THE HISTORY OF ROMANISM, FROM THE EARLIEST CORRUPTIONS OF CHRISTIANITY TO THE PRESENT TIME ; FULL CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE/ INDEXES, AND GLOSSARY, /iftq SUttstrnte CONTINUING THE HISTORY FROM THE ACCESSION OF POPE PIUS IX. TO THE PKESENT TIME, A. D. 1853. BY JOHN [DOWLING, D. D., PASTOR OF SANSOM-STREET CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. Mvorijpiov; Ba/?wXu (7 iteyd^,}], >} piirrip rtov vopviav Kat T&V /FiJtXwy^aruv T?,S y)j. KEV. xvii. 5. NEW YOKK: EDWARD WALKER, 114 FULTON-STREET. CANADA WEST : HAT & THATCHER, PORT HOPE. 1853. PUBLISHER'S NOTICE TO THE NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION. ABOUT six years only have elapsed since the First Edition of the present Work was issued from the press, yet it has already ob- tained a circulation much more extensive than any other large vol- ume ever published in America, upon the subject of which it treats; or perhaps in England, with the single exception of Fox's Book of Martyrs. Upwards of Twenty Thousand copies have already been called for, and we have now the pleasure of presenting a new and much enlarged Edition to an intelligent and discerning public. To render the work as complete as possible, and in compliance with the suggestions of many of the warmest friends of the Protes- tant cause, the author, Dr. DOWLING, has consented to prepare for the present edition a Supplement of about one hundred and fifty pages, comprising biographical sketches of the last Pope, Gregory XVI., and the present, Pius IX., and a succint history of the revo- lution in Rome by which the Pontiff was driven from his throne, the noble struggle of the Roman patriots with the French, Aus- trian, and papal forces, the Pope's return to Rome, and the other important and remarkable events by which the Pontificate of Pius IX. has hitherto been distinguished, up to the present year, A. D., 1853. In issuing the work with the Author's final corrections and addi- tions, the Publisher embraces the opportunity of tendering his thanks to the friends of Protestantism and the Bible, of all denominations, for the general and hearty favor with which this History of Roman- ism has been received ; and to the religious, literary, and secular press throughout the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, for the very flattering encomiums which, almost without an exception, Protestant editors have united in pronouncing upon the work, and upon its character as a standard authority upon the subject of which it treats. EDWARD WALKER, New York, April 3d, 1853. 114 FULTON STREET. PREFACE. TUB present work is intended to supply a chasm that has long been felt by ministers, theological students, and other intelligent protes- tants, in the historical and religious literature of the age. While a multitude of works have been published (many of great value) on the subjects of controversy between protestants and papists, or on special topics illustrative of particular periods in the history, or particular traits in the character of Popery, the need has long been felt of a complete, yet comprehensive History of Roman- ism, through the whole period of its existence, which, in the com- pass of a single volume, might present, in chronological order, the origin and history of its unscriptural doctrines and ceremonies, the biography of its most famous (or infamous) popes, the proceedings and decrees of its most celebrated councils, with so much of the details of its tyranny over monarchs and states in the days of its glory of its inquisitions, massacres, tortures, and burnings and of the successful or unsuccessful efforts of reformers, in various ages, to rescue the world from its thraldom, as might be necessary for a full exhibition of its unchanging character. There are comparatively but few ministers or private Christians who can spare either the leisure or the expense to procure and to study the library of works Roman Catholic as well as protestant, Latin as well as English through which are scattered the multi- plicity of facts relative to this subject, a knowledge of which is necessary to all who would understand the true character of Popery, and be prepared to defend against its Jesuitical apologists and defenders the doctrines of Protestantism and of the Bible. Hence the desirableness of a work which should collect together all such facts as might be necessary for this purpose from these sources, and present them in systematic order, and in as striking a point of light as the importance of the subject might demand. Such a work is attempted in the present volume. The subject has for years past occupied the attention of the author, and much of his reading and research has been directed into this channel. IV PREFACE. Probably, however, years more might have elapsed before he would have summoned courage to present such a work to the world, had it not been for the persuasions of his enterprising publisher, Mr. Walker, and his assurances that if the author would prepare his materials for the press, he would spare no expense to issue the work in a style of mechanical execution and artistical embellish- ment superior in these respects to any work that has ever been published in America upon the character or the history of Roman- ism. How completely Mr. Walker has redeemed this promise, the appearance and illustrations of the volume must testify. With respect to the matter of the work, the author has availed himself of all the standard and authentic works on general and ecclesiastical history, on the Inquisition and Persecution of Popery, on the Reformers and the Reformation, and on the points of contro- versy between Popery and Protestantism to which he could gain access, either in private collections or in public libraries. Among Roman Catholic authors, the Latin annals of. Baronius and Raynaldus (the great storehouse of Romish history), and the Church histories of Fleury and Dupin, have been freely examined, besides the works of Bellarmine, Paul Sarpi, and many others of a more special or limited scope, relating to particular pontiffs, councils or events. Full extracts have been made from the bulls of Popes and the decrees of Councils, especially of the council of Trent, illustra- tive of the doctrines and character of Popery. These valuable and authentic documents are taken from their own standard works, and printed generally in the original Latin, with the English trans- lation in parallel columns. This plan has been adopted, so as to permit Popery to speak for itself, and for the purpose of obviating the common objection of Romanists, of inaccurate translations. Among protestant writers, most of the standard historians and writers on Romanism have been consulted, and from them impor- tant facts have been freely gleaned. The references at the foot of the page will show the extent of the author's obligation to Gieseler, Edgar, Conyers Middleton, Isaac Taylor, Mosheim, Jones, Bower, Walch, Ranke, Robertson, Waddington, Hallam, George Stanly Faber, Southey, Townley, Sismondi, Russell, Tillotson, Jortin, Bar- row, Chillingworth, L'Enfant, Bonnechose, D'Aubigne, Cox, Lim- borch, Llorente, Puigblanch, Perrin, Cramp, Elliott, M'Crie, Lorimer, Browning, &c. &c., besides a multitude of other authors referred to in the course of the work. The learned " Text-book of Ecclesiastical History" by Gieseler, and the " Variations of Popery" by Dr. Edgar, PREFACE. V have been found especially valuable, for the copious citations from original authorities, many of which are not to be found in America. In some instances, the facts mentioned in these authorities have been translated and incorporated in the present work ; and in others, some of the most remarkable citations from original Romish author- ities have been copied, on account of their immense value to the scholar and the theologian, as illustrative of the character of Romanism, as drawn by her own writers. The copious analytical and alphabetical Indexes, Glossary, and full Chronological Table, have been prepared with much labor and care ; and the author hesitates not to say, from the inconvenience he has often experienced in consulting works, from the want of such tables, will be found a most valuable addition to the work. The engravings were executed by Mr. B. J. Lossing, of New York, and are not mere' fancy sketches for the ' sake of embellishment, but are illustrative of unquestionable facts, and intended to impress those facts more vividly upon the memory. A full description of the subject of each will be found in the page adjoining ; an important desideratum, the absence of which de- stroys more than half the value of many pictorial embellishments. The author only deems it necessary to add, that he has en- deavored to avoid all matters of controversy between the differ- ent denominations of proteslant Christians. He has written as a member of the great protestant family, and not as a member of any one particular branch of that family. It is his belief that all pro- testants should unite in the conflict with Rome ; and it has been his aim to furnish, from the armory of truth, weapons for that con- flict, which shall be alike acceptable to all to the Protestant Epis- copalian, the Presbyterian, the Lutheran, the Dutch Reformed, the Congregationalist, the Methodist, the Baptist, and, in a word, to every one who is not ashamed of the name of PROTESTANT. To that God, who has declared in the sure word of prophecy, that " Babylon the Great" must fall, the author humbly commits his book. If the work shall be the means of extending light through- out our yet happy America, upon the history and character of that hierarchal despotism, which is straining every nerve to reduce the people of this land to its tyrannical sway, and of thus arresting the efforts of Rome to spread over the western continent, the darkness, the superstition and the mental and spiritual thraldom of the middle ages, he will feel that he is richly rewarded. J. D. INDEX OF ENGRAVINGS. PAGE. 1. Frontispiece. King John delivering up his crown to Pandulph, the Pope's legate. 2, 3. Crowning of Nuns and anathema against false Nuns, ... - 73 4. Way-side shrine of the Virgin. Calabrian minstrels playing in her honor, S3 5. Worship of the image of the Virgin in a church, - - - 83 6. Relics carried in procession to a church to be consecrated, 95 7. The Bishop closing up the Relics in the Altar, - - - - 95 8. Praying at the Tombs of the Martyrs, ....... 103 9. Sprinkling and blessing of horses at Rome on St. Anthony's day, - - 119 10. Different forms of priestly tonsure, or shaving heads, - - - - 137 11. Consecration of an Abbot by the imposition of hands, '- 137 12. St. Peter's Church, with the Piazza, Colonnade, Obelisk, and Fountains, - 179 13. Romish ceremony of the Baptism of Bells, ...... 209 14. Remains of Glastonbury Abbey, the scene of St. Dunstan's miracles, - 233 15. The Emperor Henry IV. doing penance at the gate of the Pope's palace, - 245 16. Marking the foreheads of the people with ashes on Ash- Wednesday, - 257 17. The ceremony of Incensing a Cross, ....... 2-37 18. Two kings leading the Pope's horse at the castle of Toici, in France, - 275 19. View of Lambeth palace, near London, ------- 253 20. Doorway in the LoDard's tower, an apartment of the palace. ... o$3 21. Emperor Barbarossa leading the Pope's mule through St. Mark's square, - 2;*5 22. Count Raimonds' degrading penance whipped around the monk's tomb, - 311 23. 24, 25. The Scapular, Rosary, Consecrated Wafer, Standards of Inquisition, &c. 327 26 Procession of Corpus Christi at Rome. Colosseum, in the foreground, - 339 27. Wickliff rebuking the Mendicant Friars, ---..-. 351 -2S The dead body of a Pope lying in state, ....... 351 29, 30. Jerome's contrast. The Master and the Servant. Christ and the Pope, 393 31. Burning of John Huss at Constance, ....... 405 ?2. Rome and St. Peter's from the bridge of St. Angela Accident at Jubilee, 421 33. The Pope as a warrior. Pope Julius in battle, ---... 431 3-1. The Pope as a God. Adored on the high altar of St Peter's, ... 431 35. Tetzel selling indulgences, .----.... 441 30. Burning of Bibles by Romish Priests at Champlain, N. Y., - - - 441 37, 38. Auricular Confession in a church, and in a sick chamber, ... 519 39. Ceremony of the degradation of a Priest, previous to Martyrdom, ]- - 553 40. Burning of Latimer and Ridley at Oxford, - - - - . . 553 41. Cranmer's renunciation of his Recantation, in St. Mary's Church, Oxford, 559 42. Martyrdom of Cranmer, "This hand hath sinned, this hand shall suffer," 559 43. Prison of the Inquisition at Cordova, in Spain, ------ 5>j5 44. Tortures of the Inquisition. Pulley, and roasting the feet, ... .',;] 45. Lady after torture brought before the tribunal of the Holy Office, - - 571 46. Procession of heretics condemned by the Inquisition to an Auto da fe, - 577 47. Cruelties of the Popish Piedmontese soldiery to the Waldenses, - - 533 48. Children forcibly taken from their parents to be brought up as Papists, 49. Massacre of St. Bartholomew's, in Paris, in 1572, - .... 591 50. Fac-simile of Papal Medal in honor of Massacre of St. Bartholomew's, - 591 51. Portrait of Pope Pius IX., 657 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. HISTORY OF ROMANISM, BOOK I. POPERY IN EMBRYO. FROM THE EARLIEST CORRUPTIONS OP CHRISTIANITY TO THE PAPAL SUPREMACY, A. D. 606. CHAPTER I. Christianity Primitive and Papal. PAOt. Jl. Christ's kingdom not of this world, ------ 25 { 2. Apostles despised all worldly honors, ------ 25 } 3. Primitive and papal Christianity contrasted, ----- 26 $ 4. Purifying effect of pagan persecutions, ------ 26 5 5. Popery a subject of prophecy. Tertullian quoted, 27 5 6. The hindrance to the revelation of the " man of sin " removed in the time of the emperor Constantine, ----- 29 CHAPTER II. Religion in alliance with the State. 5 7. Supposed miraculous conversion of Constantine, 30 $ 8. Undertakes to remodel the government of the church. Dignity of the Patriarchs, &c., .... ----31 { 9. Bishops of Rome. Spiritual assumption and tyranny of Victor. First instance of pretended authority of Rome over other bishops, - 32 ) 10. Stephen, bishop of Rome, excludes St. Cyprian of Carthage, but the excommunication regarded as of no authority. Increasing wealth and pride of the bishops. Martin of Tours and the emperor Maximus, 33 CHAPTER III. Steps toward papal Supremacy. 11. Simple organization and government of the primitive churches, - 36 12. Gieseler's and Mosheim's account of the first changes in this primi- tive form. This change the first step toward Popery, 36 j 13. Another step toward papal supremacy. Council of Sardis, in 347, al- lows of appeals to Rome. Decision of Zosimus, in 415, in the case of an appeal, rejected by the African bishops, who refused to ac- knowledge the authority of the decree of Sardis, 39 { 14. Other steps. Law of Valentinian. Romish decretals. Council of Chalcedon, ----------40 $ 15. Favor of the different barbarian conquerors, ----- 42 5 16. Willingness of the Roman pontiffs to conciliate them, by adopting heathen rites. Testimony of Robertson and Hallam, - - - 42 CHAPTER IV. Divine right of supremacy claimed and disproved. { 17. A superiority of rank had been tacitly conceded by many to the bishop of Rome, on account of the importance of that city. After the faU of Rome, its bishops began to demand supremacy as a divine right, 44 viii , ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. PACJB. 18. The claim examined. No proof that Peter was ever bishop of Rome, 44 19. Nor if he had been, that he was constituted by Christ supreme head of the church, ........--46 $ 20. Others more worthy, Paul, Peter, and John, and wherefore, 47 21. If Peter had been supreme, still no proof that the supremacy de- scended. Note. Uncertainty about the first bishops of Rome, - 48 CHAPTER V. Popery fully established. The man of sin revealed. 22. Disgraceful and bloody struggles between rival pontiffs, 50 5 23. Contests between the bishops of Rome and Constantinople, for the title of Universal Bishop, - - - - - - - - 51 5 24. Gregory's letter to the patriarch John, against the " blasphemous " title, 52 \ 25. His letters to the emperor Mauritius on the same subject. The title ob- tained by pope Boniface III., for himself and his successors, by the grant of the tyrant Phocas, A. D. 606, 53 { 26. Henceforward the religion of Rome properly termed Popery, or the religion of the Pope, ------.--55 CHAPTER VI. Papal Supremacy. The actors in its establishment. The tyrant Phocas, the Saint Gregory, and the pope Boniface. 27. Effect of the establishment of the papal supremacy, 67 28, Biography of the emperor Phocas, the author of the papal supremacy, 58 5 29. His cruel massacre of the emperor Mauritius and five sons. His mur- der of the queen and daughters, -------58 30. Gibbon's character of this blood-thirsty tyrant, ... 59 5 31-33. Saint Gregory's flatteries of the tyrant Phocas, and joy at his suc- cess, on account of his favor to the Roman See, 60 { 34. Boniface exercises his newly obtained supremacy. His decree de- claring all elections of bishops null and void, unless confirmed by the Universal Bishop, the Pope, ------ 64 BOOK II. POPERY AT ITS BIRTH, A. D. 606. ITS DOCTRINAL AND RI- TUAL CHARACTER AT THIS EPOCH. CHAPTER I. Romish errors traced to their origin. Their early growth no argu- ment in their favor. 5 1. The germs of popish errors of early date. No argument in their favor, 65 $ 2. Chillingworth's noble sentiment quoted, " The Bible only the religion of Protestants," ---- ..-.-66 5 3. Protestantism defined. Refuses to receive any doctrine upon the mere authority of tradition, -.-....-66 5 4. Papists and Puseyites place the Bible and Tradition upon a level, - 67 CHAPTER II. Origin of Romish errors continued. Celibacy of the clergy. { 5. Forbidding to marry a mark of anti-Christ. Note : Is marriage a ne- cessary qualification for a minister ?------ 69 { 6. Tertullian's extravagant praise of celibacy. Consequences of such notions, -----------70 5 7. Sensible remarks on this subject, by Clement of Alexandria, - - 71 5 8. Cyprian's address to female devotees. Consecrating and crowning of Nuns, ---------.-71 } 9. Second marriages prohibited to the clergy. Next step in the innovation, they are forbidden to marry at all, after ordination, 72 10. Paphnutius, at the council of Nice, opposes this corruption, 72 ANALYTICAL TABLE OP CONTENTS. j x PAOB { 11. Chrysostom's singular explanation of the parable of the ten virgins, 75 5 12. Siricius, bishop of Rome, decrees the celibacy of the clergy, - - 77 $ 13. This doctrine plainly contrary to the New Testament. Note : The early Reformers, Vigilantius and Jerome, ------ 77 5 14. Instances of primitive married clergymen, ----- 79 CHAPTER in. Origin of Romish errors continued. Worship of the Virgin Mary, j 15. Chrysostom's description of the sanctity of a professed virgin, 80 16. Fanciful conceits in the fourth century, relative to the perpetual virgin- ity of Mary, ----- 81 $ 17. Origin of the worship of the Virgin Mary. Sect of the Collyridians, 82 5 18. Modern worship of the Virgin worse than that of the ancient heretics. Instances of this kind of modern idolatry, ----- 82 19. The idolatrous reverence of the Virgin accelerated by the Nestorian controversy, about the title " mother of God." Images of the Virgin. Note : Amusing anecdote of the emperor Constantine Copronymus, 85 { 20. Festivals established in honor of the Virgin Mary, 86 CHAPTER IV. Origin of Romish errors continued. Monkery. ^21. Monkery of heathen origin. Originated in Egypt, 87 5 22. Resemblance between heathen and Christian anchorites, 88 5 23. Early monks. Paul, Anthony, Hilarion, Martin of Tours, 88 } 24. Gregory Nazianzen quoted. Symeon, the pillar saint, 89 5 25. Monasteries and abbots, -.-'- . - . . - 90 $ 26. Exempted from the jurisdiction of bishops, and taken under the protec- tion of the popes. Thus become the tools of Rome. Instance of inhuman severity to a poor monk, by Gregory the Great, - - 91 $ 27. Monkish saints and their fabulous legends, ----- 92 CHAPTER V. Origin of Romish errors continued. Worship of saints and relics. 5 28. Invocation of saints grew up by degrees, from the reverence paid to mar- tyrs. Relics enshrined in altars, ------ 93 5 29. St. Ambrose's discovery of the bodies of two saints. Relics necessary, before a Romish church can be consecrated, - - - - 93 $ 30. Bodies of saints embalmed in Egypt. Churches dedicated to them, 94 31. Gregory Nazianzen's invocations to his departed father and St. Cyprian, 97 $ 32. Worship of images unknown to Christians in the fourth century. Let- ter of Epiphanius, - - * - - - - - - - 98 33. Pagan ceremonies imitated and adopted, .... - 98 34. Frauds. Fictitious saints and relics. Bones of a thief reverenced as a saint, --------.--99 5 35. Mount Soracte converted into a saint, - - - - - -100 $ 36. Ludicrous mistakes in saint-making. Saints Evodia, Viar, and Amphi- bolus, the name of a cloak. St. Veronica, - - - - 101 37. Two pernicious maxims arose. That it was lawful to deceive, and to persecute for the good of the church, - - - - - -102 } 38. Praying at the sepulchres of the saints. Other superstitions, - - 105 5 39. Increase of superstition in the sixth century. Purgatory, efficacy of relics, &c., ---------- 106 { 40. St. Gregory's curious letter to the Empress, in reply to her request for the head of St. Paul. Wonderful prodigies, - - - - 107 {41- St. Gregory exalts the merit of pilgrimages, inculcates Purgatory, &c. First mention of Purgatory, - - - - - - -108 X ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. MM 5 42. With few exceptions, Popery at its birth, in 606, and Popery in its do- tage, in the nineteenth century, identical, 109 CHAPTER VI. Striking resemblance between pagan and papal ceremonies. The latter derived from the former. 43. The classical scholar cannot avoid recognizing the resemblance, - 109 44. Early adoption of these pagan ceremonies. This policy adopted by Gregory Thaumaturgus, - - - - - - - -110 45. After Constantine, this sinful conformity to Paganism increased. Chris- tianized Paganism. Saying of Augustine, - - - - 111 $ 46. Dr. Conyers Middleton's visit to Rome. His object not to study Po- pery, but the pagan classics. Discovered that the best way to study Paganism, was to study Popery, which had been mostly copied from it, 112 $47. Instances of this conformity, - - - - - - - -113 (1.) Worshipping toward the East, - - - - - -114 (2.) Burning of incense, - - - - - - - - -115 (3.) Use of holy water. Sprinkling of horses on St. Anthony's day, - 116 (4.) Burning of wax candles in the day-time, - .... 121 (5.) Votive gifts and offerings, - - - - - - - -121 (6.) Adoration of idols or images, - - - - - - -123 (7.) The gods of the Pantheon turned into popish saints, ... 124 (8.) Road gods and saints, --------- 125 (9.) The Pope and the Pontifex Maximus, and kissing the Pope's toe, - 126 (10.) Processions of worshippers and self-whippers, - ... 127 (11.) Religious orders of monks, nuns, &c., ------ 128 J 48. This conformity acknowledged by a Romish author. Hence the conclu- sion drawn that Popery is mainly derived from Paganism, - - 129 5 49. St. Gregory instructs Augustin the monk, and Serenus, bishop of Mar- seilles, to. favor the pagan ceremonies, - - - - - 130 BOOK m. POPERY ADVANCING. FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY, A. D. 606, TO THE POPE'S TEMPORAL SOVEREIGNTY, 756, AND TO THE CROWNING OF THE EMPEROR CHARLEMAGNE, 800. CHAPTER I. Gradual increase of the papal power. Darkness, superstition, and ignorance of this period. 1. The churches did not all immediately submit to the supremacy of the Pope, - - ... ^ ------ 133 {2. Election of the popes confirmed by the emperors or their viceroys, - 134 3. Rival candidates for the popedom. Sergius pays the Exarch a hundred pounds of gold to secure his election, - - - - - - 135 4. Means taken by the popes to enlarge their power. Pope Vitatianus appoints, by his own authority, Theodore as archbishop of Canterbury, 135 5 5. Important matters of dispute. Different modes of shaving heads, - 136 $ 6. Archbishop Theodore detained at Rome three months, to have his head shaved, ----------- 139 5 7. The popes encourage appeals to their tribunal, by deciding in favor of the appellant. Instance. Appeal of Wilfred, bishop of York, - 139 8. First instance of a pontiff requiring an oath of allegiance. Boniface, bishop of Germany, - - - - - - - - -140 $ 9. Felix, archbishop of Ravenna, rejects the authority of the Pope, who, with the Emperor, inflicts upon him the most horrid cruelties. His eyes dug out, die., - ----.... 141 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi FAOB 5 10. Origin of kissing the Pope's foot. Pope Constantine's visit to Constan- tinople. Favored by the emperor Justinian, - 141 jll. Cruel character of this tyrant, - - - - - - -142 12. Ignorance and darkness of this age. Bishops unable to write, - 143 5 13. Specimen of papal reasoning, to prove that monks are angels. St. Peter in person consecrating a church, ...... 144 j 14. Specimen of the doctrine of this age. St. Eligius,- ... 144 15. Rise of Mahometanism, - - - - - - - -145 CHAPTER IT. History of the Monoihelite controversy. Pope Honorius condemned as a heretic, by the sixth general council, A. D. 680. 516. Origin of this controversy, ........ 145 $ 17. Pope Honorius professes himself in favor of the doctrine of one will. The decree called the Echthesis, - - - . . . 145 18. Pope John IV. differs from his predecessor Honorius, and anathema- tizes the doctrine, --------- 147 19-20. Progress of the dispute, - - - - - - -.- 148 5 21. Pope Theodore excommunicates Pyrrhus, and signs the sentence with the consecrated wine of the sacrament, - - - - 149 { 22. Pyrrhus restored to his dignity of patriarch of Constantinople, notwith- standing the Pope's anathema, - - - - - - -150 5 23. Pope Martin seized and banished by the Emperor, - 150 $ 24. Pope Eugenius and Vitalianus more moderate, - - - * - 151 5 25. Pope Honorius c6ndemned at the sixth general council, for heresy. Monothelitism condemned, ------- 151 {26. Lessons from this controversy. - - - - - - -152 (1.) Popes careful to advance their authority, - ... - - 152 (2.) Their authority not yet universally received, - - - - 152 (3.) Popes did not yet dare to anathematize and depose kings, - - 153 (4.) Disproves papal infallibility. Note : Extracts from Bellarmine, &c., on infallibility, ----------153 CHAPTER III. Image-worship. From the beginning of the great controversy on this subject, to the death of the emperor Leo, and of pope Gregory, both in the same year, A. D. 741. 5 27-28. Opinions of the early fathers relative to image-worship, - - 154 5 29. Paulinus adorns a church with pictures, A. D. 431, ... 155 { 30. St. Gregory's opinion. Pope Constantino in 713, curses those who deny veneration to images, - -.- . . . -156 5 31. Commencement of the great controversy, in 726, - - - - 156 32. Efforts of the emperor Leo to destroy image-worship. Insurrection in consequence of his decree in 730, - - - - - -157 5 33. Pope Gregory's insulting letter to the emperor Leo, - - 158 34. Revolt against the Emperor at Rome, in consequence of his decree against images, - - - - - - - - -159 535. Letter of pope Gregory III., to Leo, - - - - - -. 160 5 36. Gregory expends vast sums on images and relics at Rome. The Em- peror and the Pope both die, A. D. 741, - - - - - 160 CHAPTER IV. Continuation of the controversy on Image-worship. From the death of Leo and Gregory, A. D. 741, to the establishment of this idolatry, by the second general council of Nice, A. D. 784. 37. The emperor Constantino V. and pope Zachary, - - 161 xil ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. MM j 38. Image-worship condemned by the council at Constantinople, in 754, 162 5 39. Crimes of the empress Irene, wife of the emperor Leo IV., - - 162 5 40. Baronius justifies the torture or murder of her son, 163 j 41. She assembles the second council of Nice, in 784, which finally estab- lishes image- worship, - - - - - -164 J42. Popish idolatry thus established by law, - - - -164 CHAPTER V. The Pope finally becomes a temporal sovereign, A. D. 756. { 43. Rebellious tumults at Rome. Rome becomes a kind of republic under the Pope, 165 { 44-45. The Pope applies, in 740, to Charles Martel, for help against the Lombards, ...-.-----166 { 46. Pope Zachary and Luitprand, king of the Lombards, - - 167 } 47. Pepin of France, with the approval and advice of Zachary, deposes his master Childeric, ..-.-.---167 j 48-49. Rome in danger from Aistulphus, king of the Lombards, - - 167 $ 50. Succored by Pepin, who forces the Lombards to yield up the exarchate to the Pope, 169 $ 51. Aistulphus, after Pepin's return, refuses to deliver up the places to the Pope, 169 5 52. Pope Stephen applies again to Pepin, ...... 170 $ 53. Forges a letter to Pepin from St. Peter in heaven, .... 171 } 54. Pepih forces Aistulphus to keep his engagement with the Pope, who thus becomes a temporal monarch, A. D. 756, .... 171 CHAPTER VI. The confirmation and increase of the Pope's temporal power, to the coronation of Charlemagne, A. D. 800. { 55. Limits of the papal territories, ------- 174 { 56. Enlarged by Charlemagne, - - - - - - - -174 { 57-58. Charlemagne twice visits Rome, - - - - - -175 $59. Crowned Emperor by the Pope, A. D. 800, ..... 175 J 60-61. Daniel's little horn and three horns or kingdoms plucked up by it. Final complete establishment of the independence of the papal states, 177 BOOK IV. POPERY IN ITS GLORY. THE WORLD'S MIDNIGHT. FROM THE CORONATION OF CHARLEMAGNE, A. D. 800, TO THE BEGINNING OF THE PONTIFICATE OF POPE HlLDEBRAND, OR GREGORY VII., A. D. 1073. CHAPTER I. Proofs of the darkness of this period. Forged decretals. Reverence for monks, saints, and relics. Worship of the Virgin. Purgatory. { 1. This period designated the dark ages, the iron age, &c. Lamentable ignorance, ---_..._._ jgj {2. False decretals. Pretended donation of Constantine. Extract from it, 182 3. The world duped for centuries, by these forgeries. Gibbon quoted, 183 4. Acknowledged by Baronius, Fleury, and other Romanists, to be forged. Opinions of Hallam, Mosheim, and Campbell, - - - - 184 5 5-6. Increasing reverence for monks, relics, &c., - - - - 185 $7-8. Multiplication of new saints. Absurd legends of their lives, - 186 9. The popes assume the exclusive privilege of saint-making, - - 187 $ 10. Increase of festivals or saints' days. Feast of All-Saints, - - 188 } 11. Rosary of the Virgin. Absurd stories invented to do her honor. Speci- mens, ........... 189 {12. Fears of Purgatory. Feast of All-Souls, - - . - 190 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. xiii . FAUX. CHAPTER II. Proofs of the darkness of this period continued. Origin and final establishment of Transubstanliation. Persecution of Berenger, its famous op- poser. Popish miracles in its proof. { 13. Transubstantiation an insult to common sense. Stated in the words of its advocates, -_---.-.- 192 {14. First traces of the doctrine in 754. Tillotson quoted, - 193 { 15. Paschasius Radbert in 931, first formally propounds this absurdity, - 193 {16. Rabanus Maurus's treatise in opposition to it, A. D. 847. Quotation from it, ----------- 194 { 17-18. The celebrated Berenger opposes Transubstantiation. His perse- cutions and death, in 1088, ----.__ 195 { 19. First made an article of faith, in the fourth council of Lateran, A. D. 1215. The decree quoted, - - - - - - -197 { 20. Means by which the worship of the wafer idol was established. Pre- tended miracles of bees, asses, dogs, and horses worshipping it. Six specimens, as given by Romish writers, - - - - / - 198 {21. Cannibalism of the doctrine. Romish authors quoted showing why the consecrated wafer does not look like " raw and bloody flesh," 201 { 22. " Lying wonders," a characteristic of anti-Christ, - ... 202 { 23-24. Horrid blasphemies of a pope and a cardinal. Creating God, the Creator of all things. The decree of Trent on Transubstantiation. Curses upon all who do not believe it, - - - - - - 203 CHAPTER III. Proofs of the darkness of this period continued. Baptism of bells, and Festhal of the Ass. { 25. Baptism of bells first introduced by pope John XIIL, in 972, - - 207 { 26-27. Descriptions of this absurd ceremony at Montreal and Dublin, - 207 { 28. Curious ancient description of bell-baptism from Philip Stubbes, A. D. 1582, 211 { 29. Feast of the ass. Original and translation of the ode sung by the priests in honor of the ass, - - - - - - -213 CHAPTER ] V Profligate popes and clergy of this period. { 30. Holy links in the unbroken chain of apostolic succession, - - 215 { 31. John VIII. , a monster of cruelty, - - - - - - -216 { 32. Sergius III., the father of pope John XI., the bastard son of the harlot Marozia, ----------- 217 { 33. John X. the paramour of the harlot Theodora, sister of Marozia, raised to the papal throne by her means, - - - - - 217 { 34. John XI. the bastard of pope Sergius III., - - ... 217 { 35. John XII. nephew of John the bastard. His monstrous tyranny, de- bauchery, and cruelty, - - - - - - - -218 { 36. These facts admitted by Romanists. Baronius quoted, - 219 { 37, Attempts of Romanists to reconcile the profligacy of their popes with apostolic succession and papal infallibility. Father Gahan quoted. " Do all that they say, and not what they do," - ... 220 { 38. Benedict IX. described by pope Victor III. as " a successor of Simon the sorcerer, and not of Simon the apostle." No doubt, true, but what becomes of the uninterrupted apostolic succession, - - 221 { 39. The vices of the popes imitated by the inferior clergy, - - - 221 $ 40. Concubines of the priests confessing to their paramours, - - 222 { 41. Priestly concubinage declared by Romanists a less crime than mar- riage, - 223 xiv ANALYTICAL TABLE OP CONTENTS. * PAQB { 42-44. Amidst all this profligacy, the power and influence of the popes in- creased. Accounted for by the ignorance of the Scriptures, the authority of the forged decretals, and donation of Constantino, and the awful terrors of excommunication and interdict, - 224 5 45. The iron age of the world was the golden age of Popery. An im- portant truth taught by this fact, ------ 226 CHAPTER V. Popery in England prior to the conquest. Angustin the missionary, and Dunstan the monk. } 46. Primitive Welsh Christians refuse to submit to Popery, - 227 { 47. Augustin's reception in England by king Ethelbert. Ten thousand converts in a day, --------- 228 {48. The ancient pagan temples of England converted into Christian churches with the same facility, by washing the walls with holy water, and depositing relics in them, ----.- 228 $ 49. Increase of popish superstitions. The Pope's cunning contrivance to raise a tribute in England, ------- 229 5 60. Odo, an archbishop of the school of Hildebrand, - 230 { 51. Saint Dunstan, abbot of Glastonbury, pulls the devil's nose with red- hot tongs (!) and performs other wonderful miracles, - - - 230 $ 52. Description of the remains of Glastonbury Abbey, ... 231 { 53-54. Dunstan is made archbishop of Canterbury, and works miracles to show the wickedness of marriage in the clergy, ... 232 } 55. Dunstan pays a visit to Heaven, learns a song from the angels, and re- turns to teach it to his monks. His death in 988, ... 235 BOOK V. POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT. FROM THE ACCESSION OF POPE GREGORY vn., A. D. 1073, TO THE DEATH OF BONIFACE vm., A. D. 1303. CHAPTER I. The life and reign of pope. Hildebrand or Gregory V1L { 1. Htldebrand's influence at Rome before he became pope, - - - 237 5 2. Robert of Normandy persuaded to acknowledge himself a vassal of Rome, ----------- 238 5 3. The decree confining the election of pope to the cardinals, - - 238 $ 4. Hildebrand chosen Pope. His inordinate ambition and tyranny, - 239 5 5. His plans for a universal empire, with the Pope at the head, - - 240 6. Commencement of hie contest with the emperor Henry IV., - - 241 7. Dispute about investitures with the ring and the crosier, - - 241 8. Gregory threatens the Emperor with excommunication, - - - 243 } 9. Executes his threats, and deposes him from the empire. Henry's ab- ject humiliation. He waits three days at the gate of the palace, where the Pope was, before he is granted the privilege of kissing the Pope's toe, ----..... 243 { 10. Henry renounces his submission, and is a second time excommuni- cated. Extracts from the Pope's anathema, - ... 244 { 11. Sequel of Henry's life. His own sons seduced to rebel against him, 247 j 12. Unnatural conduct of his son Henry. Misfortunes and death of the unfortunate old Emperor, ---._.._ 248 CHAPTER 11. Life of Gregory VII. continued. Other instances of his tyranny and usurpation. $ 13. Pope Gregory claims Spain as belonging to St. Peter, ... 249 $ 14. His demand of Peter-pence in France. His claim of Hungary as the property of the Holy See, -----. 250 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. xv PAGE. { 15. Makes similar claims upon Corsica, Sardinia, Dalmatia, and Russia. Meets with less success in England than anywhere else, - - 251 j 16. Maxims or Dictates of Hildebrand, - .... 252 5 17. Question of their genuineness. The tyrannical doctrines of Hilde- brand advocated in the nineteenth century. This pope, Gregory VII., still reverenced by papists as a SAINT, .... 253 { 18. The learned Deylingius's account of the gradual rise of papal power and tyranny, ------.--_ 254 CHAPTER HI. Pope Urban and the Crusades. { 19. Rival popes, Victor, Clement, and Urban. Ceremony of sprinkling with ashes on Ash- Wednesday established by pope Urban. Incens- ing of crosses, ........_ 256 { 20. Pope Urban establishes the crusades at the council of Clermont in 1095, 259 Note. Popular and wide-spread panic of the end of the world in the year 1000, 260 521. Peter the hermit visits Palestine, and upon his return preaches the crusades,- .......... 261 ( 22-23. Eloquent speech of pope Urban in favor of the crusades, - - 262 5 24. General enthusiasm of the people. Multitudes set out for Jerusalem, 263 { 25. Effects of the crusades in enriching the popes and the priesthood, - 264 26. Vast quantities of pretended relics introduced from Palestine, - 265 CHAPTER IV. Popery in England after the conquest. Archbishops Anselm and Thomas a Becket. 27. William of Normandy obtains the Pope's sanction of his intended in- vasion of England, who sends him as a token of his favor, a ring with one of St. Peter's hairs. (!) 266 5 28. After William's conquest. Gregory requires him to do homage to him for the kingdom of England, but king William refuses, - - 267 5 29. Quarrel between archbishop Anselm and king William Rufus, - 268 { 30. Honors to Anselm at Rome. The English required to kiss his toe, 268 5 31. Anselm refuses to do homage to king Henry, the successor of William, 269 32. Haughty claims of pope Pascal, and overbearing insolence of Anselm, 270 J 33. Cardinal Crema, the Pope's legate in England, detected in gross licen- tiousness, .......... 271 34. Cruel measures against the married clergy of England, ... 271 5 35. Cruel persecution of some disciples of Arnold of Brescia. First in- stances of death for heresy in England, - - - - - - 272 J 36. King Henry II. of England, and Louis VII. of France, leading the Pope's horse, ---------- 273 { 37. Commencement of the quarrel between king Henry and Thomas a Becket. The Pope releases the Saint from the obligation of his oath to submit to the laws of England against clerical criminals, 274 $ 38. Becket refuses to obey a summons to the King's court. He is tried and found guilty by the Parliament, but refuses to submit, - - 277 { 39. Declines the jurisdiction of the King and barons, and appeals to the Pope, 278 5 40. The death and canonization of Becket. Pilgrimages to the tomb of the Saint, 279 CHAPTER V. Popery in England continued. Pope Innocent and king John. 1 41. Innocent III. treads in the steps and acts upon the maxims of Gregory VII., - - - 279 xvi ANALYTICAL TABLE OP CONTENTS. MM { 42. Orders an episcopal palace to be demolished which was being erected at Lambeth, in London. The King, terrified by the thunders of Rome, unwillingly obeys, -------- 280 { 43. The palace is subsequently erected. Description of Lambeth palace and Lollard's tower, - - - - - - - - -281 { 44. Pope Innocent orders Stephen Langton to be chosen archbishop of Canterbury, which gives rise to the dispute with king John, - 282 { 45. The Pope endeavors to reconcile king John to this usurpation by a present of four golden rings. The King's angry letter to the Pope, 285 5 46. Innocent lays England under an interdict. Fearful consequences of this sentence, ---------- 286 { 47. Insolence of the Pope's legate to the King. Papal sentence of depo- sition against John, --------- 287 } 48. The Pope invites king Philip of France to invade and conquer Eng- land. King John's abject submission. Yields up his crown on his knees to the legate Pandulph, and receives it back as a vassal of the Pope, 288 { 49. Copy of John's deed of surrender of England to the Pope, - - 291 j 50. Henceforward king John an obedient vassal of the Pope. Innocent's thunders of excommunication against the barons of England, - 291 CHAPTER VI. More instances of papal despotism. Popes Adrian IV., Alexander III. and Innocent III. {51. Contest between the Pope and the empire renewed. Adrian IV. and Frederick Barbarossa, ------.. 293 } 52. Frederick's submission to pope Alexander III. Leads the Pope's horso in St. Mark's Square, Venice, ------- 294 { 53-56. Instances of the tyranny of Innocent III. toward several of the sovereigns and nations of continental Europe, - - - 294-298 CHAPTER VII. The Waldenses and Albigenses. 5 57. These spiritual tyrants could brook no opposition. Hence their perse- cution of the \Valdensian heretics. Testimony of Evervinus, one of their persecutors, relative to their character and doctrine, - 299 { 58-59. Similar testimony of Bernard, Claudius, and Thuanus, - - 301 {60-61. Bloody decree of pope Alexander III., and the third council of Lateran, for exterminating these heretics, ----- 302 { 62. Burning of Waldenses. Thirty-five in one fire, - ... 304 }63. The church of Rome responsible for these butcheries. Another bloody edict of pope Lucius III. ------ 394 j 64. The emperor Frederick's cruel decrees issued to oblige the Pope. The priest the judge, and the king the hangman, 305 CHAPTER VIII. Pope Innocent's bloody crusade against the Albigenses, under his Legate, the ferocious abbot of Citeaux, and Simon, earl of Monlfort. { 65. Emissaries of the Pope dispatched to preach the crusade against the heretics, throughout Europe. Specimen of their texts and sermons, 307 5 66. Raimond VI., count of Thoulouse, unwilling to engage in exterminat- ing his heretical subjects. Excommunicated in consequence, - 307 { 67. Innocent's fierce letter to Raimond. The Legate killed in a quarrel with one of Raimond's friends, ------- 303 $ 68. Pope Innocent's bulls. No faith with heretics. Indulgences for those who would engage in the crusades against the Waldenses, - 309 } 69. Count Raimond submits and seeks absolution from the Pope, - - 310 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. X vii PAGE. J70. His degrading penance. Whipped on the naked shoulders in a church by the Pope's legate. Siege of Beziers, ..... 313 5 71. The taking of Beziers. Inhuman cruelty of the Pope's legate. Sixty thousand kilied, and not a human being man, woman, or child left alive, 314 5 72. Roger, the young count of Beziers, treacherously entrapped by the Pope's legate. He dies in prison, probably of poison, - - 315 73. The inhabitants of Carcassone escape from the popish butchers through an underground passage. Horrible cruelty of Montfort, 316 J 74. Menerbe taken by the papists, and the inhabitants slaughtered. One hundred and forty burnt in one fire, ------ 317 75. Lavaur taken, and the heretics burnt (in tne words of the popish his- torian), " with the utmost joy," ------- 319 5 76. Sixty more heretics at Cassoro burnt " with infinite joy," - - 319 77. The bloody crusades against the Albigenses prove that the right to ex- tirpate heresy and to put heretics to death, is properly a doctrine of the unchangeable Roman Catholic church, .... 320 78. Proofs that the Romish church claims the right of dissolving oaths, and instances of its exercise, ------- 321 79. Unjust slanders against the Albigenses. If true, the Pope had no right to send his armies to invade their country and butcher them, 322 CHAPTER IX. Establishment of the Mendicant Orders. Saint Dominic and Saint Francis. 80. Profligacy of the orders of the monks and nuns, 323 81. Contrast between their character and the holy lives of the teachers of the Waldensian heretics, even according to the confession of their enemies, ----------- 323 5 82. Hence Innocent III. encourages the establishment of Mendicant Orders, who, by their austerity and sanctity, might rival the heretical doctors, ---.----..- 324 5 83. Dominicans and Franciscans. Life of St. Dominic, the inventor or the first inquisitor-general of the holy Inquisition, ... - 324 J 84. Extravagant stories of Dominic's pretended miracles, - 325 $ 85. Dominicans, great champions of the Virgin. Marvellous Dominican miracles of the Virgin and the Rosary, ----- 326 J 86. Life of St. Francis, founder of the Franciscans, the " Seraphic Order," 329 5 87. Rapid and vast increase of the Franciscans, . - - - - 329 $ 88. Pretended miracles of St. Francis. The holy stigmas, or wounds of Christ, inflicted upon the Saint by the Saviour himself. This hor- rible imposture still commemorated as a fact in the Roman Catholic church. Day of its commemoration, according to the Romish calen- dar, September 17th, -----... 330 5 89. Prodigious influence acquired by the Mendicant Orders, ... 330 CHAPTER X. The Fourth council of Later an 'decrees the extermination of here- tics, Transubstantiation, and Auricular Confession. 590. Fourth council of Lateran held A. D. 1215. Bestow the dominions of the unfortunate count Raimond upon the bloody Montfort, on ac- count of the tardiness of the Count in exterminating heretics, - 331 591. Decree of the Pope and council commanding princes, under heavy penalties, to exterminate heretics. Extract from this bloody edict of the highest legislative authority in the Romish church, - - 332 $ 92. Auricular confession once a year decreed by this council. Priestly solicitation of females at confession, ------ 333 Xviii ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. not, } 93. Inquiry in Spain relative to the solicitation and seduction of females by popish priests at confession. Females commanded, tinder penalty of the Inquisition, to lay informations. Inquiry hushed up, on ac- count of the immense number of criminals. One hundred and twenty days consumed in the city of Seville alone in taking infor- mations from females, ___.---- 335 94. In this council also, Transubstantiation first decreed as an article of faith. In after ages, this was the great burning article, - - 337 5 95._Worship of the host, or wafer. Origin of the festival of Corpus Christi, 337 96. Manner of its celebration in popish countries. Spain, Italy. Vio- lence to an American stranger in Rome for not bowing the knee to the idol, 338 CHAPTER XI. Contest between the popes and the emperor Frederick II. Guelphs and Ghibelines. 97. Honorius III. succeeds Innocent III. The Isle of Man ceded to the Pope, and received back as a fief of the Holy See, ... 342 5 98. Frederick's successful expedition to Palestine, .... 342 5 99. Pope Gregory IX. makes war on his dominions in his absence. Fred- erick's reprisals on his return. He is excommunicated, - - 343 5 100-101. Innocent IV. at the council of Lyons in 1245, pronounces a sen- tence of deposition against the Emperor, and absolves his subjects from their allegiance. Frederick's death, and the unbounded jov of the Pope, "344 { 102. Successors of Innocent IV. The quarrel continued by Frederick's son, Manfred, king of the two Sicilies. Pope Urban invites Charles, count of Anjou, to conquer from Manfred the kingdom of Sicily, 345 $ 103. Amusing instance of the care which the Pope took of his own per- sonal interest in the agreement with Manfred, .... 346 5 104. Defeat and death of Manfred, and conquest of Sicily by Charles, who murders the youthful Conradin, nephew of Manfred, - - 347 $ 105. Sicily delivered from the dominion of Charles and the French by the popular outbreak and massacre called the Sicilian Vespers, - 347 { 106. The council of Lyons in 1274, decrees the election of Pope in con- clave of the cardinals, - - - - -'- - - 348 5 107. Horrible profligacy of Henry, bishop of Liege, - 348 108. Pope Gregory X. threatens the German princes unless they imme- diately choose an emperor, to do it for them. Note: Annals of Baronius and Raynalcfus, -------- 349 109. Under pope Nicholas III., the Papal States become entirely inde- pendent of the empire, about A. D. 1278, 350 \ 110. Pope Martin IV. excommunicates ihe emperor of Constantinople and Don Pedro, king of Arragon. The latter treats the papal thunders with derision. The terror of these spiritual weapons, since the successful resistance of the emperor Frederick, gradually declining, 350 Jill. Pope C lestine the hermit. Rare spectacle. A good man for a Pope. Soon persuaded to resign as unfit for the office, - 351 5112-113. Cardinal Benedict Cajetan, who had been chief in persuading Celestme to resign, succeeds him as Boniface VIII. His dispute with Philip the Fair, king of France, 352 5114. Pope Boniface's lordly arrogance. Extract from the bull Unam Sancton, 353 } 115. Boniface excommunicates Philip. The Pope, arrested by Nogaret, dies of rage and vexation, ----._> 354 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi x MM j 116. Sensible decline of the papacy from the death of pope Boniface VIII. Eloquent extract, on this subject, from Hallam, - ... 354 CHAPTER XII. Purgatory, Indulgences and Romish Jubilees. { 117. Establishment of the Jubilee by Boniface VIII. Inquiry on the Ro- mish doctrine of Indulgences, ------- 355 $ 118. Unknown to the ancients. Proved by extracts from Alphonsus, Poly- dore Virgil, and cardinal Cajetan, ...... 355 119. Indulgences dependent for all their importance on the fiction of Pur- gatory, ----------- 357 {120,121. Origin of the purgatorian fiction. Augustine, Gregory, - - 358 $ 122. Visit of Drithelm to Purgatory. Horrible descriptions, - - 361 J 123. Indulgences grafted on Purgatory, ------ 361 124. Works of Supererogation, -------- 362 125-7. Wholesale Indulgences at Jubilee of Boniface, &c. Other Jubi- lees, 363 BOOK VI. POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE. FROM THE DEATH OF BONIFACE VIII., A. D. 1303, TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT, A. D. 1545. CHAPTER I.. The residence of the Popes at Avignon, and the great Western Schism. { 1-3. Decline of the power of the Popes, after Boniface VIII., - - 367 J 4. The Avignon Popes. Saint Catherine. - - - - - 369 5 5-9. Occasion of great Western Schism. Election of two rival popes, Urban VI. and Clement VII. Consequences of this schism, - 370 ^lO. Council of Pisa elects a third pope, Alexander V., ... 373 5 11-12. Fierce and bloody contests. John Huss writes against pope John's bull of crusade against Ladislaus, ------ 374 5 13. Council of Constance deposes the rival popes and elects Martin V., 376 CHAPTER II. Wickliff the English reformer. The condemnation of his works, and the burning of his bones by order of the council of Constance. 5 14-16. Life and labors of Wickliff, - 376 $ 17. His translation of the New Testament. Specimen, - - ' - 380 5 18-19. The hatred of the papists to an English bible. Wickliff 's bold protestations on behalf of the Scriptures, ----- 383 5 20-22. The council of Constance order his bones to be dug up and burnt. Execution of the sentence, -..--.. 385 CHAPTER HI. John Huss of Bohemia. His condemnation and martyrdom by the council of Constance. I 23, 24. Early life of Huss. Reads Wickliff's writings, - - - 387 5 25-26. Gives himself to his destined work. Wickliff's writings burnt in Bohemia. Prague laid under an interdict by John XXIIL, on ac- count of Huss, who solemnly appeals to Jesus Christ, - - 389 5 27. His pious letters, and presentiment of martyrdom, - ... 390 28. Jerome of Prague unites with Huss in the work of reform, - - 391 29, 30. Their opposition to indulgences and the Pope's bull of crusade. Tumult at Prague, 392 531. Huss writes against the rival popes. The Six Errors, &c., - - 396 33-40. Goes to the council of Constance. Safe-conduct of the Emperor XX ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. PiOff treacherously violated ; and Huss imprisoned, condemned, degraded and burnt, 399-404 CHAPTER IV. Jerome of Prague at the council of Constance. His condemnation and martyrdom. $ 41. Jerome sets out for Constance, but flees in alarm and is arrested, - 407 { 42-44. He is cruelly imprisoned and recants ; but soon renounces his re- cantation, and courageously professes his faith before the council, 407 $ 45. Contends for the supreme authority of the Scriptures, - - 410 $46-48. Sentenced by the council and burnt, 410 $49. Copies of the decrees of the council establishing the doctrine of no faith with heretics, - - - -- - - - -413 { 50. The same doctrine openly avowed by pope Martin V., - - - 414 {51,52. Close of the council. The members rewarded with indulgences. Denial of the cup to the laity, - - - - - -415 CHAPTER V. Popery and the Popes for the century preceding the Reformation. { 53. Pope Martin V. His pompous titles, 417 { 54-56. Pope Eugenius IV. His violent dispute with the council of Basil, 418 { 57, 58. Jubilee of 1450. Capture of Constantinople, - 420 { 59, 60. Pope Pius II. (jEneas Sylvius) proposes to go to the aid of the eastern Christians against the Turks. His change of views on the supreme authority of the Pope, {61,62. Pope Innocent VIII. and his seven bastards. His cruel edict against the Waldensian heretics. ------ 425 5 63, 64. Pope Alexander VI. the devil's master-piece. His horrible profligacy and miserable death by poison he had prepared for another, - - 426 { 65. America discovered and given, by a papal bull, to the Spaniards, - 428 { 66-68. Pope Julius a warrior. Absolves himself from his oath. His quarrel with Louis XII. of France and with the council of Pisa, 429 {69-71. Leo X. and the fifth council of Late ran. Laws against the free- dom of the press, and enjoining the extirpation of heretics, - 434 CHAPTER VI. The Reformation Luther and Telzel. The reformer's icar against indulgences. 5 72, 73. Indulgences the occasion of the Reformation. Tax book for sins, 436 { 74-77. Tetzel, and his mode of peddling indulgences. Incidents, - 439 { 78, 79. Luther opposes indulgences. His celebrated theses, - - 445 { 80. Tetzel burns Luther's theses, and the-Wittemberg students burn his, 447 {81,82. Luther's Solutions, and letter to pope Leo X., - - - - 448 CHAPTER VII. Luther and Cajelan. The noble constancy of the reformer. { 83. Leo commissions Cajetan to reduce Luther to submission, - - 451 { 84. Leo writes to the elector Frederick, to persuade him to withdraw his protection from Luther. Arrival of Melancthon at Wittemberg, 452 {85-91. Luther goes to Augsburg, and appears before cardinal Cajetan. His constancy and courage in defending the truth, and return to Wittemberg, after ten days, ------- 453 CHAPTER VIII. Luther strikes at the throne of anti-Christ. The breach made irreparable. { 92. The legate, Charles Miltitz. Luther reads the decretals, and gradually discovers that the Pope is anti-Christ, ..... 459 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. xx j PAO*. J93. Disputes with Eck, at Leipsic, on the pope's primacy, ... 450 { 94-96. Ulric Zwingle tries to befriend Luther. Pope Leo's bull against Luther, who burns it, with the Decretals, at Wittemberg, - - 461 $ 97. Luther finally excommunicated as an incorrigible heretic. Aleander the papal legate burns his books, but is not permitted by the Elector to burn him, --------__ 453 CHAPTER IX. Luther at the Diet of Worms, and in his Patmos at Wartburg. 5 98. Aleander, the papal legate's efforts against Luther at Worms, - 465 5 99, 100. Luther's courage in going to Worms, and his constancy when there, .---....... 4^6 { 102-104. His constrained retreat to his Patmos at Wartburg. Translates the New Testament. His return to Wittemberg. His peaceful death, 468 5 105, 106. Loyala the founder of the Jesuits. Popish parallel with Lu- ther, 472 BOOK VII. POPERY AT TRENT. FKOM THE OPENING SESSION OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT, A. D. 1545, TO THE CLOSING SESSION, A. D. 1563. CHAPTER I. The first four sessions. Preliminaries, and decree upon the author- ity of Tradition and the Apocrypha. $ 1, 2. Opening of the council about two months before Luther's death. The Pope's opposition to measures of reform, - ... 475 J 3-5. The three first sessions. Cardinal de Monte, President, - - 477 6. The fourth session. Tradition placed on a level with Scripture, - 478 $ 7, 8. The Apocryphal books inserted in the Scriptures. Proofs that they are not inspired, ......... 480 CHAPTER II. Fourth session continued. Latin Vulgate exalted above the inspired Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. Private judgment and liberty of the press for- bidden, and a popish censorship of the press established. j 9. Decree on the Latin Vulgate. Its numerous errors. Dr. Jahn quoted, 485 { 10. Two editions of the Vulgate published by popes Sixtus and Clement, both declared infallible, and yet 2000 variations between them. - 511, 12. Decrees against private judgment and liberty of the press, $ 13. Protestants indignant at these decrees. Congregation of the Index, {14. The famous ten rules adopted .by the council concerning prohibited books, describing the kinds of books prohibited, the examination of bookseller's shops by popish inquisitors, and the punishments of ex- ercising the liberty of the press, -. - - - - 491 $ 15. Names of some authors prohibited. Copy of a papal license granted to Sir Thomas More, to read heretical books (note), - 497 CHAPTER III. Original sin and Justification. \ 16. The fifth session. Decrees on original sin and Justification, - - 499 \ 17. Christ's work made a stepping-stone for human merit. Extracts from Romish prayer books, ...-,---- 501 \ 18. Extract from Tyndal. Experience of Luther on Justification, 502 CHAPTER IV. The Sacraments and the doctrine of Intention. Baptism and Con- firmation. 5 21. Seventh session. Decree on the Sacraments in general, - - 505 { 22-24. Doctrine of Intention. Its absurdity. Defects in the Mass, - 506 xxii ANALYTICAL TABLE OF. CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. Suspension of the Council in 1549. and resumption under pope Julius HI. in 1551. Decree on Transubstantiation. { 25, 26. Council adjourned to Bologna. Suspended. Death of pope Paul III., and choice of De Monte, the legate, a notorious Sodomite, as Julius III., - 511 {27 28. Council resumed. Thirteenth session. Decree on Transubstan- tiation, 512 CHAPTER VI. Of Penance, Auricular confession, Satisfaction, and Extreme Unc- tion to the second suspension in April, 1552. J29. Fourteenth session. Decrees on Penance and Auricular confession. 514 i 30, 31. Indecency of female confession. Questions from " Garden of the Soul," 515 5 32, 33. Insult to a female at confession. Confessing sick ladies at Rome, 518 { 34. Confession declared necessary to salvation. Bigotry and tyranny, 521 { 35. Decree on Satisfaction. Penitents redeeming themselves. - - 522 { 36. False translations. " Doing penance" for " repent." Bordeaux Tes- tament (note), 522 537, 38. Decree on Extreme unction. Adjournment April 28th, 1552, - 524 CHAPTER VII. From the seventeenth to the twenty-fifth and closing session. De- nial of the cup to the laity. The Mass. Sacraments of Orders and Matri- mony. Purgatory, Indulgences, Relics, 'epicted by the inspired apostle. Neither the corruption of Christianity, nor the reformation of its abuses, was effected in a day ; " evil men and seducers waxed worse and worse." In the sequel, it will appear, that when the bishops were once exalted to wealth, power, and authority, this exaltation was of itself the prolific source of every corrupt fruit. Learning, eloquence, and influence, were chiefly exerted to maintain their own personal * Tertullian's Apology, ch. xxxii. 30 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK i. Christ's kingdom not of this world. Effects of losing sight of this important principle. dominion and popularity. Contests for pre-eminence over each other, became the succedaneum of the ancient contention for the faith, and its influence over the world. All the violent contentions, the assembling of councils, the perse- cutions alternately carried on by the different parties, were so many means of preparing the way for the assumption of spiritual tyranny, and the idolatry and superstition of the Roman hierarchy. In all ''these transactions, the substitution of human for divine authority ; contentions about words instead of the faith once delivered to the saints ; pomp and splendor of worship, for the primitive simplicity ; and worldly power and dignity instead of the self-denied labors of love and bearing the cross ; this baneful change operated in darkening the human mind as to the real nature of true Christianity, until, in process of time, it was lost sight of. When Jesus Christ was interrogated by the Roman governor concerning his kingdom, he replied, " My kingdom is not of this world." This is a maxim of unspeakable importance in his religion ; and almost every corruption that has arisen, and by which this heavenly institution has been debased, from time to time, may be traced, in one way or other, to a departure from that great and fundamental principle of the Christian kingdom.* CHAPTER II. RELIGION IN ALLIANCE WITH THE STATE. 7. IT was owing to forgetfulness or disregard of the important principle, mentioned at the close of the last chapter, viz., that Christ's kingdom is not of this world, that the emperor Constantino, soon after his remarkable, and as some suppose, miraculous conversion to Christianity in the year 312, took the religion of Christ to the unhallowed embraces of the state, assumed to unite in his own person the civil and ecclesiastical dominion, and claimed the power of convening councils and presiding in them, and of regulating the ^xternal affairs of the church. The account of Constantino's con- version, which is related by Eusebius in his life of the Emperor, by whom the particulars were communicated to the historian, is as follows : (Eusebius, vita Const., lib. i., chap. 28., &c.) At the head of his army, Constantino was marching from France into Italy, op- * See Jones's Ch. Hist., ch. ii., sect. 4. CHAP, n.] POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 31 Constantino's pretended miraculous conversion. Increase of dignities in the church pressed with anxiety as to the result of a battle with Maxentius, and looking for the aid of some deity to assure him of success, when he suddenly beheld a luminous cross in the air, with the words inscribed thereon, " BY THIS OVERCOME." Pondering on the event at night, he asserted that Jesus Christ appeared to him in a vision, and directed him to make the symbol of the cross his military ensign. Different opinions have been entertained relative to the credibility of this account. Dr. Milner receives it, though in evident inconsistency with his creed ; Mosheim supposes, with the ancient writers, Sozomen and Rufinus, that the whole was a dream ; Gre- g)ry, Jones, Haweis, and others reject it altogether, and Professor ieseler, with his usual accuracy and good sense, reckons it among " the legends of the age, which had their origin in the feeling that the final struggle was come between Paganism and Christianity." For my part, I have no hesitation in regarding the wjiole as a fable. It was not till many years after it was said to have occurred, that Constantino related the story to Eusebius, and in all probability he did it then by the instigation of his superstitious mother Helena, the celebrated discoverer of the wood of the true cross (?) at Jerusalem, some 250 years after the total destruction of that city, and all that it contained, and the disappearance of the identity of its very foun- dations, under the ploughshare of the Roman conqueror Vespasian. The subsequent life of Constantine furnished no evidence that he\ was a peculiar favorite of Heaven ; and the results of his patronage of the church, eventually so disastrous to its purity and spirituality^ are sufficient to prove that God would never work a miracle to/ accomplish such a purpose. 8. Soon after Constantino's professed conversion to Christianity, he undertook to remodel the government of the church, so as to make it conform as much as possible to the government of the state. Hence the origin of the dignities of patriarchs, exarchs, archbishops, canons, prebendaries, &c., intended by the Emperor to correspond with the different secular offices and dignities, connected with the civil ad- ministration of the empire. Taking these newly constituted digni- taries of the church into his own special favor, he loaded them with wealth and worldly honors, and richly endowed the churches over which they presided, thus fostering in those who professed to be the followers and ministers of HIM who was " meek and lowly in heart," a spirit of worldly ambition, pride, and avarice. And thus was the let or hindrance to the progress of corruption, and the revelation of " the man of sin " spoken of by Saint Paul in the remarkable prediction, already referred to, in a great measure re- moved. From this time onward, the progress of priestly domination and tyranny was far more rapid than in any previous age. The lofty title of Patriarch was assumed by the bishops of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, and also of Constantinople, after the re- moval of the seat of empire to that city, claiming, according to Bingham (Antiquities, B. II., chap. 17), " the right to ordain all the 3 32 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK i. The five patriarchates. Earliest instance of Romish assumptios metropolitans of their own diocese ; to call diocesan synods, and to preside over them ; to receive appeals from metropolitan and pro- vincial synods ; to censure metropolitans and their suffragan bishops ; to pronounce absolution upon great criminals, and to be absolute and independent one of another." In relation to these five patriarchates, the Romanists, as Coleman says (Christian Antiquities, chap. 3, Sect. 5), are careful to say that " there were, at first, five patriarchs in the church ; that those of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch were deservedly so called per se et ex naturd, but that those of Constantinople and Jerusalem were by mere accident, per accidens, graced with this title." The fact that these patriarchs were absolute and independent of each other, shows that, up to this time, notwithstanding the proud pretensions of the bishop or patriarch of Rome, he was not as yet acknowledged as head of the universal church. 9. The bishops of the three great cities of the Roman Empire, Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch, according to the learned and accu- rate Gieseler, had the largest dioceses. Hence they were considered as the heads of the church, and in all general affairs, particular de ference was paid to their opinion. Still, however, great stress was laid on the perfect equality of all bishops ; and each, in his own diocese, was answerable only to God and his conscience. Nor were they likely to allow any peculiar authority to the supposed successor of Peter, inasmuch as they attributed to Peter no superiority over the other apostles. In the West, indeed, a certain regard was paid to the church of Rome as the largest, but by no means were any peculiar rights conceded to it over other churches. Of course, this would be still less the case in the East.* It is true that so early as before the conclusion of the second century, Victor, bishop of Rome, had attempted to lord it over his brethren of the East, by forcing them, by his pretended laws and decrees, to follow the rule, which was observed by the Western churches, in relation to the time of keeping the paschal feast, to which, in later times, the name of Easter was applied. The Asi- atics did not observe this festival on the same day as the Western churches, and in order to make them conform to his wishes, Victor wrote an imperious letter to the churches in Asia, commanding them to observe it on the same day as he did. The Asiatics answered this lordly summons by the pen of Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, who declared, in their name, and that with great spirit and resolu- tion, that they would by no means depart, in this matter, from the custom handed down to them by their ancestors. Upon this, the thunder of excommunication began to roar. Victor, exasperated by this resolute answer of the Asiatic bishops, broke communion with them, pronounced them unworthy of the name of his brethren, and excluded them from all fellowship with the church of Rome. * Gieseler's text-book of ecclesiastical history, translated from the German edition by F. Cunningham. Vol I., page 153. CHAP, n.] POPERY IX EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 33 Supremacy not yet established. Historical proofs. Victor and Stephen. This excommunication, indeed, extended no further ; nor could it cut off the Asiatic bishops from communion with the other churches, whose bishops were far from approving the conduct of Victor. The progress of this violent dissension was stopped by the wise and moderate remonstrances, which Irena3\is, bishop of Lyons, addressed to the Roman prelate upon this occasion, in which he showed him the imprudence and injustice of the step he had taken, and also by the long letter which the Asiatic Christians wrote in their own justification. In consequence therefore of this cessation of arms, the combatants retained each their own customs, until the fourth century, when the council of Nice abolished that of the Asiatics, and rendered the time of the celebration of Easter the same through all the Christian churches. " This whole affair," remarks the learned Mosheim, " furnishes a striking argument, among the multitude that may be drawn from Ecclesiastical History, against the supremacy and universal authority of the bishop of Rome."* 10. Another proof equally conclusive, that the bishop of Rome was not acknowledged as supreme head of the church, may be drawn from the dispute that arose between the imperious Stephen of Rome and Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, in Africa, about the middle of the third century, relative to the validity of baptism administered by heretics. As there was no express law which determined the man- ner and form, according to which those who abandoned the heretical sects were to be received into the communion of the church, the rules practised in this matter were not the same in all Christian churches. Many of the oriental and African Christians placed re- canting heretics in the rank of catechumens, and admitted them, by baptism, into the communion of the faithful ; while the greatest part of the European churches, considering the baptism of heretics as valid, used no other forms in their reception than the imposition of hands, accompanied with solemn prayer. This diversity pre- vailed for a long time without kindling contentions or animosities. But, at length, charity waxed cold, and the fire of ecclesiastical discord broke out. In this century, the Asiatic Christians came to a determination in a point that was hitherto, in some measure, unde- cided ; and in more than one council established it as a law, that all heretics were to be rebaptized before their admission to the commu- nion of the church. f When Stephen, bishop of Rome, was in- formed of this determination, he behaved with the most unchris- tian violence and arrogance toward the Asiatic Christians, broke communion with them, and excluded them from the communion of the church of Rome. These haughty proceedings made no impres- sion upon Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who, notwithstanding the menaces of the Roman pontiff, assembled a council on this occa- sion, and with the rest of the African bishops, adppted the opinion of the Asiatics, and gave notice thereof to the imperious Stephen. The * Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I., page 205, note. f Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, B. VII., chap. 5, 7, page 273, 274. Phil. Edition. 34 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK i, Stephen excommunicates St. Cyprian. Remark of a heathen on the extravagance of the Roman bishops. fury of the latter was redoubled at this notification, and produced many threatenings and invectives against Cyprian, who replied, with great force and resolution, and, in a second council held at Carthage, declared the baptism, administered by heretics, void of all efficacy and validity. Upon this, the choler of Stephen swelled beyond measure, and, by a decree full of invectives, which was received with contempt, he excommunicated the African bishops, whose moderation, on the one hand, and the death of their imperious anta- gonist on the other, put an end to the violent controversy.* In relating these quarrels, of course, we express no opinion as to which party was right. In all probability, the heretics, whose bap- tism they questioned, were in many cases nearer the truth than either party. Our single object in relating the dispute is to show, (ffiat so late as the year 256, when the council of Carthage was held, uhe decisions of the bishop of Rome, when they conflicted with the Views of other bishops, were not received as authority ; and that fsAirfT Cyprian, as he is called by Romanists themselves, could reject his decrees with contempt without forfeiting his title to the honors of subsequent canonization. What greater proof could be required that the blasphemous dogma that the bishop of Rome is supreme head of the church, and vicegerent of God upon earth, had never yet been heard of? He was travelling step by step, towards, but he had not yet reached, nor did he attain, till more than three centuries afterwards, that blasphemous eminence, when, according to the prediction of Paul, he " opposed and exalted himself above all that is called God or is worshipped." He far surpassed all his brethren in the magnificence and splen- dor of the church over which he presided ; in the riches of his reve- nues and possessions ; in the number and variety of his ministers : in his credit with the people ; and in his sumptuous and splendid manner of living. Ammianus Marcellinus, a Roman historian, who lived during these times, adverting to this subject, says, "It was no wonder to see those who were ambitious of human greatness, con- tending with so much heat and animosity for that dignity, because when they had obtained it, they were sure to be enriched by the offerings of the matrons, of appearing abroad in great splendor, of being admired for their costly coaches, and sumptuous feasts, outdoing sovereign princes in the expenses of their table." This led Proetextatus, a heathen, who was prefect of the city, to say, " Make me bishop of Rome, and fll be a Christian too /"f These dazzling marks of human power, these ambiguous proofs of true greatness and felicity, had such a mighty influence upon the minds of the multitude, that the See of Rome became, in this century, a most seducing object of sacerdotal ambition. Hence it happened, that when a new pontiff was to be elected by the suffrages of the presbyters and people, the city of Rome was generally agitated * Cyprian's Epistles, Ixx., Ixxiii. f Ammianus Marcellinus, Liber xxvii., cap. 3. CHAP, n.] POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 35 Bloody feud between rival bishops of Rome. Rudeness of Martin of Tours to the Emperor. with dissensions, tumults, and cabals, whose consequences were often deplorable and fatal. The intrigues and disturbances that prevailed in that city in the year 366, when, upon the death of Libe- rius, another pontiff was to be chosen in his place, are a sufficient proof of what we have now advanced. Upon this occasion, one faction elected Damasus to that high dignity, while the opposite party chose Ursicinus, a deacon of the vacant church, to succeed Liberius. This double election gave rise to a dangerous schism, and to a sort of civil war within the city of Rome, which was carried on with the utmost barbarity and furyi and produced the most cruel massacres and desolations. In this disgraceful contest, which ended in the victory of Damasus, according to the historian Socrates, great numbers were murdered on either side, no less than one hundred and thirty-seven persons being destroyed in the very church itself. Who does not perceive, in these wicked strifes and sanguinary struggles, a proof that now that which " let " or hindered was " taken out of the way," the full revelation of the predicted " man of sin " was rapidly hastening onward ? While such an example of worldly pride and domination was set by those who were looked up to as the heads of the church, it is not surprising that other bishops partook of the same spirit. As an instance of their haughty bearing towards earthly kings and rulers, it is related of Martin, bishop of Tours, in France, that in the year 455, he was invited to dine with the Emperor Maximus. When the cup of wine was presented to the Emperor by the servant, he directed that it should be first offered to the bishop, expecting, of course, that then he should receive it from the hand of Martin. Instead of this, however, Martin handed the cup to a priest of infe- rior rank who sat near him, thus by his rudeness intimating that he regarded him as of higher dignity than the Emperor.* Some time after this the queen asked her husband's consent that she might be allowed, in the character of a servant, to wait on the bishop at supper, and, strange to say, her request was granted. For this con- duct, according to the superstitious notions of the times, Sulpitius, the biographer of Martin, compares her to the queen of Sheba. A Roman Catholic historian, referring to this bishop, uses the follow- ing language : " The great St. Martin, the glory and light of Gaul, was a disciple of St. Hilary. The utter extirpation of idolatry out of the diocese of Tours, and all that part of Gaul, was the fruit of his edifying piety, illustrious miracles, zealous labors, and fervent ex- hortations and instructions. He was remarkable for his humility, charity, austerity, and all other heroic virtues."f Certainly this historian, to say the least, must have had singular notions of what constitutes true Christian humility. * " Exspectans atque ambiens, ut ab illius dextera poculum sumeret. Sed Mar- tinus ubi ebibit, pateram presbytero suo tradidit, nullum scilicet existimans dignio- rem, qui post se biberet." Snip. Severus de vita Mart. c. 20, quoted by Gieseler. f Gabon's History of the Church, page 153. 36 CHAPTER III. STEPS TOWARDS PAPAL SUPREMACY. ' 11. NOTHING could be more simple and unpretending than the form of church organization and government in primitive times. Each church consisted of a company of believers in the Lord Jesus, united together in covenant relationship, for the worship of God, the maintenance of gospel doctrines, and the due administration of the ordinances appointed by Christ. "Every church," says Waddington, an Episcopalian, " in the management of its internal affairs, was essentially independent of every other." The same histo- rian adds that " the churches formed a sort of federative body of independent religious communities, dispersed through the greater part of the empire, in continual communication and in constant harmony with each other." (Wad. Ch. Hist., p. 43.) " The rulers of the church," says Mosheim, a Lutheran, " were called either presbyters (i. e. elders), or bishops, which two titles are, in the New Testament, undoubtedly applied to the same order of men."* (Acts xx., 17, 28 ; Phil, i., 1), &c. (Mosheim, vol. i.,p. 99.) These were persons of eminent gravity, and such as had distin- guished themselves by their superior sanctity and merit. " Let none," says the same learned author, " confound the bishops of this primitive and golden period of the church, with those of whom we read in the following ages. For, though they were both distinguished by the same name, yet they differed extremely, and that in many respects. A bishop, during the first and second century, was a person who had the care of one Christian assembly, which, at that time, was, generally speaking, small enough to be contained in a private house." Thus when writing to the Colossians, the apostle Paul sends a salutation to Nymphas, and " the church which is in his house." (ch. iv., 15.) In the commencement of the epistle to the Philippians, he refers to the officers of these primitive churches, when he directs his letter " to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons." (ch. i., 1.) 12. In process of time, however, the beautiful simplicity of the primitive churches was abandoned ; the independence of each par- ticular church was lost, and as we have already seen, a variety of church dignitaries were created in the place of the primitive elders or bishops of the apostolic age ; and as this change constituted the * This is now universally admitted by all denominations, Episcopalians as well as others. Thus, in the tract " Episcopacy tested by Scripture," published by the Protestant Episcopal Tract Society, New York (p. 12), the author, who is ac- knowledged to be one of their ablest advocates, remarks concerning the use of the title bishnp in the New Testament, " That the name is there given to the middle order or presbyters ; and all that we read in the New Testament concerning ' bishops,' including of course the words ' overseer ' and ' oversight,' which have the same derivation," says he, " is to be regarded as pertaining to that middle grade," that is, to the presbyters or elders. . m.] POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 37 Gieseler's and Mosheim's account of the organization and government of the primitive churcheo. foundation stone upon which the structure of papal assumption was afterward reared, I shall relate, in the words of two distinguished historians, the account of this first step in this pernicious inno- vation. It has been seen from Dr. Mosheim and others, that according to New Testament usage, the title bishop belonged to presbyters or elders. Soou after the death of the apostles, however, this title began to be claimed exclusively by such as sought pre-emi- nence over their brethren in the ministry. The words in which Gieseler relates this change, are as follows : " After the death of the apostles, and the pupils of the apostles, to whom the general direc- tion of the churches had always been conceded, some one amongst the presbyters of each church was suffered gradually to take the lead in its affairs. In the same irregular way the title of snioxonos (bishop) was appropriated to the first presbyter. Hence the differ- ent accounts of the order of the first bishops in the church at Rome."* Mosheim's account of the gradual assumption of authority by these early bishops, and of the early loss of the primitive independency of the churches, is as follows : " The power and jurisdiction of the bishops were not long confined to their original narrow limits, but soon extended themselves, and that by the following means. The bishops who lived in the cities, had, either by their own ministry or that of their presbyters, erected new churches in the neighboring towns and villages. These churches, continuing under the inspec- tion and ministry of the bishops, by whose labors and counsels they had been engaged to embrace the gospel, grew imperceptibly into ecclesiastical provinces, which the Greeks afterwards called dioceses. The churches, in those early times, were entirely independent ; none of them subject to any foreign jurisdiction, but each one governed by its own rulers and its own laws. For, though the churches founded by the apostles had this particular deference shown them, that they were consulted in difficult and doubtful cases ; yet they had no juridical authority, no sort of supremacy over the others, nor the least right to enact laws for them. Nothing, on the contrary, is more evident than the perfect equality that reigned among the primitive churches ; nor does there even appear in the first century, the smallest trace of that association of provincial churches, from which councils and metropolitans derive their origin. " During great part of the second century, the Christian churches were independent of each other ; nor were they joined together by association, confederacy, or any other bonds but those of charity. Each Christian assembly was a little state, governed by its own laws, which were either enacted, or at least approved by the society. But, in process of time, all the Christian churches of a province were formed into one large ecclesiastical body, which, (ike confederate states, assembled at certain times, in order to deliberate about the common interests of the whole. This institu- * Gieseler'a Ecclesiastical History, Vol. i., page 65, 38 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK i. Consequences of the establishment of Synods or Councils. tion had its origin among the Greeks, with whom nothing was more common than this confederacy of independent states, and the regular assemblies which met, in consequence thereof, at fixed times, and were composed of the deputies of each respective state. But these ecclesiastical associations were not long confined to the Greeks ; their great utility was no sooner perceived, than they became universal, and were formed in all places where the gospel had been planted. To these assemblies in which the deputies or commissioners of several churches consulted together, the name of synods was appropriated by the Greeks, and that of councils by the Latins ; and the laws that were enacted in these general meetings, were called canons, i. e., rules. " These councils, of which we find not the smallest trace before the middle of the second century, changed the whole face of the church, and gave it a new form ; for by them the ancient privileges of the people were considerably diminished, and the power and authority of the bishops greatly augmented. The humility, indeed, and prudence of these pious prelates, prevented their assuming all at once, the power with which they were afterward invested. At their first appearance in these general councils, they acknowledged that they were no more than the delegates of their respective churches, and that they acted in the name, and by the appointment, of their people. But they soon changed this humble tone, imper- ceptibly extended the limits of their authority, turned their influence into dominion, and their counsels into laws ; and openly asserted, at length, that Christ had empowered them to prescribe to his people, authoritative rules of faith and manners. "Another effect of these councils was the gradual abolition of that perfect equality which reigned among all bishops in the primitive times. For the order and decency of these assemblies required that some one of the provincial bishops met in council, should be invested with a superior degree of power and authority ; and hence the rights of metropolitans derive their origin. In the mean time, the bounds of the church were enlarged, the custom of holding councils was followed wherever the sound of the gospel had reached ; and the universal church had now the appearance of one vast republic, formed by a combination of a great number of little states. This occasioned the creation of a new order of ecclesiastics, who were appointed in different parts of the world, as heads of the church, and whose office it was to preserve the consistence and union of that immense body, whose members were so widely dis- persed throughout the nations. Such was the nature and office of the patriarchs, among whom, at length, ambition being arrived at its most insolent period, formed a new dignity, investing the bishop of Rome, and his successors, with the title and authority of prince of the patriarchs. " The Christian doctors had the good fortune to persuade the people that the ministers of the Christian church succeeded to the character, rights, and privileges of the Jewish priesthood ; and this CHAP, in.] POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 39 Papal supremacy not established in the fourth century. persuasion was a new source both of honors and profit to the sacred order. This notion was propagated with industry, some time after the reign of Adrian, when the second destruction of Jerusalem had extinguished among the Jews all hopes of seeing their government restored to its former lustre, and their country arising out of ruins. And accordingly the bishops considered themselves as invested with a rank and character similar to thpse of the high priest among the Jews, while the presbyters represented the priests, and the deacons the levites. It is, indeed, highly probable, that they who first intro- duced this absurd comparison of offices so entirely distinct, did it rather through ignorance and error, than through artifice or design. The notion, however, once introduced, produced its natural effects ; and these effects were pernicious. The errors to which it gave rise were many ; and one of its immediate consequences was the estab- lishing a greater difference between the Christian pastors and their flock, than the genius of the gospel seems to admit."* 13. It was long after these innovations upon primitive sim- plicity, before the bishops of Rome enjoyed, or even claimed that spiritual sovereignty over other bishops, and over the universal church, which they afterwards demanded as a divine right. Not- withstanding the pomp and splendor that surrounded the Roman See, in the fourth century it is remarked by the same historian from whom we have just quoted, that the bishops of that city had not then acquired that pre-eminence of power and jurisdiction in the church which they afterwards enjoyed. In the ecclesiastical commonwealth, they were indeed the most eminent order of citizens as well as their brethren, and subject like them to the edicts and laws of the empe- rors. None of the bishops acknowledged that they derived their authority from the permission and appointment of the bishop of Rome, or that they were created bishops by the favor of the apos- tolic see. On the contrary, they all maintained that they were the ambassadors and ministers of Jesus Christ, and that their authority was derived from above. It must, however, be observed, that even in this century, several of those steps were partly laid by which the bishops of Rome mounted afterwards to the summit of eccle- siastical power and despotism. These steps were partly laid by the imprudence of the emperors, partly by the dexterity of the Roman prelates themselves, and partly by the inconsiderate zeal and precipitate judgment of certain bishops. f One of these steps was a decree of a somewhat obscure council held at Sardis, during the Arian controversy, in the year 347. Among other things enacted in this council, it was provided " that in the event of any bishop considering himself aggrieved by the sentence of the bishops of his province, he might apply to the bishop of Rome, who should write to the bishops in the neighborhood of the province of the aggrieved bishop, to rehear the cause ; and should * Mosheim, cent, i., part 2, cent, ii., part 2. \ See Dupin de antiqua Ecclesiae disciplina. 40 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOGKI. Stepa toward supremacy. Council of Sardis. Decree of Valentinian. also, if it seemed desirable to do so, send some presbyters of his own church to assist at the rehearing." It is probable, indeed, as Richerius in his History of Councils observes, that this decree was only provisional, and intended for the security of the Eastern ortho- dox bishops against the Arians, and that the privilege conferred upon the bishop of Rome, was not meant to be given to the See of Rome, but only to the then bishop Julius, who is expressly men- tioned therein ; and consequently that it was only designed for the case then before the council. An attempt, however, was made, at the beginning of the fifth century, by Zosimus, bishop of Rome, to establish his authority in the African churches, by means of this decree, on the following occasion. Apiarius, a presbyter of the church of Sicca, in Africa, having been deposed by his bishop for gross immoralities, fled to Rome, AD. 415, and was received to communion by Zosimus, who forthwith sent legates into Africa, to the bishops there, demanding that Apiarius's cause should be heard over again ; asserting that the bishops of Rome had the privilege of requiring such rehearings conferred upon them in virtue of this decree of the Council of Sardis. The African bishops, however, refused to acknowledge the authority of this decree, and after a pro- tracted controversy, sent a final letter to the bishop of Rome, " in which they assert the independence of their own, and all other churches, and deny the pretended right of hearing appeals claimed by the bishop of Rome : and further exhort him not to receive into communion persons who had been excommunicated by their own bishops, or to interfere in any way with the privileges of other churches."* 14. A second step toward the papal supremacy, was a law enacted in the year 372, by the emperor Valentinian, which favored extremely the rise and ambition of the bishops of Rome, by empower- ing them to examine and judge other bishops. A few years afterward, the bishops assembled in council at Rome, without considering the dangerous power they entrusted to one of their number, and intent only upon the privilege it secured to them of exemption from the jurisdiction of secular judges, declared in the strongest terms their approbation of this law, and recommended that it should be imme- diately carried into effect, in an address which they presented to the emperor Gratian.f A third circumstance which contributed toward the rapidly increasing influence of the Roman bishops, was the custom which obtained somewhat extensively before the close of the fourth century, of referring to their decision in consequence of their claim to apostolic descent, all questions concerning the apostolic customs and doctrines. This gave them occasion to issue a vast number of didactic letters, generally called Decretals, which soon assumed a tone of apostolic authority, and were held in high estimation in * See Hammond on the Six Councils Oxford, 1843, p. 40. f See Dr. Maclaine's note in Mosheim, i., p. 344. CHAP, in.] POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 41 Council of Chalcedon decrees the equality of the bishops of Rome and Constantinople. the West, as flowing from apostolic tradition. " From this time forth, there was no controversy in the East in which each party did not seek to win the bishop of Rome, and through him the Western church, to its cause, vying with each other in flattery and servility. At the councils, his legates were always treated with the greatest deference, and at the council of Chalcedon, they, for the first time, presided."* The council of Chalcedon was held A. D. 451, and notwith- standing the pre-eminence assumed therein by the legate of the bishop of Rome, he had not power or influence to prevent the passage of a canon which proved extremely odious to his lordly master Leo, who has been surnamed the Great, and which resulted in a protracted and bitter controversy between the bishops of Rome and Constantinople who should be greatest. Some years previous to this time, since the removal of the seat of empire to Constanti- nople, the ambition and assumption of the bishop of Constantinople had almost equalled that of Rome. He had lately usurped the spiritual government of the provinces of Asia Minor, Thrace, Pontus, and the eastern part of Illyricum, very much to the chagrin and dissatisfaction of Leo. This dissatisfaction was increased when, by the twenty-eighth canon of the council of Chalcedon, it was resolved, that the same rights and honors which had been con- ferred upon the bishop of Rome, were due to the bishop of Con- stantinople on account of the equal dignity and lustre of the two cities, in which these prelates exercised their authority. The same council confirmed also, by a solemn act, the bishop of Constantinople in the spiritual government of those provinces over which he had ambitiously usurped the jurisdiction. Leo opposed with vehe- mence the passing of these decrees, and his opposition was seconded by that of several other prelates. But their efforts were vain, as the emperors threw in their weight into the balance, and thus sup- ported the decisions of the Grecian bishops. In consequence then of the decrees of this famous council, the bishop of Constantinople began to contend obstinately for the supre- macy with the Roman pontiff, and to crush the patriarchs of Alex- andria and Antioch, so as to make them feel the oppressive effects of his pretended superiority. Elated with the favor and proximity of the imperial court, he cast a haughty eye on all sides where any objects were to be found on which he might exercise his ambition. After reducing under his jurisdiction these two patriarchs, as pre- lates only of the second order, he invaded the diocese of the Roman pontiff, and spoiled him of several provinces. The two former pre- lates, though they struggled with vehemence, and raised consider- able tumults by their opposition, yet they struggled ineffectually, both for want of strength, and likewise on account of a variety of unfavorable circumstances. But the Roman pontiff, far superior to them in wealth and power, contended also with more vigor and * Gieseler, Vol. i., page 260. 42 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK i. Appeals of other bishops to Rome. Reverence of the barbarian conquerors. obstinacy, and in his turn, gave a deadly wound to the usurped supremacy of the patriarch of Constantinople. Notwithstanding the redoubled efforts of the latter, a variety of circumstances united in augmenting the power and authority of the Roman pontiff, though he had not, as yet, assumed the dignity of supreme lawgiver and judge of the whole Christian church. The bishops of Alexandria and Antioch, unable to make head against the lordly prelate of Constantinople, often fled to the Roman pontiff for succor against his violence ; and the inferior order of bishops used the same method, when their rights were invaded by the prelates of Alexandria and Antioch. So that the bishop of Rome, by taking all these prelates alternately under his protection, daily added new degrees of influ- ence and authority to the Roman See, rendered it everywhere respected, and was thus imperceptibly establishing its supremacy. This was, evidently, another of the steps by which he was rapidly ascending to the summit of ghostly dominion.* 15. One more circumstance is worthy of mention, as contributing in no small degree to the increase of the power and influence of the bishop of Rome, viz., the regard almost universally paid to him by the fierce and barbarous tribes, who now in quick succession poured in from the north, and conquered and ravaged Italy and the capital of the ancient empire. In the years 408, 409, and 410, the proud city of Rome was three times in succession subjected to a siege by the renowned Alaric, king of the Goths, who is distinguished by contemporary historians by the terrible epithets of the scourge of God and the destroyer of nations. At first he was bought oft" by the terrified inhabitants, but at length the city was taken and given up to be pillaged and sacked by the fierce Gothic soldiery. In the year 452, the ferocious Attila, king of the Huns, invaded the north of Italy, laid waste some of its fairest provinces, and was only prevented from marching to Rome and renewing the horrid cruelties and excesses of Alaric by an immense ransom, and the powerful influence of the Roman pontiff, Leo the Great, who, at the head of an embassy, waited on Attila, as he lay " encamped at the place where the slow-winding Mincius is lost in the foaming waves of the lake Benacus, and trampled with his Scythian cavalry the farms of Catullus and Virgil."f In the year 454, Rome was again taken and pillaged by Genseric, king of the Vandals ; and in the year 470, the western empire was finally subverted, and Italy, with its renowned and time-honored capital, reduced under the dominion of the Gothic barbarians by the conquests of Odoacer, king of the Heruli, a tribe of Goths, and the deposition and banishment of Augustulus, the last of the western Roman emperors. 16. These barbarous nations, these fierce and warlike Germans who, after the defeat of the Romans, divided among them the west- ern empire, bore, with the utmost patience and moderation, both * See Mosheim, Cent. v. Part 2, Chap. ii. t Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. ii., p. 303. CHAP, m.] POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 43 Heathen rites adopted at Rome. Opinions of Robertson and Ilallam. the dominion and vices of the bishops and priests, because, upon their conversion to Christianity, they became naturally subject to their jurisdiction ; and still more, because they looked upon the ministers of Christ as invested with the same rights and privileges, which distinguished the priests of their fictitious deities. Nor is it at all to be wondered at that these superstitious barbarians, accustomed as they were to regard with a feeling amounting almost to adora- tion, the high priests of their own heathen gods, should manifest a readiness to transfer that veneration to the high priests of Rome, especially when they saw the multitude of heathen rites that were already introduced into Christian worship, and the willingness of the Roman pontiffs, by still further increasing the number of these pagan ceremonies, to accommodate their religion to the prejudices and inclinations of all. In ages of ignorance and credulity, remarks a celebrated Scottish historian, " the ministers of religion are the objects of superstitious veneration. When the barbarians who overran the Roman empire first embraced the Christian faith, they found the clergy in possession of considerable power ; and they naturally transferred to those new guides the profound submission and reverence, which they were accustomed to yield to the priests of that religion which they had just forsaken. They deemed their persons to be equally sacred with their function, and would have considered it as impious to subject them to the profane jurisdiction of the laity. The clergy were not blind to these advantages which the weakness of mankind afforded them. They established courts, in which every question relating to their own character, their function, their property, was tried and pleaded, and obtained an almost total exemption from the authority of civil judges."* Thus was a kind of mutual compromise effected between these barbarous heathen conquerors, and the bishop of Rome, and his clergy. The former generally agreeing to accept the Christian name, and the latter tacitly consenting to conform as much as possible to their heathen rites and ceremonies of worship. The blind submission of these heathen tribes to the degenerate ministers of Christianity, tended much to increase the wealth and consequently the power of the clergy. On this subject remarks the elegant historian of the middle ages, " The devotion of the con- quering nations, as it was still less enlightened than that of the subjects of the empire, so was it still more munificent. They left, indeed, the worship of Hesus and Taranis in their forests ; but they retained the elementary principles of that, and of all barbarous idolatry, a superstitious reverence for the priesthood, a credulity that seemed to invite imposture, and a confidence in the efficacy of gifts to expiate offences. Of this temper it is undfeniable that the minis- ters of religion, influenced probably not so much by personal cove- tousness as by zeal for the interests of their order, took advantage. Many of the peculiar and prominent characteristics in the faith and * Robertson's Charles V., American edition, page 34. 44 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK i. Supremacy claimed from divine right. discipline of those ages appear to have been either introduced, or sedulously promoted, for the purpose of sordid fraud. To those purposes conspired the veneration for relics, the worship of images, the idolatry of saints and martyrs, the religious inviolability of sanc- tuaries, the consecration of cemeteries, but, above all, the doctrine of purgatory, and masses for the relief of the dead. A creed thus contrived, operating upon the minds of barbarians, lavish, though rapacious, and devout though dissolute, naturally caused a torrent of opulence to pour in upon the church."* CHAPTER IV. DIVINE RIGHT OF SUPREMACY CLAIMED AND DISPROVED. 17. BY general consent a kind of superiority of rank had long been conceded to the bishops of Rome, chiefly from the fact that that city was the first in rank and importance, and the ancient capital of the empire ; and upon the same ground it was that the council of Chalcedon, already referred to, " proceeding on the principle that the importance of a bishop depended alone on the political consequence of the city in which he lived, decreed the same rights to the bishop of Constantinople in the Eastern church, which the bishop of Rome enjoyed in the Western."! After the fall of the ancient capital, however, and its consequent diminution of political importance, as compared with the Eastern capital, the bishops of Rome found it necessary to assert with renewed earnestness, the pretensions which they had occasionally hinted at before, of their divine right of supremacy, in consequence of their claiming to be the successors of the apostle Peter, who, they now asserted, without a shadow of scriptural or historical proof, was the first bishop of Rome, and was constituted by Jesus Christ, supreme head of the church upon earth. 18. As this is a fundamental point with the Romish church, J * Hallam's Middle Ages, chap, vii., pages 261, 262, American edition. f Gieseler, vol. i., page 269. j The views of Romanists on this point, so essential to their whole system, are explicitly set forth in the following translation from the Latin of an extract from the theology of Peter Dens, a standard work, prepared for the use of Romish seminaries and students of theology. Mechlin edition, 1838. Concerning the Supreme Pontiff. (Nos. 90, 93, 94.) " What is the Supreme Pontiff? " He is Christ's Vicar upon earth, and the visible head of his church. CHAP. iv. J POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 45 No proof thut PotiT was bishop of Rome. it may be well, at this place, to make a short digression, for the purpose of examining the validity of this claim. In relation to the first supposition, that of Peter having been bishop of the church at Rome, there is no historical proof whatever. There is no men- tion in the New Testament that Peter ever was at Rome, and hence Scaliger, Salmasius, Spanheim, Adam Clarke, and many other learned writers, have denied that he ever visited that city. But supposing the Romanist tradition to be true, that he suffered death at Rome, in company with the apostle Paul, about A. D. 65, still, there is no proof whatever that he was bishop of Rome, or that he had any particular connection with the church or churches in that city, any more than Paul or any other of the apostles. Indeed, it would be much easier to prove that Paul was bishop of the church of Rome than that Peter was, for it is expressly mentioned in the New Testament, that Paul visited Rome, and that he remained there for " two whole years preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts xxviii., 30, 31.) Now if Pope Peter was also at Rome, and more especially if he was there in the character of " supreme head of the church universal," is it not most astonishing that Paul should take not the slightest notice of him, and that neither the Sacred " Christ instituted the church of the New Testament upon earth, not on the plan of an aristocratic or democratic government, but on the plan of a monarchical government, yet tempered by that which is best in an aristocracy, as was said No. 81. But when Christ was about to withdraw his visible presence by his ascension into heaven, he constituted his Vicar the visible head of the church, he himself remaining the supreme, essential and visible head. " Who is called Supreme Pontiff, and wherefore ? " The Roman Pontiff, not only because he holds the highest honor and dignity in the church, but principally, because he has supreme and universal authority, power and jurisdiction over all bishops and the whole church. " From whom does the Pope, legitimately elected, receive his power and juris- diction ? " Ans. He receives it immediately from Christ as his Vicar, just as Peter re- ceived it. Nor is it any objection that the Pope is elected by cardinals ; for their election is only an essential requisite, which being supplied, he receives power and jurisdiction immediately from Christ. " From whom do the Bishops receive the power of jurisdiction ? "Ans. The French contend that they receive it immediately from Christ; but it seems that it ought rather to be said that they receive it immediately from the Roman Pontiff, because the government of the church is monarchical," &c., &c. " What power has the Roman Pontiff? " We reply with St. Thomas, &c. : ' THE POPE HAS PLENITUDE OF POWER IN THE CHURCH ;' so that his power extends to all who are in the church, and to all things which pertain to the government of the church. " This is proved from what was said before : because the Roman Pontiff is the true Vicar of Christ, the head of the whole church, the pastor and teacher ; there- fore," &c. " Hence it follows, that all the faithful, even bishops and patriarchs, are obliged to obey the Roman Pontiff; also, that he must be obeyed in all things which concern the Christian religion, and therefore, in faith and customs, in rites, ecclesiastical discipline," &c. " Hence, the perverse device of the Quesnellites falls to the ground; namely, that the Pope is not to be obeyed, except in those things which he enjoins conformably to Sacred Scripture." 46 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. IBOOKI. No proof that Peter was constituted by Christ supreme head of the Church. Scriptures nor any of the apostolic fathers should say one word in relation to his connection with the church in that city ? Look again, at the style in which Peter alludes to himself in his epistles ; how different from that which has ever been adopted by his professed successors, the lordly Roman pontiffs, since the establishment of their supremacy ! If Peter really was, as Romanists contend,.the first POPE OF ROME, why do we not find him adopting a style something like the following : " We, Simon Peter, sovereign pontiff of Rome, apostolic vicar, and supreme head of the church ?" . &c., or something in the style of Pope Gregory's Encyclical Letter of 1832, viz.: "Encyclical Letter of our MOST HOLY FATHER, POPE PETER, by Divine Providence, the First of the name, addressed to all Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops."* But instead of this, we read simply " Simon Peter, a servant and apostle to them that have obtained like precious faith." (2 Pet., i., 1.) 19. The second supposition, viz. : that Peter was constituted by Christ, supreme head of the Church, is professedly derived from the following conversation between Christ and Peter, " When Jesus came into the coast of Cesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, who do men say that I, the Son of man, am ? and they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but who say ye that I am ? And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matt, xvi., 13, &c.) Now in reference to this passage, it is suffi- cient to remark that the rock ^sigu (petra), on which Christ prom- ised to build his church, was not, as Romanists maintain, the fallible mortal Peter, nergog (Petros), who had made this confession, but the glorious and fundamental truth which this confession embodied, or the glorious and divine personage, who was the subject of it, " THOU ART THE CHRIST, THE SoN OF THE LIVING GoD." The WOrds in the Greek are " 2v e* /ferooc, xui em ruvrrj ^ verga," " Thou art Peter, and upon this nfrpa rock," which thou hast confessed, &c. So also the Latin Vulgate has " Tit es Petrus (mas.), et super hanc petram (fern.), adificabo ecclesiam meam" The interpretation which Roman Catholic writers put upon this expression, is comparatively modern in its origin, and directly opposed to the opinions of some \vhom they regard as the most enlightened among the ancient fathers. In their authorized creed, Romanists solemnly profess to receive no interpretations of Scripture, except " according to the unanimous consent of the fathers." (Nisi juxta unanimem consen- sum patrum. Creed of Pope Pius.) To prove that in their inter- * Title of Pope Gregory's Letter, "Encyclical Letter from our most Holy Father, Pope Gregory, the Sixteenth of the name, addressed to all Patriarchs, Pri- mates, Archbishops, and Bishops." CHAP, iv.] POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 47 Augustine, Hilary, and Bede quoted. Other apostles more worthy than Peter. pretation of this passage, they violate their own rule, many cita- tions from the fathers might be given. Let the following two suffice. The first is from Augustine, the celebrated bishop of Hippo (on Matt., 13. ser.) " De verbis Domini, tu es Petrus," &c. " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock which thou hast confessed, upon this, which thou hast acknowledged, saying, ' Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God,' I will build my church ; that is, upon myself, the Son of the living God, I will build my church," &c. The other is from Hilary, another of the most celebrated fathers. (Can. 16, de fundam. Eccles.) " Unum igitur hoc est immobile fun- damentum," &c. " This one foundation is immovable, that is, that one blessed rock of faith, confessed by the mouth of Peter, ' Thou art the Son of the living God.' " (De Trinit., 1. 6.) " Super hanc confessionis petram ecclesice cedificatio est." " The building of the church is upon this rock of confession." And again, " hcec fides," &c. " This faith is the foundation of the church ; this faith hath the keys of the kingdom of heaven : what this faith shall loose or bind is bound and loosed in heaven." So also the venerable Bede, who, though not reckoned among the fathers, was a writer of great renown in the eighth century, remarks on this passage as follows. " It is said unto him by a metaphor, Upon this rock, i. e., the Saviour, whom thou hast con- fessed, the church is builded." Whatever may be the weight attached to the authority of these writers, it is evident that if the promise referred to Peter, it failed of accomplishment ; for when Peter with oaths and curses denied his Lord, certainly the gates of hell did prevail against him, and if he, a fallible and peccable mortal, had been the foundation of the church ; when that fell, the church, the superstructure must have fallen with it. The fact is, that CHRIST ALONE is the supreme head as well as the foundation of the church, and he gave no special precedence or dignity to one of the apostles which he gave not to another. He established no earthly supreme head of the church, and his apostles ever acted toward each other in the spirit of the declara- tion of their Lord, " ONE is YOUR MASTER, EVEN CHRIST, AND ALL YE ARE BRETHREN." 20. If any one were worthy of the supremacy over the rest,, and to be called " PRINCE OF THE APOSTLES," thei*e are at least three of their number who would be more worthy of the honor than Peter, viz. : either Paul, or James, or John. Paul was more worthy, for he publicly and deservedly rebuked Peter, and " withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed" (Gal. ii., 11), and certainly Paul could not have been inferior to Peter, for Paul himself declares that IN NOTHING was he behind the very chiefest apostles." (2 Cor. xii., 11.) James was more worthy than Peter, for he appears to have been bishop or pastor of the first church ever established, viz. : that at Jerusalem, and presided and announced the final decision in the council held at Jerusalem, in relation to the alleged necessity of circumcision. (Acts, chap, xv.) John was certainly more 4 48 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK i. Pecer's imaginary successors. Various and conflicting lists of them. worthy of the supremacy than Peter, if any one were entitled to such a pre-eminence ; for John never denied his Lord, but Peter did ; John, " the beloved disciple," asked Jesus a question at the Supper, which Peter did not dare to ask. (John xiii., 23, 24.) John was standing near the cross, at the death of his Lord, and had the mother of Jesus confided to his care, while Peter was probably at a distance, weeping over his cowardly denial. (John xix., 25, &c.) John lived longer than Peter, was the last survivor of all the apostles, and penned more of the volume of Inspiration than either Peter, or any other of the twelve. 21. But in relation to the other supposition; supposing that it could be proved, which we have shown it cannot, that Peter, during his life, was the supreme head of the church on earth, still it would be impossible to prove that this supremacy descended down from one generation to another, through the long line of popes, many of whom, as we shall show, in the progress of this work, were monsters of vice and impurity. There is no evidence that the apostles had the slightest expectation of any such, regular line of descent. The New Testament does not say a single word about it, and even the Roman bishops themselves did not make the claim to have derived their power from Peter, till several centuries after the apostolic age. Before leaving this subject, there is one absurdity which springs from this claim of the Romanists, that deserves to be mentioned. Most Roman Catholic authors reckon Linus the second bishop of Rome, or supreme head of the church ;* pope Linus, according to * We are not to suppose, however, that there is any uniformity among writers, or certainty as to the three or four supposed first successors of St. Peter. Says Mr. Walch, the author of a compendious but learned history of the Popes, originally published in German : " If we may judge of the church of Rome, by the constitu- tion of other apostolic churches, she could have had no particular bishop, before the end of the first century. The ancient lists," he adds, " are so contradictory that it would be impossible exactly to determine, either the succession of the bishops, or their "chronology. Some say that Clemens, of Rome, had been ordained by the apostle Peter, and was his immediate successor. Others place Linus and Cletus betwixt them. A third set name Linus, but instead of Cletus, name ANACLETUS, ANENCLETUS, DACLETFUS. Lastly a fourth party states the succession thus : Peter, Linus, Cletue, Clemens, Anacletus." Watch's Lives of the Popes. Among the early fathers, Tertullian, Rufinus, and Epiphanius, say Clement succeeded Peter. Jerome declares that ' MOST of the Latin authors sup- posed the order to be Clement the successor of Peter.'' But Irenaus, Eusebius, Jerome, and Augustine, contradict the above authorities, and say Linus succeeded Peter ; Chrysostom seems to go the same way. Bishop Pearson has proved that Linus died before Peter ; and therefore, on the supposition that Peter was first bishop of Rome, Linus could not succeed him. Cabassute, the learned Popish historian of the councils, says, ' it is a VERY DOUBTFUL question concerning Linus, Cletus, and Clemens, as to which of them succeeded Peter.' Dr. Comber, a very learned divine of the church of England, says, 'upon the whole matter there is NO CERTAINTY who was the bishop of Rome, next to the apostles, and therefore the ROMANISTS BUILD UPON AN ILL BOTTOM, when they lay so great weight on their PERSONAL SUCCESSION.' " " The LIKE BLUNDER," remarks the same learned Episcopalian, " there is about the next bishop of Rome. Thefabulous Pontifical makes Cletus succeed Linus, CHAP, iv.] POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 49 Singular absurdity. The apostle John subject to the second Pope. them, having succeeded upon the martyrdom of pope Peter. Now, it is not denied by any, that the apostle John outlived Peter about thirty years. If then Peter was the supreme head of the church, and Linus was his successor in the supremacy, then of course the inspired apostle John must have been inferior to Linus in rank and dignity, and subject to him in precisely the same way as Roman Catholic bishops are now subject to their pope. Now when it is remembered that Linus, of whom we know scarcely anything more than his name, was not one of the apostles, it will be seen that this supposition is directly at variance with the inspired declaration of Paul, " God hath set some in the Church, FIRST, apostles ; secondarily, prophets ; thirdly, teachers ; after that miracles ; then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." (1 Cor. xii., 28.) To such strange absurdities does this doctrine of the papal supremacy lead. Of course the same conclusion will follow, which- ever of the various theories is adopted, as to the supposed imme- diate successor of Peter.* Notwithstanding, however, the weakness of these pretensions, after the city of Rome had fallen from its ancient dignity, into the power of the barbarians, and the superiority of its lordly bishop could no longer be quietly submitted to from the superiority of that city to every other, the pontiffs renewed and reiterated this arro- and gives us several Lives of Cletus, and Anadetus, making them of several nations, and to have been popes at different times, putting Clement between them. Yet the aforesaid bishop of Chester [Pearson] PROVES these were ONLY TWO NAMES of the SAME PERSON. And every one may see the folly of the Romish church, which venerates two several saints on two several days, one of which never had a real being, for Cletus is but the abbreviation of Anacletus 1 s name." (Dr. Comber on "Roman Forgeries in Councils" part i., c. i.) Amidst all these varying and opposing lists, this contradiction and con- fusion worse confounded, how utterly baseless must be those pretensions, whether made by the papists of Rome, or the semi-papists of Oxford, which are founded upon a supposed ascertained, and unbroken descent from the apostles ? The arguments to sustain them are lighter than air. Hence we are not surprised to hear that bright luminary of the British establishment, Archbishop Whately, declare his solemn conviction, that " THERE is NOT A MINISTER IN ALL CHRISTEN- DOM, WHO IS ABLE TO TRACE UP, WITH ANY APPROACH TO CERTAINTY, HIS OWN SPIRITUAL PEDIGREE. The ultimate consequence must be," remarks the same excellent prelate, " that any one who sincerely believes that his claim to the bene- fits of the gospel covenant depends on his own minister's claim to the supposed sacramental virtue of true ordination, and this again on apostolical succession, must be involved, in proportion as he reads, and inquires, and reflects, and reasons on the subject, in the most distressing doubt and perplexity. It is no wonder, therefore, that the advocates of this theory studiously disparage reasoning, depre- cate all exercise of the mind in reflection, decry appeals to evidence, and lament that even the power of reading should be imparted to the people. It is not without cause that they dread and lament ' an age of too much light,' and wish to involve religion in a solemn and awful : gloom.' It is not without cause that, having removed the Christian's confidence from a rock, to base it on sand, they forbid all prying curiosity to examine their foundation." ( Whately on the Kingdom of Christ, Essay ii., 30.) * Those who wish to see the argument on this subject carried out in a masterly way, are referred to the treatise of the learned Barrow, on the Pope's supremacy. 50 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK i. Another fierce contest between rival bishops of Rome. Symmachus and Laurentius, gant claim to supremacy from divine right, with an earnestness proportioned to the danger that existed of sinking into a second rank, from the rising political importance and splendor of the rival city of Constantinople. CHAPTER V. POPERY FULLY ESTABLISHED. THE MAN OF SIN REVEALED. 22. IN the course of the sixth century, the city of Rome thrice witnessed the disgraceful spectacle of rival pontiffs, with fierce hatred, bloodshed, and massacre, contending with each other for the spiritual throne. The first of these struggles occurred about the commencement of the century, " between Symmachus and Lau- rentius, who were on the same day elected to the pontificate by different parties, and whose dispute was at length decided by The- odoric, king of the Goths. Each of these ecclesiastics maintained obstinately the validity of his election ; they reciprocally accused each other of the most detestable crimes ; and to their mutual dis- honor, their accusations did not appear on either side entirely desti- tute of foundation. Three different councils, assembled at Rome, endeavored to terminate this odious schism, but without success. A fourth was summoned by Theodoric, in 503, to examine the accusations brought against Symmachus, to whom this prince had, at the beginning of the schism, adjudged the papal chair. This council was held about the commencement of this century, and in it the Roman pontiff was acquitted of the crimes laid to his charge. But the adverse party refused to acquiesce in this decision, and this gave occasion to Ennodius, bishop of Ticinum, now Pavia, to draw up his adulatory apology for the council and Symmachus." It was on this occasion and in this apology, says Gieseler, that the asser- tion was first hazarded, that " the bishop of Rome was subject to no earthly tribunal. Not long afterward an attempt was made to give this principle a historical basis, by bringing forward forged acts of former pontiffs."* In subsequent ages, it will be seen that the popes not only declared themselves free from all subjection to every earthly tribunal, but boldly maintained that all earthly powers and potentates were subject to them. In this apology for Symmachus, the servile flatterer, Ennodius, styles the object of his flattery, "JUDGE IN THE PLACE OF GoD, AND VICEGERENT OF THE MoST HlGH." This was the first time so far as is known, that this blasphemous title * Gieseler, vol. i., page 339. CHAP, v.l POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 5] More quarrels at Rome. Dispute about the title of universal bishop. was given to man, though some centuries afterward it was com- monly applied to the popes, thus fulfilling the prophetic words of Paul : " So that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." (2 Thess, ii., 4.) About the year 530, there was another disgraceful contest, and the city of Rome was again agitated by the rival claims of Boniface II., and Dioscurus, though the premature death of the latter soon put a period to this clerical war. But the century did not close without a scene alike disgraceful. A prelate of the name of Vigilius, intrigued at court to procure the deposition of the reigning bishop Silverus. The latter was, in consequence, deprived of his dignities and banished. He appealed to the emperor Justinian, who inter- fered in his behalf, and encouraged him to return to Rome, with the delusive expectation of regaining his rights ; but the artifices of Vigilius prevailed his antagonist was resigned to his power, and immediately confined by him in the islands of Pontus and Pandatara, where, in penury and affliction, he terminated his wretched exist- ence. 23. During the last few years of the sixth century, the contest for supremacy between the bishops of Rome and Constantinople raged with greater acrimony than at any preceding period. The bishop of Constantinople not only claimed an unrivalled sovereignty over the eastern churches, but also maintained that his church was, in point of dignity, no way inferior to that of Rome. The Roman pontiffs beheld with impatience these pretensions, and warmly asserted the pre-eminence of their church, and its undoubted superi- ority over that of Constantinople. Gregory the Great distinguished himself in this violent contest ; and the fact that in a council held in 588, John, the faster, bishop of Constantinople, assumed the title of universal bishop, furnished Gregory with a favorable opportunity of exerting his zeal. Supposing that the design of his rival was to obtain the supremacy over all Christian churches, Gregory opposed his pretensions with the utmost vehemence, and in order to establish, more firmly, his own authority, invented the fiction of the power of the keys, as committed to the successor of St. Peter, rather than to the body of the bishops, according to the previous opinion, and, says Wad- dington, " He betrayed on many occasions a very ridiculous eager- ness to secure their honor. Consequently he was profuse in his distri- bution of certain keys, endowed, as he was not ashamed to assert, with supernatural qualities ; he even ventured to insult Anastasius, the patriarch of Antioch, by such a gift. ' I have sent you (he says), keys of the blessed apostle Peter, your guardian, which, when placed upon the sick, are wont to be resplendent with numerous miracles.' 'Amatoris vestri, beati Petri apostoli, vobis claves transmisi, quse super aegros positas multis solent miraculis coruscare.' We may attribute this absurdity to the basest superstition, or to the most impudent hypocrisy ; and we would gladly have preferred the more excusable motive, if the supposed advancement of the See, 52 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK i. Letter of Saint Gregory, about the -'blasphemous," " infernal," and "diabolical " title. which was clearly concerned in these presents, did not rather lead us to the latter." (Wad. Ch. Hist. 143.) 24. Besides these vain pretensions, Gregory wrote epistles to his own ambassador at Constantinople, to the patriarch John, and to the emperor Mauritius, in which in various passages he denounces the title of universal bishop as " vain," " execrable," " anti-Chris- tian," " blasphemous," " infernal," and " diabolical." In his letter to the patriarch of Constantinople, he pleads with him thus : " Disci- pulis Dominus dicit, autem nolite vocari rabbi, unus enim Magisler vester est, vos omnes fratres estis" &c. * Our Lord says unto his disciples, be not ye called rabbi, for one is your Master, and all ye are brethren.' What, therefore, most dear brother, are you, in the terrible examination of the coming Judge, to say, who, generalis pater in mundo vocari appetis ? desire to be called, not father only, but the general father of the world ? " Beware of the sinful suggestions of the wicked. I beg, I entreat, and I beseech, with all possible suavity, that your brotherhood resist all these flatterers who offer you this NAME of error, and that you refuse to be designated by so foolish and so proud an appella- tion. For I indeed say it with tears, and from the inward anguish of my bowels, that to my sins I attribute it, that my brother cannot to this day be brought to humility, who was made bishop for this end, that he might lead the minds of others to humility. It is written, ' God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble :' and again it is said, 'he is unclean before God, who exalteth his heart ;' hence, it is written against the proud man, ' Quid superbis, terra et cinis ?' ' Earth and ashes, why art thou proud V " Perpende, rogo, quia in hac presumptione pax totius turbatur ecclesics" &c. " Consider, I entreat you, that by this rash pre- sumption is the peace of the whole church disturbed, and the grace poured out in common upon all contradicted : in which you can increase only in proportion as you carefully decrease in self-esteem, and become the greater the more you restrain yourself from this name of proud and foolish usurpation ; love humility, therefore, my dearest brother, with your whole heart, by which concord among all the brethren and the unity of the holy universal church may be preserved. Truly, when Paul, the apostle, heard some say, ' I am of Paul, 1 am of Apollos, I am of Cephas,' he, vehemently abhorring this tearing asunder of the Lord's body, by which they, in some sense, united his members to other heads, cries out, Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul ? If, then, he would not suffer the members of the Lord's body to be, as it were, particularly subject to certain heads, beyond Christ, and they apostles too, what will you say to Christ the head of his universal holy church, in the trial of his last judgment, who endea- vor to subject all his members under the title of universal? Whom, pray, do you propose to imitate by this perverse name, but him, who, despising the legions of angels, his companions, endeavored to break forth, and ascend to an elevation peculiar to himself, that he CHAP. v.J POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 53 Gregory says that no true saint would accept it. Writes against it to the Emperor. might seem to be subject to none, and to be above all of them ? Who also said, ' I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven ; I will be like the Most High !' For what are all your brother bishops of the universal church, but the stars of heaven, whose lives and preaching give light among the sins and errors of men, as in the darkness of night ? Above whom, when you thus desire to elevate yourself by this haughty title, and to tread down their name in comparison of yours, what do you say but I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven ? " Atque ut cuncta brevi singulo locutionis astringam" &c. And that I may sum up all in one word : the saints before the law, the saints under the law, and the saints under grace, the gospel all these, making up the perfect body of our Lord, are constituted but members of the church ; none of them would ever have himself called UNIVERSAL. Let your holiness then acknowledge how he must swell with pride, who covets to be called by this name, which no true saint would presume to accept. Were not, as your brother- hood knows, my predecessors in the -apostolical See, which I now serve by God's providence, called by the council of Chalcedon to this offered honor ? but none of them would ever allow himself to be named by such a title none snatched at this rash name, lest if he should seize on this singular glory of the pontificate, he should seem to deny it to all his brethren. " Sed omnia qua; prcedicta sunt,Jiunt: rex superbics pi-ope est et quod did nefas est, sacerdotum est prceparatus excitus (vel exercitus) ei qui cervice militant elationis" But all things which are foretold are come to pass ; the king of pride approaches, and O, horrid to tell ! the going forth of (or the army of the priests), is ready for him, who fight with the neck of pride, though appointed to lead to humility."* 25. In his letters to the emperor Mauritius, Gregory reite- rates the same sentiments. On account of their importance, the following extracts from these letters are subjoined. " The care and principality of the whole church," says Gregory, " is committed to St. Peter ; and yet he is not called ' universal apostle ' though this holy man, John, my fellow priest, labors to be called ' univer- sal bishop !' I am compelled to cry out, ' O the corruption of times and manners?' Behold the barbarians are become lords of all Europe : cities are destroyed, castles are beaten down, provinces depopulated, there are no husbandmen to till the ground. Idolaters rage and domineer over Christians ; and yet priests, who ought to lie weeping upon the pavement, in sackcloth and ashes, covet names of vanity, and glory in new and profane titles. " Do I, most religious sovereign, in this plead my own cause ? Do I vindicate a wrong done to myself, and not maintain the cause of Almighty God, and of the church universal ? Who is he who * Epist. Greg., lib. iv., epist. 38. 54 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. fsooK i. Gregory places the brand of anti-Christ upon him who usurps the title of uniTersal bishop. presumes to usurp this new name against both the law of the gospel and of the canons ? We know that many priests of the church of Constantinople have been not only heretics, but even the chief leaders of them. If, then, every one of that church assumes the name by which he makes himself the head of all good men ; the Catholic church, which God forbid should ever be the case, must needs be overthrown when he falls who is called UNIVERSAL. But, far from Christians be this blasphemous name, by which all honor is taken from all other priests, while it is foolishly arrogated by one. This man (John), contemning obedience to the canons, should be humbled by the commands of our most pious sovereign. He should be chastised who does an injury to the holy Catholic church ! whose heart is puffed up, who seeks to please himself by a name of singularity, by which he would elevate himself above the Emperor ! We are all scandalized at this. Let the author of this scandal reform himself, and all differences in the church will cease. I am the servant of all priests, so long as they live like themselves but if any shall vainly set up his bristles, contrary to God Almighty, and to the canons of the fathers, I hope in God that he will never succeed in bringing my neck under his yoke not even by force of arms." These urgent letters of Gregory appear to have been unavailing. The patriarch John, indeed, was soon afterward removed by death from his archiepiscopal dignity ; but Cynacus, who succeeded him as bishop of Constantinople, adopted the same pompous title as his predecessor. Having had occasion to despatch some agents to Rome, in the letter which he wrote to the Roman pontiff Gregory, he so much displeased him by assuming the appellation of " univer- sal bishop," that the latter withheld from the agents somewhat of the courtesy to which they considered themselves entitled, and, of course, complaint was made to the emperor Mauritius of the neglect which had been shown them. This circumstance extorted a letter from the Emperor at Constantinople to the bishop of Rome, in which he advises him to treat them, in future, in a more friendly manner, and not to insist so far on punctilios of style, as to create a scandal about a title, and fall out about a few syllables. To this Gregory replies, " that the innovation in the style did not consist much in the quantity and alphabet ; but the bulk of the iniquity was weighty enough to sink and destroy all. And, therefore, I am bold to say," says he, " that whoever adopts, or affects the title of UNIVERSAL BISHOP, has the pride and character of anti-Christ, and is in some manner his forerunner in this haughty quality of elevating himself above the rest of his order. And, indeed, both the one and the other seem to split upon the same rock ; for as PRIDE MAKES ANTI-CHRIST STRAIN HIS PRETENSIONS UP TO GODHEAD, so whoever is ambitious to be called the only or universal prelate, arrogates to himself a distinguished superiority, and rises, as it were, upon the ruins of the rest"* Let * Epist. Greg. 1. vi. Ep. 30. CHAP, v.] POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 55 Pope Boniface soon after obtains this very title for himself and successors. the reader ponder well the sentence last quoted, in this epistle of Gregory, confessedly one of the most eminent of the Roman bishops, and who has, by them, been canonized as SAINT Gregory ; in which he places the brand of anti-Christ on whoever assumes this title, and then judge whether we are not justified in pronouncing the era of the papal supremacy, when only two years after Gregory's death, pope Boniface III. sought for and obtained the title of UNIVERSAL BISHOP, as the date of the full revelation of ANTI-CHRIST. We do but repeat the opinion so emphatically expressed by SAINT GREGORY only a few years before the actual occurrence of this remarkable event in the history of Popery. Boniface, who succeeded to the Roman See in 605, was so far from having any scruples about adopting this " BLASPHEMOUS TITLE," that he actually applied to the emperor Phocas, a cruel and bloodthirsty tyrant, who had made his way to the throne by assassinating his predecessor ; and earnestly solicited the title, with the privilege of handing it down to his successors. The profligate emperor who had a secret grudge against the bishop of Constantinople, granted the request of Boniface, and after strictly forbidding the former prelate to use the title, conferred it upon the latter in the year 606, and declared the church of Rome to be head over all other churches.* Thus was Paul's prediction accomplished, " THE MAN OF SIN " revealed, and that system of corrupted Christi- anity and spiritual tyranny which is properly called POPERY, fully developed and established in the world. The title of UNIVERSAL BISHOP, which was then obtained by Boniface, has been worn by all succeeding popes, and the claim of supremacy, which was then established, has ever since been maintained and defended by them, and still is, down to the present day. 26. Henceforward the religion of Rome is properly styled POPERY, OR THE RELIGION OF THE POPE. Previous to the year 606, there was properly no POPE. It is true that in earlier ages the title of pope, which is derived from the Greek word nunnas, father, in its general and inoffensive sense, had been used as a frequent title of bishops, without distinction. Siricius, bishop of Rome, was probably the first who assumed the name as an official title, toward the close of the fourth century, and it was afterward claimed exclusively by the popes of Rome, as the appropriate designation of the sovereign pontiffs.f This arrogant claim has long since been quietly conceded by other Christians, and the title has been exclusively enjoyed, * These facts are related by Baronius and other Romish historians. " Quo tempore intercesserunt quaedam odiorum fomenta inter eundem Phocam imperato- rem atque Cyriacum Constantinopolitanum. Hinc igitur in Cyriacum Phocas exacerbatus in ejus odium imperiali edicto sancivit, nomen universalis decere Ro- manum tantum modo ecclesiam, tanquam quae caput esset omnium ecclesiarum, solique convenire Romano pontifici ; non autem episcopo Constantinopolitano, qui sibi illud usurpare praesumeret. Quod quidem hunc Bonifacium papam tertium ab imperatore Phoca obtinuisse, cum Anastasius Bibliothecarius, turn Paulus diaconus tradunt." Spondan, Epitom. Baron. Annal. in annum 606. f See Coleman's Christian Antiquities, page 76. 56 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK i. Poptry not Catholic. Calling things by their right names. without dispute and without envy.* When we say, therefore, that previous to A. D. 606, there was no POPE, we mean, of course, in the present exclusive sense of the word, as the supreme sovereign pontiff, and boasted head of the universal church. Till this time, notwithstanding the prior origin of many popish corruptions, Popery or the Roman Catholic religion in its present form, as a distinct and compacted system, had no existence. This is the epoch of its origin and birth. Papal supremacy then bound, and still binds its discordant elements into one, and should this claim be given up, the whole anti-Christian system would fall to pieces, like the por- tions of an arch, when the key-stone is removed. The historian is therefore fully justified in applying to this system, the distinctive and appropriate terms, popish, popery, and their cognates. In the words of that singular but forcible writer, John Rogers, when assigning his reasons for not employing the terms Catholic or Roman Catholic, by which papists prefer to be designated, "We are far, very far from intending or wishing to hurt the feeling, or pain the mind of any member of the kirk of Rome ; but we intend to follow a plan scriptural and reasonable, and to write with grammatical and philosophical propriety. We desire not to be, and not to appear to be offensive or insulting ; but to be orderly, or to conform to method and rule. We desire not to give displeasure or pain, but to have definitude or precision. We aim to be accurate or correct, and to employ words in their right and true meaning. We avoid using Catholic and Roman Catholic, on five grounds ; in order to be analogical, in order to be logical, in order to oppose papal bigotry, in order to oppose papal pride, and in order to oppose papal persecution."! The word Catholic means universal, and since the Romish is not a universal church, it is evidently incorrect to call that communion the Holy Catholic church. To avoid this impropriety, some employ the terms Roman Catholic, but here again is a manifest impropriety, as that cannot be universal in any sense, which is not absolutely so, and to apply the term Catholic or universal, to that which must be limited by the adjective Roman, or any other word denoting speciality, is evidently a contradiction m terms. For these reasons this system will be designated in the present work, by the names, ROMANISM, POPERY, &c., and the adjec- tives, Romish, Papal, &c., not as terms of reproach, but simply because they are more consistent with historical accuracy and truth, than any others which could be selected. If we occasionally employ, therefore, the terms Catholic or Roman Catholic, we wish * Father Gahan, in his History of the Church (page 335), mentions, apparently with approbation, the following whimsical derivation of the title Papa, or Pope : " Some writers say that the word Papa comes from the initial letters of these four words, Petrus, Aposlolus, Princeps, Apostolorum (i. e., Peter the apostle, prince of the apostles), which being abbreviated with a punctum or colon after each of the four initial letters, coalesced in progress of time into the word Papa, with- out any intermediate punctuation." f See " Anti-popopriestian," by John Rogers, page 76. CHAP, vi.] POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 57 Consequences of the establishment of the papal supremacy. it to be distinctly understood that we do so, simply as a matter of courtesy or convenience, and not because we for a moment admit the propriety of the application of either of these terms to the anti- Christian system of Rome. CHAPTER VI. PAPAL SUPREMACY THE ACTORS IN ITS ESTABLISHMENT THE TYRANT PHOCAS THE SAINT GREGORY, AND THE POPE BONIFACE. 27. THE bestowment of the title of Universal Bishop by Pho- cas, the tyrant, upon Boniface III., bishop of Rome, THE FIRST OF THE POPES, and the consequent establishmem of papal supremacy, was the memorable event that embodied into a system and cemented into one the various false doctrines, corrupt practices, and vain and superstitious rites and ceremonies, which had arisen in earlier ages, to deface the beauty and mar the simplicity of Christian worship. Before this event, the bishop of Rome had no power to enforce his decisions upon other churches and bishops ; and, as we have al- ready seen, in many instances they might reject his decrees, with- out forfeiting their standing, as constituent portions of the so called Catholic church ; now they were compelled to submit to his man- dates, as the spiritual sovereign of the world, or be branded with the name of heretics. Before this, the false doctrines which arose, and the superstitious heathen ceremonies which were adopted into Christian worship, might be believed or practised in one church or province and rejected in another ; so that the corruptions which had long since towered to a greater height at Rome than any- where else, were still but partially diffused over the Christian world. Immediately upon the establishment of papal supremacy, the gigantic errors and corruptions of Rome were rendered binding upon all. Before this time, while there was no supreme earthly head to enforce uniformity, a variety of liturgies and forms of worship were adopted in different places, some of them in a greater and others in a less degree conformable to the spirit of the New Testament ; now, by the sovereign decrees of his HOLINESS THE POPE, all must be conformed to the standard of Rome. In the ages that preceded the establishment of papal supremacy, " we are not to think," observes Mosheim, " that the same method of wor- ship was uniformly followed in every Christian society, for this was far from being the case. Every bishop, consulting his own private judgment, and taking into consideration the nature of the times, the genius of the country in which he lived, and the character and 58 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK . Biography of Phocas the tyrant, who bestowed upon the popes the title of Universal Bishop. temper of those whom he was appointed to rule and instruct, formed such a plan of divine worship as he thought the wisest and the best. Hence that variety of liturgies which were in use, be- fore the bishop of Rome had usurped the supreme power in re- ligious matters, and persuaded the credulous and unthinking, that the model, both of doctrine and worship, was to be given by the mother church, and to be followed implicitly throughout the Chris- tian world." (Mosheim, vol. i. p. 385.) 28. As it was owing to the decree ef the emperor Phocas, constituting him supreme Universal Bishop and head of the universal church, that the proud prelate of Rome was thus enabled to tyrannize over the whole of Christendom, and mould and fashion the churches at his will, it may be necessary that we retrace our steps for four or five years, and relate with some minuteness the origin and charac- ter of the man who conferred on him this power, that we may see whether this doctrine, so essential to the very existence of Popery, viz. : the papal supremacy, come from heaven or of men. If ] mistake not, we shall find that its origin is from beneath, and that the principal agent in establishing it, was one of the most guilty of the human race, approaching very near, if he did not altogether reach the idea of consummate or universal depravity, embodied in his great master, THE DEVIL. This Phocas was a native of Asia Minor, of obscure and unknown parentage, who entered the army of the emperor Mauritius as a common soldier. Having attained the rank of a centurion, a petty officer, with the command of a hundred men, he happened in the year 602 to be with his company on the banks of the Danube, when he headed a mutiny against the Emperor among his troops, caused himself to be tumultuously proclaimed leader of the insur- gents, and marched with them to Constantinople. " So obscure had been the former condition of Phocas," says Gibbon, "that the Emperor was quite ignorant of the name and character of his rival ; but as soon as he had learned that the centurion, though bold in sedition, was timid in the face of danger, ' Alas !' cried the prince, 1 if he is a coward, he will surely be a murderer.' " 29. Upon the approach of Phocas to Constantinople, the unfor- tunate Mauritius, with his wife and nine children, escaped in a small bark to the Asiatic shore ; but the violence of the wind compelled him to land at the church of St. Autonomus, near Chalcedon, from whence he despatched Theodosius, his eldest son, to implore the gratitude and friendship of the Persian monarch. For himself, he refused to fly ; his body was tortured with sciatic pains, his mind was enfeebled by superstition ; he patiently awaited the event of the revolution, and addressed a fervent and public prayer to the Almighty, that the punishment of his sins might be inflicted in this world, rather than in a future life. The patriarch of Constanti- nople " consecrated the successful usurper in the church of St. John the Baptist. On the third day, amidst the acclamations of a thought- less people, Phocas made his public entry in a chariot drawn by CHAP, vi.] POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 59 Cruel murder by the tyrant, of Mauritius, his wife and family. four white horses ; the revolt of the troops was rewarded by a lavish donative, and the new sovereign, atter visiting the palace, beheld from his throne the games of the hippodrome. The ministers of death were despatched to Chalcedon : they dragged the Emperor from his sanctuary ; and the five sons of Mauritius were successively murdered before the eyes of their agonizing parent. At each stroke, which he felt in his heart, he found strength to rehearse a pious ejaculation, * Thou art just, O Lord! and thy judgments are right- eous' The tragic scene was finally closed by the execution of the Emperor himself, in the twentieth year of his reign, and the sixty- third year of his age. The bodies of the father and his five sons were cast into the sea, their heads were exposed at Constantinople to the insults or pity of the multitude, and it was not till some signs of putrefaction appeared, that Phocas connived at the private burial of these venerable remains." The flight of Theodosius, the son of the unfortunate Emperor, to the Persian court, had been intercepted by a rapid pursuit, or a deceitful message : he was beheaded at Nice, and the last hours of the young prince, were soothed by the comforts of religion, and the consciousness of innocence. 30. Tn the massacre of the imperial family, the usurper had spared the widow and three daughters of the late Emperor, but the suspicion or discovery of a conspiracy rekindled the fury of Phocas. These unfortunate females took refuge in one of the churches of the city, then regarded as an inviolable asylum. The patriarch, moved partly by compassion to the royal sufferers, partly by reverence for the place, would not permit them to be dragged by force from their asylum ; but defended them, whilst there, with great spirit and resolution. The tyrant, one of the most vindictive and inexorable of mankind, and who could therefore ill brook this spirited opposi- tion from the priest, thought it prudent then to dissemble his resent- ment, as it would have been exceedingly dangerous, in the begin- ning of his reign, to alarm the church. And he well knew how important, and even venerable a point it was accounted, to preserve inviolate the sacredness of such sanctuaries. He desisted, therefore, from using force, and, by means of the most solemn oaths and pro- mises of safety, prevailed at length upon the ladies to quit their asylum. In consequence of which, they soon after became the helpless victims of his fury. " A matron," says Gibbon, " who commanded the respect and pity of mankind, the daughter, wife, and mother of emperors, was tortured like the vilest malefactor, and the empress Constantina, with three innocent daughters, was beheaded at Chal- cedon, on the same ground which had been stained with the blood of her husband and five sons ! The hippodrome, the sacred asylum of the pleasures and the liberty of the Romans, was polluted with heads and limbs and mangled bodies ; and the companions of Pho- cas were the most sensible that neither his favor nor their services, could protect them from a tyrant, the worthy rival of the Caligulas and Domitians of the first age of the empire"* The imperial family * Decline and Fall, chap. xlvi. 60 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOKL Horrid barbarities of Phocas. Bishop Gregory the Great. being now entirely cut off, the bloodthirsty tyrant began to proceed with the same inexorable cruelty against all their Iriends, and all who had betrayed the least compassion for them, or had borne any civil or military employments in the late reign.' Thus, throughout the empire were men of the first rank and distinction either daily executed or publicly or privately massacred. Some were first inhu- manly tortured; others had their hands and feet cut off; and some were set up as marks for the raw soldiery to shoot at, in learning the exercise and use of the bow. The populace met with no better treatment than the nobility, great numbers of them being daily seized for speaking disrespectfully of the tyrant, and either killed by his guards on the spot, or tied up in sacks and thrown into the sea, or dragged to prison, which by that means was so crowded that they soon died, suffocated with the stench and noisomeness of the place. Such, then, was the character of the monster in the shape of a man, as recorded by the pen of impartial history, by whose sover- eign decree pope Boniface was constituted Universal Bishop, and supreme head of the church on earth ; and such is the foundation, and the only foundation, upon which this lordly title rests, which has been claimed by all the successors of Boniface ; the Gregorys, the Innocents, and the Leos, down to the imbecile old man, Gregory XVI., who, in the nineteenth century, issues his mandates from the Vatican at Rome, demanding the unlimited submission and obedi- ence of the faithful in the United States, and all other nations of the earth. So much for the source of this usurped spiritual sovereignty. Whether any human power possessed the right thus to elevate a mortal to the station of Universal Bishop, supreme head and abso- lute monarch of Christ's church, and if so, whether so atrocious a villain, and so bloody a murderer, as this Phocas, possessed such a right, must be left to the common sense of the reader to decide. 31. I have named the famous Romish bishop, GREGORY THE GREAT, as he is called by papists, as one actor in establishing the papal supremacy. Notwithstanding his artful epistle to Mauritius, in which he condemns the title of Universal Bishop, because it had been assumed by a rival, he is worthy of the honor in this affair of being placed side by side with Phocas, partly because no man before him had done so much in defence of the proud prerogatives of the Roman See, but chiefly because by the base and servile flatteries he bestowed upon that weak-minded but bloodthirsty tyrant, he paved the way for the success of Boniface, a few years later, in his application to Phocas, for the title of Universal Bishop. At the accession of Phocas, Gregory was still bishop of Rome, and with the hope, doubtless, that he should be more successful with this bloody tyrant than he had been with Mauritius, in caus- ing him to. restrain the rising greatness and ambition of his rival patriarch at Constantinople, he immediately wrote to him a letter of congratulation, full of the vilest and most venal flatteries, so that it has been truly said, were we to learn the character of Phocas CHAP, vi,] POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 61 The rapture of Saint Gregory at the accession of the murderous tyrant. from this pontiff's letters, we should certainly conclude him to have been " rather an angel than a man." 32. It is humiliating in the extreme to record the deep de- basement of such a man as Gregory, when he could so far descen4 from the dignity of his high and holy calling, as to address this usurper, while his hands were yet reeking with the blood of his slaughtered victims, in language like the following : " Glory to God in the highest ; who, according as it is written, changes times and transfers kingdoms. And because he would have that made known to all men, which he hath vouchsafed to speak by his own prophets, saying, that the Most High rules in the kingdoms of men, and to whom he will he gives it." He then goes on to observe that God, in his incomprehensible providence, sometimes sends kings to afflict his people and punish them for their sins. This, says he, we have known of late to our woful experience. Sometimes, on the other hand, God, in his mercy, raises good men to the throne, for the relief and exultation of his servants. Then applying this remark to existing circumstances, he adds : " In the abundance of our exulta- tion, on which account, we think ourselves the more speedily con- firmed, rejoicing to find the gentleness of your piety equal to your imperial dignity." Then, breaking out into rapture, no longer to be restrained, he exclaims, " Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad ; and, for your illustrious deeds, let the people of every realm hitherto so vehemently afflicted, now be filled with gladness. May the necks of your enemies be subjected to the yoke of your supreme rule, and the hearts of your subjects, hitherto broken and depressed, be relieved by your clemency." Proceeding to paint their former miseries, he concludes with wishing that the commonwealth may long enjoy its present happiness. Thus, in language evidently borrowed from the inspired writers, and in which they anticipate the joy and gladness that should pervade universal nature at the birth of the Messiah, does this pope celebrate the march of the tyrant and usurper through seas of blood to the imperial throne. " As a subject and a Christian," says Gibbon (chap. xlvi.),"it was the duty of Gregory to acquiesce in the established government ; but the joyful applause with which he salutes the fortune of the assassin, has sullied, with indelible disgrace, the character of the saint. The successor of the apostles might have inculcated with decent firmness the guilt of blood, and the necessity of repentance : he is content to celebrate the deliverance of the people, and the fall of the oppressor ; to rejoice that the piety and benignity of Phocas have been raised by Providence to the imperial throne ; to pray that his hands may be strengthened against all his enemies ; and to express a wish, that after a long triumphant rei^n, he may be trans- ferred from a temporal to an everlasting kingdom." 33. The unmeasured abuse with which this Saint Gregory loads the murdered Emperor, after his death, in his congratulatory letters to Phocas, naturally leads to an inquiry into the character of the unfortunate Mauritius. The fault with which he is princi- 62 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOT i. Wicked duplicity and hypocrisy of Saint Gregory. pally accused by contemporary historians, and which, doubtless proved the cause of his untimely fate, was too much parsimony , than which no vice could render him more odious to the soldiery, who were, in those degenerate times of the empire, lazy, undisci- plined, debauched, rapacious, and seditious. As the government was become military, the affection of the army was the principal bulwark of the throne. It was ever consequently the interest of the reigning family to secure the fidelity of the legions as much as possible. This, in times so corrupt, when military discipline was extinct, was to be effected only by an unbounded indulgence, and by frequent largesses. These the prince was not in a condition to bestow, without laying exorbitant exactions on the people. For levying these, the army were, as long as they shared in the spoil, always ready to lend their assistance. Hence it happened, that, among the Emperors, the greatest oppressors of the people were commonly the greatest favorites of the army. The revolt of the legions, therefore, could be but a slender proof of mal-administrations. It was even, in many cases, an evidence of the contrary. But it is more to our present purpose to consider the character which this very Saint Gregory gave of Mauritius, when in posses- sion of the imperial diadem. For if the former and latter accounts given by the pontiff cannot be rendered consistent, we must admit, that, first or last, his holiness made a sacrifice of truth to politics. Now it is certain that nothing can be more contradictory than those accounts. In some of his letters to that Emperor, we find the man whom he now treats as a perfect monster, extolled to the skies, as one of the most pious, most religious, most Christian princes that ever lived. In one of these letters, the Emperor's " pious zeal, solicitude, and vigilance for the preservation of the Christian faith," are represented as " the glory of his reign, as a subject of joy, not to the pontiff only, but to all the world." In another, after the warmest expressions of gratitude, on account of the pious liberality and munificence of his imperial majesty, and after telling how much the priests, the poor, the strangers, and all the faithful were indebted to his paternal care, he adds that for these reasons " all should pray for the preservation of his life, that Almighty God might grant to him a long and quiet reign, and that after his death, as the reward of his piety, a happy race of his descendants might long flourish as sovereigns of the Roman empire."* Yet he no sooner hears (says Dr. Campbell) of the successful treason of Phocas in the barbarous murder of the sovereign family, an event, the mention of which, even at this distance, makes a humane person shudder with horror, than he exclaims with rapture, " Glory to God in the highest." He invites heaven and earth, men and angels, to join in the general triumph. How happy is he that the * " Unde actum est, ut simul omnes pro vita dominorum concorditer orarent, quatenus omnipotens Deus longa vobis et quieta tempora tribuat, et pietatis vestra felicissimam sobolem diu in Romana republica florere concedat." (Epist. Greg., lib. viii., epist 2.) CHAP, vi.] POPERY IN EMBRYO. TO A. D. 606. 63 Invites all the angels of heaven to rejoice in the success of Phocas. royal race is totally exterminated, from whom, but a little before, he told us, that he poured out incessant and tearful prayers (lachry- mabili prece is one of his expressions), that they might, to the latest ages, flourish on the throne, for the felicity of the Roman common- wealth ! An honest heathen would, at least for some time, have avoided any intercourse or correspondence with such a ruffian as Phocas ; but this Christian bishop, before he had the regular and customary notice of his accession to the purple, is forward to con- gratulate him on the success of his crimes. His very crimes he canonizes (an easy matter for false religion to effect), and transforms into shining virtues, and the criminal himself into a second Messiah, he that should come for the salvation and comfort of God's people. And all this was purely that he might pre-engage the favor of the new Emperor, who (he well knew), entertained a secret grudge against the Constantinopolitan bishop, for his attachment to the preceding emperor Mauritius ; a grudge which, when he saw with what spirit the patriarch protected the empress dowager and her daughters, soon settled into implacable hatred.* " Does it not hence appear but too plain," inquires the learned historian of the popes,| " that Gregory, however conscientious, just, and religious in his principles and conduct, when he did not apprehend the dignity or interest of his See to be concerned, acted upon very different notions and principles, when he apprehended they were concerned ? For how can we reconcile with conscience, justice, or religion, his bestowing on the worst of tyrants the highest praises that can be bestowed on the best of princes ? His courting the favor of a cruel and wicked usurper, by painting and reviling, as an absolute tyrant, the excellent prince, whose crown he had usurped ? His ascribing (which I leave Baronius to excuse from blasphemy), to a particular Providence the revolt of a rebellious subject, and seizing the crown ; though he opened himself a way to it by the murder of his lawful sovereign, and his six children, all the male issue of the imperial family ? And finally, by his inviting all man- kind, nay, and the angels of heaven, to rejoice with him, and return thanks to God, for the good success of so wicked an attempt, per- haps the most wicked and cruel that is recorded in history ? Gre- gory had often declared that he was ready to sacrifice his life to the honor of his See ; but whether he did not sacrifice, on this occa- sion, what ought to have been dearer to him than his life, or even the honor of his See, I leave the world to judge ; and only observe here, that his reflecting in the manner he did on the memory of the unhappy Mauritius, was in him an instance of the utmost ingrati- tude, if what he himself formerly wrote, and frequently repeated, be true, viz. : That his tongue could not express the good he had received of the Almighty, and his lord the Emperor; that he thought himself bound in gratitude to pray incessantly for the fife * See Dr. Campbell's Lectures on Ecclesiastical History, lect. xvi. f Bower, in vita Greg, i., vol. ii., page 326. 5 64 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK r. Pope Boniface assembles a council, in which he exercises his newly obtained power. of his mgst pious and most Christian lord ; and that, in return for the goodness of his most religious lord to him, he could do no less than love the very ground on which he trod." 34. Perhaps we may not be warranted in asserting (as Dr. Campbell seems to suppose), that Gregory, by these vile flatteries, intended to secure for himself the title which had been assumed by his rival at the East. It is possible he would have been content could he have lived to see him deprived of it ; still, if he indulged such a wish in secret, consistency itself must have forbidden its utterance, when he had just before pronounced the assumption of such a title the badge and the brand of anti-Christ. Perhaps Gregory would have been more cautious in the expression of such an opinion, could he have foreseen that in so short a time it would be importunately sought and obtained by one of his own successors, and that upon the foreheads of these very successors in the boasted chair of St. Peter, would descend from generation to generation, the brand indelibly stamped by the hand of SAINT 'Gregory " WHOEVER ADOPTS OR AFFECTS THE TITLE OF UNIVERSAL BISHOP, HATH THE PRIDE AND CHARACTER OF ANTI-ClIRIST." No sooner had Boniface obtained this title, says Bower, than he took upon him to exercise an answerable jurisdiction and power, to an extent at that time unknown and unheard of in the Catholic church. No sooner was the imperial edict of Phocas, vesting him with the title of Universal Bishop, and declaring him head of the church, brought to Rome, than, assembling a ' council in the basilic of St. Peter, consisting of seventy-two bishops, thirty-four presbyters, and all the deacons and inferior clergy of that city, he acted there as if he had not been vested with the title alone, but with all the power of an Universal Bishop, with all the authority of a supreme head, or rather absolute monarch of the church. For by a decree, which he issued in that council, it was pronounced, declared, and defined, that no election of a bishop should thenceforth be deemed lawful and good, unless made by the people and clergy, approved by the prince, or lord of the city, and confirmed by the Pope, interposing his authority in the following terms : We will and command, ' volumus et jubemus.' The imperial edict, therefore, if we may so call the edict of an usurper and a tyrant, " was not, as popish writers pretend," says Bower, " a bare confirmation of the primacy of the See of Rome ; but the grant of a new title, which the pope immediately improved into a power answering that title. And thus was the power of the pope as Universal Bishop, as head of the church, or, in other words, the papal supremacy, first intro- duced. It owed its original to the worst of men ; was procured by the basest means, by flattering a tyrant in his wickedness and tyranny, and was in itself, if we stand to the judgment of Gregory the Great, anti-Christian, heretical, blasphemous, diabolical."* * Bower, in vita Bonifac iii. 65 BOOK II. POPERY AT ITS BIRTH, A,D, 606, ITS DOCTRINAL AND RITUAL CHARACTER. AT THIS EPOCH. CHAPTER I. ROMISH ERRORS TRACED TO THEIR ORIGIN. THEIR EARLY GROWTH NO ARGUMENT IN THEIR FAVOR. 