — amused it with the most 
 ludicrous baubles, — and granted official licenses to 
 commit all species of crimes and impurity. Satan him- 
 self became enthroned on the Seven Hills in the habit 
 of a priest, and grinned his broadest delight amid the 
 public and universal reign of ignorance, hypocrisy, 
 venality, and lust. 
 
 As if the popes liad studied the pagan hierarchies, 
 they brought into concentrated exercise all their various 
 engines of power, deception, and corruption. They 
 could not, indeed, assert, as the pagan priesthood had 
 done, that they were of a higher origin than the rest 
 of mankind ; and therefore entitled to sit as kings, to 
 choose all kings, and rule over all kings ; for it was 
 necessary to preserve som.e public allegiance to the 
 doctrines of Christianity, — but they took ground quite 
 as etfective. They declared themselves the authorized 
 vicegerents of Heaven ; making Christ's words to Peter 
 their charta — " On this rock I will build my church," 
 — hence asserting themselves to be the only true church, 
 though they never could show that Peter ever was at 
 Rome at all. On this gromid, however — enough for 
 the simple warriors of the time — they proceeded to 
 rule over nations and kings. On this ground they 
 proclaimed the infallibility of the pope and his conclave 
 of cardinals, and thus excluded all dissent. Their first 
 act, having once taken this station, was that which 
 had been the practice of priests in all countries, — to 
 shut up the true knowledge among themselves. As 
 the priests of Kgypt and Greece enclos(?d it in myste- 
 
102 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 ries, they wrapped the simple trutlis of the gospel in 
 mysteries too ; as the Brahmins forbade any except 
 their own order to read the sacred Vedas, — they shut 
 np the Bible, — the very book given to enlighten the 
 world, — the very book which declared of its own con- 
 tents, that "they were so clear that he who ran miglit 
 read them;" that they taught away of life so perspicu- 
 ous that " the wayfaring man, though a fool, could not 
 err therein." This Avas the most daring and audacious 
 act the world had then seen; but this act once success- 
 ful, the whole earth M-as in their power. The people 
 were ignorant ; they taught them what they pleased. 
 They delivered all sorts of ludicrous and pernicious 
 dogmas as scripture ; and who could contradict them ? 
 So great became the ignorance of even their own order, 
 imder this system, so completely became the Bible a 
 strange book, that wlien, in after ages, men began to 
 inquire, and to expose their delusions, a monk warned 
 his audience to beware of these heretics, who had in- 
 vented a new langUf'ge, called Greek, and had written 
 in it a book called the New Testament, full of the 
 most damnable doctrines. By every act of insinua- 
 tion, intimidation, forgery, and fraud, they not only 
 raised themselves to the rank of temporal princes, but 
 lorded it over the greatest kings witli insolent impunity. 
 The Bann, which was employed by the priests of Odin 
 in the north, they adopted, and made its terrors felt 
 throughout the whole Christian world. Was a king 
 refractory — did he refuse the pontifical demand of 
 money — had he an opinion of his own — a repugnance 
 to comply with papal influence in his afiairs I — the 
 thunders of the Vatican were launched against him ; 
 his kingdom was laid under the bann; all people were 
 forbidden, on pain of eternal damnation, to trade with 
 his subjects ; aJl churches were shut ; the n;ition was 
 of a sudden deprived of all exterior exercise of its 
 religion ; the altars were despoiled of their ornaments ; 
 the crosses, the reliques, the images, the statues of tlie 
 saints were laid on the ground ; and, as if the air itself 
 were profaned, and might pollute them by its contact, 
 
IN ALL AGES. 103 
 
 the priests carefully covered them up, even from their 
 own approach and veneration. The use of bells 
 entirely ceased in all churches ; the bells themselves 
 were removed from the steeples, and laid on the ground 
 with the other sacred utensils. Mass was celebrated 
 Avith shut doors, and none but the priests were admitted 
 to the holy institution. The clergy refused to marry, 
 baptize, or bury ; the dead were obliged to be cast into 
 ditches, or lay putrefying on the ground ; till the 
 superstitious people, looking on their children who 
 died without baptism as gone to perdition, and those 
 dead wuthout burial amid the ceremonies of the church 
 and in consecrated ground as seized on by the devil, 
 rose in rebellious fury and obliged the prince to submit 
 and humble himself before the proud priest of Rome. 
 
 Realms quake by t\uns : proud arbitress of grace 
 
 The church, by mandate sliadowing forth the power 
 
 She arrogates o'er heaven's eternal door, 
 
 Closes the gates of every s^acred place. 
 
 Straight from the sun and tainted air's embrace 
 
 All sacred things are covered ; cheerful morn 
 
 Grows sad as night — no seemly garb is worn, 
 
 Nor is a face allowed to meet a face 
 
 With natural smile of greeting. Bells are dumb ; 
 
 Ditches are graves — funereal rites denied ; 
 
 And in the church-yard he must take his iDride 
 
 Who dares be wedded ! Fancies thickly come 
 
 Into the pensive heart ill fortified, 
 
 And comfortless despairs the soul benumb. 
 
 Wordsworth. 
 
 But not merely kings and kingdoms were thus cir- 
 cumstanced, every individual, every parish was liable 
 to be thus excommunicated by the neighbouring 
 priest. The man who offended one of these powerful 
 churchmen, however respected and influential in his 
 own neighbourhood over night, might the next morning 
 behold the hearse drawn up to his hall door, — a signi- 
 ficant emblem that he was dead to all civil and re- 
 ligious rights, and that if he valued his life, now at the 
 mercy of any vile assassin, he must fly, and leave his 
 family and his property to the same tender regards 
 which had thus outlawed himself. 
 
 The invention of monkery was a capital piece of 
 
104 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 priestly iiu>enuily. By this means the \n1iu1c world 
 became inundated \vith monks and friars, 
 
 Ulack, vvliite, and gfiy, wiUi all their trumpery. 
 
 A standing army of vigilant lorces was set up in every 
 kingdom: 'into every town and village they entered; 
 in every house they became familiar spies, ready to 
 communicate the earliest symptoms of insubordination 
 to the papal tyranny, ready at a signal to cany terror 
 into every region, and rivet faster the ciiains of Rome. 
 Like the frogs of Egypt, they came up and covered 
 the earth; they crept into every dwelling; into the 
 very beds and kneading tubs, sparing not those of the 
 king himsell" — till the land stunk with tliem. 
 
 Tliat tliey might liave something to occupy the 
 imagination of the people equivalent to the numerous 
 idols, gorgeous temples, imposing ceremonies, and 
 licentious lestivals of the heathen; not only had they 
 paintings of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but 
 images of Christ, of his motlua-, and of a tliousand 
 saints, who were exalted to be objects of a veneration 
 little to be distinguished from worsliip in the minds of 
 the deluded people. To these they prayed ; to these 
 they made offerings. Splendid churches were built, 
 and adorned witli every fascination of statuary and 
 painting; and carnivals, religious festivals, and pro- 
 cessions ordained without number, in which all the 
 lev/dness and license of the pagan worship were 
 revived. Instead of the charms whicli tlie pagans 
 gave as a protection against evil, tliey gave relics — 
 bits of wood, hair, old teeth, and a tliousand otiier 
 pieces of rubbisli, which were pretended to be. parts, 
 or to have been the property of the saints, and were 
 endued with miraculous powers. Thus were men 
 made fast prisoners by ignorance, by the excitement 
 of their imaginations, and by objects on which to 
 indulge their credulity. But other engines equally 
 potent were set to work. Every principle of terror, 
 love, or shainc in the buman mind was appealed to. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 105 
 
 Oral confession was invented. Every person was to 
 confess his sins to the priest. Thus the priest was 
 put into possession of every thing which could enslave 
 a man to him. Who was so pm-e in life and thought 
 that, after having unbosomed himself to his confessor 
 — made him the depositary of his most secret thoughts, 
 his weakest or worst actions, dare any more to oppose 
 or offend him? But the chains of shame and fear were 
 not all ; those of liope were added. The priest had not 
 only power to hear sins, but to pardon them. He 
 could shut up in hell, or let out ; he was not content 
 with enslaving his follower in this world — he caiTied 
 on his influence to the next, and even invented a world, 
 from the tortures of which no man could escape with- 
 out his permission. 
 
 How all this could be built on the foundation of 
 Christianity might be wondered at; but it should never 
 be forgotten that the Bible was locked up, and every 
 thing was directed to the acquisition of power and gain. 
 Every thing was a source of gain. Besides the direct 
 tribute to the popedom, every shrine had its offerings ; 
 every confession, every prayer had its price. Escape 
 from purgatory and indulgence in sin were regtdated 
 by a certain scale of payment. The rich, the foolish, 
 nud the penitent were wheedled out of their property 
 to maintain the endless train of pope, cardinals, priests, 
 monks, nuns, confessors, and their subordinates. By 
 them abbeys, cathedrals, and churches were endowed 
 with ample lands ; and eveiy one who incurred the 
 censure of the church added also by fines to its funds. 
 For a thousand years this system 'was triumphant 
 throughout Europe : — 
 
 Thou heaven of earth ! what spells could pall thee then, 
 
 In ominous eclipse ! A thousand years 
 Bred from the slime of deep oppression's den, 
 
 Died all thy liquid light with blood and tears. 
 
 Over a great part of it, it reigns still. 
 
 Millions of monks and secular priests, all forbidden 
 to marry, — all pampered in luxurious case and abim- 
 E3 
 
106 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 dance to voluptuousness, were let loose on the female 
 world as counsellors and confessors, with secrecy in 
 one hand, and aini)lest power of absolution from sin 
 in the other; and the efliect on domestic purity may 
 be readily imagined. So, smootldy ran the course of 
 popery for many a century : ])ut when, spite of all its 
 eflbrts to the contrary, tlie human mind again begjiii 
 to stir ; M'hen knowledge again revived ; and tlic se- 
 crets of the churcli were curiously pried into ; then 
 this terrible Jiierarchy, calling itself Clu'islian, let 
 loose its vengeance. Fire and fagot, chains and dun- 
 geons, exterminating Avars and Inquisitions, those 
 hells on earth, into which any man might, at a mo- 
 ment's notice, be dragged from his family, his ih'cside, 
 or his bed, at the instigation of malice, envy, cupidity, 
 or holy suspicion, to tortures and death. These were 
 the tender mercies o{" the papal priestcraft in the hour 
 of its fear. 
 
 This is a brief sketch ol' what the popish church 
 was : we will now go on to give evidence of its spirit 
 and proceedings from the best authenticated histories. 
 1. Of the means employed to obtain power. 2. Of 
 the uses of tluit power. *i. Of the arrogance of die 
 popish priesthood in power. 4. Of their atrocities. 
 
 The evidence 1 shall select must neces.sardy be -jl 
 very small portion from the immense mass of the 
 deeds of this church; for its history is such a contin- 
 ued tissue of ambition, cupidity, and vice in its most 
 hateful shapes, dissensions, frauds, and bloodshed, that 
 nothing but the desire to draw from it a great moral 
 and political lesson could induce me to wade through it. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 107 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 POPERY. 
 
 Popery— Struggles of the Popes for power— Emperors favour them 
 —Scandalous transactions between them and the French Mou- 
 archs— Pepin and Charlemagne— Gregory VI [. asserts absolute 
 power over Kings— His intercourse with the Countess Matilda- 
 Claims the right of instalhng Bishops— Enormities of Popes— 
 Their example followed by Bishops and Clergy— Evil mfluence ot 
 Councils, 
 
 They willeth to be king's perej<, 
 And higher than the emperour ; 
 And some that weren but pore frercs 
 Now woollen waxe a warriour. — Chaucer. 
 
 But, Lorde, we lewed men knowen no God but thee, and we, with 
 thjTie help and thy grace, forsaken Nabugodonosor and hys lawos. 
 For he, in his prowtl estate, wole have aii men onder hym, and he 
 nele be onder no man. He ondoeth thy lawes that thou ordenest to 
 be kept, and maketh hys awne lawes as hym lyketh, and so he 
 maketh hyon kynge aboven all other kynges of the erth ; and maketh 
 men to worschupen hym as a God, and thye gret sacrytice he hath 
 ydone away. 
 
 The Ploweman's Praip:r. 
 
 The earliest means which the bishops of Rome 
 employed to acquire power was, to assert their suprem- 
 acy over all other bishops of the Christian church. 
 This was not granted at once, but led to many quar- 
 rels with their contemporaries. The bishop of Con- 
 stantinople, in particular, contended with them for the 
 superiority ; the emperor Constantino liaving shifted 
 there the seat of civil government. These odious 
 squabbles I must necessarily pass over, and confine 
 myself entirely to the Romish churcli. I may state, 
 once for all, that the patriarchs of Constantinople 
 maintained the contest with Rome through every age 
 to the very time of the Reformation ; and many dis- 
 graceful expositions of priestly wrath were made on 
 both sides. Of the Greek church it will be sufficient 
 to say that its prelates partook largely in the arts and 
 
108 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 vices of priests in general, and plunged that church 
 into an abundance of ceremonious puerilities, in which 
 it remains to this day. 
 
 The attempts of the Romish pontiffs to gi-asp at 
 power were not crowned with instant success, either 
 over their fellow-priests or contemporary princes. It 
 was a work of time, of continual stratagem, and tlie 
 boldest acts of assumption. The full claims of papal 
 dominion over the Christian world in Europe were not 
 admitted, indeed, till the 11th century. 
 
 In the 4th century, Mosheim says, in the Episcopal 
 order the bishop of Rome was the first in rank ; and 
 was distinguished by a sort of pre-eminence over all 
 other bishops. Prejudices, arising from a variety of 
 causes, contributed to establish this supehority ; but it 
 was chiefly owing to certain circumstances of grandeur 
 and opulence, by which mortals, for the most part, form 
 their ideas of pre-eminence and dignity, and which 
 they generally confound with the reasons of a just and 
 legal authority. The bishop of Rome surpassed all his 
 brethren in the magnificence and splendour of the 
 church over which he presided ; in the riches of his 
 revenues and possessions ; in the number and variety 
 of his ministers ; in his credit with the people ; and in 
 his sumptuous and splendid mamier of living. These 
 dazzling marks of human power, these ambiguous 
 proofs of true greatness and felicity, had such an in- 
 fluence on the minds of the multitude, that the sec of 
 Rome became, in this century, a most seducing object 
 of sacerdotal ambition. Hence it happened, that when 
 a new pontifl' Avas to be elected by the suflrages of the 
 presbyters and the people, the city of Rome was gen- 
 erally agitated with dissensions, tumults, and cabals, 
 Avhose consequences were often deplorable and fatal. 
 One of these in 366 gave rise to a civil war, which 
 was carried on within the city of Rome with the utmost 
 barbarity and fury, and produced the most cruel mas- 
 sacres and depopulations. 
 
 The picture of the church which Milton makes 
 Michael foreshow to Adum was speedily realized ;— • 
 
IN ALL AGES. 109 
 
 The Spirit 
 Poured first on liis apostles, whom he sends 
 To evangelize the nations, then on all 
 Baptized, shall them with wond'rous gifts endue 
 To speak all tongues, and do all miracles, 
 -As did their Lord before them. Thus thdy win 
 Great numbers of each nation, to receive 
 With joy the tidings brought from Heaven : at length, 
 Their ministiy performed, and race well run, 
 Their doctrine, and their story written left. 
 They die ; but in their room, as they forewarn. 
 Wolves shall succeed for teachers, grievous wolves, 
 Who all the sacred mysteries of Heaven 
 To their own vile advantages shall turn 
 Of lucre and ambition : and the truth 
 Witii superstitions and traditions taint, 
 Left only in those written records pure, 
 Though not but by the spirit understood. 
 Then shall they seek to avail themselves of names, 
 Places, and titles, and with these to join 
 Secular power ; though feigning still to act 
 By spiritual ; to themselves appropriating 
 The Spirit of God, promised ahke and given 
 To all believers ; and from that pretence 
 Spiritual laws by carnal power shall force 
 On ev'ry conscience ; laws which none shall find 
 Left them enrolled, or what the Spirit within 
 Shall on the heart engrave. What will they then 
 But force the Spirit of Grace itself, and bind 
 His consort Liberty ? What but unbuild 
 His living temple, built by Faith to stand. 
 Their own faith, not another's ? For, on earth, 
 Who against faith and conscience can be heard 
 Infalhble I Yet many will presume : 
 Whence heavy persecution shall arise 
 On all, who in the worship persevere 
 Of spirit and truth ; the rest, far greater part, 
 Will deem, in outward rites and specious forms. 
 Religion satisfied : truth shall retire 
 Bestuck with slanderous darts, and works of faith 
 Rarely be found : so shall the world go on. 
 To good malignant, to bad men benign : 
 Under her own weight groaning : till the day 
 Appear of respiration to the just. 
 And vengeance to the wicked. 
 
 In this century many of those steps were laid by 
 which the bishops of Rome afterward mounted to the 
 summit of ecclesiastical power and despotism. These 
 steps were laid, partly by the imprudence of the em- 
 perors, partly by the dexterity of the Roman prelates. 
 In the 5th century the declining power of the emperors 
 left the pontiff at liberty to exercise authority almost 
 
110 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 ■without control ; and the irruptions of the barbarians 
 contributed to strengthen this authority ; for, perceiving 
 the subserviency of the multitude to the bishop, they 
 resolved to secure his interest and influence by loading 
 liini with benefits and honours. 
 
 This was the second mode by which they acquirelfl 
 power, — flattering the surrounding kings ; serving them 
 occrisionally, witliout regard to lionour or principle, or, 
 as thev grew stronger, subduing them liy menaces to 
 their will. In the seventh century the Roman pontiffs 
 used all sorts of methods to maintain and enlarge the 
 authority and pre-eminence they had acquired by a 
 grant from the most odious tyrant that ever disgraced 
 the annals of liistory. Boniface III. engaged Phocas, 
 that abominabh; despot, who waded to the imperial 
 throne through the blood of the Emperor Mauritius, to 
 take from the patriarch of Constantinople the title of 
 OGcumeiiical, or Universal Bishop, and confer it upon 
 him. In the next century a still more glaring stretch 
 of assumed priestly power was exhibited. We observe, 
 says Mosheim, in the French annals, the following re- 
 markable and shocking instance of the enormous power 
 that Mas, at this time, invested in tlie Roman pontiif. 
 Pepin was mayor of the palace to Childeric 111. ; and, 
 in exercise of that high office, was possessed, in reality, 
 of the royal power ; but, not content with this, he 
 formed the design of dethroning his sovereign. He 
 therefore sent ambassadors to Rome to 'mqim-e,ivlicthcr 
 the divine laio did not permit a vcdiant and warlike jjeople 
 to dethrone a piLsillanimous and indolent monarchy leho 
 was incapable of performing any of the funetions of 
 royalty^ and to substitute in his place one more worthy to 
 rule ? Zachary had need of the aid of Pepin ; and his 
 answer was all that could be wished. \Vlien this de- 
 cision of the pope was published in France, Pepin 
 stripped poor Childeric of his royalty ; and stepped 
 immediately into his throne. This decision was 
 solemnly confirmed by his successor, Stephen II., who 
 went to France ; and being under tlie necessity of so- 
 liciting Pepin's aid against the Lombards, dissolved the 
 
IN ALL AGES. Ill 
 
 act of allegiance and fidelity the usurper had sworn to 
 Childeric ; and, to render his title as firm as possible, 
 anointed and crowned him, his wife, and two sons. 
 
 This compliance of the Roman pontifis proved an 
 abundant source of opulence and credit to them. Pepin 
 marched into Italy, subdued all the pope's enemies, and 
 put him in possession of tlie Grecian provinces in Italy. 
 The Exarch of Ravenna, wdien Pepin retired, threw 
 oft" the yoke, and besieged Rome ; but Pepin returned, 
 and compelled him again to deliver up the exarchate 
 of Ravenna and Pentapolis to the pontiff; and thus 
 raised the Bishop of Rome to the rank of a temporal 
 prince. After Pepin's death a new attack was made 
 upon the papal territory, by Dideric, king of the Lom- 
 bards. The then pope, Adrian I., fled to Charlemagne, 
 the son of Pepin; who, having need of the pope's 
 sanction to seize on the Eastern Roman Empire, 
 hastened to Rome ; repelled the pope's foes, and in 
 consideration of his sanction of his ambitious views, 
 added fresh territories to the papal see. Thus, by the 
 most shameless and unprincipled trafticking between 
 the pretended Vicar of Christ and these bold bad 
 kings, did the popes acquire royalty and dominion, 
 and gave to treason and regal robbery the assumed 
 sanction of heaven ! Once placed by kings on tem- 
 poral thrones, these audacious priests soon showed 
 their royal contemporaries what companions they had 
 admitted among them. Not contented with what royal 
 robbeiy had given tliem, they speedily assailed their 
 princely neighbours ; souglit to hurl them from their 
 throne, and stirred np some of the most bloody Vv^ars 
 on record. 
 
 The notorious Hildebrand, a Tuscan monk, of mean 
 origin, having arrived at the pontificate, stAded himself 
 Gregory VIL, and displayed to the world the full 
 measure of the priestly spirit. He was a man, says 
 Mosheim, of uncommon genius, whose ambition in 
 tbrming tlie most arduous projects was equalled by 
 his dexterity in bringing them into execution. Saga- 
 cious, crafty, and intrepid, he suftered nothing to escape 
 
113 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 his penetration, defeat, his stratagems, or daunt his 
 courage. Haughty and arrogant beyond all measure ; 
 obstinate, impetuous, and intractable ; he looked up to 
 the summit of universal empire with a wistful eye ; 
 and laboured up the steep ascent with uninterrupted ar- 
 dour, andinvincible perseverance. Void of all principle, 
 destitute of every virtuous feeling ; he suffered little 
 restraint in his audacious pursuits from the dictates of 
 religion, or the remonstrances of conscience. Not 
 content to enlarge the jurisdiction and augment the 
 opulence of the see of Rome, he strove to render the 
 universal church subject to its despotism ; to dissolve 
 the jurisdiction of kings and princes over the various 
 orders of the clergy ; and exclude them from the man- 
 agement of the revenues of the church. Nay, he 
 would submit to his power the kings, emperors, and 
 princes themselves ; and render their dominions tribu- 
 tary to Rome. Such were the pious and apostolic 
 exploits that employed Gregory VII. during his whole 
 life ; and which rendered his pontificate a continual 
 scene of tumult and bloodshed. His conduct to France 
 was worthy of the country which had lirst given princely 
 power to the Roman priests, and of himself. It was 
 just that the realm which had put power into such 
 hands for such purposes as it did should be bitten by 
 a fiendish ingratitude. Hildebrand declared France 
 tributary to the see of Rome ; and ordered his legates 
 to demand yearly, in the most solemn manner, the 
 pa3mient of that tribute. Nothing can be more insolent 
 than the language in which the priest addressed him- 
 self to Philip of France, recommending an hinnble and 
 obliging carriage, from this consideration, that both his 
 kingdom and his soul were under the dominion of St. 
 Peter, i. Q» his vicar, the pope, icho had power to hind 
 and to loose him both on earth and in heaven. Nothing 
 escaped his all-grasping ambition. He drew up an 
 oath for the emperor of the Romans, from whom he de- 
 manded a profession of subjection and obedience. 
 He pretended Saxony Avas a feudal teimre, having been 
 a pious offering of Charlemagne to the see of Rome. 
 
I.N ALL AGES. 113 
 
 He chiiint'd Spain : maintained it had been the property 
 of the apostoUc see from the earliest times of the 
 church; and the Spanish princes paid him tribute. 
 He made the Uke attempts on England : but found in 
 William the Conqueror a dilierent subject. William 
 granted his Peter-pence, but refused to do homage for 
 liis crown. He wrote circular letters to the German 
 princes, to Geysa, King of Hungary, and Sweno, King 
 of Denmark, demanding submission. The son of 
 Demetrius, Czar of the Russias, went to Rome, in con- 
 sequence of his letters, to obtain the kingdom which 
 would devolve to him on his father's death, as a gift 
 from St. Peter, after professing subjection and alle- 
 giance to the prince of the apostles, — a gift readily 
 granted by the officious pope, who was extremely lib- 
 eral of what did not belong to him. Demetrius Suini- 
 mer, Duke of Croatia and Dalmatia, was raised to 
 royalty l)y him in the year 1076 ; and solemnly pro- 
 claimed king at Salona, on condition that he should 
 pay annually two hundred pieces of gold to St. Peter, 
 at the Easter festival. Boleslaus II., King of Poland, 
 having killed Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, Gregory 
 not only excommunicated him, but hurled him from his 
 throne ; dissolved the oath of allegiance which his 
 subjects had taken ; and forbid, by an express impe- 
 rious edict, the nobles and clergy of Poland from 
 electing a new king without his leave. 
 
 In Italy his success was transcendent. Matilda the 
 daughter of Boniface Duke of Tuscany, the most 
 powerful and opulent princess of that country, found 
 that neither ambition nor years had extinguished the 
 tender passion in the heart of Gregory, — and as a tes- 
 timony of the familiarity which existed between them, 
 settled all her possessions in Italy and elsewhere upon 
 the Church of Rome ; an act, however, strongly re- 
 sisted by her successor, and the cause of many strug- 
 gles and nnich liloodshed. 
 
 To complete his despotic power over every Chris- 
 tian prince, this odious priest claimed the sole right 
 of installing bishops in their office. It had been the 
 
114 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 custom of every prince to appoint the bishops ot his 
 own land. At the death of any one of these, tlie ring 
 and crosier, the insignia of liis office, were sent to the 
 monarch, and were by liim deUvered to the one he ap- 
 pointed. This right Gregory claimed as the sole pre- 
 rogative of the pope ; thus designing to make the 
 whole churcli dependent on him, and entirely subser- 
 vient to all the papal views — powerful instruments in 
 the pontifical hands against both prince and people, 
 the world over. The resistance this claim met with 
 led to terrible wars ; and we shall have occasion to 
 mention that with the Emperor of Germany, and his 
 humiliation before the haughty priest, under the head 
 of priestly arrogance. 
 
 Thus did this race of most shameless and audacious 
 men, while they called themselves the pastors of the 
 flock of the meek and tender Christ, daringly and 
 recklessly advance to a pitch of the most amazing, 
 enduring, and universal despotism over the loftiest and 
 most powerful monarchs. But to display efl'ectively 
 the full character of the Roman pontiffs, we must 
 write volumes on their deeds in the thirteenth and 
 fourteenth ce-nturies, which were filled with their aiTo- 
 gant demands from, and assumptions over, the sove- 
 reign powers of Europe ; for, at once, Conrad Duke of 
 Suabia, and Frederick of Austria, were actually be- 
 headed at Naples by order of Clement IV. ; and an- 
 other emperor, Henry IV., is supposed to have been 
 poisoned by a wafer, in taking the sacrament from a 
 Dominican monk. Their excommunications, — their 
 wars, — their vindictive quarrels with kings, and with 
 each other, — these things swell the numerous volumes 
 of ecclesiastical history. Nothing, indeed, is so revolt- 
 ing in all the annals of the world as the malignant bitter- 
 ness of these vicars of Christ against each other upon 
 different occasions. Their unbridled ambition led 
 more than once to the election of two popes at the 
 same time, and to the consequent tearing asimder of 
 all Europe with their petty factions. 
 
 The example of the pontiffs was not lost on the 
 
IN ALL AGES. 115 
 
 bishops, abbots, and inferior clergy. These, even in 
 the time of Charlemagne, had actually obtained lor 
 their tenants and their possessions an immunity from 
 the jurisdiction of the counts and other magistrates ; 
 as also from taxes and imposts of all kinds. But in 
 this century they carried their pretensions still further, 
 — aimed at the civil government of the cities and ter- 
 ritories in which they exercised a spiritual dominion ; 
 and even aspired to the honours and authority of 
 dukes, marquises, and counts of the empire. The 
 nobles were for ever resisting, in their respective do- 
 mains, the assumptions of the clergy in matters of 
 jurisdiction and other afiairs. These, therefore, seized 
 the opportunity which was offered them by the super- 
 stition of the times, to obtain from the kings these, the 
 ancient rights of the nobles ; and, as the influence of 
 the bishops over the people was greater than that of 
 the nobility, the kings, to secure the services of so 
 powerful a priesthood, generally granted their requests. 
 Thus they became bishops and abbots clothed with 
 titles and dignities so foreign to their spiritual office, 
 — reverend dukes, marquises, counts, and viscounts ! 
 
 It was not however by these means only that they 
 sought dominion over the world. They had a thou- 
 sand arts to rivet their power into the souls of the 
 people. Councils were one of them. As if the 
 sacerdotal name and inculcations were not influential 
 enough, they sought, by collecting together all the 
 dignities of the church into one place, to invest them 
 with a more awful character ; and to render the en- 
 actments of these priestly congresses everlasting and 
 indissoluble laws. These enactments were such as — 
 the worship of images, decreed in the council of Nice 
 787; the holding of a festival to the Virgin Mother, 
 instituted by the council of Mentz in the 9th century ; 
 taking the cup of the sacrament from the laity ; and a 
 declaration of the lawfulness of breaking the most 
 solemn engagements made to heretics, by the council 
 of Constance in the fifteenth century, with a thousantl 
 
tll6 PRIKSTCRAFT 
 
 Other despotic or absurd decrees agHinst all sects, 
 and all freedom ol" opinion ; and for the institution of 
 exclusive rites and festivals.* 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 POPERY. 
 
 Establishment of Monkery — Numbers and Enorinities of the Monks 
 — Spies and Champions of Popery — Their Quarrels — Strange 
 History of Jetzer — Frauds practised in England — Maid of Kent — 
 Pilgrimage of Grace — Forgery of the Decretals — Modes of enslav- 
 ing the Popular Mind — Relics, Pilgrimages, Crusades, Festivals, 
 Confessions, Purgatory, Pardons, Mass, Excommunications, In- 
 quisition — Treatment of learned Men. 
 
 Chastity Speaks. 
 I blame the Emperour Constantine, 
 That I am put to sic ruine, 
 
 And baniest from the kirk : 
 For since he maid the Paip an king, 
 In Rome, I could get na lodging : 
 
 But headlong in the dark. 
 But ladie Sensualitie, 
 Since then, has guidit this cuntrie, 
 
 And monie of the rest : 
 And now scho reulis all this land 
 And has decreed, at her command, 
 
 That I should be supprest. 
 Sir D.vviD Lyndsay's S.\tvre of the Three Estaites. 
 
 The establishment of monkery was another means 
 of building up a perfect despotism by tlie papists. 
 These orders originated in the third century, and, mid- 
 tiplying through successive ages, became, not only 
 various in name, but countless in number ; spreading 
 in swarms throughout every part of Christendom ; 
 propagating superstition, lewdness, and ignorance ; 
 acting as spies and supporters of the papal dominion ; 
 fixing themselves in every fertile and pleasant spot ; 
 
 * See Appendix II. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 117 
 
 awing, or wheedling the rich and foolisli out of their 
 lands and possessions ; and at length bursting out 
 into the most bitter quarrels among themselves, be- 
 came like so many rabid dogs before the public eye ; 
 and hastened, in no small degree, the downfall of the 
 church which had set them up for its own support. 
 They, as well as the secular clergy, were forbidden 
 to marry ; and hence flowed a torrent of corruption 
 throughout the world. In the third century they formed, 
 says Mosheim, connexions with those women wlio had 
 made vow^s of chastity ; and it was an ordinary thing 
 for an ecclesiastic to admit one of these fair saints to his 
 bed, but still under the most solemn declarations that 
 nothing passed contrary to the rules of chastity and 
 virtue ! These holy concubines were called Mulieres 
 Subintroduct(B. 
 
 Yet more, — round many a convent's blazing fire 
 Unhallowed threads of revelry are spun ; 
 There Venus sits disguised like a Nun, — 
 While Bacchus, clothed in semblance of a Friar, 
 Pours out his choicest beverage, high and higher 
 Sparkling, until it cannot choose but run 
 Over the bovvfl, whose silver lip hath won 
 An instant kiss of masterful desire — 
 To stay the precious waste : through evei7 brain 
 The domination of the sprightly juice 
 Spreads high conceits, to madding Fancy dear, 
 Till the arched roof, with resolute abuse 
 Of its grave echoes, sv^^ells a choral strain, 
 Whose votive burden is — " Our kingdom's here !" 
 
 Wordsworth. 
 
 These fellows too, especially the mendicants, wan- 
 dering over Europe, were the most active venders of 
 relics, and propagators of every superstitious notion 
 and rite. Their licentiousness, so early as the fifth 
 century, was become proverbial ; and they are said to 
 have excited thus early, in various places, the most 
 dreadful tumults and seditions. In the next century 
 they nmltiplied so prodigiously in the East, that whole 
 armies might have been raised of them without any 
 sensible diminution of their numbers. In the western 
 provinces also they were held in the highest venera- 
 tion, and both monks and nuns swarmed. In Great 
 
118 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 Britain, an abbot, Cougal, persuaded aii innumerable 
 number of persons to abandon the aflairs, duties, and 
 obligations of life, and to shut themselves up in idle- 
 ness, or to wander about in holy mischief. In the 
 seventh century, the contagion spread still more enor- 
 mously. Heads of families, striving to surpass each 
 other's zeal for the advancement of monkeiy, shut up 
 their children in convents, and devoted them to a soli- 
 taiy life as the highest felicity. Abandoned profli- 
 gates, terrified by their guilty consciences, were com- 
 forted with the delusive hopes of pardon, by leaving 
 their fortune to monastic societies. Multitudes de- 
 prived their children of their rich lands and patrimo- 
 nies, to confer them on the monks, whose prayers 
 were to render the Deity propitious. In the following 
 century the mania had reached such a height, that em- 
 perors and kings conferred whole provinces, cities, 
 and titles of honour on these creatures. In the suc- 
 ceeding ages, so much did their licentiousness and 
 ignorance increase, that in the tenth century few of 
 the monks knew the rules of their own orders which 
 they had sworn to obey, but lived in the most luxuri- 
 ous and prodigal magnificence with their concubines. 
 The fourteenth century was distracted with the con- 
 tentions of the various orders of the monks, who had 
 grown so full of wealth, luxury, pride, and all evil 
 passions, that they not only turned tlieir wrath against 
 each other, but against the y)ope^ tliemselves. Their 
 bitter and presumptuous bickerings fdled this centur}^ 
 with the most strange and hateful scenes. 
 
 We must pass over the monkish liistory, and con- 
 tent ourselves with a few remarks of Moslieim, on 
 their state in the sixteenth century, at the time when 
 their crimes and excesses were bringing on them the 
 Reformation. M'Jie prodigious swarms of monks, says 
 this historian, that overran Europe, were justly con- 
 sidered as burdens to society ; and, nevertheless, 
 such was the genius of the age, an age that was just 
 emerging from the thickest gloom of ignorance, and 
 was suspended, as it were, in a dubious situation 
 
IN ALL AGES. 119 
 
 between darkness and light, that these monastic drones 
 would have remained undisturbed, had they taken the 
 least pains to preserve any remains even of the exter- 
 nal air of decency and religion, which distingiiished 
 them in fonner times. But the Benedictine, and other 
 monkish fraternities, v/ho were invested with the privi- 
 lege of possessing certain lands and revenues, broke 
 through all restraint, and made the worst possible use 
 of their opulence ; and, l"orgetful of the gravity of 
 their cliaracter, and of the laws of their order, rushed 
 headlong into the shameless practice of vice, in all 
 its various kinds and degrees. On the other hand, 
 the mendicant orders, and csp(>cially the Dominicans 
 and Franciscans, lost their credit in a diflcrent way : 
 for their rustic impudence, their ridiculous supersti- 
 tions, their ignorance, cmelty, and brutish manners, 
 tended to alienate irom them the minds of the people. 
 They had the most barbarous aversion to the arts and 
 sciences, and expressed a like abhorrence of certain 
 learned men, who, being eagerly desirous of enlighten- 
 ing the age, attacked their barbarism in l)otli their dis- 
 course and their writings ; — this was the case with 
 Reuchlerius, Erasmus, and others. 
 
 The Dominicans poss(!ssed the greatest power and 
 credit of all monks : they presided in church and 
 state ; were confessors to tlie great, and judges of the 
 horrible Inquisition — circumstances v/hich put most 
 of the European princes under their control ; but, not 
 content witli these means of infhience, they resorted 
 to the most infamous frauds, to enslave the ignorance 
 of the age. One of the most singular instances of 
 this sort is that recorded by Reuchat, in his Histoire 
 de la Reformation en Suisse ; by Hottinger, and by 
 Bishop Burnet, in his travels on the Continent. So 
 remarkable is it, that I must give it as compendiously 
 as I can. 
 
 " The stratagem was in consequence of a rivalry 
 between the Dominicans and Franciscans, and more 
 especially of their controversy concerning the im- 
 maculate conception of the Virgin Mary. The latter 
 
120 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 maintained that she was bom without the blemish of 
 original sin : the former asserted the contraiy. The 
 doctrine of the Franciscans, in an age of superstition, 
 could not but be popular ; and hence the Dominicans 
 lost ground daily. To obviate this they resolved, at 
 a chapter held at Vimpsen in 1504, to have recourse 
 to fictitious visions, in which the people at that time 
 had an easy faith ; and they determined to make 
 Bern the scene of their operations. A lay-brother of 
 the name of Jetzer, an extremely simple fellow, was 
 fixed on as the instrument of these delusions. One 
 of the four Domini<;ans who had undertaken the man- 
 agement of this plot conveyed himself secretly into 
 Jetzer's cell, and about midnight appeared to him in 
 a horrid figure, surrounded with howling dogs, and 
 seeming to blow fire from his nostrils by means of a 
 box of combustibles which he held near his mouth. 
 He approached Jetzer's bed, and told him he was the 
 ghost of a Dominican Avho had been killed at Paris 
 as a judgment of Heaven for laying aside his monastic 
 habit ; that he was condemned to purgatory for this 
 crime, and could only be rescued from his horrible 
 torments by his means. This story, accompanied 
 with horrid cries and bowlings, frightened poor Jetzer 
 out of what little wits he had, and engaged him to do 
 all in his po^ver to rescue the Dominican from his 
 torment. The impostor then told him that nothing 
 but the discipline of the whip applied for eight days 
 by the whole monastery, and Jetzer's lying prostrate 
 on the chapel floor in the form of a cross during 
 mass, could effect this. He added, these mortifica- 
 tions would secure Jetzer the peculiar favour of the 
 Blessed Virgin ; and told him he would appear to 
 him again with two other spirits. 
 
