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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


WORKS  BY  THE  REV.  J.  A.  WYLIE,  LL.D. 

I. 

THE  PAPACY ;  its  History,  Dogmas,  Genius,  and  I'ro- 
SPECTS.  Being  the  Evangelical  Alliauce  Prize  Essay  on 
Popery.      Demy  8vo,  cloth,  price  8s.  6d.  \_Fourth  Edition. 

Opinions  of  the  Press. 

"  The  book  of  the  age  on  the  question."— iJei'.  Mr.  Broclclehurst,  in  Com 
Exchange,  Manchester. 

"  It  would  be  difficult  to  determine  which  to  admire  most — the  breadth  and 
comprehensiveness  of  the  plan,  the  method  of  the  argument,  the  clearness 
and  copiousness  of  the  details,  the  vividness  and  tact  of  the  gi'ouping,  the 
fine  healthy  air  of  its  high  Christian  philosophy,  or  the  vigjrous  eloquence, 
rich  imagery,  and  moral  earnestness  of  its  style." — Glasgow  Constitutional . 

"Dr.  Wylie's  volume  is  learned,  philosophical,  and  eloquent." — British 
Quarterly  Review. 

"  This  able  and  finished  production  combines  at  once  the  rare  qualities  of 
clear  statement,  vigorous  logic,  and  eloquent  style.  Its  tone  and  spirit  are 
worthy  of  an  Evangelical  Alliance." —  Baptist  Magazine. 

II. 
PILGRIMAGE  FROM  THE  ALPS  TO  THE  TIBER  ;  or, 
THE    Influence    of    Romanism    on    Trade,    Justice,    and 
Knowledge.     Post  8vo,  price  6s.  6d.  [Second  Thoiisand. 

CONTENTS. 

1.  The  Introduction.  2.  The  Passage  of  the  Alps.  3.  Rise  and  Progress  of 
Constitutionalism  in  Piedmont.  4.  Structure  and  Characteristics  of  the 
Vaudois  Valleys.  5.  State  and  Prospects  of  the  Vaudois  Church.  6. 
From  Turin  to  Novara — Plain  of  Lombardy.  7.  From  No  vara  to  Milan 
- — Dogana — Chain  of  the  Alps.  8.  City  and  People  of  Milan.  9.  Ai'co 
della  Pace — St.  Ambrose.  10.  The  Duomo  of  Milan.  11.  Milan  to 
Brescia — The  Reformers.  12.  The  Present  the  Image  of  the  Past.  13. 
Scenery  of  Lake  Garda-^Peschiera— Verona.  14.  From  Verona  to 
Venice — The  Tyi'olese  Alps.  15.  Venice. — Death  of  Nations.  16.  Pachia 
— St.  Anthony — The  Po — Arrest.  17.  Ferrara — Eenee  and  Olympia 
Morata.  18.  Bologna  and  the  Apennines.  19.  Florence  and  its  Young 
Evangelism.  20.  From  Leghorn  to  Rome — Civita  Vecchia.  21.  Modern 
Rome.  22.  Ancient  Rome — The  Seven  Hills.  23.  Sights  in  Rome — - 
Catacombs— Pilate's  Stairs — Pio  Nono,  &c.  24.  Influence  of  Romanism 
on  Trade.  25.  Influence  of  Romanism  on  Trade — (continued).  26. 
Justice  and  Liberty  in  the  Papal  States.  27.  Education  and  Knowledge 
in  the  Papal  States.  28.  Mental  State  of  the  Priesthood  in  Italy.  29. 
Social  and  Domestic  Customs  of  the  Romans.  30.  The  Argument  from 
the  whole  ;  or,  Rome  her  own  Witness. 

Opinions  of  the  Press. 
"  We  are  presented  with  the  gist  of  the  Popish  controversy,  freshened  by 
new  and  very  striking  examples,  and  lightened  by  amusing  incident  and 
graphic  description." — -Hugh  Miller. 

"  The  Pilgrimage,  both  in  matter  and  expression,  is  by  far  the  most  finished 
performance  of  the  sort  that  has  ever  issued  from  the  pen  of  an  English 
traveller.  I  was  unspeakably  interested  in  its  perusal,  and  in  the  sublime 
and  awful  delineations  which  it  gives  of  the  effect  of  the  doctrines  of  Anti- 
christ in  the  very  centre  of  the  Papal  dominions." — Eev.  Dr.  Campbell  of 
London. 

"Replete  with  interest." — Athenceum. 


London  :  HAMILTON,  ADAMS,  &  CO. 
Edinburgh :     A.    ELLIOT,    15    Princes   Street. 


III. 

THE    C4REAT    EXODUS;   or,    "The    Time    of    the  End. 
How  NEAR  ARE  WE  TO  IT ?"     Price  6s.  6d.     [Second  Thousand. 

Opinions  of  the  Press. 

"  Dr.  Wylie  does  not  follow  the  ordinary  beaten  path  so  commonly  trodden 
by  the  feet  of  '  students  of  prophecy.'  He  is  neither  literalist,  spiritualist, 
nor  futurist.  He  thinks  out  of  his  own  method,  and  follows  his  own  course, 
and  is  rather,  if  we  might  coin  a  word,  a  typologist.  His  scheme  of  inter- 
pretation is  worked  out  with  great  skill,  precision,  and  clearness." — London 
jRecord. 

"  This  work  is  not  only  one  of  great  ability,  but  it  is  in  many  respects  a 
remarkable  production :  it  is  so  with  regard  to  the  amount  of  research  which 
is  everywhere  visible  in  its  pages  :  it  is,  too,  a  remarkable  work,  viewed  in 
relation  to  the  hypothesis,  if  we  may  use  the  word,  which  the  volume 
develops,  and  which  is  so  ably  supi)orted.  In  many  respects  Dr.  Wylie 
differs  on  important  points  connected  with  prophecy,  and  with  the  past 
history  of  the  Church,  from  most,  if  not  all,  of  our  most  popular  writers  on 
prophetic  questions.  .  .  .  The  style  of  the  work  is,  indeed,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end,  characterized  by  great  affluence.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  and  valuable  which  has  appeared  for  a  long  time  past  on  the 
subject  of  prophecy,  and  is  destined  to  occupy  a  permanent  place  in  the 
category  i^f  our  Protestant  theology." — London  Morning  Advertiser. 

IV. 
ROME  AND    CIVIL  LIBERTY  ;   or,  The  Papal  Aggres- 
sion IN  Its  Relation  to  the  Sovereignty  of  the  Queen 
AND  the  Independence  of  the  Nation.      Price  2s.  6d. 

\TioeIfth  Thousand. 
Opinions  of  the  Press. 

"  The  author's  charge  is  not  that  our  statesmen  have  tolerated  the  religion  of 
the  Pope,  but  that  they  have  sanctioned  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Pope  :  not  that 
they  have  permitted  the  spread  of  another  faith,  but  that  they  have  permitted 
the  erection  of  another  government.  This  is  a  serious  charge  ;  but  the  most 
serious  part  of  the  matter  is  that  it  is  here  substantiated,  not  by  a  process  of 
reasoning,  but  by  a  statement  of  facts.  None  can  rise  from  a  perusal  of  these 
facts  without  a  profound  apprehension  of  the  dangers  that  threaten  our 
liberties.  To  all  who  would  see  how  Popery  is  playing  its  master-trick  of 
shrouding  the  stiletto,  meant  for  the  heart  of  British  freedom,  under  the  garb 
of  religion,  we  earnestly  recommend  the  study  of  this  eloquent  volume." — 
British  and  Foreign  Evangelical  Review. 

"  As  an  able  and  eloquent  expositor  of  the  principles  and  working  of  the 
Papacy,  Dr.  Wylie  has  earned  for  himself  a  reputation  second  to  none  of  our 
living  authorities.  .  .  .  This  volume  is  necessarily  somewhat  miscellaneous  ; 
but  it  has  the  unity  of  principle  as  a  display  of  Romanism  in  one  of  its  leading 
peculiarities — this,  namely,  that  it  is  not  properly  a  religion,  but  rather  a 
system  that  knows  nothing  of  the  separation  of  things  political,  civil,  temporal, 
from  things  spiritual.  It  goes  fully  into  the  whole  matter  of  the  rise,  growth, 
and  gradual  evolution  of  the  Papal  Aggression,  and  shows  its  true  bearing  on 
all  (piestions  affecting  both  civil  and  religious  liberty.  If  anything  could 
open  the  eyes  of  our  statesmen  to  the  madne.ss  of  the  course  they  are  pursuing 
with  so  eager  speed,  surely  the  facts  so  eloquently  expounded  by  Dr.  Wylie 
might  do  80." — London  Ricord. 


London  :  HAMILTON,  ADAMS,  &  CO. 
Edinburgh :     A.   ELLIOT,    15   Princes  Street. 


THE   PAPACY; 


ITS 


HISTORY,  DOGMAS,  GENIUS,  AND  PROSPECTS : 


BEING   THE 


EVANGELICAL  ALLIANCE  FIRST  PPJZE  ESSAY  ON  POPERY. 


BY   THE 


REV.   J.   A.   WYLIE,   LL.D., 

AUTHOR  OP  "ROME  AND   CIVIL  LIBERTY,"  "THE  AWAKENING  OF  ITALY,"  ETC. 


"Causa  latet,  vis  est  notissima." — Ovid. 

"  Ovpai'O)  6JTi)ptfe  Kapyj,  /cai  ctti  \6ovi,  /Satvei. " — HOMER. 


FOURTH     EDITION. 


LONDON : 
HAMILTON,    ADAMS,    AND    CO. 

EDINBURGH  :   ANDREW   ELLIOT. 

1867. 


i*RINTED     BY     R.     SANSON, 

HORSE    WYND,     NORTH    COLLEGE    STREET, 

EDINBURGH. 


TO 


THE  PKESIDENT  AND   JJEMIiERS 


OF 


THE    EVANGELICAL    ALLIANCE, 


THIS    ESSAY, 


AND  NOW 


PUBLISHED  UNDER  THEIR  AUSPICES, 


IS   RESPECTFULLY  INSCRIBED 


BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


1350503 


EVANGELICAL  ALLIANCE. 


COMMITTEE  OF  THE  GLASGOW  SUB-DIVISION. 

Excerpt  from  Minute  of  Meeting  on  March  25,  1851. 
The  Report  of  the  Adjudicators  of  the  Prizes  for  Essays  on  Popery  was 
received  and  read  as  follows  : — 

"  We  the  undersigned  having  been  requested  to  act  as  Adjudicators  of 
Prizes  proposed  for  Essays  on  Popery  by  the  Committee  of  the  Evangeli- 
cal Alliance,  are  unanimously  of  opinion,— 

"  That  ihe  first  prize  should  be  awarded  to  the  Essay  marked  No.  6,  hav- 
ing the  motto, 

'Causa  latet,  vis  est  notissima.' — Otid. 

'Owjavft;  iiTTr.pi^i  xa^ri,  Kai  i-ri  ^6'ovi  ;3a/v£;.' — Homer. 
"  That  the  second  prize  should  be  awarded  to  the  Essay  marked  No.  5, 
liaving  the  motto, 

2  Thess.  ii.  3.  E.  G,  B. 

"  And  that  the  third  pmze  should  be  awarded  to  the  Essay  marked  No.  4, 
having  the  motto, 

'  'EXiv^soiav  ai/ToT;  i'JrccyyiXXofitviij,  awroi  OoZXoi  vTap^ovrtg  Tns    ipSopa,;.^ — 

^■jTiffToXvi  TliT^ou,  B.  ii.  19. 

•  For  now  the  field  is  not  far  oflF, 
Where  we  must  give  the  world  a  proof 
Of  deeds,  not  words,  and  such  as  suit 
Another  manner  of  dispute.' — Hudibras. 

(Signed)  "  Ralph  Wardlaw, 

"  War.  Cunningham. 

*■  John  Eadie. 

"  Murcli  21,  1851. 

"The  sealed  letters  bearing  the  above  mottos  were  then  opened  by  the 
Chairman  and  read,  from  which  it  appeared  that  the  following  gentlemen 
were  the  successful  Essayists,  viz.  :— 

First  Prize  Essay, 
The  Rev.  J.  A.  Wylie,  Edinburgh. 

Second  Prize  Essay, 
The  Rev.  Rohert  Gault,  Killyleagh,  County  Down,  Ireland. 

Third  Prize  Essay. 
The  Rev.  James  Bryce,  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  Aberdeen. 

The  Secretaries  were  instructed  to  communicate  the  result  of  this  ad- 
judication to  the  writers  of  the  Essays,  and  to  the  Committee  of  Council  in 
London,  recommending  that  the  First  of  the  Essays  be  published  under 
the  sanction  of  the  Alliance." 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK  I. 
HISTORY  OF  THP:  PAPACY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

Extent  of  the  Subject. — State  of  the  Greek,  Roman,  aud  Jewish 
Worlds. — Materializing  Influences. — ^^Danger  to  Christianity  there- 
from.— Transition  from  the  Symbolic  to  the  Spiritual. — Inability 
of  the  World  to  make  the  Transition  in  one  Age. — Theory  of  Hu- 
man Progress. — Tendency  to  a  Revival  of  the  Old  Paganisms. — 
The  Magian,  the  Greek,  the  Roman  Idolatries  unite  under  a  Chris- 
tian Form. — Popery  revived  Paganism I 

CHAPTER  ir. 

RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

Original  Equality  of  Pastors. — Rome  gives  Pre-eminence  to  her  Pas- 
tor.— Provincial  Councils. — Church  and  State  assimilated  in  Fourth 
Century. — Rise  of  ^Metropolitans.^ — The  Four  Patriarchs. — Incorpo- 
ration and  Co-ordination. — Reference  of  Disputes  to  Rome.— Grow- 
ing Superstition. — Edict  of  Valentinian  II.  gives  the  Roman  Bishop 
Supremacy  over  the  Western  Clergy. — Code  of  Justinian.— Edict 
of  Phocas,  AD.  G06. — Dextrous  Policy  of  Popes. — Fall  of  the  West- 
ern Empire. — Claim  of  Popes  to  be  Christ's  "Vicar. — The  Admis- 
sion of  this  Claim  consolidates  the  Supremacy 15 


VI.  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  III. 

RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SOVEREIGNTY. 

Conversion  of  the  Northern  Nations. — Grants  of  Pepin  and  Charle- 
magne in  the  Eighth  Century. — The  Triple  Crown. — "Wealth, 
Arrogance,  and  Ignorance  of  Clergy. — Rise  of  Monkery. — Image 
"Worship. — Iconoclast  Disputes. — Italy  throws  off  the  authority  of 
the  Eastern  Emperor.— The  Pope  becomes  virtual  Sovereign  of 
Rome. — Christianity  displaced  by  Paganism 39 

CHAPTER  IV. 

RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OP  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 

Principles  of  the  Bupremacy. — Decline  of  the  Carlovingian  Dynasty. 
— Frank  Emperors  surrender  their  Right  to  nominate  the  Popes. 
— Decretals  of  Isidore. — Dreadful  Disorders  of  the  Papal  See. — 
Rise  of  the  German  Power. — Transference  of  the  Empire. — Enor- 
mous "Wealth  of  the  Church. — Hildebrand. — AVar  of  Investitures. 
— Triumph  of  the  Mitre  over  the  Empire. — Innocent  III. — Gran- 
deur and  Dominion  of  the  Popedom. — The  Papal  Noon  and  the 
"World's  Midnight. — The  Albigenses  and  "Waldenses. — The  Cru- 
sades  58 

CHAPTER  V. 

FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

Mixed  Constitution  of  the  Papacy. — It  arrogates  Temporal  Supre- 
macy.— Syllogism  of  the  Papacy. — The  Supremacy  not  an  Acci- 
dent.— Supremacy  a  Logical  Deduction  from  the  Constituent  Prin- 
ciples of  the  Papacy. — Excommunication  of  jMonarchs. — Bellar- 
mine's  Theory,  or  Indirect  Authority. — Gosselin's  Theory,  or  Di- 
rection.— Direction  but  disguised  Supremacy. — Proofs  and  Vlus- 
trations. — Popish  Concordats  with  Spain  and  Germany. — Spiritual 
Direction  in  Ireland. — Oscillations  in  the  Theory  of  the  Supremacy. 
— Cardinal's  Oath. — Pontifical  Railway  Train 94 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    CANON    LAW. 

The  Complete  Code  of  the  Church. — Origin  and  History  of  the  Canon 
Law. — Spiritual  Supremacy  its  Key-note. — The  Canon  Law  on  Con- 
stitutions of  Princes  ;  on  Oaths  ;  on  Clerical  Immunities  ;  on  He- 
resy.— Oath  of  Bishops. — Incompatibility  with  British  Law. — De- 
velopment of  Canon  Law 128 


CONTENTS.  VII. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


CHURCH  OF  ROME  NEITHER  HAS  NOR  CAN  RENOUNCE  HER  PRINCIPLES 

ON  THE  SUPREMACY. 

Supremacy  claimed  and  exercised  in  former  Ages. — Has  not  been 
renounced. — Cannot,  because  Roman  Church  is  Infallible. — Can- 
not, without  violating  her  Fundamental  Principles. — The  Papacy 
unchanged  in  fact. — Growing  worse. — Recent  Illustrations. — Popes 
still  claim  to  be  Christ's  Vicars. —  Pius  IX. — Scheme  of  popu- 
larizing the  Papacy. — Re-union  of  Hierarchical  and  Dynastical 
Powers. — Papacy  and  Democracy. — Critical  position  of  Europe 14G 


BOOK  n. 

DOGMAS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  POPISH  THEOLOGY. 

Professedly  based  on  the  Truths  of  Revelation. — Policy  of  this. — 
Doctrines  all  perverted. — Order  and  Plan  stated. — Depth  and  In- 
genuity of  Popery. — Importance  of  the  Study 1G4 

CHAPTER  II. 

SCRIPTURE  AND  TRADITION. 

Popish  Rule  of  Faith. — Tradition. — Decree  of  Council  of  Trent. — 
Tradition  equally  authoritative  with  the  Scriptures. — Church  an 
Infallible  Interpreter. — Apocrypha. — Arguments  of  Papists  ;  from 
Scripture  ;  from  Transmission  of  Scriptures  by  the  Church  j  from 
alleged  Insufficiency  of  Private  Judgment 170 

CHAPTER  III. 

OF  READING  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

Bible  translated  at  the  Reformation. — Its  Reading  Interdicted  j 
wholly  in  some  countries  ;  partially  in  others. — A  mortal  Sin  to 
read  the  Scriptures  without  a  Licence. — Bulls  of  Popes. — Bible 
and  Irish  Priests. — Bible  in  Italy. — Rome  afraid  of  the  Bible ISO 


VIII.  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV, 

UJNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

Protestant  Idea  of;  Popish  Idea  of. — Marks  of  the  true  Churcli. — 
Unity  ;  Definition  of  by  Bellarmine,  Dens,  and  Milner. — Doctrinal 
Variations  of  Popery. — Character  of  Popish  Unity. — Combination  not 
Unity 191 

CHAPTER  V. 

CATHOLICITY  OP  THE  CHURCH  OP  ROME. 

Catholicity  as  defined  by  Roman  Catechism,  by  Dens,  &c. — Misappro- 
priation of  Scripture  Promises. — Non-Catholicity  of  Roman  Church 
in  Doctrine  ;  non-Catholicity  in  Time  ;  non-Catholicity  in  Place. — 
True  Catholicity  promised  to  the  Church 199 

CHAPTER  VI. 

APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETEIl's  PRIMACY. 

Apostolic  Succession. — Argument  of  BellarminefromMatthe\v,xvi.l8. 
— Averments  of  Dens  and  Milner. — Rome's  Corner-Stone.— Mat- 
thew, xvi.  18,  examined. — Peter's  Primacy  unknown  to  Christ ;  un- 
known to  Peter  himself ;  unknown  to  the  Apostles. — No  Trace  of 
Primacy  in  Scripture  nor  in  History  ;  no  Foundation  in  Reason. — 
Was  Peter  Bishop  of  Rome  ? — Was  Apostleship  ti'ansmissible  ? — 
Breaks  in  the  Apostolic  Chain. — Apostolicity  of  Rome  fabulous 210 

CHAPTER  VII. 

INFALLIBILITY. 

Progression  Law  of  Nature.— Immobility  the  Slotto  of  the  Church  of 
Rome. — Claim  of  Infallibility. — Infallibility  versus  Revelation. — 
Popish  Circle. — Infallibility  versus  Reason. — Papists  divided  as  to 
the  Seat  of  Infallibility. — Question,  Are  the  Fathers  Infallible  ?  are 
Councils  Infallible  ?  are  Popes  Infallible  ?  are  Councils  and  Popes 
conjointly  Infallible  ?— When  the  Pope  is  and  is  not  Infallible. — 
Seven  Tests  of  the  Infallibility  ;  Impossibility  of  observing  them. — 
"  Bullarium"  the  Papist's  Bible. — Papal  Infallibility  resembles  the 
Indian  Cosmogony 241 


CONTENTS  IX. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
KO  SALVATION  OUT  OF  THE  CHURCH  OP  ROME. 

Doctrine  of  Exclusive  Salvation  held  by  Roman  Catholic  Church. — 
Taught  in  Creed  of  Pius  IV. — Pope  Boniface. — Bull  in  Cceno  Do- 
mini.— Taught  in  Romish  Catechisms. — Attempted  Concealment  of 
the  Doctrine  in  Britain.— Openly  taught  at  Rome. — "  Mornings 
among  the  Jesuits." — "  Invincible  Ignorance." — Intense  Sectarian- 
ism of  Rome 263 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ORIGINAL  SIN. 

Debates  in  the  Coimcil  of  Trent. —  Decree. — Transmission  of  Original 
Sin. — Decree. — Remedy.^ — Popish  Doctrine  of  the  Fall. — Popish 
Doctrine  of  Grace. — Opinions  of  Cajetan,  Bellarraine,  and  Perrone. 
— State  of  pure  Nature.— Fall  virtually  denied. — Point  of  Di- 
vergence betwixt  Popish  and  Protestant  Theologies. — Immaculate 
Conception  of  Virgin. — O^us  Ojaeratum 271 

CHAPTER  X. 

OF  JUSTIFICATION. 

Justification  by  Faith  oldest  Theological  Truth. — Essential  and  eter- 
nal Difference  between  the  Gospel  and  Popery.—  Definition  of  Coun-  , 
oil  of  Trent. — Co-operation  of  Man. — Merit  of  Congruity. — Infused 
Righteousness. — Formal  Ground  of  Justification. — Christ  merited 
that  we  might  merit. — Rome's  Scheme,  Salvation  by  "Works 286 


CHAPTER  XI. 

OF  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

End  of  a  Sacrament. — Seven  Sacraments  of  Rome. — Sacraments  con- 
fer Grace  ex  Opere  Operato. — Indelible  Impression. — Intention  of 
Priest. — Recognition  of  Protestant  Baptism  by  Romanists. — Into- 
lerance of  Romanism 2.04 


X.  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


BAPTISM  AND  CONFIRMATION. 


Rites  of  Administration  ;  essential  to  Salvation  ;  remove  the  Guilt  of 
Original  Sin  ;  communicate  an  ineiFaceable  Impression. — Confirma- 
tion.— Forms. — Popery  simple  Magic. — Exorcism 300 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  EUCHARIST TRANSUBSTANTIATION THE  MASS. 

Unequalled  by  any  Pagan  Rite. — Origin  of  Term. — Established  by 
Council  of  Lateran,  1215. — Transubstantiation. — Tridentine  Defini- 
tion.— Cliange  of  Elements  into  the  Real  Body  and  Blood,  together 
with  Soul  and  Divinity,  of  Christ. — Revolting  Consequences. — 
Transubstantiation  opposed  to  Scri2:)ture ;  to  Reason ;  to  the 
Senses. — Adoration  of  the  Host. — Worship  of  Latvia. — Gross  Ido- 
latry.— Mass  a  Sacrifice. — Traverses  all  the  leading  Doctrines  of 
Scripture. — The  Cup  withheld. — Private  Masses SC] 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

OP  PENANCE  AND  CONFESSION. 

For  Pardon  of  Sins  committed  after  Baptism. — Alleged  Scripture 
Grounds. — Necessary  to  Salvation. —  Contrition  and  Attrition. — 
Confession. — All  Sins  confessed. — Atrocities  of  Confessional. — Im- 
piety of  Confessional 325 


CHAPTER  XV 

OF    INDULGENCES. 

Theory. — Treasury  of  tlie  Church. — Superabundant  Merits  of  Christ, 
of  Martyrs,  of  Saints,  and  of  the  Virgin. — Indulgences  remit  the 
Temporal  Punishment. — Power  of  Indulgences. — Examples.— Sale 
of  Indulgences  before  the  Reformation. — In  Modern  Times. — Apos- 
tolic Tariff". — Licence  to  Sin. — Year  of  Jubilee. — Papal  California.... "iSS 


CONTENTS.  XI. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

OP  PURGATORY. 

Four  Divisions  of  the  Future  World. — Locality  of  Purgatory. — For 
Venial  Sins  and  Temporal  Punishment. — Purgatory  intended  to 
make  Indulgences  and  Masses  saleable. — Alleged  Proof. — Real 
Origin  of  Purgatory. — Purgatorial  Societies. — Masses  at  Funerals. 
—Frauds 347 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

OF  THE  WORSHIP  OF  IMAGES. 

Practice  of  Roman  Church  stated. — Object  worshipped  through  the 
Image. — Paganism  equally  justifiable  with  Romish  Image-worship. 
— Decree  of  Trent. — Divine  "Word  condemns  the  Practice  as  Ido- 
latry  355 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

OP  THE  WORSHIPPING  OF  SAINTS. 

Saints  of  Rome. — Dulia  and  Latria. — Distinctions  incomprehensible 
to  the  Vulgar. — Saints  Mediators  of  Intercession. — Decree  of 
Trent. — Prayers  to  Saints  in  Roman  Missal. — God  our  Mediator 
to  the  Saints. — Absurdity  of  Saint-worship 361 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE  VIRGIN  MARY, 

Perverted  Principle. — Wish  for  a  Man-God. — Names  given  to 
Mary, — Worship  given  to  INIary. — Scriptural  Passages  applied  to 
Mary. —  Saints  worshipped  with  Dulia,  Mary  with  Hyperdulia. — 
First  Prophecy  applied  to  Mary. — Redemption  ascribed  to  Mary. — 
Encyclical  Letter  of  Pius  IX.  of  February  1849. — Mary  the  Savi- 
0U1-. — Mariolatry  on  the  Increase  in  Church  of  Rome 368 


Xll.  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XX. 
FAITH  NOT  TO  BE  KEPT  WITH  HERETICS. 

Enormity  of  the  Doctriue. — Proof. — Promulgated  by  the  Third  La- 
teran  Council. — Decreed  by  the  Council  of  Constance.— Exempli- 
fied.— Confirmed  by  the  Council  of  Trent.— Avowed  by  innumerable 
Popes  and  Popish  Writers. — Practice  of  Rome. — Instances  of  Vio- 
lated Faith  in  War  with  Albigenses  ;  in  the  struggles  in  Poland  ;  in 
the  HuiTuenot  Wars  in  France. — Massacre  of  St  Bartholomew. — Re- 
vocation  of  Edict  of  Nantes. — Present  Revolutions  in  France  trace- 
able to  that  Policy. — Disclaimers  of  Modern  Papists. — Jesuitry  of 
these  Disclaimers. — Modern  Writers  on  Morality  of  Romanism 37S 


BOOK  m. 


GENIUS  AND  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  PAPACY, 


CHAPTER  I. 


GENIUS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

Difficulty  and  Utility  of  the  Enquiry.— Distinction  between  Popei-y 
and  the  Papacy. — Character,  Extent,  and  Perfection  of  the  Organi- 
zation of  the  Papacy. — Real  though  Invisible  Author  of  the  Papacy. 
— Key  to  the  Papacy. — In  the  First  Temptation  the  Counterfeit  Sub- 
stituted for  the  Real. — Analogy  traced. — All  Idolatries  the  Coun- 
terfeits of  the  Real.—  Popery  the  Counterfeit  of  Christianity.  —This 
shown  in  all  its  Parts.  —  Papacy  viewed  as  of  ]\Ian. — Aims  at  Go- 
verning the  World,  and  all  its  Affairs. —Fortunate  in  the  Choice 
of  a  Seat. — Pretends  to  an  Apostolic  as  well  as  an  Imperial  Source. 
—  Lowers  God  and  exalts  the  Priest. — Converts  all  the  Functions 
of  Government  into  Organs  of  its  own. — Enlists  all  the  Passions 
and  Faculties  of  Human  Nature  in  its  Service. — Accommodating 
Spirit. — Extraordinary  Combination  of  Qualities 395 


CONTENTS.  XIII. 


CHAPTER  II. 


INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  THE  INDIVIDUAL  MAN. 

Influence  of  Religion  on  the  Moral  Nature  and  Intellectual  Powers. 
—  Intellectual  Rank  of  Nations  determined  by  their  Religious  Con- 
dition.—  Induction  of  Particulars.— Popery  not  Christianity.— Does 
not  therefore  possess  the  Influence  of  Christianity. — Popery  an- 
tagonistic to  Christianity ;  therefore  exerts  an  antagonistic  In- 
fluence.— Influence  of  its  several  Doctrines  traced. — Of  the  In- 
fallibility.— Of  Unreserved  Submission  to  Superiors. — Of  Opus  Ope- 
rrt^?/?».— Destroys  Mental  Activity  and  Independence. — Destroys 
Self-reliance.—  Dissociates  Religion  from  Jlorals.-  Characters  which 
Popery  produces 417 


CHAPTER  III. 


INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  GOVERNxMENT. 

Law  the  Expression  of  Opinion. — Opinion  moulded  by  Christianity. — 
As  is  the  Christianity  of  a  Country,  so  will  be  its  Law  and  Govern- 
ment.— Popery  has  corrupted  the  Theory  of  Government. — Popery 
confounded  and  incorporated  the  two  Jurisdictions,  Civil  and  Spi- 
ritual.— This  Corruption  grew  directly  out  of  its  essential  Principle  ■ 
that  the  Pope  is  Christ's  Vicar,  and  by  consequence  Supreme  over 
Temporal  as  over  Spiritual  Affairs. — The  Papacy  centralized  all 
Power  in  one  Man. — Being  Infallible,  the  Pope  can  have  no  Partner 
in  his  Power. — Papacy,  from  its  essential  Principles,  repugnant  to 
the  Constitutional  Element. — Papacy  multiplied  itself  in  all  the 
Kingdoms  of  Europe. —  Corrupted  the  Practice  of  Government. — ■ 
Retained  its  Subjects  in  Ignorance. —  Hostile  to  Science. — An  Anti- 
educationist.-  Employed  Espionage. — Punished  for  Opinion. — Pros- 
trated the  Civil  Power  by  employing  it  to  extirpate  Heresy.  —  Perse- 
cution of  the  Albigenses. — Persecutions  of  France  and  Spain.  — In- 
curable Wounds  inflicted  thereby  on  the  Cause  of  Industry  and  Order. 
— Past  Crusades  and  Modern  Revolutions. — Inquisition. — Origin. — 
Countries  where  set  up  ;  Venice  ;  Spain. — Castle  of  Chillon. — The 
Seven  Tortures. — Papacy  delayed  for  Ages  the  Advent  of  Consti- 
tutional Government 427 


XIV.  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV, 

INFLUENCE  OP  POPERY  ON  THE  MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  CONDITION 

OP  NATIONS. 

Proof  from  Experience. — Difference  between  Protestant  States  and 
Popish  States  in  point  of  Morality. — ProLabilism  and  Intention. — 
Popish  Nations  inferior  in  Tnithfulness. — Prevalence  of  Perjury. — 
Of  Assassination. — Of  Concubinage. — Popish  Nations  inferior  in 
respect  for  Woman. — The  Confessional  and  the  Domestic  Affec- 
tions.— Prevalence  of  Gambling. — No  Sabbath  in  Popish  Lauds. — 
The  Sabbath  in  Cologne;  in  Lyons;  in  France. — General  View....    456 


CHAPTER  V. 

INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  TUE  INTELLECTUAL  AND  POLITICAL 
CONDITION  OF  NATIONS. 

Popish  Nations  inferior  in  respect  of  general  Prosperity. — Popery 
has  stereotyped  the  Condition  of  every  Nation  where  it  exists. — 
General  View  of  the  Protestant  and  Popish  Worlds. — Individual 
Countries.— Holland  contrasted  with  Ireland  ;  contrasted  with  Bel- 
gium.— Palatinates  on  the  Rhine. — Protestant  and  Popish  Cantons 
of  Switzerland. — Decadence  of  France  ;  of  Spain  ;  of  Italy ;  of 
Venice. — States  of  the  Church. — Ireland. — Contrast  between  Italy 
and  Scotland. — Testimony  of  Experience  on  Popery. — Britain  dur- 
ing the  past  Hundred  Years 474 


BOOK  IV. 

PRESENT  POLICY  AND  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

SHAM  REFORM  AND  REAL  RE-ACTION. 

State  of  Papal  Affairs  at  Accession  of  Pius  IX. — The  Sword  of  the 
Revolution. — Constitutional  Movement  in  Italy. — Reform  of  Pius 
intended  to  check  that  Movement. — Scheme  of  restoring  the  As- 


CONTENTS.  XV. 

cendancy  of  the  Papacy. — Papacy  drops  the  Mask  of  Reform  ;  be- 
takes itself  to  Re-action  and  the  Sword. — Jesuits  recalled. — The 
Virtual  Governors  of  Europe  at  present. — Their  present  Policy 
one  in  all  Countries. — Attack  the  Press. — Attempts  on  Education. 
— New  School-Books. — Dismissal  of  Schoolmasters. — Miracles. — 
Arguments  adapted  to  all  Classes. — Alliance  of  Governments  with 
the  Priesthood 495 


CHAPTER  II. 

NEW  CATHOLIC  LEAGUE  AND  THREATENED  CRUSADE  AGAINST 

PROTESTANTISM. 

The  Modern  Sphinx. — Simultaneous  Crusade  against  Liberty. — The 
Catechism  and  the  Bayonet. — The  Jesuit  and  the  Gendarme. — 
The  Prisons  of  Rome. — The  Twenty  Thousand  Captives  of  Naples. 
— Tuscan  Concordat. — Jesuit  Tactics  in  Fi-auce ;  in  Austria ;  in 
Prussia. — Aggression  ou  Britain. — UUnhers  preaches  a  Crusade 
against  Protestantism.— Ghost  of  the  Middle  Ages 510 


CHAPTER  III. 

GENERAL  PROPAGANDISM. 

The  Propaganda  follows  in  the  Wake  of  the  British  Power. — Missions 
to  Semi-barbarous  Regions. — Britain  mainly  struck  at. — Jesuit 
Operations  in  Ireland  ;  in  England  ,  in  Scotland  ;  in  Edinburgh. — 
Romanist  Clubs. — Malta  and  Australia. — Rome  in  the  Pacific 522 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PROSPECTS  OP  THE  PAPACY. 

Atheism  and  Communism. — Popery  the  ^Mother  of  Revolutions. — 
Evangelistic  Agencies  in  Germany  ;  in  France. — State  of  Spain. — 
Bohemian  Church. — AValdensian  Church. — Native  Protestantism 
in  Italy.— The  "Red  Spectre;"  its  probable  ilission.— Duty  of 
British  Christians. — Blow  at  Rome. — Proposal  to  give  to  Italy  Five 
Millions  of  Bibles. — Creation  groaneth  for  the  Fall  of  the  Papacy.... 636 


BOOK  I. 


HISTOKY  OF  THE   PAPACY. 


CHAPTER  I. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  PAPACY. 


The  Papacy,  next  to  Christianity,  is  the  great  Fact  of  the 
modern  world.  Of  the  two,  the  former,  unhappily,  has  proved 
in  some  respects  the  more  powerful  spring  in  human  affairs, 
and  has  acted  the  more  public  part  on  the  stage  of  the 
world.  Fully  to  trace  the  rise  and  development  of  this  stu- 
pendous system,  were  to  write  a  history  of  Western  Europe. 
The  decay  of  empires, — the  extinction  of  religious  systems. 
• — the  dissolution  and  renewal  of  society, — the  rise  of  new 
States, — the  change  of  manners,  customs,  and  laws, — the 
policy  of  courts, — the  wars  of  kings, — the  decay  and  revival 
of  letters,  of  philosophy,  and  of  arts, — all  connect  them- 
selves with  the  history  of  the  Papacy,  to  whose  growth  they 
ministered,  and  whose  destiny  they  helped  to  unfold.  On  so 
wide  a  field  of  investigation  neither  our  time  nor  our  limits 
permit  us  to  enter.  Let  it  suffice  that  we  indicate,  in  gene- 
ral terms,  the  main  causes  that  contributed  to  the  rise  of 
this  tremendous  Power,  and  the  successive  stages  that  mark- 
ed the  course  of  its  portentous  development. 

B 


2  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

The  first  rise  of  the  Papacy  is  undoubtedly  to  be  sought 
for  in  the  corruption  of  human  nature.  Christianity,  though 
pure  in  itself,  was  committed  to  the  keeping  of  imperfect 
beings.  The  age,  too,  was  imperfect,  and  abounded  with 
causes  tending  to  corrupt  whatever  was  simple,  and  mate- 
rialize whatever  was  spiritual.  Society  was  pervaded  on  all 
sides  with  sensuous  and  material  influences.  These  abso- 
lutely unfitted  the  age  for  relishing,  and  especially  for  re- 
taining, truth  in  its  abstract  form,  and  for  perceiving  the 
beauty  and  grandeur  of  a  purely  spiritual  economy.  The 
symbolic  worship  of  the  Jew,  heaven-appointed,  had  taught 
him  to  associate  religious  truth  with  visible  rites,  and  to 
attribute  considerably  more  importance  to  the  observance 
of  the  outward  ceremony  than  to  the  cultivation  of  the  in- 
ward habit,  or  the  performance  of  the  mental  act.  Greece, 
too,  with  all  its  generous  sensibilities,  its  strong  emotions, 
and  its  quick  perception  and  keen  relish  of  the  beautiful, 
was  a  singularly  gross  and  materialized  land.  Its  volup- 
tuous poetry  and  sensuous  mythology  had  unfitted  the  in- 
tellect of  its  people  for  appreciating  the  true  grandeur  of  a 
simple  and  spiritual  system.  Italy,  again,  was  the  land  of 
gods  and  of  arms.  The  former  was  a  type  of  human  pas- 
sions ;  and  the  latter,  though  lightened  by  occasional  gleams 
of  heroic  virtue  and  patriotism,  exerted,  on  the  whole,  a  de- 
grading and  brutalizing  effect  upon  the  character  and  genius 
of  the  people,  withdrawing  them  from  efforts  of  pure  mind, 
and  from  the  contemplation  of  the  abstract  and  the  spiritual. 
It  was  iu  this  complex  corruption, — the  degeneracy  of  the 
individual  and  the  degeneracy  of  society,  owing  to  the  un- 
spiritualizing  influences  then  powerfully  at  work  in  the 
Jewish,  the  Grecian,  and  the  Roman  worlds, — that  the  main 
danger  of  Christianity  consisted ;  and  in  this  element  it  en- 
countered an  antagonist  a  thousand  times  more  formidable 
than  the  sword  of  Rome.  Amid  these  impure  matters  did 
the  Papacy  germinate,  though  not  till  a  subsequent  age  did 
it  appear  above  ground.  The  corruption  took  a  different 
form,  according  to  the  prevailing  systems  and  the  predomi- 


MATERIALIZING  INFLUENCES.  3 

nating  tastes  of  the  various  countries.  The  Jew  brought 
with  him  into  the  Church  the  ideas  of  the  synagogue,  and 
attempted  to  graft  the  institutions  of  Moses  upon  the  doc- 
trines of  Christ ;  the  Greek,  unable  all  at  once  to  unlearn 
the  lessons  and  cast  off  the  yoke  of  the  Academy,  attempted 
to  form  an  alliance  between  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel  and 
his  own  subtile  and  highly  imaginative  philosophy;  while 
the  Roman,  loath  to  think  that  the  heaven  of  his  gods  should 
be  swept  away  as  the  creation  of  an  unbridled  fancy,  re- 
coiled from  the  change,  as  we  would  from  the  dissolution  of 
the  material  heavens  ;  and,  though  he  embraced  Christianity, 
he  still  clung  to  the  forms  and  shadows  of  a  polytheism  in 
the  truth  and  reality  of  which  he  could  no  longer  believe. 
Thus  the  Jew,  the  Greek,  the  Roman,  were  alike  in  that 
they  corrupted  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel ;  but  they  differed 
in  that  each  corrupted  it  after  his  own  fashion.  Minds  there 
were  of  a  more  vigorous  cast  originally,  or  more  largely  en- 
dowed with  the  Spirit's  grace,  who  were  able  to  take  a  more 
tenacious  grasp  of  truth,  and  to  appreciate  more  highly  her 
spirituality  and  simplicity ;  but  as  regards  the  majority  of 
converts,  especially  towards  the  end  of  the  first  century  and 
the  beginning  of  the  second,  it  is  undeniable  that  they  felt, 
in  all  their  magnitude,  the  difficulties  now  enumerated. 

The  new  ideas  had  a  painful  conflict  to  maintain  with  the 
old.  The  world  had  taken  a  mighty  step  in  advance.  It 
had  accomplished  a  transition  from  the  symbolic  to  the  spi- 
ritual,— from  the  fables,  allegories,  and  myths,  which  a  false 
philosophy  and  a  sensuous  poetry  had  invented  to  amuse  its 
infancy,  to  the  clear,  definite,  and  spiritual  ideas  which 
Christianity  had  provided  for  the  exercise  of  its  manhood. 
But  it  seemed  as  if  the  transition  was  too  great.  There 
was  a  felt  inability  in  the  human  mind,  as  yet,  to  look  with 
open  face  upon  Truth  ;  and  men  were  fain  to  interpose  the 
veil  of  symbol  between  themselves  and  the  glory  of  that 
Majestic  Form.  It  was  seen  that  the  world  could  not  pass 
by  a  single  step  from  infancy  to  manhood, — that  the  Creator 
fiad  imposed  certain  laws  upon  the  growth  of  the  species,  as 


4     X  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

on  that  of  the  individual, — upon  the  development  of  the  so- 
cial, as  on  that  of  the  personal  mind ;  and  that  these  laws 
could  not  be  violated.  It  was  seen,  in  short,  that  so  vast  a 
reformation  could  not  be  made ;  it  must  grow.  So  much 
had  been  foreshadowed,  we  apprehend,  by  those  parables 
of  the  Saviour  which  were  intended  as  illustrative  of  the 
nature  of  the  gospel  kingdom  and  the  manner  of  its  pro- 
gress :  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  cometh  not  with  observa- 
tion ;"  "  It  is  like  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  the  least  of  all 
seeds ;  but  when  it  is  grown,  it  is  the  greatest  among  herbs, 
and  becometh  a  tree ;"  "  It  is  like  unto  leaven,  which  a 
woman  took,  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal,  till  the 
whole  was  leavened."  Not  in  a  single  day  was  the  master 
idea  of  Christianity  to  displace  the  old  systems,  and  in- 
augurate itself  in  their  room.  It  was  to  progress  in  obe- 
dience to  the  law  which  regulates  the  growth  of  all  great 
changes.  First,  the  seed  had  to  be  deposited  in  the  bosom 
of  society ;  next,  a  process  of  germination  had  to  ensue  ;  the 
early  and  the  latter  rains  of  the  Pagan  and  the  Papal  per- 
secutions had  to  water  it ;  and  it  was  not  till  after  ages  of 
silent  growth,  during  which  society  was  to  be  penetrated 
and  leavened  by  the  quickening  spirit  of  the  gospel,  that 
Christianity  would  begin  her  universal  and  triumphant 
reign. 

But  as  yet  the  time  was  not  come  for  a  pure  spiritual 
Christianity  to  attain  dominion  upon  the  earth.  The  in- 
fantile state  of  society  forbade  it.  As,  in  the  early  ages, 
men  had  not  been  able  to  retain,  even  when  communicated 
to  them,  the  knowledge  of  one  self-existent,  independent, 
and  eternal  Being,  so  now  they  were  unable  to  retain,  even 
when  made  known  to  them,  the  pure  spiritual  worship  of 
that  Being.  From  this  it  might  have  been  inferred,  though 
prophecy  had  been  silent  on  the  point,  that  the  world  had 
yet  a  cycle  of  progress  to  pass  through  ere  it  should  reach 
its  manhood ;  that  an  era  was  before  it,  during  which  it 
would  be  misled  by  grievous  errors,  and  endure,  in  conse- 
quence, grievous  sufferings,  before  it  could  attain  the  faculty 


TRANSITION  FROM  THE  SYMBOLIC  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL.         5 

of  broad,  independent,  clear,  spiritual  conception,  and  be- 
come able  to  think  without  the  help  of  allegory,  and  to 
worship  without  the  aid  of  symbol.  This  reconciles  us  to 
the  fact  of  the  great  apostacy,  so  stumbling  at  first  view. 
Contemplated  in  this  light,  it  is  seen  to  be  a  necessary  step 
in  the  world's  progress  towards  its  high  destinies,  and  a 
necessary  preparation  for  the  full  unfolding  of  God's  plans 
towards  the  human  family. 

The  recovery  of  the  world  from  the  depth  into  which  tho 
Fall  has  plunged  it,  is  both  a  slow  and  a  laborious  process. 
The  instrumentality  which  God  has  ordained  for  its  eleva- 
tion is  knowledge.  Great  truths  are  discovei-ed,  one  after 
one ;  they  are  opinion  first, — they  become  the  basis  of  action 
next ;  and  thus  society  is  lifted  up,  by  slow  degrees,  to  the 
platform  where  the  Creator  has  ordained  it  shall  ultimately 
stand.  A  great  principle,  once  discovered,  can  never  be  lost; 
and  thus  the  progress  of  the  world  is  steadily  onward. 
Truth  may  not  be  immediately  operative.  To  recur  to  the 
Saviour's  figure,  it  may  be  the  seed  sown  in  the  earth.  It 
may  be  confined  to  a  single  bosom,  or  to  a  single  book,  or 
to  a  single  school ;  but  it  is  part  of  the  constitution  of 
things;  it  is  agreeable  to  the  nature  of  God,  and  in  harmony 
with  his  government;  and  so  it  cannot  perish.  Proofs  begin 
to  gather  around  it ;  events  fall  out  which  throw  light  upon 
it :  the  martyr  dies  for  it ;  society  suffers  by  neglecting  to 
shape  its  course  in  conformity  with  it ;  other  minds  begin 
to  embrace  it ;  and  after  reaching  a  certain  stage,  its  ad- 
herents increase  in  geometrical  progression  :  at  last  the 
whole  of  society  is  leavened  ;  and  thus  the  world  is  lifted 
a  stage  higher,  never  again  to  be  let  down.  The  stage,  we 
say,  once  fully  secured,  is  never  altogether  lost ;  for  the 
truth,  in  fighting  its  way,  has  left  behind  it  so  many  monu- 
ments of  its  power,  in  the  shape  of  the  errors  and  sufferings, 
as  well  as  of  the  emancipation,  of  mankind,  that  it  becomes 
a  great  landmark  in  the  progress  of  our  race.  It  attains  in 
the  social  mind  all  the  clearness  and  certainty  of  an  axiom. 
The  history  of  the  world,  when  read  aright,  is  not  so  much 


b  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

a  record  of  the  follies  and  wickedness  of  mankind,  as  it  is  a 
series  of  moral  demonstrations, — a  slow  process  of  experi- 
mental and  convincing  proof, — in  reference  to  great  princi- 
ples, and  that  on  a  scale  so  large,  that  the  whole  world  may 
see  it,  and  understand  it,  and  come  to  act  upon  it.  Society 
can  be  saved  not  otherwise  than  as  the  individual  is  saved : 
it  must  be  convinced  of  sin ;  its  mind  must  be  enlightened ; 
its  will  renewed ;  it  must  be  brought  to  embrace  and  act 
upon  truth ;  and  when  in  this  way  it  has  been  sanctified, 
society  shall  enter  upon  its  rest. 

This  we  take  to  be  the  true  theory  of  the  world's  progress. 
There  is  first  an  objective  revelation  of  truth;  there  is  second 
a  subjective  revelation  of  it.  The  objective  revelation  is  the 
work  of  God  alone  ;  the  subjective  revelation,  that  is,  the 
reception  of  it  by  society,  is  the  work  of  God  and  man  com- 
bined. The  first  may  be  done  in  a  day  or  an  hour ;  the 
second  is  the  slow  operation  of  an  age.  Thus  human  pro- 
gression takes  the  form  of  a  series  of  grand  epochs,  in 
which  the  world  is  suddenly  thrown  forward  in  its  course, 
and  then  again  suddenly  stands  still,  or  appears  to  retro- 
grade. The  first  is  known,  in  ordinary  speech,  as  reforma- 
tion or  revolution  ;  the  second  is  termed  re-action.  There 
is,  however,  in  point  of  fact,  no  retrogression  :  what  we  mis- 
take for  retrogression  is  only  society  settling  down,  after  the 
sun-light  burst  of  newly-revealed  truth  is  over,  to  study,  to 
believe,  and  to  apply  the  principles  which  have  just  come 
into  its  possession.  This  is  a  work  of  time,  often  of  many 
ages;  and  not  unfrequently  does  it  go  on  amid  the  confusion 
and  conflict  occasioned  by  the  opposition  offered  to  the  new 
ideas  by  the  old  errors.  Among  the  epochs  of  the  past, — • 
the  grand  objective  revelations, — we  may  instance,  as  the 
more  influential  ones,  the  primeval  Revelation,  the  Mosaic 
Economy,  the  Christian  Era,  and  the  Reformation.  Each  of 
these  advanced  the  world  a  stage,  from  which  it  never  alto- 
gether fell  back  into  its  former  condition  :  society  always 
made  good  its  advance.  Nevertheless,  each  of  these  epochs 
was  followed  by  a  re-action,  which  was  just  society  struggling 


THEORY  OF  HUMAN  PROGRESS.  7 

to  lay  hold  upon  the  principles  made  known  to  it,  thoroughly 
to  incorporate  them  with  its  own  structure,  and  so  to  make 
ready  for  a  new  and  higher  step.  The  world  progresses  much 
as  the  tide  rises  on  the  beach.  Society  in  progress  pre- 
sents as  sublime  and  fearful  a  spectacle  as  the  ocean  in  a 
storm.  As  the  mountain  billow,  crested  with  foam,  swells 
huge  and  dark  against  the  horizon,  and  comes  rolling  along 
in  thunder,  it  threatens  not  only  to  flood  the  beach,  but 
to  submerge  the  land ;  but  its  mighty  force  is  arrested  and 
dissolved  on  its  sandy  barrier :  the  waters  retire  within  the 
ocean's  bed,  as  if  they  had  received  a  counter-stroke  from 
the  earth.  One  would  think  that  the  ocean  had  spent  its 
power  in  that  one  effort ;  but  it  is  not  so.  The  resistless 
energies  of  the  great  deep  recruit  themselves  in  an  instant : 
another  mountain  wave  is  seen  advancing ;  another  cataract 
of  foaming  waters  is  poured  along  the  beach;  and  now  the 
level  of  the  tide  stands  higher  than  before.  Thus,  by  a  series 
of  alternate  flows  and  ebbs  does  the  ocean  fill  its  shores. 
This  natural  phenomenon  is  but  the  emblem  of  the  manner 
in  which  society  advances.  After  some  great  epoch,  the  new 
ideas  seem  to  lose  ground, — the  waters  are  diminished ;  but 
gradually  the  limit  between  the  new  ideas  and  the  old  pre- 
judices comes  to  be  adjusted,  and  then  it  is  found  that  the 
advantage  is  on  the  side  of  truth,  and  that  the  general  level 
of  society  stands  perceptibly  higher.  Meanwhile,  prepara- 
tion is  being  made  for  a  new  conquest.  The  regenerative 
instrumentalities  with  which  the  Creator  has  endowed  the 
world,  by  the  truths  which  He  has  communicated,  are  si- 
lently at  work  at  the  bottom  of  society.  Another  mighty 
wave  appears  upon  its  agitated  surface;  and,  rolling  onwards 
in  irresistible  power  against  the  dry  land  of  superstition, 
it  adds  a  new  domain  to  the  empire  of  Truth. 

But  while  it  is  true  that  the  world  has  been  steadily  pro- 
gressive, and  that  each  successive  epoch  has  placed  society 
on  a  higher  platform  than  that  which  went  before  it,  it  is 
at  the  same  time  a  fact,  that  the  development  of  superstition 
has  kept  equal  pace  with  the  development  of  truth.      From 


8  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

the  very  beginning  the  two  have  been  the  counterparts  of 
each  other,  and  so  will  it  be,  doubtless,  while  they  exist  to- 
gether upon  the  earth.  In  the  early  ages  idolatry  was  un- 
sophisticated in  its  creed  and  simple  in  its  forms,  just  as 
the  truths  then  known  w:;re  few  and  simple.  Under  the 
Jewish  economy,  when  truth  became  embodied  in  a  system 
of  doctrines  with  an  appointed  ritual,  then,  too,  idolatry 
provided  its  system  of  metaphysical  subtleties  to  ensnare 
the  mind,  and  its  splendid  ceremonial  to  dazzle  the  senses. 
Under  the  Christian  dispensation,  when  truth  has  attained 
its  amplest  development,  in  form  at  least,  if  not  as  yet  in  de- 
gree, idolatry  is  also  more  fully  developed  than  in  any  pre- 
ceding era.  Papal  idolatry  is  a  more  subtle,  complicated, 
malignant,  and  perfected  system  than  Pagan  idolatry  was. 
This  equal  development  is  inevitable  in  the  nature  of  the 
case.  The  discovery  of  any  one  truth  necessitates  the  in- 
vention of  the  opposite  error.  In  proportion  as  truth  mul- 
tiplies its  points  of  assault,  error  must  necessarily  multiply 
its  points  of  defence.  The  extension  of  the  one  line  infers 
the  extension  of  the  other  also.  Nevertheless  there  is  an 
essential  difference  betwixt  the  two  developments.  Every 
new  truth  is  the  addition  of  another  impregnable  position 
to  the  one  side  ;  whereas  every  new  error  is  but  the  addition 
of  another  untenable  point  to  the  other,  which  only  weakens 
the  defence.  Truth  is  immortal,  because  agreeable  to  the 
laws  by  which  the  universe  is  governed ;  and  therefore,  the 
more  it  is  extended,  the  more  numerous  are  the  points  on 
which  it  can  lean  for  support  upon  God's  government ;  the 
more  that  error  is  extended,  the  more  numerous  the  points 
in  which  it  comes  into  collision  and  conflict  with  that  go- 
vernment. Thus  the  one  develops  into  strength,  the  other 
into  weakness.  And  thus,  too,  the  full  development  of  the 
one  is  the  harbinger  of  its  triumph, — the  full  development 
of  the  other  is  the  precursor  of  its  downfall. 

Idolatry  at  the  first  was  one,  and  necessarily  so,  for  it 
drew  its  existence  from  the  same  springs  which  were  seated 
in  the  depth  of  the  early  ages.     But,  though  one  originally, 


IDOLATROUS  RE-ACTION  CONSEQUENT  ON  CHRISTIANITY.     9 

in  process  of  time  it  took  different  forms,  and  was  known 
by  different  names,  in  the  several  countries.  The  Magian 
philosophy  had  long  prevailed  in  the  East ;  in  the  West 
had  arisen  the  polytheism  of  Rome  ;  while  in  Greece,  form- 
ing the  link  between  Asia  and  Europe,  and  combining  the 
contemplative  and  subtile  character  of  the  Eastern  idola- 
tries with  the  grossness  and  latitudinarianism  of  those  of  the 
West,  there  flourished  a  highly  imaginative  but  sensuous 
mythology.  As  these  idolatries  were  one  in  their  essence, 
so  they  were  one  in  their  tendency ;  and  the  tendency  of 
all  was,  to  draw  away  the  heart  from  God,  to  hem  in  the 
vision  of  man  by  objects  of  sense,  and  to  create  a  strong 
disrelish  for  the  contemplation  of  a  spiritual  Being,  and  a 
strong  incapacity  for  the  apprehension  and  retention  of 
spiritual  and  abstract  truth.  These  idolatries  had  lonir 
since  passed  their  prime ;  but  the  powerful  bent  they  had 
given  to  the  human  mind  still  existed.  It  was  only  by  a 
slow  process  of  counteraction  that  that  evil  bias  could  be 
overcome.  So  long  had  these  superstitions  brooded  over  the 
earth,  and  so  largely  had  they  impregnated  the  soil  with 
their  evil  principles,  that  their  eradication  could  not  be 
looked  for  but  by  a  long  and  painful  conflict  on  the  part  of 
Christianity.  It  was  to  be  expected,  that  after  the  first  flush 
of  the  gospel's  triumph  there  would  come  a  recoil ;  that 
the  ancient  idolatries,  recovering  from  their  panic,  would 
rally  their  forces,  and  appear  again,  not  in  any  of  their  old 
forms, — for  neither  does  superstition  nor  the  gospel  ever 
revive  under  exactly  its  old  organ'zation, — but  under  a  new 
form  adapted  to  the  state  of  the  world,  and  the  character  of 
the  new  antagonist  now  to  be  confronted  ;  and  that  Satan 
would  make  a  last,  and,  of  course,  unexampled  struggle,  be- 
fore surrendering  to  Christ  the  empire  of  the  world.  It  was 
to  be  expected  also,  in  the  coming  conflict,  that  all  these 
idolatries  would  combine  into  one  phalanx.  It  was  extreme- 
ly probable  that  the  animosities  and  rivalships  which  had 
hitherto  kept  them  apart  would  cease  ;  that  the  schools  and 
sects  into  which  they  had  been  divided  would  coalesce ;   that, 


10  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

recof^nising  in  Christianity  an  antagonist  that  was  alike  the 
foe  of  them  all,  the  common  danger  would  make  them  feel 
their  common  brotherhood ;  and  thus,  that  all  these  false 
systems  would  come  to  be  united  into  one  comprehensive 
and  enormous  system,  containing  within  itself  all  the  prin- 
ciples of  hostility,  and  all  the  elements  of  strength,  formerly 
scattered  throughout  them  all ;  and  that  in  this  combined 
and  united  form  would  they  do  battle  with  the  Truth. 

It  was  not  long  till  symptoms  began  to  appear  of  such  a 
move  on  the  part  of  Satan, — of  such  a  resuscitation  of  the  an- 
cient Paganisms.      The  shadow  began  to  go  back  on  the 
dial  of  Time.      The  spiritual  began  to  lose  ground  before 
the  symbolic  and  the  mythological.     The  various  idolatries 
which  had  formerly  covered  the  wide  space  which  the  gospel 
now  occupied, — subjugated,  but  not  utterly  exterminated, — • 
began  to  pay  court  to  Christianity.     They  professed,  as  the 
handmaids,  to  do  homage  to  the  Mistress ;   but  their  design 
in  this  insidious  friendship  was  not  to  aid  her  in  her  glorious 
mission,  but  to  borrow  her  help,  and  so  reign  in  her  room. 
Well  they  knew  that  they  had  been  overtaken  by  that  de- 
crepitude which,  sooner  or  later,  overtakes  all  that  is  sprung 
of  earth  ;   but  they  thought  to  draw  fresh  vitality  from  the 
living  side  of  Christianity,  and  so  rid  themselves  of  the  bur- 
den of  their  anility.     The  Magian  religion  wooed  her  in  the 
East;   Paganism  paid  court  to  her  in  the  West:  Judaism,  too, 
esteeming,  doubtless,  that  it  had  a  better  right  than  either, 
put  in  its  claim  to  be  recognised.     Each  brought  her  some- 
thing of  its  own,  which,  it  pretended,  was  necessary  to  the 
perfection  of  Christianity.     Judaism  brought  her  dead  sym- 
bols ;  the  Magian  and  Greek  philosophies  brought  her  re- 
fined and  subtile,  but  dead  speculations  and  doctrines  ;  and 
the  Paganism  of  Rome  brought  her  dead  divinities.     On  all 
hands  was  she  tempted  to  part  with  the  substance,  and  to 
embrace  again  the  shadow.      Thus  did  the  old  idolatries 
muster  under  the  banner  of  Christianity.      They  rallied  in 
her  support, — so  they  professed  ;    but,  in  reality,  to  unite 
their  arms  for  her  overthrow. 


UNION  OF  FORMER  IDOLATRIES  IN  POPERY.  1 1 

Two  things  might  have  been  expected  to  happen.  First, 
that  the  rising  corruption  would  reach  its  maturest  propor- 
tion in  that  country  where  external  influences  most  favoured 
its  development ;  and  second,  that  when  developed,  it  would 
exhibit  the  master  traits  and  leading  peculiarities  of  each  of 
the  ancient  paganisms.  Both  these  anticipations  were  ex- 
actly realised.  It  was  not  in  Chaldea,  nor  in  Egypt,  the 
seats  of  the  Magian  philosophy,  nor  was  it  in  Greece,  that 
Popery  arose,  for  these  countries  now  retained  little  besides 
the  traditions  of  their  former  power.  It  was  in  the  soil  of 
the  Seven  Hills,  amid  the  trophies  of  unnumbered  victories, 
the  symbols  of  universal  empire,  and  the  gorgeous  rites  of  a 
polluting  polytheism,  that  Romanism,  velut  arbor  wvo,  grew 
up.  By  a  law  similar  to  that  which  guides  the  seed  to  the 
spot  best  fitted  for  its  germination,  did  the  modern  Pagan- 
ism strike  its  roots  in  the  soil  which  the  ancient  Paganism 
had  most  largely  impregnated  with  its  influences  and  ten- 
dencies. The  surrounding  heresies  were  speedily  over- 
shadowed and  dwarfed.  The  Gnostic,  and  other  errors,  de- 
clined in  the  proportion  in  which  Pomanism  waxed  in  sta- 
ture, its  mighty  trunk  drawing  to  itself  all  those  corrupt  in- 
fluences which  would  otherwise  have  afforded  nourishment 
to  them.  In  process  of  time  they  disappeared,  though 
rather  through  a  process  of  absorption  than  of  extinction. 
The  result  presents  us  with  a  sort  of  Pantheism, — the  only 
sort  of  Pantheism  that  is  real, — in  which  the  expiring  idola- 
tries returned  into  the  bosom  of  their  parent  divinity,  and 
had  their  existence  prolonged  in  its  existence.  The  Papacy 
is  a  new  Babel,  in  which  the  old  redoubtable  idolatries  are 
the  builders.  It  is  a  spiritual  Pantheon,  in  which  the  local 
and  vagrant  superstitions  find  again  a  centre  and  a  home. 
It  is  a  grand  mausoleum,  in  which  the  corpses  of  the  defunct 
Paganisms,  like  the  mummied  monks  of  Kreutzberg,  are 
laid  out  in  ghastly  pomp,  while  their  disembodied  spirits 
still  live  in  the  Papacy,  and  govern  the  world  from  their 
grave.  Analyse  Popery,  and  you  will  find  all  these  ancient 
systems  existing  in  it.     The  Magian  philosophy  flourishes 


12  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

anew  under  the  monastic  system ;  for  in  the  conventual  life 
of  Rome  we  find  the  contemplative  moods  and  the  ascetic 
habits  which  so  largely  prevailed  in  Egypt  and  over  all 
the  East ;  and  here,  too,  we  find  the  fundamental  principle 
of  that  philosophy,  namely,  that  the  flesh  is  the  seat  of 
evil,  and,  consequently,  that  it  becomes  a  duty  to  weaken 
and  mortify  the  body.  In  Popery  we  find  the  predominat- 
ing traits  of  the  Grecian  philosophy,  more  especially  in 
the  subtile  casuistry  of  the  Popish  schools,  combined  with 
a  sensuous  ritual,  the  celebration  of  v/liich  is  often  accom- 
panied, as  in  Greece  of  old,  with  gross  licentiousness.  And 
last  of  all,  there  is  palpably  present  in  Popery  the  poly- 
theism of  ancient  Rome,  in  the  gods  and  goddesses  which, 
under  the  title  of  saints,  fill  up  the  calendar  and  crowd  the 
temples  of  the  Romish  Church.  Here,  then,  all  the  old 
idolatries  live  over  again.  There  is  nothing  new  about 
them  but  the  organization,  which  is  more  perfect  and  com- 
plete than  ever.  To  add  one  other  illustration  to  those  al- 
ready given,  the  Papacy  is  a  gigantic  realization  of  our 
Lord's  parable.  The  Roman  empire,  on  the  introduction  of 
Cliristianity,  was  swept  and  garnished  ;  the  unclean  spii'it 
which  inhabited  it  had  been  driven  out  of  it ;  but  the  de- 
mon had  never  wandered  far  from  the  region  of  the  Seven 
Hills ;  and  finding  no  rest,  he  returned,  bringing  with  him 
seven  other  spirits  more  wicked  than  himself,  which  took 
possession  of  their  old  abode,  and  made  its  last  state  worse 
than  its  first.  The  name  of  Popery,  truly,  is  Legion ! 
"  There  are  many  Antichrists,'"  said  the  apostle  John ;  for 
in  his  days  the  various  systems  of  error  had  not  been  com- 
bined into  one.  But  the  Roman  apostacy  acquired  ultimate- 
ly the  dominion,  and,  marshalling  the  other  heresies  beneath 
its  banner,  gave  its  own  name  to  the  motley  host,  and  be- 
came known  as  the  Antichrist  of  prophecy  and  of  history. 

Popery,  then,  we  hold  to  be  an  after-growth  of  Paganism, 
whose  deadly  wound,  dealt  by  the  spiritual  sword  of  Christi- 
anity, was  healed.  Its  oracles  had  been  silenced,  its  shrines 
deniolished,  and  its  gods  consigned  to  oblivion  ;  but  the  deep 


THE  FALL  CONSUMMATED  IN  POPERY.  13 

corruption  of  the  human  race,  not  yet  cured  by  the  promised 
effusion  of  the  Spirit  upon  all  flesh,  revived  it  anew,  and, 
under  a  Christian  mask,  reared  other  temples  in  its  honour, 
built    it  another  Pantheon,  and  replenished  it  with  other 
gods,  which,  in  fact,  were  but  the  ancient  divinities  under 
new  names.       All    idolatries,   in  whatever  age  or  country 
they  have  existed,  are  to  be  viewed  but  as  successive  de- 
velopments of  the  one  grand  apostacy.     That  apostacy  was 
commenced  in  Eden,  and  consummated  at  Rome.     It  had  its 
rise  in  the  plucking  of  the  forbidden  fruit;  and  it  attained 
its  acme  in  the  supremacy  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome, — Christ's 
Vicar  on  earth.     The  hope  that  he  would  "  be  as  God,"  led 
man  to  commit  the  first  sin;  and  that  sin  was  perfected 
when  the   Pope  "exalted  himself  above  all  that  is  called 
God,  or  that  is  worshipped  ;  so  that  he,  as  God,  sitteth  in 
the  temple  of  God,  showing  himself  that  he  is  God."  Popery 
is  but  the  natural  development  of  this  great  original  trans- 
gression.     It  is  just  the  early  idolatries  ripened  and  per- 
fected.    It  is  manifestly  an  enormous  expansion  of  the  same 
intensely  malignant  and  fearfully  destructive  principle  which 
these  idolatries  contained.     The  ancient  Chaldean  worship- 
ping the  sun, — the  Greek  deifying  the  powers  of  nature, — and 
the  Roman  exalting  the  race  of  primeval  men  into  gods, — 
are  but  varied  manifestations  of  the  same  evil    principle, 
namely,  the  utter  alienation   of  the  heart  from  God, — its 
proneness  to  hide  itself  amid  the  darkness  of  its  own  cor- 
rupt imaginations,  and  to  become  a  god  unto  itself.      That 
principle  received  the  most  fearful  development  which  ap- 
pears possible  on  earth,  in  the  Mystery  of  Iniquity  which 
came  to  be  seated  on  the  Seven  Hills ;  for  therein  man  deified 
himself,    became  God,  nay,  arrogated  powers  which  lifted 
him  high  above  God.     Popery  is  the  last,  the  most  matured, 
the  most  subtle,  the  most  skilfully  contriven,  and  the  most 
essentially  diabolical  form  of  idolatry  which  the  world  ever 
saw,  or  which,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  it  ever  will  see. 
It  is  the  ne  j^his  ultra  of  man's  wickedness,  and  the  chef 
(Toeuvre  of  Satan's  cunning  and  malignity.      It  is  the  greatest 


14  ORIGIN  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

calamity,  next  to  the  Fall,  which  ever  befell  the  human 
family.  Farther  away  from  God  the  world  could  not  exist 
at  all.  The  cement  that  holds  society  together,  already 
greatly  weakened,  would  be  altogether  destroyed,  and  the 
social  fabric  would  instantly  fall  in  ruins.* 

Having  thus  indicated  the  origin  of  Romanism,  we  shall 
attempt  in  the  three  following  chapters  to  trace  its  rise  and 
progress. 


*  It  follows  from  the  principles  taught  in  this  chapter,  that  the  Church 
(so  called)  of  Rome  has  no  right  to  rank  amongst  Christian  Churches.  She 
is  not  a  Church,  neither  is  her  religion  the  Christian  religion.  We  are 
accustomed  to  speak  of  Popery  as  a  corrupt  form  of  Christianity.  We 
concede  too  much.  The  Cliurch  of  Rome  bears  the  same  relation  to  the 
Church  of  Christ  which  the  hierarchy  of  Baal  bore  to  the  institute  of 
INIoses  ;  and  PojDery  stands  related  to  Christianity  only  in  the  same  way  in 
which  Paganism  stood  related  to  primeval  Revelation.  Popery  is  not  a 
corruption  simply,  but  a  transformation.  It  may  be  difficult  to  fix  the 
time  when  it  passed  from  the  one  into  the  other  ;  but  the  change  is  incon- 
testible.  Popery  is  the  gospel  transubstantiated  into  the  flesh  and  blood 
of  Paganism,  under  a  few  of  the  accidents  of  Christianity, 


RISE  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY.  15 


CHAPTER  11. 


RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 


The  first  pastors  of  the  Roman  Church  aspired  to  no  rank . 
above  their  brethren.*  The  labours  in  which  they  occupied 
themselves  were  the  same  as  those  of  the  ordinary  ministers 
of  the  gospel.  As  pastors,  they  watched  with  affectionate 
fidelity  over  their  flock;  and,  when  occasion  offered,  they 
added  to  the  duties  of  the  pastorate  the  labours  of  the  evan- 
gelist. All  of  them  were  eminent  for  their  piety;  and  some 
of  them  to  the  graces  of  the  Christian  added  the  accom- 
plishments of  the  scholar.  Clemens  of  Rome  may  be  cited 
as  an  instance.  He  was  the  most  distinguished  Christian 
writer,  after  the  apostles,  of  the  first  century.  Even  after 
the  gospel  had  found  entrance  within  the  walls  of  Rome, 
Paganism  maintained  its  ground  amongst  the  villages  of  the 
Campagna.f  Accordingly,  it  became  the  first  care  of  the 
pastors  of  the  metropolis  to  plant  the  faith  and  found 
churches  in  the  neighbouring  towns.  They  were  led  to  em- 
bark in  this  undertaking,  not  from  the  worldly  and  ambi- 


*  Paul's  1st  Epistle  to  the  Romans  was  written  about  a.d.  5S,  which 
was  five  years  before  his  first  visit  to  Rome.  It  is  probable  that  the 
gospel  was  first  carried  to  that  city  by  a  disciple. 

t  Calamy,  in  his  Life  of  Baxter,  tells  us  that  the  main  difficulty  which 
lie  (Baxter)  had  to  contend  with  in  the  town  of  Kidderminster,  was  not 
the  Popery,  but  the  Paganism  of  its  inhabitants.  So  long  do  traditions 
and  customs  retain  their  hold. 


16  RISE  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

tious  views  which  began,  in  course  of  time,  to  actuate  their 
successors,  but  from  that  pure  zeal  for  the  diffusion  of  Chris- 
tianity for  which  these  early  ages  were  distinguished.  It 
was  natural  that  churches  founded  in  these  circumstances 
should  cherish  a  peculiar  veneration  for  the  men  to  whose 
pious  labours  they  owed  their  existence ;  and  it  was  equally 
natural  that  they  should  apply  to  them  for  advice  in  all 
cases  of  difficulty.  That  advice  was  at  first  purely  paternal, 
and  implied  neither  superiority  on  the  part  of  the  person 
who  gave  it,  nor  dependence  on  the  part  of  those  to  whom 
"^z  it  was  given.  But  in  process  of  time,  when  the  Episcopate 
at  Rome  came  to  be  held  by  men  of  worldly  spirit, — lovers 
of  the  pre-eminence, — the  homage,  at  first  voluntarily  ren- 
dered by  equals  to  their  equal,  was  exacted  as  a  right;  and 
the  advice,  at  first  simply  fraternal,  took  the  form  of  a 
command,  and  was  delivered  in  a  tone  of  authority.*  These 
beginnings  of  assumption  were  small ;  but  they  were  be- 
ginnings, and  power  is  cumulative.  It  is  the  law  of  its 
nature  to  grow,  at  a  continually  accelerating  rate,  which, 
though  slow  at  the  outset,  becomes  fearfully  rapid  towards 
the  end.  And  thus  the  pastors  of  Rome,  at  first  by  imper- 
ceptible degrees,  and  at  last  by  enormous  strides,  reached 
their  fatal  pre-eminence. 

Such  was  the  state  of  matters  in  the  first  century,  during 
which  the  authority  of  the  presbyter  or  bishop — for  these 
two  titles  were  employed  in  primitive  times  to  distinguish 
the  same  office  and  the  same  order  of  men-f- — did  not  ex- 
tend beyond  the  limits  of  the  congregation  to  which  they 


*  Eusebius,  Eccl.  Hist,  book  V.  chap,  xxiii.  p.  92.  London:  1650.  We 
find  the  monk  Barlaani  declaring  that  bishops  and  presbyters  were  ori- 
ginally the  same,  and  that  the  difference  of  rank  aiiiongst  bishops  was  o;" 
human,  not  divine  institution.  "  Casterum  ab  institutione  omnes  pares 
esse  debncrnnt,  tarn  potestate  quam  auctoritate.  Ea  institutio  quaj  epis- 
copos  fecit  non  divina  sed  huraana.  Nam  divino  institute  iidem  cum  pres- 
byteris  facti." — Barlaami  Tractatus,  p.  297. 

t  Gibbon,  vol.  ii.  p.  331.  Edin.  1832.  Mosheim,  cent.  i.  part  ii.  chap, 
ii.  sec.  8. 


PRESBYTERIAL  PARITY  BROKEN.  1  *J 

ministered.     But  in  the  second    century   another  elenient-~^ 
began  to  operate.     In  that  age  it  became  customar^^  to  re- 
gulate the  consideration  and  rank  which  the  bishops  of  the 
Christian  Church  enjoyed,  by  that  of  the  city  in  which  they 
resided.     It  is  easy  to  see  the  influence  and  dignity  which 
would  thence  accrue  to  the  bishops  of  Rome,  and  the  pro- 
spects of  grandeur  and  power  which  would  thus  open  to  the 
aspiring  prelates  who  now  occupied  that  see.     Rome  was  ^^ 
the  mistress  of  the  world.     During  ages  of  conquest  her 
dominion  had  been  gradually  extending,  till  at  last  it  had 
become  universal  and  supreme ;   and  now  she  exercised  a 
mysterious  and  potent  charm  over  the  nations.     Her  laws 
were  received,  and  her  sway  submitted  to,  throughout  the 
whole  civilized  earth.     The  first  Rome  was  herein  the  type 
of  the  second  Rome  ;  and  if  the  spectacle  which  she  exhi- 
bited of  a  centralized  and  universal  despotism  did  not  sug- 
gest to  the  aspiring  prelates  of  the  capital  the  first  ideas 
of  a  spiritual  empire  alike  centralized  and  universal,  there 
is  no  question  that  it  contributed  most  material  aid  towards 
the  attainment  of  such  an  object, — an  object  which,  we 
know,  they  had  early  proposed,  and  which  they  had  begun 
with  great  vigour,  steadiness,  and  craft,  to  prosecute.     It 
acted  as  a  secret  but  powerful  stimulant  upon  the  minds  of 
the  Roman  bishops  themselves,  and  it  operated  with  all  the 
force  of  a  spell  upon  the  imaginations  of  those  over  whom 
they  now  began  to  arrogate  power.     Herein  we  discover  one 
of  the  grand  springs  of  the  Papacy.     As  the  free  states  that 
formerly  existed  in  the  world  had  rendered  up  their  wealth, 
their  independence,  and  their  deities,  to  form  one  colossal 
empire.  Why,  asked  the  bishops  of  Rome,  should  not  the 
various  churches  throughout  the  world  surrender  their  indi- 
viduality and  their  powers  of  self-government  to  the  metro-; 
politan  see,  in  order  to  form  one  mighty  Catholic  Church 
Why  should  not  Chi-istian  Rome  be  the  fountain  of  law  and^ 
of  faith  to  the  world,  as  Pagan  Rome  had  been  ?     Why 
should  not  the  symbol  of  unity  presented  to  the  world  in  the 
secular  empire  be  realized  in  the  real  unity  of  a  Christian 

c 


18  RISE  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

empire !  If  the  occupant  of  the  temporal  throne  had  been 
a  king  of  kings,  why  should  not  the  occupant  of  the  spiritual 
chair  be  a  bishop  of  bishops  I  That  the  bishops  of  Rome 
-reasoned  in  this  way  is  a  historical  fact.  The  Council  of 
Chalcedon  established  the  superiority  of  the  Roman  see  on 
this  very  ground.  "  The  fathers,"  say  they,  "  justly  con- 
ferred the  dignity  on  the  throne  of  the  presbyter  of  Rome, 
because  that  was  the  imperial  city."*  The  mission  of  the 
gospel  is  to  unite  all  nations  into  one  family.  Satan  pre- 
sented the  world  with  a  mighty  counterfeit  of  this  union, 
when  he  united  all  nations  under  the  despotism  of  Rome, 
that  thus,  by  counterfeiting,  he  might  defeat  the  reality. 

The  rise  of  Provincial  Ecclesiastical  Councils  wrought  in 
the  same  way.  The  Greeks,  copying  the  model  of  their 
Amphictyonic  Council,  were  the  first  to  adopt  the  plan  of 
assembling  the  deputies  of  the  churches  of  a  whole  province 
to  deliberate  on  affairs  of  consequence.  The  plan  in  a  short 
time  was  received  throughout  the  whole  empire.  The  Greeks 
called  such  assemblies  Synods ;  the  Latins  termed  them 
Councils^  and  styled  their  laws  or  resolutions  Canons.'\-  In 
order  to  temper  the  deliberations  and  to  execute  the  reso- 
lutions of  the  assembly,  it  was  requisite  that  one  should  be 
chosen  as  president ;  and  the  dignity  was  usually  conferred 
on  the  presbyter  of  greatest  weight  for  his  piety  and  wisdom. 
That  the  tranquillity  of  the  Church  might  not  be  disturbed 
by  annual  elections,  the  person  raised  by  the  suffrages  of  his 
brethren  to  the  presidential  chair  was  continued  in  it  for 


*  Can.  xxviii.,  Harduini  Collectio  Conciliorum,  torn.  ii.  p.  613 ; 
Parisiis,  1715.  The  words  of  the  canon  are  remarkable,  and  we  shall 
here  quote  them  : — Ka;  ya.^  nu  (l^ovto  tyis  ^^nrfiun^as  '^t-'l^ytS,  S/a  TO  fiairiXiviif 
T'/iv  voXtv  ix.iivnv,  01  -rxTi^i;  tixoras  aTiiSs^axairi  ra  v^i(rjiiia.  We  find  another 
testimony  to  the  same  fact  in  the  Tractate  of  the  Monk  Barlaam,  prefixed 
to  Salmasius  De  Primatu  Papse  : — "  Sed  longe  sujira  coeteris  Jletropolea 
emicuit  iirbium  toto  orbe  maxiraarum  eminentia,  quae  et  suis  episcopis 
tribucrunt  eandem  supra  cajteros  totius  ecclesiaj  Episcopos  u!r£g«;^;>i». 
(BarlaJimi  Tractatus,  p.  278  ;  Lugd.  Batav.  anno  1G45.) 

t  Gibbon,  vol.  ii.  chap.  ii. :  Moslieim,  cent.  ii.  chap,  ii. 


CHURCH  ASSIMILATED  TO  THE  EMPIRE.  19 

life.  He  was  regarded  only  as  the  first  among  equals  ;  but 
the  title  of  Bishop  began  now  to  acquire  a  new  significance,' 
and  to  raise  itself  above  the  humble  appellation  of  Presbyter. 
The  election  to  the  office  of  perpetual  president  fell  not  un- 
frequently  upon  the  bishop  of  the  metropolitan  city;  and 
thus  the  equality  that  reigned  among  the  pastors  of  the 
primitive  Church  came  to  be  still  farther  disturbed.* 

The  fourth  century  found  the  primitive  simplicity  of  the 
Church,  as  regards  the  form  of  her  government,  but  little 
encroached  upon.  If  we  except  the  perpetual  president  of 
the  Provincial  Synod,  a  rank  of  equal  honour  and  a  title  of 
equal  dignity  were  enjoyed  by  all  the  pastors  or  bishops  of 
the  Church.  But  this  century  brought  great  changes  along 
with  it,  and  paved  the  way  for  still  greater  changes  in  the 
centuries  that  followed  it.  Under_Constantine  the  empire 
was  divided  into  four_prefectures,  these  four  prefectures 
into  dioceses,  and  the  dioceses  into  provinces.-f-  In  making 
this  arrangement,  the  State  acted  within  its  own  province ; 
but  it  stepped  out  of  it  altogether  when  it  began,  as  it  now 
did,  to  fashion  the  Church  upon  the  model  of  the  Empire. 
The  ecclesiastical  and  civil  arrangements  were  made,  as  nearly 
as  possible,  to  correspond. |  Pious  emperors  believed  that, 
in  assimilating  the  two,  they  were  doing  both  the  State  and 
the  Church  a  service, — and  the  imperial  wishes  were  power- 
fully seconded  and  formally  sanctioned  by  ambitious  prelates 
and  inti'iguing  councils.  The  new  arrangements,  impressed 
by  a  human  policy  upon  the  Church,  became  every  day  more 
marked,  as  did  likewise  the  gradation  of  rank  amongst  the 
pastors.  Bishop  rose  above  bishop,  not  according  to  the 
eminence  of  his  virtue  or  the  fame  of  his  learning,  but  ac- 
cording to   the  rank  of  the  city  in  which  his  charge  lay. 


*  Gibbon,  vol.  ii.  pp.  337,  338.  +  Ibid.  vol.  iii.  pp.  30-50. 

t  So  much  so,  that  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  decreed  that  hereafter  ar- 
rangements in  the  State,  made  by  royal  authority,  should  be  followed  by 
corresponding  alterations  in  the  Church.  (Concl.  Chalced.  can.  xvii.,  Har- 
duin.  vol.  ii.  p.  607.) 


20  RISE  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

The  chief  city  of  a  province  gave  the  title  of  Metropolitan, 
and  likewise  of  Primate,  to  its  bishop.  The  metropolis  of 
a  diocese  conferred  on  its  pastor  the  dignity  of  Exarch. 
Over  the  exarchs  were  placed  four  presidents  or  patriarchs, 
corresponding  to  the  four  praetorian  prefects  created  by 
Constantino.  But  it  is  probable  that  the  title  of  Patriarch, 
which  is  of  Jewish  origin,  was  at  first  common  to  all  bishops, 
and  gradually  came  to  be  employed  as  a  term  of  dignity  and 
>^  eminence.  The  first  distinct  recognition  of  the  order  occurs 
in  the  Council  of  Constantinople,  a^d^_38L*  At  that  time 
we  find  but  three  of  these  great  dignitaries  in  existence, — the 
Bishops  of  Rome,  Antioch,  and  Alexandria ;  but  a  fourth 
was  now  added.  The  Council,  taking  into  consideration  that 
Constantinople  was  the  residence  of  the  Emperor,  decreed 
"  that  the  Bishop  of  Constantinople  should  have  the  prero- 
gative, next  after  the  Bishop  of  Home,  because  his  city  was 
called  New  Rome."-}-  In  the  following  century  the  Council 
o-f  Chalcedon  declared  the  bishops  of  the  two  cities  on  a 
level  as  regarded  their  spiritual  rank.;}:  But  the  prestige  of 
old  Rome  was  more  powerful  than  the  decree  of  the  fathers. 
Despite  the  rising  grandeur  of  her  formidable  rival,  the  eit}'' 
on  the  Tiber  continued  to  be  the  one  city  of  the  earth,  and 
her  pastor  to  hold  the  foremost  place  among  the  patriarchs 
of  the  Christian  world.  In  no  long  time  wars  broke  out  be- 
tween these  four  spiritual  potentates.  The  primates  of 
Alexandria  and  Antioch  threw  themselves  for  protection 
upon  the  patriarch  of  the  west ;  and  the  concessions  they 
made  as  the  price  of  the  succour  which  was  extended  to 
them  tended  still  more  to  enhance  the  importance  of  the 
Roman  see.§ 


*  Socrates,  Eccles.  Hist,  book  V.  chap.  viii. ;  Lond.  1649.  Salmasius  De 
Primatu  Papro,  cap.  iv.  p.  48  : — "  Aliud  genus  patriarchum  cognitum  in 
ccclcsia  non  fiiit  usque  ad  Concilium  Constantinopolitanum." 

■\  "  Junior  Roma."     (Concl.  Constan.  can.  iii.,  Ilarduin.  vol.  i.  p.  809.) 

X  A.D.  451.  "  Sanctissimo  Novio  Ilom;e  throno  a?qualia  privilegia  tri- 
buerunt."     (Concl.  Chalced.  can.  xxviii.,  Harduin.  vol.  ii.  p.  614.) 

§  Salmasius  has  compendiously  enumerated  the  successive  stages  of  tho 


BISHOP,  METROPOLITAN,  AND  PATRIARCH.  21 

This  gradation  of  rank  necessarily  led  to  a  gradation  of 
jurisdiction  and  power.  First  came  the  Bishop,  who  exer- ' 
cised  authority  in  his  parish,  and  to  whom  the  individual 
members  of  his  flock  were  accountable.  Next  came  the 
Metropolitan,  who  administered  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of 
the  province,  exercised  superintendence  over  all  its  bishops, 
convened  them  in  synods,  and,  assisted  by  them,  heard  and 
determined  all  questions  touching  religion  which  arose 
within  the  limits  of  his  jurisdiction.  He  possessed,  more- 
over, the  privilege  of  having  his  consent  asked  to  the  ordi- 
nation of  bishops  within  his  province.  Next  came  the  Ex- 
archs or  Patriarchs,  who  exercised  authority  over  the  metro- 
politans of  the  diocese,  and  held  diocesan  synods,  in  which 
all  matters  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  the  Church  in  the 
diocese  were  deliberated  upon  and  adjudicated.*  There 
needed  but  one  step  more  to  complete  this  gradation  of 
rank  and  authority, — a  primacy  among  the  exarchs.  In 
due  time  an  arch-Patriarch  arose.  As  might  have  ^been 
foreseen,  the  seat  of  the  prince  of  the  patriarcEsw'asRome. 
A  gradation  which  aimed^  at  making  the  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical arrangements  exactly  to  correspond,  and  which  fixed 
the  chief  seats  of  the  two  authoi'ities  at  the  same  places, 
made  it  inevitable  that  the  primate  of  all  Christendom 
should  appear  nowhere  but  at  the  metropolis  of  the  Roman 

Pontiff's  rise,  "  Per  hos  gi-adus  ventum  est  ab  infimo  usque  ad  supre- 
raum  sacerdotalis  potential  fastigium.  Ex  primo  presbytero  fiactus  est 
episcopus,  ex  primo  episcopo  metropolitanus,  ex  primo  metropolitano  pa- 
triarcha,  ex  prima  denique  patriarcha  episcopus  ille  qui  nunc  dicitur  PajKi^^ 
(De  Primatu  Pap£B,  cap.  v.  p.  61.) 

*  Concl.  Antioch,  can.  ix.,  Ilarduini  Collectio  Conciliorum,  torn.  i.  p. 
596.    "  Per  singulas  regiones  episcopos  convenit  nosse,  metropolitanum 

episcopum  solicitudinem  totius  provincite  gerere." Nisi 

ea  tantum  quae  ad  suam  dicecesim  pertinent  possessionesque  subjectas. 
Unusquisque  enim  episcopus  habeat  suae  j^arochia)  potestatem,  ut  regat 
juxta  reverentiam  singulis  competentem  et  providentiam  gerat  omnis  pos- 
sessionis,  que  sub  ejus  est  potestate,  ita  ut  presbyteros  et  diaconos  ordinet, 
et  singula  suo  judicio  comprehendat.  Amplius  autem  nihil  agerere  tenet 
pra;ter  antistitom  metropolitanum, nee  metropolitanus  sine  ca^terorum  gerat 
consilio  sacerdotum." 


22  PROGRESS  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

«-^  world.  It  was  now  seen  what  a  tower  of  strength  was  Rome. 
Her  prestige  alone  had  lifted  her  bishop  from  the  humble 
rank  of  presbyter  to  the  pre-eminent  dignity  of  arch-patri- 
arch ;  and  in  this  she  gave  the  world  a  pledge  of  the  future 
dominion  and  grandeur  of  her  popes. 

A  gradation  of  rank  and  titles,  however  suitable  to  the 
genius  and  conducive  to  the  ends  of  a  temporal  monarchy, 
consorts  but  ill  with  the  character  and  objects  of  a  spiritual 
kingdom  :  in  fact,  it  forms  a  positive  and  powerful  obstruc- 
tion to  the  development  of  the  one  and  the  attainment  of 
the  other.  It  is  only  as  a  spiritual  agent  that  the  Church 
can  be  serviceable  to  society:  she  can  make  the  task  of 
government  easy  only  by  eradicating  the  passions  of  the 
human  heart.  A  sound  policy  would  have  dictated  the 
necessity  of  preserving  intact  the  spiritual  element,  seeing 
the  Church  is  powerful  in  proportion  as  she  is  spiritual. 
With  a  most  infatuated  persistency,  the  very  opposite  policy 
was  pursued.  Religion  was  robbed  of  her  rights  as  a  co- 
ordinate power.  She  was  bound  round  with  the  trappings 
of  state;  the  spiritual  was  enchained,  the  carnal  had  free 
scope  given  it,  and  then  the  Church  was  asked  to  do  her 
office  as  a  spiritual  institute  !  A  defunct  organization,  she 
was  required  to  impart  life  ! 

The  condition  under  which  alone  it  appears  possible  for 
both  Church  and  State  to  preserve  their  independence  and 
vigour,  is  not  incorporation^  but  co-ordination.  God  created 
society  as  he  created  man  at  the  beginning,  not  one,  but 
TWAIN.  There  is  a  secular  body  and  there  is  a  spiritual 
body  upon  the  earth.  We  must  accept  the  fact,  and  deal 
with  it  in  such  a  way  as  will  allow  of  the  great  ends  being 
gained  which  God  intended  to  serve  by  ordaining  this  order 
of  things.  If  we  attempt  to  incorporate  the  two, — the  com- 
mon error  hitherto, — we  contradict  the  design  of  God,  by 
making  one  what  he  created  twain.  All  former  attempts  at 
amalgamation  have  ended  in  the  dominancy  of  the  one  prin- 
ciple, the  subserviency  of  the  other,  and  the  corruption  and 
injury  of  both.     If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  aim  at  effecting 


CONFORMITY  LEADS  TO  INCORPORATION".  23 

a  total  disseverance,  we  not  less  really  violate  the  constitu- 
tion of  society,  and  arrive  at  the  same  issue  as  before :  we 
virtually  banish  the  one  principle,  and  install  the  other 
in  undivided  and  absolute  supremacy.  Co-ordination  is 
the  only  solution  of  which  the  problem  admits  ;  and  it  is 
the  true  solution,  just  because  it  is  an  acceptance  of  the 
fact  as  God  has  ordained  it.  It  declares  that  society  is 
neither  matter  solely  nor  spirit  solely,  but  both ;  that,  there- 
fore, there  is  the  secular  jurisdiction  and  the  spiritual  juris- 
diction ;  that  these  two  have  distinct  characters,  distinct 
objects,  and  distinct  spheres ;  and  that  each  in  its  own 
sphere  is  independent,  and  can  claim  from  the  other  a  re- 
cognition of  its  independence.  Had  the  constitution  of 
society  been  understood,  and  the  principle  of  co-ordination 
recognised,  the  Papacy  could  not  have  arisen.*  But,  unhap- 
pily, the  State  drew  the  Church  into  conformity  first,  which 
ended  inevitably  in  incorporation  ;  and  this,  again,  in  the 
dominancy  of  the  spiritual  over  the  secular  element,  as  will 
always  be  the  case  in  the  long  run,  the  spiritual  being  the 
stronger.  The  crime  met  a  righteous  punishment ;  for  the 
State,  which  had  begun  by  enslaving  the  Church,  was  itself 
enslaved  in  the  end  by  that  very  arrogance  and  ambition 
which  it  had  taught  the  Church  to  cherish.  But  we  pursue 
our  melancholy  story  of  the  decline  of  Christianity  and  the 
rise  of  the  Papacy. 

Rome  had  the  art  to  turn  all  things  to  her  advantage.  / 
There  was  nothing  that  fell  out  that  did  not  minister  to 
her  growth,  and  help  onward  the  accomplishment  of  her 

*  The  germ  of  the  distinction  is  contained  in  Constantine's  address  to 
the  bishops  : — "  Ye  are  bishops  within  the  Church,  and  I  am  a  bishop 
without  the  Church."  (Euseb.  De  Vita  Constantini,  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxiv.)  The 
impression  on  the  author's  mind,  by  perusing  the  edicts  and  actions  of  Con- 
stantine,  as  narrated  by  Eusebius,  is,  that  he  was  the  Cromwell  of  his  age  ; 
inferior,  no  doubt,  in  his  views  on  both  religion  and  toleration  to  the  great 
puritan,  but  still,  like  him,  greatly  in  advance  of  the  majority  both  of  the 
clergy  and  laity  of  his  day.  The  mischiefs  that  followed  were  mainly  owing 
to  the  bishops  and  emperors  that  succeeded  him. 


24  PROGRESS  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

vast  designs; — the  rivalship  of  sects,  the  jealousies  of  church- 
men, the  intrigues  of  courts,  the  growth  of  ignorance  and 
superstition,  r.nd  the  triumph  of  barbarian  arms.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  natural  operation  of  events  was  suspended  in  her 
case,  and  that  what  to  other  systems  wrought  nought  but 
evil,  to  her  brought  only  good.  The  great  shocks  by  which 
powerful  empires  were  broken  in  pieces,  and  the  face  of  the 
world  changed,  left  the  Church  unscathed.  While  other 
systems  and  confederations  were  falling  into  ruin,  she  conti- 
nued steadily  to  advance.  From  the  mighty  wreck  of  the 
empire  she  uprose  in  all  the  vigour  of  youth.  She  had 
shared  in  its  grandeur,  but  she  did  not  share  in  its  fall. 
She  saw  the  barbaric  flood  from  the  north  overwhelm  south- 
ern Europe  ;  but  from  her  lofty  seat  on  the  Seven  Hills  she 
looked  securely  down  on  the  deluge  that  rolled  beneath  her. 
She  saw  the  crescent,  hitherto  triumphant,  cease  to  be  vic- 
torious the  moment  it  approached  the  confines  of  her  special 
and  sacred  territory.  The  same  arms  that  had  overthrown 
other  countries  only  contributed  to  her  grandeur.  The  Sa- 
racens brought  to  an  end  the  patriarchate  of  Alexandria 
and  of  Antioch  ;  thus  leaving  the  see  of  Rome,  more  espe- 
cially after  the  breach  with  Constantinople,  undisputed  mis- 
tress of  the  west.  What  could  be  concluded  from  so  many 
events,  whose  issues  to  the  Papacy  were  so  opposite  from 
their  bearing  on  all  besides,  but  that,  while  other  states  were 
left  to  their  fate,  Rome  was  defended  by  an  invisible  arm  ? 
Instinct  she  must  be  with  a  divine  life,  otherwise  how  could 
she  survive  so  many  disasters  ?  No  wonder  that  the  blinded 
nations  mistook  her  for  a  god,  and  prostrated  themselves  in 
adoration.  We  cannot  write  the  history  of  the  period  ;  but 
we  may  be  permitted  to  point  out  the  general  bearing  of  the 
occurrences  which  we  have  classified  as  above,  upon  the  de- 
velopment of  the  Papacy. 