1. As we have now traced the gradual march of hierarchal assumption to the period of the full establishment of Popery, it is important to inquire what was its doctrinal and ritual character, at the time of its complete development and introduction to the world, under the sanction and authority of its newly created sovereign and Universal Bishop ; and also to trace to their first origin such of the unscriptural doctrines and rites of the Romish church as were at that time embodied in the system of Popery ; and which, though all in- vented long after the death of the apostles, yet boast an earlier date than the establishment of the papal supremacy. There is scarcely anything which strikes the mind of the careful student of ancient ecclesiastical history with greater surprise, than the comparatively early period at which many of the corruptions of Christianity, which are embodied in the Romish system, took their rise ; yet it is not to be supposed that when the first originat- ors of many of these unscriptural notions and practices, planted those germs of corruption, they anticipated or even imagined that they would ever grow into such a vast and hideous system of super- stition and error, as is that of Popery. Thus remarks a learned and sagacious writer, " Each of the great corruptions of later ages took its rise in a manner which it would be harsh to say was deserving of strong reprehension. Thus the secular domination exercised by the bishops, and at length exclusively by the bishop of Rome, may be traced very distinctly to the proper respect paid by the people to the disinterested wisdom of their bishops in deciding their worldly differences. The worship of images, the invocation of saints, and the superstition of relics, were but expansions of the natural feelings of veneration and affection cherished toward the memory of those who had suffered and died for the truth. And thus, in like manner, the errors and abuses of monkery all sprang by imperceptible augmentations from sentiments perfectly natural J6 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n. Chillingworth's immortal sentiment, "The Bible only, is the religion of Protestants." to the sincere and devout Christian in times of persecution, disorder, and general corruption of morals. The very abuses which make the twelfth century abhorrent on the page of history, were, in the fourth, fragrant with the practice and suffrage of a blessed company of primitive confessors. The remembered saints, who had given their bodies to the flames, had also lent their voice and example to those unwise excesses which at length drove true religion from the earth. Untaught by experience, the ancient church surmised not of the occult tendencies of the course it pureued, nor should it be loaded with consequences which human sagacity could not well have foreseen."* 2. At the epoch of the papal supremacy a gigantic system of error and superstition had sprung up, formed of the union of many errors in doctrine and practice, the successive growth of preceding centuries, but which were then cemented into a regular system, and rendered obligatory upon all. To understand the character of Popery at its birth, it will be necessary to specify the principal of those errors, with the time and circumstances, so far as can be ascertained of their origin and growth. And if, in perusing the chapters devoted to this inquiry, the protestant reader shall some- times be startled to find at how early a date the germs of some of these errors were planted, let him remember that the origin of all of them is subsequent to the times of the apostles, and let him call to mind the immortal words of Chillingworth : " The BIBLE, I say, the BIBLE only, is the religion of protestants ! Whatsoever else they believe beside it, and the plain, irrefragable, indubitable conse- quences of it, well may they hold it as a matter of opinion ; but as matter of faith and religion, neither can they, Avith coherence to their own grounds, believe it themselves, nor require the belief of it of others, without most high and most schismatical presumption. I for my part, after a long and (as I verily believe and hope), impar- tial search of the true way to eternal happiness, do profess plainly, that I cannot find any rest for the sole of my foot, but upon this rock only. " Traditive interpretations of Scripture are pretended ; but there are few or none to be found : no tradition, but only of Scripture, can derive itself from the fountain, but may be plainly proved either to have been brought in, in such an age after Christ, or that in such an age it was not in. In a word, there is no sufficient certainty but of Scripture only, for any considering man to build upon. This, therefore, and this only, I have reason to believe : this I will profess ; according to this I will live, and for this, if there be occasion, I will not only willingly, but even gladly, lose my life, though I should be sorry that Christians should take it from me."f 3. Protestantism, as opposed to Popery, has been defined by Isaac Taylor, in his Ancient Christianity, as " A REFUSAL TO AO * Natural History of Enthusiasm, page 181. f Works of Chillingworth, Philadelphia edition, page 481. . r.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. / 67 Great question, is the Bible only the rule of faith, or the Bible and tradition together. KNOWLEDGE INNOVATIONS BEARING AN ASCERTAINED DATE," and tO this definition we have no particular objection, inasmuch as the* date of most, if not all of the popish innovations, both doctrinal and ritual, can be ascertained with considerable accuracy. Still we must be allowed to add, that should innovations be discovered, either in that or any other communion, the date of the admission of which is entirely unknown ; if they are contrary to the doctrine and spirit of the Bible, if they are not found in God's word ; that is to say, if they are innovations at all, then true Protestantism requires their unqualified rejection, just as much as if their date were as clearly ascertained as is the date of the papal supremacy, or the absurd dogma of transubstantiation. " THE BIBLE, I SAY, THE BIBLE ONLY, is THE RELIGION OF PROTESTANTS !" Nor is it of any account in the estimation of the genuine protestant, how early a doctrine originated, if it is not found in the Bible. He learns from the New Testament itself, that there were errors in the time of the apostles, and that their pens were frequently employed in combating those errors. Hence if a doctrine be propounded for his acceptance, he asks, is it to be found in the inspired word ? was it taught by the Lord Jesus Christ, and his apostles ? If they knew nothing of it, no matter to him, whether it be discovered in the musty folio of some ancient visionary of the third or fourth century, or whether it spring from the fertile brain of some modern visionary of the nineteenth, if it is not found in the sacred Scriptures, it presents no valid claim to be received as an article of his religious creed. More than this, we will add, that though Cyprian, or Jerome, or Augus- tine, or even the fathers of an earlier age, Tertullian, Ignatius, or Irenaeus, could be plainly shown to teach the unscriptural doctrines and dogmas of Popery, which, however, is by no means admitted, still the consistent protestant would simply ask, is the doctrine to be found in the Bible ? w r as it taught by Christ and his apostles ? and if truth compelled an answer in the negative, he would esteem it of no greater authority as an article of his faith, than the vagaries of John of Munster, the dreams of Joanna Southcote, or the pre- tended revelations of Joe Smith, of Nauvoo. The Bible, and not as has recently been asserted, " the Bible and tradition" but " THE BIBLE ONLY, is THE RELIGION OF PROTESTANTS." 4. The great question at issue between Popery and Protestant- ism, is this : Is the Bible only to be received as the rule of faith, or the Bible and tradition together ? Is no doctrine to be received as matter of faith, unless it is found in the Bible, or may a doc- trine be received upon the mere authority of tradition, when it is confessedly not to be found in the sacred Scriptures ? The whole Christian world, both nominal and real, are divided by this question into two great divisions : the consistent and true-hearted protestant, standing upon this rock " THE BIBLE, AND THE BIBLE ONLY," can admit no doctrine upon the authority of tradition ; the papist and the Puseyite place tradition side by side with the Bible, and listen to its dictates with a reverence equal to, or even greater than 68 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n. Protestantism rejects tradition as a rule of faith. that which they pay to the sacred Scriptures themselves ; and he 1 who receives a single doctrine upon the mere authority of tradition, let him be called by what name he will, by so doing, steps down from the protestant rock, passes over the line which separates Pro- testantism from Popery,* and can give no valid reason why he should not receive all the earlier doctrines and ceremonies of Ro- manism, upon the same authority. Hence to the protestant who understands his principles, it will constitute no argument in favor of the errors of Popery that the germs of many of them were planted at a period not more distant from the first establishment of Christi- anity, than is the age at which we live from the time when the pilgrim fathers landed on the shores of New England. We are not to suppose, however, that all the corrupt doctrines and practices of modern Popery had been invented at so early a period as the third or fourth, or even the seventh century. Thus, the absurd doctrine of transubstantiation was never dreamed of till two or three centu- ries later than the age of Gregory I. or Boniface III. ; the practice of selling indulgences had not then arisen, and the services of public worship were everywhere performed, not exclusively in Latin, as in after times, but in the vernacular languages of the various nations of Christendom ; still it must be confessed, that a large portion of these errors, including the enforced celibacy of the clergy, the prac- tice of monkery, the worship of saints and relics, &c., had sprung up amidst the darkness of the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, and were extensively believed and practised, prior to their consolidation into a system, in consequence of the establishment of the papal supremacy. * It is not to be wondered at, that the professed advocates of Popery should claim a place for tradition equal, if not superior, in authority to the written word of God ; but it is truly lamentable to hear members and ministers of a Christian denomina- tion, which has heretofore won many laurels as one of the most successful defenders of Protestantism (which has been adorned, in past ages, by such men as a Jewell, a Chillingworth, and a Lcighton, and is now adorned by a Whately, a Macllvaine, and a Milnor), boldly advocating the popish doctrine, that not the Bible only, but, in the words of Dr. Newman, " these two things, the Bible and Catholic traditions, form together, a united rule of faith." " Catholic tradition," remarks this celebrated advocate of the Oxford theology, " is a divine informer in religious things, it is the unwritten word ;" and again, " Catholic tradition is a divine source of knowledge in all things relating to faith." The same sentiments are repeated in a still stronger form by Dr. Keble, another of the champions of this new theology : " Tradition" says he, " is infallible, it is the unwritten word of God, and of necessity demands of us the same respect which his written word does, and precisely for the same reason because it is his word." (See D'Aubigne on the Oxford Theology.) 69 CHAPTER II. ORIGIN OF ROMISH ERRORS CONTINUED -CELIBACY OF THE CLERGY. 5. ONE of the marks by which the great "Apostasy," pre- dicted by St. Paul in the second epistle to Timothy, was to be known was " FORBIDDING TO MARRY." (1 Tim. iv. 3.) The same apostle, in describing the qualifications of a bishop, says, " This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, THE HUSBAND OP ONE WIFE ; given to hospitality ; one that ruleth well his own house, having his CHILDREN in subjection, with all gravity ; for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God ?" (1 Tim. iii. 1, &c.) In describing to Titus the qualifications of the elders to be ordained in every city, he says, " If any be blameless, THE HUSBAND OF ONE WIFE, HAVING FAITH- FUL CHILDREN (who are) not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God : a lover of hospi- tality," &c. (Titus i. 5, &c.) In these passages Paul is specially describing the qualifications of an elder or bishop. In the words of the judicious Scott, the commentator, he " showed, very particu- larly, what manner of persons these bishops or elders ought to be." Among other qualifications, it is said he " must be," or ought to be, (Greek, Set) " the hifsband of one wife" Some have inferred from this text," says Dr. Scott, " that stated pastors ought to be married as a prerequisite to their office, but this seems to be a mistake of a general permission, connected with a restriction for an express command. It is, however, abundantly sufficient to prove that mar- riage is entirely consistent with the most sacred functions, and the most exemplary holiness, and to subvert the very basis of the ANTI- CHRISTIAN PROHIBITION of marriage to the clergy, with all its con- current, and consequent, and INCALCULABLE MISCHIEFS."* * See Scott on 1 Tim. iii. 2, Although, upon the whole, I am not disposed to find fault with the opinion of Dr. Scott, that this is a permission rather than a command ; yet, in order to show that others have thought differently, I will ven- ture (at the risk of hastening the diligence of some good bachelor " bishop or elder " to become " the husband of one wife") to cite the following from the re- cent valuable work of the Rev. Dr. Elliott on Romanism, volume i., page 399. " The terms made use of in these passages mean more than a bare permission to marry, or a bare tolerance in office to those who are married. The words used denote duty or necessity. The impersonal verb iet, oporlet, par est, necesse est, it is becoming, it is right, it is necessary. The expression of the apostle (1 Tim. iii. 2) is iei ovv TOV titiOKOitav pias yv*a *ay AIOKOJT, .-a* Atf.w^ awr(Xr;7rr&>f ya/u xpupevos. Clem. Alexand. I. 552. J Ancient Christianity, p. ] 68. j For a fuller account of these disorders, see Cyprian ip his r eplf to Poizp 72 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK u. Consecrating and crowning of Nuns. Prohibition of marriage alter ordination. These female devotees have ever since been distinguished by the name of Nuns, in the Latin, Nonna, a word said to be of Egyptian origin, and to signify a virgin. In after ages a variety of ceremo- nies were observed, and still continue to be observed, upon a female taking upon herself the vow of perpetual chastity, or ' taking the veil,' as it is now called. The first of the adjoining plates represents the crowning of professed nuns, with what is called the crown of virginity,' during which ceremony the anthem is sung, Veni Sponsi Christi, &c., " Come, O spouse of Christ, and receive the crown." In former times, it was customary to place a crown upon the heads of those who died virgins, and this custom is still observed in some popish countries. The other plate represents the reading, by the officiating priests, of the anathema against false nuns, a most awful curse against such as should violate their vows of virginity, and against all who should endeavor to seduce them from their vow, or should seize upon any portion of their wealth. (See Engraving.) 9. But to return to our narrative. The next step in this per- nicious innovation, after the prohibition of second marriages to the clergy, was to forbid them to marry at all, after ordination. A decree to this effect was passed at a council held at Ancyra, in Galatia, A. D. 314. By this decree, all ministers were forbidden to marry after ordination, except in the case of those who at the time of their ordination, made an explicit profession of their intention to marry, as being in their case unavoidable. In such a case a license was granted to the candidate to marry, and securing him from future censures for so doing. If, however, a candidate for ordina- tion was already married, he was not obliged to put away his wife, unless in the following singular exceptions, viz. : if he had married "a widow, or a divorced person, or a harlot, or a slave, or an actress."* In either of these cases, the wife must be first put away, as a condition of ordination. The fact that a widow, when married a second time, is here placed in the same category with a harlot or a slave, shows that at this time matrimony had grown so much into disrepute, that second marriages were considered a disgrace and a reproach. At the council of Nice, held A. D. 325, it is related by Socrates, the ecclesiastical historian, that a rule was proposed, requiring all clergymen who had married before their ordination, to withdraw from their wives, or cease to cohabit with them ; and the color of the account leads us to suppose that this regulation, which, in respect to the church universal, was called " a new law," although not new to several of the churches, was near to have been carried, and probably would have been, had not the good sense and right feeling of one of the bishops present defeated the fanaticism of the others. Paphnutius, a bishop of the Thebais, a confessor, having lost an eye in the late persecution, and himself en ascetic, rose, and * Can. Apost. 17 : 'O Xnpav \a0>v, fj CK/Jr/JArj^cvijy, I) iraipav, j olxinv, 3) riv tiri ( vi> ivvarai elvai {jnVojroj 3) irpca/ivTCpos, ?; itdxovos, 5) S\us, rov jtaraAdvov rev leparuov. Crowning of Nuns upon taking their Vows. Reading the Anathema against such as should prove false. CHAP, n.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 75 Further proposal negatived at the Council of Nice. Chrysostom on the ten virgins. with spirit asserted the honor and purity of matrimony, and insisted upon the inexpediency of any such law, likely as it was to bring many into a snare. For a moment reason triumphed ; the proposal was dropped, nor anything farther attempted by the insane party, beyond the giving a fresh sanction to the established rule or tradi- tion, that none should marry after ordination.* 10. Notwithstanding this decision of the council, however, the most extravagant notions prevailed, relative to the suppposed sanc- tity and merit of virginity, even among the most eminent of the Nicene fathers.f As a lamentable proof of this fact, as also the early corruptions of the doctrine of salvation by " grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," and the consequent danger of trusting to the most eminent of the early fathers in points of Chris- tian doctrine, the following extract is presented from an exposition of the parable of the ten virgins, from the pen of the celebrated and eloquent Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople. Among Protestant writers, the " oil in the lamps " has generally been understood to signify the principle of divine grace in the heart, or that genuine piety which distinguishes true Christians from mere pretenders or professors. The explanation of Chrysostom is widely different : " What !" says he, " hast thou not understood from the instance of the ten virgins, in the gospel, how that those who, although they were proficients in virginity, yet not possessing the [virtue of] alms- giving, were excluded from the nuptial banquet. Truly, I am ashamed, and blush and weep when I hear of the foolish virgin. When I hear the very name, I blush to think of one who, after she had reached such a point of virtue, after she had gone through the training of virginity, after she had thus winged the body aloft toward heaven, after she had contended for the prize with the powers on high (the angels), after she had undergone the toil, and had trod- den under foot the fires of pleasure, to hear such a one named, and justly named, a fool, because that, after having achieved the greater labors (of virtue), she should be wanting in the less ! Now, the fire (of the lamps) is VIRGINITY, and the oil is ALMSGIVING. And, in like manner as the flame, unless supplied with a stream of oil, disap- pears, so virginity, unless it have almsgiving, is extinguished. But now, who are the vendors of this oil ? The poor who, for receiving alms, sit about the doors of the church. And for how much is it to be bought ? for what you will. I set no price upon it, lest, in doing so, I should exclude the indigent. For, so much as you have, make this purchase. Hast thou a penny ? purchase heaven, ctyoQctaov iov ovgavov ; not, indeed, as if heaven were cheap ; but the Master is indulgent. Hast thou not even a penny ? give a cup of cold water, for he hath said, &c. Heaven is on sale, and in the * Socrates Eccles. Hist., lib. i., c. 11. See Greek extract in Gieseler, vol. i., page 279, note 4. f Nicenefathers. This term is generally applied to Athanasius, Basil, Chrysostpm, Gregory Nyssen, Gregory Nazianzen, Ambrose, and other eminent ecclesiastical writers who flourished about the time of the council of Nice. 76 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK a. A strange exposition. Virginity and almsgiving. market, and yet we mind it not ! Give a crust and take back para- dise ; give the least, and receive the greatest ; give the perishable, receive the imperishable ; give the corruptible, receive the incor- ruptible. If there were a fair, and plenty of provisions to be had, at the cheapest rate, all to be bought for a song, would ye not realize your means, and postpone other business, and secure to your- selves a share in such dealing ? Where, then, things corruptible are in view, do ye show such diligence, and where the incorruptible, such sluggishness, and such proneness to fall behind ? Give to the needy, so that, even if thou sayest nothing for thyself, a thousand tongues may speak in thy behalf; thy charities standing up and pleading for thee. Alms are the redemption of the soul, IVTQOV yvxys EOTIV sierjfjoowjj. And, in like manner, as there are set vases of water at the church gates, for washing the hands ; so are beggars sitting there, that thou mayest (by their means), wash the hands of thy soul. Hast thou washed thy palpable hands in water ; wash the hands of thy soul in almsgiving ! 11. "But what is it which, after so many labors, these vir- gins hear ? I know you not ! which is nothing less than to say that virginity, vast treasure as it is, may be useless ! Think of them (the foolish virgins), as shut out, after undergoing such labors, after reining in incontinence, after running a course of rivalry with the celestial orders, after spurning the interests of the present life, after sustaining the scorching heat, after having leapt the bound (in the gymnasium), after having winged their way from earth to heaven, after they had not broken the seal of the body (a phrase of much significance), and having obtained possession, of the form of vir- ginity (the eternal idea of divine purity), after having wrestled with angels, after trampling upon the imperative impulses of the body, after forgetting nature, after reaching, in the body, the perfections of the disembodied state, after having won, and held, the vast and unconquerable possession of virginity, after all this, then they hear Depart from me, I know you not ! " Think then what the labor is which this course of life exacts ! and yet, even those who have undergone all this, may hear the words Depart from me, I never knew you ! And see how great a virtue virginity is, seeing that she hath for her sister, almsgiving ! having nothing that can ever be more arduous, but will be above all. Wherefore it was that these (foolish virgins) entered not in, because they had not, along with their virginity almsgiving ! Thou hast then that efficacious mode of penance, almsgiving, which is able to break the chains of thy sins ; but thou hast also a way of penitence, more ready, by which thou mayest rid thyself of thy sins. Pray every hour !"* This extract is long, but valuable, on account of the proof that it furnishes, that, in what is called the Nicene age, the corruptions afterward embodied in the system of Popery had made the most * Chrysostom, Homily iii., on Repentance. CHAP, n.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 77 Slricius, bishop of Rome, decrees celibacy. The Rhemish Testament and its Popish annotators. alarming progress. Paul had said three centuries before, " the mystery of iniquity doth already work," and now the leaven of cor- ruption was rapidly diffusing itself over the whole mass. 12. At length, toward the close of the fourth century, Siricius, who held the See of Rome from 385 to 398, issued his decrees, strictly enjoining celibacy on the clergy, and several Western synods echoed the mandates of Rome. As the bishop of Rome was not at this time regarded as the head of the church, these laws were of course not received as obligatory upon all, and in the East especi- ally, notwithstanding the superstitious veneration attached to celi- bacy, these decrees, according to Gieseler (vol. i., p. 280), were rejected. Though the decrees of Siricius and his successors were gene- rally obeyed in Rome, and throughout Italy, yet large numbers of the French, German, Spanish, and English clergy continued, for several centuries longer, to avail themselves of that portion of their scriptural right which had been left them by the council of Nice, notwithstanding the exertions of successive bishops and popes of Rome to induce them to yield up those rights and become their obedient vassals. How blind must be that prejudice which does not perceive, in this constant warfare of the proud prelates of Rome (both before and after the epoch of the papal supremacy) against God's own institution of matrimony, a plain mark of Anti- Christ ; an evident proof that Popery, when fully developed, is that Apostasy predicted by St. Paul, when he described it as " FORBIDDING TO MARRY !" In future centuries, we shall see the horrible vices, and almost universal corruption of morals among the popish clergy, which arose from thus setting aside the plain direction of inspira- tion " A BISHOP MUST BE THE HUSBAND OP ONE WIFE." 13. The doctrine of the Romish church, forbidding the clergy to marry, is so evidently contrary to Scripture, that it is scarcely necessary to say a word in its refutation. The only wonder with the bible Christian will be, where they can find even a shadow of an argument upon which to base so unnatural and antiscriptural a prohibition. The only appearance of argument offered by Romish writers is, that mentioned by the Jesuit annotators in the Rhemish Testament* in their note on Titus iii. G. " If the studious reader peruse all antiquity he shall find all notable bishops and priests of God's church to have been single, or continent from their wives if any were married before they came to the clergy. So were all * Rhemish Testament. As I shall have future occasion to refer to this popish version of the New Testament, I would here remark, that it appeared in 153:2, and was printed at Rheims, accompanied by copious notes by Romish authors. The Old Testament was translated like the Rhemish Testament, not from the original Greek and Hebrew, but from the Latin version, called the Vulgate. It was printed at Douay, in France, in 1610, for which reason the Rhemish New and the Douay Old Testament, now generally bound together, are called the Douay Bible. The popish doctrines of the notes to the Rhemish Testament, were ably confuted in a work of Dr. William Fulke, which appeared in the year 1617. 78 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n. Rhemisli Teatament against married clergy. The early reformers, Vigilaiitius and Jovinian. the apostles after they followed Christ, as Jerome witnesscth, affirming that our Lord loved John specially for his virginity." In their note on 1 Tim. iii. 2, they sadly abuse those who, in the early ages, adopted the same opinion as that advocated by Taylor and Elliott in the extract quoted in the note on page 69 of this chapter. I must apologize for the grossness of the extract from these popish authors. It deserves quoting as a literary curiosity, and if at all, must be quoted as it is. The following are their words : " Certain bishops of Vigilantius' sect, whether upon false construction of this text, or through the filthiness of their fleshly lust, would 'take none to the clergy, except they would be married first, not believing, said Jerome (advers. Vigilant, cap. 1), that any single man liveth chastely ; showing how holily they live themselves, that suspect ill of every man, and will not give the Sacrament, of order, to the clergy, unless they see their wives have great bellies, and children wailing at their mothers' breasts. Our Protestants, though they be of Vigilantius'* sect, yet they are scarce to come so far, to command every priest to be married. Nevertheless they mislike them that will not marry, so much the worse, and they sus- pect ill of every single person in the Church, thinking the gift of chastity to be very rare among them, and they do not only make the state of marriage equal to chaste single life, with the Heretic Jovinian,* but they are bold to say sometimes, that the bishop or * Vigilantius and Jovinian. These two early reformers who are spoken of so contemptuously by these popish writers, though they lived as early as the fifth century, are, for their enlightened zeal in opposing the corruptions of Christianity, which were already rife in their age, worthy to be ranked with Wickliffe, or Luther, or Calvin. The principal heresy of Jovinian was, in the words of Jerome, " this shocking doctrine, that a virgin is no better than a married woman/' The emperor Honorius cruelly ordered him to be whipped with scourges armed with lead, and banished to a desolate island, where he died about A. D. 406. Vigilan- tius flourished a few years later than Jovinian. He was a learned and eminent presbyter of a Christian church, and took up his pen to oppose the growing super- stition. His book, which unfortunately has not survived the wreck of time, was directed against the institution of monkery the celibacy of the clergy praying for the dead, and to the martyrs paying adoration to their relics "celebrating their vigils and lighting up candles to them after the manner of the heathens. St Jerome, who is esteemed a luminary of the Catholic church, and who was a zealous advocate for all these superstitious rites, undertook the task of confuting Vigilantius, whom he styles " a most blasphemous heretic," and then proceeds to compare him to the hydra, to Cerberus, &c. of the Pagan mythology, and con- cludes with calling him the organ of the devil. The following short extract from Jerome's answer will satisfactorily explain the heresy of Vigilantius : " That the honours paid to the rotten bones of the saints ana martyrs by adoring, kissing, wrapping them up in silk and vessels of gold, lodging them in their churches, and lighting up wax candles before them, after the manner of the heathen, were the ensigns of idolatry that the celibacy of the clergy was a heresy, and their vows of chastity the seminary of lewdness ' Dicit * * * continentiam, haeresim ; pu- dicitiam, libidinis seminarium.' (Jerome contra VigHantium.') that to pray to the dead, or to desire the prayers of the dead, was superstitious, inasmuch as the souls of departed saints and martyrs were at present in some particular place from which they could not remove themselves at pleasure, so as to be everywhere pre- sent attending to the prayers of their votaries that the sepulchres of the martyrs CHAP, n.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 79 Early instances of married clergymen. Peter, Cyprian, Gregory, Ciecilius, Numidicus, tc. priest may do his duty and charge better married than single." They add that the exposition given by them is " only agreeable to the practice of the whole Church, the definition of ancient councils, the doctrine of all the Fathers without exception, and the Apostle's tradition." To this it is sufficient to reply that the apostle Peter was married, for the New Testament makes mention of his wife (Matt. viii. 14), and there is no scriptural proof that any one of the apostles lived and died single, or declined to cohabit with their wives. In relation to the assertion that the clergy in the early ages of the church lived in celibacy, it will be sufficient to demon- strate its glaring falsity to cite the following few out of multitudes of instances that could easily be cited of married bishops and presby- ters in the first three or four centuries. 14. Valens, presbyter of Philippi, mentioned by Polycarp, was a married man.* Choeremon, bishop of Nilus, an exceedingly old man, was mar- ried. He fled with his wife to Arabia, in time of persecution, under Maximinus the tyrant, where they both perished together, as Eus"e- bius informs us.f Cyprian himself was also a married man, as Pagi, the annotator and corrector of Baronius, confesses. J Caecilius, the presbyter, through whose instrumentality Cyprian was converted to Christianity, was a married man. So also was Numidicus, another presbyter of Carthage, of whom Cyprian tells us the following remarkable story in his thirty-fifth epistle, or, as some number it, the fortieth : " That in the Decian persecution he saw his own wife, with many other martyrs, burned by his side ; while he himself lying half-burned, and covered with ought not to be worshipped, nor their fasts and vigils to be observed and, finally, that the signs and wonders said to be wrought by their relics, and at their sepul- chres, served to no good end or purpose of religion." These were the sacrilegious tenets, as Jerome terms them, which he could not hear with patience, or without the utmost grief, and for which he declares Vigi- lantius " a detestable heretic, venting his foul-mouthed blasphemies against the relics of the martyrs, which were working daily signs and wonders." He tells him to " go into the churches of those martyrs, and he would be cleansed from the evil spirit which possessed him, and feel himself burnt, not by those wax candles which so much offended him, but by invisible flames, which would force that demon that talked within him to confess himself to be the same who had per- sonated a Mercury, perhaps, or a Bacchus, or some other of the heathen deities." (See Introductory discourse to Dr. Conyers Middleton's free inquiry into the mira- culous powers of the early ages, page 132.) This is a long note, but it is worthy of the room it occupies, as an evidence that in very early ages there were not wanting faithful men to protest against the growing corruptions, and as a speci- men of the doctrine as well as the spirit of some of the boasted fathers of the church, and consequently the danger of trusting to them as guides in relation to spiritual matters. * Polycarp, Ep. ad Philip., n. 11. f Euseb. Eccl. Hist. b. vi. c. 42. JPagi. Grit, in Baron, ad ann. p. 248, n. 4. Pontius, Vit. Cypr. 80 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n, Gregory, bishop of Nazianzum, a husband and a father. Worship of the Virgin Mary. stones, and left for dead, was found expiring by his daughter, who drew him out of the rubbish, and brought him to life again."* Gregory of Nazianzum, a notable bishop, was father of the other Gregory who succeeded him, as appears from the oration which the latter made in his favor. He says, " That a good and diligent bishop serves in the ministry nothing the worse for being married, but rather the better, and with more ability lo do good." Of his mother he says, " That she was given to his father of God, and be- came not only his helper, but also his leader both by word and by deeds, training him to the best things ; and though in other things it was best for her to be subject to him, on account of the right of marriage, yet in religion and godliness she doubted not to become his leader and teacher."f From the above well-authenticated instances of the marriage of the clergy in the earliest ages of the church, it is evident that Romanists are no more sustained by the example of primitive times than by the New Testament, in their antiscriptural and un- natural prohibition of marriage to the clergy.J CHAPTER III. / ORIGIN OP ROMISH ERRORS CONTINUED. WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN MARY. 15. WE have already seen the extravagant opinions that were entertained in the fourth century, as to the merit of virginity. Before exhibiting the natural result of such unscriptural notions in the almost deification of the Virgin Mary, we shall present yet another specimen of the manner in which the graces of rhetoric and the charms of eloquence were employed in that age to exalt to the very skies, those who had devoted themselves to a virgin life. It is from a tract of the eloquent Chrysostom or golden mouth. " The virgin, when she goes abroad, should present herself as the bright specimen of all philosophy : and strike all with amazement, as if now an angel had descended from heaven ; or just as if one of the cherubim had appeared upon earth, and were turning the eyes of all * Xumidicus, presbyter uxorem adhaerentem latere suo, concrematam simul cum caeteris, vel conservatam magis dixerim. laetns aspexit. Cypr., epist. 35 or 40. f AXXo xai ap%7iyos yivcrat epyi.y rt xat XoyM vpo{ ra Kfariom ii' iavrrjs ayovaa 717$ tvaeficia;, ov* aia^vvoji.tvr) v^pe^em savrrjv not SiSaa>ca\f>. Greg. Nazianzen, in Epitaph. Patris. I See Elliott on Romanism, ii. 427. In addition to the above, Dr. Elliott cites a large number of similar instances. CHAP, ra.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 81 Chrysostom's description of the sanctity of a professed virgin. Singular notions about the Virgin Mary men upon himself. So should all those who look upon the virgin be thrown into admiration, and stupor, at the sight of her sanctity. And when she advances, she moves as through a desert ; or when she sits at church, it is with the profoundest silence, her eye catches nothing of the objects around her ; she sees neither women nor men, but her spouse only ; and who shall not marvel at her ? who shall not be in ecstacy, in thus beholding the angelic life, embodied in a female form ? And who is it that shall dare approach her ? Where is the man who shall venture to touch this flaming spirit ? Nay rather, all stand aloof, willing or unwilling ; all are fixed in amaze- ment, as if there were before their eyes a mass of incandescent and sparkling gold ! Gold hath indeed by nature its splendor ; but when saturate with fire, how admirable, nay even fearful is it ! And thus, when a soul such as this occupies the body, not only shall the spectacle be wondered at by men, but even by angels." While such were the opinions entertained and expressed of the " angelic virtue " of virginity, we are not surprised to learn that it was regarded as the very height of presumption and impiety to doubt whether the Virgin Mary aeiTiccodevos ever parted with this pre- cious jewel. 16. About the middle of the fourth century, as appears from cer- tain expressions in Epiphanius, Gregory Nyssen, and Augustine, an opinion arose that there were in the temple at Jerusalem, virgins consecrated to God, among whom Mary grew up in vows of per- petual virginity. Her marriage with Joseph, the first named of these writers speaks of as only formal, and Jerome describes him as an ascetic from his youth.* The opinion was strenuously main- tained by them, and most of their cotemporaries, that Mary con- tinued a virgin till her death. Others, however, adopting the more natural interpretation of Matt, i., 25, and xiii., 55, 56, contended that she had afterward lived in a state of honorable matrimony with her husband, and that she had borne other children. Those who held this opinion, were enumerated among the heretics, and were called anti-dico-marianites, or opposers of the purity of Mary. It would be amusing, if it were not painful, to notice the fanciful and puerile conceits of the writers of this age, when endeavoring to establish the notion of the perpetual virginity of Mary. They even employed arguments to prove that in some wonderful way she gave birth to the Saviour, without losing her virginity, and some of them under- took to show in what way this was accomplished. Thus, says Ambrose, commenting on Isaiah vii., 14, " Hsec est virgo quas in. utero concepit," &c., " This is the virgin who hath conceived, and the virgin who hath brought forth a son. For the prophet not only saith that a virgin shall conceive, but also that a virgin shall bring forth." Then in the fanciful manner of applying Scripture current in that age, he makes a reference to Ezekiel xliv., 1, 2, and asks " but * See Gieseler, vol. i., page 273, note 13, for references and original quota- tions from the fathers named. 82 HISTORY OP ROMANISM. [BOOS n. The CoJIyridians or early worshippers of the Virgin. Papists all such now what is that gate of the sanctuary, that outward gate toward the East, through which no one shall enter, but the Lord God of Israel ? Is not Mary this gate, through whom the Redeemer hath entered into the world ? concerning whom it is written, quia Dominus per" transibit per earn, et erit clausa post partum, because a virgin hath conceived and brought forth." A similar fanciful allusion to this passage in Ezekiel, by Jerome, may be found in the note which I must be spared the task of translating.* 17. When we observe, on the one hand, the earnest manner in which these fathers contend for the perpetual virginity of Mary, and on the other the extravagant honors attached to the virgin state, we need not be surprised that the notion soon became prevalent among some that " the mother of God," as she was now frequently denominated, was herself worthy of. the honors of divine worship. Accordingly, about this time, we find that a sect sprang up, whose peculiar tenet it was, that the Virgin Mary should be adored in worship, and that religious honors should be paid to her. They were called Collyridians, from collyridce, the cakes which they offered to the Virgin. However naturally this error might spring from the notions maintained by those who were regarded as the orthodox fathers of the church in this age, yet it is a proof that the Popery of the present day would even in that corrupt age have been regarded as heresy, that the members of this sect were branded by Epiphanius and others of the Nicene fathers as heretics. If one of them were now to arise from his grave, and pass through any of the Catholic countries of Europe, he would soon discover a wide- spread system of idolatrous worship of the Virgin, far more debas- ing than that which they condemned, because accompanied with the idolatrous use of images, a flagrant impiety with which these ancient heretics were not charged. 18. In proof of this last assertion, I would refer to the fact, noticed by almost every modern traveller, that in Italy, Spain, Austria, and other popish countries of Europe, it is common to see images of the Virgin and child, not only in the churches, but also affixed in conspicuous places by the road-side, to receive the hom- age and adoration of the passer-by. Some of these Romish idols are regarded with greater reverence than others, and are conse- quently visited by a greater number of votaries. Thus in England, the land of our fathers, previous to the glorious reformation from * Gieseler, vol. i., page 287, note 25. " Ambrosius Ep. 42, ad Siricium P. HEBC est virgo quas in utero concepit: virgo quas peperit filium. Sic enim scriptum est : Ecce virgo in utero accipiet, et pariet filium ; non enim concep- turam tantummodo virginem, sed et parituram virginem dixit. Quae autem est ilia porta sanctuarii. porta ilia exterior ad Orientem, quae manet clausa ; et nemo, inquit, pertransibit per earn, nisi solus Deus Israel (Ezech. xliv. 2)? Nonne haec porta quia Dominus pertransibit per earn, et erit clausa post partum ; quia virgo concepit et genuit. Hieronymus adv. Pelagianos, lib. ii. (0pp. ed. Martian. T. IV. P. II. p. 512): Solus enim Christus clausas portas vulvas virginalis aperuit, quae tamen clausaa jugiter permanserunt. Haec est porta orientalis clausa, per quam solus Pontifex ingreditur et egreditur et nihilominus semper clausa est." Wayside Shrine of the Virgin. Calahrian Minstrels playing in her honor. Worship of the Image of the Virgin in a Church. CHAP, m.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 85 Minstrels playing tunes to the Virgin and child as though the idols were conscious. Popery, there was a famous image of the Virgin at Walsingham, in the county of Norfolk, which was visited by thousands of devo- tees, from the most distant parts of the island, notwithstanding they had similar idols in their own neighborhoods, and perhaps in their own dwellings, occupying the same place as the penates, or house- hold gods of the ancient pagans of Greece and Rome. In Italy, where Popery is seen without disguise, each of these images is, by the common people, regarded as a distinct object of worship, and it is a very common sight to see a company of the Calabrese minstrels performing their national devotional airs before them, especially about the time of Christmas, and pleasing themselves with the idea that the tunes are the same that were played by the shepherds at the incarnation of the Saviour, on the plains of Bethlehem. A recent traveller in Italy relates a fact which shows that images are looked upon as real objects of worship, and treated as though they were really conscious of the idolatrous honors paid to them, notwithstanding, in the expressive language of Scripture, " they have eyes but they see not, they have ears but they hear not. They that make them are like unto them ; so is every one that trusteth in them." (Psalm cxv., 5, &c.) In Rome, according to this traveller,* " it is a popular opinion that-the Virgin Mary is very fond and an excellent judge of music. I received this information," says he, " on a Christmas morning, when I was looking at two poor Calabrian pipers doing their utmost to please her and the infant in her arms. They played for a full hour to one of her images which stands at the corner of a street. All the other statues of the Virgin which are placed in the streets are serenaded in the same manner every Christmas morning. On my inquiring into the meaning of that ceremony, I was told the above-mentioned circum- stance of her character. My informer was a pilgrim, who stood listening with great devotion to the pipers. He told me at the same time, that the Virgin's taste was too refined to have much satisfac- tion in the performance of these poor Calabrians, which was chiefly intended for the infant ; and he desired me to remark, that the tunes were plain and simple, and such as might naturally be supposed agreeable to the ear of a child of his time of life" The accompa- nying engraving is a beautiful representation of such a scene as is described in the foregoing interesting extract from the work of Dr. Moore. (See Engraving.) 19. Though many centuries elapsed before an idolatry so gross as this was practised, even in apostate Rome, yet as early as the fifth century, many circumstances were tending toward this idola- trous reverence of the Virgin Mary. In the fifth century, a contro- versy arose relative to the title which it was proper to apply to her, which in its result tended, probably, more than anything else, to increase the superstitious veneration with which she had Jong been regarded. The occasion of this controversy was furnished by the * Dr. Moore, in his View of Society and Manners in Italy. 86 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOKH. Nestorian controversy on the title " mother of God." Feasts in honor of the Virgin- presbyter Anastasius, a friend of Nestorius. This presbyter, in a public discourse, delivered, A. D. 428, declaimed warmly against the title of eoroxo?, or mother of God, which was now frequently attributed to the Virgin Mary. He at the same time gave it as his opinion that she should rather be called XQIOTOTOXOS, i. e.. mother of Christ, since the Deity can neither be born nor die, and of conse- quence the son of man alone could derive his birth from an earthly parent. Nestorius applauded these sentiments, and explained and defended them in several discourses. The result of the Nestorian controversy, as it was called, was that at the third general council, which was held at Ephesus, in 431, and at which Cyril, the powerful and imperious antagonist of Nestorius. presided, the doctrine was condemned, and its defender branded as another Judas, deposed from his episcopal dignity, and sent into exile, where he finished his days in the deserts of Thebais in Egypt.* This dispute, as is truly remarked by Gieseler, first led men to set the Virgin Mary above all other saints as " the mother of God." To those who reflect upon the natural tendency of an exciting con- troversy to drive men to extremes, it will not be matter of wonder that henceforward much more was said and done in honor of the " blessed Virgin," " mother of God," and " ever a Virgin," than at any previous period. Among the images with which the magnifi- cent churches began now to be adorned, that of the Virgin Mary holding the child Jesus in her arms, in consequence of the Nesto- rian controversy, obtained the first and principal place. 20. In the following century, two festivals were established in her honor, the festum purificationis, or festival of the " purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary," on the second of February (Candlemas day), and the festum annunciationis, the festival of the annunciation on the twenty-fifth day of March, which has been popularly called Lady Day.f Mosheim says, with appearance of reason, that the former festival was established with a design " to remedy the unea- siness of heathen converts, on account o'f the loss of their lupercalia, or feasts of the god Pan, which\liad formerly been observed in the * An amusing anecdote is related concerning the Emperor Constantine Copro- nymus, who lived more than three hundred years after Nestorius, which well illus- trates the unreasonable importance which was attached for ages to these vain dis- putes about mere words. It must be remembered that in this dispute both sides were strictly orthodox in the modern sense of the word. Both sides admitted that Jesus Christ is God as well as man ; that his hnman nature was born of the Virgin, and that his divine nature existed from eternity ; both sides admitted the distinction between the two natures, and their union in the person of Christ. Where then lay the difference ? It could be nowhere but in phraseology. Yet this notable ques- tion raised a conflagration in the church, and proved, in the East, the source of infinite mischief, hatred, violence, and persecution. The Emperor happened one day to ask the patriarch of Constantinople, " What harm would there be in calling the Virgin Mary the mother of Christ ?" ''God preserve your majesty" answered the patriarch hastily, with great emotion, "from entertaining such a thought ! Do you not see how Nestorius is anathematized for this by the whole church ?" " I only asked for my own information," replied the Emperor, evidently with some alarm, " but let it go no farther." f Bingham's Antiquities, vol. ix., page 170. CHAP. iv. J POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 87 Egypt the birth-place of Monkery, whether heathen or Christian. month of February."* The latter served equally well as a substi- tute for the festival of the ancient heathen goddess. Cybele, to whom the 25th of March, or Lady Day, was formerly dedicated. There is indeed a strong resemblance, in many points, between the pagan worship of Cybele, and the popish worship of the Virgin. The same appellation of " queen of heaven," which is frequently applied by papists to Mary, was generally applied by the ancient Romans to Cybele. CHAPTER IV. ORIGIN OF ROMISH ERRORS CONTINUED MONKERY. 21. MONKERY, like most of the characteristic marks of Anti- christ, bears the most indubitable evidences of its heathen origin. Egypt, the rank soil in which it sprang up, had long been the fruit- ful parent of a race of gloomy and misanthropic eremites. It was in that country that this morose discipline had its rise ; and it is observable, that Egypt has, in all times, as it were by an immu- table law, or disposition of nature, abounded with persons of a melancholy complexion, and produced, in proportion to its extent, more gloomy spirits than any other part of the world. It was here that the Essenes and the Therapeuta?, those dismal and gloomy sects, dwelt principally, long before the coming of Christ ; as also many others of the Ascetic tribe, who, led by a certain melancholy turn of mind, and a delusive notion of rendering themselves more acceptable to the Deity by their austerities, withdrew themselves from human society, and from all the innocent pleasures and com- forts of life. Strabo, Arrian, Diodorus Siculus, Porphyry, as well as several of the fathers, especially Clement of Alexandria, and Augustine, have handed down incidental notices of the philosophy and manners of the Indian and Egyptian gymnosophists, such as are amply sufficient for the purpose of identifying the ancient, and the more recent the Buddhist, and the Christian ascetic institute. These professors of a divine philosophy, like their Christian imita- tors, went nearly naked ; they occupied caverns or chinks in the rocks ; they abstained entirely from animal food ; they prpfessed inviolable virginity ; they practised penance ; they passed the greater part of their time in mute meditation ; they imposed silence and absolute submission upon their disciples; they professed the doctrine, that the perfection of human nature consists in an annihi- * See Mosheim, cent, vi., part 2, chapter iv. 88 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n. Resemblance between the pagan and Christian gyninosophists- Paul the hermit, Anthony, HilarioB. lation of the passions, and every affection which nature has im- planted, whether in the animal or the mental constitution : abnega- tion was, with them, the one point of wisdom and virtue, and a re- absorption of the human soul into the abyss of the divine mind, was the happy end of the present system, to the pure and wise. 22. Now, one might reasonably have supposed and expected, that a system of doctrine and practice such as this, if it were to come at all under the powerful influence of Christianity, must have admitted some extensive modifications ; but it was not so in fact : a few phrases and another dialect, or slang, adopted, make almost all the difference which serves to distinguish the ancient gymno- sophist from the Christian anchoret. The more rigid and he- roic of the Christian anchorets dispensed with all clothing except a rug, or a few palm-leaves round the loins. Most of them ab- stained from the use of water for ablution ; nor did they usually wash or change the garments they had once put on ; thus St. An- thony bequeathed to Athanasius a skin in which his sacred person had been wrapped for half a century. They also allowed their beards and nails to grow, and sometimes became so hirsute, as to be actually mistaken for hyaenas or bears. It need not be said that celibacy was the first law of this institute, and that an abstinence the most rigid was its second law. At what time precisely, the wilderness exchanged its pagan for a Christian tenantry, it is not easy to ascertain. In some instances, no doubt, the very individuals who had begun their course as hea- then gymnosophists, ended it as Christian anchorets. But oftener, probably, the deserted cell or cavern of the savage philosopher was taken possession of by one who, having, in the neighboring cities, received the knowledge of the gospel, betook himself to the angelic life in consequence of persecutions, or of disappointments in love or in business.* 23. The most remarkable early instances of this gloomy fanaticism on record are those of Paul the hermit, who, during the persecution under Decius, about A. D. 250, betook himself to the solitary deserts of Egypt, where, for a space of more than ninety years, he lived a life more worthy of a savage animal than a human being. Anthony, an Egyptian, regarded as the founder of the monastic institution (because he first formed monks into organized bodies), who fixed his abode in the deserts of Egypt twenty or thirty years later than Paul, and died in the year 356, at the age of 105 ; and Hilarion, a Syrian youth, who took up his abode on a sandy beach, between the sea and a morass, about eight miles from Gaza, in Palestine, where he persisted in a course of the most aus- tere penance for about forty-eight years. Influenced by these eminent examples, immense multitudes be- took themselves to the desert, and innumerable monasteries were * See Taylor's Ancient Christianity, page 426, &c., with references to ancient authorities. CHAP, iv.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 89 Vast number of the monks in Egypt, &c. St. Symeon, the celebrated pillar saint. fixed in Egypt, Ethiopia, Lybia, and Syria. Some of the Egyptian abbots are spoken of as having had five, seven, or even ten thousand monks under their personal direction ; and the Thebais, as well as certain spots in Arabia, are reported to have been literally crowded with solitaries. Nearly a hundred thousand of all classes, It is said, were at one time to be found in Egypt. The western church probably could boast of no such swarms. This however is certain, that, although the enthusiasm might be at a lower ebb in one coun- try than in another, it actually affected the church universal, so .far as the extant materials of ecclesiastical history enable us to trace its rise and progress. In the west, Martin of Tours founded a monastery at Poictiers. and thus introduced monastic institutions into France. His monks were mostly of noble families, and sub- mitted to the greatest austerities both in food and raiment ; and such was the rapidity of their increase, that 2000 of them attended his funeral. In other countries, they appear to have increased hi equal proportion, and the progress of monkery has been said to have equalled the rapidity and universality of Christianity itself. Every province, and, in process of time, every city of the empire, was filled with their increasing multitudes. 24. We may learn the character of this fanaticism from a eulogy on the monastic life, composed about the middle of the fourth century by Gregory Nazianzen. There were some of these men, he tells us, " who loaded themselves with iron chains in order to bear down their bodies others who shut themselves up in cabins and appeared to nobody some continued twenty days and twenty nights without eating, often practising the half of the fast of our Lord one individual is said to have abstained entirely from speak- ing, not praising God except in thought and another passed whole years in a church, with extended hands, like an animated statue, yet ne'ver allowing himself to sleep."* One of the most renowned instances of monkish penance that is upon record is that of St. Symeon, as the papists are pleased to call him. He was a native of Syria, and devoted himself to the monkish life, in the virtues of which he is thought to have outstrip- ped all that preceded him. We are told that he lived six-and-thirty years on a pillar erected on the summit of a high mountain in Syria, from which he obtained the name of Symeon Stylites (from aivlog, a pillar). From this pillar, it is said, he never descended- except to take possession of another, which he did four times, having in the whole occupied five of them. On his last pillar, which was loftier than any of the former, being sixty feet high and three broad, he remained, according to report, fifteen years without intermission, summer and winter, day and night, exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather, in a climate subject to great and sudden changes, from the most sultry heat to piercing cold. It is said that he always stood ; the breadth of his pillar not permitting him to lie down. He * See Fleury's Eccles. Hist, book xvi. chap. 51. 90 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK 11. A strange method of serving God. 1244 bows. Spacious monasteries erected spent the day till three in the afternoon in meditation and prayer ; from that time till sunset he harangued the people who flocked to him from all countries, whom he then dismissed with his benedic- tion. He would on no account suffer females to come within his precincts not even his own mother, who is said, through mortifi- cation and grief at being refused admittance, to have died on llie third day after her arrival. To show how indefatigable he was in whatever conduced to the glory of God, and the good of mankind, he spent much time daily in the exemplary exercise of bowing so low as to make his forehead strike his toes, and so frequently, that one who went to see him, as Theodoret, the ancient ecclesiastical historian, relates, counted no fewer than 1244 times when, being more wearied in numbering than the saint was in bowing, he gave over the task of counting.* For such senseless and disgusting practices as these has this poor victim of superstition been enrolled among the calendar of saints, and down to the present day, whenever Romish writers refer to this famous pillar saint, they speak of him with the great- est reverence as SAINT Symeon. 25. Up to nearly the close of the fifth century, the monks had generally lived only in solitary retreats, and, regarded as they were as laymen, they had entertained no thoughts of assuming any rank among the sacerdotal order. Now, however, they found them- selves in a condition to claim an eminent station among the pillars of the Christian community. The mistaken piety of many led them to erect spacious and commodious edifices for the accommo- dation of the monks and holy virgins, more resembling the palaces of princes than the rude cells of the primitive monks, and at the epoch of the papal supremacy, these monasteries were numerous and powerful, especially in the neighborhood of large cities. The monks who dwelt in these convents were called Coenobites, from two Greek words, signifying to live in common. When these spacious edifices were supplied with a numerous fraternity, governed by an abbot of eminence and character, so called from a Syriac word signifying father, there often arose a jealousy between the abbot on the one hand, and the bishop on the other, in whose diocese the abbey was situated, and to whom, as things stood at first, the abbot and the friars owed spiritual subjection. Out of their mutual jealousies sprang umbrages ; and these some- times terminated in quarrels and injuries. In such cases, the abbots had the humiliating disadvantage to be under the obligation of canonical obedience to him, as the ordinary of the place, with whom they were at variance. That they might deliver themselves from these inconveniences, real or pretended, and might be independent * Those who wish to peruse a fuller account of these miserable euthusiasts, and the absurd legends of their wonderful miracles, may consult Theodoret's Ec- clesiastical History ; Jerom. Vita Pauli Erem. ; Middleton's Free Inquiry into the miraculous powers, &c., p. 164-168 ; and Taylor's Ancient Christianity, p. 461, &c. CHAP, iv.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606 91 Monks and abbots become the tools of the pope. Gregory's inhuman severity to a poor monk of their rivals, they applied to Rome, one after another, for a release from this slavery, as they called it, by being taken under the pro- tection of St. Peter. The proposal was with avidity accepted at Rome. That politic court saw immediately that nothing could be better calculated for supporting papal power. Whoever obtains privileges is obliged, in order to secure his privileges, to maintain the authority of the grantor. 26. Very quickly all the monasteries, great and small, abbeys, priories, and nunneries, were exempted from the jurisdiction of the bishops. The two last were inferior sorts of monasteries, and often subordinate to some abbey. Even the chapters of cathedrals, con- sisting mostly of regulars, on the like pretexts, obtained exemption. Finally, whole orders, such as the Benedictines, who were estab- lished in the sixth century, and others, were exempted. This effec- tually procured a prodigious augmentation to the pontifical author- ity, which now came to have a sort of disciplined troops in every place, defended and protected by the papacy, who, in return, were its defenders and protectors, serving as spies on the bishops as well as on the secular powers.* They made the cause of the pope their own, and represented him as a sort of god, to the ignorant multi- tude, over whom they had gained a prodigious ascendant by the notion that generally prevailed, of the sanctity of the monastic order. It is at the same time to be observed that this immunity of the monks was a fruitful source of licentiousness and disorder, and occasioned the greatest part of the vices with which they were afterward so justly charged. Previous to the elevation of Gregory I. to the See of Rome, he was himself abbot of a monastery, and exacted of the monks the strictest observance of the rules of poverty, chastity, and implicit obedience. An instance of superstitious, and, as it appears to us, inhuman severity toward one of them, is related by Gregory him- self, f and is worth recording as an illustration of the character of Gregory, and of the spirit of that superstitious age. The monk's name was Justus ; he had practised physic before entering the monastery, and had attended Gregory night and day during his long illness. Being himself taken ill, he discovered, at the point of death, to his brother, a layman, that he had three pieces of gold coin concealed in his cell. Some monks overheard him, and thereupon rummaging his cell, found, after a long search, which nothing could escape, the three pieces concealed in a medicament, and brought them to Gregory. As, by the laws of the monastery, no monk was to possess anything whatever in private, the abbot, to bring the dying monk to a due sense of his crime, and, at the same time, to deter the rest, by his punishment, from following his example, strictly forbade the other monks to afford him any kind of comfort or relief in the agonies of death, or even to approach him. Not * See Campbell's Lectures on Ecclesiastical History, page 325. t Gregory's Dialogues, lib. iv., c. 55. 92 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n. Monasteries fertile in pretended saints. satisfied with that inhuman severity, he required the brother of the unhappy monk to let him know that he died avoided, detested, and abhorred, by all his brethren. He did not even stop here, but exceeding all bounds, ordered the body of the deceased, as soon as he expired, to be thrown on a dunghill, and with it the three pieces of gold, all the monks crying out, aloud, " Thy money perish with thee !" . 27. In an age so dark as that which gave birth to Popery, it might be expected that the newly established monastic institutions would produce hundreds of gloomy religionists, whom the credulous devotion of an ignorant and superstitious multitude would enshrine as saints. Such we find was actually the fact. In the sixth century, according to Mosheim, such as wished to enforce the duties of Chris- tianity, by exhibiting examples of piety and virtue to those for whom their instructions were designed, wrote for this purpose the Lives of the saints ; and there was a considerable number of biogra- phers, both among the Greeks and Latins. Ennodius, Eugippius, Cyril of Scythopolis, Dionysius the Little, Cogitosus, and others, are to be ranked in this class. But however pious the intentions of these biographers may have been, it must be acknowledged that they executed it in a most contemptible manner. No models of rational piety are to be found among those pretended worthies, whom they propose to Christians as objects of imitation. They amuse their readers with gigantic fables and trifling romances ; the examples they exhibit are those of certain delirious fanatics, whom they call saints, men of corrupt and perverted judgment, who offered violence to reason and nature, by the horrors of an extrava- gant austerity in their own conduct, and by the severity of those singular and inhuman rules which they prescribed to others. For by what means were these men sainted? By starving themselves with a frantic obstinacy, and bearing the useless hardships of hunger, thirst, and inclement seasons, with steadfastness and perseverance ; by running about the country like madmen, in tattered garments, and sometimes half naked, or shutting themselves up in a narrow space, where they continued motionless ; by standing for a long time in certain postures, with their eyes closed, in the enthusiastic expectation of divine light. All this was saintlike and glorious ; and the more that any ambitious fanatic departed from the dictates of reason and common sense, and counterfeited the wild gestures and the incoherent conduct of an idiot or a lunatic, the surer was his prospect of obtaining an eminent rank among the heroes and demigods of a corrupt and degenerate church.* * See Mosheim, century vi., part 2, chap. iii. 93 CHAPTER V. ORIGIN OF ROMISH ERRORS CONTINUED WORSHIP OP SAINTS AND RELICS, ETC. 28. THE invocation of saints is another of the unscriptural practices of Popery, which boasts of an origin anterior to the papal supremacy. In modern times this idolatrous worship of created beings has grown to such a height in the Romish church, as well nigh to exclude altogether the worship of the Creator ; and who- ever will take the trouble to examine a popish book of devotion will see that there are many petitions offered to the saints for every one that is o fib red to the Deity. In all probability this practice grew up, by degrees, from the honors which, in the early ages, were paid to the martyrs ; and those who, in the third or fourth century, thus laid the foundation of this system of idolatry, little imagined the huge fabric of super- stition that would be erected thereon. Perhaps it would be too severe to pronounce an indiscriminate censure upon those early Christians, who, prompted by respect for the virtues of their mar- tyred brethren, were accustomed to assemble around their graves, to mourn over their loss, and to send up their supplications to the common God and Father of the martyred dead and the suffering living. In process of time, however, the due reverence with which these witnesses for Jesus had been regarded, increased to a kind of idolatrous veneration, and religious services performed over their sepulchres were regarded as possessing a peculiar sanctity and vir- tue. The growth of this idea was so rapid, that in the age of Constantino we find that stately churches were, in some instances, erected over their graves, and where this was impracticable, some relic, real or imaginary, of one of these- saints was enshrined, with all due solemnity, in the magnificent buildings erected to their honor.* 29. Fleury, the celebrated Roman Catholic ecclesiastical his- torian, relatesf that on one occasion, in the year 386, St. Ambrose, being about to consecrate a church at Milan, was prevented by the fact that he had no relics of martyrs to deposit in the altars, when " immediately his heart burned within him, in presage, as he felt, of what was to happen." The historian proceeds to tell us that God revealed to him, in a dream, the place where the bodies of St. Ger- vasius and St. Protasius were to be found. " Having discovered their sepulchres, two skeletons were discovered of more than or- dinary size, all their bones entire, a quantity of blood about, and their heads separated from their bodies. They arranged the bodies, putting every bone into its proper place, and they covered them * Eusebius de vita Constant., iii. 48. f Fleury's Eccles. Hist., book xviii., chap. 48. 94 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n. Discovery of bodies of Saints. Ceremony of depositing relics in the altars of churches with cloths and laid them on litters. In this manner were they carried towards evening to the Basilica of St. Fausta, where vigils were celebrated all night, and several that were possessed received imposition of hands. That day and the next, there was a great concourse of people, and then the old men recollected that they had formerly heard the names of these martyrs, and had read the inscription on their tomb. The next day the relics were transferred to the Basilica Ambrosiana," or church of St. Ambrose at Milan.* So general had the notion become that a church could not be con- secrated without relics, that it was decreed by a council at Con- stantinople, that those altars under which no relics were found should be demolished. The same necessity of relics to be deposited in the altar of Romish churches, in order to their due consecration, is contended for down to the present day. No matter how minute the particle of supposed holy dust of the saint to whom the church is to be dedi- cated ; a tooth, a toe-nail, a hair, a drop of the blood, or a pre- served tear from the eye ; anything will do, so that it has been christened or declared genuine by his infallible holiness, the Pope. Upon the arrival of the duly authenticated relic, it is borne in so- lemn procession by priests in their robes to the altar in which it is to be deposited, and when arrived at its destination, it is placed by the hands of the bishop himself in the place prepared for its recep- tion. The first of the adjoining plates represents the procession of relics to the church, and the other the bishop in the act of closing up the sacred deposit within the altar. Before he does this he marks the sepulchre on the four sides with the sign of the cross. This is the consecration of the sepulchre. He then deposits the relic box with all possible veneration, which must be done bare-headed, the better to testify to the congregation the reverence attached to the ceremony. After this an anthem is repeated, during which, the celebrant, still without his mitre on, incenses the relics, and after- wards puts it on, takes the stone which is to be laid over the sepul- chre with his right hand, dips the thumb of the other in chrism, and makes the sign of the cross in the middle of the stone on the side that is to be towards the relics, in order to consecrate it on that side. Anthems and the Oremus immediately follow according to custom. After this the celebrant fixes the stone upon the sepul- chre, the masons make an end of the work, and the celebrant sanc- tifies it by the sign of the cross which is reverently to oe made on the stone. (See Engraving?) 30. To return to the origin of these superstitions. In Egypt, about the fourth and fifth centuries, another method was adopted of showing the reverence of Christians for the mortal relics of de- parted saints. In that country, according to Gieseler, the Christians began to embalm the bodies of reputed saints, and keep them in their houses. The communion with the martyrs being thus asso- * Fleury's Eccles. Hist., book xviii., chap. 46. Rolics carried in procession to a church to be consecrated. The Bishop closing up the Relics in the Altar. 7 CHAP, v.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 97 Invocation of Saints. Gregory Nazianzen's address to his departed father and to Cyprian. ciated with the presence of their material remains, these were dug up from the graves and placed in the churches, especially under the altars ; and the popular feeling having now a visible object to ex- cite it, became more extravagant and superstitious than ever. The opinion of the efficacy of the intercession of those who had died a martyr's death, was now united with the belief that it was possible to communicate with them directly ; a belief founded partly on the popular heathen notion that departed souls always lingered around the bodies they had once inhabited, and partly on the views enter- tained of the glorified state of the martyrs, a sort of omnipresence being ascribed to them. These notions may be traced to Origen, and his followers were the first who apostrophized the martyrs in their sermons, and besought their intercession. But though the orators were somewhat extravagant in this respect, they were far outdone by the poets, who soon took up this theme, and could find no expressions strong enough to describe the power and the glory of the martyrs. Christians were now but seldom called upon to address their prayers to God ; the usual mode being to pray only to some saint for his intercession. With this worship of the saints were" joined many of the customs of the heathen. Men chose their patron saints, and dedicated churches to their worship. The hea- then, whom the Christians used to reproach with worshipping dead men, found now ample opportunity of retort.* In proportion as men felt the need of such intercession, they strove to increase the number of the intercessors. Martyrs, before unknown, according to the legends of those times, announced themselves in visions, others revealed the place of their burial, and the populace were disposed to regard every obscure grave as the burial-place of a martyr.f 31. As specimens of the kind of invocations addressed to the saints in the latter part of the fourth century, we may refer to the funeral orations of the eloquent Gregory Nazianzen upon the mar- tyr Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, and upon his own father. At the close of the former, he addresses a prayer to St. Cyprian, in which he implores the assistance and protection of the glorified martyr " to aid him in the government of his flock." In the latter he says, I do not doubt that my departed father, " being now much nearer to God, does a great deal more for his flock by his intercession than he did on earth by his teaching." The celebrated Roman Catholic historian, Dupin, commenting upon this oration, which was de- livered about A. D. 381, remarks that, " the church, in the time of St. Gregory Nazianzen, believed that the martyrs and saints en- joyed already eternal happiness and the vision of God ; that they took care of men upon earth ; that they interceded for them, and that it was very profitable to pray to them for the obtaining of spiritual and temporal favors."J * See Gieseler, vol. i., p. 283, with citations of ancient authorities. f Sulpicius Severus, de vita Martini., cap. xi. j Dupin's lives and writings of the primitive fathers, vol. ii., p. 167. 98 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n, Epiphanius in the fourth century opposes images in the churches as contrary to Scripture. It should be observed, however, that in that age this idolatrous custom of the Romish church was but in its incipient state. There is a vast difference between the impassioned addresses of orators and poets to the spirits of the departed martyrs in the age of Gregory and Basil, and the regular liturgical prayers to the saints incorporated into the set forms of devotion in a later generation, and perpetuated in their worst forms of idolatry and creature wor- ship, down to the present time. 32. It is to be remembered too, that as yet the anti-Christian abomination of the worship of images had not yet arisen. " In the fourth century," says Gieseler, " the worship of images was still abominated as a heathen practice." A proof of this is furnished by a singular letter of Epiphanius to John of Jerusalem, written near the close of the century in which he writes as follows : " Having entered into a church in a village of Palestine, named Anablatha, I found there a veil which was suspended at the door, and painted with a representation, whether of Jesus Christ or of some saint, for I do not recollect whose image it was, but seeing that in opposition to the authority of Scripture, there was a human image in the church of Jesus Christ, I tore it in pieces, and gave order to those who had care of that church, to bury the corpse with the veil. And as they grumbled out some answer, that ' since he has chosen to tear the veil, he might as well find another,' I promised them one, and I now discharge that promise." From this letter we learn, not only that the worship, but the use of images"in the churches was altogether condemned at this time. As the account given by Mosheim, of the progress of this and kindred degrading superstitions, from the age of the Nicene fathers, to the establishment of the papal supremacy, is so graphic, and so true, 1 shall present the reader with a condensation of his remarks. An enormous train of different superstitions, says he, were gradually substituted in the place of true religion and genuine piety. This odious revolution was owing to a variety of causes. A ridiculous precipitation in receiving new opinions, a preposterous desire of imitating the pagan rites, and of blending them with the Christian worship, and that idle propensity which the generality of man- kind have toward a gaudy and ostentatious religion, all contributed to establish the reign of superstition upon the ruins of Christianity. .Accordingly, frequent pilgrimages were undertaken to Palestine, and to the tombs of the martyrs, as if there alone the sacred princi- ples of virtue, and the certain hope of salvation, were to be acquired. The reins being once let loose to superstition, which knows no bounds, absurd notions and idle ceremonies multiplied every day. Quantities of dust and earth brought from Palestine, and other places remarkable for their supposedSanctity, were handed about as the most powerful remedies against the violence of wicked spirits, and were sold and bought at enormous prices. 33. The public processions and supplications, by which the pa- gans endeavored to appease their gods, were now adopted into the CHAP, v.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 99 Shameful impositions and lying wonders. Forged relics and miracles. Christian worship, and celebrated with great pomp and magnificence in several places. The virtues that had formerly been ascribed to the heathen temples, to their lustrations, to the statues of their gods and heroes, were now attributed to Christian churches, to holy water, consecrated by certain forms of prayer, and to the images of holy men. And the same privileges that the former enjoyed under the darkness of Paganism, were conferred upon the latter under the light of the gospel, or rather under that cloud of superstition that was obscuring its glory. It is true that as yet images were not very common ; nor were there any statues at all. But it is at the same time as undoubtedly certain, as it is extravagant and mon- strous, that the worship of the martyrs was modelled, by degrees, according to the religious services that were paid to the gods before the coming of Christ. 34. Among other unhappy effects, these superstitious notions opened a wide door to the endless frauds of those odious impostors, who were so far destitute of all principle, as to enrich themselves by the ignorance and errors of the people. Rumors were artfully spread abroad of prodigies and miracles to be seen in certain places, a trick often practised by the heathen priests, and the design of these reports was to draw the populace, in multitudes, to these places, and to impose upon their credulity. These stratagems were gene- rally successful ; for the ignorance and slowness of apprehension of the people, to whom everything that is new and singular appears miraculous, rendered them easily the dupes of this abominable arti- fice. Nor was this all ; certain tombs were falsely given out for the sepiilchres of saints and confessors ; the list of these saints was augmented with fictitious names, and even robbers were converted into martyrs. Some buried the bones of dead men in certain retired places, and then affirmed that they were divinely admonished by a dream, that the body of some friend of God lay there. Many, especially of the monks, travelled through the different provinces ; and not only sold, with the most frontless impudence, their fictitious relics, but also deceived the eyes of the multitude with ludicrous combats with evil spirits or genii. These shameful impostures and frauds have indeed been char- acteristic of Popery in all ages. One feature in the inspired descrip- tion of the man of sin, is that his coming should be with " signs and lying wonders, and all deceivableness of unrighteousness " (2 Thess., ii., 9, 10), and all history shows the fidelity of the picture. The popish writers themselves are forced to allow, that many both of their relics and their miracles have been forged by the craft of priests, for the sake of money and lucre. Durantus, a zealous defender of all their ceremonies, gives several instances of the former ; particularly of the bones of a common thief, which had for some time been honored with an altar, and worshipped under the title of a saint.* And for the latter, Lyra, in his comment on Bel * S. Martinus Altare, quod in honorem Martyrio exstructum fuerat cum ossa et reliquias cujusdam latronis esse deprehendisset, submoveri jussit. (Duranl de . L, c. 25.) 100 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n. Dr. Middleton's account of fictitious saints. Saint Mount-Oracle and the Dragon, observes that sometimes also in the church, very great cheats are put upon the people, by false miracles, contrived or countenanced at least, by their priests, for some gain and tempo- ral advantage.* And what their own authors confess of some of their miracles, we may venture, without any breach of charity, to believe of them all ; nay, we cannot indeed believe anything else without impiety, and without supposing God to concur in an extra- ordinary manner, to the establishment of fraud, error, and supersti- tion in the world. 35. Several ludicrous, but well authenticated instances of these fictitious saints are mentioned by the learned Dr. Conyers Middleton, in his letters from Rome. In one of these cases a mountain has been converted into a saint, by the corruption of the name of mount SORACTE, near Rome, into S. ORACTE, then S. ORESTE, or Saint Oreste. This is mentioned also by Addison,f who adds that a monastery has been founded in honor of this imaginary saint. This mistake is the less to be wondered at, because the Italians usually write the title of saint with the single letter S. (as S. Gregory), and thus in ages of darkness and ignorance, it was easy to transform mount Soracte, into Saint Orestes. Thus this holy mountain stands now under the protection of a patron, whose being and power is just as imaginary as that of the old guardian Apollo. Sancti custos Soractis Apollo Vir. ./En. 9. No suspicion of this kind will appear extravagant to those who are at all acquainted with the history of Popery, which abounds with instances of the grossest forgeries, both of saints and relics, which, to the scandal of many even among themselves, have been imposed for genuine on the poor ignorant people. Even the learned Mabillon, himself a Roman Catholic writer, speaks of some who promulgated the feigned histories of new found saints, and who even sometimes published the inscriptions of pagans for Christians. J In the earlier ages of Christianity, the Christians often made free with the sepulchral stones of heathen monuments, which being ready cut to their hands, they converted to their own use ; and turning down- wards the side on which the old epitaph was engraved, used either to inscribe a new one on the other side, or leave it perhaps without any inscription at all, as they are often found in the catacombs of Rome. Now, this one custom has frequently been the occasion of ascribing martyrdom and saintship to persons and names of mere pagans. * Aliquando fit in Ecclesia maxima deceptio populi in miraculis fictis a sacer- dotibus, vel eis adhaerentibus propter lucrum temporals, &c. (Nic. Lyr. in Dan. c. 14.) j- Travels from Pesaro, &c., to Rome. j * * qui sanctorum recens absque certis nominibus inventorum fictas histonas comminiscuntur ad confusionem verarum historiarum imo et qui paganorum inscriptiones aliquando pro Christianis vulgant, &c. (Mabill. Iter. Ital., page 225.) CHAP, v.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 1Q1 More fictitious saints. Saint Julia Evodia, Saint Viar. Saint cloak- Amphibolus. 36. Mabillon gives a remarkable instance of it in an old stone, found on the grave of a Christian with this inscription : D. M. IVLIA EVODIA FILIA FECIT. MATRI. And because in the same grave there was found likewise a glass vial, or lacrymatory vessel, tinged with a reddish color, which they called blood, they regarded this circumstance as a certain proof of martyrdom, and Julia Evodia, though undoubtedly a heathen, was presently adopted both for saint and martyr, on the authority of an inscription that appears evidently to have been one of those above- mentioned, and borrowed from a heathen sepulchre. But whatever the party there buried might have been, whether heathen or Chris- tian : it is certain that it could not be Evodia herself, but her mother only, as the meaning of the Latin inscription is, that the daughter Julia Evodia raised this stone to her mother. The same author mentions some original papers which he found in the Barbarine library, giving a pleasant account of a negotiation between the Spaniards and pope Urban VIII., in relation to a cer- tain SAINT VIAR. The Spaniards, it seems, have a saint, held in great reverence in some parts of Spain, called Viar ; for the farther encouragement of whose worship they s'olicited the pope to grant some special indulgences to his altars ; and upon the Pope's desir- ing to be better acquainted first with his character, and the proofs which they had of his saintship, they produced a stone with these antique letters, S. VIAR, which the antiquaries readily saw to be a fragment of some Roman inscription, in memory of one who had been PrcefectuS VIARum, or overseer over all the highways. But we have in England an instance still more ridiculous, of a fictitious saintship, in the case of a certain saint called AMPHIBOLUS ; who, according to our monkish historians, was bishop of the Isle of Man, and fell martyr and disciple of Saint Alban. Yet the learned arohbishop Usher* has given us good reasons to convince us that he owes the honor of his saintship to a mistaken passage in the old acts or legends of St. Alban, where the Amphibolus mentioned, and since reverenced as a saint and martyr, was nothing more than the cloak which Alban happened to have at the time of his execution ; being a word derived from the Greek, and signifying a rough, shag- gy cloak, such as was worn by the monks in that age. Thus we see that Romanists can boast not only of a Saint Mount Oracte, but also of a Saint Cloak Amphibolus. But this is not the climax of Rome's worse than pagan idolatry. They have not only a Saint Cloak, but also a Saint Handkerchief, to which they actually ad- dress prayers. They pretend to show at Rome, says Dr. Middleton, two original * Usser. de Britan. Eccles. primord., c. 14, p. 539. 102 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n. Saint true-image Veronica. Blasphemous prayer to the holy handkerchief. impressions of our Saviour's face, on two different handkerchiefs ; the one, sent a present by himself to Agbarus, prince of Edessa, who by letter had desired a picture of him ; the other given by him at the time of his execution to a saint or holy woman, V ERONICA, upon a handkerchief, which she had lent him to wipe his face on that occasion ; both which handkerchiefs are preserved, as they affirm, and now kept with the utmost reverence ; the first in St. Sylves- ter's church, the second in St. Peter's, where in honor of this sacred relic, there is a fine altar built by pope Urban VIIL, with the statue of Veronica herself, with the following inscription : SALVATORIS IMAGINEM VERONICA SVDARIO EXCEPTAM VT LOCI MAIESTAS DECENTER GVSTODIRET URBANVS VIII. PONT. MAX. M ARMOR KVM SIGNVM ET ALTARE ADDIDIT CONDITORIVM EXTRVXIT ET ORNAVIT. But notwithstanding the authority of pope Urban, and his inscrip- tion, this VERONICA (as Mabillon, one of their own best authors, has shown), like Amphibolus, before-mentioned, was not any real person, but the name given to the picture itself by old writers, who mention it ; being formed by blundering and confounding the words VERA ICON, Latin for true image, the title inscribed perhaps, or given originally to the handkerchief by the first contrivers of the imposture. It is related by Bower, upon the authority of Mabillon, that pope Innocent III. composed a prayer in honor of this image, and granted a ten days' indulgence to all who should visit it, and that pope John XXIL, more generous than Innocent, vouchsafed no less than ten thousand days' indulgence to every repetition of the fol- lowing blasphemous prayer : " HAIL, HOLY FACE OF OUR REDEEMER, PRINTED UPON A CLOTH AS WHITE AS SNOW ; PURGE US FROM ALL SPOT OF VICE, AND JOIN US TO THE COMPANY OF -THE BLESSED. BRING US TO OUR COUNTRY, O HAPPY FIGURE, THERE TO SEE THE PURE FACE OF CHRIST."* Is it possible for impious idolatry to go beyond this ? and yet this prayer to the holy handkerchief, says Middleton, is inserted in the popish book of offices, and ordered by the rubric to be addressed to it, and this absurd legend, and others like it, fabulous and childish as they appear to men of sense, are urged by grave authors in defence of their image worship, as certain proofs of its divine origin, and sufficient to confound all the impious opposers of it.f 37. To return to the origin of these lying wonders, Mosheim re- marks (vol. i., p. 371), that " the interests of virtue and true religion * Bower's Lives of the Popes. In vita Innoc. HI. f Aring. Rom. subt. Tom. ii., lib. v., c. iv. Conformity of Ancient and Modern Ceremonies, page 158, referred to by Middleton, ut supra. CHAP, v.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 105 Pious frauds and persecution declared lawful. Praying at the sepulchres of saints. suffered grievously by two monstrous errors which were almost universally adopted in the fourth century, and became a source of innumerable calamities and mischiefs in the succeeding ages. The first of these maxims was, that it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie, when by that means the interests of the church might be promoted; and the second equally horrible, though in another point of view, was that errors in religion, when maintained and adhered to, after proper admonition, were punishable with civil penalties and corporal tortures. The former of these erroneous maxims was now of a long standing ; it had been adopted for some ages past, and had produced an incredible number of ridiculous fables, fictitious prodi- gies, and pious frauds, to the unspeakable detriment of that glorious cause in which they were employed. The other maxim, relating to the justice and expediency of punishing error, was introduced with those serene and peaceful times which the accession of Constantine to the imperial throne procured to the church. It was from that period approved by many, enforced by several examples during the contests that arose with the priscillianists and donatists, confirmed and established by the authority of Augustine, and thus transmitted to the following ages." 38. In relation to the fifth century, the same historian remarks : If before this time, the lustre of religion was clouded with super- stition, and its divine precepts adulterated with a mixture of human inventions, this evil, instead of diminishing, increased daily. The happy souls of departed Christians were invoked by numbers, and their aid implored by assiduous and fervent prayers ; while none stood up to censure or oppose this preposterous worship. The question, how the prayers of mortals ascended to the celestial spirits, a question which afterward produced much wrangling and many idle fancies, did not as yet occasion any difficulty. For the Christians of this century did not imagine that the souls of the saints were so entirely confined to the celestial mansions, as to be deprived of the privilege of visiting mortals, and travelling, when they pleased, through various countries. They were further of opinion, that the places most frequented by departed spirits were those where the bodies they had formerly animated were interred ; and this opinion, which the Christians borrowed from the Greeks and Romans, rendered the sepulchres of the saints the general ren- dezvous of suppliant multitudes. (See Engraving.) A singular and irresistible efficacy was also attributed to the bones of martyrs, and to the figure of the cross, in defeating the attempts of Satan, removing all sorts of calamities, and in healing not only the diseases of the body, but also those of the mind. We shall not enter here into a particular account of the public suppli- cations, the holy pilgrimages, the superstitious services paid to de- parted souls, the multiplication of temples, altars, penitential gar- ments, and a multitude of other circumstances, that showed the de- cline of genuine piety, and the corrupt darkness that was eclipsing 106 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK ir. Increasing corruptions in the sisth century. Superstition of Gregory the Great. the lustre of primitive Christianity. As there were none in these times to hinder the Christians from retaining the opinions of their pagan ancestors concerning departed souls, heroes, demons, tem- ples, and such like matters, and even transferring them into their religious services ; and as, instead of entirely abolishing the rites and institutions of ancient times, these institutions were still ob- served with only some slight alterations ; all this swelled of ne- cessity the torrent of superstition, and deformed the beauty of the Christian religion and worship with those corrupt remains of Pa- ganism, which still subsist in the Romish church. 39. In the sixth century, the public teachers seemed to aim at no thing else than to sink the multitude into the most opprobrious ignor- ance and superstition, to efface in their minds all sense of the beauty and excellence of genuine piety, and to substitute, in the place of re- ligious principles, a blind veneration for the clergy, and a stupid zeal for a senseless round of ridiculous rites and ceremonies. This, perhaps, will appear less surprising, when we consider that the blind led the blind; for the public ministers and teachers of religion were for the most part grossly ignorant ; nay, almost as much so as the multitude whom they were appointed to instruct. To be convinced of the truth of the dismal representation we have here given of the state of religion at this time, nothing more is necessary than to cast an eye upon the doctrines now taught concerning the worship of images and saints, the fire of purgatory, the efficacy of good works ; i. e., the observance of human rites and institutions, toward the attainment of salvation, the power of relics to heal the diseases of body and mind; and such like sordid and miserable fancies, which are inculcated in many of the superstitious produc- tions of this century, and particularly in the epistles and other writings of Gregory the Great. Nothing more ridiculous on the one hand, than the solemnity and liberality with which this super- stitious pontiff distributed the wonderworking relics ; and nothing more lamentable on the other, than the stupid eagerness and devo- tion with which the deluded multitude received them, and suffered themselves to be persuaded, that a portion of stinking oil, taken from the lamps which burned at the tombs of the martyrs, or the filings of a chain supposed to have been worn by a saint, had a supernatural efficacy to sanctify their possessors, and to defend them from all dangers both of a temporal and spiritual nature. There was an incredible number of temples erected in honor of the saints, during the sixth century, both in the eastern and western provinces. The places set apart for public worship were already very numerous ; but it was now that Christians first began to con- sider these sacred edifices, as the means of purchasing the favor and protection of the saints, and to be persuaded that these de- parted spirits defended and guarded, against evils and calamities of every kind, the provinces, lands, cities, and villages, in which they were honored with temples. The number of these temples was CHAP, v.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 107 The Empress writes to Gregory for a portion of the body of St. Paul. His singular letter in reply almost equalled by that of the festivals, which were now observed in the Christian church, and many of which seemed to have been instituted upon a pagan model.* 40. In order to show that the charge above referred to in re- lation to Gregory's superstitious regard to relics is not made with- out sufficient reason, I will present the reader with a translation of an epistle which he wrote to the empress Constantina, who was building a church at Constantinople in honor of St. Paul, and had written to Gregory to grant her either the head, or some other part of the body of that Apostle, which was said to be at Rome, for the purpose of enshrining it in the church when completed. After a respectful allusion to the request of the empress, Gregory pro- ceeds " Major mcestitia tenuit, fyc. Great sadness hath possessed me, because you have enjoined upon me those things which I neither can or dare do ; for the bodies of the holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, are so resplendent with miracles and terrific prodigies in their own churches, that no one can approach them without great awe, even for the purpose of adoring them. When my predecessor, of happy memory, wished to change some silver ornament which was placed over the most holy body of St. Peter, though at the distance of almost fifteen feet, a warning of no small terror appeared to him. Even I myself wished to make -some alteration near the most holy body of St. Paul, and it was necessary to dig rather deeply near his tomb. The Superior of the place found some bones which were not at all connected with that tomb ; and, having presumed to disturb and remove them to some other place, he was visited by certain fearful apparitions, and died suddenly. My predecessor, of holy memory, also undertook to make some repairs near the tomb of St. Lawrence : as they were digging, without knowing pre- cisely where the venerable body was placed, they happened to open his sepulchre. The monks and guardians who were at the work, only because they had seen the body of that martyr, though they did not presume so much as to touch it, all died within ten days ; to the end that no man might remain in life who had beheld the body of that just man. " Be it then known to you, that it is the custom of the Romans, when they give any relics, not to venture to touch any portion of the body ; only they put into a box a piece of linen (called bran- deum), which is placed near the holy bodies ; then it is withdrawn, and shut up with due veneration in the church which is to be dedi- cated, and as many prodigies are then wrought by it as if the bodies themselves had been carried thither ; whence it happened, that in the time of St. Leo (as we learn from our ancestors), when some Greeks doubted the virtue of such relics, that Pope called for a pair of scissors, and cut the linen, and blood flowed from the incision. And not at Rome only, but throughout the whole of the West, it is held sacrilegious to touch the bodies of the saints, nor does such * See Mosheim, Centuries iv., v., vi., passim. 108 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOKH. Gregory consents to send the Empress some holy filings. Promotes pilgrimages, purgatory, fee. temerity ever remain unpunished. For which reason we are much astonished at the custom of the Greeks to take away the bones of the saints, and we scarcely gave credit to it. But what, shall I say respecting the bodies of the holy Apostles, when it is a known fact, that at the time of their martyrdom, a number of the faithful came from the East to claim them ? But when they had carried them out of the city, to the second milestone, to a place called the Cata- combs, the whole multitude was unable to move them farther, such a tempest of thunder and lightning terrified and dispersed them. The napkin, too, which you wished to be sent at the same time, is with the body and cannot be touched more than the body can be approached. " But that your religious desire may not be wholly frustrated, I will hasten to send to you some part of those chains which St. Paul wore on his neck and hands, if indeed I shall succeed in getting off any filings from them. For since many continually solicit as a bless- ing that they may carry off from those chains some small portion of their filings, a priest stands by with a file ; and sometimes it hap- pens that some portions fall off from the chains instantly, and with- out delay ; while, at other times, the file is long drawn over the chains, and yet nothing is at last scraped off from them."* 41. Besides the superstitious and idolatrous reverence of Gre- gory for relics, he labored hard in exalting the merit of pil- grimages to holy places ; encouraged the use, though he condemned the worship, of images in the churches ; introduced a more impos- ing method of administering the communion, with a magnificent assemblage of pompous ceremonies, which institution was called the Canon of the mass, and which, without doubt, tended a century or two later to the conception of the absurd doctrine of transub- stantiation ; he also seriously inculcated a belief in the pagan doctrine concerning the purification of departed souls by a certain kind of fire, which he called Purgatory, and which doctrine, as Gieseler asserts, was first suggested by Augustine, the bishop of Hippo, towards the close of the fourth century, f A doctrine this which, conjoined with the opinion afterwards invented of the efficacy of masses in delivering tormented souls from these fires, and the power of the Pope to grant indulgences, exempting the purchasers from a portion or from the whole of their merited period of suffering in them, was the origin of an almost inexhaustible source of wealth to the Pope * The original of this letter may be found in Gregory's epistles, Lib. iv., epist. 30. The larger part of it is quoted in Latin by Gieseler, vol. i., p. 350, note 5. It is worthy of remark also, that Cardinal Baronius, the great Roman Catholic annalist, cites this reply of Gregory to the Empress with considerable admiration, as though he really believed the extravagant stories related by Greg6ry of the pretended wonders wrought by these holy bones. Baronius attributes the request of the Empress to ecclesiastical ambition, as though she wished to elevate the See of Constantinople to a level with that of Rome, by obtaining for her church the head of so great an apostle. f See Gieseler, vol. i., page 352, note 14, with quotations from Augustine. CHAP, vi.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 109 With few exceptions, Popery at its birth and Popery in its dotage, identical. and the clergy, extorted from the credulity and the fears alike of the rich and the poor through long ages of superstition and night. 42. From the review which we have thus taken of the origin and progress of these various corruptions of Christianity, it appears that, with the exceptions of the belief in transubstantiation, the general worship of images, the practice of auricular confession, the performance of worship in an unknown tongue, and a few minor particulars, there is but little difference between the cha- racteristic features of Popery at its birth in the seventh century, and Popery in its dotage in the nineteenth. It is true that, as age after age rolled away, as old corruptions were strengthened and new ones added to the list, as " the man of sin," in the course of a few centuries, trampled upon the thrones of monarchs, unsheathed the sword of persecution against the suffer- ing martyrs of Jesus, and reeled onward in the career of ages, u drunk with the blood of the saints," the title of ANTI-CHRIST be- came more deeply branded on his shameless front : and yet it is equally true that Popery, at its birth in 606, was characterized by every one of the predicted marks of the great Apostasy, as truly as it bears those marks at the present day. Then, as now, the apostate church of Rome had departed from the faith, " giving heed to seducing .spirits and doctrines of devils ; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron ; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats." (1 Tim, iv., 1, 2.) Then, as now, that "man of sin" was revealed, even " the son, of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped ; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God ;" and his " coming was after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs and lying wonders." (2 Thess. ii., 3, 4, 9, 10.) CHAPTER VI. STRIKING RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN PAGAN AND PAPAL CEREMONIES THE LATTER DERIVED FROM THE FORMER. 43. IN tracing the origin of the corrupt doctrines and practices of the Romish church, we have had frequent occasion, in the pre- ceding chapters, to allude to the fact, that most of its anti-scriptural rites and ceremonies were adopted from the pagan worship of Greece, Rome, and other heathen nations. The scholar, familiar as he is with the classic descriptions of ancient mythology, when he directs his attention to the ceremonies of papal worship, cannot avoid 110 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOKH. Popish and pagan ceremonies. Their close and striking resemblance. recognizing their close resemblance, if not their absolute identity. The temples of Jupiter, Diana, Venus,or Apollo, their " altars smoking with incense " (" thure calent Aras" Virgil.), their boys in sacred habits, holding the incense box, and attending upon the priests ("Da mihi Ttiura, Puer" Ovid.), their holy water at the entrance of the temples (" Spar gens rare levi." Virgil.), with their aspergilla or sprinkling brushes, their thuribula. or vessels of incense, their ever-burning lamps before the statues of their deities ("vigilemque sacraverat ignem" Virgil), are irresistibly brought before his mind, whenever he visits a Roman Catholic place of worship, and witnesses pre- cisely the same things. If a Roman scholar of the age of the Caesars, who, previous to his death, had formed some acquaintance with the religion of the despised Nazarenes, had in the seventh or eighth century arisen from his grave in the Campus Martius, and wandered into the spa- cious church of Constantine at Rome, which then stood on the spot now occupied by Saint Peter's, if he had there witnessed these institutions of Paganism, which were then and ever since have been incorporated with the worship of Rome, would he not have come to the conclusion that he had found his way into some temple dedi- cated to Diana, Venus, or Apollo, rather than into a Christian place of worship, where the successors of Peter the fisherman, or Paul the tentmaker, had met for the worship of Jesus of Nazareth ? It is impossible to conceive of a greater contrast than that which is pre- sented between the plain and simple rites of primitive apostolic Christian worship in the first, century, andthe pompous and impos- ing spectacle of papal worship, performed in some stately cathedral, adorned with its altars, pictures, images, and burning wax-lights, with all the array of holy water, smoking incense, tinkling bells, and priests and boys arrayed in gaudy colored vestments, as they were seen in the time of pope Boniface, of the seventh century, and as they are still seen, with but little change, after the lapse of twelve hundred years. 44. The practice of thus accommodating the forms of Chris- tian worship to the prejudices of the heathen nations, was introduced in various places long before the establishment of Popery in 606 ; though, of course, as there was then no acknowledged earthly sovereign and head of the church, the observance of these heathen rites was not regarded as obligatory upon all, till enjoined by the newly established papal authority, in the seventh century. It is not unlikely that this policy, in its incipient stage, commenced by a mis- taken, but well-intended desire of some good men, like the apostle Paul, to " become all things to all men," that they might " by all means save some." Yet this apology can by no means be admitted as an excuse for the almost entire subversion of Christianity in the Romish communion, by the adoption of these heathen rites, ceremo- nies, and superstitions. The ancient heathen nations had always been accustomed to a variety of imposing ceremonies in their reli- gious services, hence they looked with contempt upon the simplicity CHAP. vi. J POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. m Reasons for the admission of pagan ceremonies dictated by worldly policy. of Christian worship, destitute as it was of these pompous and mag- nificent rites, and it was a step pregnant with disaster to the cause of genuine Christianity, when, as early as the third century some advocated the necessity of admitting a portion of the ancient cere- monies to which the people had been accustomed, for the purpose of rendering Christian worship more striking and captivating to the outward senses. As a proof that Christianity began thus early to be corrupted, it is related in the life of Gregory, bishop of New Cesarea, surnamed Thaumaturgus, or wonder-worker, that when he perceived that the ignorant multitude persisted in their idolatry, on account of the pleasures and sensual gratifications which they enjoyed at the pagan festivals, he granted them a permission to indulge themselves in the like pleasures, in celebrating the memory of the holy martyrs, hoping, that, in process of time, they would return, of their own accord, to a more virtuous and regular course of life." " This addition of external rites," says Mosheim, " was also de- signed to remove the opprobrious calumnies which the Jewish and pagan priests cast upon the Christians, on account of the simplicity of their worship, esteeming them little better than atheists, because they had no temples, altars, victims, priests, nor anything of that external pomp in which the vulgar are so prone to place the essence of religion. The rulers of the church adopted, therefore, certain external ceremonies, that thus they might captivate the senses of the vulgar, and be able to refute the reproaches of their adversaries, thus obscuring the native lustre of the gospel, in order to extend its influence, and making it lose, in point of real excellence, what it gained in point of popular esteem."* 45. After the conversion of Constantino in the fourth century, when Christianity was taken under the protection of the state, this sinful conformity to the practices of Paganism increased to such a degree, that the beauty and simplicity of Christian worship were almost entirely obscured, and by the time these corruptions were ripe for the establishment of the Popedom, Christianity the Chris- tianity of the state to judge from the institutions of its public worship seemed but little else than a system of Christianized Paganism. Here we may apply that well known saying of Augustine, that the yoke under which tlie Jews formerly groaned, was more tolerable than that imposed upon many Christians in his time. The rites and institutions, by which the Greeks, Romans, and other na- tions, had formerly testified their religious veneration for fictitious deities, were now adopted, with some slight alterations, by Chris- tian bishops, and employed in the service of the true God. We have already mentioned the reasons alleged for this imitation, so proper to disgust all who have a just sense of the native beauty of genuine Christianity These fervent heralds of the gospel, whose * Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, vol. L, page 197, 8 112 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOTH. Waddington quoted. Christianity paganized. Dr. Conyerg Middleton's visit to Roma zeal outran their candor and ingenuity, imagined that the nations would receive Christianity with more facility, when they saw the rites and ceremonies to which they were accustomed, adopted in the church, and the same worship paid to Christ and his martyrs, which they had formerly offered to their idol deities. Hence it happened, that in these times, the religion of the Greeks and Romans differed very little, in its external appearance, from that of the Christians. They had both a most pompous and splendid ritual. Gorgeous robes, mitres, tiaras, wax tapers, crosiers, processions, lustrations, images, gold and silver vases,.and many such circum- stances of pageantry, were equally to be seen in the heathen tem- ples and the Christian churches.* In the words of a distinguished member of the establishment in Great Britain, Dean Waddington, " the copious transfusion of heathen ceremonies into Christian worship, which had taken place before the end of the fourth century, had, to a certain extent, paganized (if we may so express it) the outward form and aspect of religion, and these ceremonies became more general and more numerous, and, so far as the calamities of the times would permit, more splendid in the age which followed. To console the convert for the loss of his favorite festival, others of a different name, but similar description, were introduced ; and the simple and serious occupation of spiritual devotion was beginning to degenerate into a worship of parade and demonstration, or a mere scene of riotous festivity."! When pope Boniface was invested, by the emperor Phocas, with supreme authority over all the churches of the empire, in the way we have seen, he not only adopted all the pagan ceremo- nies that had previously, in various places, been incorporated into Christian worship, but speedily issued his sovereign decrees, enjoin- ing uniformity of worship, and thus rendered these heathen rites binding upon all who were desirous of continuing in fellowship with the Romish church, or, as it now was called, the Holy Catholic church. Thus incorporated, they became a constituent element of the anti-Christian Apostasy, and have so continued to the present day. 46. In the year 1729, a distinguished scholar and divine of the Episcopal church of England, the Rev. Conyers Middleton, D.D., visited the city of Rome, and has so skilfully traced " the exact conformity of Popery and Paganism" in his celebrated " let- ter from Rome," to which I have already had occasion to refer, that I shall avail myself, in the present chapter, somewhat at length of that learned publication, in tracing the ceremonies of papal worship to their heathen originals. It is worthy of remark, that Dr. Middleton visited Rome not as a theologian, but as a classical scholar ; not so much for the * Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, cent, iv., part 2, chap. 4. f Waddington's History of the Church, page 118. CHAP, vi.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 113 Lying wonders of Rome The leaping head and the fountains of milk. purpose of studying the Roman Catholic religion and worship, as for the sake of studying the remains of ancient classic antiquity, and thus gratifying the taste which he had acquired at the English universities, for the study of the poets, historians, and orators of ancient Rome ; but that when he reached Rome, so exact did he find the resemblance between the temples, the images, and ceremo- nies of Popery, and those of Paganism, that he came to the just conclusion that he could in no way more effectually increase his familiarity with the latter than by directing his attention to the former. But let us hear the doctor himself. " As for my own journey to this place," says he, " it was not any motive of devotion, which draws so many others hither, that oc- casioned it. My zeal was not bent on visiting the holy thresholds of the apostles, and kissing the feet of their successor. I knew that their ecclesiastical antiquities were mostly fabulous and legend- ary ; supported by fictions and impostures, too gross to employ the attention of a man of sense. For should we allow that Peter had been at Rome, of which many learned men however have doubted, yet they had not any authentic monuments remaining of him ; any visible footsteps subsisting to demonstrate his residence among them : and should we ask them for any evidence of that kind, they would refer to the impression of his face on the wall of the dungeon in which he was confined, or to a fountain in the bottom of it, raised miraculously by him out of the rock, in order to baptize his fellow prisoners ; or to the mark of our Saviour's feet in a stone, on which he appeared to him and stopped him as he was flying out of the city, from a persecution then raging. In memory of which, there was a church built on the spot called St. Mary delle Piante, or of the marks of the feet ; which falling into decay, was supplied by a chapel, at the expense of Cardinal Pole. But the stone itself, more valuable, as the writers say, than any of the precious ones, being a perpetual monument and proof of the Christian religion (!) is preserved with all due reverence in St. Sebastian's church ; where I purchased a print of it, with several others of the same kind. Or they would appeal perhaps to the evidence of some miracle wrought at his execution ; as they do in the case of St. Paul in a church called ' at the three Fountains ;' the place where he was beheaded : on which occasion, ' instead of blood there issued only milk from his veins ; and his head when separated from his body, having made three jumps upon the ground, raised at each place a spring of living water, which retains still, as they would persuade us, the plain taste of milk ;' of all of which facts we have an account in Baronius, Ma- billon, and all their gravest authors ; and may see printed figures of them in the description of modern Rome ! ! " It was no part of my design to spend my time abroad in attending to ridiculous fictions of this kind; the chief pleasure which I proposed to myself, was to visit the genuine remains and venerable relics of Pagan Rome ; the authentic monuments of an- 114 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n. Dr. Middlcton's reason for visiting Rome. Pagan antiquities best studied through popish ceremonies tiquity, that demonstrate the truth of those histories, which are the entertainment as well as the instruction of our younger years. "As therefore my general studies had furnished me with a com- petent knowledge of Roman history, as well as an inclination to search more particularly into some branches of its antiquities, so I had resolved to employ myself in inquiries of this sort ; and to lose as little time as possible in taking notice of the fopperies and ridiculous ceremonies of the present religion of the place. But I soon found myself mistaken ; for the whole form and outward dress of their worship seem so grossly idolatrous and extravagant, beyond what I had imagined, and made so strong an impression on me, that I could not help considering it with a peculiar regard ; espe- cially when the very reason, which I thought would have hindered me from any notice of it at all, was the chief cause that engaged me to pay so much attention to it ; for nothing, I found, concurred so much with my original intention of conversing with the ancients : or so much helped my imagination, to find myself wandering about in old Heathen Rome, as to observe and attend to their religious worship ; all whose ceremonies appear plainly to have been copied from the rituals of primitive Paganism ; as if handed down by an uninterrupted succession from the priests of old, to the priests of new Rome ; whilst each of them readily explained, and called to mind some passages of a classic author, where the same ceremony was described, as transacted in the same form and manner, and in the same place where I now saw it executed before my eyes ; so that as oft as I was present at any religious exercise' in the churches, it was more natural to fancy myself looking on at some solemn act of idolatry in old Rome, than assisting at a worship instituted on the principles, and founded upon the plan of Christianity." 47. As a proof that these assertions are founded in truth, the following are presented as a few instances of the way in which heathen ceremonies and superstitions were transferred from Pagan to professedly Christian worship. The first is given upon the authority of Mosheim, the others upon that of Dr. Middleton, who refers to various classical authors among the ancients, and to Mont- faucon, Polydore, Virgil, Platina, Hospinian, Mabillon, &c., among the moderns, for his authorities ; but those who wish to consult the original authorities, I must refer to the work of Dr. Middleton.* (1.) Worshipping toward the East. Before the coming of Christ, all the eastern nations performed divine worship with their faces turned to that part of the heavens where the sun displays his rising beams. This custom was founded upon a general opinion that God, whose essence they looked upon to be light, and whom they consid- ered as circumscribed within certain limits, dwelt in that part of the firmament, from whence he sends forth the sun, the bright image of his * Dr. Conyers Middleton's Letter from Rome, on the exact conformity between Popery and Paganism, London, 1761 yassim. CHAP, vi.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 115 Burning of incense a heathen ceremony. benignity and glory. They who embraced the Christian religion, rejected, indeed, this gross error, but they retained the ancient and universal custom of worshipping toward the East, which sprung from it. Nor is that custom abolished even in our times, but still prevails in a great number of Christian churches.* (2.) The burning of incense. Many of our divines, says Dr. Middleton, have with much learning and solid reasoning, charged and effectually proved the crime of idolatry on the church of Rome; but these controversies where the charge is denied, and with much sub- tlety evaded, are not capable of giving that conviction which I imme- diately received from my senses ; the surest witness of the fact in all cases, and which no man can fail to be furnished with, who sees Popery as it is exercised in Italy, in the full pomp and display of its pageantry; and practising all its arts and powers without caution or reserve. This similitude of the popish and pagan religion, seemed so evident and clear, and struck my imagination so forcibly, that I soon resolved to give myself the trouble of searching it to the bottom : and to explain and demonstrate the certainty of it, by com- paring together the principal and most obvious part of each worship, which, as it was my first employment after I came to Rome, shall be the subject of my letter ; showing the source and origin of the popish ceremonies, and the exact conformity of them with those of their pagan ancestors. The very first thing that a stranger must necessarily take notice of, as soon as he enters their churches, is the use of incense or per- fumes in their religious offices ; the first step which he takes within the door, will be sure to make him sensible of it, by the offence that he will immediately receive from the smell as well as the smoke of this incense, with which the whole church continues filled for some time after every solemn service. A custom received directly from paganism ; and which presently called to my mind the old descrip- tions of the heathen temples and altars, which are never mentioned by the ancients, without the epithet of perfumed or incensed. Thuricremis cum dona imponerit Aris. Virg., ^En. iv., 453, 486. Saepe Jovem vidi cum jam sua mittere vellet Fulmina, thure dato sustinuisse manum. Ovid. In some of their principal churches, where you have before you in one view, a great number of altars, and all of them smoking at once with streams of '.ncense, how natural it is to imagine one's self trans- ported into the temple of some heathen deity, or that of the Paphian Venus described by Virgil : Her hundred altars there with garlands crown'd, And richest incense smoking, breathe around Sweet odors, &c. JEn. i., 420. Under the pagan emperors, the use of incense for any purpose of religion was thought so contrary to the obligations of Christianity, * Mosheim, cent, ii., part 2, chap. iv. 116 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n. Use of holy water derived from Paganism. The Jesuit La Cerda acknowledges it that in their persecutions, the very method of trying and convicting a Christian, was by requiring him only to throw the least grain oi it into the censer, or on the altar. Under the Christian emperors, on the other hand, it was looked upon as a rite so peculiarly heathen- ish, that the very places or houses where it could be proved to have been done, were, by a law of Theodosius, confiscated to the govern- ment. In the old bas-reliefs, or pieces of sculpture, where any heathen sacrifice is represented, we never fail to see a boy in a sacred habit, which was always white, attending on the priest, with a little chest or box in his hands, in which this incense was kept for the use of the altar. And in the same manner still in the church of Rome, there is always a boy in surplice waiting on the priest at the altar, with the sacred utensils ; among the rest the Thuribulum or vessel of incense, which the priest, with many ridiculous motions and cross- ings, waves several times, as it is smoking, around and over the altar, in different parts of the service. (3.) The use of holy water. The next thing in the Roman worship, that will, of course, strike the imagination, is the use the papists make of the holy water, for nobody ever goes in or out of a church, but is either sprinkled by the priest, who attends for that purpose on solemn days, or else serves himself with it from a vessel, usually of marble, placed just at the door, not unlike to one of our baptismal fonts. Now this ceremony is so notoriously and directly transmitted to them from Paganism, that their own writers make not the least scruple to own it. The Jesuit La Cerda, in his notes on a passage of Virgil, where this practice is mentioned, says, " Hence was derived the custom of the holy church, to provide purifying of holy water at the entrance of their churches." Aquaminarium or Amula, says the learned Montfaucon, was a vase of holy water, placed by the heathens at the entrance of their temples, to sprinkle themselves with. The same vessel was by the Greeks called Perrirranterion ; two of which, the one of gold, the other of silver, were given by CKESUS to the temple of Apollo at Delphi ; and the custom of sprinkling themselves was so necessary a part of their religious offices, that the method of excommunication seems to have been by prohibiting to offenders the approach and use of the holy water pot. The very composition of this holy water was the same also among the heathens, as it is now among the papists, being nothing more than a mixture of salt with common water ; ' Porro singulis diebus Dominicis sacerdos missse sacrum facturus, aquam sale adspersam, benedicendo revocare debet eaque populum adspergere' (Durant. de RiL, 1. 1, c. 21); and the form of the sprinkling-brush, called by the ancients aspersorium or aspergillum, which is much the same with what the priests now make use of, may be seen in the bas-reliefs, or ancient coins, wherever the insig- nia, or emblems of the pagan priesthooc, are described, of which it is generally one. Platina, in his lives of the popes, and other authors, ascribe the CHAP, vi.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 117 Justin Martyr says that it was invented by dzmons. Festival of St. Anthony. institution of holy water to pope Alexander I., who is said to have lived about the year of Christ 113 : but it could not have been intro- duced so early, since for some ages after, we find the primitive fathers speaking of it as a custom purely heathenish, condemning it as impious and detestable. Justin Martyr says, " That it was in- vented by daemons in imitation of the true baptism signified by the prophets, that their votaries might also have their pretended purifi- cations by water" (Apol. 1, p. 91); and the emperor Julian, out of spite to the Christians, used to order their victuals in the markets to be sprinkled with holy water, on purpose either to starve, or force them to eat, what by their own principles they esteemed polluted. Thus we see what contrary notions the primitive and Romish church have of this ceremony ; the first condemns it as superstition, abominable and irreconcilable with Christianity ; the latter adopts it as highly edifying and applicable to the improvement of Christian piety ; the one looks upon it as the contrivance of the devil to delude mankind ; the other as the security of mankind against the delusions of the devil ! ! One of the most senseless and extraordinary uses to which the papists apply this holy water, is the sprinkling and blessing of horses, mules, asses, fyc., on the festival of St. Anthony, observed annually on the 17th of January. On that day the inhabitants of the city of Rome and vicinity send their horses, &c., decked with ribands, to the convent of St. Anthony, which is situated near the church of St. Mary the Great. The priest, in his sacerdotal garments, stands at the church door, with a large sprinkling-brush in his hand, and as each animal is presented to him, he takes off his skull cap, mutters a few words, in Latin, intimating that through the merits of the blessed St. Anthony, they are to be preserved for the coming year from sick- ness and death, famine and danger, then dips his brush in a huge bucket of holy water, that stands by him, and sprinkles them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.* The priest * In the preface to his letter from Rome, Dr. Middleton gives the following story from St. Jerome, as the most probable origin of this absurd custom. " A citizen of Gaza, a Christian, who kept a stable of running horses for the Circensian games, was always beaten by his antagonist, an idolater, the master of the rival- stable. For the idolater, by the help of certain charms, and diabolical imprecations, con- stantly damped the spirits of the Christian's horses, and added courage to his own. The Christian, therefore, in despair, applied himself to St. Hilarion, and implored his assistance ; but the saint was unwilling to enter into an affair so frivolous and profane, till the Christian urged it as a necessary defence against these adversaries of God, whose insults were levelled not so much at him, as the Church of Christ. And his entreaties being seconded by the monks who were present, the saint ordered his earthen jug, out of which he used to drink, to be filled with water and delivered to the man, who presently sprinkled his stable, his horses, his charioteers, his chariot, and the very boundaries of the course with it. Upon this the whole city was in wondrous expectation. The idolaters derided what the Christian was doing, while the Christians took courage, and assured themselves of victory ; till the signal being given for the race, the Christian's horses seemed to fly, whilst the idolater's were laboring behind and left quite out of sight ! so that the pagans themselves were obliged to cry out that their god Marnas waa conquered at last by Christ." Page 17. 118 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK a Ludicrous annual ceremony at Rome. Sprinkling of horses, asses, &c., with holy water. receives a fee for sprinkling each animal, and Dr. Middleton re- marks that amongst the rest he had his own horses blessed at the expense of about eighteen pence " as well to satisfy his own curi- osity, as to humor the coachman ; who was persuaded, as the com- mon people generally are, that some mischance would befall them within the year, if they wanted the benefit of this benediction." He adds, a revenue is thus provided, sufficient for the maintenance of forty or fifty of the lazy drones called monks. Sometimes the visitor at Rome will see a splendid equipage drive up, attended by outriders, in elegant livery, to have the horses thus sprinkled with holy water, all the people remaining uncov- ered till the absurd and disgusting ceremony is over. On one occa- sion a traveller observed a countryman, whose beast having re- ceived the* holy water, set off from the church door at a gallop, but had scarcely gone a hundred yards before the ungainly animal tumbled down with him, and over its head he rolled into the dust. He soon, however, arose, and so did the horse, without either seem- ing to have sustained much injury. The priest looked on, and though his blessing had failed, he was not out of countenance; while some of the bystanders said that but for it, the horse and his rider might have broken their necks. (See Engraving.) A recent writer, formerly a Romish priest, and who, therefore, knows whereof he affirms, writes as follows, in relation to this cere- mony, " If I could lead my readers on the 17th of January, to the church of St. Antoin in Rome, I am convinced they would not know whether they should laugh at the ridiculous religious performances, or weep over the heathenish practices of the church of Rome. He would see a priest in his sacerdotal garments, with a stole over his neck, a brush in his right hand, and sprinkling the mules, asses, and horses, with holy water, and praying for them and with them, and blessing them in order to be preserved the whole year from sick- ness and death, famine and danger, for the sake and merits of the holy Antony. All this is a grotesque scene, so grotesque that no American can have any idea of it, and heathen priests would never have thought of it. Add to that, the great mass of people, the kickings of the mules, the meetings of the lovers, the neighings of the horses, the melodious voices of the asses, the shoutings of the multitude, and mockings of the protestants, who reside in Rome, and you have a spectacle, which would be new, entirely new, not only for American protestants, but for the heathen themselves, and must be abominable in the eye of God. But enough ; the subject is too serious ; it is a religious exercise, practised by the priests of Rome, in the so-called metropolis of the Christian world, sanctioned by the self-styled infallible head of the church of Rome. All we can say is : ' Ichabod, thy glory is departed.' The priests of heathen Rome would be ashamed of such a religious display in the nine- teenth century."* * See Papal Rome as it Is, by Rev. L. Gustiniani, D. D., formerly a Roman priest. Sprinkling and Blessing of Horses at Rome, on St. Anthony's Day. CHAP, vi.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 121 Lighting up candles in the day time a heathen custom. (4.) Burning wax candles in the day time. No sooner is a man advanced a little forward into their churches, and begins to look about him, but he will find his eyes and attention attracted by a number of lamps and wax candles, which are kept constantly burn ing before the shrines and images of their saints. In the great churches of Italy, says Mabillon, they hang up lamps at every altar ; a sight which not only surprises.a stranger by the novelty of it, but will furnish him with another proof and example of the conformity of the Romish with the pagan worship ; by recalling to his memory many passages of the heathen writers, where their perpetual lamps and candles are described as continually burning before the altars and statues of their deities. ' Centum aras posuit vigilemque sacra- verat ignem.' Virg., JEn. iv., 200. Herodotus tells us of the Egyptians who first introduced the use of lamps into their temples. That they had a famous yearly festival, called from the principal ceremony of it, the lighting up of candles, but there is scarcely a single festival at Rome, which might not for the same reason be called by the same name. The primitive writers frequently expose the folly and absurdity of this heathenish custom. " They light up candles to God" says Lactantius, " as if he lived in the dark ; and do they not deserve to pass for madmen, who offer lamps to the author and giver of light ?" In the collections of old inscriptions, we may find instances of presents and donations from private persons, of lamps and candle- sticks to the temples and altars of their gods. A piece of zeal which continues still the same in modern Rome, where each church abounds with lamps of massive silver, and sometimes even of gold ; the gifts of princes, and other persons of distinction ; and it is sur- prising to see how great a number of this kind are perpetually before the altars of their principal saints, or miraculous images ; as St. Anthony of Padua, or the lady of Loretto ; as well as the vast profusion of wax candles, with which their churches are illuminated on every great festival when the high altar covered with gold and silver plate, brought out of their treasuries, and stuck full of wax lights, disposed in beautiful figures, looks more like the rich side- board of some great prince, dressed out for a feast, than an altar to pay divine worship at. (5.) Votive gifts and offerings. But a stranger will not be more surprised at the number of lamps or wax-lights, burning before their altars, than at the number of offerings or votive gifts, which are hanging all around them, in consequence of vows made in the time of danger, and in gratitude for deliverance and cures wrought in sickness or distress ; a practice so common among the heathens, that no one custom of antiquity is so frequently mentioned by all their writers ; and many of their original donaria, or votive offer- ings, are preserved to this day in the cabinets of the curious ; images of metal, stone, or clay, as well as legs, arms, and other parts of the body, which had formerly been hung up in their temples in tes- timony of some divine favor or cure effected by their titular deity 122 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n. Votive offerings. Hands, feet, &c., in wax. Copies of heathen originals. in that particular member. But the most common of all offerings were pictures repi esenting the history of the miraculous cure or deliverance, vouchsafed upon the vow of the donor. Nuno dea, nunc succurre mihi ; nam posse Picla docet templis multa tabella tuis. TibuL, El. i., 3. Now, goddess, help, for thou.canst help bestow ; As all these pictures round thy altars show. A friend of Diagoras, the philosopher, called the atheist, having found him once in a temple, as the story is told by Cicero, " You," says he, " who think the gods take no notice of human affairs, do you not see here by this number of pictures, how many people, for the sake of their vows, have been saved in storms at sea, and got safe into harbor ?" " Yes," says Diagoras, " I see how it is, for those are never painted who happen to be drowned." The temples of Esculapius were more especially rich in those offerings, which Livy says were the price and pay for the cures he had wrought for the sick ; where they used always to hang up and expose to com- mon view, in tables of brass or marble, a catalogue of all the miraculous cures which he had performed for his votaries. A re- markable fragment of one of these tables is still remaining and pub- lished in Gruter's Collections, having been found in the ruins of a temple of that god, in the island of the Tiber at Rome : upon which the learned Roman Catholic writer, Montfaucon, makes this reflec- tion : that in it are either seen the wiles of the devil, to deceive the cre- dulous ; or else the tricks of pagan priests suborning men to coun- terfeit diseases and miraculous cures. Why is not this as true of Popery as Paganism ? Now this piece of superstition had been found of old so beneficial to the priesthood, that it could not fail of being taken into the scheme of the Romish worship ; where it reigns at this day in its full height and vigor, as in the ages of pagan idolatry ; and in so gross a man- ner, as to give scandal and offence even to some of their own com- munion. Polydore Virgil, after having described this practice of the ancients, " in the same manner," says he, " do we now offer up in our churches little images of wax ; and as oft as any part of the body is hurt, as the hand or foot, &c., we presently make a vow to God, or one of his saints, to whom, upon our recovery, we make an offering of that hand or foot in wax ; which custom is now come to that extravagance, that we do the same for our cattle which we do for ourselves, and make offerings on account of our oxen, horses, sheep ; where a scrupulous man will question, in this we imitate the religion or the superstition of our ancestors." As oft as I have had the curiosity to look over those Donaria, or votive offerings, hanging round the shrines of their images, and consider the several stories of each, as they are either expressed in painting or related in writing, I have always found them to be mere copies, or verbal translations of the originals of heathenism ; for the vow is often said to have been divinely inspired, or expressly commanded ; and the CHAP. vi. J POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 123 Revival of old Pagan impostures. Worship of idols or images. cure and deliverance to have been wrought either by the visible apparition, and immediate hand of the titular saint, or by the notice of a dream, or some other miraculous admonition from heaven. " There can be no doubt," say their writers, " but that images of our saints often work signal miracles, by procuring health to the infirm, and appearing to us often in dreams, to suggest something of great moment for our service." And what is all this but a revival of the old impostures, and a re- petition of the same old stories of which the ancient inscriptions are full, with no difference than what the pagans ascribe to the imaginary help of their deities, the papists as foolishly impute to the favor of their saints ? Whether the reflection of Father Montfau- con on the pagan priests, mentioned above, be not, in the very same case, as justly applicable to the Roman priests, I must leave to the judgment of my reader. (6.) Adoration of idols or images. When a man is once en- gaged in reflections of this kind, imagining himself in some heathen temple, and expecting, as it were, some sacrifice or other piece of Paganism to ensue, he will not be long in suspense, before he sees the finishing act and last scene of genuine idolatry, in crowds of bigot votaries, prostrating themselves before some image of wood or stone, and paying divine honors to an idol of their own erecting. Should they squabble with us here, about the meaning of the word idol, Jerome has determined it to the very case in question, telling us, that by idols are to be understood the images of the dead : ' Idola intelligimus Imagines mortuorum.' (Hier Com. in Isa., c. xxxvii.) And the worshippers of such images are used always in the style of the fathers, as terms synonymous and equivalent to heathens and pagans. As to the practice itself, it was condemned by many of the wisest heathens, and for several ages, even in pagan Rome, was thought impious and detestable : for Numa, we find, prohibited it to the old Romans, nor would suffer any images in their temples ; which constitution they observed religiously, says Plutarch, for the first hundred and seventy years of the city. But as image wor- ship was thought abominable even by some pagan princes, so by some of the Christian emperors it was forbidden on pain of death ; not because those images were the representations of demons or false gods, but because they were vain, senseless idols, the work of men's hands, and for that reason unworthy of any honor : and all the instances and overt acts of such worship, described and condemned by them, are exactly the same with what the papists practise at this day ; lighting up candles, burning incense, hanging up garlands, &c., as may be seen in the law of Theodosius before mentioned, which confiscates that house or land where any such act of Gentile superstition had been committed. Those princes who were influenced, we may suppose, in their constitutions of this sort, by the advice of their bishops, did not think Paganism abolished, till the adoration of images was utterly extirpated; which was reckoned always the principal of those Gentile rites, 124 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n. Pagan heroes and demigods with Christian names. The Pantheon dedicated to Mary and all the saints. that agreeably to the sense of the purest ages of Christianity, are never mentioned in the imperial laws without the epithets of pro- fane, damnable, impious, &c. What opinion then can we have of the present practice of the church of Rome, but that by a change only of name, they have found means to retain the thing ; and by substituting their saints in the place of the old demigods, have but set up idols of their own, instead of those of their forefathers ? In which it is hard to say whether their assurance or their address is more to be admired, who have the face to make that the principal part of Christian worship, which the first Christians looked upon as the most criminal part even of Paganism, and have found means to extract gain and great revenues out of a practice which in primitive times would have cost a man both his life and estate. But our notion of the idolatry of modern Rome will be much heightened still and con- firmed, as oft as we follow them into those temples, and to those very altars which were built originally by their heathen ancestors, the old Romans, to the honor of their pagan deities, where we shall hardly see any other alteration than the shrine of some old hero filled by the meaner statue of some modern saint. Nay, they have not always, as I am well informed, given themselves the trouble of making even this change, but have been content sometimes to take up with the old image, just as they found it; after baptizing it only, as it were, or consecrating it anew by the imposition of a Christian name. This their antiquaries do not scruple to put strangers in mind of in showing their churches ; and it was, I think, in that of St. Agnes where they showed me an antique of a young Bacchus, which, with a new name and a little change of drapery, stands now worshipped under the title of a female saint. (7.) The Gods of the Pantheon turned into popish saints. The noblest heathen temple now remaining in the world, is the Pantheon, or Rotunda ; which, as the inscription over the portico informs us, having been piously dedicated of old by Agrippa to Jove and all the gods, was impiously reconsecrated by Pope Boniface IV., about A. D. 610, TO THE BLESSED VlRGIN AND ALL THE SAINTS. PANTHEON, &c. AB AGRIPPA AUGUSTI GENERO, IMPIE JOVI, C^TERISQ; MENDACIBUS DHS, A. BONIFACIO IIII. PONTIFICE, DEIPAR^E & S. S. CHRISTI MARTYRIBUS PIO D1CATUM, &c. With this single alteration, it serves as exactly for all the pur- poses of the popish as it did for the pagan worship, for which it was built. For as in the old temple, every one might find the God of his country, and address himself to that deity, whose religion he was most devoted to ; so it is the same thing now ; every one chooses the patron whom he likes best ; and one may see here different services going on at the same time at different altars, with CHAP. vi.J POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 135 Heathen idols changed into Christian saints. Road gods. distinct congregations round them, just as the inclinations of the people lead them to the worship of this or that particular Saint. And what better title can the new demigods show, to the adoration now paid them, than the old ones, whose shrines they have usurped ? Or how comes it to be less criminal to worship images, erected by the Pope, than those which Agrippa, or that which Nebuchadnezzar set up ? If there be any real difference, most people will, I dare say, be apt to determine in favor of the old possessors. For those heroes of antiquity were raised up into gods, and received divine honors, for some signal benefits, of which they had been the authors to mankind ; as the invention of arts and sciences ; or of something highly useful and necessary to life Whereas of the Romish saints, it is certain that many of them were never heard of, but in their own legends or fabulous histories ; and many more, instead of services done to mankind, owe all the honors now paid to them, to their vices or their errors ; whose merit, like that of Demetrius, (Acts xix., 23), was their skill of raising rebellions in defence of an idol, and throwing kingdoms into con- vulsions, for the sake of some gainful imposture. And as it is in the Pantheon, it is just the same in all the other heathen temples, that still remain in Rome ; they have only pulled down one idol to set up another ; and changed rather the name than the object of their worship. Thus the little temple of Vesta, near the Tiber, mentioned by Horace, is now possessed by Madonna of the Sun ; that of Fortuna Virilis, by Mary the Egyptian ; that of Saturn, where the public treasure was anciently kept, by St. Adrian ; that of Romulus and Remus in the Via Sacra, by two other brothers, Cosmas and Damianus ; that of Antoninus Pius, by Laurence the saint ; but for my part, adds Dr. Middleton, I should sooner be tempted to prostrate myself before the statue of a Romu- lus or an Antonine, than that of a Laurence or a Damian ; and give divine honors rather with pagan Rome, to the founders of empires, than with popish Rome, to the founders of monasteries. In reply to these observations of Dr. Middleton, some may inquire whether there is anything wrong in the change of a hea- then temple to a Christian place of worship, any more than in the change of theatres into churches, which is frequently done in the present day. To this objection we answer, that it is not to the change of the Pantheon into a Christian temple we object, but to the adoption of the pagan ceremonies into Christian worship, and the adoring the same images of heathen deities, under the names of Christian saints. (8.) Road gods and saints. But their temples are not the only places where we see the proofs and overt acts of their superstition : the whole face of the country has the visible characters of Paganism upon it ; and wherever we look about us, we cannot but find, as Paul did in Athens (Acts xvii. 16), clear evidence of its being pos- sessed by a superstitious and idolatrous people. The old Romans, we know, had their gods, who presided pe,cu- 126 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOKH Reverence of the papists for these road gods. Kissing the Pope's toe. liarly over the roads, streets, and highways, called Viales, Semitales, Compitales : whose little temples or altars are decked with flowers, or whose statues at least, coarsely carved of wood or stone, were placed at convenient distances in the public ways, for the benefit of travellers, who used to step aside to pay their devotions to those rural shrines, and beg a prosperous journey and safety in their travels. Now this custom prevails still so generally in all popish coun- tries, but especially in Italy, that one can see no other difference between the old and present superstition, than that of changing the name of the Deity, and christening as it were the old Hecate in triviis, by the new name of Maria in trivio ; by which title I have observed one of their churches dedicated in this city : and as the heathens used to paint over the ordinary statues of their gods with red or some such gay color, so I have oft observed the coarse images of those saints so daubed over with a gaudy red, as to resemble exactly the description of the god Pan in Virgil (Eclogue 10). In passing along the road, it is common to see travellers on their knees before these rustic altars; which none ever presume to approach without some act of reverence ; and those who are most in haste, or at a distance, are sure to pull off their hats, at least, in token of respect : and I took notice that our postillion used to look back upon us to see how we behaved on such occasions, and seemed surprised at our passing so negligently before places esteemed so sacred. (9.) The Pope and the Pontifex Maximus and kissing the Pope's toe. In their very priesthood, they have contrived to keep up as near a resemblance as they could to that of pagan Rome : and the sovereign pontiff, instead of deriving his succession from Peter, who, if ever he was at Rome, did not reside there at least in any worldly pomp or splendor, may with more reason and much better plea style himself the successor of the Pontifex Maximus, or chief priest of old Rome ; whose authority and dignity was the greatest in the republic ; and who was looked upon as the arbiter or judge of all things, civil as well as sacred, human as well as divine : whose power established almost with the foundation of the city, " was an omen," says Polydore Virgil, " and sure presage of priestly majesty, by which Rome was once again to reign as universally, as it had done before by the force of its arms." But of all the sovereign pontiffs of pagan Rome, it is very re- markable that Caligula was the first who ever offered his foot to be kissed by any who approached him : which raised a general indig- nation through the city, to see themselves reduced to suffer so great an indignity. Those who endeavored to excuse it, said that it was not done out of insolence, but vanity ; and for the sake of showing his golden slipper, set with jewels. Seneca declaims upon it as the last affront to liberty, and the introduction of a Persian slavery into the manners of Rome. Yet, this servile act, unworthy either to be imposed or complied with by man, is now the standing CHAP, vi.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 127 Pagan and popish processions. Thejlagellantes, or self-whippers. ceremonial of Christian Rome, and a necessary condition of access to the reigning Popes, though derived from no better origin than the frantic pride of a brutal pagan tyrant. (10.) Processions of worshippers and self-whippers. The de- scriptions of the religious pomps and processions of the heathens come so near to what we see on every festival of the Virgin or other Romish saint, that one can hardly help thinking those popish ones to be still regulated by the old ceremonial of pagan Rome. At these solemnities the chief magistrates used frequently to assist in robes of ceremony, attended by the priests in surplices, with wax candles in their hands, carrying upon a pageant or thensa the images of their gods, dressed out in their best clothes. These were usually followed by the principal youth of the place in white linen vestments or surplices, singing hymns in honor of the god whose festival they were celebrating, accompanied by crowds of all sorts, that were initiated in the same religion, all with flambeaux or wax candles in their hands. This is the account which Apuleius and other authors give us of a pagan procession ; and I may ap- peal to all who have been abroad, whether it might not pass quite as well for the description of a popish one. Tournefort, in his travels through Greece, reflects upon the Greek church for having retained and taken into their present worship many of the old rites of heathenism, and particularly that of carrying and dancing about the images of the saints in their processions to singing and music. The reflection is full as applicable to his own, as it is to the Greek church, and the practice itself is so far from giving scandal in Italy, that the learned publisher of the Florentine Inscriptions takes occa- sion to show the conformity between them and the heathens, from this very instance of carrying about the pictures of their saints, as the pagans did those of their gods, in their sacred processions. (Inscrip. Antiq. Flor., 377.) In one of those processions made lately to St. Peter's in the time of Lent, I saw that ridiculous penance of the flagellantes or self-whippers, who march with whips in their hands, and lash them- selves as they go along on the bare back till it is all covered with blood ; in the same manner as the fanatical priests of Bellona or the Syrian Goddess, as well as the votaries of Isis, used to slash and cut themselves of old, in order to please the goddess by the sacrifice of their own blood, which mad piece of discipline we find frequently mentioned and as oft ridiculed by the ancient writers. But they have another exercise of the same kind and in the same season of Lent, which, under the notion of penance, is still a more absurd mockery of all religion. When on a certain day appointed annually for this discipline, men of all conditions assemble them- selves towards the evening in one of the churches of the city, where the whips or lashes made of cords are provided and dis- tributed to every person present, and after they are all served, and a short office of devotion performed, the candles being put out, upon the warning of a little bell, the whole company begin to strip 9 128 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n. Seneca's opinion of the self-whippers. Pagsn and papal mendicant monks and try the force of these whips on their own backs, for the space of near an hour ; during all which time the church becomes, as it were, the proper image of hell ; where nothing is heard but the noise of lashes and chains, mixed with the groans of those self-tor- mentors ; till satiated with their exercise they are content to put on their clothes, and the candles being lighted again, upon the tink- ling of a second bell, they all appear in their proper dress. Seneca, alluding to the very same effects of fanaticism in pagan Rome, says, " So great is the force of it on disordered minds, that they try to appease the gods by such methods as an enraged man would hardly take to revenge himself. But, if there be any gods who desire to be worshipped after this manner, they do not deserve to be worshipped at all ; since the very worst of tyrants, though they have sometimes torn and tortured people's limbs, yet have never commanded men to torture themselves." (11.) Religious orders of monks, nuns, fyc. The great variety of their religious orders and societies of priests seems to have been formed upon the plan of the old colleges or fraternities of the Au- gurs, Pontifices, Selli, Fratres Arvales, &c. The vestal virgins might furnish the hint for the foundation of nunneries ; and I have observed something very like to the rules and austerities of ^he monastic life, in the character and manner of several priests of the heathens, who used to live by themselves retired from the world, near to the temple or oracle of the deity to whose particular ser- vice they were devoted ; as the Selli, the priests of Dodonaan Jove, or self-mortifying race. From the character of those Selli, or as others call them Elli, the monks of the pagan world, seated in the fruitful soil of Dodona, abounding, as Hesiod describes it, with everything that could make life easy and happy, and whither no man ever approached them without an offering in his hands, we may learn whence their successors of modern times have derived their peculiar skill or prescriptive right of choosing the richest part of every country for the place of their settlement. Whose groves the Selli, race austere, surround ; Their feet unwash'd, their slumbers on the ground. Pope, II. xvii., 324. But above all, in the old descriptions of the lazy mendicant priests among the heathens, who used to travel from house to house, with sacks on their backs, and, from an opinion of their sanctity, raise large contributions of money, bread, wine, and all kinds of victuals for the support of their fraternity, we see the very picture of the begging friars, who are always about the streets in the same habit and on the same errand, and never fail to carry home with them a good sack full of provisions for the use of their convent. Cicero, in his book of laws, restrains this practice of begging or gathering alms to one particular order of priests, and that only on certain days ; because, as he says, it propagates superstition and impoverishes families. Which may let us see the policy of the church of Rome, in the great care that they have taken to multiply CHAP, vi.] POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 139 This conformity between Popery and Paganism acknowledged and defended by a Romanist author their begging orders. ' Stipem sustulimus, usi earn quam ad paucos dies propriam Idaea? matris excepimus. Implet enim superstitione animos, exhaurit domos.' (Cic. de Legib., 1, 2, 9, 16.) 48. After carrying out the comparison between Paganism and Popery, in relation to their pretended miracles, lying signs and wonders, &c., Dr. Middleton concludes his learned and most con- clusive letter as follows:! could easily carry on this parallel, through many more instances of the pagan and popish ceremonies, to show from what spring all that superstition flows, which we so justly charge them with, and how vain an attempt it must be to justify by the principles of Christianity, a worship formed upon the plan and after the very pattern of pure heathenism. I shall not trouble myself with inquiring at what time and in what manner those several corruptions were introduced into the phurch ; whether they were contrived by the intrigues and avarice of priests, who found their advantage in reviving and propagating impostures, which had been of old so profitable to their predecessors ; or whether the genius of Rome was so strongly turned to fanaticism and superstition that they were forced, in condescension to the humor of the people, to dress up their new religion to the modes and fopperies of the old. This, I know, is the principle by which their own writers defend themselves as oft as they are attacked on this head. Aringhus, a Roman Catholic writer, in his account of subter- raneous Rome, acknowledges this conformity between the pagan and popish rites, and defends the admission of the ceremonies of heathenism into the service of the church by the authority of their wisest popes and governors ; " who found it necessary," he says, " in the conversion of the Gentiles, to dissemble and wink at many things and yield to the times, and not to use force against customs which the people are so obstinately fond of, nor to think of extir- pating at once everything that had the appearance of profane." It is by the same principles that the Jesuits defend the concessions which they make at this day to their proselytes in China ; who, where pure Christianity will not go down, never scruple to com- pound the matter between JSsus and Confucius, and prudently allow what the stiff old prophets so impoliticly condemned, a part- nership between God and Baal ; of which, though they have often been accused at the court of Rome, yet I have never heard that their conduct has been censured. But this kind of reasoning, how plausible soever it may be, with regard to the first ages of Chris- tianity, or to nations just converted from Paganism, is so far from excusing the present heathenism of the church of Rome, that it is a direct condemnation of it ; since the necessity alleged for the practice, if ever it had any real force, has not, at least for many ages past, at all subsisted ; and their toleration of such practices seems now to be the readiest way to drive Christians back again to heathenism. I have sufficiently made good what I first undertook to prove ; 130 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK a. This policy of conciliating the heathen adopted by Gregory the Great. an exact conformity, or rather uniformity, of worship between Popery and Paganism. For since we see the present people of Rome worshipping IN THE SAME TEMPLES, AT THE SAME ALTARS, sometimes THE SAME IMAGES, and ALWAYS WITH THE SAME CERE- MONIES as the old Romans, WHO CAN ABSOLVE THEM FROM THE SAME SUPERSTITION AND IDOLATRY of which we condemn their pagan ancestors ? Those who would wish to see this striking parallel between Popery and Paganism carried out yet farther, must consult the valu- able and masterly work to which I am indebted for most of these interesting particulars, with the full references and original quota- tions from various authorities, ancient as well as modern, Roman Catholic as well as protestant. 49. That this policy of conciliating the heathen nations by adopting their pagan ceremonies into Christian worship, had been adopted previous to the epoch of the papal supremacy, A. D. 606, is abundantly evident from the instructions given by Gregory the Great, to Augustin, his missionary in Britain, and to Serenus, the bishop of Marseilles, in France, both of whom had written to the pontiff for advice. The account of Gregory's instructions to Augustin, as related by Bower, is as follows : " Not satisfied with directing Austin not to destroy, but to reserve for the worship of God, the profane places where the pagan Saxons had worshipped their idols, Gregory would have him treat the more profane usages, rites, and ceremo- nies of the pagans in the same manner, that is, not to abolish, but to sanctify them, by changing the end for which they were instituted, and introduce them, thus sanctified, into the Christian worship. This he specifies in a particular ceremony. * Whereas it is a custom,' says he, ' among the Saxons to slay abundance of oxen, and sacri- fice them to the devil, you must not abolish that custom, but ap- point a new festival to be kept either on the day of the consecration of the churches, or the birth-day of the saints, whose relics are deposited there, and on these days the Saxons may be allowed to make arbors round the temples changed into churches, to kill their oxen, and to feast, as they did while they were still pagans, only they shall offer their thanks and praises, not to the devil, but to God.' This advice, absolutely irreconcilable with the purity of the gospel- worship, the Pope founds on a pretended impossibility of wean- ing men at once from rites and ceremonies to which they have been long accustomed, and on the hopes of bringing the converts, in due time, by such an indulgence, to a better sense of their duty to God. Thus was the religion of the Saxons, our ancestors, so disfigured and corrupted with all the superstitions of Paganism, at its first being planted among them, that it scarce deserved the name of Christianity, but was rather a mixture of Christianity and Pagan- ism, or Christianity and Paganism moulded, as it were, into a third religion." The other instance was as follows : " The Franks, who had settled CHAP, vr.l POPERY AT ITS BIRTH. A. D. 606. 131 He commands Serenus to restore the images to the churches, for the sake of gratifying the pagans. in the south of Gaul, now France, had been indulged, at the time of their conversion, in the use of images, and that indulgence had insensibly brought them back to idolatry, for turning the images of Christ into idols, they paid them the same kind of worship or adoration, after their conversion, which they had paid to their idols before their conversion. This Serenus could not bear, and, there- fore, to show his abhorrence of such abominations, and at the same time to prevent them in time to come, he caused all the images throughout his diocese to be pulled down, and to be cast out of the churches, and destroyed. That wise and zealous prelate was, it seems, even then, when the dangerous practice of setting up images was yet in its infancy, apprised of a truth, which all have now learned by the experience of many ages, all, at least, who care to learn it, viz. : that IMAGES CANNOT BE ALLOWED, AND IDOLATRY PRE- VENTED. However, this instance of his zeal for the purity of the Christian worship, was very ill received at Rome. And, indeed. Gregory acted therein consistently with himself, for, having directed Austin, this very year, to introduce the pagan rites and usages into the church, he could not but blame Serenus for thus excluding them, and he wrote to him accordingly, commending indeed his zeal in not suffering to be worshipped that which was made with hands, but at the same time blaming him for breaking them, ' to prevent their being worshipped, since they served the ignorant in the room of books, and instructed, by being seen, those who could not read.' But the reason on which the pope seems to have laid his chief stress, in censuring the conduct of Serenus, was, that, by breaking the images, and banishing them from the churches, he would prejudice the bar- barians (that is, the Franks), among whom he lived, against the Christian religion ; so that it was chiefly to gratify the pagans, who were converted, to facilitate the conversion of the others, and to adapt the Christian religion to their ideas and notions, that the use of images, and many other rites of the pagan worship, were allowed in the church. But how different was this method of converting the pagans from that which the apostles pursued, and their immedi- ate successors, nay, and all apostolic men for the three first centu- ries after Christ ? With them it was a principle not to sanctify, but utterly to abolish all pagan rites, all superstitious practices what- ever, and introduce, in their room, a plainness and simplicity suited to the worship of God, in spirit and truth. Upon that principle image* of no kind were suffered in the churches during the three h'rst centuries, as is allowed by several Roman Catholic writers ; nay, it was not till the latter end of the fourth century, that the pagan temples began to be converted into Christian churches. They had all, till then, been either shut up, or pulled down, the bishops of those times thinking it a great profanation to worship God even in the places where worship had been paid to the devil."