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LIBRARY 

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Theological    Seniinary. 

PRINCETON,    N.  J. 

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HISTORY 


PRIESTCRAFT 


IN  ALL  AGE^j^D  NATIONS. 

BY    WILLIAM  "hOWITT 


EDITED    BY 

A   CLERGYMAN   OF   NEW-YORK. 


Help  us  to  save  free  Gospel  from  the  paw 

Of  hireling  wolves,  whose  conscience  is  their  maw. — MiLTOH. 


LONDON: 

PUBLISHED  BY  EFFINGHAM  WILSON. 
NEW-YORK: 

REPRINTED  FOR  THE  BOOKSELLERS. 

18  33. 


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■-*5v> 


ADVERTISEMENT.  t^^;^-'' 


' .  ,-r!i  Vv  ^"  ' ' 


This  little  work  presents  a  concise  and  concen- 
trated view  of  universal  Priestcraft,  to  strengthen 
the  present  disposition  to  abate  that  nuisance  in 
England:  and,  I  think,  it  will  be  sufficient  to 
establish  any  disinterested  person  in  the  convic- 
tion, that  Priestcraft  is  one  of  the  greatest  curses 
which  has  afflicted  the  earth  ;  and  in  the  per- 
suasion, that  till  its  hydra  heads  are  crushed 
there  can  be  no  perfect  liberty  :  for  nothing  is 
more  certain  than  that  priests  have,  in  all  ages, 
followed  one  system — that  of  availing  themselves 
of  the  superstitions  of  the  people  for  their  own 
interested  motives ;  and  nothing  better  attested 
than  the  crimes  and  delusions  of  that  order  of 
men  treated  of  in  this  volume. 

Tliere  will  be  some  who  will  exclaim,  Oh  ! 
the  author  is  a  dissenter  !— I  am  a  dissenter  ; 
and  one  of  the  most  sturdy  and  ceremony-despis- 
ing class;  and  therefore,  having  deserted  "the 
beggarly  elements"  of  state  creeds,  am  more 
anxious  to  release  my  fellow-men  from  the  thral- 
dom of  state  priests.  I  am  a  dissenter;  and 
therefore,  feeling  the  burden  and  the  injustice  of 
being  compelled  to  support  a  system  whose  utility 
I  deny,  and  whose  corruptions  need  no  proof, 
I  have  the  greater  reason  to  raise  my  voice 
against  it. 

Nottingham,  June  iih,  1833. 

a2 


INVOCATION. 


Oh  '  Truth !  immortal  Truth  !  on  what  wild  ground 
Stili  hast  thou  trod  through  this  unspintual  sphere  ! 
The  strong,  the  brutish,  and  the  vile  surround 
Thy  presence,  lest  thy  streaming  glory  cheer 
The  poor,  the  many,  without  price,  or  bound. 
Drowning  thy  voice,  they  fill  the  popular  ear, 
In  thy  high  name,  with  canons,  creeds,  and  laws, 
Feigning  to  serve,  that  they  may  mar  thy  cause. 

And  the  great  multitude  doth  crouch  and  bear 

The  burden  of  the  selfish.    That  emprise,— 

That  lofty  spirit  of  Virtue  which  can  dare 

To  rend  the  bands  of  error  from  all  eyes. 

And  from  the  freed  soul  pluck  each  sensual  caxe, 

To  them  is  but  a  fable.    Therefore  lies 

Darkness  upon  the  mental  desert  stiil. 

And  wolves  devour,  and  robbers  walk  at  will. 

Yet,  ever  and  anon,  from  thy  bright  quiver, 
The  flaming  arrows  of  thy  might  are  strown; 
And  riishing  forth,  thy  dauntless  children  shiv'er 
The  strength  of  foes  who  press  too  near  thy  throne. 
Then,  like  the  sun,  or  thy  Almighty  Giver, 
Thy  light  is  through  the  startled  nations  shown ; 
And  generous  indignation  tramples  down 
The  sophist's  web,  and  the  oppressor's  crown. 

Oh !  might  it  bum  for  ever  !     But  in  vain— 
For  vengeance  ralhes  the  alarmed  host. 
Who  from  men's  souls  draw  their  dishonest  gam. 
For  thee  they  smite,  audaciously  they  boast, 
Even  while  thy  sons  are  in  thy  bosom  slam. 
Yet  this  is  thy  sure  solace— that  not  lost. 
Each  drop  of  blood,  each  tear,— Cadmean  seed, 
Shall  send  up  armed  champions  at  thy  need. 
1627.  W.H, 


INTRODUCTION. 

BY     THE     AMERICAN     EDITOR, 


The  following  delineation  of  Priestcraft,  by  Hewitt, 
the  Quaker  poet,  is  devoted  to  a  very  interesting  and 
prolific  subject.  Mr.  Howitt's  volume  is  designed  to 
aid  in  the  grand  modern  employment  of  "  turning  the 
world  upside  down ;"  and  doubtless  it  will  contribute 
to  that  glorious  achievement.  It  is  a  book  of  conden- 
sation, and  comprises  a  great  variety  of  historical 
facts,  all  brought,  as  a  resistless  battery,  to  storm  the 
citadel  of  English  Priestcraft.  The  purpose  is  good, 
and  the  execution  in  many  respects  successful ;  but 
Mr.  Hewitt,  in  the  ardour  of  the  contest,  has  sometimes 
mistaken  his  friends  for  his  foes ;  or  rather  has  fancied 
that  his  strongest  coadjutors  are  traitors  to  the  cause 
of  liberty,  truth,  and  religion. 

This  history  of  Priestcraft  among  the  ancient  and 
modern  idolaters  in  the  various  countries  of  the  world 
is  a  concise  but  clear  development  of  the  rise  and 
progress  of  that  unholy  domination,  which  priests, 
in  all  ages,  constantly  grasped  and  perpetuated. 
"  Whether  the  Arkite  theory  be  correct  or  not,  no- 
thing is  more  certain  than  that  paganism  had  one 
common  origin  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world,"  after 
the  Flood  :  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  was  invented 
by  knaves,  who  first  contrived  to  brutalize  the  people, 
and  then  to  exalt  themselves  upon  the  ignorance  which 
they  had  originated  and  cherished.  Of  the  three 
prominent  exhibitions  of  Priestcraft  in  this  volume — 
the  cause,  the  methods,  the  criminality,  and  the  mis- 
chiefs have  been  identical,  only  modified  and  varying 
as  other  circumstances  Imve  operated  to  aggrandize 


yj  INTRODUCTION. 

or  dimmish  the  arrogance  and  rapacity  of  those  um-e- 
lenting  despots. 

The  priests  of  Baal,  and  Astarte,  and  Moloch,  m  the 
East ;  the  priests  of  Jupiter,  Bacchus,  and  Venus,  in 
Cyprus,  Greece,  and  Rome  ;  the  priests  of  the  papal 
"ten  horns  of  the  beast,"  these  modem  Babylonian 
astrologers  and  magicians,   and  their  "regular   suc- 
cessors" the    shrine-making  priests    connected  with 
"  the  Church  of  England,"  established  by  act  of  parlia- 
ment, and  in  alliance  with  the  state,  all  bear  the  same 
general  characteristics.     They  are  the  offspring  ot 
human    corruption— they    govern    through    tyrannic 
usurpation-they   are    dressed   nearly    m   the    same 
official   exterior  robes— they  are   supported  by  the 
same    ungodly   means— they   avow    similar    unholy 
objects,  their  own  lordly  advancement,  and  the  degra- 
dation of  their  vassals— and  the  miseries  which  they 
have  inflicted  have  been  of  the  same  quality,  and,  as  tar 
as  other  circumstances  admitted,  co-extensive.    There 
is  one  fact,  however,  which,  in  reference  to  Mr.  Howitt  s 
peculiar  object,  the  exposure  of  the  abommations  in 
the  Encrlish  and  Irish  state  hierarchies,  it  is  astonish- 
ing that  he  should  have  omitted,  and  which  has  seldom 
been  brought  up  in  bold  relief  before  the  pub  he  eye ; 
we  mean,  the  comparative  barbarity  of  the  old  popish 
monks  and  friars  in  England,  with  the  cruelty  of  their 
more  modern  successors  the  nominal  Protestant  eccle- 
siastics, who   are  the   mere    creatures    of  the    civil 
government.       The  Apostle  John,   when    m  Patmos 
he  saw  the  scarlet-robed  Babylonish  mother  of  harlots 
drunk  with  the  blood  of  saints  and  the  martyrs  oi 
Jesus,  wondered  with  great  admiration;  and  well  he 
might,  for  who  can  recount  the  number  of  Christians 
whom  she  has  slaughtered;  who  can  measure  the 
blood  which  she  has  gorged?  and  with  which  she  is 
not  yet  satisfied,— while,  like  the  craving  horse-leech, 
she  still  cries,  "Give,  give!"     But  did  he  not  also 
behold   in   his  vision,   and  marvel    at   the   beldams 
eldest  daughter?     For  it  is  a  surprising  fact,  that  m 
Britain,  the  Protestant  hierarchy,  so  called,  has  been 


INTRODUCTION.  VU 

the  wicked  cause  of  indescribably  more  religious  per- 
secution, torment,  and  bloodshed  than  even  the  beast 
himself. 

We  justly  denounce  the  arrogance  of  Henry  VIII. ; 
but  did  not  James  I.,  Charles  I.,  Charles  II.,  and 
James  II.  exhibit  equal  despotic  malignity?  We  call 
Mary  the  bloody  queen,  and  she  deserves  the  appropri- 
ate title  ;  but  was  not  Elizabeth  her  own  sister,  "  whose 
crimes  exceeded  the  other  fury's  thoughts  ?"  W^e 
execrate  Gardiner  and  Bonner ;  but  were  Aylmer, 
Laud,  Sheldon,  and  scores  of  others  one  particle  in- 
ferior in  injustice,  cruelty,  irreligion,  and  every  other 
crime  ?  What  peopled  North  America  ? — the  racks 
and  tortures,  the  famine  and  wretchedness,  the  rob- 
beries and  prisons,  the  sufferings  and  deaths,  occa- 
sioned by  incessant  religious  persecution  ;  not  papists 
pursuing  and  exterminating  their  detested  heretics ; 
but  Protestant  priests,  with  popish  hearts,  destroying 
their  own  avowed  brethren.  In  reference  to  Britain, 
where  Roman  butchers  slaughtered  hundreds — their 
Episcopalian  sons  tormented  thousands.  There  are 
Marian  fires  and  Laudean  mutilations — there  is  a 
Parisian  massacre,  and  the  puritan's  prison,  all  Eng- 
land— there  is  the  papal  slaughter-house,  Ireland ; 
and  Scotland,  the  Episcopal  aceldama — there  is  the 
Jesuit  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantz,  and  its  more 
flagrant  counterpart ;  the  impious  acts  of  uniformity, 
with  the  sacramental  test,  and  the  other  Babylonish 
methods  of  compelling  consciences,  the  fiery  furnace, 
and  the  den  of  lions,  called  the  Bishop's  Court.  But 
we  desist  from  additional  and  not  less  appalling  paral- 
lels, probably  in  the  sight  of  God  still  more  criminal ; 
except  that,  like  the  popish  priests  in  all  the  dominions 
governed  by  the  pontiff  of  Rome,  nine-tenths  of  the 
Episcopalian  priests  in  England  have  ever  been,  as 
they  are  at  this  day,  the  unflinching  stanch  sup- 
porters of  the  kingcraft,  and  the  oppression  and 
miseries  of  the  people  ;  and  the  unyielding  opponents 
of  eveiy  measure  which  may  extend  the  rights  of 
man,  the  principles  of  civil  and  religious  freedom. 


▼Ill  INTRODUCTION. 

genuine  intelligence,  the  melioration  of  society,  and 
the  progress  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  In  short,  Priest- 
craft is  a  monster  despatched  from  hell  to  earth,  which, 
like  the  fabled  siren,  first  charms  to  sleep,  and  then 
devours  its  unpitied  victims.  We  heartily  unite  with 
Mr.  Howitt  in  hoping  that  every  Englishman  will  do 
his  duty, — chain  the  monster,  tie  a  huge  millstone 
round  his  neck,  and  cast  him  into  the  depths  of  the 
sea,  to  be  found  no  more  at  all  for  ever.  But  we  must 
also  remember,  that  the  spirit  and  principle  which  in- 
duce men  to  arrogate  to  themselves  exclusive  Chris- 
tianity— which  haughtily  asserts,  that  no  man  can  be- 
come a  "  member  of  Christ,  a  child  of  God,  and  an 
inheritor  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  uadess  an  Episco- 
palian priest  makes  a  cross  on  his  forehead — that  no 
man  belongs  to  the  covenant  of  mercy,  or  can  receive 
the  grace  of  God,  unless  it  is  confirmea  to  him.,  and 
communicated  through  Episcopal  fingers — that  no  man 
is  authorized  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  that  he  is  a 
"  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing,"  miless  he  can  prove  his 
regular  succession  from  Peter,  through  that  horde  of 
profligate  banditti  called  Popes  of  Rome,  down  to  that 
exemplary  son  of  the  mother  of  harlots,  the  Bishop 
of  Derry;  and  that  modern  "  hierophantic"  persecutor, 
and  marvellously  spiritually-minded  man,  John  Moore, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury — and  that  all  evangelical 
preaching,  all  Christian  ordinances,  all  scriptural  insti- 
tutions, all  faith,  all  hope,  all  love,  all  knowledge,  all 
peace,  all  obedience,  and  all  piety  in  possession  and 
prospect,  are  a  delusion,  utterly  null  and  void,  miless 
they  are  connected  with  an  abridged  popish  liturgy, 
and  an  unscriptural  form  of  church  government  and 
discipline — the  temper  and  resolution  which  actuate 
priests  to  assert,  as  "  without  error,"  these  anti  chris- 
tian dogmas ;  in  other  times,  in  different  circum- 
stances, and  proudly  maintained  by  men  unsanctified 
and  unrestrained  by  Divine  Providence,  would  produce 
a  rc-cxhibition  of  all  the  most  (hreful  and  sanguinaiy 
horrors,  which  Antiochus  or  Dioclesian,  Gregory  or 
Innocent,  Bonner  or  Laud,  or  even  Dominic  himself 


INTRODUCTION,  IX 

ever  invented,  to  destroy  the  bodies  and  agonize  the 
souls  of  the  followers  of  the  Lamb. 

It  is  to  be  regretted,  however,  that  Mr.  Howitt,  in 
the  following  work,  has  not  developed  more  discrimi- 
nation between  the  Divine  appointments  and  the  off- 
spring of  human  corruption — and  between  the  legiti- 
mate institutions  of  Jehovah  in  his  mercy  to  mankind, 
and  the  superadditions  made  by  priestly  arrogance, 
rapacity,  and  ambition.  The  Priestcraft  of  the  various 
ancient  and  existing  idolatrous  nations,  and  the  eccle- 
siastical despotism  of  that  modern  Babylon,  Rome, 
and  the  hierarchical  system  of  that  triple-headed  state 
monster,  in  common  parlance  called  "the  Church  of 
England,"  all  are  doubtless  of  the  '*  earth,  earthy;" 
and  as  they  bear  "  the  image  of  the  earthy,  they 
also  are  earthy."  But  the  Jewish  priesthood  and 
the  Christian  ministry,  severed  from  all  corrupt  and 
worldly  mixtures,  "  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly, 
and  are  heavenly." 

Mr.  Howitt  is  a  believer  in  the  Christian  reli- 
gion; and  therefore  should  not  have  classified  the 
direct  ordinances  of  God  for  the  benefit  of  the  hu- 
m^n  race,  with  the  inventions  of  the  dragon,  and 
the  machinations  of  the  beast,  which  curse  and  deso- 
late mankind.  No  man  but  a  hardened  infidel  will 
pretend  that  the  official  authority  and  acts  of  Eleazar, 
Phinehas,  Samuel,  Zadok,  Jehoiada,  Joshua,  and  Ezra, 
with  the  other  priests  who  exemplified  the  same  piety, 
wisdom,  philanthropy,  and  every  other  virtue,  per- 
sonal and  social;  and  that  the  station  which  they 
filled,  and  the  acts  which  they  performed,  were  in  any 
measure  connected  with  the  Priestcraft  which  Mr. 
Howitt  so  accurately  describes,  and  so  properly  de- 
nounces. It  is  therefore  not  only  unjust  but  mischiev- 
ous, to  place  these  men  in  apposition  with  Annas 
and  Caiaphas  and  their  successors  in  villany  and 
apostacy ;  and  then  to  desecrate  the  theocracy  of  the 
Jews  as  equally  base  with  the  turpitude  of  an  Indian 
Brahmin,  the  atheism  of  a  profiigate  Leo,  or  the 
knavery  and  licentiousness  of  the  Vicars  of  Bray.    The 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

same  exception  may  be  made  in  a  minor  degree  to 
Mr.  Howitt's  want  of  distinctness  in  reference  to  the 
Christian  ministry.  We  object  not  to  the  indignant 
aversion  whicli  he  displays,  either  for  popery  or  for 
the  Priestcraft  established  by  the  British  government, 
— let  those  parasites  defend  them  who  can  :  we  oelieve 
them  both  to  be  parts  of  "  the  mystery  of  iniquity,  and 
the  working  of  Satan ;"  but  we  maintain  that  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other  have  any  more  relation  to  Chris- 
tianity than  that  they  have,  Satan-like,  assumed  a 
Christian  name,  more  successfully  to  execute  their 
unhallowed  scheme  as  agents  of  the  adversary  of  souls, 
to  deceive  their  blinded  followers  into  the  ditch  of 
perdition.  We  speak  not  of  individuals.  Mr.  Howitt 
justly  remarks,  there  are  many  excellent  persons  who 
profess  to  belong  to  "  the  Church  of  England"  whom 
he  knows ;  and  there  are,  without  doubt,  many  followers 
of  Christ  nominally  included  in  the  mystical  Babylon, — 
but  they  have  discarded  the  "  wood,  hay,  and  stubble" 
which  encumbered  them — because  it  is  a  universal 
rule  without  an  exception,  that  persons  wiio  are 
nominal  adherents  of  the  papacy  and  of  the  English 
hierarchy  are  pious,  enlightened,  spiritually-minded, 
and  consistent  Christians,  in  exact  proportion  as  they 
abandon  the  peculiar  characters  of  the  Priestcraft 
which  environs  them.  This  is  true  everywhere.  No 
man  but  an  obdurate  skeptic,  therefore,  will  pretend  that 
the  Christian  ministry,  in  its  legitimate  appointment 
and  evangelical  duties,  being  the  direct  institution  of 
the  gracious  Redeemer,  under  any  modification,  is  re- 
lated to  that  Priestcraft  which  Mr.  Howitt  devotes  to 
condign  destruction.  Is  there  no  dillerence  between 
Peter  and  Judas,  and  Paul  and  Tertullus  ?  Is  there 
no  distinction  between  John  the  Apostle  and  Deme- 
trius the  shrine-maker  of  Diana  ?  Is  there  no  con- 
trast between  the  synagogue  of  Satan  and  Polycarp 
of  Smyrna?  Can  we  perceive  no  contrariety  between 
Dominic,  and  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague  ? 
Were  Luther  and  Leo  identical  ?  Were  Cranmer  and 
Bonner  twin-brothers  ?     Did  Whitgift  and  Cartwright, 


INTRODUCTION.  JQ 

or  Laud  and  Owen,  or  Sheldon  and  Calamy,  or  Ward 
and  Baxter,  or  Warburton  and  WhitlEield,  or  Lavingtpn 
and  Wesley,  belong  to  the  same  order  of  servants  of 
Jesus  Christ  ?  The  catalogue  might  be  indefinitely 
extended ;  and  the  scrutiny  would  develop  that  Mr. 
Howitt's  monster  Priestcraft  and  the  Christian  minis- 
try, in  its  strictly  executed  functions,  are  separated 
by  the  impassable  gulf. 

It  will  be  requisite,  therefore,  for  the  reader  of  the 
ensuing  "History  of  Priestcraft,"  constantly  to  re- 
member the  above  discriminating  marks,  that  his  mind 
may  not  be   confused  with  Mr.  Howitt's  incidental 
censures ;  and   especially  when  he   commences  the 
perusal  of  the  chapters  devoted  to  popery  and  the 
English  ecclesiastical  establishment.    Mr.  Howitt  be- 
longs to  the  Society  of  Friends ;  and  some  of  his 
statements,  of  course,  are  unavoidably  tinctured  by  the 
opinions  which  he  has  thus  imbibed.     His  facts  are 
undeniable ;  but  his   comments,  in  reference  to  the 
Christian    ministry,    must    be    cautiously   received. 
Among  almost  all  the  English  dissenters,  the  abomi- 
nations of  Priestcraft  are  part  of  their  domestic  his- 
tory.    The  spirit-stirring  narrative  of  the  sufferings, 
imprisonment,  and  premature  death  of  their  puritan 
and  non-conformist  ancestors,  through  the  peculation 
and    iron-hearted    savageness    of    their   persecutors, 
is  their   patrimonial    heir-loom.      Like    the    Scotch 
descendants   from  the  old  Covenanters;  the  memory 
of  their  tortured  or  murdered  forefathers  is  the  tale 
of  tiieir  firesides.     It  is  one  of  the  first  stories  which 
they  imbibe  from  their  Christian  mothers ;  it  is  the 
impressive  record  enforced  by  their  intelligent,  stern 
principled,  Caleb-like  fathers — in  the  mind  and  heart 
almost  of  infancy,  like  Doddridge,  learning  the  Scrip- 
tures from  the  painted  tiles,  it  is  planted :  it  "  grows 
with  their  growth,  and  strengthens  with  their  strength," 
in  ever-fresh  and  ever-living  remembrance ;  and  when- 
ever they  talk  or  think  of  "  the  spirits  of  just  men 
made  perfect,"   they  always  imbody  with  them  the 
persons  of  the  persecuted,  but  sainted  dead  of  their 


Xii  INTRODUCTION. 

own  name  and  blood.     The  lesson  is  most  salutary, 
and  scarcely  ever  forgotten. 

In  these  recollections  and  impressive  facts  the 
Friends  largely  participate  ;  and  the  memorial  with 
them  is  probably  more  vividly  ever  kept  awake  by 
their  refusal  voluntarily  to  pay  the  exactions  made 
upon  them  by  the  ecclesiastical  "  hirelings"  of  the 
government.  The  mynnidons  of  the  bishops,  or 
rectors,  or  vicars  always  rob  by  law  the  property  of 
the  Friends  for  tithes,  Easter  olferings,  and  the  other 
numberless  church  plunder,  which  they  so  iniquitoasly- 
purloin.  These  violations  of  equity  and  religion  form 
a  constant  part  of  the  details  at  the  various  meetings 
of  the  Friends  ;  so  that  the  fire  of  hatred  to  "  hireling 
priests"  and  thieving  Priestcraft,  never  goes  out  for 
want  of  wood.  These  facts  will  partially  account  for 
Mr.  Howitt's  indiscriminate  censures,  and  for  his  con- 
founding of  principles,  men,  and  institutions,  which 
have  no  more  real  connexion  than  the  truth  of  God 
with  the  wiles  of  Satan  ;  or  the  wickedness  of  a  rapa- 
cious ruffian  Jesuit,  with  the  benevolence,  and  compas- 
sion, and  piety  of  Howard  the  philanthropist. 

This  volume  was  written,  as  Mr.  Howitt  declares, 
"without  fear  of  one  class  of  men  or  hope  from 
another ;  his  only  motive,  justice  to  all  and  kindness 
to  the  poor ;  his  only  object,  the  spread  of  truth  and 
knowledge,  without  asking  what  is  politic^  but  what  is 
right;  and  as  abuse  and  hostility  are  the  certain  fate 
of  every  one  who  defends  the  truth — let  that  be  as  it 
may." 

New-York,  September  26,  1833. 


PRIESTCRAFT  IN  ALL  AGES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GEIVTERAL    VIEW    OF    PRIESTCRAFT. 

The  two  evil  Principles,  Kingcraft  and  Priestcraft,  coeval  in  their 
Origin— Innumerable  Historians  of  the  one,  but  none  singly  and 
entirely  of  the  other— The  real  and  monstrous  Character  of  Priest- 
craft—Evil Systems  attacked  in  this  Work  without  mercy,  but 
not  Men. 

This  unfortunate  world  has  been  blasted  in  all  ages 
l)y  two  evil  principles — Kingcraft  and  Priestcraft — 
that,  taking  advantage  of  two  human  necessities,  in 
themselves  not  hard — salutary,  and  even  beneficial  in 
their  natural  operation — the  necessity  of  civil  govern- 
ment, and  that  of  spiritual  instruction,  have  warped 
them  cruelly  from  their  own  pure  direction,  and  con- 
verted them  into  the  most  odious,  the  most  terrible 
and  disastrous  scourges  of  our  race.  These  malign 
powers  have  ever  begun  at  the  wrong  end  of  things. 
Kingcraft,  seizing  upon  the  ofRce  of  civil  government, 
not  as  the  gift  of  popular  choice,  and  to  be  filled  for 
the  good  of  nations,  but  with  the  desperate  hand  of 
physical  violence,  has  proclaimed  that  it  was  not  made 
for  man,  but  man  for  it — that  it  possessed  an  inherent 
and  divine  right  to  rule,  to  trample  upon  men's  hearts, 
to  violate  their  dearest  rights,  to  scatter  their  limbs 
and  their  blood  at  its  pleasure  upon  the  earth  ;  and,  in 
return  for  its  atrocities,  to  be  v\^orshipped  on  bended 
knee,  and  hailed  as  a  god.  Its  horrors  are  on  the  face 
of  ever}'  nation ;  its  annals  are  ^vritten  in  gore  in  all 
civilized  climes ;  and,  where  pen  never  was  known, 
it  has  scored  its  terrors  in  the  hearts  of  millions,  and 


14  PRIESTCRAIT 

left  its  traces  in  deserts  of  everlasting  desolation,  and 
in  the  ferocious  spirits  of  abused  and  brutalized  hordes. 
What  is  all  the  history  of  this  wretched  planet  but  a 
mass  of  its  bloody  wrath  and  detestable  oppressions, 
whereby  it  has  converted  earth  into  a  hell ;  men  into 
the  worst  of  demons  ;  and  has  turned  the  human  mind 
from  its  natural  pursuit  of  knowledge,  and  virtue,  and 
social  happiness,  into  a  career  ot"  blind  rage,  bitter 
and  foolish  prejudices ;  an  entailment  of  awful  and 
crime-creating  ignorance  ;  and  has  held  the  universal 
soul  of  man  in  the  blackest  and  most  pitiable  of  bond- 
age ?  Countless  are  its  historians ;  we  need  not  add 
one  more  to  the  unavailing  catalogue :  but,  of 

That  sister-pest,  congregator  of  slaves 
Into  the  shadow  of  its  pinions  wide, 

I  do  not  know  that  there  has  been  one  man  who  has 
devoted  himself  solely  and  completely  to  the  task  of 
tracing  its  course  of  demoniacal  devastation.  Many 
of  its  fiendish  arts  and  exploits,  undoubtedly,  are  im- 
bodied  in  what  is  called  ecclesiastical  history ;  many 
are  presented  to  us  in  the  chronicles  of  kingcraft ;  for 
the  two  evil  powers  have  ever  been  intimately  united 
in  their  labours.  They  have  mutually  and  lovingly 
supported  each  other ;  knowing  that  individually  they 
are  "  weak  as  stubble,"  yet  conjointly, 

Can  bind 
Into  a  mass  iirefragably  firm 
The  axes  and  the  rods  which  awe  mankind. 

Thus,'  through  this  pestilential  influence,  we  must 
r.dmit  that  too  much  of  its  evil  nature  has  been  forced 
on  our  observation  incidentally  ;  but  no  one  clear  and 
complete  picture  of  it  has  been  presented  to  our  view. 
It  shall  now  be  my  task  to  show  that  priestcraft  in  all 
ages  and  all  nations  has  been  the  same  ;  that  its  nature 
is  one,  and  that  nature  essentially  evil  ;  that  its  object 
is  self-gratification  and  self-aggrandizement ;  the 
means  it  uses — the  basest  frauds,  the  most  shameless 
delusions,  practised  on  the  popular  mind  for  the  acqui- 
sition of  power ;  and   that   power  once  eained,  the 


IN    ALL    AGES.  15 

most  fierce  and  bloody  exercise  of  it,  in  order  to  ren- 
der it  at  once  awful  and  perpetual.  I  shall  show  that 
nothing  is  so  sei-vilely  mean  in  weakness,  so  daring  in 
assumption,  so  arrogant  in  command :  earth,  heaven, 
the  very  throne  and  existence  of  God  himself,  being 
used  but  as  the  tools  of  its  designs,  and  appealed 
to  with  horrible  impudence  in  the  most  shameless  of 
its  lies.  That,  professing  itself  merciful,  nothing  on 
this  earth,  v/hich  is  by  no  means  wanting  in  scenes  of 
terror,  has  ever  exhibited  itself  in  shapes  of  equal 
cruelly — cruelty,  cold,  selfish,  and  impassable  ;  that, 
claiming  sanctity  as  its  peculiar  attribute,  nothing  has 
been  so  grossly  debauched  and  licentious ;  that,  as- 
suming the  mien  of  humility,  nothing  is  so  impiously 
proud,  so  offensively  insolent ;  that,  proclaiming  to 
others  the  utter  vanity  of  worldly  goods,  its  cupidity  is 
insatiable — of  Avorldly  honours,  its  ambition  is  bound- 
less ;  that,  affecting  peace  and  purity,  it  has  per- 
petrated ths  most  savage  wars,  ay,  in  the  very  name 
of  Heaven,  and  spread  far  and  wide  the  contagion  of 
sensuality ;  that,  in  Europe,  usurping  the  chair  of  know- 
ledge, the  office  of  promulgating  the  doctrines  of  a  re- 
ligion whose  very  nature  overflows  with  freedom,  and 
love,  and  liberal  enlightenment,  it  has  locked  up  the 
human  mind  for  more  than  a  thousand  years  in  the 
dens  of  ignorance  ;  mocked  it  with  the  vilest  baubles, 
the  most  imbecile  legends ;  made  it  a  prey  to  all  the 
restless  and  savage  passions  of  an  uncultured  and 
daily  irritated  soul ;  robbed  it  of  the  highest  joys  of 
earth  or  heaven — those  of  the  exercise  of  a  perfected 
intellect  and  a  benevolent  spirit ;  and  finally,  by  its 
tyrannies,  its  childish  puerilities,  its  inane  pomps  and 
most  ludicrous  dogmas,  overwhelmed  the  middle  ages 
with  the  horrors  of  an  iron  bigotry,  and  the  modern 
world  with  the  tenfold  hoiTors  of  infidel  heartlessness 
and  the  wars  of  atheism. 

This  is  a  mighty  and  an  awful  charge.  Alas  !  the 
annals  of  all  people  are  but  too  afiiuent  in  proofs  of  its 
justice.  I  shall  prove  this  through  the  most  popular 
histories,  that  the  general  reader  may,  if  he  please, 


16  PRIESTCRAFT 

easily  refer  to  tliem,  and  be  satisfied  ol"  the  correctness 
of  my  statements.  Whde  I  proceed,  however,  to 
draw  these  })roofs  from  the  most  accessible  works,  1 
shall  carefully  war  alone  with  the  principle,  not  with 
individual  men.  The  Aery  worst  systems  have  often 
involved  in  their  blind  intricacies  the  best  of  men : 
and  in  some  of  those  which  it  will  be  my  duty,  as  a 
man,  to  denounce,  there  have  been,  and  there  are  at 
the  present  moment,  numbers  of  sincere  and  excel- 
lent beings,  who  are  an  honour  and  a  blessing  to  their 
race. 


CHAPTER  II. 


ORIGIN  OF  PAGANISM. 


nism  distinguished  nniversally  by  the  same  great  leading  Prin- 
ciples— Suppo.'^pd  to  originate  in'the  Corruption  of  the  Patriarchal 
ReUgion  alter  the  Flood— Probable  diffusion  of  original  Polytheism 
—Origin  of  the  Doctrine  of  Three  Gods,  in  Greece,  Egypt," Persia, 
Syria,  among  the  Tartars,  Chinese,  Goths,  Americans,' and  others 
—Preservation  of  tlie  Ark  in  the  religious  Ceremonies  of  all  Pagan 
Nations — Doctrine  of  a  Succession  of  Worlds  and  of  a  Deluge — 
Ancient  Mysteries  celebrated,  especially  by  the  Greeks,  Egyptians, 
Hindoos,  and  Druids— Advantage  taken  i)v  Priests  of  this  great 
System  of  Superstition. 

Priestcraft  and  kingcraft  began  at  much  the  same 
time,  an  early  age  of  the  world,  to  exercise  their  bane- 
ful influence  over  it.  Whether  they  existed,  and  if  so, 
what  they  did,  in  the  antediluvian  world,  we  know 
not ;  but  immediately  after  the  flood,  they  became  con- 
spicuous. Niinrod  is  usually  supposed  to  be  the  flrst 
monarch;  the  first  man  who,  not  satisfied  with  the 
mild  patriarchal  rule  over  his  brethren,  is  believed  to 
have  collected  armies,  dispossessed  the  peaceful  chil- 
dren of  Shem  of  part  of  their  territories  by  violence, 
and  swayed  all  whom  he  could  by  the  terrors  of  over- 
whelming force.  Priestcraft,  it  is  evident  by  many 
indubitable    signs,  was  busily  at  work   at  the   same 


IN  ALL  AGES.  17 

moment.  Certain  common  principles  running  through 
idolatrous  worship  in  every  known  part  of  the  globe, 
have  convinced  the  most  acute  and  industrious  anti- 
quarians, that  every  pagan  worship  in  the  world  has 
the  same  origin  ;  and  that  origin  could  have  coincided 
only  with  some  early  period,  when  the  whole  human 
family  was  together  in  one  place.  This  fact,  now  that 
countries,  their  habits  and  opinions,  have  been  so  ex- 
tensively examined,  would  have  led  learned  men  of 
the  present  day,  had  not  the  Bible  been  in  our  posses- 
sion, to  the  confident  conclusion  that  mankind  had,  at 
first,  but  one  source,  and  one  place  of  abode ;  that 
their  religious  opinions  had  been  at  that  time  uniform ; 
and  that,  dispersing  from  that  point  of  original  resi- 
dence, they  had  carried  these  opinions  into  all  regions 
of  the  earth,  where,  through  the  progress  of  ages,  they 
had  received  many  modifications,  been  variously  dark- 
ened and  disfigured,  but  not  to  such  an  extent  as  to  ex- 
tinguish those  great  leading  features  which  mark  them 
as  the  offspring  of  one  primeval  parent.  But  the  Bible 
not  only  shows  that  such  was  the  origin  of  the  various 
human  families,  not  only  shows  the  time  when  they 
dwelt  in  one  place,  when  and  how  they  were  thence 
dispersed,  but  also  furnishes  us  with  a  certain  key  to 
the  whole  theory  of  universal  paganism. 

We  see  at  once  that  every  system  of  heathen  my- 
thology had  its  origin  in  the  corruption  of  patriarchal 
worship  before  the  dispersion  at  Babel.  There  the 
whole  family  of  man  was  collected  in  the  descendants 
of  Noah's  three  sons,  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japhet ;  and 
thence,  at  that  time,  they  were  scattered  abroad  by 
the  hand  of  God  over  the  world.  Japhet  colonized  the 
whole  of  Europe,  all  those  northern  regions  called 
Tartary  and  Siberia,  and,  in  process  of  time,  by  the 
easy  passage  of  Behring's  Straits,  the  entire  continent 
of  America.  His  son  Gomer  seems  clearly  to  have 
been  the  father  of  those  who  were  originally  called 
Gomerians  ;  and  by  slight  variations,  were  afterward 
termed  Comarians,  Cimmerians,  Cymbri,  Cumbri,  Cam- 
bri,  and  Umbri ;  and,  in  later  years,  Celts,  Gauls,  and 


18  PRIESTCRAFT 

Gaels.  These  extended  themselves  over  the  regions 
north  of  Armenia  and  IJactriana  ;  thence  over  nearly 
all  Europe,  and  lirst  planted  Britain  and  Ireland.  Ma- 
gog, Tul)al,  and  Mesech,  as  wc  learn  from  Ezekiel, 
dwelt  far  to  the  north  of  Judea,  and  hccame  the  ances- 
tors of  tlie  great  Sclavonic  or  Sarmatian  families  ;  the 
name  of  Magog  still  existing  in  the  appellations  of 
Mogli,  Monguls,  and  Mongolians  ;  those  of  Tubal  and 
Mesech,  in  Tobolski,  Moschici,  and  Moscow  and  Mos- 
covites  :  Madai  was  fatlier  of  the  ^ledes,  and  Javan 
of  the  original  inhabitants  of  Greece,  where  we  may- 
trace  the  names  of  his  sons  Elishali,  Tarshish,  Kittim, 
and  Dodanim,  in  Elis,  Tarsus,  Cittium,  and  Dodona. 

The  posterity  of  Shem  were  confined  to  southern 
Asia ;  founding  by  his  sons  Elam  or  Persia,  Ashur,  or 
Assyria,  a  province  of  Iran,  or  great  Assyrian  empire 
of  Nimrod,  whose  son  Cush  appears  to  have  subdued 
these  descendants  of  Shem.  Arphaxad  became  the 
father  of  the  Hebrews  and  other  kindred  nations ; 
his  descendant  Peleg  founded  Babylonia  ;  and  Joktan, 
stretching  far  towards  the  east,  probably  became  the 
fatherof  the  Hindoos.  Opiiir,  oneofthesonsof  Joktan, 
is  often  mentioned  in  Scripture  as  dwelling  in  a  land  of 
gold,  to  which  voyages  were  made  by  ships  issuing 
from  the  Red  Sea,  and  sailing  eastward ;  but  Elam 
and  Cush  occupied  the  whole  sea-coast  of  Persia,  as 
far  as  the  Indus.  This,  therefore,  brings  us  to  the 
great  peninsula  of  Hindostan  for  the  seat  of  Ophir. 
Lud,  the  fourth  son  of  Shem,  is  presumed  to  be  the 
founder  of  Lydia ;  and  Aram,  the  fifth,  the  father  of 
Mesopotamia  and  Syria. 

Ham  was  at  first  mixed  with  Shem  throughout 
southern  Asia,  and  became  the  sole  occupant  of  Africa. 
Of  his  sons,  Cush  became  the  founder  of  Iran,  or 
Central  Asia,  the  great  Assyrian  empire,  and  the  pro- 
genitor of  all  those  called  (hishim,  Cushas,  Cuths, 
Goths,  Scuths,  Scyths,  Scots,  or  Gauls.  Mizraim 
peopled  Egypt ;  Phut,  the  Avestern  frontier  of  Egypt, 
and  thence  passing  west  and  south,  spread  over  the 
greater  part  of  Africa :  and  Canaan,  it  is  well  known, 


IN    ALL    AGES.  19 

peopled  the  tract  afterward  inhabited  by  the  Israel- 
ites. 

Thus,  it  is  said,  was  the  world  peopled  ;  and  that  it 
was  thus  peopled,  we  learn  not  only  from  Moses  but 
from  profane  writers ;  and  find  both  accoimts  con- 
firmed by  abundant  evidence  in  the  manners,  tradi- 
tions, language,  and  occupance  of  the  different  races  of 
the  present  day.  Sir  V/illiam  Jones  found  only  three 
great  original  languages  to  exist — Arabic,  Sclavonic, 
and  Sanscrit ;  and  the  three  all  issue  from  one  point, 
central  Asia,  Avhence,  by  consent  of  the  most  ancient 
records  and  traditions  of  the  great  primeval  nations, 
their  original  ancestors  spread. 

But  before  they  were  thus  scattered,  they  had  cor- 
rupted the  religious  doctrines  they  had  received  from 
their  great  progenitor,  Noah  ;  or  rather,  had  set  them 
aside,  in  order  to  deify  Noah  and  his  three  sons,  whom 
they  had  come  to  regard  as  a  reappearance  of  Adam 
and  his  three  sons,  Cain,  Abel,  and  Seth.  The  singu- 
lar coincidence  of  circumstances  between  Adam  and 
Noah,  forced  this  upon  their  imaginations.  Adam  the 
first  man,  and  father  of  the  first  world,  and  Noah,  the 
first  man  and  father  of  the  second  world,  had  each 
three  sons  conspicuous  in  history  ;  and  of  these  three, 
one  in  each  case* was  a  bad  one — Cain  and  Ham. 
Led  by  this,  to  consider  the  second  family  but  an 
avatar  of  the  first,  they  regarded  them  as  immortal, 
and  worshipped  them.  Hence  we  have  in  all  pagan 
mythologies  a  triad  of  principal  gods.  In  the  Greek — 
Jupiter,  Neptune,  and  Pluto  ;  in  the  Hindoo — Brahma, 
Vishnu,  and  Siva;  in  the  Egyptian — Osiris,  Horns, 
and  Typhon ;  one  of  whom,  in  each  case,  is  a  deity 
of  a  dark  nature,  like  Cain  and  Ham.  The  Persians 
had  their  Ormuzd,  Mithras,  and  Ahriman;  the  Syrians, 
their  Monimus,  Aziz,  and  Ares  ;  the  Canaanites,  their 
Baal-Shalisha,  or  self-triplicated  Baal ;  the  Goths,  their 
Odin,  Vile,  and  Ve,  who  ,are  described  as  the  three 
sons  of  the  mysterious  cow,  a  symbol  of  the  ark  ;  the 
Jakuthi  Tartars,  their  Artugon,  Schugo-teugon,  and 
Tangara,  the  last,  even  in  name,  the  Tanga-tanga  of 


20  PRIESTCRAFT 

the  Peruvians :  for  this  singular  fact  stops  not  with 
the  great  primitive  nations ;  it  extends  itself  to  all 
others,  even  to  those  discovered  in  modern  times. 
Like  China  and  Japan,  the  Penivians  were  found,  on 
the  discovery  of  America,  to  have  their  triads,  Apomti, 
(.'huranti,  and  Intiquoaqui ;  or  the  father-sun,  the  broflier- 
sun,  and  the  son-sun.  The  Mexicans  had  also  their 
Mcxitli,  'J'laloc,  and  Tezcallipuca  ;  the  last  the  god  of 
repentance.  The  Virginians,  Iroquois,  and  various 
nations  of  North  American  Indians,  held  similar  no- 
tions. The  New  Zealanders  believe  that  three  gods 
made  the  first  man,  and  tlie  first  woman  from  the 
man's  rib ;  and  their  general  term  for  bone  is  Eve. 
The  Otaheitans  had  a  similar  idea. 

The  postdiluvians  likewise  held  the  Ark  in  the  most 
sacred  veneration.  It  was  that  into  which  their  gi'eat 
father  of  all  living  things  had  entered  and  floated  away 
safely  over  the  destroying  waters.  It  was  the  type 
of  the  earth  into  which  Adam  had  entered  by  death ; 
and,  as  they  supposed,  reappeared  in  Noah.  Hence, 
an  ark  is  to  be  found  in  nearly  every  system  of  pagan 
worship.  After  it  were  fashioned  the  most  ancient 
temples.  It  was  borne  in  the  most  religious  proces- 
sions of  Osiris,  Adonis,  Bacchus,  Ceres,  and  among 
the  Druids  ;  and  has  been  found,  to  the  astonishment 
of  discoverers  and  missionaries,  among  the  Mexi- 
cans, the  North  American  Indians,  and  the  South-sea 
Islanders. 

Hence,  also,  the  doctrine  of  a  succession  of  Avorlds, 
from  the  supposed  reappearance  oi'  Adam  and  his 
three  sons  in  Noah  and  his  three  sons,  which  has  ex- 
panded itself  into  the  great  system  of  transmigrations 
and  avatars  of  the  Hindoos.  Hence,  also,  the  tradi- 
tions of  a  universal  deluge,  to  be  found  among  all  the 
ancient  nations ;  among  the  wild  tribes  of  America ; 
among  the  Hindoos  in  the  east,  and  the  Celts  in  the 
west.  Hence,  the  close  connexion  of  lakes  with  hea- 
then temples ;  and  hence,  lastly,  the  ancient  myste- 
ries, which  were  but  a  symbolical  representation  of 
entering  the   ark,  or  great   cave  of  death  and  life; 


I\    ALL    AGES.  ^  21 

which,  as  the  old  world  was  purilied  by  the  Hood,  was 
supposed  to  purity  and  confer  a  new  life  on  those  who 
passed  through  those  mysteries,  which  were  celebrated 
with  striking  similarity  in  Greece,  India,  Egypt,  and 
among  the  Druids  in  these  islands.  These,  and 
many  other  general  features  of  paganism, — for  abun- 
dant illustration  of  which,  I  refer  my  reader  to  the 
learned  works  of  Calmet,  Bryant,  Faber,  and  Spencer, 
De  Legibus  Ritualibus  Hebraeorum — sufficiently  tes- 
iiiy  to  the  common  origin  of  all  heathen  systems  of 
worship ;  and  we  shall  presently  find  how  amply  the 
priests  of  all  ages  and  all  the  gentile  nations,  have 
laid  hold  on  these  rich  materials,  and  converted  them 
into  exuberant  sources  of  wealth,  and  power,  and 
honour  to  themselves,  and  of  terror,  deception,  and 
degTadation  to  their  victims — the  people. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  said  that  they  themselves  were 
but  the  slaves  of  superstition,  in  common  with  those 
they  taught;  and  that  it  would  be  unfair  to  charge 
them  with  tlie  v/ilful  misleading  of  their  auditors,  when 
they  themselves  were  blinded  by  the  common  delu- 
sions of  their  times  and  countries.  But  we  must 
recollect,  that  thougli  the  people  were  taught  by  them 
to  believe,  and  could  not,  in  dark  times,  easily  escape 
the  influence  of  their  doctrines  and  practices,  studi- 
ously adapted  to  dazzle  and  deceive  the  senses,  yet  it 
was  impossible  for  the  priests  to  enter  upon  their 
office,  without  discovering  that  those  terrors  were  fic- 
titious,— without  finding  that  they  were  called  upon  to 
maintain  a  series  of  utter  fallacies.  The  people  might 
listen  to  oracles,  uttered  amid  a  multitude  of  imposing 
pageants,  aijd  awful  solemnities ;  in  the  sacred  gloom 
of  temples  and  groves  ;  and  might  really  believe  that  a 
god  spoke.  But  where  were  the  priests?  Behind 
these  scenes  ! — and  must  soon  have  found  that,  instead 
of  the  inspiration  of  a  present  god,  they  themselves 
were  the  actors  of  the  vilest  impositions ;  which, 
through  the  temptations  of  power,  and  fame,  and 
wealth,  they  became  the  willing  means  of  fixing  on 
their  countrymen. 


22  PRIESTCRAFT 

When  did  any  one,  in  any  nation,  on  discovering 
that  he  had  enteied  an  order  ot"  impostors,  renounce 
their  connexion,  and  abandon  his  base  calling  I  Never ! 
— the  spirit  of  priestcraft  was  too  subtly  potent  for 
him.  He  either  acquiesced  readily  in  measures,  which 
were  to  him  pregnant  with  honour,  case,  and  abund- 
ance ;  or  saw  that  instant  destruction  awaited  him, 
from  the  wily  and  merciless  spirit  of  priestcraft,  if  he 
gave  but  a  symptom  of  abjuring  or  disclosing  its  ar- 
cana of  gainful  deceit.  As  the  entrance  of  the  Adytus 
of  the  mysteries,  so  the  vestibule  of  the  priestly  office 
was  ])n)bably  guarded  by  naked  swords,  and  oaths  full 
of  destruction  to  the  backslider.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
there  is  not  a  fact  on  the  lace  of  history  more  con- 
spicuous than  this — that  no  order  of  men  has  ever 
clung  to  the  service  of  its  caste,  or  has  fulfilled  its 
purposes,  however  desperate  or  infamously  cruel  they 
might  be,  with  the  same  fiery  and  unflinching  zeal  as 
priests. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

MYTHOLOGY    OF    THE  ASSYRIANS    AND    SYRIANS. 

Mylliology  of  the  Assyrians  and  Syrians — The  horrors  of  Moloch — 
Chemosh — Baal,  and  Baal  Fires — Bryant's  theory  of  the  Cuthic 
tribes  agrees  with  the  existence  of  Castes  in  all  Pagan  nations — 
Spirit  of  the  Syrian  Priests  as  shown  in  the  Jewish  history — 
Vile  deceptions  of  Priests — The  Wife  of  the  god — Priestly  arts 
exposed  by  Daniel.  ♦ 

We  have  seen  how  idolatry  was  diffused  over  the 
globe,  forming  a  field  of  no  less  amplitude  than  the 
world  itself  for  priestcraft  to  exercise  itself  in  ;  full 
of  ignorance,  and  full  of  systems  prolific  in  all  the 
wild  creation  of  superstition,  so  auspicious  to  priestly 
desires ;  and  we  shall  soon  see  that  such  advantages 
were  not   neglected  by  that    evil  power,   but   were 


IN    ALL    AGES.  23 

eagerly  laid  hold  on,  and  by  its  indefatigable  activity 
the  earth  was  speedily  overrun  by  eveiy  curse,  and 
horror,  and  pollution,  that  can  fix  itself  on  unfortunate 
humanity. 

We  shall  take  a  survey  of  its  progress  in  the  an- 
cient nations,  Syria  and  Assyria ;  we  shall  then  fol- 
low the  course  of  Druidism ;  and,  without  regard  to 
the  order  of  time,  glance  at  the  confirmation  of  this 
ancient  state  of  things,  by  that  which  was  found  to 
exist  at  the  time  of  their  discovery  in  America  and  the 
isles  of  the  Indian  Ocean.  By  this  plan  we  shall 
have  our  course  clear  in  a  direct  progress  through  an- 
cient Egypt,  Greece,  and  Hindostan;  where  Ave  shall 
leave  the  review  of  priestcraft  as  it  existed  in  Pagan- 
ism, and  contemplate  its  aspect  in  Judea  ;  then,  under 
Christianity,  in  the  Romish  church  ;  and,  finally,  in  the 
ecclesiastical  establishment  of  our  own  countr}\ 

The  Bible  furnishes  us  with  abundant  evidences  of 
what  idolatry  was  in  Syria  and  the  neighbouring  king- 
doms of  Philistia,  Moab,  Amalek,  and  others.  The 
principal  gods  of  these  countries  were  Baal,  Moloch, 
and  Chemosh :  but  the  number  of  false  gods,  alto- 
gether, was  extremely  numerous.  The  more  gods,  the 
more  shrines,  the  more  priestly  gains  and  influence. 
The  principal  characteristics  of  the  whole  idol  dy- 
nasty, were  horrible  cruelty  and  gross  licentiousness. 
Chemosh  v/as  the  god  of  the  Moabites,  and  his  rites 
were  particularly  distinguislied  by  their  lasciviousness. 
In  Syria  those  of  Ashtaroth,  or  Astarte,  the  queen  of 
heaveii,  were  similar ;  but  Baal  and  Moloch  were  the 
very  impersonations  of  savage  atrocity.  Moloch  is 
represented  as  a  huge  metallic  image  in  a  sitting  pos- 
ture, which,  on  days  of  sacrifice,  was  heated  to  red- 
ness in  a  pit  of  fire,  and  young  children  were  brought 
as  victims,  and  placed  in  his  extended  and  burning 
arms,  where  they  were  consumed  in  the  most  exqui- 
site agonies,  while  the  devilish  band  of  priests  and 
their  retainers  drowned  their  piercing  cries  with  the 
stunning  din  of  drums,  cymbals,  horns,  and  trumpets. 

Baal  was,  however,  the  principal  idol  of  all  those 


24  PRIESTCRAFT 

countries;  and  associated  as  he  was  in  idea  with  the 
sun,  as  was  the  chief  god  of  all  pagan  nations,  from 
a  fanciful  process  of  imagination,  treated  of  at  large 
by  writers  on  this  subject,  but  which  we  need  not 
trace  here — to  him,  on  almost  eveiy  lofty  eminence, 
fires  were  kindled  at  stated  periods,  and  human  sac- 
rifices performed  in  the  midst  of  iinboimded  and  infer- 
nal glee.  The  IJeal-tires,  or  Baal-Hres,  kindled  on  the 
mountains  of  Scotlantl  and  Ireland  by  the  peasantry 
at  Beltane,  or  May  Eve,  are  the  last  remains  of  this 
most  ancient  and  universal  superstition. 

When  we  recollect  over  what  an  immense  extent 
of  country,  in  fact  over  the  greater  part  of  the  habitable 
globe,  this  idolatry  extended  :  and  the  number  of  ages. 
I'rom  the  time  of  the  Hood  to  the  time  of  Christianity, 
a  period  of  upwards  of  t^vo  thousand  years  ;  what  a 
terrible  sum  of  miseries  must  have  been  inflicted  on  our 
race  by  the  diabolical  zeal  and  cupidity  of  pagan 
priestcraft !  From  the  temple  of  Buddh  and  Jagger- 
nath  in  India,  to  the  stony  circles  of  Druidism  in  Eu- 
rope ;  from  the  snowy  wastes  of  Siberia  and  Scandi- 
navia in  the  north,  to  the  most  southern  lands  in  x\frica 
and  America,  the  fires  of  these  bloody  deities  rejoiced 
the  demoniac  priests  and  consumed  the  people. 

Mr.  Bryant  contends,  and  his  theory  seems  to  be 
supported  by  strong  facts,  and  is  generally  admitted  by 
intelligent  historians,  that  the  kindred  of  Nimrod,  the 
tribe  of  Cush,  a  haughty  and  dominant  race,  disdain- 
ing laboiu*  or  commerce,  disdaining  all  professions  but 
those  of  arms  or  the  priesthood,  Ibllowed  the  progress 
of  diffusive  population  into  all  regions,  and  either  sub- 
duing the  original  settlers  or  insinuating  themselves 
among  them,  as  they  had  been  their  general  corrup- 
ters, became  their  generals,  priests,  and  kings. 
This  theory  certainly  agrees  well  with  what  the 
researches  of  late  years  have  made  known  of  the 
great  tribes  of  emigration  from  the  East ;  agrees  well 
with  what  we  know  of  the  Gothic  or  Cuthic  na- 
tions, and  with  the  establishment  of  the  despotism  of 
the  feudal  system.     Castes,  which  remain  so  unbroken 


IN   ALL    AGES.  '26 

to  the  present  day  in  Hiiidostaii,  and  on  which  we 
shall  have  presently  to  remark,  prevailed,  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree,  all  over  the  v\^orld.  In  Egypt,  Hero- 
dotus shows  it  to  have  been  the  case.  None  but  kings 
and  priests  were  noble.  In  Greece  they  had  their 
race  of  demigods,  or  descendants  of  the  ancient  Pe- 
lasgi,  or  Cuthites,  from  whom  their  priests,  augurs, 
and  kings  were  chosen.  Such  was  the  case  among 
the  Gauls  and  Britons.  The  Druids  were  a  sacred 
and  noble  caste,  who  disdained  to  work  or  mingle 
with  the  people ;  an  insult  to  one  of  whom  was  in- 
stant death,  as  it  is  with  the  Brahmins  at  the  present 
day :  and  the  strong  spirit  of  caste  throughout  all  the 
feudal  nations  of  Europe,  not  only  all  past  history,  but 
present  circumstances,  show  us.  Be  the  origin  of 
dominant  castes  what  it  may,  nothing  is  more  con- 
spicuous than  their  existence,  and  the  evils,  scorns, 
and  ignominious  burdens  they  have  heaped  upon  the 
people. 

Of  the  rancorous  activity  of  the  heathen  priesthood 
to  proselyte  and  extend  their  influence  on  all  sides, 
the  Jewish  history  is  full.  Scarcely  had  the  Hebrews 
escaped  from  Egypt  and  entered  the  desert,  when  the 
Moabites  came  among  them  with  their  harlot  daugh- 
ters, carrying  beneath  their  robes  the  images  of  Che- 
mosh,  and  scattering  among  the  trail  Jews  the  min- 
gled hres  of  sensual  and  idolatrous  passion.  Through 
the  whole  period  of  the  administration  of  the  Judges, 
they  were  indefatigably  at  work,  and  brought  upon  the 
backsliding'  Hebrews  the  vengeance  of  their  own  liv- 
ing and  indignant  God.  The  wise  and  magnificent 
Solomon  they  plucked  from  the  height  of  his  peerless 
knowledge  and  glory,  and  rendered  the  reigns  of  his 
successors  continual  scenes  of  reproof  and  desolation, 
till  the  whole  nation  was  swept  into  captivity. 

There  cannot  be  a  more  expressive  instance  of  the 
daring  hardihood  and  fanatic  zeal  of  the  priests  of 
Baal,  nor  a  finer  one  of  their  defeat  and  punishment, 
than  that  given  on  Mount  Carmel  in  the  days  of  Ahab 
?ind  Jezebel.  Those  pestilential  wretches  had  actu^ 
13 


26  PRIESTCRAFT 

ally,  under  royal  patronage,  coiyiipted  or  destroyed  the 
whole  legitimate  priesthood.  There  were  but  left 
seven  thousand,  even  of  the  people,  "  who  had  not 
bowed  the  knee  to  Baal,  nor  kissed  him."  They  were 
in  pursuit  of  the  noble  prophet  himself,  when  he  came 
forth  and  challenged  them  to  an  actual  proof  of  the 
existence  of  their  respective  deities. 

It  may  be  argued  that  tlie  readiness  with  which 
they  accepted  this  challenije,  is  sufficient  evidence 
that  they  themselves  were  believers  in  the  existence 
of  their  deity;  and  it  may  be  that  some  were  stupid, 
or  fanatic  enough  to  be  so;  but  it  is  far  likelier  that, 
possessing  royal  patronage,  and  a  whole  host  of  base 
and  besotted  supporters,  they  hoped  to  entrap  the  soli- 
tary man ;  that,  knowing  the  emptiness  of  their  own 
pretensions,  they  were  of  opinion  that  Elijah's  were 
equally  empty,  and  therefore  came  boldly  to  a  contest, 
in  which,  if  neither  party  won,  an  individual  against  a 
host  would  easily  be  sacrificed  to  priestly  fury  and 
popular  credulity.  Be  it  as  it  might,  nothing  is  more 
certain  than  that  the  ferocious  zeal  of  priestcraft,  for 
its  own  objects,  has  been  in  all  ages  so  audacious  as 
not  to  fear  rushing  in  the  face  of  the  world,  on  the 
most  desperate  attempts.  This  event  was  most  illus- 
trative of  this  blind  sacerdotal  hardihood ;  for,  not- 
withstanding their  signal  exposure  and  destruction,  yet 
in  every  successive  age  of  the  Hebrew  kingdom,  the 
pagan  priests  ceased  not  to  solicit  the  Israelites  to 
their  ruin.  The  Hebrew  kings,  ever  and  anon,  awoke 
from  the  trance  of  delusion  into  which  they  drew 
them,  and  executed  ample  vengeance ;  hewing  down 
their  groves  and  overturning  their  altars ;  but  it  was 
not  till  the  general  captivity, — till  Judah  was  humbled 
for  a  time,  before  Babylon,  and  Israel  was  wholly  and 
for  ever  driven  from  the  land,  that  the  pest  was  anni- 
hilated. 

The  mythology  of  Assyria  was  of  much  the  same 
nature  ; — Baal,  however,  being  there  held  in  far  higher 
honour  than  all  other  gods  ;  for  the  priesthood  accord- 
ing to  the  servile  cimiiing  of  its  policy,  had  flattered 


IN    ALL    AGES.  27 

the  royal  house  by  deifying  its  founder,  and  identifying 
him  with  the  sim  by  the  name  of  Belus,  or  Bel. 
What  I  have  already  said  of  this  god  will  suffice  ;  and 
I  shall  only  state  that,  as  the  priesthood  there  had 
shown  its  usual  character  of  adulation  to  the  high,  and 
cruelty  to  the  low,  so  it  displayed  almost  more  than  ils 
customary  lewdness.  Herodotus  tells  us,  that  "  at  the 
top  of  the  tower  of  Belus,  in  a  chapel,  is  placed  a 
couch  magnificently  adorned :  and  near  it  a  table  of 
solid  gold ;  but  there  is  no  statue  in  the  place.  No 
man  is  suffered  to  sleep  here,  but  a  female  occupies 
the  apartment,  whom  the  Chaldean  priests  affirm  their 
deity  selects  from  the  whole  nation  as  the  object  of 
his  pleasures.  They  declare  that  their  deity  enters 
this  apartment  by  night,  and  reposes  upon  this  couch. 
A  similar  assertion  is  made  by  the  Egyptians  of 
Thebes ;  for  in  the  interior  part  of  the  temple  of  the 
Thebean  Jupiter,  a  woman,  in  like  manner,  sleeps. 
Of  these  two  women,  it  is  presumed,  that  neither  of 
them  have  any  commimication  with  the  other  sex.  In 
which  predicament,  the  priestess  of  the  temple  of  Pa- 
terae, in  Lycia,  is  also  placed.  Here  is  no  regular 
oracle ;  but  whenever  a  divine  communication  is  ex- 
pected, the  woman  is  obliged  to  pass  the  preceding 
night  in  the  temple."  That  is,  the  priests  made  their 
god  the  scape-goat  of  their  own  unbridled  sensuality ; 
and,  under  the  pretext  of  providing  a  sacrifice  of  beauty 
to  the  deity,  selected  the  most  lovely  woman  of  the 
nation  for  themselves. 

This  species  of  detestable  deception  seems  to  have 
been  carried  on  to  an  enormous  extent  in  ancient  times. 
If  we  are  to  believe  all  the  Grecian  stories,  and  es- 
pecially the  Homeric  ones,  of  the  origin  of  their  demi- 
gods, we  can  only  explain  them  in  this  manner.  A 
circumstance  of  the  same  nature  is  related  by  Jose- 
phus  ;  which  is  curious,  because  the  priests  of  the 
temple  in  that  case,  were  induced  by  a  young  noble  to 
inveigle  a  married  lady  of  whom  he  had  become  en- 
amoured, into  the  temple,  under  pretence  that  the  god 
had  a  loving  desire  of  her  company,  and  showed  that 
B3 


2d  PRIESTCRAFT 

the  gratification,  not  merely  of  themselves,  but  of  men 
in  power,  by  frauds  however  infamous  or  diabolical, 
has  been  always  a  priestly  practice. 

But  to  return  to  Assyria.  The  seeds  of  licentious- 
ness, sown  by  their  early  priests,  grew  and  spread 
abundantly  in  after  ages.  When  the  Assyrian  merged 
in  the  Babylonian  empire,  the  orgies  of  the  temple  of 
Mylitta,  the  Babylonian  Venus,  were  infamous  above 
ail  others  ;  so  much  so,  that  every  woman,  wliether 
high  or  low,  was  bound  by  the  national  practice  to 
present  herself  before  the  temple  once  in  her  life,  and 
there  submit  to  prostitute  herself  Avith  whoever  tirst 
chose  her ;  and  the  price;  of  her  shame  was  paid  into 
the  treasury,  to  swell  the  revenues  of  the  priests.  So 
horrible  a  fact  has  been  doubted ;  but  Herodotus 
seriously  asserts  it,  and  it  has  been  confirmed  by  other 
authorities. 

That  these  crafty  and  voluptuous  priests  were  not 
among  those  deceived  by  their  own  devices,  but 
were  solely  deceivers,  living  in  honour  and  abundance 
by  juggling  tlu'  people,  we  need  no  better  testimony 
than  that  of  the  story  ol'  Bel  and  the  Dragon.  They 
are  tliere  represented  as  setting  before  the  idol  splendid 
banquets,  which  he  was  asserted  to  devour  in  the  night; 
but  Daniel  scattering  sand  on  tlie  floor  showed  the 
people  in  the  moniingthe  footsteps  of  the  priests,  their 
wives  and  children,  who  had,  as  they  were  regularly 
accustomed,  Hocked  into  the  temple  at  night  and  helped 
the  god  to  despatch  liis  viands. 

Though  this  story  is  one  of  those  called  apocryplial, 
it  is  certainly  so  far  true,  that  it  shows  what  were  the 
opinions  of  the  wise  at  that  day  of  the  priests,  founded, 
no  doubt  on  sufficient  observation. 


jS  all  ages.  29 


CHAPTER  IV. 


CELTS    AND    GOTHS. 

Tlie  same  system  of  Superstition  iuid  Priestcraft  wiiich  prevailed  in 
Asia,  existmg  also  among  the  Celts  and  Goths  of  ancient  Europe 
— Evei7 where  Priests  the  donoinant  Caste — In  Britain,  Gaul, 
and  Germany,  their  state  shown  by  Caesar  and  Tacitus — Notions, 
Sacrifices,  and  Superstitions  of  Scandinavia. 

Without  iollowing  minutely  the  progress  of  original 
migration,  from  east  to  west,  through  the  great  Scythian 
deserts,  we  will  now  at  once  open  upon  the  human 
family  as  it  appeared  in  Europe,  when  the  Romans 
began  to  extend  their  conquests  into  the  great  forests 
and  wild  lands  of  its  north-western  regions  ;  and  here, 
again,  we  behold  with  surprise,  how  exactly  the  na- 
tions had  preserved  those  features  of  idolatrous  super- 
stition which  I  have  before  stated  to  be  universal,  and 
which  we  have  been  contemplating  in  central  Asia. 

Part  of  southern  Europe  appears  to  have  bee?i 
peopled  by  one  great  branch  of  the  descendants  of 
Japhet,  under  the  name  of  Sclavonians,  and  to  have 
maintained  their  settlements  against  all  future  comers ; 
but  another  great  branch,  the  Gomerians,  or  Celts,  had 
been  followed  by  the  w^arlike  and  domineering  Goths, 
and  had,  in  some  cases,  received  from  them  teachers 
and  governors  ;  in  others,  had  been  totally  expelled  by 
them,  or  lost  character,  language,  and  every  thing  in 
their  overwhelming  tide.  The  northern  parts  of  Brit- 
ain, Ireland,  Wales,  Gaul,  and  some  other  districts, 
retained  the  Celtic  character ;  while  England,  Scan- 
dinavia, Germany,  Belgium,  and  some  other  tracts, 
became  decidedly  Gothic.  Of  these  facts,  the  very 
langirages  of  the  respective  countries,  at»thc  present 
day,  remain  living  proofs.  But  whatever  was  the 
name,  the  language,  or  the  government  of  the  differ- 
ent parts   of  Europe,  everywhere  its   religion   was 


30  PRIESTCRAFT 

essentially  the  same  ;  everywhere  the  same  Cuthic 
race  of  domineering  priests.  Everywhere,  says  a 
sagacious  anti([uarian,  "  we  iind,  first,  an  order  of 
priests  ;  secondly,  an  order  of  military  nobles  ;  thirdly, 
a  subjugated  multitude  ;  and  institutions,  the  spirit  of 
which  is  that  of  thrusting  the  lower  orders  Irom  all 
place  and  authority,  and  systematically  dooming  them 
to  an  unalterable  state  of  servile  depression."  Who- 
ever M'ill  examine  the  system  of  the  Diniids,  as  he 
may  in  'Poland's  history  of  them,  in  Borlace's  Corn- 
wall, or  Davis's  Celtic  Mythology,  will  be  perfectly 
convinced  of  its  identity  with  that  of  Persia,  Egypt, 
and  Hindostan.  Their  triads,  their  own  assumed 
sanctity  of  character,  their  worship  of  the  god  IIu, 
the  Buddlui  of  the  east ;  their  traditions  of  the  flood  ; 
the  ark,  which  their  circular  stone  temples  symbolized  ; 
their  human  sacrifices ;  their  doctrine  of  transmigra- 
tion ;  and  other  abundant  characteristics,  are  not 
to  be  mistaken.  Dr.  Borlace  was  so  struck  with  the 
perfect  resemblance  of  the  Druids  to  the  Persian  Magi 
and  the  Indian  Brahmins,  that  he  declart.d  it  was  im- 
possible to  doubt  th(Mr  identity.  Mr.  Rowland  iirgues  in 
the  same  manner  with  regard  to  the  Irish  Druids,  Avho 
as  usual,  constituted  th-e  first  of  the  tln-ee  classes  into 
which  the  community  was  divided.  He  feels  assured 
that  they  must  have  been  Magi.  Long  indeed  before 
our  time,  Pliny  had  made  the  same  remark,  applying 
the  very  term  of  Magi  to  them. 

In  Gaul,  Ca?sar  found  precisely  the  same  state  of 
things — the  same  dominant  class  ;  and  has  left  so  lucid 
an  account  of  them,  that  his  representation  will  at 
once  place  before  us  the  actual  condition  of  both  Caul 
and  Britain.  "Over  all  Gaul  there  are  oidy  two  orders 
of  men  in  any  degree  of  honour  and  esteem  ;  for  the 
common  people  are  little  better  than  slaves,  attempt 
nothing  of  themselves,  and  have  no  share  in  the  pub- 
lic deliberations.  As  they  are  generally  oppressed 
with  debt,  heavy  tributes,  or  the  exactions  of  their  su- 
periors, they  make  themselves  vassals  to  the  great, 
who  exercise  over  them  the  same  jurisdiction   that 


IS  ALL  AGES.  31 

masters  do  over  slaves.  The  two  orders  of  men 
Avith  whom,  as  we  have  said,  all  authority  and  distinc- 
tions reside,  are  the  Druids  and  nobles.  The  Druids 
preside  in  matters  of  religion,  have  the  care  of  public 
and  private  sacrifices,  and  interpret  the  will  of  the 
gods.  They  have  the  direction  and  education  of  the 
youth,  by  whom  they  are  held  in  great  honour.  In 
almost  all  controversies,  whether  public  or  private,  the 
decision  is  left  to  them ;  and  if  any  crime  is  com- 
mitted, any  murder  perpetrated,  if  any  dispute  arises 
touching  an  inheritance,  or  the  limits  of  adjoining 
estates,  in  all  such  cases  they  are  supreme  judges. 
They  decree  rewards  and  punishments ;  and  if  any 
one  refuse  to  submit  to  their  sentence,  whether  magis- 
trate or  private  man,  they  interdict  him  the  sacrifices. 
This  is  the  greatest  punishment  that  can  be  inflicted 
upon  the  Gauls  ;  because,  such  as  are  under  this  pro- 
hibition, are  considered  as  impious  and  v/icked  ;  all 
men  shun  them,  and  decline  their  conversation  and 
fellowship,  lest  they  should  suffer  from  the  contagion 
of  their  misfortunes.  They  can  neither  have  recourse 
to  the  law  for  justice,  nor  are  capable  of  any  public 
oflice.  The  Druids  are  all  under  one  chief.  Upon 
his  death,  a  successor  is  elected  by  suffrage ;  but 
sometimes  they  have  recourse  to  arms  before  the 
election  can  be  brought  to  issue.  Once  a  year  they 
assemble  at  a  consecrated  place  in  the  territories  of 
the  Carnutes,  whose  country  is  supposed  to  be  in  the 
middle  of  Gaul.  Hither  such  as  have  any  suits  de- 
pending flock  from  all  parts,  and  submit  implicitly  to 
their  decrees.  Their  institution  is  supposed  to  have 
come  originally  from  Britain  ;  and  even  at  this  day, 
such  as  are  desirous  of  being  perfect  in  it,  travel 
thither  for  instruction.  The  Druids  never  go  to  war, 
are  exempt  from  taxes  and  military  service,  and  enjoy 
all  manner  of  imnmnities.  These  mighty  encourage- 
ments induce  multitudes  of  their  own  accord  to  follow 
that  profession,  and  many  are  sent  by  their  parents. 
They  are  taught  to  repeat  a  great  number  of  verses  by 
heart,  and  often  spend  twenty  years  upon  this  institu- 


32  PRIESTCRAFT 

lion  ;  lor  ii  is  deemed  unlawful  to  commit  their  statutes 
to  writing,  though  on  other  matters  private  or  public 
they  use  Greek  characters.  They  seem  to  have 
adopted  this  method  for  two  reasons, — to  hide  their 
mysteries  from  the  knowledge  of  the  vulgar,  and  to 
exercise  the  memory  of  their  scholars.  It  is  one  of 
their  principal  maxims,  that  the  soul  never  dies,  but 
after  death  passes  from  one  body  to  another.  They 
teach  likewise  many  things  relative  to  the  stars,  the 
magnitude  of  the  world  and  our  earth,  the  nature  of 
things,  and  the  power  and  prerogative  of  the  immortal 
gods. 

"  The  other  order  ot  men  is  the  nobles,  whose  study 
and  occupation  is  war.  Before  Caesar's  arrival  in 
Oaul,  they  were  almost  every  year  at  war,  ofiensive 
or  defensive  ;  and  they  judge  of  the  power  and  quality 
of  their  nobles,  by  the  vassals  and  number  of  men  they 
keep  in  pay. 

"The  whole  nation  of  the  Gauls  is  extremely  ad- 
dicted to  superstition,  whence,  in  threatening  distem- 
pers, and  the  imminent  danger  of  war,  they  make  no 
scruple  to  sacrifice  men,  or  engage  themselves  by  vow 
to  such  sacrifices;  m  which  case,  they  make  use  of 
the  ministry  of  the  Druids  ;  lor  it  is  a  prevalent  opinion 
among  them,  that  nothing  but  the  life  of  man  can  atone 
for  the  life  of  man,  insomuch  that  they  have  estab- 
lished even  public  sacrifices  of  this  kind.  Some  pre- 
pare huge  Colossuses  of  osier  twigs,  into  which  they 
put  men  alive,  and  setting  fire  to  them,  those  within 
expire  among  the  fiames.  They  prefer  for  victims  such 
as  have  been  convicted  of  theft,  robbery,  or  other 
crimes,  believing  them  the  most  acceptable  to  the 
gods :  but  when  such  are  wanting,  the  innocent  are 
made  to  sufier. 

"The  Gauls  fancy  themselves  to  be  descended  from 
the  god  Pluto,  which  it  seems,  is  an  established  tradi- 
tion among  the  Druids  ;  and  for  this  reason  they  com- 
pute time  by  nights,  not  by  days. 

"  The  men  have  power  of  life  and  death  over  their 
wives  and  families ;  and  when  any  father  of  a  family 


IN  ALL  AGES.  33 

of  illustrious  rank  dies,  his  relations  assemble,  and 
upon  the  least  ground  of  suspicion,  put  even  his  wives 
to  the  torture,  like  slaves.  Their  funerals  are  magni- 
ficent and  sumptuous,  according  to  their  quality.  Every- 
thing that  was  dear  to  the  deceased,  even  animals, 
are  thrown  into  the  fire ;  and  formerly,  such  of  their 
slaves  and  clients  as  they  loved  most,  sacrificed  them- 
selves at  the  funeral  of  their  lords." 

In  this  valuable  account,  the  striking  resemblance 
of  the  Druids  to  the  Brahmins  must  impress  every 
one, — not  the  least  their  funeral  rites,  and  doctrine  of 
metempsychosis.  But  there  are  some  other  things 
equally  curious.  We  have  here  the  Ban, — that  tre- 
mendous ecclesiastical  engine,  which  the  Romish 
church  most  probably  borrowed  of  the  Goths  ;  ^nd 
which  we  shall  find  it  hereafter  wielding  to  such  ap- 
palling purpose.  The  tradition  of  the  Druids,  that 
they  are  descended  of  Pluto,  is,  too,  a  most  remark- 
able circumstance ;  agreeing  so  perfectly  with  the 
theory  of  Bryant  that  they  were  Cuths,  the  descend- 
ants of  Ham,  the  Pluto  of  mythology. 

Caesar  proceeds  to  give  Roman  names  to  Gallic 
gods.  This  was  the  common  practice  of  the  Romans  ; 
a  fact  which,  as  it  is  known  from  other  sources  that 
the  Druids  never  gave  them  such  names,  only  proves 
that  the  Romans  named  them  from  their  obvious  attri- 
butes ;  again  confirming  Bryant's  theory,  that  however 
the  ethnic  gods  be  named,  they  are  essentially  identi- 
cal. Caesar  also  adds,  that  the  Germans  difl^c red  widely 
from  the  Gauls,  having  no  Druids,  and  troubling  not 
themselves  about  sacrifices  :  but  Tacitus,  who  is  better 
evidence  than  Caesar,  where  the  Germans  are  con- 
cerned, assures  us  that  they  had  priests  and  bards. 
That  "jurisdiction  is  vested  in  the  priests  ;  it  is  theirs 
to  sit  in  judgment  on  all  offences.  By  them  delin- 
quents are  put  in  irons,  and  chastised  with  stripes  ;  the 
power  of  punishing  is  in  no  other  hands."  He 
adds,  "  to  impress  on  their  minds  the  idea  of  a  tutelar 
deity,  they  carry  with  them  to  the  field  of  battle  certain 
images  and  banners,  taken  from  their  usual  deposito- 
B3 


34  PRIESTCRAFT 

ries  the  groves ;  and  that  one  of  these  symbols  was  a 
ship — the  emblem  of  Isis."  'I'his,  from  what  we  now 
know  of  mytliologies,  is  a  certain  evidence  of  the  east- 
ern origin  oi'  their  religion  :  the  ship  being  tlie  ark, 
or  ship  of  the  world  ;  and  Isis,  the  great  mother  of  all 
things,  the  earth.  Ht;  assures  us  that  they  had  also 
human  sacrifices. 

The  last  European  comitiy  we  will  now  notice,  shall 
be  Scandinavia.  M.  Mallet's  most  interesting  antiqui- 
ties of  those  regions  were  written  before  our  Eastern 
knowledge  was  so  much  enlarged,  and  before  Mr.  Bry- 
ant had  promulgated  his  theory  of  the  origin  of  pagan- 
ism ;  and,  tlierefore,  when  we  come  to  open  his  vol- 
umes, we  are  propoitionably  astonished  and  delighted 
to  find  all  the  curious  particulars  he  has  collected  of 
the  Scandinavian  gods  and  religious  rites  so  absolutely 
confirmatory  of  that  theory.  Here  again  we  have  the 
same  gods,  under  the  different  names  of  Odin,  Thor, 
Loke,  with  Frigga  or  Frea,  the  goddess  of  the  earth,  the 
great  mother.  Here  again  we  have  the  same  domi- 
nant caste  of  priests  reigning  amid  the  same  assem- 
blage of  horrors  and  pollution. 

The  priests,  he  says,  of  these  nihuman  gods  were 
called  Drottes,  a  name  equivalent  to  Druids.  They 
were  frequently  styled  prophets,  wise  men,  divine  men. 
At  Upsal,  each  of  the  three  superior  deities  had  their 
respective  priests,  the  principal  of  whom  to  the  num- 
ber of  twelve,  presided  over  the  sacrifices,  and  exer- 
cised an  unlimited  authority  over  every  tiling  which 
.seemed  to  have  connexion  with  religion.  The  respect 
shown  to  them  was  suitable  to  their  authority.  Sprung, 
for  the  most  pan,  frojn  the  same  family^  like  those  of 
the  Jews,  they  persuaded  the  people  that  this  family 
had  God  himself  for  its  founder.  They  often  united 
the  priesthood  and  the  sovereignty  in  their  own  per- 
sons, after  the  example  of  Odin  their  progenitor.  The 
goddess  Frigga  was  usually  served  by  kings'  daughters, 
whom  they  called  prophetesses  and  goddesses.  These 
pronounced  oracles  ;  devoted  themselves  to  perpetual 
virginity  ;  and   kept  up  the  sacred  fire  in  the  temple. 


IN    ALL    AGES.  35 

The  power  of  inflicting  pains  and  penalties,  of  striking 
and  binding  a  criminal,  was  vested  in  the  priests  alone  ; 
and  men  so  haughty  that  they  thought  themselves  dis- 
honoured if  they  did  not  revenge  the  slightest  offence, 
would  tremblingly  submit  to  blows,  and  even  death 
itself,  from  the  hand  of  a  pontiff,  v/hom  they  took  for 
the  instrument  of  an  angry  deity.  In  short,  the  credu- 
lity of  the  people,  and  the  craft  and  presumption  of  the 
priests  went  so  far,  that  these  pretended  interpreters 
of  the  divine  will  dared  even  to  demand,  in  the  name 
of  heaven,  the  blood  of  kings  themselves,  and  obtained 
it !  To  succeed  in  this,  it  was  requisite  only  for  them 
to  avail  themselves  of  those  times  of  calamity,  when 
the  people,  distracted  with  fear  and  sorrow,  laid  their 
minds  open  to  the  most  horrid  impressions.  At  these 
times,  while  the  prince  was  slaughtered  at  one  of  the 
altars  of  the  gods,  the  others  were  covered  with  the 
offerings,  which  were  heaped  up  on  all  sides  for  their 
ministers. 