The  disputes  which  arose  in  the  churches  of  the  east  fa- 
voured the  pretensions  of  the  Roman  Church,  and  helped  to 
pave  her  way  to  universal  domination.  Desirous  to  silence 
an  opponent  by  citing  the  opinion  of  the  western  Church, 


RISE  AND  GROWTH  OP  SUPERSTITION.  25 

the  eastern  clergy  not  unfrequently  submitted  questions  at 
issue  among  themselves  to  the  judgment  of  the  Roman 
bishop.  Every  such  application  was  registered  by  Rome  as 
a  proof  of  superior  authority  on  her  part,  and  of  submission 
on  the  part  of  the  east.  The  germinating  superstition  of  the 
times, — owing  principally  to  the  prevalence  of  the  Platonic 
philosophy,  from  the  subtile  disquisitions  and  specious  rea- 
sonings of  which  Christianity  suffered  far  more  than  she  did 
from  the  persecuting  edicts  of  emperors  and  pro-consuls, — 
likewise  aided  the  advance  of  the  Papacy.  This  supersti- 
tion, which  was  in  truth,  as  we  have  already  explained, 
nothing  but  the  revived  Paganism  of  a  former  age,  conti- 
nued to  increase  from  an  early  part  of  the  third  century  and 
onward.  The  simplicity  of  the  Christian  faith  began  to  bo 
corrupted  by  novel  and  heathenish  opinions,  and  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Church  to  be  burdened  by  ridiculous  and  idola- 
trous ceremonies.  When  the  Church  exchanged  the  cata- 
combs for  the  magnificent  edifices  which  the  wealth,  the 
policy,  and  sometimes  the  piety  of  princes  erected,  she  ex- 
changed also  the  simplicity  of  life  and  purity  of  faith,  of 
which  so  many  affecting  memorials  remain  to  our  day,  for 
the  accommodating  spirit  of  the  schools,  and  the  easy  man- 
ners of  the  court.  Already,  in  the  fourth  century,  we  find 
images  introduced  into  churches,  the  bones  of  martyrs 
hawked  about  as  relics,  the  tombs  of  saints  become  the  re- 
sort of  pilgrims,  and  monks  and  hermits  swarming  in  the 
various  countries.  We  find  the  pagan  festivals,  slightly 
disguised,  adopted  into  the  Christian  worship  ;  the  homage 
offered  anciently  to  the  gods  transferred  to  the  martyrs  ; 
the  Lord's  Supper  dispensed  sometimes  at  funerals ;  the 
not  improbable  origin  of  masses;  and  the  churches  filled 
with  the  blaze  of  lamps  and  tapers,  the  smoke  of  in- 
cense, the  perfume  of  flowers,  and  the  goodly  show  of  gor- 
geous robes,  crosiers,  mitres,  and  gold  and  silver  vases  ; 
reminding  one  of  the  not  unsimilar  spectacles  which 
might  be  witnessed  in  the  pagan  temples.  "  The  religion 
of  Constantino,"  remarks  Gibbon,  "  achieved  in  less  than  a 


26  PROGRESS  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

century  the  final  conquest  of  the  Roman  empire ;  but  the 
victors  themselves  were  insensibly  subdued  by  the  arts  of 
their  vanquished  rivals,"*  And  as  it  had  fared  with  the 
worship  of  the  Church,  so  had  it  fared  with  her  government. 
First,  the  peoplo  were  excluded  from  all  share  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  affairs ;  next,  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
the  presbyters  were  invaded ;  while  the  bishops,  who  had 
usurped  the  powers  of  both  people  and  presbyters,  contend- 
ed with  one  another  respecting  the  limits  of  their  respective 
jurisdictions,  and  imitated,  in  their  manner  of  living,  the 
state  and  magnificence  of  princes. •!-  At  last  the  Church 
elected  her  chief  bishop  in  the  midst  of  tumults  and  fearful 
slaughter.;!:  "  Hence  it  came  to  pass,*"  says  Mosheim, 
*'  that  at  the  conclusion  of  this  century  there  remained 
no  more  than  a  mere  shadow  of  the  ancient  government 
of  the  Church." §  Notwithstanding  that  the  Church  con- 
tained every  man  of  the  age  who  was  distinguished  for 
erudition  and  eloquence,  we  look  in  vain  for  any  really 
serious  attempt  to  check  this  career  of  spiritual  infatua- 
tion. There  was  one  moment  peculiarly  critical,  inas- 
much as  it  offered  signal  opportunities  of  retrieving  the 
errors  of  the  past,  and  preventing  the  more  tremendous 
errors  of  the  future.  Galled  by  the  yoke  of  ceremonies,  the 
Christian  people  began  to  evince  a  desire  to  return  to  the 
simplicity  of  early  times.  There  needed  only  a  powerful 
voice  to  call  that  feeling  into  action.  Many  eyes  were  al- 
ready turned  to  one  whose  commanding  eloquence  and  vene- 
rable piety  made  him  the  most  conspicuous  person  of  his 
times.  The  destiny  of  ages  hung  on  the  decision  of  Augus- 
tine. Had  he  declared  for  reform,  the  history  of  the  Papacy 
might  have  been  cut  short ;  the  ambition  of  a  Hildebrand 
and  a  Clement,  the  bigotry  and  despotism  of  a  Philip  and  a 


*  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  vol.  v.  p.  136. 

+  Euscbius,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  vii.  cap.  i. 

J  Socrates,  Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxiii.  xxiv. 

§  Mosheim,  cent.  iv.  chap.  ii. 


SUPREMACY  RECOGNISED  BY  EDICT.  27 

Ferdinand,  the  fanaticism  and  cruelties  of  a  Dominic,  and 
the  carnage  of  a  St  Bartholomew,  might  never  have  existed. 
But  the  Bishop  of  Hippo,  alas  !  hesitated, — gave  his  voice 
in  favour  of  the  growing  superstition.  All  was  lost.  The 
history  of  the  Church  becomes  from  that  hour  little  better 
than  the  history  of  superstition,  hypocrisy,  knavery,  and 
blood.*  Poisonous  plants  thrive  best  amid  corruption  ;  and 
thus  the  young  Papacy  drew  nutriment  from  the  follies  and 
superstitions  of  the  age. 

The  time  was  now  come  when  the  empire  should  fall. 
Hosts  of  barbarians  from  the  deserts  of  the  north  were  al- 
ready assembled  on  its  frontier.  The  distracted  State, 
threatened  with  destruction,  leant  for  aid  upon  the  arm  of 
the  Church,  whose  infancy  it  had  first  attempted  to  crush, 
and  next  condescended  to  shelter.  Thus  the  decline  of  the 
imperial  accelerated  the  rise  of  the  spiritual  power.  In  the 
year  378  came  the  law  of  Gratian  and  Valentinian  U.,  em- 
powering the  metropolitans  to  judge  the  inferior  clergy,  and 
empowering  the  Bishop  of  Rome  (Pope  Damasus),  either  in 
person  or  by  deputy,  to  judge  the  metropolitans.  An  ap- 
peal might  be  carried  from  the  tribunal  of  the  metropolitan 
to  the  Roman  bishop,  but  from  the  judgment  of  the  pontiff 
there  was  no  appeal ;  his  sentence  was  final.  This  law  was 
addressed  to  the  praetorian  prefects  of  Gaul  and  Italy,  and 
thus  it  included  the  whole  western  empire,  for  the  latter 
prefect  exercised  jurisdiction  over  western  Illyricum  and 
Africa,  as  well  as  over  Italy .-[•  Thus  did  the  Roman  bishop 
acquire  legal  jurisdiction  over  all  the  western  clergy.  When 
the  bishops  applied  to  the  Pope  in  doubtful  cases,  his  let- 
ters conveying  the  desired  advice  were  styled  Decretal  Epis- 
tles ;  and  to  these  decretals  the  Roman  canonists  came  after- 
wards to  attach  as  much  importance  as  to  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. In  order  to  the  due  publication  and  enforcement  of 
these  decrees,  bishops  were  appointed  to  represent  the  Pope 

*  Taylor's  Ancient  Christianity,  p.  443. 

+  See  the  Edict  in  Harduin.  vol.  i.p.  842,  843 


28  PROGRESS  OP  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

in  the  various  countries ;  and  it  became  customary  to  ordain 
no  bishops  without  the  sanction  of  these  papal  vicars.  The 
jurisdiction  thus  conferred  on  the  Roman  bishop  over  the 
west  was  submitted  to  with  reluctance  :  it  received  only 
a  partial  submission  from  the  churches  of  Africa,  and  was 
successfully  resisted  for  some  considerable  time  by  those  of 
Britain  and  Ireland.* 

The  edict  of  Gratian  and  Valentinian  II.,  which  was  coin- 
cident, as  respects  the  date  of  its  promulgation  and  the 
powers  which  it  conferred,  with  the  decree  of  a  synod  of 
Italian  bishops,  forms  a  marked  epoch  in  the  growth  of  the 
ecclesiastical  supremacy.  Up  till  this  time  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  had  been  exercised  within  the 
somewhat  narrow  limits  of  the  civil  prefect.  His  direct 
power  extended  only  over  the  vicarage  of  Rome  or  the 
ten  suburban  provinces.-f*  However,  within  this  territory 
his  authority  was  of  a  more  absolute  kind  than  that  which 


*  Britain  does  not  owe  its  conversion  to  the  Pope.  In  truth,  tlie 
churches  of  Britain  are  more  ancient  than  the  Papal  Church,  In  a  d. 
190,  Tertullian  speaks  of"  divers  peoples  of  Gaul,  and  those  parts  of  Bri- 
tain which  were  inaccessible  by  the  Romans,  having  been  subdued  by 
Christ."  In  Diocletian's  persecution  Britain  had  its  martyrs.  In  313 
it  sent  bishojis  to  the  Council  of  Aries.  In  a.d.  431  Palladius  was  sent 
from  Rome  "  to  the  Scots  believing  on  Christ."  The  first  professors  of 
Christianity  in  Britain  were  the  Culdees,  the  most  probable  origin  of 
whom  is,  that  they  were  refugees  from  the  pagan  persecutions.  They 
settled  in  Scotland,  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  thence 
propagated  Christianity  among  the  Celts  of  Ireland  and  the  Saxons  of 
England.  The  object  of  Augustine  and  his  brigade  of  forty  monks,  which 
Gregory  the  Great  sent  into  England  in  the  seventh  century,  was  not  to 
plant  Christianity,  but  to  drive  it  back  into  those  remote  and  inaccessible 
parts  of  Scotland  where  it  had  first  found  refuge,  and  to  replace  it  with 
the  Papacy.  (See  Du  Pin,  Hist.  Eccles.  vol.  i.  p.  575;  Dublin,  1723  : 
Elliot's  Horao  Apocalypticre,  vol.  iii.  p.  138:  Jameson's  History  of  the 
Culdees,  pp.  7,  8  :  Ilethcrington's  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
chap,  i.) 

+  "  Suburbicaria  loca."  Sixth  Canon  of  Nicene  Council,  as  quoted  by 
Rufinus.  (See  Du  Pin,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  600  :  Salmasius  De  Pri- 
matu  Papro,  cap,  iii.  p.  37,  et  cap.  vii.  pp.  103, 104.) 


POLICY  OF  THE  PONTIFFS.  29 

the  exarchs  of  the  east  exercised  within  their  dioceses. 
The  latter  functionaries  could  ordain  only  their  metropoli- 
tans, whereas  the  Roman  prelate  possessed  the  right  to  or- 
dain every  bishop  within  the  limits  of  his  jurisdiction.*  Thus, 
if  his  authority  was  less  extensive  than  that  of  the  oriental 
patriarch,  it  was  already  of  a  more  solid  kind.  But  now  it 
underwent  a  sudden  and  vast  enlargement.  By  the  edict  of 
the  Emperor,  and  the  sanction  of  the  Italian  bishops,  the 
Roman  prelate  took  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  western 
clergy.  A  post  so  distinguished,  though  conferring  as  yet, 
on  the  whole,  but  a  nominal  authority,  must  have  offered 
vast  facilities  for  acquiring  real  and  substantial  power. 
AVhen  was  it  that  the  occupants  of  Peter's  chair  lacked 
either  the  capacity  to  comprehend  or  the  tact  to  improve 
the  advantages  of  their  position  ?  Ambition  and  genius 
have  ever  alike  seemed  intuitive  to  them.  Lifted  thus  to 
the  supremacy  of  the  west  by  royal  favour  and  clerical 
subserviency, — twin  elevatory  powers  at  all  stages  of  the 
rise  of  this  terrible  despotism, — the  pontiff  began  to  arro- 
gate all  the  prerogatives  which  ecclesiastical  law  confers 
upon  patriarchs,  and  to  exercise  them  in  an  arbitrary  and 
irresponsible  manner.  He  obtruded  his  interference  in  the 
ordination  of  all  bishops,  even  those  of  humblest  rank  ;  thus 
passing  by,  and  virtually  ignoring,  the  rights  of  metropoli- 
tans. He  encouraged  appeals  to  his  see,  in  the  well-found- 
ed hope  of  drawing  into  his  own  hands  the  management  of 
all  affairs.  He  convoked  synods,  but  rather  to  display  the 
magnificence  and  power  of  Peter's  see,  than  to  benefit  by 
the  counsel  of  his  brethren  in  difficult  cases.  Usurping  the 
legislative  as  well  as  the  judicial  functions  of  the  Church, 
he  dictated  to  his  secretary  whatever  he  believed,  or  pre- 
tended to  believe,  to  be  right  and  fitting  in  matters  pertain- 
ing to  the  Church ;  and  the  decretal,  to  which  all  submitted, 
was  equally  authoritative  with  the  canons  of  councils,  and 
finally  with  the  commandments  of  Holy  Scripture.     Thus 

*  Tractatus  Barlaami,  p.  2S4. 


so  PROGRESS  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

did  the  occupant  of  the  fisherman'^s  chair  craftily  weave 
the  intricate  web  of  his  tyrannical  and  blasphemous  power 
over  all  the  churches  and  clergy  of  the  west. 

Another  well-marked  stage  in  the  rise  of  the  ecclesiastical 
supremacy  is  a.d.  445.  In  that  year  came  the  memorable 
edict  of  Valentinian  III.  and  Theodosius  II.,  in  which  the  Ro- 
man pontiff  was  styled  the  "■  Director  of  all  Christendom,"* 
and  the  bishops  and  universal  clergy  were  commanded  to  obey 
him  as  their  ruler.-f-  It  is  believed  that  the  decree  was  issued 
on  the  application  of  Pope  Leo.  Amongst  other  advantages 
enjoyed  by  the  pontiff  was  that  of  ready  access  to  the  Court, 
and  thus  he  sometimes  became  the  prompter  of  the  imperial 
policy.  The  suggestions  noted  down  by  his  secretary,  sub- 
mitted to  the  Emperor,  and  approved  of  by  him,  were 
ushered  into  the  world  with  the  customary  forms  and  the 
full  authority  of  an  imperial  edict.  "  Henceforth,"  that  is, 
from  the  publication  of  the  decree  we  have  just  noted,  "  the 
power  of  the  Roman  bishops,"  says  Ranke,  "  advanced  be- 
neath the  protection  of  the  Emperor  himself.";]:  At  about 
the  distance  of  a  century  from  the  decree  of  Theodosius  § 
came  the  celebrated  letter  of  Justinian  to  the  Pope,  in  which 
the  Emperor  still  farther  enlarged  the  prerogatives  which 
previous  edicts  had  conferred  upon  the  Bishop  of  Rome. 

These  imperial  recognitions  of  a  rank  which  the  councils 
of  the  Church  had  previously  conferred,  tended  greatly,  as 
may  easily  be  conceived,  to  consolidate  and  advance  the 
arrogant  assumptions  of  the  Roman  bishop.  They  gave 
solidity  to  his  power,  by  investing  him  with  a  positive  and 
legal  jurisdiction.  The  code  of  Justinian,  which  had  been 
published  a  few  years  before  this  time,||  was  now  the  law 
of  western  Europe.  Its  influence,  too,  was  favourable  to 
the  growth  of  the  ecclesiastical  supremacy.     Contemporarily 

*  "  Rector  totius  Ecclesia3."     (D'Aiibignd's  History,  vol.  i.  p.  42.) 
t  Sir  J.  Newton  on  Daniel,  p.  120. 

t  Ranke's  History  of  the  Popes,  book  i.  chap,  i,  sec.  i. ;  Bohn's  edition, 
1847. 

§  Dated  March  533.  ||  Dated  a.d.  529. 


EDICTS  OF  JUSTINIAN  AND  PHOCAS.  31 

with  the  publication  of  Justinian's  code,  was  the  rise  of  the 
Benedictine  order,*  In  the  course  of  a  century  the  Bene- 
dictines had  spread  themselves  over  the  west,  preaching 
everywhere  the  doctrine  of  implicit  submission  to  the  see  of 
Rome.  Last  of  all  came  the  edict  of  the  Emperor  Phocas, 
in  A.D.  606,  constituting  Boniface  III.  Universal  Bishop. 
This  was  the  last  in  a  series  of  edicts  which  had  for  their 
object  to  make  the  Bishop  of  Rome  "  Lord  over  God's 
heritage."  In  so  infamous  a  cause  no  one  was  so  worthy  to 
perform  the  crowning  act  as  the  tyrannical  and  brutal 
Phocas.-f-  It  was  the  hand  of  a  murderer  which  placed  upon 
the  brow  of  Boniface  the  mitre  of  a  universal  episcopate. 

The  ecclesiastical  supremacy  had  now  a  legal  existence, 
but  it  must  become  real  also.  So  vast  a  power,  extending 
over  so  many  interests,  and  over  such  a  multitude  of  per- 
sons, and  covering  so  large  a  portion  of  the  globe,  no  im- 
perial fiat  could  create  ;  it  must  grow.  Planted  by  coun- 
cils, buttressed  by  edicts,  with  a  congenial  element  of  vitali- 
ty and  increase  in  the  thickening  superstition  of  the  times, 
it  henceforward  made  rapid  progress.  It  throve  so  well,  in 
fact,  and  shot  up  into  such  portentous  height,  that  be- 
fore all  was  over,  the  authority  that  had  evoked  it  would 
fain  have  bidden  it  away,  but  could  not ;  like  the  necro- 
mancer who  forgets  his  spell,  and  is  unable  to  lay  the 
spirit  he  has  raised.  The  suckling  in  the  cradle  to  which 
the  State  offered  its  breasts  could  never  surely  grow  into 


*  Their  founder  was  Benedict  of  Nursia.  His  first  monastery  was  on 
Moimt  Cassino,  in  Italy.  The  forty  monks  that  invaded  England  in  the 
seventh  century  were  Benedictines.     (Mosheim,  cent.  vi.  part  ii.  p.  2-6.) 

+  The  authorities  on  which  this  rests  are,  Paul  Diaconus  and  Anas- 
fasius.  The  words  of  the  latter,  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History  on  a.d. 
606,  are, — "  Hie  (Bonifacius)  obtinuit  apud  Phocam  priiicipem  ut  sedes 
apostolica  beati  Petri  Apostoli  caput  esse  omnium  ecclesiarura  ;  quia 
ecclesia  Gonstantinopolitana  jjrimam  se  omnium  ecclesiarum  scribebat." 
"Phocas  was  the  real  founder  of  this  fabric  of  fraud,  though  no  monu- 
ment proclaims  it  save  a  column  in  the  Forum ;  but  patriarchs,  like 
bishops,  often  forget  their  maker,"     (Gavazzi,  Oration  vii.) 


S2  PROGRESS  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

the  hydra  that  was  to  strangle  the  empire  !  Power,  when 
once  it  has  begun  to  grow,  enlarges  its  volume  like  the 
rolling  river,  and  accelerates  its  speed  like  the  falling  ava- 
lanche. On  a  sudden  all  things  become  favourable  to  it. 
At  every  turn,  it  finds,  ready-made  to  its  hand,  helps  to 
speed  it  onward.  Its  faults,  be  they  ever  so  great,  never 
lack  apologists ;  and  its  excellencies,  however  small  they  be, 
always  find  willing  and  eloquent  panegyrists.  Its  wealth 
converts  enemies  into  friends  ;  the  timid  grow  courageous 
in  its  cause ;  and  the  indifferent  and  lukewarm  find  a  hun- 
dred reasons  for  being  active  and  zealous  in  its  service. 
The  cause  of  Rome  was  the  rising  cause,  and  therefore 
it  enjoyed  all  these  advantages,  and  many  more  besides. 
With  a  dexterity  and  skill  which  have  never  elsewhere 
been  equalled,  the  Vatican  could  manufacture,  out  of  ma- 
terials the  most  heterogeneous  and  unpromising,  props 
and  defences  of  its  ill-gotten  supremacy.  The  incautious 
admission  of  an  opponent,  the  exaggerated  and  high-flown 
language  of  a  eulogist,  were  alike  accepted  by  Rome  as  for- 
mal and  measured  acknowledgments  of  her  right.  The  hy- 
perbolical and  sycophantish  terms  in  which  a  prelate  sued 
for  protection,  or  a  heretic  implored  forgiveness,  were  re- 
gistered as  documentary  proofs  of  the  prerogatives  and 
powers  of  the  Roman  see.  The  sectary  was  encouraged 
or  put  down,  just  as  it  suited  the  policy  of  the  pontiffs;  and 
the  shield  of  the  vanquished  heretic  Rome  hung  up  as  a 
trophy  of  her  prowess.  Monarchs  were  incited  to  quarrel 
with  one  another :  Rome  stood  by  till  the  conflict  was 
ended;  and  then,  siding  with  the  stronger  party,  she  divided 
the  spoils  with  the  victor.  The  clergy  even,  who  might 
naturally  have  been  supposed  to  be  averse  to  the  rise  of 
such  a  domination,  were  conciliated  by  being  taught  to  find 
their  own  dignity  in  that  of  the  Roman  see,  and  to  share 
with  the  pontiff"  dominion  over  the  laity.  By  these,  and  an 
hundred  other  arts,  which  triumphantly  vindicate  to  the 
Roman  pontiffs  an  unquestionable  supremacy  in  knavery 
and  hypocrisy,  it  came  to  pass,  that  in  process  of  time,  the 


FALL  OF  THE  WESTERN  EMPIRE.  S3 

one  Bishop  of  Rome  had  absorbed  all  the  bishops  of  the 
west.  There  was  but  one  huge  episcopate,  with  its  head 
upon  the  Seven  Hills ;  while  its  hundred  limbs,  like  those 
of  the  giant  Briareus  of  classic  mythology,  were  stretched 
out  over  Europe,  forming  a  monster  of  so  anomalous  and 
nondescript  a  character,  that  nowhere  shall  we  find  a  figure 
adequately  to  depict  it,  save  among  the  inspired  hierogly- 
phics of  the  Apocalypse,  where  it  is  porti'ayed  under  the 
symbol  of  a  beast,  of  lamb-like  mien  but  dragon-ferocity.* 

At  last  the  empire  of  the  west  was  dissolved.  The  seat 
which  had  been  occupied  so  long  by  the  master  of  the 
world  was  now  empty.  This  had  been  noted  beforehand  in 
prophecy  as  the  instant  sign  of  the  coming  of  Antichrist, 
that  is,  of  his  full  revelation;  for,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
the  Mystery  of  Iniquity  was  operative  in  the  apostles'*  days. 
"  He  who  now  letteth  will  let,"'"'  said  Paul,  alluding  to  the 
imperial  power,  which,  so  long  as  it  existed,  was  an  effectual 
obstruction  to  the  papal  supremacy, — "  he  who  now  letteth 
will  let,  till  he  be  taken  out  of  the  way ;  and  then  shall  that 
Wicked  be  revealed. "•f-  The  overthrow  of  the  empire  contri- 
buted most  materially  towards  the  elevation  of  the  Bishop 
of  Rome;  for,  ^rst,  it  took  the  Caesars  out  of  the  way.  "  A 
secret  hand,"  says  De  Maistre,  ■"'  chased  the  emperors  from 
the  Eternal  City,  to  give  it  to  the  head  of  the  Eternal 
ChurclL^J  Second,  It  compelled  the  bishops  of  Rome,  now 
deprived  of  the  imperial  influence  which  had  hitherto  helped 
them  so  mightily  in  their  struggles  for  pre-eminence,  to  fall 
back  on  another  element,  and  that  an  element  which  consti- 
tutes the  very  essence  of  the  Papacy,  and  on  which  is  founded 
the  whole  complex  fabric  of  the  spiritual  and  temporal  do- 
mination of  the  popes.  The  rank  of  Rome,  as  the  seat  of 
government  and  the  metropolis  of  the  world,  had  lifted 
her  bishop  to  a  proud  pre-eminence  above  his  peers.  But 
Rome  was  the  head  of  empire  no  longer  :  the  prestige  of 

*  Revelations,  xiii.  11.  t  2  Thessaloaians,  ii.  7,  8. 

J  Du  Pape,  liv.  ii.  c.  vl.  p.  ISO  ;  Lyon.  1S45. 

D 


o-i  PROGRESS  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

her  name,  which  in  all  ages  has  struck  the  imagination  so 
powerfully,  and  through  the  imagination  captivated  the 
judgment,  she  still  retained;  for  by  no  change  could  she  be- 
come bereft  of  her  immortal  memories :  but  the  subject 
nations  no  longer  called  her  Mother  and  Ruler.  With 
Rome  would  have  fallen  her  bishop,  had  he  not,  as  if  by 
anticipation  of  the  crisis,  reserved  till  this  hour  the  master- 
stroke of  his  policy.  He  now  boldly  cast  himself  upon  an 
element  of  much  greater  strength  than  that  of  which  the 
political  convulsions  of  the  times  had  deprived  him,  namely, 
that  the  Bishop  of  Rome  is  the  successor  of  Peter,  the 
prince  of  the  Apostles,  and,  in  virtue  of  being  so,  is  Christ's 
Vicar  on  earth.  In  making  this  claim,  the  Roman  pontiffs 
vaulted  at  once  over  the  throne  of  kings  to  the  seat  of  gods : 
Rome  became  once  more  the  mistress  of  the  world,  and  her 
popes  the  rulers  of  the  earth. 

The  principle  had  been  tacitly  adopted  by  many  of  the 
clergy,  and  more  especially  by  the  bishops  of  Rome,  before 
this  time ;  but  now  it  was  formally  and  openly  advanced,  as 
the  basis  of  a  claim  of  authority  over  all  churches  and 
bishops,  and  ultimately  of  dominion  over  sovereigns.  Of 
this  we  adduce  the  following  testimonies.  In  the  middle  of 
the  fifth  century,  we  find  the  fundamental  dogma  of  the 
Papacy,  that  the  Church  is  founded  on  Peter,  and  that  the 
popes  are  his  representatives,  proclaimed  by  the  papal  le- 
gate in  the  midst  of  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  and  virtu- 
ally sanctioned  by  the  silence  of  the  fathers  who  were  sitting 
in  judgment  on  the  case  of  Dioscorus.  "  For  these  causes," 
said  the  legate,  "  Leo,  archbishop  of  Old  Rome,  doth  by 
us  and  by  the  Synod,  with  the  authority  of  St  Peter,  who  is 
the  rock  and  foundation  of  the  Church,  and  the  ground  of 
faith,  depose  him  (Dioscorus)  from  his  episcopal  dignity."* 
We  find  the  fathers  of  the  same  council  hailing  with  accla- 
mation the  voice  of  Leo  as  the  voice  of  Peter.  A  shout 
followed  the  reading  of  the  Pope's  letter : — "  Peter  speaks  in 

*  Du  Pin,  Hist.  Eccles.  vol.  i.  p.  672. 


CLAIM  TO  BE  G0D''S  VICAR.  35 

Leo."*  As  a  farther  proof  that  the  Popes  had  now  shifted 
their  dignity  from  an  imperial  to  a  pontiUcal  foundation,  we 
may  instance  the  case  of  Hilary,  the  successor  of  Leo,  who 
accepted  from  the  Terragonese  bishop,  as  a  title  to  which 
he  had  unquestionable  right,  the  appellation  "  Vicar  of 
Peter^  to  whom,  since  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  belonged 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom."-f-  In  a  spirit  of  equal  arrogance, 
we  find  Pope  Gelasius,  bishop  of  Rome  from  A.D.  492  to 
496,  asserting  that  it  became  kings  to  learn  their  duty 
from  bishops,  but  especially  from  the  "  Vicar  of  the  blessed 
Peter"!  We  find  the  same  Pope  asserting,  in  a  Roman 
council,  A.D.  495,  that  to  the  see  of  Rome  belonged  the 
primacy,  in  virtue  of  Christ^s  own  delegation;  and  that  from 
the  authority  of  the  keys  there  was  excepted  none  living, 
but  only  (mark  how  modest  Rome  then  was !)  the  dead. 
The  council  in  which  these  lofty  claims  were  put  forth  con- 
cluded its  session  with  a  shout  of  acclamation  to  Gelasius, — 
"  In  thee  we  behold  Christ''s  Vicar."§ 

In  the  violent  contention  which  raged  between  Syrama- 
chus  and  Laurentius,  both  of  whom  had  been  elected  to  the 
pontificate  on  the  same  day,  we  are  furnished  with  another 
proof  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century  not  only 
was  this  lofty  prerogative  claimed  by  the  popes,  but  that  it 
was  generallyacquiesced  in  by  the  clergy.  AVe  find  the  council 
convoked  by  Theodoric  demurring  to  investigate  the  charges 
alleged  against  Pope  Symmachus,  on  the  grounds  set  forth 
by  his  apologist  Ennodius,  which  were,  "  that  the  Pope,  as 


*  Harduin.  vol.  ii.  p.  306.  "  Haec  apostolorum  fides.  Anathema  ei  qui 
ita  non  credit.     Petrus  per  Leonera  ita  locutus  est. 

+  See  the  Bishop's  letter  to  Pope  Hilary,  Hai-duin.  vol.  ii.  p.  7S7. 

X  Ilarduin.  vol.  ii,  p.  SSG  :  "  A  pontilicibus,  et  praecipue  a  beati  Petri 
Vicario." 

§  "  Sancta  Romana  ecclesia  nuUis  synodicis  constitutis  caeteris  ecclesiis 
prselata  est,  sed  evangelica  voce  Domini  nostri  primatum  obtinuit,  Tu  es 
Petrus,"  &c.  When  the  council  was  about  to  break  up,  "  Onmes  episcopi 
et  presbyteri  surgentes  in  synodo,  acclamavoruut, '  Vicarium  Christi  te  vi- 
demus."     (Harduin.  vol.  ii.  p.  494-498.) 


o6  PROGRESS  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

God's  Vicar,  was  the  judge  of  all,  and  could  himself  be 
judged  by  no  one.""*  "  In  this  apology,"  remarks  Mosheim, 
"  the  reader  will  perceive  that  the  foundations  of  that  enor- 
mous power  which  the  popes  of  Rome  afterwards  acquired 
were  now  laid."  Thus  did  the  pontiffs,  providing  timeously 
against  the  changes  and  revolutions  of  the  future,  place  the 
fabric  of  the  primacy  upon  foundations  that  should  be  im- 
moveable for  all  time.  The  primacy  had  been  promul- 
gated by  synodical  decrees,  ratified  by  imperial  edicts  ;  but 
the  pontiffs  perceived  that  what  synods  and  emperors  had 
given,  synods  and  emperors  might  take  away.  The  enact- 
ments of  both,  therefore,  were  discarded,  and  the  Divine 
right  was  put  in  their  room,  as  the  only  basis  of  power  which 
neither  lapse  of  years  nor  change  of  circumstances  could 
overthrow.     Rome  was  henceforward  indestructible. 

*'  Dum  domu«s  ^neos  capitoli  iniitjobile  saxum 
Accolet,  imperiumque  Romanus  pater  liabebit."+ 

Thus  was  accomplished  in  the  destinies  of  the  Papacy  a 
change  of  so  vast  a  character,  that  the  imagination  can  with 
difficulty  realize  it.  Quickened  with  a  new  life,  Rome  re- 
turned from  her  grave  to  exercise  universal  dominion  a 
second  time.  The  element  of  power  which  was  lost  when 
the  empire  fell  was  at  best  of  an  extraneous  kind:  it  was 
influence  reflected  from  without  upon  Rome, — foreign  in  its 
character  and  earthly  in  its  source.  But  the  element  on 
which  she  now  cast  herself  was  of  a  nature  analogous  to  the 
Papacy,  and  so,  incorporating  with  it,  that  element  became 
its  life.  It  made  Rome  self-existent  and  invincible, — invin- 
cible to  every  principle  save  one,  and  that  principle  was  to 
remain  in  abeyance  for  a  full  thousand  years.  The  day  of 
Luther  was  yet  afar  off*.  It  was  this  element  that  gave  to 
Rome  the  superhuman  power  she  wielded  over  the  world. 


*  Moslieim,  cent.  vi.  part  ii.  chap.  ii.  "  Vice  Dei  judicare  pontificem, 
a  luillo  Tnortaliuni  in  jus  vocari  posse  docuit."  Adopted  by  the  Roman 
Synod,  under  Synniiaclius,  a.d.  503.     (Ilarduin,  vol.  ii.  p.  9S3.) 

t  Virgilius,  iEneid.  lib.  ix. 


ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY  CONSOLIDATED.  37 

It  was  this  which  enabled  her  to  phint  or  to  pkick  up  its 
kingdoms,  to  bind  monarchs  to  her  chariot-wheel,  to  throw 
reason  and  intellect  into  chains,  and  to  restore  once  more 
the  dominion  of  the  pagan  night.  In  so  subtle  a  device  we 
can  discover  a  deeper  policy  and  a  more  consummate  craft 
than  that  of  man.  It  was  Rome's  invisible  director  that 
counselled  so  bold  a  step.  This  step  was  as  successful  as 
bold.  It  opened  a  new  career  to  the  ambition  of  Rome,  and 
revealed  to  her,  though  yet  at  a  great  distance,  and  with 
many  an  intervening  change  and  struggle,  that  seat  of  god- 
like power  to  which  she  was  ultimately  to  attain,  and  to- 
wards which  she  now  began,  with  slow  and  painful  steps,  to 
climb.  Most  marvellous  and  astonishing  it  truly  was,  that 
at  a  time  when  Rome  was  placed  in  most  imminent  jeopardy, 
and  society  itself  was  perishing  around  her,  she  shouhl  lay 
the  foundations  of  her  power,  and  by  her  prompt  interposi- 
tion save  herself  and  the  world  from  the  dissolution  to  which 
both  appeared  to  be  tending.  Her  adherents  in  all  ages 
have  seen  in  this  nothing  less  than  a  proof,  alike  incontro- 
vertible and  marvellous,  of  her  Divinity.  The  Cardinal 
Earonius  speaks  the  sentiments  of  all  Roman  Catholics 
when  he  breaks  out  in  the  following  impassioned  strain,  in 
reference  to  a  supposed  grant  of  the  kingdom  of  Hungary, 
by  Stephen,  to  the  Roman  see : — "  It  fell  out,  by  a  wonder- 
ful providence  of  God,  that  at  the  very  time  when  the 
Romish  Church  might  appear  ready  to  fall  and  perish,  even 
then  distant  kings  approach  the  apostolic  see,  which  they 
acknowledge  and  venerate  as  the  only  temple  of  the  uni- 
verse,— the  sanctuary  of  piety,  the  pillar  of  truth,  the  im- 
moveable rock.  Behold  kings,  not  from  the  east,  as  of  old 
they  came  to  the  cradle  of  Christ,  but  from  the  north  :  led 
by  faith,  they  humbly  approach  the  cottage  of  the  fisher,  the 
Church  of  Rome  herself  offering  not  only  gifts  out  of  their 
treasures,  but  bringing  even  kingdoms  to  her,  and  asking 
kingdoms  from  her."* 

*  Baroniusj  anuo  1000. 


I 


S8  PROGRESS  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

Thus  have  we  traced  the  history  of  the  Papacy,  from  its 
rise  in  primitive  times,  to  its  formal  though  but  partial  de- 
velopment in  the  sixth  century.  Aided  by  the  various  in- 
fluences we  have  enumerated, — the  prestige  and  rank  of 
Rome, — the  institution  of  the  order,  first  of  metropolitan, 
and  next  of  patriarch, — the  edicts  of  emperors, — the  reference 
of  disputed  questions  by  other  Churches  to  the  Bishop  of 
r  Rome, — and,  most  of  all,  the  pretence  that  the  occupant  of 
the  Roman  see  was  the  successor  of  Peter  and  the  Vicar  of 
Christ, — together  with  that  crafty,  astute,  and  persevering 
policy  which  enabled  the  Roman  bishops  to  make  the  most 
of  apparent  concessions  to  them  of  pre-eminence  and  autho- 
rity,— the  pastors  of  Rome  were  now  supreme  over  the  great 
body  of  the  clergy  of  the  west  ;  and  thus  the  ecclesiastical 
supremacy  was  attained.  They  were  now  in  a  fair  ^vay^'inTo, 
oTbecomhig  the  superiors  of  kings,  for  there  was  no  usurpa- 
tion of  prerogative,  no  exercise  of  dominion,  temporal  or 
spiritual,  which  the  claim  now  put  forth  by  the  Roman 
bishop  to  be  Christ's  Vicar  would  not  cover.  We  are  now 
to  follow  the  several  steps  by  which  the  Papacy  gradually 
rose  to  the  height  of  power  in  which  we  find  it  shortly  be- 
fore the  breaking  out  of  the  Reformatioij. 


RISE  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SOVEREIGNTY,  SO 


CHAPTER  III. 


RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SOVEREIGNTY. 


Over  the  abyss  in  which  the  Roman  empire  of  the  west 
had  been  engulphed  there  now  floated  the  portentous  form 
of  the  Papacy.  If  the  idolatrous  nations,  in  their  victorious 
march  from  the  Upper  Danube  to  southern  Europe,  had 
not  brought  the  gods  of  their  ancestors  along  with  them, 
they  were  not  on  that  account  the  less  pagan.  Their  con- 
version to  Christianity  was  merely  nominal.  Ignorant  of  its 
doctrines,  destitute  of  its  spirit,  and  captivated  by  its  splen- 
did ceremonial,  they  were  scarcely  conscious  of  any  change, 
when  they  transferred  to  the  saints  of  the  Roman  Church 
the  worship  they  had  been  accustomed  to  pay  to  their 
Scandinavian  deities.  The  process  by  which  these  nations, 
from  being  pagan,  became  Christian,  may  be  adequately 
likened  to  the  contrivance  by  which  the  statue  of  Jupiter 
at  Rome  was  converted  from  the  representative  of  the 
prince  of  pagan  deities  to  the  representative  of  the  prince 
of  Christian  apostles,  namely,  by  the  substitution  of  the  two 
keys  for  the  thunderbolt.  After  the  same  manner  the  newly- 
arrived  nations  were  taught  to  wear  the  outward  badges  of 
the  Christian  faith,  but  at  heart  they  were  as  much  pagan 
as  before.  Most  of  the  new  tribes  became  professors  of  the 
Arian  faith.  In  this  heresy  were  involved  the  barbarians 
which   occupied  Italy,  Africa,  Spain,   and   Gaul ;   and  the 


40  RISE  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SOVEREIGiVTY. 

popes  were  obliged  to  exercise  the  utmost  circumspection 
and  management,  in  order  to  surmount  the  perils  and  pro- 
fit by  the  advantages  presented  by  the  new  order  of  things. 
The  convulsions,  combinations,  and  heresies  of  the  times, 
formed  a  maze  so  intricate  and  dangerous,  that  no  power 
less  wary  and  sagacious  than  the  papal  could  have  threaded 
its  way  with  safety  through  it.  The  bark  of  Peter  was  now 
navigating  a  sea  full  of  rocks  and  maelstroms,  and  had  to 

shape  its  course, 

"  Harder  beset, 
And  more  endangered,  than  when  Argo  passed 
Through  Bosphorus,  betwixt  the  justling  rocks. 
Or  when  Ulysses  on  the  larboard  shunn'd 
Charybdis,  and  by  the  other  whirlpool  steer'd." 

Paradise  Lost. 

In  A.D.  496,  an  event  took  place  destined  to  exercise  a  mo- 
mentous influence  on  the  fate  of  the  Papacy  and  of  Europe. 
In  that  year  Clovis,  king  of  the  Franks,  in  fulfilment  of 
a  vow  made  on  the  field  of  Tolbiac,  where  he  was  vic- 
torious over  the  Alleraanni,  was  baptized  at  Rheims. 
"  On  the  memorable  day,"  observes  Gibbon,  "  when  Clovis 
ascended  from  the  baptismal  font,  he  alone  in  the  Chris- 
tian world  deserved  the  name  and  prerogatives  of  a  catho- 
lic king."*  Rome  hailed  the  auspicious  event  as  a  token  of 
a  long  series  of  similar  triumphs ;  and  she  rewarded  the  de- 
votion of  Clovis  by  bestowing  upon  him  the  title, — which  he 
has  transmitted  downward  through  ]  400  years  to  his  suc- 
cessors the  kings  of  France, — of  Eldest  Son  of  the  Church. 
During  the  course  of  the  sixth  century,  others  of  the  bar- 
barian kings, — the  Burgundians  of  southern  Gaul  and 
Savoy,  the  Bavarians,  the  Visigoths  of  Spain,  the  Suevi  of 
Portugal,  and  the  Anglo-Saxons  of  Britain, — presented 
themselves  before  the  apostolic  throne  as  its  spiritual  vas- 
sals.    Thus,  the  dominion  which  their  swords  had  taken 

*  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  vol.  vi.  p.  320  :  also 
Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  chap.  i.  j  Lond.  1841. 


CONVERSION  OF  THE  NORTHERN  NATIONS.  41 

away,  their  superstition  restored  to  Rome.  The  various  1 
nations  who  were  now  masters  of  the  western  empire  I 
found  in  the  Papacy,  and  nowhere  else,  to  use  Muller's  f 
words,  "  a  point  of  union.""*  The  sagacious  measures  of  j 
Pope  Gregoi-y  the  Great  contributed  at  this  juncture  ma- 
terial assistance  to  the  rising  Papacy.  The  barbarian 
kings  being  now  submissive  to  the  Roman  faith,  Gregory 
exerted  himself,  with  a  large  measure  of  success,  to  esta- 
blish it  as  a  law  throughout  their  kingdoms,  that  the  metro- 
politan should  receive  the  sanction  of  the  pontiff.  For  this 
end  it  now  became  the  practice  to  send  from  Rome  a 
palliumf  to  the  metropolitan,  in  token  of  investiture ;  and 
without  the  pall  he  could  not  lawfully  enter  on  the  exercise 
of  his  functions.  The  zeal  of  Boniface,  the  apostle  of  Ger- 
many a  century  later,  completed  what  Pope  Gregory  had 
commenced.  This  man,  a  Briton  by  birth,  travelled  through- 
out Germany  and  Gaul,  preaching  profound  submission  to 
Peter  and  his  representative  the  Roman  bishop ;  and  he 
succeeded  in  inducing  the  German  and  Frank  bishops  to 
take  the  vow  he  himself  had  taken  of  implicit  obedience  to 
the  Roman  see.  Henceforward,  without  the  pallium  no 
metropolitan  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office.^  How 
much  this  tended  to  consolidate  the  spiritual  supremacy, 
and  to  pave  the  way  for  the  temporal  usurpations  of  the 
popes,  it  is  not  difficult  to  perceive. 

In  the  seventh  century,  we  find  a  prevalent  disposition 
among  the  princes  of  the  west  to  submit  themselves  impli- 
citly, in  all  matters  that  pertained  to  religion,  to  the  Roman 
see.  In  their  pagan  state  they  had  been  accustomed  to 
undertake  no  affair  of  consequence  without  the  advice  and 
consent  of  their  priests,  by  whom  they  were  held  in  the 
most  degrading  vassalage  ;  and  after  their  conversion  they 


*  Universal  History,  vol.  i.  p.  412. 

t  The  pall  is  formed  of  the  fleece  of  certain  lambs  selected  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  is  manufiictured  by  the  nuns  of  St  Agnes, 
:f  Eanke's  History  of  the  Popes,  vol.  i.  pp.  11,  12. 


42  RISE  OF  THE  TEiAIPORAL  SOVEREIGNTY. 

transferred  tliis  implicit  obedience  to  the  Roman  clergy, 
who  most  willingly  accepted  the  implied  superiority  and 
power,  and  used  every  means  to  improve  and  extend  their 
influence.  "  It  was  the  sturdy  shoulders  of  these  children 
of  the  idolatrous  north,"  remarks  Dr  D'Aubigne,  "  that  suc- 
ceeded in  placing  on  the  supreme  throne  of  Christendom  a 
pastor  of  the  banks  of  the  Tiber."*  The  people  venerated 
the  clergy,  and  the  clergy  were  bound  to  implicit  obedience 
to  the  pontiff".  By  this  time,  too,  the  unit^  of  the  Churchy 
not  in  the  Scriptural,  but  Romish  sense, — not  as  consisting 
in  one  baptism,  one  faith,  one  hope  ;  but  as  consisting  in  one 
outward  body  governed  by  a  visible  head,  the  Roman  pon- 
tiff*,— had  established  itself  in  the  minds  of  men.  The  term 
Pore  or  Father,  originally  a  divine,  and  next  an  imperial 
title,  formerly  given  to  all  bishops,  now  came  to  be  restricted 
to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,-f  according  to  the  saying  afterwards 
employed  by  Gregory  VIL,  that  there  was  but  one  pope  in 
the  world.  The  overthrow  of  the  Ostrogoths  and  Vandals 
about  this  time,  by  the  arms  of  Belisarius,  contributed  also 
to  the  expansion  of  the  Papacy.  The  former  had  establisjied 
themselves  in  Italy,  and  the  latter  in  Sardinia  and  Corsica ; 
and  their  near  presence  enabled  them  to  overawe  the  pope- 
dom ;  but  their  extirpation  by  the  victorious  general  of  Jus- 
tinian rid  the  Pope  of  these  formidable  neighbours,  and 
tended  to  the  authority  as  well  as  the  security  of  the  Roman 
see. 

But  it  was  in  the  eighth  century  that  the  most  consider- 
able addition  was  made  to  the  temporal  power  of  the  popes. 
A  singular  combination  of  dangers  at  that  period  threatened 
the  very  existence  of  the  Papacy.  The  iconoclast  disputes, 
then  raging  with  extreme  violence,  had  engendered  a  deep 
and  lasting  variance  between  the  Roman  see  and  the  empe- 
rors of  the  east.  The  Arian  kings  of  Lombardy,  intent  on 
the  conquest  of  all  Italy,  were  brandishing  their  swords  be- 

*  History  of  the  Reformation,  vol.  i.  p.  43. 

+  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  vol.  vii.  p.  39. 


GRANTS  OF  PEPIN  AND  CIIARLEMAGXE.  43 

fore  the  very  gates  of  Rome ;  while  in  the  west,  the  Sara- 
cens, who  had  overrun  Africa  and  conquered  Spain,  were 
arrived  at  the  passes  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  threatened  to 
enter  Italy  and  plant  the  crescent  on  the  Seven  Hills. 
Pressed  on  all  sides,  the  Pope  turned  his  eyes  to  France. 
He  wrote  to  the  mayor  of  the  palace,  and  so  framed  the 
terms  of  his  letter,  that  Peter,  with  all  the  saints,  suppli- 
cated the  Gallic  soldier  to  hasten  to  the  rescue  of  Ms  chosen 
city,  and  of  that  church  where  his  bones  reposed.  The  suc- 
cour was  not  more  earnestly  craved  than  it  was  cordially 
and  promptly  granted.  The  bold  Pepin  had  just  seated 
himself_on  the__throne  of  the  pusillanimous  Childenn,*  a^nd 
needed  the  papal  confirmation  of  his  usurped  dignity.  Bar- 
gaining  for  this,  he  girded  on  the  sword,  crossed  the  Alps, 
defeated  the  Lombards,  and,  wresting  from  them  the  cities 
they  had  taken  from  the  Greek  emperor,  he  laid  the  keys  of 
the  conquered  towns  upon  the  altar  of  St  Peter.  This  was 
jn  the  year_Iaai_  and  by  this  act  \maJaid  thefou'ndation  of 
the  tempoi;ajj20W£iLjQLthej}opes/|' 

The  gifts  thus  bestowed_by  Pepin  were  confirmed  by  his 
yet  more  distinguished  son  Charlemagnfi-  The  Lombards 
had  again  become  troublesome  to  the  Pope  ;  in  fact,  they 
were  besieging  him  in  his  city  of  Pome.  The  pontiff  again 
supplicated  the  aid  of  France ;  and  Charlemagne,  in  answer 
to  his  prayer,  entered  Italy  at  the  head  of  his  army.  De- 
feating the  Lombards,  he  visited  the  Pope  in  his  capital ; 
and  so  profound  was  his  deference  for  the  see  of  Rome, 
that  he  kissed  the  steps  of  St  Peter  as  he  ascended,  and, 
at  the  interview  that  followed,  ratified  and  enlarged  the 
donations  of  his  father  Pepin  to  the  Church.^     A  second 


*  Pope  Zachary  had  probably  given  his  express  sanction  beforehand  to 
the  usurpation  of  Pepin,  (Du  Pin,  vol.  ii.  pp.  33-39  :  INIosheim,  cent.  vii. 
part  ii.  p.  2-7  :  Bower's  History  of  the  Popes,  vol.  iii.  p.  332  ;  Lond.  1754.) 

t  Mosheini,  cent.  viii.  part  ii.  chap.  ii.  sec.  vii.  viii.  :  Ranke's  History  of 
the  Popes,  vol.  i.  p.  14  :  Hallam's  ISIiddle  Ages,  vol,  i.  p.  7. 

J  Ranke's  History  of  the  Popes,  vol.  i.  p.  14. 


44  PROGRESS  OP  THE  TEMPORAL  SOVEREIGNTY. 

time  Charlemagne  appeared  In  the  Eternal  City.*  The 
factions  that  now  reigned  in  Rome  threatened  to  put  an 
end,  by  their  violence,  to  the  authority  of  the  pontiff ;  and 
a  third  time  did  France  interpose  to  save  the  Papacy  from 
apparent  destruction.  Charlemagne,  says  Machiavelli,  de- 
creed, "  that  his  Holiness,  being  God's  Vicar,  could  not  be 
subject  to  the  judgment  of  man.'"'!-  _Charlemagne  was  now 
master  of  nearly  all  the  E,omano-Germanic~ nations'  of  the 


west^  and,  asa  recompense  for  these  "Tepeated_succours, 
tjie  Pope  (Leo  IIL),  on  Christmas  eve,  A.D.  800,  placed 
upon  the  head  of  the  French  king  the~crown  of  the  western 
empire.:}:  In  this~acF  the~]5ontprdispTayedTiis  power  not 
less  than  his^ratrtiTde^  As  one  who  liaTCTOwns  aiicTTcing- 
doms  at  his  disposal,  we  behold  him  selecting  the  son  of 
Pepin,  and  placing  upon  his  brow  the  imperial  diadem.  In 
this  light  at  least  have  the  partizans  of  Rome  regarded 
the  act.  They  have  "  generally  maintained,"  says  Mosheim, 
"  that  Leo.  III.,  by  a  divine  rifjht^  vested  in  him  as  Bishop 
of  Rome,  transported  the  western  empire  from  the  Greeks 
to  the  Franks.""  §  "  Whereas  formerly,"  says  Machiavelli,  in 
his  History  of  Florence,  "  the  popes  were  confirmed  by  the 
emperors,  the  emperor  now,  in  his  election,  was  to  be  be- 
holden to  the  pope  ;  by  which  means  the  power  and  dignity 
of  the  empire  declined,  and  the  Church  began  to  advance, 
and  by  these  steps  to  usurp  upon  the  authority  of  temporal 
princes."  ||  One  thing  at  least  is  clear,  that  great  advan- 
tages accrued  to  both  parties  from  this  proceeding.  It 
added  new  lustre  to  the  dignity  of  Charlemagne,  and  gave 
the  title  to  him  who  already  possessed  the  power ;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  greatly  enlarged  the  temporal  posses- 

*  First  so  called  by  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  the  well-known  historian 
and  soldier. 

+  Works  of  Nicolo  Machiavelli,  p.  8  ;  Lond.  ed.  1679. 

X  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empii-e,vol.  ix.  pp.  159-176  : 
Du  Pin,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  49. 

§  Mosiieim,  cent.  viii.  part  ii.  chap.  ii.  sec.  X, 

!1  Works  of  Nicolo  Machiavelli,  p.  8. 


THE  TRIPLE  CROWN.  45 

sions  of  the  Church,  and  secured  a  powerful  friend  and  pro- 
tector to  the  Pope  in  the  person  of  the  Emperor.  Thus  the 
perils  which  had  threatened  to  destroy  the  Papacy  tended 
ultimately  to  consolidate  it ;  and  thus  did  Rome,  skilled  to 
profit  alike  by  the  weakness  and  the  strength  of  monarchs, 
steadily  pursue  that  profound  scheme  of  policy,  the  object 
of  which  was  to  chain  kings,  priests,  and  people,  to  the 
pontifical  chair.  Henceforward  the  Pope  takes  his  place 
among  the  monarchs  of  the  earth.  First  the  Vandals  and 
Ostrogoths,  and  now  the  Lombards,  had  fallen  before  him. 
Their  territories  were  given  to  the  Church,  and  formed  the 
patrimony  of  St  Peter ;  and  the  haughty  pastor  by  whom 
these  powers  had  been  supplanted,  unaware  that  prophecy 
had  pointed  very  significantly  to  the  fact,  and  marked  it  as 
a  noted  stage  in  the  rise  of  Antichrist,""  now  appeared  in 
the  glories  of  the  triple  crown. 

While  the  Papacy  was  laboriously  building  up  its  external 
defences,  conciliating  princes,  contracting  alliances  with 
powerful  monarchs,  and  intriguing  to  acquire  in  its  own 
riglit  temporal  sovereignty,  let  us  mark  the  growth  of  that 
superstition  in  which  lay  the  life  and  strength  of  the  Pope- 
dom. These  two, — the  inward  principle  and  the  outward  de- 
velopment,— we  find  ever  advancing  pari  p)assu.  By  the  time 
the  barbarians  arrived  in  southern  Europe,  Christianity  had 
been  grossly  corrupted.  It  lacked,  as  a  consequence,  the 
power  to  dispel  the  ignorance  or  to  purify  the  morals  of 
those  whom  the  convulsions  of  the  times  brought  into  con- 
tact with  it.  As  they  issued  from  their  native  forests,  so 
were  they  received  within  the  pale  of  the  Church, — unin- 
structed,  unreformed,  unchristianized.  The  only  change  the 
Christianity  of  the  age  exacted  had  respect  to  the  names  of 
those  divinities  in  whose  honour  the  invading  nations  con- 
tinued to  celebrate  the  same  rites,  slightly  modified,  which 
they  had  been  accustomed  to  pay  to  their  Druidical  and 
Scandinavian  idols.     It  follows  that  the  term  Christendom 

*  Dauiel,  vii.  8,  20-24. 


46  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SOVEREIGNTY. 

is  simply  a  geographical  expression.  The  nations  that  in- 
habit western  Europe  have  not  till  this  hour  been  evan- 
gelized, if  we  except  the  partial  enlightenment  of  the  Re 
formation.  The  barbarism  of  the  times  had  extin<2:uished 
the  light  of  philosophy  and  of  letters.  No  polite  study,  no 
elegant  art,  no  useful  science,  helped  to  tame  the  fierceness, 
refine  the  manners,  or  expand  the  intellect,  of  these  nations. 
The  clergy,  wallowing  in  wealth,  and  abandoning  themselves 
to  dissolute  pleasures,  were  grossly  and  shamefully  ignorant, 
and  unable  to  compose  the  homilies  which  they  recited  in 
the  presence  of  the  people.  The  genius  of  Charlemagne 
saw  and  bewailed  these  evils  ;  but  neither  his  power  nor  his 
munificence, — and  both  were  largely  employed, — could  avail 
to  reform  these  gross  abuses."'  The  singular  infelicity  of  the 
times  rendered  all  his  attempts  at  reformation  abortive.  If 
we  except  a  few  individuals,  belonging  chiefly  to  Ireland  and 
Britain,  where  the  enlightened  and  beneficent  patronage  of 
Alfred  the  Great  maintained  a  better  order  of  things,  no 
illustrious  names  illumined  the  darkness  of  that  barbarous 
night.  Till  partially  restored  by  the  Saracens  in  the  tenth 
century,  learning  and  science  were  unknown  in  the  west.-f- 

The  state  of  matters  as  regards  religion  was  even  more 
deplorable.  We  have  already  seen  the  height  to  which  su- 
perstition had  risen  in  the  fourth  century.  We  will  search 
in  vain,  amid  the  ignorance,  the  follies,  the  vices,  of  the  eighth 
and  ninth  centuries,  for  the  early  purity  of  the  gospel,  the 
simple  grandeur  of  its  worship,  or  the  attractive  virtues  of 
its  first  confessors.     A  general  dissolution  of  manners  clia- 


*  See  the  summary  of  his  Capitularies,  or  Ecclesiastical  Laws,  in  Du 
Pin,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  43. 

+  IVIosheim,  cent.  vii.  part  i.  chap.  i.  sec.  ii.  iii.  The  reader  will  find  a 
fair  specimen  of  the  literature  and  intellect  of  the  age  in  Du  Pin's  short 
notice  of  Joannes  Moschus,  a  presbyter  of  the  seventh  century,  and  author 
of  the  "  Spiritual  Meadow."  Joannes  Moschus  having  visited  the  monas- 
teries of  the  east,  returned  to  Rome,  where  he  published  in  one  book 
what  he  had  learned  of  "  the  life,  actions,  sentences,  and  miracles  of  the 
monks  of  divers    ountries."     (See  Du  Pin,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  11.) 


SUPERSTITION  AND  BARBARISM.  47 

racterized  the  age :  the  corruption  had  infected  all  classes, 
not  excepting  even  the  clergy,  who,  instead  of  being  exam- 
ples of  virtue,  were  notorious  for  their  impieties  and  vices. 
In  the  same  proportion  in  w-hich  they  declined  in  piety  and 
learning,  did  they  increase  in  riches  and  influence.  A  no- 
tion now  began  to  be  propagated,  that  crimes  might  be  ex- 
piated by  donations  to  the  Church  at  the  moment  of  death. 
This  proved  a  fertile  source  of  wealth  to  the  clergy.  Rich 
legacies  and  ample  donations  of  lands  and  houses  flowed  in 
upon  the  churches  and  monasteries,  the  gifts  of  men  who 
hoped  by  these  generous  deeds,  performed  at  the  expense  of 
their  heirs,  to  obliterate  the  sins  of  a  lifetime,  and  purchase 
salvation  for  their  souls.*  By  and  by,  bequests  on  a  yet 
larger  scale  began  to  be  made.  It  was  at  this  time  custo- 
mary for  princes  to  distribute  munificent  gifts  among  their 
followers,  partly  as  the  reward  of  past  services,  and  partly 
with  a  view  to  secure  their  support  in  future.  The  great 
credit  which  the  clergy  enjoyed  with  the  people  made  it 
a  matter  of  the  last  importance  to  secure  their  influence. 
Whole  provinces,  with  their  cities,  castles,  and  fortresses, 
were  not  unfrequently  bestowed  upon  them ;  and  over  the 
domains  so  bestowed  they  were  permitted  to  exercise  sove- 
reign jurisdiction.  Raised  thus  to  the  rank  of  temporal 
princes,  they  vied  with  dukes  and  sovereigns  in  the  splen- 
dour of  their  court  and  the  number  of  their  retinue.  They 
raised  armies,  imposed  taxes,  waged  bloody  wars,  and  by 
their  ceaseless  intrigues  and  boundless  ambition  plunged 
Europe  into  interminable  broils  and  conflicts.  Those  men 
who  were  bound  by  their  sacred  calling  to  preach  to  the 
world  the  vanity  of  human  grandeur,  furnished  in  their  own 
persons  the  most  scandalous  examples  of  worldly  pride  and 
ambition.  To  fulfil  their  sublime  mission  as  ministers  of 
Christ, — to  instruct  the  ignorant,  reclaim  the  wandering,  suc- 
cour the  distressed,  and  console  the  dying, — formed  no  part 


*  D'Aubigne's  History  of  the  Reformation,  vol.  i.  p.  61  :  Mosheim,  cent, 
vii.  part  ii.  cliap.  ii.-iv. 


48  PROGRESS  OP  THE  TEMPORAL  SOVEREIGNTY. 

of  their  care.  These  duties  were  forsaken  for  the  more 
tempting  paths  of  pleasure  and  wealth,  the  intrigues  of 
courts,  and  the  tumults  of  camps.  A  crafty  priesthood,  more- 
over, made  it  an  inviolable  rule,  that  property  gifted  to  the 
Church  should  be  regarded  as  the  property  of  God,  and  be 
held  for  ever  inalienable.  Henceforward  to  touch  it  was 
sacrilege  ;  and  whoever  adventured  on  so  bold  an  act  was 
destined  to  experience  the  full  measure  of  the  Church's  ven- 
geance. The  natural  law  which  limits  the  growth  of  bodies 
corporate  was  set  aside  by  this  kind  of  spiritual  entail ;  and 
the  wealth  of  the  Church,  and,  by  consequence,  her  power, 
grew  to  be  enormous.* 

The  evils  of  the  time  were  Legion  ;  but  all  flowed  from 
one  colossal  error :  the  cardinal  truth  of  Christianity,  that 
salvation  is  of  grace,  was  completely  obscured.  By  the  most 
plausible  pretexts  and  the  most  subtle  devices  was  man  led 
away  from  God,  and  taught  to  centre  all  his  hopes  in  him- 
self. Faith  was  overthrown,  and  works  were  put  in  its  room. 
The  sacrifice  of  Christ  was  neglected,  and  man  became  his 
own  saviour.  We  trace  the  operation  of  this  grand  erroi- 
in  the  superstitious  and  burdensome  rites  in  which  all  holi- 
ness now  began  to  be  placed.  Sanctification  was  no  longer 
sought  in  a  pure  heart  and  a  mind  enlightened  by  divine 
truth,  but  in  certain  external  rites,  which  were  seldom  either 
important  or  dignified.  To  nourish  the  passions  and  morti- 
fy the  body  was  now  the  grand  secret  of  holiness.  Pilgri- 
mages were  undertaken,  and  their  merits  were  regulated  by 
the  length  and  the  perils  of  the  way,  and  the  renown  of  the 
shrine  visited.  Penances  were  imposed,  fasts  were  enjoin- 
ed ;  and  in  proportion  to  the  severity  of  the  suffering  and 
the  rigour  of  the  abstinence,  was  the  efficacy  of  the  act  to 
atone  for  sin,  and  recommend  to  the  favour  of  God.-f-  A 
mind  debased  by  ignorance,  and  not  unfrequently  by  vice, 
and  a  body  emaciated  by  flagellations  and  fastings,  was  a 

*  [Moslicizn,  cent.  viii.  part  ii.  chap.  ii.  sec.  iv.-vi. 

+  D'AubigiK^'s  Ilistoiy  of  the  llefurmation,  vol.  i.  pp.  5S-G0. 


RISE  OF  MONKERY.  49 

sure  sign  of  eminent  sanctity.     Piety  no  longer  consisted  in 
love  to  God  and  obedience  to  his  will,  but  in  the  observance 
of  the  most  frivolous  ceremonies,  to  which  there  attached  an 
extraordinary  value  and  a  mysterious  influence.     To  endow 
a  convent  or  erect  a  cathedral  was  among  the  most  illus- 
trious deeds  which  one  could  perform.     To  possess  a  finger 
or  a  toe  of  a  saint  was  a  rare  privilege  ;  and  the  owner  of  so 
inestimable  a  treasure  derived  therefrom  unspeakably  more 
benefit  than  could  possibly  accrue  from  the  possession  of 
any  moral  or  spiritual  excellence,  however  exalted.     Relics 
so  precious  were  sought  for  with  a  perseverance  and  a  zeal 
that  set  all  difficulties  at  defiance  ;  and  what  was  so  eagerly 
sought   was  in  most  cases    happily  found.      The    caves  of 
Egypt,  the  sands  of  Libya,  and  the  deserts  of  Syria,  were 
ransacked.     The  bones  of  dead  men,  and,  if  history  may  be 
credited,  of  the  lower  animals,  were  exhumed,  were  hawked 
over  Christendom,   and  purchased  at  a  high  rate.     They 
w  ere  w^orn  as  amulets,  or  enshrined  in  cabinets  of  silver  and 
gold;  and,  being  placed  in  cathedrals,  were  exhibited  at  stated 
times  to  the  devout.     To  abandon  society,  with  the  obliga- 
tions it  imposes  and  the  duties  it  exacts,  and  to  consume  life 
in  the  midst  of  filth,  indolence,  and  vice,  was  accounted  an 
effort  of  uncommon  holiness.     To  shirk  the  plough  and  the 
loom,  and  mount  the  wallet  of  the  beggar, — to  abscond  from 
the  ranks  of  honest  industry,  and  fleece  the  labouring  classes 
in  predatory  bands  or  as  single  sorners, — was  to  be  heroically 
self-denied  and  virtuous.     Such  holy  men  were  rather  un- 
pleasantly common  ;  for  the  west,  as  formerly  the  east,  now 
began  to  swarm  with  monks  and  hermits.    Such  of  the  pagan 
sophists  as  lived  to  witness  the  rise  of  this  superstition,  no 
less  amazed  than  indignant,  pointed  the  keen  shafts  of  their 
powerful  satire  against  that  filthy  race,  which  had  renounced 
the  beautiful  mythology  of  Greece  and  the  martial  gods  of 
Rome,  to  fall  prostrate  before  the   bones  and  mouldering 
relics  of  the  dead.* 


*  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  vol.  v.  pp.  124-130. 
"  Alany  of  the  eminent  fathers,  both  for  learning  and  devotion,  made 

E 


50  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SOVERElGxNTY. 

So  wretched  did  man"'s  condition  become,  so  soon  as  he 
turned  away  from  God,  and  sought  salvation  in  himself.  In 
the  same  hour  in  which  he  forsook  the  light  he  lost  his 
liberty.  When  he  surrendered  his  faith  he  parted  with  his 
peace.  From  that  moment  his  life  became  barren  of  all 
good,  because  he  strove  to  produce  by  an  effort  of  his  will, 
what  God  had  ordamed  to  spring  only  from  love.  Hope, 
too,  forsook  the  breast,  in  which  she  found  no  solid  footing ; 
and  a  "  doubtsome  faith,"  the  result  partly  of  scepticism 
and  partly  of  indifference,  took  her  place.  The  overmaster- 
ing force  of  evil  desires  began  now  to  be  felt;  and  man  found 
his  own  strength  but  a  feeble  substitute  for  the  grace  of 
God.  Having  taken  upon  himself  the  burden  of  his  own 
salvation,  he  laboui'ed,  in  a  round  of  mortifying  and  painful 
acts,  to  accomplish  a  task  utterly  beyond  his  power.  His 
success  was  far  indeed  from  being  in  proportion  to  his 
efforts.  But  in  this  lay  one  of  the  deep  artifices  of  Popery. 
That  system  employed  the  defilement  of  guilt,  the  slavery  of 
fear,  the  thrall  of  sensuality,  to  complete  its  conquest  over 
man.  Having  put  out  his  eyes.  Popery  led  man  away  to 
grind  in  her  prison-house.  The  perfection  of  error  is  the 
perfection  of  slavery;  and  man  surrendered  himself  with- 
out a  struggle  to  the  dominion  of  this  tyrant.  It  was  not 
till  Truth  came  at  the  Reformation,  that  his  prison-doors 
were  opened,  and  that  the  bondman  was  loosed  and  led 
forth. 

But  the  master  corruption  of  the  age  was  image-worship. 
Blinded  by  error,  and  grown  carnal  in  their  imaginations, 
men  saw  not  the  true  glory  of  the  sanctuary,  and  sought  to 
beautify  it  with  the  fictitious  splendour  of  statues  and  pic- 
tures.    The  promise,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you,"  was  forgotten ; 


rhetorical  panegjTics  of  the  Cliristians  deceased,  wherein,  by  apostrophes 
and  prosopopeias,  they  seemed  to  invoke  souls  dei^arted."  Thus  St  Je- 
rome, in  his  epitaph  of  Paula,  saith,  "  Farewell,  0  Paula ;  and  by  thy 
prayers  help  the  decrepit  age  of  him  that  honours  thee,"  And  so  Na- 
zianzen,  in  his  invectives  against  Julian,  saith,  "  Hear,  0,  thou  soul  of 
great  Constautine."     cDu  Piu's  Ecclcs.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  45.) 


INTRODUCTION  OF  IMAGE  WORSHIP.  51 

and  when  the  worshipper  ceased  to  realize  the  presence  of 
a  spiritual  Being,  the  hearer  of  his   prayer,  he   strove  to 
stimulate  his  flagging  devotion  by  corporeal  representations. 
The  churches,  already  polluted  with  relics,  began  now  to  be 
disgraced  with  images.     Pictures  of  the  saints  and  the  mar- 
tyrs covered  the  walls,  while  the  vestibules  and  niches  were 
occupied  with  statues  of  Christ  and  the  apostles.     These 
were  first  introduced  under  pretext  of  doing  honour  to  those 
whom  they  represented ;  but  the  feeling,  by  a  natural  and 
unavoidable  process,  rapidly  degenerated  into  worship.    This 
was  a  master-stroke  of  the  enemy.     In  no  other  way  could 
he  so  effectually  have  withdrawn  the  contemplation  of  man 
from  the  region  of  the  spiritual,  and  defaced,  and  ultimate- 
ly destroyed  in  his  mind,  all  true  conceptions  of  the  invisible 
Jehovah.     It  trained  man,  even  in  his  devotions,  to  think 
only  of  what  he  saw ;  and  from  thinking  only  of  what  he 
sees,  the  step  is  an  easy  one  to  believe  only  in  what  he  sees. 
It  brought  man  from  the  heavens,  and  chained  him  to  the 
earth.     The  rise  of  image-worship  was  the  return  of  the 
ancient  idolatry.     The  body  ecclesiastic  had  ceased  to  be 
Christian,  and  had  become  pagan.     The  Church,  planted  by 
the  labours  of  the  apostles,  and  watered  by  the  blood  of 
martyrs,  had  disappeared ;  and  an  idolatrous  and  polytheis- 
tic institute  had  been  substituted  in  its  room.     There  was 
not  less  cause  than  formerly  for  the  lament,  "  I  planted  thee 
a  noble  vine ;    how  then  art  thou  become  the  degenerate 
plant  of  a  strange  vine  V 

We  enter  at  greater  length  on  the  subject  of  image- wor- 
ship, because  it  forms  an  important  branch  of  the  idolatry  of 
Rome,  and  because  it  is  intimately  connected  with  the  rise 
of  the  temporal  sovereignty.  It  was  in  the  east  that  this 
superstition  first  arose,  but  it  was  in  the  west  that  it  found 
its  most  zealous  patrons  and  champions  ;  and  none  discover- 
ed greater  ardour  in  this  evil  cause  than  the  popes  of  Rome. 
Its  rise  was  as  early  as  its  progress  was  gradual.  "  The 
first  notice,"  says  Gibbon,  "  of  the  use  of  pictures  is  in  the 
censure  of  the  Council  of  Illiberis,  three  hundred  years  aftiT 


52  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SOVEREIGNTY. 

the  Christian  era.'"*  "  The  first  introduction  of  a  symbolic 
worship,"  continues  the  historian,  "  was  in  the  veneration  of 
the  cross  and  of  relics.  .......  But  a  memo- 
rial more  interesting  than  the  skull  or  the  sandals  of  a 
departed  worthy,  is  a  faithful  copy  of  his  person  and  fea- 
tures, delineated  by  the  arts  of  painting  or  sculpture.  .  . 
By  a  slow  though  inevitable  progres- 
sion, the  honours  of  the  original  were  transferred  to  the 
copy  ;  the  devout  Christian  prayed  before  the  image  of  a 
saint,   and  the  pagan  rites  of  genuflexion,  luminaries,  and 

incense,  again  stole  into  the  Catholic  Church 

The  use,  and  even  the  worship,  of  images 

was  firmly  established  before  the  end  of  the  sixth  cen- 
tury.-|-  From  this  time  the  idolatry  rapidly  increased. 
Writing  of  the  seventh  century,  we  find  Gibbon  stating  that 
"  the  throne  of  the  Almighty  was  darkened  by  a  cloud  of 
martyrs,  and  saints,  and  angels."!  In  this  Gibbon  is  con- 
firmed by  the  testimony  of  Mosheim,  who  states  that  "  in 
this  age,  {i.  e.  the  seventh  century),  they  who  were  called 
Christians  worshipped  the  wooden  cross,  the  images  of 
saints,  and  bones  of  men,  they  knew  not  whom." 

A  century  later,  the  famous  dispute  between  the  eastern 
emperors  and  the  western  popes  had  broken  out.  The 
Christians  of  the  east,  alarmed  by  the  magnitude  of  the 
abuse,  and  stung  by  the  reproaches  of  the  Jews,  and  the 
railleries — all  the  more  severe  that  they  were  merited— of 
the  Mussulmans,  who  now  reigned  at  Damascus,  strove  to 
effect  a  partial  reformation.  Their  wishes  were  powerfully 
seconded  by  the  Emperor  Leo  III.,  who  proscribed  by  edict 
the  worship  of  images,  and  ordered  the  churches  to  be 
cleansed.  These  proceedings  roused  the  ire  of  the  reigning 
pontiff",  Gregory  II.  The  eloquence  of  the  monks  was 
evoked,  and  the  thunders  of  excommunication  were  hurled 
against  the  imperial  iconoclast ;  and  Leo  was  pronounced 

*  Decline  and  Full  of  tlio  Eoman  Eminre,  vol.  ix.  pp.  117,  US. 
t  Ibid.  vol.  ix.  p.  119.  J  Ibid.  vol.  ix.  p.  2G2. 


ICONOCLAST  DISPUTES.  53 

nn  apostate,  because  he  worshipped  as  the  apostles  and 
primitive  Christians  had  worshipped,  and  because  he  sought 
to  lead  back  his  people  to  the  same  scriptural  model.  When 
it  was  found  that  the  spiritual  artillery  had  failed  to  take  ef- 
fect, earthly  weapons  were  employed.  Italy  was  excited  to 
revolt,  and  a  contest  was  commenced,  which  was  continued 
for  a  hundred  and  twenty  years.  The  Italians  were  absolved 
by  the  pontiff  from  their  allegiance  to  the  Emperor,  and  the 
revenue  of  Italy  ceased  to  be  sent  to  Constantinople,  To 
chastise  these  rebellious  proceedings,  Leo  despatched  his 
fleet  to  the  coast  of  Italy ;  but  the  Italians,  inspired  by 
fanaticism  and  rebellion,  made  a  desperate  resistance,  and 
after  a  vast  loss  of  life,  and  the  ravage  of  several  of  the 
fairest  provinces  of  the  empire,  the  expedition  was  forced  to 
return  without  having  accomplished  its  object.  The  quar- 
rel was  taken  up  by  successive  emperors  on  the  one  side 
and  successive  popes  on  the  other,  and  prosecuted  with  un- 
abated violence  and  various  success.  Councils  were  con- 
voked to  give  judgment  in  the  matter.  The  Council  of 
Constantinople,  a.D.  754,*  summoned  by  Constantino  Co- 
pronymus,  condemned  the  worship,  and  also  the  use,  of 
images.  The  Council  of  Nice,  in  Bithynia,  A.  D.  786,  known 
as  the  second  Nicene  Council,  convoked  by  the  fair  but  fla- 
gitious Irene,  the  widow  and  murderess  of  Leo  IV.,  reversed 
the  sentence  of  the  Council  of  Constantinople,  and  restored 
the  worship  of  images. *f*  Leo  V.  condemned  these  idols  to 
a  second  exile,  but  they  were  recalled  by  the  Empress  Theo- 
dora, A.D.  842,1  never  more  to  be  expelled  from  the  east, 
till  they  and  their  worshippers  were  extirpated  toa^ether  in 


*  Du  Pin,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii..  Councils  of  the  Church,  p.  32.  The 
cause  of  images  was  su^jported  then,  as  now,  by  a  goodly  array  of  miracles. 
One  woman  was  smitten  with  "  a  pain  in  the  back,  for  speaking  with 
little  respect  of  the  relics  of  St  Anastasius  ;"  Avhilc  another  woman,  pos- 
sessed with  a  devil,  was  cured  by  reverently  touching  Anastasius'  image 
at  Rome.     (See  Du  Pin,  nt  siqyra) 

f  See  Second  Council  of  Nice,  Du  Pin,  vol.  ii.  p.  32. 

i  Du  Pin,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  43. 


54  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SOVEREIGNTY. 

the  fourteenth  century  by  the  sword  of  the  Turks.  Rome 
and  Italy  yielded  in  this  matter  the  most  profound  sub- 
mission to  the  Popes,  who  showed  themselves  throughout 
the  zealous  and  truculent  defenders  of  image-worship.  The 
churches  of  France,  Germany,  England,  and  Spain,  held  a 
middle  course.  They  condemned  the  adoration  of  images, 
but  they  adopted  the  perilous  course  of  tolerating  them  in 
their  churches  as  "  the  memorials  of  faith  and  history."* 
Of  these  sentiments  was  Charlemagne,  who  endeavoured,  but 
in  vain,  to  stem  the  torrent  of  superstition.  The  unanimous 
decree  of  the  Council  which  he  assembled  at  Frankfort,  A.  D. 
794,  could  not  counteract  the  influence  arising  from  the 
example  and  authority  of  the  pontiff.  Charlemagne  found 
that  the  power  which  had  enabled  him  to  become  master  of 
all  the  western  nations,  was  not  sufficient  to  enable  him  to 
cope  successfully  with  the  rising  superstition  of  the  age. 
The  cause  of  image-worship  continued  silently  to  progress, 
and  it  speedily  attained  in  the  west,  as  it  had  already  done 
in  the  east,  a  universal  triumph. 

Though  the  quarrel,  as  regards  the  main  point  in  dispute, 
had  the  same  issue,  both  in  the  east  and  in  the  west,  it 
led  nevertheless  to  a  final  separation  between  the  two 
churches.  It  directly  contributed,  as  we  have  already  said, 
to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  Pope's  temporal  sovereignty.  In 
the  heat  of  the  conflict,  the  Italian  provinces  were  torn  from 
the  emperor,  and  their  government  was  virtually  assumed 
by  the  pontiffs.  "  In  that  schism,"  says  Gibbon,  "  the  Ro- 
mans had  tasted  of  freedom,  and  the  popes  of  sovereignty ."•!- 


*  Mosheim,  cent.  viii.  part  ii.  chap.  iii.  sec.  xiv. :  Gibbon,  vol.  ix.  p.  171. 
Anastasius,  an  abbot  of  the  monastery  of  St  Euthemius,  in  Palestine,  and 
who  flourished  about  a.  d.  740,  observes,  in  a  work  on  the  Christian  reli- 
gion, a  copy  of  Avhich  is  found  in  Greek  in  the  Vatican  Library, — "  When 
Christians  honour  images,  they  do  not  adore  the  wood,  but  their  respect 
refers  to  Christ  and  his  saints ;  and  that  they  are  so  far  from  adoring 
images,  that  when  they  are  grown  old  and  spoiled,  they  burn  them  to 
make  new  ones."     (Du  Pin,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  35.) 

t  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  vol.  ix.  p.  172. 


REAL  ORIGIN  OF  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY.  55 

"  Rome  raised  her  throne,"  to  use  D'Aubigne's  words,  "  be- 
tween two  revolts."  On  the  one  side  Italy  threw  off  the 
yoke  of  the  eastern  emperors;  on  the  other,  France  discarded 
her  ancient  dynasty,  and  both  revolts  M-ere  zealously  encou- 
raged and  formally  sanctioned  by  the  popes.  It  is  difficult 
to  say  which  of  the  two, — the  Greek  schism  or  the  Gallic 
usurpation, — contributed  most  to  elevate  the  Papacy  to  tem- 
poral sovereignty. 

Such  is  the  real  origin  of  the  Pope''s  power.  According 
to  his  own  claim,  it  is  of  heaven ;  but  history  refuses  to  let 
the  claim  pass  current,  and  points  unequivocally  to  a  differ- 
ent quarter  as  the  source  of  his  prerogative.  Of  the  two 
branches  of  his  power, — the  sacerdotal  and  the  regal, — it  is 
hard  to  determine  which  is  the  most  disreputable  and  in- 
famous in  its  beginnings.  His  mitre  he  had  from  the  mur- 
derer Phocas  ;  his  crown  from  the  usurper  Pepin.  A  spot- 
less and  noble  lineage  forsooth  !  The  pontifical  trunk  has 
one  stem  rooted  rankly  in  blood,  and  the  other  foully 
grafted  on  rebellion.  As  a  priest,  the  Pope  is  qualified 
to  minister  in  the  ensanguined  temples  of  JNIoloch  ;  as  a 
sovereign,  his  title  is  indisputable  to  act  the  satrap  under 
the  arch-rebel  and  "  anarch  old."  No  one  can  glance  a 
moment  at  the  contour  of  his  character,  as  seen  in  history, 
without  feeling  that  the  hideous  likeness  on  which  he  gazes 
is  that  of  the  Antichrist.  Every  line  of  his  visage,  every  pas- 
sage of  his  history,  is  full  of  antagonism,  is  the  very  counter- 
part, of  that  of  the  Saviour.  "All  these  things  will  I  give  thee," 
said  the  tempter  to  Christ  in  the  wilderness,  "  if  thou  wilt 
fall  down  and  worship  me."  "  Get  thee  hence,  Satan,"  was 
the  reply.  The  fiend  returned  after  three  hundred  years, 
and,  leading  the  pontiff  to  the  summit  of  the  Roman  hill, 
showed  him  "  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of 
them."  "  All  these,"  said  he,  "  will  I  give  thee,  if  thou  wilt 
fdll  down  and  worship  me."  No  second  denial  awaited  the 
tempter :  instantly  the  knee  was  bent,  and  the  pontiff  raised 
his  head  crowned  with  the  tiara.  Twice  has  Christianity 
been  crowned  in  bitter  derision  and  mockery  of  her  cha- 


56  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SOVEREIGNTV. 

racter.  Once  with  a  crown  of  thorns  by  the  blasphemers  of 
Caiaphas"*  hall ;  and  now  again  with  the  tiara,  in  the  person 
of  the  pontiff.  Never  did  she  demean  herself  with  such 
divine  dignity  as  when  the  thorns  girt  her  brow ;  but,  ah ! 
the  burning  shame  of  the  tiara. 

It  is  farther  worthy  of  notice,  that  at  the  same  time,  and 
to  a  great  degree  by  the  same  acts,  did  the  bishops  of  Rome 
establish  the  worship  of  images,  and  consolidate  their  own 
jurisdiction  as  temporal  sovereigns.     These  two  form  ana- 
logous stages  in  the  career  of  the  Papacy.     They  mani- 
fest an  equal  decline  and  advance, — a  decline  in  the  spiri- 
tual, and  an  advance  in  the  secular  element.     By  the  first, 
Rome  perfected  the  corruption  of  her  worship ;  by  the  se- 
cond, she  perfected  the  corruption  of  her  government.  There 
was  a  meetness,  therefore,  in  the  two  being  attained  at  the 
same  period.     These  two  constitute  the  leading  branches  of 
the  Romish  apostacy, — idolatry  and  tyranny.     These  are  the 
two  arms  of  the  Papacy, — superstition  and  the  sword: 
both  arms  were  now  grown ;  and  thus  Rome  was  equipped 
for  her  terrible  mission.     Her  inglorious  task  was  to  bow 
down  the  world  in  ignominious  thraldom,  and  her  two-edged 
sword  made  it  equally  easy  to  enslave  the  mind  and  to  ty- 
rannize over  the  body.     Her  idolatry  was  to  display  itself 
m  yet  grosser  forms,  and  her  political  power  was  to  be 
vastly  enlarged  by  new  accessions  of  dominion  and  influ- 
ence ;  but  the  world  had  now  a  fair  specimen  of  the  leading 
principles  and  organization  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
Rome  was  to  be  a  temple   of  idols,   not  a  sanctuary  of 
truth ;   a  hierarchy,  not  a  brotherhood.     Were  we  called 
upon  to  fix  on  a  period  when  Rome  completed  her  transi- 
tion from  Christianity  to  Paganism,  we  would  fix  on  this 
era.     Henceforward  she  did  not  deserve  to  be  regarded 
in  any  sense  as  a  Church.     She  was  not  simply  a  corrupt 
Church ;  she  was  a  pagan  institute.     The  symbols  of  the 
Apocalypse  had  now  found  their  verification  in  the  corrup- 
tions of  Europe  :  the  temple  had  been  measured ;  the  outer 
court  and  the  city  had  been  given  over  to  the  Gentiles ;  and 


CHRISTIANITY  DISPLACED  BY  PAGANISM,  57 

the  Church  was  restricted  to  the  select  company  which 
ministered  at  the  altar  within. 

Into  this  sad  condition  had  the  Roman  Church  now 
come.  She  had  begun  in  the  spirit  and  been  made  perfect 
in  the  flesh.  The  spiritual  she  had  renounced,  as  contain- 
ing neither  truth,  nor  beauty,  nor  power.  An  impassable 
gulph  now  divided  her  from  the  form  not  less  than  from 
the  spirit  of  the  early  Church.  She  stood  before  the 
world  as  the  legitimate  successor  of  those  systems  of  error 
and  idolatry  which  in  former  ages  had  burdened  the  earth 
and  affi'onted  heaven.  Her  members  kneeled  before  idols, 
and  her  head  wore  an  earthly  crown.  She  "  had  left  hea- 
ven and  its  spheres  of  light,  to  mingle  in  the  vulgar  interests 
of  citizens  and  princes."*  An  hundred  and  twenty  years 
(the  period  of  the  iconoclast  disputes)  had  God  striven  with 
the  men  of  the  western  Church,  as  he  strove  with  the  an- 
tediluvians in  the  days  of  Noah,  when  the  ark  was  a-build- 
ing ;  but  his  waiting  had  been  in  vain ;  and  henceforward 
Rome  was  to  pursue  her  career  without  let  or  hinderance. 
The  spirit  had  ceased  to  strive  with  her.  The  Gothic 
scourge,  sent  to  turn  her  from  these  dumb  idols,  had  failed 
to  induce  repentance  or  reformation.  Righteously,  there- 
fore, was  she  given  over  to  the  dominion  of  grosser  delusions, 
to  the  commission  of  more  aggravated  crimes,  and  to  the 
infliction,  at  last,  of  an  unspeakably  tremendous  doom. 


*  D'Aubigne,  vol.  i.  p.  71. 


58  RISE  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 


We  left  the  Papacy,  at  the  opening  of  the  ninth  century, 
reposing  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  Carlovingian  monarchy. 
One  grand  stage  in  its  progress  had  been  accomplished. 
The  battle  for  the  temporal  sovereignty  had  been  fought 
and  won.  A  ci'owned  priest  now  sat  upon  the  Seven  Hills. 
From  this  time  another  and  far  mightier  object  began  to 
occupy  the  ambition  and  exercise  the  genius  of  Eome.  To 
occupy  a  seat  overshadowed  by  the  loftier  throne  of  the 
emperors  would  not  satisfy  the  vast  ambition  of  the  pon- 
tiffs, and  accordingly  there  was  now  commenced  the  struggle 
for  the  temporal  supremacy. 

There  was  an  obvious  incompatibility  between  the  lofty 
spiritual  powers  claimed  by  the  pontiffs,  and  their  subordina- 
tion to  secular  authority ;  nevertheless,  at  this  time,  and 
for  some  ages  afterwards,  the  popes  ivere  subject  to  the 
emperors.  Charlemagne  was  lord  paramount  of  E-ome, 
and  the  territories  of  the  Church  were  a  fief  of  the  Emperor. 
The  son  of  Pepin  wore  the  imperial  diadem,  and,  in  the 
words  of  Ranke,  "  performed  unequivocal  acts  of  sovereign 
authority  in  the  dominions  conferred  on  St  Peter."*     Never- 


Ranke's  History  of  the  Popes,  vol.  i.  p.  15. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  SUrREMACY.  59 

theless  he  had  received  the  empire  in  a  way  which  left  it 
undecided  whether  he  owed  it  more  to  his  own  merit  or  to 
the  pontiff's  favour,  and  whether  he  held  it  solely  in  virtue 
of  his  own  right,  and  not  also,  in  good  degree,  as  the  gift 
of  Leo.  The  Pope  was  nominally  subject  to  the  Emperor, 
but  in  many  vital  points  the  first  was  last ;  and  he  who  now 
wrote  himself  "  a  servant  of  servants,"  was  fulfilling  in  a 
bad  sense  what  our  Lord  intended  in  a  good, — "  Whosoever 
will  be  the  greatest  among  you,  let  him  be  the  servant  of 
all."  The  popes  had  not  yet  advanced  a  direct  and  formal 
claim  to  dispose  of  crowns  and  kingdoms,  but  the  germ  of 
such  a  claim  was  contained,  first,  in  the  acts  which  they 
now  performed.  They  had  already  taken  it  upon  them  to 
sanction  the  transference  of  the  crown  of  France  from  the 
Merovingian  to  the  Carlovingian  famil}^  And  on  what 
principle  had  they  done  so?  Why  did  the  Pope,  rather 
than  any  other  prince,  profess  to  give  validity  to  Pepin"'s 
right  to  the  throne  of  France  ?  Why,  seeing,  as  a  temporal 
ruler,  he  was  the  least  powerful  and  independent  sovereign 
in  Europe,  did  he,  of  all  men,  interpose  his  prerogative  in 
the  luatter?  The  principle  on  which  he  proceeded  was 
plainly  this, — that  in  virtue  of  his  spiritual  character  he  was 
superior  to  earthly  dignities,  and  had  been  vested  in  the 
power  of  controlling  and  disposing  of  such  dignities.*  The 
same  principle  is  yet  more  clearly  involved  in  the  bestowal 
of  the  imperial  dignity  on  Charlemagne.  That  the  popes 
themselves  held  this  principle  to  be  implied  in  these  pro- 
ceedings, though  as  yet  they  kept  the  claim  in  the  back- 
ground, is  plain  from  the  fact  that,  at  an  after  period,  and 
in  more  favourable  circumstances,  they  founded  on  these 
acts  in  proof  of  the  dependence  of  the  emperors,  and  their 
own  right  to  confer  the  empire.  It  was  the  usual  manner 
of  the  Papacy  to  perform  acts  which,  as  they  appeared  to 


*  It  is  still  vmdecided  among  Romanist  writers  whether  the  Pope's  re- 
jection of  Childeric  was  a  point  of  authority  or  a  point  of  casuistry.  The 
Ultra-raontanists  maintain  the  former. 


CO  RISE  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 

contain  no  principles  hostile  to  the  rights  of  society  or  the 
prerogatives  of  princes,  were  permitted  to  pass  unchallenged 
at  the  time ;  but  the  Popes  took  cai-e  afterwards  to  improve 
them,  by  founding  upon  them  the  most  extravagant  and  am- 
bitious claims.  In  nothing  have  the  plausibility  and  artifice 
of  the  system  and  its  patrons  been  more  plainly  shown. 

But,  second,  the  principle  on  which  the  whole  system  of 
the  popes  was  founded,  virtually  implied  their  supremacy 
over  kings  as  well  as  over  priests.  They  claimed  to  be  the 
successors  of  Peter  and  the  vicars  of  Christ.  But  Christ  is 
Lord  of  the  world  as  well  as  Head  of  the  Church.  He  is  a 
King  of  kings  ;  and  the  popes  aimed  at  exhibiting  on  earth 
an  exact  model  or  representation  of  Christ^s  government  in 
heaven ;  and  accordingly  they  strove  to  reduce  monarchs  to 
the  rank  of  their  vassals,  and  assume  into  their  own  hands 
the  management  of  all  the  affairs  of  earth.  If  their  claim 
was  a  just  one, — if  they  were  indeed  the  vicars  of  Christ 
and  the  vicegerents  of  God,  as  they  affirmed, — there  were 
plainly  no  bounds  to  their  authority,  either  in  temporal  or 
spiritual  matters.  The  symbol  which  to  pontifical  rheto- 
ric has  alone  seemed  worthy  to  shadow  forth  the  more  than 
mortal  magnificence  of  the  popes  is  the  sun,  which,  they 
tell  us,  the  Creator  has  set  in  the  heavens  as  the  representa- 
tive of  the  pontifical  authority ;  while  the  moon,  shining  with 
borrowed  splendour,  has  formed  the  humble  symbolization 
of  the  secular  power.  According  to  their  theory,  there  was 
strictly  but  one  ruler  on  earth, — the  Pope.  In  him  all 
authority  was  centred.  From  him  all  rule  and  jurisdiction 
emanated.  From  him  kings  received  their  crowns,  and 
priests  their  mitres.  To  him  all  were  accountable,  while  he 
was  accountable  to  no  one  save  God  alone.  The  pontiffs, 
we  say,  judged  it  premature  to  startle  the  world  as  yet  by 
an  undisguised  and  open  avowal  of  this  claim :  they  ac- 
counted it  sufficient,  meanwhile,  to  embody  its  fundamental 
principles  in  the  decrees  of  councils  and  in  the  pontifical 
acts,  and  allow  them  to  lie  dormant  there,  in  the  hope  that 
a  better  age  would  arrive,  when  it  would  be  possible  to  avow 


POPES  NOMINATE  THE  EMPERORS.  61 

in  plain  terms,  and  enforce  by  direct  acts,  a  claim  which 
they  had  put  forth  only  infcrentially  as  yet.  But  to  make 
good  this  claim  was  the  grand  object  of  Rome  from  the 
beginning ;  and  this  object  she  steadily  pursued  through  a 
variety  of  fortune  and  a  succession  of  centuries.  The  vast- 
noss  of  the  object  was  equalled  by  the  ability  and  perse- 
verance with  which  it  was  prosecuted.  The  policy  of  Rome 
was  profound,  subtle,  patient,  unscrupulous,  and  audacious. 
And  as  she  has  had  no  rival  as  respects  the  greatness  of  the 
prize  and  the  qualities  with  which  she  has  contended  for  it, 
so  neither  has  she  had  a  rival  in  the  dazzlino-  success  with 
which  at  last  her  contest  was  crowned. 

With  Charlemagne  expired  the  military  genius  and  poli- 
tical sagacity  which  had  founded  the  empire.  His  power 
now  passed  into  hands  too  feeble  to  save  the  state  from 
convulsions  or  the  empire  from  dissolution.  Quarrels  and 
disputes  arose  among  the  inheritors  of  his  dominions.  The 
popes  were  called  in,  and  asked  to  employ  their  paternal 
authority  and  ghostly  wisdom  in  the  settlement  of  these 
diflPerences.  With  a  well-feigned  coyness,  but  real  delight 
at  having  found  so  plausible  a  pretext  for  advancing  their 
own  pretensions,  they  undertook  the  task,  and  executed  it  to 
such  good  purpose,  that  while  they  took  care  of  the  interests 
of  their  clients,  they  very  considerably  promoted  their  own. 
Hitherto  the  pontiff  had  been  raised  to  his  dignity  by  the 
suffrages  of  the  bishops,  accompanied  by  the  acclamation  of 
the  Roman  people  and  the  ratification  of  the  emperor.  For 
till  the  imperial  consent  had  been  signified,  the  newly-elected 
pontiff  could  not  be  legally  consecrated.  But  this  badge  of 
subordination,  if  not  of  servitude,  the  popes  resolved  no 
longer  to  wear.  Was  it  to  be  endured  that  the  vicegerent 
of  God  should  reign  only  by  the  sufferance  of  the  French 
emperor?  Must  that  authority  which  came  direct  from 
the  great  apostle  be  countersigned  by  a  mere  dignitary  of 
earth  ?  These  ambitious  projects  the  popes  had  found  it 
prudent  to  repress  hitherto ;  but  now  the  sword  of  Charle- 
magne was  in  the  dust,  and  they  could  deal  as  they  listed 


62  RISE  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 

with  the  puppets  who  had  stood  up  in  his  room.  A  course 
of  policy  was  adopted,  consisting  of  alternate  cajolery  and 
browbeating,  in  which  the  emperors  had  decidedly  the 
worst  of  it.  Their  privilege  of  giving  a  valid  and  legal  right 
to  the  tiara  was  wrested  from  them ;  and  the  popes  ma- 
noeuvred so  successfully  as  to  keep  the  imperial  preroga- 
tive in  abeyance  till  the  times  of  Otho  the  Great.  Inimi- 
table adroitness  did  the  Papacy  display  in  turning  to  account 
the  troubles  of  the  times.  Like  a  knowing  trader  at  a  com- 
mercial crisis  with  plenty  of  ready  cash  in  hand,  the  popes 
did  such  an  amount  of  business  in  Peter's  name,  that  they 
vastly  increased  the  credit  and  revenues  of  his  see.  So 
wisely  did  they  lay  out  their  available  stock  of  influence, 
that  their  house  now  became,  and  for  some  time  afterwards 
continued  to  be,  the  first  establishment  in  Europe.  Of  the 
many  bidders  for  a  share  in  the  trade  of  the  great  Fisher- 
man, none  were  admitted  into  the  concern  but  such  as 
brought  with  them,  in  some  shape  or  other,  good  solid  capi- 
tal ;  and  thus  the  business  went  on  every  day  improving. 
Monarchs  were  aided,  but  on  all  such  occasions  the  popes 
took  care  that  the  chair  of  Peter  should  receive  in  return 
sevenfold  what  it  gave. 