* The above remarkable instances of papal conformity to Pagan- * Bower's History of the Popes, in vita Gregory I. 132 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n. This time-serving conformity to Paganism, as early as the papal supremacy. ism, related upon the unquestionable authority of Gregory's own epistles,* are a proof that this wicked policy had been thus early adopted, and though it is not perhaps absolutely certain that all the pa- gan ceremonies, above enumerated, were introduced into the Romish worship so early as 606, yet, without doubt, most of them were in use in the time of Boniface, and the others, not long after. The Pantheon, as we have seen, was consecrated to " the VIRGIN AND ALL THE SAINTS," within four or five years of the establishment of the papal supre- macy ; and on that occasion pope Boniface IV. employed the newly acquired papal authority, in enjoining upon all the faithful the observance of a festival in commemoration of that event, which is still celebrated with great ceremony in all popish countries, on the first of November, called the Feast of All Saints. Image worship, as we shall see, was not finally and fully established till about the middle of the ninth century, after a long contest between different emperors, popes, and councils. The history and origin of these pagan innovations upon Christian worship, has been given at con- siderable length, because it is believed that the most satisfactory mode is thereby suggested of answering the question which so fre- quently presents itself to the candid and inquiring mind, when con- templating the heathen mummeries of papal worship. Can it be possible that this is Christianity ? that this is the religion of the New Testament ? of Jesus Christ and his apostles ? and if it is called by the name, whence did it become so corrupted ? so like the religion of pagan Greece and Rome ? The answer is NO, THIS is NOT CHRIS- TIANITY, it is Paganism, under that venerated name, and the trans- formation was effected by borrowing the temples, the idols, and the ceremonies of heathenism, to silence the scruples, and to win the suffrages of those who had no taste for a religion so PURE, so SPIRIT UAL, AND SO HOLY AS THE RELIGION OF ClIRIST. * See Epist. Greg., lib. ix., epist. 71, and lib. vii., epist 110. 133 BOOK ill. POPERY ADVANCING-A.D.606-800, FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY, A. D. 606, TO THE POPES* TEMPORAL SOVEREIGNTY, 756, AND TO THE CROWNING OF THE EMPEROR CHARLEMAGNE, 800 CHAPTER I. GRADUAL INCREASE OF THE PAPAL POWER. DARKNESS, SUPERSTITION, AND IGNORANCE OF THIS PERIOD. 1. THAT part of the above-named period extending from the establishment of the papal supremacy in 606 to the epoch of the Popes' temporal sovereignty, 756, possesses peculiar interest to the student of history. These two dates are those upon which writers on the prophecies, relative to Popery, have been chiefly divided as to the proper commencement of its existence as the little horn of Daniel (ch. vii. 8). The most judicious writers, how- ever, have generally preferred the latter date, or some other noting the increase or confirmation of the Popes' temporal power, as Popery could not properly be called a horn till it was, like the other horns, a temporal sovereignty. It is not to be supposed that the various churches of the West, much less of the East, gave up without a struggle their ancient liberty and independence as soon as the decree of a tyrant consti- tuted the Roman prelate Universal Bishop and supreme head of the church. The Popes, it is true, used all sorts of means to maintain and enlarge the authority and pre-eminence which they had ac- quired by a grant from the most odious tyrant that ever disgraced the annals of history. We find, however, in the most authentic ac- counts of the transactions of this century, that not only several emperors and princes, but also whole nations, opposed the ambitious views of the bishops of Rome. Besides all this, multitudes of pri- vate persons expressed publicly, and without the least hesitation, their abhorrence of the vices, and particularly of the lordly am- bition of the Roman pontiffs ; and it is highly probable, that the Waldenses or Vaudois had already, in this century, retired into the valleys of Piedmont, that they might be more at their liberty to oppose the tyranny of those imperious prelates.* * See Antoine Leger's Histx>ire des Eglises Vaudoises, livr. i., p. 15. 134 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK nx. Election of popes confirmed by the Emperor. Popish morality. No faith with heretics 2. The popes were still the subjects of the Roman emperors, and their election to the Popedom gave them no official authority till confirmed either by the Emperor himself or his viceroy in Italy, the exarch of Ravenna. This, of course, was nothing more than natural and 'just, that since this spiritual sovereignty was created by the Emperor it should be confirmed by the same authority. Sometimes when the popes elect were suspected of being opposed to the views of the Emperor, considerable difficulty was ex- perienced in obtaining the imperial confirmation of their election. Thus, upon the election of pope Severinus in 640, we learn from a letter of the monk Maximus, that the emperor Heraclius, at the instigation of the clergy of Constantinople, refused to confirm his election to the popedom till his legates had promised the Emperor to persuade the newly-elected pope to sign the Echthesis, a decree of which we shall hear more in a future chapter ; but, adds the monk, though they complied with the Emperor's demand, they never intended to perform so sinful a promise. So that, as Bower remarks, " they did not, it seems, think it sinful to make a promise which they thought it sinful to perform."* A characteristic illus- tration of genuine popish morality ! But why complain ? Hera- clius, in the estimation of the Pope and his legates, was a heretic, and the votaries of Rome had already learned to act upon the prin- ciple, so shamelessly avowed seven or eight centuries later, in the council of Constance, that NO FAITH is TO BE KEPT WITH HERETICS. The consequence of this delay was, that pope Severinus was not ordained till about a year and a half after his election. 3. In 685, pope Benedict II., according to the account of the Romish historian Anastasius, had sufficient influence with the emperor Constantine IV. to obtain from him a decree permitting the ordination of popes in future, immediately upon their election, without waiting for the confirmation of the Emperor or his deputy in Italy ; but in less than two years, Justinian, who had succeeded his father in the empire, conceiving this to be a dangerous conces- sion, revoked the decree, and vested the power of confirming the election of future popes in the exarch of Italy, commonly called, from the place of his residence, the exarch of Ravenna. Two or three years later the Exarch made a profitable use of this privilege by unjustly extorting an enormous sum from pope Sergius, before consenting to confirm his election.f It had ever been the custom, at least since the decree of Phocas, to pay a certain sum into the im- perial treasury, when the election of a pope was confirmed, but in this case the Exarch demanded a much larger sum than usual. The circumstances were these : In the year 687, two candidates for the popedom, Theodore and Pascal, had been elected by rival * History of the Popes, vol. iii., p. 21. f Anastasius in vita Sergius. This historian, generally called Anastasius Bib' liothecarius, lived in the ninth century. He was the librarian of the church of Rome and abbot of St. Mary beyond the Tiber. He wrote Liber Pontificalis, in four volumes, folio, containing the lives of some of the popes. CHAP, r.] POPERY ADVANCING A.D. 606800. 135 Price of a seat in the chair of St. Peter. The Pope appoints Theodore aichbishop of Canterbury parties. A violent and disgraceful tumult ensued between the re- spective friends of each. The judges and magistrates of Rome in vain sought to bring the two ambitious priests to an agreement, and to induce one to yield to the other. Failing in this attempt, they formed a new party, and proceeded to elect a third candidate named Sergius, and carrying him in triumph to the Lateran, forced the gates and put him in possession of the place. Upon this Theo- dore yielded his claim and joined the party of Sergius. The other competitor, pascal, obstinately persisted in his claim. He had made a private agreement with the Exarch to reward him with a bribe of thirty pounds of gold, upon condition that he should be chosen and confirmed as pope. Instead, therefore, of yielding to Sergius, he despatched a messenger in all haste to Ravenna, for the Exarch immediately to repair to Rome and consummate his agree- ment. Upon the arrival of the latter in the city, learning the dis- couraging situation of Paschal's affairs, and concluding that he 1 could make a better bargain with Sergius, he immediately acknow- ledged him as pope, but demanded the enormous sum of one hun- dred pounds of gold before he would consent to confirm his elec- tion. In the end, though much against his will, Sergius was under the necessity of submitting to the exorbitant demand, though he had to pawn the very ornaments of the tomb of St. Peter before he could raise the sum necessary to secure the imperial signature to the decree confirming his election. The above is named, upon the authority of Anastasius, only as a specimen of the means fre- quently resorted to in order to supply the links in this boasted un- broken chain of HOLY APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION ! It serves also as an illustration of the fact that the popes had not yet attained tem- poral sovereignty, but were still dependent for the spiritual power they wielded upon the emperors. 4. The popes, however, were restless, under this odious re- straint ; they had reached, by means of the emperors, the height of spiritual supremacy, and now they were anxious to knock away the ladder by which they had attained this eminence, render themselves independent of all earthly governments, and assume a rank among the temporal sovereigns of the earth, and they watched with eagle gaze for every opportunity of confirming and enlarging their power. One remarkable instance of this occurred in the appointment by the sole authority of the Pope, in 667, of Theodore, as archbishop of Canterbury, in consequence of the death of the prelate that had been appointed in England, while waiting at Rome for his ordination. To reconcile king Oswy to his assumption, he, the Pope, sent him a flattering letter, with a choice collection of his trumpery relics, and to his " spiritual daughter," the queen, he sent a cross and golden key, enriched with a portion of the filings of Peter's noted chain. Theodore, after having his head shaved according to the Roman law, was despatched to England, and forthwith acknowledged, in conse- quence of his having been chosen and ordained by the successor of St. Peter, as the primate of all England. From that time to the 136 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK m. Important matters of dispute. Ecclesiastical tonsure. Different ways of shaving heads. present, the archbishop of Canterbury has enjoyed a degree of power and authority in Great Britain, superior to that of any other eccle- siastic in the realm. 5. As a specimen of the important matters of disputation which in this age were regarded as of sufficient importance to divide the ignorant priests and monks into opposite and contending parties, may be mentioned, the famous dispute in England, relative to what was called the ecclesiastical tonsure. In plain English, the manner in which the priests should shave their heads ! When the missionaries who came over to Britain from Rome, about the mid- dle of the seventh century, encountered the Scottish and Irish priests, they were horrified at the terrible "discovery that the British clergy, instead of a circular tonsure on the occiput, were distinguished by a tonsure on the forehead, in the shape of a crescent ! And this was the momentous cause of the fierce controversy that ensued between the two parties. " The grand question was," says Bower, " whether the hair of the priests and monks should be clipped or shaved on the fore part of the head, from ear to ear, in the form of a semicir- cle, or on the top of the head, in form of a circle, to imitate the crown of thorns which our Saviour wore, and of which it was thought to be an emblem. The Scots shaved the fore part of their heads, and the missionaries from Rome the top, calling that the ton- sure of St. Peter, as if it had been derived from that apostle. When, by whom, or on what occasion, the ecclesiastical tonsure, that is, the clipping or shaving the hair of the ecclesiastics, was first intro- duced, is not well known. But certain it is, that in the time of St. Jerome, who flourished in the end of the fourth, and beginning of the fifth century, a Romish priest, with his shaven crown, would have been taken for a priest of Isis or Serapis ; a shaven crown being then, as that father informs us, the characteristic or badge of those priests. As for the Christian priests, they were neither to shave their heads, as we learn of the same father, lest they should look too like the priests and votaries of Isis and Serapis ; nor to suffer their hair to grow long, after the luxurious manner of the barbarians arid soldiers, but to observe a decent mean between the two extremes ; that is, as he explains it, to let the hair grow long enough to cover their skin. It was therefore probably the custom to cut their hair to a moderate degree, at their ordination, not by way of a religious mystery, but merely for the sake of decency, and that nothing else was originally meant by the ecclesiastical tonsure. However that be, the cuttng of the hair was, in process of time, improved into a mystery, and the heathenish ceremony of shaving the head not only adopted by the church, but looked upon as important enough to divide it." (See Engraving.) 6. A curious illustration of the importance attached to this foolish custom of shaving the head in a particular manner, is con- nected with the ordination of Theodore above referred to, and is related upon the authority of the venerable Bede. In the year 667, Oswy and Egbert, the kings of Northumberland and Kent in Eng- ROMISH. SCOTTISH. EASTKEN. Ulflerent forms of Priestly Tonsure, or Shaving Heads Consecration of an Abbot by Imnoeltion of Han* CHAP, i.] POPERY ADVANCING. A. D. 606800. 139 An archbishop waiting to have his head shaved The Pope encourages appeals to Rome. land, despatched Wighard, a newly elected archbishop of Canter- bury to receive his ordination from the hands of the Pope, with a present to St. Peter, of several valuable articles of silver and gold. Wighard, dying of the plague, which then raged at Rome, the Pope resolved to embrace the favorable opportunity of advancing his power, by choosing an archbishop himself, instead of sending to the two kings, to request them, according to the previous custom, to elect a successor to Wighard. The Pope soon after nominated an Eastern monk, named Theodore, and informed the two kings that he would proceed to his consecration, and despatch him to England. Notwithstanding they were impatiently expecting his arrival, three months were permitted to elapse before his consecration, and what does the reader suppose was the all-important cause of this delay. Risum teneatis, amid ! The historian gravely informs us that he was tarrying at Rome till his hair was grown / Theodore being an Eastern monk, had his head shaved all over, according to the custom of the East, and this was called the tonsure of St. Paul. The Pope deemed it necessary, therefore, to delay the consecration till his hair was grown all over, so that he might be shaven only on the top of his head, in the form of a crown. This was called the Roman tonsure, or the tonsure of St. Peter. It would hardly be deemed credible that so much importance should be attached to such puerile trifles, were not the fact confirmed by the continuance of this absurd and senseless heathen practice of shaving the top of the head among the priests of Rome, down to the present day. 7. Another most effectual way which the popes took to in- crease their power and influence, in this period, was to encourage appeals from the decisions of other ecclesiastical courts to the apos- tolic See, by almost invariably deciding in favor of the appellant, whatever might be the just merits of the case. Thus in the very next year after the appointment of Theodore to Canterbury, the same pope Vitalianus reversed the judgment of a synod consisting of all the bishops of the island of Crete, against one John, bishop of Lappa in that island, who had been found guilty of certain crimes, absolved the criminal, and imperiously commanded Paul, the pri- mate of Crete, to restore the deposed bishop to his office. The same thing happened a few years later, in the case of Wil- frid, bishop of York, who, according to the biographer of queen Etheldreda, the wife of Ecgfrid, king of Northumberland, had en- couraged that queen in a resolution she had formed, to refuse to the king the rights of a husband, and to take a vow of chastity, and retire into a monastery. Persisting in this resolution, in express opposition to the wishes of her husband, the king requested Wilfrid to use his influence with the queen, to bring her to a sense of her duty. Instead of this, however, he only confirmed her in her reso- lution, and the queen retired to a monastery in Scotland, where she received the veil at the hands of Wilfrid himself. The king, who loved his wife with the greatest tenderness, took a journey to Scot- land, to try and persuade her to return, but failing in this, he vented 140 mSTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK m. Wilfrid, an English bishop, appeals with success to pope Agatho. First form of a bishop's oath. his indignation against Wilfrid, caused him to be deposed from his bishopric, by Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, and banished him from the kingdom of Northumberland. Wilfrid appealed to the Pope, and was received by Agatho with the greatest respect and honor. The merit of appealing to the apostolic See, especially as he was the first British ecclesiastic who had, in this way, acknow- ledged the supremacy of the successor of St. Peter, was, in the eyes of the Pope, sufficient to cover a multitude of sins. Wilfrid was declared innocent and unjustly deposed, and ordered to be restored to his See, and the clergy, as well as the laity of England, were required to pay implicit obedience to this decision, the former, on pain of being deposed, and the latter of being for ever excluded from the Eucharist.* 8. During the pontificate of pope Gregory II., the first instance was exhibited of a Roman pontiff requiring a solemn oath of allegiance and submission from his legates and bishops. It was in the case of the celebrated Winfrid or Boniface, who has been called the apostle of -Germany. Boniface was a native of England,! and in the year 716, voluntarily went on a mission among the pagans of Germany, and after laboring with zeal and success for several years ; repairing to Rome at the command of the Pope, he was ordained a bishop, and appointed by Gregory, his legate to all the inhabitants of Germany. Upon this occasion, the Pope required him to take the following oath at the tomb of St. Peter : " In the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in the sev- enth year of our most pious emperor Leo, in the fourth of his son Constantine, and in the seventh indiction, I, Boniface, by the grace of God, bishop, promise to you, blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, to blessed Gregory your vicar, and to his successors, by the undi- vided trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and by this your most sacred body, to maintain to the last, with the help of God, the purity and unity of the holy Catholic faith ; to consent to nothing contrary to either ; to consult in all things the interest of your church, and in all things to concur with you, to whom power has been given of binding and loosing, with the above-mentioned vicar, and with his successors. If I shall hear of any bishops acting contrary to the canons, I shall not communicate, nor entertain any commerce with them, but reprove and retrieve them, if I can ; if I cannot, I shall acquaint therewith MY LORD THE POPE. If I do not faithfully perform what I now promise, may I be found guilty at the tribunal of the eternal Judge, and incur the punishment inflicted by you on Ananias and Sapphira, who presumed to deceive and de- fraud you." When Boniface had taken this oath, he laid it written with his own hand on the pretended body of St. Peter, and said, " This is * Eddius' Life of Wilfrid, chap, li., quoted by Bower, vol. iii., page 59. f See Fleury's Ecclesiastical History, book xli., 35, &c., and Dupin, 8th cer> tury, Boniface. CHAP, i.] POPERY ADVANCING. A. D. 606 800; 141 Horrid cruelties of the Pope and the Emperor, on the refractory bishop of Ravenna. the oath which I have taken, and which I promise to keep." How painful to think that so holy and self-denying a man as Boniface, both from his life and death, appears to have been, should have been thus blinded by superstitious reverence for the holy See, and espe- cially for the artful, unworthy, and ambitious Gregory, who exacted from him this oath ! We shall perceive that in future ages the popes improved upon this oath, though all who read it must admit that it was a pretty fair specimen for a beginning. 9. The popes of this age also strove to establish and confirm their power, by punishing to the utmost of their ability, all who should presume to rebel against the authority of the apostolic See. An instance of this is given in the case of the cruel vengeance in- flicted by the Emperor, through the persuasions of pope Constantine, upon Felix and his associates. In the early part of the eighth cen- tury, Felix, archbishop elect of Ravenna, came to Rome to receive ordination from the Pope, having first, according to Anastasius, promised obedience and subjection to the Roman See. Upon his return to Ravenna, being encouraged by the people, Felix withdrew himself from all subjection to Rome, and asserted the independence of his See. Of his motives for this step we are not informed. Per- haps, like Luther in after times, he had seen during his visit too much of the pretended successors of St. Peter, to be willing longer to acknowledge their lofty assumptions. Be this as it may, the Pope was no sooner informed of the conduct of Felix, than trans- ported with rage, he immediately wrote to the Emperor Justinian, entreating him to espouse the cause of the prince of the apostles, and demanding vengeance on the rebels against St. Peter. The Emperor, who at this time was desirous to oblige the Pope, imme- diately ordered one of his generals to repair to Ravenna, to seize on the archbishop, and the other rebels against St. Peter, and send them in chains to Constantinople, where all except the archbishop were soon after put to death, and the latter, after having his eyes cruelly dug out of their sockets, was banished to Pontus. The popish historian, Anastasius, has the audacity to ascribe those horrid cruelties of the Pope and the Emperor, to God and St. Peter. " And thus," says he, " by a just judgment of God, and by the sen- tence of St. Peter, all were, in the end, deservedly cut off, who re- fused to pay the obedience that was due to the apostolic See." 10. In addition to these various ways adopted by the popes of extending their power and influence, and of inspiring with terror of their authority, all who should presume to oppose them, they made the most extravagant claims to the reverence and homage of the people. About the commencement of the eighth century, the debasing custom originated, which has continued ever since, of kissing the pope's foot. The emperor Justinian is thought thus to have degraded himself upon the occasion of a visit of pope Con- stantine, to the East, the very next year after he had been guilty of the cruelties just named, to the unfortunate bishop of Ravenna. As this visit of Constantine well illustrates the extravagant honors paid 142 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK m. The emperor Justinian kisses the Pope's foot. Character of this tyrant to the popes of this age, it may be well to give a brief account of it. In the year 710, the Pope received an order from Justinian to repair to Constantinople as soon as convenient, and embarked on the 5th of October, for that city, accompanied by two bishops and a large number of the inferior clergy. The Emperor addressed an order to all governors, judges, and magistrates of the places through which he should pass, to pay to him precisely the same honors as they would if he were the Emperor himself. At every place he touched at, he was received in a kind of triumph, amidst the joyful acclamations and homage of the people. On approaching Constan- tinople, he was met seven miles from the city, by Tiberius, the Emperor's son, the senate, the nobility, the chief citizens, and the patriarch Cyrus at the head of his clergy. Thus attended, and mounted, together with the chief persons of his retinue, on the Em- peror's own horses, richly caparisoned, he arrived at the palace assigned for his habitation. The Emperor, who was absent at the time of his arrival, as soon as he received the intelligence, appointed to meet the Pope at Nicomedia, and it was there that Anastasius informs us, " the most Christian Emperor" prostrated .himself on the ground, with the crown on his head, kissed his feet, and then cordially embraced him. On the following Sunday Justinian re- ceived the sacrament at the hands of the Pope, begged HIS HOLINESS to intercede for him that God might forgive his sins, and renewed and confirmed all the privileges that had ever been granted to the Roman See.* 11. It is unfortunate for the credit of the Romish church, that this " most Christian Emperor," as the popish historian calls him, like the other two sovereigns to whom that apostate church was indebted for her most valuable favors, Phocas and Irene, was one of the most bloodthirsty of tyrants, and the most abandoned of the human family. He delighted in nothing so much as in cruelty and revenge, in bloodshed and slaughter. After returning from Cher- sonesus, where, in consequence of his tyranny, he had been driven into banishment ; in consequence of supposing his dignity insulted by the inhabitants of Chersonesus, he despatched a fleet and army against them, with express orders to spare neither man, woman, nor child alive, whether guilty or innocent, and in consequence of this inhuman command, multitudes of people miserably perished by the flames, the rack, or the sea. On his return from banishment, when sailing on the Euxine, says Gibbon, " his vessel was assaulted by a violent tempest, and one of his companions advised him to deserve the mercy of God, by a vow of eternal forgiveness, if he should be restored to the throne. ' Of forgiveness ! (replied the intrepid tyrant), may I perish this instant may the Almighty whelm me in the waves if I consent to spare a single head of my enemies !' But never was vow more religiously performed than the sacred oath of revenge that he had sworn amidst the storm of the Euxine. The Anastasius, in vitt, Constantin. CHAP, i.] POPERY ADVANCING. A. D. 606800. 143 Gibbon's account of the cruelty and tyranny of this worshipper of the Pope. two usurpers, who had in turn occupied his throne during his ban- ishment, were dragged into the hippodrome, the one from his prison, the other from the palace. Before their execution, Leontius and Apsimar were cast prostrate in chains beneath the throne of the Emperor, and Justinian, planting a foot on each of their necks, con- templated above an hour the chariot race, while the innocent people shouted, in the words of the psalmist, * Thou shalt trample on the asp and basilisk, and on the lion and dragon shalt thou set thy foot !' The universal defection which he had once experienced might pro- voke him to repeat the wish of Caligula, that the Roman people had but one head. Yet I shall presume to observe, that such a wish is unworthy of an ingenious tyrant, since his revenge and cruelty would have been extinguished by a single blow, instead of the slow variety of tortures which Justinian inflicted on the victims of his anger. His pleasures were inexhaustible: neither private virtue nor public service could expiate the guilt of active, or even passive obedience to an established government ; and, during the six years of his new reign, he considered the axe, the cord, and the rack, as the only instruments of royalty."* Such was the man whom Ro- mish historians do not blush to call " the most Christian and ortho- dox Emperor" merely because he cruelly tortured, blinded, and murdered those who would not succumb to the papal anti-Christ, bowed down and kissed the feet of the haughty pontiff, and loaded with his imperial favors, the apostate church of which he was the head. 12. It might be expected that an age which could yield itself so far to the extravagant claims of the newly created spiritual monarch of the world must be one of the grossest ignorance and darkness. Such, we find, was the fact. " Nothing," says Mosheim, speaking of the century in which the Pope established his supremacy, " can equal the ignorance and darkness that reigned in this century ; the most impartial and accurate account of which will appear incredi- ble to those who are unacquainted with the productions of this bar- barous period. The greatest part of those who were looked upon as learned men, threw away their time in reading the marvellous lives of a parcel of fanatical saints, instead of employing it in the perusal of well chosen and excellent authors. The bishops in general were so illiterate, that few of that body were capable of composing the discourses which they delivered to the people. Such of them as were not totally destitute of genius, composed out of the writings of Augustine and Gregory a certain number of insipid homilies, which they divided between themselves and their stupid colleagues, that they might not be obliged, through incapacity, to discontinue preaching the doctrines of Christianity to their people." The want even of an acquaintance with the first rudiments of literature was so general among the higher ecclesiastics of those times, that it was scarcely deemed disgraceful to acknowledge it. * Decline and Fall, vol. iii., page 242. 10 144 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK in. Gross ignorance of the bishops of this period. Specimens of their reasoning and doctrine. In the acts of the councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, many ex- amples occur where subscriptions are to be found in this form : " /, N, have subscribed by the hand of M, because I cannot write" And " such a bishop having said that he could not write, I whose name is underwritten have subscribed for him"* 13. As a specimen of the reasoning of this dark age, I would refer to a writing which Holstenius, the librarian of the Vatican, where it was found, ascribed to pope Boniface IV. It is an attempt to show that monks are suitable for ministers, in opposition to some who maintained that they should be incapable of the sacerdotal office. Monks are there declared to be angels, and consequently proper ministers of the word. This is proved in the following way : The cherubim had each six wings. Monks have also six wings ; the arms of their cassock two, its extremities two more, and the cowl forming the other two. Therefore monks are cheru- bim or angels, and suitable for ministers of the word ! Whether this curious specimen of reasoning proceeded, as the learned Roman Catholic Holstenius supposes, from the infallible pope Boniface, or whether, as others believe, it was the production of some monk of that age, it may be equally appropriate as a specimen of early popish logic, f As one instance and proof of the superstition of the age may be mentioned the object (according to the opinion of the learned popish annalist Baronius), of a visit to Rome paid by Mellitus, first bishop of London, in 610, to the Pope. Bede informs us that he went to settle with the Pope some particular affairs of the English church. Baronius conjectures that he came to Rome to inquire of Boniface whether the consecration of the church of Westminster, performed by St. Peter in person, was to be regarded as valid. For St. Peter was said to have come down from heaven for that very purpose, and who will dare dispute with Cardinal Baronius the truth of the wonderful prodigy, since it is actually attested by the very waterman who conveyed the apostle over the river Thames on his way from heaven to Westminster ? and upon his testimony was believed by the abbot Ealred, whom the Cardinal calls " a very credible historian ! ! " J 14. As a specimen of the doctrine of this age, we may refer to a description of a good Christian from the pen of St. Eligius, as he is called, bishop of Noyon, in which, though there are some good exhortations, there is not the slightest mention of repentance for sin or faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ; and the principal stress is laid upon the lighting of candles in consecrated places, praying to the saints, and saying the creed and Lord's prayer. Let a man only abound in these services, and he could come to God, accord- ing to this saint, not as a suppliant to beg, but as a creditor to de- mand. " Da, domine, quia dedi." Give, Lord, because I have * White's Bampton Lectures, sermon ii. and notes, p. 6. t Holstein Collect Rom., p. 42, quoted and referred to by Bower Vita Boniface IV. t Baronius, ad annum 610. CHAP, i.] POPERY ADVANCING A. D. 606800. 145 Relic-hunting. Unkennelling dead bodies. Mahomet, the false prophet of Mecca. given !* Such was Popery then ; such is Popery still. We are not surprised to learn from his biographer, that this saint was a most zealous and persevering hunter for relics, and that " many bodies of holy martyrs, concealed from human knowledge for ages, were discovered by him and brought to light !" ' Sanctorum mar- tyrum corpora, quse per tot ssecula abdita patefacta proderen- tur.' This zealous, relic-hunting merit-monger was successful, if we may credit his biographer, in smelling out and unkennelling, among other bodies, the carcasses of St. Quintin, St. Crispin, St. Lucian, &c. In those days of darkness and superstition it was an easy way, and one of which the bishops often availed themselves of rilling their coffers by providing a supply of relics for sale, by pretending to a miraculous power in discovering the bodies of saints and martyrs. 15. It was in the seventh century that the false prophet of Mecca commenced his career of conquest. Fired by the spectacle which everywhere met his observation of the worship of idols in a thousand forms, not only on heathen but Christian ground, he avowed himself as the enemy of idolatry, and the champion of the divine unity. The limits as well as the design of this work will not permit a sketch of his remarkable history. After perusing the recital we have already given of the superstition, ignorance, and idolatry of popish Christianity at the era of the Popedom, the * The extract, or rather collection of sentences, from this discourse of St. Eligius. quoted by Mosheim, Jortin, Robertson, Jones, &c., is as follows : " Bonus Christianus est, qui ad eccle- " He is a good Christian who goes eiam frequenter venit, et oblationem, qua frequently to church, and makes his ob- in altari Deo offeratur, exhibit ; qui de lations at God's altar ; who never tastes fructibus suis non gustat, nisi prius of his own fruit until he has presented Deo aliquid offerat ; qui, quoties sanctae some to God ; who, for many days be' solemnitates adveniunt, ante dies plures fore the solemn festivals observes strict castitatem etiam cum propria uxore chastity, though he be married, that he custodit, ut secura conscientia Domini may approach the altar with a safe con- altare accedere possit ; qui postremo science ; lastly, who can repeat the symbolum vel orationem Dominicam me- Creed and the Lord's Prayer. Redeem moriter tenet. Redimite animas vestras your souls from punishment whilst you de poena, dum habetis in potestate reme- have k in your power ; offer your free dia ; oblationes et decimas ecclesiis of- gifts and tithes ; contribute towards the ferte, luminaria sanctis locis, juxta quod luminaries in holy places ; repair fre- habetis, exhibite ; ad ecclesiam quoque quently to church, and humbly implore frequentius convenite, sanctorum patro- the protection of the saints. If you ob- cinia humiliter expetite ; quod si obser- serve these things, you may appear vaveritis, securi in die judicii ante tri- boldly at God's tribunal in the day of bunal ffiterni judicis venientes dicetis; judgment, and say Give, Lord, accord- Da, Domine, quia dedimus. ing as we have given." By quoting, at large, from the discourse of Eligius, from various parts of which these sentences are extracted, I think that Waddington has shown (though all these sentences are found in the discourse), that Eligius has hardly been treated with fairness. Still, the flagrant contradiction of the doctrine of salvation by grace and not of debt, with which the extract closes, is sufficient to show that, in that dark age, the doctrines of grace were most sadly perverted or obscured. See Waddington's Church History, p. 251, Mosheim, ii., 173, &c. The original of the discourse is found in Dacherii Spicilegium veter. Scriptor., Tom v. 146 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK m. Origin of the Monothelite, or one-will controversy. reader will be prepared to admit the truth of the following state- ment of Mr. Taylor in his Ancient Christianity (page 365). " What Mahomet and his caliphs found in all directions, whither their cime- ters cut a path for them, was a superstition so abject, an idolatry so gross and shameless, church doctrines so arrogant, church practices so dissolute and so puerile, that the strong-minded Arabians felt themselves inspired anew as God's messengers to reprove the errors of the world, and authorized as God's avengers to punish apostate Christendom." CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE MONOTHELITE CONTROVERSY POPE HONORIUS CON- DEMNED AS A HERETIC BY THE SIXTH GENERAL COUNCIL, A.D. 680. 16. THE early part of the seventh century was signalized by the commencement of a remarkable controversy between those who maintained with the emperor Heraclius, and Sergius, patri- arch of Constantinople, the doctrine of one will and one operation in the nature of Christ ; and those who believed in two wills, the human and the divine, and two operations or distinct kinds of voli- tion, the one proceeding from his human, and the other from his divine will. This was called the Monothelite controversy, from two Greek words signifying one will. Upon this abstruse metaphysical point did this famous dispute arise, which threatened to rend into fragments the whole Christian world, and that notwithstanding both parties were confessedly orthodox in relation to their belief both of the proper deity and humanity of the second person in the glorious Trinity. Our reason for introducing the history of this con- troversy in the present wofk is not because we attach any great importance to the opinion of either party, so long as both believed that Jesus Christ was properly divine, coequal and coeternal with the Father ; but on account of the part that was taken in it by the popes of Rome, and the light which is thus thrown upon the history of Romanism, and especially upon the infallibility (so much vaunted by Baronius, Bellarmine and other popish writers) of the boasted successors of St. Peter. 17. In the year 634, Sergius, the patriarch of Constantinople, addressed a letter to pope Honorius at Rome, informing him of the opposition which the doctrine of one will, which he styled " the doctrine of the fathers," had received from one Sophronius, at that time bishop of Jerusalem, and others ; and requesting the opinion of the Pope on the subject of the doctrine in dispute, and also his CHAP, ii.] POPERY ADVANCING A. D. 606800. 147 The decree called the Echthesis. Pope Hoaorius approves the doctrine. Pope John condemns it. advice as to the most effectual means of maintaining the peace and tranquillity of the church. In the reply of Honorius, he stated that he entirely agreed with Sergius in opinion, that he acknowledged but one will in Christ, and that none of the fathers had ever openly taught the doctrine of two wills. About the time of the death of pope Honorius, which took place A. D. 638, Sergius published and affixed to the doors of the church at Constantinople, in the name of the emperor Heraclius, the cele- brated edict upon the subject of the controversy called the Echthe- sis, or exposition. This edict began with an orthodox profession of belief in the sacred Trinity. It acknowledged two distinct na- tures in one person of Christ ; but in reference to the will, and the operations of the will, it used the following language : " We ascribe all the operations in Christ, the human as well as the divine, to the word incarnate. But whether they should be called two, or should be called one, we will suffer none to dispute" Notwithstanding, however, this apparent profession of neutrality, the authors of the edict say towards the conclusion " We therefore confess, agreea- bly to the doctrine of the apostles, of the councils and of the fathers, but one will in Christ" and it concludes by thundering anathemas against heretics, and requiring all to hold and profess the doctrine thus declared and explained. 18. Sergius died soon after publishing this edict, and was, in 639, succeeded in the See of Constantinople by Pyrrhus, who as- sembled a council, and confirmed the doctrine of the Echthesis as the genuine doctrine of the apostles and fathers. On the other hand, pope John IV., who differed entirely in opinion from his pre- decessor Honorius, assembled a council of the bishops of the West, in which the Echthesis was solemnly condemned and the doctrine of one will was anathematized as entirely repugnant to the Catholic faith, and to the doctrine of the fathers. The Pope also caused a copy of the acts and decrees of this council to be immediately transmitted to Pyrrhus, signed by himself and the bishops who were present, hoping thereby to check the progress which the Monothelite doctrine was making in the East. Instead of paying any regard to the authority of the Pope or his council, Pyrrhus immediately caused transcripts to be made of the two letters of pope Honorius to Sergius, in which Honorius expressed his belief of the doctrine of one will, and sent them to all the principal bishops in the East ; at the same time appealing to them whether pope Honorius had not approved by the authority of the apostolic See of the very doctrine which his successor John had condemned by the same authority. He wrote also a let- ter to the Pope, in which he expressed his astonishment that he should condemn a doctrine which his predecessor, Honorius, had received, taught, and approved. Pope John, perceiving that this disagreement in opinion between two of the boasted successors of St. Peter was calculated to sap the very foundation of the papal authority, made an artful but lame attempt to explain away the 148 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOB IB. Pope Theodore s modest proposal to the patriarch Paul. The fugitive patriarch Pj'rrhuat opinions of Honorius, but the fallacy of his sophistical reasoning is apparent, as we shall presently see, from the fact that in the sixth general council, held a few years later, these letters of Honorius were unanimously condemned as acknowledging and inculcating the Monothelite doctrine. 19. Pope John was succeeded in the year 642 by Theodore, and about the same time Paul succeeded to the See of Constanti- nople, in the room of Pyrrhus, the Monothelite patriarch, who had abandoned his See and sought safety in flight, in consequence of the general suspicion that was entertained that he had been privy to the poisoning of the late emperor, Constantine III. In a letter which Theodore wrote to Paul, soon after his accession to the Popedom, he censures him for accepting the patriarchate till Pyr- rhus had been lawfully deposed, charges the latter with heresy in receiving the Monothelite doctrine and publishing the Echthesis (evidently, in the estimation of the Pope, a much greater crime than assassinating the Emperor) : advises that a council should be im- mediately assembled, in which Pyrrhus might be judged, condemn- ed, and regularly deposed ; and closes his letter with the very modest proposal, that if there was likely to be any difficulty in the trial of Pyrrhus at Constantinople, he should be despatched to Rome, that he might there be judged, deposed and condemned by the Pope and his council ! The new patriarch Paul, as we may easily con- ceive, treated this proposal with the contempt it deserved. He took not the slightest notice of it, continued to exercise his office, and instead of condemning the doctrine of Pyrrhus, he confirmed it in a council assembled for the purpose, and caused the Echthesis to be continued on the gates of the church, that all might know the doctrine that he inculcated and believed. 20. The patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch, and many other bishops, took sides with Paul, and maintained the doctrine of one will. Others, however, as strongly opposed both the doctrine and the Echthesis. In the island of Cyprus, both were unanimously condemned in a council of the bishops assembled for that purpose, and a long epistle was despatched to pope Theodore, bitterly com- plaining of Paul of Constantinople, for holding and promoting, to the utmost of his power, a doctrine, as they said, so plainly repugnant to the repeated " decrees of St. Peter and his See." In the West, the Echthesis was universally condemned, and three of the principal bishops of Africa first anathematized Paul in their councils, and then wrote to the Pope, earnestly entreating him to cut oif from the communion of the church, not only Paul of Constantinople, but all who maintained that " impious doctrine," unless, by a speedy re- pentance, they should repair the scandal they had caused. It was chiefly through the labors of a celebrated monk named Maximus, and the result of a public disputation that he held with Pyrrhus, that the African bishops were thus brought to array themselves, with so much unanimity and so much earnestness, against the Mo- nothelite opinions. Maximus, who was a man of learning, for that CHAP, ii.] POPERY ADVANCING A. D. 606 800. 149 His disputation with the monk Maximus. Pyrrhus solemnly excommunicated by Pope Theodore. age, had, previous to withdrawing to a monastery, been private secretary to the emperor Heraclius, at Constantinople, while Pyr- rhus was patriarch. Soon after commencing his labors in Africa, the former secretary fell in with the fugitive patriarch, arid both of them bringing to their aid talents and learning of no mean order, each succeeded in drawing around himself a party attached to his own views. In consequence of the disturbance occasioned by these two opposite parties, the Monothelites, headed by Pyrrhus, and the Duothdites, headed by Maximus, the bishops proposed that the diffi- culty should be settled by a public dispute, before Gregory, the governor of the province. This proposal having been agreed to by the governor and the two disputants, the debate was holden in the presence of a large number of the bishops, nobility, and others, who had congregated from various parts to listen to them. Manuscript copies of the debate in the original Greek, are still to be seen in the Vatican library, at Rome, under the following lengthy, but one- sided title : " The question concerning an ecclesiastical dogma, that was disputed before the most pious patrician Gregory, in an assem- bly of the most holy bishops, and the nobility, by Pyrrhus, patriarch of Constantinople, and the most reverend monk Maximus, in the month of July, the third indiction; Pyrrhus defending the new dog- ma of one will in Christ, wickedly introduced by himself and his predecessor Sergius, and Maximus maintaining the doctrine of the apostles and the fathers, as delivered to us from the beginning."* 21. At the close of the disputation, Pyrrhus, who had been compelled to wander as an exile from his See at Constantinople, wishing probably to recommend himself to the favor of the Pope, and the other Western bishops, professed himself a convert to the doctrine of Maximus, proceeded in company with him to Rome, and upon there solemnly abjuring his heresy in the presence of the Pope, the clergy, and a vast multitude of the people, was received, with great pomp and ceremony, to the communion of the Roman church, and publicly honored by the Pope, as the patriarch of Con- stantinople. The joy and exultation of the Pope was, however, of short duration ; it was soon changed into disappointment and chagrin, upon hearing that Pyrrhus had proceeded to Ravenna, and through the persuasions of the exarch Plato, who had the power, if he chose, of advancing his interests at the court of the Emperor, had publicly renounced his recent recantation, and placed himself at the head of the Monothelite party in that city. Upon hearing this, the rage and exasperation of pope Theodore was extreme. He immediately convened an assembly of the clergy in the old church of St. Peter's ; thundered forth the sentence of excommunication against this new Judas, accompanied with the most fearful anathemas, and calling, in the transport of his indigna- * The curious in such matters, may examine a Greek copy of the report of this very ancient dispute, with the Latin translation in the opposite column, occupying 28 pages folio, at the end of the eighth volume of Baronius' Annals, of which there is a copy in the Society Library, New York. 150 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK m. Pope Theodore's impotent spiritual thunders. The decree called the T)/p&. tion, for the consecrated wine of the sacrament, mingled a portion of it with the ink, and with the mixture, signed the sentence of excommunication, which was to consign the apostate Pyrrhus to the agonies of despair, and to the torments of the damned. 22. In the mean time, with the hope of appeasing, in some measure, the wrath of the Pope, and the displeasure of the Western bishops, the patriarch Paul had caused the obnoxious decree, called the Echthesis, to be removed from the gates of the church at Con- stantinople, and prevailed upon the Emperor to supply its place by another called the Type or formulary, the object of which, while it expressed no bias to either side of the disputed question, was strictly to forbid, under severe penalties, all disputes whatever, relative to the will or wills of Christ, and the mode of its or their operation. The Emperor, with reason, had become weary of these endless disputes and quarrels ; his object was peace, and for that reason he flattered himself that those who professed to N be servants of the Prince of Peace, would readily comply with this edict. Before the suppression of the Echthesis was known at Rome, however, the Pope, in compliance with the advice of the African bishops, previously mentioned, had excommunicated Paul with great solemnity as an incorrigible heretic, and had declared him, by the authority of St. Peter, divested of all ecclesiastical power and dignities. When the news of this rash and hasty step came to Constantinople, instead of submitting to the Pope's authority, the patriarch was so enraged, that he wreaked his vengeance upon the apocrisarii or ambassadors of the Pope, and imprisoned, and even whipt some of their retinue. The excommunication of Paul by the Pope, was regarded by the Emperor, and with a few exceptions, by all the bishops of the East, as of no authority, and he continued to enjoy the patriarchal dignity and office till his death, and after his decease, the former patriarch Pyrrhus became reconciled to the Emperor, and though excommunicated and cursed by the Pope, in the terrific manner we have seen, was, notwithstanding, reinstated by the Emperor in his former dignity, and received and acknow- ledged by the bishops and people of the East as the lawful patri- arch of Constantinople. 23. Upon the death of Theodore (A. D. 649), pope Martin was chosen as his successor in the same year, and upon sending to the Emperor to confirm his election (which was in this century invari- ably done upon the choice of a new pope), Constantine confirmed his election with more than usual promptitude, hoping thereby to secure his co-operation in the plan he had formed for the restoration of peace, by enjoining silence on the vexed question, in his edict called the Type. Instead of this, however, Martin immediately assembled a council at Rome, and condemned not only the Mono- thelite doctrine, and " the impious Echthesis" but also " the most wicked Type, lately published against the Catholic church, by the most serene emperor Constantine, at the instigation of Paul, the pretended bishop of Constantinople." CHAP. H.] POPERY" ADVANCING A.D. 606800. 151 SUth genera! council. Pope Honorius condemned therein for heresy. Such an insult to the imperial authority, by one who, notwith- standing his high ecclesiastical dignity, was yet a subject of the Emperor, could not be suffered with impunity. By order of the emperor Constantine, Martin was taken prisoner and conveyed to Naxos, a small island in the Grecian Archipelago : afterward carried to the imperial court, and after a mock form of trial, accompanied with cruel insult and abuse, he was stripped of his sacerdotal gar- ments, condemned and degraded, and then sent into exile, on the inhospitable shores of Taurica Chersonesus, where he died in 656. 24. These resolute proceedings rendered Eugenius and Vi- talianus, the succeeding popes, more moderate and prudent than their predecessor had been ; especially the latter, who received Constans, upon his arrival at Rome in the year 663, with the highest marks of distinction and respect, and used the wisest precautions to prevent the flame of that unhappy controversy from breaking out a second time. And thus, for several years, it appeared to be extinguished ; but it was so only in appearance ; it was a lurking flame, which spread itself secretly, and gave reason to those who examined things with attention, to dread new combustions both in church and state. To prevent these, Constantine Pogonatus> the son of Constans, pursuant to the advice of Agatho, the Roman pontiff', summoned, in the year 680, the sixth general or (ecumenical council in which he permitted the Monothelites and pope Honorius himself to be so- lemnly condemned in presence of the Roman legates, who repre- sented Agatho in that assembly, and confirme^ the sentence pro- nounced by the council, by the sanction of penal laws enacted against such as pretended to oppose it. 25. The condemnation of pope Honorius for heresy by this gene- ral council is an event of so much importance, in the controversy with Rome, that we deem it worthy to place on record the language in which the decree of his condemnation, and that of others who also maintained the same doctrine, was couched. The writings on this subject having been read before the council from the pens of Sergius, former patriarch of Constantinople, Cyrus of Phasis, and Honorius, former pope of old Rome, they solemnly delivered their unanimous judgment in the following terms : " Having examined the dogmatic letters that were written by Sergius, formerly bishop of this royal city, to Cyrus once of Phasis, and to Honorius, bishop of old Rome, and likewise the answer of the said Honorius to the letter of Sergius, we have found them quite repugnant to the doc- trine of the apostles, to the definitions of the councils, to the sense of the fathers, and entirely agreeable to the false doctrines of the heretics ; therefore we reject and accurse them as hurtful to the soul. As we reject and accurse such impious dogmas, so we are all of opinion, that the names of those who taught and professed them ought to be banished from the church, that is, struck out of the Diptychs ; viz., the names of Sergius, formerly bishop of this royal city, who first wrote of this impious tenet, and Cyrus of 152 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK to. Pope Honorius anathematized by the sixth general council, and hb writings committed to the flames. Alexandria, of Pyrrhus, Paul, and Peter, who once held this See, and agreed in opinion with them, and likewise of Theodoras, for- merly bishop of Pharan; who have all been mentioned by the thrice blessed Agatho, in his letter to our most pious Lord and mighty Emperor, and have been anathematized by him, as ho ding opinions repugnant to the true faith. All these, and each of them, we too declare anathematized ; and with them we anathematize, and cast out of the holy Catholic Church, Honorius, pope of old Rome, it appearing from his letter to Sergius, that he entirely agreed in opinion with him, and confirmed his impious doctrine." In the same session of the council, the second letter of pope Honorius to Sergius was read, examined, and by a decree of the council, committed to the flames, with the other Monothelite writ- ings ; and it is worthy of remark, that this decree passed unani- mously, without the slightest opposition, not even the legates of the Pope venturing to say a word in his behalf, so overwhelming and conclusive was the proof that pope Honorius had held and main- tained the very same doctrine as was now, by this council, acknow- ledged even by Romanists as the sixth general council, solemnly condemned as heresy.* 26. From the above account of this famous controversy, much light is thrown upon the condition, the character, and the claims of Popery during the seventh century. (1.) We learn that the popes of Rome were careful to seize every opportunity of advancing their authority, and practically asserting that supremacy, as the spiritual sovereigns of the church, which they had claimed ever since the decree of Phocas in 606. We hear them thundering their anathemas at the heads of the other bishops, and excommunicating even the patriarchs of Constan- tinople, the most exalted in rank of all the dignitaries of the church in this century, if we except the Pope himself. In the decree of g^pe Martin against the edict called the Type, we have seen that aul is called " the pretended bishop of Constantinople," because he had been excommunicated and deposed by the authority of pope Theodore, the predecessor of Martin. In the letter which pope Agatho sent to the Emperor by the hands of his legates to the council, we discover the first pretence of a claim, which has since been frequently asserted the claim of absolute papal infallibility. After a long descant in praise of the See of St. Peter, he affirmed that the popes never had erred, and intimated that they never could err, and that their decisions ought therefore to be received as the divine voice of St. Peter himself. We have already seen, how- ever, that the council, in the case of pope Honorius, very soon came to an entirely different decision. (2.) We learn, also, that notwithstanding these lofty assump- * Those who desire fuller information on this remarkable controversy, may find it in Hist. Concil. Cone, vi., Sess. 12, 13 ; Baronius's Annals ad Ann. 681 ; Bower's Laves of the Popes, Vit. Theodore, Martin, Agatho. CHAP, n.] POPERY ADVANCING A. D. 606800. 153 The climax of papal assumption not yet arrived. Papal infallibility. Opinion of Bullarmine, &c. tions, the authority of the Pope was as yet by no means universally received, nor his decrees regarded as binding, especially in the East. In proof of this, we need only recur to the fact that Paul and Pyrrhus both exercised the office of patriarch, and were for years acknowledged and regarded as such by the Emperor, the bishops, and people of the East, notwithstanding each of them had been solemnly excommunicated by the Pope. (3.) We see also that the popes had not yet learned to hurl their anathemas at the heads of emperors and kings. The election of a pope, at this time, was not regarded as valid till confirmed by a decree of the Emperor. Hence we are not surprised that the popes were too timid or too prudent to include " the most serene emperor " Heraclius or Constans in the same sentence of excommu- nication which they pronounced against Paul or Pyrrhus for merely executing the orders of their imperial masters, in preparing and publishing the obnoxious heretical decrees, the Echthesis, or the Type. The age of Theodore and of Martin was not the age of Gregory VII., or of Innocent III. (4). It is scarcely necessary to add that in the unanimous con- demnation of pope Honorius by the sixth general council for heresy, we have a complete refutation of the claim so frequently urged by the Jesuits and other advocates of Rome, of the infallibility of the Pope* Till it is proved that two contraries can be exactly alike, this boasted claim of infallibility must be abandoned. So* evident is it that this fact is fatal to the papal infallibility, that Baronius, the Romish annalist, a strong advocate of the same, has labored hard, though without the semblance of reason, to show that the name of Honorius was inserted in the decrees instead of that of some other person ; a supposition as weak and ridiculous as it is unfounded. The great body of Romish authors, and among the rest Dupin, candidly admit the heresy and condemnation of Ho- norius. The latter historian remarks, that " the council had as much reason to censure him as Sergius, Paul us, Peter, and the other pa- triarchs of Constantinople ;" and adds, in language yet more em- phatic, " This will stand for certain, then, that Honorius was con- demned, AND JUSTLY TOO, AS A HERETIC, by the sixth general council."! * As it is not uncommon in the present day, in protestant countries, to represent the doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope, as a protestant calumny, I will cite the opinion of one or two of their most celebrated advocates. 1. Lewis Capsensis de Fid. Disput. 2, sect. 6, affirms : " We can believe nothing, if we do not believe with a divine faith that the Pope is the successor of Peter, and INFALLIBLE !" 2. I shall quote the words of Cardinal Bellarmine, as they are very remarka- ble, in the original Latin (de Pont. 4, 5). " Si autem Papa erraret praeficiendo vitia, vel prohibendo virtutes, teneretur Ecclesia credere vitia esse bona et virtutes malas, nisi vellet contra conscientiam peccare." That is, " But if the Pope should err, by enjoining vices or prohibiting virtues, the Church, unless she would sin against conscience, would be bound TO BELIEVE VICES TO BE GOOD, AND VIRTUES EVIL." t Dupin'a Eccles. Hist., vol. ii., p. 16. 154 CHAPTER III. IMAGE WORSHIP. FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT CONTROVERSY ON THIS SUBJECT, TO THE DEATH OF THE EMPEROR LEO, AND OF POPE GREGORY III., BOTH IN THE SAME YEAR, A. D. 741. 27. WE have already seen (page 98 above), that in the fourth century, the worship of images was abominated by the Christian church, and that even their admission into places of worship, tor whatever object, was regarded by the most eminent bishops with abhorrence. " IN OPPOSITION TO THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE, THERE WAS A HUMAN IMAGE IN THE CHURCH OF JfiSUS CHRIST," Were the words of Epiphanius, already quoted. " It is an injury to God," says Justin Martyr, " to make an image of him in base wood or stone."* Augustine says that " God ought to be worshipped without an image ; images serving only to bring the Deity into contempt."f The same bishop elsewhere asserts that " it would be impious in a Christian to set up a corporeal image of God in a church ; and that he would be thereby guilty of the sacrilege condemned by St. Paul, of turning the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man."J " We Christians," says Origen, when writing against his infidel antagonist, " have nothing to do with images, on account of the second commandment ; the first thing we teach those who come to us is, to despise idols and all images ; it being the peculiar charac- ter of the Christian religion to raise our minds above images, agree- ably to the law which God himself has given to mankind."^ It would be easy to multiply such quotations as these, but it is unne- cessary. The testimony of these fathers is merely cited as historical evidence, as to the state of opinion on this subject in their day, not as matter of authority, because were their testimony in favor of the practice of this popish idolatry, as it is of some other popish corrup- tions, still their authority would weigh nothing with genuine protest- ants, in favor of a practice so plainly opposed to the letter and the spirit of the Bible. 28. Some of the fathers, as Tcrtullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Origen, carried their opposition to all softs of images to such an extent, as to teach that the Scriptures forbid altogether the arts of statuary and painting.|| Now, while it is admitted that they were mistaken in this construction of the second commandment, for we * Justin's Apology, ii., page 44. f Augustine de Civit. Dei., 1. vii., c. 5. \ Augustine, de fide, et symb., c. vii. \ Origren against Celsus, 1. v., 7. | See Bower's History of the Popes, vol. lii., page 214, where several extracts are given from Tertullian, Clemens, and Origen. on this point. cHAP.ra.] POPERY ADVANCING A. D. 606-^00. 155 Gibbon's account of the gradual introduction of image-worship JHo the Christian church. are only forbidden to make graven images for the purpose of bowing down to them and serving them (Exodus xx., 5), yet the fact itself, of their expressing such an opinion, is the most conclusive proof possible, that they knew nothing whatever of the popish idolatry which sprung up a few centuries later, and which continues to characterize the church of Rome down to the present time. " The primitive Christians," remarks Mr. Gibbon (who is more to be depended on in his facts, than his reasonings), "weie possessed with an unconquerable repugnance to the use and abuse of images, and this aversion may be ascribed to their descent from the Jews, and their enmity to the_ Greeks. The Mosaic law had severely proscribed all representations of the Deity, and that precept was firmly established in the principles and practice of the chosen people. The wit of the Christian apologists was pointed against the foolish idolators, who had bowed before the workmanship of their own hands ; the images of brass and marble, which, had they been endowed with sense and motion, should have started rather from the pedestal to adore the creative powers of the artist. The public religion of the Christians was uniformly simple and spiritual ; and the first notice of the use of pictures is in the censure of the council of Illiberis, three hundred years after the Christian era. Under the successors of Constantine, in the peace and luxury of the triumphant church, the more prudent bishops condescended to indulge a visible superstition, for the benefit of the multitude, and, after the ruin of Paganism, they were no longer restrained by the apprehension of an odious parallel. The first introduction of a symbolic worship was in the veneration of the cross, and of relics. The saints and martyrs, whose intercession was implored, were seated on the right hand of God ; but the gracious, and often super- natural favors, which, in the popular belief, were showered round their tombs, conveyed an unquestionable sanction of the devout pilgrims, who visited, and touched, and kissed these lifeless remains, the memorials of their merits and sufferings. But a memorial, more interesting than the skull or the scandals of a departed worthy, is a faithful copy of his person and features, delineated by the arts of painting or sculpture. At first the experiment was made with caution and scruple, and the venerable pictures were discreetly allowed to instruct the ignorant, to awaken the cold, and to gratify the prejudices of the heathen proselytes. By a slow, though inevi- table progression, the honors of the original were transferred to the copy, the devout Christian prayed before the image of a saint, and the pagan rites of genuflexion, luminaries, and incense, again stole into the Catholic church."* 29. About the beginning of the fifth century, the practice of ornamenting the churches with pictures had become very general, and thus the door was opened for that torrent of idolatry which flooded the churches, and in three or four centuries carried away * Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. xlix. 156 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK m. Paulinos of Nola adorns a church with pictures, &.c. The permission of Gregory a dangerous precedent. almost every vestige of spiritual Christian worship. Among others, Paulinus, a bishop of Nola, in Italy, about the year 431, erected in that city a magnificent church in honor of St. Felix, and as he him- self informs us, adorned it with pictures of martyrs, and various Scripture histories painted on the walls. This example, at that time rare, was imitated in various places, though not without con- siderable opposition, till in the sixth century, the dangerous practice of using not only paintings but images, became very general, both in the East and the West. 30. Still it was the general opinion, even to the time of Gre- gory, that if used at all, they were to be used only as helps to the memory, or as books to instruct those who could not read, and that no sort of worship was to be paid them. That this was his opinion we have already seen from his epistle to Serenus, bishop of Mar- seilles.* Thus it is evident that so late as the beginning of the seventh century, images were altogether forbidden to be worship- ped in any way. Of course the distinction invented by modern popish idolaters, between sovereign or subordinate, absolute or relative, proper or improper worship the worship of latria, dulia, or hyperdulia of course, I say, these scholastic distinctions were not then invented, and were therefore unknown to Gregory. They never would have been thought of, but for the necessity which papists found of inventing some way of warding off the charge of idolatry, so frequently and so justly alleged against them. The words of Gregory were, " adorari vero imagines omnibus modls devita," which the Roman Catholic historian, Dupin, has translated, " that he must not allow images to be worshipped in any manner whatever"^ The permission given by Gregory for the use of images in churches was a dangerous precedent. He might have anticipated that if suffered at all they would not long continue to be regarded merely as books for the ignorant ; especially when, as soon after happened in this dark age, the most ridiculous stories began to be circulated relative to the marvellous prodigies and miraculous cures effected by the presence or the contact of these wondrous blocks of wood and of stone. The result that might naturally have been anticipated, came to pass. These images became idols ; the ignorant multitude reverently kissed them, and " bowed themselves down" before them, and, by the commencement of the eighth century, a system of idol worship had sprung up almost all over the nomi- nally Christian world, scarcely less debasing than that which pre- vails at the present day in Italy and other popish countries of Eu- rope. In the year 713, pope Constantino issued an edict, in which he pronounced those accursed who " deny that veneration to the holy images, which is appointed by the church" ' Sanctis imagini- bus venerationem constitutam ab ecclesia, qui negarent illam ipsam. 31. In the year 726, commenced that famous controversy be- * See above, page 131. f Dupin, vol. v., p. 122. CHAP, ra.] POPERY ADVANCING A. D. 606800. 157 The emperor Leo, ia 726, issues his first decree against image-worship. tween the Emperor and the Pope upon the worship of images which for more than half a century arrayed against each other, Leo and Gregory, and their successors in the empire and the pope- dom, and which was only quelled by the full establishment oi this idolatrous worship, by the decree of the second council of JNice, in 787. " In the beginning of the eighth century," says Gibbon, " the Greeks were awakened by an apprehension that, under the mask of Christianity, they had restored the religion of their fathers: they heard, with grief and impatience, the name of idolaters ; the incessant charge of the Jews and Mahometans, who derived from the law and the Koran an immortal hatred to graven images and all the relative worship." (Vol. iii., p. 273.) Leo, the emperor, observing from his palace in Constantinople the extensive prevalence of this idolatry, resolved to put a stop to the growing superstition, and make an attempt to restore the Chris- tian worship to its primitive purity. With this view he issued an edict forbidding in future any worship to be paid to images, but without ordering them to be demolished or removed. The date of this edict was A. D. 726, a year, as Bower has well remarked, "ever memorable in the ecclesiastical annals, for the dispute to which it gave occasion, and the unheard of disturbances which that dispute raised, both in the Church and the State.*" Anxious to preserve his subjects from idolatry, the Emperor, with all that frankness and sincerity which marked his character, publicly avow- ed his conviction of the idolatrous nature of the prevailing practice, and protested against the erection of images. Hitherto no coun- cils had sanctioned the evil, and precedents of antiquity were against it. But the scriptures, which ought to have had infinitely more weight upon the minds of men than either councils or pre- cedents, had expressly and pointedly condemned it ; yet, such deep root had the error at this time taken ; so pleasing was it with men to commute for the indulgence of their crimes by a routine of idolatrous ceremonies ; and, above all, so little ear had they to be- stow on what the word of God taught, that the subjects of Leo murmured against him as a tyrant and a persecutor. And in this they were encouraged by Germanus, the bishop of Constantinople, who, with equal zeal and ignorance, asserted that images had al- ways been used in the church, and declared his determination to oppose the Emperor : which, the more effectually to do, he wrote to Gregory II., then bishop of Rome, respecting the subject, who, by similar reasonings, warmly supported the same cause. 32. The first steps of the emperor Leo in the reformation, were moderate and cautious ; he assembled a great council of senators and bishops, and enacted, with their consent, that all the images should be removed from the sanctuary and altar to a proper height in the churches, where they might be visible to the eyes, and inaccessible to the superstition of the people. But it was im- * History of the Popes, v. iii., p. 199, 158 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK ra. Tumult and murder by the women of Constantinople at the removal of an image. possible on either side to check the rapid though adverse impulse of veneration and abhorrence : in their lofty position, the sacred images still edified their votaries and reproached the tyrant. He was himself provoked by resistance and invective ; and his own party accused him of an imperfect discharge of his duty, and urged, for his imitation, the example of the Jewish king, who had broken without scruple the brazen serpent of the temple. In the year 730, he issued an edict, enjoining the removal or de- struction of images, and having in vain labored to bring over Ger- manus the bishop of Constantinople, to his views, he deposed him from his See, and put in his place Anastasius, who took part with the Emperor. There was, in the palace of Constantinople, a porch, which contained an image of the Saviour on the cross. Leo sent an officer to remove it. Some females, who were then present, en- treated that it might remain, but without effect. The officer mount- ed a ladder, and with an axe struck three blows on the face of the figure, when the women threw him down, by pulling away the lad- der, and murdered him on the spot. The image, however, was re- moved, and burnt, and a plain cross set up in its room. The women then proceeded to insult Anastasius for encouraging the profanation of holy things. An insurrection ensued and, in order to quell it, the Emperor was obliged to put several persons to death. 33. Pope Gregory, as soon as he heard of the appointment of Anastasius, an avowed enemy to the worship of images, as bishop of Constantinople, immediately declared him deposed from his dig- nity, unless he should at once renounce his heresy, and favor images as his predecessor, Germanus, had done.* Both the letter and the edict of the Pope were, however, treated with silent contempt, and the new patriarch continued to exercise his office, and, by the di- rection of his master, Leo, to employ all his zeal in rooting out the idolatry. The imperious pontiff was no more civil to the emperor Leo than to the patriarch. The Emperor had written him a letter, en- treating him not to oppose so commendable a work as the extirpa- tion of idolatry, and threatening him with the fate of pope Martin, who died in banishment, if he should continue obstinate and rebel- lious. The reply of Gregory is worthy of record as an illustration of the spirit of the man, and of the spirit of the times. " During ten pure and fortunate years," says he, " we have tasted the annual comfort of your royal letters, subscribed in purple ink, with your own hand, the sacred pledges of your attachment to the orthodox creed of our fathers. How deplorable is the change ! How tre- mendous the scandal ! You now accuse the Catholics of idolatry ; and, by the accusation, you betray youi own impiety and ignorance. To this ignorance we are compelled to adapt the grossness of our style and arguments : the first elements of holy letters are sufficient for your confusion ; and were you to enter a grammar-school, and * Fleury's Eccles. Hist., book xlii., 7. CHAP m.] POPERY ADVANCING A. D. 606800. 159 Pope Gregory's insulting letter to the emperor Leo. The Pope " revered as a God upon earth." avow yourself the enemy of our worship, the simple and pious children would be provoked to cast their horn-books at your head" After this curious salutation, the Pope explains to him the dis- tinction between the idols of antiquity and the Christian images. The former were the fanciful representations of phantoms or demons, at a time when the true God had not manifested his per- son in any visible likeness the latter are the genuine forms of Christ, his mother, and his saints. To the impudent and inhuman Leo, more guilty than a heretic, he recommends peace, silence, and implicit obedience to his spiritual guides of Constantinople and Rome. " You assault us, O tyrant," thus he proceeds, " with a carnal and military hand ; unarmed and naked we can only im- plore the Christ, the prince of the heavenly host, that he will send unto you a devil, for the destruction of your body and the salva- tion of your soul. You declare, with foolish arrogance, ' I will dispatch my orders to Rome ; I will break in pieces the images of St. Peter ; and Gregory, like his predecessor Martin, shall be trans- ported in chains and in exile to the foot of the imperial throne.' Would to God, that I might be permitted to tread in the footsteps of the holy Martin ; but may the fate of Constans serve as a warning to the persecutors of the church. After his just con- demnation by the bishops of Sicily, the tyrant was cut off, in the fulness of his sins, by a domestic servant ; the saint is still adored by the nations of Scythia, among whom he ended his banishment and his life. " But it is our duty to live for the edification and support of the faithful people, nor are we reduced to risk our safety on the event of a combat. Incapable as you are of defending your Roman sub- jects, the maritime situation of the city may perhaps expose it to your depredation ; but we can remove to the distance of four-and- twenty stadia, to the first fortress of the Lombards, and then you may pursue the winds. Are you ignorant that the popes are the bond of union between the East and the West ? The eyes of the nations are fixed on our humility ; and they revere as a God upon earth the apostle Saint Peter, whose image you threaten to destroy. The remote and interior kingdoms of the West present their homage to Christ and his vicegerent, and we now prepare to visit one of the most powerful monarchs, who desires to receive from our hands the sacrament of baptism. The Barbarians have submitted to the yoke of the gospel, while you alone are deaf to the voice of the shepherd. These pious Barbarians are kindled into rage ; they thirst to avenge the persecution of the east. Abandon your rash and fatal enterprise ; reflect, tremble, and repent. If you persist, we are innocent of the blood that will be spilt in the contest ; may it fall on your own head !"* 34. Upon the news of Leo's decree reaching Rome, where the people were as mad upon their idols as they were at the East, * Act Cone. Nic., torn, viii., p. 651, &c. 11 160 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK m, Tumults at Rome. Humble epistle to the Emperor of another successor of Peter the fisherman. such was the indignation excited by it, that the Emperor's statues were immediately pulled down, and trodden under foot. AH Italy was thrown into confusion ; attempts were made to elect another emperor, in the room of Leo, and the Pope encouraged these at- tempts. The Greek writers affirm that he prohibited the Italians from paying tribute any longer to Leo ; but, in the midst of these broils, while defending idolatry and exciting rebellion with all his might, Gregory was stopped short in his wicked career. " He was extremely insolent," says an impartial writer, " though he died with the character of a saint."* 35. He was succeeded in his office, A. D. 731, by Gregory III., who entered with great spirit and energy into the measures of hid predecessors. The reader cannot but be amused with the follow- ing extract of a letter which he addressed to the Emperor, imme- diately on his elevation : " Because you are unlearned and igno- rant, we are obliged to write to you rude discourses, but full of sense and the word of God. We conjure you to quit your pride, and hear us with humility. You say that we adore stones, walls, and boards. It is not so, my lord ; but these symbols make us recollect the persons whose names they bear, and exalt our grovelling minds. We do not look upon them as gods ; but, if it be the image of Jesus, we say, ' Lord, help us.' If it be the image of his mother, we say, ' Pray to your Son to save us.' If it be of a martyr, we say, ' St. Stephen, pray for us.' We might, as having the power of Saint Peter, pronounce punishments against you ; but, as you have pronounced the curse upon yourself, let it stick to you. You write to us to assemble a general council, of which there is no need. Do you cease to persecute images, and all will be quiet ; we fear not your threats." Few readers will think the style of this letter much calculated to conciliate the Emperor ; and though it certainly does not equal the arrogance and blasphemy which are to be found among the pretensions of this wretched race of mortals in the subsequent period of their history, it may strike some as exhibiting a tolerable advance towards them. It seems to have shut the door against all further intercourse between the parties ; for, in 732, Gregory, in a council, excommunicated all w r ho should remove or speak con- temptuously of images ; and, Italy being now in a state of rebel- lion, Leo fitted out a fleet with a view of quashing the refractory conduct of his subjects, but it was wrecked in the Adriatic, the ob- ject of the expedition frustrated, and the design of vengeance on the Pope and the Romans for the present abandoned, f 36. Pope Gregory, in order to revenge himself on the Em- peror for his continued and persevering opposition to images, ex- pended, in defiance of the royal edict, the whole wealth of the church on pictures and statues to adorn the churches at Rome. As * Walch's Compend. Hist, of the Popes, p. 101. f See Lect. on Eccles. Hist., by Jones. London, 1834. Lect. xxviL OHAP. iv.] POPERY ADVANCING A.D. 606800. 161 Gregory's expensive zeal for image-worship. Death of the Pope and the Emperor. Their successors Leo was as much opposed to the worship o saints and relics as he was to images, the Pope, according to the account of the Romish historian, Anastasius, caused relics to be everywhere sought for, and conveyed from all parts of the world to Rome, built a mag- nificent oratory for their reception and worship, and appointed a religious service to be performed to them, and monks to con- duct the service, maintained at the expense of the See. In these pious works the Pope is said to have expended 73 pounds weight of gold, and 376 pounds of silver, at that time a most enormous sum.* But these hatreds and animosities were soon quieted in the stillness of the grave ; for in the year 741, both the emperor Leo and the pope Gregory were nearly at the same time called away from earth, to render up their account to a higher tribunal, leaving their strifes and contentions to be continued by their successors CHAPTER IV, CONTINUATION OF THE CONTROVERSY ON IMAGE-WORSHIP. FROM THE DEATH OF LEO AND GREGORY, A. D. 741, TO THE FINAL ESTABLISH- MENT OF THIS IDOLATRY, BY THE SECOND COUNCIL OF NICE, A. D. 787. 37. THE emperor Leo was succeeded by his son Constantine V., surnamed Copronymus, and pope Gregory, by Zachary, a native of Greece. The new Emperor followed in the steps of his father, in endeavoring to extirpate the idolatrous worship of images, but the new Pope was too busily engaged, as we shall see in the next chapter, in his ambitious attempts to exalt the temporal gran- deur of the Roman See, and to elevate the popes of Rome to a rank among the princes of the earth, to concern himself much about any- thing connected with the ceremonies of religious worship. During his pontificate, therefore, of about eleven years, the emperor Constan- tine suffered but little molestation in his commendable attempts to root out idolatry, except from a domestic usurper, Artabasdus, who, in his absence on an expedition against the Saracens, seized upon his throne, and endeavored to conciliate the superstitious populace, by reversing the edicts of Leo against images, ordering the idols to be restored to the churches, and forbidding any one in future to question the lawfulness of that idolatry upon pain of exile or death. The dominion of Artabasdus, was, however, but short- lived. At the end of a few months, he was defeated and taken by Constantine, who spared the life of the usurper, but caused the images he had set up to be immediately destroyed, and renewed the * Bower's Hist. Popes, vol. iii., p. 299. 162 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK us Council at Constantinople condemns image-worship A. D. 754. former edicts against their worship and use, at the same time promising the people, at an early period, to refer the whole question of image- worship to the decision of a general council. 38. In 754, during the pontificate of Stephen II., the Emperor proceeded to redeem this pledge by convening a council at Hiera, opposite to Constantinople, consisting of 338 bishops, the largest number that had ever yet assembled in one general council. This numerous council, after continuing their sessions from the 10th of February to the 17th August, with one voice condemned the use and the worship of images, as a custom borrowed of idolatrous Tiations, and entirely contrary to the practice of the purer ages of the church. On the nature of the heresy they express themselves in the following language. " Jesus Christ hath delivered us from idolatry, and hath taught us to adore him in spirit and in truth. But the devil, not being able to endure the beauty of the church, hath insensibly brought back idolatry, under the appearance of Christianity, persuading men to worship the creature, and to take for God a work to which they gave the name of Jesus Christ."* The decree of faith issued by this celebrated council was as follows : " The holy and ecumenical council, which it hath pleased our most orthodox emperors, Constantine and Leo, to assemble in the church of St. Mary ad Blachernas in the imperial city, adhering to the word of God, to the definitions of the six preceding councils, to the doctrine of the approved fathers, and the practice of the church in the earliest times, pronounce and declare, in the name of the Trinity, and with one heart and mind, that NO IMAGES ARE TO BE WORSHIPPED ; that to worship them or any other creature, is robbing God of the honor that is due to him alone, and RELAPSING INTO IDOLA- TRY. Whoever, therefore, shall henceforth presume to worship images, to set them up in the churches, or in private houses, or to conceal them ; if a bishop, priest, or deacon, shall be degraded, and if a monk or layman, excommunicated and punished as guilty of a breach of God's express command, and of the imperial laws, that is, of the very severe laws issued by the Christian emperors against the worshippers of idols." This council is reckoned by the Greeks as the seventh general council, but by the papists, on account of their decree against the worship of images, this claim is, of course, disallowed. Encouraged by the countenance and decrees of so numerous a council, Constan- tine proceeded to burn the images, and demolish the walls of the churches which were painted with the figures of Christ, of the Virgin, and the saints, with a promptness and resolution which showed that he was determined, if possible, to extirpate the last vestige of idolatry. 39. Upon the death of Constantine V., in the year 775, he was succeeded by his son Leo IV., who adopted the sentiments of his father and grandfather, and imitated their zeal in the extirpation of * Fleury, book xliii., chapter 7. CHAP, iv.] POPERY ADVANCING A. D. 606800. 163 The empress Irene. Her unnatural cruelties. Justified by popish writers. idolatry out of the Christian church. The wife of Leo was named Irene, a woman who has rendered her name infamous in the annals of crime. In the year 780, her husband, who had opposed her attempts to introduce the worship of images into the very palace, suddenly died, as is supposed by many, in consequence of poison, administered by the direction of his faithless and perfidious queen. Bower expresses his own opinion, that this woman, " so abandonedly wicked" (as he describes her), caused poison to be administered to Leo, and Mosheim directly asserts that such was the fact. For my own part, T think it very probable that this was the cause of the death of her husband, though I am not aware that it is directly asserted by any ancient author. There is no uncertainty, however, relative to her unnatural and bloody treatment of her son, the youthful emperor Constantine VI. Inspired by a desire to occupy the throne now possessed by him, she caused him to be seized, and his eyes to be put out, to render him incapable of reigning, which, according to the testimony of Theophanes, was done " with so much cruelty, that he immediately expired." Gibbon doubts whether immediate death was the conse- quence, but describes in vivid language, the horrid cruelty of the unnatural mother. " In the mind of Irene, ambition had stifled every sentiment of humanity and nature, and it was decreed in her bloody council, that Constantine should be rendered incapable of the throne, her emissaries assaulted the sleeping prince, and stabbed their dag- gers with such violence and precipitation into his eyes, as if they meant to execute a mortal sentence. The most bigoted ortho- doxy has justly execrated the unnatural mother, who may not easily be paralleled in the history of crimes. On earth, the crime of Irene was left five years unpunished, and if she could silence the voice of conscience, she neither heard nor regarded the reproaches of mankind."* 40. Such was the flagitious character of the wretched woman, who was eventually the means of establishing the worship of images throughout the empire, and yet in consequence of this service which she rendered to the cause of idolatry, will it be credited that popish writers represent her as a pattern of piety, and even justify the horrid torture, or the murder of her son ? The following are the words of Cardinal Baronius, justifying this cruel and unnatural crime : " Snares," says he, " were laid this year for the emperor Constantine, by his mother Irene, which he fell into the year follow- ing, and was deprived at the same time of his eyes and his life. An execrable crime indeed, had she not been prompted to it by zeal for justice. On that consideration she even deserved to be commend- ed for what she did (! !) In more ancient times, the hands of parents were armed by God's command, against their children worshipping strange gods, and they who killed them were com- mended by Moses." Again says Baronius, " As Irene was supposed * Decline and Fall, vol. iii. , page 246. 164 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK m. The wicked Irene convenes a council, which establishes idolatry, A. D. 787. to have done what she did (that is, to have deposed and murdered her son), for the sake of religion (!) and love of justice (! !) she was still thought by men of great sanctity worthy of praise and com- mendation."* This extract from a popish Cardinal, and one of the most celebrated writers of that communion, needs no comment. Well might Popery be called in the language of inspiration, " the mother of harlots, and ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." (Rev. xvii., 5.) 41. In the year 784, this wicked woman wrote to pope Adrian, desiring his presence, or at least the presence of his legates, to a general council to be held at Nice, in support of the worship of images ; and Adrian in his reply testified his joy at the prospect of the restoration of the holy images to their place in the churches from which they had so long been banished. In the year 787, this famous council was convened, which papists reckon the seventh general council, though it has no more right to be regarded as a general council, than the council convened by the Emperor in 754, which condemned the use of images. The num- ber of bishops who attended on this occasion, was 350, and the result of their deliberation was, as might be expected, in favor of images. It was decreed " That holy images of the cross should be consecrated, and put on the sacred vessels and vestments, and upon walls and boards, in private houses and in public ways. And espe- cially that there should be erected images of the Lord God, our Saviour Jesus Christ, of our blessed Lady, the mother of God, of the venerable angels, and of all the saints. And that whosoever should presume to think or teach otherwise, or to throw away any painted books, or the figure of the cross, or any image or picture, or any genuine relics of the martyrs, they should, if bishops or clergy- men, be deposed, or if monks or laymen, be excommunicated. They then pronounced anathemas upon all who should not receive images, or who should apply what the Scriptures say against idols to the holy images, or call them idols, or wilfully communicate with those who rejected and despised them, adding, according to custom, ' Long live Conslantine, and Irene, his mother damnation to all heretics damnation on the council that roared against venerable images the holy Trinity hath deposed them.' "f 42. Thus was the system of popish idolatry established by law, confirmed by a boasted general council, in direct opposition to both the letter and the spirit of the sacred Scriptures. In spite of all the fine-spun distinctions, and papistical apologies, to diminish the guilt of this idol worship, from that time to the present, IDOLATRY has been stamped upon the forehead of the papal anti-Christ. The church of Rome, let her say what she will, is a church defiled and polluted by idolatry, and in this spiritual adultery, her members have almost universally participated. " Tell us not," says Isaac Taylor, " how the few may possibly steer clear of the fatal errors, and avoid a * Baronius' Annals, ann. 796. f Platina's Lives of the Popes, viti Adrian I. CHAP, v.] POPERY ADVANCING A. D. 606800. 165 From the tumults about images in 730, the Emperor had no power in Italy. gross idolatry, while admitting such practices. What will be their eflect with the multitude ? The actual condition of the mass of the people in all countries where Popery has been unchecked, gives us a sufficient answer to this question ; nor do we scruple to condemn these practices as ABOMINABLE IDOLATRIES. Tell us not how Fenelon or Pascal might extricate themselves from this impiety: what are the frequenters of churches in Naples and Madrid ? nothing better than the GROSSEST POLYTHEISTS, and far less rationally religious than were their ancestors of the times of Numa and Pythagoras."* CHAPTER V. THE POPE FINALLY BECOMES A TEMPORAL SOVEREIGN, A. D. 756. 43. THE popes, although seizing every opportunity to exalt their own authority, had not, up to the commencement of the eighth century, ventured the attempt to excite rebellion against the ancient emperors, or to wield in their own hands, the sceptre of temporal sovereignty. In the present chapter we are to follow them, in their career of ambition, till they united the regal crown to the episcopal mitre, and took rank among the kings of the earth. We have already referred to the rebellious tumults, excited at Rome, and encouraged by pope Gregory II., when in 730, the edict of Leo was promulgated, enjoining the destruction of images. From that time forward, till the coronation of Charlemagne in 800, the government of the city of Rome, and the surrounding territory, was administered only nominally, in the name of the emperors of the East, while the real power was vested in the popes, sustained as they were by the ignorant and superstitious multitudes. " After the prohibition of picture worship," says Gieseler, " the city of Rome was in a state of rebellion against the emperors, though without an absolute separation from the empire. From this they were with- held by fear of the Lombards, who, under Liutprand, were waiting only for a favorable opportunity to extend their sway over Rome, as well as the Exarchate, and whose purpose it was the great object of the popes to defeat."f In the year 734, the Emperor sent an army and a fleet to reduce to submission the Pope and the refractory Romans, and to enforce the execution of his decree against images, but as nearly all his vessels were lost at sea, the attempt was abandoned, and from this * Taylor's Ancient Christianity, page 328. f Gieseler's Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii., page 14. 166 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK in, Pope Gregory HI. applies to Charles Martel for help against the Lombards. time forward^ says Bower, " the Emperor concerned himself no more with the affairs of the West, than the Pope with those of the East." The Exarch, or emperor's Viceroy, continued still to reside at Ravenna, but was not in a condition to cause the imperial edict against images to be observed even in that city, much less to under- take anything against the Pope or the people of Rome, who had now withdrawn themselves from subjection to the Emperor, and were governed by magistrates of their own election, " forming a kind of republic under the Pope, not yet as their prince, but only as their head."* , 44. In the year 740, in consequence of the Pope refusing to deliver up two rebellious dukes, the subjects of Luitprand, king of the Lombards, that warlike monarch invaded and laid waste the territories of Rome. In their distress, their fear of the resentment of the Emperor forbidding them to apply to him for the assistance they urgently needed, they resolved to apply to the celebrated Charles Martel, the great hero of that age, who had received that surname, which signifies hammer, in consequence of a celebrated victory gained over the Saracen forces, near Poictiers, in 732, by which he had probably saved his native country, France, from being sub- jected under the Mahometan rule. Charles was at this time mayor of the palace to the king of 'France, but wielded in his own person all the power of the kingdom. To him, therefore, pope Gregory III. despatched the most urgent and pressing entreaties to hasten to his aid. " Shut not your ears, my most Christian son," writes Gregory, " shut not your ears to our prayers, lest the prince of the apostles should shut the gates of the kingdom of heaven upon you !" The, Pope had sent him his usual royal present of the keys of the tomb of St. Peter, with some filings of Peter's chain inserted, and appealing to these, he adds, in his letters, " I conjure you, by the sacred keys of the tomb of St. Peter, which I send you, prefer not the friendship of the Lombard kings, to that regard you owe to the prince of the apostles !"f 45. Whether it was, however, that the stern warrior did not at- tach much value to these wonder-working keys and filings, or whether he was unwilling to offend the king of the Lombards, it is certain that he turned a deaf ear to these pathetic appeals of the Pope ; till the latter, despairing of gaining his help by appealing to his piety or superstition, attacked him in a more vulnerable part, by appealing to his ambition. This Gregory did by proposing to Charles, that he and the Romans would renounce all allegiance to the Emperor, as an avowed heretic, and acknowledging him for their protector, confer upon him the consular dignity of Rome, upon condition that he should protect the Pope, the church, and the Roman people against the Lombards ; and, if necessity should arise, against the vengeance of their ancient master, the Emperor. * Bower's History of the Popes, vol. iii., page 300. t Gregory III., Epist. in Baronius, aim. 740. CHAP, in.] POPERY ADVANCING A. D. 606 800. 167 Leo III., Gregory III., and Charles Martel die in the same year. Pepin of France These proposals were more suited to the warlike and ambitious dis- position of Martel, and he immediately despatched his ambassadors to Rome to take the Pope under his protection, intending, doubtless, at an early period, to consummate the agreement. Pope Gregory, however, did not live to carry into effect his treasonable purpose, Charles Martel to profit by it, or the emperor Leo to hear of it. They all three died in that year, 741, within a few weeks of each other. Before the death of Martel, his timely inter- ference had procured the Romans a brief respite from their in- vaders, for soon after the arrival of his messengers at Rome, the Lombard king retired with his troops to his own dominions, though he still retained the four cities he had taken belonging to the Roman dukedom. Upon the almost simultaneous death of these three noted individuals, the Emperor was succeeded by Constantine, the Pope by Zachary, and the mayor of the palace by his son Pepin, as the nominal mayor, but the real sovereign of France. 46. Pope Zachary was immediately ordained, without waiting for his election to be confirmed, either by the Emperor or his Italian representative, the Exarch ; the imperial power in Italy being at this time reduced to so low an ebb, that the Emperor had no power to resist this encroachment upon his right of confirming the Uni- versal Bishops a right which his predecessors had claimed and enjoyed without interruption ever since the decree of Phocas had created that dignity. Soon after his ordination, pope Zachary visited in person the camp of Luitprand, the Lombard king, who, upon the death of Charles Martel, was preparing again to invade the territories of Rome, and had influence sufficient, by threaten- ing him with damnation if he refused, and promising the favor of St. Peter if he complied, to prevail on him to deliver up the four cities he had taken ; which he accordingly did, declaring in the presence of all, that they no longer belonged to him, but to the Apostle St. Peter, without saying a word of the Emperor, who, if any one, was, without doubt, their rightful master and sovereign. 47. A few years later, A. D. 751, Pepin, son of Martel, con- ceived the design of dethroning the feeble monarch, Childeric III., under whom he was acting as prime minister and viceroy. Though he possessed the power of the sovereign, yet he was still a subject, and determined, if possible, to obtain the title of king as well as the authority. Not deeming it prudent to depose the legitimate sove- reign without providing to satisfy the scruples of the timid or the superstitious, Pepin resolved to submit the case of conscience to pope Zachary ; viz., who best deserved to be called king ; he who was possessed of the title without the power, or he who possessed the power without the title. The situation of Zachary, exposed as he was, on the one hand, to the indignation of the Emperor, and on the other, to the attacks of the warlike Lombards, was such as to leave no doubt that he would give such an answer as would secure the favor and protection of the powerful Pepin. Accordingly he 168 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK ra. Pepin, advised by the Pope, usurps the throne of king Childeric. Lombards conquer Ruvenna, gave, without hesitation, such an answer as the usurper desired ; viz., that he ought to be called king who possessed the power, rather then he who, without regal power, possessed only the title* The feeble Childeric was immediately deposed and confined to a monastery, and Pepin proclaimed king in his stead. He was crowned and anointed by Boniface, the Pope's legate, and two years after, in order to render his title as sacred as possible, the ceremony was performed again by pope Stephen, the successor of Zachary, on the occasion of a journey into France to obtain his succor against the Lombards. Upon the arrival of Stephen into Pepin's dominions on this occasion, he was received with the most extravagant honors. The king and queen, with their two sons, Charles and Carloman, the chief lords of the court, and most of the French nobility, went out three miles to meet him. Upon his ap- proach, Pepin dismounted from his horse and fell prostrate on the ground ; and, not suffering the Pope to dismount, he attended him part of the way on foot, performing, according to the Romish his- torian, Anastasius, " the office of his groom or equerry."f 48. In the year 753, Aistulphus, king of the Lombards, in- vaded the exarchate, and laid siege to the city of Ravenna. The city was bravely defended by Eutychius, the last of the exarchs, till his affairs were desperate, when he embarked on board a vessel with the remnant of his soldiers, and fled to his master, the Em- peror, to Constantinople. Thus ended the exarchate of Ravenna, and with it the splendor of that ancient city, in which for nearly two centuries the exarchs, as the viceroys of the emperors, had maintained the imperial power in the West. Elated by his conquest, Aistulphus despatched a messenger to Rome, demanding the submission of the inhabitants, asserting that as the exarchate was his by right of conquest, so also were all the cities and other places that had heretofore been subject to the exarchs in Italy ; that is, all Italian dominions of the Emperor. At the same time he threatened to march with his army to Rome, and to put all the inhabitants to the sword, unless they acknowledged his government, and paid him a yearly tribute of a piece of gold for each person. 49. In these perilous circumstances, Stephen ventured to in- form the Emperor, \vho was still nominally the sovereign of Rome, and solicit his succor. Constantino, however, was too busy in pur- suing his victories over the Saracens in the East to do more than send an ambassador to make the best terms he could with Aistul- phus. The ambassador John bore with him commands to the Pope * The oldest account of this is in Annalibus Loiselianus ad ann. 749 (751). See a quotation from this ancient writing in Gieseler, iii., 14, note 5. " Zacharias Papa, mandavit Pipino ut melius esset ilium regem vocari qui polestatem haberel, quam ilium qui sine regali potestate manebat. Per auctoritatem ergo apostolicani jussit Pipinum regem fieri." f Anastasius de vitis Ponlificvm, in Stephen II. CHAP, m.] POPERY ADVANCING A. D. 606800. 169 Aistulphus, the Lombard king, threatens Rome. Pope Stephen applies for succor to king Pepin a to unite his persuasions with his own, to induce the Lombard king to send a minister to Constantinople to treat of an accommodation, and in the mean time to forbear hostilities. This Aistulphus abso- lutely refused, and John was soon despatched to his master at Con- stantinople, to inform him that nothing but a powerful army sent immediately into Italy, could save the remnant of the ancient Roman empire in that country. As another expedient, two abbots were sent to the camp of the conqueror, to plead with him the cause of St. Peter. The King admitted them to his presence, but only to reproach them for meddling in worldly affairs, and com- manded them to return immediately to their monasteries. Failing in this, the Pope tried processions, in which were solemnly carried the images of the Virgin Mary, of St. Peter, and St. Paul, and a host of other saints ; but these saints too, or their images, appeared deaf to their entreaties, and their condition was daily becoming more critical. 50. In this extremity, pope Stephen resolved to apply in per- son for succor to Pepin, king of France, whom we have already seen encouraged by the Pope in usurping the throne of his master, Childeric. Stephen, upon his arrival in France, was received with the highest honor, and " entertained as the visible successor of the apostles." After a short delay, he recrossed the Alps, at the head of a victorious army, which was led by the King in person. The ambitious Pope, while an honored guest at the court of Pepin, anxious to see himself elevated to the rank of an earthly monarch, had been cunning enough to obtain from him a promise that he would restore the places that might be captured from Aistulphus (not to the Emperor, but) to be freely possessed by St. Peter and his successors. After a feeble resistance to the arms of Pepin, the Lombards were compelled to submit, their King was besieged in his metropolis, Pavia, and as the price of peace was compelled to sign a treaty to deliver up to the Pope the exarchate, " with all the cities, castles, and territories thereto belonging, to be for ever held and possessed, BY THE MOST HOLY POPE STEPHEN AND HIS SUCCESSORS in the Apostolic See of St. Peter." 51. No sooner had Pepin returned into France, than Aistul- phus, who had signed this treaty, resolved not to fulfil it. The Pope had frequently reminded the Lombard king of the dishonesty and injustice of keeping those territories which belonged, of right, to the Emperor ; and it was very natural for him to conclude, that if he had no right to keep what belonged 'to another, neither had king Pepin any right to bestow it, or pope Stephen to receive it ; and that of the three, he himself had as much right to it as any one of them. Aistulphus accordingly laid siege to Rome, burning with rage against the Pope ; first, for bringing the French to invade his dominions ; and second, for claiming the exarchate for himself, after having so frequently threatened him with the vengeance of heaven for his injustice in not restoring that territory to his " most 170 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK m Eage of king Aislulphus against the Pope. The Pope's urgent letter to Pepin. religious son, the Emperor," who alone had a right to it. He there- fore declared to the people that he came not as an enemy to them, but to the Pope, and that if they would deliver him up they should be treated with the greatest kindness, but if they refused to do this, that he would level the walls of the city with the ground, and leave none of them alive to tell the tale. 52. The Pope immediately wrote an urgent letter, and sent it by an abbot named Fulrad, to his former protector, Pepin, in which he says, " To defend the church, is, of all works, the most meritori- ous ; and that, to which is reserved the greatest reward in the world to come. God might himself have defended his church, or raised up others to ascertain and defend the just rights of his apos- tle St. Peter. But it pleased him to choose you, my most excellent son, out of the whole human race, for that holy purpose. For it was in compliance with his divine inspiration and command that I applied to you, that I came into your kingdom, that I exhorted you to espouse the cause of his beloved apostle, and your great pro- tector, St. Peter. You espoused his cause accordingly ; and your zeal for his honor was quickly rewarded with a signal and miracu- lous victory. But, my most excellent son, St. Peter has not yet reaped the least advantage from so glorious a victory, though owing entirely to him. The perfidious and wicked Aistulphus has not yet yielded to him one foot of ground ; nay, unmindful of his oath, and actuated by the devil, he has begun hostilities anew, and, bidding defiance both to you and St. Peter, threatens us, and the whole Roman people, with death and destruction, as the abbot Fulrad and his companions will inform you." The rest of the Pope's letter consists chiefly of repeated invectives against Aistulphus as a sworn enemy to St. Peter, and repeated commendations of Pepin, his two sons, and the whole French nation, as the chief friends and favorites of that apostle. In the end he puts Pepin, and likewise his two sons, in mind of the promise they had made to the door-keeper of heaven ; tells them, that the prince of the apostles himself kept the instrument of their donation ; that it had been delivered into the apostle's own hands ; and that he held it tight to produce it, at the last day, for their punishment, if it was not executed ; and for their reward if it was ; and therefore conjures them by the living God, by the Virgin Mary, by all the angels of heaven, by St. Peter and St. Paul, and the tremendous day of judgment, to cause St. Peter to be put in possession of all the places named in the donation ; and that without further delay, lest by excusing others they should them- selves become inexcusable ; and be, in the end, eternally damned.* * Codex Carolinus, Epist. 7. This is a collection of the epistles of the popes to Charles Martel (whom they style Subregulus*), Pepin, and Charlemagne, as far as the year 791, when it was formed by the last of these princes. His original and authentic MS. (Bibliothecae Cubicularis) is now in the imperial library of Vienna, and has been published by Lambecius and Muratori (Script. Rerum. ItaL torn, iii., pars. 2, p. 75, &c). See Gibbon, vol. iii., p. 281, note 2. CHAP. v.J POPERY ADVANCING A.D. 606800. HI . A letter from St. Poter in heaven to Pepin, sent through the infallible postmaster, pope Stephen. 53. As some time elapsed, and the Pope had received no in- telligence of the march of Pepin, Stephen began to fear that the im- pression produced by his letter on the mind of the King had not been sufficiently powerful to induce him to cross the Alps a second time, and as the city, unless relieved, could not sustain the siege much longer, he adopted the extraordinary expedient of pretending, by one of those pious frauds which papists have always regarded as lawful and commendable, to have received a letter from St. Peter in heaven, beseeching the immediate interposition of the French on behalf of his successor and his See. This most singular document, as well as the last quoted letter of pope Stephen, has been preserved in the Codex Carolinus. The superscription is as follows : " SIMON PETER, A SERVANT AND APOSTLE OP JESUS CHRIST, to the three most excellent kings, Pepin, Charles, and Carloman ; to all the holy bishops, abbots, presbyters, and monks ; to all the dukes, counts, commanders of the French army, and to the whole people of France : Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied." The letter then proceeds thus : " I AM THE APOSTLE PETER, to whom it was said, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock, &c., Feed my sheep, &c., And to thee will I give the keys, &c. As this was all said to me in particular, all, who hearken to me and obey my exhortations, may persuade themselves, and firmly believe that their sins are forgiven them ; and that they will be admitted, cleansed from all guilt, into life everlasting. Hearken, therefore, to me, TO ME PETER THE AP.OS- TLE and servant of Jesus Christ ; and since I have preferred you to all the nations of the earth, hasten, I beseech and conjure you, if you care to be cleansed from your si?is, and to earn an eternal reward, hasten to the relief of* my city, of my church, of the people com- mitted to my care, ready to fall into the hands of the wicked Lom- bards, their merciless enemies. It has pleased the Almighty that my body should rest in this city ; the body that has suffered for the sake of Christ such exquisite torments : and can you, my most Christian sons, stand by unconcerned, and see it insulted by the most wicked of nations ? No, let it never be said, and it will, I hope, never be said, that I, the apostle of Jesus Christ, that my apostolic church, the foundation of the faith, that my flock, recom mended to you by me and my vicar, have trusted in you, but trusted in vain. OUR LADY, THE VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF GOD, joins in earnestly entreating, nay, commands you to hasten, to run, to fly, to the relief of my favorite people, reduced almost to the last gasp, and calling in that extremity night and day upon her and upon me. The thrones and dominions, the principalities and the powers, and the whole multitude of heavenly hosts, entreat you, together with us, not to delay, but to come with all possible speed, and rescue my chosen flock from the jaws of the ravening wolves ready to devour them. My vicar might, in this extremity, have recurred, and not in vain, to other nations ; but with me the French are, and ever have been, the first, the best, the most deserving of all nations ; and 172 HISTORY OP ROMANISM. Pepin again conquers Alstulphua. The Pope at length becomes a temporal sovereign I would not suffer the reward, the exceeding great reward, that is reserved, in this and the other world, for those, who shall deliver my people, to be earned by any other." In the rest of >he letter St. Peter is made to repeat all the Pope had said in his letters ; to court the favor and protection of the French with the most abject flattery ; to inveigh with as much unchristian resentment and ran- cor, as the Pope had inveighed, against " the most wicked nation of the Lombards ;" and to entreat his most Christian sons over and over again to come, and with all possible speed, to the relief of his vicar and people, lest they should in the mean time fall into the hands of their implacable enemies ; and those, from whom they expected relief, incur the displeasure of the Almighty, and his ; arid be thereby excluded, notwithstanding all their other good works, from the kingdom of heaven. 54. With this letter from Saint Peter in heaven, pope Stephen, the infallible postmaster, despatched a messenger, in all haste, to Pepin ; but he had, upon the receipt of his firsf letter, as- sembled all his forces anew ; and was, when he received this, within a day's march of the Alps. He pursued his march without delay ; and, having forced the passes of those mountains, advanced, never once halting till he reached Pavia, and laid, a second time, a close siege to that city, not doubting but he should thus oblige Aistulphus to retire from the siege of Rome.* Pepin was not mis- taken in his calculations. Fearing that the French would make themselves masters of his metropolis and his kingdom, the Lombard king was compelled, before it was too late, once more to sue for peace, which was granted by the French king, upon the humiliating conditions that Aistulphus should execute literally the treaty of the former year, and convey at once the exarchate to the Pope, that he should deliver up also the city of Commachio, defray all the ex- penses of the war, and pay besides an annual tribute to France of twelve thousand solidi of gold. These terms being agreed and sworn to by Aistulphus, Pepin caused a new instrument to be drawn up, whereby he yielded all the places mentioned in the treaty, to be for ever held and pos- sessed by St. Peter and his lawful successors in the See of Rome. This instrument, signed by himself, by his two sons, and by the chief barons of the kingdom, he delivered to the abbot Fulrad, ap- pointing him his commissary to receive, in the Pope's name, all the places mentioned in it. With this character the Abbot, attended by the commissaries of Aistulphus, repaired immediately to Ravenna, and from thence to every city named in the instrument of donation, and having taken possession of them all in St. Peter's name and the Pope's, and everywhere received a sufficient number of hostages, he went, with all his hostages, immediately to Rome ; and there, laying the instrument of donation, and the keys of each city, on the tomb of St. Peter, put the Pope thereby at last in possession of * Anastasius de viiis Pont, in Stephen II. See also Baronius ad Ann. 755. CHAF. v.] POPERY ADVANCING A. D. 606800. 173 The popes' temporal and spirkual power both owing to usurpers. Bower's History of the Popes. the so long wished-for principality, and thus was the pope of Rome finally raised to the station of an earthly sovereign, and took rank among the kings of the earth. " And now," says Bower, to whose learned labors we have been indebted for many of the facts mentioned in this chapter, " that we have seen the temporal power united in the popes to the spiritual, the crown to the mitre, and the sword to the keys, I shall leave them for a while, with two short observations. First. That as their spiritual power so also their temporal power was owing to a usurper ; the one to Phocas, and the other to Pepin. Second. That as they most bitterly inveighed against the patriarchs of Con- stantinople as the forerunners of the anti-Christ for assuming the title of Universal Bishop, and yet laid hold of the first opportunity that offered to assume that very title themselves ; so did they in- veigh against the Lombards as the most wicked of men, for usurp- ing the dominions of their ' most religious sons,' the Emperors ; and yet they themselves usurped the dominions of their ' most religious sons ' just as soon as they had it in their power."* * Bower's Lives of the Popes, vol. iii., p. 381. The edition of Bower to which we refer in the present work, is the original edition, in seven volumes quarto, " printed for the author," London, 1754. Since the present work has been in pro- gress, the author has learned with pleasure that an American edition of Bower's great work is in course of publication, in twenty-four numbers, under the editorial supervision of his learned and gifted friend, the Rev. Dr. Cox, of Brooklyn, which, by the economising improvements in modern printing, will be afforded in numbera complete for six dollars a sum far less than the cost of a single volume of the original edition. The History of the Popes was the great work of the author's life, and is a stupendous monument of learning, industry, and historical research. Unable to controvert or to disprove his facts, which are related upon the most un- questionable authority of standard, and generally contemporary historians, the papists have striven to blacken the character of Mr. Bower, just as Tertullus, the orator of the Jews, when unable to meet the arguments of the apostle Paul, called him " a pestilent fellow."* The only effect of these attacks, however, has been to establish the character of the work as one of unquestionable veracity and author- ity. The present author cannot but indulge the hope that thr enterprise of the publishers of this cheap edition of Bower (Messrs. Griffith 9,nd Simon, of Phila- delphia) will be rewarded with a sale commensurate wit)? the sterling merits of the work. * Acts Miv. S. 174 CHAPTER VI. THE CONFIRMATION AND INCREASE OF THE POPE*S TEMPORAL POWER, TO THE CORONATION OF CHARLEMAGNE, A. D. 800. 55. WE are henceforth to contemplate the Pope, not simply as a professed Christian bishop, but as an earthly prince, exercising a temporal sovereignty over a rich and fertile country. In reference to the extent of these first fruits of the conquests of Pepin, now pos- sessed by the Pope, says Gibbon, " The ample measure of the exar- chate might comprise all the provinces of Italy, which had obeyed the Emperor and his vicegerent ; but its strict and proper limits were included in the territories of Ravenna, Bologna, and Ferrara, its inseparable dependency was the Pentapolis, which stretched along the Adriatic from Rimini to Ancona, and advanced into the midland country, as far as the ridges of the Appenine. The splendid dona- tion was granted in supreme and absolute dominion, and the world beheld, for the first time, a Christian bishop invested with the prerogatives of a temporal prince ; the choice of magistrates, the exercise of justice, the imposition of taxes, and the wealth of the palace of Ravenna."* 56. These limits were subsequently much enlarged by succes- sive donations from the celebrated son and successor of Pepin. In the year 774, Charlemagne, in compliance with the entreaties of pope Adrian, advanced at the head of a numerous army into Italy, with the professed design of protecting the holy See, from the at- tacks of Desiderius, at that time the king of the Lombards. Upon the approach of the French king to Rome, he was received by the Pope, as might be expected, with the highest marks of distinction. On theVnorning after his arrival, Adrian, with the whole body of his clergy, proceeded to the ancient church of St. Peter's, early in the morning, to await the arrival of Charlemagne, and conduct him in person, to the tomb of St. Peter. Arrived at the steps of the church, the king kneeled down and kissed each step of the sacred edifice, as he ascended. At the entry he was received by the Pope, in all the gorgeous attire of his pontifical robes, and led by him into the church, amidst the songs of the clergy and the people, who im- piously applied to this stern warrior that song which was originally applied to HIM who is the " Prince of peace," " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."* Charlemagne then solemnly confirmed the donation of the exar- chate, made by his father Pepin, to the Pope and his successors, ordered a new instrument to be drawn up, which he first signed himself, and then ordered to be signed by all the bishops, abbots, Decline and Fall, vol. iii., page 284. OHAP.VL] POPERY ADVANCING A. D. 606-800. 175 Charlemagne confirms and enlarges the donation of Pepin. Crowns his son king of Lombardy- and other distinguished men who had accompanied him to Rome ; then kissing it /with great respect and devotion, as we are informed by Anastasius, " he laid it with his own hand on the body of St. Peter."* That the king of France, by this new donation, not only promised to defend the Pope's rights to all the places mentioned in Pepin's donation, but also added several other places, is generally agreed by the ancient writers, though there is much diversity of opinion, as to what these new territories were. Returning from Rome to Pavia, the capital of the Lombard kingdom, Charlemagne besieged and reduced that city, and captured and deposed from his kingdom, the last of the race of the Lombard kings, Desiderius, and confined the unfortunate prince for the rest of his life to a mon- astery. After thus conquering the Lombard kingdom, Charlemagne immediately took measures to put the Pope in actual possession, which he had never yet fully enjoyed, of all the places named in the donation of Pepin. On a second visit of the king to Rome, in 781, he caused his son Carloman to be crowned and anointed by the Pope, king of Lombardy, and his son Lewis king of Aquitaine. 57. In 787, Charlemagne again visited Italy for the purpose of defeating the plans of the powerful duke of Benevento, who had conspired with some of the Lombard princes to drive the French out of Italy. Upon the approach of the King, the duke proffered submission and implored forgiveness. Charlemagne was disposed to accept his submission, and cease further hostilities, but pope Adrian, concluding no doubt, that if any cities should be taken from the duke, St. Peter would doubtless reap the benefit, dissuaded the King from his purpose of forgiveness ; and to gratify his holi- ness, he entered the dominions of the duke, captured several of his cities, and laid waste the country with fire and sword. The Pope was not disappointed. Charlemagne, before he returned to France, added to the dominions of the church, the five cities he had taken during this expedition, beside several of the places which had formerly belonged to the Lombards. The Pope, instead of an humble minister of Christ, had already become an intriguing worldly politician, and like most other sovereigns of that age, anxious chiefly lor the enlargement of his dominions, and his own personal aggran- disement, and so that these objects might be accomplished, caring but very little about the humanity or the justice of the means em- ployed. 58. In the year 800, king Charlemagne having reduced under his sway nearly the whole of Europe, paid another visit to Rome, for the purpose of vindicating the cause of pope Leo III., who had been assailed, waylaid, and wounded by Pascal and Campule, two nephews of the late pope Adrian, who were loth to part with that almost unbounded power which they had enjoyed during the pontificate of their uncle. They had not only offered themselves as his accusers, * Anastasius, de vitis Pont., in Adrian. 12 176 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK in. The Pope judges all, and is judged by none. Charlemagne crowned Emperor, A. D. 800. but attacked him in the public streets, and dragged him half dead into the church of St. Mark. Upon the arrival of the kjng at Rome in the month of November, he called together the whole body of the clergy and nobility of the city in the church of St. Peter, and after seating himself on the same throne with the Pope, informed the assembly of his horror at the late cruel attempt upon the life of his holiness, that he had come there for the purpose of informing him- self of the particulars of this horrid and unprecedented crime, and as the conspirators, with the design of diminishing their own guilt, had charged the Pope with various crimes, he had called them together to judge of the justice or injustice of these accusations. Upon the King's pronouncing these words, says Anastasius, the archbishops, bishops, and abbots exclaimed with one voice, " We dare not judge the apostolic See, the head of all churches. By that See and its vicar, we are all judged, AND THEY BY NONE !"* The Pope, however, declared himself willing to justify himself by a solemn oath, and upon his doing so, Charlemagne and the assembly declared themselves satisfied ; the Pope was pronounced innocent, and upon the two conspirators was pronounced the sentence of death, which, at the intercession of Leo, was commuted to that of perpetual banishment from Italy. 59. A few weeks after this event, viz. : on Christmas day, 800, Charlemagne was solemnly crowned and proclaimed EMPEROR, by the Pope, with the title of CAROLUS L, CAESAR AUGUSTUS. The king was assisting at the celebration of mass in St. Peter's church, when in the midst of the ecclesiastical ceremonies, and while he was yet on his knees, pope Leo advanced and placed an imperial crown on his head, amidst the shouts of the people, who immediately exclaim- ed, " Long life and victory to Charles Augustus, CROWNED BY THE HAND OF GOD ! long live the great and pious Emperor of the Ro- mans."f The Emperor was then conducted by the Pope to a mag- nificent throne, presented with the imperial mantle, and saluted with the title of Augustus. From this time forward, the nominal sovereignty of the Eastern emperor in Rome, which had been merely a dead letter from the time of the dispute concerning images, in 730, was formally transferred to the new emperor of the Romans, although the principal power of administering the government of that city, was left by him where it had long been, in the hands of the Pope. 60. Widely different opinions have existed among historians of learning and research, as to the nature of the temporal power exer- cised in the city of Rome by the popes, after the coronation of the emperor Charlemagne, whether it was an independent or delegated power, and if the latter, in what sense, and how far the popes, in the * Anastasius, in vita Leo HI. f E I 181 BOOK IV. POPERY IN ITS GLORY.-THE WORLDS MIDNIGHT.-A.D, 800-1073, FROM THE CORONATION OF CHARLEMAGNE, A. D. 800, TO THE BEGINNING OF THE PONTIFICATE OF POPE HILDEBRAND OR GREGORY VII., A. D. 1073. CHAPTER I. PROOFS OF THE DARKNESS OF THIS PERIOD. FORGED DECRETALS. RE- VERENCE FOR MONKS, SAINTS, AND RELICS. WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN. PURGATORY. 1. THE period upon which we are now to enter, comprising the ninth and tenth ce&uries, with the greater part of the eleventh, is the darkest in the annals of Christianity. It was a long night of almost universal darkness, ignorance, and superstition, with scarcely a ray of light to illuminate the gloom. This period has been appropriately designated by various historians as the " dark ages," the " iron age," the " leaden age," and the " midnight of the world." The darkness was the mdst intense during the middle of this period, that is, during the whole of the tenth century ; yet the difference between the gloom of that and of the ninth and eleventh centuries, is no greater than the difference between the darkness of the hour of midnight, and that of the hour or two which precedes or follows it. During these centuries, it was rare for a layman of whatever rank to know how to sign his name. Still more extraor- dinary was it to find one who had any tincture of learning. Even the clergy were for a long period not very superior as a body to the uninstructed laity. An inconceivable cloud of ignorance over- spread the whole face of the church, hardly broken by a few glim- mering lights, who owe alrrtbst the whole of their distinction to the surrounding darkness. In almost every council, the ignorance of the clergy forms a subject for reproach, and by one council held in 992, it is asserted that scarcely a single person was to be found in Rome itself, who knew the first elements of letters.* In the age of Charlemagne, it is related upon the authority of * Tiraboschi, Storia della Leteratura, Tom. Hi., page 198. Hallam, page 460* 182 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK iv Midnight darkness of this period. The forged Decretals. Mabillon, that not one priest in a thousand in Spain, could address a common letter of salutation to another. A few years later, king Alfred the Great, king of England, declared that he could not recol- lect a single priest South of the Thames, who understood the ordi- nary prayers, or could translate Latin into his mother tongue.* " Nothing," says Mosheim, " could be more melancholy and deplor- able than the darkness that reigned in the Western world, during the tenth century, which, with respect to learning and philosophy at least, may be called the iron age of the Latins." The corrup- tions of the clergy, according to the same historian, had reached the most enormous height in that dismal period of the church. For the most part, they were composed of a most worthless set of men, shamefully illiterate and stupid, ignorant more especially in reli- gious matters, equally enslaved to sensuality and superstition, and capable of the most abominable and flagitious deeds. This dismal degeneracy of the sacred order was, according to the most credi- ble accounts, principally owing to the pretended chiefs and rulers of the universal church, who indulged themselves in the commission of the most odious crimes, and abandoned themselves to the lawless impulse of the most licentious passions, without reluctance or re- morse, who confounded, in short, all difference between just and unjust, to satisfy their imperious ambition, and whose spiritual em- pire was such a diversified scene of iniquity and violence, as never was exhibited under any of those temporayyrants, who have been the scourges of mankind, f 2. As a proof of the priestly wickedness and knavery which could invent such an imposture, and the ignorance and imbecility which could be duped by it, may be mentioned the forgery of the celebrated False Decretals, and the Donation of Constantine, which appeared about the close of the eighth century, and by which, during the whole of the three centuries of this midnight of the world, the arrogant pretensions of the pontiffs were established and main- tained. The object of these decretals, as they were called, was to persuade the multitude that, in the first ages of the church, the bish- ops of Rome were possessed of the same spiritual majesty and authority as they now assumed. They consisted of a pretended collection of rescripts and decrees of. various bishops of Rome, from the second to the fifth centuries, and other forged acts, pub- lished with great ostentation and parade, in the ninth century, with the name prefixed, of Isidore, bishop of Seville, to make the world believe they had been collected by that learned prelate, some two or three centuries before. The most important of these forged documents, by which the enormous power and assumption of the popes, for so many ages was justified and sustained, was the pretended donation from the * See Hallam's Middle Ages, page 460. f See Mosheim, cent, x., part 2. CHAP, i.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 183 Pretended donation of Constantine the Great, to pope Sylvester of Rome and Italy. emperor Constantine the Great, in the year 324, of the city of Rome and all Italy, with the crown, the mitre, &c., to Sylvester, then bishop of Rome. The following extract from this pretended deed of donation will be sufficient to show the character of this bungling imposture. " We attribute to the chair of St. Peter ALL THE IMPE- RIAL DIGNITY, GLORY, AND POWER. * * Moreover, W6 give to Sylvester, and to his successors, our palace of Lateran, incontestably one of the finest palaces on earth ; we give him our crown, our mitre, our diadem, and all our imperial vestments ; we resign to him the imperial dignity. * * * WE GIVE AS A FREE GIFT TO THE HOLY PONTIFF THE CITY OF ROME, and all the Western cities of Italy, as well as the Western cities of the other countries. To make room for him, we ABDICATE OUR SOVEREIGNTY over all these provin- ces ; and we withdraw from Rome, transferring the seat of our empire to Byzantium, since IT is NOT JUST THAT A TERRESTRIAL EM- PEROR SHALL RETAIN ANY POWER WHERE GoD HAS PLACED THE HEAD OF RELIGION." 3. This memorable donation was, near the close of the eighth century, introduced to the world, says the eloquent Gibbon, " by an epistle of pope Adrian I. to the emperor Charlemagne, in which he exhorts him to imitate the liberality of the great Constantine. According to the legend, the first of the Christian emperors was healed of the leprosy, and purified in the waters of baptism, by St. Sylvester, the Roman bishop ; and never was physician more glo- riously recompensed. His royal proselyte withdrew from his seat and patrimony of St. Peter ; declared his resolution of founding a new capital in the east ; and resigned to the popes the free and per- petual sovereignty of Rome, Italy, and the provinces of the West. This fiction was productive of the most beneficial effects. The Greek princes were convicted of the guilt of usurpation ; and the revolt of pope Gregory was the claim of his lawful inheritance. The popes were delivered from their debt of gratitude : and the nominal gifts of the Carlovingians were no more than the just and irrevocable restitution of a scanty portion of the ecclesiastical state. The sovereignty of Rome no longer depended on the choice of a fickle people ; and the successors of St. Peter and Constantine were invested with the purple and prerogatives of the Caesars. So deep was the ignorance and credulity of the times, that this most absurd of fables was received with equal reverence, in Greece and in France, and is still enrolled among the decrees of the canon law.* The emperors and the Romans were incapable of discern- ing a forgery that subverted their rights and freedom ; and the only opposition proceeded from a Sabine monastery, which, in the be- ginning of the twelfth century, disputed the truth and validity of the donation of Constantine. In the revival of letters and liberty * In the year 1059, it was believed, or at least professed to be believed, by Pope Leo IX., Cardinal Peter Damianus, &c. 184 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK IT. The world deceived for ages by these forgeries of the popes and their tools. this fictitious deed was transpierced by the pen of Laurentius Valla, an eloquent critic and a Roman patriot. His contemporaries of the fifteenth century were astonished at his sacrilegious boldness ; yet such is the silent and irresistible progress of reason, that before the end of the next age, the fable was rejected by the contempt of his- torians ; though by the same fortune which has attended the decre- tals and the Sibylline oracles, the edifice has subsisted after the foundations have been undermined." 4. The fact is most astonishing that upon the strength of these documents, acknowledged now by Fleury,* and even by Baro- nius, as well as the great body of Roman Catholics, to be forgeries, the world should have quietly submitted for centuries of gloom and darkness, to the tyrannical usurpations of the haughty and aban- doned prelates of Rome. The fabric erected upon these forged documents " has stood," in the words of Hallam, " after the founda- tion upon which it rested has crumbled beneath it ; for no one has pretended to deny for the last two centuries that the imposture is too palpable for any but the most ignorant ages to credit."f It cannot be doubted by any one who is not blinded by pre- judice, that whoever was the immediate author of these spurious documents, they were forged with the knowledge and consent of the Roman pontiffs, since it is utterly incredible that these pontiffs should, for many ages, have constantly appealed, in support of their pretended rights and privileges, to acts and records that were only the fictions of private persons, and should, with such weak arms, have stood out against monarchs and councils, who were unwilling to receive their yoke. " Acts of a private nature," says Mosheim, " would have been useless here, and public deeds were necessary to accomplish the views of papal ambition. Such forgeries were then esteemed lawful, on account of their supposed tendency to promote the glory of God, and to advance the prosperity of the church ; and therefore it is not surprising that the good pontiffs should feel no remorse in imposing upon the world frauds and forgeries, that were designed to enrich the patrimony of St. Peter, and to aggrandize his successors in the apostolic See."J Nor will the reader be dis- posed to regard as uncharitable this opinion, who has perused the pretended letter of St. Peter, written in heaven, and sent to king Pepin on earth, through the hands of the infallible postmaster, pope Stephen. (See above, page 171.) It is well remarked by Dr. Campbell of these forgeries of Constantino's donation and the decretal epistles of early bishops of Rome, that " they are such barefaced impostures, and so bunglingly executed, that nothing less than the most profound darkness of those ages could account for their success. They are manifestly written in the barbarous dialect which obtained in the eighth and ninth * See a dissertation of Fleury prefixed to the sixteenth volume of his Eccles. History. f Middle Ages, p. 274. I See Mosheim, vol. ii., p. 297, note. CHAP. I.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 185 Extravagant veneration for monks. The great cardinal doctrines of the gospel forgotten, centuries, and exhibit those poor meek and humble teachers, who came immediately after the apostles, as blustering, swaggering, and dictating to the world in the authoritative tone of a Zachary or a Stephen."* 5. Another proof of the ignorance and grovelling superstition of this dark period is found in the increasing reverence for the monastic life, and the extravagant veneration paid to those who embraced it. In this age even kings, dukes, and other noblemen, in many instances, abandoned their thrones, honors or treasures, and shut themselves up in monasteries ; and in other instances, where the attractions of wealth and grandeur were too strong to permit this sacrifice during life, the victims of superstition, upon the approach of death, imagining that the holy frock of a monk would be a pass- port to heaven, caused themselves, upon their death-beds, to be arrayed in the monastic habit, vainly hoping in this way to atone for the sins of an ungodly life. The cardinal and fundamental doctrines of the gospel seemed to be almost entirely forgotten or unknown. The doctrines of native depravity, salvation by grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus, and holy obedience springing from that faith which works by love, constituted no part of the theology of this age. The essence of religion was then made to consist in the worship of images and saints, in searching for the mouldering bones of reputed holy men and women, and bestowing due reverence upon these sacred relics, and in loading with riches a set of ignorant and lazy monks. It was not enough to reverence departed saints, and to confide in their intercession and succors ; it was not enough to clothe them with an imaginary power of healing diseases, working mira- cles, and delivering from all sorts of calamities and dangers ; their bones, their clothes, the apparel and furniture they had possessed during their lives, the very ground which they had touched, or in which their putrified carcasses were laid, were treated with a stu- pid veneration, and supposed to retain the marvellous virtue of healing all disorders both of body and mind, and of defending such as possessed them against all the assaults and devices of Satan. The consequence of this wretched notion was, that every one was eager to provide himself with these salutary remedies, for which purpose great numbers undertook fatiguing and perilous voyages, and subjected themselves to all sorts of hardships ; while others made use of this delusion to accumulate their riches, and to impose upon the miserable multitude by the most impious and shocking inventions. 6. As the demand for relics was prodigious and universal, the clergy employed all their dexterity to satisfy these demands, and were far from being nice in the methods they used for that end. The bodies of the saints were sought by fasting and prayer, instituted by the priest in order to obtain a divine answer, and an * Campbell's Lect. on Eccles. Hist., p. 269. 186 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK nr. Insane passion for holy carcasses. Spurious bones. Multiplication of saints. infallible direction, and this pretended direction never failed to ac- complish their desires ; the holy carcass was always found, and that always in consequence, as they impiously gave out, of the sugges- tion and inspiration of God himself. Each discovery of this kind was attended with excessive demonstrations of joy, and animated the zeal of these devout seekers to enrich the church still more and more with this new kind of treasure. Many travelled with this view into the eastern provinces, and frequented the places which Christ and his disciples had honored with their presence, that with the bones and other sacred remains of the first heralds of the gos- pel, they might comfort dejected minds, calm trembling consciences, save sinking states, and defend their inhabitants from all sorts of calamities. Nor did these pious travellers return home empty ; the craft, dexterity, and knavery of the Greeks found a rich prey in the stupid credulity of the Latin relic hunters, and made a pro- fitable commerce of this new devotion. The latter paid considera- ble sums for legs and arms, skulls and jaw-bones, several of which were pagan, and some not human, and other things that were sup- posed to have belonged to the primitive worthies of the Christian church ; and thus the Latin churches came to the possession of those celebrated relics of St. Mark, St. James, St. Bartholomew, Cyprian, Pantaleon, and others, which they show at this day with so much ostentation. " The ardor with which relics were sought in the tenth century," observes Mosheim, "surpasses almost all credibility ; it had seized all ranks and orders among the people, and was grown into a sort of fanaticism and frenzy ; and, if the monks are to be believed, the Supreme Being interposed, in an especial and extraordinary manner, to discover to doating old wives and bare-headed friars the places where the bones or carcasses of the saints lay dispersed or interred." * 7. In connection with this insane passion for relics, it may be remarked that these dark ages were equally distinguished by the multiplication of new saints and the invention of the most absurd legends of the wonders performed by them during their lives. In the ninth century, the idolatrous custom became very general of ad- dressing prayers almost exclusively to the saints, leaving them to pre- sent the petitions of the suppliant to God, nor did any dare to enter- tain the smallest hopes of finding the Deity propitious, before tn*ey x had assured themselves of the protection and intercession of some one or other of the saintly order. Hence it was that every church, and indeed every private Christian, had their particular patron among the saints, from an apprehension that their spiritual interests would be but indifferently managed by those who were already employed about the souls of others ; for they judged, in this re- spect, of the saints as they did of mortals, whose capacity is too limited to comprehend a vast variety of objects. This notion ren- dered it necessary to multiply prodigiously the number of the saints. * Mosheim, vol. ii., p. 406. CHAP, i.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1074. 187 Legendary lives of saints. Necessity of checking the increase of saints, and to create daily new patrons for the deluded people ; and this was done with the utmost zeal. The priests and monks set their invention at work, and peopled at discretion the invisible world with imaginary protectors. They dispelled the thick darkness which covered the pretended spiritual exploits of many holy men ; and they invented both names and histories of saints that never existed, that they might not be at a loss to furnish the credulous and wretched multitude with objects proper to perpetuate their su- perstition and to nourish their confidence. Many chose their own guides, and committed their spiritual interests either to phantoms of their own creation, or to distracted fanatics, whom they esteemed as saints, for no other reason than their having lived like madmen. 8. In consequence of this prodigious increase of saints, it was thought necessary to write the lives of these celestial patrons, in order to procure for them the veneration and confidence of a de- luded multitude ; and here lying wonders were invented, and all the resources of forgery and fable exhausted, to celebrate exploits which had never been performed, and to perpetuate the memory of holy persons who had never existed. We have yet extant a prodigious quantity of these trifling legends, the greatest part of which were undoubtedly forged after the time of Charlemagne by the monastic writers, who had both the inclination and leisure to edify the church by these pious frauds. The same impostors who peopled the celestial regions with fictitious saints, employed also their fruitful inventions in embellishing with false miracles, and various other impertinent forgeries, the history of those who had been really martyrs or confessors in the cause of Christ. The churches that were dedicated to the saints were perpetually crowd- ed with supplicants, who flocked to them with rich presents, in order to obtain succor under the afflictions they suffered, or deliver- ance from the dangers which they had reason to apprehend. And it was esteemed also a high honor to be the more immediate ministers of these tutelary mediators, who, as it is likewise proper to observe, were esteemed and frequented in proportion to their an- tiquity, and to the number and importance of the pretended mira- cles that had rendered their lives illustrious. This latter circum- stance offered a strong temptation to such as were employed by the Various churches in writing the lives of their tutelar saints, to supply by invention the defects of truth, and to embellish their le- gends with fictitious prodigies, in order to swell the fame of their respective patrons. 9. The ecclesiastical councils found it necessary at length to set limits to the licentious superstition of the deluded multitude, who, with a view to have still more friends at court, for such were their gross notions of things, were daily adding new saints to the list of their celestial mediators. They accordingly declared, by a solemn decree, that no departed Christian should be considered as a member of the saintly order before the bishop in a provincial council, and in presence of the people, had pronounced him 188 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK iv. Canonization or saint-making a prerogative of the Pope. The feast of All Saints established in 835 worthy of that distinguished honor.* This remedy, feeble and illusory as it was, contributed in some measure to restrain the fanatical temerity of the saint-makers ; but, in its consequences, it was the occasion of a new accession of power to the Roman pontiff". Even so early as the ninth century many were of opinion, that it was proper and expedient, though not absolutely ne- cessary, that the decisions of bishops and councils should be con- firmed by the consent and authority of the Roman pontiff, whom they considered as the supreme and universal bishop ; and " this will not appear surprising," says Mosheim, " to any who reflect upon the enormous strides which the bishops of Rome made toward unbounded dominion in this barbarous and superstitious age, whose corruption and darkness were peculiarly favorable to their am- bitious pretensions." In the year 993, the Pope assumed and ex- ercised alone, for the first time, the right of creating one of these tutelary deities in the person of a Saint Udalric, who, with all the formalities of a solemn canonization, was enrolled in the number of the saints by pope John XV., and thus became entitled to the worship and veneration of the superstitious multitude. In the twelfth century, pope Alexander III. placed canonization or saint- making in the number of the more important acts of authority which the sovereign pontiff, by his peculiar prerogative, was alone entitled to exercise. 10. The consequence of the increase of saints was, of course, a vast increase of festivals or saints' days, as well as of the cere- monies of worship. The carcasses of the saints transported from foreign countries, or discovered at home by the industry and dili- gence of pious or designing priests, not only obliged the rulers of the church to augment the number of festivals or holidays already established, but also to diversify the ceremonies in such a manner, that each might have his peculiar worship. And as the authority and credit of the clergy depended much upon the high notion which was generally entertained of the virtue and merit of the saints they had canonized, and presented to the multitude as objects of religi- ous veneration, it was necessary to amuse and surprise the people by a variety of pompous and striking ceremonies, by images and such like inventions, in order to keep up and nourish their stupid admiration for the saintly tribe. Hence the splendor and magnifi- cence that were lavished upon the churches in this century, and the prodigious number of costly pictures and images with which they were adorned ; hence the stately altars, which were enriched with the noblest inventions of painting and sculpture, and illuminated with innumerable tapers at noon day ; hence the multitude of pro- cessions, the gorgeous and splendid garments of the priests, and the masses that were celebrated in honor of the saints. In the year 835, the feast of All Saints was established by pope Gregory IV.. * Mabillon, Act. Sanctor. Ord. Benedict!, SEC. v., Praef. p. 44. CHAP, i.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 189 Worship of the queen of heaven. The Rosary. Lying legends. according to Mabillon, though other authors ascribe the establish- ment of this festival to pope Boniface IV. 11. Among the multitude of saints, it is not to be supposed that " the queen of heaven " was neglected. Her idolatrous worship, amidst the gloom of the dark ages, received, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, new accessions of solemnity and superstition. The rosary of the Virgin was probably invented in the tenth cen- tury. This is a string of beads consisting of one hundred and fifty, which make so many Aves, or hail Marys, every ten beads being divided by one something larger, which signifies a Pater, or Lord's prayer. Before repeating the rosary, it is necessary for the person to take it and cross himself, and then to repeat the creed, after which he repeats a prayer to the Virgin for every small bead, and a prayer to God for every large one. Thus it is seen that ten prayers are offered to the Virgin for every one offered to God ; and such continues to be the custom, as we learn from " the Garden of the Soul," and other popish books of devotion, down to the present time.* In the chaplets, more commonly used, there are only fifty Ave Marias, and five Pater nosters. Referring to the worship of the Virgin in the dark ages, says the calm and philosophic Hallam, "It is difficult to conceive the stupid absurdity and the disgusting profaneness of those stories which were invented by the monks to do her honor." He then gives, upon the authority of Le Grand D'Aussy, the following few speci- mens, to confirm his assertions, " lest they should appear to -the reader harsh and extravagant." The titles are my own. (1.) The robber saved from hanging. " There was a man whose occupation was highway robbery ; but, whenever he set out on any such expedition, he was careful to address a prayer to the Virgin. Taken at last, he was sentenced to be hanged. While the cord was round his neck, he made his usual prayer, nor was it ineffectual. The Virgin supported his feet " with her white hands," and thus kept him alive two days, to the no small surprise of the executioner, who attempted to complete his work with strokes of a sword. But the same invisible hand turned aside the weapon, and the execu- tioner was compelled to release his victim, acknowledging the miracle. The thief retired into a monastery, which is always the termination of these deliverances." (2.) The wicked monk admitted to heaven. " At the monastery of St. Peter, near Cologne, lived a monk perfectly dissolute and irreli- gious, but very devout toward the apostle. Unluckily, he died suddenly without confession. The fiends came as usual to seize his soul. St. Peter, vexed at losing so faithful a votary, besought God to admit the monk into paradise. His prayer was refused, and * See " the Rosary of the blessed Virgin" in " the Garden of the Soul," page 296. The edition of this work, to which I shall again have occasion to refer, is that published at New York, 1844, " with the approbation of the Right Rev Dr. Hughes." 190 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK iv The Virgin's favor to her worshippers and friends. Fears of Purgatory. though the whole body of saints, apostles, angels, and martyrs joined at his request to make interest, it was of no avail. In this extremity he had recourse to the mother of God. ' Fair lady,' said he, ' my monk is lost if you do not interfere for him ; but what is impossible for us, will be but sport to you, if you please to assist us. Your Son, if you but speak a word, must yield, since it is in your power to command him.' The queen mother assented, and, follow- ed by all the virgins, moved toward her Son. He who had him- self given the precept, 'Honor thy father and thy mother,' no sooner saw 'his own parent approach, than he rose to receive her, and, taking her by the hand, inquired her wishes. The rest may be easily conjectured. Compare the gross stupidity, or rather the atrocious impiety of this tale, with the pure theism of the Arabian Nights, and judge whether the Deity was better worshipped at Co- logne or at Bagdad." (3.) The licentious nun, fyc. " It is unnecessary ta multiply in- stances of this kind. In one tale the Virgin takes the'shape of a nun, who had eloped from the convent, and performs her duties ten years, till, tired of a libertine life, she returns unsuspected. This was in consideration of her having never omitted to say an Avo as she passed the Virgin's image. In another, a gentleman, in love with a handsome widow, consents, at the instigation of a sorcerer, to renounce God and the saints, but cannot be persuaded to give up the Virgin, well knowing that if he kept her his friend, he should obtain pardon through her means. Accordingly, she inspired his mistress with so much passion, that he married her 'within a few days." " These tales," adds the historian, '* it may be said, were the pro- duction of ignorant men, and circulated among the populace. Cer- tainly they would have excited contempt and indignation in the more enlightened clergy. But I am concerned with the general character of religious notions among the people : and for this it is better to take such popular compositions, adapted to what the laity already believed, than the writings of comparatively learned and reflecting men. However, stories of the same cast are frequent in the monkish historians. Matthew Paris, one of the most respecta- ble of that class, and no friend to the covetousness or relaxed lives of the priesthood, tells of a knight who was on the point of being damned for frequenting tournaments, but saved by a donation he had formerly made to the Virgin, p. 290."* 12. In this dark age, also, the fears of purgatory, of that fire that was to destroy the remaining impurities of departed souls, were also carried to the greatest height, and exceeded by far the terrifying apprehensions of infernal torments ; for the deluded priest- ridden multitude hoped to avoid the latter easily, by dying enriched with the prayers of the clergy, or covered with the merits and mediation of the saints ; while from the pains of purgatory they * Hallam's Middle Ages, pages 465, 466. CHAP, i.] POPERY IN ITS GLORYWORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 191 'Festival of All-Souls. Gross fiction from which it originated knew there was no exemption. The clergy, therefore, finding these superstitious terrors admirably adapted to increase their authority, and promote their interest, used every method to augment them, and by the most pathetic discourses, accompanied with monstrous fables and fictitious miracles, they labored to establish the doctrine of purgatory, and also to make it appear that they had a mighty in- fluence in that formidable region. In the year 993, the famous annual festival of all souls was estab- lished. Previous to this time, it had been customary on certain days, in many places, to put up prayers for the souls that were con- fined in purgatory ; but these prayers were made by each religious society, only for its own members, friends, and patrons. The occa- sion of the establishment of this festival was as follows : A certain Sicilian monk made known to Odilo, abbot of Clugni, that when walking near Mount Etna, in Sicily, he had seen the flames vomited forth through the open door of hell, in which the reprobates were suffering torment for their sins, and that he heard the devils wailing most hideously, " plangentium quod anima3 damnatorum eriperentur de manibus eorum, per orationes Cluniacensium oran- tiam indefesse pro defunctorum requie," that is, " the devils howled, because the wailing souls of the condemned were snatched from their grasp, by the prayers of the monks of Clugny, praying without cessation for the repose of the dead." In consequence of this monstrous imposition, as we learn from Mabillon, a Romish author, this festival was established by Odilo,* and though at the first, only observed by the congregation of Clugni, was afterward, by order of the Pope, enjoined upon all the Latin churches. The fact is worthy of notice, mentioned by Mosheim (ii., 417), that in a treatise upon festivals, by one of the later popes, Benedict XVL, entitled " De festis Jesu Christi, Marias et Sanctorum," the cunning author was " artful enough to observe a profound silence with respect to the superstitious and dishonorable origin of this anniversary festival. This," he adds, " is not the only mark of prudence and cunning to be found in the works of that famous pontiff." * See Mabillon, Acta SS. Ord. Bened. Saec. vi., part i., page 584, where the reader will find the Life of Odilo, with the decree he issued for the institution of this festival. 192 CHAPTER II. PROOFS OF THE DARKNESS OF THIS PERIOD CONTINUED. ORIGIN AND FINAL ESTABLISHMENT OF TRANSUBSTANTIATION. PERSECUTION OP BERENGER, ITS FAMOUS OPPOSER. POPISH MIRACLES IN ITS PROOF. 13. ANOTHER evidence of the gross darkness of this midnight of the world, is seen in the invention and open advocacy of that absurd dogma, which more than any other doctrine of Popery, is an insult to common sense, TRANSUBSTANTIATION. This, in the language of the Romish authors, " consists in the transmutation of the bread and wine in the communion, into the body and blood, and by con- nexion and concomitance, into the soul and divinity of our Lord. The whole substance of the sacramental elements is, according to this chimera, changed into the true, real, numerical, and integral Emmanuel, God and man, who was born of Mary, existed in the world, suffered on the cross, and remains immortal and glorious in heaven.* The host, therefore, under the form of bread, contains the Mediator's total and identical body, soul, and Deity. Nothing of the substance of bread and wine remains after consecration. All, except the accidents, is transformed into the Messiah, in his god- head, with all its perfections, and in his manhood with all its com- ponent parts, soul, body, blood, bones, flesh, nerves, muscles, veins and sinews, f Our Lord, according to the same absurdity, is not only whole in the whole, but also whole in every part. The whole God and man is comprehended in every crumb of the bread, and in every drop of the wine. He is entire in the bread, and entire in the wine, and in every particle of each element. He is entire with- out division, in countless hosts, or numberless altars. He is entire in heaven, and at the same time, entire on the earth. The whole is equal to a part, and a part equal to the whole.J The same sub- stance may, at the same time, be in many places, and many sub- stances in the same place. This sacrament, in consequence of * Credimus panem convert! in earn camera, quse in cruce pependit. (Lanfranc, 243.) Sint quatuor ilia, caro, sanguis, anima, et Divinitas Christi. (Labbe, xx., 619.) Domini corpus quod natum ex virgine in ccelis sedetad dextram Patris, hoc sacramento contineri. Divinitatem et totamhumanam naturam complectitur. (Cat. Trid., 122, 125.) f Continetur totum corpus Christi, scilicet, ossa, nervi et alia. (Aquin. iii. 2, 76, c. i.) Comprehendens carnem, ossa, nervos, &c. (Dens, 5, 276.) I Non solus sub toto, sed totus sub qualibet parte. (Canisius, 4, 468. Bin. 9, 380. Crabb. 2, 946.) Ubi pars est corporis, est totum. (Gibert, 3,331.) Christus totus et integer sub qualibet particula divisionis perseverat. (Canisius, 4, 818.) Totus et integer Christus sub panis specie et sub quavis ipsius speciei parte, item, sub vini specie et sub ejus partibu.-,, existit. (Labb. 20, 32.) Idem corpus sit simul in pluribus locis. (Faber, 1, 128. Paolo, 1, 530.) Pos- sunt esse duo corpora quanta et plura in eodem spatio. (Faber, 1, 136.) Corpus non expellat praeexistens corpus. (Faber, I, 137.) CHAP, n.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 193 Absurdities of Traiisubstaruiation. Earliest trace of this absurd dogma. these manifold contradictions, is, says Ragusa, ' a display of Al- mighty power ;' while Faber calls transubstantiation ' the greatest miracle of omnipotence.' "* " A person," says the learned Edgar, in his Variations of Popery, " feels humbled in having to oppose such inconsistency, and scarcely knows whether to weep over the imbecility of his own species, or to vent his bursting indignation against the impostors, who, lost to all sense of shame, obtruded this mass of contradictions on man. History, in all its ample folios, displays, in the deceiving and the deceived, no equal instance of assurance and credulity ."f 14. The first faint traces which the page of ecclesiastical his- tory unfolds of the doctrine of transmutation of the elements, and probably the hint upon which in the following century, Paschasius built his preposterous theory, was the language of the council of Constantinople, in 754, which decided against the worship of images. This council, reckoned by the Greeks, to be the seventh general council, " in opposing the worship of images," says the learned arch- bishop Tillotson, " did argue thus : ' That our Lord having left no other image of himself but the SACRAMENT, in which the sub- stance of bread, &c., is the image of his body, we ought to make no other image of our Lord.' But the second council of Nice, in 787, being resolved to support the image-worship, did, on the contrary, declare that the sacrament, after consecration, is not the image and antitype of Christ's body and blood, but is PROPERLY HIS BODY AND BLOOD. Cardinal Bellarmine tells the same," adds Tillotson, " but evidently with a quibble, ' None of the ancients,' saith he, ' who wrote of heresies, hath put this " error " (of the corporal presence), in his catalogue, nor did any of them dispute about this " error " for the first six hundred years.'J True," replies the archbishop, to this singular argument, " True, for as this doctrine of transubstantiation was not in being during the first six hundred years and more, as I have shown, there could be no dispute against it." 15. " The state of the Latin communion at the time," says Ed- gar, " was perhaps the chief reason of the origin, progress, and final establishment of transubstantiation. Philosophy seemed to have taken its departure from Christendom, and to have left mankind to grovel in a night of ignorance, unenlightened with a single ray of learning. Cimmerian clouds overspread the literary horizon, and quenched the sun of science. Immorality kept pace with ignorance, and extended itself to the priesthood and to the people. The flood- gates of moral pollution seemed to have set wide open, and inunda- tions of all impurity poured on the Christian world through the Roman hierarchy. The enormity of the clergy was faithfully * Hoc sacramentum continet miraculum maximum, quod pertinet ad omnipoten- tiam. (Faber, 1, 126.) Divina omnipotentia ostenditur. (Ragus in Canisius, 4> 818.) f See Edgar's Variations, page 347. j Bellarmine De Eucharistia, lib. i. I Tillotson on Transubstantiation, Ser. xxvi., page 182. 