But  the  general  cause  which  regulated  these  sacri- 
fices, was  a  superstitious  opinion,  which  made  the  north- 
ern natives  regard  the  number  three  as  sacred  and 
peculiarly  dear  to  the  gods.  Thus,  every  ninth  month 
they  renewed  this  bloody  ceremony,  which  was  to  last 
nine  days,  and  every  day  they  offered  up  nine  victims, 
whether  men  or  animals.  But  the  most  solemn  sacri- 
fices were  those  which  were  offered  at  Upsal  in  Swe- 
den, every  ninth  year.  Then  the  king,  the  senate,  and 
all  the  principal  citizens  were  obliged  to  appear  in 
person,  and  to  bring  offerings,  which  were  placed  in 
the  great  temple.  Those  who  could  not  come  sent 
their  presents  by  others,  or  paid  their  value  in  money 
to  priests  whose  business  it  was  to  receive  the  offer- 
ings. Strangers  flocked  there  in  crowds  from  all  parts, 
and  none  were  excluded  except  those  whose  honour 
was  stained,  and  especially  such  as  had  been  accused 
of  cowardice.  Then  they  chose  among  the  captives, 
in  time  of  war,  and  among  the  slaves  in  time  of  peace, 
nine  persons  to  be  sacrificed.  The  choice  was  partly 
regulated  by  the  opinion  of  by-standers,  and  partly  by 


so  PRIESTCRAFT 

lot.  The  wretches  upon  whom  it  fell  were  then  treated 
with  such  honours  by  all  the  assembly — they  were  so 
overwhelmed  with  caresses  for  the  present,  and  prom- 
ises for  the  life  to  come — that  they  sometimes  congrat- 
ulated themselves  on  their  destiny.  But  they  did  not 
always  sacrifice  such  mean  persons.  In  great  calami- 
ties, in  a  pressing  famine,  for  example,  if  they  thought 
they  had  some  pretext  to  impute  the  cause  of  it  to  the 
king,  they  sacrificed  him  without  hesitation,  as  the 
highest  price  they  could  pay  for  the  divine  favour.  In 
this  manner  the  first  king  of  Vermland  was  burnt  in 
honour  of  Odin,  to  put  away  a  great  death.  The 
kings  in  their  turn  did  not  spare  the  blood  of  their 
people  ;  and  many  of  them  even  that  of  their  children. 
Hacon,  king  of  Norway,  offered  his  son  in  sacrifice  to 
obtain  a  victory  over  his  enemy,  Harold.  Aune,  king 
of  Sweden,  devoted  to  Odin  the  blood  of  his  nine 
sons,  to  prevail  on  the  god  to  prolong  his  life.  The 
ancient  history  of  the  north  abounds  in  similar  ex- 
amples. 

These  abominable  sacrifices  were  accompanied  with 
various  ceremonies.  When  the  victim  was  chosen, 
they  conducted  him  towards  the  ahar,  where  the  sa- 
cred fire  was  kept  burning  night  and  day.  It  was 
surrounded  by  all  sorts  of  iron  and  brazen  vessels. 
Among  them  one  was  distinguished  by  its  superior 
size  ;  in  this  they  received  the  blood  of  their  victim. 
When  they  offered  up  animals,  they  speedily  killed 
them  at  the  foot  of  the  altar ;  then  they  opened  their 
entrails  and  drew  auguries  from  them,  as  among  the 
Romans :  but  when  they  sacrificed  men,  those  they 
pitched  upon  were  laid  upon  a  large  stone,  and  quickly 
strangled  or  knocked  on  the  head.  Sometimes  they 
let  out  the  blood,  for  no  presage  was  more  respected 
than  that  which  drew  I'rom  the  greater  or  less  degree 
of  impetuosity  with  which  the  blood  gushed  out.  The 
bodies  were  afterward  burnt,  or  suspended  in  a  sacred 
grove  near  the  temple.  Part  of  the  blood  wag  sprink- 
led upon  the  people,  on  the  grove,  on  the  idol,  altar, 
benches,  and  wall  of  the  temple,  within  and  without. 


IN  ALL   AGES.  37 

Sometimes  the  sacrifices  were  varied.  There  was 
a  deep  well  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  temple ;  the 
chosen  person  was  thrown  headlong  in,  commonl}'  in 
honour  of  Goya,  or  the  earth.  If  it  went  at  once  to 
the  bottom,  it  had  proved  agreeable  to  the  goddess ; 
if  not,  she  refused  it,  and  it  was  hung  up  in  a  sacred 
forest.  Near  the  temple  of  Upsal  there  was  a  gTove 
of  this  sort,  every  tree  and  every  leaf  of  which  was 
regarded  as  the  most  sacred  thing  in  the  world.  This, 
which  was  named  Odin's  grove,  was  full  of  the  bodies 
of  men  and  animals  Vv^hich  had  been  sacrificed.  The 
temple  at  Upsal  was  as  famous  for  its  oracles  as  its 
sacrifices.  There  were  also  celebrated  ones  at  Dalia, 
a  province  of  Sweden,  in  Norway,  and  Denmark.  It 
should  seem  that  the  idols  of  the  gods  themselves  de- 
livered the  oracles  vitia  voce.  In  an  ancient  Icelandic 
chronicle,  we  read  of  one  Indred,  who  went  from  home 
to  wait  for  Thorstein,  his  enemy.  Thorstein,  upon 
his  arrival,  went  into  the  temple.  In  it  was  a  stone, 
probably  a  statue,  which  he  had  been  accustomed  to 
worship.  He  prostra'ied  himself  before  it  and  prayed 
it  to  inform  him  of  his  destiny.  Indred,  who  stood 
without,  heard  the  stone  chant  forth  these  verses — 
"  It  is  for  the  last  time  :  it  is  with  feet  drawing  near 
to  the  grave,  that  thou  art  come  to  this  place,  for  it  is 
most  certain  that  before  the  sun  riseth  the  valiant 
Indred  shall  make  thee  feel  his  hatred." 

The  people  persuaded  themselves  sometimes  that 
these  idols  ansv»-ered  by  a  gesture,  or  nod  of  the  head. 
Thus  in  the  history  of  Olave  Tryggeson,  king  of  Nor- 
way, we  see  a  lord  named  Hacon,  who  enters  into  a 
temple,  and  prostrates  himself  before  an  idol  which, 
held  in  its  .hand  a  great  bracelet  of  gold.  Hacon, 
adds  the  historian,  easily  conceiving  that  so  long  as 
the  idol  would  not  part  with  the  bracelet,  it  was  not 
disposed  to  be  reconciled  to  him,  and  having  made 
some  fruitless  eflx)rts  to  take  the  bracelets  away,  began 
to  pray  afresh,  and  to  off'er  it  presents  ;  then  getting 
up  a  second  time,  the  idol  loosed  the  bracelet,  and  he 
went  ^vrs-Y  very  well  pleased. 


38  PRIESTCRAFT 

But  they  liave  not  only  their  bloody  sacrifices,  and 
their  oracles,  hut  tlieir  orgies  of  licentiousness.  These 
occurred  on  the  occasion  of  the  feast  of  Frigga,  the 
goddess  of  love  and  pleasure  ;  and  at  Uulel,  the  feast 
of  Thor,  in  which  the  license  was  carried  to  such  a 
pitch  as  to  become  merely  bacchanalian  meetings, 
where,  amid  shouts,  dancing,  and  indecent  gestures, 
so  many  unseemly  actions  were  committed  as  to  dis- 
gust the  wiser  part  of  the  community. 


CHAPTER  V. 

NORTHERN    INDIANS,  MEXICANS,    AND    PERUVIANS. 

The  same  system  discovered,  to  the  surprise  of  the  learned,  in 
America — Gods,  Doctrines,  and  Practices  of  the  Northern  Indians, 
Mexicans  and  Peruvians — Dominance  of  the  Priests  and  Nobles, 
and  Slavery  of  tlu;  People — their  bloody  Sacrifices  and  fearful  Or- 
gies, similar  to  those  of  the  Asiatics— Amazinp:  number  of  then- 
Human  Sacritices  recorded  by  the  Spanisli  writers — Strikincr  pic- 
ture of  Priestcraft  in  Southey's  Madoc. 

We  have  just  seen  that  the  same  baleful  superstitions 
extended  themselves  from  the  East  to  the  very  extremi- 
ties of  Europe  ;  but  we  must  now  share  in  the  aston- 
ishment of  the  discoverers  of  America,  tu  find  them 
equally  reigning  and  rendering  miserable  the  people 
there.  A  new  Morld  M'as  found,  wliicli  had  been  hid- 
den from  the  day  of  creation  to  the  iifieentli  Christian 
age  ;  yet  there,  through  that  lonu"  lapsi*  ol'  tinu^,  it  was 
discovered,  the  same  dominant  spirit,  i^.nd  the  same 
terrible  system  of  paganism  had  been  existing.  The 
learned  of  Europe,  on  this  great  event,  were  extremely 
puzzled  for  a  time,  to  conceive  how  and  whence  this 
distant  continent  had  been  peopled.  The  proven  prox- 
imity of  Asia  at  Beiiring's  Straits,  solved  the  mystery. 
But  had  not  this  become  apparent,  so  identical  are  the 


IN    ALL    AGES.  39 

superstitions,  the  traditions,  and  practices  of  the  Amer- 
icans, with  tliose  of  ancient  Asia,  that  we  might  have 
confidently  pronounced  them  to  have  come  from  that 
great  seminary  of  tlie  human  race. 

The  North  American  Indians,  who  preserved  both 
most  of  their  liberty,  their  simplicity  of  life  and  of 
sentiment,  M-orshippmg  only  the  Great  Spirit,  and  re- 
fusing to  have  any  image  of  deity ;  having  in  general 
no  priest,  yet  retained  many,  and  very  clear,  traditions 
of  the  primeval  world.  So  striking  were  these  facts, 
combined  with  the  Asiatic  aspects  of  the  Indians  in 
their  better  days,  before  European  oppressions  and 
European  vices  had  wasted  and  degraded  them,  that 
the  early  missionaries  and  visitants  of  America,  Adair, 
Brainard,  Charlevoix,  nay,  William  Penn  himself, 
were  strongly  persuaded  that  they  had  found  the  lost 
ten  tribes  of  Israel.  Vvhen  they  saw  them  carrying  be- 
I'ore  them  to  battle  an  ark  ;  saw  them  celebrating  feasts 
oi"  new  moons,  and  heard  them  talk  of  the  times  when 
the  angels  of  God  walked  upon  earth  with  their  an- 
cestors ;  talk  of  the  tu'O  first  people  ;  ot"  the  two  first 
brothers,  one  oi"  whom  slew  the  other ;  of  the  flood, 
and  similar  traditionary  facts ;  it  is  not  wonderful  that 
they  should  liave  adopted  such  a  notion, — not  perceiv- 
ing, as  w^e  do  now,  that  these  aie  familiar  features  of 
the  Asiatic  nations  ;  and  that  though  they  did  not  prove 
them  to  be  Hebrews,  they  did  to  a  certainty  prove 
them  to  be  Asiatics. 

I  must  here  passingly  notice  one  inference,  which 
seems  unaccountably  to  have  escaped  the  minds  of 
antiquarians,  connected  with  the  peopling  of  this  conti- 
nent. In  the  North  American  wilds,  exist  strange 
mounds  and  foundations  of  old  fortifications,  cairns,  or 
Innying-places,  in  which  earthen  vessels  and  other 
artiiicial  remains  are  found,  which  prove  that  some 
people  occupied  these  forests  long  before  the  present 
race  of  Indians  ;  a  people  who  had  more  of  the  arts 
of  civilized  life  among  them  than  these  ever  possessed. 
In  certain  caves  of  Kentucky,  mummies  have  even 
been  I'ound.     Now   connecting  these  facts  with  the 


40  PRIESTCRAFT 

universal  traditions  ot'  the  Mexicans  and  South  Ameri- 
cans, that  they  came  originally  from  a  country  far  to 
the  north-west,  does  it  not  seem  clear  enough  that 
these  remains  were  the  traces  of^  the  earlier  Asiatics 
who  entered  America,  and  who,  if  the  same  as  the 
Mexicans  and  Peruvians,  unquestionably  possessed 
more  of  civilization  and  its  arts  tlian  the  northern 
tribes  ? — that  other  tribes  more  savage  and  warlike 
followed  them ;  and  that  they  themselves  gradually 
sought  fresh  settlements,  in  accordance  with  their  own 
traditions.  This  simple  theory  seems  to  solve  tlie 
problem  which  has  so  long  puzzled  both  the  European 
and  American  antiquarians. 

The  Natchez,  who  had  advanced  far  before  other 
tribes  in  their  civil  institutions,  worshipped  the  sun, 
and  maintained,  like  the  Persians,  the  perpetual  tire, 
his  symbol,  in  their  temples.  They  burnt,  on  the 
funeral  pile  of  their  chiefs,  himian  victims ;  giving 
them,  according  to  M.  Dumont,  large  piles  of  tobacco 
to  stupify  them,  as  the  Bralmiins  intoxicate  their  vic- 
tims to  the  same  hideous  custom.  Ministers  were 
appointed  to  watch  and  maintain  the  sacred  fire  ;  the 
lirst  function  of  the  great  chief,  every  morning,  M'as 
an  act  of  obeisance  to  the  sun  ;  and  festivals,  at  stated 
periods,  were  held  in  his  honour.  Among  the  people 
of  Bogota,  the  sun  and  moon  Avere  likev.  ise  the  great 
objects  of  adoration.  Their  system  of  religion  was 
more  regular  and  complete,  though  less  pure,  than  that 
of  the  Natchez.  They  had  temples,  altars,  priests, 
sacritices,  and  that  long  train  of  ceremonies  which 
superstition  iiitroduces,  wherever  she  has  fully  estab- 
lished her  influence  over  the  human  mind.  But  the 
rites  of  their  worship  were  bloody  and  cruel ;  they 
ofTered  human  victims  to  their  deities,  and  nearly 
resembled  the  Mexicans  in  the  genius  of  their  religion. 

To  the  Mexicans  and  Peruvians  we  shall,  indeed, 
principally  confine  our  observations.  These  nations 
had  grown  to  comparative  greatness,  and  assumed  a 
decided  form  of  civil  polity,  and  many  of  the  rites  of 
what  is  called  civilized  life  ;  and  in  such  nations  the 


INf    ALL    AGES.  '  41 

combined  power  of  kingcraft  and  priestcraft  has  been 
always  found  to  be  proportionably  strong.  In  those 
conspicuous  nations  there  were  found  all  the  great 
leatures  of  that  superstition  which  they  had  brought 
v.-iththem  from  Asia,  and  which  we  have  already  seen 
spread  and  tyrannized  over  every  quarter  of  the  old 
vvorld.  They  had  their  triads  of  gods  ;  their  worshij) 
of  the  sun  ;  their  worship  of  the  evil  and  vindictive 
principle ;  and  worship  of  serpents.  They  had  the 
same  dominant  caste  of  priests  and  nobles  ;  the  same 
abject  one  of  the  common  people  ;  human  sacrifices  ; 
the  burning  of  slaves  and  dependants  on  the  funeral 
pile  ;  they  had  the  ark  ;  the  doctrine  of  successive 
worlds  ;  and  the  patriarchal  traditions. 

In  the  first  place,  their  castes.  Robertson,  on  the  au- 
thority of  Herrera,  says, — "  In  tracing  the  great  lines  of 
the  Mexican  constitution,  an  image  of  feudal  policy  rises 
to  our  view,  in  its  most  rigid  form  ;  and  we  discern,  iu 
their  distinguishing  characters,  a  nobility  possessing 
almost  i;idependent  authority  ;  a  people  depressed  into 
the  lowest  state  of  dejection ;  and  a  king  intrusted 
with  the  executive  power  of  the  state.  Its  spirit  and 
principles  seem  to  have  operated  in  the  new  world  in 
the  same  manner  as  in  the  ancient.  The  jurisdiction 
of  the  crown  Vv^as  extremely  limited ;  all  real  and 
effective  authority  was  retained  by  the  nobles.  In 
order  to  secure  full  effect  to  these  constitutional  re- 
straints, the  Mexican  nobles  did  not  permit  tlie  crown 
to  descend  by  inheritance,  but  disposed  of  it  by  elec- 
tion. The  great  body  of  the  people  was  in  a  most 
Iiuniiliating  state.  A  considerable  number,  known  by 
the  name  of  Mayeques,  could  not  change  their  place 
of  residence  without  permission  of  the  superior  to 
v;hom  they  belonged.  They  were  conveyed,  together 
with  the  lands  on  whicli  ihey  were  settled,  from  one 
proprietor  to  another  ;  and  were  bound  to  cultivate  the 
ground,  and  perform  several  kinds  of  servile  work. 
Others  vv^ere  reduced  to  the  lowest  form  of  subjection, 
that  of  domestic  servitude,  and  felt  the  utmost  rigour 
of  that  v/retched  state.     Their  condition  was  held  to 


42  PRIESTCRAFT 

be  so  vile,  and  their  lives  deemed  of  so  little  value, 
that  a  person  who  killed  one  of  them  was  not  subjected 
10  any  punishment.  Even  those  considered  as  free- 
men were  treated  by  their  haughty  lords  as  beings  of 
an  inferior  species.  The  nobles,  possessed  of  ample 
territories,  were  divided  into  various  classes,  to  each 
of  which  peculiar  titles  of  honour  belonged.  The 
people,  not  allowed  to  wear  a  dress  of  the  same 
fashion,  or  to  dwell  in  houses  of  a  form  similar  to 
those  of  the  nobles,  accosted  them  with  the  most  sub- 
missive reverence.  In  the  presence  of  tiieir  sovereign 
they  durst  not  lift  their  eyes  from  the  ground,  or  look 
him  in  the  face.  The  nobles  themselves,  when  ad- 
mitted to  an  audience,  entered  barefooted,  in  mean 
garments,  and  as  slaves  paid  him  homage  approach- 
ing to  adoration.  The  respect  due  from  inferiors  to 
those  above  them  in  rank,  was  prescribed  with  such 
ceremonious  accuracy,  that  it  incorporated  with  the 
language,  and  influenced  its  genius  and  idiom.  The 
style  and  appellations  used  in  the  intercourse  between 
equals,  would  have  been  so  unbecoming  in  the  mouth 
of  an  inferior  to  one  of  higher  rank  that  it  would  have 
been  deemed  an  insult." 

What  a  lively  picture  of  that  system  of  domination 
in  the  few,  and  slavery  in  the  multitude,  which  we 
have  seen,  or  soon  shall  see,  to  have  prevailed  m 
all  regions ;  in  the  feudal  lands  of  Europe  ;  in  India 
and  Egypt :  and  how  perfect  is  the  resemblance, 
•when  we  find,  as  we  shall,  that  at  the  head  of  all 
these  were  the  priests,  who,  says  Faber,  formed  a 
regular  hierarchy,  and  dwelt  together  in  cloisters  at- 
tached to  their  temples.  So  likewise  in  Peru,  the 
royal  family,  that  which  constituted  the  nobility,  were 
viewed  as  an  entirely  distinct  race  by  the  abject  ple- 
beians ;  and  they  studiously  preserved  the  purity  of  their 
high  blood,  by  iiUermarrying  solely  among  them- 
selves. With  these  in  the  government  of  the  com- 
monalty were  associated  the  priesthood,  who,  as  in 
Mexico,  were  no  straggling  body,  but  a  well-organized 
fraternity, 


IN    ALL    AGES.  48 

With  respect  to  their  triads,  the  same  author  says, 
the  Peruvians  supposed  Viracocha  to  be  the  creator  of 
the  gods  ;  suborclinate  to  him,  they  believed  two  triads ; 
connecting,  like  the  natives  of  the  eastern  continent, 
the  triple  offspring  of  the  great  father  with  the  sun; 
and,  as  in  the  case  of  Jupiter,  with  the  thunder.  The 
lirst  consisted  of  Chuquilia,  Catuilla,  and  Intyllapa  ; 
or  the  father-thunder,  the  son-thunder,  and  the  brother- 
thunder  ;  the  second  of  Apomti,  Churunti,  and  Inti- 
quaoqui ;  as  the  father-sun,  the  son-sun,  and  the  brother- 
sun.  Nor  were  they  satisfied  with  these  two  principal 
triads.  So  strongly  were  they  impressed  with  the 
notion  of  three  deities  inferior  to  that  primeval  god 
who  sprung  from  the  sea,  that  they  had  likewise  three 
images  of  Chuquilia,  himself  a  person  of  the  first  triad; 
as  the  Persian  Mythras  was  not  only  one  with  Oro- 
masdes  and  Ahriman,  but  was  also  said  to  have  tripli- 
cated himself.  They  had  also  an  idol  Tangatanga, 
which  they  said  was  one-in-three  and  three-in-one. 
Added  to  these,  they  venerated,  like  the  pagans  of  the 
eastern  hemisphere,  a  great  universal  mother;  and 
what  shows  further  the  genuine  character  of  this  great 
demiurgic  man  of  the  sea,  Noah,  the  superior  of  their 
multiplied  triad,  the  badge  of  the  Inca  was  a  rainbow 
and  two  snakes ;  the  one  allusive  to  the  deluge,  the 
other  the  symbols  of  the  two  great  parents  of  both 
gods  and  men.  Purchas,  in  his  Pilgrimage,  quaintly 
calls  this  triad  an  apish  imitation  of  the  Trinity  brought 
in  by  the  devil.  Their  worship  was  sufficiently  dia- 
bolical, being  debased  with  all  the  abominable  impuri- 
ties of  the  arkite  superstitions. 

Remarks  not  dissimilar  might  be  made  on  the 
deity  of  the  Mexicans,  believed  to  be  the  creator  of  the 
world.  They  call  him  Mexitli,  or  Vitzliputzli.  His 
image  was  seated  on  an  azure-coloured  stool,  placed 
in  a  litter ;  his  complexion  was  also  azure  ;  and  in  his 
hand  he  held  an  azure  staff,  fashioned  in  the  shape  of 
a  waving  serpent.  Their  next  deity  they  named 
Tlaloc  ;  their  third  Tezcallipuca.  Him  they  esteemed 
the  god  of  repentance.     As  for  the  superior  divinity 


44  PRIESTCRAFT 

of  this  trind,  he  was  phiced  on  a  liigh  uUar,  in  a  r>niall 
box,  decked  with  leatliers  and  ornaments  of  gold  ;  and 
the  tradition  ol"  the  Mexicans  was,  that  when  tliey 
journeyed  by  diiVerent  stations  from  a  remote  coun- 
try to  the  north-west,  tlicy  bore  this  oracuhir  imas,^e 
along  with  them,  seated  in  a  coti'er  made  of  reeds. 
Whenever  they  rested,  they  placed  the  ark  of  their 
deity  on  an  altar ;  and  at  length,  by  his  special  direc- 
tion, they  built  tlieir  principal  city  in  the  midst  ol  a 
lake. 

They  went  forwards,  says  Purchas,  "  bearing  tjicir 
idol  with  them  in  an  ark  of  reeds,  supported  by  four  of 
their  principal  priests,  with  whom  he  talked  and  com- 
municated his  oracles  and  directions.  He  likewise 
gave  them  laws,  and  taught  them  the  sacrifices  and 
ceremonies  tiiey  still  observe.  And  even  as  the  pillar 
of  cloud  and  of  tire  conducted  the  Israelites  in  their  pas- 
sage through  the  wilderness,  so  this  apish  devil  gave 
them   notice    when    to    advance  and  when  to  stay." 

Every  particular  of  this  superstition  shows  its  dihi- 
vian  origin;  and  proves  the  supposed  demiurge  to  be 
no  other  than  the  great  i'ather.  The  ark  of  Mexitli 
is  the  same  machine  as  that  in  which  the  Hammon,  or 
Osiris  of  Egypt  was  borne  in  his  procession  ;  the  same 
as  the  ark  ol'  Bacchus  ;  the  ship  of  Isis,  and  the  Argha 
of  Iswary.  His  dark  complexion  is  that  of  the  Vishnu 
of  the  Indian,  and  Cneph  of  the  Egyptian  triads.  He 
was  oracular,  like  the  .ship  Argo  of  the  Greeks  ;  the 
Baris  of  Hammon ;  the  chief  arkite  gods  of  all  gen- 
tile nations.  He  connects  his  city  with  a  lake,  like 
the  ancient  Cabiri,  like  that  of  liuto  on  the  Lake 
Chemmis  in  Egypt ;  and  has  evident  connexion  with 
the  lake  and  floating  islands  of  all  the  pagan  mytholo- 
gies. 

It  is  a  curious  circumslance,  that  we  tind  the  doc- 
trine of  the  succession  of  worlds,  and  ol"  the  death  and 
revival  of  the  hero-gods,  also  among  the  Mexicans. 
They  doubtless  brought  it  out  of  eastern  Asia,  with  a 
mythology  which  is  substantially  the  same  as  that  of 
the  larger  continent,  agTeeably  to  their  standing  tradi- 


IN    ALL    AGES.  45 

tion  respecting  the  route  of  their  ancestors.  They 
supposed  the  world  to  have  been  made  by  the  gods, 
but  imagine  that  since  the  creation,  four  suns  have 
successively  appeared  and  disappeared.  The  first  sun 
perished  by  a  deluge;  the  second  fell  from  heaven 
when  there  were  many  giants  in  the  country ;  the  third 
was  consumed  by  fire  ;  the  fourth  was  dissipated  by  a 
tempest  of  wind.  Three  days  after  the  last  sun  be- 
came visible,  all  the  former  gods  died  :  then,  in  pro- 
cess of  time,  were  produced  those  whom  they  have 
since  worshipped.  This  resemblance  to  the  tradition 
of  the  Hindoos  is  striking  enough,  as  well  as  to  that 
of  the  Egyptians,  who  told  Herodotus  that  the  same 
sun  had  four  times  deviated  from  his  course,  having 
twice  risen  in  the  vv-est,  and  twice  set  in  the  east. 

When  the  Mexicans  brought  their  arkite  god  out  of 
Asia,  they  also  brought  with  him  the  ancient  mysteries 
of  that  deity.  Like  the  idolaters  whom  they  had  left 
behind,  they  sacrificed  on  the  tops  of  mountains  in 
traditional  commemoration  of  the  sacrifice  on  Ara- 
rat ;  and  adored  their  bloody  gods  in  dark  caverns, 
similar  to  those  of  the  worship  of  Mythras.  Their 
orgies,  like  all  the  other  orgies  of  the  gentiles,  appear 
to  have  been  of  a  peculiarly  gloomy  and  terrific  nature ; 
sufficient  to  strike  with  terror  even  the  most  un- 
daunted hearts-.  Hence  their  priests,  in  order  that 
they  might  be  enabled  to  go  through  the  dreadful  rites 
without  shuddering,  anointed  themselves  with  a  pecu- 
liar ointment,  and  used  various  fantastic  ceremonies 
to  banish  fear.  Thus  prepared,  they  boldly  sallied 
forth  to  celebrate  their  nocturnal  rites  in  wild  moun- 
tains and  the  deep  recesses  of  obscure  caves,  much  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  nightly  orgies  of  Bacchus, 
Ceres,  and  Ceridwen  were  celebrated  by  their  respec- 
tive nations.  A  similar  process  enabled  them  to  offer 
up  those  hecatombs  of  human  victims,  by  which  their 
blood-stained  superstition  was  more  eminently  distin- 
o-iiished  than  even  those  of  Moloch,  Cali,  Cronus,  or 
Jaggernath.  They  had  also  their  vestal  virgins  ;  and 
both  those  women  and  the  priests  were  won  frantically  to 


46  PRIESTCRAFT 

cut  themselves  with  knives,  while  ('nguftffl  in  the 
worship  of  their  idols,  like  the  voturies  of  Baal  and 
Bellona . 

Of  their  hloody  saerilices,  the  Spanish  writers  are 
full ;  particularly  Herrera,  Acosta,  and  Bernal  Diaz. 
Fear,  says  those  authors,  v.as  the  soul  of  the  Mexican 
worship/  They  never  approached  tlnMr  altars  without 
sprinkling-  them  with  l)lood,  drawn  from  their  own 
bodies.  But  of  all  oflerin*rs,  human  sacrifices  were 
deemed  the  most  acceptable.  Tliis  lielief,  mingling 
with  the  spirit  of  vengeance,  added  more  force  to  it ; 
every  captive  taken  in  war  was  In-ouoht  to  (he  temple 
and  sacritlced  with  horrid  cruelties.  The  head  and 
the  heart  were  devoted  to  the  gods  :  tlie  body  was 
carried  ofT  by  the  warrior  who  look  the  captive,  to 
feast  himself'and  his  friends.  Hence,  the  spirit  of  the 
Mexicans  became  pro])orlionai!y  unfeeling;  and  the 
genius  of  tlieir  redigion  so  far  counteraettnl  t!ie  influ- 
ence of  policy  and  arts,  that,  notwithstanding  their  pro- 
gress in  botli,  their  manners,  instead  of  soitening.  be- 
came more  lierce.  Those  nations  in  the  New  World, 
who  liad  made  the  greater  progress  in  the  arts  of 
social  life,  were,  in  several  respects,  the  most  fero- 
cious ;  and  the  barbarity  of  their  actions  exceeded  even 
those  of  the  savage  stale. 

The  Spanisli  writers  have  been  chargj^l  with  exag- 
trerating  the  number  of  human  victims  aimually  sacri- 
ficed by  the  Mexicans.  Gomara  says,  there  was  no 
year  in  which  twenty  thousand  were  not  immolated. 
The  skulls  of  tliese  unhappy  persons  were  ranged  in 
order,  in  a  buihUng  erected  for  that  purpose  :  and  two 
of  Cortes's  officers  \vho had  counted  them,  told  Gomara 
they  amounted  to  a  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand. 
Herrera  declares  that  live-and-twenty  thousand  have 
been  sacrificed  in  one  day.  The  hrst  bisliop  of  Mex- 
ico, in  a  letter  to  the  chai)ter-general  of  his  order, 
states  the  annual  average  at  twenty  thousand.  On 
the  other  hand,  Bernal  Diaz  asserts  that  the  Francis- 
can monks,  who  were  sent  into  New  Spain  iunnedi- 
ately  after  tlic  conquest,  ibund,  on  particular  incpiiry 


IN    ALL    AGES.  47 

that  they  did  not  exceed  annually  two  thousand  five 
hundrr'd.  Probably  the  numbers  varied  with  the  vary- 
ing circumstances  of  war  and  other  occin-rences ;  but 
from  all  authorities,  it  appears  that  their  bloody  rites 
v»-ere  carried  to  an  enormous  extent. 

But  enough  of  tliese  terrible  and  revolting  trophies 
of  priestcraft.  We  might  follow  the  coiu'seof  this  pes- 
tilence into  Africa  and  the  South  Sea  Isles  ;  but  I  shall 
rather  choose  to  refer  all  those  who  may  be  curious  on 
the  subject  to  the  narratives  of  our  travellers  and  mis- 
sionaries, in  which  they  will  see  the  same  causes 
operating  the  same  effects.  I  prefer  to  give  a  con- 
cluding page  or  two  in  this  chapter,  to  the  vivid  pic- 
ture of  priestcraft  vvhich  Mr.  Southey  has  drawn  in  his 
noble  poem  of  Madoc.  No  man  has  felt  and  de- 
scribed the  true  spirit  of  this  terrible  race  of  men 
more  forcilily  than  Mr.  Southey.  His  Madoc  was  a 
Welch  prince,  who,  according  to  Cambrian  tradition, 
first  ili^covered  America,  and  there  settled  with  a  col- 
ony ol"  his  countrymen.  On  this  foundation  xMr.  Sou- 
they has  formed  one  of  his  delightful  poems  ;  full  of 
nalure,  of  the  working  of  strong  a  flections,  and  of  the 
spirit  of  the  subject. 

Madoc  discovers  land,  and  I'alls  in  with  a  native 
who  had  iied  I'rom  his  country  to  avoid  being  sacri- 
ficed by  the  priests.  This  youth,  Lincoya,  leads 
Madoc  to  his  native  land,  wheii  he  is  soon  introduced 
to  Erillvab,  the  widowed  queen,  who  sits  before  her 
door,  near  the  war-pole  of  her  deceased  husband ; — 
a  truly  noble  woman.  3Tadoc,  in  his  own  narrative 
say?,— 

She  welcomed  us 
Willi  a  proud  sorrow  iii  her  mien  ;  fresh  fruits 
Were  spread  before  us,  and  her  gesture  said 
That  when  he  lived  whose  hand  was  wont  to  wield 
Those  weapons, — tliat  in  better  days, — that  ere  -t 

She  let  the  tresses  other  widowhood 
Grow  wild,  she  could  have  given  to  guests  like  us 
A  worthier  welcome.     Soon  a  man  approached, 
Hooded  with  sable  ;  his  half-naked  limbs 
Smeared  black :  the  people  at  his  sigh  drew  round; 
The  women  wailed  and  wept ;  the  children  turned 


48  PRIESTCRAFT 

And  hid  their  faces  in  their  mothers'  knees. 

He  to  the  queen  addressed  his  speech,  then  looked 

Around  the  children,  and  laid  hands  on  two 

Of  different  sexes,  but  of  age  alike. 

Some  six  years  old,  who  at  his  touch  shrieked  out. 

But  then  Lincoya  rose,  and  to  my  feet 

Led  them,  and  told  me  that  the  conqueror  claimed 

Tlipse  innocents  for  tribute  ;  that  the  priest 

Would  lay  them  on  the  altar  of  his  god, — 

Tear  out  their  little  hearts  in  sacrifice, 

Vea,  with  more  cursed  wickedness,  hdmself 

Feast  on  their  flesh. 

Madoc  defends  tlie  children  ;  sends  away  the  dis- 
appointed priest ;  and,  in  consequence,  gets  into  war 
with  the  Azticas,  the  powerful  tribe  which  has  seized 
upon  Aztlan,  the  city  of  the  Hoamen,  the  people  of 
queen  Erillyab.  He  soon,  however,  obliges  them  to 
come  to  terms ;  to  renounce  their  bloody  rites,  and, 
having  put  things  into  a  fair  train,  returns  lo  Europe 
for  fresh  stores  and  emigrants.  In  his  absence,  the 
priests  of  Aztlan,  according  to  the  wont  of  all  priests, 
stir  up  the  king  of  Aztlan  again  to  %var.  They  cry,  if  not 
exactly  "  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians,"  great  is 
Mexitli  of  the  Azticas.  They  pretend  to  hear  voices 
and  see  prodigies  ;  they  pretend  the  gods  cry  out  for 
the  blood  of  their  enemies,  and  forbode  all  manner  of 
destruction  from  them,  if  they  be  not  appeased.  Ma- 
doc does  but  just  arrive  in  time  to  save  his  colony.  A 
desperate  war  is  commenced ;  an  occasion  is  given 
for  the  full  display  of  the  reckless  atrocity,  the  perfidv, 
and  vile  arts  of  the  priests,  and  for  many  noble  and 
touching  incidents  arising  out  of  the  contact  of  better 
natures  with  the  casualties  of  battle  and  stratasem. 
Hoel,  a  child,  the  nephew  of  Madoc,  is  carried  off,  at 
the  instigation  of  the  priests,  to  be  sacriliced.  Madoc, 
in  following  his  captives,  falls  himself  into  an  ambush, 
and  is  doomed  a  victim  to  Mexitli ;  but  escapes 
through  a  national  custom  of  allowing  a  great  warrior 
to  fight  for  his  life  at  the  altar-stone,  by  the  tnuely 
arrival  of  his  friends,  and  by  the  assistance  of  a  native 
maiden,  to  whom  also  Hoel  owes  his  rescue  from  the 
den  of  Tlaloc,  where  he   was  left  to  starve.     The 


IN   ALL   AGES.  49 

Azticas  are  defeated,  and  finally  abandon  their  terri- 
tory, going  onward  and  founding  Mexico  ;  calling  it 
after  the  name  of  their  chief  deity. 

To  quote  all  the  passages  which  seem  especially 
made  for  our  purpose  would  fill  this  volume  ;  but  1 
must  select  one  or  two.     The  description  of  the  idol : 

On  a  huge  throne,  with  four  huge  silver  snakes, 

As  if  the  keeper  of  the  sanctuary 

Circlec],  with  scretching  neck  and  fangs  displayed, 

MexiUi  sat ;  another  graven  snake 

Belted  with  scales  of  gold  his  monstrous  bulk. 

Around  his  neck  a  loathsome  collar  hung 

Of  human  hearts  ;  the  face  was  masked  with  gold  ; 

His  specular  eyes  seemed  fire  ;  one  hand  upreared 

A  club,  the  other,  as  in  battle,  held 

The  shield  ;  and  over  all  suspended  hung 

l^e  banner  of  the  nation. 

The  chief  priest,  Tezozomoc,  when  about  to  pre- 
sent little  liocl  to  the  idol,  and  the  child,  terrified  at 
his  hideous  appearance,  shrieks  and  recoils  from 
him  : — 

His  (lark  aspect, 
Which  nature  with  her  harshest  characters 
Had  featured,  art  made  worse.     His  covv^i  was  white ; 
Ills  untriinmed  hair,  a  long  and  loathsome  mass, 
With  cotton  cords  entwisted,  clung  with  gum, 
And  matted  with  the  blood  which  every  morn 
He  from  his  temples  drew  before  the  god, 
In  sacrifice  ;  bare  v/ere  his  arms>  and  smeared 
Black  ;  but  his  countenance  a  stronger  dread 
Than  all  the  horrors  of  tliat  Outward  garb 
Struck,  with  quick  instinct,  to  young  Heel's  heart. 
It  was  a  face  whose  settled  suilenness 
No  gentle  feeling  ever  had  disturbed  : 
Which  when  he  probed  a  victim's  living  breast, 
Retained  its  hard  composure. 

The  Vv'hole  work  is  alive  with  the  macliinations,  arts^ 
and  fanatic  deeds  of  the  priesthood.  The  king  of  the 
Azticas,  in  an  early  conference  witli  Madoc,  says, 
speaking  of  the  priests, — 

Awe  them,  for  they  awe  me : 

and  his  queen,  after  he  has  been  killed  in  batUej  ancl 

g 


50  PRIESTCRAFT 

she  is  about  fo  perish  on  his  funeral  pile,  calls  out  to 
his  brother  and  successor, — 

Take  heed,  0  king  ! 
Beware  these  wicked  men !    They  to  the  war 
Forced  my  dead  lord.  .  .  Thou  knowest,  and  I  know, 
He  loved  the  strangers ;  that  his  noljle  mind, 
Enhghtened  by  their  lore,  had  willingly 
Put  down  these  cursed  altars  !     As  she  spake 
They  dragged  her  to  the  stone.  .  .  Nay  :  nay !  she  cried, 
There  needs  not  force  !  I  go  to  join  my  lord  ! 
His  blood  and  mine  be  on  you  !     Ere  she  ceased. 
The  knife  was  in  her  breast.     Tezozomoc, 
Trembling  with  wrath,  held  up  towards  the  sun 
The  reekmg  heart. 

When  the  war  is  terminated,  Madoc  declares, 

No  priest  must  dwell  among  us, — that  hath  been 
The  cause  of  all  tliis  misery ! 


CHAPTER  VI. 


EGYPT. 


Priest-ridden  condition  of  Eg}-pt  notorious— Involved  in  the  same 
system  of  Priestcraft  already  noticed — Robertson's  Theory  of  the 
Uniformity  of  Pagan  Creeds  insufficient,  and  why — Egyptian 
Superstitions — Excessive  Veneration  of  Animals,  and  consequent 
singular  Rites  and  Facts — Horrid  ;ind  licentious  Customs — Policy 
of  their  Priests  to  conceal  Knowledge  from  the  People  ;  place 
tliemselves  above  the  Nobles  and  eventhe  Kings;  regulate  all  the 
daily  actions  of  the  Kings— Striking  Ulustrations  of  Uie  verity  of 
the  Greek  accounts  in  the  History  of  Joseph — Priests  supposed  to 
have  been  sole  Kings  in  Egj'pt  for  ages. 

We  have  now  traversed  an  immense  space  of 
country,  and  of  time  ^  and  found  one  great  imiform 
spirit  of  priestcraft,  one  uniform  system  of  paganism, 
presiding  over  and  oppressing  the  semi-barbarous  na- 
tions of  the  earth  ;  it  remains  for  us  to  inquire  whedier 
tlie  three,  great  nations  of  antiquity,  Greece,  Eg>-pt, 
^nd  India,  so  early  celebrated  for  their  science,  phi- 


INf   ALL    AGES.  51 

losophy,  and  political  importance,  were  affected  by  the 
same  mighty  and  singular  influence  ;  and  here  we  shall 
find  it  triumphing  in  its  clearest  form,  and  existing  in 
its  highest  perfection. 

The  priestridden  condition  of  Egypt  is  notorious 
to  all  readers  of  history.  Lord  Shaftesbury  calls  it, 
"  the  mother-land  of  superstitions."  So  completely 
had  the  lordly  and  cunning  priesthood  here  contrived 
to  fix  themselves  on  the  shoulders  of  the  people,  so 
completely  to  debase  and  stupify  them  with  an  over- 
whelming abundance  of  foolish  veneration,  that  the 
country  swarmed  with  temples,  gods,  and  creatures, 
which,  in  themselves  most  noxious  or  loathsome,  were 
objects  of  adoration.  Juvenal  laughs  at  them,  as 
making  gods  of  their  onions ;  grovv^ing  gods  in  their 
garden-beds  by  thousands — 

O  sanctas  gentes,  quibus  hssc  nascunter  in  hortis 
Numina ! 

and  dogs,  cats,  lizards,  and  other  creatures  were  cher- 
ished with  extraordinary  veneration.  Diodorus  Sicu- 
lus  says,  that  a  Roman  soldier  having  by  accident 
killed  a  cat,  the  common  people  instantly  surrounded 
his  house  with  every  demonstration  of  fury.  The 
king's  guards  were .  immediately  despatched  to  save 
him  from  their  rage,  but  in  vain ;  his  authority  and 
the  Roman  name  were  equally  unavailing. 

The  accounts  we  possess,  of  the  extreme  populous- 
ness  of  ancient  Egypt ;  of  the  number  and  splendour 
of  their  temples ;  of  the  knowledge  and  authority  of 
their  priests  ;  and  the  mighty  remains  of  some  of  their 
sacred  buildings,  sufiiciently  testify  to  the  splendour 
and  absolute  dominance  of  this  order  in  this  great 
kingdom. 

To  show  that  the  priestcraft  of  this  ancient  realm 
was  part  of  the  same  system  that  we  have  been  tra- 
cing, a  part  of  that  still  existing  in  India,  will  require 
but  little  labour.  We  shall  see  that  the  Greek,  phi- 
losophers themselves  assert  the  derivation  of  their 
C2 


$%  PRIESTCRAFT 

mythology  from  Egypt;  -.ind  so  strikingly  similar  are 
those  ol"  Indi'd  and  E<iypt,  that  it  has  been  a  matter  ol' 
debate  among  l<;arned  men,  which  nation  borrowed  its 
religion  from  the  otiier.  The  fact  appears  to  be,  that 
neither  borrowed  from  the  other,  but  that  both  drew 
from  one  common  source,  a  source  we  have  already 
pointed  out — that  of  the  Cuthic  tribes.  Egypt  was 
jieopled  by  the  children  of  Ham  :  and  by  whomsoever 
India  was  peopled,  the  great  priestly  and  military  caste 
early  found  its  way  there,  and  introduced  the  very 
same  superstitions,  founded  on  the  worship  of  Noah 
and  his  sons ;  and  sliadowed  out  with  emblems  and 
ceremonies  derived  from  the  memory  of  the  flood. 
Both  nations  are  of  the  highest  antiquity ;  both  arrived 
at  extraordinary  knowledge  of  astronomy,  of  archi- 
tecture, of  many  of  the  mechanic  arts,  of  govern- 
ment, and  of  a  certain  moral  and  theologic  philosophy, 
which  the  priests  retained  to  themselves,  and  made 
use  of  as  a  mighty  engine  to  enslave  the  people. 
Their  knowledge  was  carefully  shrouded  from  the 
multitude  ;  the  populace  were  crammed  with  all  sorts 
of  fabulous  puerilities  ;  and  were  made  to  feel  the  dis- 
play of  science  in  the  hands  of  the  priesthood,  as  evi- 
dence of  supernatural  powers. 

Dr.  Robertson,  in  his  Disquisition  on  Ancient  India, 
and  in  his  History  of  America,  has  endeavoured  to  ex- 
j)lain  the  uniformity  of  pagan  belief,  by  supposing  that 
rude  nations  would  everywhere  be  influenced  by  the 
same  great  powers  and  appearances  of  nature  ; — by 
the  beneficial  influence  of  the  sun  and  moon ;  of  tlie 
fruitful  earth ;  by  the  contemplation  of  the  awfulness 
of  the  ocean,  of  tempests  and  thunder;  and  would  come 
to  adore  those  great  olijects  as  gods.  But  this  will, 
by  no  means,  iiccount  for  the  striking  identity  of  the 
i^reat  principles  and  practices  of  paganism,  as  Ave 
have  seen  them  existing.  Diflerent  nations,  (^spe- 
cially under  the  diflerent  aspects  of  widely  divided 
climates,  would  have  imagined  widely  diflerent  dei- 
ties ;  and  the  ceremonies  in  which  they  would  have 
adored  tliem,  would  have  been  as  infinite  as  the  vaga- 


I\    ALL    AGES.  .53 

ries  of  the  human  fancy.  But  would  they  have  all 
produced  gods  so  positively  of  the  same  family,  that, 
whoever  went  from  one  nation  to  another,  however 
distant,  among  people  of  totally  different  habits  and 
genius,  would  have  immediately  recognised  their  own 
goils,  and  have  given  them  their  ov/n  names  ?  Would 
Caesar  and  Tacitus  have  beheld  Roman  gods  in  Ger- 
many and  Gaul  ?  Herodotus,  Pluto,  and  Pythagoras 
have  found  those  of  Greece  in  Egypt  ?  Would  these 
gods  be,  in  every  country,  attended  by  the  same  tra- 
ditionary theory  of  origin, — the  three  sons  of  one 
great  father,  multiplying  themselves  into  the  eight 
persons  of  the  original  gods — the  precise  number  of 
those  enclosed  in  the  ark  ?  Would  traditions  of  the 
iiood  in  all  countries,  most  full  and  remarkable,  and, 
in  the  oldest  Hindoo  writings,  almost  word  for  word 
with  the  one  in  the  Bible,  have  Existed,  as  may  be 
seen  in  the  histories  of  the  various  countries ;  and  as 
may  be  found  carefully  collected  by  Faber  and  Bryant 
in  their  works  on  the  pagan  mythologies?  This 
could  not  be  ; — nor  would  so  many  nations,  in  different 
parts  of  the  world,  retain  the  ark ;  nor  celebrate  mys- 
teries, substantially  the  same,  in  the  same  temiic 
manner  in  caves  ;  nor  v/ould  they  have  all  hit  on  the 
horrid  sacrifice  of  men  ;  nor  the  same  doctrine  of  trans- 
migration ;  nor  have  permitted  an  imperious  caste  of 
priests  and  nobles  to  rule  over  them  witfi  absolute 
domination.  To  suppose  all  this  to  happen,  except 
from  one  great  and  universal  cause,  is  as  rational  as 
to  suppose  the  system  of  earth  and  heaven  to  be  the 
work  of  chance :  and  the  further  we  go,  the  ^  more 
clearly  shall  we  see  this  demonstrated. 

The  Egyptians,  like  all  other  nations,  had  their  triad 
of  gods  ; — Horus,  Osiris,  and  Typhon.  This  was  the 
popular  one  ;  but  the  priests  had  another  of  a  more  in- 
tellectual nature,  Emeph,  Eicton,  and  Phtha.  They 
had  also  their  great  mother  Isis,  Ceres,  or  the  earth  : 
but  they  had  besides  many  inferior  deities,  which  we 
need  not  enumerate.  Every  god  had  his  shrine  ;  every 
shrine  its  train  of  priests  ;  besides  which  there  wero 


54  PRIESTCRAFT 

the  shrines  of  tlie  oracles,  so  that  there  was  plenty 
of  influence  and  profit  for  the  priesthood.  They  bore 
tiie  ark  of  Osiris  once  a  year  in  procession ;  setting 
it  afloat  on  the  Nile  at  a  certain  place,  and  lamenting 
it  for  a  time  as  lost.  It  was  taken  up  at  another  place, 
with  great  rejoicings  that  the  god  was  found  again.  It 
was  said  to  be  pursued  by  the  great  evil  serpent  Ty- 
phon  in  the  ocean ;  but  in  time  was  triumphant  over 
him — a  direct  allusion  to  the  going  of  Noah  into  the 
ark,  and  being  driven  by  the  great  power  of  waters 
for  a  time  ;  when  he  returned  to  land,  and  peopled 
the  world  anew. 

Their  doctrine  of  transmigration,  Herodotus  tells 
us,  some  of  his  countrymen,  whom  he  could  name  but 
does  not  choose,  meaning,  however,  Pytl^agoras  and 
others,  carried  thence  into  Greece.  The  Egyptians, 
says  the  venerable  Greek,  believe  that,  on  the  disso- 
lution of  the  body,  the  soul  immediately  enters  into 
some  other  animal ;  and  that,  after  using  as  vehicles 
every  species  of  terrestrial,  aquatic,  and  winged  crea- 
tures, it  finally  enters  a  second  time  into  a  human 
body.  They  afHrm  that  it  undergoes  all  these  changes 
in  the  space  of  three  thousand  years. 

This  is  precisely  the  doctrine  of  the  Hindoos,  and 
of  those  nations  we  have  already  noticed  ;  and  hence 
proceeded  that  excessive  veneration  of  the  people  for 
every  species  of  animal ;  fearing  to  hurt  or  destroy 
them,  lest  they  should  dislodge  the  soul  of  a  relative 
or  friend.  We  have  noticed  their  fury  about  a  cat : 
their  veneration  for  dogs  was  equally  extreme  till  after 
the  celebrated  expedition  of  Cambyses,  the  Persian, 
who,  with  the  zeal  of  his  country  against  all  images 
of  deity,  threw  down  their  idols,  and  slew  their  sacred 
animals,  which  the  dogs  devoured,  and  thereby  became 
objects  of  abhorrence  to  the  Egyptians. 

Their  laws,  says  Herodotus,  compel  them  to  cher- 
ish animals.  A  certain  number  of  men  and  women 
are  appointed  to  this  oflicc,  which  is  esteemed  so  lion- 
ourabh^  that  it  descends  in  succession  from  father  to 
son.     In  the  presence  of  these  animals  the  ijiliabitants 


IN   ALL    AGES.  ^g 

of  the  cities  perform  their  vows.     They  address  them- 
selves as  siipi)licants  to  the  divinity  which  is  supposed 
to  be   represented  by  the  animal  in  whose  presence 
they  are.     They  then    cut  off  their   childrens'  hair  ; 
sometimes  the  whole,  sometimes  the  half,  at  others 
a  third.     This  they  weigh  in  a  balance  against  a  piece 
of  silver.     As  soon  as  the  silver  preponderates,  they 
give  it  to  the  vv^oman  who  keeps  the  beast.     It  is  a 
capital  offence  to  kill  one  of  these  animals.     To  de- 
stroy one  accidentally  is  punishable  by  a  line  paid  to 
the  priests  ;  but  he  who  kills  an  ibis  or  a  hawk,  how- 
ever involuntarily,  cannot  by  any  means  escape  death. 
Whenever  a  cat  dies  there  is  universal  mourning  in  a 
family  ;  and  every  member  of  it  cuts  off  his    eye- 
brows :  but  when  a  dog  dies,  they  shave  their  heads 
and  every  part  of  their  bodies.     This,  after  the  days 
of  Cambyses,  would,  of  course,  be  somewhat  altered. 
The  cats,  when  dead,  are  carried  to  sacred  buildings, 
saked,  and  afterward  buried  in  the  city  of  Bubastes. 
Female  dogs  are  buried  in  sacred  chests,  wherever 
they  happen  to  die,  as   are  ichneumons ;  shrew-mice 
and  havv'ks  are  buried  at  Butos  ;  bears  and  wolves  where 
they  die.     Otters  and  eels  also  excited  great  venera- 
tion.    The  crocodile  was  held  to  be  divine  by  one 
part  of  the   kingdom  ;  by  another  it  was  execrated. 
Where  it  was  reverenced,  it  had  temples,  a  large  train 
of  attendants,  and,  after  death,  was  embalmed.     Maxi- 
mus  Tyrius  says,  a  woman  reared  a  young  crocodile, 
and  the  Egyptians  esteemed  her  highly  fortunate  as 
the  nurse  of  a  deity.     The  woman  had  a  child  which 
used  to  play  with  the  crocodile,  till  the  animal  one  day 
turned  fierce,  and  ate  it  up  ;  the  woman  exulted,  and 
counted  the  child's  fate  blessed  in  the  extreme,  to  have 
been  the  victim  of  her  domestic  god.     Such  is  the 
melancholy  stupidity  into  which  priestcraft  can  plunge 
the  human  mind ! 

1  shall  not  pursue  the  superstitions  of  this  people 
further,  but  refer  my  readers  to  Herodotus,  Plutarch, 
Diodorus,  and  Porphyrins,  for  all  further  particulars ; 
except  to  state  that  the  Egyptians,  were  we  to  credit 


56  rRlESTCRAFT 

Herodotus,  were  singular  in  one  respect — having  no 
human  sacrifices,  save,  perhaps,  in  the  very  earUest  ages, 
'i'his  however  is  so  remarkable  an  exception  to  the 
universality  of  the  system,  that  we  find  it  difficult  of 
belief;  and,  on  turning  to  Strabo,  we  are  assured  that 
they  annually  sacrificed  to  the  Nile  a  noble  virgin  ;  a 
statement  confirmed  by  the  Arabian  writer  Murtadi, 
who  relates  that  they  arrayed  her  in  rich  robes,  and 
hurled  her  into  the  stream.  Diodorus  affirms,  that 
they  sacrificed  red-haired  men  at  the  tomb  of  Osiris, 
because  his  mortal  enemy,  Typhon,  was  of  that  colour. 
Busiris  sacrificed  Thraciaiis  to  appease  the  angry 
Nile  ;  and  three  men  were  daily  sacrificed  to  Lucina  at 
Ileliopolis  ;  instead  of  Avhich  Amasis  afterward  hu- 
manely substituted  waxen  images. 

They  not  only  practised  these  horrors,  but  the 
Phallic  rites  in  all  their  loathsomeness  ;  and  ingrafted 
a  vulgar  and  indecent  character  on  the  national  man- 
ners. They  propagated  the  abominations  of  Priapis, 
and  the  Bacchanalian  and  Saturnalian  orgies,  among 
tlie  Greeks.  The  priests  had  so  fast  bound  the  people 
in  the  strongest  bonds — knowledge  in  their  own  order, 
and  ignorance  in  the  multitude, — in  puerile  forms  and 
ceremonies,  and  the  serpent-folds  of  sensuality, — that 
they  had  established  themselves  in  the  most  absolute 
manner  on  their  shoulders.  Rome  and  India  can  alone 
present  similar  examples. 

As  we  have  seen  in  all  other  countries,  so  here  tliey 
were  the  lordly  caste.  The  nation,  say  the  authorities 
1  have  above  quoted,  is  divided  into  three  castes — 
priests,  nobles,  and  people  :  the  latter  of  whom  are 
confined  to  mechanic  or  rural  employments,  utterly 
excluded  from  knowledge,  advancement,  and  power. 
As  in  India  to  tliis  day,  the  son  must  succeed  his  la- 
ther in  his  trade.  "I  know  not,"  says  Herodotus, 
"  whether  the  Greeks  have  borrowed  this  custom  from 
them,  but  I  have  seen  the  same  thing  in  various  parts 
of  Thrace,  Scythia,  Persia,  and  Lydia.  It  seems,  in- 
deed, to  be  an  established  prejudice  among  nations, 
even  the  least  refined,  to  consider  mechanics  andtJieir 


IN   ALL   AGES.  57 

descendants  as  the  lowest  sort  of  citizens,  and  to  es- 
teem those  most  noble  who  are  of  no  profession.  Th<3 
soldiers  and  the  priests  are  the  only  ranks  in  Egypt 
which  are  honom'ably  distinguished ;  these,  each  of 
them,  receive  from  the  public  a  portion  of  land  of 
twelve  acres,  free  from  all  taxes  ;  besides  this,  the 
jnilitary  enjoy,  in  their  turn,  other  advantages  ;  one 
thousand  are  every  year,  in  turn,  on  the  king's  guard, 
and  receive,  besides  their  land,  a  daily  allowance  of 
tlve  pounds  of  bread,  two  of  beef,  and  four  austeres  of 
wine." 

Plato,  Plutarch,  and  Diodorus  agree  with  him  in 
this  particular.  A  prince,  say  they,  cannot  reign  in 
Egypt  if  he  be  ignorant  of  sacred  afiairs.  The  king- 
must  be  either  of  the  race  of  priests  or  soldiers  ;  these 
two  classes  being  distinguished,  the  one  by  their  wis- 
dom, the  other  by  their  valour.  When  they  have 
chosen  a  warrior  for  king,  he  is  immediately  admitted 
into  the  order  of  priests,  who  instruct  him  in  their 
mysterious  philosophy.  The  priests  may  censure  the 
king ;  give  him  advice  ;  and  regulate  his  actions.  By 
them  is  fixed  the  time  v/hen  he  shall  walk,  bathe,  or 
even  visit  his  wife.  The  sacred  ministers  possess,  in 
return,  many  and  great  advantages.  They  are  not 
o])liged  to  consume  any  part  of  their  domestic  property; 
each  has  a  portion  of  sacred  viands,  ready  dressed, 
assigned  him,  besides  a  large  daily  allowance  of  beef, 
and  geese,  and  wine. 

What  a  striking  illustration  is  this  of  what  we  find 
ill  Genesis,  chap,  xlvii.  22,  of  the  doings  of  Joseph, 
iirst  of  gathering  up  the  corn  from  all  the  land  of 
Egypt,  and  then  selling  it  out,  in  the  horrors  of  fam- 
ine, to  tlie  people  for  their  possessions,  whereby  the 
whole  kingdom  became  the  purchased  property  of 
Pharaoh,  except  that  of  the  priests — "  only  the  land 
of  the  priests  bought  he  not,  for  the  priests  had  a  por- 
tion assigned  them  of  Pharaoh." 

The  priests,  indeed,  were  too  powerful  for  Josepli, 
or  even  for  Pharaoh  himself.     Diirius  wished  only  to 
l)lacc  a  statue   of  himself  in  a  temple  ;   the  priests 
C3 


58  rRIESTCRAFt 

violently  resisted  it,  and  Darius  was  obliged  to  sub- 
mit. Herodotus  tells  us  that  the  priests  showed  him 
the  images  of  their  predecessors  for  three  hundred  and 
forty-one  descents :  and  M.  Larcher  even  supposes 
that  these  priests  were,  for  many  ages,  tlie  sole  princes 
of  this  strange  country  ;  a  most  triumphant  reign  of 
priestcraft  indeed ! 


CHAPTER  VH. 

GREECE. 

Popular  Theology  of  the  Greeks— Occult  Theolog>'— Effect  of  the 
Poetry  of  Homer  on  his  ConntrvTiien— His  noble  Maxims— Priest- 
craft compelled  to  adopt  a  nice  policy  by  the  free  spirit  of  the 
Greeks ;  yet  bloody  and  licentious  Rites  introduced,  and  the 
People  eflectually  enslaved  by  means  of  Festivals,  Gomes,  Sacri- 
tices.  Oracles,  Augury,  and  Mysteries — The  immense  mfluence  of 
Oracles — Description  of  the  .Mysteries — Etryptjan  darkness  re- 
specting them— Taliesin's  allusions  to  them— Priestly  Avarice. 

The  popular  theology  of  this  noble  and  celebrated 
nation,  as  it  existed  during  its  most  enlightened  ages, 
has  been  made  familiar  to  every  mind  by  its  literature 
being  taught  in  all  schools,  and  furnishing  perpetual 
allusions  and  embellishments  to  all  writers.  Hero- 
dotus savs  that  Hesiod  and  Homer  invented  the  theo- 
gony  of  Greece  ;  that  iy,  they,  no  doubt,  methodized  the 
confused  traditions  of  their  ancestors,  and  organized 
them  into  that  very  beautiful  system,  which  Ave  still 
admire  when  it  has  become  the  most  I'abulous  oi'  fables, 
more  than  the  kindred  creations  of  all  other  people. 
'I'hough  it  had  the  same  origin  as  all  other  mytholo- 
gies, yet  passing  through  the  glorious  minds  of  these 
poets,  it  assumed  all  those  characters  of  grace  and 
beauty  which  they  conferred  on  their  literature,  their 
philosophy,  and  on  all  the  arts  and  embellishments 
of  life.     Familiar  as  Homer  has  made  us  all  with  that 


IN   ALL    AGES.  59 

hierarchy  of  gods  which  figure  so  conspiciioiisly  in 
his  writings,  M^e  are  continually  furnished  by  him  with 
glimpses  of  a  more  ancient  dynasty,  and  with  theories 
of  their  origin,  which  clash  with  his  more  general 
one,  and  at  lirst  puzzle  and  confound  us.      When  wa 
come,  however,  to  trace  up  these  casual  revealino-g, 
we  soon  find  ourselves  in  a  new  world.     These  gods 
which  he  at  first  taught  us  were  all  the  oflspring  of 
Saturn,  and  of  his  three  sons  Jupiter,  Neptune,  and 
Pluto,  we  discover,  to  our  astonishment,  are  the  gods 
of  all  other  nations, — gods  assuming  all  the  character 
of  the  highest  antiquity,  and  deriving  their  being  in  a 
manner  totally  at  variance  with  the  more  modern  sys- 
tem.    His  Hercules,  Bacchus,  Apollo,  Ceres,  Venus, 
&c.,  instead  of  being  the  comparatively  recent  chil- 
dren of  Jove,  are  found  to  blend  and  become  synony- 
mous with  him  or  the  great  Mother.     Surprised  at 
this  strange  discovery,  we  pursue  the  inquiry,  and  are 
led    into  those  very  regions  where    we    have  lately 
been — into  Central  Asia,  and  to  the  period  of  the  Flood. 
The  tombs  of  the  gods  were  existing  in  Greece  ;  they 
were,  therefore,  but  deified  men, — and  whence  came 
these  men?     From  the  Flood.     Traditions  of  floods 
were  the  most  familiar  of  things  in  Greece  ;  and  they 
agreed,  both  that  of  Deucalion  and  others,  with  all  the 
particulars  of  the  real  one.     Herodotus  tells  us  that 
the  Egyptians,  into  whose  religion  he  was  initiated, 
invented  the  names  of  the  twelve  great  gods  ;  but  we 
have  already  seen 'whence  the  Egyptians  drew  their 
deities.     Plutarch  contends  that  they  came  from  Phs- 
nicia.     And  who  were  the  gods  of  the  Phenicians  ? 
Ilus,  or  Ark-Ilus,  or  Hercules,  i.  e.  Noah  ;  and  Dagon  ; 
the  old  man,  On,  or  Oannes,  who,  according  to  Sanco- 
niatho,  came  out  of  the  sea,  and  taught  them  to  plant 
corn  and  the  vine.     Others  say,  that  the  gods  came 
into  Greece  from  Samothrace,  with  the  Pelasgi,  an 
ancient  wandering  people,  who  bore  in  the  ark  with 
them  the  Cabiri,  or  mighty  ones.     These  Cabiri  have 
been  the  subject  of  much  contention ;  but  all  writers 
admit  that  they  were  three,  or  eight,  that  is,  the  three 
sons  of  Noah,  or  the  eight  people  of  the  ark.     It  is 


60  PRlF.STCRArT 

most  likely  that  from  all  tliose  sourcos  portions  of  the 
same  great  system  of  corrupted  worship  were  derived. 
So  conspicuous  is  the  real  oriiriii  of  all  the  Grecian 
traditions  that  I  shall  not  dwell  upon  it.  It  is  enough 
to  state  that  they  celebrated  tlic  salne  mysteries,  prac- 
tised  the  same  human  sacrilices,  were  contamin;ited 
Avith  the  same  Phallic  abominations,  as  all  the  otiier 
nations  of  paganism  ;  in  fact,  all  the  characters  of  the 
great  Noachic  superstitions  were  ingrafted  upon  them. 
The  bold  and  free  genius  of  the  nation., — that  splendid 
and  extraordinary  emanation  of  intellect,  which  not 
only  made  it  the  wonder  of  the  ancient  world,  but  has 
constituted  it  the  well-spring  of  knowledge  to  all  ages, 
and  almost  the  creator  of  the  universal  modern  mind, — 
saved  it  from  the  utmost  horrors  and  degTadatious  of 
priestcraft.  The  national  spirit  operating  in  the  soul 
of  Homer,  again  through  him  operated  v/ith  tenfold 
ibrce  on  the  minds  of  his  countrymen.  In  all  other 
countries  the  priests  were  the  monopolists  of  know- 
ledge. "Immured,"  says  Maurice,  in  his  Indian  An- 
tiquities, "in the  errors  of  polytheism,  as  was  the 
great  body  of  the  Egyptian  nation,  it  has  been  incon- 
testably  proved  by  the  immortal  Cudworth,  that  the 
hierophant  or  arch-priest,  in  the  secret  rites  of  their 
religion,^  taught  the  doctrine  of  the  unity  of  the  God- 
head ;  but  this  noble  sentiment,  though  they  had  the 
magnanimity  to  conceive,  they  wanted  the  gcnerositv 
to  impart  to  the  deluded  populace  ;  for  it  was  thought 
dangerous  both  to  the  church  and  state  to  shake  tlie 
I'oundations  of  the  reigning  superstitions."  This,  if  I 
have  not  already  shown,  it  would  be  easy  to  show, 
was  the  practice  the  world  over ;  but  this  knowledge 
lalling  on  the  mind  of  Homer,  he  disdained  to  make  it 
an  instrument  of  slavery,  but  poured  it  abroad  like 
light  through  the  earth  ;  and  his  countrymen,  listening 
to  his  glorious  poems  with  enthusiasm,  became  imbued 
with  the  same  dauntless,  untameable  spirit,  ;'like  intol- 
erant of  the  despotism  of  tlu'  throne  or  the  altar.  Many 
of  his  more  timid  compatriots,  iiuleed,  were  terrified 
at  the  fre«Hloin  of  his  treatment  of  the  gods.  Every- 
whtry  we  perceive  that  ho  regarded  them  but  us  con- 


IN    ALL    ACES.  01 

venient  poetical  machinery.  Ever  and  anon  we  find 
him  rising  into  such  sublime  notions  of  Deity  and  the 
Divine  government,  that  we  feel  that  he  possessed  that 
true  knowledge  of  the  Creator  which  Socrates  and 
Plato,  and  Cicero,  in  Rome,  afterward  displayed.  80 
strikingly,  indeed,  does  he  evince  this,  that  many  have 
thought  that  in  his  wanderings  he  had  come  in  con- 
tact with  the  Hebrew  doctrines.  I  doubt  this.  I 
believe,  rather,  it  came  to  him  from  the  earliest  ages, 
by  other  sources;  but  his  description  of  the  gods  ex- 
erting their  power  is  almost  worthy  of  Isaiah  : — 

Mars  shouts  to  Siniois  from  his  beauteous  hill ; 
The  mountain  shook,  the  rapid  stream  stood  still. 
Above,  the  sire  of  gods  his  thunder  rolls. 
And  peals  on  peals  redoubled  rend  the  poles. 
Beneath,  stern  Neptune  sliakes  the  solid  ground  ; 
The  forests  wave,  the  mountains  nod  around  : 
Tlirough  all  their  summits  tremble  kla's  woods, 
And  from  their  sources  boil  her  hundred  floods. 
Troy's  turrets  totter  on  the  roclving  plai;i. 
And  the  tossed  navies  beat  the  heaving  main. 

Pope's  Translation,)  B.  ii. 

The  sentiments  that  aljound  in  the  Odyssey  are 
worthy,  not  merely  of  a  Hebrew,  but  of  a  Christian ; 
as  this  fine  and  just  opinion  of  slavery  : — 

Jove  fixed  it  certain,  that  whatever  day 

Makes  man  a  slave,  takes  half  his  worth  away. — B.  xviii. 

This  noble  description  of  the  power  of  conscience : — 

Pirates  and  conquerors  of  hardened  mind, 
The  foes  of  peace,  and  scourges  of  mankind, 
To  whom  oftending  men  are  made  a  prey. 
When  Jove  m  vengeance  gives  a  land  away  ; 
Even  these,  when  of  their  lU-got  spoils 
Find  sure  tormentors  in  the  gxiilty  breast 
Some  voice  of  God,  close  whispering  within— 
"  Wretch  !  this  is  villany  ;  and  this  is  sin !" 

And  those  many  declarations  of  God's  guardianship 
of  the  poor  and  the  stranger  : — 

'Tis  Jove  unfolds  our  hospitable  door  ; 

'Tis  Jove  that  sends  the  stranger  and  the  poor. — B.  xiv. 

Let  first  the  herald  due  libations  pay 

To  Jove,  who  glides  the  wanderer  on  his  way.^B,  vii^ 


62  PRIESTCRAFT 

By  Jove  the  stranger  and  the  poor  are  sent, 
And  what  to  them  we  give,  to  Jove  is  lent. 

Low  at  thy  knee,  thy  succour  we  implore  ; 

Respect  us  human,  and  relieve  us  poor ; 

At  least  some  hospitable  gifts  bestow, 

'Tis  what  the  happy  to  the  unhappy  owe. 

'Tis  what  the  gods  require  : — those  gods  revere, — 

The  poor  and  stranger  are  their  constant  care. 

To  Jove  their  cause,  and  their  revenge  belongs — 

He  wanders  with  them,  and  he  feels  their  wrongs.— B.  ix. 

From  Homer's  mind  truth  glanced  abroad  witli  a 
divine  and  dreadless  honesty ;  unlike  that  of  poor 
Herodotus,  who  at  the  utterance  of  a  bolder  sentiment 
hopes  he  has  not  given  ofience  to  gods  or  men. 

We  see  in  his  writings  not  only  continual  indica- 
tions of  great  moral  truths,  but  the  same  integrity 
evinced  in  sketching  the  manners  of  the  early  ages  of 
his  country.  We  see  his  favourite  hero  dragging  his 
noble  foe  at  his  chariot,  and  immolating  men  at  the 
funeral  of  his  friend.  What  Greece  would  have  been 
in  the  hands  of  priests,  but  for  its  own  elastic  spirit, 
and  for  the  miglity  influence  of  its  poets  and  sages, 
we  have  seen  pictured  in  other  nations  ;  what  it  was, 
we  have  now  to  see.  Priestcraft  here  did  not  rule 
with  the  same  unmasked  mien,  and  mircstrained  hand, 
as  in  other  countries ;  it  adapted  its  policy  to  the 
spirit  of  the  people.  It  gratified  their  curiosity  after 
philosophic  knoAvledge,  and  after  the  future,  by  mys- 
teries and  oracles ;  their  love  of  grace  and  festivity, 
by  beautifid  processions  and  joyous  festivals ;  it  cap- 
tivated and  awed  their  sensitive  imaginations,  by  call- 
ing to  its  aid  the  fine  arts,  as  the  papal  church  did 
afterward  by  its  adherents, — erecting  the  most  mag- 
nificent temples,  and  setting  before  their  eyes  those 
miracles  of  paintings  now  lost,  except  in  the  eulo- 
giums  of  antiquity  ;  and  of  scidpture,  some  of  which 
remain  to  command  the  admiration,  if  not  the  Avorship, 
of  the  world.  By  these  means  they  attained  their 
end, — immense;  wealth  and  influence, — an  influence, 
the  strength  of  which,  on  the  common  mind,  may  be 
estimated  by  facts  about  to  be  given,  but  perhaps  more 


IN   ALL    AGES.  63 

by  the  circumstance  of  Socrates,  the  most  sagacious 
of  tlieir  philosophers,  at  the  hour  of  his  death,  and 
when  he  was  delivering  the  most  sublime  sentiments, 
enjoining  his  friends  to  sacrifice  on  his  behalf  a  cock 
to  .^Esculapius. 

Let  us  now  briefly  run  over  the  great  features  of 
priestcraft  in  Greece ;  and  first,  of  human  sacrifices. 
Archbishop  Potter,  in  his  Antiquities  of  Greece,  chap.  ' 
IV.,  says,  "  Neither  was  it  lawful  to  sacrifice  oxen 
only,  but  also  men.  Examples  of  this  sort  of  inhu- 
manity were  very  common  in  most  of  the  barbarous 
nations.  Among  the  primitive  Grecians  it  was  ac- 
counted an  act  of  so  uncommon  cruelty  and  impiety, 
that  Lycaon,  king  of  Arcadia,  was  feigned  by  the 
poets  to  have  been  turned  into  a  wolf,  because  he 
offered  a  human  sacrifice  to  Jupiter.  In  latter  days  it 
was  undoubtedly  more  common  and  familiar.  Aristo- 
menes,  the  Messinian,  sacrificed  three  hundred  men  ; 
among  whom  was  Theopompus,  one  of  the  kings  of 
Sparta,  to  Jupiter  of  Ithome.  Themistocles,  in  order 
to  procure  the  assistance  of  the  gods  against  the  Per- 
sians, sacrificed  some  captives  of  that  nation,  as  we 
find  in  Plutarch.  Bacchus  had  an  altar  in  Arcadia, 
upon  which  young  damsels  were  beaten  to  death  with 
bundles  of  rods ;  something  like  to  which  was  prac- 
tised by  the  Lacedaemonians,  who  scourged  the  chil- 
dren, sometimes  to  deatli,  in  honour  of  Diana  Orthia. 
To  the  manes  and  infernal  gods  such  sacrifices  were 
very  often  oflfered.  Hence  we  read  of  Polyxena's 
bemg  sacrificed  to  Achilles  ;  and  Homer  relates  how 
that  hero  butchered  twelve  Trojan  captives  at  the  funeral 
of  Patroclus.  iEneas,  whom  Virgil  celebrates  for  his 
piety,  is  an  example  of  the  same  practice  : — 

Sulmone  creates  • 

QuaUior  hie  juvenes,  totidem,  quos  educat  Ufens, 
Viventes  rapit ;  inferias  quos  immolet  uuibris, 
Captivoque  rogi  perfuudat  sanguine  Jiammas. — Lib.  x. 

"Whoever  desires  to  see  more  instances  of  humau 


64  PRIESTCRAFT 

sacrifices  may  consult  Clemens  of  Aiexandria,  Eu.se- 
bius,  and  other  ( •hristian  apologists." 

To  this  wo  may  add  the  well-known  sacritice  of 
Iphygenia,  by  tlie  assembled  Grecian  powers  on  their 
way  to  Troy ;  the  sacrifice  of  two  chihlren  by  Mene- 
laus,  related  by  Herodotus  ;  and,  wliat  Plutarch  says, 
that  the  Greeks  sacrificed  many  children  annually  to 
Saturn ;  so  that  we  see  this  famous  people  was  suffi- 
ciently infected  by  this  bloody  superstition. 

Of  their  PhalUc  rites  we  shall,  for  decency's  sake, 
refer  to  their  own  writers,  whose  descriptions  of  the 
Bacchic  and  Priapic  orgies  are  astonishing. 

For  their  religious  festivals  and  processions,  we 
refer  to  Potter ;  and  shall  only  say  that  in  these,  every 
charm  of  grace,  every  intoxication  of  festivity  was 
exhausted,  to  fascinate  a  people  so  alive  to  such  influ- 
ences ;  and  they  were  made  to  contribute  abundantly 
to  the  coflers  of  the  priests. 

Another  potential  source  of  power  and  wealth  was 
auguiy.  Augurs  were  a  class  of  men  frequently 
priests,  but  always  bearing  much  the  same  relation  to 
the  pagan  priesthood  that  the  monks  did  to  those  of 
the  papal  hierarchy.  They  were  b\it  varieties  of  the 
same  class  of  animals  of  prey.  They  pretended  to 
discern  and  declare  the  will  of  the  gods,  by  the  flight 
of  birds,  by  the  intestines  of  animals,  and  by  various 
other  signs.  But  it  w^is  through  the  medium  of  the 
oracles  that  priestcraft  awed,  and  practised  on,  the 
public  mind  most  efl'ectually.  These  were  situated 
in  solemn  temples,  or  fearful,  sacred  groves  ;  were 
surrounded  by  every  thing  which  could  terrify  and 
confound  the  imagination  ;  and,  accompanied  by  dread 
and  mysterious  sounds,  and  by  the  cries  and  contor- 
tions of  the  priest  or  priestess,  Avere  supposed  to  pro- 
claim the  dicta  of  the  gods.  They  were,  conse- 
quently, a  mine  of  wcaltli  and  power  to  the  priests. 
"(M'  all  sorts  of  divination,"  says  Potter,  "oracles 
had  always  the  greatest  repute,  as  being  thought  to 
proceed  in  an  immediate  manner  from  the  gods ; 
Avhereas  others  were  delivered  by  men,  and  had  a 


IN    ALL    AGES.  65 

greater  dependence  on  them,  who  mij^ht,  either  out 
of  ignorance,  mistake,  or  out  of  fear,  hope,  or  other 
unlawful  and  base  ends,  conceal  or  betray  the  truth  ; 
whereas  they  thought  the  gods,  who  were  neither 
obnoxious  to  the  anger,  nor  stood  in  need  of  the 
rewards,  nor  cared  for  the  promises  of  mortal,  could 
not  be  prevailed  upon  to  do  either  of  them.  Upon 
this  account,  oracles  obtained  so  great  credit  and 
esteem,  that,  in  all  doubts  and  disputes,  their  deter- 
minations were  held  sacred  and  inviolable.  Whence, 
as  Strabo  reports,  vast  niunbers  flocked  to  them  to 
be  resolved  in  all  manner  of  doubts,  and  to  ask 
counsel  about  the  management  of  their  affairs ;  inso- 
much that  no  business  of  great  consequence  was 
undertaken, — scarce  any  war  w^aged,  peace  concluded, 
new  form  of  government  instituted,  or  new  laws 
enacted,  without  the  advice  and  approbation  of  an 
oracle.  Crcesus,  before  he  durst  venture  to  declare 
war  against  the  Persians,  consulted  not  only  all  the 
most  famous  oracles  of  Greece,  but  sent  ambassadors 
to  Libya,  to  ask  advice  of  Jupiter  Ammon.  Minos, 
the  Cretan  lawgiver,  conversed  with  Jupiter,  and 
received  instructions  from  him,  how  he  might  new- 
model  his  government.  Lycurgus  also  made  visits  to 
the  Delphian  Apollo,  and  received  from  him  that 
platform  which  he  afterward  communicated  to  the 
Lacedaemonians.  Nor  does  it  matter  whether  these 
thino-s  were  true  or  not,  when  lawgivers,  and  men  of 
the  greatest  authority,  were  forced  to  make  use  of 
these  methods  to  win  them  into  compliance.  My 
author  also  goes  higher,  and  tells  us  that  inspired 
persons  were  thought  worthy  of  the  greatest  honour 
and  trusts  :  insomuch,  that  we  sometimes  find  them 
advanced  to  the  throne,  and  invested  with  the  royal 
power:  for  that,  being  admitted  to  the  councils  of 
the  o-ods,  they  were  best  able  to  provide  for  the  wel- 
fare of  men. 

"This  representation  stood  the  priests,  who  had 
their  dependence  on  the  oracle,  in  no  small  stead ; 
lor  finding  their  credit  thus  thoroughly  established, 


66  PRIESTCRAFT 

they  allowed  no  man  to  consult  their  gods  before  he 
had  offered  costly  sacrifices,  and  made  rich  presents 
to  them.  Wlicrehy  it  came  to  pass  that  few  besides 
great  and  wealthy  men  were  admitted  to  ask  their 
advice  ;  the  rest  being  unable  to  pay  the  charges  re- 
(|uired  on  that  account,  which  contributed  very  much 
to  raise  the  esteem  of  oracles  among  the  common  peo- 
ple ;  men  being  generally  apt  to  admire  the  things 
they  are  kept  at  some  distance  from,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  to  contemn  what  they  are  familiarly  acquainted 
with.  Wherefore,  to  keep  up  their  esteem  with  the 
better  sort,  even  they  were  only  admitted  on  a  few 
stated  days;  at  other  times,  neither  the  greatest 
prince  could  purchase,  nor  persons  of  the  greatest 
quality  any  way  obtain,  an  answer.  Alexander  him- 
self was  peremptorily  denied  by  the  Pythia,  till  she 
was  by  downright  force  compelled  to  ascend  the  tri- 
pos, when,  finding  herself  unable  to  resist  any  longer, 
she  cried  out,  'Thou  art  invincible!'  which  words 
were  thought  a  very  lucky  omen,  and  accepted  instead 
of  a  further  oracle." 

Thus  we  see  how  artfully  and  triumphantly  the 
priests  had  managed  to  enslave  this  great  and  most 
intelligent  of  people,  holding  them  in  abject  and  utter 
tliraldom  even  while  they  imagined  themselves  free. 
To  the  priests  they  were  obliged  to  come  for  their 
original  civil  constitutions,  and  these  they  took  care 
so  to  frame  as  to  make  themselves  necessary  in  every 
act  and  hour  of  existence,  as  they  have  done  through 
the  universal  world.  Our  author  miglit  have  told  us, 
liowever,  what  tricks  statesmen  were  suficred  to  play 
with  the  oracles  when  it  suited  them  so  to  do ;  he 
might  have  added  what  prodigies  and  portents  The- 
mistocles  caused  to  appear  in  these  oracular  temples, 
when  he  wished  to  rouse  the  Greeks  against  Persia. 
The  arms  of  the  temple  at  Delphi  were  shifted  from 
the  interior  to  the  front  of  the  fane  in  the  night,  as 
if  done  by  divine  hands ;  they  Avcre  heard  to  clasli 
as  if  by  invisible  power ;  rocks  fell,  and  tlumdered 
tlown  in  the  faces  of  the  enemy  as  they  approached 


IlSr   ALL    AGES'.  67 

these  sacred  defiles,  and  friends  and  foes  were  im- 
pressed with  an  idea  that  the  gods  were  present  to 
defend  their  sanctuaries. 