The  posterity  of  Charlemagne  at  this  time  contested 
with  one  another,  in  a  sanguinary  war,  their  rights  to  the 
throne  of  their  illustrious  father.  By  large  presents,  and 
yet  larger  promises,  Charles  the  Bald  was  fortunate  enough 
to  engage  the  reigning  pontiff,  John  VIIL,  in  his  interests. 
From  that  moment  the  contest  was  no  longer  doubtful. 
Charles  was  proclaimed  Emperor  by  the  Pope  in  A.D.  876. 
A  service  so  important  deserved  to  be  suitably  acknow- 
ledged. The  monarch's  gratitude  for  his  throne  was  embo- 
died in  an  act,  by  which  he  surrendered  for  himself  and  his 
successors  all  right  of  interfering  in  the  election  to  the  pon- 
tifical chair.  Henceforward,  till  the  middle  of  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, the  imperial  sanction  was  dispensed  with,  and  the  pon- 
tiffs mounted  the  chair  of  Peter  without  acknowledging  in 
the  matter  either  king  or  kaisir.     In  this  the  pontificate 


FALSE  DECRETALS  OF  ISIDORE.  63 

had  achieved  a  great  victory  over  the  empire.  Nor  was  this 
the  only  advantage  which  the  pontiffs  gained  in  that 
struggle  with  the  imperial  power  into  which  they  had  been 
temptingly  drawn  by  the  unsettled  character  of  the  times. 
In  the  case  of  Charles  the  Bald  the  Pope  had  nominated 
the  Emperor.  The  same  act  was  repeated  in  the  case  of  his 
successors,  Carloman  and  Charles  the  Gross.  It  was  con- 
tinued in  the  contests  for  the  empire  which  followed  the 
reigns  of  these  princes.  The  candidate  who  was  rich 
enough  to  offer  the  largest  bribe,  or  powerful  enough  to 
appear  with  an  army  at  the  gates  of  Rome,  was  invariably 
crowned  emperor  in  the  Vatican.  Thus,  as  the  State  dis- 
solved, the  Church  waxed  in  strength.  What  the  one  lost 
the  other  drew  to  herself.  The  popes  did  not  trouble  the 
world  with  any  formal  statement  of  their  principles  on  the 
head  of  the  supremacy;  they  were  content  to  embody  them 
in  acts.  They  were  wise  enough  to  know,  that  the  speediest 
way  of  getting  the  world  to  acknowledge  theoretic  truth  is 
to  familiarize  it  with  its  practical  applications, — to  ask  its 
approval  of  it,  not  as  a  theory,  but  as  a  fact.  Thus  the 
popes,  by  a  bold  course  of  dexterous  management,  and  of 
audacious  but  successful  aggression,  laboured  to  weave  the 
doctrine  of  the  supremacy  into  the  general  policy  of  Europe. 
But  for  the  rise,  in  the  tenth  century,  of  a  new  power  supe- 
rior to  the  Franks,  Rome  would  now  have  reached  the  sum- 
mit of  her  wishes.* 

No  weapon  was  too  base  for  the  use  of  Rome.  Her  hand 
grasped  with  equal  avidity  the  forged  document  and  the 
hired  daffcrer.  Both  were  sanctified  in  her  service.  In  the 
beginning  of  the  ninth  century  came  the  decretals  of  Isidore. 
These  professed  to  be  a  collection  of  the  decrees  and  re- 

*  As  the  author's  object  here  is  simply  to  trace  the  influence  of  admitted 
facts  upon  the  development  of  the  Paimcy,  he  thinks  it  enough  to  refer 
generally  to  his  authorities.  His  leading  authorities  are,  Eanke,  vol.  i. ; 
Gibbon,  vol.  ix. ;  INIosheim,  cent.  ix.  and  x. ;  Ilallam's  Hist,  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  vol.  i.  chap.  vii. ;  Sismondi's  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  chap.  xix. 
XX,;  &c.  &c. 


64)  RISE  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 

scripts  of  the  early  councils  and  popes,  the  object  of  their 
infamous  author,  who  is  unknown,  being  to  show  that  the 
see  of  Rome  possessed  from  the  very  beginning  all  the  pre- 
rogatives with  which  the  intrigues  of  eight  centuries  had  in- 
vested it.  Their  style  was  so  barbarous,  and  their  ana- 
chronisms and  solecisms  were  so  flagrant,  that  in  no  age  but 
the  most  ignorant  could  they  have  escaped  detection  for  a 
single  hour.  Rome,  nevertheless,  infallibly  decreed  the 
truth  of  what  is  now  universally  acknowledged  to  be  false. 
These  decretals  supported  her  pretensions,  and  that  with  her 
decided  the  question  of  their  authenticity  or  spuriousness. 
There  are  few  who  have  earned  so  well  the  honours  of  ca- 
nonization as  this  unknown  forger.  For  ages  the  decretals 
possessed  the  authority  of  precedents,  and  furnished  Rome 
with  appropriate  weapons  in  her  contests  with  bishops  and 
kings.* 

The  French  power  was  declining ;  that  of  the  Germans 
had  not  yet  risen.  The  pontifical  influence  was,  on  the 
whole,  the  predominating  element  in  Europe;  and  the  popes, 
having  now  no  superior,  and  freed  from  all  restraint,  began 
to  use  the  ample  license  which  the  times  afforded  them,  for 
purposes  so  infamous,  that  they  transcend  description,  and 
well-nigh  belief.  With  the  tenth  century  commence  the  dark 
annals  of  the  Papacy.  The  popes,  although  wholly  devoted 
to  selfish  and  ambitious  pursuits,  had  found  it  prudent  hi- 
therto to  maintain  the  semblance  of  piet}' ;  but  now  even 
that  pretence  was  laid  aside.  Thanks  to  Rome,  the  world 
was  now  prepared  to  see  the  mask  thrown  off.  Europe  had 
reached  a  pitch  of  ignorance  and  superstition,  and  the  Papacy 
a  height  of  insolence  and  truculence,  which  enabled  the 
popes  to  defy  with  impunity  the  fear  of  man  and  the  power 
of  God.  Not  only  were  the  forms  of  religion  contemned; 
the  ordinary  decencies  of  manhood  were  flasfrantlv  outraged. 
We  dare  not  pollute  our  page  with  such  things  as  the  pon- 
tiffs of  this  ago  practised  in  the  face  of  Rome  and  the  world. 

•  See  Du  Pin,  cent.  ix.  j  Hallam,  vol.  i.  pp.  523,  524. 


DISORDERS  OF  THE  PAPAL  SEE.  Go 

The  palaces  of  the  worst  emperors,  the  groves  of  pagan  wor- 
ship, saw  nothing  so  foul  as  the  orgies  of  the  Vatican.  ISIen 
sat  in  the  chair  of  Peter,  whose  consciences  were  loaded  with 
perjuries  and  adulteries,  and  whose  hands  were  stained  with 
murders ;  and  claimed,  as  the  vicars  of  Christ,  a  right  to 
govern  the  Church  and  the  world.  The  intrigues,  the  fraud, 
the  violence,  that  now  raged  at  Rome,  may  be  conceived  of 
from  the  fact,  that  from  the  death  of  Benedict  IV.,  a.d.  903, 
to  the  elevation  of  John  XII.,  A.D.  956, — an  interval  of  only 
fifty-three  years, — not  fewer  than  thirteen  popes  held  succes- 
sively the  pontificate.  The  attempt  were  vain  to  pursue 
these  fleeting  pontifical  phantoms.  Their  brief  but  flagi- 
tious career  was  ended  most  commonly  by  the  lingering  hor- 
rors of  the  dungeon,  or  the  quick  despatch  of  the  poignard. 
It  is  enough  to  mention  the  names  of  a  John  the  Twelfth,  a 
Boniface  the  Seventh,  a  John  the  Twenty-third,  a  Sixtus  the 
Foui'th,  an  Alexander  the  Sixth  (Borgia),  a  Julius  the  Second. 
These  names  stand  associated  with  crimes  of  enormous  mag- 
nitude. This  list  by  no  means  exhausts  the  goodly  band  of 
pontifical  villains.  Simony,  the  good-will  of  a  prostitute,  or 
the  dagger  of  an  assassin,  opened  their  way  to  the  pontifical 
throne;  and  the  use  they  made  of  their  power  formed  a  worthy 
sequel  to  the  infamous  means  by  which  they  had  obtained  it. 
In  the  chair  of  Peter,  the  pontiffs  of  this  and  succeeding  eras 
revelled  in  impiety,  perjury,  lewdness,  sacrilege,  sorcery,  rob- 
bery, and  blood ;  thus  converting  the  palace  of  the  apostle  into 
an  unfathomable  sink  of  abomination  and  filth.  "  A  mass  of 
moral  impurity,"  says  Edgar,  "  might  be  collected  from  the 
Roman  hierarchy,  sufficient  to  crowd  the  pages  of  folios, 
and  glut  all  the  demons  of  pollution  and  malevolence."  The 
age,  too,  was  scandalized  by  frequent  and  flagrant  schisms. 
These  divided  the  nations  of  Christendom,  engendered  san- 
guinary wars,  and  unhinged  society  itself.  For  half  a  cen- 
tury rival  pontifical  thrones  stood  at  Rome  and  Avignon  ; 
and  Europe  wo,s  doomed  daily  to  listen  to  the  dreadful  vol- 
lies  of  spiritual  thunder  which  the  rival  infallibilities.  Urban 
and  Clement,  ever  and  anon  launched  at  one  another,  and 

F 


66  RISE  OP  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 

which,  in  almost  one  continuous  and  stunning  roar,  reverbe- 
rated between  the  Tiber  and  the  Rhone.*  There  is  no  need 
to  darken  the  horrors  of  the  time  by  the  fable  (if  fable  it  be) 
of  a  female  pope,  who  is  said  about  this  time  to  have  filled 
St  Peter's  chair.  The  traditionary  Pope  Joan  is  found, 
perhaps,  in  the  sister-prostitutes,  the  well-known  Marozia 
and  Theodora,  who  now  governed  Rome.  Their  influence, 
founded  on  their  wealth,  their  beauty,  and  their  intrigues, 
enabled  them  to  place  on  the  pontifical  throne  whom  they 
would  ;  and  not  unfrequently  they  promoted,  without  a  blush, 
their  paramours  to  the  holy  chair.  Such  were  the  dark 
transactions  of  the  period,  and  such  the  scenes  that  signal- 
ized the  advent  of  the  Papacy  to  temporal  power.  The 
revels  of  Ahasuerus  and  Haman  were  concluded  with  the 
bloody  decree  which  delivered  over  a  whole  nation  to  the 
sword.  The  yet  guiltier  revels  of  the  Papacy  were,  in  like 
manner,  followed  in  due  time  by  ages  of  proscription  and 
slaughter.-f- 

In  tracing  the  rise  of  the  temporal  supremacy,  we  are  now 
brought  to  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century.  Otho  the  Great 
appears  upon  the  stage.  With  a  vigorous  hand  did  these 
German  conquerors  grasp  the  imperial  diadem  which  the 
degenerate  descendants  of  Charlemagne  were  no  longer 
either  worthy  to  wear  or  able  to  defend.  Otho  found  the 
Papacy  running  a  career  of  crime,  and  in  some  danger  of 
perishing  in  its  own  corruption.     He  interposed  his  sword, 


*  Romanist  historians  have  drawn  this  part  of  the  pontifical  annals 
in  colours  as  dark  as  those  employed  by  Protestant  writers.  Tlie  best 
friends  of  the  Popedom,  such  as  Petavius,  Luitprand,  Baronius,  Hermann, 
Labbe,  Du  Pin,  &c.  &c.  labour  for  language  to  depict  the  enormous  abuses 
of  the  papal  rule.  Baronius  speaks  of  these  pontiffs  entering  as  thieves,  and 
dying,  as  tliey  deserved,  by  the  rope.  Of  the  three  candidates  which  occa- 
sioned the  schism  of  a.d,  1044,  Binius  and  Labbe  remark, "  A  three-headed 
Beast,  rising  from  the  gates  of  hell,  infested  in  a  woful  manner  the  holy 
cliair,"  This  monster,  of  course,  is  a  link  in  the  chain  of  apostolic  succes- 
sion,    (See  Edgar's  Variations,  chap,  i.) 

+  See  G  ibbon,  vol,  ix.  p,  200 ;  and  even  the  papal  historians  of  the  period. 


RISE  OF  THE  GERMAN  POWER.  67 

and  averted  its  otherwise  inevitable  fate.  It  did  not  suit 
the  designs  of  the  German  emperors  that  the  Papacy  shoukl 
suffer  a  premature  extinction.  It  might  be  turned,  they 
were  not  slow  to  perceive,  to  great  account  in  the  way  of 
consolidating  and  extending  their  own  imperial  dignity,  and 
therefore  they  strove  to  reform,  not  destroy,  Rome.  They 
rescued  the  chair  of  Peter  from  its  worst  foes,  its  occupants. 
They  deposed  several  popes  notorious  for  their  vices,  and 
exalted  others  of  purer  morals  to  the  pontifical  dignity.* 
Thus  the  Papacy  had  found  a  new  master;  for  Otho  and  his 
descendants  were  as  much  the  liege  lords  of  the  popedom  as 
the  monarchs  of  the  Carlovingian  line  had  been.-f-  The 
popes  were  now  obliged  to  surrender  the  powers  they  had 
usurped  during  the  time  that  the  imperial  sceptre  was  in 
the  feeble  hands  of  the  last  of  the  posterity  of  Charlemagne. 
In  particular,  the  rights  of  which  Charles  the  Bald  had  been 
stripped  were  now  given  back.j  The  emperors  again  nomi- 
nated the  pope.§  When  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the  chair 
of  St  Peter,  envoys  from  Rome  announced  the  fact  at  the 
court  of  the  emperor,  and  waited  the  signification  of  his  will 
respecting  a  successor.  This  substantial  right  of  interfering 
when  a  new  pope  was  to  be  elected,  which  the  emperors 
possessed,  was  very  inadequately  balanced  by  the  empty  and 
nominal  power  enjoyed  by  the  popes,  of  placing  the  impe- 
rial crown  on  the  emperor's  head.  "  The  prince  elected  in 
the  German  Diet,"  says  Gibbon,  "  acquired  from  that  in- 
stant the  subject  kingdoms  of  Italy  and  Rome ;  but  he 
might  not  legally  assume  the  titles  of  Emperor  and  Augus- 
tus, till  he  had  received  the  crown  from  the  hands  of  the 
Roman  pontiff,"  II — a  sanction  that  could  be  withheld  with 
difficulty  so  long  as  the  emperor  was  master  of  Rome  and 
her  popes.     But  the  intimate  union  now  existing  between 


*  Sismondi's  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  vol.  ii.  p.  244. ;  Lond.  1834. 
+  Ranke,  vol.  i.  p.  18.  J  Ilallam,  vol.  i.  p.  538. 

§  Ranke,  vol.  i.  chap.  i.  sec.  iii. 
II  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall,  vol.  ix,  pp.  193, 194. 


68  RISE  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 

the  empire  and  the  pontificate  was  productive  of  reciprocal 
advantages,  and  tended  greatly  to  consolidate  and  extend 
the  power  of  both.  The  rise  of  the  French  monarchy  had 
been  owing  in  no  small  degree  to  the  favourable  dispositions 
which  the  kings  of  France  discovered  towards  the  Church. 
The  western  Goths  and  Burgundians  were  sunk  in  Arian- 
ism ;  the  Franks,  from  the  beginning,  had  been  truly  Ca- 
tholic; and  the  popes  did  all  they  could  to  foster  the  growth 
of  a  power  which,  from  similarity  of  creed,  as  well  as  from 
motives  of  policy,  was  so  likely  to  become  their  surest  ally. 
The  miraculous  succours  vouchsafed  to  the  arms  of  the 
French  resolve  themselves,  without  doubt,  into  the  mate- 
rial aids  given  by  the  popes  and  their  agents  to  a  people  in 
whose  success  they  felt  a  deep  interest.  Hence  the  legend, 
according  to  which  St  Martin,  in  the  form  of  a  hind,  disco- 
vered to  Clovis  the  ford  over  the  Vienne ;  and  hence  also 
that  other  fable  which  asserts  that  St  Hillary  preceded  the 
Frank  armies  in  a  column  of  fire.*  The  St  Martin  and  the 
St  Hillary  of  these  legends  were  doubtless  some  bishop,  or 
other  ecclesiastic,  who  rendered  important  services  to  the 
Frank  monarch  and  his  army,  on  the  ground  that,  with  the 
triumph  of  their  arms  was  identified  the  progress  of  the 
Church. 

The  same  influence  was  vigorously  exerted,  from  the  same 
motive,  in  behalf  of  the  German  power.  Monks  and  priests 
preceded  the  imperial  arms,  especially  in  the  east  and  north 
of  Germany ;  and  the  annexation  of  these  countries  to  the 
empire  is  to  be  attributed  fully  as  much  to  the  zeal  of  the 
ecclesiastics  as  to  the  valour  of  the  soldiers.  Nor  did  the 
German  chiefs  show  that  they  were  either  unable  to  ap- 
preciate or  unwilling  to  reward  these  important  services. 
They  lavished  unbounded  wealth  upon  the  clergy,  their  po- 
licy being  to  bind  thereby  this  important  class  to  their  inte- 
rests. No  one  was  more  distinguished  for  his  munificence  in 
this  respect  than  Henry  H.     This  monarch  created  numc- 

*  Ranke's  History  of  the  Popes,  vol.  i.  p.  11. 


TEMPORAL  JURISDICTION  OF  BISHOPS.  CU 

rous  rich  benefices ;  but  the  rigour  with  which  he  insisted 
upon  his  riirht  to  nominate  to  the  livings  he  had  endowed 
betrayed  the  motives  that  prompted  this  great  liberality. 
Abbots  and  bishops  were  exalted  to  the  rank  of  barons  and 
dukes,  and  invested  with  jurisdiction  over  extensive  territo-. 
ries.  "  The  bishoprics  of  Germany,"  says  Gibbon,  "  were 
made  equal  in  extent  and  privilege,  superior  in  wealth  and 
population,  to  the  most  ample  states  of  the  military  order."* 
"  Baronial,  and  even  ducal  rights,"  says  Ranke,  "  were  held 
in  Germany  by  the  bishops  and  abbots  of  the  empire,  not 
within  their  own  possessions  only,  but  even  beyond  them. 
Ecclesiastical  estates  were  no  longer  described  as  situated 
in  certain  counties,  but  these  counties  were  described  as 
situated  in  the  bishopricks.  In  upper  Italy,  nearly  all  the 
cities  were  governed  by  the  viscounts  of  their  bishops. ""f* 
Military  service  was  exacted  of  these  ecclesiastical  barons, 
in  return  for  the  possessions  which  they  held ;  and  not  un- 
frequently  did  bishops  appear  at  the  head  of  their  armed 
vassals,  with  lance  in  hand  and  harness  on  their  backs. 
They  were,  moreover,  addicted  to  the  chase,  of  which  the 
Germans  in  all  ages  have  been  passionately  fond,  and  for 
which  their  vast  forests  have  afforded  ample  scope.  "  Rude 
as  the  Germans  of  the  middle  ages  were,"  observes  Dunham, 
"  to  see  a  successor  of  St  Peter  hallooing  after  his  dogs 
certainly  struck  them  as  incongruous.  Yet  the  bishops,  in 
virtue  of  their  fiefs,  were  compelled  to  send  their  vassals  to 
the  field;  and  no  doubt  they  considered  as  somewhat  incon- 
sistent, a  system  which  commanded  them  to  kill  men,  but  not 
beasts."  J 

The  acquisition  of  wealth  formed  an  important  element 
in  the  growth  of  the  Papacy.  The  Roman  law  did  not  per- 
mit lands  to  be  held  on  mortmain  ;  nevertheless  the  empe- 
rors winked  at  the  possession  by  the  Church  of  immoveable 
possessions,  whose  revenues  furnished  stipends  to  her  pas- 

*  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall,  vol.  ix.  p.  212.  +  Ranke,  vol.  i.  p.  17. 

t  Dunham's  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages,  vol.  ii.  p.  100. 


70  RISE  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 

tors  and  alms  to  her  poor.  No  sooner  did  Constantino 
embrace  Christianity,  than  an  imperial  edict  invested  the 
Church  with  a  legal  right  to  what  she  had  possessed  hither- 
to by  tolerance  only,*  Neither  under  the  empire,  nor  under 
any  of  the  ten  kingdoms  into  which  the  empire  was  ulti- 
mately divided,  did  the  Church  ever  obtain  a  territorial 
establishment ;  but  the  ample  liberality,  first  of  the  Christian 
emperors,  and  next  of  the  barbarian  kings,  did  more  than 
supply  the  want  of  a  general  provision.  For  ages,  wealth 
had  been  flowing  in  upon  the  Church  in  a  torrent;  and  now, 
from  being  the  poorest,  she  had  become  the  wealthiest  cor- 
poration in  Europe.  A  race  of  princes  had  succeeded  to 
the  fishermen  of  Galilee ;  and  the  opulent  nobles  and  citi- 
zens of  the  empire  represented  that  society  whose  first  bonds 
had  been  cemented  in  the  catacombs  under  the  city.  Un- 
der the  Carlovingian  family,  and  the  Saxon  line  of  emperors, 
"  many  churches  possessed  seven  or  eight  thousand  mansi," 
says  Hallam.  "  One  with  but  two  thousand  passed  for  only 
indifferently  rich.-f-  This  vast  opulence  represented  the 
accumulations  and  hoardings  of  many  ages,  and  had  been 
acquired  by  innumerable,  and  sometimes  not  very  honour- 
able, means.  When  a  wealthy  man  entered  a  monastery, 
his  estate  was  thrown  into  the  common  treasury  of  the  bro- 
therhood. When  the  son  of  a  rich  man  took  the  cowl,  he 
recommended  himself  to  the  Church  by  a  donation  of  land. 
To  die  without  leaving  a  portion  of  one's  worldly  goods  to 
the  priesthood  came  to  be  rare,  and  was  regarded  as  a  fraud 
upon  the  Church.  The  monks  sometimes  supplemented  the 
incomes  of  their  houses  by  intromitting  with  the  funds  of 
charities  placed  under  their  control.  The  wealthy  sinner, 
when  about  to  depart,  expressed  his  penitence  in  a  well- 
filled  bag  of  gold,  or  in  a  certain  number  of  broad  acres ; 
and  the  ravening  baron  was  compelled  to  disgorge,  with 
abundant  interest,  on  the  bed  of  death,  the  spoliations  of 


*  Euseb.  Vita  Const,  lib.  ii.  cap.  xxi.  xxxix. 
f  Ilallam's  Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  501. 


ENORMOUS  WEALTH  OP  THE  CHURCH,         71 

church-property  of  which  he  had  been  guilty  during  his  life- 
time. The  fiefs  of  the  nobility,  who  had  beggared  themselves 
by  profligacy,  or  in  the  epidemic  folly  of  the  crusades,  were 
not  unfrequently  brought  into  the  market;  and,  being  offered 
at  a  cheap  rate,  the  Church,  which  had  abundance  of  ready 
money  at  her  command,  became  the  purchaser,  and  so  aug- 
mented her  possessions.  It  is  but  fair  to  state  also,  that  the 
clergy  helped,  in  that  age,  to  add  to  the  wealth  and  beauty 
of  the  country,  by  the  cultivation  of  tracts  of  waste  lands 
which  were  frequently  gifted  to  them.  The  Church  found 
additional  sources  of  revenue  in  the  exemption  from 
taxes,  though  not  from  military  service,  which  her  lands 
enjoyed,  and  in  the  institution  of  tithes,  which,  in  imita- 
tion of  the  Jewish  law,  was  originated  about  the  sixth 
century,  formed  the  main  topic  of  the  sermons  of  the 
eighth,  and  finally  obtained  a  civil  sanction  in  the  ninth, 
under  Charlemagne.  But,  not  content  with  these  varied 
facilities  of  getting  rapidly  and  enormously  rich,  the  monks 
betook  themselves  to  forging  charters, — an  exploit  which 
their  knowledge  of  writing  enabled  them  to  achieve,  and 
which  the  ignorance  of  the  age  rendered  of  very  difficult 
detection.  "  They  did  nearly  enjoy,"  says  Hallam,  "  one 
half  of  England,  and,  I  believe,  a  greater  proportion  in 
some  countries  of  Europe.*"*  This  wealth  was  far  beyond 
the  measure  of  their  own  enjoyment,  and  they  had  no 
families  to  whom  they  might  bequeath  it.  Such  rapacity, 
then,  does  seem  as  unnatural  as  it  was  enormous.  But, 
in  truth,  the  Church  had  fallen  as  entirely  under  the  do- 
minion of  an  unreasonable  and  uncontrollable  passion  as 
the  miser;  she  was,  in  fact,  a  corporate  miser.  This  vast 
wealth,  it  may  easily  be  apprehended,  inflamed  her  insolence 
and  advanced  her  power.  The  power  of  the  Church  became 
greater  every  day, — not  its  power  as  a  Church,  but  as  a  con- 
federation,— and  might  well  excite  alarm  as  to  the  future. 
Here  was  a  body  of  men  placed  under  one  head,  bound  to- 


Ilallam's  Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  chap.  vii. 


72  RISE  OP  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 

getlier  by  a  community  of  interest  and  feeling,  superior  in 
intelligence,  and  therefore  in  influence,  to  the  rest  of  the 
empire,  enormously  rich,  and  exercising  civil  jurisdiction 
over  extensive  tracts  and  vast  populations.  It  was  impos- 
sible to  contemplate  without  misgivings,  so  numerous  and 
compact  a  phalanx.  It  must  have  struck  every  one,  that 
upon  the  moderation  and  fidelity  of  its  members  must  de- 
pend the  repose  of  the  empire  and  the  world  in  time  to 
come.  The  emperors,  secure,  as  they  imagined  themselves, 
in  the  possession  of  the  supremacy,  saw  without  alarm  the 
rise  of  this  formidable  body.  They  looked  upon  it  as  one 
of  the  main  props  of  their  power,  and  felicitated  themselves 
not  a  little  in  having  been  so  fortunate  as  to  entrench  their 
prerogative  behind  so  firm  a  bulwark.  The  appointment  to 
all  ecclesiastical  benefices  was  in  the  emperor's  hands ;  and 
in  augmenting  the  wealth  and  grandeur  of  the  clergy,  they 
doubted  not  that  they  were  consolidating  their  own  autho- 
rity. It  required  no  prophet  to  divine,  that  so  long  as 
the  imperial  sceptre  continued  to  be  grasped  by  a  strong 
hand  and  guided  by  a  firm  mind,  which  it  had  been  since 
it  came  into  the  possession  of  the  German  race,  no  danger 
would  arise ;  but  that  the  moment  this  ceased  to  be  the  case, 
the  pontificate,  already  almost  on  a  level  with  the  empire, 
would  obtain  the  mastery.  Rome  had  been  often  baulked 
in  her  grand  enterprise ;  but  now  her  accommodating,  pa- 
tient, and  persevering  policy  was  about  to  receive  its  re- 
ward. The  hour  was  near  when  her  grandest  hopes  and  her 
loftiest  pretensions  were  to  be  realized, — when  the  throne 
of  God's  vicegerent  was  to  display  itself  in  its  fullest  propor- 
tions, and  be  seen  towering  in  proud  supremacy  above  all 
the  other  thrones  of  earth. 

The  emergency  that  might  have  been  foreseen  had  arisen. 
We  behold  on  the  throne  of  the  empire  a  child,  Henry  IV. ; 
and  in  the  chair  of  St  Peter,  the  astute  Hildebrand.  We 
find  the  empire  torn  by  insurrections  and  tumults,  whilst 
the  Papacy  is  guided  by  the  clear  and  bold  genius  of  Gre- 
gory VII.     Savoy  had  the  honour  to  give  birth  to  this  man. 


HILDEBRAND.  73 

He  was  the  son  of  a  carpenter,  and  comprehended  from  the 
first  the  true  destiny  of  the  Papacy,  and  the  height  to  which 
its  essential  principles,  vigorously  maintained  and  fearlessly 
carried  out,  would  exalt  the  popedom.  To  emancipate  the 
pontificate  from  the  authority  of  the  empire,  and  to  estab- 
lish a  visible  theocracy  with  the  vicar  of  Christ  at  its  head, 
became  the  one  grand  object  of  his  life.  He  brought  to  the 
execution  of  his  task  a  profound  genius,  a  firm  will,  a  fear- 
less courage,  and  a  pliant  policy, — a  quality  in  which  the 
popes  have  seldom  been  deficient.  From  the  moment  that 
he  chid  Leo  IX.  for  accepting  the  tiara  from  the  hands  of 
the  secular  power,  his  spirit  had  governed  Rome.*  At 
length,  in  a.d,  1073,  he  ascended  the  pontifical  throne  in 
person.  "  No  sooner  was  this  man  made  Pope,"  says  Du 
Pin,  "  but  he  formed  a  design  of  becoming  lord,  spiritual  and 
temporal,  over  the  whole  earth  ;  the  supreme  judge  and  de- 
terminer of  all  affairs,  both  ecclesiastical  and  civil ;  the  dis- 
tributer of  all  manner  of  graces,  of  what  kind  soever ;  the 
disposer  not  only  of  archbishopricks,  bishopricks,  and  other 
ecclesiastical  benefices,  but  also  of  kingdoms,  states,  and  the 
revenues  of  particular  persons.  To  bring  about  this  resolu- 
tion, he  made  use  of  the  ecclesiastical  authority  and  the  spi- 
ritual sword."-f-  The  times  were  favourable  in  no  ordinary 
degree.  The  empire  of  Germany  was  enfeebled  by  the  dis- 
affection of  the  barons  ;  France  was  ruled  by  an  infant 
sovereign,  without  capacity  or  inclination  for  affairs  of  state; 
England  had  just  been  conquered  by  the  Normans ;  Spain 
was  distracted  by  the  Moors  ;  and  Italy  was  parcelled  out 
amongst,  a  multitude  of  petty  princes.  Everywhere  faction 
was  rife  throughout  Europe,  and  a  strong  government  ex- 
isted nowhere.  The  time  invited  him,  and  straightway  Gre- 
gory set  about  his  high  attempt.  His  first  care  was  to  as- 
semble a  Council,  in  which  he  pronounced  the  marriage  of 

*  Du  Pin,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  209  :  Dunham's  Europe  during  tlie 
!Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  150. 

t  Du  Pin,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  211. 


74  PROGRESS  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

priests  unlawful.  He  next  sent  his  legates  throughout  the 
various  countries  of  Europe,  to  compel  bishops  and  all  eccle- 
siastics to  put  away  their  wives.  Having  thus  dissevered  the 
ties  which  connected  the  clergy  with  the  world,  and  given 
them  but  one  object  for  which  to  live,  namely,  the  exaltation 
of  the  hierarchy,  Gregory  rekindled,  with  all  the  ardour  and 
vehemence  characteristic  of  the  man,  the  war  between  the 
throne  and  the  mitre.  The  object  at  which  Gregory  YH. 
aimed  was  twofold: — 1.  To  render  the  election  to  the  pon- 
tifical chair  independent  of  the  emperors  ;  and,  2.  To  re- 
sume the  empire  as  a  fief  of  the  Church,  and  to  establish  his 
dominion  over  the  kings  and  kingdoms  of  the  earth.  His 
first  step  towards  the  accomplishment  of  these  vast  designs 
was,  as  we  have  shown,  to  enact  clerical  celibacy.  His 
second  was  to  forbid  all  ecclesiastics  to  receive  investiture 
at  the  hands  of  the  secular  power.*  In  this  decree  he  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  complete  emancipation  of  the  Church 
from  the  State  ;  but  half  a  century  of  wars  and  bloodshed 
was  required  to  conduct  the  first  enterprise,  that  of  the  in- 
vestitures, to  a  successful  issue ;  while  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years  more  of  similar  convulsions  had  to  be  gone  through 
before  the  second,  that  of  universal  domination,  was  attained. 
Let  us  here  pause  to  review  the  rise  of  the  war  of  investi- 
tures which  now  broke  out,  and  which  "  during  two  centuries 
distracted  the  Christian  world,  and  deluged  a  great  portion  of 
Italy  with  blood.^f  In  the  primitive  age  the  pastors  of  the 
Roman  Church  were  elected  by  the  people.  When  we  come 
down  to  those  times,  still  early,  when  the  office  of  bishop  be- 
gan to  take  precedence  of  that  of  presbyter,  we  find  the 
election  to  the  episcopate  effected  by  the  joint  suffrages  of  the 
clergy  and  people  of  the  city  or  diocese.  After  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, when  a  regular  gradation  of  offices  or  hierarchy  was  set 
up,  the  bishop  chosen  by  the  clergy  and  people  had  to  be  ap- 
proved of  by  his  metropolitan,  as  the  metropolitan  by  his 


♦  Du  Pin,  Kccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  212     Gibbon,  vol.  ix.  p.  201,  202. 
t  Dunham's  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  158. 


WAR  OF  INVESTITURES.  75 

primate.     It  does  not  appear  that  the  emperors  interfered 
at  all  in  these  elections,  farther  than  to  signify  their  accept- 
ance or  rejection  of  the  persons  chosen  to  the  veiy  highest 
sees, — the  patriarchates  of  Rome  and  Constantinople.     In 
this  their  example  was  followed  by  the  Gothic  and  Lombard 
kings  of  Italy.     The  people  retained  their  influence  in  the 
election  of  their  pastors  and  bishops  down  till  a  compara- 
tively late  period.     We  find  popular  election  in  existence 
in  the  end  of  the  fourth  century.      A  canon  of  the  third 
Council  of  Carthage,  in  A.D.  397,*  decrees  that  no  clergy- 
man shall  be  ordained  who  has  not  been  examined  by  the 
bishop  and  approved  of  by  the  suffrages  of  the  people.    Even 
at  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  popular  election  had  not 
disappeared  from  the  Church.     We  find  the  third  Council 
of  Orleans,  held  in  A.D.  538,  regulating  by  canon  the.  elec- 
tion and  ordination  of  metropolitans  and  bishops.     As  re- 
garded the  metropolitan,  the  Council  enacted  that  he  should 
be  chosen  by  the  bishops  of  the  province,  with  the  consent  of 
the  clergy  and  people  of  the  city,   "  it  being  fitting,"  say 
the  fathers,  "  that  he  who  is  to  preside  over  all  should  be 
chosen   by   all."      And,  as   respected   bishops,  it  was  de- 
creed that  they  should  be  ordained  by  the  metropolitan, 
and  chosen   by   the   clergy   and   people.*f"      "  The   people 
fully  preserved  their   elective    rights    at   Milan,"  observes 
Hallam,    "  in    the   eleventh    century ;    and  traces  of  their 
concurrence  may  be  found  in  France  and  Germany  in  the 
next  age."|     From  the  people  the  right  passed  to  the  sove- 
reigns, who  found  a  plausible  pretext  for  granting  investi- 
tures of  bishops,  in  the  vast  temporalities  attached  to  their 


*  Concil.  Carthag.  can.  xxii.  "  Ut  nuUus  ordinetur  clericus, nisi probatus 
vel  episcoporum  examine  vel  populi  testimonio."    (Harduin.  vol.  i.p-  963.) 

+  Concil.  Aurelian.  can.  iii.  "  Ipse  tamen  metropoatanus  a  couiiirovin- 
cialibus  episcopis,  sicut  decreta  sedis  Apostolica3  continent,  cum  consensu 
cleri  vel  civiuni  eligatur  ;  quia  teqiium  est,sicut  ipsa  sedes  Apostolica  dixit, 
ut  qui  prfcponendus  est  omnibus,  ab  omnibus  eligatur."  (Harduiu.  vol.  ii. 
p.  1424.) 

J  Hallam's  :Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  535. 


76  PROGRESS  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

sees.  These  possessions,  which  had  originated  mostly  in 
royal  gifts,  were  viewed  somewhat  in  the  light  of  fiefs,  for 
which  it  was  but  reasonable  that  the  tenant  should  do 
homage  to  the  lord  paramount.  Hence  the  ceremony  in- 
troduced by  Charlemagne  of  putting  the  ring  and  crosier 
into  the  hands  of  the  newly  consecrated  bishop.  The 
bishops  of  Rome,  like  their  brethren,  were  at  first  chosen 
by  popular  election.  In  process  of  time,  the  consent  of  the 
emperor  was  used  to  ratify  the  choice  of  the  people.  This 
prerogative  came  into  the  possession  of  Charlemagne  along 
with  the  imperial  crown,  and  was  exercised  by  his  posterity, 
— if  we  except  the  last  of  his  descendants,  during  whose  feeble 
reigns  the  prerogative  which  the  imperial  hands  had  let 
fall  was  caught  up  by  the  Roman  populace.  This  right 
came  next  into  the  possession  of  the  Saxon  emperors,  and 
was  exercised  by  some  of  the  race  of  Otho  in  a  more  abso- 
lute manner  than  it  had  ever  been  by  either  Greek  or  Car- 
lovingian  monarch.  Henry  IH.,  impatient  to  put  down  the 
scandal  of  three  rival  popes,  assembled  a  council  at  Sutri, 
which  deposed  all  three,  placed  Henry's  friend,  the  Bishop 
of  Bamberg  (Clement  H.),  in  Peter's  chair,  and  added  this 
substantial  boon,  that  henceforward  the  imperial  throne 
should  possess  the  entire  nomination  of  the  popes,  without 
the  intervention  of  clergy  or  laity.*  But  what  the  magna- 
nimity of  Henry  HI.  had  gained  came  to  be  lost  by  the 
tender  age  and  irresolute  spirit  of  his  son  Henry  IV. 
Nicolas  II.,  in  1059,  wrested  the  prerogative  from  the  empe- 
rors, to  place  it,  not  in  the  people,  but  in  a  new  body,  which 
presents  us  with  the  origin  of  the  conclave  of  cardinals. 
According  to  the  pontifical  decree,  the  seven  cardinal 
bishops  holding  sees  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome  were 
henceforward  to  choose  the  pope.f     A  vague  recognition 


*  Dunham's  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  147,  148  :  Du 
Pin,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  206. 

t  Machiavelli's  History  of  Florence,  book  i. :  Hallam's  Middle  Ages, 
vol.  i.  p.  539. 


GREGORY  VII.  AND  HENRY  IV.  77 

of  some  undefinable  right  possessed  by  the  emperors  and 
the  people  in  the  election  was  made  in  the  decree,  but  it 
amounted  in  reality  to  little  more  than  a  permission  to  both 
to  be  present  on  the  occasion,  and  to  signify  their  acquies- 
cence in  what  they  had  no  power  to  prevent.     The  real 
author  of  this,   and  of  similar  measures,  was  Hildebrand, 
who  was  content  meanwhile  to  wield,  in  the  humble  rank  of 
a  Roman  archdeacon,  the  destinies  of  the  Papacy,  and  to 
hide  in  the  monk's  garb  that  dauntless  and  comprehensive 
genius  which  in  a  few  years  was  to  govern  Europe.     Hilde- 
brand in  no  long  time  took  the  quarrel  into  his  own  hands. 
He  ascended  the  pontifical  throne,  as  we  have  already 
stated,  in  1073,  under  the  style  of  Gregory  VH.     He  com- 
prehended the  Emperor's  position  with  regard  to  the  princes 
of   Germany  better    than    the  Emperor   himself  did,   and 
shaped  his  measures  accordingly.     He  began  by  promulgat- 
ing the  decree  against  lay  investitures,  to  which  we  have 
already  adverted.      He  saw  the  advantage   of  having  the 
barons  on  his  side.     He  knew  that  they  were  impatient  and 
envious  of  the  power  of  Henry,  who  was  at  once  weak  and 
tyrannical ;  and  he  found  it  no  difficult  matter  to  gain  them 
over  to  the  papal   interests, — first,   by  the  decree  of  the 
Pope,  which  declared  Germany  an  electoral  monarchy ;  and, 
second,  by  the  influence  which  the  barons  were  still  per- 
mitted to  retain  in  the  election  of  bishops.     For  although 
Gregory  had  deprived  the  Emperor  of  the  right  of  investi- 
ture,  and   in   doing   so    had  broken    the    bond    that    held 
together  the  civil  and  spiritual  institutions,  as  Ranke  re- 
marks, and  declared  a  revolution,*  he  did  not  claim  the 
direct  nomination  of  the  bishops,  but  referred  the  choice  to 
the  chapters,  over  which  the  higher  German  nobility  exer- 
cised very  considerable  influence.     Thus  the  Pope  had  the 
aristocratic  interests  on  his  side   in  the  conflict.     Henry, 
reckless  as  impotent,  proceeded  to  glye  mortal  off^ence  to  his 
great  antagonist.     Hastily  assembling  a  number  of  bishops 

*  Eankes  History  of  the  Popes,  vol.  i.  p.  21. 


78  PROGRESS  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

and  other  vassals  at  Worms,  he  procured  a  sentence  de- 
posing Gregory  from  the  popedom.  He  mistook  the  man 
and  the  times.  Gregory,  receiving  the  tidings  with  derision, 
assembled  a  council  in  the  Lateran  palace,  and  solemnly  ex- 
communicated Henry,  annulled  his  right  to  the  kingdoms 
of  Germany  and  Italy,  and  absolved  his  subjects  from 
their  allegiance.  Henry ""s  recklessness  was  succeeded  by 
panic.  He  felt  that  the  spell  of  the  pontifical  curse  was 
upon  him ;  that  his  nobles,  and  bishops,  and  subjects,  were 
fleeing  from  him  or  conspiring  against  him ;  and  in  prostra- 
tion of  spirit  he  resolved  to  beg  in  person  the  clemency  of 
the  Pope.  He  crossed  the  Alps  in  the  depth  of  winter,  and, 
arriving  at  the  gates  of  the  castle  of  Canossa,  where  the 
Pope  was  residing  at  the  time,  shut  up  with  his  firm  ad- 
herent and  reputed  paramour  the  Countess  ISIatilda,  he 
stood,  during  three  days,  exposed  to  the  rigours  of  the 
season,  with  his  feet  bare,  his  head  uncovered,  and  a  piece 
of  coarse  woollen  cloth  thrown  over  his  person,  and  forming 
his'  only  covering.  On  the  fourth  day  he  obtained  an 
audience  of  the  pontiff;  and  though  the  lordly  Gregory  was 
pleased  to  absolve  him  from  the  excommunication,  he 
straitly  charged  him  not  to  resume  his  royal  rank  and 
functions  till  the  meeting  of  the  Congress  which  had  been 
appointed  to  try  him.*  But  the  pontiff"  was  humbled  in  his 
turn.  Henry  rebelling  a  second  time,  a  furious  war  broke 
out  between  the  monarch  and  the  pontiff'.  The  armies  of 
the  Emperor  passed  the  Alps,  besieged  Rome,  and  Gregory, 
being  obliged  to  flee,  ended  his  days  in  exile  at  Salerno,  be- 
queathing as  a  legacy  to  his  successors  the  conflict  in  which 
he  had  been  engaged,  and  to  Europe  the  wars  and  tumults 
into  which  his  ambition  had  plunged  it.-f* 


*  Du  Pin,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  212-216  :  Dunham's  Europe  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  158. 

t  The  extensive  gap  in  the  city  of  Rome,  extending  from  the  Lateran 
to  the  Coliseum,  formerly  covered  with  ruins,  but  now  witii  vineyards, 
remains  a  monument  of  the  war  of  investitures. 


IIILDEBRAND  S  SUCCESSORS.  79 

Gregory  was  gone,  but  his  principle  survived.  Ho  had 
left  the  mantle  of  his  ambition,  and,  to  a  largo  extent,  of 
his  genius  also,  to  his  successors,  Urban  II.  and  Paschal  IT. 
Urban  maintained  the  contest  in  the  very  spirit  of  Gregory; 
the  opposition  of  Paschal  may  deserve  to  be  accounted  as 
partaking  of  a  higher  character.  A  conviction  that  it  was 
utterly  incongruous  in  a  layman  to  give  admission  to  a  spiri- 
tual office,  seems  to  have  mainly  animated  him  in  prosecuting 
the  contest.  He  actually  signed  an  agreement  with  Henry  V. 
in  1110,  whereby  all  the  lands  and  possessions  held  by  the 
Church  in  fief  were  to  be  given  back  to  the  Emperor,  on  con- 
dition that  the  Emperor  should  surrender  the  right  of  investi- 
ture. The  prelates  and  bishops  of  Paschal's  court,  who  saw 
little  attractive  in  the  episcopate  save  the  temporalities,  be- 
lieved that  their  infallible  master  had  gone  mad,  and  raised 
such  a  clamour,  that  the  pontiff  was  obliged  to  desist  from  his 
design.*  At  length,  in  1122,  the  contention  was  ended  by 
a  compromise  between  Henry  and  Calixtus  II.  According 
to  this  compact,  the  election  of  bishops  was  to  be  free,  their 
investiture  was  to  belong  solely  to  ecclesiastical  function- 
aries, while  the  Emperor  was  to  induct  them  into  their  tem- 
poralities, not  by  the  crozier  and  ring,  as  before,  but  by  the 
sceptre. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  sovereigns  and  barons  of 
the  age  believed  that  this  concordat  left  the  substantial 
power  in  the  election  of  bishops  still  in  their  own  hands. 
With  our  clearer  light  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  the 
advantage  greatly  preponderated  in  favour  of  the  Church. 
It  extricated  the  spiritual  element  from  the  control  of  the 
secular.  It  was  a  solemn  ratification  of  the  principle  of  spi- 
ritual independence,  which,  in  the  case  of  a  church  spurning 
co-ordinate  jurisdiction,  and  claiming  both  swords,  was 
sure  speedily  and  inevitably  to  grow  into  spiritual  supre- 
macy. The  temporalities  might  come  in  some  cases  to  be 
lost ;  but  in  that  age  the  risk  was  small ;  and  granting  that 


Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  542. 


80  PROGRESS  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  SUPREMACY. 

it  was  realized,  the  loss  would  be  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  the  greatly  enlarged  spiritual  action  which  was  now  se- 
cured to  the  Church.  The  election  of  bishops,  in  which  the 
emperors  had  ceased  to  interfere,  was  now  devolved,  not 
upon  the  laity  and  clergy,  whose  sufiFrages  had  been  deemed 
essential  in  former  times,  but  upon  the  chapters  of  cathe- 
dral churches,*  which  tended  to  enlarge  the  power  of  the  pon- 
tiff and  the  higher  clergy.  In  this  way  was  the  conflict  car- 
ried on.  The  extent  of  supremacy  involved  in  the  principle 
that  the  Pope  is  Chrisfs  Vicar,  had  been  fully  and  boldly  pro- 
pounded to  the  world  by  Gregory  ;  and,  what  was  more,  had 
been  all  but  realized.  Rome  had  tasted  of  dominion  over 
kings,  and  was  never  to  rest  till  she  had  securely  seated 
herself  in  the  lofty  seat  which  she  had  been  permitted  for  so 
brief  a  season  to  occupy,  and  which  she  only,  as  she  believed, 
had  a  right  to  possess,  or  could  worthily  and  usefully  fill. 
The  popes  had  to  sustain  many  humiliations  and  defeats ; 
nevertheless,  their  policy  continued  to  be  progressively  tri- 
umphant. The  power  of  the  empire  gradually  sank,  and 
that  of  the  pontificate  steadily  advanced.  All  the  great 
events  of  the  age  contributed  to  the  power  of  the  popedom. 
The  ecclesiastical  element  was  universally  diffused,  entered 
into  all  movements,  and  turned  to  its  own  purposes  all  en- 
terprises. There  never  perhaps  was  an  age  which  was  so 
completely  ecclesiastical  and  so  little  spiritual.  Spain  was 
reclaimed  from  Islamism,  Prussia  was  rescued  from  Pagan- 
ism, and  both  submitted  to  the  authority  of  the  Roman 
pontiff.  The  crusades  broke  out,  and,  being  religious  enter- 
prises, they  tended  to  the  predominance  of  the  ecclesiastical 
element,  and  silently  moulded  the  minds  and  the  habits  of 
men  to  submission  to  the  Church.  Moreover,  they  tended 
to  exhaust  the  resources  and  break  the  spirit  of  kingdoms, 
and  rendered  it  easier  for  Rome  to  carry  out  her  scheme  of 
aofofrandizement.  The  same  effect  attended  the  wars  and 
convulsions  which  disturbed  Europe,  and  which  grew  out  of 


*  Ilallam's  Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  546. 


TRIUMPH  OF  THE  MITRE.  81 

the  struggles  of  Rome  for  dominion.  These  weakened  the 
secular,  but  left  the  vigour  of  the  spiritual  element  unim- 
paired. The  deepening  ignorance  of  the  masses  was  exceed- 
ingly favourable  to  the  pretensions  of  Rome.  It  formed  a 
basis  of  power,  not  only  over  them,  but,  through  them,  over 
kings.  Add  to  all  this,  that  of  the  two  principles  between 
which  this  great  contest  was  waged,  the  secular  was  divided, 
whereas  the  spiritual  was  one.  The  kings  had  various  in- 
terests, and  frequently  pursued  conflicting  lines  of  policy. 
The  most  perfect  organization  and  union  reigned  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Papacy.  The  clergy  in  all  countries  were 
thoroughly  devoted  to  the  papal  see,  and  obeyed  as  one 
man  the  behests  which  came  from  the  chair  of  St  Peter.  It 
is  also  to  be  borne  in  mind,  that  in  this  conflict  the  emperors 
could  contend  with  but  secular  weapons;  whereas  the  popes, 
while  they  by  no  means  disdained  the  aid  of  armies,  fought 
with  those  yet  more  formidable  weapons  which  the  power  of 
superstition  furnished  them  with.  Is  it  wonderful  that  with 
these  advantages  they  triumphed  in  the  contest, — that  every 
successive  age  found  Rome  growing  in  influence  and  dominion, 
— and  that  at  last  her  chief  was  seen  seated,  god-like,  on  the 
Seven  Hills,  with  the  nations,  tribes,  and  languages  of  the 
Roman  world  prostrate  at  his  feet  ?  "  After  long  centuries 
of  confusion,"  says  Ranke, — "  after  other  centuries  of  often 
doubtful  strife, — the  independence  of  the  Roman  see,  and  that 
of  its  essential  principle,  was  finally  attained.  In  effect,  the 
position  of  the  popes  was  at  this  moment  most  exalted ;  the 
clergy  were  wholly  in  their  hands.  It  is  worthy  of  remark, 
that  the  most  firm-minded  pontiff's  of  this  period, — Gregory 
VII.  for  example, — were  Benedictines.  By  the  introduction 
of  celibacy,  they  converted  the  whole  body  of  the  secular 
clergy  into  a  kind  of  monastic  order.  The  vuiiversal  bishop- 
ric now  claimed  by  the  popes  bears  a  certain  resemblance 
to  the  power  of  an  abbot  of  Cluny,  who  was  the  only  abbot 
of  his  order ;  in  like  manner,  these  pontiffs  aspired  to  be  the 
only  bishops  of  the  assembled  Church.  They  interfered, 
without  scruple,  in  the  administration  of  every  diocese,  and 

G 


82  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 

even  compared  their  legates  with  the  pro-consuls  of  ancient 
Rome  !  While  this  closely-knit  body,  so  compact  in  itself, 
yet  so  widely  extended  through  all  lands, — influencing  all  by 
its  large  possessions,  and  controlling  every  relation  of  life  by 
its  ministry, — was  concentrating  its  mighty  force  under  the 
obedience  of  one  chief,  the  temporal  powers  were  crumbling 
into  ruin.  Already,  in  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century, 
the  Provost  Gerohus  ventured  to  say,  '  It  will  at  last  come 
to  this,  that  the  golden  image  of  the  empire  shall  be  shaken 
to  dust ;  every  great  monarchy  shall  be  divided  into  tetrar- 
chates,  and  then  only  will  the  Church  stand  free  and  un- 
trammelled beneath  the  protection  of  her  crowned  high 
priest."""*  Thus  did  Rome  seize  the  golden  moment  when 
the  iron  of  the  German  race,  like  that  of  the  Carlovingian 
before  it,  had  become  mixed  with  miry  clay,  to  complete 
her  work  of  five  centuries.  She  had  watched  and  waited 
for  ages ;  she  had  flattered  the  proud  and  insulted  the 
humble  ;  bowed  to  the  strong  and  trampled  upon  the  weak ; 
she  had  awed  men  with  terrors  that  were  false,  and  excited 
them  with  hopes  that  were  delusive ;  she  had  stimulated 
their  passions  and  destroyed  their  souls  ;  she  had  schemed, 
and  plotted,  and  intrigued,  with  a  cunning,  and  a  malignity, 
and  a  success,  which  hell  itself  might  have  envied,  and  which 
certainly  it  never  surpassed  ;  and  now  her  grand  object  was 
within  her  reach, — was  attained.  She  had  triumphed  over 
the  empire  ;  she  was  lord  paramount  of  Europe  ;  nations 
were  her  footstool ;  and  from  her  lofty  seat  she  showed  her- 
self to  the  wondering  tribes  of  earth,  encompassed  by  the 
splendour,  possessing  the  attributes,  and  wielding  the  power, 
not  of  earthly  monarchs,  but  of  the  Eternal  Majesty. 

Accordingly,  we  are  now  arrived  at  the  golden  age  of  the 
Papacy.  In  a.d.  1197,  Innocent  ascended  the  papal  chair. 
It  was  the  fortune  of  this  man,  on  whose  shoulders  had  fallen 
the  mantle  of  Lucifer,  to  reap  all  that  the  popes  his  pre- 
decessors  had    sowed  in  alternate   triumphs   and  defeats. 

•  Ranke's  History  of  the  Popes,  vol.  i.  p.  22. 


INNOCENT  III.  83 

The  traditions  and  principles  of  the  papal  policy  descended 
to  him  matured  and  perfected.     The  man,  too,  was  equal  to 
the  hour.     He  had  the  art  to  veil  a  genius  as  aspiring  as 
that  of  Gregory  VII.  under  designs  less  avowedly  temporal 
and  worldly.     He  affected  to  wield  only  a  spiritual  sceptre  ; 
but  he  held  it  over  monarchs  and  kingdoms,  as  well  as  over 
priests  and  churches.     "  Though  I  cannot  judge  of  the  right 
to  a  fief,"  wrote  he  to  the  kings  of  France  and  England, 
"  yet  it  is  my  province  to  judge  where  sin  is  committed,  and 
my  duty  to  prevent  all  public  scandals.""*     So  lofty  were  his 
notions  of  the  spiritual  prerogative,  and  so  much  did  he  re- 
gard temporal  rule  as  its  inseparable  concomitant,  that  he 
disdained  to  hold  it  by  a  formal  claim.     He  exercised  an 
omnipotent  sway  over  mind,  and  left  it  to  govern  the  bo- 
dies and  goods  of  men.     We  find  De  Maistre  comparing 
the  Catholic  Church  in   the    days  of   Charlemagne  to   an 
ellipse,  with  St  Peter  in  one  of  the  foci,  and  the  Emperor  in 
the  other.-f-     But  now,  in  the  days  of  Innocent,  the  Church, 
or  rather  the  European  system,  from  being  an  ellipse,  had 
become  a  circle.     The  two  foci  were  gone.     There  was  but 
one  governing  point, — the  centre  ;  and  in  that  centre  stood 
Peter's  chair.     The  pontificate  of  Innocent  was  one  conti- 
nued and  unclouded  display  of  the  superhuman  glory  of  the 
popedom.     From  a  height  to  which  no  mortal  had  before 
been  able  to  climb,  and  which  the  strongest  intellect  be- 
comes giddy   when   it   contemplates,   he   regulated   all  the 
affairs  of  this  lower  world.     His  comprehensive  scheme  of 
government  took  in  alike  the  greatest  affairs  of  the  greatest 
kingdoms,  and  the  most  private  concerns  of  the  humblest  in- 
dividual.    We  find  him  teaching  the  kings  of  France  their 
duty,  dictating  to   the   emperors  their   policy,  and  at  the 
same  time  adjudicating  in  the  case  of  a  citizen  of  Pisa  who 
had  mortgaged  his  estate,  and  to  whom  Innocent,  by  spiri- 
tual censures,  compelled  the  creditor  to  make  restitution  of 


*  Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  p.  552. 
"t"  Du  Pape,  Discours  Preliminaire. 


84  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 

the  goods  on  receiving  payment  of  the  money ;  and  writing 
to  the  Bishop  of  Ferentino,  giving  his  decision  in  the  case 
of  a  simple  maiden  for  whose  hand  two  lovers  contended.* 
Thus  the  thunder  of  Rome  broke  alike  over  the  heads  of 
puissant  kings  and  humble  citizens.  The  Italian  republics 
he  gathered  under  his  own  sceptre,  and,  binding  them  in 
leagues,  cast  them  into  the  political  scale,  to  counterpoise 
the  empire.  The  kings  of  Castile  and  Portugal,  as  they 
hung  on  the  perilous  edge  of  battle,  were  separated  by  a 
single  word  from  his  legate.  The  king  of  Navarre  held 
some  castles  of  Richard's,  which  his  power  did  not  enable 
him  to  retake.  The  pontiff  hinted  at  the  spiritual  thun- 
der, and  the  castles  were  given  up.  Monarchs,  intent 
only  on  a  present  advantage,  failed  to  see  that,  by  accept- 
ing the  aid  of  such  a  power,  they  were  the  abettors  of 
their  own  future  vassalage.  The  King  of  France  had  of- 
fended the  Pope  by  repudiating  his  wife  and  contracting 
a  new  marriage.  An  interdict  fell  upon  the  realm.  The 
churches  were  closed,  and  the  clergy  forbore  their  offices  to 
both  the  living  and  the  dead.  The  submission  of  the  power- 
ful Philip  Augustus  illustrated  the  boundless  spirit  and  ap- 
peased the  immeasurable  pride  of  Innocent.  After  this 
great  victory,  we  name  not  those  which  he  gained  over  the 
kings  of  Spain  and  England,  the  latter  of  whom  he  excom- 
municated, placing  his  kingdom  under  interdict,  and  com- 
pelling him  to  hold  his  crown  and  realm  as  the  vassal  of  the 
Roman  see.  But  the  coronation  of  the  Emperor  Otho 
IV.,  and  the  varied  and  substantial  concessions  included  in 
the  oath  which  Otho  took  on  that  occasion,  are  worthy  of 
being  enumerated  among  the  trophies  of  this  mighty  pope. 
The  terror  of  his  name  extended  to  distant  lands, — to  Bohe- 
mia, to  Hungary,  to  Norway.  The  pontifical  thunder  was 
heard  rolling  in  even  the  latter  northern  region,  where  it 
smote  a  certain  usurper  of  the  name  of  Swero.  As  if  all 
those  labours  had  been  too  little,  Innocent,  from  his  seat  on 

Du  Pin,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  402. 


GRANDEUR  AND  DOMINION  OF  THE  POPEDOM.  85 

the  Seven  Hills,  guided  the  progress  of  those  destructive 
tempests  which  swept  along  the  shores  of  Syria  and  the 
Straits  of  the  Bosphorus.  Constantinople  fell  before  the 
crusaders,  and  the  kings  of  Bulgaria  and  Armenia  acknow- 
ledged the  supremacy  of  Innocent. 

"  His  legs  bestrid  the  ocean  ;  his  reared  arm 
Crested  the  world  ;  his  voice  was  propertied 
As  all  the  tuned  spheres,  and  that  to  friends  ; 
And  Avhen  he  meant  to  quail  and  shake  the  orb. 

He  was  as  rattling  thunder 

In  his  livery 

Walked  crowns  and  crownets." 

But  the  mightiest  efforts  of  Innocent  were  reserved  for  the 
extirpation  of  heresy.  He  was  the  first  to  discover  the 
danger  to  the  popedom  which  lurked  in  the  Scriptural  faith, 
and  in  the  mental  liberty  of  the  Albigenses  and  Waldenses. 
On  them,  therefore,  and  not  on  eastern  schismatics  or  re- 
calcitrating sovereigns,  fell  the  full  storm  of  the  pontifical 
ire.  Assembling  his  vassal  kings,  he  pointed  to  the  peace- 
ful and  thriving  communities  in  the  provinces  of  the  Rhone, 
and  inflamed  the  zeal  and  fury  of  the  soldiers  by  holding 
out  the  promise  of  immense  booty  and  unbounded  indul- 
gence. For  a  forty  days'  service  a  man  might  earn  paradise, 
not  to  speak  of  the  worldly  spoil  with  which  he  was  certain 
to  return  laden  home.  The  poor  Albigenses  were  crushed 
beneath  an  avalanche  of  murderous  fanaticism  and  inap- 
peasable  rapacity.  To  Innocent  history  is  indebted  for  one 
of  her  bloodiest  pages, — the  European  crusades  ;  and  the 
world  owes  him  thanks  for  its  most  infernal  institution, — 
the  Inquisition.  He  had  for  his  grand  object  to  bestow  an 
eternity  of  empire  upon  the  papal  throne ;  and,  to  accom- 
plish this,  he  strove  to  inflict  an  eternity  of  thraldom  upon 
the  human  mind.  His  darling  aim  was  to  make  the  chair 
of  Peter  equally  stable  and  absolute  with  its  fellow-seat  in 
pandemonium.* 

*  Du  Pin,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  pp.  401-422  :  Sismondi's  Italian  Repub- 
lics, pp.  60-64 ;  Loud.  1832  :  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman 


86  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 

The  noon  of  the  Papacy  synchronises  with  the  world"'s 
midnight.  Innocent  III.  was  emphatically  the  Prince  of 
the  Darkness.  There  was  but  one  thing  in  the  universe 
which  he  dreaded,  and  that  was  light.  The  most  execrable 
shapes  of  night  could  not  appal  him  ;  these  were  congenial 
terrors  :  he  knew  they  had  no  power  to  harm  him  or  his. 
But  the  faintest  glimmer  of  day  on  the  horizon  struck  terror 
into  his  soul,  and  he  contended  ceaselessly  against  the  light, 
with  all  the  artillery  of  anathemas  and  arms.  During  the 
whole  century  of  his  pontificate  the  globe  was  seen  reposing 
in  deep  shadow,  girdled  round  with  the  chain  of  the  papal 
power,  and  corruscated  fearfully  with  the  flashes  of  the  pon- 
tifical thunder.  Like  a  crowned  demon.  Innocent  sat  upon 
the  Seven  Hills,  muffled  up  in  the  mantle  of  Lucifer,  and 
governed  earth  as  Satan  governs  hell.  At  a  great  distance 
below,  realizing  by  anticipation  the  boldest  vision  of  the 
great  poet,  were  the  crowned  potentates  and  mitred  hier- 
archies of  the  world  over  which  he  ruled,  lying  foundered 
and  overthrown,  like  the  spirits  in  the  lake,  in  the  same  de- 
grading and  shameful  vassalage.  Princes  laid  their  swords, 
and  nations  their  treasures,  at  the  foot  of  the  pontifical 
throne,  and  bowed  their  necks  to  be  trodden  upon  by  its  oc- 
cupant.    Innocent  might  say,  as  Csesar  to  the  conquered 

queen  of  Egypt, — 

"  I'll  take  my  leave." 

And  the  subject  nations  might  reply  with  Cleopatra, — 

"  And  may,  through  all  the  world  :  'tis  yours  ;  and  we 
Your  scutcheons,  and  your  signs  of  conquest,  shall 
Hang  in  what  place  you  please." 

The  boast  better  became  his  mouth  than  it  did  the  proud 
Assyrian  who  first  uttered  it.  "  By  the  strength  of  my 
hand  I  have  done  it,  and  by  my  wisdom ;  for  I  am  prudent: 
and  I  have  removed  the  bounds  of  the  people,  and  have 


Empire,  vol.  xi.  p.  145  :  Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  vol.  i.  pp.  551-556  :  Sis- 
moudi's  Crusades,  pp.  10-20  ;  Lond.  1S2G. 


THE  PAPACY  AND  MILTON's  FIEND.  S7 

robbed  their  treasures,  and  I  have  put  down  the  inhabitants 
like  a  valiant  man.  And  my  hand  hath  found,  as  a  nest, 
the  riches  of  the  people ;  and  as  one  gathereth  eggs  that 
are  left,  have  I  gathered  all  the  earth ;  and  there  was  none 
that  moved  the  wing,  or  opened  the  mouth,  or  peeped.""' 

Thus  have  we  traced  the  course  of  the  papal  power,  from 
its  feeble  rise  in  the  second  century,  to  its  full  development 
in  the  thirteenth.  We  have  seen  how  the  infant  pontiff 
was  suckled  by  the  imperial  wolf  (for  the  fables  of  heathen 
mythology  find  their  truest  realization  in  the  Papacy,  and, 
from  being  myths,  become  vaticinations),  and  how,  waxing 
strong  on  the  pure  milk  of  Paganism,  he  grew  to  manhood, 
and,  being  grown,  discovered  all  the  genuine  pagan  and  vul- 
pine qualities  of  the  mother  that  nursed  him, — the  passion 
for  images  and  the  thirst  for  blood.  The  Ethiopian  cannot 
change  his  skin ;  and  the  world  has  now  found  out  that 
the  beast  of  the  Roman  hill  is  but  a  wolf  in  sheep"'s  clothing. 
How  often  have  slaughter  and  carnage  covered  the  fold 
which  he  professed  to  guard  !  Take  it  all  in  all,  the  story 
of  the  papal  power  is  a  dismal  drama, — the  gloomiest  that 
darkens  history  !  We  look  back  upon  the  past ;  and,  as  we 
behold  this  terrible  power  growing  continually  bigger  and 
darker,  and  casting  fresh  shadows,  with  every  succeeding 
age,  upon  the  liberty  and  religion  of  the  world,  till  at  last 
both  came  to  be  shrouded  in  impenetrable  night,  we  are  re- 
minded of  those  tragedies  and  horrors  with  which  the  ima- 
gination of  Milton  has  given  grandeur  to  his  song.  To 
nothing  can  w-e  liken  the  progress  of  the  Papacy,  through 
the  wastes  of  the  middle  ages  to  the  universal  domination 
of  the  thirteenth  and  succeeding  centuries,  save  to  the 
passage  of  the  fiend  from  the  gates  of  pandemonium  cO 
the  sphere  of  the  newly-created  world.  The  old  dragon  of 
Paganism,  broken  loose  from  the  abyss  into  which  he  had 
been  cast,  sallied  forth  in  quest  of  the  world  of  young  Chris- 
tianity, as  Satan  from  hell,  with  the  like  fiendish  intent  of 


*  Isaiah,  x.  13,  14. 


88  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 

marring  and  snbjugating  it.  He  had  no  "  narrow  frith'"  to 
cross ;  but  he  hekl  his  way  with  as  cautious  a  step  and  as 
dauntless  a  front  as  his  great  prototype.  His  path,  more 
especially  in  its  first  stages,  was  bestrewn  with  the  wrecks 
of  a  perished  world,  and  scourged  by  those  tempests  which 
attend  the  birth  of  new  states.  On  this  hand  he  shunned 
the  whirlpool  of  the  sinking  empire,  and  on  that  guarded 
himself  against  the  fiery  blast  of  the  Saracenic  eruption. 
There  he  buffeted  the  waves  of  tumultuous  revolutions,  and 
here  he  planted  his  foot  on  the  crude  consistence  of  a  young 
and  rising  state.  Now  "  the  strong  rebuff  of  some  tumul- 
tuous cloud'"  hurried  him  aloft,  and,  "  that  fury  stayed,""  he 
was  anon  "  quenched  in  a  boggy  Syrtis.''"'  Now  he  was  up- 
borne on  the  shield  of  kings  ;  and  now  his  foot  trode  upon 
their  necks.  Now  he  hewed  his  way  with  the  bloody  brand ; 
and  now,  in  more  crafty  fashion,  with  the  forged  document. 
Sometimes  he  wore  his  own  shape,  and  showed  himself  as 
Apollyon ;  but  more  frequently  he  hid  the  hideous  linea- 
ments of  the  destroyer  beneath  the  fair  semblance  of  an 
angel  of  light.  Thus  he  maintained  the  struggle  through 
the  weary  ages,  till  at  last  the  thirteenth  century  saw 

"  His  dark  pavilion  spread 
Wide  on  the  wasteful  deep  ;  with  him  enthroned 
Sat  sable  vested  night,  eldest  of  things. 
The  consort  of  his  reign  ;  and  by  them  stood 
Oreus  and  Ades,  and  the  dreaded  name 
Of  Demogorgon." 

The  scheme  of  Rome,  viewed  simply  as  an  intellectual  con- 
ception, is  the  most  comprehensive  and  gigantic  which  the 
genius  and  ambition  of  man  ever  dared  to  entertain.  There 
is  a  unity  and  vastness  about  it,  which,  apart  frpm  its  moral 
aspect,  compels  our  admiration,  and  awakens  a  feeling  of 
mingled  astonishment  and  terror.  The  depth  of  its  essen- 
tial principles,  the  boldness  of  the  design,  the  wisdom  and 
talent  brought  into  play  in  achieving  its  realization,  the  per- 
severance and  vigour  with  which  it  was  prosecuted,  and  the, 
marvellous  success  with  which  it  was  at  last  crowned,  were 
all  equal,  and  were  all  colossal.    It  is  at  once  the  grandest  and 


THE  WALDENSES  AND  ALBIGENSES.  89 

the  most  iniquitous  enterprise  in  which  man  ever  embarked. 
But,  as  we  have  shown  in  our  opening  chapter,  we  ought 
not  to  regard  it  as  a  distinct  and  separate  enterprise,  spring- 
ing from  principles  and  contemplating  aims  peculiar  to 
itself,  but  as  the  full  development  and  consummation  of 
man''s  original  apostacy.  The  powers  of  man  and  the  limits 
of  the  globe  do  not  admit  of  that  apostacy  being  carried 
higher ;  for  had  it  been  much  extended,  either  in  point  of 
intensity  or  in  point  of  duration,  the  human  species  would 
have  perished.  A  corruption  so  universal  and  a  tyranny 
so  overwhelming  would  in  due  time  have  utterly  depopu- 
lated the  globe.  In  the  domination  of  the  Papacy  we  have 
a  glimpse  of  what  would  have  been  the  condition  of  the 
world  had  no  scheme  of  salvation  been  provided  for  it.  The 
history  of  the  Papacy  is  the  history  of  the  rebellion  of  our 
race  against  Heaven. 

Before  dismissing  this  subject,  let  us  glance  a  moment  at 
another  and  different  picture.  What  became  of  Truth  in 
the  midst  of  such  monstrous  errors  2  Where  was  a  shelter 
found  for  the  Church  during  storms  so  fearful  ?  To  under- 
stand this,  we  must  leave  the  open  plains  and  the  wealthy 
cities  of  the  empire,  and  retire  to  the  solitude  of  the  Alps. 
In  primitive  times  the  members  of  the  then  unfallen  Church 
of  Rome  had  found  amid  these  mountains  a  shelter  from  per- 
secution. He  who  built  an  ark  for  the  one  elect  family  of 
the  antediluvian  world  had  provided  a  retreat  for  the  little 
company  chosen  to  escape  the  mighty  shipwreck  of  Chris- 
tianity. God  placed  his  Church  aloft  on  the  eternal  hills, 
in  the  place  prepared  for  her.''  Nature  had  enriched  this 
abode  with  pine  forests,  and  rich  mountain  pastures,  and 
rivers  which  issue  from  the  frozen  jaws  of  the  glacier,  and 
made  it  strong  as  beautiful  by  a  wall  of  peaks  that  pierce 
the  clouds,  and  look  down  on  earth  from  amidst  the  firma- 
ment's calm,  white  with  everlasting  snows.  Here  it  is  that 
we  find  the  true  apostolic  Church.     Here,  far  from  the  mag- 

*  Revelations,  xii.  6. 


90  PROGRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 

iiificence  of  Dom,  the  fragrance  of  incense,  and  the  glitter 
of  mitres,  holy  men  of  God  fed  the  flock  of  Christ  with  the 
pure  Word  of  Life.  Ages  of  peace  passed  over  thera.  The 
storms  that  shook  the  world,  the  errors  that  darkened  it, 
did  not  approach  their  retreat.  Like  the  traveller,  amid 
their  own  mountains  they  could  mark  the  clouds  gather 
and  hear  the  thunders  roll  far  below,  while  they  enjoyed  the 
uninterrupted  sunshine  of  a  pure  gospel.  An  overruling 
Providence  made  the  same  events  which  brought  trouble  to 
the  world  to  minister  peace  to  them.  Rome  was  entirely 
engrossed  with  her  battles  with  the  empire,  and  had  no  time 
to  think  of  those  who  were  bearing  a  testimony  against  her 
errors  by  the  purity  of  their  faith  and  the  holiness  of  their 
lives.  Besides,  she  could  see  danger  only  in  the  material 
power  of  the  empire,  and  never  dreamt  the  while  that  a 
spiritual  power  was  springing  up  among  the  Alps,  before 
which  she  was  destined  at  last  to  fall.  By  and  by  these 
professors  of  primitive  Christianity  began  to  increase,  and 
to  spread  themselves  over  the  surrounding  regions,  to  an 
extent  that  is  but  little  known.  Manufactures  were  estab- 
lished in  the  valley  of  the  Rhone,  and  in  those  provinces  of 
France  which  border  on  the  Mediterranean  or  lie  contio-uous 
to  the  Pyrenees  ;  as  also  in  Lombardy  and  the  towns  of 
northern  Italy.  Li  fact,  this  region  of  Europe  became  in 
those  ages  the  depot  of  the  western  world  as  regards  arts 
and  manufactures  of  all  kinds.  Villages  grew  into  cities, 
new  towns  sprung  up,  and  the  population  of  the  surrounding 
districts  were  insufficient  to  supply  the  looms  and  forges  of 
these  industrial  hives.  The  pious  mountaineers  descended 
from  their  native  Alps  to  find  employment  in  the  workshops 
of  the  plains,  just  as  at  this  day  we  see  the  population  of 
the  Highlands  crowding  to  Glasgow  and  Manchester,  and 
other  great  manufacturing  centres  ;  and,  as  they  brought 
their  intelligence  and  steadiness  along  with  thera,  they  made 
admirable  workmen.  The  workshop  became  a  school,  con- 
versions went  on,  and  the  pure  faith  of  the  mountains  ex- 
tended itself  over  the  plains,  like  the  dawn,  first  seen  on  the 


THEIR  NUMBERS  AND  MANUFACTURING  SKILL.  HI 

hill-tops,  but  soon  to  descend  and  gladden  the  valley.  In 
the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  manufactures  and  Chris- 
tianity,— the  loom  and  the  Bible, — went  hand  in  hand,  and 
promised  to  achieve  the  peaceful  conquest  of  Europe,  and 
rescue  it  from  the  hands  of  those  pontifical  and  imperial 
barbarians  who  were  doing  their  best  to  convert  it  into  an 
unbroken  expanse  of  solitudes  and  ruins.  These  manu- 
facturing and  Christian  societies  took  possession  of  the 
whole  of  the  Italian  and  French  provinces  adjoining  the 
Alps.  The  valley  of  the  Rhone  swarmed  with  these  busy 
and  intelligent  communities.  They  covered  with  population, 
industry,  and  wealth,  the  provinces  of  Dauphine,  Provence, 
Languedoc,  and,  in  short,  all  southern  France.  They  were 
found  in  great  numbers  in  Lombardy.  Their  factories, 
churches,  and  schools,  were  spread  over  all  northern  Italy. 
They  planted  their  arts  and  their  faith  in  the  valley  of  the 
Hhine,  so  that  a  traveller  might  journey  from  Basle  to 
Cologne,  and  sleep  every  night  in  the  house  of  a  Christian 
brother.  In  some  of  the  dioceses  in  northern  Italy  there 
were  not  fewer  than  thirty  of  their  churches  with  schools 
attached.  These  professors  of  an  apostolic  creed  were  noted 
for  leading  pure  and  peaceful  lives,  for  the  pains  they  took 
in  the  instruction  of  their  families,  for  their  readiness  to 
benefit  their  neighbours  both  by  good  offices  and  religious 
counsel,  for  their  gift  of  extempore  prayer,  and  for  the  large 
extent  to  which  their  memories  were  stored  with  the  Word 
of  God.  Many  of  them  could  recite  entire  epistles  and  gos- 
pels, and  some  of  them  had  committed  to  memory  the  whole 
of  the  New  Testament.  The  region  which  they  occupied 
formed  a  belt  of  country  stretching  on  both  sides  of  the 
Alps  and  the  Pyrenees,  from  the  sources  of  the  Rhine  to  the 
Garonne  and  the  Ebro,  and  from  the  Po  and  the  Adriatic 
to  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  Monarchs  found  that 
this  was  the  most  productive  and  the  most  easily  governed 
part  of  their  dominions.  Amid  the  wars  and  feudalism  that 
oppressed  the  rest  of  Europe,  in  which  towns  were  falling 
into  decay,  and  the  population  in  some  spots  were  becoming 


92        PROGRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY. 

extinct,  and  little  appeared  to  be  left,  especially  in  France, 
"  but  convents  scattered  here  and  there  amid  vast  tracts  of 
forest,"*  this  populous  tract,  rich  in  the  marvels  of  industry 
and  the  virtues  of  true  religion,  resembled  a  strip  of  verdure 
drawn  across  the  wastes  of  the  desert.     Will  it  be  believed 
that  human  hands  rooted  out  this  paradise,  which  a  pure 
Christianity  had  created  in  the  very  heart  of  the  desert  of 
European  Catholicism  ?     Rome  about  this  time  had  brought 
to  an  end  her  wars  with  the  empire,  and  her  popes  were  re- 
posing, after  their  struggle  of  centuries,  in  the  proud  con- 
sciousness of  undoubted  supremacy.     The  light  had  been 
spreading  unobserved,    and   the    Reformation  was   on  the 
point  of  being  anticipated.     The  demon  Innocent  III.  was 
the  first  to  descry  the  streaks  of  day  on  the  crest  of  the 
Alps.     Horror-stricken,  he  started  up,  and  began  to  thun- 
der from  his  pandemonium  against  a  faith  which  had  al- 
ready subjugated   provinces,  and  was  threatening  to  dis- 
solve the  power  of  Rome  in  the  very  flush  of  her  victory 
over  the  empire.     In  order  to  save  the  one  half  of  Europe 
from  perishing  by  heresy,  it  was  decreed  that  the  other  half 
should  perish  by  the  sword.     The  monarchs  of  Europe  dared 
not  disobey  a  summons  which  was   enforced  by  the  most 
dreadful  adjurations  and  threats.      They  assembled  their 
vassals,  and  girded  on  the  sword,  not  to  repel  an  invader  or 
to  quell  insurrection,  but  to  extirpate  those  very  men  whose 
industry  had   enriched   their  realm,  and  whose  virtue  and 
loyalty  formed  the  stay  of  their  power. 

Lest  the  work  of  vengeance  should  slacken,  Rome  held 
out  dazzling  bribes,  equally  compounded  of  paradise  and 
gold.  She  could  afford  to  be  prodigal  of  both,  for  neither 
cost  her  anything.  Paradise  is  always  in  her  gift  for  those 
who  will  do  her  work,  and  the  wealth  of  the  heretic  is  the 
lawful  plunder  of  the  faithful.  With  such  a  bank,  and  per- 
mission to  draw  upon  it  to  an  unlimited  amount,  Rome  had 
no  motive,  and  certainly  would  have  had  no  thanks,   for 

*  Sismondi's  Fall  of  the  Eoraan  Empire,  vol.  ii.  p.  169. 


THEIR  PERSECUTION.  93 

any  ill-judged  economy.  The  fanatics  who  mustered  for 
the  crusade  hated  the  person  and  loved  the  goods  of  the 
heretic.  Onward  they  marched,  to  earn  heaven  by  desolat- 
ing earth.  The  work  was  three  centuries  a-doing.  It  was 
done  effectually  at  last,  however.  "  Neither  sex,  nor  age, 
nor  rank,  have  we  spared,"  says  the  leader  of  the  war  against 
the  Albigenses;  "  we  have  put  all  alike  to  the  sword."'-  The 
churches  and  the  workshops,  the  Christianity  and  the  in- 
dustry, of  the  region,  were  swept  away  by  this  simoom  of 
fanaticism.  Before  it  was  a  garden,  behind  it  a  desert. 
All  was  silent  now,  where  the  solemn  melody  of  praise  and 
the  busy  hum  of  trade  had  before  been  so  happily  blent. 
Monarchs  had  drained  their  exchequers  to  desolate  the 
wealthiest  and  fairest  portion  of  their  dominions  ;  neverthe- 
less they  held  themselves  abundantly  recompensed  by  the 
assurance  which  Home  gave  them  of  ci'owns  and  kingdoms 
in  paradise. 


•  Eanke's  History  of  the  Popes,  vol.  i.  p.  24. 


d-i'  FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUl'UEMACY. 


CHAPTER  V. 


FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPEEMACY. 


This  is  the  favourable  point  for  taking  a  view  of  the  charac- 
ter of  the  Papacy, — its  lofty  pretensions  and  claims,  and  the 
foundation  on  which  all  these  are  based.  The  conflict  waged 
by  the  seventh  Gregory,  and  which  ended  in  disaster  to  him- 
self, but  in  triumph  to  his  system,  brings  out  in  striking  re- 
lief the  essential  principles,  the  guiding  spirit,  and  the  un- 
varying aims,  of  the  popedom.  When  intelligently  contem- 
plated, the  Papacy  is  seen  to  be  a  monarchy  of  a  mixed 
kind,  partly  ecclesiastical  and  partly  civil,  founded  profess- 
edly upon  divine  right,  and  claiming  vmiversal  jurisdiction 
and  dominion.  The  empire  which  Gregory  VII.  strove  to 
erect  was  of  this  mixed  kind  ;  the  dominion  he  arrogated 
and  exercised  extended  directly  or  indirectly  to  all  things 
temporal  and  spiritual ;  and  this  vast  power  he  claimed/«r(3 
divino.     This  it  now  becomes  our  business  to  show. 

The  Pope  had  now  made  himself  absolute  master  in  the 
Church.  There  was,  in  fact,  but  one  bishop,  and  Christen- 
dom was  his  diocese.  From  this  one  man  flowed  all  eccle- 
siastical honours,  offices,  acts,  and  jurisdiction.  The  pon- 
tiffs presided  in  all  councils  by  their  legates ;  they  were  the 
supreme  arbiters  in  all  controversies  that  arose  respecting 
religion  or  church  discipline.  "  Gregory  VII.,"  remarks 
D'Aubigne,  "  claimed  the  same  power  over  all  the  bishops 


TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY  ARROGATED.  95 

and  priests  of  Christendom  that  an  abbot  of  Chmy  exer- 
cises in  the  order  in  which  ho  presides.'"'^  And  all  this  they 
claimed  as  the  successor  of  St  Peter.  But  it  is  unnecessary 
to  spend  time  on  a  point  so  universally  admitted  as  that  the 
popes  now  possessed  ecclesiastical  supremacy,  and  professed 
to  hold  it  by  divine  right,  that  is,  as  the  successors  of  St 
Peter,  the  prince  of  the  apostles.  But  the  point  to  be  de- 
monstrated here  is,  that  the  popes,  not  content  with  being 
supreme  rulers  in  the  Church,  and  having  all  ecclesiastical 
persons  and  things  subject  to  their  absolute  authority, 
claimed  to  be  supreme  in  the  State  also  ;  and,  in  the  charac- 
ter of  God's  vicegerents  presumed  to  dispose  of  crowns  and 
kingdoms,  and  to  interfere  in  all  temporal  affairs.  The 
foundation  of  this  power  was  laid  when  the  popes  claimed 
to  be  the  successors  of  St  Peter  and  the  vicars  of  Christ, 
which  they  did,  as  we  have  already  shown,  as  early  as  the 
middle  of  the  fifth  century  ;  but  the  universal  and  uncon- 
trolled dominion  implied  in  this  claim  they  did  not  seek  to 
wield  till  towards  the  times  of  Gregory  VII.,  in  the  eleventh 
century.  But  that  they  did  then  arrogate  this  power  in  the 
most  open  and  unblushing  manner,  does  not  admit  of  doubt 
or  denial.  There  exists  a  vast  body  of  proof  to  the  effect 
that  the  popes  of  the  eleventh  and  succeeding  centuries  at- 
tempted to  prostrate  beneath  their  feet  the  temporal  as  well 
as  the  spiritual  power,  and  that  they  succeeded  in  their  at- 
tempt. The  history  of  Europe  from  the  era  of  Hildebrand 
to  that  of  Luther  must  be  blotted  out  before  the  condemna- 
tory evidence — for  condemnatory  of  the  Papacy  it  certainly 
is,  as  irreconcileably  hostile  to  the  liberties  of  nations  and 
the  rights  of  princes — can  be  annihilated  or  got  rid  of.  It 
has  put  this  claim  into  a  great  variety  of  forms,  and  at- 
tempted in  every  possible  way  to  make  it  good.  It  taught 
this  claim  in  its  essential  principles;  and,  when  the  character 
of  the  times  permitted,  it  advanced  it  in  plain  and  unmis- 
takeable  statements.     It  spent  five  centuries  of  intrigue  in 

•  D'Aubign^'s  History  of  the  Reformation,  vol.  i.  p.  48. 


96     FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OP  THE  SUPREMACY. 

the  effort  to  realize  this  claim,  and  five  centuries  more  of 
wars  and  bloodshed  in  the  effort  to  retain  and  consolidate 
it.  It  was  promulgated  from  the  doctor's  chair,  ratified  by 
synodical  acts,  embodied  in  the  instructions  of  nuncios,  and 
thundered  from  the  pontifical  throne  in  the  dreadful  sentence 
of  interdict  by  which  monarchs  were  deposed,  their  crowns 
transferred  to  others,  their  subjects  loosed  from  their  alle- 
giance, and  their  kingdoms  not  unfrequently  ravaged  with 
fire  and  sword. 

Acts  so  monstrous  may  appear  to  be  the  mere  wantonness 
of  ambition,  or  the  irresponsible  doings  of  men  in  whom  the 
lust  of  power  had  overborne  every  other  consideration.  The 
man  who  reasons  in  this  way  either  does  not  understand  the 
Papacy,  or  wilfully  perverts  the  question.  This  was  but  the 
sober  and  logical  action  of  the  popedom  ;  it  was  the  fair 
working  of  the  evil  principles  of  the  system,  and  no  chance 
ebullition  of  the  destructive  passions  of  the  man  who  had 
been  placed  at  its  head  ;  and  nothing  is  capable  of  a  more 
complete  and  convincing  demonstration.  The  foundation  of 
our  proof  must  of  course  be  the  constitution  of  the  Papacy. 
As  is  the  nature  of  the  thing, — as  are  the  elements  and  prin- 
ciples of  which  it  is  made  up, — so  inevitably  must  be  the  cha- 
racter and  extent  of  its  claims,  and  the  nature  of  its  action 
and  influence.  What,  then,  is  the  Papacy  ?  Is  it  a  purely 
spiritual  society,  or  a  purely  secular  society  ?  It  is  neither. 
The  Papacy  is  a  mixed  society  :  the  secular  element  enters 
quite  as  largely  into  its  constitution  as  does  the  spiritual. 
It  is  a  compound  of  both  elements  in  equal  proportions;  and, 
being  so,  must  necessarily  possess  secular  as  well  as  spiritual 
jurisdiction,  and  be  necessitated  to  adopt  civil  as  well  as 
ecclesiastical  action.  But  how  does  it  appear  that  the 
Church  of  Rome  combines  in  one  essence  the  secular  and 
spiritual  elements  ?  for  the  point  lies  here.  It  appears  from 
the  fundamental  axiom  on  which  she  rests.  There  are  but 
a  few  links  in  the  chain  of  her  infernal  logic ;  but  these  few 
links  are  of  adamant ;  and  they  so  bind  up  together,  in  one 
composite  body,  the  two  principles,  the  spiritual  and  the  tern- 


SYLLOGISM  OF  THE  PAPACY.  97 

poral,  and,  by  consequence,  the  two  jurisdictions,  that  the 
moment  Rome  attempts  to  cut  in  twain  what  her  logic  joins 
in  one,  she  ceases  to  be  the  popedom.  Her  syllogism  is  in- 
destructible if  the  minor  proposition  be  but  granted ;  and 
the  minor  proposition,  be  it  remembered,  is  her  fundamental 
axiom : — Christ  is  the  Vicar  of  God,  and,  as  such,  pos- 
sesses HIS  power  ;  BUT  THE  PoPE  IS  THE  ViCAR  OF  ClIRIST  ; 
THEREFORE   THE   POPE   IS   God'S  YiCAR,  AND   POSSESSES   HIS 

POWER.  To  Christ,  as  the  Vicar  of  God,  all  power,  spiritual 
and  temporal,  has  been  delegated.  All  spiritual  power  has 
been  delegated  to  Him  as  Head  of  the  Church  ;  and  all  tem- 
poral power  has  been  delegated  to  Him  for  the  good  of  the 
Church.  This  power  has  been  delegated  a  second  time 
from  Christ  to  the  Pope.  To  the  Pope  all  spiritual  power 
has  been  delegated,  as  head  of  the  Church,  and  God's  vice- 
gerent on  earth  ;  and  all  temporal  power  also,  for  the  good 
of  the  Church.  Such  is  the  theory  of  the  popedom.  This 
conclusively  establishes  that  the  Papacy  is  of  a  mixed  cha- 
racter. We  but  perplex  ourselves  when  we  think  or  speak 
of  it  simply  as  a  religion.  It  contains  the  religious  ele- 
ment, no  doubt;  but  it  is  not  a  rehgion; — it  is  a  scheme 
of  domination  of  a  mixed  character,  partly  spiritual  and 
partly  temporal ;  and  its  jurisdiction  must  be  of  the  same 
mixed  kind  with  its  constitution.  To  talk  of  the  popedom 
wielding  a  purely  spiritual  authority  only,  is  to  assert  what 
her  fundamental  principles  repudiate.  These  principles 
compel  her  to  claim  the  temporal  also.  The  two  authori- 
ties grow  out  of  the  same  fundamental  axiom,  and  are  so 
woven  together  in  the  system,  and  so  indissolubly  knit  the 
one  to  the  other,  that  the  Papacy  must  part  with  both  or 
none.  The  popedom,  then,  stands  alone.  In  genius,  in  con- 
stitution, and  in  prerogative,  it  is  diverse  from  all  other  so- 
cieties. The  Church  of  Rome  is  a  temporal  monarchy  as 
really  as  she  is  an  ecclesiastic  body ;  and  in  token  of  her 
hybrid  character,  her  head,  the  Pope,  displays  the  emblems 
of  both  jurisdictions, — the  keys  in  the  one  hand,  the  sword 
in  the  other, 

H 


98  FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

Pope  Boniface  VIII.  was  a  much  more  logical  expounder 
of  the  Papacy  than  those  who  now-a-days  would  persuade  us 
that  it  is  purely  spiritual.  In  a  bull  "  given  at  the  palace 
of  the  Lateran,  in  the  eighth  year  of  his  pontificate,"  and 
inserted  in  the  body  of  the  canon  law,  we  find  him  claiming 
both  jurisdictions  in  the  broadest  manner.  "  There  is,"  says 
he,  "  one  fold  and  one  shepherd.  The  authority  of  that 
shepherd  includes  the  two  swords, — the  spiritual  and  the 
temporal.  So  much  are  we  taught  by  the  words  of  the 
evangelist,  '  Behold,  here  are  two  swords,*"  namely,  in  the 
Church.  The  Lord  did  not  reply,  It  is  too  much,  but,  It  is 
enough.  Certainly  he  did  not  deny  to  Peter  the  temporal 
sword  :  he  only  commanded  him  to  return  it  into  its  scab- 
bard. Both,  therefore,  belong  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Church, — the  spiritual  sword  and  the  secular.  The  one  is 
to  be  wielded  for  the  Church, — the  other  by  the  Church ; 
the  one  is  the  sword  of  the  priest, — the  other  is  in  the  hand 
of  the  monarch,  but  at  the  command  and  sufferance  of  the 
priest.  It  behoves  the  one  sword  to  be  under  the  other, — 
the  temporal  authority  to  be  subject  to  the  spiritual  power."* 
Whatever  may  be  thought  of  this  pontifical  gloss,  there  can 
be  no  question  as  to  the  comprehensive  jurisdiction  which 
Boniface  founds  upon  the  passage. 

It  cannot  be  argued,  then,  with  the  least  amount  of  truth, 
or  of  plausibility  even,  that  this  claim  was  the  result  of  a 
kind  of  accident, — that  it  originated  solely  in  the  ambition  of 
an  individual  pope,  and  was  foreign  to  the  genius,  or  disal- 
lowed by  the  principles,  of  the  Papacy.  On  the  contrary, 
nothing  is  easier  than  to  show  that  it  is  a  most  logical  de- 
duction from  the  fundamental  elements  of  the  system.  It 
partakes  not  in  the  slightest  degree  of  the  accidental ;  nor 
was  it  a  crotchet  of  Hildebrand,  or  a  delusion  of  the  age 


*  Corpus  Juris  Canonici  (Colonize.  1631),  Extravag.  Commun.  lib.  i.  tit. 
viii.  cap.  i,  "  Utcrquo  ergo  est  in  potestato  ecclesia?,  spiritalis,  scilicet, 
gladius,  et  materialis.  Scd  is  quidom  pro  ecclcsia,  ille  vero  ab  ecclcsia, 
exerceudus." 


THE  SUPKEilACY  NOT  ACCIDENTAL.  99 

in  which  he  lived ;  as  is  manifest  from  the  fact,  that  its  de- 
velopment was  the  work  of  five  centuries,  and  the  joint  ope- 
ration of  many  hundreds  of  minds  who  were  successively  em- 
ployed upon  it.  It  was  the  logical  consequence  of  principles 
which  had  been  engrafted  in  the  Papacy,  or  rather,  as  we 
have  just  shown,  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  the  whole 
system ;  and  accordingly,  it  was  steadily  and  systematically 
pursued  through  a  succession  of  centuries,  and  engaged  the 
genius  and  ambition  of  innumerable  minds.  As  the  seed 
bursts  the  clod  and  struggles  into  light,  so  we  behold  the 
principle  of  papal  supremacy  struggling  for  development 
through  the  slow  centuries,  and  in  its  efforts  overturning 
thrones  and  convulsing  society.  We  can  discover  the  su- 
preraac}'  in  embryo  as  early  as  the  fifth  century,  and  can 
trace  its  logical  development  till  the  times  of  Hildebrand. 
We  see  it  passing  through  the  consecutive  stages  of  the 
dogma,  the  synodical  decree,  the  papal  missive,  and  the  in- 
terdict, which  shook  the  thrones  of  monarchs,  and  laid  their 
occupants  prostrate  in  the  dust.  The  gnarled  oak,  whose 
lofty  stature  and  thick  foliage  darken  the  earth  for  roods 
around,  is  not  more  really  a  development  of  the  acorn  depo- 
sited in  the  soil  centuries  before,  than  were  the  arrogant 
pretensions  and  domineering  acts  of  the  Papacy  in  the  age 
of  Innocent  the  result  of  the  principle  deposited  in  the  Pa- 
pacy in  the  fifth  century,  that  the  Pope  is  Christ's  vicar. 

The  Pope's  absolute  dominion  over  priests  is  not  a  more 
legitimate  inference  from  this  doctrine  than  is  his  dominion 
over  kings.  If  the  pontiffs  have  renounced  the  temporal 
supremacy,  it  is  on  one  of  two  grounds, — either  they  are  not 
Christ's  vicars,  or  Christ  is  not  a  King  of  kings.  But  they 
have  claimed  all  along,  and  do  still  claim,  to  be  the  vicars 
of  Christ ;  and  they  have  likewise  held  all  along,  and  do  still 
hold,  that  Christ  is  Head  of  the  world  as  well  as  Head  of 
the  Church.  The  conclusion  is  inevitable,  that  it  is  not  only 
over  the  Church  that  they  bear  rule,  but  over  the  world  also; 
and  that  they  have  as  good  a  right  to  dispose  of  crowns,  and 
to  meddle  in  the  temporal  affairs  of  kingdoms,  as  they  have 


100    FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

to  bestow  mitres,  and  to  make  laws  in  the  Church.  The  one 
authority  is  as  essential  to  the  completeness  of  their  assumed 
character  as  is  the  other. 