104 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK rt Pasehasius advocates Transubetantiation. Rabunua Maurus opposes it. copied by the laity. Both sunk into .equal degeneracy, and the popedom appeared one vast, deep, frightful, overflowing ocean of corruption, horror, and contamination. Ignorance and immorality are the parents of error and superstition. The mind void of infor- mation, and the heart destitute of sanctity, are prepared to embrace any fabrication or absurdity. Such was the mingled mass of dark- ness, depravity, and superstition, which produced the portentous monster of transubstantiation. Paschasius Radbert, in the ninth century, seems to have been the father of the deformity, which he hatched in his melancholy cell." (Edgar, 3G9.) It was in the early part of the ninth century, that this Paschasius,, who was a Benedictine monk, and afterward abbot of Corbie, in France, began to advocate the doctrine of a real change in the elements. In 831, he published a treatise " Concerning the Body and Blood of Christ," which he presented fifteen years after, care- fully revised and augmented, to Charles the Bald, king of France. The doctrine advanced by Paschasius may be expressed by the two following propositions : First, Tliat after the consecration of the bread and wine in the Lord's supper, nothing remained of these sym- bols but the outward figure, under which the body and blood of Christ were locally present. Secondly, That the body and blood of Christ? thus present in the eucharist, was the same body that was born of the Virgin, that suffered on the cross, and was raised from the dead.. This- new doctrine, especially the second proposition, excited the astonishment of many. Accordingly, it was opposed by Rabanus, Heribald, and others, though not in the same manner, nor upon the same principles. Charles the Bald, upon this occasion, ordered the famous Bertram and Johannes Scotus, of Ireland, to draw up a clear and rational explication of that doctrine which Paschasius had so egregiously corrupted. In this controversy the parties were as much divided among themselves, as they were at variance with their adversaries. The opinions of Bertram are very confused,, although he maintained that bread and wine, as symbols and signs, represented the body and blood of Christ. Scotus, however, main- tained uniformly that the bread and wine were the signs and symbols of the absent body and blood of Christ. All the other theologians seemed to have no fixed opinions on these points. One thing is certain, however, that none of them were properly inducted into the then unknown doctrine of transubstantiation, as the worship of the elements was not mentioned, much less contended for, by any of the disputants. It was an extravagance of superstition too gross for even the ninth century, though it is openly and unblushingly advo- cated and practised by papist priests in the nineteenth. 16. The language of Rabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mentz, the most famous opposer of this newly invented dogma, written in reply to Paschasius, in 847, is so decisive a proof that in that age this absurd dogma was regarded as a novelty, that it is worthy of especial notice. " Some persons," says he, " of late, not entertaining a sound opinion respecting the sacrament of the body and blood of CHAP, ii.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 195 Stercorianism. Bcrenger writes against Transubstnntiation. Pope Leo opposes and punishes him our Lord, HAVE ACTUALLY VENTURED TO DECLARE THAT THIS is THE IDENTICAL BODY AND BLOOD OF OUR LORD JfiSUS ClIRIST ; THE IDENTI- CAL BODY, tO Wit, WHICH WAS BORN OF THE VlRGIN MARY, IN WHICH CHRIST SUFFERED ON THE CROSS, AND IN WHICH HE AROSE FROM THE DEAD. THIS ERROR WE HAVE OPPOSED WITH ALL OUR MIGHT."* The question of Stercorianism (from stercus, dung), arose immediately out of these disputes. Paschasius maintained " that bread and wine in the sacrament are not under the same laws with our other food, as they pass into our flesh and substance without any evacuation." Bertram affirmed that " the bread and wine are under the same laws with all other food." Some supposed that the bread and wine were annihilated, or that they have a perpetual being, or else are changed into flesh and blood, and not into humors or excrements to be voided. f Such were the foolish questions and childish absurdi- ties which occupied the pens of the gravest divines of this gloomy age, and which the professed immutability of the " holy Catholic church" prevents them from renouncing even in the present day, amidst the light and intelligence of a brighter and happier age. 17. It was long, even in this dark period, before so monstrous an absurdity as transubstantiation was generally received. In the year 1045, Berenger, of Tours, in France, and afterward archdeacon of Angiers, one of the most learned and exemplary men of his time, publicly maintained the doctrine of Johannes Scotus, opposed warmly the monstrous opinions of Paschasius Radbert, which were adapted to captivate a superstitious multitude by exciting their astonishment, and persevered with a noble obstinacy, in teaching that the bread and wine were not changed into the body and blood of Christ in the eucharist, but preserved their natural and essential qualities, and were no more than figures and external symbols of the body and blood of the divine Saviour. This wise and rational doctrine was no sooner published, than it was opposed by certain doctors in France and Germany ; but the Roman pontiff, Leo IX., attacked it with peculiar vehemence and fury, in the year 1050, and in two councils, the one assembled at Rome, and the other at Ver- celli, had the doctrine of Berenger solemnly condemned, and the book of Scotus, from which it was drawn, committed to the flames. This example was followed by the council of Paris, which was summoned the very same year, by king Henry L, and in which Berenger and his numerous adherents, were menaced with all sorts of evils, both spiritual and temporal. These threats were executed, in part, against Berenger, whom Henry deprived of all his revenues, but neither threatenings, nor fines, nor synodical decrees, could shake the firmness of his mind, or engage him to renounce the doc- trine he had embraced. In the year 1054, two different councils assembled at Tours, to examine the doctrine held by Berenger, at one of which the famous * Raban. Maur. Epist. ad. Heribald, c. 33. | See Dupin's Ecclesiastical History, cent, ix., chap. 7. 196 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK IT. Terrified at the monk Hildebrand and pope Nicholas, Berenger is compelled to renounce his doctrines. Hildebrand, who was afterward pontiff, under the title of Gregory VII., appeared in the character of legate, and opposed the new doctrine of Berenger with the utmost vehemence. Berenger was also present at this assembly, and overpowered with threats, rather than convinced by reason and argument, he not only abandoned his opinions, but, if we may believe his adversaries, to w r hose testimony we are confined in this matter, abjured them solemnly, and in con- sequence of this humbling step, made his peace with the church. The abjuration of Berenger, who had not firmness and faith enough to face death in defence of the truth, was not sincere, for as soon as the danger was past, he taught anew, though with greater circum- spection, the same doctrine that he had just professed to renounce. 18. Upon the news of Berenger's defection reaching the ears of pope Nicholas II., the exasperated pontiff summoned him to Rome, A.D. 1059, and terrified him in such a manner in the council held there the following year, that he declared his readiness to embrace and adhere to the doctrines which that venerable assembly should think proper to impose upon his faith. Humbert was accor- dingly appointed unanimously by Nicholas and the council, to draw up a confession of faith for Berenger, who signed it publicly, and confirmed his adherence to it by a solemn oath. In this confes- sion, there was, among other tenets equally absurd, the following declaration, that " the bread and wine, after consecration, were not only a sacrament, but also the real body and blood of Jesus Christ, and that this body and blood were handled by the priests, and bruised by the teeth of the faithful, ' fidelium dentibus attriti,' and not in a sacramental sense, but in reality and truth, as other sensible objects are." This doctrine was so monstrously nonsensical, and was such an impudent insult upon the very first principles of reason, that it could have nothing alluring to a man of Berenger's acute and philo- sophical turn, nor could it possibly become the object of his serious belief, as appeared soon after this odious act of dissimulation ; for no sooner was he returned into France, than taking refuge in the countenance and protection of his ancient patrons, he expressed the utmost detestation and abhorrence of the doctrines he had been obliged to profess at Rome, abjured them solemnly, both in his dis- course and in his writings, and returned zealously to the profession and defence of his former, which had always been his real opinion. In the year 1078, under the popedom of Gregory VII., in a coun- cil held at Rome, Berenger was again called on to draw up a new confession of faith, and to renounce that which had been composed by Humbert, though it had been solemnly approved and confirmed by Nicholas II., and a Roman council. In consequence of the threats and compulsion of his cjnemies, Berenger confirmed by an oath, " that tfie bread laid upon the altar, became, after consecration, the true body of Christ, which was born of the Virgin, suffered on the cross, and now sits on the right hand of the Father ; and that the wine placed on the altar became, after consecration, the true blood CHAP, ii.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 197 Death of Berenger. Fourth council of Lateran. The poisoned host. which flowed from the side of Christ"* Berenger had no sooner got out of the hands of his enemies, than he maintained his true senti- ments, wrote a book in their defence, retreated to the isle of St. Cosme, near Tours, and bitterly repented of his dissimulation and want of firmness ; until death, in 1088, put an end to his persecutions and his life.f 19. Yet notwithstanding the death of the able but too timid opposer of this monstrous doctrine, it was not till the year 1215, in the fourth council of Lateran, that this most characteristic and ap- propriate child of the dark ages was duly decreed to be a doctrine of the church. Pope Innocent III. having heard with pleasure the word transubstantiation, which began to be applied to this subject for the first time, about the year 1100, inserted the word in the de- cree which he had prepared for the action of the council, and from that time the doctrine has always been thus designated. " It is certain," says Dupin, " that these canons were not made by the council, but by Innocent III., who presented them to the council ready drawn up, and ordered them to be read ; and the prelates did not enter into any debate upon them, but that their silence was taken for an approbation." The decree on transubstantiation is as * The absurdity of this monstrous proposition is well illustrated by the following well known anecdote. If literally true, it shows also, what 1 am well persuaded of, that the priests do not themselves believe the dogma which, to increase their own authority and dignity, they impose upon the silly multitude. Whether true in all its particulars or not, it may serve as an illustration of the glaring absurdity of transubstantiation. I will venture to say that there is not a priest in the land who would have faith enough to submit to such a test of his sincerity. " A protestant lady entered the matrimonial state with a Roman Catholic gen- tleman, on condition that lie would never use any attempts, in his intercourse with her, to induce her to embrace his religion. Accordingly, after their marriage, he abstained from conversing with her on those religious topics which he knew would be disagreeable to her. He employed the Roman priest, however, to instil his popish notions into her mind. But she remained unmoved, particularly on the doctrine of transubstantiation. At length the husband fell ill, and during his affliction, was recommended by the priest to receive the holy sacrament. The wife was requested to prepare the wafer for the solemnity, by the next day. She did so, and on presenting it to the priest, said, ' This, sir, you wish me to understand, will be changed into the real body and blood of Christ, after you have consecrated it.' " ' Most certainly, my dear madam, there can be no doubt of it.' " ' Then, sir, it will not be possible, after the consecration, for it to do any harm to the worthy partakers ; for,, says our Lord, ' my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed,' and ' he that eateth me shall live by me.' " ' Assuredly, the holy sacrament can do no harm to the worthy receivers, but, so far from it, must communicate great good.' " ' The ceremony was proceeded in, and the wafer was duly consecrated ; the priest was about to take and eat the host, but the lady begged pardon for interrupting him, adding, ' I mixed a little arsenic with the wafer, sir, but as it is now changed into the real body of Christ, it cannot, of course, do you any harm.' The principles of the priest, however, were not sufficiently firm to enable him to eat it. Confused, ashamed, and irritated, he left the house, and never more ven- tured to enforce on the lady the doctrine of transubstantiation.' " j- See Elliott on Romanism, vol. i., page 278. Also Dupin and Mosheim, cent. ix. 198 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOKIV. Pretended miracles to establish the belief in the wafer God. follows : " The body and blood of Christ are contained really in the sacrament of the altar, under the species of bread and wine ; the bread being transubstantiated into the body of Jesus Christ, and the wine into his blood, by the power of God." ' Cujus corpus et sanguis in sacramento altaris sub speciebus panis et vini veraciter continentur ; transubstantiatis pane in corpus, et vino in sanguinem potestate divinS..' (Condi Lateran, ix., cap. 1.) 20. The means by which the popular belief in the wafer God was established by artful monks and priests, were worthy of the doctrine itself. If we are to believe the wondrous legends of those dark ages, which, however, have been reiterated in a thousand forms in subsequent centuries, the most marvellous miracles were frequently wrought to testify the reality of the wonderful transmu- tation effected by those to whom it was given to " create their Creator." Some of them attested upon oath, swearing by their sacred vestments, that they had seen the blood trickle in drops, as it does from a human body, from the consecrated wafer, held in the hands of the priests ; and others that they had received still more ocular demonstration of the reality of the change of the bread into the body of Christ, inasmuch as they had actually seen it thus changed into the Saviour himself, sitting in the form of a little boy upon the altar !* To prove that this statement is not made without abundant evidence, we will transcribe some few of these pretended miracles, related upon the testimony of celebrated and accredited Roman Catholic authors. There is a collection of no less than seventy- three pretended miracles of animals reverencing the consecrated wafer, collected by a certain Jesuit priest named Father Toussain Bridoul. In the preface to the work, the Jesuit compiler says, " Wherefore without troubling myself to confute these hare-brained people, who turn a deaf ear to all that the holy fathers have said about it (the holy sacrament) ; and having renounced their reason, I have resolved to send them to the school of the beasts, who have shown a particular inclination (not without a superior conduct) for the honor and defence of this truth." The following few instances are transcribed, to which I have taken the liberty of affixing ap- propriate titles. (1.) The wafer turned into a little boy in the bee hive. " Petrus Cluniac, lib. 1, cap. 1, reports, That a certain peasant of Auvergne, a province in France, per- ceiving that his bees were likely to die, to prevent this misfortune, was advised, after he had received the communion, to keep the hostj and to blow it into one of his hives ; and, on a sudden, all the bees came forth out of their hives, and ranking themselves in good order, lifted the host up from the ground, and carrying it in upon their wings, placed it among the combs. (!) After this the man went * Among the many prodigies of this kind gravely related as facts by Romish authors, the celebrated Cardinal Bellarmine mentions, with several other miracles, one in which instead of the wafer, " Christ was seen in the form of a child." (De Eucharistia, Lib. iii., c. 8.) f Host. The term by which the papists designate the consecrated wafer, de- rived from the Latin word Hostia, which signifies an animal for sacrifice, a victim. CHAP. H.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDXIGHT 800-1073. 199 Holy bees worship the host. dsses and horses kneel to it. The Jew'g dog and his master's nose. out about his business, and at his return, found that this advice had succeeded contrary to his expectation, for all his bees were dead. Nay, when he lifted up the hive, he saw that the host (or wafer) was turned into a fair child among the "honeycombs ; (.' .') and being much astonished at this change, and seeing that this infant seemed to be dead, he took it in his hands, intending to bury it privately in the church, but when he came to do it, he found nothing in his hands ; for the in- fant was vanished away. This thing happened in the county of Clermont, which, for this irreverence, was, a while alter, chastised by divers calamities, which so dispeopled those parts, that they became like a wilderness. From which it ap- pears, that bees honor the holy host divers ways, by lifting it from the earth, and carrying it into their hives, as it were, in procession." (2.) The holy bees who built a popish chapel. " Caesarius, lib. 9, cap. 8, reports, That a certain woman, having received the communion unworthily, carried the host to her hives, for to enrich the stock of bees : and afterwards coming again to see the success, she perceived that the bees, acknowledging their God in the sa- crament, had, with admirable artifice, erected to him a chapel of wax, with its doors, windows, bells, and vestry ; (!) and within it a chalice where they laid the holy body of Jesus Christ. (! !) She could no longer conceal this wonder. The priest, being advertised of it, came thither in procession, and he himself heard har- monious music, which the bees made, flying round about the sacrament ; and hav- ing taken it out, he brought it back to the church full of comfort, certifying, that he had seen and heard our Lord acknowledged and praised by those little crea- tures." (3.) Tlie holy asses who knelt before the wafer idol. " P. Orlandi, in his History of the Society, torn. 1, lib. 2, No. 27, says, That, in the sixteenth century, within the Venetian territories, a priest carrying the holy host, without pomp or train, to a sick person, he met, out of the town, asses going to their pasture ; who, perceiv- ing by a certain sentiment, what it was which the priest carried, they divided themselves into two companies on each side of the way, and/eZZ on their knees. (/) Whereupon the priest, with his clerk, all amazed, passed between those peaceable beasts, which then rose up, as if they would make a pompous show in honor of their Creator ; followed the priest as far as the sick man's house, where they waited at the door till the priest came out from it, and did not leave him till he had given them his blessing. (! !) Father Simon Rodriguez, one of the first com- panions of St. Ignatius, who then travelled in Italy, informed himself carefully of this matter, which happened a little while before our first fathers came into Italy, and found that all happened as has been told." (4.) The Jew's dog who worshipped the host, and bit His master's nose off for destroying it. " Nicholas de Laghi, in his book of the miracles of the holy sacra- ment, says, That a Jew blaspheming the holy sacrament, dared to say, that if the Christians would give it to his dog, he would eat it up, without showing any re- gard to their God. The Christians being very angry at this outrageous speech, and trusting in the Divine Providence, had a migd to bring it to a trial : so, spread- ing a napkin on the table, they laid on many hosts, among which one only was consecrated. The hungry dog being put upon the same table, began to eat them all, but coming to that which had been consecrated, without touching it, he kneeled down before it, (!) and afterwards fell with rage upon his master, catching him so closely by the nose, that he took it quite away with his teeth." (! !) " The same which St. Matthew warns such like blasphemers, saying, ' Give not that which is holy unto dogs, lest they turn again and rend you.' " (5.) St. Anthony, of Padua, compelling a horse to kneel before the wafer God. " St. Anthony of Padua, disputing one day with one of the most obstinate heretics that denied the truth of the holy sacrament, drove him to such a plunge, that he desired the saint to prove this truth by some miracle. St. Anthony accepted the condition, and said he would work miracles upon his mule. Upon this, the heretic kept her three days without eating and drinking ; and the third day, the saint, having said mass, took up the host, and made him bring forth the hungry mule, to whom he spoke thus : In the name of the Lord, I command thee to come and do reverence to thy Creator, and confound the malice of heretics. (!) While the 200 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK iv. The unbelieving Jew fetches blood from the wafer. saint made this discourse to the mule, the heretic sifted out oats to make the mule eat ; but the beast having more understanding than his master, kneeled before the host, adoring it as its Creator and Lord. (! !) This miracle comforted all the faith- ful, and enraged the heretics ; except him that disputed with the saint, who was converted to the Catholic faith."* In addition to the above marvellous prodigies, I will transcribe another pretended miracle of a somewhat different kind, but in- tended to prove the same unscriptural and absurd doctrine ; that the consecrated wafer is transubstantiated into the very body and blood of Christ. This instance is related by Friar Leon, and wns first published at Paris in 1633, with the approbation of two popish doctors of theology, and has been reprinted no longer ago than the year 1821. It will be seen that the pretended time of its oc- currence is before the end of the century in which the monstrous doctrine was first established as an article of faith by pope Innocent III., in the council of Lateran. (6.) The unbelieving Jew fetches blood from the wafer, which turns into the body of Christ dying on the cross, and afterwards turns back again into a wafer. ' ; In the year of our Lord, 1290, in the reign of Philip the Fair of France, a poor woman who had pledged her best gown with a Jew for thirty pence, saw the eve of Easter day arrive without the means of redeeming the pledge. Wishing to receive the sacrament on that day, she went and besought the Jew to let her have the gown for that occasion, that she might appear decent at church. The Jew said, he would not only consent to give her back the gown, but would also forgive her the money lent, provided she would bring him the host, which she would receive at the altar. The woman, instigated by the same fiend as Judas, promised, for thirty pence, to deliver into the hands of a Jew the same Lord as the traitorous disciple had sold for thirty pieces of silver. The next morning she went to church, received the sacrament, and feigning devotion, she concealed the host in her handkerchief ; went to the Jew's house, and delivered it into his hands. No sooner had the Jew received it, than he took a penknife, and laying the host upon the table, stabbed it several times, and behold blood gushed out from tlie wounds in great abundance. (!) The Jew, no way moved by this spectacle, now endeavored to pierce the host with a nail, by dint of repeated blows with a hammer, and again blood rushed out. Becoming more daring, he now seized the host, and hung it upon a stake, to inflict upon it as many lashes, with a scourge, as the body of Christ received from the Jews of old. Then, snatching the host from*the stake, he threw it into the fire ; and, to his astonishment, saw it moving unhurt in the midst of the flames. (! !) Driven now to desperation, he seized a large knife, and endeavored to cut the host to pieces, but in vain. And as if to omit no one of the sufferings endured by Jesus on the cross, he seized the host again, hung it in the vilest place in the house, and pierced it with the point of a spear, and again blood issued from the wound. Lastly, he threw the host into a cauldron of boiling water, and, instantly, the water was turned into blood ; and lo ! the host was seen rising out of the water in the form of a crucifix, and Jesus Christ was again seen dying on the cross. (.' .' .') The Jew hating crucified the Lord afresh, now hid himself in the darkest cel- lar of the house ; and a. woman having entered the house, beheld the affecting picture of the passion of our Lord again exhibited on earth. Moved with fear" she fell on her knees, and made on her forehead the sign of the cross, when, in a * This instance is also related by Cardinal Bellarmine. De Eucharistia, Lib. iii., c. 8, ut supra. CHAP, n.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800- 1073. 201 Cannibalism. Reasons of papists why the host does not look like " raw and bloody flesh." moment, the body of Jesus Christ, which was suspended on the cross over the cauldron, turned into the host again, and jumped into a dish which the woman held in her hand. (!) The woman took it to the priest, told the story I have re- peated to you, and the Jew was seized, sent to prison, and burnt alive. The penknife with which the host was pierced, the blood that flowed from the wounds, the cauldron and the dish, are all preserved, AS AN INFALLIBLE PROOF or THIS MIRACLE." 21. The evident object of these pretended miracles is to prove the real transmutation of the wafer into the real living body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if this transmu- tation were really effected, and this real living body and soul were chewed between the teeth and swallowed, is it not plain that those who partook of the horrible banquet would be guilty of cannibal- ism ? The manducation of the sacramental elements, if transub- stantiation be true, makes the communicant the rankest cannibal. The patron of the corporeal presence, according to his own sys- tem, devours human flesh and blood : and, to show the refinement of his taste, indulges in all the luxury of cannibalism. He rivats the polite Indian, who eats the quivering limbs and drinks ,the flow- ing gore of the enemy. The papist even exceeds the Indian in grossness. The cannibals of America or New Zealand swallow only the mangled remains of an enemy, and would shudder at the idea of devouring any other human flesh. But the partizans of Romanism glut themselves with the flesh and blood of a friend. The Indian only eats the dead, while the papist, with more shock- ing ferocity, devours the living. The Indian eats man of mortal mould on earth. The papist devours God-man, asTie exists exalted, immortal, and glorious in heaven. It is true that Romish writers have exercised a great deal of ingenuity in endeavoring to gild over the rank cannibalism of Popery. Admitting the horror that would be excited by feeding on raw human flesh and blood in their own proper forms, these writers endeavor to disguise, as well as they can, the grossness and inhumanity of eating that which, not- withstanding its species or form, they admit to be a living human body. A few extracts illustrative of these attempts will be given. Thus Aimon represents " the taste and figure of bread and wine as remaining in the sacrament, to prevent the horror of the communi- cant." Similar statements are found in Lanfranc. According to this author, " the species remain, lest the spectator should be horrified at the sight of raw and bloody flesh. (!) The nature of Jesus is concealed and received for salvation, without the horror which might be excited by blood."* Hugo acknowledges that " few would approach the communion, if blood should appear in the cup, and the * Propter sumentium borrorem, sapor panis et vini remanet et figura. (Aimon, in Dach. 1. 42.) Reservatis ipsarum rerum speciebus, et quibusdam aliis qualitatibus ne percipi- entes cruda et cruenta horrerent. (Lanfranc, 244.) Christi natura contegitur, et sine cruoris horrore a digne sumentibus in salutern accipitur. (Lanfranc, 248.) 202 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK iv. Shocking expressions of Romanists to gild over the cannibalism of transubstantiation. jlesh "should appear red as in the shambles"* Even hunger itself would be disgusted at such bloody food. Durand admits, that " human infirmity, unaccustomed to eat man's jlesh, would, if the substance were seen, refuse participation."! Aquinas* avows "the horror of swallowing human Jlesh and blood"^ " The smell, the species, and the taste of bread and wine remain," says the sainted Bernard, " to conceal flesh and blood, which, if offered without dis- guise as meat and drink, might horrify human weakness.'^ Ac- cording to Alcuin in Pithou, " Almighty God causes the prior form to continue in condescension to the frailty of man, who is unused to swallow raw Jlesh and blood "\\ According to the Trentine Cate- chism, " the Lord's body and blood are administered under the species of bread and wine, on account of man's horror of eating and drinking human jlesh and blood."^ These descriptions are shocking, and calculated, in some measure, to awaken the horror which they portray.** 22. After the reader has examined these disgusting attempts of Romish writers to palliate the cannibalism of transubstantiation, let him cast his eye once more over the lying legends of pretended miracles in proof of it, selected above from hundreds of similar ones, gravely related by popish authors as facts, and then let him decide whether a religion can be from God, which utters such enormities, and requires such outrageous falsehoods to sustain it. O ANTI-CHRIST ! ANTI-CHRIST ! truly and unerringly was thy picture drawn by the pen of inspiration, when it was declared thy coming shoujd be "after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and LYING WONDERS and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. Mother of harlots, and ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH !" Yet, like BABYLON of old, " thine end shall come, and the measure of thy covetousness !" thy abomi- nations are not always to last, nor thy lying wonders to deceive the nations for ever. For the same unerring Spirit that drew thy por- trait hath also predicted thy fall ; when the mighty angel shall cry with a strong voice, " BABYLON THE GREAT is FALLEN, is FALLEN. Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, * Si cruor in calice fieret manifestus et si in macello Christi ruberet sua caro, rarus in terris ille qui hoc non abhorreret. {Hugo, de carp. 70.) f Fragilitas humana, quae suis carnibus non consuevit vesci, ipso visu nihil bauriat, quod horreat. (Durand, in Lanfranc, 100.) t Non est consuetuin hominibus, horribilem camera hominis comedere et san- guinem bibere. (Aquin III. 75, V. P. 357.) j Odor, species, sapor, pondus remanent, ut horror penitus tollatur, ne humana infirmitas escum carnis et potum sanguinis in sumptione horreret. (Bernard, 1682.) || Consulens omnipotens Deus infirmitati nostrae, qui non habemus usum come- dere carnem crudam et sanguinem bibere fecit ut in pristina remanens forma ilia duo munera. (Alcuin in Pithou, 467.) IT A communi hominum natura maxime abhorreat humanae carnis esca, aut sanguinis potione vesci, sapientissime fecit, ut sanctissimum corpus et sanguis sub earum rerum specie panis et vini nobis administraretur. (Cat. Trid. 1SJ9.) ** See Edgar's Variations, 387. CHAP, n.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 203 Creators of the Creator Horrible blasphemies of a pope and a cardinal and that ye receive not of her plagues ! For her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets ; for God hath avenged you on her ! And in her was found the blood of pro- phets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth."* 23. The doctrine which requires such pious frauds as above related, to gain it credence, is so gross an outrage upon common sense, that no arguments are necessary to disprove it.f Its very statement is its refutation. But it has been the source of incalcu- lable worldly gain to the anti-Christian clergy, whom it elevates to the blasphemous dignity of CREATORS OF THEIR CREATOR, and hence the secret of its success. It is almost impossible to quote the horrible impiety of pope Urban and cardinal Biel, without shuddering. " The hands of the pontiff," said Urban in a great Roman Coun- cil, " are raised to an eminence granted to none of the angels, OF CREATING GOD THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS, and of offering him up for the salvation of the whole world." " This prerogative," adds the same authority, " as it elevates the Pope above angels, renders pontifical submission to kings an execration." To all this the Sacred Synod, with the utmost unanimity, responded, Amen.J Cardinal Biel extends this power to all priests. " He that created me," says the cardinal, " gave me, if it be lawful to tell, TO CREATE HIMSELF." This power, Biel shows, exalts the clergy, not only above emperors and angels, but which is a higher elevation, above Lady Mary herself. " Her ladyship," says the cardinal, " once * 2 Thess. ii. 9, 10 ; Jer. li. 13 ; Rev. xvii. 5 xviii. 4, 5, 6, 24. f On such a subject as this it is lawful to imitate the satirical and ironical mode of disputation adopted by the prophet Elijah, in his contest with the idolatrous priests of Baal. (1 Kings, xviii. 27.) The following is translated from a satirical poern of George Buchanan, and sets in vivid and striking light the folly and im- piety of this idolatry. " A baker and a painter once contended, which of them could produce the best specimen of his art : whether the former would excel with his oven, or the latter with his colors. The painter boasted that he had made a god ; the baker replied, It is I who make the true body of God, thou only canst produce an image or representation of it. The painter said, thy god is always consumed by men's teeth ; thine, rejoined the baker, is corroded by worms. The painter affirmed, that one of his making would endure entire for many years, while an innumerable quantity of the baker's would be often devoured in an hour. But you, said the baker, can scarcely paint one god in a year, while I can produce ten thousand in a day. Stop, said a priest, and contend no more with words to no purpose ; neither of your gods can dp anything without me ; and seeing it is I that make each of them a god, "both shall be subservient to me : for the picture shall beg for me, and the bread be eaten by me." f Dicens, nimis execrabile videri, ut manus, quas in tantam eminentiam excre- verunt, quod nulli angelorum concessum est, ut Deum cuncta creantem suo signa- culo creent, et eundem ipsum pro salute totius mundi, Dei Patris obtutibus offerant. Et ab omnibus acclamatum est "Fiat, fiat." (Hoveden, ad Ann. 1099, P. 268. Labi. 12, 960. Bruy 2, 635.) 204 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK iv. Worship of the wafer God in the nineteenth century. conceived the Son of God and the Redeemer of the world ; while the priest DAILY CALLS INTO EXISTENCE THE SAME DEITY."* If the fact were not beyond dispute, the assertion would be in- credible that this impious and idolatrous doctrine of the dark ages is still held in the nineteenth century, and in enlightened America too !f Yet such is the fact, and whoever wishes to see a Romish priest create his wafer God by pronouncing a few mystic Latin words,J and the silly multitude worship this bit of bread, as the priest holds it up before them, has only to visit a Roman Catholic church during the performance of mass. (See Frontispiece.) This worship of the wafer God is a stupid and grovelling idolatry, of which even an ancient worshipper of Jupiter or Venus, or a modern votary of Juggernaut or Vishnu, would be ashamed. While most of the rites and ceremonies of Popery can be traced to their heathen origin, this alone is too extravagant to find a parallel * Q,ui creavit me, si fas est dicere, dedit mihi creare se. Semel concepit Dei filium, eundem Dei filium advocant quotidie corporaliter. (Biel, Lect. 4. See Edgar, 383.) f As a proof that this monstrous doctrine of the dark ages is taught in all its grossness in the nineteenth century, the following few questions and answers are transcribed from Butler's Catechism, a popular Roman Catholic manual in almost universal use among papists wherever the English language is used. On the Blessed Eucharist. Q. What is the blessed Eucharist ? A. The body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, under the appearance of bread and wine ? Q. What do you mean by the appearances of bread and wine ? A. The taste, color, and form of bread and wine, which still remain, after the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ. Q. Are both the body and blood of Christ under the appearance of bread, and under the appearance of wine ? A. Yes ; Christ is whole and entire, true God, and true Man, under the appearance of each. Q,. Did Christ give power to the priests of his church to change bread and wine into his body and blood ? A. Yes ; when he said to his apostles at his last supper : Do this for a commemoration for me. Luke xxii. 19. Q. Why did Christ give to the priests of his church so great a power ? A. That his children, throughout all ages and nations, might have a most acceptable sacrifice to offer to their Heavenly Father and the most precious food to nourish their souls. Q,. What is the sacrifice of the New Law ? A. The Mass. Q. What is the Mass ? A. The sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, which are really present under the appearances of bread and wine ; and are of- fered to God by the priest for the living and the dead. Q,. Is the Mass a different sacrifice from that of the Cross ? A. No ; because the same Christ, who once offered himself a bleeding victim to his Heavenly Father on the cross, continues to offer himself in an unbloody manner, by the hands of his priests, on our altars. Q. At what part of the Mass are the bread and wine changed into the body and blood of Christ ? A. At the consecration. Q. How are we to be penetrated with a lively faith ? A. By firmly believing that the blessed Eucharist is JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, TRUE GOD AND TRUE MAN, HIS VERY FLESH AND BLOOD, WITH HIS SOUL AND DIVINITY. J Hoc est corpus meum (this is my body), from which is doubtless derived the cant phrase, Hocus pocus, used by pretended conjurors. CHAP, n.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 205 Papists worse than the heathen who never devoured the gods they worshipped even in the temples of paganism itself. " As to that celebrated act of popish idolatry," says Dr. Middleton, " the adoration of the host, I must confess that I cannot find the least resemblance of it in any part of the pagan worship : and as oft as I have been standing at mass, and seen the whole congregation prostrate on the ground, in the humblest posture of adoring, at the elevation of this consecrated piece of bread ; I could not help reflecting on a passage of Tully where, speaking of the absurdity of the heathens in the choice of their gods, he says, * Was any man ever so mad as to take that which he feeds upon for a god '/' Ecquem tarn amentem esse putas, qui illud, quo vescatur, Deum credat esse 1 (Cic. de nat. Dear. 3.) This was an extravagance left for Popery alone ; and what an old Roman could not but think too gross, even for Egyptian idolatry to swallow, is now become the principal part of worship, and the distinguishing article of faith in the creed of modern Rome."* No wonder that the old Arabian philosopher, Averroes, when brought 'into contact with this worse than heathenish superstition, exclaimed, with surprise and disgust, " I have travelled over the world, and seen many people, but none so selfish and ridiculouS as Christians, who devour the God they worship /" After reading the particulars above narrated, and especially the horribly blasphemous language of pope Urban and cardinal Biel, let the reader remember that the besotted votaries of Rome not only receive this doctrine as an article of faith themselves, but pro- nounce a most awful curse upon all the world beside, who refuse to believe it ! The following are the very words of the canons of the celebrated council of Trent, passed in 1551, pronouncing the awful anathema, and thus consigning to eternal damnation (if they could) the whole protestant world, and all else who refuse to be- lieve this monstrous doctrine. The following are extracts from the original Latin of the words of the council, with a faithful English translation. " Sancta haec synodus declarat, per " This holy council declareth That consecrationem panis et vim conversio- by the consecration of the bread and nem Jieri totius substantial panis in sub- wine, there is effected a conversion of the stantiam corporis Christi Domini nostri, whole substance of the bread into the sub- et totius substantial vini, in substantiam stance of the body of Christ our Lord, sanguinis ejus : quae conversio con- and of the wine into the substance of his venienter et proprie a sancta catholica blood ; which conversion is fitly and ecclesia transubstanliatio est appellata." properly termed by the holy Catholic church, Transubstantiation." The council then proceed to enact the canons and curses, of which the following are the first, second, and third. " Canon I. Si quis negaverit in sane- 1 . "If any one shall deny that in the tissimse eucharistiae sacramento contine- most holy sacrament of the eucharist, ri vere, realiter, et substantialiter, corpus there are contained, truly, really, and et sanguinem una cum anima et DIVINI- substantially, the body and blood, together * Dr. Middleton's letter from Rome, p. 179. 14 206 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK iv. The curses of Trent upon all who refuse to believe the dogma of Transubstantiation. TATE Domini nostri Jesu Christi, ac witli the soul and DIVINITY of our Lord proinde totum Christum ; seel dixerit Jesus Christ ; or say that he is in it only tantummodo esse in eo ut in signo, vel as in a sign, or figure, or by Ms influ- figura, aut virtute ; ET ANATHEMA ence. KF LET HIM BE ACCURSED ! SIT." " Canon II. Si quis dixerit in sacro- sancto eucharistis sacramento, remanere substantiam panis et vini una cum cor- pore et sanguine Domini nostri Jesu Christi, negaveritque mirabilem illam et singularem conversionem tolius substan- tial panis in corpus, et tolius substantive vini in sanguinem, manentibus dumtaxat speciebus panis et vini: quam quidem conversionem catholica ecclesia aptissi- me Transubstantionem appellat ; 03 AN- ATHEMA SIT." " Canon lit. Si quis negaverit in venerabile sacramento eucharistiae, sub unaquaque specie, et sub singulis cujus- que speciei partibus, separatione facta, totum Christum contineri ; ICT AN- ATHEMA SIT."* 2. " If any one shall say that in the sacrament of the eucharist, the sub- stance of the bread and wine remains together with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and shall deny the wonderful and singular conversion of the whoiz substance of the bread into his body, and the whole substance of the wine into his blood, the appearances only of bread and wine remaining, which con- version the catholic church most pro- perly terms Transubstantiation, IT LET HIM BE ACCURSED! 3. " If any one shall deny, that in the adorable sacrament of the eucharist, whole Christ is contained in each element or species, and in the SEPARATE PARTS of each element or species, a separation being made, O" LET HIM BE AC- CURSED." 24. Let it be remembered that these awful curses were pro- nounced by the last general council of the Romish church ever assembled ; that, of course, they have never been repealed ; but stand down to the year 1845 in flaming characters upon the statute book of Rome, an enduring monument. of her bigoted intolerance and hatred of all who refuse to yield up their common sense and reason at the bidding of a corrupt priesthood, whose evident object it is to exalt themselves not only above the common herd of the laity, but in their own language, " to an eminence granted to none of the angels" by proclaiming themselves as the " CREATORS OF THE CREATOR." In these awful anathemas, of course, are included our Baxters, our Bunyans, our Flavcls, our Paysons, and all the holy and devoted men who have honored the protestant ranks, not only in the past, but in the present generation. There have been periods, as we have already seen, when the anathemas of Rome were something more than an idle breath of air, when they could kindle the fires of martyrdom, and fill the dungeons of the inquisi- tion with the tortured and helpless victims of popish bigotry and cruelty. Blessed be God ! those periods, we trust, are past. God forbid that they should ever return ! The spirit of Popery remains unchanged. God forbid that the power to make these curses effectual (at least by the aid of " the secular arm ") should ever again return to deluge the world with blood ! * Concil Trident., sess. xiii., cap. 4. 207 CHAPTER III. PROOFS OP THE DARKNESS OF THIS PERIOD CONTINUED. BAPTISM OF BELLS, AND FESTIVAL OF THE ASSES. 25. Another of the profane and senseless mummeries of Popery, which sprung up in this dark age, and which has been han- ded down to the present time, was the consecration or baptism of Bells. Cardinal Baronius says this custom was first introduced by pope John XIII., who died in 972 ; who gave the name of John the Baptist, to the great bell of the Lateran church at Rome.* The reason why the name of some saint is given to the bell at its bap- tism, says Cardinal Bona, is " in order that the people may think themselves called to divine service, by the voice of the saint whose name the bell bears."f The following was inscribed upon the con- secrated bells : " Colo verum Deum ; plebem voco ; et congrego Clerum ; Divos adoro ; festa doceo ; defunctos ploro ; Pestem dsemones fugo." that is, " I adore the true God ; I call the people ; I collect the priests ; I worship the saints ; I teach the festivals ; I deplore the dead ; I drive away pestilence and devils." This senseless custom of the dark ages, of consecrating and bap- tizing bells, has been ever since observed by papists, and still is, down to the present time. In a letter of an English traveller, inserted in the London Magazine for 1780, there is an interesting account of a performance of this ceremony at Naples, in Italy. On that occasion a nobleman was godfather to the bell, and a lady of quality was godmother. Most of the prayers said on the occasion, ended with the following words, ' that thou wouldst be pleased to rinse, purify, sanctify, and consecrate these bells with thy heavenly benediction.' ' Ut hoc tintinnabulum crelesti benedictione perfundere, purificare, sanctificare, et consecrare dignareris.' The following were the words of consecration : 'Let the sign be consecrated and sanctified, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' ' Consecretur et sanctificetur signum istud, in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.' The bishop, then turn- ing to the people, said, the bell's name is Mary. He had previously demanded of the godfather and godmother what name they would have put upon the bell, and the lady gave it this name. 26. A more recent eye-witness of this ceremony in the city of Montreal, Canada, describes it as follows : " The two bells were sus- pended from a temporary erection of wood in the centre of the church. In the vacant space round them, a table and chairs were placed for f Bona. Rer. Liturg., Lib. ii., cap. 22. * Baronius' Annals, ann. 968. 208 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOKIV. Baptism of Bells. Sponsors. An expensive dress for the bell. the principal performers. The candles on the altar at the upper end of the church, were lighted in readiness for the exhibition, and in a short time a door on the left of the altar opened, and forth came the procession. At the head of it were two boys dressed in white, carrying two immense candles, each of which, with the candlestick, might probably measure seven or eight feet. After them came the priests, some in gorgeous silken robes, some in white, others in black, and some flaring with bright colors and gold ; other boys also in white followed, one of whom bore a silver vase with water, and another a small vessel of oil. Some of the priests in black took their seats near the altar, the rest came forward to the bells ; the large candles were placed upon the table, and beside them the vase and the vessel of oil. One of the priests, an old man dressed in white, then got up into the pulpit at the side of the church, to address the people ; after which, descending from the pulpit, he put on a robe of various bright colors, and proceeded to the ceremonial. After chanting a hymn, he read Latin prayers over the water in the basin, and thus, I suppose, consecrated it ; another of the priests then carried the basin to the bells, and the first dipped a pretty large brush in the water, and with it made the form of a cross upon the bell, pronouncing the form of words used on such, occasions, ' In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti ;' a third priest with another brush completed his work, making cross after cross, and then carefully brushing the intermediate places till the bell was wetted all over ; the second bell was crossed and recrossed in the same manner, and immediately large clean towels were produced, and the bells were carefully wiped dry. Returning to the table, singing and reading of prayers succeeded, and the oil was next blessed and made holy ; the principal priest then dipped his finger in the oil, and made the sign of the cross on one place on each bell, carefully wiping the place with cotton wool ; he then repeated it on a great many places on the bells, both inside and outside, carefully wiping them as before with cotton. During the singing which fol- lowed, one of the boys went out and brought in a silver censer with red coals in it ; a small box of incense stood on the table, out of which the priest took a spoonful and threw it on the coals, reading prayers' over it as before; the incense smoked up and perfumed the air ; then, after waving the censer with great solemnity three times, he carried it first to the one bell and then to the other, holding . it under them till they were filled with smoke."* (See Engraving.) 27. It is regarded as a very great honor to stand godfather or godmother to one of these baptized bells, and rich presents are made on these occasions. On another occasion of the kind, which took place in the same city only a year or two ago, according to the public journals of that city, the velvet and gold cloth in which the holy bell was dressed, cost no less a sum than two thousand dol- lars. This is understood to be the gift of those who are honored * M'Gavin's Protestant, vol. i., page 520. Romish Ceremony of the Baptism of Bells CHAP, in.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 31J Consecration of a bell at Dublin. Senseless and childish mummeries. with the office of sponsors. Within a few weeks this absurd and senseless mummery has been performed in Maryborough street Romish chapel, Dublin. An eye-witness describes the ceremony in the Dublin Warder, in the following lively style : " On our en- trance," says he, " we beheld the bell occupying the outer railed-in place opposite the altar, and elevated on a raised platform covered with some red stuff. Its upper periphery was garlanded with festoons of fading flowers, while a boquet in an earthenware vase was perched in the wood-work of the bell, and seemed to look with vegetable vanity on the idol of copper and tin beneath. Some thirty or forty priests in vestments were exceedingly busy, bustling here and there, to urge on the pageant, and encircled that venerable prelate, Doctor Murray, the lord archbishop of Dublin, whom they placed on a supposed throne, raised four or five steps from the floor. After placing a gilded mitre on his head, and a gold embroidered robe on his shoulders, they saluted him with several fantastic genu- flexions, and then brought him a silver censer, and stooping under the raised platform, whereon the bell reposed, disappeared, and, I presume, were employed for some minutes in worshipping and fumigating the interior of the bell ! ! After this, four or five priests preceded by young boys, robed in red gowns, bearing lighted can- dles, perambulated around the bell, and then one of the priest^, wielding a black-haired brush, dipped it in water, and wet the bell profusely ; then arose a lugubrious chant from all the priests, the organ occasionally drowning all accompaniment in its sonorous diapason. Doctor Murray was now conducted from his throne, and came near the bell, and after reciting certain prayers, a napkin was handed him, wherewith he wiped part of the bell. This was the signal for about a dozen of napkins, which, in the fists of as many priests, began to rub, and scrub, and curry, and wipe the bell on all parts of its surface. While this was going on, the organ choir were chanting instrumental and vocal exhortations to the bell, to bear all patiently. And when the brawny arms and lusty fists of those priests had well dried the bell, Doctor Murray was again conducted in pontificalibus near the bell, and a small phial of ointment being handed to him, he dipped his thumb into it, and rubbed it to various parts of the periphery of the bell, crossing it, the priests, organ, and choir, meanwhile chanting out triumphant vociferations at what they supposed to be its consecration." In reading the above accounts of the performance of these profane and idolatrous ceremonies in churches called Christian, and in the nineteenth century, one can hardly help imagining himself carried back some seven or eight centuries, to the gloom of the dark ages, when Popery was in its glory ; or living in a heathen land, and perusing the account of some imposing ceremony in the idol temples of Bramha, Gaudama, or Juggernaut. 28. We cannot better close these remarks on the baptism of the bells, than by the following antique and curious account of the same 212 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK iv. Curious and antique account of the mummery of bell-baptism, from old Philip Stubbes 1598. ceremony, which is valuable, not only for the information it affords, and the piquancy of its style, but also as a choice historical relic It is taken from an old work, written in 1585, by Philip St'ubbes, entitled " The Theatre of the Pope's Monarchic" " THE ORDER AND MANNER OF CHRISTENING OF BELLES, WITH RIDICU- LOUS CEREMONIES USED THEREIN BY THE PAPISTS. When they are disposed to christen any bell, first of all there is warnying thereof giuen in the church a good while before the day appointed, which day being come the people flock thicke and three-fold to see the commedie played. The godfathers and godmothers also, being warned before the church wardens, are present in all the best ap- parrel that they haue. Besides whom you shall haue 2 or 3 others present, eury one striuing and contending who shall bee godfathers and godmothers to the bell, supposing it a wonderful preferment, a mirracilous promotion, and singular credit so to be. Thus all things made readie, the bishop in all his masking geare commeth forth like a coniuring iugler, and hauing made holy water with salt and other fibbersause he sprinklcth all things with the same as a thing of un- speakable force. And although it is at noone days, yet must he haue his tapers burning round about on eury side ; and then kneel- ing down hee very solemnly desireth the people to pray, that God would vouchsafe to grannt to this bell a blessed and happie Chris- tendom, and with all a lustie -sound to driue away diuels and to pre- uaile against all kinde of peril and tempests whatsoeuer. This prayer ended, the bishop anoynteth the bell in eury place with oyle, 'and chrisme, mumblying to himselfe certaine coniurations and exor- cismes, which no man heareth but he alone, and yet do all men understande it as well as hee. Then commandeth hee the godfathers and godmothers to giue the name to the bell, which being giuen, he poureth on water three or four seueral times, anoynting it with oyle, and chrisme, as before, for what cause I know not, except it bee either to make his bellie soluble, his ioynts nimble or his colour fare. This done, he putteth on the Bell a white linnen chrisome, command- ing the godfathers and godmothers to pull it up from the grounde by ropes and engines made for that purpose. Thene fall they downe before this new christtened bell, all prostrate upon their knees, and offer uppe to this idol, gifts of gold, siluer, frankensence, myrh and mayne other things, eury one striuing who shall giue most. These sacrifices and offerings to the Dieuell ended, the Bell is hanged uppe in the steeple with great applause of the people, euery one reioycing that the bell hath receiued such a happie christendorne. For ioy whereof they celebrate a feast to Bacchus, spending all that day and peraduenture 2 or 3 dayes after in danncing and ryotting, in feasting and banketting, in swilling and drinking, like filthie epicures, tyll they being as drunken as swyne, vomit and disgorge their stinking stomaches, worse than any dogges. And thus endeth this satyre together with the plaies, enterludes, Pageants, office and ceremonies of this suffragan Bishop. CHAP, m.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 213 The popish Festival of the Asa. Ode sung by the priests in honor of the ass. " Now whether there bee anything here, either prouable by the woorde of God, or by the example of the primitiue Apostolical churche, or any particular member of the same euer since the be- ginning of the world, I referre it to the judgment of the wyse and learned." 29. Another proof of the grovelling and worse than senseless superstition of this dark period of the world, was a festival called the Feast of the Ass. This absurd festival was celebrated in several of the Roman Catholic churches of this age, in commemoration of the Virgin Mary's flight into Egypt, which was supposed to have been made on an ass. Among other places, this Feast was regu- larly celebrated at Beauvais, on every 14th of January. Were not the fact established upon the most indubitable authority, it could be scarcely credited that such disgusting ceremonies were performed in places of worship called Christian. The following account of this festival is given by the learned Townley, in his " Illustrations of Biblical Literature," upon the unquestionable authority of the writers cited at the foot of the page. A beautiful young woman was chosen, richly attired, and a young infant placed in her arms, to represent the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. She then mounted an ass richly caparisoned, and rode in procession, followed by the bishop and clergy, from the cathedral to the church of St. Stephen, where she was placed near the altar, and high mass com- menced. Instead, however, of the usual responses by the people, they were taught to imitate the braying of the ass ; and at the con- clusion of the service the priest, instead of the usual words with which he dismissed the people, brayed three times, and the people brayed or imitated the sounds hinham^ hinham, hinham ! During the ceremony the following ludicrous composition, half Latin, half French, was sung by the priests and the people, with great vocife- ration, in praise of the ass : TRANSLATION. " Orientis partibus " From the country of the East Adventavit asinus ; Came this strong and handsome beast ; Pulcher et fortissimus, This able ass beyond compare, Sarcinis aptissimus. Heavy loads and packs to bear. Hez, Sire Asnes. car chantez ; Now, Signior Ass, a noble bray ; Belle bouche rechignez ; That beauteous mouth at large display; Vous aurez du foin assez Abundant food our hay-lofts yield, Et de 1' avoine a plantez. And oats abundant load the field. Lentus erat pedibus, True it is, his pace is slow, Nisi foret baculus ; Till he feels the quick'ning blow ; Et eum in clunibus Till he feels the urging goad, Pungeret aculeus. On his buttock well bestow'd, Hez, Sire Asnes, &c. Now, Signior Ass, &c. Hie in collibus Sichem, He was born on Shechem's hill ; Jam nutritus sub Ruben; In Reuben's vales he fed his fill; Transiit per Jordanem, He drank of Jordan's sacred stream, Saiiit in Bethlehem. And gamboled in Bethlehem. Hez, Sire A?nes, &c. Now, Signior Ass, &c. 214 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK iv A braying raritch in honor of the ass, by his representatives, the priests and the people. Ecce magnis auribus ! Subjugalis filius ; Asinus egregius, Asinorum dominus I Hez, Sire Asnes, &c. Saltu vincit hinnulos, Damas et capreolos, Super dromedaries Velox Madianeos. Hez, Sire Asnes, &c. Aurum de Arabia, Thus et myrrham de Saba, Tulit in ecclesia Virtus asinaria. Hez, Sire Asnes, &c. Dum trahit vehicula Multa cum sarcinula, Illius mandibula Dura terit pabula. Hez, Sire Asnes, &c. Cum aristis hordeum Comedit et carduum ; Triticum & palea Segregat in area Hez, Sire Asnes, &c Amen, dicas, asine,* Jam satur de gramine : Amen, amen, itera ; Aspernare vetera. See that broad, majestic ear ! Born he is the poke to wear ; All his fellows he surpasses ! He's the very lord of asses ! Now, Signior Ass, &c. In leaping he excels the fawn, The deer, the colts upon the lawn ; Less swift the dromedaries ran, Boasted of in Midian. Now, Signior Ass, &c. Gold, from Araby the blest, Seba myrrh, of myrrh the best, To the church this ass did bring ; We his sturdy labors sing. Now, Signior Ass, &c. While he draws his loaded wain, Or many a pack, he don't complain ; With his jaws, a noble pair, He doth craunch his homely fare. Now, Signior Ass, &c. The bearded barley and its stem, And thistles, yield his fill of them ; He assists to separate, When it's thresh d, the chaff from wheat Now, Signior Ass, &c. Amen ! bray, most honor'd ass, Sated now with grain and grass ; Amen repeat, Amen reply, And disregard antiquity."} HEZ VA ! HEZ VA ! HEZ VA HEZ ! BIALX SIRE ASNES CAR ALLEZ; BELLE BOUCHE CAR CHANTEZ."{ The learned Edgar closes the account which he gives of this ridiculous mummery, in the following caustic style : " The worship concluded with a BRAYING-MATCH between the clergy and laity, in honor of the ass. The officiating priest turned to the people, and in a fine treble voice, and with great devotion, brayed three times like an ass, whose representative he was ; while the people, imitating his example in thanking God, brayed three times in concert. Shades of Montanus, Southcott, and Swedenborg, hide your diminished heads ! Attempt not to vie with the extravagancy of Romanism. Your wildest ravings, your loudest nonsense, your most eccentric aberrations have been outrivalled by an INFALLIBLE CHURCH !" The final chorus, as given by Du Cange, is certainly an imitation of asinine braying ; and when performed by the whole congrega- tion must have produced a most inharmonious symphony. * Here he is made to bend his knees. J Du Cange, Glossarium, v., Feslum. f Literary Panorama, vol. ii., pp. 585-588 ; and vol. vii., pp. 716-718. 5 Edgar's Variations, page 19. CHAP, iv.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 215 Attempts to suppress the Feast of the Asa. Profligate popes and clergy. There is another translation of this SACRED ODE, sung by these dig- nified priests to the ASS, which exhibits the ludicrousness of the cere- mony in a more striking light, than even the translation above given. At the risk of provoking a smile, which in such a case may be allowable, I will transcribe the first four stanzas. TRANSLATION. " The Ass did come from Eastern climes ! The Ass was born and bred with long ears. Heigh-ho ! my Assy ! Heigh-ho ! my Assy ! He's fair and fit for the pack at all times ! And now the Lord of Asses appears, Sing, father Ass, and you shall have grass, Grin, father Ass, and you shall get grass, And hay, and straw too, in plenty ! And straw, and hay too, in plenty. The Ass is slow, and lazy too ; The Ass excels the hind at leap, Heigh-ho, my Assy ! Heigh-ho ! my Assy ! But the whip and spur will make him go, And faster than hound or hare can trot, Sing, father Ass, and you shall get grass, Bray, father Ass, and you shall get grass, And hay, and straw too, in plenty. And straw, and hay too, in plenty." Attempts were made, at various times, to suppress or to regulate these sottish superstitions, by Mauritius, bishop of Paris, Odo of Sens, Grosseteste of Lincoln in England, and others. By the latter prelate, on account of its licentiousness, it was abolished in Lincoln cathedral, where it had been annually observed on the Feast of the Circumcision.* On the continent, however, it continued for centuries to be celebrated, and was officially permitted by the acts of the chapter of Sens, in France, so late as 1517. Still later permissions are found, as we learn from Tilliot and the other authorities already cited, till at length, unable to stand against the light of the glorious reformation, this senseless and disgusting popish festival ceased, toward the end of the sixteenth century, f CHAPTER IV. PROFLIGATE POPES AND CLERGY OF THIS PERIOD. 30. THE present chapter will be devoted chiefly to a sketch of the profligate lives of several of the popes of this gloomy period, related not merely upon the testimony of protestant writers, but by the standard authors of that apostate church, of which each of these monsters of vice was, successively, the crowned and anointed head. It would hardly be desirable to stir the black pool of filth * Tilliot, Memoires pour servir a 1' histoire de la Fete des Foux, p. 26-32. Lau- sanne et Geneve, 1751, 12mo. f Illustrations of Biblical Literature, by Rev. James Townley, D. D., vol. i.,p. 249. 216 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK iv Links in the holy apostolic succession. Horrible barbarities of pope John VIII composed of the lives of these " successors of the apostles," were it not to show the value of the lofty claims now so boldly put forth by the votaries of Rome, and all who trace their succession through the same polluted channel, to be exclusively the " HOLY APOSTOLIC CHURCH ;" connected by an unbroken series of links with the apos- tle Peter himself; by the uninterrupted chain of "apostolic succes- sion," from pope Peter in the first century, through the Johns and the Benedicts and the Alexanders, down to the popes and prelates of the nineteenth. Let us proceed then to sketch the character of a few of these holy links in this chain as related by the pen of im- partial history. 31. JOHN VIII. This pope was enriched with a great num- ber of costly presents by the emperor Charles the Bald, in return for the services of the Pope in causing him to be elected Emperor. Upon the death of Louis II., a fierce and bloody contention for the empire ensued among the descendants of Charlemagne. Through the favor of the Pope, however, Charles, the grandson of Charle- magne, was successful. Advancing to Rome, at the invitation of the Pontiff, he was crowned by him with great solemnity in the church of St. Peter on Christmas day, 875, the same day on which his celebrated ancestor had been crowned in the same place, seventy-five years before, by pope Leo III. It is worthy of re- mark that the artful Pope spoke of this coronation as giving to Charles a right to the empire, thus insinuating that he had the power of conferring the empire, and from this time forward the popes claimed the right of confirming the election of an emperor.* In a sentence pronounced by pope John upon a certain bishop Formosus, is the following expression : " He has conspired with his accomplices against the safety of the republic, and our beloved son Charles, whom WE HAVE CHOSEN and consecrated Emperor.-^ This Pope was a monster of blood and cruelty. He commended the unnatural barbarity of Athanasius, bishop of Naples, who put out the eyes of his own brother, Sergius, duke of the same city, and sent him in that state to the Pope, to answer to a charge of rebellion against the Holy See. He applied to Athanasius the words of the Saviour, " he that loveth father or mother" (the Pope adds " brother ") " more than me, is not worthy of me," and pro- mised to send him as a recompense for so meritorious an act, a handsome pecuniary reward.J It soon appeared, however, that the bishop had more regard to himself than to the Pope in this unnatural act, for he soon seized upon the brother's vacant dukedom, and in his turn was excommunicated by the Pope. Subdued by the terror of the spiritual thunder, the refractory bishop and duke sent to implore absolution of the Pope, but the blood-thirsty pontiff sent him a reply, that the only terms upon which he would grant * Sigonius de reg. Italiae, lib. vi. f Epist. Joann., 319. j Ibid., 66. CHAP, iv.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 217 Pope Sergius III. the father of pope John XI., the bastard son of the harlot Marozia. him absolution were, that he should deliver to his vengeance several men, of whose names he sent him a list, and that he should cut the throats of the rest, 'jugulatis aliis,' of the Pope's Saracen enemies in the presence of his legates.* Such was the cruel spirit of this professed disciple of the Prince of Peace, and link in the unbroken chain of apostolical succession ! 32. SERGIUS III. About the commencement of the tenth cen- tury, the singular spectacle was presented in Rome of almost the whole power and influence being concentrated in the hands of three notorious and abandoned prostitutes, Theodora and her two daugh- ters, Marozia and Theodora. This extraordinary state- of things arose from the almost unbounded influence of the Tuscan party in Rome, and the adulterous commerce of these wicked women with the powerful heads of this party. Marozia cohabited with Albert or Adalbert, one of the powerful counts of Tuscany, and had a son by him named Alberic. Pope Sergius III., who was raised to the papacy in 904, also cohabited with this woman, and by his Holiness she had another son named John, who afterward ascended the papal throne, through the influence of his licentious mother. Even Baronius, the popish annalist, confesses that pope Sergius was " the slave of every vice, and the most wicked of men."f Among other horrid acts, Platina relates that pope Sergius rescinded the acts of pope Formosus, compelled those whom he had ordained to be reor- dained, dragged his dead body from the sepulchre, beheaded him as though he were alive, and then threw him into the Tiber /J 33. JOHN X. This infamous Pope was the paramour of the harlot Theodora. While a deacon of the church at Ravenna, he, used frequently to visit Rome, and possessing a comely person, as we are informed by Luitprand, a contemporary historian, being seen by Theodora she fell passionately in love with him, and en- gaged him in a criminal intrigue. He was afterwards chosen bishop of Ravenna, and upon the death of pope Lando, in 914, this shameless woman, for the purpose of facilitating her adulterous intercourse with her favorite paramour, " as she could not live at the distance of two hundred miles from her lover," had influence sufficient to cause him to be raised to the papal throne. Moshe'm says the paramour of pope John was the elder harlot Theodora, but his translator, Dr. Maclaine, agrees with the Romish historian Fleury (who admits these disgraceful facts), in the more probable opinion that it was the younger Theodora, the sister of Marozia.|| 34. JOHN XL This Pope was the bastard son of his Holiness pope Sergius III., who, as we have seen, was one of the favored lovers of the notorious Marozia. The death of pope Stephen in 931, presented to the ambition of Marozia, says Mosheim (ii., 392), * Epist. Joann., 294. t Baronius, ad Ann. 908. j Platina's Lives of the Popes, vita Sergii EL 8 Luitprand, Lib. ii., cap. 12. (l Mosheim ii., 391, and Fleury's Ecclesiastical History, bookliv. 218 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK rr Horrible licentiousness of pope John XII. " an object worthy of its grasp, and accordingly she raised to the papal dignity John XL, who was the fruit of her lawless amours with one of the pretended successors of St. Peter, whose adulter- ous commerce gave an infallible guide to the Roman church." 35. JOHN XII. This monster of wickedness was a nephew of John the bastard, the last named Pope, and through the influence of the dominant Tuscan party in Rome, was raised to the popedom at the age of eighteen years. His tyranny and debaucheries were so abominable, that upon the complaint of the people of Rome, the emperor Otho caused him to be solemnly tried and deposed. Upon the Emperor's ambassadors coming to that city they carried back to their master an account of the notorious scandals of which the Pope was guilty ; that " he carried on in the eyes of the whole city a criminal commerce with one Rainera, the widow of one of his soldiers, and had presented her with crosses and chalices of gold belonging to the church of St. Peter ; that another of his concubines named Stephania, had lately died in giving birth to one of the Pope's bastards ; that he had changed the Lateran palace, once the abode of saints, into a brothel, and there cohabited with his own father's concubine, who was a sister of Stephania, and that he had forced married women, widows, and virgins to comply with his impure desires, who had come from other countries to visit the tombs of the apostles at Rome." Upon the arrival of Otho, pope John fled from the city. Several bishops and others testified to the Emperor the above enormities, besides several other offences. The Emperor summoned him to appear, saying in the letter he addressed tQ him, " You are charged with such obscenities as would make us blush were they said of a stage-player. I shall mention to you a few of the crimes that are laid to your charge ; for it would require a whole day to enumerate them all. Know, then, that you are accused, not by some few, but by all the clergy as well as the laity, of murder, perjury, sacrilege, and incest witlj, your own two sisters, &c., &c. We therefore earnestly entreat you to come and clear yourself from these imputations," &c. To this letter his Holiness returned the following lacon : c answer : " John, servant of the servants of God, to all bishops. We hear that you want to make another pope. If that is your design, I excommunicate you all in the name of the Almighty, that you may not have it in your power to ordain any other, or even to celebrate mass ! ! /" Regardless of this threat, however, the Emperor and council de- posed " this monster without one single virtue to atone for his many vices," as he was called by the bishops in council, and proceeded to elect a successor. Still, be it remembered, this " monster " John XII. is reckoned in the regular line of the popes. The next of the name is called John the Thirteenth, and he is therefore an essential necessary link in the boasted chain of HOLY APOSTOLICAL SUCCES- SION ! No sooner had the emperor Otho left Rome, than several of the licentious women of the city with whom pope John had been accustomed to spend the greater portion of his time in con- CHAP, iv.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 219 Cruelties of pope John XII. Cardinal Baronius's admission of these enormities. cert with several persons of rank, conspired to murder the new Pope, and to restore John to his See. The former was fortunate enough to make his escape to the Emperor then at Camerino, and the latter was brought back in triumph to the Lateran palace. Upon his return, pope John seized upon several of the clergy who were opposed to him, and inflicted on them the most horrible tor- tures. Otger, bishop of Spire, was whipped by his command till he was almost dead; another, cardinal John, was mutilated by having his right hand cut oflT, and Azo by the loss of his tongue, nose, and two fingers. But these horrible enormities were not permitted to continue long. Shortly after his return to the city, the Pope was caught in bed with a married woman, and killed on the spot, as some authors say, by the Devil, but probably by the husband in disguise.* 36. But decency demands that we should draw a veil over the further debaucheries and incests of these boasted successors of the prince of the apostles, and their shameless female associates in guilt and pollution. Historical fidelity demanded so much of the truth to be made known, and certainly the reader will conclude here is enough for a specimen. So conclusive is the evidence of the historical accuracy of these disgraceful facts, that popish writers are constrained to admit their truth. We have already referred to the celebrated Fleury, but shall cite the following re- markable language of Cardinal Baronius, one of the most powerful champions of popery, in reference to these events. " Quas tune facies sanctse Ecclesiae " O ! what was then the face of the Romanae ! quam fasdissima cum Romee holy Roman church ! how filthy, when dominarentur potentissimae aaque et sor- the vilest and most powerful prostitutes didissimcc meretrices ! quarum arbitrio ruled in the court of Rome ! by whose mutarentur sedes, dafentur Episcopi, et arbitrary sway dioceses were made and quod auditu horrendum et infandum est, unmade, bishops were consecrated, and intruderentur in Sedem Petri earum which is inexpressibly horrible to be AMASSII PSEUDO-FONTIFICES, qui non sint mentioned ! FALSE POPES, THEIR PARA- nisi ad consignanda tantum tempera in MOURS, were thrust into the chair of catalogo Romanorum Pontificum scripti. St. Peter, who, in being numbered as Quis enim a scortis hujusmodi intru- popes, serve no purpose except to fill up sos sine lege legitimos dicere possit Ro- the catalogues of the popes of Rome, manos fuisse Pontifices? Sic vindica- For who can say that persons thrust into verat omnia sibi LIBIDO, saeculari poten- the popedom without any law by harlots tia freta, insaniens, aestro PERCITA DOMI- of this sort, were legitimate popes of NAIJDI." Rome ? In this manner, LUST, support- ed by secular power, excited to frenzy, in the rage for domination, RULED IN ALL THINGS." In another passage, Cardinal Baronius, the celebrated annalist of the Romish church, expresses his feelings in reference to the horri- * Bower, vita John XII. The above particulars in the life of this vicious Pope are related by Bower, upon the incontestible authority of Luitprand, bishop of Cremona, an authentic contemporary historian. His work is frequently referred to by the cautious and learned Gieseler. Hist, rerum in Europe sito temp, gesta- runiy Lib vi. in Muratori Rer. Ital. Script. 220 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOKIV. The holy See, according to Baronius, "without spot," yet " blackened with perpetual infamy." bly flagitious lives of these popes, and the See which they dishon- ored, in the following remarkable language : " Est plane, ut vix aliquis credat, im- " It is evident that one can scarcely mo, nee vix quidem sit crediturus, nisi believe, without ocular evidence, what suis inspiciat ipse oculis, manibusque unworthy, base, execrable, and abominable contrectat, quam indigna, quamque turpia things the holy, apostolical See, which is atque deformia execranda, insuper, et THE PIVOT UPON WHICH THE WHOLE CA- abominanda sit coacta pati sacrosancla THOLIC CHURCH REVOLVES, was forced to apostolica sedes ra cujus CARDINE UNI- endure, when the princes of this age, VERSA ECCLESIA CATHOLiCA VERTiTUR, although Christian, yet arrogated to cum Principes saeculse hujus quantumli- themselves the election 'of the Roman bet Christian!, hac tamen ex parte di- pontiffs. Alas, the shame ! Alas, the cendi tyranni saevissimi arrogaverunt sibi grief! what MONSTERS HORRIBLE TO BE- tyrannice electionem Romanorum pon- HOLD, were then, by them, intruded on tificum. Quot tune ab eis, proh pudor ! the holy See, which angels revere ! what proh dolor ! in eandem Sedem Angelis evils ensued ! what tragedies did they reverendam visu HORRENDA intrusa sunt perpetrate ! with what pollutions was WONSTRA ? quot ex eis oborta sunt mala, this See, though itself without spot or consummate tragcediae ? quibus tune wrinkle, then slained ! with what cor- ipsam sine macula et sine ruga contigit ruptions infected ! with what nlthiness aspergi sordibus, putoribus infici, inqui- defiled ! and by these things BLACKENED nati spurcitiis, ex hisque PERPETUA IN- WITH PERPETUAL INFAMY."* FAMIA DENIGRARI !" How the above assertions can be reconciled, that " THE HOLY SEE ITSELF " can be " without spot or wrinkle," and yet " BLACKENED WITH PERPETUAL INFAMY," must be left for popish casuists to explain. " Who can say," asks Baronius, " that persons thrust into the popedom, by harlots of this sort, were legitimate popes of Rome ?" Certainly, we answer, they have evidently no more claim to the character of bishops or ministers of Christ, than their scarcely more wicked master, Beelzebub himself. But then, what becomes of the boasted UNINTERRUPTED APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION ? What, indeed ! After reading the above brief recitals of but a few instances of papal profligacy, presented in this age, the reader will be prepared to acknowledge the justice of the remark of Mosheim, in reference to the tenth century : " The history of the Roman pontiffs that lived in this century," says he, " is a history of so many MONSTERS, AND NOT OF MEN, and EXHIBITS A HORRIBLE SERIES OF THE MOST FLAGI- TIOUS, TREMENDOUS, AND COMPLICATED CRIMES, as all Writers, CVCn those of the Romish communion, unanimously confess." (Vol. ii., 390.) 37. It would be amusing, were it not painful to witness the lame attempts of Roman Catholic writers to reconcile the horrible profligacy of many of their popes, with their views in relation to apostolical succession, and papal infallibility. Father Gahan, in his history of the church, already referred to. which is probably the most accessible and popular work of its kind, among the multitude of Romanists, after faintly admitting (page 279), that " some unwor- thy popes " who had been " thrust into the apostolic chair," by the * Baronius Annal., ad Ann. 900, &c. The former of the above passages from the Annalist, is cited by Southey, in his Vindiciae Anglicanee, page 389. Lon- don, 1826. CHAP, iv.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 221 Do what they say, and not what they do. Another monster, pope Benedict IX. intrigues of " three women of scandalous lives," had " disgraced their high station, by the immorality of their lives," proceeds to remark as follows : " Christ promised infallibility," says he, " to the great body of her pastors, in their public doctrine, but he has no- where promised them impeccability in their conduct. ' Go,' said he to them, ' teach all nations : Baptize and teach them to observe all that I have ordained, and / will be with you,' &c. In virtue of this promise, he is always with the pastors of his church, to guaran- tee them from all error in the doctrine of faith, but not to exempt them from all vice; for he did not say, as the great Bossuet observes, '/ will be with you PRACTISING all that I have commanded, but / will be with ye TEACHING.' Hence, to show that the mark of the true faith was attached to the profession of the public doctrine, and not to the innocence of their morals, he said to the faithful who are taught, ' DO ALL THAT THEY SAY, AND NOT WHAT THEY DO."(! !)* I suppose that most of my readers have heard the old anecdote of the drinking and fox-hunting English parson, who used to admonish his congregation that they must do as he said, and not as he did ; but probably few of them ever imagined, before reading the above pre- cious specimen of papal reasoning that the parson was indebted for his maxim to the Saviour himself. 38. Among the popes of the eleventh century, while there were some whose lives were decent, there were others, worthy rivals in profligacy to their predecessors of the tenth. I shall add, however, but one to this disgraceful list, BENEDICT IX., on account of his pre- eminence in vice. He was a son of Alberic, count of Tuscany, and was placed on the papal throne, through the money and the influ- ence of his father, at the age of eighteen years, A. D. 1033. His vicious life can only find a parallel in that of the most debauched of the Roman emperors, Heliogabalus, Commodus, or Caligula. The Romans, .shocked at his daily public debaucheries, more than once expelled him from the city, but by means of the emperors, or some other powerful friends, he was as often restored. Finding himself at length an object of public abhorrence, on account of his flagitious crimes, he finally sold the popedom to his successor, Gregory VI., and betook himself to a private life, rioting without control in all manner of uncleanliness. One of his successors in the papal chair, Desiderius, or Victor III., describes pope Benedict as " abandoned 'to all manner of vice. A successor of SIMON THE SOR- CERER, and NOT OF SIMON THE APOSTLE."| No doubt this opinion is correct, but again we ask, what becomes of the UNINTERRUPTED APOS- TOLICAL SUCCESSION ? 39. It might, of course, be expected that the examples thus set by the occupants of the vaunted Holy See, the boasted suc- cessors of St. Peter, would be imitated by the inferior orders of clergy, who were taught to regard the popes as their spiritual Gahan's History of the Church, page 280. Desid. Dialog., Lib. iii. ID 222 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK ir. Licentiousness of the inferior clergy. Concubines of the priests confessing to their paramours sovereign and head, as the vicegerents of God upon earth. Ac- cordingly, we find that a universal corruption of morals had in- vaded the monks and the clergy. " The houses of the priests and monks," says the abbot Alredus, " were brothels for harlots, and filled with assemblies of buffoons ; where in, gambling, dancing, and music, amid every nameless crime, the donations of royalty, and the benevolence of princes, the price of precious blood, were most prodigally squandered."* " Atto's language on this topic," says Edgar, " is equally striking. He represents some of the clergy as sold in such a degree to their lusts, that they kept filthy harlots in their houses. These, in a pub- lic manner, lived, bedded, and boarded with their consecrated para- mours. Fascinated with their wanton allurements, the abandoned clergy conferred on the partners of their guilt, the superintendence of their family and all their domestic concerns. These courtezans, during the lives of their companions in iniquity, managed their households : and, at their death, inherited their property. The ecclesiastical alms and revenues, in this manner, descended to the accomplices of vile prostitution.! The hirelings of pollution were adorned, the church wasted, and the poor oppressed by men who professed to be the patrons of purity, the guardians of truth, and the protectors of the wretched and the needy. 40. " Damian represents the guilty mistress as confessing to the guilty priest. J This presented another absurdity and an aggravation of the crime. The formality of confessing what the father confessor knew, and receiving forgiveness from a partner in sin, was an insult on common sense, and presented one of the many ridiculous scenes which have been exhibited on the theatre of the world. Confession and absolution in this way were, after all, very convenient. The fair penitent had not far to go for pardon, nor for an opportunity of repeating the fault, which might qualify her for another course of confession and remission. Her spiritual father could spare her blushes ; and his memory could supply any deficiency of recollec- tion in the enumeration of her sins. This mode of remission was attended with another advantage, which was a great improvement on the old plan. The confessor, in the penance which he pre- scribed on these occasions, exemplified the virtues of compassion and charity. Christian commiseration and sympathy took place of rigor and strictness. The holy father indeed could n'ot be severe on so dear a friend ; and the lady could not refuse to be kind again to such an indulgent father. Damian, however, in his want of * " Fuisse clericorum domos prostibula meretricum conciliabulum histrionum, ubi aleae, saltus, cantus, patrimonia regum, eleemosynae principum profligarentur, imo pretiosi sanguinis pretium, et alia infanda." (Alredus, cap. ii.) f Quod dicere pudet. Quidem in tant libidine mancipantur, ut obscoenas meretriculas sua simul in domo secum habitare, uno cibum sumere, ac publice degere permittant. Unde meretrices ornantur, ecclesiae vestantur, pauperes tri- bulantur. (Atto, Ep. 9. Dachery, i. 439.) J Les coupables se confessent a leurs complices, qui ne leur imposent point de penitences convenables. (Damian in Bruy. 2, 356. Giannon, X. 2.) CHAP, iv.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 333 Concubinage openly practised. Regarded as a less crime in a priest than marriage. charity and liberality, saw the transaction in a different light ; and complained in bitterness of this laxity of discipline, and the insult on ecclesiastical jurisdiction and on rational piety. This adultery and fornication of the clergy degenerated, in many instances, into incest and other abominations of the grossest kind. Some priests, according tq the council of Mentz in 888, ' had sons by their own sisters.'* Some of the earlier councils, through fear of scandal, de- prived the clergy of all female company, except a mother, a sister, or an aunt, who, it was reckoned, was beyond all suspicion. But the means intended for prevention were the occasion of more ac- cumulated scandal and more heinous criminality. The interdiction was the introduction to incestuous and unnatural prostitution." (Edgar, 516, 17.) 41. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, concubinage was openly practised by the clergy, and it was regarded by popes and prelates as a far less crime to keep a concubine than to marry a wife. " Any person, clergyman or layman, according to the council of Toledo in its seventeenth canon, who has not a wife but a concu- bine, is not to be repelled from the communion, if he be content with one.f And his holiness pope Leo, the vicar-general of God, confirmed, in the kindest manner and with the utmost courtesy, the council of Toledo and the act of the Spanish prelacy.J Such was the hopeful decision of a Spanish council and" a Roman pontiff: but, ridiculous as it is, this is not all. The enactment of the coun- cil and the Pope has been inserted in the Romish body of the Canon Law edited by Gratian and Pithou. Gratian's compilation indeed was a private production, unauthenticated by any pope. But Pithou published by the command of Gregory XIII., and his work contains the acknowledged Canon Law of the Romish church. His edition is accredited by pontifical authority, and recognized through popish Christendom. Fornication therefore is sanctioned by a Spanish council, a Roman pontiff, and the canon law. Forni- cation, in this manner, was, in the clergy, not only tolerated but also preferred to matrimony. Many of the popish casuists raised whoredom above wedlock in the clergy. Costerus admits that a clergyman sins, if he commit fornication ; but more heinously if he marry. Concubinage, the Jesuit grants, is sinful ; but less aggra- vated, he maintains, than marriage. Costerus was followed by Pighius and Hosius. Campeggio proceeded to still greater ex- travagancy. He represented a priest who became a husband, as committing a more grievous transgression than if he should keep many domestic harlots. An ecclesiastic, rather than marry, * Quidam sacerdotum cum propriis sororibus concumbentes, filios ex eis gene- rassent. (Bin. 7, 137. Labb. 11, 586.) f Christiano habere licitum est unam tantum aut uxorem, aut certe loco uxoris concubinam. (Pithou, 47. Giannon, v. 5. Dachery, 1, 528. Canisius, 2, 111.) J Confirmatum videtur auctoritate Leonis Papse. (Bin. 1, 737.) Q Gravius peccat, si contrahat matrimonium. (Cost., c. 15.) Quod sacerdotes fiant mariti, multo esse gravius peccatum quam se plurirnas 224 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK iv, Amidst all this profligacy, the power and influence of the popes increased. Causes of this-. should, accord ing to this precious divine, keep a seraglio. The clergyman, he affirms, who perpetrates whoredom, acts from a per- suasion of its rectitude or legality ; while the other knows and acknowledges his criminality. The priesthood, therefore, in Cam- peggio's statement, are convinced of the propriety of fornication."* 42. The most astonishing circumstance of all is, that amidst all this abandoned profligacy of popes and priests, their power, and wealth, and influence, should have gone on steadily increasing till it reached its culminating point during the pontificate of the im- perious Hildebrand, who ascended the papal throne under the title of Gregory VII., A. D. 1073. This strange fact is accounted for in the general ignorance of the bible, the supposed authority of the forged decretals, and the awful terror of excommunication and interdict. During these dark ages, the Scriptures were almost entirely unknown, not only among the laity, but even among the great majority of the clergy. Those of the priests who had some acquaintance with the sacred books labored hard to conceal from the eyes of the people a volume which so plainly condemned their vicious lives and their anti-scrip- tural doctrines and ceremonies. This, it is well known, has ever been the policy of popish priests, and down to the present day in countries where Popery generally prevails, multitudes of otherwise well educated people are ignorant even of the existence of the bible.f 43. During these dark ages, it is to be remembered, the/or^ decretals, and the spurious donation of the emperor Constantine f were universally received as genuine, and constantly appealed to in proof of the assumptions of the popes. On this point, in addition to what has already been said in a former chapter (see above, page 182, &c.), I shall quote a paragraph from the celebrated work of the learned John Daille on " the right use of the fathers." Speak- ing of various early forgeries, says he, " I shall place in this rank the so much vaunted deed of the donation of Constantino, which doni meretrices alunt. Nam illos habere persuaBiim quasi recte faciant, hos autem scire et peccatum agnoscere. (Campeggio. in Sleidan, 96.) * See Edgar, 520? f A remarkable and unexceptionable proof of this assertion is found in the recent work of George Borrow, entitled "the Bible in Spain." On one occasion, he says, " I asked a boy whether he or his parents were acquainted with the Scripture and ever read it ; he did not, however, seem to understand me. I must here observe that the boy was fifteen years of age, that he was in many respects very, intelligent, and had some knowledge of the Latin language ; nevertheless, he knew not the Scripture, even by name, and I have no doubt, from what I sub- sequently observed, that at least two-thirds of his countrymen are on that im- portant point no wiser than himself. At the doors of village inns, at the hearths of the rustics, in the fields where they labor, at the stone fountain by the way-side, where they water their cattle, I have questioned the lower classes of the children of Portugal about the Scripture, the Bible, the Old and New Testament, and in no one instance have they known what I was alluding to, or could return me a rational answer, though on all other matters their replies were sensible enough." CHAP, iv.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 225 Forged decretals. Daille on the fathers. Mysterious terrors of excommunication and interdict has for so long a time been accounted as a most valid and authentic evidence, and has also been inserted in the decrees, and so pertina- ciously maintained by the bishop of Agobio, against the objections of Laurentius Valla. Certainly those very men, who at this day maintain the donation, do notwithstanding disclaim this evidence as a piece of forgery."* In reference to the decretal epistles, Daille remarks, "Of the same nature are the epistles attributed to the first popes, as Clemens, Anacletus, Euaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Hyginus, Pius, Anicetus, and others, down to the times of Siricius (that is to say, to the year of our Saviour 385), which the world read, under these venerable titles, at the least for eight hundred years together ; and by which have been decided, to the advantage of the church of Rome, very many controversies, and especially the mos,t im- portant of all the rest, that of the Pope's monarchy. This shows plain enough the motive (shall I call it such ?), or rather the purposed design of the trafficker that first circulated them. The greatest part of these are accounted forged by men of learning ; for indeed their forgery appears clear enough from their barbarous style, the errors met with at every step in the computation of times and his- tory, the pieces they are patched up of, stolen here and there out of different authors, whose books we have at this day to show : and also by the general silence of all the writers of the first eight cen- turies, among whom there is not one word mentioned of them." 44. When, in addition to these facts, we call to mind the im- mense power wielded by the popes and clergy, in consequence of the mysterious terror attached to the thunders of excommunication and interdict, we shall no longer be at a loss to account for the growth of papal power and assumption during this midnight of the world. During the dark ages, excommunication received that infernal power which dissolved all connexions, and the unfortunate or guilty victim of this horrid sentence was regarded as on a level with the beasts. The king, the ruler, the husband, the father, nay, even the man, forfeited all their rights, all their advantages, the claims of nature and the privileges of society, and was to be shun- ned like a man infected with the leprosy, by his servants, his friends or his family. Two attendants only were willing to remain with Robert, king of France, \vho was excommunicated by pope Gre- gory V., and these threw all the meats that passed his table into the fire. Indeed, the mere intercourse with a proscribed person incur- red what was called the lesser excommunication, or privation of the sacraments, and required penitence and absolution. Every- where the excommunicated were debarred of a regular sepulture, which has, through the superstition of consecrating burial-grounds, * Daille on the right use of the fathers, Philad., pages 46, 47. At the time when Daille wrote this valuable work, A. D. 1631, we see from the ahove sentence there were some who still contended for the genuineness of thia spurious grant. The arguments of Laurentius Valla have since been universally admitted as conclusive, and the point is conceded by Romanists themselves. 226 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK iv. The iron age of the world was the golden age of Popery. been treated as belonging to ecclesiastical control. But as excom- munication, which attacked only one and perhaps a hardened sin- ner, was not always efficacious, the church had recourse to a more comprehensive punishment. For the offence of a nobleman, she put a county, for that of a prince, his entire kingdom, under an in- terdict, or suspension of religious offices. No stretch of her tyran- ny was perhaps so outrageous as this. During an interdict, the churches were closed, the bells sijent, the dead unburied, no rite but those of baptism and extreme unction performed. The penalty fell upon those who had neither partaken nor could have prevente'd the offence ; and the offence was often but a private dispute, in which the pride of a pope or bishop had been wounded. This was the mainspring of the machinery that the clergy set in motion, the lever .by which they moved the world. From the moment that these interdicts and excommunications had been tried, the powers of the earth might be said to have existed only by sufferance.* During the pontificates of Gregory VIL, Innocent III., and their successors, while Popery sat on the throne of the earth and wielded the sceptre of the world, we shall see that these spiritual weapons were employed with tremendous effect. 45. It is a fact worthy of attentive observation, that the iron age of the world was the golden age of Popery. Its anti- Christian doctrines were never more extensively and implicitly re- ceived than during these dark ages ; its superstitious rites never more reverently performed ; its contemptible festivals never more generally observed ; its corrupt and licentious clergy never more devoutly honored and munificently enriched ; and its haughty and imperious popes never attained a loftier elevation of worldly dig- nity than during this intellectual and moral midnight of the world. Hence it is not to be wondered at that the Roman Catholic his- torian, Dupin, and others, should refer in terms of the highest com- placency to this age. Speaking of the tenth century, which was the darkest part of this moral midnight, Dupin remarks. " In this century there was no controversy relating to the doctrine of faith, or points of divinity, because there were no heretics, or persons who refined upon matters of religion, and dived into our mysteries. However, there were some clergymen in England who would needs maintain that the bread and wine upon the altar continued in the same nature after the consecration, and that they were only the figure of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This error was re- futed by a miracle wrought by Odo, archbishop of Canterbury, who made the body of Jesus Christ appear visibly in the celebra- tion of the holy mysteries, and made some drops of blood flow out of the consecrated bread when it was broken. St. Dunstan like- wise refuted that error very strenuously in his discourses. In fine, there was no council held in this century that disputed any point * For a fuller account of these spiritual weapons, see Hallam's Middle Ages (chap, vii.) ; Mosheim, ii., 210, note ; and Hume's Hist, of England, chap. xi. CHAP, v.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 227 Important lesson derived from the history of Popery in the dark ages. Popery in England. of doctrine or discipline, which shows us that there was no error of faith that was of any consequence, or made any noise in the church."* Father Gahan re-echoes the same sentiments. "This age," says he, " was indeed happy in this respect, that no consider- able heresy arose, or was broached in it, for which reason there was no occasion for general councils, nor for so many ecclesiastical writers, as in the foregoing ages."f Before dismissing the subject of the present chapter, I would embrace the opportunity of recording a truth which it behoves every protestant, and especially every American protestant, well to remember a truth, written in burning characters upon the dark back-ground of the world's midnight, evident as the lines of forked lightning upon a dark and cloudy sky it is this : IGNORANCE AND DARKNESS ARE THE NATIVE ELEMENT OF PoPERX. ITS MOST FLOURISH- ING DAYS WERE IN THE MIDNIGHT OF THE WORLD. THE GREATEST BLOW THAT ANTI-CHRISTIAN SYSTEM EVER RECEIVED WAS THE RE- VIVAL OF LETTERS AND THE INVENTION OF PRINTING. THE GOLDEN AGE OF POPERY WAS THE IRON AGE OF THE WORLD, AND ITS UNIVERSAL REIGN WOULD BE THE IRON AGE RESTORED ! CHAPTER V. POPERY IN ENGLAND, PRIOR TO THE CONQUEST. AUGUSTIN THE MIS- SIONARY, AND DUNSTAN THE MONK. 46. BEFORE proceeding to give a biographical sketch of the celebrated Hildebrand or Gregory VII., under whom the assump- tions of the papacy reached their climax, we shall present a concise account of the most remarkable events connected with the estab- lishment of Popery in Great Britain, and its subsequent history, to the Norman conquest. It was under the auspices of the first Gregory, bishop of Rome, that the monk Augustin, with his associ- ates, arrived in England, near the close of the sixth century, to pro- pagate among the rude and hardy Saxons, not the simple and un- corrupted gospel of Christ, but the religion of Rome, already cor- rupted, as the reader of the foregoing pages is aware, by the intro- duction of a variety of pagan ceremonies, and false and unscriptural dogmas. A much purer form of the Christian religion and worship was already observed in the mountains of Wales and other parts of the island, received, as is supposed by some, from the apostle Paul * Dupin's Ecclesiastical History, cent. x. f Gahan's History of the Church, p. 279. 228 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK IT. Primitive Welsh Christians. Reception of the monk Augustin, by king Ethelbert. himself, and by others, from Joseph of Arimathea, who were said to have visited Britain ; or as is supposed by others, with more proba- bility, from some primitive British-born disciples, who probably heard and received the true gospel from the lips of St. Paul, while a prisoner at Rome, and returning to their native island, dissemi- nated its saving truths among their countrymen. These primitive disciples had been driven by the fierce and barbarous invaders of the island, chiefly to the mountainous districts of Wales, and not- withstanding the zeal of Augustin and other emissaries of Rome, steadily refused to admit the authority, or to receive the doctrines or the rites of that corrupt and apostate church. 47. It was in the year 596, that Augustin, and the other Ro- man missionaries, landed in the county of Kent, and despatched one of their interpreters to acquaint king Ethelbert with the news and design of their coming. After a few days' deliberation, Ethelbert went into the island, and appointed a conference to be held in the open air. The missionaries advanced in orderly procession, carry- ing before them a silver cross, and singing a hymn. The king com- manded them to sit down, and to him and his earls they disclosed their mission. Ethelbert answered with a steady and not unfriendly judgment ; " Your words and promises are fair, but they are new and uncertain. I cannot, therefore, abandon the rites which, in common with all the nations of the Angles, I have hitherto observed. But as you come so far to communicate to us what you believe to be most excellent, we will not molest you. We will receive you hospitably, and supply you with what you need ; nor do we forbid any one to join' your society whom you can persuade to prefer it." He gave them a mansion at Canterbury, his metropolis, for their residence, and allowed them to preach as they pleased. The labors of these zealous emissaries of Rome were so successful, that the King himself, and vast multitudes of his subjects, were persuaded to be baptized, and ten thousand are said to have submitted to that rite on the following Christmas day, thus exchanging with the same ease as they would exchange one garment for another, the ancient Paganism of their Saxon ancestors, for the Christianized Paganism of Rome. 48. Lest the attachments of the islanders to their pagan cere- monies might prove an obstacle to their nominal profession of Christianity, Gregory, as before mentioned (see above, page 130), wrote to Augustin, now raised to the dignity of archbishop, direct- ing him, as we are informed by the venerable Bede, not to destroy the heathen temples of the Anglo-Saxons, but only to remove the images of their gods, to wash the walls with holy-water, to erect altars, and deposit relics in them, and so convert them into Christian churches : and this, not only to save the expense of building new ones, but that the people might be more easily prevailed upon to frequent those places of worship to which they had been accustomed. He directs him further to accommodate the Christian worship, as much as possible, to those of the heathen, that the people might not be so CHAP, v.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 220 Growth of popish superstition in Britain. Monkery, relics, pious frauds. much startled at the change ; and, in particular, he advises him to allow the Christian converts, on certain festivals, to kill and eat a great number of oxen to the glory of God, as they had formerly done to the honor of the devil. In the course of the seventh century, monasteries, in great abundance, were founded in all parts of Eng- land, and rich endowments bequeathed them. To encourage per- sons to adopt the monastic life, the impious doctrine now began to be broached, that " as soon as any person put on the habit of a monk, all the sins of his former life were forgiven him." This engaged many princes and great men, who have as many sins as their inferiors, to put on the cowl, and end their days in monasteries. In fact, superstition, in various forms, made rapid strides in England in the seventh century ; among which may be mentioned a ridicu- lous veneration for relics, in which the clergy of the church of Rome had for some time been driving a gainful trade a traffic which never can be carried on, except between knaves and fools. Few persons, in those days, thought themselves safe from the machina- tions of the devil, unless they carried the relics of some saint about them ; and no church could be dedicated without a decent quantity of this sacred trumpery. Stories of dreams, visions, and miracles, were propagated by the clergy, without a blush, and believed with- out a doubt by the laity. Extraordinary watchings, fastings, and other arts of tormenting the body, in order to save the soul, became frequent and fashionable ; and it began to be believed that a pil- grimage to Rome was the most direct road to heaven.* 49. During the eighth century in England, no less than in Italy, ignorance and superstition advanced with rapid strides. The clergy became more knavish and rapacious, and the laity more abject and stupid than at any former period. Of this, the trade in relics alone affords abundant proof. The monks were daily making discoveries, as they pretended, of the precious remains of some departed saint, which they soon converted into gold and silver. In this traffic they had all the opportunities they could desire of impos- ing counterfeit wares upon their customers, seeing it was no easy matter for the laity to distinguish the tooth or the toe-nail of a saint, from that of a sinner, after it had been some centuries in the grave. The place where the body of Albanus, the protomartyr of Britain, lay, is said to have been revealed to Offa, king of Mercia, in vision, A. D. 794 ! The body was accordingly taken up, with all imagi- nable pomp and ceremony, in the presence of three bishops, and a vast number of people of all ranks, and lodged in a rich shrine, adorned with gold and precious stones. To do the greater honor to the memory of the holy martyr, king Offa built a stately monas- tery at the place where his body was found, which he called by his * Bede, Epist. ad Egbert. Spelman, Concil, Tom. i., p. 99, as cited by William Jones, the venerable continuator of Russell's Modern Europe, to whose lectures on Ecclesiastical History I am indebted for many of the facts relative to the pro- gress of Popery in Britain. See Lect. xxx.-xxxiv. London, 1834. 230 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOKIV. Cunning of the Pope to raise a tribute in England. An archbishop of the school of Hildebrand name, St. Alban's, and in which he deposited his remains, enriching it with many lands and privileges. As to the character of Offa, the monarch to whom the clergy were indebted for this ridiculous piece of pious fraud, it may suffice to say, that his life was disgraced by the commission of not a few very horrible crimes ; to atone for which he made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he lavished his money upon the Pope and the clergy, to procure the pardon of his sins. In particular, he made a grant of three hundred and sixty-five mancus- ses (pieces of money of the value of 13s. 4d. each), being one for each day in the year, to be disposed of by the Pope to certain chari- table and pious uses. The Roman pontiff consented to become his almoner ; but cunningly contrived to convert it into an annual tax upon the English nation, and in the most imperious manner, demand- ed it as a lawful tribute, and mark of subjection of the kingdom of England to the church of Rome. So early and so rapidly did the proud pontiff's of Rome strive to extend their dominion over the nations of the earth. 50. We have already seen in the case of Theodore (see above, page 135), how artfully the Pope contrived to extend and strengthen his power in England, by appointing a creature of his own to the dignity of archbishop of Canterbury, and we shall soon see that these lordly prelates were ready enough to imitate the pride and presumption of those to whom they were originally indebted for their dignity. In 934, the See of Canterbury was filled by a pre- late of the name of Odo, who acted the primate with a very high hand, of which the following is a fair specimen. He issued a pas- toral letter to the clergy and people of his province (commonly called the Constitutions of Odo), in- which he addresses them in this magisterial style : " I strictly command and charge that no man presume to lay any tax on the possessions of the clergy, who are the sons of God, and the sons of God ought to be free from all taxes in every kingdom. If any man dares to disobey the discipline of the church in this particular, he is more wicked and impudent than the soldiers who crucified Christ. / command the King, the princes, and all in authority, to obey, with great humility, the archbishops, and bishops, for they have the keys of the kingdom of heaven," &c. If this Odo had lived a century or two later, we might have well supposed that he had stolen an arrow from the quiver of the impe- rious Hildebrand. 51. Of all the primates of England, none has obtained greater notoriety than the celebrated Saint Dunstan, so famous, or rather so infamous for his zeal in the cause of priestly celibacy, and for his pretended wonderful miracles. Dunstan, we are informed, was born in the year of our Lord, 925, near Glastonbury, and was de- scended from a respectable family who resided there. He was put to school, and his parents encouraged his application to learning, in which he is said to have made wonderful proficiency, such as evinced superior abilities. Having run with rapidity through the course of his studies, he obtained an introduction into the ecclesias- CHAP, v.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 231 St. Dunstan's pretended miracles. Pulling the devil's nose with red hot tongs. Glastonbury abbey- tical establishment at the celebrated abbey of Glastonbury, where he continued his application to learning with commendable diligence, so that he seems to have attained all the knowledge that was within his reach. Having, by the persuasions of an uncle, embraced the monkish life, he made with his own hands a subterraneous cave, or cell, adjoining the church wall of Glastonbury. It was five feet long, and two and a half wide, and nearly of a sufficient height for a man to stand upright in the excavation. Its only wall was its door, which covered the whole, and in this a small aperture to admit light and air. One of the legendary tales which have been used to exalt his fame, shows the arts by which he gained it. In this cave Dun- stan slept, studied, prayed, and meditated, and sometimes exercised himself in working on metals. One night all the neighborhood was alarmed by the most terrific howlings, which seemed to issue from his abode. In the morning, the people flocked to inquire the cause ; he told them the devil had intruded his head into his window to tempt him while he was heating his work that he had seized him by the nose, with his red hot tongs, and that the noise was Satan's roaring at the pain ; and such was the credulity of the age, that the simple people believed him, and venerated the recluse for this amazing exploit ! 52. In 941, the fame of Dunstan's sanctity and miracles was such that the King bestowed upon him the rich abbey of Glaston- bury, the most ancient, and down to the time of king Henry VIII., the most celebrated monastic institution of the kingdom ; and per- mitted him to make free use of the royal treasury to rebuild and to adorn it. While Dunstan was abbot of this monastery, he filled it with Benedictine monks, to which order he belonged, and of which he was a most active and zealous patron. On an adjoining page is a correct and beautiful view of the remains of Glastonbury abbey, the scene of many of his legendary miracles, which is situated in Somersetshire, England, and which continues to be an object of deep interest to travellers and antiquaries. We learn from an accu- rate writer,* that the foundation plot upon which this vast fabric and its immense range of offices were erected, included a space of not less than sixty acres, and was surrounded on all sides by a lofty wall of wrought freestone. The principal building, the great abbey church, consisted of a nave of two hundred and twenty feet in length, aud forty-five in breadth ; a choir of one hundred and fifty-five feet ; and a transept of nearly one hundred and sixty feet ; and with the chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea, which stood at the West end, one hundred and ten feet in length, by twenty-four in breadth, its extreme length measured the vast extent of five hun- dred and thirty feet. Adjoining the church on the south side, was a noble cloister, forming a square of two hundred and twenty feet. The church contained five chapels, St. Edgar's, St. Mary's, St. An- drew's, the chapel of our Lady of Loretto, and the chapel of the * Collinson, in his history of Somersetshire. 232 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK iv. Dunstan's persecution of the married clergy. Miraculous images speaking to reprove the guilt of matrimony. holy Sepulchre. St. Joseph's chapel, which is the prominent object in the engraving, is still pretty entire, excepting the roof and floor, and must be admired for the richness of the finishing, ns well as for the great elegance of the design. The communication with the church was by a spacious portal. There are doors also to the North and South ; one is ornamented with flower-work, the other with very elaborate flourishes and figures. The arches of the windows are semi-circular, and adorned with the lozenge, zigzag, and embattled mouldings ; underneath appears a series of compart- ments of interlaced semi-circular arches, springing from slender shafts, and also ornamented with zigzag mouldings, and in their spandrils are roses, crescents, and stars. Altogether this is one ot the most remaz-kable remains of antiquity in the world. (See En- graving.) 53. In 960, the former abbot of Glastonbury was made arch- bishop of Canterbury, and assured of the favor of king Edgar, pre- pared to execute the grand design which he had long meditated of compelling the secular canons to put away their wives, and become monks ; or of driving them out, and introducing Benedictine monks in their room. With this view he procured the promotion of his intimate friend, Oswald, to the See of Worcester, and of Ethelwald to that of Winchester ; two prelates who were them- selves monks, and animated with the most ardent zeal for the advancement of their order. This trio of bishops, the three great champions of the monks, and enemies of the married clergy, now proceeded by every possible method of fraud or force, to drive the married clergy out of all the monasteries, or compel them to put away their wives and children. Rather than consent to the latter, by far the greatest number chose to become beggars and vagabonds, for which the monkish historians give them the most opprobrious names. To countenance these cruel, tyrannical proceedings, Dun- stan and his associates held up the married clergy as monsters of wickedness for cohabiting w r ith their wives, magnified celibacy as the only state becoming the sanctity of the sacerdotal office, and propagated a thousand lies of miracles and visions to its honor. Among other popish contrivances, hollow crosses or images were constructed sufficiently large to conceal a monk, which, when appealed to by Dunstan, miraculously spoke in a human voice, and declared in the hearing of the gaping and astonished multitudes, the horrible guilt of those who claimed to be priests, and yet chose also to be husbands and fathers. 54. In the year 969, a commission was granted by king Edgar, who appears to have been an obedient tool of Dunstan, to the three prelates, to expel the married canons out of all the cathedrals and larger monasteries, promising to assist them in the execution of it with all his power. On this occasion he made a flaming speech, in which he painted the manners of the married clergy in the most odious colors, calling upon them to exert all their power in conjunc- tion with him, to exterminate those abominable wretches who kept CHAP, v.] POPERY IN ITS GLORY WORLD-MIDNIGHT 800-1073. 235 Strange penance for a libertine king. Death of St. Dunstan. wives. In the conclusion of his speech he thus addressed Dunstan : " I know, O holy father Dunstan ! that you have not encouraged those criminal practices of the clergy. You have reasoned, entreated, threatened. From words it is now time to come to blows. All the power of the crown is at your command. Your brethren, the ven- erable Ethelwald, and the most reverend Oswald, will assist you. To you three I commit the execution of this important work. Strike boldly ; drive those irregular livers out of the church of Christ, and introduce others who will live according to rule." And yet this furious champion for chastity had, some time before the delivery of this harangue, ravished a nun, a young lady of noble birth, and great beauty, at which his holy father confessor was so much offend- ed, that he enjoined him, by way of penance, not to wear his crown for seven years ; to build a nunnery, and to persecute the married clergy with all his might a strange way of making atonement for his own libertinism, by depriving others of their natural rights and liberties. 55. At length this famous Saint Dunstan died in the year 988, and England was relieved of one of the most cunning and success- ful impostors, and obedient tools of Rome, the world ever saw. When it is mentioned that Dunstan pretended to many other mira- cles, about equal in probability and absurdity to that already men- tioned, of pulling the devil's nose with his red hot tongs, this judg- ment will not be regarded as unduly severe. As, however, Dunstan was mainly instrumental in restoring and promoting the monastic institutions, the grateful monks, who were almost the only historians of those dark ages, have loaded him with the most extravagant praises, and represented him as the greatest miracle-monger and highest favorite of heaven, that ever lived. To say nothing of his many conflicts with the devil, in which we are told he often bela- bored that enemy of mankind most severely, the following short story, which is related with great exultation by his biographer, will give some idea of the astonishing impiety and impudence of those monks, and of the no less astonishing blindness and credulity of those unhappy times. " The most admirable, the most inestimable father Dunstan," says his biographer, " whose perfections exceeded all human imagination, was admitted to behold the mother of God, and his own mother, in eternal glory ; for before his death he was carried up into heaven, to be present at the nuptials of his own mother with the Eternal King, which were celebrated by the angels with the most sweet and joyous songs. When the angels reproached him for his silence on this great occasion, so honorable to his mo- ther, he excused himself on account of his being unacquainted with those sweet and heavenly strains ; but being a little instructed by the angels, he broke out into this melodious song ; ' O King and Ruler of nations, &c.'" The original author of this impious fiction was Dunstan himself, who, upon his pretended return from this celestial visit, summoned a monk to commit the heavenly song to writing from Dunstan's lips, and the morning after, all the monks 236 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK tv. Conquest of England, by William of Normandy A. D. 1066. were commanded to learn and to sing it, while Dunstan loudly de- clared the truth of the vision. In the year 1066, an event occurred, which constitutes an impor- tant epoch, both in the civil and ecclesiastical history of England. That event was the conquest by William of Normandy. The con- sequences upon Popery in England, of this memorable revolution, as they belong chiefly to the succeeding period, must be reserved for a future chapter. 237 BOOK V. POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT, FROM THE ACCESSION OF POPE GREGORY VII., A. D. 1073, TO THE DEATH Of BONIFACE Vni., A. D. 1303. CHAPTER I. THE LIFE AND REIGN OP POPE HILDEBRAND OR GREGORY VII. 1. ONE of the most extraordinary characters on the page of history, and probably the most conspicuous person in the history of the eleventh century, was the famous monk Hildebrand, now reverenced by papists as Saint Gregory VIL, who ascended the papal throne in 1073, and who carried the assumptions of the papacy to a height never before known, claimed supreme dominion over all the governments of the world, and attempted to bring all emperors, kings, and other earthly rulers, under his authority as his vassals and dependents. This artful and ambitious monk had suc- ceeded in obtaining an almost unlimited influence at Rome long be- fore his election to the pontificate, and the attempts of the three or four popes who preceded him, to exercise their haughty sway over the sovereigns of the earth, is to be attributed chiefly to his influence and counsels. So early as previous to the accession of pope Victor II. in 1055, the authority of Hildebrand was such that he was em- powered by the people and clergy of Rome to go to Germany, and to select by his own unaided judgment, in their name, a successor to the preceding Pope, Leo IX., by performing which trust to the satisfaction of all, he greatly increased his own popularity and power. During the reign of Victor, a complaint was received from the emperor Henry III., that Ferdinand of Spain had assumed the title of Emperor, and begging that unless he would immediately re- linquish the title, Ferdinand might be excommunicated, and his kingdom put under an interdict. Hildebrand saw at once that this would be a favorable opportunity of advancing the scheme he had doubtless already formed of reducing all earthly sovereigns to subjection to the papal power, and accordingly persuaded the Pope to dispatch legates into Spain, threatening Ferdinand with the thun- ders of excommunication and interdict unless he immediately obeyed 16 238 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Hildebrand and the Pope persuade Robert of Normandy to acknowledge himself a vassal of Rome. the papal mandates and renounced a title which had been conferred by the Holy See only on Henry. The terrified prince was glad to maintain his peace with the spiritual tyrants of Rome, by submis- sive obedience to his commands. 2. A few years later, Hildebrand and pope Nicholas II., who wa? elected in 1059, had the address to prevail upon Robert Guiscard, the famous Norman conqueror, in consideration of the Pope's con- firming to him certain territories he had conquered, and to which neither Nicholas nor Robert had a particle of right, to own himself a vassal of the Holy See, and to take an oath of allegiance to the Pope, which is transcribed by Cardinal Baronius, from a volume in the Vatican library, in the following terms : " I, Robert, by the grace of God and St. Peter, duke of Apulia and Calabria, and future duke of Sicily, promise to pay to St. Peter, to you, pope Nicholas. my lord, to your successors, or to your and their nuncios, twelve deniers, money of Pa via, for each yoke of oxen, as an acknowledg- ment for all the lands that I myself hold and possess, or have given to be held and possessed by any of the Ultramontanes ; and this sum shall be yearly paid on Easter Sunday by me, my heirs and successors, TO YOU, POPE NICHOLAS, MY LORD, and to your suc- cessors. So help me God, and these his holy Gospels." When Robert had taken this oath, the Pope acknowledged him for law- ful duke of Apulia and Calabria, confirmed to him and his suc- cessors for ever the possession of those provinces, promised to con- firm to him in like manner the possession of Sicily, as soon as he should reduce that island, and putting a standard in his right hand, declared him vassal of the apostolical See, and standard-bearer of the holy church. From this time Robert styled himself ' dux Apulise and Calabriae and futurus Sicilia?.'* 3. Soon after the election of pope Nicholas, and probably by the advice of Hildebrand, an important decree was issued rela- tive to the manner of the election of future popes. Before his time, there had been no settled rules accurately defining the electors of the popes, but they had been chosen by the whole Roman clergy, nobility, burgesses, and assembly of the people. The consequence of such a confused and jarring multitude uniting in the election was, that animosities and tumults, sometimes accompanied with bloodshed, frequently occurred in consequence of the collisions of the different contending factions ; each parly striving to secure the election of its own favorite candidate to the honojr of being the suc- cessor of St. Peter and the vicar of God upon earth. To prevent these disorders in future, as well as to enhance the power of the higher clergy at Rome, Nicholas issued his decree that the power of electing a pope should be henceforth vested in the cardinal bishops (cardinales episcopi), and the cardinal clerks or presbyters (cardinales clerici). By the cardinal bishops we are to understand the seven bishops, who belonged to the city and territory of Rome, * Leo Ostiens., 1. ii., c. 16. CHAP, i.] POPERY THE WORLDS DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 239 Decree confining the election of Pope to the cardinals. Hildebrand becomes Pope. whom Nicholas calls, in the same edict, comprovinciales episcopi ; and by the cardinal clerks, the ministers of twenty-eight Roman parishes or provincial churches. These were to constitute in future the college of electors, and were henceforward called the college of Cardinals, in a new and unusual sense of the term, which is pro- perly the origin of that dignity in its modern sense. It was customary for bishops in these ages, to be consecrated by the metropolitan, but (in the swelling and bombastic language of the papal edict), " Since the apostolic See cannot be under the jurisdiction of any superior or metropolitan, the cardinal bishops must necessarily supply the place of a metropolitan, and fix the elected pontiff on THE SUMMIT OF APOSTOLIC EXALTATION AND EM- PIRK."* All the rest of the clergy, of whatever order or rank they might be, were, together with the people, expressly excluded from the right of voting in the election of the pontiff, though they were allowed what is called a negative suffrage, and their consent was required to what the others had done. In consequence of this new regulation, the cardinals acted the principal part in the creation of the new pontiff; though they suffered for a long time much oppo- sition both from the sacerdotal orders and the Roman citizens, who were constantly either reclaiming their ancient rights, or abusing the privilege they yet retained of confirming the election of every new pope by their approbation and consent. In the following cen- tury there was an end put to all these disputes by Alexander III., who was so fortunate as to finish and complete what Nicholas had only begun, and who, just one hundred years after the decree of Nicholas, transferred and confined to the college of cardinals the sole right of electing the popes, and deprived the body of the peo- ple and the rest of the clergy of the right of vetoing the choice of the cardinals left them by the decree of pope Nicholas. To ap- pease the tumults occasioned by these acts, the popes, at various times, added other individuals to the college of Cardinals, and in subsequent ages, an admission to this high order of purpled pre- lates, the obtaining of a cardinal's hat, was regarded, next to the papal chair, as the highest object of Romish sacerdotal ambition, and moreover a necessary step to all aspirants to the dignity of sovereign pontiff, as no one but a cardinal can be elected pope.f 4. At length in the year 1073, Hildebrand was himself chosen Pope, and assumed the title of Gregory VII., and his election was confirmed by the emperor Henry IV., to whom ambassadors had been sent for that purpose. This prince indeed had soon reason to repent of the consent he had given to an election which became so prejudicial to his own authority, so fatal to the interests and liber- ties of the church, and so detrimental, in general, to the sovereignty * " Quia sedes apostolica super se metropolitanum habere non potest ; cardi- nales episcopi metropolitan! vice procul dubio fungantur, qui electum antistatem ad aposlolici culminis apicem provebant." (Edict of Nicholas, in Baluzius iv.,62.) f See a learned dissertation on Cardinals in Mosheim, cent, xi., part ii. 240 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Inordinate ambition of Gregory VII. His plans for universal empire. and independence of kingdoms and empires. Hildebrand was a man of uncommon genius, whose ambition in forming the most arduous projects was equalled by his dexterity in bringing them into execution ; sagacious, crafty, and intrepid, nothing could escape 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 wishful eye, arid labored up the steep ascent with uninter- rupted ardor, and invincible perseverance ; void of all principle, and destitute of every pious and virtuous feeling, he suffered little restraint in his audacious pursuits, from the dictates of religion or the remonstrances of conscience. Such was the character of Hildebrand, and his conduct was every way suitable to it ; for no sooner did he find himself in the papal chair, than he displayed to the world the most odious marks of his tyrannic ambition. Not contented to enlarge the jurisdiction, and to augment the opulence of the See of Rome, he labored indefatigably to render the univer- sal church subject to the despotic government and the arbitrary power of the pontiff alone, to dissolve the jurisdiction which kings- and emperors had hitherto exercised over the various orders of the clergy, and to exclude them from all part in the management or distribution of the revenues of the church. Nay, this outrageous pontiff went still farther, and impiously attempted to submit to his jurisdiction the emperors, kings, and princes of the earth, and to render their dominions tributary to the See of Rome. 5. The views of Hildebrand, or Hellbrand, as from his insane ambition he has been appropriately styled, were not confined to the erection of an absolute and universal monarchy in the church ; they aimed also at the establishment of a cml monarchy equally ex- tensive and despotic ; and this aspiring pontiff, after having drawn up a system of ecclesiastical canons for the government of the church, would have introduced also a new code of political laws, had he been permitted to execute the plan he had formed. His purpose was, says Mosheim, to engage in the bonds of fidelity and allegiance to St. Peter, i. e., to the Roman pontiffs, all the kings and princes of the earth, and to establish at Rome an annual assem- bly of bishops, by whom the contests that might arise between kingdoms or sovereign states were to be decided, the rights and pretensions of princes to be examined, and the fate of nations and empires to be determined. The imperious pontiff did not wholly succeed in his ambitious views, for had, his success been equal to his plan, all the kingdoms of Europe would have been this day tributary to the Roman See, and its princes, the soldiers or vassals of St. Peter, in the person of his pretended vicar upon earth. But though his most important projects were ineffectual, yet many of his attempts were crowned with a favorable issue ; for frdm the time of his pontificate the face of Europe underwent a considerable change, and the prerogatives of the emperors and other sovereign princes were much diminished. It was particularly under the ad- CHAP, i.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 341 Pope Gregory's contest with Henry IV. Dispute about investitures. ministration of Gregory, that the emperors were deprived of the privilege of ratifying, by their consent, the election of the Roman pontiff; a privilege of no small importance, and which they never recovered. (Mask., ii., 484.) 6. The contest which Gregory carried on for several years with the unfortunate emperor Henry IV. affords an instructive com- ment upon the deep-laid plans of this most imperious and am- bitious pope. Soon after his election, Gregory was informed that Solomon, king of Hungary, dethroned by his brother Geysa, had fled to Henry for protection, and renewed the homage of Hungary to the empire. Gregory, who favored Geysa, exclaimed against this act of submission ; and said in a letter to Solomon, " You ought to know, that the kingdom of Hungary belongs to the Roman church ; and learn that you will incur the indignation of the Holy See, if you do not acknowledge that you hold your dominions of the Pope, and not of the Emperor !" This presumptuous declaration, and the neglect it met with, brought the quarrel between the em- pire and the church to a crisis. It was directed to Solomon, but intended for Henry. And if Gregory could not succeed in one way, he was resolved that he would in another : he therefore re- sumed the claim of investitures, for which he had a more plausible pretence ; and as that dispute and its consequences merit particular attention we shall relate briefly the origin and history of this protracted quarrel between the Pope and the emperors. 7. The investiture of bishops and abbots commenced, un- doubtedly, at that period of time when the European emperors, kings, and princes, made grants to the clergy of certain territories, lands, forests, castles, &c. According to the laws of those times, laws which still remain in force, none were considered as lawful possessors of the lands or tenements which they derived from the emperors or other princes, before they repaired to court, took the oath of allegiance to their respective sovereigns as the supreme proprietors, and received from their hands a solemn mark by which tho property of their respective grants was transferred to them. Such was the manner in which the nobility, and those who had dis- tinguished themselves by military exploits, were confirmed in the possessions which they owed to the liberality of their sovereigns. But the custom of investing the bishops and abbots with the ring and the crosier, which are the ensigns of the sacred function, is of ' a much more recent date, and was then first introduced, when the European emperors and princes assumed to themselves the power of conferring on whom they pleased the bishoprics and abbeys that became vacant in their dominions : nay, even of selling them to the highest bidder. This power, then, being once usurped by the kings and princes of Europe, they at first confirmed the bishops and abbots in their dignities and possessions, with the same forms and ceremonies that were used in investing the counts, knights, and others, in their feudal tenures, even by written contracts, and the ceremony of 242 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Ceremony of investing bishops with the ring and crosier. presenting them with a wand or bough. And this custom of in- vesting the clergy and the laity with the same ceremonies would have undoubtedly continued, had not the clergy, to whom the right of electing bishops and abbots originally belonged, eluded artfully the usurpation of the emperors and other princes by the following, stratagem. When a bishop or abbot died, they who looked upon themselves as authorized to fill up the vacancy, elected immediately some one of their order in the place of the deceased, and were careful to have him consecrated without delay. . The consecration being thus performed, the prince, who had proposed to himself the profit of selling the vacant benefice, or the pleasure of conferring it upon some of his favorites, was obliged to desist from his pur- pose, and to consent to the election, which the ceremony of conse- cration rendered irrevocable. No sooner did the emperors and princes perceive this artful management, than they turned their at- tention to the most suitable means of rendering it ineffectual, and of preserving the valuable privilege they had usurped. For this purpose they ordered, that as soon as a bishop expired, his ring and crosier should be transmitted to the prince to whose jurisdiction his diocese was subject. For it was by the solemn delivery of the ring and crosier of the deceased to the new bishop that his election was irrevocably confirmed, and this ceremony was an essential part of his consecration ; so that when these two badges of the episco- pal dignity were in the hands of the sovereign, the clergy could not consecrate the person whom their suffrages had appointed to fill the vacancy. Thus their stratagem was defeated, as every election that was not confirmed by the ceremony of consecration might be lawfully annulled and rejected ; nor was the bishop qualified to exercise any of the episcopal functions before the performance of that im- portant ceremony. As soon therefore as a bishop drew his last breath, the magistrate of the city in which he had resided, or the government of the province, seized upon his ring and crosier, and sent them to court.* The emperor or prince conferred the vacant See upon the person whom he had chosen by delivering to him these two badges of the episcopal office, after which the new bishop, thus invested by his sovereign, repaired to his metropolitan, to whom it belonged to perform the ceremony of consecration, and delivered to him the ring and crosier which he had received from his prince, that he might receive it again from his hands, and be' * " Nee multo post annulus cum virga pastoral! Bremensis episcopi ad aulam regiam translata. Eo siquidem tempore ecclesia liberam electionem non habe- bant . . . sed cum quilibet antistes viam universae carnis ingressus fuisset, mox capitanei civitatis illius annulum et virgam pastoralem ad Palatium transmittebant, sicque regia auctoritate, communicato cum aulicis consi)io, orbatae plebi idoneum constituebat praesulem . . . Post paucos vero dies rursum annulus et virga pas- toralis Bambenbergensis episcopi Domino imperatori transmissa est. Quo audito, multi nobiles ad aulam regiam confluebant, qui alteram harum prece vel pretio sibi comparare tentabant." (Ebbo's Lite of Otho, bishop of Bamberg, Lib. L, 8, 9, in A :tis Sanclor. mensis Julii, torn, i., p. 426.) CHAP, i.l POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 243 Gregory VJI. anathematizes lay investitures. Excommunicates and deposes the emperor Henry IV. thus doubly confirmed in his sacred function. It appears therefore from this account, that each new bishop and abbot received twice the ring and the crosier ; once from the hands of the sovereign, and once from those of the metropolitan bishop, by whom they were .consecrated.* 8. Considering the character of Gregory VII., it is no won- der that he could ill brook this conduct of the emperors in thus se- curing to themselves the right of confirming the election of bishops by the ceremony of investing them with the ring and the crosier. Accordingly, we find that in 1075, Gregory assembled a council at Rome, in which he excommunicated certain favorites of Henry, and pronounced a formal " anathema, or curse, against whoever received the investiture of a bishopric or abbacy from the hands of a layman, as also against those by whom the investiture should be pei-formed" This decree was doubtless aimed chiefly at the Em- peror, who strenuously insisted on his asserted right of investiture, which his predecessors had enjoyed. As Henry continued to dis- regard the Pope's decree, Gregory sent two legates to summon him to appear before him as a delinquent, because he still con- tinued to bestow investitures, notwithstanding the apostolic decree to the contrary ; adding, that if he should fail to yield obedience to the church, he must expect to be EXCOMMUNICATED and DETHRONED. Incensed at that arrogant message from one whom he considered as his vassal, Henry dismissed the legates with very little ceremony, and convoked an assembly of all the German princes and dignified ecclesiastics at Worms ; where, after mature deliberation, they "concluded, that Gregory having usurped the chair of St. Peter by indirect means, infected the church of God with many novelties and abuses, and deviated from his duty to his sovereign in several scandalous attempts, the Emperor, by that supreme authority de- rived from his predecessors, ought to divest him of his dignity, and appoint another in his place. 9. Henry immediately dispatched an ambassador to Rome with a formal deprivation of Gregory ; who, in his turn, convoked a council, at which were present a hundred and ten bishops, who unanimously agreed, that the Pope had just cause to depose Henry, to dissolve the oath of allegiance which the princes and states had taken in his favor, and to prohibit them from holding any cor- respondence with him on pain of excommunication. And that sen- 'tence was immediately fulminated against the Emperor and his adherents. " In the name of Almighty God, and by your author- ity," said Gregory, alluding to the members of the council, " I pro- hibit Henry, the son of our emperor Henry, from governing the Teutonic kingdom and Italy ; / release all Christians from their oath of allegiance to him ; and / strictly forbid all persons from serving or attending him as king" Thus, says Hallam, Gregory VII. ob- * For a full and learned dissertation on the subject of investitures, see Mosheim, vol. ii.j pp. 494-503, with references to, and quotations from, original authorities. 244 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOKV. The Emporor stands three days at the gate of the Pope's palace, before he is admitted to his presence. tained the glory of leaving all his predecessors behind, and as- tonishing mankind by an act of audacity and ambition which the most emulous of his successors could hardly surpass. The first impulses of Henry's mind on hearing this denunciation were indignation and resentment. But, like other inexperienced . and misguided sovereigns, he had formed an erroneous calculation of his own resources. A conspiracy long prepared, of which the dukes of Swabia and Carinthia were the chiefs, began to manifest itself; some were alienated by his vices, and others jealous of his fajnily ; the rebellious Saxons took courage ; the bishops, intimidated by excommunications, withdrew from his side ; and he suddenly found himself almost insulated in the midst of his dominions. In this desertion he had recourse, through panic, to a miserable ex- pedient. He crossed the Alps with the avowed determination of submitting, and seeking absolution from the Pope. Gregory w r as at Canossa, a fortress near Reggio, belonging to his faithful ad- herent, the countess Matilda. (A. D. 1077.) It was in a winter of unusual severity. The Emperor was admitted, without his guards, into an outer court of the castle, and three successive days re- mained, from morning till evening, in a woollen shirt and with naked feet, while Gregory, shut up with the tender and loving countess, refused to admit him to his presence. (See Engraving.) At length, after continuing for three days in the cold month of January, barefoot and fasting, the humbled Emperor was ad- mitted into the palace, and allowed the superlative honor of kissing the Pope's toe ! The haughty pontiff condescended to grant him absolution, but only upon condition of appearing on a certain day , to learn the Pope's decision, whether or no he should be restored to his kingdom, until which time the Pope forbad him to wear the orna- ments or to exercise the functions of royalty. Intoxicated with his triumph, Gregory now regarded himself as lord and master of all the crowned heads of Christendom, and boasted in his letters that it was his duty " TO PULL DOWN THE PRIDE . OF KINGS !" 10. The pusillanimous conduct of the Emperor excited the indignation of a large portion of the nobility and other subjects of the empire, and they would probably have deposed him in reality, if he had not softened their resentment by violating his promise to the imperious pontiff, and immediately resuming the title and the ensigns of royalty. The princes of Lombardy especially could never forgive either the abject humility of Henry, or the naughty insolence of Gregory. A bloody war ensued between the domestic German enemies of Henry, headed by Rodolph, duke of Sw r abia, whom, in consequence of the Pope's sentence of deposition, they had crowned as Emperor at Mentz, on the one side ; and the Lom- bard princes who, impelled by compassion for the humbled monarch, and indignation against the lordly Pope, had rallied round the Em- peror on the other. As the result of this war appeared extremely doubtful for a time, Gregory assumed an appearance of neutrality, affected to be displeased that Rodolph had been consecrated as Em- The Emperor Henry IV. doing Penance at the Gate of the Pope's Palace. CHAP, i.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 247 ^feury retracts his submission lo the Pope. Gregory excommunicates him a second time. peror without his order, and avowed his intention of acknowledging that one of the competitors who should be most submissive to the Holy See. Henry had already learned too much of the character of pope Gregory to place much dependence on his generosity, and therefore, with renewed courage and energy, he marched against his enemies, and defeated them in several engagements, till Gregory, seeing no hopes of submission, thundered out a second sentence of excommunication against him, confirming at the same time the election of Rodolph, to whom he sent a golden crown, on which the following well known verse, equally haughty and puerile, was written : > / Petra dedi Petro, petrus diadema Rodolpho. This donation was also accompanied with a prophetic anathema against Henry, so wild and extravagant, as to make one doubt whether it was dictated by enthusiasm or priestcraft. After de- priving him of strength in combat, and condemning him never to be victorious, it concludes with the following remarkable apostrophe to St. Peter and St. Paul : " MAKE ALL MEN SENSIBLE THAT, AS YOU CAN BIND AND LOOSE EVERYTHING IN HEAVEN, YOU CAN ALSO UPON EARTH TAKE FROM, OR GIVE TO, EVERY ONE ACCORDING TO HIS DESERTS, EMPIRES, KINGDOMS, PRINCIPALITIES LET THE KINGS AND PRINCES OF THE AGE THEN INSTANTLY FEEL YOUR POWER, THAT THEY MAY NOT DARE TO DESPISE THE ORDERS OF YOUR CHURCH ; LET YOUR JUSTICE BE SO SPEEDILY EXECUTED UPON HENRY, THAT NOBODY MAY DOUBT BUT THAT HE FALLS BY YOUR MEANS, AND NOT BY CHANCE." Thus had Popery now assumed the character of DESPOT OF THE WORLD. 1 1 . Before proceeding to relate a few other proofs of pope Gregory's determination to reduce all the kingdoms of the world and their sovereigns under his absolute sway, we will dismiss the- case of Henry, by briefly relating the sequel of his remarkable life. With the hopes of shielding himself from the effects of this second excommunication, the Emperor assembled a council at Brixen, in the Tyrol, which resolved that Hildebrand, by his misconduct and rebellion, had rendered himself unworthy of the pontifical throne, and elected in his stead, Guibert, archbishop of Ravenna, who assumed the name of Clement III., and was at length consecrated at Rome, but is not reckoned by Romanists in the line of popes. Notwithstanding the temporary triumph of Henry over the papal tyranny, he at last became its victim. After the death of Gregory, the succeeding pope, Urban II., and Paschal II., unable to forgive or forget his rebellion against the holy See, seduced two sons of the unfortunate emperor, first Conrad, and afterward Henry, to take up arms against their father. Paschal, who was a worthy successor of Hildebrand, after the death of Conrad, excited the young Henry to rebel against his father, under pretence of defending the cause of the orthodox ; alleging that he was bound to take upon himself the reins of government, as he could neither acknowledge a king nor a 248 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Papal cruelty to Henry IV. Unnatural conduct of his son. father that was excommunicated.* In vain did the Emperor use every paternal remonstrance to dissuade his son from proceeding to extremities : the breach became wider and wider, and both pre- pared for the decision of the sword. But the son, dreading his father's military superiority, and confiding in his tenderness, made use of a stratagem equally base and effectual. He threw himself unexpectedly at the Emperor's feet, and begged pardon for his un- dutiful behavior, which he imputed to the advice of evil counsellors. In consequence of this submission, he was immediately taken into favor, and the Emperor dismissed his army. The ungrateful youth now bared his perfidious heart: he ordered his father to be confined; while he assembled a diet of his own confederates, at which the Pope's legate presided, and repeated the sentence of excommuni- cation against the emperor Henry IV., who was instantly deposed, and the parricidous usurper, Henry V., proclaimed Emperor in his stead. 12. Upon the perpetration of this unnatural act, two worthy servants of the church, the archbishops of Mentz and Cologne, very readily undertook the grateful office of waiting upon the old Em- peror, and demanding his crown and other regalia. The unfortu- nate monarch besought them not to become abettors of those who had ungratefully conspired his ruin, but finding them inexorable, he retired and put on his royal ornaments ; then returning to the apartment he had left, and seating himself on a chair of state, he renewed his remonstrance in these words : " Here are the marks of that royalty, with which we were invested by God and the princes of the empire : if you disregard the wrath of heaven, and the eter- nal reproach of mankind, so much as to lay violent hands on your sovereign, you may strip us of them. We are not in a condition to defend ourselves." This speech had no more effect than the former upon the unfeeling prelates, who instantly snatched the crown from his head ; and, dragging him from his chair, pulled off his royal robes by force. While they were thus employed, Henry exclaimed, " Great God !" the tears trickling down his venerable cheeks "thou art the God of vengeance, and wilt repay this outrage. I have sinned, I own, and merited such shame by the follies of my youth ; but thou wilt not fail to punish those traitors, for their per- jury, insolence, and ingratitude." To such a degree of wretched- ness was this unhappy prince reduced by the barbarity of his son, that, destitute of the common necessaries of life, he entreated the bishop of Spire, who owed his office to him, to grant him a canoni- cate for his subsistence, representing that he was capable of per- forming the office of" chanter or reader !" Being denied that hum- ble request, he shed a flood of tears, and turning to those who were present, said with a deep sigh, " My dear friends, at least have pity on my condition, for I am touched by the hand of the Lord !" The * Dithmar. Hist. Bell, inter Imp. et Sacerdot. CHAP, n.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 349 Pope Gregory claims Spain as belonging to St. Peter. hand of man, at least, was heavy upon him, for he was not onty in want, but under confinement. After the death of the unfortunate and deeply afflicted old man, which occurred soon after, his unnatural son, Henry V., was de- praved enough to gratify the papal vengeance still further, by the barbarous and hypocritical act of digging up the dead body of his poor old father, from consecrated ground in the cathedral of Spire, and causing it to be cast with indignity into a cave at Spire. Such is popish morality, and such is the terrible vengeance which anti- Christian Rome, in those days of her glory, exhibited toward such as resisted her authority, or disobeyed her mandates !* CHAPTER II. LIFE OF GREGORY VII. CONTINUED. OTHER INSTANCES OF HIS TY- RANNY AND USURPATION. 13. THE life of Hildebrand abounds with instances of his haughty insolence and tyranny, over earthly sovereigns and nations, almost equalling in atrocity the above related history of his conduct toward Henry IV. We shall proceed to mention a 'few of these as related by Bower, upon the authorities cited at the foot of the page. Not satisfied with pulling down and setting up princes, kings, and emperors, at his pleasure, Gregory, as King of Kings, mo- narch of the world, and sole lord, both spiritual and temporal, over the whole earth, claimed the sovereignty of all the kingdoms of Europe, as having once belonged to St. Peter, whose right was unalienable. Thus, being informed in the very beginning of his pontificate that count Evulus, a man of wealth and power, had formed a design of recovering the countries, which the Moors had seized in Spain, and was levying forces with that view, he sent car- dinal Hugh, surnamed the White, to let him know that Spain be- longed to St. Peter before it was conquered by the Moors ; that though the infidels had subdued that country, and held it for a long course of years, the right of St. Peter still subsisted, there being no prescription against that apostle or his church, and that he, as supreme lord of the whole kingdom, not only approved of the count's design, but granted him all the places he should recover from the barbarians, upon condition that he held them of St. Peter and his See. In the letter which he wrote at this time, addressed to all who were disposed to join in driving the Saracens out of Spain, he * See Russell's Modern Europe, Part i., Letter 22. 250 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Claims Peter-pence in France. Claims Hungary also, as belonging to the holy See. forbids any to enter that country, who is not resolved to hold of St. Peter what acquisitions he may make, as he had rather it should remain in the hands of the infidels, than that the holy Roman and universal church should be robbed of her undoubted right by her own children ;* that is, that he had rather Christians in Spain should continue under the oppressive yoke of those infidels, than be rescued from it by a prince, who did not pay homage, as a vassal, to the apostolic See. This letter, dated the last of April, 1073, and con- sequently written a few days after his election, shows what senti- ments Gregory brought with him to the pontifical chair. Four years after he wrote again to the kings and princes of Spain, re- newing his claim to their respective kingdoms and principalities, as having belonged to his See when the Saracens seized them, and requiring those, who held them, to pay the tribute they owed to St. Peter as their sovereign lord.f 14 With reference to the kingdom of France, Gregory pre- tended that formerly each house in that kingdom paid at least a penny a year to St. Peter, as their father and pastor, and that this sum was, by order of Charlemagne, collected yearly at Puy in Velai, at Aix la Chapelle, and at St. Giles. For this custom the Pope quotes a statute of that Emperor, lodged, as he says, in the archives of St. Peter's church. But as that statute is to be found nowhere else, it is universally looked upon as a forgery, and by some even thought to have been forged by Gregory himself. However, he ordered his legates in France to exact that sum, and insist upon its being paid by all, as a token of their subjection to St. Peter and his See. J The legitimate sovereign of Hungary, Solomon, being driven from his throne by Geisa, his cousin, had recourse to the Emperor, whose sister he had married, and was by him restored to his king- dom, upon condition that he should hold it of him as his feudatory. This Gregory no sooner understood than he wrote to Solomon, claiming the kingdom of Hungary as belonging to St. Peter, to whom he pretended it had been given by Stephen, the first Christian king of the country. The elders of your country, said he, in his letter to the king, will inform you that the kingdom of Hungary is the property of the holy Roman church, ' sancta3 Romans ecojesiae proprium est ;' that king Stephen, upon his conversion, offered it to St. Peter, and that the emperor Henry, of holy memory, having conquered the country, sent the lance and the crown, the ensigns of royalty, to the body of St. Peter. If it be true therefore that you have agreed to hold your kingdom of the king of the Germans, and not of St. Peter, you will soon feel the effects of the apostle's just indignation, for we, who are his servants and ministers, cannot tamely suffer the honor that is due to him, to be taken from him and given to others. Solomon was again driven out by Geisa, * Gregorii, lib. i., epist. 7. f Gregorii, lib, iv., epist. 28. J Gregorii, lib. viii., epist. 25. j Gregorii, lib. ii., epist. 13. CHAP, n.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 251 The Pope claims Corsica and Sardinia as the patrimony of St. Petor. Dalmatia and Russia. which Gregory construed into a judgment for the injustice he had done to St. Peter, telling the usurper that the prince of the apostles had given the kingdom to him, as Solomon had forfeited all right to it by rebelling against the holy Roman church, and paying that homage to the king of Germany, which was due to none but her and her founder.* Geisa, thus countenanced by the Pope in his usurpa- tion, held the kingdom of Germany until the hour of his death, which happened in 1077. He was succeeded by Ladislaus, who, to avoid the disturbances which he was sensible the Pope would raise and foment among his subjects, if he held not his kingdom of him, imme- diately acknowledged himself for his vassal, declaring that he owed his power to God, and under him to none but St. Peter, whose com- mands he should ever readily obey, when signified .to him by his successors in the apostolic See. 15. The two islands of Corsica and Sardinia he claimed as the patrimony of St. Peter, pretending that they had been formerly given, nobody knows when nor by whom, to the apostolic See. Hence he no sooner heard that the Christians had gained consider- able advantages in Corsica over the Saracens, and recovered great part of that island, than he sent a legate to govern the coun- tries, which they had recovered, as the demesnes of his See, to en- courage them in so laudable an undertaking, and assure them that he would assist them, to the utmost of his power, with men as well as with money, till they had reduced the whole island, provided they engaged to restore it to its lawful owner, St. Peter.-\ In order to subject Dalmatia to the Roman See, Gregory confer- red the title of king upon Demetrius, duke of that country, obliging him, on that occasion, to swear allegiance to him and his successors in the See of St. Peter. That oath the Pope's legate required upon delivering to the duke, in the Pope's name, a standard, a sword, a sceptre, and a royal diadem. The new king at the same time promised to pay yearly on Easter-day two hundred pieces of silver to the holy pope Gregory, and his successors lawfully elected as supreme lords of the kingdom of Dalmatia ; to assist them, when required, to the utmost of his power ; to receive, entertain, and obey their legates ; to reveal no secrets that they should trust him with, but to behave on all occasions, as became a true son of the holy Roman church, and a faithful vassal of the apostolic See. J Demetrius was at that time king of Russia, and his son coming to Rome to visit the tombs of the apostles, Gregory made him partner with his father in the kingdom, requiring him on that occa- sion, to take an oath of fealty to St. Peter, and his successors. This step the Pope pretended to have taken at the request of the son, who, he said, had applied to him, being desirous to receive the king- dom from St. Peter, and to hold it as a gift of that apostle. The * Gregorii, lib. ii., epist. 2. f Gregorii, lib. v., epist. 24. I Baron, ad An. 1076. 252 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [noor v. Gregory less successful with king William of England. Pope added in his letter to the King, that he had complied with the request of his son, not doubting but it would be approved of by him and all the lords of his kingdom, since the prince of the apostles would thenceforth look upon their country and defend it as his own* The despotic views of this lordly pontiff were attended with less success in England, than in any other country. William the Conqueror was a prince of great spirit and resolution, extremely jealous of his rights, and tenacious of the prerogatives he enjoyed as a sovereign and independent monarch, and accordingly, when Gregory wrote him a letter demanding the arrears of the Peter- pence, and at the same time summoning him to 'do homage for the kingdom of England, as a fief of the apostolic See, William granted the former, b.ut refused the latter, with a bold obstinacy, declaring that he held his kingdom of his God only, and his own sword, f 16. Mr. Bower relates similar instances of Gregory's haughty assumption toward the sovereigns of Denmark, Poland, Saxony, as well as various principalities of Italy, who were compelled by the spiritual tyrant to acknowledge themselves as his vassals, but the above are certainly sufficient to demonstrate the all-grasping ambi- tion of this pontiff, and his settled plan of reducing all kingdoms into one vast monarchy, of which the prince of the apostles should be the sovereign and head. "Gregory was," remarks the same historian, "to do him jus- tice, a man of most extraordinary parts, of most uncommon abili- ties, both natural and acquired, and would have had at least as good a claim to the surname of Great, as either Gregory or Leo, had he not, led by an ambition the world never heard of before, grossly misapplied those great talents to the most wicked purposes, to the establishing of an uncontrolled tyranny over mankind, of making himself the sole lord, spiritual and temporal, over the whole earth, becoming by that means sole disposer, not only of all ecclesi- astical dignities and preferments, but of Empires, States, and King- doms. That he had nothing less in his view, sufficiently appears from his whole conduct, from his letters, and from a famous piece entitle Dictatus Papse, containing his maxims."J This piece, which is found in the 55th letter of the second book of Gregory's epistles, contains his twenty-seven celebrated propositions, among which are the following : The Roman pontiff alone should of right be styled UNIVERSAL BISHOP. * Gregorii, lib. ii., epist. 74. f For the letter of William, see Collier's Ecclesiastical History, in the Collec- tion of Records, at the end of the first volume, p. 713, No. 12. " Hubertus legatus tuus," says king William, to the audacious pontiff, " admonuit me, quatenus tibi et successoribus tuis fidelitatem facerem, et de pecunia, quam antecessores mei ad ecclesiam mittere solebant, melius cogitarem. Unam admisi, alterum non admisi. Fidelitatem facere nolui nee volo," &c. J Bower, in vita Greg. VII. CHAP. n.J POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 253 Dictates of Hildebrand. Advocated arid defended by Romanist authors. No man ought to live in the same house with persons excommu- nicated by the Pope. The Pope alone can wear the imperial ornaments. All princes are tQ kiss his foot, and pay that mark of distinction to him alone. It is lawful for him to depose emperors. No general council is to be assembled without his order. His judgment no man can reverse, but he can reverse all other judgments. He is to be judged by no man. No man shall presume to condemn the person that appeals to the apostolic See. The Roman church has never erred, nor will she ever err, ac- cording to Scripture. He can depose and restore bishops without assembling a synod. The Pope can absolve subjects from the oath of allegiance which they have taken to a bad prince. 17. The genuineness of these dictates of Hildebrand, as they are called, is testified by several of the most' famous of the Roman Catholic- writers, Harduin, Baronius, Lupus and others. Cardinal Baronius (An. 1076) not only admits the genuineness of these sen- tences, but says that the same doctrine was received in the Romish church down to his day (about 1609). His words are, " Istas hactenus in ecclesite catholics usu receptas fuisse." Lupus, another Romish writer, has given an ample commentary on them, and regards them as both authentic and sacred.* Whether, how- ever, they were written in this present form by Gregory, or were extracted by some other author from his epistles, as Mosheim seems to suppose, is a matter of but small importance. The whole life of that haughty and imperious spiritual and temporal despot, is a proof that he believed and acted upon these principles. In the epistles of Gregory, he more than once undertakes a labored de- fence of the doctrine that all earthly governments, nations, sove- reigns and rulers are subject to the Pope, and after referring to several instances in which he asserts this subjection had been pre- viously recognized and acted upon, he proceeds to prove it by the following reasons : (1.) The apostolic See has received of our Saviour the power of judging spiritual matters, and consequently that of judging tem- poral concerns, which is a power of an inferior degree. (2.) When our Saviour said to St. Peter, Feed my sheep, when he granted him the power of loosing and binding, he did not except kings. (3.) The episcopal dignity is of divine institution ; the royal is the invention of men, and owes its origin to pride and ambition. As bishops therefore are above kings as well as above all other men, they may judge them as well as other men.f * Lupus Notae et Dissertationes in Concilia, torn, iv., p. 164. f Greg, epist., Lib. ii., epist. 10, 11, 12. 