 "Morning was no sooner come than Jetzer related 
 these particulars to the whole convent ; Avho enjoined 
 him to undergo all that he was commanded, and 
 promised to bear their part. The deluded simpleton 
 obeyed, and was admired as a saint by the multitude 
 who crowded about the convent ; while the four friars 
 
IN ALL AGES. Hi 
 
 who managed the imposture, magnified, in the most 
 pompous manner, the miracle of this apparition in 
 their sermons and conversations. Night after night 
 the apparition was renewed, with the addition of two 
 other impostors, dressed like devils ; and Jetzers 
 faith was augmented, by hearing from the spectre all 
 the secret of his own life and thoughts, which the 
 impostors had got from his confessor. In this and 
 subsequent scenes, whose enormities we must pass 
 over, the impostor talked much to Jetzer of the 
 Dominican order; which, he said, was peculiarly 
 dear to the Blessed Virgin ; that the Blessed Virgin 
 knew herself to be born in original sin ; that the 
 doctors who taught the contrary were in purgatory ; 
 that she abhorred the Franciscans for making her 
 equal to her son ; and that the town of Bern would be 
 destroyed for harbouring such plagues within it. 
 
 " In one of these apparitions, Jetzer, silly as he was, 
 discovered the similarity of the spectre's voice to that 
 of the prior — who it actually was — yet he did not 
 suspect the fraud. The prior appeared in various 
 disguises : sometimes as St. Barbaro, sometimes as 
 St. Bernard, and at length as the Virgin herself, 
 clothed in the habit which adorned her statue at 
 festivals. The little images that on these days are 
 set on the altar were used for angels, which being tied 
 to a cord which passed through a pulley over Jetzer's 
 head, rose up and down, and danced about the pre- 
 tended virgin, to increase the delusion. The virgin 
 addressed a long discom'se to Jetzer; gave him a 
 marvellous wafer, — a host which turned, in a moment, 
 from white to red ; and after various visits, in which 
 the greatest enonnities were acted, the virgin prior 
 told Jetzer she would give him the most undoubted 
 proof of her son's love, by imprinting on him the five 
 wounds that pierced Jesus on the cross, as she had 
 done before to St. Lucia and St. Catherine. Accord- 
 ingly she took his hand, and thi-ust a large nail 
 through it, which threw the poor dupe into the 
 greatest torment. The next mght, tins masculine 
 F 
 
122 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 virgin brought, as she pretended, some of the linen in 
 which Christ had been buried, to soften the wound ; 
 and gave Jetzer a soporific draught, composed of the 
 blood of an unbaptized child, some incense, con- 
 secrated salt, quicksilver, the hairs of a child's 
 eyebrows, with some poisonous and stupifying in- 
 gredients, mingled by the prior with magic cere- 
 monies, and a solemn dedication of himself to the 
 devil, in hope of his aid. This draught threw the 
 poor wretch into a lethargy, during which the other 
 four wounds were imprinted on his body. When he 
 awoke and discovered them, he fell into unspeakable 
 joy, and believed himself a representation of Christ 
 in the various parts of his passion. He ^vas, in this 
 state, exposed to the admiring multitude on the 
 principal altar of the convent, to the great mortifica- 
 tion of the Franciscans. The Dominicans gave him 
 some other draughts, and threw him into convulsions, 
 which were followed by a voice conveyed through a 
 pipe into the mouths of two images, one of Mary, 
 the other of the child Jesus ; the former of which had 
 tears painted upon its cheeks in a lively manner. 
 The little Jesus asked his mother why she wept ; 
 she answered, for the impious manner in which the 
 Franciscans attributed to her the honour that was due 
 to him. 
 
 " The apparitions, false prodigies, and abominable 
 stratagems were repeated every night ; and were, at 
 length, so gi'ossly overacted, that even the simple 
 Jetzer saw through them, and almost killed the priest. 
 Lest this discoveiy should spoil all, they thought it 
 best to own the whole to Jetzer, and prevail on him 
 to join in the imposture ; engaging him, by the most 
 seducing promises of opulence and glory, to carry on 
 the delusion. Jetzer appeared to be persuaded, but 
 lest he should not be faithful and secret, they at- 
 tempted to poison him ; and it was alone owing to 
 the vigour of his constitution that they did not suc- 
 ceed. Once they gave him a rich spiced loaf, which; 
 Rowing green in a day or two, he threw a piece to a 
 
IN ALL AGES. 123 
 
 wolf's whelps, kept in the monastery, and it killed 
 them immediately. Again they poisoned the host, 
 or consecrated wafer; but he vomited it up. In 
 short, the most detestable means to destroy him and 
 his evidence were employed; but he succeeded in 
 getting out of the convent, and throwing himself into 
 the hands of the magistrates. The whole thus came 
 to be sifted out ; commissioners were sent from Rome 
 to examine the affair; and the four friars were 
 solemnly degTaded, and burnt alive on the last day 
 of May, 1509. Jetzer died soon after. Had he been 
 destroyed before this exposure, this execrable plot 
 would have been handed down to posterity as a 
 stupendous miracle." 
 
 Rome could hasten to pmiish such vile frauds when 
 they were made public, but she was not the less ready 
 to practise them herself in the most daring manner, 
 as I shall proceed to show : but before leaving this 
 strange case of Jetzer, it may be remarked, that auda- 
 cious and even incredible as it may appear to many, 
 it rests upon too good authority to be doubted. Hun- 
 dreds, indeed, of similar instances might be brought, 
 for the whole history of the Romish church is that of 
 fraud and delusion : but we need not go out of our 
 own country for similar transactions. Who does not 
 call to mind the affair of the Maid of Kent, enacted in 
 the reign of Henry the Eighth, at the very moment 
 he was aiming a death-blow at popery, and in the 
 face of a people whose eyes were opening to the acts 
 and impostures of the papal sorceress ? The case may 
 be seen at large in Hume. The substance of it is this ; 
 some monks, and one Masters, the vicar of Aldington, 
 in Kent, got hold of a girl of the name of Elizabeth 
 Barton, who was subject to convulsive fits, and in- 
 duced her to enter into a system of deception on the 
 public mind. They gave out that she was inspired, 
 and in these fits delivered the words of the Virgin 
 Mary. Having once imposed, not merely on the 
 common people, but engaged the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury and other dignitaries of the church in 
 F2 
 
124 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 tl^ affair, they proceeded to promulgate heavenly 
 messages against the reforming principles, and even 
 threatened destruction to the king if he proceeded in 
 them. The friars, throughout the country, comite- 
 nanced the delusion, and propagated it with all their 
 zeal and might. But tliey had a man to deal with 
 very inauspicious for their purpose. He arrested the 
 holy maid and her accomplices, brought them before 
 the Star Chamber, and soon terrified them into a full 
 confession of their imposture. A most scandalous 
 scene was laid open. Her pruicipal accomplices, 
 Masters the vicar, and Dr. Bocking, a canon of Can- 
 terbury, were found to have a private entrance to her 
 chamber, and to have led a most licentious life with 
 her. The girl and six of her coadjutors were executed ; 
 and the Bishop of Rochester and others were con- 
 demned for misprision of treason, because they had 
 not revealed her criminal speeches, and were thrown 
 into prison. This was in England in the sixteenth 
 century, and is a good specimen of the spirit of 
 monkery: but another of a more menacing kind was 
 soon given. Their "Diana of the Ephesians" was 
 in danger ; the king threatened, not only to destroy 
 popery, but to root out the monasteries ; and it was 
 not in the nature of priests and monks to resign their 
 ill-gotten booty without a struggle. They set up 
 the standard of rebellion. A monk, the Prior of 
 Barlings in Lincolnshire, was at the head of it. He 
 marched with 20,000 men at his heels, till he iell 
 into the king's hands. But another army from the 
 north was not so easily scattered. This, which con- 
 sisted of 40,000 men, called its enterprise the Pil- 
 grimage of Grace. Some priests marched before in 
 the habits of their order, carrying crosses in their 
 hands ; in their banners was woven a cmcifix, with 
 the representation of the chalice, and the five womids 
 of Christ. They wore on their sleeve an emblem of 
 the five womids, with the name of Jesus wrought in 
 the middle : and all took an oath that they had no 
 motive but love to God^ care of the king^s person and 
 
IN ALL AGES, 125 
 
 issue ; and a desire to purify the nobility^ drive base- 
 born persons from about the king, and restore the 
 church, and suppress heresy. With those pretensions 
 they marched from place to place ; took Hull, York, 
 and other towns ; excited great disturbance and 
 clamour, and were not dispersed but with gi-eat diffi- 
 culty. This was a trial of force where fraud could 
 not succeed of itself, according to the established 
 papal policy; but fraud was alone one of its most 
 successful means of acquiring power, — and in order to 
 contemplate this instrument more clearly we must go 
 back again to an earlier age. 
 
 To advance their power the popes did not shrink 
 from the most audacious forgery. Such was that of 
 the notorious decretals of Isidore ; documents pur- 
 porting to be written by the early pontiffs, and contain- 
 ing grants of the Holy See from Constantino ; of the 
 supremacy of the pope, and other privileges; all 
 proved by the clearest evidence to be the most bare- 
 faced inventions. 
 
 Frauds were multiplied abundantly to besot and 
 blind the popular spirit. Monks, bishops, warriors, 
 and men of the worst characters, nay of neither 
 character nor real existence, as St. George and his 
 dragon, were canonized, made into saints, and their 
 lives written in a manner most calculated to beguile 
 the ignorance of the times. Shrines were set up, 
 and churches dedicated to them, where people might 
 pray for their aid. Dreams and miracles were pre- 
 tended to throw light on the places of their burial ; 
 solemn processions were set on foot to discover and 
 take them up ; and the most miraculous powers at- 
 tributed to them. Bones were buried, and afterward 
 pretended to be found, and declared by heaven to 
 belong to saints and martyrs : and bits of bone, hairs, 
 fragments of filthy rags, and other vile things, chips 
 of the true cross, &c., were sold at enormous prices, 
 as capable of working cures and effecting blessings 
 of all kinds. The milk of the Virgin, and the blood 
 of St. Januarius, which liquefied on the day of his 
 
126 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 festival, were particularly famous in Italy. In Eng- 
 land, at the dissolution of the monasteries, many very 
 curious ones were found. The parings of St. Ed- 
 mond's toes ; some ol" the coals that roasted St. Law- 
 rence ; the girdle of the Virgin shown in eleven 
 several places ; the belt of St. Thomas of Lancaster, 
 an infallible cure for the headache ; part of St. Thomas 
 of Canterbury's shirt ; but chief of all the blood of 
 Christ brought from Jerusalem, and shown for many 
 ages at Hales in Gloucestershire. This sacred blood 
 was not visible to any one in mortal sin ; but in doing 
 sufficient good work, i. e, paying money enough, it 
 revealed itself. It was preserved in a vial, one side 
 of which was transparent, the other opaque. Into 
 this the monks every week put a fresh supply of the 
 blood of a duck ; and, on any pilgrim arriving, the dark 
 side was shown him, which threw him into such con- 
 sternation for his sinful state, that he generally pur- 
 chased masses and made offerings, till his money or 
 fortune began to fail ; when the charitable monks 
 turned the clear side towards him — hs beheld the 
 blood, and went away happy in his regenerate con- 
 dition. 
 
 Rumours were spread of prodigies to be seen in 
 certain places ; roblDers were converted into martyrs ; 
 tombs falsely given out to be those of saints ; and 
 many monks travelled from place to place, not only 
 selling, with matchless impudence, their fictitious 
 relics, but deluding the eyes of the people with ludi- 
 crous combats with spirits and genii. Ambrose, in 
 his disputes with the Arians, produced men possessed 
 with devils, who, upon the approach of the relics of 
 Gervasius and Protatius, were obliged to cry out that 
 the doctrine of the Council of Nice on the Trinity was 
 true, and that of the Arians false. One of the pre- 
 cious maxims of the fourth century was, " that it was 
 an act of virtue to deceive and lie when it could pro- 
 mote the interest of the church," — a maxim never 
 afterward forgotten. Pilgrimages to distant holy 
 olaces were hit upon as a strong means to employ 
 
IN ALL AGES. 127 
 
 the minds and enslave the affections of numbers : 
 houses, as that of the Virgin at Loretto, were even 
 said to descend from heaven to receive the sacred 
 enthusiasm of men ; and Crusades, those preposterous 
 and tremendous wars, whose details are filled with 
 the most exquisite miseries, and most abhorrent 
 crimes and licentiousness, were promoted, as potent 
 means of employing the power and exhausting the 
 treasures of kings. In those crusades, millions of 
 miserable wretches, men, women, and children, — the 
 low, the ignorant, the idle, the dissolute, — after wan- 
 dering from kingdom to kingdom, the wonder and 
 horror of the inhabitants, were consumed ; and from 
 those crusades, in return, loads of relics were poured 
 out of Syria over all Europe. 
 
 All kinds of ceremonies and festivals were im- 
 ported from paganism for the same end. Auricular 
 Confession was invented, by which the clergy be- 
 came the keepers of the consciences of the whole 
 world; and the spiritual tyrants, not merely of the 
 weak and the wicked, but of every one capable of a 
 sense of shame or of fear. Indulgences were granted 
 for the commission of crimes, and past sins pardoned 
 for money and gifts of lands : — and Purgatory ! that 
 most subtle and profitable invention of priestcraft, was 
 contrived, to give the church power over both living 
 and dead. Thus was the religion of Christ completely 
 disfigured by pagan ceremonies, and made to sanction 
 all wickedness for the sake of gain. The very cele- 
 bration OF worship was ordered to be in Latin ; an 
 unknown tongue to the great mass of those who heard 
 it, so that they were reduced, not only to feed on the 
 chaff and garbage of priestly fables, but in the very 
 temple of God himself to fill themselves with mere 
 wind and empty sounds. The bread was taken from 
 the children and given to the dogs. Mass was invented 
 — that splendid piece of mummery, which, filling the 
 ^ eyes while it enlightened not the mind, was at once 
 an instrument of keeping the people in ignorance ; of 
 fixing them fast by the imagination to the hollow trunk 
 of formality ; and of filling the pockets of the priests, 
 
128 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 by whom it was never performed without a fee ; for 
 the souls of the dead paid more or less according to 
 the imagined need. For many a great sinner masses 
 were established for ever ; and whole lordships were 
 given to the church, to support chapels and chantries 
 for the peace of souls that v/ere already beyond rescue, 
 or need of redemption. Every prayer and paternoster 
 had its price. Thus was heaven, earth, and all therein 
 turned into a source of beastly gain. The rage for 
 dominion in the popes, says Mosheim, M'as accom- 
 panied by a most insatiable avarice. All the provinces 
 of Europe were drained to enrich those spiritual ty- 
 rants, who were perpetually gaping after new acces- 
 sions of wealth. 
 
 Another mode of influence w^as, constituting churches 
 ASYLUMS for robbers and murderers ; another, that dark 
 one of EXCOMMUNICATION ; another, the borrowing of 
 ORDEALS from the pagans ; another, the right of patron- 
 age ; and, lastly, the terrors of the iNQUisiTio>f. 
 
 Such were the multiplied means employed for the 
 monopoly of all the wealth, power, and honour of the 
 universe by this infamous race of vampyres ; and we 
 have but too many instances of their determination to 
 quench and keep dowm knowledge in their treatment 
 of Bacon, Petre d'Abano, Arnold of Villa Nuova, and 
 Galileo ; to say nothing of the Reformers, whom they 
 regarded as their natural enemies, and destroyed with- 
 out mercy. Mankind owes to the Roman church an 
 everlasting reward of indignation for its attempts to crush 
 into imbecility the human mind, and to insidt it in its 
 weakness with the most pitiful baubles and puerilities. 
 
 And for what end were all these outrages on human- 
 ity, — these mockeries of every thing great, — these 
 blasphemies of every thing holy, perpetrated ? That 
 they might wallow, undisturbed, in the deepest mire 
 of vice and sensuality, and heap upon those they had 
 deluded and stripped of property, of liberty, and of 
 mind, insult and derision. Let every man who hesi- 
 tates to set his hand to the destruction of state reli- 
 gions look on this picture of all enormities that can 
 disgrace om- nature, and reflect that such is the 
 
IN ALL AGES. 129 
 
 inevitable tendency of all priestcraft. Is it said we 
 see nothing so bad now 1 And why 1 Because man 
 has got the upper-hand of his tyrant, and keeps him 
 in awe, — not because the nature of priestcraft is 
 altered ; and yet, let us turn but our eyes to Catholic 
 countries, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the scene is 
 lamentable ; and even in our own country, where free 
 institutions check presumption, and the press terrifies 
 many monsters from the light of day, — we behold 
 things which make our hearts throb with indignation. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 POPISH ARROGANCE AND ATROCITIES. 
 
 The Pope proclaims himself Lord of the Universe — Treatment 'of, 
 Dandolo, of Frederick Barbarossa, and of Henry IV. — Sets op 
 and dethrones Kmgs — Imitated by the Clergy — Thomas a Becket 
 — King John's Humiliation — Galileo — Massacres of Protestants 
 in the Netherlands — Massacre of Bartholomew — Bloody Perse- 
 cutions of the Vaudois — War of Extermination waged by the Pope 
 in Provence — Extinction of the Troubadours — Noble Conduct of 
 the young Count of Bezeirs — Rise of the Inquisition. 
 
 Unless to Peter's Chair the viewless wind 
 Must come and ask permission where to blow, 
 What further empire would it have ? — for now 
 A ghostly domination, unconfined 
 As that by dreammg bard8 to love assigned, 
 Sits there in sober truth — to raise the low, 
 Perplex the wise, the strong to overthrow — 
 Through earth and heaven to bind and to unbind ! 
 Resist — the thunder quails thee ! — crouch — rebuff 
 Shall be thy recompense ! from land to land 
 The ancient thrones of Christendom are stuff 
 For occupation of a magic wand. 
 And 'tis the Pope that wields it ; whether rough 
 Or smooth his front, our world is in his hand ! 
 
 Wordsworth, 
 
 Arrogance and atrocity are prominent and imper- 
 ishable features in the priestly character ; and it might 
 be imagined that instances had been given in various 
 F3 
 
130 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 ages und nations which could not be surpassed : but 
 if we consider the fierce and audacious exhibition of 
 those qualities in the Romish priests ; the greatness 
 and extent of the kingdoms over which they exercised 
 them ; and the mild and unassuming nature of the 
 religion they professed to be the teachers of, it must 
 be confessed that the world has no similar examples to 
 present. The papal church seemed actuated by a 
 perfect furor and madness of intolerance, haughty dic- 
 tation, and insolent cruelty. In the 12th century the 
 pope proclaimed himself Loud of the Universe ; 
 and that neither prince nor bishop possessed any 
 power but what was derived from him ; in the 14th 
 he, on one occasion, at a great dinner, ordered Dan- 
 dolo, the Venetian ambassador, to be chained under 
 the table like a dog. In 1155 the pope insisted on 
 the celebrated emperor Frederick Barbarossa hold- 
 ing his stirrup, at the emperor's own coronation ; a 
 proposal at first rejected with disdain, and which led 
 to contests of a most momentous nature. Some 
 writers affirm that his successor, having compelled the 
 emperor to submit, trod upon his neck, and obliged 
 him to kiss his foot while the proud prelate repeated, 
 from Psalm xci. — " Thou shalt tread upon the lion 
 and the adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt 
 thou trample under foot." Our gi-eat poet receives 
 it as fact. 
 
 Black demons hovering o'er his mitred head, 
 
 To Caesar's successor the pontiff spake ; 
 
 " Ere I absolve thee, stoop ! that on thy neck 
 
 Levelled with earth this foot of mine may tread." 
 
 Then he who to the altar had been led, 
 
 He whose strong arm the Orient could not check, 
 
 He who had held the Soldan at his beck, 
 
 Stooped, of all glory disinherited. 
 
 And even the comnion dignity of man ! 
 
 Amazement strikes the crowd, 
 
 Wordsworth. 
 
 In the eighth century the humiliating ceremony of 
 kissing the pope's toe was introduced. In 1077 the 
 famous pope Gregory VII. compelled the emperor, 
 
IN ALL AGES. 131 
 
 Henry IV. to do penance for his resistance to his 
 monstrous claims. The mihappy monarch passed the 
 Alps in a severe winter; waited on the pontiff at 
 Canusium, where, mimindful of his dignity, he stood 
 three days at the entrance of the fortress, within which 
 the detestable pope was feasting with his mistress, the 
 Comitess Matilda, with his head and feet bare, and no 
 other raiment than a wretched piece of woollen cloth. 
 On the fourth day he was admitted to the pontiff, who 
 scarcely deigned to grant him the absolution he sought, 
 and absolutely refused to restore him to his throne till 
 after further delay and further indignities. The hu- 
 miliation of holding the stirrup was also forced on the 
 emperor Louis II. ; and every reader is familiar with 
 the arrogant spectacle of Pope Alexander riding into 
 the French camp, with the French monarch on the one 
 side, and the English on the other, walking at his stir- 
 rup. We have already seen the boundless assumption 
 and insolence of the popes in the thirteenth, fourteenth, 
 and fifteenth centuries ; how they thundered their 
 anathemas against kings and emperors, dethroned and 
 beheaded as they pleased ; made bloody wars on them 
 to wrest from them their power, and even set up new 
 kingdoms. 
 
 Their clergy naturally caught the same spirit, and 
 carried into every region and every house the same 
 intolerable haughtiness. The papal legates came to 
 the courts of the greatest princes, with an odious 
 arrogance that fully represented that of their master. 
 From the history of the European nations we might 
 select the most astonishing instances of legates, car- 
 dinals, and bishops, before whom both monarch and 
 people trembled ; but I shall only select one or two 
 from our own annals. Who can ever forget the noto- 
 rious Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury ? 
 one of the most perfect personifications of priestly 
 msolence and audacity. This wretch, who had been 
 raised to his high dignity by his royal master, and 
 loaded with every honour, having once gained all that 
 
132 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 his ambition could hope from the indulgent monarch, 
 became one of the most captious and troublesome 
 villains that ever disturbed, with priestly pride, the 
 peace of kingdoms. Henry, by aji act of the Coun- 
 cil of Clarendon, endeavoured to ])ring into some 
 tolerable degree of restraint the power and license of 
 the clergy. Becket most arrogantly refused all obe- 
 (hence to the king's wishes ; and backed by Alexander 
 III., the same pope who had so humiliated Frederick 
 Barbarossa, commenced a course of annoyance to the 
 mild-spirited king, which, even at this distance of time, 
 makes one's blood boil with indignation to read. The 
 monarch, aroused by it, compelled Becket to retire 
 to France. Hereupon the pope and the French king 
 interposed ; and endeavoured so far to pacify the 
 ofiended sovereign as to allow Becket to return to 
 England, and resume his office. But who that knows 
 any thing of priests could hope that he would be 
 touched with any sense of shame, or gratitude towards 
 his forgiving prince ? He became only more invete- 
 rately rebellious, and carried his insolence so far, that 
 four gentlemen, who witnessed with indignation the 
 vexations heaped on their sovereign, hastened to Can- 
 terburv', and inflicted on the haughty and sanctimo- 
 nious wretch deserved and exemplary death. 
 
 But if Becket was dead, the haughty pope was 
 alive, and soon compelled poor Henry to the most 
 humiliating degradations ; to go, bare-headed and 
 bare-footed, on pilgrimage to Canterbury, and do 
 penance at the canonized shrine of tlie now sainted 
 Becket ! 
 
 A similar fate was that of poor King John, — ^the 
 weak and wicked Lack-land. He ventured to oppose 
 the pope's power, who had proceeded to set aside the 
 election of John de Grey to the see of Canterbury', and 
 to appoint, spite of the king and the nation, Stephen 
 T^angton, primate of England. John assumed a high 
 tone ; and threatened to extinguisli the papal power 
 in England. What was the consequence I Innocent 
 
IN ALL AGES. 133 
 
 laid John's kingdom under the banx. A stop was pnt 
 to divine worship ; the churches were shut in every 
 parish; all the sacraments, except baptism, were 
 superseded ; the dead were buried in the highways, 
 without any sacred rites. Several, however, of the 
 better and more learned clergy, indignantly refused 
 obedience to this detestable interdict;' and the pope 
 accordingly proceeded to further measures. In 1209 
 he excommunicated John ; and two years afterward, 
 issued a bull, absolving all his subjects from their 
 allegiance, and ordering all persons to avoid him. 
 The next year, the enraged pope assembled a council 
 of cardinals and bishops, deposed John, declared the 
 throne of England vacant ; and ordered the king of 
 France to take it, and add it to his own. The French 
 king was ready enough to do this : he assembled an 
 army. John assembled another to oppose him ; and 
 had he been a monarch of an enlightened mind and 
 steady fortitude, England would have been rescued 
 from popish thraldom, and ihe Reformation accelerated 
 by some ages. But Pandolph, the pope's legate, ar- 
 riving in England, so succeeded by his artful repre- 
 sentations of the power of France, and the defection 
 of John's own subjects, that his courage broke down, 
 and he submitted to the most abject humiliations. He 
 promised, among other things, that he would submit 
 himself entirely to the judgment of the pope ; that he 
 would acknowledge Langton for primate ; that he 
 would restore all the exiled clergy and laity who 
 had been banished on account of the contest ; make 
 them full restitution of then' goods, and compensation 
 for all damages, and instantly consign eight thousand 
 pounds in part of payment ; and that any one outlawed 
 or imprisoned for his adherence to the pope should 
 be instantly received to grace and favour. He did 
 homage to the pope ; resigned his crown to him ; and 
 again received it from him as a gift ; and bound him 
 self to pay seven hundred marks annually for England, 
 and three hundred for Ireland : and consented that any 
 of his successors who refused to pay it should forfeit 
 
134 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 all right to the throne. All this was transacted in a 
 public assembly in the house of the Templars at 
 Dover, — for the popish priests always took care that 
 refractory kings should sufier the most public and 
 excruciating degradations ; and the legate, after having 
 kept the crown and sceptre five whole days, returned 
 them, as by special favom- of the pope. John, how- 
 ever, presented a sum of money in token of his de- 
 pendence, which the proud prelate trod inuler his feet. 
 In reviewing these things, one is ready to exclaim, 
 can it really be England in which such scenes have 
 been exhibited, and sufl'ered by Englishmen ? Thanks 
 to the progress of knowledge, which has crushed the 
 hydra-head of such monstrous priestcraft ! 
 ' The ATROCiTTEs of POPERY wcrc on a par with its 
 arrogance. In every age it has been ready with the 
 fire and the fagot ; and every one who dared to dis- 
 sent from its opinions was put to death with the cruel- 
 lest brutality. We have already adverted to its treat- 
 ment of learned men, wliose (uscoveries tended to 
 shake its power over the public mind. Galileo's forced 
 renunciation of what he knew to be the truth — the 
 verity of the Copernican system — has been a popular 
 theme in every age. 
 
 They bore 
 His chained limbs tu a dreary tower. 
 In the midst of a city vast and wide. 
 For he, they said, from his mind had bent 
 Against their gods keen blasphemy. 
 For which though his soul must roasted be 
 In liell's red lakes immortally, 
 Yet even oil earth must he abide 
 The vengeance of tlirir slaves! a trial 
 I think men call it. 
 
 SHELLEy 
 
 He succumbed m the trial — he recanted the truth 
 openly ; yet as he rose from his knees before his stu- 
 pid judges, he whispered to a friend — c pur si mitovc ! 
 it does move though ! Yes ! it moved ! — the world 
 moved, and that in more respects than one ; and 
 popery is become a wTeck and a scorn, and man and 
 kJiowledge have triumphed. 
 
IN ALL AGES, 135 
 
 Fear not that the tyrants shall rule for ever, 
 Or the priests of the bloody faith : 
 They stand on the brink of that mighty river, 
 Whose waves they have tainted with death. 
 It is fed from the depths of a thousand dells, 
 Around them it foams, and rages, and swells, 
 And their swords and their sceptres I floating see, 
 Like wrecks in the surge of eternity. 
 
 Shelley. 
 
 The Reformers became their victims in most in- 
 stances; and if Wiclif escaped, his remains re- 
 ceived the implacable resentment of the sacerdotal 
 spirit. They were dug up ; burnt, and scattered on 
 the waters of the neighbouring river, whence they 
 floated to the ocean, and became the seeds of life and 
 resistance to papal despotism in myriads of minds in 
 all regions. A list of all the victims who have per- 
 ished by papal cruelty would amount to some millions. 
 Even in England, in the reign of Queen Mary, when 
 tliis horrid religion was restored for a short space, two 
 hundred and seventy persons were brought to the stake, 
 besides those who were punished by fines, imprison- 
 ments, and confiscations. Among those who suffered 
 by tii'e were five bishops, twenty-one clergymen, eight 
 lay gentlemen, eighty-four tradesmen, one hundred 
 husbandmen, servants, and labourers, fifty-five women, 
 and four children. This persevering cruelty appears 
 astonishing, yet is much inferior to what has been prac- 
 tised in other countries. A great author. Father Paul, 
 computes that in the Netherlands alone, from the time 
 that the edict of Charles V. was promulgated against 
 the Reformers, there had been fifty thousand persons 
 hanged, beheaded, buried alive, or burnt on account 
 of religion ; and in France a great number. 
 
 The massacre of St. Bartholomew will remain to 
 the end of time in characters of infamy on the history 
 of France. This horrid carnage, which was an at- 
 tempt to exterminate the Protestants, commenced at 
 Paris on the 24th of August, 1572, by the secret or- 
 ders of Charles IX., at the instigation of the Queen- 
 dowagor of Medici. The Queen of Navarre was 
 poisoned by order of the court. About daybreak, says 
 
136 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 'riiuanus, upon the toll of the great bell of the church 
 of St. Germain, the butchery began. Coligni, admiral 
 of France, was basely murdered in his own house ; 
 and then thrown out of the windows, to gratify the 
 malice of the Duke oi' (ruise. His head was cut off, 
 and sent to the king and queen-molher ; and his body, 
 after a thousand indignities offered to it, hung up by 
 the feet on a gibbet. After this the murderers ravaged 
 the whole city, and ])utchered, in three days, 10,000 
 lords, gentlemen, and people of all ranks. "^A liorrible 
 scene, when the veiy streets and passages resounded 
 with the noise of those who met together for murder 
 and plunder ; the gToans of the dying, the shrieks of 
 those about to be butchered, were evei-y^vhere heard. 
 The bodies of the slain were thrown out of the win- 
 dows ; the courts, and chambers filled with tliem : the 
 dead bodies of others dragged along the streets ; their 
 blood running in torrents down the channels to the 
 river : an innumerable multitude of men, women, and 
 children involved in one common destruction ; nnd the 
 gates of the king's palace besmeared with their blood. 
 From Paris, the massacre spread through the prov- 
 inces, throughout nearly the whole kingdom. In Meaux 
 they threw above two hundred into jail ; ill-treated and 
 then killed a gi-eat number of women ; plundered the 
 houses of the Protestants, and then exercised their 
 fury on their prisoners ; calling them out, one by one, 
 and butchering them as sheep for the market. The 
 bodies of some were Hung into the Maine, and others 
 into ditches. The same cruelties were practised at 
 Orleans, Angers, Troyes, Bourges, La Charite, and 
 especially Lyons, where they inhumanly destroyed 
 above eight hundred Protestants ; children, hanging on 
 their parents' necks ; parents embracing their chil- 
 dren; putting ropes round the necks of some, dragging 
 them through the streets, and flinging them half-dead 
 into the river. The soldiers and very executioners 
 refused, says a detailed accoimt of this transaction, in 
 tlie first volume of the Harleian Miscellany, to partake 
 in this hellish carnage', and the butchers and lowest 
 
IN ALL AGES. 137 
 
 populace were admitted to the prisons, wiiere they 
 chopped off the hands, feet, and noses of the captives, 
 and derided their agonies, as they mangled them. 
 
 When the news arrived at Rome, where the letters 
 of the pope's legate, read in assembly of the cardi- 
 nals, gave assurance that all this was done by com- 
 mand of the king, the joy was excessive ; and it was 
 instantly decreed that the pope and cardinals should 
 march to the church of St. Mark in solemn proces- 
 sion, and return God thanks for so gTeat a blessing 
 conferred on the see of Rome and the Christian world ! 
 That high mass should be celebrated, the pope and 
 all his cardinals attending ; a jubilee should be pub- 
 lished throughout the Christian world. The caimon 
 of St. Angelo were fired, and the city illnminated as 
 for a most splendid victory. 
 
 But even this was exceeded by the unrestrained 
 vengeance of the great Roman Antichrist against the 
 poor Vaudois, a simple people of Piedmont, who from 
 the Apostolic age had preserved the purity of the faith, 
 and refused to bow to the swollen pride and worse 
 than pagan idolatry of Rome. These primitive people 
 were, from age to age, persecuted with fire and sword; 
 their own prince was stirred up and compelled to be- 
 come against them the butcher of the Roman pontifi'. 
 They were himted from their houses ; suffocated in 
 caves with flaming straw by hundreds ; their wives 
 and childi-en massacred without mercy : but in vain ! 
 They continued through all ; and still continue, as may 
 be seen by Mr. Gillies's most interesting account of 
 his visit to them ; and their sufl'erings have been im- 
 mortalized in the fiery burst of Milton's indignation. 
 
 Avenge, O Lord, tliy slaughtered saints, whose bones 
 Lie bleaching on the Alpine mountains cold ; 
 Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old, 
 When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones, 
 Forget not ; in thy book record their groans 
 Wlio were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold 
 Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, who rolled 
 Mother' with infant down the rocks. Their moans 
 The vales redoubled to the hills, and they 
 To Heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow ' 
 
138 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 O'er all the Italian lields where still doth sway 
 The triple tyrant ; that from these may grow 
 A hundred-lold, who, havmg learned thy way 
 Early may tly the Babylonian wo. 
 
 Milton did not content himself with thus venting his 
 indignation ; he made such representations to Crom- 
 well of the situation of these sufieriug people that the 
 Protector zealously interceded for them with the Duke 
 of Savoy ; but with too little eHect. 
 
 In .the same spirit the papal tyrant quenched the lit- 
 erature of the Troubadours, which exerted a faint but 
 pleasant twilight gleam in the 13th century; and was 
 highly influential in the revival of poetry, by exciting 
 the spirit of Petrarch, and through him of Chau- 
 cer, and the following English poets. 'I'his light 
 Rome put out by exterminating the Proven9al people 
 in a war, so singular and expressive of the nature of 
 priestcraft, when full grown, that I shall give a brief 
 account of it, principally from Sismondi's Literature 
 of the South of Europe, with a few particulars from 
 Milners History of the Church of Christ. 
 
 The excessive corruption of the clergy had furnished 
 a subject for the satirical powers of the Troubadours. 
 The cupidity, the dissimulation, and the baseness of 
 that body had rendered them odious both to the no- 
 bility and the people. The priests and the monks in- 
 cessantly employed themselves in despoiling the sick, 
 the widowed, and the fatherless, and indeed all whom 
 age, or weakness, or misfortune placed within their 
 grasp ; while they squandered in debauchery and 
 drunkenness the money which they extorted by the 
 most shameful artifices. If God, said Raymond de 
 Castelnau, will the black monks to be unrivalled in 
 their good eating and their amours, and the white 
 monks in their lying bulls, and the Templars and Hos- 
 pitallers in pride, and the canons in usury, I hold St. 
 Peter and St. Andrew to have been egregious fools for 
 suffering so much for the sake of God, since all these 
 people also are to be saved. The gentry had imbibed 
 buoh coutempt tbr the cldT^y, that they wovild uot edu- 
 
IN ALL AGES. 139 
 
 cate their children to the priesthood, biu gave their 
 hvings to their servants and baihffs. The persecu- 
 tions of Theodora in 845, and of* Basil in 867 and 
 886, after having eftected the destruction of more than 
 a hundred thousand victims, compelled the remainder 
 to seek refuge, some among the Mussulmans, and 
 others among the Bulgarians. Once out of the pale 
 of persecution, their faith, of a purer and simpler kind, 
 made rapid progress. In Languedoc and Lombardy 
 the name of Paterins was given them, on account of 
 the sufferings to which they were exposed wherever 
 the papal power extended ; and they afterward re- 
 ceived the name of Albigenses, from the numbers that 
 inhaluted the diocess of Alby. 
 
 Missionaries were despatched into H*igher Lang-ue- 
 doc in 1147 and 1181, to convert these heretics ; but 
 Avith little success. Every day the reformed opinions 
 gained gi'ound, and Bertrand de Saissac, the tutor of 
 the young Viscount of Beziers, himself adopted them. 
 At length Innocent III., resolving to destroy these sec- 
 taries, whom he had exterminated in Italy, sent, in 
 1198, two Cistercian monks with the authority of 
 legates a latere^ to discover and bring them to justice. 
 The monks, ambitious of extending their already un- 
 precedented powers, not contented with merely at- 
 tacking the heretics, quarrelled w^ith all the regular 
 clergy, who had attempted to soften their proceedings. 
 They suspended the Archbishop of Narbonne, and the 
 Bishop of Beziers ; and degraded the Bishops of 
 Toulouse and of Veviers. Pierre de Castelnau, the 
 most eager of the legates, accused Raymond of Tou- 
 louse of protecting the heretics, because that prince, 
 being of a mild disposition, refused to lend himself to 
 the destruction of his subjects. The anger of the 
 priest at length led him to excommunicate the count, 
 and place his estates under interdict : and he proceeded 
 to such irritating insolence, that one of the count's 
 followers, in his indignation, pursued him to the banks 
 of the Rhone and killed him. Tliis crowned the mis- 
 fortunes of Languedoc, It gave Imiocent a pretext 
 
140 
 
 PRIESTCRAIT 
 
 to proceed to bloodshed, and he took instant advantage 
 of it. He addressed a letter to the King of France ; 
 to all the princes and most powerfnl l)arons, as well 
 as to the metropolitan hishops, exhorting them to ven- 
 geance, and to the extirpation of heresy. All the in- 
 dulgences and pardons, whicli were usually granted to 
 the crusaders were promised to those who extermi- 
 nated these unbelievers. TJiree hundred thousand pil- 
 grims, induced by the united motives of avarice and 
 superstition, idled the country of the Albigenses with 
 carnage and confusion i'or a number of years. The 
 reader who is not versed in history of this kind can 
 scarcely conceive the scenes of baseness, perfidy, 
 barbarity, indecency, and hypocrisy over which Inno- 
 cent presided'; and which were conducted partly by 
 his legates, and partly by the infamous Simon de Mont- 
 ford. Raymond VI., terrified at this storm, submitted 
 to every thing required of him ; but Raymond Roger, 
 \iscount of Beziers, indignantly refused to give up 
 the cause of his subjects. He encouraged them to 
 resist ; shut himself up in (.arcasione, and gave Be- 
 ziers to the care of his lieutenants. Beziers was 
 taken by assault in July, 1209, and fifteen thousand 
 inhabitants, according to tiie Cistercian monk, or sixty 
 thousand according to others, were put to the sword. 
 This Cistercian monk was asked, before the city was 
 taken, how he could separate the heretics from the 
 Catholics? he replied, " Kill all; God will know fns 
 own r 
 
 The brave young Viscount of Beziers did not shrink ; 
 he still defended Carcassone. Peter II. of Arragon 
 attempted to make terms for him with his monkish be- 
 siegers, but all that they would grant was, to allow 
 thirteen of the inhabitants, including the count, to 
 leave the city ; the remainder were reserved for a 
 butchery like that of Beziers. The viscount declared 
 he would be flayed alive rather than submit to such 
 terms. He was at length betrayed ; poisoned in 
 prison; four Inmdred of his people burnt, and fifty 
 hanged, Simon de Montford, the most ferocious mon^ 
 
IN ALL AGES. 141 
 
 ster of all the crusaders, received from ihe legate the 
 viscount's title ; and devastated the Avhole of the south 
 of France with the most frightful wars. They who 
 escaped from the sacking of the town were sacrificed 
 by the fagot. From 1209 to 1229, nothing was seen 
 but massacres and tortures. Religion was over- 
 thrown ; knowledge extinguished ; and humanity trod- 
 den under fool. In the midst of these horrors, the 
 ancient house of Toulouse became extinct. 
 