Their  sacred  festivals,  games,  and  celebration  of 
mysteries  were  almost  innumerable ;  some  occurring 
yearly,  others  monthly,  so  that  they  were  seldom 
without  something  of  the  kind  to  occupy  their  atten- 
tion, and  bind  them  to  the  national  religion. 

These  have  occupied  much  of  the   curiosity  of  the 
learned ;  and  their  researches  have  shown  incontest- 
ably,  that  the  mysteries  celebrated  in  all   ages  and 
nations  were  substantially  the  same.     Whether  they 
were    celebrated    in    Egypt   in    honour    of  Isis    and 
Osiris ;  in  Syria  of  Baal ;  in  Phrygia,   in  Crete,  in 
Phenicia,  in  Lemnos,  in  Samothrace,  in  Cyprus,  in 
India,  or  the  British  Isles  ;  or  in  the  Mythratic  caves 
of  Persia  ;  they  had  all  the  same  object,  and  were 
attended  by  the  same   ceremonies.     In  Greece  there 
might  be  differing  particulars  in  the   orgies  of  Bac- 
chus, Ceres,  Jupiter,  Pan,    Silenus,  Rhea,  Venus,  or 
Diana,  yet  their  leading  traits  v/ere  the  same.     Their 
objects  have  been  stated  variously  ;  but  they  appear, 
in  fact,  to  have  been  various,  yet  all  subservient  to 
one  great  object, — which  was,    to  teach  the    primal 
unity  of  the  Deity,  notwithstanding  the  popular  mul-- 
titude  of  gods,  and  to  shadow  out  the  grand  doctrine 
of  the  fall  and  repm-ification  of  the  human  soul.     They 
appear  evidently  derived  from  the  flood ;  representing 
a  descent  into  the  darkness  of  that  death  which  Noah's 
entrance  into  the  ark  indicated  to  the  world,  and  his 
subsequent  return  to  life.     In  all,  there  was  a  person' 
lost,  and  sought  after  vv^ith  lamentation ;  whether  Isis 
was  seeking  Osiris,  Ceres    seeking  Proserpine ;    or 
Thammuz,  Bacchus,  Pan,  Jupiter,  or   some  other  was 
.lamented  with  tears,  and  sought  through  terrors,  and 
afterward  rejoiced  in  as  found.     In  all,  the  aspirants 
descended  to   darkness   as  of   death,  passed  over  a 
water  in  an  ark  or  boat,  and  came  into  Elysium.     The 
accounts  in  Homer  and  Virgil  of  the  descent  of  Hcr- 
plijes,  Ul^ssesj  and  i^neas  into  hell  aro  considered 


58  PRIESTCRAFT 

to  be  but  details  of  what  is  represented  in  the  myste- 
ries     In  Avhatever   mode   they  were  celebrated,  we 
invariublv  lind  a  certain  door  or   gate,  viewed    as  ot 
primary  importance.     Sometimes  it  was  the  door  ot 
the  temple  ;  sometimes  the   door  of  the  consecrated 
arotto  ;  sometimes  it  was  the  hatchway  ot  the  boat 
within  which  the  aspirant  was  enclosed  ;  sometimes 
a  hole,  either  natural  or   urtiticial,   between  rocks ; 
and  sometimes  a  gate  in  the   sun,  moon,  or  planets. 
Through  this  the  initiated  were  born  again ;  antirom 
this  the  profane  were  excluded.     The  notion  evidently 
originated  from  the  door  in  the  side  of  the  ark  through 
Avhich  the  primary  cpopts  were  admitted,  while  the 
profane  antediluvians  were  shut  out.     So  sacred  and 
secret  were    these   mysteries    in  all  countries,   that 
whoever  revealed  anv  portion  of  them  was  instantly 
put  to  death.     The  scrupulosity  of  the  Romans  with 
regard  to  the  orgies  of  the  Bona  Dea,  at  which  Avomen 
only  were  admitted,  is  familiar  to  every   reader  ot 
Cicero,  by  his  harangue  agamst  Clodius,  who  violated 
this    custom.     Those  who    consuhed    the    oracle  oi 
Trophonius  had  to  pass  through  darkness,  and  descend 
by  a  ladder  into  the  cave,  with  offerings  of  cakes  ol 
honey  ;  and  drank  of  the  waters  of  oblivion  to  iorget 
all  past  cares,  and  of  the  waters  of  remembrance,  to 
recollect  what  they  were  about  to  see. 

Thev  who  had  1)een   initiated  into  the  mysteries 

were  held  to  be  extremely  wise,  and  to  be  possessed 

of  motives  to  the  highest  honour  and  purity  ot  hie  ; 

yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  they  were  made,  by  the 

introduction  of  the  Phallic  obscenities,   a  means  as 

much  of  debauchery  as  of  refining  the  people.     A 

little  reflection,  says  Mr.  Maurice,  will  soon  convince 

us,  that  as  persons  of  either  sex  were  promiscuouslv 

allowed  to  be  initiated,  when  the   original  physical 

cause  came  to  be  forgotten,  what  a  general  dus.sipation 

—what  a  boundless  immorality  would  be  promoted  l)y 

so  scandalous  an  exhibition  as   awaited  them.    'Ihe 

season  of  nocturnal  gloom  in  which   tbese  mysteries 

were    performed,    and  the   inviolable    secrecy  which 


IN   ALL    AGES,  69 

accompanied  the  celebration  of  them,  added  to  the  in- 
viting solitude  of  the  scene,  conspired  at  once  to  break 
down  all  the  barriers  of  restraint,  to  overturn  all  the 
fortitude  of  manly  virtue,  and  to  rend  tlie  veil  of  mo- 
desty from  the  blushing  face  of  virgin  innocence. 
At  length  licentious  passion  trampled  upon  the  most 
sacred  obstacles  which  law  and  religion  united  to 
raise  against  it.  The  bacchanal,  frantic  with  mid- 
night intemperance,  polluted  the  secret  sanctuary, 
and  prostitution  sat  throned  upon  the  very  altars  of 
the  gods. 

The  effect  upon  the  vulgar  multitude  cannot  be 
doubted,  however  different  it  might  be  upon  the  few 
of  higher  intellect  and  higher  pursuit.  By  them  the 
most  sublime  portions  of  the  ancient  mysteries  would 
be  awfully  felt.  Nothing  can  be  conceived  more 
solemn  than  the  rites  of  initiation  into  the  greater 
mysteries  as  described  by  Apuleius  and  Dion  Chry- 
sostome,  who  had  both  gone  through  the  awful  cere- 
mony,— nothing  more  tremendous  than  the  scenery 
exhibited  before  the  eyes  of  the  terrified  aspirant. 
After  entering  the  grand  vestibule  of  the  mystic 
shrine,  he  was  led  by  the  hierophant,  amid  surround- 
ing darkness  and  incumbent  horrors,  through  all 
those  extended  aisles,  winding  avenues,  and  gloomy 
adyta,  equally  belonging  to  the  mystic  temples  of 
Egypt,  Eleusis,  and  India.  "  It  was,"  says  Stobseus, 
as  quoted  by  Warburton,  in  his  Divine  Legation  of 
Moses,  "  a  wide  and  fearful  march  through  night  and 
darkness.  Presently  the  ground  began  to  rock  be- 
neath his  feet,  the  whole  temple  trembled,  and  strange 
and  dreadful  voices  were  heard  through  the  midnight 
silence.  To  these  succeeded  other  louder  and  more 
terrific  noises,  resembling  thimder;  while  quick  and 
vivid  flashes  of  lightning  darted  through  the  cavern, 
displaying  to  his  view  man}^  ghastly  sights  and  hid- 
eous spectres,  emblematical  of  the  various  vices, 
diseases,  infirmities,  and  calamities  incident  to  that 
state  of  terrestrial  bondage  from  which  his  struggling 
soul  was  now  going  to  emerge,  as  well  as  of  the  hor-- 


70  PRIESTCRAFT 

rors  and  penal  torments  of  the  guilty  in  a  future  state. 
The  temple  of  the  Cecropian  goddess  roared  from  its 
inmost  recesses  :  the  holy  torches  of  Eleusis  were 
waved  on  high  l>y  mimic  furies  ;  the  snakes  of  Trip- 
tolemns  hissed  a  loud  deliance,  and  the  howling  of  the 
infcTual  dogs  resounded  througli  the  awful  gloom, 
w^hich  resembled  the  nudignant  and  imperfect  light 
of  the  moon  when  partially  obscured  by  clouds.  At 
this  period,  all  the  pageants  of  vulgar  idolatry — all 
the  train  of  gods,  supernal  and  infernal,  passed  in 
awful  succession  before  him  ;  and  a  hymn,  called  the 
Theology  of  Idols,  recounting  the  genealogy  and 
functions  of  each,  was  sung  ;  afterward  tlie  whole 
fabulous  detail  was  solemnly  recanted  by  the  mysta- 
gogue  ;  a  divine  hymn,  in  honour  of  Eternal  and 
Immutable  Truth,  was  chanted,  and  the  profounder 
mysteries  conmienced.  And  now,  arrived  on  the 
verge  of  death  and  initiation,  every  thing  wears  a 
dreadful  aspect ;  it  is  all  horror,  trembling,  and  aston- 
ishment. An  icy  chillness  seizes  his  limbs ;  a 
copious  dew%  like  the  damp  of  real  death,  bathes  his 
temples  ;  he  staggers,  and  his  senses  begin  to  fail, 
when  the  scene  is  of  a  sudden  changed,  and  the  doors 
of  the  interior  and  splendidly  illumined  temple  are 
thrown  wide  open.  A  miracidous  and  divine  light 
discloses  itself,  and  shining  plains  and  flowering 
meadows  open  on  all  hands  before  him.  '  Accessi 
confinium  mortis,'  says  Apuleius,  '  et  calcato  Proser- 
pin2e  limine,  per  onmia  vectus  elementa  remeavi ; 
iiocte  medio  solem  candido  coruscantem  lumine.' 
Arrived  at  the  bourn  of  mortality,  after  having  trod 
the  gloomy  threshold  of  Troserpinc,  I  passed  rapidly 
through  all  the  surrounding  elements,  and,  at  deep 
midnight,  beheld  the  sun  shining  in  meridian  splen- 
dour. The  clouds  of  mental  error,  and  the  shades  of 
real  darkness  being  now  alike  dissipated,  both  the 
soul  and  the  body  of  the  initiated  experienced  a  de- 
lightful vicissitude;  and  while  the  latter,  purified 
with  lustrations,  bounded  in  a  blaze  of  glory,  the  lor- 
mer   dissolved  in  a  tide  of  overwhelming  transport. 


IN    ALL    AGES.  71 

At  that  period  of  virtuous  and  triumphant  exaltation, 
according  to  the  divine  Plato,  they  saw  celestial 
beauty  in  all  die  dazzling  radiance  of  its  perfection ; 
when,  joinrng  with  the  glorified  chorus,  they  were 
admitted  to  the  beatific  vision^  and  were  initiated  into 
the  most  blessed  of  all  mysteries." 

'Jlie  author  of  the  apocryphal  Wisdom  of  Solo- 
3I0N  has  preserved  a  most  curious  Jewish  tradition, 
relative  to  the  nature  of  the  Egyptian  plague  of  darli- 
ness,  wnich  intimates  that  the  votaries  of  Osiris  were 
A'isited  wirh  the  very  terrors  which  they  employed  in 
his  mysteries.  The  passage  is  not  only  strikingly 
illustrative  of  waat  is  gone  before,  but  is  extremely 
sublime  : — 

"  When  unrighteous  men  thought  to  oppress  the 
holy  nation,  they,  being  shut  up   in  their  houses,  the 
prisoners  of  darkness,  and  fettered  with  the  bonds  of 
a  long  night,  lay   there    fugitives    from   the  Eternal 
Providence.     For  while  they  were  supposed  to  lie 
hid  in  their  secret  sins,  they  were   scattered  under  a 
dark  veil  of  fors'.ertulness,  being  horribly  astonished, 
and  troubled  wilh  strange  apparitions.     For,  neither 
might  the  corner  mat  held  them  keep  them  from  fear, 
but  noises,  as  of  waters  falling  down,  sounded  about 
them,  and  sad  vi'?.ions  appeared  unto  them  with  heavy 
countenances.     I^Jo  power  of  tlie  fire  might  give  them 
light,  neither  coulil  Uie  bright  flames  of  the  stars  en- 
dure to  lighten  that  norril)le  night.     Only  there  ap- 
peared unto  them  a  lire  kindled  of  itself,  very  dread- 
ful ;  for  being  muc)i  terrified,  they  thought  the  things 
they  saw  to  be  worse  than  the  sight  they  saw  not. 
As  for  the  illusions  of  art  magic,  they  were  put  down, 
and  their  vaunting  in  wisdom  was  reproved  with  dis- 
grace ;  for  they  who  promised  to  drive  away  terrors 
and  troubles  from  a  sick  soul  were  sick  themselves 
of  fear,  worthy  to  ?je  laughed  at.     For  though  no  ter- 
rible   thing    did   fear  them,    yet,    being    scared  with 
beasts  that  passed  by,  and  hissing  of  serpents,  they 
died  for  fear,  refusing  to  look  upon  the   air,  which 
could  on  no  side  be  avoided  ;  they,  sleeping  the  same 


72  PRIESTCRAFT 

sleep  tliat  night,  wherein  they  could  do  nothing,  and 
which  came  upon  them  out  of  the  bottoms  of  inevit- 
able hell,  were  partly  vexed  with  monstrous  appari- 
tions, and  partly  fainted,  their  heart  fading  them — 
for  sudden  fear,  and  unlooked-for,  came  upon  them. 
So,  then,  M-liosocver  fell  down  was  straitly  kept,  shut 
U])  in  a  prison  without  iron  bars.  Whether  it  were  a 
whislUng  wind  or  a  melodious  noise  of  birds  among 
tlie  spreading  branches,  or  a  pleasing  fall  of  water 
running  violently,  or  a  hideous  noise  of  stones  cast 
dovx^i,  or  a  running  that  could  not  be  seen  of  skipping 
beasts,  or  a  roaring  voice  of  most  savage  wild  beasts, 
or  a  rebounding  echo  from  the  hollow  mountains  ; 
these  things  made  them  to  swoon  for  fear.  For  the 
whole  world  shined  with  light,  and  none  were  hindered 
in  their  labour  ;  over  them  only  was  spread  a  \w<i\y 
night,  an  image  of  that  darkness  which  should  after- 
ward receive  them." 

On  this  interesting  subject  it  would  be  easy  to  follow 
through  the  mysteries  of  all  nations,  and  write  a  vol- 
ume ;  but  after  merely  stating  that  the  initiatoiy  cere- 
monies of  Freemasons,  and  those  of  the  Yehme  Gericht, 
or  secret  tribunal,  once  existing  in  Germany,  seem  to 
derive  their  origin  from  this  source,  I  shall  merely  give 
a  few  words  of  Taliesin,  relative  to  their  celebration 
in  Britain,  and  return  to  the  regular  order  of  my  subject. 

Among  the  apparatus  of  the  art  magic  which  the 
Druids  used  in  this  ancient  ceremony  of  being  born 
again,  was  a  caldron ;  and,  as  in  all  other  mysteries, 
and  in  the  initiation  of  a  Freemason,  men  with  naked 
swords  stood  within  the  portal  to  cut  down  every 
coward  who  would  fain  turn  back  before  he  had  passed 
through  the  ten-ors  of  inauguration ;  the  Druids  also, 
it  appears,  had  to  sail  over  the  water  in  this  ceremony. 

"  Thrice  the  number,"  says  Taliesin,  "  that  would 
have  filled  Prydwen  the  magic  shield  of  Arthur,  in 
which  he  saUed  with  seven  champions,  we  entered 
upon  the  deep, — excepting  seven,  none  have  returned 
from  Caer  Sidi.  Am  I  not  contending  for  the  praise 
of  that  lore  which  was  four  tunes  reviewed  in  the 


m   ALL   AGES.  73 

quadrangular  enclosure  ?  As  the  first  sentence,  was 
it  not  uttered  from  the  caldron?  Is  not  this  the 
caldron  of  the  ruler  of  the  deep  ?  With  the  ridge  of 
pearls  around  its  border,  it  will  not  boil  the  food  of  a 
coward  who  is  not  bound  by  his  oatli.  Against  )iim 
will  be  lifted  the  briglit-gleaming  sword,  and  in  the 
liand  of  the  sword-bearer  shall  he  be  left ;  and  before 
tiio  gates  of  hell  shall  the  horns  of  light  be  burning. 
W^licn  we  went  with  Arthur  in  his  splendid  labours, 
excepting  seven,  none  returned  from  Caer  Vediwid. 
Am  I  not  contending  for  the  honour  of  a  lore  which 
deserves  attention  ?  In  the  quadrangular  enclosure,  in 
the  island  with  the  strong  door,  the  twilight  and  the 
pitchy  darkness  were  mixed  together,  while  bright 
wine  was  the  beverage  placed  before  the  narrow  circle. 
Thrice  the  number  that  would  have  filled  Prydwen  wa 
embarked  upon  the  sea;  excepting  seven,  none  re- 
turned from  Caer  Rigor.  I  will  not  redeem  the  mul- 
titudes with  the  ensign  of  the  governor.  Beyond  the 
enclosure  of  glass  they  beheld  not  the  prowess  of  Ar- 
thur. They  knew  not  on  what  day  the  stroke  would 
be  given,  nor  at  what  hour  in  the  serene  day  the  agi- 
tated person  would  be  born,  or  who  preserved  his  going 
into  the  dales  of  the  possession  of  the  waters.  They 
knew  not  the  brindled  ox  with  the  thick  headband. 
When  we  went  with  Arthur  of  mournful  memory,  ex- 
cepting seven,  none  returned  from  Caer  Vandwy." 

Caer  Rigor,  Sidi,  Vediwid,  &c.,  are  but  different 
names  for  the  Druidical  enclosure  of  Stonehenge,  or, 
as  they  styled  it,  the  Ark  of  the  World.  The  number 
seven  has  evidently  reference  to  the  seven  persons  of 
the  ark ;  Noah  himself  being  represented,  according 
to  custom,  by  Arthur. 

In  another  place  Taliesin  alludes  to  the  doctrine  of 
the  Metempsychosis,  which  was  taught  in  those  mys- 
teries. "  I  ^vas  first  modelled  in  the  form  of  a  pure 
man,  in  the  hall  of  Ceridwen  the  ship  goddess,  who 
subjected  me  to  penance.  Though  small  within  my 
ark,  and  modest  in  my  deportment,  I  was  great.  A 
sanctuary  carried  me  above  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
D 


74  PRIESTCUAFT 

While  I  was  enclosed  within  its  ribs  inc  sweet  awen 
rendered  me  complete  ;  and  my  law,  without  audible 
language,  was  imparted  to  me  by  the  old  giantess  darkly 
smiling  in  her  wrath ;  but  her  claim  was  not  regretted 
when  she  set  sail.  1  fled  in  the  form  of  a  fair  grain 
of  pure  v.'heat ;  upon  the  edge  of  a  covering  cloth  she 
caught  me  in  her  fangs.  In  appearance  she  was  as 
large  as  a  proud  mare,  which  she  also  resembled,  the 
Ceres-IIippa  of  the  Greeks,  wlio  similarly  received 
Bacchus  into  her  womb ;  then  ^vas  she  swelling-out, 
like  a  ship  upon  the  waters.  Into  a  dark  receptacle 
she  cast  me.  She  carried  me  back  into  the  sea  of 
Dylan.  It  was  an  auspicious  omen  to  me  when  she 
happily  suffocated  me  ;  Gody  the  Lord,  freely  set  me 
at  large." 

To  a  timid  aspirant,  the  liierophant  says,  "  Thy 
coming  without  external  purity  is  a  pledge  that  I  will 
not  receive  thee.  Take  out  tlie  gloomy  one.  Out  of 
the  receptacle  which  is  thy  aversion  did  I  obtain  the 
rainbow." — See  Davis's  Celtic  MytJiology. 

It  may  seem  widely  v/andering  from  Greece  to 
Britain  ;  but  it  only  shows  more  strikingly  the  oneness 
of  the  pagan  faith. 

The  priests,  thus  providing  for  the  tastes  of  all  parties, 
wealth,  power,  and  unlimited  influence  became  their 
own.  AH  these  thino^s  were  sources  of  gain ;  and 
whoever  would  form  some  idea  of  the  wealth  of  the 
Grecian  priesthood,  let  him  read  in  Herodotus  of  the 
immense  riches  conferred  on  the  oracular  temples  by 
(Jro3sus  and  other  monarchs.  Let  him  also  learn  the 
following  particulars  from  Diodorus  Siculus  :  "  The 
principal  hordes  of  treasure,  both  in  bullion  and  coined 
money,  were  in  their  temples,  which  were  crowded 
with  presents  of  immense  value,  brought  by  the  super- 
stitious from  every  part  of  Greece.  These  temples 
were  considered  as  national  banks  ;  and  the  priests 
officia'-ed  as  bankers, — not  always,  indeed,  the  most 
honest,  as  was  once  proved  at  AthiMis,  where  the  state 
treasurers,  having  expended  or  embezzled  the  public 
money,  had  tlie  audacity  to  set  fjre  to  that  ])art  of  the 


IN    ALL    AGEH.  75 

temple  of  Minerva  wliere  the  treasure  was  contained ; 
by  which  sacrilegious  act  that  magnificent  lane  was 
near  being  wholly  consumed.  Their  purpose,  however, 
was  fully  answered,  since  the  registers  of  the  temple 
were  reported  to  have  perished  with  the  treasures,  and 
all  responsibility  precluded." 

The  temple  just  mentioned,  the  superb  fane  of  Ju- 
piter Olympius,  at  Eiis,  and  that  of  Apollo  at  Delphi, 
were  the  principal  of  the  three  sacred  depositories. 
The  priests  at  all  times  concealed  the  total  sum  of  the 
treasures  lodged  in  them  with  too  much  caution  for  us 
to  know  the  amount ;  yet,  when  the  Phocenses,  urged 
to  despair  by  the  exactions  of  the  Thebans,  seized  on 
the  treasures  of  Delphi,  they  amounted  to  10,000  tal- 
ents— above  2,250,000/.  sterling — and  probably  that 
was  but  a  small  portion  of  what  holy  perfidy  had  pre- 
viously secured.  The  deposites  at  the  great  temple  of 
Ephesus,  considered  through  all  ages  as  inviolable, 
probably  far  exceeded  those  of  the  three  last  men- 
tioned. 

The  spirit  of  avarice,  which  in  all  times  character- 
ized the  priesthood,  and  prompted  them  to  such 
inimense  accumulation,  is  not  more  detestable  than 
tiangerous  ;  for,  let  any  one  reflect  what  muct  be  the 
consequence  to  a  nation  where  the  monarch  and  the 
priest  are  in  coalition,  as  is  usually  the  case,  and  the 
monarch,  as  is  usually  the  case  too,  is  watching  to 
extinguish  every  spark  of  popular  freedom :  what,  I 
say,  must  be  the  consequence  ^vhen  such  overwhelming 
resources  are  within  his  reach  ?  The  fate  of  Greece 
is  a  melancholy  warning  on  the  subject.  These  im- 
mense treasures  were  eventually  seized  upon  by  rapa- 
cious conquerors,  and  their  soldiers  paid  by  them  to 
enslave  these  renowned  states  ;  and  thus  the  coin 
drained  from  the  people  by  the  hands  of  priestcraft 
became  in  the  hands  of  kingcraft  the  means  of  their 
destruction.  So  has  it  been  in  every  country — in  an- 
cient Rome — in  Constantinople:  and  so  pre-eminently 
in  India. 

D2 


^6  PRIESTCRAFT 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

INDIA. 

India — Priestcraft  in  its  boldest  aspect — Doctrines — Sacrifices  and 
licentious  Rites — Women  of  the  Temple — Immense  Wealth  accu- 
mulated by  the  Brahmins — Seized  by  the  Arabians — Mahmoud 
of  Gazna — Feast  at  Canaugha — Adventure  at  the  Temple  of  Sum- 
naut — Paternal  Slaver>'  stamped  by  the  Brahmins  on  the  Hindoos 
by  tlie  Institution  of  Castes — Inviolable  sanctity  and  immunities 
of  the  Brahmins — Sooders — Chandelahs — Remarks. 

The  ancient  and  venerable  Hindostan  furnishes  our 
last  and  most  triumphant  demonstration  of  the  nature 
of  i^agan  priestcraft.  In  Greece  we  have  seen  that, 
notwithstanding  the  daring,  restless,  and  intellectual 
character  of  the  people,  it  contrived  to  obtain  a  most 
signal  influence ;  but  in  India,  with  a  people  of  a 
gentler  temperament,  and  where  no  bold  spirits,  like 
Homer  and  the  philosophers  of  Greece,  had  ventured 
to  make  the  national  theology  popularly  familiar, 
priestcraft  assumed  its  most  fearless  and  determined 
air.  In  all  other  lands  it  did  not  fail  to  place  itself  in 
the  first  rank  of  honour  and  power  ;  in  this  it  went  a 
step  further, — and  promulgating  a  dogma  diametrically 
opposite  to  the  humanizing  doctrine  of  the  Bible,  that 
"  God  made  of  one  blood  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  ;'' 
it  riveted  its  chains  indissolubly  on  the  mind  of  th;it 
mighty  empire.  Priestcraft  here  exhibits  a  marvellous 
spectacle.  The  perfection  of  its  craft,  and  tlie  utter 
sollishness  of  its  spirit,  are  proclaimed  by  the  fact  of 
millions  on  millions  bound,  from  the  earliest  ages  to 
the  present  hovn*,  in  the  chains  of  the  most  slavish  and 
soid-quelling  castes,  and  in  the  servility  of  a  religious 
creed  so  subtly  framed,  that  it  almost  makes  hopeless 
the  moral  regeneration  of  the  swarming  myriads  of 
these  vast  regions.  I  have  already  repeatedly  stated 
that   it  partakes,  in  connnou  Mith  the  Mhole   pagan 


IN   A£L    AGES.  77 

world,  in  one  general  mythological  system,  and  I  shall 
not  dwell  on  its  features  more  particularly.  In  Mau- 
rice's copious  Indian  Antiquities,  whence  I  shall  chiefly 
draw  what  I  have  to  say,  may  be  found  ample  details 
of  the  Hindoo  religion.  It  is  well  known,  from  a  va- 
riety of  works,  that  this  venerable  empire  claims  \hv. 
liighest  antiquity,  not  merely  of  national  existence,  but 
of  the  possession  of  knowledge  in  philosophy,  litera- 
ture, and  the  arts ;  it  is  equally  known,  too,  since  Sir 
William  Jones  laid  open  the  antique  stores  of  the 
Sanscrit  language,  that  this  religion  has  all  the  com- 
mon features  of  those  mythologies  on  which  I  have 
already  dwelt.  It  has  its  triad  of  gods,  its  doctrine  of 
metempsychosis,  its  practice  of  the  Phallic  licentious- 
ness, and  the  horrors  of  human  sacrifice  and  seli- 
immolation.  Who  has  not  heard  of  the  burning  ol" 
Indian  widows — of  the  bloody  and  wholesale  self- 
slaughter  at  the  temple  of  Jaggernath — of  the  destruc- 
tion of  children,  now  restrained  by  British  interference 
— and  of  the  absolute  dominance  of  the  Brahmins?  I 
shall  pass,  therefore,  hastily  over  these  matters,  and 
confine  myself  principally  to  the  task  of  displaying,  in 
the  Brahminical  hierarchy,  an  example  of  priest- 
craft in  its  most  decided,  undisguised,  subtle,  and  tri- 
umphant character, — priestcraft,  at  once  in  full  flower 
and  full  fruit ;  in  that  state  at  w^hich  it  has  always 
aimed,  but  never,  not  even  in  the  bloody  reign  of  the 
papal  church,  ever  attahied  elsewhere,— stamping 
itself  on  the  heart  of  a  great  nation  in  the  broadest  and 
most  imperishable  style,  in  all  its  avowed  despotism, 
icy  selfishness,  imperturbable  pride,  and  cool  arrogance 
of  fanatical  power. 

Two  gTeat  sects  exist  here, — those  of  Buddh  and 
Brahma,  which  preserve  an  inviolable  separation,  ex- 
cept in  the  temple  of  Jaggernath,  where,  seeming  to 
forget  all  their  former  prejudices,  they  unite  in  the 
commission  of  lust  and  cruelty. 

It  is  to  the  Brahminical  sect,  as  the  most  predomi- 
nant, that  I  shall  principally  confine  my  remarks. 
These  profess  the  mildest  of  doctrines,  refuse  to  kill 


■Jfg.  PRIESTCRAFT 

any  living  creature  for  food,  and  snl)sist  on  milk,  fruit, 
and  vegetables.  Yet,  what  is  at  lirst  sight  most  re- 
markable, and  what  eannot  be  accounted  for  by  any 
other  means  than  that  of  tlic  immutable  nature  of  cor- 
rupted religion,  they  not  only  inflict  on  themselves, 
under  the  character  of  Yogees,  the  most  horrible  aus- 
terities ;  but  have  for  ages  encouraged  the  destruction 
of  female  children;  do  to  the  present  time  encouraoe. 
and  under  the  influence  of  the  most  powerful  of  social 
causes  render  almost  necessary,  the  immolation  of 
Avidows  ;  sanction  and  stimulate,  annually,  thousands 
of  simple  victims  to  destroy  themselves  at  the  shrine 
of  the  monstrous  .Taggernath  ;  and,  till  recently,  sacri- 
ficed, not  only  animals,  but  men. 

Of  human  sacrifices,  the  express  ordination  of  the 
Rudhiradhyaya,  or  sanguinary  chapter  of  the  C'alica 
Purana,  in  the  fifth  volume  of  the  Asiatic  Researches, 
is  sufiicient  testimony.  No  precepts  can  be  conceived 
more  express,  nor,  indeed,  more  horrible,  than  those 
which  this  tremendous  chapter  enjoins. 

"  By  a  hiunan  sacrifice,  attended  with  the  forms 
here  laid  down,  Deva,  the  goddess  Cali,  the  black  god- 
dess of  destruction,  is  pleased  1000  years. 

*'  By  a  human  sacrifice,  Camachya,  Chandica,  and 
Bhairava,  who  assume  any  shape,  are  pleased  1000 
years.  An  oblation  of  blood  m  hich  has  been  rendered 
})ure  by  holy  texts  is  equal  to  ambrosia ;  the  head  and 
flesh  also  aflbrd  much  delight  to  Chandica.  Let, 
therefore,  the  learned,  when  paying  adoration  to  the 
goddess,  ofier  blood  and  the  head,  and  when  perform- 
mg  the  sacrifice  to  fire,  make  oblations  of  flesh.'' 

Here  follow  mniierous  minute  directions,  none  of 
which  I  shall  quote,  except  one, — itself  sufficiently 
horrid. 

"Let  the  sacrificer  say,  Hrang,  bring!  Cali,  Cali! 
O,  horrid-toothed  goddess !  eat,  cut,  destroy  all  tlic 
malignant ;  cut  with  this  axe :  bind,  bind  ;  seize,  seize ; 
(hink  blood  !  spheng,  spheng !  secure,  secure!  saluta- 
lions  to  Cali !" 

For  the  Phallic   contamiaations,  let  this  passage 


IN    ALL    AGES.  79 

from  Maurice  suffice.  Abundant  matter  of  the  like 
nature  might  be  added ;  but  the  less  said  on  this  sub- 
ject the  better.  Of  the  recent  existence  of  such  things, 
Buchanan's  account  of  tlie  temple  of  Jaggcrnath  may 
satisfy  the  curious  reader. 

"  What  I  shall  offer  on  this  head  will  be  taken  from 
two  authentic  books,  written  at  veiy  different  periods, 
and  therefore  fully  decisive  as  to  the  general  preva- 
Jence  of  the  institution  from  age  to  age, — the  Anciennes 
Relations,  and  Les  Voyages  de  M.  Tavernier, — 
the  former  written  in  the  9th,  the  latter  in  the  17th 
century. 

"  Incited,  unquestionably,  by  the  hieroglyphic  em- 
blems of  vice  so  conspicuously  elevated  and  strikingly 
painted  in  tlie  temple  of  Mahadeo,  the  priests  of  that 
deity  industriously  selected  the  most  beautiful  females 
that  could  be  found,  and  in  their  tenderest  years,  with 
great  pomp  and  solemnity,  consecrated  them,  as  it  is 
impiously  called,  to  the  service  of  the  divinity  of  the 
pagoda.  They  were  trained  in  every  art  to  delude  and 
delight ;  and,  to  the  fascination  of  external  beauty,  their 
artful  betrayers  added  the  attractions  arising  from  men- 
tal accomplishments.  Thus  was  an  invariable  rule  of 
the  Hindoos,  that  women  have  no  concern  with  literature, 
dispensed  with  on  this  infamous  occasion.  The  moment 
these  hapless  creatures  reached  maturity,  they  fell  vic- 
tims to  the  lust  of  the  Brahmins.  They  vv^ere  early  taught 
to  practise  the  most  alluring  blandishments,  to  roll  the 
expressive  eye  of  wanton  pleasure,  and  to  invite  to 
criminal  indulgence  by  stealing  upon  the  beholder  the 
tender  look  of  voluptuous  languishing.  They  were 
instructed  to  moidd  their  elegant  and  airy  forms  into 
the  most  enticing  attitudes  and  the  most  lascivious 
gestures,  while  the  rapid  and  most  graceful  motion  of 
their  feet,  adorned  with  golden  bells  and  glittering  with 
jewels,  kept  unison  with  the  exquisite  melody  of  their 
voices.  Every  pagoda  has  a  band  of  these  young 
syrens,  whose  business  on  great  festivals  is  to  dance 
m  public  before  the  idol,  to  sing  hymns  in  his  honour, 
Hnd  in  private  to  enrich  the  treasury  of  the  pagoda  by 


80  PRIESTCRAFT 

the  wages  of  prostitution.  These  Vv'omeh  are  not, 
however,  regarded  in  a  dishonourable  light ;  they  are 
considered  as  wedded  to  the  idol,  and  they  partake  the 
veneration  paid  to  him.  They  are  forbidden  ever 
to  desert  the  pagoda  v/here  they  are  educated,  and 
are  never  permitted  to  marry ;  but  the  offspring, 
if  any,  of  their  criminal  embraces,  are  considered 
sacred  to  the  idol :  the  boys  are  taught  to  play  on  the 
sacred  instruments  used  at  the  festivals ;  and  the 
daughters  are  devoted  to  the  abandoned  occupation  of 
their  mothers. 

*'  The  reader  has,  doubtless,  heard  and  read  fre- 
(juently  of  the  degeneracy  and  venality  of  Priests  ; 
and  we  know  from  Herodotus  Avhat  scandalous  pros- 
titutions were  suffered  in  honour  of  ■Mylitta  ;  but  a 
system  of'  corruption,  so  systematical,  so  deliberate, 
and  so  nefarious, — and  that  professedly  carried  on  in 
the  name  and  for  the  advantage  of  religion, — stands 
perhaps  unrivalled  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and  the 
annals  of  infamy.  It  was  by  degrees  that  the  Eleusi- 
nian  worship  arrived  at  the  point  of  its  extreme  enor- 
mity;  and  the  obscenities,  finally  prevalent,  were 
equally  regretted  and  disclaimed  by  the  institutors ; 
but  in  India  we  see  an  avowed  plan  of  shameless  seduc- 
tion and  debauchery  :  the  priest  himself  converted  into 
a  base  procurer  ;  and  the  pagoda  itself  a  public  brothel. 
The  Mohammedan  traveller,  whose  journey  in  India,  in 
the  ninth  century  has  been  published  by  M.  Ilenaudot, 
and  Irom  which  account  this  description  is  partly  taken, 
concludes  the  article  by  a  solemn  thanksgiving  to  the 
Almighty,  that  he  and  his  nation  were  delivered  from 
the  errors  of  inlidelity,  and  were  unstained  by  the 
enormities  of  so  criminal  a  devotion." 

In  a  country  so  immensely  rich,  and  so  obedient  to 
tlie  dictations  of  priestcraft,  the  avarice  of  the  sacerdo- 
tal tribe  would  accumulate  enormous  treasures.  We 
have  recently  alluded  to  the  hordes  gathered  by  priestly 
hands  into  the  temples  of  Greece.  In  the  temple  of 
Belus  in  Assyria  there  were  three  prodigious  statues, 
not  of  cast,  but  of  beaten  gold,  of  Jupiter,  Juno,  and 


IN    ALL    AGES,  81 

Rhea.  That  of  Jupiter  was  erect,  in  a  walking  atti- 
tude ;  forty  feet  in  height ;  and  weighed  a  thousand 
Babylonian  talents.  The  statue  of  Rhea  was  of  the 
same  weight,  but  sitting  on  a  throne  of  gold,  with  two 
lioiis  standing  before  her,  and  two  huge  serpents  in 
silver,  each  weighing  thirty  talents.  Juno  was  erect; 
weighed  eight  hundred  talents  ;  her  right  hand  grasped 
a  serpent  by  the  head,  and  her  left  a  golden  sceptre, 
incrusted  with  gems.  Before  these  statues  stood  an 
altar  of  beaten  gold,  forty  feet  long,  fifteen  broad,  and 
five  hundred  talents  in  weight.  On  this  altar  stood  two 
vast  flagons,  each  weighing  thirty  talents  ;  two  censers 
for  incense,  each  five  hundred  talents ;  and,  finally, 
three  vessels  for  the  consecrated  wine,  weighing  nine 
hundred  talents. 

The  statue^  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  in  the  plain  of 
Dura,  formed,;^  of  the  gold  heaped  up  by  David  and 
Solomon,  Dr.-  Prideaux  calculated  at  one  thousand 
talents  of  gold,  in  value  three  millions  and  a  half 
sterling. 

Herodotus  tells  us,  that  CroGsus  frequently  sent  to 
Delphi  amazing  presents ;  and  burnt,  in  one  holocaust, 
beds  of  gold  and  silver,  ornamented  vessels  of  the 
same  metals,  purple  robes,  silken  carpets,  and  other 
rich  furniture,  which  he  consumed  in  one  pile,  to  ren- 
der that  oracle  propitious  ;  while  the  wealthiest  citi- 
zens of  Sardis  threw  into  the  fire  their  most  costly  fur- 
niture ;  so  that  out  of  the  melted  mass,  one  hundred 
and  seventeen  golden  tiles  were  cast ;  the  least  three 
spans  long,  the  largest  six,  but  all  one  span  in  thick- 
ness ;  which  were  placed  in  the  temple. 

When  Cambyses  burnt  the  temple  of  Thebes  in 
Egypt,  there  were  saved  from  the  flames  three  hundred 
talents  of  gold,  and  two  thousand  three  hundred  talents 
of  silver ;  and  among  the  spoils  of  that  temple  was  a 
stupendous  circle  of  gold  inscribed  with  the  zodiacal 
ciiaracters,  and  astronomical  figures,  which  encircled 
the  tomb  of  Oxymandias.  At  Memphis  he  obtained 
still  greater  sacred  wealth. 

These  seem  astounding  facts  ;  but  before  the  sacer- 
D3 


82  PRIESTCRAFT 

dotal  wealth  and  temphir  splendour  of  India,  they 
shrink  into  insignificance.  The  prhicipal  use  which 
the  Indians  seem  to  have  made  of  the  immense  (juanti- 
ties  of  bullion  from  ;ige  to  age  imported  into  their 
empire,  v.as  to  melt  it  down  into  statues  of  their  dei- 
ties ;  if,  indeed,  by  that  title  we  may  denominate  the 
personified  attitudes  of  the  Almighty,  and  the  elements 
of  nature.  Their  pagodas  were  crowned  with  these 
golden  and  silver  statues  ;  tliey  thought  any  inferior 
metal  must  degrade  the  divinity.  Every  house,  too, 
Avas  crowded  with  statues  of  their  ancestors ;  those 
ancestors  that  were  exalted  to  the  stars  for  their  pieiy 
or  valour.  The  ver\'  altars  of  the  temples  were  of 
massy  gold ;  the  incense  ilamed  in  censers  of  gold, 
and  golden  chalices  bore  their  sacred  oil,  honey,  and 
wi:ic.  The  temple  of  Auruna,  the  day-star,  had  its 
lofty  walls  of  porphyry  internally  covered  with  broad 
plates  of  gold,  sculptured  in  rays,  that,  diverging  every 
Avay,  dazzled  the  beholder ;  Mdiile  tlic  radiant  image 
of  the  deity  burned  in  gems  of  inrmite  variety  and  un- 
equalled beauty,  on  the  spangled  floor.  The  floor  of 
the  great  temple  of  Naiigracut,  even  so  late  as  in  llie 
time  of  Mandcsloe,  was  covered  with  plates  of  gold ; 
and  thus  the  Hindoo,  in  his  devotion,  trampled  upon 
the  god  of  half  mankind. 

In  the  processions,  also,  made  in  honour  of  their 
idols  the  utmost  magniflcence  prevailed.  They  then 
brought  fortli  all  the  v/ealth  of  the  temple  ;  and  every 
order  of  people  strove  to  outvie  each  other  in  dis- 
playing their  riclies,  and  adding  to  the  pomp.  The 
elephants  marched  flrst,  richly  decorated  with  gold 
and  silver  ornaments,  studded  with  precious  stones ; 
chariots  overlaid  with  those  metals,  and  loaded  with 
them  in  ingots,  advanced  next ;  then  followed  the  sa- 
cred steers,  coupled  together  with  yokes  of  gold,  and 
a  train  of  the  noblest  and  most  beautiful  beasts  of  the 
forest,  by  nature  flerce  and  sanguinary,  but  rendered 
mild  and  tractable  by  die  skill  of  man  ;  an  immense 
multitude  of  priests  carrying  vessels,  plates,  dishes, 
and  other  utensils,   of  gold,  adorned  with  (hamonds, 


IN    ALL    AGES.  83 

rubies,  and  sapphires,  for  tlie  suniptiioiis  feast  of 
which  the  gods  were  to  partake,  brought  up  the  roar. 
During  all  this  time,  the  air  was  rent  with  the  sound 
of  various  instruments,  martial  and  ft^stive  ;  and  the 
dancing  girls  displayed  in  their  sumptuous  apparel 
tlic  wealtli  of  whole  provinces,  exhausted  to  decorate 
beauty  davoted  to  religion. 

Tiie  Arabians  burst  upon  India  like  a  torrent ; — 
their  merciless  grasp  seized  the  whole  prey  !  The 
Avcstern  provinces  first  felt  their  fury.  The  Rajah  of 
Laliore,  when  taken,  had  aljout  his  neck  sixteen 
strings  of  jewels ;  each  of  which  was  valued  at  u 
hundred  and  eighty  thousand  rupees  :  and  the  whole 
at  three  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  pounds  sterling. 
A  sum,  hov.-ever,  comparatively  trifling,  when  com- 
pared Vvitli  that  of  which  the  Sullan  of  Gazna  after- 
ward became  master  in  his  irruption  into  that  province ; 
and  which  Mirkhond  states  at  seven  millions  of  coin 
in  gold,  seven  hundred  maunds  of  gold  in  ingots,  to- 
gether with  an  inestimable  quantity  of  pearls  and  pre- 
cious stones.  The  maund  is  a  Persian  weight  never 
estimated  at  less  than  forty  pounds. 

Let  us  attend  this  valiant  marauder  on  another  or 
two  of  his  plundering  expeditions  into  Hindcstan.  ki 
the  holy  fane  of  Kreeshna,  at  ISfetlmra,  he  found  five 
great  idols  of  pure  gold,  v,  itli  eyes  of  rubies,  of  im- 
mense value.  Ke  found  also  three  Imndred  idols  of 
silver,  which,  being  melted  down,  loaded  as  many 
camels  v/ith  bullion ;  the  usual  load  of  a  camel  being 
jrom  seven  hundred  to  one  thousand  two  hundred 
pounds  v/eight.  At  the  great  temple  of  Sumnaut,  he 
found  many  thousands  of  gold  and  silver  idols  oi" 
smaller  magnitude  ;  a  chain  of  gold,  Vt^hicli  was  sus- 
pended from  the  roof,  and  vreighed  Ibrty  maunds ; 
besides  an  inestimable  horde  of  jewels  of  the  first 
water.  This  prince,  a  day  or  two  before  his  death, 
ordered  his  whole  treasury  to  be  placed  before  him  ; 
and  having  for  some  time,  from  his  throne,  feasted  his 
eyes  on  the  innumerable  sacks  of  gold,  and  caskets 
of  preciott8  stones,  burst  into  tears — perhaps  from  the 


84  PRIESTCRAFT 

recollection  of  the  bloodshed  and  atrocities  by  which 
they  had  been  accumulated — but  more  probably  Jrom 
the  feeling  of  the  vanity  of  all  human  cupidity  and 
power, — a  dismal  conviction  that  they  could  not  save 
him,  but  that  they  must  pass  to  other  hands,  and  he  to 
ilie  doom  of  eternity. 

Immense  quantities  of  the  beautiful  coins  of  Greece 
and  Rome  are  supposed  to  have  passed  to  India  in  the 
great  trade  of  the  ancients  with  it,  for  spices,  silks, 
gems,  and  other  precious  articles,  and  to  have  been 
melted  down  in  the  crucible,  without  the  least  regard 
to  the  grandeur  of  their  design,  the  majesty  of  the 
characters  impressed,  or  the  beauty  of  their  execu- 
tion, and  went  to  swell  the  magnificence  of  the  pago- 
das. We  are  well  assured,  that  all  the  great  pagodas 
of  India  had  complete  sets,  amounting  to  an  immense 
number,  of  the  avatars  and  deities,  which  were  deemed 
degraded  if  they  were  of  baser  metal  than  silver  and 
gold ;  except  in  those  instances  where  their  religion 
required  their  idol  to  be  of  stone,  as  Jaggernath ; 
which  had,  however,  the  richest  jewels  of  Golconda 
for  eyes  ;  and  Vishnu,  in  the  great  basin  of  Catmandu, 
in  Nepaul.  Such  was  the  wealth  gathered  by  the 
Tartars  in  this  wonderful  country,  that  Mahmoud  of 
Gazna  made  feasts  that  lasted  a  month ;  and  the  offi- 
cers of  his  army  rode  on  saddles  of  gold,  glittering 
with  precious  stones ;  and  his  descendant,  Timur, 
made  a  feast  on  a  delightful  plain,  called  Canaugha, 
or  the  treasury  of  roses,  at  which  was  exhibited  such 
a  display  of  gold  and  jewels,  that  in  comparison  the 
riches  of  Xerxes  and  Darius  were  trifling.  The  trea- 
sures which  Timur  took  in  Delhi  were  most  enor- 
mous : — precious  stones,  pearls,  rubies,  and  diamonds, 
thousands  of  which  were  torn  from  the  ears  and  necks 
of  the  native  women ;  and  gold  and  gems  from  their 
arms,  ankles,  and  dress :  gold  and  silver  vessels,  money, 
and  bullion  were  caiTied  away  in  such  profusion  by 
the  army  that  the  common  soldiers  absolutely  refused 
to  encumber  themselves  with  more  ;  and  an  abundant 
harvest  of  plunder  was  left  to  future  invaders. 


IN   ALL   AGES.  85 

Mahmoiid  of  Gazna,  hearing  astonishing  accounts 
of  the  riches  of  the  great  pagoda  of  Siimnaut,  whose 
roof  was  covered  Avith  plates  of  gold,  and  encircled 
with  rubies^  emeralds,  and  other  precious  stones,  be- 
sieged the  place,  and  took  it.  On  entering  the  tem- 
ple, he  was  struck  with  astonishment  at  the  inestima- 
ble riches  it  contained.  In  the  fury  of  his  Mohamme- 
dan zeal  against  idols,  he  smote  off  the  nose  of  the  great 
image.  A  crowd  of  Brahmins,  frantic  at  his  treatment 
of  their  god,  offered  the  most  extravagant  sums  for  his 
desistance ;  but  the  soldiers  of  Mahmoud  only  proceeded 
with  greater  ardour  to  demolish  it,  when  behold ! 
on  breaking  its  body,  it  was  found  to  be  hollow  and  to 
contain  an  infinite  variety  of  diamonds,  rubies,  and 
pearls  of  a  water  so  pure,  and  a  magnitude  so  uncom- 
mon, that  the  beholders  were  overwhelmed  with  as- 
tonishment. But  the  riches  accumulated  by  the  priests 
of  t]iis  afHuent  region  were  so  immense,  that  they  ex- 
ceed the  pov/erof  the  imagination  to  grasp  them  ;  and 
I  shall  leave  the  subject  with  what  Mr.  Orme,  in  his 
History  of  Hindostan,  tells  us : — that  the  Brahmins 
slumbered  in  the  most  luxurious  repose  in  these  splen- 
did pagodas  ;  and  that  the  numbers  accommodated  in 
the  body  of  the  great  ones  was  astonishing.  He  ac- 
quaints us  that  pilgrims  came  from  all  parts  of  the 
peninsula  to  worship  at  that  of  Seringham,  but  none 
without  an  ofTering  of  money  ;  that  a  large  part  of  the 
revenue  of  the  island  is  allotted  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  Brahmins  who  inhabit  it ;  and  that  these,  with 
their  families,  formerly  composed  a  multitude,  not  less 
in  number  than  forty  thousand  souls,  supported  with- 
out labour,  by  the  liberality  of  superstition. 

So  much  for  the  ease  and  affluence  of  the  Brali- 
minical  life  ;  now  for  a  glance  at  that  system  which 
they  had  rendered  so  prolific  of  good  things, — 
a  system  the  most  awful  that  ever  proceeded  from 
the  genius  of  priestcraft,  fertile  in  cimning  and  profit- 
able schemes.  I  have  already  shown  that  in  all 
nations  the  priests  placed  themselves  at  the  head,  and 


•B6  priestcraft 

even  controlled  the  king,  as  they  often  chose  him. 
But  in  India,  the  Brahmins  went,  as  I  have  remarked, 
still  further.  Here,  in  order  to  rivet  for  ever  their 
chains  on  the  people,  they  did  not  merely  represent 
themselves  as  a  noble  and  inviolable  race,  but  they 
divided  the  whole  comnmnity  into  four  castes.  They 
Avrote  a  l)ook,  and  entitled  it,  "  The  Institutes  of 
Menu,"  the  son  of  Brahma.  This  book  contained  the 
whole  code  of  their  religious  laws,  which,  as  proceed- 
ing from  the  divinity,  were  to  last  for  all  time, — be  for 
ever  and  indissolubly  binding  on  every  Hindoo  ;  and 
not  to  be  violated  in  the  smallest  degree,  except  on 
pain  of  forfeiting  all  civil  privileges  and  enjoyments, 
of  life  itself,  and  of  incurring  the  tonnents  of  hell. 
These  castes  were  to  preserve  for  ever  their  respective 
stations.  Those  born  in  one  were  not  only  not  to 
pass  into  another,  but  every  man  was  bomid  to  follow 
the  profession  of  his  father.  Whatever  might  be  the 
difierencc  of  genius,  it  must  be  crushed ;  whatever 
desire  to  amend  the  condition  of  life,  it  must  be  extin- 
guished ;  all  variety  of  mind,  all  variations  of  physi- 
cal constitution,  all  unlitncss  for  one  trade,  station,  or 
pursuit,  went  for  nothing :  to  this  most  infernal  of 
priestly  impositions,  man,  with  all  his  hopes  and  de- 
sires, his  bodily  weaknesses,  his  mental  aspirations, 
or  repugnances,  must  succumb,  and  be  lulled,  or 
rather  cramped,  into  an  everlasting  stupor,  that  the  privi- 
leged Brahmin  might  tax  him  and  terrify  him,  and 
live  upon  his  labours,  in  the  boundless  enjoyment  of 
his  own  pride,  and  insolence,  and  lust.  "  By  this  ar- 
rangement," says  Mr.  Maurice,  "  it  should  be  remem- 
bered, the  happiness  and  security  of  a  vast  empire 
was  preserved  through  a  long  series  of  ages  under 
their  early  sovereigns  ;  by  curbing  the  fiery  spirits  of 
ambitious  individuals,  intestine  feuds  were,  in  a  great 
measure,  prevented ;  the  wants  of  an  immense  popu- 
lation were  amply  provided  for  by  the  industry  of 
the  labouring  classes  ;  and  the  several  branches  of 
trade  and  manufacture  were  carried  to  the  utmost  de- 
gree of  attainable  perfection."     A  singidar  kind  of 


IN   ALL   AGES.  S7 

Iiappiness,  and  one  which  none  but  a  priest  could 
have  a  conception  of.  To  plunge  a  gTeat  nation  into 
the  everlasting  sleep  and  sluggishness  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal despotism  is  to  secure  its  happiness ! — the  hap- 
piness of  beasts  maintained  for  the  value  of  their 
labour,  and  fattened  for  the  butcher ;  a  happiness 
which,  in  the  very  sentence  preceding,  the  writer 
terms  "  a  barbarous  attempt  to  chain  down  the  powers 
of  the  human  soul,  to  check  the  ardour  of  emulation, 
and  damp  the  lire  of  genius." 

To  establish  this  system  the  Brahmins  resorted  to 
the  daring  fraud  of  representing  Menu — supposed  to 
be  Noah — as  not "  making  all  men  of  the  same  blood," 
but  as  producing  four  dilierent  tribes  of  men.  The 
first,  the  Brahmins,  from  his  mouth ;  the  second,  the 
Kettri,  or  Rajahs,  from  his  arm  ;  the  third,  the  Bice,  or 
merchants,  from  his  thigh ;  and  the  fourth,  the  Sooder, 
or  labouring  tribe,  from  his  foot !  Thus  this  doctrine, 
once  received  as  true,  an  everlasting  and  impassable 
bar  was  placed  between  each  tribe — divine  authority. 
That  it  should  not  be  endangered,  the  land  of  India 
was  declared  holy ;  and  the  Hindoos  were  forbidden, 
by  all  the  terrors  of  temporal  and  eternal  penalties,  to 
go  out  of  it.  The  Brahmins,  having  thus,  in  the  early- 
ages  of  superstitious  ignorance,  taken  this  strong 
ground,  proceeded  to  fortify  it  still  further.  The  Rajahs, 
or  provincial  rulers,  were  all  chosen  from  their  own, 
or  the  war-tribe  ;  and  the  Marajah,  or  supreme  king, 
was  always  chosen  by  them,  often  from  themselves, 
and  was  entirely  in  their  hands.  By  them  he  was 
educated,  and  moulded  to  their  wishes  ;  they  were  ap- 
pointed, by  these  divine  institutes,  his  guardians,  and 
perpetual,  inalienable  counsellors. 

Having  thus  firmly  seized  and  secured  the  whole 
political  power,  they  had  only  to  nile  and  enrich  them- 
selves out  of  a  nation  of  slaves,  at  their  pleasure  ;  pay- 
ing them  with  promises  of  future  happiness,  or  terrify- 
ing them  by  threats  of  future  vengeance  into  perfect 
passiveness;  and  so  completely  had  this  succeeded 
that  for  thousands  of  years  their  system  has  continued ; 


88  PRIESTCRAFT 

and  it  is  the  opinion  of  Sir  AVilliani  Jones,  tliat  so 
ingeniously  is  it  woven  into  the  souls  of  the  Hindoos, 
that  they  will  be  the  very  last  people  converted  to 
Christianity.  For  what,  indeed,  can  be  done  with  a 
nation  who,  from  time  immemorial,  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  regard  their  priests  as  beings  of  a  higher  na- 
ture— their  laws  as  emanations  i'rom  heaven — and  them- 
selves as  the  creatures  of  an  unescapable  destiny  : 
who,  on  the  one  hand,  are  stumied  with  lear  of  future 
torments,  and,  on  the  other,  are  exposed  to  the  dagger 
of  the  first  man  they  meet,  authorized  by  those  pre- 
tendedly  divine  institutes  to  cut  down  every  apostale 
that  he  encounters  !  From  such  a  consummate  laby- 
rinth of  priestly  art  nothing  short  of  a  miracle  seems 
capable  of  rescuing  them. 

The  Brahmins,  like  the  popish  priests,  for  the  arts 
of  priests  are  the  same  everywhere,  reserve  to  them- 
selves the  inviolable  right  of  reading  the  Vedas,  or  holy 
books,  and  thus  impose  on  the  people  what  doctrines 
they  please.  So  scrupulously  clo  they  guard  against 
the  exposure  of  their  real  contents,  that  it  is  only  in 
comparatively  modern  times  that  they  have  become 
known.  A  singular  story  is  told  of  the  Emperor  Akbar, 
who,  desiring  to  learn  the  Hindoo  tenets,  applied  to  the 
Brahmins,  and  was  refused.  Hereupon  he  had  the 
brother  of  his  faithful  minister,  Abul  Fazil,  a  youlh, 
brought  up  with  a  Brahmin  under  a  feigned  character  : 
but,  after  a  residence  of  ten  years,  and  at  the  moment 
of  being  about  to  return  to  court,  owing  to  his  attach- 
ment to  the  Brahmin's  daughter,  he  confessed  the  fraud, 
and  would  have  been  instantly  stabbed  by  his  pre- 
ceptor, had  he  not  entreated  him  for  mercy  on  his 
knees,  and  bound  himself  by  the  most  solemn  oaths 
not  to  translate  the  Vedas,  nor  reveal  the  mysteries  of 
the  Brahmin  creed.  These  oaths  he  faithfully  kept 
during  the  life  of  the  old  Brahmin ;  but  alterward  he 
conceived  himself  absolved  from  them,  and  to  him  we 
owe  the  publication  of  the  real  contents  of  those  sacred 
volumes. 

But  let  us  look  at  the  system  a  little  more  at  large. 


IN   ALL   AGES.  89 

"  Though,"  says  Maurice,  "  the  functions  of  govern- 
ment by  the  hiws  of  Menu  devolved  on  the  Kettri,  or 
Rajah  tribe  ;  yet  it  is  certain  that  in  every  age  of  the 
Indian  empire,  aspiring  Brahmins  have  usurped  and 
swayed  the  imperial  sceptre.  But,  in  fact,  there  was 
no  necessity  for  the  Brahmhi  to  grasp  at  empire — he 
wielded  both  the  empir<^  and  the  monarch.  By  an 
overstrained  conception  of  the  priestly  character,  art- 
fully encouraged  for  political  purposes  by  the  priest 
himself,  and  certainly  not  justified  by  any  precept  given 
by  Noah  to  his  posterity,  the  Brahmin  stood  in  the  place 
of  Deity  to  the  infatuated  sons  of  Indian  superstition ; 
the  will  of  Heaven  was  thought  to  issue  from  his  lips  ; 
and  his  decision  was  reverenced  as  the  fiat  of  destiny. 
Thus  boasting  the  positive  interposition  of  the  Deity 
in  the  fabrication  of  its  singular  institutions — guarded 
from  infraction  by  the  terror  of  exciting  the  Divine 
wrath — and  directed  principally  by  the  sacred  tribe, 
the  Indian  government  may  be  considered  as  a  theo- 
cracy— a  theocracy  the  more  terrible,  because  the 
name  of  God  was  perverted  to  sanction  and  support  the 
most  dreadful  species  of  despotism, — a  despotism 
which,  not  content  with  subjugating  the  body,  tyran- 
nized over  the  prostrate  faculties  of  the  enslaved  mind. 

"  An  assembly  of  Brahmins  sitting  in  judgment  on  a 
vicious,  a  tyrannical  king,  may  condemn  him  to  death  ; 
and  the  sentence  is  recorded  to  have  been  executed  ; 
but  no  crime  affects  the  life  of  a  Brahmin.  He  may 
suffer  temporary  degradation  from  his  caste,  but  his 
blood  must  never  stain  th^  sword  of  justice  ;  he  is  a 
portion  of  the  Deity.  He  is  inviolable !  he  is  invul- 
nerable !  he  is  immortal ! 

"  In  eastern  climes,  where  despotism  has  ever  reigned 
in  its  meridian  terror,  in  order  to  impress  the  deeper 
awe  and  respect  upon  the  crowd  that  daily  thronged 
aromid  the  tribmial,  the  hall  of  justice  was  anciently 
surromided  with  the  ministers  of  vengeance,  who  gen- 
erally inflicted  in  presence  of  the  monarch  the  sentence 
10  which  the  culprit  was  doomed.  The  envenomed 
serpent  which  was  to  sting  him  to  death, — the  enraged 


90  PRIESTCRAFT 

elephant  tliat  was  to  trample  him  beneath  its  feet, — the 
dreadful  instruments  that  were  to  rend  open  his  bowels, 
to  tear  his  lacerated  eye  from  the  socket,  to  impale 
alive,  or  saw  the  shuddering  wretch  asmider,  were 
constantly  at  hand.  The  audience  chamber,  with  the 
same  view,  was  decorated  with  the  utmost  cost  and 
magnificence,  and  the  East  was  rifled  of  its  jewels  to 
adorn  it.  Whatever  little  credit  may  in  general  be  due 
to  Philostratus,  his  description  of  the  palace  of  Mu- 
sicanus  too  nearly  resembles  the  accounts  of  our  own 
countrymen,  of  the  present  magnificence  of  some  of 
the  Rajahs,  to  be  doubted,  especially  in  those  times 
when  the  hoarded  wealth  of  India  had  not  been  pil- 
laged. The  artificial  vines  of  gold,  adorned  with  buds 
of  various  colours  in  jewelry,  and  thick  set  with 
precious  stones,  emeralds,  and  rubies,  hanging  in  clus- 
ters to  resemble  gTapes  in  their  different  stages  to  ma- 
turity :  the  silver  censers  of  perfume  constantly  borne 
before  the  ruler  as  a  god  :  the  robe  of  gold  and  purple 
with  which  he  was  invested;  and  the  litter  of  gold 
fringed  with  pearls,  in  which  he  was  carried  in  a 
march,  or  to  the  chase, — these  were  the  appropriate 
ornaments  and  distinctions  of  an  Indian  monarch. 

"  In  short,  whatever  could  warmly  interest  the  feel- 
ings, and  strongly  agitate  the  passions  of  men, — what- 
ever influences  hope — excites  terror — all  the  engines 
of  a  most  despotic  superstition  and  a  most  refined 
policy,  were  set  at  work  for  the  purpose  of  chaining 
down  to  the  prescribed  duties  of  his  caste  the  mind  of 
the  bigoted  Hindoo.  Hence  his  mialtered,  mialterabk^ 
attachment  to  the  national  code  and  the  Brahniinical 
creed.  As  it  has  been  in  India  from  the  begimiing,  so 
will  it  contmue  to  the  end  of  time.  For  the  daring 
culprit  who  violates  either.  Heaven  has  no  forgiveness, 
and  earth  no  place  of  shelter  or  repose  ! 

"  An  adultress  is  condermied  to  be  devoured  alive 
by  dogs  in  the  public  market-place.  The  adidtcrer  is 
doomed  to  be  bomid  to  an  iron  bed,  heated  red-hot,  and 
burnt  to  death.     But  what  is  not  a  little  reiiiarkable, 


IN    ALL    AGES.  ^X 

for  the  same  crime  a  Brahmin  is  only  to  he  punished 
with  ignominious  tonsure. 

"  For  insuUing  a  Brahmin,  an  iron  stile,  ten  fingers 
long,  shall  be  thrust,  red-hot,  down  the  culprit's  mouth. 
For  offering  only  to  instruct  him  in  his  profession, 
boiling  oil  shall  be  dropped  in  his  mouth  and  ears. 
For  stealing  kine  belonging  to  priests,  the  offender 
shall  instantly  lose  half  one  foot.  An  assaulter  of  a 
Erahmin,  with  intent  to  kill,  shall  remain  in  hell  for  a 
hundred  years  ;  for  actually  striking  him,  with  like 
intent,  a  thousand  years.  But  though  sucb^  frequent 
exceptions  occur  in  favour  of  Brahmins,  none  are 
made  in  favour  of  kings  !  The  Brahmin — eldest-boni 
of  the  gods, — who  loads  their  altars  with  incense,  who 
feeds  them  with  clarified  honey,  and  whose,  in  fact,  is 
the  wealth  of  the  whole  world,  ever  keeps  his  elevated 
station.  To  maintain  him  in  holy  and  voluptuous 
indolence,  the  Kettri,  or  Rajah,  exposes  his  life  in 
front  of  battle  ;  the  merchant  covers  the  ocean  with 
his  ships  ;  the  toiling  husbandman  incessantly  tills  the 
burning  soil  of  India.  We  cannot  doubt,  after  this, 
which  of  the  Indian  castes  compiled  this  volume  from 
the  rememhered  Institutes  of  Menu. 

"  The  everlasting  servitude  of  the  Soodra  tribe  is 
riveted  upon  that  unfortunate  caste  by  the  laws  of  des- 
tiny ;  since  the  Soodra  was  born  a  slave,  and  even 
when  emancipated  by  his  indulgent  master,  a  slave  he 
must  continue:  for^  of  a  state  vjkich  is  natural  to  him, 
hj  whom  can  he  be  divested  ?  The  Soodra  must  be 
contented  to  serve ;  this  is  his  mialterable  doom.  To 
serve  in  the  family  of  a  Brahmin  is  the  highest  glory, 
and  leads  him  to  beatitude." 

There  is,  however,  a  fifth  tribe — that  of  the  outcasts 
from  all  the  rest — the  Chandelahs  ;  those  who  have 
lost  caste,  and  the  children  of  mixed  marriages,  that 
abhorrence  of  the  Hindoo  code,  for,  if  once  permitted, 
it  would  overturn  the  wdiole  artful  system.  It  is 
ordained  that  the  Chandelah  exist  remote  from  their 
fellow-creatures,  amid  the  dirt  and  filth  of  the  suburbs. 
Their  sole  wealth  must  consist  in  dogs  and  as§es  i 


92  PRIESTCRAFT 

their  clothes  must  be  the  polluted  mantles  of  the  dead ; 
their  dishes  for  food,  broken  pots  ;  their  ornaments, 
rusty  iron  ;  their  food  must  be  given  tliem  in  potsherds, 
at  a  distance,  that  the  giver  may  not  be  defiled  by  the 
shade  of  their  outcast  bodies.  Their  business  is  to 
carry  out  the  corpses  of  those  who  die  without  kindred  ; 
they  are  the  public  executioners ;  and  the  whole  that 
they  can  be  heirs  to  are  the  clothes  and  miserable 
property  of  the  wretched  malefactors.  Many  other 
particulars  of  this  outcast  tribe  are  added  by  authors  on 
India,  and  they  form  in  themselves  no  weak  proof  of 
the  unrelenting  spirit  of  the  Hindoo  code,  that  could 
thus  doom  a  vast  class  of  people — a  fifth  of  the  nation 
— to  unpitied  and  unmerited  Avretchedness.  An  Indian, 
in  his  bigoted  attachment  to  the  metempsychosis, 
would  fly  to  save  the  life  of  a  noxious  reptile  ;  but, 
were  a  Chandelah  falling  down  a  precipice,  he  would 
not  extend  a  hand  to  save  him  from  destruction.  In 
such  abomination  are  the  Chandelahs  held  on  the  Mala- 
bar side  of  India,  that  if  one  chance  to  touch  one  of  a 
superior  tribe,  he  draws  his  sabre  and  cuts  him  down 
on  the  spot.  Death  itself,  that  last  refuge  of  tlu?  un- 
fortunate, offers  no  comfort  to  him,  atlbrds  no  view  of 
felicity  or  reward.  The  gates  of  J  aggernath  itself  are 
shut  against  him  ;  and  he  is  driven  with  equal  disgrace 
from  the  society  of  men  and  the  temples  of  the  gods. 
Such  is  the  picture  of  priestcraft  in  India  ;  such  the 
terrible  spectacle  of  its  effects,  as  they  have  existed 
tliere  from  nearly  the  days  of  the  Flood.  Towards  this 
horrible  and  disgusting  goal  it  has  laboured  to  lead 
men  in  all  countries  and  all  ages ;  but  here  alone,  in 
the  whole  pagan  world,  it  has  succeeded  to  the  extent 
of  its  diabolical  desires.  We  might  add  numberless 
other  features :  the  propitiatory  sacrifice  of  cows, 
and  trees  of  gold,  prescribed  by  the  avaricious  Brah- 
mins ;  the  imimmities  and  privileges  with  which  they 
have  surrounded  themselves;  the  bloody  rites  they 
have  laid  on  others,  especially  among  the  Mahrattas, 
where,  even  at  the  present  day,  Iniman  sacrifices  are 
supposed  to  abound ;  the  tortures  they  have  induced 


IN    ALL   AGES. 


the  infatuated  Yogees  to  inflict  on  themselves — some 
going  naked  ail  their  lives,  sufl'ering  their  hair  and 
beard  to  grow  till  they  cover  their  M^hole  bodies, — 
standing  motionless,  in  the  sun,  in  the  most  painful 
attitudes,  for  years,  till  their  arms  gTow  fast  above  their 
heads,  and  their  nails  pierce  through  their  clenched 
liands, — scorching  themselves  over  fires, — enclosing 
themselves  in  cages, — and  enacting  other  incredible 
liorrors  on  themselves,  for  the  hope  inspired  by  the 
Brahmins  of  attaining  everlasting  felicity.  But  the 
subject  is  too  revolting;  I  turn  from  it  in  indignation. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE    HEBREWS. 


Hebrews— Comparison  of  the  Old  Man  of  the  Sea,  and  tlie  Old  Man 
of  the  Church — Hebrew  Priesthood  divinely  ordained,  yet  evil  in 
its  tendency  and  fatal  to  the  nation. 

We  have  now  gone  to  and  fro  in  the  earth,  and 
have  walked  up  and  down  in  it ;  not,  like  a  certain 
celebrated  character,  seeking  whom  we  might  devour, 
but  inquiring  who  have  been  devoured  of  priests  ;  and 
everywhere  we  have  made  but  one  discovery ;  every- 
where, in  lands  however  distant,  and  times  however 
remote,  a  suffering  people,  and  a  proud  and  imperious 
priesthood  have  been  found.  Sinbad  the  sailor,  in  his 
multifarious  and  adventurous  wanderings,  once  chanced 
to  land  on  a  desert  island,  in  which  a  strange  creature, 
the  Old  Man  of  the  Sea,  leaped  upon  his  shoulders,  and 
there,  spite  of  all  his  efforts  to  dislodge  him,  night 
and  day,  for  a  long  time  maintained  his  station.  By 
day,  he  compelled  poor  Sinbad  by  a  vigorous  application 
of  his  heels  to  his  ribs,  to  go  where  he  pleased, — be- 
neath the  trees  whence  he  plucked  fruit,  or  to  the  stream 
where  ho  drank.     By  night  he  still  clung,  even  in  his 


94  PRIESTCRAFT 

sleep,  with  such  sensitiveness  to  his  neck,  tliat  it  was 
impossible  to  unseat  him.  At  length  a  successful  strat- 
agem presented  itself  to  Sinbad.  He  found  a  gourd,  and 
squeezed  into  it  the  juice  of  the  grape,  and  set  it  in  a 
certain  place  till  it  had  fermented,  and  became  strong 
wine.  This  he  put  to  the  mouth  of  the  Old  jNlan  of 
the  Sea,  wlio  drank  it  greedily,  became  drunk,  and  lell 
asleep  so  soundly,  that  Sinbad  unfolded  his  clingiug 
legs  from  his  breast,  Jun-led  him  from  his  shoulders, 
and,  as  he  lay,  crushed  his  head  with  a  stone.  The 
adventure  of  Sinbad  was  awkA\  ard  enough,  but  that 
of  poor  human  nature  has  been  infinitely  worse.  The 
OLD  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH,  from  age  to  age,  from  land  to 
land,  has  ridden  on  the  shoulders  of  humanity,  and  set 
at  defiance  all  endeavours  and  all  schemes  to  dislodge 
him.  Unlike  the  Old  Man  of  the  Sea,  whose  best 
beverage  was  a  brook,  he  is  too  well  inured  to  strong 
drinks  to  be  readily  overcome  by  them.  He  is  one  of 
those  drinkers  called  deep-stomached,  and  strong- 
headed  ;  who  sit  out  all  guests,  dare  and  bear  all 
spirituous  potations,  and  laugh  in  invulnerable  comfort 
over  the  intoxication  of  the  prostrated  multitude.  And 
what  wonder?  His  seat  has  ever  been  at  the  boards  of 
princes.  The  most  sparkling  cup  has  not  passed  him 
by  untasted  ;  the  most  fiery  fluid  has  not  daunted  him. 
He  has  received  the  vintages  reserved  solely  for  kings 
and  their  favourites  ;  and  though  there  was  blood  in  it, 
he  has  not  blenched.  The  tears  of  misery  dropped 
into  it  could  not  render  it  too  bitter ;  the  bloody 
sweatdrops  of  despair  too  poisonous  ;  though  the  sound 
of  battle  was  in  his  ears,  he  ceased  not  to  grasp  the 
flagon, — it  was  music  ;  though  martyrs  burneil  at  their 
stakes  before  him,  and  the  very  glow  of  their  fires 
came  strongly  upon  him,  he  interrupted  not  his  carouse, 
but  only  cooled  more  gratefully  his  wine.  He  has 
quaff'ed  the  juice  of  all  vines  :  presided  at  the  festivi- 
ties of  all  nations  ;  poured  libations  to  all  gods;  in  the 
wild  orgies  of  the  ancient  Gerjnan  and  British  forests 
he  has  revelled  ;  in  tlie  midnight  feast  of  scidls  he  has 
pledged  the  savage  and  the  cannibal ;  the  war-feast  of 


IN   ALL    AGES.  95 

the  wilderness,  or  the  sacred  banquet  of  the  refined 
Greek,  alike  found  him  a  guest ;  he  has  taken  the  cup 
of  pollution  from  the  hand  of  the  Babylonian  harlot ; 
and  pledged  in  the  robes  of  the  Gallic  primate  re- 
nunciation of  the  Christian  religion  with  the  Atheist. 
Lover  of  all  royal  fetes  ;  delighter  in  the  crimson- 
cushioned  ease  of  all  festivals  in  high  places  ;  soul  of 
all  jollity  where  the  plunderers  and  the  deluders  of  man 
met  to  rejoice  over  their  achievements  ;  inspirer  of  all 
choice  schemes  for  the  destruction  of  liberty  and 
genuine  knowledge  when  the  vintage  of  triumphant 
Iraud  ferments  in  his  brain,  till  the  wine  of  God's 
wrath,  in  the  shape  of  man's  hidignation,  confound 
him — what  shall  move  him  from  his  living  throne  ? 
From  the  days  of  the  Flood  to  those  of  William  the 
Fourth  of  England  he  has  ridden  on,  exultingly,  the 
everlasting  incubus  of  the  groaning  world. 

We  have  perambulated  the  prime  nations  of  paganism. 
It  would  have  been  easy  to  have  extended  our  researches 
farther,  to  have  swelled  our  details  to  volumes ;  but 
the  object  was  only  to  give  a  sample  from  the  immense 
mass  of  ecclesiastical  enormities.  We  now  come 
to  the  Holy  Land ;  and  to  the  only  priesthood  ever 
expressly  ordained  of  Heaven.  It  might  have  been 
expected  that  this  would  prove  a  splendid  exception  to 
the  general  character  of  the  order  ;  but,  alas  ! — as  the 
Jewish  dispensation  was  formed  under  the  pressing- 
necessity  of  guarding  against  the  idolatry  of  sur- 
rounding nations,  and  as  merely  preparatory  to  a  more 
spiritual  one,  so  it  would  seem  as  if  one  design  of  the 
Almighty  had  been  to  show  how  radically  mischievous 
and  prone  to  evil  an  ecclesiastical  order  is  under 
any  circumstances.  The  Jewish  priests  had  this 
advantage  over  all  others  whatever,  that  they  were  one 
tribe  of  a  gi'eat  family,  to  whom,  in  sharing  out  the 
land  given  to  them  of  God,  the  altar  was  made  their 
sole  inheritance, — the  whole  country  being  divided 
among  the  other  eleven  tribes.  But,  notwithstanding 
this  fair  title,  so  strongly  did  the  universal  spirit  of 
priestcraft  work  in  them,  tliat  their  history  may  be 


96  PRIESTCRAFT 

comprised  in  a  few  sentences,  and  is  one  of  the  most 
striking  in  the  world.  It  began  in  Aaron  with  idolatry, 
accompanied  by  most  pitil'ul  evasions ;  it  shov>-ed 
itself  in  its  prime  in  the  sons  of  Eli,  in  shameless 
peculation  and  lewdness;  and  it  ended  in  the  crucifixion 
of  Christ !  Snch  a  beginning,  a  middle,  and  an  end, 
t!ie  world  besides  cannot  show. 

When  we  hear  Aaron  telling  the  people,  in  the  face 
of  the  most  astounding  miracles, — when  the  sound  of 
God's  trumpets,  which  had  shaken  them  to  the  eartli, 
in  terror,  had  yet  scarcely  ceased  to  ring  in  their  ears, 
— when  God  himself,  in  a  fiery  majesty,  that  made  the 
mountain  before  them  smoke  and  tremble  to  its  base, 
was  at  hand  delivering  to  Moses  his  eternal  law — hear 
him  telling  them  to  bring  their  golden  ornaments,  and 
he  would  make  a  god  to  go  before  them  ;  and,  in 
the  next  moment,  telling  Moses  that  the  people  con- 
strained him,  and  he  threw  the  gold  into  the  fire,  and 
"out  came  this  calf,"  as  if  by  accident, — we  are  filled 
with  contempt  for  sacerdotal  sycophancy  and  time- 
serving. 

When  we  read  that  "  the  sons  of  Eli  were  the  sons 
of  Belial, — they  knew  not  the  Lord  ;  and  the  priest's 
custom  Avas,  that  when  any  man  offered  sacrifice,  the 
priest's  servant  came  while  the  flesh  was  in  seething, 
with  a  flesh-hook  of  three  teeth  in  his  hand ;  and  he 
struck  it  into  the  pan,  or  kettle,  or  caldron,  or  pot ; 
all  that  the  flesh-hook  brought  up  the  priest  took  for 
himself.  So  they  did  in  Shiloh,  to  all  the  Israelites 
that  came  thither.  Also,  before  they  burnt  the  fat  the 
priest's  servant  came,  and  said  to  the  man  that  sacri- 
ficed, '  Give  flesh  to  roast  for  the  priest,  for  he  will  not 
have  sodden  flesh  of  thee,  but  raw.'  And  if  any  man 
said  unto  him,  'Let  them  not  fail  to  burn  the  fat  presently, 
and  then  take  as  much  as  thy  soul  desireth  :'  and  then 
he  would  answer  him, — '  Nay,  but  thou  shalt  give  it 
me  now;  and  if  not,  I  will  take  it  by  force.'  There- 
fore the  sin  of  the  young  men  was  very  great  before 
the  Lord  ;  for  men  abhorred  the  oflering  of  the  Lord. 
Now  Eli  was  very  old,  and  heard  all  that  his  sons  did 


m    ALL    AGES.  97 

unto  all  Israel ;  and  how  they  lay  with  the  women  that 
assembled  at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congrega- 
tion." When  we  read  this,  we  are  on  fire  with  indigna- 
tion. But  when  we  hear  the  chief  priests  crying  out 
against  Christ — the  hope,  nay,  the  great  object  of  the 
formation  of  their  nation, — the  most  meek,  and  pure, 
and  beneficent  being  that  ever  existed — '•  Away  with 
this  fellow  !  he  is  not  fit  to  live  !  Away  ^vith  him  ! 
crucify  him  !"  we  are  thmiderstruck  with  astonisli- 
ment ! — we  are  silenced,  and  satisfied  for  ever  of  the 
rooted  and  incurable  malignancy  of  priestcraft.  If  God 
himself  descended  from  heaven,  and  charged  a  priesth' 
hierarchy  with  corruption,  they  would  tell  him  to  his 
face  that  he  lied.  They  would  assail  him  as  a  slanderer 
and  misrepresenter  of  the  good,  and  raise,  if  possible, 
his  own  world  in  arms  against  him  !  If  the  fate  of  all 
ether  nations  spoke  to  us  in  vain^that  of  the  Jews 
should  be  an  eternal  warning.  The  very  priests  which 
God  ordained  first  corrupted,  and  then  destroyed,  the 
kingdom.  They  ]:>egan  with  idolatry,  and  ended  with 
killing  the  Son  of  God  himself.  Their  victims,  the 
Jews,  still  walk  before  our  eyes,  a  perpetual  and  fear- 
ful testimony  against  them.  It  was  the  priests  v.iio 
mainly  contributed  to  annihilate  them  for  ever  as  a 
people,  and  to  disperse  them  through  all  regions,  the 
objects  of  the  contempt,  the  loathing,  and  the  pitiless 
persecution  of  all  ages,  and  of  every  racc.^'' 

*■  Appendix!  I, 

E 


98  PRIESTCRAFT 


CHAPTER  X. 


POPERY. 


opery— Christ  and  Christianity— The  latter  speedily conrupteJ- 
Acts  by  which  the  Papal  Church  seized  Power. 


O  that  the  free  would  stamp  the  impious  name 

Of  Pope  into  the  dust !  or  write  it  there, 
So  that  this  blot  upon  the  paa-e  of  fame 

Were  as  a  serpent's  path,  which  tlie  li^ht  air 
Erases,  and  the  flat  sands  close  behind ! 