17 '254 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. The tyrannical doctrines of Hildebrand advocated in the nineteenth century. Many popish writers of eminence have advocated these doc- trines. Thus Bellarmine asserts that though Christ exercised no temporal power himself, yet he vested St. Peter, the prince of the apostles and his successors, with all temporal as well as spiritual power, leaving him and them at full liberty to exert it, when thought expedient and necessary for the good of his church. Probably amidst the fight, and intelligence of the nineteenth century it is not thought expedient for the good of the church to advocate or prac- tise these doctrines of the infallible pope Gregory, at least in the United States. Yet it ought to be known, that so late as the year 1819, a volume appeared, from the pen of an Italian Catholic, De Maistre, which has since often been reprinted, advocating to the fullest extent the doctrines of pope Gregory, maintaining that kings are but delegates of the Holy See ; that the Roman pontiffs have power to depose them at will, and even prescribing a form of peti- tion which nations should address to his holiness, \vhen they wish their sovereign to be dethroned. It is worthy to be known also by Americans, that this spiritual despot who maintained the right of the Roman See to trample at will upon the governments of the earth is enrolled in the Roman Catholic calendar as a SAINT, and as such reverenced and honored, even in the land of Washington, with all due worship on a day annually set apart for that purpose. In an edition of that standard popish book of devotion, called " the Garden of the Soul," now lying before me, published in New York, 1844, " with the approbation of the Right Reverend Dr. Hughes, bishop of New York," in the calendar of the saints' days, I find the twenty-fifth of May designated as the day set apart in honor of SAINT GREGORY VII!* 18. We have now traced the march of priestly and popish usurpation from the earliest attempts of ambitious ecclesiastics to domineer over their brethren, and to usurp the prerogatives of HIM who has said, " one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." We have seen the gradual steps by which the power of ambitious prelates in general, and of the bishop of Rome in particular, was increased, till the spiritual supremacy of the Pope was established in the early part of the seventh century. We have followed these haughty tyrants in their career of ambition, till a century and a half later they united the crown to the mitre, the sceptre to the crosier, and took their place among the temporal sovereigns of the world, till at last in the eleventh century they reached the climax of their power and usurpation, under the reign of Saint Gregory VII. We cannot better close the present chap- ter than by quoting from the learned Deylingius the following eleven propositions in relation to the rise of this power ; which he has sustained, beyond contradiction, by a vast amount of erudition and research in a disquisition occupying 117 pages. The reader will perceive, that though quoted in the language of another, these * See also the Acta Sanctorum, Antwerp, ad d. xxv. Mali. CHAP, n.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 255 The learned Deylingius's account of the gradual rise of the popes' tyrannical power. propositions constitute a comprehensive summary of the historical account, which we have given in the preceding pages, of the gra- dual and successive steps by which the despotic power of the popes was eventually established. " Proposition 1. Christ did not institute in his church any sacred dominion, and much less a monarchical government, such as the Roman prelates during a long period have claimed and usurped. "2, In the beginning, all the ministers of the church were equal; and bishops before the second century, after the birth of Christ, were not exalted above presbyters ; nor did they arrogate to them- selves any peculiar duties or privileges of the sacred office. " 3. Although the government and the jurisdiction of the church at that period were not in bishops alone, but the presbyters and deacons, with the whole assembly, participated in the rule and de- termination of affairs ; yet the authority of the prelates gradually and rapidly obtained a large increase. " 4. AH bishops then were equal, nor had the Roman bishop or any other the least right or precedence over his brethren. " 5. In the third century after the Saviour, metropolitans arose ; who were placed in the principal city of the province, so that the other prelates in the same province by degrees became subject to their jurisdiction. "6. Whatever prerogatives of bishops, and distinction of au- thority and power, then were admitted, were derived solely from the dignity of the city where they presided. " 7. Although the metropolitan dignity was supreme after the council of Nice (in 325), yet there were three chiefs, the Roman, Alexandrian, and the Antiochian, each of whom ruled his own dio- cese unrestricted, and neither of them possessed any right or power more than the others. " 8. In the fourth century of the Christian church, the Roman pontiff was not .patriarch of all Western Europe, much less was he head and monarch of the whole church ; but only a particular pre*- late, not superior to other metropolitans, exarchs, or primates. " 9. After the peace granted to the churches by Constantino, the luxury and pomp of the bishops greatly increased ; and especially the ambition, authority, and power of the Roman prelate were ex- tended, so that they could not be restrained within the limits of the suburban cities ; but by various artifices, they continually became more amplified. " 10. At length the Roman prelates, not content with having ob- tained the primacy of order among the other hierarchs, endeavored to establish their authority in both divisions of the empire. After long and severe strife with the Constantinopolitan patriarch, by the parricide of Phocas, they obtained the title of Universal Bishop ; and extended their jurisdiction, but could not grasp domination over all the church, because they were opposed by the authority of em- perors and councils. "11. Finally, in the eleventh century after Christ, the power of 256 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v, Sprinkling with ashes on Ash- Wednesday. the Roman pontiff, by the ferocity of pope Gregory VIL, was car- ried to its utmost extent ; and the nominal Christian church, through the debasement of the imperial and royal prerogatives, were forced to submit their necks to the yoke of the despotic court of Rome.''' CHAPTER III. POPE URBAN AND THE CRUSADES. 19. UPON the death of pope Gregory, which took place at Sa- lernum, in 1085, the faction which supported his measures proceeded to the election of a successor, who assumed the title of Victor III., while Clement III., who, as we have already remarked, had been elected by the Emperor's party at the council of Brixen, was ac- knowledged as pope by a. great part of Italy, and continued to main- tain his pretensions to the papal throne till his death, in 1100, that is, during the whole of the pontificates of Victor III. and Urban II. Thus, as in many other instances, both in earlier and later times, were there rival competitors for the popedom, hurling defiance and anathemas at each other, and each at the same time claiming to be the vicegerent of God upon earth, and the infallible and authoritative interpreter of the will of God to man. During the pontificate of Urban, in the year 1091, it was enacted in a council held at Benevento, among other superstitious ceremo- nies, that on the Wednesday which was the first day of the fast of Lent, the faithful laymen as well as clerks, women as well as men, should have their heads sprinkled with ashes, " a ceremony," says Bower, " that is observed to this day."f Ash- Wednesday, so called from the ceremony of giving the ashes, is the fortieth day be- fore Easter Sunday, and the Romish fast of Lent continues during the whole of this interval. The ashes used at this ceremony must be made from the branches of the olive or palm that was " blessed " (to use the unmeaning language of Popery), on the Palm Sunday of the preceding year. The priest blesses the ashes by making on them the sign of the cross, and perfuming them with incense. The ashes are first laid on the head of the officiating priest in the form of a cross, by another priest. After he has re- ceived the ashes himself, he then gives them to his assistants and the other clergy present, after which the congregation, women as well as men, one after another, approach the altar, kneel before the priest, and receive this " mark of the beast " on their foreheads. (See Engraving.) * Deylingii Observationum Saerarum, pars i., exercit. 6. t Bower, in vita Urban II. Marking the Foreheads of the People with Ashes on Ash- Wednesday. The Ceremony of Incensing a Cross CHAF. m.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 259 Ceremony of incensing a cross. Councils of Placentia and Clermont, in 1095 The other engraving represents the popish custom of incensing a new cross. All crosses designed for public places, for high roads and cross ways, as they are seen in popish countries, and for the tops of Romish chapels, where one is always placed, are conse- crated with much ceremony. Candles are first lighted at the foot of the cross, after which the celebrant, having on his pontifical orna- ments, sits down before the cross, and makes a discourse to the people upon its excellence ; after which prayers and anthems fol- low. Then he sprinkles and afterward incenses the cross, as repre- sented in the engraving ; which being performed, candles are set upon the top of each arm of the cross. In the engraving, two of the attendants are seen with the candles lighted and prepared, when the childish and unmeaning ceremony is over, to affix them on the two arms of the cross. How long the candles remain there, before the piece of wood is regarded as sufficiently holy for its contem- plated destination, I am unable to say. 20. Pope Urban, though inferior in ability and courage to the imperious Hildebrand, was yet fully equal to him in pride and arro- gance. At a council held at Placentia, in 1095, he confirmed all the laws and anathemas enacted by Gregory, to terrify and to crush the rebels to the holy See, and at the council of Clermont, held in November of the same year, Urban proceeded a step further than even Gregory had done, by enacting a decree forbidding the bish- ops and the rest of the clergy to take the oath of allegiance to their respective kings or governments. ' Ne episcopus vel sacerdos regi vel alicui laico in manibus ligiam fidelitatem faciunt.' The council of Clermont, just mentioned, has become celebrated in history from the fact that through the persuasions of Peter the hermit, pope Urban resolved, on this occasion, upon the commencement of those expe- ditions to the holy land called the Crusades. The object of these holy wars, which occupy so conspicuous a figure in the history of the period of which we are now treating, was the recovery of the city of Jerusalem, and the holy sepulchre, from the hands of the Turkish infidels, by whom it had been taken in the year 1065. For centuries past, the practice had prevailed of mak- ing pilgrimages to Jerusalem. In the tenth century, this custom had much increased, and had become almost universal, from a gen- eral belief which prevailed of the near approach of the end of the world, arising from a misinterpretation of Rev., chap, xx., 2-5. Toward the conclusion of the century, crowds of men and women flocked from all parts of Europe, to Jerusalem, in the frantic hope of expiating their sins by the long and painful journey to the Holy land. When the dreaded epoch assigned by these misguided indi- viduals, for the end of the world, had passed by, the current of pilgrimages still continued to flow on in the direction it had taken, and that too in spite of the heavy tax of a piece of gold per head laid upon the pilgrims, and the brutal cruelties and indignities to which they were often exposed, from the barbarians and infidel conquerors of the holy city. Thus it appears that among the causes which eventually gave birth to the Crusades, was the wide-spread 260 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Popular and wide spread panic of the end of the world, in the year 1000. delusion of the immediate conflagration of the world, in the year one thousand of the Christian era.* * The language in which Mosheim relates the effects of this wide-spread delusion, is so striking, and the lesson it teaches so important, viz. : the folly of attempting to be wise above what is written, or to fathom what God has wisely concealed, viz. : the time of the end of the world, that I shall embrace the opportunity of quoting it in the present note. Speaking of the darkness of the tenth century, when this opinion was propagated, he says, " That the whole Christian world was covered at this time, with a thick and gloomy veil of superstition, is evident from a prodigious number of testimonies and examples which it is needless to mention. This horrible cloud, which hid almost every ray of truth from the eyes of the mul- titude, furnished a favorable opportunity to the priests and monks of propagating many absurd and ridiculous opinions, which dishonored so frequently the Latin church, and produced from time to time such violent agitations. Mone occasioned such a universal panic, nor such dreadful impressions of terror and dismay, as the notion that now prevailed, of the immediate approach of the day of judgment. Hence prodigious numbers of people abandoned all their civil connexions, and their parental relations, and giving over to the churches or monasteries all their lands, treasures, and worldly effects, repaired with the utmost precipitation to Palestine, where they imagined that Christ would descend from heaven to judge the world. Others devoted themselves by a solemn and voluntary oath to the service of the churches, convents, and priesthood, whose slaves they became, in the most rigor- ous sense of that word, performing daily their heavy tasks ; and all this from a notion that the Supreme Judge would diminish the severity of their sentence, and look upon them with a more favorable and propitious eye, on account of their hav- ing made themselves the slaves of his ministers. When an eclipse of the sun or moon happened to* be visible, the cities were deserted, and their miserable inhabit- ants fled for refuge to hollow caverns, and hid themselves among the craggy rocks, and under the bending summits of steep mountains. The opulent attempted to bribe the Deity, and the saintly tribe, by rich donations conferred upon the sacerdotal and monastic orders, who were looked upon as the immediate vicege- rents of heaven. In many places, temples, palaces, and noble edifices, both public and private, were suffered to decay, nay, were deliberately pulled down, from a notion that they were no longer of any use, since the final dissolution of all things was at hand. In a word, no language is sufficient to express the confusion and despair that tormented the minds of miserable mortals upon this occasion. This general delusion was indeed opposed and combated by the discerning few, who endeavored to dispel these groundless terrors, and to efface the notion from which they arose, in the minds of the people. But their attempts were ineffectual; nor could the dreadful apprehensions of the superstitious multitude be entirely removed before the conclusion of this century." As an undeniable evidence, both of the existence of this panic, and of its profitable results to its artful propagators and fomenters, may be mentioned the fact that almost all the donations that were made to the church about this time, assign as the cause of the donation, and the motive of the donor, the fact that the end of the world was just now at hand, and that therefore, of course, the property would be no longer of value. They generally commenced with these words: " Appropintjuante niundi termino, rf-c." i. e., the end of the world being now at hand, c^c. (Mosheim, ii., page 410.) Similar panics to the above, originating from the presumption of ignorant and visionary men, who .have predicted the day and the hour, or at least the year of the world's conflao-ra- tion, are not peculiar to the dark ages. They have been produced to a more limited extent in different countries and in various ages of the world, but in no one in- stance on record has the delusion been so universal as amid the gloom of this mid- night of the world. The extent to which sucli infatuations have prevailed, has in- variably been proportioned to the degree of the darkness and ignorance existing in the field of their propagation. Amid the enlightenment of the nineteenth century, there is but little danger of delusions of this kind shaking the universal foundations of society as they did in the tenth, or, if they exist at all, extending beyond the very narrow circle of the credulous and unenlightened portion of the community. cHAP.ra.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 261 Peter the hermit returns from Palestine, and engages pope Urban to sanction a Crusade. Of many thousands who passed into Asia, says a recent histo- rian of the Crusades,* a few isolated individuals only returned ; but these every day, as they passed through the different countries of Europe, on their journey back, spread indignation and horror by their account of the dreadful sufferings of the Christians in Judea. Various letters ai*e reported as having been sent by the emperors of the East, to the different princes of Europe, soliciting aid to repel the encroachments of the infidel ; and if but a very small portion of the crimes and cruelty attributed to the Turks by these epistles, were believed by the Christians, it is not at all astonishing that wrath and horror took possession of every chivalrous bosom. The lightning of the crusade was in the people's hearts, and it wanted out one electric touch to make it flash forth upon the world. 21. At this time a man, of whose early days we have no authentic knowledge, but that he was born at Amiens, and from a soldier had become a priest, after living for some time a hermit, became seized with the desire of visiting Jerusalem. Peter the hermit was, according to all accounts, small in stature and mean in person ; but his eyes possessed a peculiar fire and intelligence, and his eloquence was powerful and flowing. Peter accomplished in safety his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, paid the piece of gold demanded at the gates, and took up his lodging in the house of one of the pious Christians of the holy city. Here his first emotion seems to have been indignant horror at the barbarous and sacrilegious bru- tality of the Turks. The venerable prelate of Tyre represents him as conferring eagerly with his host upon the enormous cru- elties of the infidels, even before visiting the general objects of devotion. Doubtless the ardent, passionate, enthusiastic mind of Peter had been wrought upon at every step he took in the holy land, by the miserable state of his brethren, till his feelings and imagination became excited to almost frantic vehemence. Upon the return of Peter to Italy, he immediately sought the pon- tiff' Urban, and laid before him such a touching recital of the suffer- ing pilgrims in the holy land, as brought tears from his eyes ; the general scheme of the crusade was sanctioned instantly, by his authority ; and, promising his quick and active concurrence, he sent the pilgrim to preach the deliverance of the holy land, through all the countries of Europe. Peter wanted neither zeal nor activity from town to town, from province to province, from country to country, he spread the cry of vengeance on the Turks, and deliver- ance to Jerusalem ! The warlike spirit of the people was at its height ; the genius of chivalry was in the vigor of its early youth ; the enthusiasm of religion had now a great and terrible object be- fore it, and all the gates of the human heart were open to the elo- quence of the preacher. That eloquence was not exerted in vain ; nations arose at his word, and grasped the spear, and it only want- ed some one to direct and point the great enterprise that was * James, in his History of Chivalry and the Crusades. 262 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Pope UrUnn's eloquent speech, urging the people to engage in the Cnisades. already determined, and this was accomplished by the eloquence and zeal of pope Urban, at the council of Clermont. 22. The following account of the address which the Pope delivered on this occasion, is derived from the' relation given by Robert the monk, who was present. After having completed the other business of the council, and which occupied the delibera- tions of seven days, pope Urban came forth from the church into one of the public squares, as no public building was large enough to hold the immense concourse of people, and addressing the multitude as the peculiarly favored of God, in the gifts of courage, strength, and the true faith, he began to depict in glowing terms the miseries of the Christian pilgrims in the holy land. He told them that their brethren there were trampled under the feet of the infidels, to whom God had not granted the light of his Holy Spirit that lire, plunder, and the sword, had desolated the fair plains of Palestine that her children were led away captive, or enslaved, or died under tortures too horrible to recount that the Christian females were subjected to the impure passions of the pagans,, and that God's own altar, the symbols of salvation, and the precious relics of the saints, were all desecrated by the gross and filthy abomination of a race of heathens. To whom, then, he asked to whom did it belong to punish such crimes, to wipe away such impurities, to destroy the oppressors and to raise up the oppressed ? To whom, if not to those who heard him, who had received from God strength, and power, and great- ness of soul ; whose ancestors had been the prop of Christendom, and whose kings had put a barrier to the progress of infidels ? " Think !" he cried, " of the sepulchre of Christ, our Saviour, pos- sessed by the foul heathen ! think of all the sacred places dishon- ored by their sacrilegious impurities ! That land, too, the Redeemer of the human race rendered illustrious by his advent, honored by his residence, consecrated by his passion, re-purchased by his death signalized by his sepulture. That royal city, Jerusalem situated in the centre of the world held captive by infidels, who deny the God that honored her now calls on you and prays for her deliver- ance. From you from you, above all people, she looks for comfort, and she hopes for aid ; since God has granted to you, beyond other nations, glory and might in arms. Take, then, the road before you in expiation of your sins, and go, assured that, after the honor of this world shall have passed away, imperishable glory sha.ll await you even in the kingdom of heaven !" 23. At this point in the oration of the Pope, loud shouts are said to have burst simultaneously from the assembled multitude, as if impelled by inspiration, " It is the will of God ! It is the will of God /" words regarded as so remarkable, that they were employed as the signal of rendezvous, and the watchword of battle in their future adventures. Skilfully seizing upon this simultaneous burst of enthusiasm, and turning it to good account, the pontiff proceeded, as soon as silence was obtained, " Brethren, if the Lord God had not been in your souls, you would not all have pronounced the samo CHAP, in.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 263 The Crusades resolved on. Geuerul enthusiasm of the people, and desire to engage in them. words ; or, rather, God himself pronounced them by your lips, for he it was that put them in your hearts. Be they, then, your war- cry in the combat, for those words, came forth from God. Let the army of the Lord, when it rushes upon his enemies, shout but that one cry, ' God wills it! God wills it!'" Then exhorting them to engage in this holy crusade, he exclaimed, " Let the rich assist the poor, and bring with them, at their own charge, those who can bear arms to the field. Still, let not priests nor clerks, to whatever place they may belong, set out on this journey, without the permis- sion of their bishop ; nor the layman undertake it without the bless- ing of his pastor, for to such as do, their journey shall be fruitless. Let whoever is inclined to devote himself to the cause of God, make it a solemn engagement and bear the cross of the Lord either on his breast or on his brow till he set out ; and let him who is ready to begin his march place the holy emblem on his shoulders, in mem- ory of that precept of the Saviour ' He who does not take up his cross and follow me, is not worthy of me.' "* When Urban had concluded his oration, the vast multitude pros- trated themselves before him, and repeated, -after one of the cardi- nals, the general confession of sins ; upon which the Pope pronounc- ed absolution of their sins, and bestowed on them his benediction. The people then returned to their homes, to prepare immediately for the expedition to the holy land, to which they had thus solemnly devoted themselves. 24. " As soon as the councH of Clermont was concluded," says Guibert of Nogent, another cotemporary writer and eye-witness of these scenes, " a great rumor spread through the whole of France, and as fame brought the news of the orders of the pontiff to any one, he went instantly to solicit his neighbors and his relations to engage with him in the way of God, for so they designated the pur- posed expedition. The counts Palestine were already full of the desire to undertake this journey, and all the knights of an inferior order felt the same zeal. The poor themselves soon caught the flame so ardently, that no one paused to think of the smallness of his wealth, or to consider whether he ought to yield his house, and his fields, and his vines ; but each one set about selling his property, at as low a price as if he had been held in some horrible captivity, and sought to pay his ransom without loss of time. At this period, too, there existed a general dearth. The rich even felt the want of corn ; and many, with everything to buy, had nothing, or next to nothing, wherewithal to purchase what they needed. The poor tried to nourish themselves with the wild herbs of the earth ; and, as bread was very dear, sought on all sides food heretofore un- known, to supply the place of corn. The wealthy and powerful were not exempt ; but finding themselves menaced with the famine which spread around them, and beholding every day the terrible wants of the poor, they contracted their expenses, and lived with * Robertus Monachus, lib. i., as cited in James' History of Chivalry and the Crusades, chap. iii. See also Mill's History of the Crusades. 264 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Guibcrt'a account of the multitudes that engaged in the Crusndes. the most narrow parsimony, lest they should squander the riches that now became so necessary. " The ever insatiable misers rejoiced in days so favorable to their covetousness ; and casting their eyes upon the bushels of grain which they had hoarded long before, calculated each day the profits of their avarice. Thus some struggled with every misery and want, while others revelled in the hopes of fresh acquisitions. No sooner, however, had Christ inspired, as I have said, innumerable bodies to seek a voluntary exile, than the money which had been hoarded so long, was spread forth in a moment ; and that which was horribly dear while all the world was in repose, was on a sud- den sold for nothing, as soon as every one began to hasten toward their destined journey. Each man hurried to conclude his affairs, and, astonishing' to relate, we then saw so sudden was the diminu- tion in the value of everything we then saw seven sheep sold for five deniers. The dearth of grain, also, was instantly changed into abundance, and every one, occupied solely in amassing money for his journey, sold everything that he could, not according to its real worth, but according td the value set upon it by the buyer. " In the mean while, the greater part of those who had not deter- mined upon the journey, joked and laughed at those who were thus selling their goods for whatever they could get ; and prophesied that their voyage would be miserable, and their return worse. Such was ever the language of one day ; but the next suddenly seized with the same desire as the rest those who had been most forward to mock, abandoned everything for a few crowns, and set out with those whom they had laughed at, but a day before. Who shall tell the children and the infirm, that, animated with the same spirit, hastened to the war ? Who shall count the old men and the young maids who hurried forward to the fight ? not with the hope of aiding, but for the crown of martyrdom to be won amid the swords of the infidels. ' You, warriors,' they cried, ' you shall vanquish by the spear and brand ; but let us, at least, conquer Christ by our sufferings.' At the same time, one might see a thousand tilings springing from the same spirit, which were both laughable and astonishing : the poor shoeing their oxen, as we shoe horses, and harnessing them to two-wheeled carts, in which they placed their scanty provisions and their young children ; and proceeding on- ward, while the babes, at each town or castle they saw, demanded eagerly whether that was Jerusalem."* 25. The history and exploits of the vast multitudes who ad- vanced like clouds of locusts, over Hungary, Thrace, and Asia, under the fanatical Peter the hermit, or the more disciplined troops that were led to the scene of conflict, by Godfrey of Bouillon, Bald- win, Raimond, and other leaders in successive expeditions, of the taking of Jerusalem in 1099, and the establishment of a Christian kingdom in that city, are too well known, and besides, are too re- * Guibert of Nogent, see James, chap. iv. CHAP, m.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 265 Effects of the Crusades. Enriched the clergy. Introduced vast quantities of pretended relics motely connected with the history of Romanism, to demand a place in the present work. Whatever were the motives which prompted Urban II. and other pontiffs to engage in these holy wars, whether of superstition, of policy, of avarice, or ambition, there can be no doubt that they tended vastly to increase the influence and authority of the Roman pontiffs ; they also contributed, in various ways, to enrich the churches and monasteries with daily accessions of wealth, and to open new sources of opulence to all the sacerdotal orders. For they who assumed the cross disposed of their possessions, as if they were at the point of death, on account of the imminent and innumerable dangers they were to be exposed to in their passage to the holy land, and the opposition they were to encounter there upon their arrival. They, therefore, for the most part made their wills before their departure, and left a considerable part of their possessions to the priests and monks, in order to obtain, by these pious legacies, the favor and protection of the Deity. Nor were these the only pernicious effects of these holy expeditions. For while whole legions of bishops and abbots girded the sword to their thigh, and went as generals, volunteers, or chaplains into Palestine, the priests and monks who had lived under their jurisdiction, and were more or less awed by their authority, threw off all restraint, lived the most lawless and profligate lives, and abandoning them- selves to all sorts of licentiousness, committed the most flagitious and extravagant excesses without reluctance or remorse. 26. Another effect of the expeditions to the holy land, was the introduction of vast quantities of old bones of saints and other reputed relics. The inhabitants of the country were aware of the passion of the crusaders for these articles, and strove to make the gullibility of Christians as large a source of profit as possible to themselves. Upon their return from Palestine, after the taking of Jerusalem, they brought with them a vast number of pretended relics, which they bought at a high price from the cunning Greeks and Syrians, and which they considered as the noblest spoils that could crown their return from the holy land. These they com- mitted to the custody of the clergy in the churches and monas- teries, or ordered them to be most carefully preserved in their fami- lies from generation to generation. Among others of these pretended relics, Matthew Paris relates that the Dominican friars brought a white stone in which they asserted Jesus Christ had left the impression of his feet. A hand- kerchief said to have been Christ's is worshipped at Bezancon, which was brought by the crusaders from the holy land ; and the Genoese pretend to have received from Baldwin, second king of Jerusalem, the very dish in which the paschal lamb was served up to Christ and his disciples, at the last supper, though this famous dish excites the laughter of even father Labat in his travels in Spain and Italy.* The Greeks and Syrians, whose avarice and fraud * Labat, Voyages en Espagne et en Italie. Tom ii., p. 63. 266 HISTORY OF ROMAMSM. [BOOK v. Popery in England. William of Normandy. were excessive, imposed upon the credulity of the simple and ignorant Latins, and often sold them fictitious relics at enormous prices. The sacred treasures of musty bones and rags which the French, German, and other European nations preserved for- merly with so much care, and show " even in our times with such pious ostentation," says Mosheim (ii., 441), " are certainly not more ancient than these holy wars, but were then purchased' at a high rate from these cunning traders in superstition." . There are other incidents in the life of pope Urban, which are worthy of relation, as exhibiting the pomp and pride of the popes in this age of the world, but as they are chiefly connected with the history of Popery in England, the relation of them will be deferred to the next chapter, which is to be devoted to that department of our subject. CHAPTER IV. t POPERY IN ENGLAND AFTER THE CONQUEST. ARCHBISHOPS ANSELM AND THOMAS A BECKET. 27. THE successors of Hildebrand, as we have seen, were by no means slow to copy the example left by him of tyrannizing over the sovereigns and governments of the earth. As several of the most remarkable instances of papal assumption, during the eleventh and two following centuries, occurred in Great Britain, we shall again invite tfye attention of the reader for a chapter or two to the history of affairs in that island. About the middle of the eleventh century, a most important revolution occurred in the government of England. William, duke o Normandy, afterwards surnamed the Conqueror, had long looked with a greedy eye upon England. Before undertaking its conquest, however, William thought it pru- dent to secure the powerful alliance of the Pope, who, says Hume, in his History of England, " had a mighty influence over the an- cient barons, no less devout in their religious principles than valor- ous in their military enterprises. It was a sufficient motive to Alexander II., the reigning Pope, for embracing William's quarrel, that he alone had made an appeal to his tribunal, but there were other advantages which that pontiff foresaw must result from the conquest of England by the Normans. That kingdom maintained still a considerable independence in its ecclesiastical administration, and forming a world within itself, entirely separated from the rest of Europe, it had hitherto proved inaccessible to those exorbitant claims which supported the grandeur of the papacy. Alexander therefore hoped that the French and Norman barons, if successful CHAP, iv.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 267 A ring with one of St. Peter's hairs. King William's resistance to priestly usurpation. in their enterprise, might import into that country a more devoted reverence for the Holy See. He, therefore, declared immediately in favor of William's claim, pronounced the legitimate king Harold a perjured usurper, denounced excommunication against him and his adherents, and the more to encourage the duke of Normandy in his enterprise, sent him a consecrated banner, and a ring with one of St. Peter's hairs (!) in it."* 28. Upon the accession of Gregory VII., that imperious pon- tiff wrote to king William, requiring him to fulfil his promise of doing homage for the kingdom of England to the See of Rome, and to send him over that tribute which his predecessors had been accustomed to pay to the vicar of Christ (meaning Peter's Pence, a charitable donation of the Saxon princes, which the court of Rome construed into a badge of subjection acknowledged by the kingdom). William coolly replied, that the money should be remitted as formerly, but that he neither had promised to do homage to Rome, nor entertained any thoughts of imposing that servitude on his kingdom. Nay, he went so far as to refuse the English bishops liberty to attend a general council, which Gregory had summoned against his enemies. The following anecdote shows, in a still stronger light, the contempt of this prince for ecclesiastical do- minion. Odo, bishop of Bayeux, the king's maternal brother, whom he had created earl of Kent, and intrusted with a great share of power, had amassed immense riches ; and, agreeable to the usual progress of human wishes, he began to regard his present eminence as only a step to future grandeur. He aspired at nothing less than the papacy, and had resolved to transmit all his wealth to Italy, and go thither in person, accompanied by several noblemen, whom he had persuaded to follow his example, in hopes of establishments under the future pope. William, from whom this object had been carefully concealed, was no sooner informed of it than he accused Odo of treason, and ordered him to be arrested ; but nobody would lay hands on the bishop. The king himself was therefore obliged to seize him ; and when Odo insisted, that, as a prelate, he was ex- empted from all temporal jurisdiction, William boldly replied, " / arrest not the bishop, I arrest the earl /" and accordingly sent him prisoner into Normandy, where he was detained in custody, during this whole reign, notwithstanding the remonstrances and menaces of Gregory. The fact is, that the haughty Pope found it a more difficult matter to break down the proud spirit of these sturdy Normans, than of any of the monarchs whom he aimed to reduce to his sway In the following reign, William Rufus, the son and successor of the Conqueror, upon the death of Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, in 1089, refused for five years to appoint a successor, and kept the temporalities of the archbishopric in his own hands. During this interval the bishops and clergy tried various methods to prevail * Hume's History of England, p. 42 ; one vol. edition London. 268 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v Ansclm elected archbishop of Canterbury. His quarrel with the King upon the king to appoint a primate, in vain. At one time, when they presented a petition, that he would give them leave to issue a form of prayer, to be used in all the churches of England that God would move the heart of the king to choose an archbishop, he returned this careless answer : " You may pray as you please ; I will do as I please" 29. At length, in a fit of sickness, the king consented to the election of Anselm, who soon after requested permission to go to Rome to receive his pall, or robe of office, from the Pope. Angry at this request, William summoned a council to consider of it, which, after due deliberation, returned for an answer, that " unless he yielded obedience to the king, and retracted his submission to pope Urban, they would not acknowledge or obey him as their pri- maet." On hearing this sentence, the archbishop lifted up his eyes and hands to heaven, and with great solemnity, appealed to St. Peter, whose vicar he declared he was determined to obey, rather than the king ; and upon the bishops declining to report his words, he rushed into the council, and pronounced them before the king and his nobility. This was the time of schism mentioned in a previous chapter, between the two rival popes, Urban and Clement, and king Wil- liam hoping to conquer the obstinacy of Anselm by violence, had recourse to stratagem, and privately dispatched two of his chap- lains to Rome, with an offer to Urban, of acknowledging him as Pope, if he would consent to the deposition of Anselm, and send a pall to the King, to be bestowed on whom he pleased. Urban, transported with joy at the accession of so powerful a prince, promised everything, and sent Walter, bishop of Alba, his legate, into England with a pall. The legate passed through Canterbury, without seeing the archbishop; and arriving at court, prevailed upon the King to issue a proclamation, commanding all his subjects to acknowledge Urban II. as lawful Pope. But no sooner had the King performed his engagements, and began to speak of proceeding to the depositioi} of the archbishop, and demanded the pall, that he might give it to the prelate, who should be chosen in his room, than the legate changed his tone, and with a perfidiousness characteristic of Popery, declared plainly, that the Pope would not consent to the deposition of so great a saint, and so dutiful a son of the church of Rome : and moreover, that he had received orders to deliver the pall to Anselm ; which he accordingly performed, with great pomp, in the cathedral church of Canterbury. 30. During the absence of Anselm on a visit to Rome, the King seized all his estates and revenues, but the most extraordinary honors were paid to the Archbishop on his arrival in that city. The Pope addressed him in a long speech before the whole court, in which he lavished the highest encomiums upon him, called him the pope of another world, and commanded all the English who should come to Rome to kiss his toe. He further promised to sup- port him with all his power, in his disputes with the king of Eng- CHAP, rv.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 269 Honors paid to Anselin at Rome by the Pope. Henry I. succeeds William Rufus. land, to whom he wrote a letter, commanding him to restore all that he had taken from Anselm. While at Rome, the Archbishop was present at a papal council, held in 1098, in which it was de- clared by pope Urban, that the king of England deserved to be ex- communicated for his conduct towards Anselm ; but, at the request of that prelate, the execution of the sentence was postponed. At this council, the famous canon against lay-investitures was con- firmed, denouncing excommunication against all laymen who pre- sumed to grant investitures of any ecclesiastical benefices, and against all clergymen who accepted of such investitures, or did homage to temporal princes. The reason assigned for this canon by the Pope, as related by one who was present in the council, and heard his speech, is horrid and impious in the highest degree. " It is execrable," said his holiness, " to see those hands which create God, the Creator of all things a power never granted to angels and offer Him in sacrifice to the Father, for the redemption of the whole world put between the hands of a prince, stained with blood, and polluted day and night with obscene contacts !" To which all the fathers of the council responded, " Amen ! Amen !" " At these transactions," said Eadmcr, " I was present, and all these things I saw and heard." 31. William Rufus was succeeded on the throne of England in 1100 by Henry I., whose reign extended to the long period of five-and-thirty years. He was the youngest son of William the Conqueror, and got the reins of government into his hands by sup- planting his elder brother Robert ; but, having succeeded, he set himself with all his might to conciliate all those who were likely either to support or disturb him in the possession of the prize he had obtained, and especially the Pope and court of Rome. With a view to this, he recalled the archbishop of Canterbury from his exile ; and accordingly Anselm landed at Dover on the 23d Sep- tember, A. D. 1100. A few days after, he was introduced to the King, at Salisbury, who received him with every possible mark of ' affection and respect. But the cordiality was of short continuance. The King was far from being of an amiable character : Anselm, too, was the same unbending prelate still ; and the instant he was called upon to do homage to the King for the temporalities of his See, he met it with aflat refusal, and produced the canon of the late council of Rome in vindication of his conduct, at the same time declaring, that, if the King insisted on his pretensions to the homage of the clergy, he could hold no communion with him, and would immediately leave the kingdom. This threw the King into great perplexity ; for, on the one hand, he was very reluctant to resign the right of bestowing ecclesiastical benefices, and of receiving the homage of the prelates, and, on the other, he dreaded the departure of the Archbishop, who might take part with his brother Robert, then in Normandy, and preparing to assert his right to the throne of England. In this critical conjuncture, the King proposed, or rather begged, a truce, till both parties could send ambassadors to IS 270 HISTORY OP ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Pope Pascal's lofty pretensions. Anselm's opposition to the will of the King. the Pope, to know his final determination ; to which Anselm, at the solicitations of the nobility, consented. 32. I n due time the messengers who had been despatched to Rome returned with letters from pope Pascal II., who had suc- ceeded Urban, in which his holiness asserted in the strongest terms, that the church and all its revenues belonged to St. Peter and his successors ; and that emperors, kings, and princes had no right to confer the investiture of benefices on the clergy, or to demand homage from them. This he endeavored to prove by several texts of Scripture, most grossly misapplied, and by other arguments, which are either blasphemous or nonsensical, of which take this specimen : " How abominable is it for a son to beget his father, and a man to create his God? and are not priests your fathers and your Gods ?* The effect of this curious piece of papal reasoning was not precisely such as his holiness anticipated. The King was rather irritated than convinced by it. For, the first time Anselm appeared at court, Henry, in a somewhat peremptory tone, required him to do homage to him for the revenues of his See, and to con- secrate certain bishops and abbots, according to ancient custom, or to quit the kingdom; adding, "I will suffer no subject to live in my dominions who refuses to do me homage." The Archbishop boldly replied, " I am prohibited by the canons of the council of Rome to do what you require. I will not leave the kingdom, but stay in my province, and perform my duty ; and let me see who dares to do me an injury ;" on saying which, he abruptly quitted the court, and returned to Canterbury. The King had suffered so much from the opposition and ob- stinacy of Anselm, that upon the death of that prelate, which took place in 1109, he was in no haste to appoint a successor, but kept the See of Canterbury vacant no less than five years. At length, after a warm contest between the monks of the cathedral and the prelates of the province, Radulphus, bishop of Rochester, was elected primate, 26th April, 1114. As all this had been done without consulting the Pope, the latter was not a little enraged, and wrote a long letter to the King and bishops, in which many texts of Scripture are quoted to prove that no business of any importance ought to be transacted in any nation of Europe without the know- ledge and direction of the Pope ; it also contained the strongest ex- pressions of resentment against the King and prelates of England for their late neglect of the Holy See, with threats of excommuni- cation if they did not behave in a more dutiful manner in time to come. The King was not a little offended with the insolent strain of this epistle, and sent the bishop of Exeter to Rome to expostu- late with the Pope on that and some other subjects. One of the most specious and successful arts employed by the court of Rome to subject the several churches of Europe to her dominion, was that of sending legates into all countries, with com- * Eadmer, p. 61. CHAP, rv.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 271 National councils. Cardinal Crema, the Pope's legate to England, detected in gross licentiousness missions to hold national councils, in the name and by the authority of the Pope. Hitherto the kings of England had successfully re- sisted this ; but the policy of Rome was still upon the watch to seize the first favorable opportunity for renewing these attempts. Such an opportunity presented itself at this time, when the king of England was engaged in a dangerous war upon the continent, and stood in need of the favor of the court of Rome ; and it was not neglected. 33. Honorius II., who then filled the papal chair, granted a commission, April 13th, 1126, to John de Crema, a cardinal priest, to be his legate in England and Scotland.* The Legate, in passing through France, waited on king Henry, then in Normandy, and at length, with much difficulty, obtained his permission to pass over into England, where he gratified his pride and avarice, with little regard to decency. Among other things, he presided in a national council at Westminster, on the 9th of September, in which both the archbishops, twenty bishops, forty abbots, and an innumerable multitude both of the clergy and people were present. In this council no fewer than seventeen canons were made, in the name and by the authority of the Pope alone ! In these canons there was little new, except the edicts enjoining the strictest celibacy to the clergy of every order. At the conclusion of the council, the legate summoned the archbishops of Canterbury and York to re- pair immediately to Rome to plead the cause about the preroga- tives of their respective Sees, which was depending before the Pope. To such a height had the usurpations of Rome, and the in- solence of the papal legates, then arrived ! In the night which succeeded the conclusion of this council, an incident occurred which made a prodigious noise throughout England, and brought no little scandal on the Roman clergy. John de Crema, the Pope's legate, who had declaimed with great warmth in the council, the day before, in honor of immaculate chastity, and inveighed, with no less vehemence, against the horrid impurity of the married clergy, was actually detected in bed with a common prostitute ! The detection was so undeniable, and soon became so public, that the Legate was both ashamed and afraid to show his face ; but sneaked out of England with all possible secrecy and precipitation. f This incident gave a temporary triumph to the married clergy, who had probably been the detectors, and thus rendered the canon of the late council against them abortive and contemptible. 34. Yet so intent was the court of Rome on making good its * Spelman, Concil., t. ii., pp. 32, 33. f R. Hoveden, p. 274 ; H. Knyghton, col. 2382 ; Chron. Homingford, 1. i., c. 48. J. JBrompt, col. 1015 ; Hen. Hunt., 1. vii., p. 219. It is remarkable, says Mr. Hume, referring to this disgraceful occurrence, that the last cited author, H. Huntingdon, who was a clergyman, makes an apology for using such freedom with the fathers of the church, but says that the fact was notorious, and ought not to be concealed, (Hist, of Eng., p. 68.) 272 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Cruel measures against the married clergy. The Pope gives Ireland to king Henry. right to the character of anti-Christ by prohibiting marriage, that, in the following year (1127), a national synod was convened at Westminster, on the 17th May, in the canons of which the marriage of the clergy is styled " the plague of the church," and all digni- taries are commanded to exert their most zealous efforts to root it out. The wives of priests and canons were not only to be sepa- rated from them, but to be banished out of the parish ; and if they ever after conversed with their husbands, they were to be seized by the ministers of the church, and subjected to ecclesiastical disci- pline, or reduced to servitude, at the discretion of the bishop ; and if any persons, great or small, attempted to deliver these unhappy victims out of the hands of the ministers of the church, they were to be excommunicated. Such were* the violent and cruel measures necessary to be employed in order to compel the clergy to do vio- lence to the laws of nature, and by breaking up all the domestic relations, to render them the more willing, subservient, and devoted tools of Rome. In the year 1156, which was the year after the accession of Henry II. to the throne of England, that monarch inadvertently contributed to exalt the power and pretensions of the Pope, under which he and his successors so severely smarted, by accepting a grant of the kingdom of Ireland, from pope Adrian IV. Little was Henry aware of what he was doing in this instance ; for the solicit- ing, or even accepting this grant, was a plain and virtual acknow- ledgment, that the Pope had a right to deprive the Irish princes of their dominions, and bestow them upon whom he pleased ; and in the body of the grant, his holiness takes care to mention this ac- knowledgment. " For it is undeniable," says he, " and your majesty acknowledges it, that all islands on which Christ, the sun of righte- ousness, hath shined, and which have received the Christian faith, belong of right to St. Peter, and the most holy Roman church."* 35. Shortly after this, at the instigation of the popish priests, king Henry was prevailed upon to disgrace his reign by the first instances of death for heresy that ever occurred in England from the landing of the emissaries of Rome on her shores. There ex- isted, at that dark period, when " all the world wondered after the beast," a numerous body of the disciples of Christ, who took the New Testament for their guidance and direction in all the affairs of religion, rejecting doctrines and commandments of men. Their appeal was from the decisions of councils, and the authority of popes, cardinals, and prelates, to the law and the testimony the words of Christ and his holy apostles. Egbert, a monkish writer of that age, speaking of them, says, that he had often disputed with these heretics, whom he terms cathari, or puritans ; " a sort of peo- ple," he adds, " who are very pernicious to the catholic faith, which, like moths, they corrupt and destroy. They are armed," says he, "with the words of Scripture which in any way seem to favor their * M. Paris, Hist. p. 67. CHAP, iv.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 273 First instances of death for heresy in England. sentiments, and with these they know how to defend their errors, and to oppose the catholic truth. They are increased to great mul- titudes throughout all countries, to the great danger of the church (of Rome) ; for their words eat like a canker, and, like a flying leprosy, run every way, infecting the precious members of Christ."* These people went under different names in different countries ; but their faith was substantially one and the same. They invaria- bly protested against the corruptions of the church of Rome ; such as the doctrine of purgatory, offering alms for the dead, and cele- brating masses, the ringing of bells, and praying for the dead, &c., &c. Throughout the whole of the twelfth century, they were ex- posed to severe persecution; and in the year 1159, a company of them, amounting to thirty in number, partly men and partly women, all of whom spoke the German language, made their appearance in England, hoping, no doubt, to find an asylum here from the rage of bigotry and intolerance to which they were exposed in their own country. They appear to have constituted a small Christian church in their native place ; and their pastor, whose name was Gerard, was a person of some learning and talent. They are said to have been the disciples of Arnold, of Brescia. Taking up their resi- dence in the neighborhood of Oxford, they were not long in attract- ing notice, by the strangeness of their language, and the singularity of their religious practices. They were, consequently, taken up, and brought before a council of the clergy at Oxford. When in- terrogated as to who and what they were, their leader answered in their name, that they were Christians, and believed the doctrines of the apostles. On a more particular inquiry, it was found that they denied several of the received doctrines of the Catholic church ; such as purgatory, prayers for the dead, and the invoca- tion of saints : and refusing to abandon these " damnable heresies," as the clergy were pleased to call them, they were condemned as incorrigible heretics, and delivered to the civil magistrates to be pun- ished. The King, at the instigation of the clergy, commanded them to be branded with a red-hot iron on the forehead ; to be whipped through the streets of Oxford ; and, having their clothes cut short by the girdles, to be turned into the open fields ; all per- sons being forbidden to afford them either shelter or relief, under the severest penalties. This cruel sentence was executed in its ut- most rigor ; and taking place in the depth of winter, they all per- ished through cold and famine ! Would that, as these instances of popish persecution were the first that had ever been witnessed in England, they had also been the last ! then we might be spared the task, painful though necessary, of tracing the blood-red footsteps of the Babylonish " mother of harlots " (Rev. xvii., 5), as she has reeled on in the career of ages over the fair fields of Britain, " drunk with the blood of the saints." 36. A disagreement occurred A. D. 1161, between king Henry * Serra. I. in Bib. Patruoi, p. 898, Cologne edit. 274 HISTORY OF ROMAMSM. [BOOK v. Two kings lead the Pope's horse. Quarrel between king Henry and Thomas a Bucket. II. of England, and Louis VII. of France, which would proba- bly have resulted in a war, had it not been for the mediation and authority of pope Alexander III., at that time residing in France, having been driven from Rome by the successful rival- pope, Victor IV. " That we may form an idea, ; ' says Hume, " of the authority possessed by the Roman pontiffs during those ages, it may be proper to observe, that the two kings had, the year before, met the Pope at the castle of Toici, on the Loire ; and they gave him such marks of respect, that they both dismounted to receive him, and holding, each of them, one of the reins of his bridle, walked on foot by his side, and conducted him in that submissive manner into the castle."* In relating this circumstance, Cardinal Baronius is in ecstasies of delight ; " a spectacle this," says he, " to God, to angels, and to men ; and such as had never before been ex- hibited in the world !"f (See Engraving.) 37. The submissive homage of king Henry on this occasion did not prevent pope Alexander from engaging in a warm dispute with him soon after, which was occasioned by the arrogance of Thomas a Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. In the year 1163, the hostilities commenced between the Sovereign and the Primate. Various instances of the most scandalous impunity of atrocious crimes, perpetrated by the clergy, had recently occurred. Some of these had reached the King's ears, before he returned to Eng- land, and he was greatly incensed at them. One abominable in- stance brought the King and Becket into direct collision on this point. A clergyman in Worcester had debauched the daughter of a respectable man, and, for her sake, had murdered the father. The King demanded that he should be brought before his tribunal, to answer for the horrible act. Becket resisted this, and gave him into the custody of his Bishop, that he might not be delivered to the King's justice. The King, who had seen repeated instances of the clergy permitting their offending brethren to escape with im- punity, and as their crimes, instead of being repressed, became daily more flagrant, was the more intent upon accomplishing his important object. He justly imputed these atrocities to the ex- emption of the clergy from trial before the secular courts, while the ecclesiastical tribunals, to whom they were subject, had no power to inflict capital, or, indeed, any adequate punishment. With a view to redress this crying evil, king Henry summoned a great council at Westminster, which he opened with an excellent speech, in which he complained of the mischiefs occasioned by the thefts, robberies, and even murders committed by the clergy, who were suffered to gj unpunished; and he concluded with requiring, that the Archoishop and the other bishops would consent that when a clergyman was degraded for any crime, he should be immediately delivered up to the civil power, that he might be punished for the * History of England, reign of Henry II., An. 1161. f Baronius's Annals, Ann. 1160. Two Kings leading the Pope's Horse, at the Castle of Toid, in France. CHAP, iv.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 277 Bccket swears to obey the Constitutions of Clarendon. The Pope absolves him from his oath. crime, according to the laws of the land. Becket, at first, refused to comply with this reasonable demand, but in the following year he solemnly swore to obey the " Constitutions of Clarendon," by which all clergymen guilty of criminal offences were rendered amenable to the civil law. As it was with manifest reluctance that Becket had sworn to obey those hated Constitutions, so he soon began to give indications of his repentance, by extraordinary acts of mortification, and by refraining from performing the sacred offices of his function. He dispatched a special messenger to the Pope, apprising him of what had been done. The latter sent him a bull, releasing him from the obligation of his oath, and enjoining him to resume the duties of his sacred office. But though this bull reconciled his conscience to the violation of his oath, it did not dispel his fears of the King's in- dignation-* to avoid which, he determined to retire privately out of the kingdom. With this intention he went down to Romney, accompanied by two of his friends, and there embarked for France ; but being twice put back by contrary winds, he landed, and re- turned to Canterbury. About the same time the King's officers came to that city with orders to seize his possessions and revenues ; but on his showing himself, they retired, without executing their orders. Conscious that he had transgressed those laws which he had sworn to observe, by attempting to leave the kingdom without permission, he waited upon the King at Woodstock, who received him without any other expression of displeasure than merely ask- ing him if he had left England because he thought it too little to contain them both. 38. Soon after this interview, fresh misunderstandings arose between the King and the Primate, who publicly protected the clergy from those punishments which their crimes deserved, and flatly re- fused to obey a summons to attend the King's court. Henry was so much enraged at these daring insults on the laws and the royal authority, that he determined to call him to account before his peers, in a parliament which he summoned to meet at Northampton, on the 17th October, 1164. This parliament was unusually full, the whole nation being now deeply interested in the issue of this con- test between the crown and the mitre. On the first day, the King in person accused the Archbishop of contumacy, in reusing to at- tend his court when he was summoned ; against which accusation, having made only a very weak defence, he was unanimously f ound guilty by the bishops, as well as by the temporal barons, and all his goods and chattels were declared to be forfeited. Many of the bishops waited upon Becket, and earnestly entreated him to resign his office, assuring him that if he did not he would be tried for per- jury and high treason. Becket, however, was made of sterner stuff he reproached them bitterly for deserting him in his contest charged them not to presume to sit in judgment upon their Pri- mate and declared, that though he should be burnt alive, he would not abandon his station, nor forsake his flock ! Having celebrated 278 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Boldness, obstinacy, and rebellion of Becket. mass, he set out from his residence, dressed in his pontifical robes, with a consecrated host in one hand ; and when he approached the hall where the King and parliament sat, he took the cross from the bearer, and carried it in the other hand. When the King was in- formed of the posture in which Becket was advancing, he retired hastily into an inner room, commanding all the bishops and barons to follow him. Here he complained of the insufferable annoyance of Becket ; and was answered by the barons, " That he had always been a vain and obstinate man, and ought never to have been raised to so high a station ; that he had been guilty of high treason, both against the King and the kingdom ; and they demanded that he should be immediately punished as a traitor." The clamors of the barons against Becket became so loud and vehement, that the archbishop of York, fearing they would proceed to acts of violence, hastily retired, that he might not be a spectator of the tragical scene. The bishop of Exeter went into the great hall, where the Primate sat almost alone, and, falling at his feet, conjured him to take pity on himself and on his brethren, and preserve them all from destruction, by complying with the king's will. But, with a stern countenance, he commanded them to begone. 39. The bishops, apprehensive of incurring the indignation of the Pope if they proceeded to sit in judgment on their Primate, and of the King and barons if they refused, begged that they might be allowed to hold a private consultation, which was granted. After deliberating some time, they agreed to renounce all subjection to Becket as their Primate ; to prosecute him for perjury before the Pope ; and, if possible, to procure his deposition. This resolution they reported to the King and barons, who, not knowing that Becket had already obtained a bull from the Pope, absolving him from his oath, too rashly gave their consent ; and the bishops went into the hall in a body, and intimated their resolutions to the Arch- bishop. The latter not deigning to give them any answer, except " I hear," a profound silence ensued. In the mean time the King and barons came to a resolution, that if the Primate did not give in his accounts without delay, they would declare him guilty of perjury and treason, and deputed certain barons to communicate this reso- lution. The earl of Leicester, who was at the head of these barons, addressing himself to Becket, said, " The King commands you to f >me immediately, and give in your accounts, or else hear your s cnce." " My sentence !" exclaimed Becket, starting on his fee. No ! my son, hear me first. I was given to the church free, ana discharged from all claims when I was elected arch- bishop of Canterbury, and therefore I never will render any ac- count. Besides, my son, neither law nor reason permits sons to judge their father. I decline the jurisdiction of the King and barons, and appeal to God, and my lord the Pope, by whom alone I am to be judged. For you, my brethren and fellow bishops, I summon you to appear before the Pope, to be judged by him for having obeyed man rather than God. I put myself, the church of CHAP.V.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 379 Becket's violent death. Pretended miracles at his shriue. Canterbury, and all that belongs to it, under the protection of God and the Pope ; and under their protection I depart hence." Having said this, he walked out of the hall in great state, leaving the spectators so much disconcerted by his boldness, that not an indi- vidual had the courage to stop him. 40. The tragical result of this controversy is well known. The haughty but courageous Primate was assassinated December 29th, 1171, by four gentlemen of king Henry's court, in consequence of a passionate exclamation they had heard drop from the lips of their royal master, and was soon after his death canonized as a saint of the very highest rank. Endless were the panegyrics pro- nounced on his virtues ; and the miracles wrought by his relics, according to the popish historians, were more numerous, more non- sensical, and more impudently attested, than those which ever filled the legend of any saint or martyr. His shrine not only restored dead men to life ; it also restored cows, dogs, and horses. Presents were sent, and pilgrimages performed, from all parts of Christen- dom, in order to obtain his intercession with Heaven : and it was computed that, in one year, above a hundred thousand pilgrims ar- rived at Canterbury, and paid their devotions at his tomb.* The following quaint verse in relation to the throngs of pilgrims that came . to pay their devotions at the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket, in Canterbury Cathedral, is from Chaucer, one of the most ancient of our English poets, who was born about a century and a half after the death and canonization of the saint. " And specially from every shire's end Of Engle-land to Canterbury they wend, The holy blissful martyr for to seek, That them hath holpen when that they were sick." CHAPTER V. POPERY IN ENGLAND CONTINUED POPE INNOCENT AND KING JOHN. 41. THE most remarkable exhibition of priestly tyranny and successful papal arrogance that has ever occurred in Great Britain, and perhaps in the world, was that which signalized the pontificate of Innocent III., a pope that carried out the policy of Hildebrand to an unprecedented extent in his treatment of the kingdom of England, and its weak and contemptible king John, in the early part of the thirteenth century. It is justly remarked by the his- * Russell's Modern Europe, L, 168. HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v The Pope and the King compared to the Sun and the Moon. Impertinent Interference of Innocent HI torian of the middle ages, that " the pontificate of Innocent III. may be regarded as the meridian or noonday of papal usurpation." In each of the three leading objects which Rome had pursued name- ly, independent sovereignty, supremacy over the Christian church, and control over the princes of the earth it was the fortune of this pontiff to conquer. The maxims of Gregory VII. were now matured by more than a hundred years, and the right of ti'arnpling upon the necks of kings had been received, at least among church- men, as an inherent attribute of the papacy. " As the sun and the moon are placed in the firmament," says the pontiff, " the greater as the light of the day, and the lesser of the night ; thus are there two powers in the church the pontifical, which, as having the charge of souls, is the greater ; and the royal, which is the less, and to which the bodies of men only are intrusted."* Intoxicated with these conceptions, the result of successful ambition, he thought no quarrel of princes beyond the sphere of his jurisdiction. On every side the thunders of Rome broke over the heads of princes. At his pleasure, he would place a kingdom under an interdict, and instantly public worship is suspended, and the dead lie unburied. If the clergy complain to him that the people, cut off from the offices of religion, refuse to pay tithes, and go to hear the sectaries, he consents that divine service shall be performed with closed doors, but denies them the rites of sepulture.f 42. Pope Innocent commenced his course of lordly arrogance towards England almost as soon as he ascended the papal throne, and during the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion, the predecessor of John. In order to counteract the influence of the monks of Can- terbury in the election of the primates, and to place future elections more under the royal influence, king Richard authorized the erec- tion of an episcopal palace at Lambeth, intending to remove the place of election in future from Canterbury to that place. The suspicious monks, jealous of the exclusive right which they had claimed of electing the archbishops of Canterbury, secretly dis- patched a messenger to pope Innocent at Rome, from whom they obtained a bull, addressed to the archbishop Hubert, who was him- self in favor of the change, commanding him, within thirty days, to demolish the works at Lambeth, and threatening him with suspen- sion from his office in case of disobedience ; for, says the insolent Pope, " it is not fit that any man should have any authority who does not revere and obey the apostolic See."J The King was enraged at the conduct of the monks in apply- ing to Rome without his permission, and the Archbishop dispatched his agents to Rome, who were admitted to an audience of the Pope on one day, and the monks of Canterbury were permitted to reply on the next. The result of these proceedings was, that * Vita Innocentii HI., St. Marc., torn, v., p. 325. This life of pope Innocent was written by a contemporary, f Hallam's Middle Ages, chap. vii. I Gervas. Chron., col. 1602, &c. CHAP, v.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 281 The Pope orders the works of Lambeth Palace to be demolished. The King obliged to obey. the Pope confirmed his former sentence against the Archbishop, which he intimated to him by a bull, dated November 20th, threat- ening him with the highest censure of the church, if he did not im- mediately demolish the works at Lambeth. His Holiness, at the same time, directed another bull to the King, commanding him, in a magisterial tone, to see the sentence of the apostolic See exe- cuted ; and telling him further, that if he presumed to oppose its execution, he would soon convince him, by the severity of his pun- ishment, how hard it was " to kick against the pricks !" In another bull, which he addressed to the King, dictated, if possible, in a still higher strain, he commands him immediately to restore to the monks of Canterbury all their possessions ; for " he would not en- dure the least contempt of himself, or of God, whose place he held upon earth ; but would punish, without delay, and without respect of j)ersons, every one who presumed to disobey his commands, in order to convince the whole world that he was determined to act IN A ROYAL MANNER."* These bulls had the desired effect ; the King and the Archbishop, terrified at the thunders of Rome, submitted to the commands of the Pope, and the pertinacious monks had the satis- faction of seeing the obnoxious buildings razed to the foundation in the months of January and February, 1199, a short time before the death of king Richard, which took place on the 6th of April, of the same year. 43. In the course of the following century, however, consider- able progress was made in the erection of the venerable and remark- able pile of buildings, so well known to visitors in London as Lambeth Palace, and which possesses such painful interest to the protestant descendants of British martyrs, on account of that single melan- choly room called Lollard's Tower, where many of the noblest oi their protestant forefathers, victims of popish oppression and cruelty, breathed their sighs to the cold stone walls and iron-barred doors , sent up their prayers to the God of the oppressed ; held sweet com- munion with that Saviour for whose cause they were languishing in chains, and in many instances left behind them the now time- worn memorials of their suffering, in rude inscriptions upon its walls. Lambeth Palace exhibits specimens of the architecture of differ- ent ages. The venerable apartment called the Chapel, and the crypt beneath, were probably built by archbishop Boniface, as early as 1282. It is seventy-five feet in length, twenty-five in breadth, and thirty feet in height, and is divided in the middle by a richly ornamented screen. There is another magnificent and more spa* cious apartment built at a later period, called the Great Hall. It stands on the right of the principal court-yard, and is built of fine red brick, the walls being supported by stone buttresses, and also coped with stone, and surmounted by large balls or orbs. The !ength of this noble room is ninety-three feet, its breaolh thirty-eight, and its height fifty. The roof, which is of oak and elaborately *Gervas. Chron., col. 1616-1624. HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Lambeth Palace and Lollard's tower. Commencement of king John's quarrel with pope Innocent. carved, is particularly splendid and imposing. The Gate-house, which forms the principal entry to the Palace, and is the prominent object in the engraving, was erected by Cardinal Morton, about the year 1490, and is a very beautiful and magnificent structure. It consists of two lofty towers, from the summits of which is one of the finest views in the neighborhood of the metropolis. But of all the parts of this venerable and imposing pile, there is a single contracted room, cold, dark and dreary, twelve feet by nine, with two holes called windows, fourteen inches by seven, measured on the outside, but enlarging, by a funnel-shaped cavity through thick, stone walls, to about double the size on the inside, which possesses a deeper and more tender interest than any, or than all the rest. I need not add, it is Lollard's Tower. This gloomy apartment was erected by Archbishop Chichely, in the early part of the fifteenth century, as a place of confinement for the unhappy he- retics from whom it derives its name. Under the tower is an apart- ment of somewhat singular appearance, called the post room, from a large post in the middle of it, by which its flat roof is partly sup- ported. The prison in which the poor Lollards were confined is at the top of the tower, and is reached by a very narrow winding staircase. Its single doorway, which is so narrow as only to admit one person at a time, is strongly barricaded by both an outer and an inner door of oak, each three inches and a half thick, and thickly studded with iron. Both the walls and roof of the chamber are lined with oaken planks an inch and a half thick ; and eight larg^e iron rings still remain fastened to the wood, the melancholy memo- rials of the barbarous popish tyranny whose victims formerly pined in this dismal prison-house. Many names, and fragments of sen- tences, are rudely cut out on various parts of the walls. (See En- graving.} 44. To return to the thread of our history. A few years after the accession of king John the brother of Richard, the violent dispute be- tween him and pope Innocent commenced, which has rendered so memorable the history of the reign of that weak and contemptible sovereign. The occasion of it was as follows. After the death of Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury in 1205, a contest arose between two individuals who each claimed to have been elected to that dig- nity by the monks. The bishops who had not been consulted in either, formed a third party, and dispatched their agents to Rome to protest against both elections. Pope Innocent, to whom nothing could be more grateful than these clashing claims and appeals, de- cided against both elections, declared the See of Canterbury vacant, and resolved, like one of his predecessors, six centuries before (see above, page 135), to raise a creature of his own to the dignity of primate of England. To give this assumption at least a semblance of regularity, however slight, the Pope sent for some monks of Canterbury, four- teen in number, who happened at that time to be in Rome as agents for the bishop of Norwich, one of the rejected competitors, and CHAP, v.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073 -1303. 285 Langton, by the Pope's orders, appointed archbishop of Canterbury. King John's useless anger commanded them, under penalty of excommunication, immediately to choose for their archbishop, cardinal Stephen Langton. The monks in vain protested that they were incompetent to elect an arch- bishop without the consent of the whole convent, and that they had been entrusted with no such authority ; but the Pope hastily and sternly replied that his authority was sufficient to supply all defects. They urged, too, that before leaving England, they had solemnly sworn to the King that they would acknowledge no person for pri- mate except the bishop of Norwich, who was a personal favorite of the sovereign. This obstacle, however, was soon removed by the plenitude of papal authority, which had long since assumed the blasphemous power of annulling the laws of God, and sanction- ing the most deliberate perjury by absolving from the obligation of oaths. Having, therefore, removed this obstacle by absolving them from their solemn oath to king John, the monks at length overcome by the menaces and authority of the Pope, proceeded, with the single exception of Elias de Brantefield, to comply with his de- mands and elected Langton archbishop, who was consecrated by the Pope himself on the S7th of June, 1207. 45. Pope Innocent, well aware that this flagrant usurpation would be highly resented by the court of England, wrote to John a mollifying letter, accompanied by four golden rings set with precious stones, and endeavored to enhance the value of the present by in- forming him of the mysteries implied in it. Their round form, he said, shadowed forth eternity without beginning or end, and should teach him to aspire from temporal to eternal things ; their number, four, being a square, denoted steadiness of mind ; their matter, gold, the most precious of metals signified wisdom. The blue color of the sapphire, represented Faith ; the green of the emerald, Hope ;. the redness of the ruby, Charity ; and the splendor of the topaz, good works.* King John, who, like most weak minds, was fond both of trinkets and flattery, was much gratified by this papal pre- sent, but his satisfaction only continued during his ignorance of the means by which the artful Pope had sought to deprive him of what he regarded as one of the most valuable prerogatives of his crown. A few days after the reception of the present, the Pope's bull ar- rived announcing the election and consecration of cardinal Langton, which threw the King into a violent rage against both the Pope and the monks of Canterbury. As these last were most within his reach, they felt the first effects of his indignation. He dispatched two officers, with a company of armed men, to Canterbury, who took possession of the convent of the Holy Trinity, banished the monks out of the kingdom, and seized all their estate. John next wrote a spirited and angry letter to the Pope, in which he accused him of injustice and presumption, in raising a stranger to the highest dignity in the kingdom, without his know- ledge. He reproached the Pope and court of Rome with ingrati- * Rymer, vol. i., p. 139. Matth. Paris, p. 155. 19 286 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Pope Innocent lays England under an Interdict. Terrific consequences of that sentence, tude, in behaving as they had done towards a country from which they derived more money than from all the other kingdoms on this side the Alps. He declared that he was determined to sacrifice his life in defence of the rights of his crown ; and that, if his Holiness did not immediately repair the injury he had done him, he would break off all communication with Rome. This letter, though written in a strain very becoming a king of England, was quite intolerable to the pride of the haughty pontiff, who had been long accustomed to trample on the majesty of kings. Innocent was not tardy in returning an answer, in which, after many expressions of displeasure and resentment, he plainly tells the King, that if he per- sisted in this dispute, he would plunge himself into inextricable difficulties, and at length be crushed by him, before whom every knee must bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth.* 46. These letters might be regarded in the light of a formal de- claration of war between the Pope and the king of England ; but the contest was very unequal. The former had now attained that extravagant height of power which made the greatest monarchs tremble upon their thrones ; and the latter had sunk very low in both his reputation and authority, having before this time lost his foreign dominions by his indolence, and the esteem and affection of his subjects at home by his follies and his crimes. Indeed, the Pope was not ignorant of the advantage he possessed in the contest ; and consequently, without delay, he laid all the dominions of king John under an interdict ; and this sentence was published in England, at the Pope's command, March 23d, A. D. 1208, by the bishops of Lon- don, Ely, and Worcester, though the King endeavored to deter them from it by the most dreadful threats. The consequences of this terrific sentence are thus described by Mr. Hume : " The execution," says he, " was calculated to strike the senses in the highest degree, and to operate with irresisti- ble force on the superstitious minds of the people. The nation was, of a sudden, deprived of all exterior exercise of its religion ; the altars were despoiled of their ornaments ; the crosses, the relics, the images, the statues of the saints, were laid on the ground ; and as if the air itself were profaned, and might pollute them by its contact, the priests carefully covered them up, even from their own approach and veneration. The use of bells entirely ceased in all the churches ; the bells themselves were removed from the steeples, and laid on the ground with the other sacred utensils. Mass was celebrated with closed doors, and none but the priests were admit- ted to that holy institution. The laity partook of no religious rite, except the communion to the dying ; the dead were not interred in consecrated ground ; they were thrown into ditches, or buried in common fields, and their obsequies were not attended with prayers or any hallowed ceremony. Marriage was celebrated in the * Matt. Paris, pp. 156, 157. CHAP, v.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 287 King John excommunicated. Deposed, and his subjects absolved from their allegiance. churchyard, and that every action in life might bear the marks of this dreadful situation, the people were prohibited the use of meat, as in Lent, or times of the highest penance ; were debarred from all pleasures and entertainments, and were forbidden even to salute each other, or so much as to shave their beards, and give any de- cent attention to their apparel. Every circumstance carried symp- toms of the deepest distress, and of the most immediate apprehen- sion of divine vengeance and indignation."* When this interdict had continued about two years, the Pope proceeded a step further, and pronounced the awful sentence of ex- communication against king John, which he commanded the bishops of London, Ely, and Worcester, his most obsequious tools, to pub- lish in England. These prelates, who then resided on the continent, sent copies of the sentence, and of the Pope's commands to publish it in their churches, to the bishops and clergy who remained in England. But such was their dread of the royal indignation, that none of them had the courage to execute these commands. Geof- frey, archdeacon of Norwich, one of the King's judges, when sit- ting on the bench in the Exchequer, at Westminster, declared to the other judges, that the King was excommunicated, and that he did not think it lawful for him to act any longer in his name ; for which declaration he was thrown into prison, where he soon died.f 47. In the year 1211, the Pope sent two legates into England, whose names were Pandulph and Durand. These legates were admitted to an audience, at a parliament which was held at North- ampton, when a most violent altercation took place between them and the King. Pandulph plainly told the King, even in the face of his parliament, that he was bound to obey the Pope in temporals as well as in spirituals ! and when John refused to submit to the will of his Holiness without reserve, the Legate, with shameless effrontery, published the sentence of excommunication against him, with a loud voice, absolving all his subjects from their oaths of allegiance, degraded him from his royal dignity, and declared that neither he nor any of his posterity should ever reign in England.^ This was certainly carrying clerical insolence to the height of extravagance. But in those unhappy times the meanest agents of the Pope insulted the greatest princes with impunity. On the return of the legates to Rome, in the following year, pope Innocent solemnly ratified all their proceedings against the king of England ; and finding that all the success which he ex- pected from them had not ensued, he proceeded to more violent measures ; he pronounced with great solemnity a sentence of deposi- tion against king John, and of excommunication against all who should obey him, or have any connection with him. When these sentences were known in England, they began to excite the super- * Hume's Hist, of England, p. 110. f Matt. Paris, pp. 158, 159. t Annal. Monast. Burton, apud Rerum Anglican. Script., t. i., pp. 165, 166. Matt. Paris, p. 161. 288 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOKV. The Pope offers England to king Philip of France. King John's degrading submission. stitious fears of some of the barons, who were at the same time much dissatisfied with the prince, for his imprudent, illegal, and oppressive government. John, having received intimations of this from various quarters, became not a little alarmed, and began to stagger in his resolution. 48. To render the sentence of deposition against king John effectual, the Pope appointed Philip, king of .France, to put it in execution, and promised him the pardon of all his sins, and the kingdom of England for his reward a temptation which that prince had neither the wisdom nor virtue to resist. Blinded by his ambition, he commanded a large army to assemble at Rouen, and prepared a fleet of seventeen hundred vessels, to convey them to England. All these preparations, however, only served to promote the purposes of the court of Rome ; for as soon as John was suffi- ciently intimidated by his dread of the French army, and his sus- picions of his own subjects, to induce him to make an ignominious surrender of his crown and kingdom to the Pope, the French king was obliged to abandon his enterprise against England, to avoid the thunders of the church, the dreadful effects of which he had before his eyes. The trembling John now implored the protection of Rome, whatever submission it might cost. The Legate assured him that the supreme pontiff would require nothing which was not abso- lutely necessary either to the honor of the church or the safety of the King himself. He proposed, therefore, to withdraw the excom- munication immediately, on condition of John's promising to receive Langton as archbishop, whose promotion to the primacy had been the occasion of all this furious contest, with all the bishops and cler- gy who acknowledged him, and to indemnify them for all the damage they had sustained. To all this the king of England consented ; but the consummation of ignominy was yet to come. Under the spe- cious pretext of securing England from attacks by Philip, it was suggested to John to surrender his kingdoms to the Pope, as to a lord-paramount to swear fealty to him to receive the British islands back as fiefs of the holy See ; and to pay an annual tribute for them of 700 marks of silver for England, and 300 for Ireland. On the 12th of May, 1213, John performed all the degrading cere- monials of resignation, homage and fealty. On his knees he hum- bly offered his kingdoms to the Pope, and put them into the hands of the Legate, Pandulph, who retained them for five days. He of- fered his tribute, which the Legate threw down and trampled on, but afterwards condescended to gather up again ! In the engraving, which is a representation of this scene, the humbled monarch is seen on his knees before the Pope's legate, who has just received the crown from the hands of the King, and is trampling upon the gold, with the gift of which John accom- panied his submission. Some of the barons of England are look- ing on, grieved and indignant alike at the degradation of their weak-minded sovereign, and the haughty and contemptuous inso- lence of the triumphant priest. (See Engraving.) CHAP, v.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 291 Deed of surrender of England to the Pope. Haughty insolence of the papal legate. The nuncio immediately went to France, to announce to Philip, that he must no longer molest a prince who was a penitent son and a faithful vassal of the Holy See, nor presume to molest a kingdom which was now part of the patrimony of St. Peter. 49. The language of the deed of surrender which king John delivered to Pandulph, and which had doubtless been dictated to him by the haughty legate, is so remarkable, that I shall subjoin a copy of it, as a monument of the unbounded arrogance and tyranny of the apostate church of Rome, and of the heads of that false church, the pretended successors of St. Peter, and disciples of him who said, " MY KINGDOM is NOT OF THIS WORLD." The follow- ing are the words of this document : " I, John, by the grace of God, king of England, &c., FREELY GRANT UNTO GOD, AND THE HOLY APOSTLES, PETER AND PAUL, AND TO THE HOLY RoMAN CHURCH, OUR MOTHER, AND UNTO THE LORD, POPE INNOCENT, AND TO HIS CATHO- LIC SUCCESSORS, THE WHOLE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND, AND THE WHOLE KINGDOM OF IRELAND, with all the rights and all the appurtenances of the same, for the remission of our sins, and of all our genera- tion, both for the living and the dead, that from this time forward we may receive and hold them of him, and of the Roman church, as second after him, &c. We have sworn, and do swear, unto the said lord, pope Innocent, and to his catholic successors, and to the Roman church, a liege homage, in the presence of Pandulphus. If we can be in the presence of the lord pope, we will do the same ; and to this \ve oblige our heirs and successors for ever, &c. And for the sign of this our perpetual obligation and concession, we will and ordain, that out of our proper and especial revenues from the said 'kingdoms, for all our service and custom which we ought to render, the Roman church receive a thousand marks sterling yearly, without diminution of St. Peter' s-pence ; that is, five hundred marks at the feast of St. Michael, and five hundred at Easter, &c. And IF WE, OR ANY OF OUR SUCCESSORS, PRESUME TO ATTEMPT AGAINST THESE THINGS, LET HIM FORFEIT HIS RIGHT TO THE KINGDOM, &C." Matthew Paris tells us, that, on delivering this letter, the King placed a sum of money at the feet of Pandulph, the Pope's legate, which the former trade upon with his foot, in token of the subjection of the country to the Roman See. " Pandulphus pecuniam, quam in arcem subjectionis rex contulerat, sub pede suo conculcavit archie- piscope dolente et reclamante." 50 King John having made this ignoble submission to the will of pope Innocent, he was soon after absolved from the sentence of excommunication by the new primate, Langton, who imme- diately came to England, and took possession of his See of Can- terbury, and after a short interval, upon the King's sending to In- nocent a large sum of money, and renewing his promise of obedi- ence, his Holiness gave a commission to his legate in England to remove the interdict, which was accordingly done in St. Paul's ca- thedral, on the 29th of June, 1214. Henceforward king John conducted himself as an obedient vas- 292 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOKV Innocent excommunicates the barons of England. Popery at present feeble, contrasted with ihe past. sal of HIS SOVEREIGN LORD THE POPE, who, in return, condescended, in all the future quarrels of John with his barons, to spread over the humbled monarch the shield of his apostolic protection. The violent disputes that arose, after John's submission to the Pope, be- tween him and the barons of England, are familiar to every reader of English history. In the council of Lateran, in 1215, pope Inno- cent hurled the tb mders of excommunication at these sturdy barons, and in a letter v-ritten to certain ecclesiastics soon after, he alludes to this event in the following pompous language : " We will have you to know that in the general council we have excommunicated and anathematized, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, in the name of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, and in our own name, the barons of England, with their partizans and abettors, for persecuting John, the illustrious king of England, who has taken the cross, and is a VASSAL OF THE ROMAN CHURCH, and for striving to deprive him of A KINGDOM THAT is KNOWN TO BELONG TO THE ROMAN CHURCH."* These barons, however, were less terrified by the spiritual thunders of Innocent than their weak- minded King had been, and, as is well known, pursued their object with a steady aim, till they finally extorted from the King that char- ter of English liberty, Magna Charta. Before dismissing the subject of the present chapter, I will re- mind the reader that one of the proudest boasts of Popery is, that it is unchangeable. Hence, there can be no possible doubt that the principles of Rome are the same now as they were in the days of Innocent and John, those days of darkness, when she reigned Despot of the World ; and the only reason why her sovereign pontiffs do not now renew their claim to reign as universal monarchs with all the nations at their feet, is that they are destitute of the power to enforce such claims. Should the present imbecile and contemptible occupantf of the throne of Hildebrand only breathe the thought of ever renewing such pretensions, he would be pointed at with scorn, as the laughing-stock of the world. Thanks to God, the dark ages are passed ! Popery has still the same mind and heart, but it is quaking with the decrepitude of age. The strong men have bowed themselves, the keepers of the house are trem- bling. Its power to tyrannize is gone ! gone, if the protestant world is faithful, never, never to return ! * Matthew Paris, p. 192. f Pope Gregory XVI. A. D. 1845. 293 CHAPTER VI. MORE INSTANCES OF PAPAL DESPOTISM. POPES ADRIAN IV., ALEXAN- DER III., AND INNOCENT III. 51. THE extravagant pretensions of the pontiffs of this age to the supreme dominion of the world, and to an authority over all emperors, kings, and governments, were maintained without inter- ruption by the whole line of popes, from Hildebrand to Boniface VIII., who died in 1303, that is, from the latter part of the eleventh through all the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. They inculcated and acted upon that pernicious and extravagant maxim, " THAT THE BISHOP OF RoME IS THE SUPREME LORD OF THE UNIVERSE, AND THAT NEITHER PRINCES NOR BISHOPS, CIVIL GOVERNORS NOR ECCLE- SIASTICAL RULERS, HAVE ANY LAWFUL POWER IN CHURCH AND STATE BUT WHAT THEY DERIVE FROM HIM." We have already shown in the history of Popery in England, as given in the last two chapter^, a specimen of the manner in which two of the most famous of the successors of Hildebrand claimed and exercised this monstrous power in the affairs of our father land. We shall now proceed to relate the acts of the most cele- brated of these spiritual tyrants, during this noontide of their power in other parts of the world. After the death of pope Urban, the originator of the crusades, which took place in 1098, there was no pontiff of much importance in history, till the accession of pope Adrian IV., by birth an Eng- lishman, which occurred in 1154. During his pontificate the an- cient contest between the Pope and the empire was renewed. Frederic I., surnamed Barbarossa, was no sooner seated on the im- perial throne, than he publicly declared his resolution to maintain the dignity and privileges of the Roman empire in general, and more particularly to render it respectable in Italy ; nor was he at all studious to conceal the design he had formed of reducing the overgrown power and opulence of the pontiffs and clergy within narrower limits. Adrian perceived the danger that threatened the majesty of the church, and the authority of the clergy, and pre- pared himself for defending both with vigor and constancy. The first occasion of trying their strength was offered at the coronation of the Emperor at Rome, in the year 1155, when the pontiff in- sisted upon Frederic's performing the office of equerry, and hold- ing the stirrup to his Holiness. After some objection, Frederic sub- mitted to lead the Pope's white mule, though with an ill grace, for, mistaking the stirrup, he apologised by remarking that he had never learned the trade of a groom. For many years this act of constrained humiliation galled the proud spirit of the Emperor, and led him to seize every opportunity in his power to humble the overgrown power of the popes. 294 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v Submission of the emperor Frederick Barbarossa to pope Alexander III. 52. Adrian died in 1159, and the next pope acknowledged by the Romish annalists, was Alexander III., though he had two or three rivals, who successively disputed with him the papal throne and were sustained by the emperor Frederic and others, and suc- ceeded for a time in chasing him from Rome. In 1167, Alexander held a council at Rome, in which he solemnly deposed the Em peror (whom he had, upon several occasions before this period, loaded publicly with anathemas and execrations), dissolved the oatk of allegiance which his subjects had taken to him as their lawful sovereign, and encouraged and exhorted them to rebel against his authority, and to shake off his yoke. But soon after this audacious proceeding, the Emperor made himself master of Rome, upon which the insolent pontiff fled to Benevento. Ten years later, the Emperor, dejected at the difficulties which encompassed him, was glad most humbly to conclude a treaty of peace with pope Alex- ander at Venice, and a truce with the rest of his enemies. The account given by Voltaire, and confirmed by other historians, of this reconciliation, is as follows : " Every point being settled, the Emperor goes to Venice. The doge of Venice carries him in his gondola to St. Mark's. The Pope waits for him at the gate with the Tiara upon his head. The Emperor, Barbarossa, having laid aside his mantle, leads him to the chair with a beadle's staff in his hand. The Pope preaches in Latin, which Frederic does not un- derstand. After sermon, the Emperor goes and kisses the Pope's feet, receives the communion from him, and coming from church leads the Pope's white mule through St. Mark's Square."* The accompanying engraving is an accurate representation of this oc- currence, and of St. Mark's Square, Venice, where it transpired. (See Engraving.) Besides thus humbling the pride of monarchs, not sufficiently obsequious to the Holy See, Alexander taught that the popes have power to set. up kings, as well as to pull them down, and gave a prac- tical illustration of the same shortly after the submission of the em- peror Frederic, by conferring, in the year 1 179, the title of King, upon Adolphus I., duke of Portugal, who had rendered his province tributary to the Roman See under pope Lucius II. f 53. But the Pope that carried out the doctrines of Hildebrand most fully in his treatment of earthly sovereigns and worldly go- vernments, was Innocent III., whom we have already seen tyran- nizing over the kingdom of England, and by his haughty legate * Voltai -e's Annals of the Empire, An. 1177. I do not find sufficient authority for what is related by some historical writers, that on this occasion, while the Em- peror kissed the foot of the haughty pontiff, the latter trod upon the neck of the suppliant monarch, at the same time repeating the words of the Psalmist. " Thou shall tread upon the lion and the adder ; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet." The humiliation of the Emperor was certainly sufficiently abject without this (probably) apocryphal addition. I do not assert that tnch an event never occurred, but as I have adopted in the present work the principle of omitting a probable fact rather than inserting a doubtful relation, I have chosen to omit this incident in the text. t Baronius, Annal^ An. 1179, Epist. Innocentii III., Epist. xlix. The Emperor Frederick Barbarossa leading the Pope's Mule through St. Mark's Square, Venice. CHAP, vi.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 297 Instances of the despotism of pope Innocent III. towards various sovereigns. literally trampling under foot the crown of its contemptible sove- reign John. Innocent ascended the papal throne in the year 1198, and continued to claim and to exercise universal sovereignty for the first sixteen years of the thirteenth century. The very day after his consecration, he compelled the prefect of the city of Rome and other magistrates to take that oath of allegiance to him as their lawful sovereign, which they had formerly taken to the Emperor. He soon after compelled several cities of Tuscany who threw them- selves upon his protection, to swear that they would receive no one as emperor unless he was acknowledged as such by the Pope. This was in consequence of the different claims that were at that time set up to the empire by Otho, duke of Brunswick, and Philip, duke of Swabia. He compelled Philip, by threatening him with excommunication and interdict if he refused, to liberate the arch- bishop of Salerno, confined in prison on a charge of treason. In the same year he excommunicated Alphonsus, king of Galicia and Leon, for refusing to dismiss his wife Tarsia, daughter of Sanctius, king of Portugal, whom Innocent pronounced to be within the de- grees of affinity forbidden by the church ; and threatened her father, Sanctius himself, with the same spiritual thunders, unless he should promptly pay up the yearly tribute which his father, Alphonso, had promised to the successors of St. Peter, upon receiving the title of king from pope Alexander.* 54. Innocent soon after conferred the title of King upon Prem- islaus, duke of Bohemia, in consequence of his forsaking the party of Philip, who aspired to the empire, and joining that of Otho, who at this time was supported by the Pope. The next year, 1201, the lordly pontiff issued his anathemas against Philip II., king of France, and laid his kingdom under an interdict, till he compelled him to receive back Ingelburga, his wife, whom he had put away, and taken in her stead Mary, daughter of the duke of Bohemia. In this instance, doubtless, king Philip was compelled by the terrors of excommuni- cation and interdict, to perform an act of justice ; but our object in relating these instances of papal authority over the kings of the earth, is not so much to examine the guilt or innocence of those who were the subjects of them, as to illustrate the enormous and over- grown power of the popes during this period. The following year, Calo-Johannes, a descendant of the ancient kings of Bulgaria, having expelled the Greeks from that country, wrote a submissive letter to pope Innocent, beseeching his Holiness to send him a crown. With this the Pope complied, and sent Leo, his legate, with a crown and other ensigns of royalty, into Bulgaria. After the king had taken an oath of "perpetual obedience to Inno- cent and his successors, lawfully elected" he was solemnly crowned by the Legate, who on this occasion, to show the entire vassalage of the kingdom of Bulgaria to the apostolic See, pretended to grant, in the Pope's name, the privilege of coining money, a right which * Epist. Innoc. III., L. i. ep. 91, 92. Bower, vi., 187. 298 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v Peter, king of Arragon, and the emperor Otho take an oath of allegiance to pope Innocent. had always been regarded as inherent in the crown of all kings and emperors. 55. In the year 1204, Peter II., king of Arragon, travelled ex- pressly to Rome, to enjoy the honor of being crowned by the Pope himself. He was received with honors suitable to his rank, and, on the llth November, solemnly crowned by the Pope, who, with his own hand, placed the crown upon his head, after extracting from him the following extraordinary oath : " I, Peter, king of Arragoni- ans, profess and promise to be EVER FAITHFUL AND OBEDIENT TO MY LORD, POPE INNOCENT, to his Catholic successors, and the Roman church, and faithfully to preserve my kingdom in his obedience, defending the Catholic faith, and PERSECUTING HERETICAL PRAVITY. I shall maintain the liberty and immunity of the churches, and defend their rights. I shall strive to promote peace and justice throughout my dominions. So help me God, and these his holy gospels." The King, thus crowned, returned with the Pope to the church of St. Peter, and there laying his crown and his sceptre upon the altar of that saint, he received a sword from his Holiness, and in return made his kingdom tributary to the apostolic See, binding himself, his heirs, and successors for ever, to pay yearly to Innocent and his successors, two hundred and fifty pieces of gold. This grant was signed by the King, and is dated as we read it in the Acts of Innocent, at St. Peter's, the llth of November, the eighth year of king Peter's reign, and of our Lord, 1204.* 56. A few years later, upon the death of Philip, the competitor of Otho in the empire, the latter was solemnly crowned anew at Rome, upon the invitation of pope Innocent. The legates whom Innocent sent to Germany to tender this invitation to Otho, were charged by their master with the form of an oath, to be taken by the Emperor, before setting out for Rome. This oath was accordingly taken at Spire, on the 22d of March, 1208. The form of the oath was as follows : " I promise to HONOR AND OBEY POPE INNOCENT as my pre- decessors have honored and obeyed him. The elections of bishops shall be free, and the vacant Sees shall be filled by such as have been elected by the whole chapter, or by a majority. Appeals to Rome shall be made freely, and freely pursued. I promise to sup- press and abolish the abuse that has obtained of seizing the effects of deceased bishops, and the revenue of vacant Sees. I promise TO EXTIRPATE ALL HERESIES, to restore to the Roman church all her possessions, whether granted to her by my pi'edecessors, or by others, particularly the march of Ancona, the dukedom of Spoleti, and the territories of the countess Matilda, and inviolately maintain all the rights and privileges enjoyed by the apostolic *See in the kingdom of Sicily."f Upon Innocent receiving intelligence that Otho had taken the prescribed oath, he caused a copy of it to be lodged in the archives * Acta Innocentii. Bower, vi., 192, 193. f Acta Innocentii et Epist., 189. CHAP.VH.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 299 The Waldenses. Testimony of Evervinus, a zealous papist, to their character. of the Roman church, as a pattern of the oath to be taken by all future emperors. He then wit)te a letter to Otho, inviting him to receive the crown from his hands, and commending him for his filial submission and obedience to the holy See. Otho, after some delay, accepted the invitation, and was solemnly crowned by the Pope, in the church of St. Peter's, on the 17th of September, 1200, Thus we perceive that Popery maintained in the thirteenth century, as it had in the twelfth, its character of DESPOT OP THE WORLD. CHAPTER VII. THE WALDENSES AND ALBIGENSES. 57. THE spiritual tyrants who thus domineered over the sove- reigns and governments of the earth, could not brook the idea that any should be found so daring as to refuse obedience to their man- dates, or to question the right by which they claimed thus not only to " lord it over God's heritage, but also to reduce the whole world to their sovereign sway. Hence it is not difficult to account for the bitter and unrelenting hostility with which the popes of this period pursued and persecuted the harmless and interesting people, who, under the name of Cathari (i. e. puritans), Gazari, Paulicians or Publicans, Petrobrussians, poor men of Lyons, Lombards, Albi- genses, Waldenses, Vaudois, &c., offered a noble resistance to the usurped tyranny of the self-styled successors of St. Peter, and pretend- ed vicars of Christ upon earth. The testimony given by Evervinus, a zealous papist, in a letter he wrote to the celebrated Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, at the beginning of the twelfth century, relative to the doctrine and manners of these heretics is exceedingly valuable. The following is the substance of this letter : " There have lately been," says he, " some heretics discovered among us, near Cologne, of whom some have, with satisfaction, returned again to the church. One that was a bishop among them, and his companions, openly opposed us, in the assembly of the clergy and laity, the lord arch- bishop himself being present, with many of the nobility, maintaining their heresy from the words of Christ and his apostles. But, finding that they made no impression, they desired that a day might be fixed, upon which they might bring along with them men skilful in their faith, promising to return to the church, provided their teach- ers were unable to answer their opponents; but that otherwise, they would rather die than depart from their judgment. Upon this declaration, having been admonished to repent, and three days allowed them for that purpose, they were seized by the people, in 300 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v The morality and holiness of the Waldenses testified by their persecutors. their excess of zeal, and committed to the flames ! And, what is most astonishing, they came to the^take and endured the torment not only with patience, but even with joy. In this case, O holy father, were I present with you, I should be glad to ask you, how these members of Satan could persist in their heresy with such con- stancy and courage as is rarely to be found among the most reli- gious in the faith of Christ ?" He then proceeds, " Their heresy is this : they say that the church (of Christ) is only among themselves, because they alone follow the ways of Christ, and imitate the apostles, not seeking secular gains, possessing no property, follow- ing the example of Christ, who was himself poor, nor permitted his disciples to possess anything. Whereas, say they to us, ' ye join house to house, and field to field, seeking the things of this world, yea, even your monks and regular canons possess all these things.' They represent themselves as the poor ol Christ's flock, who have no certain abode, fleeing from one city to another, like sheep in the midst of wolves, enduring persecution with the apostles and martyrs : though strict in their manner of life abstemious, laborious, devout, and holy, and seeking only what is needful for bodily subsistence, living as men who are not of the world. But you, they say, lovers of the world, have peace with the world, because ye are in it. False apostles, who adulterate the word of God, seeking their own things, have misled you and your ancestors. Whereas, we and our fathers, having been born and brought up in the apostolic doctrine, have continued in the grace of Christ, and shall continue so to the end. ' By their fruits ye shall know, them,' saith Christ ; ' and our fruits are. walking in the footsteps of Christ.' They affirm THAT THE APOSTOLIC DIGNITY IS CORRUPTED BY ENGAGING ITSELF IN SECULAR AFFAIRS, WHILE IT SITS IN ST. PETER'S CHAIR. They do not hold with the baptism of infants, alleging that passage of the gospel ' He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved.' They place no confidence in the intercession of saints ; and all things observed in the church, which have not been established by Christ himself, or his apostles, they pronounce to be superstitious. They do not admit of any purgatory fire after death, contending, that the souls of men, as soon as they depart out of the bodies, do enter into rest or punishment ; proving it from the words of Solomon, ' Which way soever the tree falls, whether to the South or to the North, there it lies ;' by which means they make void all the prayers and oblations of the faithful for the deceased. " We,, therefore, beseech you, holy father, to employ your care and watchfulness against these manifold mischiefs ; and that you would be pleased to direct your pen against those wild beasts of the roads ; not thinking it sufficient to answer us, that the tower of David, to which we may betake ourselves for refuge, is sufficiently fortified with bulwarks that a thousand bucklers hang on the walls of it, all shields of mighty men. For we desire, father, for the sake of us simple ones, and who are slow of understanding, that you would be pleased, by your study, to gather all these arms into one CHAP, vii.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 301 Testimony of Bernard, Claudius, and Thuanus, relative to the doctrines of the Waldenses. place, that they might be the more readily found, and more powerful to resist these monsters. I must inform you also, that those of them who have returned to our church, tell us that they had great num- bers of their persuasion, scattered almost everywhere ; and that amongst them were many of our clergy and monks. And, as for those who were burnt, they, in the defence they made of themselves told us that this heresy had been concealed from the time of the martyrs ; and that it had existed in Greece and other countries." (Quoted by Jones, lect. xl.) 58. Bernard, though he immediately commenced a strenuous op- position to these rebels against the Pope, is yet compelled by truth to give the following testimony to their irreproachable life and man- ners. " If," says he, " you ask them of their faith, nothing can be more Christian-like : if you observe their conversation, nothing can be more blameless, and what they speak they make good by their actions. You may see a man for the testimony of his faith frequent the church, honor the elders, offer his gift, make his confession, receive the sacrament. What more like a Christian ? As to life and manners, he circumvents no man, over-reaches no man, does violence to no man. He fasts much and eats not the bread of idle- ness ; but works with his hands for his support."* Other Roman Catholic writers give the same testimony to the irreproachable lives and morals of the Waldenses. Thus Claudius, archbishop of Turin, writes, " their heresy excepted, they generally live a purer life than other Christians." And again, " in their lives they are perfect, irreproachable, and without reproach among men, addicting them- selves, with all their might, to the service of God." This testimony is the more valuable from the fact that the prelate who wrote it, notwithstanding the acknowledged excellent characters of these heretics, joined in hunting and persecuting them to death, because they would neither submit to the absurdities and impieties of Rome, nor acknowledge the usurped authority of the popes. The sum and substance of their offence is mentioned by Cassini, a Franciscan friar, where he says " that ALL THE ERRORS of these Waldenses con- sisted in this, that they denied the church of Rome to be the HOLY MOTHERv CHURCH, AND WOULD NOT OBEY HER TRADITIONS." 59. Thuanus, a celebrated Roman Catholic historian, enume- rates their heresy more at length ; he says they were charged with these tenets, viz. : " that the church of Rome, because it renounced^ the true faith of Christ, WAS THE WHORE OF BABYLON, and the barren tree which Christ himself cursed, and commanded to be plucked up ; that consequently NO OBEDIENCE WAS TO BE PAID TO THE POPE, or to the bishops who maintain her errors ; that a monastic life was the sink and dungeon of the church, the vows of which [relating to celibacy] were vain, and served only to promote the vile love of boys [or uncleanness] ; that the orders of the priest- hood were marks of the great beast mentioned in the Apocalypse ; * Bernard on the Canticles, Sermo Ixv. " Si fidem interroges," &c. Perrin, vL 20 302 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v Bloody decree of pope Alexander III., against the heretical Waldenses. that the fire of purgatory, the solemn mass, the consecration days of churches, the worship of saints, and propitiations for the dead, were the devices of Satan. Beside these principal and authentic heads of their doctrine, others were pretended, relating to marriage, the resurrection, the state of the soul after death, and meats."* The chief offence of these heretics, in the eyes of the spiritual tyrants of Rome, doubtless was, that they regarded the Pope as anti-Christ, and the apostate church of Rome, as " the Babylonish harlot," and this in the eyes of the popes was an unpardonable sin. Hence they spared no efforts to blacken their characters, and to exterminate from the earth, those who were infinitely purer in doctrine, and holier in life, than their tyrannical and powerful persecutors. While, therefore, Evervinus and Thuanus, and even Bernard, are compelled to confess the purity of their life and manners, the popes, in their persecuting edicts, not only strove to excite all to unite in extermi- nating them from the earth, but also to blacken their memory with charges of the most enormous crimes. 60. Hence in the decree issued by pope Alexander III., in the third council of Lateran, in 1179, he labors not only to excite all in exterminating these heretics, but also loads them with the most false and infamous charges. The following is an extract from this edict, as quoted by bishop Hughes, in his controversy with Mr. Brecken- ridge (page 189). The emphasising is my own. " As the blessed Leo says, although ecclesiastical discipline, content with the sacer- dotal judgment, does not exact bloody vengeance ; yet, it is assisted by the constitution of Catholic princes, in order that men, while they fear that corporal punishment may be inflicted on them, may often seek a salutary remedy. On this account because in Gascony, Albi, in the parts of Thoulouse, and in other regions, the accursed perverse- ness of the heretics variously denominated Cathari, or Patarenas, or Publicans, or distinguished by sundry names, has so prevailed, that they now no longer exercise their wickedness in private, but pub- licly manifest their errors, and seduce into their communion the sim- ple and infirm. We therefore SUBJECT TO A CURSE, both themselves and their defenders and harborers, and, under a curse, we prohibit all per sons from admitting them into their houses, or receiving them upon their lands, or cherishing them, or exercising any trade with them. But if they die in their sin, let them not receive Christian burial, under pretence of any privilege granted by us, or any other pretext whatever ; and let no offering be made for them." 61. It is observable that the persons alluded to in the above portion of this ferocious edict, are not accused of any other crime than that of heresy. In the next paragraph, various other subjects of papal fury are enumerated, who are charged with various crimes. " As to the Brabantians, Navarii, Basculi, Coterelli, and Triaverdmii, who exercise such cruelty toward the Christians, that they pay no respect to churches or monasteries, spare neither widows nor vir- * Thuani Historia, lib. vi. 3 sect. 16, and lib. xxvii. CHAP, vn.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 303 Papal promises of indulgence, to all who shall engage in butchering the Waldehses. gins, neither old nor young, neither sex nor age, but after the manner of the pagans, destroy and desolate everything, we in like manner, decree that such persons as shall protect, or retain, or en- courage them in districts in which they commit these excesses, be publicly denounced in the churches on Sundays and festival days, and that they be considered as bound by the same censure and pen- alty as the aforesaid heretics, and be excluded from the communion of the church, until they shall have abjured that pestiferous consocia- tion and heresy. But let all persons who are implicated with them in any crime (alluding to their vassals), know that they are released from the obligation of fealty, homage, and subjection to them, so long as they continue in so great iniquity." Probably the result of accurate inquiry would show that these accusations against the classes of people named in this extract, were false ; but whether they were or not, is little to our present purpose, as they are made against other people than those first mentioned. It is plain that in this decree the Gathari, or Puritans (another name for the Wal- denses), mentioned in the extract first quoted, are accused of no other offence than heresy, and yet the same promises of indulgence are given to those who take up arms against the one class as the other.* The promises are in the following words : " We likewise, from the mercy of God, and relying upon the authority of the blessed apostle, Peter and Paul, relax two years of enjoined penance to those faithful Christians, who, by the council of the bishops or other pre- lates, shall lake up arms to subdue them by fighting against them ; or, if such Christians shall spend a longer time in the business, we leave it to the discretion of the bishops to grant them a longer indulgence. As for those who shall fail to obey the admonition of the bishop to this effect, we inhibit them from a participation of the body and blood of the Lord. Meanwhile, those, who in the ardor of faith shall undertake the just labor of subduing them, we receive into the protection of the church ; granting to them the same privileges of security in property and in person, as are grant- ed to those who visit the holy sepulchre" (Labb. Condi. Sacrosan., vol. x., pages 1522, 1523.) * See Hughes and Breckenridge Controversy, pages 175, 179. Mr. Hughes quotes both of the above extracts for the purpose of convicting Mr. Breckenridge of duplicity, because he did not quote the second, when the object of Mr. Brecken- ridge was to show the persecutions carried on, not against the persons named in the second extract, but against those named in the first. Mr. Hughes then, with- out drawing any distinction between the two classes, coolly inquires, " I wonder whether men of such a stamp would not be REDUCED TO THE PENITENTIARY, if they committed such crimes in our day and in our own country." Thus endeavoring to brand with infamy those simple and holy people, whose characters even Romish historians are forced to confess were pure and irreproachable. The coolness with which this popish bishop, in the FREE UNITED STATES, and in the nineteenth century, speaks about consigning such to the penitentiary, betrays the malignance of a Saint Dominic, or Montfort, against all who, like the poor, persecuted Waldenses, or Cathari, are guilty of the crime of heresy, and shows that he wants nothing but the power to consign to the " penitentiary," or to the cells of the Inquisition, the here- tics of the United States. 304 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Waldenses burnt. Bloody edict of pope Lucius III., against the heretics. There can be little doubt that the crying offence of all these classes of heretics, notwithstanding the popes endeavored to blacken their memory, by " speaking all manner of evil against them falsely," was that which is named by Thuanus, the Romish historian, already cited, " because they inveighed too vehemently against the wealth, pride, and vices of the popes, and alienated the people from their obedience to them"* Pope Alexander III., the author of the above persecuting edict, was succeeded in 1181, by pope Lucius III. Two years before this, Peter Waldo, who, with his followers, had been anathematized by pope Alexander, died in Bohemia. Some suppose these dissenters from the corruptions of Rome, though they had existed centuries before, derived from Waldo, the name of Walden- ses, which in after ages almost superseded the various other names by which they had long been known. Through the preaching of Waldo, many had renounced the corruptions of Popery, and were in consequence exposed to the vengeance of Rome. Thirty-five were burned together in one fire at the city of Bingen, and eighteen in the city of Mentz. The bishops of both Mentz and Strasburg breathed nothing but vengeance and slaughter against them ; and in the latter city, where Waldo himself is said to have narrowly escaped apprehension, eighty persons were committed to the flames. 63. To show that the apostate church of Rome is responsible for these horrid butcheries, we will quote a few passages from a decree of the supreme head of that church, pope Lucius III., issued in 1184. This bloody edict commences as follows: "To abolish the malignity of diverse heresies, which are lately sprung up in most parts of the world, it is but fitting that the power committed to the church should be awakened, that by concurring assistance of the imperial strength, both the insolence and mal-pertness of the here- tics, in their false designs, may be crushed, and the truth of the Catholic simplicity shining forth in the holy church, may demon- strate her pure and free from the execrableness of their false doc- trines. Wherefore we, being supported by the presence and power of OUR MOST DEAR SON, FREDERICK, the most illustrious emperor of the Romans, always increaser of the empire, with the common ad- vice and counsel of our brethren, and other patriarchs, archbishops, and many princes, who, from several parts of the world, are met together, do set themselves against these heretics, who have got different names from the several false doctrines which they profess, by the sanction of this present decree, and by our apostolical author- ity, according to the tenor of these presents, we condemn all man- ner of heresy, by what name soever it may be denominated. More particularly, we declare all Catharists, Paterines, and those who call themselves the Poor of Lyons; the Passagines, Josephites, Arnoldists, to be under a perpetual anathema. And because some, under a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, as the apostle saith, assume to themselves the authority of preaching ; * Thuani Historia sui Temp., lib. vi. CHAP, m] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 305 Leaving heretics to the secular judge. Cruel edicts of the emperor Frederick II., to oblige the Pope. whereas the same apostle saith, ' How shall they preach, except they be sent ?' we therefore conclude, under the same sentence of a perpetual anathema, all those who either being forbid, or not sent, do notwithstanding presume to preach publicly or privately, without any authority received from the apostolic See, or from the bishops of their respective dioceses. As for any layman, who shall be found guilty, either publicly or privately, of any of the aforesaid crimes (that is, preaching or speaking improperly of the sacraments), unless by abjuring his heresy, and making satisfaction, he immediately return to the orthodox faith, we decree him to be left to the sentence of the secular judge, to receive condign punishment, according to the quality of the offence." The meaning of leaving these poor victims of popish cruelty " to the sentence of the secular judge," was well understood to be equiva- lent to a sentence of death, often in the most horrid form of torture and lingering agony ; as it was well understood by secular princes, that they would themselves suffer from the vengeance of the church, if they should fail to execute, to the very letter, the oath imposed upon them by the Pope, " to extirpate heresies out of the lands of their jurisdiction." We shall soon see a notable instance of papal vengeance against one of these secular judges, Count Raimond of Thoulouse, for neglecting to comply with the mandates of the Pope, to slaughter and exterminate thousands of his peaceful subjects, who were accused of the crime of heresy. 64. Before relating this account, however, it may be well to record a specimen of the manner in which these secular judges and princes understood their duty to their holy mother, the church. It consists of extracts from the decrees of the emperor Frederick II. against heretics, issued on the occasion of his coronation at Rome, to oblige the Pope, who officiated in that ceremony. " The care of the imperial government," says his majesty, " committed to us from heaven, and over which we preside, demands the material sword, which is given to us separately from the priesthood, against the enemies of the faith, and for the extirpation of heretical pravity, that we should pursue with judgment and justice those vipers and perfidious children, who insult the Lord and his church, as if they would tear out the very bowels of their mother. WE SHALL NOT SUFFER THESE WRETCHES TO LIVE, who infect the world by their seducing doctrines, and who, being themselves corrupted, more grievously taint the flock of the faithful." In a second edict, after comparing them to " ravenous wolves, adders, serpents," &c., the Emperor proceeds to accuse the heretics of the most savage cruelty to themselves ; " since," in the words of the edict, " besides the loss of their immortal souls, they expose their bodies to a cruel death, being prodigal of their lives, and fear- less of destruction, which, by acknowledging the true faith they might escape, and, which is horrible to express, their survivors are not terrified by their example. Against such enemies to God and man, we cannot contain, our indignation, nor refuse to punish them 306 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK r. Burning alive. The priest the judge, and the king the hangman. with the sword of just vengeance, but shall pursue them with so much the greater vigor, as they appear to spread wider the crimes of their superstition, to the most evident injury of the Christian faith and the church of Rome, which is adjudged to be the head of all churches." By the same edict, it is enjoined that strict inquiry be made after these heretics, and that after examination by the prelates, if any be found to err in a single point from the Catholic faith, they are, in case of persevering in their error, condemned to suffer death by the flames, and to be burned alive in public view, while all are for- bidden, under pain of the imperial indignation, to intercede in their behalf. The Emperor also by these decrees, so pleasing to the popes, declares infamous, and puts under the ban of the empire all who shall in any way receive, defend, or favor these heretics.* From this specimen of the spirit of the secular powers in that age of popish triumph, it will be easily understood what was likely to be the fate of those who were delivered up by the priests for pun- ishment to " the sentence of the secular judges." The arrange- ment by which the priests delivered up their victims to the ven- geance of the secular powers, under the hypocritical pretence that the church abhorred the shedding of blood, ' ecclesia abhorret a sanguine,' was an arrangement by which, in the words of Dr. Jor- tin, " the priest was the judge, and the king was the hangman."! But we shall proceed in the following chapter to a narrative which well illustrates the manner in which those princes were treated who hesitated to perform the office of hangman for the Pope and his minions. * See Limborch's History of the Inquisition, vol. i., chap, xii., where the de- crees from which I have quoted above are recorded at length. f Jortin's Remarks on Eccles. History, vol. Hi., p. 303. 307 CHAPTER VIII. POPE INNOCENT'S BLOODY CRUSADE AGAINST THE ALBIGENSES, UNDER HIS LEGATE, THE FEROCIOUS ABBOT OF CITEAUX, AND SIMON, EARL OF MONTFORT. G5. ABOUT the close of the thirteenth century, in consequence of the increase of the heretical Waldenses or Albigenses, particu- larly in the south of France, the Pope's legates, Guy and Reinier, were dispatched from Rome for the purpose of extirpating these heresies, and armed with papal authority, committed to the flames a large number of them at Nevers, in 1198 and following years.* These efforts, however, were attended with so little success, that pope Innocent III., whom we have already had more than one oc- casion to name, found it necessary to resort to more vigorous mea- sures. He proclaimed a CRUSADE against these unoffending and defenceless people, and dispatched an army of priests throughout all Europe, to exhort all to engage in this HOLY WAR against the enemies of his Holiness, the Pope, and of the Holy Catholic church. As these papal emissaries traversed the kingdoms of Europe, we are informed by the learned Archbishop Usher, that they had one favorite text. This was Psalm xciv., 16, " Who will rise up for me against the evil doers ? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity ?" and the application of their sermons was generally as uniform as their texts. " You see, most dear brethren, how great the wickedness of the heretics is, and how much mis- chief they do in the world. You see, also, how tenderly, and by how many pious methods the church labors to reclaim them. But with them they all prove ineffectual, and they fly to the secular power for their defence. Therefore, our holy mother, the church, though with great reluctance and grief, calls together against them the Christian army. If then you have any zeal for the faith ; if you are touched with any concern for the glory of God ; if you would reap the benefit of this great indulgence, come and receive the sign of the cross, and join yourselves to the army of the cruci- fied Saviour." CO. The reigning count of Thoulouse, the province of France where these rebels against the papal authority chiefly abounded, was Raimond VI., a man who had either too much policy or too much humanity willingly to engage in this war of extermination against his unoffending subjects. In the year 1207, Raimond was required by Peter of Castlenau, a legate of the Pope, to sign a treaty with other neighboring princes to engage in the extermina- tion of these heretics. But the Count was by no means inclined to purchase, by the renunciation of his rights, the entrance into his * History of Languedoc, book xxi. 308 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOKV Count Raimond excommunicated for refusing to butcher his subjects. Fierce letter of the Pope to him. states of a hostile army, who were to pillage or put to death all those of his vassals whom the Romish clergy should fix upon as the victims of their cruelty. He therefore refused his consent ; and Castlenau, in his wrath, excommunicated him, laid his country under an interdict, and wrote to the Pope to ratify what he had done.* 67. Few things could be more grateful to pope Innocent, than what had now taken place. He appears to have sought for an oppor- tunity to commence hostilities, being well aware that his agents were insufficient to destroy such a formidable phalanx of heresy by ordinary means. To confirm the sentence of excommunication pronounced by his legate, he wrote to Count Raimond with his own hand, on the 29th of May, 1207, and thus his letter com- menced : " If we could open your heart we should find, and would point out to you, the detestable abominations that you have commit- ted ; but as it is harder than the rock, it is in vain to strike it with the sword of salvation ; we cannot penetrate it. Pestilential man ! what pride has seized your heart, and what is your folly, to refuse peace with your neighbors, and to brave the divine laws by protect- ing the enemies of the faith ? If you do not fear eternal flames, ought you not to dread the temporal chastisements which you have merited by so many crimes ?"f Terrified by the fulminations of the Vatican, Count Raimond saw no alternative but to sign the peace with his enemies, which he accordingly did, engaging to exterminate the heretics from his territories. Peter of Castlenau, however, very soon judged that he did not proceed in the work with adequate zeal ; he therefore went to seek him, reproached him to his face with his negligence, which he termed baseness, treated him as a perjured person, as a favorer of heretics and a tyrant, and again excommunicated him. This violent scene appears to have taken place at St. Gilles^where the Count had given a meeting to the two legates. Raimond was excessively provoked, and threatened to make Castlenau pay for his insolence with his life. They parted without a reconciliation, and came to sleep, on the night of the 14th January, 1208, at a lit- tle inn on the bank of the Rhone, which river they intended to pass on the next day. One of Count Raimond's friends either followed them or accidentally met them there ; and on the morning of the 15th, after mass, this gentleman entered into a dispute with Peter of Castlenau respecting heresy and its punishment. The Legate had never spared the most insulting epithets to the advocates of toleration, and the gentleman, irritated by his language not less than by the quarrel with his lord, drew his poniard, struck the Le- gate in his side, and killed him.J * Hist, of Languedoc, book xxi., chap. 28 ; Innocentii Epist., lib. x., ep. 69. Cited by Sismondi in his valuable history of France, to whom, and to Jones in his Lect. on Eccles. Hist., I am chiefly indebted for the facts in relation to the cru- sades against the Albigenses. f Innocentii III., lib. x., ep. 69. | Petri Vallis Cera., cap. viii., p. 563. CHAP, vm.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303.. 309 No faith with heretics. Joy with which the deluded papists engage in the crusades. 68. The intelligence of this murder roused the Pope to the high- est pitch of fury. He instantly published a bull, addressed to all the counts, barons, and knights of the four provinces of the southern part of France, in which he declared that it was the devil who had instigated the Count of Thoulouse against the Holy See. He laid under an interdict all places which should afford a refuge to the murderers of Castlenau ; he demanded that Raimond of Thoulouse should be publicly anathematized in all churches, adding, that " as following the canonical sanctions of the holy fathers, we must not observe faith towards those who keep not faith towards God, or who are separated from the communion of the faithful : we discharge, by apostolical authority, all those who believe themselves bound towards this Count by any oath either of allegiance or fidelity ; we permit every catholic man, saving the right of his principal lord, to pursue his person, to occupy and retain his territories, especially for the purpose of exterminating heresy."* This first bull was speedily followed by other letters equally fulminating, addressed to all who were capable of assisting in the destruction of the Count of Thoulouse. In particular, the Pope wrote to the king of France, Philip Augustus, exhorting him to carry on in person this sacred war of extermination against here- tics. " We exhort you," said his Holiness, " that you would endea- vor to destroy that wicked heresy of the Albigenses, and to do this with more vigor than you would towards the Saracens themselves : persecute them with a strong hand ; deprive them of their lands and possessions : banish them and put Roman Catholics in their room." The legates and the monks at the same time received powers from Rome to publish a crusade among the people, offer- ing to those who should engage in this holy war of plunder and extermination against the Albigenses, the utmost extent of indul- gence which his predecessors had ever granted to those who la- bored for the deliverance of the Holy Land. The people from all parts of Europe hastened to enrol themselves in this new army, actuated by superstition and their passion for wars and adventures. They were immediately placed under the protection of the Holy See, freed from the payment of the interest of their debts, and ex- empted from the jurisdiction of all tribunals ; whilst the war which they were to carry on, almost at their own doors, and that without danger or expense, was to expiate all the vices and crimes of a whole life. Transported with joy, these infatuated and deluded mortals received the pardons and indulgences offered them, and so much the more readily that, far from regarding the task in which they were to be engaged as painful or dangerous, they would willingly have undertaken it for the pleasure alone of doing it. War was their passion, and pity for the vanquished had never disturbed their repose. In this holy war they could, without remorse, as well as * Petri Vallis, p. 564. 310 . HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v. Plenary absolution for all who should engage in butchering heretics. Terror and alarm of Rainiond without restraint from their officers, pillage all the property, mas- sacre all the men, and abuse the women and children. Never be- fore had there been so popular a crusade ! Arnold Amalric, the abbot of Citeaux, distinguished himself, with his whole congrega- tion, by his zeal in preaching up this war of extermination ; and the convents of his order, which was that of the Bernardins, of which there were seven or eight hundred in France, Italy, and Ger- many, appropriated the crusade against the Albigenses as their special province. In the name of the Pope and of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, they promised, to all who should lose their lives in this holy expedition, plenary absolution of all sins committed from the day of their birth to that of their death. 69. Raimond was overwhelmed with terror and alarm at these vast preparations, and with his nephew Roger, count of Beziers, waited on the legate Arnold, the leader of the crusades, to avert, if possible, the storm that was impending over them. The haughty abbot received them with extreme insolence, declared that he could do nothing for them, and that if they wished to obtain any mitigation of the measures adopted against them, they must ad- dress themselves to the Pope. The count of Beziers instantly per- ceived that nothing was to be expected from negotiation, and that there remained no alternative but to fortify all their principal towns, and prepare valiantly for their defence. His uncle, count Raimond, overwhelmed with terror, declared himself ready to submit to anything ; to be himself the executor of the violence of the papal party against his own subjects ; and to make war against his family rather than draw the crusades into his states. Ambas- sadors from Raimond to the Pope were received with apparent in- dulgence. It was required of them that their master should make common cause with the crusaders ; that he should assist them in exterminating the heretics ; and that he should surrender to them seven of his principal castles, as a pledge of his sincerity. On these conditions the Pope not only gave count Raimond the hope of absolution, but promised him his entire favor. All this, how- ever, was hollow and deceitful ; pope Innocent was far from par- doning Raimond in his heart, for, at the moment of promising this, he wrote to the ecclesiastics who were conducting the crusade, thus : " We counsel you, with the apostle Paul, to employ guile with regard to this Count, for in this case it ought to be called pru- dence. We must attack separately those who are separated from unity : leave for a time the count of Thoulouse, employing toward him a wise dissimulation, that the other heretics may be the more easily defeated, and that afterwards we may crush him when he shall be left alone."* Such were the means that this crafty and ty- rannical Pope thought fit to employ in order to crush those who hesitated to imbrue their hands in the blood of such as he chose to brand with the name of heretics. * Innocentii HI., Epist., lib. xi., ep. 232. Count Raimond's degrading Penance whipped around the Tomb of the Monk Castlenau. CHAP, vm.] POPERY THE WORLD'S DESPOT A. D. 1073-1303. 313 Count Raimond's degrading penance. Whipped on his naked shoulders by the Pope's legate 70. In the spring of the year 1209, the crusading army began to be put in motion ; the campaign was limited to forty days. Some authors have computed it at three, and others at five hun- dred thousand men; and this immense body precipitated them- selves upon Languedoc. When count Raimond learned that these terrible bands of fanatics were about to move, and that they were all directed towards his states, he was struck with terror, for he had placed himself in their power, and consented to purchase his absolution from the hands of the Pope's legate, by the most humili- ating concessions. He was ordered to repair to the church that he might receive absolution from the Pope's legate. But before this was granted, he was compelled to take a solemn oath upon the Corpus Domini, that is the consecrated host, and upon the relics of the saints, that he would obey the Pope and the holy Roman church so long as he lived, that he would pursue the Albigenses with fire and sword, till they were totally extirpated, and subjected to obe- dience to the Pope. Having taken this oath at the door of the church, he was ordered by the Legate to strip himself naked, and humbly submit to the penance imposed on him for the death of the monk Peter Castlenau. Count Raimond protested against this hu- miliating penance, solemnly asserting that he had not been privy to the murder of the monk. But his protestations were in vain ; the vast army of the crusaders was at his gates, and he had no re- source but unqualified submission to the popish tyrants who now held him in their grasp. On the 18th of June, therefore, the Count " having stripped himself naked from head to foot," says Bower, " with only a linen cloth around his waist for decency's sake, the Legate threw a priest's stole around his neck, and leading him by it into the church nine times around the pretended martyr's grave," he inflicted the discipline of the church upon the naked shoulders of the humbled prince with the bundle of rods that he held in his hand. The Legate, at length, granted him the dear-bought absolu- tion, after obliging him to renew all the oaths he had taken relative to the extirpation of heretics, obedience to the Pope, &c., with the addition of another, in which he promised inviolably to maintain all the rights, privileges, immunities, and liberties of the church and clergy.* (See Engraving.) After perusing the above account of the punishment of Count Raimond, for refusing to join with these popish bloodhounds, in the extermination of the heretics, the reader will be prepared to appre- ciate the assertion sometimes made by papists, even in our own day, viz. : that the Catholic church has never persecuted (! /) but that the heretics who have suffered death for their opinions, have suffered according to the laws of the countries where they resided. After the submission of his uncle Roger, the viscount of Beziers, according to the old chronicle of Thoulouse, applied to the Pope's * History of the Popes, in vita Innocentii El. Petri Vallis, History of Langue- doc, bookxxi., p. 162. 314 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK v Inhuman treatment of the inhabitants of Beziers, by the papal Legate. legate, and offered to make some humiliating concessions, but being angrily repelled, he prepared to defend himself to the best of his ability. He had chiefly calculated on the defence of his two great cities, Beziers and Carcassone, and he had divided between them his principal forces. After visiting Beziers, to assure himself that the place was well supplied with everything necessary for the defence of their lives, he retired to Carcassone, a city built upon a rock, and partly surrounded by the river Aude, and whose two suburbs were themselves surrounded by walls and ditches, and there shut himself up. About the middle of July, 1209, the crusad- ing army arrived under the walls of Beziers, in three bodies. They had been preceded by the bishop of the place, who, after having visited the Legate, and delivered to him a list of those amongst his flock whom he suspected of heresy, and whom he wished to see consigned to the flames, returned into the city to represent to his flock the dangers to which they were exposed, exhorting them to surrender their heretical fellow-citizens to the avengers of their faith, rather than draw upon themselves and their children, the wrath of heaven and the church. " Tell the Legate," replied the citizens, whom he had assembled in the cathedral of St. Nicaise, " that our city is good and strong that our Lord will not fail to succor us in our great necessities, and that rather than commit the baseness de- manded of us, we would eat our own children." Nevertheless, there was no heart so bold as not to tremble, when the crusaders were encamped under their walls ; " and so great was the assem- blage of tents and pavilions," says one of their historians, " that it appeared as if all the world was collected there ; at which those of the city began to be greatly astonished, for they thought they were only fables which their bishop had come to tell them and advise them."* 71. The citizens of Beziers, though astonished, were not dis- couraged. Whilst their enemies were still occupied in tracing their camp, they made a sally and attacked them unawares. But the crusa- ders were still more terrible for their fanaticism and boldness, than for their numbers ; they repulsed the citizens with great loss. After this, they entered the city, and found themselves masters of it, before they had even formed their plan of attack. The knights learning that they had triumphed without fighting, applied to the pope's legate, Arnold Amalric, to know how they should distinguish the Catholics from the heretics ; to which he made this reply " KILL THEM ALL ; THE LORD WILL KNOW WELL THOSE THAT ARE HIS !" ' TuEZ LES TOUS, DIEU CONNOIT CEUX I The dead L/oil_. ot u i'o|je iyiug m CHAP, n.1 POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 383 A popish priest's lament that the Bible should be made common to the laity and to women. relative to this first translation of the Scriptures into the English language, are well illustrated by a passage from the historical work of a popish contemporary of Wickliff, Knighton, a canon of Lei- cester. "Christ delivered his gospel," says he, " to the clergy and doctors of the church, that they might administer to the laity and to weaker persons, according to the state of the times, and the wants of man. But this master John Wickliff translated it out of Latin into English, and thus laid it more open to the laity, and to women who can read, than it formerly had been to the most learned of the clergy, even to those of them who had the best understanding. And in this way the gospel pearl is cast abroad, and trodden under foot of swine, and that which was before precious both to clergy and laity, is rendered as it were the common jest of both ! The jewel of the church is turned into the sport of the people, and what was hitherto the principal gift of the clergy and divines, is made for ever common to the laity." What would this popish hater of the bible have said could he have foreseen how " common to the laity," and even to " women," the Holy Scriptures would have become in the nineteenth century, when the whole of God's woi d can be pur- chased for an English shilling ? Then a copy of the Scriptures could not be procured by the artisan short of the entire earnings of years ; now it can be procured by the poorest laborer for less than the earnings of a day. True, the copies of Wickliff's Bible were multiplied with astonishing rapidity, considering that printing was not invented, and each one had to be transcribed with the patient labor of the pen ; still it is evident that the possession even of a New Testament could only be hoped for by those who were comparatively rich.* 18. Notwithstanding the malice of the Pope and the priests to- ward Wickliff, for thus opening to the common people the Scrip- tures, in which they might learn for themselves the errors of Rome, through the kindness of a protecting providence, he was permitted to die peacefully on his bed, December 31, 1384. The popish clergy in England were so incensed at the in- creasing circulation of the English Bible, that in 1390, a few years after the reformer's death, the prelates brought forward a bill in the house of lords for suppressing Wickliff's translations. The duke of Lancaster is said to have interfered on this occasion, boldly de- claring, " We will not be the dregs of all, seeing that other nations forgyve to us oure synnes, and dense us in us. If we confess our sins, he is fro al wickidnesse. and if we seien faithful and just to forgive us our sins, that we hau not synned, we maken him and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- a Her, and his word in not in us. ness. If we say that we have not sin- ned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. * From the register of Alnwick, bishop of Norwich, in 1429, it appears that the cost of a testament of Wickliff's version, was 21. 16s. 8d. (equal to more than 20Z., or one hundred dollars of our present money). At that time five pounds were considered a sufficient allowance for the annual maintenance of a tradesman or a curate. (Life of Wickliff in British Reformers, vol. i. p. 25.) 384 HISTORY OP ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. Popish efforts to stop the circulation of the English Scriptures. WickUff 's bold expostulations. have the law of God, which is the law of our faith, written in their own language." He added that he would maintain our having the divine law in our own tongue, against those, whoever they should be, who first brought in the bill. The Duke being seconded by others, the bill was thrown out. Three years previously, in 1387, a severe statute had been revived at Oxford, which is thus de- scribed in a prologue for the English Bible, written by one of Wickliff's followers: "Alas! the greatest abomination that ever was heard among Christian clerks is now purposed in England by worldly clerks and feigned religious, and in the chief university of our realm, as many true men tell with great wailing. This hor- rible and devilish cursedness is purposed of Christ's enemies, and traitors of all Christian people, that no man shall learn divinity, or holy writ, but he that hath done his form in art, that is, who hath commenced in arts, and hath been regent two years after. Thus it would be nine or ten years before he might learn holy writ." In the course of half a century, however, when these priests of Rome, after having burned the bones of Wickliff, because they could not burn him alive, had at their command the fire and the faggot, we shall see that they were more successful in their efforts to prevent the circulation of the Scriptures in the English language. 19. It would be interesting to present to the reader copious specimens of the bold and earnest manner in which Wickliff argued against the priests of Rome in favor of the circulation of the Scrip- tures in the vulgar tongue, but the limits and design of this work forbid, and I must refer those who wish to study further the life and writings of Wickliff to the authorities mentioned in the note.* A single specimen I must quote of his vigorous mode of reproving those popish priests who withheld from the people the possession of the Scriptures, and attached a greater importance to the decisions of popes and councils than to the dictates of the unerring word. "All those," says Wickliff, "who falsify the pope's bulls, or a bish- op's letter, are cursed grievously in all churches, four times in the year. Lord, why was not the gospel of Christ admitted by our worldly clerks into this sentence ? Hence it appeareth, that they magnify the bull of a pope more than the gospel ; and in proof of this, they punish men who trespass against the bulls of the pope more than those who trespass against the gospel of Christ. Accord- mgly, the men of this world fear the pope and his commandments more than the gospel of Christ, or the commands of God. It is thus that the wretched beings of this world are estranged from * See Vaughan's life and writings of Wickliff, chap. viii. ; Lewis's life of Wickliff, passim ; JBaber's, ditto, prefixed to his edition of Wickliff's New Testa- ment, and especially Wickliff's tract, entitled " Anti-Christ's labor to destroy holy writ," published from the MS. in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cam- bridge, in the British Reformers, vol. i., page 172 178. I am happy to inform the reader that this valuable set of works, the Lives and Writings of the British Reformers, in 12 volumes, has recently been made accessible to the American reader, by its republication from the London edition by the Presbyterian Board of Publication. CHAP, n.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 385 Articles from Wickliff's works condemned by the council of Constance. faith, and hope, arid charity, and become corrupt in heresy and blas- phemy, even worse than heathens. True teaching is the debt most due to holy church, and is most charged of God, and most profitable to Christian souls. As much, therefore, as God's word, and the bliss of heaven in the souls of men, are better than earthly goods ; so much are these worldly prelates, who withdraw the great debt of holy teaching, worse than thieves, more accursedly sacrilegious than ordinary plunderers, who break into churches and steal thence chalices and vestments, or ever so much gold. The greatest of all sins is to deprive men of faith, and of the mirror of Christ's life, which is the ground of his well-being hereafter." 20. About thirty years after the death of WicklifF, the coun- cil of Constance assembled for the purpose of healing the western schism, and purging the church of heresy. One principal business of the council was to examine the opinions of John Huss, of Bohe- mia, which had lately given much trouble to the bigoted and blinded adherents of Popery in that kingdom. Before, however, smiting, in the person of John Huss, such doctrines as were subversive of the power of the priests, it was thought advisable to brand with repro- bation the source from which they had been taken.* The council remembered that, toward the close of the preceding century, the world had seen a celebrated heresiarch go unpunished ; it recol- lected that Wickliff had peaceably expired in the very country where his doctrines had been condemned ; that his mortal remains reposed in consecrated ground ; and that his writings were in cir- culation throughout Europe. In citing him before it, the council proceeded against his genius and his dead body. Forty-five propo- sitions, attributed to Wickliff, and already condemned in England, had been similarly dealt with at Rome, in 1412, in a council con- voked by John XXIII. These same articles were again brought forward at Constance, and formed the principal ground of the accu- sation laid against him. This great cause was brought before the council and judged, but without any discussion, in the eighth session. The assembly was as solemn as any of the preceding ones. The Emperor was present ; Cardinal de Viviers occupied the president's chair, and the Patriarch of Antioch celebrated mass. The passage of the gospel chosen to be read for the occasion was that beginning with the words, " Beware of false prophets." 21. Among the articles attributed to Wickliff, and solemnly condemned by the council, were five, which were so many violent attacks directed against the convents and monks of all the orders, who under the appearance of poverty, drew together as much wealth as possible, and who were the most indefatigable champions of the privileges and the abuses of the Church of Rome. WicklifF designated them by the appellation of Satan's synagogue. One of the articles condemned under this head, was the following : " Monks ought to earn their livelihood by the labor of their hands, and not by begging" This proposition was declared to be false, rash, and 386 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vj. Wickliff's bones condemned by the council to be dug up and burnt. founded on error, because it was written that the birds of the air reaped not, neither did they spin. By the birds thus mentioned, said the council, were to be understood the saints who flew toward heaven (! !) Three other articles combated the Roman doctrine relative to the mass, and denied the bodily presence of Jesus Christ in the sacra- ment of the Eucharist, one directly asserting the folly of be- lieving in indulgences, and another speaking of the Pope as Anti- Christ. But the most remarkable condemnation of this infallible general council, was that of Wickliff's proposition, which de- clares the FAMOUS DECRETALS OF EARLY POPES to be false and apo- cryphal. The spurious character of these forged decretals has since been proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, and is admitted (since it is impossible to deny it) even by Romanists ; so that, after all, the infallible council was wrong the papists themselves being judges and the poor dead heretic was right, whose opinions were so unceremoniously condemned, and whose mouldering bones were so savagely ordered to be dug up from his grave and burnt ! The published works of Wickliff were condemned en masse, but his Dialogus and Trialogus* were thought worthy of special mention. " As to Wickliff himself," says L'Enfant, "the council declared, that since they had, after the strictest inquiry, decided that the said Wickliff died AN OBSTINATE HERETIC, therefore they condemn his memory, and order his bones to be dug up, if they can be distin- guished from the bones of the faithful, and THROWN UPON A DUNG- HILL."! 22. This savage sentence was not enforced till the year 1428, at the command of pope Martin V., but then the 'popish execution- ers of the dead reformer's bones, in their willing zeal, transcended the sentence of the council. They dug his remains from the grave in the chancel of the church at Lutterworth, where they had peace- fully reposed for over forty years, burnt them to ashes, and then cast them into a neighboring brook, called the Swift. " And so," says Fox, "was he resolved into three elements, earth, fire and water ; they thinking thereby to abolish both the name and doc- trine of Wickliff for ever. Not much unlike to the example of the old pharisees and sepulchre knights, who when they had brought the Lord to the grave, thought to make him sure never to rise again. But these and all others must know, that as there is no council against the Lord, so there is no keeping down of verity, but it will spring and come out of dust and ashes, as appeared right well in this man. For though they digged up his body, burned his bones, and drowned his ashes, yet the word of God and truth of his doctrine, with the fruit and success thereof, they could not burn, * See an extract of this famous production of the reformer in the volume of the British Reformers before referred to, occupying five pages, 179 183. See also a summary of the Trialogus, including several extracts in L'Enfant's history of the council of Constance, in 2 vols. quarto ; London, 1739 : vol. i., pp. 231 241. f L'Enfant's Council of Constance, vol. i., 231. CHAP, m.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 387 The scattering of his ashes an emblem of the dispersion of his doctrine. John Huss, of Bohemia. which yet TO THIS DAY, for the most part of his articles, do remain, notwithstanding the transitory body and bones of the man were thus consumed and dispersed." I will close this account of the " morning star of the Reforma- tion," by citing the words of Fuller the historian, in reference to the bones of Wickliff words which are worthy to be written in letters of gold. " The brook Swift did convey his ashes into Avon, the Avon into Severn, the Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. AND THUS THE ASHES OF WICKLIFF ARE THE EMBLEM OF HIS DOCTRINE, WHICH IS NOW DISPERSED ALL THE WORLD OVER."* CHAPTER III. JOHN HUSS OF BOHEMIA. HIS CONDEMNATION AND MARTYRDOM BY THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. 23. DURING the latter years of the venerable Wickliff, a youth was growing up in an obscure village in Bohemia, who was des- tined to bear the torch of gospel truth which the English reformer had kindled, into the very recesses of popish darkness, to seal, with the blood of martyrdom, his testimony against the corruptions of anti-Christ, and to transmit, with a martyr's hand, that torch of truth through a long succession of spiritual descendants. This youth was John Huss, or John of Huss, or Hussenitz, the small village of Bohemia which was rendered illustrious by his birth, on the 6th of July, 1373. At the death of Wickliff in 1384, Huss was a boy of eleven, pursuing his studies at a school in the town of Prachatitz, and aiming by his diligence and assiduity to reward the care and the tenderness of a kind and widowed mother, f It is related of the youthful John Huss, that when he was one evening reading by the fire the life of St. Laurence, his imagination * Fuller's Church History of Britain, from the birth of Christ till 1646 book iv., page 171. If Fuller could thus speak two centuries ago, what would he have said, had he been living now, and beheld the doctrines of Wickliff and the New Testament spreading in India, Burmah, Persia, China, Africa and the Islands of the South Seas ? f See VEmfanfs Council of Constance, book i., chap. 20 to which valuable and authentic work, together with the work of Bonnechose, I am indebted for most of the facts in the present chapter. The work of L'Enfant is the great store- house of facts and authorities, to which subsequent writers, including Bonnechose, have had recourse, in reference to the lives of Huss and Jerome, and the proceed- ings of the council of Constance, which condemned them .*o the flames. It is a work, the accuracy of which rests not merely upon the authority of the learned L'Enfant though that is highly respectable but upon the testimony of Romish writers themselves, who are constantly referred to by L'Enfant. 388 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. Husa's first feelings at the perusal of the writings of Wickliff. His subsequfint iiivorabVo opinion. kindled at the narration of the martyrs sufferings, and he thrust his own hand into the flames. Being suddenly prevented by one of his fellow-pupils from holding it there, and then questioned as to his design, he replied : " I was only trying what part of the tortures of this holy man I might be capable of enduring." To the exemplary moral character and excellent mental ability of Huss, even Romish writers have borne testimony. " Thus," says the Jesuit Balbinus, " John Huss was even more remarkable for his acuteness than his eloquence ; but the modesty and severity of his conduct, his austere and irreproachable life, his pale and melancholy features, his gentle- ness and affability to all, even the most humble, persuaded more than the greatest eloquence."