 Connected with this melancholy history is one of 
 the last horrid instruments of papal tyi-anny which re- 
 mains to be mentioned — The Inquisition. These 
 monks, Arnold Ranier and Pierre Castelnau, were fol- 
 lowed by the notorious Spaniard Dominic, and others, 
 who, proceeding to seek out and execute heretics, 
 gained the name of Inquisitors. On their return from 
 this infernal expedition, the popes were so sensible of 
 their services, that they established similar tribunals 
 in different places. In time, Italy, Spain, and other 
 countries were cursed with these hellish institutions ; 
 and their history is one of the most^ awful horror that 
 can affright the human soul. 
 
142 PRlE.srCRAFT 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 JESUITS AND INQUISITORS. 
 
 Pernicious Doctrines of the Jesuits— Hudibras's Exposition of such 
 Doctrines— Loyola, their Founder, sets up, under the name of Gene- 
 ral, another sort of Pope — The success of his plans — General Char- 
 acter and Progress of tlic Jesuits ; their Mercantile Concerns ; 
 their Conduct in China ; in Paraguay ; in the European Countries 
 —Attempts on the Lives of Queen Elizabeth and James I. ; their 
 Murder of Henry III. and Henr\' IV. of France— The Inquisition 
 —Introduced into most CathoUc Countries, hut permanent in Spain 
 —The Atrocities of the Spanish Inquisition against the Jews, 
 Moors, and Lutherans— Excessive Power of the Inquisitors— 
 —Cromwell's Threat— Limborch's Account of the Proceedings 
 of the Inquisition — Tortures — Auto-da-fc— Suppression of the In- 
 quisition by Napoleon ; its Restoration by Ferdinand — Present 
 State of Popish Countries. 
 
 The land in which i lived by a fell bane 
 Was withered up. Tyrants dwelt side by side. 
 And stabled in our homes — until the chain 
 Stifled the captive's cry, and to abide 
 That blasting curse, men had no shame — all vied 
 In evil, slave and despot ; fear with lust, 
 Strange fellowshijj through mutual hate had tied. 
 Like two dark serpents tangled in the dust. 
 Which on the paths of men their mingling poison thrust. 
 Revolt of Islam. 
 But onward moved the melancholy train 
 
 In their false creeds, in tiery pangs to die. 
 This was the solemn sacrilice of Spain — 
 Heaven's ottering from the land of chivalrj- ! 
 
 The Forest S.\N( tcarv. 
 
 We have surveyed strange scenes of priestly wick- 
 edness and bloodshed, — but of all the agents of the 
 devil which were ever spiiwned in the black dens of 
 that earthly pandemoniimi, the papal church, none can 
 compare with tlie Jesuits and Inquisitors. 
 
 The Jesuits arose in the latter days of popery. 
 Their doctrines were those of popery groAvii to thorougli 
 ripeness. Thev seemed created to show to what 
 
IN ALL AGES. 143 
 
 lengths that system could be carried, and to crown it, 
 in conjunction with their fellow-demons of the Inquisi- 
 tion, with that full measm-e of popular indignation 
 which should hasten its great " immedicable wound" 
 from the hand of Luther. The Jesuits took up the 
 favourite dogmas of the papal church : that the end 
 sanctifies the means — that evil may be done that good 
 may come of it — and pushed them to that degree 
 Mdiich caused the good and the simple to stand in as- 
 tonishment at the daring acts and adroit casuistry of 
 "bold bad men.'' All oaths, all obligations, all moral- 
 ity, all religion, according to their creed, were to be 
 adopted or set aside, just as it suited the object they 
 had hi view. They might cheat and lie, steal and 
 kill, all for righteousness' sake. They imbodied in 
 practice the pithy maxims of Hudibras. 
 
 That saints may claim a dispensation 
 
 To svvcai- and forswear on occasion, 
 
 I doubt not but it will appear 
 
 With pregnant light : the point is clear. 
 
 Oaths arc but words, and words but wind ; 
 
 Too feeble instruments to bind. 
 
 But saints whom oaths and vows oblige, 
 
 Know little of their privilege. 
 
 For if the devil, to serve his turn, 
 
 Can tell truth, why the saints should scorn 
 
 VMien it serves theirs to swear and lie, ■■■■■ 
 
 I think there's little reason why. 
 
 Else he has a greater power than they, 
 
 Which 'twere impiety to say. 
 
 They thought with him, •• 
 
 The Public Faith, which every one ^ 
 
 Is bound to observe, is kept by none. 
 
 And if that go for nothing, why 
 
 Should Private P'aith have such a tie ? 
 
 Oaths were not purposed more than law, 
 
 To keep the good and just in awe, 
 
 But to confine the bad and sinful, 
 
 Like mortal cattle in a pinfold. 
 
 Then why should we ourselves abridge 
 
 And curtail our own privilege ? 
 
 Quakers that, like dark lanterns bear 
 
 Their hght within tlAm, will not swear. 
 
 Their gospel is an a*r.idence 
 
 By which they qon'-asrue conscience, 
 
144 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 And hold no sin so deeply red 
 As that of breaking Priscian's head— 
 The head and founder of their order, 
 That stirring hats held worse than murder. 
 These, tlunlung they're ol)hged to troth 
 In swearing, will not take an oath : 
 Like mules, who, if they've not their will 
 To keep their own pace, stand stock still, 
 But they are weak, and httle know 
 What free-born consciences may do. 
 
 'Tis the temptation of the devil 
 
 That makes all human actions evil. 
 
 For saints may do the same things by 
 
 The spirit in sincerity, 
 
 Wliich other men are tempted to, 
 
 And at the devil's instance do. 
 
 And yet the actions be contrary, 
 
 Just as the saints and wicked vary. 
 
 For as on land there is no beast 
 
 But in some fish at sea's expressed, 
 
 So in the wicked there's no vice 
 
 Of which the saints have not a spice : 
 
 And yet that thing that's pious in 
 
 The one, in 'totheris a sin. 
 
 Is't not ridiculoiis and nonsense 
 
 A saint should be a slave to conscience ! 
 
 These were their precious tenets — the quintessence 
 of the wisdom of this world, to which that of the 
 children of light is unprotitable foolishness. Their 
 founder, Ignatius Loyola, a Spaniard — an ominous 
 name when connected with religion, — was a most 
 acute and happy genius in his way. He saw the ad- 
 vantages which the popes had derived from their ac- 
 commodating ecclesiastical logic, and he conceived 
 the felicitous idea of creating a sort of second series 
 of popes, taught and enlightened by the old series. 
 He adopted their facile code of morals, and he even 
 outwent them in the exquisite finesse of his policy. 
 The head of this system was to take the name of 
 General of the Order; his emissaries were to go forth 
 into all kingdoms ; to insinuate themselves into all 
 cities, houses, and secret hearts of tlie people. They 
 were to adopt all shapes, to follow all circumstances ; 
 to wear an outside of peculiar mildness, and an inner- 
 man of subtle observance ; to have the exterior of the 
 dove— the interior of the serpent. With all thii 
 
IN ALL AGES. 145 
 
 sequacity, flexibility, and disguise, they succeeded won- 
 derfully. AVhat, indeed, could resist them, when they 
 came in all shapes, and with all pretences ; at the 
 first glimpse of discovery of their real designs, or of 
 popular indignation, ready to eat up their words, and 
 swear that they were any thing but what they really 
 were ? But when they found themselves in any de- 
 gree of strength, — when they were desirous of carry- 
 nig some point that compliance and duplicity could not 
 carry, — who so dogged and insolent as they? They 
 bearded people, magistrates, kings, — the pope him- 
 self, with the most immoveable assurance. The 
 popes, who regarded them as active maintainors of 
 ignorance and obedience, were desirous to tolerate them 
 as much as possible. But they often found it a severe 
 task for their patience. They were in the condition of 
 a man who has tamed a serpent or a lion ; they might 
 sooth the beast by coaxing, perhaps, but were every 
 moment in danger of rousing its ferocity, and even of 
 falling before its rage. When struck at, they stood 
 and hissed, and fought with true snaky pertinacity ; 
 but if they saw actual destruction coming, they sud- 
 denly disappeared, only to raise their hydra heads in 
 a thousand other places. Expelled from states in 
 their own character of Jesuits, they came back in all 
 sorts of disguises ; and, instead of open enemies, the 
 people and their governors had to encounter the secret 
 influence of their poison, and their stings which struck 
 in the dark. They insinuated themselves into col- 
 leges and schools under false colours, till they could 
 seize upon them and convert them into engines of 
 their designs. They became confessors, especially 
 of women, that they might learn all the secrets of their 
 husbands ; of kings and ministers, to learn those of 
 states ; all the mtelligence thus gathered was regularly 
 transmitted lo the general from every kingdom, so that 
 he and his counsellors knew the condition and inten- 
 tions of all nations ; and, at a moment's notice, his 
 creatures were ready to seize upon universities, 
 churches, governments, or whatever they desired, 
 G 
 
146 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 They entered into trade, and were scattered all over 
 the world, wearing no outward appearance but that of 
 merchants ; yet keeping up a secret correspondence 
 with one another, and with their general, and transmit- 
 ting intelligence and \vealth from all quarters of the 
 globe. They were not satisfied with exercising their 
 arts over the Christian world; they proceeded into 
 all pagan countries as missionaries, and sought to 
 bring the savages of Asia, Africa, and America under 
 their dominion. They evidently had formed the bold 
 design of acquiring the spiritual and political sove- 
 reignty of the world : but, with all their subtlety — their 
 ambition and their unprincipled grasping at power so 
 alarmed and disgusted all people, that their history is 
 a continual alternation of their growing into numbers 
 and strength, and of their expulsion from almost every 
 kingdom that can be named. England, France, Spain, 
 Germany, Poland, Bohemia, Italy, the East and the West 
 Indies, America, North and South, in all these countries 
 their arts were repeatedly tried, and they were as re- 
 peatedly expelled with ignominy and vengeance. 
 
 The rapidit}^ with which they spread themselves is 
 shown by the following statement from the memorial 
 presented by the miiversity of Paris to the king in 
 1724: — "In 1540, when they presented their peti- 
 tions to Paul III., they only appeared in the number 
 of ten. In 1543 they were not more than twenty- 
 four. In 1545 they had only ten houses; but in 
 1549 they had two provinces: one in Spain, and the 
 other in Portugal, and twenty-two houses ; and at the 
 death of Ignatius, in 1556, they had twelve large 
 provinces. In 1608, Ribadeneira reckoned twenty- 
 nine provinces, and two vice-provinces ; twenty-one 
 houses of profession ; two-hundred and ninety-three 
 colleges ; thirty-three houses of probation ; ninety- 
 three other residences, and ten thousand five hundred 
 and eighty-one Jesuits. In the catalogue printed 
 at Rome in 1629 are found thirty-five provinces, two 
 vice-provinces, thirty-three houses of profession, 
 five hundred and seventy-eight colleges, forty-eight 
 
IN ALL AGES, 147 
 
 houses of probation, eighty-eight seminanes, one 
 hundred and sixty residences, one hundred and six 
 missions, and in all seventeen thousand six hundred 
 and fifty-five Jesuits, of whom seven thousand eight 
 hundred and seventy were priests. At last, accord- 
 ing to the calculation of Father Jouvency, they had, 
 in 1710, twenty -four houses of profession, fifty-nine 
 houses of probation, three hundred and forty resi- 
 dences, six hundred and twelve colleges, of which 
 above eighty were in France, two hundred missions, 
 one hundred and fifty-seven seminaries and boarding- 
 houses, and nineteen thousand nine hundred and 
 ninety-eight Jesuits. 
 
 On their mercantile concerns, M. Martin, governor 
 of Pondicherry, observes, " It is certain that, next to 
 the Dutch, the Jesuits carry on the gi*eatest and most 
 productive commerce in India. Their trade surpasses 
 even that of the English, as well as that of the Por- 
 tuguese, who established them in India. There may, 
 possibly, indeed, be some Jesuits who go there from 
 pure religious motives ; but they are very few, and it 
 is not such as those Avho know the grand secret of the 
 company. Some among them are Jesuits secularized, 
 who do not appear to be such, because they never 
 wear the habit ; which is the reason why at Surat, 
 Agi-a, Goa, and everywhere else, they are taken for 
 real merchants of the countries whose names they 
 bear: for it is certain that there are some of all 
 nations, even of America and Turkey, and of every 
 other which can be useful and necessary to the 
 society. These disguised Jesuits are intriguing every- 
 where. The secret intercourse which is preserved 
 among them instructs them mutually in the merchan- 
 dise which they ought to buy and sell, and with what 
 nation they can most advantageously trade ; so that 
 these masked Jesuits make an immense profit of the 
 society to which they are alone responsible, through 
 the medium of those Jesuits who traverse the world 
 in the habit of St. Ignatius, and enjoy the confidence, 
 know the secrets, and act under the orders of the 
 G2 
 
148 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 heads of Europe. These Jesuits, disguised and dis- 
 persed over the whole earth, and who know each 
 other by signs, like the Freemasons, invariably act 
 upon one system. They send merchandise to other 
 disguised Jesuits, who, having it thus at first hand, 
 make a considerable profit of it for the society. This 
 traffic is, however, very injurious to France. I have 
 often written respecting it to the East India Com- 
 pany trading here ; and I have received express 
 orders from it (under Louis XIV.) to concede and 
 advance to these fathers whatever they might require 
 of me. The Jesuit Tachard alone owes that com- 
 pany, at this moment, above four hundred and fifty 
 thousand li\Tes. Those Jesuits who, like Tachard, 
 pass and repass between this quarter and Europe, are 
 ambulatoiy directors and receivers of the bank and 
 of the trade." 
 
 " In the Antilles," says Coudrette, " Lavalette, the 
 Jesuit, has half the worth of the property for whose 
 conveyance to France he undertakes. In Portugal 
 the Jesuits had vessels employed exclusively in their 
 servdce, which facts are established by the process of 
 Cardinal Saldanha. All the accounts of travellers in 
 the East Indies speak in the same way, with astonish- 
 ment, of the extent of their commerce. In Europe, 
 and even in France, they have banks in the most 
 commercial cities, such as Marseilles, Paris, Genoa, 
 and Rome. In addition to this, they publicly sell 
 drugs in their houses ; and, in order to their sanction 
 in this, they procured from Pope Gregory XIII. the 
 privilege of exercising the art of medicine. Even in 
 Rome, in spite of the opposition of the tradesmen, 
 and the prohibitions of the pope, they carry on trade 
 in baking, grocery, &c. Let us imagine twenty 
 thousand traders, dispersed over the world, from Japan 
 to Brazil, from the Cape of Good Hope to the north, 
 all correspondents of each other, all blindly subjected 
 to one individual, and working for him alone ; conduct- 
 ing two hundred missions, which are so many fac- 
 tories; six hundi-ed and twelve colleges, and foiu: 
 
IN ALL AGES. 149 
 
 hundred and twenty-three houses of professors, novi- 
 tiates, and residents, which are so many entrepots ; 
 and then let us form an idea, if we can, of the produce 
 of so vast an extent." 
 
 There have not been wanting advocates for these 
 persevering intriguing priests ; who have represented 
 them as merely labouring to promote religion among 
 the civilized, and civilization among the savage na- 
 tions. But what says all history? What says the 
 indignation of every realm which has ever harboured 
 them? That wherever they were, whatever they 
 undertook, whether the education of youth in Europe, 
 or that of the natives of savage lands, all their plans 
 turned to one object — absolute dominion over the 
 minds and bodies of their disciples. They seem to 
 have taken a particular pleasure in breaking in upon 
 the labours and in persecuting all other missionaries ; 
 and by their detestable and ambitious acts, Christian- 
 ity has been expelled from various regions where it 
 was taking root. This was the case in Japan and 
 China. Here they first thwarted the measures of 
 other missionaries, then got all power into their 
 hands, and finally were driven out with wrath by the 
 natives. In China their suppression was connected 
 with circumstances of peculiar aggravation. The 
 Bishop of Nankin names two to the pope, whose 
 vices had become public. " But the crime of Father 
 Anthony Joseph, the superior of the mission, is yet 
 more scandalous. This man has remained there eight 
 years past, continually plunged in the abominable 
 practice of sinning with women at the time they come 
 to confess, and even in the place where he confessed 
 them ; after which he gave them absolution, and ad- 
 ministered the sacrament to them! He told them 
 that these actions need not give them any concern, 
 since all their fathers, the bishops, and the pope him- 
 self observed the same practice ! 
 
 " All this was known to Christians and to heathens. 
 Some persons represented these crimes to the supe- 
 riors of the Jesuits ; but the commissary whom they 
 
150 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 sent for the purpose declared him innocent — I know 
 not upon what pretence. While I was considering 
 the best means of punishing this man, the mandarins 
 caused him to be arrested, suddenly, with two of his 
 brethren, and about one hundred Christians. What 
 occasioned still greater scandal, the mandarins, who 
 had been some time acquainted with part of the facts, 
 collected correct depositions to establish his crimes, 
 and aimounced them at full length in their sentence, 
 which they made public. He was condemned to 
 death with the other Jesuit, on the 22d of September, 
 1748, and they were both strangled in prison. Of the 
 hundred persons who were arrested with him, there 
 was not one who did not renounce Christianity, aftd 
 the Chinese missionaiy was the first to do so." 
 
 For more than two hundred years they maintained 
 a system of opposition and vexation to the bishops 
 and missionaries of India, in the very face of the 
 pope's commands to the contrary. Of their attempt 
 to establish an independent kingdom in Paraguay, 
 every one has heard. Under pretence of preserving 
 the Indians free from the vices of the Europeans, they 
 forbade them to learn their language ; under pretence 
 of protecting them from the oppressions of the Euro- 
 peans, they regularly disciplined large bodies of them 
 in arms. For them these simple creatures toiled, and 
 their minds they moulded entirely to subserviency to 
 them. They refused all Europeans, except their own 
 confederates, entrance to the province ; and actually, 
 on the authorities marching into it in the name of the 
 Kings of Portugal and Spain, rose against them, and 
 attempted to expel them by force of arms. They 
 hesitated not to send emissaries over to Europe to 
 blow the flames of sedition there, and even attempted 
 the life of the King of Portugal, in order to divert the 
 efforts of their rightful monarchs from them; but 
 finally they were themselves subdued, and driven out 
 of the country, to the total dissipation of their grand 
 scheme of rebellion and empire. For those who have 
 patience to read the scandalous and bloody squabbles 
 
IN ALL AGES. 151 
 
 of priests, there are copious details of these matters 
 in the second vohune of Southey's History of Brazil ; 
 and especially of their contests with Cardenas the 
 bishop. 
 
 In Europe they signalized themselves' by perpetual 
 attempts against the peace of states and the lives of 
 monarchs. In Venice, in 1560, they excited great 
 commotion, and were very near being driven away. 
 They showed great anxiety to confess the wives of 
 the senators, for the purpose, it was believed, of ac- 
 quiring the secrets of the republic. Trevisani, the 
 Patriarch of Venice, says Sacchini, satisfied himself 
 of the charge, and made other discoveries of still 
 greater importance. In the Netherlands, in Portugal, 
 and Spain they were busy in similar schemes, and 
 with similar results. In Poland they had the fortune 
 to get a man of their order, Sigismund, upon the 
 throne. He desired to introduce them into Sweden, 
 M^here his uncle, Duke Charles, was his lieutenant. 
 Charles remonstrated, in vain, that the people of 
 Sweden would not endure the Jesuits : the king per- 
 sisted, and the people took arms against him. He 
 was beaten both by sea and land; taken prisoner; 
 and only released on condition that he would assemble 
 his states, and act in conjunction with them. He then 
 escaped from Sweden, and strove to arm the Poles 
 against the Swedes ; but they refused the alliance, 
 and in the mean time his uncle seized upon his towns. 
 
 With the continual attempts of these pertinacious 
 wretches against the liberties of England, and the 
 lives of Elizabeth and James I., eveiy English reader 
 is familiar : the names of Crichton, Garnett, Parry, 
 Cullen, Gerard, and Tesmond, successively engaged 
 in the design of assassinating the Protestant queen, or 
 in the attempt to blow up our English Solomon and 
 all his parliament, will for ever perpetuate their 
 abhorrence in England; and in Ireland the general 
 massacre of the Protestants in 1641, which they were 
 principally concerned in exciting, and similar pro- 
 ceedings in that country, will keep alivo their remom-^ 
 
152 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 brance there. But of all their atrocities there are 
 none which more affect one with indignation than 
 their persecutions and murder of Henry III. and 
 Henry IV. of France. In 156.3, according to Mezerai, 
 the famous Catholic league took its rise, whose object 
 was to extirpate the Protestants in France. The 
 Jesuits became the soul of this infamous federation. 
 Henry III. assembled the states at Blois in 1579, for 
 the purpose of dissolving this conspiracy; and from 
 that time was marked for destmction. Sammier, a 
 Jesuit, traversed Germany, Italy, and JSpain, to excite 
 the princes of those countries against him. Mattheiu, 
 another, styled the courier of the league, made several 
 journeys to the pope, to obtain a bull against him; 
 and though the pope hesitated at this, he delivered his 
 opinion, that the person of Henry should be secured, 
 and his cities seized. Commolet and Rouillet were 
 the tmmpets of sedition. In the college of the Rue 
 St. Jaques, the Jesuits met and conspired the murder 
 of the king. It was there Baniere came to be stirred 
 up by the doctrines of Varade, and that Guinard 
 composed the writings for which he was hung. It 
 was there that the sixteen signed an absolute cession 
 of the kingdom to Philip of Spain ; and that Chastel 
 acquired the lesson of parricide he afterward acted 
 upon. There Clement, animated by such horrible 
 instructions, formed the resolve which he fulfilled 
 on the 1st of August, 1589, the assassination of 
 Henry III. 
 
 Henry IV., a generous, spirited, and noble monarch, 
 was educated in Protestantism ; — this was enough to 
 arouse their murderous and unappeasable hatred. It 
 was almost by miracle that he escaped, then a youth, 
 from the massacre of St. Bartholomew. On his 
 coming to the throne, he was pursued by them with 
 such continual animosity, that to allay their fury, he 
 consented to embrace Catholicism. This produced 
 no effect — he was a man of liberal opinions ; and 
 such a man they could not tolerate. They made his 
 life miserable ; and at length nearly effected his 
 
IN ALL AGES. 153 
 
 murder by the knife of Baniere, at Melun, in August, 
 1593. On the 27th of December, 1594, his life was 
 again attempted by Chastel, another Jesuit. He 
 struck at him with a knife, but missed his aim, and 
 instead of kiUing him, only cut his lip, and struck out 
 a tooth. This circumstance, and the ferment of 
 infernal fanaticism, which induced the papists and 
 Jesuits to continually seek the destruction of the king, 
 caused the banishment of the whole order. This, 
 however, did not mend the matter, as it regarded the 
 king ; he had only the same enemies in disguise, and, if 
 possible, ten times more imbittered. With that good- 
 nature which characterized him, he at length con- 
 sented to allow them to return. It was in vain that 
 Sully, his minister, represented to him that no kind- 
 ness could soften such foes ; he recalled them, and 
 fell a victim to their instigations, being stabbed by 
 Ravaillac, on May 14th, 1610. 
 
 Many books had been written of late by the Jesuits, 
 vindicating and commending the killing of kings, par- 
 ticularly the work of Mariana, — De Rege et Regis 
 Institutione,— in which the killing of a king was termed 
 a " laudable, glorious, and heroic action." It was by 
 such writings that this assassin was spun-ed on to his 
 diabolical act. Aubigny, his confessor, a Jesuit, when 
 confronted with the murderer, and charged with being 
 privy to the design, at first denied knowing the man 
 at all ; but when driven from that assertion, he de- 
 clared that "God had given to some the gift of 
 tongues, to others the gift of prophecy, and to him 
 the gift of forgetting confessions." 
 
 Such were the abominable principles which led 
 them to these abominable actions. For a full account 
 of this assassination, the reader may consult the fourth 
 volume of Sully's Memoirs. So generally was the 
 conspiracy known among the Catholic subjects of this 
 unfortunate monarch, that many people declared, on 
 the day when the murder took place, that the king was 
 then dying, though they were in distant places. An 
 astrologer had foretold the very day and hour to the 
 G3 
 
154 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 king, the manner of the act, and that it would take 
 place in a coach. So much impressed was the king 
 with his approaching fate, that he was frequently in 
 great agony ol" mind, and would lain have put oft' the 
 queen's coronation, which was about to take place at 
 the time predicted. He liad teiTible dreams, and so 
 also had the queen, wakina; in horror, and cr\-ing out 
 the king was stabbed. All these things which the 
 connnon mhid loves to lielieve supernatural intima- 
 tions, only show to tlie more reflecting one, the au- 
 dacity of these bloody wretches, who were so confi- 
 dent in their power of doing evil, that they spoke of it 
 till it became a universal impression. 
 
 From the terrible Jesuit there is but one step fur- 
 ther in horror, and that is to the Inquisitor ! And, in 
 fact, it can scarcely be called a step at all, for both 
 characters are frequently combined in the same indi- 
 vidual. Jesuits, it Avill l3e seen in all the histories of 
 the Inquisition, are as active as the Dominicans them- 
 selves, who claim the peculiar honour, or more properly 
 infamy, of possessing, from the head of their order, 
 the office oi" uiquisitors ; that is, fiends incarnate. In 
 speaking of the extermination of the Troubadours, we 
 have already noticed the rise of the Inquisition. It 
 was an institution so congenial to the nature of popery, 
 that its HOLY OFFICES — its OFFICES OF MERCY, as they 
 were called in that spirit of devilish abuse of Chris- 
 tianity in which they were conceived — were speedily 
 to be found in various countries of Europe, Asia, and 
 America, but distinguished most fearfully in Spain. 
 Their horrors have been made familiar to the public 
 mind by the writers of romance, especially by Mrs. 
 Ratcliflfe ; but all the powers of romance have not 
 been able to overcolour the reality. Spain has always 
 claimed and gloried in the supremacy of her Inquisi- 
 tion. She has strenuously contended with the pope for 
 it ; and has deemed it so national an honour, as to 
 parade the auto-da-fe as one of her most fascinating 
 spectacles. Her kings, her queens, her princes, and 
 nobles have assembled with enthusiasm to witness 
 
IN ALL AGES. 155 
 
 them. So great a treat did the Spaniards formerly 
 consider them, that Llorente states that on February 
 25th, 1560, one was celebrated by the inquisitors of 
 Toledo, in which several persons were burnt, with 
 some effigies, and a great number subjected to pen- 
 ances ; and this was performed to entertain the new 
 queen Elizabeth, daughter of Henry II. of France, a 
 girl of thirteen years of age, accustomed in her own 
 country to brilliant festivals suitable to her rank and 
 age. So completely may priestcraft brutalize a nation, 
 and so completely has this devilish institution stamped 
 the Spanish character, naturally ardent and chivalric, 
 with gloomy horror, that both Llorente and Limborch 
 represent ladies witnessing the agonizing tortures of 
 men and women expiring in flames, with transports 
 of delight. By means of this infernal machine, the 
 Spanish kings have contrived to crush the mind of the 
 country ; to check the gro\nh of literature ; to nourish 
 a spirit of ferocity ; and to produce a race of people 
 the slaves of the worst government, and the most ig- 
 norant and bigoted priests. To this cause in fact, 
 Spain owes its present misery and degradation. 
 Llorente, whose work is founded on official documents, 
 drawn from the archives of the Inquisition itself, when 
 he was secretary to it, gives a long list of the learned 
 and ingenious Spaniards whom it has persecuted and 
 condemned. The ostensible object of its early exer- 
 tions was to extirpate the Jews, Moors, and Moris- 
 coes ; and so successful were its efforts, that Llorente 
 calculates that in one hundred and nineteen years it 
 deprived Spain of three millions of inhabitants. 
 Mariana says 170,000 families of Jews were ban- 
 ished, and the rest sold for slaves. They entered 
 Portugal, but were again commanded by the Portu- 
 guese king to quit tliat realm also. The Moors were 
 suffered to depart ; but as the Jews were preparing to 
 do so, the king commanded that all those who were 
 not more than fourteen years old, should be taken from 
 their parents and educated in the Christian religion. 
 It was a most afflicting thing, to see children snatched 
 
166 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 from the embraces of their mothers ; and fathers em- 
 bracmg their chiklren, torn from them, and even beaten 
 with clubs ; to hear the dreadi'ul cries they made, and 
 every place filled with tlio lamentations and yells of 
 women. Many, through indignation, threw their sons 
 into pits, and others killed them with their own hands. 
 Thus prevented on the one hand from embarking, and 
 on the other oppressed and persecuted, many feigned 
 conversion, to escape from their miseries. The cru- 
 elties practised on these people, to compel them to 
 embrace a religion which was thus represented as 
 only fit for devils, make one's blood boil to read them. 
 The Reformation appeared, and found these monsters 
 fresh employment. The doctrines of Luther appear 
 to have made so i%pid a progress scarcely in any 
 country as in Spain. Numbers of the highest ranks, 
 of the most intelligent ladies, of ecclesiastics, em- 
 braced the principles of the reformer ; and, had it not 
 been for the Inquisition, that country might now have 
 figured in ^e front of Europe with a more glorious 
 aspect, as a great and enlightened state, than it did 
 under Charles V. The Inquisition had the satisfac- 
 tion of extinguishing the revived flame of Christianity, 
 and of reducing Spain to its present deplorable condi- 
 tion. All the fury and strength of that great engine 
 of hell was brought to bear upon it; its autos-da-fe 
 were crowded with Lutheran heretics ; its fires con- 
 sumed them; its secret cells devoured them — men, 
 women, children, were swept into its unfathomable 
 gulf of destruction. Priestly malice triumphed over 
 truth and virtue. 
 
 To such gigantic stature of power did this dismal 
 institution attain, that no one was safe from its fangs. 
 The confiscation of the goods of its victims whetted 
 the appetite of priestly avarice so keenly, that a man 
 to be guilty of heresy had only to be rich. Llorente 
 gives several cases of English merchants, who were 
 pounced upon by it in defiance of the law of nations. 
 On one occasion Oliver Cromwell had to intercede 
 for an English consul, whom they had got iiito their 
 
IN ALL AGES. 157 
 
 (lens. The king replied, he had no power over the 
 inquisition. " Then," added Cromwell, in a second 
 message, " if yon have no power over the Imiuisition, 
 I will declare war against it." The threat was effec- 
 tnal. So little power had the Spanish kings over it, 
 indeed, that it did not hesitate to accuse them ; and 
 Llorente's lists are full of nobles, privy-comisellors, 
 knights, magistrates, military commanders, and ladies 
 of the highest birth, on whom these daring priests laid 
 their hands, and loaded them with chains and infamy. 
 It seemed a peculiar delight to them to insult and de- 
 grade those who had moved in the most distinguished 
 spheres. In Portugal, says Limborch, all the prison- 
 ers, men and women, without any regard to birth or 
 dignity, are shaved the first or second day of their im- 
 prisonment. Each prisoner has two pots of water 
 every day ; one to wash, and the other to drink ; a 
 besom to cleanse his cell, and a mat of rushes to lie 
 upon. 
 
 The same historian gives, in a few passages, a vivid 
 summary of the operations of this odious institution. 
 " In countries where the Inquisition has existed, the 
 bare idea of its progress damped the most ardent mind. 
 Formidable and ferocious as the rapacious tiger, who 
 from the gloomy thicket surveys his unsuspecting- 
 prey, until the favoured moment arrives in which he 
 may plunge forward and consummate its destruction, 
 the Inquisition meditates in secret and in silence its 
 horrific projects. In the deepest seclusion the calum- 
 niator propounds his charge ; with anxious vigilance 
 t'he creatures of its power regard its unhappy victim. 
 Not a whisper is heard, or the least hint of insecurity 
 given, until at the dead of night a band of savage 
 monsters surround the dwelling ; they demand an en- 
 trance : — upon the inquiry, by whom is this required ? 
 the answer is, " The holy office." In an instant all the 
 ties of nature appear as if dissolved, and either through 
 the complete dominion of superstition, or the convic- 
 tion that resistance would be vain, the master, parent, 
 hnsband is resigned. From the bosom of his Amiily, 
 
158 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 and bereft of all domestic comforts, lie enters the Inqui- 
 sition-house ; its ponderous doors are closed, and hope 
 excluded — perhaps for ever. Immured in a noisome 
 vault, surrounded by impenetrable walls, he is left 
 alone ; a prey to all the sad reflections of a miserable 
 outcast. If he venture to inquire the reason of his 
 fate, he is told that silence and secrecy are here in- 
 violable. Accustomed to the conveniences of social 
 life, and perhaps of a superior station, he is now re- 
 duced to the most miserable expedients. The most 
 menial offices now devolve upon him ; while the cruel 
 reflection obtrudes itself upon his mind, that his fam- 
 ily may, ere long, be reduced to indigence by an act 
 of inquisitorial confiscation." And with such fiendish 
 ingenuity is the punishment of confiscation aggi-avated, 
 that it is followed, as of necessary consequence, by 
 the person being rendered for ever infamous, — that is, 
 he is incapable of holding office of any kind; his 
 children are disinherited, and made infamous, or inca- 
 pable to the second generation by the father's side, and 
 first by the mother's. All his relations are liberated 
 from their obligations to him, or comiexion with him ; 
 his children are freed from his control ; his wife is 
 liberated from her marriage | vow ; his servants or 
 vassals are freed from their servitude ; he is compelled 
 to answer inquiries of others on any affair, but no one 
 need answer him. He has no protection from the 
 laws, and no remedy against oppression or injustice. 
 His very children, brothers, and sisters ought to aban- 
 don him ; and the only way of a son escaping the in- 
 famy of his father, is by being the first to accuse him 
 to the tribunal of the Inquisition. 
 
 Then come the secret examinations, the accusa- 
 tions from unknown sources, the intimidations, — the 
 torture ! The torture has five degrees :— first, being- 
 threatened to be tortured : secondly, being carried to 
 the place of torture : thirdly, by stripping and binding : 
 fourthly, the being hoisted on the rack : fifthly, squas- 
 sation. 
 
 The stripping ia performed without regard to lui- 
 
IxV ALL AGES. 159 
 
 inanity or honour, not only to men, but to women and 
 virgins. As to squassation, it is thus performed : the 
 prisoner has his hands tied behind his back, and 
 weights tied to his feet, and then he is drawn up on 
 high, till his head reaches the very pulley. He is 
 kept hanging in this manner for some time, that by 
 the greatness of the weight hanging at his feet, all his 
 joints and limbs may be dreadfully stretched, and on 
 a sudden he is let down with a jerk, by slackening 
 the rope, but kept from coming quite to the ground ; 
 by v/hich terrible shake his arms and legs are all dis- 
 jointed, whereby he is put to the most exquisite pain ; 
 the shock Avhich he receives by the sudden stop put 
 to his fall, and the weight at his feet, stretching his 
 whole body more intensely and cruelly. According 
 to the orders of the Inquisition, this squassation is 
 repeated once, twice, or three times in the space of 
 an hour. 
 
 Another mode of torture is, by covering the mouth 
 and nostrils with a thin cloth, so that the victim 
 is scarcely able to breathe through it ; then, letting 
 fall from on high water, drop by drop, on his mouth, 
 which easily sinks through the cloth to the bottom of 
 his throat, so that it is impossible for him to breathe, 
 his mouth being filled with water, his nostrils with 
 the cloth ; so that the poor wretch is in the agony of 
 death. When this cloth is pulled out of his mouth, 
 as it often is, to answer questions, it is all over water 
 and blood, and is like pulling his bowels through his 
 mouth. All this time he is lying in what is called the 
 wooden-horse ; that is, a trough across which a bar is 
 placed, on v/hich the man's back rests, instead of on 
 the bottom, while his anns, shins, and thighs are tied 
 round with small cords, drawn tight by screws, till 
 they cut to the very bones. 
 