The  popes  have  understood  the  matter  in  this  light  from 
the  beginning.  Some  writers  of  name  are  at  present  en- 
deavouring to  persuade  the  world  that  the  pontiffs  (some 
few  excepted,  who,  they  say,  transgressed  in  this  matter 
the  bounds  of  Catholicism  as  well  as  of  moderation)  never 
claimed  or  exercised  supremacy  over  princes ;  that  this  is 
not,  and  never  was,  a  doctrine  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church ;  and  that  she  repudiates  and  condemns  the  opinion 
that  the  Pope  has  been  invested  with  jurisdiction  over  tem- 
poral princes.  But  we  cannot  grant  to  Rome  the  sole  right 
to  interpret  history,  as  her  members  grant  to  her  the  right 
to  interpret  the  Bible.  We  can  examine  and  judge  for 
ourselves  ;  and  when  we  do  so,  we  certainly  find  far  more 
reason  to  admire  the  boldness  than  to  confess  the  prudence 
of  those  who  disclaim,  on  the  part  of  Rome,  this  doctrine. 
The  proofs  to  the  contrary  are  far  too  plain  and  too  nume- 
rous to  permit  of  this  disclaimer  obtaining  the  least  credit 
from  any  one,  save  those  who  are  prepared  to  receive  with- 
out scruple  or  inquiry  all  that  popish  writers  may  be  pleased 
to  assert  in  behalf  of  their  Church.  Popes,  canonists,  and 
councils  have  promulgated  this  tenet ;  and  not  only  have 
they  asserted  that  the  power  it  implies  rests  on  Divine 
right,  but  they  have  inculcated  it  as  an  article  of  belief  on 
all  who  would  preserve  the  faith  and  unity  of  the  Church. 
"  We,"  says  Pope  Boniface  VIIL,  "  declare,  say,  define,  and 
pronounce  it  to  be  necessary  to  salvation,  that  every  human 
creature  be  subject  to  the  Roman  pontiff.*  The  one  sword 
must  be  under  the  other ;  and  the  temporal  authority  must 
be  subject  to  the  spiritual  power :  hence,  if  the  earthly 
power  go  astray,  the  spiritual  shall  judge  it."*}*     These  sen- 

*  First  taught  as  an  axiom  by  Thomas  Aquinas,  in  his  work  against  tlie 
Greeks ;  converted  into  law  by  Pope  Boniface ;  and  attempted  to  be 
applied  by  the  same  pope  in  the  way  of  deposing  King  Pliilip  of  France. 

+  Extravag.  Commun.  lib.  i.  tit.  viii.  cap.  i.     "  Porro  subcsse  Romano 


MONARCHS  EXCOMMUNICATED.  101 

timcnts  are  re-echoed  by  Leo  X.  and  his  Council  of  Lateran. 
"  We,"  says  that  pope,  "  with  the  approbation  of  the  pre- 
sent holy  council,  do  renew  and  approve  that  holy  consti- 
tution."* To  that  doctrine  Baronius  heartily  subscribes : 
"  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  it,"  says  he,  "  but  that  the  civil 
principality  is  subject  to  the  sacerdotal,  and  that  God  hath 
made  the  political  government  subject  to  the  dominion  of 
the  spiritual  Church."-f- 

"  He  who  reigneth  on  high,"  says  Pius  V.,  in  his  intro- 
duction to  his  bull  against  Queen  Elizabeth,  "  to  whom  is 
given  all  power  in  heaven  and  in  earth,  hath  committed  the 
one  holy  Catholic  Church,  out  of  which  there  is  no  salvation, 
to  one  alone  upon  earth,  that  is,  to  Peter,  the  prince  of 
apostles,  and  to  the  Homan  pontiff,  the  successor  of  Peter, 
to  be  governed  with  a  plenitude  of  power.  This  one  he 
hath  constituted  prince  over  all  nations,  that  he  may  pluck 
up,  overthrow,  disperse,  destroy,  plant,  and  rear."  The 
Italian  priest,  therefore,  thunders  against  the  English 
monarch  in  the  following  style : — "  We  deprive  the  Queen 
of  her  pretended  right  to  the  kingdom,  and  of  all  dominion, 
dignity,  and  privilege  whatsoever;  and  absolve  all  the 
nobles,  subjects,  and  people  of  the  kingdom,  and  whoever 
else  have  sworn  to  her,  from  their  oath,  and  all  duty  what- 
soever in  regard  of  dominion,  fidelity,  and  obedience."^ 

"  Snatch  up,  therefore,  the  two-edged  sword  of  Divine 
power  committed  to  thee,"  was  the  address  of  the  Council 
of  Lateran  to  Leo  X.,  "  and  enjoin,  command,  and  charge, 
that  a  universal  peace  and  alliance,  for  at  least  ten  years, 
be  made  among  Christians ;  and  to  that  bind  kings  in  the 
fetters  of  the  great  King,  and  firmly  fasten  nobles  with  the 


pontifici  omni  humanaj  creaturse,  declaramus,  dicimus,  finimus,  et  pronun- 
ciamus  omnino  esse  de  necessitate  salutis." 

*  Concil.  Lateran.  sess.  xi.  p.  153. 

+  Baron,  anno  57,  sec.  23-53. 

J  Pope  Pius  V.  in  bull  coi^tra  Reg.  Eliz.,  quoted  from  Barrow. 


102    FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

iron  manacles  of  censures ;  for  to  thee  is  given  all  power  in 
heaven  and  in  earth."* 

So  speak  the  popes  and  councils  of  Rome.  Here  is  not 
only  the  principle  out  of  which  the  supremacy  springs 
enunciated,  but  the  claim  itself  advanced.  Not  in  words 
only  have  they  held  this  high  tone ;  their  deeds  have  been 
equally  lofty.  The  supremacy  was  not  permitted  to  remain 
a  theory ;  it  became  a  fact.  For  several  centuries  to- 
gether we  see  the  popes  reigning  over  Europe,  and  demean- 
ing themselves  in  every  way  as  not  only  its  spiritual,  but 
also  its  temporal  lords.  We  see  them  freely  distributing 
immunities,  titles,  revenues,  territories,  as  if  all  belonged  to 
them ;  we  see  them  sustaining  themselves  arbiters  in  all 
disputes,  umpires  in  all  quarrels,  and  judges  in  all  causes; 
we  see  them  giving  provinces  and  crowns  to  their  favourites, 
and  constituting  emperors ;  we  see  them  imposing  oaths  of 
fidelity  and  vassalage  on  monarchs ;  and,  in  token  of  the  de- 
pendence of  the  one  and  the  supremacy  of  the  other,  we  see 
them  exacting  tribute  for  their  kingdoms  in  the  shape  of 
Peter''s  pence ;  we  see  them  raising  wars  and  crusades, 
summoning  princes  and  kings  into  the  field,  attiring  them 
in  their  livery,  the  cross,  and  holding  them  but  as  lieu- 
tenants under  them.  In  fine,  how  often  have  they  deposed 
monarchs,  and  laid  their  kingdoms  under  interdict  ?  History 
presents  us  with  a  list  of  not  less  than  sixty-four  emperors 
and  kings  deposed  by  the  popes.-f  But  it  is  improper  to 
despatch  in  a  single  sentence  what  occupies  so  large  a  space 
in  history,  and  has  been  the  cauge  of  so  much  suff'ering, 
bloodshed,  and  war  to  Europe.  Nothing  can  convey  a  bet- 
ter or  truer  picture  of  the  insufferable  arrogance  and  pride 
of  the  pontiffs  than  their  own  language  on  these  occasions. 

*  Concil.  Lateran.  sess.  x.  p.  132. 

+  See  a  list  of  these  sovereigns  in  Free  Thoughts  on  the  Toleration  of 
Popery,  pp.  50,  51  ;  Edin.  1780.  This  Avork  is  from  the  pen  of  the  late 
Professor  Bruce  of  Whitburn.  It  displays  immense  research,  sound  learn- 
ing, and  great  eloquence. 


THE  POPE  VERSUS  KINGS.  103 

"  For  the  dignity  and  defence  of  God's  holy  Church,""  says 
Gregory  VII.  (Hihlebrand),  "  in  the  name  of  the  omnipo- 
tent God,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  I  depose  from  im- 
perial and  royal  administration,  Henry  the  king,  the  son 
of  Henry,  formerly  emperor,  who,  too  boldly  and  rashly, 
has  laid  hands  on  thy  Church ;  and  I  absolve  all  Chris- 
tians subject  to  the  empire  from  that  oath  by  which  they 
were  wont  to  plight  their  faith  unto  true  kings ;  for  it  is 
right  that  he  should  be  deprived  of  dignity  who  doth  en- 
deavour to  diminish  the  majesty  of  the  Church. 

"  Go  to,  therefore,  most  holy  princes  of  the  apostles,  and 
w^hat  I  said,  by  interposing  your  authority,  confirm ;  that  all 
men  may  now  at  length  understand,  if  ye  can  bind  and 
loose  in  heaven,  that  ye  also  can  upon  earth  take  away  and 
give  empires,  kingdoms,  and  whatsoever  mortals  can  have ; 
for  if  ye  can  judge  things  belonging  unto  God,  what  is  to  be 
deemed  concerning  these  inferior  and  profane  things  I  And 
if  it  is  your  part  to  judge  angels  who  govern  proud  princes, 
what  becometh  it  you  to  do  towards  their  servants  ?  Let 
kings  now,  and  all  secular  princes,  learn  by  this  man's 
example  what  ye  can  do  in  heaven,  and  in  what  esteem  ye 
are  with  God ;  and  let  them  henceforth  fear  to  slight  the 
commands  of  holy  Church,  but  put  forth  suddenly  this 
judgment,  that  all  men  may  understand,  that  not  casually, 
but  by  your  means,  this  son  of  iniquity  doth  fall  from  his 
kingdom."" 

"  We  therefore,"  says  Innocent  IV.  in  the  Council  of 
Lyons  (1245),  when  pronouncing  sentence  of  excommunica- 
tion upon  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.,f  "having  had  previous 
and  careful  deliberation  with  our  brethren  and  the  holy 
council  respecting  the  preceding  and  many  other  of  his 
wicked  miscarriages,  do  show,  denounce,  and  accordingly 
deprive  of  all  honour  and  dignity,  the  said  prince,  who  hath 
rendered  himself  unworthy  of  empire  and  kingdoms,  and  of 


*  Concil.  Rom.  vii.  apiid  Bin.  torn.  vii.  p.  491.     (Barrow), 
t  Du  Pin,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  ii.  p.  400. 


104    FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

all  honour  and  dignity ;  and  who,  for  his  sins,  is  cast  away 
by  God,  that  he  should  not  reign  nor  command ;  and  all 
who  are  bound  by  oath  of  allegiance  we  absolve  from  such 
oath  for  ever,  firmly  enjoining  that  none  in  future  regard  or 
obey  him  as  emperor  or  king ;  and  decreeing,  that  whoever 
yields  him  in  these  characters  advice,  assistance,  or  favours, 
shall  immediately  lie  under  the  bond  of  excommunication." 

The  following  bull  of  Sixtus  V.  (1585)  against  the  King 
of  Navarre  and  the  Prince  of  Conde, — the  two  sons  of  lorath^ 
— is  conceived  in  the  loftiest  pontifical  style.  "  The  autho- 
rity given  to  St  Peter  and  his  successors  by  the  immense 
power  of  the  Eternal  King,  excels  all  the  power  of  earthly 
princes ;  it  passes  uncontrollable  sentence  upon  them  all ; 
and  if  it  find  any  of  them  resisting  the  ordinance  of  God,  it 
takes  a  more  severe  vengeance  upon  them,  casting  them 
down  from  their  throne,  however  powerful  they  may  be,  and 
tumbling  them  to  the  lowest  parts  of  the  earth,  as  the 
ministers  of  aspiring  Lucifer,  We  deprive  them  and  their 
posterity  of  their  dominions  for  ever.  By  the  authority  of 
these  presents,  we  absolve  and  free  all  persons  from  their 
oath  [of  allegiance],  and  from  all  duty  whatever  relating  to 
dominion,  fealty,  and  obedience ;  and  we  charge  and  forbid 
all  from  presuming  to  obey  them,  or  any  of  their  admoni- 
tions, laws,  or  commands.*" '•■ 

But  it  were  endless  to  bring  forward  all  that  might  be 
adduced  on  the  point.  The  history  of  the  middle  ages 
abounds  with  instances  of  the  exercise  of  this  tremendous 
power,  of  the  disgrace  and  disaster  it  entailed  on  monarchs, 
and  the  confusion  and  calamity  it  occasioned  to  nations. 
But  instead  of  citing  instances  of  these, — of  which  the  his- 
tory of  Europe,  not  excepting  that  of  our  own  country,  is 
full, — we  think  it  of  more  consequence  here  to  observe, 
that  the  most  high-handed  of  these  acts  grew  directly  out 
of  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  Papacy, — that  the  Pope 
is  Chrisfs  vicar.     If  this  be  granted,  the  pontiff  is  as  really 

*  Bulla  Sexti  V.  contra  Hen.  Navarr.  Rex.    (Barrow). 


ULTRAMONTANISM  LOGICAL.  105 

the  temporal  as  the  spiritual  chief  of  Europe ;  and  in  de- 
throning heretical  kings,  and  laying  rebellious  kingdoms 
under  interdict,  he  is  simply  exercising  a  power  which  Christ 
has  lodged  in  his  hands ;  he  is  doing  what  he  is  not  only 
entitled,  but  bound  to  do.  Nothing  could  display  greater 
ignorance  of  the  essential  principles  of  the  Papacy,  or 
greater  incompetence  to  deduce  legitimate  inferences  from 
these  principles,  than  to  hold,  as  some  do,  that  the  supre- 
macy was  an  accident,  or  had  its  origin  in  the  ambition  of 
Gregory,  or  in  the  superstitious  and  slavish  character  of  the 
times.  True,  it  was  only  at  times  that  the  Papacy  dared 
to  assert  or  to  act  upon  this  arrogant  claim.  In  itself  the 
claim  is  so  monstrous,  and  so  destructive  of  both  the  natu- 
ral rights  of  men  and  the  just  prerogatives  of  princes,  that 
the  instinct  of  self-preservation  overcame  at  times  the  slavish 
dictates  of  superstition,  and  princes  and  people  united  to 
oppose  a  despotism  that  threatened  to  crush  both.  When 
the  state  was  strong  the  Papacy  held  its  claims  in  abeyance ; 
but  when  the  sceptre  came  into  feeble  hands,  that  moment 
Rome  advanced  her  lordly  pretensions,  and  summoned  both 
her  ffhostlv  terrors  and  her  material  resources  to  enforce 
them.  She  trampled  with  inexorable  pride  upon  the  dig- 
nity of  princes  ;  she  violated  without  scruple  the  sanctity  of 
oaths ;  she  repaid  former  favours  with  insult ;  and  treated 
with  equal  disdain  the  rights  and  the  supplications  of  na- 
tions. Nothing,  however  exalted,  nothing,  however  vene- 
rable, nothing,  however  sacred,  was  permitted  to  stand  in 
her  way  to  universal  and  supreme  dominion.  She  became 
the  lady  of  kingdoms.  She  was  God"'s  vicegerent,  and  could 
bind  or  loose,  build  up  or  pull  down,  as  seemed  good  unto 
her.  In  disposing  of  the  crowns  of  monarchs,  she  was  dis- 
posing of  but  her  own ;  and  in  assuming  the  supreme 
authority  in  their  kingdoms,  she  was  exercising  a  right  in- 
herent in  her,  and  with  which  she  could  no  more  part  than 
she  could  cease  to  be  Rome. 

Such  is  the  principle  viewed  logically.     The  most  arro- 
gant acts  of  Gregory  and  Innocent  did  not  exceed  by  a 


lOG        FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

single  hairbreadth  the  just  limits  of  their  power,  judged 
according  to  the  fundamental  axiom  out  of  which  that 
power  springs.  But  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  Romanists 
have  all  been  of  one  mind  respecting  the  nature  and  extent 
of  the  supremacy.  On  this,  as  on  every  other  point,  they 
have  differed  widely.  By  a  curious  but  easily  explained 
coincidence,  the  Romanist  theory  of  the  supremacy  has  been 
enlarged  or  contracted,  according  to  the  mutations  which 
the  supremacy  itself,  in  its  exercise  upon  the  world,  has  un- 
dergone. The  papal  sceptre  has  been  a  sort  of  index-hand. 
Its  motions,  whether  through  a  larger  or  a  narrower  space, 
have  ever  furnished  an  exact  measure  of  the  existing  state 
of  opinion  in  the  schools  on  the  subject  in  question.  In 
fact,  the  risings  and  fallings  of  tlieory  and  iwactice  on  the 
head  of  the  supremacy  have  been  as  coincident,  both  in 
time  and  space,  as  the  turnings  of  the  vane  and  the  wind, 
or  as  the  changes  of  the  mercury  and  the  atmosphere ;  fur- 
nishing an  instructive  specimen  of  that  very  peculiar  infalli- 
bility which  Rome  possesses.  We  distinctly  recognise  three 
well-defined  and  different  opinions,  not  to  mention  minute 
shades  and  variations,  among  Romish  doctors  on  this  im- 
portant question.  The  first  attributes  temporal  power  to 
the  Pope  on  the  ground  of  express  and  formal  delegation 
from  God.  We  are,  say  they,  Peter's  representative,  God's 
vicegerent,  possessors  of  the  two  keys,  and  therefore  the 
rulers  of  the  world  in  both  its  spiritual  and  temporal  affairs. 
This  may  be  held,  speaking  generally,  as  the  claim  of  the 
popes  who  lived  from  Gregory  VII.  to  Pius  V.,  as  expressed 
in  their  bulls,  and  interpreted  (little  to  the  comfort  of  sove- 
reigns) in  their  acts.  They  were  the  world's  priest  and 
monarch  in  one  person.  And,  we  repeat,  this,  which  is  the 
high  ultra-montane  theory,  appears  to  us  to  be  the  most 
consistent  opinion,  strictly  logical  on  Romanist  principles, 
and,  indeed,  wholly  impregnable  if  we  but  grant  their  pos- 
tulate, that  the  Pope  is  Christ's  vicar.  Prior  to  the  Refor- 
mation there  was  scarce  a  single  dissentient  from  this  view 
of  the  supremacy  in  the  Romish  Church,  if  we  except  tho 


bellarmine's  theory,  or  indirect  authority.     107 

illustrious  defenders  of  the  "Galilean  liberties."  Theolo- 
gians, canonists,  and  popes,  with  one  voice  claimed  this 
prerogative.  "  The  first  opinion,"  says  Bellarmine,  when 
enumerating  the  views  held  respecting  the  Pope's  temporal 
supremacy,  "  is,  that  the  Pope  has  a  most  full  power,  jure 
dhnno,  over  the  whole  world,  in  both  ecclesiastical  and  civil 
affairs."*  "  This,"  he  adds,  "  is  the  doctrine  of  Augustine 
Triumphus,  Alvarus  Pelagius,  Hostiensis,  Panormitanus, 
Sylvester,  and  others  not  a  few."  The  same  doctrine  was 
taught  by  the  "  Angelical  Doctor,"  as  he  is  termed.  Aquinas 
held,  that  "  in  the  Pope  is  the  top  of  both  powers,"  and  "  by 
plain  consequence  asserting,"  says  Barrow,  "  when  any  one 
is  denounced  excommunicate  for  apostacy,  his  subjects  are 
immediately  freed  his  dominion,  and  from  their  oaths  of 
allegiance  to  him."-f- 

The  second  opinion  is,  that  the  Pope"'s  immediate  and 
direct  jurisdiction  extends  to  ecclesiastical  matters  only,  but 
that  he  possesses  a  mediate  and  indirect  authority  over  tem- 
poral affairs  also.  This  opinion  found  its  best  expositor  and 
its  ablest  champion  in  the  redoubtable  Cardinal  Bellarmine. 
The  Cardinal  had  sense  to  see,  that  the  monstrous  and 
colossal  Janus,  which  turned  a  cleric  or  laic  visage  to  the 
gazer,  according  to  the  side  from  which  he  viewed  it, — which 
sat  upon  the  seven  hills,  and  was  worshipped  in  the  dark 
ages, — could  no  longer  be  borne  by  the  world ;  and  accord- 
ingly he  set  himself,  with  an  adroitness  and  skill  for  which 
he  had  but  little  thanks  from  the  reigning  pontiff, — for 
the  Cardinal  narrowly  escaped  the  Expurgatorius, — to  show 
that  the  Pope  had  but  one  jurisdiction,  the  spiritual ;  and 
could  exercise  temporal  authority  only  indirectly,  that  is, 
for  the  good  of  religion  or  the  Church.  The  Pope,  how- 
ever, lost  nothing,  in  point  of  fact,  by  the  Cardinal's  logic ; 
for  Bellarmine  took  care  to  teach,  that  that  indirect  tem- 


*  Bellarm.  De  Romano  Pontifice,  lib.  v.  cap.  i. ;  Cologne  edit.  1620. 
+  Barrow  on  the  Supremacy,  Barrow's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  539 ;  Lond. 
1716. 


108    FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

poral  power  would  carry  the  pontiff  as  far,  and  enable  him 
to  do  as  much,  as  the  direct  temporal  authority.  This  indi- 
rect temporal  power,  the  Cardinal  taught,  was  supreme,  and 
could  enable  the  Pope,  for  the  welfare  of  the  Church,  to 
annul  laws  and  depose  sovereigns.*  This  was  dexterous 
management  on  the  part  of  the  Jesuit.  He  professed  to 
part  the  enormous  power  which  had  before  centred  in 
Peter''s  chair,  between  the  kings  and  the  pope,  giving  the 
temporal  to  the  former  and  the  spiritual  to  the  latter ;  but 
he  took  care  that  the  lion''s  share  should  fall  to  the  pontiff. 
It  was  a  grand  feat  of  legerdemain ;  for  this  division,  made 
with  such  show  of  fairness,  left  the  one  party  with  not  a 
particle  more  power,  and  the  other  with  not  a  particle  less, 
than  before.  Bellarmine  had  not  broken  or  blunted  the 
temporal  sword ;  he  had  simply  muffled  it.  He  had  left 
the  pope  brandishing  in  his  hand  the  spiritual  mace,  with 
the  temporal  stiletto  slung  conveniently  by  his  side,  con- 
cealed by  the  folds  of  his  pontificals.  He  could  knock 
monarchs  on  the  head  with  the  spiritual  bludgeon  ;  and,  hav- 
ing got  them  down,  could  despatch  them  with  the  secular 
poignard.  What  was  there  then  in  Bellarmine's  theory  to 
prevent  the  great  spiritual  freebooter  of  Rome  doing  as 
much  business  in  his  own  peculiar  line  as  before?  No- 
thing. 

But  Bellarmine''s  opinion  has  become  antiquated  in  its 
turn.  The  papal  sceptre  now  describes  a  narrower  political 
circle,  and  the  opinions  of  the  Romish  doctors  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  supremacy  have  undergone  a  corresponding  limi- 

■*  "  Pontificem,  \it  pontificem,  non  habere  directe  et  immediate  ullam 
temporalem  potestatem,  sed  solum  spiritualem,  tamen  ratione  spiritualis 
habere  saltern  iiidirecte  potestatem  quamdam,  eamque  summam, in  tempo- 
ralibus."  (De  Rom.  Pont.  lib.  v.  cap.  i.)  "  Quantum  ad  personas,  non  potest 
papa,  ut  papa,  ordinarie  temiJorales  iDrincipes  deponere,  etiam  justa  de 
causa,  eo  mode,  quo  deponit  episcopos,  id  est,  tamquam  ordinarius  judex : 
tamen  potest  mutare  regna,  et  uni  auferre,  atque  alteri  conferre,  tamquam 
summus  princops  spiritualis,  si  id  necessarium  sit  ad  animorum  salutem." 
(Idem,  lib.  v.  cap.  vi.) 


cosselin's  theory  or  direction.  109 

tation.  A  third  opinion  is  that  of  those  who  hold  the 
pope's  indirect  temporal  power  in  its  most  mitigated  and 
attenuated  form, — in  so  very  attenuated  a  form,  indeed,  that 
it  is  all  but  invisible ;  and  accordingly  the  authors  of  this 
opinion  take  leave  to  deny  that  they  grant  to  the  pope  any 
temporal  power  at  all.  These  are  the  views  propounded  by 
Count  de  Maistre  and  Abbe  Gosselin  on  the  Continent,  and 
by  Dr  Wiseman  in  this  country,  and  now  generally  received 
by  all  Roman  Catholics.  De  Maistre  strongly  condemns 
the  use  of  the  term  temporal  supremacy  to  indicate  the 
power  which  the  popes  claim  over  sovereigns;  and  maintains 
that  it  is  in  virtue  of  a  power  entirely  and  eminently  spiritual 
that  they  believe  themselves  to  be  possessed  of  the  right  to 
excommunicate  sovereigns  guilty  of  certain  crimes,  without, 
however,  any  temporal  encroachment,  or  any  interference 
with  their  sovereignty.  He  instances  the  case  of  the  pre- 
sent Pope,  who  is  possessed  of  so  little  temporal  power, 
that  he  is  compelled  to  submit  to  the  ridicule  of  the  Roman 
citizens.*  De  Maistre  conveniently  forgets  that  the  ques- 
tion is  not  what  the  popes  possess,  but  what  they  claim, 
either  directly  or  by  implication.  The  matter  is  stated  in 
almost  precisely  similar  terms  by  Dr  Wiseman,  in  his 
"  Lectures  on  the  Doctrines  and  Practices  of  the  Catholic 
Church."  "  The  supremacy  which  I  have  described,"  says  he, 
"  is  of  a  character  purely  spiritual,  and  has  no  connexion 
with  the  possession  of  any  temporal  jurisdiction. 
Nor  has  this  spiritual  supremacy  any  relation  to  the  wider 
sway  once  held  by  the  pontiffs  over  the  destinies  of  Europe. 
That  the  headship  of  the  Church  won  naturally  the  highest 
weight  and  authority,  in  a  social  and  political  state,  grounded 

*  "  L' exercise  d'un  pouvoir  purement  et  eminemment  spirituel,  en  vertu 
duquel  ils  se  croyaicnt  en  droit  de  frapper  d'excommunication  dcs  princes 
coupables  des  certains  crimes,  sans  aucune  usurpation  materiolle,  sans 
aucune  suspension  de  la  souverainete,  et  sans  aucune  derogation  an  dognie 
de  son  origine  divine.  .  .  .  Je  crois  que  la  verity  ne  se  trouve  que 
dans  la  proposition  contraire,  savoir,  gwe  la  2^'uissaiice  dont  il  s'agit  est  pure- 
ment s^irititelle."     (Du  Pape,  liv.  ii.  chap.  viii.  pp.  225,  226.) 


no         FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

on  catholic  principles,  we   cannot   wonder.      That   power 
arose  and  disappeared  with  the  institutions  which  produced 
or  supported  it,  and  forms  no  part  of  the  doctrine  held  by 
the  Church  regarding  the  papal  supremacy."'"'*      What  sort 
of  power,  then,  is  it  which  these  writers  attribute  to  the 
Pope  ?     A  purely  spiritual  power,  which,  however,  vtiay^  as 
they  themselves  admit,  and   mud^  as  we  shall  show,  carry 
very   formidable    temporal    consequences    in   its  train.     A 
single  term  expresses  the  modern  view  of  the  supremacy, — 
direction.     It  is  not,  according  to  this  \\e\\^  jurisdiction^  but 
direction.,  which  rightfully  belongs  to  the  pontiff.     He  sits 
upon  the  Seven  Hills,  not  as  the  world's  magistrate,  but  as 
the  world's  casuist.     He  is  there  to  solve  doubts  and  guide 
the  consciences,  not  to  coerce  the  bodies,  of  men.     It  is  not 
as  the  dictator,  but  as  the  doctor  of  Europe  that  he  occu- 
pies Peter"'s  chair.     But  this  is  just  Bellarmine''s  theory  in 
a  subtler  form.     The  mode  of  action  is  changed,  but  that 
action  in  its  result  is  the  very  same  :  we  are  led,  in  no  long 
time,  and  by  no  very  indirect  path,  to  the  full  temporal 
supremacy.     If  the  Pope  be  the  director  and  judge  of  all 
consciences ;  if  he  be,  as  Romanists  maintain,  an  infallible 
director  and  judge ;  must  he  not  require  submission  to  his 
judgment, — implicit  submission, — seeing  it  is  an  infallible 
and  supreme  judgment  ?     Suppose  this  infallible  resolver  had 
such  a  case  of  conscience  as  the  following  submitted  to  him, 
— it  is  no  hypothetical  case  : — The  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany 
solicits  the  papal  see  to  direct  his  conscience  as  to  whether  it 
is  lawful  to  permit  his  subjects  to  read  the  Word  of  God  in 
the  vernacular  tongue,  or  to  permit  Protestant  worship  in 
the  Italian  language  in  his  dominions ;  and  he  is  told  it  is 
not.     The  Pope  does  not  send  a  single  shirri  to  Florence  ;  he 
simply  directs  the  ducal  conscience.     But  the  Grand  Duke, 
as  an  obedient  son  of  the  Church,  feels  himself  bound  to  act 
on  the  advice  of  infallibility.     Immediately  the  gens  d'^armes 
appear  in  the  Protestant  chapel,  the  Waldensian  ministers 

*  Wiseman's  Lectures,  lect.  viii.  pp.  264,  265. 


DIRECTION  BUT  DISGUISED  SUPREMACY.  Ill 

are  banished,  and  a  count*  of  the  realm,  along  with  others, 
whose  only  crime  is  attendance  at  Protestant  worship,  and 
readinsr  the  Word  of  God  in  Italian,  are  thrown  into  the 
Bargello  or  common  prison.  The  sentence  of  excommuni- 
cation thundered  from  Gaeta  against  the  Romans  was  the 
precursor  of  the  French  cannon  which  the  Jesuits  of  the 
cabinet  of  the  Elysee  sent  to  Rome.  The  excommunication 
was  a  purely  spiritual  act;  but  the  gaps  in  the  Roman  wall, 
filled  with  gory  masses  of  Roman  and  French  corpses,  had. 
not  much  of  a  spiritual  character.  Laws  favourable  to  to- 
leration and  Protestantism,  the  succession  of  Protestant 
sovereigns,  and  all  other  acts  of  the  same  kind,  must  be 
condemned  by  this  supreme  spiritual  judge,  as  hostile  to  the 
interests  of  religion.  Of  course,  every  Catholic  conscience 
throughout  the  world  is  directed  by  the  judgment  of  the 
pontiff,  and  must  feel  bound  to  carry  that  judgment  out  to 
the  best  of  his  power.  Were  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  to 
propound  such  a  case  of  casuistry  as  this  to  the  papal  see, — 
Whether  it  is  for  the  good  of  the  Church  in  Ireland  that  a 
heretic  like  Queen  Victoria  should  bear  sway  over  that 
island, — who  can  doubt  what  the  reply  would  be  \  Nor  can 
it  be  doubted  that  Irish  Catholic  consciences  would  take 
the  direction  which  infallibility  indicated,  if  they  thought 
they  could  do  so  to  good  purpose.  This  autocrat  of 
all  consciences  in  and  out  of  Christendom  may  disclaim 
all  temporal  power,  and  affect  to  be  head  of  but  a  spiritual 
organization  ;  but  well  he  knows  that,  on  the  right  and  left 
of  Peter's  chair,  as  turnkey  and  hangman  to  the  holy  apos- 
tolic see,    stand   Naples   and  Austria.     The   knife  of  Do 


*  Guicciardini  (May  1851).  His  story  is  well  known.  He  is  the 
descendant  of  the  great  historian  of  that  name.  His  ancestors  had  ren- 
dered important  services  to  the  Roman  see.  The  present  Count  Guicci- 
ardini has  been  a  Protestant  for  years  ;  he  is  of  unblemished  reputation, 
has  never  meddled  with  politics ;  and  simply  for  reading  Diodati's  Bible 
with  a  few  fellow-citizens,  he  was  sentenced  to  die  in  the  poisonous  air  of 
the  Maremme.  He  was  permitted,  however,  with  six  others,  to  make  his 
escape. 


112        FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

Maistre,  fine  as  its  edge  is,  has  but  lopped  off  the  branches 
of  the  tree  of  supremacy ;  the  root  is  in  the  earth,  fastened 
with  a  band  of  iron  and  brass.  The  artillery  of  Romanist 
logic  plays  harmlessly  upon  the  fabric  of  the  papal  power. 
It  veils  it  in  clouds  of  smoke,  but  it  does  not  throw  down  a 
single  stone  of  the  building.  The  spectator,  because  it  is 
blotted  from  his  sight,  thinks  it  is  demolished.  Anon  the 
smoke  clears  away,  and  it  is  seen  standing  unscathed,  and 
strong  as  ever. 

History  is  a  great  bar  in  the  way  of  the  reception  of  this 
theory,  or  rather  of  the  general  conclusion  to  which  its  au- 
thors seek  to  lead  the  public  mind,  namely,  that  the  ponti- 
fical direction  is  not  connected,  either  directly  or  conse- 
quentially, with  temporal  power ;  and  that  the  popes  simply 
pronounce  judgment  in  abstract  questions  of  right  and  wrong, 
leaving  their  award,  as  any  other  moral  and  religious  body 
would  do,  to  exercise  its  legitimate  influence  upon  the  opinion 
and  action  of  the  age.  The  reception  of  such  a  view  of  the 
supremacy  as  this  is  much  impeded,  we  say,  by  the  monu- 
ments of  history.  But  what  can  be  neither  blotted  out  nor 
forgotten,  it  may  be  possible  to  explain  away ;  and  this  is 
the  task  which  De  Maistre,  and  especially  Gosselinand  other 
modern  Romanist  writers,  have  imposed  upon  themselves. 
De  Maistre  admits,  as  it  would  be  madness  to  deny,  that 
the  popes  of  a  former  age  did  depose  sovereigns  and  loose 
subjects  from  their  oath  of  allegiance;'"'  but  to  the  amount 
to  which  these  acts  embodied  temporal  jurisdiction,  or  dif- 
fered in  their  mode  from  direction,  the  adherents  of  the  mo- 
dern theory  maintain  that  they  grew  out  of  the  spirit  and 
views  of  the  middle  ages,  and  that  they  were  founded,  not 
on  divine  right,  but  on  public  right,  that  is,  on  the  general 
consent  of  the  sovereigns  and  people  of  those  days.-f-  Now, 
to  this  view  of  the  subject  there  are  many  and  insuperable 
objections.  The  popes  themselves  give  quite  a  different  ac- 
comit  of  the  matter.     When  they  pronounced  sentence  of 

*  Du  Pape,  liv.  ii.  chap.  ix.  p.  230.  f  Idem,  pp.  231,  232. 


SPIRITUAL  DIRECTION  INCLUDES  TEMPORALITIES.        113 

excommunication  on  monarchs,  in  the  middle  ages,  on  what 
ground  did  they  rest  their  acts  ?     On  the  constitutional  law 
of  Europe  ?     On  rights  made  over  to  them  by  a  convention, 
express  or  tacit,  of  sovereigns  and  people  ?     No ;  but  on  the 
highest  style  of  divine  right.     They  gave  and  took  away 
crowns,  as  the  vicars  of  Christ  and  the  holders  of  the  keys. 
These  popes  did  not  act  as  casuists,  but  as  rulers.     They  did 
not  decide  a  point  of  morality,  but  a  point  of  policy.     One 
can  easily  imagine  the  measureless  indignation  of  Gregory 
or  Innocent,  had  any  one  then  dared  to  propound  such  a 
theory, — how  quickly  they  would  have  smelt  heresy  in  it, 
and  summoned  the  pontifical  thunders  to  purge  out  that 
heresy.     Jurisdiction  they  did  claim  then,  and  on  the  theory 
of  infallibility  they  claim  it  still ;  nor  does  it  mend  the  matter 
though  one  should  grant  that  that  jurisdiction  is  of  a  spiri- 
tual nature,  with  the  indirect  temporal  power  attached ;  for, 
as  we  have  already  shown,  this  is  but  adding  one  step  more 
to  the  logic,  without  adding  even  a  step  more  to  the  process 
by  which  the  act  becomes  thoroughly  temporal.     Nay,  it 
does  not  mend  the  matter  though  we  should  drop  the  at- 
tached indirect  temporal  power,  and  retain  only  the  spiritual 
jurisdiction.     That  jurisdiction  is  infallible  and  supreme,  and 
extends  to  all  things  affecting  religion,  that  is,  the  Church, 
the  popes  being  the  judges.     We  have  had  a  modern  proof 
how  little  this  would  avail  to  curb  the  excesses  of  pontifical 
ambition.     We  have  seen  the  Pope,  solely  by  the  force  of 
the  spiritual  jurisdiction,  endeavouring  to  compel  Piedmont 
to  alter  its  laws,  and  to  restore  the  lands  to  monasteries,  and 
again  extend  to  the  clergy  immunity  from  the  secular  tribu- 
nals.   Even  De  Maistre  grants  the  right  of  excommunicating 
sovereigns  guilty  of  great  crimes.     But  the  Pope  is  to  be  the 
judge  of  what  crimes  do  and  do  not  merit  this  dreadful  pun- 
ishment ;  and  the  notions  of  pontiffs  on  this  grave  point  are 
apt  to  differ  from  those  of  ordinary  men.      Innocent  III. 
threatened  to  interrupt  the  succession  to  the  throne  of  Hun- 
gary because  his  legate  had  been  stopped  in  passing  through 
that  kingdom.     Wherever  duty  is  involved,  there  the  Pope 

I 


114        FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

has  the  right  to  interfere.     But  what  action  is  it  that  does 
not  involve  duty  ?     There  is  nothing  a  man  can  do, — scarce 
anything  he  can  leave  undone, — in  which  the  interests  of  re- 
ligion are  not  more  or  less  directly  concerned,  and  in  which 
the  Pope  has  not  a  pretext  for  thrusting  in  his  direction. 
He  can  prescribe  the  food  a  man  is  to  eat,  the  person  with 
whom  he  is  to  trade,  the  master  whom  he  is  to  serve,  or  the 
menial  whom  he  is  to  hire.     One  can  marry  only  whom  the 
priest  pleases ;  and  can  send  one''s  children  to  no  school  which 
the  Pope  has  disallowed ;   he  must  be  told  how  often  to 
come  to  confession,  and  what  proportion  of  his  goods  to  give 
to  the  Church  ;  above  all,  his  conscience  must  be  directed 
iu  the  important  matter  of  his  last  will  and  testament.     He 
cannot  bury  his  dead  unless  he  is  on  good  terms  with  the 
Church.     Whether  as  a  holder  of  the  franchise,  a  municipal 
councillor,  a  judge,  or  a  member  of  parliament,  he  must  give 
an  account  of  his  stewardship  to  Rome.     From  his  cradle 
to   his  grave  he  is  under  priestly  direction.      That  direc- 
tion is  not  tendered  in  the  shape  of  advice,  and  so  left  to 
guide  the  man  by  its  moral  force :  it  is  delivered  as  an  in- 
fallible decision,  the  justice  of  which  he  dare  not  question, 
and  to  hesitate  to  obey  which  would  be  to  peril  his  salvation. 
Thus,  in  every  matter  of  life  and  business  the  Church  comes 
in.     But  the  Church  can  as  thoroughly  direct  a  whole  king- 
dom as  she  can  direct  the  individual  man.     The  whole  affairs 
of  a  nation,  from  the  state  secret  down  to  the  peasant's 
gossip,  lie  open  before  her  eye.     Her  agents  ramify  every- 
where, and  can  at  a  given  signal  commence  simultaneously 
a  system  of  opposition  and  agitation  over  the  whole  king- 
dom.    Any  decision  in  the  cabinet,  any  law  in  the  senate, 
unfriendly  to  the  Church,  is  sure  in  this  way  to  be  met  and 
crushed.     In  directing  national  affairs,  Rome  has  dropt  the 
bold,  blustering  tone  of  Hildebrand  :  she  now  intimates  her 
will  in  blander  accents  and  politer  phrase,  but  in  a  manner 
not  less  firm  and  irresistible  than  before.     She  has  only  to 
hint  at  withholding  the  sacraments,  as  the  Archbishop  Fran- 
zoni  lately  did  to  the  dying  minister  Rosa,  and  the  threat 


THINGS  CIVIL  AND  SACRED  BLENDED.  115 

generally  is  successful.     Governments  cannot  move  a  step 
but  they  are  met  by  this  tremendous  spiritual  check.     They 
cannot  make  laws  about  education  or  about  church  lands, — 
they  cannot  regulate  monasteries  or  take  cognizance  of  the 
clergy, — they  cannot  extend  civil  privileges  to  their  subjects, 
or  conclude  a  treaty  with  foreign  states, — without  coming  into 
collision  with  the  Church.     Every  matter  which  they  touch 
is  Church,  and  before  they  can  avoid  her  they  must  step  out 
of  the  world.     Under  the  plea  of  directing  their  consciences, 
their  power,  they  find,  is  a  nullity,  and  the  real  master  of 
both  themselves  and  their  kingdom  is  the  Bishop  of  Rome, 
or  his  cowled  or  scarlet-hatted  representative  at  their  court. 
Thus  there  is  nothing  of  a  temporal  kind  which  is  not  drawn 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Pope's  constructive  empire ; 
and  the  "  purely  spiritual  power"  is  felt  in  practice  to  be  an 
intolerable  secular  thraldom.     Under  Rome's  scheme  of  in- 
fallible spiritual  direction  things  sacred  and  civil  are  inse- 
parably and  hopelessly  blended;  and  the  attempt  to  separate 
the  two  would  be  as  vain  as  the  attempt  to  separate  time 
from  the  beings  that  live  in  it,  or  space  from  the  bodies  it 
contains,  or,  as  it  is  well  expressed  by  a  writer  in  the  Edin- 
hurgh  Review^^'  to  cut  out  Shylock's  pound  of  flesh  without 
spilling  a  drop  of  blood.     The  recent  concordat  between  the 
Pope  and  the  Spanish  governmentf  shows  what  a  powerful 
engine  the  "  spiritual  jurisdiction"  is  for  the  government  of 
a  nation  in  all  its  affairs,  temporal  and  spiritual.     That  con- 
cordat puts  both  swords  into  the  hands  of  Pius  IX.  as  truly 
as  ever  Gregory  VII.  or  Innocent  III.  held  them.     Let  the 
reader  mark  its  leading  provisions,  and  see  how  it  subjects 
the  temporal  to  the  spiritual  power  : — 

"  Art.  1  declares  that  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  being 
the  sole  worship  of  the  Spanish  nation,  to  the  exclusion  of 
all  others,  shall  be  maintained  for  ever,  with  all  the  rights 

*  Number  for  April  1851. 

t  Ratifications  were  exchanged  April  23, 1851. 


116        FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

and  prerogatives  which  it  ought  to  enjoy,  according  to  the 
law  of  God  and  the  dispositions  of  the  sacred  canons. 

"  Art.  2  deposes  that  all  instruction  in  universities,  col- 
leges, seminaries,  and  public  or  private  schools,  shall  be  con- 
formable to  Catholic  doctrine  ;  and  that  no  impediment  shall 
be  put  in  the  way  of  the  bishops,  &c.  whose  duty  is  to  watch 
over  the  purity  of  doctrine  and  of  manners,  and  over  the  re- 
ligious education  of  youth,  even  in  the  public  schools. 

"  Art.  o.  The  authorities  to  give  every  support  to  the 
bishops  and  other  ministers  in  the  exercise  of  their  duties  ; 
and  the  government  to  support  the  bishops  when  called  on, 
whether  '  in  opposing  themselves  to  the  malignity  of  men 
who  seek  to  pervert  the  minds  of  the  faithful  and  corrupt 
their  morals,  or  in  impeding  the  publication,  introduction, 
and  circulation  of  bad  and  dangerous  books.'" 

The  29th  article  provides  for  the  establishment  by  the 
government  of  certain  religious  houses  and  congregations, 
specifying  those  of  San  Vicente  Paul,  San  Felipe  Neri,  and 
"  some  other  one  of  those  approved  by  the  Holy  See  ;"  the 
object  being  stated  to  be,  that  there  may  be  always  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  ministers  and  evangelical  labourers  for  home 
and  foreign  missions,  &c.,  and  also  that  they  may  serve  as 
places  of  retirement  for  ecclesiastics,  in  order  to  perform 
spiritual  exercises  and  other  pious  works. 

Art.  80  refers  to  religious  houses  for  women,  in  which 
those  who  are  called  to  a  contemplative  life  may  follow  their 
vocation,  and  others  may  follow  that  of  assistance  to  the 
sick,  education,  and  other  pious  and  useful  works ;  and  di- 
rects the  preservation  of  the  institution  of  Daughters  of 
Charity,  under  the  direction  of  the  clergy  of  San  Vicente 
Paul,  the  government  to  endeavour  to  promote  the  same ; 
reliarious  houses  in  which  education  of  children  and  other 
works  of  charity  are  added  to  a  contemplative  life  also  to  be 
maintained  ;  and,  with  respect  to  other  orders,  the  bishops 
of  the  respective  dioceses  to  propose  the  cases  in  which  the 
admission  and  profession  of  noviciates  should  take  place,  and 


SPANISH  CONCORDAT  WITH  ROME.  117 

the  exercises  of  education  or  of  charity  which  should  bo 
established  in  them. 

The  35th  article  declares  that  the  government  shall  pro- 
vide, by  all  suitable  means,  for  the  support  of  the  religious 
houses,  &c.  for  men ;  and  that,  with  respect  to  those  for 
women,  all  the  unsold  convent  property  is  at  once  to  be  re- 
turned to  the  bishops  in  whose  dioceses  it  is,  as  their  repre- 
sentatives.* 

Here,  then,  is  the  supremacy,  not  as  portrayed  in  the 
ingenious  theories  of  De  Maistre  and  Gosselin,  but  as  it 
exists  at  this  moment  in  fact.  Stript  of  the  sanctimonious 
phraseology  with  which  it  has  always  been  the  policy  of 
Rome  to  veil  her  worst  atrocities  and  her  vilest  tyrannies, 
the  document  just  means  that  the  Pope  is  the  real  sovereign 
of  Spain,  that  his  priests  are  to  rule  it  as  they  list,  and  that 
the  court  at  Madrid,  and  the  other  civil  functionaries,  are 
there  merely  to  assist  them.  The  first  article  of  this  con- 
cordat declares  freedom  of  conscience  eternally  proscribed 
in  the  realm  of  Spain  ;  the  second  decrees  the  extinction  of 
knowledge  and  the  perpetual  reign  of  ignorance  ;  the  third 
takes  the  civil  authorities  bound  and  astricted  to  aid  the 
clergy  in  searching  for  Bibles,  hunting  out  missionaries,  and 
burning  converts  ;  and  the  following  articles  grant  license 
for  the  erection  of  sacerdotal  stews,  and  the  institution  of 
clubs  all  over  the  country,  the  better  to  enable  the  clergy  to 
coerce  the  citizens  and  beard  the  government.  The  con- 
cordat means  this,  and  nothing  else.  It  is  as  detestable  and 
villanous  an  instrument  as  ever  emanated  from  the  gang  of 
conspirators  which  has  so  long  had  its  head- quarters  on  the 
Roman  hill.  It  is  meant  to  bind  down  the  conscience  and 
the  manhood  of  Spain  in  everlasting  slavery ;  and  it  shows 
that,  despite  all  the  recent  exposures  of  these  men, — de- 
spite all  the  disasters  which  have  befallen  them,  and  the  yet 
more  terrible  disasters  that  lower  over  them, — their  hearts 
are  fully  set  upon  their  wickedness,  and  that  they  are  resolved 

*  Gaceta  de  Madrid  of  May  12,  1851. 


1  IS    FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

to  present  to  the  last  a  forehead  of  brass  to  the  wrath  of 
man  and  the  bolts  of  heaven.  This  concordat  has  been 
shelved,  meanwhile, — no  thanks  to  the  imbeciles  who  ex- 
changed ratifications  with  Rome,  but  to  the  revolution 
which  broke  out  at  that  moment  in  Portugal,  and  to  the 
mutterings,  not  loud,  but  deep,  which  began  to  be  heard  in 
Spain  itself,  and  which  convinced  its  rulers  that  even  a  con- 
cordat with  the  Pope  might  be  bought  at  too  great  a  price. 

Not  in  the  high  despotic  countries  of  Italy  and  Spain  only 
do  we  meet  these  lofty  notions  of  the  sacerdotal  power :  in 
constitutional  and  semi-Protestant  Germany  we  find  the 
bishops  of  the  Church  of  Rome  advancing  the  same  exclu- 
sive and  intolerant  claims.  The  triumph  of  Austrian  arms 
and  of  Austrian  politics  in  the  south  of  Germany  has  already 
made  the  Romish  priesthood  of  that  region  predominant, 
and  led  them  to  aspire  to  the  supremacy.  Accordingly, 
demands  utterly  incompatible  with  any  government,  and 
especially  constitutional  and  Protestant  government,  have 
been  put  forth  by  the  bishops  of  the  two  Hesses,  Wurtem- 
berg,  Nassau,  Hamburg,  Frankfort, — all  Protestant  States  ; 
and  of  Baden,  a  semi-Protestant  State.  The  document  in 
which  these  demands  are  contained  is  entitled,  "  The  As- 
sembled Bishops  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Province  of  the  Haut- 
Rhin,  to  the  several  Governments."  A  copy  has  been  sent 
over  by  our  ambassador.  Lord  Cowley,  and  published  by 
order  of  Parliament.*     Its  leading  claims  are  as  follows  : — 

"  The  repeal  of  all  religious  concessions  made  since  March 
1848. 

"  The  free  nomination  to  all  ecclesiastical  employments 
and  benefices  by  the  several  bishops  in  their  respective  dio- 
ceses. 

"  The  right  of  the  bishops  to  subject  their  subordinates 
to  a  special  examination,  and  to  punish  them  according  to 
the  canon  law. 

"  The  abolition,  in  the  exercise  of  the  ecclesiastical  penal 

*  Juue  1S51. 


PAPAL  CLAIMS  IN  GERMANY.  119 

jurisdiction,  of  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  secular  tribunals. 
This  shall  extend  from  the  simple  remonstrance  to  the  re- 
moval from  office  and  the  loss  of  emolument.  Every  at- 
tempt to  appeal  in  these  matters  to  the  secular  authority 
shall  be  looked  upon  as  an  act  of  disobedience  to  the  legal 
authority  of  the  Church,  and  shall  be  punished  by  excommu- 
Qiicatio  latcG  sententice. 

"  The  establishment  of  seminaries  for  young  boys. 

"  Episcopal  sanction  for  the  nomination  of  masters  for 
religious  education  in  the  colleges  and  universities. 

"  Abolition  of  the  right  of  placet  of  the  secular  authority 
as  regards  the  publication  of  papal  bulls,  of  briefs,  and  pas- 
toral letters  of  the  bishops  to  the  members  of  the  clergy. 

"  Permission  for  the  bishops  to  preach  to  the  people  in 
public,  and  to  hold  exercises  for  the  instruction  of  priests. 

"  Permission  to  collect  men  and  women  for  prayer,  for 
contemplation,  and  for  self-denial. 

"  The  re-instatement  of  the  bishops  in  the  entire  enjoy- 
ment of  their  ancient  penal  jurisdiction  as  against  such  of 
the  members  of  the  Church  as  shall  manifest  contempt  for 
ecclesiastical  ordinances. 

"  Free  communication  between  the  bishops  and  Rome. 

"  No  interference  of  the  secular  power  in  questions  of  fill- 
ing up  the  appointment  to  the  chapter  of  canons. 

"  Independent  administration  of  the  property  of  the  Church 
and  of  foundations." 

Can  any  man  peruse  these  two  documents,  appearing  as 
they  do  at  the  same  moment  in  widely-separated  quarters 
of  Europe,  yet  identical  in  their  spirit  and  in  the  claims 
they  put  forth,  and  fail  to  see  that  the  Papacy  has  plotted 
once  more  to  seize  upon  the  government  of  the  world  ;  and 
that  its  priests  in  all  countries  are  working  with  dauntless 
audacity  and  amazing  craft,  on  a  given  plan,  to  accomplish 
this  grand  object  ?  In  every  country  they  insolently  claim 
independence  of  the  government  and  of  the  courts  of  law, 
with  unlimited  control  of  the  schools.  They  would  override 
all  things,  and  be  themselves  controlled  by  no  one.     Rome, 


120         FOUND ATIOxV  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

through  her  organs,  bids  Europe  again  crouch  down  beneath 
the  infallibility.  How  strikingly  also  do  these  documents 
teach  that  Popery  is  as  unchangeable  in  her  character  as  in 
her  creed.  Amid  the  liberal  ideas  and  constitutional  go- 
vernments of  Germany  she  retains  her  exclusive  and  intole- 
rant spirit,  not  less  than  amid  the  mediaeval  opinions  and 
barbaric  despotism  of  Spain.  The  glacier  in  the  heart  of 
the  Swiss  valley  lies  eternally  congealed  in  the  midst  of  fruit, 
and  flowers,  and  sunshine.  In  like  manner,  an  eternal  con- 
gelation holds  fast  the  Papacy,  lot  the  world  advance  as  it 
may.  In  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  it  starts  up 
grizzly,  ferocious,  and  blood-thirsty,  as  in  the  fifteenth.  As 
a  murderer  from  his  grave,  or  a  wild  beast  from  his  lair,  so 
has  it  come  back  upon  the  world.  The  compilers  of  these 
documents  breathe  the  very  spirit  of  the  men  who,  in  former 
ages,  covered  Spain  with  inquisitions  and  Germany  with 
stakes.  They  lack  simply  opportunity  to  revive,  and  even 
outdo,  the  worst  tragedies  of  their  predecessors.  In  Ger- 
many they  attempt  by  a  single  stroke  of  the  pen  to  sweep 
away  all  the  guarantees  which  flowed  from  the  treaty  of 
Westphalia ;  and  in  southern  Europe  they  strike  down  with 
the  sabre  the  rights  of  conscience  and  the  liberties  of  states. 
How  long  will  princes  and  statesmen  permit  themselves  to 
be  misled  by  the  wretched  pretext  that  these  men  have  a 
divine  right  to  commit  all  these  enormities  and  crimes, — 
that  heaven  has  committed  the  human  race  into  their  hands, 
— and  that  neither  the  rights  of  man  nor  the  prerogatives  cf 
God  must  come  into  competition  with  their  sacerdotal  will  ? 
How  long  is  the  world  to  be  oppressed  by  a  confederacy  of 
fanatics  and  ruffians,  who  are  only  the  abler  to  play  the 
knave,  that  they  rob  under  the  mask  of  devotion,  and  tyran- 
nize in  the  awful  name  of  God  ? 

But  we  have  no  need  to  go  so  far  from  home  as  to  Spain 
and  Germany,  for  an  instance  of  "  a  purely  spiritual  jurisdic- 
tion" transmuting  itself  immediately  and  directly  into  tem- 
poral supremacy.  Let  us  look  across  St  George's  Channel. 
The  British  government,  pitying  the  deep  ignorance  of  the 


SPIRITUAL  DIRECTION  IX  IRELAND.  121 

natives  of  Ireland,  wisely  resolve  to  erect  a  number  of  col- 
leges in  that  dark  land,  in  the  hope  of  mitigating  the  wretch- 
edness of  its  people.  The  priesthood  discover  that  this 
scheme  interferes  with  the  Church,  whose  vested  riofht  in 
the  ignorance  of  the  natives  it  threatens  to  sweep  away. 
The  Pope  does  not  throw  down  a  single  stone  of  any  of  these 
colleges.  His  interference  takes  a  purely  spiritual  direction, 
but  a  direction  that  accomplishes  his  object  quite  as  effec- 
tually as  could  be  done  by  a  physical  intervention.  He  is- 
sues a  bull,  denouncing  the  Irish  colleges  as  godless,  and  for- 
bidding every  good  Catholic,  as  he  values  his  salvation,  to 
allow  his  child  to  enter  them.  This  bull,  given  at  the  Qui- 
rinal,  makes  frustrate  the  intention  of  the  Queen,  and  ren- 
ders the  colleges  as  completely  useless  to  the  Irish  nation, — 
at  least  to  that  large  portion  of  it  for  whose  benefit  they 
were  specially  intended, — as  if  an  army  had  been  sent  to  raze 
the  obnoxious  buildings,  and  not  leave  so  much  as  one  stone 
upon  another.  It  matters  wonderfully  little  whether  we  term 
the  Pope  the  director  of  Ireland  or  the  dictator  of  Ireland : 
while  Ireland  is  Catholic,  the  pontiff  is,  and  must  be,  its  virtual 
sovereign.  The  British  power  is  limited  in  that  unhappy  island 
to  the  work  of  imposing  taxes, — imposing,  not  gathering,  for 
the  taxes  are  taken  up  by  the  priests  and  sent  to  Rome ; 
while  to  us  is  left  the  duty  of  feeding  a  country  which  clerical 
rapacity  and  tyranny  has  made  a  country  of  beggars.  Thus 
the  Pope's  yoke  is  not  a  whit  lighter  that,  instead  of  calling 
it  temporal  supremacy,  we  call  it  "  spiritual  jurisdiction,"  or 
even  "  spiritual  direction."  It  would  yield,  we  are  disposed 
to  think,  wonderfully  little  consolation  to  the  unhappy  sove- 
reign whose  throne  is  struck  from  under  him,  and  whose 
kingdom  is  plunged  into  contention  and  civil  war,  to  be  told 
that  the  Pope  in  this  has  acted,  not  by  jurisdiction,  but  by 
direction;  that  he  exercises  this  power,  not  as  lord  para- 
mount of  his  realm,  but  as  lord  paramount  of  his  conscience; 
that,  in  fact,  it  is  his  conscience,  and  not  his  territory,  that 
he  holds  as  a  fief  of  the  papal  see  ;  and  that  he  is  enduring 
this  castigation  from  the  pontifical  ferula,  not  in  his  capacity 


122        FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

of  king,  but  in  his  capacity  of  Christian.  The  unhappy 
monarch,  we  say,  wouhl  find  but  little  solace  in  this  nice 
distinction  ;  and,  even  at  the  risk  of  adding  to  both  his  of- 
fence and  his  punishment,  might  denounce  it  as  a  wretched 
quibble.* 


*  In  December  last  (1S50),  Lord  Palmerston  addressed  from  theForeiffii 
Office  to  her  Majesty's  representatives  abroad,  a  circular,  instructing  them 
to  transmit  copies  of  any  concordat  or  equivalent  arrangement  between  the 
court  of  Rome  and  the  particular  government  to  which  each  representa- 
tive was  accredited.  The  replies  form  the  substance  of  a  Blue  Book  of 
about  350  pages,  which  has  recently  been  published.  We  extract  from 
the  enclosures  received  by  government  in  January  last,  from  the  Hon. 
Ralph  Abercromby,  our  representative  at  Turin,  the  copy  of  the  oath  re- 
quired to  be  taken  by  new  cardinals  in  Sardinia.  It  entirely,  and  for  all 
governments,  settles  the  question  of  what  a  cardinal  really  is, — proving 
him  to  be  the  sworn  emissary,  spy,  and  creature  of  the  court  of  Rome. 
He  so  pledges  his  allegiance  to  a  foreign  prince  as  palpably  to  rescind  the 
allegiance  due  to  his  own  sovereig-n. 


^o 


"  I, 5  cardinal  of  the  Holy  Roman  Church,  do  promise  and  swear 

that,  from  this  hour  until  my  life's  end,  I  will  be  faithful  and  obedient 
unto  St  Peter,  the  Holy  Apostolic  Roman  Church,  and  our  Most  Holy 
Lord  the  Pope  and  his  successors,  canonically  and  lawfully  elected  ;  that 
I  will  give  no  advice,  consent,  or  assistance  against  the  Pontifical  Majesty 
and  person  ;  that  I  will  never  knowingly  and  advisedly,  to  their  injury  or 
disgrace,  make  public  the  counsels  entrusted  to  me  by  themselves,  or  by 
messengers  or  letters  (from  them)  ;  also  that  I  will  give  them  any  assist- 
ance in  retaining,  defending,  and  recovering  the  Roman  Papacy  and  the 
Regalia  of  Peter,  all  my  might  and  endeavour,  so  far  as  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  my  order  will  allow  it,  and  will  defend  against  all,  their 
honour  and  state  ;  that  I  will  direct  and  defend,  with  due  favour  and 
honour,  the  legates  and  nuncios  of  the  apostolic  see,  in  the  territories, 
churches,  monasteries,  and  other  benefices  committed  to  my  keeping  ; 
that  I  will  cordially  co-operate  with  them,  and  treat  them  with  honour  in 
their  coming,  abiding,  and  returning  ;  and  that  I  will  resist  unto  blood  all 
persons  whatsoever  who  shall  attempt  anything  against  them  ;  that  I  will 
by  every  way,  and  by  every  means,  strive  to  preserve,  augment,  and  ad- 
vance the  rights,  honours,  privileges,  the  authority  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Bishop  our  Lord  the  Pope,  and  his  before-mentioned  successors ;  and  that 
at  whatever  time  anything  shall  be  devised  to  their  prejudice,  which  it  is 
out  of  my  power  to  hinder,  as  soon  as  I  shall  know  that  any  steps  or  mea- 
sures have  been  taken  (in  the  matter),  I  will  make  it  known  to  the  same 


THE  EXTREMES  OF  THE  SUPREMACY.        123 

These,  tlien,  are  the  two  points  between  wliich  the  supre- 
macy oscillates, — direction  and  divine  right.  It  never  sinks 
lower  than  the  former;  it  cannot  rise  higher  than  the  latter. 
But  it  is  important  to  bear  in  mind  that,  whether  it  stands 


our  Lord,  or  liis  before-mentioned  successors,  or  to  some  other  person  by 
whose  means  it  may  be  brought  to  their  knowledge. 

"  That  I  will  keep  and  carry  out,  and  cause  others  to  keep  and  carry 
out,  the  rules  of  the  Holy  Fathers,  the  decrees,  ordinances,  dispensations, 
reservations,  provisions,  apostolical  mandates,  and  constitutions,  of  the  Holy 
Pontiff  Sixtus,  of  happy  memory,  as  to  visiting  the  thresholds  of  the  apos- 
tles, at  certain  prescribed  times,  according  to  the  tenor  of  that  which  I 
have  just  read  through. 

"  That  I  will  seek  out  and  oppose  (persecute  and  fight  against  ?)*  here- 
tics, schismatics,  against  the  same  our  Lord  the  Pope  and  his  before-men- 
tioned successors,  with  every  possible  effort.  When  sent  for,  from  what- 
ever cause,  by  tlie  same  our  JNIost  Holy  Lord,  and  his  before-mentioned 
successors,  tliat  I  will  set  out  to  present  myself  before  them,  or,  being  hin- 
dered by  a  legitimate  impediment,  will  send  some  one  to  make  ray  excuses  ; 
and  that  I  will  i^ay  them  due  reverence  and  obedience.  That  I  will  by 
no  means  sell,  bestow  away,  or  pledge,  or  give  away  in  fee,  or  otherwise 
alienate,  without  the  advice  and  knowledge  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  even 
with  the  consent  of  the  said  chapters,  convents,  churches,  monasteries,  and 
benefices,  the  possessions  set  apart  for  the  maintenance  of  the  churches, 
monasteries,  and  other  benefiges  committed  to  my  keeping,  or  in  any  way 
belonging  to  them.  That  I  will  for  ever  maintain  the  constitution  of  the 
blessed  Pius  V.,  which  begins  '  Admonet,'  and  is  dated  from  Rome  on  the 
4th  of  the  calends  of  April,  of  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  1567, 
and  the  second  of  his  pontificate  ;  together  with  the  declarations  of  the 
holy  pontiffs  his  successors,  particularly  of  Pope  Innocent  IX.,  dated  at 
Rome  the  day  before  the  nones  of  November,  of  the  year  of  our  Lord's  in- 
carnation 1591,  of  the  first  of  his  pontificate,  and  of  Clement  VIII,  of 
happy  memory,  dated  at  Rome  on  the  16th  of  the  calends  of  ISIarch,  in  the 
year  1592,  and  the  tenth  of  his  pontificate,  on  the  subject  (in  the  matter) 
of  not  giving  away  in  fee  or  alienating  the  cities  and  places  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Church.  Also,  I  promise  and  swear  to  keep  for  ever  inviolate  the 
decrees  and  incorporations  made  by  the  same  Clement  VIII.  on  the  26th 
day  of  June  of  the  before-mentioned  year  1592,  on  the  2d  day  of  November 
1592,  and  on  the  19th  of  January  and  the  11th  day  of  February  1698,  in 
the  matter  of  the  city  of  Ferrara  and  the  whole  duchy  thereof,  as  well  as 


*  This  double  translation  stands  so  in  the  Parliamentary  Book  :  the 
original  is  omni  conatii  persecuturum  et  inqnignaturum. 


124        FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPRE:MACY. 

at  the  one  or  at  the  other  of  these  points,  it  is  supremacy 
still.  We  have  already  indicated*  that  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  jurisdictions  are  co-ordinate.  This,  we  believe,  is 
the  only  rational,  as  it  is  undoubtedly  the  scriptural  view  of 
the  subject.  The  liberties  of  society  can  be  maintained 
only  by  maintaining  the  divinely-appointed  equilibrium  be- 
tween the  two.  If  we  make  the  temporal  preponderate,  we 
have  Erastianism,  or  the  slavery  of  the  Church.  If  we  make 
the  spiritual  preponderate,  we  have  Popery,  or  the  slavery  of 


respecting  all  other  cities  whatsoever,  and  places  recovered  by  him,  and 
■which  fell  in  by  the  death  of  Alphonso,  of  happy  memory,  the  last  Duke 
of  Ferrara,  or  otherwise  to  the  Holy  Roman  Church  and  apostolic  see. 
Also  the  decrees  and  incorporations  made  by  Urban  VIII.  of  happy  me- 
mory, on  the  12th  day  of  May  1631,  i-especting  the  cities  of  Urbiuo,  Eugu- 
bio,  Carlii,  Jorisemx^ronium,  of  the  whole  duchy  of  Urbino,  as  well  as  in 
the  matters  of  the  cities  of  Pisauri,  Sinogallia,  S.  Leo,  the  state  of  Monte 
Feltro,  the  vicariate  of  Mondovi,  and  of  the  other  cities  and  places  what- 
soever recovered  by  and  having  devolved  to  the  Holy  Roman  Apostolic 
Church  by  the  death  of  Francis  Maria,  the  last  duke,  or  otherwise.  Also 
the  decree  of  incorporation  made  in  Consistory  on  the  20th  day  of  Decem- 
ber 1660,  by  Alexander  VII.  of  happy  memory,  in  the  matter  of  the  duchy 
of  Castri  and  the  state  of  Roncilioni,  and  otiier  places,  lands,  and  proper- 
ties sold  to  the  Apostolic  Chamber  by  Rainuintius,  duke  of  Parma  ;  and 
the  constitution  of  the  same  Alexander  VII.  of  happy  memory,  with  the 
reason  of,  and  allocution  upon,  the  decree  for  incorporations  of  this  kind, 
published  on  the  24th  of  January  1660,  together  with  the  contirmation, 
innovation,  extension,  and  declaration  of  the  other  decrees  and  constitu- 
tions of  the  holy  pontiffs,  issued  in  prohibition  of  parting  with  them  in 
fee  ;  and  in  no  way  and  at  no  time,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  whatever 
cause,  colour,  or  occasion,  even  of  evident  necessity  or  utility  may  present 
itself,  to  act  against  them  or  to  give  advice,  counsel,  or  consent  against  them 
in  any  way  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  always  and  constantly  to  dissent  from, 
oppose,  and  reveal  every  device  and  practice  against  them,  whatever  may 
come  to  my  knowledge  by  myself  or  by  any  messenger,  immediately  to  his 
Holiness,  or  his  successors,  lawfully  entering,  under  the  penalties  (in  case 
of  neglect  or  disobedience)  contained  in  the  said  constitutions,  or  any  other 
heavier  ones  that  it  may  seem  fit  to  his  Holiness  and  his  before-mentioned 

successors  (to  inflict) I  will  not  seek  absolution  from  any  of 

the  foregoing  articles,  but  reject  it  if  it  should  be  offered  me  (or  in  no  way 
accept  it  when  offered).     So  help  me  God  and  these  most  holy  gospels," 

*  See  chap.  ii. 


OSCILLATIONS  OF  THE  SUPREMACY.  125 

the  State.  The  popish  element  entered  into  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Church  when  spiritual  independence  was  transmuted 
into  spiritual  supremacy.  This  happened  about  the  sixth  cen- 
tury, when  the  Bishop  of  Rome  claimed  to  be  Christ's  vicar. 
From  that  time  the  popes  began  to  interfere  in  temporal 
matters  by  direction ;.  for  it  is  curious  to  note,  that  the  supre- 
macy, as  defined  in  the  modern  theory,  has  come  back  to  its 
beginnings,  to  run,  of  course,  the  same  career,  should  the 
state  of  the  world  permit.  At  the  period  of  Gregory  VII. 
it  ceased  to  be  direction,  and  became  jurisdiction,  and  so  con- 
tinued down  till  the  Reformation.  Since  that  time  it  has 
been  slowly  returning  through  the  intermediate  stages  of  in- 
direct temporal  power, — of  purely  spiritual  jurisdiction, — to 
its  original  form  of  direction,  at  which  it  now  stands.  But  the 
root  of  the  matter  is  the  claim  to  be  Christ's  vicar ;  and  till 
that  is  torn  up,  the  evil  and  malignant  principle  cannot  be 
eradicated.  The  supremacy  may  change  shapes  ;  it  may 
go  into  a  nutshell,  as  some  philosophers  have  held  the  whole 
universe  may  do ;  but  it  can  develope  itself  as  suddenly ;  and, 
let  the  world  become  favourable,  it  will  speedily  shoot  up 
into  its  former  colossal  dimensions,  overshadowing  all  earthly 
jurisdiction,  and  claiming  equality  with,  if  not  supremacy 
above,  divine  authority.  We  repeat,  according  to  the  mo- 
dern theory,  to  go  no  higher,  all  Christendom  holds  its  con- 
science as  a  fief  of  the  Roman  see  ;  and  we  trust  pontifical 
dignities  will  forgive  the  homely  metaphor  by  which  we  seek 
to  show  them  the  extent  of  their  own  power.  The  govern- 
ing power  in  the  world  is  conscience,  or  whatever  else  may 
occupy  its  place ;  and  he  who  governs  it  governs  the  world. 
But  the  pontiff"  is  the  infallible  and  supreme  director  of  con- 
science. He  sits  above  it,  like  the  driver  of  a  railway  train 
behind  his  engine.  An  ingenious  apologist  might  make  out  a 
case  of  limited  powers  in  behalf  of  the  latter,  showing  how 
little  he  has  to  do  with  either  the  course  or  velocity  of  the  train. 
"  He  does  not  drag  the  train,"  might  such  say;  "  he  has  not 
power  enough  to  move  a  single  carriage;  he  but  regulates  the 
steam.'"     Here  is  the  Pope  astride  his  famous  ecclesiastical 


126    FOUNDATION  AND  EXTENT  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 

engine,  with  all  the  Catholic  states  of  Europe  dragging  at 
his  heels,  and  careering  along  at  a  great  rate.  Here  is  the 
Bourbon  family-coach,  which  upset  so  recently,  pitching  its 
occupant  in  the  mud,  looking  as  new  as  it  is  possible  for  an 
old  battered  vehicle  to  do  by  the  help  of  fresh  tri-colour  paint 
and  varnish  ;  here  is  the  old  imperial  car  which  Austria 
picked  up  for  a  trifle  when  the  Ctesars  had  no  longer  any 
need  for  it, — here  it  is,  blazoned  with  the  bloody  beak  and 
iron  talons  of  the  double-headed  eagle ;  here  is  the  Spanish 
state-coach,  hurtling  along  in  the  tawdry  and  tattered  finery 
of  its  better  days,  its  wheels  worn  to  their  spokes,  and  its  mo- 
tion made  up  of  but  a  succession  of  jerks  and  bounds  ;  here 
is  the  Neapolitan  vehicle  and  the  Tuscan  vehicle,  and  others 
equally  lumbering  and  crazy;  and  here,  in  front,  is  the  famous 
engine  St  Peter,  snorting  and  puffing  away  ;  and  here  is 
Peter  himself  as  engineer,  with  superstition  for  a  propelling 
power,  and  excommunication  for  a  steam-whistle,  and  tradi- 
tion for  spectacles,  to  enable  him  to  keep  on  the  rails  of 
apostolic  succession,  and  prevent  his  being  bogged  in  heresy. 
It  would  be  very  wrong  to  say  that  he  drags  along  this  great 
train.  No ;  he  only  turns  the  handle,  to  let  on  or  shut  off 
the  steam ;  shovels  in  coals,  manages  the  valves,  blows  his 
whistle  at  times  with  eldrich  screech,  and  catches  at  his 
three -storied  cap,  which  the  wind  blows  off  now  and  then. 
It  is  not  jurisdiction^  but  direction^  with  which  he  favours  the 
members  of  his  tail :  nevertheless,  it  moves  where,  when,  and 
as  fast  as  he  pleases. 

But  something  in  a  somewhat  more  classic  vein  would 
doubtless  be  deemed  more  befitting  the  pure  and  lofty 
function  of  the  pontiff.  The  Romanists  have  exalted  their 
Father,  as  the  Pagans  did  their  Jove,  into  an  empyrean, 
far  above  sublunary  affairs.  In  that  eternal  calm  he  issues 
his  infallible  decisions,  thinking,  the  while,  no  more  of 
this  little  ball  of  earth,  or  of  the  angry  passions  that  con- 
tend upon  it,  than  if  it  had  yet  to  be  created.  Or  if 
at  times  the  thought  does  cross  the  pontifical  mind  that 
there  are  such  things  in  the  world  beneath  him  as  cannon 


PONTIFICAL  RAILWAY  TRAIN.  127 

and  sabres,  and  that  these  are  often  had  recourse  to  to  exe- 
cute the  determinations  of  infallibility,  how  can  he  help  it? 
He  must  needs  discharge  his  office  as  the  worWs  spiritual 
director ;  he  dare  not  refrain  from  pronouncing  infallibly  on 
those  high  questions  of  duty  which  are  brought  before  him  ; 
and  if  others  will  have  recourse  to  material  weapons  in  car- 
rying out  his  advice,  he  begs  the  world  to  understand  that 
this  is  not  his  doing,  and  that  he  cannot  be  justly  blamed 
for  it.  One  cannot  but  wonder  at  the  admirable  distribution 
of  parts  among  the  innumerable  actors  by  whom  the  play 
of  the  Papacy  is  carried  on.  From  the  stage-manager  at 
Rome,  to  the  lowest  scene-shifter  in  Clonmel  or  Tipperary, 
each  has  his  place,  and  keeps  it  too.  When  an  unhappy 
monarch  is  so  unfortunate  as  to  incur  the  displeasure  of 
mother  church,  the  pontiff  does  not  lay  a  finger  upon  him ; 
he  does  not  touch  a  hair  of  his  head  ;  no,  not  he ;  he  only 
gives  a  wink  to  the  bullies  who,  he  knows,  are  not  far  off, 
and  whose  office  it  is  to  do  the  business  ;  and  thus  the 
wretched  farce  goes. 


128  THE  CANON  LAW. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  CANON  LAW. 


It  would  be  bad  enough  that  a  system  of  the  character  we 
have  described  should  exist  in  the   world,  and  that  there 
should  be  a  numerous  class  of  men  all  animated  by  its  spirit, 
and  sworn  to  carry  into  effect  its  principles.     But  this  is 
not  the  worst  of  it.     The  system  has  been  converted  into 
a  code.     It  exists,  not  as  a  body  of  maxims  or  principles, 
though  in  that  shape  its  influence  would  have  been  great ; 
it  exists  as  a  body  of  laws,  by  which  every  Eomish  ecclesias- 
tic is  bound  to  act,  and  which  he  is  appointed  to  administer. 
This  is  termed  Canon  Law.     The  canon  law  is  the  slow 
growth  of  a  multitude  of  ages.     It  reminds  us  of  those  coral 
islands  in  the  great  Pacific,  the  terror  of  the  mariner,  which 
myriads  and  myriads  of  insects  laboured  to  raise  from  the  bot- 
tom to  the  surface  of  the  ocean.    One  race  of  these  little  build- 
ers took  up  the  work  where  another  race  had  left  it;  and  thus 
the  mass  grew  unseen  in  the  dark  and  sullen  deep,  whether 
calm  or  storm  prevailed  on  the  surface.     In  like  fashion, 
monks  and  popes  innumerable,  working  in  the  depth  of  the 
dark  ages,  with  the  ceaseless  and  noiseless  diligence,  though 
not  quite  so  innocently  as  the  little  artificers  to  whom  we 
have  referred,  produced  at  last  the  hideous  formation  known 
as  the  canon  law.     This  code,  then,  is  not  the  product  of  one 
large  mind,  like  the  Code  Justinian  or  the  Code  Napoleon, 


THE  COMPLETE  CODE  OF  THE  CHURCH.       129 

but  of  innumerable  minds,  all  working  intently  and  labo- 
riously through  successive  ages  on  this  one  object.  The 
canon  law  is  made  up  of  the  constitutions  or  canons  of 
councils,  the  decrees  of  popes,  and  the  traditions  which 
have  at  any  time  received  the  pontifical  sanction.  As  ques- 
tions arose  they  were  adjudicated  upon ;  new  emergencies 
produced  new  decisions  ;  at  last  it  came  to  pass  that  there 
was  scarce  a  point  of  possible  occurrence  on  which  infalli- 
bility had  not  pronounced.  The  machinery  of  the  canon 
law,  then,  as  may  be  easily  imagined,  has  reached  its  highest 
possible  perfection  and  its  widest  possible  application.  The 
statute-book  of  Rome,  combining  amazing  flexibility  with 
enormous  power,  like  the  most  wonderful  of  all  modern  in- 
ventions, can  regulate  with  equal  ease  the  affairs  of  a  king- 
dom and  of  a  family.  Like  the  elephant's  trunk,  it  can 
crush  an  empire  in  its  folds,  or  conduct  the  course  of  a  petty 
intrigue, — fling  a  monarch  from  his  throne,  or  plant  the  stake 
for  the  heretic.  Like  a  net  of  steel  forged  by  the  Vulcan  of 
the  Vatican  and  his  cunning  artificers,  the  canon  law  encloses 
the  whole  of  Catholic  Christendom.  A  short  discussion  of 
this  subject  may  not  be  without  its  interest  at  present,  see- 
inof  Dr  Wiseman  had  the  candour  to  tell  us,  that  it  is  his 
intention  to  enclose  Great  Britain  in  this  net,  provided  he 
meets  with  no  obstruction,  which  he  scarce  thinks  we  will 
be  so  unreasonable  as  to  offer.  Seeing,  then,  it  will  not  be 
Dr  Wiseman's  fault  if  we  have  not  a  nearer  acquaintance 
with  canon  law  than  we  can  boast  at  present,  it  may  bo 
worth  while  examining  its  structure,  and  endeavouring  to 
ascertain  our  probable  condition,  once  within  this  enclosure. 
Not  that  we  intend  to  hold  up  to  view  all  its  monstrosities ; 
the  canon  law  is  the  entire  Papacy  viewed  as  a  system  of 
government :  we  can  refer  to  but  the  more  prominent  points 
which,  boar  upon  the  subject  we  are  now  discussing, — tho 
supremacy ;  and  these  are  precisely  the  points  which  have 
the  closest  connection  with  our  own  condition,  should  the 
agent  of  the  pontiff  in  London  be  able  to  carry  his  intent 
into  effect,  and  introduce  the  canon  law,  "  the  real  and  com- 

K 


ISO  THE  CANON  LAW. 

plete  code  of  the  Church,"  as  he  terms  it.  Here  we  shall 
do  little  more  than  quote  the  leading  provisions  of  the  code 
from  the  authorized  books  of  Rome,  leaving  the  canon  law 
to  commend  itself  to  British  notions  of  toleration  and  jus- 
tice. 

The  false  decretals  of  Isidore,  already  referred  to,  offered 
a  worthy  foundation  for  this  fabric  of  unbearable  tyranny. 
We  pass,  as  not  meriting  particular  notice,  the  earlier  and 
minor  compilations  of  Rheginon  of  Prum  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, Buchardus  of  Worms  in  the  eleventh,  and  St  Ivo  of 
Chartres  in  the  twelfth.  The  first  great  collection  of  canons 
and  decretals  which  the  world  was  privileged  to  see  was 
made  by  Gratian,  a  monk  of  Bologna,  who  about  1150  pub- 
lished his  work  entitled  Decretum  Gratiani.  Pope  Eugenius 
III.  approved  his  work,  which  immediately  became  the  highest 
authority  in  the  western  Church.  The  rapid  growth  of  the 
papal  tyranny  soon  superseded  the  Decretum  Gratiani.  Suc- 
ceeding popes  flung  their  decretals  upon  the  world  with  a 
prodigality  with  which  the  diligence  of  compilers  who  ga- 
thered them  up,  and  formed  them  into  new  codes,  toiled  to 
keep  pace.  Innocent  III.  and  Honorius  III.  issued  nume- 
rous rescripts  and  decrees,  which  Gregory  IX.  commissioned 
Raymond  of  Pennafort  to  collect  and  publish.  This  the 
Dominican  did  in  1234;  and  Gregory,  in  order  to  perfect 
this  collection  of  infallible  decisions,  supplemented  it  with  a 
goodly  addition  of  his  own.  This  is  the  more  essential  part 
of  the  canon  law,  and  contains  a  copious  system  of  jurispru- 
dence, as  well  as  rules  for  the  government  of  the  Church. 
But  infallibility  had  not  exhausted  itself  with  these  labours. 
Boniface  VIII.  in  1298  added  a  sixth  part,  which  he  named 
the  Sext.  A  fresh  batch  of  decretals  was  issued  by  Clement 
V.  in  1313,  under  the  title  of  Clementines.  John  XXII.  in 
1340  added  the  Extravagantes,  so  called  because  they  ex- 
travagate,  or  straddle,  outside  the  others.  Succeeding  pon- 
tiffs, down  to  Sixtus  IV.,  added  their  extravagating  articles, 
which  came  under  the  name  of  Extravagayites  Communes. 
The  government  of  the  world  was  in  some  danger  of  being 


CREATION  OP  THE  CANON  LAW.  131 

stopped  by  the  very  abundance  of  infallible  law ;  and  since 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  nothing  has  been  formally 
added  to  this  already  enormous  code.  We  cannot  say  that 
this  fabric  of  commingled  assumption  and  fraud  is  finished 
oven  yet :  it  stands  like  the  great  Dom  of  Cologne,  with  the 
crane  atop*  ready  to  receive  a  new  tier  whenever  infallibility 
shall  begin  again  to  build,  or  rather  to  arrange  the  mate- 
rials it  has  been  producing  during  the  past  four  centuries. 
While  Rome  exists,  the  canon  law  must  continue  to  grow. 
Infallibility  will  always  be  speaking ;  and  every  new  deliver- 
ance of  the  oracle  is  another  statute  added  to  canon  law. 
The  growth  of  all  other  bodies  is  regulated  by  great  natural 
laws.  The  tower  of  Babel  itself,  had  its  builders  been  per- 
mitted to  go  on  with  it,  must  have  stopped  at  the  point 
where  the  attractive  forces  of  earth  and  of  the  other  planets 
balance  each  other;  but  where  is  the  canon  law  to  end  ?* 
"  This  general  supremacy,"  says  Hallam,  "  effected  by  the 
Roman  Church  over  mankind  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries,  derived  material  support  from  the  promulgation 
of  the  canon  law.  The  superiority  of  ecclesiastical  to  tem- 
poral power,  or  at  least  the  absolute  independence  of  the 
former,  may  be  considered  as  a  sort  of  key-note  which  regu- 
lates every  passage  in  the  canon  law.  It  is  expressly  de- 
clared, that  subjects  owe  no  allegiance  to  an  excommunicated 
lord,  if  after  admonition  he  is  not  reconciled  to  the  Church. 
And  the  rubric  prefixed  to  the  declaration  of  Frederick  II.'s 
deposition  in  the  Council  of  Lyons  asserts  that  the  Pope  may 
dethrone  the  Emperor  for  lawful  causes.*"*^  "  Legislation 
quailed,""  says  Gavazzi,J  "  before  the  new-born  code  of  cle- 

*  This  account  of  the  canon  law  is  compiled  from  the  Ilorw  JiiridiccB 
Suhsecevce  of  Butler,  pp.  145-184  ;  Lend.  1807.  "  The  modern  period," 
observes  Butler,  "  of  the  canon  law  begins  with  the  Council  of  Pisa,  and 
extends  to  the  present  time."  Its  principal  jiarts  are  the  canons  of  mo- 
dern oecumenical  councils,  especially  Trent,  the  various  transactions  and 
concordats  between  sovereigns  and  the  see  of  Rome,  the  bulls  of  Popes, 
and  the  rules  of  the  Roman  Chancery. 

+  Hallam's  History  of  the  Middle  Ages,  vol.  ii.  pp.  2-4. 

J  Gavazzi,  Oration  vi. 


1 32  THE  CANON  LAW 

rical  command,  which,  in  the  slang  of  the  dark  ages,  was 
called  canon  law.  The  principle  which  pollutes  every  page 
of  this  nefarious  imposture  is,  that  every  human  right,  claim, 
property,  franchise,  or  feeling,  at  variance  with  the  predo- 
minance of  the  popedom,  was  ipso  facto  inimical  to  heaven 
and  the  God  of  eternal  justice.  In  virtue  of  this  preposte- 
rous prerogative,  universal  manhood  became  a  priest's  foot- 
stool ;  this  planet  a  huge  game-preserve  for  the  Pope's  indi- 
vidual shooting."  We  repeat,  it  is  this  law  which  Dr  Wise- 
man avows  to  be  one  main  object  of  the  papal  aggression  to 
introduce.  Its  establishment  in  Britain  implies  the  utter 
prostration  of  all  other  authority.  We  have  seen  how  it 
came  into  being.  The  next  question  is,  What  is  it  ?  Let  us 
first  hear  the  canon  law  on  the  subject  of  the  spiritual  and 
civil  jurisdictions,  and  let  us  take  note  how  it  places  the 
world  under  the  dominion  of  one  all-absorbing  power, — a 
power  which  is  not  temporal  certainly,  neither  is  it  purely 
spiritual,  but  which,  for  want  of  a  better  phrase,  we  may 
term  pontifical. 

"  The  constitutions  of  princes  are  not  superior  to  ecclesi- 
astical constitutions,  but  subordinate  to  them."* 

"  The  law  of  the  emperors  cannot  dissolve  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal law.""!- 

"  Constitutions  (civil,  we  presume)  cannot  contravene  good 
manners  and  the  decrees  of  the  Roman  prelates. *":|: 

"  Whatever  belongs  to  priests  cannot  be  usurped  by 
kings."§ 

"  The  tribunals  of  kings  are  subjected  to  the  power  of 
priests."  II 

"  All  the  ordinances  of  the  apostolic  seat  are  to  be  invio- 
lably observed."  IT 

*  Corpus  .Juris  Canonici,  Decreti,  pars  i.  distinct,  x. 

+  Idem,  Decreti,  pars  i.  distinct,  x.  can.  i. 

X  Idem,  Decreti,  pars  i.  distinct,  x.  can  iv. 

§   Idem,  Decreti,  pars  i.  distinct,  x.  can,  v. 

II   Idem,  Decreti,  pars  i.  distinct,  x.  can.  vi. 

II  Idem,  Decreti,  pars  i.  distinct,  xix.  can.  ii. 


PLACES  PRIESTS  ABOVE  KINGS.  133 

"  The  yoke  which  the  holy  chair  imposes  must  be  borne, 
although  it  may  seem  unbearable."* 

"  The  decretal  epistles  are  to  be  ranked  along  with  cano- 
nical scripture."""}" 

"  The  temporal  power  can  neither  loose  nor  bind  the 
Pope."+ 

"  It  does  not  belong  to  the  Emperor  to  judge  the  actions 
of  the  Pope.'"§ 

"  The  Emperor  ought  to  obey,  not  command,  the  Pope."!! 

Such  is  a  specimen  of  the  powers  vested  in  the  Pope  by 
the  canon  law.  It  makes  him  the  absolute  master  of  kings, 
and  places  in  his  grasp  all  law  and  authority,  so  that  he  can 
annul  and  establish  whatever  he  pleases.  It  is  instructive 
also  to  observe,  that  this  power  he  possesses  through  the 
spiritual  supremacy ;  and,  as  confirmatory  of  what  we  have 
already  stated  respecting  the  direct  and  indirect  temporal 
supremacy,  that  the  two  in  their  issues  are  identical,  we 
may  quote  the  following  remarks  of  Reiffenstuel,  in  his  text- 
book on  the  canon  law,  published  at  Rome  in  1831  : — "  The 
supreme  pontiff,  or  Pope,  by  virtue  of  the  power  immediately 
granted  to  him,  can,  in  matters  spiritual,  and  concerning  the 
salvation  of  souls  and  the  right  government  of  the  Church, 
make  ecclesiastical  constitutions  for   the  whole  Christian 

v.orld It  must  be  confessed,  notwithstanding, 

that  the  Pope,  as  vicar  of  Christ  on  earth,  and  universal 
pastor  of  his  sheep,  has  indirectly  (or  in  respect  of  the  spi- 
ritual power  granted  to  him  by  God,  in  order  to  the  good 
government  of  the  whole  Church)  a  certain  supreme  power, 
for  the  good  estate  of  the  Church,  if  it  be  necessary,  OF 

JUDGING   AND   DISPOSING    OF   ALL   THE    TEMPORAL    GOODS    OF 

ALL  Christians." H     But  we  pursue  our  quotations. 

*  Corpus  Juris  Canonici,  Decreti,  pars  i.  distinct,  xix.  can.  iii. 

+  Idem,  Decreti,  pars  i.  distinct,  xix.  can.  vi. 

X  Idem,  Decreti,  pars  i.  distinct,  xcvi.  can.  vii. 

§  Idem,  Decreti,  pars  i.  distinct,  xcvi.  ecu.  viii. 

II   Idem,  Decreti,  pars  i.  distinct,  xcvi.  can.  xi. 

U  Quoted  from  INrCaul's  "  What  is  the  Canon  Law  I" 


134  THE  CANON  LAW. 

"  We  ordain  that  kings,  and  bishops,  and  nobles,  who 
shall  permit  the  decrees  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  in  anything 
to  be  violated,  shall  be  accursed,  and  be  for  ever  guilty  be- 
fore God  as  transgressors  against  the  Catholic  faith.""* 

"  The  Bishop  of  Rome  may  excommunicate  emperors  and 
princes,  depose  them  from  their  states,  and  assoil  their  sub- 
jects from  their  oath  of  obedience  to  them.""-!- 

"  The  Bishop  of  Rome  may  be  judged  of  none  but  of  God 

only."t 

"  If  the  Pope  should  become  neglectful  of  his  own  salva- 
tion, and  of  that  of  other  men,  and  so  lost  to  all  good  that 
he  draw  down  with  himself  innumerable  people  by  heaps  into 
hell,  and  plunge  them  with  himself  into  eternal  torments,  yet 
no  mortal  man  may  presume  to  reprehend  him,  forasmuch 
as  he  is  judge  of  all,  and  is  judged  of  no  one.'"§ 

This  surely  is  license  enough ;  and  should  the  pontiff  com- 
plain that  his  limits  are  still  too  narrow,  we  should  be  glad 
to  know  how  they  could  possibly  be  made  larger.  But  let 
us  hear  the  canon  law  on  the  power  of  the  Pope  to  annul 
oaths,  and  release  subjects  from  their  allegiance. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Rome  has  power  to  absolve  from  alle- 
giance, obligation,  bond  of  service,  promise,  and  compact, 
the  provinces,  cities,  and  armies  of  kings  that  rebel  against 
him,  and  also  to  loose  their  vassals  and  feudatories."  || 

"  The  pontifical  authority  absolves  some  from  their  oath 
of  allegiance."  IT 

"  The  bond  of  allegiance  to  an  excommunicated  man  does 
not  bind  those  who  have  come  under  it."** 

"  An  oath  sworn  against  the  good  of  the  Church  does  not 


*  Decreti,  pars  ii.  causa  xxv.  quest,  i.  can.  xi. 

f  Decreti,  pars  i.  distinct,  xcvi.  can.  x.,  and  Decreti,  pars  ii.  causa  xv. 
quest,  vi.  can.  iii.  iv.  v. 

J  Decreti,  pars  ii.  causa  iii.  quest,  vi.  can.  ix. 

§  Decreti,  pars  i.  distinct,  xl.  can.  vi. 

II  Clementin.  lib.  ii.  tit.  i.  cap.  ii. 

U  Decreti,  pars  ii.  causa  xv.  quest,  vi.  can.  iii. 

**  Decreti,  pars  ii.  causa  xv.  quest,  vi.  can.  iv. 


CLERICAL  IMMUNITIES.  135 

bind ;  because  that  is  not  an  oath,  but  a  perjury  rather, 
which  is  taken  against  the  Church's  interests."* 

We  may  glance  next  at  the  doctrine  of  the  canon  law  on 
the  subject  of  clerical  immunities. 

"  It  is  not  lawful  for  laymen  to  impose  taxes  or  subsidies 
upon  the  clergy.  If  laics  encroach  upon  cleric  immunities, 
they  are,  after  admonition,  to  be  excommunicated.  But  in 
times  of  great  necessity,  the  clergy  may  grant  assistance  to 
the  State,  with  permission  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome.""-!- 

"  It  is  not  lawful  for  a  layman  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  a 
clergyman.  Secular  judges  who  dare,  in  the  exercise  of  a 
damnable  presumption,  to  compel  priests  to  pay  their  debts, 
are  to  be  restrained  by  spiritual  censures."^ 

"  The  man  who  takes  the  money  of  the  Church  is  as  guilty 
as  he  who  commits  homicide.  He  who  seizes  upon  the  lands' 
of  the  Church  is  excommunicated,  and  must  restore  four- 
fold."§ 

"  The  wealth  of  dioceses  and  abbacies  must  in  nowise  be 
alienated.  It  is  not  lawful  for  even  the  Pope  himself  to 
alienate  the  lands  of  the  Church."|| 

Should  the  Romish  priesthood  ever  come  to  be  a  twenti- 
eth of  the  male  population  of  Britain,  as  is  well  nigh  the 
case  in  Italy  and  Spain,  it  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the 
comfortable  state  of  society  which  must  ensue  with  so  nu- 
merous a  body  withdrawn  from  useful  labour,  exempt  from 
public  burdens,  paying  their  debts  only  when  they  please, 
committing  all  sorts  of  wickedness  uncontrolled  by  the 
ordinary  tribunals,  and  plying  vigorously  the  ghostly  ma- 
chinery of  the  confessional  and  purgatory  to  convey  the 
nation"'s  property  into  the  treasury  of  their  Church ;  and 


*  Decret.  Gregorii,  lib.  ii.  tit.  xxiv.  cap.  xxvii. 
+  Decret.  Gregorii,  lib.  iii.  tit.  xlix.  cap.  iv.  and  vii. 
i  Decret.  Gregorii,  lib.  ii.  tit.  ii.  cap.  i.  ii.  vi.,  and  Sexti  Decret.  lib.  ii. 
tit.  ii.  cap.  ii. 

§  Decreti,  pars  ii.  causa  xii.  quest,  ii.  can.  i.  iv.  ^^i. 
Ii  Decreti,  pars  ii.  causa  xii.  quest,  ii.  can.  xii,  xix.  xs. 


136  THE  CANON  LAW. 

once  there,  there  for  ever.  It  is  useless  henceforth,  unless 
to  feed  "  holy  men," — the  term  by  which  Rome  designates 
her  consociated  bands  of  idle,  ignorant,  sorning  monks,  and 
vagabondising  friars  and  priests.  No  wonder  that  Dr  Wise- 
man is  so  anxious  to  introduce  the  canon  law,  which  brings 
M'ith  it  so  many  sweets  to  the  clergy. 

There  is  but  one  other  point  on  which  we  shall  touch : 
What  says  the  canon  law  respecting  heresy?  In  the  judg- 
ment of  Rome  we  are  heretics ;  and  therefore  it  cannot 
but  be  interesting  to  enquire  how  we  are  likely  to  be  dealt 
with  should  the  canon  law  ever  be  established  in  Britain, 
and  what  means  the  agents  of  the  Vatican  would  adopt  to 
purge  our  realm  from  the  taint  of  our  heresy.  There  is  no 
mistaking  the  means,  whatever  may  be  thought  of  them. 
The  Church  has  two  swords ;  and,  in  the  case  of  heresy,  the 
vigorous  use  of  both,  but  especially  the  temporal,  is  strictly 
enjoined. 

In  the  decretals  of  Gregory  IX.,  a  heretic  is  defined  to 
be  a  man  "  who,  in  whatever  way,  or  by  whatever  vain  ar- 
gument, is  led  away  and  dissents  from  the  orthodox  faith 
and  Catholic  religion  which  is  professed  by  the  Church  of 
Rome."*  The  circumstance  of  baptism  and  initiation  into 
the  Christian  faith  distinguishes  the  heretic  from  the  infidel 
and  the  Jew.  The  fitting  remedies  for  the  cure  of  this  evil 
are,  according  to  the  canon  law,  the  following : — 

It  is  commanded  that  archbishops  and  bishops,  either  per- 
sonally, or  by  their  archdeacons  or  other  fit  persons,  go 
through  and  visit  their  dioceses  once  or  twice  every  year, 
and  inquire  for  heretics,  and  persons  suspected  of  heres3\ 
Princes,  or  other  supreme  power  in  the  commonwealth,  are 
to  be  admonished  and  required  to  purge  their  dominions 
from  the  filth  of  heresy. 