* 24. In the boyhood of Huss, the writings of Wickliff were al- ready known in Bohemia. They had probably been brought there from England, in consequence of the intercourse between the two coun- tries, resulting from the fact that the queen of Richard II., at that time king of England, was a Bohemian princess, the sister of king Wenceslaus. At the first perusal of Wickliff's writings, it is said that he read them with a pious horror ; but in after years, when his judgment became more matured, and his knowledge of the corrup- tions and disorders of the popes and the priests more extensive, he formed a far more favorable opinion of the doctrines of the English reformer, though he clung, even to the close of his life, to some Romish opinions which were rejected by Wickliff. It is even related of him, by ^Eneas Sylvius, afterwards pope Pius II., that after entering upon the priesthood he was accustomed, in his dis- courses from the pulpit of Bethlehem, to address his earnest vow to Heaven, that, " whenever he should be removed from this life, he might be admitted to the same regions where the soul of Wickliff resided ; since he doubted not, that he was a good and holy man, and worthy of a habitation in heaven."f As the disgraceful schism continued, Huss, who had now entered upon the priesthood, studied more seriously the writings of Wick- liff, and spoke of them with greater praise. He put himself for- ward, neither as the leader of a sect, nor an innovator : he laid claim to no admiration, or submission, or eulogium, from others ; he simply drew his force frojn the authority of the Divine word, which he preached in his chapel of Bethlehem with an indefatigable zeal, and which, it was asserted, the priests had disfigured or veiled to such a degree, that it seemed as if the Holy Word was then for * Subtilior tamen quam eloquentior semper est habitus Hussus ; sed mores ad omnem servitutem conformati, vita horrida et sine deliciis, omnibus abrupta, quam nullus accusare posset, tristis et exhausta facies, languens corpus, et parata omni- bus obvia, etiam vilissimo cuique, benevolentia, omni lingua facundius perorabant. (Balbinus, Epit. Rer. Bohem., p. 431.) f "Qui, cum se libenter audiri animadverteret, multa de libris Viclefi in medium attulit, asserens in iis omnem veritatem contineri ; adjiciensque crebro inter prscdi- candum, se, postquam ex luce migraret, ea loca proficisci cupere, ad quae Viclefi anima pervenisset; quern virum fuisse bonum, sanctum, coeloque dignum non dubitaret." (JEn. Syl Hisl. Boh., 1. xxxv.) CHAP, m.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 389 Huss gives himself to his destined work. WicklilF's writings burnt in Bohemia. the first time brought forward in Bohemia. Less daring than Wick- lift', John Huss admitted in principle the greater part of the dis- tinctive dogmas of the Roman Church, which the former rejected. In certain ones, such as the efficacy of prayers for the dead, the worship of saints, auricular confession, and the power of the priests to give absolution and to excommunicate, he blamed the principle much less than the abuse. Upon the grand fundamental principle of the appeal to the Scriptures as the only infallible authority, Huss agreed perfectly with the English reformer, and this contained in itself the seeds of a complete revolution in the anti-scriptural church of Rome. He also agreed with him in the necessity of bringing back the clergy to discipline and morality, and this, in that corrupt age, arrayed against him the whole priesthood as a body. 25. Huss had to encounter a severe conflict with himself, before he could venture to declare himself openly as the reformer of the abuses of the church and the clergy. Referring to a passage in Ezekicl viii. 8, 9, " And when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. And the Lord said unto me, Go in and behold the wicked abominations that they do here," he exclaims, " I also, I, have been raised up by God to dig in the wall, in order that the multiplied abo- minations of the holy place may be laid open. It has pleased the Lord to draw me forth from the place where I was, like a brand from the burning. Unhappy slave of my passions as I was, it was necessary that God himself should rescue me, like Lot from the burning of Sodom ; and I have obeyed the voice which said to me, Dig in the wall. .... I next beheld a door, and that door was the Holy Scriptures, through which I contemplated the abominations of the monks and the priests, laid open before me and represented under divers emblems. Never did the Jews and Pagans commit such horrible sins in presence of Jesus Christ, as those bad Chris- tians and hypocritical priests commit every day in the midst of the Church."* From that time (about 1407), Huss gave himself to what he conceived his destined work, grappling with the whole body of the clergy, and boldly reproving their scandalous and immoral lives, from the obscure curate or monk, to the luxurious cardinals and rival pontiffs of a corrupt and apostate church. 26. On the 20th December, 1409, pope Alexander V. issued his bull against the doctrines and writings of WicklifF, forbidding all to preach or teach his doctrines in private chapels or any places whatever. In obedience to this bull, the archbishop of Prague and primate of Bohemia caused upwards of two hundred volumes, beautifully written and richly ornamented, to be burned without any further proceedings,! which act gave birth to very formidable resentments. The price of books, which at that period were all manuscripts, was, before the invention of printing, elevated in pro- portion to their rarity, and their destruction almost always caused * Hist, et Monument. J. Hus., p. 503. \ Supra ducenta volumina fuisse traduntur. (JEneas Sylvius, Hist. Boh., p. 69.) 390 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. The Pope lays an interdict on the city of Prague, on account of Huss. Huss's pioiis letters. a serious loss to the possessors. A great number of the books burned by the Archbishop belonged to members of the University of Prague. That dignitary had therefore violated their privileges, and John Huss undertook their defence, being doubly offended by this act of episcopal despotism, both in his authority as rector, and in his esteem for Wickliff. Upon the accession of pope John XXIII. in 1410, that violent and vicious pontiff immediately sum- moned the Bohemian reformer to appear before his court at Bo- logne, and upon Huss refusing to comply with the summons, he was excommunicated, the city of Prague laid under an interdict, and the priests forbidden to perform the rites of baptism or burial, so long as John Huss continued in the city. Against this sentence, Huss appealed from the pretended vicar of God to the tribunal of God himself. " Our Lord Jesus Christ," said he, " real God and real man, when encompassed by pontiffs, scribes, pharisees, and priests, at once his judges and accusers, gave his disciples the admirable example of submitting their cause to the omniscient and omnipotent God. In pursuance of this holy example, I now appeal to God, seeing that I am oppressed by an unjust sentence, and by the pre- tended excommunication of the pontiff's scribes, pharisees, and judges seated in the chair of Moses, I, John Huss, present this my appeal to Jesus Christ, my Master and my Judge, who knows and protects the just cause of the humblest of men." 27. The persecuted reformer, though enjoying the protection of the royal family, chose to retire for the present to his native village, from whence he wrote to his spiritual children to explain to them the cause of his retirement, in the following pious and affecting strain. " Learn, beloved," says he, " that if I have withdrawn from the midst of you, it is to follow the precept and example of Jesus Christ, in order not to give room to the ill-minded to draw on them- selves eternal condemnation, and in order not to be to the pious a cause of affliction and persecution. I have retired also through an apprehension that impious priests might continue for a longer time to prohibit the preaching of the Word of God amongst you ; but I have not quitted you to deny the divine truth, for which, with God's assistance, / am willing to die"* In another of these admirable letters, he exhorts them not to be cast down by terror, if the Lord should try some among them. Then alluding to the example of Jesus, he says : " He came to the aid of us miserable sinners, sup- porting hunger, thirst, cold, heat, watching and fatigue ; when giv- ing us his Divine instructions, he suffered weighty sorrows and giave insults from the priests and scribes, to such a point that they called him a blasphemer, and declared that he had a devil ; assert- ing that he, whom they had excommunicated as a heretic, and whom they had driven from their city and crucified as an accursed one, could not be God. If, then, Christ had to support such things he, who cured all kinds of diseases by his mere word, without any * Hist, et Monum. Hus., t. i., p. 117. CHAP, m.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 391 His presentiment of martyrdom. His noble and illustrious friend, Jerome of Prague recompense on earth who drove out devils, raised the dead, and taught God's holy word who did no harm to any one, who com- mitted no sin, and who suffered every indignity from the priests, simply because he laid open their wickedness why should we be astonished, in the present day, that the ministers of anti-Christ, who are far more covetous, more debauched, more cruel, and more cun- ning, than the Pharisees, should persecute the servants of God overwhelm them with . indignitv, curse, excommunicate, imprison, and kill them ?" In some of his letters, written about the same time, Huss mani- fests a vague presentiment of martyrdom. It is thus, that, writing to the new rector of the University of Prague, he says : " I know well that, if I persevere in what is just, no evil, whatever it may be, will be able to turn me from the paths of truth. If I desire to live piously in Christ, it is necessary for me to suffer for his name. . . . What are to me the riches of the age ! What the indigni- ties, which, endured with humility, prove, purify, and illuminate; the children of God ! What, in fact, is death, should I be torn from this wretched existence ! He who loses it here below, triumphs over death itself, and finds the real life. As for me, I have no desire to live in this corrupt age : I shall, I trust, affront death itself, if the mercy of the Lord comes to my aid." Huss goes on to draw an energetic picture of the licentiousness of the clergy, in which bpdy he sees anti-Christ ; and then, giving free vent to his grief, he exclaims : " Wo, then, to me, if I do not preach against an abomi- nation of the kind ! Wo to me if I do not lament, if I do not write ! . . . Already the great eagle takes its flight, and cries, ' Wo ! wo ! to the inhabiters of the earth !' "* 28. Amidst all the dangers and trials, however, to which the godly Huss was exposed, there were many of his friends who, in the face of danger, remained faithful to the doctrine he had taught them and to their beloved teacher. But amongst them all, the most illustrious was he whose name has been handed down to posterity, inseparable from his own Jerome of Prague, doctor of theology. This learned and eloquent doctor was one of the most eminent men of his time. He had studied at Oxford, and had defended most brilliant theses at Paris against Gerson, as well as the most cele- brated universities of Europe. Even before his return to Bohemia, he had signalized himself by a strong opposition to the church of Rome. He was thrown into prison at Vienna, as a favorer of Wickliff; and, being set at liberty at the request of the University of Prague, he came to join John Huss in this city. In a short time, he guarded no measures with respect to the Pope and the cardinals : and, amongst other problems, he openly proposed the following : Whether the Pope possessed more power than another priest and whether the bread in the Eucharist, or the body of Christ, possessed more virtue in the mass of the Roman pontiff, than in that of any * Hist, et Mon. Hus., Epist. iv., t. i., p. 118. 392 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOS vi. Jerome's contrast. Huss's faithful rebukes of papal indulgences. other officiating ecclesiastic ? One day, Jerome and some of his friends drew a sketch of Christ's disciples, on one side, following with naked feet their Master mounted on an a^s ; whilst on the other they represented the pope and the cardinals, in great state, on superb horses, and preceded, as usual, with drums and trumpets. Those pictures were exposed in public ; and it is easy to conceive the effect that they ought to produce on an excitable and enthusiastic multitude. (See Engraving.) Such was Jerome of Prague, whom his contemporaries have recognized as superior in intellectual powers to John Huss ; but the latter, by his manner of living, his character, and his piety, possessed so great an authority, that Jerome always felt its ascendency. John Huss was the master, Jerome the disciple ; and nothing does more honor to those two men than this deference this voluntary humili- ation of genius at the feet of virtue. 29. The opposition of both Jerome and Huss to the Pope's bull of crusade against Ladislaus issued, as we have already seen (page 375). by John XXIII. in 1411, tended to increase the hatred of that pontiff to the Bohemian reformers. Huss did not content himself with attacking the bull, but animadverted with considerable sever- ity, against the Pope's pretended power of indulgences, of granting the full remission of their sins to such as should engage in the pious work of butchering all who opposed his Holiness in his views of ambition. After referring to the sentiments of Augustine and Grq- gory, Huss says : " When, then, those two great saints have not dared to promise remission of sins even to those who have done penance, with what countenance can pope John, in his bull, promise the most entire remission of sins, and the recompense of eternal salvation, to his accomplices ! If, notwithstanding the example of Christ, the Pope strives for temporal domination, it is evident that he sins in that, as do those w T ho aid him in that object. How, then, could the indulgence granted for a criminal act be of any value ?" The Pope cannot know, without an especial revelation, if he is predestined to salvation ; he cannot, therefore, give such indulgence to himself; it is not, besides, contrary to the faith, that many popes who have granted ample indulgences are damned. Of what value, therefore, are their indulgences in the sight of God ? No saint in Scripture has granted indulgences for the absolution of the penalty of the trespass during a certain number of years and days ? our doctors have never dared to name any of the Fathers as having instituted and published indulgences ; because, in fact, they are ignorant of their origin : and if these indulgences, which are repre- sented as so salutary to mankind, have slumbered, as it were, for the space of a thousand years and more, the reason most probably is, that covetousness had not at that period, as at present, reached its highest point. In order to show the absurdity of the pretended power to pardon the sins of those who should contribute money toward the Pope's crusade, Huss uses the following illustration : "Of two men," says he, "one has been an offender all his life ; but FROM V. ' S c: o x T !t ,\ s T. Primitive Christianity Christ, the Master. Papal Christianity The Pope, the Servant " The servant ia not above his master. ' CHAP, rn.1 POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 395 Huss loses the favor of the King. Invites a discussion at Prague on the Pope's bull of Crusade. provided he pays a sum of money, he can obtain, by means of a very slight contrition, remission of his sins, and of their consequent penalty : the other is a man of worth who has never committed but venial sins ; yet, if he gives nothing, he shall have no pardon. Now, according to the bull, if those two men should happen to die, the former the criminal will go straight to heaven, escaping the pains of purgatory ; and the second the just man will have to undergo them. Were such indulgences really available in heaven, we ought to pray to God that war might be waged against the Pope, in order that he might throw open all the treasures of the Church !"* In reading these extracts from the writings of Huss, it is impos- sible not to think of the still more severe and pointed rebukes of Luther, a hundred years later, of this blasphemous pretence of par- doning sin for money, excited by the conduct of the infamous Tet- zel, the indulgence-peddler of pope Leo X. 30. This noble reply of Huss to the bulls of John XXIII., while it increased his favor and influence with the people, drew on him the hostility of the court. The King was then at war with Ladislaus ; his favor, like that of the greater part of princes, was subordinate to his political interests : he, therefore, accepted the bulls, and with- drew for a time his support from John Huss. Prague was then divided between two powerful parties. All who had favors to ex- pect from the King or the people declared themselves in support of the bulls ; and to this period must be assigned the rupture between Huss and Stephen Paletz, an influential member of the clergy. Paletz had been his friend and disciple ; but being as anxious for the advancement of his fortune as Huss was for the progress of the truth, he preached in favor of the bulls and the indulgences. These reverses, however, did not shake the resolution of Huss. He caused a placard to be put upon the doors of the churches and monasteries of Prague, inviting the public, and particularly all doctors, priests, monks and scholars, to come forward and discuss the following theses : " Whether, ac- cording to the law of Jesus Christ, Christians could, with a safe con- science, approve of the crusade ordered by the Pope against Ladis- laus and his followers, and whether such a crusade could turn to the glory of God, to the safety of the Christian populations, and to the welfare of the kingdom of Bohemia ?" On the appointed day, the concourse was prodigious ; and the rector, in alarm, endeavored, though in vain, to dissolve the assem- bly. A doctor of canon law stood up and delivered a defence of the Pope and the bulls ; then, falling upon John Huss, he said " You are a priest ; you are subordinate to the Pope, who is your spiritual father. It is only filthy birds that defile their own nest ; and Ham was cursed for having uncovered his father's shame." At these words, the people murmured, and were in great commotion. Already were stones beginning to fly, when John Huss interfered and calmed the storm. After him, the impetuous Jerome of Prague * Hist, et Monum. Hs., Tom. i., p. 215, &c. 39G HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK VL Popular tumult at Prague. Valuable testimony of cardinal Peter D'Ailly- addressed the multitude, and terminated a vehement harangue with these words : " Let those who are our friends unite with us ; Huss and I are going to the palace, and we will let the vanity of those indulgences be seen." Jerome was, however, persuaded not to go to the palace, but the feelings of the excited multitude could not be calmed. On the fol- lowing Sunday an event occurred which raised this excitement to an almost ungovernable pitch. A report was in circulation that three men had been thrown into prison by the magistrates, for hav- ing harangued against the Pope and indulgences. The students rose ; arms were taken up, and Huss, followed by the people and the scholars, proceeded to the town-house, and demanded that the prisoners' lives should be spared. Two thousand men were in arms in the square. " Return peaceably to your homes," cried John Huss to them ; " the prisoners are pardoned." The crowd shouted their applause and withdrew ; but, a short time after, blood was seen to flow in abundance from the prison. The senators had de- termined on the most dangerous course, that of endeavoring to inspire terror, after having exhibited it themselves. An executioner had been introduced, and had beheaded the prisoners, and it was their blood which had escaped. At this sight a furious tumult arose. The doors of the prison were burst open, the bodies taken off, and transported in linen shrouds under the vault of the chapel of Bethlehem. There they were interred with great honors, the scholars singing in chorus over their tomb, " Tliey are saints icho have given up their body for the gospel of God." Indignation gra- dually pervaded the whole of Bohemia, and John Huss, in his vio- lent invectives against the Pope, used but little moderation. He attacked, in the most unmeasured language, the despotism and simony of the pontiff, as well as the debauchery and display of the priests ; he rejected also the traditions of the Church respecting fasts and abstinence, and he opposed to every other authority that of the Scriptures. The popish doctors of Prague formed a league against him, and accused him of belonging to the sect of the Armi- nians, who relied on the authority of Scripture only, and not on that of the church and the holy fathers. To this Huss replied, that on the point in question he was of the same opinion as St. Augustine, who acknowledged the Scriptures alone as the foundation of his faith. 31. The testimony of Peter D'Ailly, cardinal of Cambray, as to the real cause of the dissatisfaction in Bohemia, considering the source from whence that testimony is derived, is valuable. " It is," said he, " on account of the simoniacal heresy and the other iniqui- ties which are practised at the Court of Rome, that there have arisen, in Bohemia and Moravia, sects which have spread from the head to the other members in this kingdom, where a thousand things highly insulting to the Pope are publicly uttered Thus it is that the notorious vices of the Court of Rome trouble the Catholic faith, and corrupt it by errors. It is to be desired, certainly, that CHAP, ra.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 397 Huss writes the Six Errors, members of Anti-Christ, &c. Summoned to the council of Constance. those heresies, and their authors, were rooted out of all those pro- vinces ; but I do not see that this result can be accomplished, unless the court of Rome can be brought back to its ancient morals and its praiseworthy customs." In the meanwhile, the disgraceful schism of the rival popes continued, and furnished the partizans of Huss with arguments for combating the jurisdiction of the Pope. " If we must obey," said they, " to whom is our obedience to be paid ? Balthazar Cossa, called John XXIII., is at Rome, Angelo Corario, named Gregory XIL, is at Rimini, Peter de Lune, who calls himself Benedict XIII., is in Arragon. If one of them, in his quality of the Most Holy Father, ought to be obeyed, how does it come to pass that he cannot be distinguished from the others, and why does he not begin by subduing them ?" 32. During a second, retirement of John Huss to his native village of Hussenitz, he published a short but energetic treatise, under the title of The Six Errors. The first was the error of the priests, who boasted of making the body of Jesus Christ in the mass, and of being the creator of their Creator. The second con- sisted in declaring / believe in the popes and the saints. The third was the pretension of the priests to be able to remit the trespass and the penalty of sin to whom they pleased. The fourth error was implicit obedience to superiors, no matter what they ordered. The fifth consisted in not making a distinction, in their effect, be- tween a just excommunication and one that was not so. And, lastly, the sixth error was simony, which John Huss designated a heresy, and of which he accused the greater part of the clergy. This little work, which attacked the clergy in particular, was pla- carded on the door of the chapel of Bethlehem ; it ran with won- derful rapidity through the whole of Bohemia, and its success was immense. He wrote also at this period his treatise on the Abomi- nation of the Monks, the purport of which is sufficiently explained by its title ; and another, entitled, Members of Anti- Christ, a vigor- ous and fearless exposure of the vices and disorders of the Pope and his court. 33. Upon the assembling of the Council of Constance in 1414, John Huss was immediately summoned to attend it. Had he re- fused to obey the summons, doubtless, as he himself asserted at Constance, the powerful barons of Bohemia, who favored his cause, would have protected him, in their fortified castles, from the rage of his enemies and even King Wenceslaus would not have ven- tured to deliver him up. In this event, the eyes of the Bohemian reformer might gradually have been opened yet more fully to the abominations of Popery, and the scenes of the glorious Reforma- tion of Germany might have been witnessed a hundred years ear- lier than the age of Luther. But, to prepare the way for the Reformation, the providence of God required yet another bloody sacrifice to be offered in view of the world a sacrifice, in defiance of the most solemn promise of protection and safety in order to exhibit yet more fully the cruel and perfidious character of the papal 26 398 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi Copy of the Emperor's safe-conduct. Huss's misgivings whether he should ever return alive anti-Christ ; and John Huss was destined to be that sacrifice, Upon the reception of the summons, Huss prepared to depart for Constance. He obtained a safe-conduct (a document promising him protection upon the faith of the grantor) from king Wenceslaus, and demanded a similar one from the emperor Sigismund, which he received while on his journey. This document, the violation of which, at the advice of the popish cardinals and prelates at Con- stance, stamps such indelible disgrace upon all who thus openly declared the doctrine, that NO FAITH id TO BE KEPT WITH HERETICS, is of so much importance that I shall transcribe it. It was couched in the following terms :* " Sigismund, by the grace of God, King of the Romans, &c., to all ecclesiastical and secular princes, &c., and to all our other subjects, greeting. We recommend to you with a full affection, to all in general, and to each in particular, the honorable master, JOHN Huss, bachelor in divinity, and master of arts, the bearer of these presents, journeying from Bohemia, to the council of Constance, whom we have taken under our protection and safe-guard, and under that of the empire, enjoining you to receive him and treat him kindly, furnishing him with all that shall be necessary to speed and assure his journey, as well by water as by land, without taking anything from him or his, for arrivals or depariares, under any pretext whatever ; and calling on you to allow him TO PASS, SOJOURN, STOP, AND RETIJRN FREELY AND SURELY, f providing him even, if necessary, with good passports, for the honor and respect of his Imperial Majesty. Given at Spires, this 18th day of October of the year 1414, the third of our reign in Hungary, and the jifth of that of the Romans" 34. 'Notwithstanding these precautions, it appears that the intrepid and faithful reformer had some doubts whether he should ever be permitted to return alive. He probably knew enough, from the past history of Rome, to produce misgivings whether his popish enemies would hesitate to violate a promise, however solemn, if made to a heretic ; and therefore he " set his house in order," and arranged all his worldly affairs, before leaving that home, to which he might never return. He made some bequests, in the event of his death, and wrote several farewell letters, which are intensely interesting, as exhibiting his evident growth in piety and spiritual- ity, as he drew nearer and nearer to the martyr's sufferings and the martyr's crown. In one of these letters, addressed to his beloved friends in Prague, he writes " I am departing, my brethren, with a safe-conduct from the king to meet my numerous and mortal enemies I con- fide altogether in the all-powerful God, in my Saviour ; I trust that he will listen to your ardent prayers, that he will infuse his pru- * L'Enfant's Council of Constance, vol. i., p. 61 ; Bonnechose, book ii., ch. i f " OMNIQUE FRORSUS IMPEDIMENTS REMOTO TRANSIRE, STARE, MORARI, ET RE- DIRE LIBERE PERMITTAT s." " Venir librement et d'en revenir," Dupin. For the original of the document, see Ada publica apud Bzoviitm, Ann. 1414, Sec. 17 J quoted in Latin by Gieseler, in., 351, and Waddington; p. 465. CHAP, ra] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D 1303-1545. 399 Huss's farewell letters on setting out for the council. His evident growth in spirituality and grace. tience and his wisdom into my mouth, in order that I may resist them ; and that he will accord me his Holy Spirit to fortify me in his truth, so that. I may face, with courage, temptations, prison, and if necessary, a cruel death. Jesus Christ suffered for his well- beloved ; and, therefore, ought we to be astonished that he has left us his example, in order that we may ourselves endure with patience all things for our own salvation ? He is God, and we are his crea- tures ; He is the Lord, and we are his servants ; He is master of the world, and we are contemptible mortals: yet he suffered! Why, then, should we not suffer also, particularly when suffering is for us a purification ! Therefore, beloved, if my death ought to contribute to his glory, pray that it may come quickly, and that he may enable me to support all my calamities with constancy. But if it be better that I return amongst you, let us pray to God that I may return without stain, that is, that I may not suppress one tittle of the truth of the gospel, in order to leave my brethren an excel- lent example to follow. Probably, therefore, you will never more behold my face at Prague ; but should the will of the all-powerful God deign to restore me to you, let us then advance with a firmer heart in the knowledge and the love of his law."* In another letter, which Huss addressed, when setting out, to the priest Martin, his disciple, he speaks of himself with the greatest humility. He accuses himself, as if they were so many grave offences, of having felt pleasure in wearing rich apparel, and of having wasted hours in frivolous occupations. He adds these affect- ing instructions : " May the glory of God, and the salvation of souls, occupy thy mind, and not the possession of benefices and estates. Beware of adorning thy house more than thy soul ; and, above all, give thy care to the spiritual edifice. Be pious and humble with the poor ; and consume not thy substance in feasting. Shouldst thou not amend thy life and refrain from superfluities, I fear that thou wilt be severely chastened, as I am myself I, who also made use of such things, led away by custom, and troubled by a spirit of pride. Thou knowcst my doctrine, for thou hast received my instructions from thy childhood ; it is therefore useless for me to write to thee any further. But I conjure thee, by the mercy of our Lord, not to imitate me in any of the vanities into which thou hast seen me fall."f He concludes by making some bequests, and disposing, as if by will, of several articles which be- longed to him ; and then, on the cover of the letter, he adds this pro- phetic phrase, " / conjure thee, my friend, not to break this seal until thou shalt have acquired the certitude that I am dead" Thus evi- dent is it, that God was preparing his servant for the sufferings of martyrdom and the joys of Heaven. 'In the month of October, 1414, Huss bade adieu to his chapel of Bethlehem, which he was no more to behold, and to his friends and * Hist, et Monum., J. Huss, t. i., p. 72, Epist. i. f Ibid., Epist. ii. 400 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK n, Huss arrested in violation of the safe-conduct. Popish efforts to reconcile Sigismund to this treachery, disciples. He left behind his faithful Jerome, and their parting was not without emotion. " Dear master," said Jerome to him, " be firm : maintain intrepidly what thou hast written and preached against the pride, avarice, and other vices of the churchmen, with arguments drawn from the Holy Scriptures. Should this task be- come too severe for thee should I learn that thou hast fallen into any peril, I shall fly forthwith to thy assistance." 35. In shameful violation of the safe-conduct of the Emperor almost immediately upon the arrival of Huss at Constance, he was placed under arrest by order of the Pope and cardinals, and com- mitted to a loathsome prison. When this was known at Prague, the city was thrown into commotion. A number of protests were at once signed. Several barons and powerful noblemen wrote press- ing letters to the Emperor, reminding him of the safe-conduct which he had received from Sigismund himself. " John Huss," observed they, "departed with full confidence in the guarantee given him in your Imperial Majesty's letter. Nevertheless, we now understand that he has been seized on, though having that in his possession ; and not only seized on, but cast into prison, without being either convicted or heard. Every one here, princes or barons, rich or poor, has been astonished to hear of this event Each man asks his neighbor how the holy Father could so shamefully have violated the sanctity of the law, the plain rules of justice, and finally, your Majesty's safe-conduct, how, in fact, he could thus have thrown into prison, without cause, a just and innocent man. The enemies of Huss were not less active in their efforts to de- stroy, than his defenders to save him. They circumvented Sigis- mund, and dexterously took advantage of his prejudices, his blind devotion, and his zeal more remarkable for energy than sound judgment for the extinction of the schism. They adduced argu- ments of great length to prove that he was perfectly at liberty not to keep faith with a man accused of heresy : they persuaded him that he possessed no right to accord a safe-conduct* to John Huss with- out the consent of the council ; and that, the council being above the Emperor, could free him from his word. Yet, notwithstanding the attempts of these popish priests to silence the clamors of Sigis- mund's conscience, at so base an act of treachery, the Emperor did not abandon the victim to their power without considerable resistance. It was like yielding up the helpless lamb to a conclave of wolves thirsting for his blood, and it required all the efforts of popish sophistry to convince Sigismund, even for the passing mo- ment, that such a violation of his solemnly pledged faith was law- ful ; and the remembrance of this perfidious abandonment of the man he had engaged to protect, haunted and disquieted him in the subsequent years of his life. Two years after the council, when no longer blinded by the sophistries and seduced by the persuasion of the bitter enemies of Huss, the Emperor wrote to the barons of Bohemia in the following terms : " I am unable to express it how much I was afflicted by his ill fortune. The active measures that I CHAP..] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 401 Husa before the council. His condemnation and degradation. took in his favor are matters of public notoriety, for I went so far as several times to leave the assembly in anger, and had even once quitted the city ; upon which the Fathers of the council sent to inform me, that if I stopped the course of their justice, they had nothing to do at Constance. I therefore determined to abstain from any further interference : for if I interested myself further in John Huss's favor, the council would have been dissolved."* 36. It would be a tedious task to relate the particulars of the various audiences of Huss before the council ; the charges which were brought against him, the doctrines that he was alleged to have taught (some of which he denied, and others he defended), the cruel insult, abuse, and mockery that he received from his oppressors, and the meekness, yet firmness and holy boldness with which he conducted himself, through the whole of the proceedings. All his letters, and all the testimony of contemporary writers, serve to prove that at this last period of his life, his angelic meekness and resignation were as constant as his misfortunes. If indignation had formerly characterized some of his acts and writings with an im- press of extra violence or bitterness, these defects had given place to their opposite virtues, and, through the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, he had never been more meet for the crown of immortality in heaven than at the moment when his enemies were preparing to inflict martyrdom on him on earth. Never did any one manifest a faith more full of hope and gratitude, in the midst of trials in which carnal men would have beheld only motives for lamentation and despair. " This declaration of our Saviour," said he, " is to me a great source of consolation : ' Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day ; for, behold, your re- ward is great in heaven." .37. His condemnation and degradation. But we hasten to the description of his condemnation and martyrdom. On the 6th of July he appeared the last time before the council in the fifteenth general session, to hear his sentence pronounced. The Emperor and all the princes of the empire were present, and an immense crowd had assembled from all quarters to view this sad spectacle. Mass was being celebrated when Huss arrived, and he was kept outside until it was over, lest the holy mysteries should be profaned by the presence of so great a heretic. A high table had been erected in the midst of the church, and on it were placed the sacerdotal habits with which John Huss was to be invested, in order to be stripped of them afterward. He was directed to seat himself in front of this table on a footstool, elevated enough to allow him to be seen by every one. A fierce and blood-thirsty harangue was delivered by the popish bishop of Lodi, from Rom. vi., 6, " That the body of sin might be destroyed " which he concluded with the following words, addressed * Cochlceus, lib. iv. 402 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. Articles of Huss condemned. The martyr prays like his blessed master, for his enemies. to Sigismund : "Destroy heresies and errors, and, above all," point- ing to John Huss, " this obstinate heretic. It is a holy work, glorious prince, that which is reserved to you to accomplish you to whom the authority of justice is given. Smite, then, such great enemies of the faith, in order that your praises may proceed from the mouth of children, and that your glory may be eternal. May Jesus Christ, for ever blessed, deign to accord you this favor." 38. The articles from the writings of Huss were then read, to which the holy martyr made several attempts, to reply, but was prevented by the uproar and clamor that was raised to prevent him from speaking. He was accused, among other absurd charges, of having given himself out for a fourth person in the Trinity. To this he replied by repeating aloud the Athanasian or Trinitarian creed. His appeal to Jesus Christ, mentioned in page 390, was also laid to his charge as a heavy crime. He, however, repeated it, and maintained that it was a just and proper proceeding, and founded upon the example of Jesus Christ himself. " Behold !" cried he, with his hands joined together and raised to heaven, " be- hold, O most kind Jesus, how thy council condemns what thou hast both ordered and practised ; when, being borne down by thy ene- mies, thou deliveredst up thy cause into the hands of God, thy Father, leaving us thy example, that we might ourselves have re- course to the judgment of God, the most righteous Judge, against oppression 1 Yes," continued he, turning toward the assembly, " I have maintained, and I still uphold, that it is impossible to appeal more safely than to Jesus Christ, because HE cannot be either cor- rupted by presents, or deceived by false witnesses, or overreached by any artifice." When they accused him of having treated with contempt the excommunication of the Pope, he observed : " I did not despise it ; but as I did not consider him legitimate, I continued the duties of my priesthood. I sent my procurators to Rome, where they were thrown into prison, ill treated, and driven out. It is on that account that I determined, of my own free will, to appear before this council, under the public protection and faith of the Emperor here present." At the moment of pronouncing these words, Huss looked steadfastly at the emperor Sigismund, and we are not surprised to be informed by the historian, that a deep blush crimsoned his face. It was in allusion to this circumstance, in the next century, that the emperor Charles V., when solicited by some worthy successors of the popish foxes of Constance, to cause Luther to be arrested at the diet of Worms, notwithstanding the safe-con- duct he had given him, replied, " No, I SHOULD NOT LIKE TO BLUSH LIKE SIGISMUND."* 39. After hearing the sentence, Huss fell on his knees, and said, " Lord Jesus pardon my enemies ! Thou knowest that they have falsely accused me, and that they have had recourse to false testimony and vile calumnies against me ; pardon them from thy * See L'Enfanl, 70!. i., page 422. CHAP, in.] POPERY ON A TOTTERIXG THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 403 His degradation. Stripped of his priestly vestments. Led out to martyrdom. infinite mercy !" Then commenced the afflicting ceremony of de- gradation. The bishops clothed John Huss in sacerdotal habits, and placed his chalice in his hand, as if he was about to celebrate mass. He said, in taking the alb, " Our Lord Jesus Christ was covered with a white robe, by way of insult, when Herod had him conducted before Pilate." Being thus clad, the prelate again ex- horted him to retract, for his salvation and his honor ; but he de- clared aloud, turning toward the people, that he should take good care not to scandalize and lead astray believers by a hypocritical abjuration. " How could I," said he, " after having done so, raise my face to heaven ! With what eye could I support the looks of men whom I have instructed, should it come to pass, through my fault, that those same things which are now regarded by them as certainties, should become matters of doubt if, by my example, I caused confusion and trouble in so many souls, so many consciences, which I have filled with the pure doctrine of Christ's gospel, and which I have strengthened against the snares of the devil ? No ! no ! It shall never be said that I preferred the safety of this misera- ble body, now destined to death, to their eternal salvation !" The bishops then made him descend from his seat, arid took the chalice out of his hand, saying : " O accursed Judas ! who, having aban- doned the counsels of peace, have taken part in that of the Jews, we take from you this cup, filled with the blood of Jesus Christ !" His habits were then taken off, one after the other, and on each of them the bishops pronounced some maledictions. When, last of all, it was necessary to efface the marks of the tonsure, a dispute arose among them whether a razor or scissors ought to be employed. " See/' said John Huss, turning toward the Emperor, " though they are all equally cruel, yet can they not agree on the manner of exer- cising that cruelty." They placed on his head a crown t>r sort of pyramidal mitre, on which were painted frightful figures of demons, with this inscription, " THE ARCH-HERETIC," and when he was thus arrayed, the prelates devoted his soul to the devils. ' Animam tuam diabolis commendamus.' John Huss, however, recommended his spirit to God, and said aloud . " I wear with joy this crown of opprobrium, for the love of Him who bore a crown of thorns." 40. His martyrdom, The church then gave up all claim to him declared him a layman and as such, delivered him over to the secular power, to conduct him to a place of punishment. John Huss, by the order of Sigismund, was given up by the Elector Palatine, vicar of the empire, to the chief magistrate of Constance, who, in his turn, abandoned him to the officers of justice. He walked between four town Serjeants, to the place of execution. On arriving at the place of burning, Huss kneeled down and recited some of the penitential psalms. Several of the people, hearing him pray with fervor, said aloud : " We are ignorant of this man's crime, but he offers up most excellent prayers." When he wished to ad- dress the crowd in German, the Elector Palatine opposed it, and ordered him forthwith to be burned. "-Lord Jesus !" cried John 404 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi, Buss's meek, courageous, and godly demeanor at the stake of burning. His ashes cast into the Rhino. Huss, " I shall endeavor to endure with humility, this frightful death, which I am awarded for thy gospel, pardon all my enemies." While he was praying thus, with nis eyes raised up to heaven, the paper crown fell off: he smiled, but the soldiers replaced it on his head, in order, as they declared, that he might be burned with the devils he had obeyed. Having obtained permission to speak to his keepers, he thanked them for the good treatment he had received at their hands. " My brethren," said he, " learn that I firmly believe in my Saviour : it is in his name that I suffer, and this very day I shall go and reign with him !" His body was then bound with thongs, with which he \vns firmly tied to a stake, driven deep into the ground. When he was so affixed, some persons objected to his face being turned to the East, saying that this ought not to be, since he was a heretic. He was then untied and 'bound again with his face' to the West. His head was held close to the wood by a chain smeared with soot, and the views of which inspired him with pious reflections on the ignominy of our Saviour's sufferings. Faggots were then arranged about and under his feet, and around him was piled up a quantity of straw. When all these-preparations were completed, the Elector Palatine, accompanied by Count d'Oppenheim, marshal of the em- pire, came up to him, and for the last time recommended him to retract. But he, looking up to heaven, said with a loud voice : " I call God to witness, that I have never either taught or written what these false wifnesses have laid to my charge, my sermons, my books, my writings, have all been done with the sole view of rescu- ing souls from the tyranny of sin, and, therefore, most joyfully will I confirm with my blood the truth which I have taught, written and preached j and which is confirmed by the divine law and the holy fathers." The Elector and the marshal then withdrew, and fire was set to the pile ! " Jesus, Son of the living God," cried John Huss, "have pity on me !" He prayed and sung a hymn in the midst of his torments, but soon after, the wind having risen, his voice was drowned by the roaring of the flames. He was perceived for some time longer moving his head and lips, and as if still praying. and then he gave up the spirit. His habits were burned with him, and the executioners tore in pieces the remains of his body and threw them back into the funeral pile, until the fire had absolutely consumed everything ; the ashes were then collected together and thrown into the Rhine ; and as it was said of Wickliff, so may it be said of the holy martyr of Bohemia, that the dispersion of his ashes in the river and in the ocean, is an emblem of the subsequent dissemination of those truths, for the sake of which he braved a martyr's sufferings, and won a martyrs crown. (See Engraving.) Burning of John. Hus?, at Constance. 407 CHAPTER IV. JEROME OP PRAGUE, AT THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. HIS CONDEM- NATION AND MARTYRDOM. 41. UPON hearing of the imprisonment and danger of Huss, his faithful friend Jerome remembered the promise he had made him at his departure from Prague, and prepared to fulfil it. He set out for Constance without a safe-conduct, accompanied by a single disciple. He determined to appear before the council and plead his friend's cause. He arrived in that city on April 4th, and mingling, without being known, with the crowd of people, he overheard dis- astrous intelligence. It was said that John Huss would not be ad- mitted into the presence of the council that he would be judged and condemned in secret that he would leave his prison only to die. Jerome was struck with alarm, and thought all was lost. A violent terror seized on him, and he took to flight as suddenly as he had come. On his mournful return to Bohemia, he stopped at Uberlingen, and wrote, but in vain, to the Emperor for a safe-con- duct. The council granted one, but in such terms as to render it useless. It contained the following rather curious assurance of pro- tection : " As we have nothing more at heart than to catch the foxes which ravage in the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts, we summon you, by these presents, to appear before us as a suspected person, and violently accused of having rashly advanced several errors ; and we order you to appear here within a fortnight from the date of this summons, to answer, as you have offered to do, in the first session that shall be held after your arrival. It is for this purpose, that, in order to prevent any violence being offered to you, we, by these presents, give you a full safe-conduct as much as in us lies, except" ing always the claims of the law, and that the orthodox faith does not, in any respect, prevent it; certifying to you, beside, that whether you appear within -the specified period or not, the council, by itself or its commissioners, will proceed against you as soon as the term shall have elapsed." Jerome proceeded with a sad heart on his way homeward, when he was arrested in the Black Forest, and brought back to Constance, which he entered on a cart, loaded with chains and surrounded by a guard of soldiery* ^ 42. He was taken in that miserable condition to the Elector's house, where he was kept until he appeared in public, before a gen- eral meeting of the members of the council. At his first appearance before the council, he was bitterly assailed by several of the mem- bers, and his attempts to reply to their accusations were met with * Venit igitur currui impositus, catenis longis ac sonantibus constrictus. (Msc. Lips. Von der Hardt, t. iv., p. 216.) 408 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. Jerome, in a moment of fear, recants. Resolves to renounce his recantation. fociferous shouts : " To the flames with him ! to the flames !" He was conducted back to his loathsome dungeon, chained in the most painful postures, and fed on bread and water. For six months he was suffered to pine away in chains, no severity had been spared him in his noisome dungeon, and his legs were already afflicted with incurable sores. It was hoped that sufferings of such duration and rigor would have depressed his soul, and subdued his courage. His cruel persecutors hoped lhat his spirit had been subdued by the terrible vengeance of the council on Huss. He was taken out of prison, and summoned, under pain of being burned, to abjure his errors, and subscribe to the justice of John Huss's death. Human weakness prevailed- Jerome was afraid, and signed a paper in which he submitted himself to the coun- cil, and approved of all its acts. This retraction of Jerome proves, by the very restrictions which it contains, how much it must have cost the unfortunate man to consent to it. He subscribed, it is true, to the condemnation of the articles of Wickliff and John Huss; but he declared that he had no intention of bearing any prejudice to the holy truths which these two men had taught ; and as to Huss in particular, he avowed that he had loved him from his tenderest years, and that he had always been ready to defend him against every one, on account of the mildness of his language, and the good instructions he gave the people. While we cannot but mourn that the weakness of nature, and fear of the most terrible and painful of deaths, induced Jerome thus to recant his opinions, and profess to condemn what in his heart he approved ; before we venture harshly to censure him, we should place ourselves in his position, and ask, would we have displayed a greater degree *of courage and con- stancy. 43. Jerome was then led back to prison, but treated with greater lenity. His qualified recantation, however, was unsatisfac- tory to some of the members of the council, who, like the tiger with his appetite whetted by the taste of human flesh, ardently thirsted for the blood of Jerome. The persecuted martyr then comprehended, that, in order to save his life, he should be obliged to plunge deeper into perjury. Indignation restored him strength the love of the truth prevailed over the love of life and he at once made up his mind to adopt a heroic resolution. He resolved boldly to defend his opinions, .and follow the martyred Huss to the flames. On the 23d of May, 1516, upon being again confronted with his cruel judges, he renounced his former recantation, advo- cated his own opinions and those of John Huss, with a degree of learning, argument, and eloquence truly astonishing even to his ene- mies.* In reference to his martyred associate and brother, he ex- * In a long and interesting letter of the learned Roman Catholic Poggio, the Florentine historian, and once secretary to pope John XXIII., he writes as fol- lows : " It is worthy of remark, that after having been so long shut up in a place where it was utterly impossible for him either to read or even to see, and where the perpetual anxiety of his mind would have been quite sufficient to de- CHAP, iv.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 409 His courageous and eloquent protestations before the council. claimed aloud before all the council, " I knew John Huss from his childhood, and there was never anything wrong in him. . He was a most excellent man, just and holy ; he was condemned, notwithstanding his innocence ; he has ascended to heaven, like Elias, in the midst of flames ; and from thence he will summon his judges to the formidable tribunal of Christ. I, also I am ready to die : I will not recoil before the torments that are prepared for me by my enemies and false witnesses, who will one day have to render an account of their impostures before the great God, whom nothing can deceive. Of all the sins," added he, " that I have com- mitted since my youth, none weigh so heavily on my mind, and cause me such poignant remorse, as that which I committed in this fatal place, when I approved of the iniquitous sentence rendered against Wickliff, and against the holy martyr, John Huss, my mas- ter and my friend. Yes ! I confess it from my heart ; and declare, with horror, that I disgracefully quailed, when, through a dread of death, I condemned their doctrines. I therefore supplicate and con- jure Almighty God to deign to pardon me my sins and this one, in particular, the most heinous of all according to the promise which he has made us, ' I will not have the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live !'" Then, raising his hand, and pointing to his judges, he exclaimed, in tones which must have made them tremble on their seats. " You con- demned Wickliff and John Huss, not for having shaken the doc- trine of the church, but simply because they branded with repro- bation the scandals proceeding from the clergy their pomp, their pride, and all the vices of the prelates and priests. The things which they have affirmed, and which are irrefutable, I also think and declare, like them." 44. Upon the heroic martyr being interrupted by the exclama- tions of his judges, trembling with rage, and asking, " What need of further proof?" " Away with the most obstinate of heretics ! " Je- rome exclaimed with a noble dignity of manner and eloquence of speech, " What do you suppose that I fear to die ? You have held me for a whole year in a frightful dungeon, more horrible than death itself. You have treated me more cruelly than a Turk, Jew, or pagan, and my flesh has literally rotted off my bones alive ; and yet I make no complaint, for lamentation ill becomes a man of heart and spirit ; but I cannot but express my astonishment at such great barbarity towards a Christian." " His voice," remarks the learned Romanist Poggio, in the remarkable letter referred to in the last note, " his voice was touching, clear, and sonorous ; his ges- ture full of dignity and persuasiveness, whether he expressed in- dignation or moved his hearers to pity, which, however, he ap- prive any other of memory altogether, he could, notwithstanding, have been able to quote, in support of his opinions, so great a number of authorities, and learned testimonies of the greatest doctors, so that one would have said that he had passed all that time in perfect repose, and at full liberty to devote himself to study." 410 HIS fORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOKVI, Jerome contends for the supreme authority of the Scriptures. He is brought up for sentence. peared neither to ask for nor to desire. He stood there, in the midst- of all, the features pale, but the heart intrepid, despising death, and advancing to meet it. Interrupted frequently, attacked and tormented by many, he replied fully to all, and took vengeance on them, forcing some to blush, and others to be silent, and tower- ing above all their clamors. Sometimes, too, he earnestly besought, and at others forcibly claimed to be permitted to speak freely calling on the assembly to listen to him whose voice would soon be hushed for ever."* 45. Before being brought up for sentence, Jerome was again remanded to prison, and while there, was visited by several car- dinals and bishops, who had been astonished by his wonderful elo- quence and ability. The cardinal of Florence exhorted him .again to recant, and to save his life. " The only favor that I demand," replied Jerome, " and which I have always demanded, is to be con- vinced by the Holy Scriptures. This body, which has suffered such frightful torments in my chains, will also know how to support death by fire, for Jesus Christ." " And in wlrnt manner," asked the Cardinal, " do you desire to be instructed ?" " BY THE HOLY WRITINGS, which are our illuminating torch," was the emphatic re- ply of Jerome. " What ! " said the Cardinal, " is everything to be judged of by the Holy Writings ? Who can perfectly comprehend them ? And must not the fathers be at last appealed to, to interpret them ?" " What do I hear !" cried Jerome. " Shall the word of God be declared fallacious ? And shall it not be listened to ? Are the traditions of men more worthy of faith, than the holy gospel of our Saviour ? Paul did not exhort the priests to listen to old men and traditions, but said, * The Holy Scriptures will instruct you.' O Sacred Writings, inspired by the Holy Ghost, already men esteem .you less than what they themselves forge every day ! I have lived long enough. Great God ! receive my life ; Thou who canst re- store it to me !" "Heretic!" said the Cardinal, regarding him with anger. "I repent having so long pleaded with you. I see you are urged on by the devil."f 40. On the 30th of May, Jerome was brought before the council for sentence. The bishop of Lodi ascended the pulpit and delivered, as he had at the sentence of Huss, another most savage harangue, from which it will be sufficient to quote a brief extract from the part addressed to the martyr. " But with you who are more guilty than Arius, Sabellius, and Nestorius ; with you, who have infected all Europe with the poison of heresy, grand indul- gence has been practised. You have been detained in prison only * The whole of this letter, occupying six quarto pages, which is a noble testi- mony to the learning, eloquence, and courage of the martyr, especially as coming 1 from an eye-witness and a Romanist, may be found in L'Enfant, vol. i., pp. 594, 599. f "Te a diabolo agitari video." (Theob. Bell. Hussit., chap, xxiv., p. 60.) CHAP, iv.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 411 Ferocious harangue of the bishop of Lodi. Copy of Jerome's sentence* from necessity ; honorable witnesses alone have been listened to against you, and the torture has not been employed, which was a great fault. Would to God that you had been tortured ! You would have denied your errors in your torments ; and suffering would have opened your eyes, whiah your crime held closed."* At the close of this popish sermon, Jerome mounted a bench, and again, in a loud voice, expressed his abhorrence of his for- mer cowardice, of approving, in order to save his life, of the in- human sentence of Huss " I only gave my assent to it," said he, " from a dread of being burned from the fear of that dreadful punishment. I revoke that culpable avowal ; and I declare it anew, that I lied like a wretch, in abjuring the doctrines of Wickliff and of John Huss, and in approving of the death of so holy and just a man.' The sentence of Jerome was then read, which is recorded by L'Enfant, as follows: "Our Lord Jesus Christ being the true vine, whose Father is the husbandman, told his disciples, that he would cut off all the branches that did not bear fruit in him. There- fore the sacred synod of Constance, in obedience to the order of the sovereign teacher, being informed, not only by public fame, but by an exact inquiry into the fact, that Jerome of Prague, master of arts, a layman, has affirmed certain erroneous and heretical arti- cles maintained by John Wickliff and John Huss, and condemned not only by the Holy fathers, but by this sacred synod ; and that after having publicly recanted the said heresies, condemned the memories of both Wickliff and Huss, and sworn to persevere in the Catholic doctrine, he returned in a few days like a dog to his vomit ; and that in order to propagate the pernicious venom which he concealed in his heart, he demanded a public hearing ; and that when he had obtained it, he declared in full council that he was guilty of great iniquity and a very wicked lie, in consent- ing to the condemnation of Wickliff and John Huss, and that he for ever revoked the said recantation, though he had declared that he held the faith of the Catholic church as to the sacrament of the altar and transubstantiation. For these causes the sacred synod has resolved and commanded, that the said Jerome be cast out, as a rotten withered branch, and declares him a heretic, relapsed, ex- communicated, accursed, and as such condemns him." 47. Jerome was then handed over to the secular power to be burnt. A high crown of paper, on which were painted demons in flames, was brought in. Jerome, on seeing it, threw his hat on the ground in the midst of the prelates, and taking it in his hand, placed it on his head himself, repeating the words which John Huss had pronounced " Jesus Christ, who died for me a sinner, wore a crown of thorns. I will willingly wear this for him." The soldiers then seized on his person, and led him away to death. Upon arriv- * See an abstract of this Sermon, which strikingly exhibits the unchangeably persecuting spirit of Popery, in L'Enfant, i., 588, 589. 412 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vt Jerome's martyrdom. Sings on his way to the stake, and prays in the midst of the flumec. ing at the same stake as that to which Huss had been bound, the martyr fell on his knees to pray, but the executioners raised him up whilst still praying, and having bound him to the stake with cords and chains, they heaped up around him pieces of wood and a quan- tity of straw. Jerome sang the hymn, Salve, festa dies, toto vene- rabilis cevo, etc. He then repeated the creed, and addressing the people, he exclaimed, " This creed which I have just sung, is my real profession of faith ; I die, therefore, only for not having con- sented to acknowledge that John Huss was justly condemned. I declare that I have always beheld in him a true preacher of the gospel." When the wood was raised on a level with his head, his vestments were thrown on the pile, and, as the executioner was setting fire to the mass behind, in order not to be seen, " Come for- ward boldly," said Jerome ; " apply the fire before my face. Had I been afraid, I should not be here." When the pile had taken fire, he said with a loud voice, " Lord, into thy hands do I commit my spirit !" Feeling already the burning heat of the flames, he was heard to cry out in the Bohemian language, " Lord, Almighty Father, have pity on me, and pardon me my sins ; for Thou know- est that I have always loved thy truth !" His voice was speedily lost ; but by the rapid movement of his lips, it was easy to see that he continued to pray. At last, when he had ceased to exist, all that had belonged to him, his bed, cap, shoes, &c., were brought from tne prison and thrown into the flames, where they were reduced to ashes with himself. These ashes were then collected and thrown into the Rhine, as had been done in the case of John Huss. It was hoped, by this means, to remove from the followers of these two holy martyrs every article that might by possibility, become in their hands an object of veneration ; even to the last particle of their bodies and clothes, everything was made away with ; but the very ground where their stake was placed was hollowed out, and the earth on which they had suffered, was carried to Bohemia, and guarded with religious care, as the most precious and invaluable memorials of these holy men. 48. Comment upon the above horrible illustrations of the cru- elty and perfidy of Popery, is unnecessary. The simple facts speak most eloquently, and should never be forgotten till in reference to this popish Babylon, in which " is found the blood of the prophets and the saints," the mighty angel of prophecy shall declare, BABY- LON THE GREAT IS FALLEN, IS FALLEN. (ReV. XVui., 2, 24.) Thei'6 is no historical fact which modern Romanists have so much endeav- ored to conceal, obscure, or deny, as this well known act of perfidy on the part of the council of Constance, in imprisoning and condemn- ing Huss, in defiance of the Emperor's safe-conduct, and their own efforts to reconcile the conscience of Sigismund to this base and perfidious act. This is not to be wondered at. There is scarcely a fact in the history of this apostate church, which reflects upon her such indelible disgrace, and happily for the cause of truth, not one fact which rests upon more conclusive evidence. CHAP, iv.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 413 Copies of the decrees o r the council, establishing the doctrine of no faith, with heretics. Yet as the principle upon which papists act, is that frauds are pious, and lies are holy, when perpetrated for the good of the church, we expect, of course, where the evidence is not supposed to be at hand, that the fact will be denied. To furnish this evidence, the following decrees of the council, passed after the burning of Huss, to silence the public clamors against the perfidy of the coun- cil, are recorded in the original, and a translation. It is not known to the author that the original of these memorable decrees, estab- lishing the doctrine as an article of the Romish church, that no faith is to be kept with heretics, is to be found except in the scarce, volu- minous, and expensive work of L'Enfant. They ought to be known to all, and are therefore transcribed here. 49. The first of these decrees relates to the validity of safe-con- ducts in general, granted to heretics, by the temporal princes. It is as follows : " Praesens sancta synodus ex quovis salvo-conductu per imperatorem, Reges, et alios seculi principes haereticis, vel -de hjeresi diffamatis, putantes eosdera sic a suis erroribus revocare, quocunque vinculo se adstrinxerint, concesso, nul- lum fidei Catholicae vel jurisdiction! ec- clesiasticae praejudicium generari, vel impedimentuni praestari posse seu debere, declarat, quo minus salvo dicto conduc- tu non obstante, liceat Judici competent! ecclesiastico de ejusmodi personarum erroribus inquirere, et alias contra eas debite procedere, easdemque punire, quantum justitia suadebit, si suos perti- naciter recusaverint revocare errores, etiamsi de salvo-conductu confisi ad lo- cum venerint judicii, alias non venturi nee sic promittentem, cum aliks fecerit, quod in ipso est, ex hoc in aliquo reman- sisse obligatum." "The present synod declares that every safe-conduct granted by the Em- peror, kings, and other temporal princes, to heretics, or persons accused of heresy, in hopes of reclaiming them, ought not to be of any prejudice to the Catholic faith, or to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, nor to hinder, but such persons may, and ought to be examined, judged, and pun- ished, according as justice shall require, if those heretics refuse to revoke their errors, even though they should be arriv- ed at the place where they are to be judged only upon the faith of the safe- conduct, without which they would not have come thither. And the person who shall have promised them security, SHALL NOT, IN THIS CASE, BE OBLIGED TO KEEP HIS PROMISE, by whatsoever tie he may be engaged, because he has done all that is in his power to do." The second of these decrees is, perhaps, still more valuable, relates to the safe-conduct of John Huss in particular: It " Sacro sancta, etc. Quia nonnulli nimis intelligentes, aut sinistrse intenti- onis, vel forsan solentes sapere plus quim oportet nedum Regiae Majestati, Bed etiam sacro, ut fertur, Concilio, lin- guis maledictis detrahunt publice et oc- culte dicentes, vel innuentes, quod sal- vus-conductus per invictissimum princi- pem Dominum Sigismundum Romano- rum et Ungariae, etc. Regem, quondam Johanni Hus, hajresiarchae damnatae memorise datus, fuit contra justitiam aut honestatem indebite violatus : Cum ta- men dictus Johannes Hus fidem ortho- 27 " Whereas there are certain persons, either ill-disposed or over-wise beyond what they ought to be, who in secret and in public, traduce not only the Em- peror, but the sacred council, saying, or insinuating, that the safe-conduct grant- ed to John Huss, an arch-heretic, of damnable memory, was basely violated, contrary to all the rules of honor and justice ; though the said John Huss, by obstinately attacking the Catholic faith in the manner he did, rendered himself unworthy of any manner of safe-conduct and privilege ; and THOUGH ACCORDING 414 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. ^ The same doctrine of no faith with heretics, avowed by pope Martin V, doxam pertinaciter impugnans, ae ab om- TO THE NATURAL, DIVINE, AND HUMAN ni conductu et privilegio reddiderit alie- LAWS, NO PROMISE OR FAITH OUGHT TO num, nee aliqua sibi fides aut promissio, HAVE BEEN KEPT WITH HIM, TO THE PRE- de jure natural!, divino, vel liumano, juoict OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. The fuerit in praejudicium Catholicae fidei sacred synod declares, by these presents, observanda : Idcirco dicta sancta syno- that the said Emperor did, with regard dus praesentium tenore declarat: dictum to John Huss, what he might and ought invictissimum principem circa pr?edic- to have done, notwithstanding his safe- turn quondam Johannem Hus, non ob- conduct ; and forbids all the faithful in etante memorato salvo-conductu, ex juris general, and every one of them in par- debito fecisse quod licuit, et quod decuit ticular, of what dignity, degree, pre-emi- Regiam Majestatem ; statuens et ordi- nence, condition, state, or sex they may nans omnibus et singulis Christi fide- be, to speak evil in any manner, either libus, cujuscunque dignitatis, gradus, of the council, or of the King, as to prEeeminentiae, conditionis, status, aut what passed with regard to John IIuss, sexus, existant, quod nullus deinceps on pain of being punished, without re- sacroconcilio aut Regiae Majestati de ges- mission, as favorers of heresy, and per- tis circa pradictum quondam Johannem sons guilty of high treason." (For the Hus detrahat, sive quomodolibet oblo- original of these decrees, see L' Enfant ii., quatur. Q,ui vero contrarium fecerit, p. 491 ; for his translation, which IMS tanquam fautor hereticae pravitatis et been adopted, see i.,p. 514). reus criminis Isesa? majestatis irremissi- biliter puniatur." 50. The abominable doctrine thus shamelessly avowed that faith is*not to be kept with heretics, was still more emphatically expressed and enjoined by the Pope, who owed his elevation to the council of Constance, Martin V. In a bull addressed in 14:41, to Alexander, Duke of Lithuania, who, it appears, thought himself bound by some promise, not to persecute heretics, the Pope tells him as plain as words can express it, if he had made any promise to undertake their defence, " THAT HE WOULD BE GUILTY OP A MORTAL SIN, SHOULD HE KEEP FAITH WITH HERETICS, WHO ARE THEMSELVES VIOLATORS OP THE HOLY FAITH, because there can be no fellowship between a believer and an unbeliever." I shall insert the original of this une- quivocal avowal of pope Martin in the text, lest, by being thrown into a note, it should escape the attention of the reader. " Quod si tu aliquo modo inductus defensionem eorum suscipere promisisti ; SCitO TE DARE FIDEM H^ERETICIS, VIOLATORIBUS FIDEI SANCTA, NON PO- TUISSE, ET IDCIRCO PECCARE MORTALITER, SI SERVABIS ; quia fideli ad infidelem non potest ulla communio." It is published by Cochlceus, a prejudiced Catholic. (Lib. v., p. 212.) We cannot better close this subject than by citing the just re- marks of Dean Waddington, relative to the act of horrid murder and perfidy, perpetrated by the council, and described above. After enumerating various acts of the council, he proceeds as fol- 'ows : " But we have still to describe the most arbitrary and iniqui- tous act of the same assembly. The holy fathers, be it recollected, had met for the reformation of the church. The word was per- petually on their lips, and they denounced, with unsparing vehe- mence, some of the corruptions of their own system. In the midst of them were two men of learning, genius, integrity, and piety, who had entrusted their personal safety to the faith of the council, John Huss CHAP, iv.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 415 Dean Waddington's just remarks on the perfidy and cruelty of the council of Constance. and Jerome of Prague, and these two were reformers. But it hap- pened that they had taken a different view of the condition and exi- gencies of the church, and while the boldest projects of the wisest among the orthodox were confined to matters of patronage, disci- pline, ceremony, the hands of the two Bohemians had probed a deeper wound ; they disputed, if not the doctrinal purity, at least the spirit- ual omnipotence of the church. Those daring innovators had crossed the line which separated reformation from heresy and they had their recompense. In the clamor which was raised against them, all parties joined as with one voice : divided onall other questions, contending about all other principles, the grand universal assembly was united, from Gerson himself down to the meanest Italian papal minion, in common detestation of the heresy, in implacable rage against its authors. Those venerable martyrs were imprisoned, arraigned, condemned, and then by the command, and in the presence of the majestic senate of the church, the deposer of popes, the uprooter of corruption, the reformer of Christ's holy communion they were deliberately consigned to the flames. Is THERE ANY ACT RECORDED IN THE BLOOD-STAINED ANNALS OP THE POPES MORE FOUL AND MERCILESS THAN THAT ? . . . . More than this. The guilt of the murder was enhanced by perfidy; and for the pur- pose of justifying this last offence (for the former, being founded on the established church principles, required no apology), they added to those principles another, not less flagitious than any of those already recognized ' THAT NEITHER FAITH NOR PROMISE, BY NATU- RAL, DIVINE, OR HUMAN LAW, WAS TO BE OBSERVED TO THE PREJUDICE OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION !' "* Mr. Waddington adds the impor- tant fact, that " this maxim did not proceed from the caprice of an arbitrary individual, and a pope, for so it would scarcely have claimed our serious notice ; but from the qonsiderate resolution of a very numerous assembly, which embodied almost all the learning, wisdom, and moderation of the Roman Catholic church."f 51. After some attempts by John Gerson and others, at the partial reformation of the horrible corruptions of the church, "in its head and members," which were principally defeated through the crafty management of the new pope, Martin V., it assembled for the forty-fifth and closing session on the 22d of April, 1418, and the Bull which gave the members of the council permission to return to their homes, showered on them and their domestics a profusion of indulgences, as a fitting reward for their labors. The following is a copy of* the Bull of indulgence, issued on this occasion. " We, * ' Cum tamen dictus Johannes Hus. fidem orthodoxam pertinaciter impugnans se ab omni conductu et privilegio reddiderit alienum, nee aliqua sibi fides aut pro- missio de jure natural!, divino vel humano, fuerit in prsejudicium Catholics fidei observanda : idcirco dicta sancta synodus declarat, &c.' These words are cited by Hallam (Middle Ages, chap, vii.), without suspicion, and also by Von der Hardt, in his valuable collection of authentic documents (Tom. iv., p. 521), without any expression of doubt. f Waddingtou's History of the Church, page 458. 416 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK YL The fathers dismissed by the Pope with indulgences as a fitting reward. The cup denied to the laity. Martin, bishop, servant of the servants of God, with a perpetual remembrance of this great event, and at the request of the sacred council, do hereby dismiss it, giving to each member liberty to re- turn home. By the authority of the Almighty God, and the blessed apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, and by our own, we grant to all who have been present at this council, a full and entire remission of their sins, once during their lifetime, so that each of them may enjoy the benefits of this absolution for two months after it shall have become known to him. We grant them the same grace when in qrticulo mortis, both to them and their servants, on this condition, however, that they shall fast all the Fridays in a year for the abso- lution, at the point of death, unless they be legitimately prevented : in which case they will perform other acts of piety. After the second year, they shall fast the Friday for the rest of their life. . . . If any one shall rashly oppose this absolution and this concession, which we give, let him learn that he will thereby have incurred the indignation of Almighty God, and of the blessed apostles, Paul and Peter."* 52. Thus this numerous council, consisting of cardinals, arch- bishops, and abbots, beside the Pope and the Emperor, occupied about three years and a half in the glorious achievements of remov- ing three spiritual tyrants to make room for another, passing a de- cree denying the use of the cup to the laity, in the sacrament, and burning the bodies of two living heretics, and the mouldering bones of one dead one. The canon which deprived all but the clergy of the use of the cup in the eucharist, was as follows : " The sacred council, wishing to provide for the eternal safety of the faithful, after a mature de- liberation by several doctors, declares and decides, although in the primitive church this sacrament was received by the faithful in the two kinds, it can be clearly proved, that afterward it was received in that manner only by the officiating priests, and was offered to the laity under the form of bread alone, because it must be believed firmly, and without any hesitation or doubt, that the whole body and the whole blood of Jesus Christ are truly contained in the bread as well as in the wine. Wherefore, this practice, introduced by the church and by the holy fathers, and observed for a very great length of time, ought to be regarded as a law, which it is not per- mitted to reject or change, without the authority of the church." The object of this unjust prohibition, so plainly contrary to the command of Christ, was evidently to exalt the dignity of tRe clergy, and draw the line of distinction between them and the laity (already wide enough) still wider, by giving them some exclusive preroga- tive, even at the Lord's table. Compared with other popish inno- vations and corruptions, this prohibition may seem to be of little importance, yet it was deemed so serious an innovation by the countrymen of the martyred Huss, that in addition to the horrid * From the MSS. at Venice, in Von der Hardt, vol. iv. CHAP, v.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 417 This prohibition unscriptural. The Calixtines. Pope Martin V. murder of their two eminent countrymen, it produced a serious revolt against their sovereign, who sustained the papal decrees, which con- tinued for some years under the direction of that extraordinary man, the courageous, but too violent John Ziska. A portion of these Bohemian dissenters from Rome took the name of Calixtines, from the Latin calix, a cup. The fathers of the council found a greater difficulty in reconciling the minds of the people to this prohibition, than scarcely anything else, especially as the version of Wickliff 's New Testament, and probably some others in other languages, were by this time; in the hands of many of the people. The words of Christ were so explicit, " Drink ye ALL, of it " (Matt, xxvi., 27), as though his omniscience had foreseen and provided against this per- version of his ordinance, by the great apostasy, that the popish doctors found it a most difficult task, even in appearance, to recon- cile their prohibition with the Scriptures. One of their most learned writers, the famous French Doctor John Gerson, wrote an elabo- rate treatise against " Double Communion," in which he inadver- tently disclosed the cause of his uneasiness, in the following words : " There are many laymen among the heretics who have a version of the Bible in the vulgar tongue, to the great prejudice and offence of the Catholic faith. It has been proposed," he adds, " to reprove that scandal in the committee of reform." No wonder, that since the Bible is directly opposed to this popish edict, the papists were anxious to shut that book up from the people. Such has ever been, and without doubt, such is still the cause of their bitter hatred of the universal circulation, in the vernacular languages of the people, of God's holy word. CHAPTER V. POPERY AND THE POPES FOR THE CENTURY PRECEDING THE REFORMATION. 53. THE progress of Popery from the dissolution of the coun- cil of Constance in 1418 to the time of Luther, about a century later, was from bad to worse. Pope Martin V., who was raised to that dignity by the council, yielded to but few of his predecessors in his haughty and extravagant claims of the dignity of the Holy See. He was a steady opponent of all measures of reform, during the whole of his pontificate. The people, starving for spiritual food, demanded bread, but he gave them a stone ; they clamored for reform, but he gave them indulgences. We can sometimes scarcely repress a smile at the pompous edicts 418 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOT vr. Pompous titles of the Pope's. Council of Basil. Dispute between pope Eugenius and the council. of the emperor of China, who styles himself " Lord of the Sun," but this was far outdone by pope Martin, who in his dispatches sent by his nuncio to Constantinople, adopted the following array of titles : M Sanctissimus, et Beatissimus, qui habet creleste arbitrium, qui est Dominus in terris, successor Petri, Christus Domini, Dominus Uni- versi, Regum Pater, orbis Lumen," that is, " The most Holy and most happy, who is THE ARBITER OP HEAVEN, AND THE LORD OF THE EARTH, the successor of St. Peter, the anointed of the Lord, THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE, THE FATHER OF KINGS, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD," &c.* Who in reading these blasphemous assumptions of a miserable mortal, is not reminded of the inspired description of the papal anti-Christ : " as God, sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God ?" (2 Thess. ii., 4.) 54. In the year 1431 pope Martin died, and was succeeded by Eugenius IV., a man whose ignorance was only equalled by his presumption and obstinacy. His pontificate was chiefly distin- guished by the obstinate and protracted contentions between him and the council of Basil, which, after a feeble attempt of the Pope to prevent it, assembled on the 14th of December, 1431. In the course of the contest with the Pope, the council of Basil published and reiterated a decree that had been passed by the council of Con- stance, that the Pope was inferior, and subject to a General Council, and in the history of the council by JEneas Sylvius, afterwards pope Pius II., this doctrine is strongly and forcibly urged, that a council is superior to a Pope, and that the latter is rather the Vicar of the church than the Vicar of Christ.^ We shall soon see that a Change of circumstances produced a great change in this writer's views, and that pope Pius II. pronounced ./Eneas Sylvius a heretic, though one and the same person. 55. The following extracts from an eloquent letter of car- dinal Julian, the president of the council of Basil to pope Eugenius, are transcribed on account of the light they throw on the morals of the popish clergy of this age, to reform which was one of the pro- fessed objects of the council. " One great motive with me," says the Cardinal President, " in joining this council, was the deformity and dissoluteness of the German clergy, on account of which the, laity are immoderately irritated against the ecclesiastical state : so much so, as to make it matter of serious apprehension whether, if they be not reformed, the people will not rush, after the example of the Hussites, upon the whole clergy, as they publicly menace to do. Moreover, this deformity gives great audacity to the Bohemians, and great coloring to the errors of those, who are loudest in their invectives against the baseness of the clergy : on which account, had a general council not been convoked at this place, it had been necessary to collect a provincial synod for the reform of the Ger- man clergy ; since in truth, if that clergy be not corrected, even * Papal Rome by Rev. Dr. Giustiniani, p. 181. f jEneas Sylvius, Comment, de Gestis Basil, Concil., Lib. I., p. 16. CHAP.V.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 419 Cardinal Julian's letter. The Pope suspended by the council, who in turn annuls its acts. though the heresy of Bohemia shduld be extinguished, others would rise up in its place." .... "If you should dissolve this council, what will the whole world say, when it shall learn the act? Will it not decide, that the clergy is incorrigible, and desirous for ever to grovel in the filth of its own deformity ? Many councils have been celebrated in our days, from which no reform has proceeded ; the nations are expecting that some fruit should come from this. But if it is dissolved, all will exclaim that we laugh at God and man." .... " Most blessed Father, believe me, the scandals which I have mentioned will not be removed by. delay. Let us ask the heretics, whether they will delay for a year and a half the dissemination of their virulence ? Let us ask those, who are scandalized at the de- formity of the clergy, if they will for so long delay their indignation ? Not a day passes in which some heresy does not sprout forth ; not a day in which they do not seduce or oppress some Catholics ; they do not lose the smallest moment of time.. There is not a day, in which new scandals do not arise from the depravity of the clergy ; yet all measures for their remedy are procrastinated !" .... " Why then do you longer delay ? You have striven with all your power, by messages, letters, and various other expedients, to keep the clergy away ; you have struggled with your whole force utterly to destroy this council. Nevertheless, as you see, it swells and in- creases day by day, and the more severe the prohibition, the more ardent is the opposite impulse. Tell me now is not this to resist the will of God ? W r hy do you provoke the Church to indignation ? Why do you irritate the Christian people ? Condescend, I implore you, so to act, as to secure for yourself the love and good will, and not the hatred of mankind." 56. The earnest pleadings of the Cardinal were, however, lost upon Eugenius. 'He was resolutely opposed to the council and to reform. The council cited him before them. The Pope retorted by a Bull of dissolution, and both were equally fruitless. At length, after eighteen months of remonstrance and forbearance, the council, on the 12th of July, 1433, suspended the Pope from his dignity ; and Eugenius, in reply, annulled their decree. At length this quarrel was carried to its final result. On the 31st of July, 1437, the coun- cil cited the Pope to Basil to answer for his vexatious opposition to the reform of the Church ; and the Pope, in that plenitude of power to which he had never formally abandoned his pretensions, declared the council transferred to Ferrara in Italy. In the 28th session (Oct. 1. 1437), Eugenius was convicted of contumacy ; and on the 10th of the January following, he celebrated, in defiance of the sentence, the first session of the council he had assembled in opposition at Ferrara. On that occasion he solemnly annulled every future act of the assembly at Basil, excepting only such as should have reference to the troubles of Bohemia. Finally, on the 25th of June, 1439, the council of Basil solemnly deposed Eugenius IV. from the papal throne, and on the 5th of November following, another pope was elected, Amadeus Duke of Savoy, who assumed 420 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. Renewal of papal schism. Rival popes and rival councils. Seiious accident at ihe Jubilee of 1450. the name of Felix V. Thus was again revived that deplorable schism, which had formerly rent the church, and which had been terminated w.th so much diificulty, and after so many vain and fruit- less efforts, at the council of Constance. Nay, the new breach was still, more lamentable than the former one, as the flame was kindled not only between two rival pontiffs, but also between the two contending councils of Basil and Florence, to which place Eugenius had removed the council of Ferrara. The greatest part of the church submitted to the jurisdiction, and adopted the cause of Eugenius ; while Felix was acknowledged as lawful pontiff, by a great number of academies, and among others, by the famous university of Paris, as also in several king- doms and provinces. The council of Basil continued its delibera- tions, and went on enacting laws, and publishing edicts, until the year 1443, notwithstanding the efforts of Eugenius and his adhe- rents to put a stop to their proceedings. And, though in that year the members of the council retired to their respective place s of abode, yet they declared publicly that the council was not dissolved, but would resume its deliberations at Basil, Lyons, or Lausanne, as soon as a proper opportunity /was offered. This schism was at length terminated, in the year 1449, by the resignation of Felix V., who returned as Duke of Savoy to his delicious retreat called Ripaille, upon the borders of Lake Lernan. The obstinate pope Eugenius had died in February, 1447, and his successor, Nicholas V., by the retirement of Felix, obtained undisputed possession of the papal throne. 57. During the reign of pope Nicholas, in the year 1450, the avarice of the Roman Clergy and people was again nourished by the celebration of the Jubilee; and so vast were the multitudes which on this occasion sought the plenary indulgence at the tombs of the apostles, that many are said to have been crushed to death in churches, and to have perished by other accidents. One of these accidents, on account of the number of lives lost, deserves particular mention. In consequence of the pressure of the vast multitude on a certain day, no less than ninety-seven pilgrims were thrown at once from the bridge of St. Angelo and drowned. This bridge is one of the favorite spots for viewing the vast and splendid fabric of St. Peter's, especially on the night of the great festivals, when the dome is almost instantaneously illuminated, not by any in- genious mechanical contrivance, but by the vast number of hands employed, each of whom, at a given signal, lights the lamp at which he is stationed, and thus converts, in a moment, the noble and stately dome, into a vast hemisphere of liquid light. Our artist has represented, in the adjoining engraving, the acci- dent at the bridge of St. Angelo, during the Jubilee of 1450, partly as a memorial of that event, but chiefly on account of the fine distant view that is afforded of the church of St. Peter's, and of a large portion of the city from that spot. (See Engraving.) We have preferred to represent St. Peter's church as it is now CHAP, v.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 423 St. Peter's. Taking of Constantinople. jEneas Sylvius chosen pope by the name of Pius II. seen from the bridge of St. Angelo, rather than the old church of Constantine, which then occupied the site of St. Peter's ; reminding the reader, at the same time, that the foundation stone of the present noble edifice, was not laid till a half a century later, viz. by pope Julius in the year 1506. Of course, it is impossible to represent in a distant view the magnificent square of St. Peter's, surrounded by its stately colonnade of near three hundred pillars, with the Egyptian obelisk in the centre, and the beautiful fountain on each side of the obelisk. This deficiency, however, has already been supplied in the accurate engraving of this architectural wonder of the world opposite page 178. While we cannot but lament over the unjustifiable means em- ployed to obtain funds for the erection of this magnificent structure by trafficking in the sins of men ; it is impossible to withhold our admiration at the grandeur of the architectural design and the ability, taste, and skill displayed in carrying forward to its comple- tion, this proudest of all modern temples. 58. In the year 1453, an event occurred which spread a deep gloom over the whole Christian world. This was the taking of the city of Constantinople, for so many centuries the capital of the Eastern Roman empire, by the Mahometan, or as they were com- monly called, infidel Turks, and the consequent entire overthrow of that empire, of which it was the metropolis. Previous to the fall of Constantinople, pope Nicholas had used some exertions, but without success, to make the protection of the Christian capital of the East from the designs of the infidels, the common cause of the monarchs of Christendom, and he redoubled his efforts when the work before him was not one of protection, but of re-conquest. In the midst of his chivalrous designs to recover Constantinople, and expel the conqueror from Europe, and at a moment when there seemed some prospect of a partial co-operation for that purpose, Nicholas V. died, A. D. 1455. His complaint was gout ; and it is commonly asserted that its progress was hastened by the affliction with which he saw the triumphs of the infidel. 59. After the brief reign of pope Calixtus III., the immediate successor of Nicholas, the celebrated ^Eneas Sylvius, whom we have before had occasion to mention, was elected to the popedom by the name of Pius II., in 1458. One of his first acts was to assem- ble a council at Mantua, for the purpose of invoking the co-operation of Christian princes, in a general crusade against the Turks, for the recovery of Constantinople. The council opened on the 1st of June, 1459, just six years from the taking of Constantinople, and continued nearly eight months. The intestine divisions of Europe, however, prevented the carrying into effect the designs of Pius. At length the Pope proposed to go in person on this expedition " This then," said he, " shall be our next experiment : we will march in person against the Turks, and invite the Christian monarchs to follow us ; not by words only, but by example also. It may be when they shall behold their master and father the Roman pontiff, the vicar 424 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. Pius condemns the opinions of Alnens Sylvius, his former self. Effect of a change of circumstances. of Christ Jesus an infirm old man, advancing to the war, they will take up arms through shame, and valiantly defend our holy reli- gion.* In accordance with this resolution, the old pontiff departed to assume the command of the force which had already assembled at Ancona, but had no sooner joined them than he died, and the whole expedition immediately dispersed. 60. In his early life, vEneas Sylvius was the able and zealous opponent of papal assumption over councils. His earliest laurels were won at the council of Basil, which deposed pope Eugcnius, and reiterated the doctrine, that the Pope was inferior, and subject to a general council ; and ^Eneas at that time warmly advocated these views, and remained, through the whole of the schism, faith- ful to the council. Upon his becoming pope himself, he seized an early occasion to discourage those liberal principles of church gov- ernment, which were entertained by many ecclesiastics, and which had so lately been propagated by himself. During the council of Mantua, shortly before its dissolution, and at a moment when his influence over its members was probably the greatest, he published a celebrated bull against all appeals from the Holy See to general councils. " An execrable abuse, unheard of in ancient times, has gained footing in our days, authorized by some, who, acting under a spirit of rebellion rather than sound judgment, presume to appeal from the pontiff of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, to whom, in the person of St. Peter, it has been said, ' Feed my sheep ;' and again, ' Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;' to appeal, I say, from his judgments to a future council a practice which every man instructed in law must regard as contrary to the holy canons, and prejudicial to the Christian republic " The Pope then proceeded to paint in vague and glowing expressions the frightful evils occasioned by such appeals ; and finally pronounced to be ipso facto excommunicated all individuals who might hereaf- ter resort to them, whether their dignity were imperial, royal, or pontifical, as well as all Universities and Colleges, and all others who should promote and counsel them. In the year 1463, pope Pius issued a bull containing a formal re- cantation of his former views, and declared that no confidence was due to those of his writings, which offended in any manner the authority of the apostolical See, and established opinions which it did not acknowledge. " Wherefore (he added) if you find anything contrary to its doctrine, either in my dialogues, or my letters, or any other of my writings, despise those opinions, reject them, and follow that which I now proclaim to you. Believe me now that I am old, rather than then, when I spoke as a youth ; pay more re- gard to the Sovereign Pontiff than to the individual ; reject ./Eneas receive Pius. The former name was imposed by my * Raynald, Annal. ad Ann. 463. CHAP. v.J POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 425 Pope Innocent and his seven bastards. His bloody edict lor extirpating of the Waldenses. parents a Gentile name, and in my infancy : the other I assumed as a Christian in my Apostolate."* 61. The remaining popes of this century were Paul II., Sixtus IV., Innocent VIIL, and Alexander VI., who were all men of vicious and abandoned lives, and who appear to have risen successively in the scale of avarice, cruelty, and sensuality, till Satan produced his master-piece in the infamous Alexander VI. Passing over the two first named, we must dwell for a moment upon the character of Innoc-ent. Sixtus^and preceding popes, had wasted the revenues of the church upon profligate nephews, but pope Innocent introduced a still more revolting race of dependants, in the persons of his ille- gitimate offspring. Seven children, the fruits of various amours, were publicly recognized by the vicar of Christ, and became, for the most part, pensioners on the ecclesiastical treasury. Fewer crimes would, perhaps, have been perpetrated, had the Pontiff' resolved to be the only criminal. But with all his weakness, Innocent was animated by a spirit of avarice, which attracted observation even in that age of the popedom. And he performed at least one memorable exploit, as it were, in the design to surpass his predecessor by a still bolder insult on the sacred College ; he placed among its members a boy, thirteen years old, the brother-in-law of his own bastard. f But the court of Rome did not resent the indignity it was sunk even be- low the sense of its own infamy. 62. This same pope Innocent issued a violent and furious bull against the Waldenses, an extract of which, though only a speci- men of a large class of similar effusions of papal bigotry and blood- thirstiness, is yet worthy of record as a specimen of the spirit of Popery only a few years before the glorious reformation, and while Luther, its destined author, was just emerging from infancy. Luther was born in 1483. The bull of pope Innocent was issued in 1487. This truly popish document institutes Albert de Capi- taneis archdeacon of the church of Cremona, nuncio and commis- sioner of the apostolic See in the states of the Duke of Savoy, and prescribes to him to labor in the extirpation of the very pernicious and abominable sect of men called the Poor of Lyons or the Wal- denses, in concert with the Inquisitor-General Blasius, of the order ' of the Preaching-Brotherhood. The Pope gives him, for that object, full power over all archbishops, bishops, their vicars and chief officers; " in order," says he, " that they may have authority, together with you and the said inquisitor, to take up arms against the said Walden- ses and other heretics, and to come to an understanding to crush them like venomous asps, and to contribute all their care to so holy * " ^Eneam rejicite, Pium recipite illud Gentile nomen parentes indidere nas- centi ; hoc Christianum in Apostolatu suscepi." (Waddington, 506.) f This boy was John, the son of Lorenzo de' Medici, the same who became Leo X. It should be observed, that Innocent, on making the creation, stipulated that the boy should not take his seat in Consistory till he was sixteen. Some state the age of creation at fifteen, that of admission at eighteen. (See Raynaldus, Ann. 1489. Waddington, 511.) 426 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. Indulgences promised for exterminating the heretics. Election of the infamous Alexander VL and so necessary an extermination We give you power to have the crusade preached up by fit men : to grant that such per- sons as shall enter on the crusade and fight against these same heretics, and shall contribute to it, may gain plenary indulgence and remission of all their sins once in their life, and also at their death ; to command, in virtue of their holy obedience, and under penalty of excommunication, all preachers of God's word to animate and incite the same believers to exterminate the pestilence, without sparing, by force and by arms. We further give you power to absolve those who enter on the crusade, fight, or contribute to it, from all senten- ces, censures, and ecclesiastical penalties, general or particular, by which they may be bound, as also to give them dispensation for any irregularity contracted in divine matters, or for any apostasy, and to enter some terms of composition with them for the goods which they may have secretly amassed, badly acquired, or held doubtfully, applying them to the expenses attendant on this extirpation of heretics ; .... to concede to each, permission to lawfully seize on the property, real or personal, of heretics ; also to command all being in the service of these same heretics, in whatsoever place they may be, to withdraw from it, under whatever penalty you may deem fit ; and by the same authority to declare that they and all others, who may be held and obliged by contract, or other manner, to pay them anything, are not for the future in any way obliged to do so ; and to deprive all those refusing to obey your admonitions and commands, of whatever dignity, state, order, and pre-eminence they may possess, to wit, the ecclesiastics of their dignities, offices, and benefices ; and the laity of their honors, titles, fiefs, and privi- leges, if they persist in their disobedience and rebellion ; . . . . and to fulminate all kinds of censures, according as the case in your judgment may demand ; .... to absolve and re-establish such as may wish to return to the lap of the church, although they may have sworn to favor the heretics, provided, taking the contrary oath, they promise to abstain most carefully from doing so"* Who does not perceive that the closing extract I have quoted of this bull of pope Innocent VIII., is another reiteration of the doctrine of Con- stance, and of pope Martin ; and however popish priests may seek to conceal the fact from the eyes of Protestants, ever the doctrine of Rome NO FAITH WITH HERETICS ? 63. : Upon the death of Innocent VIII., in 1492, the cardinals were notoriously bribed to give their suffrages for a Spaniard named Ro- deric Borgia, who upon his election assumed the name of Alexander VI. It would be a tedious and disgusting task to enumerate all the debaucheries, incests, assassinations and other outrages of which this papal Nero, and his equally infamous son Cardinal Caesar Bor- gia, were the guilty perpetrators. In the downward progress of pontifical impurity, we have at length reached the lowest step, the * Leprer. Hist, des eglises Vandoises, Vol. ii., chap. 2 ; the original of the bull is in the library of Cambridge University. CHAP, v.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 427 Pope Alexander, the Devil's master-piece. Gives an entertainment in the Vatican to SO public prostitutes. utmost limits which have been assigned to papal and to human de- pravity. " The ecclesiastical records of fifteen centuries," says Waddington, " through which our long journey is now nearly ended, contain no name so loathsome, no crimes so foul as his ; and while the voice of every impartial writer is loud in his execration, he is, in one respect, singularly consigned to infamy, since not one among the zealous annalists of the Roman Church has breathed a whisper in his praise. Thus, those who have pursued him with the most unqualified vituperations, are thought to have described him most faithfully ; and the mention of his character has excited a sort of rivalry in the expression of indignation and hatred. In early life, during the pontificate of Pius II., Roderic Borgia, already a cardi- nal, had been stigmatized by a public censure for his unmuffled debaucheries. Afterwards he publicly cohabited with a Roman matron named Vanozia, by whom he had five acknowledged chil- dren. Neither in his manners nor in his language did he affect any regard for morality or for decency ; and one of the earliest acts of his pontificate was, to celebrate, with scandalous magnificence, in his own palace, the marriage of his daughter Lucretia. On one occasion, this prodigy of vice gave a splendid entertainment, within the walls of the Vatican, to no less than fifty public prostitutes at once, and that in the presence of his daughter Lucretia, at which entertainment deeds of darkness were done, over which decency must throw a veil ;* and yet this monster of vice was, according to papists, the legitimate successor of the apostles, and the Vicar of Uod upon earth, and was addressed by the title of HIS HOLINESS ! ! Again I ask, is not that apostate church, of which for eleven years this pope Alexander VI. was the crowned and anointed head, and a necessary link in the chain of pretended apostolic succession is she not fitly described by the pen of inspiration " MOTHER OF HARLOTS, AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH ?" (ReV. XVlL, 5.) 64. The following are the circumstances relating to the death of pope Alexander, which stand on the most extensive evidence. His infamous son, Caesar Borgia, being greatly in want of money to pay his troops, applied to his father for assistance ; but the apostolical treasury was exhausted, and neither resources nor credit were then at hand to replenish it. On which, the Cardinal suggested to the Pope an easy, and, as it would seem, not very unusual method of supply- ing their wants. The cardinal Corneto, as well as some others of the sacred college, had a great reputation for wealth ; and it was then the practice at Rome for the property of cardinals to devolve, on their decease, to the See. He proposed to get rid of this Corneto. The Pope consented ; and, accordingly, invited the cardinals to an en- tertainment which he prepared for them in his vineyard of Corneto, which was near the Vatican. Among the wines sent for this occa- sion, one bottle was prepared with poison ; and instructions were * These infamous debaucheries are related with much more minuteness than is consistent with modern refinement and delicacy, by Burchardus, (Piar. 77.) 428 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. Pope Alexander caught in his own trap. America discovered, and given by the Pope to the Spaniards. carefully given to the superintendent of the feast respecting the dis- posal of that bottle It happened that, some little time betbre sup r per, the Pope and his son arrived, and, as it was very hot, they called for wine. And then, whether through the error or the absence of the confidential officer, the poisoned bottle was presented to them. Both drank of it, and both immediately suffered its vio- lent effects. Caesar Borgia, who had mixed much water with his wine, and was, besides, young and vigorous, through the immediate use of powerful antidotes, was saved. But Alexander having taken his draught nearly pure, and being likewise enfeebled by age, died in the course of the same evening.* 65. It was during the pontificate of Alexander VI., that the discovery of America was achieved by that wonderful man, Chris- topher Columbus. For several centuries previous to that age, it had been regarded as an established doctrine, that the Pope, from his supreme authority, had the right of granting all heathen coun- tries to such Catholic princes as would engage to reduce them under the dominion of the church and the Holy See. In accordance with this doctrine, pope Martin V. early in the same century had granted to the crown of Portugal all the lands it might discover from cape Bojador in Africa, to the Indies. Immediately upon the intelligence being received by the Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, of the success of Columbus, measures were taken to obtain the sanction of the Pope. Accord- ingly, in compliance with the request of the Spanish ambassadors that were immediately dispatched to Rome, pope Alexander VI. issued his bull, dated May 2d, 1493, " ceding to the Spanish sove- reigns the same rights, privileges, and indulgences, in respect to the newly discovered regions, as had been accorded to the Portuguese, with regard to their African discoveries, under the same condition of planting and propagating the Catholic faith. To prevent any conflicting claims, however, between the two powers, in the wide range of their discoveries, another bull was issued on the following day, containing the famous line of demarcation, by which their terri- tories were thought to be clearly and permanently denned. This was an ideal line drawn from the north to the south pole, a hundred leagues to the west of the Azores, and the Cape de Verd islands. All land discovered by the Spanish navigators to the west of this line, and which had not been taken possession of by any Christian power before the preceding Christmas, was to belong to the Spanish crown ; all land discovered in the contrary direction was to belong to Por- tugal. It seems never to have occurred to the pontiff, that by push- ing their opposite careers of discovery, they might some day or other come again in collision, and renew the question of territorial right at the antipodes."! * See Waddington's Ch. Hist., p. 515. For a particular account of the lives and vices of this flagitious Pope, and his no less infamous son, Csesar Borgia, see Life of pope Alexander VI., by Alexander Gordon. f Life and Voyages of Columbus, by Washington Irving, book v., ch. 8. CHAP v.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 429 The ixjvvetof the popes not what it once was. Pope Julian absolving himself from his oath. It may serve to correct the notions of some good people, who know but little about the history of Popery in past ages, and imagine that it never was more powerful than now, to remember that three centu- ries and a half ago, not only the territory now called the United States, but the whole of North and South America, were given away by a single dash of pope Alexander's pen. I presume there is but little fear of the great. Republic of the West ever being handed over, like an apple or an orange, as a present from his Holiness to their Catho- lic majesties of Spain or of Portugal. And yet, according to the aforesaid decree of pope Alexander, the Catholic sovereigns of Spain have a right, so far as a papal grant can confer it, to the whole of the United States, from Maine to Texas, and to the entire continent of the -West. Well may the old gentleman at Rome, when he thinks of the power of his predecessors, and casts his eye over the vast prairies and savannahs of the West, sit on his trem- bling throne in Italy, like Bunyan's giant Pope, "biting his nails that he cannot come at them." 66. Upon the death of Alexander VI., Pius III., a sick and feeble old man, was elevated to the papal throne, through the in- trigues of the Cardinal who hoped soon to succeed him, and died after a brief reign of only twenty-six days. The stratagem of Julian della Rovera was successful. He celebrated the mass at the obsequies of the deceased Pope and scarcely was that office performed when he re-opened his former intrigues with the design, on this occasion, of procuring his own election. He gained the leading cardinals by magnificent promises, and the confidence that they would be observed. On the very first scrutiny, Julian della Rovera was unanimously raised to the chair of Alexander VI. On this occasion, Julian, who assumed the name of Julius II., took the same oath which had been taken by the infamous Alexander and several of his unworthy predecessors of the fifteenth century, to convoke a general council within two years from his election, and effect other reforms in the administration of the church, under the penalty of "perjury and anathema," from which they swore neither to absolve themselves, nor suffer any others to absolve them. These oaths, however, were only made to be broken. The popes claimed the power not only of absolving others, but of absolving themselves from the obligation of an oath, and when, therefore, the object of taking the oath was accomplished, and the hat of the? Cardinal ex- changed for the tiara of the Pope, this convenient power was in- variably exercised.* That this pretended power of the popes of absolving from the obligation of an oath, whether of allegiance to a ruler or of * Beausobre in his history of the Reformation (Livre i.) gives the words of the oath by which the candidate for the papal chair thus bound himself, which are worthy of being placed on record " Pramissa omnia et singula promitto, voveo et juro observare et adimplere, in omnibus et per omnia, pure et simpliciter et bona fide, realiter, et cum efFectu perjurii et anathematis, a quibus nee me ipsum absolvam, nee alieni absolutionem committam. Ita me Deus adjuvet," &c. 28 430 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK 71. The right of absolving from oaths still claimed by the priests of Rome. any other kind, has ever been believed and practised by the papal anti-Christ, is a fact which needs no proof to such as nave but a imitetl acquaintance with history. We have seen how frequently it was practised in the lives of Gregory VII.,* Innocent III., and the other popes of that period when Popery reigned Despot of the World ;f but perhaps it is not equally well known, that the same doctrine is openly advocated by papists of the present day, and plainly taught in the text-books used in their colleges. Thus, in the class-book used in Maynooth College, Ireland, Bailly asserts that " there exists in the church a power of dispensing from the obligation of vows and oaths." J In this abominable proposition, quoted from a standard Romish author, the church means the Pope, as, according to the canon law, the Pope is the interpreter of an oath. Dens, in his theology, the modern standard of Catholicism in Ireland, authorizes this maxim. || The dispensation of a vow, says this criterion of truth, " is its relaxation by a lawful superior in the place of God, from a just cause. The superior, as the vicar of God in the place of God, remits to a man the debt of a plighted promise."^ If a pope has the power of absolving others from the obligation of an oath, he has, of course, the power of absolving himself, and hence can be bound by no promise, however sacred ; by no oath, however solemn. Upon this monstrous principle did pope Julius, like many of his predecessors, take a solemn oath pre- vious to his election, which he doubtless intended when he took it, to violate, so soon as his elevation to the popedom should give him the power of absolving himself from his oath, and thus annulling the laws of God with impunity.** * Gregory, in 1080, asserted his authority to dissolve the oath of fealty. His Infallibility supported his assertion by proofs, or pretended proofs, from scripture and tradition. This authority, his Holiness alleged, was conveyed in the power of the keys, consisting in binding and loosing, and confirmed by the unanimous consent of the fathers. The contrary opinion he represented as madness and idolatry. ' Contra illorum insaniam, qui. nefando ore, garriunt, auctoritatem sanc- tffi et Apostolicae sedis non potuisse quemquam a sacramento fidelitatis ejus ab- solvere.' (Labb. 12, 380, 439, 497.) f See above, Book v., passim. j ' Existit in ecclesia potestas dispensandi in votis et juramentis.' {Bailly 2, 140 ; Maynooth Report, 283.) 5 ' Declaratio juramenti, seu interpretatio, cum de ipso dubitatur, pertinet ad Papam.' (Gibert 3, 512.) jl ' Superior tanquam vicarius Dei, vice et nomine Dei, remittit homini debitum promissionis fact.' (Dens, 4, 134, 135.) IT Dens also avers that a confessor should assert his ignorance of the truths which he knows only by sacramental confession, and confirm his assertion, if ne- cessary, by oath. Such facts he is to conceal, though the life or safety of a man or the destruction of the state, depended on the disclosure. The 'reason, in this case, is as extraordinary as the doctrine. " The confessor is questioned and answers as a man. This truth, however, he knows not as man, but AS GOD ;" and, therefore (which was to be proved), he is not guilty of falsehood or perjury. ' Debet respondere se nescire earn, et, si opus est, idem juramento confirmare. Tails confessarius interrogatur ut homo,et respondet ut homo. Jamainem non scit ut homo illam veritatem, quamvis sciat ut Deus.' (Dens, 5, 219 ; Edgar, 246.) ** Another instance of the practical exercise of this abominable doctrine oc- The Pope as a Warrior. Pope Julius in Battle. ' The Pope as a God adored on the high Altar of St. Peter's CIIAP. v.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 433 Pope Julius a warrior. 200,0(10 men slnin in bnttle through his means. His quarrel with Lewis XII. 67. Pope Julius was a man of blood. His assumption of that name was itself an expression of his admiration of the ancient con- queror, Julius Caesar, and a mode of avowing his preference of the military to the sacerdotal character. Almost the whole ten years of his pontificate (1503-1513) were spent in the field of battle, amidst scenes of carnage and slaughter. The evident object of his ambition was to reduce the whole of the peninsula of Italy under the sovereignty of the self-styled successors of St. Peter. He suc- ceeded in compelling the Venetians to yield up several cities to the Holy See, and had he not been cut short by death in his victorious career, it is supposed by many that the object of his ambition might have been realized. It is related of him that he was so fierce and indefatigable a warrior, that though decrepit with age, he did not shrink from the toils of the meanest soldier ; that in prosecuting his schemes of ambition, he would never listen to a proposal of peace, while the slightest prospect of success remained, though to be purchased at the cost of thousands of lives ; and that two hun- dred thousand men perished in battle through his means ; that al- most the only use he made of his pontifical function was to dictate his bulls and anathemas, which he did with the same energy as he commanded his army ; and finally, in the words of a celebrated chronicler of France, that in his fierce and bloody conflicts on the field of battle, " he acted more like a sultan of the Turks than as THE VICAR OF THE PRINCE OF PEACE, and the common Father of all Christians."* (See Engraving.) 68. Lewis XII., king of France, provoked at the insults he received from pope Julius, is said by many authors to have caused a medal to be struck, with the inscription, ' Perdam Babylonis nomen ' that is, " I will destroy the name of Babylon." It is pro- per here to add that the authenticity and occasion of this celebrated motto, has afforded matter of keen debate to respectable writers on both sides of the question. There is no question, however, that Lewis was violently incensed against the arrogant military Pope, and that in the year 1511, several cardinals under his protection assembled a council at Pisa, with the intention of setting bounds to the power, and curbing the tyranny of this furious and ambitious Pontiff. Julius, on the other hand, thundered his anathemas against the council of Pisa, excommunicated all the members, and degraded the cardinals from their dignity. The council returned the com- pliment (like that of Basil, seventy years before), by summoning the Pope into their presence, declaring him contumacious, and eventually suspending him from his office. The warlike pontiff, cnrred in the life of pope Paul IV., who, in 1555, absolved himself horn an oath which he had taken in the Conclave. His Holiness had sworn to make only four cardinals ; but violated his obligation. His Supremacy declared, that the Pontiff could not be bound, or Ms authority limited, even by an oath. The contrary he characterized as " a manifest heresy." 'Le contraire etoit une heresie manifeste.' (Father Paul Sarpi, lib. ii., sec. 27.) * Mezerai Abrege Chron., torn, v., p. 1 17 ; reign of Louis XII. 434 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. . Accession of pope Leo X. Enactment of a general council against the freedom of the pros*. relying upon his carnal, at least as much as his spiritual defences, treated these proceedings with contempt and laughter, and sum- moned a council at Rome,* which was opened on the 3d of May, 1512, and in which the proceedings of the council of Pisa were annulled, and condemned in the severest and most insulting lan- guage. This council of the Pope is called by Romanists the eigh- teenth general council, or fifth of Lateran, though almost all who were present were Italians, and the total number of cardinals was fifteen, and the archbishops and bishops, together, eighty. Proba- bly the fierce denunciations of the Pope and this petty general council against the council of Pisa, would have been followed by the most dire anathemas against king Louis, and other princes who favored that council, had not death snatched away this fierce, turbulent, and bloody Pope on the 20th of February, 1513. 69. The successor of Julius was Leo X., a name which is insepa- rable from the history of the glorious reformation, for the determined but unavailing opposition that he offered to the doctrines and measures of Luther. Under Leo the fifth council of Lateran continued its ses- sions, at various intervals, till the month of March, 1517. Among the decrees of this council was one forbidding the freedom of the press, which in consequence of the invention of the art of printing had for some years been a source of annoyance to Rome. Pope Leo and the council ordained " that no book should be hereafter printed at Rome, or in any other city or diocese, until it had been examined at Rome by the vicar of his Holiness, and the mas- ter of the sacred palace in other dioceses, by the bishop, or some doctor appointed by him, or by the inquisitor of the place, on pain of various temporal penalties and immediate excommunication." Popery has probably never received so severe a blow, as in the in- vention of printing ; and according to human probabilities, the refor- mation would have been nipped in the bud, and the world would still have been covered with popish darkness as it was amidst the gloom of the world's midnight, had it not been for the noble art which multi- plied, almost with the speed of thought, the fearless protestations of the reformers against the profligacy and corruption of Rome. The date of this noble art is generally placed in 1444, though some years doubtless elapsed before it was very extensively used. About 1472, not thirty years after the invention, pope Sixtus IV. commenced the crusade against the freedom of the press which Popery has carried on from that time to this. In 1501 the vile Alexander VI. ordained under the severest penalties, that no books of any description should be printed, in any diocese, without the sanction of the Bishop, f and a few years after Leo X., in the manner we have seen, renewed this prohibition. 70. There was another enactment of the fifth council of Late * The bull of Julius convoking this council, in which he calls the council of Pisa a synagogue of Satan, and compares its authors to Dathan and Abiram, may be found in Raynald's Annals, ad Ann. 1511. f Raynald's Annals ad Ann. 1501, s. 36. CHAP, v.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 435 A papist's groans at the ill success of the laws against heretics, in preventing the Reformation. ran, which deserves a passing mention. This was a decree enjoin- ing upon the Inquisitions established in various countries to proceed zealously in the punishment and extirpation of heretics and Jews, especially against those who had relapsed, from whom every hope of pardon was withheld. These decrees are recorded by the Ro- mish annalist Raynald, the continuator of the annals of Baro- nius, who exclaims in tones which we might almost imagine to pro- ceed from a hungry wolf, disappointed of his prey by the watchful- ness of the shepherd and his faithful dog. "How ill, alas ! these most holy laws were observed, appears from the hydra-birth of the Lutheran heresy which came so soon afterwards."* 71. On the 16th of March, 1517, was held the twelfth and con- cluding session of the council. The bull of dissolution announced the accomplishment of every object of the assembly : peace had been re-established among the princes of Christendom ; the schis- matic synod of Pisa abolished ; and, above all, the reformation of the Church and court of Rome had been sufficiently provided for ! There were, indeed, some fathers who ventured to argue, that every abuse had not even yet been removed, and that the lasting interests of the Church would be better promoted by the further continuance of the council but the majority supported the Pope ; and this universal assembly of the western Church, after having deliberately regulated all matters requiring any attention, and restored the estab- lishment to perfect health and security, separated with complacency and confidence ! Little did Leo and the fathers of the council dream of the storm that was impending over them ; of the lightning of heaven that was already gathering to purify the moral atmo- sphere of the popish miasma that corrupted it. It is a coincidence worth remarking, that in the very same year, almost before the pre- lates of Rome had exchanged their parting congratulations on the imagined peace and security of the church, Luther had commenced his bold and fearless preaching against that plague-spot upon the polluted and rotten carcase of anti-Christ the infamous doctrine of INDULGENCES. * Raynald. ad Ann. 1514, sect. 31,&c. 436 CHAPTER VI. THE REFORMATION. LUTHER AND TETZEL. THE REFORMER'S WAR AGA1VST INDULGENCES. 72. WE have seen, in a previous part of this work, the profit- able use that was made by the popes whenever they wished to en- rich their coffers, at the expense of a credulous and superstitious multitude, of the doctrine of indulgences, the pretence that a miserable mortal, often polluted with the most awful crimes, had power to control the punishments of God's justice in the invisible world, and to grant a plenary indulgence for the most flagrant crimes, to such as would purchase it with money. The horrid im- piety of this blasphemous pretension is such that we can hardly help feeling astonished at the forbearance of the insulted Deity in suffering his name thus to be blasphemed, his prerogatives thus in- vaded, and his creatures thus outraged and abused for so long a series of ages. But the justice of God does not sleep for ever. It pleased him that the very means of the aggrandizement and wealth of apostate Rome should also be the cause of its receiving a blow from which it never has, and never will recover. Indulgences, and the money they procured, were for ages the inexhaustible source of papal Rome's grandeur and wealth. Indulgences, and the indignation they excited, were the occasion of her fall. The proud structure of St. Peter's, it is true, was built upon a foundation of indulgences ; every stone in that gorgeous structure, if it had a tongue, might tell a tale of rob- bery, or murder, or adultery ; or of the outrageous cheat announced by the infamous Tetzel, " the very moment the money jingles in the chest, the soul for whom it is paid escapes from the pains of purgatory, and flies to heaven." Yet, when the courtly and luxu- rious Leo proclaimed his bull of indulgences, for the building of St. Peter's, little did he imagine how dearly that proudest of all the temples of anti-Christ would be bought. And there is not a true protestant in Christendom, however much he may despise the spiritual knavery and imposture of the indulgences upon which St. Peter's is erected, that would not regard the glorious reformation as cheaply purchased at the price of the millions of gold and silver it would require to build ten thousand such costly erections. A work like the present would not be complete without a sketch of the incidents connected with that memorable event in the annals of Popery, the GLORIOUS REFORMATION. Yet it is a source of sin- cere and unmingled satisfaction to the author, that the recent pub- lication and unparalleled circulation of the most captivating, au- thentic, and thorough history of the Reformation that has ever :HAP. vi.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 437 Indulgences to build St. Peter's. Prices of sins in the Tax-books of the Roman Chancery. been written in any language,* precludes the necessity of devoting more than a few pages to that momentous moral revolution ; and even those few will be devoted mainly to facts connected with the reformation, which reflect light upon the character and the history of Popery. 73. The first stone of the present church of St. Peter's at Rome, was laid in the year 1506 by the ambitious and warlike pope Julius II., and when Leo X. succeeded him on the papal throne, he found the treasury of the church almost exhausted by the ceaseless wars and ambitious projects of his predecessor. " Making use," says Sleidan, "of that power which his predecessors had usurped over all Christian churches, he sent abroad into all kingdoms his letters and bulls, with ample promises of the full pardon of sins, and of eternal salvation to such as would purchase the same with money !" It is obvious that the multiplication of crimes in a superstitious and dissolute age, would be proportionate to the facility of obtain- ing pardon. It had been a practice in the different governments of Europe to allow the payment of a fine to the magistrate, by way of compounding for the punishment due to an offence. The ava- ricious and unprincipled court of Rome adopted a similar plan in religious concerns, and intent only on the augmentation of revenue, it even rejoiced in the degradation of the human mind and charac- ter. The officers of the Roman chancery published a book con- taining the exact sum to be paid for any particular sin. A deacon guilty of murder was absolved for twenty crowns. A bishop or abbot might assassinate for three hundred livres. An ecclesiastic might violate his vows of chastity, even with the most aggravating circumstances, for the third pa*rt of that sum. To these and similar items, it is added, " Take notice particularly that such graces and dispensations are not granted to the POOR, for not having wherewith to pay they cannot be comforted"^ * It is almost unnecessary to say, that the author refers to D'Aubigne's popular and invaluable " History of the Reformation," to which he would take this oppor- tunity of expressing his obligation for most of the incidents connected with Lu- ther's struggles against the abominations of Rome. The work of D'Aubigne has lately been honored with a special notice of reprobation in the Pope's bull of 1844. Thank God it is translated into Italian ! Let D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation only be read throughout the whole of outraged and injured Italy, and the world will see that the Pope had reason to tremble on his tottering throne. f Taxa Cancellar. Romanse, quoted in Cox's life of Melancthon, chap. iii. As it has become usual with Romanists to deny the authenticity of these Tax -books for sin, since it has been discovered that protestants have become acquainted with their contents, it is proper to remark that more than twenty-seven editions of the work had appeared, before any one thought of denying their authenticity. The evi- dence on this subject has been weighed and sifted a hundred times, and the result is, that in the opinion of the most eminent literary men, the authenticity of this genuine Rornish work is established without the shadow of a doubt. The follow- ing observations upon " the Taxatio Papalis" by the learned Mendham, author of the " Literary policy of the church of Rome," are sufficient to set this matter for ever at rest. The Tax Tables are a considerable advance upon the simple In- 438 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi Editions of the Romish Tax-book for sins. Testimony of a Catholic author to its genuineness " What," asks an ornament of the British establishment, " was the crying abomination which first roused the indignant spirit of diligence ; for there, absolution for the grossest crimes and for all crimes is ex- pressly set to sale at specified prices absolution, or dispensation, or license, &c., for Gross!, or floreni, or ducats. To what times or persons the origin of those small and precious volumes is to be assigned, it is perhaps impossible to determine. The least objectionable part, indicating only unprincipled cupidity and rapacity, the Chancery Taxes, may with certainty be traced back to pope John XXII., who reigned at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and is celebrated by papal as well as other historians, for his immoderate extortion by the dexterous management of benefices, and by other means, and for the immense wealth which he accumulated and left behind him. (Ciaconii Vit. et Act. Pont., torn. 2; 395.) The frequent and exclusive refer- ence to the Liber Jo. XXII. in pope Leo's Xth's Taxae Cane. Apost., published in 1514, place the fact beyond a doubt ; and Polydore Virgil (lib. viii., cap. 2) ex- pressly ascribes the origin of those Taxes to him. To the Penitentiary Canons succeeded the regular Tax-books ; of which the first fifteen editions were issued at Rome, as is attested by the Romish author Au- diffredi, in a work avowedly enumerating those copies, and which volume is dedi- cated to " Pius VI., Pont. Opt. Max.," or, the " Most Blessed and Supreme." Tweniy-five other reprints were published at Paris, Cologne, and Venice that from the last place under the auspices of pope Gregory XIII. The printing was pro- bably rendered necessary or expedient from the number of agents, or collectors of these taxes, employed by the pontiffs ; for beyond Rome, in the countries subject to those impositions, it was desirable for individuals to know what their vices would cost them, and how far they could sustain the expense. Mornay, in his Mystere d'Iniquite, and Claude d'Espence, prove that those books were publicly and openly exposed to sale. But we are told, that these works have been formally and publicly condemned by papal authority in the Indices Prohibitorii. This matter is both a literary and a papal curiosity. Before the year 1564, when the Trent Index was compiled and published, twenty-seven of the editions of the Taxae had appeared, and probably many more, now unknown and yet no notice whatever was taken of them, in one single instance, until the year 1570, jTist a century after the appearance of the first edition, in an Appendix to the Roman Index, published by the authority of the king of Spain. In what terms does it there appear ? " Praxis et Taxa officinae pcenitentiariae Papas," p. 76 a work, which, if it ever existed under that title, was probably never known. With apparent misgiving, and possibly with some fear, that it might involve what the papacy knew to be its own offspring, the next Index published by authority in Rome, that of 1596, by pope Clement VIII., adds "ab hasreticis depravata; corrupted by heretics." But that specification is a virtual admission that some copies existed, which were not depraved or cor- rupted. In his Commentary on the Epistle to Titus, chap, i., 7, Digressio Secunda, on the word aiaKfOKsptn (greedy of filthy lucre), Claude d'Espence, a celebrated and candid French Catholic, rector of the University of Paris, having expressly re- ferred to the Centum Gravamina, avers, that all those charges might be considered as the fiction of the enemies of the Pope, were it not for a book printed, and for some time publicly exposed to sale at Paris, entitled Taxa Camera seu Cancel- laricc Apostolicce, in which more wickedness may be learned than in all the sum- maries of all vices ; and in which are proposed license of sinning to most, and absolution to all who will buy it. He wondered, that that infamous and scandal- ous index of iniquity was not suppressed by the friends and rulers of the Roman court ; and that the licenses and impunities for such abominations were renewed in the faculties granted to the papal legates, of absolving and rendering capable promotion all sorts, and even the most atrocious, of criminals, _ on Rome to blush, and cease any longer to prostitute herself by ?'f so infamous a catalogue." CHAP, vi.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 439 Farming indulgences. Contract for the sins of the Germans. Tetzel, the famous indulgence-peddler the great and much-calumniated Luther? The Pope actually drove a gainful pecuniary traffic in ecclesiastical indulgences ! In- struments of this description, by which the labor of making a fan- cied meritorious satisfaction to God by penance or by good works was pared down to the dwarfish standard that best suited the purse of a wealthy offender, were sold in the lump, to a tribe of monastic vagabonds, by the prelate, who claimed to be upon earth the di- viiiely-appointed vicar of Christ. These men purchased them of the Pope, by as good a bargain as they could make ; and then, after the mode of travelling pedlars, they disposed of them in re- tail to those who affected such articles of commerce ; each indul- gence, of course, bearing an adequate premium. The madness of superstition could be strained no higher: the reformation burst forth like a torrent ; and Luther, with the Bible in his hand, has merited and obtained the eternal hatred of an incorrigible church."* 74. At the commencement of the Reformation, Albert, elector of Mentz, who was, soon afterwards, made a cardinal, had solicited from the Pope the contract for i\\Q farming of all the indulgences in Germany, or, as they expressed it at Rome, " the contract for the sins of the Germans." The Elector being, however, in imme- diate want of a large sum of money to advance to the Pope, ap- plied to the Fuggers, a celebrated banking-house, to advance him the needed sum, upon the credit of the expected proceeds of the indulgences, and they deeming the investment a safe one, supplied him with the money. The notorious Tetzel, upon the conclusion of this bargain, hastened to Mentz, and offered his services to Albert, and as he had already many years' experience in this work of peddling indulgences, he was at once accepted. The account which Dr. Merle gives of the mode of Tetzel's proceedings is so graphic and so lively, that I shall endeavor to con- dense the substance of his remarks. One person, says he, in par- ticular, in these sales of indulgences, drew the attention of the spec- tators in these sales. It was he who bore the great red cross and had the most prominent part assigned to him. He was clothed in the habit of the Dominicans, and his port was lofty. His voice was sonorous, and he seemed yet in the prime of his strength, though he was past his sixty-third year. This man, who was the son of a gold- smith of Leipsic, named Diez, bore the name of John Diezel or Tetzel. He had studied in his native town, had taken his bachelor's degree in 1487, and entered two years later into the order of the Dominicans. Numerous honors had been accumulated on him. Bachelor of Theology, Prior of the Dominicans, Apostolical Com- missioner, Inquisitor (hereticce pravitatis inquisitor}, he had, ever since the year 1502, filled the office of an agent for the sale of indul- gences. The experience he had acquired as a subordinate function- ary had very early raised him to the station of chief commissioner. He had an allowance of 80 florins per month, all his expenses de- * Difficulties of Romanism, by Rev. 'George Stanley Faber, p. 157. *40 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi Tetzel's character. His manner of proceeding in disposing of his indulgences. frayed, and he was allowed a carnage and three horses ; but we may readily imagine that his indirect emoluments far exceeded his allowances. In 1507, he gained in two days at Frcyberg 2000 florins. If his occupation resembled that of a mountebank, he had also the morals of one. Convicted at Inspruck of adultery and abominable profligacy, he was near paying the forfeit of his life. The emperor Maximilian had ordered that he should be put into a sack and thrown into the river. The elector Frederic of Saxony had interceded for him, and obtained his pardon. But the lesson he had received had not taught him more decency. He carried about with him two of his children. Miltitz, the Pope's legate, cites the fact in one of his letters. It would have been hard to find in all the cloisters of Germany, a man more adapted to the traffic with which he was charged. To the theology of a monk, and the zeal and spirit of an inquisitor, he united the greatest effrontery. What most helped him in his office, was the facility he displayed in the invention of the strange stories with which the taste of the common people is generally pleased. No means came amiss to him to fill his coffers. Lifting up his voice and giving loose to a coarse volubility, he offered his indulgences to all comers, and excelled any salesman at a fair in recommending his merchandize. As soon as the cross was elevated with the Pope's arms suspended upon it, Tetzel ascend- ed the pulpit, and, with a bold tone, began, in the presence of the crowd whom the ceremony had drawn to the sacred spot, to exalt the efficacy of indulgences. (See Engraving.) 75. The people listened, and wondered at the admirable virtues ascribed to them. The Jesuit historian Maimbourg says himself, in speaking of the Dominican friars whom Tetzel had associated with him : " Some of these preachers did not fail, as usual, to distort their subject, and so to exaggerate the value of the indulgences as to lead the people to believe that, as soon as they gave their money they were certain of salvation and of the deliverance of souls froir purgatory." If such were the pupils, we may imagine what lengths the mastei went. Let us hear one of these harangues, pronounced after tha erection of the cross. " Indulgences," said he, " are the most precious and sublime o God's gifts. " This cross" (pointing to the red cross) " has as muck efficacy as the cross of Jesus Christ. Draw near, and J will giv you letters, duly sealed, by which even the sins you shall hereatte desire to commit shall be all forgiven you. " I would not exchange my privileges for those of Saint Peter ir, heaven, lor I have saved more souls with my indulgences thar- he with his sermons. There is no sin so great that the indulgence cannot remit, and even if any one should (which is doubtless impo? sible) ravish the Holy Virgin Mother of God,* let him pay let him only pay largely, and it shall be forgiven him. * There has been some controversy relative to the passage upon which thd imputation of this horrible language is based. The words are, " Is inter alia do- Tetzel selling Indulgences. Bibles, by Romish Priests, at Champlain, N. Y. ( CHAP, vi.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 443 The money clinking in the chest, and the soul escaping from Purgatory. Bring money ! Bring money I " Even repentance," he would say, " is not indispensable. But more than all this : indulgences save not the living alone they also save the dead. Ye priests, ye nobles, ye tradesmen, ye wives, ye maidens, and ye young men, hearken to your departed parents and friends, who cry to you from the bottomless abyss : ' We are endur- ing horrible torment ! a small alms would deliver us ; you can give it, and you will not !' " " The very moment" continued Tetzel, " that the money clinks against the bottom of the chest, the soul escapes from purgatory, and Jlies free to heaven. O, senseless people, and almost like to beasts, who do not comprehend the grace so richly offered ! This day heaven is on all sides open. Do you now refuse to enter ? When then do you intend to come in ? This day you may redeem many souls. Dull and heedless man, with ten groschen you can deliver your father from purgatory, and you are so ungrateful that you will not rescue him. In the day of judgment, my conscience will be clear ; but you will be punished the more severely for neglecting so great a salvation. I protest that though you should have only one coat, you ought to strip it off and sell it, to purchase this grace. Our Lord God no longer deals with us as God. He has given all power to the Pope 1" Then, having recourse to other inducements, he added, " Do you know why our most Holy Lord distributes so rich a grace ? The dilapidated Church of St. Peter and St. Paul is to be restored, so as to be unparalleled in the whole earth. That church contains the bodies of the holy apostles, Peter and Paul, and a vast company of martyrs. Those sacred bodies, owing to the present condition of the edifice, are now, alas ! continually trodden, flooded, polluted, dis- honored, and rotting in rain and hail. Ah ! shall those holy ashes be suffered to remain degraded in the mire ?" This touch of de- scription never failed to produce an impression on many hearers. There was an eager desire to aid poor Leo X., who had not the means of sheltering from the rain the bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul! At the close of his address, Tetzel would point to the strong box in which the money w?^s kept, and call upon the people with a sten- torian voice, " Bring your money ! bring money ! bring money !" and running down the steps of the pulpit, he would throw in a piece of silver, with a loud sound, before all the people. 76. The commissioner whose duty it was to sell this popish ware, had a counter close to the cross. He turned a scrutinizing glance on those who came. He examined their manner, step, and attire, and demanded a sum in proportion to the apparent circumstances of the party presenting himself. Kings, queens, princes, archbishops, cebat, se tantam habere potestatem a Pontifice, ut etiam si quis virginem matrem vitiasset ac gravidam fecisset, condonare crimen ipse posset interventu pecunia? : deinde non modo jam commissa, verum etiam futura peccata condonabat," and havo led to much controversy whether it should not read virginem aut matrem that is, a virgin or a mother. (Sleidan, Lib. xiii., p. 208 ; Gies. iii., 330.) 444 HISTORY OF ROMAMSM. [BOOK vi. Prices ai.d form of absolution. Properly called a license to sin. bishops, &c., were to pay, according to the regulation, for an ordi- nary indulgence, twenty-five ducats ; abbots, counts, barons, &c., ten. The other nobles, superiors, and all who had an annual income of 500 florins, were to pay six. Those who had an income of 200 flo- rins, one; the rest, half a florin. And, further, if this scale could not in every instance be observed, full power was given to the apos- tolic commissary, ami the whole might be arranged according to the dictates of sound reason, and the generosity of the giver. For particular sins Tetzel had a private scale. Polygamy cost six du- cats ; sacrilege and perjury, nine ducats ; murder, eight ; witchcraft, two. Samson, who carried on in Switzerland the same traffic as Tetzel in Germany, had rather a different scale. He charged for infanticide, four livres tournois ; for a parricide or fratricide, one ducat. The form of absolution by Tetzel has been given by most wri- ters on the Reformation, from Robertson to Merle, and is as fol- lows : " Our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on thee, N. N., and absolve thee by the merits of his most holy sufferings ! And I, in virtue of the apostolic power committed to me, absolve thee from all ecclesiastical censures, judgments, and penalties that thou mayst have merited ; and further, from all excesses, sins, and crimes that thou mayst have committed, however great and enormous they may be, and pf whatever kind, even though they should be reserved to our holy father the Pope, and to the Apostolic See. I efface all the stains of weakness, and all traces of the shame that thou mayst have drawn upon thyself by such actions. / remit the pains thou wouldst have had to endure in purgatory. I receive thee again to the sacraments of the Church. I hereby re-incorporate thee in the communion of the saints, and restore thee to the innocence and pur- ity of thy baptism ; so that, at the moment of death, the gate of the place of torment shall be shut against thee, and the gate of the para- dise of joy shall be opened unto thee. And if thou shouldst live long, this grace continueth unchangeable, till the time of thy end. In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Brother, John Tetzel, commissary, hath signed this with his own hand" 77. What could be a greater indulgence to the commission of future crimes than the promise contained in this abominable docu- ment, that at the moment of death the place of punishment should be closed, and the gate of Paradise opened to the purchaser of this popish license to sin. I call it a license to sin, because it promised salvation to its purchaser irrespective of his future life. Sometimes the good sense of the people administered a cutting rebuke to these popish traffickers in sin. The following two instances are worth recording. The wife of a shoemaker at Hagenau, profiting by the permission given in the instruction of the Commissary-general, had procured, against her husband's will, a letter of indulgence, and had paid for it a gold florin. Shortly after she died : and the widower omitting to have mass said for the repose of her soul, the curate I CHAP, vi.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 445 Common sense rebuking these impostures. Tetzel outwitted and beaten with his own weapons. charged him with contempt of religion, and the judge of Hagenau summoned him to appear before him. The shoemaker put in his pocket his wife's indulgence, and repaired to the place of summons. " Is your wife dead ?" asked the judge. " Yes," answered the shoe- maker-. "What have you done with her?" "I buried her and commended her soul to God." " But have you had a mass said for the salvation of her soul ?" " I have not : it was not necessary : she went to heaven in the moment of her death." " How do you know that?" "Here is the evidence of it." The widower drew from his pocket the indulgence, and the judge, in presence of the curate, read, in so many words, that in the moment of death, the woman who had received it would go, not into purgatory, but straight into heaven. "If the curate pretends that a mass is neces- sary after that," said the shoemaker, " my wife has been cheated by our Holy Father the Pope ; but if she has not been cheated, then the curate is deceiving me." There was no replying to this defence, and the accused was acquitted. It was thus that the good sense of the people disposed of these impostures. On another occasion a gentleman of Saxony had heard Tetzel at Leipsic, and was much shocked by his impostures. He went to the monk, and inquired if he was authorized to pardon sins in inten- tion, or such as the applicant intended to commit ? " Assuredly," answered Tetzel ; " I have full power from the Pope to do so." *' Well," returned the gentleman, " I want to take some slight re- venge on one of my enemies, without attempting his life. I will pay you ten crowns, if you will give me a letter of indulgence that shall bear me harmless." Tetzel made some scruples ; they struck their bargain for thirty crowns. Shortly after, the monk set out from Leipsic. The gentleman, attended by his servants, laid wait for him in a wood between Juterboch and Treblin, fell upon him, gave him a beating, and carried off the rich chest of indulgence- money the inquisitor had with him. Tetzel clamored against this act of violence, and brought an action before the judges. But the gentlemen showed the letter signed by Tetzel himself, which ex- empted him beforehand from all responsibility. Duke George who had at first been much irritated at this action, upon seeing this wri- ting, ordered that the accused, should be acquitted. A miner of Schneeberg meeting a seller of indulgences, in- quired : " Must we then believe what you have often said of the power of indulgences and of the authority of the Pope, and think that we can redeem a soul from purgatory by casting a penny into the chest?" The dealer in indulgences affirmed that it was so. " Ah !" replied the miner, " what a cruel man the Pope must be, thus to leave a poor soul to suffer so long in the flames for a wretch- ed penny ! If he has no ready money, let him collect a few hun- dred thousand crowns, and deliver all these souls by one act. Even we poor folks would willingly pay him the principal and interest." 78. At this time, Luther was performing his quiet duties as an Augustin monk. He was full of respect to the Pope, arid as he 29 446 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. Luther at the confessional. His theses against indulgences. himself says, " so steeped in the Romish doctrines, that I would wil- lingly have helped to kill any one who had the audacity to refuse the smallest act of obedience to the Pope. I was a true Saul, like many others still living." But at the same time his heart was ready to take fire for what he thought the truth, and against what, in his judgment, was error. One day Luther was at confessional in Wittemberg. Several residents of that town successively presented themselves : they con- fessed themselves guilty of great irregularities, adultery, licentious- ness, usury, unjust gains : such were the things men came to talk of with a minister of God's word, who must one day give an account of their souls. He reproved, rebuked, and instructed. But what was his astonishment, when these persons replied that they did not intend to abandon their sins ! The pious monk, shocked at this, declared, that since they would not promise to change their habits of life, he could not absolve them. Then it was that these poor creatures appealed to their letters of indulgence ; they showed them, and contended for their efficacy. But Luther replied, that he had nothing to do with their paper ; and he added, " If you do not turn from the evil of your way, you will all perish." They exclaimed against this, and renewed their application ; but the doctor was im- moveable. " They must cease," he said, " to do evil, and learn to do well, or otherwise no absolution. Have a care," added ho, " how you give ear to the indulgences : you have something better to do than to buy licenses which they offer to you for paltry pence." Much alarmed, these inhabitants of Wittemberg quickly returned to Tetzel, and told him that an Augustin monk treated his letters with contempt. Tetzel, at this, bellowed with anger. He held forth in the pulpit, used insulting expressions and curses, and, to strike the people with more terror, he had a fire lighted several times in the grand square, and declared that he was ordered by the Pope to burn the heretics who should dare to oppose his most holy indul- gences. 79. The first courageous step was taken by Luther, on tho 31st of October, 1517. On the evening of that day he went boldly to the church, toward which the superstitious crowds of pilgrims were flocking, and affixed to the door ninety-five theses or propo- sitions against the doctrine of indulgences, which he declared him- self ready to defend. A few of these noble protestations against the popish abomination of indulgences are given, as specimens of the whole. " 21. The commissioners of indulgences are in error in saying that, through the indulgence of the Pope, man is delivered from all punishment, and saved. " 27. Those persons preach human inventions, who pretend that, at the very moment when the money sounds in the strong box, the soul escapes from purgatory. " 28. This is certain : that as soon as the money sounds, avarice and love of gain come in, grow, and multiply. But the assistance CHAP. VT.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 447 Tetzel, in revenge, publicly burns Luther's theses, at Frankfort. and prayers of the church depend only on the will and good pleas- ure of God. " 32. Those who fancy themselves sure of their salvation by in- dulgences, will go to the devil with those who teach them this doctrine. " 36. Every Christian who feels true repentance for his sins, has perfect remission from the punishment and from the sin, without the need of indulgences. " 37. Every true Christian, dead or living, is a partaker of all the riches of Christ, or of the church, by the gift of God, and without any letter of indulgence. " 46. We must teach Christians, that if they have no superfluity, they are bound to keep for their families wherewith to procure ne- cessaries, and they ought not to waste their money on indulgences. " 50. We must teach Christians, that if the Pope knew the exac- tions of the preachers of indulgences, he would rather that the metro- politan church of St. Peter were burnt to ashes, than see it built up with the skin, thejlesh and bones of his flock. "51. We must teach Christians, that the Pope, as in duty bound, would willingly give his own money, though it should be necessary to sell the metropolitan church of St. Peter for the purpose, to the poor people, whom the preachers of indulgences now rob of their last penny. " 52. To hope to be saved by indulgences is to hope in lies and vanity ; even although the commissioner of indulgences, nay, though even the Pope himself should pledge his own soul in attestation of their efficacy. 80. Tetzel, in reply to the theses of Luther, and out of revenge for his miserable defeat, when endeavoring to defend some theses of his own, in opposition to Luther's, then had recourse to the ultima ratio of Rome and its inquisitors, the fire. He set up a pulpit and a scaffold in one of the suburbs of Frankfort. He went thither in solemn procession, arrayed in the insignia of an inquisitor of the faith. He inveighed, in his most furious manner, from the pulpit. He hurled his thunders with an unsparing hand, and loudly exclaim- ed, that "the heretic Luther ought to be burned alive." Then placing the Doctor's propositions and sermon on the scaffold, he set fire to them. He showed greater dexterity in this operation than he had displayed in defending his theses. Here there were none to oppose him, and his victory was complete. The arrogant Domini- can re-entered Frankfort in triumph. When parties accustomed to power have sustained defeat, they have recourse to certain shows and semblances, which must be allowed them as a consolation for their disgrace. Tetzel, after this auto-da-fe of the theses of Luther, hastened to send his own theses in defence of indulgences, to Saxony. They will serve, thought he, as an antidote to those of Luther. A man was dispatched by the inquisitor from Alle to distribute his proposi- tions at Wittemberg. The students of that university, indignant that Tetzel should have burned the theses of their master, * vjoner 448 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. The students of Wittembcrg burn Tetzel's theses. Luther's explanations, called solutions- heard of the arrival of his messenger, than they surrounded him in troops, inquiring in threatening tones how he had dared to bring such things thither. Some of them purchased a portion of the copies he had brought with him ; others seized on the remainder ; thus getting possession of his whole stock, which amounted to eight .hundred copies; then, unknown to the Elector, the senate, the rector, Luther, and all the professors, the students of Wittemberg posted bills on the gates of the university, bearing these words : " Whosoever desires to be present at the burning and obsequies of the theses of Tetzel, let him repair at two o'clock to the market- place." They assembled in crowds at the hour appointed ; and, amid the acclamations of the multitude, committed the propositions of the Dominican to the flames. One copy was saved from the fire. Luther afterward sent it to his friend Lange, of Erfurth. The young students acted on the precept of them of old time, " an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, 1 ' and not on that of Christ. But when doctors and professors had set such an example at Frankfort, can we wonder that young students should follow it at Wittemberg ? 81. In the meantime, pope Leo, at Rome, reclining upon the ]ap of sensuality and indolence, cheered by the beams of prosperity, and lulled by the echoes of parasitical adulation into luxurious re- pose, took no notice of the progress of opinion in Germany. He expected that the contentions which had arisen, would cease of themselves, and like a few bubbles on the surface of a stream, pro- duced by some temporary and slight agitation of the waters, would gradually, and without any interference, disappear. When Prierio, master of the apostolic palace, at Rome, referred to the heresies of Luther, he replied, * Che fra Martino aveva un bellissimo ingegno, et che coste erano invidie fratesche.' " Martin is a man of talents, but these are only the squabbles of monks." Luther had not yet broken his allegiance to the Pope. He spoke of Leo with respect, and gave him credit for justice and a love of truth. He proceeded to prepare explanations of his theses on in- dulgences, which were written with moderation, and called solutions. He endeavored to soften the passages that had occasioned irritation, and evinced a genuine modesty. But, at the same time, he mani- fested an immovable conviction, and courageously defended eveiy proposition that truth obliged him to maintain. He repeated once more, that every Christian who truly repented had remission of sins without any indulgence ; that the Pope had no more power than the lowest priest, to do anything beyond simply declaring the for- giveness that God had already granted ; that the treasury of the merits of saints, administered by the Pope, was a pure fiction : and that holy Scripture was the sole rule of faith. " It is impos- sible," says Luther, " for a man to be a Christian, without having Christ , and if he has Christ, he has, at the same time, all that is in Christ. What gives peace to the conscience is that, by faith, our sins are no more ours, but Christ's upon whom God hath laid them all ; and that, on the other hand, all Christ's righteousness is ours, CHAP, vi.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 449 Bends his solutions to Leo X. His respectful letter to the Pope. to whom God hath given it. Christ lays his hand upon us, and we are healed. He casts his mantle upon us, and we are clothed ; for he is the glorious Saviour, blessed for ever." With such views of the riches of salvation by Christ, there could no longer be any need of indulgences. When these solutions were finished, Luther caused a copy of them to be forwarded to the Pope. " I beg of you," said he to his friend Staupitz, vicar general of the Augustin order, " to receive with favor the poor productions that I send you, and to forward them to the excellent pope Leo X. Not that I mean by this to draw you into the peril in which I stand ; I am resolved myself to incur the whole danger. Christ will look to it, and make it appear whether what I have said comes from him or myself, Christ, with- out whom the Pope's tongue cannot move, nor the hearts of kings decree. As for those who threaten me, I have no answer for them but the saying of Reuchlin : ' The poor man has nothing to fear, for he has nothing to lose.' I have neither money nor estate, and I desire none. If I have sometimes tasted of honor and good report, may He who has begun to strip me of them, finish his work. All that is left me is this wretched body, enfeebled by many trials ; let them kill it by violence or fraud, so it be to the glory of God ; by so doing they will but shorten the term of life by a few hours. It is sufficient for me that 1 have a precious Redeemer, a powerful High Priest, my Lord Jesus Christ. I will praise him as long as I have breath. If another will not join me in praising him, what is that to me?" 82. On the 13th of May, 1518, Luther addressed a letter to pope Leo, of which the following are extracts : " To the most blessed Father, pope Leo X., Supreme Bishop, brother Martin Luther, an Augustin, wishes eternal salvation ! . . . I hear, most holy father, that evil reports circulate concerning me, and that my name is in bad odor with your Holiness. I am called a heretic, an apostate, a traitor, and a thousand other reproachful names. What I see sur- prises me, and what I hear alarms me. But the'sole foundation of my tranquillity remains unmoved, being a pure and quiet conscience. O, holy father ! deign to hearken to me, who am but a child, and need instruction." Luther then relates the affair from the beginning, and thus proceeds : " Nothing was heard in all the taverns, but complaints of the avarice of the priests, attacks on the power of the keys, and of the supreme bishop. I call all Germany to witness. When I heard these things, my zeal was aroused for the glory of Chiist, if I understand my own heart; or if another construction is to be put on my conduct, my young and warm blood was in- flamed. ... I represented the matter to certain princes of the church, but some laughed at me, and others turned a deaf ear. The awe of your name seemed to have made all motionless. Thereupon 1 published this dispute. . . . This, then, holy father, this is the action which has been said to have set the whole world in a flame ! . . . And now what am I to do ? I cannot retract what I have said, and 1 450 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOR Bold expressions of Luther, in his solutions, with respect to the degree of r-gard due to the Poj*. see that this publication draws down on me, from all sides, an inex- pressible hatred. I have no wish to appear in the great world, for I am unlearned, of small wit, and far too inconsiderable for such freat matters, more especially in this illustrious age, when Cicero imself, if he were living, would be constrained to hide himself in some dark corner. . . . But in order to appease my enemies arid satisfy the desires of many friends, I here publish my thoughts. I publish them, holy father, that I may dwell the more safely under your protection. All those who desire it may here see with what simplicity of heart I have petitioned the supreme authority of the church to instruct me, and what respect I have manifested for the power of the keys. If I had not acted with propriety, it would have been impossible that the serene Lord Frederick, duke and elector of Saxony, who shines foremost among the friends of the apostolic and Christian truth, should have endured that one, so dangerous as I am asserted to be, should continue in his university of Wittemberg. . . . Therefore, most holy father, I throw myself at the feet of your holiness, and submit myself to you, with all that I have, and all that I am. Destroy my cause, or espouse it : pro- nounce either for or against me ; take my life, or restore it, as you please ; I will receive your voice as that of Christ himself, who pre- sides and speaks through you. If I have deserved death, I refuse not to die ; the earth is the Lord's, and all that therein is. May He be praised for ever and ever. May He maintain you to all eternity. Amen. "Signed the day of the Holy Trinity, in the year 1518. Brother Martin Luther, Augustin. " In this letter what admirable humility and sincerity are evident ! Yet by his expressions of deference to the Pope, he meant not to sacrifice one iota of the truth. He was willing to be instructed, to be convinced, if possible, but he could not, he would not re- nounce it. In the very solutions, to which he called the attention of Leo, were these bold words : " I care little what pleases or dis- pleases the Pope. He is a man like other men. There have been many popes who have not only taken up with errors and vices, but things yet more extraordinary. I listen to the Pope as pope, that is, when he speaks in the canons, agreeably to the cnnons, or regulates any matter conjointly with a council, but not when he speaks of his own mind. If I acted on any other rule, might I not be required to say, with those who know not Jesus Christ, that the horrible mas- sacres of Christians, by which Julius II. was stained, were the good deeds of a kind shepherd of the Lord's sheep ?" 451 CHAPTER VII. LUTHER AND CAJETAN. THE NOBLE CONSTANCY OF THE REFORMER. 