Ye  the  oracle  have  heard  ; 

Lift  the  victory -Hashing  sword, 
And  cut  the  snaky  knots  of  this  foul  Gordian  word, 

Which,  weak  itself  as  stubble,  yet  can  bind 
Into  a  mass  irrcfragably  tirm, 

The  axes  and  the  rods  which  awe  mankind. 
The  sound  has  poison  in  it — 'tis  the  sperm 
Of  what  makes  life  foul,  cankerous,  and  abhorred  ; 

Disdain  not  then,  at  thine  appointed  term, 

To  set  thine  armed  heel  on  this  reUictant  wonn. 

Shellev. 


Christ  appeared;  the  career  ol'  paganisin  was 
checked;  the  fate  oi' Judaism  was  sealed.  A  character 
and  arelisionwere  placed  hefore  the  eyes  of  men  hith- 
erto inconceivable  in  the  beauty  and  philanthropy  of 
their  natwe.  LI  id  ike  all  other  founders  of  a  religious 
faith,  Christ  had  no  seltishness,  no  desire  of  dominance  ; 
and  his  system,  unlike  all  other  systems  of  worship, 
was  bloodless,  boundlessly  beneficent,  inexpressibly 
pure,  and,  most  marvellous  of  all,  went  to  break  all 
bonds  of  body  and  soid ;  and  to  cast  down  every  tem- 
poral and  every  spiritual  tyranny.  It  was  a  system 
calculated  for  the  wliole  Avidc  universe  ;  adapted  to 
embrace  men  of  all  climes,  all  ages,  all  ranks  of  life,  or 
intellect;  for  the  riclt  and  for  the  poor;  for  the  savage 
and  \]\o  civilized  ;  for  the  fool  and  the  philosopher  ; 
^'or  mini,  woman,  and  child ;   which,  recognising  the 


IN    ALL    AGES.  99 

grand  doctrine,  that  "  God  made  of  one  blood  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth,"  represented  the  Almighty  as  the 
father,  and  all  men  as  brethren  born  to  one  universal 
love, —  to  the  same  inalienable  rights, — to  the  same 
eternal  hope.  He  liimself  was  the  living  personilica- 
tion  of  his  principles.  Demolishing  the  most  inveter- 
ate prejudices  of  men,  by  appearing  a  poor  man  among 
the  poor ;  by  tearing  from  aristocratic  pride  and  priestly 
insolence  their  masks  of  most  orthodox  assurance  ;  by 
proclaiming  that  the  truth  which  he  taught  should 
make  all  men  Iree  ;  by  declaring  that  the  gentiles 
lorded  it  over  and  oppressed  one  another,  but  that  it 
should  not  be  so  with  liis  followers  ;  ])y  pulling  down 
with  indignation  spiritual  pride  in  high  places,  and 
calling  the  poor  and  afflicted  his  brethren,  and  the 
objects  of  his  tenderest  regard, — he  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  civil  and  religious  freedom,  of  mental  power 
growing  out  of  unrestrained  mental  energies,  and  of 
love  and  knowledge  co-equal  in  extension  with  the 
world.  Tliis  perl'ect  freedom  of  miiversal  man  he 
guarded  by  great  and  everlasting  principles,  intelligible 
to  the  mind  and  conscience  of  the  whole  human  race  ; 
and  on  which  men  in  all  countries  might  found  institu- 
tions most  consonant  to  their  wants.  By  declaring 
that  "  wherever  two  or  three  were  met  together  in  his 
name,  he  would  be  in  the  midst  of  them,"  he  cut  off, 
for  ever,  every  claim,  the  most  specious,  of  priestlv 
dominance  ;  and  by  expressing  his  unqualified  and 
indignant  abhon-ence  of  every  desire  of  his  disciples 
"  to  call  down  fire  from  heaven  upon  his  enemies," 
or  to  forbid  those  to  preach  and  work  miracles  in  his 
name  who  did  not  immediately  follow  him,  and  con- 
form to  their  notions,  he  left  to  his  clmrch  a  light  more 
resplendent  than  that  of  the  sun,  on  the  subject  of  non- 
interference with  the  sacred  liberty  and  prerogatives  of 
conscience. 

One  would  have  thought  that  from  this  epoch,  the 

arm  of  priestcraft  would  have  been  broken, — that  it 

would  never  more  have  dared  to  raise  its  head  :  but  it 

is  a  principle  of  shameless  avidity  and  audacity  ;  auc( 

E2         ' 


100  PRIESTCRAFT 

it  is  exactly  from  this  time  that  we  trace  the  most 
•amazing  career  of  its  delusions  and  atrocities,  down  to 
the  very  day  of  our  own  oxistencc. 

Who  is  not  familiar  with  the  horrors  and  arrogant 
assimiptions  of  the  papal  churcli  ?  Scarcely  liad  the 
persecutions  of  tlie  pagan  emperors  ceased,  when  the 
Christian  clunxh  became  inundated  with  corruptions 
and  superstitions  of  every  kind.  Constant ine  embraced 
Christianity;  and  almost  the  whole  world  embraced  it 
nominally  with  him.  Frmu  a  conversion  of  such  a 
kind,  the  work  of  regal  example  and  popular  interested 
hopes,  what  effects  were  to  be  expected  i  The  martial 
tyranny  of  ancient  Rome,  which  had  sulidued  the  w^orld, 
was  coming  to  an  end.  The  wealth  of  which  a  thou- 
sand states  had  been  stripped  had  turned  to  poison  in 
her  bosom,  and  brouglit  upon  the  stern  mistress  of  blood- 
shed and  tears  that  retribution  from  which  national 
rapine  and  injustice  never  eventually  escape.  But  as 
if  the  ghost  of  departed  despotism  hovered  over  the 
Seven  Hills,  and  sought  only  a  fresh  liody  to  arise  in 
a  worse  shape,  a  new  tyranny  commenced  in  the  form 
of  priestcraft,  ten  times  more  terrible  and  hateful  than 
the  old, — because  it  was  one  which  sought  to  subjugate 
not  merely  the  persons  of  men,  but  to  extinguish  know- 
ledge ;  to'  crush  into  everlasting  childishness  the  hu- 
man mind  ;  and  to  rule  it,  in  its  fatuity,  with  mysteries 
and  terrors.  The  times  favoured  the  attempt.  With 
the  civil  power  of  the  Roman  empire,  science  and 
literature  were  disappearing.  A  licentious  army 
controlled  the  destiny  of  a  debauched  and  effeminated 
people  ;  and  the  Gothic  and  Hunnish  nations,  nishing 
in  immense  torrents  over  the  superannuated  states  of 
Europe,  scattered,  for  a  time,  desolation,  poverty,  and 
ignorance.  At  this  ciisis,  while  it  had  to  deal  with 
hordes  of  rough  warriors,  who,  strong  in  body  and 
boisterous  in  manner,  had  yet  minds  not  destitute  of 
gi-eat  energies,  and  many  traditional  maxims  of  moral 
and  judicial  excellence,  but  clothed  in  all  the  simple 
credulity  of  children, — up  rose  the  spirit  of  priestcral't 
in  Rome,  and  assumed  all  its  ancient    and   inflated 


IN    ALL    AGES.  101 

claims.  As  if  the  devil,  stricken  with  malice  at  the 
promulgation  of  Christianity,  which  threatened  to  anni- 
hilate his  power,  had  watched  tlie  opportunity  to  inflict 
on  it  the  most  fatal  wound,  and  had  found  no  instru- 
ment so  favourable  to  his  purpose  as  a  priest, — such  a 
glorious  and  signal  triumph  never  yet  was  his  from  the 
creation  of  the  world.  Had  he  devised  a  system  for 
himself,  he  could  nol  have  pitched  upon  one  like  popery; 
— a  system  which,  pretending  to  be  tliat  of  Christ, 
suppressed  the  Bible,— extinguished  knowledge, — 
locked  up  the  human  mind, — amused  it  with  the  most 
ludicrous  baubles, — and  granted  official  licenses  to 
commit  all  species  of  crimes  and  impurity.  Satan  him- 
self became  enthroned  on  the  Seven  Hills  in  the  habit 
of  a  priest,  and  grinned  his  broadest  delight  amid  the 
public  and  universal  reign  of  ignorance,  hypocrisy, 
venality,  and  lust. 

As  if  the  popes  liad  studied  the  pagan  hierarchies, 
they  brought  into  concentrated  exercise  all  their  various 
engines  of  power,  deception,  and  corruption.  They 
could  not,  indeed,  assert,  as  the  pagan  priesthood  had 
done,  that  they  were  of  a  higher  origin  than  the  rest 
of  mankind ;  and  therefore  entitled  to  sit  as  kings,  to 
choose  all  kings,  and  rule  over  all  kings  ;  for  it  was 
necessary  to  preserve  som.e  public  allegiance  to  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity, — but  they  took  ground  quite 
as  etfective.  They  declared  themselves  the  authorized 
vicegerents  of  Heaven ;  making  Christ's  words  to  Peter 
their  charta — "  On  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church," 
— hence  asserting  themselves  to  be  the  only  true  church, 
though  they  never  could  show  that  Peter  ever  was  at 
Rome  at  all.  On  this  gromid,  however — enough  for 
the  simple  warriors  of  the  time — they  proceeded  to 
rule  over  nations  and  kings.  On  this  ground  they 
proclaimed  the  infallibility  of  the  pope  and  his  conclave 
of  cardinals,  and  thus  excluded  all  dissent.  Their  first 
act,  having  once  taken  this  station,  was  that  which 
had  been  the  practice  of  priests  in  all  countries, — to 
shut  up  the  true  knowledge  among  themselves.  As 
the  priests  of  Kgypt  and  Greece  enclos(?d  it  in  myste- 


102  PRIESTCRAFT 

ries,  they  wrapped  the  simple  trutlis  of  the  gospel  in 
mysteries  too ;  as  the  Brahmins  forbade  any  except 
their  own  order  to  read  the  sacred  Vedas, — they  shut 
np  the  Bible, — the  very  book  given  to  enlighten  the 
world, — the  very  book  which  declared  of  its  own  con- 
tents, that  "they  were  so  clear  that  he  who  ran  miglit 
read  them;"  that  they  taught  away  of  life  so  perspicu- 
ous that  "  the  wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool,  could  not 
err  therein."  This  Avas  the  most  daring  and  audacious 
act  the  world  had  then  seen;  but  this  act  once  success- 
ful, the  whole  earth  M-as  in  their  power.  The  people 
were  ignorant ;  they  taught  them  what  they  pleased. 
They  delivered  all  sorts  of  ludicrous  and  pernicious 
dogmas  as  scripture  ;  and  who  could  contradict  them  ? 
So  great  became  the  ignorance  of  even  their  own  order, 
imder  this  system,  so  completely  became  the  Bible  a 
strange  book,  that  wlien,  in  after  ages,  men  began  to 
inquire,  and  to  expose  their  delusions,  a  monk  warned 
his  audience  to  beware  of  these  heretics,  who  had  in- 
vented a  new  langUf'ge,  called  Greek,  and  had  written 
in  it  a  book  called  the  New  Testament,  full  of  the 
most  damnable  doctrines.  By  every  act  of  insinua- 
tion, intimidation,  forgery,  and  fraud,  they  not  only 
raised  themselves  to  the  rank  of  temporal  princes,  but 
lorded  it  over  the  greatest  kings  witli  insolent  impunity. 
The  Bann,  which  was  employed  by  the  priests  of  Odin 
in  the  north,  they  adopted,  and  made  its  terrors  felt 
throughout  the  whole  Christian  world.  Was  a  king 
refractory — did  he  refuse  the  pontifical  demand  of 
money — had  he  an  opinion  of  his  own — a  repugnance 
to  comply  with  papal  influence  in  his  afiairs  I — the 
thunders  of  the  Vatican  were  launched  against  him ; 
his  kingdom  was  laid  under  the  bann;  all  people  were 
forbidden,  on  pain  of  eternal  damnation,  to  trade  with 
his  subjects ;  aJl  churches  were  shut ;  the  n;ition  was 
of  a  sudden  deprived  of  all  exterior  exercise  of  its 
religion ;  the  altars  were  despoiled  of  their  ornaments  ; 
the  crosses,  the  reliques,  the  images,  the  statues  of  tlie 
saints  were  laid  on  the  ground  ;  and,  as  if  the  air  itself 
were  profaned,  and  might  pollute  them  by  its  contact, 


IN   ALL   AGES.  103 

the  priests  carefully  covered  them  up,  even  from  their 
own  approach  and  veneration.  The  use  of  bells 
entirely  ceased  in  all  churches  ;  the  bells  themselves 
were  removed  from  the  steeples,  and  laid  on  the  ground 
with  the  other  sacred  utensils.  Mass  was  celebrated 
Avith  shut  doors,  and  none  but  the  priests  were  admitted 
to  the  holy  institution.  The  clergy  refused  to  marry, 
baptize,  or  bury  ;  the  dead  were  obliged  to  be  cast  into 
ditches,  or  lay  putrefying  on  the  ground ;  till  the 
superstitious  people,  looking  on  their  children  who 
died  without  baptism  as  gone  to  perdition,  and  those 
dead  wuthout  burial  amid  the  ceremonies  of  the  church 
and  in  consecrated  ground  as  seized  on  by  the  devil, 
rose  in  rebellious  fury  and  obliged  the  prince  to  submit 
and  humble  himself  before  the  proud  priest  of  Rome. 

Realms  quake  by  t\uns  :  proud  arbitress  of  grace 

The  church,  by  mandate  sliadowing  forth  the  power 

She  arrogates  o'er  heaven's  eternal  door, 

Closes  the  gates  of  every  s^acred  place. 

Straight  from  the  sun  and  tainted  air's  embrace 

All  sacred  things  are  covered ;  cheerful  morn 

Grows  sad  as  night — no  seemly  garb  is  worn, 

Nor  is  a  face  allowed  to  meet  a  face 

With  natural  smile  of  greeting.    Bells  are  dumb  ; 

Ditches  are  graves — funereal  rites  denied ; 

And  in  the  church-yard  he  must  take  his  iDride 

Who  dares  be  wedded !     Fancies  thickly  come 

Into  the  pensive  heart  ill  fortified, 

And  comfortless  despairs  the  soul  benumb. 

Wordsworth. 

But  not  merely  kings  and  kingdoms  were  thus  cir- 
cumstanced, every  individual,  every  parish  was  liable 
to  be  thus  excommunicated  by  the  neighbouring 
priest.  The  man  who  offended  one  of  these  powerful 
churchmen,  however  respected  and  influential  in  his 
own  neighbourhood  over  night,  might  the  next  morning 
behold  the  hearse  drawn  up  to  his  hall  door, — a  signi- 
ficant emblem  that  he  was  dead  to  all  civil  and  re- 
ligious rights,  and  that  if  he  valued  his  life,  now  at  the 
mercy  of  any  vile  assassin,  he  must  fly,  and  leave  his 
family  and  his  property  to  the  same  tender  regards 
which  had  thus  outlawed  himself. 

The  invention  of  monkery  was  a  capital  piece  of 


104  PRIESTCRAFT 

priestly  iiu>enuily.  By  this  means  the  \n1iu1c  world 
became  inundated  \vith  monks  and  friars, 

Ulack,  vvliite,  and  gfiy,  wiUi  all  their  trumpery. 

A  standing  army  of  vigilant  lorces  was  set  up  in  every 
kingdom: 'into  every  town  and  village  they  entered; 
in  every  house  they  became  familiar  spies,  ready  to 
communicate  the  earliest  symptoms  of  insubordination 
to  the  papal  tyranny,  ready  at  a  signal  to  cany  terror 
into  every  region,  and  rivet  faster  the  ciiains  of  Rome. 
Like  the  frogs  of  Egypt,  they  came  up  and  covered 
the  earth;  they  crept  into  every  dwelling;  into  the 
very  beds  and  kneading  tubs,  sparing  not  those  of  the 
king  himsell" — till  the  land  stunk  with  tliem. 

Tliat  tliey  might  liave  something  to  occupy  the 
imagination  of  the  people  equivalent  to  the  numerous 
idols,  gorgeous  temples,  imposing  ceremonies,  and 
licentious  lestivals  of  the  heathen;  not  only  had  they 
paintings  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  but 
images  of  Christ,  of  his  motlua-,  and  of  a  tliousand 
saints,  who  were  exalted  to  be  objects  of  a  veneration 
little  to  be  distinguished  from  worsliip  in  the  minds  of 
the  deluded  people.  To  these  they  prayed ;  to  these 
they  made  offerings.  Splendid  churches  were  built, 
and  adorned  witli  every  fascination  of  statuary  and 
painting;  and  carnivals,  religious  festivals,  and  pro- 
cessions ordained  without  number,  in  which  all  the 
lev/dness  and  license  of  the  pagan  worship  were 
revived.  Instead  of  the  charms  whicli  tlie  pagans 
gave  as  a  protection  against  evil,  tliey  gave  relics — 
bits  of  wood,  hair,  old  teeth,  and  a  tliousand  otiier 
pieces  of  rubbisli,  which  were  pretended  to  be.  parts, 
or  to  have  been  the  property  of  the  saints,  and  were 
endued  with  miraculous  powers.  Thus  were  men 
made  fast  prisoners  by  ignorance,  by  the  excitement 
of  their  imaginations,  and  by  objects  on  which  to 
indulge  their  credulity.  But  other  engines  equally 
potent  were  set  to  work.  Every  principle  of  terror, 
love,  or  shainc  in  the  buman  mind  was  appealed  to. 


IN  ALL   AGES.  105 

Oral  confession  was  invented.  Every  person  was  to 
confess  his  sins  to  the  priest.  Thus  the  priest  was 
put  into  possession  of  every  thing  which  could  enslave 
a  man  to  him.  Who  was  so  pm-e  in  life  and  thought 
that,  after  having  unbosomed  himself  to  his  confessor 
— made  him  the  depositary  of  his  most  secret  thoughts, 
his  weakest  or  worst  actions,  dare  any  more  to  oppose 
or  offend  him?  But  the  chains  of  shame  and  fear  were 
not  all ;  those  of  liope  were  added.  The  priest  had  not 
only  power  to  hear  sins,  but  to  pardon  them.  He 
could  shut  up  in  hell,  or  let  out ;  he  was  not  content 
with  enslaving  his  follower  in  this  world — he  caiTied 
on  his  influence  to  the  next,  and  even  invented  a  world, 
from  the  tortures  of  which  no  man  could  escape  with- 
out his  permission. 

How  all  this  could  be  built  on  the  foundation  of 
Christianity  might  be  wondered  at;  but  it  should  never 
be  forgotten  that  the  Bible  was  locked  up,  and  every 
thing  was  directed  to  the  acquisition  of  power  and  gain. 
Every  thing  was  a  source  of  gain.  Besides  the  direct 
tribute  to  the  popedom,  every  shrine  had  its  offerings ; 
every  confession,  every  prayer  had  its  price.  Escape 
from  purgatory  and  indulgence  in  sin  were  regtdated 
by  a  certain  scale  of  payment.  The  rich,  the  foolish, 
nud  the  penitent  were  wheedled  out  of  their  property 
to  maintain  the  endless  train  of  pope,  cardinals,  priests, 
monks,  nuns,  confessors,  and  their  subordinates.  By 
them  abbeys,  cathedrals,  and  churches  were  endowed 
with  ample  lands  ;  and  eveiy  one  who  incurred  the 
censure  of  the  church  added  also  by  fines  to  its  funds. 
For  a  thousand  years  this  system  'was  triumphant 
throughout  Europe  : — 

Thou  heaven  of  earth !  what  spells  could  pall  thee  then, 

In  ominous  eclipse  !    A  thousand  years 
Bred  from  the  slime  of  deep  oppression's  den, 

Died  all  thy  liquid  light  with  blood  and  tears. 

Over  a  great  part  of  it,  it  reigns  still. 

Millions  of  monks  and  secular  priests,  all  forbidden 
to  marry, — all  pampered  in  luxurious  case  and  abim- 
E3 


106  PRIESTCRAFT 

dance  to  voluptuousness,  were  let  loose  on  the  female 
world  as  counsellors  and  confessors,  with  secrecy  in 
one  hand,  and  aini)lest  power  of  absolution  from  sin 
in  the  other;  and  the  efliect  on  domestic  purity  may 
be  readily  imagined.  So,  smootldy  ran  the  course  of 
popery  for  many  a  century :  ])ut  when,  spite  of  all  its 
eflbrts  to  the  contrary,  tlie  human  mind  again  begjiii 
to  stir ;  M'hen  knowledge  again  revived ;  and  tlic  se- 
crets of  the  churcli  were  curiously  pried  into ;  then 
this  terrible  Jiierarchy,  calling  itself  Clu'islian,  let 
loose  its  vengeance.  Fire  and  fagot,  chains  and  dun- 
geons, exterminating  Avars  and  Inquisitions,  those 
hells  on  earth,  into  which  any  man  might,  at  a  mo- 
ment's notice,  be  dragged  from  his  family,  his  ih'cside, 
or  his  bed,  at  the  instigation  of  malice,  envy,  cupidity, 
or  holy  suspicion,  to  tortures  and  death.  These  were 
the  tender  mercies  o{"  the  papal  priestcraft  in  the  hour 
of  its  fear. 

This  is  a  brief  sketch  ol'  what  the  popish  church 
was  :  we  will  now  go  on  to  give  evidence  of  its  spirit 
and  proceedings  from  the  best  authenticated  histories. 
1.  Of  the  means  employed  to  obtain  power.  2.  Of 
the  uses  of  tluit  power.  *i.  Of  the  arrogance  of  die 
popish  priesthood  in  power.     4.  Of  their  atrocities. 

The  evidence  1  shall  select  must  neces.sardy  be  -jl 
very  small  portion  from  the  immense  mass  of  the 
deeds  of  this  church;  for  its  history  is  such  a  contin- 
ued tissue  of  ambition,  cupidity,  and  vice  in  its  most 
hateful  shapes,  dissensions,  frauds,  and  bloodshed,  that 
nothing  but  the  desire  to  draw  from  it  a  great  moral 
and  political  lesson  could  induce  me  to  wade  through  it. 


IN    ALL   AGES.  107 


CHAPTER  XI. 


POPERY. 

Popery— Struggles  of  the  Popes  for  power— Emperors  favour  them 
—Scandalous  transactions  between  them  and  the  French  Mou- 
archs— Pepin  and  Charlemagne— Gregory  VI  [.  asserts  absolute 
power  over  Kings— His  intercourse  with  the  Countess  Matilda- 
Claims  the  right  of  instalhng  Bishops— Enormities  of  Popes— 
Their  example  followed  by  Bishops  and  Clergy— Evil  mfluence  ot 
Councils, 


They  willeth  to  be  king's  perej<, 
And  higher  than  the  emperour ; 
And  some  that  weren  but  pore  frercs 
Now  woollen  waxe  a  warriour. — Chaucer. 

But,  Lorde,  we  lewed  men  knowen  no  God  but  thee,  and  we,  with 
thjTie  help  and  thy  grace,  forsaken  Nabugodonosor  and  hys  lawos. 
For  he,  in  his  prowtl  estate,  wole  have  aii  men  onder  hym,  and  he 
nele  be  onder  no  man.  He  ondoeth  thy  lawes  that  thou  ordenest  to 
be  kept,  and  maketh  hys  awne  lawes  as  hym  lyketh,  and  so  he 
maketh  hyon  kynge  aboven  all  other  kynges  of  the  erth  ;  and  maketh 
men  to  worschupen  hym  as  a  God,  and  thye  gret  sacrytice  he  hath 
ydone  away. 

The  Ploweman's  Praip:r. 


The  earliest  means  which  the  bishops  of  Rome 
employed  to  acquire  power  was,  to  assert  their  suprem- 
acy over  all  other  bishops  of  the  Christian  church. 
This  was  not  granted  at  once,  but  led  to  many  quar- 
rels with  their  contemporaries.  The  bishop  of  Con- 
stantinople,  in  particular,  contended  with  them  for  the 
superiority  ;  the  emperor  Constantino  liaving  shifted 
there  the  seat  of  civil  government.  These  odious 
squabbles  I  must  necessarily  pass  over,  and  confine 
myself  entirely  to  the  Romish  churcli.  I  may  state, 
once  for  all,  that  the  patriarchs  of  Constantinople 
maintained  the  contest  with  Rome  through  every  age 
to  the  very  time  of  the  Reformation ;  and  many  dis- 
graceful expositions  of  priestly  wrath  were  made  on 
both  sides.  Of  the  Greek  church  it  will  be  sufficient 
to  say  that  its  prelates  partook  largely  in  the  arts  and 


108  PRIESTCRAFT 

vices  of  priests  in  general,  and  plunged  that  church 
into  an  abundance  of  ceremonious  puerilities,  in  which 
it  remains  to  this  day. 

The  attempts  of  the  Romish  pontiffs  to  gi-asp  at 
power  were  not  crowned  with  instant  success,  either 
over  their  fellow-priests  or  contemporary  princes.  It 
was  a  work  of  time,  of  continual  stratagem,  and  tlie 
boldest  acts  of  assumption.  The  full  claims  of  papal 
dominion  over  the  Christian  world  in  Europe  were  not 
admitted,  indeed,  till  the  11th  century. 

In  the  4th  century,  Mosheim  says,  in  the  Episcopal 
order  the  bishop  of  Rome  was  the  first  in  rank  ;  and 
was  distinguished  by  a  sort  of  pre-eminence  over  all 
other  bishops.  Prejudices,  arising  from  a  variety  of 
causes,  contributed  to  establish  this  supehority  ;  but  it 
was  chiefly  owing  to  certain  circumstances  of  grandeur 
and  opulence,  by  which  mortals,  for  the  most  part,  form 
their  ideas  of  pre-eminence  and  dignity,  and  which 
they  generally  confound  with  the  reasons  of  a  just  and 
legal  authority.  The  bishop  of  Rome  surpassed  all  his 
brethren  in  the  magnificence  and  splendour  of  the 
church  over  which  he  presided  ;  in  the  riches  of  his 
revenues  and  possessions ;  in  the  number  and  variety 
of  his  ministers  ;  in  his  credit  with  the  people  ;  and  in 
his  sumptuous  and  splendid  mamier  of  living.  These 
dazzling  marks  of  human  power,  these  ambiguous 
proofs  of  true  greatness  and  felicity,  had  such  an  in- 
fluence on  the  minds  of  the  multitude,  that  the  sec  of 
Rome  became,  in  this  century,  a  most  seducing  object 
of  sacerdotal  ambition.  Hence  it  happened,  that  when 
a  new  pontifl'  Avas  to  be  elected  by  the  suflrages  of  the 
presbyters  and  the  people,  the  city  of  Rome  was  gen- 
erally agitated  with  dissensions,  tumults,  and  cabals, 
Avhose  consequences  were  often  deplorable  and  fatal. 
One  of  these  in  366  gave  rise  to  a  civil  war,  which 
was  carried  on  within  the  city  of  Rome  with  the  utmost 
barbarity  and  fury,  and  produced  the  most  cruel  mas- 
sacres and  depopulations. 

The  picture  of  the  church  which  Milton  makes 
Michael  foreshow  to  Adum  was  speedily  realized ;—  • 


IN   ALL   AGES.  109 

The  Spirit 
Poured  first  on  liis  apostles,  whom  he  sends 
To  evangelize  the  nations,  then  on  all 
Baptized,  shall  them  with  wond'rous  gifts  endue 
To  speak  all  tongues,  and  do  all  miracles, 
-As  did  their  Lord  before  them.     Thus  thdy  win 
Great  numbers  of  each  nation,  to  receive 
With  joy  the  tidings  brought  from  Heaven  :  at  length, 
Their  ministiy  performed,  and  race  well  run, 
Their  doctrine,  and  their  story  written  left. 
They  die  ;  but  in  their  room,  as  they  forewarn. 
Wolves  shall  succeed  for  teachers,  grievous  wolves, 
Who  all  the  sacred  mysteries  of  Heaven 
To  their  own  vile  advantages  shall  turn 
Of  lucre  and  ambition  :  and  the  truth 
Witii  superstitions  and  traditions  taint, 
Left  only  in  those  written  records  pure, 
Though  not  but  by  the  spirit  understood. 
Then  shall  they  seek  to  avail  themselves  of  names, 
Places,  and  titles,  and  with  these  to  join 
Secular  power  ;  though  feigning  still  to  act 
By  spiritual ;  to  themselves  appropriating 
The  Spirit  of  God,  promised  ahke  and  given 
To  all  believers  ;  and  from  that  pretence 
Spiritual  laws  by  carnal  power  shall  force 
On  ev'ry  conscience  ;  laws  which  none  shall  find 
Left  them  enrolled,  or  what  the  Spirit  within 
Shall  on  the  heart  engrave.     What  will  they  then 
But  force  the  Spirit  of  Grace  itself,  and  bind 
His  consort  Liberty  ?     What  but  unbuild 
His  living  temple,  built  by  Faith  to  stand. 
Their  own  faith,  not  another's  ?     For,  on  earth, 
Who  against  faith  and  conscience  can  be  heard 
Infalhble  I    Yet  many  will  presume : 
Whence  heavy  persecution  shall  arise 
On  all,  who  in  the  worship  persevere 
Of  spirit  and  truth  ;  the  rest,  far  greater  part, 
Will  deem,  in  outward  rites  and  specious  forms. 
Religion  satisfied  :  truth  shall  retire 
Bestuck  with  slanderous  darts,  and  works  of  faith 
Rarely  be  found  :  so  shall  the  world  go  on. 
To  good  malignant,  to  bad  men  benign  : 
Under  her  own  weight  groaning :  till  the  day 
Appear  of  respiration  to  the  just. 
And  vengeance  to  the  wicked. 

In  this  century  many  of  those  steps  were  laid  by 
which  the  bishops  of  Rome  afterward  mounted  to  the 
summit  of  ecclesiastical  power  and  despotism.  These 
steps  were  laid,  partly  by  the  imprudence  of  the  em- 
perors, partly  by  the  dexterity  of  the  Roman  prelates. 
In  the  5th  century  the  declining  power  of  the  emperors 
left  the  pontiff  at  liberty  to  exercise  authority  almost 


110  PRIESTCRAFT 

■without  control ;  and  the  irruptions  of  the  barbarians 
contributed  to  strengthen  this  authority  ;  for,  perceiving 
the  subserviency  of  the  multitude  to  the  bishop,  they 
resolved  to  secure  his  interest  and  influence  by  loading 
liini  with  benefits  and  honours. 

This  was  the  second  mode  by  which  they  acquirelfl 
power, — flattering  the  surrounding  kings  ;  serving  them 
occrisionally,  witliout  regard  to  lionour  or  principle,  or, 
as  thev  grew  stronger,  subduing  them  liy  menaces  to 
their  will.  In  the  seventh  century  the  Roman  pontiffs 
used  all  sorts  of  methods  to  maintain  and  enlarge  the 
authority  and  pre-eminence  they  had  acquired  by  a 
grant  from  the  most  odious  tyrant  that  ever  disgraced 
the  annals  of  liistory.  Boniface  III.  engaged  Phocas, 
that  abominabh;  despot,  who  waded  to  the  imperial 
throne  through  the  blood  of  the  Emperor  Mauritius,  to 
take  from  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople  the  title  of 
OGcumeiiical,  or  Universal  Bishop,  and  confer  it  upon 
him.  In  the  next  century  a  still  more  glaring  stretch 
of  assumed  priestly  power  was  exhibited.  We  observe, 
says  Mosheim,  in  the  French  annals,  the  following  re- 
markable and  shocking  instance  of  the  enormous  power 
that  Mas,  at  this  time,  invested  in  tlie  Roman  pontiif. 
Pepin  was  mayor  of  the  palace  to  Childeric  111.  ;  and, 
in  exercise  of  that  high  office,  was  possessed,  in  reality, 
of  the  royal  power  ;  but,  not  content  with  this,  he 
formed  the  design  of  dethroning  his  sovereign.  He 
therefore  sent  ambassadors  to  Rome  to  'mqim-e,ivlicthcr 
the  divine  laio  did  not  permit  a  vcdiant  and  warlike jjeople 
to  dethrone  a  piLsillanimous  and  indolent  monarchy  leho 
was  incapable  of  performing  any  of  the  funetions  of 
royalty^  and  to  substitute  in  his  place  one  more  worthy  to 
rule  ?  Zachary  had  need  of  the  aid  of  Pepin ;  and  his 
answer  was  all  that  could  be  wished.  \Vlien  this  de- 
cision of  the  pope  was  published  in  France,  Pepin 
stripped  poor  Childeric  of  his  royalty  ;  and  stepped 
immediately  into  his  throne.  This  decision  was 
solemnly  confirmed  by  his  successor,  Stephen  II.,  who 
went  to  France  ;  and  being  under  tlie  necessity  of  so- 
liciting Pepin's  aid  against  the  Lombards,  dissolved  the 


IN    ALL    AGES.  Ill 

act  of  allegiance  and  fidelity  the  usurper  had  sworn  to 
Childeric ;  and,  to  render  his  title  as  firm  as  possible, 
anointed  and  crowned  him,  his  wife,  and  two  sons. 

This  compliance  of  the  Roman  pontifis  proved  an 
abundant  source  of  opulence  and  credit  to  them.  Pepin 
marched  into  Italy,  subdued  all  the  pope's  enemies,  and 
put  him  in  possession  of  tlie  Grecian  provinces  in  Italy. 
The  Exarch  of  Ravenna,  wdien  Pepin  retired,  threw 
oft"  the  yoke,  and  besieged  Rome  ;  but  Pepin  returned, 
and  compelled  him  again  to  deliver  up  the  exarchate 
of  Ravenna  and  Pentapolis  to  the  pontiff;  and  thus 
raised  the  Bishop  of  Rome  to  the  rank  of  a  temporal 
prince.  After  Pepin's  death  a  new  attack  was  made 
upon  the  papal  territory,  by  Dideric,  king  of  the  Lom- 
bards. The  then  pope,  Adrian  I.,  fled  to  Charlemagne, 
the  son  of  Pepin;  who,  having  need  of  the  pope's 
sanction  to  seize  on  the  Eastern  Roman  Empire, 
hastened  to  Rome  ;  repelled  the  pope's  foes,  and  in 
consideration  of  his  sanction  of  his  ambitious  views, 
added  fresh  territories  to  the  papal  see.  Thus,  by  the 
most  shameless  and  unprincipled  trafticking  between 
the  pretended  Vicar  of  Christ  and  these  bold  bad 
kings,  did  the  popes  acquire  royalty  and  dominion, 
and  gave  to  treason  and  regal  robbery  the  assumed 
sanction  of  heaven  !  Once  placed  by  kings  on  tem- 
poral thrones,  these  audacious  priests  soon  showed 
their  royal  contemporaries  what  companions  they  had 
admitted  among  them.  Not  contented  with  what  royal 
robbeiy  had  given  tliem,  they  speedily  assailed  their 
princely  neighbours ;  souglit  to  hurl  them  from  their 
throne,  and  stirred  np  some  of  the  most  bloody  Vv^ars 
on  record. 

The  notorious  Hildebrand,  a  Tuscan  monk,  of  mean 
origin,  having  arrived  at  the  pontificate,  stAded  himself 
Gregory  VIL,  and  displayed  to  the  world  the  full 
measure  of  the  priestly  spirit.  He  was  a  man,  says 
Mosheim,  of  uncommon  genius,  whose  ambition  in 
tbrming  tlie  most  arduous  projects  was  equalled  by 
his  dexterity  in  bringing  them  into  execution.  Saga- 
cious, crafty,  and  intrepid,  he  suftered  nothing  to  escape 


113  PRIESTCRAFT 

his  penetration,  defeat,  his  stratagems,  or  daunt  his 
courage.  Haughty  and  arrogant  beyond  all  measure  ; 
obstinate,  impetuous,  and  intractable  ;  he  looked  up  to 
the  summit  of  universal  empire  with  a  wistful  eye ; 
and  laboured  up  the  steep  ascent  with  uninterrupted  ar- 
dour, andinvincible  perseverance.  Void  of  all  principle, 
destitute  of  every  virtuous  feeling ;  he  suffered  little 
restraint  in  his  audacious  pursuits  from  the  dictates  of 
religion,  or  the  remonstrances  of  conscience.  Not 
content  to  enlarge  the  jurisdiction  and  augment  the 
opulence  of  the  see  of  Rome,  he  strove  to  render  the 
universal  church  subject  to  its  despotism  ;  to  dissolve 
the  jurisdiction  of  kings  and  princes  over  the  various 
orders  of  the  clergy  ;  and  exclude  them  from  the  man- 
agement of  the  revenues  of  the  church.  Nay,  he 
would  submit  to  his  power  the  kings,  emperors,  and 
princes  themselves  ;  and  render  their  dominions  tribu- 
tary to  Rome.  Such  were  the  pious  and  apostolic 
exploits  that  employed  Gregory  VII.  during  his  whole 
life  ;  and  which  rendered  his  pontificate  a  continual 
scene  of  tumult  and  bloodshed.  His  conduct  to  France 
was  worthy  of  the  country  which  had  lirst  given  princely 
power  to  the  Roman  priests,  and  of  himself.  It  was 
just  that  the  realm  which  had  put  power  into  such 
hands  for  such  purposes  as  it  did  should  be  bitten  by 
a  fiendish  ingratitude.  Hildebrand  declared  France 
tributary  to  the  see  of  Rome  ;  and  ordered  his  legates 
to  demand  yearly,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  the 
pa3mient  of  that  tribute.  Nothing  can  be  more  insolent 
than  the  language  in  which  the  priest  addressed  him- 
self to  Philip  of  France,  recommending  an  hinnble  and 
obliging  carriage,  from  this  consideration,  that  both  his 
kingdom  and  his  soul  were  under  the  dominion  of  St. 
Peter,  i.  Q»  his  vicar,  the  pope,  icho  had  power  to  hind 
and  to  loose  him  both  on  earth  and  in  heaven.  Nothing 
escaped  his  all-grasping  ambition.  He  drew  up  an 
oath  for  the  emperor  of  the  Romans,  from  whom  he  de- 
manded a  profession  of  subjection  and  obedience. 
He  pretended  Saxony  Avas  a  feudal  teimre,  having  been 
a  pious  offering  of  Charlemagne  to  the  see  of  Rome. 


I.N    ALL    AGES.  113 

He  chiiint'd  Spain  :  maintained  it  had  been  the  property 
of  the  apostoUc  see  from  the  earliest  times  of  the 
church;  and  the  Spanish  princes  paid  him  tribute. 
He  made  the  Uke  attempts  on  England  :  but  found  in 
William  the  Conqueror  a  dilierent  subject.  William 
granted  his  Peter-pence,  but  refused  to  do  homage  for 
liis  crown.  He  wrote  circular  letters  to  the  German 
princes,  to  Geysa,  King  of  Hungary,  and  Sweno,  King 
of  Denmark,  demanding  submission.  The  son  of 
Demetrius,  Czar  of  the  Russias,  went  to  Rome,  in  con- 
sequence of  his  letters,  to  obtain  the  kingdom  which 
would  devolve  to  him  on  his  father's  death,  as  a  gift 
from  St.  Peter,  after  professing  subjection  and  alle- 
giance to  the  prince  of  the  apostles, — a  gift  readily 
granted  by  the  officious  pope,  who  was  extremely  lib- 
eral of  what  did  not  belong  to  him.  Demetrius  Suini- 
mer,  Duke  of  Croatia  and  Dalmatia,  was  raised  to 
royalty  l)y  him  in  the  year  1076 ;  and  solemnly  pro- 
claimed king  at  Salona,  on  condition  that  he  should 
pay  annually  two  hundred  pieces  of  gold  to  St.  Peter, 
at  the  Easter  festival.  Boleslaus  II.,  King  of  Poland, 
having  killed  Stanislaus,  Bishop  of  Cracow,  Gregory 
not  only  excommunicated  him,  but  hurled  him  from  his 
throne  ;  dissolved  the  oath  of  allegiance  which  his 
subjects  had  taken  ;  and  forbid,  by  an  express  impe- 
rious edict,  the  nobles  and  clergy  of  Poland  from 
electing  a  new  king  without  his  leave. 

In  Italy  his  success  was  transcendent.  Matilda  the 
daughter  of  Boniface  Duke  of  Tuscany,  the  most 
powerful  and  opulent  princess  of  that  country,  found 
that  neither  ambition  nor  years  had  extinguished  the 
tender  passion  in  the  heart  of  Gregory, — and  as  a  tes- 
timony of  the  familiarity  which  existed  between  them, 
settled  all  her  possessions  in  Italy  and  elsewhere  upon 
the  Church  of  Rome ;  an  act,  however,  strongly  re- 
sisted by  her  successor,  and  the  cause  of  many  strug- 
gles and  nnich  liloodshed. 

To  complete  his  despotic  power  over  every  Chris- 
tian prince,  this  odious  priest  claimed  the  sole  right 
of  installing  bishops  in  their  office.     It  had  been  the 


114  PRIESTCRAFT 

custom  of  every  prince  to  appoint  the  bishops  ot  his 
own  land.  At  the  death  of  any  one  of  these,  tlie  ring 
and  crosier,  the  insignia  of  liis  office,  were  sent  to  the 
monarch,  and  were  by  liim  deUvered  to  the  one  he  ap- 
pointed. This  right  Gregory  claimed  as  the  sole  pre- 
rogative of  the  pope ;  thus  designing  to  make  the 
whole  churcli  dependent  on  him,  and  entirely  subser- 
vient to  all  the  papal  views — powerful  instruments  in 
the  pontifical  hands  against  both  prince  and  people, 
the  world  over.  The  resistance  this  claim  met  with 
led  to  terrible  wars ;  and  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
mention  that  with  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  and  his 
humiliation  before  the  haughty  priest,  under  the  head 
of  priestly  arrogance. 

Thus  did  this  race  of  most  shameless  and  audacious 
men,  while  they  called  themselves  the  pastors  of  the 
flock  of  the  meek  and  tender  Christ,  daringly  and 
recklessly  advance  to  a  pitch  of  the  most  amazing, 
enduring,  and  universal  despotism  over  the  loftiest  and 
most  powerful  monarchs.  But  to  display  efl'ectively 
the  full  character  of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  we  must 
write  volumes  on  their  deeds  in  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  ce-nturies,  which  were  filled  with  their  aiTo- 
gant  demands  from,  and  assumptions  over,  the  sove- 
reign powers  of  Europe  ;  for,  at  once,  Conrad  Duke  of 
Suabia,  and  Frederick  of  Austria,  were  actually  be- 
headed at  Naples  by  order  of  Clement  IV. ;  and  an- 
other emperor,  Henry  IV.,  is  supposed  to  have  been 
poisoned  by  a  wafer,  in  taking  the  sacrament  from  a 
Dominican  monk.  Their  excommunications, — their 
wars, — their  vindictive  quarrels  with  kings,  and  with 
each  other, — these  things  swell  the  numerous  volumes 
of  ecclesiastical  history.  Nothing,  indeed,  is  so  revolt- 
ing in  all  the  annals  of  the  world  as  the  malignant  bitter- 
ness of  these  vicars  of  Christ  against  each  other  upon 
different  occasions.  Their  unbridled  ambition  led 
more  than  once  to  the  election  of  two  popes  at  the 
same  time,  and  to  the  consequent  tearing  asimder  of 
all  Europe  with  their  petty  factions. 

The  example  of  the  pontiffs  was  not  lost  on  the 


IN   ALL    AGES.  115 

bishops,  abbots,  and  inferior  clergy.  These,  even  in 
the  time  of  Charlemagne,  had  actually  obtained  lor 
their  tenants  and  their  possessions  an  immunity  from 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  counts  and  other  magistrates ; 
as  also  from  taxes  and  imposts  of  all  kinds.  But  in 
this  century  they  carried  their  pretensions  still  further, 
— aimed  at  the  civil  government  of  the  cities  and  ter- 
ritories in  which  they  exercised  a  spiritual  dominion  ; 
and  even  aspired  to  the  honours  and  authority  of 
dukes,  marquises,  and  counts  of  the  empire.  The 
nobles  were  for  ever  resisting,  in  their  respective  do- 
mains, the  assumptions  of  the  clergy  in  matters  of 
jurisdiction  and  other  afiairs.  These,  therefore,  seized 
the  opportunity  which  was  offered  them  by  the  super- 
stition of  the  times,  to  obtain  from  the  kings  these,  the 
ancient  rights  of  the  nobles ;  and,  as  the  influence  of 
the  bishops  over  the  people  was  greater  than  that  of 
the  nobility,  the  kings,  to  secure  the  services  of  so 
powerful  a  priesthood,  generally  granted  their  requests. 
Thus  they  became  bishops  and  abbots  clothed  with 
titles  and  dignities  so  foreign  to  their  spiritual  office, 
— reverend  dukes,  marquises,  counts,  and  viscounts  ! 

It  was  not  however  by  these  means  only  that  they 
sought  dominion  over  the  world.  They  had  a  thou- 
sand arts  to  rivet  their  power  into  the  souls  of  the 
people.  Councils  were  one  of  them.  As  if  the 
sacerdotal  name  and  inculcations  were  not  influential 
enough,  they  sought,  by  collecting  together  all  the 
dignities  of  the  church  into  one  place,  to  invest  them 
with  a  more  awful  character ;  and  to  render  the  en- 
actments of  these  priestly  congresses  everlasting  and 
indissoluble  laws.  These  enactments  were  such  as — 
the  worship  of  images,  decreed  in  the  council  of  Nice 
787;  the  holding  of  a  festival  to  the  Virgin  Mother, 
instituted  by  the  council  of  Mentz  in  the  9th  century  ; 
taking  the  cup  of  the  sacrament  from  the  laity  ;  and  a 
declaration  of  the  lawfulness  of  breaking  the  most 
solemn  engagements  made  to  heretics,  by  the  council 
of  Constance  in  the  fifteenth  century,  with  a  thousantl 


tll6  PRIKSTCRAFT 

Other  despotic  or  absurd  decrees  agHinst  all  sects, 
and  all  freedom  ol"  opinion ;  and  for  the  institution  of 
exclusive  rites  and  festivals.* 


CHAPTER  XII. 


POPERY. 


Establishment  of  Monkery — Numbers  and  Enorinities  of  the  Monks 
— Spies  and  Champions  of  Popery — Their  Quarrels — Strange 
History  of  Jetzer — Frauds  practised  in  England — Maid  of  Kent — 
Pilgrimage  of  Grace — Forgery  of  the  Decretals — Modes  of  enslav- 
ing the  Popular  Mind — Relics,  Pilgrimages,  Crusades,  Festivals, 
Confessions,  Purgatory,  Pardons,  Mass,  Excommunications,  In- 
quisition— Treatment  of  learned  Men. 


Chastity  Speaks. 
I  blame  the  Emperour  Constantine, 
That  I  am  put  to  sic  ruine, 

And  baniest  from  the  kirk  : 
For  since  he  maid  the  Paip  an  king, 
In  Rome,  I  could  get  na  lodging  : 

But  headlong  in  the  dark. 
But  ladie  Sensualitie, 
Since  then,  has  guidit  this  cuntrie, 

And  monie  of  the  rest : 
And  now  scho  reulis  all  this  land 
And  has  decreed,  at  her  command, 

That  I  should  be  supprest. 
Sir  D.vviD  Lyndsay's  S.\tvre  of  the  Three  Estaites. 


The  establishment  of  monkery  was  another  means 
of  building  up  a  perfect  despotism  by  tlie  papists. 
These  orders  originated  in  the  third  century,  and,  mid- 
tiplying  through  successive  ages,  became,  not  only 
various  in  name,  but  countless  in  number ;  spreading 
in  swarms  throughout  every  part  of  Christendom ; 
propagating  superstition,  lewdness,  and  ignorance ; 
acting  as  spies  and  supporters  of  the  papal  dominion ; 
fixing  themselves  in  every  fertile  and  pleasant  spot ; 

*  See  Appendix  II. 


IN    ALL    AGES.  117 

awing,  or  wheedling  the  rich  and  foolisli  out  of  their 
lands  and  possessions  ;  and  at  length  bursting  out 
into  the  most  bitter  quarrels  among  themselves,  be- 
came like  so  many  rabid  dogs  before  the  public  eye ; 
and  hastened,  in  no  small  degree,  the  downfall  of  the 
church  which  had  set  them  up  for  its  own  support. 
They,  as  well  as  the  secular  clergy,  were  forbidden 
to  marry ;  and  hence  flowed  a  torrent  of  corruption 
throughout  the  world.  In  the  third  century  they  formed, 
says  Mosheim,  connexions  with  those  women  wlio  had 
made  vow^s  of  chastity ;  and  it  was  an  ordinary  thing 
for  an  ecclesiastic  to  admit  one  of  these  fair  saints  to  his 
bed,  but  still  under  the  most  solemn  declarations  that 
nothing  passed  contrary  to  the  rules  of  chastity  and 
virtue  !  These  holy  concubines  were  called  Mulieres 
Subintroduct(B. 

Yet  more, — round  many  a  convent's  blazing  fire 
Unhallowed  threads  of  revelry  are  spun ; 
There  Venus  sits  disguised  like  a  Nun, — 
While  Bacchus,  clothed  in  semblance  of  a  Friar, 
Pours  out  his  choicest  beverage,  high  and  higher 
Sparkling,  until  it  cannot  choose  but  run 
Over  the  bovvfl,  whose  silver  lip  hath  won 
An  instant  kiss  of  masterful  desire — 
To  stay  the  precious  waste  :  through  evei7  brain 
The  domination  of  the  sprightly  juice 
Spreads  high  conceits,  to  madding  Fancy  dear, 
Till  the  arched  roof,  with  resolute  abuse 
Of  its  grave  echoes,  sv^^ells  a  choral  strain, 
Whose  votive  burden  is — "  Our  kingdom's  here  !" 

Wordsworth. 

These  fellows  too,  especially  the  mendicants,  wan- 
dering over  Europe,  were  the  most  active  venders  of 
relics,  and  propagators  of  every  superstitious  notion 
and  rite.  Their  licentiousness,  so  early  as  the  fifth 
century,  was  become  proverbial ;  and  they  are  said  to 
have  excited  thus  early,  in  various  places,  the  most 
dreadful  tumults  and  seditions.  In  the  next  century 
they  nmltiplied  so  prodigiously  in  the  East,  that  whole 
armies  might  have  been  raised  of  them  without  any 
sensible  diminution  of  their  numbers.  In  the  western 
provinces  also  they  were  held  in  the  highest  venera- 
tion, and  both  monks  and  nuns  swarmed.     In  Great 


118  PRIESTCRAFT 

Britain,  an  abbot,  Cougal,  persuaded  aii  innumerable 
number  of  persons  to  abandon  the  aflairs,  duties,  and 
obligations  of  life,  and  to  shut  themselves  up  in  idle- 
ness, or  to  wander  about  in  holy  mischief.  In  the 
seventh  century,  the  contagion  spread  still  more  enor- 
mously. Heads  of  families,  striving  to  surpass  each 
other's  zeal  for  the  advancement  of  monkeiy,  shut  up 
their  children  in  convents,  and  devoted  them  to  a  soli- 
taiy  life  as  the  highest  felicity.  Abandoned  profli- 
gates, terrified  by  their  guilty  consciences,  were  com- 
forted with  the  delusive  hopes  of  pardon,  by  leaving 
their  fortune  to  monastic  societies.  Multitudes  de- 
prived their  children  of  their  rich  lands  and  patrimo- 
nies, to  confer  them  on  the  monks,  whose  prayers 
were  to  render  the  Deity  propitious.  In  the  following 
century  the  mania  had  reached  such  a  height,  that  em- 
perors and  kings  conferred  whole  provinces,  cities, 
and  titles  of  honour  on  these  creatures.  In  the  suc- 
ceeding ages,  so  much  did  their  licentiousness  and 
ignorance  increase,  that  in  the  tenth  century  few  of 
the  monks  knew  the  rules  of  their  own  orders  which 
they  had  sworn  to  obey,  but  lived  in  the  most  luxuri- 
ous and  prodigal  magnificence  with  their  concubines. 
The  fourteenth  century  was  distracted  with  the  con- 
tentions of  the  various  orders  of  the  monks,  who  had 
grown  so  full  of  wealth,  luxury,  pride,  and  all  evil 
passions,  that  they  not  only  turned  tlieir  wrath  against 
each  other,  but  against  the  y)ope^  tliemselves.  Their 
bitter  and  presumptuous  bickerings  fdled  this  centur}^ 
with  the  most  strange  and  hateful  scenes. 

We  must  pass  over  the  monkish  liistory,  and  con- 
tent ourselves  with  a  few  remarks  of  Moslieim,  on 
their  state  in  the  sixteenth  century,  at  the  time  when 
their  crimes  and  excesses  were  bringing  on  them  the 
Reformation.  M'Jie  prodigious  swarms  of  monks,  says 
this  historian,  that  overran  Europe,  were  justly  con- 
sidered as  burdens  to  society ;  and,  nevertheless, 
such  was  the  genius  of  the  age,  an  age  that  was  just 
emerging  from  the  thickest  gloom  of  ignorance,  and 
was   suspended,  as    it    were,  in   a    dubious  situation 


IN    ALL    AGES.  119 

between  darkness  and  light,  that  these  monastic  drones 
would  have  remained  undisturbed,  had  they  taken  the 
least  pains  to  preserve  any  remains  even  of  the  exter- 
nal air  of  decency  and  religion,  which  distingiiished 
them  in  fonner  times.  But  the  Benedictine,  and  other 
monkish  fraternities,  v/ho  were  invested  with  the  privi- 
lege of  possessing  certain  lands  and  revenues,  broke 
through  all  restraint,  and  made  the  worst  possible  use 
of  their  opulence  ;  and,  l"orgetful  of  the  gravity  of 
their  cliaracter,  and  of  the  laws  of  their  order,  rushed 
headlong  into  the  shameless  practice  of  vice,  in  all 
its  various  kinds  and  degrees.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  mendicant  orders,  and  csp(>cially  the  Dominicans 
and  Franciscans,  lost  their  credit  in  a  diflcrent  way  : 
for  their  rustic  impudence,  their  ridiculous  supersti- 
tions, their  ignorance,  cmelty,  and  brutish  manners, 
tended  to  alienate  irom  them  the  minds  of  the  people. 
They  had  the  most  barbarous  aversion  to  the  arts  and 
sciences,  and  expressed  a  like  abhorrence  of  certain 
learned  men,  who,  being  eagerly  desirous  of  enlighten- 
ing the  age,  attacked  their  barbarism  in  l)otli  their  dis- 
course and  their  writings ; — this  was  the  case  with 
Reuchlerius,  Erasmus,  and  others. 

The  Dominicans  poss(!ssed  the  greatest  power  and 
credit  of  all  monks  :  they  presided  in  church  and 
state  ;  were  confessors  to  tlie  great,  and  judges  of  the 
horrible  Inquisition — circumstances  v/hich  put  most 
of  the  European  princes  under  their  control ;  but,  not 
content  witli  these  means  of  infhience,  they  resorted 
to  the  most  infamous  frauds,  to  enslave  the  ignorance 
of  the  age.  One  of  the  most  singular  instances  of 
this  sort  is  that  recorded  by  Reuchat,  in  his  Histoire 
de  la  Reformation  en  Suisse ;  by  Hottinger,  and  by 
Bishop  Burnet,  in  his  travels  on  the  Continent.  So 
remarkable  is  it,  that  I  must  give  it  as  compendiously 
as  I  can. 

"  The  stratagem  was  in  consequence  of  a  rivalry 
between  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  and  more 
especially  of  their  controversy  concerning  the  im- 
maculate conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary.     The  latter 


120  PRIESTCRAFT 

maintained  that  she  was  bom  without  the  blemish  of 
original  sin :  the  former  asserted  the  contraiy.  The 
doctrine  of  the  Franciscans,  in  an  age  of  superstition, 
could  not  but  be  popular ;  and  hence  the  Dominicans 
lost  ground  daily.  To  obviate  this  they  resolved,  at 
a  chapter  held  at  Vimpsen  in  1504,  to  have  recourse 
to  fictitious  visions,  in  which  the  people  at  that  time 
had  an  easy  faith ;  and  they  determined  to  make 
Bern  the  scene  of  their  operations.  A  lay-brother  of 
the  name  of  Jetzer,  an  extremely  simple  fellow,  was 
fixed  on  as  the  instrument  of  these  delusions.  One 
of  the  four  Domini<;ans  who  had  undertaken  the  man- 
agement of  this  plot  conveyed  himself  secretly  into 
Jetzer's  cell,  and  about  midnight  appeared  to  him  in 
a  horrid  figure,  surrounded  with  howling  dogs,  and 
seeming  to  blow  fire  from  his  nostrils  by  means  of  a 
box  of  combustibles  which  he  held  near  his  mouth. 
He  approached  Jetzer's  bed,  and  told  him  he  was  the 
ghost  of  a  Dominican  Avho  had  been  killed  at  Paris 
as  a  judgment  of  Heaven  for  laying  aside  his  monastic 
habit ;  that  he  was  condemned  to  purgatory  for  this 
crime,  and  could  only  be  rescued  from  his  horrible 
torments  by  his  means.  This  story,  accompanied 
with  horrid  cries  and  bowlings,  frightened  poor  Jetzer 
out  of  what  little  wits  he  had,  and  engaged  him  to  do 
all  in  his  po^ver  to  rescue  the  Dominican  from  his 
torment.  The  impostor  then  told  him  that  nothing 
but  the  discipline  of  the  whip  applied  for  eight  days 
by  the  whole  monastery,  and  Jetzer's  lying  prostrate 
on  the  chapel  floor  in  the  form  of  a  cross  during 
mass,  could  effect  this.  He  added,  these  mortifica- 
tions would  secure  Jetzer  the  peculiar  favour  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin ;  and  told  him  he  would  appear  to 
him  again  with  two  other  spirits. 

"Morning  was  no  sooner  come  than  Jetzer  related 
these  particulars  to  the  whole  convent ;  Avho  enjoined 
him  to  undergo  all  that  he  was  commanded,  and 
promised  to  bear  their  part.  The  deluded  simpleton 
obeyed,  and  was  admired  as  a  saint  by  the  multitude 
who  crowded  about  the  convent ;  while  the  four  friars 


IN   ALL   AGES.  Hi 

who  managed  the  imposture,  magnified,  in  the  most 
pompous  manner,  the  miracle  of  this  apparition  in 
their  sermons  and  conversations.  Night  after  night 
the  apparition  was  renewed,  with  the  addition  of  two 
other  impostors,  dressed  like  devils ;  and  Jetzers 
faith  was  augmented,  by  hearing  from  the  spectre  all 
the  secret  of  his  own  life  and  thoughts,  which  the 
impostors  had  got  from  his  confessor.  In  this  and 
subsequent  scenes,  whose  enormities  we  must  pass 
over,  the  impostor  talked  much  to  Jetzer  of  the 
Dominican  order;  which,  he  said,  was  peculiarly 
dear  to  the  Blessed  Virgin ;  that  the  Blessed  Virgin 
knew  herself  to  be  born  in  original  sin ;  that  the 
doctors  who  taught  the  contrary  were  in  purgatory ; 
that  she  abhorred  the  Franciscans  for  making  her 
equal  to  her  son  ;  and  that  the  town  of  Bern  would  be 
destroyed  for  harbouring  such  plagues  within  it. 

"  In  one  of  these  apparitions,  Jetzer,  silly  as  he  was, 
discovered  the  similarity  of  the  spectre's  voice  to  that 
of  the  prior — who  it  actually  was — yet  he  did  not 
suspect  the  fraud.  The  prior  appeared  in  various 
disguises :  sometimes  as  St.  Barbaro,  sometimes  as 
St.  Bernard,  and  at  length  as  the  Virgin  herself, 
clothed  in  the  habit  which  adorned  her  statue  at 
festivals.  The  little  images  that  on  these  days  are 
set  on  the  altar  were  used  for  angels,  which  being  tied 
to  a  cord  which  passed  through  a  pulley  over  Jetzer's 
head,  rose  up  and  down,  and  danced  about  the  pre- 
tended virgin,  to  increase  the  delusion.  The  virgin 
addressed  a  long  discom'se  to  Jetzer;  gave  him  a 
marvellous  wafer, — a  host  which  turned,  in  a  moment, 
from  white  to  red ;  and  after  various  visits,  in  which 
the  greatest  enonnities  were  acted,  the  virgin  prior 
told  Jetzer  she  would  give  him  the  most  undoubted 
proof  of  her  son's  love,  by  imprinting  on  him  the  five 
wounds  that  pierced  Jesus  on  the  cross,  as  she  had 
done  before  to  St.  Lucia  and  St.  Catherine.  Accord- 
ingly she  took  his  hand,  and  thi-ust  a  large  nail 
through  it,  which  threw  the  poor  dupe  into  the 
greatest  torment.  The  next  mght,  tins  masculine 
F 


122  PRIESTCRAFT 

virgin  brought,  as  she  pretended,  some  of  the  linen  in 
which  Christ  had  been  buried,  to  soften  the  wound ; 
and  gave  Jetzer  a  soporific  draught,  composed  of  the 
blood  of  an  unbaptized  child,  some  incense,  con- 
secrated salt,  quicksilver,  the  hairs  of  a  child's 
eyebrows,  with  some  poisonous  and  stupifying  in- 
gredients, mingled  by  the  prior  with  magic  cere- 
monies, and  a  solemn  dedication  of  himself  to  the 
devil,  in  hope  of  his  aid.  This  draught  threw  the 
poor  wretch  into  a  lethargy,  during  which  the  other 
four  wounds  were  imprinted  on  his  body.  When  he 
awoke  and  discovered  them,  he  fell  into  unspeakable 
joy,  and  believed  himself  a  representation  of  Christ 
in  the  various  parts  of  his  passion.  He  ^vas,  in  this 
state,  exposed  to  the  admiring  multitude  on  the 
principal  altar  of  the  convent,  to  the  great  mortifica- 
tion of  the  Franciscans.  The  Dominicans  gave  him 
some  other  draughts,  and  threw  him  into  convulsions, 
which  were  followed  by  a  voice  conveyed  through  a 
pipe  into  the  mouths  of  two  images,  one  of  Mary, 
the  other  of  the  child  Jesus  ;  the  former  of  which  had 
tears  painted  upon  its  cheeks  in  a  lively  manner. 
The  little  Jesus  asked  his  mother  why  she  wept ; 
she  answered,  for  the  impious  manner  in  which  the 
Franciscans  attributed  to  her  the  honour  that  was  due 
to  him. 

"  The  apparitions,  false  prodigies,  and  abominable 
stratagems  were  repeated  every  night ;  and  were,  at 
length,  so  gi'ossly  overacted,  that  even  the  simple 
Jetzer  saw  through  them,  and  almost  killed  the  priest. 
Lest  this  discoveiy  should  spoil  all,  they  thought  it 
best  to  own  the  whole  to  Jetzer,  and  prevail  on  him 
to  join  in  the  imposture ;  engaging  him,  by  the  most 
seducing  promises  of  opulence  and  glory,  to  carry  on 
the  delusion.  Jetzer  appeared  to  be  persuaded,  but 
lest  he  should  not  be  faithful  and  secret,  they  at- 
tempted to  poison  him ;  and  it  was  alone  owing  to 
the  vigour  of  his  constitution  that  they  did  not  suc- 
ceed. Once  they  gave  him  a  rich  spiced  loaf,  which; 
Rowing  green  in  a  day  or  two,  he  threw  a  piece  to  a 


IN   ALL    AGES.  123 

wolf's  whelps,  kept  in  the  monastery,  and  it  killed 
them  immediately.  Again  they  poisoned  the  host, 
or  consecrated  wafer;  but  he  vomited  it  up.  In 
short,  the  most  detestable  means  to  destroy  him  and 
his  evidence  were  employed;  but  he  succeeded  in 
getting  out  of  the  convent,  and  throwing  himself  into 
the  hands  of  the  magistrates.  The  whole  thus  came 
to  be  sifted  out ;  commissioners  were  sent  from  Rome 
to  examine  the  affair;  and  the  four  friars  were 
solemnly  degTaded,  and  burnt  alive  on  the  last  day 
of  May,  1509.  Jetzer  died  soon  after.  Had  he  been 
destroyed  before  this  exposure,  this  execrable  plot 
would  have  been  handed  down  to  posterity  as  a 
stupendous  miracle." 

Rome  could  hasten  to  pmiish  such  vile  frauds  when 
they  were  made  public,  but  she  was  not  the  less  ready 
to  practise  them  herself  in  the  most  daring  manner, 
as  I  shall  proceed  to  show :  but  before  leaving  this 
strange  case  of  Jetzer,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  auda- 
cious and  even  incredible  as  it  may  appear  to  many, 
it  rests  upon  too  good  authority  to  be  doubted.     Hun- 
dreds, indeed,  of  similar  instances  might  be  brought, 
for  the  whole  history  of  the  Romish  church  is  that  of 
fraud  and  delusion :  but  we  need  not  go  out  of  our 
own  country  for  similar  transactions.     Who  does  not 
call  to  mind  the  affair  of  the  Maid  of  Kent,  enacted  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  at  the  very  moment 
he  was   aiming  a  death-blow  at  popery,  and  in  the 
face  of  a  people  whose  eyes  were  opening  to  the  acts 
and  impostures  of  the  papal  sorceress  ?    The  case  may 
be  seen  at  large  in  Hume.    The  substance  of  it  is  this ; 
some  monks,  and  one  Masters,  the  vicar  of  Aldington, 
in  Kent,  got  hold  of  a  girl  of  the  name  of  Elizabeth 
Barton,  who  was  subject  to  convulsive  fits,  and  in- 
duced her  to  enter  into  a  system  of  deception  on  the 
public  mind.     They  gave  out  that  she  was  inspired, 
and  in  these  fits  delivered  the  words  of  the  Virgin 
Mary.     Having  once    imposed,    not   merely  on   the 
common    people,   but    engaged    the   Archbishop   of 
Canterbury  and   other   dignitaries   of  the  church  in 
F2 


124  PRIESTCRAFT 

tl^  affair,  they  proceeded  to  promulgate  heavenly 
messages  against  the  reforming  principles,  and  even 
threatened  destruction  to  the  king  if  he  proceeded  in 
them.  The  friars,  throughout  the  country,  comite- 
nanced  the  delusion,  and  propagated  it  with  all  their 
zeal  and  might.  But  tliey  had  a  man  to  deal  with 
very  inauspicious  for  their  purpose.  He  arrested  the 
holy  maid  and  her  accomplices,  brought  them  before 
the  Star  Chamber,  and  soon  terrified  them  into  a  full 
confession  of  their  imposture.  A  most  scandalous 
scene  was  laid  open.  Her  pruicipal  accomplices, 
Masters  the  vicar,  and  Dr.  Bocking,  a  canon  of  Can- 
terbury, were  found  to  have  a  private  entrance  to  her 
chamber,  and  to  have  led  a  most  licentious  life  with 
her.  The  girl  and  six  of  her  coadjutors  were  executed ; 
and  the  Bishop  of  Rochester  and  others  were  con- 
demned for  misprision  of  treason,  because  they  had 
not  revealed  her  criminal  speeches,  and  were  thrown 
into  prison.  This  was  in  England  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  is  a  good  specimen  of  the  spirit  of 
monkery:  but  another  of  a  more  menacing  kind  was 
soon  given.  Their  "Diana  of  the  Ephesians"  was 
in  danger ;  the  king  threatened,  not  only  to  destroy 
popery,  but  to  root  out  the  monasteries ;  and  it  was 
not  in  the  nature  of  priests  and  monks  to  resign  their 
ill-gotten  booty  without  a  struggle.  They  set  up 
the  standard  of  rebellion.  A  monk,  the  Prior  of 
Barlings  in  Lincolnshire,  was  at  the  head  of  it.  He 
marched  with  20,000  men  at  his  heels,  till  he  iell 
into  the  king's  hands.  But  another  army  from  the 
north  was  not  so  easily  scattered.  This,  which  con- 
sisted of  40,000  men,  called  its  enterprise  the  Pil- 
grimage of  Grace.  Some  priests  marched  before  in 
the  habits  of  their  order,  carrying  crosses  in  their 
hands ;  in  their  banners  was  woven  a  cmcifix,  with 
the  representation  of  the  chalice,  and  the  five  womids 
of  Christ.  They  wore  on  their  sleeve  an  emblem  of 
the  five  womids,  with  the  name  of  Jesus  wrought  in 
the  middle :  and  all  took  an  oath  that  they  had  no 
motive  but  love  to  God^  care  of  the  king^s  person  and 


IN   ALL    AGES,  125 

issue ;  and  a  desire  to  purify  the  nobility^  drive  base- 
born  persons  from  about  the  king,  and  restore  the 
church,  and  suppress  heresy.  With  those  pretensions 
they  marched  from  place  to  place  ;  took  Hull,  York, 
and  other  towns ;  excited  great  disturbance  and 
clamour,  and  were  not  dispersed  but  with  gi-eat  diffi- 
culty. This  was  a  trial  of  force  where  fraud  could 
not  succeed  of  itself,  according  to  the  established 
papal  policy;  but  fraud  was  alone  one  of  its  most 
successful  means  of  acquiring  power, — and  in  order  to 
contemplate  this  instrument  more  clearly  we  must  go 
back  again  to  an  earlier  age. 

To  advance  their  power  the  popes  did  not  shrink 
from  the  most  audacious  forgery.  Such  was  that  of 
the  notorious  decretals  of  Isidore  ;  documents  pur- 
porting to  be  written  by  the  early  pontiffs,  and  contain- 
ing grants  of  the  Holy  See  from  Constantino ;  of  the 
supremacy  of  the  pope,  and  other  privileges;  all 
proved  by  the  clearest  evidence  to  be  the  most  bare- 
faced inventions. 

Frauds  were  multiplied  abundantly  to  besot  and 
blind  the  popular  spirit.  Monks,  bishops,  warriors, 
and  men  of  the  worst  characters,  nay  of  neither 
character  nor  real  existence,  as  St.  George  and  his 
dragon,  were  canonized,  made  into  saints,  and  their 
lives  written  in  a  manner  most  calculated  to  beguile 
the  ignorance  of  the  times.  Shrines  were  set  up, 
and  churches  dedicated  to  them,  where  people  might 
pray  for  their  aid.  Dreams  and  miracles  were  pre- 
tended to  throw  light  on  the  places  of  their  burial ; 
solemn  processions  were  set  on  foot  to  discover  and 
take  them  up ;  and  the  most  miraculous  powers  at- 
tributed to  them.  Bones  were  buried,  and  afterward 
pretended  to  be  found,  and  declared  by  heaven  to 
belong  to  saints  and  martyrs  :  and  bits  of  bone,  hairs, 
fragments  of  filthy  rags,  and  other  vile  things,  chips 
of  the  true  cross,  &c.,  were  sold  at  enormous  prices, 
as  capable  of  working  cures  and  effecting  blessings 
of  all  kinds.  The  milk  of  the  Virgin,  and  the  blood 
of  St.  Januarius,  which  liquefied  on  the  day  of  his 


126  PRIESTCRAFT 

festival,  were  particularly  famous  in  Italy.  In  Eng- 
land, at  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries,  many  very 
curious  ones  were  found.  The  parings  of  St.  Ed- 
mond's  toes ;  some  ol"  the  coals  that  roasted  St.  Law- 
rence ;  the  girdle  of  the  Virgin  shown  in  eleven 
several  places  ;  the  belt  of  St.  Thomas  of  Lancaster, 
an  infallible  cure  for  the  headache ;  part  of  St.  Thomas 
of  Canterbury's  shirt ;  but  chief  of  all  the  blood  of 
Christ  brought  from  Jerusalem,  and  shown  for  many 
ages  at  Hales  in  Gloucestershire.  This  sacred  blood 
was  not  visible  to  any  one  in  mortal  sin ;  but  in  doing 
sufficient  good  work,  i.  e,  paying  money  enough,  it 
revealed  itself.  It  was  preserved  in  a  vial,  one  side 
of  which  was  transparent,  the  other  opaque.  Into 
this  the  monks  every  week  put  a  fresh  supply  of  the 
blood  of  a  duck  ;  and,  on  any  pilgrim  arriving,  the  dark 
side  was  shown  him,  which  threw  him  into  such  con- 
sternation for  his  sinful  state,  that  he  generally  pur- 
chased masses  and  made  offerings,  till  his  money  or 
fortune  began  to  fail ;  when  the  charitable  monks 
turned  the  clear  side  towards  him — hs  beheld  the 
blood,  and  went  away  happy  in  his  regenerate  con- 
dition. 

Rumours  were  spread  of  prodigies  to  be  seen  in 
certain  places  ;  roblDers  were  converted  into  martyrs  ; 
tombs  falsely  given  out  to  be  those  of  saints ;  and 
many  monks  travelled  from  place  to  place,  not  only 
selling,  with  matchless  impudence,  their  fictitious 
relics,  but  deluding  the  eyes  of  the  people  with  ludi- 
crous combats  with  spirits  and  genii.  Ambrose,  in 
his  disputes  with  the  Arians,  produced  men  possessed 
with  devils,  who,  upon  the  approach  of  the  relics  of 
Gervasius  and  Protatius,  were  obliged  to  cry  out  that 
the  doctrine  of  the  Council  of  Nice  on  the  Trinity  was 
true,  and  that  of  the  Arians  false.  One  of  the  pre- 
cious maxims  of  the  fourth  century  was,  "  that  it  was 
an  act  of  virtue  to  deceive  and  lie  when  it  could  pro- 
mote the  interest  of  the  church," — a  maxim  never 
afterward  forgotten.  Pilgrimages  to  distant  holy 
olaces  were  hit  upon  as  a  strong  means  to  employ 


IN   ALL    AGES.  127 

the  minds  and  enslave  the  affections  of  numbers : 
houses,  as  that  of  the  Virgin  at  Loretto,  were  even 
said  to  descend  from  heaven  to  receive  the  sacred 
enthusiasm  of  men ;  and  Crusades,  those  preposterous 
and  tremendous  wars,  whose  details  are  filled  with 
the  most  exquisite  miseries,  and  most  abhorrent 
crimes  and  licentiousness,  were  promoted,  as  potent 
means  of  employing  the  power  and  exhausting  the 
treasures  of  kings.  In  those  crusades,  millions  of 
miserable  wretches,  men,  women,  and  children, — the 
low,  the  ignorant,  the  idle,  the  dissolute, — after  wan- 
dering from  kingdom  to  kingdom,  the  wonder  and 
horror  of  the  inhabitants,  were  consumed ;  and  from 
those  crusades,  in  return,  loads  of  relics  were  poured 
out  of  Syria  over  all  Europe. 

All  kinds  of  ceremonies  and  festivals  were  im- 
ported from  paganism  for  the  same  end.  Auricular 
Confession  was  invented,  by  which  the  clergy  be- 
came the  keepers  of  the  consciences  of  the  whole 
world;  and  the  spiritual  tyrants,  not  merely  of  the 
weak  and  the  wicked,  but  of  every  one  capable  of  a 
sense  of  shame  or  of  fear.  Indulgences  were  granted 
for  the  commission  of  crimes,  and  past  sins  pardoned 
for  money  and  gifts  of  lands  : — and  Purgatory  !  that 
most  subtle  and  profitable  invention  of  priestcraft,  was 
contrived,  to  give  the  church  power  over  both  living 
and  dead.  Thus  was  the  religion  of  Christ  completely 
disfigured  by  pagan  ceremonies,  and  made  to  sanction 
all  wickedness  for  the  sake  of  gain.  The  very  cele- 
bration OF  worship  was  ordered  to  be  in  Latin  ;  an 
unknown  tongue  to  the  great  mass  of  those  who  heard 
it,  so  that  they  were  reduced,  not  only  to  feed  on  the 
chaff  and  garbage  of  priestly  fables,  but  in  the  very 
temple  of  God  himself  to  fill  themselves  with  mere 
wind  and  empty  sounds.  The  bread  was  taken  from 
the  children  and  given  to  the  dogs.  Mass  was  invented 
— that  splendid  piece  of  mummery,  which,  filling  the 
^  eyes  while  it  enlightened  not  the  mind,  was  at  once 
an  instrument  of  keeping  the  people  in  ignorance  ;  of 
fixing  them  fast  by  the  imagination  to  the  hollow  trunk 
of  formality ;  and  of  filling  the  pockets  of  the  priests, 


128  PRIESTCRAFT 

by  whom  it  was  never  performed  without  a  fee ;  for 
the  souls  of  the  dead  paid  more  or  less  according  to 
the  imagined  need.  For  many  a  great  sinner  masses 
were  established  for  ever ;  and  whole  lordships  were 
given  to  the  church,  to  support  chapels  and  chantries 
for  the  peace  of  souls  that  v/ere  already  beyond  rescue, 
or  need  of  redemption.  Every  prayer  and  paternoster 
had  its  price.  Thus  was  heaven,  earth,  and  all  therein 
turned  into  a  source  of  beastly  gain.  The  rage  for 
dominion  in  the  popes,  says  Mosheim,  M'as  accom- 
panied by  a  most  insatiable  avarice.  All  the  provinces 
of  Europe  were  drained  to  enrich  those  spiritual  ty- 
rants, who  were  perpetually  gaping  after  new  acces- 
sions of  wealth. 

Another  mode  of  influence  w^as,  constituting  churches 
ASYLUMS  for  robbers  and  murderers  ;  another,  that  dark 
one  of  EXCOMMUNICATION ;  another,  the  borrowing  of 
ORDEALS  from  the  pagans ;  another,  the  right  of  patron- 
age ;  and,  lastly,  the  terrors  of  the  iNQUisiTio>f. 

Such  were  the  multiplied  means  employed  for  the 
monopoly  of  all  the  wealth,  power,  and  honour  of  the 
universe  by  this  infamous  race  of  vampyres  ;  and  we 
have  but  too  many  instances  of  their  determination  to 
quench  and  keep  dowm  knowledge  in  their  treatment 
of  Bacon,  Petre  d'Abano,  Arnold  of  Villa  Nuova,  and 
Galileo ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  Reformers,  whom  they 
regarded  as  their  natural  enemies,  and  destroyed  with- 
out mercy.  Mankind  owes  to  the  Roman  church  an 
everlasting  reward  of  indignation  for  its  attempts  to  crush 
into  imbecility  the  human  mind,  and  to  insidt  it  in  its 
weakness  with  the  most  pitiful  baubles  and  puerilities. 

And  for  what  end  were  all  these  outrages  on  human- 
ity,— these  mockeries  of  every  thing  great, — these 
blasphemies  of  every  thing  holy,  perpetrated  ?  That 
they  might  wallow,  undisturbed,  in  the  deepest  mire 
of  vice  and  sensuality,  and  heap  upon  those  they  had 
deluded  and  stripped  of  property,  of  liberty,  and  of 
mind,  insult  and  derision.  Let  every  man  who  hesi- 
tates to  set  his  hand  to  the  destruction  of  state  reli- 
gions look  on  this  picture  of  all  enormities  that  can 
disgrace  om-  nature,  and  reflect  that   such  is   the 


IN    ALL    AGES.  129 

inevitable  tendency  of  all  priestcraft.  Is  it  said  we 
see  nothing  so  bad  now  1  And  why  1  Because  man 
has  got  the  upper-hand  of  his  tyrant,  and  keeps  him 
in  awe, — not  because  the  nature  of  priestcraft  is 
altered ;  and  yet,  let  us  turn  but  our  eyes  to  Catholic 
countries,  Spain,  Portugal,  Italy,  and  the  scene  is 
lamentable  ;  and  even  in  our  own  country,  where  free 
institutions  check  presumption,  and  the  press  terrifies 
many  monsters  from  the  light  of  day, — we  behold 
things  which  make  our  hearts  throb  with  indignation. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


POPISH   ARROGANCE   AND    ATROCITIES. 

The  Pope  proclaims  himself  Lord  of  the  Universe — Treatment  'of, 
Dandolo,  of  Frederick  Barbarossa,  and  of  Henry  IV. — Sets  op 
and  dethrones  Kmgs — Imitated  by  the  Clergy — Thomas  a  Becket 
— King  John's  Humiliation — Galileo — Massacres  of  Protestants 
in  the  Netherlands — Massacre  of  Bartholomew — Bloody  Perse- 
cutions of  the  Vaudois — War  of  Extermination  waged  by  the  Pope 
in  Provence — Extinction  of  the  Troubadours — Noble  Conduct  of 
the  young  Count  of  Bezeirs — Rise  of  the  Inquisition. 


Unless  to  Peter's  Chair  the  viewless  wind 
Must  come  and  ask  permission  where  to  blow, 
What  further  empire  would  it  have  ? — for  now 
A  ghostly  domination,  unconfined 
As  that  by  dreammg  bard8  to  love  assigned, 
Sits  there  in  sober  truth — to  raise  the  low, 
Perplex  the  wise,  the  strong  to  overthrow — 
Through  earth  and  heaven  to  bind  and  to  unbind ! 
Resist — the  thunder  quails  thee  ! — crouch — rebuff 
Shall  be  thy  recompense  !  from  land  to  land 
The  ancient  thrones  of  Christendom  are  stuff 
For  occupation  of  a  magic  wand. 
And  'tis  the  Pope  that  wields  it ;  whether  rough 
Or  smooth  his  front,  our  world  is  in  his  hand ! 