 The physician Orobio, a Jew, gave a most lively 
 account of the torture practised upon him after he had 
 lain in his dungeon three years. He was brought to 
 the place of torture. It was towards evening. It 
 Avas a large underground room, arched, and the walla 
 
160 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 covoiod with black liaiigiii<^s. The candlesticks were 
 fastened to the wall, and tlie whole enlightened with 
 candles placed in them. At one end there was an 
 enclosed place, like a closet, where the inquisitor and 
 notary sat at a table : so that the place seemed to him 
 the very mansion of death, every thing appearing so 
 terrible and so awful. After some preliminary tor- 
 ments, such as tying his thumbs with small cords till 
 the blood spouted out from beneath the nails, they 
 fastened him w^th small cords, by means of little iron 
 pulleys, to a wall as he sat upon a bench ; then draw- 
 ing the cords wliich fastened his fingers and toes with 
 great violence, they drew the bench from under him, 
 and left him suspended in the strings, till he seemed 
 to be dissolving in flame, such was his agony. Then 
 they brought a sort of ladder and stiiick it against his 
 shins, giving live violent strokes at once ; under the 
 exquisite pain of which he fainted away. They then 
 screwed up his cords with fresh violence, and tied 
 others so near that they slid into the gashes the first 
 had made, and produced such an effusion of blood 
 that they supposed him dying. On finding, however, 
 that he was not, they repeated the torture once more, 
 and then remanded him to his cell !" To imagine 
 men practising these cruelties on men, and that in the 
 outraged name of Christ, the fountain of love and 
 mercy, is revolting enough ; but to read of them 
 mangling, dislocating, and dashing to pieces the 
 delicate frames of young and lovely women, of which 
 lilorente gives various instances, puts the climax to 
 our abhorrent indignation. Such, in particular, were 
 the treatment of Jane Bohorques, and her attendant, a 
 young Lutheran girl, afterward burnt at tlie auto-da-fe.* 
 A word on these autos-da-fe, and we will escape 
 
 * The methods of torfure are not merely such as I have here 
 jriven — they are infinitely varied, and too dreadful to be borne even 
 in the recital. With them it is. indeed, a matter of science ; and is 
 treated of in a volume to be found in the libraries of this country — 
 The Art of Torture — in which the most ingenious modes of pro- 
 ducing ])hysical agony are detailed with the coolest accuracy. I 
 recollect the horror with which a friend of mme opened this book, 
 in the library of the Earl of Shrewsbury at Alton. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 161 
 
 from these horrors. Dr. Geddes's account of the 
 manner of celebrating them, as quoted in Limborch, is 
 one of the best and mo»t condensed. 
 
 " In the morning of the day the prisoners are all 
 brought into a great hall, where they have the habits put 
 on they are to wear in the procession, which begins to 
 come out of the Inquisition about nine o'clock in the 
 morning. 
 
 " The first in the procession are the Dominicans, 
 v/ho carry the standard of the Inquisition, which on 
 the one side hath their founder Dominic's picture, and 
 on the other side the cross between an olive-tree and 
 a swoi-d, with this motto, ' Justitia et Miserecordia.' 
 Next after the Dominicans come the penitents, some 
 with benitoes and some without, according to the 
 nature of their crimes. They are all in black coats 
 without sleeves, and bare-footed, with a wax candle in 
 their hands. Next come the penitents who have 
 narrowly escaped being buj*nt, who, over their black 
 coat have flames painted with their points turned 
 downwards, to signify their having been saved, but so 
 as by fire. Next come the negative and relapsed that 
 are to be burnt, with flames upon their habit, pointing 
 upwtird ; and next come those who profess doctrines 
 contrary to those of the C^hurch of Rome, and who, 
 besides flames on their habit pointing upward, have 
 their picture, which is drawn two or three days before, 
 upon their breasts, with dogs, serpents, and devils, all 
 with open moiiths, painted about it. 
 
 "Pegna, a famous Spanish inquisitor, ca,lls this 
 procession ' Horrendum ac tremendum gpectaculum ;' 
 and so it is, in truth, there being something in the 
 looks of all the prisoners, besides those that are to be 
 burnt, that is ghastly and disconsolate beyond what 
 can be imagined ; and in the eyes and countenances 
 of those that are to be burnt there is something that 
 looks fierce and eager. 
 
 " The prisoners that are to be burnt alive, besides 
 a familiar which all the rest have, have a Jesuit on 
 each hand of them, who is continually preaching to 
 
462 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 them to abjure their heresies ; but if they oliev to speak 
 any thing in defence of tlie doctrines for \vhich tiicy 
 are going to suffer death, they are immediately gagged. 
 This I saw done to a prisoner presently after he came 
 out of the gates of the Inquisition, upon his having 
 looked up at tlie smi, which he liad not seen for several 
 years, and cried out in a rapture — ' How is it possible 
 for people that behold that glorious body, to worship 
 any being but Him that created it !' After the prison- 
 ers, comes a troop of familiars on horseback, and 
 after them the inquisitors and other officers of the 
 court upon mules ; and last of all comes the inquisi- 
 tor-general, upon a white horse led by two men, with 
 a black hat and green hatband, and attended by all 
 the nobles that are not employed as familiars in the 
 procession. 
 
 " At the place of execution, which at Lisbon is the 
 Ribera, there are so many stakes set up as there are 
 prisoners to be burnt, Avith a good quantity of dry furze 
 about them. The stakes of the professed, as the 
 inquisitors call them, may be about four yards high, 
 and have a small board whereon the prisoner is to be 
 seated, within half a yard of the top. The negative 
 and relapsed being first strangled and burnt, the pro- 
 fessed go up a ladder betwixt the two Jesuits, who 
 spend about a quarter of an hour in exhorting them to 
 be reconciled to the Church of Rome ; which, if thev 
 refuse, the Jesuits descend, the executioner ascends 
 and secures them to the stake. The Jesuits then go 
 up a second time, and at parting tell them — 'they 
 leave them to the devil, who stands at their elbow to 
 receive their souls, and carry them into the flames of 
 hell-fire.' Upon this a great shout is raised, ' Let the 
 dogs' beards be made !' which is done by thrusting 
 flaming forzes, fastened to long poles, against their 
 faces. And this inhumanity is commonly continued 
 until their faces are burnt to a coal, and is always 
 accompanied by such loud acclamations of joy as are 
 not to be heard on any other occasion ; a bull-feast or 
 a fair being dull entertainments to this. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 163 
 
 " The professeds' beards having been thus made, or 
 trimmed, as they call it in jollity, fire is set to the 
 furze which is at the bottom of the stake, and above 
 which the professed are chained so high that the top 
 of the flame seldom reaches higher than the seat they 
 sit on ; and if there happen to be a wind, to which 
 that place is much exposed, it seldom reaches so high 
 as their knees. If it be calm they may be dead in 
 half an hour, but if windy they are not dead in an 
 hour and a half or two hours, and are really roasted, 
 not burnt to death. But though, out of hell, there 
 cannot possibly be a more lamentable spectacle than 
 this, being joined with the suflerers' continual cry of 
 ' Miserecordia por amor de Dios,'' Mercy for the love of 
 God ! yet it is beheld by people of both sexes, and all 
 ages, with such transports of joy and satisfaction, as 
 are not witnessed on any other occasion." 
 
 Mr. Wilcox, afterward Bishop of Gloucester, wrote 
 to Bishop Burnet, that he witnessed at Lisbon in 1706, 
 Hector Dias and Maria Pinteyra burnt alive. The 
 woman was alive in the flames half an hoar ; the man 
 about an hour. The king and his brother were seated 
 at a window so near as to be addressed for a con- 
 siderable time in very moving terms by the man as he 
 was burning. All he asked was a few more fagots, 
 yet he could not obtain them. The wind being a little 
 fresh, the man's hinder parts were perfectly roasted ; 
 and as he turned himself round, his ribs opened before 
 he left speaking, the fire being recruited as it wasted, 
 to keep him just in the same degree of heat ; but all 
 his entreaties could not procure him a larger allowance 
 of wood, to despatch him more speedily. 
 
 The victims who have suffered death or ruin from 
 this diabolical institution in various quarters of the 
 world, are estimated at some millions. Llorente 
 gives, from actual examination of its own records, 
 the following statement of the victims of the Spanish 
 Inquisition alone. 
 
ieJ4 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 Number of persons who were con- 
 demned and perished in the flames 31,912 
 
 Effigies burnt 17,659 
 
 Condemned to severe penances . .. 291,450 
 
 341,021 
 
 And these things the choicest agents of the devil 
 have dared to act in the name of Christ, and men have 
 believed them ! Amid all the crimes of Napoleon, let 
 it be for ever remembered that he annihilated this 
 earthly hell with a word, — but Englishmen restored 
 Ferdinand to the throne of Spain, and Ferdinand re- 
 stored the Inquisition. We fought to give Spaniards 
 freedom, and we gave them the most blasting despotism 
 which ever walked the earth — the despotism of priest- 
 craft ; with fire in one hand, and eternal darkness and 
 degradation in the other. Cromwell had a different 
 spirit — he menaced war on the Inquisition — and the 
 menace was heard to the lowest depths of its infernal 
 dens. If the arm of cruelty be shortened, it is neither 
 owing to the priests nor their creature Ferdinand, but 
 to the light which has entered Spain during its political 
 concussions. 
 
 Another subject connected with this history might 
 also form a separate chapter — the state of those Euro- 
 pean countries which yet retain popery. It would be 
 an interesting inquiry, and would amply bear out the 
 character already drawn of priestcraft ; but the con- 
 sideration of our own state-religion draws me on, an;] 
 I must refer my readers to the abundant works of our 
 modern travellers for those matters — if indeed it be 
 not enough to lift our eyes, and at a cursory view, see 
 the mark of the beast stamped on the bosom of every 
 nation where it prevails — in characters of slavery, ig- 
 norance, calamity, and blood. France, roused by the 
 united oppressions of kingcraft and priestcraft, rushed 
 into a premature :struggle with them, in which religion 
 and liberty were both wrecked, and such horrors per- 
 petrated as turn the sickening eyes of the beholder 
 
IN ALL AGES. 165 
 
 away, blinded with burning tears. France, thirsting 
 for civil and religious freedom, yet unprepared in its 
 ])opular heart for its secure enjoyment, arose like a 
 giant in wrath, and smarting with the accumiUated 
 inflictions of popery and civil despotism, crushed 
 together its wrongs and its hopes. France, starting 
 from the extreme slumber of papal slavery — a state 
 in which its population received passively all dogmas 
 and all ordinances, a state without inquiry — plunged 
 at once into the opposite extreme of restless scrutiny 
 after the true principles of government and religion ; 
 and like a man issuing at full speed from darkness to 
 the glare of noonday, has seen nothing but indistinct 
 and overpowering images of things — felt nothing but 
 the wild phrensy of suddenly-acquired freedom ; and 
 has consequently floundered on through changes, revo- 
 lutions, and reeling instability, that have been more 
 fatal to the progress of true liberty than all the 
 assaults of its determined enemies. On the other 
 hand, Spain and Portugal, with a certain portion of 
 intelligent and philosophical inhabitants, groan under 
 the dead weight of their old papal institutions and 
 trains of priests, and wound themselves to death in the 
 vain endeavour to throw them off", before the people are 
 sufficiently regenerated with the inbreakings of know- 
 ledge to give vigour to the contest. In them we see 
 the full consequences of the establishment of Inquisi- 
 tions, by which the public mind acquires a habit of 
 fear, and an incapacity for daring development of 
 mental energy, even where the cause of real fear is 
 no more. Were the people of these countries once 
 educated, they would throw ofl" monks, priests, and 
 wicked kings, with the ease that Samson threw off his 
 withes — but where shall this begin, where knowledge 
 has long been treated as damnable, and has been pun- 
 ished with death? Such is the state of ignorance, 
 which it is the interest and has always been the 
 practice of popery to maintain in those countries, that 
 Lord Byron, speaking of the ladies, says, they are 
 beautiful, but the coiuitess is no better informed than 
 
166 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 the commonest peasant girl. Italy too lies prostrate 
 beneath the double tyranny of the altar and the throne 
 of the foreign barbarian, — and the end of those things 
 it is not easy to see. Eternal are the thanks, the 
 gratitude, and the honours due to Huss, to Jerome of 
 Prague, to Oldcastle, to Wiclif, and other martyrs 
 and reformers, who attempted, and to Luther and his 
 contemporaries, who finally succeeded in breaking 
 down this mightiest of spiritual despotisms, and free- 
 ing part of mankind from the nightmare of a thousand 
 years ; leaving us in the bright day-beams of know- 
 ledge and freedom, not to suffer, but to sigh over 
 the miseries M'hich the bloodiest of priesthoods has 
 inflicted for centuries on the world ; — and not to sigh 
 only, but to exert ourselves to spread still wider the 
 impulse of good which they have given. AVlio shall 
 tell what efiects on the continental nations the regen- 
 eration of the religious institutions of this mighty and 
 illustrious nation shall yet produce.* 
 
 * Appendix III. ' 
 
IN ALL AGES. 167 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ENGLISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 Unfortunate circumstances under which the Reformation began in 
 England— Regal power fatal to Religion— Arbitrary conduct of the 
 Tudors— Inquisition established in England under the names of 
 the Star Chamber and High Commission Court— Popish bias of 
 f:Uzabeth— Her completion of the Liturgy— Despotism of the 
 Stuarts— Their Persecutions in England and Scotland— The arbi- 
 trary spirit of Laud conducts himself and Charles I., to the block 
 —Laud's fondness for Popish Mummery— His singula! Consecra- 
 tion of Catherine's Church — Heterogeneous materials of the Eng- 
 lish Church, and consequent Schisms— Continues to persecute till 
 the Accession of William III.— Hopeless and unalterable nature 
 of State Religion — State of the Clergy. 
 
 Where one particular priesthood has rank in the state, others are 
 not free ; and where they all have, the people are not free. So far 
 as the ceremonies of one particular faith are connected with fillmg 
 any particular occupation, entering into the relations, or enjoying 
 any of the advantages of civil life, there is not religious liberty. It 
 is a fallacious distinction wluch has sometimes been drawn, that a 
 state may patronise, though it should not punish. A government 
 cannot patronise one particular religion without punishing otliers. 
 A state has no wealth but the people's wealth ; if it pay some, it 
 impoverishes others. A state is no fountain of honour. If it declare 
 one class free, it thereby declares others slaves. If it declare some 
 noble, it thereby declares others ignoble. Whenever bestowed with 
 partialitj-, its generosity is injustice, and its favour is oppression. 
 
 Fox. 
 
 One /would have imagined that when the horror.^ 
 and enormities of that long reign of spiritual slavery 
 under the infamous papal hierarchy, had roused a great 
 part of Em-ope to scotch the old serpent of Rome ; to 
 burst asunder the vile and envenomed folds which she 
 had wrapped romid the soul, the life, and liberties of 
 man, — that the reformed churches would have been 
 careful so to organize themselves as to prevent tem- 
 poral power again enslaving religion. But it is no 
 easy matter to escape the grasp of regal and political 
 
168 PRIEStCRAFt 
 
 dominion; and it is rarely that men are prepared, after 
 a long sufferance of slavery, to enjoy and secure free- 
 dom. He whose hody has been cramped by chains, and 
 wasted by vigils in the dark dungeons of power for 
 years, cannot at once, on coming out, stretch forth his 
 limbs, acquire in a moment the vigour and elasticity 
 of his muscles, and bound over the hills with the breath- 
 ing buoyancy of the youthful hunter, to M'hom every 
 day brings exercise, and force, and adroitness. The 
 issuer from the dungeon cannot bear at once the light 
 of day with an eagle's glance, and regard every thing 
 around him with the perspicuous familiarity of . those 
 who have daily walked about in the eye of heaven. 
 Besides, in the exultation of conquest over an old 
 despotism, the populace are always too credulously 
 trusting to the professions of those who pretend to 
 rejoice with them in order to enslave them anew. In 
 a while they w^ake from their dream of good-nature, 
 but it is too' late, — they are again clasped in bonds, 
 and environed with bars that nothing but the oppres- 
 sions of ages can corrode, and some far-off out-break- 
 ing of popvdar indignation can dash asunder. 
 
 Such has been the fate, more or less, of all the re- 
 ibrmed churches of Europe ; but we confine ourselves 
 to the Church of England; — the least reformed, the 
 most enslaved of all. The Eeformation in England 
 was commenced and continued, under unfortunate cir- 
 cumstances. It was not the result of such a ripened 
 and irrestrainable enthusiasm of the popular mind as 
 must have thrown doM'n all before it; but it Mas brought 
 about by the arbitrary passions of that monster, Henry 
 VIII., one of the most libidinous and bloody wretches 
 that ever disgraced a throne. At one moment it was 
 his will, because it suited his pleasure, to be the advo- 
 cate of the pope ; at another, because it was neces- 
 sary to the gratification of his indomitable desires, — 
 his most desperate antagonist. For this he threw off 
 the papal yoke — but not to give the church freedom — 
 nothing could be farther from his intentions : it was 
 only to make it his servant and his slave. He declared 
 
IN ALL AGES. 169 
 
 himself the head of the church of Christ in these king- 
 doms. What a head for such a church ! The despot- 
 ism of opinion was only changed in name ; and it 
 appears to have been the effect of the merest accident 
 t/iat it was changed at all. Every thing was on the 
 point of being amicably settled between the British 
 and the Italian tyrant, when it was rumoured at th<3 
 papal court, that Henry had witnessed a dramatic 
 representation in which that court was ridiculed. In a 
 moment of impolitic passion, the " triple tyrant" thun- 
 dered against Henry his bull of denunciation, and the 
 breach was made immortal. Heavily and long did the 
 pontiff curse the moment in v/hich he forgot, in his 
 passion, the priest's proper cunning ; but his regret 
 was unavailing — England was lost for ever. 
 
 Edward VI. was a truly pious youth, and was 
 unquestionably desirous of doing what was right ; but 
 he was a feeble invalid, and was in the hands of priests, 
 who did with him as they pleased. By authority 
 exercised in his name, a liturgy was framed for the 
 church ; wliich Elizabeth afterward revised by her 
 bishops, and brought to that state in Vv^hich it sub- 
 stantially remain-s to this day. It was not in the nature 
 of that 7nan in petticoats, — that Henry VIII., in a female 
 mask, — to consult the inclinations of the people so 
 nuich as her own high will, in which glowed all the 
 dominance and all the spirit of the Tndors. Instead 
 of being willing to strip religion of the ceremonies 
 which remained in it, she was rather inclined to bring 
 tlie public worship still nearer to the Roman ritual; and 
 had a gi-eat propensity to several usages in the Church 
 of Rome, which were justly looked upon as supersti- 
 tious. She thaidved publicly one of her chaplains who 
 had preached in defence of the real presence ; she was 
 fond of images, and retained some in her chapel ; 
 and would undoubtedly have forbidden the marriage 
 of the clergy, if Cecil had not interposed. Having 
 appointed a committee of divines to revise King Ed- 
 ward's liturgy, she gave them an order to strike out all 
 offensive passages against the pope, and make people 
 H 
 
170 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 easy about the corporal presence of Christ in the sacra- 
 ment. 
 
 That an imperious woman, who, not finding it ac- 
 cordant with the love of undivided power to marry, was 
 jealous of all who did, — who even imprisoned her rela- 
 tives and maids of honour who presumed to marry, 
 r.honld attempt to prevent the clergy marrying, — was 
 not very wonderful. Those of her subjects who were 
 desirous of a purer, simpler, more apostolic, and less 
 worldly system of worship ; who had fled to the Conti- 
 nent from the fire and chains of her sister Mary, and 
 had returned, hoping better things at her hands, she 
 ordered to submit to her royal will ; and passed the 
 famous act of Uniformity^ by which all her subjects 
 M ere commanded to observe the rules her bishops had 
 framed, and to take up with such a reformation of the 
 church, as she had pleased to give them, with herself 
 as the visible head of the church upon earth. The puri- 
 tans — for so they were called, for desiring a purer 
 worship — refused their assent to these proceedings ; 
 pleaded the dictates of their consciences in behalf of 
 their refusal ; and complained heavily, that the gross 
 superstitions of popery, which they had looked upon 
 as abrogated and abolished, were now revived, and even 
 imposed by authority. Buttliey pleaded and complained 
 in vain. What were their consciences to this she tyrant ? 
 the indulgence of whose self-will was of more precious 
 value in her eyes than the rights and consciences of 
 millions of people. She not only commanded and 
 exacted ; but following the example of popery, she set 
 up the fire and fagot, and stopped all objections with 
 those powerful arguments. Every state religion, pa- 
 gan or Christian, from the foundation of the world, is 
 stained with blood. Henry VIII., Edward VI., and 
 Elizabeth, all resorted to it, and while professing to 
 reform religion, they gave the death-blow to liberty of 
 conscience, and reacted all the horrors of Roman 
 persecution. Edward, in the tenderness of youth, had 
 a better sense of the nature of Christianity, and 
 earnestly and with many tears endeavoured to avoid 
 
IN ALL AGES. 171 
 
 the bloody work of persecution put upon him by the 
 priests about him, and especially by Cranmer, who 
 afterward received the retribution of dying in that fire 
 he had kindled for others. 
 
 What could be expected of a church thus born in the 
 throes of the most evil passions, cradled in arbitrary 
 power, and baptized in blood ■ Nothing but a melan- 
 choly death of all those high and glorious hopes which 
 the Reformation awoke, and had it been permitted, un- 
 shackled by regal and priestly power, to take its course, 
 would naturally have realized. Elizabeth proceeded 
 with that rigorous and strong hand whicli made her 
 civil government respected, but was most unhallowedly 
 and calamitously thrust into the sacred taljernacle of 
 conscience, to establish a court of high commission to 
 enforce those popish rites, doctrines, and ceremonies 
 whicli she had compelled the English church to adopt. 
 For the particulars of the tyrannies exercised by this 
 inquisition over those who asserted the rights of con- 
 science, in the face of this strangely reformed church, 
 let the reader consult Rapin, Hume, and Neal's history 
 of the Puritans. It took its rise from a remarkable 
 clause in the Act of Supremacy, by which the queen 
 and her successors were empowered to choose persons 
 " to exercise under her all manner of jurisdiction, 
 privileges, and pre-eminences touching any spiritual or 
 ecclesiastical jurisdiction in England and Ireland ; as 
 also to visit, reform, redress, order, correct, and amend 
 all errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, contempts, offences, 
 and enormities vv^hatever ; provided that they have no 
 power to determine any thing to be heresy but what has 
 been adjudged by the authority of the canonical Scrip- 
 tures, or four first general councils, or any of them, 
 or shall be so declared by parliament with consent of 
 the clergy in convocation." These commissioners 
 were empowered to make inquiry, not only by legal 
 methods, but also by all other means which they could 
 devise, that is by rack, torture, inquisition and imprison- 
 ment. They had authority to examine all persons 
 that they suspected, or feigned to suspect, by an oath, 
 H2 
 
172 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 not allowed by their coniiiiission, and llierefore called 
 ex'officioy who were obliged to answer all questions, 
 and thus to criminate themselves and friends. The 
 lines they imposed were discretionary ; the imprison- 
 ment to which they doomed was limited by no rule 
 but their own pleasure ; they imposed as they pleased 
 new articles of faith on the clergy, and practised all 
 the cruelties and iniquities of a real Inquisition. 
 
 Thus, indeed, was the Inquisition as fully and com- 
 pletely set up in England, by a soi-disant reforming 
 queen and reformed cluu'ch, as in Italy, Spain, or any 
 of the old priest-ridden countries of popery ; and how 
 its powers were exercised may be seen in too fearful 
 colours on the broad page of Engiisli history ; in the 
 more full relations of the nonconformists and dis- 
 senters. Clergymen who could not thus mould their 
 consciences at the will of the state, were ejected 
 without mercy from their livings, and they and their 
 families exposed to all the horrors of poverty, con- 
 tempt, and persecution. So far as the regular clergy 
 were concerned, the grievance was not great ; for 
 these principally consisted of Catholics, who had got 
 in during Mary's reign, and having a clear perception 
 that they were well oil', and that there was little hope 
 of another Romish prince succeeding very speedily, 
 they acted according to the dictates of the priestly 
 cunning, accommodated their consciences to their com- 
 fortable condition, and came over in a body to the new 
 state of things. The bisliops, Hume says, having the 
 eye of the world more particularly on them, made it a 
 point of honour, and having, by a sickly season, been 
 reduced to fourteen, all these, except the bishop of Llan- 
 daff, refused compliance, and were degraded : but out 
 of the 10,000 parishes of England, only eighty vicars 
 and rectors, fifty prebendaries, fifteen heads of colleges, 
 twelve archdeacons, and as many deans, sacrificed 
 their livings to their religious principles ; a fact ren- 
 dered more striking to us by a future one, — that of the 
 Presbyterian clergy, who had obtained livings during 
 the Commonwealth, and who, on the passing of the 
 
IN ALL AGES. 173 
 
 Act of Uniformity again, on tlie restoration of Charles 
 II., resigned, to the number of 2000 in one day, to the 
 astonishment of even their enemies, who had no notion 
 of the existence of such high principle, especially as 
 they had not failed to tempt the most able of these 
 clergy with offers of deaneries, and other preferments, 
 and to Baxter, Calamy, and Reynolds bishoprics, — the 
 last of whom only was weak enough to accept it. It 
 was chiefly, therefore, on the more conscientious clergy 
 who had been ejected from their livings in Mary's 
 reign, that the weight of persecution from the ecclesi- 
 astical court fell. These were harassed with every 
 possible vexation. They Avere fined, imprisoned, and 
 destroyed without mercy. This state of things did not 
 cease, excepting during the short interval of the Com- 
 monwealth, till the Act of Toleration, in the reign of 
 William III. put an end to it, and gave to conscience 
 some degree of liberty. The Stuarts, Avho succeeded 
 EHzabeth, with far less talent than the Tudors, had all 
 their love of tyrannical power: and so incorrigible was 
 this principle in them, that it soon brought one of them 
 to the block ; made his son a fugitive for the greater 
 part of his life ; and, finally, notwithstanding the good- 
 natured relentings of tlie people, who had restored his 
 line to the throne, made them rise once more, and drive 
 the hopelessly despotic family from the throne for ever. 
 But, before we quit Elizabeth, we must give some 
 clearer idea of her notion of a reformed church estab- 
 lishment. She insisted tliat the simpler forms and 
 doctrines of the Church of Geneva should be avoided ; 
 and that a splendid hierarchy should be maintained of 
 archbishops, bishops, archdeacons, deans, canons, and 
 other oflicials ; declared that the Church of Rome was 
 a true church, and adopted most of its relics and cere- 
 monies. Its festivals and holydays in honoiu* of saints 
 were to be kept ; the sign of the cross was to be used 
 in baptism ; kneeling at the sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper ; bowing at the name of Jesus ; giving the ring 
 in matrimony ; confirmation of children by episcopa- 
 lian hands ; forbidding marriage at certain seasons o|' 
 
174 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 the year ; and many other popish appendages were re- 
 tained. The doetrine of the absohuion of sins, and the 
 damnatory creed of Athajiasius were held fast ; so that 
 to many — except as to the marriage of the clergy^, 
 auricular confession, and a less pompous and ornate 
 form of worship — little difference between popery and 
 the English Church can be discerned ; and, to make 
 the case still more intolerable, matters of indifference, 
 such as were neither commanded nor forbidden by 
 Scripture — as the external rites of worship, the vests 
 of the clergy, religious festivals — were put under the 
 authority of the civil magistracy ; and tiiose Avho re- 
 fused to conform to them were thus made rebels to the 
 state, and punisha1)le accordingly. It w^as impossible 
 to conceive a more thorough extinction of the rights 
 of the subject in affairs of conscience — not in popery 
 itself ! The bishops having thus got power into their 
 hands, speedily proceeded to exercise it, — to show the 
 old priestly spirit. In 1588, Bancroft, archbishop of 
 Canterbury, declared that the episcopal order were, 
 by express appointment of God, superior to the pres- 
 byters, and that all priests not ordained by bishops 
 were spurious. This, says Mosheim, was the form of 
 religion established in England, which laid the founda- 
 tion for perpetual dissensions and feuds in that other- 
 wdse happy and prosperous nation. 
 
 Such was the formation of the Church of England I 
 such it- remains to the present hour ! After such an 
 origin, can any one wonder that it needs reform, 
 thorough reform, not merely of its abuses, wdiich are, 
 as might naturally be expected from so absurd and 
 despotic a constitution, become monstrous, but reform 
 and entire remodelling of its canons ? While all around 
 it has been progressing in knowledge and better under- 
 standing of the rights of conscience, and the true 
 nature of Christianity, here has this eldest daughter of 
 popery been standing still in body, covered with all her 
 deformities, with the mark of the beast blazing on her 
 forehead, and the filthy rags of cast-off popery fluttering 
 about her ; and while every clearer eye has been re- 
 
IN ALL AGES. 175 
 
 gardiiig" this patchwork progeny of priestcraft aiul bar- 
 barism with iniiigled wonder, ridicule, and abhorrence, 
 she has been hugging herself in the fond idea that she 
 Avas the queen of beauty, and the perfection of holiness ! 
 While the civilized world has been moving about her, 
 casting oft' the mind, the manners, and the harsh tenets 
 of feudal rudeness, she has lain coiled up in the bright 
 face of advancing day, like some huge slimy dragon 
 cast up by the sea of ages, in the midst of a stirring 
 and refined city ; and has only exhibited signs of life 
 by waving her huge scaled tail in menace of her foes, 
 and by stretching out her ten-taloned paws to devour a 
 tenth of the land. Can such a monster longer encum- 
 ber the soil of England ? As soon might we expect 
 St. George to come leading his dragon into London, or 
 Dunstan present the devil, pincered in his fiery tongs, 
 at the door of Lambeth palace. 
 
 Dissent was forced on the nation by the bigotry of 
 the rulers and the priests ; it was fanned into inextin- 
 guishable flame by continual jealousies and persecutions 
 under every reign, till that of William and Mary ; and 
 in our own time has, by the lukewarmness of the estab- 
 lished clergy, led to its extension tenfold in the new 
 schism of the Methodists.* The history of the Society 
 of Friends is full of the most singular persecutions on 
 the part of the clergy, and the magistracy incited by 
 them. At one time, according to Sewell, almost every 
 adult of this persuasion was in prison. At a very early 
 
 * The sagacious mind of Milton saw in his day the advantages of 
 that system which Wesley in ours has put so successfully into 
 operation. " Thus taught, once for all, and thus now and then visited 
 and confirmed in the most destitute and poorest places of the land, 
 under the government of their own elders, performing all ministerial 
 offices among them, they may be trusted to meet and edify one another, 
 whether in church or chapel, or to save them the trudging of many 
 miles thither, nearer home, though in a house or barn. For, notwith- 
 standing the gaudy superstition of some still ignorantly devoted to 
 temples, we may be well assured, that he who did not disdain to be 
 laid in a manger, disdains not to be preached in a barn ; and that, by 
 such meetings as these, being, indeed, most apostolical and primitive, 
 they will, in a short time, advance more in Christian knowledge and 
 reformation of life, than by many years preaching of such an incum- 
 bent, I may say such an incumbrance oft-times, as will be merely 
 hired to abide long in such places," 
 
176 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 period of their association, two thousand four hundred 
 of them were incarcerated. From the time of their 
 rise to the very day of the passing of the Act of Toler- 
 ation, they were harassed and abused in all possible 
 manners. Their property was seized ; their meetings 
 forcibly scattered with rude soldiers and the scum of 
 the people ; they were confmed in the most loathsome 
 prisons, where many perished, from hardships and 
 severities of winter, and of men more wintry than the 
 elements. To escape from this state of shameful and 
 intolerable oppression, William Penn, one of the 
 greatest and most illustrious men which this country 
 ever produced, led out his persecuted brethren to 
 America, and there founded one of the states of that 
 noble country, which has now risen to a pitch of pros- 
 perity which is the natural fruit of liberty ; and stands 
 an every-day opprobrium of priestcraft, and a monu- 
 ment not merely of the uselessness, but the impolicy 
 and nuisance of establishments. In the new, but great 
 cities of that vast empire — in the depths of its eternal 
 forests, and on its mountains and its plains, that scorn 
 to bear the scorching foot of despotism, millions of 
 freemen, who have escaped from the temporal and 
 spiritual outrages of Europe, lift up their voices and 
 their hearts in thanksgivings to Him who has given 
 them a land wide as human wishes, and as free as the 
 air that envelops it. They have gone out from us to 
 escape our cruelties and indignities, and are become 
 our practical teachers in the philosophy of religion and 
 government. 
 
 The English church, which has been so lauded by 
 its interested supporters, as a model of all that is 
 pure, dignified, holy, and compact, has not only thus 
 compelled dissent by its tyranny ; but by the consent 
 of all historians, has, from its commencement, been 
 composed like Nebuchadnezzar's image, of most ill 
 agreeing materials, mingled brass and clay ; and has 
 consequently been continually rent with differing fac- 
 tions. The Tudors established popish rites, and Ed- 
 ward VI. introduced Calvinistic doctrines ; and these, 
 
IN ALL AGES. 177 
 
 retained by Elizabeth and James I., Charles I. by a 
 singular inconsistency sanctioned, at the same mo- 
 ment that, under the management of his domineering 
 Laud, he \vas carrying the claims of episcopal power 
 to the highest pitch, and would not only force them. 
 upon the English, but on the Scotch. This prelate, 
 as complete a papist in spirit as any that ever exer- 
 cised despotism in the bosom of that arbitrary church, 
 has been much eulogized by good men of the present 
 day, who themselves most amiable in their own pri- 
 vate circles, exhibit in their writings too much of the 
 harsliness and the bigotry of the middle ages to be 
 agreeable in this. The opinion of Hume has been 
 often quoted in his favour ; let us therefore see what 
 Hume does say of him. " This man Avas virtuous, if 
 severity of manners alone, and abstinence of pleasure, 
 could deserve that name. He was learned, if polem- 
 ical knowledge could entitle him to that praise. He 
 was disinterested; but with unceasing industry he 
 studied to exalt the priestly and prelatical character, 
 which was his own. His zeal w^as unrelenting in the 
 cause of religion ; that is, by imposing, by rigorous 
 measures, his own tenets and pious ceremonies on the 
 obstinate puritans, who liad profanely dared to oppose 
 him. In prosecution of his holy purposes, lie over- 
 looked every himian consideration ; or, in other words, 
 the heat and indiscretion of his temper made him neg- 
 lect the views of prudence, and rules of good man- 
 ners. He was in this respect happy — how exactly the 
 character of some eminent men of this day ! — that all 
 his enemies w^ere also imagined by him the declared 
 enemies of loyalty and true piety ; and that every ex- 
 ercise of his anger, by that means, became in his 
 eyes a merit and a virtue. This was the man who ac- 
 quired so great an ascendent over Charles, and who 
 led him by the facility of his temper, with a conduct 
 which proved so fatal to himself and to his kingdom." 
 He adds, that, " in return for Charles's indulgence 
 towards the church. Laud and his followers took care 
 to magnify, on every occasion, the regal authority, and 
 H3 
 
178 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 to treat with the utmost disdain or detestation, all pu- 
 ritanical pretensions to a free and independent consti- 
 tution." At the same time, he continues, that "while 
 these prelates exalted the kingly power, they took 
 care to set the priestly still higher, and endeavoured 
 to render it independent of the sovereign. They de- 
 clared it sacred and indefeasihle ; all right to private 
 judgment in spiritual matters was denied to laymen ; 
 bishops held spiritual courts without any notice taken 
 of the king's authority ; and in short, rapid strides 
 were made, not only towards the haughty despotism 
 of popery, but towards its superstitious acrimonious- 
 ness. Laud, in spite of public opinion and private 
 remonstrance, introduced pictures into the churches, 
 shifted the altar liack to its old papal standing, set up 
 again the crucifix, and advised that the discipline and 
 worship of the cliurch sliould l)e imposed in all the 
 colonies, and in all the reginients and trading compa- 
 nies abroad, and that no intimacy should be maintained 
 with the reformed churches of the Continent. All his 
 measures, in fact, tended to a most popish state of 
 ceremonies in worship, and tyranny and intolerance 
 in behaviour ; and no one, after reading the following 
 accomit of his consecration of St. Catherine's church, 
 given by the same historian on the authority of Well- 
 wood, Rushworth, and Franklin, can see any differ- 
 ence between him and a most thorough-going papist. 
 
 " On the bishop's approach to the west door of the 
 church, a loud voice cried, ' Open, open, ye everlast- 
 ing doors, that the king of glory may enter in.' Im- 
 mediately the doors of the church flew open, and the 
 bishop entered, falling on his knees, with eyes elevated, 
 and arms expanded, he uttered these words : ' This 
 place is holy ; the ground is holy ; in the name of 
 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost I pronounce 
 it holy.' 
 
 " Going towards the chancel, he several times took 
 up from the floor some of the dust, and threw it in 
 the air. When he approached, with his attendants, near 
 to the commimion table, he bowed frequently towards 
 
IN ALL AGES. 179 
 
 it ; and on their return, they went round the church, 
 repeating, as they marched along, some of the Psalms, 
 and said a form of prayer, which concluded in these 
 words — ' We consecrate this church, and separate it 
 unto Thee as holy ground, not to be profaned any more 
 to common uses.' 
 
 "After this, the bishop standing near the commu- 
 nion table, solemnly pronounced many imprecations 
 upon such as should afterward pollute that holy place 
 by musters of soldiers, or keeping in it profane law- 
 courts, or carrying burdens through it. On the con- 
 clusion of every curse, he bowed towards the east, 
 and said — 'Let all the people say, Amen.' 
 
 "The imprecations being also piously finished, 
 there were poured out a number of blessings on all 
 such as had any hand in building and forming that 
 sacred and beautiful edifice ; and on such as had 
 given, or should hereafter give to it, any chalices, plate, 
 ornaments, or utensils. At every benediction he in 
 like manner bowed towards the east, and cried — ' Let 
 all the people say. Amen.' 
 
 "The sermon followed: after which the bishop 
 consecrated and administered the Sacrament in the 
 following manner. As he approached the communion 
 table he made many lowly reverences ; and, coming 
 up to that part of the table where the bread and wine 
 lay, he bowed seven times. After the reading of 
 many prayers, he approached the sacramental ele- 
 ments, and gently lifted up the napkin in which the 
 bread was placed. When he beheld the bread, he 
 suddenly let fall the napkin, flew back a step or two, 
 bowed three several times towards the bread, then he 
 drew nigh again, opened the napkin, and bowed as 
 before. 
 
 '* Next he laid his hand on the cup, which had a 
 cover upon it, and was filled with wine. He let go 
 the cup, fell back, and bowed thrice towards it. He 
 approached again, and lifting up the cover, peeped in. 
 Seeing the wine, he let fall the cover, started back, 
 and bowed as before. Then he i-eceived the sacra- 
 
180 PRIESTCRATT 
 
 ment, and gave it to others ; and, many prayers being 
 said, the solemnity of the consecration ended. The 
 walls and floor and roof of the fabric were then sup- 
 posed to be sufficiently holy." 
 
 The consequence of these ridiculous ceremonies 
 on the one hand, and severities on the other — for the 
 English Inquisition, in the form of the High Commis- 
 sion Court and the Star Chamber was in full exer- 
 cise, and many cruelties and iniquities were continu- 
 ally practised in them on those who dared to have an 
 opinion of their own — was, that Laud was brought to 
 the block,* and his sovereign was left in that calamit- 
 ous course of unsuccessful despotism which actually 
 brought him there, and deluged the whole nation in 
 blood, and tossed it in years of anarchy and crime. 
 By these circinnstances, hovv^ever, the church received, 
 what Lord Chatham so expressly designated in par- 
 liament — a Popish liturgy, a Calvinistic creed, and 
 an Arminian clergy. 
 