83. LEO X., roused at length by the outcry of the theologians and monks, now appointed an ecclesiastical court in Rome, for the purpose of judging Luther, and in which the reformer's great enemy, Sylvester Prierias, was at once accuser and judge. The preliminaries were soon arranged, and the court summoned Luther to appear before it in person within sixty days. Luther was at Wittemberg, quietly awaiting the good effects which he imagined his submissive letter to the Pope was calculated to* produce, when, on the 7th August, two days only after the letters from Frederick and Maximilian had been dispatched to Rome, he received the summons from the papal tribunal. " At the moment that I looked for bene- diction," said he, " I saw the thunderbolt descend upon me. I was like the lamb that troubled the stream at which the wolf was drink- ing. Tetzel escaped, and I was devoured." The Elector and the members of the University at Wittem- berg, protested against Luther going to Rome, and the Pope at length consented that his cause should be heard in Germany, and on the 23d of August, 1518, cardinal Cajetan de Vio received his commission as the Pope's legate to reduce Luther to submission. In Leo's instructions to Cajetan, he says, " We charge you to com- pel the aforesaid Luther to appear before you in person ; to prose- cute and reduce him to submission without delay, as soon as you shall have received this our order ; he having already been declared a heretic by our dear brother Jerome, Bishop of Asculan. For this purpose invoke the power and assistance of our very dear son in Christ, Maximilian, and the other princes of Germany, and of all the communities, universities, and potentates, whether ecclesiastical or secular. And when you have secured his person, cause him to be detained in safe custody, that he may be brought before us. If he should return to a sense of his duty, and ask pardon for so great an offence, freely and of his own accord, we give you power to re- ceive him into the unity of holy mother church. If you fail to get possession of his person, we give you power to proscribe him in all places in Germany ; to put away, curse, and excommunicate all those who are attached to him, and to enjoin all Christians to shun their society. And to the end that this pestilence may the more easily be rooted out, you will excommunicate all the prelates, religious orders, universities, communities, counts, dukes and poten- tates, the emperor Maximilian excepted, who shall neglect to seize the said Martin Luther, and his adherents, and send them to you un- der proper and safe custody. And if (which God forbid) the afore- said princes, communities, universities, and potentates, or any who belong to them, shelter the said Martin and his adherents, or give 452 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. Th Pope's flattering letter to the Elector, to induce him to withdraw his protection from Luther. them publicly or secretly, directly or indirectly, assistance and ad- vice, we lay an interdict on these princes, communities, universities and potentates, with their towns, boroughs, countries, and villages ; as well as on the towns, boroughs, countries, and villages, where the said Martin shall take refuge, as long as he shall remain there, and three days after he shall have quitted the same." 84. While Rome was thus arming the Legate with her thun- ders, she was endeavoring, by soft and flattering speeches, to detach from Luther's interest the prince whose power she most dreaded. The same day (the 23d of August, 1518), the Pope wrote to the elector of Saxony. He had recourse to the practised policy of Rome with powerful princes, and sought to flatter .the prince's vanity. ' Dear Son." said the Roman Pontiff, "when we think of your noble and worthy family ; of you who are its ornament and head ; when we remember how you and your ancestors have al- ways wished to uphold the Christian faith and the honor and digni- ty of the Holy See, we cannot believe that a man who abandons the faith can rely on your highness's favor, and recklessly give the rein to his wickedness. And yet reports have reached us from all quarters, that a certain brother Martin Luther, a monk of the order of St. Augustine, acting the part of a child of iniquity and a de- spisei of God, has forgotten his habit and his order, which require humility and obedience, and boasts that he fears neither the authori- ty nor the chastisement of any man, assured, as he declares himself, of your favor and protection. But, as we are sure that he is, in this, deceiving himself, we have thought it good to write to your Highness, and to exhort you, according to the will of God, to be jealous of your honor as a Christian prince, the ornament, the glory, and the sweet savor of your noble family, to defend yourself from these calumnies, and to clear yourself, not only from the commis- sion of so great a crime as that which is imputed to you, but also from the very suspicion which the rash presumption of this monk tends to bring upon you." Before this letter of the Pope had yet reached Germany, and while Luther was still fearing that he should be obliged to appear at Rome. a fortunate circumstance occurred to comfort his heart. He needed a friend into whose bosom he could pour out his sorrows, and whose faithful love should comfort him in his hours of dejection. God sent him such a friend in Melancthon, who, at the early age of twenty- one, arrived at Wittemberg to enter upon the duties of his professor- ship, on the 25th of August, just two days after the Pope had signed the brief institutions to cardinal Cajetan, and the letter to the elec- tor of Saxbny. 85. The order for Luther's appearance at Augsburg, be fore the Cardinal legate, at length arrived. It was now with one of the prin- ces of the Roman Church that Luther had to do. All his friends be- sought him not to set out. They feared that a snare might be laid for him on his journey, or a design formed against his life. Some set about finding a place of concealment for him, and others from CHAP, vn.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 453 Luther goes to Augsburg to appear before the Pope's legate, Cardinal Cajetan. different quarters gave him the most alarming information. Count Albert of Mansfeldt sent him a message to abstain from set- ting out, because some great nobles had bound themselves by an oath, to seize and strangle, or drown him. But nothing could shake his resolution. Everywhere, in the history of Luther, and of the re- formation, do we find ourselves in the presence of that intrepid spirit, that elevated morality, that boundless charity, which the first estab- lishment of Christianity had exhibited to the world. " I am like Jeremiah," said Luther, at the moment we are speaking of, "'a man of strife and contention ;' but the more they increase their threatenings, the more they multiply my joy. My wife and children are well provided for. My lands and houses and all my goods are safe. They have already torn to pieces my honor and my good name. All I have left is my wretched body; let them have it ; they will then shorten my life by a few hours. But as to MY SOUL, they shall not have that. He, who resolves to bear the word of Christ to the world, must expect death at every hour." In accordance with this self-sacrificing spirit, Luther set out on foot, on his perilous journey to Augsburg, accompanied by two faith- ful friends, Link and Leonard, and arrived at the monastery of the Augustins in that city, on the 7th of October. On the following day, a crafty Italian courtier named Serra Longa, paid Luther a visit, to persuade the reformer to submission, or to prepare him for his inter- view with the Cardinal legate. The instructions given to Luther by this courtier of Rome are curidus. " Remember," said he, " that you are to appear before a PRINCE OF THE CHURCH ! I will myself, conduct you to him. But first let me tell you how you must appear in his presence. When you enter the room where he is sitting, you must prostrate yourself with your face to the ground ; when he tells you to rise, you must kneel before him, and you must not stand erect till he orders you to do so." 86. Luther had neglected to provide himself with a safe-conduct. His friends advised him, by no means to appear before the Le- gate without one, as he would then be at the mercy of Cajetan. But should he obtain such a document, the Legate could not im- prison or harm him, without persuading the emperor Maximilian to violate his faith. They took upon themselves the task of obtaining the necessary safe-conduct from the Emperor. Cajetan's plan was, no doubt, to compel Luther, if possible, to retract ; and if he failed in that, to secure his person, and have him conveyed to Rome, where he would doubtless have shared the fate of Huss and of Jerome. Hence he was in hopes that Luther would apply for no safe-con- duct, but entrust himself entirely to his mercy. Serra Longa offered to accompany Luther before the Legate, but the reformer told him of the advice of his Augsburg friends to procure a safe-conduct. " Beware of asking anything of the sort," replied Serra Longa quickly, " you have no need of it whatever. The Legate is well disposed toward you, and quite ready to end the affair amicably. If you ask for a safe-conduct, you will spoil 454 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. Fruitless efforts of the papists to persuade Luther to trust himself without a safe-conduct. all." " My gracious lord, the elector of Saxony," replied Luther, "recommended me to several honorable men in this town. They advise me not to venture without a safe-conduct: I ought to follow their advice. Were I to neglect it, and anything should be- fall me, they would write to the Elector, my master, that I would not hearken to them." Luther persisted in his resolution ; and Serra Longa was obliged to return to his employer, and report to him the failure of his mission, at the very moment when he fan- cied it would be crowned with success. The agents of the Cardinal, who was exceedingly desirous to get Luther into his power without a safe-conduct, soon renewed their importunities. " The Cardinal," said they, " sends you assur- ances of his grace and favor : why are you afraid ?" And they endeavored by every possible argument to persuade him to wait upon the Legate. " He is so gracious, that he is like a father," said one of these emissaries. But another, going close up to him, whispered, " Do not believe what they say. There is no depend- ence to be placed upon his words." Luther persisted in his resolu- tion. On the morning of Monday, the 10th of October, Serra Longa again renewed his persuasions. The courtier had made it a point of honor to succeed in his negotiations. The moment he entered, he asked in Latin, " Why do you not go to the Cardinal ? He is expecting you in the most indulgent frame of mind. With him the whole question is summed up in six letters REVOCA re- tract. Come, then, with me ; you have nothing to fear." Luther thought within himself that those were six very im- portant letters : but. without further discussion, he replied, " As soon as I have received the safe-conduct I will appear." Serra Longa lost his temper at these words. He persisted he brought forward additional reasons for compliance. But Luther was im- movable. The Italian courtier, still irritated, exclaimed, " You imagine, no doubt, that the Elector will take up arms in your favor, and risk, for your sake, the loss of the dominions he inherits from his ancestors." " God forbid ! " replied Luther. " When all for- sake you," asked the Italian, " where will you then take refuge ?" " Where ?" said Luther, smiling and looking upwards with the eye of faith, "UNDER HEAVEN!" Serra Longa was struck dumb by this sublime and unexpected reply ; he soon left the house, leaped into his saddle and visited Luther no more. 87. Having soon after obtained his safe-conduct, Luther appear- ed before the Legate. On entering the room where the Cardinal was waiting for him, Luther found him accompanied by the apostolical nuncio and Serra Longa. His reception was cool, but civil : and, according to Roman etiquette, Luther, following the instructions of Serra Longa, prostrated himself before the Cardinal ; when the latter told him to rise, he knelt ; and when the command was re- peated, he stood erect. Several of the most distinguished Italians of the Legate's household entered the room, in order to be present at the interview, impatient to see the German monk humble him- CHAP, vn.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 455 Luther's first appearance before the Cardinal Legate. self before the Pope's representative. The Legate was silent. He expected, says a contemporary, that Luther would begin his recantation. But Luther waited reverently for the Roman Prince to address him. Finding, however, that he did not open his lips, he understood his silence as an invitation to open the business, and spoke as follows : " Most worthy father, upon the summons of his Holiness the Pope, and at the desire of my gracious Lord, the elector of Saxony, I appear before you, as an humble and obedient son of the Holy Christian Church ; and I acknowledge that it was I who published the propositions and theses that are the subject of inquiry. I am ready to listen with all submission to the charges brought against me, and, if I am in error, to be instructed in the truth." The Cardinal, who had determined to assume the tone of a kind and compassionate father towards an ening child, answered in the most friendly manner, commended Luther's humility, and ex- pressed the joy he felt on beholding it, saying : " My dear son, you have filled all Germany with commotion by your dispute concerning indulgences. I hear that you are a doctor well skilled in the Scriptures, and that you have many followers ; if, therefore, you wish to be a member of the church, and to have in the Pope a most gracious lord ; listen to me." After this exordium, the Legate did not hesitate to tell him all that he ex- pected of him, so confident was he of his submission : " Here," said he, " are three articles which, acting under the direction of our most holy Father, pope Leo X., I am to propose to you: First, you must, return to your duty ; you must acknowledge your faults, and retract your errors, your propositions, and sermons. Secondly, you must promise to abstain for the future from propa- gating your opinions. And, thirdly, you must engage to be more discreet, and avoid everything that may grieve or disturb the church." " Most worthy father," replied Luther, " I request to be permitted to see the Pope's brief, by virtue of which you have re- ceived full power to negotiate this affair." 88. Serra Longa and the rest of the Italians of the Cardinal's train were struck with astonishment at such a demand, and al- though the German monk had already appeared to them a strange phenomenon, they were completely disconcerted at so bold a speech. Christians familiar with the principles of justice desire to see them adhered to in proceedings against others or themselves ; but those who are accustomed to act according to their own will are much surprised when required to proceed regularly and agreeably to form and law. " Your demand, my son," replied Cajetan, " cannot be complied with. You have to acknowledge your errors ; to be careful for the future what you teach ; not to return to your vomit ; so that you may rest without care and anxiety ; and then, acting by the command and on the authority of our most holy father the Pope, I will adjust the whole affair." " Deign then," said Luther, " to inform me wherein I have erred." 456 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. Points which the Legate required Luther to yield. At this request, the Italian courtiers, who had expected to see the poor German fall upon his knees and implore mercy, were still more astonished than before. Not one of them would have condescended to answer so impertinent a question. But the Legate, who thought it scarcely generous to crush this feeble monk by the weight of all his authority, and trusted, moreover, to his own learn- ing for obtaining an easy victory, consented to tell Luther what he was accused of, and said : " My beloved son . there are two pro- positions put forward by you, which you must, before all, retract : 1st, 'The treasure of indulgences does not consist of the merits and sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ ; 2dly, the man who re- ceives the holy sacrament must have faith in the grace offered to him.' " Both these propositions did indeed strike a death-blow at the commerce of Rome. If the Pope had not power to dispose at will of the Saviour's merits, if, on receiving the paper in which the brokers of the church traded, men did not acquire a portion of that infinite righteousness, this paper currency lost its value, and men would count it no better than a mere rag. And thus also with the sacraments. The indulgences were, in some sense, an extraordinary branch of commerce with Rome ; the sacraments made part of her ordinary traffic. The revenue they yielded was by no means small. But to assert that faith was necessary to make them productive of any real benefit to the soul of the Christian, Was to rob them of their attraction in the sight of the people. For faith is not in the Pope's gift ; it is beyond his power, and can come from God alone. To declare its necessity was, therefore, to snatch from the hands of Rome both the speculation and the profits at- tached to it. In assailing these two doctrines, Luther had followed the example of Christ himself. In the very beginning of his minis- try, he had overturned the tables of the money-changers, and driven the dealers out of the temple. " Make not my Father's house a house of merchandize." Cajetan continued : " I will not bring for- ward the authority of St. Thomas, and .the other scholastic doctors, to confute these errors ; I will rest entirely on the Holy Scriptures, and speak to you in perfect friendship." 80. Nevertheless, when he proceeded to bring forward his proofs, he departed from the rule he had laid down. He combated Luther's first proposition by an Extravagance or Constitution of pope Clement ; and the second, by all sorts of opinions from the scholas- tic divines. The discussion turned at its outset upon this constitu- tion of the Pope in favor of indulgences. Luther, indignant at hearing what authority the Legate attributed to a decree of Rome, exclaimed : " I cannot receive such constitutions as sufficient proofs on subjects so important. For they wrest the Holy Scriptures, and never quote them to the purpose." " The Pope," said the Legate, " has authority and power over all things." " Save the Scriptures," replied Luther with some warmth. " Save the Scriptures !" exclaimed Cajetan. " Do not you know CHAP.vn.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 45? Luther declares he cannot and will not yield those points. Cajetan's wish to send him to Rome. that the Pope is higher than the Councils, for he has recently con- demned and punished the council of Basil." After some further discussion, Luther declared in relation to one of the articles in dispute, " If I yielded anything there, I should be denying Christ. I cannot, therefore, and will not yield that point, but by God's help will hold it to the end." Cardinal Cajetan could hardly restrain his temper at this bold and decisive declaration, and exclaimed with some warmth, " Whether you will or will not, you must this very day retract that article, or else for that article alone, I will proceed to reject and condemn all your doctrine." " I have no will but the Lord's," boldly declared Luther. " He will do with me what seemeth good in his sight. But had I a hundred heads, I would rather lose them all than retract the testimony I have borne to the holy Christian faith." " I am not come here to argue with you," said Cajetan. " Re- tract, or prepare to endure the punishment you have deserved." Luther clearly perceived that it was impossible to end the affair by a conference. His adversary was seated before him as though he himself were Pope, and required an humble submission to all that he said to him, whilst he received Luther's answers, even when grounded on the holy Scriptures, with shrugs, and every kind of irony and contempt. Having, therefore, shown a disposition to withdraw : " Do you wish," said the Legate to him, " that I should give you a safe-conduct to repair to Rome ?" Nothing would have pleased Cajetan better than the acceptance of this offer. He would thus have got rid of an affair of which he began to perceive the difficulties, jmd Luther and his heresy would have fallen into the hands of those who would have known how to deal with them. But the reformer, who was sensible of the dangers that surrounded him even at Augsburg, took care to refuse an offer that would have delivered him up, bound hand and foot, to the vengeance of his enemies. He rejected the proposal as often as Cajetan chose to re- peat it : which he did several times. The Legate concealed the chagrin he felt at Luther's refusal ; he assumed an air of dignity, and dismissed the monk with a compassionate smile, under which he endeavored to hide his disappointment, and at the same time, with the politeness of one who hopes to have better success another time. 90 After two other interviews with the Legate, of which the first may be regarded as a specimen, Luther saw that his powerful opponent would listen to no argument from Scripture, and would be satisfied with nothing short of an unconditional retraction A rumor, moreover, reached him that if he did not retract, he was to be seized and thrown into a dungeon. When the Imperial counsel- lors, through the Bishop of Trent, had informed the Legate that Luther was under the protection of the Emperor's safe-conduct, he had passionately replied, " Be it so, but I shall do what the Pope enjoins me." We have already seen that the Pope's orders were to secure his person, detain him in safe custody, and bring him as a 458 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK VL Luther's departure from Augsburg. His escape from his popish adversaries. prisoner to Rome. (See page 451.) His friends advised him, before the opportunity might be irrevocably lost, to return from Augsburg. They knew Cajetan well enough to be satisfied that he would scruple at no means to get Luther into his power, and the lessons of Constance had taught them how little an emperor's safe-conduct might avail with popish moralists to save a victim from the flames. They suspected that the Legate might be even then in communica- tion with the Emperor to induce him to revoke or to violate his safe- conduct. 91. For these reasons they advised Luther to seize the oppor- tunity of returning to Wittemberg, and he followed their advice. They advised him to take every possible precaution, fearing, that if his departure were known, it might be opposed. He followed their directions as well as he could. A horse, that Staupitz had left at his disposal, was brought to the door of the convent. Once more he bids adieu to his brethren : he then mounts and sets out, without a bridle for his horse, without boots or spurs, and unarmed. The magistrate of the city had sent him as a guide, a horseman, who was well ac- quainted with the roads. This man conducts him in the dark through the silent streets of Augsburg. They direct their course to a little gate in the wall of the city. One of the counsellors, Lan- gemantel, had ordered that it should be opened to him. He is still in the Legate's power. The hand of Rome is still over him ; doubt- less, if the Italians knew that their prey was escaping, the cry of pursuit would be raised : who knows whether the intrepid adver- sary of Rome may not still be seized and thrown into prison ? . . . At last Luther and his guide arrive at the little gate : they pass through. They are out of Augsburg ; and putting their horses into a gallop, they soon leave the city far behind them. Luther urged his horse and kept the poor animal at full speed. He called to mind the real or supposed flight of John Huss, the manner in which he was overtaken, and the assertion of his adversaries, who affirmed that Huss having, by his flight, annulled the Emperor's safe-conduct, they had a right to condemn him to the flames. " However, these uneasy feelings did not long occupy Luther's mind. Having got clear from the city where he had spent ten days under that terrible hand of Rome which had already crushed so many thousand wit- nesses for the truth, and shed so much blood, at large, breathing the open air, traversing the villages and plains, and wonderfully de- livered by the arm of the Lord, his whole soul overflowed with praise. He might well say: "Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers ; thq snare is broken, and we are delivered. Our help is in the name of God, who made heaven and earth." Thus was the heart of Luther filled with joy. But his thoughts again reverted to De Vio : " The Cardinal," thought he, " would have been well pleased to get me into his power and send me to Rome. He is, no doubt, mortified that I have escaped from him. He thought he had me in his clutches at Augsburg. He thought he held me fast ; but he was holding an eel by the tail. Shame that CHAP, viii.1 POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 459 Reaches Wittemberg. The Pope sends another legate, Charles Miltitz. these people should set so high a price upon me ! They would give many crowns to have me in their .power, whilst our Saviour Christ was sold for thirty pieces of silver." Luther reached Wittemberg on the 30th of October, and found on his arrival, that the disappointed Legate had written a letter to the Elector, breathing vengeance agninst the "contemptible monk" that had escaped him, and earnestly entreating Frederick to send him as a prisoner to Rome, or at least to banish him from his terri- tories. The Elector refused to deliver up Luther to the tender mercies of Rome, and the Reformer appealed from the decision of the Pope to a General Council. This appeal was made at Wittem- berg, in the chapel of Corpus Christi, on the 28th of November. 1518. CHAPTER VIII. LUTHER STRIKES AT THE THRONE OF ANTI-CHRIST. THE BREACH MADE IRREPARABLE. 92. Pope Leo dispatched another legate, Charles Miltitz, to Germany, who, warned by the result of Cajetan's mission, tried the effect of mildness, persuasion and guile ; and his courtly and crafty entreaties so far availed, as to induce Luther, on the 3d of March, 1519, to write to the Pope a respectful epistle, declaring that though he could not retract his doctrines, he would " not seek to weaken, either by force or artifice, the power of the Roman church or of his Holiness." We are to remember, however, that the light burst upon Luther's mind only by degrees. Though he had attacked with all his might the popish doctrine of indulgences and human merits, yet he had not learned, as he afterwards did, that the anti-Christian power which originated and gave to those indulgences all their effi- cacy, was itself a hideous usurpation, which must be struck down by the lightning of God's holy word. Not long afterward, the light on this subject dawned gradually on his mind. He studied the decretals of the Popes, and the discover- ies he made, materially modified his ideas. He wrote to Spalatin " I am reading the decretals of the pontiffs, and, let me whisper it in your ear, I know not whether the Pope is anti-Christ himself, or whether he is his apostle ; so misrepresented, and even crucified, does Christ appear in them." At length a challenge from the scholastic Doctor Eck upon the question of the primacy of Rome brought Luther to the bold avowal of the truth he had by this time discovered, contained in the following thesis " It 'is by contemptible decretals of Roman pontiffs, com- 460 HISTORY OP ROMANISM. [BOOK TL Luther disputes with Doctor Eck at Leipsic, on the primacy of the Pope. posed hardly four centuries ago, that it is attempted to prove the primacy of the Roman church ; but arrayed against this claim are eleven centuries of credible history, the express declarations of Scripture, and the conclusions of the Council of Nice, the most venerable of all the councils." 93. Eck and Luther met as combatants at Leipsic, and the pub- lic disputation between them commenced on the 4th of July. The subject was the primacy of the Pope. " The doctor," said Eck, " requires of me a proof that the primacy of the church of Rome is of divine right ; I find that proof in the words of Christ ' Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church' St. Augus- tine, in one of his epistles, has thus explained the meaning of the fassage ' Thou art Peter, and on this rock, that is to say, on Peter, will build my church.' It is true, that Augustine has elsewhere, said, that by this rock we must understand Christ himself, but he. has not retracted his first explanation." " If the reverend doctor/ replied Luther, " brings against me these words of St. Augustine, let him himself first reconcile such opposite assertions. For certain it is, that St. Augustine has repeatedly said, that the rock was Christ, and hardly once that it was Peter himself. But even though St. Augustine and all the Fathers should say that the Apostle is the rock of which Christ spake, I would, if I should stand alone, deny the assertion supported by the authority of the Holy Scripture in other words by divine right for it is written, * Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, even Christ Jesus. Peter himself calls Christ the chief-corner stone, and living rock, on which we are built up, a spiritual house" It was during this discussion that Luther ventured publicly to speak with approval of some of the doctrines of Wickliff and Huss, in the following words " Among the articles of John Huss and the Bohemians, there are some that are most agreeable to Christ. This is certain ; and of this sort is that article : ' There is only One church universal ;' and again : ' That it is not necessary to salvation that We should believe the Roman church superior to others.' It mat- ters little to me whether Wickliff or Huss said it. It is Truth." These words produced an immense sensation on the audience. Some expressed aloud their feelings at the temerity of a monk, in a Catholic assembly, speaking with respect of Wickliff and Huss, those execrable heresiarchs, whom the church had condemned, ana- thematized and burned. Luther did not give way to this burst of murmurs. " Gregory Nazianzen," continued he, with noble calmness, " Basil the Great, Epiphanius, Chrysostom, and a great many other Greek bishops, are saved ; and yet they never believed that the church of Rome was superior to other churches. It does not belong to the Roman pon- tiffs to add new articles of faith. There is no authority for the be- lieving Christian but the Holy Scripture. It, alone, is of divine right. I beg the worthy Dr. Eck to grant me that the Rpman pon- tiffs have been men, and not to speak of them as if they were Gods." CHAT, vni.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 461 Hoiror produced among the monks by the heresies of Luther. Ulric Zwingle, the Swiss reformer As a proof of the horror produced among the blinded adhe- rents of Rome, by the bold assertions of Luther, it is related that during this dispute at Leipsic, Luther one Sunday entered the church of the Dominicans just before high mass. There were pre- sent only a few monks, who were going through the earlier masses at the lower altars. As soon as it was known in the cloister that the heretic Luther was in the church, the monks ran together in haste, caught up the remonstrance, and, taking it to its receptacle, carefully shut it up, lest the holy sacrament should be profaned by the impure eyes of the Augustin of Wittemberg. While this was doing, they who were reading mass collected together the sacred furniture, quitted the altar, crossed the church, and sought refuge in the sacristy, as if, says a historian, the devil himself had been be- hind them. 94. At length pope Leo, who for some time had been too much occupied with intrigues relative to the election of an Emperor to succeed the deceased Maximilian, to concern himself very much about the progress of the growing heresy, awoke to the importance of striking a decisive blow. Accordingly, on the 15th of June, 1520, he issued his bull of condemnation against Luther, anathema- tizing his doctrines and his books, and commanding the latter to be collected and burnt wherever they could be found. In the opinion of Dr. Merle, Luther, courageous as he was, would, even after the disputation of Eck, have been silent if Rome herself had kept silence, or shown any desire to make concessions. But God had not allowed the reformation to be dependent on the weakness of man's heart ; Luther was in the hands of One whose eye penetrated results. Divine providence made use of the Pope to break every link between the past and the future, and to throw the reformer into a course altogether unknown, and leading he knew not whither. The Papal bull was Rome's bill of divorce addressed to the pure church of Jesus Christ in the person of one who was then standing as her humble but faithful representative ; and the church accepted it, that she might thenceforward hold only from her Head who is in heaven. Whilst at Rome, the condemnation of Luther was sought for with violent animosity, an humble priest, an inhabitant of one of the rude towns of Switzerland, who never had any intercourse with the reformer, had been deeply affected at the thought of the blow which hung over him, and whilst even the intimates of the doctor of Wit- temberg were silent and trembling, this Swiss mountaineer formed the resolution to do his utmost to arrest the dreaded bull ! His name was ULRIC ZWINGLE. The Swiss priest dreaded the conse- quences to the church of so severe a blow struck at Luther. He labored hard to induce a papal nuncio in Switzerland, who was his friend, to employ all his influence with Leo to deter him from ex- communicating Luther. " The dignity of the holy See itself is concerned in it," said he , " for if things come to such a pass, Ger- many, enthusiastically attached to the Gospel and its teacher, will 30 402 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi The Pope's apostrophe to Peter, Paul, &c., in his bull against Luther. be sure to treat the Pope and his anathemas with contempt." The effort was unavailing, and it appears that, even at the time it was made, the blow was already struck. Such was the first occasion on which the path of Luther and that of Zwingle were so ordered as to meet together. 95. In the bull of Leo against Luther he thus invokes the prince of the apostles, " Arise, O Peter ! remember thy holy Roman church, mother of all the churches, and mistress of the faith. Arise, O Paul ! for a new Porphyry is here, attacking thy doctrines and the holy popes, our predecessors. Finally, arise, O assembly of all the saints ! holy church of God ! and intercede for us with God Al- mighty." " As soon as this bull shall be published," continues the Pope, " the bishops are to search diligently for the writings of Mar- tin Luther in which these errors are contained, and to burn them publicly and solemnly in the presence of the clergy and of the laity. As to Martin himself, what is there, in the name of Heaven, that we have not done ? Imitating the goodness of God Almighty, \vc are ready, notwithstanding, to receive him again into the bosom of the church ; and we allow him sixty days to forward to us his re- cantation in writing, attested by two prelates ; or, rather (which would be more satisfactory), to present himself before us in Rome, that, none may any more doubt his obedience. In the meantime, he must from this moment cease preaching, teaching and writing, and commit his works to the flames. And if he do not recant within the space of sixty days, we, by these presents, sentence himself and his adherents as open and contumacious heretics." Luther quailed not before those papal thunders, which for centu- ries had made the mightiest monarchs tremble on their thrones. On the 6th of October he published his famous tract on the Babylonian captivity of the church. He commences this work by ironically stating all the advantages for which he is indebted to his enemies. " Whether I will or no," says he, " I learn more and more every day, urged on as I am by so many celebrated masters. Two years ago I attacked indulgences ; but with such faltering indecision that I am now ashamed of it. It, however, is not to be wondered at ; for then I had to roll forward the rock by myself." He then re- l^irns thanks to Doctor Eck and to his other adversaries. " I de- nied," he continues, " that the Papacy was from God, but admitted that it stood by human right. But now, after having read all the subtleties on which these worthies set up their idol. I know that Papacy is nothing but the reign of Babylon, and the violence of the mighty hunter Nimrod. I therefore request all my friends, and all booksellers, that they will burn the books I have before written on this subject, and in their stead substitute this single proposition : ' The Papacy is a general chase, led by the Bishop of Rome, and having for its object the snaring and ruining of souls.' " Luther concludes this fearless attack upon the popish Babylon as follows : "I hear that new papal excommunications have been con- cocted against me. If this be so, this book may be regarded as a CHAP, vrn.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 463 Luther burning the Pope's bull at Wittemberg. Finally excommunicated as an incorrigible heretic. part of my future ' recantation! f The rest will follow shortly, in proof 'of my obedience ; and the whole will, by Christ's help, form a collection such as Rome has never yet seen or heard of." 96. On the 10th of December following, Luther took the final step which rendered reconciliation impossible. On that day a placard was affixed to the walls of the university of Wittemberg. It con- tained an invitation to the professors and students to repair at the hour of nine in the morning to the east gate, beside the Holy Cross. A g>eat number o/ doctors and youths assembled, and Luther, put- ting himself at their head, led the procession to the appointed spot. A scaffold had already been erected. One of the oldest among the Masters of Arts soon set fire to it. As the flames arose, Luther drew nigh, and cast into the midst of them the Canon Law, the Decretals, the Clementines, the Extravagants of the popes, and a portion of the works of Eck and of Emser. When these books had been reduced to ashes, Luther took the Pope's bull in his hand, hftld it up, and said aloud : " Since thou hast afflicted the Lord's Holy One, may fire unquenchable afflict and consume thee !" and thereupon he threw it into the flames. He then with much compo- sure bent his steps toward the city, and the crowd of doctors, pro- fessors and students, with loud expressions of applause, returned to Wittemberg in his train. " The Decretals," said Luther, " are like a body whose face is as fair as a virgin's ; but its limbs are forceful as those of the lion, and its tail is that of the wily serpent. In all the papal laws, there is not a single word to teach us what Jesus Christ truly is." " My enemies," he said again, " by burning my books, may have disparaged the truth in the minds of the common people, and occasioned the loss of souls ; for that reason I have burned their books in my turn. This is a mighty struggle but just begun. Hitherto I have been only jesting with the Pope. I entered upon this work in the name of God ; He will bring it to a close without my aid, by his own power. If they dare to burn my books of which it is no vain boast to say that they contain more of the Gospel than all the Pope's books put together, I may with far bet- ter reason burn theirs, which are wholly worthless." By this act, the daring reformer distinctly announced his separation from the Pope and the papal church. He now accepted the excommunica- tion which Rome had pronounced. He proclaimed in the face of Christendom that between him and the Pope there was war even to the death. Like the Roman who burned the vessels that had conveyed him to the enemy's shore, he left himself no resource but to advance and offer battle. After this, there could be no peace with Rome. 97. On the 3d of January, 1521, Leo issued his final bull of excommunication against Luther. The former had given him op- portunity to retract within a limited time ; in this, the sentence was definitively pronounced, and Luther declared an incorrigible heretic, fitted only for destruction. Aleander and Caraccioli were appointed legates of the Pope, and after unsuccessfully using every possible 464 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. The papal legates permitted by the Emperor to burn Luther's books, but not to burn him. persuasion with the Elector, to employ against the reformer the secular arm, they busied themsflves everywhere throughout the empire in collecting his writings and publicly committing them to the flames. To these measures, the papal legates had obtained the consent of the young emperor Charles V. ; but after all, Aleander cared little about books or papers Luther himself was the mark he aimed at. " These fires," he remarked again, " are not sufficient to purify the pestilential atmosphere of Germany. Though they may strike terror into the simple-minded, they leave Ijpe authors' of the mischief unpunished. We must have an imperial edict sen- tencing Luther to death." Aleander found the Emperor less com- pliant when the reformer's life was demanded, than he had shown himself before, when his books alone were attacked. " Raised as I have been so recently to the throne, I cannot," said Charles, " without the advice of my counsellors, and the consent of the princes of the empire, strike such a blow as this against a faction so numerous and so powerfully protected. Let us first ascertain what our fathe'r, the elector of Saxony, thinks of the matter ; we shall then be pre- pared to give our answer to the Pope." The legates, therefore, renewed their applications to Frederick, but that humane and honor- able-minded prince shuddered at the thought of delivering up the courageous Luther to the fate of Huss and of Jerome. At length, for the first time, the Elector by his counsellors publicly declared his intentions with i egard to Luther. He stated to the papal nuncios that " neither his imperial majesty nor any one else had yet made it appear to him that Luther's writings had been refuted, or demonstrated to be fit only for the flames ; that he demanded, there- fore, that doctor Luther should be furnished with a safe-conduct, and permitted to answer for himself before a tribunal composed of learned, pious, and . impartial judges." In reply to this, said the arrogant Aleander, " I should like to know what would the Elector think, if one of his subjects were to appeal from his judgment to that of the king of France, or some other foreign sovereign." But, per- ceiving at last that the Saxon counsellors were not to be wrought upon, " We will execute the bull," said he ; " we will pursue and burn the writings of Luther. As for his person," he added, affect- ing a tone of disdainful indifference, "the Pope has little inclination to imbrue his hands in the blood of the unhappy wretch." Thus did the legate.3 of Rome vainly attempt to conceal their mortification and chagrin, that their expected prey had escaped out of their hands. 465 CHAPTER IX LUTHEft AT THE DIET OF WORMS, AND IN HIS PATMOS AT WARTBURQ. 98. A GRAND diet of the empire was about to be held, at which the Emperor and all the princes of Germany would be present. Aleander received directions to attend it, and to demand, on the part of his master, the employment of the secular arm for the sup- pression of the rising heresy. The Diet of Worms was opened Jan- uary 6, 1521. A more splendid assembly has been scarcely ever held. The nobles of Germany were anxious to do honor to the court of their young Emperor, and to testify their dutiful regards. They vied with each other' in the costliness of their equipments, and the number and rank of their attendants. It seemed as if the wealth of the empire had been collected together at one place for proud display. The occasion, too, was unusually interesting and impor- tant. In addition to political affairs of pressing urgency, the state of religion called for anxious deliberation. The cry for reform was heard on every hand. All saw that the disease required prompt attention ; but none knew what means to suggest, while danger was daily increasing. Aleander, the papal nuncio, was true to his mas- ter's interests. On his arrival at Worms he exerted himself to the utmost to procure the immediate condemnation of Luther. He would have had him proscribed and put to the ban of the empire, that his party might be crushed by one vigorous blow. But this was found to be impracticable. The reformer's opinions had taken too deep root to be easily plucked up. Some even talked of taking the whole matter out of the Pope's hands, and referring the deci- sion to impartial judges, chosen by the principal potentates of Eu- rope. Aleander was perplexed and enraged. Still he persevered, sometimes applying to the Emperor, sometimes to his ministers and other members of the diet, among whom he scattered profusely large sums of money intrusted to hjm by the court of Rome. At length he succeeded, by force of bribes and intrigue, in obtaining permission to address the assembled diet. He appeared before them on the 13th of February, and spoke for three hours in a strain of impassioned eloquence, describing Luther as a monster of iniqui- ty, whose crimes ought to be visited with the utmost severity of the laws. Aleander had hoped to> obtain his condemnation without giving him an opportunity to reply ; but much to the chagrin of the Legate, the reformer was summoned to the diet, that he might in person avow or retract the opinions imputed to him, and be dealt with ac- cordingly. With the summons an ample safe-conduct was trans- mitted, guaranteeing his security in going and returning ; signed, not only by the Emperor, but also by those princes through whose States it would be necessary for him to travel. For this precaution he was indebted to the elector of Saxony, who knew the men with 466 HISTORY OP ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. Persuasions of friends and foes tofceep Luther from the Diet at Worms. His courageous reply. whom he had to deal, and positively refused to allow the reformer to leave Wittemberg without that security. This was another mor- tification to Aleander, who was fully prepared to act over again the iniquity of the infamous council of Constance, which caused Huss to be seized and burned, notwithstanding the assurance given for his safety. The popish Nuncio was, however, compelled to sub- mit to the decision of the diet, which he did with as good a grace as possible.* 99. Strenuous efforts were employed to prevent Luther from appearing at Worms. His friends trembled for his safety and his life. His enemies dreaded (what some of them had already wit- nessed) his reasoning, eloquence, and knowledge of the scriptures, so superior to their own. The papal party tempted him with the hope of an amicable adjustment : the advocates of truth sought to excite his apprehensions. All their efforts failed. " Tell your mas- ter," he said to a messenger from Spalatin, " that THOUGH THERE SHOULD BE AS MANY DEVILS IN WoRMS AS THERE ARE TILES ON THE ROOFS OF THE HOUSES, I WOULD GO !" Uninfluenced by persuasions and undaunted by threats, Luther entered Worms on the 16th of April. The day after his arrival he was summoned to attend the diet. On the morning of that day his soul had endured unwonted depression, almost amounting to an- guish. But in his distress he sought the Lord with strong crying and tears, and was graciously heard. Peace returned, and holy, undaunted courage again filled his spirit. He cheerfully attended the officer who was appointed to conduct him to the hall of audi- ence. He reached the place with some difficulty, so great was the crowd that thronged every avenue, in eager curiosity to see the man whose fame had spread throughout Germany, and on whom the thunders of the Vatican had hitherto fallen harmlessly. At length he stood before the august assembly. The Emperor occupied the throne. Next to him sat his brother, the arch-duke Ferdinand. Six electors of the empire were present ; twenty-four dukes ; eight margraves ; thirty prelates ; seven ambassadors ; the deputies of ten free cities; princes, counts and barons; the papal nuncios ; in all, two hundred and four noble and illustrious personages. The countenances of many betrayed deep inward concern and anxiety. Luther had held communion with God, and enjoyed " perfect peace." On the table was laid a collection of his writings. He was asked whether he acknowledged them as his productions, and whether he was prepared to retract the opinions they contained. To the first question he answered in the affirmative. To the second he replied that the question was very serious and important, and ought not to be answered without due consideration, lest he should in any way * See a compendious, but deeply interesting history of the " Reformation in Europe, by the author of the Council of Trent " (Rev. J. M. Cramp), chap. iii.,. sect. 3, a work which may be profitably read by those whose time would forbid the more diffuse and circumstantial, but thrilling narrative of D'Aubign6. CHAP, ix.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 467 Luther refuses to retract his writings. His noble and memorable protestation. injure the cause of truth ; he asked, therefore, for a brief delay. So reasonable a request could not be refused. Next day he appeared again. The questions were repeated. Luther then addressed the assembly. He had acknowledged, he said, the books on the table to be his. Their contents differed much from each other. In some, he had treated of faith and works, un- masking the errors of the age ; he could not retract them without treachery to the Gospel. A second class consisted of writings in which he had exposed the enormous corruptions and abuses of the papacy ; these were so notorious, and had been so long and so justly the subjects of loud complaint in Germany, that it would be worse than folly to suppress the works in which they were held up to pub- lic reprobation. In the third place, he had in some of his books attacked individuals who had advocated existing evils ; and he was willing to confess (for he could not pretend to be free from fault) that he had sometimes written with unbecoming violence : yet he could not retract the sentiments advanced in those writings, because such a course would encourage the enemies of the truth, and embolden them in their opposition. Wherefore he prayed that instead of per- sisting in the demand for retractation, the diet would take measures to convince him, from the Scriptures, of his error. As soon as he should be convinced, he would immediately acknowledge it. " You have not answered the question," said the chancellor of the arch- bishop of Treves, to whom the management of this part of the busi- ness was intrusted. " A clear and express reply is required. Will you or will you not retract ?" The reformer's answer was worthy of him. " Since your most serene majesty, and the princes, require a simple answer, I will give it thus : unless I shall be convinced by proofs from Scripture, or by evident reason (for I believe neither in popes nor in councils, since they have frequently erred and contra- dicted themselves), I cannot choose but adhere to the word of God, which has possession of my conscience. Nor can I possibly, nor WILL / ever ?nake any recantation, since it is neither safe nor honest to act contrary to conscience. HERE I TAKE MY STAND ; I CANNOT DO OTHER- WISE. GOD BE MY HELP ! AMEN." 100. This speech made a deep impression. The Emperor himself was struck with admiration. " If you will not retract," resumed the chancellor, " the Emperor and the States of the empire will see what ought to be done with an obstinate heretic." " God be my help," rejoined Luther ; " I can retract nothing." He then with- drew, leaving the diet in deliberation. When he was called in again, another effort was made. His appeal to Scripture was treated with contempt, since he had revived errors which had been condemned by the council of Constance ; as if the authority of the council of Constance were superior to that of the word of God ! In conclusion, the chancellor said, " The Emperor commands you to say simply, yes or no, whether you mean to maintain whatever you have advanced, or whether you will retract a part?" " I have no other answer to give than what I have already given," replied 468 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. The popish enemies of Luther seek in vain to induce the Emperor to violate his safe-conduct. the courageous reformer. In spite of the persuasions or menaces of his opposers, he persisted in this noble determination. In reply to the entreaties of the archbishop of Treves, who labored hard to induce him to submit to the diet " I will put my person and my life in the Emperor's hands," said he ; " but the word of God never !" He claimed for every Christian the right of private judgment ; if he consented to a council, it would only be on condition that the council should be compelled to judge according to Scripture. Protracted debates followed. Some counselled the violation of the safe-conduct, and urged -the Emperor to seize Luther, and put him to death. But the high-minded princes of Germany scorned the base proposal. Charles himself, bigoted as he was, revolted at it. " If good faith were banished from the whole earth," he exclaimed, " it ought still to find refuge in the courts of kings." At length, the adversaries of the reformer saw that it was useless to labor longer with him to induce him to submit, and other measures must be adopted. Efforts were made by some of Luther's bitterest popish adversaries, but without success, to induce the Emperor, like his predecessor Sigismund, to violate his safe-conduct, and to leave Luther, as Sigismund had left Huss, to the tender mercies of the church ; and it was in reply to these suggestions, that Charles uttered that expression already mentioned in the account of the cruel and treacherous murder of Huss, " / should not like to blush like Sigismund" (See page 402.) On the 25th of April, the chancellor, Doctor Eck, Luther's former antagonist at Leipsic, attended by the chancellor of the Empire, and a notary, presented themselves. The Chancellor ad- dressed him as follows : " Martin Luther, his Imperial Majesty, the Electors, Princes, and States of the Empire, having 'repeatedly and in various ways, but in vain, exhorted you to submission, the Emperor, in his character of defender of the Catholic faith, finds himself compelled to resort to other measures. He therefore orders you to return to whence you came, within the space of twen- ty-one days, and prohibits you from disturbing the public peace on your journey, either by preaching or writing." 101 If Charles V. had too much regard for his word to violate his safe-conduct to Luther, it was not because he favored either the reformer or his doctrines. He was willing to take any other step, to oblige the Pope and his emissaries, and to put a stop, if possible, to the rising heresy. At the instigation of Aleander, he issued an edict, the draft of which was prepared by the papal Legate him- self, placing Luther under the ban of the empire, and threatening the same to all who should favor or protect him. The nature of this sentence will be best explained by the following extract from the decree : " We, Charles the Fifth, &c., to the Electors, Princes, Prelates, and to all to whom these presents may come. . . . The Augustin monk, Martin Luther, regardless of our exhortations, has madly attacked the holy church, and attempted to destroy it by writings full of blasphemy. ... In a word, and passing over many CHAP, ix.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 469 Luther under the ban of the empire. The Emperor's edict Seized on his way home. other evil intentions, this being, who is no man, but Satan himself under the semblance of a man in a monk's hood, has collected in one offensive mass, all the worst heresies of former ages, adding his own to the number. . . . We have, therefore, dismissed from our presence this Luther, whom all reasonable men count a mad- man, or possessed by the devil ; and it is our intention that, so soon as the term of his safe-conduct is expired, effectual measures be forthwith taken to put a stop to his fury. . . . For this end, and on pain of incurring the penalty of treason, we hereby forbid you to receive the said Luther from the moment when the said term is ex- pired, or to harbor or to give him meat or drink, or by word or act, publicly or in private, to aid or abet him. We further enjoin you to seize, or cause him to be seized, wherever he may be, and to bring him before us without delay, or hold him in durance until you shall be informed how to deal with him, and have received the re- ward due to your co-operation in this holy work. ... As to his adherents, you are enjoined to seize upon them, putting them down, and confiscating their property. . . . And if any one, whatever may be his rank, should dare to act contrary to this decree of our Imperial Majesty, we command that he be placed under the ban of the Empire. LET EACH ONE OBSERVE THIS DECREE." 102. In the meanwhile, Luther had left Worms, and after spending a day or two on his way at his native village, at Eisenach, was on the road to Wittemberg, accompanied by Amsdorff and his brother James. They skirted the woods of Thuringen, taking the path that leads to Waltershausen. As the wagon was passing a narrow defile near the ruined church of Glisbach, a short distance from the castle of Altenstein, suddenly a noise was heard, and in a moment, five horsemen, masked and armed from head to foot, fell upon them. His brother James, as soon as he caught sight of the assailants, jumped from the wagon, and fled as fast as he could, without uttering a word. The driver would have resisted. " Stop," cried a hoarse voice, and instantly one of the attacking party threw him to the earth. Another of the masks grasped Amsdorff, and held him fast. While this was doing, the three horsemen, laid hold on Luther, maintaining profound silence. They forced him to alight, and throwing a knight's cloak over his shoulders, set him on a led horse that they had with them. This done, the two other masks let go Amsdorff and the wagoner, and the whole five sprang into their saddles. One dropped his cap, but they did not stop to recover it ; and in the twinkling of an eye, the party and their prisoner were lost in the thick gloom of the forest. At first they took the direction of Broderode ; but they rapidly changed their route, and without quitting the forest, rode first in one direction and then in another, turning their horses' feet to baffle any attempt to track their course. Luther, little used to riding, was soon over- come with fatigue. His guides permitted him to stop for a few instants. He rested on the earth beside a beech tree, and drank some water from a spring which still bears his name. His brother 470 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOEVL Popery robbed of its prey. Luther carried to the castle of Wartbuift James, continuing his flight from the scene of the rencounter, reached Waltershausen that evening. The driver, hastily throw- ing himself into the wagon, in which AmsdorfF had already mount- ed, galloped his horse at full speed, and conducted Luther's friend to Wittemberg. At Waltershausen, at Wittemberg, in the open country, the villages and towns on the route, the news spread that Luther was carried off. Some rejoiced at the report, but the greater number were struck with astonishment and indignation, and soon a cry of grief resounded throughout Germany " Luther has fallen into the hands of his enemies !" 103. These apprehensions, however, were groundless. The abduction of Luther was planned by his friends and protectors, with the concurrence of the elector Frederick, and, as some sup- pose, with the connivance even of the Emperor himself, who, not- withstanding his desire to court the favor of the Pope, and to up- hold the religion of Rome, might yet have been unwilling to incur the indignation of Germany by delivering up Luther to the flames. Be this as it may ; without doubt, the hand of God was visible in thus providing his faithful servant with a retreat from the rage of his bloodthirsty enemies. When the emperor Charles was induced to issue his edict against Luther, doubtless his popish adversaries thought that the victory was theirs. Like Haman glutting his eyes with the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai, Aleander and his associates were, doubtless, feasting their imaginations with the expected destruction of the reformer and the reformation. But God had other designs. Popery must be robbed of its prey, and his faithful servant must have leisure and retirement to continue his bold exposure of the mother of harlots, and above all, to give the New Testament, from which he had learned the doctrines he preached, to the Germans in their native tongue. These objects were accomplished by his mysterious but providential abduction. The place to which Luther was conducted by his mysterious guides was the lofty and isolated castle of Wartburg, an ancient resi- dence of the landgraves of Thuringen. They took away his ec- clesiastical habit, attiring him in the knightly dress prepared for him, and enjoining him to let his beard and hair grow, that no one in the castle might know who he was. The attendants of the cas- tle of Wartburg were to know the prisoner only by the name of knight George. Luther scarcely recognized himself under his sin- gular metamorphosis. Left at length to his meditations, he had leisure to revolve the extraordinary events that had befallen him at Worms, the uncertain future that awaited him, and his new and strange abode. During the ten months of the reformer's captivity, the knight George was not idle. In the castle of Wartburg, Luther composed works which mightily tended to shake the Romish power in Ger- many. Auricular confession, private masses and monastic vows, were the themes on which his resistless eloquence was employed. He held them up to the indignant reprobation of men, and satisfac- CHAP, ix.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 471 Translates the New Testament. Returns to Wittemberg. Dies peacefully ou his bed. torily proved that they are alike opposed to the word of God and to Christian freedom. But his greatest work was the translation of the New Testament into the German language. That also was execut- ed at Wartburg. It is the noblest monument of his genius, and was the most precious gift that Germany had yet received. The volume was published in September, 1522, and was received with gratitude and joy by those who loved the truth ; but it was denoun- ced, vilified, and in many places publicly burned by the bigoted Ro- manists. 104. At length, Luther left his retreat, and arrived at Wittem- berg, on the 6th of March, 1522, where he was joyfully received by his beloved Melancthon, and other fellow-laborers in the work of reformation, and immediately resumed his former labors with ac- ceptance and success. The imperial edict had proved as harmless against him as the papal bulls, and notwithstanding his being placed under the ban of the empire, by which all were forbidden to give him food or shelter, and authorized to seize his person wherever he might be found, no one presumed to molest him. There seemed to be a shield of divine protection continually around him, and on it inscribed in characters which made even his popish enemies to falter, " TOUCH NOT MINE ANOINTED, AND DO MY PROPHET NO HARM." The history of the remaining years of Luther's life, of the rapid progress of his opinions in Germany, France, Switzerland, and England, and other countries ; of the diets of Nuremburg, Spires, and Augsburg, and the protest of the reformers against the deci- sions of Spires,* seem to belong rather to a history of the Reforma- tion than of Romanism. It will be sufficient here to add, that in spite of all the rage of his adversaries, Luther continued for nearly a quarter of a century after his return from his Patmos (as he was accustomed to call it) at Wartburg, to advocate those doctrines for which he had made so noble a stand before the crowned and mitred heads of the diet at Worms, and with redoubled energy to expose the abominations, and attack the corruptions of apostate Rome. Luther died peacefully and triumphantly in his bed on the 18th of February, 1546. hi the sixty-third year of his age,f and the * In the year 1526, a diet of the empire had been held at Spires, which granted liberty to the reformers of holding their opinions till a general council, notwith- standing the clamors of the popish party for the execution of the edict of Worms, against Luther and his friends. In 1529, a second diet was held at Spires, in which the popish party triumphed. The decisions of the former diet of Spires were revoked, and the mass was ordered to be restored to the churches. Against this decree, the reformers entered their solemn protest, and from this circumstance were called PROTESTANTS. f For some few years before his death, Luther had suffered much from disease. His popish enemies hoped every day he would die, and about a year before his death, a pamphlet was published at Naples, to inform the world that Luther was dead, and giving the particulars of his end. In this ebullition of popish malignity, it was asserted that Luther had spent his time in gluttony and drunkenness, and blaspheming the Pope ; that upon the approach of death he had received the sacra- 472 HISTORY OP ROMANISM. [BOOK TL Circumstances of Luther's death. Ignatius Loyala, the founder of the Jesuit* anti-Christian church of Rome never has, and never can, recover from the blow struck by the German reformer, till the voice of pro- phecy is fulfilled and the triumphant shout of the angel of the Reve- lation is heard, " BABYLON THE GREAT is FALLEN, is FALLEN." 105. Contemporary with the great reformer, another remark- able individual, but of an entirely opposite character, appeared in Spain, and five years previous to the death of Luther, succeeded in establishing a Society which exerted a mighty influence on be- half of the papacy in after generations, the celebrated order of the Jesuits. This was IGNATIUS LOYALA, who was born in 1491, and was consequently eight years younger than Luther. In early life, Loyala was a soldier and a warrior, infected with all the vices that are so common in camps. At about the age of thirty, he received a severe wound in the leg, at the siege of Pampeluna, in the war be- tween the emperor Charles V., and the French king, Francis I. During the lingering sickness which ensued upon this wound, he em- ployed himself in reading books of romance and chivalry, and the lives of the Saints, till combining the two ideas of chivalry and de- votion to the Virgin, he resolved to become a knight errant in the cause of " our Blessed Lady." Full of this idea he arose from his bed an altered man. The soldier had become a Saint. He betook himself to study, self-mor- tification and penance. He journeyed to Italy, to Jerusalem, and there, on the spot, where Christ was crucified, claimed to have re- ceived from the Saviour himself, a revelation, that he should found merit, and immediately died ; but the consecrated wafer had leaped out of the stomach of the arch-heretic, and to the astonishment of all beholders, remained suspended in the air (!) ; that the morning after he was buried, the tomb was found empty, but such an intolerable smell, and such an odor of burnt brimstone came from it, that it made everybody sick who came near it, whereupon many fearing the Devil would in like manner come and steal their dead bodies out of their graves, repented and joined the Catholic church ! ! A copy of this pamphlet was sent to Luther by the Landgrave of Hesse, with which the reformer was very much amused, and in reply, only expressed his joy that " the Devil and his crew," the Pope and the papists, hated him so heartily. Luther died during a visit to his native village of Eisleben. About the last words he uttered were, " O, heavenly father, although this body is breaking away from me, and I am departing from this life, yet I certainly know I shall for ever be with thee, for no one can pluck me out of thy hand." Dr. Jonas said to him, " Most beloved father, do you still hold on to Christ, the Son of God, our Saviour and Redeemer ?" His fading countenance once more brightened, his clear blue eyes sparkled with intelligence, and he replied, in a distinct and thrilling tone, " O yes !" These were the last words he was heard to utter. An affecting incident occurred just as he breathed his last. One of the old men of the village in at- tendance, who, nearly sixty years before, had often carried the favorite little Martin to school in bad weather, forgetting in that moment the mighty reformer, and think- ing only of the friend of his aged heart, putting his withered face to the cheek of the departed Luther, and his arm across his bosom, exclaimed in the plaintive notes of his childhood, " Martin, dear Martin, do speak to me once more !" But there was no reply. The mighty spirit had fled, and Luther was in the presence of that Saviour whom he had ardently loved and faithfully served. (See an interesting article on the last days and death of Luther, in the Biblical Repository and Clas- sical Review for April, 1845,/rom the pen of the Rev. Professor Stowe.D. Z).) CHAP, ix.] POPERY ON A TOTTERING THRONE A. D. 1303-1545. 473 Pope Paul III. sanctions the order of the Jesuits. Popish parallel between the Jesuit and the Reformer a new order, to be called " The Society of Jesus." Returning home, he was joined by Lainez (the second general of the order), Francis Xavier, Salmeron, Bobadilla, Rodriguez, and Le Fevre ; and in 1534 these seven united in recording their solemn vow at the altar of St. Denys, in the city of Paris. Six years afterwards (A. D. 1540), a bull was granted by Pope Paul III., sanctioning the order of the Jes- uits, granting to the members the most ample privileges, and appoint- ing Ignatius Loyola the first general of the order, with almost des- potic power over its members. In return, Ignatius and his followers were to render unlimited obedience to the Pope, and to hold them- selves in readiness, at a moment's notice, to go to any part of the world to advance the interests anjd to promote the designs of the Holy See ; and the wily pontiff was too sagacious not to perceive the im- mense value of such an army of obedient soldiers to fight his battles in all parts of the world, since the terrible blow inflicted on the pa pacy by the efforts of Luther and his associates, in the work of refor- mation. Thus was originated a society which has filled a large share in the history of the world for the last three centuries, and which, after passing through many reverses, still exists ; an ever-active and almost omnipresent instrument of papal despotism ; the secret, insinu- ating, but ever-watchful and vigilant foe to freedom, civil or religious, and to the pure and unadulterated gospel of Christ. 106. The following parallel between Luther and Ignatius Loy- ala, from the pen of Damianus, a bigoted papist, one of the first his- torians of the Jesuits, may be regarded, considering the source whence it proceeds, as the highest possible eulogium upon the Ger- man reformer It is taken from the " Synopsis Historic Societ. Jes.," printed in 1640: "In the same year, 1521, Luther, moved by a consummate malice, declared war openly against the church : Ignatius, wounded in the fortress of Pampeluna, having become bet- ter, and, as it were, stronger, from his wound, raised the standard in defence of religion. Luther attacks the See of St. Peter, with insults and blasphemies : Ignatius, as if to undertake his cause, is miraculously cured by St. Peter. Luther, subdued by rage, ambition, and lust, quits a religious life : Ignatius, eagerly obeying the call of God, changes from a profane to a religious life. Sacrilegious Luther contracts an incestuous marriage with a holy virgin of God : Ignatius binds himself by a vow of perpetual con- tinency. Luther contemns all the authority of his superiors : the first precepts of Ignatius, full of Christian humility, are to sub- mit and obey. Luther declaims like a fury against the Holy See : Ignatius everywhere supports it. Luther draws as many from it as he can : Ignatius conciliates and brings back as many to it as he can. All Luther's studies and enterprises are directed against it : Ignatius, by a special vow, consecrates his labors, with those of his associates, to it. Luther detracts from the venera- tion and worship of the sacred rites of the church : Ignatius main- tains all veneration for them. The sacrifice of the mass, the 474 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vi. Quotation from Damianus's history of the Jesuits. His comparison of Ignatius Loyala, and Luther. eucharist, the mother of God, the tutelary saints, the indulgences of the pontiffs, and the things attacked by Luther with such fury, were objects which the industry of Ignatius and his companions was eagerly and continually employed in seeking new modes of cele- brating. To this Luther, the disgrace of Germany, the hog of Epicurus, the destroyer of Europe, the accursed portent of the universe, the abomination of God and men, etc. God, in his eternal wisdom, opposed Ignatius."* * As the reader may be gratified to see the identical words of this remarkable effusion of popish bigotry, the original Latin is subjoined. " Eodem anno vigesi- mo-primo, adulta jam nequitia, palam ecclesise bellum indixit Lutherus : laesus in Pampelonensi arce Ignatius, alius ex vulnere, fortiorque quasi defendendae reli- gionis signum sustulit. Lutherus Petri sedem probris, convitiisque lacessere aggreditur : Ignatius quasi ad suscipiendam causam, a S. Petro prodigiose cura- tur. Lutherus ira, ambitione, libidine victus, a religiosa vita discessit : Ig- natius Deo vocante impigre obsecutus, a profana ad religiosam transit. Lutherus cum sacra Deo virgine incesta nuptias init sacrilegas : perpetuae conti- nentiaj voto se adstringit Ignatius. Lutherus omnem superiorum contemnit auctoritatem : prima Ignatii monita sunt, plena christianae demissionis, subesse et parere. In sedem apostolicam, furentis in morem, declamat Lutherus : illam ubique tuetur Ignatius. Ab ea quotquot potest Lutherus avertit : quotquot potest conciliat, reducitque Ignatius. Adversus illam minentur omnia Lutheri etudia atque conatus : Ignatius suos suorumque labores peculiari voto illi conse- crat. Lutherus sacris ecclesiae ritibus venerationem, cultumque detraxit : Ignatius omnem illis reverentiam asserit. Missaeque sacrificio, eucharistis, Dei paras, tutelaribus divis, et illis, tanto Lutheri furore impugnatis, pontificum indulgentiis ; in quibus novo semper invento celebrandis Ignatii sociorumque desu- dat industria. Luthero illo Germanise probro, Epicuri porco, Europae excitio, orbis infelici portento, Dei atque homimim odio, etc.,aeterno consilio Deus op- posuit Ignatium." (Damianus Hist. Soc. Jes. Lib. i. Diss. vi., p. 18.) BOOK VII. POPERY AT TRENT, FROM THE OPENING SESSION OF THE COT/NCIL OF TRENT, A. D. 1545, TO THB CLOSING SESSION, A. D. 1563. CHAPTER I. THE FIRST FOITR SESSIONS. PRELIMINARIES, AND DECREE UPON THB AUTHORITY OF TRADITION AND THE APOCRYPHA. 1. AT the time of Luther's death, the fathers of Trent had just commenced the celebrated council, called at that city by pope Paul III., partly with the professed design of promoting a reform of the abuses in the church, and of the morals and manners of the clergy, which was so loudly demanded ; but chiefly for the pur- pose of rooting out the Lutheran heresy ; and, in opposition to the doctrines of the German reformers, of stating and defining with more exactitude and precision than ever before, the doctrines of the Romish church. The opening session of the council of Trent was held on the 13th of December, 1545, and the closing session was not held, till the month of December, 1563 (after several sus- pensions and intermissions), about eighteen years from its com- mencement. The council of Trent is the last general council ever held by the Romish church, and consequently the very highest source of authority as to the present doctrines and character of Romanism. In the present chapter we shall give a synopsis of the most remarkable doctrinal decrees of the different sessions of this celebrated council.* * THe principal origin-si authorities for the history of the council of Trent, are, (1) The History of the council of Trent, by Father Paul Sarpi,a. learned Roman- ist, bom at Venice, in 1552, and died in 1623, aged 71. The work was first printed at London, in Italian, in 1619, and in Latin in 1620. The English edition which I have used, " translated out of Italian by a person of quality," is that of London, 1676. The work of Father Paul was regarded by the Pope as too favor- able to protestants, and he was called by some " a protestant in a friar's frock." (2.) The History of the council of Trent by cardinal Sforza Pallavicini, who was born in 1607, and died in 1667, aged 60, a bigoted papist, written in opposi- tion to that of Father Paul. The evident partiality and bigotry of Pallavicini ren- der him an unsafe guide, but his work may be profitably read, in connection with 476 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. |BOOK vn. Question whether to begin with doctrine or discipline. Popery too corrupt to be reformed. 2. About the commencement, an important question arose,whe- ther the fathers should begin with the subject of doctrine or of disci- pline ; whether they should first, for the sake of guarding the church against the growing Lutheran heresy, discuss and accurately define the doctrines which every true son of the church must receive ; or whether, in compliance with the demands that reached them from every quarter, they should proceed at once to the reformation of the notorious abuses in the church, and to enact laws to restrain the acknowledged immorality and profligacy of the clergy. The em- peror Charles, by his representatives and advocates in the council, contended earnestly for the latter course, maintaining that the refor- mation of the ecclesiastics would be the fittest means of reclaiming men from heretical depravity. The Pope had already determined on the former, and had instructed his legates to use all their influ- ence to settle the matters of doctrine, before they turned their atten- tion to matters of reform. If this course had been fully adopted, years would doubtless have been exclusively occupied in splitting hairs and framing decrees on doctrinal subjects, and probably the subject of reform, so much dreaded by a corrupt Pope and priest- hood, have been crowded out altogether. As it was, the influence of the Emperor's party was sufficient to. secure a compromise of this question, by the adoption of a plan proposed by the bishop of Feltri, that some subject of doctrine, and some subject of reform or discipline, should be decided in each ses- sion of the council.* Every effort was employed by the Pope and his legates to defeat important measures of reform ; and the little that was done on this head during the whole session of the council, is scarcely worthy of mention. The fact is that Popery had become a mass of moral corruption far too corrupt indeed to admit of a radical reform, without demolishing the- whole system ; and the insignificant attempts at reform made during the council, in matters relative to pluralities of benefices, intrusions of mendicant monks, &c., &c., were like attempting to cure a human body covered all over with ulcers from the mass of corruption within by sticking a square half inch of court-plaster upon one or two of the sores. Nothing effec- that of Father Paul. The best edition is that of Rome, two vols., folio, 1656. For an able dissertation on the comparative merits of Sarpi and Pallavicini, see Ranke's history of the Popes, appendix, section ii., pp. 437-448. (3.) A translation of Father Paul's work into French, in two volumes, folk), with copious and valuable notes, reviewing the criticisms and cavils of Pallavicini, by Pierre F. Courayer, a French divine, who was born in 1681, and died in 1776, aged 95. The title of this valuable performance is, " Histoire du Concile de Trente, traduite de nouveau en Francois avec des Notes Critiques, Historiques, et Theologiques par Pierre F. le Courayer, D.D." 1736. The most valuable accessible history of the council of Trent, drawn from ac- curate original sources, with care and skill, is that of the Rev. J. M. Cramp, a work which I cannot recommend too highly, and to which I would take this oppor- tunity of acknowledging my obligations in the present division of my work. * Pallavicini, book vi., chap. 7, sec. 6 8. CHAP. i.J POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 477 Ceremonies of opening.- Indulgences promised to all who should pray for the council. tual could be done with Popery by way of reformation, but by dis- placing tradition and papal dictation from the throne, and restoring the Bible to its proper place, as the only rule of faith and discipline ; and this would have been at once to overturn, from the very foun- dation, the whole fabric, and to establish in its stead the doctrine and discipline of Luther" and the reformation. The decrees of the council of Trent, therefore, are chiefly useful as being the most correct and authoritative exposition of what Po- pery was in the Trentine age, and what it still continues to be. Passing over the decrees on discipline, which are of very little im- portance, we shall proceed to cite the most important portions of the decrees on doctrines, accompanied with such historical and explana- tory, remarks as may be necessary to a clear understanding of the whole. The portions of the decrees cited will be in the original Latin as well as in English, to guard against that hacknied resort of Romanists, the charge of inaccurate translation. The original Latin of the decrees is copied from the first edition, printed at Rome in 1564. 3. FIRST SESSION. This was held, as already remarked, on the 13th of December, 1545. Three legates had been appointed to preside in the name of the Pope the cardinals De Monte, Santa Croce and Pole. Of these, De Monte was the president. Much pomp and religious solemnity were exhibited on the occasion of the opening of the council. The legates, accompanied by the cardinal of Trent, four archbishops, twenty-four bishops, five generals of orders, the ambassadors of the king of the Romans, and many divines, assembled in the church of the Trinity, and thence went in procession to the cathedral, the choir singing the hymn Veni Cre- ator. When all were seated, the cardinal De Monte performed the mass of the Holy Ghost ; at the end of which he announced a bull of indulgences issued by the Pope, promising full pardon of sin to all who in the week immediately after the publication of the bull in their respective places 01 abode should fast on Wednesday and Friday, receive the sacrament on Sunday, and join in processions and suppli- cations for a blessing on the council. A long discourse followed, de- livered by the bishop of Bitonto. After this, the Cardinal rose and briefly addressed the assembly ; the accustomed prayers were offered, and the hymn Veni Creator again sung. The papal bull authorizing their meeting was then produced and read ; and a decree was una- nimously passed,* declaring that the sacred and general council of Trent was then begun for the praise and glory of the holy and undivided Trinity the increase and exaltation of true religion the extirpation of heresy the peace and union of the Church the reformation of the clergy and Christian people -and the destruction of the enemies of the Christian name. The Pope adopted decisive measures to secure his authority, and prevent all intermeddling with * The members of the council signified their assent by the word placet (it pleaseth), and their dissent by non placet (it doth not please.) 31 " 478 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. A popish bishop declares that laymen have "nothing to do but to hear and submit." his prerogative. He appointed a congregation or committee of cardinals to superintend the affairs of the council, watch its pro- ceedings, and aid him with their advice. The legates were instructed to begin with the discussion of disputed doctrines and to treat the reformation of abuses as a matter of secondary moment ; notes were to be taken and transmitted to h'im, of any observations relative to his court, the reform of which he reserved for himself. To all letters and documents his own name and those of the legates were to be prefixed, that it might appear that he was not only the author, but also " the head and ruler" of the council :* and he ap- pointed the secretary and other necessary officers without consult- ing the fathers, or permitting them to exercise their undoubted fight of election. 4. THE SECOND SESSION was held January 7th, 1546, and was chiefly consumed in discussions as to the style to be adopted by the council, and the order of the future proceedings, whether they should commence with doctrine or discipline. Several of the members of the council desired the insertion of the words " repre- senting the universal church." In the debate which ensued, the bishop of Feltri observed, that if the clause were admitted, the Protestants would take occasion to say, that since the church is composed of two orders, the clergy and the laity, it could not be fully represented if the latter were excluded. To this the bishop of St. Mark replied, that the laity could not be termed the church, since, according to the canons, they had only to obey the commands laid upon them ; that one reason why the council was called was, to decide that laymen ought to receive the faith which the church dictated, without disputing or reasoning ; and that consequently the clause should be inserted, to convince them that they were not the church, and had nothing to do but to hear and submit ! It was finally agreed to employ the words oecumenical and universal in the designation of the council. 5. THE THIRD SESSION was celebrated February 4th, 1546, and nothing was done, except to adopt as a decree of the council and to repeat the Nicene creed. It was objected by some that it would be very ridicule us to hold a session for the purpose of repeat- ing a creed 1200 years old, and whbh was universally believed ; that it would be of no service against the Lutherans, who received it as well as themselves ; and that the heretics would take occasion to say, and with good reason, that if that creed contained the faith of the church, they #ught not to be compelled to believe anything else. Many of the fathers could not help expressing their discon- tent, and were heard complaining to one another as they left the assembly, that the negotiations of twenty years had ended in com- ing together to repeat the belief ! 6. THE FOURTH SESSION was celebrated on the 8th of April, 1546, and was one of the most important sessions of the council. * Pallavicini, Lib. v.,cap. 16, sec. 2. CHAP. I.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 479 The Council places Tradition on a level with Scripture. So do the Pusoyites note. In this session, a decree was passed which placed tradition upon an equality with the Scriptures declared the books of the Apocrypha to be a part of the word of God elevated the Latin translation of the Scriptures called the Vulgate, to an authority superior to that of the inspired Hebrew and Greek originals, and enacted severe penal laws against the liberty of the press. The decree passed at this session was divided into two parts: (1.) Of the Canonical Scriptures; (2.) Of the Edition and Use of the Sacred Books. In quoting from this decree I shall, for the sake of order and perspicuity, prefix head- ings in italics. Tradition declared of equal authority with the Scripture. The sacred, holy, cecume'nical and general council of Trent, lawfully as- sembled in the Holy Spirit, the three before mentioned legates of the Aposto- lic See presiding therein ; having con- stantly in view the removal of error and the preservation of the purity of the gospel in the church, which gospel, pro- mised before by the prophets in the sa- cred Scriptures, was first orally published by our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who afterwards commanded it to be preached by his apostles to every creature, as the source of all saving truth and discipline ; and perceiving that this truth and discipline are contained BOTH IN WRITTEN BOOKS AND IN UNWRIT- TEN TRADITIONS, which have come down to us, either received by the apostles from the lip of Christ himself, or trans- mitted by the hands of the same apos- tles, under the dictation of the Holy Spirit ; following the example of the orthodox fathers, doth receive and rev&r ence, icz/Ji EQTJAL PIETY ASD VENERATION, all the books, as well of the Old as ot the New Testament, the same God be ing the author of both AND ALSO THE AFORESAID TRADITIONS, pertaining both to faith and manners, whether received from Christ himself, or dictated by the Holy Spirit and preserved in the Catho- lic church by continual succession. This placing of uncertain Tradition upon an equality with the Sacred Scriptures is still, of course, the doctrine of Rome, and may be regarded as the grand distinguishing point between Popery and Protestantism. He who receives a single doctrine as matter of faith upon the mere unsupported authority of tradition, so far occu- pies the popish ground defined in the above decree.* * That the Puseyite unites with the Romanist is occupying this popish ground, see the proofs adduced above, page 67, and also the valuable work of Bishop M'D vaine upon the Oxford divinity, pp. 307 315. Sacro-sancta oecumenica et generalis Tridentina Synodus, in Spiritu sancto legitime congregata, prsesidentibus inea eisdem tribus Apostolicas Sedis Legatis, hoc sibi perpetuo ante oculos proponens, ut sublatis erroribus, puritas ipsa Evan- gelii in Ecclesia conservetur : quod promissum ante per Prophetas in Scrip- turis sanctis, Dominus noster Jesus Christus Dei Filius, proprio ore prim Am promulgavit ; deinde per suos Apostolos, tanquam fontem omnis et salutaris veri- tatis, et morum disciplinae, oinni creaturae prasdicari jussit : perspiciensque hanc ve- ritatem et disciplinam contineri in libris scriptis, et sine scripto traditionibus, quae ab ipsius Christ! ore ab Apostolis accep- tas, aut ab ipsis Apostolis, Spiritu sancto dictante, quasi per manus traditae, ad nos usque pervenerunt ; orthodoxorum Pa- trum exempla secuta, omnes libros tarn veteris qu&m novi Testament!, cum utri- usque unus Deus sit auctor, necnon tra- ditiones ipsas, turn ad fidem, turn ad mores pertinents, tanqukm vel receptas & Christo, vel a Spiritu sancto dictatas, et continual sucoessione in Ecclesia Ca- tholica conservatas, pari pietatis afiectu ac reverentijj, suscipit, et veneratur. 480 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK m Canon of Scripture adopted by the council, including the apocryphal books. 7. The Apocryphal books placed on a level with the inspired Scriptures. Sacrorum vero librorum indicem huic decreto adscribendum censuit ; ne cui dubitatio suboriri possit, qjuinam sint, qui ab ipsa Synodo suscipiuntur. Sunf vero infra script! : Testamenti veteris, quin- que Moysis, id est, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numeri, Deuteronomium ; Jo- sue, Judicum, Ruth, quatuor Regum, duo Paralipomenon, Esdrae primus, et secun- dus, qui dicitur Nehemias, Tobias, Ju- dith, Hester, Job, Psalterium Davidicum centum qumquaginta psalmorum, Para- bolas, Ecclesiastes, Canticum cantico- rum, Sapientia, Ecclesiasticus, Isaias, Jeremias cum Baruch, Ezechiel, Daniel, duodecim Prophetae minores, id est, Osea, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Mi- cheas, Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Ag- gaeus, Zacharias, Malachias ; duo Ma- ehabaeorum, primus et secundus. Testa- menti novi, quatuor Evangelia, secun- dum Matthseum, Marcum, Lucam et Joannem ; Actus Apostolorum & Luca Evangelista conscripti : quatuordecim Epistolae Pauli Apostoli ; ad Romanos, duae ad Corinthios, ad Galatas, ad Ephe- sios, ad Philippenses, ad Colossenses, duae ad Thessalonicenses, duae ad Timo- theum, ad Titum, ad Philemonem, ad Hebraeos ; Petri Apostoli duae, Joannis Apostoli tres, Jacobi Apostoli una, Judae Apostoli una, et Apocalypsis Joannis ApostoJi. Moreover, lest any doubt should ari,ocrypha. Standard authors on the Apocrypha (note). After attentively weighing the above evidences, that the apocry- phal books possess not the slightest claim to be regarded as a part of God's word, let the reader peruse the following additional extract from the decree of the council of Trent. The curse upon those who refuse to receive the apocryphal books as inspired, or who reject the authority of the traditions. Si quis autem libros ipsos integros Whoever shall not receive, as sacred cum omnibus suis partibus, prout in EC- and canonical, all those books and every clesia Catholica legi consueverunt, et in part- of them, as they are commonly veteri vulgata Latina editione habentur, reafl? in the Catholic Church, and are pro sacris et canonicis non susceperit ; contained in the old Vulgate Latin edi- ct traditiones praedictas sciens et prudens tion, or shall knowingly and deliberately eontempserit ; ANATHEMA SIT. despise the aforesaid traditions ; LEI HIM BE ACCURSED. CHAPTER II. FOURTH SESSION CONTINUED. LATIN VULGATE EXALTED ABOVE THE INSPIRED HEBREW AND GREEK SCRIPTURES. PRIVATE JUDGMENT AND LIBERTY OF THE PRESS FORBIDDEN, AND A POPISH CENSORSHIP OP * THE PRESS ESTABLISHED. 9. THE second part of the decree passed at the fourth ses- sion is entitled, " of the edition and use of the Sacred books," and as this decree authoritatively declares the present doctrine of the Romish church with respect to the Scriptures, I shall quote the largest part of it in three divisions, with appropriate headings. as his text to establish the doctrine of prayers for the dead, evidently because he could not find one in God's inspired word, 2 Mace, xii., 43, 44, above cited. He might just as well, in the estimation of protestants, have taken a text from the his- tory of Robinson Crusoe or Sinbad the Sailor. Yet many might be ensnared with the plausible train of remark ; " If these books are not inspired," say the papists, " why have even protestants bound them up in their bibles ?" And to this we can only reply WHY INDEED ? No consistent protestant should ever pur- chase a bible with the Apocrypha. Let booksellers, if they choose, publish these apocryphal books, and let readers purchase and read them as they would any other curious and ancient writings, but let them never be bound in the same volume with God's inspired word. The reader who would examine still further the overwhelming evidences that the apocryphal books are uninspired and uncanonical, is referred to any or all of the following works : Lardner's works, Vol. v. ; Home's Critical Introduction, Vol. i., Appendix No. v. ; Alexander on the Canon. But especially the recent valuable work entitled, " The arguments of Romanists on behalf of the apocrypha, discussed and refuted by Professor Thornwall, of South Carolina College." 486 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. \ mere human performance, and an imperfect one too, placed above God's inspired word. The Latin Vulgate put in the place of the inspired Hebrew and Greek Scriptures as the only authentic word of God, from which all translations were therefore in future to be made, and to which all appeals were to be ultimately referred. Insuper eadem sacro-sancta Synod us Moreover, the same most holy coun- considerans non parum utilitatis ac- cil, considering that no small advantage ceclere posse Ecclesiae Dei, si ex omni- will accrue to the church of God, if of bus Latinis editionibus, quse circumfe- all the Latin editions of the Sacred runtur, sacrorum librorum, quaenam pro Book which are in circulation, some one authentica habenda sit, innotescat, sta- shall be distinguished as that which tuit, et declarat, ut haec ipsa vetus et ought to be regarded as authentic doth vulgata editio, quse longo tot seculorum ordain and declare, that THE SAME OLD usu in ipsaEcclesia probata est, in pub- AND VULGATE EDITION which has been licis lectionibus, disputationibus, pras- approved by its use in the church for so dicationibus, et expositionibus pro au- many ages, shall be held as authentic, in thentica habeatur ; et ut nemo illam re- all public lectures, disputations, sermons, jicere quovis pratextu audeat vel prae- and expositions ; and that no one shall Biimat. dare or presume to reject it, under any pretence whatsoever. Thus were the ipsissima verba, the very words, in the original Hebrew and Greek, which were dictated by the -Holy Spirit, thrown aside by the council of Trent, and a mere human performance substituted in their place, viz., the Latin translation of Jerome, which many of the most learned Romanists have ac- knowledged to abound with errors. The learned Roman Catholic, Dr. Jahn, confesses that in translating the Scriptures into the Vul- gate Latin, Jerome " did not invariably give what he himself be- lieved to be the best translation of the original, but occasionally, as he confesses (Prcef. ad Com. in Eccles.) followed the Greek trans, lators, although he was aware that they had often erred through negligence, because he was apprehensive of giving umbrage to his readers by too wide a departure from the established version; and therefore we find that, in his commentaries, he sometimes corrects his own translation. Sometimes, too, he has substituted a worse in place of the old translation." In another place, Dr. Jahn adds as follows : " The universal admission of this version throughout the vast extent of the Latin church multiplied the copies of it, in the transcription of which it became corrupted with many errors. Towards the close of the eighth or the beginning of the ninth cen- tury, it was, at the command of Charlemagne, corrected by Alcuin from the Hebrew text. This recension was either not widely pro- pagated, or was again infected with errors ; for which reason Lan- franc, archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 1089, caused some copies to be again corrected. Nevertheless, cardinal Nicholas, about the middle of the twelfth century, found ' tot exemplaria quot codices' (as many copies as manuscripts), and therefore prepared a cprrect edition." In the year 1540, the celebrated printer, Robert Stephens, printed an edition of the Vulgate with the various readings of three editions and fourteen manuscripts. " This again," says Dr CHAP, ii.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1546-1563. 487 The two infallible papal editions of the Vulgate with 2000 variations between them. Jahn, " was compared by Hentenius with many other gnanuscripts and editions, and he added the various readings to an edition pub- lished at Lou vain in 1547. This edition was frequently reprinted, and was published at Antwerp in 1580, and again in 1585, en- riched with many more various readings, obtained by a new colla- tion of manuscripts by the divines of Louvain."* 10. As the Vulgate was thus exalted by the council of Trent to the place of the inspired original, it was, of course, necessary to prepare an authorized edition of this Latin version on account of the innumerable variations in the different editions of the Vulgate issued previous to that time. To effect this object, pope Sixtus V. commanded a new revision of the text to be made, and corrected the proofs himself of an edition which was published at Rome in 1590, arid proclaimed, by his infallible papal authority, to be the authentic and unalterable standard of Scripture. It was very soon discovered, however, that this edition abounded with errors, though it had been accompanied by a bull, enjoining its universal reception, and forbidding the slightest alterations, un- der pain of the most dreadful anathemas. The popish dignitaries thus found themselves in a most em- barrassing predicament, and that whichever horn of the painful dilemma they choose, if the, facts only became known, it would be equally fatal to themselves ! Either this edition must be maintain- ed as a standard with thousands of glaring errors, or infallibility must be shown to be fallible, by the correction of these errors. To make the best of a bad thing, the edition, as far as possible, was called in, and a more correct edition issued by pope Clement VIII. m 1592, accompanied by a similar bull. Happily for the cause of truth, the popish doctors were unable to effect an entire destruc- tion of the edition of Sixtus. It is now exceedingly rare, but there is a copy of it in the Bodleian library at Oxford, and another in the royal library at Cambridge. The learned Dr. James, who was keeper of the Bodleian li- brary, compared the editions of Sixtus and Clement, and exposed the variations between the two in a book which he called, from the opposition between them, Bellum Papale, i. e. the Papal War. In this work Dr. James notices 2000 variations, some of whole verses, and many others clearly and decidedly contradictory to each other. Yet both editions were respectively declared to be authentic by the same plenitude of knowledge and power, and both guarded against the least alteration by the same tremendous excommunication, f Dr. Jahn candidly relates the facts above named, and makes * See Dr. Jahn's Introduction to the Old Testament, sect. 62, 64. f For a full account of these two editions of the Vulgate, see Dr. Townley's illustrations of biblical literature, ii., 168, &c. For between thirty and forty specimens of these variations, between the two infallible editions, see a small work published by the present author in 1843, entitled " Defence of the proles- tant Scriptures against popish apologists for the Champlain Bible-burners," pp 4548. 488 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. Eighty thousand errors in (he Vulgate. Laws forbidding private judgment and liberty of the press. the following remarkable admission : ' The more learned Catho- lics have never denied the existence of errors in the Vulgate ; on the contrary, Isidore Clarius collected EIGHTY THOUSAND." It is amusing to notice the embarrassment caused to this learned Roman- ist, by the decree of the council of Trent establishing the authority of the Vulgate. As a good Catholic he was bound to receive that decree, and yet his learning forbade him to blind his eyes to the errors of that version, elevated by the said decree to a higher stand than the original Hebrew and Greek text. The attempt of Dr. Jahn to explain the decree of the council of Trent, so as to reconcile it with his own enlightened views of the Latin Vulgate, exhibits an amusing specimen of ingenuity, and may be seen in his Introduc- tion to the Old Testament, section 65. It is hardly necessary to add, that the Rhemish Testament, Douay bible, and all other popish versions of the Scriptures are made (not from the original Hebrew and Greek, but) from the above imperfect Latin Vulgate version of Jerome ; and as the stream cannot be expected to rise higher than the fountain, the errors of -the Vulgate are perpetuated in all the translations made from it. True, even the Douay bible is better than none : but Romish priests are afraid to let even that be given'to their blinded adherents with- out notes to prove that, wherever it condemns their anti-Christian system, it does not mean what it says. This, however, is in strict accordance with the council of Trent, which we shall see in the next extract forbids the right of private judgment. 11. The right of private judgment in reading the Scriptures prohibited, and its exercise punished. The next extracts which we shall quote from the decree, are as follows : Praelerea, ad coercenda petulentia in- In order to restrain petulant minds, genia, decernit, ut nemo, suae prudentiae the council further decrees, that in mat- innixus, in rebus fidei, et morum, ad ters of faith and morals and whatever jfidificationem doctrinae Christianas perti- relates to the maintenance of Christian nentium, sacram scripturam ad suos sen- doctrine, no one, confiding in his ou-n BUS contorquens, contra eum sensum, judgment, shall dare to wrest the sacred quern tenuit et tenet sancta mater EC- Scriptures to his own sense of them, con- clesia, cujus est judicare de vero sensu trary to that which hath been held and et interpretatione Scripturarum sancta- still is held by holy mother church, whose rum, aut etiam contra unanimem con- right it is to judge of the true meaning sensum Patrum, ipsam Scripturam sa- and interpretation of Sacred Writ ; or cram interpretari audeat; etiam si hu- contrary to the unanimous consent of the jusmodi interpretationes nullo unquam fathers; even though such interpretations tempore in lucem edendae forent. Qui should never be published. If any dis- contravenerint, per Ordinaries decl-aren- obey, let him be denounced by the ordina- tur, et poenis a jure statutis puniantur. ries, and PUNISHED ACCORDING TO LAW. 12. The liberty of the press authoritatively forbidden. Sed et Impressoribus modum in hac Being desirous also, as is reasonable, parte, ut par est, imponere volens, qui of setting bounds to the printers, who with jam sine modo, hoc est, putantes sibi li- unlimited boldness., supposing themselves cere quidquid libet, sine licentia superi- at Liberty to do as they please, print edi- orura ecclesiasticorum, ipsos sacrae tions of the Holy Scriptures with notes CHAP. It.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 489 The decree of the council enacting fines and penalties for exercising the liberty of the press. Scripturae libros et super illis annota- tiones, et expositiones quorumlibet in- differenter, saepe tacito, saepe etiam ementito praelo, et quod gravius est, sine nomine auctoris imprimunt ; alibi etiam impresses libros hujusmodi temere ve- nales habent ; decernit, et statuit, ut post- hac sacra Scriptura, potissimum vero haec ipsa vetus et vulgata editio, quam emendatissime imprimatur ; nullique li- ceat imprimere, vel imprimi facerequos- vis librcs de rebus sacris sine nomine auctoris ; neque illos in futurum ven- dere, aut etiam apud se retinere, nisi primum examinati probatique fuerint ab Ordinario, sub pcena anathematis et pe- cunias in canone Concilii novissimi La- teranensis apposita. Et, si regulares fuerint, ultra examinationem, et proba- tionem hujusmodi, licentiam quoque a suis superioribus impetrare teneantur, recognitis per eos libris, juxta formam suarum ordinationum. Qui autem scrip- to eos communicant, vel evulgant, nisi antea examinati, probaUque fuerint, eis- dem pcenis subjaceant quibus impres- sores. Et qui eos habuerint, vel lege- rint, nisi prodiderint auctores, pro aucto- ribus habeantur. Ipsa vero hujusmodi librorum probatio in-scriptisdetur, atque ideo in fronte libri, vel script!, vel im- pressi, authentice appareat : idque to- tum, hoc est, et probatio, et examen, gratis fiat: ut probanda probentur, et reprobentur improbanda. and expositions taken indifferently from any writer, without the permission of their ecclesiastical superiors, and that at a con- cealed or falsely-designated press, and which ia worse, without the name of the author and also rashly expose books of this nature to sale in othef countries ; the holy council decrees and ordains, that for the future the sacred Scriptures, and especially the old Vulgate edition, shall be printed in the most correct manner possible ; and no one shall be permitted to print, or cause to be printed any books relating to religion without the name of the author ; neither shall any one here- after sell such books, or even retain them in his possession, unless they have been first examined and approved by the ordi- nary, under penalty of anathema, AND THE PECUNIARY FINE ADJUDGED BY THE LAST COUNCIL OF L.ATERAN.* And if they be regulars, they shall obtain, be- sides this examination and approval, the license of their superiors, who shall ex- amine the books according to the forms of their statutes. Those who circulate or publish them in manuscript without being examined and approved, shall be liable to THE SAME PENALTIES as the printers ; and those who possess or read them, unless they declare the authors of them, shall themselves be considered as the author. The approbation of books of this description shall be given in writ- ing, and shall be placed in due form on the title-page of the book, whether ma- nuscript or printed ; and the whole, that is, the examination and the approval, shall be gratuitous, that what is deserv- ing may be approved, and what is un- worthy may be rejected. The above extracts from this decree need no comment. Let it be remembered that these prohibitions and penalties were enacted by the last general council of the Romish church, that they have never been repealed, that they are now enforced wherever Popery has the power to enforce them, and always will be, wherever that power shall be possessed. The proofs are abundant that Popery hates liberty of opinion and of the press, as much in the nineteenth century as she did in the sixteenth, when these laws were passed * The decree of the council of Lateran here referred to, which was enacted in 1515, was to this effect ; that no book whatever should be printed without exami- nation and license by the bishop, his deputy, or an inquisitor ; and that those who offended should forfeit the whole impression of the book printed, which should be publicly burnt, pay a fine of 100 ducats, be suspended from the exercise of their trade for one year, and lie under excommunication ! (See above, p. 434.) 490 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK m Indignation of the protestants at the decr-es of the council upon tradition, the Apocrypha, &c. by the supreme authority of the church. As, however, we are about to transcribe the ten rules of the congregation of the index in, rela- tion to prohibited books, no comments are necessary. Those cele- brated rules are an emphatic commentary upon the above cited decree. ^ 13. The proceedings of the council says Mr. Cramp (p. 57) were carefully watched by the protestants. They quickly per- ceived that it was altogether under the controUof the Pope, and would issue no enactment contrary to the established order of things at Rome. Several publications were sent forth, declaratory of their views and feelings, one of which was written by Melancthon. In these works, while they expressed their willingness to abide by the decisions of a council composed of learned and pious men, eminent for the fear and love of God, they positively refused to acknowledge the authority of the assembly at Trent. Their reasons were nu- merous and weighty. They objected to the presidency of the Pope, he being a party in the cause ; to the Romish prelates, the appointed judges, many of whom were ignorant and wicked men, and all of them declared enemies of the reformation, but especially to the rules of judgment laid down in .connexion with Scripture, and treated with equal or greater deference viz., tradition and the scho- lastic divines. x .The friends of the departed Luther, who had just been gathered to his rest, the great champion of the Bible, were deservedly indig- nant that the council should place tradition on a level with the Scrip- tures, which they regarded as an act of daring impiety. They were surprised to hear, that several books which had ever been regarded as of doubtful authority, and had only received the sanc- tion of some provincial councils and of two or three popes, should now, without examination, be ranked among the acknowledged pro- ductions of inspired men, and be made portions of the Sacred Vol- ume. Nor were they less astonished and surprised at the decision respecting the Vulgate, in which that version, though confessed to abound with errors, was made the authoritative and sole standard of faith and morals, to the neglect of the original Greek and He- brew Scriptures. Nor were me free spirits of the sixteenth cen- tury less indignant that so insignificant a company of priests and monks should endeavor, by restraining the liberty of the press, and appointing a censorship of popish priests, to crush the germ of inquiry, to strengthen the bonds which had held the nations so long, and to cast the mantle of ignorance over the population of a whole continent. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the protes- tants looked upon the council, not only with suspicion but disgust, and positively refused to submit to its authority or decrees. During the continuance of the council, a committee was appoint- ed, called the congregation of the index, whose duty it was to pre- pare an index of prohibited books. This index was not published till March 24, 1564, shortly after the adjournment of the council, by pope Pius IV., to whom it had been committed by the council. The CHAP n. J POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 49. The ten rules of the index of prohibited books. These rul-es the present imperative laws of Romanism. following ten rules, generally called " the rules of the congregation of the index," are here given, though belonging to a later period of the council, on account of their connection with the subject of the present chapter, and they are transcribed entire, on account of their vast importance, as illustrative of the policy of the church of Rome, in repressing as much as possible the circulation of the Scriptures, and in placing restrictions upon the freedom of the press. Let it be remembered that the following rules are the PRESENT imperative laws of the Romish church, adopted by the very highest authority in that church, the last general council, and sent forth to the world under the sanction of its supreme head, pope Pius. These rules are the laws of the Romish church, in precisely the same sense as a statute enacted by the House of Representatives and Senate of the United States, and signed by the President, becomes the law of the American nation ; and all popish bishops and priests are bound to enforce these laws, wherever Popery prevails, to the very utmost of their ability. Let the protestant lover of his bible, and of that glorious bulwark of liberty, the FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, pay particu- lar attention to the passages marked by italics or capitals, and then say whether it is possible for freedom to exist in any land where Popery is the predominant religion, and the priests, of Rome pos- sess the power to enforce these laws of their church. 14. THE TEN RULES OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE INDEX OF PRO- HIBITED BOOKS, enacted by the council of Trent, and approved by pope Pius IV. in a bull, issued on the 24th of March, 1564. By these rules, the following descriptions of books are con- demned and prohibited : Regula 1. Libri omnes quos ante Rule 1. " All books condemned by the annum MDXV aut Summi Pontirices, supreme, pontiffs, or general councils, ant Concilia cecumenica damnarunt, et before the year 1515, and not comprised in hoc indice non sunt, eodem modo in the present Index, are, nevertheless, damnati esse censeantur, sicut olim to be considered as condemned, damnati fuerint. Regula 2. Haeresiarchamm libri,tam Rule 2. " The books of heresiarchs, eorum qui post prsedicturn annum whether of those who broached or dis- hasreses invenerunt, vel suscitarunt, seminated their heresies prior to the quam qui haereticorum capita aut duces year above mentioned, or of those who snnt vel fuerunt, quales sunt Lutherus, have been, or are, the heads or leaders Zuinglius, Calvinus, Balthasar Paci- of heretics, as Luther, Zuingle, Calvin, montanus, Swenchfeldius, et his similes, Balthasar Pacimontanus, Swenchfeld, cujuscumque nominis, tituli aut argu- and other similar ones, are altogether menti existant, omnino prohibentur, forbidden, whatever may be their names, Aliorum autem haereticorum libri, qui titles, or subjects. And the books of de reliir-ione quidem ex professo tractent, other lieretics, which treat professedly omnino damnantur. Qui vero de re- upon religion, are totally condemned; ligione non tractant, a Theologis Catho- but those which do not treat upon re- licis, jussu Episcoporum et Inquisitorum ligion are allowed to be read, after be- examinati et approbati permittuntur. ing examined and approved by Catholic Libri etiam Catholic! conscript!, tarn ab divines, by order of the bishops and in- aliis qui postea in haeresim lapsi sunt, quisitors. Those Catholic books also quam ab illis qui post lapsum ad Eccle- are permitted to be read, which have siae gremium rediere, approbati a facul- been composed by authors who have 492 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vu. Rules on prohibited books continued. The circulation of the Bible " will cause more evil than good." tate TheologicS. alicujus Universitatis Catholics, vel ab Inquisitione general! permitti poterunt. Regula 3. Versiones scriptorum etiam Ecclesiasticorum, quae hacteniis editae sunt a damnatis auctoribus, modo nihil contra sanam doctrinam contineant, per- mittuntur. Librorum autem veteris Testamenti versiones, viris tantum doc- tis et piis judicio Episcopi concedi pote- runt : modo hujusmodi versionibus tam- quam elucidationibus Vulgata? editionis, ad intelligendam sacram Scripturam, non autem tanquam sano textu utantur. Versiones vero novi Testamenti, ab auctoribus primas classis hujus indicis factae nemini concedantur, quia utilitatis parum, periculi vero plurimum lectoribus ex earum lectione manare solet. Si quae vero annotationes cum hujusmodi quae permittuntur versionibus, vel cum Vul- gata editione circumferuntur, expunctis locis suspectjp a facultate Theologica alicujus Universitatis Catholicae, auj inquisitione general! permitti eisdem poterunt, quibus et versiones. Quibus conditionibus totum volumen Bibliorum, quod vulgo Biblia Vatabli dickur, aut partes ejus concedi viris piis et doctis poterunt. Ex Bibliis vero Isidori Clarii Brixiani prologus et prolegomena praeci- dantur : ejus vero textum, nemo textum Vnlgatse editionis esse existimet. Regula 4. Cum experimento mani- festum sit, si sacra Biblia vulgari lin- gua passim sine discrimine permittantur, plus inde, ob hominum temeritatem, de- trimenti, quam utilitatis oriri, hac in parte judicio Episcopi, aut inquisitoris stetur : ut cum concilio Paroohi vel Confessarii, Bibliorum h Catholicis auc- toribus versorum lectionem in vulgari lingua eis concedere possint, quos in- teWexerint ex hujusmodi lectione, non damnum, sed fidei atque pietatis aug- mentum capere posse, quam facultatem in scriptis habeant. Qui autem absque tali facultate ea legere seu habere pra- Bumpserit, nisi prius Bibliis Ordinario redditis, peccatorum absolutionem per- cipere non possit. Bibliopolae vero, qui afterwards fallen into heresy, or who, after their fall, have returned into the bosom of the church, provided they have been approved by the theological faculty of some Catholic university, or by the general inquisition. Rule 3. " Translations of ecclesiasti- cal writers, which have been hitherto published by condemned authors, are permitted to be read, if they contain nothing contrary to sound doctrine. Translations of the Old Testament may also be allowed, but ONLY to learned and pious men, at the discretion of the bishop ; provided they use them merely as eluci- dations of the vulgate version, in order to understand the Holy Scriptures, and not as the sacred text itself. But Translations of the New Testament made by authors of the first class of this Index, are allowed to no one, since little advantage, but much danger, generally arises from reading them. If notes accompany the versions which are allowed to be read, or are joined to the vulgate edition, they may be per- mitted to be read by the same persons as the versions, after the suspected places have been expunged by the theo- logical faculty of some Catholic uni- versity, or by the general inquisitor. On the same conditions also, pious and learned men. may be permitted to have what is called Vatablus's Bible, or any part of it. But the preface and pro- legomena of the Bible published by Isidorus Clarius are, however, excepted ; and the text of his editions is not to be considered as the text of the vulgate edition. Rule 4. " INASMUCH AS IT is MANI- FEST FROM EXPERIENCE, THAT IF THE HOLT BIBLE, TRANSLATED INTO THE VULGAR TONGUE, BE INDISCRIMINATELY ALLOWED TO EVERY ONE, THE TEMERITY OF MEN WILL CAUSE MORE EVIL THAN GOOD TO ARISE FROM IT, it IS, on this point, referred to the judgment of the bishops, or inquisitors, who may, by the advice of the priest or confessor, PERMIT THE READING OF THE BlBLE TRANS- LATED INTO THE VULGAR TONGUE BY CATHOLIC AUTHORS, TO THOSE PERSONS WHOSE FAITH AND PIETY, THEY APPRE- HEND, WILL BE AUGMENTED, AND NOT INJURED BY IT ; AND THIS PERMISSION THEY MUST HAVE IN WRITING. But if any one shall have the PRESUMPTION TO CHAP. H.J POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 493 Punishments for those who have the "presumption " to read or sell the Bible without permission. praedictam facultatem non habenti Bib- lia idiomate vulgari conscripto vendi- derint, vel alio quovis modo concesse- rint, librorum pretium, in usos pios ab Episcopi convertendum, amittant, aliis- que poenis pro delicti qualitate ejusdem Episcopo arbitrio subjaceant. Regu- lares vero non nisi facultate a Praelatis suis habitd, ea legere, aut emere pos- sint. Regula 5. Libri illi. qui hsereticorum auctorum operS, interdum prodeunt, in quibus nvilla aut pauca de suo apponunt, sed aliorum dicta colligunt, ctijusmodi sunt Lexica, Concordantia;, Apophtheg- mata, Similitudincs, Indices, et hujus- modi, si quas habeant admista, quae ex- purgatione indigeant, illis Episcopi et Inquisitores, una cum Theologorum Catholicorum concilio, sublatis, aut emendatis, permittantur. Regula 6. Libri vulgari idiomate de controvcrsiis inter Catholicos et hasreti- cos nostri temporis disserentes non pas- sim permittantur : sed idem de iis ser- vetur, quod de Bibliis vulgari lingul scriptis statutum est. Qui vero de ra- tione bene vivendi, contemplandi, con- fitendi, ac similibus argumentis, vulgari sermone conscripti sunt, si sanam doc- trinam contineant, non est cur prohibe- antur; sicut nee sermones populares vulgari lingud habiti. Quod si hacte- nus in aliquo regno vel Provincia aliqui libri sunt prohibiti, quod nonnulla con- tinerint quas sine delectu ab 'omnibus legi non expediat, si eorum auctores Catholici sunt, postquam emendati fue- rint, permitti ab Episcopo et Inquisitore poterunt. READ OR POSSESS IT WITHOUT SUCH WRITTEN PERMISSION, he shall not re- ceive absolution until he have first de- livered up such Bible to the ordinary. Booksellers, however, who shall sell, or otherwise dispose of Bibles in the vulgar tongue, to any person not having such permission, shall FORFEIT THE VALUE OF THE BOOKS, to be applied by the bishop to some pious use ; and be subjected by the bishop to SUCH OTHER PENALTIES as the bishop shall judge proper, according to the quality of the offence. But regu- lars shall neither read nor purchase such Bibles without a special license from their superiors. Rule 5. " Books of which heretics are the editors, but which contain little or nothing of their own, being mere com- pilations from others, as lexicons, con- cordances, apophthegms, similes, in- dexes, and others of a similar kind, may be allowed by the bishops and inquisi- tors, after having made, with the advice of Catholic divines, such corrections and emendations as may be deemed requi- site. Rule 6. " Books of controversy be- twixt the Catholics and heretics of the present time, written in the vulgar tongue, are not to be indiscriminately allowed, but are to be subject to the same regulations as Bibles in the vul- gar tongue. As to those works in the vulgar tongue, which treat of morality, contemplation, confession, and similar subjects, and which contain nothing contrary to sound doctrine, there is no reason why they should be prohibited ; the same may be said also of sermons in the vulgar tongue, designed for the people. And if in any kingdom or province, any books have been hitherto prohibited, as containing things not proper to be read, without selection, by all sorts of persons, they may be al- lowed by the bishop and inquisitor, after having corrected them, if written by Catholic authors. Regula 7. Libri qui res lascivas sen Rule 7. " Books professedly treating obsco3nas ex professo tractant, narrant, of lascivious or obscene subjects, or aut decent, cum non solum fidei, sed et narrating, or teaching them, are utterly morum, qui hujusmodi librorum lectione prohibited,* since, not only faith but * We suppose this rule is not intended to apply to obscene and lascivious books intended for the instruction of candidates for the priesthood, or for examination of 32 494 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. Rules of the Index continued. Further restrictions upon the liberty of the press. facile corrumpi solent, ratio habenda sit, omnino prohibentur : et qui eos habue- rint, severe ab Episcopis puniantur. Antiqui vero ab Ethnicis conscripti, propter sermonis elegantiam et proprie- tatem permittuntur: nullk tamen ra- tione pueris pralegendi erunt. Regula 8. Libri quorum principale argumentum bonum est, in quibus ta- men obiter aliqua inserta sunt, qua ad hseresim, seu impietatem, divinationem, seu superstitionem spectant, & Catholi- cis Theologis, inquisitionis generalis auctoritate, expurgati, concedi possunt. Idem judicium sit de prologis, summa- riis, seu annotationibus quae a damnatis auctoribus, libris non damnatis, appositze sunt : sed posthac non nisi emendati excudantur. Regula 9. Libri omnes et scripta Geomantiae, Hydromantiae, Aeromantiae, Pyromantiae, Onomantiae, Chiromantias, Necromantias, sive in quibus continentur sortilegia, veneficia, auguria, auspicia, incantationes artis magicae prorsus re- jiciantur. Episcopi verd diligenter provideant, ne astrologis judicariae libri, tractatus, indices legantur, vel habean- tur, qui de futuris contingentibus, suc- cessibus, fortuitisve casibus, aut iis ac- tionibus, quze ab humana voluntate pen- dent, certi aliquid eventurum affirmare audent. Permittuntur autem judicia, et naturales observationes, quae naviga- tionis, agricultural, sive medicae artis juvandae gratia conscripta sunt. Regula 10. In librorum, aliarumve scripturarum impressione servetur, quod in Concilio Lateranensi sub Leone X., Sess. 10, statutum est. Quare, si in alma urbe Roma liber aliquis sit impri- mendus, per Vicarium Summi Pontificis et Sacri Palatii Magistrum, vel per- sonas k Sanctissimo Domino nostro de- morals, which are readily corrupted by the perusal of them, are to be attended to ; and those who possess them shall be severely punished by the bishop. But the works of antiquity, written by the heathens, are permitted to be read, because of the elegance and propriety of the language ; though on no account shall they be suffered to be read by young persons. Rule 8. " Books, the principal sub- ject of which is good, but in which some things are occasionally introduced tending to heresy and impiety, divina- tion, or superstition, may be allowed, after they hate been corrected by Catholic divines, by the authority of tlie general inquisition. The same judgment is also formed of prefaces, summaries, or notes, taken from the condemned au- thors, and inserted in the works of au- thors not condemned ; but such works must not be printed in future, until they Jiaie been amended. Rule 9. " All books and writings of geomancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, py- romancy, onomancy, chiromancy, and necromancy ; or which treat of sorce- ries, poisons, auguries, auspices, or magical incantations, are utterly re- jected. The bishops shall also dili- gently guard against any persons read- ing or keeping any books, treatises, or indexes, which treat of judicial astrolo- gy, or contain presumptuous predictions of the events of future contingencies, and fortuitous occurrences, or of those actions which depend upon the will of man. But such opinions and observa- tions of natural things as are written in aid of navigation, agriculture, and me- dicine, are permitted. Rule 10. " In the printing of books or other writings, the rules shall be ob- served, which were ordained in the 10th session of the council of Late- ran, under Leo X. Therefore, if any book is to be printed in the city of Rome, it shall first be examined by the Pope's V.icar and the master of conscience preparatory to confession. If so, Dens's Theology, their most popu- lar standard work for students, and " the Garden of the Soul," published at New York, 1844, with the approbation of bishop Hughes, must certainly be included in the prohibition. Probably, however, the rule was only intended to apply to works of this description when published by heretics. HAP, n.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 495 Punishments of booksellers who violate these rules. Their shops to be examined by inquisitors. putandas prius examinetur. In aliis vero locis ad Episcopum, vel alium ha- bentem scientiam libri vel scripturae im- primendEB, ab eodem Episcopo deputan- dum, ac Inquisitorem hccreticse pravita- tis ejus civitatis, vel dicecesis, in qua impressio fiet, ejus approbatio et examen pertineat. et per eorum manum proprisi subscriptione gratis et sine dilatione im- ponendam sub pcenis et censuris in eodem decreto contentis approbetur: hac leg-e et conditione additd, ut exem- plum libri imprimendi authenticum, et manu auctoris subscriptum, apud ex- aminatorem remaneat; eos vero, qui libellos manuscriptos vulgant, nisi ante examinati probatique fuerint iisdem pce- nis subjici debere judicrunt Patres de- putati, quibus impressores : et qui eos habuerint et legerint, nisi auctores pro- diderint, pro auctoribus habeantur. Ip- sa vero hujusmodi librorum probatio in scriptis detur, et in fronte libri vel scripti,vel impressi authentice appareat, probatioque et examen ac cetera gra- tias fiant. Praeterea in singulis civitatibus ac dicecesibus, domus vel loci ubi ars im- pressoria exercetur, et bibliothecae li- brorum venialium sagpius visitentur k personis ad id deputandis ab Episcopo, sive ejus Vicario, atque etiam ab In- quisitore hasreticas pravitatis, ut nihil eorum quae prohibentur, aut imprimatur, aut vendatur, aut habeatur. Omnes vero librarii,et quicumque librorum venditores habeant in suis bibliothecis Indicem librorum venalium, quos habent, cum subscriptione dictarum personarum, nee alios libros habeant, aut vendant aut quacumque ratione tradant, sine licen- tieL eorumdem deputandorum, sub pajn amissionis librorum, et aliis arbitrio Episcoporum vel Inquisitorum impo- nendis. Emptores vero lectores, vel impressores, eorumdem arbilrio punian- tur. Quod si aliqui libros quoscumque in aliquam civitatem introducant, tene- antur eisdem personis deputandis re- nunciare : vel si locus publicus merci- bus ejusmodi constitutus sit, ministri, the sacred palace, or other persons chosen by our most holy father for that purpose. In other places, the examination of any book or manuscript intended to be print- ed shall be referred to the bishop, or some skilful person whom he shall nominate, and the inquisitor of heretical pravity of the city or diocess in which the impression is executed, who shall gratuitously and without delay affix their approbation to the work in their own handwriting, subject, nevertheless, to the pains and censures contained in the said decree ; this law and condition being added, that an authentic copy of the book to be printed, signed by the author himself, shall remain in the hands of the examiner : and it is the judgment of the fathers of the present deputation, that those persons who pub- lish works in manuscript, before they have been examined and approved, should be subject to the same penalties as those who print them , and that those who read or possess them should be con- sidered as the authors, if the real au- thors of stich writings do not avow themselves. The approbation given in writing shall be placed at the head of the books, whether printed or in manu- script, that they may appear to be duly authorized ; and this examination and approbation, &c., shall be granted gra- tuitously. " Moreover, in every city and diocess, the house or places where the art of print- ing is exercised, and also the shops of booksellers, shall be frequently visited by persons deputed for that purpose by the bishop or his vicar, conjointly with the inquisitor of heretical pravity, so that nothing that is prohibited may be printed, kept, or sold. Booksellers of every de- scription shall kern in their libraries a catalogue of the books which they have on sale, signed by the said deputies; nor shall they keep or sell, nor in any way dispose of any other books, without per- mission from the deputies, UNDER PAIN OF FORFEITING THE BOOKS, AND BEING LIABLE TO SUCH OTHER PENALTIES AS SHALL BE JUDGED PROPER BY THE BISHOP OR INQUISITOR, WHO SHALL AL- SO PUNISH THE BUYERS, READERS, OR PRINTERS OF SUCH WORKS. If any per- son import foreign books into any city, they shall be obliged to announce them to the deputies; or if this kind of mer- chandise be exposed to sale in any public 496 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK m Books of deceased persons not to be used, till examined by inquisitors. Punishments of disobedience. public! ejus loci praedictis personis sig- nificent libros ease adductos. Nemo ve- ro audeat librum, quern ipse vel alius in civitatem introduxit, alicui legendum tradere, vel aliqua ratione alienare, aut commodare, nisi ostenso prius libro, et habita. licentia a personis deputandis, aut nisi notorie constet, librum jam esse omnibus permissum. Idem quoque servetur ab heredibus et executoribus ultimarum voluntatum, ut libros a defunctis relictos, sive eorum indicem illis personis deputandis offer- rant, et ab iis licentiam obtineant, prius- quam eis utantur, aut in alias personas quacumque ratione transferant. In his autem omnibus et singulis poena statua- tur vel amissionis librorurn, vel alia ar- bitrio eorumdem Episcoporum, vel In- quisitorum pro qualitate contumaciae vel delicti. Circa vero libros, quos Patres depu- tati examinarunt aut expugnarunt, aut expurgandos tradiderunt, aut certis con- ditionibus, ut rursus excudergntur, con- cesserunt, quidquid illos statuisse con- stiterit, tarn bibliopolae, quam ceteri ob- servent. Liberum tamen sit Episcopis aut Inquisitoribus generalibus secun- dum facultatem quam habent, etiam libros, qui his regulis permitti videntur, prohibere, si hoc in suis regnis, aut pro- vinciis, vel diaecessibus expedire judi- caverint. Ceterum nomina, cum libro- rum qui a Patribus deputatis purgati sunt, turn eorum quibus illi hanc pro- vinciam dederunt, eorumdem deputato- rum Secretarius notario Sacrae univer- salis Inquisitionis Roma? descripta Sanctissimi Domini nostri jussu tradidit. Ad extremum vero|pmnibus fidelibus praecipitur, ne quis audeat contra harum regularum prssscriptum, aut hujus in- dicis prohibitionem libros aliquos legere aut habere. Quod si quis libros haere- ticorum, vel cujusvis auctoris scripta, ob haeresin, ob falsi dogmatis suspicio- nem damnata atque prohibita, legerit, give habuerit, statim in excommunica- tionis sententiam incurrat. Qui vero libros alio nomine interdictos legerit, aut habuerit, prater peccati mortalis reatum, quo afficitur. judicio Episcopo- rtim severe puniatur. place, the public officers of the place shall signify to the said deputies, that such books have been brought ; and NO ONE SHALL PRESUME TO OIVE TO READ, OR LEND, OR SELL, ANY BOOK WHICH HE OR ANT OTHER PERSON HAS BROUGHT INTO THE CITY, UNTIL HE HAS SHOWN IT TO THE DEPUTIES, AND OBTAINED THEIR PERMISSION, unless it be a work well known to be universally allowed. " Heirs and testamentary executors shall make no use of the books of the de- ceased, nor in any way transfer them to others, until they hare presented a cata- logue of them to the deputies, and ob- tained their license, under pain of the confiscation of the books, or THE INFLIC- TION OF SUCH OTHER PUNISHMENT as the bishop or inquisitor shall deem proper, according to the contumacy or quality of the delinquent. " With regard to those books which the fathers of the present deputation shall examine, or correct, or deliver to be cor- rected, or permit to be reprinted on cer- tain conditions, booksellers and others shall be bound to observe whatever is or- dained respecting them. The bishops and general inquisitors shall, nevertheless, be at liberty, according to the power they possess, to prohibit such books as may seem to be permitted by these rules, if they deem it necessary for the good of the kingdom, or province, or diocess. And let the secretary of those fathers, accord- ing to the command of our holy father, transmit to the notary of the general in- quisitor, the names of the books that have been corrected, as well as of the persons to whom the fathers have granted the power of examination. " FINALLY, IT is ENJOINED ON ALL THE FAITHFUL, THAT NO ONE PRESUME TO KEEP OR READ ANY BOOKS CONTRARY TO THESE RULES, OR PROHIBITED BY THIS INDEX. BUT IF ANY ONE KEEP OR READ ANY BOOKS COMPOSED BY HERE- TICS, OR THE WRITINGS OF ANY AUTHOR SUSPECTED OF HERESY, OR FALSE DOC- TRINE, HE SHALL INSTANTLY INCUR THE SENTENCE OF EXCOMMUNICATION ; AND THOSE WHO READ OR KEEP WORKS IN- TERDICTED ON ANOTHER ACCOUNT. BE- SIDES THE MORTAL SIN COMMITTED, SHALL BE SEVERELY PUNISHED AT THK WILL OF THE BISHOPS." CHAP, n.i POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 497 Authors honored with a place in the index. Extracts from a popish license to read heretical books 15. The committee appointed at the council of Trent, and under whose supervision the above rules were drawn up, was made permanent, and exists at the present day under the style of " the congregation of the index." Under the care of this committee, the original index of prohibited books has ever since been receiving constant additions, and of course, by this time, has grown to a pon- derous size. Among the names of authors included in this index prohibitorius, are many familiar and dear -to the protestant world : Wickliff, Luther, Calvin, Bucer, Zwinglius, Melancthon, Beza, Tyn- dal, Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, Knox, Coverdale, Bishop Hooper, John Fox, John Huss, Jerome of Prague, Addisoh, Lord Bacon, George Buchanan, Cave, Claude, Grotius, Sir Matthew Hale, Locke, Milton, Mosheim, Robertson, Saurin, Jeremy Taylor, Young, the author of Night Thoughts, and even Leigh Richmond, the sainted author of that sweet little tract, which has been the means of lead- ing so many souls to Christ, has, for writing " The Dairyman's Daughter," been honored (for it is an honor) by a place in this pre- scriptive popish index.* None of the works of these authors are allowed to be read by the blinded and priest-ridden votaries of Rome, according to the above riles of the index, without a special license from the popish bishop ; and this can only be obtained by favored individuals under very peculiar circumstances. Bishop Burnet, in the collection of records appended to his history of the Reformation, has preserved a Latin copy of such a license, granted by the Romish Bishop Tonstal, of London, on the 7th of March, 1527, to the celebrated papist, Sir Tho- mas More, who was about to write against the reformed doctrines, from which the following extracts are translated : " Forasmuch as the church of God has, of late throughout Germany, been infested by heretics, certain sons of iniquity have joined together, who are endeavoring to bring into our country the ancient damned heresy of Wickliff and of Luther, and are publishing in great abundance their most corrupt writings into our vernacular tongue ; and striv- ing with great efforts to corrupt the truth of the Catholic faith by their most pestilential dogmas. And forasmuch as it is greatly to be feared that the Catholic verity may be in danger, unless good and learned men oppose themselves to the malignity of the afore- said men, &c. . . . And forasmuch as thou, most famous brother, both in our own tongue and in Latin can excel even a Demosthenes," &c. The document then alludes, as an example, to the most illus- * Beside the index prohibitorius, the papists have their index expurgalorius that is, an index of books not entirely prohibited, but in which certain passages are expurgated ; and this includes multitudes of passages not only from protestant but from Romish writers, and even from various editions of the works of the Fathers. For a full account of both these indexes, see that valuable, learned, and authentic work, " Mendham's Literary Policy of the Church of Rome, exhib- ited in an account of the damnatory catalogues, or Indices, both Prohibitory and Expurgatory." London, 1820. 498 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. Bishop Tonstal's license to Sir Thomas More to read the works of Luther, &c. note. trious king, Henry VIII., who by his defence of the Sacraments of the Church " had merited the immortal name of the Defender of the faith," and to the writings of Luther, by reading of which Sir Thomas might understand in what lurking places these crooked serpents hide themselves ' quibus latibulis tortuosi serpentes sese condant ;' and after exhorting him to obtain an immortal name by thus defending the church against the heretics, concludes by grant- ing him the license to read the heretical books in the following words : " To that end we grant and concede unto you the power and license of keeping and reading books of this kind."* May the time never arrive when the free-born sons of Protestant America, before being at liberty to write, and to publish, and to read what they choose, must, like the ignorant and degraded mhab- * The following is a correct transcript of this curious and ancient document : " Cuthbertus permissione Divina London Episcopus Clarissimo et Egregio viro Domino Thomas More fratri et amico Charissimo Salutem in Domino et Benedict. Quia nuper, postquam Ecclesia Dei per Germaniam ab haereticis infestata est, juncti sunt nonnulli iniquitatis Filii, qui veterem et damnatum hceresim Wycliffi- anam et Lutherianam, etiam haeresis Wycliffianas alumni transferendis in nostra- tem vernaculam linguam corruptissimis quibuscunq ; eorum opusculis, atque illis ipsis magna copia impressis, in hanc nostram Regionem inducere conantur ; quam sane pestilentissimis dogmatibus Catholicae fidei veritati repugnantibus maculare atq; inficere magnis conatibus moliuntur. Magnopere igitur verendum est ne Catholica veritas in totum periclitetur nisi boni et eruditi viri malignitati tarn prae- dictorum hominum strenue occurrant, id quod nulla ratione melius et aptius fieri poterit, quam si in lingua Catholica veritas in totum expugnaiis haec insana dog- mata simul etiam ipsissima prodeat in lucem. " Quo fiet ut Sacrarum Literarum imperiti homines in manus sumentes novos istos Hzereticos Libros, atq ; una etiam Catholicos ipsos refellentes, vel ipsi per se verum discernere, vel ab aliis quorum perspicacius est judicium recte admoneri et doceri possint. Et quia tu, Frater Clarissime, in lingua nostra vernacula, sicut etiam in Latina, Demosthenem quendam praestare potes, et Catholicse veritatis as- sertor acerrimus in omni congressu esse soles, melius sijbcisivas horas, si quas tuis occupationibus suffurari potes, cqllocare nunquam poteris, quam in nostrate lingua aliqua edas quae simplicibus et ideotis hominibus subdolam liaareticorum malignitatem aperiant, ac contra tarn impios Ecclesiae supolantatores reddant eos instructiores ; habes ad id exemplum quod imiteris pras-clanssimum, illustrissi Do- mini nostri Regis Henrici octavi, qui Sacramenta Ecclesiae contra Lutherum totis viribus ea subvertentem asserere aggressus, immortale nomen Defensoris Ecclesiaa in omne aevum promeruit. Et ne Andabatarum more cum ejusmodi larvis lucteris, ignorans ipse quod oppugnes, mitto ad te insanas in nostrate lingua istorum nae- nias, atque una etiam nonnullos Lutheri Libros ex quibus haec opinionum monstra prodierunt. " Quibus abs te diligenter perlectis, facilius intelligas quibus latibulis tortuosi ser- pentes sese condant, quibusq ; anfractibus elabi deprehensi studeant. Magni enim ad victoriam momenti est hostium Consilia explorata habere, et quid sentiant quove tendant penitus nosse : nam si convellere pares quae isti se non sensisse tncent, in totum perdas operam. Macte igitur virtute, tarn sanctum opus aggre- dere, quo et Dei Ecclesise prosis, et tibi immortale nomen atq ; aeternam ii) Coalis gloriam pares : quod ut facias atque Dei Ecclesiam tuo patrocinio munias, magno- pere in Domino obsecramus, atq ; ad ilium finem ejusmodi libros et retinendi et legend! facultatem atq ; licentiam impertimur et concedimus. Dat. 7 die Martii, Anno 1527 et noatrae Cons, sexto." (Regist. Tonst., FoL 138; Burnet,vol. iv., p. 4.) CHAP. HI.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 409 FiAh and Sixth Session. Canons and curses on original sin remitted by baptism and on justification. itants of popish countries,* humbly sue for permission to the despotic priests and inquisitors of Rome ! CHAPTER III. ORIGINAL SIN AND JUSTIFICATION. 16. THE FIFTH SESSION was held June 17th, 1546. After several days spent in unprofitable debate upon the subject of original sin, in which more use was made of the subtleties of Aquinas and Bona- ventura and of the unintelligible dogmas of the schoolmen than of the word of God, a decree was passed, which is hardly worth recording, expressive of the views of Rome on this point, and con- cluding as usual with the awful anathema on all who presumed even to think differently. The following two brief extracts are sufficient, as specimens of the spirit of this decree : Si quis parvulos recentes ab uteris Whosoever shall affirm, that new- matrnm baptizandos negat, etiam si fu- born infants, even though sprung from erint a baptizatis parentibus orti, &c.j baptized parents, ought not to be bap- AN ATHEAIA SIT. tized, &c., LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Si quis per Jesu Christi Domini nos- Whosoever shall deny that the guilt tri gratiam, qua? in Baptismate confer- of original sin is remitted by the grace of tur, reatum originalis peccati remitti ne-> our Lord Jesus Christ, bestowed in bap- gat, &c. Si quis autem contrarium tism, &c. IF ANY ONE THINKS DIFFER- senserit, ANATHEMA SIT. ENTLY, LET HIM BE ACCURSED. THE SIXTH SESSION was to have been held July 28th, but the pro- tracted debates on the important subject of justification so long de- layed the preparation of the decree that it had to be deferred till the 13th of January, 1547, when a long decree, consisting of six- teen chapters and thirty-three canons, was finally passed. A few of the canons and curses will be sufficient to indicate the doctrine of Rome on this point. Si quis dixerit, homines justificari vel Whoever shall affirm, that men are sola imputatione justitias Christi, vel justified solely by tlie imputation of the sola peccatorum remissione, excluea righteousness of Christ, by the remission gratia, et charitate^ quae in cordibus of sin, to the exclusion of grace and eorum per Spiritum sanctum diffunda- charity, which is shed abroad in their tur, atque illis inhasreat ; aut etiam gra- hearts, and inheres in them ; or that the tiam, qua justificamur, esse tantum fa- grace by which we are justified is only voremDei; ANATHEMA SIT. the favor of God; LET HLM BE AC- CURSED. * In popish priest-ridden Spain these prohibitions of the index still operate in all their force, and wo be to the man who presumes to sell or to read a book pro- scribed by these priestly enemies of the freedom of the press. " There is still fixed," says Mr. Bourgoing, " every year, at the church doors, the index, or list of those books, especially foreign, of which the holy office has thought fit to inter- dict the reading, on pain of excommunication." Modern State of Spain, ii., p. 276.. 500 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. Canons and curses of the council on Justification. Si quis hominem semel justification dixerit amplius peccare non posse, neque gratiam amittere, atque ideo eum qui labitur, et peccat, nunquam vere fu- isse justificatum ; aut contri, posse in tota vita peccata omnia, etiam venialia, vitare, nisi ex speciali Dei privilegio, quemadmodum de beata Virgine tenet Ecclesia; ANATHEMA SIT. Si quis dixerit, justitiam acceptam non conservari, atque etiam augeri co- ram Deo per bona opera ; sed opera ipsa fructus solummodo et signa esse justifi- cationis adepts, non autem ipsius au- gendas causam ; ANATHEMA SIT. Si quis in quolibet bono opere justum saltern venialiter peccare dixerit, aut, quod intolerabilius est, mortaliter ; atque ideo poenas aeternas mereri ; tantumque ob id non damnari, quia Deus ea opera non imputet ad damnationem ; ANA- THEMA SIT. Si quis dixerit, eum, qui post Baptis- mum lapsus est, non posse per Dei gra- tiam resurgere, aut posse quidem, sed sola fide amissam justitiam recuperare sine Sacramento PcenitentiaB, prout sancta Romana, et universalis Ecclesia, a Christo Domino, et ejus Apostolis edocta, hue usque professa est, servavit, et docuit : ANATHEMA SIT. Si quis post acceptam justificationis gratiam, cuilibet peccatori poanitenti ita culpam remitti, et reatum aeternae pcense deleri dixerit, ut nullus remaneat reatus po3ii33 temporalis exsolvendae vel in hoc seculo, vel in futuro in Purgatorio, an- tequam ad regna coelorum aditus patere possit; ANATHEMA SIT. Si quis dixerit, hominis justificati bona opera ita esse dona Dei, ut non sint etiam bona ipsius justificati merita; aut, ipsum justificatum bonis operibus, quae ab eo per Dei gratiam, et Jesu Christ! meritum, cujus vivum membrum est, fiunt, non vere mereri augmentum gra- tiae, vitam seternam, et ipsius vitas aster- iiEB, si tamen in gratia decesserit, con- secutionem, atque etiam glorias augmen- tum ; ANATHEMA SIT. Whoever shall affirm, that a man once justified cannot fall into sin any more, nor lose grace, and therefore that he who falls into sin never was truly justified ; or, on the other hand, that he is able, all his life long, to avoid all sins, even such as are venial, and that without a special privilege from God, such as the church believes was granted to the blessed Virgin ; LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall affirm, that justifi- cation received is not preserved, and even increased, in the sight of God, by good works ; but that works are only the fruits and evidences of justification received, and not the causes of its in- crease : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall affirm, that a righteous man sins in every good work, at least venially; or, which is yet more intolera- ble, mortally ; and that he therefore de- serves eternal punishment, and only for this reason is not condemned, that God does not impute his works to condemna- tion ; LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall affirm, that he who has fallen after baptism cannot by the grace of God rise again ; or that if he can, it is possible for him to recover his lost righteousness by faith only, without the sacrament of penance, which the holy Roman and universal church, in- structed by Christ the Lord and his Apostles, has to this dav professed, kept, and taught ; LET HIM BE AC- CURSED. Whoever shall affirm, that when the grace of justification is received, the of- fence of the penitent sinner is so for- given, and the sentence of eternal pun- ishment reversed, that there remains no temporal punishment to be endured, be- fore his entrance into the kingdom of heaven, either in this world, or in the fu- ture slate, in purgatory ; LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall affirm, that the good works of a justified man are in such sense the gifts of God, that they are not also his worthy merits ; or that he, being justified by his good works, which are wrought by him through the grace of God, and the merits of Jesus Christ, of whom he is a living member, does not really deserve increase of grace, eternal life, the enjoyment of that eternal life if he dies in a state of grace, and even an increase of glory ; LET HIM BE AC- CURSED. CHAP, in.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 501 Way in which Popery makes the work of Christ a stepping-stone for human merit. 17. Thus did the doctors of Trent transform the finished work of our Lord J esus Christ, into a mere stepping-stone for human merit, and teach men to look rather to their own good works as the founda- tion of their hope than to the glorious righteousness of the Son of God imputed to the believer, and received by faith ; and such has ever been the doctrine of Rome. Still further to " darken counsel," the doctors connected justification with baptism, whether in the case of an infant or an adult. Is an individual distressed on account of sin? If he was baptized in infancy, he is told that he was then justified, and that penance is now the path to peace, the " second plank after ship- wreck." If he was not baptized in infancy, as soon as that ordin- ance is administered he is assured that he is safe. He is not bidden to look to the cross of Christ ; nothing is said of the " blood that cleanseth from all sin ;" he has been washed in the " laver of regene- ration ;" the " instrumental cause" of justification, and with this he is to be satisfied. Here is no room for the Apostolic declaration, " Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. v., 1) : it is shut out altogether. The effect of these sentiments on the mind, and the influence it is intended they should exert, may be ascertained by a reference to the manner in which they are interwoven with the devotional exer- cises of Roman Catholics. The following extracts are taken from the " Garden of the Soul." A " Morning Prayer" contains these expressions : " I desire by thy grace to make satisfaction for my sins by worthy fruits of penance ; and I will willingly accept from thy hands whatever pains, crosses, or sufferings I shall meet with during the remainder of my life, or at my death, as just punishments of my iniquities ; begging that they may be united to the sufferings and death of my Redeemer, and sanctified by his passion, in which is all my hope for mercy, grace, and salvation." " How very short the time of this life is, which is give us in order to labor for eternity, and to send before us a stoclt of good works, on which we may live for eternity " The sick person is thus instructed, "Beg that God would accept of all your pains and uneasiness, in union with the suf- ferings of your Saviour Jesus Christ, in deduction of the punish- ment due to your sins." On these passages no comment is re- quired : their design and tendency are sufficiently apparent. We add some specimens of the prayers prescribed in the Roman Missal. " Let our fasts, we beseech thee, O Lord, be acceptable to thee, that by atoning for our sins, they may both make us worthy of thy grace, and bring us to the everlasting effects of thy promise." "Receive, O Lord, we beseech thee, the prayers of the faithful, to- gether with these oblations ; that by these duties of piety they may obtain eternal life."* " O God; who by innumerable miracles hast honored blessed Nicholas/ the bishop ; grant, we beseech thee, that by his merits and intercession we may be delivered from eternal * Roman Missal for the use of the Laity, pp. 61, 337. 502 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. Tyudal and Luther on the glorious doctrine of justification by faith. flames."* " O God, who wast pleased to send blessed Patrick, thy bishop and confessor, to preach thy glory to the Gentiles ; grant, that by his merits and intercession we may, through thy grace, be enabled to keep thy commandments."! " O God, who hast translated the blessed Dunstan, thy high priest, to thy heavenly kingdom ; grant that we, by his glorious merits, may pass from hence to never- ending joys."J " O God, who grantest us to celebrate the transla- tion of the relics of blessed Thomas, thy martyr and bishop ; we humbly -beseech thee that, by his merits and prayers, we may pass from vice to virtue, and from the prison of this flesh to an eternal kingdom." 18. In opposition to these anti-scriptural popish sentiments, it is cheering to turn to the glorious doctrine advocated by Luther, Melancthon, and their noble associates in the work of reforma- tion. There was no doctrine upon which the reformers were more unanimously agreed, than the glorious truth of justification by faith alone 'through the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Says the martyred Tyndal, the early translator of the New Testament, in his " Prologe to the Romayns :" " The somme and hole cause of the writing of this epistle is, to prove that a man is justified by fayth onely ; which proposition whoso denyeth, to him is not onely this Epistle and al that Paul wryteth, but also the hole Scripture so locked up, that he shall never understand it to his soul 's health" Luther calls this doctrine ' articulus stands aut cadentis ecclesias' the article by which a church stands or falls ; he says, " it is the head corner-stone which supports, nay, gives existence and life to the church,of God ; so that without it the church cannot subsist for an hour." He calls it the " only solid rock" " This Christian article," he writes, " can never be handled and inculcated enough. If this doctrine fall and perish, the knowledge of every truth in religion will fall and perish with it. On the contrary, if this do but flourish, all good thirtgs will also flourish, namely, true religion, the true worship of God, the glory of God, and a right knowledge of every- thing which it becomes a Christian to know.|| The following memorable protestation of Luther on this subject, deserves to be written in letters of gold. " I, Martin Luther, an un- worthy preacher of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thus pro- fess, and thus believe ; that this article, THAT FAITH ALONE, WITHOUT WORKS, CAN JUSTIFY BEFORE GOD, shall never be overthrown, neither by the Emperor, nor by the Turk, nor by the Tartar, nor by the Pope, with all his cardinals, bishops, sacrificers, monks, nuns, kings, * Roman Missal for the use of the Laity, p. 527. f Ibid., p. 563. J Ibid., p. 585. 5 Ibid., 614. The late celebrated Romanist, Dr. Milner, said of bishop Poynter, " that he would gue the univefse to possess half his merit in the sight of God." Laity's Directory, 1829, p. 74. Cramp, J 15. There is a striking similarity, or rather identity between the doctrines of the Oxford Puseyites and the Romanists on the article of Justification. For proof of this, and extracts from Puseyite writings, see M'llvaine on the Oxford Divinity -passim. ||Milner's Church history, vol. iv., p. 515. Scott's Continuation of Milner, vol. i., p. 527. Cramp 112. CHAP, in.] POPERY AT TRENT A D. 1545-1563. 503 Luther'a noble protestation. His visit to Rome. The just shall live by faith. princes, powers of the world, nor yet by all the devils in hell. This article shall stand fast whether they will or no. This is the true Gospel. Jesus Christ redeemed us from our sins, and he only. This most firm and certain truth is the voice of Scripture, though the world and all the devils rage and roar. If Christ alone take away our sins, we cannot do this with our works ; and as it is im- possible to embrace Christ but by faith, it is therefore equally impos- sible to apprehend him by works. If, then, faith must apprehend Christ, before works can follow, the conclusion is irrefragable, that faith alone apprehends him, before and without the consideration of works ; and this is our justification and deliverance from sin. Then, and not till then, GOOD WORKS FOLLOW FAITH AS ITS NECESSARY AND INSEPARABLE FRUIT. This is the doctrine I teach ; and this the Holy Spirit and the Church of the faithful have delivered. In this will I abide. Amen."* 19. And it was no wonder that Luther loved this doctrine of jus- tification by faith. It was that blessed passage, " the just shall live by faith" that first darted a ray of gospel peace and joy into his mind, when struggling to obtain ease for a wounded conscience by the ceremonies and mummeries of Popery. In 1510, the future re- former was dispatched on a journey to Rome. On his way thither, the poor German monk was entertained at a wealthy convent of the Benedictines, situated on the Po, in Lombardy. This convent enjoyed a revenue of thirty-six thousand ducats ; twelve thousand were spent for the table, twelve thousand on the buildings, and twelve thousand to supply the other wants of the monks. The magnificence of the apartments, the richness of the dresses, and the delicacy of the viands, astonished Luther. Marble, silk, and luxury of every kind ; what a novel spectacle tq the humble brother of the convent of Wittemberg ! He was amazed and silent ; but Friday came, and what was his surprise ! The table of the Benedictines was spread with abundance of meats. Then he found courage to speak out. " The Church," said he, " and the Pope forbid such things." The Benedictines were ofl'ended at this rebuke from the unmannerly German. But Luther, having repeated his remark, and perhaps threatened to report their irregularity, some of them thought it easiest to get rid of their troublesome guest. The porter of the convent hinted to him that he incurred danger by his stay. He accordingly took his departure from this epicurean monastery, and pursued his journey to Bologna, where he fell sick. Some have seen in this sickness the effects of poison. It is more probable that the change in his mode of living, disordered the frugal monk of Wittemberg, who had been used to subsist for the most part on dry bread and herrings. This sickness was not " unto death," but for the glory of God. His constitutional sadness and depression returned. What a fate was before him. to perish thus far away from Germany under a scorching sun, in a foreign land ! The dis- * Lives of the Eminent Reformers, p. 98 : Dublin, 1828. 504 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. IBOOKVH. Luther climbing Pilate's stair-case for indulgence. His horror and slinini- ;it himself. tress of mind lie had experienced at Erfurth again oppressed him. A sense of his sins disturbed him ; and the prospect of the judgment of God filled him with dismay. But in the moment when his terror was at its height that word of Paul. " The just shall live by Fa it it" recurred with power to his mind, and beamed upon his soul like a ray from heaven. Raised and comforted, he rapidly regained health, and again set forth for Rome, expecting to* find there a very different manner of life from that of the Lombard convents, and eager to efface, by the contemplation of Roman sanctity, the sad impression left upon his memory by his sojourn on the banks of the Po. 20. On his arrival at Rome, with the hope one day of obtaining an indulgence promised by the Pope to any one who should ascend on his knees what is called Pilate's staircase, the poor Saxon monk was slowly climbing those steps which they told him had been miraculously transported from Jerusalem to Rome. But whilst he was going through this meritorious work, he thought he heard a voice like thunder speaking from the depth of his heart : " THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." These words, which already on two occa- sions had struck upon his ear as the voice of an angel of God, re- sounded instantaneously and powerfully within him. He started up in terror on the steps up which he had been crawling ; he was hor- rified at himself; and, struck with shame for the degradation to which superstition had debased him, he fled from the scene of his folly. This powerful text had a mysterious influence on the life of Lu- ther. It was a creative word for the reformer and for the refor- mation. It was by means of that word that God then said : " Let there be light, and there wjis light." It is frequently necessary that a truth should be repeatedly presented to our minds, in order to produce its due effect. Luther had often studied the Epistle to the Romans, and yet never had justification by faith, as there taught, appeared so clear to him. He now understood that righteousness which alone can stand in the sight of God ; he was now partaker of that perfect obedience of Christ which "God imputes freely to the sinner as soon as^ he looks in humility to the God-man crucified. This was the decisive epoch in the inward life of Luther. That faith which had saved him from the fear of death became hencefor- ward the soul of his theology ; a stronghold in every danger, giv- ing power to his preaching and strength to his charity, constituting a ground of peace, a motive to service, and a consolation in life and death.* * Merle D'Aubigne, pp. 54, 55. 505 CHAPTER IV. THE SACRAMENTS AND THE DOCTRINE OP INTENTION. BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION. 21. THE SEVENTH SESSION. It was resolved by the fathers of Trent at the first general congregation,* after the sixth session of the council, that the subject of the next doctrinal decrees should be the sacraments. Respecting the number of the sacraments, the members were pretty generally agreed. It was held that they were seven, viz., baptism, confirmation, the eucharist, penance, ex- treme unction, orders, and matrimony. In support of this number, they adduced tradition and the most fanciful analogies. Some of them gravely argued that since seven is a perfect number, since there are seven days in the week, seven excellent virtues, seven deadly sins, seven planets, &c., therefore, as a matter of course, there must be seven sacraments. Such was the boasted wisdom of the united talent and learning of this infallible popish council ! Still, it is not astonishing that the fathers resorted to arguments like these, in support of seven sacraments, since it was impossible to find in the New Testament a single argument for more than two, viz., baptism and the Lord's Supper.f The doctrinal decree was ready by the 3d of March, 1547, and was promulgated in the seventh session held on that day. A few extracts from it will be sufficient. The decree was divided into three parts. (1) Of the sacraments in general, (2) of baptism, (3) of confirmation. The following are extracts from the first part, the sacraments in general. Ad consummationem salutaris de jus- In order to complete the exposition tificatione doctrine, quae, in precedent! of the wholesome doctrine of justifica- proxima Sessione uno omnium Patrum tion, published in the last session by consensu promulgata fuit ; consentaneum the unanimous consent of the fathers, visum est de sanctissimis Ecclesise Sa- it hath been deemed proper to treat of cramentis agere, per quae omnis vera the holy sacraments of the church, by justitia vel incipij, vel coepta augetur, which all true righteousness is at first yel amissa reparatur. Propterei sacro- imparted, then increased, and after- sancta oecumenica et generalis Triden- wards restored, if lost. For which tina Synodus, in Spiritu sancto legitime cause the sacred, holy, oecumenical and congregata, &c. . . . sanctarum Scrip- general council of Trent, lawfully as- turarnm doctrinae, Apostolicis traditioni- sembled, &c., abiding by the doctrine bus, atque aliorum Conciliorum et Pa- of the sacred scriptures, the tradition trum consensui inhaerendo, hos pra- of the apostles, and the uniform con- * The meetings of the council for debating the various subjects, and for pre- paring the decrees, were generally called Congregations. When the decrees were in readiness, the Session was held at which they were authoritatively pro- mulgated and enacted. f See Father Paul's History of the council of Trent, lib. ii., s. 85. 506 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. Canons and curses of the council on the Sacraments and Intention. sentes canones statuendos, et decernen- dos censuit, &c, x Si quis dixerit, Sacramenta novae legis non fuisse omnia a Jesu Christo, Domino nostro, instituta ; aut esse plura vel pauciora qum septem, videlicet, Baptismum, Confirmationem, Eucharis- tiam, Pcenitentiam, Extremam Unctio- nem, Ordinem, et Matrimonium ; aut etiam aliquod horum septem non esse vere et proprie Sacramentum ; AN- ATHEMA SIT. Si quis dixerit Sacramenta novae legis non esse ad salutem necessaria, sed superflua ; et sine eis, aut eorum voto per solam fidem homines k Deo gratiam justifications adipisci ; licet omnia sin- gulis necessaria non sint ; ANATHE- MA SIT. Si quis dixerit, Sacramenta novas legis non continere gratiam, quam significant, aut gratiam ipsam non ponentibus, obi- cem non conferre, quasi signa tantum externa sint acceptae per fidem gratiae vel justitiae, et notas quaedam Christianas professionis, quibus apud homines dis- cernuntur fideles ab infidelibus ; AN- ATHEMA SIT. Si quis dixerit, per ipsa novas legis Sacramenta ex opere operato non con- ferri gratiam, sed solam fidem divinae promissionis ad gratiam consequendam sufficere ; ANATHEMA SIT. Si quis dixerit, in ministris, dum Sa- cramenta conficiunt, et conferunt, non requiri INTENTIONEM saltern faciendi quod facit Ecclesia ; ANATHEMA SIT. sent of other councils, and of the fathers, hath resolved to frame and de- cree these following canons, &c. Whoever shall affirm that the sacra- ments of the new law were not all in- stituted by Jesns Christ our Lord, or that they are more or fewer than seven, namely baptism, confirmation, the eu- charist, penance, extreme unction, or- ders, and matrimony, or that any of these seven is not truly and properly a sacrament: LET HIM BE ACCURS- ED. Whoever shall affirm that the sacra- ments of the new law are not necessary to salvation, but superfluous; or that men may obtain the grace of justifica- tion by faith only, without these sacra- ments, although it is granted that they are not all necessary to every indivi- dual :* LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall affirm that the sacra- ments of the new law do not contain the grace which they signify ; or that they do not confer that grace on those who place no obstacle in its way ; as if they were only the external signs of grace or righteousness received by faith, and marks of Christian profession, whereby the faithful are distinguished from un- believers : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall affirm that grace is not conferred by these sacraments of the new law, by their own power [ex opere operato] ; but that faith in the divine promise is all that is necessary to ob- tain grace : LET HIM BE ACCURS- ED. Whoever shall affirm that when ministers perform and confer a sacra- ment, it is not necessary that they should at least have the INTENTION to do what the church does : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. 22. This last canon and curse with respect to iJie doctrine of intention, demands a few words of explanation. The doctrine of Popery is that the validity of a sacrament depends upon the intention of the officiating priest ; so that no man can be sure that he has been duly baptized, unless he can be sure that the priest not -only pronounced the formula of the words, but also had the intention in his mind to baptize him. So in like manner, no one can be sure that he has received absolution from the priest, or that he has duly re- ceived the sacrament of the eucharist, unless he can look into the * This exception refers, doubtless, to orders and matrimony. The former pe- culiar to the priesthood, the latter forbidden to them. CHAP, iv.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 507 Absurdity of the Romish doctrine of Intention. heart of the minister and be sure that he had the intention duly to administer these rites. Now, as Romanism teaches that these are absolutely necessary to salvation, and the validity of all depend* upon the state of the priest's mind, unknown to any but the omni- scient God ; in what a distressing state of doubt and anxiety must those be who seriously believe these doctrines and attentively re- flect upon them ! How different, all this, from the gospel plan of immediate access to the mercy seat ; not through the medium of a fallible and often corrupt and depraved mortal, but through the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the great Apostle and High Priest of our profession. Popery says, " come to the priest ; if he baptize you, if he absolve you, then you may be saved ; but if he refuse to do it, then you shall be damned. Or if he do it, but without the due in- tention of mind (of which you can never be absolutely sure), then he may utter the formula of baptism, he may pronounce the words of absolution, but still you shall be damned! for in the words of the decree, the 'intention' of the priest is essential to the validity of the act, and the act validly performed is necessary to salvation." On the other hand the Scriptures say and Protestantism re-echoes the blessed invitation " Come to Christ ; for ' he is able to save unto the uttermost, all that come unto God by him !' ' Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved' and ' him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.' " In the one system, all is made to depend on the priest, and the sinner is thus held in the chains of mental bondage to a miserable mortal ; in the other all is shown to depend on Christ, and the ransomed believer is enabled to say, " I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him, until that day." Such is the slavery of Popery. Such is the freedom of the gospel ! 23. The doctrine of intention also has an important bearing upon the change of the wafer into the body and blood of Christ, and upon what is called the " sacrifice of the mass." For if the priest have not the intention to effect this change, and thus to " create his creator, then it is maintained by Romanists that no change takes place, the wafer does not become God, and the people who worship it are consequently guilty of idolatry. So that no man who wor- ships the host, can possibly be sure at the time that he is not guilty of idolatry. The following extract from, the Romish Mass Book or Missal (p. 53), will sufficiently explain this remark. The portion of the book from which it is taken is entitled ' De defectibus in cele- bratione missarum occurrentibus ;' that is, respecting defects oc- curring in the mass. De defectibus Vini. Of the defects of the Wine. Si vinum sit factum penitus acetum, If the wine be quite sour, or putrid, or vel penitus putridum, vel de uvis acerbis be made of bitter or unripe grapes : or sen non maturis expressum, vel ei ad- if so much water be mixed with it, as mix turn tantum aqua?, ut vinum sit cor- spoils the wine, no sacrament is made, ruptum, non conficitur sacramentum. 