Wordsworth, 


Arrogance  and  atrocity  are  prominent  and  imper- 
ishable features  in  the  priestly  character ;  and  it  might 
be  imagined  that  instances  had  been  given  in  various 
F3 


130  PRIESTCRAFT 

ages  und  nations  which  could  not  be  surpassed :  but 
if  we  consider  the  fierce  and  audacious  exhibition  of 
those  qualities  in  the  Romish  priests ;  the  greatness 
and  extent  of  the  kingdoms  over  which  they  exercised 
them ;  and  the  mild  and  unassuming  nature  of  the 
religion  they  professed  to  be  the  teachers  of,  it  must 
be  confessed  that  the  world  has  no  similar  examples  to 
present.  The  papal  church  seemed  actuated  by  a 
perfect  furor  and  madness  of  intolerance,  haughty  dic- 
tation, and  insolent  cruelty.  In  the  12th  century  the 
pope  proclaimed  himself  Loud  of  the  Universe  ; 
and  that  neither  prince  nor  bishop  possessed  any 
power  but  what  was  derived  from  him ;  in  the  14th 
he,  on  one  occasion,  at  a  great  dinner,  ordered  Dan- 
dolo,  the  Venetian  ambassador,  to  be  chained  under 
the  table  like  a  dog.  In  1155  the  pope  insisted  on 
the  celebrated  emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa  hold- 
ing his  stirrup,  at  the  emperor's  own  coronation ;  a 
proposal  at  first  rejected  with  disdain,  and  which  led 
to  contests  of  a  most  momentous  nature.  Some 
writers  affirm  that  his  successor,  having  compelled  the 
emperor  to  submit,  trod  upon  his  neck,  and  obliged 
him  to  kiss  his  foot  while  the  proud  prelate  repeated, 
from  Psalm  xci. — "  Thou  shalt  tread  upon  the  lion 
and  the  adder;  the  young  lion  and  the  dragon  shalt 
thou  trample  under  foot."  Our  gi-eat  poet  receives 
it  as  fact. 

Black  demons  hovering  o'er  his  mitred  head, 

To  Caesar's  successor  the  pontiff  spake ; 

"  Ere  I  absolve  thee,  stoop  !  that  on  thy  neck 

Levelled  with  earth  this  foot  of  mine  may  tread." 

Then  he  who  to  the  altar  had  been  led, 

He  whose  strong  arm  the  Orient  could  not  check, 

He  who  had  held  the  Soldan  at  his  beck, 

Stooped,  of  all  glory  disinherited. 

And  even  the  comnion  dignity  of  man ! 

Amazement  strikes  the  crowd, 

Wordsworth. 


In  the  eighth  century  the  humiliating  ceremony  of 
kissing  the  pope's  toe  was  introduced.  In  1077  the 
famous  pope  Gregory  VII.  compelled  the  emperor, 


IN   ALL   AGES.  131 

Henry  IV.  to  do  penance  for  his  resistance  to  his 
monstrous  claims.  The  mihappy  monarch  passed  the 
Alps  in  a  severe  winter;  waited  on  the  pontiff  at 
Canusium,  where,  mimindful  of  his  dignity,  he  stood 
three  days  at  the  entrance  of  the  fortress,  within  which 
the  detestable  pope  was  feasting  with  his  mistress,  the 
Comitess  Matilda,  with  his  head  and  feet  bare,  and  no 
other  raiment  than  a  wretched  piece  of  woollen  cloth. 
On  the  fourth  day  he  was  admitted  to  the  pontiff,  who 
scarcely  deigned  to  grant  him  the  absolution  he  sought, 
and  absolutely  refused  to  restore  him  to  his  throne  till 
after  further  delay  and  further  indignities.  The  hu- 
miliation of  holding  the  stirrup  was  also  forced  on  the 
emperor  Louis  II. ;  and  every  reader  is  familiar  with 
the  arrogant  spectacle  of  Pope  Alexander  riding  into 
the  French  camp,  with  the  French  monarch  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  English  on  the  other,  walking  at  his  stir- 
rup. We  have  already  seen  the  boundless  assumption 
and  insolence  of  the  popes  in  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth, 
and  fifteenth  centuries ;  how  they  thundered  their 
anathemas  against  kings  and  emperors,  dethroned  and 
beheaded  as  they  pleased  ;  made  bloody  wars  on  them 
to  wrest  from  them  their  power,  and  even  set  up  new 
kingdoms. 

Their  clergy  naturally  caught  the  same  spirit,  and 
carried  into  every  region  and  every  house  the  same 
intolerable  haughtiness.  The  papal  legates  came  to 
the  courts  of  the  greatest  princes,  with  an  odious 
arrogance  that  fully  represented  that  of  their  master. 
From  the  history  of  the  European  nations  we  might 
select  the  most  astonishing  instances  of  legates,  car- 
dinals, and  bishops,  before  whom  both  monarch  and 
people  trembled  ;  but  I  shall  only  select  one  or  two 
from  our  own  annals.  Who  can  ever  forget  the  noto- 
rious Thomas  a  Becket,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  ? 
one  of  the  most  perfect  personifications  of  priestly 
msolence  and  audacity.  This  wretch,  who  had  been 
raised  to  his  high  dignity  by  his  royal  master,  and 
loaded  with  every  honour,  having  once  gained  all  that 


132  PRIESTCRAFT 

his  ambition  could  hope  from  the  indulgent  monarch, 
became  one  of  the  most  captious  and  troublesome 
villains  that  ever  disturbed,  with  priestly  pride,  the 
peace  of  kingdoms.  Henry,  by  aji  act  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Clarendon,  endeavoured  to  ])ring  into  some 
tolerable  degree  of  restraint  the  power  and  license  of 
the  clergy.  Becket  most  arrogantly  refused  all  obe- 
(hence  to  the  king's  wishes  ;  and  backed  by  Alexander 
III.,  the  same  pope  who  had  so  humiliated  Frederick 
Barbarossa,  commenced  a  course  of  annoyance  to  the 
mild-spirited  king,  which,  even  at  this  distance  of  time, 
makes  one's  blood  boil  with  indignation  to  read.  The 
monarch,  aroused  by  it,  compelled  Becket  to  retire 
to  France.  Hereupon  the  pope  and  the  French  king 
interposed ;  and  endeavoured  so  far  to  pacify  the 
ofiended  sovereign  as  to  allow  Becket  to  return  to 
England,  and  resume  his  office.  But  who  that  knows 
any  thing  of  priests  could  hope  that  he  would  be 
touched  with  any  sense  of  shame,  or  gratitude  towards 
his  forgiving  prince  ?  He  became  only  more  invete- 
rately  rebellious,  and  carried  his  insolence  so  far,  that 
four  gentlemen,  who  witnessed  with  indignation  the 
vexations  heaped  on  their  sovereign,  hastened  to  Can- 
terburv',  and  inflicted  on  the  haughty  and  sanctimo- 
nious wretch  deserved  and  exemplary  death. 

But  if  Becket  was  dead,  the  haughty  pope  was 
alive,  and  soon  compelled  poor  Henry  to  the  most 
humiliating  degradations ;  to  go,  bare-headed  and 
bare-footed,  on  pilgrimage  to  Canterbury,  and  do 
penance  at  the  canonized  shrine  of  tlie  now  sainted 
Becket ! 

A  similar  fate  was  that  of  poor  King  John, — ^the 
weak  and  wicked  Lack-land.  He  ventured  to  oppose 
the  pope's  power,  who  had  proceeded  to  set  aside  the 
election  of  John  de  Grey  to  the  see  of  Canterbury',  and 
to  appoint,  spite  of  the  king  and  the  nation,  Stephen 
T^angton,  primate  of  England.  John  assumed  a  high 
tone  ;  and  threatened  to  extinguisli  the  papal  power 
in  England.     What  was  the  consequence  I     Innocent 


IN   ALL    AGES.  133 

laid  John's  kingdom  under  the  banx.  A  stop  was  pnt 
to  divine  worship ;  the  churches  were  shut  in  every 
parish;  all  the  sacraments,  except  baptism,  were 
superseded ;  the  dead  were  buried  in  the  highways, 
without  any  sacred  rites.  Several,  however,  of  the 
better  and  more  learned  clergy,  indignantly  refused 
obedience  to  this  detestable  interdict;'  and  the  pope 
accordingly  proceeded  to  further  measures.  In  1209 
he  excommunicated  John ;  and  two  years  afterward, 
issued  a  bull,  absolving  all  his  subjects  from  their 
allegiance,  and  ordering  all  persons  to  avoid  him. 
The  next  year,  the  enraged  pope  assembled  a  council 
of  cardinals  and  bishops,  deposed  John,  declared  the 
throne  of  England  vacant ;  and  ordered  the  king  of 
France  to  take  it,  and  add  it  to  his  own.  The  French 
king  was  ready  enough  to  do  this  :  he  assembled  an 
army.  John  assembled  another  to  oppose  him  ;  and 
had  he  been  a  monarch  of  an  enlightened  mind  and 
steady  fortitude,  England  would  have  been  rescued 
from  popish  thraldom,  and  ihe  Reformation  accelerated 
by  some  ages.  But  Pandolph,  the  pope's  legate,  ar- 
riving in  England,  so  succeeded  by  his  artful  repre- 
sentations of  the  power  of  France,  and  the  defection 
of  John's  own  subjects,  that  his  courage  broke  down, 
and  he  submitted  to  the  most  abject  humiliations.  He 
promised,  among  other  things,  that  he  would  submit 
himself  entirely  to  the  judgment  of  the  pope  ;  that  he 
would  acknowledge  Langton  for  primate ;  that  he 
would  restore  all  the  exiled  clergy  and  laity  who 
had  been  banished  on  account  of  the  contest ;  make 
them  full  restitution  of  then'  goods,  and  compensation 
for  all  damages,  and  instantly  consign  eight  thousand 
pounds  in  part  of  payment ;  and  that  any  one  outlawed 
or  imprisoned  for  his  adherence  to  the  pope  should 
be  instantly  received  to  grace  and  favour.  He  did 
homage  to  the  pope  ;  resigned  his  crown  to  him ;  and 
again  received  it  from  him  as  a  gift ;  and  bound  him 
self  to  pay  seven  hundred  marks  annually  for  England, 
and  three  hundred  for  Ireland  :  and  consented  that  any 
of  his  successors  who  refused  to  pay  it  should  forfeit 


134  PRIESTCRAFT 

all  right  to  the  throne.     All  this  was  transacted  in  a 
public  assembly    in   the  house  of  the    Templars  at 
Dover, — for  the  popish  priests  always  took  care  that 
refractory   kings  should   sufier  the  most  public  and 
excruciating  degradations ;  and  the  legate,  after  having 
kept  the  crown  and  sceptre  five  whole  days,  returned 
them,  as  by  special  favom-  of  the  pope.     John,  how- 
ever, presented  a  sum  of  money  in  token  of  his  de- 
pendence, which  the  proud  prelate  trod  inuler  his  feet. 
In  reviewing  these  things,  one  is  ready  to  exclaim, 
can  it  really  be  England  in  which  such  scenes  have 
been  exhibited,  and  sufl'ered  by  Englishmen  ?     Thanks 
to  the  progress  of  knowledge,  which  has  crushed  the 
hydra-head  of  such  monstrous  priestcraft ! 
'  The  ATROCiTTEs  of  POPERY  wcrc  on  a  par  with  its 
arrogance.     In  every  age   it  has  been  ready  with  the 
fire  and  the  fagot ;  and  every  one  who  dared  to   dis- 
sent from  its  opinions  was  put  to  death  with  the  cruel- 
lest brutality.     We  have  already  adverted  to  its  treat- 
ment of  learned  men,  wliose  (uscoveries  tended  to 
shake  its  power  over  the  public  mind.     Galileo's  forced 
renunciation  of  what  he  knew  to  be  the  truth — the 
verity  of  the  Copernican  system — has  been  a  popular 
theme  in  every  age. 

They  bore 
His  chained  limbs  tu  a  dreary  tower. 
In  the  midst  of  a  city  vast  and  wide. 
For  he,  they  said,  from  his  mind  had  bent 
Against  their  gods  keen  blasphemy. 
For  which  though  his  soul  must  roasted  be 
In  liell's  red  lakes  immortally, 
Yet  even  oil  earth  must  he  abide 
The  vengeance  of  tlirir  slaves!  a  trial 
I  think  men  call  it. 

SHELLEy 

He  succumbed  m  the  trial — he  recanted  the  truth 
openly ;  yet  as  he  rose  from  his  knees  before  his  stu- 
pid judges,  he  whispered  to  a  friend — c  pur  si  mitovc  ! 
it  does  move  though  !  Yes  !  it  moved  ! — the  world 
moved,  and  that  in  more  respects  than  one  ;  and 
popery  is  become  a  wTeck  and  a  scorn,  and  man  and 
kJiowledge  have  triumphed. 


IN    ALL    AGES,  135 

Fear  not  that  the  tyrants  shall  rule  for  ever, 
Or  the  priests  of  the  bloody  faith  : 
They  stand  on  the  brink  of  that  mighty  river, 
Whose  waves  they  have  tainted  with  death. 
It  is  fed  from  the  depths  of  a  thousand  dells, 
Around  them  it  foams,  and  rages,  and  swells, 
And  their  swords  and  their  sceptres  I  floating  see, 
Like  wrecks  in  the  surge  of  eternity. 

Shelley. 

The  Reformers  became  their  victims  in  most  in- 
stances; and  if  Wiclif  escaped,  his  remains  re- 
ceived the  implacable  resentment  of  the  sacerdotal 
spirit.  They  were  dug  up  ;  burnt,  and  scattered  on 
the  waters  of  the  neighbouring  river,  whence  they 
floated  to  the  ocean,  and  became  the  seeds  of  life  and 
resistance  to  papal  despotism  in  myriads  of  minds  in 
all  regions.  A  list  of  all  the  victims  who  have  per- 
ished by  papal  cruelty  would  amount  to  some  millions. 
Even  in  England,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  when 
tliis  horrid  religion  was  restored  for  a  short  space,  two 
hundred  and  seventy  persons  were  brought  to  the  stake, 
besides  those  who  were  punished  by  fines,  imprison- 
ments, and  confiscations.  Among  those  who  suffered 
by  tii'e  were  five  bishops,  twenty-one  clergymen,  eight 
lay  gentlemen,  eighty-four  tradesmen,  one  hundred 
husbandmen,  servants,  and  labourers,  fifty-five  women, 
and  four  children.  This  persevering  cruelty  appears 
astonishing,  yet  is  much  inferior  to  what  has  been  prac- 
tised in  other  countries.  A  great  author.  Father  Paul, 
computes  that  in  the  Netherlands  alone,  from  the  time 
that  the  edict  of  Charles  V.  was  promulgated  against 
the  Reformers,  there  had  been  fifty  thousand  persons 
hanged,  beheaded,  buried  alive,  or  burnt  on  account 
of  religion  ;  and  in  France  a  great  number. 

The  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  will  remain  to 
the  end  of  time  in  characters  of  infamy  on  the  history 
of  France.  This  horrid  carnage,  which  was  an  at- 
tempt to  exterminate  the  Protestants,  commenced  at 
Paris  on  the  24th  of  August,  1572,  by  the  secret  or- 
ders of  Charles  IX.,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Queen- 
dowagor  of  Medici.  The  Queen  of  Navarre  was 
poisoned  by  order  of  the  court.     About  daybreak,  says 


136  PRIESTCRAFT 

'riiuanus,  upon  the  toll  of  the  great  bell  of  the  church 
of  St.  Germain,  the  butchery  began.  Coligni,  admiral 
of  France,  was  basely  murdered  in  his  own  house  ; 
and  then  thrown  out  of  the  windows,  to  gratify  the 
malice  of  the  Duke  oi'  (ruise.  His  head  was  cut  off, 
and  sent  to  the  king  and  queen-molher ;  and  his  body, 
after  a  thousand  indignities  offered  to  it,  hung  up  by 
the  feet  on  a  gibbet.  After  this  the  murderers  ravaged 
the  whole  city,  and  ])utchered,  in  three  days,  10,000 
lords,  gentlemen,  and  people  of  all  ranks.  "^A  liorrible 
scene,  when  the  veiy  streets  and  passages  resounded 
with  the  noise  of  those  who  met  together  for  murder 
and  plunder ;  the  gToans  of  the  dying,  the  shrieks  of 
those  about  to  be  butchered,  were  evei-y^vhere  heard. 
The  bodies  of  the  slain  were  thrown  out  of  the  win- 
dows ;  the  courts,  and  chambers  filled  with  tliem :  the 
dead  bodies  of  others  dragged  along  the  streets  ;  their 
blood  running  in  torrents  down  the  channels  to  the 
river :  an  innumerable  multitude  of  men,  women,  and 
children  involved  in  one  common  destruction  ;  nnd  the 
gates  of  the  king's  palace  besmeared  with  their  blood. 
From  Paris,  the  massacre  spread  through  the  prov- 
inces, throughout  nearly  the  whole  kingdom.  In  Meaux 
they  threw  above  two  hundred  into  jail ;  ill-treated  and 
then  killed  a  gi-eat  number  of  women  ;  plundered  the 
houses  of  the  Protestants,  and  then  exercised  their 
fury  on  their  prisoners  ;  calling  them  out,  one  by  one, 
and  butchering  them  as  sheep  for  the  market.  The 
bodies  of  some  were  Hung  into  the  Maine,  and  others 
into  ditches.  The  same  cruelties  were  practised  at 
Orleans,  Angers,  Troyes,  Bourges,  La  Charite,  and 
especially  Lyons,  where  they  inhumanly  destroyed 
above  eight  hundred  Protestants  ;  children,  hanging  on 
their  parents'  necks ;  parents  embracing  their  chil- 
dren; putting  ropes  round  the  necks  of  some,  dragging 
them  through  the  streets,  and  flinging  them  half-dead 
into  the  river.  The  soldiers  and  very  executioners 
refused,  says  a  detailed  accoimt  of  this  transaction,  in 
tlie  first  volume  of  the  Harleian  Miscellany,  to  partake 
in  this  hellish  carnage',  and  the  butchers  and  lowest 


IN    ALL   AGES.  137 

populace  were  admitted  to  the  prisons,  wiiere  they 
chopped  off  the  hands,  feet,  and  noses  of  the  captives, 
and  derided  their  agonies,  as  they  mangled  them. 

When  the  news  arrived  at  Rome,  where  the  letters 
of  the  pope's  legate,  read  in  assembly  of  the  cardi- 
nals, gave  assurance  that  all  this  was  done  by  com- 
mand of  the  king,  the  joy  was  excessive  ;  and  it  was 
instantly  decreed  that  the  pope  and  cardinals  should 
march  to  the  church  of  St.  Mark  in  solemn  proces- 
sion, and  return  God  thanks  for  so  gTeat  a  blessing 
conferred  on  the  see  of  Rome  and  the  Christian  world ! 
That  high  mass  should  be  celebrated,  the  pope  and 
all  his  cardinals  attending  ;  a  jubilee  should  be  pub- 
lished throughout  the  Christian  world.  The  caimon 
of  St.  Angelo  were  fired,  and  the  city  illnminated  as 
for  a  most  splendid  victory. 

But  even  this  was  exceeded  by  the  unrestrained 
vengeance  of  the  great  Roman  Antichrist  against  the 
poor  Vaudois,  a  simple  people  of  Piedmont,  who  from 
the  Apostolic  age  had  preserved  the  purity  of  the  faith, 
and  refused  to  bow  to  the  swollen  pride  and  worse 
than  pagan  idolatry  of  Rome.  These  primitive  people 
were,  from  age  to  age,  persecuted  with  fire  and  sword; 
their  own  prince  was  stirred  up  and  compelled  to  be- 
come against  them  the  butcher  of  the  Roman  pontifi'. 
They  were  himted  from  their  houses  ;  suffocated  in 
caves  with  flaming  straw  by  hundreds  ;  their  wives 
and  childi-en  massacred  without  mercy  :  but  in  vain  ! 
They  continued  through  all ;  and  still  continue,  as  may 
be  seen  by  Mr.  Gillies's  most  interesting  account  of 
his  visit  to  them ;  and  their  sufl'erings  have  been  im- 
mortalized in  the  fiery  burst  of  Milton's  indignation. 

Avenge,  O  Lord,  tliy  slaughtered  saints,  whose  bones 
Lie  bleaching  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold ; 
Even  them  who  kept  thy  truth  so  pure  of  old, 
When  all  our  fathers  worshipped  stocks  and  stones, 
Forget  not ;  in  thy  book  record  their  groans 
Wlio  were  thy  sheep,  and  in  their  ancient  fold 
Slain  by  the  bloody  Piedmontese,  who  rolled 
Mother' with  infant  down  the  rocks.     Their  moans 
The  vales  redoubled  to  the  hills,  and  they 
To  Heaven.    Their  martyred  blood  and  ashes  sow  ' 


138  PRIESTCRAFT 

O'er  all  the  Italian  lields  where  still  doth  sway 
The  triple  tyrant ;  that  from  these  may  grow 
A  hundred-lold,  who,  havmg  learned  thy  way 
Early  may  tly  the  Babylonian  wo. 

Milton  did  not  content  himself  with  thus  venting  his 
indignation ;  he  made  such  representations  to  Crom- 
well of  the  situation  of  these  sufieriug  people  that  the 
Protector  zealously  interceded  for  them  with  the  Duke 
of  Savoy ;  but  with  too  little  eHect. 

In  .the  same  spirit  the  papal  tyrant  quenched  the  lit- 
erature of  the  Troubadours,  which  exerted  a  faint  but 
pleasant  twilight  gleam  in  the  13th  century;  and  was 
highly  influential  in  the  revival  of  poetry,  by  exciting 
the  spirit  of  Petrarch,  and  through  him  of  Chau- 
cer, and  the  following  English  poets.  'I'his  light 
Rome  put  out  by  exterminating  the  Proven9al  people 
in  a  war,  so  singular  and  expressive  of  the  nature  of 
priestcraft,  when  full  grown,  that  I  shall  give  a  brief 
account  of  it,  principally  from  Sismondi's  Literature 
of  the  South  of  Europe,  with  a  few  particulars  from 
Milners  History  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

The  excessive  corruption  of  the  clergy  had  furnished 
a  subject  for  the  satirical  powers  of  the  Troubadours. 
The  cupidity,  the  dissimulation,  and  the  baseness  of 
that  body  had  rendered  them  odious  both  to  the  no- 
bility and  the  people.  The  priests  and  the  monks  in- 
cessantly employed  themselves  in  despoiling  the  sick, 
the  widowed,  and  the  fatherless,  and  indeed  all  whom 
age,  or  weakness,  or  misfortune  placed  within  their 
grasp ;  while  they  squandered  in  debauchery  and 
drunkenness  the  money  which  they  extorted  by  the 
most  shameful  artifices.  If  God,  said  Raymond  de 
Castelnau,  will  the  black  monks  to  be  unrivalled  in 
their  good  eating  and  their  amours,  and  the  white 
monks  in  their  lying  bulls,  and  the  Templars  and  Hos- 
pitallers in  pride,  and  the  canons  in  usury,  I  hold  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Andrew  to  have  been  egregious  fools  for 
suffering  so  much  for  the  sake  of  God,  since  all  these 
people  also  are  to  be  saved.  The  gentry  had  imbibed 
buoh  coutempt  tbr  the  cldT^y,  that  they  wovild  uot  edu- 


IN   ALL    AGES.  139 

cate  their  children  to  the  priesthood,  biu  gave  their 
hvings  to  their  servants  and  baihffs.  The  persecu- 
tions of  Theodora  in  845,  and  of*  Basil  in  867  and 
886,  after  having  eftected  the  destruction  of  more  than 
a  hundred  thousand  victims,  compelled  the  remainder 
to  seek  refuge,  some  among  the  Mussulmans,  and 
others  among  the  Bulgarians.  Once  out  of  the  pale 
of  persecution,  their  faith,  of  a  purer  and  simpler  kind, 
made  rapid  progress.  In  Languedoc  and  Lombardy 
the  name  of  Paterins  was  given  them,  on  account  of 
the  sufferings  to  which  they  were  exposed  wherever 
the  papal  power  extended  ;  and  they  afterward  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Albigenses,  from  the  numbers  that 
inhaluted  the  diocess  of  Alby. 

Missionaries  were  despatched  into  H*igher  Lang-ue- 
doc  in  1147  and  1181,  to  convert  these  heretics  ;  but 
Avith  little  success.  Every  day  the  reformed  opinions 
gained  gi'ound,  and  Bertrand  de  Saissac,  the  tutor  of 
the  young  Viscount  of  Beziers,  himself  adopted  them. 
At  length  Innocent  III.,  resolving  to  destroy  these  sec- 
taries, whom  he  had  exterminated  in  Italy,  sent,  in 
1198,  two  Cistercian  monks  with  the  authority  of 
legates  a  latere^  to  discover  and  bring  them  to  justice. 
The  monks,  ambitious  of  extending  their  already  un- 
precedented powers,  not  contented  with  merely  at- 
tacking the  heretics,  quarrelled  w^ith  all  the  regular 
clergy,  who  had  attempted  to  soften  their  proceedings. 
They  suspended  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne,  and  the 
Bishop  of  Beziers ;  and  degraded  the  Bishops  of 
Toulouse  and  of  Veviers.  Pierre  de  Castelnau,  the 
most  eager  of  the  legates,  accused  Raymond  of  Tou- 
louse of  protecting  the  heretics,  because  that  prince, 
being  of  a  mild  disposition,  refused  to  lend  himself  to 
the  destruction  of  his  subjects.  The  anger  of  the 
priest  at  length  led  him  to  excommunicate  the  count, 
and  place  his  estates  under  interdict :  and  he  proceeded 
to  such  irritating  insolence,  that  one  of  the  count's 
followers,  in  his  indignation,  pursued  him  to  the  banks 
of  the  Rhone  and  killed  him.  Tliis  crowned  the  mis- 
fortunes of  Languedoc,     It  gave  Imiocent  a  pretext 


140 


PRIESTCRAIT 


to  proceed  to  bloodshed,  and  he  took  instant  advantage 
of  it.  He  addressed  a  letter  to  the  King  of  France  ; 
to  all  the  princes  and  most  powerfnl  l)arons,  as  well 
as  to  the  metropolitan  hishops,  exhorting  them  to  ven- 
geance, and  to  the  extirpation  of  heresy.  All  the  in- 
dulgences and  pardons,  whicli  were  usually  granted  to 
the  crusaders  were  promised  to  those  who  extermi- 
nated these  unbelievers.  TJiree  hundred  thousand  pil- 
grims, induced  by  the  united  motives  of  avarice  and 
superstition,  idled  the  country  of  the  Albigenses  with 
carnage  and  confusion  i'or  a  number  of  years.  The 
reader  who  is  not  versed  in  history  of  this  kind  can 
scarcely  conceive  the  scenes  of  baseness,  perfidy, 
barbarity,  indecency,  and  hypocrisy  over  which  Inno- 
cent presided';  and  which  were  conducted  partly  by 
his  legates,  and  partly  by  the  infamous  Simon  de  Mont- 
ford.  Raymond  VI.,  terrified  at  this  storm,  submitted 
to  every  thing  required  of  him ;  but  Raymond  Roger, 
\iscount  of  Beziers,  indignantly  refused  to  give  up 
the  cause  of  his  subjects.  He  encouraged  them  to 
resist ;  shut  himself  up  in  (.arcasione,  and  gave  Be- 
ziers to  the  care  of  his  lieutenants.  Beziers  was 
taken  by  assault  in  July,  1209,  and  fifteen  thousand 
inhabitants,  according  to  tiie  Cistercian  monk,  or  sixty 
thousand  according  to  others,  were  put  to  the  sword. 
This  Cistercian  monk  was  asked,  before  the  city  was 
taken,  how  he  could  separate  the  heretics  from  the 
Catholics?  he  replied,  "  Kill  all;  God  will  know  fns 
own  r 

The  brave  young  Viscount  of  Beziers  did  not  shrink ; 
he  still  defended  Carcassone.  Peter  II.  of  Arragon 
attempted  to  make  terms  for  him  with  his  monkish  be- 
siegers, but  all  that  they  would  grant  was,  to  allow 
thirteen  of  the  inhabitants,  including  the  count,  to 
leave  the  city ;  the  remainder  were  reserved  for  a 
butchery  like  that  of  Beziers.  The  viscount  declared 
he  would  be  flayed  alive  rather  than  submit  to  such 
terms.  He  was  at  length  betrayed ;  poisoned  in 
prison;  four  Inmdred  of  his  people  burnt,  and  fifty 
hanged,     Simon  de  Montford,  the  most  ferocious  mon^ 


IN   ALL   AGES.  141 

ster  of  all  the  crusaders,  received  from  ihe  legate  the 
viscount's  title  ;  and  devastated  the  Avhole  of  the  south 
of  France  with  the  most  frightful  wars.  They  who 
escaped  from  the  sacking  of  the  town  were  sacrificed 
by  the  fagot.  From  1209  to  1229,  nothing  was  seen 
but  massacres  and  tortures.  Religion  was  over- 
thrown ;  knowledge  extinguished ;  and  humanity  trod- 
den under  fool.  In  the  midst  of  these  horrors,  the 
ancient  house  of  Toulouse  became  extinct. 

Connected  with  this  melancholy  history  is  one  of 
the  last  horrid  instruments  of  papal  tyi-anny  which  re- 
mains to  be  mentioned — The  Inquisition.  These 
monks,  Arnold  Ranier  and  Pierre  Castelnau,  were  fol- 
lowed by  the  notorious  Spaniard  Dominic,  and  others, 
who,  proceeding  to  seek  out  and  execute  heretics, 
gained  the  name  of  Inquisitors.  On  their  return  from 
this  infernal  expedition,  the  popes  were  so  sensible  of 
their  services,  that  they  established  similar  tribunals 
in  different  places.  In  time,  Italy,  Spain,  and  other 
countries  were  cursed  with  these  hellish  institutions ; 
and  their  history  is  one  of  the  most^ awful  horror  that 
can  affright  the  human  soul. 


142  PRlE.srCRAFT 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


JESUITS    AND    INQUISITORS. 

Pernicious  Doctrines  of  the  Jesuits— Hudibras's  Exposition  of  such 
Doctrines— Loyola,  their  Founder,  sets  up,  under  the  name  of  Gene- 
ral, another  sort  of  Pope — The  success  of  his  plans — General  Char- 
acter and  Progress  of  tlic  Jesuits ;  their  Mercantile  Concerns ; 
their  Conduct  in  China ;  in  Paraguay  ;  in  the  European  Countries 
—Attempts  on  the  Lives  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  James  I. ;  their 
Murder  of  Henry  III.  and  Henr\'  IV.  of  France— The  Inquisition 
—Introduced  into  most  CathoUc  Countries,  hut  permanent  in  Spain 
—The  Atrocities  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition  against  the  Jews, 
Moors,  and  Lutherans— Excessive  Power  of  the  Inquisitors— 
—Cromwell's  Threat— Limborch's  Account  of  the  Proceedings 
of  the  Inquisition — Tortures — Auto-da-fc— Suppression  of  the  In- 
quisition by  Napoleon ;  its  Restoration  by  Ferdinand — Present 
State  of  Popish  Countries. 


The  land  in  which  i  lived  by  a  fell  bane 
Was  withered  up.    Tyrants  dwelt  side  by  side. 
And  stabled  in  our  homes — until  the  chain 
Stifled  the  captive's  cry,  and  to  abide 
That  blasting  curse,  men  had  no  shame — all  vied 
In  evil,  slave  and  despot ;  fear  with  lust, 
Strange  fellowshijj  through  mutual  hate  had  tied. 
Like  two  dark  serpents  tangled  in  the  dust. 
Which  on  the  paths  of  men  their  mingling  poison  thrust. 
Revolt  of  Islam. 
But  onward  moved  the  melancholy  train 

In  their  false  creeds,  in  tiery  pangs  to  die. 
This  was  the  solemn  sacrilice  of  Spain — 
Heaven's  ottering  from  the  land  of  chivalrj- ! 

The  Forest  S.\N(  tcarv. 


We  have  surveyed  strange  scenes  of  priestly  wick- 
edness and  bloodshed, — but  of  all  the  agents  of  the 
devil  which  were  ever  spiiwned  in  the  black  dens  of 
that  earthly  pandemoniimi,  the  papal  church,  none  can 
compare  with  tlie  Jesuits  and  Inquisitors. 

The  Jesuits  arose  in  the  latter  days  of  popery. 
Their  doctrines  were  those  of  popery  groAvii  to  thorougli 
ripeness.     Thev    seemed    created    to   show  to  what 


IN    ALL    AGES.  143 

lengths  that  system  could  be  carried,  and  to  crown  it, 
in  conjunction  with  their  fellow-demons  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion, with  that  full  measm-e  of  popular  indignation 
which  should  hasten  its  great  "  immedicable  wound" 
from  the  hand  of  Luther.  The  Jesuits  took  up  the 
favourite  dogmas  of  the  papal  church :  that  the  end 
sanctifies  the  means — that  evil  may  be  done  that  good 
may  come  of  it — and  pushed  them  to  that  degree 
Mdiich  caused  the  good  and  the  simple  to  stand  in  as- 
tonishment at  the  daring  acts  and  adroit  casuistry  of 
"bold  bad  men.''  All  oaths,  all  obligations,  all  moral- 
ity, all  religion,  according  to  their  creed,  were  to  be 
adopted  or  set  aside,  just  as  it  suited  the  object  they 
had  hi  view.  They  might  cheat  and  lie,  steal  and 
kill,  all  for  righteousness'  sake.  They  imbodied  in 
practice  the  pithy  maxims  of  Hudibras. 

That  saints  may  claim  a  dispensation 

To  svvcai-  and  forswear  on  occasion, 

I  doubt  not  but  it  will  appear 

With  pregnant  light :  the  point  is  clear. 

Oaths  arc  but  words,  and  words  but  wind  ; 

Too  feeble  instruments  to  bind. 

But  saints  whom  oaths  and  vows  oblige, 

Know  little  of  their  privilege. 

For  if  the  devil,  to  serve  his  turn, 

Can  tell  truth,  why  the  saints  should  scorn 

VMien  it  serves  theirs  to  swear  and  lie,  ■■■■■ 

I  think  there's  little  reason  why. 

Else  he  has  a  greater  power  than  they, 

Which  'twere  impiety  to  say. 

They  thought  with  him,  •• 

The  Public  Faith,  which  every  one  ^ 

Is  bound  to  observe,  is  kept  by  none. 

And  if  that  go  for  nothing,  why 

Should  Private  P'aith  have  such  a  tie  ? 

Oaths  were  not  purposed  more  than  law, 

To  keep  the  good  and  just  in  awe, 

But  to  confine  the  bad  and  sinful, 

Like  mortal  cattle  in  a  pinfold. 

Then  why  should  we  ourselves  abridge 

And  curtail  our  own  privilege  ? 

Quakers  that,  like  dark  lanterns  bear 

Their  hght  within  tlAm,  will  not  swear. 

Their  gospel  is  an  a*r.idence 

By  which  they  qon'-asrue  conscience, 


144  PRIESTCRAFT 

And  hold  no  sin  so  deeply  red 
As  that  of  breaking  Priscian's  head— 
The  head  and  founder  of  their  order, 
That  stirring  hats  held  worse  than  murder. 
These,  tlunlung  they're  ol)hged  to  troth 
In  swearing,  will  not  take  an  oath  : 
Like  mules,  who,  if  they've  not  their  will 
To  keep  their  own  pace,  stand  stock  still, 
But  they  are  weak,  and  httle  know 
What  free-born  consciences  may  do. 

'Tis  the  temptation  of  the  devil 

That  makes  all  human  actions  evil. 

For  saints  may  do  the  same  things  by 

The  spirit  in  sincerity, 

Wliich  other  men  are  tempted  to, 

And  at  the  devil's  instance  do. 

And  yet  the  actions  be  contrary, 

Just  as  the  saints  and  wicked  vary. 

For  as  on  land  there  is  no  beast 

But  in  some  fish  at  sea's  expressed, 

So  in  the  wicked  there's  no  vice 

Of  which  the  saints  have  not  a  spice  : 

And  yet  that  thing  that's  pious  in 

The  one,  in  'totheris  a  sin. 

Is't  not  ridiculoiis  and  nonsense 

A  saint  should  be  a  slave  to  conscience  ! 

These  were  their  precious  tenets — the  quintessence 
of  the  wisdom  of  this  world,  to  which  that  of  the 
children  of  light  is  unprotitable  foolishness.  Their 
founder,  Ignatius  Loyola,  a  Spaniard — an  ominous 
name  when  connected  with  religion, — was  a  most 
acute  and  happy  genius  in  his  way.  He  saw  the  ad- 
vantages which  the  popes  had  derived  from  their  ac- 
commodating ecclesiastical  logic,  and  he  conceived 
the  felicitous  idea  of  creating  a  sort  of  second  series 
of  popes,  taught  and  enlightened  by  the  old  series. 
He  adopted  their  facile  code  of  morals,  and  he  even 
outwent  them  in  the  exquisite  finesse  of  his  policy. 
The  head  of  this  system  was  to  take  the  name  of 
General  of  the  Order;  his  emissaries  were  to  go  forth 
into  all  kingdoms  ;  to  insinuate  themselves  into  all 
cities,  houses,  and  secret  hearts  of  tlie  people.  They 
were  to  adopt  all  shapes,  to  follow  all  circumstances ; 
to  wear  an  outside  of  peculiar  mildness,  and  an  inner- 
man  of  subtle  observance  ;  to  have  the  exterior  of  the 
dove— the   interior  of  the   serpent.     With   all   thii 


IN   ALL   AGES.  145 

sequacity,  flexibility,  and  disguise,  they  succeeded  won- 
derfully. AVhat,  indeed,  could  resist  them,  when  they 
came  in  all  shapes,  and  with  all  pretences  ;  at  the 
first  glimpse  of  discovery  of  their  real  designs,  or  of 
popular  indignation,  ready  to  eat  up  their  words,  and 
swear  that  they  were  any  thing  but  what  they  really 
were  ?  But  when  they  found  themselves  in  any  de- 
gree of  strength, — when  they  were  desirous  of  carry- 
nig  some  point  that  compliance  and  duplicity  could  not 
carry, — who  so  dogged  and  insolent  as  they?  They 
bearded  people,  magistrates,  kings, — the  pope  him- 
self, with  the  most  immoveable  assurance.  The 
popes,  who  regarded  them  as  active  maintainors  of 
ignorance  and  obedience,  were  desirous  to  tolerate  them 
as  much  as  possible.  But  they  often  found  it  a  severe 
task  for  their  patience.  They  were  in  the  condition  of 
a  man  who  has  tamed  a  serpent  or  a  lion ;  they  might 
sooth  the  beast  by  coaxing,  perhaps,  but  were  every 
moment  in  danger  of  rousing  its  ferocity,  and  even  of 
falling  before  its  rage.  When  struck  at,  they  stood 
and  hissed,  and  fought  with  true  snaky  pertinacity ; 
but  if  they  saw  actual  destruction  coming,  they  sud- 
denly disappeared,  only  to  raise  their  hydra  heads  in 
a  thousand  other  places.  Expelled  from  states  in 
their  own  character  of  Jesuits,  they  came  back  in  all 
sorts  of  disguises  ;  and,  instead  of  open  enemies,  the 
people  and  their  governors  had  to  encounter  the  secret 
influence  of  their  poison,  and  their  stings  which  struck 
in  the  dark.  They  insinuated  themselves  into  col- 
leges and  schools  under  false  colours,  till  they  could 
seize  upon  them  and  convert  them  into  engines  of 
their  designs.  They  became  confessors,  especially 
of  women,  that  they  might  learn  all  the  secrets  of  their 
husbands ;  of  kings  and  ministers,  to  learn  those  of 
states  ;  all  the  mtelligence  thus  gathered  was  regularly 
transmitted  lo  the  general  from  every  kingdom,  so  that 
he  and  his  counsellors  knew  the  condition  and  inten- 
tions of  all  nations ;  and,  at  a  moment's  notice,  his 
creatures  were  ready  to  seize  upon  universities, 
churches,  governments,  or  whatever  they  desired, 
G 


146  PRIESTCRAFT 

They  entered  into  trade,  and  were  scattered  all  over 
the  world,  wearing  no  outward  appearance  but  that  of 
merchants ;  yet  keeping  up  a  secret  correspondence 
with  one  another,  and  with  their  general,  and  transmit- 
ting intelligence  and  \vealth  from  all  quarters  of  the 
globe.  They  were  not  satisfied  with  exercising  their 
arts  over  the  Christian  world;  they  proceeded  into 
all  pagan  countries  as  missionaries,  and  sought  to 
bring  the  savages  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  America  under 
their  dominion.  They  evidently  had  formed  the  bold 
design  of  acquiring  the  spiritual  and  political  sove- 
reignty of  the  world  :  but,  with  all  their  subtlety — their 
ambition  and  their  unprincipled  grasping  at  power  so 
alarmed  and  disgusted  all  people,  that  their  history  is 
a  continual  alternation  of  their  growing  into  numbers 
and  strength,  and  of  their  expulsion  from  almost  every 
kingdom  that  can  be  named.  England,  France,  Spain, 
Germany,  Poland,  Bohemia,  Italy,  the  East  and  the  West 
Indies,  America,  North  and  South,  in  all  these  countries 
their  arts  were  repeatedly  tried,  and  they  were  as  re- 
peatedly expelled  with  ignominy  and  vengeance. 

The  rapidit}^  with  which  they  spread  themselves  is 
shown  by  the  following  statement  from  the  memorial 
presented  by  the  miiversity  of  Paris  to  the  king  in 
1724: — "In  1540,  when  they  presented  their  peti- 
tions to  Paul  III.,  they  only  appeared  in  the  number 
of  ten.  In  1543  they  were  not  more  than  twenty- 
four.  In  1545  they  had  only  ten  houses;  but  in 
1549  they  had  two  provinces:  one  in  Spain,  and  the 
other  in  Portugal,  and  twenty-two  houses  ;  and  at  the 
death  of  Ignatius,  in  1556,  they  had  twelve  large 
provinces.  In  1608,  Ribadeneira  reckoned  twenty- 
nine  provinces,  and  two  vice-provinces ;  twenty-one 
houses  of  profession ;  two-hundred  and  ninety-three 
colleges ;  thirty-three  houses  of  probation ;  ninety- 
three  other  residences,  and  ten  thousand  five  hundred 
and  eighty-one  Jesuits.  In  the  catalogue  printed 
at  Rome  in  1629  are  found  thirty-five  provinces,  two 
vice-provinces,  thirty-three  houses  of  profession, 
five  hundred   and  seventy-eight  colleges,  forty-eight 


IN   ALL   AGES,  147 

houses  of  probation,  eighty-eight  seminanes,  one 
hundred  and  sixty  residences,  one  hundred  and  six 
missions,  and  in  all  seventeen  thousand  six  hundred 
and  fifty-five  Jesuits,  of  whom  seven  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  seventy  were  priests.  At  last,  accord- 
ing to  the  calculation  of  Father  Jouvency,  they  had, 
in  1710,  twenty -four  houses  of  profession,  fifty-nine 
houses  of  probation,  three  hundred  and  forty  resi- 
dences, six  hundred  and  twelve  colleges,  of  which 
above  eighty  were  in  France,  two  hundred  missions, 
one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  seminaries  and  boarding- 
houses,  and  nineteen  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-eight  Jesuits. 

On  their  mercantile  concerns,  M.  Martin,  governor 
of  Pondicherry,  observes,  "  It  is  certain  that,  next  to 
the  Dutch,  the  Jesuits  carry  on  the  gi*eatest  and  most 
productive  commerce  in  India.  Their  trade  surpasses 
even  that  of  the  English,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Por- 
tuguese, who  established  them  in  India.  There  may, 
possibly,  indeed,  be  some  Jesuits  who  go  there  from 
pure  religious  motives ;  but  they  are  very  few,  and  it 
is  not  such  as  those  Avho  know  the  grand  secret  of  the 
company.  Some  among  them  are  Jesuits  secularized, 
who  do  not  appear  to  be  such,  because  they  never 
wear  the  habit ;  which  is  the  reason  why  at  Surat, 
Agi-a,  Goa,  and  everywhere  else,  they  are  taken  for 
real  merchants  of  the  countries  whose  names  they 
bear:  for  it  is  certain  that  there  are  some  of  all 
nations,  even  of  America  and  Turkey,  and  of  every 
other  which  can  be  useful  and  necessary  to  the 
society.  These  disguised  Jesuits  are  intriguing  every- 
where. The  secret  intercourse  which  is  preserved 
among  them  instructs  them  mutually  in  the  merchan- 
dise which  they  ought  to  buy  and  sell,  and  with  what 
nation  they  can  most  advantageously  trade  ;  so  that 
these  masked  Jesuits  make  an  immense  profit  of  the 
society  to  which  they  are  alone  responsible,  through 
the  medium  of  those  Jesuits  who  traverse  the  world 
in  the  habit  of  St.  Ignatius,  and  enjoy  the  confidence, 
know  the  secrets,  and  act  under  the  orders  of  the 
G2 


148  PRIESTCRAFT 

heads  of  Europe.  These  Jesuits,  disguised  and  dis- 
persed over  the  whole  earth,  and  who  know  each 
other  by  signs,  like  the  Freemasons,  invariably  act 
upon  one  system.  They  send  merchandise  to  other 
disguised  Jesuits,  who,  having  it  thus  at  first  hand, 
make  a  considerable  profit  of  it  for  the  society.  This 
traffic  is,  however,  very  injurious  to  France.  I  have 
often  written  respecting  it  to  the  East  India  Com- 
pany trading  here ;  and  I  have  received  express 
orders  from  it  (under  Louis  XIV.)  to  concede  and 
advance  to  these  fathers  whatever  they  might  require 
of  me.  The  Jesuit  Tachard  alone  owes  that  com- 
pany, at  this  moment,  above  four  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  li\Tes.  Those  Jesuits  who,  like  Tachard, 
pass  and  repass  between  this  quarter  and  Europe,  are 
ambulatoiy  directors  and  receivers  of  the  bank  and 
of  the  trade." 

"  In  the  Antilles,"  says  Coudrette,  "  Lavalette,  the 
Jesuit,  has  half  the  worth  of  the  property  for  whose 
conveyance  to  France  he  undertakes.  In  Portugal 
the  Jesuits  had  vessels  employed  exclusively  in  their 
servdce,  which  facts  are  established  by  the  process  of 
Cardinal  Saldanha.  All  the  accounts  of  travellers  in 
the  East  Indies  speak  in  the  same  way,  with  astonish- 
ment, of  the  extent  of  their  commerce.  In  Europe, 
and  even  in  France,  they  have  banks  in  the  most 
commercial  cities,  such  as  Marseilles,  Paris,  Genoa, 
and  Rome.  In  addition  to  this,  they  publicly  sell 
drugs  in  their  houses  ;  and,  in  order  to  their  sanction 
in  this,  they  procured  from  Pope  Gregory  XIII.  the 
privilege  of  exercising  the  art  of  medicine.  Even  in 
Rome,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  tradesmen, 
and  the  prohibitions  of  the  pope,  they  carry  on  trade 
in  baking,  grocery,  &c.  Let  us  imagine  twenty 
thousand  traders,  dispersed  over  the  world,  from  Japan 
to  Brazil,  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  the  north, 
all  correspondents  of  each  other,  all  blindly  subjected 
to  one  individual,  and  working  for  him  alone ;  conduct- 
ing two  hundred  missions,  which  are  so  many  fac- 
tories; six  hundi-ed  and  twelve  colleges,  and  foiu: 


IN   ALL    AGES.  149 

hundred  and  twenty-three  houses  of  professors,  novi- 
tiates, and  residents,  which  are  so  many  entrepots ; 
and  then  let  us  form  an  idea,  if  we  can,  of  the  produce 
of  so  vast  an  extent." 

There  have  not  been  wanting  advocates  for  these 
persevering  intriguing  priests  ;  who  have  represented 
them  as  merely  labouring  to  promote  religion  among 
the  civilized,  and  civilization  among  the  savage  na- 
tions. But  what  says  all  history?  What  says  the 
indignation  of  every  realm  which  has  ever  harboured 
them?  That  wherever  they  were,  whatever  they 
undertook,  whether  the  education  of  youth  in  Europe, 
or  that  of  the  natives  of  savage  lands,  all  their  plans 
turned  to  one  object — absolute  dominion  over  the 
minds  and  bodies  of  their  disciples.  They  seem  to 
have  taken  a  particular  pleasure  in  breaking  in  upon 
the  labours  and  in  persecuting  all  other  missionaries ; 
and  by  their  detestable  and  ambitious  acts,  Christian- 
ity has  been  expelled  from  various  regions  where  it 
was  taking  root.  This  was  the  case  in  Japan  and 
China.  Here  they  first  thwarted  the  measures  of 
other  missionaries,  then  got  all  power  into  their 
hands,  and  finally  were  driven  out  with  wrath  by  the 
natives.  In  China  their  suppression  was  connected 
with  circumstances  of  peculiar  aggravation.  The 
Bishop  of  Nankin  names  two  to  the  pope,  whose 
vices  had  become  public.  "  But  the  crime  of  Father 
Anthony  Joseph,  the  superior  of  the  mission,  is  yet 
more  scandalous.  This  man  has  remained  there  eight 
years  past,  continually  plunged  in  the  abominable 
practice  of  sinning  with  women  at  the  time  they  come 
to  confess,  and  even  in  the  place  where  he  confessed 
them ;  after  which  he  gave  them  absolution,  and  ad- 
ministered the  sacrament  to  them!  He  told  them 
that  these  actions  need  not  give  them  any  concern, 
since  all  their  fathers,  the  bishops,  and  the  pope  him- 
self observed  the  same  practice  ! 

"  All  this  was  known  to  Christians  and  to  heathens. 
Some  persons  represented  these  crimes  to  the  supe- 
riors of  the  Jesuits ;  but  the  commissary  whom  they 


150  PRIESTCRAFT 

sent  for  the  purpose  declared  him  innocent — I  know 
not  upon  what  pretence.  While  I  was  considering 
the  best  means  of  punishing  this  man,  the  mandarins 
caused  him  to  be  arrested,  suddenly,  with  two  of  his 
brethren,  and  about  one  hundred  Christians.  What 
occasioned  still  greater  scandal,  the  mandarins,  who 
had  been  some  time  acquainted  with  part  of  the  facts, 
collected  correct  depositions  to  establish  his  crimes, 
and  aimounced  them  at  full  length  in  their  sentence, 
which  they  made  public.  He  was  condemned  to 
death  with  the  other  Jesuit,  on  the  22d  of  September, 
1748,  and  they  were  both  strangled  in  prison.  Of  the 
hundred  persons  who  were  arrested  with  him,  there 
was  not  one  who  did  not  renounce  Christianity,  aftd 
the  Chinese  missionaiy  was  the  first  to  do  so." 

For  more  than  two  hundred  years  they  maintained 
a  system  of  opposition  and  vexation  to  the  bishops 
and  missionaries  of  India,  in  the  very  face  of  the 
pope's  commands  to  the  contrary.  Of  their  attempt 
to  establish  an  independent  kingdom  in  Paraguay, 
every  one  has  heard.  Under  pretence  of  preserving 
the  Indians  free  from  the  vices  of  the  Europeans,  they 
forbade  them  to  learn  their  language  ;  under  pretence 
of  protecting  them  from  the  oppressions  of  the  Euro- 
peans, they  regularly  disciplined  large  bodies  of  them 
in  arms.  For  them  these  simple  creatures  toiled,  and 
their  minds  they  moulded  entirely  to  subserviency  to 
them.  They  refused  all  Europeans,  except  their  own 
confederates,  entrance  to  the  province ;  and  actually, 
on  the  authorities  marching  into  it  in  the  name  of  the 
Kings  of  Portugal  and  Spain,  rose  against  them,  and 
attempted  to  expel  them  by  force  of  arms.  They 
hesitated  not  to  send  emissaries  over  to  Europe  to 
blow  the  flames  of  sedition  there,  and  even  attempted 
the  life  of  the  King  of  Portugal,  in  order  to  divert  the 
efforts  of  their  rightful  monarchs  from  them;  but 
finally  they  were  themselves  subdued,  and  driven  out 
of  the  country,  to  the  total  dissipation  of  their  grand 
scheme  of  rebellion  and  empire.  For  those  who  have 
patience  to  read  the  scandalous  and  bloody  squabbles 


IN   ALL   AGES.  151 

of  priests,  there  are  copious  details  of  these  matters 
in  the  second  vohune  of  Southey's  History  of  Brazil ; 
and  especially  of  their  contests  with  Cardenas  the 
bishop. 

In  Europe  they  signalized  themselves'  by  perpetual 
attempts  against  the  peace  of  states  and  the  lives  of 
monarchs.  In  Venice,  in  1560,  they  excited  great 
commotion,  and  were  very  near  being  driven  away. 
They  showed  great  anxiety  to  confess  the  wives  of 
the  senators,  for  the  purpose,  it  was  believed,  of  ac- 
quiring the  secrets  of  the  republic.  Trevisani,  the 
Patriarch  of  Venice,  says  Sacchini,  satisfied  himself 
of  the  charge,  and  made  other  discoveries  of  still 
greater  importance.  In  the  Netherlands,  in  Portugal, 
and  Spain  they  were  busy  in  similar  schemes,  and 
with  similar  results.  In  Poland  they  had  the  fortune 
to  get  a  man  of  their  order,  Sigismund,  upon  the 
throne.  He  desired  to  introduce  them  into  Sweden, 
M^here  his  uncle,  Duke  Charles,  was  his  lieutenant. 
Charles  remonstrated,  in  vain,  that  the  people  of 
Sweden  would  not  endure  the  Jesuits  :  the  king  per- 
sisted, and  the  people  took  arms  against  him.  He 
was  beaten  both  by  sea  and  land;  taken  prisoner; 
and  only  released  on  condition  that  he  would  assemble 
his  states,  and  act  in  conjunction  with  them.  He  then 
escaped  from  Sweden,  and  strove  to  arm  the  Poles 
against  the  Swedes ;  but  they  refused  the  alliance, 
and  in  the  mean  time  his  uncle  seized  upon  his  towns. 

With  the  continual  attempts  of  these  pertinacious 
wretches  against  the  liberties  of  England,  and  the 
lives  of  Elizabeth  and  James  I.,  eveiy  English  reader 
is  familiar :  the  names  of  Crichton,  Garnett,  Parry, 
Cullen,  Gerard,  and  Tesmond,  successively  engaged 
in  the  design  of  assassinating  the  Protestant  queen,  or 
in  the  attempt  to  blow  up  our  English  Solomon  and 
all  his  parliament,  will  for  ever  perpetuate  their 
abhorrence  in  England;  and  in  Ireland  the  general 
massacre  of  the  Protestants  in  1641,  which  they  were 
principally  concerned  in  exciting,  and  similar  pro- 
ceedings in  that  country,  will  keep  alivo  their  remom-^ 


152  PRIESTCRAFT 

brance  there.  But  of  all  their  atrocities  there  are 
none  which  more  affect  one  with  indignation  than 
their  persecutions  and  murder  of  Henry  III.  and 
Henry  IV.  of  France.  In  156.3,  according  to  Mezerai, 
the  famous  Catholic  league  took  its  rise,  whose  object 
was  to  extirpate  the  Protestants  in  France.  The 
Jesuits  became  the  soul  of  this  infamous  federation. 
Henry  III.  assembled  the  states  at  Blois  in  1579,  for 
the  purpose  of  dissolving  this  conspiracy;  and  from 
that  time  was  marked  for  destmction.  Sammier,  a 
Jesuit,  traversed  Germany,  Italy,  and  JSpain,  to  excite 
the  princes  of  those  countries  against  him.  Mattheiu, 
another,  styled  the  courier  of  the  league,  made  several 
journeys  to  the  pope,  to  obtain  a  bull  against  him; 
and  though  the  pope  hesitated  at  this,  he  delivered  his 
opinion,  that  the  person  of  Henry  should  be  secured, 
and  his  cities  seized.  Commolet  and  Rouillet  were 
the  tmmpets  of  sedition.  In  the  college  of  the  Rue 
St.  Jaques,  the  Jesuits  met  and  conspired  the  murder 
of  the  king.  It  was  there  Baniere  came  to  be  stirred 
up  by  the  doctrines  of  Varade,  and  that  Guinard 
composed  the  writings  for  which  he  was  hung.  It 
was  there  that  the  sixteen  signed  an  absolute  cession 
of  the  kingdom  to  Philip  of  Spain ;  and  that  Chastel 
acquired  the  lesson  of  parricide  he  afterward  acted 
upon.  There  Clement,  animated  by  such  horrible 
instructions,  formed  the  resolve  which  he  fulfilled 
on  the  1st  of  August,  1589,  the  assassination  of 
Henry  III. 

Henry  IV.,  a  generous,  spirited,  and  noble  monarch, 
was  educated  in  Protestantism ; — this  was  enough  to 
arouse  their  murderous  and  unappeasable  hatred.  It 
was  almost  by  miracle  that  he  escaped,  then  a  youth, 
from  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  On  his 
coming  to  the  throne,  he  was  pursued  by  them  with 
such  continual  animosity,  that  to  allay  their  fury,  he 
consented  to  embrace  Catholicism.  This  produced 
no  effect — he  was  a  man  of  liberal  opinions  ;  and 
such  a  man  they  could  not  tolerate.  They  made  his 
life   miserable ;   and   at  length  nearly   effected  his 


IN   ALL   AGES.  153 

murder  by  the  knife  of  Baniere,  at  Melun,  in  August, 
1593.  On  the  27th  of  December,  1594,  his  life  was 
again  attempted  by  Chastel,  another  Jesuit.  He 
struck  at  him  with  a  knife,  but  missed  his  aim,  and 
instead  of  kiUing  him,  only  cut  his  lip,  and  struck  out 
a  tooth.  This  circumstance,  and  the  ferment  of 
infernal  fanaticism,  which  induced  the  papists  and 
Jesuits  to  continually  seek  the  destruction  of  the  king, 
caused  the  banishment  of  the  whole  order.  This, 
however,  did  not  mend  the  matter,  as  it  regarded  the 
king ;  he  had  only  the  same  enemies  in  disguise,  and,  if 
possible,  ten  times  more  imbittered.  With  that  good- 
nature which  characterized  him,  he  at  length  con- 
sented to  allow  them  to  return.  It  was  in  vain  that 
Sully,  his  minister,  represented  to  him  that  no  kind- 
ness could  soften  such  foes  ;  he  recalled  them,  and 
fell  a  victim  to  their  instigations,  being  stabbed  by 
Ravaillac,  on  May  14th,  1610. 

Many  books  had  been  written  of  late  by  the  Jesuits, 
vindicating  and  commending  the  killing  of  kings,  par- 
ticularly the  work  of  Mariana, — De  Rege  et  Regis 
Institutione,—  in  which  the  killing  of  a  king  was  termed 
a  "  laudable,  glorious,  and  heroic  action."  It  was  by 
such  writings  that  this  assassin  was  spun-ed  on  to  his 
diabolical  act.  Aubigny,  his  confessor,  a  Jesuit,  when 
confronted  with  the  murderer,  and  charged  with  being 
privy  to  the  design,  at  first  denied  knowing  the  man 
at  all ;  but  when  driven  from  that  assertion,  he  de- 
clared that  "God  had  given  to  some  the  gift  of 
tongues,  to  others  the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  to  him 
the  gift  of  forgetting  confessions." 

Such  were  the  abominable  principles  which  led 
them  to  these  abominable  actions.  For  a  full  account 
of  this  assassination,  the  reader  may  consult  the  fourth 
volume  of  Sully's  Memoirs.  So  generally  was  the 
conspiracy  known  among  the  Catholic  subjects  of  this 
unfortunate  monarch,  that  many  people  declared,  on 
the  day  when  the  murder  took  place,  that  the  king  was 
then  dying,  though  they  were  in  distant  places.  An 
astrologer  had  foretold  the  very  day  and  hour  to  the 
G3 


154  PRIESTCRAFT 

king,  the  manner  of  the  act,  and  that  it  would  take 
place  in  a  coach.  So  much  impressed  was  the  king 
with  his  approaching  fate,  that  he  was  frequently  in 
great  agony  ol"  mind,  and  would  lain  have  put  oft'  the 
queen's  coronation,  which  was  about  to  take  place  at 
the  time  predicted.  He  liad  teiTible  dreams,  and  so 
also  had  the  queen,  wakina;  in  horror,  and  cr\-ing  out 
the  king  was  stabbed.  All  these  things  which  the 
connnon  mhid  loves  to  lielieve  supernatural  intima- 
tions, only  show  to  tlie  more  reflecting  one,  the  au- 
dacity of  these  bloody  wretches,  who  were  so  confi- 
dent in  their  power  of  doing  evil,  that  they  spoke  of  it 
till  it  became  a  universal  impression. 

From  the  terrible  Jesuit  there  is  but  one  step  fur- 
ther in  horror,  and  that  is  to  the  Inquisitor !  And,  in 
fact,  it  can  scarcely  be  called  a  step  at  all,  for  both 
characters  are  frequently  combined  in  the  same  indi- 
vidual. Jesuits,  it  Avill  l3e  seen  in  all  the  histories  of 
the  Inquisition,  are  as  active  as  the  Dominicans  them- 
selves, who  claim  the  peculiar  honour,  or  more  properly 
infamy,  of  possessing,  from  the  head  of  their  order, 
the  office  oi"  uiquisitors  ;  that  is,  fiends  incarnate.  In 
speaking  of  the  extermination  of  the  Troubadours,  we 
have  already  noticed  the  rise  of  the  Inquisition.  It 
was  an  institution  so  congenial  to  the  nature  of  popery, 
that  its  HOLY  OFFICES — its  OFFICES  OF  MERCY,  as  they 
were  called  in  that  spirit  of  devilish  abuse  of  Chris- 
tianity in  which  they  were  conceived — were  speedily 
to  be  found  in  various  countries  of  Europe,  Asia,  and 
America,  but  distinguished  most  fearfully  in  Spain. 
Their  horrors  have  been  made  familiar  to  the  public 
mind  by  the  writers  of  romance,  especially  by  Mrs. 
Ratcliflfe ;  but  all  the  powers  of  romance  have  not 
been  able  to  overcolour  the  reality.  Spain  has  always 
claimed  and  gloried  in  the  supremacy  of  her  Inquisi- 
tion. She  has  strenuously  contended  with  the  pope  for 
it ;  and  has  deemed  it  so  national  an  honour,  as  to 
parade  the  auto-da-fe  as  one  of  her  most  fascinating 
spectacles.  Her  kings,  her  queens,  her  princes,  and 
nobles  have   assembled  with  enthusiasm  to  witness 


IN   ALL   AGES.  155 

them.  So  great  a  treat  did  the  Spaniards  formerly 
consider  them,  that  Llorente  states  that  on  February 
25th,  1560,  one  was  celebrated  by  the  inquisitors  of 
Toledo,  in  which  several  persons  were  burnt,  with 
some  effigies,  and  a  great  number  subjected  to  pen- 
ances ;  and  this  was  performed  to  entertain  the  new 
queen  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry  II.  of  France,  a 
girl  of  thirteen  years  of  age,  accustomed  in  her  own 
country  to  brilliant  festivals  suitable  to  her  rank  and 
age.  So  completely  may  priestcraft  brutalize  a  nation, 
and  so  completely  has  this  devilish  institution  stamped 
the  Spanish  character,  naturally  ardent  and  chivalric, 
with  gloomy  horror,  that  both  Llorente  and  Limborch 
represent  ladies  witnessing  the  agonizing  tortures  of 
men  and  women  expiring  in  flames,  with  transports 
of  delight.  By  means  of  this  infernal  machine,  the 
Spanish  kings  have  contrived  to  crush  the  mind  of  the 
country  ;  to  check  the  gro\nh  of  literature ;  to  nourish 
a  spirit  of  ferocity ;  and  to  produce  a  race  of  people 
the  slaves  of  the  worst  government,  and  the  most  ig- 
norant and  bigoted  priests.  To  this  cause  in  fact, 
Spain  owes  its  present  misery  and  degradation. 
Llorente,  whose  work  is  founded  on  official  documents, 
drawn  from  the  archives  of  the  Inquisition  itself,  when 
he  was  secretary  to  it,  gives  a  long  list  of  the  learned 
and  ingenious  Spaniards  whom  it  has  persecuted  and 
condemned.  The  ostensible  object  of  its  early  exer- 
tions was  to  extirpate  the  Jews,  Moors,  and  Moris- 
coes  ;  and  so  successful  were  its  efforts,  that  Llorente 
calculates  that  in  one  hundred  and  nineteen  years  it 
deprived  Spain  of  three  millions  of  inhabitants. 
Mariana  says  170,000  families  of  Jews  were  ban- 
ished, and  the  rest  sold  for  slaves.  They  entered 
Portugal,  but  were  again  commanded  by  the  Portu- 
guese king  to  quit  tliat  realm  also.  The  Moors  were 
suffered  to  depart ;  but  as  the  Jews  were  preparing  to 
do  so,  the  king  commanded  that  all  those  who  were 
not  more  than  fourteen  years  old,  should  be  taken  from 
their  parents  and  educated  in  the  Christian  religion. 
It  was  a  most  afflicting  thing,  to  see  children  snatched 


166  PRIESTCRAFT 

from  the  embraces  of  their  mothers ;  and  fathers  em- 
bracmg  their  chiklren,  torn  from  them,  and  even  beaten 
with  clubs  ;  to  hear  the  dreadi'ul  cries  they  made,  and 
every  place  filled  with  tlio  lamentations  and  yells  of 
women.  Many,  through  indignation,  threw  their  sons 
into  pits,  and  others  killed  them  with  their  own  hands. 
Thus  prevented  on  the  one  hand  from  embarking,  and 
on  the  other  oppressed  and  persecuted,  many  feigned 
conversion,  to  escape  from  their  miseries.  The  cru- 
elties practised  on  these  people,  to  compel  them  to 
embrace  a  religion  which  was  thus  represented  as 
only  fit  for  devils,  make  one's  blood  boil  to  read  them. 
The  Reformation  appeared,  and  found  these  monsters 
fresh  employment.  The  doctrines  of  Luther  appear 
to  have  made  so  i%pid  a  progress  scarcely  in  any 
country  as  in  Spain.  Numbers  of  the  highest  ranks, 
of  the  most  intelligent  ladies,  of  ecclesiastics,  em- 
braced the  principles  of  the  reformer ;  and,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  Inquisition,  that  country  might  now  have 
figured  in  ^e  front  of  Europe  with  a  more  glorious 
aspect,  as  a  great  and  enlightened  state,  than  it  did 
under  Charles  V.  The  Inquisition  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  extinguishing  the  revived  flame  of  Christianity, 
and  of  reducing  Spain  to  its  present  deplorable  condi- 
tion. All  the  fury  and  strength  of  that  great  engine 
of  hell  was  brought  to  bear  upon  it;  its  autos-da-fe 
were  crowded  with  Lutheran  heretics  ;  its  fires  con- 
sumed them;  its  secret  cells  devoured  them — men, 
women,  children,  were  swept  into  its  unfathomable 
gulf  of  destruction.  Priestly  malice  triumphed  over 
truth  and  virtue. 

To  such  gigantic  stature  of  power  did  this  dismal 
institution  attain,  that  no  one  was  safe  from  its  fangs. 
The  confiscation  of  the  goods  of  its  victims  whetted 
the  appetite  of  priestly  avarice  so  keenly,  that  a  man 
to  be  guilty  of  heresy  had  only  to  be  rich.  Llorente 
gives  several  cases  of  English  merchants,  who  were 
pounced  upon  by  it  in  defiance  of  the  law  of  nations. 
On  one  occasion  Oliver  Cromwell  had  to  intercede 
for  an  English  consul,  whom  they  had  got  iiito  their 


IN   ALL    AGES.  157 

(lens.  The  king  replied,  he  had  no  power  over  the 
inquisition.  "  Then,"  added  Cromwell,  in  a  second 
message,  "  if  yon  have  no  power  over  the  Imiuisition, 
I  will  declare  war  against  it."  The  threat  was  effec- 
tnal.  So  little  power  had  the  Spanish  kings  over  it, 
indeed,  that  it  did  not  hesitate  to  accuse  them  ;  and 
Llorente's  lists  are  full  of  nobles,  privy-comisellors, 
knights,  magistrates,  military  commanders,  and  ladies 
of  the  highest  birth,  on  whom  these  daring  priests  laid 
their  hands,  and  loaded  them  with  chains  and  infamy. 
It  seemed  a  peculiar  delight  to  them  to  insult  and  de- 
grade those  who  had  moved  in  the  most  distinguished 
spheres.  In  Portugal,  says  Limborch,  all  the  prison- 
ers, men  and  women,  without  any  regard  to  birth  or 
dignity,  are  shaved  the  first  or  second  day  of  their  im- 
prisonment. Each  prisoner  has  two  pots  of  water 
every  day ;  one  to  wash,  and  the  other  to  drink  ;  a 
besom  to  cleanse  his  cell,  and  a  mat  of  rushes  to  lie 
upon. 

The  same  historian  gives,  in  a  few  passages,  a  vivid 
summary  of  the  operations  of  this  odious  institution. 
"  In  countries  where  the  Inquisition  has  existed,  the 
bare  idea  of  its  progress  damped  the  most  ardent  mind. 
Formidable  and  ferocious  as  the  rapacious  tiger,  who 
from  the  gloomy  thicket  surveys  his  unsuspecting- 
prey,  until  the  favoured  moment  arrives  in  which  he 
may  plunge  forward  and  consummate  its  destruction, 
the  Inquisition  meditates  in  secret  and  in  silence  its 
horrific  projects.  In  the  deepest  seclusion  the  calum- 
niator propounds  his  charge  ;  with  anxious  vigilance 
t'he  creatures  of  its  power  regard  its  unhappy  victim. 
Not  a  whisper  is  heard,  or  the  least  hint  of  insecurity 
given,  until  at  the  dead  of  night  a  band  of  savage 
monsters  surround  the  dwelling  ;  they  demand  an  en- 
trance : — upon  the  inquiry,  by  whom  is  this  required  ? 
the  answer  is,  "  The  holy  office."  In  an  instant  all  the 
ties  of  nature  appear  as  if  dissolved,  and  either  through 
the  complete  dominion  of  superstition,  or  the  convic- 
tion that  resistance  would  be  vain,  the  master,  parent, 
hnsband  is  resigned.    From  the  bosom  of  his  Amiily, 


158  PRIESTCRAFT 

and  bereft  of  all  domestic  comforts,  lie  enters  the  Inqui- 
sition-house ;  its  ponderous  doors  are  closed,  and  hope 
excluded — perhaps  for  ever.  Immured  in  a  noisome 
vault,  surrounded  by  impenetrable  walls,  he  is  left 
alone  ;  a  prey  to  all  the  sad  reflections  of  a  miserable 
outcast.  If  he  venture  to  inquire  the  reason  of  his 
fate,  he  is  told  that  silence  and  secrecy  are  here  in- 
violable. Accustomed  to  the  conveniences  of  social 
life,  and  perhaps  of  a  superior  station,  he  is  now  re- 
duced to  the  most  miserable  expedients.  The  most 
menial  offices  now  devolve  upon  him ;  while  the  cruel 
reflection  obtrudes  itself  upon  his  mind,  that  his  fam- 
ily may,  ere  long,  be  reduced  to  indigence  by  an  act 
of  inquisitorial  confiscation."  And  with  such  fiendish 
ingenuity  is  the  punishment  of  confiscation  aggi-avated, 
that  it  is  followed,  as  of  necessary  consequence,  by 
the  person  being  rendered  for  ever  infamous, — that  is, 
he  is  incapable  of  holding  office  of  any  kind;  his 
children  are  disinherited,  and  made  infamous,  or  inca- 
pable to  the  second  generation  by  the  father's  side,  and 
first  by  the  mother's.  All  his  relations  are  liberated 
from  their  obligations  to  him,  or  comiexion  with  him ; 
his  children  are  freed  from  his  control ;  his  wife  is 
liberated  from  her  marriage  |  vow ;  his  servants  or 
vassals  are  freed  from  their  servitude  ;  he  is  compelled 
to  answer  inquiries  of  others  on  any  affair,  but  no  one 
need  answer  him.  He  has  no  protection  from  the 
laws,  and  no  remedy  against  oppression  or  injustice. 
His  very  children,  brothers,  and  sisters  ought  to  aban- 
don him ;  and  the  only  way  of  a  son  escaping  the  in- 
famy of  his  father,  is  by  being  the  first  to  accuse  him 
to  the  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition. 

Then  come  the  secret  examinations,  the  accusa- 
tions from  unknown  sources,  the  intimidations, — the 
torture  !  The  torture  has  five  degrees  :— first,  being- 
threatened  to  be  tortured :  secondly,  being  carried  to 
the  place  of  torture  :  thirdly,  by  stripping  and  binding : 
fourthly,  the  being  hoisted  on  the  rack :  fifthly,  squas- 
sation. 

The  stripping  ia  performed  without  regard  to  lui- 


IxV   ALL    AGES.  159 

inanity  or  honour,  not  only  to  men,  but  to  women  and 
virgins.  As  to  squassation,  it  is  thus  performed  :  the 
prisoner  has  his  hands  tied  behind  his  back,  and 
weights  tied  to  his  feet,  and  then  he  is  drawn  up  on 
high,  till  his  head  reaches  the  very  pulley.  He  is 
kept  hanging  in  this  manner  for  some  time,  that  by 
the  greatness  of  the  weight  hanging  at  his  feet,  all  his 
joints  and  limbs  may  be  dreadfully  stretched,  and  on 
a  sudden  he  is  let  down  with  a  jerk,  by  slackening 
the  rope,  but  kept  from  coming  quite  to  the  ground ; 
by  v/hich  terrible  shake  his  arms  and  legs  are  all  dis- 
jointed, whereby  he  is  put  to  the  most  exquisite  pain  ; 
the  shock  Avhich  he  receives  by  the  sudden  stop  put 
to  his  fall,  and  the  weight  at  his  feet,  stretching  his 
whole  body  more  intensely  and  cruelly.  According 
to  the  orders  of  the  Inquisition,  this  squassation  is 
repeated  once,  twice,  or  three  times  in  the  space  of 
an  hour. 

Another  mode  of  torture  is,  by  covering  the  mouth 
and  nostrils  with  a  thin  cloth,  so  that  the  victim 
is  scarcely  able  to  breathe  through  it ;  then,  letting 
fall  from  on  high  water,  drop  by  drop,  on  his  mouth, 
which  easily  sinks  through  the  cloth  to  the  bottom  of 
his  throat,  so  that  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  breathe, 
his  mouth  being  filled  with  water,  his  nostrils  with 
the  cloth ;  so  that  the  poor  wretch  is  in  the  agony  of 
death.  When  this  cloth  is  pulled  out  of  his  mouth, 
as  it  often  is,  to  answer  questions,  it  is  all  over  water 
and  blood,  and  is  like  pulling  his  bowels  through  his 
mouth.  All  this  time  he  is  lying  in  what  is  called  the 
wooden-horse  ;  that  is,  a  trough  across  which  a  bar  is 
placed,  on  v/hich  the  man's  back  rests,  instead  of  on 
the  bottom,  while  his  anns,  shins,  and  thighs  are  tied 
round  with  small  cords,  drawn  tight  by  screws,  till 
they  cut  to  the  very  bones. 

The  physician  Orobio,  a  Jew,  gave  a  most  lively 
account  of  the  torture  practised  upon  him  after  he  had 
lain  in  his  dungeon  three  years.  He  was  brought  to 
the  place  of  torture.  It  was  towards  evening.  It 
Avas  a  large  underground  room,  arched,  and  the  walla 


160  PRIESTCRAFT 

covoiod  with  black  liaiigiii<^s.  The  candlesticks  were 
fastened  to  the  wall,  and  tlie  whole  enlightened  with 
candles  placed  in  them.  At  one  end  there  was  an 
enclosed  place,  like  a  closet,  where  the  inquisitor  and 
notary  sat  at  a  table  :  so  that  the  place  seemed  to  him 
the  very  mansion  of  death,  every  thing  appearing  so 
terrible  and  so  awful.  After  some  preliminary  tor- 
ments, such  as  tying  his  thumbs  with  small  cords  till 
the  blood  spouted  out  from  beneath  the  nails,  they 
fastened  him  w^th  small  cords,  by  means  of  little  iron 
pulleys,  to  a  wall  as  he  sat  upon  a  bench  ;  then  draw- 
ing the  cords  wliich  fastened  his  fingers  and  toes  with 
great  violence,  they  drew  the  bench  from  under  him, 
and  left  him  suspended  in  the  strings,  till  he  seemed 
to  be  dissolving  in  flame,  such  was  his  agony.  Then 
they  brought  a  sort  of  ladder  and  stiiick  it  against  his 
shins,  giving  live  violent  strokes  at  once ;  under  the 
exquisite  pain  of  which  he  fainted  away.  They  then 
screwed  up  his  cords  with  fresh  violence,  and  tied 
others  so  near  that  they  slid  into  the  gashes  the  first 
had  made,  and  produced  such  an  effusion  of  blood 
that  they  supposed  him  dying.  On  finding,  however, 
that  he  was  not,  they  repeated  the  torture  once  more, 
and  then  remanded  him  to  his  cell !"  To  imagine 
men  practising  these  cruelties  on  men,  and  that  in  the 
outraged  name  of  Christ,  the  fountain  of  love  and 
mercy,  is  revolting  enough ;  but  to  read  of  them 
mangling,  dislocating,  and  dashing  to  pieces  the 
delicate  frames  of  young  and  lovely  women,  of  which 
lilorente  gives  various  instances,  puts  the  climax  to 
our  abhorrent  indignation.  Such,  in  particular,  were 
the  treatment  of  Jane  Bohorques,  and  her  attendant,  a 
young  Lutheran  girl,  afterward  burnt  at  tlie  auto-da-fe.* 
A  word  on  these  autos-da-fe,  and  we  will  escape 

*  The  methods  of  torfure  are  not  merely  such  as  I  have  here 
jriven — they  are  infinitely  varied,  and  too  dreadful  to  be  borne  even 
in  the  recital.  With  them  it  is.  indeed,  a  matter  of  science  ;  and  is 
treated  of  in  a  volume  to  be  found  in  the  libraries  of  this  country — 
The  Art  of  Torture — in  which  the  most  ingenious  modes  of  pro- 
ducing ])hysical  agony  are  detailed  with  the  coolest  accuracy.  I 
recollect  the  horror  with  which  a  friend  of  mme  opened  this  book, 
in  the  library  of  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury  at  Alton. 


IN    ALL    AGES.  161 

from  these  horrors.  Dr.  Geddes's  account  of  the 
manner  of  celebrating  them,  as  quoted  in  Limborch,  is 
one  of  the  best  and  mo»t  condensed. 

"  In  the  morning  of  the  day  the  prisoners  are  all 
brought  into  a  great  hall,  where  they  have  the  habits  put 
on  they  are  to  wear  in  the  procession,  which  begins  to 
come  out  of  the  Inquisition  about  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning. 

"  The  first  in  the  procession  are  the  Dominicans, 
v/ho  carry  the  standard  of  the  Inquisition,  which  on 
the  one  side  hath  their  founder  Dominic's  picture,  and 
on  the  other  side  the  cross  between  an  olive-tree  and 
a  swoi-d,  with  this  motto,  '  Justitia  et  Miserecordia.' 
Next  after  the  Dominicans  come  the  penitents,  some 
with  benitoes  and  some  without,  according  to  the 
nature  of  their  crimes.  They  are  all  in  black  coats 
without  sleeves,  and  bare-footed,  with  a  wax  candle  in 
their  hands.  Next  come  the  penitents  who  have 
narrowly  escaped  being  buj*nt,  who,  over  their  black 
coat  have  flames  painted  with  their  points  turned 
downwards,  to  signify  their  having  been  saved,  but  so 
as  by  fire.  Next  come  the  negative  and  relapsed  that 
are  to  be  burnt,  with  flames  upon  their  habit,  pointing 
upwtird ;  and  next  come  those  who  profess  doctrines 
contrary  to  those  of  the  C^hurch  of  Rome,  and  who, 
besides  flames  on  their  habit  pointing  upward,  have 
their  picture,  which  is  drawn  two  or  three  days  before, 
upon  their  breasts,  with  dogs,  serpents,  and  devils,  all 
with  open  moiiths,  painted  about  it. 

"Pegna,  a  famous  Spanish  inquisitor,  ca,lls  this 
procession  '  Horrendum  ac  tremendum  gpectaculum  ;' 
and  so  it  is,  in  truth,  there  being  something  in  the 
looks  of  all  the  prisoners,  besides  those  that  are  to  be 
burnt,  that  is  ghastly  and  disconsolate  beyond  what 
can  be  imagined ;  and  in  the  eyes  and  countenances 
of  those  that  are  to  be  burnt  there  is  something  that 
looks  fierce  and  eager. 

"  The  prisoners  that  are  to  be  burnt  alive,  besides 
a  familiar  which  all  the  rest  have,  have  a  Jesuit  on 
each  hand  of  them,  who  is  continually  preaching  to 


462  PRIESTCRAFT 

them  to  abjure  their  heresies  ;  but  if  they  oliev  to  speak 
any  thing  in  defence  of  tlie  doctrines  for  \vhich  tiicy 
are  going  to  suffer  death,  they  are  immediately  gagged. 
This  I  saw  done  to  a  prisoner  presently  after  he  came 
out  of  the  gates  of  the  Inquisition,  upon  his  having 
looked  up  at  tlie  smi,  which  he  liad  not  seen  for  several 
years,  and  cried  out  in  a  rapture — '  How  is  it  possible 
for  people  that  behold  that  glorious  body,  to  worship 
any  being  but  Him  that  created  it !'  After  the  prison- 
ers, comes  a  troop  of  familiars  on  horseback,  and 
after  them  the  inquisitors  and  other  officers  of  the 
court  upon  mules  ;  and  last  of  all  comes  the  inquisi- 
tor-general, upon  a  white  horse  led  by  two  men,  with 
a  black  hat  and  green  hatband,  and  attended  by  all 
the  nobles  that  are  not  employed  as  familiars  in  the 
procession. 