 The heterogeneous materials of the church showed 
 conspicuously iii the famous assembly of divines at 
 Westminster during part of Charles's reign and part 
 of the Commonwealth, By the accession of William 
 another rent was made : part of the hierarchy adher- 
 ing to the Stuart line, refusing to swear allegiance to 
 the new dynasty, and thus acquiring the name of Non- 
 jurors,— splitting the church into High-church and 
 TiOW-church, — two parties Avhose feuds and heart- 
 burnings continued till late years, when the sect of the 
 
 * It is pity that an archbishop like Laud should be brought to 
 such an end ; because there are so much cheaper ways, and more 
 economical of human su^erins? than the real murder of political en- 
 emies in the manner of Vane and Ney. But considerations ot this 
 kind should hnider no man from discernui£j, how entirely all that 
 constitutes public and private freedom, happiness, and honour, has 
 been obtained by the conquest and beating down, and is. in fact, the 
 spoil of war carried off" by the subjection and trampling under foot, 
 of that political and ecclesiastical party who have just received an- 
 other mighty bruise ; and of whom it has been truly said, that but 
 for their successive defeats, England would at this moment liave 
 been Spain, Portugal, or Trnkey.^ West7ninst€r Rmew, ^o. 
 XXXIY. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 18 
 
 Evangelicals has appeared, to bear prolonged evidence 
 to the internal destitution of the principles of cohe 
 sion in the establishment. These lean towards the 
 Calvinistic creed, which they justly assert is the strict 
 hteral creed of the church according to the Thirty- 
 nine Articles ; and advocate a reform in the manners, 
 and a renewed zeal in the spirit of the clergy. When 
 we add to this that whereas in other countries the 
 ciuirch is under the government of one deliberative 
 body, and is in this split into two houses of convoca* 
 tion, we have before us a picture of unconnectedness 
 that is perfectly amazing. 
 
 This is but a melancholy sketch of the history of 
 this celebrated church ; but it is one so broadly, copi- 
 ously, and overwhelmingly delineated in the annals of 
 the nation at large, that it cannot be controverted ; — a 
 liistory, as that of every state religion must be, of 
 power usurping the throne of conscience ; thrusting 
 the spirit of the people from free address to, and com- 
 munion with their God ; and in refusal of obedience 
 — an obedience more deadly and shameful than the 
 most outrageous resistance could possibly be — follow- 
 ing them with the fire and sword of extermination ; 
 or if that Avere not allowed, with the sneers and taunts 
 of contempt. Alas ! that such should be the misera- 
 ble results of that Reformation^which at first promised 
 such glorious fruits ; that the blood of martyrs, and 
 the fervid prayers and mighty exertions of the noblest 
 intellects, and holiest men, should be spent so much 
 in vain. 
 
 But such ever has been, and ever will be the resulj 
 of that great fundamental error, of linking in unnat- 
 ural union church and state ; of making the church 
 of Christ, who has himself declared that *' his king- 
 dom is not of this world," a tool of ambitious kings 
 and rulers. 
 
 The nature of the Christian religion is essentially 
 free ; the voice of Christ proclaims to men — " the 
 truth shall make you free !" The spirit of Christian- 
 ity is so delicate in its sensibility, that it shrinks from 
 
182 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 the touch of the iron and blood-stained hand of politi- 
 cal rule ; it is so boundless in its aspirations, and ex- 
 pansive in its energies, that it must stand on the broad 
 champaign of civil and intellectual liberty, ere it can 
 stretch its wings effectively for that flight which is 
 destined to encompass the earth, and end only in eter- 
 nity. And what has been the consequence of attempt- 
 ing to chain this free spirit to the car of state ? Why, 
 that in its days of earlier union, arbitrary power 
 sought to quench in its own sacred name, its own 
 very life ! — pursued with fire, sword, fetters, dungeons, 
 and death its primest advocates. The history of dis- 
 sent is full of these horrors : and Ireland, in which 
 tne same system was pursued ; and Scotland, that 
 sooner than submit to it, rose, and stood to the death 
 in many a mountain pass and bloody valley, can 
 testify to the same odious policy. The oppressions 
 and splendid resistance of the Scottish Covenanters, 
 — the bloody havoc made among them by the soldiery 
 of reformed kings and a reformed church ; and their 
 undaunted and most picturesque celebration of their 
 own simple worship, lifting up their voices amid the 
 rocks and deserts whither they were driven for their 
 adherence to their religion, are well told by their o^^^l 
 historians. From the first to the last — from the acces- 
 sion of James I. to the throne of England to the ex- 
 pulsion of James II. from that throne, a period of up- 
 wards of eighty years, the Stuarts persisted in the 
 most tyrannical endeavours to force on their native 
 coimtry of Scotland the episcopal church ; and, in 
 consequence, deluged that high-spirited and beautiful 
 country with blood. Many a solitary heath, many a 
 scene of savage rocks in that land, where the peasant 
 now passes by and only wonders at its wild silence, 
 are yet loud in the ear of heaven in eternal complaints 
 of the bloody and domineering deeds of the English 
 church, ^v^ought by its advice and by the hireling 
 murderers of its royal head ; many a name — as Kil- 
 sythe, Kilicranky, and Bothwell Bridge — will rise up 
 for ever in the souls of man against her. Does she 
 
IN ALL AGES. 183 
 
 Stand before us and call herself holy and meek, and 
 beneficent, with all these crimes, all these lives, all 
 this blood and 'misery on her head ? Well would it 
 have been for Ireland, well for England, well for the 
 Episcopalian church itself, if some Jenny Geddes 
 had been found, as in Edinburgh, to launch her three- 
 legged stool at the head of the clergyman when he 
 began to deal out a state liturgy ; and had been fol- 
 lowed by the simultaneous efforts of the whole people, 
 to teach kings and priests to respect the inalienable 
 rights of conscience : but in default of this, what has 
 been the consequence ? While power was left to the 
 church, it persecuted, and would have continued to 
 persecute. The act of William III. put an end to 
 this ; and we must henceforth look for the spirit of 
 priestcraft in a different shape. The whole course 
 of this volume has shown that this wily spirit has 
 conformed itself to circumstances. Where unlimited 
 power was within its grasp, it seized it without hesi- 
 tation, and exercised it without mercy. Egypt, India, 
 all ancient Asia, and all feudal Europe, are witnesses 
 of this. Where it could not act so freely, it submit- 
 ted to the spirit of the people ; and worked more 
 quietly, more unseen, but equally effectually as in 
 Greece and Pagan Rome. England, after William 
 III., afforded no further scope for imprisonment, the 
 martyr's flaming pile, or the bloody axe of the public 
 executioner. It was rapidly careering in a course of 
 knowledge and civilization, which made men ac- 
 quainted with their rights. The established clerg)^, 
 therefore, had nothing to do but to secure the full en- 
 joyment of their revenues, and that parochial influence 
 with which they were invested ; and the consequence 
 is, that they have become the richest body of priests 
 and the most apathetic towards the people, from Avhom 
 their wealth is drawn. The clergy, from these circum- 
 stances, have been long gradually diverging into two 
 classes, — one, sunk into the slumberous beds of enor- 
 mous wealth and gross luxury ; the other, into the 
 miserable slough of interminable toil and poverty. If 
 
184 PRIESTCRAFT, 
 
 we look at the dignitaries of the cliuich, and at the 
 description of the dignitaries of the papal church in 
 its later days of universal influence, can we avoid 
 being struck with the coincidence of character? 
 " They pass their days amid the pleasures and cabals 
 of courts ; and appear rather the slaves of princes, 
 than the servants of Him whose kingdom is not of 
 this world. They court glory: they aspire after 
 riches ; while very few employ their time and labour 
 in edifying the people, or in promoting among them 
 the vital spirit of religion ; and, what is more deplor- 
 able, those bishops who, sensible of the sanctity of 
 their character, and the duties of their office, distin- 
 guished themselves by zeal in the cause of virtue, are 
 frequently exposed to the malicious efforts of envy, 
 often loaded with false accusations, and involved in 
 perplexities of various kinds." ^ 
 
 But it is not the bishops alone to whom this applies. 
 These are the features of -the establisliment, as they 
 appear in the eyes of the people at large ; — 
 
 A clergy, in part, overpaid, and inactive ; in part, 
 overworked, and ill paid. 
 
 Loaded, in part, with opulent sinecures and shameful 
 pluralities ; the greater part doing the duty of the lazy 
 and the absent — on a paltry pittance. 
 
 Jjukewarm in their duties ; and proudly cold in their 
 intercourse with the poor of their flocks. 
 
 A clergy, doggedly adhesive to the establishment 
 as it is, in spite of the progress of the public mind ; 
 adhering to its most absurd, and most impolitic insti- 
 tutions, rites, and dogmas.* 
 
 * Appendix IV, 
 
IN ALL AGES. 185 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ENGLISH AND IRISH CHURCHES. 
 
 Irish Church Reform— See of Derry— Irish Church— Its Revenues 
 State Religion in Ireland — English Church — Injustice of com- 
 pelling Dissenters to support the Estabhshment— Tithes — Unalter- 
 able Nature of State Religions — Anecdotes — Stipendiary Clergy. 
 
 Thrice happy days ! thrice blest the man who saw 
 Their dawn ! The Church and State, that long had held 
 Unholy intercourse, were now divorced ! 
 
 Pollock's Course of Time, B. 4. 
 
 ' Forced consecrations out of another man's estate are no better 
 than forced vows, hateful to God, " who loves a cheerful giver ;" but 
 much more hateful wrung out of men's purses to maintain a disap- 
 proved ministry against their consciences. 
 
 Milton on Hirelings. 
 
 So intolerable has the state of the church become, 
 that the public is loud in demanding its reform ; and 
 the clergy themselves, sensible that reform is inevit- 
 able, with a Avise policy, bend in some degree to the 
 popular opinion. Already the ministers of a reformed 
 government have published their plan of reform for the 
 church of Ireland, that monstrous excrescence, where 
 a revenue of 800,000/., according to the last clerical 
 returns to parliament, but according to other calcula- 
 tions little short of 2,000,000/., is appropriated to a 
 population of 500,000 Protestants ; while 8,000,000 
 of Catholics not only help to support their establish- 
 ment, but their own priests. The proposed reform 
 consists principally in reducing the archbishoprics and 
 bishoprics from twenty-two to twelve ; in reducing the 
 incomes of the remaining ones ; in laying on a tax of 
 fifteen per cent, on the general income of the clergy; 
 in taking off the church cess, or rate, from the people ; 
 and in selling off the lands of the extinguished bisliop- 
 jrics as they fall oiU of lease. The Irish members of 
 
186 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 parliament have received this announcement with 
 ecstasies of delight. It is part of the Irish character 
 to fly into sudden raptures ; but cool reflection will 
 come yet ; and then — what will satisfy them ? Why, 
 nothing short of the utter abrogation of Protestant 
 episcopacy as a state religion. If it were necessary 
 that a religion should be established, as it is called, it 
 ought here to be the Catholic. The opinions of the 
 majority of a nation ought surely to command some 
 respect ; ought surely to be the guide in such matters. 
 If a nation is to patronise and support one religion in 
 preference to another, it ought surely to be the religion 
 of the nation. The religion of Ireland is Catholic,— 
 the religion of Scotland is Presbyterian, — why should 
 Scotland be permitted to have a church of her ov,n, 
 and Ireland be refused one ? Why should the ma.- 
 jority in the other parts of the empire decide the 
 establishment of their party, and in Ireland an insig- 
 nificant sect be thrust upon the people as the national 
 RELIGION ; and be bolstered up with tithes, glebes, and 
 wealth enormous? These are plain questions, and 
 suggest a plain answer. 
 
 One circumstance connected with Irish church 
 reform is characteristic of its real nature and extent, 
 as proposed by the present ministers, and ought to 
 have opened the eyes of all men. The bishopric of 
 Deny, the most enormously endowed in Ireland, was 
 vacant at the very moment of the organization of this 
 plan of reform. If a number of bishoprics were to be 
 reduced, why should not this have been one 1 Or if 
 it were not thought desirable to extinguish it, why 
 should not the incumbent of one of those sees which 
 were to be withdrawn be translated to this, and thus 
 one at least have been instantly removed ? The sur- 
 prise which the appointment of a bishop to this see, 
 under these circumstances created, was at once dissi- 
 pated ; and gave place in the public mind to a higher 
 surprise and a feeling of indignation, by the discovery 
 that the bishop thus installed was Dr. Ponsonby, the 
 brother-in-law of Earl Grey! This was an assurance 
 
IN ALL AGES. 187 
 
 sufficiently intelligible. Will a man set himself 
 heartily to cut down a tree in whose topmost branches 
 he has placed his brother ? Will a man assay to sink 
 a vessel in which he has embarked his own family? 
 Will a general proceed cordially to blow up a fortress 
 in which his near relative is commandant ? Then, will 
 Earl Grey set himself heartily to work to reform 
 efficiently the Irish church ? 
 
 The abolition of this bishopric would have been a 
 thing of the highest importance. Its revenue, accord- 
 ing to the present return, is 13,000/. : and it is pro- 
 posed to reduce it to 8,000/. But what is the estimate 
 of Mr. Wakefield of the value of this see ? He cal- 
 culates that the whole of its property, over and above 
 the tenth part of the gross produce of the land, cannot 
 be much short of 3,000,000/. ; and that the bishop's 
 land, at a fair rate of rent, would produce an income 
 of 130,000/. a year. This, then, is the berth into 
 which Earl Grey, in the face of a reformed parliament 
 — of his own professions of real reform — of suffering 
 England, and starving Ireland, has comfortably put his 
 brother-in-law, and proposes to satisfy the country by 
 the abatement of 5,000/. a year out of this immense 
 property. By the extinction of this bishopric alone, a 
 saving to the country would have been made at once 
 of 3,000,000/^! — for the question in this case is, not 
 what the bishop actually derives from the land, but 
 Avhat it is worth to the nation. 
 
 But the whole of this extraordinary establishment 
 of state religion is of a piece. For the government of 
 the whole church of England, twenty-six archbishops 
 and bishops exist — for 500,000 Irish Protestants there 
 are twenty-two ! According to former returns, there 
 are 1,238 parochial benefices ; according to the pres- 
 ent, 1,401, in which are 860 resident clergymen. To 
 provide for these archbishops and bishops, who super- 
 intend about as many people as one bishop in England 
 would very well manage, it is calculated that out of 
 14,603,473 statute acres under cultivation, 13,603,473 
 are tithed. The glebe of the parochial clergy varies 
 
188 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 from 300 to 40,000 acres. The glebe in the diocess 
 of Derry alone, amounts to more than 17,000 acres. 
 The glebes, indeed, it is calculated, in Derry and Kil- 
 more would, if equally divided, give twenty acres to 
 every parish in Ireland. Mr. Wakefield estimates 
 that the property of six of the bishops, when out of 
 lease, would produce 580,000/. a year ; — a sum which 
 would give an income of 5001. a year for each of the 
 clergy, and a fund for the establishment of a school in 
 every parish in Ireland. But if the property of six 
 bishops amount to 580,000/. a year, what becomes of 
 the clerical calculation which makes the whole income 
 of the Irish church but 800,000/. ?— leaving to the 
 whole body of parochial clergy and sixteen bishops 
 little more tlian 200,000/. ? 
 
 The following is an extract from the returns to the 
 House of Commons in February, 1824. 
 
 Sees. Acres. Sees. Acres. 
 
 Derry 94,836 Dublin 28,784 
 
 Armagh - - - - 63,470 Cork and Ross- 22,755 
 
 Kilmore 51,350 Meath 18,374 
 
 Tuam 49,281 Ossory 13,391 
 
 Clogher 32,817 Cashel 12,800 
 
 Elphin 31,017 Killaloe - - - - 11,081 
 
 Total, 439,953 acres ; which at 20^. per acre, give 
 a rental of 439,953/. 
 
 If we estimate the remaining ten bishoprics at one- 
 third of the amount, there is 146,651, — a rental of dio- 
 cesan lands of 586,604/. 
 
 If we estimate the glebes at 100,000 acres, which 
 is, probably, far too little, when the glebe of Derry 
 alone exceeds 17,000 acres, and the parochial glebes 
 vary from 300 to 40,000 acres, at 20^., here is 
 100,000/. 
 
 The titlie of upwards of 13,000,000 acres, at only 
 2^. a tithe of the rental, not of the gross produce, 
 would be 1 ,300,000/. ; making a total of income for 
 the Irish church of 1,986,604/. 
 
 As women's fortunes are said to be paid in six- 
 j^iences, so when the incomes of the clergy are returned 
 
IN ALL AGES. 189 
 
 to government, they seem to be calculated in farthings, 
 
 or something less. Tithe and glebe seem suddenly 
 to lose their natural value, surplice fees and lines 
 shrink into insignificance. Yet these fines are pretty 
 things, though they do not always amount to so much 
 as the present Bishop of Durham received of Mrs. 
 Beaumont for the renewal of the lease of her lead 
 mines— 72,000^. ! 
 
 Now admitting, that owing to the low rate of cleri- 
 cal leases, to waste land, to lay impropriation, and to 
 the popular inability or repugnance to pay tithes, the 
 income of the church falls far below this estimate, the 
 question, so far as the country is concerned, is the 
 same. Here is a monstrous amount of property appro- 
 priated to a certain purpose, and what good is done ? 
 What good, indeed, as it regards Ireland? — A pro- 
 digious waste of property (for in addition to all the 
 rest, it appears that, at different times since the Union, 
 about half a million has been voted to augment poor 
 livings) only to render the name of Protestant hateful 
 to that nation, by the laziness, non-residence, and 
 tithe-exactions of the clergy of a church, which the 
 Edinburgh Review, some years ago, happily compared 
 to an Irish regiment of volmiteers, which consisted of 
 sixteen lieutenant-colonels, two drummers, and one 
 private ! The same able journal has well remarked, 
 that " whatever may be the supposed effects of a richly 
 endowed church in maintaining a particular creed, it 
 is evidently not the machine for the conversion of a 
 people." 
 
 The justice and intelligence of the British people 
 cannot long, therefore, be satisfied with lopping off a 
 few enormities from such a system ; they will demand 
 its total extinction. Religion and the best objects of 
 all human government demand it ! For if Protestant- 
 ism is to prosper in Ireland, it must not come before 
 the people in the shape of a corporation, chartered in 
 opposition to the predominant feelings of the country, 
 and endowed with a vast portion of the people's wealth ; 
 it must not come in the shape of two and twenty arch- 
 
10t) PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 bishops and bishops to superintend some few hundred 
 clergymen, on incomes of 10,000/. a year; in the 
 shape of tithe-fed clergjnnen without parishes, parishes 
 without churches, and churches without people ; in the 
 shape of men who profess to be teachers of Christian 
 meekness and love, but are seen only as zealous col- 
 lectors of titlies ; in the shape of tithe-proctors, with 
 troops of soldiery at their heels ; in the shape of noon- 
 day exaction and midnight retaliation and revenge ; in 
 short, of wealth and violence on the one hand, and des- 
 titution and despair on the other ; — but if it come really 
 to prosper and to bless, it must come as Christ him- 
 self came, — as a free personification of disinterested 
 kindness ; zealous love for the souls of men, rather than 
 their purses ; active endeavour to sooth the irritation 
 and enlighten the minds of the poor ; it must be offered 
 to men's hearts, but not thrust upon their shoulders ; 
 it must stand before the public eye as a thing to be 
 chosen, or refused ; as a thing which invites observa- 
 tion, and can bear it ; as a thing which obviously has 
 no interest but what is blended with the Avhole happi- 
 ness of man, — whose nobility is so Siriking, and its 
 beauty so attractive, that hearts are drawn to its em- 
 braces, not crushed beneath its tread. The system 
 of compulsion and lavish endowment has been tried 
 long enough ; long enough has state religion, to use 
 Burke's sophistical metaphor, " reared its mitred front 
 in courts and parliaments," its effects are before the 
 public in characters of fire and blood ! Instead of 
 peace, we have horrible anarchy — instead of the milk 
 of human kindness, deadly exasperation and relentless 
 murder — in God's name let us see what the system 
 of the apostles will now do ! — a free offer, — and open 
 hand, — and a zealous heart ! — a system less of the bag 
 and scrip, than of the virtues and argmnents that ad- 
 dress themselves to the wants, the imderstanding, and 
 the generosity of a generous nation. 
 
 In England, tlie dissenters — now a great and im- 
 portant body of people, a people alive to their civil 
 and religious rights — must be relieved from church- 
 
IN ALL AGES. 191 
 
 rates. Ministers have acknowledged the justice of 
 this demand, by already proposing to abolish them in 
 Ireland — the principle in both cases is the same. The 
 Irish cess, it appears, produces only about 94,000/. 
 What the dissenters pay in the shape of church-rates, 
 Easter offerings, etc., I do not know — the sum must 
 be enormous ; but the Society of Friends, a compara- 
 tively small body, suffers the violence and vexation 
 of distraint of their goods, for such things, to the 
 amount of about 14,000/. a year; and these people 
 maintain their own religion, and their own poor. 
 
 That English dissenters should be compelled to 
 contribute to the support of an established church, is 
 a moral and political absurdity. By the Act of Tol- 
 eration of King AVilliam, the rights of conscience are 
 recognised : but by this compulsion all the rights of 
 conscience are violated. "A government cannot 
 patronize one particular religion without pimishing 
 others. A state has no wealth but the people's wealth. 
 If it pay some, it impoverishes others." To tell us 
 that we may all enjoy our own opinions, and celebrate 
 our own worship in perfect freedom ; and yet to com- 
 pel us to support another mode of religion, and another 
 set of opinions, in our eyes erroneous and unchristian, 
 is at once an oppression and a bitter mockery. It is 
 not so much the sum of actual money that we pay 
 which constitutes the grievance, — that might be borne ; 
 but the gravamen lies here, — that by supporting an 
 establishment, we support what, in the abstract, both 
 religiously and politically, we believe ought not to 
 exist. We believe it is the duty of a government, and 
 especially of a Christian government, which acknow- 
 ledges the sacred rights of conscience, to protect ever}-- 
 modification of the Christian religion ; but not to sup- 
 port one in preference to, and at the expense of, the 
 rest. This is not to patronise religion, but a party. 
 That an establishment, unjust and impolitic in itself, 
 never can, and never has, promoted true religion, is 
 shown abundantly by this volume ; it is testified 
 equally by the apathy of the established church, and 
 
192 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 the activity of the dissenters. Is it not a source of 
 continual complahits and bitterness among clerical 
 wi-iters, that the dissenters arc for ever intruding them- 
 selves into their parishes ; and, with what they are 
 pleased to term their fiery fanaticism, continually tm-n 
 the heads of their parishioners, and seduce them to 
 he conventicle ? Now whether this zeal be healthful 
 r not, whether it be pure or alloyed, refined or coarse, 
 ational or fanatic, it matters not to our present ques- 
 tion, — it is zeal, — and the vital question is, whence 
 does it arise ? how is it maintained ? Not, certainly, 
 from a state establishment ! — not by charters and en- 
 dowments. It springs from the soul of the people, 
 and asks no breath of life but their approbation. Here, 
 then, is an acknowledged principle of religious propa- 
 gation, more efficacious than all the boasted influence 
 of canonicals and mitres ; of cathedral piles and 
 sounding orchestras ; of all the political machinery of 
 tithes, and glebes, and church-rates, and forced pay- 
 ments, called by the sarcastic name of gifts and offer- 
 ings^ as if the imposition were not enough, but we 
 must suffer the mockery of being placed in the li^t 
 of free donors and bowing offerers of gifts at a shrine 
 that we inwardly abhor. Here is a confessed power 
 to keep alive the popular zeal for religion ; — if that 
 zeal wants better guidance, it becomes every good man 
 to lend his hand to its due direction, — but the principle 
 itself is indisputably manifested, and sets the seal for 
 ever to the non-necessity, and therefore to the political 
 oppression, of a state religion. Nothing could justify 
 a state religious establishment but the total and proven 
 impossibility of keepng alive Christianity without it ; 
 but here it is seen that religious zeal rather takes any 
 other fonn than that stamped upon it by legal enact- 
 ments. Like the acanthus, pressed under the tile, it 
 rises up with unquenchable vitality all around, and not 
 only buries the dead tile of policy under its vigorous 
 vegetation, but gives origin to new orders of Christian 
 architecture. While the zeal of the established cler- 
 ical order languishes under the weight of good things 
 
IN ALL AGES. 193 
 
 which its friends have cast upon it ; while bishoprics, 
 and deaneries, and prebends cannot stimulate it to the 
 vital point of proselytism ; while tithes, and glebes, 
 and fines, and parochial fees cannot enliven it, the free 
 breath of popular societies can blow it into a flame 
 that spreads far and wide, and even scorches the 
 canonical skirts of the state clergy. Who, after this, 
 shall dare to repeat the stale sophism that Christianity 
 needs the arm of human legislation to support her, — 
 that she must be perched on cathedral pinnacles to be 
 fairly seen ; that she must be wrapped in alb or sur- 
 plice, and crowned with shovel-hat or mitre to be rev-- 
 erenced, and seated on the episcopal throne to be 
 adored? Who shall dare to turn his eye on the 
 United States of America, where there is no state reli- 
 gion, yet where Christianity flourishes not less than 
 among us, and then attempt to palm upon us the cant- 
 ing and selfish falsehood, that religion is bound up in 
 tlie bundle of life with an act of parliament 1 
 
 By compelling us to support an established religion, 
 we are compelled to support and propagate all its er- 
 rors, its injustice, and its absurdities, however great, 
 and numerous, and pernicious they may be. Every 
 sect in England at present, in contributing to the es- 
 tablishment, contributes to that which it abhors. The 
 denouncer of episcopacy is made to maintain a whole 
 hierarchy of bishops ; the Catholic, what he declares 
 to be pestilent heresies of the most damnable sort ; 
 the Calvinist maintains Anninianism ; the Arminian, 
 Calvinism ; for, in the church are combined " a Cal- 
 vinistic creed, and an Arminian clergy." The Friend, 
 who believes all hierarchies antichrislian, who holds 
 that all ministers should speak from the immediate in- 
 fluence of the Holy Spirit, and abominates hireling 
 ministers, written sermons, and a cut-and-dried liturgy, 
 is forced, by distraint of his goods, to feed and uphold 
 all these enormities : every man is made to maintain 
 the doctrine of priestly absolution, for the church main- 
 tains it ; and every man is made most heartily to damn 
 himself, for the Athanasian creed, which is one of the 
 I 
 
1Q4. 
 
 *^^ PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 creeds of the church, does declare every man to be 
 damned who doubts it. 
 
 Such a preposterous abuse of power never can be 
 much longer tolerated m this country. The church- 
 rates must be abolished, and with them tithes. Tithes 
 are politically condemned, and will disappear for ever 
 A more ingenious method could not have been devised 
 or the suppon of a minister of religion, had it been 
 the object of the deviser to place an eternal object of 
 hatred, heart-burning, and dispute between him and 
 his flock ; to place him in the position of a harpy over 
 the table of every one of his hearers ; and thus to 
 render abortive all his religious endeavours. A more 
 miquitous one never was conceived,— for it taxes not 
 simply a man's land, but his capital, his genius, his 
 skill and industry ; so that the priest reaps not merely 
 a tithe of the fruits of the earth, but of the fruits of 
 every man's heart and mind who ventures to till the 
 earth. But they are condemned: and let them so 
 with this one observationof Milton's— "As well under 
 the gospel as under the law— say our English divines, 
 and thcT/ only of all Protestants— ih tithes. That 
 ^e law of tithes is m force under the gospel, all other 
 f'rotestam divines, though equally concerned, vet con- 
 stantly deny. When any one of ours has atfempted, 
 in Latin, to maintain this argument,— though a man 
 would think they might suffer him, without opposition 
 in a point equally tending to the advantage of all mii> 
 isters— yet they cease not to oppose him, as in a doc- 
 trine not fit to pass unopposed under the gospel ; which 
 shows the modesty, the contentedness of those foreign 
 pastors with the maintenance given them ; their sin- 
 cerity also in truth, though less gainful, and the ava- 
 nee of ours, who, through the love of their old papist- 
 ical tithes, consider not the weak arouments, or rather 
 conjectures and surmises which ihey bring to defend 
 them. What a striTcmg fact is this ! and what a sin- 
 gular feature it presents of the English church— the 
 only one that has advocated and suffered itself to be 
 ted by this miqmtous system of tithes ! Add to this 
 
IN ALL AGES. 195 
 
 the following paragraph, and the principle of which, 
 whatever the calculations may be, is notoriously cor- 
 rect, what an image of clerical rapacity and want of 
 conscience we have before us ! " The church ought 
 to relinquish the property of the poor. The original 
 tripartite division of tithes is acknowledged — one-third 
 portion of the revenue of the church being the un- 
 doubted property of the poor. The entire possessions 
 of the church, in tithe and landed property, amount in 
 value to the sum of 170,450,000/. ; and the extensive 
 leaseholds lately reverted to the bishopric of London, 
 raise the amount to 180,000,000/. One-third of this, 
 00,000,000/., is therefore the sum which the state is 
 most equitably entitled to demand from the church." 
 After reading this, who can prevent himself recalling 
 the words of Christ — " The poor ye have always with 
 you, but me ye have not always .'" The church must 
 be divorced from the state. This unnatural union, the 
 device of artful politicians, is an injustice to the sub- 
 ject, and an indignity to the church itself. The natu- 
 ral effect upon a church in becoming a state religion 
 is, that its freedom is instantly extinguished ; every 
 principle of progi-ession and improvement is annihi- 
 lated ; and the generous spirit which would lead it to 
 expand, and spread itself abroad on the kindred spirits 
 of men, is frozen by the cold breath of worldly policy. 
 Like metal molten in the furnace, it flows into the 
 state as into a mould, receives its shape and stamp, 
 and sets for ever. It may be dashed to pieces by the 
 application of external force ; but, last as long as it 
 may, it will never be moved, remodelled, or purified 
 from within. It becomes stationary for ever. How- 
 ever all around may be quickenecl with the moving 
 spirit of knowledge, and excited to activity and fruit- 
 fulness, it stands silent and barren, — like a tree cov- 
 ered with the knots and burs of antiquated absurdi- 
 ties ; its head, a chaos of rotten boughs amid the green 
 vigour of the forest ; and while it is insensibly falling 
 to decay, it bears itself with a sturdy and sullen pride, 
 and wears a ludicrous air of superiority in the very 
 12 
 
196 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 moment of its fall. That such is the situation of the 
 establishment, wlio chu deny ? — Who that calls to 
 mind its doctrine of Hl)so]ution of sins; its Athanasian 
 creed, — a thing so monstrous as to horrily and make 
 ashamed the liest minds of its own sons, and which 
 compelled Tillotson long ago to wish they were well 
 rid of it; and, moreover, its Tliirty-nine Articles, 
 which everyone, owing to the inflexible nature of the 
 church, is ol)liged to swallow before he can be ordained 
 a minister ; and which Paley, after acknowledging that 
 it was a Gordian-knot, endeavoured to cut asunder, by 
 declaring these articles articles of peace ; as if it 
 would enable men to escape the guilt of ialsehood, by 
 treating bitter and contradictory professions of faith 
 as physic, and swallowing them as a necessity ? 
 These articles lie at the door of the charch as a 
 ihi'eshold of lying; and — if perjury does not depend on 
 a form of Avords, but on the inward denial of a solemn 
 ti-uth — of pen-jury to every one of its ministers who 
 is not wild enough to believe impossibilities ; and in 
 one university stand in the way of every student, Jer- 
 emy Bentham has leit on record what it cost him to 
 subscribe them ; and num])erless are the conscientious 
 spirits which have turned away from them in disgust. 
 Yet there they stand at the churcli-door, in all their 
 glorious contrariety, and would for ever stand while 
 the church was a member of the state. 
 
 When a church stands on its own simple basis, it 
 may renovate its constitution ; it may explode worn- 
 out creeds ; abandon dogmas or rites that have become 
 hideous in the increased light of universal knowledge, 
 and preserve itself in keeping with the spirit of the 
 age, and in consequent capacity for usefulness ; but, 
 make it a portion of tlie state, and it immediately be- 
 comes a species of high treason to attempt the least 
 change in it. Make its ministers illustrious with dig- 
 nities, and fat with good livings, and they will for ever 
 cry "great is Diana of the Ephesians !" The church 
 will be the best of churches, — immaculate and divine ; 
 and they will growl on any one who even dares to 
 
IN ALL AGES. 197 
 
 look curiously at it, as a jealous dog growls over his 
 bone. Make it the road to political power and honour, 
 and you make its highest ministers the most obsequious 
 slaves of state ; the most relentless enemies of free- 
 dom and mercy.* This has been too conspicuous m 
 
 ■* The bulk of the incidents in the history of priestcraft are 
 bloody and revolting ; but there are a few that are the very fathers 
 of merriment. When Tetzel was selhng indulgences in Germany 
 tor all sins past, present, and to come, and had well filled his saddle- 
 bags with the money of pious fools of that generation, and was about 
 to depart, a nobleman called on him to procure one for a future 
 crime. Tetzel inquired what it was. The nobleman replied, ho 
 could not tell — he had not yet quite decided ; but the holy father 
 could charge what he pleased, and leave that to him. Tetzel charged 
 accordingly ; and the next day as he was riding through a wood in 
 order to leave the country, the nobleinan met him, and seized on his 
 saddle-bags. ''This," said he, "is the sin I meant to commit !" 
 Tetzel, enraged at being thus outwitted, hastened back to the em- 
 peror full of wrath and complaints ; but when the nobleman ap- 
 peared, it was with the indulgence in his hand which sanctioned the 
 deed. 
 
 Waller, in his hfe, gives a curious instance of prelatical obsequi- 
 ence, which most miraculously was well met, by a brilliant instance 
 of prelatical wit and independence. At a dinner with James I., were 
 Neal, bishop of London, and Andrews, bishop of Winchester — 
 " Have not I a right," said James, "to take money from the people, 
 without all this ceremony of going to parUament ?" " Undoubtedly 
 your majesty has a right," replied Neal ; " you are the breath of our 
 nostrils !" " But what says my lord of Winchester ?" added James. 
 " I say," returned the bishop, "that your majesty has a right to take 
 brother Neal's ; for he has given it you." 
 
 Bloody Mary sent a commissioner over to Ireland, with a royal 
 commission to the lord-lieutenant to burn, destroy, and confiscate 
 the property of the Protestants, and bring them to what is called 
 justice. The man lodging at a widow Edmond's, in Chester, was 
 waited on by the mayor, to whom he boasted that he had that with 
 him that would bring the Irish heretics to their senses, and opening 
 a box, he showed hmi the commission. The widow, who had -a 
 brother in Ireland, a Protestant, happened to hear this, and wat 
 alarmed. As the commissioner showed the mayor down stairs, t^lie 
 adroitly withdrew the commission, and supplied its place with a 
 sheet of paper, in which was wrapped a pack of cards, with the 
 knave of clubs uppermost. The deception was undiscovered. On 
 the commissioner's arrival at Dublin, he liad an audience of the lord- 
 lieutenant, in the presence of a splendid assembly. He made a fine 
 speech, and boasted much of his powers, when on going to produce 
 his commission, behold, to the astonishment of himself and his hear- 
 ers, nothing but the pack of cards, and the knave of clubs uppermost. 
 " It was the queen's commission," said the crest-fallen delegate, " but 
 how it is changed I know not." " Well," said the lord-lieutenant, 
 " you must return to England for fresh powers, and in the mean time 
 we will shuffle the cards !" He returned ; but he was too late — the 
 queen.was dead ; and on the subject being related to Elizabeth, she 
 was highly diverted by it, ^vA settled on Mrs, Edmonds 40/. a year, 
 
198 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 the House of Peers. Lord Eldon said some years ago, 
 in the House of Lords, that he could not hring himself 
 to believe the slave trade was irreconcilable with the 
 Christian religion, as the bench of bishops had uni- 
 formly sanctioned by their votes the various acts au- 
 thorizing tliat trade. A biting sarcasm, whichever 
 way intended ! 
 
 Let us now hear our noble Milton, on the eflect of 
 a state religion. " That the magistrate should take 
 into his power the stipendiary maintenance of church 
 ministers, as compelled by law, can stand neither with 
 the people's thouglit, nor with Christian liberty, but 
 would suspend the church M'holly upon the s'tate, and 
 turn the ministers into state pensioners. For the 
 magistrate to make the church his mere wai-d, as 
 always in minority ; the church, to whom he ought, 
 as a magistrate, ' to bow down his face towards the 
 earth, and lick up the dust of her feet,' — her to sub- 
 ject to his political drifts, or conceived opinions, is 
 neither just nor pious ; no honour done to the church, 
 but a plain dishonour : and upon her whose head is 
 in heaven, — yea upon Him who is the only head in 
 effect ; and what is most monstrous, a human on a 
 heavenly, a canial on a spiritual, a political head on 
 an ecclesiastical body; which at length, by such 
 hetrogeneal, such incestuous conjunction, transforms 
 her ofttimes into a beast of many heads and many 
 horns.'* 
 
 Such a beast has the church become by this state 
 commerce, even by the confession of her friends ; and 
 that commerce must be aimihilated. Justice to this 
 great and Christian nation demands it ; the growth of 
 Christianity demands it ; the prosperity of the church 
 itself demands it as well. This is a measure called 
 for on behalf of the nation ; and there are numbers 
 who will contend that the church, ceasing to be a 
 state church, should restore its property to the nation 
 whence it was drawn. That in strict justice all 
 national property should revert to the nation when the 
 object for which it was bestowed ceases, there can be 
 no question J in strict justice to the other Christian 
 
m ALL AGES. 199 
 
 communities of this country, this ought clearly to be 
 the case, — since, admitting the rights of conscience, 
 the nation ought not to enrich one body of Christians 
 at the expense of the rest ; and that parliament has a 
 right to recall the loan of church property is clear as 
 daylight. The present priesthood form a standing 
 proof and precedent of it, since it was taken from the 
 Catholics and given to them. I am perfectly easy to 
 leave these matters in the hands of parliament ; so 
 that its wealth undergo a further process of distribu- 
 tion ; its enormous salaries be broken down ; its plural- 
 ities exploded; its sinecures abolished; and its labour- 
 ing multitude more efficiently remunerated. 
 
200 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 CLERICAL INCOME. 
 
 Salaries of the Bishops— Abuse of Queen Anne's Bounty Fund— 
 Plurahties and Curates' Stipends— The Universities— College 
 Education— Ecclesiastical Courts— Satire on thein— Consecra- 
 tion of Burial Grounds— Fees of Consecration— P'amily Vaults— 
 Prelatical Despotism. 
 