This  goodly  work  of  purgation  is  to  be  conducted  in  the 
following  manner : — 

I.  Excommunication.     This  sentence  is  to  be  pronounced 

*  Dccrct.  Grcgorii  IX.  lib.  v.  tit.  vii.  De  Ilercticis. 


PUNISHMENT  OF  HERETICS.  137 

not  only  on  notorious  heretics,  and  those  suspected  of 
heresy,  but  also  on  those  who  harbour,  defend,  or  assist 
them,  or  who  converse  familiarly  with  them,  or  trade  with 
them,  or  hold  communion  of  any  sort  with  them. 

II.  Proscription  from  all  offices,  ecclesiastical  or  civil, — 
from  all  public  duties  and  private  rights. 

III.  Confiscation  of  all  their  goods. 

IV.  The  last  punishment  is  death  ;  sometimes  by  the 
sword, — more  commonly  by  fire.* 

Pope  Honorius  II.,  in  his  Decretals,  speaks  in  a  precisely 
similar  style.  Under  the  head  De  Ilereticis  we  find  him 
enumerating  a  variety  of  dissentients  from  Rome,  and  thus 
disposing  of  them  : — "  And  all  heretics,  of  both  sexes  and  of 
every  name,  we  damn  to  perpetual  infamy ;  we  declare  hos- 
tility against  them ;  we  account  them  accursed,  and  their 
goods  confiscated ;  nor  can  they  ever  enjoy  their  property, 
or  their  children  succeed  to  their  inheritance ;  inasmuch  as 
they  grievously  offend  against  the  Eternal  as  well  as  the 
temporal  king."  The  decree  goes  on  to  declare,  that  as 
regards  princes  who  have  been  required  and  admonished  by 
the  Church,  and  have  neglected  to  purge  their  kingdoms 
from  heretical  pravity  a  year  after  admonition,  their  lands 
may  be  taken  possession  of  by  any  Catholic  power  who  shall 
undertake  the  labour  of  purging  them  from  heresy .*}* 

We  shall  close  these  extracts  from  the  code  of  Rome's 
jurisprudence  with  one  tremendous  canon. 

"  Temporal  princes  shall  be  reminded  and  exhorted,  and, 
if  need  be,  compelled  by  spiritual  censures,  to  discharge  every 
one  of  their  functions ;  and  that,  as  they  would  be  accounted 


*  The  above  Decretals  respecting  heresy  are  quoted  from  the  Jus  Cano- 
NicuM  ;  Digestum  et  Emicleatum  juxta  Ordinem  Librorum  et  Titulorum 
qui  in  Decretalibus  Epistolis  Gregorii  IX.  P.  M.  Georgii  Adami  Struvi, 
pp.  359-363  :  Lipsifo  et  Jena?,  16SS. 

+  Quinta  Conipilatio  Epistolarum  Decretalium  Honorii  III.  P.  51.  In- 
nocentii  Cironii,  Juris  Utriusque  Professoris,  Canonici  ac  Ecclesia?,  et 
Academise  Tolosante  Cancellarii,  Comp.  v.  tit.  iv.  cap.  i.  p.  200  ;  Tolosie, 
1645. 


138  THE  CANON  LAW. 

faithful,  so,  for  the  defence  of  the  faith,  they  imllldy  make 
oath  tliat  tliey  will  endeavour^  bona  fide,  with  all  their  might, 
to  extirpate  from,  their  territories  all  heretics  marked  hy  the 
Church ;  so  that  when  any  one  is  about  to  assume  any  autho- 
rity, whether  of  a  permanent  kind  or  only  temporary,  he 
shall  be  held  bound  to  confirm  his  title  by  this  oath.  And 
if  a  temporal  prince,  being  required  and  admonished  by  the 
Church,  shall  neglect  to  purge  his  kingdom  from  this  hereti- 
cal pravity,  the  metropolitan  and  other  provincial  bishops 
shall  hind  him  in  the  fetters  of  excommunication ;  and  if  he 
obstinately  refuse  to  make  satisfaction  within  the  year,  it 
shall  be  notified  to  the  supreme  pontiff,  that  then  he  may 
declare  his  subjects  absolved  from  their  allegiance,  and  bestow 
their  lands  upon  good  Catholics,  who,  the  heretics  being  ex- 
terminated, may  possess  them  unchallenged,  and  preserve 
them  in  the  purity  of  the  faith."* 

"  Those  are  not  to  be  accounted  homicides  who,  fired  with 
zeal  for  Mother  Church,  may  have  killed  excommunicated 
persons.'"-j- 

\Ve  shall  add  to  the  above  the  episcopal  oath  of  allegi- 
ance to  the  Pope.  That  oath  contemplates  the  pontiff  in 
both  his  characters  of  a  temporal  monarch  and  a  spiritual 
sovereign ;  and,  of  consequence,  the  fealty  to  which  the 
swearer  binds  himself  is  of  the  same  complex  character.  It 
is  taken  not  only  by  archbishops  and  bishops,  but  by  all  who 
receive  any  dignity  of  the  Pope ;  in  short,  by  the  whole 
ruling  hierarchy  of  the  monarchy  of  Rome.  It  is  "  not 
only,"  says  the  learned  annotator  Catalani,  "a  profession 
of  canonical  obedience,  but  an  oath  of  fealty,  not  unlike  that 
which  vassals  took  to  their  direct  lord."  We  quote  the 
cath  only  down  to  the  famous  clause  enjoining  the  persecu- 
tion of  heretics : — 

" /.  N.,  elect  of  the  church  of  '^.,from  henceforimrd  ivHl 
he  faithful  and  obedient  to  St  Peter  the  apostle,  and  to  the 


*  Decret.  Grcgorii,  lib.  v.  tit.  vii.  cap.  xiii. 

+  Decreti,  pars  ii.  causa  xxiii.  qutost.  v.  can.  xlvii. 


OATH  OF  BISHOPS.  139 

Tiohj  Roman  Church,  and  to  our  Lord  the  Lord  N.  Pope  iV., 
and  to  his  successors^  canonicalhj  coming  in.  I  loill  neither 
advise,  consent,  or  do  anytliing  that  they  may  lose  life  or  mem- 
ber, or  that  their  persons  may  he  seized,  or  hands  anywise  laid 
upon  them,  or  any  injuries  offered  to  them,  under  any  pre- 
tence whatsoever.  The  counsel  ichich  they  shall  entrust  me 
withal,  hy  themselves,  their  messengers,  or  letters,  I  will  not 
"knowrngXy  reveal  to  any  to  their  prejudice.  I  ic ill  help  them 
to  defend  and  Jceep  the  Boman  Papacy,  and  the  royalties  of 
St  Peter,  saving  my  order,  against  all  men.  The  legate  of  the 
apostolic  see,  going  and  coming,  I  will  honourahly  treat  and 
help  in  his  necessities.  The  rights,  honours,  privileges,  and 
authority  of  the  holy  Roman  Church,  of  our  lord  the  Pope, 
and  his  foresaid  successors,  I  will  endeavour  to  preserve, 
defend,  increase,  and  advance.  I  will  not  be  in  any  council, 
action,  or  treaty,  in  which  shall  be  plotted  against  our  said 
lord,  and  the  said  Roman  Church,  anything  to  the  hurt  or 
prejudice  of  their  persons,  right,  honour,  state,  or  power ; 
and  if  I  shall  know  any  such  thing  to  be  treated  or  agitated 
by  any  whatsoever,  I  will  hinder  it  to  my  power ;  and,  as 
soon  as  I  can,  will  signify  it  to  our  said  lord,  or  to  some 
other,  by  whom  it  may  come  to  his  knowledge.  The  rules 
of  the  holy  fathers,  the  apostolic  decrees,  ordinances,  or 
disposals,  reservations,  provisions,  and  mandates,  I  will  ob- 
serve with  all  my  might,  and  cause  to  be  observed  by  others. 
Heretics,  schismatics,  and  rebels  to  our  said  lord,  or  his  fore- 
said S2iccessors,  I  icill  to  my  power  persecute  and  oppose.''''* 


*  "  Hajreticos,  schisraaticos,  et  rebelles  eidem  domino  nostro,  vel  succes- 
soribus  iirtcdictis,  pro  posse  persequar  et  impugnabo."  This  form  of  the 
oatli  is  quoted  from  Barrow,  wlio  takes  it  from  the  Roman  Pontifical. 
The  oath,  in  its  more  ancient  form,  as  enacted  by  Gregory  VII.,  is  extant 
in  the  Gregorian  Decretals.  Since  his  time  it  has  been  considerably  en- 
larged and  made  more  stringent, — illustrative  of  the  encroaching  sjiirit  of 
the  popes.     (See  Decret.  Gregorii,  lib.  ii.  tit.  xxiv.) 

We  subjoin  (Ex  Bullario  Laertii  Chernbini ;  Rompe  163S)  the  more  re- 
markable clauses  of  the  bull  in  Coence  Domini,  annually  published  at  Rome 
on  Maunday  Thursday,  in  order,  as  we  are  informed  in  the  preface,  "  to 


140  THE  CANON  LAW. 

Such  is  a  sample  of  Ilome''s  infallible  .code.  The  canon 
law  cannot  cease  to  be  venerated  while  hypocrisy  and 
tyranny  bear  any  value  among  men.  It  is  by  this  law  that 
Rome  would  govern  the  world,  would  the  world  let  her ;  and 


exercise  the  spiritual  sword  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  and  wliolesome 
weapons  of  justice  by  the  ministry  of  the  supreme  apostolate,  to  the  glory 
of  God  and  salvation  of  souls." 

"1.  AVe  excommunicate  and  anathematize,  in  the  name  of  God  Al- 
mighty, Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  and  by  the  authority  of  tlie  blessed 
apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  and  by  our  own,  all  Hussites,  Wicliphists,  Lu- 
therans, Zuinglians,  Calvinists,  Hugonets,  Anabaptists,  Trinitarians,  and 
apostates  from  the  Cliristian  faith,  and  all  other  heretics,  by  wliatsoever 
name  they  are  called,  and  of  whatsoever  sect  they  be  ;  as  also  their  ad- 
herents, receivers,  favourers,  and  generally  any  defenders  of  them  ;  toge- 
ther with  all  who,  without  our  authority,  or  that  of  the  apostolic  see, 
knowingly  read,  keep,  print,  or  anywise,  for  any  cause  whatsoever,  publicly 
or  privately,  on  any  pretext  or  colour,  defend  their  books  containing 
heresy  or  treating  of  religion ;  as  also  schismatics,  and  those  who  with- 
draw themselves  or  recede  obstinately  from  the  obedience  of  us,  or  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  for  the  time  being. 

"  2.  Further,  we  excommunicate  and  anathematize  all  and  singular,  of 
whatsoever  station,  degree,  or  condition  they  be  ;  and  interdict  all  univer- 
sities, colleges,  and  chapters,  by  whatsoever  name  they  are  called ;  wlio 
appeal  from  the  orders  or  decrees  of  us,  or  the  pope  of  Rome  for  the  time 
being,  to  a  future  general  council ;  and  those  by  whose  aid  and  favour  the 
appeal  M"as  made. 

"15.  Also  those  who,  under  pretence  of  their  office,  or  at  the  in- 
stance of  any  party,  or  of  any  others,  di-aw,  or  cause  and  procure  to  be 
drawn,  directly  or  indirectly,  upon  any  pretext  whatsoever,  ecclesiastical 
persons,  chapters,  convents,  colleges  of  any  churches,  before  them  to  their 
tribunal,  audience,  chancery,  council,  or  parliament,  against  the  rules  of 
the  canon  law  ;  as  also  those  who,  for  any  cause,  or  under  any  pretext,  or 
by  pretence  of  any  custom  or  privilege,  or  any  other  way,  shall  make, 
enact,  and  publish  any  statutes,  orders,  constitutions,  pragmatics,  or  any 
other  decrees  in  general  or  in  particular ;  or  shall  use  them  when  made 
and  enacted ;  whereby  the  ecclesiastical  liberty  is  violated,  or  anyways 
injured  or  depressed,  or  by  any  other  means  restrained,  or  whereby  the 
rights  of  us  and  of  the  said  see,  and  of  any  other  churches,  are  any  way, 
directly  or  indirectly,  tacitly  or  expressly,  prejudged. 

"  16.  Also  those  who,  upon  this  account,  directly  or  indirectly  hinder 
archbishops,  bishops,  and  other  superior  and  inferior  prelates,  and  all  other 
ordinary  ecclesiastical  judges  whatsoever,  by  any  means,  either  by  irapri- 


INCOMPATIBILITY  WITH  BRITISH  LAW.  141 

it  is  by  this  law  that  she  is  desirous  especially  to  govern 
Britain.  This  explains  what  Rome  understands  by  a  spiri- 
tual jurisdiction.  She  disclaims  the  temporal  supremacy, 
and  professes  to  reign  only  by  direction ;  but  we  can  now 
understand  what  a  direction,  acting  according  to  canon  law, 
and  working  through  the  machinery  of  the  confessional, 
would  speedily  land  us  in.  The  moment  the  canon  law  is 
set  up,  the  laws  of  Britain  are  overthrown,  and  the  rights 


soning  or  molesting  their  agents,  proctors,  domestics,  kindred  on  both 
sides,  or  by  any  other  way,  from  exerting  their  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction 
against  any  persons  whatsoever,  according  as  the  canons  and  sacred  eccle- 
siastical constitutions  and  decrees  of  general  councils,  and  especially  that 
of  Trent,  do  appoint ;  as  also  those  who,  after  the  sentence  and  decrees  of 
the  ordinaries  themselves,  or  of  those  delegated  by  them,  or  by  any  other 
means,  eluding  the  judgment  of  the  ecclesiastical  court,  have  recourse  to 
chanceries  or  other  secular  courts,  and  procure  thence  jirohibitions,  and 
even  penal  mandates,  to  be  decreed  against  the  said  ordinaries  and  dele- 
gates, and  executed  against  them  ;  also  those  who  make  and  execute  these 
decrees,  or  who  give  aid,  counsel,  countenance,  or  favour  to  them. 

"  17.  Also  those  who  usuriJ  any  jurisdictions,  fruits,  revenues,  and 
emoluments  belonging  to  us  and  the  apostolic  see,  and  any  ecclesiastical 
persons  upon  account  of  any  churches,  monasteries,  or  other  ecclesiastical 
benefices ;  or  who,  upon  any  occasion  or  cause,  sequester  the  said  reve- 
nues without  the  express  leave  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  or  others  having 
lawful  power  to  do  it." 

This  curse,  annually  pronounced  at  Rome,  includes  the  whole  realm  of 
Britain,  those  few  excepted  who  own  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Roman  see. 
All  we  in  this  land  are  cursed, — so  far  as  the  pontiff  can, — trebly  cursed, 
in  this  bull,  published  annually  in  presence  of  the  Pope  and  the  Cardinals. 
Our  great  crime  is,  that  we  obey  not  canon  law.  In  violation  of  that  law, 
we  print,  publish,  and  read  books  which  contain  heresy  or  treat  of  religion, 
and  therefore  we  are  cursed.  In  violation  of  canon  law,  we  hold  amenable 
to  the  civil  tribunals,  all  persons,  not  excepting  the  clergy  of  Rome,  and 
therefore  we  are  cursed  again.  We  possess  and  use,  in  not  a  few  in- 
stances, lands  and  inheritances  which  once  belonged  to  the  Romish 
Church  in  Britain,  and  which  that  Church  claims  as  still  belonging  to  her, 
and  therefore  we  are  cursed  a  third  time.  We  hinder  archbishops  and 
other  prelates  from  "  exerting  their  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  against  any 
jjersous  whatsoever,"  according  to  the  canons,  and  especially  those  of 
Trent,  and  so  we  are  cursed  a  fourth  time.  All  classes,  from  the  throne 
downwards,  are  included  in  almost  all  the  curses  of  this  maledictory  roll. 


142  THE  CANON  LAW. 

and  liberties  which  they  confer  would  henceforth  be  among 
the  things  that  were.  The  government  of  the  realm  would 
become  priestly,  and  the  secular  jurisdiction  would  be  a 
mere  appanage  of  the  sacerdotal.  Red  hats  and  cowls 
would  fill  the  offices  of  state  and  the  halls  of  legislation,  and 
would  enact  those  marvels  of  political  wisdom  for  which  Spain 
and  Italy  are  so  justly  renowned.  A  favoured  class,  com- 
bining the  laziness  of  Turks  with  the  rapacity  of  Algerines, 
would  speedily  spring  up ;  and,  to  enable  them  to  live  in  idle^ 
ness,  or  in  something  worse,  the  "  tale  of  bricks""  would  be 
doubled  to  the  people.  Malefactors  of  every  class,  instead 
of  crossing  the  Atlantic,  as  now,  would  simply  tie  the 
Franciscan's  rope  round  their  middle,  or  throw  the  friar''s 
cloak  over  their  consecrated  shoulders.  The  Bible  would 
disappear  as  the  most  pestiferous  of  books,  and  the  good 
old  cause  of  ignorance  would  triumph.  A  purification  of 
our  island  on  a  grand  scale,  from  three  centuries  of  heresy, 
would  straightway  be  undertaken.  As  Protestants  (the  worst 
of  all  heretics)  our  lives  would  be  of  equal  value  with  those 
of  the  wolf  or  the  tiger ;  and  it  would  be  not  less  a  virtue  to 
destroy  us,  only  the  mode  of  despatch  might  not  be  so  quick 
and  merciful.  The  wolf  would  be  shot  down  at  once ;  the 
Protestant  would  be  permitted  to  edify  the  Catholic  by  the 
prolongation  of  his  dying  agonies.  Our  Queen  would  have 
a  twelvemonth's  notice  to  make  her  peace  with  Rome,  or 
abide  the  consequences.  Should  she  disdain  becoming  a 
vassal  of  the  Roman  see,  a  crusade  would  be  preached 
against  her  dominions,  and  every  soldier  in  the  army  of  the 
Holy  League  would  be  recompensed  with  the  promise  of 
paradise,  and  of  as  much  of  the  wealth  of  heretical  Albion 
as  he  could  appropriate.  These  consequences  would  follow 
the  introduction  of  the  canon  law,  as  certainly  as  darkness 
follows  the  setting  of  the  sun. 

But  these  effects  would  not  be  realized  in  a  day.  This 
tremendous  tyranny  would  overtake  the  realm  as  night 
overtakes  the  earth.  First  the  Roman  Catholics  in  Britain 
would  be  habituated  to  the  government  of  this  code ;  and  it 


BRITAIN  UNDER  CANON  LAW.  143 

is  to  them  only  that  Dr  Wiseman,  making  a  virtue  of  neces- 
sity, proposes  meanwhile  to  extend  it.  Having  formed  a 
colony  governed  by  the  code  of  Rome  in  the  heart  of  a  na- 
tion under  the  code  of  Britain,  the  agent  of  the  Vatican 
would  be  able  thus  to  inaugurate  his  system.  His  imjyeriiim 
in  imperio,  once  fairly  set  up,  would  be  daily  extending  by 
conversions.  A  Jesuit's  school  here,  a  nunnery  and  cathe- 
dral there,  would  enlarge  the  sphere  of  the  canon  law,  and 
fasten  silently  but  tenaciously  its  manacles  upon  the  commu- 
nity. Give  Rome  darkness  enough,  and  she  can  do  any- 
thing,— govern  by  canon  law,  with  equal  ease,  a  family  or  the 
globe.  We  must  look  fairly  at  the  case.  Let  us  suppose 
that  this  law  is  put  in  operation  in  Britain,  though  confined 
at  first  to  members  of  the  Romish  Church.  Well,  then,  we 
have  a  colony  in  the  heart  of  the  country  actually  released 
from  their  allegiance  to  the  sovereign.  They  are  the  sub- 
jects of  canon  law,  and  that  teaches  unmistakeably  the 
supremacy  of  the  pontiff,  and  holds  as  null  all  authority 
that  interferes  with  his ;  and  especially  does  it  ignore  the 
authority  of  heretical  sovereigns.  Should  these  persons  con- 
tinue to  obey  the  civil  laws,  they  would  do  so  simply  because 
there  is  an  army  ia  the  country.  Their  real  rulers  would 
be  the  priesthood,  whom  they  dared  not  disobey,  under  peril 
of  their  eternal  salvation.  All  their  duties  as  citizens  must 
be  performed  according  to  ghostly  direction.  Their  votes 
at  the  poll  must  be  given  for  the  priest's  nominee.  They 
must  speak  and  vote  in  Parliament  for  the  interests  of 
Rome,  not  of  England.  In  the  witness-box  they  must  swear 
to  or  against  the  fact,  as  the  interests  of  the  Church  may  re- 
quire. And  as  a  false  oath  is  no  perjury,  so  killing  is  no 
murder,  according  to  canon  law,  when  heresy  and  heretics 
are  to  be  purged  out.  Thus,  every  duty,  from  that  of  con- 
ducting a  parliamentary  opposition  down  to  heading  a  street 
brawl,  must  be  done  with  a  view  to  the  account  to  be  ren- 
dered in  the  confessional.  Allegiance  to  the  Pope  must 
override  all  other  duties,  spiritual  and  temporal.  Popery,  a 
deceiver  to  others,  is  a  tyrant  to  its  own. 


144  THE  CANON  LAW. 

Should  we,  then,  permit  the  introduction  of  the  canon 
law,  the  Greek  who  opened  the  gates  to  the  Trojan  horse 
will  henceforward  pass  for  a  wise  and  honest  man.  We 
must  not  have  our  understandings  insulted  by  being  told 
that  this  law  is  meliorated.  It  is  the  code  of  an  infallible 
Church,  and  not  one  jot  or  tittle  of  it  can  ever  be  changed. 
Korae  and  the  canon  law  must  stand  or  perish  together. 
Besides,  it  is  only  twenty  years  since  it  was  republished  in 
Rome,  under  the  very  eye  of  the  Pope,  without  one  single 
blasphemy  or  atrocity  lopped  off.  Nor  must  we  listen  to 
the  assurance  that  the  laws  of  Britain  will  protect  us  from 
the  canon  law.  We  may  have  perfect  confidence  in  the 
strength  of  our  fortress,  though  we  do  not  permit  the  enemy 
to  plant  a  battery  beneath  its  walls.  But  the  trust  is  false ; 
— the  law  of  Britain  will  not  be  a  sufficient  protection  in 
the  long  run.  Dr  Wiseman  demands  permission  to  erect  a 
hierarchy  in  order  that  he  may  govern  the  members  of  his 
Church  in  England  by  canon  law.  We  refuse  to  grant  him 
leave,  and  the  doctor  raises  the  cry  of  persecution,  and  pre- 
fers a  charge  of  intolerance,  because  we  will  not  permit  him 
to  give  full  development  to  the  code  of  his  Church, — a  code, 
be  it  remembered,  which  teaches  that  the  Pope  can  annul 
the  constitutions  of  princes, — that  it  is  damnable  presump- 
tion in  a  lay  judge  to  compel  an  ecclesiastic  to  pay  his 
debts, — and  that  it  is  no  crime  to  swear  a  false  oath  against 
a  heretic,  or  even  to  kill  him,  if  the  massacre  of  his  charac- 
ter or  his  person  can  in  anywise  benefit  the  Church.  The 
doctor,  we  say,  even  now  raises  the  cry  of  persecution 
against  us,  because  we  will  not  permit  him  to  put  this  code 
into  effect  by  erecting  the  hiei"archy  ;  and  many  Protestants 
profess  to  see  not  a  little  force  in  his  reasoning.  But  sup- 
pose we  should  ^ant  leave  to  erect  the  hierarchy,  and  so 
help  Dr  Wiseman  to  put  the  canon  law  into  working  gear ; 
what  would  be  his  next  demand?  Why,  that  we  should 
subject  the  laws  of  England  to  instant  revision,  so  as  to 
confoi'm  them  to  the  canon  law.  "  You  allowed  me,"  would 
the  doctor  say,  "  to  introduce  the  canon  law,  and  yet  you 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  CANON  LAW.  145 

forbid  mo  to  give  it  full  development.  Here  it  is  perpetually 
checked  and  fettered  by  your  enactments.  I  demand  that 
these  shall  be  rescinded  in  all  points  where  they  clash  with 
canon  law.  You  virtually  pledged  yourselves  to  this  when 
you  sanctioned  the  hierarchy.  Why  did  you  allow  me  to 
introduce  this  law,  if  you  will  not  suffer  me  to  work  it?  I 
insist  on  your  implementing  your  pledge,  otherwise  I  shall 
brand  you  as  persecutors."  The  Protestants  who  gave  way 
in  the  former  instance  will  find  it  hard  to  make  good  their 
resistance  here.  In  this  manner  point  after  point  will  be 
carried,  and  a  despotism  worse  than  that  of  Turkey,  and 
growing  by  moments,  will  be  established  in  the  heart  of 
this  free  country.  All  lets  and  hindrances  in  its  path  will 
crumble  into  dust  before  the  insidious  and  persistent  attacks 
of  this  conspiracy.  Its  agents  will  act  with  the  celerity 
and  combination  of  an  army,  while  the  leaders  will  remain 
invisible.  It  will  attack  in  a  form  in  which  it  cannot  be  re- 
pelled. It  will  use  the  Constitution  to  undermine  the  Con- 
stitution. It  will  basely  take  advantage  of  the  privileges 
which  liberty  bestows,  to  overthrow  liberty  :  and  it  will  never 
rest  content  till  the  mighty  Dagon  of  co-mingled  blasphemy 
and  tyranny  known  as  canon  law  is  enthroned  above  the 
ruins  of  British  liberty  and  justice,  and  the  neck  of  prince 
and  peasant  is  bent  in  ignominious  vassalage. 

Were  Lucifer  to  turn  legislator,  and  indite  a  code  of 
jurisprudence  for  the  government  of  mankind,  he  would  find 
the  work  done  already  to  his  hand  in  the  canon  law.  Sur- 
veying the  labours  of  his  renowned  servants  with  a  smile  of 
grim  complacency, — sorely  puzzled  what  to  alter,  where  to 
amend,  or  how  to  enlarge  with  advantage, — unwilling  to  run 
the  risk  of  doing  worse  what  his  predecessors  had  done 
better, — he  would  wisely  forego  all  thoughts  of  legislative  and 
literary  fame,  and  be  content  to  let  well  alone.  Instead  of 
wasting  the  midnight  oil  over  a  new  work,  he  would  confine 
his  labours  to  the  more  useful,  if  less  ambitious,  task  of 
writing  a  recommendatory  preface  to  the  canon  law. 

L 


146  PRINCIPLES  OF  SUPREMACY  UNCHANGEABLE. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THAT  THE  CflURCH  OF  ROME  NEITHER  HAS  NOR 

CAN  CHANGE  HER  PRINCIPLES  ON  THE 

HEAD  OF  THE  SUPREMACY. 


We  have  shown  in  the  foregoing  chapter,  that  nothing  in  all 
past  history  is  better  authenticated  than  the  fact  that  the 
Papacy  has  claimed  supremacy  over  kings  and  kingdoms. 
We  have  also  shown  that  this  claim  is  a  legitimate  inference 
from  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Papacy, — that  these 
principles  are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  imply  a  Divine  right, — 
and  that  the  arrogant  claim  based  on  these  principles  Rome 
has  not  only  asserted,  but  succeeded  in  establishing.  Her 
doctors  have  taught  it,  her  casuists  have  defended  it,  her 
councils  have  ratified  it,  the  papal  bulls  have  been  based 
upon  it,  and  her  popes  have  reduced  it  to  practice,  in  the 
way  of  deposing  monarchs,  and  transferring  their  kingdoms 
to  others.  "  Seeing  it  hath  been  current  among  their 
divines  of  greatest  vogue  and  authority,"  reasons  Barrow, 
"  the  great  masters  of  their  school, — seeing  by  so  large  a 
consent  and  concurrence,  during  so  long  a  time,  it  may  pre- 
tend (much  better  than  divers  other  points  of  great  import- 
ance) to  be  confirmed  by  tradition  or  prescription, — why 
should  it  not  be  admitted  for  a  doctrine  of  the  holy  Roman 
Church,  the  mother  and  mistress  of  all  churches  ?  How  can 
they  who   disavow  this  notion   be  the  true  sons  of  that 


SUPREMACY  EXERCISED  IN  FORMER  AGES.  147 

motlier,  or  faithful  scholars  of  that  mistress!  How  can 
they  acknowledge  any  authority  in  that  Church  to  be  in- 
fallible, or  certain,  or  obliging  to  assent.  No  man  appre- 
hending it  false,  seemeth  capable,  with  good  conscience,  to 
hold  comnuniion  with  those  who  profess  it ;  for,  upon  sup- 
position of  its  falsehood,  the  Pope  and  his  chief  adherents 
are  the  teachers  and  abettors  of  the  highest  violation  of 
Divine  commands,  and  most  enormous  sins  of  usurpation, 
tyranny,  imposture,  perjury,  rebellion,  murder,  rapine,  and 
all  the  villanies  complicated  in  the  practical  influence  of 
this  doctrine."* 

But  does  the  fact,  so  clearly  established  from  history, 
that  the  Church  of  Rome  not  only  claimed,  but  succeeded 
in  making  good  her  claim,  to  universal  supremacy,  suggest 
no  fears  for  the  cause  of  public  liberty  in  time  to  come  ? 
Has  the  Papacy  renounced  this  claim  ?  Has  she  confessed 
that  it  is  a  claim  which  she  ought  never  to  have  made,  and 
which  she  would  not  now  make  were  she  in  the  same  cir- 
cumstances I  So  far  from  this,  it  can  be  shown,  that  though 
Gosselin  and  other  modern  writers  have  attempted  to  apo- 
logise for  the  past  usurpations  of  the  Papacy,  and  to  ex- 
plain the  grounds  on  which  these  acts  were  based,  as  being 
not  so  much  definite  principles  as  popular  beliefs  and  con- 
cessions ;  and  though  they  have  written  with  the  obvious 
intention  of  leading  their  readers  to  infer  that  the  Papacy 
would  not  so  act  now  were  it  placed  in  the  same  circum- 
stances as  before ;  yet  it  can  be  shown  that  the  Papacy  has 
not  renounced  this  claim, — that  it  never  can  renounce  it, — 
and  that,  were  opportunity  to  offer,  it  would  once  more  take 
upon  itself  the  high  prerogative  of  disposing  of  crowns  and 
kingdoms.  How  does  this  appear?  In  the  first  place,  if 
Rome  has  renounced  this  alleged  right,  let  the  deed  of  re- 
nunciation be  produced.  The  fact  is  notorious,  that  she  did 
depose  monarchs.  When  or  where  has  she  confessed  that 
in  doing  so  she  stepped  out  of  her  sphere,  and  was  betrayed 

*  Barrow's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  548. 


148  PRINCIPLES  OF  SUPREMACY  UNCHANGEABLE. 

by  a  guilty  ambition  into  an  act  of  flagrant  usurpation? 
The  contrition  must  be  as  public  as  the  crime  is  notorious. 
But  there  exists  no  such  deed ;  and,  in  lieu  of  a  public  and 
formal  renunciation,  wo  cannot  accept  the  explanations  and 
apologies,  the  feeble  and  qualified  denials,  of  modern  writers. 
It  is  the  interest  of  these  writers  to  keep  discreetly  in  the 
shade  claims  and  pretensions  which  it  would  be  dangerous 
meanwhile  to  avow.  And  even  granting  that  these  dis- 
avowals were  more  explicit  than  they  are,  and  granting,  too, 
that  they  were  sincerely  made,  they  carry  no  authority  with 
them.  They  are  merely  private  opinions,  and  do  not  bind 
the  Church ;  and  there  is  too  much  reason  to  believe  that 
they  would  be  repudiated  by  Rome  whenever  she  found  it 
safe  or  advantageous  to  do  so.  The  case  stands  thus: — the 
Church  of  Rome,  in  violation  of  the  principle  of  a  co-ordi- 
nate jurisdiction  in  spiritual  and  civil  affairs,  and  in  violation 
of  her  own  proper  character  and  objects  as  a  church,  has 
claimed  and  exercised  supremacy  over  kings  and  kingdoms ; 
but  she  has  not  to  this  hour  acknowledged  that  she  erred 
in  doing  so,  nor  has  she  renounced  the  principles  which  led 
to  that'  error;  and  so  long  as  she  maintains  an  attitude 
which  is  a  virtual  defence  and  justification  of  all  her  past 
pretensions,  both  in  their  theory  and  their  practice,  the 
common  sense  of  mankind  must  hold  that  she  is  ready  to 
repeat  the  same  aggressions  whenever  the  same  occasions 
and  opportunities  shall  occur. 

It  is  also  to  be  borne  in  mind,  that  though  the  Church  of 
Rome  is  silent  on  her  claims  meanwhile,  we  are  not  war- 
ranted to  take  that  silence  for  surrender.  They  are  not 
claims  renounced ;  they  are  simply  claims  not  asserted.  The 
foundation  of  these  claims,  and  their  desirableness,  remain 
unchanged.  Moreover,  it  is  important  to  observe,  that 
wherever  the  action  of  the  Romish  Church  is  restrained,  it 
is  restrained  by  a  power  from  without,  and  not  by  any  prin- 
ciple or  power  from  within.  Her  prerogatives  have  some- 
times been  wrested  from  her,  but  never  without  the  Church 
of  Rome  putting  on  record  her  solemn  protest.     She  has 


CHURCH  CANNOT  RENOUNCE  TIIEM.  HO 

declared  that  the  authority  of  which  she  was  deprived  was 
rightfully  hers,  and  that  to  forbid  her  to  use  it  was  an  un- 
righteous interference  with  her  just  powers ;  which  means, 
that  she  was  purposed  to  reclaim  these  rights  the  moment 
she  thought  she  could  make  the  attempt  with  success.  In 
those  countries  where  she  still  bears  sway,  we  find  her  giv- 
ing effect  to  her  pretensions  to  the  very  utmost  which  the 
liberty  allowed  her  will  permit ;  and  it  is  certainly  fair  to 
infer,  that  were  her  liberty  greater,  her  pretensions  would 
be  greater  too,  not  in  assumption  only,  but  in  practice  also. 
But,  second,  the  Church  of  Rome  cannot  renounce  this 
claim,  because  she  is  infallible.  We  shall  afterwards  prove 
that  that  Church  does  hold  the  doctrine  of  the  infallibility, 
and  that  it  is  one  of  the  fundamental  principles  on  which 
her  system  is  built.  Meanwhile  we  assume  it.  Being  in- 
fallible, she  can  never  believe  what  is  false,  or  practise  what 
is  wrong,  and  is  therefore  incapable  in  all  time  coming  of 
renouncing  any  one  doctrine  she  ever  taught,  or  departing 
from  any  one  claim  she  ever  asserted.  To  say  that  such  an 
opinion  was  taught  as  true  ages  ago,  but  is  not  now  recog- 
nised as  sound,  or  held  to  be  obligatory,  is  perfectly  allow- 
able to  Protestants,  for  they  make  no  claim  to  infallibility. 
They  may  err,  and  they  may  own  that  their  fathers  have 
erred  ;  for  though  they  have  an  infallible  standard, — the 
Word  of  God, — in  which  all  the  fundamental  doctrines  ap- 
pertaining to  salvation  are  so  clearly  taught,  that  there  is  no 
mistaking  them  on  the  part  of  any  one  who  brings  ordinary 
powers  and  ordinary  candour,  with  a  due  reliance  on  the 
Spirit''s  promised  aid,  to  their  investigation,  yet  there  are 
subordinate  matters,  especially  points  of  administration,  on 
which  a  longer  study  of  the  Word  of  God  will  throw  clearer 
light.  Protestants,  therefore,  may  with  perfect  consistency 
amend  their  system,  both  in  its  theory  and  in  its  practice, 
and  so  bring  it  into  nearer  conformity  with  the  great 
standard  of  truth.  They  have  built  up  no  wall  of  adamant 
behind  them.  Not  so  Rome.  She  is  infallible ;  and,  as 
such,  must  stand  eternally  on  the  ground  she  has  taken  up. 


150  PRINCIPLES  OF  SUPREMACY  UNCHANGEABLE. 

It  is  a  double  thraldom  which  she  has  perpetrated :  she  haa 
enslaved  the  human  understanding,  and  she  has  enslaved 
herself.  The  dogma  of  infallibility,  like  a  chain  which  mor- 
tal power  cannot  break,  has  tied  her  to  the  bulls  of  popes, 
and  the  decrees  of  councils  and  canonists ;  and  it  matters 
not  how  gross  the  error,  how  glaring  the  absurdity,  or  how 
manifest  the  contradiction,  into  which  they  may  have  fallen; 
the  error  is  part  of  her  infallibility,  and  must  be  maintained. 
The  Church  of  Home  can  never  plead  that  she  believed  so 
and  so,  and  acted  agreeably  thereto,  six  hundred  years  ago, 
but  that  she  has  since  come  to  think  differently  on  the 
point, — that  a  deeper  knowledge  of  the  Bible  has  corrected 
her  views.  Infallibility  was  infallibility  six  hundred  years 
ago,  as  really  as  it  is  so  to-day.  Infallibility  can  never  be 
either  less  or  more.  To  an  infallible  Church  it  is  all  one 
whether  her  decisions  were  delivered  yesterday  or  a  thou- 
sand years  ago.  The  decision  of  ten  centuries  since  is  as 
much  a  piece  of  infallibility  as  the  decision  of  ten  hours 
since.  With  Rome  a  day  is  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a 
thousand  years  are  but  as  a  day. 

Nor  can  the  Church  of  Rome  avail  herself  of  the  excuse, 
that  such  an  opinion  was  held  by  her  in  the  dark  ages,  when 
there  was  little  knowledge  of  any  sort  in  the  world.  There 
was  infallibility  in  it,  however,  according  to  the  Church  of 
Rome.  In  those  ages,  that  Church  taught  as  infallible  that 
the  earth  was  stationary,  while  the  sun  rolled  round  it,  and 
that  the  earth  was  not  a  globe,  but  an  extended  plain.  The 
apology  that  this  was  before  the  birth  of  the  modern  astro- 
nomy, however  satisfactory  in  the  mouth  of  another,  would 
in  her  mouth  be  a  condemnation  of  her  whole  system.  The 
ages  were  dark  enough,  no  doubt ;  but  infallibility  then  was 
still  infallibility.  Why,  it  is  precisely  at  such  times  that 
we  need  infallibility.  An  infallibility  that  cannot  see  in 
the  dark  is  not  worth  much.  If  it  cannot  speak  till  science 
has  first  spoken,  but  at  the  risk  of  fLilling  into  gross  error, 
why,  wo  think  the  world  might  do  as  well  without  as  with 
infallibility.     A  prophet  that  restricts  his  vaticinations  to 


CREED  OF  PAPACY  INFALLIBLE.  151 

what  has  already  come  to  pass,  possesses  no  great  share  of 
the  proplietic  gift.  The  beacon  whose  light  cannot  be  seen 
but  when  the  sun  is  above  the  horizon,  will  be  but  a  sorry 
guide  to  the  mariner ;  and  that  infallibility  which  cannot 
move  a  step  without  losing  itself  in  a  quagmire,  except 
when  science  and  history  pioneer  its  way,  is  but  ill  fitted  to 
govern  the  world.  The  infallibility  has  made  three  grand 
discoveries, — the  first  in  the  department  of  astronomy,  the 
second  in  the  department  of  geography,  and  the  third  in  the 
department  of  theology.  The  first  is,  that  the  sun  revolves 
round  our  earth ;  the  second  is,  that  the  world  is  an  ex- 
tended pkiin ;  and  the  third  and  greatest  is,  that  the  Pope 
is  God's  vicar.  If  the  Church  of  Rome  be  true,  these  three 
are  all  equally  infallible  truths. 

To  dwell  a  little  longer  on  this  infallibility,  and  the  un- 
changeableness  with  which  it  endows  the  Church  of  Home, — 
that  Church  is  not  only  infallible  as  a  church  or  society,  but 
every  separate  article  of  her  creed  is  infallible.  In  fact, 
Popery  is  just  a  bundle  of  infallible  axioms,  every  one  of 
which  is  as  unalterably  and  everlastingly  true  as  are  the 
theorems  of  Euclid.  How  impossible  that  a  creed  of  this 
character  can  be  either  amended  or  changed  !  Amended  it 
cannot  be,  for  it  is  already  infallible ;  changed  still  less  can 
it  be,  for  to  change  infallible  truth  would  be  to  embrace 
error.  What  would  be  thought  of  the  mathematician  who 
should  affirm  that  geometry  might  be  changed, — that 
though  it  was  a  truth  when  Euclid  flourished,  that  the  three 
angles  of  a  triangle  were  together  equal  to  two  right  angles, 
it  does  not  follow  that  it  is  a  truth  now?  Geometry  is 
what  Popery  claims  to  be, — a  system  of  infallible  truths,  and 
therefore  eternally  immutable.  Between  the  trigonometri- 
cal survey  of  Britain  in  our  own  times,  and  those  annual 
measurements  of  their  fields  which  were  wont  to  be  under- 
taken by  the  early  Egyptians  on  the  reflux  of  the  Nile, 
there  is  an  intervening  period  of  not  less  than  forty  centu- 
ries, and  yet  the  two  processes  were  based  on  the  identical 
geometrical   truths.     The   two   angles   at  the  base  of  an 


152  PRINCIPLES  OF  SUPREMACY  UNCHANGEABLE. 

isosceles  triangle  were  then  equal  to  one  another,  and  they 
are  so  still,  and  will  be  myriads  of  ages  beyond  the  present 
moment,  and  myriads  and  myriads  of  miles  away  from  the 
sphere  of  our  globe.  Popery  claims  for  her  truths  an 
equally  necessary,  independent,  universal,  and  eternal  exist- 
ence. When  we  talk  of  the  one  being  changed,  we  talk 
not  a  whit  more  irrationally  than  when  we  talk  of  the  other 
being  changed.  There  is  not  a  dogma  in  the  bullarium 
which  is  not  just  as  infallible  a  truth  as  any  axiom  of 
geometry.  It  follows  that  the  canon  law  is  as  unchange- 
able as  Euclid.  The  deposing  power  having  been  received 
by  the  Church  as  an  infallible  truth,  must  be  an  infallible 
truth  still.  Truth  cannot  be  truth  in  one  age  and  error  in 
the  next.  The  infallibility  can  never  wax  old.  To  this  at- 
tribute has  the  Church  of  Rome  linked  herself :  she  must 
not  shirk  its  conditions.  Were  she  to  confess  that  in  any 
one  instance  she  had  ever  adopted  or  practised  error, — above 
all,  were  she  to  grant  that  she  had  erred  in  the  great  acts 
of  her  supremacy, — she  would  virtually  surrender  her  whole 
cause  into  the  hands  of  Protestants. 

We  find  Cardinal  Perron  adopting  this  precise  line  of  ar- 
gument on  a  very  memorable  occasion.  After  the  assassi- 
nation of  Henry  IV.  by  the  Jesuits,  it  was  proposed,  for 
the  future  security  of  government,  to  abjure  the  papal  doc- 
trine of  deposing  kings  for  heresy.  When  the  three  estates 
assembled  in  1616,  Cardinal  Perron,  as  the  organ  of  the 
rest  of  the  Gallican  clergy,  addressed  them  on  the  subject. 
He  argued,  that  were  they  to  abjure  the  pope''s  right  to  de- 
pose heretical  sovereigns,  they  would  destroy  the  communion 
hitherto  existing  between  them  and  other  churches, — nay, 
even  with  the  church  of  France  before  their  own  time :  that 
seeing  the  popes  had  claimed  and  exercised  this  right,  they 
could  not  take  the  proposed  oath  without  acknowledging 
that  the  Pope  and  the  whole  Church  had  erred,  both  in 
faith  and  in  things  pertaining  to  salvation,  and  that  for 
many  ages  the  Catholic  Church  had  perished  from  the 
earth :  that  they  behoved  to  dig  up  the  bones  of  a  multitude 


PAPACY  STEREOTYPED  BY  INFALLIBILITY.  153 

of  French  doctoi's,  even  the  bones  of  St  Thomas  and  St 
Bonaventure,  and  burn  them  upon  the  altar,  as  Josiah 
burnt  the  bones  of  the  false  prophet.  So  reasoned  the 
Cardinal ;  and  we  should  like  to  see  those  who  now  attempt 
to  deny  the  Pope's  deposing  power  try  to  answer  his  argu- 
ments. 

The  infallibility  is  the  iron  hoop  around  the  Church  of 
Rome.  In  every  variety  of  outward  circumstances,  and 
amid  the  most  furious  conflicts  of  discordant  opinions,  that 
Church  is  and  must  ever  be  the  same.  Change  or  amend- 
ment she  can  never  know.  She  cannot  repent,  because  she 
cannot  err.  Repentance  and  amendment  are  for  the  fallible 
only.  Far  more  marvellous  would  it  be  to  hear  that  she 
had  changed  than  to  hear  that  she  had  been  destroyed.  It 
will  one  day  be  told  the  world,  and  the  nations  will  clap 
their  hands  at  the  news,  that  the  Papacy  has  fallen ;  but  it 
will  never  be  told  that  the  Papacy  has  repented.  She  will 
be  destroyed,  not  amended. 

But,  in  the  third  place,  the  Papacy  cannot  renounce  this 
claim  without  denying  its  essential  and  fundamental  prin- 
ciples. Between  the  dogma  that  the  Pope  is  Christ's  vicar 
and  the  claim  of  supremacy,  there  is,  as  we  have  shown,  the 
most  strict  and  logical  connection.  The  latter  is  but  the 
former  transmuted  into  fact ;  and  if  the  one  is  renounced, 
the  other  must  go  with  it.  On  the  assumption  that  the 
Pope  is  Christ's  vicar  is  built  the  whole  fabric  of  Popery. 
On  this  point,  according  to  Bellarmine,  hangs  the  whole  of 
Christianity  ;*  and  one  of  the  latest  expounders  of  the 
Papacy  re-echoes  this  sentiment : — "  Wanting  the  sovereign 
pontiff,"  says  De  Maistre,  "  Christianity  wants  its  sole 
foundation."'''-f-  Anything,  therefore,  that  would  go  to  anni- 
hilate that  assumption,  would  raze,  as  Bellarmine  admits, 
the  foundations  of  the  whole  system.  The  Papacy,  then, 
has  it  in  its  choice  to  be  the  superior  of  kings  or  nothing. 


*  Bellarra.  Prefatio  in  Libros  do  Summo  Pontifice. 
t  Du  Pape  :  Discours  Preliminuire. 


154  PRINCIPLES  OF  SUPREMACY  UNCHANGEABLE. 

It  has  no  middle  path.  Aut  Cwsar  auf  nullus.  The  Pope 
is  Chrisfs  vicar,  and  so  lord  of  the  earth  and  of  all  its  em- 
pires, or  his  pretensions  are  unfounded,  his  religion  a  cheat, 
and  himself  an  impostor. 

It  is  necessary  here  to  advert  to  the  popular  argument, — 
a  miserable  fallacy,  no  doubt,  but  one  that  possesses  an  in- 
fluence that  better  reasons  are  sometimes  found  to  want. 
The  world  is  now  so  greatly  changed  that  it  is  impossible 
not  to  believe  that  Popery  also  is  changed.  It  is  incredible 
that  it  should  now  think  of  enforcing  its  antiquated  claims. 
We  find  this  argument  in  the  mouths  of  two  classes  of  per- 
sons. It  is  urged  by  those  who  see  that  the  only  chance 
which  the  Papacy  has  of  succeeding  in  its  present  criminal 
designs  is  to  persuade  the  world  that  it  is  changed,  and 
who  accordingly  report  as  true  what  they  know  to  be  false. 
And,  second,  it  is  employed  by  those  who  are  ignorant  of 
the  character  of  Popery,  and  who  conclude,  that  because  all 
else  is  changed,  this  too  has  undergone  a  change.  But 
the  question  is  not,  Is  the  world  altered  ? — this  all  admit ; 
but.  Is  the  Papacy  altered  ?  A  change  in  the  one  gives  not 
the  slightest  ground  to  infer  a  change  in  the  other.  The 
Papacy  itself  makes  no  claim  of  the  sort ;  it  repudiates  the 
imputation  of  change ;  glories  in  being  the  same  in  all 
ages ;  and  with  this  agrees  its  nature,  which  shuts  out  the 
very  idea  of  change,  or  rather  makes  change  synonymous 
with  destruction.  It  is  nothing  to  prove  that  society  is 
changed,  though  it  is  worth  remembering  that  the  essential 
elements  of  human  nature  are  the  same  in  all  ages,  and  that 
the  changes  of  which  so  much  account  is  made  lie  mainly  on 
the  surface.  The  question  is,  Is  the  Papacy  changed  ?  It 
cannot  be  shown  on  any  good  ground  that  it  is.  And  while 
the  system  continues  the  same,  its  influence,  its  mode  of  ac- 
tion, and  its  aims,  will  be  identical,  let  the  circumstances 
around  it  be  what  they  may.  It  will  mould  the  world  to 
itself,  but  cannot  be  moulded  by  it.  Is  not  this  a  universal 
law,  determining  the  development  alike  of  things,  of  systems, 
and  of  men  ?     Take  a  seed  from  the  tomb  of  an  Egyptian 


THE  PAPACY  GROWING  WORSE.  155 

mummy,  carry  it  into  the  latitude  of  Britain,  and  bury  it  in 
the  earth ;  the  climate,  and  many  other  things,  will  all  be 
different,  but  the  seed  is  the  same.  Its  incarceration  of 
four  thousand  years  has  but  suspended,  not  annihilated,  its 
vital  powers  ;  and,  being  the  same  seed,  it  will  grow  up  into 
the  same  plant ;  its  leaf,  and  flower,  and  fruit,  will  all  be 
the  same  they  would  have  been  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile 
under  the  reign  of  the  Pharaohs.  Or  let  us  suppose  that 
the  mummy,  the  companion  of  its  long  imprisonment,  should 
start  into  life.  The  brown  son  of  Egypt,  on  looking  up,  would 
find  the  world  greatly  changed ; — the  Pharaohs  gone,  the 
pyramids  old,  Memphis  in  ruins,  empires  become  wrecks, 
which  had  not  been  born  till  long  after  his  embalmment ;  but 
amid  all  these  changes  he  would  feel  that  he  was  the  same 
man,  and  that  his  sleep  of  forty  centuries  had  left  his  dispo- 
sitions and  habits  wholly  unchanged.  Nay,  will  not  the 
whole  human  race  rise  at  the  last  day  with  the  same  moral 
tastes  and  dispositions  with  which  they  went  to  their  graves, 
so  that  to  the  characters  with  which  they  died  will  link  on 
the  allotments  to  which  they  shall  rise  ?  The  infallibility  has 
stereotyped  the  Papacy,  just  as  nature  has  stereotyped  the 
seed,  and  death  the  characters  of  men ;  and,  let  it  slumber 
for  one  century,  or  twenty  centuries,  it  will  awake  with  its 
old  instincts.  And  while  as  a  system  it  continues  unchanged, 
its  action  on  the  world  must  necessarily  be  the  same.  It  is 
not  more  accordant  with  the  law  of  their  natures  that  fire 
should  burn  and  air  ascend,  than  it  is  accordant  with  the 
nature  of  the  Papacy  that  it  should  claim  the  supremacy, 
and  so  override  the  consciences  of  men  and  the  laws  of  king- 
doms. 

Nay,  so  far  is  it  from  being  a  truth  that  Popery  is  growing 
a  better  thing,  that  the  truth  lies  the  other  way :  it  is  grow- 
ing rapidly  and  progressively  worse.  So  egregiously  do  the 
class  to  which  we  have  referred  miscalculate,  and  so  little 
true  acquaintance  do  they  show  with  the  system  on  which 
they  so  confidently  pronounce,  that  those  very  influences  on 
which  they  rely  for  rendering  the  Papacy  milder  in  spirit 


156  PRINCIPLES  OF  SUPREMACY  UNCHANGEABLE. 

and  more  tolerant  in  policy,  are  the  very  influences  wliich 
are  communicating  a  more  defined  stamp  to  its  bigotry  and 
a  keener  edge  to  its  malignity.  By  an  inevitable  conse- 
quence, the  Papacy  must  retrograde  as  the  world  advances. 
The  diffusion  of  letters,  the  growth  of  free  institutions, 
above  all,  the  prevalence  of  true  religion,  are  hateful  to  the 
Papacy ;  they  threaten  its  vei-y  existence,  and  necessarily 
rouse  into  violent  action  all  its  more  intolerant  qualities.  The 
most  cursory  survey  of  its  history  for  the  past  six  centuries 
abundantly  attests  the  truth  of  what  we  now  say.  It  was 
not  till  arts  and  Christianity  began  to  enlighten  southern 
Europe  in  the  twelfth  century,  that  Rome  unsheathed  the 
sword.  The  Reformation  came  next,  and  was  followed  by 
a  new  outburst  of  ferocity  and  tyranny  on  the  part  of  Rome. 
Thus,  as  the  world  grows  better,  the  Papacy  grows  worse. 
The  Papacy  of  the  present  day,  so  far  from  being  set  off  by 
a  comparison  with  the  Papacy  of  the  middle  ages,  rather 
suffers  thereby ;  for  of  the  two,  the  latter  certainly  was  the 
more  tolerant  in  its  actings.  No  thanks  to  Rome  for  being 
tolerant,  when  there  is  nothing  to  tolerate.  No  thanks  that 
her  sword  rusts  in  its  scabbard,  when  there  is  no  heretical 
blood  to  moisten  it.  But  let  a  handful  of  Florentines  open 
a  chapel  for  Protestant  worship,  and  the  deadly  marshes  of 
the  Maremme  will  soon  read  them  the  lesson  of  the  Papacy's 
tolerance  ;  or  let  a  poor  Roman  presume  to  circulate  the 
Word  of  God,  and  he  will  have  time  in  the  papal  dungeons 
to  acquaint  himself  with  Rome's  new-sprung  liberality ;  or 
let  the  Queen's  government  build  colleges  in  Ireland,  to  in- 
troduce a  little  useful  knowledge  into  that  model  land  of 
sacerdotal  rule,  and  the  anathemas  which  will  instantly  be 
hurled  from  every  Popish  altar  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Channel  will  furnish  unmistakeable  evidence  as  to  the  pro- 
gress which  the  Church  of  Rome  has  recently  made  in  the 
virtue  of  toleration.  Assuredly  Rome  will  not  change  so 
long  as  there  are  fools  in  the  world  to  believe  that  she  is 
changed. 

At  no  former  period,  and  by  no  former  holder  of  the  pon- 


ENCYCLICAL  LETTER  OF  PIUS  IX.  157 

tificatc,  was  the  primary  principle  of  the  Papacy  more  vigo- 
rously or  unequivocally  asserted,  than  it  has  been  by  the 
present  pontiff.  In  his  encyclical  letter  against  the  circu- 
lation of  the  Bible*  we  find  Pius  IX.  thus  speaking  : — "  All 
who  labour  with  you  for  the  defence  of  the  faith  will  have 
especially  an  eye  to  this,  that  they  confirm,  defend,  and 
deeply  fix  in  the  minds  of  your  faithful  people  that  piety, 
veneration,  and  respect  towards  this  supreme  see  of  Peter, 
in  which  you,  venerable  brothers,  so  greatly  excel.  Let  the 
faithful  people  remember  that  there  here  lives  and  presides, 
in  the  person  of  his  successors,  Peter,  the  prince  of  the  apos- 
tles, whose  dignity  faileth  not  even  in  his  unworthy  heir. 
Let  them  remember  that  Christ  the  Lord  hath  placed  in 
this  chair  of  Peter  the  unshaken  foundation  of  his  Church ; 
and  that  he  gives  to  Peter  himself  the  keys  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven;  and  that  he  prayed,  therefore,  that  his  faith 
nn'ffht  fail  not,  and  commanded  him  to  confirm  his  brethren 
therein  ;  so  that  the  successor  of  St  Peter  holds  the  primacy 
over  the  whole  world,  and  is  the  true  vicar  of  Christ  and 
head  of  the  whole  Church,  and  father  and  doctor  of  all 
Christians."  There  is  not  a  false  dogma  or  a  persecuting 
principle  which  Rome  ever  taught  or  practised,  which  is  not 
contained,  avowedly  or  implicitly,  in  this  declaration.  The 
Pope  herein  sets  no  limits  to  his  spiritual  sway  but  those  of 
the  world, — of  course  excommunicating  all  who  do  not  be- 
long to  his  Church  ;  and  claims  a  character, — "  true  vicar  of 
Christ  and  head  of  the  whole  Church," — which  vests  in  him 
temporal  dominion  equally  unbounded  and  supreme. 

The  popes  do  not  now  send  their  legates  a  latere  to  the 
court  of  London  or  of  Paris,  to  summon  monarchs  to 
do  homage  to  Peter  or  transmit  tribute  to  Rome.  The 
Papacy  is  too  sagacious  needlessly  to  awaken  the  fears  of 
princes,  or  to  send  its  messengers  on  what,  meanwhile,  would 
be  a  very  bootless  errand.     But  has  the  Pope  renounced 


*  Letter  to  the  archbishops  aud  bishops  of  Italy,  dated  Portici,  Decem- 
ber S,  1849. 


158  PRINCIPLES  OF  SUPREMACY  UNCHANGEABLE. 

these  claims  ?     We  have  shown  a  priori  that  he  cannot ; 
and  with  this  agrees  the  fact  that  he  has  not :  therefore  he 
must,  in  all  fairness,  be  held  as  still  retaining,  though  not 
actually  asserting,  this  claim.     No  conclusion  is  more  cer- 
tain than  this,  that  the  essential  principles  of  the  system 
being  the  same,  they  will,  in  the  same  circumstances,  pro- 
duce the  same  evils  and  mischiefs  in  future  which  they  have 
done  in  the  past.     What  has  been  may  be.     In  the  sixth 
century,  had  any  one  pointed  out  the  bearing  of  these  prin- 
ciples, affirming  that  they  necessarily  led  to  supremacy  over 
kings,  one  might  have  been  excused  for  doubting  whether 
practically  this  result  would  follow.     But  the  same  excuse 
is  signally  awanting  in  the  nineteenth  century.     The  world 
has  had   dire   experience  of  the  fact ;    it  knows  what  the 
Papacy  \&  practically  as  well  as  theoretically/.     Moreover,  are 
not  the  modern  chiefs  of  the  Papacy  as  ambitious  and  as 
devoted  to  the  aggrandizement  of  the  Papacy  as  the  pontiffs 
of  the  past  I     Is  not  universal  dominion  as  tempting  an  ob- 
ject of  ambition  now  as  it  was  in  the  eleventh  century  ?  and, 
provided  the  popes  can  manage,  either  by  craft  or  force,  to 
persuade  the  world  to  submit  to  their  rule,  is  any  man  so 
simple  as  to  believe  that  they  will  not  exercise  it, — that  they 
will  modestly  put  aside  the  sceptre,  and  content  themselves 
with  the  pastoral  staff?     There  is  nothing  in  that  dominion, 
on  their  own  principles,  which  is  inconsistent  with  their  spi- 
ritual character  ;  nay,  the  possession  of  temporal  authority 
is  essential  to  the  completeness  of  that  character,  and  to  the 
vigour  of  their  spiritual  administration.     Is  it  not  capable 
of  being  made  to  subserve  as  effectually  as  ever  the  autho- 
rity and  influence  of  the  Church  ?     In  times  like  the  pre- 
sent, pontiffs  may  affect  to  undervalue  the  temporal  supre- 
macy ;  they  may  talk  piously  of  throwing  off  the  cares  of 
State,  and  giving  themselves  wholly  to  their  spiritual  duties ; 
but  let  such  prospects  open  before  them  as  were  presented 
to  the  Gregories  and  the  Leos  of  the  past,  and  we  shall  see 
how  long  this  horror  of  the  world's  pomps  and  riches,  and 
this  love  of  meditation  and  prayer,  will  retain  possession  of 


rSES  OF  TEMPORAL  SUPREMACY.  159 

their  breasts.  The  present  occupant  of  the  pontifical  chair 
talked  in  this  way  of  his  temporal  sovereignty;  but  the  moment 
he  came  to  lose  that  sovereignty,  instead  of  venting  his  joy  at 
having  got  rid  of  his  burden,  he  filled  Europe  with  the  most 
dolorous  complaints  and  outcries,  and  fulminated  from  his  re- 
treat at  Gaeta  the  bitterest  execrations  and  the  most  dreadful 
anathemas  ajrainst  all  who  had  been  concerned  in  the  act  of 
stripping  him  of  his  sovereignty.  So  far  was  Pius  from  betak- 
ing himself  to  the  spiritual  solace  for  which  he  had  so  thirsted, 
that  he  plunged  headlong  into  the  darkest  intrigues  and  con- 
spiracies against  the  independence  of  Italy,  and  sent  his  mes- 
sengers to  every  Catholic  court  in  Europe,  exhorting  and 
supplicating  these  powers  to  take  up  arms  and  restore  him 
to  his  capital.  The  result,  as  all  the  world  knows,  was,  that 
the  young  liberties  of  Italy  were  quenched  in  blood,  and  the 
throne  of  the  triple  tyrant  was  again  set  up.  "  The  good 
shepherd  giveth  his  life  for  the  sheep," — so  wrote  they  on  the 
gates  of  Notre  Dame  ; — "  Pius  IX.  kills  his."  Accordingly, 
the  doctrine  now  maintained  by  the  pontiff  and  the  advo- 
cates of  the  Papacy  in  every  part  of  Europe  is,  that  the 
sacerdotal  and  temporal  sovereignties  cannot  be  disjoined, 
and  that  the  union  of  the  two,  in  the  person  of  the  Pope,  is 
indispensable  to  the  welfare  of  the  Church  and  the  inde- 
pendence of  its  supreme  bishop.  But  if  it  be  essential  to 
the  good  of  the  Church  and  the  independence  of  its  head 
that  the  Pope  should  be  sovereign  of  the  Roman  States,  the 
conclusion  is  inevitable,  that  it  is  equally  essential  for  these  ob- 
jects that  he  should  possess  the  temporal  supremacy.  Will 
not  the  same  good,  but  on  a  far  larger  scale,  flow  from  the 
possession  of  the  temporal  supremacy  that  now  flows  from 
the  temporal  sovereignty  ?  and  will  not  the  loss  of  the  former 
expose  the  Papacy  to  similar  and  much  greater  inconve- 
niences and  dangers  than  those  likely  to  arise  from  the  loss 
of  the  latter  I  When  we  confound  the  distinction  between 
things  civil  and  sacred,  or  rather, — for  the  error  of  Pome 
properly  lies  here, — when  we  deny  the  co-ordinate  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  two  powers,  and  subordinate  the  temporal  to  the 


IGO  PRINCIPLES  OF  SUPREMACY  UNCHANGEABLE. 

spiritual,  there  is  no  limit  to  the  amount  of  temporal  power 
which  may  not  be  possessed  and  exercised  by  spiritual  func- 
tionaries. If  to  possess  any  degree  of  temporal  jurisdiction 
conduce  to  the  authority  of  ecclesiastical  rulers  and  the  good 
of  the  Church,  then  tlie  more  of  this  power  the  better.  The 
temporal  supremacy  is  a  better  thing  than  the  temporal 
sovereignty,  in  proportion  as  it  is  a  more  powerful  thing. 
Thus,  every  argument  for  the  sovereignty  of  the  Pope  is  a 
fortiori  an  argument  for  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope.  Why 
does  he  cling  to  the  temporal  sovereignty,  but  that  he  may 
provide  for  the  dignity  of  his  person  and  office,  maintain  his 
court  in  befitting  splendour  from  the  revenue  of  St  Peter''s 
patrimony,  transact  with  kings  on  something  like  a  footing 
of  equality,  keep  his  spies  at  foreign  courts  in  the  shape  of 
legates  and  nuncios,  and  by  these  means  check  heresy,  and 
advance  the  interests  of  the  universal  Church  ?  But  as  lord 
paramount  of  Europe,  he  will  be  able  to  accomplish  all  these 
ends  much  more  completely  than  merely  as  sovereign  of  the 
Papal  States.  His  spiritual  thunder  will  possess  far  more 
terror  when  launched  from  a  seat  which  rises  in  proud  su- 
premacy over  thrones.  The  glory  of  his  court,  and  the  num- 
bers of  his  retinue,  will  be  far  more  effectually  provided  for 
when  able  to  subsidize  all  Europe,  than  when  dependent 
simply  on  the  limited  and  now  beggared  domains  of  the 
fisherman.  With  what  vigour  will  he  chastise  rebellious 
nations,  and  reduce  to  obedience  heretical  sovereigns,  when 
able  to  point  against  them  the  combined  temporal  and  spi- 
ritual artillery  !  How  completely  will  he  purge  out  heresy, 
when  at  his  powerful  word  every  sword  in  Europe  shall 
again  leap  from  its  scabbard  !  Will  not  bishops  and  car- 
dinals be  able  to  take  high  ground  at  foreign  courts,  when 
they  can  tell  their  sovereigns,  "  The  Pope  is  as  much  your 
master  as  ours  V  But  this  is  but  a  tithe  of  the  power  and 
glory  which  the  supremacy  would  confer  upon  the  Church, 
and  especially  upon  its  head.  To  grasp  the  political  power 
of  Europe,  and  wield  it  in  the  dark,  is  the  present  object 
the  Jesuits  are  striving  to  attain  ;  and  can  any  man  doubt 


CATHOLICISM  AND  DEMOCRACY.  161 

that,  were  the  times  favourable,  tliey  would  exercise  openly 
what  they  are  now  trying  to  wield  by  stealth  ?  Never  will 
the  Papacy  feel  that  it  is  in  its  proper  place,  or  that  it  is  in 
a  position  to  carry  out  fully  its  peculiar  mission,  till,  seated 
once  more  in  absolute  and  unapproachable  power  upon  the 
Seven  Hills,  it  look  down  upon  the  kings  of  Europe  as  its 
vassals,  and  be  worshipped  by  the  nations  as  a  God  ;  and 
the  turn  that  affairs  are  taking  in  the  world  appears  to  be 
forcing  this  upon  the  Papacy.  A  crisis  has  arrived  in  which, 
if  the  Church  of  Rome  is  to  maintain  herself,  she  must  take 
higher  ground  than  she  has  done  since  the  Peformation, 
She  has  the  alternative  of  becoming  the  head  of  Europe,  or 
of  being  swept  out  of  existence.  A  new  era,  such  as  neither 
the  Pope  nor  his  fathers  have  known,  has  dawned  on  the 
world.  The  French  Revolution,  after  Napoleon  had  extin- 
guished it  in  blood,  as  all  men  believed,  has  returned  from 
its  tomb,  refreshed  by  its  sleep  of  half  a  century,  to  do  battle 
with  the  dynasties  and  hierarchies  of  Europe. 

The  first  idea  of  the  Papacy  was  to  mount  on  the  revolu- 
tionary wave,  and  be  floated  to  the  lofty  seat  it  had  formerly 
occupied.  "  Your  Holiness  has  but  one  choice,"  Cicero- 
vacchio  is  reported  to  have  said  to  the  Pope :  "  you  may 
place  yourself  at  the  head  of  reform,  or  you  will  be  dragged 
in  the  rear  of  revolution."  The  pontifical  choice  was  fixed 
in  favour  of  the  former.  Accordingly,  the  world  was  asto- 
nished by  the  unwonted  sight  of  the  mitre  surmounted  by 
the  cap  of  liberty  ;  the  echoes  of  the  Vatican  were  awakened 
by  the  strange  sounds  of  "  liberty  and  fraternity ;"  and  the 
Papacy,  wrinkled  and  hoar,  was  seen  to  coquette  with  the 
young  revolution  on  the  sacred  soil  of  the  Seven  Hills.  But 
nature  had  forbidden  the  banns ;  and  no  long  time  elapsed 
till  it  was  discovered  that  the  projected  union  was  monstrous 
and  impossible.  The  Church  broke  with  the  revolution ; 
the  harlot  hastened  to  throw  herself  once  more  into  the 
arms  of  her  old  paramour  the  State ;  and  now  commenced 
the  war  of  the  Church  with  the  democracy.  It  is  plain 
that  the  issue  of  that  war  to  the  Papacy  must  be  one  of 


1G2  PRINCIPLES  OF  SUPREMACY  UNCHANGEABLE. 

two  things, — complete  annihilation,  or  unbounded  dominion. 
Rome  must  be  all  that  she  ever  was,  and  more,  or  she  must 
cease  to  be.  Europe  is  not  wide  enough  to  hold  both  the 
old  Papacy  and  the  young  Democracy ;  and  one  or  other 
must  go  to  the  wall.  Matters  have  gone  too  far  to  permit 
of  the  contest  being  ended  by  a  truce  or  compromise  ;  the 
battle  must  be  fought  out.  If  the  Democracy  shall  triumph, 
a  fearful  retribution  will  be  exercised  on  a  Church  which  has 
proved  herself  to  be  essentially  sanguinary  and  despotic  ; 
and  if  the  Church  shall  overcome,  the  revolution  will  be  cut 
up  root  and  branch.  It  is  not  for  victory,  then,  but  for  life, 
that  both  parties  now  fight.  The  gravity  of  the  juncture, 
and  the  eminent  peril  in  which  the  Papacy  is  placed,  will 
probably  spirit  it  on  to  some  desperate  attempt.  Half-mea- 
sures will  not  save  it  at  such  a  crisis  as  this.  To  retain  only 
the  traditions  of  its  power,  and  to  practise  the  comparatively 
tolerant  policy  which  it  has  pursued  for  the  past  half-century, 
will  no  longer  either  suit  its  purpose,  or  be  found  compatible 
with  its  continued  existence.  It  must  become  the  living,  do- 
minant Papacy  once  more.  In  order  that  it  may  exist,  it 
must  reign.  We  may  therefore  expect  to  witness  some  com- 
bined and  vigorous  attempt  on  the  part  of  Popery  to  recover 
its  former  dominion.  It  has  studied  the  genius  of  every 
people ;  it  has  fathomed  the  policy  of  every  government ; 
it  knows  the  principles  of  every  sect,  and  school,  and  club, — 
the  sentiments  and  feelings  of  almost  every  individual ;  and 
with  its  usual  tact  and  ability,  it  is  attempting  to  control 
and  harmonize  all  these  various  and  conflicting  elements, 
so  as  to  work  out  its  own  ends.  To  those  frightened  by 
revolutionary  excesses  the  Church  of  Rome  announces  her- 
self as  the  asylum  of  order.  To  those  scared  and  shocked 
by  the  blasphemies  of  Socialist  infidelity  she  exhibits  herself 
as  the  ark  of  the  faith.  To  monarchs  whom  the  revo- 
lution has  shaken  upon  their  thrones  she  promises  a  new 
lease  of  power,  provided  they  will  be  ruled  by  her.  And  as 
regards  those  fiery  spirits  whom  her  other  arts  cannot  tame, 
she  has  in  reserve  the  unanswerable  and  silencing  arguments 


JESUITISM  AND  RE- ACTION.  1G3 

of  the  dungeon  and  the  scaffold.     Popery  is  the  soul  of  that 
re-action  that  is  now  in  progress  on  the  Continent,  though, 
with  her  usual  cunning,  she  puts  the  State  in  the  foreground. 
It  was  the  Jesuits  who  instigated  and  planned  the  expedi- 
tion to  Rome.     It  was  the  Jesuits  who  plotted  the  dreadful 
massacres  in  Sicily,  who  have  filled  the  dungeons  of  Naples 
with  thousands  of  innocent  citizens,  who  drove  into  exile 
every  Roman  favourable  to  liberty  and  opposed  to  the  Pope, 
who  closed  the  clubs   and   fettered  the  press  of  France, 
Tuscany,  Germany,  and  Austria;  and,  in  fine,  it  was  the 
Jesuits  of  Vienna  who  crushed  the  nationalities  and  coun- 
selled the  judicial  murders  of  Hungary.     History  will  lay 
all  this  blood  to  the  door  of  the  Papacy.     It  has  all  been 
shed  in  pursuance  of  a  plan  concocted  by  the  Church, — now 
under  the  government  of  Jesuitism, — to  recover  her  former 
ascendancy.     The  common  danger  which  in  the  late  revolu- 
tion threatened  both  Church  and  State,  has  made  the  two 
cling  closely  together.     "  I  alone," — so,  in  effect,   said  the 
Church  to  the  State, — "  can  save  you.     In  me,  and  nowhere 
else,  are  to  be  found  the  principles  of  order  and  the  centre 
of  union.     The  spiritual  weapons  which  it  is  mine  to  wield 
are  alone  able  to  combat  and  subdue  the  infidel  and  atheistic 
principles  which  have  produced  the  revolution.     Lend  me 
your  aid  now,  and  promise  me  your  submission  in  time  to 
come,  and  I  will  reduce  the  masses  to  your  authority."    This 
reasoning  was  omnipotent,  and   the   bargain  was  struck. 
Accordingly  there  is  not  a  court  of  Catholic  Europe  Mhere 
the  Jesuit  influence  is  not  at  this  moment  supreme.     And 
it  is  happening  at  present,  as  it  has  happened  at  all  former 
periods  of  confusion,  that  in  proportion  as  the   State   loses 
the  Church  acquires  strength.     Although  its  companion  in 
trouble,  the  Church  is  acting  at  this  moment  as  the   State's 
superior.     She  extends  to  the  civil  powers  the  benefit  of  her 
matchless  policy  and  her  universal  organization.     So  stands 
the  case,  then.     It  must  force  itself  upon  the  conviction  of 
all,  that  this  relation  of  the  Church  to  the  State  is  fraught 
with  tremendous  danger  to  the  independence  of  the  secular 


1 64  PRINCIPLES  OF  SUPREMACY  UNCHANGEABLE. 

authority  and  the  liberties  of  the  world.  In  no  fairer  train 
could  matters  be  for  realizing  all  that  Rome  aspires  to. 
And  soon  would  she  realize  her  aim,  were  it  not  that  the 
present  era  differs  from  all  preceding  ones,  in  that  there  is 
an  antagonist  force  in  existence  in  the  shape  of  an  infidel 
Democracy.  These  two  tremendous  forces, — Democracy  and 
Catholicism, — poise  one  another ;  and  neither  can  reign  so 
long  as  both  exist.  But  who  can  tell  how  soon  the  equili- 
brium may  be  destroyed  ?  Should  the  balance  preponderate 
in  favour  of  the  Catholic  element, — should  Popery  succeed 
in  bringing  over  from  the  infidel  and  democratic  camp  a 
sufficient  number  of  converts  to  enable  her  to  crush  her  an- 
tagonist,— the  supremacy  is  again  in  her  hands.  With  De- 
mocracy collapsed,  with  the  State  exhausted  and  owing  its 
salvation  to  the  Church,  and  with  a  priesthood  burning  to 
aveno;e  the  disasters  and  humiliations  of  three  centuries, 
wo  to  Europe  ! — the  darkest  page  of  its  history  would  be 
yet  to  be  written. 


DOGJIAS  OF  THE  PAPACY.  165 


BOOK  11. 


DOGMAS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  POPISH  THEOLOGY. 


The  Popish  theology  is  based  on  the  great  fundamental 
truths  of  revelation.  So  far  it  agrees  with  the  evangelical 
and  Protestant  scheme.  Any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  to  obscure  or  extinguish  those  doctrines 
which  form  the  ultimate  foundations  of  religion  wovdd  have 
been  singularly  imprudent,  and  as  futile  as  imprudent.  By 
retaining  these  truths,  and  founding  her  system  upon  them, 
the  Romish  Church  has  secured  to  that  system  an  authority 
and  power  which  it  never  otherwise  could  have  possessed. 
Building  so  far  upon  a  divine  foundation,  she  has  been 
able  to  palm  her  whole  system  upon  the  world  as  divine. 
Had  she  come  denying  the  very  first  principles  of  revealed 
truth,  she  would  scarce  have  been  able  to  obtain  a  hearing ; 
— she  would  have  been  at  once  repudiated  as  an  impostor. 
Popery  saw  and  avoided  the  danger ;  and  it  has  shown  in 
this  its  usual  dexterity  and  cunning.  The  system  is  not  the 
less  opposed  to  Scripture  on  that  account,  nor  the  less  es- 


166  THE  POPISH  THEOLOGY. 

sentically  superstitious.      Paganism  was  essentially  a  system 
of  idolatry,  notwithstanding  that  it  was  founded  on  the  great 
truth  that  there  is  a  God.     It  has  been  a  leading  charac- 
teristic of  Satan's  policy  from  the  beginning,  to  admit  truth 
up  to  a  certain  point,  but  to  pervert  it  in  its  legitimate  ap- 
plications, and  turn  it  to  his  own  use  and  purpose.     So  is 
it  with  Popery  :  it  does  not  raze  the  great  foundations  of 
religion ;  but  if  it  has  left  them  standing,  it  has  spared 
them,  not  for  their  own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  what  it 
has  built  upon  them.     The  Popish  theology  includes  the  ex- 
istence of  a  self-existent  and  eternal  Jehovah,  the  Creator 
of  the  universe,  of  man,  and  of  all  things.     It  teaches  that 
in  the  Godhead  there  are  three  distinct  persons.  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  the  same  in  substance,  and  equal  in 
power  and  glory;   that  man  was  created  in  God's  image, 
holy  and  immortal,  but  that  he  fell  by  eating  the  forbidden 
fruit,  and  became,  in  consequence,  sinful  in  condition  and 
life,  and  liable  to  death,  temporal  and  eternal.     It  holds 
that  the  posterity  of  Adam  shared  in  the  guilt  and  conse- 
quences   of  his    sin,   and  that   they   come  into  the  world 
"  children  of  wrath."     It  embraces  the  doctrine  of  man's 
redemption  by  Jesus  Christ,  who  for  this  end  became  in- 
carnate, and  endured  the  cursed  death  of  the  cross,  to  satisfy 
the  justice  of  God  for  the  sins  of  his  people.     It  teaches 
that  he  rose  from  the  dead,  ascended  to  heaven,  and  will 
return  at  the  Last  Day.     It  teaches,  farther,  that  Christ  has 
set  up  a  Church  upon  the  earth,  consisting  of  those  who  are 
baptized  in  his  name  and  profess  obedience  to  his  law ;  that 
He   has  appointed    ministers   to    instruct  and  govern   his 
Church,  and  ordained  ordinances  to  be  dispensed  in  it.     It 
embraces,  in  fine,  the  doctrine  of  a  resurrection  of  the  body, 
and  of  a  general  judgment,  which  will  issue  in  the  acquittal 
of  the  righteous,  and  their  admission  into  "  life  eternal,"  and 
in  the  condemnation  of  the  wicked,  and  their  departure  into 
"  everlasting  punishment." 

We  find  these  great  and  important  truths  lying  at  the 
foundation  of  the  popish  system.     It  will  afterwards  be  ap- 


ORDER  AND  PLAN  STATED.  167 

parent  that  they  are  permitted  to  occupy  this  place,  not 
from  any  vahie  which  the  Church  of  Rome  puts  upon  them 
as  connected  with  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of 
man,  but  because  they  afford  her  a  better  foundation  than 
any  she  could  invent  on  which  to  rear  her  system  of  super- 
stition. For  certainly  no  system  bearing  to  be  a  religious 
system  would  have  obtained  any  credit  with  men,  in  the 
circumstances  in  which  the  Church  of  Rome  was  placed, 
which  ventured  on  repudiating  these  great  truths.  But  that 
Church  has  so  overlaid  these  glorious  truths,  so  buried  them 
beneath  a  mass  of  mingled  falsehood,  absurdity,  and  blas- 
phemy, and  has  so  turned  them  from  their  peculiar  and 
proper  end,  that  they  have  become  altogether  inoperative 
for  man's  salvation  or  God's  glory.  In  her  hands  they  are 
the  instruments,  not  of  regenerating,  but  of  enslaving  the 
world.  The  only  purpose  they  serve  is  that  of  imparting 
the  semblance  of  a  supernatural  origin  and  a  divine  autho- 
rity to  what  is  essentially  a  system  of  superstition  and  im- 
posture. It  is  as  if  one  should  throw  down  a  temple  to 
liberty,  and  on  its  foundations  proceed  to  rear  a  dungeon. 
On  the  everlasting  stones  of  truth  Rome  has  built  a  bastilc 
for  the  human  mind.  This  will  very  plainly  appear  when 
we  proceed  briefly  to  state  the  leading  tenets  of  the  Popish 
theology. 

In  following  out  our  brief  sketch  of  Romanism,  it  may 
conduce  somewhat  to  perspicuity  and  conciseness  that  we 
adopt  the  following  order  : — We  shall  speak  first  of  the 
Church  ;  second,  of  her  Doctrine  ;  third,  of  her  Sacra- 
ments ;  and  fourth,  of  her  WoRsnn\  This  method  will 
enable  us  to  embrace  all  the  more  salient  points  in  the  sys- 
tem of  Romanism.  Our  task  is  one  mainly  of  statement. 
We  are  not  to  aim,  save  in  an  indirect  and  incidental  way, 
either  at  a  refutation  of  Popish  error  or  a  defence  of  Pro- 
testant truth ;  but  must  restrict  ourselves  to  giving  a  concise, 
though  tolerably  complete,  and,  above  all,  an  accurate  and 
candid,  statement  of  what  Popery  is.  Though  this  forbids 
that  we  should  indulge  in  proofs,  or  illustrations,  or  argu- 


168  THE  POPISH  THEOLOGY. 

ments,  yet  it  demands  that  we  adduce  from  the  standard 
works  of  the  Roman  Church  the  authorities  on  which  we 
base  our  portraiture  of  her  S3'stem.     We  shall  mostly  permit 
Popery  to  paint  herself.     We  shall  take  care  at  least  to 
adduce  nothing  which  the  Church  of  Rome  may  be  able  on 
good  grounds  to  disavow.     It  also  appears  to  us  that  this  is 
the  proper  place  for  a  distinct  exhibition  of  the  system  of 
Popery.     It  is  necessary  to  be  shown  the  ingenuity,  compact- 
ness, and  harmony  of  her  system  of  doctrine,  before  proceed- 
ing to  point  out  the  adroitness  and  vigour  with  which  she 
made  it  the  instrument  of  accomplishing  her  ambitious  and 
iniquitous  designs.     The  popish  theology  was  the  arsenal 
of  Rome.      Here  hung  the  bows,  and  spears,  and  swords, 
wherewith  she  did  battle  against  the  armies  of  the  living 
God.      Here  were  stored  up  the  weapons  with  which  she 
combated  religion  and  liberty,  subjugated  the  understand- 
ing and  conscience,  and  succeeded  for  a  while  in  subjecting 
the  world  to    her  iron  yoke.       The   system  of  Popery  is 
worthy  of  being  made  the  subject  of  profound  study.     It  is 
no  crude,  ill-digested,  and  clumsily  constructed  scheme.     It 
possesses  an  amazing  subtlety  and  depth.      It  is  pervaded 
by  a  spirit  of  fearful  potency.     It  is  the  product  of  the  com- 
bined intellects  of  many  successive  ages,  acute,  powerful, 
and  crafty,  intently  occupied   in  its  elaboration,  and  aided 
by  Satanic  cunning  and  power.     Wo  to  the  man  who  falls 
under  its  power!     Its  adamantine  chain  no  weapon  has  an 
edge  so  keen  as  to  be  able  to  cut  through,  but  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God.     Once  subjected  to 
its  dominion,  no  power  but  Omnipotence  can  rescue  the  man. 
Its  bitings,   like   those   of  Cleopati'a's  asp,   are  immortal. 
"  There  was   in  some   of  my  friends,"  says   Mr   Seymour, 
speaking  of  the  priests  whom  he  met  at  Rome,  "  an  extra- 
ordinary amount  of  scientific  attainment,  of  classical  erudi- 
tion, of  polite  literature,  and  of  great  intellectual  acumen  ; 
but  all  seemed  subdued,  and  hold,  as  by  an  adamantine 
grasp,  in  everlasting  subjection  to  what  seemed  to  them  to 
be  the  religious  principle.     This  principle,  which  regarded 


DErXII  AND  INGENUITY  OF  TOrERY.  IGO 

the  voice  of  the  Church  of  Rome  as  the  voice  of  God  liiin- 
self,  was  ever  uppermost  in  the  mind,  and  held  such  an  in- 
fluence and  a  mastery  over  the  whole  intellectual  powers, 
over  the  whole  rational  being,  that  it  bowed  in  the  humility 
of  a  child  before  everything  that  came  with  even  the  ap- 
parent authority  of  the  Church.  I  never  could  have  be- 
lieved the  extent  of  this  if  I  had  not  witnessed  it  in  these 
remarkable  instances.""*  As  a  piece  of  intellectual  mechan- 
ism Popei'y  has  never  been  equalled,  and  probably  will  never 
be  surpassed.  As  the  pyramids  have  come  down  to  our 
day,  and  bear  their  testimony  to  the  skill  and  power  of  the 
early  Egyptians,  so  Popery,  long  after  its  day  is  over,  will 
be  seen  towering  across  the  interval  of  ages,  a  stupendous 
monument  of  the  power  for  evil  which  lies  in  the  human 
soul,  and  of  the  prodigious  efforts  the  mind  of  man  can  put 
forth,  when  impelled  to  action  by  hatred  to  God  and  the  de- 
sire of  self-aggrandizement. 


*  Moi-nings  among  the  Jesuits  at  Rome,  by  the  Rev.  M.  H.  Seymour, 
pp.  5,  6  J  London,  1849. 


1  70  SCRIPTURE  AND  TRADITION. 


CHAPTER  11. 


SCRIPTURE  AND  TRADITION. 


Papists  concur  with  Protestants  in  admitting  that  God  is 
the  source  of  all  obligation  and  duty,  and  that  the  Bible 
contains  a  revelation  of  his  will.  But  while  the  Papist  ad- 
mits that  the  Bible  is  a  revelation  of  the  will  of  God,  he  is  far 
from  admitting,  with  the  Protestant,  that  it  is  the  only  re- 
velation. He  holds,  on  the  contrary,  that  it  is  neither  a 
sufficient  rule  of  faith,  nor  the  only  rule;  but  that  tradition, 
which  he  terms  the  ummntten  word,  is  equally  inspired  and 
equally  authoritative  with  the  Bible.  To  tradition,  then, 
the  Papist  assigns  an  equal  rank  with  the  Scriptures  as  a 
divine  revelation.  The  Council  of  Trent,  in  its  fourth  ses- 
sion, decreed,  "  that  all  should  receive  with  equal  reverence 
the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and  the  tradi- 
tions concerning  faith  and  manners,  as  proceeding  from  the 
mouth  of  Christ,  or  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  pre- 
served in  the  Catholic  Church ;  and  that  whosoever  know- 
ingly, and  of  deliberate  purpose,  despised  traditions,  should 
be  anathema."*  In  the  creed  of  the  Council  of  Trent  is  the 
following  article: — "I  do  most  firmly  receive  and  embrace 
the  apostolical  and  ecclesiastical  traditions,  and  other 
usages,  of  the  Roman  Church."     "  The  Catholics,"  says  Dr 

*  Can.  et  Dec.  Concilii  Tiidcutini,  p.  16  ;  Lij^sia)  (1S46.) 


POPISH  RULE  OF  FAITH.  171 

Milner,  "  hold  that  tlie  Word  of  God  in  general^  hoth  written 
and  imicritten, — in  other  words,  the  Bihle  and  tradition  taJcen 
together^ — constitute  the  rule  of  faith,  or  method  appointed  by 
Christ  for  finding  out  the  true  religion.""*  "  Has  tradition 
any  connection  with  the  rule  of  faith  V  it  is  asked  in 
Keenan's  Controversial  Catechism.  "  Yes,"  is  the  answer, 
"  because  it  is  a  part  of  God's  revealed  Word, — properly 
called  the  unwritten  Word,  as  the  Scripture  is  called  the 
written  Word."  "  Are  we  obliged  to  believe  what  tradition 
teaches,  equally  with  what  is  taught  in  Scripture  V  "  Yes, 
we  are  obliged  to  believe  the  one  as  firmly  as  the  other.""!- 
We  may  state,  that  the  traditions  which  the  Church  of 
Rome  has  thus  placed  on  a  level  with  the  Bible  are  the 
supposed  sayings  of  Christ  and  the  apostles  handed  down  by 
tradition.  Of  course,  no  proof  exists  that  such  things  were 
ever  spoken  by  those  to  whom  they  are  imputed.  They 
w^ere  never  known  or  heard  of  till  the  monks  of  the  middle 
ages  gave  them  to  the  world.  To  apostolical  is  to  be  added 
ecclesiastical  tradition,  which  consists  of  the  decrees  and 
constitutions  of  the  Church.  It  is  scarcely  a  true  account 
of  the  matter  to  say  that  tradition  holds  an  equal  rank  with 
the  Bible  :  it  is  placed  above  it.  While  tradition  is  always 
employed  to  determine  the  sense  of  the  Bible,  the  Bible  is 
never  permitted  to  give  judgment  on  tradition.  What,  then, 
would  the  Church  of  Rome  lose  were  the  Bible  to  be  set 
aside  ?  Nothing,  clearly.  Accordingly,  some  of  her  doctors 
have  held  that  the  Scriptures  are  now  unnecessary,  seeing 
the  Church  has  determined  all  truth. 

In  the  second  place,  Papists  make  the  Church  the  infal- 
lible interpreter  of  Scripture.  The  Church  condemns  all 
private  judgment,  interdicts  all  rational  inquiry,  and  tells 
her  members  that  they  must  receive  the  Scriptures  only  in 
the  sense  which  she  is  pleased  to  put  upon  them.  She  re- 
quires all  her  priests  at  admission  to  swear  that  they  will 

*  Milner's  End  of  Controversy,  letter  viii. ;  Dublin,  1827. 
+  Controversial  Catechism,  by  the  Rev.  S.  Keenan, — Rule  of  Faitb, 
chap.  vi. ;  Edin.  1846. 


1 72  SCRIPTURE  AND  TRADITION. 

not  interpret  the  Scriptures  but  according  to  the  consent  of 
the  fathers, — an  oath  which  it  is  impossible  to  keep  otherwise 
than  by  abstaining  altogether  from  interpreting  Scripture, 
seeing  the  fathers  are  very  far  indeed  from  being  at  one  in 
their  interpretations.     "  How  often  has  not  Jerome  been 
mistaken  V  said  Melancthon  to  Eck,  in  the  famous  disputa- 
tion at  Leipsic  ;   "  how  frequently  Ambrose  !  and  how  often 
their  opinions  are  different !   and  how  often  they  retract 
their  errors  V*     The  Council  of  Trent  decreed,  that  "  no 
one  confiding  in  his  own  judgment  shall  dare  to  wrest  the 
sacred  Scriptures  to  his  own  sense  of  them,  contrary  to  that 
which  hath  been  held,  and  still  is  held,  by  holy  Mother 
Church,   whose   right  it  is  to  judge   of  the  true  meaning 
and  interpretation  of  the  sacred  writ."     And  they  further 
enact,  that  if  any  disobey,  they  are  to  be  denounced  by  the 
ordinaries,  and  punished  according  to  law.-j-     In  accordance 
with  that  decree  is  the    following   article  in  Pope  Pius's 
creed : — "  I   receive  the  holy   Scripture    according   to  the 
sense  which  holy  Mother  Church  (to  whom  it  belongeth  to 
judge  of  the  true  sense  of  the  holy  Scriptures)  hath  held 
and   doth  hold ;  nor  will   I  ever  receive  and   interpret  it 
otherwise  than  according  to  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
fathers."*     "  Without  the  authority   of  the   Church,"  said 
Bailly  the  Jesuit,  "  I  would  believe  St  Matthew  no  more 
than   Titus    Livius."      So   great  was   the    fervour   for  the 
Church,  of  Cardinal  Hosius,  who  was  appointed  president 
of  the  Council  of  Trent,  that  he  declared,  in  one  of  his  pole- 
mical writings,   that  were  it  not  for  the  authority  of  the 
Church,  the   Scriptures  would  have  no  more  weight  than 
the  fables  of  iEsop.|     Such  are  the  sentiments  of  modern 
Papists.     Dr  INIilner  devotes  one  of  his  letters  to  show  that 
"  Christ  did  not  intend  that  mankind  in  general  should  learn 
his  religion  from  a  book."§     "  Besides  the  rule,"  says  he, 

*  D'Aubign^'s  History  of  the  Reformation,  vol.  ii.  p.  71. 

+  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  iii. 

J  Bayle's  Dictionary,  art.  Hosius. 

§  JMiiuer  s  End  of  Controversy,  letter  viii. 


AN  INFALLIBLE  INTERPRETER,  173 

"  he  has  provided  in  his  holy  Church  a  living,  speaking 
judge,  to  watch  over  it,  and  explain  it  in  all  matters  of  con- 
troversy.""* 

Such  is  the  rule  of  faith  which  E-ome  furnishes  to  her 
members, — the  Word  of  God  and  the  traditions  of  men, 
both  equally  binding.  And  such  is  the  way  in  which  Rome 
permits  her  members  to  interpret  the  Scriptures, — only  by 
the  Church.  And  yet,  notwithstanding  that  the  Church  for- 
bids her  members  to  interpret  Scripture,  she,  as  a  Church, 
has  never  come  forward  with  any  interpretation  of  the 
Word  of  God ;  nor  has  she  adduced,  nor  can  she  adduce, 
the  slightest  proof  from  the  Word  of  God  that  she  alone  is 
authorized  to  interpret  Scripture  ;  nor  is  the  consent  of  the 
fathers,  according  to  which  she  binds  herself  to  interpret 
the  Word  of  God,  a  consent  that  has  any  existence.  Her 
claim  as  the  only  and  infallible  interpreter  of  Scripture  im- 
plies, moreover,  that  God  has  not  expressed,  or  was  not 
able  to  express,  his  mind,  so  as  to  be  intelligible  to  the 
generality  of  men, — that  he  has  not  given  his  Word  to  all 
men,  or  made  it  a  duty  binding  on  all  to  read  and  study  it. 

The  Church  of  Rome  has  farther  weakened  the  authority 
and  polluted  the  purity  of  God's  holy  Word,  by  assigning  to 


*  M.  J.  Perrone,  the  present  Professor  of  Theology  in  the  Collegio  Ro- 
mano at  Rome,  says  :— "  To  the  Church,  that  is,  to  the  clergy,  as  forming 
one  body  with  the  Roman  pontiff,  their  head,  has  been  given  the  power  of 
infallibly  publishing  the  gospel,  of  truly  interpreting  it,  and  inviolably 
preserving  it."  These  high  prerogatives  he  founds  upon  JMatthew,  xxviii. 
19,_«  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations,"  &c.  "  Christ  does  not  say 
to  his  apostles,"  argues  Perrone,  "  go  and  icrite,  but,  go  and  teach :  nor  does 
he  say,  '  I  am  with  you  for  a  time  only,  but  always.' "  By  the  "  all 
things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you,"  we  are  to  understand  not  only 
what  is  written  in  the  New  Testament,  but  what  tradition  has  handed 
down  as  the  sayings  of  Christ,  The  Professor  makes  great  account  of  the 
variety  of  interpretations  to  which  written  language  is  liable,  but  no  ac- 
count at  all  of  the  far  greater  variations,  not  in  interpretation  only,  but  in 
the  subject-matter  also,  to  which  traditionary  language  is  liable.  (Prajlec- 
tiones  Theologica?,  quas  in  Collegio  Romano  Societatis  Jesu  habebat  J. 
Perrone,  tom.  i.  p.  171-174  ;  Parisiis,  1842.) 


174  SCRIPTURE  AND  TRADITION. 

the  Apocrypha  a  place  in  the  inspired  canon.  The  inspira- 
tion of  these  books  was  not  made  an  article  of  the  popish 
faith  till  the  Council  of  Trent.  That  Council,  in  its  fourth 
session,  decreed  the  divine  authority  of  the  Apocrypha,  not- 
withstanding that  the  books  are  not  found  in  the  Hebrew 
Bible,  were  not  received  as  canonical  by  the  Jews,  are 
never  quoted  by  Christ  or  by  his  apostles,  were  repudiated 
by  the  early  Christian  fathers,  and  contain  within  them- 
selves manifold  proofs  that  they  are  not  inspired.  At  the 
same  moment  that  the  Church  of  Rome  was  exposing  her- 
self to  the  curse  pronounced  on  those  who  shall  add  to  the 
words  of  inspiration,  she  pronounced  an  anathema  on  all 
who  should  refuse  to  take  part  with  her  in  the  iniquity  of 
maintaining  the  divine  authority  of  the  Apocrypha. 

The  Roman  Catholic  arguments  in  support  of  tradition 
as  a  rule  of  faith  resolve  themselves  into  three  branches : 
first,  passages  from  Scripture ;  second,  the  office  of  the  Church 
to  attest  the  authenticity  and  genuineness  of  the  Bible ;  and 
third,  the  insufficiency  of  private  judgment. 