"  At  the  place  of  execution,  which  at  Lisbon  is  the 
Ribera,  there  are  so  many  stakes  set  up  as  there  are 
prisoners  to  be  burnt,  Avith  a  good  quantity  of  dry  furze 
about  them.  The  stakes  of  the  professed,  as  the 
inquisitors  call  them,  may  be  about  four  yards  high, 
and  have  a  small  board  whereon  the  prisoner  is  to  be 
seated,  within  half  a  yard  of  the  top.  The  negative 
and  relapsed  being  first  strangled  and  burnt,  the  pro- 
fessed go  up  a  ladder  betwixt  the  two  Jesuits,  who 
spend  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  in  exhorting  them  to 
be  reconciled  to  the  Church  of  Rome  ;  which,  if  thev 
refuse,  the  Jesuits  descend,  the  executioner  ascends 
and  secures  them  to  the  stake.  The  Jesuits  then  go 
up  a  second  time,  and  at  parting  tell  them — 'they 
leave  them  to  the  devil,  who  stands  at  their  elbow  to 
receive  their  souls,  and  carry  them  into  the  flames  of 
hell-fire.'  Upon  this  a  great  shout  is  raised,  '  Let  the 
dogs'  beards  be  made  !'  which  is  done  by  thrusting 
flaming  forzes,  fastened  to  long  poles,  against  their 
faces.  And  this  inhumanity  is  commonly  continued 
until  their  faces  are  burnt  to  a  coal,  and  is  always 
accompanied  by  such  loud  acclamations  of  joy  as  are 
not  to  be  heard  on  any  other  occasion ;  a  bull-feast  or 
a  fair  being  dull  entertainments  to  this. 


IN   ALL    AGES.  163 

"  The  professeds'  beards  having  been  thus  made,  or 
trimmed,  as  they  call  it  in  jollity,  fire  is  set  to  the 
furze  which  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  stake,  and  above 
which  the  professed  are  chained  so  high  that  the  top 
of  the  flame  seldom  reaches  higher  than  the  seat  they 
sit  on ;  and  if  there  happen  to  be  a  wind,  to  which 
that  place  is  much  exposed,  it  seldom  reaches  so  high 
as  their  knees.  If  it  be  calm  they  may  be  dead  in 
half  an  hour,  but  if  windy  they  are  not  dead  in  an 
hour  and  a  half  or  two  hours,  and  are  really  roasted, 
not  burnt  to  death.  But  though,  out  of  hell,  there 
cannot  possibly  be  a  more  lamentable  spectacle  than 
this,  being  joined  with  the  suflerers'  continual  cry  of 
'  Miserecordia  por  amor  de  Dios,''  Mercy  for  the  love  of 
God !  yet  it  is  beheld  by  people  of  both  sexes,  and  all 
ages,  with  such  transports  of  joy  and  satisfaction,  as 
are  not  witnessed  on  any  other  occasion." 

Mr.  Wilcox,  afterward  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  wrote 
to  Bishop  Burnet,  that  he  witnessed  at  Lisbon  in  1706, 
Hector  Dias  and  Maria  Pinteyra  burnt  alive.  The 
woman  was  alive  in  the  flames  half  an  hoar ;  the  man 
about  an  hour.  The  king  and  his  brother  were  seated 
at  a  window  so  near  as  to  be  addressed  for  a  con- 
siderable time  in  very  moving  terms  by  the  man  as  he 
was  burning.  All  he  asked  was  a  few  more  fagots, 
yet  he  could  not  obtain  them.  The  wind  being  a  little 
fresh,  the  man's  hinder  parts  were  perfectly  roasted ; 
and  as  he  turned  himself  round,  his  ribs  opened  before 
he  left  speaking,  the  fire  being  recruited  as  it  wasted, 
to  keep  him  just  in  the  same  degree  of  heat ;  but  all 
his  entreaties  could  not  procure  him  a  larger  allowance 
of  wood,  to  despatch  him  more  speedily. 

The  victims  who  have  suffered  death  or  ruin  from 
this  diabolical  institution  in  various  quarters  of  the 
world,  are  estimated  at  some  millions.  Llorente 
gives,  from  actual  examination  of  its  own  records, 
the  following  statement  of  the  victims  of  the  Spanish 
Inquisition  alone. 


ieJ4  PRIESTCRAFT 

Number  of  persons  who  were  con- 
demned and  perished  in  the  flames  31,912 

Effigies  burnt 17,659 

Condemned  to  severe  penances     .    ..  291,450 

341,021 

And  these  things  the  choicest  agents  of  the  devil 
have  dared  to  act  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and  men  have 
believed  them  !  Amid  all  the  crimes  of  Napoleon,  let 
it  be  for  ever  remembered  that  he  annihilated  this 
earthly  hell  with  a  word, — but  Englishmen  restored 
Ferdinand  to  the  throne  of  Spain,  and  Ferdinand  re- 
stored the  Inquisition.  We  fought  to  give  Spaniards 
freedom,  and  we  gave  them  the  most  blasting  despotism 
which  ever  walked  the  earth — the  despotism  of  priest- 
craft ;  with  fire  in  one  hand,  and  eternal  darkness  and 
degradation  in  the  other.  Cromwell  had  a  different 
spirit — he  menaced  war  on  the  Inquisition — and  the 
menace  was  heard  to  the  lowest  depths  of  its  infernal 
dens.  If  the  arm  of  cruelty  be  shortened,  it  is  neither 
owing  to  the  priests  nor  their  creature  Ferdinand,  but 
to  the  light  which  has  entered  Spain  during  its  political 
concussions. 

Another  subject  connected  with  this  history  might 
also  form  a  separate  chapter — the  state  of  those  Euro- 
pean countries  which  yet  retain  popery.  It  would  be 
an  interesting  inquiry,  and  would  amply  bear  out  the 
character  already  drawn  of  priestcraft ;  but  the  con- 
sideration of  our  own  state-religion  draws  me  on,  an;] 
I  must  refer  my  readers  to  the  abundant  works  of  our 
modern  travellers  for  those  matters — if  indeed  it  be 
not  enough  to  lift  our  eyes,  and  at  a  cursory  view,  see 
the  mark  of  the  beast  stamped  on  the  bosom  of  every 
nation  where  it  prevails — in  characters  of  slavery,  ig- 
norance, calamity,  and  blood.  France,  roused  by  the 
united  oppressions  of  kingcraft  and  priestcraft,  rushed 
into  a  premature  :struggle  with  them,  in  which  religion 
and  liberty  were  both  wrecked,  and  such  horrors  per- 
petrated as  turn  the  sickening  eyes  of  the  beholder 


IN  ALL  AGES.  165 

away,  blinded  with  burning  tears.  France,  thirsting 
for  civil  and  religious  freedom,  yet  unprepared  in  its 
])opular  heart  for  its  secure  enjoyment,  arose  like  a 
giant  in  wrath,  and  smarting  with  the  accumiUated 
inflictions  of  popery  and  civil  despotism,  crushed 
together  its  wrongs  and  its  hopes.  France,  starting 
from  the  extreme  slumber  of  papal  slavery — a  state 
in  which  its  population  received  passively  all  dogmas 
and  all  ordinances,  a  state  without  inquiry — plunged 
at  once  into  the  opposite  extreme  of  restless  scrutiny 
after  the  true  principles  of  government  and  religion ; 
and  like  a  man  issuing  at  full  speed  from  darkness  to 
the  glare  of  noonday,  has  seen  nothing  but  indistinct 
and  overpowering  images  of  things — felt  nothing  but 
the  wild  phrensy  of  suddenly-acquired  freedom ;  and 
has  consequently  floundered  on  through  changes,  revo- 
lutions, and  reeling  instability,  that  have  been  more 
fatal  to  the  progress  of  true  liberty  than  all  the 
assaults  of  its  determined  enemies.  On  the  other 
hand,  Spain  and  Portugal,  with  a  certain  portion  of 
intelligent  and  philosophical  inhabitants,  groan  under 
the  dead  weight  of  their  old  papal  institutions  and 
trains  of  priests,  and  wound  themselves  to  death  in  the 
vain  endeavour  to  throw  them  off",  before  the  people  are 
sufficiently  regenerated  with  the  inbreakings  of  know- 
ledge to  give  vigour  to  the  contest.  In  them  we  see 
the  full  consequences  of  the  establishment  of  Inquisi- 
tions, by  which  the  public  mind  acquires  a  habit  of 
fear,  and  an  incapacity  for  daring  development  of 
mental  energy,  even  where  the  cause  of  real  fear  is 
no  more.  Were  the  people  of  these  countries  once 
educated,  they  would  throw  ofl"  monks,  priests,  and 
wicked  kings,  with  the  ease  that  Samson  threw  off  his 
withes — but  where  shall  this  begin,  where  knowledge 
has  long  been  treated  as  damnable,  and  has  been  pun- 
ished with  death?  Such  is  the  state  of  ignorance, 
which  it  is  the  interest  and  has  always  been  the 
practice  of  popery  to  maintain  in  those  countries,  that 
Lord  Byron,  speaking  of  the  ladies,  says,  they  are 
beautiful,  but  the  coiuitess  is  no  better  informed  than 


166  PRIESTCRAFT 

the  commonest  peasant  girl.  Italy  too  lies  prostrate 
beneath  the  double  tyranny  of  the  altar  and  the  throne 
of  the  foreign  barbarian, — and  the  end  of  those  things 
it  is  not  easy  to  see.  Eternal  are  the  thanks,  the 
gratitude,  and  the  honours  due  to  Huss,  to  Jerome  of 
Prague,  to  Oldcastle,  to  Wiclif,  and  other  martyrs 
and  reformers,  who  attempted,  and  to  Luther  and  his 
contemporaries,  who  finally  succeeded  in  breaking 
down  this  mightiest  of  spiritual  despotisms,  and  free- 
ing part  of  mankind  from  the  nightmare  of  a  thousand 
years  ;  leaving  us  in  the  bright  day-beams  of  know- 
ledge and  freedom,  not  to  suffer,  but  to  sigh  over 
the  miseries  M'hich  the  bloodiest  of  priesthoods  has 
inflicted  for  centuries  on  the  world ; — and  not  to  sigh 
only,  but  to  exert  ourselves  to  spread  still  wider  the 
impulse  of  good  which  they  have  given.  AVlio  shall 
tell  what  efiects  on  the  continental  nations  the  regen- 
eration of  the  religious  institutions  of  this  mighty  and 
illustrious  nation  shall  yet  produce.* 

*  Appendix  III. ' 


IN   ALL   AGES.  167 


CHAPTER  XV. 


ENGLISH    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH. 

Unfortunate  circumstances  under  which  the  Reformation  began  in 
England— Regal  power  fatal  to  Religion— Arbitrary  conduct  of  the 
Tudors— Inquisition  established  in  England  under  the  names  of 
the  Star  Chamber  and  High  Commission  Court— Popish  bias  of 
f:Uzabeth— Her  completion  of  the  Liturgy— Despotism  of  the 
Stuarts— Their  Persecutions  in  England  and  Scotland— The  arbi- 
trary spirit  of  Laud  conducts  himself  and  Charles  I.,  to  the  block 
—Laud's  fondness  for  Popish  Mummery— His  singula!  Consecra- 
tion of  Catherine's  Church — Heterogeneous  materials  of  the  Eng- 
lish Church,  and  consequent  Schisms— Continues  to  persecute  till 
the  Accession  of  William  III.— Hopeless  and  unalterable  nature 
of  State  Religion — State  of  the  Clergy. 


Where  one  particular  priesthood  has  rank  in  the  state,  others  are 
not  free  ;  and  where  they  all  have,  the  people  are  not  free.  So  far 
as  the  ceremonies  of  one  particular  faith  are  connected  with  fillmg 
any  particular  occupation,  entering  into  the  relations,  or  enjoying 
any  of  the  advantages  of  civil  life,  there  is  not  religious  liberty.  It 
is  a  fallacious  distinction  wluch  has  sometimes  been  drawn,  that  a 
state  may  patronise,  though  it  should  not  punish.  A  government 
cannot  patronise  one  particular  religion  without  punishing  otliers. 
A  state  has  no  wealth  but  the  people's  wealth ;  if  it  pay  some,  it 
impoverishes  others.  A  state  is  no  fountain  of  honour.  If  it  declare 
one  class  free,  it  thereby  declares  others  slaves.  If  it  declare  some 
noble,  it  thereby  declares  others  ignoble.  Whenever  bestowed  with 
partialitj-,  its  generosity  is  injustice,  and  its  favour  is  oppression. 

Fox. 


One  /would  have  imagined  that  when  the  horror.^ 
and  enormities  of  that  long  reign  of  spiritual  slavery 
under  the  infamous  papal  hierarchy,  had  roused  a  great 
part  of  Em-ope  to  scotch  the  old  serpent  of  Rome  ;  to 
burst  asunder  the  vile  and  envenomed  folds  which  she 
had  wrapped  romid  the  soul,  the  life,  and  liberties  of 
man, — that  the  reformed  churches  would  have  been 
careful  so  to  organize  themselves  as  to  prevent  tem- 
poral power  again  enslaving  religion.  But  it  is  no 
easy  matter  to  escape  the  grasp  of  regal  and  political 


168  PRIEStCRAFt 

dominion;  and  it  is  rarely  that  men  are  prepared,  after 
a  long  sufferance  of  slavery,  to  enjoy  and  secure  free- 
dom. He  whose  hody  has  been  cramped  by  chains,  and 
wasted  by  vigils  in  the  dark  dungeons  of  power  for 
years,  cannot  at  once,  on  coming  out,  stretch  forth  his 
limbs,  acquire  in  a  moment  the  vigour  and  elasticity 
of  his  muscles,  and  bound  over  the  hills  with  the  breath- 
ing buoyancy  of  the  youthful  hunter,  to  M'hom  every 
day  brings  exercise,  and  force,  and  adroitness.  The 
issuer  from  the  dungeon  cannot  bear  at  once  the  light 
of  day  with  an  eagle's  glance,  and  regard  every  thing 
around  him  with  the  perspicuous  familiarity  of .  those 
who  have  daily  walked  about  in  the  eye  of  heaven. 
Besides,  in  the  exultation  of  conquest  over  an  old 
despotism,  the  populace  are  always  too  credulously 
trusting  to  the  professions  of  those  who  pretend  to 
rejoice  with  them  in  order  to  enslave  them  anew.  In 
a  while  they  w^ake  from  their  dream  of  good-nature, 
but  it  is  too'  late, — they  are  again  clasped  in  bonds, 
and  environed  with  bars  that  nothing  but  the  oppres- 
sions of  ages  can  corrode,  and  some  far-off  out-break- 
ing of  popvdar  indignation  can  dash  asunder. 

Such  has  been  the  fate,  more  or  less,  of  all  the  re- 
ibrmed  churches  of  Europe  ;  but  we  confine  ourselves 
to  the  Church  of  England; — the  least  reformed,  the 
most  enslaved  of  all.  The  Eeformation  in  England 
was  commenced  and  continued,  under  unfortunate  cir- 
cumstances. It  was  not  the  result  of  such  a  ripened 
and  irrestrainable  enthusiasm  of  the  popular  mind  as 
must  have  thrown  doM'n  all  before  it;  but  it  Mas  brought 
about  by  the  arbitrary  passions  of  that  monster,  Henry 
VIII.,  one  of  the  most  libidinous  and  bloody  wretches 
that  ever  disgraced  a  throne.  At  one  moment  it  was 
his  will,  because  it  suited  his  pleasure,  to  be  the  advo- 
cate of  the  pope ;  at  another,  because  it  was  neces- 
sary to  the  gratification  of  his  indomitable  desires, — 
his  most  desperate  antagonist.  For  this  he  threw  off 
the  papal  yoke — but  not  to  give  the  church  freedom — 
nothing  could  be  farther  from  his  intentions  :  it  was 
only  to  make  it  his  servant  and  his  slave.    He  declared 


IN   ALL   AGES.  169 

himself  the  head  of  the  church  of  Christ  in  these  king- 
doms. What  a  head  for  such  a  church  !  The  despot- 
ism of  opinion  was  only  changed  in  name ;  and  it 
appears  to  have  been  the  effect  of  the  merest  accident 
t/iat  it  was  changed  at  all.  Every  thing  was  on  the 
point  of  being  amicably  settled  between  the  British 
and  the  Italian  tyrant,  when  it  was  rumoured  at  th<3 
papal  court,  that  Henry  had  witnessed  a  dramatic 
representation  in  which  that  court  was  ridiculed.  In  a 
moment  of  impolitic  passion,  the  "  triple  tyrant"  thun- 
dered against  Henry  his  bull  of  denunciation,  and  the 
breach  was  made  immortal.  Heavily  and  long  did  the 
pontiff  curse  the  moment  in  v/hich  he  forgot,  in  his 
passion,  the  priest's  proper  cunning ;  but  his  regret 
was  unavailing — England  was  lost  for  ever. 

Edward  VI.  was  a  truly  pious  youth,  and  was 
unquestionably  desirous  of  doing  what  was  right ;  but 
he  was  a  feeble  invalid,  and  was  in  the  hands  of  priests, 
who  did  with  him  as  they  pleased.  By  authority 
exercised  in  his  name,  a  liturgy  was  framed  for  the 
church  ;  wliich  Elizabeth  afterward  revised  by  her 
bishops,  and  brought  to  that  state  in  Vv^hich  it  sub- 
stantially remain-s  to  this  day.  It  was  not  in  the  nature 
of  that  7nan  in  petticoats, — that  Henry  VIII.,  in  a  female 
mask, — to  consult  the  inclinations  of  the  people  so 
nuich  as  her  own  high  will,  in  which  glowed  all  the 
dominance  and  all  the  spirit  of  the  Tndors.  Instead 
of  being  willing  to  strip  religion  of  the  ceremonies 
which  remained  in  it,  she  was  rather  inclined  to  bring 
tlie  public  worship  still  nearer  to  the  Roman  ritual;  and 
had  a  gi-eat  propensity  to  several  usages  in  the  Church 
of  Rome,  which  were  justly  looked  upon  as  supersti- 
tious. She  thaidved  publicly  one  of  her  chaplains  who 
had  preached  in  defence  of  the  real  presence  ;  she  was 
fond  of  images,  and  retained  some  in  her  chapel ; 
and  would  undoubtedly  have  forbidden  the  marriage 
of  the  clergy,  if  Cecil  had  not  interposed.  Having 
appointed  a  committee  of  divines  to  revise  King  Ed- 
ward's liturgy,  she  gave  them  an  order  to  strike  out  all 
offensive  passages  against  the  pope,  and  make  people 
H 


170  PRIESTCRAFT 

easy  about  the  corporal  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacra- 
ment. 

That  an  imperious  woman,  who,  not  finding  it  ac- 
cordant with  the  love  of  undivided  power  to  marry,  was 
jealous  of  all  who  did, — who  even  imprisoned  her  rela- 
tives and  maids  of  honour  who  presumed  to  marry, 
r.honld  attempt  to  prevent  the  clergy  marrying, — was 
not  very  wonderful.  Those  of  her  subjects  who  were 
desirous  of  a  purer,  simpler,  more  apostolic,  and  less 
worldly  system  of  worship  ;  who  had  fled  to  the  Conti- 
nent from  the  fire  and  chains  of  her  sister  Mary,  and 
had  returned,  hoping  better  things  at  her  hands,  she 
ordered  to  submit  to  her  royal  will ;  and  passed  the 
famous  act  of  Uniformity^  by  which  all  her  subjects 
M  ere  commanded  to  observe  the  rules  her  bishops  had 
framed,  and  to  take  up  with  such  a  reformation  of  the 
church,  as  she  had  pleased  to  give  them,  with  herself 
as  the  visible  head  of  the  church  upon  earth.  The  puri- 
tans— for  so  they  were  called,  for  desiring  a  purer 
worship — refused  their  assent  to  these  proceedings  ; 
pleaded  the  dictates  of  their  consciences  in  behalf  of 
their  refusal ;  and  complained  heavily,  that  the  gross 
superstitions  of  popery,  which  they  had  looked  upon 
as  abrogated  and  abolished,  were  now  revived,  and  even 
imposed  by  authority.  Buttliey  pleaded  and  complained 
in  vain.  What  were  their  consciences  to  this  she  tyrant  ? 
the  indulgence  of  whose  self-will  was  of  more  precious 
value  in  her  eyes  than  the  rights  and  consciences  of 
millions  of  people.  She  not  only  commanded  and 
exacted  ;  but  following  the  example  of  popery,  she  set 
up  the  fire  and  fagot,  and  stopped  all  objections  with 
those  powerful  arguments.  Every  state  religion,  pa- 
gan or  Christian,  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  is 
stained  with  blood.  Henry  VIII.,  Edward  VI.,  and 
Elizabeth,  all  resorted  to  it,  and  while  professing  to 
reform  religion,  they  gave  the  death-blow  to  liberty  of 
conscience,  and  reacted  all  the  horrors  of  Roman 
persecution.  Edward,  in  the  tenderness  of  youth,  had 
a  better  sense  of  the  nature  of  Christianity,  and 
earnestly  and  with  many  tears  endeavoured  to  avoid 


IN   ALL  AGES.  171 

the  bloody  work  of  persecution  put  upon  him  by  the 
priests  about  him,  and  especially  by  Cranmer,  who 
afterward  received  the  retribution  of  dying  in  that  fire 
he  had  kindled  for  others. 

What  could  be  expected  of  a  church  thus  born  in  the 
throes  of  the  most  evil  passions,  cradled  in  arbitrary 
power,  and  baptized  in  blood  ■  Nothing  but  a  melan- 
choly death  of  all  those  high  and  glorious  hopes  which 
the  Reformation  awoke,  and  had  it  been  permitted,  un- 
shackled by  regal  and  priestly  power,  to  take  its  course, 
would  naturally  have  realized.  Elizabeth  proceeded 
with  that  rigorous  and  strong  hand  whicli  made  her 
civil  government  respected,  but  was  most  unhallowedly 
and  calamitously  thrust  into  the  sacred  taljernacle  of 
conscience,  to  establish  a  court  of  high  commission  to 
enforce  those  popish  rites,  doctrines,  and  ceremonies 
whicli  she  had  compelled  the  English  church  to  adopt. 
For  the  particulars  of  the  tyrannies  exercised  by  this 
inquisition  over  those  who  asserted  the  rights  of  con- 
science, in  the  face  of  this  strangely  reformed  church, 
let  the  reader  consult  Rapin,  Hume,  and  Neal's  history 
of  the  Puritans.  It  took  its  rise  from  a  remarkable 
clause  in  the  Act  of  Supremacy,  by  which  the  queen 
and  her  successors  were  empowered  to  choose  persons 
"  to  exercise  under  her  all  manner  of  jurisdiction, 
privileges,  and  pre-eminences  touching  any  spiritual  or 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  in  England  and  Ireland  ;  as 
also  to  visit,  reform,  redress,  order,  correct,  and  amend 
all  errors,  heresies,  schisms,  abuses,  contempts, offences, 
and  enormities  vv^hatever  ;  provided  that  they  have  no 
power  to  determine  any  thing  to  be  heresy  but  what  has 
been  adjudged  by  the  authority  of  the  canonical  Scrip- 
tures, or  four  first  general  councils,  or  any  of  them, 
or  shall  be  so  declared  by  parliament  with  consent  of 
the  clergy  in  convocation."  These  commissioners 
were  empowered  to  make  inquiry,  not  only  by  legal 
methods,  but  also  by  all  other  means  which  they  could 
devise,  that  is  by  rack,  torture,  inquisition  and  imprison- 
ment. They  had  authority  to  examine  all  persons 
that  they  suspected,  or  feigned  to  suspect,  by  an  oath, 
H2 


172  PRIESTCRAFT 

not  allowed  by  their  coniiiiission,  and  llierefore  called 
ex'officioy  who  were  obliged  to  answer  all  questions, 
and  thus  to  criminate  themselves  and  friends.  The 
lines  they  imposed  were  discretionary ;  the  imprison- 
ment to  which  they  doomed  was  limited  by  no  rule 
but  their  own  pleasure  ;  they  imposed  as  they  pleased 
new  articles  of  faith  on  the  clergy,  and  practised  all 
the  cruelties  and  iniquities  of  a  real  Inquisition. 

Thus,  indeed,  was  the  Inquisition  as  fully  and  com- 
pletely set  up  in  England,  by  a  soi-disant  reforming 
queen  and  reformed  cluu'ch,  as  in  Italy,  Spain,  or  any 
of  the  old  priest-ridden  countries  of  popery  ;  and  how 
its  powers  were  exercised  may  be  seen  in  too  fearful 
colours  on  the  broad  page  of  Engiisli  history  ;  in  the 
more  full  relations  of  the  nonconformists  and  dis- 
senters. Clergymen  who  could  not  thus  mould  their 
consciences  at  the  will  of  the  state,  were  ejected 
without  mercy  from  their  livings,  and  they  and  their 
families  exposed  to  all  the  horrors  of  poverty,  con- 
tempt, and  persecution.  So  far  as  the  regular  clergy 
were  concerned,  the  grievance  was  not  great ;  for 
these  principally  consisted  of  Catholics,  who  had  got 
in  during  Mary's  reign,  and  having  a  clear  perception 
that  they  were  well  oil',  and  that  there  was  little  hope 
of  another  Romish  prince  succeeding  very  speedily, 
they  acted  according  to  the  dictates  of  the  priestly 
cunning,  accommodated  their  consciences  to  their  com- 
fortable condition,  and  came  over  in  a  body  to  the  new 
state  of  things.  The  bisliops,  Hume  says,  having  the 
eye  of  the  world  more  particularly  on  them,  made  it  a 
point  of  honour,  and  having,  by  a  sickly  season,  been 
reduced  to  fourteen,  all  these,  except  the  bishop  of  Llan- 
daff,  refused  compliance,  and  were  degraded  :  but  out 
of  the  10,000  parishes  of  England,  only  eighty  vicars 
and  rectors,  fifty  prebendaries,  fifteen  heads  of  colleges, 
twelve  archdeacons,  and  as  many  deans,  sacrificed 
their  livings  to  their  religious  principles  ;  a  fact  ren- 
dered more  striking  to  us  by  a  future  one, — that  of  the 
Presbyterian  clergy,  who  had  obtained  livings  during 
the  Commonwealth,  and  who,  on  the  passing  of  the 


IN    ALL    AGES.  173 

Act  of  Uniformity  again,  on  tlie  restoration  of  Charles 
II.,  resigned,  to  the  number  of  2000  in  one  day,  to  the 
astonishment  of  even  their  enemies,  who  had  no  notion 
of  the  existence  of  such  high  principle,  especially  as 
they  had  not  failed  to  tempt  the  most  able  of  these 
clergy  with  offers  of  deaneries,  and  other  preferments, 
and  to  Baxter,  Calamy,  and  Reynolds  bishoprics, — the 
last  of  whom  only  was  weak  enough  to  accept  it.  It 
was  chiefly,  therefore,  on  the  more  conscientious  clergy 
who  had  been  ejected  from  their  livings  in  Mary's 
reign,  that  the  weight  of  persecution  from  the  ecclesi- 
astical court  fell.  These  were  harassed  with  every 
possible  vexation.  They  Avere  fined,  imprisoned,  and 
destroyed  without  mercy.  This  state  of  things  did  not 
cease,  excepting  during  the  short  interval  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, till  the  Act  of  Toleration,  in  the  reign  of 
William  III.  put  an  end  to  it,  and  gave  to  conscience 
some  degree  of  liberty.  The  Stuarts,  Avho  succeeded 
EHzabeth,  with  far  less  talent  than  the  Tudors,  had  all 
their  love  of  tyrannical  power:  and  so  incorrigible  was 
this  principle  in  them,  that  it  soon  brought  one  of  them 
to  the  block ;  made  his  son  a  fugitive  for  the  greater 
part  of  his  life  ;  and,  finally,  notwithstanding  the  good- 
natured  relentings  of  tlie  people,  who  had  restored  his 
line  to  the  throne,  made  them  rise  once  more,  and  drive 
the  hopelessly  despotic  family  from  the  throne  for  ever. 
But,  before  we  quit  Elizabeth,  we  must  give  some 
clearer  idea  of  her  notion  of  a  reformed  church  estab- 
lishment. She  insisted  tliat  the  simpler  forms  and 
doctrines  of  the  Church  of  Geneva  should  be  avoided  ; 
and  that  a  splendid  hierarchy  should  be  maintained  of 
archbishops,  bishops,  archdeacons,  deans,  canons,  and 
other  oflicials  ;  declared  that  the  Church  of  Rome  was 
a  true  church,  and  adopted  most  of  its  relics  and  cere- 
monies. Its  festivals  and  holydays  in  honoiu*  of  saints 
were  to  be  kept ;  the  sign  of  the  cross  was  to  be  used 
in  baptism ;  kneeling  at  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  ;  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus  ;  giving  the  ring 
in  matrimony  ;  confirmation  of  children  by  episcopa- 
lian hands  ;  forbidding  marriage  at  certain  seasons  o|' 


174  PRIESTCRAFT 

the  year ;  and  many  other  popish  appendages  were  re- 
tained. The  doetrine  of  the  absohuion  of  sins,  and  the 
damnatory  creed  of  Athajiasius  were  held  fast ;  so  that 
to  many — except  as  to  the  marriage  of  the  clergy^, 
auricular  confession,  and  a  less  pompous  and  ornate 
form  of  worship — little  difference  between  popery  and 
the  English  Church  can  be  discerned ;  and,  to  make 
the  case  still  more  intolerable,  matters  of  indifference, 
such  as  were  neither  commanded  nor  forbidden  by 
Scripture — as  the  external  rites  of  worship,  the  vests 
of  the  clergy,  religious  festivals — were  put  under  the 
authority  of  the  civil  magistracy ;  and  tiiose  Avho  re- 
fused to  conform  to  them  were  thus  made  rebels  to  the 
state,  and  punisha1)le  accordingly.  It  w^as  impossible 
to  conceive  a  more  thorough  extinction  of  the  rights 
of  the  subject  in  affairs  of  conscience — not  in  popery 
itself !  The  bishops  having  thus  got  power  into  their 
hands,  speedily  proceeded  to  exercise  it, — to  show  the 
old  priestly  spirit.  In  1588,  Bancroft,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  declared  that  the  episcopal  order  were, 
by  express  appointment  of  God,  superior  to  the  pres- 
byters, and  that  all  priests  not  ordained  by  bishops 
were  spurious.  This,  says  Mosheim,  was  the  form  of 
religion  established  in  England,  which  laid  the  founda- 
tion for  perpetual  dissensions  and  feuds  in  that  other- 
wdse  happy  and  prosperous  nation. 

Such  was  the  formation  of  the  Church  of  England  I 
such  it-  remains  to  the  present  hour !  After  such  an 
origin,  can  any  one  wonder  that  it  needs  reform, 
thorough  reform,  not  merely  of  its  abuses,  wdiich  are, 
as  might  naturally  be  expected  from  so  absurd  and 
despotic  a  constitution,  become  monstrous,  but  reform 
and  entire  remodelling  of  its  canons  ?  While  all  around 
it  has  been  progressing  in  knowledge  and  better  under- 
standing of  the  rights  of  conscience,  and  the  true 
nature  of  Christianity,  here  has  this  eldest  daughter  of 
popery  been  standing  still  in  body,  covered  with  all  her 
deformities,  with  the  mark  of  the  beast  blazing  on  her 
forehead,  and  the  filthy  rags  of  cast-off  popery  fluttering 
about  her ;  and  while  every  clearer  eye  has  been  re- 


IN    ALL    AGES.  175 

gardiiig"  this  patchwork  progeny  of  priestcraft  aiul  bar- 
barism with  iniiigled  wonder,  ridicule,  and  abhorrence, 
she  has  been  hugging  herself  in  the  fond  idea  that  she 
Avas  the  queen  of  beauty,  and  the  perfection  of  holiness  ! 
While  the  civilized  world  has  been  moving  about  her, 
casting  oft'  the  mind,  the  manners,  and  the  harsh  tenets 
of  feudal  rudeness,  she  has  lain  coiled  up  in  the  bright 
face  of  advancing  day,  like  some  huge  slimy  dragon 
cast  up  by  the  sea  of  ages,  in  the  midst  of  a  stirring 
and  refined  city ;  and  has  only  exhibited  signs  of  life 
by  waving  her  huge  scaled  tail  in  menace  of  her  foes, 
and  by  stretching  out  her  ten-taloned  paws  to  devour  a 
tenth  of  the  land.  Can  such  a  monster  longer  encum- 
ber the  soil  of  England  ?  As  soon  might  we  expect 
St.  George  to  come  leading  his  dragon  into  London,  or 
Dunstan  present  the  devil,  pincered  in  his  fiery  tongs, 
at  the  door  of  Lambeth  palace. 

Dissent  was  forced  on  the  nation  by  the  bigotry  of 
the  rulers  and  the  priests ;  it  was  fanned  into  inextin- 
guishable flame  by  continual  jealousies  and  persecutions 
under  every  reign,  till  that  of  William  and  Mary  ;  and 
in  our  own  time  has,  by  the  lukewarmness  of  the  estab- 
lished clergy,  led  to  its  extension  tenfold  in  the  new 
schism  of  the  Methodists.*  The  history  of  the  Society 
of  Friends  is  full  of  the  most  singular  persecutions  on 
the  part  of  the  clergy,  and  the  magistracy  incited  by 
them.  At  one  time,  according  to  Sewell,  almost  every 
adult  of  this  persuasion  was  in  prison.     At  a  very  early 

*  The  sagacious  mind  of  Milton  saw  in  his  day  the  advantages  of 
that  system  which  Wesley  in  ours  has  put  so  successfully  into 
operation.  "  Thus  taught,  once  for  all,  and  thus  now  and  then  visited 
and  confirmed  in  the  most  destitute  and  poorest  places  of  the  land, 
under  the  government  of  their  own  elders,  performing  all  ministerial 
offices  among  them,  they  may  be  trusted  to  meet  and  edify  one  another, 
whether  in  church  or  chapel,  or  to  save  them  the  trudging  of  many 
miles  thither,  nearer  home,  though  in  a  house  or  barn.  For,  notwith- 
standing the  gaudy  superstition  of  some  still  ignorantly  devoted  to 
temples,  we  may  be  well  assured,  that  he  who  did  not  disdain  to  be 
laid  in  a  manger,  disdains  not  to  be  preached  in  a  barn ;  and  that,  by 
such  meetings  as  these,  being,  indeed,  most  apostolical  and  primitive, 
they  will,  in  a  short  time,  advance  more  in  Christian  knowledge  and 
reformation  of  life,  than  by  many  years  preaching  of  such  an  incum- 
bent, I  may  say  such  an  incumbrance  oft-times,  as  will  be  merely 
hired  to  abide  long  in  such  places," 


176  PRIESTCRAFT 

period  of  their  association,  two  thousand  four  hundred 
of  them  were  incarcerated.  From  the  time  of  their 
rise  to  the  very  day  of  the  passing  of  the  Act  of  Toler- 
ation, they  were  harassed  and  abused  in  all  possible 
manners.  Their  property  was  seized  ;  their  meetings 
forcibly  scattered  with  rude  soldiers  and  the  scum  of 
the  people  ;  they  were  confmed  in  the  most  loathsome 
prisons,  where  many  perished,  from  hardships  and 
severities  of  winter,  and  of  men  more  wintry  than  the 
elements.  To  escape  from  this  state  of  shameful  and 
intolerable  oppression,  William  Penn,  one  of  the 
greatest  and  most  illustrious  men  which  this  country 
ever  produced,  led  out  his  persecuted  brethren  to 
America,  and  there  founded  one  of  the  states  of  that 
noble  country,  which  has  now  risen  to  a  pitch  of  pros- 
perity which  is  the  natural  fruit  of  liberty ;  and  stands 
an  every-day  opprobrium  of  priestcraft,  and  a  monu- 
ment not  merely  of  the  uselessness,  but  the  impolicy 
and  nuisance  of  establishments.  In  the  new,  but  great 
cities  of  that  vast  empire — in  the  depths  of  its  eternal 
forests,  and  on  its  mountains  and  its  plains,  that  scorn 
to  bear  the  scorching  foot  of  despotism,  millions  of 
freemen,  who  have  escaped  from  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  outrages  of  Europe,  lift  up  their  voices  and 
their  hearts  in  thanksgivings  to  Him  who  has  given 
them  a  land  wide  as  human  wishes,  and  as  free  as  the 
air  that  envelops  it.  They  have  gone  out  from  us  to 
escape  our  cruelties  and  indignities,  and  are  become 
our  practical  teachers  in  the  philosophy  of  religion  and 
government. 

The  English  church,  which  has  been  so  lauded  by 
its  interested  supporters,  as  a  model  of  all  that  is 
pure,  dignified,  holy,  and  compact,  has  not  only  thus 
compelled  dissent  by  its  tyranny ;  but  by  the  consent 
of  all  historians,  has,  from  its  commencement,  been 
composed  like  Nebuchadnezzar's  image,  of  most  ill 
agreeing  materials,  mingled  brass  and  clay ;  and  has 
consequently  been  continually  rent  with  differing  fac- 
tions. The  Tudors  established  popish  rites,  and  Ed- 
ward VI.  introduced  Calvinistic  doctrines  ;  and  these, 


IN   ALL    AGES.  177 

retained  by  Elizabeth  and  James  I.,  Charles  I.  by  a 
singular  inconsistency  sanctioned,  at  the  same  mo- 
ment that,  under  the  management  of  his  domineering 
Laud,  he  \vas  carrying  the  claims  of  episcopal  power 
to  the  highest  pitch,  and  would  not  only  force  them. 
upon  the  English,  but  on  the  Scotch.  This  prelate, 
as  complete  a  papist  in  spirit  as  any  that  ever  exer- 
cised despotism  in  the  bosom  of  that  arbitrary  church, 
has  been  much  eulogized  by  good  men  of  the  present 
day,  who  themselves  most  amiable  in  their  own  pri- 
vate circles,  exhibit  in  their  writings  too  much  of  the 
harsliness  and  the  bigotry  of  the  middle  ages  to  be 
agreeable  in  this.  The  opinion  of  Hume  has  been 
often  quoted  in  his  favour ;  let  us  therefore  see  what 
Hume  does  say  of  him.  "  This  man  Avas  virtuous,  if 
severity  of  manners  alone,  and  abstinence  of  pleasure, 
could  deserve  that  name.  He  was  learned,  if  polem- 
ical knowledge  could  entitle  him  to  that  praise.  He 
was  disinterested;  but  with  unceasing  industry  he 
studied  to  exalt  the  priestly  and  prelatical  character, 
which  was  his  own.  His  zeal  w^as  unrelenting  in  the 
cause  of  religion ;  that  is,  by  imposing,  by  rigorous 
measures,  his  own  tenets  and  pious  ceremonies  on  the 
obstinate  puritans,  who  liad  profanely  dared  to  oppose 
him.  In  prosecution  of  his  holy  purposes,  lie  over- 
looked every  himian  consideration  ;  or,  in  other  words, 
the  heat  and  indiscretion  of  his  temper  made  him  neg- 
lect the  views  of  prudence,  and  rules  of  good  man- 
ners. He  was  in  this  respect  happy — how  exactly  the 
character  of  some  eminent  men  of  this  day  ! — that  all 
his  enemies  w^ere  also  imagined  by  him  the  declared 
enemies  of  loyalty  and  true  piety  ;  and  that  every  ex- 
ercise of  his  anger,  by  that  means,  became  in  his 
eyes  a  merit  and  a  virtue.  This  was  the  man  who  ac- 
quired so  great  an  ascendent  over  Charles,  and  who 
led  him  by  the  facility  of  his  temper,  with  a  conduct 
which  proved  so  fatal  to  himself  and  to  his  kingdom." 
He  adds,  that,  "  in  return  for  Charles's  indulgence 
towards  the  church.  Laud  and  his  followers  took  care 
to  magnify,  on  every  occasion,  the  regal  authority,  and 
H3 


178  PRIESTCRAFT 

to  treat  with  the  utmost  disdain  or  detestation,  all  pu- 
ritanical pretensions  to  a  free  and  independent  consti- 
tution." At  the  same  time,  he  continues, that  "while 
these  prelates  exalted  the  kingly  power,  they  took 
care  to  set  the  priestly  still  higher,  and  endeavoured 
to  render  it  independent  of  the  sovereign.  They  de- 
clared it  sacred  and  indefeasihle  ;  all  right  to  private 
judgment  in  spiritual  matters  was  denied  to  laymen ; 
bishops  held  spiritual  courts  without  any  notice  taken 
of  the  king's  authority ;  and  in  short,  rapid  strides 
were  made,  not  only  towards  the  haughty  despotism 
of  popery,  but  towards  its  superstitious  acrimonious- 
ness.  Laud,  in  spite  of  public  opinion  and  private 
remonstrance,  introduced  pictures  into  the  churches, 
shifted  the  altar  liack  to  its  old  papal  standing,  set  up 
again  the  crucifix,  and  advised  that  the  discipline  and 
worship  of  the  cliurch  sliould  l)e  imposed  in  all  the 
colonies,  and  in  all  the  reginients  and  trading  compa- 
nies abroad,  and  that  no  intimacy  should  be  maintained 
with  the  reformed  churches  of  the  Continent.  All  his 
measures,  in  fact,  tended  to  a  most  popish  state  of 
ceremonies  in  worship,  and  tyranny  and  intolerance 
in  behaviour ;  and  no  one,  after  reading  the  following 
accomit  of  his  consecration  of  St.  Catherine's  church, 
given  by  the  same  historian  on  the  authority  of  Well- 
wood,  Rushworth,  and  Franklin,  can  see  any  differ- 
ence between  him  and  a  most  thorough-going  papist. 

"  On  the  bishop's  approach  to  the  west  door  of  the 
church,  a  loud  voice  cried,  '  Open,  open,  ye  everlast- 
ing doors,  that  the  king  of  glory  may  enter  in.'  Im- 
mediately the  doors  of  the  church  flew  open,  and  the 
bishop  entered,  falling  on  his  knees,  with  eyes  elevated, 
and  arms  expanded,  he  uttered  these  words :  '  This 
place  is  holy ;  the  ground  is  holy ;  in  the  name  of 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  I  pronounce 
it  holy.' 

"  Going  towards  the  chancel,  he  several  times  took 
up  from  the  floor  some  of  the  dust,  and  threw  it  in 
the  air.  When  he  approached,  with  his  attendants,  near 
to  the  commimion  table,  he  bowed  frequently  towards 


IN    ALL    AGES.  179 

it ;  and  on  their  return,  they  went  round  the  church, 
repeating,  as  they  marched  along,  some  of  the  Psalms, 
and  said  a  form  of  prayer,  which  concluded  in  these 
words — '  We  consecrate  this  church,  and  separate  it 
unto  Thee  as  holy  ground,  not  to  be  profaned  any  more 
to  common  uses.' 

"After  this,  the  bishop  standing  near  the  commu- 
nion table,  solemnly  pronounced  many  imprecations 
upon  such  as  should  afterward  pollute  that  holy  place 
by  musters  of  soldiers,  or  keeping  in  it  profane  law- 
courts,  or  carrying  burdens  through  it.  On  the  con- 
clusion of  every  curse,  he  bowed  towards  the  east, 
and  said — 'Let  all  the  people  say,  Amen.' 

"The  imprecations  being  also  piously  finished, 
there  were  poured  out  a  number  of  blessings  on  all 
such  as  had  any  hand  in  building  and  forming  that 
sacred  and  beautiful  edifice  ;  and  on  such  as  had 
given,  or  should  hereafter  give  to  it,  any  chalices,  plate, 
ornaments,  or  utensils.  At  every  benediction  he  in 
like  manner  bowed  towards  the  east,  and  cried — '  Let 
all  the  people  say.  Amen.' 

"The  sermon  followed:  after  which  the  bishop 
consecrated  and  administered  the  Sacrament  in  the 
following  manner.  As  he  approached  the  communion 
table  he  made  many  lowly  reverences  ;  and,  coming 
up  to  that  part  of  the  table  where  the  bread  and  wine 
lay,  he  bowed  seven  times.  After  the  reading  of 
many  prayers,  he  approached  the  sacramental  ele- 
ments, and  gently  lifted  up  the  napkin  in  which  the 
bread  was  placed.  When  he  beheld  the  bread,  he 
suddenly  let  fall  the  napkin,  flew  back  a  step  or  two, 
bowed  three  several  times  towards  the  bread,  then  he 
drew  nigh  again,  opened  the  napkin,  and  bowed  as 
before. 

'*  Next  he  laid  his  hand  on  the  cup,  which  had  a 
cover  upon  it,  and  was  filled  with  wine.  He  let  go 
the  cup,  fell  back,  and  bowed  thrice  towards  it.  He 
approached  again,  and  lifting  up  the  cover,  peeped  in. 
Seeing  the  wine,  he  let  fall  the  cover,  started  back, 
and  bowed  as  before.     Then  he  i-eceived  the  sacra- 


180  PRIESTCRATT 

ment,  and  gave  it  to  others  ;  and,  many  prayers  being 
said,  the  solemnity  of  the  consecration  ended.  The 
walls  and  floor  and  roof  of  the  fabric  were  then  sup- 
posed to  be  sufficiently  holy." 

The  consequence  of  these  ridiculous  ceremonies 
on  the  one  hand,  and  severities  on  the  other — for  the 
English  Inquisition,  in  the  form  of  the  High  Commis- 
sion Court  and  the  Star  Chamber  was  in  full  exer- 
cise, and  many  cruelties  and  iniquities  were  continu- 
ally practised  in  them  on  those  who  dared  to  have  an 
opinion  of  their  own — was,  that  Laud  was  brought  to 
the  block,*  and  his  sovereign  was  left  in  that  calamit- 
ous course  of  unsuccessful  despotism  which  actually 
brought  him  there,  and  deluged  the  whole  nation  in 
blood,  and  tossed  it  in  years  of  anarchy  and  crime. 
By  these  circinnstances,  hovv^ever,  the  church  received, 
what  Lord  Chatham  so  expressly  designated  in  par- 
liament— a  Popish  liturgy,  a  Calvinistic  creed,  and 
an  Arminian  clergy. 

The  heterogeneous  materials  of  the  church  showed 
conspicuously  iii  the  famous  assembly  of  divines  at 
Westminster  during  part  of  Charles's  reign  and  part 
of  the  Commonwealth,  By  the  accession  of  William 
another  rent  was  made  :  part  of  the  hierarchy  adher- 
ing to  the  Stuart  line,  refusing  to  swear  allegiance  to 
the  new  dynasty,  and  thus  acquiring  the  name  of  Non- 
jurors,—splitting  the  church  into  High-church  and 
TiOW-church, — two  parties  Avhose  feuds  and  heart- 
burnings continued  till  late  years,  when  the  sect  of  the 


*  It  is  pity  that  an  archbishop  like  Laud  should  be  brought  to 
such  an  end ;  because  there  are  so  much  cheaper  ways,  and  more 
economical  of  human  su^erins?  than  the  real  murder  of  political  en- 
emies in  the  manner  of  Vane  and  Ney.  But  considerations  ot  this 
kind  should  hnider  no  man  from  discernui£j,  how  entirely  all  that 
constitutes  public  and  private  freedom,  happiness,  and  honour,  has 
been  obtained  by  the  conquest  and  beating  down,  and  is.  in  fact,  the 
spoil  of  war  carried  off"  by  the  subjection  and  trampling  under  foot, 
of  that  political  and  ecclesiastical  party  who  have  just  received  an- 
other mighty  bruise ;  and  of  whom  it  has  been  truly  said,  that  but 
for  their  successive  defeats,  England  would  at  this  moment  liave 
been  Spain,  Portugal,  or  Trnkey.^  West7ninst€r  Rmew,  ^o. 
XXXIY. 


IN  ALL  AGES.  18 

Evangelicals  has  appeared,  to  bear  prolonged  evidence 
to  the  internal  destitution  of  the  principles  of  cohe 
sion  in  the  establishment.  These  lean  towards  the 
Calvinistic  creed,  which  they  justly  assert  is  the  strict 
hteral  creed  of  the  church  according  to  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles  ;  and  advocate  a  reform  in  the  manners, 
and  a  renewed  zeal  in  the  spirit  of  the  clergy.  When 
we  add  to  this  that  whereas  in  other  countries  the 
ciuirch  is  under  the  government  of  one  deliberative 
body,  and  is  in  this  split  into  two  houses  of  convoca* 
tion,  we  have  before  us  a  picture  of  unconnectedness 
that  is  perfectly  amazing. 

This  is  but  a  melancholy  sketch  of  the  history  of 
this  celebrated  church ;  but  it  is  one  so  broadly,  copi- 
ously, and  overwhelmingly  delineated  in  the  annals  of 
the  nation  at  large,  that  it  cannot  be  controverted ; — a 
liistory,  as  that  of  every  state  religion  must  be,  of 
power  usurping  the  throne  of  conscience ;  thrusting 
the  spirit  of  the  people  from  free  address  to,  and  com- 
munion with  their  God ;  and  in  refusal  of  obedience 
— an  obedience  more  deadly  and  shameful  than  the 
most  outrageous  resistance  could  possibly  be — follow- 
ing them  with  the  fire  and  sword  of  extermination ; 
or  if  that  Avere  not  allowed,  with  the  sneers  and  taunts 
of  contempt.  Alas  !  that  such  should  be  the  misera- 
ble results  of  that  Reformation^which  at  first  promised 
such  glorious  fruits ;  that  the  blood  of  martyrs,  and 
the  fervid  prayers  and  mighty  exertions  of  the  noblest 
intellects,  and  holiest  men,  should  be  spent  so  much 
in  vain. 

But  such  ever  has  been,  and  ever  will  be  the  resulj 
of  that  great  fundamental  error,  of  linking  in  unnat- 
ural union  church  and  state ;  of  making  the  church 
of  Christ,  who  has  himself  declared  that  *'  his  king- 
dom is  not  of  this  world,"  a  tool  of  ambitious  kings 
and  rulers. 

The  nature  of  the  Christian  religion  is  essentially 
free  ;  the  voice  of  Christ  proclaims  to  men — "  the 
truth  shall  make  you  free  !"  The  spirit  of  Christian- 
ity is  so  delicate  in  its  sensibility,  that  it  shrinks  from 


182  PRIESTCRAFT 

the  touch  of  the  iron  and  blood-stained  hand  of  politi- 
cal rule ;  it  is  so  boundless  in  its  aspirations,  and  ex- 
pansive in  its  energies,  that  it  must  stand  on  the  broad 
champaign  of  civil  and  intellectual  liberty,  ere  it  can 
stretch  its  wings  effectively  for  that  flight  which  is 
destined  to  encompass  the  earth,  and  end  only  in  eter- 
nity. And  what  has  been  the  consequence  of  attempt- 
ing to  chain  this  free  spirit  to  the  car  of  state  ?  Why, 
that  in  its  days  of  earlier  union,  arbitrary  power 
sought  to  quench  in  its  own  sacred  name,  its  own 
very  life  ! — pursued  with  fire,  sword,  fetters,  dungeons, 
and  death  its  primest  advocates.  The  history  of  dis- 
sent is  full  of  these  horrors  :  and  Ireland,  in  which 
tne  same  system  was  pursued ;  and  Scotland,  that 
sooner  than  submit  to  it,  rose,  and  stood  to  the  death 
in  many  a  mountain  pass  and  bloody  valley,  can 
testify  to  the  same  odious  policy.  The  oppressions 
and  splendid  resistance  of  the  Scottish  Covenanters, 
— the  bloody  havoc  made  among  them  by  the  soldiery 
of  reformed  kings  and  a  reformed  church ;  and  their 
undaunted  and  most  picturesque  celebration  of  their 
own  simple  worship,  lifting  up  their  voices  amid  the 
rocks  and  deserts  whither  they  were  driven  for  their 
adherence  to  their  religion,  are  well  told  by  their  o^^^l 
historians.  From  the  first  to  the  last — from  the  acces- 
sion of  James  I.  to  the  throne  of  England  to  the  ex- 
pulsion of  James  II.  from  that  throne,  a  period  of  up- 
wards of  eighty  years,  the  Stuarts  persisted  in  the 
most  tyrannical  endeavours  to  force  on  their  native 
coimtry  of  Scotland  the  episcopal  church ;  and,  in 
consequence,  deluged  that  high-spirited  and  beautiful 
country  with  blood.  Many  a  solitary  heath,  many  a 
scene  of  savage  rocks  in  that  land,  where  the  peasant 
now  passes  by  and  only  wonders  at  its  wild  silence, 
are  yet  loud  in  the  ear  of  heaven  in  eternal  complaints 
of  the  bloody  and  domineering  deeds  of  the  English 
church,  ^v^ought  by  its  advice  and  by  the  hireling 
murderers  of  its  royal  head ;  many  a  name — as  Kil- 
sythe,  Kilicranky,  and  Bothwell  Bridge — will  rise  up 
for  ever  in  the  souls  of  man  against  her.     Does  she 


IN  ALL  AGES.  183 

Stand  before  us  and  call  herself  holy  and  meek,  and 
beneficent,  with  all  these  crimes,  all  these  lives,  all 
this  blood  and  'misery  on  her  head  ?  Well  would  it 
have  been  for  Ireland,  well  for  England,  well  for  the 
Episcopalian  church  itself,  if  some  Jenny  Geddes 
had  been  found,  as  in  Edinburgh,  to  launch  her  three- 
legged  stool  at  the  head  of  the  clergyman  when  he 
began  to  deal  out  a  state  liturgy ;  and  had  been  fol- 
lowed by  the  simultaneous  efforts  of  the  whole  people, 
to  teach  kings  and  priests  to  respect  the  inalienable 
rights  of  conscience :  but  in  default  of  this,  what  has 
been  the  consequence  ?  While  power  was  left  to  the 
church,  it  persecuted,  and  would  have  continued  to 
persecute.  The  act  of  William  III.  put  an  end  to 
this ;  and  we  must  henceforth  look  for  the  spirit  of 
priestcraft  in  a  different  shape.  The  whole  course 
of  this  volume  has  shown  that  this  wily  spirit  has 
conformed  itself  to  circumstances.  Where  unlimited 
power  was  within  its  grasp,  it  seized  it  without  hesi- 
tation, and  exercised  it  without  mercy.  Egypt,  India, 
all  ancient  Asia,  and  all  feudal  Europe,  are  witnesses 
of  this.  Where  it  could  not  act  so  freely,  it  submit- 
ted to  the  spirit  of  the  people ;  and  worked  more 
quietly,  more  unseen,  but  equally  effectually  as  in 
Greece  and  Pagan  Rome.  England,  after  William 
III.,  afforded  no  further  scope  for  imprisonment,  the 
martyr's  flaming  pile,  or  the  bloody  axe  of  the  public 
executioner.  It  was  rapidly  careering  in  a  course  of 
knowledge  and  civilization,  which  made  men  ac- 
quainted with  their  rights.  The  established  clerg)^, 
therefore,  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  secure  the  full  en- 
joyment of  their  revenues,  and  that  parochial  influence 
with  which  they  were  invested  ;  and  the  consequence 
is,  that  they  have  become  the  richest  body  of  priests 
and  the  most  apathetic  towards  the  people,  from  Avhom 
their  wealth  is  drawn.  The  clergy,  from  these  circum- 
stances, have  been  long  gradually  diverging  into  two 
classes, — one,  sunk  into  the  slumberous  beds  of  enor- 
mous wealth  and  gross  luxury ;  the  other,  into  the 
miserable  slough  of  interminable  toil  and  poverty.    If 


184  PRIESTCRAFT, 

we  look  at  the  dignitaries  of  the  cliuich,  and  at  the 
description  of  the  dignitaries  of  the  papal  church  in 
its  later  days  of  universal  influence,  can  we  avoid 
being  struck  with  the  coincidence  of  character? 
"  They  pass  their  days  amid  the  pleasures  and  cabals 
of  courts  ;  and  appear  rather  the  slaves  of  princes, 
than  the  servants  of  Him  whose  kingdom  is  not  of 
this  world.  They  court  glory:  they  aspire  after 
riches  ;  while  very  few  employ  their  time  and  labour 
in  edifying  the  people,  or  in  promoting  among  them 
the  vital  spirit  of  religion ;  and,  what  is  more  deplor- 
able, those  bishops  who,  sensible  of  the  sanctity  of 
their  character,  and  the  duties  of  their  office,  distin- 
guished themselves  by  zeal  in  the  cause  of  virtue,  are 
frequently  exposed  to  the  malicious  efforts  of  envy, 
often  loaded  with  false  accusations,  and  involved  in 
perplexities  of  various  kinds."  ^ 

But  it  is  not  the  bishops  alone  to  whom  this  applies. 
These  are  the  features  of  -the  establisliment,  as  they 
appear  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  at  large  ; — 

A  clergy,  in  part,  overpaid,  and  inactive  ;  in  part, 
overworked,  and  ill  paid. 

Loaded,  in  part,  with  opulent  sinecures  and  shameful 
pluralities  ;  the  greater  part  doing  the  duty  of  the  lazy 
and  the  absent — on  a  paltry  pittance. 

Jjukewarm  in  their  duties  ;  and  proudly  cold  in  their 
intercourse  with  the  poor  of  their  flocks. 

A  clergy,  doggedly  adhesive  to  the  establishment 
as  it  is,  in  spite  of  the  progress  of  the  public  mind ; 
adhering  to  its  most  absurd,  and  most  impolitic  insti- 
tutions, rites,  and  dogmas.* 

*  Appendix  IV, 


IN   ALL   AGES.  185 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

ENGLISH    AND    IRISH    CHURCHES. 

Irish  Church  Reform— See  of  Derry— Irish  Church— Its  Revenues 
State  Religion  in  Ireland — English  Church — Injustice  of  com- 
pelling Dissenters  to  support  the  Estabhshment— Tithes — Unalter- 
able Nature  of  State  Religions — Anecdotes — Stipendiary  Clergy. 


Thrice  happy  days !  thrice  blest  the  man  who  saw 
Their  dawn  !     The  Church  and  State,  that  long  had  held 
Unholy  intercourse,  were  now  divorced ! 

Pollock's  Course  of  Time,  B.  4. 

'  Forced  consecrations  out  of  another  man's  estate  are  no  better 
than  forced  vows,  hateful  to  God,  "  who  loves  a  cheerful  giver ;"  but 
much  more  hateful  wrung  out  of  men's  purses  to  maintain  a  disap- 
proved ministry  against  their  consciences. 

Milton  on  Hirelings. 


So  intolerable  has  the  state  of  the  church  become, 
that  the  public  is  loud  in  demanding  its  reform ;  and 
the  clergy  themselves,  sensible  that  reform  is  inevit- 
able, with  a  Avise  policy,  bend  in  some  degree  to  the 
popular  opinion.  Already  the  ministers  of  a  reformed 
government  have  published  their  plan  of  reform  for  the 
church  of  Ireland,  that  monstrous  excrescence,  where 
a  revenue  of  800,000/.,  according  to  the  last  clerical 
returns  to  parliament,  but  according  to  other  calcula- 
tions little  short  of  2,000,000/.,  is  appropriated  to  a 
population  of  500,000  Protestants ;  while  8,000,000 
of  Catholics  not  only  help  to  support  their  establish- 
ment, but  their  own  priests.  The  proposed  reform 
consists  principally  in  reducing  the  archbishoprics  and 
bishoprics  from  twenty-two  to  twelve  ;  in  reducing  the 
incomes  of  the  remaining  ones  ;  in  laying  on  a  tax  of 
fifteen  per  cent,  on  the  general  income  of  the  clergy; 
in  taking  off  the  church  cess,  or  rate,  from  the  people  ; 
and  in  selling  off  the  lands  of  the  extinguished  bisliop- 
jrics  as  they  fall  oiU  of  lease.     The  Irish  members  of 


186  PRIESTCRAFT 

parliament  have  received  this  announcement  with 
ecstasies  of  delight.  It  is  part  of  the  Irish  character 
to  fly  into  sudden  raptures  ;  but  cool  reflection  will 
come  yet ;  and  then — what  will  satisfy  them  ?  Why, 
nothing  short  of  the  utter  abrogation  of  Protestant 
episcopacy  as  a  state  religion.  If  it  were  necessary 
that  a  religion  should  be  established,  as  it  is  called,  it 
ought  here  to  be  the  Catholic.  The  opinions  of  the 
majority  of  a  nation  ought  surely  to  command  some 
respect ;  ought  surely  to  be  the  guide  in  such  matters. 
If  a  nation  is  to  patronise  and  support  one  religion  in 
preference  to  another,  it  ought  surely  to  be  the  religion 
of  the  nation.  The  religion  of  Ireland  is  Catholic,— 
the  religion  of  Scotland  is  Presbyterian, — why  should 
Scotland  be  permitted  to  have  a  church  of  her  ov,n, 
and  Ireland  be  refused  one  ?  Why  should  the  ma.- 
jority  in  the  other  parts  of  the  empire  decide  the 
establishment  of  their  party,  and  in  Ireland  an  insig- 
nificant sect  be  thrust  upon  the  people  as  the  national 
RELIGION  ;  and  be  bolstered  up  with  tithes,  glebes,  and 
wealth  enormous?  These  are  plain  questions,  and 
suggest  a  plain  answer. 

One    circumstance    connected   with   Irish   church 
reform  is  characteristic  of  its  real  nature  and  extent, 
as  proposed  by  the  present  ministers,  and  ought  to 
have  opened  the  eyes  of  all  men.     The  bishopric  of 
Deny,  the  most  enormously  endowed  in  Ireland,  was 
vacant  at  the  very  moment  of  the  organization  of  this 
plan  of  reform.     If  a  number  of  bishoprics  were  to  be 
reduced,  why  should  not  this  have  been  one  1     Or  if 
it  were  not  thought  desirable  to  extinguish  it,  why 
should  not  the  incumbent  of  one  of  those  sees  which 
were  to  be  withdrawn  be  translated  to  this,  and  thus 
one  at  least  have  been  instantly  removed  ?     The  sur- 
prise which  the  appointment  of  a  bishop  to  this  see, 
under  these  circumstances  created,  was  at  once  dissi- 
pated ;  and  gave  place  in  the  public  mind  to  a  higher 
surprise  and  a  feeling  of  indignation,  by  the  discovery 
that  the  bishop  thus  installed  was  Dr.  Ponsonby,  the 
brother-in-law  of  Earl  Grey!    This  was  an  assurance 


IN    ALL    AGES.  187 

sufficiently  intelligible.  Will  a  man  set  himself 
heartily  to  cut  down  a  tree  in  whose  topmost  branches 
he  has  placed  his  brother  ?  Will  a  man  assay  to  sink 
a  vessel  in  which  he  has  embarked  his  own  family? 
Will  a  general  proceed  cordially  to  blow  up  a  fortress 
in  which  his  near  relative  is  commandant  ?  Then,  will 
Earl  Grey  set  himself  heartily  to  work  to  reform 
efficiently  the  Irish  church  ? 

The  abolition  of  this  bishopric  would  have  been  a 
thing  of  the  highest  importance.  Its  revenue,  accord- 
ing to  the  present  return,  is  13,000/. :  and  it  is  pro- 
posed to  reduce  it  to  8,000/.  But  what  is  the  estimate 
of  Mr.  Wakefield  of  the  value  of  this  see  ?  He  cal- 
culates that  the  whole  of  its  property,  over  and  above 
the  tenth  part  of  the  gross  produce  of  the  land,  cannot 
be  much  short  of  3,000,000/. ;  and  that  the  bishop's 
land,  at  a  fair  rate  of  rent,  would  produce  an  income 
of  130,000/.  a  year.  This,  then,  is  the  berth  into 
which  Earl  Grey,  in  the  face  of  a  reformed  parliament 
— of  his  own  professions  of  real  reform — of  suffering 
England,  and  starving  Ireland,  has  comfortably  put  his 
brother-in-law,  and  proposes  to  satisfy  the  country  by 
the  abatement  of  5,000/.  a  year  out  of  this  immense 
property.  By  the  extinction  of  this  bishopric  alone,  a 
saving  to  the  country  would  have  been  made  at  once 
of  3,000,000/^! — for  the  question  in  this  case  is,  not 
what  the  bishop  actually  derives  from  the  land,  but 
Avhat  it  is  worth  to  the  nation. 

But  the  whole  of  this  extraordinary  establishment 
of  state  religion  is  of  a  piece.  For  the  government  of 
the  whole  church  of  England,  twenty-six  archbishops 
and  bishops  exist — for  500,000  Irish  Protestants  there 
are  twenty-two  !  According  to  former  returns,  there 
are  1,238  parochial  benefices  ;  according  to  the  pres- 
ent, 1,401,  in  which  are  860  resident  clergymen.  To 
provide  for  these  archbishops  and  bishops,  who  super- 
intend about  as  many  people  as  one  bishop  in  England 
would  very  well  manage,  it  is  calculated  that  out  of 
14,603,473  statute  acres  under  cultivation,  13,603,473 
are  tithed.    The  glebe  of  the  parochial  clergy  varies 


188  PRIESTCRAFT 

from  300  to  40,000  acres.  The  glebe  in  the  diocess 
of  Derry  alone,  amounts  to  more  than  17,000  acres. 
The  glebes,  indeed,  it  is  calculated,  in  Derry  and  Kil- 
more  would,  if  equally  divided,  give  twenty  acres  to 
every  parish  in  Ireland.  Mr.  Wakefield  estimates 
that  the  property  of  six  of  the  bishops,  when  out  of 
lease,  would  produce  580,000/.  a  year ; — a  sum  which 
would  give  an  income  of  5001.  a  year  for  each  of  the 
clergy,  and  a  fund  for  the  establishment  of  a  school  in 
every  parish  in  Ireland.  But  if  the  property  of  six 
bishops  amount  to  580,000/.  a  year,  what  becomes  of 
the  clerical  calculation  which  makes  the  whole  income 
of  the  Irish  church  but  800,000/.  ?— leaving  to  the 
whole  body  of  parochial  clergy  and  sixteen  bishops 
little  more  tlian  200,000/.  ? 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  returns  to  the 
House  of  Commons  in  February,  1824. 

Sees.  Acres.  Sees.  Acres. 

Derry 94,836  Dublin 28,784 

Armagh    -  -  -  -  63,470  Cork  and  Ross-  22,755 

Kilmore 51,350  Meath 18,374 

Tuam 49,281  Ossory 13,391 

Clogher 32,817  Cashel 12,800 

Elphin 31,017  Killaloe   -  -  -  -  11,081 

Total,  439,953  acres  ;  which  at  20^.  per  acre,  give 
a  rental  of  439,953/. 

If  we  estimate  the  remaining  ten  bishoprics  at  one- 
third  of  the  amount,  there  is  146,651, — a  rental  of  dio- 
cesan lands  of  586,604/. 

If  we  estimate  the  glebes  at  100,000  acres,  which 
is,  probably,  far  too  little,  when  the  glebe  of  Derry 
alone  exceeds  17,000  acres,  and  the  parochial  glebes 
vary  from  300  to  40,000  acres,  at  20^.,  here  is 
100,000/. 

The  titlie  of  upwards  of  13,000,000  acres,  at  only 
2^.  a  tithe  of  the  rental,  not  of  the  gross  produce, 
would  be  1 ,300,000/. ;  making  a  total  of  income  for 
the  Irish  church  of  1,986,604/. 

As  women's  fortunes  are  said  to  be  paid  in  six- 
j^iences,  so  when  the  incomes  of  the  clergy  are  returned 


IN    ALL    AGES.  189 

to  government,  they  seem  to  be  calculated  in  farthings, 

or  something  less.  Tithe  and  glebe  seem  suddenly 
to  lose  their  natural  value,  surplice  fees  and  lines 
shrink  into  insignificance.  Yet  these  fines  are  pretty 
things,  though  they  do  not  always  amount  to  so  much 
as  the  present  Bishop  of  Durham  received  of  Mrs. 
Beaumont  for  the  renewal  of  the  lease  of  her  lead 
mines— 72,000^. ! 

Now  admitting,  that  owing  to  the  low  rate  of  cleri- 
cal leases,  to  waste  land,  to  lay  impropriation,  and  to 
the  popular  inability  or  repugnance  to  pay  tithes,  the 
income  of  the  church  falls  far  below  this  estimate,  the 
question,  so  far  as  the  country  is  concerned,  is  the 
same.  Here  is  a  monstrous  amount  of  property  appro- 
priated to  a  certain  purpose,  and  what  good  is  done  ? 
What  good,  indeed,  as  it  regards  Ireland? — A  pro- 
digious waste  of  property  (for  in  addition  to  all  the 
rest,  it  appears  that,  at  different  times  since  the  Union, 
about  half  a  million  has  been  voted  to  augment  poor 
livings)  only  to  render  the  name  of  Protestant  hateful 
to  that  nation,  by  the  laziness,  non-residence,  and 
tithe-exactions  of  the  clergy  of  a  church,  which  the 
Edinburgh  Review,  some  years  ago,  happily  compared 
to  an  Irish  regiment  of  volmiteers,  which  consisted  of 
sixteen  lieutenant-colonels,  two  drummers,  and  one 
private  !  The  same  able  journal  has  well  remarked, 
that  "  whatever  may  be  the  supposed  effects  of  a  richly 
endowed  church  in  maintaining  a  particular  creed,  it 
is  evidently  not  the  machine  for  the  conversion  of  a 
people." 

The  justice  and  intelligence  of  the  British  people 
cannot  long,  therefore,  be  satisfied  with  lopping  off  a 
few  enormities  from  such  a  system ;  they  will  demand 
its  total  extinction.  Religion  and  the  best  objects  of 
all  human  government  demand  it !  For  if  Protestant- 
ism is  to  prosper  in  Ireland,  it  must  not  come  before 
the  people  in  the  shape  of  a  corporation,  chartered  in 
opposition  to  the  predominant  feelings  of  the  country, 
and  endowed  with  a  vast  portion  of  the  people's  wealth  ; 
it  must  not  come  in  the  shape  of  two  and  twenty  arch- 


10t)  PRIESTCRAFT 

bishops  and  bishops  to  superintend  some  few  hundred 
clergymen,  on  incomes  of  10,000/.  a  year;  in  the 
shape  of  tithe-fed  clergjnnen  without  parishes,  parishes 
without  churches,  and  churches  without  people  ;  in  the 
shape  of  men  who  profess  to  be  teachers  of  Christian 
meekness  and  love,  but  are  seen  only  as  zealous  col- 
lectors of  titlies  ;  in  the  shape  of  tithe-proctors,  with 
troops  of  soldiery  at  their  heels  ;  in  the  shape  of  noon- 
day exaction  and  midnight  retaliation  and  revenge  ;  in 
short,  of  wealth  and  violence  on  the  one  hand,  and  des- 
titution and  despair  on  the  other  ; — but  if  it  come  really 
to  prosper  and  to  bless,  it  must  come  as  Christ  him- 
self came, — as  a  free  personification  of  disinterested 
kindness  ;  zealous  love  for  the  souls  of  men,  rather  than 
their  purses  ;  active  endeavour  to  sooth  the  irritation 
and  enlighten  the  minds  of  the  poor ;  it  must  be  offered 
to  men's  hearts,  but  not  thrust  upon  their  shoulders ; 
it  must  stand  before  the  public  eye  as  a  thing  to  be 
chosen,  or  refused  ;  as  a  thing  which  invites  observa- 
tion, and  can  bear  it ;  as  a  thing  which  obviously  has 
no  interest  but  what  is  blended  with  the  Avhole  happi- 
ness of  man, — whose  nobility  is  so  Siriking,  and  its 
beauty  so  attractive,  that  hearts  are  drawn  to  its  em- 
braces, not  crushed  beneath  its  tread.  The  system 
of  compulsion  and  lavish  endowment  has  been  tried 
long  enough ;  long  enough  has  state  religion,  to  use 
Burke's  sophistical  metaphor,  "  reared  its  mitred  front 
in  courts  and  parliaments,"  its  effects  are  before  the 
public  in  characters  of  fire  and  blood !  Instead  of 
peace,  we  have  horrible  anarchy — instead  of  the  milk 
of  human  kindness,  deadly  exasperation  and  relentless 
murder — in  God's  name  let  us  see  what  the  system 
of  the  apostles  will  now  do  ! — a  free  offer, — and  open 
hand, — and  a  zealous  heart ! — a  system  less  of  the  bag 
and  scrip,  than  of  the  virtues  and  argmnents  that  ad- 
dress themselves  to  the  wants,  the  imderstanding,  and 
the  generosity  of  a  generous  nation. 

In  England,  tlie  dissenters — now  a  great  and  im- 
portant body  of  people,  a  people  alive  to  their  civil 
and  religious  rights — must  be  relieved  from  church- 


IN   ALL    AGES.  191 

rates.  Ministers  have  acknowledged  the  justice  of 
this  demand,  by  already  proposing  to  abolish  them  in 
Ireland — the  principle  in  both  cases  is  the  same.  The 
Irish  cess,  it  appears,  produces  only  about  94,000/. 
What  the  dissenters  pay  in  the  shape  of  church-rates, 
Easter  offerings,  etc.,  I  do  not  know — the  sum  must 
be  enormous ;  but  the  Society  of  Friends,  a  compara- 
tively small  body,  suffers  the  violence  and  vexation 
of  distraint  of  their  goods,  for  such  things,  to  the 
amount  of  about  14,000/.  a  year;  and  these  people 
maintain  their  own  religion,  and  their  own  poor. 

That  English  dissenters  should  be  compelled  to 
contribute  to  the  support  of  an  established  church,  is 
a  moral  and  political  absurdity.  By  the  Act  of  Tol- 
eration of  King  AVilliam,  the  rights  of  conscience  are 
recognised :  but  by  this  compulsion  all  the  rights  of 
conscience  are  violated.  "A  government  cannot 
patronize  one  particular  religion  without  pimishing 
others.  A  state  has  no  wealth  but  the  people's  wealth. 
If  it  pay  some,  it  impoverishes  others."  To  tell  us 
that  we  may  all  enjoy  our  own  opinions,  and  celebrate 
our  own  worship  in  perfect  freedom  ;  and  yet  to  com- 
pel us  to  support  another  mode  of  religion,  and  another 
set  of  opinions,  in  our  eyes  erroneous  and  unchristian, 
is  at  once  an  oppression  and  a  bitter  mockery.  It  is 
not  so  much  the  sum  of  actual  money  that  we  pay 
which  constitutes  the  grievance, — that  might  be  borne ; 
but  the  gravamen  lies  here, — that  by  supporting  an 
establishment,  we  support  what,  in  the  abstract,  both 
religiously  and  politically,  we  believe  ought  not  to 
exist.  We  believe  it  is  the  duty  of  a  government,  and 
especially  of  a  Christian  government,  which  acknow- 
ledges the  sacred  rights  of  conscience,  to  protect  ever}-- 
modification  of  the  Christian  religion  ;  but  not  to  sup- 
port one  in  preference  to,  and  at  the  expense  of,  the 
rest.  This  is  not  to  patronise  religion,  but  a  party. 
That  an  establishment,  unjust  and  impolitic  in  itself, 
never  can,  and  never  has,  promoted  true  religion,  is 
shown  abundantly  by  this  volume ;  it  is  testified 
equally  by  the  apathy  of  the  established  church,  and 


192  PRIESTCRAFT 

the  activity  of  the  dissenters.  Is  it  not  a  source  of 
continual  complahits  and  bitterness  among  clerical 
wi-iters,  that  the  dissenters  arc  for  ever  intruding  them- 
selves into  their  parishes ;  and,  with  what  they  are 
pleased  to  term  their  fiery  fanaticism,  continually  tm-n 
the  heads  of  their  parishioners,  and  seduce  them  to 
he  conventicle  ?  Now  whether  this  zeal  be  healthful 
r  not,  whether  it  be  pure  or  alloyed,  refined  or  coarse, 
ational  or  fanatic,  it  matters  not  to  our  present  ques- 
tion,— it  is  zeal, — and  the  vital  question  is,  whence 
does  it  arise  ?  how  is  it  maintained  ?  Not,  certainly, 
from  a  state  establishment ! — not  by  charters  and  en- 
dowments. It  springs  from  the  soul  of  the  people, 
and  asks  no  breath  of  life  but  their  approbation.  Here, 
then,  is  an  acknowledged  principle  of  religious  propa- 
gation, more  efficacious  than  all  the  boasted  influence 
of  canonicals  and  mitres ;  of  cathedral  piles  and 
sounding  orchestras  ;  of  all  the  political  machinery  of 
tithes,  and  glebes,  and  church-rates,  and  forced  pay- 
ments, called  by  the  sarcastic  name  of  gifts  and  offer- 
ings^ as  if  the  imposition  were  not  enough,  but  we 
must  suffer  the  mockery  of  being  placed  in  the  li^t 
of  free  donors  and  bowing  offerers  of  gifts  at  a  shrine 
that  we  inwardly  abhor.  Here  is  a  confessed  power 
to  keep  alive  the  popular  zeal  for  religion ; — if  that 
zeal  wants  better  guidance,  it  becomes  every  good  man 
to  lend  his  hand  to  its  due  direction, — but  the  principle 
itself  is  indisputably  manifested,  and  sets  the  seal  for 
ever  to  the  non-necessity,  and  therefore  to  the  political 
oppression,  of  a  state  religion.  Nothing  could  justify 
a  state  religious  establishment  but  the  total  and  proven 
impossibility  of  keepng  alive  Christianity  without  it ; 
but  here  it  is  seen  that  religious  zeal  rather  takes  any 
other  fonn  than  that  stamped  upon  it  by  legal  enact- 
ments. Like  the  acanthus,  pressed  under  the  tile,  it 
rises  up  with  unquenchable  vitality  all  around,  and  not 
only  buries  the  dead  tile  of  policy  under  its  vigorous 
vegetation,  but  gives  origin  to  new  orders  of  Christian 
architecture.  While  the  zeal  of  the  established  cler- 
ical order  languishes  under  the  weight  of  good  things 


IN   ALL   AGES.  193 

which  its  friends  have  cast  upon  it ;  while  bishoprics, 
and  deaneries,  and  prebends  cannot  stimulate  it  to  the 
vital  point  of  proselytism ;  while  tithes,  and  glebes, 
and  fines,  and  parochial  fees  cannot  enliven  it,  the  free 
breath  of  popular  societies  can  blow  it  into  a  flame 
that  spreads  far  and  wide,  and  even  scorches  the 
canonical  skirts  of  the  state  clergy.  Who,  after  this, 
shall  dare  to  repeat  the  stale  sophism  that  Christianity 
needs  the  arm  of  human  legislation  to  support  her, — 
that  she  must  be  perched  on  cathedral  pinnacles  to  be 
fairly  seen ;  that  she  must  be  wrapped  in  alb  or  sur- 
plice, and  crowned  with  shovel-hat  or  mitre  to  be  rev-- 
erenced,  and  seated  on  the  episcopal  throne  to  be 
adored?  Who  shall  dare  to  turn  his  eye  on  the 
United  States  of  America,  where  there  is  no  state  reli- 
gion, yet  where  Christianity  flourishes  not  less  than 
among  us,  and  then  attempt  to  palm  upon  us  the  cant- 
ing and  selfish  falsehood,  that  religion  is  bound  up  in 
tlie  bundle  of  life  with  an  act  of  parliament  1 

By  compelling  us  to  support  an  established  religion, 
we  are  compelled  to  support  and  propagate  all  its  er- 
rors, its  injustice,  and  its  absurdities,  however  great, 
and  numerous,  and  pernicious  they  may  be.  Every 
sect  in  England  at  present,  in  contributing  to  the  es- 
tablishment, contributes  to  that  which  it  abhors.  The 
denouncer  of  episcopacy  is  made  to  maintain  a  whole 
hierarchy  of  bishops  ;  the  Catholic,  what  he  declares 
to  be  pestilent  heresies  of  the  most  damnable  sort ; 
the  Calvinist  maintains  Anninianism ;  the  Arminian, 
Calvinism ;  for,  in  the  church  are  combined  "  a  Cal- 
vinistic  creed,  and  an  Arminian  clergy."  The  Friend, 
who  believes  all  hierarchies  antichrislian,  who  holds 
that  all  ministers  should  speak  from  the  immediate  in- 
fluence of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  abominates  hireling 
ministers,  written  sermons,  and  a  cut-and-dried  liturgy, 
is  forced,  by  distraint  of  his  goods,  to  feed  and  uphold 
all  these  enormities :  every  man  is  made  to  maintain 
the  doctrine  of  priestly  absolution,  for  the  church  main- 
tains it ;  and  every  man  is  made  most  heartily  to  damn 
himself,  for  the  Athanasian  creed,  which  is  one  of  the 
I 


1Q4. 

*^^  PRIESTCRAFT 


creeds  of  the  church,  does  declare  every  man  to  be 
damned  who  doubts  it. 