 Oh ! said the hmd, how many sons have you 
 Wlio call you mother, whom'you never knew ? 
 But most of them who that relation pl§ad 
 Are such ungracious youths as wish you dead ; 
 They gape at rich revenues which you hold, 
 And fain would nibble at your grandame gold. 
 
 Hind Old Panther- 
 He is the true atheist, the practical enemy to religion, who can 
 offer to defend the present condition of the Church of England. 
 
 Westminster Revieiv, No. xxix. 
 
 Whenever the excess of clerical income is intro- 
 duced, we are immediately attempted to be disarmed 
 by a statement that were the whole revenue of the 
 church equally divided, it would give but about 112/. 
 per annum to each clergyman. The British or Cleiical 
 Magazine for March, 1832, admits, from the parlia- 
 mentary returns, that it would be 200/. per annum.* 
 Now did we admit this to be correct, what a shame is 
 it that in a church so economically provided, so many 
 individuals should be allowed to wallow in the wealth 
 and idleness they manage to combine. Can the church 
 answer it to her conscience, if she have one, that in 
 such a slender-beneficed system, there should be 
 many a parish priest who holds from 1 to 5000/. 
 a year, and that the scale of payment to its dignitaries 
 should stand thus, according to their own showing : — 
 
 * The present parliamentary returns make it about 287/. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 201^ 
 
 Archbishop ol' Canterbury . 27,000/. a year. 
 
 York . ' . 10,000 — 
 
 Bishop of Durham . . . 17,000 — 
 
 London . . . 14,000 — 
 
 Winchester . . 14,000 — 
 
 Ely .... 12,000 — 
 
 Nine others on an average 5,000 — 
 
 The rest on an average . 3,000 — 
 
 I ant afraid we never can prove the church to be 
 poor, or to have heen at any time indifferent to the 
 doctrine, that " godliness is great gain." There is 
 nothing in Avhich the spirit of priestcraft has shown 
 itself so grossly in the Englisli clergy^ as in their 
 appropriation of what is called Queen's Anne's Bounty. 
 The most shameful selfishness and disregard of every 
 thing like common honesty, like feeling for their 
 poorer brethren, or respect for the motives of the de- 
 luded queen, mark the whole affair. The Edinburgh 
 Review, No. LXXV., made a ver}^ salutary exposition 
 of this wretched business. 
 
 " It is well known that, by the statute of Henry 
 VIIL, the first-fruits and tenths of spiritual prefer- 
 ments (which had formerly been paid to the pope, or 
 some other spiritual persons), were given to the king. 
 The first-fruits were the revenues and profits for one 
 year, of every such preferment, and were to be satis- 
 fied, or compounded for, on good security, by each 
 incumbent, before any actual or real possession, or 
 meddling with the profits of a benefice. The tenths 
 were a yearly rent of a tenth part of all the revenues 
 and emoluments of all preferments, to be paid by each 
 incumbent at Christmas. These revenues were, as 
 the statute phrases it, united and knit to the imperial 
 crown for ever ! By the same statute a provision 
 was made for a commission to be issued by the king, 
 his heirs and successors, /rowz time to time^ to search 
 for the ju.st and true value of the said first-fruits and 
 profits ; and similar means were provided for ascer- 
 taining the value of tenths. In consequence of this 
 13 
 
202 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 Statute, which was suspended during the papistical 
 reign of Mary, but recovered by EUzabeth, a valuation 
 was made, which is supposed to have been at the lime 
 an accurate one, ol" the yearly profits of the eccle- 
 siastical preferments : and, according to this valua- 
 tion, the first-fruits and tenths were ' well and justly 
 answered and paid, Mdthout grief and contradiction of 
 the prelates and clergy of the realm, to the great aid, 
 relief, and supportation of the inestimable charges of 
 the crown,' which inestimable charges may then 
 possibly have amounted to a two-hundredth part of the 
 present yearly sum. 
 
 '' Under this valuation, which in course of time be- 
 came quite unequal to the real emoluments of the pre- 
 ferments, these charges continued to be paid till the 
 second year of Queen Anne, 1703 ; when an act was 
 passed reciting the queen's most religious and tender 
 concern for the Church of England, stating that a suf- 
 licient settled provision for the clergy in many parts 
 of the realm had never yet been made ; and giving 
 to a corporation, which was to be erected for the 
 augmentation of small livings, the whole of the first- 
 fruits and tenths. Her majesty, however, in her religious 
 and tender concern, was completely overreached by the 
 clergy. The professed object of the queen was to in- 
 crease the provision of the poor clergy ; the real and 
 only immediate effect of it was to release the rich 
 clergy from a charge to which, by law, they were 
 liable. We have before maintained that a provision 
 was made in the statute of Henry VIII., for revising, 
 Iroin time to time, the valuations under \vhich the 
 lirst-fruits and tenths were paid. It is not improbable 
 that the clergy were apprehensive, as the nation was 
 then engaged in an expensive Avar, that such a revision 
 might be made ; and in persuading the queen to re- 
 nounce her hereditary revenue for the sake of her 
 lx)or clergy, they contrived most etTectually to secure 
 themselves by an ingenious clause in the statute in 
 (juestion. 
 
 " If the real purpose of this act of Anne had been 
 
IN ALL AGES. 203 
 
 to augment the small livings, nothing could have been 
 more reasonable than to do it by enforcing the legal 
 claims for the first-fruits and tenths on the holders of 
 the larger benefices. The scandalous poverty of 
 some livings — for there were then 1071 which did 
 not exceed 10/, a year — would then have speedily 
 disappeared : but, as the old and inefficient rate of 
 payment was fixed and made perpetual, the queen 
 went to her grave without seeing any eflfect from her 
 bounty; as in consequence of the incumbrances on 
 the fund, and the impossibility of increasing its pro- 
 duce, it was not till 1714 that the governors of the 
 bounty were enabled to make their first grants. 
 
 " The cunning of the rich clergy in thus shifting 
 from themselves the burden of contributing to the re- 
 lief of their poorer brethren, is only to be matched in 
 degree by the folly shown in the application of the 
 diminished revenue which this trick of theirs still left 
 for the improvement of small livings. At the time 
 when Queen Anne's Bounty Fund was established 
 there were, according to the returns, which were not 
 quite accurate, 5597 livings in England and Wales 
 with incomes not exceeding 50/. They were thus 
 classed : — 
 
 Not exceeding 10/ 1071 
 
 20 1467 
 
 30 1126 
 
 " " 40 1049 
 
 " " 50 886 
 
 " The sum which the governors of Queen Aime's 
 Bounty had to apply to the augmentation of these 
 livings, averaged about 13,000/. a year. Any rational 
 being would suppose that, under such circumstances, 
 the governors and the legislature, by whom the dis- 
 posal of the money was directed and superintended, 
 would have made some inquiry into the circumstances 
 of the different livings. Some of these livings were 
 of very small extent and scarcely any population, and 
 
204 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 might therefore have been advantageously united witli 
 one anotlier, or with other parishes. The specific 
 evil which was to be remedied was set forth in the 
 preamble to the statute of Anne in these words : — 
 ' That divers mean and stipendiary preachers are, in 
 many places, entertained to serve cures and officiate 
 there ; who, depending for their necessary main- 
 tenance upon the good-will and liking of their hearers, 
 have been, and are thereby under temptation of too 
 much complying, and suiting their doctrines and 
 teaching to the humours rather than the good of their 
 hearers, which has been a great occasion of faction 
 and schism.' Precious philosophy! At least, there- 
 fore, one would have thought that some distinction 
 would have been made between places where there 
 were many hearers and w here there were few or none : 
 and that M^lien a sum was bestowed on any parti- 
 cular living, some security would have been taken for 
 the residence of the incumbent. All these notions 
 were, however, very far from the minds of the persons 
 Avho had the distribution of Queen Anne's Bounty. 
 The governors of this fimd proceeded upon the idea 
 which is commonly entertained in England respecting 
 the church establishment — especially by its own 
 functionaries — that provided a sufKcient sum of money 
 be laid out on the clergy, every other good will follow : 
 that, how absurd soever the distribution may seem, it 
 is not for human hands to destroy tlic latent harmony 
 of casual proportions. Above all things did they 
 eschew the idea which the chmxh abhors, that where 
 the public confers an obligation, it has a right to exact 
 the performance of a duty. Among the livings on 
 which they had to scatter the money, several were 
 large and populous parishes, where the tithes had 
 been impropriated ; and these, if tlie holders of the 
 tithes were not, as is often the case, ecclesiastical 
 sinecurists — or dignitaries as they are called — whose 
 incomes were at the disposal of parliament, would 
 have been proper objects for augmentation, — always 
 supposing, what is false iu point of fact, that an in- 
 
IN ALL AGES. 2(M5 
 
 crease in the emoluments of a living has any tendency 
 to secure the performance of clerical duties. Others 
 were rectories, of which some were endowed with the 
 tithe of all the produce of their district, but which 
 were so insignificant as neither to need a separate 
 clergyman, nor to afford a separate maintenance for 
 ]\im. In the case of such livings, instead of attempt- 
 ing to swell the incomes of needless offices, the natural 
 course wonld have been to have consolidated their 
 neighbouring benefices, and in no case have made any 
 augmentation, except where the revenue arising from 
 a district of extent and population sufiicient to need 
 the cares of a clergyman, should have been found in- 
 suflicient to maintain him. But this would have vio- 
 lated the fundamental principles of the excellent 
 church ; it would have insinuated a connexion be- 
 tween money expended and duty performed ; it would 
 liave seemed like an adaptation of means to an end; 
 it would have made some inquiry and consideration 
 necessary. 
 
 " The governors of the Bounty proceeded bounti- 
 fully ; they distributed a part of their money in sums 
 of 200/. on any poor livings to which any private 
 person would give an equal sum. The rest, and far 
 greater part of their money, showing them no respecter 
 of persons nor of circumstances, these representatives 
 of the ecclesiastical wisdom of the nation, distributed 
 hy lot, letting each poor living take an equal chance 
 for a prize, without any regard to the degree of urgency 
 of its claim. After this, the story of Bridoye deciding 
 suits at law by dice, after making up a fair pile of 
 papers on each side, seems no longer an extravaganza. 
 Up to January 1, 1815, the governors had made, in 
 this way, 7323 augmentations of 200/. ; but with 
 benefices as with men, fortiuie is not proportioned to 
 desert or necessity. Some of the least populous 
 parishes had a wonderful run of luck. We are not 
 sure that, taking a few of those which meet our ey(5 
 in running over the returns, we have selected the most 
 remarkable. In the diocess of Chichester, the rectory 
 
206 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 of Hardhiini, which in 1811 contained eighty-nine per- 
 sons, has received six augmentations by lot, or 1200/. 
 The vicarage of Sollington, with forty-eight people, 
 has had six augmentations, 1200/. In the diocess of 
 Salisbury, Brewilham drew a prize ; it contained four- 
 teen people, liotwood drew anotlier; it had twelve 
 people. Calloes had 1000/. including a benefaction 
 of 200/. ; its population was in 1811, nineteen. In the 
 diocess of Winchester, Saint Swithin, with twenty-four 
 people, has received 800/. including a benefaction of 
 200/. ; and 200/. has been expended on Ewhurst, which 
 has seven people. In the diocess of York, Ruthewick, 
 with sixty-two people, has had live prizes, 1000/. ; 
 while Armby, with 2941 people, and Allendale, with 
 3884, have gained only one each. In the diocess of 
 Rochester, two livings, with twenty-eight and twenty- 
 nine people, received separate augmentations. In the 
 diocess of Oxford, Elford, or Yelford, with sixteen 
 inhabitants, drew a prize. In Lincoln, Stowe, with 
 the same number, and Haugh, received 800/. The 
 number of all its inhabitants is eight. Wlien it is 
 considered too, that Haugh pays vicarial tithes, which 
 amounted in the reign of Henry VIII. to 6/. 13.?. Ad. 
 of yearly value, it must be admitted that this important 
 district has been guarded against the danger of schism, 
 with a liberality worthy of a Protestant government. 
 If the rest of the people of England were fortified in 
 sound doctrine, at the same rate of expense, the proper 
 establishment of religious teachers in England and 
 Wales would cost about 1200 millions sterling, and 
 1,500,000 parochial clergy, who, as Dr. Cove allows 
 each of them a family of nine, would form a conside- 
 rable portion of the population. In the diocess of 
 Llandaff we find two places ibllowing each other in 
 the returns, which illustrate the (equity of le sort des 
 dez. IJsk, with 1 339 people, has had an augmentation, 
 though its value remains low. AYilcock, a rectory 
 with twenty-eight people, has had three. In Hereford, 
 Hopton-Cangeford has had 1000/. for thirty-five peo- 
 ple. Monmouth 200/. for 3503. 
 
IN ALL ACES. 207 
 
 " Even in cities, where the scattered condition of 
 the population could ailbrd no pretext against the 
 union of parishes, the same plan of augmentations has 
 been pursued. In Winchester, separate augmentations 
 have been given to seven parishes, the population 
 of all which would, united, have amounted to 2376, 
 and Avould consequently have formed a very manage- 
 able, and rather small, town parish. In short, the 
 whole of the returns printed by the House of Commons 
 in 1815, No. 115, teem with instances of the most 
 foolish extravagance,— just such a result as the ori- 
 ginal conception of this clerical little-go would have 
 led any rational being to anticipate. The conviction 
 is irresistibly forced upon us, that nothing could have 
 been further from the minds of those who super- 
 intended this plan, than to secure a competent pro- 
 vision for all the members of the church, and to 
 remove the poverty of some of its members, — which 
 is, by a strange manner of reasoning, made a defence 
 for the needless profusion with which the public wealth 
 is lavished upon others. Indeed, we are led to suspect, 
 that ' the church, in her corporate capacity,' looks upon 
 the poverty of some of her members as sturdy beggars 
 look upon their sores ; she is not seriously displeased 
 with the naked and excoriated condition of her lower 
 extremities, so long as it excites an ill-judged com- 
 passion for the whole body, and secures her impunity 
 in idleness and rapacity. 
 
 " We are sometimes told that the poverty of a large 
 body of the parochial clergy is such that it is out of 
 the power of the higher clergy, even by the surrender 
 of their whole revenues, to remedy it. The statement 
 we have given shows most clearly that this poverty is 
 to be attributed to the IVaudulent subtraction of the 
 higher clergy from the burden of contributing to the 
 relief of their poorer brethren ; and to the absurdity of 
 the ecclesiastical division of the kingdom, which, on 
 the slightest effort of the clergy, would have been 
 remedied by the legislature. If the first-fruits and 
 tenths had been paid subsequently to the gift of Anne. 
 
208 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 according to the rate wliich the law provided for, and 
 as they had been paid, ' M'ithoiit grief or contra(hction,' 
 according to the real value of the benefices, instead 
 of a million and half, at least 30 millions would have 
 been raised from these taxes ; — a su/.i not only quite 
 sufficient to have removed the poverty of all the poor 
 livings in the kingdoin, but to have established schools 
 in every parish of England, and to have left a large 
 surplus for other useful purposes. 
 
 " In the course of these augmentations no security 
 has been taken against non-residence, or plurality. 
 The governors go on, therefore, increasing the incomes 
 of two small livings, in order to make each of them 
 capable of supporting a resident clergyman ; while 
 after, as well as before the augmentation, one incum- 
 bent may hold tlu^m together — reside on neither — and 
 allow only a small part of the accumulated income to 
 a curate, who performs the duty of both !"' 
 
 This absurd system, which is at once an insult to 
 the memory of Queen Anne, and to the whole British 
 nation, has been continued to the present moment. 
 By the returns made to the present parliament, the 
 same shameful additions to rich livings of that which 
 was intended to have gone to poor ones, are made 
 apparent; the same shamelessly miserable payment 
 of the curates, who do the actual work for which the 
 money is received by the selfish and the idle, has been 
 continued. These cases were lately adduced by Lord 
 King in the House of Peers : — 
 
 " Dean and Canon of Windsor, impropriator of the 
 following parishes, received from parliamentary grant 
 and Queen Anne's Bounty: — Plymsted, 1811, 600/.; 
 
 1812, 400Z. ; 1815, 300l Plympton, , GOO/. 
 
 St. German's, 1811, 800/.; 1814, 400/. AVembury, 
 1807, 200/.; 1816, 1400/. Northam, 1764, 200/.; 
 1812, 400/. South Moulton, 1813, 600/. 
 
 " Dean and Canon of Winchester, impropriators of 
 tithes of two large parishes in Wales: — Holt, 1725, 
 200/. ; 1733, 200/. Iscoyd, 1749, 200/ ; 1757, 200/. ; 
 1798, 200/.; 1818,200/. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 209 
 
 " Dean of Exeter, impropriator of tithe : — Laiulkey, 
 1775, 200/. ; 1810, 200/. ; 1815, 1400/. Swimbed, 
 1750, 200/.; 1811, 400/. 
 
 "Dean and Chapter of Carlisle, impropriators of 
 valuable tithe :—Hesket, 1813, 600/.; 1815, 2000/. 
 to purchase land; 1816, 300/. ; 1817, 300/. 
 
 " Dean of Bangor, impropriator of tithe, cm-atc paid 
 32/. 4s. :— Gyfiin, 1767, 200/. ; 1810, 200/. ; 1816, 
 1400/. 
 
 " Bishop of Bangor, nnpropriator of valuable tithe, 
 cm-ate paid 30/. 12^% :— Llandegar, 1812, 200/.: 1815, 
 1600Z. ; , 300/. ; , 300/. 
 
 " Bishop of Lichfield, impropriator of large tithes 
 in Merionethshire, curate paid only 27/. : — Tallylyr, 
 1808, 200/. ; 1816, 1400/. Penal, 1810, 200/." 
 
 Thus these returns proved, that for thirteen parishes 
 these gentlemen had drav.n 14,500/. v/hich ought to 
 have been paid from their own pockets. 
 
 The Edinburgh Reviev/, in the same article, says — 
 " Those who complain of the poverty of the clergy 
 pretend to suppose that no security for residence is 
 necessary ; and, that as soon as the small livings are 
 raised high enough, non-residence will disappear as a 
 matter of course. For instance, Dr. Cove says, ' All 
 the Church of England's sons are, with few exceptions, 
 ever intent on their appropriate duties ; and would be 
 still more diligent were each of them possessed of a 
 more enlarged and comfortable independence^ and fur- 
 nished with more suitable abodes.' This, unfortunately 
 for the doctor, is more capable of being brought to the 
 test than the ' unrecorded revelation' to Adam in favour 
 of tithes. We have returns of small livings, and we 
 have returns of non-residence. In the diocess of 
 Rochester there are only six livings under 150/. a 
 vear, and of those six not one is returned under 110/. 
 Of the 107 benefices returned in that diocess, there 
 were in 1809, but 50 with resident incumbents — less 
 than half the livings. In the diocess of Chester, where 
 the livings under 150/. a year are numerous, 377 out 
 of 592 being of that description, a considerably larger 
 proportion of the benefices have residents than in Ro- 
 
 I 
 
210 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 Chester ; there are 327 residents. In other dioceses 
 the number of poor Uvings bear no regiilar proportion 
 to the number of non-residents. Under the discipline 
 of the Church of England, where there are so many 
 grounds of exemption or of license for non-residence, 
 the only persons who may be expected to reside, are 
 those whose narrow incomes make their residence in 
 their own parsonages a matter of necessity or con- 
 venience. 
 
 In all countries where the incomes of the clerg}^ arc 
 moderate, there the clergy are the most attentive to 
 their duties, and most respected and beloved by the 
 people. The following statement, from the Carlisle 
 Journal^ affords a striking confirmation of the justice 
 of these remarks : and an impressive example of the 
 shameless pluralities of the higher clergy, and the 
 miserable manner of their paying the poor labouring 
 curates. 
 
 PLURALITIES, AND CURATEs' STIPENDS. 
 
 The see of Carlisle affords some admirable speci- 
 mens of the working of the church system, and of the 
 pluralists. 
 
 Hugh Percy, bishop of Carlisle, a prebend of St. 
 Paul's, and a chancellor of Sarum. 
 
 R. Hodgson, dean of Carlisle, vicar of Burgh-on- 
 Sands, rector of St. George's, Hanover-square, and 
 vicar of Hillington. 
 
 E. Goodenough, prebend of Carlisle, Westminster, 
 and York ; vicar of Wath All-saints on Dearn, chap- 
 lain of Adwick, and chaplain of Brampton-Bierlow. 
 
 S. J. Goodenough, prebend of Carlisle, rector of 
 Broughton Poges, vicar of Hampton, and deputy lord- 
 Iieutenant of Cumberland. 
 
 Wm. Goodenough, archdeacon of Carlisle, rector 
 of Marcham-le-Fen, and rector of Great Salkeld. 
 
 W. Vansittart, prebend of Carlisle, master of 
 Wigston's Hospital, Leicester, vicar of Waltham 
 Abbas, and vicar of Shottesbrooke. 
 
 W. Fletcher, chancellor of the diocess of Carlisle, 
 
IN ALL AGES. 211 
 
 prebend of York, vicar of Bromfield, vicar of Dalston, 
 and vicar of Lazenby. 
 
 It is not our intention to inquire into ilie incomes of 
 these dignitaries ; but, as they are considerable, it may 
 be worth while just to contrast the salaries they award 
 to those who really work, with the moneys they re- 
 ceive from the livings. The tithes received by tlie 
 Dean and Chapter for Heskett, amount to lOOOZ. or 
 1500/. a year ; they pay to the curate who does the duty 
 18/. 5s. a year! 1 shilling a-day — being after the rate 
 of the labourer's wages ! In Wetheral and Warwick, 
 the Dean and Chapter draw about 1000/. a year from 
 tithes, and 1000/. a year from the church lands ; and 
 they pay the working minister, one of the most exem- 
 plary and beloved men in England in his station, the 
 sum of 50/. a-year — the wages of a journeyman cab- 
 inet-maker ! The tithes of the parishes of St. Cuthbert 
 and St. Mary amount at least to 1 500/. a year. The 
 two curates, who do the duty, receive each the sum of 
 21. ISs. 4d. a-year ! ! ! And then, to the minor canons, 
 who do the cathedral duty, they pay the sum of 6s. 8d. 
 a year each ! The Dean and Chapter hold several 
 other impropriate rectories, pay the curates a mere 
 nominal sum for performing the duties, and pocket the 
 tithes themselves — for doing nothing !" 
 
 The Rev. W. Pullen, rector of Little Gidding, Hunt- 
 ingdonshire, asserts that a late bishop held twelve 
 places of preferment at the same time, and the 
 greater number parochial benefices I 
 
 With such things as these before our eyes, — and 
 which way can we turn and not see them ? — who can 
 believe that the British public can much longer suffer 
 the church to remain unregenerated ? Look where 
 we will, we behold the most gross instances of simony, 
 pluralities, non-residence, and penurious remuneration 
 of the working clergy. Two other ramifications of 
 the establishment which require reform — Ecclesias- 
 tical Courts and the Universities — I must passingly 
 notice. 
 
 These two organs and auxiliaries must necessarily 
 
212 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 come Av it hill the sweep of ;iiiy reform wliich visits 
 effectually the chiircli ; — liiey are vital parts of that 
 great priestly system which has so lonj^- rested in ease 
 and comfort on tl:e shoulders of this much-endurinj>- 
 country. Their reiorm is a necessary consequence of 
 that of the church ; and they involve enormities of 
 such a nature, as nothing but the apathy induced 
 by long custom could have brought Englishmen to 
 tolerate. 
 
 The universities, founded and endowed by kings and 
 patriotic men, lor the general benefit and encourage- 
 ment of learning in the nation, are monopolized by the 
 priests of the establishment. All offices in them arc 
 in their hands ; no layman, nmch less a dissenter, can 
 hold a post in them. The thirty-nine articles are set 
 up like so many Giants Despair, to drive away with 
 their clubs of intolerance all who will not kiss their 
 feet. These chartered priests gr;isp the emoluments 
 and the immunities of those ancient seats ol" learning, 
 and triumphantly tell us of the great men Avhich the 
 establishment has produced. This is a little too much 
 for the patience of any but an Englishman. Had the 
 gates of these gi*eat schools been thrown open to the 
 whole nation for whose benelit they were established, 
 and to the popular spirit of improvement which has 
 been busy in the world, they might have told us of 
 thousands more, as great, as good, and iar wiser, inas- 
 much as they would have been educated in an atmo- 
 sphere of a more liberal and genial character. As it 
 is, they have lagged, like the establishment to which 
 they are linked, behind the spirit of the age, to a degree 
 which has disgusted the most illustrious even of their 
 own sons. The devil never found himself more in his 
 element, since he descended from his position in the 
 Tree of Knowledge, in the Garden of Eden, to mount 
 those of Oxford and Cambridge. 
 
 To the two great popular journals of Edinburgh 
 and Westminster, the country is indebted for several 
 most able expositions of the abuses of both spiritual 
 courts and universities , and the latter, in No. XXIX. 
 
m ALL AGES. 213 
 
 speak thus — "The rents and fines arising from broad 
 lands, among the most fair and fertile in the reahn ; 
 from lordly manors and goodly farms ; the profits of 
 the advowsons of numerous and valuable benefices; 
 tithes, and tolls, and eveiy advantage that earth can 
 yield ; palaces, for such indeed are most of our col- 
 leges, for the habitation of the learned ; noble churches, 
 halls, libraries, and galleries, for their use and de- 
 light, with gardens, groves, and pleasure-grounds.; 
 plate, and pictures, and marbles ; a countless store of 
 hidden books and MSS., as well as a more vulgar 
 wealth, accumulated in vast sums of money, yielding 
 interest in the funds, or upon mortgage. How strange 
 would the large opulence appear, were the inventory 
 correctly taken, to the inhabitants of foreign miiversi- 
 ties, which nevertheless are accounted wealthy ; and 
 not less strange to its rightful owners, the people of 
 England, to a brave, generous, and loyal people, who 
 have been ready in all ages to contribute largely from 
 their store to works of learning and piety, but who 
 have been ill-requited by their rulers. 
 
 " Astonishing is the wealth of our miiversities, 
 greatly exceeding the sum of all the possessions of all 
 the other learned bodies in the world ; yet not a single 
 shilling of their enormous income is truly applied to 
 the purposes for which it was designed ! and not only 
 do these corporations neglect to furnish any direct 
 encouragement to the studious, but they offer much 
 positive discouragement. The sedulous youth who 
 entered the walls of his college thirsting for honour- 
 able distinction, can best tell how his ardent curiosity 
 was chilled by the oscitancy, the inertness, the narrow 
 illiberality of those to whom he looked for assistance, 
 excitement, and support. The favour that Locke 
 ibund at Oxford is matter of history : Gibbon has re- 
 corded his contemptuous scorn for 'the monks of 
 Magdalene.' It would be easy to name other children 
 of genius, who have proved that the self-styled alma 
 7nater was a most unjust and cruel step-mother. 
 
 ' Among the evils of ecclesiastical swav, there is a 
 
214 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 mischief which annuls our universities, and destroys 
 their very existence for every purpose of utility; it 
 arises out of their spiritual constitution, and converts 
 establishments that ought to be schools of learning, 
 into race-courses and amphitheatres, wherein compe- 
 titors and gladiators, as worthless as our jockeys, or 
 the Thracians of old, struggle or collude to get pos- 
 session of livings. This is the grand, the sole object 
 of academical existence ; the pm'suit of learning is the 
 llimsy pretext — the real aim is to obtain perferment in 
 the church. The cause of the evil must be instantly 
 removed. A imiversity ought to be, and at all other 
 places except Oxford and Cambridge really is, one 
 establishment, every part co-operating for the augmen- 
 tation and communication of knowledge. Simony, in 
 its most pernicious form, has destroyed at once the 
 unity and utility of institutions which we would gladly 
 venerate. Ancient schools, designed for the use of 
 the M'hole body, still exist at Oxford, to attest the 
 degradation of modern times ; each of these is inscribed 
 with the title of one of the liberal sciences, or of one 
 of the faculties, but it is never applied to the use for 
 which it was designed. Numerous professors are 
 decorated with honourable titles, and receive salaries 
 for giving various lectures, M'hich are never delivered ; 
 or if, as sometimes happens, an obstinate statute, which 
 cannot be neglected or evaded, compels him to dis- 
 course in public, the dishonest priest gives what are 
 significantly called ' wall-lectures,' since he addresses 
 liimself to the walls alone ; and it is generally under- 
 stood that no one ought to stand between them and 
 their teacher. Unless these abuses be speedily reme- 
 died, it is manifest tliat the march of mind, of which 
 some now boast, is a retreat, a shameful flight ; and 
 if the schoolmaster be indeed abroad, it is because he 
 is not at home : having robbed his scholars, the scoun- 
 drel has absconded. 
 
 " The university of Oxlbrd has long ceased to exist, 
 except for the purpose of electioneering; for some 
 lime h was doubted wliether it was creditable to rop- 
 
IN ALL AGES. 215 
 
 resent its MM. AA. in parliament, l)iit the dispute 
 has been finally determined, and we may reasonably 
 question, wliether an unworthy abuse of almost un- 
 bounded patronage be not too high a price to pay for 
 the credit, whatever it be, that arises from sitting for the 
 sister university. Except for the purpose of vain 
 pageants, designed to aucupate benefices by cajoling 
 the patrons, tlie university of Oxford has long ceased 
 to exist ; for the purposes of learning it has been anni- 
 hilated, dissolved, and destroyed, by having been divided 
 into many minute, insignificant, and worthless portions. 
 There are about thirty colleges ; — the system of edu- 
 cation, if it deserves that name, is separate and dis- 
 tinct at each, and miserable in all : the greater part of 
 the funds, and the best apartments of every college, 
 are set apart for a priest Avho, under the name of mas- 
 ter, provost, warden, principal, or the like, enjoys at 
 the expense of the public, every luxury that the most 
 sensual could desire ; yet this person contributes as 
 little to the instruction of the youth of his society, as 
 the chief of the black eunuchs in the t^raiid Sultan's 
 seraglio, or the Jew who takes toll at one of the turn- 
 pikes near London. A stranger would suppose that, 
 being thus pampered in idleness, and growing fat upon 
 the appropriation of charitable funds, the reverend 
 sinecurist, through a certain decorous shame, would be 
 at least civil and unpresuming ; we appeal to those 
 who are experienced in the deportment of contume- 
 lious insolence, whether it be so.* 
 
 " The residue of the funds of the college is wasted 
 upon a long list of Fellows, the greater part of whom 
 are absentees, and are alike unwilling and incapable 
 of earning their salaries. The lowest and least of 
 these is usually the tutor ; — with or without the assist- 
 ance of a drudge, still more unworthy than himself, 
 this poor hack endeavours, by a few wretched lectures, 
 to conceal the total want of all sound and Avholesome 
 instruction, and the monstrous misapplication of the 
 
 * AppendiJc V, 
 
216 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 wealth of the nation. He is often a man of low birth, 
 whom laziness or physical infirmity rendered unfit for 
 the flail or the loom ; and, having availed himself of 
 some eleemosynary foundation, he has M^on his way to 
 an office which ought to be accounted honourable, but, 
 by the accumulation of the grossest abuses has been 
 rendered servile. If the ?ispiring clown had elevated 
 himself by a generous excellence, by a pre-eminence 
 in liberal learning, his low birth, far from being a stain, 
 would shed a lustre upon his new station ; but under 
 the present unhappy constitution of our universities, 
 these mushrooms are culled for deleterious, not for 
 wholesome properties. If his birth was low, his 
 mind is commonly lower ; he is not selected on ac- 
 V. count of his learning, but of his subserviency. When 
 a teacher of gentle blood is taken, it m.ay happen per- 
 chance, that although he was born a freeman, he has 
 the soul of a slave. The fellowships in like manner 
 are for the most part conferred upon kinsmen, upon 
 tools, upon all but those who are best entitled to hold 
 them. It may be that, with much pomp and ceremony 
 and an ostentatious display of the favour shown to let- 
 ters, some little proficient in the course of elementary 
 instruction, prescribed to keep up the show of atten- 
 tion to education, is now and then put into possession 
 of one of those valuable annuities ; but the yaAvning 
 sluggard, the dull sot, is generally deemed more eligi- 
 ble than the zealous scholar. 
 
 " Let us suppose, however, that all fellowships were 
 fairly bestowed upon the young men who were most 
 worthy to hold them, still Avould our universities fall 
 far short of that utility which we have an unalienable 
 right to insist upon reaping from our public domains. 
 In the case we have supposed, all improvement would 
 cease at the end of the first year of academical resi- 
 dence ; after taking the first degree there would be no 
 motive to advance further on the road to learning. 
 Each college would be, as it now is, a clerical tontine ; 
 an abominable institution, alike hostile to learning and 
 subversive of piety. Surely oiu' sagacious, clear- 
 
IN ALL AGES. 217 
 
 headed fellow-countrymen are not aware that every 
 one of the numerous colleges which they maintain at 
 such an enormous cost is merely a clerical tontine ! 
 The instant a young man is elected a fellow, he has 
 but one object ; to outlive his brethren, — and thus to 
 receive, in succession, the valuable benefices attached 
 to his college, which were designed to reward the 
 most learned, but which are blindly and dishonestly 
 lianded over to the longest liver." 
 
 Now what is thus M'ritten in the present day is ex- 
 actly of the same stamp as Avhat was uttered by Gib- 
 bon:— "The schools of Oxford and Cambridge v/ere 
 founded in a dark age of false and barbarous science ; 
 and they are still tainted with the vices of their origin. 
 Their primitive discipline was adapted to the educa- 
 tion of priests and monks ; and their government is 
 still in the hands of the clergy, an order of men whose 
 manners are remote from the present world, and whose 
 eyes are dazzled by the light of philosophy." Nay, it 
 is exactly the same as what Milton wrote in his time. 
 We hear those who have studied there continually 
 declaring that the system of education pursued is in- 
 finitely behind that given by dissenters to their minis- 
 ters, so far as it regards their real preparation for the 
 office of Christian teachers. I have frequently heard 
 young men declare that they had no need to study 
 there. With a certain quantity of mathematics, or of 
 Greek and Latin, they could take a degree, and that 
 was enough. So it must have been in Milton's days. 
 " They pretend that their education either at school or 
 university hath been very chargeable, and therefore 
 ought to be repaired in future by a plentiful main- 
 tenance ; whereas it is well known that the better 
 half of them are ofttimes poor and pitiful boys, that 
 having no merit, or promising hopes, that might entitle 
 them to the public provision, but their poverty, and the 
 unjust favour of friends ; have had their breeding both 
 at school and university at the public cost; which 
 might engage them the rather to give freely, as they 
 have freely received. 
 
 K 
 
218 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 '* Next it is a roiid error, though too much believed 
 among us, to think that the miiversity makes a minis- 
 ter of the gospel. That it may conduce to other arts 
 and sciences, 1 dispute not now, but that which makes 
 fit a minister the Scriptures can best tell us to be only 
 from above. How shall iliey preachy unless they he 
 scjit? By whom sent? By the university, or tlie 
 magistrate, or their belly? No, surely; but sent from 
 (ioci only, and that God who is not their belly. And 
 wheth(^r he be sent from God, or from Simon Magus, 
 tlie imvard sense of his calling and spiritual ability 
 will sufficiently tell him. 
 
 " But yet, they say, it is also requisite he should be 
 trained up in other learning, which can be had nowhere 
 better than at the universities. 1 answer, that what 
 learning, either human or divine, can be necessary to 
 a minister, may as easily and less chargcably be had 
 in anv private house. How deficient else, and to how 
 little purpose are all those- piles of sermons, notes, and 
 comments on all parts ol' the Bible, — bodies and mar- 
 rows of divinity, besides all other sciences in our English 
 ti)ngue ; many of the same books which in Latin they 
 read at the university ? And the small necessity of 
 going there to learn divinity, I prove lirst from the 
 most part of themselves, who seldom continue there 
 till they have well got through logic, their lirst rudi- 
 ments. And those theological disputations there held 
 by professors and graduates are such as tend least of 
 ail to the edification or capacity of the people, but ra- 
 ther perplex and leaven pure doctrine \vith scholastic 
 trash, than enable any minister to the better preaching 
 of the gospel.*' — Milton on Hirelings. 
 
 When past and present authorities thus agree to 
 describe tlie great universities of the nation, wo be to 
 that nation if it do not break the slumbers of these 
 clerical drones, throw wide the gates to the intiux of 
 real knowledge, and of all those who thirst for know- 
 ledge, that we may never more hear of such men as 
 Locke being expelled for their love of freedom, or 
 Middleton for their piety. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 219 
 
 Of tlie continuance of ecclesiastical courts to this 
 enlightened period what shall we say, but tiiat En«r- 
 Jishnien are a most patient race ? A dark and myste- 
 rious assemblage as of bats and owls ! A sort of Imjuisi- 
 tion shorn of its power by public opinion, and suHered 
 by public opinion to exist. Priests, allowed no longer 
 to sunmion men to their hidden tribunals, and rack their 
 persons, but permitted still to seize on their wills with 
 rude hands, and rack their purses without mercy! 
 Clerical peers and clerical legislators are anomalous 
 enough ; but clerical taxers of orphans, and clerical 
 guardians of testamentary documents, are still more 
 anomalous. Here is a popish institution existing in a 
 Protestant country, which even popish countries have 
 abandoned, and conveyed its functions into the hands 
 of laymen ! Our wise Saxon ancestors suffered no- 
 thing of this kind among them : it is true they permitted 
 bishops to take their seats in the civil courts to protect 
 their own rights, l)ut it remained for the Norman inva- 
 der to concede to Rome this dangerous privilege of 
 clerical courts. Time and knowledge have thrown 
 into desuetude most of those powers by which they 
 formerly harassed our forefathers. They no longer 
 trouble themselves about the reformation of manners, 
 the punishing of heresy ; nor do churchwardens care 
 to present scandalous livers to the bishop : but refuse 
 to pay a fee, and they wdl speedily " curse thee to thy 
 face." They are in fact a sort of obscure and dusty 
 incorporations for collecting and enjoying good revenues, 
 under the names of bishop, surrogates, proctors, regis- 
 trars, deputy-registrars, and so forth, from fees on wills, 
 consecrations, and various other sources and immuni- 
 ties. For the gi-eediness of these clerical owls in past 
 days, let any one consult Chaucer. Sir David Lind- 
 say of Scotland made merry with them in his days : 
 
 Marry, I lent my gossip my mavc to fetch home coal---, 
 ,Vnd he hov drowned in the quarry holes. 
 And I ran to the consistorie, for to pleinze, 
 And there I fell among a greedy meinze. 
 Thpy gave mc first a thing they call citandimi ; 
 Within eight days I got but Ubellandum ; 
 K 2 
 
220 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 WiUiiii a month I got ad apponendum ; 
 
 lu hall a year I got inter loquendum ; 
 
 And then I got— how call ye it I— ad repUcandum ; 
 
 But I could never a word yet understand 'em. 
 