First,  we  are  presented  with  a  few  texts  which  seem  to 
look  with  some  favour  upon  tradition.  These  are  either 
utterly  inconclusive,  or  they  are  plain  perversions.  "  Hear 
the  Church^''  from  the  frequency  with  which  it  is  quoted, 
would  seem  to  be  regarded  by  Roman  controversialists  as 
one  of  their  greatest  strongholds.  The  words,  as  they 
stand  by  themselves,  do  look  as  if  they  inculcated  submission 
to  the  Church  in  the  matter  of  our  belief.  When  we 
examine  the  passage  in  connection  with  its  context,  how- 
ever, we  find  it  refers  to  a  supposed  dispute  between  two 
members  of  the  Church,  and  enjoins  the  appeal  of  the  mat- 
ter to  the  decision  of  the  Church,  that  is,  of  the  congrega- 
tion, provided  the  off'ending  party  refuse  to  listen  to  the 
remonstrances  of  the  offended ;  which  is  a  different  thing 
altogether  from  the  implicit  submission  of  our  judgments  in 
matters  of  doctrine.  Common  sense  teaches  every  man 
that  there  is  no  comparison  between  a  written  and  an  oral 
account  of  a  matter,  as  regards  the  degree  of  reliance  to  be 


RIGHT  OF  PRIVATE  JUDGMENT.  175 

placed  on  each.  Every  time  the  latter  is  repeated,  it  ac- 
quires a  new  addition,  or  variation,  or  corruption.  It  is 
inconceivable  that  the  truths  of  salvation  should  have  been 
conveyed  to  us  through  a  medium  so  inaccurate,  fluctuating, 
and  doubtful.  Was  it  not  one  main  design  of  Christ  and 
his  apostles,  in  committing  their  doctrine  to  writing,  to 
guard  against  the  uncertainties  of  tradition  ?  In  places  in- 
numerable, are  not  traditions,  as  a  ground  of  faith,  explicitly 
and  pointedly  condemned,  and  the  study  of  the  Scriptures 
strenuously  enjoined  I  Besides,  why  should  the  Church  of 
Rome  offer  proofs  from  Scripture  on  this  or  any  other 
point  1  Does  she  not  act  inconsistently  in  doing  so,  inas- 
much as  she  at  the  same  instant  forbids  and  requires  the 
exercise  of  private  judgment  I 

But,  in  the  second  place,  from  the  Church,  say  the  Ro- 
manists, you  received  the  Bible ;  she  transmitted  it  to  you, 
and  you  take  her  authority  for  its  authenticity  and  genuine- 
ness.* We  admit  the  Church,  that  is,  the  universal  Church, 
and  not  exclusively  the  Church  of  Rome,  to  be  a  main  wit- 
ness as  to  the  authenticity  and  genuineness  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, on  the  ground  that  they  have  come  down  to  us 
through  her ;  but  that  is  another  question  altogether  from 
her  right  to  solely  and  infallibly  interpret  Scripture.  The 
messenger  who  carries  a  letter  may  be  a  very  competent 
witness  as  to  its  authenticity  and  genuineness.  He  had  it 
from  the  writer;  it  has  not  been  out  of  his  possession  since; 
and  he  can  speak  very  confidently  and  authoritatively  as  to 
its  expressing  the  will  of  the  person  whose  signature  it 
bears ;  but  is  he  only,  therefore,  entitled  to  interpret  its 
meaning  ?  He  may  be  a  very  competent  authority  on  its 
authenticity,  but  a  very  incompetent  authority  on  its  sense. 
The  Church  of  Rome  has  confounded  the  question  of 
authenticity  and  the  question  of  interpretation.  Because 
the  Church  carried  this  divine  letter  to  us,  we  will  listen  to 
what  she  has  to  say  on  its  authenticity ;  but  inasnmch  as 

•  Miliier's  Eud  of  Couti-oversy,  letter  ix. 


176  SCRIPTURE  AND  TRADITION. 

this  letter  is  addressed  to- us,  and  touches  questions  which 
involve  our  eternal  welfare,  and  contains  not  the  slightest 
hint  that  it  needs  to  be  either  interpreted  or  supplemented 
by  the  bearer,  we  will  use  the  right  and  responsibility  of  in- 
terpreting it  for  ourselves. 

As  regards  the  insufficiency  of  private  interpretation,  it 
is  hard  to  say  whether  Rome  has  conjured  up  more  difficul- 
ties on  the  side  of  the  Bible  or  on  the  side  of  man.  She 
has  made  the  most  of  the  few  difficult  passages  which  the 
Bible  contains,  overlooking  its  extraordinary  plainness  and 
clearness  on  the  great  matters  of  salvation,  and  has  laboured 
to  show  that,  however  the  Bible  may  be  fitted  for  a  higher 
order  of  intelligences,  it  is  really  of  no  use  at  all  to  those 
for  whom  it  was  written.  When  a  Romanist  declaims  on 
this  topic,  we  cannot  help  fancying  that  we  are  listening  to 
the  pleadings  of  some  acute,  ingenious,  and  thoroughly  in 
earnest  infidel.  And,  as  regards  man,  to  believe  Rome,  one 
■would  think  that  reason  and  right  understanding  is  a  gift 
which  has  been  denied  the  human  family,  or,  at  most,  is 
confined  to  some  scores  of  bishops  and  cardinals  whom  she 
denominates  the  Church.  The  Bible  is  to  be  subjected  to 
the  same  rules  of  criticism  and  interpretation  to  which  we 
daily  subject  the  statements  of  our  fellow-men  and  the 
works  of  human  composition,  and  by  which  we  search  out 
the  hidden  principles  and  fundamental  laws  of  physical  and 
moral  science.  The  faculties  which  can  do  the  one  can  do 
the  other.  The  moral  obliquity  which  prevents  the  heart 
from  receiving:  what  the  intellect  can  discover  in  the  field 
of  revelation,  and  which  sheds  darkness  upon  the  under- 
standing itself,  is  not  to  be  overcome  by  papal  infallibility, 
but  by  the  promised  assistance  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  The 
Roman  Catholic  Church  has  also  found  a  specious  argu- 
ment against  the  sufficiency  of  private  judgment,  in  the 
differences  of  opinion  on  subordinate  matters  which  exist 
among  Protestants.  These  she  has  greatly  magnified  ;  but 
whatever  they  may  be,  she  is  not  the  party  to  reproach  us, 
as  we  shall  afterwards  show.     It  is  well  known  what  a  nest 


APOSTOLIC  MODE.  177 

of  diverse,  unclean,  and  monstrous  things  is  that  over 
which  the  mighty  Roman  motlier,  Infallibility,  sits  brood- 
ing. Peter,  it  is  maintained,  frowned  upon  private  inter- 
pretation, when  he  wrote  as  follows  respecting  the  Epistles 
of  Paul: — "  In  which  are  some  things  hard  to  be  understood, 
which  they  that  are  unlearned  and  unstable  wrest,  as  they 
do  also  the  other  Scriptures,  unto  their  own  destruction." 
Now,  first,  this  shows  that  they  who  so  wrested  the  Scrip- 
tures had  free  access  to  them ;  and,  second,  the  statement 
is  limited  to  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  and  in  these  it  is  only 
some  things  that  are  hard  to  be  understood,  showing  that 
the  i7ian9/  are  not  so.  But  what  preservative  does  the 
apostle  recommend  for  this  evil?  Does  he  blame  those 
negligent  pastors  who  allowed  their  people  to  read  the 
Scriptures  ?  Does  he  enjoin  Christians  to  hear  the  living 
authority  in  the  Church  ? — and  there  were  then  some  really 
infallible  men  in  her  :  no ;  he  has  recourse  to  no  such  ex- 
pedient ;  but,  seeing  they  were  the  unlearned  and  the  un- 
stable who  so  wrested  the  Scriptures,  he  enjoins  them  to 
"  grow  in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  But  how  are  men  to  grow  "  in  the  knowledge  of 
Jesus  Christ  V  Unquestionably  by  the  study  of  that  book 
that  reveals  him  ;  agreeably  to  his  own  injunction,  "  Search 
the  Scriptures ;  they  are  they  which  testify  of  me."  "  Prove 
all  things ;  hold  fast  that  which  is  good." 

But  the  Church  of  Rome,  in  the  very  act  of  forbidding 
the  exercise  of  private  judgment,  and  demanding  of  men  im- 
plicit submission  to  her  own  authority,  requires  of  them  the 
exercise  of  their  faculties.  She  makes  her  appeal  to  those 
very  faculties  which  she  forbids  them  to  use,  and  calls  upon 
them  to  exercise  their  private  judgment  in  order  that  they 
may  see  it  to  be  their  duty  not  to  exercise  their  private 
judgment.  The  appeal  of  Rome  is,  that  men  should  submit 
to  her  infallibility ;  but  she  herself  shows  that  she  is  con- 
scious that  a  rational  being  can  submit  to  this  appeal  only 
in  the  use  of  reason,  because  she  recommends  her  appeal 
with  arguments.     Why  does  she  urge  these  arguments,  if 


178  SCRIPTURE  AND  TRADITION. 

our  reason  be  unfit  to  determine  the  question  ?  Before  we 
can  submit  to  infallibility,  we  must  first  satisfy  ourselves  as 
to  several  things,  such  as  the  truth  of  Christianity,  the 
vicarship  of  Peter,  and  the  transmission  of  the  supremacy 
down  to  the  living  pontiff;  for  on  these  grounds  is  the  infalli- 
bility based.  The  private  judgment  that  can  determine 
these  momentous  points  might,  one  should  think,  compe- 
tently decide  others.  To  affirm  that  the  sound  judgment  of 
men  can  conduct  them  so  far,  but  no  farther,  looks  very  like 
saying,  that  the  moment  men  submit  to  the  infallibility 
they  take  leave  of  their  sound  judgment.  Their  reason  is 
unfit,  says  the  Church  of  Rome  ;  and  yet  they  are  required, 
with  an  unfit  reason,  to  reason  fitly  out  the  unfitness  of 
their  reason.  If  they  succeed  in  reasoning  out  this  propo- 
sition, does  not  their  very  success  disprove  the  proposition  ? 
and  if  they  do  not  succeed,  how  can  they  know  the  proposi- 
tion to  be  true  ?  And  yet  the  Church  of  Rome  continues 
to  exhort  men  to  use  their  reason  to  discover  that  reason  is 
of  no  use ;  which  is  just  as  sensible  as  to  bid  a  man  walk  a 
few  miles  along  the  highway,  in  order  to  discover  that  his 
limbs  are  incapable  of  carrying  him  a  single  yard  from  his 
own  door.  This  conclusion,  that  reason  is  of  no  use,  is 
true,  or  it  is  false.  If  it  is  true,  how  come  men  to  ar- 
rive at  a  sound  conclusion  with  a  reason  that  is  altogether 
useless?  and  if  it  is  false,  what  becomes  of  the  dogma  of 
Rome  ?  To  tell  a  man,  "  Your  reason  is  useless,  but  here  is 
infallibility  for  your  guide,  only  you  must  reason  your  way 
to  it,""  is  very  like  saying  to  a  man  in  a  shipwreck,  "  True, 
friend,  you  cannot  swim  a  single  stroke ;  but  there  is  a  rock 
half  a  league  off;  you  can  take  your  stand  on  it." 

The  Protestant  rule  is  the  Scripture.  "  To  the  Scripture 
the  Roman  Catholic  adds,  first,  the  Apocrypha ;  second, 
traditions ;  third,  acts  and  decisions  of  the  Church,  em- 
bracing numerous  volumes  of  the  popes'*  bulls,  ten  folio 
volumes  of  decretals,  thirty-one  folio  volumes  of  acts  of 
councils,  fifty-one  folio  volumes  of  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  or 
the  doings  and  sayings  of  the  saints ;  fourth  add  to  these 


ABSURDITY  OF  INFALLIBILITY.  179 

at  least  thirty-five  volumes  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  fathers, 
in  which,  he  says,  is  to  be  found  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
fathers;  fifth,  to  all  these  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
volumes  folio  add  the  chaos  of  unwritten  traditions  which 
have  floated  to  us  down  from  the  apostolic  times.  But  we 
must  not  stop  here ;  for  the  expositions  of  every  priest  and 
bishop  must  be  added.  The  truth  is,  such  a  rule  is  no  rule; 
unless  an  endless  and  contradictory  mass  of  uncertainties 
could  be  a  rule.  No  Romanist  can  soberly  believe^  much  less 
learn,  his  own  rule  of  faith."* 

But  even  granting  that  all  this  infallibility  is  centred  in 
the  person  of  the  pontiff",  and  that,  practically,  the  guide  of 
the  Romanist  is  the  dictum  of  the  Pope ;  how  is  he  to  inter- 
pret its  meaning,  unless  by  an  operation  of  judgment  of  the 
same  kind  with  that  by  which  the  Protestant  interprets  the 
dictum  of  Scripture  ?  Thus  there  is  no  scheme  of  infallibility 
which  can  supersede  the  exercise  of  private  judgment,  un- 
less that  of  placing  an  infallibility  in  the  head  of  every 
man,  which  shall  guide  him,  not  through  his  understanding, 
but  in  the  shape  of  an  unreasoning,  unquestioning  instinct. 

*  Elliott's  Delineation  of  Romanism,  p.  13;  London,  1851. 


180  OF  READING  THE  SCRIPTURES. 


CHAPTER  III. 


OF  READING  THE  SCRIPTURES. 


One  would  have  thought  that  the  Church  of  Eome  had  re- 
moved her  people  to  a  safe  distance  from  the  Scriptures. 
She  has  placed  the  gulf  of  tradition  between  them  and  the 
Word  of  God.  She  has  removed  them  still  farther  from 
the  sphere  of  danger,  by  providing  an  infallible  interpreter, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  take  care  that  the  Bible  shall  express  no 
sense  hostile  to  Rome.  But,  as  if  this  were  not  enough,  she 
has  laboured  by  all  means  in  her  power  to  prevent  the  Scrip- 
tures coming  in  any  shape  into  the  hands  of  her  people. 
Before  the  Reformation  she  kept  the  Bible  locked  up  in  a 
dead  language,  and  severe  laws  were  enacted  against  the 
reading  of  it.  The  Reformation  unsealed  the  precious 
volume.  Tyndale  and  Luther,  the  one  from  his  retreat  at 
Vildorfe  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  the  other  from  amid  the 
deep  shades  of  the  Thuringian  forest,  sent  forth  the  Bible 
to  the  nations  in  the  vernacular  tongues  of  England  and 
Germany.  A  thirst  was  thus  awakened  for  the  Scriptures, 
which  the  Church  of  Rome  deemed  it  imprudent  openly  to 
oppose.  The  Council  of  Trent  enacted  ten  rules  regarding 
prohibited  books,  which,  while  they  appeared  to  gratify, 
were  insidiously  framed  to  check,  the  growing  desire  for  the 
Word  of  God.  In  the  fourth  rule,  the  Council  prohibits  any 
one  from  reading  the  Bible  without  a  licence  from  his  bishox) 


READING  THE  BIBLE  INTERDICTED.  181 

or  inquisitor ;  that  licence  to  be  founded  on  a  certificate  from 
his  confessor  that  he  is  in  no  danger  of  receiving  injury  from 
so  doing.  The  Council  adds  these  emphatic  words: — "  That 
if  any  one  shall  dare  to  read  or  keep  in  his  possession  that 
book,  without  such  a  licence,  he  shall  not  receive  absolution 
till  he  has  given  it  up  to  his  ordinary."*  These  rules  are 
followed  by  the  bull  of  Pius  IV.,  in  which  he  declares  that 
those  who  shall  violate  them  shall  be  held  guilty  of  mortal 
sin.  Thus  did  the  Church  of  Rome  attempt  to  regulate 
what  she  found  it  impossible  wholly  to  prevent.  The  fact 
that  no  Papist  is  allowed  to  read  the  Bible  without  a  licence 
does  not  appear  in  the  catechisms  and  other  books  in  com- 
mon use  among  Roman  Catholics  in  this  country;  but  it  is 
incontrovertible  that  it  forms  the  law  of  that  Church.  And, 
in  accordance  therewith,  we  find  that  the  uniform  practice 
of  the  priests  of  Rome,  from  the  popes  downwards,  is  to  pre- 
vent the  circulation  of  the  Bible, — to  prevent  it  wholly  in 
those  countries,  such  as  Italy  and  Spain,  where  they  have 
the  power,  and  in  other  countries,  such  as  our  own,  to  all 
the  extent  to  which  their  power  enables  them.  Their  uni- 
form policy  is  to  discourage  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures 
in  every  possible  way ;  and  when  they  dare  not  employ  force 
to  effect  this  object,  they  scruple  not  to  press  into  their  ser- 
vice the  ghostly  power  of  their  Church,  by  declaring  that 
those  who  presume  to  contravene  the  will  of  Rome  in  this 
matter  are  guilty  of  mortal  sin.  No  farther  back  than  181 6, 
Pope  Pius  VII.,  in  his  bull,  denounced  the  Bible  Society, 
and  expressed  himself  as  "shocked"  by  the  circulation  of  the 
Scriptures,  which  he  characterizes  as  a  "  most  crafty  device, 
by  which  the  very  foundations  of  religion  are  undermined ;" 


*  Concil.  Trid.  de  Libris  Prohibitis,  p.  231  of  Leipsic  ed.  Tho  Latin 
Vulgate  is  the  authorized  standard  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  that  to 
the  disparagement  of  the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek  Scriptures.  These 
are  omitted  in  the  decree,  and  a  translation  is  substituted.  All  Protes- 
tant translations,  such  as  our  authorized  English  version,  Luther's  trans- 
lation, &c.  are  prohibited.  (See  Concil.  Trid.,  decretum  de  editione  et  usu 
saci'orum  librorum.) 


182  OF  READING  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

"a  pestilence,"  which  it  behoves  him  "-to  remedy  and 
aboHsh ;"  "  a  defilement  of  the  faith,  eminently  dangerous 
to  souls.""  He  congratulates  the  primate,  to  whom  his  let- 
ter is  addressed,  on  the  zeal  he  had  shown  "  to  detect  and 
overthrow  the  impious  machinations  of  these  innovators ;" 
and  represents  it  as  an  episcopal  duty  to  expose  "  the  wick- 
edness of  this  nefarious  scheme,"  and  openly  to  publish 
"  that  the  Bible  printed  by  heretics  is  to  be  numbered 
among  other  prohibited  books,  conformably  to  the  rules  of 
the  index  ;  for  it  is  evident  from  experience,  that  the  holy 
Scriptures,  when  circulated  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  have, 
through  the  temerity  of  men,  produced  more  harm  than 
benefit."*  Thus,  in  the  solemn  judgment  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  expressed  through  her  chief  organ,  the  Bible  has 
done  more  evil  than  good,  and  is  beyond  comparison  the 
worst  book  in  the  world.  There  is  only  one  other  being 
whom  Rome  dreads  more  than  the  Bible,  and  that  is  its 
Author. 

The  same  Pope  issued  a  bull  in  1819  on  the  subject  of 
the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  Irish  schools.  He 
speaks  of  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  schools  as 
a  sowing  of  tares  ;  and  that  the  children  are  thereby  infested 
with  the  fatal  poison  of  depraved  doctrines  ;  and  exhorts  the 
Irish  bishops  to  endeavour  to  prevent  the  wheat  being  choJced 
hy  the  tares.'\' 

In  1824  Pope  Leo  XII.  published  an  encyclical  letter, 
in  which  he  adverts  to  a  certain  society,  vulgarly  termed  the 
Bible  Society,  as  spreading  itself  throughout  the  whole 
world ;  and  goes  on  to  term  the  Protestant  Bible  the  "  Gos- 
pel of  the  Devil."  The  late  Pope  Gregory  XVI.,  in  his 
encyclical  letter,  after  referring  to  the  decree  of  the  Council 
of  Trent,  quoted  above,  ratifies  that  and  similar  enactments 
of  the  Church : — "  Moreover,  wo  confirm  and  renew  the  de- 


*  Given  at  Rome,  June  29th,  1816  ;  and  addressed  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Gnczn,  primate  of  Poland. 

+  M'Gavin's  Protestant,  vol.  i.  p.  2G2,  Sth  ed. 


IRISH  PRIESTS  AND  BIBLE.  183 

crecs  recited  above,  delivered  in  former  times  by  apostolic 
authority,  against  the  publication,  distribution,  reading,  and 
possession  of  books  of  the  holy  Scriptures  translated  into 
the  vulgar  tongue."  That  this  hostility  to  the  Word  of 
God  is  not  confined  to  the  occupant  of  the  Vatican,  but  per- 
vades the  entire  body  of  the  Romish  clergy  in  all  parts  of 
the  world,  is  evident  from  the  recent  well-authenticated  in- 
stances of  the  burning  of  Bibles  by  priests  in  Belgium,  in 
Ireland,  and  in  Madeira.  Not  less  significant  is  the  fact, 
stated  in  evidence  before  the  Commissioners  of  Education, 
that  among  the  four  hundred  students  attending  the  Col- 
lege of  Maynooth,  there  we^e  not  to  be  found  more  than  ten 
Bibles  or  Testaments;  while  every  student  was  required  to 
provide  himself  with  a  copy  of  the  works  of  the  Jesuits 
Bailly  and  Delahogue.*  Dr  Doyle,  in  his  instructions  to 
priests  regarding  Kildare  Place  Society,  says,  that  if  the 
parents  sent  their  children  to  a  Bible  school,  after  the 
warning  of  the  priest,  "  they  would  be  guilty  of  mortal  sin  ;"''' 
or  if  any  of  them  suffered  their  children  to  go  to  an  Hiber- 
nian school,  he  should  think  it  proper  "to  withhold  the  sacra- 
ment from  them  when  dying ;"  and  he  adds,  "  the  Scriptures 
being  read  and  got  by  heart,  is  quite  sufficient  in  order 
to  make  the  schools  obnoxious  to  us."*!-  And  to  the  use  of 
the  Bible  without  note  or  comment  in  these  schools,  Lord 
Stanley  directly  attributes  their  failure :  the  priests,  says  he, 
exerting  "  themselves  with  energy  and  success  against  a 
system  to  which  they  were  in  ^^^inciple  opposed."]:  The 
hostility  of  the  priests  "  does  not  appear  to  be  against  the 
versions  of  Protestants  only,  but  against  Scripture  itself; 
as  is  manifest  from  their  decided  opposition  to  a  Catholic 
version  [the  Douay],  without  note  or  comment,  which  the 
Bible  Society  proposed  printing  for  the  use  of  Catholics, 
but  which  was  absolutely  refused  by  their  clergy?"  ]\lr 
Nowlan,  in  a   debate  with   some  Protestant  clergymen  in 

*  Ireland  in  1S46-7,  p.  33.     By  Pliilip  Dixon  Hardy,  31,  R.  I.  A. 

f  Idem.  +  Lord  Stanley's  Letter  to  the  Duke  of  Leinster. 


18-i  OF  READING  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

1824,  says,  "  If  the  Bible  Society  came  to  distribute  copies 
of  the  Bible,  even  of  that  version  which  the  Catholic  Church 
approves  of,  on  this  principle  [that  of  the  Bible  Society],  we 
should  still  consider  it  our  duty  to  oppose  them,"'"'*  Since 
the  1st  of  June  1816,  four  pontiffs  in  succession,  including 
Pius  IX.,  have  distinctly  and  formally  intimated  to  the 
world,  that  by  the  distribution  and  reading  of  the  holy 
Scriptures  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  "  the  very  foundations  of 
their  religion  are  under  mined. ''"''f 

In  the  face  of  these  facts, — of  their  written  creed  plainly 
prohibiting  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  without  a  licence, 
under  pain  of  being  held  guilty  of  mortal  sin  ;  of  anathemas 
against  Bible  Societies,  thundered  forth  by  the  pontiffs ;  of 
the  burning  of  the  Bible  by  the  hands  of  priests,  as  if  it  were 
"  the  book  of  heresy,"  as  it  was  termed  by  the  public  prose- 
cutor, when  he  pulled  the  New  Testament  from  the  sleeve  of 
the  "  Vicar  of  Dollar ;"  in  the  face  of  the  refusal  of  the 
sacrament  to  the  dying,  for  the  crime  of  sending  their 
children  to  a  school  where  the  Bible  was  read  ;  and  the  at- 
tempts both  in  Edinburgh,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Ragged 
Schools,  and  in  Ireland,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Kildare 
Place  Society  schools,  to  defeat  and  overthrow  schemes 
devised  for  the  reclamation  of  the  ignorant,  the  vicious,  and 
the  outcast,  because  these  schemes  included  the  reading  of 
the  Scriptures  without  note  or  comment, — it  requires,  as- 

*  Elliott's  Delineation  of  Romanism,  pp.  21,  22. 

+  Doubtless  the  most  effectual  way  of  extirpating  heresy  would  be  to 
extirpate  the  Bible  ;  and  this  object  Rome  has  striven  to  effect,  not  only 
by  pontifical  bulls,  but  by  stigmatizing  the  Bible  in  every  possible  way,  to 
bring  it  into  general  contempt.  Pighius  called  the  Scriptures  a  nose  of 
wax,  which  easily  suffers  itself  to  be  drawn  backward  and  forward,  and  moulded 
this  way  and  that  ivay,  and  however  you  like.  Turrian  styled  them  a  shoe  that 
will  ft  any  foot,  a  sj^hinx  riddle, a  matter  for  strife,  Lessius,  imperfect,  doiditful, 
obscure,  ambiguous,  and  perplexed.  The  author  De  Tribus  Veritatibus  desig- 
nates them  a  forest  for  thieves,  a  shop  of  heretics.  How  different  the  estimate 
which  Djivid  had  formed  of  them  : — "  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  con- 
veiijng  the  soul ;  the  testimony  of  the  Lord  is  sure,  making  wise  tlie 
eiuiplc." 


ITALIAN  PRIESTS  AM)  BIBLE.  185 

suredly,  no  small  amount  of  hardihood  to  maintain,  as  we 
find  priests  of  the  Church  of  Rome  doing,  "  that  it  is  a  great 
mistake,  and,  indeed,  a  calumny  against  the  Catholic  Church, 
to  say  that  she  is  opposed  to  the  full  and  unrestricted  use 
and  circulation  of  the  Scriptures."  We  do  not  know  that 
we  have  ever  met  with  a  more  barefaced  attempt  of  this 
kind  than  the  following,  made,  too,  in  circumstances  where, 
one  would  have  thought,  the  most  reckless  audacity  would 
have  shrunk  from  such  an  attempt.  The  words  we  have 
quoted,  charging  it  as  a  calumny  on  the  Church  of  Rome  to 
say  that  she  is  opposed  to  the  "  full  and  unrestricted  use 
and  circulation  of  the  Scriptures,"  were  uttered  at  Rome  in 
the  midst  of  millions  sunk  in  the  grossest  ignorance  of  the 
sacred  volume.  They  fell  from  the  professor  of  dogmatic 
theology  in  the  Collegio  Romano,  in  a  conversation  held 
with  the  Rev.  Mr  Seymour,  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of 
England,  who  visited  Rome  a  few  years  ago,  and  who  has 
recorded  his  experience  of  Popery,  as  he  found  it  existing 
in  the  metropolis  of  Roman  Catholicism,  in  his  work  entitled 
"  Mornings  among  the  Jesuits  at  Rome."  "  The  answer  I 
made  to  this,"  says  Mr  Seymour,  "  was,  that  having  resided 
many  years  among  a  Roman  Catholic  population  in  Ireland, 
I  had  always  found  that  the  sacred  volume  was  forbidden 
to  them ;  and  that  since  I  came  to  Italy,  and  especially  to 
Rome,  I  observed  the  most  complete  ignorance  of  the  holy 
Scriptures,  and  that  it  was  ascribed  by  themselves  to  a  pro- 
hibition on  the  part  of  the  Church. 

"  He  at  once  stated  that  there  must  be  some  mistake,  as 
the  book  was  permitted  to  all  who  could  understand  it,  and 
was,  in  fact,  in  very  general  circulation  in  Rome. 

"  I  said  that  I  had  heard  the  contrary,  and  that  it  was 
impossible  to  procure  a  copy  of  the  holy  Scriptures  in  the 
Italian  tongue  in  the  city  of  Rome, — that  I  had  so  heard 
from  an  English  gentleman  who  had  resided  there  for  ten 
years, — that  I  looked  upon  the  statement  as  scarcely  credi- 
ble,— that  I  wished  much  to  ascertain  the  matter  for  my 
own  information, — that  I  had  one  day  resolved  to  test  this 


186  OF  READING  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

by  visiting  every  bookselling  establishment  in  the  city  of 
Rome, — that  I  had  gone  to  the  book-shop  belonging  to  the 
Propaganda  Fide, — to  that  patronized  by  his  holiness  the 
Pope, — to  that  which  was  connected  with  the  CoUegio  Ro- 
mano, and  was  patronized  by  the  order  of  Jesuits, — to  that 
which  was  established  for  the  supply  of  English  and  other 
foreigners, — to  those  who  sold  old  and  second-hand  books, 
— and  that  in  every  establishment,  without  exception,  I 
found  that  the  holy  Scriptures  were  not  for  sale  ;  I  could 
not  procure  a  single  copy  in  the  Roman  language,  of  a 
portable  size,  in  the  whole  city  of  Rome ;  and  that  when  I 
asked  each  bookseller  the  reason  of  his  not  having  so  im- 
portant a  volume,  I  was  answered,  in  every  instance,  e  pro- 
hibifo,  or  non  e  permesso, — that  the  volume  was  prohibited,  or 
that  it  was  not  permitted  to  be  sold.  I  added,  that  Mar- 
tini''s  edition  was  offered  to  me  in  two  places,  but  it  was  in 
twenty -four  volumes,  and  at  a  cost  of  105  francs  (that  is, 
£4:  sterling) ;  and  that,  under  such  circumstances,  I  could 
not  but  regard  the  holy  Scriptures  as  a  prohibited  book,  at 
least  in  the  city  of  Rome. 

"  He  replied  by  acknowledging  that  it  was  very  probable 
that  I  could  not  find  the  volume  in  Rome,  especially  as  the 
population  of  Rome  was  very  poor,  and  not  able  to  pur- 
chase the  sacred  volume ;  and  that  the  real  reason  the 
Scriptures  were  not  at  the  booksellers,  and  also  were  not  in 
circulation,  was,  not  that  they  were  forbidden  or  prohibited 
by  the  Church,  but  that  the  people  of  Rome  were  too  poor 
to  buy  them. 

"  I  replied  that  they  probably  were  too  poor,  whether  in 
Rome  or  in  England,  to  give  one  hundred  and  five  francs  for 
the  book ;  but  that  the  clergy  of  Rome,  so  numerous  and 
wealthy,  should  do  as  in  England,  namely,  form  an  associa- 
tion for  cheapening  the  copies  of  the  Scriptures. 

"  He  said,  in  reply,  that  the  priests  were  too  poor  to 
cheapen  the  volume,  and  that  the  people  were  too  poor  to 
purchase  it. 

"  I  then  stated,  that  if  this  was  really  the  case, — that  if 


BIBLE  UNKNOWN  IN  ITALY.  187 

there  was  no  prohibition  against  the  sacred  volume, — that 
if  they  would  be  willing  to  circulate  it, — and  that  really  and 
sincerely  there  was  no  other  objection  than  the  difficulties 
arising  from  the  price  of  the  book, — that  difficulty  should  at 
once  be  obviated  :  I  would  myself  undertake  to  obtain  from 
England,  through  the  Bible  Society,  any  number  of  Bibles 
that  could  be  circulated ;  and  that  they  should  be  sold  at 
the  lowest  possible  price,  or  given  freely  and  gratuitously,  to 
the  inhabitants  of  Rome.  I  stated  that  the  people  of  Eng- 
land loved  the  Scriptures  beyond  all  else  in  this  world ;  and 
that  it  would  be  to  them  a  source  of  delight  and  thanksgiving 
to  give  for  gratuitous  circulation  any  number  of  copies  of  the 
sacred  volume  that  the  inhabitants  of  Rome  could  require. 

"  He  immediately  answered,  that  he  thanked  me  for  the 
generous  offer;  but  that  there  would  be  no  use  in  accepting 
it,  as  the  people  of  Rome  were  very  ignorant,  were  in  a 
state  of  brutal  ignorance,  were  unable  to  read  anything;  and 
therefore  could  not  profit  by  reading  the  Scriptures,  even  if 
we  supplied  them  gratuitously. 

"  I  could  not  conceal  from  myself  that  he  was  prevaricat- 
ing with  me, — that  his  former  excuse  of  poverty,  and  this 
latter  excuse  of  ignorance,  were  mere  evasions ;  so  I  asked 
him  whose  fault  it  was  that  the  people  remained  in  such 
universal  and  unaccountable  ignorance.  There  were  above 
five  thousand  priests,  monks,  and  nuns,  besides  cardinals 
and  prelates,  in  the  city  of  Rome ;  that  the  whole  popula- 
tion was  only  thirty  thousand  families ;  that  thus  there  was 
a  priest,  or  a  monk,  or  a  nun,  for  every  six  families  in 
Rome ;  that  thus  there  were  ample  means  for  the  education 
of  the  people;  and  I  asked,  therefore,  whether  the  Church  was 
not  to  blame  for  this  ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  people  ? 

"  He  immediately  turned  from  the  subject,  saying,  that 
the  Church  held  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope,  to  whom  it 
therefore  belonged  to  give  the  only  infallible  interpretation 
of  the  Scriptures."* 

*  Mornings  among  the  Jesuits  at  Rome,  pp.  132-135, 


1 88  OF  READING  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

But  a  more  authoritative  confirmation  still  of  all  that  we 
have  advanced  against  Popery  on  this  head  has  lately  ap- 
peared. It  is  the  Encyclical  Letter  of  Pius  IX.  (issued 
in  January  1850).  The  document  is  such  a  compound  of 
despotism  and  bigotry  as  Leo  XII.  might  have  conceived, 
and  Gregory  XVI.  signed.  It  is  in  itself  such  an  exposure, 
that  we  add  not  a  word  of  comment.  After  condemning 
the  '"''neio  art  of  printing,"  the  Pope  goes  on  to  say, — "  Nay, 
more ;  with  the  assistance  of  the  Biblical  Societies,  which 
have  long  been  condemned  by  the  holy  chair,  they  do  not 
blush  to  distribute  holy  Bibles,  translated  into  the  vulgar 
tongue,  without  being  conformed  to  the  rules  of  the  Church." 

"  Under  a  false  pretext  of  religion, 

they  recommend  the  reading  of  them  to  the  faithful.  You, 
in  your  wisdom,  perfectly  vmderstand,  venerable  brothers, 
with  what  vigilance  and  solicitude  you  ought  to  labour,  that 
the  faithful  may  fly  with  horror  from  this  poisonous  reading; 
and  that  they  may  remember  that  no  man,  supported  by 
his  own  prudence,  can  arrogate  to  himself  the  right,  and 
have  the  presumption,  to  interpret  the  Scriptures  otherwise 
than  as  our  holy  mother  the  Church  interprets  them,  to 
whom  alone  our  Lord  has  confided  the  guardianship  of  the 
faith,  judgment  upon  the  true  sense  and  interpretation  of 
the  divine  books."* 

So  much  for  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  on  this  vital  point.  The  world  does  not  contain  to 
her  a  more  dangerous  book  than  the  Bible,  or  one  from 

*  The  following  toucliing  anecdote,  for  the  truth  of  which  the  writer 
can  vouch,  illustrates  well  the  spirit  of  modern  Popery  as  regards  the 
Bible.  The  wife  of  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England  died  at  Rome. 
The  following  epitaph  was  prepared  by  her  husband  for  her  tomb-stone  : — 
"  To  her  to  live  was  Christ,"  &c.  "  She  is  gone  to  the  mountain  of  myrrh 
and  the  hill  of  frankincense,  till  the  day  break,"  &c.  This  was  submit- 
ted to  the  censor, — struck  out :  an  ajjpeal  was  carried  to  Pius  IX.  himself: 
he  confirmed  the  censor's  act  on  two  grounds  ;  1st,  "  It  was  unlawful  to 
express  the  hope  of  immortality  over  the  grave  of  a  heretic ;"  2d,  "It 
was  contrary  to  law  to  publish  in  the  sight  of  the  Roman  people  any 
portion  of  the  Word  of  God." 


ROME  AFRAID  OF  THE  BIBLE.  180 

which  she  recoils  with  more  instinctive  dread.  She  neither 
dare  disavow  its  authority,  nor  vontui-e  an  open  appeal  to  it 
by  putting  it  into  the  hands  of  her  people.  With  all  her 
impudence  and  audacity,  she  trembles  at  the  thought  of 
appearing  before  this  tribunal,  well  knowing  that  she  cannot 
"  stand  in  the  judgment."  Thus  Rome  is  constrained  to  do 
homage  to  the  majesty  of  the  Bible.  She  has  done  her 
utmost  to  exile  that  book  from  the  world,  with  all  the 
treasures  it  contains, — its  thrilling  narratives,  its  rich 
poetry,  its  profound  philosophy,  its  sublime  doctrines,  its 
blessed  promises,  its  magnificent  prophecies,  its  glorious 
and  immortal  hopes.  Were  any  being  so  malignant  or  so 
powerful  as  to  extinguish  the  light  of  day,  and  condemn  the 
successive  generations  of  men  to  pass  their  lives  amid  the 
gloom  of  an  unbroken  night,  where  would  words  be  found 
strong  enough  to  execrate  the  enormity.  Far  greater  is 
the  crime  of  Home.  After  the  day  of  Christianity  had 
broke,  she  was  able  to  cover  Europe  with  darkness,  and,  by 
the  exclusion  of  the  Bible,  to  perpetuate  that  darkness  from 
age  to  age.  The  enormity  of  her  wickedness  cannot  be  known 
on  earth.  But  she  cannot  conceal  from  herself  that,  despite 
her  anathemas,  her  indices  expiirgatorii,  her  tyrannical 
edicts,  by  which  she  still  attempts  to  wall  round  her  terri- 
tory of  darkness,  the  Bible  is  destined  to  overcome  in  the 
conflict.  Hence  her  implacable  hostility, — a  hostility  found- 
ed, to  a  large  extent,  upon  fear.  We  find  her  members 
at  times  making  this  unwilling  confession.  The  Bible,  said 
Richard  du  Mans,  in  the  Council  of  Trent,  "  ought  not  to 
be  made  a  study,  because  the  Lutherans  only  gain  those 
who  read  it."  And  in  more  modern  times  we  find  Mr  Shiel 
asserting,  on  a  stage  not  less  conspicuous  than  that  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  that  "  the  reading  of  the  Bible  would  lead 
to  the  subversion  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church."  The 
Popish  divine  and  the  British  senator,  at  an  interval  of 
three  centuries,  unite  in  declaring  that  Popery  and  the 
Bible  cannot  stand  together.  How  like  are  these  vaticina- 
tions to  the  words  spoken  to  Haman  by  Zeresh  his  wife  ! — 


190  OF  READING  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

"  Then  said  his  wise  men  and  Zeresh  his  wife  unto  him,  if 
!Mordecai  be  of  the  seed  of  the  Jews,  before  whom  thou  hast 
begun  to  fall,  thou  shalt  not  prevail  against  him,  but  shalt 
surely  fall  before  him."  The  world  is  not  wide  enough  to 
contain  both  the  Bible  and  the  Pope.  Each  claims  an  un- 
divided empire.  To  suppose  that  the  two  can  live  together 
at  Rome,  is  to  suppose  an  impossibility.  The  entrance  of 
the  one  is  the  expulsion  of  the  other.  To  Popery  a  single 
Bible  is  more  dreadful  than  an  army  of  ten  thousand  strong. 
Let  IT  enter,  and,  as  Dagon  fell  before  the  ark  of  old,  so 
surely  shall  tlie  mighty  Dagon  which  has  sat  enthroned  so 
long  upon  the  Seven  Hills  fall  prostrate  and  be  utterly 
broken.  Unseal  this  blessed  page  to  the  nations,  and  fare- 
well to  the  inventions  and  the  frauds,  to  the  authority  and 
the  grandeur,  of  Rome.  This  is  the  catastrophe  she  already 
apprehends.  And  therefore,  when  she  meets  the  Bible  in 
her  path,  she  is  startled,  and  exclaims  in  terror,  "  I  know 
thee,  whom  thou  art :  art  thou  come  to  torment  me  before 
the  timer 


UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.  191 


CHAPTER  IV. 


UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROilE. 


The  Church  is  not  the  work  of  man :  It  is  a  special  crea- 
tion of  God.  Seeing  it  is  wholly  supernatural  in  its  origin, 
we  can  look  nowhere  for  information  respecting  its  nature, 
its  constitution,  and  its  ends,  but  to  the  Bible.  The  New 
Testament  declares  that  the  Church  is  a  spiritual  society, 
being  composed  of  spiritual,  that  is,  of  regenerated  men ; 
associated  under  a  spiritual  head,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; 
held  together  by  spiritual  bonds,  which  are  faith  and  love ; 
governed  by  spiritual  laws,  which  are  contained  in  the 
Bible ;  enjoying  spiritual  immunities  and  privileges,  and 
entertaining  spiritual  hopes.  This  is  the  Church  invisible ; 
so  called  because  its  members,  as  such,  cannot  be  discover- 
ed by  the  world.  The  Church,  in  this  sense,  cannot  be 
bounded  by  any  geographical  limits,  nor  by  any  denomina- 
tional peculiarities  and  distinctions.  It  is  spread  over  the 
world,  and  embraces  all,  in  every  place  and  of  every  name, 
who  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  are  united  to  him  as 
their  head,  and  to  one  another  as  members  of  the  same 
body,  by  the  bond  of  the  Spirit  and  of  faith.  "  By  one 
spirit  are  we  all  baptized  into  one  body,  whether  we  be 
Jews  or  Gentiles,  whether  we  be  bond  or  free,  and  have 
been  all  made  to  drink  into  one  spirit."  Protestants  wil- 
lingly concede  to  the  Church  of  Home  what,  as  we  shall 


192  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

afterwards  show,  that  Church  will  not  concede  to  them, — 
that  even  within  the  pale  of  Popery  there  may  be  found 
members  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  heirs  of  salvation. 
But  the  Church  may  be  viewed  in  its  external  aspect,  in 
which  respect  it  is  called  the  Church  visible,  which  consists 
of  all  those  throughout  the  world  who  profess  the  true  reli- 
gion, together  with  their  children.  These  are  not  two 
Churches,  but  the  same  Church  viewed  under  two  different 
aspects.  They  are  composed,  to  a  great  degree,  of  the 
same  individuals.  The  Church  visible  includes  all  who  are 
members  of  the  Church  invisible ;  but  the  converse  of  this 
proposition  is  not  true ;  for,  in  addition  to  all  who  are 
genuine  Christians,  the  Church  visible  contains  many  who 
are  Christians  onlv  in  name.  Its  limits,  therefore,  are  more 
extensive  than  those  of  the  invisible  Church.  Such  are  the 
views  generally  held  by  Protestants  on  the  subject  of  the 
Church.  From  these  the  opinions  held  by  Papists  on  this 
important  subject  differ  very  materially.  Papists  hold  that 
the  Church  of  Rome  is  emphatically  tlie  Church;*  that  she 
is  the  Church,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  communities  or 
Churches  bearing  the  Christian  name.  They  hold  that  this 
Church  is  ONE ;  that  she  is  catholic  or  universal ;  that 
she  is  INFALLIBLE ;  that  the  Roman  pontiff,  as  the  successor 
of  Peter  and  the  vicar  of  Christ,  is  her  visible  head ;  and 
that  there  is  no  salvation  beyond  her  pale. 

The  Church,  say  the  Papists,  must  possess  certain  great 
marks  or  characters.  These  must  not  be  of  such  a  kind  as 
to  be  discoverable  only  by  the  help  of  great  learning  and 
after  laborious  search ;  they  must  be  of  that  broad  and 
palpable  cast  that  enables  them  to  be  seen  at  once  and  by 


*  Perrone  uses  the  term  Church  sometimes  in  a  restricted  sense,  to  de- 
note only  the  clergy  who  have  been  vested  in  infallibility,  and  sometimes 
in  a  more  enlarged  sense  ;  but  even  that  larger  sense  is  restricted  to  those 
congregations  of  the  faithful  whose  oversight  is  managed  by  lawful  pastors 
under  the  Roman  pontiff.  (Perrone's  Prselectioncs  Theologicoc,  torn.  i. 
p.  171.) 


POPISH  DEFINITION  OF  UNITY.  193 

all.  The  Church  must  resemble  the  sun,  to  use  Bellarmine's 
illustration,  whose  resplendent  beams  attest  his  presence  to 
all.  By  these  marks  is  the  important  question  to  be  solved, 
— "  Which  is  the  true  Church  V  Papists  hold,  and  endea- 
vour to  prove,  that  in  the  Church  of  Rome  alone  are  these 
marks  to  be  found ;  and  therefore  that  she,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  all  other  societies,  is  the  holy  Catholic  Church. 

The  first  indispensable  characteristic  of  the  true  Church, 
possessed  by  the  Church  of  Rome  alone,  as  Papists  hold,  is 
Unity.  Bellarmine  places  the  unity  of  the  Church  in  three 
things, — the  same  faith,  the  same  sacraments,  and  the  same 
head,  the  Roman  pontiff.*  This  unity  is  defined  by  Dens-f- 
to  consist  "  in  having  one  head,  one  faith,  in  being  of  one 
mind,  in  partaking  of  the  same  sacraments,  and  in  the  com- 
munion of  the  saints."  With  regard  to  the  first, — the  unity 
of  the  head, — Dens  holds  that  the  Church  of  Rome  is  signally 
favoured  ;  for  nowhere  but  in  her  do  we  find  one  visible  head 
"  under  Christ,"  namely,  the  Roman  pontiff,  "  to  whom  all 
bishops,  and  the  whole  body  of  the  faithful,  are  subjected." 
In  him,  continues  Dens,  the  Church  has  a  "  centre  of  union," 
and  a  source  of  "  authority  and  discipline,  which  extends  in 
its  exercise  throughout  the  whole  Church."  "  What  is  the 
Church  ?"  it  is  asked  in  Dr  Reilly's  Catechism.  It  is  an- 
swered, "  It  is  the  congregation  of  the  faithful,  who  profess 
the  true  faith,  and  are  obedient  to  the  Pope."J  Romanists 
lay  much  stress  likewise  upon  the  fact,  that  the  same  creed, 
particularly  that  of  Pope  Pius  IV.,  drawn  up  in  conformity 
with  the  definitions  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  is  professed  by 
Roman  Catholics  in  all  parts  of  the  world ;  that  the  same 
articles  of  faith  and  morality  are  taught  in  all  her  catechisms; 
that  she  has  one  rule  of  faith,  viz.  "  Scripture  and  tradition;" 


*  Bellarm.  Opera,  torn.  ii.  lib.  iv.  cap.  x., — De  Notis  Ecclesioe  ;  Colon. 
1620. 

+  Theologia  Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  ii.  p.  120, — De  Nota  Eccle- 
sise,  qua  dicitur  una  ;  Dublin,  1832. 

J  Reilly's  Cat.  lesson  viii. 

0 


194         UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

and  that  she  has  "  the  same  expositor  and  interpreter  of  this 
rule, — the  Catholic  Church."'"'*  "  Nor  is  it  in  her  doctrine 
only,""  says  Dr  Milner,  "  that  the  Catholic  Church  is  one  and 
the  same  :  she  is  also  uniform  in  whatever  is  essential  in  her 
liturgy.  In  every  part  of  the  world  she  offers  up  the  same 
unbloody  sacrifice  of  the  holy  mass,  which  is  her  chief  act  of 
divine  worship;  she  administers  the  same  seven  sacraments.""-|- 
As  regards  the  communion  of  saints,  we  find  it  defined  in 
Ileilly"'s  Catechism  to  consist  in  the  members  of  the  Church 
"  being  partakers  of  the  spiritual  blessings  and  treasures 
that  are  to  be  had  in  it ;"  and  these,  again,  are  said  to  con- 
sist in  "  the  sacraments,  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  the 
prayers  of  the  Church,  and  the  good  works  of  the  just."'"'^ 
Generally,  Papists,  in  deciding  this  point,  discard  altogether 
the  graces  and  fruits  of  inward  Christianity,  and  found  en- 
tirely on  outward  organization.  Bellarmine  asserts  that  the 
fathers  have  ever  reckoned  communion  with  the  Roman  pon- 
tiff an  essential  mark  of  the  true  Church  ;  but  when  he 
comes  to  prove  this,  he  leaps  at  once  over  the  apostles  and 
inspired  writers,  and  the  examples  of  the  New  Testament, 
where  we  find  numerous  churches  unquestionably  indepen- 
dent, and  owning  no  subjection  to  Rome,  and  comes  to  those 
writers  who  were  the  pioneers  of  the  primacy.  When  one 
man  only  in  the  world  is  permitted  to  think,  and  the  rest 
are  compelled  to  agree  with  him,  unity  should  be  of  as  easy 
attainment  as  it  is  worthless  when  attained.  Yet  despite 
the  despotism  of  force  and  the  despotism  of  ignorance,  which 
have  been  employed  in  all  ages  to  crush  free  inquiry  and 
open  discussion  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  serious  differences 
and  furious  disputes  have  broken  out  in  her.  AVhen  wq 
name  the  Pope,  we  indicate  the  whole  extent  of  her  unity. 
Here  she  is  at  one,  or  has  usually  been  so ;  on  every  other 
point  she  is  disagreed.  The  theology  of  Rome  has  differed 
materially  in  different  ages ;  so  that  her  members  have  be- 

*  Milner's  End  of  Controv.  let.  xvi. ;  Dublin,  1827.  +  Idem. 

X  Reill^'s  Cat.  lesson  viii. 


DOCTRINAL  VARIATIONS  OF  POPERY.  195 

lieved  one  set  of  opinions  in  one  age,  and  another  sot  of 
opinions  in  another  age.     What  was  sound  doctrine  in  the 
sixth  century,  was  heresy  in  the  twelfth ;  and  what  was  suf- 
ficient for  salvation  in  the  twelfth  century,  is  altogether  in- 
sufficient for  it  in  our  day.     Transubstantiation  was  invented 
in  the  thirteenth  century  ;  it  was  followed,  at  the  distance  of 
three  centuries,  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass ;  and  that  again, 
in  our  day,  by  the  immaculate  conception  of  the  Virgin.    In 
the  twelfth  century,  the  Lombardic*  theology,  which  mingled 
faith  and  works  in  the  justification  of  the  sinner,  was  in  re- 
pute.    This  had  its  day,  and  was  succeeded  in  about  a  hun- 
dred years  after  by  the  scholastic  theology.     The  schoolmen 
discarded  faith,  and  gave  works  alone  a  place  in  the  im- 
portant matter  of  justification.    On  the  ruins  of  the  scholastic 
divinity  flourished  the  monastic  theology.     This  system  ex- 
tolled papal  indulgences,   adoration  of  images,  prayers  to 
saints,  and  works  of  supererogation ;  and  on  these  grounds 
rested  the  sinner's  justification.     The  Reformation  came, 
and  a  modified  theology  next  became  fashionable,  in  which 
the  grosser  errors  were  abandoned  to  suit  the  newly  risen 
light.     But  now  all  these  systems  have  given  place  to  the 
theology  of  the  Jesuits,  whose  system  differs  in  several  im- 
portant points  from  all  that  wont  before  it.     On  the  head  of 
justification  the  Jesuitical  theology  teaches  that  habitual 
righteousness  is  an  infused  grace,  but  that  actual  righteous- 
ness consists  in  the  merit  of  good  works.     Here  are  five 
theologies   which   have   successively  been  in   vogue  in  the 
Church  of  Rome.     Which  of  these  five  systems  is  the  or- 
thodox one  I     Or  are  they  all  orthodox  ?     But  not  only  do 
we  desiderate  unity  between  the  successive  ages  of  the  Ro- 
mish Church ;  we  desiderate  unity  among  her  contemporary 
doctors  and  councils.     They  have  differed  on  questions  of 
ceremonies,  on  questions  of  morals,  and  they  have  differed 


*  So  called  from  Peter  Lombard,  who  collected  the  opinions  of  the  fa- 
thers into  one  volume.  The  differences  he  had  hoped  to  reconcile  he  but 
succeeded,  from  their  proximity,  in  making  more  apparent. 


1D6  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

not  less  on  the  questions  of  the  supremacy  and  infallibility. 
Oonti'ariety  of  opinion  has  been  the  rule  ;  agreement  the 
exception.  Council  has  contended  with  council ;  pope  has 
excommunicated  pope ;  Dominican  has  warred  with  Fran- 
ciscan ;  and  the  Jesuits  have  carried  on  ceaseless  and 
furious  battles  with  the  Benedictines  and  other  orders. 
What,  indeed,  are  these  various  orders,  but  ingenious  con- 
trivances to  allay  heats  and  divisions  which  Rome  could 
not  heal,  and  to  allow  of  differences  of  opinion  which  she 
could  neither  prevent  nor  remove  ?  What  one  infallible 
bull  has  upheld  as  sound  doctrine,  another  infallible  bull  has 
branded  as  heresy.  Europe  has  been  edified  with  the  spec- 
tacle of  two  rival  vicars  of  Christ  playing  at  football  with 
the  spiritual  thunder ;  and  what  we  find  one  holy  father, 
Nicholas,  commending  as  an  assembly  of  men  filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost,  namely,  the  Council  of  Basil,  we  find  another 
holy  father,  Eugenius,  depicting  as  "  madmen,  barbarians, 
wild  beasts,  heretics,  miscreants,  monsters,  and  a  pandemo- 
nium."* But  there  is  no  end  of  the  illustrations  of  papal 
unity.  The  wars  of  the  Romanists  have  filled  history  and 
shaken  the  world.  The  loud  and  discordant  clatter  which 
rose  of  old  around  Babel  is  but  a  faint  type  of  the  intermi- 
nable din  and  furious  strife  which  at  all  times  have  raged 
within  the  modern  Babel, — the  Church  of  Rome. 

Such  is  the  unity  which  the  Romish  Church  so  often  and 
so  tauntingly  contrasts  with  what  she  is  pleased  to  term  "Pro- 
testant disunion."  As  a  corporation,  having  its  head  at  Rome, 
and  stretching  its  limbs  to  the  extremities  of  the  earth,  she 
is  of  gigantic  bulk  and  imposing  appearance ;  but,  closely 
examined,  she  is  seen  to  be  an  assemblage  of  heterogeneous 
materials,  held  together  simply  by  the  compression  of  force. 
It  is  a  coercive  power  from  without,  not  an  attractive  influ- 
ence from  within,  that  gives  her  being  and  form.  The  ap- 
pearance of  union  and  compactness  which  she  puts  on  at  a 
distance  is  altogether  owing  to  her  organization,  which  is  of 

*  Elliott's  Delineation  of  Romanism,  p  4G3. 


CHARACTER  OF  ROMISH  UNITY.  ID 7 

the  most  perfect  kind,  and  of  the  most  despotic  character, 
and  not  to  any  spiritual  and  vivifying  principle,  whoso  influ- 
ence, descending  from  the  head,  moves  the  members,  and 
results  in  harmony  of  feeling,  unanimity  of  mind,  and  unity 
of  action.  It  is  combination,  not  incorporation ;  union,  not 
unity,  that  characterizes  the  Church  of  Home.  It  is  the 
unity  of  dead  matter,  not  the  unity  of  a  living  body,  whoso 
several  members,  though  performing  various  functions,  obey 
one  will  and  form  one  whole.  It  is  not  the  spiritual  and 
living  unity  promised  to  the  Church  of  God,  wliich  preserves 
the  liberty  of  all,  at  the  same  time  that  it  makes  all  one  : 
it  is  a  unity  that  degrades  the  understanding,  supersedes 
rational  inquiry,  and  annihilates  private  judgment.  It  leaves 
no  room  for  conviction,  and  therefore  no  room  for  faith.  It 
is  a  unity  that  extorts  from  all  submission  to  one  infallible 
head,  that  compels  all  to  a  participation  in  one  monstrous 
and  idolatrous  rite,  and  that  enchains  the  intellect  of  all  to 
a  farrago  of  contradictory,  absurd,  and  blasphemous  opinions. 
This  is  the  unity  of  Rome.  Men  must  be  free  agents  before 
it  can  be  shown  that  they  are  voluntary  agents.  In  like 
manner,  the  members  of  the  Church  must  have  liberty  to 
differ  before  it  can  be  shown  that  they  really  are  agreed. 
But  Rome  denies  her  people  this  liberty,  and  thus  renders 
it  impossible  that  it  can  ever  be  shown  that  they  are  united. 
She  resolves  all  into  absolute  authority,  which  in  no  case 
may  either  be  questioned  or  opposed.  Dr  Milner,  after 
striving  hard,  in  one  of  his  letters,""'  to  show  that  all  Catholics 
are  agreed  as  regards  the  "■  fundamental  articles  of  Christi- 
anity,"" is  forced  to  conclude  with  the  admission,  that  they 
are  only  so  far  agreed  as  that  they  all  implicitly  submit  to 
the  infallible  teaching  of  the  Church.  "  At  all  events,"  says 
he,  "  the  Catholics,  if  properly  interrogated,  will  confess  their 
belief  in  one  comprehensive  article,  namely  this,  "  /  heliece 
whatever  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  believes  and  teaches.''''  So, 
then,  this  renowned  champion  of  Roman  Catholicism,  forced 

*  Milner's  End  of  Controversy,  lot.  xvi. 


lyS  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

to  abandon  all  other  positions  as  untenable,  comes  at  last  to 
rest  the  argument  in  behalf  of  his  Church*'s  unity  upon  this, 
even  the  unreasoning  and  unquestioning  submission  of  the 
conscience  to  the  teaching  of  the  Church.  In  point  of  fact, 
this  "  one  comprehensive  article*"  sums  up  the  entire  creed 
of  the  Papist :  the  Church  inquires  for  him,  thinks  for  him, 
reasons  for  him,  and  believes  for  him ;  or,  as  it  was  expressed 
by  a  plain-speaking  Hibernian,  who,  making  his  last  speech 
and  dying  confession  at  the  place  of  execution,  and  resolved 
not  to  expose  himself  to  purgatory  for  want  of  not  believing 
enough,  declared,  "  that  he  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  died  in 
the  communion  of  that  Church,  and  believed  as  the  Catholic 
Church  ever  did  believe,  now  doth  believe,  or  ever  shall  be- 
lieve.*"''' Put  out  the  eyes  of  men,  and  there  will  be  only 
one  opinion  about  colour ;  extinguish  the  understandings  of 
men,  and  there  will  be  but  one  opinion  regarding  religion. 
This  is  what  Rome  does.  With  her  rod  of  infallibility  she 
touches  the  intellect  and  the  conscience,  and  benumbs  them 
into  torpor.  There  comes  thus  to  reign  within  her  pale  a 
deep  stillness,  broken  at  times  by  ridiculous  disputes,  furious 
quarrels,  and  serious  differences,  on  points  termed  funda- 
mental, which  remain  unsettled  from  age  to  age, — the  famous 
question,  for  instance,  touching  the  seat  of  infallibility  ;  and 
this  profound  quiescence,  so  like  the  repose  of  the  tomb,  ac- 
complished by  the  waving  of  her  mystic  rod,  she  calls  unity .■[- 


*  Free  Thoughts  on  the  Toleration  of  Popery,  p.  12.  Similar  is  tlie 
collier's  catechism,  or,  as  it  is  called  in  Italy,  fides  carbonaria, — collier's 
faith, — from  the  noted  story  of  a  collier,  who,  when  questioned  concerning 
his  faith,  answered  as  follows  : — Q.  What  do  you  believe  ?  yl.  I  believe 
what  tlie  Church  believes. — Q.  What  does  the  Church  believe  ?  A.  The 
Ciiurch  believes  what  I  believe. — Q.  Well,  then,  what  is  it  that  both  you 
and  the  Church  believe  ?     A .  We  both  believe  the  very  same  thing. 

t  That  Church  which  makes  unity  her  boast  dare  not  at  this  moment 
convene  a  General  Council.  Why  ?  Because  she  knows  the  conflict  of 
opinions  and  parties  would  issue  in  a  break  up  of  the  popedom.  The  unity 
of  the  Church  of  Rome  is  not  an  organism,  but  a  petrifaction. 


CATHOLICITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.       199 


CHAPTER  V. 


CATHOLICITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 


Catholicity,  apostolicity,  and  infallibility,  are  other  marks, 
borne  only,  as  Papists  affirm,  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  and 
attesting  her  claim  to  be  the  true  Church.  Let  us  briefly 
state  these  marks  in  their  Roman  sense  ;  and  still  more 
briefly  inquire  whether,  in  truth,  they  are  to  be  found  in 
that  Church. 

Finding  numerous  passages  in  the  Psalms  and  the  prophets 
promising  universal  and  perpetual  dominion  to  the  Church, 
Papists  infer  that  the  Church  must  be  catholic  or  universal, 
at  least  since  the  age  of  the  apostles  ;  and  that  any  diminu- 
tion of  her  numbers,  or  any  contraction  of  her  limits,  so  as 
to  leave  her  in  a  minority,  would  invalidate  her  claim  to  be 
the  true  Church.  "  The  Church,"  says  the  Catechism  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  "  is  rightly  called  Catholic,  because,  as  St 
Augustine  saith,  from  the  east  even  unto  the  west  it  has 
shed  abroad  the  splendour  of  one  faith.  Nor  is  the  Church 
confined  to  the  commonwealths  of  men,  or  the  conventicles 
of  heretics;  it  is  not  bounded  by  the  limits  of  a  single  king- 
dom, or  composed  of  but  one  tribe;  but  it  embraces  all  with 
the  bond  of  love,  whether  they  be  Barbarian  or  Scythian, 
bond  or  free,  male  or  female."*     "  The  term  Catholic  im- 


*  Catecliismus  Romanus,  p.  82  j  Antverpice,  1596. 


200  CATHOLICITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

plies,"  says  Dens,  "  that  the  Church  is  diffused  over  the 
world,  or  is  universal  in  point  of  place,  nation,  and  time  ;" 
and  he  quotes,  in  proof,  the  song  of  the  redeemed  in  the 
Revelations,  that  is,  according  to  the  current  of  Protestant 
interpreters,  the  song  of  those  who  had  triumphed  over  Anti- 
christ : — "  Thou  hast  redeemed  us  out  of  every  tribe,  and 
tongue,  and  people,  and  nation."     "  That  this  mark  belongs 
to  our  Church,"  continues  Dens,  "  appears  from  the  circum- 
stance that  in  all  places  and  in  every  nation  Catholics  are 
found,  who,  although  divided  in  respect  of  place,  are  joined 
under  the  government  of  the   Roman   pontiff.     Moreover, 
there  have  been,  and  there  will  be,  Catholics  in  all  ages."* 
The  same  writer,  following  Bellarmine,-f-  repudiates  the  claim 
of  other  bodies  to  rank  as  members  of  the  Church,  on  the 
ground  that  they  are  limited  to  certain  districts, — that  the 
time  when  they  took  their  rise  is  known, — and  that  they  are 
diverse  in  name,  taking  their  appellatives  generally  from 
their  founders.   "  We  trace  our  descent  from  Peter,  the  prince 
of  the  apostles,  say  the  Romanists,  and  our  Church  has  spread 
and  flourished  in  the  earth  ever  since  the  fisherman  founded 
it  at  Rome  :  you  come  from  Germany,  and  were  not,  till 
Luther  gave  you  being."     There  is  one  question,  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  Rev.  Stephen  Keenan,  will  effectually  gravel 
every  Protestant.     "  Ask  him,"  says  he,  "  where  the  true 
Church  was  before  the  time  of  Luther  and  Calvin? "J     It  is 
sufficient  to  ask  in  return.  Where  were  the  wells  which  Abra- 
ham had  digged,  before  Isaac  cleared  out  the  rubbish  with 
which  the  Philistine  herdsmen  had  filled  them  ?     Rome,  to 
show  that  she  has  existed  in  all  ages  since  the  apostolic  era, 


*  Theologia  Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  vol.  ii.  p.  122.  Romanist  writers, 
and  Bellarmine  among  the  rest  (torn.  ii.  lib.  iv.  cap.  iv.),  sometimes  hold 
the  name  as  proof  of  the  thing.  They  are  called  Catholics;  therefore  they 
are  so.  We  are  likewise  entitled  to  reason, — We  are  called  Refonmd ; 
tlierefore  we  are  so.  "  We  be  Abraham's  seed,"  said  the  Jews.  "  Ye  are 
of  your  father  the  devil,"  replied  Christ. 

t  Bellarm.  Opera,  tom.  ii.  lib.  iv.  cap.  v.  vi. 

X  Controversial  Catechism,  or  Protestantism  Refuted,  chap.  iii. 


WISAPrROrRIATION  OF  SCRIPTURE.  201 

appeals  to  history.  It  requires  assuredly  no  little  courage 
to  look  history  in  the  face,  deeply  indented  as  it  is  with  her 
bloody  foot-prints.  She  delights  to  recall  to  her  own  and  to 
others'"  recollection  her  palmy  state  in  the  twelfth,  thirteenth, 
and  fourteenth  centuries,  when,  by  the  help  of  fire  and  sword, 
she  had  succeeded  in  suppressing  all  public  profession  of  the 
truth ;  and  to  show  that  the  savage  spirit  of  vengeance  which 
persecuted  these  men  to  the  death  still  lives  in  certain  mem- 
bers of  the  Roman  Church  in  our  day,  we  find  the  Rev. 
Stephen  Keenan  stigmatizing  those  confessors  whom  his 
Church  compelled  to  inhabit  the  "  dens  and  caves  of  the 
earth,"  and  whom  she  slew  with  "  the  edge  of  the  sword," 
as  "  hypocrites,  dastardly  traitors  to  their  religion,  utterly 
incapable  of  composing  the  holy,  fearless  body  of  the  true 
Church  of  Christ."* 

We  deny,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  pro^nises  appropriat- 
ed by  the  Church  of  Rome  refer  to  her ;  we  deny,  in  the 
second  place,  that  that  Church  is  catholic  in  point  of  doc- 
trine ;  we  deny,  in  the  third  place,  that  she  is  catholic  in 
point  of  time ;  and  we  deny,  in  the  fourth  place,  that  she  is 
catholic  in  point  of  place. 

First,  as  regards  the  promises  applied  to  herself  by  the 
Church  of  Rome,  we  deny  that  it  is  anywhere  foretold  in 
Scripture  that  the  Church,  commencing  with  the  apostolic 
era,  would  continue  uninterruptedly  to  progress  and  triumph. 
We  have  several  plain  intimations  to  the  contrary.  We  find 
the  apostle  Paul  predicting  the  rise  of  a  great  apostacy,-f-  of 
which  a  temporary  and  comparative  catholicity  was  to  form 
one  of  the  more  obvious  marks.  In  the  one  prophetic  book 
of  the  New  Testament  it  is  expressly  said  of  Antichrist, 
whose  marks  Rome,  if  she  examine,  will  find  written  upon 
her  forehead,  "  all  the  world  wondered  after  the  beast."| 
What  the  passages  in  question  foretell  is,  that  after  ages 
of  conflict  and  oppression,  and   especially  after  the  ovcr- 


*  Controversial  Catechism,  chaji.  iii. 
t  Thessalouiaus,  ii.  3-10  ;  1  Tim.  iv.  1-3.        J  Rev.  xiii.  3,  4,  S,  15. 


202       CATHOLICITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

throw  of  that  great  system  of  error  which  was  not  only  to 
arrest  the  progress  of  the  Church,  but  actually  to  make 
her  retrograde,  she  should  surmount  the  opposition  of  her 
foes,  and  become  triumphant  and  ascendant.  Then  would 
the  prophet"'s  words  be  fulfilled,  "  The  Gentiles  shall  see  thy 
light,  and  all  kings  thy  glory."  Rome  has  had  her  "  life- 
time," in  which  she  has  received  her  "  good  things," — glory, 
and  dominion,  and  the  worship  of  "  all  that  dwell  upon 
the  earth,  whose  names  are  not  written  in  the  Book  of 
Life."  And  whilst  she  clothed  herself  "  in  purple  and  fine 
linen,  and  fared  sumptuously  every  day,"  the  poor  members 
of  Christ's  body  lay  at  her  gate,  glad  of  such  crumbs  of 
toleration  as  she  was  pleased  to  let  fall,  and  thankful  when 
the  dogs  of  her  household  licked  their  sores.  It  is  meet, 
therefore,  that  when  the  one  is  tormented  the  other  should 
be  comforted. 

But  we  deny  that  these  promises  refer  to  the  Church  of 
Rome.  These  promises  were  given  to  the  Church  of  Christ; 
and  the  question,  which  is  the  Church  of  Christ,  is  to  be  de- 
termined, not  by  numbers,  but  by  the  fact  of  possessing  the 
spirit  of  Christ  and  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  This  brings  us 
to  the  second  point,  that  of  doctrine^  in  which  we  deny  ca- 
tholicity to  the  Church  of  Rome.  Though  the  Roman  pon- 
tiff could  show  that  every  knee  on  earth  is  bent  to  him,  that 
would  prove  nothing.  He  must  show  that  he  preaches  the 
doctrines  which  Christ  preached,  and  governs  the  Church 
by  the  laws  which  Christ  instituted.  Now  Rome  will  not, 
and  dare  not,  appeal  this  question  to  the  Bible.  Her  in- 
variable policy  here  is  to  raise  a  cloud  of  dust,  by  presenting 
a  formidable  list  of  the  names  and  sects  of  the  Protestant 
world,  and  in  this  way  to  cover  her  retreat.  But,  though 
she  could  prove  that  we  are  wrong,  it  does  not  follow  that 
she  is  right.  It  is  with  the  Bible  alone  that  she  has  to  do. 
And  when  tried  by  this  test, — and  we  are  entitled  to  do  so, 
seeing  Roman  Catholics  admit  that  the  Bible  is  the  Word 
of  God, — when  tried,  we  say,  by  this  test,  the  Church  of 
Rome  is  scriptural  neither  in  her  constitution,  nor  in  her 


KON-CATIIOLICITY  OF  DOCTRINE.  203 

government,  nor  in  her  doctrine.  Scriptural  in  her  consti- 
tution she  is  not.  The  true  Church  is  founded  upon  the 
doctrine  of  Christ''s  divinity,  whereas  the  Church  of  Rome 
is  founded  upon  the  doctrine  of  Peter"'s  primacy.  The  pri- 
macy, as  Eellarmine  says,  is  the  very  germ  of  Christianity;* 
a  stei-ling  truth,  if  for  Chrhtianity  we  substitute  Catholicism. 
Nor  i^L'  she  scriptural  in  her  government.  It  is  an  undeni- 
able historical  fact,  that  neither  in  scriptural  times  nor  in 
primitive  times  was  she  governed  as  she  has  been  governed 
since  the  sixth  century.  Where  in  all  the  Bible  do  we 
find  a  warrant  for  placing  the  government  of  the  Church  in 
the  hands  of  one  man,  possessed  of  both  a  temporal  and  a 
spiritual  crown,  governing  according  to  a  code  of  laws  which 
virtually  ignores  the  New  Testament,  and  through  a  splen- 
didly equipped  and  richly  salaried  hierarchy  of  cardinals, 
archbishops,  and  bishops,  formed  on  the  model  of  the  em- 
pire, and  exhibiting,  at  the  best,  but  an  impious  travesty  of 
the  equality  and  simplicity  of  the  New  Testament  Church  \ 
There  is  no  mistaking  the  lordsMp  of  Rome  for  the  episco- 
pate of  the  Scriptures.  The  one  is  the  exact  counterpart  of 
the  other.  Their  stations  are  at  the  opposite  poles  of  the 
ecclesiastical  sphere.  Nor  is  the  Church  of  Rome  scriptu- 
ral in  doctrine.  This  is  the  great  test  by  which  she  must 
stand  or  fall.  "  They  do  not  possess  the  inheritance  of 
Peter  who  do  not  possess  the  faith  of  Peter,"  says  Ambrose. 
The  Church  of  Rome  may  wear  the  same  name,  occupy  the 
same  territory,  possess  continuity  of  descent  and  similarity 
of  organization  ;  she  may  have  every  outward  mark  of  apos- 
tolicity  under  heaven  ;  but  if  she  wants  this  mark,  she  wants 
all.  And  it  is  precisely  here,  in  this  the  most  vital  point, 
that  she  comes  most  decidedly  short.  As  the  various 
branches  of  the  Romish  theology  come  successively  under 
our  view,  it  will  be  seen  how  far  the  Church  of  Rome  has 
erred  from  the  faith  of  the  apostles.    At  present  we  can  only 

*  "Etenim  de  qua  re  agitur,  cum  de  primatu  pontificis  agitur?  brevis- 
sirae  dicam,  de  summa  rci  Cbristiaua\"     (De  Romano  Pont.  Pra^fatio.) 


20  i  CATHOLICITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

indicate  the  main  directions  in  which  her  apostacy  has  lain. 
For  the  sacrifice  of  the  cross  the  Church  of  Rome  has  sub- 
stituted the  sacrifice  of  the  mass.  For  the' one  Mediator 
between  God  and  man  that  Church  has  substituted  innumer- 
able mediators, — angels  and  saints.  For  the  gospel  method 
of  justification,  which  is  by  grace,  the  Church  of  Rome  has 
substituted  justification  by  worh.  For  the  agency  of  the 
/Spirit  In  the  sanctification  of  men  she  has  substituted  the 
agency  of  the  Sacrament.  These  are  the  four  cardinal  doc- 
trines of  Christianity,  and  on  each  of  them  the  Church  of 
Rome  has  grievously  erred.  She  has  erred  as  regards  that 
grand  fundamental  truth  on  which  the  scheme  of  redemp- 
tion is  based, — the  one  all-meritorious  sacrifice  of  Christ ; 
she  has  erred  as  regards  the  way  by  which  sinners  have  ac- 
cess into  the  presence  of  God  ;  she  has  erred  as  regards  the 
ground  on  which  sinful  men  are  made  just  in  the  sight  of 
God;  and  she  has  erred  as  regards  that  divine  agent  by 
whom  men  are  made  holy,  and  prepared  for  the  blessedness 
of  heaven.  There  cannot  be  a  doubt  as  to  the  teachings  of 
the  New  Testament  on  these  four  heads ;  as  little  can  it  be 
doubted  that  the  Church  of  Rome  on  all  these  points  teaches 
the  very  opposite.  The  doctrine  and  its  opposite  cannot 
both  be  true.  If  the  deliverances  of  the  Bible  are  truths,  the 
dogmas  of  the  Romish  Church  must  be  errors.  The  Church 
of  Rome,  therefore,  is  unknown  to  the  New  Testament.  She 
is  the  Church  of  the  Pope, — not  the  Church  of  Christ. 

But,  in  the  third  place,  we  deny  that  the  Church  of  Rome 
is  catholic  in  point  of  time.  It  is  indeed  a  foolish  question, 
"  Where  was  your  Church  before  the  time  of  Luther  V 
What  though  we  should  reply,  She  dwelt  amid  the  eternal 
snows  of  the  Alps  ;  she  lay  hid  in  the  caves  of  Bohemia  ? 
They  were  "  hypocrites,  dastardly  traitors  to  their  religion," 
for  doing  so,  exclaims  the  Rev.  Stephen  Keenan.  Ah  !  had 
they  been  hypocrites  and  dastardly  traitors,  they  needed 
not  have  been  wretched  outcasts ;  they  might  have  dwelt  in 
palaces,  and  ministered  in  gorgeous  cathedrals,  like  the  kings 
and  priests  who  persecuted  them.     Do  those  who  put  this 


NOX-CATIIOLICITY  IX  TIME.  20-5 

question  know  that  the  "  men  of  old,  of  whom  tho  worhl  was 
not  worthy,"  inhabited  "  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth  ;"  and 
that  the  early  apostolic,  not  apostate,  Church  of  Rome,  to 
save  herself  from  the  fury  of  the-  emperors,  actually  made 
her  abode  in  the  catacombs  beneath  the  city?*     But  the 
question  to  which  we  have  referred,  if  it  means  anything, 
implies  that  Luther  was  the  inventor  of  the  doctrines  now 
held  by  Protestants,  and  that  these  doctrines  were  never 
heard  of  in  the  world  till  he  arose.      This,  indeed,  is  ex- 
pressly  taught   in    Keenan's   Catechism  : — "  For   fourteen 
hundred  years,"  says  the  writer,  "  after  the  last  of  the  apos- 
tles left  this  world,  Protestant    doctrines    were    unknown 
amongst  mankind."-!-     The  cardinal  truth  of  Luther's  teach- 
ing was  "justification  by  faith  alone."     This  truth  Luther 
certainly  did  not  invent :  it  was  the  very  truth  which  Paul 
preached  to  Jew  and  Gentile.     "  Therefore  we  conclude," 
says  Paul,  writing  to  the  Church  at  Rome,  "  that  a  man  is 
justified  by  faith,  without  the  deeds  of  the  law."j     This  was 
the  truth  which  was  revealed  to  the  patriarchs,  and  pro- 
claimed by  the  prophets.     "  And  the  Scripture,  foreseeing 
that  God  would  justify  the  heathen  through  faith,  preached 
the  gospel  before  unto  Abraham."§     The  doctrine  of  Pro- 
testants, then,  is  just  Christianity,  and  Christianity  is  as 
old  as  the  world.     That  Christianity  Luther  did  not  invent ; 
he  was  simply  God"'s  instrument  to   summon  it   from  the 
grave  to  which  Popery  had  consigned  it.     But  with  what 
force  may  it  be  retorted  upon  the  advocates  of  Roman  Ca- 
tholicism, "Where  was  your  Church  before  the  middle  ages?" 
Where  was  transubstantiation  before  the  days  of  Innocent 
IIL  ?     Where  was  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  before  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent  ?     When  we  go  back  to  tlie  twelfth,  eighth,  and 

•  We  would  recommend  to  the  Rev.  Stephen  Keenan  the  study  of 
"  Maitland's  Church  in  the  Catacombs,"  (i.  e.  provided  it  is  not  in  tlie  In- 
dex Expurgatorius.)  He  will  find  among  the  brief  but  instructive  inscrip- 
tions of  these  early  Christians,  numerous  traces  of  A2>ostoUcism,  but  not  a 
single  trace  of  Rommmm. 

t  Contro.  Cat.  p.  22.  J  Romans, iii.  31.  §  Galatians,  iii.  S. 


206  CATHOLICITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

even  the  fifth  century,  we  find  palpable  proofs  of  Popery ; 
but  when  we  pass  much  beyond  that  limit,  we  lose  all  trace 
of  the  system  ;  and  when  we  go  as  far  down  as  the  apos- 
tolic age,  we  find  that  we  have  passed  utterly  beyond  the 
sphere  of  Romanism  ;— we  find  that  there  is,  in  fact,  a  well- 
defined  middle  region,  to  which  Romanism  is  limited,  and 
beyond  which,  on  one  side  at  least,  it  does  not  extend.  We 
search  in  vain  the  pages  of  the  earliest  Christian  fathers, 
and,  above  all,  the  pages  of  inspired  men,  for  the  peculiar 
doctrines  of  the  Roman  Church.  Where,  in  these  venera- 
ble documents  of  early  Christianity, — where,  in  the  inspired 
canon, — do  we  read  of  the  mass,  or  of  purgatory,  or  of  the 
worship  of  the  Virgin,  or  of  the  supremacy  of  the  Bishop  of 
Rome  ?  When  Paul  indited  his  epistles,  and  Peter  preach- 
ed to  the  Gentiles  "  remission  of  sins,"  these  doctrines  were 
unknown  in  the  world.  They  were  the  growth  of  a  later 
age.  Thus,  in  digging  downwards,  we  find  that  we  have 
come  at  last  to  the  living  and  eternal  rock  of  Christianity, 
and  have  fairly  got  through  the  superincumbent  mass  of 
rude,  ill-compacted,  and  heterogeneous  materials  which  have 
been  deposited  in  the  course  of  ages  from  the  dark  ocean  of 
superstition.  Protestantism  is  old  truth, — Popery  is  medi- 
aeval error. 

If  the  Church  of  Rome  takes  her  appeal  to  antiquity, 
even  Paganism  will  carry  it  against  her.  Its  rites  were 
celebrated  upon  the  Seven  Hills  long  before  Popery  had 
there  fixed  its  seat.  The  Roman  Church  has  played  off 
upon  the  world  the  same  trick  which  was  practised  so  suc- 
cessfully by  the  Gibeonites  of  old  :  she  has  put  tattered 
garments  upon  her  back,  and  clouted  shoes  upon  her  feet, 
and  dry  and  mouldy  bread  into  her  sacks,  and  laid  them 
upon  the  backs  of  her  asses,  and  taken  advantage  of  the 
obscurity  of  her  origin  to  say,  "  We  be  come  from  a  far 
country."  It  is  not  the  number  of  years,  but  the  weight  of 
arguments,  that  must  carry  the  point. 

In  fine,  we  deny  that  the  Church  of  Rome  is  Catholic  in 
point  0^  place.     Catholicity,  in  the  absolute  sense  of  the 


NON-CATIIOLICITY  OF  PLACE.  207 

word,  as  Turrettin  remarks,*  can  be  predicated  only  of  that 
society  that  inchides  the  Church  triumphant  in  heaven,  as 
well  as  militant  on  earth, — that  society  that  comprehends 
all  the  elect,  reaching  back  to  the  days  of  Abel,  and  on- 
ward to  the  last  trumpet.  But  the  great  matter  with  Rome 
is  to  make  it  appear  that  she  has  achieved  a  terrestrial 
catholicity.  Now  certainly  it  is  not  Rome's  fault  if  she 
have  not  done  so.  Her  efforts  to  extend  her  dominion  have 
been  of  no  ordinary  kind :  they  have  been  skilfully  con- 
triven  and  vigorously  prosecuted.  And  if  in  this  great 
work  she  has  made  but  little  use  of  the  Bible,  she  has 
made  abundant  use  of  the  sword.  Her  missionaries  have 
been  soldiers,  who  have  pressed  the  pike  and  the  musket 
into  the  service  of  Christianity,  and  spread  the  faith  of 
Rome  as  Mahomet  spread  the  religion  of  the  Koran.  The 
weapons  she  has  wielded  have  been  the  false  miracle,  the 
forged  document,  the  lying  legend,  the  persecutor''s  brand. 
At  no  time  has  she  been  particulai'ly  nice  as  to  the  charac- 
ter of  her  converts, — receiving  hordes  within  her  pale  who 
had  nothing  of  Christianity  but  the  name  ;  and  yet,  after 
all,  that  empire  which  she  calls  catholic  or  universal  is  very 
far,  in  point  of  fact,  from  being  so.  She  boasts  that  at 
this  day  she  can  count  upwards  of  two  hundred  millions  of 
subjects.  We  do  not  stay  to  inquire  how  many  of  these  are 
real  Papists.  The  Pope  has  of  late  excommunicated  en 
masse  whole  cities  and  provinces.  Do  these  count  as  chil- 
dren of  the  Church  ?  But  the  Church  of  Rome  parades  the 
number  of  her  followers,  and  asks,  is  it  possible  that  all 
these  millions  can  be  mistaken  1  She  forbids  her  members 
to  make  use  of  their  reason  in  judging  of  their  religion,  and 
then  claims  weight  for  their  testimony,  as  if  they  had  used 
their  reason  in  the  matter.  This  is  simply  to  practise  a  de- 
lusion. The  very  smallest  Protestant  sect  would  furnish 
far  more  real  witnesses  in  favour  of  Protestantism  than 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  could  do  in  favour  of  Roman- 

*  Institutio  Theologiaj  Elenctica?,  Francisco  Turrettino,  vol.  iii.  quest,  vi. ; 
Genevaj,  1688. 


208  CATHOLICITY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

ism.  In  a  court  of  justice,  the  latter  would  be  counted  but 
as  one  witness.  They  have  not  examined  the  matter  for 
themselves ;  they  believe  it  on  infallibility ;  their  evidence, 
therefore,  is  simply  hearsay,  and  in  a  court  of  law  would 
be  held  as  resolving  itself  into  the  evidence  of  but  one  man. 
If  he  be  right,  they  are  right ;  but  if  he  be  mistaken,  they 
all  are  necessarily  mistaken.  But  in  a  Protestant  Church 
every  member  acts  on  his  own  judgment  and  belief.  Such 
a  body,  therefore,  contains  as  many  independent,  intelligent, 
and  real  witnesses  as  it  does  members.  That  Church,  then, 
which  boasts  of  Catholicism  and  numbers  is,  as  far  as  testi- 
mony goes,  the  smallest  sect  in  Christendom. 

But,  giving  her  the  matter  her  own  way,  she  includes  within 
her  pale  a  decided  minority  of  the  human  family.  The  one 
pagan  empire  of  China  alone  greatly  outnumbers  her.  The 
Greek  Church,  an  older  Church  than  that  of  Rome,  never 
owned  her  supremacy;  nor  the  other  numerous  Churches  in 
Asia,  nor  the  great  and  once  famous  Church  in  Africa,  nor 
the  Church  in  the  Russian  empire.  And,  considering  how 
many  kingdoms  have  broken  off  from  her  since  the  Reforma- 
tion, the  communion  of  Rome  is  now  reduced  to  a  very 
small  part  of  the  Christian  Church.  Around  her  limited 
and  restricted  territory,  which  includes,  it  is  true,  many  a 
fair  province  in  Europe,  there  extends  a  broad  zone  of 
Mahommedanism  and  Hinduism,  which  merges  into  an- 
other and  a  darker  zone,  which,  as  it  stretches  away  to- 
wards the  extremities  of  the  earth,  deepens  into  the  un- 
broken night  of  heathenism.  Surveyed  from  the  Seven 
Hills,  the  empire  of  Rome  does  indeed  seem  ample, — alas  ! 
too  ample  for  the  repose  and  progress  of  the  world  ;  but 
to  the  eye  that  can  take  in  the  globe,  it  dwindles  into  an 
insignificant  speck,  lying  embosomed  in  the  folds  of  the 
pagan  night.*     But  the  dominion  promised  to  the  Church 


*  It  is  computed,  that  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  globe,  little  more  than 
cue-third  are  Christians  even  nominally.  Of  the  nine  hundred  and 
ei^'hty  millions  of  mankind,  about  six  hundred  millions  are  Pagans.  If, 
then,  we  permit  numbers  to  decide  the  question,  we  cannot  remain  Chris- 


PROMISED  CATHOLICITY.  209 

is  universal  in  a  sense  which  cannot  be  affirmed  of  any  do- 
minion which  Rome  ever  attained,  or  is  likely  ever  to  attain. 
It  is  a  dominion  from  which  no  land  or  tribe  under  the 
cope  of  heaven  is  excluded.  "  Behold,  the  darkness  shall 
cover  the  earth,  and  gross  darkness  the  people ;  but  the 
Lord  shall  arise  upon  thee,  and  his  glory  shall  be  seen  upon 
thee.  And  the  Gentiles  shall  see  thy  righteousness,  and  all 
kings  thy  glory."'''*  "  He  shall  have  dominion  also  from  sea 
to  sea,  and  from  the  river  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth.  They 
that  dwell  in  the  wilderness  shall  bow  before  him ;  and  his 
enemies  shall  lick  the  dust.  The  kings  of  Tarshish  and  of 
the  isles  shall  bring  presents ;  the  kings  of  Sheba  and  Seba 
shall  offer  gifts.  Yea,  all  kings  shall  fall  down  before  him ; 
all  nations  shall  serve  him."-f-| 


tians.  And  there  is  not  anywhere  in  the  Pagan  world  a  sect  which  may 
not  give  us  an  assurance  of  infallibility,  if  we  wish  it,  on  quite  as  good 
grounds  as  Rome. 

*  Isaiah,  Ix.  2,  and  Ixii.  2.  f  Psalm  Ixxii.  8-11. 

J  "  Whereas  the  Papist  boasts  himself  to  be  a  Roman  Catholic,  it  is  a 
mere  contradiction  ;  as  if  he  should  say,  universal  particular,  or  Catholic 
schismatic."    (]Milton's  Tracts  on  True  Religion.) 


210  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER's  PRIMACY. 


CHAPTER  VL 


APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER'S  PRIMACY. 


Seated  on  the  throne  of  the  Csesars,  and  drawing  the  pecu- 
liar doctrines  of  their  creed,  and  the  peculiar  rites  of  their 
worship,  from  the  fount  of  the  pagan  mythology,  the  Ro- 
man pontiffs  have  nevertheless  sought  to  persuade  the  world 
that  they  are  the  successors  of  the  apostles,  and  that  they 
wield  their  authority  and  inculcate  their  doctrines.  Apos- 
tolicity  is  a  peculiar  and  prominent  claim  of  Rome.  Pro- 
testants lay  claim  to  apostolicity  in  the  sense  of  holding  the 
doctrines  of  the  apostles ;  but  the  popes  of  Rome  assert  an 
uninterrupted  lineal  descent  from  the  apostle  Peter,  and  on 
the  ground  of  this  supposed  lineal  succession  they  sustain 
themselves  the  heirs  of  the  powers  and  functions  of  Peter. 
The  doctrine  held  by  the  Church  of  Rome  on  this  head  is 
briefly  as  follows  : — That  Christ  constituted  Peter  the  prince 
of  the  apostles  and  the  head  of  the  Church ;  that  he  raised 
him  to  this  high  dignity  when  he  said  to  him,  "  Thou  art 
Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  Church."* 
"  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  feed  my  sheep ;""-!-  that  Christ  in 
these  words  committed  to  Peter  the  care  of  the  whole 
Church,  pastors  as  well  as  people ;  that  Rome  was  the  seat 
of  the  bishoprick  of  Peter ;  that  the  popes  succeeded  him  in 

•  Matth.  xvi.  18.  +  John,  xxi.  17. 


bellarmine's  argument.  211 

his  see,  and,  in  virtue  of  this  succession,  inherited  all  the 
royalties  and  jurisdiction,  the  functions  and  virtues,  with 
which  Peter  became  invested  when  Christ  addressed  him 
in  the  words  we  have  quoted ;  that  this  "  mystic  oil"  has 
flowed  down  through  the  "pjolden  pipes," — the  popes, — to 
our  day  ;  that  it  resides  in  all  its  fulness  in  the  present  oc- 
cupant of  Peter*'s  chair ;  and  that  it  is  thence  diffused  by 
innumerable  lesser  pipes,  formed  by  the  bishops  and  priests, 
to  the  remotest  extremities  of  the  Roman  Catholic  world, 
vivifying  and  sanctifying  all  its  members,  giving  authority 
to  all  its  priests,  and  validity  and  efficacy  to  all  their  official 
acts. 

Bellarmine,  as  was  to  be  expected,  has  entered  at  great 
length  into  this  question.  He  lays  it  down  as  an  axiom, 
that  Christ  has  adopted  for  the  government  of  his  Church 
that  particular  mode  which  is  the  best ;  and  then,  having 
determined,  that  of  the  three  forms  of  government, — mo- 
Qiarchi/,  aristocracy/,  and  democracy/, — monarchy  is  the  most 
perfect,  he  concludes  that  the  government  of  the  Church  is 
a  monarchy.  This  inference  he  bases  not  simply  on  general 
reasonings,  but  also  on  particular  passages  of  Scripture,  in 
which  the  Church  is  spoken  of  as  a  house,  a  state,  a  king- 
dom. It  is  not  enough  that  the  Church  has  a  head  and 
king  in  heaven,  with  a  code  of  laws  on  earth, — the  Bible, — 
to  determine  all  causes  and  controversies.  That  king,  says 
Bellarmine,  is  invisible ;  the  Church  must  have  an  earthly 
and  visible  head.*  Having  thus  paved  the  way  for  the 
erection  of  the  papal  despotism,  Bellarmine  proceeds  to 
show,  from  the  passage  quoted  above,  that  Peter  was  con- 
stituted sole  head  and  monarch  of  the  Church  under  Christ. 
"  Of  that  passage,"  remarks  Bellarmine,  "  the  sense  is  plain 
and  obvious.  Under  two  metaphors  the  primacy  of  the 
whole  Church  is  promised  to  Peter.  The  first  metaphor  is 
that  of  a  foundation  and  edifice ;  for  what  a  foundation  is 
in  a  building,  that  a  head  is  in  a  body,  a  ruler  in  a  state,  a 

*  Bellarm.  de  Roman.  Pont.  lib.  i.  cap.  1-9. 


212  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER's  PRIMACY. 

king  in  a  kingdom,  a  father  in  a  family.  The  latter  meta- 
phor is  that  of  the  keys ;  for  he  to  whom  the  keys  of  a 
kingdom  are  delivered  is  made  king  and  governor  of  that 
state,  and  has  power  to  admit  or  exclude  men  at  his  plea- 
sure."* We  merely  state  at  present  the  interpretation  of 
this  famous  passage  given  by  the  learned  Jesuit :  we  shall 
examine  it  afterwards. 

The  two  main  reasons  assigned  by  Dens  why  the  Roman 
Church  is  termed  apostolic  are,  frst.,  That  "  the  doctrine 
delivered  by  the  apostles  is  the  same  which  she  has  always 
held,  and  will  continue  to  hold ;"  and,  second,  Because  that 
Church  "  possesses  a  lawful  and  uninterrupted  succession  of 
bishops,  especially  in  the  chair  of  Peter."-}-  "  Messiah 
founded  the  kingdom  of  his  holy  Church  in  Judea,"  says  Dr 
Milner,  "  and  chose  his  apostles  to  propagate  it  throughout 
the  earth,  over  whom  he  appointed  Simon  as  the  centre  of 
union  and  head  pastor,  charging  him  to  feed  his  whole 
flock,  sheep  as  well  as  lambs,  giving  him  the  keys  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and  changing  his  name  into  that  of 
Peter  or  Rock  ;  adding,  '  On  this  rock  I  icill  build  my 
Church?  Thus  dignified,  St  Peter  first  established  his  see 
at  Antioch,  the  head  city  of  Asia  ;  whence  he  sent  his 
disciple  St  Mark  to  establish  and  govern  the  see  of  Alex- 
andria, the  head  city  of  Africa.  He  afterwards  removed 
his  own  see  to  Rome,  the  capital  of  Europe  and  the  world. 
Here,  having  with  St  Paul  sealed  the  gospel  with  his  blood, 
he  transmitted  his  prerogative  to  St  Linus,  from  whom  it 
descended  in  succession  to  St  Cletus  and  St  Clement."^  In 
Dr  Ohalloner''s  Grounds  of  the  Catholic  Doctrine,  as  con- 
tained in  the  profession  of  faith  published  by  Pope  Pius 
IV.,  it  is  asserted  "  that  the  Church  of  Christ  must  be 
apostolical  by  a  succession  of  her  pastors,  and  a  lawful 
mission  derived  from  the  apostles ;"  and  when  it  is  asked, 

*  Bellarm.  de  Roman.  Pont.  cap.  x.  ct  seq. 

+  Theologia  Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  ii.  pp.  123,  124. 

J  Milner's  End  of  Controversy,  part  ii.  p.  132. 


ROME^S  CORNER-STONE.  2  I 


o 


"  How  do  you  prove  this  f  it  is  answered ;  1st,  Because 
only  those  who  can  derive  their  lineage  from  the  apostles 
are  the  heirs  of  the  apostles  !  and,  consequently,  they  alone 
can  claim  a  right  to  the  Scriptures,  to  the  administration  of 
the  sacraments,  or  anj-  share  in  the  pastoral  ministry :  it  is 
their  proper  inheritance,  which  they  have  received  from  the 
apostles,  and  the  apostles  from  Christ.""'  "  Her  [Catholic 
Church]  pastors,  says  Keenan,  are  the  only  pastors  on  earth 
who  can  trace  their  mission  from  priest  to  bishop,  and  from 
bishop  to  pope,  back  through  every  century,  until  they 
trace  that  mission  to  the  apostles.""!-  This  is  a  vital  point 
with  Rome.  The  primacy  of  Peter  is  her  corner-stone ;  and 
if  that  is  removed,  the  whole  fabric  tumbles  into  ruin.  It 
is  reasonable,  then,  to  ask  some  proof  of  that  long  chain  of 
facts  by  which  she  attempts  to  link  the  humble  fisherman 
with  the  more  than  imperial  pontiffs.  We  are  entitled  to 
demand  that  the  Church  of  Rome  produce  conclusive  and 
incontrovertible  proof  of  the  following  points  : — That  Christ 
constituted  Peter  prince  of  the  apostles  and  head  of  the 
whole  Church ;  that  Peter  went  to  Rome,  and  there  esta- 
blished his  see ;  that,  dying  at  Rome,  he  transmitted  to  his 
successors  in  his  charge  the  rights  and  prerogatives  of  his 
sovereignty;  and  that  these  have  been  handed  down  through 
an  unbroken  series  of  bishops,  every  one  of  whom  possess- 
ed and  exercised  Peter's  powers  and  prerogatives.  If  the 
Church  of  Rome  fail  in  establishing  any  one  of  these  points, 
she  fails  as  regards  the  whole.  The  loss  of  one  link  in 
this  chain  is  as  fatal  as  the  loss  of  all.  But,  doubtless,  in  a 
matter  of  such  consequence,  where  not  much  simply,  but  all^ 
is  at  stake,  Rome  is  ready  with  her  evidences,  full,  clear, 
and  incontrovertible ;  with  her  proofs  from  Scripture  so 
plain  and  palpable  in  their  meaning;  and  with  her  docu- 
ments from  history  all  endorsed  and  countersigned  by  co- 
temporary  writers  and  great  collateral  facts.     It  is  her  cita- 


*  Grounds  of  Catholic  Doctrine,  by  Challoner,  chap.  i.  sect.  V. 
+  Controversial  Catechism,  p.  22. 