Such  a  preposterous  abuse  of  power  never  can  be 
much  longer  tolerated  m  this  country.     The  church- 
rates  must  be  abolished,  and  with  them  tithes.     Tithes 
are  politically  condemned,  and  will  disappear  for  ever 
A  more  ingenious  method  could  not  have  been  devised 
or  the  suppon  of  a  minister  of  religion,  had  it  been 
the  object  of  the  deviser  to  place  an  eternal  object  of 
hatred,  heart-burning,  and  dispute  between  him  and 
his  flock  ;  to  place  him  in  the  position  of  a  harpy  over 
the   table  of  every  one  of  his   hearers  ;  and  thus   to 
render  abortive  all  his  religious  endeavours.     A  more 
miquitous  one  never  was  conceived,— for  it  taxes  not 
simply  a  man's  land,  but  his  capital,  his  genius,  his 
skill  and  industry ;  so  that  the  priest  reaps  not  merely 
a  tithe  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  but  of  the  fruits  of 
every  man's  heart  and  mind  who  ventures  to  till  the 
earth.     But  they  are  condemned:   and  let  them  so 
with  this  one  observationof  Milton's— "As  well  under 
the  gospel  as  under  the  law— say  our  English  divines, 
and  thcT/  only  of  all  Protestants— ih   tithes.       That 
^e  law  of  tithes  is  m  force  under  the  gospel,  all  other 
f'rotestam  divines,  though  equally  concerned,  vet  con- 
stantly deny.     When  any  one  of  ours  has  atfempted, 
in  Latin,  to  maintain  this  argument,— though  a  man 
would  think  they  might  suffer  him,  without  opposition 
in  a  point  equally  tending  to  the  advantage  of  all  mii> 
isters— yet  they  cease  not  to  oppose  him,  as  in  a  doc- 
trine not  fit  to  pass  unopposed  under  the  gospel ;  which 
shows  the  modesty,  the  contentedness  of  those  foreign 
pastors  with  the  maintenance  given  them ;  their  sin- 
cerity also  in  truth,  though  less  gainful,  and  the  ava- 
nee  of  ours,  who,  through  the  love  of  their  old  papist- 
ical tithes,  consider  not  the  weak  arouments,  or  rather 
conjectures  and  surmises  which  ihey  bring  to  defend 
them.       What  a  striTcmg  fact  is  this  !  and  what  a  sin- 
gular feature  it  presents  of  the  English  church— the 
only  one  that  has  advocated  and  suffered  itself  to  be 
ted  by  this  miqmtous  system  of  tithes  !     Add  to  this 


IN    ALL    AGES.  195 

the  following  paragraph,  and  the  principle  of  which, 
whatever  the  calculations  may  be,  is  notoriously  cor- 
rect, what  an  image  of  clerical  rapacity  and  want  of 
conscience  we  have  before  us  !  "  The  church  ought 
to  relinquish  the  property  of  the  poor.  The  original 
tripartite  division  of  tithes  is  acknowledged — one-third 
portion  of  the  revenue  of  the  church  being  the  un- 
doubted property  of  the  poor.  The  entire  possessions 
of  the  church,  in  tithe  and  landed  property,  amount  in 
value  to  the  sum  of  170,450,000/.  ;  and  the  extensive 
leaseholds  lately  reverted  to  the  bishopric  of  London, 
raise  the  amount  to  180,000,000/.  One-third  of  this, 
00,000,000/.,  is  therefore  the  sum  which  the  state  is 
most  equitably  entitled  to  demand  from  the  church." 
After  reading  this,  who  can  prevent  himself  recalling 
the  words  of  Christ — "  The  poor  ye  have  always  with 
you,  but  me  ye  have  not  always  .'"  The  church  must 
be  divorced  from  the  state.  This  unnatural  union,  the 
device  of  artful  politicians,  is  an  injustice  to  the  sub- 
ject, and  an  indignity  to  the  church  itself.  The  natu- 
ral effect  upon  a  church  in  becoming  a  state  religion 
is,  that  its  freedom  is  instantly  extinguished ;  every 
principle  of  progi-ession  and  improvement  is  annihi- 
lated ;  and  the  generous  spirit  which  would  lead  it  to 
expand,  and  spread  itself  abroad  on  the  kindred  spirits 
of  men,  is  frozen  by  the  cold  breath  of  worldly  policy. 
Like  metal  molten  in  the  furnace,  it  flows  into  the 
state  as  into  a  mould,  receives  its  shape  and  stamp, 
and  sets  for  ever.  It  may  be  dashed  to  pieces  by  the 
application  of  external  force  ;  but,  last  as  long  as  it 
may,  it  will  never  be  moved,  remodelled,  or  purified 
from  within.  It  becomes  stationary  for  ever.  How- 
ever all  around  may  be  quickenecl  with  the  moving 
spirit  of  knowledge,  and  excited  to  activity  and  fruit- 
fulness,  it  stands  silent  and  barren, — like  a  tree  cov- 
ered with  the  knots  and  burs  of  antiquated  absurdi- 
ties ;  its  head,  a  chaos  of  rotten  boughs  amid  the  green 
vigour  of  the  forest ;  and  while  it  is  insensibly  falling 
to  decay,  it  bears  itself  with  a  sturdy  and  sullen  pride, 
and  wears  a  ludicrous  air  of  superiority  in  the  very 
12 


196  PRIESTCRAFT 

moment  of  its  fall.  That  such  is  the  situation  of  the 
establishment,  wlio  chu  deny  ? — Who  that  calls  to 
mind  its  doctrine  of  Hl)so]ution  of  sins;  its  Athanasian 
creed, — a  thing  so  monstrous  as  to  horrily  and  make 
ashamed  the  liest  minds  of  its  own  sons,  and  which 
compelled  Tillotson  long  ago  to  wish  they  were  well 
rid  of  it;  and,  moreover,  its  Tliirty-nine  Articles, 
which  everyone,  owing  to  the  inflexible  nature  of  the 
church,  is  ol)liged  to  swallow  before  he  can  be  ordained 
a  minister  ;  and  which  Paley,  after  acknowledging  that 
it  was  a  Gordian-knot,  endeavoured  to  cut  asunder,  by 
declaring  these  articles  articles  of  peace ;  as  if  it 
would  enable  men  to  escape  the  guilt  of  ialsehood,  by 
treating  bitter  and  contradictory  professions  of  faith 
as  physic,  and  swallowing  them  as  a  necessity  ? 
These  articles  lie  at  the  door  of  the  charch  as  a 
ihi'eshold  of  lying;  and — if  perjury  does  not  depend  on 
a  form  of  Avords,  but  on  the  inward  denial  of  a  solemn 
ti-uth — of  pen-jury  to  every  one  of  its  ministers  who 
is  not  wild  enough  to  believe  impossibilities  ;  and  in 
one  university  stand  in  the  way  of  every  student,  Jer- 
emy Bentham  has  leit  on  record  what  it  cost  him  to 
subscribe  them  ;  and  num])erless  are  the  conscientious 
spirits  which  have  turned  away  from  them  in  disgust. 
Yet  there  they  stand  at  the  churcli-door,  in  all  their 
glorious  contrariety,  and  would  for  ever  stand  while 
the  church  was  a  member  of  the  state. 

When  a  church  stands  on  its  own  simple  basis,  it 
may  renovate  its  constitution  ;  it  may  explode  worn- 
out  creeds  ;  abandon  dogmas  or  rites  that  have  become 
hideous  in  the  increased  light  of  universal  knowledge, 
and  preserve  itself  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  the 
age,  and  in  consequent  capacity  for  usefulness  ;  but, 
make  it  a  portion  of  tlie  state,  and  it  immediately  be- 
comes a  species  of  high  treason  to  attempt  the  least 
change  in  it.  Make  its  ministers  illustrious  with  dig- 
nities, and  fat  with  good  livings,  and  they  will  for  ever 
cry  "great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians  !"  The  church 
will  be  the  best  of  churches, — immaculate  and  divine  ; 
and  they  will  growl  on  any  one  who  even  dares  to 


IN    ALL    AGES.  197 

look  curiously  at  it,  as  a  jealous  dog  growls  over  his 
bone.  Make  it  the  road  to  political  power  and  honour, 
and  you  make  its  highest  ministers  the  most  obsequious 
slaves  of  state  ;  the  most  relentless  enemies  of  free- 
dom and  mercy.*     This  has  been  too  conspicuous  m 

■*  The  bulk  of  the  incidents  in  the  history  of  priestcraft  are 
bloody  and  revolting  ;  but  there  are  a  few  that  are  the  very  fathers 
of  merriment.  When  Tetzel  was  selhng  indulgences  in  Germany 
tor  all  sins  past,  present,  and  to  come,  and  had  well  filled  his  saddle- 
bags with  the  money  of  pious  fools  of  that  generation,  and  was  about 
to  depart,  a  nobleman  called  on  him  to  procure  one  for  a  future 
crime.  Tetzel  inquired  what  it  was.  The  nobleman  replied,  ho 
could  not  tell — he  had  not  yet  quite  decided  ;  but  the  holy  father 
could  charge  what  he  pleased,  and  leave  that  to  him.  Tetzel  charged 
accordingly ;  and  the  next  day  as  he  was  riding  through  a  wood  in 
order  to  leave  the  country,  the  nobleinan  met  him,  and  seized  on  his 
saddle-bags.  ''This,"  said  he,  "is  the  sin  I  meant  to  commit !" 
Tetzel,  enraged  at  being  thus  outwitted,  hastened  back  to  the  em- 
peror full  of  wrath  and  complaints ;  but  when  the  nobleman  ap- 
peared, it  was  with  the  indulgence  in  his  hand  which  sanctioned  the 
deed. 

Waller,  in  his  hfe,  gives  a  curious  instance  of  prelatical  obsequi- 
ence,  which  most  miraculously  was  well  met,  by  a  brilliant  instance 
of  prelatical  wit  and  independence.  At  a  dinner  with  James  I.,  were 
Neal,  bishop  of  London,  and  Andrews,  bishop  of  Winchester — 
"  Have  not  I  a  right,"  said  James,  "to  take  money  from  the  people, 
without  all  this  ceremony  of  going  to  parUament  ?"  "  Undoubtedly 
your  majesty  has  a  right,"  replied  Neal ;  "  you  are  the  breath  of  our 
nostrils  !"  "  But  what  says  my  lord  of  Winchester  ?"  added  James. 
"  I  say,"  returned  the  bishop,  "that  your  majesty  has  a  right  to  take 
brother  Neal's ;  for  he  has  given  it  you." 

Bloody  Mary  sent  a  commissioner  over  to  Ireland,  with  a  royal 
commission  to  the  lord-lieutenant  to  burn,  destroy,  and  confiscate 
the  property  of  the  Protestants,  and  bring  them  to  what  is  called 
justice.  The  man  lodging  at  a  widow  Edmond's,  in  Chester,  was 
waited  on  by  the  mayor,  to  whom  he  boasted  that  he  had  that  with 
him  that  would  bring  the  Irish  heretics  to  their  senses,  and  opening 
a  box,  he  showed  hmi  the  commission.  The  widow,  who  had  -a 
brother  in  Ireland,  a  Protestant,  happened  to  hear  this,  and  wat 
alarmed.  As  the  commissioner  showed  the  mayor  down  stairs,  t^lie 
adroitly  withdrew  the  commission,  and  supplied  its  place  with  a 
sheet  of  paper,  in  which  was  wrapped  a  pack  of  cards,  with  the 
knave  of  clubs  uppermost.  The  deception  was  undiscovered.  On 
the  commissioner's  arrival  at  Dublin,  he  liad  an  audience  of  the  lord- 
lieutenant,  in  the  presence  of  a  splendid  assembly.  He  made  a  fine 
speech,  and  boasted  much  of  his  powers,  when  on  going  to  produce 
his  commission,  behold,  to  the  astonishment  of  himself  and  his  hear- 
ers, nothing  but  the  pack  of  cards,  and  the  knave  of  clubs  uppermost. 
"  It  was  the  queen's  commission,"  said  the  crest-fallen  delegate,  "  but 
how  it  is  changed  I  know  not."  "  Well,"  said  the  lord-lieutenant, 
"  you  must  return  to  England  for  fresh  powers,  and  in  the  mean  time 
we  will  shuffle  the  cards  !"  He  returned  ;  but  he  was  too  late — the 
queen.was  dead ;  and  on  the  subject  being  related  to  Elizabeth,  she 
was  highly  diverted  by  it,  ^vA  settled  on  Mrs,  Edmonds  40/.  a  year, 


198  PRIESTCRAFT 

the  House  of  Peers.  Lord  Eldon  said  some  years  ago, 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  that  he  could  not  hring  himself 
to  believe  the  slave  trade  was  irreconcilable  with  the 
Christian  religion,  as  the  bench  of  bishops  had  uni- 
formly sanctioned  by  their  votes  the  various  acts  au- 
thorizing tliat  trade.  A  biting  sarcasm,  whichever 
way  intended  ! 

Let  us  now  hear  our  noble  Milton,  on  the  eflect  of 
a  state  religion.  "  That  the  magistrate  should  take 
into  his  power  the  stipendiary  maintenance  of  church 
ministers,  as  compelled  by  law,  can  stand  neither  with 
the  people's  thouglit,  nor  with  Christian  liberty,  but 
would  suspend  the  church  M'holly  upon  the  s'tate,  and 
turn  the  ministers  into  state  pensioners.  For  the 
magistrate  to  make  the  church  his  mere  wai-d,  as 
always  in  minority ;  the  church,  to  whom  he  ought, 
as  a  magistrate,  '  to  bow  down  his  face  towards  the 
earth,  and  lick  up  the  dust  of  her  feet,' — her  to  sub- 
ject to  his  political  drifts,  or  conceived  opinions,  is 
neither  just  nor  pious  ;  no  honour  done  to  the  church, 
but  a  plain  dishonour :  and  upon  her  whose  head  is 
in  heaven, — yea  upon  Him  who  is  the  only  head  in 
effect ;  and  what  is  most  monstrous,  a  human  on  a 
heavenly,  a  canial  on  a  spiritual,  a  political  head  on 
an  ecclesiastical  body;  which  at  length,  by  such 
hetrogeneal,  such  incestuous  conjunction,  transforms 
her  ofttimes  into  a  beast  of  many  heads  and  many 
horns.'* 

Such  a  beast  has  the  church  become  by  this  state 
commerce,  even  by  the  confession  of  her  friends  ;  and 
that  commerce  must  be  aimihilated.  Justice  to  this 
great  and  Christian  nation  demands  it ;  the  growth  of 
Christianity  demands  it ;  the  prosperity  of  the  church 
itself  demands  it  as  well.  This  is  a  measure  called 
for  on  behalf  of  the  nation ;  and  there  are  numbers 
who  will  contend  that  the  church,  ceasing  to  be  a 
state  church,  should  restore  its  property  to  the  nation 
whence  it  was  drawn.  That  in  strict  justice  all 
national  property  should  revert  to  the  nation  when  the 
object  for  which  it  was  bestowed  ceases,  there  can  be 
no  question  J  in  strict  justice  to  the  other  Christian 


m   ALL    AGES.  199 

communities  of  this  country,  this  ought  clearly  to  be 
the  case, — since,  admitting  the  rights  of  conscience, 
the  nation  ought  not  to  enrich  one  body  of  Christians 
at  the  expense  of  the  rest ;  and  that  parliament  has  a 
right  to  recall  the  loan  of  church  property  is  clear  as 
daylight.  The  present  priesthood  form  a  standing 
proof  and  precedent  of  it,  since  it  was  taken  from  the 
Catholics  and  given  to  them.  I  am  perfectly  easy  to 
leave  these  matters  in  the  hands  of  parliament ;  so 
that  its  wealth  undergo  a  further  process  of  distribu- 
tion ;  its  enormous  salaries  be  broken  down  ;  its  plural- 
ities exploded;  its  sinecures  abolished;  and  its  labour- 
ing multitude  more  efficiently  remunerated. 


200  PRIESTCRAFT 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

CLERICAL    INCOME. 

Salaries  of  the  Bishops— Abuse  of  Queen  Anne's  Bounty  Fund— 
Plurahties  and  Curates'  Stipends— The  Universities— College 
Education— Ecclesiastical  Courts— Satire  on  thein— Consecra- 
tion of  Burial  Grounds— Fees  of  Consecration— P'amily  Vaults— 
Prelatical  Despotism. 


Oh !  said  the  hmd,  how  many  sons  have  you 
Wlio  call  you  mother,  whom'you  never  knew  ? 
But  most  of  them  who  that  relation  pl§ad 
Are  such  ungracious  youths  as  wish  you  dead ; 
They  gape  at  rich  revenues  which  you  hold, 
And  fain  would  nibble  at  your  grandame  gold. 

Hind  Old  Panther- 
He  is  the  true  atheist,  the  practical  enemy  to  religion,  who  can 
offer  to  defend  the  present  condition  of  the  Church  of  England. 

Westminster  Revieiv,  No.  xxix. 


Whenever  the  excess  of  clerical  income  is  intro- 
duced, we  are  immediately  attempted  to  be  disarmed 
by  a  statement  that  were  the  whole  revenue  of  the 
church  equally  divided,  it  would  give  but  about  112/. 
per  annum  to  each  clergyman.  The  British  or  Cleiical 
Magazine  for  March,  1832,  admits,  from  the  parlia- 
mentary returns,  that  it  would  be  200/.  per  annum.* 
Now  did  we  admit  this  to  be  correct,  what  a  shame  is 
it  that  in  a  church  so  economically  provided,  so  many 
individuals  should  be  allowed  to  wallow  in  the  wealth 
and  idleness  they  manage  to  combine.  Can  the  church 
answer  it  to  her  conscience,  if  she  have  one,  that  in 
such  a  slender-beneficed  system,  there  should  be 
many  a  parish  priest  who  holds  from  1  to  5000/. 
a  year,  and  that  the  scale  of  payment  to  its  dignitaries 
should  stand  thus,  according  to  their  own  showing : — 

*  The  present  parliamentary  returns  make  it  about  287/. 


IN   ALL   AGES.  201^ 

Archbishop  ol'  Canterbury  .  27,000/.  a  year. 

York      . '  .   10,000  — 

Bishop  of  Durham   .     .     .   17,000  — 

London    .     .     .   14,000  — 

Winchester  .     .   14,000  — 

Ely     ....   12,000  — 

Nine  others  on  an  average     5,000  — 

The  rest  on  an  average      .     3,000  — 

I  ant  afraid  we  never  can  prove  the  church  to  be 
poor,  or  to  have  heen  at  any  time  indifferent  to  the 
doctrine,  that  "  godliness  is  great  gain."  There  is 
nothing  in  Avhich  the  spirit  of  priestcraft  has  shown 
itself  so  grossly  in  the  Englisli  clergy^  as  in  their 
appropriation  of  what  is  called  Queen's  Anne's  Bounty. 
The  most  shameful  selfishness  and  disregard  of  every 
thing  like  common  honesty,  like  feeling  for  their 
poorer  brethren,  or  respect  for  the  motives  of  the  de- 
luded queen,  mark  the  whole  affair.  The  Edinburgh 
Review,  No.  LXXV.,  made  a  ver}^  salutary  exposition 
of  this  wretched  business. 

"  It  is  well  known  that,  by  the  statute  of  Henry 
VIIL,  the  first-fruits  and  tenths  of  spiritual  prefer- 
ments (which  had  formerly  been  paid  to  the  pope,  or 
some  other  spiritual  persons),  were  given  to  the  king. 
The  first-fruits  were  the  revenues  and  profits  for  one 
year,  of  every  such  preferment,  and  were  to  be  satis- 
fied, or  compounded  for,  on  good  security,  by  each 
incumbent,  before  any  actual  or  real  possession,  or 
meddling  with  the  profits  of  a  benefice.  The  tenths 
were  a  yearly  rent  of  a  tenth  part  of  all  the  revenues 
and  emoluments  of  all  preferments,  to  be  paid  by  each 
incumbent  at  Christmas.  These  revenues  were,  as 
the  statute  phrases  it,  united  and  knit  to  the  imperial 
crown  for  ever !  By  the  same  statute  a  provision 
was  made  for  a  commission  to  be  issued  by  the  king, 
his  heirs  and  successors, /rowz  time  to  time^  to  search 
for  the  ju.st  and  true  value  of  the  said  first-fruits  and 
profits ;  and  similar  means  were  provided  for  ascer- 
taining the  value  of  tenths.  In  consequence  of  this 
13 


202  PRIESTCRAFT 

Statute,  which  was  suspended  during  the  papistical 
reign  of  Mary,  but  recovered  by  EUzabeth,  a  valuation 
was  made,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  at  the  lime 
an  accurate  one,  ol"  the  yearly  profits  of  the  eccle- 
siastical preferments  :  and,  according  to  this  valua- 
tion, the  first-fruits  and  tenths  were  '  well  and  justly 
answered  and  paid,  Mdthout  grief  and  contradiction  of 
the  prelates  and  clergy  of  the  realm,  to  the  great  aid, 
relief,  and  supportation  of  the  inestimable  charges  of 
the  crown,'  which  inestimable  charges  may  then 
possibly  have  amounted  to  a  two-hundredth  part  of  the 
present  yearly  sum. 

''  Under  this  valuation,  which  in  course  of  time  be- 
came quite  unequal  to  the  real  emoluments  of  the  pre- 
ferments, these  charges  continued  to  be  paid  till  the 
second  year  of  Queen  Anne,  1703  ;  when  an  act  was 
passed  reciting  the  queen's  most  religious  and  tender 
concern  for  the  Church  of  England,  stating  that  a  suf- 
licient  settled  provision  for  the  clergy  in  many  parts 
of  the  realm  had  never  yet  been  made  ;  and  giving 
to  a  corporation,  which  was  to  be  erected  for  the 
augmentation  of  small  livings,  the  whole  of  the  first- 
fruits  and  tenths.  Her  majesty,  however,  in  her  religious 
and  tender  concern,  was  completely  overreached  by  the 
clergy.  The  professed  object  of  the  queen  was  to  in- 
crease the  provision  of  the  poor  clergy ;  the  real  and 
only  immediate  effect  of  it  was  to  release  the  rich 
clergy  from  a  charge  to  which,  by  law,  they  were 
liable.  We  have  before  maintained  that  a  provision 
was  made  in  the  statute  of  Henry  VIII.,  for  revising, 
Iroin  time  to  time,  the  valuations  under  \vhich  the 
lirst-fruits  and  tenths  were  paid.  It  is  not  improbable 
that  the  clergy  were  apprehensive,  as  the  nation  was 
then  engaged  in  an  expensive  Avar,  that  such  a  revision 
might  be  made  ;  and  in  persuading  the  queen  to  re- 
nounce her  hereditary  revenue  for  the  sake  of  her 
lx)or  clergy,  they  contrived  most  etTectually  to  secure 
themselves  by  an  ingenious  clause  in  the  statute  in 
(juestion. 

"  If  the  real  purpose  of  this  act  of  Anne  had  been 


IN   ALL   AGES.  203 

to  augment  the  small  livings,  nothing  could  have  been 
more  reasonable  than  to  do  it  by  enforcing  the  legal 
claims  for  the  first-fruits  and  tenths  on  the  holders  of 
the  larger  benefices.  The  scandalous  poverty  of 
some  livings — for  there  were  then  1071  which  did 
not  exceed  10/,  a  year — would  then  have  speedily 
disappeared :  but,  as  the  old  and  inefficient  rate  of 
payment  was  fixed  and  made  perpetual,  the  queen 
went  to  her  grave  without  seeing  any  eflfect  from  her 
bounty;  as  in  consequence  of  the  incumbrances  on 
the  fund,  and  the  impossibility  of  increasing  its  pro- 
duce, it  was  not  till  1714  that  the  governors  of  the 
bounty  were  enabled  to  make  their  first  grants. 

"  The  cunning  of  the  rich  clergy  in  thus  shifting 
from  themselves  the  burden  of  contributing  to  the  re- 
lief of  their  poorer  brethren,  is  only  to  be  matched  in 
degree  by  the  folly  shown  in  the  application  of  the 
diminished  revenue  which  this  trick  of  theirs  still  left 
for  the  improvement  of  small  livings.  At  the  time 
when  Queen  Anne's  Bounty  Fund  was  established 
there  were,  according  to  the  returns,  which  were  not 
quite  accurate,  5597  livings  in  England  and  Wales 
with  incomes  not  exceeding  50/.  They  were  thus 
classed : — 

Not  exceeding  10/ 1071 

20 1467 

30 1126 

"           "           40 1049 

"           "           50 886 

"  The  sum  which  the  governors  of  Queen  Aime's 
Bounty  had  to  apply  to  the  augmentation  of  these 
livings,  averaged  about  13,000/.  a  year.  Any  rational 
being  would  suppose  that,  under  such  circumstances, 
the  governors  and  the  legislature,  by  whom  the  dis- 
posal of  the  money  was  directed  and  superintended, 
would  have  made  some  inquiry  into  the  circumstances 
of  the  different  livings.  Some  of  these  livings  were 
of  very  small  extent  and  scarcely  any  population,  and 


204  PRIESTCRAFT 

might  therefore  have  been  advantageously  united  witli 
one  anotlier,  or  with  other  parishes.  The  specific 
evil  which  was  to  be  remedied  was  set  forth  in  the 
preamble  to  the  statute  of  Anne  in  these  words : — 
'  That  divers  mean  and  stipendiary  preachers  are,  in 
many  places,  entertained  to  serve  cures  and  officiate 
there ;  who,  depending  for  their  necessary  main- 
tenance upon  the  good-will  and  liking  of  their  hearers, 
have  been,  and  are  thereby  under  temptation  of  too 
much  complying,  and  suiting  their  doctrines  and 
teaching  to  the  humours  rather  than  the  good  of  their 
hearers,  which  has  been  a  great  occasion  of  faction 
and  schism.'  Precious  philosophy!  At  least,  there- 
fore, one  would  have  thought  that  some  distinction 
would  have  been  made  between  places  where  there 
were  many  hearers  and  w  here  there  were  few  or  none  : 
and  that  M^lien  a  sum  was  bestowed  on  any  parti- 
cular living,  some  security  would  have  been  taken  for 
the  residence  of  the  incumbent.  All  these  notions 
were,  however,  very  far  from  the  minds  of  the  persons 
Avho  had  the  distribution  of  Queen  Anne's  Bounty. 
The  governors  of  this  fimd  proceeded  upon  the  idea 
which  is  commonly  entertained  in  England  respecting 
the  church  establishment — especially  by  its  own 
functionaries — that  provided  a  sufKcient  sum  of  money 
be  laid  out  on  the  clergy,  every  other  good  will  follow : 
that,  how  absurd  soever  the  distribution  may  seem,  it 
is  not  for  human  hands  to  destroy  tlic  latent  harmony 
of  casual  proportions.  Above  all  things  did  they 
eschew  the  idea  which  the  chmxh  abhors,  that  where 
the  public  confers  an  obligation,  it  has  a  right  to  exact 
the  performance  of  a  duty.  Among  the  livings  on 
which  they  had  to  scatter  the  money,  several  were 
large  and  populous  parishes,  where  the  tithes  had 
been  impropriated ;  and  these,  if  tlie  holders  of  the 
tithes  were  not,  as  is  often  the  case,  ecclesiastical 
sinecurists — or  dignitaries  as  they  are  called — whose 
incomes  were  at  the  disposal  of  parliament,  would 
have  been  proper  objects  for  augmentation, — always 
supposing,  what  is  false  iu  point  of  fact,  that  an  in- 


IN    ALL    AGES.  2(M5 

crease  in  the  emoluments  of  a  living  has  any  tendency 
to  secure  the  performance  of  clerical  duties.  Others 
were  rectories,  of  which  some  were  endowed  with  the 
tithe  of  all  the  produce  of  their  district,  but  which 
were  so  insignificant  as  neither  to  need  a  separate 
clergyman,  nor  to  afford  a  separate  maintenance  for 
]\im.  In  the  case  of  such  livings,  instead  of  attempt- 
ing to  swell  the  incomes  of  needless  offices,  the  natural 
course  wonld  have  been  to  have  consolidated  their 
neighbouring  benefices,  and  in  no  case  have  made  any 
augmentation,  except  where  the  revenue  arising  from 
a  district  of  extent  and  population  sufiicient  to  need 
the  cares  of  a  clergyman,  should  have  been  found  in- 
suflicient  to  maintain  him.  But  this  would  have  vio- 
lated the  fundamental  principles  of  the  excellent 
church ;  it  would  have  insinuated  a  connexion  be- 
tween money  expended  and  duty  performed  ;  it  would 
liave  seemed  like  an  adaptation  of  means  to  an  end; 
it  would  have  made  some  inquiry  and  consideration 
necessary. 

"  The  governors  of  the  Bounty  proceeded  bounti- 
fully ;  they  distributed  a  part  of  their  money  in  sums 
of  200/.  on  any  poor  livings  to  which  any  private 
person  would  give  an  equal  sum.  The  rest,  and  far 
greater  part  of  their  money,  showing  them  no  respecter 
of  persons  nor  of  circumstances,  these  representatives 
of  the  ecclesiastical  wisdom  of  the  nation,  distributed 
hy  lot,  letting  each  poor  living  take  an  equal  chance 
for  a  prize,  without  any  regard  to  the  degree  of  urgency 
of  its  claim.  After  this,  the  story  of  Bridoye  deciding 
suits  at  law  by  dice,  after  making  up  a  fair  pile  of 
papers  on  each  side,  seems  no  longer  an  extravaganza. 
Up  to  January  1,  1815,  the  governors  had  made,  in 
this  way,  7323  augmentations  of  200/.  ;  but  with 
benefices  as  with  men,  fortiuie  is  not  proportioned  to 
desert  or  necessity.  Some  of  the  least  populous 
parishes  had  a  wonderful  run  of  luck.  We  are  not 
sure  that,  taking  a  few  of  those  which  meet  our  ey(5 
in  running  over  the  returns,  we  have  selected  the  most 
remarkable.     In  the  diocess  of  Chichester,  the  rectory 


206  PRIESTCRAFT 

of  Hardhiini,  which  in  1811  contained  eighty-nine  per- 
sons, has  received  six  augmentations  by  lot,  or  1200/. 
The  vicarage  of  Sollington,  with  forty-eight  people, 
has  had  six  augmentations,  1200/.  In  the  diocess  of 
Salisbury,  Brewilham  drew  a  prize  ;  it  contained  four- 
teen people,  liotwood  drew  anotlier;  it  had  twelve 
people.  Calloes  had  1000/.  including  a  benefaction 
of  200/.  ;  its  population  was  in  1811,  nineteen.  In  the 
diocess  of  Winchester,  Saint  Swithin,  with  twenty-four 
people,  has  received  800/.  including  a  benefaction  of 
200/. ;  and  200/.  has  been  expended  on  Ewhurst,  which 
has  seven  people.  In  the  diocess  of  York,  Ruthewick, 
with  sixty-two  people,  has  had  live  prizes,  1000/. ; 
while  Armby,  with  2941  people,  and  Allendale,  with 
3884,  have  gained  only  one  each.  In  the  diocess  of 
Rochester,  two  livings,  with  twenty-eight  and  twenty- 
nine  people,  received  separate  augmentations.  In  the 
diocess  of  Oxford,  Elford,  or  Yelford,  with  sixteen 
inhabitants,  drew  a  prize.  In  Lincoln,  Stowe,  with 
the  same  number,  and  Haugh,  received  800/.  The 
number  of  all  its  inhabitants  is  eight.  Wlien  it  is 
considered  too,  that  Haugh  pays  vicarial  tithes,  which 
amounted  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  to  6/.  13.?.  Ad. 
of  yearly  value,  it  must  be  admitted  that  this  important 
district  has  been  guarded  against  the  danger  of  schism, 
with  a  liberality  worthy  of  a  Protestant  government. 
If  the  rest  of  the  people  of  England  were  fortified  in 
sound  doctrine,  at  the  same  rate  of  expense,  the  proper 
establishment  of  religious  teachers  in  England  and 
Wales  would  cost  about  1200  millions  sterling,  and 
1,500,000  parochial  clergy,  who,  as  Dr.  Cove  allows 
each  of  them  a  family  of  nine,  would  form  a  conside- 
rable portion  of  the  population.  In  the  diocess  of 
Llandaff  we  find  two  places  ibllowing  each  other  in 
the  returns,  which  illustrate  the  (equity  of  le  sort  des 
dez.  IJsk,  with  1 339  people,  has  had  an  augmentation, 
though  its  value  remains  low.  AYilcock,  a  rectory 
with  twenty-eight  people,  has  had  three.  In  Hereford, 
Hopton-Cangeford  has  had  1000/.  for  thirty-five  peo- 
ple.    Monmouth  200/.  for  3503. 


IN    ALL    ACES.  207 

"  Even  in  cities,  where  the  scattered  condition  of 
the  population  could  ailbrd  no  pretext  against  the 
union  of  parishes,  the  same  plan  of  augmentations  has 
been  pursued.  In  Winchester,  separate  augmentations 
have  been  given  to  seven  parishes,  the  population 
of  all  which  would,  united,  have  amounted  to  2376, 
and  Avould  consequently  have  formed  a  very  manage- 
able, and  rather  small,  town  parish.  In  short,  the 
whole  of  the  returns  printed  by  the  House  of  Commons 
in  1815,  No.  115,  teem  with  instances  of  the  most 
foolish  extravagance,— just  such  a  result  as  the  ori- 
ginal conception  of  this  clerical  little-go  would  have 
led  any  rational  being  to  anticipate.  The  conviction 
is  irresistibly  forced  upon  us,  that  nothing  could  have 
been  further  from  the  minds  of  those  who  super- 
intended this  plan,  than  to  secure  a  competent  pro- 
vision for  all  the  members  of  the  church,  and  to 
remove  the  poverty  of  some  of  its  members, — which 
is,  by  a  strange  manner  of  reasoning,  made  a  defence 
for  the  needless  profusion  with  which  the  public  wealth 
is  lavished  upon  others.  Indeed,  we  are  led  to  suspect, 
that  '  the  church,  in  her  corporate  capacity,'  looks  upon 
the  poverty  of  some  of  her  members  as  sturdy  beggars 
look  upon  their  sores  ;  she  is  not  seriously  displeased 
with  the  naked  and  excoriated  condition  of  her  lower 
extremities,  so  long  as  it  excites  an  ill-judged  com- 
passion for  the  whole  body,  and  secures  her  impunity 
in  idleness  and  rapacity. 

"  We  are  sometimes  told  that  the  poverty  of  a  large 
body  of  the  parochial  clergy  is  such  that  it  is  out  of 
the  power  of  the  higher  clergy,  even  by  the  surrender 
of  their  whole  revenues,  to  remedy  it.  The  statement 
we  have  given  shows  most  clearly  that  this  poverty  is 
to  be  attributed  to  the  IVaudulent  subtraction  of  the 
higher  clergy  from  the  burden  of  contributing  to  the 
relief  of  their  poorer  brethren  ;  and  to  the  absurdity  of 
the  ecclesiastical  division  of  the  kingdom,  which,  on 
the  slightest  effort  of  the  clergy,  would  have  been 
remedied  by  the  legislature.  If  the  first-fruits  and 
tenths  had  been  paid  subsequently  to  the  gift  of  Anne. 


208  PRIESTCRAFT 

according  to  the  rate  wliich  the  law  provided  for,  and 
as  they  had  been  paid,  '  M'ithoiit  grief  or  contra(hction,' 
according  to  the  real  value  of  the  benefices,  instead 
of  a  million  and  half,  at  least  30  millions  would  have 
been  raised  from  these  taxes  ; — a  su/.i  not  only  quite 
sufficient  to  have  removed  the  poverty  of  all  the  poor 
livings  in  the  kingdoin,  but  to  have  established  schools 
in  every  parish  of  England,  and  to  have  left  a  large 
surplus  for  other  useful  purposes. 

"  In  the  course  of  these  augmentations  no  security 
has  been  taken  against  non-residence,  or  plurality. 
The  governors  go  on,  therefore,  increasing  the  incomes 
of  two  small  livings,  in  order  to  make  each  of  them 
capable  of  supporting  a  resident  clergyman ;  while 
after,  as  well  as  before  the  augmentation,  one  incum- 
bent may  hold  tlu^m  together — reside  on  neither — and 
allow  only  a  small  part  of  the  accumulated  income  to 
a  curate,  who  performs  the  duty  of  both  !"' 

This  absurd  system,  which  is  at  once  an  insult  to 
the  memory  of  Queen  Anne,  and  to  the  whole  British 
nation,  has  been  continued  to  the  present  moment. 
By  the  returns  made  to  the  present  parliament,  the 
same  shameful  additions  to  rich  livings  of  that  which 
was  intended  to  have  gone  to  poor  ones,  are  made 
apparent;  the  same  shamelessly  miserable  payment 
of  the  curates,  who  do  the  actual  work  for  which  the 
money  is  received  by  the  selfish  and  the  idle,  has  been 
continued.  These  cases  were  lately  adduced  by  Lord 
King  in  the  House  of  Peers  : — 

"  Dean  and  Canon  of  Windsor,  impropriator  of  the 
following  parishes,  received  from  parliamentary  grant 
and  Queen  Anne's  Bounty: — Plymsted,  1811,  600/.; 

1812,   400Z. ;    1815,   300l      Plympton,  ,   GOO/. 

St.  German's,  1811,  800/.;  1814,  400/.  AVembury, 
1807,  200/.;  1816,  1400/.  Northam,  1764,  200/.; 
1812,  400/.     South  Moulton,  1813,  600/. 

"  Dean  and  Canon  of  Winchester,  impropriators  of 
tithes  of  two  large  parishes  in  Wales: — Holt,  1725, 
200/. ;  1733,  200/.  Iscoyd,  1749,  200/ ;  1757,  200/. ; 
1798,  200/.;  1818,200/. 


IN   ALL    AGES.  209 

"  Dean  of  Exeter,  impropriator  of  tithe  : — Laiulkey, 
1775,  200/.  ;  1810,  200/. ;  1815,  1400/.  Swimbed, 
1750,  200/.;   1811,  400/. 

"Dean  and  Chapter  of  Carlisle,  impropriators  of 
valuable  tithe  :—Hesket,  1813,  600/.;  1815,  2000/. 
to  purchase  land;   1816,  300/. ;  1817,  300/. 

"  Dean  of  Bangor,  impropriator  of  tithe,  cm-atc  paid 
32/.  4s.  :— Gyfiin,  1767,  200/.  ;  1810,  200/.  ;  1816, 
1400/. 

"  Bishop  of  Bangor,  nnpropriator  of  valuable  tithe, 
cm-ate  paid  30/.  12^%  :— Llandegar,  1812,  200/.:  1815, 
1600Z. ;  ,  300/.  ; ,  300/. 

"  Bishop  of  Lichfield,  impropriator  of  large  tithes 
in  Merionethshire,  curate  paid  only  27/. : — Tallylyr, 
1808,  200/. ;   1816,  1400/.     Penal,  1810,  200/." 

Thus  these  returns  proved,  that  for  thirteen  parishes 
these  gentlemen  had  drav.n  14,500/.  v/hich  ought  to 
have  been  paid  from  their  own  pockets. 

The  Edinburgh  Reviev/,  in  the  same  article,  says — 
"  Those  who  complain  of  the  poverty  of  the  clergy 
pretend  to  suppose  that  no  security  for  residence  is 
necessary ;  and,  that  as  soon  as  the  small  livings  are 
raised  high  enough,  non-residence  will  disappear  as  a 
matter  of  course.  For  instance,  Dr.  Cove  says,  '  All 
the  Church  of  England's  sons  are,  with  few  exceptions, 
ever  intent  on  their  appropriate  duties ;  and  would  be 
still  more  diligent  were  each  of  them  possessed  of  a 
more  enlarged  and  comfortable  independence^  and  fur- 
nished with  more  suitable  abodes.'  This,  unfortunately 
for  the  doctor,  is  more  capable  of  being  brought  to  the 
test  than  the  '  unrecorded  revelation'  to  Adam  in  favour 
of  tithes.  We  have  returns  of  small  livings,  and  we 
have  returns  of  non-residence.  In  the  diocess  of 
Rochester  there  are  only  six  livings  under  150/.  a 
vear,  and  of  those  six  not  one  is  returned  under  110/. 
Of  the  107  benefices  returned  in  that  diocess,  there 
were  in  1809,  but  50  with  resident  incumbents — less 
than  half  the  livings.  In  the  diocess  of  Chester,  where 
the  livings  under  150/.  a  year  are  numerous,  377  out 
of  592  being  of  that  description,  a  considerably  larger 
proportion  of  the  benefices  have  residents  than  in  Ro- 


I 


210  PRIESTCRAFT 

Chester ;  there  are  327  residents.  In  other  dioceses 
the  number  of  poor  Uvings  bear  no  regiilar  proportion 
to  the  number  of  non-residents.  Under  the  discipline 
of  the  Church  of  England,  where  there  are  so  many 
grounds  of  exemption  or  of  license  for  non-residence, 
the  only  persons  who  may  be  expected  to  reside,  are 
those  whose  narrow  incomes  make  their  residence  in 
their  own  parsonages  a  matter  of  necessity  or  con- 
venience. 

In  all  countries  where  the  incomes  of  the  clerg}^  arc 
moderate,  there  the  clergy  are  the  most  attentive  to 
their  duties,  and  most  respected  and  beloved  by  the 
people.  The  following  statement,  from  the  Carlisle 
Journal^  affords  a  striking  confirmation  of  the  justice 
of  these  remarks  :  and  an  impressive  example  of  the 
shameless  pluralities  of  the  higher  clergy,  and  the 
miserable  manner  of  their  paying  the  poor  labouring 
curates. 


PLURALITIES,    AND    CURATEs'    STIPENDS. 

The  see  of  Carlisle  affords  some  admirable  speci- 
mens of  the  working  of  the  church  system,  and  of  the 
pluralists. 

Hugh  Percy,  bishop  of  Carlisle,  a  prebend  of  St. 
Paul's,  and  a  chancellor  of  Sarum. 

R.  Hodgson,  dean  of  Carlisle,  vicar  of  Burgh-on- 
Sands,  rector  of  St.  George's,  Hanover-square,  and 
vicar  of  Hillington. 

E.  Goodenough,  prebend  of  Carlisle,  Westminster, 
and  York ;  vicar  of  Wath  All-saints  on  Dearn,  chap- 
lain of  Adwick,  and  chaplain  of  Brampton-Bierlow. 

S.  J.  Goodenough,  prebend  of  Carlisle,  rector  of 
Broughton  Poges,  vicar  of  Hampton,  and  deputy  lord- 
Iieutenant  of  Cumberland. 

Wm.  Goodenough,  archdeacon  of  Carlisle,  rector 
of  Marcham-le-Fen,  and  rector  of  Great  Salkeld. 

W.  Vansittart,  prebend  of  Carlisle,  master  of 
Wigston's  Hospital,  Leicester,  vicar  of  Waltham 
Abbas,  and  vicar  of  Shottesbrooke. 

W.  Fletcher,  chancellor  of  the  diocess  of  Carlisle, 


IN   ALL    AGES.  211 

prebend  of  York,  vicar  of  Bromfield,  vicar  of  Dalston, 
and  vicar  of  Lazenby. 

It  is  not  our  intention  to  inquire  into  ilie  incomes  of 
these  dignitaries  ;  but,  as  they  are  considerable,  it  may 
be  worth  while  just  to  contrast  the  salaries  they  award 
to  those  who  really  work,  with  the  moneys  they  re- 
ceive from  the  livings.  The  tithes  received  by  tlie 
Dean  and  Chapter  for  Heskett,  amount  to  lOOOZ.  or 
1500/.  a  year ;  they  pay  to  the  curate  who  does  the  duty 
18/.  5s.  a  year!  1  shilling  a-day — being  after  the  rate 
of  the  labourer's  wages  !  In  Wetheral  and  Warwick, 
the  Dean  and  Chapter  draw  about  1000/.  a  year  from 
tithes,  and  1000/.  a  year  from  the  church  lands ;  and 
they  pay  the  working  minister,  one  of  the  most  exem- 
plary and  beloved  men  in  England  in  his  station,  the 
sum  of  50/.  a-year — the  wages  of  a  journeyman  cab- 
inet-maker !  The  tithes  of  the  parishes  of  St.  Cuthbert 
and  St.  Mary  amount  at  least  to  1 500/.  a  year.  The 
two  curates,  who  do  the  duty,  receive  each  the  sum  of 
21.  ISs.  4d.  a-year  ! ! !  And  then,  to  the  minor  canons, 
who  do  the  cathedral  duty,  they  pay  the  sum  of  6s.  8d. 
a  year  each  !  The  Dean  and  Chapter  hold  several 
other  impropriate  rectories,  pay  the  curates  a  mere 
nominal  sum  for  performing  the  duties,  and  pocket  the 
tithes  themselves — for  doing  nothing !" 

The  Rev.  W.  Pullen,  rector  of  Little  Gidding,  Hunt- 
ingdonshire, asserts  that  a  late  bishop  held  twelve 
places  of  preferment  at  the  same  time,  and  the 
greater  number  parochial  benefices  I 

With  such  things  as  these  before  our  eyes, — and 
which  way  can  we  turn  and  not  see  them  ? — who  can 
believe  that  the  British  public  can  much  longer  suffer 
the  church  to  remain  unregenerated  ?  Look  where 
we  will,  we  behold  the  most  gross  instances  of  simony, 
pluralities,  non-residence,  and  penurious  remuneration 
of  the  working  clergy.  Two  other  ramifications  of 
the  establishment  which  require  reform — Ecclesias- 
tical Courts  and  the  Universities — I  must  passingly 
notice. 

These  two  organs  and  auxiliaries  must  necessarily 


212  PRIESTCRAFT 

come  Av  it  hill  the  sweep  of  ;iiiy  reform  wliich  visits 
effectually  the  chiircli ; — liiey  are  vital  parts  of  that 
great  priestly  system  which  has  so  lonj^- rested  in  ease 
and  comfort  on  tl:e  shoulders  of  this  much-endurinj>- 
country.  Their  reiorm  is  a  necessary  consequence  of 
that  of  the  church ;  and  they  involve  enormities  of 
such  a  nature,  as  nothing  but  the  apathy  induced 
by  long  custom  could  have  brought  Englishmen  to 
tolerate. 

The  universities,  founded  and  endowed  by  kings  and 
patriotic  men,  lor  the  general  benefit  and  encourage- 
ment of  learning  in  the  nation,  are  monopolized  by  the 
priests  of  the  establishment.  All  offices  in  them  arc 
in  their  hands  ;  no  layman,  nmch  less  a  dissenter,  can 
hold  a  post  in  them.  The  thirty-nine  articles  are  set 
up  like  so  many  Giants  Despair,  to  drive  away  with 
their  clubs  of  intolerance  all  who  will  not  kiss  their 
feet.  These  chartered  priests  gr;isp  the  emoluments 
and  the  immunities  of  those  ancient  seats  ol"  learning, 
and  triumphantly  tell  us  of  the  great  men  Avhich  the 
establishment  has  produced.  This  is  a  little  too  much 
for  the  patience  of  any  but  an  Englishman.  Had  the 
gates  of  these  gi*eat  schools  been  thrown  open  to  the 
whole  nation  for  whose  benelit  they  were  established, 
and  to  the  popular  spirit  of  improvement  which  has 
been  busy  in  the  world,  they  might  have  told  us  of 
thousands  more,  as  great,  as  good,  and  iar  wiser,  inas- 
much as  they  would  have  been  educated  in  an  atmo- 
sphere of  a  more  liberal  and  genial  character.  As  it 
is,  they  have  lagged,  like  the  establishment  to  which 
they  are  linked,  behind  the  spirit  of  the  age,  to  a  degree 
which  has  disgusted  the  most  illustrious  even  of  their 
own  sons.  The  devil  never  found  himself  more  in  his 
element,  since  he  descended  from  his  position  in  the 
Tree  of  Knowledge,  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  to  mount 
those  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge. 

To  the  two  great  popular  journals  of  Edinburgh 
and  Westminster,  the  country  is  indebted  for  several 
most  able  expositions  of  the  abuses  of  both  spiritual 
courts  and  universities  ,  and  the  latter,  in  No.  XXIX. 


m   ALL   AGES.  213 

speak  thus — "The  rents  and  fines  arising  from  broad 
lands,  among  the  most  fair  and  fertile  in  the  reahn  ; 
from  lordly  manors  and  goodly  farms ;  the  profits  of 
the  advowsons  of  numerous  and  valuable  benefices; 
tithes,  and  tolls,  and  eveiy  advantage  that  earth  can 
yield  ;  palaces,  for  such  indeed  are  most  of  our  col- 
leges, for  the  habitation  of  the  learned  ;  noble  churches, 
halls,  libraries,  and  galleries,  for  their  use  and  de- 
light, with  gardens,  groves,  and  pleasure-grounds.; 
plate,  and  pictures,  and  marbles  ;  a  countless  store  of 
hidden  books  and  MSS.,  as  well  as  a  more  vulgar 
wealth,  accumulated  in  vast  sums  of  money,  yielding 
interest  in  the  funds,  or  upon  mortgage.  How  strange 
would  the  large  opulence  appear,  were  the  inventory 
correctly  taken,  to  the  inhabitants  of  foreign  miiversi- 
ties,  which  nevertheless  are  accounted  wealthy ;  and 
not  less  strange  to  its  rightful  owners,  the  people  of 
England,  to  a  brave,  generous,  and  loyal  people,  who 
have  been  ready  in  all  ages  to  contribute  largely  from 
their  store  to  works  of  learning  and  piety,  but  who 
have  been  ill-requited  by  their  rulers. 

"  Astonishing  is  the  wealth  of  our  miiversities, 
greatly  exceeding  the  sum  of  all  the  possessions  of  all 
the  other  learned  bodies  in  the  world  ;  yet  not  a  single 
shilling  of  their  enormous  income  is  truly  applied  to 
the  purposes  for  which  it  was  designed  !  and  not  only 
do  these  corporations  neglect  to  furnish  any  direct 
encouragement  to  the  studious,  but  they  offer  much 
positive  discouragement.  The  sedulous  youth  who 
entered  the  walls  of  his  college  thirsting  for  honour- 
able distinction,  can  best  tell  how  his  ardent  curiosity 
was  chilled  by  the  oscitancy,  the  inertness,  the  narrow 
illiberality  of  those  to  whom  he  looked  for  assistance, 
excitement,  and  support.  The  favour  that  Locke 
ibund  at  Oxford  is  matter  of  history  :  Gibbon  has  re- 
corded his  contemptuous  scorn  for  'the  monks  of 
Magdalene.'  It  would  be  easy  to  name  other  children 
of  genius,  who  have  proved  that  the  self-styled  alma 
7nater  was  a  most  unjust  and  cruel  step-mother. 

'  Among  the  evils  of  ecclesiastical  swav,  there  is  a 


214  PRIESTCRAFT 

mischief  which  annuls  our  universities,  and  destroys 
their  very  existence  for  every  purpose  of  utility;  it 
arises  out  of  their  spiritual  constitution,  and  converts 
establishments  that  ought  to  be  schools  of  learning, 
into  race-courses  and  amphitheatres,  wherein  compe- 
titors and  gladiators,  as  worthless  as  our  jockeys,  or 
the  Thracians  of  old,  struggle  or  collude  to  get  pos- 
session of  livings.  This  is  the  grand,  the  sole  object 
of  academical  existence  ;  the  pm'suit  of  learning  is  the 
llimsy  pretext — the  real  aim  is  to  obtain  perferment  in 
the  church.  The  cause  of  the  evil  must  be  instantly 
removed.  A  imiversity  ought  to  be,  and  at  all  other 
places  except  Oxford  and  Cambridge  really  is,  one 
establishment,  every  part  co-operating  for  the  augmen- 
tation and  communication  of  knowledge.  Simony,  in 
its  most  pernicious  form,  has  destroyed  at  once  the 
unity  and  utility  of  institutions  which  we  would  gladly 
venerate.  Ancient  schools,  designed  for  the  use  of 
the  M'hole  body,  still  exist  at  Oxford,  to  attest  the 
degradation  of  modern  times ;  each  of  these  is  inscribed 
with  the  title  of  one  of  the  liberal  sciences,  or  of  one 
of  the  faculties,  but  it  is  never  applied  to  the  use  for 
which  it  was  designed.  Numerous  professors  are 
decorated  with  honourable  titles,  and  receive  salaries 
for  giving  various  lectures,  M'hich  are  never  delivered  ; 
or  if,  as  sometimes  happens,  an  obstinate  statute,  which 
cannot  be  neglected  or  evaded,  compels  him  to  dis- 
course in  public,  the  dishonest  priest  gives  what  are 
significantly  called  '  wall-lectures,'  since  he  addresses 
liimself  to  the  walls  alone  ;  and  it  is  generally  under- 
stood that  no  one  ought  to  stand  between  them  and 
their  teacher.  Unless  these  abuses  be  speedily  reme- 
died, it  is  manifest  tliat  the  march  of  mind,  of  which 
some  now  boast,  is  a  retreat,  a  shameful  flight ;  and 
if  the  schoolmaster  be  indeed  abroad,  it  is  because  he 
is  not  at  home  :  having  robbed  his  scholars,  the  scoun- 
drel has  absconded. 

"  The  university  of  Oxlbrd  has  long  ceased  to  exist, 
except  for  the  purpose  of  electioneering;  for  some 
lime  h  was  doubted  wliether  it  was  creditable  to  rop- 


IN    ALL    AGES.  215 

resent  its  MM.  AA.  in  parliament,  l)iit  the  dispute 
has  been  finally  determined,  and  we  may  reasonably 
question,  wliether  an  unworthy  abuse  of  almost  un- 
bounded patronage  be  not  too  high  a  price  to  pay  for 
the  credit,  whatever  it  be,  that  arises  from  sitting  for  the 
sister  university.  Except  for  the  purpose  of  vain 
pageants,  designed  to  aucupate  benefices  by  cajoling 
the  patrons,  tlie  university  of  Oxford  has  long  ceased 
to  exist ;  for  the  purposes  of  learning  it  has  been  anni- 
hilated, dissolved,  and  destroyed,  by  having  been  divided 
into  many  minute,  insignificant,  and  worthless  portions. 
There  are  about  thirty  colleges ; — the  system  of  edu- 
cation, if  it  deserves  that  name,  is  separate  and  dis- 
tinct at  each,  and  miserable  in  all :  the  greater  part  of 
the  funds,  and  the  best  apartments  of  every  college, 
are  set  apart  for  a  priest  Avho,  under  the  name  of  mas- 
ter, provost,  warden,  principal,  or  the  like,  enjoys  at 
the  expense  of  the  public,  every  luxury  that  the  most 
sensual  could  desire  ;  yet  this  person  contributes  as 
little  to  the  instruction  of  the  youth  of  his  society,  as 
the  chief  of  the  black  eunuchs  in  the  t^raiid  Sultan's 
seraglio,  or  the  Jew  who  takes  toll  at  one  of  the  turn- 
pikes near  London.  A  stranger  would  suppose  that, 
being  thus  pampered  in  idleness,  and  growing  fat  upon 
the  appropriation  of  charitable  funds,  the  reverend 
sinecurist,  through  a  certain  decorous  shame,  would  be 
at  least  civil  and  unpresuming ;  we  appeal  to  those 
who  are  experienced  in  the  deportment  of  contume- 
lious insolence,  whether  it  be  so.* 

"  The  residue  of  the  funds  of  the  college  is  wasted 
upon  a  long  list  of  Fellows,  the  greater  part  of  whom 
are  absentees,  and  are  alike  unwilling  and  incapable 
of  earning  their  salaries.  The  lowest  and  least  of 
these  is  usually  the  tutor  ; — with  or  without  the  assist- 
ance of  a  drudge,  still  more  unworthy  than  himself, 
this  poor  hack  endeavours,  by  a  few  wretched  lectures, 
to  conceal  the  total  want  of  all  sound  and  Avholesome 
instruction,  and  the  monstrous  misapplication  of  the 

*  AppendiJc  V, 


216  PRIESTCRAFT 

wealth  of  the  nation.  He  is  often  a  man  of  low  birth, 
whom  laziness  or  physical  infirmity  rendered  unfit  for 
the  flail  or  the  loom ;  and,  having  availed  himself  of 
some  eleemosynary  foundation,  he  has  M^on  his  way  to 
an  office  which  ought  to  be  accounted  honourable,  but, 
by  the  accumulation  of  the  grossest  abuses  has  been 
rendered  servile.  If  the  ?ispiring  clown  had  elevated 
himself  by  a  generous  excellence,  by  a  pre-eminence 
in  liberal  learning,  his  low  birth,  far  from  being  a  stain, 
would  shed  a  lustre  upon  his  new  station ;  but  under 
the  present  unhappy  constitution  of  our  universities, 
these  mushrooms  are  culled  for  deleterious,  not  for 
wholesome  properties.  If  his  birth  was  low,  his 
mind  is  commonly  lower ;  he  is  not  selected  on  ac- 
V.  count  of  his  learning,  but  of  his  subserviency.  When 
a  teacher  of  gentle  blood  is  taken,  it  m.ay  happen  per- 
chance, that  although  he  was  born  a  freeman,  he  has 
the  soul  of  a  slave.  The  fellowships  in  like  manner 
are  for  the  most  part  conferred  upon  kinsmen,  upon 
tools,  upon  all  but  those  who  are  best  entitled  to  hold 
them.  It  may  be  that,  with  much  pomp  and  ceremony 
and  an  ostentatious  display  of  the  favour  shown  to  let- 
ters, some  little  proficient  in  the  course  of  elementary 
instruction,  prescribed  to  keep  up  the  show  of  atten- 
tion to  education,  is  now  and  then  put  into  possession 
of  one  of  those  valuable  annuities ;  but  the  yaAvning 
sluggard,  the  dull  sot,  is  generally  deemed  more  eligi- 
ble than  the  zealous  scholar. 

"  Let  us  suppose,  however,  that  all  fellowships  were 
fairly  bestowed  upon  the  young  men  who  were  most 
worthy  to  hold  them,  still  Avould  our  universities  fall 
far  short  of  that  utility  which  we  have  an  unalienable 
right  to  insist  upon  reaping  from  our  public  domains. 
In  the  case  we  have  supposed,  all  improvement  would 
cease  at  the  end  of  the  first  year  of  academical  resi- 
dence ;  after  taking  the  first  degree  there  would  be  no 
motive  to  advance  further  on  the  road  to  learning. 
Each  college  would  be,  as  it  now  is,  a  clerical  tontine ; 
an  abominable  institution,  alike  hostile  to  learning  and 
subversive   of  piety.     Surely   oiu'   sagacious,   clear- 


IN   ALL   AGES.  217 

headed  fellow-countrymen  are  not  aware  that  every 
one  of  the  numerous  colleges  which  they  maintain  at 
such  an  enormous  cost  is  merely  a  clerical  tontine  ! 
The  instant  a  young  man  is  elected  a  fellow,  he  has 
but  one  object ;  to  outlive  his  brethren, — and  thus  to 
receive,  in  succession,  the  valuable  benefices  attached 
to  his  college,  which  were  designed  to  reward  the 
most  learned,  but  which  are  blindly  and  dishonestly 
lianded  over  to  the  longest  liver." 

Now  what  is  thus  M'ritten  in  the  present  day  is  ex- 
actly of  the  same  stamp  as  Avhat  was  uttered  by  Gib- 
bon:—"The  schools  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  v/ere 
founded  in  a  dark  age  of  false  and  barbarous  science  ; 
and  they  are  still  tainted  with  the  vices  of  their  origin. 
Their  primitive  discipline  was  adapted  to  the  educa- 
tion of  priests  and  monks  ;  and  their  government  is 
still  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy,  an  order  of  men  whose 
manners  are  remote  from  the  present  world,  and  whose 
eyes  are  dazzled  by  the  light  of  philosophy."  Nay,  it 
is  exactly  the  same  as  what  Milton  wrote  in  his  time. 
We  hear  those  who  have  studied  there  continually 
declaring  that  the  system  of  education  pursued  is  in- 
finitely behind  that  given  by  dissenters  to  their  minis- 
ters, so  far  as  it  regards  their  real  preparation  for  the 
office  of  Christian  teachers.  I  have  frequently  heard 
young  men  declare  that  they  had  no  need  to  study 
there.  With  a  certain  quantity  of  mathematics,  or  of 
Greek  and  Latin,  they  could  take  a  degree,  and  that 
was  enough.  So  it  must  have  been  in  Milton's  days. 
"  They  pretend  that  their  education  either  at  school  or 
university  hath  been  very  chargeable,  and  therefore 
ought  to  be  repaired  in  future  by  a  plentiful  main- 
tenance ;  whereas  it  is  well  known  that  the  better 
half  of  them  are  ofttimes  poor  and  pitiful  boys,  that 
having  no  merit,  or  promising  hopes,  that  might  entitle 
them  to  the  public  provision,  but  their  poverty,  and  the 
unjust  favour  of  friends  ;  have  had  their  breeding  both 
at  school  and  university  at  the  public  cost;  which 
might  engage  them  the  rather  to  give  freely,  as  they 
have  freely  received. 

K 


218  PRIESTCRAFT 

'*  Next  it  is  a  roiid  error,  though  too  much  believed 
among  us,  to  think  that  the  miiversity  makes  a  minis- 
ter of  the  gospel.  That  it  may  conduce  to  other  arts 
and  sciences,  1  dispute  not  now,  but  that  which  makes 
fit  a  minister  the  Scriptures  can  best  tell  us  to  be  only 
from  above.  How  shall  iliey  preachy  unless  they  he 
scjit?  By  whom  sent?  By  the  university,  or  tlie 
magistrate,  or  their  belly?  No,  surely;  but  sent  from 
(ioci  only,  and  that  God  who  is  not  their  belly.  And 
wheth(^r  he  be  sent  from  God,  or  from  Simon  Magus, 
tlie  imvard  sense  of  his  calling  and  spiritual  ability 
will  sufficiently  tell  him. 

"  But  yet,  they  say,  it  is  also  requisite  he  should  be 
trained  up  in  other  learning,  which  can  be  had  nowhere 
better  than  at  the  universities.  1  answer,  that  what 
learning,  either  human  or  divine,  can  be  necessary  to 
a  minister,  may  as  easily  and  less  chargcably  be  had 
in  anv  private  house.  How  deficient  else,  and  to  how 
little  purpose  are  all  those-  piles  of  sermons,  notes,  and 
comments  on  all  parts  ol'  the  Bible, — bodies  and  mar- 
rows of  divinity,  besides  all  other  sciences  in  our  English 
ti)ngue  ;  many  of  the  same  books  which  in  Latin  they 
read  at  the  university  ?  And  the  small  necessity  of 
going  there  to  learn  divinity,  I  prove  lirst  from  the 
most  part  of  themselves,  who  seldom  continue  there 
till  they  have  well  got  through  logic,  their  lirst  rudi- 
ments. And  those  theological  disputations  there  held 
by  professors  and  graduates  are  such  as  tend  least  of 
ail  to  the  edification  or  capacity  of  the  people,  but  ra- 
ther perplex  and  leaven  pure  doctrine  \vith  scholastic 
trash,  than  enable  any  minister  to  the  better  preaching 
of  the   gospel.*' — Milton  on  Hirelings. 

When  past  and  present  authorities  thus  agree  to 
describe  tlie  great  universities  of  the  nation,  wo  be  to 
that  nation  if  it  do  not  break  the  slumbers  of  these 
clerical  drones,  throw  wide  the  gates  to  the  intiux  of 
real  knowledge,  and  of  all  those  who  thirst  for  know- 
ledge, that  we  may  never  more  hear  of  such  men  as 
Locke  being  expelled  for  their  love  of  freedom,  or 
Middleton  for  their  piety. 


IN    ALL    AGES.  219 

Of  tlie  continuance  of  ecclesiastical  courts  to  this 
enlightened  period  what  shall  we  say,  but  tiiat  En«r- 
Jishnien  are  a  most  patient  race  ?  A  dark  and  myste- 
rious assemblage  as  of  bats  and  owls !  A  sort  of  Imjuisi- 
tion  shorn  of  its  power  by  public  opinion,  and  suHered 
by  public  opinion  to  exist.  Priests,  allowed  no  longer 
to  sunmion  men  to  their  hidden  tribunals,  and  rack  their 
persons,  but  permitted  still  to  seize  on  their  wills  with 
rude  hands,  and  rack  their  purses  without  mercy! 
Clerical  peers  and  clerical  legislators  are  anomalous 
enough  ;  but  clerical  taxers  of  orphans,  and  clerical 
guardians  of  testamentary  documents,  are  still  more 
anomalous.  Here  is  a  popish  institution  existing  in  a 
Protestant  country,  which  even  popish  countries  have 
abandoned,  and  conveyed  its  functions  into  the  hands 
of  laymen  !  Our  wise  Saxon  ancestors  suffered  no- 
thing of  this  kind  among  them :  it  is  true  they  permitted 
bishops  to  take  their  seats  in  the  civil  courts  to  protect 
their  own  rights,  l)ut  it  remained  for  the  Norman  inva- 
der to  concede  to  Rome  this  dangerous  privilege  of 
clerical  courts.  Time  and  knowledge  have  thrown 
into  desuetude  most  of  those  powers  by  which  they 
formerly  harassed  our  forefathers.  They  no  longer 
trouble  themselves  about  the  reformation  of  manners, 
the  punishing  of  heresy ;  nor  do  churchwardens  care 
to  present  scandalous  livers  to  the  bishop :  but  refuse 
to  pay  a  fee,  and  they  wdl  speedily  "  curse  thee  to  thy 
face."  They  are  in  fact  a  sort  of  obscure  and  dusty 
incorporations  for  collecting  and  enjoying  good  revenues, 
under  the  names  of  bishop,  surrogates,  proctors,  regis- 
trars, deputy-registrars,  and  so  forth,  from  fees  on  wills, 
consecrations,  and  various  other  sources  and  immuni- 
ties. For  the  gi-eediness  of  these  clerical  owls  in  past 
days,  let  any  one  consult  Chaucer.  Sir  David  Lind- 
say of  Scotland  made  merry  with  them  in  his  days : 

Marry,  I  lent  my  gossip  my  mavc  to  fetch  home  coal---, 
,Vnd  he  hov  drowned  in  the  quarry  holes. 
And  I  ran  to  the  consistorie,  for  to  pleinze, 
And  there  I  fell  among  a  greedy  meinze. 
Thpy  gave  mc  first  a  thing  they  call  citandimi ; 
Within  eight  days  I  got  but  Ubellandum  ; 
K  2 


220  PRIESTCRAFT 

WiUiiii  a  month  I  got  ad  apponendum ; 

lu  hall  a  year  I  got  inter  loquendum  ; 

And  then  I  got— how  call  ye  it  I— ad  repUcandum  ; 

But  I  could  never  a  word  yet  understand  'em. 

And  then  they  made  me  pull  out  many  placks, 

And  made  me  pay  for  four-and-twenty  acts ; 

But  ere  they  came  half-way  Xo  concludendum, 

The  devil  a  plack  was  left  for  to  defend  him. 

Thus  they  postponed  me  two  years  with  their  train ; 

Then,  hodie  ad  octo,  bade  me  come  agam. 

And  then,  their  rooks,  they  croaked  wonderous  fast 

For  sentence  silver  they  cried  at  the  last. 

Oi protmnciandum  they  made  me  wonder  fain, 

But  I  never  got  my  good  gray  mare  again ! 

This  is  spoken  in  the  character  of  a  poor  man: 
another  character  then  adds, 

My  lords,  we  must  reform  these  consistory  laws, 

Whose  great  defame  above  the  heaven  blows. 

I  knew  a  man,  in  sueing  for  a  cow. 

Ere  he  had  done,  he  spent  full  half  a  bow.* 

So  that  the  king's  honour  we  may  advance. 

We  will  conclude  as  they  have  done  in  France ; 

Let  spiritual  matters  pass  to  spiritualitie. 

And  temporal  matters  unto  temporalitie.  , 

Satyre  of  Three  EstaiUs. 

Whoever  would  see  what  troublesome  and  extor- 
tionate nuisances  these  courts  are  has  only  to  consult  the 
returns  made  to  parliament  in  1829  on  this  subject. 
Among  the  lesser  evils  of  the  system  are  the  consecra- 
tion of  burial-grounds  and  surplice  fees.  Nothing  is 
more  illustrative  of  tlie  spirit  of  priestcraft  than  that 
the  church  should  have  kept  up  the  superstitious  belief 
in  the  consecration  of  ground,  in  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple to  the  present  hour,  and  that,  in  spite  of  education, 
the  poor  and  the  rich  should  be  ridden  with  the  most 
preposterous  notion  that  they  cannot  lie  in  peace  ex- 
cept in  ground  over  which  the  bishop  has  said  his 
mummery,  and  for  which  he  and  his  rooks,  as  Lindsay 
calls  them,  have  pocketed  the  fees,  and  laughed  in 
their  sleeves  at  the  gullible  foolishness  of  the  people. 
When  will  the  day  come  when  the  webs  of  the  clerical 
spider  shall  be  torn,  not  only  from  the  limbs  but  the 
souls  of  men?     Does  the  honest  Quaker  sleep  less 

*  Half  a  fold  of  cows. 


IN    ALL    AGES.  321 

sound,  or  will  he  arise  less  cheerfully  at  the  judgment- 
day  from  his  gi-ave,  over  whicli  no  pr(^latical  jugglery 
has  been  practised,  and  for  which  neither  prelate  nor 
priest  has  pocketed  a  doit  1  Who  has  consecrated  the 
sea,  into  vvhich  the  British  sailor  in  the  cloud  of  battle- 
^moke  descends,  or  who  goes  down,  amid  the  tears  of 
liis  comrades,  to  depths  to  which  no  plummet  but  that 
of  (lod's  omnipresence  ever  reached  ?  Who  has  con- 
secrated the  battle-field,  which  opens  its  pits  for  its 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  ;  or  the  desert,  where 
the  weary  traveller  lies  down  to  his  eternal  rest.' 
Who  has  made  holy  the  sleeping  place  of  the  solitary 
missionary,  and  of  the  settlers  in  new  lands  ?  Who 
but  He  whose  hand  has  hallowed  earth  from  end  to 
end,  and  from  surface  to  centre,  lor  his  piu'c  and  Al- 
mighty lingers  have  moulded  it !  Al^ho  but  He  Avhose 
eye  rests  on  it  day  and  night,  watching  its  myriads  of 
moving  children — the  oppressors  and  the  oppressed — 
the  deceivers  and  the  deceived — the  hypocrites  and 
the  poor  whose  souls  are  darkened  with  false  know- 
ledge and  fettered  with  the  bonds  of  daring  selfishness  ? 
and  on  whatever  innocent  thing  that  eye  rests,  it  is 
hallowed  beyond  the  breath  of  bishops,  and  the  fees 
of  registrars.  Who  shall  need  to  look  for  a  conse- 
crated spot  of  earth  to  lay  his  bones  in,  when  the 
struggles  and  the  sorrows,  the  prayers  and  the  tears 
of  our  fellow-men,  from  age  to  age,  have  consecrated 
every  atom  of  this  world's  surface  to  the  desire  of  a 
repose  which  no  human  hands  can  lead  to,  no  human 
rites  can  secure  ?  Who  shall  seek  for  a  more  hal- 
lowed bed  than  the  bosom  of  that  earth  into  which 
Christ  himself  descended,  and  in  which  the  bodies  of 
thousands  of  glorious  patriots,  •  and  prophets,  and 
martyrs,  who  were  laid  in  gardens  and  beneath  their 
paternal  trees,  and  of  heroes  whose  blood  and  sighs 
have  flowed  forth  for  their  fellow-men,  have  been  left 
to  peace  and  the  blessings  of  grateful  generations  with 
no  rites,  no  sounds  but  the  silent  falling  of  tears  and 
the  aspirations  of  speechless  but  immortal  thanks  ? 
From  side  to  side,  from  end  to  end,  the  whole  world 


222  I'RIESTrRAFT 

j^  sanctified  by  these  agencies,  beyond  the  blessings 
or  the  curses  of  priests  !  God's  sunshine  flows  over 
it,  his  providence  surrounds  it ;  his  faitlilul  creatures 
live,  and  toil,  and  pray  in  it ;  and  who  shall  make  it,  or 
who  can  need  it  holier  for  his  last  resting  couch  !  But 
the  greediness  of  priests  persists  in  cursing  the  poor 
with  extortionate  expenses,  and  calls  them  blessings. 
The  poor  man,  who  all  his  days  goes  gi'oaning  under 
the  load  of  his  ill-paid  labours,  cannot  even  escape 
from  them  into  the  grave  except  at  a  dismal  charge  to 
his  family.  His  native  earth  is  not  allowed  to  receive 
him  into  her  bosom  till  he  has  satisfied  the  priest  and 
his  satellites.  With  the  exception  of  Jews,  Quakers, 
and  some  few  other  dissenters,  every  man  is  given  up 
in  England  as  a  prey,  in  life  and  in  death,  to  the  par- 
son, and  his  echo,  and  his  disturber  of  bones. 

The  following  is  a  fair  example  of  the  expense 
incurred  for  what  is  called  consecration  of  the  smallest 
addition  to  a  burial-ground — and  wretched  must  be  the 
mental  stupidity  of  a  people  who  can  believe  that  such 
fellows  can  add  holiness  to  the  parish  earth. 

To  the  churchwardens  of  Tadcaster  was  sent  the 
following  letter:  — 

Gentlemen, — I  send  you  enclosed  the  charges  on  the  consecration 
of  the  additional  churchyard  at  Tadcaster. 

JOSEPH  BUCKLE. 
York,  26th  March,  1829. 

Fees  on  consecration  of  the  additional  burial-ground 
at  Tadcaster. 
1828.  £.   s.   d. 

Drawing  and  engrossing  the  petition  to  the  Archbishop  to 

consecrate 150 

Drawing  and  engrossing  the  sentence  of  consecration  -  2  2  0 
Drawing  the  Act  -  -  -  "",;,",'  ^  ^"^  ^ 
Registering  the  above  instruments  and  the  deed  at  length, 

and  parchment       -' 220 

The  Chancellor's  fee 5    0    0 

The  principal  Register's  fee 5    0    0 

The  Secretary's  fee 5    0    0 

The  Deputy  Register's  attendance  and  expenses       -        -    3  15    6 

The  Apparitor's  fee   -        -        -       ' 110 

Fee  on  obtaining  the  seal 110 

Carriage ,       .        -    0    5    0 

£27    5    0 


IN   ALL   AGES.  223 

For  burying  a  poor  man  this  is  the  common  scale , 
of  charge  in  this  town  : — For  the  burial  of  a  pauper 
Is.  Qd. — for  a  child  six  months  old,  the  same — if  the 
child  be  not  baptized,  1^. ;  for  in  that  state,  by  clerical 
logic,  it  is  deemed  not  a  human  being,  but  a  thing, 
until  their  mummery  has  ennobled  it — a  thing  beneath 
God's  notice — it  is  therefore  thrust  into  any  hole  by 
the  sexton.  In  the  principal  churchyard,  a  man  who 
wishes  to  choose  the  place  of  burial  must  pay  10/.  for 
tlie  size  of  a  grave  ;  and  for  opening  such  a  grave, 
about  21.  \5s.  Qd.  For  opening  a  vault,  even  in  vil- 
lage churchyards,  5/.  is  commonly  demanded ;  in  the 
church  lOZ. ;  and,  what  is  worst,  after  all,  it  has 
been  proved  by  more  than  one  legal  decision,  no  man's 
family  vault  is  sacred  and  inviolable.  The  church 
and  churchyard  are  the  parson's  freehold.  In  them, 
during  his  life,  he  can  work  his  own  will,  but  he  can- 
not sell  a  right  of  vault  beyond  his  own  life.  There 
are  numbers  of  families  who  flattered  themselves  they 
had  a  place  of  family  sepulture  into  which  no  stranger 
could  intrude  ;  but  let  them  excite  the  wrath  of  some 
clerical  parish  tyrant,  and  he  can  show  them  that  not 
only  can  he  refuse  to  permit  the  opening  of  their  vault 
to  receive  their  dead,  till  his  demands,  however  exor- 
bitant, are  satisfied,  but  that  he  can  refuse  to  have  it 
opened  at  all ;  and  moreover  can  thrust  in,  at  his 
pleasure,  the  carcasses  of  the  vilest  wretches  in  the 
parish.  Thus,  by  dealing  with  priests,  the  people 
are  served  as  they  always  have  been — juggled  out 
of  their  money  for  "that  which  is  naught ;"  and  thrown 
into  the  absolute  power  of  the  most  mercenary  order 
of  men.  They  are  suffered  to  buy  that  which  cannot 
be  really  sold  ;  and  when  they  look  for  a  freehold, 
they  find  only  a  trap  for  clerical  fees.  From  root  to 
branch  the  whole  system  is  rotten  ;  give  !  give  !  give  ! 
is  written  on  every  wall  and  gate  of  the  church :  and 
though  a  man  quit  it  and  its  communion  altogether,  he 
must  still  pay,  in  life  and  in  death,  to  it.  By  a  recent 
case  in  the  diocess  of  Salisbury,  it  is  shown  by  the 
bishop  that  a  man  once  having  taken  orders  can  never 


224  PRIESTCRAI  T 

lay  them  down  again.  A  Mr.  Tiptatt,  having  resigned 
his  living  from  conscientious  motives,  began  to  preach 
as  a  dissenter ;  but  the  bishop  attempted  to  stop  his 
mouth  with  menacing  tlie  thunders  of  the  church  ; 
and,  on  his  astonished  declaration  that  he  was  no  longer 
a  son  of  the  church,  the  prelate  let  him  know  that  he 
was,  and  must  be, — for  clerical  orders,  like  Coleridge's 
infernal  fire,  must 

Cling  to  him  everlastingly. 

To  this  church,  which  empties  the  pockets  of  the 
poor,  and  stops  the  mouth  of  the  conscientious  dissen- 
ter, let  every  Englishman  do  his  duty. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


CHURCH    PATRONAGE. 


Evils  of  the  system  of  Church  Patronage— Simony— Defence  of  the 
Churcli — Moderate  clerical  Incomes — Scotch  and  German  Clerg>^ 
— False  notions  of  Gentility — Christ  a  true  Gentleman — What 
Clergymen  might  be— Private  Patronage— Surplice  Fees. 


The  Church  of  England  is  unpopular.  It  is  connected  with  the 
crown  and  the  aristocracy,  but  is  not  regarded  with  afiection  by 
the  mass  of  the  people ;  and  this  circumstance  greatly  lessens  its 
utility,  and  has  powerfully  contributed  to  multiply  the  number  of 
dissenters.  Edinburgh  lieviiw,  No.  Ixxxviii. 

We  are  overdone  with  standing  armies.  We  have  an  army  of  law- 
yers with  tough  parchments  and  interminable  words  to  confound 
honesty  and  common  sense  ;  an  army  of  paper  to  fight  gold  ;  an  ramy 
of  soldiers  to  fight  the  French  ;  an  army  of  doctors  to  light 
death ;  and  an  army  of  parsons  to  fight  the  devil — of  whom  he 
etandeth  not  in  awe !  Fox. 