 And then they made me pull out many placks, 
 
 And made me pay for four-and-twenty acts ; 
 
 But ere they came half-way Xo concludendum, 
 
 The devil a plack was left for to defend him. 
 
 Thus they postponed me two years with their train ; 
 
 Then, hodie ad octo, bade me come agam. 
 
 And then, their rooks, they croaked wonderous fast 
 
 For sentence silver they cried at the last. 
 
 Oi protmnciandum they made me wonder fain, 
 
 But I never got my good gray mare again ! 
 
 This is spoken in the character of a poor man: 
 another character then adds, 
 
 My lords, we must reform these consistory laws, 
 
 Whose great defame above the heaven blows. 
 
 I knew a man, in sueing for a cow. 
 
 Ere he had done, he spent full half a bow.* 
 
 So that the king's honour we may advance. 
 
 We will conclude as they have done in France ; 
 
 Let spiritual matters pass to spiritualitie. 
 
 And temporal matters unto temporalitie. , 
 
 Satyre of Three EstaiUs. 
 
 Whoever would see what troublesome and extor- 
 tionate nuisances these courts are has only to consult the 
 returns made to parliament in 1829 on this subject. 
 Among the lesser evils of the system are the consecra- 
 tion of burial-grounds and surplice fees. Nothing is 
 more illustrative of tlie spirit of priestcraft than that 
 the church should have kept up the superstitious belief 
 in the consecration of ground, in the minds of the peo- 
 ple to the present hour, and that, in spite of education, 
 the poor and the rich should be ridden with the most 
 preposterous notion that they cannot lie in peace ex- 
 cept in ground over which the bishop has said his 
 mummery, and for which he and his rooks, as Lindsay 
 calls them, have pocketed the fees, and laughed in 
 their sleeves at the gullible foolishness of the people. 
 When will the day come when the webs of the clerical 
 spider shall be torn, not only from the limbs but the 
 souls of men? Does the honest Quaker sleep less 
 
 * Half a fold of cows. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 321 
 
 sound, or will he arise less cheerfully at the judgment- 
 day from his gi-ave, over whicli no pr(^latical jugglery 
 has been practised, and for which neither prelate nor 
 priest has pocketed a doit 1 Who has consecrated the 
 sea, into vvhich the British sailor in the cloud of battle- 
 ^moke descends, or who goes down, amid the tears of 
 liis comrades, to depths to which no plummet but that 
 of (lod's omnipresence ever reached ? Who has con- 
 secrated the battle-field, which opens its pits for its 
 thousands and tens of thousands ; or the desert, where 
 the weary traveller lies down to his eternal rest.' 
 Who has made holy the sleeping place of the solitary 
 missionary, and of the settlers in new lands ? Who 
 but He whose hand has hallowed earth from end to 
 end, and from surface to centre, lor his piu'c and Al- 
 mighty lingers have moulded it ! Al^ho but He Avhose 
 eye rests on it day and night, watching its myriads of 
 moving children — the oppressors and the oppressed — 
 the deceivers and the deceived — the hypocrites and 
 the poor whose souls are darkened with false know- 
 ledge and fettered with the bonds of daring selfishness ? 
 and on whatever innocent thing that eye rests, it is 
 hallowed beyond the breath of bishops, and the fees 
 of registrars. Who shall need to look for a conse- 
 crated spot of earth to lay his bones in, when the 
 struggles and the sorrows, the prayers and the tears 
 of our fellow-men, from age to age, have consecrated 
 every atom of this world's surface to the desire of a 
 repose which no human hands can lead to, no human 
 rites can secure ? Who shall seek for a more hal- 
 lowed bed than the bosom of that earth into which 
 Christ himself descended, and in which the bodies of 
 thousands of glorious patriots, • and prophets, and 
 martyrs, who were laid in gardens and beneath their 
 paternal trees, and of heroes whose blood and sighs 
 have flowed forth for their fellow-men, have been left 
 to peace and the blessings of grateful generations with 
 no rites, no sounds but the silent falling of tears and 
 the aspirations of speechless but immortal thanks ? 
 From side to side, from end to end, the whole world 
 
222 I'RIESTrRAFT 
 
 j^ sanctified by these agencies, beyond the blessings 
 or the curses of priests ! God's sunshine flows over 
 it, his providence surrounds it ; his faitlilul creatures 
 live, and toil, and pray in it ; and who shall make it, or 
 who can need it holier for his last resting couch ! But 
 the greediness of priests persists in cursing the poor 
 with extortionate expenses, and calls them blessings. 
 The poor man, who all his days goes gi'oaning under 
 the load of his ill-paid labours, cannot even escape 
 from them into the grave except at a dismal charge to 
 his family. His native earth is not allowed to receive 
 him into her bosom till he has satisfied the priest and 
 his satellites. With the exception of Jews, Quakers, 
 and some few other dissenters, every man is given up 
 in England as a prey, in life and in death, to the par- 
 son, and his echo, and his disturber of bones. 
 
 The following is a fair example of the expense 
 incurred for what is called consecration of the smallest 
 addition to a burial-ground — and wretched must be the 
 mental stupidity of a people who can believe that such 
 fellows can add holiness to the parish earth. 
 
 To the churchwardens of Tadcaster was sent the 
 following letter: — 
 
 Gentlemen, — I send you enclosed the charges on the consecration 
 of the additional churchyard at Tadcaster. 
 
 JOSEPH BUCKLE. 
 York, 26th March, 1829. 
 
 Fees on consecration of the additional burial-ground 
 at Tadcaster. 
 1828. £. s. d. 
 
 Drawing and engrossing the petition to the Archbishop to 
 
 consecrate 150 
 
 Drawing and engrossing the sentence of consecration - 2 2 
 Drawing the Act - - - "",;,",' ^ ^"^ ^ 
 Registering the above instruments and the deed at length, 
 
 and parchment -' 220 
 
 The Chancellor's fee 5 
 
 The principal Register's fee 5 
 
 The Secretary's fee 5 
 
 The Deputy Register's attendance and expenses - - 3 15 6 
 
 The Apparitor's fee - - - ' 110 
 
 Fee on obtaining the seal 110 
 
 Carriage , . - 5 
 
 £27 5 
 
IN ALL AGES. 223 
 
 For burying a poor man this is the common scale , 
 of charge in this town : — For the burial of a pauper 
 Is. Qd. — for a child six months old, the same — if the 
 child be not baptized, 1^. ; for in that state, by clerical 
 logic, it is deemed not a human being, but a thing, 
 until their mummery has ennobled it — a thing beneath 
 God's notice — it is therefore thrust into any hole by 
 the sexton. In the principal churchyard, a man who 
 wishes to choose the place of burial must pay 10/. for 
 tlie size of a grave ; and for opening such a grave, 
 about 21. \5s. Qd. For opening a vault, even in vil- 
 lage churchyards, 5/. is commonly demanded ; in the 
 church lOZ. ; and, what is worst, after all, it has 
 been proved by more than one legal decision, no man's 
 family vault is sacred and inviolable. The church 
 and churchyard are the parson's freehold. In them, 
 during his life, he can work his own will, but he can- 
 not sell a right of vault beyond his own life. There 
 are numbers of families who flattered themselves they 
 had a place of family sepulture into which no stranger 
 could intrude ; but let them excite the wrath of some 
 clerical parish tyrant, and he can show them that not 
 only can he refuse to permit the opening of their vault 
 to receive their dead, till his demands, however exor- 
 bitant, are satisfied, but that he can refuse to have it 
 opened at all ; and moreover can thrust in, at his 
 pleasure, the carcasses of the vilest wretches in the 
 parish. Thus, by dealing with priests, the people 
 are served as they always have been — juggled out 
 of their money for "that which is naught ;" and thrown 
 into the absolute power of the most mercenary order 
 of men. They are suffered to buy that which cannot 
 be really sold ; and when they look for a freehold, 
 they find only a trap for clerical fees. From root to 
 branch the whole system is rotten ; give ! give ! give ! 
 is written on every wall and gate of the church : and 
 though a man quit it and its communion altogether, he 
 must still pay, in life and in death, to it. By a recent 
 case in the diocess of Salisbury, it is shown by the 
 bishop that a man once having taken orders can never 
 
224 PRIESTCRAI T 
 
 lay them down again. A Mr. Tiptatt, having resigned 
 his living from conscientious motives, began to preach 
 as a dissenter ; but the bishop attempted to stop his 
 mouth with menacing tlie thunders of the church ; 
 and, on his astonished declaration that he was no longer 
 a son of the church, the prelate let him know that he 
 was, and must be, — for clerical orders, like Coleridge's 
 infernal fire, must 
 
 Cling to him everlastingly. 
 
 To this church, which empties the pockets of the 
 poor, and stops the mouth of the conscientious dissen- 
 ter, let every Englishman do his duty. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 CHURCH PATRONAGE. 
 
 Evils of the system of Church Patronage— Simony— Defence of the 
 Churcli — Moderate clerical Incomes — Scotch and German Clerg>^ 
 — False notions of Gentility — Christ a true Gentleman — What 
 Clergymen might be— Private Patronage— Surplice Fees. 
 
 The Church of England is unpopular. It is connected with the 
 crown and the aristocracy, but is not regarded with afiection by 
 the mass of the people ; and this circumstance greatly lessens its 
 utility, and has powerfully contributed to multiply the number of 
 dissenters. Edinburgh lieviiw, No. Ixxxviii. 
 
 We are overdone with standing armies. We have an army of law- 
 yers with tough parchments and interminable words to confound 
 honesty and common sense ; an army of paper to fight gold ; an ramy 
 of soldiers to fight the French ; an army of doctors to light 
 death ; and an army of parsons to fight the devil — of whom he 
 etandeth not in awe ! Fox. 
 
 But wfiile the nation demands those alterations just 
 enumerated, the internal prosperity, nay the very ex- 
 istence of the episcopal church, as a vital and fruitful 
 Christian community, demands others. First, that it 
 
IN ALL AGES. 225 
 
 should be delivered from the curse of patronage, — 
 the source of a thousand evils, — the cause of lament- 
 able moral lethargy and paralysis. While every 
 Christian society around it enjoys the just privilege of 
 choosing its own ministers, will it be long endured by 
 this church that it should be kept in a condition of 
 everlasting tutelage 1 that its members, however wise, 
 enlightened, and capable of managing all their affairs 
 for themselves ; who would hold it as the highest in- 
 sult that the state should appoint overseers to choose 
 for their children schoolmasters, and for themselves 
 stewards, attorneys, or physicians — will it be endured 
 long that some state favourite who never saw them, or 
 their place ; or some neighbouring fox-hunting squire, 
 whose intellect, if it exhibit itself anywhere, is in his 
 boot-heels ; that some horse-jockey, or gambler, 
 some fellow whose life is a continual crime, his con- 
 versation a continual pestilence — who, if he were a 
 poor man, would have been long since hanged, but 
 being a rich one, he is at once the choicest son and pur- 
 veyor of Satan, and the hereditary selector of the min- 
 ister of God, — will it be endured that such a man shall 
 put in over the heads of a respectable, pious, and well- 
 informed community a spiritual guide and teacher ? — 
 put him in, in spite of their abhorrence and remon- 
 strances ? and that oncein,neitherpatronorpeople shall 
 get him out, though he be dull as the clod of his own 
 glebe, and vicious as the veriest scum of his parish, 
 who prefers the pot-house to his polluted house of 
 prayer ? From this source has flowed the most fatal 
 results to the church ; and nine-tenths of the evils which 
 afflict it. By this means it has been ffUed with every 
 species of unworthy character ; men who look upon 
 it as a prey ; who come to it with coldness and con- 
 tempt ; who gather its fruits, while other and better 
 men toil for them ; and squander them in modes scan- 
 dalous, not merely to a church, but to human society. By 
 this means it has been made the heritage of the rich 
 man's children, while the poor and unpatronised man 
 of worth and talent has plodded on in its labours, and 
 K3 
 
226 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 despaired. By this means so worldly a clvdracter has 
 grown upon its ministers, that they have become blind 
 lo the vilest enormities olthe system, and now look on 
 simony as a matter of conrse. Whoever doubts tliis, 
 let him look into the Britisli or Clerical Magazine, 
 and he will find tlie reverend correspondents askhig 
 with the utmost simplicity, How can the bishops help 
 men selling advovvsons '( It never seems once to oc- 
 cur to them, that ii" there were no clerical bu^'ers there 
 would be no sellers. In the same journal for June, 
 1832, is also the following statement ; — '• Of the whole 
 number of benetices in England, nearly 8000, more 
 than two-thirds of the whole, are in private patronage. 
 Of the clergy, a very considerable number have pur- 
 chased the livings which they hold ; and of the re- 
 mainder, mosi have been brought up to th<' church, 
 and educated with a view to somi; particular piece of 
 preferment in the gift ol' their family and relations. 
 Whether this be right or wrong, it is an eH'ect almost 
 necessarily lolloping from so large a portion of the 
 property of the church being private property ; a state 
 of things not lo be altered, and which they who wish 
 to abolish pluralities do not talk of altering."* 
 
 Here in one sentence, written by a clergyman, and 
 published in a clerical magazine, we have the root and 
 ground of three-fourths of the evils and enormities of the 
 establishment. We have a statement, that out of 
 10,000 livings in England, nearly 8,000 are in the 
 hands of private people ; that is, each in the hands of 
 a man who, whatever be liis life or his qualifications 
 tor judging, can and does put in a clergyman over the 
 heads of his neighbours, to serve his own views, which 
 are commonly to establish some rake or blockhead of 
 a son or nep'iew, or to make what money he can out 
 of a stranger, if he has no children ; not to seek the 
 most pious man, but the highest bidder : and, conse- 
 quently, that a very considerable immber have pur- 
 chased these livings. Thus, not the pious man, but the 
 
 * Appendix VI. 
 
IN ALL AGES. 227 
 
 highest bidder, the boldest dealer in simony, has had 
 tlie livings. Oh ! poor people, who are doomed to 
 sit nnder such pastors, and vainly hope to grow in 
 heavenly knowledge ! The remainder, says this most 
 logical writer, have been brought up with a view to 
 some particular piece of preferment I'rom their friends 
 and relations. Yes, younger sons — no matter what 
 their heads or llieir hearts an^ niad(! of — doomed to 
 deal out Cod's threats and promises to the people. 
 Desperate handlers of God's sacred things — who rush 
 fearlessly into his temple, not because lie has called 
 them, but because their relations have the key of the 
 doors. And this clerical writer puts forth all this with 
 the most innocent face imaginable. While he enume- 
 rates causes enough to have made 8t. Paid's hair stand 
 on end : when he tells us that simony is common as 
 daylight ; that the l)ulk of the livings in England are 
 not open to the pious and the worthy, but are the her- 
 itage of certain men who may be neither — he is so far 
 from seeing any thing amiss, that he goes on to point 
 out the advantage ol* such a state of things. He de- 
 clares it cannot he altered ; and this is one of liis 
 reasons why the chin*ch should not be reformed. He 
 does not at all perceive that no church-with so scanda- 
 lous and preposterous a foundation can possibly stand 
 many years in the midst of a country wliere the spirit 
 of man is busily at work to pry into the nature of all 
 things, and where any monopoly, but especially of re- 
 ligious patronage, must assuredly arouse an indigna- 
 tion that \\'\\\ overturn it. Miserably dark must be the 
 moral atmosphere of a church where its members 
 come forward with a mental obtuseness like this, to 
 advocate its abominations as if they were virtues, while 
 the people gape round them with astonishment, and 
 they perceive it not. liut there are no labourers in 
 the demolition of a bad institution like its own friends. 
 They are like insects in a rotten tree ; roused by ex- 
 ternal alarm to activity, they bustle about and scatter 
 the trunk, which holds them, into dust. Such men 
 
5^8 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 put a patch of new arguments into the old gamient of 
 corruption, and the rent is made worse. 
 
 By these means the church has been lilled with 
 pride and apathy ; and it is notorious, that of all Chris- 
 tian ministers, the ministers of the establishment are 
 the least interested in their flocks, — cultivate and en- 
 joy the least sympathy with them. I accidentally, the 
 other day, took up Faulkner's Tour in Germany, and 
 immediately fell on this passage, which, coming 
 from a man fresh from the observation of the Conti- 
 nental churches, is worthy of attention. " Nowhere 
 else in Europe are clergymen less respected among 
 the multitude than in the British dominions." He pro- 
 ceeds to account for this by their apathy, their plurali- 
 ties, their exorbitant revenues, maintenance by tithes, 
 and acting as legislators. He adds, " The clergy of 
 the United Kingdoms are paid more than the clergy of 
 all the rest of Christendom besides by a million ster- 
 ling and upwards, the full amount of their annual reve- 
 nue being 8,852,000/. In primitive times, and in the 
 different countries at the present time w^hich I have 
 visited, the remuneration of their labour is chiefly vol- 
 untary. In these countries it needs no prelacy strut- 
 ting in lawn sleeves, and* raising their mitred fronts in 
 courts and parliaments,' to clothe it with respect." 
 
 This, in contradiction of the many assertions of the 
 advocates of our English establishment, who contend 
 that without dignities and large revenues the clergy 
 would sink into contempt, is borne out by the experi- 
 ence of all the world. The dignities and large reve- 
 nues of the papal church did not embalm its clergy in 
 public estimation ; and to whatever country we turn, we 
 find that wherever the clergy are but moderately en- 
 dowed, there they are diligent, and there they are 
 esteemed. What is the opinion of Mihon, of the pre- 
 ferments which have been so much vaunted as stimu- 
 lants to activity and talent in the church ? That they 
 are but "lures or loubells, by Avhich the worldly-minded 
 priest may be tolled, from parish to parish, all the 
 
IN ALL AGES. 229 
 
 country over.". The Scotch clergy are but slenderly 
 incomed, and what is the testimony of their country- 
 men, the Edinburgh Reviewers, concerning them? 
 " In Scotland there are 950 parish clergymen, whose 
 incomes may average 275/. a year each ; and the Scot- 
 tish clergy are not inferior in point of attainments to 
 any in Europe ; no complaints have ever been made 
 of the manner in which they perform their duty ; but, 
 on the contraiy, their exemplary conduct is the theme 
 of well-merited and constant eulogy." 
 
 Let us now turn again to Faulkner's account of the 
 German clergy. — " The Hessian clergy are exemplary 
 in the discharge of their multifarious duties. A clergy- 
 man, no matter what his grade, deems it in no respect 
 derogator}" from his dignity to prove his faith by his 
 works. The spiritual and temporal comfort of their 
 flocks, and their nurture in all sound impressions of 
 religion, is their unceasing care ; while they hold out, 
 in their own respectable and uncompromising conduct, 
 both in public and private, the fairest patterns to en- 
 force the precepts which they teach. The average 
 of a Hessian clerg5'-man's stipend is about forty dollars 
 a year — the dollar three shillings sterling — to which 
 is added a house and garden, or little farm." 
 
 " The clergy at Marberg, in the strictest sense, are 
 a working clergy. They are perpetually among their 
 flocks, correcting, and training, and guiding ; and in 
 such unremitting labours of love, earn a reputation 
 not the les-s likely to abide by them for being the 
 capital on which they must chiefly rely for most of 
 their comforts and happiness. And it surely is most 
 fitting there should exist this reciprocity of feeling 
 and good offices between the pastor and his flock. 
 The Protestant and the Catholic are on the best pos- 
 sible footing with each other ; and share equally in 
 the ofiices of government." Wherever he mentions 
 the clergy, it always is in similar terms. It is only 
 necessary for us to remember that this is a clergy 
 ver}^ moderately paid, and we then see the exact value 
 of the arguments for high salaries. 
 
230 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 Sorry should I be to see our noble ecclesiastical 
 piles deserted and falling to decay, because tlie na- 
 tional funds were withdrawn ; but 1 should like to see 
 them filled with ministers of zeal, and overfloM'iiig 
 congregations. Sorry should I be to see the pic- 
 turesque village church deserted by its accustomed 
 minister, and occupied by some ignorant and clam- 
 orous fanatic ; but I should rejoice when I entered, to 
 iind there, not a mere journeyman hireling, but the 
 worthy pastor, — not a man standing like a statue, and 
 reading in monotonous tones a discourse cold as his 
 own looks ; but one full of overflowing love, and a 
 lively rational zeal, that made his hearers warm at 
 once to him, towards each other, and towards God ; 
 and when we went forth, I should be glad to see, not 
 a stately person who smiles sunnily, shakes hands 
 heartily, talks merrily with the few wealthy of his 
 fold ; gives to those of a lower gi'ade a frigid nod of 
 recognition ; to the poor a contemptuous forgetfulness 
 of their presence, and stalks away in sullen stateliness 
 to his well-endowed parsonage. He who enters on 
 his living as his birthright, who looks on himself as 
 a gentleman, and his hearers as clowns, what can 
 arouse his zeal ? He who has no fear of censure, or 
 removal, whence spring his circiunspection and ac- 
 tivity ? " My father," said the natural son of a noble- 
 man, *' said to me — it is time you should choose a 
 profession. You must not be a tradesman, or you 
 cannot sit at my table ; you have not shrewdness 
 enough for a la\\yer ; you would forget, or poison 
 your patients through carelessness were you a phy- 
 sician : I must make a parson, or some devil of a 
 thing of you : and he made a parson of me ; — and I 
 hate the church and every thing belonging to it !"* 
 From such ministers what can be expected ? and such 
 ministers are supplied to the church in legions by this 
 odious system of private patronage. The ambition 
 of maintaining the character of gentlemen has made 
 clergymen cold, unimpassioned, insipid, and useless, 
 
 * Appendix VII. 
 
IN ALL AGES, 231 
 
 It was the same in the latter days of popery. Chau- 
 cer sketches us a priest : 
 
 That hie on horse willith to ride 
 In glittere and golde of grete arraie, 
 Painted and portrid all in pride, 
 No common knight maie go so gaie ; 
 Chaimge of clothing every dale, 
 With goldin girdils grete and small, 
 As boistrous as is here at bale, 
 All soche falshede mote nedis fall. 
 
 We want not a set of fine gentlemen ; we want a 
 race of zealous, well-informed, kind, and diligent par- 
 ish priests. If we must have gentlemen, let us have 
 them of the school of the Carpenter's Son, who, honest 
 Decker, the tragic poet, declares was 
 
 A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit ; 
 The first true gentleman that ever breathed !" 
 
 After this pattern we care not how many gentle- 
 men we have in the church ; gentlemen who are not 
 ashamed, like their master Christ, to be the friends of 
 the poor. Who desire to live for them ; to live among 
 them ; to learn their wants, to engage their affections, 
 to be their counsellors and guides. Men who can un- 
 derstand and sympathize with the struggling children 
 of poverty and toil, in villages and solitary places, and 
 are therefore understood by them, and are beloved by 
 them, and will follow them and make their precepts 
 the rule of their lives and the precious hope of their 
 deaths. Ohi what have notour clergy to answer for 
 to God and to their country, that they are not such 
 men ; what blessings may they not become by being 
 such ! I know no men whose sphere of influence is 
 more capacious and more enviable. It is the easiest 
 thing in the world to become the very idol of the poor ; 
 there needs but to show them that you feel for them, 
 and they are all ardour and attachment. For the man 
 who will condescend to be what Christ was, a lover 
 of the poor, they will fly at a word over land and water 
 in his service. He has but to utter a wish, and if it 
 
23£ PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 be in their power, it is accomplished. In the language 
 of Wordsworth, " it is the gratitude of such men that 
 oftenest leaves us mourning." The parish clergyman 
 has facilities of aiding the poor that few other men 
 have. At his slightest recommendation, the medical 
 man is ready to atibrd them his aid ; at his suggestion 
 the larder and the wardrobe of the hall expand with 
 alacrity their doors, and the ladies are ready to fly and 
 become the warmest benefactresses of the afflicted. 
 There are many such men already in England ; and 
 were it not for the cursed operation of this private 
 patronage, there would be thousands more such. 
 Numbers who now have no hope but of doing the 
 drudgery of a curacy would then be called by the 
 voice of a free people to a course of active usefuhiess. 
 The land would be filled Avith burning and shining 
 lights that are now hidden beneath the bushels of 
 stipendiary slavery, and the effect on our labouring 
 population would soon be auspiciously visible. 
 
 But what is the actual picture presented to us now 
 under the operation of this detestable system? Look 
 where we will, we behold the most gross instances of 
 simony, pluralities, non-residence, and penurious remu- 
 neration of the working clergy. If eveiy man were 
 to declare his individual experience, such things would 
 make part of his knowledge. In towns, where the 
 clergy are more under the influence of public opinion, 
 we see too many instances of lukewarmness, arro- 
 gance, and unfltness. Gamblers, jockeys, and char- 
 acterless adventurers are put into livings Ly the vilest 
 influence, to the horror and loathing of the helpless 
 congregations in populous cities ; but in villages, the 
 fruits of the system are tenfold more atrociously 
 shameful. There the ignorant, the brutal, the utterly 
 debauched live without shame, and tyrannize without 
 mercy over the poor, uncultivated flocks, whom they 
 render ten times ifc-e stupid and sordid. Within my 
 own knowledge, I can go over almost innumerable 
 parishes, and find matter of astonishment at the endu- 
 rance of Englishmen. I once was passing along the 
 
IN ALL AGES. 233 
 
 Street of a county town in the evening, and my atten- 
 tion was arrested by the most violent ravings and oaths 
 of a man in a shop. I inquired the occasion. " Oh !" 
 said one of the crowd, who stood seemingly enjoying 
 
 the spectacle, " Oh ! it is only Parson ; he has 
 
 got drunk, and followed a girl into her father's house, 
 who, meeting him at the top of the stairs in pursuit oi' 
 his affrighted daughter, hurled him to the bottom, and 
 the worthy man of God is now evaporating his wrath 
 in vows of vengeance." From these spectators I 
 found it was one of the commonest sights of the town 
 to see this clergyman thus drunk, and thus employed. 
 But why, said I, do not the parishioners get him dis- 
 missed ? A smile of astonishment at the simplicity 
 of my query went through the crowd. " Get him dis- 
 missed ! Who shall get him dismissed ? Why he 
 is the squire's brother ; he is, in fact, born to the 
 living. There is not a man in the parish who is not 
 a tenant or dependant in some way on the family ; 
 consequently, not a man who dare open his mouth." 
 They have him, such as he is, and must make their 
 best of him ; and he or his brother will be sure to rear 
 a similar prophet for the next generation. 
 
 I entered a village not five miles off — a lovely re- 
 tired place ; with a particularly handsome churcli, a 
 noble parsonage, a neglected school, and an absent 
 clergyman. The living was 1800/. a year — the in- 
 cumbent a desperate gambler. " Wliy," again I said, 
 " do not you get this man dismissed ?" I saw the same 
 smile arise at my simplicity. " La ! sir, why he 
 is his lordship's cousin !" It was a decisive an- 
 swer — to the principle of private patronage this vil- 
 lage also owed the irremediable curse of a gambling 
 parson. 
 
 In a few miles I entered a fine open parisli, where 
 the church showed afar off over its surrouitding level 
 meadows of extreme fertility. Here the living was 
 added to that of the adjoining parish. One man held 
 them. Together they brought 2400/. a year. A curate 
 did the duty at two churches and a chapel of ease, for- 
 
236 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 interest, he persuaded the attorney to give him a 
 memorandum of the receipt without a stamp, and then 
 laid an information against him in the Exchequer. 
 He got a commission to prove wills, and charged the 
 poor ignorant people double, till some one more ex- 
 perienced informed the proctor, and got his occupa- 
 tion taken away. He was to be found at pubhc- 
 houses, and in the lowest company, till the very lanuJy 
 wlio got him the living absented themselves from the 
 church ; yet, with a very common kind of inconsist- 
 ency, when the people complained, and asked if he 
 could not be removed, this very family declined acting 
 in it, alleging it would be a great scandal for a cler- 
 gyman to be dismissed from his living ! ! At length 
 some guardians, who had lent him the money of their 
 orphan wards on his bare note, and the strength of his 
 clerical character, have put him in prison ; and the 
 longer he lies, the greater the blessing to the people. 
 The following is part of the report of the Insolvent 
 Debtors' Court when he applied to be discharged : 
 "The Rev. gentleman's debts set forth in his schedule 
 amounted to 8945Z. Ss. 9d. It appeared that he had 
 exercised certain lay vocations ; speculated somewhat 
 in land ; dabbled a little in twist-lace machinery ; 
 worked a colliery ; and now and then enjoyed a bit of 
 horse-dealing. The insolvent's income was 246/. per 
 annum, and his out-goings 500/. a year." 
 
 Such is the ecclesiastical history of this one parish : 
 such would be that of thousands were they related ; 
 and all this is the natural result of the absurd and ini- 
 quitous system of state and individual patronage. Till 
 this scandalous mode — this mode so insulting to the 
 people of a nation like this, of appointing parish min- 
 isters — be abandoned, vain is every hope of internal 
 strength and life to the church. Let every parish 
 choose its own pastor, and a new course will com- 
 mence. The worthy and the talented will take heart, 
 — piety will meet its natural reward, and work its 
 natural works ; the sot and the hireling incubus will 
 disappear ; the vicar will no more come and pocket 
 
IN ALL AGES. 237 
 
 his yearly 2000/., and leave his curate to do his yearly 
 labour for 100/. ; multitudes of needful refonns will 
 flow into the heart of the church ; a religious regimen 
 and new life will animate its constitution. 
 
 The canons of the churcli must be revised ; it.s arti- 
 cles abolished, or reduced to rationality ; surplice fges 
 done away with. It is a crying scandal and oppres- 
 sion, that none of the children of Heth are left who 
 will say " Bury thy dead out of thy sight — what is it 
 between me and thee ? — bury thy dead ;" but the poor 
 man cannot bury his dead except by feeing the parson 
 to an amount that will cost him days of hard labour 
 and months of privation. " To ask a fee of such," 
 says Milton, " is a piece of paltry craft befitting none 
 but beggarly artists. Burials and marriages are so 
 little a part of the priest's gain, that they who consider 
 well may find them to be no part of his function. It 
 is a peculiar simony of our English divines only. 
 Their great champion Henry Spelman, in a book 
 written to that purpose, shows by many cited canons, 
 and some of times corruptest in the church, that fees 
 extorted or demanded for sacraments, marriages, and 
 especially for burials are wicked, accursed, simoniacal, 
 and abominable." 
 
238 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 CHAPTER XIX, 
 
 • CONFIRMATION. 
 
 Confirmation in the Country — Its picturesque and poetical Appear 
 ance — Licentious Consequences — Apathy of the Clergy. 
 
 I look on both sides of this human life- 
 Its brightness and its shadow. 
 
 One of the most beautiful and impressive rites of the 
 church is the confirmation of young people as it is seen 
 in the country. On some bright suimner morning, 
 you see troops of village boys and girls come marching 
 into the town, headed by the village clerk, or school- 
 master. First one, then another little regiment of 
 these rural embryo Christians is seen advancing from 
 different parts towards the principal church. All are 
 in their best array. Their leader, with an air of un- 
 usual solemn dignity marches straight forward, look- 
 ing neither to the right-hand nor to the left, but some- 
 times casting a grave glance behind at his followers. 
 His suit of best black adorns his sturdy person, and 
 his lappels fly wide in the breeze that meets him. 
 His charge come on in garbs of many colours ; — the 
 damsels in green and scarlet petticoats ; stockings 
 white, black, and gray ; gowns of white, bearing testi- 
 mony to miry roads and provoking brambles ; gowns 
 of cotton print of many a dazzling flowery pattern ; 
 gowns even of silk in these luxurious days ; long, fly- 
 ing pink sashes, and pink, and yellow, and scarlet 
 bunches in bonnets of many a curious make. The 
 lads stride on with slouching paces that have not been 
 learned in drawing and assembly-rooms, but on the 
 barn-floor, beside the loaded wagon, on the lieathy 
 sheep-walk, and in the deep fallow field. Tliey are 
 gloriously robed in corduroy breeches, blue worsted 
 
IN ALL AGES. 239 
 
 Stockings, heavy-nailed ankle-boots, green shag waist- 
 coats, neck-handkerchiefs of red, with long corners 
 that flutter in the wind, and coats shaped by some 
 sempiternal tailor, whose fashions know no change. 
 Amid the bustling, sprnce inhabitants of the town, 
 ilieir walk, their dress, their faces full of ruddy health 
 :ind sheepish simplicity, mark them out as creatures 
 almost of another tribe. They bring all the spirit ol' 
 the village — of the solitary farm — of heaths and woods, 
 and rarely frequented fields, along with them. You 
 are carried forcibly by your imagination, at the sight 
 of them, into cottage-life, — into the habits and concerns 
 of the rural population. You feel what daily antici- 
 pations — what talk — what an early rising, and bustling 
 preparation there has been in many a lowly dwelling, 
 in many an out-of-the-way hamlet, for this great occa- 
 sion. How the old people have told over how it was 
 when they went to be confirmed. What a mighty 
 place the church is ; what crowds of grand people ; 
 what an awful thing the bishop in his wig and robes ! 
 How the fond, simple mothers have set forth their sons 
 and daughters ; and given them injunction on injunc- 
 tion ; and followed them from their doors with eyes 
 filled with tears of pride, of joy, and of anxiety. How 
 tlie youthful band, half-gay, more than half-grotesque, 
 but totally happy, have advanced over hill and dale. 
 The whole joyousness of their holyday feeling is pre- 
 sented to you, as they progi'essed through bosky lanes 
 and dells, through woods, over the open breezy heaths 
 and hills, — the flowers, and the dews, and the green 
 leaves breathing upon them their freshest influence ; 
 the blue, cheering sky above them, and the lark send- 
 ing down, from his highest flight, his music of inefli'able 
 gladness. You feel the secret awe that struck into 
 their bosoms as they entered the noisy, glittering, 
 polished, and, in their eyes, mighty and proud town ; and 
 the notion of the church, the assembled crowds, the 
 imposing ceremony, and the awful bishop and all his 
 clergy, came strongly and distinctly before them. 
 Besides these, numbers of vehicles are bringing in 
 
240 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 Other rural neophytes. The carriages of the wealthy 
 drive rapidly and gayly on to inns and houses of 
 friends. Tilted wagons, gigs, ample cars, are all 
 freighted with similar burdens ; and many a strange, 
 old, lumbering cart, whose body is smeared with the 
 ruddy marl of the fields it has done service in, whose 
 wheels are heavy with the clinging mire of roads that 
 would make M'Adam aghast, rumbles along, dragged 
 by a bony and shaggy animal, tliat if it must be 
 honoured with the name of horse, is the very Helot of 
 horses. These open conveyances exhibit groups of 
 young girls, that in the lively air, and shaken to and 
 fro by the rocking of their vehicle, and the jostling of 
 chairs, look like beds of tulips nodding in a strong 
 breeze. 
 
 As you approach the great church the bustle becomes 
 every moment more conspicuous. The clergy are 
 walking in that direction in their black go^vns. 
 Groups of the families of the countr)^ clerg}- strike 
 your eyes. Venerable old figures with their sleek and 
 ruddy faces ; their black silk stockings glistening 
 beneath their gowns ; their canonical hats set most 
 becomingly above, are walking on, with their wives 
 hanging on their anns, and followed by lovely, genteel 
 girls, and graceful, growing lads. As the rustics' 
 aspects brought all the spirit of the cottage and the 
 farm to your imagination, they bring all that of the vil- 
 lage parsonage. You are transported in a moment to 
 the most perfect little paradises which are to be found 
 in the world — the country dwellings of the English 
 clergy. Those sweet spots, so exactly formed for the 
 "otiumcum dignitate." Those medium abodes, be- 
 tween the rudeness and vexations of poverty and the 
 cumbrous state of aristocratic opulence. Those lovely 
 and picturesque houses, built of all orders and all 
 fashions, yet preserving the one definite, uniform 
 character of the comfortable, the pretensionless, and 
 the accordant with the scenery in which they are 
 placed ; — houses, some of old framed timber, up 
 which the pear and the apricot, the pyracantha and the 
 
IN^ ALL AGE5. 24 1 
 
 vine clamber ; or of old gray, substantial stone ; or 
 of more modern and elegant villa architecture, with 
 their roofs which, whether of thatch or slate, or native 
 gray stone, are seen thickly screened from the north, 
 and softened and surmounted to the delighted eye with 
 noble trees : with their broad-bay windows, which 
 bring all the sunny glow of the south, at will, into the 
 house i and around which tVe rose and jasmine breathe 
 their clelicious odours. Those sweet abodes, sur- 
 rounded by their bowery, shady, aromatic shrubberies, 
 and pleasant old-fashioned glebe-crofts — homes in 
 which, under the influence of a wise, good heart, and 
 a good system, domestic happiness may be enjoyed to 
 its highest conception, and whence piety and cultiva- 
 tion, and health and comfort, and a thousand blessings 
 to the poor, may spread through the surrounding 
 neighbourhood. Such are the abodes brought before 
 your minds by the sight of the country clergy ; such 
 are thousands of their dwellings, scattered through this 
 gTeat and beneficent country, — in its villages and hid- 
 den nooks of scattered population, — amid its wild 
 mountains, and along its wilder coasts ; endowed by 
 the laws with earthly plenty, and invested by the 
 bright heaven, and its attendant seasons, with the 
 freshest sunshine, the sweetest dews, the most grateful 
 solitude and balmy seclusion. 
 