214  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER's  PRIMACY. 

del, — the  arx  causcc  pontificiw^  as  Spanlieim  terms  it,* — 
for  which  she  is  to  do  battle :  doubtless  she  has  taken  care 
to  make  it  impregnable,  and  "esteemeth  iron  as  straw, 
and  brass  as  rotten  wood.  Darts  are  counted  as  stubble ;"" 
she  "  laugheth  at  the  shaking  of  a  spear."  So  one  would 
have  thought.  But  alas  for  Rome  !  Not  one  of  the  positions 
above  stated  has  she  proved  to  be  true,  and  not  a  fev;  of 
them  can  be  shown  to  be  false. 

The  words  of  our  Lord  to  Peter,  already  quoted,f  are  the 
anchor  by  which  Rome  endeavours  to  fasten  the  vessel  of  her 
Church  to  the  rock  of  Christianity  :  "  Thou  art  Peter,  and 
upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  Church ;  and  the  gates  of 
hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it."  As  it  happens  that,  in  the 
original,  the  term  Peter  and  the  term  roch  closely  resemble 
each  other,  the  Church  of  Rome  has  taken  advantage  of  this, 
dexterously,  and  by  a  kind  of  sleight  of  hand,  to  substitute 
the  one  for  the  other,  and  thus  to  read  the  passage  substan- 
tially as  follows  : — Thou  art  Peter ;  and  upon  thee,  Peter,  will 
Iluildmy  Church.     The  reader  who  is  just  breaking  ground 

*  Spanhemii  VindicijB  BlblicEe,  lib.  ii.  loc.  xxviii. ;  Frankfort,  1663. 

t  The  Douay  version  of  the  Bible  has  this  note  on  ]Matt.  xvi.  18  : 

"  The  words  of  Christ  to  Peter,  spoken  in  the  vulgar  language  of  fhe 
Jews,  which  our  Lord  made  use  of,  were  the  same  as  if  he  had  said  in 
English,  Thou  art  a  roch,  and  upon  this  rock  I  mil  build  my  Church.  So 
that  by  the  plain  course  of  the  words,  Peter  is  here  declared  to  be  the 
rock  upon  which  the  Church  was  to  be  built,  Christ  himself  being  b  oth 
tlie  principal  foundation  and  founder  of  the  same."  This  commentar  is 
at  direct  variance  with  the  original,  which  runs  thus : — lu  $7  XIitjio;,  xai 
It/  ra-vrn  tTi  Tr'tT^ot,  otKohoi;t,viffu  fiov  tjjv  ly^xXriiriaii.  It  also  Contradicts  the 
"Vulgate,  which  is  the  authorized  version  of  tlie  Church  of  Rome.  In  the 
Vulgate,  the  words  are  : — "  Tu  es  Petrus,  et  super  banc  petram  a:>dificabo 
ecclesiam  meam."  The  German  has  it  thus  : — "  Du  hist  Petrus,  und  auf 
diesen  Felsen  will  ich  bauen  meine  Gemeine."  The  Italian  thus  : — "  Tu 
sei  Pietro,  e  sopra  questa  pietra  io  edifichero  la  mia  chiesa."  And  the 
French  thus  : — "  Tu  es  Pierre,  et  sur  ccttc  pierre  je  battirai  mon  Eglise." 
Of  all  these  versions,  the  only  one  in  wliich  the  resemblance  between  the 
two  terms  "  Peter"  and  "  rock"  is  complete  is  the  French  ;  and  in  that 
version,  in  order  to  maintain  the  play  upon  the  term  "  pierre,"  the  ord 
rock  is  mistranslated  by  a  term  that  signifies  a  stone.  (See  Cookesley's  Ser- 
mons on  Popery  ;  Eton,  1847. 


ROMISH  IIERMANEUTICS.  215 

in  the  popish  controversy  learns  with  astonishment  that 
this  is  the  sole  foundation  of  the  Papacy,  and  that  if  the 
Church  of  Rome  fail  to  make  good  that  this  is  the  true 
meaning  of  the  text,  her  cause  is  lost.  In  no  other  case  has 
so  slender  a  foundation  been  made  to  sustain  so  ponderous 
a  structure  ;  nor  would  it  have  sustained  it  for  a  single  five 
minutes,  had  it  not  been  more  indebted  for  its  support  to 
credulity  and  superstition,  to  fraud  and  compulsion,  than  to 
either  reason  or  Scripture.  "  If  the  whole  system  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church  be  contained  in  this  passage,"  remarks 
the  Rev.  J,  Blanco  White,  "  it  is  contained  like  a  diamond 
in  a  mountain  ;"*  and,  we  may  add,  this  diamond  would  have 
remained  buried  in  the  mountain  till  the  end  of  time,  had 
not  the  Romish  alchymists  arisen  to  draw  it  forth.  We  look 
upon  such  feats  of  interpretation  much  as  we  gaze  upon  the 
feats  of  the  juggler.  Who  but  the  Roman  doctors  could 
have  evolved  from  this  plain  passage  a  whole  race  of  popes  ? 
But  why  did  they  not  go  farther,  and  infer  that  each  of  these 
pontiffs  would  rival  the  sons  of  Anak  in  stature,  and  Mathu- 
selah  in  longevity  ?  The  passage  would  have  borne  this 
marvel  equally  well.  After  proceeding  a  certain  length  in 
interpreting  Scripture,  it  is  easy  to  go  all  lengths ;  for  that 
interpretation  that  proceeds  on  no  fixed  principles,  and  is 
regulated  by  no  known  laws,  may  reach  any  conclusion,  and 
establish  the  possibility  of  any  wonder. 

But  the  Protestant  may  ask  an  hundred  questions  on  this 
point,  which  it  will  baffle  the  ingenuity  and  sophistry  of  all 
the  doctors  of  Rome  satisfactorily  to  answer.  Why  was  so 
important  a  fact,  so  vital  a  doctrine, — for  let  it  be  borne  in 
mind,  that  they  who  do  not  believe  in  the  infallibility  of  the 
Pope  cannot  be  saved, — why  was  so  important  a  fact  as  the 
primacy  of  Peter  revealed  in  so  obscure  a  passage  ?  Why 
is  there  no  other  passage  corroborating  its  sense,  and  help- 
ing out  its  meaning  1  Why,  even  with  the  aid  of  papal 
spectacles,  or  tradition,  which  discovers  so  many  wonderful 

*  Practical  and  Internal  Evidence  against  Catholicism,  p.  76. 


21 G  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER's  PRIMACY. 

tilings  In  Scripture  never  seen  by  the  man  who  examines  it 
simply  with  the  eyes  of  his  understanding,  do  we  fail  to  make 
out  this  sense  from  the  passage  ?  For  the  opinion  of  the 
fathers  on  the  words  of  our  Lord  to  Peter  is  directly  opposed 
to  the  interpretation  which  the  Church  of  Rome  has  put 
upon  them  ;  and  every  priest  swears  at  his  ordination  that 
he  "  will  not  interpret  the  Scriptures  but  according  to  the 
unanimous  consent  of  the  fathers."  Peter  but  a  moment 
before  had  made  his  great  confession,  "  Thou  art  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God.""*  And,  says  Poole,  in  his  exa- 
mination of  the  Church's  infallibility,  "  the  fathers  generally 
understood  this  rock  to  be,  not  Peter's  person,  but  his  con- 
fession, or  Christ  as  confessed  by  hira.  Vide  St  Cyril,  Hilary, 
Hierom,  Ambrose,  Basil,  and  Austin,  who  are  proved  by 
Moulins,  in  his  discourse  entitled  '  The  Novelty  of  Popery,' 
to  have  held  this  opinion .""-f  Of  the  same  sentiments  was 
Chrysostom,  Theodoret,  Origen,  and  others.  Here,  then,  we 
have  the  priests  of  Rome  taking  a  solemn  oath  at  their  or- 
dination that  they  will  not  interpret  Scripture  except  with 
the  unanimous  consent  of  the  fathers,  and  yet  interpreting 
this  passage  in  a  sense  directly  contrary  to  the  concurrent 
opinion  of  the  fathers. 

What,  then,  are  we  to  understand  by  the  "  rocF''  on  which 
Christ  declared  that  he  would  build  his  Church  ?  Whether 
are  we  to  understand  Peter,  who  afterwards  thrice  denied 
hira,  or  the  great  truth  which  Peter  had  just  confessed,  even 
the  eternal  deity  of  Christ  ?  The  fathers,  we  have  seen,  in- 
terpreted "  this  rock*"  of  Christ  himself,  or  of  the  confession 
of  his  deity  by  Peter  ;:[  and  so  will  every  man,  we  venture  to 
affirm,  who  is  competent  to  form  an  opinion,  and  has  no  ob- 


*  Matt.  xvi.  16. 

+  A  Blow  at  the  Root  of  the  Romish  Church,  chap.  ii.  prop.  ii. 

J  Tiirrettine,  in  his  treatise  "De  Necessaria  Secessione  nostra  ab  Eccle- 
sia  Romana,"  and  Barrow,  in  his  great  work  "  On  the  Supremacy  of  the 
Pope,"  have  given  copious  citations  from  the  fathers,  showing  their  per- 
fect agi-eement  on  tlie  point,  that  the  "  rock"  referred  to  the  truth  Peter 
had  just  confessed,  or  to  Christ  himself. 


MATTHEW  XVI.  IS  EXAMINKD.  217 

ject  to  serve  but  the  discovery  of  truth.     Our  Lord  and  his 
disciples  were  now  on  a  northward  journey  to  Cesarea  Phi- 
lippi.     They  were  already  within  its  coasts  ;  the  snowy  peaks 
of  Lebanon  gleamed  full  in  their  sight ;  and  nearer  to  them, 
indenting  the  bottom  of  "  the  goodly  mountain,"  were  the 
wooded  glens  where  the  Jordan  has  its  rise.     Our  Lord, 
knowing  the  time  of  his  death  to  be  nigh,  thought  it  well,  as 
they  journeyed  onward,  to  direct  the  current  of  the  conver- 
sation to  topics  relating  to  the  nature  and  foundation  of  that 
kingdom  which  was  so  shortly  to  be  visibly  erected  in  the 
world.     "  Whom  do  men  say  that  I,  the  Son  of  man,  am  V* 
said  he  to  his  disciples.     To  this  interrogatory  the  disciples 
replied  by  an  enumeration  of  the  various  opinions  held  re- 
specting him  by  the  people  at  large.     "  But,"  said  he,  direct- 
ing his  question  specially  to  the  disciples, — "  But  whom  say 
ye  that  I  am  V     "  And  Simon  Peter  answered  and  said, 
Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."     Pleased 
to  find  his  true  character  so  clearly  understood,  so  firmly 
believed  in,  and  so  frankly  avowed,  our  Lord  turned  to  Peter 
and  said,  "  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-jona ;  for  flesh  and 
blood   hath  not  revealed  IT  unto  thee."     What  it?     Un- 
questionably the  truth  he  had  just  acknowledged,  that  Jesus 
is  "  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God," — a  truth  which 
lay  at  the  foundation  of  his  mission,  which  lay  at  the  foun- 
dation of  all  his  teaching,  and,  by  consequence,  at  the  foun- 
dation of  that  system  of  truth,  commonly  called  his  kingdom, 
which  he  was  to  erect  in  the  world,  and  which,  therefore, 
was  a  fundamental  truth,  if  any  truth  ever  merited  to  be 
called  such ;  for  unless  it  be  true  that  Jesus  was  "  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God,"  there  is  nothing  true  in  Christi- 
anity,— it  is  all  a  fable.     We  must  bear  in  mind,  then,  in 
proceeding  to  the  next  clause,  that  it  was  on  this  truth, 
which  both  Papist  and  Protestant  must  confess  to  be  the 
very  Jirst  truth  in  Christianity,  that  the  minds  of  our  Lord 
and  his  disciples  were  now  undividedly  fixed.     "  And  I  say 

*  Matt.  xvi.  13-20. 


218  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETEr's  PRIMACY. 

also  unto  thee,"  continues  our  Lord,  "  that  thou  art  Peter ; 
and  upon  this  rock  will  I  build  my  Church."     Upon  what 
rock  ?    Upon  Peter,  say  Romanists,  grounding  their  interpre- 
tation upon  the  similarity  of  sound,  "  Tu  es  Petrus,  et  super 
hanc  petmm.''''    Upon  the  truth  Peter  had  just  confessed,  say 
Protestants,  grounding  their  interpretation  upon  the  higher 
principles  of  sense,  and  the  reason  of  the  thing.     "  Upon 
this  rock,"  says  our  Lord,  not  upon  thee,  the  rock,  but  upon 
this  rock,  namely,  the  truth  you  have  now  enunciated  in  the 
words,  "  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God," — a  truth 
which  has  been  matter  of  special  revelation  to  thee,  the  be- 
lief in  which  has  made  you  truly  blessed,  and  a  truth  which 
holds  a  place  so  fundamental  and  essential  in  the  gospel 
kingdom,  that  it  may  be  well  termed  "  a  rock."     What  is 
the  Church  ?    Is  it  not  an  association  of  men  holding  certain 
truths  ?     The  members  of  the  Church  are  united,  not  by 
their  belief  in  certain  men,  but  by  their  belief  in  certain 
principles.     As  is  the  building,  so  must  be  the  foundation  : 
the  building  is  spiritual,  and  the  foundation  must  be  spiritual 
also.     And  where,  in  the  whole  system  of  supernatural  truth, 
is  there  a  doctrine  that  takes  precedence,  as  a  fundamental 
one,  of  that  which  Peter  now  confessed  ?    Remove  it,  and  no- 
thing can  supply  its  place ;  the  whole  of  Christianity  crumbles 
into  ruin.     This  truth  formed  the  foundation  of  our  Lord's 
personal  teaching ;  it  was  this  truth  which  he  nobly  confessed 
when  he  stood  upon  his  trial ;  this  truth  formed  the  sum  of 
the  sermons  of  the  apostles  and  first  preachers  of  Christianity; 
and  this  truth  it  was  that  constituted  the  compendious  creed 
of  the  primitive  Church.     Thus,  in  opposition  to  an  inter- 
pretation which  has  nothing  but  an  agreement  in  sound  to 
support  it,  we  can  set  an  interpretation  which  is  strongly 
supported  by  the  reason  of  the  thing,  by  the  constitution  of 
the  Church  as  revealed  in  the  New  Testament,  and  by  the 
whole  subsequent  actings  and  declarations  of  the  apostles 
and  primitive  believers.     To  choose  between  these  two  in- 
terpretations appears  to  us  to  involve  little  difficulty  indeed, 
— at  least  to  the  man  in  quest  of  the  single  object  of  truth. 


PETERS  KEY.  219 

To  make  the  meaning,  as  we  have  evolved  it,  still  more 
undoubted,  it  is  added  in  the  following  clause,  "  And  I  will 
give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  This 
power  is  manifestly  given  to  Peter.  But  mark  how  our  Lord 
points  directly  to  him, — names  him, — "  I  will  give  unto  thee 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Had  he,  in  the  pre- 
ceding clause,  meant  to  intimate  that  he  would  build  his 
Church  on  Peter,  doubtless  he  would  have  said  so  as  plainly 
and  with  as  little  circumlocution  as  now,  when  giving:  him 
the  keys.  As  regards  this  last,  we  shall  permit  Peter  him- 
self to  explain  the  authority  and  privilege  implied  in  it. 
"  Brethren,"  said  he,  addressing  the  meeting  at  Jerusalem,* 
"  ye  know  how  that  a  good  while  ago  God  made  choice 
among  us,  that  the  Gentiles  by  my  mouth  should  hear  the 
word  of  the  gospel,  and  believe."  On  Peter  this  great  ho- 
nour was  conferred,  that  he  was  the  first  to  "  open  the 
door"f  of  the  gospel  Church  to  both  Jews  and  Gentiles. 
The  power  which  Romanists  assign  to  Peter  over  the  apo- 
cryphal world  of  purgatory,  founding  upon  this  verse,  and 
also  his  sole  right  to  open  or  shut  the  gate  of  paradise,  is  a 
gross  and  palpable  misapprehension  of  its  meaning.  Peter 
himself  tells  us  it  was  "  the  door  of  faith"  which  he  was 
honoured  to  open,  by  the  discharge  of  an  office  which  those 
who  are  the  most  forward  to  claim  kindred  with  him  are  the 
least  ready  to  fulfil, — the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  It  is  not 
the  man  who  sits  as  sentinel  at  the  fabulous  portal  of  pur- 
gatory that  carries  the  key  of  Peter,  but  the  man  who,  by 
the  faithful  preaching  of  the  everlasting  gospel,  "  opens  the 
door  of  faith"  to  perishing  sinners.  He  is  the  real  successor 
of  Peter ;  he  holds  his  key,  and  opens  and  shuts,  on  a  higher 
authority  than  Peter's, — even  that  of  Peter's  master.  Far- 
ther, we  must  bear  in  mind  that  Christ  spoke  in  the  ver- 
nacular tongue  of  Judea ;  and  that  not  only  are  the  Vul- 
gate and  English  versions  translations,  but  the  Greek  of 
the  evangelist  is  a  translation  also  ;   but  it  is  inspired,  and 


Acts,  XV.  7.  t  Acts,  xiv.  27. 


220  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETERS  PRIMACY. 

therefore  as  authoritative  as  the  very  words  that  Christ  ut- 
tered. Now,  it  is  not  difficult  to  show  that  the  most  literal 
and  correct  rendering  of  the  Greek  would  run  thus  : — "  Thou 
art  a  stone  (petros)^  and  on  this  rock  (petra)  I  will  build 
my  Church."  When  Peter  was  called  to  be  an  apostle,  his 
name  was  changed  from  Simon  to  Cephas.  Cephas  is  a 
Syriac*  word,  and  synonymous  with  Peter.  This  is  indubi- 
table, from  the  account  we  have  of  his  call :  "  When  Jesus 
beheld  him,  He  said,  thou  art  Simon  the  son  of  Jona :  thou 
shalt  be  called  Cephas,  which  is  by  interpretation,  a  stone  /'f 
or,  as  it  is  in  the  original,  Peter.  Both  names  (x>5pas  and 
ffsrgos)  signify  a  stone, — a  stone  that  may  be  rolled  about, 
or  shifted  from  place  to  place,  and  therefore  very  proper  to 
be  used  in  building,  but  altogether  unsuitable  for  being  built 
upon.J  But  the  word  used  in  the  second  clause  of  the  pas- 
sage, and  translated  "  rock,"  is  the  word  that  strictly  signi- 
fies a  rock,  or  some  mass  which,  from  its  immobility,  is  fitting 
for  a  foundation.  Two  different  words,  then,  are  employed, 
each  having  its  appropriate  signification.  Now,  it  may  be 
asked,  if  one  person  only,  namely,  Peter,  is  meant,  why  is 
not  the  same  word  employed  in  both  clauses  \  Why,  in  the 
first  clause,  employ  that  word  which  denotes  the  material 
used  in  building ;  and,  in  the  second,  that  word  which  de- 
notes the  foundation  on  which  the  building  is  placed  \  There 
is  a  nice  grammatical  distinction  in  the  verse  which  the  Pro- 
testant interpretation  preserves,  but  which  the  Romanist  in- 
terpretation violates.  As  Turrettine  remarks,§  \X\q  iMros  of 
the  first  clause  is  masculine  ;  whereas  the  petra  of  the  second 
clause  is  feminine,  and  cannot,  therefore,  denote  the  person 


*  For  some  centuries  before  and  after  our  Saviour's  time  the  vernacular 
dialect  of  Judea  was  a  compound  of  Hebrew,  Chaldaic,  and  Samaritan,  with 
a  slight  intermixture  of  Persian,  Egyptian,  Greek,  and  Latin  words. 

t  John,  i.  42. 

X  Such  is  the  rendering  given  to  these  terms  by  Stocklus  and  Schleusner, 
who  quote,  in  support  of  their  opinion,  instances  of  this  use  of  the  terms  by 
the  best  Greek  writers. 

§  Turrettine,  vol.  iv.  p.  116. 


THE  STONE  AND  THE  ROCK.  221 

of  Peter.  If  our  Lord  did  indeed  intend  that  petros^  the 
stone,  should  form  the  roch  or  foundation  of  his  Church,  ho 
would  undoubtedly  have  repeated  the  masculine  peiros  in  the 
second  clause.  Why  obscure  the  sense  and  violate  the 
grammar  by  using  the  feminine /Jc^ra?*  or  why  not  use 
petra  in  both  clauses,  and  so  call  Peter  a  rock,  instead  of  a 
stone,  if  such  was  his  meaning,  and  so  preserve  at  once  the 
fiffure  and  the  2;rammar?  It  is  clear  that  there  are  two 
persons  and  two  things  in  this  verse.  There  is  Peter,  a 
stone,  and  there  is  "  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,"" 
a  rock.  The  words  insinuate,  delicately  yet  obviously,  a 
contrast  between  the  two.  The  Papists  have  confounded 
them,  and  have  built  upon  the  stone,  instead  of  the  rock. 

Even  were  the  passage  dubious,  which  we  by  no  means 
grant,  its  sense  would  fall  to  be  determined  by  the  great 
principles  taught  in  other  and  plainer  passages,  about  which 
there  is  not,  and  cannot  be,  any  dispute.  In  the  New  Tes- 
tament we  find  certain  great  principles  on  this  subject,  which 
the  papal  interpretation  of  the  verse  violates  and  sets  at 
nought. 

It  is  impossible  that  in  the  New  Testament,  which  was 
written  to  make  known  the  existence  and  constitution  of  the 
Church,  its  foundation  should  not  be  clearly  and  unraistake- 
ably  indicated.  And,  in  truth,  it  is  so  in  numerous  passages. 
In  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  we  find  Paul  discours- 
ing on  this  very  topic,  in  a  way  to  leave  no  room  for  doubt 
or  cavil.-f-  He  calls  himself  a  master  builder,  and  says,  "  I 
have  laid  the  foundation."  What  was  that  foundation  ? 
Was  it  Peter''s  primacy, — the  true  foundation,  according  to 
Rome  ?  Paul  himself,  in  terms  which  do  not  admit  of  being 
misunderstood,  tells  us  what  that  foundation  is :  "  Other 
foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus 
Christ."     The  question  at  issue  is.  On  what  foundation  is 


*  The  clause  should  have  run,  to  justify  the  Poi)ish  interpretation,  cti 
t  1  Cor.  iii.  10,11, 


222  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER's  PRIMACY. 

the  Church,  that  is,  Christianity,  built  ?  On  Jesus  Christ, 
replies  the  apostle.  If  these  words  do  not  definitely  settle 
that  question,  we  despair  of  words  being  found  capable  of 
settling  it.  "  It  is  here,"  says  Calvin,  "  abundantly  evident 
on  what  rock  it  is  that  the  Church  is  built."  Bellarmine, 
unable  to  meet  this  plain  testimony,  attempts  to  turn  aside 
its  ^orce  by  saying,  that  it  is  granted  that  Christ  is  the  pri- 
mary foundation  of  the  Church,  but  that  Peter  is  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Church  in  the  room  of  Christ,  or  as  Christ's 
vicar  ;  and  that  it  is  proper  to  speak  of  the  Church  as  im- 
mediately and  literally  built  upon  Peter.*  Now,  no  enlight- 
ened Protestant  affirms  that  Romanists  make  Peter  the  sole 
and  primary  author  of  Christianity,  or  that  they  utterly  ig- 
nore the  person  and  work  of  the  Saviour :  the  question,  they 
admit,  is  regarding  vicarship.  But  to  make  Peter  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Church  in  the  room  of  Christ,  or  as  Christ's 
vicar,  is  just  to  make  him  the  foundation  of  the  Church. 
To  devolve  upon  a  second  party  the  immediate  and  literal 
government  of  the  realm,  would  be  a  virtual  dethronement 
of  the  real  monarch,  more  especially  if  the  party  in  question 
bad  no  patent  of  investiture  to  exhibit.  The  more  enlight- 
ened heathens  willingly  allowed  the  existence  and  supremacy 
of  an  infinite  and  invisible  Being,  only  they  put  idols  in  his 
room.  Romanists  have  dealt  in  the  same  way  by  the  divine 
foundation  of  the  Church .  reserving  the  empty  name  to 
Onrist,  they  have  put  him  aside,  and  substituted  another. 
The  Bible  furnishes  not  a  tittle  of  evidence  that  the  person 
of  Peter  can  in  any  sense,  or  to  any  extent,  be  denominated 
the  foundation.  Nay,  it  explicitly  asserts  that  Christ  is  that 
foundation,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  participation  on  the  part 
of  any  one.  "  Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that 
is  laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ." 

To  the  same  mp  ort  is  the  passage,  "  And  are  built  upon 
the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ 
himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone."-f-     Romanists  some- 

*  De  Roman.  Pont.  lib.  i.  cap.  x.  +  Ephesians,  ii.  20. 


THE  "  TWELVE  FOUNDATIONS.  223 

times  quote  this  passage,  as  if  it  favoured  their  theory  of 
Christ  being  the  primary  foundation  and  Peter  the  imme- 
diate foundation  of  the  Church.  The  passage  overthrows 
this  view.  Romanists  must  admit  that  there  are  but  two 
senses  which  can  bo  put  upon  the  words  "  the  foundation  of 
the  apostles  and  prophets  ;"  they  can  mean  only  the  persons 
of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  or  the  doctrine  of  the  apostles 
and  prophets  ;  but  either  sense  is  opposed  to  the  Romanist 
theory.  If  it  be  said  that  by  the  words  "  the  foundation  of 
the  apostles  and  prophets"  is  meant  their  persons,  what 
then  becomes  of  Peter's  primacy  ?  He  appears  here  simply 
as  one  of  the  twelve ;  nay,  his  name  is  not  seen  at  all ;  and 
no  hint  is  given  that  one  is  superior  to  another.  If  per- 
sons ave  here  meant,  then  all  the  twelve  are  foundations;  and, 
on  the  doctrine  of  transmission,  each  of  the  twelve  ouo-ht  to 
have  his  representative ;  we  ought  to  have  not  only  a  Peter, 
but  a  James,  a  John,  and  a  Paul  in  the  world.  Nay,  we  ought 
to  have  an  Isaiah,  a  Jeremiah,  an  Ezekiel,  and  others  also; 
for  with  the  apostles  of  the  New  are  joined  the  prophets  of 
the  Old  Testament.  If  it  be  said  that  by  "  the  foundation 
of  the  apostles  and  prophets'"  we  are  to  understand  their 
doctrines,  this  is  just  what  we  maintain,  and  is  but  another 
way  of  stating  that  Christ  is  the  foundation.* 


*  It  is  well  remarked  by  Spanheini,  in  his  admirable  commentary  on 
Matthew,  xvi.  18,  which  contains  the  germ  of  almost  all  that  has  been 
written  since  on  this  famous  passage,  that  not  only  are  the  twelve  apostles 
grouped  together  when  spoken  of  as  foundations,  but  they  are  men- 
tioned singly  also,  as  well  as  Peter.  "  Nee  tantura  omnes  simul  sumpti,  sed 
et  singuU,  seque  ac  Petrus  totidem  fundamenta.  Hinc  Bifiixiei  iuhxa,  re- 
spondentes  roig  ^uhxa  Atoo-toXoi;"  (Apoc.  xxi.  14.)  "  Et  ratio  plana, 
quia  singuli  aeque  ac  Petrus,  nullo  discrimiue  habito,  fundarunt  universali 
missione  Christianam  ecclesiam  quaa  domus  et  civitas  Dei."  (Spanhemii 
Vindiciae  Biblicoe,  lib.  ii.  loc.  xxviii." 

We  are  not  aware  that  it  has  ever  been  remarked  that  the  apocalyptic 
symbol  here  is  framed  in  exact  agreement  with  our  interpretation  of  Jlat- 
thew,  xvi.  18,  and  in  flat  contradiction  to  the  papal  interpretation.  The 
gospel  Church  is  seen  by  John  in  millennial  glory,  under  the  sj-mbol  of  a 
city.  The  city  has  twelve  foundations,  with  the  name  of  an  apostle  in- 
scribed on  each  ;  showing  that  the  Church  is  built  on  the  doctrine  wliich 


224?  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER\s  PRIMACY. 


It  is  clear  that  when  Paul  wrote  this  passage  he  was  ig- 
norant of  Peter"'s  primacy  ;  and  it  is  equally  undeniable  that 
every  other  writer  in  the  New  Testament  was  as  ignorant 
of  it  as  Paul.  Amazing,  that  Peter  should  have  been  the 
Church''s  foundation,  the  Church"'s  head,  and  that  his  super- 
angelic  dignity  should  have  been  unknown  and  unsuspect- 
ed by  his  brethren  !  Or,  if  any  man  affirms  the  contrary, 
he  must  have  had  his  knowledge  through  inspiration ;  for 
not  the  slightest  allusion  to  it  has  come  from  the  apostles 
themselves.  The  prophets  may  be  excused  for  being  igno- 
rant of  it.  Although  Isaiah  spoke  of  a  foundation  which 
God  was  to  lay  in  Zion, — "  a  stone,  a  tried  stone,  a  precious 
corner-stone,  a  sure  foundation,"* — there  is  nothing  to  lead 
us  to  suppose  that  he  had  the  least  idea  that  Peter  was 
here  meant.  More  marvellous  still,  Peter  himself  knew 
nothing  of  it ;  for  we  find  him  applying  to  another  than 
himself  these  words  just  cited. -f*  And  we  find  him,  too,  in 
his  ignorance  of  his  own  primacy,  misapplying  another  pas- 
sage : — "  The  stone  which  the  builders  refused,"  said  the 
Psalmist,  "is  become  the  head  stone  of  the  corner.";]:  So 
far  was  Peter  from  believing  that  himself  was  that  stone, 
that  we  find  him  charging  their  rejection  of  Christ  upon 
the  chief-priest  and  his  council  as  a  fulfilment  of  the  pro- 
phecy, "  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth,  whom  ye  crucified,  whom 
God  raised  from  the  dead,  even  by  him  doth  this  man  stand 
here  before  you  whole.  This  is  the  stone  which  was  set  at 
nought  of  you  builders,  which  is  become  the  head  of  the 


all  twelve  had  been  employed  in  preaching.  The  city  had  twelve  gates, 
showing  that  all  twelve,  and  not  Peter  only,  had  been  honoured  to  open 
the  "  door  of  faith"  to  the  world.  On  the  papal  interpretation  the  city 
ought  to  have  had  but  one  foundation  and  one  gate  ;  or,  if  there  must 
needs  be  twelve  foundations,  the  name  of  Peter  ought  to  have  been  in- 
scribed on  all  of  them.  It  may  be  objected  that  this  is  too  figurative.  Ro- 
manists at  least  are  not  entitled  to  bring  this  objection,  seeing  their  great 
champion  Bellarmine  has  built  his  famous  argument  on  the  metaphor  of 
a  building  employed  in  Mattliew,  xvi.  18. 

*  Isaiah,  xxviii,  16.  +  1  Peter,  ii.  6, 7.  +  Psalm  cxviii.  22. 


UNKNOWN  TO  THE  APOSTLES.  225 

corner."*  Nay,  more,  our  Lord  himself  knew  not  that  the 
passage  referred  to  Peter''s  primacy,  otherwise  he  surely 
never  would  have  claimed  the  honour  to  himself,  as  we  find 
him  doing.  "  Did  ye  never  read  in  the  Scriptures,"  said  he  to 
the  representatives  of  those  evil  husbandmen  who  slew  the 
Son,  "  the  stone  which  the  builders  rejected,  the  same  has 
become  the  head  of  the  corner  Vf  Thus,  He  who  conferred 
the  dignity,  the  person  on  whom  that  dignity  was  conferred, 
and  those  who  were  the  witnesses  of  the  act,  all,  on  their  own 
showing,  were  ignorant  of  the  important  transaction.  The 
apostles  preach  sermons  and  write  epistles,  and  omit  all 
mention  of  the  fundamental  article  of  Christianity.  They 
delivered  to  the  world  but  a  mutilated  gospel.  They  kept 
back,  through  ignorance  or  through  perversity,  that  on 
which,  according  to  Bellarmine  and  De  Maistre,  hangs  the 
whole  of  Christianity,  and  the  belief  in  which  is  essential  to 
salvation  on  the  part  of  every  human  being.  Paul  preached 
"  Christ  crucified"  when  he  ought  to  have  preached  "  Peter 
exalted."  He  gloried  in  the  "  cross"  when  he  ought  to  have 
gloried  in  the  "  infallibility."  The  profession  of  the  Ethio- 
pian eunuch  to  Philip  ought  to  have  run,  not  "  I  believe  that 
Jesus  Chtist  is  the  Son  of  God,"  but  "  I  believe  that  Peter 
is  prince  of  the  apostles  and  Christ's  vicar."  The  writer  of 
the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians,]:  when  he  enumerates  apostles, 
prophets,  evangelists,  pastors,  and  teachers,  and  omits  the 
pontiff,  leaves  out  the  better  half  of  his  list,  and  passes  over 
an  office-bearer  who  had  much  more  to  do  with  the  perfecting 
of  the  saints  and  the  unity  of  the  Church  than  all  the  rest 
put  together.  And,  in  fine,  when  the  survivor  of  the  twelve, 
the  beloved  disciple,  indited  his  epistles,  exhorting  to  love 
and  unity,  recommending  for  this  purpose  an  earnest  atten- 
tion to  those  things  which  they  had  heard  from  the  begin- 
ning, he  altogether  mistook  his  object,  and  ought  to  have 
reminded  those  to  whom  he  wrote  that  Peter's  successor  was 
reigning  at  Rome,  and  that  the  perfection  of  Christian  duty 

*  Acts,iv.  10,  11.       +  Matthew,  xxi.  42.       J  Ephesians,  iv.  11,  12. 


226  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER'S  PRIMACY. 

was  implicit  obedience  to  the  infallible  dictates  of  the  apos- 
tolic chair.     But  all  the  apostles  went  to  their  graves  and 
carried  this  secret  along  with  them.     Peter's  primacy  was 
not  so  much  as  whispered  in  the  world  till  Rome  had  bred 
a  I'ace  of  infallible  bishops.     Nevertheless,  we  have  so  much 
of  the  spirit  of  apostolical  succession  in  us  as  to  prefer  being 
in  error  with  the  apostles  to  being  in  the  right  with  the  popes. 
To  help  out  the  sense  of  this  obscure  passage,  the  Church 
of  Rome  has  called  in  the  assistance  of  other  passages  still 
more  obscure, — obscure,  we  mean,  not  in  themselves,  but  un- 
der the  sombre  lights  of  Rome's  hermaneutics.     Not  a  little 
stress  has  been  laid  upon  the  words  that  follow  those  on 
which  we  have  been  commenting, — "  And  I  will  give  unto 
thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  and  whatsoever 
thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shalt  be  bound  in  heaven  ;  and 
whatsoever  thou   shalt  loose    on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in 
heaven."     We  have  already  adverted  to  these  words,  and 
have  here  only  to  remark,  that,  even  granting  the  affirma- 
tion of  the  Papists,  that  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
were  given  to  Peter,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other  apostles, 
his  tenure  of  sole  authority  must  have  been  brief  indeed  ;  for 
we  find  our  Lord,  after  his  resurrection,  associating  all  the 
apostles  in  the  exercise  of  these  keys.    "  Receive  ye  the  Holy 
Ghost :  whosesoever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted  unto 
them;  and  whosesoever  sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained.*"* 
Here  no  primacy  is  conferred  on  Peter.     He  ranks  with  the 
other  apostles,  and  receives  but  his  own  share  of  the  gift  now 
conferred  by  his  Master  on  all.     If,  then,  Peter  ever  had  sole 
possession  of  the  keys,  which  we  deny,  he  must  from  this 
time  forward  have  admitted  his  brother  apostles  to  a  parti- 
cipation with  him  in  his  power,  or  usurped  what  did  not  be- 
long to  him,  and  was  in  no  degree  more  his  right  than  it 
was  the  right  of  all.     If  the  former,  how  could  Peter  trans- 
mit to  his  successors  what  himself  did  not  possess  ?  and  if 
the  latter,  he  transmitted  a  power  that  was  unlawful,  be- 

*  John,  XX.  22,  23. 


UNIVERSAL  PASTORATE  EXAMINED.  227 

cause  usurped ;  and  therefore  the  Popes  are  still  usurpers. 
"  I  have  prayed  for  thee,  that  thy  faith  fail  not,"  said  our 
Lord  to  the  same  apostle,  when  predicting  that  he  should 
fall,  but  not  finally  apostatize ;  and  Papists  have  built  much 
upon  the  words,  especially  as  regards  the  infallibility  of  the 
Pope.  The  words  refer  us  back  to  a  part  of  Peter's  history 
which  one  would  have  thought  those  seeking  to  establish  a 
primacy  for  him  would  have  prudently  avoided.  They  at- 
test, as  a  historical  fact,  Peter's  fallibility  ;  and  it  does  seem 
strange  to  found  upon  them  in  proof  of  the  infallibility  of 
the  popes.  If  the  ordinary  laws  which  regulate  the  trans- 
mission of  moral  qualities  operated  in  this  case,  and  if  Peter 
begot  popes  in  his  own  likeness,  how  comes  it  that  from  a 
fallible  man  proceeded  a  race  of  infallible  pontiffs  ?  It  is 
one  of  Rome's  many  mysteries,  doubtless,  which  is  to  be  be- 
lieved, not  explained.  But  to  an  ordinary  understanding 
such  arguments  prove  nothing  but  the  desperate  straits  to 
which  those  are  reduced  who  make  use  of  them.  And  what, 
moreover,  are  we  to  think  of  the  Council  of  Basil,  which,  by 
solemn  canon,  decreed  that  a  pope  might  be  deposed  in  case 
of  hei'esy, — a  most  necessary  provision,  verily,  against  an  evil 
W'hich,  on  the  principles  of  the  papists,  can  never  happen  ! 

Once  more,  we  are  referred  in  proof  of  Peter's  primacy  to 
these  words  in  John, — "  Jesus  saith  unto  him  [Peter],  feed 
my  sheep.""'  "  At  most,  the  words  do  only,"  as  St  Cyril 
saith,  "  renew  the  former  grant  of  apostleshijy,  after  his  great 
offence  of  denying  our  Lord."-f-  But  according  to  the  Ro- 
man interpretation  of  these  words,  Peter  was  now  consti- 
tuted UNIVERSAL  PASTOR  of  the  Church.  Now,  certainly,  as 
a  doctor  of  the  Sorbonnej  argues,  if  these  words  prove  SiX\y- 
i\nng  peculiar  to  Peter,  they  prove  that  he  was  sole  pastor 
of  the  Church,  and  that  there  ought  to  be  but  one  Church  in 
the  world,  St  Peter's,  and  but  one  preacher,  the  Pope.    "The 


*  John,  xxi.  1(),  I7.  t  Barrow's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  586. 

t  Stillingfleet's  Doctrines  and  Practices  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  by  Dr 
Cunningham,  p.  217  ;  Edin.  1845. 


228  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER'S  PRIMACY. 

same  office,"  says  Barrow,  in  his  incomparable  treatise  on  the 
supremacy  of  the  Pope,  "  certainly  did  belong  to  all  the  apos- 
tles, who  (as  St  Hierom  speaketh)  were  the  princes  of  our  dis- 
cipline and  chieftains  of  the  Christian  doctrine  ;  they  at  their 
first  vocation  had  a  commission  and  command  to  go  unto  the 
lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,  that  were  scattered  abroad 
like  sheep  not  having  a  shepherd ;  they,  before  our  Lord's 
ascension,  were  enjoined  to  teach  all  nations  the  doctrines 
and  precepts  of  Christ,  to  receive  them  into  the  fold,  to  feed 
them  with  good  instruction,  to  guide  and  govern  their  con- 
verts with  good  discipline.  Hence  all  of  them  (as  St 
Cyprian  saith)  were  shepherds.  But  the  flock  did  appear 
one,  which  was  fed  by  the  apostles  with  unanimous  agree- 
ment. Neither  could  St  Peter's  charge  be  more  extensive 
than  was  that  of  the  other  apostles,  for  they  had  a  general 
and  unlimited  care  of  the  whole  Church.  They  were 
oecumenical  rulers  (as  St  Chrysostom  saith),  appointed  by 
God,  who  did  not  receive  several  nations  or  cities,  but  all  of 
them  in  common  were  entrusted  with  the  world.""*  The 
proofs  of  what  is  here  asserted  are  not  difficult  to  seek  for. 
The  very  same  charge  here  given  by  Christ  to  Peter,  on 
which  the  Romanists  have  reared  so  stupendous  a  struc- 
ture of  exclusive  and  universal  jurisdiction,  does  the  Holy 
Ghost,  through  the  instrumentality  of  Paul,  give  to  the 
elders  of  the  Church  of  Miletus.  The  apostle  bids  them 
"  take  heed  to  all  the  flock  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath 
made  them  overseers,  to  feed  the  Church  of  God."-f"  Nay, 
we  find  Peter  himself,  the  holder,  according  to  the  Roman 
idea,  of  this  universal  pastorate,  writing  to  the  Asiatic 
churches  thus : — "  The  elders  I  exhort,  who  am  also  an 
elder :  feed  the  flock  of  God.""^  Nor  can  we  mistake  the 
import  of  the  last  solemn  act  of  Christ  on  earth,  which  was 
to  commit  the  evangelization  of  the  world — to  whom?  To 
Peter  ?     No ;    to  all  the  apostles.     "  Go  ye    into    all    the 


*  Barrow's  Works,  vol.  i.  pp.  586,  587.  t  Acts,  xx.  28. 

t  1  Peter,  v,  1,  2. 


NO  TRACE  OF  TRIMACY.  229 

world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.""'*  "  And 
surely,"  says  Poole,  "  Peter's  diocese  cannot  be  more  ex- 
tensive, unless  perhaps  Utopia  be  taken  in,  or  that  which 
is  in  the  same  part  of  the  world,  I  mean  purgatory  "f 

On  the  supposition  that  Peter  possessed  the  primacy,  he 
must  have  exercised  it ;  and  if  so,  how  comes  it  that  not 
the  slightest  trace  of  such  a  thing  is  to  be  discovered,  either 
in  the  New  Testament  or  in  Ecclesiastical  History?  The 
rest  of  the  apostles  were  entirely  ignorant  of  the  fact 
Even  after  the  words  on  which  we  have  been  commenting 
were  addressed  to  Peter,  we  find  them  raising  the  question, 
with  no  little  warmth,  "  who  should  be  the  greatest"  in 
their  master's  kingdom  1 — a  question  which  Romanists  be- 
lieve had  already  been  conclusively  settled  by  Christ.  Ar- 
dent in  temper  and  fearless  in  disposition,  Peter  was  on 
some  occasions  more  prominent  than  the  rest ;  but  that  was 
a  pre-eminence  springing  from  the  man,  not  from  the  office. 
His  whole  intercourse  with  the  other  apostles  does  not  fur- 
nish a  single  instance  of  official  superiority.  When  "  Judas 
by  transgression  fell,"  Peter  did  not  presume  to  nominate 
to  the  vacant  dignity ;  and  yet,  as  prince  of  the  apostles, 
and  the  fountain  of  all  ecclesiastical  dignity,  he  ought  to 
have  done  so.  We  do  not  find  him,  as  arch-apostle,  appoint- 
ing the  ordinary  apostles  to  their  spheres  of  labour,  or 
summoning  them  to  his  bar,  to  give  an  account  of  their 
mission,  or  reproving,  admonishing,  and  exhorting  them,  as 
he  might  judge  they  required.  In  the  synod  holden  at 
Jerusalem,  to  allay  the  dissensions  which  had  sprung  up  on 
the  subject  of  circumcision,  it  was  James,  and  not  Peter, 
that  presided.:]:  Paul,  in  the  matter  of  the  Gentile  converts, 
withstood  Peter  "to  the  face,  because  he  was  to  be  blamed."§ 
"We  find,"    says  Stillingfleet,    "the  apostles  sending  St 


*  Mark,  xvi,  15. 

t  Blow  at  the  Root  of  the  Romish  Church,  chap.  ii.  prop.  ii. 

t  Acts,  XV.  §  Gal.  xi.  11. 


230  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER'S  PRCIACY. 

Peter  to  Samaria,  which  was  a  very  unmannerly  action, 
if  they  looked  on  him  as  head  of  the  Church.*"*  Minis- 
ters do  not  send  their  sovereign  on  embassies.  What 
would  be  thought  should  Cardinal  Wiseman  order  Pius 
IX.  on  a  mission  to  the  United  States?  Nor,  though  very 
conspicuous,  was  this  apostle  the  most  conspicuous  mem- 
ber in  the  small  but  illustrious  band  to  which  he  belonsred  ? 
Peter  was  overshadowed  by  the  colossal  intellect  and  pro- 
digious labours  of  the  apostle  Paul.  The  great  and  indis- 
putable superiority,  in  these  respects,  of  this  apostle,  has 
been  acknowledged  by  the  popes  themselves.  The  following 
may  be  cited  as  a  curious  sample  of  that  unity  which  Rome 
claims  as  her  peculiar  attribute  : — "  He  was  better  than  all 
men,"  says  Chrysostom,  "  greater  than  the  apostles,  and 
surpassing  them  all."  Pope  Gregory  I.  says  of  the  apostle 
Paul, — "  He  was  made  head  of  the  nations,  because  he  ob- 
tained the  principate  of  the  whole  Church.""^ 

Nor  is  it  less  unaccountable,  on  the  supposition  that  Peter 
was  head  of  the  whole  Church,  that  we  fail  to  discover  the 
remotest  trace  of  this  sovereignty  in  his  epistles.  Address- 
ing the  members  of  the  Church  on  a  variety  of  subjects,  one 
would  have  thought  that  he  must  needs  have  occasion  at 
times  to  remind  them  of  his  jurisdiction,  and  the  duty  and 
allegiance  which  they  in  consequence  owed.  But  nothing 
of  this  sort  occurs.  "  No  critic  perusing  those  epistles," 
remarks  Barrow,  "  would  smell  a  pope  in  them."j  Peter 
does  not  say, — "  It  is  our  apostolic  will  and  command,"  as 
is  now  the  style  of  the  popes.  The  highest  style  he  assumes 
is  to  speak  in  the  common  name  of  the  apostles, — "Be 
mindful  of  the  words  which  were  spoken  before  by  the  holy 
prophets,  and  of  the  commandment  of  us  the  apostles  of  the 
Lord  and  Saviour."§     A  pontifical  pen  employed  on  these 


*  Rational  Account  of  the  Grounds  of  the  Protestant  Religion,  p.  456. 
+  See  Barrow  on  the  Supremacy,  Barrow's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  592. 
t  Barrow's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  6G8.  §  2  Peter,  iii.  2. 


THE  PRIMACY  AN  IMPOSTURE.  Sol 

letters  could  not  but  have  left  traces  of  itself.  The  Epistles 
of  Peter  emit  the  sweet  perfume  of  apostolic  humility, — not 
the  rank  effluvia  of  papal  arrogance. 

Thus  the  primacy  of  Peter  is  without  the  least  founda- 
tion, either  in  Scripture,  in  ecclesiastical  history,  or  in  the 
reason  of  the  thing;  and  unless  we  are  good  enough  to 
accept  the  word  of  the  pontiff,  given  ex  cathedra^  in  the 
room  of  all  other  evidence,  this  pretence  of  primacy  must 
be  given  up  as  a  gross  delusion  and  imposture.*  The  argu- 
ment ends  hero  of  right ;  for  all  other  reasons,  urged  from 
such  considerations  as  that  Peter  was  Bishop  of  Rome,  are 
plainly  irrelevant,  seeing  it  matters  not  to  the  authority  of 
the  popes  in  what  city  or  quarter  of  the  world  Peter  exer- 
cised his  office,  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  he  w^as  primate 
of  the  apostles  and  head  of  the  Church.  But  granting  that 
that  difficulty  is  got  over.  Papists  are  instantly  met  by  other 
difficulties  equally  great.  It  is  essential  to  the  Roman 
scheme  to  establish  as  a  fact,  that  Peter  was  Bishop  of 
Rome.  This  no  Romanist  has  yet  been  able  to  do.  Now, 
in  the  first  place,  we  are  not  prepared  to  deny  that  Peter 
ever  visited  Rome,  any  more  than  Papists  are  able  to  prove 


*  As  Roiiianists  now  ascribe  to  Mary  the  work  of  redemption,  so  they 
have  begun  to  put  the  primacy  of  Peter  in  the  room  of  the  mission  of 
Christ,  by  speaking  of  it  as  the  grand  proof  of  God's  love  to  the  world. 
In  a  "pastoral"  issued  upon  the  festival  of  St  Peter,  by  '^  Paul,  by  the 
grace  of  God  and  favour  of  the  apostolic  see.  Archbishop  of  Armagh  and  Primate 
of  all  Ireland;'  given  in  the  Tablet  of  June  28,  1851,  we  find  the  writer 
conmienting  on  the  words,  tliou  art  Peter,  ^c,  and  speaking  of  "  the  virtues 
and  glory  of  him  to  irhom  they  were  addressed.  The  visible  image  of  the  Divine 
paternity  which  encircles  heaven  and  earth  in  its  embrace,  nowhere  does  the  provi- 
dence of  God  shine  forth  with  so  much  splendour,  whilst  impressing  into  the  hearts 
of  the  faithful  the  most  ineffable  confidence  and  consolation,  as  in  the  guardianship 
of  his  Church,  entrusted  to  Peter  and  his  successors."  And  then  follows  the 
blasphemous  application  of  Ephesians,  iii.  IS,  to  Peter's  primacy,  "and 
particularly,  that  in  the  most  glorious  and  touching  manifestation  of  his 
paternal  love  towards  us  in  the  guardianship  of  this  Church,  '  you  may  be 
able  to  comprehend  with  all  the  saints,  what  is  its  '  breadth  and  length,  and  height 
and  depth;  " 


232  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER'S  PRIMACY. 

that  he  did.  In  the  second  place,  the  improbability  of 
Peter  having  been  Bishop  of  Rome  is  so  exceedingly  great, 
amounting  as  near  as  may  be  to  an  impossibility,  that  we 
would  be  warranted  in  denying  it.  And,  in  the  third  place, 
we  do  most  certainly  deny  that  Peter  was  the  founder  of 
the  Church  of  Rome. 

With  regard  to  the  averment  that  Peter  was  Bishop  of 
Rome,  it  is  as  near  as  may  be  a  demonstrable  impossibility. 
To  have  been  Bishop  of  Rome  would  have  been  in  plain  op- 
position to  the  great  end  of  his  apostleship.  As  an  apostle, 
Peter  had  the  world  for  his  diocese,  and  was  bound,  by  the 
duty  which  he  owed  to  Christianity  at  large,  to  hold  himself 
in  readiness  to  go  wherever  the  Spirit  might  send  him.  To 
fetter  himself  in  an  inferior  sphere,  so  that  he  could  not 
fulfil  his  great  mission, — to  sink  the  apostle  in  the  bishop, — 
to  oversee  the  diocese  of  Rome  and  overlook  the  world, — 
would  have  been  sinful ;  and  we  may  conclude  that  Peter  was 
not  chargeable  with  that  sin.  Baronius  himself  confesseth 
that  Peter's  office  did  not  permit  him  to  stay  in  one  place, 
but  required  him  to  travel  throughout  the  whole  world,  con- 
verting the  unbelieving  and  confirming  the  faithful.*  To 
have  acted  as  the  Romanists  allege,  would  have  been  to  de- 
sert his  sphere  and  neglect  his  work;  and  it  would  scarce 
have  been  held  a  valid  excuse  for  being  "  unfaithful  in  that 
which  was  much,"  that  he  was  "  faithful  in  that  which  was 
least."  And  if  it  would  have  been  inconsistent  on  our  prin- 
ciples, it  would  have  been  still  more  inconsistent  on  Roman- 
ist principles.  On  their  principles,  Peter  was  not  only  an 
apostle, — he  was  primate  of  the  apostles ;  and,  as  Barrow 
observes,  "  it  would  have  been  a  degradation  of  himself,  and 
a  disparagement  to  the  apostolic  majesty,  for  him  to  take 
upon  him  the  bishoprick  of  Rome,  as  if  the  king  should  be- 
come mayor  of  London."-f* 

On  other  grounds  it  is  not  difficult  to  demonstrate  the 
extreme  improbability  of  Peter  having  been  Bishop  of  Rome. 

*  Baron,  anno  58,  sec.  li.  t  Barrow's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  699. 


WAS  PETER  AT  ROME?  233 

Peter  had  the  Jews  throughout  the  world  committed  to 
him  as  his  especial  charge.*  He  was  the  apostle  of  the  cir- 
cumcision, as  Paul  w\T,s  of  the  Gentiles.  This  people  being 
much  scattered,  their  oversight  was  very  incompatible  with 
a  fixed  episcopate.  His  regard  to  the  grand  division  of 
apostolic  labour,  to  which  we  have  just  alluded,-}-  would 
have  restrained  him  from  intruding  into  the  bounds  of  a 
brother  apostle,  unless  to  minister  to  the  Jews ;  and  at  this 
time  there  were  few  of  that  people  at  Rome,  a  decree  of  the 
Emperor  Claudius  having,  a  little  before,  banished  them 
from  the  metropolis  of  the  Roman  world ;  and,  as  Barrow 
remarks,  "  He  was  too  skilful  a  fisherman  to  cast  his  net 
there,  where  there  were  no  fish.""! 

If  Peter  ever  did  visit  Rome,  of  which  there  exists  not 
the  slightest  evidence,  his  residence  in  that  metropolis  must 
have  been  short  indeed, — by  far  too  short  to  admit  of  his 
acting  as  bishop  of  the  place.§  Paul  passed  several  years 
at  Rome :  he  wrote  several  of  his  epistles  (the  epistle  to 
the  Galatians,  that  to  the  Ephesians,  that  to  the  Philippians, 


*  Galatians,  ii.  7,  8. 

t  There  was  a  formal  arrangement  among  the  apostles  touching  this 
matter.  Peter,  along  with  James  and  John,  gave  his  hand  to  Paul,  and 
struck  a  bargain  with  him  that  he  (Paul)  "  should  go  unto  the  heathen, 
and  they  (James,  Cephas,  and  John)  unto  the  circumcision."  If,  then, 
Peter  became  Bishop  of  Rome,  he  violated  this  solemn  paction.  (See  Gal. 
ii.  9.) 

t  Barrow's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  599. 

§  The  Romanists  aflSrm  that  Peter  was  Bishop  of  Rome  during  the 
twenty-five  years  that  preceded  his  martyrdom.  His  residence  in  the 
capital  began,  according  to  them,  in  a.d.  43.  He  was  martyred  in  a.d. 
68.  But  on  Paul's  first  visit  to  Jerusalem,  in  a.d.  51,  he  found  Peter 
there,  when,  according  to  the  Romanist  theory,  he  should  have  been  at 
Rome.  It  appears  also,  from  the  1st  and  2d  chapters  of  Galatians,  that 
from  Paul's  conversion  till  bis  second  visit  to  Jerusalem,  that  is,  seventeen 
years,  Peter  had  been  ministering  to  the  Jews  ;  and,  as  shown  in  the  text, 
he  was  not  at  Rome  at  the  time  of  Paul's  imprisonment  and  martyrdom. 
If  he  was  indeed  Bishop  of  Rome,  he  must  have  been  sadly  guilty  of  non- 
residence, — a  practice  strictly  forbidden  by  the  decrees  of  the  primitive 
Cliurch. 


234  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER's  PRIMACY. 

that  to  the  Colossians,  and  the  second  to  Timothy)  from  that 
city ;  and  though  these  abound  with  warm  greetings  and  re- 
membrances, tiie  name  of  Peter  does  not  once  occur  in  them. 
In  the  epistle  which  he  wrote  to  the  Church  at  Rome,  he 
sends  sahitations  to  twenty-five  individuals,  and  to  several 
whole  households  besides ;  but  he  sends  no  salutation  to 
Peter,  their  bishop !  It  is  plain,  that  when  these  epistles 
were  written,  Peter  was  not  at  Rome.  "  Particularly  St 
Peter  was  not  there,"  argues  Barrov/,  in  his  matchless  trea- 
tise, "  when  St  Paul,  mentioning  Tychicus,  Onesimus,  Aris- 
tarchus,  Marcus,  and  Justus,  addeth,  '  these  alone  my 
fellow-workers  unto  the  kingdom  of  God,  who  have  been  a 
comfort  unto  me.'  He  was  not  there  when  St  Paul  said,  'at 
my  first  defence  no  man  stood  with  me,  but  all  men  for- 
sook me.'  He  was  not  there  immediately  before  St  Paul's 
death  (when  the  time  of  his  departure  was  at  hand),  when 
he  telleth  Timothy  that  all  the  brethren  did  salute  him, 
and,  naming  divers  of  them,  he  omitteth  Peter."* 

Nor  have  the  Romanists  been  able  to  establish  in  Peter's 
behalf  that  he  was  the  founder  of  the  Church  at  Rome.  It 
is  no  uncertain  inference,  that  the  apostle  Paul,  if  not  the 
first  to  carry  Christianity  within  the  imperial  walls,  was 
the  first  to  organize  a  regular  Church  at  Rome.  When 
the  epistle  to  the  Romans  was  written,  there  was  a  small 
company  of  believers  in  that  metropolis,  partly  Jews  and 
partly  Gentiles ;  but  they  had  never  been  visited  by  any 
apostle.  Of  this  we  find  a  proof  in  the  opening  lines  of  his 
epistle,  where  he  says,  "  I  long  to  see  you,  that  I  may  im- 
part unto  you  some  spiritual  gift."-|-  To  an  apostle  only 
belonged  the  power  of  imparting  such  gifts;  and  we  may 


*  Barrow's  Woilig,  vol.  i.  p.  600.  We  have  eight  instances  of  Pa'il's 
communicating  with  Rome, — two  letters  to,  and  six/;-o»i,  that  city, — during 
the  alleged  episcojiate  of  Peter  there  ;  and  yet  not  the  slightest  allusion  to 
Peter  occurs  in  any  one  of  these  letters.  This  is  wholly  inexplicable  on 
the  sujiposition  that  Peter  was  at  Rome. 

+  Romans,  i.  11. 


APOSTLESniP  NOT  TRANS.AIISSIDLE.  235 

conclude  that,  had  the  Christians  at  Rome  been  already 
visited  by  Peter,  these  gifts  would  not  have  been  still  to 
bestow.  That  they  had  as  yet  been  visited  by  no  apostle  is 
indubitable,  from  what  Paul  assigns  as  the  cause  of  his 
great  desire  to  visit  them,  namely,  "  that  I  might  have  some 
fruit  among  you  also,  as  among  other  Gentiles.""'  Now,  it 
was  PauFs  wont  never  to  gather  where  he  had  not  first 
planted ;  for,  resuming,  in  the  end  of  his  epistle,  the  subject 
of  his  long-cherished  visit  to  Rome,  he  says,  "  Yea,  so  have 
I  strived  to  preach  the  gospel,  not  where  Christ  was  named, 
lest  I  should  build  upon  another  man"'s  foundation."-}-  By 
the  hand  of  Paul  then,  and  not  of  Peter,  was  planted  the 
Roman  Church, — "  a  noble  vine,"  whose  natural  robustness 
and  vigour  of  stock  was  abundantly  attested  by  the  renown 
of  its  early  faith, |  as  well  as  by  the  magnitude  of  its  later 
corruptions. 

But  though  we  should  concede  the  question  of  Peter's 
Roman  bishoprick,  as  we  formerly  conceded  the  point  of  his 
primacy,  .the  Romanist  is  not  a  whit  nearer  his  object.  He 
is  immediately  met  by  the  question,  Were  the  arch-aposto- 
lical sovereignties  and  jurisdiction  of  Peter  of  a  kind  such 
as  he  could  bequeath  to  his  successor,  and  did  he  actually 
so  bequeath  them  I  This  is  a  point  which  can  be  determined 
only  by' a  consideration  of  the  nature  of  these  powers,  and 
of  what  is  related  in  the  New  Testament  respecting  the  in- 
stitution of  offices  for  the  future  government  of  the  Church. 
In  the  first  place,  Romanists  found  the  gift  of  primacy  to 
Peter  upon  certain  acts  done  by  Peter,  and  upon  certain 
qualities  possessed  by  Peter;  but  it  is  abundantly  clear 
that  these  acts  and  qualities  Peter  could  not  communicate 
to  his  successors ;  therefore  he  could  not  communicate  the 
dignity  which  was  founded  upon  them.  His  office  was 
strictly  personal,  and  therefore  expired  with  the  person 
who  had  been  clothed  with  it.     In  the  second  place,  the 


*  Rom.  i.  13,  +  Ibid.  xv.  20. 

t  Rom.  i.  8,  "  Your  faith  is  spoken  of  throughout  the  whole  world." 


236  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER's  PRIMACY. 

apostlesliip  was  designed  for  a  temporary  purpose :  it  was 
therefore  temporary  in  its  nature,  and  ceased  whenever  that 
purpose  had  been  served.  In  the  next  place,  no  one  could 
assume  the  apostlesliip  unless  invested  with  it  directly  by 
Christ.  The  first  twelve  were  literally  called  by  Christ. 
The  appointment  of  Matthias  was  by  an  express  intimation 
of  the  Divine  will,  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  lot ; 
and  that  of  Paul,  perhaps  the  most  powerful  intellect  which 
has  ever  been  enlisted  in  the  service  of  Christianity,  by  the 
miraculous  and  glorious  appearance  of  Christ  to  him  as  he 
travelled  to  Damascus.  Hence  it  is,  that  on  this  proof 
the  apostle  so  often  rests  the  validity  of  his  great  office, — 
"  Paul,  an  apostle,  not  of  men,  neither  by  man,  but  by  Jesus 
Christ."*  In  the  last  place,  it  was  essential  on  the  part  of 
all  who  bore  the  apostleship,  that  they  had  seen  the  Lord. 
This  renders  it  impossible  that  this  office  could  have  validly 
existed  longer  than  for  a  certain  number  of  years  after  the 
death  of  Christ.  The  popes  have  at  no  time  been  very 
careful  to  keep  their  pretensions  within  the  bounds  of  credi- 
bility ;  but  we  are  not  aware  that  any  of  them  have  ever 
gone  so  far  as  to  assert  that  they  had  received  investiture 
directly  from  Christ,  or  that  literally  they  had  seen  the 
Lord. 

It  may  also  be  urged  with  great  force  against  Papists,  as 
Barrow  does,f  that  "if  some  privileges  of  St  Peter  were 
derived  to  popes,  why  were  not  all  ?  Why  was  not  Pope 
Alexander  VI.  as  holy  as  St  Peter  1  Why  was  not  Pope 
Honorius  as  sound  in  his  private  judgment  1  Why  is  not 
every  pope  inspired  I  Why  is  not  every  papal  epistle  to  be 
reputed  canonical  I  Why  are  not  all  popes  endowed  with 
power  of  doing  miracles  ?  Why  did  not  the  Pope,  by  a  ser- 
mon, convert  thousands?  [Why,  indeed,  do  popes  never 
preach  ?|]     Why  doth  he  not  cure  men  by  his  shadow  ?    [He 


*  Galatians,  i.  1.  f  Barrow's  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  596, 

t  Amongst  the  other  concessions  to  the  spirit  of  the  age  which  marked 
the  early  part  of  the  pontificate  of  Pius  IX.,  was  that  of  preaching,  which 


PETER  APPOINTED  NO  SUCCESSOR.  237 

is,  say  they,  himself  his  shadow.]  What  ground  is  there 
of  distinguishing  the  privileges,  so  that  he  shall  have  some, 
not  others  ?     Where  is  the  ground  to  be  found  V 

The  practice  of  the  apostles  was  in  strict  accordance  with 
what  we  have  now  proved  respecting  the  nature  and  end  of 
the  apostleship.  They  made  no  attempt  to  perpetuate  an  of- 
fice which  they  knew  to  be  temporary.  They  never  thought 
of  conveying  to  their  contemporaries,  or  transmitting  to 
their  successors,  prerogatives  and  powers  which  were  re- 
stricted to  their  own  persons,  and  which  they  knew  would 
expire  with  themselves.  They  planted  churches  throughout 
the  greater  part  of  the  then  civilized  world,  and  they  or- 
dained pastors  in  every  place;  but  throughout  the  vast  field 
which  they  covered  with  Christianity  and  planted  with  pas- 
tors and  teachers,  we  do  not  find  a  single  new  apostleship 
created.  One  by  one  did  these  Fathers  of  the  Christian 
Church  descend  into  the  tomb ;  but  the  survivors  took  no 
steps  to  supply  their  place  with  men  of  equal  rank  and 
powers.  It  is  not  alleged  that  even  Peter  invested  any  with 
the  apostleship  ;  and  yet  no  sooner  does  he  breathe  his  last, 
than,  lo  !  there  springs  from  his  ashes,  as  Romanists  assure 
us,  a  whole  race  of  popes.  Most  marvellous  is  it  that  the 
dead  body  of  Peter  should  possess  more  virtue  than  the 
living  man.-f- 

In  fine,  though  we  should  concede  this  point,  as  we  have 
conceded  all  that  went  before  it,  the  difficulties  of  the  Ro- 


lie  did  once  in  St  Peter's.  "We  know  not  what  loss  literature  may  have 
sustained,  but  theology  has  sustained  a  great  loss,  doubtless,  ft'om  the 
want  of  short-hand  writers  at  Rome  ;  for  the  sermon,  like  the  preacher, 
was,  we  may  presume,  infallible. 

t  The  chair  of  Peter  has  a  festival  in  its  honour.  We  have  all  heard 
of  the  statement  of  Lady  Morgan,  that  the  chair  is  inscribed  with  the 
creed  of  the  Mussulman, — "  There  is  one  God,  and  Mahomet  is  his  pro- 
phet." It  is  also  related,  that  when,  in  1662,  the  chair  was  cleaned,  the 
twelve  labours  of  Hercules  appeared  carved  upon  it.  A  Romanist  divine, 
however,  unwilling  that  the  unlucky  characters  should  militate  against 
the  authenticity  of  the  chair,  interpreted  them  as  emblematical  of  the  ex- 
ploits of  the  popes. 


238  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER's  PRDIACY 


manists  are  by  no  means  at  an  end.  Granting  that  Peter 
did  possess  this  dignity, — granting  that  ho  made  Rome  its 
seat, — and  granting,  too,  that  he  could  and  did  transmit  it  to 
his  successor  when  he  died, — Romanists  have  still  to  show 
that  this  dignity  has  descended  pure  and  entire  to  the  pre- 
sent occupant  of  the  pontifical  throne.  It  is  not  enough  that 
the  mystic  waters  existed  on  the  Seven  Hills  eighteen  centu- 
ries ago;  we  must  be  able  to  trace  the  continuity  of  the  chan- 
nel which  has  conveyed  them  over  the  intervening  period  to 
our  day.  Pius  IX.  is  the  two  hundred  and  fifty-seventh  name 
on  the  pontifical  list;  and,  in  order  to  prove  that  in  him  re- 
sides the  plenitude  of  pontifical  power,  the  Romanist  must 
showthat  everyone  of  his  predecessors  was  duly  elected, — that 
none  of  them  fell  into  heresy,  or  into  simony,  or  into  any  other 
error  which  the  Roman  councils  have  declared  to  be  inconsist- 
ent with  being  valid  successors  of  Peter,  or,  indeed,  members 
of  the  Church  at  all.  But  is  there  a  man  living  who  has  the 
least  acquaintance  with  history,  who  will  undertake  this,  or 
who,  on  the  question  of  genuineness,  would  stand  surety  for 
the  one-half  of  those  who  have  sat  in  the  chair  of  Peter  ? 
Is  it  not  notorious  that  that  chair  has  been  gained,  in  in- 
stances not  a  few,  by  fraud,  by  bribery,  by  violence, — that 
the  election  of  a  pope  has  often  led  to  the  deluging  of  Rome 
with  blood, — that  men  who  have  been  monsters  of  iniquity 
have  called  themselves  the  vicars  of  Him  who  was  without 
sin, — that  there  have  been  violent  schisms,  numerous  vacan- 
cies, and  sometimes  two,  or  even  three,  pretenders  to  the 
popedom,  each  of  whom  has  endeavoured  to  establish  his 
pretensions  by  excommunicating  his  rival, — thus  affording  a 
fine  specimen  of  Catholic  unity,  as  they  have  also  done  of 
Catholic  infallibility,  when,  as  in  cases  not  a  few,  one 
pope  has  flatly  contradicted  another  pope,  and  that  in 
circumstances  where  it  was  quite  possible  that  both  popes 
might  be  wrong,  but  altogether  impossible  that  both  could 
be  right?  It  is  notorious  also,  that  in  many  instances 
popes  have  fallen  into  what  the  Church  of  Rome  accounts 
heresy,  and   have  ceased,   in  consequence,   not   only  to  be 


BREAKS  IN  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHAIN.  239 

genuine  popes,  but  even  members  of  the  Church.     What  be- 
came of  the  apostoHc  dignity  in  these  cases  I     How  was  it 
preserved,  and  how  transmitted  ?     Sometimes  we  find  the 
chair  of  Peter  vacant,  at  other  times  it  is  filled  with  a  here- 
tical pope,*  at  other  times  it  is  claimed  by  two  or  more 
popes,  each  of  whom  is  as  like  or  as  unlike  Peter  as  his 
rival.     So  far  is  the  line  of  succession  from  being  continuous, 
that  we   find  it  broken,  at  short  intervals,   by  wide  gaps, 
through  which,  if  there  be  any  truth  in  Romanist  principles, 
the  mystic  virtues  must  have  lapsed,  leaving  the  Church  in 
a  most  deplorable  state,  her  popes  without  pontifical  autho- 
rity, her  priests  without  true  consecration,  and  her  sacra- 
ments without  regenerating  efficacy.     The  great  geographi- 
cal problems  which  have  been  undertaken  in  our  day,  iii 
which  mighty  rivers  have  been  traced  up  to  their  source, 
through  tangled  forests,  and  low  swampy  flats  on  which  the 
miasma  settles  thick  and  deadly,  and  through  the  burning 
sands  of  the  trackless  desert,  have  been  of  easy  achieve- 
ment,  compared   with  that  of  the  man  who    would    trace 
up  to  its  source  that  mystic  but  powerful  influence  which  is 
held  to  pervade  the  Church  of  Rome.      And   even    when 
some  bold  spirit  does  adventure  upon  the  onerous  task,  and 
pushes  resolutely  on  through  the  moral  wastes,  the  tangled 
controversies,  and  the  perplexed  and  devious  paths  of  the 
Papacy,  and  through  the  dense  clouds  of  superstition  and 
vice  that  overhang  the  pontifical  annals,  what  is  his  disap- 
pointment to  find  that,  instead  of  being  conducted  at  last  to 
the  pellucid  waters  of  the  apostolic  fount,  he  is  landed  on 
the  mephitic  shores  of  some  black  and  stagnant  pool, — some 
Acheron  of  the  middle  asres  ! 

Thus  have  we  examined,  severally,  the  assumptions  of 
Rome  on  this  fundamental  point.  Some  of  them  are  utter- 
ly false,  the  rest  are  in  the  highest  degree  improbable,  and 
not  one  of  them  has  Rome  been  able  to  establish.      This 


*  Pope  Liberius  avowed  Arianism,  aud  Pope  Honorius  was  a  Mono- 
thelite. 


2  iO  APOSTOLICITY,  OR  PETER's  PRIMACY. 

forms  her  foundation ;  and  what  is  it  but  a  quicksand  ? 
Though  we  should  agree  to  concede  the  point  to  Rome  on 
condition  that  she  made  good  but  one  of  these  propositions, 
she  would  fail ;  and  yet  it  is  essentially  necessary  to  the 
success  of  her  cause  that  she  should  establish  every  one  of 
them.  If  but  one  link  be  awanting  in  this  chain,  its  loss 
forms  an  impassable  gulf,  which  eternally  divides  Popery 
from  Christianity,  and  the  Church  of  Rome  from  the  Church 
of  Christ. 


PROGRESSION  A  UNIVERSAL  LAW.  241 


CHAPTER  VII. 


INFALLIBILITY. 


ThK  crowning  attribute  claimed  by  the  Church  of  Rome  is 
infallibility.  This  forms  a  wide  and  essential  distinction 
between  that  Church  and  all  other  societies.  It  is  her 
crowning  blasphemy,  as  Protestants  hold ;  her  peerless  ex- 
cellence, as  Romanists  maintain.  These  are  the  locks  in 
which  the  great  strength  of  this  modern  Sampson  lies,  and 
to  which  are  owing,  in  no  small  degree,  the  prodigious  feats 
that  Rome  has  performed  in  enslaving  the  nations.  If  these 
locks  are  shorn,  she  becomes  weak  as  others.  Progression, 
and  consequently  change,  which  excludes  the  idea  of  infalli- 
bility, is  an  essential  condition  in  the  existence  of  all  created 
beings.  It  is  the  law  of  the  material  universe  :  it  is  not 
less  that  of  the  rational  creation.  Man,  whether  as  an  in- 
dividual or  as  formed  into  society,  is  ever  advancing.  In 
science  he  drops  the  crude,  the  vague,  and  the  false,  and 
rises  to  the  certain  and  the  true.  In  government  he  is 
gradually  approximating  what  is  best  adapted  to  the  con- 
stitution of  society,  the  nature  of  the  human  mind,  and  the 
law  of  God.  In  religion  he  is  dropping  the  symbolical,  and 
rising  to  the  spiritual ;  he  is  gradually  enlarging,  correcting, 
and  perfecting  his  views.  Thus  he  advanced  from  the  Pa- 
triarchal to  the  Mosaic, — from  the  IMosaic  to  the  Christian ; 
and  to  this  condition  of  his  being  the  Bible  is  adapted.    The 


242  INFALLIBILITY. 

Bible,  like  no  other  book  in  the  world,  remains  eternally 
immutable,  notwithstanding  it  is  as  completely  adapted  to 
each  successive  condition  of  the  Church  and  of  society  as 
if  it  had  been  written  for  that  age,  and  no  other.  Why 
so?  Because  that  book  is  stored  with  great  principles  and 
comprehensive  laws,  adapted  to  every  case  that  can  arise, 
and  capable  of  being  applied  to  all  the  conditions  and  ages 
of  the  world.  The  Church,  so  far  from  having  got  beyond 
the  Bible,  is  not  yet  abreast  of  it.  Rome,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  an  iron  circle,  within  which  the  human  mind  may 
revolve  for  ever  without  progressing  a  hairbreadth.  That 
Church  is  the  only  society  that  never  progresses.  She  never 
abandons  a  narrow  view  of  truth  for  one  more  enlarged  ;  she 
never  corrects  what  is  wrong  or  drops  what  is  untrue  ;  be- 
cause she  is  infallible.  Had  she  been  able  to  render  society 
as  fixed  as  herself,  it  might  have  been  safe  to  adopt,  as  her 
policy,  immobility.  But  society  is  in  motion ;  she  can  nei- 
ther go  along  with  the  current  nor  arrest  it,  and  therefore 
must  founder  at  her  moorings.  Thus,  in  the  righteous  pro- 
vidence of  God,  that  which  was  the  source  of  her  power  will 
be  the  cause  of  her  destruction. 

We  are  fully  warranted  in  affirming  that  the  Church  of 
Home  has  claimed  infallibility.  If  not  directly  and  formally 
asserted,  it  is  manifestly  implied,  in  the  decrees  of  general 
councils,  in  the  bulls  of  popes,  and  in  canons  and  articles 
of  an  authoritative  character.  The  Catechism  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent,  after  the  assumptions  we  have  already  discussed, 
lays  it  down  as  a  corollary,  that  "  the  Church  cannot  err  in 
faith  or  morals.*"*  Infallibility  is  universally  and  formally 
claimed  in  behalf  of  their  Church,  by  all  Romanists ;  it  is 
taught  in  all  their  Catechisms,  and  in  all  their  text-books 
and  systems  of  theology  ;-|-  and  forms  so  prominent  a  point 
in  all  their  defences  of  their  system,  that  it  is  quite  fair  to 
assert  that  Papists  hold  and  teach  that  their  Church  is  in- 


*  Cat.  Rom.  p.  83. 
+  See  Dens'  Theol.  torn.  ii.  p.  126, — De  Infallibilitate  Ecclesiae. 


CLAIM  OP  INFALLIBILITY.  243 

fallible.  Romanists  do  not  bold  tbat  all  persons  and  pastors 
in  their  Church  are  infallible,  but  only  tbat  the  "  Church" 
is  infallible.  To  this  extent  Romanists  are  agreed  on  the 
question  of  infallibility,  but  no  farther.  The  seat  or  locality 
of  that  infallibility  remains  to  this  hour  undecided.  The 
Jesuits  and  the  Italian  bishops  hold  that  this  infallibility 
resides  in  the  Pope,  as  the  head  of  the  Church,  and  the 
organ  through  which  she  makes  known  her  mind ;  the 
French  bishops  place  it  in  general  councils ;  while  a  third 
party  exists  which  holds  that  neither  popes  nor  councils 
separately  are  infallible,  but  that  both  conjointly  are  so. 
The  Roman  Catholics  of  England  used  anciently  to  side 
with  the  Italians  on  this  question,  but  latterly  they  have 
gone  over  to  the  opinions  of  the  French.*  Those  who  place 
infallibility  in  the  Pope  do  not  maintain  that  he  is  infallible 
either  in  his  personal  conduct  or  in  his  private  opinions,  but 
only  when  ex  cathedra  he  pronounces  on  points  of  faith  and 
decides  controversies.  Then  he  speaks  infallibly,  and  every 
Roman  Catholic  is  bound,  at  his  peril,  to  receive  and  obey 
the  decision.  The  compendious  creed  of  the  Romanist,  ac- 
cording to  Challoner,  is  as  follows  : — "  I  believe  in  all  things, 
according  as  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  believes  \''-\'  and  he 
"  promises  and  swears  true  obedience  to  the  Roman  bishop, 
the  successor  of  St  Peter,  the  prince  of  the  apostles,  and 
vicar  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  professes  and  undoubtedly  re- 
ceives all  things  delivered,  defined,  and  declared,  by  the 
sacred  canons  and  general  councils,  and  particularly  by  the 
holy  Council  of  Trent ;  and  condemns,  rejects,  and  anathe- 
matizes all  things  contrary  thereto,  and  all  heresies  whatso- 
ever condemned  and  anathematized  by  the  Church.";):  "  '  A 
general  council,  rightly  congregated,'  says  Alphonsus  de 
Castro,  '  cannot  err  in  the  faith."  '  Councils,'  says  Eccius 
and  Tapperus,  '  represent  the  Catholic  Church,  which  can- 
not err,  and  therefore   they  cannot  err.'     Costerus  says, 

*  Rrornings  among  the  Jesuits  at  Rome,  p.  96. 
+  Garden  of  the  Soul,  p.  35.  J  Pope  Pius  IV.'s  Creed. 


214  INFALLIBILITY. 

'  The  decrees  of  general  councils  have  as  much  weight  as 
the  holy  gospel.'  '  Councils,''  says  Canus,  '  approved  and 
confirmed  by  the  Pope  cannot  err.'  Bellarmine  seconds 
him.  Tannerus  alleges,  that  '  councils,  being  the  highest 
ecclesiastical  judicatories,  cannot  err.'  And  Stapelton  says, 
'  The  decrees  of  councils  are  the  oracles  of  the  Holy  Ghost.' "  * 
That  Rome  receives  from  her  members  the  entire  submission 
which  she  claims  on  the  ground  of  her  infallibility,  appears 
from  the  following  description,  given  by  Mr  Blanco  White, 
of  his  state  of  mind  while  a  member  of  that  Church  : — "  I 
grounded  my  Christian  faith  upon  the  infallibility  of  the 
Church.  No  Roman  Catholic  pretends  to  a  better  founda- 
tion  I  believed  the  infallibility  of  the  Church, 

because  the  Scripture  said  she  was  infallible ;  while  I  had  no 
better  proof  that  the  Scripture  said  so  than  the  assertion  of 
the  Church  that  she  could  not  mistake  the  Scripture .""j* 

The  texts  of  Scripture  on  which  Romanists  rest  the  in- 
fallibility are  mainly  those  we  have  already  examined  in 
treating  of  the  supremacy.  To  these  they  add  the  follow- 
ing : — "  Upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  Church,  and  the 
gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it."j  "  I  am  with  you 
always,  unto  the  end  of  the  world."§  "  He  that  heareth  you 
heareth  me ;  and  he  that  despiseth  you  despiseth  me."|| 
"  The  Comforter,  the  Holy  Ghost,  shall  abide  with  you  for 
ever."1[  But  these  passages  fall  a  long  way  short  of  the 
infallibility.  Fairly  interpreted,  they  amount  only  to  a  pro- 
mise that  the  Church,  maugre  the  opposition  of  hell,  shall 
be  preserved  till  the  end  of  time, — that  the  substance  of  the 
truth  shall  always  be  found  in  her, — and  that  the  assistance 
of  the  Spirit  shall  be  enjoyed  by  her  members  in  investigat- 
ing truth,  and  by  her  pastors  in  publishing  it,  and  in  exer- 
cising that  authority  with  which  Christ  has  invested  them. 


■*  Poole's  Blow  at  the  Root  of  the  Romish  Church,  chap.  iv.  prop.  iv. 
•f  Practical  and  Internal  Evidence,  pp.  9,  10. 

:|:  Matt.  xvi.  18.  II  Luko,  x.  16. 

§  Matt,  xxviii.  20.  T  John,  xiv.  16. 


INFALLIBILITY  VERSUS  REVELATION.  24-5 

But  Romanists  hold  that  it  is  not  in  the  words,  but  in  the 
sense  of  these  passages  that  the  proof  lies ;  and  that  of  that 
sense  the  Church  is  the  infallible  interpreter.  They  hold 
that  the  Scripture  is  so  obscure,  that  we  can  know  nothing 
of  what  it  teaches  on  any  point  whatever,  but  by  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  Church.  It  was  the  saying  of  one  of  their 
distinguished  men,  Mr  Stapelton,  "  that  even  the  Divinity 
of  Christ  and  of  God  did  depend  upon  the  Pope."^' 

This  is  a  demand  that  we  should  lay  aside  the  Bible,  as  a 
book  utterly  useless  as  a  revelation  of  the  Divine  will,  and 
that  we  should  accept  the  Church  as  an  infallible  guide.-f* 
It  is  a  proposition  which,  in  fact,  puts  the  Church  in  the 
room  of  God.  It  is  but  reasonable  that  we  should  demand 
proof  clear  and  conclusive  of  so  momentous  a  proposition. 
Romanists,  in  their  attempts  to  prove  infallibility,  commonly 
begin  by  alleging  the  necessity  of  an  infallible  authority  in 
matters  of  faith.  This  Protestants  readily  grant.  They, 
not  less  than  Papists,  appeal  every  matter  of  faith  to  an  in- 
fallible tribunal.  But  herein  they  differ,  that  while  the  in- 
fallible tribunal  of  the  Protestant  is  God  speaking  in  the 
Bible,  the  infallible  tribunal  of  the  Papist  is  the  voice  of  the 
Church.  Now,  even  a  Papist  can  scarce  refuse  to  admit  that 
the  Protestant  ground  on  this  question  is  the  more  certain 
and  safe.  Both  parties — Protestants  and  Papists — acknow- 
ledge the  inspiration  and  infallibility  of  the  Scriptures ;  while 
one  party  only,  namely,  the  Papist,  acknowledges  the  infal- 
libility of  the  Church.  But  the  Romanist  is  accustomed  to 
urge,  that  Scripture  is  practically  useless  as  an  infallible 
guide,  from  its  liability  to  a  variety  of  interpretations  on  the 
part  of  a  variety  of  persons ;  and  he  hence  infers  the  neces- 
sity of  a  living,  speaking  judge,  at  any  moment,  to  determine 
infallibly  all  doubts  and  controversies.     The  Bible,  accord- 


*  Poole's  Blow  at  the  Boot  of  the  Romish  Church,  chap.  ii.  prop.  ii. 

t  Richard  du  Mans  asserted  in  the  Council  of  Trent,  "  that  the  Scrip- 
ture was  become  useless,  since  the  Schoolmen  had  established  the  truth  of 
all  doctrines." 


246  INFALLIBILITY. 

ing  to  the  Romanist,  is  the  written  law,— the  Church  is  the 
interpreter  or  judge  ;*  and  the  example  of  England  and  other 
countries  is  appealed  to  as  an  analogous  case,  where  the 
written  laws  are  administered  by  living  judges.    The  analogy 
rather  bears  against  the  Eomanist ;  for  while  in  England  the 
law  is  above  the  judge,  and  the  judge  is  bound  to  decide 
only  according  to  the  law's  award,  in  the  Church  of  Rome 
the  judge  is  above  the  law,  and  the  law  can  speak  only  ac- 
cording to  the  pleasure  of  the  judge.     But  the  argument  by 
which  it  is  sought  to  establish  this  living  and  speaking  infal- 
lible tribunal  is  a  singularly  illogical  one.     From  the  great 
variety  of  interpretations  to  which  the  Scriptures  are  liable, 
such  a  living  tribunal,  say  the  Romanists,  is  necessary ;  and 
because  it  is  necessary,  therefore  it  is.     Was  there  ever  a 
more  glaring  non  sequitur  ?     If  Romanists  wish  to  establish 
the  infallibility  of  the  Church  of  Rome  by  fair  reasoning, 
there  is  only  one  way  in  which  they  can  proceed :   they 
must  begin  the  argument  on  ground  common  to  both  par- 
ties.    What  is  that  ground  ?     It  is  not  the  infallibility,  be- 
cause Protestants  deny  that.     It  is  the  holy  Scriptures,  the 
inspiration  and  infallibility  of  which  both  parties  admit. 
The  Romanist  cannot  refuse  an  appeal  to  the  Bible,  because 
he  admits  it  to  be  the  Word  of  God.     He  is  bound  by  clear 
and  direct  proofs  drawn  from  thence  to  prove  the  infallibi- 
lity of  his  Church,  before  he  can  ask  a  Protestant  to  receive 
it.     But  the  texts  advanced  from  the  Bible,  taken  in  their 
obvious  and  literal  import,  do  not  prove  the  infallibility  of 
the  Church ;  and  the  Romanist,  who  is  unable  to  deny  this, 
maintains,  nevertheless,  that  they  do  amount  to  proofs  of 
the  Church's  infallibility,  because  the  Church,  who  cannot 
possibly  mistake  the  sense  of  Scripture,  has  said  so.     The 
thing  to  be  proved  is  the  CJmrclis  infalliUlity ;  and  this  the 
Romanist  proves  by  passages  from  Scripture  which  in  them- 
selves do  not  prove  it,  but  become  proofs  by  a  latent  sense 
contained  in  them,  which  latent  sense  depends  upon  the  in- 


•  Milner's  End  of  Controversy,  part  i.  p.  116. 


POPISH  CIRCLE.  247 

fallibility  of  the  Church,  which  is  the  very  thing  to  be  proved. 
This  famous  argument  has  not  inaptly  been  termed  the 
"  Labyrinth,  or  Popish  Oircle.""*  "  Papists  commonly  al- 
lege," says  Dr  Cunningham,  "  that  it  is  only  from  the  testi- 
mony of  the  Church  that  we  can  certainly  know  what  is  the 
Word  of  God,  and  what  is  its  meaning  ;  and  thus  they  are 
inextricably  involved  in  the  sophism  of  reasoning  in  a  circle  ; 
that  is,  they  profess  to  prove  the  infallibility  of  the  Church 
by  the  authority  of  Scripture ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  they 
establish  the  authority  of  Scripture,  and  ascertain  its  mean- 
ing, by  the  testimony  of  the  Church,  which  cannot  err."-}- 

"We  do  not  deny  that  God  might  have  appointed  an  in- 
fallible guide,  and  that,  had  he  done  so,  it  would  have  been 
our  duty  to  submit  implicitly  to  him  ;  but  it  is  reasonable 
to  infer,  that  in  that  case  very  explicit  intimation  would 
have  been  given  of  the  fact.  In  giving  such  intimation,  God 
would  have  acted  but  in  accordance  with  his  usual  method. 
His  own  existence  he  has  certified  to  us  by  great  and  durable 
proofs, — creation  without  us,  and  conscience  within.  He 
has  attested  the  Bible  as  a  supernatural  revelation  by  many 
infallible  marks  stamped  upon  it.  Analogy,  then,  warrants 
the  conclusion  that,  had  the  Church  of  Rome  been  appointed 
the  infallible  guide  of  mankind,  at  least  one  very  distinct  in- 
timation would  have  been  given  of  the  fact.  But  where  do 
we  find  the  slightest  proof,  or  even  hint,  of  such  a  thing  ? 
Not  in  the  Bible  certainly.  We  may  search  it  through  and 
through  without  learning  that  there  is  any  other  infallible 
guide  on  earth  but  itself.  If  we  believe  the  infallibility  at  all, 
it  must  be  either  because  it  is  self-evident,  or  because  it  rests 
on  proof.  If  it  were  self-evident,  it  would  be  vain  to  think  of 
bringing  proof  to  make  it  more  evident,  just  as  it  would  be 
vain  to  think  of  bringing  evidence  to  prove  that  things  that 
are  equal  to  the  same  thing  are  equal  to  one  another,  or  that 


*  See  Episcopius's  Labyrinthus,  sive  Circulus  Pontificius. 
+  Stillingfleet's  Doctrines  and  Practices  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  with 
Notes  by  Dr  Cunnhigham,  p.  20S. 


218  INFALLIBILITY. 

the  whole  is  greater  than  its  part.  But  in  that  case  there 
would  be  as  little  difference  of  opinion  among  rational  men 
about  the  infallibility,  as  about  the  axioms  we  have  just 
stated.  But  we  find  great  diversity  of  sentiment  indeed 
about  the  infallibility.  Not  one  in  ten  professes  to  believe 
it.  It  is  not,  then,  a  self-evident  truth ;  and  seeing  it  is 
not  self-evident,  we  must  demand  proof.  It  is  usual  with 
the  Church  of  Rome  to  send  us  first  to  the  Scriptures.  We 
search  the  Scriptures  from  beginning  to  end,  but  can  discover 
no  proof  of  the  infallibility ;  and  when  we  come  back  to  com- 
plain of  our  bad  success,  we  are  told  that  it  was  impossible 
we  could  fare  otherwise ;  that  we  have  been  using  our  reason, 
than  which  we  cannot  possibly  commit  a  greater  crime,  rea- 
son being  wholly  useless  in  discovering  the  true  sense  of 
Scripture ;  and  that  the  sense  of  Scripture  can  be  discovered 
only  by  infallibility.  Thus  the  Romanist  is  back  again  into 
his  circle.  We  are  to  believe  the  infallibility  because  the 
Scriptures  bid  us,  and  we  are  to  believe  the  Scriptures  be- 
cause the  infallibility  bids  us;  and  out  of  this  circle  the 
Romanist  can  by  no  means  conjure  himself. 

An  attempt  at  escape  from  an  eternal  rotation  round  the 
two  foci  of  Scripture  and  infallibility  the  Romanist  does 
make,  by  what  looks  like  an  appeal  to  reason.  Of  various 
possible  ways,  it  is  asserted,  God  always  chooses  the  best ; 
and  as  the  best  way  of  leading  men  to  heaven  is  to  appoint 
an  infallible  guide,  therefore  an  infallible  guide  has  been 
appointed.  This  is  but  another  form  of  the  argument  of 
necessity,  to  which  we  have  already  adverted.  But  this  can- 
not answer  the  purpose  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
The  Greek  Church  might  employ  this  argument  to  prove  its 
infallibility  ;  or  the  professors  of  the  Mahommedan  faith 
might  employ  it.  They  might  say,  it  is  inconsistent  with  the 
goodness  of  God  that  there  should  not  be  an  infallible  guide; 
it  is  plain  that  there  is  no  other  than  ourselves ;  therefore 
we  are  that  infallible  guide.  But  a  better  way  still  would 
have  been  to  make  every  man  and  woman  infallible ;  and  we 
humbly  submit  that,  according  to  the  argument  of  the  Ro- 


INFALLIBILITY  VERSUS  REASON.  2-i9 

manist,  this  is  the  plan  that  God  ought  to  have  adopted. 
The  theory  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  proceeds  on  the 
idea  that  there  is  but  one  man  in  the  world  possessed  of  his 
sound  senses.  Accordingly,  he  has  charged  himself  with  the 
safe  keeping  of  all  the  rest ;  and  for  this  benevolent  end 
he  has  established  a  large  asylum  called  Catholicism.  The 
design  of  this  establishment  is  not  to  restore  the  inmates  to 
reason,  but  to  keep  them  away  from  their  reason.  Here 
men  are  taught  that  never  are  they  so  wise  as  when  most 
completely  bereft  of  their  faculties  ;  nor  do  they  ever  act  so 
rationally  as  when  least  aided  by  their  senses. 

But  by  this  line  of  argument  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
undeniably  falls  into  the  deadly  sin  of  requiring  men  to 
use  their  private  judgment.  Granting  that  the  best  way 
of  leading  men  to  heaven  is  to  provide  them  with  a  living 
infallible  guide ;  what  have  they  to  discover  that  guide  but 
their  reason  ?  But  if  we  may  trust  our  reason  when  it  tells 
us  that  an  infallible  guide  is  necessary,  why  may  we  not 
trust  it  when  it  tells  us  that  the  Bible  is  silent  as  to  the 
Church' of  Rome  being  that  infallible  guide?  Why  is  rea- 
son so  useful  in  the  one  case, — why  so  useless  in  the  other  1 
Can  our  belief  in  anything  be  stronger  than  our  belief  in  the 
reason  that  assures  us  of  its  truth  ?  Can  we  possibly  repose 
greater  confidence  in  the  findings  of  our  reason  than  in  our 
reason  itself  ?  But  our  reason  is  useless ;  therefore  its  find- 
ing that  an  infallible  guide  is  necessary,  and  that  that  guide 
is  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  is  also  useless.  If  it  is 
answered,  that  the  Scriptures,  rightly  interpreted  by  the 
Church,  bid  us  believe  this  guide,  this,  we  grant,  is  renoun- 
cing the  inconsistency  of  grounding  the  matter  on  private 
judgment ;  but  it  is  a  return  to  the  circle  within  which  the 
infallibility  rests  upon  the  Scriptures  and  the  Scriptures 
upon  the  infallibility.  If  the  Protestant  cannot  use  his  rea- 
son within  that  circle,  it  is  plain  the  Romanist  cannot  use 
his  out  of  it.  He  never  ventures  far  from  it,  therefore,  and 
on  the  first  appearance  of  danger  flies  back  to  it.  The  ar- 
gument would  be  greatly  more  brief,  and  its  logic  would  be 


250  INFALLIBILITY. 

equally  good,  were  it  to  run  thus  :  "  The  Church  of  Rome  is 
infallible  because  she  is  infallible  ;"'''  and  much  unnecessary 
wrangling  would  be  saved,  were  the  Romanist,  before  com- 
mencing the  controversy,  to  tell  his  opponent,  that  unless  he 
conceded  the  point,  he  could  not  dispute  with  him.* 

Moreover,  the  boasted  advantage  of  this  infallible  method 
of  determining  all  doubts  and  controversies  is  a  gross  illu- 
sion. When  the  person  closes  the  Bible,  and  sets  out  in 
quest  of  this  infallible  tribunal,  he  knows  not  where  to  seek 
it.  To  this  day  Romanists  have  not  determined  where  that 
infallibility  is  lodged  ;  and  whether  the  person  goes  to  the 
canon  law,  or  to  the  writings  of  the  fathers,  or  to  the  de- 
crees of  councils,  or  to  the  bulls  of  the  popes,  he  is  met  by 
the  very  same  difficulties,  but  on  a  far  larger  scale,  which 
Romanists  urge,  though  on  no  good  ground,  against  the 
Bible  as  a  rule  of  faith.  These  all  have  been,  and  still  are, 
liable  to  far  greater  diversity  of  interpretation  than  the 
holy  Scriptures;  and  if  the  objection  be  valid  in  the  one 
case,  much  more  is  it  so  in  the  other.  That  the  fathers  are 
not  only  not  infallible,  but  are  not  even  exempt  from  the 
faults  of  obscurity  and  inconsistency,  is  manifest  from  the 
voluminous  commentaries  which  have  been  written  to  make 
their  meaning  clear,  as  well  as  from  the  fact,  that  the  fathers 
directly  contradict  one  another,  and  the  same  father  some- 
times contradicts  himself.  We  do  not  find  one  of  them 
claiming  infallibility,  and  not  a  few  of  them  disclaim  it.  If 
they  are  right  in  disclaiming  it,  then  they  are  not  infallible ; 
and  if  they  are  wrong,  neither  are  they  infallible,  seeing  they 
err  in  this,  and  may  err  equally  in  other  matters.  "  The 
sense  of  all  these  holy  men"  [the  fathers],  says  Melchior 
Canus,  "  is  the  sense  of  God's  Spirit."  "  That  which  the 
fathers  unanimously  deliver,"  says  Gregory  de  Valentia, 
"  about  religion,  is  infallibly  true".*f"     So  say  the  monks;  but 

*  See  "  The  Case  stated  between  the  Church  of  Rome  and  the  Church 
of  England,"  pp.  30-40  ;  London,  1713.  See  also  "A  Discourse  against 
tlio  Infill libility  of  the  Roman  Church,"  by  William  Chillingworth. 