508 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. Curious extracts from the Romish Missal on defects in the Mass. Si post conseorationem corporis, aut etiam vmi. deprehendiiur defectus alte- rius speciei, altera jam consecrata ; tune ei nullo modo materia qua: esset appo- nenda haberi possit, ad evitandum scan- dalum procedeudurn erit. If after the consecration of the body, or even of 'the wine, the defect of either kind be discovered, one being consecrat- ed ; then, if the matter which should be placed cannot be had, to avoid scan- dal, he must proceed. De defections Formes. The defects in the Form. Si quis aliquid diminuerit vel immuta- ret de forma consecrationis corporis et eanguinis, et in ipsa verborum immuta- tione, verba idem non significarent, non conficeret sacramentum. If any one shall leave out or change any part of the form of the consecration of the body and blood, and in the change of the words, such words do not signify the same thing, there is no consecra- tion. De defections Ministri. The defects of the Minister. Defectus ex parte ministri possunt contingere quoad ea, quae in ipso requi- runtur, haec autem sunt, imprimis INTEN- TIO, deinde dispositio animse, dispositio corporis, dispositio vestimentorum, dis- positio in ministerio ipso, quoad ea, quae in ipso possunt occurrere. Si quis NON INTENDIT conficere, sed delusarie aliquid agere. Item si aliquae hostiffi ex oblivione remaneant in altari, vel aliqua pars vini, vel aliqua hostia la- teat, cum non intendat consecrare, nisi quas videt ; item si quis habeat coram se undecim hostias, et intendat consecrare solum decem, non determinans quas de- cem intendit, in his casibus non conse- crat, quia requiritur intentio, &c., &c. The defects on the part of the minis- ter, may occur in these things required in him, these are first and especially IN- TENTION, after that, disposition of soul, of body, of vestments, and disposition in the service itself, as to those matters which can occur in it. If any one INTEND NOT to consecrate, but to counterfeit ; also, if any wafers remain forgotten on the altar, or if any part of the wine, or any wafer lie hidden, when he did not intend to con- secrate but what he saw ; also, if he shall have before him eleven wafers and intended to consecrate but ten only, not determining what ten he meant, in all these cases there is no consecration, because intention is required ! In addition to the above extracts from the Missal, the following upon various other defects besides the intention of the minister, are curious, and worth recording : Si post consecrationem ceciderit mus- ca vel arnea, vel aliquid ejusmodi in ca- licem et fiat nausea sacerdoti, extrahat earn et lavet cum vino, finitami|sa, com- burat et combustio ac lotio hujusmodi in sacrarium projiciatur. Si autem non fuerit el nausea, nee ullum periculum timeat, sumat cum sanguine. Si in hieme sanguis congeletur in ca- lice, involvatur calix in pannis calefactis, si id non proficerit, ponatur in fervente aqua prope altare, dummodo in calicem non intret donee liquefiat. Si per negligentiam, aliquid de san- guine Christi ceciderit, seu quidem su- per terram, seu super tabulam lingua lambalur, et locus ipse radatur quantum If after consecration, a gnat, a spider, or any such thing fall into the chalice, let the priest swallow it with the blood, if he can ; but if he fear danger and have a loathing, let him take it out, and wash it with wine, and when mass is ended, burn it, and cast it and the wash- ing into holy ground. If in winter the blood be frozen in the cup, put warm clothes about the cup ; if that will not do, let it be put into boiling water near the altar, till it be melted, taking care it does not get into the cup. If any of the blood of Christ fall on the ground by negligence, it must be licked up with the tongue, the place be sufficiently scraped, and the scrapings CRAP, iv.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 50& The priest murt piously swallow his vomit. Priests ridiculing their own mummeries. satis est, et abrasio comburatur : cinis burned : but the ashes must be buried in vero in sacrarium recondatur. hoiy ground. Si sacerdos evomet eucharistiam, si If the priest vomit the eucharist, and species integrse appareant reverenter su- the species appear entire, he must pi- mantur, nisi nausea fiat; tune enim ously swallow it again ; but if a nausea species consecratae caute separentur, et prevent him, then let the consecrated in aliquo loco sacro reponantur donee species be cautiously separated, and put corrumpantur, et postea in sacrarium by in some holy place till they be cor- projiciantur; quod si species non appa- rupted, and after, let them be cast into reant comburatur vomitus, et cineres in holy ground ; but if the species do not sacrarium mittantur. appear, the vomit must be burned and the ashes thrown into holy ground. How miserably debased must be the soul and intellect of a ra- tional being, before he can submit to a religion which enjoins such rules as the above ! The votaries of Jupiter, Diana or Juggernaut, would be ashamed of them ! Is it possible for the priests to believe these disgusting absurdities ? Credat Judceus Apella. 24. 1 Now the question naturally arises, when these priests pro- nounce the words of consecration, do they always intend to conse- crate, or to transmute the wafer into " the body, blood, soul, and di- vinity of Christ ?" Let the following incident in the life of Luther suf fice for a reply. One day, during the visit of the future reformer at Rome, Luther was at table with several distinguished ecclesiastics, to whose society he was introduced in consequence of his charac- ter of envoy from the Augustins of Germany. These priests ex- hibited openly their buffoonery in manners and impious conversa- tion ; and did not scruple to give utterance before him to many in- decent jokes, doubtless thinking him one like themselves. They related, amongst other things, laughing, and priding themselves upon it, how when saying mass at the altar, instead of the sacra- mental words which were to transform the elements into the body and blood of the Saviour, they pronounced over the bread and wine these sarcastic words : " Bread thou art, and bread thou shalt remain ; wine thou art, and wine thou skalt remain Panis es et panis manebis ; vinum es et vinum manebis." " Then," continued they, " we elevate the pyx, and all the people worship." Luther could scarcely believe his ears. His mind, gifted with much viva- city, and even gaiety, in the society of his friends, was remarkable for gravity when treating of serious things. These Romish mock- eries shocked him. " I," says he, " was a serious and pious young monk ; such language deeply grieved me. If at Rome they speak thus openly at table, thought I, what, if their actions should cor- respond with their words, and popes, cardinals, and courtiers should thus say mass. And I, who have so often heard them recite it so devoutly, how, in that case, must I have been deceived !"* * Merle D'Aubigne, p. 53. That the priests of the nineteenth century in the city of Rome are no better than those of the sixteenth above mentioned, is mani fest from the following words of one who was but lately one of their number. " What was my surprise," says Dr. Giustiniani (after becoming sceptical upon some of the doctrines of Popery), " when I made known my thoughts to some priests my intimate friends, to find that they were rank infidels ! With the Scrip- 33 510 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. Canons and cursca on Baptism and Confirmation. Baptism declared necessary to safvution. 24. The second and third divisions of the decree were upon the subjects of Baptism and Confirmation. From these it will be sufficient to cite, without remark, the following extracts. Si quis dixerit, Baptismum liberum esse, hoc est, non necessarium ad salu- tem ; ANATHEMA SIT. Si quis dixerit, parvulos, eo quod ac- tum credendi non habent, suscepto Bap- tismo inter fideles computandos non esse, ac propterea, cum ad annos dis- cretionis pervenirent, esse rebaptizan- dos ; aut praestare omitti eorum Bap- tisma, quam eos non actu proprio cre- dentes baptizari in sola fide Ecclesiae ; ANATHEMA SIT. Si quis dixerit, Confirmationem bap- tizatorum otiosam caeremoniam esse, et non potius verum et proprium Sacra- mentum; aut olira nihil aliud fuisse, quam catechesim quamdam, qua adoles- centia? proximi fidei suaa rationem co- ram Ecclesia exoonebant; ANATHE- MA SIT. Si quis dixerit, injuries esse Spiritui sancta eos qui sacro Confirmationis chrismati virtutem aliquam tribuunt ; ANATHEMA SIT Whoever shall affirm that baptism is indifferent, that is, nut necessary to sal- vation; LET HIM BE ACCURSED Whoever shall affirm that children are not to be reckoned among the faith- ful by the reception of baptism, because they do not actually believe ; and there- fore that they are to be re-baptized when they come to years of discretion ; or that, since they cannot personally believe, it is better to omit their baptism, than 'that they should be baptized only in the faith of the church : LET HIM BE AC- CURSED. Whoever shall affirm that the con- firmation of the baptized is a trifling ceremony, and not a true and proper sacrament; or that formerly it was nothing more than a kind of catechiz- ing ; in which young persons explained the reasons of their faith before the church : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall affirm that they offend the Holy Spirit, who attribute any vir- tue to the said chrism of confirmation : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. By the first of these canons, we perceive that Rome regards baptism as necessary to salvation, and pronounces her curse upon all who believe otherwise. By the second, she consigns in a body to damnation (that is, so far as her good wishes can operate), at least one of the largest denominations of the great protestant family ; and by the third and fourth, that and all the other denominations of Christians belonging to that great family, who are unwilling to believe that " confirmation " is " a true and proper sacrament." tures they were unacquainted ; the doctrines of the church they considered as human fabrications ; mocked at and ridiculed things most sacred in the eye of a devoted papist, and laughed at the ignorance of the poor deluded people." (Papal Rome as it is, p. 42. 511 CHAPTER V. SUSPENSION OF THE COUNCIL IN 1549, AND RESUMPTION UNDER POPE JULIUS III. IN 1551. DECREE ON TRANSUBSTANTIATIOIV. 25. SOON after the session in which the canons just cited were passed, a proposal was made under the pretext of a fever having broken out at Trent to transfer the council to some other place ; and through the influence of the legate, De Monte, and others of the ultra-papal party, a vote of the majority was obtained, and a de- cree passed at the eighth session, March llth, 1547, though not with- out-strong opposition, to remove to Bologna, a city belonging to the Pope, and where the future sessions would be still more exclusively under his influence, than those already past. This step was very offensive to the emperor Charles, who employed all his influence in persuading, as many as possible of the divines still to continue at Trent. Those who assembled at Bologna were all Italian prelates, and entirely under the direction of the Pope. Being so few in number, and exclusively of one nation, they could hardly presume to act as a. general council. On April 21st, they met in what was called the ninth session, only to adjourn to June 2d. On the latter day they met again, and adjourned to September 14th, when they as- sembled only to prorogue the council for an indefinite period ; and after the lapse of more than two years, the few prelates still re- maining at Bologna were informed by the Pope on the 17th of Sep- tember, 1549, that their services were no longer needed, and conse- quently they dispersed to their homes. 26. In less than two months after the suspension of the coun- cil, pope Paul III. died, on the 10th of November, 1549. When the cardinals entered into the conclave to choose a successor, they pre- pared and signed a series of resolutions, which they severally bound themselves by solemn oath to observe in the event of being elected to the Apostolic chair. The resumption of the council, the esta- blishment of such reforms as it might enact, and the reformation of the court of Rome, were included.* It was long before they could agree, so powerful was the influence of party feelings and conflict- ing' interests, producing complicated intrigue, and thereby extend- ing tneir deliberations to a most inconvenient and wearisome length. At last the choice fell on De Monte, the former legate at Trent, who was publicly installed into his high office, February 23d, 1 550, and assumed the name of Julius III. It affords a striking comment upon the pretended efforts of the ecclesiastics at the council of Trent, to effect a reform in the dis- cipline and morals of the priesthood, that a notoriously immoral man like De Monte should have been elevated to the papacy. In addition to his other vices, he was a notorious sodomite, and bestow- * Le Plat, vol. iv., p. 156-159. 512 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. A hard question to answer The arrogant bull of pope Julius for the re-assembling of the council ed a cardinal's hat on a young man named Innocent, the keeper of his monkey, of whom he was suspected to be too fond. When the cardinals remonstrated with him on occasion of this promotion, he cooly replied, "A nd what merit did you discover in me, that you raised me to the Popedom ?" They could not easily answer such a question,* nor could they any more easily remove the unworthy pope from his ill-deserved elevation. 27. The Emperor, who was now anxious to unite all the Ger- man princes in some plan of religious union, pressed the resumption of the council of Trent upon the new pope, and endeavored to pre- vail upon him, in his bull for the re-assembling of the council, to use such language as might not disgust the Protestants, and prevent them' from coming to Trent. It soon became evident, however, that Julius wished to hinder the Protestants from attending the council, and was determined by this means to prevent the discussions which would result from their appearance there. Instead of showing any moderation in the style and temper of the document, he used ex- pressions that could not but be obnoxious and offensive, even to many Roman Catholics. The pontiff asserted that he possessed the sole power of convening and directing general councils ; com- manded, " in the plentitude of apostolic authority," the prelates of Europe to repair forthwith to Trent ; promised, unless prevented by his age and infirmities, or the pressure of public affairs, to pre- side in person ; and denounced the vengeance of Almighty God, and of the Apostles Peter and Paul, on any who should resist or disobey the decree. f When the bull was presented to the Protes- tants, it produced exactly the effects that were anticipated. They declared that such arrogant pretensions precluded the hope of con- ciliation, and that they must retract any promise they had given to submit to the council, since it could not be done without wounding their consciences and offending God. 28. At length the council was re-opened. The eleventh session was held on the 1st of May, 1551, and the twelfth on the 1st of September following, but no doctrinal decrees were passed at either. The thirteenth session was held on the llth of October, and a long decree was issued on the subject of Transubstantiation, con- sisting of eight chapters and eleven canons and curses. It will be sufficient to quote the following five of the canons and curses. Si quis negaverit, in saribtissimae Whoever shall deny, that in the most Eucharisthe Sacramento contineri vere, holy sacrament of the eucharist there realiter et substantialiter, corpus et san- are truly, really, and substantially con- guinem unk cum anima et divinitate tained the body and blood of our Lord Domini nostri Jesu Christi, ac proinde Jesus Christ, together with his soul and totum Christum : sed dixerit tantum- divinity, and consequently Christ entire ; * Thuan. Hist, des Conclaves, Tom. i., p. 101. f Wolf. Lect. Memorab., torn, ii., p. 640-644. Wolfius says that a new coinage was issued by Julius III., with this motto " Gens et regnum, quod mihi non parue- rit peribit The nation and kingdom which will not obey me, shall perish." See also Father Paul's council of Trent, lib. iii., sec. 33. CHAP. V.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 513 Canons and curses of the council on Transubstantiation. modo esse in eo ut in signo, vel figurd, aut virtute ; ANATHEMA SIT. Si quis dixerit, in sacro-sancto Eu- charistiae Sacramento remanere sub- stantiam panis et vini una cum corpore et sanguine Domini nostri Jesu Christi, negaveritque mirabilem illam et singu- larem conversionem totius substantial panis in corpus, et totius, substantias vini in sanguinem, manentibus dumtax- slt speciebus panis et vini ; quam qui- dem conversionem Catholica Ecclesia aptissime Transubstantiationem appel- lat; ANATHEMA SIT. Si quis negaverit, in venerabili Sacra- mento Eucharistiae sub unaquaque spe- cie, et sub singulis cujusque specie! par- tibus, separatione fact4 totum Christum contineri ; ANATHEMA SIT. Si quis dixerit, peract& consecratione, in admirabili Eucharistias Sacramento non esse corpus et sanguinem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, sed tantum in usu, dum sumitur non autem ante vel post, et in hostiss seu particulis consecratis, quae post communionem reservantur, vel supersunt, non remanere verum cor- pus Domini ; ANATHEMA SIT. but shall affirm that he is present there- in only in a sign or figure, or by hia power: LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall affirm, that in the most holy sacrament of the eucharist there remains the substance of the bread and wine, together with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and shall deny that wonderful and peculiar con- version of the whole substance of the bread into his body, and of the whole substance of the wine into his blood, the species only of bread and wine remain- ing, which conversion the Catholic church most fitly terms transubstantia- tion : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall deny that Christ en- tire is contained in the venerable sacra- ment of the eucharist, under such spe- cies, and under every part of each spe- cies when they are separated : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall affirm, that the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ are not present in the admirable eucharist, as soon as the consecration is perform- ed, but only as it is used and received, and neither before nor after ; and that the true body of our Lord does not re- main in the hosts or consecrated mor- sels which are reserved or left after communion ; LET HIM BE ACCUR- SED. Whoever shall affirm, that Christ the only begotten Son of God, is not to be adored in the holy eucharist with the external signs of that worship which is due to God ; and therefore that the eu- charist is not to be honored with extra- ordinary festive celebration, nor solemn- ly carried about in processions accord- ing to the laudable and universal rites and customs of holy church, nor pub- licly presented to the people for their adoration : and that those who worship the same are idolaters ; LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Enough has already been said in former portions of this work, relative to the monstrous absurdity of Transubstantiation pro- claimed in the preceding' canons. Upon such an insult to common sense and reason, it cannot be necessary longer to enlarge. In this place, therefore, no further remark will be offered on this most con- contradictory and absurd of all the doctrines of Rome. Si quis dixerit, in sancto Eucharistias Sacramento Christum unigenitum Dei Filium non esse cultu latriae, etiam ex- terno, adorandum ; atque ideo nee fes- tivfl. peculiari celebritate venerandum, neque in -processionibus, secundum lau- dabilcm et universalem Ecclesise sanctae ritum et oonsuetudinem, solemniter cir- cumgestandum, vel non publice, ut adoretur, populo proponendum, et ejus adoratores esse idoltras ; ANATHE- MA SIT. 514 CHAPTER VI. ON PENANCE, AURICULAR CONFESSION, SATISFACTION, AND EXTREME UNCTION TO THE SECOND SUSPENSION IN APRIL, 1552. 29. THE fourteenth session of the council was held November 25th, 1551, and issued its decrees on penance and extreme unction. The decree on penance contained nine explanatory chapters, and fifteen canons and curses. Penance is said to consist of three parts, contrition, confession, and satisfaction. The following extracts from the canons will sufficiently explain the faith of Romanists on the subject of penance. Of penance in general. Si quis dixerit, in Catholica Ecclesia Pcenitentiam non esse vere et proprie Sacramentum pro fidelibus, quoties post baptismum in peccata labuntur ipsi Deo reconciliandis, & Christo Domino nostro institution; ANATHEMA SIT. Si quis Sacramenta confundens, ip- sum Baptismum, Pcenitentiee Sacramen- tum esse dixerit, quasi haec duo Sacra- menta distincta non sint, atque ideo Poenitentiam non recte secundum post naufragium tabulam appellari AN- ATHEMA SIT. Si quis dixerit, verba ilia Domini Sal- vatoris : Accipite Spiritum sanctum : quorum remiseritis peccata, remittuntur eis : et quorum retinueritis, retenta sunt : non esse intelligenda de potestate re- mittendi et retinendi peccata in Sacra- mento Poanitentiae, sicut Ecclesia Ca- tholica ab initio semper intellexit ; de- torserit autem, contra institutionem hu- jus Sacramenti, ad auctoritatem pradi- candi Evangelium ; ANATHEMA SIT. Si quis negaverit, ad integram et per- fectam peccatorum remissionem requiri tres actus in poenitente, quasi materiam Sacramenti Poenitentiae, videlicit, Con- tritionem, Confessionem, et Satisfac- tionem, quae tres PcenitentisE partes di- cuntur ; aut dixerit, duas tantum esse Poenitentiae partes, terrores scilicit in- cussos conscientiae, agnito peccato, et fidem conceptam ex Evangelio, vel ab- Whoever shall affirm that penance, as used in the Catholic church is not truly and properly a sacrament, insti- tuted by Christ our Lord, for the benefit of the faithful, to reconcile them to God. as often as they shall fall into sin after baptism : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever, confounding the sacraments, shall affirm that baptism itself is a pen- ance, as if those two sacraments were not distinct, and penance were not rightly called a " second plank after *7i i it- wreck:" LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall affirm that the words of the Lord our Saviour, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost ; whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained ;" are not to be understood of the power of forgiving and retaining sins in the sacrament of penance, as the Catholic church lias always from the very first understood them ; but shall restrict them to the authority of preaching the gospel, in opposition to the institution of this sacrament : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall deny, that in order to the full and perfect forgiveness of sins, three acts are required of the penitent, constituting as it were the matter of the sacrament of penance, namely, contri- tion, confession, and satisfaction, which are called the three parts of penance ; or shall affirm that there are only two parts of penance, namely, terrors where- with the conscience is smitten by the CHAP. VI.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 515 Canons and curses upon Auricular Confession. solutione, qu& credit quis sibi per Chris- sense of sin, and faith, produced by the turn remissa peccata : ANATHEMA gospel, or by absolution, whereby the SIT. person believes that his sins are forgiven him through Christ: LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Of secret or auricular confession to the priest. Si quis negaverit, Confessionem Sa- cramentalem vel institutam, vel ad sa- lutem necessariam esse jure divino. aut dixerit. modum secrete confitendi soli sacerdoti, quern Ecclesia^Catholica ab initio semper observavit et observat, alienum esse ab institutione et mandate Christi, et inventum esse humanum ; ANATHEMA SIT. Si qnis dixerit, in Sacramento Poeni- tentige ad remissionem peccatorum ne- cessarium non esse jure divino, confiteri omnia et singula peccata mortalia, quo- rum memoria cum debita et diligenti praemeditatione habeatur, etiam occul- ta, &c. ; ANATHEMA SIT. Si quis dixerit, Confessionem omnium peccatorum qualem Ecclesia servat, esse impossibilem, et traditionem hu- manam, a piis abolendam ; aut ad earn non teneri omnes et singulos utriusque sexiis Christi fideles, juxta magni Con- cilii Lateranensis constitutionem, semel in anno, et ob id suadendum esse Chris- ti fidelibus, et non confiteantur tempore Quadragesima? ; ANATHEMA SIT. Si quis dixerit Absolutionem sacra- mentalem sacerdotes non esse actum judicialem, sed nudum ministerium pronuntiandi et declarandi remissa esse peccata confitenti ; modo tantum credat se esse absolutum ; aut sacerdos non serio, sed joco absolvat ; aut dixerit non requiri Confessionem prenitentis, ut sacerdos eum absolvere possit : AN- ATHEMA SIT. Whoever shall deny that sacramental confession was instituted by divine com- mand, or that it is necessary to salvation ; or shall affirm that the practice of se- cretly confessing to the priest alone, as it has been ever observed from the begin- ning by the Catholic church, and is still observed, is foreign to the institu- tion and command of Christ, and is a human invention : LET HIM BE AC- CURSED. Whoever shall affirm, that in order to obtain forgiveness of sins in the sacra- ment of penance, it is not by divine command necessary to confess all and every mortal sin which occurs to the memory after due and diligent premedi- tation including secret offences, &c. : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall affirm that the con- fession of every sin, according to the custom of the church, is impossible, and merely a human tradition, which the pious should reject ; or that all Christians, of both sexes, are not bound to observe the same once a year, accord- ing to the constitution of the great Council of Lateran ; and therefore, that the faithful in Christ are to be persuad- ed not to confess in Lent : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall affirm that the priest's sacramental absolution is not a judicial act, but only a ministry, to pronounce and declare that the sins of the party confessing are forgiven, so that he be- lieves himself to be absolved, even, though the priest should not absolve seriously, but in jest ; or shall affirm that the confession of the penitent is not necessary in order to obtain absolu- tion from the priest: LET HIM BE. ACCURSED. 30. Before quoting from the canons of satisfaction in the same decree, it is necessary to pause here, for the purpose of briefly showing the indecency, the bigotry, and tyranny of the above laws of the Roman Catholic church relative to auricular confession. Let it be remembered that this decree enjoins upon all of " both sexes," the females as well as males, to confess in the ear of the 516 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vii. Indecency of females Secretly confessing to a priest priest alone, closeted with him in the closest secresy, not only every sinful or unholy act, but every impure thought that has passed through the heart ; and that it is the duty of the priest to question and to cross-question their penitents in every variety of form, rela- tive to their violations in thought, word, or deed, of each of the commandments of the decalogue. The reason for this particularity in confession, is given in the fifth chapter of the decree in the fol- lowing words : " For it is plain that the priests cannot sustain the office of judge, if the cause be unknown to them, nor inflict equita- ble punishments, if sins are only confessed in general, and not mi- nutely and individually described. For this reason it follows that penitents are bound to rehearse in confession all mortal sins, of which, after diligent examination of themselves, they are conscious, even though they be of the most secret kind," &c. In the various Romish books of devotion, such as the " Path to Para- dise," " Garden of the Soul," &c., there are directions to penitents how to prepare themselves before going to confession for this scru- tinizing examination. The following few questions, from the direc- tion for the examination of conscience, in the " Garden of the Soul," are cited at random, as characteristic specimens of the confessiunal enquiries on the subjects to which they refer. " Have you by word or deed denied your religion, or gone to the churches or meetings of heretics, so as to join in any way, with them in their worship ? or to give scandal ? How often ? Have you blasphemed God or his saints ? How often ? Have you broke the days of abstinence commanded by the church, or eaten more than one meal on fasting days ? or been accessary to others so doing ? How often? Have you neglected to confess your sins once a year ; or to receive the blessed sacraments at Easter ? Have you presumed to receive the blessed sacrament after having broken your fast ? Have you committed anything that you judged or doubted to be a mortal sin, though perhaps it was not so ? How often ? Or have you exposed yourself to the evident danger of mortal sin ? How often ? And of what sin ? Have you enter- tained with pleasure the thoughts of saying or doing anything which it would be a sin to say or do ? How often ? Have you had the desire or design of committing any sin 1 Of what sin ? How often r 31. The disgusting indecency of auricular confession, and its ne- cessarily corrupting influence, both to priest and penitent, must bo evident to all. when the nature of the subjects is considered upon which the priests are bound to examine their female penitents rela- tive to violations of the laws of chastity. I have now lying before me the edition of the "Garden of the Soul," printed in 1844, at New York, and as we are informed on the title page, " with the approbation of the Right Reverend Dr. Hughes, Bishop of New York." On pages 213 and 214 of that popular Roman Catholic book of devotion, I find the following questions IN ENGLISH, for the CHAP, vi.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 517 Questions on the seventh commandment from the " Garden of the Soul," approved by Bishop Hughes. examination of conscience on the sixth* commandment. They are transcribed verbatim et literatim, with the omission of por- tions of two of the queries, which are calculated to suggest modes of pollution and crime, that a pure minded person would never think of. I had thought at first, of translating these questions into Latin, and throwing them into a note ; but they are printed IN PLAIN ENGLISH, in a. popular book of devotion, issued under the auspices of the most celebrated Romish Bishop in America, and to be found in the hands of almost every Roman Catholic ; and it is nothing but right that Protestants, and especially those who send their daughters to Roman Catholic seminaries, should know the kind of queries that will be proposed by the priests, in the secret con- fessional, to their wives and their daughters, in case they should be inducsd to embrace the religion of Rome. I must be excused for omitting the most indecent portions of the two vilest questions in the filthy list. 1 dared not pollute my page with them. The work in which they are found, can be procured at any Roman Catholic book-store. The following are the questions : " Have you been guilty of fornication, or adultery, or incest, or any sin against nature, either with a person of the same sex, or with any other creature ? How often ? Or have you designed or at- tempted any such sin. or sought to induce others to it ? How often 1 Have you been guilty of self-pollution 1 Or of immodest touches of yourself? How often ? Have you touched others or permitted yourself to be touched by others immodestly ? Or given or taken wanton kisses or embraces, or any such liberties ? How often? Have you looked at immodest objects. with pleasure or danger ? Read immodest books or songs to yourselves or others ? Kept indecent pictures ? Willingly given ear to, or taken pleasure in hearing loose discourse, &c. ? Or sought to see or hear anything that was immodest ? How often ? Have you exposed yourself to wanton company ? Or played at any indecent play ? Or frequent- ed masquerades, balls, comedies, &c., with danger to your chastity ? How often ? Have you been guilty of any immodest discourses, wanton stories, jests, or songs, or words of double meaning ? How often ? And before how many ? And were the persons before whom you spoke or sung married or single ? For all this you are obliged to confess by reason of the evil thoughts these things are apt to create in the hearers. Have you abused the marriage bed by ****** * * * * *. Or by any pollutions ? Or been guilty of any irregularity, in order ****** * * * *. How often ? Have you without a just cause refused the marriage debt ? And what sin may have followed from it ? How often ? Have you debauched any person that was innocent before ? Have you forced any person, or deluded any one by de- * This 'is properly the seventh commandment, " Thou shalt not commit adul- tery." It is called the sixth in the Garden of the Soul and other popish books, on account of their omission of the second, which forbids the worship of images or idols. They make up the number ten, by dividing the tenth into two. 518 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. Auricular confession at Rome in the words of an eye-witnoss. Instance of assault to a young lady. ceitful promises, &c. ? Or designed or desired so to do ? How often ? You are obliged to make satisfaction for the injury you have done. Have you taught any one evil which he knew not be- fore ? Or carried any one to lewd houses, &c. ? How often ?'"' 32. It will be a sufficient commentary on the above questions to cite two brief extracts from the work of the Rev. Dr. Giustiniani, who was recently himself a Romish priest in the city of Rome itself the very " seat of the Beast" and who is therefore perfectly acquainted with the practical operation of secret auricular con- fession. The first is in reference to a young lady of about seven- teen years old, in the family where the Doctor was boarding. " One day the mother told her daughter to prepare to go with her to-morrow to confess and to commune. The mother unfortunately, feeling unwell the next morning, the young lady had to go by her- self; when she returned, her eyes showed that she had wept, and her countenance indicated that something unusual had happened. The mother, as a matter of course, inquired the cause, but she wept bitterly, and said she was ashamed to tell it. Then the mother insisted ; so the daughter told her that the parish priest to whom she constantly confessed, asked her questions this time which she could not repeat without a blush. She, however, repeated some of them, which were of the most licentious and corrupting tendency, which were better suited to the lowest sink of debauchery than the confessional. Then he gave her some instructions, which decency forbids me to repeat ; gave her absolution, and told her before she communed, she must come into his house, which was contiguous to the church ; the unsuspecting young creature did as the father con- fessor told her. The rest, the reader can imagine. The parents furious, would immediately have gone to the archbishop, and laid before him the complaint ; but I advised them to let it be as it was, because they would injure the character of their daughter more than the priest. All the punishment he would have I'eceived, is a suspension for a month or two, and then be placed in another parish, or even remain where he is. With such brutal acts, the history of the confessional is full." (Papal Rome as it is, pp. 83, 84.) 33. The other extract from the work of Dr. Giustiniani (p. 188), refers to the manner of confessing sick penitents in their bed-cham- bers, in the city of Rome, where he long resided. In that city, he says, " you will see the indisposed fair penitent remain in her bed, and the Franciscan friar leaving his sandals before the door of her bed-chamber, as an indication that he is performing some ecclesias- tical act, then none, not even the husband can enter the chamber of his wife, until the Franciscan friar has finished his business and leaves the chamber ; then the husband with reverence ready wait- ing at the door, kisses the hand of the father Franciscan for his kindness for having administered spiritual comfort to his wife, and very often he gives him a dollar to say a mass for his indisposed spouse." (See Engraving.) " But why," continues the doctor, " shall I speak of the moral cor Auricular Confession in a Church. Sick Lady Confessing to a Priest CHAP, vr.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 521 The bigotry and tyranny of the popish laws on confession. Consequences of neglecting then at Rome ruption of Popery in Rome ? it is everywhere the same ; it appears differently, but never changes its character. In America, where female virtue is the characteristic of the nation, it is under the control of the papal priest. If a Roman Catholic lady, the wife of a free American, should choose to have the priest in her bed-room, she has only to pretend to be indisposed and asking for the spiritual father, the confessor,, no other person, not even the husband, dare enter. In Rome it would be at the risk of his life ; in America at the risk of being excommunicated, and deprived of all spiritual pri- vileges of the church, and even excluded from heaven." 34. The bigotry and tyranny of the popish canons of Trent rela- tive to confession are no less evident than their indecency. In one of the canons above cited, this sacramental confession to a priest is declared to be necessary to salvation, and a bitter curse is pro- nounced not only on him who neglects to confess, but on all who deny that this auricular confession is necessary to salvation. In protestant lands we can smile at the anathemas of an apostate church. We feel that they are but a breath of empty air, and we treat them with that contempt they deserve. Let those lands but once become popish, and be reduced to the situation of oppressed and priest-ridden Italy or Spain, and the people must obey these decrees, and treat them with the respect they challenge, or endure the conse- quences. What those consequences are at " Rome in the nineteenth century," we learn from a forcible and accurate writer. " If every true-born Italian, man, woman and child, within the Pope's domin- ions, does not confess and receive the communion at least once a year, before Easter, his name is posted up in the parish church ; if he still refrain, he is exhorted, entreated, and otherwise tormented ; and if he persist in his contumacy, he is excommunicated, which is a very good joke to us, but none at all to an Italian, since it involves the loss of civil rights, and perhaps of liberty and property. Every Italian must at this time confess and receive the communion." " A friend of ours, who* has lived a great deal in foreign countries, and there imbibed very heterodox notions, and who has never to us made any secret of his confirmed unbelief of Catholicism, went to-day to confession with the strongest repugnance. ' What can I do ?' he said. ' If I neglect it, I am reprimanded by the parish priest ; if I delay it, my name is posted up in the parish church ; if I persist in my contumacy, the arm of the church will overtake me, and my rank and fortune only serve to make me more obnoxious to its power. If I choose to make myself a martyr to infidelity, as the saints of old did to religion, and to suffer the extremity of punish- ment in the loss of property and personal rights, what is to become of my wife and family? The same ruin would overtake them, though they are Catholics ; for I am obliged not only to conceal my true belief, and profess what I despise, but I must bring up my chil- dren in their abominable idolatries and superstition ; or, if I teach them the truth, make them either hypocrites or beggars.' "* * Rome in the Nineteenth Century, vol. ii., p. 262 ; vol. iii., 160. 522 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn, Canons and curses on satisfaction. Men " redeeming themselves" from sin. Corrupting the Scriptures 35. Of Satisfaction. On this third part of penance, it will be sufficient to quote the three following canons : Si quis dixerit, totam poenam simul Whoever shall affirm, that the entire cum culpa remitti semper a Deo, satis- punishment is always remitted by God, factionemque poenitentium non esse ali- together with the fault, and therefore am quam fidem, qu& apprehendunt Chris- that penitents need no other satisfaction turn pro eis satisfecisse ; ANATHEMA than faith, whereby they apprehend SIT. Christ, who has made satisfaction for them : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Si quis dixerit, pro peccatis, quoad Whoever shall affirm, that we can by poenam temporalem, minime Deo per no means make satisfaction to God for Christi merita satisfieri prenis ab eo in- our sins, through the merits of Christ, flictis, et patienter toleratis, vel & sacer- as far as the temporal penalty is con- dote injunctis, sed neque sponte suscep- cerned, either by punishments inflicted tis, tit jejuniis, orationibus, eleemosynis, on us by him, and patiently borne, or vel aliis etiam pietatis operibus, atque enjoined by the priest, though not un ideo optimam pcenitentiam esse tantum dertaken of our own accord, such as novam vitam ; ANATHEMA SIT. fastings, prayers, alms, or other works of piety ; and therefore that the best penance is nothing more than a new life : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Si quis dixerit, satisfactiones, quibus Whoever shall affirm, that the satis- poenitentes per Christum Jesum peccata factions by which penitents redeem them- redimunt, non esse cultus Dei, sed tra- sehes from sin through Christ Jesus, are ditiones hominum, doctrinam de gratia, no part of the service of God, but, on et verum Dei cultum, atque ipsum ben- the contrary, human traditions, which eficium mortis Christi obscurantes ; AN- obscure the doctrine of grace, and the ATHEMA SIT. true worship of God, and the benefits of the death of Christ; LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Thus is it that the Romish anti-Christ fights against " the glorious gospel of the blessed God," and pronounces a curse upon all who trust entirely for salvation to Christ, and believe and rejoice in the most precious assurance of the word of God " THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST HIS SON CLEANSETH us FROM ALL SINS." 36. The reader, acquainted chiefly with his bible, who has never become familiar with the pious frauds and crafty devices of Popery, upon reading the foregoing decree upon penance, satisfac- tion. &c., naturally inquires, " How do they reconcile these unscrip- tural notions with the word of God ? I have read my bible from beginning to end, and have found nothing from Genesis to Revela- tions about doing penance where do they get this doctrine ?" In reply to this natural inquiry I answer " They do it by falsify- ing and corrupting God's word, by substituting in their Rhernish or Douay version, the words, " do penance" for " repent" in those pas- sages where the original uses fieravoew, a word which every Greek scholar knows refers to an operation of the mind ("o^) from which the word is derived, with the preposition i" denoting change. Two or three instances of this fraudulent translation will be sub- joined. Thus, Matt, iii., 2 : " Do penance, for the kingdom of hea- ven is at hand." Luke xvii. 3 : "If thy brother sin against thee, rebuke him ; and if he do penance , forgive him." Acts viii., 22. CHAP, vi.] POPERY AT TRENT A D. 1545-1563. 523 Doing penance. Flagrant falsification of God's Word, in the popish Bordeaux testament (note.) Peter to Simon Magus : " Do penance therefore, from this thy wick- edness." In every one of these instances, it is scarcely necessary to say the Protestant version renders the term repent, as the meaning of the Greek word undoubtedly requires. They even carry this mis- translation into the Old Testament, for instance, Job xiii., 6. " There- fore I reprehend myself and do penance in dust and ashes." Pro- testant : " Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Ezek. xviii., 21 : "If the wicked do penance for all the sins which he hath committed," &c. Protestant: "But if the wicked will turn," &c.* * The Bordeaux Testament. The falsification of God's Holy Word, by substi- tuting " do penance" for " repent" is not the most flagrant instance of the cor- ruption of the Sacred Scriptures of which the votaries and advocates of Popery have been guilty. Soon after the expulsion of the Huguenots from France in 1685, in consequence of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the papists, per- ceiving that they could not prevent the scriptures from being read, resolved to force the sacred volume itself into their service, by the most audacious corruptions and interpolations. An edition of the New Testament was published, so trans- lated, that a Roman Catholic might find in it explicit statements of the peculiar dogmas of his church. The book was printed at Bordeaux, in 1686. It was entitled. " The New Testament of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Translated from Latin into French, by the divines of Louvain :" and the attestation of the popish archbishop of Bordeaux was prefixed to it, assuring the reader that it was " care- fully revised and corrected." Two doctors in divinity of the university of the same place also recommended it as useful to all those, who, with permission of their superiors, might read it. A few quotations will show the manner in which the work was executed, and the object which the translators had in view. In the summary of the " contents" of Matthew xxvi,, Mark xiv., and Luke xxii., it is said that those chapters contain the account of the " institution of the mass !" Acts xiii., 2, (" as they ministered to the Lord and fasted") is thus rendered " as they offered to the Lord the sacrifice of the mass, and fasted," &c. In Acts xi., 30, and other places, where our English version has the word " elders," this edition has "priests." A practice that has proved very productive of gain to the priesthood, is made scriptural in the following manner : " And his father and mother went every year in pilgrimage to Jerusalem," Luke ii., 41. "Beloved, thou actest as a true believer in all that thou doest towards the brethren, and towards the pilgrims." 3 John, 5. Tradition is thus introduced : " Ye keep my commandments, as I left them with you by tradition" 1 Cor. xi., 2. " The faith which has been once given to the saints by tradition." Jude 5. That the Roman Catholic might be able to prove that marriage is a sacrament, he was furnished with these renderings : " To those who are joined together in the sacrament of marriage, I command," &c. 1 Cor. vii., 10. " Do not join your- selves in the sacrament of marriage with unbelievers." 2 Cor. vi., 14. 1 Cor. ix., 5, is so directly opposed to the constrained celibacy of the clergy, that we can scarcely wonder at finding an addition to the text ; it stands thus " Have we not power to lead about a sister, a woman to serve us in the gospel, and to remember us loith her goods, as the other apostles," &c. In support of human merit, the translation of Heb. xiii., 16, may be quoted " We obtain merit toward God by such sacrifices." Purgatory could not be introduced but by a direct interpolation : " He himself shall be saved, yet in all cases as by the fire of purgatory. 1 " 1 Cor. Hi., 15. Many other passages might be noticed. " Him only shall thou serve with latria" i. e., wilh the worship specially and solely due to God : this addition was 524 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. A Spaniard's idea of doing penance. Form of administering Extreme Unction. The idea which the common people among Papists entertain of doing penance, is well illustrated by a reply once made by an intel- ligent Spaniard to a friend of mine, a clergyman of New York. " It means," said he, " to eat no breakfast very little dinner no tea; not to lie in bed, but on the floor, and (suiting the action to the word) whip yourself! whip yourself! ! whip yourself! ! !"* Of Extreme Unction* 37. This also is regarded as a sacrament by the Romish church. It consists in the anointing, by the priest, of a person supposed to be at the point of death with the sacred oil upon the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, the mouth, and the hands. The unction is applied to all the parts above mentioned. At each anointing the priest says, " By this holy unction, and through his great mercy, may God in- dulge thee whatever sins thou hast committed by sight " " smell " " touch" &c. This is called the " form " of the sacrament. At this time the priest has the power of absolving the dying person from all sins, even from those which in the seventh chapter of the decree on penance are reserved to the decision of the Supreme evidently made to prevent the text being urged against the invocation of the saints ; Luke iv., 8. " Many of those who believed, came to confess and declare their sins." Acts xix., 18. " After a procession of seven days round it." Heb. xi., 30. " Beware, lest being led away with others, by the error of the wicked here- tics" &c. 2 Pet. iii., 17. " There is some sin which is not mortal, but venial." 1 John v., 17. " And round about the throne there were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones twenty-four priests seated, all clothed with albs." Rev. iv., 4. The alb, it will be recollected, is part of the official attire of a Roman Catholic priest. But the most flagrant interpolation occurs in 1 Tim. iv. 1 3. " Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some will separate themselves from the Roman faith, giving themselves up to spirits of error, and to doctrines taught by devils. Speaking false things through hypocrisy, having also the conscience cau- terised. Condemning the sacrament of marriage, the abstinence from meals, which God hath created for the faithful, and for those who have known the truth, to receive them with thanksgiving." " Such," says Rev. J. M. Cramp, now president of the Baptist college in Mon- treal, to whom I am indebted for this important fact " such was the Bordeaux New Testament. Whether it was actually translated by the divines of Louvain is doubtful. This is certain, however, that it was printed by the royal and univer- sity printer, and sanctioned by dignitaries of the Romish church. It is proper to add, that the Roman Catholics were soon convinced of the folly of their conduct, in thus tampering with the inspired volume. To avoid the just odium brought on their cause by this wicked measure, they have endeavored to destroy the whole edition. In consequence, the book is now excessively scarce." I am not aware that a single copy of the Bordeaux Testament is to be found in the United States. Four copies, however, are known to be in existence in Great Britain. One is in the library of the dean and chapter of Durham ; another is possessed by the Duke of Devonshire ; a third is in the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth ; and the fourth was a few years ago in the possession of the late Duke of Sussex, by whom President Cramp was permitted to visit his valuable library, and to make the extracts from the Bordeaux Testament, cited in the above note.. (See Cramp's History of the Council of Trent, page 67, &c.) * See Defence of Protestant Scriptures,by the present author, page 52. CHAP, vi.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 525 Popery puts the priest in the place of Christ Canons and curses on Extreme Unction. Pontiff. However the man may have lived during life, let him on his dying bed confess to a priest, receive absolution and extreme unction, and he is sure of his passport to Heaven. Awful delu- sion ! thus to put the priest in the stead of Christ, and teach the poor dying sinner to trust in a few drops of oil from the fingers, and a few words of absolution from the lips of a miserable mortal, instead of directing him to Christ that " rock of ages," who is the only "sure foundation" of a sinner's hope, and bidding him trust alone in that Almighty Saviour, who is " able to save unto the ut- termost all that come unto God by him." " All will confess," says Mr. Cramp, " the vast importance of right views and feelings in the prospect of death. Perilous as is deception or delusion in things spiritual at any time, the danger is immeasurably increased when the last change is fast approaching, and the final destiny is about to be sealed for ever. It is then that the church of Rome " lays the flattering unction to the soul." The dying man sends for the priest, and makes confession ; absolution is promptly bestowed : the eucharist is administered; and lastly, the sacred chrism is ap- plied. These are the credentials of pardon, the passports to hea- ven. No attempt is made to investigate the state of the heart, de- tect false hopes, bring the character to the infallible standard : nothing is said of the atonement of Christ and the sanctifying in- fluences of the Spirit. Without repentance, without faith, without holiness, the departing soul feels happy and secure, and is not un- deceived till eternity discloses its dreadful realities and then it is too late. It is not affirmed, indeed, that the description is univer- sally applicable ; but that, with regard to a large majority of in- stances, it is a fair statement of facts, cannot, alas, be questioned."* It will be sufficient to quote the following two canons with the curses upon all who cannot believe that these drops of oil " confer grace" or " forgive sin," and who prefer, therefore, to trust for sal- vation solely to the infinite merits, the perfect righteousness, and the one-atoning sacrifice of the Son of God. Si quis dixerit, Extremam Unctionem Whoever shall affirm that extreme non esse vere et proprie Sacramentum unction is not truly and properly a a Christo Domino nostro institutum, et sacrament, instituted by Christ our a beati Jacobo Apostolo promulgatum : Lord, and published by the blessed sed ritum tantum acceptum k Patribus, Apostle James, but only a ceremony re- aut figmentum humanum : ANATHE- ceived from the fathers, or a human in- MA SIT. vention : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Si quis dixerit, sacram infirmorum Whoever shall affirm, that the sacred Unctionem non conferre gratiam ; nee unction of the sick does not confer grace, remittere peccata, nee alleviare infir- nor forgive sin, nor relieve the sick : mos : sed jam cessasse, quasi olim tan- but that its power has ceased, as if the turn fuerit gratia curationum ; AN- gift of healing existed only in past ATHEMA SIT. ages: LET HIM BE ACCURSED. 38. No doctrinal decrees were passed at the fifteenth and six- teenth sessions, the latter of which was held on the 28th of April * Cramp's council of Trent, p. 214. 34 526 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. Second suspension of the council in 1552. Re-opens, after a ten years interval, in 1562 1552. On that day a hasty decree was passed, adjourning the council for two years, in consequence of the alarm excited by the successes of the protestant prince, duke Maurice of Saxony, who was at war with the emperor Charles, and moving with his victorious forces in the direction of Trent. No sooner was this decree passed for a second suspension, than the council-hall was quickly vacated, and the fathers hastened to the asylum of their homes. CHAPTER VII, FROM THE SEVENTEENTH TO THE TWENTY-FIFTH AND CLOSING SES- SION. DENIAL OF THE CUP TO THE LAITY. THE MASS. SACRA- MENTS OF ORDERS AND MATRIMONY. PURGATORY. INDULGENCES. RELICS, &C. 39. THOUGH the council had adjourned for but two years, nearly ten years elapsed, from various causes, before it was re- opened. During this interval, after the death of pope Julius III., which took place March 23d, 1555, three other pontiffs successively occupied the papal throne, Marcellus, cardinal of Santa Croce, one of the former legates at Trent, who died after the very brief reign of twenty-one days, Paul IV., a most bloody persecutor and pro- moter of the Inquisition, and Pius IV., who was chosen on Christ- mas day, 1559. At length the council was re-opened on Sunday, January 18th, 1562, and the first session under pope Pius IV., or seventeenth from the commencement, was held. After mass and a sermon, the bull of convocation was read. Four other bulls or briefs were also produced : the first contained the Pope's instructions to the legates ; in the second and third he gave them authority to grant licenses to the prelates and divines to read heretical books, and to receive pri- vately into communion with the Romish church any persons who might abjure their heresies ; by the fourth he regulated the order of precedence among the fathers, some childish disputes having al- ready arisen among them on that account. 40. The eighteenth session was held February 26, when the principal subject of consideration was the subject of prohibited books. A brief from pope Pius was read, authorising the council to prepare a catalogue of prohibited books. This document ad- verted in a lugubrious strain to the wide dissemination of heretical books, and the importance of interfering to avert this evil. A com- mittee, or congregation was subsequently appointed to prepare this CHAP, vii.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 527 Prohibiting books The Holy Spirit in a travelling bag. Proposals for reform rejected. index prohibitorius* the result of whose labors has already been mentioned, in connection with the doings of the fourth session of the council, and their restrictions upon the liberty of the press. The reason of the Pope sending directions relative to this subject was a fear lest it should appear that the council was superior to the Pope, by the proposed revision of an index prohibitorius previ- ously prepared by pope Paul IV. The doings of the council were in fact almost entirely under papal control, so much so that M. Lanssac, the French ambassador, in a letter written the day after his arrival to De Lisle, the French ambassador at Rome, expressed his fear that little advantage would be derived from the assembly, unless the Pope would suffer the deliberations and votes of the fathers to be entirely free, and no more " send the Holy Spirit in a travelling bag from Rome to Trent ?"f 41. ---The nineteenth session was held, May 14th, and the twen- tieth, June 4th, but no doctrinal decree was' passed at either. At these sessions the most determined opposition to all proposals of re- form was made by the papal legates, and the party under their in- fluence. A memorial was presented to the legates by the imperial ambassadors, containing the Emperor's wishes with regard to re- formation. It included among others the following demands : that the Pope should reform himself and his court, that no more scan- dalous dispensations should be givon, that the ancient canons against simony should be renewed, that the number of human pre- cepts in things spiritual should be lessened, and prelatical con stitutions no longer placed on a level with the divine commands, that the breviaries and missals should be purified, that prayers, faithfully translated into the vernacular tongues, should be inter- spersed in the services of the church, that means should be devised for the restoration of the clergy and the monastic orders to primi- tive purity, and that it should be considered whether the clergy might not be permitted to marry, and the cup be granted to the laity. The legates were alarmed, and exasperated at this memo- rial ; they quickly perceived how dangerous it would be to suffer its introduction to the council, and persuaded the ambassadors to wait till they had negotiated with the Emperor. Delphino was at the imperial court : he assured Ferdinand, that if he persisted in requiring the memorial to be presented, a dissolution of the council would be the consequence. The Emperor yielded, and that im-. portant document was suppressed.J 42. Refusing the cup to the laity. Discussions ensued upon the question of withholding the cup in the sacrament from the laity. The denial of the cup had been predetermined at Rome, and, of course, all the influence of the legates and their party, and especially of Lainez,|| the second general of the Jesuits, who was * Father Paul Sarpi, lib. vi., c. 5. Pallavicini, Jib. xv., s. 19. Le Plat, vol. v., p. 169. Cramp, 250. j Father Paul, lib. vi., sect. 28 ; Pallavicini, lib. svii., cap. 1. II Lainez. This famous successor of Loyala, the founder o: ier of the Jesuits, was 528 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK va. Canons and curses on denying the cup to the laity. And on the sacrifice of the Mass a member of the council, was employed to effect this object. They alleged that should this point be conceded to the laity they would lose all their reverence for the holy sacraments, and that the dif- ference between the laity and the holy clergy would be so nar- rowed down, as to be almost destroyed. On the other hand, the ambassadors of the Emperor and of France, and the envoy from Bavaria, contended strongly for conceding the cup to the laity. The imperial ambassadors presented a memorial on the state of Bohemia, alleging that ever since the council of Constance the practice of communion in both kinds had been maintained with great tenacity by the Bohemians, and that a refusal on the part of the council to concede this point, would probably cause them to take refuge with the Lutherans. But all was of no avail. A de- cree was prepared, and on the 16th of July, 1562, it was passed in the twenty-first session. The following two canons embody the substance of the decree. Si quis dixerit, sanctam Ecclesiam Whoever shall affirm, that the holy Catholicam non justis causis et ration!- Catholic church had not just grounds bus adductam fuisse, ut Laicos, atque and reasons for restricting the laity and etiam Clericos, non conficientes, sub non-officiating clergy to communion in panis tantummodo specie communicaret, the species of bread only, or that she aut in eo errasse ; ANATHEMA SIT. hath erred therein : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Si quis negaverit, totum, et integrum Whoever shall deny that Christ, Christum omnium gratiarum fontem et whole and entire, the fountain and au- auctorem sub una panis specie sumi, thor of every grace, is received under quia ut quidam falso asserunt, non se- the one species of bread ; because, as cundum ipsius Christi institutionem sub some falsely affirm, he is not then re- utraque specie sumatur ; ANATHE- ceived according to his own institution, MA SIT. in both kinds: LET HIM BE AC- CURSED. 43. Of the sacrifice of the Mass. The decree on this subject was passed at the twenty-second session, held September 17th, 1562. It consisted of eight chapters and nine canons, and taught that in the eucharist, a true propitiatory sacrifice was offered up for sin, in the same way as when Christ offered up himself as a sacrifice on the cross. Five of the canons were as follows : Si quis dixerit, in Missa non offerri Whoever shall affirm, that a true and Deo verum et proprium sacrificium, aut proper sacrifice is not offered to God in quod offerri non sit alind, quam nobis the mass ; or that the offering is nothing Christum ad manducandum dari ; AN- else than giving Christ to us, to eat: ATHEMA SIT. LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Si quis dixerit, illis verbis, Hoc facite Whoever shall affirm, that by those in meam commemorationem, Christum words, " Do this for a commemoration non instituisse Apostolos sacerdotes ; of me," Christ did not appoint his apos- a prominent member of the council, and distinguished himself by his advocacy of all the measures calculated to establish and enlarge the authority of the Holy See. He delivered a celebrated speech on the sovereign jurisdiction of the Pope, which is reported at some length by Father Paul, and copied by Dr. Campbell in his Lectures on Ecclesiastical History, Lect. xx. CHAP. Tin.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 529 The Mass to be performed in Latin. Awful perversion of Christ's sacrifice in the Romish Mass. aut non ordinasse, ut ipsi, aliique sacer- ties priests, or did not ordain that they dotes ofterrent corpus et sanguinem and other priests should offer his body suurn ; ANATHEMA SIT. and blood : LET HIM BE ACCURS- ED. Si quis dixerit, Missae sacrificium tan- Whoever shall affirm, that the sacri- tum esse laudis et gratiarum actionis, fice of the mass is only a service of aut nudam commemorationem sacri- praise and thanksgiving, or a bare com- ficii in Cruce peracti non autem pro- memoration of the sacrifice made on pitiatorium ; vel soli prodesse sumenti ; the cross, and not a propitiatory offering; eque pro vivis et defunctis, pro pecca- or that it only benefits him who receives tis, pcenis, satisfactionibus et aliis ne- it, and ought not to be offered for the cessitatibus offerri debere ; ANATHE- living and the dead, for sins, punish- MA SIT. ments, satisfactions, and other necessi- ties : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Si quis dixerit, blasphemiam irrogari Whoever shall affirm, that the most eanctissimo Christi sacrificio in Cruce holy sacrifice of Christ, made on the peracto, per Missse sacrificium, aut illi cross, is blasphemed by the sacrifice of per hoc derogari ; ANATHEMA SIT. the mass ; or that the latter derogates from the glory of the former: LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Si quis dixerit, imposturam esse, Whoever shall affirm, that to cele- Missa celebrare in honorem sanctorum, brate masses in honor of the saints, and et pro illorum intercessione apud Deum in order to obtain their intercession with obtinenda, sicut Ecclesia intendit ; AN- God, according to the intention of the ATHEMA SIT. church is an imposture: LET HIM BE ACCURSED. 44. By the same decree they enjoined the performance of the Mass in the Latin language, and pronounced a curse upon all who should " declare that it should be celebrated in the vernacular lan- guage only." How contrary all this to the declaration of St. Paul, " In the church I had rather speak five words with my understand- ing, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue." (1 Cor. xiv., 19.) What an awful perversion of the glorious sacrifice of Christ on the cross is presented in these canons on the Mass ! At the cost of incurring the impotent curse pronounced in the fourth of them, I assert that by this doctrine the holy sacrifice of Christ is blasphemed, and the cross of Christ made of none effect. How utterly opposed is this doctrine of Christ being offered up as often as the sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated, to the whole tenor of the New Testament, and especially to the Epistle to the Hebrews. Doubtless the omniscient and Holy Spirit foresaw this feature of the Romish Apostasy, and (as it would appear with the special de- sign of meeting this exigency), inspired the apostle Paul to write as follows : " For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true ; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. NOR YET THAT HE SHOULD OFFER HIMSELF OFTEN, as the high priest entereth into the holy place eve^y year with the blood of others ; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world ; but now ONCE in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment ; so Christ was ONCE OFFERED to 530 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. Orders and apostolic succession. Thieves and Robbers. The ministry that cuts note. bear the sins of many For by ONE OFFERING he hath per- fected for ever them that are sanctified." (Heb. ix., 24-28 ; x., 14.) Is it any wonder that popish priests are so bitterly envenomed against the circulation of God's holy word without note or com- ment, since its plain and unequivocal declarations are so diametri- cally opposed to their doctrines ? " Christ is not offered up in sacri- fice, so often as the ancient Jewish high priests offered the sacrifice under the ceremonial law, that is, once every year," says the apostle Paul, writing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. ' There you are wrong, Paul," reply the priests of Rome ; " for we have the power given unto us of * creating our Creator,' and offering him up for the sins of the world ; and instead of not being offered up so often as once every year, he is offered up hundreds of times every month, whenever the sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated ; and whoever shall affirm (whether Paul or any one else) that Christ is not offered up as often as this, even every time the Mass is cele- brated, LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Thus does apostate Rome, in consistency with her true character, maintain throughout all her distinctive doctrines her title to the name of ANTI-CHRIST. 45. The twenty-third session was held on the 15th of July, 1563. and the subject of the decree passed was the sacrament of orders. The doctrine of Rome on this subject is too well known to render it necessary to transcribe the decree. It taught that the peculiar excellence and glory of the priesthood was " the power given to consecrate, offer, and minister Christ's body and blood, and also to remit and to retain sins ;" that there are " seven orders of ministers," viz., " priests, deacons, sub-deacons, acolytes, exorcists, readers and porters ;" that "orders is one of the seven sacraments of the holy church ;" that in ordination, " grace is con- ferred ;" that bishops have " succeeded to the place of the apostles" and " hold a distinguished rank in this hierarchal order ;" that " they are placed there by the Holy Spirit to rule the church of God ;" that they are " superior to presbyters," " ordain the ministers of the church," &c., and that all who " presumptuously undertake and assume the offices of the ministry" by any other authority than that of these popish bishops " are not to be accounted ministers of the church, but THIEVES AND ROBBERS."* The decree consists of four * Thieves and Robbers. It is well known that on this subject the views of the Puseyites are identical with those of Rome. All of them believe, and some of them do not scruple to affirm that the holiest and the best of the ministers of the various protestant churches our Doddridges, and Bunyans, and Paysons, and Fullers, and Halls are nothing more than thieves and robbers, because they have entered into the Christian ministry some other \\'ay than through the boasted but pretended lineal apostolical succession. The following anecdote of a well known and distinguished living member of this community of " thieves^and robbers," con- veys a decided rebuke of these arrogant assumptions : The ministry that cuts. When the venerable Lyman Beecher was a young man, and returning on a certain occasion to his native town in Connecticut, he fell into conversation by the road-side with an old neighbor, a high churchman, who had been mowing. " Mr. Beecher," said the farmer, " I should like to ask you a ques- CHAP, vn.] \ POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 531 Twenty-fourth session of the council. Decrees on matrimony with the canons and cursea. chapters, from which the above sentences are quoted, and closes with eight canons, embodying the same doctrine and pronouncing upon all who refuse implicitly to receive the dicta of Rome, the usual awful malediction ANATHEMA SIT LET HIM BE ACCURSED. 46. The twenty-fourth session was held on the llth of No- vember, 1563, and the subject of the decree was, the sacrament of matrimony. After an allusion to the " ravings" of the " impious men" of those times (evidently referring to Luther, Calvin, and their associates) the decree proceeds as follows : Therefore this holy and universal council, desiring to prevent such rashness, hath determined to destroy the infamous heresies and errors of the before-named schismatics, lest many more should be affected by their destructive contagion ; for which cause the following anathemas are decreed against these heretics and their errors. Then follow twelve canons, with the usual curses annexed on this subject, of which it will be sufficient to transcribe four : Si quis dixerit, eos tantum consan- Whoever shall affirm, that only those guinitatis et affmitatis gradus, qui Levi- degrees of consanguinity or affinity tico exprimuntur, posse impedire matri- which are mentioned in the book of Levi- monium contrahendum, et dirimere con- ticus can hinder or annul the marriage tractum ; nee posse Ecclesiam in non- contract; and that the church has no nullis illorum dispensare, aut constituere power to dispense with some of them, or ut plures impediant, et dirimant ; ANA- to constitute additional hindrances or THEMA SIT. reasons for annulling the contract : LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Si quis dixerit, matrimonium ratum, Whoever shall affirm, that a marriage non consummatum, per solemnem reli- solemnized but not consummated is not gionis professionern alterius conjugum annulled if one of the parties enters into iiondirimi; ANATHEMA SIT. a religious order: LET HIM BE AC- CURSED. Si quis dixerit, Clericos in sacris Or- Whoever shall affirm, that persons in dinibus constitutes, vel Regulares, cas- holy orders, or regulars, who may have titatem solemniter professes, posse mat- made a solemn profession of chastity, rimonium contrahere, contractumque may contract marriage, and that the validum esse s non obstante lege ecclesi- contract is valid, notwithstanding any astica ; vel voto ; et oppositum nil aliud ecclesiastical law or vow ; and that to esse, quam damnare matrimonium, pos- maintain the contrary is nothing less seque omnes contrahere matrimonium, than to condemn marriage ; and that all qui non ser.tiunt se castitatis, etiam si persons may marry who feel that though earn voverint, habere donum ; ANA- they should make a vow of chastity, THEMA SIT: cum Deus id recte pe- they have not. the gift thereof; LET tion. Our clergy say that you are not ordained, and have no right to preach. I should be glad to know what you think about it." " Suppose," replied Dr. Beecher, " you had in the neighborhood a blacksmith who said lie could prove that he belonged to a regular line of blacksmiths which had come down all the way from St. Peter, but he made scythes that would not cut ; and you had another blacksmith, who said he could not see what descent from Peter had to do with making scythes that would cut. Where would you go to get your scythes 2" " Why to the man who made scythes to cut, certainly," replied the farmer. " Well," said Dr. Beecher, " that ministry which cuts, is the ministry which Christ has authorized to preach." In a recent conversation on the same subject, Dr. Beecher gave his opinions by relating this circumstance. 532 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. News arrives of pope Pius's sickness. The council hastens to the last session. Article on Purgatory. tentibus non deneget, nee patiatur non HIM BE ACCURSED for God does deneget, nee patiatur nos supra id quod not deny his gifts to those who ask possumus, tentari. aright, neither does he suffer us to be tempted above that we are able. Si quis dixerit, statum conjugalem Whoever shall affirm, that the conju- anteponendum esse statui virginitatis, gal state is to be preferred to a fife of vel caelibatus, et non esse melius ac virginity or celibacy, and that it is not beatius manere in virginitate aut cali- better and more conducive to happiness batu, qukm jungi matrimonio ;' ANA- to remain in virginity or celibacy than THEMASIT. to be married, LET HIM BE AC- CURSED. By the first of these canons, Popery makes good its claim to the character of anti-Christ by claiming the power to abrogate the laws of God ; by the second, it encourages persons to break the most inviolable of all obligations and contracts upon condition (by enter- ing a monastery or nunnery) of becoming one of the slaves of Rome ; by the third, it forbids marriage to the clergy, and thus makes good its claim to another mark of anti-Christ, " forbidding to marry;" and by the fourth it places an undeserved stigma upon that state which God himself established, which Jesus honored by his presence and a wonderful miracle, and which St. Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit pronounced " HONORABLE IN ALL." 47. The council had resolved on the 9th of December for the twenty-fifth session, intending, if possible, to make it the closing session. All parties, legates and prelates, the ambassadors and the Pope, were now anxious to bring the council to a close. The sub- jects of Purgatory, Indulgences, Feasts, Saints, Images, and Relics remained yet to be discussed, and it was resolved, that instead of lengthy decrees, with all the formality of chapters and canons, brief statements only of the doctrine of the church should be published on these subjects. While discussing these matters on the night of the first of December, news arrived that pope Pius was alarmingly ill, and that his life was considered to be in danger. The fathers were hastily convened, and a resolution passed to celebrate the closing session of the council, as soon as the necessary documents could be prepared, instead of waiting for the ninth instant, the day originally appointed. Accordingly, on December 3, 1563, and the following day (for there was too much business to be dispatched at one sitting) the twenty-fifth and last session was held. Purgatory, the invocation of saints, and the use of images were the subjects of the first day's decision. On the second day, indulgences, the choice of meats and drinks, and the observance of feasts were the subjects of consideration. The following extracts from the statements promulgated by the council on these subjects, will be sufficient to show the doctrine of Popery on the topics to which they relate : On Purgatory. " Since the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Spirit, through the sacred writing and the ancient tradition of the fathers, hath taught in holy councils, and lastly in this oecumenical council, that there is a purgatory and that the souls detained there are assisted by the suffrages of the faithful, but especially ly the acceptable sacrifice of the mass ; this holy council commands all bishops UHAP. vn.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 533 Doctrinal statements of the council on Indulgences, Fasts, Invocation of Saints, and Relics. diligently to endeavor that the wholesome doctrine of purgatory, delivered to us by venerable fathers and holy councils, be believed and held by Christ's faithful, and everywhere taught and preached Let the bishops take care that the suffrages of the living faithful, masses, prayers, alms, and other works of piety, which the faithful have been accustomed to perform for departed believers, be piously and religiously rendered, according to the institutes of the church; and whatever services are due to the dead, through the endowments of deceased per- sons, or in any other way, let them not be performed slightly, but diligently and carefully, by the. priests and ministers of the churcn, and all others to whom Ihe duty belongs." On Indulgences. " Since the power of granting indulgences has been bestowed by Christ upon his church, and this power, divinely given, lias been used from the earliest antiquity, the holy council teaches and enjoins that the use of indulgences, so salutary to Christian people, and approved by the authority of venerable councils, be retained by the church ; and it ANATHEMATIZES those who assert that they are useless, or deny that the church has the power of granting them," &c. On choice of Meats and Drinks, Fasts and Feast-days. " Moreover, the holy council exhorts all pastors, and beseeches them by the most holy coming of our Lord and Saviour, that as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, they assiduously recom- mend to all the faithful the observance of all the institutions of the holy Roman church, the mother and mistress of all churches, and of the decrees of this and other ecumenical councils ; and that they use all diligence to promote obedience to all their commands, and especially to those which relate to the mortification of the flesh, as the choice of meats and fasts ; as also to those which tend to the in- crease of piety, and the devout and religious celebration of feast-days ; admonish- ing the people to obey those who are set over them for they who hear them, shall hear God, the rewarder but they who despise them, shall feel that God is the avenger." On the Invocation of Saints. " The holy council commands all bishops, and others who have the care and charge of teaching, that according to the practice of the Catholic and apostolic church, received from the first beginning of the Christian religion, the consent of venerable fathers, and the decrees of holy coun- cils, they labor with diligent assiduity to instruct the faithful concerning the invo- cation and intercession of the saints, the honor due to relics, and the lawful use of images ; teaching them that the saints, who reign together with Christ, offer their prayers to God for men that it is a good and useful thing suppliantly to invoke them, and to flee to their prayers, help, and assistance, because of the benefits be- stowed by God through his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who is our only Re- deemer and Saviour ; and that those are men of impious sentiments who deny that the saints, who enjoy eternal happiness in heaven, are to be invoked or who af- firm that they do not pray for men, or to beseech them to pray for us is idolatry, or that it is contrary to the word of God, and opposed to the honor of Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between God and man, or that it is foolish to supplicate, verbally or mentally, those who reign in heaven." On ihe reverence due to the Relics of the Saints. " Let them teach also, that the holy bodies of the holy martyrs and others living with Christ, whose bodies were living members of Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit, and will be by him raised to eternal life and glorified, are to be venerated by the faithful, since by them God bestows many benefits upon men. So that they are to be wholly con- demned, as the church has long before condemned them, and now repeats the sen- tence, who affirm that veneration and honor are not due to the relics of the saints, or that it is a useless thing that the faithful should honor these and other sacred monuments, and that the memorials of the saints are in vain frequented, to obtain their help and assistance." 534 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. Worship of images. Pagan and popish idolaters. The curse upon all who dare to think differently. On the reverence due to Images of Christ, the Virgin, and other Saints. " More- over, let them teach that the images of Christ, of the Virgin, mother of God, and of other saints, are to be had and retained, especially in churches, and due honor and veneration rendered to them. Not that it is believed that any divinity or power resides in them, on account of which they are to be worshipped, or that any bene- fit is to be sought from them, or any confidence placed in images, as was formerly by the Gentiles, who fixed their hope in idols. But the honor with which they are regarded is referred to those who are represented by them ; so that we adore Christ, and venerate the saints, whose likenesses these images bear, when we kiss them, and uncover our heads in their presence, and prostrate ourselves. All which has been sanctioned by the decrees of councils, against the impugners of images, especially the second council of Nice." In reference to this last article it is worthy of remark, that the worshippers of Brahma, Vishnu, Gaudama, and other heathen idola- tors, make precisely the same defence as the Romanists, when ac- cused of worshipping images, viz : that they do not worship the images when they kiss them and prostrate themselves before them, but the divinities, " whose likenesses these images bear." The divine command is, " Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, thou shalt not BOW DOWN thyself to them nor serve them," (Exod. xx., 4, 5), and the Romanist who in the words of the above decree, "prostrates" himself before an image (let him say what he will) is just as much an idolater as the Burman worshipper of Gau- dama, or the Hindoo worshipper of Juggernaut. On this subject I have an interesting letter from a distinguished missionary from Bur- mah, which I shall present in a future chapter. After thus establishing the doctrine of Rome, on these gross per- versions of the word of God, the council proceeds to add, in its usual style of bitter malediction against all who shall dare to think for themselves, Si quis autem his decretis contraria Whoever shall teach or think in op- docuit, aut senserit ; ANATHEMA position to these decrees ; LET HIM SIT. BE ACCURSED. 535 CHAPTER VIII. CONCLUSION OF THE COUNCIL. ACCLAMATIONS OP THE FATHERS. AND POPE PIUS'S CREED. 48. Decree of Confirmation. After the foregoing decrees had been enacted, the council passed the following decree of confirma- tion, in which it will be seen that, in accordance with the invariable policy of the Romish church, in countries where they have suf- ficient influence, the council invokes the secular arm, and exhorts all princes to enforce these decrees. Such is the unrepealed doc- trine of Rome, in this decree of her last general council on the duty of the civil magistrate to enforce upon the people the dogmas of Popery. " So great has been the calamity of these times, and the inveterate malice of the heretics, that no explanations of our faith have been given, however clear, nor any decrees passed, however express, which, influenced by the enemy of mankind, they have not defiled by some error. For which cause the holy council has taken particular care to condemn and anathematize the principal errors of the heretics of our age, and to deliver and teach the true and Catholic doctrine ; this has been done the council has condemned, anathematized, and defined. But since so many bishops, called from different provinces of the Christian world, couJd be no longer absent from their churches without great loss and universal peril to the flock and*no hope remained that the heretics would come hither any more, after hav- ing been so often invited and so long waited for, and having received the pledge of safety, according to their desire ; and therefore it was necessary to put an end to this holy council ; it now remains that all princes be exhorted in the Lord, as they now are, not to permit its decrees to be corrupted or violated by the "heretics, but to ensure their devout reception and faithful observance, by them and all others. But if any difficulty should arise in regard to their reception, or any circumstances oc- cur, which indeed are not to be feared, that should render necessary any further explanation or definition ; the holy council trusts, that in addition to the remedies already appointed, the blessed Roman pontiff will provide for the exigency, either by summoning certain individuals from those provinces in which the difficulty shall arise, to whom the management 9f the business may be confided, or by the cele- bration of a general council, if it be judged necessary, or by some fitter method, adapted to the necessities of the provinces, and calculated to promote the glory of God, and the good of the church." 49. Acclamations of the fathers. Before separating, a kind of closing recitative service was held, conducted by the cardinal of Lorraine, to express the assent and solemn confirmation of the fathers, of all that had been done. At this service a responsive dialogue or declaration was uttered, called the acclamations of the fathers, ' acclamationes patrum,' and as it is of itself a curious per- formance, and a most striking illustration of the spirit of Popery, it is here subjoined. Domine Deus, Sanctissimum Patrem O Lord God ! long preserve the most diutissime Ecclesiae tuae conserva, mul- Holy Father of thy church for many tos annos. years. Cardinal. Beatissimorum Summorum Cardinal. To the souls of the blessed 536 HISTORY OP ROMANISM. [BOOK vn. Acclamations of the fathers at the close of the council. The lust words were curses Pontificum animabus Pauli III. et Julii III. quorum auctoritate hoc sacrum generate Concilium inchoatum est, pax a Domino, et sterna gloria, atque felici- tas in luce sanctorum. Responsio patrum. Memoria in bene- dictione sit. Card. Caroli V. Imperatoris et Sere- nissimorum Regum, qui hoc universale Concilium promoverunt et protexerunt, memoMa in benedictione sit. Reap. Amen, Amen. pontiffs Paul III. and Julius III., by whose authority this holy general coun- cil was begun, peace from the Lord, eternal glory and felicity in the light of the saints. Answer of the fathers. May their me- mory be blessed. Card. May the memory be blessed of the emperor Charles V., and the most serene kings who have prdmoted and protected this universal council. Ans. Amen, Amen. After similar acclamations, in praise of the emperor Ferdinand, the Pope, legates, reverend cardinals, illustrious orators, &c. the Cardinal proceeded as follows : Card. Sacro-sancta oscumenica Tri- dentina Synodus : ejus fidem confitea- mur, ejus decreta semper servemus. Resp. Semper confiteamur, semper servemus. Card. Omnes ita credimus : omnes id ipsum sentimus : omnes consentien- tes et amplectentes subscribimus. Haec est fides beati Petri, et Apostolorum : haec est fides Patrum : hasc est fides Orthodoxorum. Resp. Ita credimus ; ita subscribimus. ita sentimus ; Card. His decretis inhaerentes, digni reddamur misericordiis et gratia primi, et magni supremi Sacerdotis Jesu Chris- ti, Dei intercedente simul inviolate Do- ming nostra sancta Deipara, et omnibus Sanctis. Resp. Fiat, fiat, Amen, Amen. Card. ANATHEMA CUNCTIS H.ERETICIS. Resp. ANATHEMA, ANATHEMA. Card. The most holy and oecumeni- cal council of Trent may we ever confess its faith, ever observe its de- crees. Ans. Ever may we confess, ever ob- serve them. C. Thus we all believe : we are all of the same mind ; with hearty assent we all subscribe. This is the faith of the blessed Peter and the Apos- tles ; this is the faith of the fathers ; this is the faith of the orthodox. Ans. Thus we believe; thus we think ; thus we subscribe. C. Abiding by these decrees, may we be found worthy of the mercy of the chief and great high priest, Jesus Christ our God. by the intercession of our holy Lady, the Mother of God, ever a virgin, and all the saints. Ans. Be it so, be it so: Amen, Amen. C. ACCURSED BE ALL HERETICS. Ans. ACCURSED, ACCURSED. Thus this famous council closed, with a bitter curse upon its lips, solemnly repeated in full chorus, in the most emphatic form, against all who should dare to think for themselves, or refuse im- plicitly to receive their dogmas. And be it remembered, THIS is THE LAST GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE Ro.MISH CHURCH, aild that II L its acts and decrees are just as binding now upon every papist ns they were at the moment when they were proclaimed to the world Again did this popish council, at the moment of its separation in its very last words vindicate the claim of Popery to the character of anti-Christ, for Christ has said, " Love your enemies, BLESS AND CURSE NOT ;'' but anti-Christ says, "Accursed be all heretics, ANATHE- MA, ANATHEMA ! ACCURSED ! ! ACCURSED ! ! !" CHAP. VIM.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 53-7 Summary of the doctrines of Trent in pope Pius's creed. 50. Pope Pius's creed. On January 26th, 1564, pope Pius IV. published the bull of confirmation of the acts and decrees of the council, enjoining the prelates of the church, whenever neces- sary and practicable, to call in the aid of the secular arm to enforce the decisions of the council upon all. In December of the same year, the Pope issued a brief summary of the doctrinal decisions of the council, in the form of a creed, usually called, after himself, "PopE Pius's CREED." It was immediately received throughout the universal church : and since that time, has ever been considered in every part of the world, as an accurate and explicit summary of the Roman Catholic faith. Non- catholics, on their admission into the Catholic church, publicly repeat and testify their assent to it, without restriction or qualification. On account of the authority and importance of this creed of pope Pius, it will be given in the original and a translation. It is expressed in the following terms : Ego N. firma fide credo et profiteer omnia et singula, quae continentur in symbolo fidei, quo S. Romana ecclesia ntitur, viz. : 1. Credo in unum Deum Patrem omni- potentem, factorem coeli et terra, visibi- lium omnium, et invisibilium ; et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, filium Dei unigenitum, et ex Patre natum ante omnia sacula ; Deum de Deo, lu- men de lumine ; Deum verum de Deo vero ; genitum, non factum ; con- substantialem Patri, per quern omnia facta sunt ; qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem descendit de ccefis, et incarnatus et de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria virgine, et homo factus est ; crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus, et sepultus est ; et resur- rexit tertia die secundum scripturas : et ascendit in ccelum, sedet ad dexteram Patris ; et iterum venturus est cum glo- ria judicare vivos, et mortuos ; cujus regni non erit finis : et in Spiritum Sanctum Dominum, et vivificantem, qui ex Patre Filioque procedit; qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur, et conglo- rificatur, qui locutus est per prophetas : et unam sanctam Catholicam, et apos- tolicam ecclesiam. Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum, et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam venturi sceculi. Amen. 2. Apostolicas et ecclesiasticas tradi- tiones, reliquasque ejusdem ecclesiae ob- servationes et constitutiones firmissirre admitto, et amplector. I, N., believe and profess, with a firm faith, all and every one of the things which are contained in the symbol of faith, which is used in the holy Roman church, viz. : I believe in one God, the Father Al- mighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible ; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only be- gotten Son of God ; born of the Father before all worlds ; God of God ; Light of Light ; true God of true God ; be- gotten, not made ; consubstantial to the Father, by whom all things were made ; who, for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incar- nate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, aud was made man ; was cruci- fied also for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried, and rose again the third day, according ,to the scrip- tures, and ascended into heaven ; sits at the right hand of the Father, and will come again with glory to judge the liv- ing and the dead, of whose kingdom there will be no end ; and in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Life-giver, who pro- ceeds from the Father and the Son ; who, together with the Father and the Son, is adored and glorified, who spoke by the prophets : and one holy catholic and apostolic church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins ; and I expect the resurrection " of the dead " and the life of the world. Amen. I most firmly admit and embrace apos- tolical and ecclesiastical traditions, and all other constitutions and observances of the same church. 538 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn, Creed of pope Pius IV., continued. 3. Item sacram scripturam juxta eum sensum, quern tenuit et tenet sancta ma- ter ecclesia, cujus est judicare de vero sensu et interpretatione sacrarum scrip- turarum, admitto ; nee earn unquam, nisi juxta unaninem consensum patrum accipiam, et interpretabor. 4. Profiteer quoque septem esse vere et proprie sacramenta novae legis. a Jesu Christo Domino nostro instituta, atque ad ealutem humani generis, licet non omnia singulis necessaria, scilicet baptism um, confirmationem, eucharis- tiam, poenitentiam, extremam unctionem, ordinem et matrimonium ; illaque gra- tiam conferre ; et ex his baptismum, confirmationem et ordinem, sine sacrile- gio reiterari non posse. 5. Receptos quoque et approbates ec- clesiae catholicse ritus, in supra-dictorum omnium sacramentorum solemn! admin- istratione recipio, et admitto. 6. Omnia et singula, quae de peccato ori- ginali, etde justificatione in sacro-sancta Tridentina Synodo definita et declarata fuerunt, amplector et recipio. 7. Profiteer pariter in Missa ofFerri Deo verum, proprium et propitiatorium sa- crificium pro vivis, et defunctis ; atque in sanctissimo Eucharistiae sacramento esse vere, realiter et substantialiter cor- pus et sanguinem, una cum anima et di- vinitate Domini nostri Jesu Christi; fierique conversionem totius substanliae panis in corpus, et totius substantiae vini in sanguinem : quam conversionem ca- tholica ecclesia transubstantiationem ap- pellat. 8. Fateor etiam sub altera tantum spe- cie totum atque integrum Christum, ve- rumque sacramentum sumi. 9. Constanter teneo purgatorium esse, animasque ibi detentas fidelium suffragiis juvari. 10. Similiter et sanctos una cum Chris- to regnantes, venerandos atque invocan- dos esse, eosque orationes Deo pro nobis offerre, atque eorum reliquias esse ven- erandas. 11. Firmissime assero, imagines Chris- ti, ac Deipara semper virginis,necnon ali- orum sanctorum, habendas et retinendas esse, atque eis debitum honorem ac ven- eratiouem impertiendam. 12. Indulgentiarum etiam potestatem a I also admit the sacred scriptures oc cording to the sense which the holy mo- ther church has held, and does hold, to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the holy scriptures ; nor will I ever take or in- terpret them otherwise, than according to the unanimous consent of the fathers. I profess also, that there are truly and properly seven sacraments of the new law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and for the salvation of mankind, though all are not necessary for every one : viz., baptism, confirmation, eucharist, pen- ance, extreme unction, order, and matri- mony, and that they confer grace ; and of these, baptism, confirmation, and or- der, cannot be reiterated without sacri- lege. I also receive and admit the ceremo- nies of the Catholic church, received and approved in the solemn administra- tion of all the above said sacraments. I receive and embrace all and every one of the things which have been de- fined and declared in the holy council of Trent, concerning original sin and justification. I profess, likewise, that in the mass is offered to God a true, proper, and propi- 'tiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead ; and that in the most holy sacrifice of the eucharist there is truly, really, and substantially the body and blood, to- gether with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is made a conversion of the whole sub- stance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood, which conversion the Catholic church calls transubstantiation. I confess also, that under either kind alone, whole and entire Christ, and a true sacrament is received. I constantly hold that there is a pur- galonj, and that the souls detained therein are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. Likewise, that the saints reigning to- gether with Christ, are to be honored and incocated, that they offer prayers to God for us, and that their relics are to be venerated. I most firmly assert, that the images of Christ and of the mother of God, ever virgin, and also of the other saints, are to be had and retained ; and that due honor and veneration are to be given them. I also affirm, that the power of indul- CHAP. VIII.] POPERY AT TRENT A. D. 1545-1563. 539 This creed binding upon all. According to it, Leighton, Baxter, Payson, &c., are now all in Hell. Christo in ecclesia relictam fuisse ; il- larumque usum Christiano populo max- ime salutarem esse affirmo. 1 3. Sanctam Catholicam et apostolicam Romanam ecclesiam, omnium ecclesi- arum matrem et magistram agnosco ; Romanoque Pontifici, beati Petri, Apos- tolorum Principis, successori, ac Jesu Christi vicario veram obedientiam spon- deo, ac juro. 14. Caetera item omnia a sacris canoni- bus, et (Ecumenicis conciliis, ac prascipue a sacro-sancta Tridentina Synodo tradita, definita, et declarata, indubitanter recipio atque profiteor ; simulque contraria om- nia, atque hasreses qr,ascumque ab ec- clesia damnatas, rejectas, et anathema- tizatas, ego pariter darnno, rejicio, et an- athematizos. 15. Hanc veram Catholicam fidem, ex- tra quam nemo salvus esse potest, quam in praesenti sponte profiteor, et veraciter teneo, eandem integram et inviolatam, usque ad extremum vitas spiritum con- stantissime (Deo adjuvante) retinere et confiteri, atque a meis subditis, vel illis quorum cura ad me in munere meo spec- tabit, teneri, doceri, et pradicari, quan- tum in me erit, curaturum, ego idem N. spondeo, voveo, ac juro. Sic me Deus adjuvet, et hajc sancta Dei evangelia." gences was left by Christ in the church, and that the use of them is most whole- some to Christian people. I acknowledge the holy catholic and apostolical Roman church, the mother and mistress of all churches ; and I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman bishop, the successor of St. Pe- ter, the prince of the apostles, and vicar of Jesus Christ. I also profess and undoubtedly re- ceive all other things delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred canons, and GENERAL COUNCILS, and particularly by the holy council of Trent ; and like- wise I also condemn, reject, and anathe- matize all things contrary thereto, and all heresies whatsoever, condemned, rejected, and anathematized by the church. This true catholic faith, OUT OF WHICH NONE CAN BE SAVED, which I now freely profess, and truly hold, I, N. promise, vow and swear most constantly to hold and profess the same whole and entire, with God's assistance, to the end of my life : and to procure, as far as lies in my power, that the same shall be held, taught, and preached by all who are un- der me, or are entrusted to my care, by virtue of my office. So help me God, and these holy gospels of God. 51. The above creed is binding at the present day upon every Romnnist, whether priest or layman, and to it, every Romish priest now living has solemnly expressed his adherence. By this creed, it is expressly declared that out of the Romish church none can be saved, and that of course all who have died out of it are now SUFFERING THE TORMENTS OF HELL, ! The seraphic Leighton, the godly Baxter, with Howe, and Hooker, and Charnock, and Flavel, and Owen, and the long list of worthies, their compeers of the olden time, in Eng- land and on the continent of Europe ; the angelic Payson, the heaven- ly minded Nevins, and the holy and truly catholic Milnor,* the self- sacrificing missionaries, Carey, and Ward, and Morrison, and Boardman, and Henry Martin, and Ann Judson, and Harriet New- ell all, all of them, according to the solemnly professed creed of the Romanist, are even now SUFFERING IN THE FIRES OF HELL ! Is it possible for anti-Christian bigotry to go beyond this ? Besides this, be it remembered that he who professes this creed, * Since page 68 was stereotyped, on which the name of this estimable clergy- man and devoted Christian was before" mentioned, he has been called to enter into his rest. He departed this life, and exchanged, without doubt, the toils and sorrows of earth for the joys and the rest of Heaven, on the 8th of April, 1845. For many years previous to his death he had been the honored, revered, and successful Rector of St. George's Episcopal Church, New York. 540 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vn The doctrines of Popery became permanently fixed at the council of Trent solemnly declares that he receives " ALL THINGS delivered, defined and declared by the GENERAL COUNCILS." This, of course, includes the decrees of the third and fourth council of Lateran on the duty of extirpating heretics* and all the rest of the unscriptural and anti- Christian decrees of these councils, which have been related in the present work. Then let it be remembered that this is the present faith of every intelligent Romanist, and solemnly sworn to by every Romish priest. With the history and decrees of the council of Trent we might appropriately close our labors, as this was the last general council of the Romish church, and from that time to the present, Popery has undergone but little change. In this council her doctrines became permanently fixed, and in its decrees all her anti-scriptural inventions were embodied. Since then her influence has been gradually declin- ing, with occasional fitful efforts to regain her long-lost power. Wherever she could secure the aid of the secular arm, she has not failed to harass, and imprison, and burn the heretics who have opposed her ; and she has still reeled on in succeeding centuries, " drunk with the blood of the saints." A few sketches of the most famous of the persecutions of Popery, and a brief summary of the most important events in the history of the popedom since the Trentine period, will bring our labors to a close. * For these decrees, ece above, pp. 302, 320. BOOK VIII. POPERY DRUNK WITH THE BLOOD OF THE SAINTS, PERSECUTIONS OF POPERY TO THE REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES, A. D. 1685. CHAPTER I. PERSECUTION PROVED FROM DECREES OF GENERAL COUNCILS AND WRIT- INGS OF CELEBRATED DIVINES TO BE AN ESSENTIAL DOCTRINE OP POPERY. 1. AMONG the scriptural marks of the predicted Romish Apos- tasy, the Babylonish Harlot of the Apocalypse, is the following : " And I saw the woman DRUNKEN WITH THE BLOOD OF THE SAIVTS, and WITH THE BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS OF JESUS (Rev. xvii., 6). The whole history of Popery is a commentary upon the truthfulness of this description. That history is written in lines of blood. Com- pared with the butcheries of holy men and women by the papal anti- Christ, the persecutions of the pagan emperors of the first three centuries sink into comparative insignificance. For not a tithe of the blood of martyrs was shed by Paganism, that has been poured forth by Popery ; and the persecutors of pagan Rome, never dreamed of the thousand ingenious contrivances of torture, which, the malignity of popish inquisitors succeeded in inventing, when in the language of Pollock, they ******* sat an( j pi anne d Deliberately, and with most musing pains, How, to extremest thrill of agony, The flesh, and blood, and souls of holy men, Her victims might be wrought. From the birth of Popery in 606, to the present time, it is esti- mated by careful and credible historians, that more than FIFTY MIL- LIONS of the human family, have been slaughtered for the crirpe of heresy by popish persecutors, an average of more than forty thou- 35 542 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vm. Immense numbers of the martyred victims of popish bigotry and cruelty. sand religious murders for every year of the existence of Popery. Of course the average number of victims yearly, was vastly greater, during those gloomy ages when Popery was in her glory and reign- ed Despot of the World ; and it has been much less since the pow- er of the popes has diminished to tyrannize over the nations, and to compel the princes of the earth, by the terrors of excommunication, interdiction, and deposition, to butcher their heretical subjects. * The reader of the foregoing pages need not again be told, that the right to persecute heretics, and to put them to death for the sake of their opinions, has been claimed and exercised for centuries by the Romish church. " The duty of putting heretics to death," says Professor Gaussen, of Geneva, "is among the infallible and irre- vocable decrees of its general councils, like those of the Mass and Purgatory ; and when Luther dared to say, ' that it was against the will of the Holy Spirit, to burn with fire men convicted of error,' the court of Rome, in its bull Exsurge, placed this opinion among the number of the forty-one propositions for which it condemned Luther, and ordered, under severe penalties, that he should be seized and sent to the Pope."f 2. According to the faith of Romanists, there can be no higher legislative authority than a pope and general council, and what- ever is decreed by such a council, with the concurrence of the Pope, becomes a legitimate doctrine and article of faith. Accord- ingly, as we have seen, every priest, in the words of the creed of pope Pius, solemnly swears, on the holy evangelists, to hold and teach all that the sacred canons, and general councils have delivered, declared, and defined. Of course they are bound to receive all the laws enacted by the general councils of Lateran, Basil, Constance, &c., enjoining the extermination of heretics. Innumerable provincial and national councils have issued the most cruel and bloody laws of outlawry and extermination against the Waldenses and other heretics ; such as the councils of Oxford, Toledo, Avignon, Tours, Lavaur, Albi, Narbonne, Beziers, Tolosa, &c.J But as papists will assert that these possess no authority to establish a doctrine of the church (though they must be admitted to * " No computation can reach the numbers who have been put to death, in dif- ferent ways, on account of their maintaining the profession of the Gospel, and op- posing the corruptions of the Church of Rome. A MILLION of poor Waldenses perished in France ; NINE HUNDRED THOUSAND orthodox Christians were slain in less than thirty years after the institution of the order of the Jesuits. The Duke of Alva boasted of having put to death in the Netherlands, THIRTY-SIX THOUSAND by the hand of the common executioner during the space of a few years. The Inquisition destroyed, by various tortures, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND within thirty years. These are a few specimens, and but a few, of those which history has recorded ; but the total amount will never be known till the ea-th shall disclose her blood, and no more cover her slain" (Scott's Church History). f See an able discourse of Professor Gaussen, of Geneva, to the Theological students at the opening of the course in October, 1843, entitled " Popery an argu- ment for the Truth, by its fulfilment of Scripture Prophecies." I See Edgar, 218, 219, with citations of original authorities. CHAP, i.] POPERY DRUNK WITH BLOOD OF SAINTS. 543 General councils which have enjoined the slaughter and extirpation of heretics. be illustrations of its spirit), I shall pass over these, and simply re- mind the reader, once more, of the general councils that have sanc- tioned by their decrees the punishment of death for heresy. Six at least of these highest judicial assemblies of the Romish church, with the Pope at their head, have authoritatively and solemnly en- joined the persecution and extermination of heretics. These comprehended (1) the second general council of Lateran, who in the year 1 139, in the twenty-third canon, excommunicated and condemned the heretics, commanded the civil powers to suppress, them, and included their protectors and defenders in the same curse with themselves.* (2.) The third general council of Lateran, in 1179, under pope Alexander III., issued a still fiercer manifesto against the heretics. An extract from this bloody decree has already been given in English on page 302. It will be sufficient, in this place, to throw into a note a corresponding extract from the original Latin of the same decree.f (3.) The fourth general council of Lateran in 1215, under the inhuman pope Innocent III., exceeded in ferocity all that had pre- ceded it. A copious extract from the decree of this council, both in the original and in English, has already been given on pages 332, 333. (4.) The sixteenth general council held at Constance in 1414, we have already seen carrying these bloody principles into execu- tion in the inhuman religious murder of Huss and Jerome. Not content with this act of horrible treachery and barbarity, the Pope and the council proceeded, previous to its dissolution in 1418, to a solemn sanction of the inhuman decrees of Lateran. The holy and infallible assembly, in its forty-fifth session, presented a shock- ing scene of blasphemy and barbarity. Pope Martin, presiding in the sacred synod and clothed with all its authority, addressed the bishops and inquisitors of heretical pravity, on whom he bestowed his apostolic benediction. The eradication of error and the es- tablishment of Catholicism, Martin represented as the chief care of himself and the council. His Holiness in his pontifical polite- ness, characterized WicklifF, Huss, and Jerome, as pestilent and de- ceitful hierarchs, who, excited with truculent rage, infested the Christian fold, and made the sheep putrify with the filth of false- hood. The partisans of heresy through Bohemia, Moravia, and other kingdoms, he described as actuated with the pride of Lucifer, the fury of wolves, and the deceitfulness of demons. The Pontiff * Eos qni religiositatis speciem simulantes, tanquam haereticos ab ecclesia Dei pellimus, et damnamus, et per potestates exteras coerceri pracipimus. Defensores quoque ipsorum ejusdem damnationis vinculo innodamus. (Bin. 8, 596.) f Eos et defensores eorum et receptores anathemati decernimus subjacere. Sub anatlvemate prohi-bemus, ne quis eos in domibus, vel in terra sua tenere vel fovere, vel negotiationem cum eis exercere praesumat. Confiscentur eorum bona et liberum sit principibus hujusmodi homines subjicere servituti. (Labb. 13, 530. Bin. 8, 662.) 544 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK rm. Sanctioning murder in the name of the God of mercy. Plenary indulgence for the murderers. then, supported by the council, proceeded, for the glory of God, the stability of Romanism, and the preservation of Christianity, to excommunicate these advocates of error, with their pestilent pa- trons and protectors, and to consign them to the secular arm and the severest vengeance. He commanded kings to punish them according to the Lateran council. The above mentioned inhuman enactments of the Lateran, therefore, were to be brought into requisition against the Bohemians and Moravians, and they were to be de- spoiled of all property, Christian burial, and even of the consola- tions of humanity.* (5.) The council of Sienna, in 1423, which was afterward con- tinued at Basil, published persecuting enactments of a similar kind. The holy synod assembled in the Holy Ghost, and representing the universal church, acknowledged the spread of heresy in different parts of the world through the remissness of the inquisitors, and to the oflence of God, the injury of Catholicism, and the perdition of souls. The sacred convention then commanded the inquisitors, in every place, to extirpate every heresy, especially those of Wickliff, Huss, and Jerome. Princes were admonished by the mercy of God to exterminate error, if they would escape divine vengeance. The holy fathers and the viceroy of heaven conspired, in this man- ner, to sanction murder in the name of the God of mercy : and granted plenary indulgences to all who should banish those sons of heterodoxy or provide arms for their destruction-! These enact- ments were published every sabbath, while the bells were rung and the candles lighted and extinguished. (6.) The fifth general council of the Lateran, in 1514, enacted laws, marked, if possible, with augmented barbarity. Dissembling Christians of every kind and nation, heretics polluted with any con- tamination of error were, by this infallible gang of ruffians, dis- missed from the assembly of the faithful, and consigned to the in- quisition, that the convicted might undergo due punishment, and the relapsed suffer without any hope of pardon.J * HaeresiarchEe, Luciferina superbia et rabie lupina evecti, daemonum fraudibus illusi. Oves Christi Catholicas hzeresiarchae ipsi successive infecerunt, et in ster- core mendaciorum fecerunt putrescere. Credentes et adharentes eisdem, tan- quam haereticos indicetis et velut haereticos seculari Curiae relinquatis. (Bin. 8, 1120.) Secundum tenorem Lateranensis Concilii expellant, nee eosdem domicilia tenere, contractus inire, negotiationes exercere, aut humanitatis solatia cum Christi fidelibus habere permittant. (Bin. 8, 1121. Crab. 2, 1166.) f Volens haec sancta synodus remedium adhibere, statuit et mandat omnibus et singulis inquisitoribus haereticae pravitatis, ut solicite intendant inquisition! et ex- tirpationi hsresium quarumcumque. Omnes Christianae religionis principes ac doniinos tarn ecclesiasticos quam saeculares hortatur, invitat, et monet per viscera misericordiae Dei, ad extirpationem tanti per ecclesiam praedamnati erroris omni celeritate, si Divinam ultionem et prenas juris evitare voluerunt. (Labb. 17, 97, 98. Bruy. 4, 72.) It is proper here to remark, that some Romish authors deny the claim of the council of Sienna and Basil to be a general council. Others, however, admit it. | Omnes ficti Christian!, ac de fide male sentientes, cujuscumque generis aut nationis fuerint, necnon hasretici seu aliqua haeresis labe polluti, a Christi fide- CHAP, i.] POPERY DRUNK WITH THE BLOOD OF SAINTS. 545 Persecution of heretics advocated by popish divines. St. Aquinas, Cardinal Bellarmii.e " The principle of persecution, therefore," justly remarks the learned Edgar, " being sanctioned, not only by theologians, popes, and provincial synods, but also by general councils, is A NECES- SARY AND INTEGRAL PART OF ROMANISM. The Romish communion has, by its representatives, declared its right to compel men to re- nounce heterodoxy and embrace Catholicism, and to consign the obstinate to the civil power to be banished, tortured, or killed."* 3. The same persecuting principles have been advocated by individual Romish divines in various ages. It will be sufficient to quote proofs of this remark from Saint Aquinas in the thirteenth century, Bellarmine of the sixteenth, and Peter Dens who wrote- in the eighteenth, but is studied and followed by popish colleges and seminaries of the nineteenth. The persecuting doctrine is frequently avowed in the writings of St. Aquinas, the angelic doctor, as he is called by Romanists. " Heretics," says he, " are to be compelled by corporeal punish- ments, that they may adhere to the faith."f In other places, St. Aquinas unequivocally asserts, that " heretics may not only be ex- communicated, but justly killed" and that " the church cons : gns such to the secular judges to be exterminated from the world by death"^ But the most remarkable illustration of the spirit of Popery on this subject, is the labored argument of a celebrated Cardinal, enforcing the duty of thus putting heretics to death. Cardinal Bellarmine is the great champion of Romanism, and expounder of its doctrines. He was the nephew of pope Marcellus, and is acknowledged to be a standard writer with Romanists. In the 21st and 22d chapters of the third book of his work, entitled " De Laicis " (concerning the laity), he enters into a regular argu- ment to prove that the church has the right, and should exercise it, of punishing heretics with death. The following extracts are so conclusive as to the faith of Romanists on this point, that we give them in the original, as well as in the translation. The titles of the chapters are Bellarmine's as well as what follows. Hum coetu penitus eliminentur, et quocumque loco expellantur, ac debita ani- madversione puniantur, statuimus. (Crabb. 3, 646. Bin. 2, 112. Labb. 19,844.) * See Edgar, chapter vi., passim. f Heretic! sunt etiam corporaliter compellandi. (Aquinas 2, 42.) And again, Haeretici sunt compellandi ut fidem teneant. (Aquin. 2, 10.) J Heeretici possunt non solum excommunicari sed et juste occidi EccJe- sia relinquit eum judici saeculari mundo exterminandum per mortem. (Aquinas 2, 11; 3,48.) Cardinal Bellarmine. This celebrated popish casuist and divine was born in Tuscany, in 1542. He was raised to the dignity of Cardinal in 1599, as a re- ward for his writings and services on behalf of Popery; and from 1605 to the year of his death, 1621, he resided at Rome, in constant attendance upon the per- son of the popes, and under their patronage, industriously employing his pen for the defence of the Roman Catholic faith. After his death, on account of the valuable services he had rendered the Romish church by his writings, he was very near being placed in the calendar of saints. Out of seventeen cardinals, we are informed by a Romish historian, that ten voted for his canonization. cent, xvii., book 5.) 546 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK. nn. Bellannine's argument proving that the church has a right to punish Heretics with death. Chapter XXL That heretics, condemned by the church, may be punished with temporal penalties and even with death. l Posse hcere- ticos ab ecclesia damnatos temporalibus pcenis etiam morte mulctari' Nos igitur breviter ostendemus haereti- cos incorrigibiles ac praesertim relapses, posse ac debere ab ecclesia rejici, et a secularibus potestatibus temporalibus pcenis atque ipsa etiam morte mulctari. Primo probatur scripturis. Probatur secundo sententiis et legibus imperato- rum, quas ecclesia semper probavit. Probatur tertio legibus ecclesiae. Pro- batur quarto testimoniis Patrum. Pro- batur ultimo ratione naturali. Primo haeretici excommimicari jure possunt, ut omnes fatentur, ergo et occidi. Probatur consequentia quia excommunicatio est major pcena, quam mors temporalis. Secundo experientia docet non esse aliud remedium, nam ecclesia paulatim progressa est et omnia remedia experta ; primo solum excommunicabat deinde ad- didit mulctam pecuniariam ; tarn exili- um, ultimo coacta est ad mortem venire : mittere illos in locum suum. Tertio, falsarii omnium judicio meren- tur mortem ; at haeretici falsarii sunt verbi Dei. Quarto, gravius est non servare fidem hominem Deo, quam feminam viro ; sed hoc mono punitur, cur non illud. Quinto, tres causae sunt propter quas ratio docet homines occidendos esse ; prima causa est ne mali bonis noceant ; secunda est, ut paucorum supplicio multi corrigantur. Multi enim quos impunitas faciebat torpentes supplicia proposita excitant ; et nos quotidie idem videmus fieri in locis ubi viget Inquisi- tio. Demque haereticis obstinatis benefi- cium est quod de hac vita tollantur; nam quo diutius vivunt eo plures er- rores excogitant, plures pervertunt, et majorem sibi damnationem acquirunt. "We will briefly show that the church has the power and ought to cast off incorrigible heretics, especially those who have relapsed, and that the secular power ought to inflict on such, tempo- ral punishments, and even death itself. 1st. This may be proved from the Scripture. 2d. It is proved from the opinions and laws of the Emperors, which the church has always approved. 3d. It is proved by the laws of the church. 4th. It is proved by the testimony of the fathers. Lastly. It is proved from natural reason. For first: It is owned by all, that heretics may of right be ex- communicated of course they may be put to death. This consequence is proved because excommunication is a greater punishment than temporal death. Secondly. Experience pror.es that there is no other remedy ; for the church has step by step tried all remedies ffrst, excommunication alone ; then pe- cuniary penalties ; afterward banish- ment ; and lastly has been forced to put them to death ; to send them to their own place. Thirdly. All allow that forgery de- serves death ; but heretics are guilty of forgery of the word of God. Fourthly. A breach of faith by man toward God, is a greater sin, than of a wife with her husband. But a woman's unfaithfulness is punished with death; why not a heretic's ? Fifthly. There are three grounds on which reason shows that heretics should be put to death : the 1st is, lest the wicked should injure the righteous 2d, that by the punishment of a few, many may be reformed. FOR MANY WHO WERE MADE TORPID BY IMPUNITY, ARE ROUSED BY THE FEAR OF PUNISHMENT ', AND THIS WE DAILY SEE IS THE RESULT WHERE THE INQUISITION FLOURISHES. Finally, It is a benefit to obstinate heretics to remove them from this life ; for the longer they live the more errors they invent, the more persons they mis- lead : and the greater damnation do they treasure up to themselves. In the next chapter Bellarmine proceeds to reply to the objections of Luther and others, against the burning of heretics. We Iran- CHAP. i.J POPERY DRUNK WITH THE BLOOD OF SAINTS. 547 Cardinal Bell.-irmine's answers to objections tgainst the punishment of heretics by death. scribe the replies of the popish casuist to the first, second, thirteenth and eighteenth arguments against the burning of heretics.* The chapter is entitled as follows : Chapter XXII. Objections answered. ' Solvuntur objectiones.' Superest argumenta Lutheri atque " It remains to answer the objections aliorum haereticorum diluere. Argu- of Luther and other heretics. Argument mentum, primum, ab experientia totius ecclesiae : 'Ecclesia? inquit Lutherus, ' ab initio sui usque hue nullum combussit h&reticum, ergo non videtur esse volun- tas Spiritus ut comburantur.' Respondeo, argumentum hoc optime, probat, non sententiam, sed imperitiam, vel impudentiam Lutheri : nam cum infiniti propemodum, vel combusti, vel aliter necati fuerint, aut id ignoravit Lutherus, et tune imperitus est, aut non ignoravit, et impudens, ac mendax esse convincitur : nam quod haeretici sint saepe ab ecclesia combusti, ostendi po- test, si adducamus puaca exempla de multis. Argumentum tt&mehm; experientia testatur non profici terroribus. Respon- deo, experientia est in contrarium ; nam Domitistae, Manichaei, et Albigenses armis pronigati, et extincti sunt. Argumentum decimum lertium : Do- minus attribuit ecclesiae gladium spiri- tus, quod est verbum dei non autem gladium ferri ; immo Petro volenti gladio ferreo ipsum defendere, ait : ' Mitte gladium tuum in vaginam,' Joan 18. Respondeo ecclesia sicut habet Principes Ecclesiasticos, et secuiares, qui sunt quasi duo ecclesiae brachia, ita quos habet gladios, spiritualem, et ma- 1st. From the history of the church at large. ' The church,' says Luther, 'from the beginning, even to this time, has never burned a heretic.-^ Therefore it does not seem to be the mind of the Holy Spirit, that they should be burned !' I reply that this argument proves not the sentiment, but the ignorance, or im- pudence of Luther 5 FOR AS ALMOST AH INFINITE NUMBER WERE EITHER BURNED OR OTHERWISE PUT TO DEATH, Luther either did not know it, and was there- fore ignorant ; or if he knew it, he is convicted of impudence and falsehood for that heretics were often burned BY THE CHURCH may be proved by adducing a few from many examples. Argument 2d. ' Experience shows thai terror is not useful.' I reply, EXPERIENCE PROVES THE CONTRARY FOR THE Do- NATISTS, MANICHEASS, AND ALBIGENSES WERE ROUTED, AND ANNIHILATED BY ARMS. Argument 13th. ' The Lord attributes to the church " the sword of the Spi- rit, which is the word of God ;" but not the material sword, nay, He said to Pe- ter, who wished to defend him with a material sword, " put up thy sword into the scabbard." ' John 18th. I answer ; As the church has- ecclesiastical and secular princes, who are her two arms ; so she has two swords, the spiritual and terialem, et ideo, quando manus dextera material ; and therefore when her right gladio spiritual! non potuit haereticum ' convertere, invocat auxilium brachii sin- hand is unable to convert a heretic with the sword of the Spirit, she invokes the *The whole of this labored argument of the great popish divine, to prove the lawfulness and expediency of the burning of heretics, is well worthy of examina- tion and study, by all who would understand what genuine Popery is. In the edi- tion of Bellarmine's works (Six vols., fol. 1610), which I have consulted in the cele- brated Van Ess library of the New York Theological Seminary, it occupied ten folio columns of Vol. II., p. 555, &c., besides the 20th chapter, of four columns, proving that the books of heretics ought to be destroyed. f If Luther ever made this assertion ascribed to him by Bellarmine, his meaning must have been that the true church of God had never burned a neretic, not that the anti-Christian Popes, councils, and secular powers of the Romish church had not burned heretics, for in the sense of the Romish church, all history testifies to the truth of Bellarmine's remark, that " an infinite number" of heretics were " either burned, or otherwise put to death," and that too (in the words of Bel- larmine), " BY THE CHURCH." 548 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vm, Popery is unchangable. The doctrine of Bellarinine taught by p-ipists in the nineteenth century. istri, ut gladio ferreo hzereticos coerceat. aid of the left hand, and coerces heretics with the material sword. Argumentum decimum octarum: Argument 18th. " The Apostles never Nunquam Apostoli brachium seculare invoked the secular arm against here- contra haereticos invocaverunt. Re- tics." Answer (according to St. Augus- spondet S. Augustinus in epist. 50. et tine, in letter 50 and elsewhere). " The alibi, Apostolos id non fecisse, quia nul- Apostles did it not, because there was no lus tune erat Christianas Princeps, quern Christian Prince whom they could call invocarent. At postquam tempore Con- on for aid. But afterwards in Constan- fitantini Ecclesia tine's time the church called auxilium secularis brachii imploravit. in the aid of the secular arm." Now if, as Romanists in protestant countries sometimes assert, the Romish is not a persecuting church ; could it be possible that one of the very highest dignitaries of that church, a Cardinal, the nephew of one pope, and the special favorite and confidant of others, could have penned, without rebuke, such an infamous and labored argument in support of the burning of heretics, as that from which the foregoing extracts are made. 4. Some people suppose that, with the lapse of ages, the character of persecuting Rome has changed. No such thing. Popery is unchangeable, and so her ablest advocates declare. Says Charles Butler, in the work he wrote in reply to Southey's book of the church, " It is most true that the Roman Catholics believe the doctrines of their church to be UNCHANGEABLE ; and that it is a tenet of their creed, that what their faith ever has been, such it was from the beginning, such it is now and SUCH IT EVER WILL BE."* But supposing Romanists admitted a possibility of change in their doctrines, still there is abundant evidence in point of fact, from the writings of recent popish divines, that their doctrine remains the same, relative to the duty, whenever, and wherever they possess the power of extirpating heretics by death. It would be easy to cite a multitude of proofs of this assertion from various writers, but a single author wijl be sufficient. It is from the theology of Peter Dens, the celebrated doctor of Louvain. It was written, or rather the first volume was printed in 1758, and was adopted by the popish clergy in Dublin, in the year 1808, " who unanimously agreed that this book was the best work, and the safest guide in Theology for the Irish clergy ."f A single extract will be sufficient. After stating that heretics are deservedly visited with the penalties of exile, im- prisonment, &c<, the popish Doctor inquires, An haeretici recte pnniuntur morte ? Are heretics rightly punished with Respondet S. Thomas affirmative : quia DEATH ? St. Thomas answers IN THE falsarii pecuniae vel alii rempublicam AFFIRMATIVE. Because forgers of mo- turbantes juste morte puniuntur : ergo ney or other disturbers of the state are etiam hseretici qui sunt falsarii fidei et justly punished with death ; therefore ut experientia docet rempublicam gravi- also heretics, who are forgers of the ter perturbant. . . . Confirmatur ex faith, and as experience shows, greatly eo quod Deus in veteri lege jusserit oc- disturb the state. . . . This is con- * Butler's Book of the Roman Catholic Church. I Edgar's Variations, p. 243. CHAP, n.] POPERY DRUNK WITH THE BLOOD OP SAINTS. 549 The persecuting doctrine taught in the Rhemish Testament, &c. Bloody queen Mary cidi falsos Prophetas. . . . Idem firmed by the command of God under probatur ex condemnatione artieulii 14, the old law, that the false prophets Joan. Huss in Concilio Constantiensi. should be killed. . . . The same is (Dens, 2, 88, 89.) proved by the condemnation by the fourteenth article of John Huss in the council of Constance. The same horrid doctrine is taught in the Extravagants or Constitutions and other authorized writings of a large number of the popes, the Directorium Inquisilorium, or Directory for Inquisi- tors, the notes to the Rhemish Testament,* &c., &c., but the point is already established upon sufficient authority, and further testi- mony is unnecessary. Without undertaking to give a complete account of the persecutions of Popery, we shall present a few additional sketches of the manner in which the persecuting princi- ples of Rome have in various ages been carried out in the tortures, massacres, burnings, and other barbarities inflicted upon those whom she chose to stigmatize with the name of heretics. CHAPTER II. SUFFERINGS OF THE ENGLISH PROTESTANTS UNDER BLOODY dUEEN MARY. THE BURNING OF LATIMER, RIDLEY, CRANMER, &C. 5. IT would be improper entirely to omit, and yet it is not necessary minutely to describe the well known cruel burnings of the English protestants, during the reign of the bigoted and hard- hearted woman, whose name has been appropriately handed down to posterity as BLOODY QUEEN MARY.| And it seems proper to * In the Rhemish translation of the New Testament for the English Romanists, the following note is appended to the words of our Lord Luke ix., 55 when he rebuked two of his disciples for their desire to destroy those who refused to receive him : "Not justice, nor all rigorous punishment of sinners, is here forbidden ; nor Elias's fact reprehended ; nor the Church, nor Christian princes, blamed for put- ting heretics to death ; but that none of these should be done for desire of our particular revenge, or without discretion, and in regard of their amendment and example to others. Therefore, St. Peter used his power upon Ananias and Sap- phira, when he struck them both down to death for defrauding the Church .'" He- brews x., 29, is, in like manner, applied to all whom the Church of Rome calls heretics. f Full information on these persecutions may be obtained from that well known and authentic work, " Fox's Book of Martyrs," " Southey's Book of the Church," &c. I would especially recommend the valuable abridgment of Fox's work, accompanied with remarks in her own beautiful and impressive style, by Mrs. Tonna, better known as Charlotte Elizabeth, a lady, who, by her genius, piety, and genuine Protestantism, as exhibited in the numerous productions of her pen, has laid un- 550 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vm. Number of martyrs of the Marian persecution. The venerable Lalimer and Ridley. commence these few sketches of persecutions of Popery, with the recital of the sufferings of the Marian martyrs, as they all occurred during the interval that elapsed between the second adjournment and resumption of the council of Trent already described. During her brief reign of five years, according to the lowest calculations, TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-EIGHT PERSONS WERE BURNED ALIVE, by her order, for the crime of heresy, and among them were the wealthy and the poor, the priest and the layman, the merchant and the farmer, the blind and the lame, the helpless female and the new-born babe. The persecutions did not commence in the first Jear of her reign. She was proclaimed Queen on the 17th of uly, 1553, and it was not till the commencement of 1555 that the venerable John Rogers, the proto-martyr of the Marian persecu- tion, sealed the truth with his blood by being burnt alive at Smith- field." He suffered on the 4th of February, 1555. The number of heretics burnt alive in England, in 1555, was seventy-one ; in 1556, eighty-nine ; in 1557, eighty-eight; and in 1558, forty. The num- ber of the victims would have been largely swelled, had not death relieved the world of the presence and tyranny of this popish mon- ster in the shape of a woman, on the 17th of November, 1558. The names of Rogers, and Saunders, and Hooper ; of Taylor, and Bradford, and Philpot ; of Latimer, and Ridley, and Cranmer; and of their martyred associates, have become familiar as house- hold words to their protestant descendants of England and Ameri- ca; and the oft-repeated story of their painful but triumphant deaths, amidst the torturing fires of martyrdom, continues to preach loudly and eloquently of the cruelty and bigotry of Rome. Our limits will allow but a brief sketch of the martyrdom of the three last-mentioned of the nine worthies whose names have been cited above. 6. Bishops Latimer and Ridley were two of the ablest as well as holiest of the martyrs whose blood was offered as a sacri- fice upon the altar of popish bigotry during the reign of Mary. HUGH LATIMER was born about 1472, and was now, therefore, upwards of fourscore years old. He had been a prominent man, in the reign of ihe licentious Henry VIII., the father of queen Mary, and was appointed by him to the bishopric of Worcester. It is related of Latimer, as an instance of his faithfulness, that on new year's day, when, according to the prevailing custom, the emi- nent men of the land presented the King with a new year's gift, his gift consisted of a copy of the New Testament, with the pas- sage marked, and the leaf turned down to the words, " WHOREMON- GERS AND ADULTERERS GOD WILL JUDGE." Those acquainted with the history of the adulterous Henry VIII. need not be told how applicable was the reproof to his character. der deep obligation the whole protestant world. I know of no uninspired writer, either of the past or present time, who so happily combines entertainment with instruction as this gifted lady. Her " English Martyrology" and " Siege of Derry " ought to be read by every protestant youth in the world. CHAP, n.] POPERY DRUNK WITH THE BLOOD OF SAINTS. 551 Degradation of Ridley from the priustly office. Reasons of this ceremony. When this faithful and venerable man was apprehended by order of the bloody Mary, he said to the officer, "My friend, you are a welcome messenger to me ;" and in passing through Smithfield, where so many of the martyrs of Jesus had been burned alive, he remarked, " Smithfield hath long groaned for me." He suffered a long and cruel imprisonment in the Tower previous to his martyr- dom. One day, when suffering from the severe frost and denied the comfort of a fife, the aged sufferer pleasantly remarked to his keeper, that if he were not taken better care of, he should certainly escape out of his enemies' hands, meaning that he should perish with cold and hardship, and thus escape the burning intended for him by his enemies. NICHOLAS RIDLEY was born in the year 1500, had been chaplain to the pious youth, king Edward VI., the predecessor of Mary, and had been appointed by him bishop of London. Upon the accession of Mary, he was soon seized and committed to the Tower, where he and Latimer continued during the winter of 1553 and 1554, and were afterwards removed to Oxford, and lodged in a common prison. In the year 1555, a commission was issued to several popish bishops to proceed against these two holy men. Full ac- counts are given by Fox of the various disputations they held with the martyrs. It is sufficient here to remark, that neither threats nor promises could shake their constancy, and that in every interview they came off triumphant over all the arguments of their popish opponents, by whom they were condemned to be degraded, and delivered up to the secular power. 7. The reason why the church of Rome always performed this ceremony of degradation upon ecclesiastics before delivering them up to the secular arm to be burnt, was because she was too watchful over the immunities of the privileged order of priests, to deliver them up to temporal jurisdiction, till stripped of the sacer- dotal character, and degraded to the situation of laymen. Brooks, bishop of Gloucester, performed this ceremony on Ridley on the 15th of October. Brooks repeated on this occasion his fruitless attempts to shake the constancy of the martyr, and to induce him to acknowledge the authority of the Pope ; but Ridley only renewed his faithful testimony concerning " the usurped authority of the Romish anti-Christ ;" and declared, " the Lord being my helper, 1 will maintain so long as my tongue shall wag, and breath is within my body, and in confirmation thereof seal the same with my blood." Ridley continued so faithfully to reason upon the true character of the Pope, that the Bishop threatened to employ the gag, a weapon of frequent use in those days, when the faithful testimony of the martyrs could be in no other way prevented. The bishop of Gloucester then remarked, that seeing he would not receive the Queen's mercy, they must go on to degrade him from the dignity of priesthood ; saying moreover, " we take you for no bishop, and therefore we will the sooner have done with you, com- mitting you to the secular power ; you know what doth follow." 552 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vin Ridley's courago under mockery and abuse. Lutimcr and Ridley at the staXe " Do with me as it shall please God to suffer you," was the reply ; " I am well content to abide the same with all my heart." Brooks desired him to put off his cap and put upon him the surplice : he answered, " I will not." "But you must/' " I will not." "You must ; therefore make no more ado, but put this surplice upon you." " Truly, if it come upon me, it shall be against my will." " Will you not put it upon you ?" " No, that I will not." " It shall be put upon you by some one or other." " Do therein* as it shall please you ; I am well contented with that, and more than that ; the ser- vant is not above his Master. If they dealt so cruelly with our Sa- viour Christ, as the Scripture maketh mention, and he suffered the same patiently, how much more doth it become us, his servants ?" The surplice was then forcibly put on him, with all the trinkets appertaining to the mass : during which he vehemently inveighed against the Romish bishop, calling him anti-Christ, and the apparel foolish and abominable. This made Dr. Brooks very angry : he bade him hold his peace, for that he did but rail. The Christian martyr replied, so long as his tongue and breath would suffer him, he would speak against their abominable doings whatsoever hap- pened unto him for it. When they came to the place where he should hold the chalice and wafer-cake, they bade him take them into his hands : he replied, " They shall not come into my hands ; and if they do, they shall fall to the ground for me." An attendant was obliged to hold them fast in his hands while Brooks read a cer- tain thing in Latin, appertaining to that part of the performance. Next they placed a book in his hand, while Brooks recited ,^the passage, " We do take from you the office of preaching the gospel," &c. At these words Dr. Ridley gave a great sigh, and looking up toward heaven, said, " O Lord God, forgive them this their wick- edness !" The massing garments being taken off one by one, till the surplice only was left, they proceeded to the last step of the de- gradation, by deposing him from the lowest office of the priesthood." (See Engraving.) 8. On the following day, October 10th, 1555, Latimer and Ridley were brought to the stake, which was prepared in a hollow, near Baliol college, on the north side of the city of Oxford. The venerable Latimer being stripped for the stake, appeared in a shroud prepared for the occasion ; and now, says Fox, " a remarkable change was observed in his appearance ; for whereas he had hith- erto seemed a withered, decrepit, and even a deformed old man, he now stood perfectly upright, a straight and comely person. Ridley was disposed to remain in his trousers ; but on his brother observ- ing that it would occasion him more pain, and that the article of dress would do some poor man good, he yielded to the latter plea, and saying, " Be it, in the name of God," delivered it to his brother. Then, being stripped to his shirt, he stood upon a stone by the stake, and holding up his hand, said, " O heavenly Father, I give unto thee most hearty thanks, for that thou hast called me to be a professor of thee, even unto death : I beseech thee, Lord God, take mercy upon Ceremony of the Degradation of a Priest previous to Martyrdom. v Burning of Latimer and Ridley, at Oxford. CHAP, n.] POPERY DRUNK WITH THE BLOOD OF SAINTS. 555 Dying remark of the venerable Latimer. Ridley's horrible and protracted torment by his slow burning this realm of England, and deliver the same from all her enemies." The smith now brought a chain, and passed it round the bodies of the two martyrs, as they quietly stood on either side of the stake : while he was hammering the staple into the wood, Ridley took the chain in his hand, and shaking it, said, "Good fellow, knock it in hard, for the flesh will have its course." This being done, Shipside brought him some gunpowder in a bag to tie round his neck ; which he received as sent of God, to be a means of shortening his tor- ment ; at the same time inquiring whether he had any for his bro- ther, meaning Latimer, and hastening him to give it immediately, lest it might come too late ; which was done. A lighted faggot was then brought, and laid down at his feet, on which Latimer turned and addressed him in those memorable and prophetic words, " Be of good comfort, Mr. Ridley, and play the man : " WE SHALL THIS DAY LIGHT SUCH A CANDLE, BY GOD'S GRACE, IN ENGLAND, AS, I TRUST, SHALL NEVER HE PUT OUT." The flames rose ; and Ridley in a wonderfully loud voice ex- claimed in Latin, " Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit," often repeating in English, " Lord, receive my spirit !" Latimer on the other side as vehemently crying out, " O Father of heaven, receive my soul !" and welcoming, as it were, the flame, he embraced it, bathed his hands in it, stroked his venerable face with them, and soon died, seemingly with little pain, or none. So ended this old and blessed servant of God, his laborious works, and fruitful life, by an easy and quiet death in the midst of the fire, into which he cheer- fully entered for Christ's sake. But it pleased the Lord to glorify himself otherwise in Ridley : his torments were terrible, and pro- tracted to an extent that it sickens the heart to contemplate. The fire had been made so ill, by heaping a great quantity of heavy fag- gots very high about him, above the lighter combustibles, that the solid wood kept down the flame, causing it to rage intensely be- neath, without ascending. The martyr finding his lower extremi ties only burning, requested those about him, for Christ's sake, to le., the fire come to him ; which his poor brother Shipside hearing, and in the anguish of his spirit not rightly understanding, he heaped more faggots on the pile, hoping so to hasten the conflagration, which of course was further repressed by it, and became more ve- hement beneath, burning to a cinder all the nether parts of the suf- ferer, without approaching the vitals. In this horrible state, he continued to leap up and down under the wood, praying them to let the fire come, and repeatedly exclaiming, "I cannot burn," writhing in the torture, as he turned from side to side, the bystanders saw even his shirt unconsumed, clean, and unscorched by the flame, while his legs were totally burnt oflf. In such extremity his heart was still fixed, trusting in his God, and ejaculating frequently, "Lord, have mercy upon me!" intermingling it with entreaties, " Let the fire come unto me I cannot burn." At last one of the bill-men with hi.s weapon mercifully pulled away the faggots from above, so giving the flame power to rise ; which the sufferer no 556 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vm, Oxford, the burning place of Latiuier and Ridley, no place for compromise with Rome. Thorn. Cranmer sooner saw, than with an eager effort he wrenched his mutilated body to that side, to meet the welcome deliverance. The flame now touched the gunpowder, and he was seen to stir no more ; but after burning awhile on the other side, he fell over the chain at the feet of Latimer's corpse. Such are thy tender mercies, tyrant Rome ! The rack, the faggot, or the hated creed Fearless amidst thy folds fierce wolves may roam, Whilst stainless sheep upon thine altars bleed. 9. Let the Christian reader now draw nigh and contem plate this painful scene the venerable form of the holy Latimer, with his snowy locks whitened by the frosts of eighty-three win- ters, dressed in his shroud, directing his eyes upward to heaven for strength as the torturing flames gather and wrap themselves around his aged and quivering limbs, and yet amidst his tortures praying for his tormentors the stately and noble form of his companion Ridley, chained to the same stake, with his feet and legs actually burning to a cinder, till they fall from his tortured body ; before death, the welcome deliverer, has done his work then let him con- template the cowled priest of Rome, with cross in hand, insulting the dying agonies of the martyrs, and rejoicing in their protracted and excruciating torments and remember that this, stripped of dis- guise or concealment THIS is POPERY " DRUNK WITH THE BLOOD OF THE SAINTS AND OF THE MARTYRS OF JfiSUS." Well does that gifted authoress, Mrs. Tonna, exclaim, after citing the description of the horrible tortures inflicted upon these two holy men, " Wo unto us, if, with these examples before us, we shrink not from touching, even the outermost fringe of that harlot's polluted garments ! There is that mingled with the dust of Oxford which will rise up in the judgment, a terrible witness against those who, while trampling on the ashes of the martyrs, shall dare to sug- gest any, even the slightest measure of approximation to the apos- tate church any recognition of her, otherwise than as THE DEEPLY ACCURSED ENEMY OF CHRIST AND HIS SAINTS."* 10. THOMAS CRANMER was born in 1489, and had been ap- pointed by Henry VIII. archbishop of Canterbury. During the brief reign of the youthful Edward VI., Cranmer (though not entirely free from the contamination of the doctrine of Rome, the right to persecute for conscience sake) was one of the principal agents in advancing the reformation in England. Upon the accession of bloody Mary, he was soon marked out as a conspicuous victim for papal fury. His closing days are clouded, as were those of Je- rome of Prague, by his signature to a written recantation, obtained from him by his enemies, by the means of the prospect they held out to him of life and comfort, after nearly three years of cruel and rigorous imprisonment; yet, like the Bohemian reformer, he * English Martyrology, by Charlotte Elizabeth, vol. ii., p, 55. CHAP, n.] POPERY DRUNK WITH THE BLOOD OF SAINTS. 557 Cranmer in St. Mary's church. His mournful demeanor and copious tears. bitterly repented this act of natural weakness, and showed the sin- cerity of that repentance, by his extraordinary courage and con- stancy, amidst the fires of martyrdom. After Cranmer had signed this document, he soon found reason to suspect that his popish ene- mies would still not be satisfied without his blood ; and in the esti- mation of some, this circumstance may, perhaps, tend to cast a shade of doubt over his dying protestations. No one, however, who will carefully consider the circumstances of the last few hours of his life (which we shall now proceed to narrate), can reasonably doubt that his penitence for this act of pardonable weakness was sincere, and that the same Jesus who cast a look of love, and melted the heart of Peter, who had denied him, sustained the dying Cranmer by his presence and his smiles, and welcomed the ran- somed spirit of the departed martyr to the abodes of the blessed. 11.' It is generally thought that Cranmer was not informed of the determination to put him to death, till the morning when he was to suffer. About nine A. M., of the 21st of March, 1556, he was taken to St. Mary's church, Oxford, to listen to a sermon by Doctor Cole, preached at the church instead of at the place of exe- cution, on account of its being a very rainy day. A Romanist who was present, and who expressed the opinion "that the former life and wretched end of Cranmer deserved a. greater misery, if greater had been possible," was yet, in spite of his heart-hardening opinions, touched with compassion at beholding him in a bare and ragged gown, and ill-favoredly clothed with an old square cap, exposed to the contempt of all men. " I think," said he, " there was none that pitied not his case, and bewailed not his fortune, and feared not his own chance, to see so noble a prelate, so grave a counsellor, of so long-continued honor, after so many dignities, in his old years to be deprived of his estate, adjudged to die, and in so painful a death to end his life." When he had as- cended the stage, he knelt and prayed, weeping so profusely, that many, even of the papists, were moved to tears. While Cole was preaching the sermon, in which he endeavored to make the best apology possible for the act of the Queen in con- signing Cranmer to the flames, the venerable martyr himself seemed overwhelmed with the weight of sorrow and penitence. " With what great grief of mind he stood hearing this sermon," says good John Fox, in his own simple and beautiful style, " the outward shows of his body and countenance did better express, than any man can declare : one while lifting up his hands and eyes unto hea- ven, and then again for shame letting them down to the earth. A man might have seen the very image and shape of perfect sorrow lively in him expressed. More than twenty several times the tears gushed out abundantly, dropping down from his fatherly face. Those which were present testify that they never saw, in any child, more tears than burst out from him at that time. It is marvellous what commiseration and pity moved all men's hearts that beheld so heavy a countenance, and such abundance of tears, in an old man 36 558 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vm. His courageous and unexpected dying testimony to the truth. Renounces his extorted recantation of so reverend dignity." Withal he ever retained " a quiet and grave behavior." In this hour of utter humiliation and severe re- pentance, he possessed his soul in patience. Never had his mind been more clear and collected, never had his heart been so strong. After the sermon, Cole exhorted Cranmer to testify before the peo- ple the sincerity of his conversion and repentance, that all men might understand he was " a Catholic indeed." 12. " I will do it," replied Cranmer, " and that with a good will." He then rose from his knees, and, putting off his cap, said, " Good Christian people, my dearly-beloved brethren and sisters in Christ, I beseech you most heartily to pray for me to Almighty God, that he will forgive me my sins and offences, which be many without number, and great above measure. But among all the rest, there is one which grieveth my conscience most of all, whereof you shall hear more in its proper place." He then knelt down, and offered up a touching and fervent prayer, speaking of himself as " a most wretched caitiff and miserable sinner." Rising from his knees, he proceeded to address the assembled multitude, giving them many pious and godly exhortations, before touching upon the point which all were anxiously expecting to hear whether he was about to die in the Romish or the protestant faith. At length he said : " And now, forasmuch as I am come to the last end of my life, w y hereupon hangeth all my life past, and all my life to come, either to live with my Master Christ for ever in joy, or else to be in pain for ever with wicked devils in hell (and I see be- fore mine eyes presently either heaven ready to receive me, or else hell ready to swallow me up) ; I shall therefore declare unto you my very faith, how I believe, without any color of dissimulation ; for now is no time to dissemble, whatsoever I have said or written in times past." He then repeated the Apostles' creed, and declared his belief in every article of the true Catholic faith, every word and sentence taught by our Saviour, his Apostles, and prophets, and in the New and Old Testament. " And now," he continued, " I come to the great thing which troubleth my conscience more than anything that ever I said or did in my whole life, and that is, the setting abroad of writings contrary to the truth ; which now HERE I RENOUNCE AND REFUSE as things written with rny hand, contrary to the truth which I thought in my heart." Hitherto, with con- summate skill, the martyr had avoided a single word which could indicate to his .popish persecutors the unexpected blow they were about to receive. Up to this time, probably, the multitude of Romanists had expected him to confirm his recantation, and sup- posed that the writings to which he had just referred and which he now renounced were those which he had published in opposition to the doctrines of Rome. This illu&ion was dissipated, when, in the next sentence, he spoke of those writings as " written for fear of death, and to save my life, if it might be : and that is, ail such bills and papers ns I have written or signed with my hand since my de- gradation, wherein I have written many things untrue. Cranmer'a Renunciation of his Recantation in St. Mary's Church, Oxford. Martyrdom of Cranmer. The hand that hath sinned, that hand shall first suffer." CHAP, n.] POPERY DRUNK WITH BLOOD OF SAINTS. 561 Rage of the papists at Cranmer's noble confession. His unflinching constancy in the flames. " And," proceeded Cranmer, " forasmuch as my hand offended, writing contrary to my heart, my hand shall first be punished there- fore ; for may I come to the fire, it shall be first burnt !" He had time to add, " As for the Pope, I refuse him as anti- Christ; and as for the Sacrament, I believe as I have taught in my book against the bishop of Winchester, the which my book teacheth so true a doctrine of the Sacrament, that it shall stand at the last day before the judgment of God, When the papistical doctrine, contrary thereto, shall be ashamed to show her face." 13. At this unexpected and noble confession, Cole and the rest of the popish priests, monks and laymen, were too much as- tonished to interrupt him, or he would not have been suffered to proceed so far. At length, an uproar was raised which prevented him from proceeding ; Cole foaming with rage, cried from the pul- pit " Stop the heretic's mouth, and take him away," and the priests and friars rushed upon him, and tore him from the stage, on which he was standing. (See Engraving.) Cranmer was quickly hurried to the stake, prepared on the spot where Latimer and Ridley had suffered five months before. The venerable martyr had now overcome the weakness of his nature; and, after a short prayer, put off his clothes with a cheerful coun- tenance and willing mind, and stood upright in his shirt, which came down to his feet. His feet were bare ; his head, when both his caps were off, appeared perfectly bald, but his beard was long and thick, and his countenance so venerable, that it moved even his enemies to compassion. Two Spanish friars, who had been chiefly instrumental in obtaining his recantation, continued to ex- hort him ; till, perceiving that their efforts were vain, one of them said, ' Let us leave him, for the devil is with him !' Ely, who was afterward president of St. John's, still continued urging him to re- pentance. Cranmer replied, he repented his recantation ; and in the spirit of charity offered his hand to Ely, as to others, when he bade him farewell ; but the obdurate bigot drew back, and reproved those who had accepted such a farewell, telling them it was not lawful to act thus with one who had relapsed into heresy. Once more he called upon him to stand to his recantation. Cranmer stretched forth his right arm, and replied, " THIS is THE HAND THAT WROTE IT, AND THEREFORE IT SHALL SUFFER PUNISHMENT FIRST." True to this purpose, as soon as the flame arose, he held his hand out to meet it, and retained it there steadfastly, so that all the peo- ple saw it sensibly burning before the fire reached any other part of his body ; and often he repeated with a loud and firm voice, " TlIIS HAND HATH OFFENDED ! THIS UNWORTHY RIGHT HAND." (See Engraving.) Never did martyr endure the fire with more invincible resolu- tion ; no cry was heard from him, save the exclamation of the protomartyr Stephen, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit !" He stood immoveable as the stake to which he was bound, his countenance raised, looking to heaven, and anticipating that rest iuto which he 562 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vnv "First perish thb unworthy hand." Cranraer's martyrdom, injurious to the cause of Rome was about to enter ; and thus, " in the greatness of the flame," he yielded up his spirit. The fire did its work soon, . . . and his heart was found unconsumed amid the ashes. The pile is lit the flames ascend ; Yet peace is in the martyr's face ; And unseen visitants attend That chief of England's priestly race j Mightier in peril's darkest hour, Than when enthroned in rank and power Steadfast he stood in that fierce flame, As standing in his own high hall : He said, as sadness o'er him came, Remembrance of his mournful fall Stretching it to the burning brand " FIRST PERISH THIS UNWORTHY HAND !" Thy foul and cruel deed, O Rome ! Was vain ; that blazing funeral pyre Where Cranmer died, did soon become To England as a beacon fire ; And he hath left a glorious name, Victorious over Rome and flame. "Of all the martyrdoms during this great persecution," says Dr. Southey, " this was in all its circumstances the most injurious to the Romish cause. It was a manifestation of inveterate and deadly malice toward one who had borne his elevation with almost unex- ampled meekness. It effectually disproved the argument on which the Romanists rested, that the constancy of our martyrs proceeded not from confidence in their faith, and the strength which they de- rived therefrom ; but from vainglory, the pride of consistency, and the shame of retracting what they had so long professed. Such deceitful reasoning could have no place here : Cranmer had re- tracted ; and the sincerity of his contrition for that sin was too plain to be denied, too public to be concealed, too memorable ever to be forgotten. The agony of his repentance had been seen by thousands ; and tens of thousands had witnessed how, when that agony was past, he stood calm and immoveable amid the flames ; a patient and willing holocaust ; triumphant, not over his persecu- tors alone, but over himself, over the mind as well as the body, over fear and weakness, as well as death."* 14. For upwards of two years and a half from the martyr- dom of Cranmer, a mysterious providence permitted the papists of England to glut their bigot rage in the slaughter of the lambs and the sheep of Christ's fold who refused to subscribe to the doctrines of Rome. At length the time of deliverance approached. The last of these bloody sacrifices to the popish Moloch was made on the 10th of November, only one week previous to the death of queen Mary, in the burning alive of three men and two women at * Southey's Book of the Church, chap. xiv. CHAP. IL] POPERY DRUNK WITH THE BLOOD OF SAINTS. 563 The last burning in the reign of bloody Mary. Joy of the people at her death. Elizabeth and the Pope. Canterbury, for denying transubstantiation and the worship of images. The names of this last company of victims who brought up " the noble army of martyrs " of the Marian persecution, were John Corneford, John Hurst, Christopher Brown, Alice Snoth, and Catharine Tinley. The last was an aged and helpless woman, whose years and debility, one would have thought, might awaken pity even in the breast of a savage. But popish bigotry knows no pity ; and the feeble and withered body of the aged saint was con- sumed to ashes in the torturing flames. From the burning pile of this last company of martyrs, the prayer arose from the lips of the sufferers that their blood might be the last that should be thus shed, in England, for the truth ; and God heard that prayer. One week after, on the 17th of November, the merciless bigot-queen was called before a higher tribunal to give an account of the innocent blood that she had poured out like water during her brief but terrible reign. Mary died in the morning. Before night the bells of all the churches in London were rung for the accession of Elizabeth, and amidst the lamentations of popish bigots that some of their victims had escaped, a shout of rapture went up from the hearts of the people that the work of blood was done ; and bonfires and illuminations testified the general joy that the reign of terror and of Rome was over. 15. Great was the sorrow and disappointment of that bloody persecutor and promoter of the Inquisition, pope Paul IV., at hear- ing of the death of his " faithful daughter," Mary, and the accession of her protestant sister Elizabeth to the throne of England. In answer to the ambassador sent to the court of Rome, in common with the other European courts, the Pope replied in a haughty style, " That England was held in fee of the apostolic See. . . . that it was great boldness in her to assume the crown without his consent ; for which, in reason, she deserved no favor at Iris hands ; yet, if she would RENOUNCE HER PRETENSIONS, and refer herself wholly to him, he would show a fatherly affection towards her, and do every- thing for her that he could CONSISTENTLY WITH THE DIGNITY OF THK APOSTOLIC SEE !"* Elizabeth treated these kind proposals of his Holiness with just the attention they merited, and a few years afterward was excom- municated and deposed by pope Pius V., and her subjects absolved from their allegiance and forbidden to obey her, under penalty of the same anathema ! ! This important instrument of papal ven- geance renews all the obsolete pretensions of Hildebrand and Boni- face, and is especially valuable as an exhibition of the feelings of ap- probation and regard on the part of the anti-Christian popes of Rome toward that bloody persecutor of God's saints, queen Mary ; and their bitter hatred toward her sister Elizabeth, who had put an end to those scenes of horror and of blood. The original bull, in Latin, may be found in the collection of * Burnet'e Hist, of the Reformation, vol. ii., p. 580. 564 HISTORY OF ROMANISM. [BOOK vm. Copy of the bull of pope Pius, excommunicating and deposing queen Elizabeth. records at the end of Burnet's History of the Reformation. The following is a translation of the most important part : Excommunication and deposition of queen Elizabeth of England. " PlUS, &C., FOR A FUTURE MEMORIAL OF THE MATTER. He that reign- eth on high, to whom is given all power in Heaven and on Earth, committed one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, out of which there is no salvation, to one alone upon earth, to Peter the Prince of the Apostles, and to Peter's successor the Bishop of Rome, to be governed in fullness of power. HIM ALONE HE MADE PRINCE OVER ALL PEOPLE, AND ALL KINGDOMS, to pluck up, destroy, scatter, con- sume. plant and build, &c. . . . But the number of the ungodly hath gotten such power, that there is now no place left in the whole world, which they have not essayed to corrupt with their most wicked doctrines. Amongst others, Elizabeth, the pretended Queen of England, a slave of wickedness, lending thereunto her helping- hand, with whom, as in a sanctuary, the most pernicious of all men have found a refuge ; this very woman having seized on the king- dom, and monstrously usurping the place of the Supreme Head of the church in all England, and the chief authority and jurisdiction thereof, hath again brought back the same kingdom into miserable destruction, which was then newly reduced to the faith, and to good order. For having by strong hand, inhibited the exercise of THE TRUE RELIGION, WHICH MARY THE LAWFUL QlJEEN, OF FAMOUS MEMORY, HAD, BY THE HELP OF THIS SEE, RESTORED, after it had been formerly overthrown by King Henry VIII., a revolter therefrom, and follow- ing and embracing the errors of heretics, she hath removed the royal council, consisting of the English nobility, and filled it with obscure men, being heretics ; hath oppressed the embracers of the Roman faith, hath placed impious preachers, ministers of iniquity, and abolished the sacrifice of the mass, prayers, fastings, distinction of meats, a single life, and the rites and ceremonies ; hath com- manded books to be read in the whole realm, containing manifest heresy, &c. . . . She hath not only contemned the godly re- quests and admonitions of princes, concerning her healing, and coi> version, but also hath not so much as permitted the Nuncios of this See to cross the seas into England, &c. . . . We do, there- fore, out of the fulness of our Apostolic power, declare the afore- said Elizabeth, being a heretic, and a favorer of heretics, and her adherence in the matter aforesaid, to have incurred the sentence of anathema, and to be cut off from the. unity of the body of Christ. And, moreover, we do declare her to be deprived of her PRETENDED TITLE to the kingdom aforesaid, and of all dominion, dignity, and privilege whatsoever : and also the nobility, subjects, and people of the said kingdom, and all others which have in any sort 'sworn unto her, to be for ever absolved from any such oath, and all manner of duty, of dominion, allegiance, and obedience ; as we also do, by the authority of these presents, ABSOLVE THEM, AND DO DEPRIVE THE SAME ELIZABETH OF HER PRETENDED TITLE TO THE KINGDOM, and all other things aforesaid. And we do command and interdict all and every I CHAP. ni.J POPERY DRUNK WITH THE BLOOD OF SAINTS. 567 Original of the bull excommunicating Elizabeth note. The Holy Inquisition one of the noblemen, subjects, people, and others aforesaid, that they presume not to obey her, or her admonitions, mandates, and laws ; and those who shall do the contrary, we do innodate with the like sentence of ANATHEMA.* " Given at St. Peter's at Rome, in the year 1569, and the 5th of our pontificate." CHAPTER III. THE INQ.UI3ITION. SEIZURE OF THE VICTIMS. MODES OF TORTURE, AND CELEBRATION OF THE AUTO DA FE. 16 . OF all the inventions of popish cruelty the Holy Inquisi- tion is fhe masterpiece. We have already referred to its establish- ment by Saint Dominic, in the thirteenth century. For the history of this destructive engine of papal cruelty, we must refer to any, or all of the authentic works of Llorente, Puigblanch, Limborch, Stockdale, Geddes, Dellon, and other historians of the Inquisi- tion. All that we shall undertake will be a brief description of the treatment, tortures, and burnings of the unfortunate beings who writhed under its iron rod of oppression. The adjoining engraving represents an exterior view of one of the gloomy prisons of the Inquisition in that country, which, more than any other, has been oppressed and crushed by this horrid tribunal, un- happy Spain. It is copied from a drawing taken on the spot by David Roberts, Esq. (