 But the merry bells call us onward ; and lo ! the 
 mingled crowds are passing under that ancient and 
 time-worn porch. We enter, — and how beautiful and 
 impressive is the scene ! The whole of that mighty 
 and venerable fabric is filled, from side to side, with 
 a mixed yet splendid congregation, — for the rich and 
 the poor, the superb and the simple, there blend into 
 one human mass, whose varieties are but as the con- 
 trast of. colours in a fine painting, — the spirit of the 
 tiMt ensemble is the nobility of beauty. The whole 
 of that gorgeous assembly, on which the eye rests in 
 palpable perception of the wealth, the refinement, and 
 the elevation of the social life of our country, is 
 hushed in profound attention to the reading of the 
 I4 
 
242 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 services of the day by one of the clergymen. They 
 are past; the bishop, foUowed by his clergy, advances 
 to the altar. The solemn organ bursts forth with 
 its thunder of harmonious sound, that rolls through the 
 arched roof above, and covers every living soul with 
 its billows of tumultuous music, and with its appro- 
 priate depth of inexpressible feeling, touches the 
 secret springs of wonder and mysterious gladness in 
 the spirit ; and amid its imperial tones the tread of 
 many youthful feet is heard in the aisle. You turn, 
 and behold a scene that brings the tears into your 
 eyes, and the throb of sacred sympathy into your 
 heart. Are they creatures of earth or of heaven ? Are 
 they the every-day forms which fill our houses, and 
 pass us in the streets, and till the solitary fields of 
 earth, and perform the homely duties of the labourer's 
 cottage — those fair, youthful beings, that bend down 
 their bare and beautiful heads beneath the hands of 
 that solemn and dignified old man ? Yes, through the 
 drops that dim our eyes, and the surprise that dazzles 
 them, we discern the children of the rich and the poor 
 kneeling down together, to take upon themselves the 
 eternal weight of their own souls. There, side by side, 
 the sons and daughters of the hall, and the sons and 
 daughters of the hut of poverty, are kneeling in the 
 presence of God and man — acknowledging but one 
 nature, one hope, one heaven ; and our hearts swell 
 with a triumphant feeling of this homage wrung from 
 the pride of wealth, the arrogance of birth, and the 
 soaring disdain of refined intellect, by the victorious 
 might of Christianity. Yet, even in the midst of this 
 feeling, what a contrast is there in these children ! 
 The sons and daughters of the fortunate, with their 
 cultured forms and cultured features — the girls just 
 budding into the beauty of early womanhood, in their 
 white garbs, and with their fair hair so simply yet so 
 gracefully disposed, — the boys, with their open, rosy, 
 yet declined countenances, and their full locks, clus- 
 tering in vigorous comeliness ; they look, under the 
 influence of the same feelings, like the children of 
 
IN ALL AGES. 
 
 243 
 
 some more ethereal planet : while the offspring of the 
 poor, with their robust figm'es and homely dresses ; 
 Avitli their hair, which has had no such sedulous hands, 
 lull of love and leisure, to mould it into shining soft- 
 ness — nay, that has, in many instances, had no tend- 
 ing but that of the frosts and winds, and the midsummer 
 scorching of their daily, out-of-door lives ; and with 
 countenances in which the predominant expressions 
 are awe and simple credence ; these touch us with 
 equal sympathy for the hardships and disadvantages 
 of their lot. 
 
 Successively over every bowed head those hands 
 are extended which are to communicate a subtle but 
 divine influence ; and how solemn is the effect of that 
 one grave and deliberate yet earnest voice which, in 
 the absence of the organ-tones, in the hushed and 
 heart-generated stillness of the place, is alone heard 
 pronouncing the words of awful import to every youth- 
 ful recipient of the rite. 'Tis done, — again the tide 
 of music rolls over us, fraught with tenfold kindling 
 of that spirit which has seized upon us ; and amid its 
 celestial exultings, that band of youthful ones has 
 withdrawn, and another has taken its place. Thus it 
 goes on till the whole have been confirmed in the faith 
 in which their sponsors vowed to nurture them, and 
 which they have now vowed to maintain for ever. 
 The bishop delivers his parting exhortation, and 
 solemnly charges them to return home in a manner 
 becoming the sacredness of the occasion and of their 
 present act. Filled with the glow of purest feelings, 
 breathing the very warmest atmosphere of poetry and 
 religious exaltation, we rise up with our neighbours, 
 and depart. We depart — and the first breath of com- 
 mon air dissipates the beautiful delusion in which we 
 have been, for a short space, entranced. We feel the 
 rite to be beautiful while we cease to think ; but the 
 moment we come to penetrate into the mind which 
 lies beneath, it becomes an empty dream. We feel, 
 that did our after consciousness permit us to believe 
 that he who administered this rite was filled with its 
 L2 
 
244 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 sanctity, aiid relied implicitly on its efficacy, — that the 
 youthful tribe of neophytes were rightly prepared by 
 the ministry of their respective pastors, and possessed 
 the simple credence of past ages to give vitality to the 
 office — then, indeed, might it be in fact what it can 
 now only appear for an instant. We feel, moreover, 
 taking yet lower ground than this, that were the clergy 
 a body tilled with the.zeal of their calling, they possess 
 in this ceremony a means of powerful influence. But 
 I have hitherto spoken only of its poetical and pic- 
 turesque effect, and that effect endures not a step 
 beyond the church-doors. At that point the habitual 
 apathy of the clergy converts this rite into one of the 
 most awful and hideous of mockeries. The bishop 
 charges the recipients to return home in soberness 
 and decorum ; but he should charge their respective 
 clergymen to conduct them thither. But where are 
 the clergy ? They are gone to dine with the bishop, 
 or their clerical brethren ; and what are the morals 
 of the youth to good dinners ? They have turned the 
 children over to the clerks. And "vvhere are the 
 clerks ? They have some matters of trade to transact ; 
 — some spades, or cart-saddles, or groceries to buy — 
 and what is the health of the children's souls to spades, 
 and cart-saddles, and gTOceries ? — they have turned 
 the lambs of the flock over to the schoolmasters. 
 And where are the schoolmasters ? They, like their 
 clerical lords, are gone to dine Avith their brother 
 dominies of the town, having reiterated the injunction 
 of the bishop with a mock-heroic gravity, as highly, 
 but not as well, assumed as that of the bishop himself, 
 and with as little effect. While they sit and discuss 
 the merits of the last new treatise of arithmetic or 
 spelling, the work of some new Dilworth or Entick, 
 their charges have squandered into a dozen companies, 
 and each, under the guidance of some rustic Cory- 
 phcpus, have surromided as many ale-house fires. 
 They arc as happy as their betters. The loaf and 
 cheese melt like snowballs before them ; the stout ale 
 is handed round to blushing damsels by as many awk 
 
IN ALL AGES. 245 
 
 ward, blushing swains. Hilarity abounds — their spirits 
 are kindled. The bishop, and the church, and the 
 crowd all vanish — or rather, their weight is lifted from 
 their souls, which rise from the abstracted pressure 
 with a double vivacity. Already heated, they set for- 
 ward on their homeward way. At every besetting 
 ale-house the revel is renewed. Over hill and dale 
 I hey stroll on. a rude, roistering, and disgraceful rab- 
 ble. For the effects of this confirmation let any one 
 inquire of parish overseers, and they will tell him, that 
 it is one of the most fruitful sources of licentiousness 
 and crime. The contagion of vice spreads, under such 
 circumstances, with the fatal rapidity of lightning. 
 Young and modest natures which otherwise would 
 have shrunk from it and been safe, are surprised, as it 
 were, into sin, and shame, and misery. Instead of a 
 confirmation in Christianity, it becomes the confirm- 
 ation of the devil. And this clergymen know ; and 
 yet with the same apathy whence the evil has sprung, 
 they continue to sufler its periodical recurrence ; and 
 thus, for want of a little zeal, and a little personal 
 exercise of the good office of a shepherd, they convert 
 one of the rites of their church into one of the worst 
 nuisances that afflict our country. 
 
246 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF PRIESTCRAFT. 
 
 Moral and Political Lessons taught by it — Corruption of the Clergy 
 proverbial — Necessity of Reforni. 
 
 Yet thus is the church, for all this noise of Reformation, left still 
 unreformed. Milton. 
 
 Thus have we traversed the field of the world. 
 We have waded through an ocean of priestly enor- 
 mities. We have seen nations sitting in the blackness 
 of darkness, because their priests shut up knowledge 
 in the dark-lanterns of their seliishness. We have 
 seen slavery and ignorance blasting, under the guid- 
 ance of priestly hands, millions on millions of our 
 race, and making melancholy the fairest portions of 
 the earth. We have listened to sighs and the drop- 
 ping of tears, to the voice of despair and the agonies 
 of torture and death ; we have entered dungeons, and 
 found their captives Avasted to skeletons with the 
 years of their solitary endurance ; we have listened 
 to their faint whispers, and have found that they 
 uttered the cruelties of priests. We have stumbled 
 upon midnight tribunals, and seen men stretched on 
 racks ; torn piecemeal with fiery pincers ; or plunged 
 into endless darkness by the lancing of their eyes ; 
 and have asked whose actions these were — and were 
 answered — the priests ! We have visited philoso- 
 phers, and found them carefully concealing their dis- 
 coveries, which would suddenly liave filled the earth 
 with light, and power, and love, — because they knew 
 the priests would turn on them in their greedy malice, 
 and doom them to fire or gibbet. We have walked 
 among women of many countries, and have found 
 thousands lost to shame, rolling wanton eyes, uttering 
 
IN ALL AGES- 24.7 
 
 hideous words ; we have turned from ihem with loath- 
 ing, but have heard them cry after us, as we went, 
 " Our hope is in the priests, — they are our lovers, and 
 defenders from eternal fire." We have entered for 
 shelter from this horror the abodes of domestic love, 
 and have stood petrified to find there all desecrated — 
 purity destroyed — faith overthrown — happiness anni- 
 hilated ; and it was the work of priests ! Finally, 
 we have seen kings, otherwise merciful, instigated by 
 the devilish logic of priestcraft, become the butchers 
 of their people ; queens, otherwise glorious, become 
 tyrants and executioners ; and people, who would 
 otherwise have lived in blessed harmony, warring on 
 each other with inextinguishable malice and bound- 
 less blood-thirstiness ; and behold ! it was priestcraft, 
 that, winding among them like a poisonous serpent, 
 maddened them with its breath, and exulted with 
 fiendish eyes over their horrible carnage. All this we 
 have beheld, and what is the mighty lesson it has 
 taught ? It is this — that if the people hope to enjoy 
 happiness, mutual love, and general prosperity, they 
 must carefully snatch from the hands of their spiritual 
 teachers all political power, and confine them solely 
 to their legitimate task of Christian instruction. Let 
 it always be borne in mmd, that, from the beginning of 
 the world to this time, there never was a single con- 
 spiracy of SCHOOLMASTERS agaiust the liberties and the 
 mind of man : but in every age^ the priests, the 
 SPIRITUAL SCHOOLMASTERS, havc been the most subtle, 
 the most persevering, the most cruel enemies and 
 oppressors of their species. The moral lesson is 
 stamped on the destinies of every nation, — the in- 
 ference is plain enough to the dullest capacity. Your 
 preachers, while they are preachers alone, are harm- 
 less as your schoolmasters ; they have no motive to 
 injure your peace : but let them once taste power, or 
 the fatal charm of too much wealth, and the conse- 
 quent fascinations of worldly greatness, and, like the 
 tiger when it has once tasted blood, they are hence- 
 forth your cruellest devourers and oppressors, 
 
248 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 We may be told that there is no such pernicious 
 tendency now in our establishment — that it is mild, 
 merciful, and pious : our attention may be turned to 
 the great men it has produced ; and the number oi" 
 humble, sincere, and exemplary clergymen who adorn 
 their office at the present day. 
 
 Much of this I intend not to deny ; but if it be said, 
 there is no evil tendency in the church, I there ditfer. 
 'J'he present corruption, the present admission, even 
 of the clergy, of the necessity of reform, is sufficient 
 refutation ; and if it does not now imprison, burn, and 
 destroy, we owe it to the refinement of the age, as the 
 history of the past world amply shows. Human nature 
 is for ever the same ; it is the nature of priestcraft to 
 render the clergy tyrants, and the people slaves ; it 
 always has been so ; it always will be ; the only pre- 
 ventive lies in the general knowledge of the com- 
 munity. That the church has produced great men, 
 who will not admit, that remembers that Plato of 
 preachers Jeremy Taylor, Tillotson, Hooker, and 
 others ? but that it would have produced far more sucli 
 men, had it been more thoroughly reformed, placed on 
 a more broad and Christian basis, is equally certain. 
 
 That there are numbers of excellent clergy I readily 
 admit. I honour and love the good men who, in many 
 an obscure village in the midst of a poor and miser- 
 able population, spend their days with no motive but 
 the fulfilment of their duty ; cheerfully sacrificing all 
 those refined pleasures, — that refined society which 
 their character of mind, and their own delightful tastes, 
 would naturally prompt and entitle them to. Who do 
 this, badly paid, worse encouraged ; compelled by their 
 compassion to despoil themselves of a great part of 
 their meager salaries, to stop the cries of the terrible 
 necessities by which they are surrounded; who do 
 this, many of them, at the expense of remaining solitary, 
 unallied individuals ; unmarried, childless : or if hus- 
 bands and fathers, expending their wives' comforts, 
 their children's education on the poverty which the 
 wealthy incumbeAts neither look on nor relieve. When 
 
IN ALL AGES. ^49 
 
 I observe them do this, and all the while see their 
 parishes drained by some fat pluralist, or sinecurist, 
 who scorns to take the cure of souls whom he never 
 goes near, except to take the living, and appoint his 
 journeyman — when I see them look on wealth, dignities, 
 and preferments showered on the well-born, well-allied, 
 or well-impudenced, while there is a gulf between 
 themselves and their attainment as impassable as that 
 between Dives and Lazarus, — then do I indeed love 
 and honour such men ; and it is for such that I would 
 see the church reformed ; and the road to greater 
 comfort and more extensive usefulness thrown open. 
 I would not, as the bees do, appoint a killing day for 
 the drones, but I would have no more admitted to the 
 hive. 
 
 There are many excellent men ; but are the multi- 
 tude such ? We shall undoubtedly be told so. The 
 whole body will be represented as the most disin- 
 terested, holy, beneficent, industrious, wonder-working, 
 salvation-spreading body imaginable. In their own 
 periodicals and pamphlets, they are so represented. — 
 Whether they be so or not, let one of the greatest intel- 
 lects of the age, and one of their own warm friends, 
 testify — 
 
 The sweet words 
 Of Christian promise words that even yet 
 Might stem destruction, were they wisely preached, 
 Are muttered o'er by men whose tones proclaim 
 How flat and wearisome they feel their trade : 
 Rank scoft'ers some ; but most too indolent 
 To deem them falsehoods, or to know their truth. 
 
 Coleridge. 
 
 And let one great truth be marked. — The prevalent 
 character of a public body stamps itself in the public 
 mind as faithfully as a man's face in a mirror. There 
 may be exceptions to a body, and they may be con- 
 siderable : but when that body becomes proverbial ; 
 when it ijs, as a whole, the object of the jokes, the 
 sarcasms, and contempts of the people, that body is 
 not partially^ but almost loholly corrupt. Now such is 
 the character of the Church of England clergy, in the 
 L3 
 
250 PRIESTCRAFT 
 
 mind of the British people. We may be told it is the 
 vulgar opinion, and the vulgar are wrong. In j udgmcnts 
 of this kind the vulgar, as they are called, are right. 
 They always were so ; but this too will be denied. A 
 body in its corruption never did, and never will, admit 
 it ; its only feeling will be anger, not repentance. 
 When the Romish church was utterly corrupted, — when 
 Its priests and monks were the scandal and the scorn 
 of all men, did the church admit it? Did it reform 
 them ? When Luther's artillery was thundering against 
 it, and shaking it to its foundations, did it admit the 
 justice of his attack? No! it only turned in rage, 
 and would have devoured him, as it devoured all other 
 reformers. When he had knocked down many of its 
 pillars, blown up many of its bastions, laid bare to 
 public scorn and indignation its secret fooleries and 
 horrors, it relaxed not an atom of its pretensions, it 
 abated not a jot of its pride, it stayed not its bloody 
 arm, shunned not to proclaim itself still holy, invidner- 
 able, and supreme. While Dante and Boccacio laughed 
 at its errors, or declaimed against its abuses in its own 
 territories; while Erasmus in the Netherlands, Chaucer 
 in England, and Sir David Ixindsay, the Chaucer of 
 Scotland, were pouring ineflable and everlasting ridicule 
 on its monks, its priests, and pardoners, they were told 
 that theirs was but the retailing of vulgar ignorance 
 and envy : but what followed ? Time proclaimed it 
 Truth. The corrupted tribes were chased away by 
 popular fury and scorn, and have left only a name 
 which is an infamy and a warning. 
 
 From age to age, the great spirits of the world have 
 raised their voices and cried. Liberty ! but the cry has 
 been drowned by the clash of arms, or the brutish vio- 
 lence of uncultured mobs. Homer and Demosthenes 
 in Greece, Cicero in Rome, the poets and martyrs of 
 the middle ages, our sublime Milton, the maligned but 
 inmioveable servant and sufierer of freedom, who laul 
 down on her altar his peace, his eomfort, and his very 
 eyesight, our liampdims and Sidneys, the Ilofers and 
 Bolivars of other lands, have, from age to age, cried, 
 
IN ALL AGES. 251 
 
 Liberty ! but ignorance and power have been com- 
 monly too much for them. But at h^ngtli, liglit from 
 the eternal sanctuary of truth has spread over every 
 region ; into the depths and the dens of poverty it has 
 penetrated ; the scholar and the statesman are com- 
 pelled to behold in the marriage of Christianity and 
 Knowledge the promise of the establishment of peace, 
 order, and happiness, — the reign of rational freedom. 
 We are in the very crisis in which old things are to be 
 pulled down, and new ones established on the most 
 ancient of foundations, — justice to the people. To 
 effect safely this momentous change requires all the 
 watchfulness and the wisdom of an intelligent nation. 
 The experience of the world's history warns us to 
 steer the safe middle course, between the despotism 
 of the aristocracy and the mob, between the highest 
 and the lowest orders of society. The intelligence, 
 and not the wealth or multitudes of a state, must give 
 the law of safety ; and to this intelligence I would 
 again and finally say — be warned by universal history ! 
 Snatch from your priesthood all political power ; aban- 
 don all state religion ; place Christianity on its own 
 base — the universal heart of the people ; let your 
 preachers be, as your schoolmasters, simply teachers ; 
 eschew reverend justices of the peace ; very reverend 
 politicians ; and right reverend peers and legislators, 
 as you would have done the reverend knights, and 
 marquises, and dukes of the past ages. They must 
 neither meddle with your wills, nor take the tenth of - 
 your corn ; they must neither tax you to maintain 
 houses in which to preach against you, and read your 
 damnation in creeds of which no one really knows the 
 origin ; nor persecute you, nor seize your goods for 
 Easter offerings and smoke-money. The system by 
 which they tax you at your entry into tlie world, tax 
 you at your marriage, tax you at your death, suffer 
 you not to descend into your native earth without a 
 fee, must be abolished. The system by which you 
 are made to pay for every thing, and to have a voice 
 in nothing— not even in the choice of a good minister, 
 
^m 
 
 PRIESTCRAFT IN ALL AGES. 
 
 or the dismissal of a vile and scandalous debauchee ; 
 by which you are made the helpless puppet of some 
 obtuse squire, and the prey of some greedy and god- 
 less priest, must have an end. 
 
 On this age, the happiness of centuries — the pros- 
 perity of Truth depends ; let it not disappoint the 
 -xpectations and mar the destinies of millions ! 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Y THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 
 
 I. The Hebrews. Chapter IX. — Mr. Howitt in some places 
 exhibits a want of discrimination between that priestcraft which 
 was the invention of corrupt men and the theocratic establish- 
 ment among the Israelites which was appointed by God. It is 
 proper, therefore, to remember the defects which Mr. Howitt, as 
 a theologian, has incidentally betrayed. The comparison be- 
 tween Sinbad's " old man of the sea,''"' and the abuses which 
 were perpetrated by the Jewish priesthood, and the Christian 
 ministry in their legitimate and restricted offices and duties, 
 called the " old man of the church,'''' is not analogous : Mr. 
 Howitt's poetry is preferabk to his divinity. The sentiment 
 also that " one design of the Almighty" by the appointment of 
 the Jewish priesthood was " to show how radically mischievous 
 and prone to evil an ecclesiastical order is, under any circum- 
 stances," borders upon impiety. The apostacy of Aaron, the 
 profligacy of Eli's sons, and the treason of Caiaphas and his 
 associates had no natural connexion with the Jewish priest- 
 hood, or rather were direct violations of all its holy institutes. 
 Infidel sentiments of this kind are mischievous ; and being ir- 
 relevant to Mr. Howitt's object, it is astonishing that a writer 
 of such high-toned morality and integrity should have permitted 
 his dislike to priestcraft to have blinded his eyes to such a 
 palpable confusion of objects totally distinct. 
 
 II. Councils. Chapter XI. — The great evils with which 
 ecclesiastical councils, in all their varieties of name, have deso- 
 lated the Christian church, might profitably have been displayed. 
 These nuisances still exist, and in a minor degree yet unfold 
 all their pestiferous machinations. It is also among the 
 remarkable features of human infatuation, that while the Roman 
 pontiflT dares not to summon a popish council, and the British 
 government were obliged to decapitate the Episcopal convoca- 
 tion ; these pernicious assemblies are now only perpetuated 
 am'^ng those denominations of Christians who boast of their 
 progress in reformation towards the perfect purity of the gos- 
 pel. In the United States at this day, some of the councils^ 
 but more generally known by other modern appellatives, are 
 dangerous excrescences not only to the church but to the re- 
 public i and like all other institutions which originated in 
 
254 APPENDIX. 
 
 popery, and which have Vesprit du corps for their governing 
 motive, and their own aggrandizement for the grand end of all 
 their schemes, — like the Anglican Episcopal Convocation, which 
 was only another name for a genuine popish council, — they ought 
 to be silenced in powerless oblivion. 
 
 III. PoPERV. — The concise reviews of popery which Mr. 
 Ilowitt has written are not less authentic than instructive. Its 
 two boasted attributes are infallibility y and universal^ perpetual^ 
 unchangeable identity. Whence it follows, that it remains un- 
 ;iUered by difference of place and succession of seasons. Con- 
 sequently, popery is the same in the nineteenth century in 
 America, as in the dark ages in Italy and Europe. Persons who 
 suppose that monks and nuns are one jot reformed ; that con- 
 vents are at all purified ; that Romish frauds are less practised ; 
 that their ceremonial mummery is rendered more scriptural and 
 less idolatrous ; that their festivals are scenes of less sensuality ; 
 that auricular confession is not equally impure ; that indulgences 
 for sin are not trafficked ; that purgatory is less proclaimed, 
 more rarely sold, and less believed in ; that the myriads of pa- 
 pists are more enlightened ; and that the mass, with its idola- 
 trous and irrational blasphemy, is not equally the comer-stone 
 of the papal hierarchy as in all anterior ages, are mistaken ; 
 and they who fancy that Roman priests and Jesuit friars are 
 one particle superior in morality or religion to their fellow- 
 craftsmen in Spain and Italy, or as they were 300 years ago, 
 deceive themselves. Infallible testimony can be adduced at any 
 time to demonstrate the truth of Mr. Howitt's description. 
 The apparent exterior amendment is a total delusion — " the 
 nature of their abominable priestcraft is not altered ; for even 
 in this country, where our free institutions check presumption, 
 and the press terrifies their most loathsome monsters from the 
 light of day — we behold things which fire our hearts with in- 
 dignation." 
 
 IV. Clergy of the State. — In a sermon published some 
 years ago in London, by Mr. Murray, is the following expostu- 
 lation : " For what use are bishops, deans, doctors, and digni- 
 fied clergy, when they do not instruct the subjects to make them 
 good members of society ? It is no better than robbery to neg- 
 lect those duties you have solemnly promised to fulfil. You are 
 servants of the government, as much as other officers, and yet 
 neglect your duty without fear. Whatever you may gain by 
 the alliance between church and state, the people are losers. 
 Sinners as you are, one cannot but have pity on you. The 
 parable of the rich man is worthy of your^most serious consid- 
 eration. May God presen'e all sinful clergy from being hii 
 
APPENDIX. 255 
 
 companions ! You are the chief of sinners ; others are little, 
 when compared to you. May God pardon all your sins for 
 Christ's sake ! Amen." 
 
 V. English Universities. — Rowland Hill some time ago 
 published the following account of the English universities. 
 " During my residence at this seat of learning, drunkenness and 
 whoredom were deemed less exceptionable practices in a can- 
 didate for the ministry than visiting the sick, and expounding 
 scriptures in private houses. For these last oftences, I met with 
 SIX refusals before I gained admission into the ministry of the 
 established church. Rome herself, in her most rotten and cor- 
 rupted state, kept up her spiritual game, by boasting of the learn- 
 ing and purity of her clergy. The like gorgeous boast we have 
 repeatedly from Oxford and Cambridge, respecting the young 
 bucks and blades they send forth for the service of the church." 
 
 VI. Presentation to Livitmgs. — The following fact corrobo- 
 rates Mr. Ho Witt's statement. A gentleman of large fortune, who 
 controlled a living of great value near London, had a son, little 
 superior to a natural idiot ; and for him the living was destined. 
 After residing at Oxford the allotted term, and receiving the 
 graduate's diploma, A.B. and A.M. as a matter of course, he 
 presented himself to one of the bishops for ordination. The 
 bishop was apprized by his father of his son's commanding 
 genius and astonishing attainments, and acted accordingly. So, 
 after the usual preliminaries, he thus proceeded to examine the 
 erudite collegian : 
 
 Bishop. — -Mr. P., can you inform me how many sons Noah had ] 
 
 Mr. P. — Indeed, my lord, I cannot. I never heard the gen- 
 tleman's name before. 
 
 Bishop. — Well, Mr. P., Noah had three sons, named Shem, 
 Ham, and Japhet ; cannot you tell me their names now 1 
 
 Mr. P. — Indeed, my Lord, I know nothing of Mr. Noah ; 
 and I don't believe that any man in our college has any acquaint- 
 ance with that gentleman. 
 
 Finding it was a hopeless case, the bishop sent the candidate 
 back to his father, who despatched him to the bishop the second 
 time with an additional hundred pounds — upon which the bishop 
 laid his hands upon him, saying, " Receive thou the Holy Ghost 
 committed unto thee by the imposition of my hands." In which 
 Holy Ghost the bishop did not believe, and of whom the young 
 rector had never heard ; but he went to the churcli, rang the 
 bell, receives the tithes, employs a curate, and spends the pro- 
 ceeds of his parish in riotous livmg. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 
 
 Act of toleration, 173. 
 
 Act of uniformity, 170, 173. 
 
 Adonis, 20. 
 
 Advertisement, 3. 
 
 Ahab, 25. 
 
 Akbar, 88. 
 
 Albigeiises, 139. 
 
 Alexander III., Pope, 132. 
 
 American Indians, 38. 
 
 Americans, 176. 
 
 Ancient mysteries, 20. 
 
 Anecdotes, 197. 
 
 Anne's bounty fund, 202. 
 
 Apostacy of preachers, 256. 
 
 Appendix, 253. 
 
 Arabians, 83. 
 
 Ark, 20. 
 
 Arkite worship, 20. 
 
 Arrogance of popery, 130. 
 
 Articles, Thirty-nine, 181. 
 
 Art, magic, 72. 
 
 Art of torture, 161 
 
 Assembly, Westminster, 180. 
 
 Assyrian mythology, 26. 
 
 Assyrians, 22. 
 
 Astarte, 23. 
 
 Asylums, 128. 
 
 Athanasian creed, 174. 
 
 Atrocities of popery, 130, 134, 
 
 Augury, 64. 
 
 Aune, 36. 
 
 Auricular confession, 127. 
 
 Auto-da-f^, 161. 
 
 Avarice of priests, 75. 
 
 Baal, 23, 26. 
 
 Baal-fires, 24. 
 
 Babel, 17. 
 
 Babylonish temple, 28. 
 
 Bacchanalian orgies, 38, 56, 
 
 Bann, 33, 102. 
 
 Barbarossa, 132. 
 
 Bartholomew massacre, 136. 
 
 Barton's fraud, 123. 
 
 Baxter, 173. 
 
 Becket, 131. 
 
 Bel and the Dragon, 28. 
 
 Belus tower, 27. 
 
 Benedictines, 119. 
 
 Bezeirs destroyed, 140. 
 
 Bible locked up, 102, 105. 
 
 Bishops' revenues, 201. 
 
 Boniface III., Pope, 110. 
 
 Bounty fund, 202. 
 
 Brahmins, 33, 77, 87. 
 
 Bryant, 24. 
 
 Burial fees, 223. 
 
 Cabiri, 59. 
 
 Calamy, 173. 
 
 Cambridge university, 214. 
 
 Castes, 56, 86. 
 
 Catharine's church, 178. 
 
 Celibacy of priests, 105, 106. 
 
 Celtic mythology, 30. 
 
 Celts, 29. 
 
 Ceremonies, 127. 
 
 Chandelahs, 91. 
 
 Character of priestcraft, 14, 15. 
 
 Charles II. of England, 173. 
 
 Charms, 104. 
 
 Chaucer, 107, 231. 
 
 Chemosh, 23. 
 
 Chinese, 20. 
 
 Christ's kingdom, 257. 
 
 Church and state, 195. 
 
 Church consecrated, 178. 
 
 Church livings, 226, 255. 
 
 Church of England, 167, 185, 
 
 Church of Geneva, 173. 
 
 Church rates, 190. 
 
 Church reform, 185. 
 
258 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Churchyards, 222, 
 
 Clerical income, 200. 
 
 Clergy of the state, 254. 
 
 Clerical owls, 219. 
 
 Concubines of priests, 117. 
 
 Confession of sin, 127. 
 
 College education, 217. 
 
 Confirmation, 238, 258. 
 
 Consecration of churchyards, 222, 
 
 Corruption of worship, 19. 
 
 Councils, 115, 253. 
 
 Courts, ecclesiastical, 219. 
 
 Covenanters, 182. 
 
 Cranmer, 171. 
 
 Creed of Athanasius, 174. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 138. 
 
 Crusades, 127. 
 
 Curates' stipends, 210. 
 
 Cush, 18. 
 
 Cuthism, 24. 
 
 Dandolo, 130. 
 
 Deceptions of priests, 74. 
 
 Decretals of Isidore, 125. 
 
 Delphic oracle, 66. 
 
 Deluge, 20. 
 
 Derry, See of, 186. 
 
 Devil at Oxford and Cambridge 
 
 212. 
 Dissenters, 175, 190. 
 Dominicans, 119. 
 Drottes, 34. 
 Druids, 20, 33. 
 Ecclesiastical courts, 219. 
 Edinburgh Review, 201, 224. 
 Edward VI. of England, 169. 
 EgjTDt, 25, 42, 50. 
 Egyptians, 45. 
 Eleusinian rites, 78. 
 Ehzabeth, Queen, 169. 
 Enghsh Church, 167, 185. 
 English Inquisition, 180. 
 English universities, 255. 
 Enormities of the popes, 114. 
 Episcopal church, 167. 
 Episcopal clergymen, 233. 
 Europe, 15. 
 
 Evils of chu ch and state, 181. 
 Evil principles, 16. 
 Evil systems, 16. 
 Excommunication, 128. 
 Family vaults, 223. 
 Fees of consecration, 222. 
 Festivals, 64, 127. 
 First-fruifs, 201. 
 forgery, 125, 
 
 France, 135. 
 Franciscans, 119. 
 Fraud of Jetzer, 120. 
 Frauds, 125. 
 Frauds of priests, 123. 
 Freemasons, 72. 
 Friends, 12. 
 Frogs of Egypt, 104. 
 Gaul, 31. 
 
 Geneva Church, 173. 
 Germany, 33, 228. 
 Goths, 29. 
 
 Grecian theogony, 58. 
 Greece, 58. 
 Greeks, 59. 
 
 Gregory VIL, Pope, 111. 
 Hacon, 37. 
 Hales, John, 258. 
 Hall, Robert, 256. 
 Ham, 17. 
 
 Hebrews, 93, 253. 
 Henry IV. of France, 152, 
 Henry VIII. of England, 168. 
 Herodotus, 25, 45. 
 High Commission Court, 180, 
 Hill, Rowland, 255. 
 , Hindoos, 45. 
 Hindostan, 25, 76. 
 Hirelings, 185, 218, 
 Historians, 14. 
 Howitt, a Friend, 12, 
 Hudibras, 143. 
 Human sac 
 Huns, 100. 
 Idols honoured, 82. 
 Impostors, 22. 
 India, 42, 80. 
 Indians in America, 38. 
 Indulgences, 127. 
 Infallibility of the pope, 101. 
 Inquisition, 128. 
 Inquisitors, 142. 
 Institutes of Menu, 86. 
 Introduction, 5. 
 Invocation to Truth, 4. 
 Ireland, 185. 
 Irish Church, 185. 
 Isidore's decretals, 125. 
 Jaggernath, 24. 
 James I. of England, 197. 
 Japhet, 17. 
 Januarius, 125. 
 Jesuits, 142. 
 Jetzer's fraud, 130. 
 Jews, 95, 
 
INDEX. 
 
 299 
 
 Jezebel, 25. Orgies, 38, 56. 
 
 John of England, 133. Original population, 17. 
 
 Kingcraft, 16, Origin of priestcraft, 17. 
 
 Knowledge kept from the people, Orobio, the Jew, 159. 
 
 56. 
 
 Lahore, Rajah of, 83. 
 Languedoc, 139. 
 Latin worship, 177. 
 Laud, Archbishop, 127. 
 Livings, 255. 
 
 Lord of the universe, 130. 
 Loyola, 144. 
 
 Lyndsay's satire, 116, 220, 
 Madoc, 17. 
 Magic art, 72, 
 Mahadeo, 79. 
 Maid of Kent, 123, 
 Marriage prohibited, 106, 
 Mary, Queen, 170, 197. 
 Mass, 127. 
 
 Massacre at Paris, 135. 
 Mendicants, 117. 
 Metempsychosis, 73, 92, 
 Methodists, 175, 
 Mexicans, 38, 41, 46. 
 Mexitli, 43. 
 Milton, 198, 217. 
 Milton's sonnet, 137, 
 Moabites, 25. 
 Moloch, 23. 
 Monkery, 104, 116. 
 Moors, 155. 
 Mummery, 128. 
 Murray's sermon, 254. 
 Mylitta, 28, 80. 
 Mysteries, 67. 
 Mythology, 17. 
 Mythras, 43. 
 Natchez, 40. 
 National settlements, 17. 
 Nebuchadnezzar's image, 81. 
 Necessity of reform, 251. 
 Nimrod, 16, 18. 
 Noah, 17. 
 
 Nonconformists, 173. 
 Number of false gods, 23, 
 Odin's grove, 37. 
 Old man of the sea, 93. 
 Old man of the church, 94. 
 Oliver Cromwell, 157. 
 Oracle at Upsal, 37. 
 Oracle of Delphos, 66. 
 Oracles of Greece, 62. 
 Oral confession, 127. 
 Ordeals, 138. 
 
 Orosmades, 43. 
 
 Osiris, 20, 53. 
 
 Oxford university, 215 
 
 Pagan creeds, 52. 
 
 Paganism, 16. 
 
 Pagan priestcraft, 76. 
 
 Paintings, 104. 
 
 Papal dommion, 108. 
 
 Papal infallibility, 101. 
 
 Papal priestcraft, 106. 
 
 Papal supremacy, 107. 
 
 Patriarchal worship, 17. 
 
 Patronage, 128, 226. 
 
 Pelasgi, 55. 
 
 Penn, William, 176. 
 
 Persecutions, 6. 
 
 Persia, 19. 
 
 Peruvians, 38. 
 
 Phallis, 64, 79. 
 
 Phocas, 110. 
 
 Pilgrimage of Grace, 124, 
 
 Pilgrimages, 126. 
 
 Plowman's prayer, 107. 
 
 Pluralities, 210. 
 
 Ponsonby, Bishop, 186. 
 
 Pope, lord of the universe, 130. 
 
 Popery, 98, 107. 254, 
 
 Popish arrogance, 130, 
 
 Popish atrocities, 134. 
 
 Portugal, 155. 
 
 Prelatical despotism, 224. 
 
 Presentation to livings, 255. 
 
 Preservation of the Ark, 20. 
 
 Price of burial, 223. 
 
 Priapic orgies, 64. 
 
 Priestcraft, 16. 
 
 Priestly arts, 62, 74. 
 
 Priestly avarice, 75. 
 
 Priestly ignorance, 231. 
 
 Priests' celibacy, 105, 106. 
 
 Priests' character, 80, 233. 
 
 Private patronage, 226. 
 
 Processions, 64, 82. 
 
 Protestant hierarchy, 6, 
 
 Purgatory, 127. 
 
 Pythian oracle, 66. 
 
 Reform, 185. 
 
 Reformation in England, 168, 
 
 Relics, 104. 
 
 Revenues of bishops, 188, 301, 
 
 Heynolds, 173. 
 
260 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Sacrifices of men, 35, 38. 
 
 Sale of livings, 226. 
 
 Saturnalian orgies, 56. 
 
 Scandinavia, 34. 
 
 Sclavonians, 29. 
 
 Separation of church and state 
 
 215, 251. 
 Sennon by Murray, 254. 
 Settlement of nations, 17, 18- 
 Shelley's Poem, 134. 
 Shem, 17. 
 Simony, 227. 
 Socrates, 63. 
 Soodras, 91. 
 Southey's Madoc, 47. 
 Spain, 155. 
 
 Spanish Inquisition, 164. 
 Star-chamber, 180. 
 State churches, 196. 
 Stipendiary clergy, 198. 
 Stipends of curates, 210. 
 Stonehenge, 73. 
 Succession of worlds, 20. 
 Syria, 23. 
 
 Syrian mythology, 26. 
 Syrian priests, 25. 
 Syrians, 22. 
 Tadcaster, 222. 
 Tartars, 19 
 
 Temple at Babylon, 28. 
 Tetzel, 197. 
 
 Theogony of Greece, 58 
 
 Thirty-mne Articles, 181.j 
 
 Three gods, 19. 
 , Tithes, 194. 
 
 Toleration act, 173. 
 
 Tortures, 161. 
 
 Tower of Belus, 27. 
 
 Transmigration, 54. 
 
 Uniformity act, 170, 173.] 
 
 Universal Lord, 130. 
 
 Universities, 212. 
 
 Upsal oracles, 37. 
 
 Vaudois, 137. 
 
 Vaults, 223. 
 
 Vedas, 87. 
 
 Vicegerents of Heaven, 101. 
 
 View of Priestcraft, 13, 246. 
 
 Vitzliputzh, 43. 
 
 Westminster assembly, 180. 
 
 Westminster Review, 180, 213. 
 
 WicUf, 135. 
 
 Wife of the gods, 27. 
 
 WiUiam III. of England, 175. . 
 
 Wisdom of Solomon, 71. 
 
 Women of the temple, 80. 
 
 Worship in Latin, 127. 
 
 Yogees, 93. 
 
 THK END. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
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 History of priestcraft in all ages and 
 
 Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 
 
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