But  wfiile  the  nation  demands  those  alterations  just 
enumerated,  the  internal  prosperity,  nay  the  very  ex- 
istence of  the  episcopal  church,  as  a  vital  and  fruitful 
Christian  community,  demands  others.     First,  that  it 


IN   ALL   AGES.  225 

should  be  delivered  from  the  curse  of  patronage, — 
the  source  of  a  thousand  evils, — the  cause  of  lament- 
able moral  lethargy  and  paralysis.  While  every 
Christian  society  around  it  enjoys  the  just  privilege  of 
choosing  its  own  ministers,  will  it  be  long  endured  by 
this  church  that  it  should  be  kept  in  a  condition  of 
everlasting  tutelage  1  that  its  members,  however  wise, 
enlightened,  and  capable  of  managing  all  their  affairs 
for  themselves  ;  who  would  hold  it  as  the  highest  in- 
sult that  the  state  should  appoint  overseers  to  choose 
for  their  children  schoolmasters,  and  for  themselves 
stewards,  attorneys,  or  physicians — will  it  be  endured 
long  that  some  state  favourite  who  never  saw  them,  or 
their  place  ;  or  some  neighbouring  fox-hunting  squire, 
whose  intellect,  if  it  exhibit  itself  anywhere,  is  in  his 
boot-heels  ;  that  some  horse-jockey,  or  gambler, 
some  fellow  whose  life  is  a  continual  crime,  his  con- 
versation a  continual  pestilence — who,  if  he  were  a 
poor  man,  would  have  been  long  since  hanged,  but 
being  a  rich  one,  he  is  at  once  the  choicest  son  and  pur- 
veyor of  Satan,  and  the  hereditary  selector  of  the  min- 
ister of  God, — will  it  be  endured  that  such  a  man  shall 
put  in  over  the  heads  of  a  respectable,  pious,  and  well- 
informed  community  a  spiritual  guide  and  teacher  ? — 
put  him  in,  in  spite  of  their  abhorrence  and  remon- 
strances ?  and  that  oncein,neitherpatronorpeople  shall 
get  him  out,  though  he  be  dull  as  the  clod  of  his  own 
glebe,  and  vicious  as  the  veriest  scum  of  his  parish, 
who  prefers  the  pot-house  to  his  polluted  house  of 
prayer  ?  From  this  source  has  flowed  the  most  fatal 
results  to  the  church ;  and  nine-tenths  of  the  evils  which 
afflict  it.  By  this  means  it  has  been  ffUed  with  every 
species  of  unworthy  character ;  men  who  look  upon 
it  as  a  prey ;  who  come  to  it  with  coldness  and  con- 
tempt ;  who  gather  its  fruits,  while  other  and  better 
men  toil  for  them  ;  and  squander  them  in  modes  scan- 
dalous, not  merely  to  a  church,  but  to  human  society.  By 
this  means  it  has  been  made  the  heritage  of  the  rich 
man's  children,  while  the  poor  and  unpatronised  man 
of  worth  and  talent  has  plodded  on  in  its  labours,  and 
K3 


226  PRIESTCRAFT 

despaired.  By  this  means  so  worldly  a  clvdracter  has 
grown  upon  its  ministers,  that  they  have  become  blind 
lo  the  vilest  enormities  olthe  system,  and  now  look  on 
simony  as  a  matter  of  conrse.  Whoever  doubts  tliis, 
let  him  look  into  the  Britisli  or  Clerical  Magazine, 
and  he  will  find  tlie  reverend  correspondents  askhig 
with  the  utmost  simplicity,  How  can  the  bishops  help 
men  selling  advovvsons '(  It  never  seems  once  to  oc- 
cur to  them,  that  ii"  there  were  no  clerical  bu^'ers  there 
would  be  no  sellers.  In  the  same  journal  for  June, 
1832,  is  also  the  following  statement ; — '•  Of  the  whole 
number  of  benetices  in  England,  nearly  8000,  more 
than  two-thirds  of  the  whole,  are  in  private  patronage. 
Of  the  clergy,  a  very  considerable  number  have  pur- 
chased the  livings  which  they  hold ;  and  of  the  re- 
mainder, mosi  have  been  brought  up  to  th<'  church, 
and  educated  with  a  view  to  somi;  particular  piece  of 
preferment  in  the  gift  ol'  their  family  and  relations. 
Whether  this  be  right  or  wrong,  it  is  an  eH'ect  almost 
necessarily  lolloping  from  so  large  a  portion  of  the 
property  of  the  church  being  private  property  ;  a  state 
of  things  not  lo  be  altered,  and  which  they  who  wish 
to  abolish  pluralities  do  not  talk  of  altering."* 

Here  in  one  sentence,  written  by  a  clergyman,  and 
published  in  a  clerical  magazine,  we  have  the  root  and 
ground  of  three-fourths  of  the  evils  and  enormities  of  the 
establishment.  We  have  a  statement,  that  out  of 
10,000  livings  in  England,  nearly  8,000  are  in  the 
hands  of  private  people  ;  that  is,  each  in  the  hands  of 
a  man  who,  whatever  be  liis  life  or  his  qualifications 
tor  judging,  can  and  does  put  in  a  clergyman  over  the 
heads  of  his  neighbours,  to  serve  his  own  views,  which 
are  commonly  to  establish  some  rake  or  blockhead  of 
a  son  or  nep'iew,  or  to  make  what  money  he  can  out 
of  a  stranger,  if  he  has  no  children ;  not  to  seek  the 
most  pious  man,  but  the  highest  bidder :  and,  conse- 
quently, that  a  very  considerable  immber  have  pur- 
chased these  livings.    Thus,  not  the  pious  man,  but  the 

*  Appendix  VI. 


IN   ALL    AGES.  227 

highest  bidder,  the  boldest  dealer  in  simony,  has  had 
tlie  livings.  Oh !  poor  people,  who  are  doomed  to 
sit  nnder  such  pastors,  and  vainly  hope  to  grow  in 
heavenly  knowledge  !  The  remainder,  says  this  most 
logical  writer,  have  been  brought  up  with  a  view  to 
some  particular  piece  of  preferment  I'rom  their  friends 
and  relations.  Yes,  younger  sons — no  matter  what 
their  heads  or  llieir  hearts  an^  niad(!  of — doomed  to 
deal  out  Cod's  threats  and  promises  to  the  people. 
Desperate  handlers  of  God's  sacred  things — who  rush 
fearlessly  into  his  temple,  not  because  lie  has  called 
them,  but  because  their  relations  have  the  key  of  the 
doors.  And  this  clerical  writer  puts  forth  all  this  with 
the  most  innocent  face  imaginable.  While  he  enume- 
rates causes  enough  to  have  made  8t.  Paid's  hair  stand 
on  end :  when  he  tells  us  that  simony  is  common  as 
daylight ;  that  the  l)ulk  of  the  livings  in  England  are 
not  open  to  the  pious  and  the  worthy,  but  are  the  her- 
itage of  certain  men  who  may  be  neither — he  is  so  far 
from  seeing  any  thing  amiss,  that  he  goes  on  to  point 
out  the  advantage  ol*  such  a  state  of  things.  He  de- 
clares it  cannot  he  altered ;  and  this  is  one  of  liis 
reasons  why  the  chin*ch  should  not  be  reformed.  He 
does  not  at  all  perceive  that  no  church-with  so  scanda- 
lous and  preposterous  a  foundation  can  possibly  stand 
many  years  in  the  midst  of  a  country  wliere  the  spirit 
of  man  is  busily  at  work  to  pry  into  the  nature  of  all 
things,  and  where  any  monopoly,  but  especially  of  re- 
ligious patronage,  must  assuredly  arouse  an  indigna- 
tion that  \\'\\\  overturn  it.  Miserably  dark  must  be  the 
moral  atmosphere  of  a  church  where  its  members 
come  forward  with  a  mental  obtuseness  like  this,  to 
advocate  its  abominations  as  if  they  were  virtues,  while 
the  people  gape  round  them  with  astonishment,  and 
they  perceive  it  not.  liut  there  are  no  labourers  in 
the  demolition  of  a  bad  institution  like  its  own  friends. 
They  are  like  insects  in  a  rotten  tree  ;  roused  by  ex- 
ternal alarm  to  activity,  they  bustle  about  and  scatter 
the  trunk,  which  holds  them,  into  dust.     Such  men 


5^8  PRIESTCRAFT 

put  a  patch  of  new  arguments  into  the  old  gamient  of 
corruption,  and  the  rent  is  made  worse. 

By  these  means  the  church  has  been  lilled  with 
pride  and  apathy  ;  and  it  is  notorious,  that  of  all  Chris- 
tian ministers,  the  ministers  of  the  establishment  are 
the  least  interested  in  their  flocks, — cultivate  and  en- 
joy the  least  sympathy  with  them.  I  accidentally,  the 
other  day,  took  up  Faulkner's  Tour  in  Germany,  and 
immediately  fell  on  this  passage,  which,  coming 
from  a  man  fresh  from  the  observation  of  the  Conti- 
nental churches,  is  worthy  of  attention.  "  Nowhere 
else  in  Europe  are  clergymen  less  respected  among 
the  multitude  than  in  the  British  dominions."  He  pro- 
ceeds to  account  for  this  by  their  apathy,  their  plurali- 
ties, their  exorbitant  revenues,  maintenance  by  tithes, 
and  acting  as  legislators.  He  adds,  "  The  clergy  of 
the  United  Kingdoms  are  paid  more  than  the  clergy  of 
all  the  rest  of  Christendom  besides  by  a  million  ster- 
ling and  upwards,  the  full  amount  of  their  annual  reve- 
nue being  8,852,000/.  In  primitive  times,  and  in  the 
different  countries  at  the  present  time  w^hich  I  have 
visited,  the  remuneration  of  their  labour  is  chiefly  vol- 
untary. In  these  countries  it  needs  no  prelacy  strut- 
ting in  lawn  sleeves,  and* raising  their  mitred  fronts  in 
courts  and  parliaments,'  to  clothe  it  with  respect." 

This,  in  contradiction  of  the  many  assertions  of  the 
advocates  of  our  English  establishment,  who  contend 
that  without  dignities  and  large  revenues  the  clergy 
would  sink  into  contempt,  is  borne  out  by  the  experi- 
ence of  all  the  world.  The  dignities  and  large  reve- 
nues of  the  papal  church  did  not  embalm  its  clergy  in 
public  estimation  ;  and  to  whatever  country  we  turn,  we 
find  that  wherever  the  clergy  are  but  moderately  en- 
dowed, there  they  are  diligent,  and  there  they  are 
esteemed.  What  is  the  opinion  of  Mihon,  of  the  pre- 
ferments which  have  been  so  much  vaunted  as  stimu- 
lants to  activity  and  talent  in  the  church  ?  That  they 
are  but  "lures  or  loubells,  by  Avhich  the  worldly-minded 
priest  may  be  tolled,  from  parish  to  parish,  all  the 


IN    ALL    AGES.  229 

country  over.".  The  Scotch  clergy  are  but  slenderly 
incomed,  and  what  is  the  testimony  of  their  country- 
men, the  Edinburgh  Reviewers,  concerning  them? 
"  In  Scotland  there  are  950  parish  clergymen,  whose 
incomes  may  average  275/.  a  year  each  ;  and  the  Scot- 
tish clergy  are  not  inferior  in  point  of  attainments  to 
any  in  Europe ;  no  complaints  have  ever  been  made 
of  the  manner  in  which  they  perform  their  duty ;  but, 
on  the  contraiy,  their  exemplary  conduct  is  the  theme 
of  well-merited  and  constant  eulogy." 

Let  us  now  turn  again  to  Faulkner's  account  of  the 
German  clergy. — "  The  Hessian  clergy  are  exemplary 
in  the  discharge  of  their  multifarious  duties.  A  clergy- 
man, no  matter  what  his  grade,  deems  it  in  no  respect 
derogator}"  from  his  dignity  to  prove  his  faith  by  his 
works.  The  spiritual  and  temporal  comfort  of  their 
flocks,  and  their  nurture  in  all  sound  impressions  of 
religion,  is  their  unceasing  care ;  while  they  hold  out, 
in  their  own  respectable  and  uncompromising  conduct, 
both  in  public  and  private,  the  fairest  patterns  to  en- 
force the  precepts  which  they  teach.  The  average 
of  a  Hessian  clerg5'-man's  stipend  is  about  forty  dollars 
a  year — the  dollar  three  shillings  sterling — to  which 
is  added  a  house  and  garden,  or  little  farm." 

"  The  clergy  at  Marberg,  in  the  strictest  sense,  are 
a  working  clergy.  They  are  perpetually  among  their 
flocks,  correcting,  and  training,  and  guiding ;  and  in 
such  unremitting  labours  of  love,  earn  a  reputation 
not  the  les-s  likely  to  abide  by  them  for  being  the 
capital  on  which  they  must  chiefly  rely  for  most  of 
their  comforts  and  happiness.  And  it  surely  is  most 
fitting  there  should  exist  this  reciprocity  of  feeling 
and  good  offices  between  the  pastor  and  his  flock. 
The  Protestant  and  the  Catholic  are  on  the  best  pos- 
sible footing  with  each  other ;  and  share  equally  in 
the  ofiices  of  government."  Wherever  he  mentions 
the  clergy,  it  always  is  in  similar  terms.  It  is  only 
necessary  for  us  to  remember  that  this  is  a  clergy 
ver}^  moderately  paid,  and  we  then  see  the  exact  value 
of  the  arguments  for  high  salaries. 


230  PRIESTCRAFT 

Sorry  should  I  be  to  see  our  noble  ecclesiastical 
piles  deserted  and  falling  to  decay,  because  tlie  na- 
tional funds  were  withdrawn ;  but  1  should  like  to  see 
them  filled  with  ministers  of  zeal,  and  overfloM'iiig 
congregations.  Sorry  should  I  be  to  see  the  pic- 
turesque village  church  deserted  by  its  accustomed 
minister,  and  occupied  by  some  ignorant  and  clam- 
orous fanatic ;  but  I  should  rejoice  when  I  entered,  to 
iind  there,  not  a  mere  journeyman  hireling,  but  the 
worthy  pastor, — not  a  man  standing  like  a  statue,  and 
reading  in  monotonous  tones  a  discourse  cold  as  his 
own  looks  ;  but  one  full  of  overflowing  love,  and  a 
lively  rational  zeal,  that  made  his  hearers  warm  at 
once  to  him,  towards  each  other,  and  towards  God  ; 
and  when  we  went  forth,  I  should  be  glad  to  see,  not 
a  stately  person  who  smiles  sunnily,  shakes  hands 
heartily,  talks  merrily  with  the  few  wealthy  of  his 
fold ;  gives  to  those  of  a  lower  gi'ade  a  frigid  nod  of 
recognition  ;  to  the  poor  a  contemptuous  forgetfulness 
of  their  presence,  and  stalks  away  in  sullen  stateliness 
to  his  well-endowed  parsonage.  He  who  enters  on 
his  living  as  his  birthright,  who  looks  on  himself  as 
a  gentleman,  and  his  hearers  as  clowns,  what  can 
arouse  his  zeal  ?  He  who  has  no  fear  of  censure,  or 
removal,  whence  spring  his  circiunspection  and  ac- 
tivity ?  "  My  father,"  said  the  natural  son  of  a  noble- 
man, *'  said  to  me — it  is  time  you  should  choose  a 
profession.  You  must  not  be  a  tradesman,  or  you 
cannot  sit  at  my  table ;  you  have  not  shrewdness 
enough  for  a  la\\yer ;  you  would  forget,  or  poison 
your  patients  through  carelessness  were  you  a  phy- 
sician :  I  must  make  a  parson,  or  some  devil  of  a 
thing  of  you :  and  he  made  a  parson  of  me  ; — and  I 
hate  the  church  and  every  thing  belonging  to  it  !"* 
From  such  ministers  what  can  be  expected  ?  and  such 
ministers  are  supplied  to  the  church  in  legions  by  this 
odious  system  of  private  patronage.  The  ambition 
of  maintaining  the  character  of  gentlemen  has  made 
clergymen  cold,  unimpassioned,  insipid,  and  useless, 

*  Appendix  VII. 


IN   ALL    AGES,  231 

It  was  the  same  in  the  latter  days  of  popery.     Chau- 
cer sketches  us  a  priest : 

That  hie  on  horse  willith  to  ride 
In  glittere  and  golde  of  grete  arraie, 
Painted  and  portrid  all  in  pride, 
No  common  knight  maie  go  so  gaie  ; 
Chaimge  of  clothing  every  dale, 
With  goldin  girdils  grete  and  small, 
As  boistrous  as  is  here  at  bale, 
All  soche  falshede  mote  nedis  fall. 

We  want  not  a  set  of  fine  gentlemen ;  we  want  a 
race  of  zealous,  well-informed,  kind,  and  diligent  par- 
ish priests.  If  we  must  have  gentlemen,  let  us  have 
them  of  the  school  of  the  Carpenter's  Son,  who,  honest 
Decker,  the  tragic  poet,  declares  was 

A  soft,  meek,  patient,  humble,  tranquil  spirit ; 
The  first  true  gentleman  that  ever  breathed !" 

After  this  pattern  we  care  not  how  many  gentle- 
men we  have  in  the  church  ;  gentlemen  who  are  not 
ashamed,  like  their  master  Christ,  to  be  the  friends  of 
the  poor.  Who  desire  to  live  for  them  ;  to  live  among 
them ;  to  learn  their  wants,  to  engage  their  affections, 
to  be  their  counsellors  and  guides.  Men  who  can  un- 
derstand and  sympathize  with  the  struggling  children 
of  poverty  and  toil,  in  villages  and  solitary  places,  and 
are  therefore  understood  by  them,  and  are  beloved  by 
them,  and  will  follow  them  and  make  their  precepts 
the  rule  of  their  lives  and  the  precious  hope  of  their 
deaths.  Ohi  what  have  notour  clergy  to  answer  for 
to  God  and  to  their  country,  that  they  are  not  such 
men ;  what  blessings  may  they  not  become  by  being 
such !  I  know  no  men  whose  sphere  of  influence  is 
more  capacious  and  more  enviable.  It  is  the  easiest 
thing  in  the  world  to  become  the  very  idol  of  the  poor ; 
there  needs  but  to  show  them  that  you  feel  for  them, 
and  they  are  all  ardour  and  attachment.  For  the  man 
who  will  condescend  to  be  what  Christ  was,  a  lover 
of  the  poor,  they  will  fly  at  a  word  over  land  and  water 
in  his  service.     He  has  but  to  utter  a  wish,  and  if  it 


23£  PRIESTCRAFT 

be  in  their  power,  it  is  accomplished.  In  the  language 
of  Wordsworth,  "  it  is  the  gratitude  of  such  men  that 
oftenest  leaves  us  mourning."  The  parish  clergyman 
has  facilities  of  aiding  the  poor  that  few  other  men 
have.  At  his  slightest  recommendation,  the  medical 
man  is  ready  to  atibrd  them  his  aid ;  at  his  suggestion 
the  larder  and  the  wardrobe  of  the  hall  expand  with 
alacrity  their  doors,  and  the  ladies  are  ready  to  fly  and 
become  the  warmest  benefactresses  of  the  afflicted. 
There  are  many  such  men  already  in  England ;  and 
were  it  not  for  the  cursed  operation  of  this  private 
patronage,  there  would  be  thousands  more  such. 
Numbers  who  now  have  no  hope  but  of  doing  the 
drudgery  of  a  curacy  would  then  be  called  by  the 
voice  of  a  free  people  to  a  course  of  active  usefuhiess. 
The  land  would  be  filled  Avith  burning  and  shining 
lights  that  are  now  hidden  beneath  the  bushels  of 
stipendiary  slavery,  and  the  effect  on  our  labouring 
population  would  soon  be  auspiciously  visible. 

But  what  is  the  actual  picture  presented  to  us  now 
under  the  operation  of  this  detestable  system?  Look 
where  we  will,  we  behold  the  most  gross  instances  of 
simony,  pluralities,  non-residence,  and  penurious  remu- 
neration of  the  working  clergy.  If  eveiy  man  were 
to  declare  his  individual  experience,  such  things  would 
make  part  of  his  knowledge.  In  towns,  where  the 
clergy  are  more  under  the  influence  of  public  opinion, 
we  see  too  many  instances  of  lukewarmness,  arro- 
gance, and  unfltness.  Gamblers,  jockeys,  and  char- 
acterless adventurers  are  put  into  livings  Ly  the  vilest 
influence,  to  the  horror  and  loathing  of  the  helpless 
congregations  in  populous  cities  ;  but  in  villages,  the 
fruits  of  the  system  are  tenfold  more  atrociously 
shameful.  There  the  ignorant,  the  brutal,  the  utterly 
debauched  live  without  shame,  and  tyrannize  without 
mercy  over  the  poor,  uncultivated  flocks,  whom  they 
render  ten  times  ifc-e  stupid  and  sordid.  Within  my 
own  knowledge,  I  can  go  over  almost  innumerable 
parishes,  and  find  matter  of  astonishment  at  the  endu- 
rance of  Englishmen.     I  once  was  passing  along  the 


IN    ALL    AGES.  233 

Street  of  a  county  town  in  the  evening,  and  my  atten- 
tion was  arrested  by  the  most  violent  ravings  and  oaths 
of  a  man  in  a  shop.  I  inquired  the  occasion.  "  Oh !" 
said  one  of  the  crowd,  who  stood  seemingly  enjoying 

the  spectacle,  "  Oh  !  it  is  only  Parson ;  he  has 

got  drunk,  and  followed  a  girl  into  her  father's  house, 
who,  meeting  him  at  the  top  of  the  stairs  in  pursuit  oi' 
his  affrighted  daughter,  hurled  him  to  the  bottom,  and 
the  worthy  man  of  God  is  now  evaporating  his  wrath 
in  vows  of  vengeance."  From  these  spectators  I 
found  it  was  one  of  the  commonest  sights  of  the  town 
to  see  this  clergyman  thus  drunk,  and  thus  employed. 
But  why,  said  I,  do  not  the  parishioners  get  him  dis- 
missed ?  A  smile  of  astonishment  at  the  simplicity 
of  my  query  went  through  the  crowd.  "  Get  him  dis- 
missed !  Who  shall  get  him  dismissed  ?  Why  he 
is  the  squire's  brother  ;  he  is,  in  fact,  born  to  the 
living.  There  is  not  a  man  in  the  parish  who  is  not 
a  tenant  or  dependant  in  some  way  on  the  family ; 
consequently,  not  a  man  who  dare  open  his  mouth." 
They  have  him,  such  as  he  is,  and  must  make  their 
best  of  him  ;  and  he  or  his  brother  will  be  sure  to  rear 
a  similar  prophet  for  the  next  generation. 

I  entered  a  village  not  five  miles  off — a  lovely  re- 
tired place  ;  with  a  particularly  handsome  churcli,  a 
noble  parsonage,  a  neglected  school,  and  an  absent 
clergyman.  The  living  was  1800/.  a  year — the  in- 
cumbent a  desperate  gambler.  "  Wliy,"  again  I  said, 
"  do  not  you  get  this  man  dismissed  ?"  I  saw  the  same 
smile  arise  at  my  simplicity.  "  La !  sir,  why  he 
is  his  lordship's  cousin !"  It  was  a  decisive  an- 
swer— to  the  principle  of  private  patronage  this  vil- 
lage also  owed  the  irremediable  curse  of  a  gambling 
parson. 

In  a  few  miles  I  entered  a  fine  open  parisli,  where 
the  church  showed  afar  off  over  its  surrouitding  level 
meadows  of  extreme  fertility.  Here  the  living  was 
added  to  that  of  the  adjoining  parish.  One  man  held 
them.  Together  they  brought  2400/.  a  year.  A  curate 
did  the  duty  at  two  churches  and  a  chapel  of  ease,  for- 


236  PRIESTCRAFT 

interest,  he  persuaded  the  attorney  to  give  him  a 
memorandum  of  the  receipt  without  a  stamp,  and  then 
laid  an  information  against  him  in  the  Exchequer. 
He  got  a  commission  to  prove  wills,  and  charged  the 
poor  ignorant  people  double,  till  some  one  more  ex- 
perienced informed  the  proctor,  and  got  his  occupa- 
tion taken  away.  He  was  to  be  found  at  pubhc- 
houses,  and  in  the  lowest  company,  till  the  very  lanuJy 
wlio  got  him  the  living  absented  themselves  from  the 
church  ;  yet,  with  a  very  common  kind  of  inconsist- 
ency, when  the  people  complained,  and  asked  if  he 
could  not  be  removed,  this  very  family  declined  acting 
in  it,  alleging  it  would  be  a  great  scandal  for  a  cler- 
gyman to  be  dismissed  from  his  living !  !  At  length 
some  guardians,  who  had  lent  him  the  money  of  their 
orphan  wards  on  his  bare  note,  and  the  strength  of  his 
clerical  character,  have  put  him  in  prison  ;  and  the 
longer  he  lies,  the  greater  the  blessing  to  the  people. 
The  following  is  part  of  the  report  of  the  Insolvent 
Debtors'  Court  when  he  applied  to  be  discharged : 
"The  Rev.  gentleman's  debts  set  forth  in  his  schedule 
amounted  to  8945Z.  Ss.  9d.  It  appeared  that  he  had 
exercised  certain  lay  vocations  ;  speculated  somewhat 
in  land ;  dabbled  a  little  in  twist-lace  machinery  ; 
worked  a  colliery ;  and  now  and  then  enjoyed  a  bit  of 
horse-dealing.  The  insolvent's  income  was  246/.  per 
annum,  and  his  out-goings  500/.  a  year." 

Such  is  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  this  one  parish  : 
such  would  be  that  of  thousands  were  they  related  ; 
and  all  this  is  the  natural  result  of  the  absurd  and  ini- 
quitous system  of  state  and  individual  patronage.  Till 
this  scandalous  mode — this  mode  so  insulting  to  the 
people  of  a  nation  like  this,  of  appointing  parish  min- 
isters— be  abandoned,  vain  is  every  hope  of  internal 
strength  and  life  to  the  church.  Let  every  parish 
choose  its  own  pastor,  and  a  new  course  will  com- 
mence. The  worthy  and  the  talented  will  take  heart, 
— piety  will  meet  its  natural  reward,  and  work  its 
natural  works  ;  the  sot  and  the  hireling  incubus  will 
disappear ;  the  vicar  will  no  more  come  and  pocket 


IN    ALL    AGES.  237 

his  yearly  2000/.,  and  leave  his  curate  to  do  his  yearly 
labour  for  100/.  ;  multitudes  of  needful  refonns  will 
flow  into  the  heart  of  the  church  ;  a  religious  regimen 
and  new  life  will  animate  its  constitution. 

The  canons  of  the  churcli  must  be  revised  ;  it.s  arti- 
cles abolished,  or  reduced  to  rationality  ;  surplice  fges 
done  away  with.  It  is  a  crying  scandal  and  oppres- 
sion, that  none  of  the  children  of  Heth  are  left  who 
will  say  "  Bury  thy  dead  out  of  thy  sight — what  is  it 
between  me  and  thee  ? — bury  thy  dead  ;"  but  the  poor 
man  cannot  bury  his  dead  except  by  feeing  the  parson 
to  an  amount  that  will  cost  him  days  of  hard  labour 
and  months  of  privation.  "  To  ask  a  fee  of  such," 
says  Milton,  "  is  a  piece  of  paltry  craft  befitting  none 
but  beggarly  artists.  Burials  and  marriages  are  so 
little  a  part  of  the  priest's  gain,  that  they  who  consider 
well  may  find  them  to  be  no  part  of  his  function.  It 
is  a  peculiar  simony  of  our  English  divines  only. 
Their  great  champion  Henry  Spelman,  in  a  book 
written  to  that  purpose,  shows  by  many  cited  canons, 
and  some  of  times  corruptest  in  the  church,  that  fees 
extorted  or  demanded  for  sacraments,  marriages,  and 
especially  for  burials  are  wicked,  accursed,  simoniacal, 
and  abominable." 


238  PRIESTCRAFT 


CHAPTER  XIX, 

•  CONFIRMATION. 

Confirmation  in  the  Country — Its  picturesque  and  poetical  Appear 
ance — Licentious  Consequences — Apathy  of  the  Clergy. 


I  look  on  both  sides  of  this  human  life- 
Its  brightness  and  its  shadow. 


One  of  the  most  beautiful  and  impressive  rites  of  the 
church  is  the  confirmation  of  young  people  as  it  is  seen 
in  the  country.  On  some  bright  suimner  morning, 
you  see  troops  of  village  boys  and  girls  come  marching 
into  the  town,  headed  by  the  village  clerk,  or  school- 
master. First  one,  then  another  little  regiment  of 
these  rural  embryo  Christians  is  seen  advancing  from 
different  parts  towards  the  principal  church.  All  are 
in  their  best  array.  Their  leader,  with  an  air  of  un- 
usual solemn  dignity  marches  straight  forward,  look- 
ing neither  to  the  right-hand  nor  to  the  left,  but  some- 
times casting  a  grave  glance  behind  at  his  followers. 
His  suit  of  best  black  adorns  his  sturdy  person,  and 
his  lappels  fly  wide  in  the  breeze  that  meets  him. 
His  charge  come  on  in  garbs  of  many  colours ; — the 
damsels  in  green  and  scarlet  petticoats ;  stockings 
white,  black,  and  gray  ;  gowns  of  white,  bearing  testi- 
mony to  miry  roads  and  provoking  brambles  ;  gowns 
of  cotton  print  of  many  a  dazzling  flowery  pattern ; 
gowns  even  of  silk  in  these  luxurious  days  ;  long,  fly- 
ing pink  sashes,  and  pink,  and  yellow,  and  scarlet 
bunches  in  bonnets  of  many  a  curious  make.  The 
lads  stride  on  with  slouching  paces  that  have  not  been 
learned  in  drawing  and  assembly-rooms,  but  on  the 
barn-floor,  beside  the  loaded  wagon,  on  the  lieathy 
sheep-walk,  and  in  the  deep  fallow  field.  Tliey  are 
gloriously  robed  in  corduroy  breeches,  blue  worsted 


IN   ALL    AGES.  239 

Stockings,  heavy-nailed  ankle-boots,  green  shag  waist- 
coats, neck-handkerchiefs  of  red,  with  long  corners 
that  flutter  in  the  wind,  and  coats  shaped  by  some 
sempiternal  tailor,  whose  fashions  know  no  change. 
Amid  the  bustling,  sprnce  inhabitants  of  the  town, 
ilieir  walk,  their  dress,  their  faces  full  of  ruddy  health 
:ind  sheepish  simplicity,  mark  them  out  as  creatures 
almost  of  another  tribe.  They  bring  all  the  spirit  ol' 
the  village — of  the  solitary  farm — of  heaths  and  woods, 
and  rarely  frequented  fields,  along  with  them.  You 
are  carried  forcibly  by  your  imagination,  at  the  sight 
of  them,  into  cottage-life, — into  the  habits  and  concerns 
of  the  rural  population.  You  feel  what  daily  antici- 
pations— what  talk — what  an  early  rising,  and  bustling 
preparation  there  has  been  in  many  a  lowly  dwelling, 
in  many  an  out-of-the-way  hamlet,  for  this  great  occa- 
sion. How  the  old  people  have  told  over  how  it  was 
when  they  went  to  be  confirmed.  What  a  mighty 
place  the  church  is ;  what  crowds  of  grand  people ; 
what  an  awful  thing  the  bishop  in  his  wig  and  robes  ! 
How  the  fond,  simple  mothers  have  set  forth  their  sons 
and  daughters  ;  and  given  them  injunction  on  injunc- 
tion ;  and  followed  them  from  their  doors  with  eyes 
filled  with  tears  of  pride,  of  joy,  and  of  anxiety.  How 
tlie  youthful  band,  half-gay,  more  than  half-grotesque, 
but  totally  happy,  have  advanced  over  hill  and  dale. 
The  whole  joyousness  of  their  holyday  feeling  is  pre- 
sented to  you,  as  they  progi'essed  through  bosky  lanes 
and  dells,  through  woods,  over  the  open  breezy  heaths 
and  hills, — the  flowers,  and  the  dews,  and  the  green 
leaves  breathing  upon  them  their  freshest  influence  ; 
the  blue,  cheering  sky  above  them,  and  the  lark  send- 
ing down,  from  his  highest  flight,  his  music  of  inefli'able 
gladness.  You  feel  the  secret  awe  that  struck  into 
their  bosoms  as  they  entered  the  noisy,  glittering, 
polished,  and,  in  their  eyes,  mighty  and  proud  town ;  and 
the  notion  of  the  church,  the  assembled  crowds,  the 
imposing  ceremony,  and  the  awful  bishop  and  all  his 
clergy,  came  strongly  and  distinctly  before  them. 
Besides  these,  numbers  of  vehicles  are  bringing  in 


240  PRIESTCRAFT 

Other  rural  neophytes.  The  carriages  of  the  wealthy 
drive  rapidly  and  gayly  on  to  inns  and  houses  of 
friends.  Tilted  wagons,  gigs,  ample  cars,  are  all 
freighted  with  similar  burdens ;  and  many  a  strange, 
old,  lumbering  cart,  whose  body  is  smeared  with  the 
ruddy  marl  of  the  fields  it  has  done  service  in,  whose 
wheels  are  heavy  with  the  clinging  mire  of  roads  that 
would  make  M'Adam  aghast,  rumbles  along,  dragged 
by  a  bony  and  shaggy  animal,  tliat  if  it  must  be 
honoured  with  the  name  of  horse,  is  the  very  Helot  of 
horses.  These  open  conveyances  exhibit  groups  of 
young  girls,  that  in  the  lively  air,  and  shaken  to  and 
fro  by  the  rocking  of  their  vehicle,  and  the  jostling  of 
chairs,  look  like  beds  of  tulips  nodding  in  a  strong 
breeze. 

As  you  approach  the  great  church  the  bustle  becomes 
every  moment  more  conspicuous.  The  clergy  are 
walking  in  that  direction  in  their  black  go^vns. 
Groups  of  the  families  of  the  countr)^  clerg}-  strike 
your  eyes.  Venerable  old  figures  with  their  sleek  and 
ruddy  faces ;  their  black  silk  stockings  glistening 
beneath  their  gowns  ;  their  canonical  hats  set  most 
becomingly  above,  are  walking  on,  with  their  wives 
hanging  on  their  anns,  and  followed  by  lovely,  genteel 
girls,  and  graceful,  growing  lads.  As  the  rustics' 
aspects  brought  all  the  spirit  of  the  cottage  and  the 
farm  to  your  imagination,  they  bring  all  that  of  the  vil- 
lage parsonage.  You  are  transported  in  a  moment  to 
the  most  perfect  little  paradises  which  are  to  be  found 
in  the  world — the  country  dwellings  of  the  English 
clergy.  Those  sweet  spots,  so  exactly  formed  for  the 
"otiumcum  dignitate."  Those  medium  abodes,  be- 
tween the  rudeness  and  vexations  of  poverty  and  the 
cumbrous  state  of  aristocratic  opulence.  Those  lovely 
and  picturesque  houses,  built  of  all  orders  and  all 
fashions,  yet  preserving  the  one  definite,  uniform 
character  of  the  comfortable,  the  pretensionless,  and 
the  accordant  with  the  scenery  in  which  they  are 
placed ; — houses,  some  of  old  framed  timber,  up 
which  the  pear  and  the  apricot,  the  pyracantha  and  the 


IN^  ALL    AGE5.  24 1 

vine  clamber ;  or  of  old  gray,  substantial  stone ;  or 
of  more  modern  and  elegant  villa  architecture,  with 
their  roofs  which,  whether  of  thatch  or  slate,  or  native 
gray  stone,  are  seen  thickly  screened  from  the  north, 
and  softened  and  surmounted  to  the  delighted  eye  with 
noble  trees :  with  their  broad-bay  windows,  which 
bring  all  the  sunny  glow  of  the  south,  at  will,  into  the 
house  i  and  around  which  tVe  rose  and  jasmine  breathe 
their  clelicious  odours.  Those  sweet  abodes,  sur- 
rounded by  their  bowery,  shady,  aromatic  shrubberies, 
and  pleasant  old-fashioned  glebe-crofts — homes  in 
which,  under  the  influence  of  a  wise,  good  heart,  and 
a  good  system,  domestic  happiness  may  be  enjoyed  to 
its  highest  conception,  and  whence  piety  and  cultiva- 
tion, and  health  and  comfort,  and  a  thousand  blessings 
to  the  poor,  may  spread  through  the  surrounding 
neighbourhood.  Such  are  the  abodes  brought  before 
your  minds  by  the  sight  of  the  country  clergy ;  such 
are  thousands  of  their  dwellings,  scattered  through  this 
gTeat  and  beneficent  country, — in  its  villages  and  hid- 
den nooks  of  scattered  population, — amid  its  wild 
mountains,  and  along  its  wilder  coasts  ;  endowed  by 
the  laws  with  earthly  plenty,  and  invested  by  the 
bright  heaven,  and  its  attendant  seasons,  with  the 
freshest  sunshine,  the  sweetest  dews,  the  most  grateful 
solitude  and  balmy  seclusion. 

But  the  merry  bells  call  us  onward ;  and  lo !  the 
mingled  crowds  are  passing  under  that  ancient  and 
time-worn  porch.  We  enter, — and  how  beautiful  and 
impressive  is  the  scene  !  The  whole  of  that  mighty 
and  venerable  fabric  is  filled,  from  side  to  side,  with 
a  mixed  yet  splendid  congregation, — for  the  rich  and 
the  poor,  the  superb  and  the  simple,  there  blend  into 
one  human  mass,  whose  varieties  are  but  as  the  con- 
trast of.  colours  in  a  fine  painting, — the  spirit  of  the 
tiMt  ensemble  is  the  nobility  of  beauty.  The  whole 
of  that  gorgeous  assembly,  on  which  the  eye  rests  in 
palpable  perception  of  the  wealth,  the  refinement,  and 
the  elevation  of  the  social  life  of  our  country,  is 
hushed  in  profound  attention  to  the  reading  of  the 
I4 


242  PRIESTCRAFT 

services  of  the  day  by  one  of  the  clergymen.  They 
are  past;  the  bishop,  foUowed  by  his  clergy,  advances 
to  the  altar.  The  solemn  organ  bursts  forth  with 
its  thunder  of  harmonious  sound,  that  rolls  through  the 
arched  roof  above,  and  covers  every  living  soul  with 
its  billows  of  tumultuous  music,  and  with  its  appro- 
priate depth  of  inexpressible  feeling,  touches  the 
secret  springs  of  wonder  and  mysterious  gladness  in 
the  spirit ;  and  amid  its  imperial  tones  the  tread  of 
many  youthful  feet  is  heard  in  the  aisle.  You  turn, 
and  behold  a  scene  that  brings  the  tears  into  your 
eyes,  and  the  throb  of  sacred  sympathy  into  your 
heart.  Are  they  creatures  of  earth  or  of  heaven  ?  Are 
they  the  every-day  forms  which  fill  our  houses,  and 
pass  us  in  the  streets,  and  till  the  solitary  fields  of 
earth,  and  perform  the  homely  duties  of  the  labourer's 
cottage — those  fair,  youthful  beings,  that  bend  down 
their  bare  and  beautiful  heads  beneath  the  hands  of 
that  solemn  and  dignified  old  man  ?  Yes,  through  the 
drops  that  dim  our  eyes,  and  the  surprise  that  dazzles 
them,  we  discern  the  children  of  the  rich  and  the  poor 
kneeling  down  together,  to  take  upon  themselves  the 
eternal  weight  of  their  own  souls.  There,  side  by  side, 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  hall,  and  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  hut  of  poverty,  are  kneeling  in  the 
presence  of  God  and  man — acknowledging  but  one 
nature,  one  hope,  one  heaven ;  and  our  hearts  swell 
with  a  triumphant  feeling  of  this  homage  wrung  from 
the  pride  of  wealth,  the  arrogance  of  birth,  and  the 
soaring  disdain  of  refined  intellect,  by  the  victorious 
might  of  Christianity.  Yet,  even  in  the  midst  of  this 
feeling,  what  a  contrast  is  there  in  these  children ! 
The  sons  and  daughters  of  the  fortunate,  with  their 
cultured  forms  and  cultured  features — the  girls  just 
budding  into  the  beauty  of  early  womanhood,  in  their 
white  garbs,  and  with  their  fair  hair  so  simply  yet  so 
gracefully  disposed, — the  boys,  with  their  open,  rosy, 
yet  declined  countenances,  and  their  full  locks,  clus- 
tering in  vigorous  comeliness ;  they  look,  under  the 
influence  of  the  same  feelings,  like  the  children  of 


IN    ALL    AGES. 


243 


some  more  ethereal  planet :  while  the  offspring  of  the 
poor,  with  their  robust  figm'es  and  homely  dresses ; 
Avitli  their  hair,  which  has  had  no  such  sedulous  hands, 
lull  of  love  and  leisure,  to  mould  it  into  shining  soft- 
ness— nay,  that  has,  in  many  instances,  had  no  tend- 
ing but  that  of  the  frosts  and  winds,  and  the  midsummer 
scorching  of  their  daily,  out-of-door  lives ;  and  with 
countenances  in  which  the  predominant  expressions 
are  awe  and  simple  credence ;  these  touch  us  with 
equal  sympathy  for  the  hardships  and  disadvantages 
of  their  lot. 

Successively  over  every  bowed  head  those  hands 
are  extended  which  are  to  communicate  a  subtle  but 
divine  influence  ;  and  how  solemn  is  the  effect  of  that 
one  grave  and  deliberate  yet  earnest  voice  which,  in 
the  absence  of  the  organ-tones,  in  the  hushed  and 
heart-generated  stillness  of  the  place,  is  alone  heard 
pronouncing  the  words  of  awful  import  to  every  youth- 
ful recipient  of  the  rite.  'Tis  done, — again  the  tide 
of  music  rolls  over  us,  fraught  with  tenfold  kindling 
of  that  spirit  which  has  seized  upon  us ;  and  amid  its 
celestial  exultings,  that  band  of  youthful  ones  has 
withdrawn,  and  another  has  taken  its  place.  Thus  it 
goes  on  till  the  whole  have  been  confirmed  in  the  faith 
in  which  their  sponsors  vowed  to  nurture  them,  and 
which  they  have  now  vowed  to  maintain  for  ever. 
The  bishop  delivers  his  parting  exhortation,  and 
solemnly  charges  them  to  return  home  in  a  manner 
becoming  the  sacredness  of  the  occasion  and  of  their 
present  act.  Filled  with  the  glow  of  purest  feelings, 
breathing  the  very  warmest  atmosphere  of  poetry  and 
religious  exaltation,  we  rise  up  with  our  neighbours, 
and  depart.  We  depart — and  the  first  breath  of  com- 
mon air  dissipates  the  beautiful  delusion  in  which  we 
have  been,  for  a  short  space,  entranced.  We  feel  the 
rite  to  be  beautiful  while  we  cease  to  think ;  but  the 
moment  we  come  to  penetrate  into  the  mind  which 
lies  beneath,  it  becomes  an  empty  dream.  We  feel, 
that  did  our  after  consciousness  permit  us  to  believe 
that  he  who  administered  this  rite  was  filled  with  its 
L2 


244  PRIESTCRAFT 

sanctity,  aiid  relied  implicitly  on  its  efficacy, — that  the 
youthful  tribe  of  neophytes  were  rightly  prepared  by 
the  ministry  of  their  respective  pastors,  and  possessed 
the  simple  credence  of  past  ages  to  give  vitality  to  the 
office — then,  indeed,  might  it  be  in  fact  what  it  can 
now  only  appear  for  an  instant.     We  feel,  moreover, 
taking  yet  lower  ground  than  this,  that  were  the  clergy 
a  body  tilled  with  the.zeal  of  their  calling,  they  possess 
in  this  ceremony  a  means  of  powerful  influence.     But 
I  have  hitherto  spoken  only  of  its  poetical  and  pic- 
turesque effect,   and  that  effect  endures  not  a  step 
beyond  the  church-doors.     At  that  point  the  habitual 
apathy  of  the  clergy  converts  this  rite  into  one  of  the 
most  awful  and  hideous  of  mockeries.     The  bishop 
charges  the  recipients  to  return  home  in  soberness 
and  decorum ;  but  he  should  charge  their  respective 
clergymen  to  conduct  them  thither.     But  where  are 
the  clergy  ?     They  are  gone  to  dine  with  the  bishop, 
or  their  clerical  brethren ;  and  what  are  the  morals 
of  the  youth  to  good  dinners  ?     They  have  turned  the 
children   over   to   the    clerks.     And   "vvhere   are   the 
clerks  ?     They  have  some  matters  of  trade  to  transact ; 
— some  spades,  or  cart-saddles,  or  groceries  to  buy — 
and  what  is  the  health  of  the  children's  souls  to  spades, 
and  cart-saddles,  and  gTOceries  ? — they  have  turned 
the  lambs   of  the  flock  over   to    the  schoolmasters. 
And  where  are  the  schoolmasters  ?     They,  like  their 
clerical  lords,  are   gone  to  dine   Avith  their  brother 
dominies  of  the  town,  having  reiterated  the  injunction 
of  the  bishop  with  a  mock-heroic  gravity,  as  highly, 
but  not  as  well,  assumed  as  that  of  the  bishop  himself, 
and  with  as  little  effect.     While  they  sit  and  discuss 
the  merits  of  the  last  new  treatise  of  arithmetic  or 
spelling,  the  work  of  some  new  Dilworth  or  Entick, 
their  charges  have  squandered  into  a  dozen  companies, 
and  each,  under  the  guidance  of  some  rustic  Cory- 
phcpus,  have    surromided    as   many   ale-house   fires. 
They  arc  as  happy  as  their  betters.     The  loaf  and 
cheese  melt  like  snowballs  before  them  ;  the  stout  ale 
is  handed  round  to  blushing  damsels  by  as  many  awk 


IN    ALL    AGES.  245 

ward,  blushing  swains.  Hilarity  abounds — their  spirits 
are  kindled.  The  bishop,  and  the  church,  and  the 
crowd  all  vanish — or  rather,  their  weight  is  lifted  from 
their  souls,  which  rise  from  the  abstracted  pressure 
with  a  double  vivacity.  Already  heated,  they  set  for- 
ward on  their  homeward  way.  At  every  besetting 
ale-house  the  revel  is  renewed.  Over  hill  and  dale 
I  hey  stroll  on.  a  rude,  roistering,  and  disgraceful  rab- 
ble. For  the  effects  of  this  confirmation  let  any  one 
inquire  of  parish  overseers,  and  they  will  tell  him,  that 
it  is  one  of  the  most  fruitful  sources  of  licentiousness 
and  crime.  The  contagion  of  vice  spreads,  under  such 
circumstances,  with  the  fatal  rapidity  of  lightning. 
Young  and  modest  natures  which  otherwise  would 
have  shrunk  from  it  and  been  safe,  are  surprised,  as  it 
were,  into  sin,  and  shame,  and  misery.  Instead  of  a 
confirmation  in  Christianity,  it  becomes  the  confirm- 
ation of  the  devil.  And  this  clergymen  know ;  and 
yet  with  the  same  apathy  whence  the  evil  has  sprung, 
they  continue  to  sufler  its  periodical  recurrence  ;  and 
thus,  for  want  of  a  little  zeal,  and  a  little  personal 
exercise  of  the  good  office  of  a  shepherd,  they  convert 
one  of  the  rites  of  their  church  into  one  of  the  worst 
nuisances  that  afflict  our  country. 


246  PRIESTCRAFT 


CHAPTER  XX. 


RETROSPECTIVE    VIEW    OF    PRIESTCRAFT. 

Moral  and  Political  Lessons  taught  by  it — Corruption  of  the  Clergy 
proverbial — Necessity  of  Reforni. 


Yet  thus  is  the  church,  for  all  this  noise  of  Reformation,  left  still 
unreformed.  Milton. 


Thus  have  we  traversed  the  field  of  the  world. 
We  have  waded  through  an  ocean  of  priestly  enor- 
mities. We  have  seen  nations  sitting  in  the  blackness 
of  darkness,  because  their  priests  shut  up  knowledge 
in  the  dark-lanterns  of  their  seliishness.  We  have 
seen  slavery  and  ignorance  blasting,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  priestly  hands,  millions  on  millions  of  our 
race,  and  making  melancholy  the  fairest  portions  of 
the  earth.  We  have  listened  to  sighs  and  the  drop- 
ping of  tears,  to  the  voice  of  despair  and  the  agonies 
of  torture  and  death ;  we  have  entered  dungeons,  and 
found  their  captives  Avasted  to  skeletons  with  the 
years  of  their  solitary  endurance ;  we  have  listened 
to  their  faint  whispers,  and  have  found  that  they 
uttered  the  cruelties  of  priests.  We  have  stumbled 
upon  midnight  tribunals,  and  seen  men  stretched  on 
racks  ;  torn  piecemeal  with  fiery  pincers  ;  or  plunged 
into  endless  darkness  by  the  lancing  of  their  eyes  ; 
and  have  asked  whose  actions  these  were — and  were 
answered — the  priests !  We  have  visited  philoso- 
phers, and  found  them  carefully  concealing  their  dis- 
coveries, which  would  suddenly  liave  filled  the  earth 
with  light,  and  power,  and  love, — because  they  knew 
the  priests  would  turn  on  them  in  their  greedy  malice, 
and  doom  them  to  fire  or  gibbet.  We  have  walked 
among  women  of  many  countries,  and  have  found 
thousands  lost  to  shame,  rolling  wanton  eyes,  uttering 


IN    ALL    AGES-  24.7 

hideous  words  ;  we  have  turned  from  ihem  with  loath- 
ing, but  have  heard  them  cry  after  us,  as  we  went, 
"  Our  hope  is  in  the  priests, — they  are  our  lovers,  and 
defenders  from  eternal  fire."  We  have  entered  for 
shelter  from  this  horror  the  abodes  of  domestic  love, 
and  have  stood  petrified  to  find  there  all  desecrated — 
purity  destroyed — faith  overthrown — happiness  anni- 
hilated ;  and  it  was  the  work  of  priests  !  Finally, 
we  have  seen  kings,  otherwise  merciful,  instigated  by 
the  devilish  logic  of  priestcraft,  become  the  butchers 
of  their  people  ;  queens,  otherwise  glorious,  become 
tyrants  and  executioners ;  and  people,  who  would 
otherwise  have  lived  in  blessed  harmony,  warring  on 
each  other  with  inextinguishable  malice  and  bound- 
less blood-thirstiness  ;  and  behold  !  it  was  priestcraft, 
that,  winding  among  them  like  a  poisonous  serpent, 
maddened  them  with  its  breath,  and  exulted  with 
fiendish  eyes  over  their  horrible  carnage.  All  this  we 
have  beheld,  and  what  is  the  mighty  lesson  it  has 
taught  ?  It  is  this — that  if  the  people  hope  to  enjoy 
happiness,  mutual  love,  and  general  prosperity,  they 
must  carefully  snatch  from  the  hands  of  their  spiritual 
teachers  all  political  power,  and  confine  them  solely 
to  their  legitimate  task  of  Christian  instruction.  Let 
it  always  be  borne  in  mmd,  that,  from  the  beginning  of 
the  world  to  this  time,  there  never  was  a  single  con- 
spiracy of  SCHOOLMASTERS  agaiust  the  liberties  and  the 
mind  of  man :  but  in  every  age^  the  priests,  the 
SPIRITUAL  SCHOOLMASTERS,  havc  been  the  most  subtle, 
the  most  persevering,  the  most  cruel  enemies  and 
oppressors  of  their  species.  The  moral  lesson  is 
stamped  on  the  destinies  of  every  nation, — the  in- 
ference is  plain  enough  to  the  dullest  capacity.  Your 
preachers,  while  they  are  preachers  alone,  are  harm- 
less as  your  schoolmasters ;  they  have  no  motive  to 
injure  your  peace  :  but  let  them  once  taste  power,  or 
the  fatal  charm  of  too  much  wealth,  and  the  conse- 
quent fascinations  of  worldly  greatness,  and,  like  the 
tiger  when  it  has  once  tasted  blood,  they  are  hence- 
forth your  cruellest  devourers  and  oppressors, 


248  PRIESTCRAFT 

We  may  be  told  that  there  is  no  such  pernicious 
tendency  now  in  our  establishment — that  it  is  mild, 
merciful,  and  pious  :  our  attention  may  be  turned  to 
the  great  men  it  has  produced ;  and  the  number  oi" 
humble,  sincere,  and  exemplary  clergymen  who  adorn 
their  office  at  the  present  day. 

Much  of  this  I  intend  not  to  deny  ;  but  if  it  be  said, 
there  is  no  evil  tendency  in  the  church,  I  there  ditfer. 
'J'he  present  corruption,  the  present  admission,  even 
of  the  clergy,  of  the  necessity  of  reform,  is  sufficient 
refutation ;  and  if  it  does  not  now  imprison,  burn,  and 
destroy,  we  owe  it  to  the  refinement  of  the  age,  as  the 
history  of  the  past  world  amply  shows.  Human  nature 
is  for  ever  the  same ;  it  is  the  nature  of  priestcraft  to 
render  the  clergy  tyrants,  and  the  people  slaves ;  it 
always  has  been  so  ;  it  always  will  be  ;  the  only  pre- 
ventive lies  in  the  general  knowledge  of  the  com- 
munity. That  the  church  has  produced  great  men, 
who  will  not  admit,  that  remembers  that  Plato  of 
preachers  Jeremy  Taylor,  Tillotson,  Hooker,  and 
others  ?  but  that  it  would  have  produced  far  more  sucli 
men,  had  it  been  more  thoroughly  reformed,  placed  on 
a  more  broad  and  Christian  basis,  is  equally  certain. 

That  there  are  numbers  of  excellent  clergy  I  readily 
admit.  I  honour  and  love  the  good  men  who,  in  many 
an  obscure  village  in  the  midst  of  a  poor  and  miser- 
able population,  spend  their  days  with  no  motive  but 
the  fulfilment  of  their  duty ;  cheerfully  sacrificing  all 
those  refined  pleasures, — that  refined  society  which 
their  character  of  mind,  and  their  own  delightful  tastes, 
would  naturally  prompt  and  entitle  them  to.  Who  do 
this,  badly  paid,  worse  encouraged  ;  compelled  by  their 
compassion  to  despoil  themselves  of  a  great  part  of 
their  meager  salaries,  to  stop  the  cries  of  the  terrible 
necessities  by  which  they  are  surrounded;  who  do 
this,  many  of  them,  at  the  expense  of  remaining  solitary, 
unallied  individuals ;  unmarried,  childless :  or  if  hus- 
bands and  fathers,  expending  their  wives'  comforts, 
their  children's  education  on  the  poverty  which  the 
wealthy  incumbeAts  neither  look  on  nor  relieve.    When 


IN    ALL    AGES.  ^49 

I  observe  them  do  this,  and  all  the  while  see  their 
parishes  drained  by  some  fat  pluralist,  or  sinecurist, 
who  scorns  to  take  the  cure  of  souls  whom  he  never 
goes  near,  except  to  take  the  living,  and  appoint  his 
journeyman — when  I  see  them  look  on  wealth,  dignities, 
and  preferments  showered  on  the  well-born,  well-allied, 
or  well-impudenced,  while  there  is  a  gulf  between 
themselves  and  their  attainment  as  impassable  as  that 
between  Dives  and  Lazarus, — then  do  I  indeed  love 
and  honour  such  men ;  and  it  is  for  such  that  I  would 
see  the  church  reformed ;  and  the  road  to  greater 
comfort  and  more  extensive  usefulness  thrown  open. 
I  would  not,  as  the  bees  do,  appoint  a  killing  day  for 
the  drones,  but  I  would  have  no  more  admitted  to  the 
hive. 

There  are  many  excellent  men ;  but  are  the  multi- 
tude such  ?  We  shall  undoubtedly  be  told  so.  The 
whole  body  will  be  represented  as  the  most  disin- 
terested, holy,  beneficent,  industrious,  wonder-working, 
salvation-spreading  body  imaginable.  In  their  own 
periodicals  and  pamphlets,  they  are  so  represented. — 
Whether  they  be  so  or  not,  let  one  of  the  greatest  intel- 
lects of  the  age,  and  one  of  their  own  warm  friends, 
testify — 

The  sweet  words 
Of  Christian  promise  words  that  even  yet 
Might  stem  destruction,  were  they  wisely  preached, 
Are  muttered  o'er  by  men  whose  tones  proclaim 
How  flat  and  wearisome  they  feel  their  trade  : 
Rank  scoft'ers  some  ;  but  most  too  indolent 
To  deem  them  falsehoods,  or  to  know  their  truth. 

Coleridge. 

And  let  one  great  truth  be  marked. — The  prevalent 
character  of  a  public  body  stamps  itself  in  the  public 
mind  as  faithfully  as  a  man's  face  in  a  mirror.  There 
may  be  exceptions  to  a  body,  and  they  may  be  con- 
siderable :  but  when  that  body  becomes  proverbial ; 
when  it  ijs,  as  a  whole,  the  object  of  the  jokes,  the 
sarcasms,  and  contempts  of  the  people,  that  body  is 
not  partially^  but  almost  loholly  corrupt.  Now  such  is 
the  character  of  the  Church  of  England  clergy,  in  the 
L3 


250  PRIESTCRAFT 

mind  of  the  British  people.  We  may  be  told  it  is  the 
vulgar  opinion,  and  the  vulgar  are  wrong.  In  j  udgmcnts 
of  this  kind  the  vulgar,  as  they  are  called,  are  right. 
They  always  were  so  ;  but  this  too  will  be  denied.  A 
body  in  its  corruption  never  did,  and  never  will,  admit 
it ;  its  only  feeling  will  be  anger,  not  repentance. 
When  the  Romish  church  was  utterly  corrupted, — when 
Its  priests  and  monks  were  the  scandal  and  the  scorn 
of  all  men,  did  the  church  admit  it?  Did  it  reform 
them  ?  When  Luther's  artillery  was  thundering  against 
it,  and  shaking  it  to  its  foundations,  did  it  admit  the 
justice  of  his  attack?  No!  it  only  turned  in  rage, 
and  would  have  devoured  him,  as  it  devoured  all  other 
reformers.  When  he  had  knocked  down  many  of  its 
pillars,  blown  up  many  of  its  bastions,  laid  bare  to 
public  scorn  and  indignation  its  secret  fooleries  and 
horrors,  it  relaxed  not  an  atom  of  its  pretensions,  it 
abated  not  a  jot  of  its  pride,  it  stayed  not  its  bloody 
arm,  shunned  not  to  proclaim  itself  still  holy,  invidner- 
able,  and  supreme.  While  Dante  and  Boccacio  laughed 
at  its  errors,  or  declaimed  against  its  abuses  in  its  own 
territories;  while  Erasmus  in  the  Netherlands, Chaucer 
in  England,  and  Sir  David  Ixindsay,  the  Chaucer  of 
Scotland,  were  pouring  ineflable  and  everlasting  ridicule 
on  its  monks,  its  priests,  and  pardoners,  they  were  told 
that  theirs  was  but  the  retailing  of  vulgar  ignorance 
and  envy :  but  what  followed  ?  Time  proclaimed  it 
Truth.  The  corrupted  tribes  were  chased  away  by 
popular  fury  and  scorn,  and  have  left  only  a  name 
which  is  an  infamy  and  a  warning. 

From  age  to  age,  the  great  spirits  of  the  world  have 
raised  their  voices  and  cried.  Liberty  !  but  the  cry  has 
been  drowned  by  the  clash  of  arms,  or  the  brutish  vio- 
lence of  uncultured  mobs.  Homer  and  Demosthenes 
in  Greece,  Cicero  in  Rome,  the  poets  and  martyrs  of 
the  middle  ages,  our  sublime  Milton,  the  maligned  but 
inmioveable  servant  and  sufierer  of  freedom,  who  laul 
down  on  her  altar  his  peace,  his  eomfort,  and  his  very 
eyesight,  our  liampdims  and  Sidneys,  the  Ilofers  and 
Bolivars  of  other  lands,  have,  from  age  to  age,  cried, 


IN    ALL    AGES.  251 

Liberty !  but  ignorance  and  power  have  been  com- 
monly too  much  for  them.  But  at  h^ngtli,  liglit  from 
the  eternal  sanctuary  of  truth  has  spread  over  every 
region  ;  into  the  depths  and  the  dens  of  poverty  it  has 
penetrated ;  the  scholar  and  the  statesman  are  com- 
pelled to  behold  in  the  marriage  of  Christianity  and 
Knowledge  the  promise  of  the  establishment  of  peace, 
order,  and  happiness, — the  reign  of  rational  freedom. 
We  are  in  the  very  crisis  in  which  old  things  are  to  be 
pulled  down,  and  new  ones  established  on  the  most 
ancient  of  foundations, — justice  to  the  people.  To 
effect  safely  this  momentous  change  requires  all  the 
watchfulness  and  the  wisdom  of  an  intelligent  nation. 
The  experience  of  the  world's  history  warns  us  to 
steer  the  safe  middle  course,  between  the  despotism 
of  the  aristocracy  and  the  mob,  between  the  highest 
and  the  lowest  orders  of  society.  The  intelligence, 
and  not  the  wealth  or  multitudes  of  a  state,  must  give 
the  law  of  safety ;  and  to  this  intelligence  I  would 
again  and  finally  say — be  warned  by  universal  history  ! 
Snatch  from  your  priesthood  all  political  power ;  aban- 
don all  state  religion ;  place  Christianity  on  its  own 
base — the  universal  heart  of  the  people  ;  let  your 
preachers  be,  as  your  schoolmasters,  simply  teachers  ; 
eschew  reverend  justices  of  the  peace  ;  very  reverend 
politicians  ;  and  right  reverend  peers  and  legislators, 
as  you  would  have  done  the  reverend  knights,  and 
marquises,  and  dukes  of  the  past  ages.  They  must 
neither  meddle  with  your  wills,  nor  take  the  tenth  of  - 
your  corn ;  they  must  neither  tax  you  to  maintain 
houses  in  which  to  preach  against  you,  and  read  your 
damnation  in  creeds  of  which  no  one  really  knows  the 
origin ;  nor  persecute  you,  nor  seize  your  goods  for 
Easter  offerings  and  smoke-money.  The  system  by 
which  they  tax  you  at  your  entry  into  tlie  world,  tax 
you  at  your  marriage,  tax  you  at  your  death,  suffer 
you  not  to  descend  into  your  native  earth  without  a 
fee,  must  be  abolished.  The  system  by  which  you 
are  made  to  pay  for  every  thing,  and  to  have  a  voice 
in  nothing— not  even  in  the  choice  of  a  good  minister, 


^m 


PRIESTCRAFT    IN   ALL    AGES. 


or  the  dismissal  of  a  vile  and  scandalous  debauchee ; 
by  which  you  are  made  the  helpless  puppet  of  some 
obtuse  squire,  and  the  prey  of  some  greedy  and  god- 
less priest,  must  have  an  end. 

On  this  age,  the  happiness  of  centuries — the  pros- 
perity of  Truth  depends ;  let  it  not  disappoint  the 
-xpectations  and  mar  the  destinies  of  millions  ! 


APPENDIX. 

Y     THE     AMERICAN     EDITOR. 


I.  The  Hebrews.  Chapter  IX. — Mr.  Howitt  in  some  places 
exhibits  a  want  of  discrimination  between  that  priestcraft  which 
was  the  invention  of  corrupt  men  and  the  theocratic  establish- 
ment among  the  Israelites  which  was  appointed  by  God.  It  is 
proper,  therefore,  to  remember  the  defects  which  Mr.  Howitt,  as 
a  theologian,  has  incidentally  betrayed.  The  comparison  be- 
tween Sinbad's  "  old  man  of  the  sea,''"'  and  the  abuses  which 
were  perpetrated  by  the  Jewish  priesthood,  and  the  Christian 
ministry  in  their  legitimate  and  restricted  offices  and  duties, 
called  the  "  old  man  of  the  church,''''  is  not  analogous  :  Mr. 
Howitt's  poetry  is  preferabk  to  his  divinity.  The  sentiment 
also  that  "  one  design  of  the  Almighty"  by  the  appointment  of 
the  Jewish  priesthood  was  "  to  show  how  radically  mischievous 
and  prone  to  evil  an  ecclesiastical  order  is,  under  any  circum- 
stances," borders  upon  impiety.  The  apostacy  of  Aaron,  the 
profligacy  of  Eli's  sons,  and  the  treason  of  Caiaphas  and  his 
associates  had  no  natural  connexion  with  the  Jewish  priest- 
hood, or  rather  were  direct  violations  of  all  its  holy  institutes. 
Infidel  sentiments  of  this  kind  are  mischievous  ;  and  being  ir- 
relevant to  Mr.  Howitt's  object,  it  is  astonishing  that  a  writer 
of  such  high-toned  morality  and  integrity  should  have  permitted 
his  dislike  to  priestcraft  to  have  blinded  his  eyes  to  such  a 
palpable  confusion  of  objects  totally  distinct. 


II.  Councils.  Chapter  XI. — The  great  evils  with  which 
ecclesiastical  councils,  in  all  their  varieties  of  name,  have  deso- 
lated the  Christian  church,  might  profitably  have  been  displayed. 
These  nuisances  still  exist,  and  in  a  minor  degree  yet  unfold 
all  their  pestiferous  machinations.  It  is  also  among  the 
remarkable  features  of  human  infatuation,  that  while  the  Roman 
pontiflT  dares  not  to  summon  a  popish  council,  and  the  British 
government  were  obliged  to  decapitate  the  Episcopal  convoca- 
tion ;  these  pernicious  assemblies  are  now  only  perpetuated 
am'^ng  those  denominations  of  Christians  who  boast  of  their 
progress  in  reformation  towards  the  perfect  purity  of  the  gos- 
pel. In  the  United  States  at  this  day,  some  of  the  councils^ 
but  more  generally  known  by  other  modern  appellatives,  are 
dangerous  excrescences  not  only  to  the  church  but  to  the  re- 
public i    and  like  all   other  institutions  which  originated  in 


254  APPENDIX. 

popery,  and  which  have  Vesprit  du  corps  for  their  governing 
motive,  and  their  own  aggrandizement  for  the  grand  end  of  all 
their  schemes, — like  the  Anglican  Episcopal  Convocation,  which 
was  only  another  name  for  a  genuine  popish  council, — they  ought 
to  be  silenced  in  powerless  oblivion. 


III.  PoPERV. — The  concise  reviews  of  popery  which  Mr. 
Ilowitt  has  written  are  not  less  authentic  than  instructive.  Its 
two  boasted  attributes  are  infallibility y  and  universal^  perpetual^ 
unchangeable  identity.  Whence  it  follows,  that  it  remains  un- 
;iUered  by  difference  of  place  and  succession  of  seasons.  Con- 
sequently, popery  is  the  same  in  the  nineteenth  century  in 
America,  as  in  the  dark  ages  in  Italy  and  Europe.  Persons  who 
suppose  that  monks  and  nuns  are  one  jot  reformed  ;  that  con- 
vents are  at  all  purified  ;  that  Romish  frauds  are  less  practised  ; 
that  their  ceremonial  mummery  is  rendered  more  scriptural  and 
less  idolatrous  ;  that  their  festivals  are  scenes  of  less  sensuality  ; 
that  auricular  confession  is  not  equally  impure ;  that  indulgences 
for  sin  are  not  trafficked  ;  that  purgatory  is  less  proclaimed, 
more  rarely  sold,  and  less  believed  in ;  that  the  myriads  of  pa- 
pists are  more  enlightened  ;  and  that  the  mass,  with  its  idola- 
trous and  irrational  blasphemy,  is  not  equally  the  comer-stone 
of  the  papal  hierarchy  as  in  all  anterior  ages,  are  mistaken  ; 
and  they  who  fancy  that  Roman  priests  and  Jesuit  friars  are 
one  particle  superior  in  morality  or  religion  to  their  fellow- 
craftsmen  in  Spain  and  Italy,  or  as  they  were  300  years  ago, 
deceive  themselves.  Infallible  testimony  can  be  adduced  at  any 
time  to  demonstrate  the  truth  of  Mr.  Howitt's  description. 
The  apparent  exterior  amendment  is  a  total  delusion — "  the 
nature  of  their  abominable  priestcraft  is  not  altered  ;  for  even 
in  this  country,  where  our  free  institutions  check  presumption, 
and  the  press  terrifies  their  most  loathsome  monsters  from  the 
light  of  day — we  behold  things  which  fire  our  hearts  with  in- 
dignation." 


IV.  Clergy  of  the  State. — In  a  sermon  published  some 
years  ago  in  London,  by  Mr.  Murray,  is  the  following  expostu- 
lation :  "  For  what  use  are  bishops,  deans,  doctors,  and  digni- 
fied clergy,  when  they  do  not  instruct  the  subjects  to  make  them 
good  members  of  society  ?  It  is  no  better  than  robbery  to  neg- 
lect those  duties  you  have  solemnly  promised  to  fulfil.  You  are 
servants  of  the  government,  as  much  as  other  officers,  and  yet 
neglect  your  duty  without  fear.  Whatever  you  may  gain  by 
the  alliance  between  church  and  state,  the  people  are  losers. 
Sinners  as  you  are,  one  cannot  but  have  pity  on  you.  The 
parable  of  the  rich  man  is  worthy  of  your^most  serious  consid- 
eration.    May  God  presen'e  all  sinful  clergy  from  being  hii 


APPENDIX.  255 

companions  !  You  are  the  chief  of  sinners ;  others  are  little, 
when  compared  to  you.  May  God  pardon  all  your  sins  for 
Christ's  sake !     Amen." 


V.  English  Universities. — Rowland  Hill  some  time  ago 
published  the  following  account  of  the  English  universities. 
"  During  my  residence  at  this  seat  of  learning,  drunkenness  and 
whoredom  were  deemed  less  exceptionable  practices  in  a  can- 
didate for  the  ministry  than  visiting  the  sick,  and  expounding 
scriptures  in  private  houses.  For  these  last  oftences,  I  met  with 
SIX  refusals  before  I  gained  admission  into  the  ministry  of  the 
established  church.  Rome  herself,  in  her  most  rotten  and  cor- 
rupted state,  kept  up  her  spiritual  game,  by  boasting  of  the  learn- 
ing and  purity  of  her  clergy.  The  like  gorgeous  boast  we  have 
repeatedly  from  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  respecting  the  young 
bucks  and  blades  they  send  forth  for  the  service  of  the  church." 


VI.  Presentation  to  Livitmgs. — The  following  fact  corrobo- 
rates Mr.  Ho  Witt's  statement.  A  gentleman  of  large  fortune,  who 
controlled  a  living  of  great  value  near  London,  had  a  son,  little 
superior  to  a  natural  idiot ;  and  for  him  the  living  was  destined. 
After  residing  at  Oxford  the  allotted  term,  and  receiving  the 
graduate's  diploma,  A.B.  and  A.M.  as  a  matter  of  course,  he 
presented  himself  to  one  of  the  bishops  for  ordination.  The 
bishop  was  apprized  by  his  father  of  his  son's  commanding 
genius  and  astonishing  attainments,  and  acted  accordingly.  So, 
after  the  usual  preliminaries,  he  thus  proceeded  to  examine  the 
erudite  collegian  : 

Bishop. — -Mr.  P.,  can  you  inform  me  how  many  sons  Noah  had  ] 

Mr.  P. — Indeed,  my  lord,  I  cannot.  I  never  heard  the  gen- 
tleman's name  before. 

Bishop. — Well,  Mr.  P.,  Noah  had  three  sons,  named  Shem, 
Ham,  and  Japhet ;  cannot  you  tell  me  their  names  now  1 

Mr.  P. — Indeed,  my  Lord,  I  know  nothing  of  Mr.  Noah  ; 
and  I  don't  believe  that  any  man  in  our  college  has  any  acquaint- 
ance with  that  gentleman. 

Finding  it  was  a  hopeless  case,  the  bishop  sent  the  candidate 
back  to  his  father,  who  despatched  him  to  the  bishop  the  second 
time  with  an  additional  hundred  pounds — upon  which  the  bishop 
laid  his  hands  upon  him,  saying,  "  Receive  thou  the  Holy  Ghost 
committed  unto  thee  by  the  imposition  of  my  hands."  In  which 
Holy  Ghost  the  bishop  did  not  believe,  and  of  whom  the  young 
rector  had  never  heard  ;  but  he  went  to  the  churcli,  rang  the 
bell,  receives  the  tithes,  employs  a  curate,  and  spends  the  pro- 
ceeds of  his  parish  in  riotous  livmg. 


INDEX. 


BY    THE    AMERICAN    EDITOR. 


Act  of  toleration,  173. 

Act  of  uniformity,  170,  173. 

Adonis,  20. 

Advertisement,  3. 

Ahab,  25. 

Akbar,  88. 

Albigeiises,  139. 

Alexander  III.,  Pope,  132. 

American  Indians,  38. 

Americans,  176. 

Ancient  mysteries,  20. 

Anecdotes,  197. 

Anne's  bounty  fund,  202. 

Apostacy  of  preachers,  256. 

Appendix,  253. 

Arabians,  83. 

Ark,  20. 

Arkite  worship,  20. 

Arrogance  of  popery,  130. 

Articles,  Thirty-nine,  181. 

Art,  magic,  72. 

Art  of  torture,  161 

Assembly,  Westminster,  180. 

Assyrian  mythology,  26. 

Assyrians,  22. 

Astarte,  23. 

Asylums,  128. 

Athanasian  creed,  174. 

Atrocities  of  popery,  130,  134, 

Augury,  64. 

Aune,  36. 

Auricular  confession,  127. 

Auto-da-f^,  161. 

Avarice  of  priests,  75. 

Baal,  23,  26. 

Baal-fires,  24. 

Babel,  17. 

Babylonish  temple,  28. 

Bacchanalian  orgies,  38,  56, 

Bann,  33,  102. 


Barbarossa,  132. 

Bartholomew  massacre,  136. 

Barton's  fraud,  123. 

Baxter,  173. 

Becket,  131. 

Bel  and  the  Dragon,  28. 

Belus  tower,  27. 

Benedictines,  119. 

Bezeirs  destroyed,  140. 

Bible  locked  up,  102,  105. 

Bishops'  revenues,  201. 

Boniface  III.,  Pope,  110. 

Bounty  fund,  202. 

Brahmins,  33,  77,  87. 

Bryant,  24. 

Burial  fees,  223. 

Cabiri,  59. 

Calamy,  173. 

Cambridge  university,  214. 

Castes,  56,  86. 

Catharine's  church,  178. 

Celibacy  of  priests,  105,  106. 

Celtic  mythology,  30. 

Celts,  29. 

Ceremonies,  127. 

Chandelahs,  91. 

Character  of  priestcraft,  14,  15. 

Charles  II.  of  England,  173. 

Charms,  104. 

Chaucer,  107,  231. 

Chemosh,  23. 

Chinese,  20. 

Christ's  kingdom,  257. 

Church  and  state,  195. 

Church  consecrated,  178. 

Church  livings,  226,  255. 

Church  of  England,  167,  185, 

Church  of  Geneva,  173. 

Church  rates,  190. 

Church  reform,  185. 


258 


INDEX. 


Churchyards,  222, 

Clerical  income,  200. 

Clergy  of  the  state,  254. 

Clerical  owls,  219. 

Concubines  of  priests,  117. 

Confession  of  sin,  127. 

College  education,  217. 

Confirmation,  238,  258. 

Consecration  of  churchyards,  222, 

Corruption  of  worship,  19. 

Councils,  115,  253. 

Courts,  ecclesiastical,  219. 

Covenanters,  182. 

Cranmer,  171. 

Creed  of  Athanasius,  174. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  138. 

Crusades,  127. 

Curates'  stipends,  210. 

Cush,  18. 

Cuthism,  24. 

Dandolo,  130. 

Deceptions  of  priests,  74. 

Decretals  of  Isidore,  125. 

Delphic  oracle,  66. 

Deluge,  20. 

Derry,  See  of,  186. 

Devil  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge 

212. 
Dissenters,  175,  190. 
Dominicans,  119. 
Drottes,  34. 
Druids,  20,  33. 
Ecclesiastical  courts,  219. 
Edinburgh  Review,  201,  224. 
Edward  VI.  of  England,  169. 
EgjTDt,  25,  42,  50. 
Egyptians,  45. 
Eleusinian  rites,  78. 
Ehzabeth,  Queen,  169. 
Enghsh  Church,  167, 185. 
English  Inquisition,  180. 
English  universities,  255. 
Enormities  of  the  popes,  114. 
Episcopal  church,  167. 
Episcopal  clergymen,  233. 
Europe,  15. 

Evils  of  chu  ch  and  state,  181. 
Evil  principles,  16. 
Evil  systems,  16. 
Excommunication,  128. 
Family  vaults,  223. 
Fees  of  consecration,  222. 
Festivals,  64,  127. 
First-fruifs,  201. 
forgery,  125, 


France,  135. 
Franciscans,  119. 
Fraud  of  Jetzer,  120. 
Frauds,  125. 
Frauds  of  priests,  123. 
Freemasons,  72. 
Friends,  12. 
Frogs  of  Egypt,  104. 
Gaul,  31. 

Geneva  Church,  173. 
Germany,  33,  228. 
Goths,  29. 

Grecian  theogony,  58. 
Greece,  58. 
Greeks,  59. 

Gregory  VIL,  Pope,  111. 
Hacon,  37. 
Hales,  John,  258. 
Hall,  Robert,  256. 
Ham,  17. 

Hebrews,  93,  253. 
Henry  IV.  of  France,  152, 
Henry  VIII.  of  England,  168. 
Herodotus,  25,  45. 
High  Commission  Court,  180, 
Hill,  Rowland,  255. 
,  Hindoos,  45. 
Hindostan,  25,  76. 
Hirelings,  185,  218, 
Historians,  14. 
Howitt,  a  Friend,  12, 
Hudibras,  143. 
Human  sac 
Huns,  100. 
Idols  honoured,  82. 
Impostors,  22. 
India,  42,  80. 
Indians  in  America,  38. 
Indulgences,  127. 
Infallibility  of  the  pope,  101. 
Inquisition,  128. 
Inquisitors,  142. 
Institutes  of  Menu,  86. 
Introduction,  5. 
Invocation  to  Truth,  4. 
Ireland,  185. 
Irish  Church,  185. 
Isidore's  decretals,  125. 
Jaggernath,  24. 
James  I.  of  England,  197. 
Japhet,  17. 
Januarius,  125. 
Jesuits,  142. 
Jetzer's  fraud,  130. 
Jews,  95, 


INDEX. 


299 


Jezebel,  25.  Orgies,  38,  56. 

John  of  England,  133.  Original  population,  17. 

Kingcraft,  16,  Origin  of  priestcraft,  17. 

Knowledge  kept  from  the  people,  Orobio,  the  Jew,  159. 


56. 

Lahore,  Rajah  of,  83. 
Languedoc,  139. 
Latin  worship,  177. 
Laud,  Archbishop,  127. 
Livings,  255. 

Lord  of  the  universe,  130. 
Loyola,  144. 

Lyndsay's  satire,  116,  220, 
Madoc,  17. 
Magic  art,  72, 
Mahadeo,  79. 
Maid  of  Kent,  123, 
Marriage  prohibited,  106, 
Mary,  Queen,  170,  197. 
Mass,  127. 

Massacre  at  Paris,  135. 
Mendicants,  117. 
Metempsychosis,  73,  92, 
Methodists,  175, 
Mexicans,  38,  41,  46. 
Mexitli,  43. 
Milton,  198, 217. 
Milton's  sonnet,  137, 
Moabites,  25. 
Moloch,  23. 
Monkery,  104,  116. 
Moors,  155. 
Mummery,  128. 
Murray's  sermon,  254. 
Mylitta,  28,  80. 
Mysteries,  67. 
Mythology,  17. 
Mythras,  43. 
Natchez,  40. 
National  settlements,  17. 
Nebuchadnezzar's  image,  81. 
Necessity  of  reform,  251. 
Nimrod,  16,  18. 
Noah,  17. 

Nonconformists,  173. 
Number  of  false  gods,  23, 
Odin's  grove,  37. 
Old  man  of  the  sea,  93. 
Old  man  of  the  church,  94. 
Oliver  Cromwell,  157. 
Oracle  at  Upsal,  37. 
Oracle  of  Delphos,  66. 
Oracles  of  Greece,  62. 
Oral  confession,  127. 
Ordeals,  138. 


Orosmades,  43. 

Osiris,  20,  53. 

Oxford  university,  215 

Pagan  creeds,  52. 

Paganism,  16. 

Pagan  priestcraft,  76. 

Paintings,  104. 

Papal  dommion,  108. 

Papal  infallibility,  101. 

Papal  priestcraft,  106. 

Papal  supremacy,  107. 

Patriarchal  worship,  17. 

Patronage,  128,  226. 

Pelasgi,  55. 

Penn,  William,  176. 

Persecutions,  6. 

Persia,  19. 

Peruvians,  38. 

Phallis,  64,  79. 

Phocas,  110. 

Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  124, 

Pilgrimages,  126. 

Plowman's  prayer,  107. 

Pluralities,  210. 

Ponsonby,  Bishop,  186. 

Pope,  lord  of  the  universe,  130. 

Popery,  98,  107.  254, 

Popish  arrogance,  130, 

Popish  atrocities,  134. 

Portugal,  155. 

Prelatical  despotism,  224. 

Presentation  to  livings,  255. 

Preservation  of  the  Ark,  20. 

Price  of  burial,  223. 

Priapic  orgies,  64. 

Priestcraft,  16. 

Priestly  arts,  62,  74. 

Priestly  avarice,  75. 

Priestly  ignorance,  231. 

Priests'  celibacy,  105, 106. 

Priests'  character,  80, 233. 

Private  patronage,  226. 

Processions,  64,  82. 

Protestant  hierarchy,  6, 

Purgatory,  127. 

Pythian  oracle,  66. 

Reform,  185. 

Reformation  in  England,  168, 

Relics,  104. 

Revenues  of  bishops,  188,  301, 

Heynolds,  173. 


260 


INDEX. 


Sacrifices  of  men,  35,  38. 

Sale  of  livings,  226. 

Saturnalian  orgies,  56. 

Scandinavia,  34. 

Sclavonians,  29. 

Separation  of  church  and  state 

215,  251. 
Sennon  by  Murray,  254. 
Settlement  of  nations,  17,  18- 
Shelley's  Poem,  134. 
Shem,  17. 
Simony,  227. 
Socrates,  63. 
Soodras,  91. 
Southey's  Madoc,  47. 
Spain,  155. 

Spanish  Inquisition,  164. 
Star-chamber,  180. 
State  churches,  196. 
Stipendiary  clergy,  198. 
Stipends  of  curates,  210. 
Stonehenge,  73. 
Succession  of  worlds,  20. 
Syria,  23. 

Syrian  mythology,  26. 
Syrian  priests,  25. 
Syrians,  22. 
Tadcaster,  222. 
Tartars,  19 


Temple  at  Babylon,  28. 
Tetzel,  197. 

Theogony  of  Greece,  58 

Thirty-mne  Articles,  181.j 

Three  gods,  19. 
,  Tithes,  194. 

Toleration  act,  173. 

Tortures,  161. 

Tower  of  Belus,  27. 

Transmigration,  54. 

Uniformity  act,  170,  173.] 

Universal  Lord,  130. 

Universities,  212. 

Upsal  oracles,  37. 

Vaudois,  137. 

Vaults,  223. 

Vedas,  87. 

Vicegerents  of  Heaven,  101. 

View  of  Priestcraft,  13,  246. 

Vitzliputzh,  43. 

Westminster  assembly,  180. 

Westminster  Review,  180,  213. 

WicUf,  135. 

Wife  of  the  gods,  27. 

WiUiam  III.  of  England,  175.  . 

Wisdom  of  Solomon,  71. 

Women  of  the  temple,  80. 

Worship  in  Latin,  127. 

Yogees,  93. 


THK  END. 


DATE  DUE 

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History  of  priestcraft  in  all  ages  and 

Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


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