+  Poole's  Blow  at  the  Root  of  the  Romish  Church,  chai5.  iii.  prop.  iii. 


VARIATIONS  RESPECTING  INFALLIBILITY.  251 

the  fathers  themselves  give  a  very  different  account  of  tlie 
matter,  "  A  Cliristian  is  bound,*"  says  Bellarmine,  "  to  re- 
ceive the  Church's  doctrine  without  examination."  But  Basil 
flatly  contradicts  him.  "  The  hearers,""  says  he,  "  that  are 
instructed  in  the  Scriptures  must  examine  the  doctrine  of 
their  teachers ;  they  must  receive  the  things  that  are  agree- 
able to  Scripture,  and  reject  those  things  that  are  contrary 
to  it."  "  Do  not  believe  me  saying  these  things,"  says  Cyril, 
"  unless  I  prove  them  out  of  the  Scriptures."*  If,  then, 
we  appeal  to  the  fathers  themselves, — and  those  who  believe 
them  to  be  infallible  cannot  certainly  refuse  this  appeal, — ■ 
the  infallibility  of  tradition  must  be  given  up. 

But  not  a  few  Romanists,  when  hard  pressed,  give  up  the 
infallibility  of  the  fathers,-)-  and  take  refuge  in  that  of  gene- 
ral councils.  But  whence  comes  the  infallibility  of  these 
councils?  The  men  in  their  individual  capacity  are  not 
infallible :  how  come  they  to  be  so  in  their  collective  capa- 
city ?  We  do  not  deny  that  God  might  have  preserved  the 
councils  of  his  Church  from  error  ;  but  the  question  is  not 
what  God  might  have  done,  but  what  He  has  done.  Has 
He  signified  his  intention  to  infallibly  guide  the  councils  of 
the  Church  I  If  so,  in  two  ways  only  can  this  intention  have 
been  made  known, — through  the  Bible,  or  through  tradition. 
Not  through  the  Bible,  for  it  contains  no  promise  of  infalli- 
bility to  councils ;  and  Papists  produce  nothing  from  Scrip- 
ture on  this  head  beyond  the  texts  on  which  they  attempt 
to  base  the  primacy,  which  we  have  already  disposed  of. 
Nor  does  tradition  reveal  the  infallibility  of  general  coun- 
cils. No  father  has  asserted  that  such  a  tradition  has  de- 
scended to  him  from  the  apostles  ;  and  not  only  did  the 
fathers  reject  the  notion  of  their  own  infallibility,  but  they 
also  rejected  the  infallibility  of  councils,  and  demanded,  as 

*  For  the  concurrence  of  the  fathers  of  the  first  three  centiiries  in  the 
Protestant  method  of  resolving  faith,  see  Stillingfleet's  Rational  Account, 
part  i.  chap.  ix. 

+  See  Seymour's  debates  with  the  Roman  Jesuits,  in  his  Mornings  among 
the  Jesuits. 


252  INFALLIBILITY. 

Protestants  do,  submission  to  the  holy  Scriptures.  "I 
ought  not  to  adduce  the  Council  of  Nice,"'  says  St  Augus- 
tine, "nor  ought  you  to  adduce  the  Council  of  Ariminum; 
for  I  am  not  bound  by  the  authority  of  the  one,  nor  are  you 
bound  by  the  authority  of  the  other.  Let  the  question  be 
determined  by  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  which  are 
witnesses  peculiar  to  neither  of  us,  but  common  to  both." 
Thus  this  father  rejects  the  authority  of  fathers,  councils, 
and  churches,  and  appeals  to  the  Scriptures  alone.*  Unless, 
then,  we  are  good  enough  to  believe  that  councils  are  infalli- 
ble simply  because  they  say  they  are  so,  we'  must  give  up 
this  infallibility  of  councils  as  a  chimera  and  a  delusion.  It 
not  unfrequently  happens  that  councils  contradict  one  an- 
other. How  perplexing,  in  such  a  case,  for  the  believer  in 
their  inftillibility  to  say  which  to  follow !  Nor  is  this  his 
only  difficulty.  It  has  not  yet  been  decided  what  councils  are, 
and  what  are  not,  infallible.  It  is  only  in  behalf  of  general 
councils  that  infallibility  is  claimed ;  but  the  list  of  general 
councils  varies  in  different  countries.  On  the  south  of  the 
Alps  some  councils  are  received  as  general  and  infallible, 
whose  claim  to  rank  as  such  is  denied  in  France.  "  When 
the  Popish  priests,"  asks  Dr  Cunningham,  "  of  this  country 
swear  to  maintain  all  things  defined  by  the  oecumenical 
councils,  whether  do  they  mean  to  follow  the  French  or  the 
Italian  list  Vf 

There  are  some  E-omanists  who  place  this  wonderful  pre- 
rogative in  the  Pope  and  councils  acting  in  conjunction. 
Bellarmine,  an  unexceptionable  authority,  though  on  the 
subject  of  the  infallibility  he  delivers  himself  with  some 
little  inconsistency,  says,  "All  Catholics  constantly  teach 
that  general  councils  confirmed  by  the  Pope  cannot  err ;"" 
and  again,  "  Catholics  agree  that  the  Pope,  with  a  general 
council,  cannot  err  in  establishing  articles  of  faith,  or  gene- 
ral precepts  of  manners."|     "  Doth  the  decree,"  asks  Stil- 


*  See  Aug.  De  Unitate,  c.  xvi. 

t  Stillingflcct's  Doctrines  and  Practices,  &c.,  by  Dr  Cunuingliani,  p.  201. 

t  Cell,  de  Couc,  lib.  ii.  cap,  ii. 


SEAT  OF  INFALLIBILITY  WIIERE!  253 

lingflcet,  when  confuting  this  notion,  "  receive  any  infalli- 
bility from  the  council  or  not  ?  If  it  doth,  then  the  decree 
is  infallible,  whether  the  Pope  confirm  it  or  no.  If  it  doth 
not,  then  the  infallibility  is  wholly  in  the  Pope."*  The  de- 
cree, when  presented  to  the  Pope  for  his  confirmation,  is 
either  true,  or  it  is  not.  If  it  is  true,  can  the  pontifical  con- 
firmation make  it  more  true  ?  and  if  it  is  not  true,  can  the 
Pope's  confirmation  give  it  truth  and  infallibility  ?  When 
infallibility  is  lodged  in  one  party,  it  is  not  difficult  to  con- 
ceive how  decrees  issued  by  that  party  become  infallible ; 
but  when,  like  Mahommed's  coffin,  this  infallibility  is  sus- 
pended betwixt  two  parties, — when,  equally  attracted  by  the 
gravitating  forces  of  the  Pope  above  and  of  the  council  be- 
low, it  hangs  in  mid  air, — it  is  more  difficult  to  conceive  in 
what  way  the  decree  becomes  charged  with  infallibility.  At 
what  point  in  the  ascent  from  the  council  to  the  Pope  is  it 
that  the  decree  becomes  infallible  ?  Is  it  in  the  middle  pas- 
sage that  this  mysterious  property  infuses  itself  into  it  ?  or 
is  it  only  when  it  reaches  the  chair  of  Peter  ?  In  that  case 
the  infallibility  does  not  rest  in  a  sort  of  equipoise  between 
the  two,  according  to  the  theory  we  are  examining,  but  at- 
taches exclusively  to  the  pontiff. 

This  is  the  only  part  of  the  theory  of  infallibility,  viz., 
that  it  resides  in  the  Pope,  which  remains  to  be  examined. 
This  fleeting  phantom,  which  we  have  pursued  from  fathers 
to  councils  and  from  councils  to  popes,  we  shall  surely  be 
able  to  fix  in  the  chair  of  Peter.  No,  even  here  this  phantom 
eludes  our  grasp.  It  is  a  shadow  which  the  Romanist  is  des- 
tined ever  to  pursue,  but  never  to  overtake.  That  there  is 
such  a  thing  he  never  for  a  moment  doubts,  though  no  mortal 
has  ever  seen  its  form  or  discovered  its  dwelling-place. 

The  majority  of  Romanists  agree  that  it  haunts  the  Seven 
Hills,  and  is  never  far  distant  from  the  pontifical  tiara. 
But,  though  it  is  impossible  to  fix  the  seat  of  this  infalli- 
bility, it  is  not  difficult  to  fix  the  period  when  it  first  came 

*  Stillingfleet's  Rational  Account,  part.  iii.  chap.  i. 


254  INFALLIBILITY. 

into  existence.  Infallibility  was  never  heard  of  in  the  world 
till  a  full  thousand  years  after  Christ  and  his  apostles.  It 
was  first  devised  by  the  pontiffs,  for  the  purpose  of  support- 
ing their  universal  supremacy  and  enormous  usurpations. 
For  about  three  hundred  years  after  it  was  first  claimed,  it 
was  tacitly  acknowledged  by  all.  But  the  unbounded  am- 
bition, the  profligate  lives,  and  the  scandalous  schisms  and 
divisions  of  the  pontiffs,  came  at  last  to  shake  the  faith  of 
the  adherents  of  the  Papacy  in  the  pretensions  of  its  head, 
and  gave  occasion  to  some  councils, — as  those  of  Basle 
and  Constance, — to  strip  the  popes  of  their  infallibility, 
and  claim  it  in  their  own  behalf.  Hence  the  origin  of  the 
war  waged  between  councils  and  pontiffs  on  the  subject  of 
the  infallibility,  in  which,  as  we  have  said,  the  Jesuits  and 
the  bishops  south  of  the  Alps  take  part  with  the  successor 
of  Peter.  The  Gallican  Church  generally  has  taken  the 
side  of  councils  in  this  controversy.  Three  or  four  councils 
have  ascribed  infallibility  to  the  Pope,  especially  the  last 
Lateran  and  Trent.  At  the  last  of  these,  the  legates  were 
charged  not  to  allow  the  council  to  come  to  any  decision  on 
the  point  of  infallibility,  the  Pope  declaring  that  he  would 
rather  shed  his  blood  than  part  with  his  rights,  which  had 
been  established  on  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  and  the  blood 
of  martyrs.  Now,  in  the  Pope  the  infallibility  is  less  dif- 
fused, and  therefore,  one  should  think,  more  accessible,  than 
when  lodged  in  councils ;  and  yet  Papists  are  as  far  as  ever 
from  being  able  to  avail  themselves  practically  of  this  infal- 
libility for  the  settlement  of  their  doubts  and  controversies. 
Before  we  can  make  use  of  the  Pope''s  infallibility,  there  is  a 
preliminary  point.  Is  he  truly  the  successor  of  Peter  and 
Bishop  of  Home  l  for  it  is  only  in  so  far  as  he  is  so  that  he 
is  infallible.  This,  again,  depends  upon  his  being  truly  in 
orders,  truly  a  bishop,  truly  a  priest,  truly  baptized.  And 
the  validity  of  his  orders  depends,  again,  upon  the  intention 
of  the  person  who  administered  the  sacraments  to  him,  and 
made  him  a  priest  or  a  bishop.  For,  according  to  the  coun- 
cils of  Florence  and  Trent,  the  right  intention  of  the  admi- 


POPES  INFALLIBLE  L\  CATHEDRA.  255 

nistrator  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  validity  of  these 
sacraments,*  So  it  is  quite  possible  for  some  evil-minded 
priest, — some  Jew,  perhaps,  in  priesfs  orders,  of  which  there 
have  been  instances  not  a  few  in  the  Church  of  Rome, — to 
place  a  mere  Sham  in  Peter's  chair, — to  place  at  the  head 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  world,  not  a  genuine  pope,  but,  as 
Carlyle  would  say,  a  Simulacrum,  Not  only  is  the  Catho- 
lic world  exposed  to  this  terrible  calamity,  but,  before  the 
Romanist  can  avail  himself  of  the  infallibility,  he  must 
make  sure  that  such  a  calamity  has  not  actually  befallen 
it  in  the  person  then  occupying  Peter's  chair.  He  must 
assure  himself  of  the  right  intention  of  the  priest  who  ad- 
mitted the  Pope  to  orders,  before  he  can  be  certain  that  he 
is  a  true  Pope.  But  on  such  a  matter  absolute  certainty  is 
impossible,  and  moral  assurance  is  the  utmost  that  is  at- 
tainable. But,  granting  that  this  difficulty  is  got  over, 
there  are  twenty  behind,  Romanists  do  not  hold  that  the 
Pope  is  infallible  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances. 
He  is  not  infallible  in  his  moral  conduct,  as  history  abun- 
dantly testifies.  Nor  is  he  infallible  in  his  private  opinions, 
for  there  have  been  popes  who  have  fallen  into  the  worst 
heresies.  In  the  theses  of  the  Jesuits,  in  the  college  of 
Clermont,  it  was  maintained,  "  that  Christ  hath  so  commit- 
ted the  government  of  his  Church  to  the  popes,  that  he  hath 
conferred  on  them  the  same  infallibility  which  he  had  him- 
self, as  often  as  they  speak  ex  cathedra. ''''■f  "  The  Pope," 
says  Bellarmine,  "  when  he  instructs  the  whole  Church  in 
things  concerning  the  faith,  cannot  possibly  err ;  and, 
whether  he  be  a  heretic  himself  or  not,  he  can  by  no 
means  define  anything  heretical  to  be  believed  by  the  whole 
Church ;" j  a  doctrine  which  has  given  occasion  to  some  to 
remark,  that  it  is  no  wonder  that  they  can  work  miracles  at 
Rome,  when  they  can  make  apostacy  and  infallibility  dwell 


*  See  Stillingfleet's  Rational  Account,  part.  iii.  chap,  iii. 
f  Quoted  in  Free  Thoughts  on  Toleration  of  Popery,  p,  200. 
J  Bell,  de  Rom.  Pont.,  lib.  iii.  c.  ii. 


256  INFALLIBILITY. 

together  in  the  same  person.  We  have  the  autliority  of  the 
renowned  Ligouri,  that  the  Pope  is  altogether  infallible  in 
controversies  of  faith  and  morals.  "  The  common  opinion," 
says  he,  "  to  which  we  subscribe,  is,  that  when  the  Pope 
speaks  as  the  universal  doctor,  defining  matters  ex  cathedra^ 
that  is,  by  the  supreme  power  given  to  Peter  of  teaching 
the  Church,  then,  we  say,  he  is  WHOLLY  infallible.""* 

Mr  Seymour  a  few  years  ago  was  told  by  the  Professor 
of  Canon  Law  in  the  Collegio  Romano  at  Rome,  in  a  con- 
versation he  had  with  the  Professor  on  the  subject  of  Pope 
Liberius,  who,  the  Professor  admitted,  had  avowed  the 
heresy  of  the  Arians,  that  had  he  "  proceeded  to  decide 
anything  ex  cathedra^  the  decision  would  then  have  been  in- 
fallible."-!- "  A  good  tree  bringeth  forth  good  fruit,"  said 
our  Saviour ;  but  it  appears  that  the  soil  of  the  Seven  Hills 
possesses  this  marvellous  property,  that  a  bad  tree  will 
bring  forth  good  fruit;  and  there  men  may  gather  grapes  of 
thorns. 

So,  then,  the  case  as  respects  the  Pope"'s  infallibility  stands 
thus : — When  he  speaks  ex  cathedra^  he  speaks  infallibly : 
when  he  speaks  non  ex  cathedra,  he  speaks  fallibly.  This  is 
the  nearest  approach  any  one  can  make  to  the  seat  of  the 
oracle,  and  yet  he  is  a  long  way  short  of  it.  For  now  arises 
the  important  question,  How  are  we  to  ascertain  an  infal- 
lible bull  from  a  fallible  one, — a  pope  pronouncing  ex  cathe- 
dra from  a  pope  pronouncing  non  ex  cathedra  ?  The  process, 
certainly,  is  neither  of  the  shortest  nor  the  easiest,  and  we 
shall  state  it  at  length,  that  all  may  see  how  much  is  gained 
by  forsaking  the  volume  of  the  holy  Scriptures  for  the 
volume  of  the  papal  bulls.  The  method  of  ascertaining  an 
infallible  from  a  fallible  bull  we  give  on  the  authority  to 
which  we  have  just  referred,  that  of  the  Professor  of  Canon 
Law  in  the  Collegio  Romano  at  Rome, — a  gentleman  whose 
important   position   gives    him    the   best    opportunities   of 


*  Ligouri,  torn  i.p.  110. 

t  Mornings  among  the  Jesuits  at  Rome,  p.  162. 


THE  SEVEN  TESTS.  257 

knowing,  and  who  is  not  likely  to  represent  the  matter  un- 
fairly for  Rome,  or  to  make  the  process  more  difficult  and 
intricate  than  it  really  is.  Well,  then,  according  to  the 
statements  of  the  Professor,  who  is  one  of  the  most  learned 
and  accomplished  men  at  Rome,  there  are  seven  recjuisites 
or  essentials  by  which  a  bull  is  to  be  tested  before  it  is  re- 
cognised as  ex  cathedra  or  infallible.* 

"  I.  It  was  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  that  before  com- 
posing and  issuing  the  bull,  the  Pope  should  have  opened 
a  communication  with  the  bishops  of  the  universal  Church," 
in  order  to  obtain  the  prayers  of  the  bishops  and  of  the 
universal  Church,  "  that  the  Holy  Spirit  might  fully  and 
infallibly  guide  him,  so  as  to  make  his  decision  the  decision 
of  inspiration. 

"  II.  It  w'as  necessary,  in  the  second  place,  that  before 
issuing  the  bull  containing  the  decision,  the  Pope  should 
carefully  seek  all  possible  and  desirable  information  touch- 
ing the  special  matter  which  was  under  consideration,  and 

which  was  to  be  the  subject  of  his  decision, 

from  those  persons  who  were  residing  in  the  district  affected 
by  the  decision  called  in  question. 

"  III.  That  the  bull  should  not  only  be  formal,  but  should 
be  authoritative,  and  should  claim  to  be  authoritative :  that 
it  should  be  issued  not  merely  as  the  opinion  or  judgment  of 
the  Pope  in  his  mere  personal  capacity,  but  as  the  deci- 
sive and  authoritative  judgment  of  one  who  was  the  head 
of  that  Church  which  was  the  mother  and  mistress  of  all 
Churches. 

"  IV.  That  the  bull  should  be  promulgated  universally ; 
that  is,  that  the  bull  should  be  addressed  to  all  the  bishops 
of  the  universal  Church,  in  order  that  through  them  its  dc- 


*  It  is  interesting  to  observe,  that  the  method  of  procedure  indicated  in 
these  rules  appears  to  have  been  followed  by  the  present  pontiff,  in  pre- 
paring for  his  contemplated  decision  on  the  subject  of  the  "  immaculate 
conception  of  the  Virgin  JIary." 

S 


258  INFALLIBILITY. 

cisions  might  be  delivered  and  made  known  to  all  the  mem- 
bers or  subjects  of  the  whole  Church. 

"  V.  That  the  bull  should  be  universally  received ;  that 
is,  should  be  accepted  by  all  the  bishops  of  the  whole 
Church,  and  accepted  by  them  as  an  authoritative  and  in- 
fallible decision. 

"  VI.  The  matter  or  question  upon  which  the  decision 
was  to  be  made,  and  which  was  therefore  to  be  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  bull,  must  be  one  touching  faith  or  morals, 
that  is,  it  must  concern  the  purity  of  faith  or  the  morality 
of  actions. 

"  VII.  That  the  Pope  should  be  free, — perfectly  free  from 
all  exterior  influence, — so  as  to  be  under  no  exterior  com- 
pulsion or  constraint."* 

By  all  these  tests  must  every  bull  issued  by  the  popes 
be  tried,  before  it  can  be  accepted  or  rejected  as  infallible. 
Assuredly  the  Protestant  has  no  reason  to  grudge  the  Pa- 
pist his  "  short  and  easy  method"  of  attaining  certainty  in 
his  faith.  If  the  Romanist,  in  determining  the  infallibility 
of  the  papal  bulls,  shall  get  through  his  work  at  a  quicker 
rate  than  one  in  every  twenty  years,  he  will  assuredly  display 
no  ordinary  diligence.  Most  men,  we  suspect,  will  account 
the  solution  of  a  single  bull  quite  work  enough  for  a  life- 
time, while  not  a  few  will  prefer  taking  the  whole  matter 
on  trust,  to  entering  on  an  investigation  which  they  may 
not  live  to  finish,  and  which,  granting  they  do  live  to  finish 
it,  is  so  little  likely  to  conduct  to  a  satisfactory  result.  Let 
us  suppose  that  a  pope''s  bull,  containing  a  deliverance  ne- 
cessary to  be  believed  in  order  to  salvation,  is  put  into  the 
hands  of  a  plain  English  peasant :  it  is  written  in  a  dead 
language ;  and  he  must  acquire  that  language  to  make  sure 
that  he  knows  its  real  sense,  or  he  must  trust  the  transla- 
tion of  another, — the  very  objection  on  which  Papists  dwell 
so  much  in  reference  to  the  Bible.     He  must  next  endea- 

*  Mornings  among  the  Jesuits  at  Rome,  pp.  165-169. 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  INFALLIBILITY.  2oi) 

vour  to  ascertain  that  the  Pope  has  sought  and  obtained 
the  prayers  of  the  universal  Church  for  the  infallible  guid- 
ance of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  matter.  This  he  may  pos- 
sibly do,  though  not  without  a  good  deal  of  trouble.  Ho 
has  next  to  assure  himself  that  the  Pope  has  been  at  pains 
to  obtain  all  possible  and  desirable  information  in  regard  to 
the  subject  of  the  bull,  and  more  especially  from  persons 
living  in  the  district  to  which  that  bull  has  reference.  Now, 
unless  he  is  pleased  to  take  his  information  at  second  hand, 
he  has  no  possible  means  of  attaining  certainty  on  this 
point,  unless  by  leaving  his  occupation,  and  perhaps  also  his 
country,  and  making  personal  inquiries  on  the  spot  as  to 
the  Pope's  diligence  and  discrimination  in  collecting  evi- 
dence. Having  satisfied  himself  as  to  this,  he  has  next  to 
assure  himself  that  the  bull  has  been  universally  accepted, 
that  is,  that  all  the  bishops  of  the  whole  Church  have  re- 
ceived it  as  an  authoritative  and  infallible  decision.  This 
opens  up  a  wider  sphere  of  inquiry  even  than  the  former. 
On  nothing  is  it  more  difficult  to  obtain  certain  information, 
for  on  nothing  are  the  bishops  of  the  Roman  Church  so 
divided,  as  on  the  infallibility  of  particular  bulls.  It  is  a 
fortunate  decision  indeed  which  carries  along  with  it  the 
unanimous  assent  of  the  Romish  clergy.  A  bull  may  be 
held  to  be  orthodox  in  Britain,  but  accounted  heretical  in 
France ;  or  it  may  be  accepted  as  most  infallible  in  France, 
but  repudiated  in  Spain ;  or  it  may  be  revered  as  the  dic- 
tate of  inspiration  by  the  Spanish  bishops,  but  held  as 
counterfeit  by  those  of  Italy.  Not  a  few  bulls  are  in  this 
predicament.  Thus  the  person  finds  that  this  infallibility, 
instead  of  being  a  catholic,  is  a  very  provincial  affair ;  that 
by  crossing  a  particular  arm  of  the  sea,  or  traversing  a  cer- 
tain chain  of  mountains,  he  leaves  the  sphere  of  the  infal- 
lible, and  enters  into  that  of  the  fallible ;  that  as  he  changes 
his  place  on  the  eartVs  surface,  so  does  the  pontifical  de- 
cree change  its  character ;  and  that  what  is  binding  upon 
him  as  the  dictate  of  inspiration  on  the  south  of  the  Alps, 
he  is  at  liberty  to  disregard  as  the  effusion  of  folly,  of  igno- 


2G0  INFALLIBILITY. 

ranee,  or  of  heresy,  on  the  north  of  these  mountains.  What 
is  the  man  to  do  in  such  a  case  1  If  he  side  with  the  Frencii 
bishops,  he  finds  that  the  Italians  are  against  him ;  and  if 
he  takes  part  with  the  Italians,  he  finds  that  he  has  arrayed 
himself  against  the  Iberian  and  Gallican  clergy.  Truly  it 
may  be  said,  on  the  subject  of  the  in/allihilit^,  that  "  he 
that  increaseth  knowledge  increaseth  sorrow." 

But  granting  the  possibility  of  the  man  seeing  his  way 
through  all  these  conflicting  opinions,  to  something  like  a 
satisfactory  conclusion  :  he  finds  he  has  come  so  far  only  to 
encounter  fresh  and  apparently  insuperable  difficulties.  He 
has,  last  of  all,  to  satisfy  himself  in  reference  to  the  state 
of  the  pontifical  mind  when  the  decree  was  given.  Did  the 
Pope''s  judgment  move  in  obedience  to  an  influence  from 
above,  which  guided  it  into  the  path  of  truth  and  infalli- 
bility ?  or  was  it  drawn  aside  into  that  of  error  by  some  ex- 
terior and  earthly  influence, — a  desire,  for  instance,  to  serve 
some  political  end,  a  wish  to  conciliate  some  temporal  po- 
tentate, or  a  fear  that,  should  he  decide  in  a  certain  way, 
he  might  cause  a  rent  in  the  Church,  and  thus  shake  that 
infallible  chair  from  which  he  was  about  to  issue  his  decree? 
How  any  man  can  determine  with  certainty  respecting  the 
purity  of  the  motives  and  influences  which  guided  the  pon- 
tifical mind  in  coming  to  a  certain  decision,  without  a  very 
considerable  share  of  that  infallibility  of  which  he  is  in 
quest,  we  are  utterly  at  a  loss  to  conceive.  And  thus, 
though  the  Romish  doctrine  of  infallibility  may  do  well 
enough  for  infallible  men  who  can  do  without  it,  it  is  not  of 
the  least  use  to  those  who  really  need  its  aid. 

We  have  imagined  the  case  of  a  man  engaged  on  a  single 
bull,  and  attempting  to  solve  the  question  of  infallibility 
with  an  exclusive  reference  to  it.  But  the  foundation  of  a 
Papist's  faith  is  not  any  one  bull,  but  the  Bullarium.  This 
must  necessarily  form  an  important  item  in  every  estimate 
of  the  difficulties  attending  the  question  of  infallibility.  The 
Bullarium  is  a  work  in  scholastic  Latin,  amounting  to  be- 
tween twenty  and  thirty  folio  volumes.      To  every  one  of 


THE  BULLARIUM.  £G1 

its  many  hundred  bulls  must  these  seven  tests  be  applied. 
Now,  if,  as  we  have  seen,  it  is  so  difficult,  or  indeed  so  im- 
possible, to  apply  these  tests  to  the  bulls  of  the  day,  the 
idea  of  applying  them  to  the  bulls  of  a  thousand  years  ago 
is  immeasurably  absurd.  Would  any  man  in  his  five  senses 
take  up  the  bulls  of  Pope  Hildebrand,  or  of  Pope  Innocent, 
and  proceed  to  test,  by  these  seven  requisites,  whether  they 
are  or  are  not  infallible  ?  No  man  ever  did  so, — no  man  ever 
thought  of  doing  so ;  and  we  may  affirm  with  the  utmost 
confidence,  that  while  the  world  stands,  no  man  who  is  not 
utterly  bereft  of  understanding  and  sense  will  ever  under- 
take so  chimerical  and  hopeless  a  task.  The  twelve  labours 
of  Hercules  were  as  nothing  compared  with  these  seven 
labours  of  the  infallibility.  And  then  we  have  to  think  what 
a  monument  of  folly  and  inconsistency,  as  well  as  of  arro- 
gance and  blasphemy,  is  the  Bullarium.  Not  only  is  it  in 
a  dead  language,  and  has  never  been  translated  into  any 
living  tongue,  and  therefore  is  utterly  unfit  to  form  the 
guide  of  any  living  Church,  but  it  is  wanting  even  in  agree- 
ment with  itself.  We  find  that  one  bull  contradicts  an- 
other, or  rescinds  that  other,  or  expressly  condemns  it.  We 
find  that  these  bulls  are  the  source  of  endless  disputes,  and 
the  subject  of  varied  and  conflicting  interpretations,  on  the 
part  of  the  Romish  doctors.  What  a  contrast  does  the 
simplicity,  the  harmony,  and  the  conciseness  of  the  Bible 
form  to  the  twenty  or  thirty  volumes  of  the  Bullarium, — 
the  Bible  of  the  Papist,  but  which  few  if  any  living  Papists 
have  ever  read,  and  the  authority  and  infallibility  of  which 
no  living  Papist  certainly  has  ever  verified  according  to  tho 
rules  of  his  Church  !  And  yet  we  are  asked  to  renounce  the 
one,  and  to  submit  ourselves  to  the  guidance  of  the  other, — 
to  abandon  the  straight  and  even  path  of  holy  Scripture, 
and  to  commit  ourselves  to  the  endless  mazes  and  the  inex- 
tricable labyrinths  of  the  Bullarium.  A  modest  request, 
doubtless,  but  one  which  it  will  be  time  enough  to  consider 
when  Papists  agree  among  themselves  as  to  where  this  in- 
fallibility is  placed,  and  how  it  may  be  turned  to  any  practi- 


262  INFALLIBILITY. 

cal  end.  Till  then  we  shall  hold  ourselves  fully  warranted 
to  follow  the  dictates  of  that  book  which  Christ  has  com- 
manded us  to  "  search,"  which  "  is  able  to  make  wise  unto 
salvation,"  and  which  Papists  themselves  acknowledge  to 
be  the  Word  of  God,  and  therefore  infallible. 

We  have  examined  at  great  length  the  two  questions  of 
the  primacy  and  the  infallibility,  because  they  are  funda- 
mental ones  in  the  Romish  system.  They  are  the  Jachin 
and  Boaz  of  the  Papacy.  If  these  two  principal  pillars  are 
overthrown,  not  a  single  stone  of  the  ill-assorted,  hetero- 
geneous, and  grotesque  fabric  which  Rome  has  built  upon 
them  can  stand.  We  have  seen  how  little  foundation  the 
primacy  and  infallibility  have  in  Scripture,  in  history,  or  in 
reason.  Romanism  stands  unrivalled  alike  for  the  impu- 
dence and  the  baselessness  of  its  pretensions.  To  nothing 
can  we  compare  it,  unless  to  the  famous  system  of  Indian 
cosmogony.  The  sage  of  Hindustan  places  the  earth  upon 
the  back  of  the  elephant,  and  the  elephant  upon  the  back  of 
the  crocodile ;  but  when  you  ask  him  on  what  is  the  croco- 
dile placed  ?  you  find  that  his  philosophy  can  conduct  him 
no  farther.  There  is  a  yawning  gulph  in  his  system,  like 
that  which  opens  right  beneath  the  feet  of  the  sorely  bur- 
dened and  somewhat  insufficiently  supported  crocodile.  The 
great  props  of  the  Papacy,  like  those  fabled  animals  which 
support  the  globe,  lack  foundation.  The  Romanist  places 
the  Church  upon  the  Pope,  and  the  Pope  upon  the  infallibi- 
lity ;  but  when  you  ask  him  on  what  does  the  infallibility 
rest  ?  alas  !  his  system  provides  no  footing  for  it ;  and  if  you 
attempt  to  go  farther  down,  you  are  landed  in  a  gulph  across 
whose  gloom  there  has  never  darted  any  ray  of  light,  and 
whose  profound  depths  no  plummet  has  ever  yet  sounded. 
Over  this  gulph  floats  the  Papacy. 


KO  SALTATION  OUT  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.  200 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


NO  SALVATION  OUT  OF  THE  CHURCH  OP  ROME. 


On  all  other  Christian  societies  the  Church  of  Rome  pro- 
nounces a  sentence  of  spiritual  outlawry.  She  alone  is  the 
Church,  and  beyond  her  pale  there  is  no  salvation.  She 
recognises  but  one  pastor  and  but  one  fold ;  and  those  who 
are  not  the  sheep  of  the  Pope  of  Rome,  cannot  be  the  sheep 
of  Christ,  and  are  held  as  being  certainly  cut  off  from  all  the 
blessings  of  grace  now,  and  from  all  the  hopes  of  eternal  life 
hereafter.  In  the  hands  of  Peter's  successor  are  lodged  the 
keys  of  heaven ;  and  no  one  can  enter  but  those  whom  he  is 
pleased  to  admit ;  and  he  admits  none  but  good  Catholics, 
who  believe  that  a  consecrated  wafer  is  God,  and  that  he 
himself  is  God's  vicegerent,  and  infallible.  All  others  are 
heathens  and  heretics,  accursed  of  God,  and  most  certainly 
accursed  of  Rome.  This  compendious  anathema,  it  is  true, 
gives  Protestants  no  concern.  They  know  that  it  is  as  im- 
potent as  it  is  malignant;  and  it  can  excite  within  them  no- 
thinff  but  o-ratitude  to  that  Providence  which  has  made  the 
power  of  this  Church  as  circumscribed  as  her  cruelty  is  vast 
and  her  vengeance  unappeasable.  God  has  not  put  in  sub- 
jection to  Rome  either  this  world  or  the  world  to  come ;  and 
the  Pope  and  his  Cardinals  have  just  us  much  power  to  con- 
sign all  outside  their  Church  to  eternal  flames,  as  to  forbid 
the  sun  to  shine  or  the  rain  to  fall  on  all  who  dare  reject 
the  infallibility. 


264  NO  SALVATION  OUT  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

But  while  it  is  a  matter  of  supreme  indifference  to  Pro- 
testants how  many  or  how  dreadful  the  curses  which  the 
pontiff  may  fulminate  from  his  seat  of  presumed  infallibility, 
it  is  a  very  serious  matter  for  Home  herself.  It  is  a  truly 
fearful  and  affecting  manifestation  of  Rome's  own  character. 
It  exhibits  her  as  animated  by  a  malignity  that  is  truly 
measureless  and  quenchless,  and  actually  gloating  over  the 
imaginary  spectacle  of  the  eternal  destruction  of  the  whole 
human  race,  those  few  excepted  who  have  belonged  to  her 
communion.  Not  a  few  Papists  appear  to  be  conscious  of 
the  odium  to  which  their  Church  is  justly  obnoxious,  on  ac- 
count of  this  wholesale  intolerance  and  uncharitableness ; 
and  accordingly  they  have  denied  the  doctrine  which  we  now 
impute  to  their  Church.  The  charge,  however,  is  easily  sub- 
stantiated. The  tenet  that  there  is  no  salvation  out  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  is  of  so  frequent  occurrence  in  the  bulls  of 
their  popes,  in  their  standard  works,  in  their  catechisms, 
and  is  so  openly  avowed  by  foreign  Papists,  who  have  not 
the  same  reason  to  conceal  or  deny  this  tenet  which  British 
Papists  have,  that  no  doubt  can  exist  about  the  matter. 
Their  own  memorable  argument,  whereby  they  attempt  to 
prove  that  the  Romish  method  of  salvation  is  the  safer  one, 
conclusively  establishes  the  fact  that  they  hold  the  doctrine 
of  exclusive  salvation,  and  that  we  do  not.  That  argument 
is,  in  short,  as  follows  : — That  whereas  we  admit  that  men 
may  be  saved  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  whereas  they  hold 
that  men  cannot  be  saved  out  of  that  Church,  therefore  it  is 
safer  to  be  in  communion  with  that  Church.  Here  the  Ro- 
manist makes  the  doctrine  of  exclusive  salvation  the  basis 
of  his  argument. 

Equally  explicit  is  the  creed  of  Pope  Pius  IV.  That  creed 
embraces  the  leading  dogmas  of  Romanism  ;  and  the  follow- 
ing declaration,  which  is  taken  by  every  Popish  priest  at  his 
ordination,  is  appended  to  it : — "  I  do  at  this  present  freely 
profess  and  sincerely  hold  this  true  Catholic  faith,  loitliout 
which  no  one  can  he  saved ;  and  I  promise  most  constantly 
to  retain  and  confess  the  same  entire  and  unviolated,  with 


ANNUAL  EXCOMMUNICATION  OF  PROTESTANTS.  265 

Crod's  assistance,  to  the  end  of  my  life."  To  the  same  pur- 
port is  the  decree  of  Pope  Boniface  VIII. : — "  We  declare, 
assert,  define,  and  pronounce,  that  it  is  necessary  to  salva- 
tion for  every  human  being  to  be  subject  to  the  Pope  of 
Home."  Nor  is  there  any  mistaking  the  condition  of  those 
to  whom  the  bull  in  Ccena  Domini  has  reference.  This  is 
one  of  the  most  solemn  excommunications  of  the  Romish 
Church,  denounced  every  year  on  Maunday  Thursday  against 
heretics,  and  all  who  are  disobedient  to  the  Holy  See.  In 
that  bull  is  the  following  clause,  which  has  been  inserted 
since  the  Reformation  : — "  We  excommunicate  and  anathe- 
matize, in  the  name  of  God  Almighty,  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  blessed  apostles 
Peter  and  Paul,  and  by  our  own,  all  Hussites,  Wickliffites, 
Lutherans,  Zuinglians,  Calvinists,  Huguenots,  Anabaptists, 
Trinitarians,  and  apostates  from  the  faith,  and  all  other 
heretics,  by  whatsoever  name  they  are  called,  and  of  what- 
soever sect  they  be."  If  the  words  of  the  bull  are  not  suffi- 
cient to  indicate,  with  the  requisite  plainness,  the  fearful 
doom  that  awaits  all  Protestants,  the  action  that  follows 
certainly  does  so :  a  lighted  candle  is  instantly  cast  on  the 
ground  and  extinguished,  and  the  spectators  are  thus  taught 
by  symbol,  that  eternal  darkness  is  the  portion  which  awaits 
the  various  heretical  sects  specified  in  the  bull.  The  cere- 
mony is  concluded  with  the  firing  of  a  cannon  from  the  castle 
of  St  Angelo,  which  the  Roman  populace  believe  (or  rather 
did  believe)  makes  all  the  heretics  in  the  world  to  tremble. 
The  very  children  in  the  popish  schools  are  taught  to  lisp 
this  exclusive  and  intolerant  doctrine.  "  Can  any  one  be 
saved  who  is  not  in  the  true  Church  V  it  is  asked  in  Kee- 
nan'*s  Catechism  ;  and  the  child  is  taught  to  answer,  "  No  ; 
for  those  who  are  not  in  the  true  Church, — that  is,  for  those 
who  are  not  joined  at  least  to  the  soul  of  the  Church, — 
there  can  be  no  hope  of  salvation."*  The  true  Church  the 
writer  afterwards  defines  to  be  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.-f" 

*  Keenan's  Conti'ov.  Cat.  p.  11,  f  Idem,  cliap.  i.  and  ii. 


^GG  NO  SALVATION  OUT  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

"  Are  all  obliffed  to  be  of  the  true  Church  V  it  is  asked  in 
Butler's  Catechism.  "  Yes ;  no  one  can  be  saved  out  of  it."* 
Thus  has  the  Church  of  Rome  made  provision  that  her  youth 
shall  be  trained  up  in  the  firm  belief  that  all  Protestants  are 
beyond  the  pale  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  are  the  objects  of 
the  divine  abhorrence,  and  are  doomed  to  pass  their  eternity 
in  flames.  An  ineradicable  hatred  of  Protestants  is  thus 
implanted  in  their  breasts,  which  often,  in  after  years,  breaks 
out  in  deeds  of  violence  and  blood. 

Papists  who  live  in  Britain,  though  they  really  hold  this 
doctrine,  are  careful  how  they  avow  it.  They  know  the 
danger  of  placing  so  intolerant  a  doctrine  in  contrast  with 
the  true  catholic  charity  of  Protestant  Britain.  Accord- 
ingly they  endeavour,  by  equivocal  statements,  by  Jesuitical 
evasions  and  explanations,  and  sometimes  by  the  fraudulent 
use  of  the  phrase  "  fellow-Christians,"'"'-|-  addressed  to  Pro- 
testants, to  conceal  their  true  principles  on  this  head  ;  but 
foreign  Papists,  being  under  no  such  restraint,  avow,  with- 
out equivocation  or  concealment,  that  the  doctrine  of  exclu- 
sive salvation  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  We 
cannot  quote  a  more  authoritative  testimony  as  to  the  opi- 
nions held  and  taught  on  this  important  question  by  leading 
Romanists,  than  the  published  lectures  of  the  Professor  of 
Dogmatic  Theology  in  the  Collegio  Romano  at  Rome.  We 
find  M.  Perrone,  in  a  series  of  ingenious  and  elaborately- 
reasoned  propositions,  maintaining  the  doctrine  of  non-sal- 
vability  beyond  the  pale  of  his  own  Church.  On  the  assump- 
tion that  the  Church  of  Rome  has  maintained  the  unity  of 
faith  and  government  which  Christ  and  his  apostles  founded, 
he  lays  down  the  proposition,  that  "  the  Catholic  Church 


*  Butler's  Catechism,  lesson  x.  [A  Catechism  in  very  common  use  in 
Ireland.] 

t  The  following,  from  the  Tablet  of  July  19th,  1851,  may  explain  the 
sense  in  which  Protestants  are  termed  Christians  by  Romanists  : — "  As 
the  suhjects  of  a  temporal  crown,  when  engaged  in  open  rebellion,  are 
still  subjects,  so  are  baptized  heretics  still  Christians  when  living  and  dy- 
ing in  open  rebellion  to  the  faith  and  discipline  of  God  and  of  his  Church." 


EXCLUSIVE  SALVATION  TAUGHT  AT  ROME.  2o7 

alone  is  the  true  Church  of  Christ,"  and  that  "  all  commu- 
nions which  have  separated  from  that  Church  are  so  many 
synagogues  of  Satan."  A  following  proposition  pronounces 
"  heretics  and  schismatics  without  the  Church  of  Christ."" 
M.  Perrone  then  proceeds  to  argue  that  this  character  be- 
longs to  Protestants,  and  that  it  is  plain  that  their  faith  is 
false,  from  their  recent  origin,  and  the  little  success  which 
has  attended  their  missions  among  the  heathen.  He  then 
closes  the  discussion  with  the  proposition,  that  "  those  who 
culpably  fall  into  heresy  and  schism  [i.e.  into  Protestant- 
ism], or  into  unbelief,  can  have  no  salvation  after  death." 
This  is  very  appropriately  followed  by  a  short  dissertation, 
showing  that  "  religious  toleration  is  impious  and  absurd."* 
The  same  sentiments  which  he  has  given  to  the  world  in 
his  published  prelections,  we  find  M.  Perrone  reiterating  in 
language  if  possible  still  more  plain,  in  a  conversation  with 
Mr  Seymour.  "  The  truth  of  the  Church  was,"  said  the 
reverend  Professor,  "  that  no  man  could  be  saved  unless  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  believed  in  the 
supremacy  and  infallibility  of  the  popes  as  the  successors 
of  St  Peter."  "  I  said,"  replied  Mr  Seymour,  "  that  that 
was  going  very  far  indeed  ;  for,  besides  requiring  men  to  be 
members  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  it  required  their  belief  in 
the  supremacy  and  infallibility  of  the  popes." 

"  He  [the  Professor]  reiterated  the  same  sentiment  in 
language  still  stronger  than  before  ;  adding,  that  every  one 
must  be  damned  in  the  flames  of  hell  who  did  not  believe  in 
the  supremacy  and  infallibility  of  the  Pope." 

"  I  could  not  but  smile  at  all  this,"  says  Mr  Seymour, 
"  while  I  felt  it  derived  considerable  importance  from  the 
position  of  the  person  who  uttered  it.  He  w^as  the  chief 
teacher  of  theology  in  the  Collegio  Romano, — the  University 
of  Rome.     I  smiled,  however,  and  reminded  him  that  his 


*  Perrone's  Prselectiones  Theologicoe,  torn.  i.  pp.  163-278, — De  Vera 


E-eligione  adversus  Heterodoxos. 


2G8  NO  SALVATION  OUT  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

words  were  consigning  all  the  people  of  England  to  the  dam- 
nation of  hell." 

"  He  repeated  his  words  emphatically.'"* 

From  a  statement  which  dropped  at  the  same  time  from 
the  learned  Professor,  it  would  seem  that  those  even  within 
the  pale  of  Rome  who  deny  this  doctrine  of  the  Church,  do 
so  at  the  risk  of  being  disowned  by  her,  and  incurring  the 
doom  of  heretics.  Mr  Seymour  was  urging  that  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  England  and  Ireland  do  not  hold  that  doctrine, 
when  his  assertion  was  met  by  a  decided  negative.  "  He 
[the  Professor]  said  that  it  was  impossible  my  statement 
could  be  correct,  as  no  man  was  a  true  Catholic  who  thought 
any  one  could  find  salvation  out  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
They  could  not  be  true  Catholics."-!- 

The  solemn  judgment  of  Rome,  that  no  one  can  be  saved 
who  does  not  swallow  an  annual  wafer,  and  live  on  eggs  in 
Lent,  gives  us  no  more  serious  concern  than  if  the  head  of 
Mahommedanism  should  decree  that  no  one  can  enter  para- 
dise who  does  not  wear  a  turban  and  suffer  his  beard  to 
grow.  It  is  equally  valid  with  the  dictum  of  any  society 
among  ourselves  that  might  claim  infallibility  and  so  forth, 
and  adjudge  damnation  to  all  who  did  not  choose  to 
conform  to  the  fashion  of  buttoning  one's  coat  behind. 
What  ideas  can  those  have  of  the  Almighty,  who  can 
believe  that  he  will  determine  the  eternal  destinies  of  his 
creatures  according  to  such  ridiculous  niceties  and  trifles  ? 
"  God  so  loved  the  world,"  says  the  apostle,  "  that  he  gave 
his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should 
not  perish  ;"  but  perish  you  must,  says  the  Church  of  Rome, 
unless  you  believe  also  that  a  wafer  and  a  little  wine,  conse- 
crated by  a  priest,  are  the  real  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ. 
When  we  ask  the  reason  for  this  compendious  destruction 
of  the  whole  human  race  save  the  fraction  that  belongs  to 
Rome,  we  can  get  no  answer  beyond  this,  that  the  Pope  has 


*  Mornings  among  the  Jesuits  at  Rome,  p.  138.  +  Idem,  p.  136. 


INVINCIBLE  IGNORANCE,  269 

said  it  (for  certainly  the  Bible  has  nowhere  said  it),  and 
therefore  it  must  be  so.  This  may  be  an  excellent  reason 
to  the  believer  in  infallibility,  but  it  is  no  reason  to  any 
one  else.  It  may  be  possible  that  this  half-foundered  craft 
named  Peter,  with  its  riven  sails,  its  tangled  cordage,  its 
yawning  seams,  and  its  drunken  crew,  may  be  the  one  ship 
on  the  ocean  which  is  destined  to  ride  out  the  storm  and 
reach  the  port  in  safety ;  but  before  beginning  the  voyage, 
one  would  like  to  have  some  better  assurance  of  this  than 
the  mere  word  of  a  superannuated  captain,  never  very  sound 
in  the  head,  and  now,  partly  through  age  and  partly  through 
the  excesses  of  his  youth,  to  the  full  as  crazy  as  his  vessel. 

It  is  fair  to  mention,  that  Romanists  are  accustomed  to 
make  an  exception  in  the  matter  of  non-salvability  beyond 
the  pale  of  their  Church,  in  favour  of  those  who  labour  under 
"  invincible  ignorance!'''  The  Professor  in  the  Collegio  Ro- 
mano, when  pressed  by  Mr  Seymour  on  the  subject  of  his 
own  personal  salvation,  gave  him  the  benefit  of  this  excep- 
tion ;  and  we  doubt  not  that  all  Protestants  will  be  made 
abundantly  welcome  to  it.  How  far  it  can  be  of  any  use  to 
them  is  another  question.  The  hopes  it  holds  out  are  of  the 
slenderest ;  for,  so  far  as  Romish  writers  have  defined  this 
invincible  ignorance,  none  can  plead  the  benefit  of  it  save 
such  as  have  had  no  means  of  knowing  the  faith  of  Rome, 
but  who,  if  they  had,  would  willingly  embrace  it.  This  ex- 
ception of  "  invincible  ignorance"  may  include  a  few  hea- 
thens, so  benighted  as  never  to  have  heard  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  and  her  peculiar  dogmas ;  and  it  may  comprehend 
also  those  Protestants  who  are  absolutely  idiots ;  but  it  can 
be  of  no  use  to  any  one  else.  Such  is  the  whole  extent  of 
Rome's  charity.* 

*  The  notes  on  the  Popish  Bible,  published  in  Dublin  in  1816,  under  the 
sanction  of  Dr  Troy,  and  declared  to  be  equally  binding  as  the  text  itself, 
show  the  light  in  which  Protestants  are  regarded  by  the  Church  of  Rome. 
They  are  called  heretics  of  the  worst  kind  (note  on  Acts,  xxviii.  22). 
They  are  described  as  in  rebellion  and  damnable  revolt  against  the  truth 
(on  John,  x.  1).  And  they  may  and  ought,  by  public  authority,  to  be  chas- 
tised and  executed  (on  ^Matt.  xiii.  19). 


270  NO  SALVATION  OUT  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

But  though  sectarian  in  her  charity,  Rome  is  truly  catho- 
lic in  her  anathemas.  What  sect  or  party  is  it  which  she 
has  not  pronounced  accursed  ?  What  noble  name  is  it  which 
she  has  not  attempted  to  blast  ?  What  generous  art  which 
she  has  not  laboured  to  destroy  ?  What  science  or  study 
fitted  to  humanize  and  enlarge  the  mind  on  which  she  has 
not  pronounced  an  anathema  ?  Those  men  w^ho  have  been 
the  lights  of  their  age, — the  poets,  the  philosophers,  the 
orators,  the  statesmen,  who  have  been  the  ornaments  and 
the  blessings  of  their  race, — she  has  confounded  in  the  same 
tremendous  doom  with  the  vilest  of  mankind.  It  mattered 
not  how  noble  their  gifts,  or  how  disinterested  their  labours : 
they  might  possess  the  genius  of  a  Milton,  the  wisdom  of  a 
Bacon,  the  science  of  a  Newton,  the  inventive  skill  of  a 
"SVatt,  the  philanthropy  of  a  Howard,  the  patriotism  of  a 
Tell,  a  Hampden,  or  a  Bruce ;  they  might  be  firm  believers 
in  every  doctrine,  and  bright  examples  of  every  virtue,  incul- 
cated in  the  New  Testament ;  but  if  they  did  not  believe  also 
in  the  supremacy  and  infallibility  of  the  Pope,  all  their  wis- 
dom, all  their  philanthropy,  all  their  piety,  all  their  generous 
sacrifices  and  noble  achievements,  though,  like  another  Wil- 
berforce,  they  may  have  struck  from  the  arm  of  millions  the 
chain  of  slavery,  or,  like  another  Cranmer  or  another  Knox, 
conquered  spiritual  independence  for  generations  unborn, — 
all,  all  went  for  nothing.*  Rome  could  recognise  in  them 
no  character  now  but  the  odious  one  of  the  enemies  of  God ; 
and  she  could  afford  to  allow  them  no  portion  hereafter  but 
the  terrible  one  of  eternal  torments.  And  while  she  closed 
the  gates  of  Paradise  against  these  lights  and  benefactors 
of  the  world,  she  opened  them  to  men  whose  principles  and 
actions  were  alike  pernicious, — to  men  who  were  the  curses 
of  their  race,  and  who  seemed  born  to  no  end  but  to  devas- 
tate the  world, — to  fanatics  and  desperadoes,  whose  fierce 
zeal  and  fiercer  swords  were  ever  at  the  service  of  the 
Church. 

*  Butler's  End  of  Controversy,  part  ii.  let.  xxii. 


OF  ORIGINAL  SIN.  271 


CHAPTER  IX. 


OF  ORIGINAL  SIN. 


We  have  examined  the  rock  on  which  the  Church  of  Rome 
professes  to  be  built,  and  find  that  it  is  a  quicksand.  Tlie 
infallibility  is  in  the  same  unhappy  predicament  with  the 
crocodile  in  the  Indian  fable, — it  has  not  only  to  support 
itself,  but  all  that  is  laid  upon  it  to  boot.  Having  disposed 
of  it,  we  might  be  held,  in  point  of  form,  as  having  disposed 
of  the  whole  system.  But  our  object  being,  first  of  all,  to 
exhibit,  and  only  indirectly  to  confute,  the  system  of  Popery, 
we  proceed  in  our  design,  and  accordingly  now  pass  to  the 
Doctrine  of  the  Church.  And,  first,  to  her  doctrine  on  the 
head  of  Original  Sin. 

The  doctrine  of  original  sin  was  one  of  the  first  points  to 
be  debated  in  the  Council  of  Trent ;  and  the  discord  and 
diversity  of  opinion  that  reigned  among  the  fathers  strik- 
ingly illustrates  the  sort  of  unity  of  which  the  Roman  Ca- 
tholic Church  boasts.  In  discussing  this  doctrine,  the  council 
considered,  first,  the  nature  of  original  sin ;  second,  its  trans- 
mission ;  and,  third,  its  remedy.  On  its  nature  the  fathers 
were  unable  to  come  to  any  agreement.  Some  maintained 
that  it  consists  in  the  privation  of  original  righteousness  ; 
others,  that  it  lies  in  concupiscence ;  while  another  party 
held  that  in  fallen  man  there  are  two  kinds  of  rebellion, — 


272  OF  ORIGINAL  SIN. 

one  of  the  spirit  against  God;  the  other,  of  flesh  against  the 
spirit ;  that  the  former  is  unrighteousness,  and  the  latter 
concupiscence,  and  that  both  together  constitute  sin.  After 
a  lengthened  debate,  in  which  the  fathers,  not  the  Scrip- 
tures, were  appealed  to,  and  which  gave  abundant  room  for 
the  display  of  that  scholastic  erudition  which  is  so  fruitful 
in  casuistical  subtleties  and  distinctions,  the  council  wisely 
resolved  to  eschew  the  danger  of  a  definition,  and,  despair- 
ing of  harmonizing  their  views,  promulgated  their  decree 
without  defining  its  subject.  "  Whoever  shall  not  confess," 
said  the  council,  "  that  the  first  man,  Adam,  when  he  broke 
the  commandment  of  God  in  Paradise,  straitway  fell  from 
the  holiness  and  righteousness  in  which  he  was  formed,  and 
by  the  offence  of  his  prevarication  incurred  the  wrath  and 
indignation  of  God,  and  also  the  death  with  which  God  had 
threatened  him,     ....     let  him  be  accursed."* 

The  council  was  scarce  less  divided  on  the  subject  of  the 
transmission  of  original  sin.  Wisely  avoiding  to  determine 
the  manner  in  which  this  sin  is  conveyed  from  Adam  to  his 
posterity,  the  council  decreed  as  follows  : — "  Whoever  shall 
affirm  that  the  sin  of  Adam  injured  only  himself,  and  not 
likewise  his  posterity ;  and  that  the  holiness  and  justice 
which  he  received  from  God  he  lost  for  himself  only,  and 
not  for  us  also  ;  and  that,  becoming  polluted  by  his  disobe- 
dience, he  transmitted  to  all  mankind  corporal  death  and 
punishment  only,  but  not  sin  also,  which  is  the  death  of  the 
soul ;  let  him  be  accursed.""-}- 

The  council,  then,  were  at  one  as  regards  the  penalty  of 
sin,  which  is  death  eternal ;  they  were  not  less  at  one  as  re- 
gards the  remedy,  which  is  baptism.  And  so  efficacious  is 
this  remedy,  according  to  the  Council  of  Trent,  that  in  bap- 
tism,— "  the  laver  of  regeneration,"  as  they  termed  it, — all  sin 
is  washed  away.  In  the  regenerate,  that  is,  in  the  baptized, 
there  remains  no  sin.      The  council  admitted  that  concu- 


*  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  quinta, — Dec.  de  Peccato  Origiuali. 
t  Idem,  p.  19. 


DECREE  OF  TRENT.  273 

piscence  dwells  in  all  men,  and  in  true  Christians  among  the 
rest ;  but  it  also  decided  that  concupiscence,  which  is  a  cer- 
tain commotion  and  impulse  of  the  mind,  urging  to  the  de- 
sire of  pleasures  which  it  does  not  actually  enjoy,"  is  not  sin. 
On  this  part  of  the  subject  the  council  decreed  as  follows  : — 
"  Whoever  shall  affirm  that  this  sin  of  Adam  .... 
can  be  taken  away,  either  by  the  strength  of  human  nature, 
or  by  any  other  means  than  by  the  merit  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  one  Mediator,  ...  or  shall  deny  that  the 
merit  of  Jesus  Christ  is  applied  both  to  adults  and  infants 
by  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  administered  according  to  the 
rites  of  the  Church,  let  him  be  accursed."*  And  again, 
— "  Whoever  shall  deny  that  the  guilt  of  original  sin  is  re- 
mitted by  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  bestowed  in 
baptism,  or  shall  affirm  that  that  wherein  sin  truly  and  pro- 
perly consists  is  not  wholly  rooted  up,  but  is  only  cut  down, 
or  not  imputed,  let  him  be  accursed."-}* 

The  doctrine  of  the  Fall  must  necessarily  be  a  fundamental 
one  in  every  system  of  theology :  it  formed  the  starting  point 
in  those  meagre  systems  which  existed  in  the  pagan  world. 
But  it  is  not  enough  that  we  give  it  a  place  in  our  scheme 
of  truth; — it  must  be  rightly  and  fully  understood,  otherwise 
all  will  be  wrong  in  our  system  of  religion.  Should  we  fall 
into  the  mistake  of  supposing  that  the  injury  sustained  by 
man  when  he  fell  was  less  than  it  really  is,  we  will,  in  the 
same  proportion,  underrate  the  extent  to  which  he  must  be 
dependent  upon  the  atonement  of  Christ,  and  overestimate 
the  extent  to  which  he  is  able  to  help  himself.  It  may  be 
seen,  then,  that  an  error  here  will  vitiate  our  whole  scheme, 
and  may  lead  to  fatal  consequences.  It  becomes  important, 
therefore,  to  state  accurately,  though  succinctly,  the  opinions 
held  by  modern  writers  in  the  Church  of  Home  on  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Fall  and  Divine  Grace.  The  authors  of  those 
systems  of  theology  which  are  used  as  text-books  in  the 
training  of  the  priesthood  have  not  very  distinctly  stated  in 

*  Can,  et  Dec.  Concilii  Tridentini,  p.  19.  t  Idem,  p.  20. 

X 


274?  OP  ORIGINAL  SIN. 

what  tliey  conceive  original  sin  to  consist.  In  this  they  have 
followed  the  example  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  Dens  defines 
it  simply  to  be  disobedience.*  Bailly  cites  the  opinions  which 
have  been  held  on  this  question  by  various  sects,  and  more 
especially  the  doctrine  of  the  Standards  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  which  make  "  the  sinfulness  of  that  estate  whereinto 
man  fell"  to  consist  "  in  the  guilt  of  Adanfs  first  sin,  the 
want  of  original  righteousness,  and  the  corruption  of  his 
whole  nature,  which  is  commonly  called  original  sin  ;""  and 
though  he  condemns  all  these  opinions,  he  offers  no  defini- 
tion of  his  own,  but  takes  farewell  of  the  subject  with  some 
observations  on  its  abstruseness,  and  the  inutility  of  prying 
too  curiously  into  the  qualities  of  things.-f-  We  know  of  no 
writer  of  authority  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  since  the 
days  of  Bellarmine  at  least,  who  has  spoken  so  frankly  out 
on  the  doctrine  of  the  Fall  as  the  present  occupant  of  the 
chair  of  theology  in  the  University  at  Rome.  We  shall 
state  the  opinions  of  M.  Perrone  as  clearly  and  accurately 
as  we  are  able ;  and  this  will  put  the  reader  in  possession 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  on  this  important  subject. 
M.  Perrone,  in  his  published  prelections,  teaches  that  the 
first  man  was  exalted  to  a  supernatural  state  by  the  sancti- 
fying grace  of  his  Creator ;  that  this  integrity  or  holiness  of 
nature  was  not  due  to  man,  but  was  a  gift  freely  conferred 
on  him  by  the  divine  bounty  ;  so  that  God,  had  he  pleased, 
might  have  created  man  without  these  endowments.  Ac- 
cordingly, man,  by  his  sin,  says  M.  Perrone,  lost  only  those 
superadded  gifts  which  flowed  from  the  liberality  of  God  ; 
or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  man  by  his  sin  reduced  himself 
to  that  state  in  which  he  would  actuallv  have  been  created 
had  not  God  added  other  gifts,  both  for  this  life  and  for  the 
other.| 

*  Theol.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  i.  p.  332, — Tractatus  de  Peccatis. 

+  Theol.  Moral.  Ludovico  Bailly,  torn.  i.  p.  302,— "In  c[uo  posita  sit 
peccati  originalis  essentia  1"     Dublin,  1828. 

+  We  give  M.  Perrone's  own  words.  "  Jam  vero  juxta  doctrinam  Catho- 
licam  superius  vindicatani,  turn  elevatio  primi  homiuis  ad  statum  super- 


POPISH  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  FALL.  27o 

M.  Pcrrone  fortifies  his  statement  by  an  appeal  to  the 
opinions  of  Cardinals  Cajctan  and  Bellarmine,  both  of  whom 
have  expressed  themselves  on  the  subject  of  the  Fall  in 
terms  very  similar  to  those  employed  by  the  Professor  in 
the  Collegio  Romano.  The  difference,  says  Cajetan,  be- 
tween fallen  nature  and  pure  nature, — not  nature  as  it  ex- 
isted in  the  case  of  Adam,  who  was  clothed  with  super- 
natural gifts,  but  nature,  as  the  Romish  divines  phrase  it, 
in  puris  naturalibus, — may  be  expressed  in  one  word.  The 
difference  is  the  same  as  that  which  exists  between  the  man 
who  has  been  despoiled  of  his  clothing,  and  the  man  who 
never  had  any.  "  We  do  not  distinguish  between  the  two," 
argues  the  Cardinal,  "  on  the  ground  that  the  one  is  more 
nude  than  the  other,  for  that  is  not  the  case.  In  like  man- 
ner, a  nature  in  puris  naturalibus,  and  a  nature  despoiled 
of  original  grace  and  righteousness,  do  not  differ  in  this, 
that  the  one  is  more  destitute  than  the  other ;  but  the  great 
difference  lies  here,  that  the  defect  in  the  one  case  is  npt  a 
fault,  or  punishment,  or  injury  ;  whereas  in  the  other, — that 
of  a  fallen  nature, — there  is  a  corrupt  condition,  and  the 
defect  is  to  be  regarded  as  both  a  fault  and  punishment."* 
When  the  Cardinal  uses  the  phrase,  "  a  corrupt  condition," 
he  means  to  express  an  idea,  we  apprehend,  which  Protes- 
tants would  more  fittingly  designate  by  the  terms  "  denuded 
condition  ;"  for  certainly  the  Cardinal  intends  to  teach  that 
the  constitution  of  man  has  not  suffered  more  seriously  by 

naturalem  per  gratiam  sanctificantem,  turn  iutegritas  naturae  non  fuerunt 
liumante  naturae  debita,  sed  dona  fuerunt  gratuita  homini  a  divina  largi- 
tate  concessa,  ita  ut  Deus  potuerit  absolute  sine  illis  Iiominem  condere^ 
Igitur  homo  per  peccatum  non  amisit  nisi  ea  qute  superaddita  a  Dei  liber- 
alitate  illius  naturae  fuerunt.  Sen,  quod  idem  est,  homo  per  peccatum  ad 
eum  se  redegit  statum  in  quo  absolute  creatus  fuisset,  si  Deus  caetera 
dona  minime  addidisset,  tum  pro  hac  turn  pro  altera  vita."  (Prajlectiones 
Theologicae,  torn.  i.  p.  774.) 

*  Card.  Cajetan.  in  Comm.  [quoted  from  Perrone's  Pra^lectiones  Theo- 
logicae, tom.  i.  p.  774.]  "  QuiE  (differentia  inter  naturam  in  puris  natu- 
ralibus et  naturam  lapsam),  ut  unico  vex'bo  dicatur,  tanta  est  quanta  est 
inter  personam  nudam  ab  initio  et  personam  exspoliatam." 


276  OF  ORIGINAL  SIN. 

his  fall  than  would  the  body  of  man  by  being  stript  of  its 
clothing.  The  same  doctrine  is  taught  by  Bellarmine,  who 
holds,  that  the  nature  of  fallen  man,  the  original  fault  ex- 
cepted, is  not  inferior  to  a  human  nature  in  puris  naturali- 
lus* 

This  point  is  an  important  one,  and  we  make  no  apology 
for  dwelling  a  little  longer  upon  it.  We  would  fain  present 
our  readers,  in  a  few  words,  with  a  view  of  what  the  Church 
of  Rome  holds  on  the  doctrine  of  grace  as  opposed  to  the 
sentiments  of  Protestant  divines,  premising  that  absolute 
accuracy  is  not  easily  attainable.  Popish  writers  not  having 
expressed  themselves  either  very  definitely  or  very  consis- 
tently. In  the  following  summary  we  take  M.  Perrone  as 
our  chief  authority  and  guide,  using  almost  his  very  words : 
— 1st,  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  teaches,  in  respect  of 
the  integrity  of  man,  and  the  supernatural  state  to  which  he 
was  raised,  that  he  fell  from  that  condition  by  sin,  and  lost 
his  original  righteousness,  with  all  the  gifts  connected  there- 
with. 2d,  In  respect  of  the  supernatural  state  and  the 
sanctifying  grace  bestowed  on  man,  the  Church  of  Rome 
teaches,  that  by  his  fall  the  soul  of  man  came  into  a  state 
of  death,  and  that  in  respect  of  his  integrity,  both  his  soul 
and  his  body  were  changed  for  the  worse.  3d,  That  by  the 
fall  the  free  will  of  man  was  weakened  and  biassed.  4th, 
With  respect  to  those  privileges  and  gifts  of  grace  which 
were  added  to  man's  nature,  and  which  are  accidental  to  it, 
the  doctrine  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is,  that  fallen 
man  has  been  denuded  of  these  privileges  and  gifts,  and  has 
come  into  that  state  in  which,  not  reckoning  his  fault,  he 
would  have  been  had  God  not  willed  to  exalt  him  to  a  su- 
pernatural position,  and  to  confer  upon  him  uprightness  and 
other  endowments  ;  and  has,  moreover,  sunk  into  that  state 


*  Bellarm.  Lib.  de  Gratia  Primi  Horn.  cap.  v.  sec.  12.  "  Non  magis  dif- 
fert  status  hominis  post  lapsum  Adse  a  statu  ejusdem  in  puris  naturalibus, 
qiiam  distet  sjwliatus  a  nudo,  neque  deterior  est  liuinana  natura,  si  culpain 
ori^inalcm  detralias." 


POPISH  DOCTRINE  OF  GRACE.  277 

of  feebleness  which  is  incident  to  human  nature  of  itself. 
5th,  Hence  the  Church  teaches,  says  M.  Perrone,  that  man 
is  unable,  by  any  strength,  or  effort,  or  wish  of  his,  to  raise 
himself  to  his  former  supernatural  state ;  and  that  for  his 
recovery  the  grace  of  the  Saviour  is  altogether  necessary. 
6th,  This  grace  is  wholly  free,  and  is  conferred  on  man,  by 
the  goodness  of  God,  on  account  of  the  merits  of  Christ. 
7th,  Since,  however,  in  man  fallen,  the  free  will,  such  as 
human  nature  viewed  in  itself  demands,  has  been  preserved, 
nor  otherwise  debilitated  but  as  respects  that  state  of  up- 
rightness from  which  he  was  cut  off,  the  Church  teaches  that 
man  is  able  freely  to  co-operate,  either  in  the  way  of  com- 
plying with  God,  exciting  and  calling  Him  by  his  grace,  or 
in  the  way  of  resisting  Him,  if  he  chooses.  The  Church, 
therefore,  rejects  the  doctrine  of  irresistible  grace.  8th, 
From  the  same  principle,  that  man  by  his  fall  has  not  be- 
come boreft  of  the  power  of  will,  flows  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church,  that  man  is  able  to  wish  what  is  good,  and  to 
do  works  morally  right,  and  that  works  performed  without 
grace  are  not  so  many  sins.  9th,  The  Roman  Catholic 
Church  teaches  likewise,  that  in  difficult  duties,  and  when 
assailed  by  strong  temptations,  fallen  man  stands  in  need 
of  "  medicinal  ^  grace,  to  enable  him  to  fulfil  the  one  and 
overcome  the  other,  just  as  some  assistance  would  have  been 
necessary  to  unfallen  man,  had  God  not  conferred  upon  him 
the  faculty  of  uprightness,  and  elevated  him  to  a  supernatu- 
ral condition.* 

Unless  we  greatly  mistake,  we  have  now  reached  the, 
fountain-head  of  the  errors  of  Popery.  We  stand  here  be- 
side its  infant  source.  Thence  those  waters  of  bitterness 
go  forth  to  collect  the  tributaries  of  every  region  through 
which  they  flow,  till  at  last,  like  the  river  seen  by  the  pro- 
phet in  vision,  from  being  a  narrow  and  shallow  stream, 
which  one  might  step  across,  they  become  "  waters  to  swim 
in, — a  river  that  could  not  be  passed  over."     How  near  to 


*  Perrone's  Prselectiones  Theologicue,  torn.  i.  p.  1239. 


278  OF  ORIGINAL  SIN. 

each  other  are  situated  the  primal  fountains  of  truth  and 
error  !  Like  twin  sources  on  the  summit  of  some  Alpine 
chain,  which  a  few  yards  only  divide,  yet  lying  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  summit,  the  flow  of  the  one  is  determined  to- 
wards the  frozen  shores  of  the  north, — the  current  of  the 
other  to  the  aromatic  climes  and  calm  seas  of  the  south ; 
so  between  the  Popish  and  the  Protestant  ideas  on  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Fall  there  is  no  very  great  or  essential  difference 
which  strikes  one  at  first  sight.  The  sources  of  the  two 
systems  lie  close  beside  each  other ;  but  the  line  that  di- 
vides truth  from  error  runs  between  them.  From  the  first, 
therefore,  they  take  opposite  directions;  and  what  was  scarce 
perceptible  at  the  outset  becomes  plain  and  palpable  in  the 
issue  :  the  one  results  in  the  Roman  papacy ;  the  other  is 
seen  to  be  apostolic  Christianity. 

The  divines  of  the  Church  of  Rome  conceive  of  humanity 
as  existing,  or  capable  of  existing,  in  three  states.  The  first 
is  that  of  fallen  man,  in  which  we  now  exist ;  the  second  is 
that  of  simple  humanity,  or,  as  they  terra  it,  puris  naturali- 
lus,  in  which  man,  they  affirm,  onight  have  been  made ;  the 
third  is  that  of  supernatural  humanity,  or  man  clothed  with 
those  special  gifts  with  which  God  endowed  Adam.  By  his 
fall  man  brought  himself  down  from  the  third  or  highest 
state  to  the  first  or  lowest.  But  the  theologians  of  the  Ro- 
man school  teach  that  man's  condition  now  is  in  no  respect 
worse  than  if  he  were  in  the  middle  state,  or  in  puris  natu- 
ralihts,  except  that  ho  once  was  in  a  higher,  and  has  fallen 
from  it.  His  nature  is  not  injured  thereby  :  he  has  lost  the 
advantages  which  he  enjoyed  in  his  higher  condition  ;  he  is 
to  blame  for  having  thrown  away  these  advantages  ;  but  as 
to  any  injury,  or  disorder,  or  ruin  of  nature,  by  the  Fall,  that 
he  has  not  sustained  ; — he  has  come  scathless  out  of  the 
catastrophe  of  Eden.  Of  two  men  totally  destitute  of  cloth- 
ing,— to  use  Cardinal  Cajetan's  illustration, — the  one  is  not 
more  nude  than  the  other;  but  the  difference  lies  here, — 
the  one  never  had  clothing, — the  other  had,  but  has  lost 
it,  and  therefore  suffers  a  want  he  did  not  feel  originally, 


STATE  OF  rURE  NATURE.  279 

and  has  acted  very  foolishly,  or,  if  you  will,  very  sinfully,  in 
stripping  off*  his  vestments.  ]3ut  the  loss  of  raiment  is  one 
thing, — the  injury  of  his  person  is  another ;  and  just  as  a 
man  may  bo  deprived  of  his  raiment,  and  yet  his  body  re- 
main sound,  vigorous,  and  active  as  ever,  so  our  deprivation 
of  the  supernatural  gifts  we  enjoyed  in  innocence,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  Fall,  has  left  our  mental  and  moral  nature  as 
whole  and  sound  as  before.  God  might  have  made  us  in 
^uris  naturaUhiis  at  the  beginning.  And  what  has  the  Fall 
done  ?  just  brought  us  into  that  state  in  which  God  might 
have  created  us  ;  except  it  be  (and  it  is  in  this  that  original 
sin  consists,  according  to  the  only  consistent  interpretation 
of  the  popish  scheme)  that  it  is  our  own  fault  that  we  are 
not  in  that  higher  state  still.  Whatever  powers  we  would 
have  had  in  puris  naturalibus  of  loving  God,  of  obeying  his 
will,  and  resisting  evil,  we  have  in  our  fallen  state.  We 
need  assisting  grace  in  our  more  difficult  duties  and  temp- 
tations now,  and  we  would  have  needed  it  in  puris  naturali- 
bus.  Thus  we  have  fallen,  and  yet  we  have  not  fallen  ;  for 
we  are  now  what  God  might  have  made  us  at  the  beginning. 
On  this  point,  as  on  every  other,  Rome  requires  us  to  be- 
lieve contradictions  and  absurdities  :  her  doctrine  of  the  Fall 
is  a  denial  of  the  Fall. 

God  might  have  made  man,  say  the  divines  of  the  Roman 
Church,  in  a  state  of  simple  nature.  We  will  not  answer 
for'  the  idea  which  Romanists  may  attach  to  this  state  ;  but 
it  is  not  difficult  to  determine  what  only  that  state  can  be, 
A  state  of  positive  corruption  it  cannot  be ;  for  Romanists 
refuse  this  in  the  case  even  of  fallen  man.  Neither  can  it 
be  a  state  of  positive  grace,  for  this  is  the  supernatural  con- 
dition to  which  God  raised  him.*     It  can  only  be  a  state  of 

*  Tlieologia  Mor.  Ludovico  Bailly,  torn.  v.  p.  318.  "Vel  crearetu^ 
[homo]  in  ordine  ad  finom  naturalem,  sine  peccato  sine  gratia.  (Idem, 
toni.  V.  p,  320.)  Possibilis  est  status  naturae  pume,  niodo  homo  creari  potu- 
erit  sine  gratia  sanctificante  et  sine  donis  ad  finem  supernaturalem  seu 
visionem  intuitivara  conducentibus."  Man,  notwithstanding  his  innocence, 
Builly  holds,  might  have  been  liable  to  many  miseries;  and  he  appeals  to  the 


2S0  OF  ORIGINAL  SIN. 

indifference,  in  which  man  is  equally  attracted  or  equally  re- 
pelled by  good  and  evil.  We  do  not  stay  to  enquire  whe- 
ther it  was  due  to  the  Divine  character  to  make  man  in  this 
state, — equally  ready  to  engage  himself  to  God  or  to  Satan ; 
but  we  ask,  was  it  possible  I  According  to  this  theory,  man's 
faculties  are  entire  in  their  number  and  perfect  in  their  func- 
tional action  ;  and  yet  they  are  utterly  useless.  They  can- 
not act, — they  cannot  make  a  choice  ;  for  if  the  man  inclines 
to  either  side,  it  is  because  he  is  not  in  a  state  of  indifference. 
If  he  chooses  good,  it  is  because  he  prefers  it ;  if  he  chooses 
evil,  it  is  because  he  prefers  it  to  good,  and  so  is  not  indif- 
ferent. But  it  may  be  objected  that  the  idea  is,  that  till 
the  object  is  put  before  the  man  he  is  indifferent.  But  till 
the  object  be  put  before  the  man,  how  can  it  be  known  that 
he  is  in  a  state- of  indifference  or  no?  Besides,  existence  is 
but  a  series  of  volitions ;  and  to  say  that  the  man  is  in  a 
state  of  indifference  till  he  begins  to  will,  is  just  to  say  that 
he  is  in  a  state  of  indifference  till  he  becomes  a  man.  We 
are  again  called  upon  to  believe  contradictions.  The  scheme 
of  indifference  supposes  a  man  with  a  conscience  able  to  dis- 
criminate between  good  and  evil,  and  yet  not  able  to  discri- 
minate between  them, — with  the  faculty  of  will,  and  yet  not 
able  to  will, — with  the  affection  of  love,  and  yet  able  neither 
to  love  nor  hate ;  which  is  just  as  rational  as  to  speak  of  a 
human  frame  exquisitely  strung  to  pleasure  and  pain,  and 
yet  incapable  of  either  sensation.  There  is  only  one  way  of 
placing  a  man  in  a  state  of  indifference,  and  that  is,  by  strik- 
ing conscience  and  will  dead  in  his  breast.  While  the  con- 
stitution of  things  is  what  it  is,  and  while  the  powers  of  man 
are  what  they  are,  a  state  of  indifference  is  an  impossibility, 
God  cannot  make  impossibilities. 

We  repeat,  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  Fall  is  a 
repudiation  of  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  the  Fall.    This  must 

example  of  Christ  and  of  the  Virgin,  who  were  without  sin,  and  yet  en- 
dured sufFerings.  (Thcol.  Mor.  torn.  v.  p,  325.)  Christ  suffered  as  a  surety; 
and,  as  regards  the  Virgin,  Romanists  have  yet  failed  to  prove  that  she  was 
without  sin. 


THE  FALL  VIRTUALLY  DENIED.  281 

necessarily  affect  the  whole  of  the  theology  of  that  Church. 
It  must  necessarily  alter  the  complexion  of  her  views  on  tho 
subject  both  of  the  work  of  the  Son  and  the  work  of  the 
Spirit.  Firsts  If  man  has  not  fallen  in  the  Scripture  sense, 
neither  has  he  been  redeemed  in  the  Scripture  sense.  Our 
redemption  is  necessarily  the  counterpart  of  our  loss ;  and  in 
the  proportion  in  which  we  diminish  the  one  do  we  also  di- 
minish the  other.  Our  natures  have  escaped  uninjured,  the 
Romish  divines  teach.  We  can  still  do  all  which  we  could 
have  done  in  2yuris  naturallbus,  had  we  been  created  in  that 
state.  Man,  if  he  but  give  himself  to  the  work  in  earnest, 
may  almost,  if  not  altogether,  save  himself.  He  needs  only 
divine  gi\ace  to  help  him  over  its  more  difficult  parts.  The 
atonement,  then,  was  no  such  great  work  after  all.  Instead 
of  presenting  that  character  of  unity  and  completeness  which 
the  Scriptures  attribute  to  it, — instead  of  being  the  redemp- 
tion of  lost  souls  from  hopeless  and  irremediable  bondage, 
by  the  endurance  in  their  room  of  infinite  vengeance  due  to 
their  sins, — the  work  of  Christ  wears  altogether  the  charac- 
ter of  a  supplementary  performance.  Instead  of  being  a 
display  of  unbounded  and  eternal  love,  and  of  power  also 
unbounded  and  eternal,  it  dwindles  into  a  very  ordinary 
manifestation  of  pity  and  good-will.  Nay,  it  would  not  be 
difficult  to  show  that  it  might  have  been  dispensed  with, 
with  some  not  inconsiderable  advantages ;  that  it  has  stood 
much  in  man"'s  way,  and  prevented  the  exercise  of  his  own 
powers,  knowing  that  he  had  this  to  fall  back  upon.  May 
not  this  help  us  to  understand  why  Romanists  can  so  easily 
associate  Mary  with  the  Son  of  God  in  the  act  of  redemp- 
tion, and  can  speak  of  her  sufferings  as  if  they  had  been  the 
better  half  of  the  work  ?  May  it  not  account,  too,  for  the 
ease  with  which  the  Church  of  Rome  can  find  the  material 
of  satisfaction  for  sin  in  the  works  of  those  whom  she  calls 
saints  ?  May  it  not  account  also  for  the  thoroughly  scenic 
character  which  the  death  of  Christ  bears,  as  exhibited  in 
the  Church  of  Rome  ?  And  may  it  not  likewise  account 
for  the  extent  to  which  that  Church  has  undervalued  Christ 


282  OF  ORIGINAL  SIN. 

in  Ill's  character  of  Mediator,  by  associating  with  Him  in  that 
august  office  so  many  of  mortal  origin  ?  For  if  man's  nature 
be  not  inferior  in  its  condition  to  that  in  which  God  right- 
eously might  have  made  it,  the  work  of  mediating  between 
God  and  m.an  is  not  so  pre-eminently  onerous  and  dignified. 
But,  in  the  second  place,  if  man  is  not  fallen  in  the  Scrip- 
ture sense,  neither  does  he  need  to  be  regenerated  in  the 
Scripture  sense.  Our  regeneration  is  likewise  the  neces- 
sary counterpart  of  our  fall.  We  have  sustamed,  say  the 
Romish  divines,  no  radical  derangement  or  injury  of  nature 
by  the  Fall  ;*  we  have  been  stript  merely  of  those  superadd- 
ed gifts  which  God  bestowed;  and  all  that  we  need,  in  order 
to  occupy  the  same  vantage  ground  as  before,  is  just  the  re- 
storation of  these  lost  accomplishments.  Regeneration,  then, 
in  the  Romish  acceptation  of  the  term,  must  mean  a  very 
different  thini;  indeed  from  what  it  does  anions  Protestants. 
With  us  it  is  a  change  of  nature  so  thorough,  that  we  can 
find  no  term  to  express  it  but  that  employed  in  the  New 
Testament, — "  a  new  creation."  We  believe  that  man  has 
not  only  been  stript  of  his  raiment, — to  use  the  metaphor 
which  Romish  rhetoric  has  supplied; — he  has  been  wounded, 
he  has  bled  to  death,  and  he  needs  to  be  made  alive  again. 
But  no  such  regeneration  can  be  necessary  in  the  view  of 
those  who  believe  that  man  has  suffered  no  internal  injury, 
and  that  he  has  lost  only  what  he  might  have  wanted  from 
the  beginning  without  prejudice  to  the  soundness  of  his  con- 
stitution. Now,  may  not  this  help  us  to  understand  the 
marvellous  efficacy,  as  it  appears  to  us,  which  Romanists 
ascribe  to  the  sacrament  of  baptism  ?  We  believe  them  to 
hold  that  baptism  can  regenerate  the  man ;  but  we  are  mis- 
led by  their  abuse  of  the  term  haptismal  regeneration.  They 
cannot  hold  this  doctrine,  for  man  needs  no  regeneration. 
Their  error  lies  deeper  than  baptismal  regeneration.     It  is 

*  The  following  statement  is  decisive  on  this  point  :— "  Attamen  hsec 
ipsa  natura,  ctiam  post  lapsmn,  ob  amissioncm  liujus  doni  accidentalis, 
cujusinodi  justitiam  originalem  esse  diximus,  nihil  amisit  de  suis  essenti- 
alibus."     (PciTone's  Prajlectiones  Theologiccc,  tom.  i.  \}.  I3S6.) 


IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION  OF  MARY.  283 

not  SO  much  an  oiTor  on  the  function  of  the  baptismal  rite, 
as  an  error  on  the  yet  more  fundamental  point  of  man\s 
state.  They  cannot  realize  man  as  fallen,  and  therefore 
they  cannot  realize  him  as  regenerated.  All  the  regenera- 
tion he  needs  is  not  the  creating  of  him  anew,  but  the  clotli- 
inn  of  him  anew, — the  impartation  of  those  superadded  gifts 
which  he  has  lost ;  and  this,  they  believe,  the  sprinkling  of  a 
little  water  by  the  hands  of  a  priest  can  effect.  Baptism, 
then,  restores  man  to  the  state  in  which  he  existed  before 
the  Fall.  By  baptism,  the  Church  of  Rome  holds,  original 
sin  is  taken  away,  and  sanctifying  grace,  of  which  the  Fall 
denuded  man,  is  restored.  Every  man  who  is  baptized,  ac- 
cording to  this  doctrine,  begins  life  with  the  same  advan- 
tages with  which  Adam  began  it, — he  begins  it  in  a  state  of 
spotless  and  perfect  innocence.  At  this  early  stage,  then, 
even  that  of  the  Fall,  do  the  Popish  and  Protestant  theolo- 
gies diverge, — diverge  never  more  to  meet.  The  one  flows 
backward  into  the  dead  sea  of  Paganism, — the  other  expands 
mto  the  living  ocean  of  Christianity. 

In  the  course  of  the  debates  in  the  Council  of  Trent,  a 
momentous  question  was  raised  touching  the  conception  of 
the  Virgin.  If,  as  the  council  had  decreed,  Adam  had 
transmitted  his  sin  to  all  his  posterity,  did  it  not  follow  that 
the  Virgin  Mary  was  born  in  sin  ?  It  is  well  known  that 
since  the  twelfth  century  at  least  the  Church  of  Rome  has 
leaned  to  the  doctrine  of  the  "  immaculate  conception,"  ac- 
cording to  which  the  humanity  of  the  Virgin  is  as  untainted 
by  sin,  and  as  holy,  as  is  the  humanity  of  the  Saviour.  Con- 
flicting parties  have  always  existed  within  the  Church  on 
this  subject.  Many  and  furious  have  been  the  wars  they 
have  waged  with  one  another.  The  Franciscans  have  vio- 
lently maintained  the  immaculate  conception,  and  the  Do- 
minicans have  as  violently  denied  it.  The  most  delicate 
management  and  the  most  skilful  manoeuvring  of  the  Pope 
have  sometimes  been  unable  to  maintain  the  peace  between 
these  hostile  parties,  or  to  avert  from  the  Church  the  fla- 
grant scandal  of  open  schism.     In  the  seventeenth  century, 


284  OF  OJBIGINAL  SIN. 

the  kingdom  of  Spain  was  so  violently  convulsed  by  this 
question,  that  embassies  were  sent  to  Home  to  implore  the 
Pope  to  put  an  end  to  the  war,  and  restore  peace  to  the 
kingdom,  by  a  public  bull.  The  conduct  of  the  Pope  on  this 
occasion  illustrates  the  species  of  juggling  by  which  he  has 
contrived  to  keep  up  the  idea  of  his  infallibility.  He  issued 
no  bull,  because  he  judged  it  imprudent  in  the  circumstances ; 
but  he  declared  that  the  opinion  of  the  Franciscans  had  a 
high  degree  of  probability  in  it,  and  must  not  be  opposed 
publicly  by  the  Dominicans  as  erroneous;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  Franciscans  were  forbidden  to  treat  the 
doctrine  of  the  Dominicans  as  erroneous.*  The  Council  of 
Trent,  though  they  debated  the  question,  would  come  to  no 
decision,  but  left  the  matter  undetermined.  To  this  day  the 
question  remains  undetermined,  proving  a  fertile  source  of 
fierce  polemical  wars,  which  break  out  every  now  and  then, 
and  rage  with  great  violence.  The  revolution  at  Rome 
having  set  free  the  Pope  from  the  cares  of  government, 
he  employed  his  leisure  at  Gaeta  in  attempts  to  settle  this 
great  question,  which  so  many  renowned  popes  and  so  many 
learned  councils  had  left  undecided.  He  took  the  regular 
course  to  obtain  the  prayers  of  the  Church  and  the  suffrages 
of  the  bishops,  in  order  to  promulgate  his  bull.  The  Pope 
was  engrossed  by  these  deep  theological  inquiries  when  the 
success  of  Oudinot  before  the  walls  of  Rome  recalled  him 
from  the  study  of  the  fathers  to  the  not  less  grateful  work 
of  issuing  incarcerations  and  signing  death-warrants.  Should 
a  second  period  of  exile  intervene,  which  is  not  improbable, 
the  pontiff  may  even  yet  gather  up  the  broken  thread  of  his 
thoughts,  and  elaborate  the  bull  which  is  to  crown  the  blas- 
phemies and  idolatry  of  Rome,  by  decreeing  that  the  Virgin 
Mary  was  as  wonderfully  conceived  as  was  the  Saviour,  and 
that  her  humanity  was  as  free  from  sin,  as  holy  and  unde- 
filcd,  as  is  the  humanity  of  our  Lord.  "  Neither  repented 
they  of  their  idolatries." 


Moshcim,  cent.  xvii.  sect.  ii.  part  i.  chap.  i.  s.  48. 


OPUS  OPERATUM.  285 

Thus  have  we  come  to  a  leading  characteristic  of  the  sys- 
tem of  Popery, — one  that  is  already  sufficiently  distinct,  but 
which  will  become  more  fully  developed  as  we  proceed, — the 
disposition  to  substitute  the  ordinances  of  the  Church  for  the 
gospel, — the  symbol  for  the  truth, — the  form  for  the  prin- 
ciple,— the  sacraments  for  Christ.  The  great  doctrine  of 
salvation  through  faith  in  the  free  grace  of  God  is  set  aside, 
and  the  opus  operatum  of  a  sacrament  is  put  in  its  room. 
"  That  it  is  faith  that  worketh  in  the  sacrament,  and  not 
the  sacrament  itself,"  say  the  Romanists,  "  is  plainly  false ; 
baptism  giving  grace,  and  faith  itself,  to  the  infant  that  had 
none  before."* 

•  Kheimish  Testament,  note  on  Gal.  iii.  27. 


286  OF  JUSTlFiOATION. 


CHAPTER  X. 


OF  JUSTIFICATION. 


Of  all  questions,  by  far  the  most  important  to  a  fallen  man, 
obnoxious  to  death,  is,  "  How  may  I  be  reconciled  to  God, 
and  obtain  a  title  to  eternal  glory  V  The  Bible  answers, 
"  By  faith  in  the  righteousness  of  Christ."  It  is  here  that 
the  Church  of  Rome  wholly  misleads  her  members.  She 
gives  the  wrong  answer ;  and  therefore  she  is  most  fatally 
in  error,  where  it  behoved  her,  above  all  things,  to  be  in  the 
right. 

The  doctrine  of  "justification  through  faith  alone"  is  the 
oldest  theological  truth  in  the  world.  We  can  trace  it, 
wearing  the  very  form  it  still  bears,  in  the  patriarchal  age. 
The  apostle  tells  us  that  God  preached  this  truth  unto 
Abraham.  It  was  preached  by  type  and  shadow  to  the  Old 
Testament  Church;  and  when  the  altars  and  sacrifices  of 
the  legal  economy  were  no  more,  this  great  truth  was  pub- 
lished far  and  wide  throughout  the  world  by  the  pens  and 
tongues  of  apostles.  After  being  lost  by  all,  save  a  chosen 
few,  during  many  centuries,  it  broke  out  with  a  new  and 
glorious  effulgence  upon  the  world  in  the  preaching  of  Lu- 
ther. It  is  the  grand  central  truth  of  Christianity :  it  is,  in 
short,  the  gospel.  Now  it  is  on  this  vital  point,  we  affirm, 
that  the  teaching  of  Rome  is  erroneous,  and  that,  so  far  as 
that  teaching   is  listened   to  and    followed,  it  must  needs 


SALVATION  OF  GOD.  287 

destroy,  not  save,  her  members.  The  point  of  all  others  on 
which  the  Bible  has  spoken  out  with  most  emphatic  plain- 
ness is,  that  Christ  is  the  one  only  Saviour,  and  that  his 
atonement  upon  the  cross  is  the  sole  and  exclusive  ground 
of  eternal  life.  There  are  parts  of  revelation  about  which 
we  may  entertain  imperfect  or  erroneous  views,  and  yet  be 
saved  ;  but  this  truth  is  the  chief  corner-stone  of  the  gospel, 
and  an  error  here  must  necessarily  be  fatal.  We  forsake 
the  one  only  foundation ;  we  go  about  seeking  to  establish 
a  righteousness  of  our  own ;  we  trust  in  a  refuge  of  lies ; 
and  cannot  be  saved.  "  For  other  foundation  can  no  man 
lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ."* 

Herein  we  may  trace  the  essential  and  eternal  difference 
between  the  Gospel  and  Popery, — between  the  Reformation 
and  Rome.  The  Reformation  ascribed  all  the  glory  of 
man''s  salvation  to  God, — Rome  ascribed  it  to  the  Church. 
Salvation  of  God  and  salvation  of  man  are  the  two  opposite 
poles  around  which  are  ranged  respectively  all  true  and  all 
false  systems  of  religion.  Popery  placed  salvation  in  the 
Church,  and  taught  men  to  look  for  it  through  the  sacra- 
ments ;  the  Reformation  placed  salvation  in  Christ,  and 
taught  men  that  it  was  to  be  obtained  through  faith.  "  By 
grace  are  ye  saved,  through  faith,  and  that  not  of  yourselves, 
— it  is  the  gift  of  God."-f-  The  development  of  the  grand 
primordial  truth, — salvation  of  grace, — has  constituted  the 
history  of  the  Church.  This  truth  gave  being  to  the  patri- 
archal religion;  it  formed  the  vital  element  in  the  Mosaic 
economy;  it  constituted  the  glory  of  primitive  Christianity; 
and  it  was  it  that  gave  maturity  and  strength  to  tlwi  Re- 
formation. With  one  voice,  Calvin,  Luther,  and  Zuingle, 
did  homage  to  God  as  the  author  of  man''s  salvation.  The 
motley  host  of  wrangling  theologians  which  met  at  Trent 
made  man  his  own  Saviour,  by  extolling  the  efficacy  and 
merit  of  good  works. 

The  decree  of  the  council  by  which  the  doctrine  of  the 

*  1  Cor.  iii.  11.  f  Eph.  xi.  S. 


288  OF  JUSTIFICATION. 

Church  of  Rome  on  the  subject  of  justification  was  finally 
settled,  partakes  of  not  a  little  vagueness.  On  this,  as  on 
most  other  points  that  engaged  the  attention  of  the  council, 
there  existed  a  variety  of  conflicting  opinions,  which  long 
and  warm  debates  failed  to  reconcile.  The  somewhat  im- 
possible object  of  faithfully  reflecting  all  the  sentiments  of 
the  fathers  was  aimed  at  in  the  decree,  at  the  same  time 
that  it  was  intended  pointedly  to  condemn  the  doctrine  of 
the  Protestants.  But  we  believe  the  following  will  be  found 
a  fair  statement  of  what  the  Romish  Church  really  holds  on 
this  important  subject. 

The  Council  of  Trent  defines  justification  to  be  "a  trans- 
lation from  that  state  in  which  the  man  is  born  a  son  of 
the  first  Adam,  into  a  state  of  grace  and  adoption  of  the 
sons  of  God  by  the  second  Adam,  Jesus  Christ,  our  Savi- 
our ;  which  translation  cannot  be  accomplished  under  the 
gospel,  without  the  laver  of  regeneration,  or  the  desire  of  it ; 
as  it  is  written,  '  Unless  a  man  be  born  again  of  water 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.""  *"*  The  definition  given  by  Dens  is  in  almost  the 
very  same  words.-}-  Justification,  says  Porrone,  is  not  the 
forensic  remission  of  sin,  or  the  imputation  of  Christ's  right- 
eousness ;  but  it  consists  in  the  renovation  of  the  mind  by 
the  infusion  of  sanctifying  grace.;]:  The  Council  of  Trent 
teaches  the  same  doctrine  in  almost  the  same  words,  and 
enforces  it  with  its  usual  argument, — an  anathema.  "  Justi- 
fication,"*"'  says  Bailly,  "  is  the  acquisition  of  righteousness, 
by  which  we  become  acceptable  to  God.''"'§  It  is  important 
to  observe,  that  by  the  "  laver  of  regeneration,"  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  means  baptism.  It  is  important  also  to 
observe,  that  this  definition  confounds  justification  with 
sanctification.     But  to  this  we  shall  afterwards  advert.     We 


*  Con.  Trid.  sess.  vi.  cap.  iv. 

+  Theol.  Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn,  ii., — Tractatus  de  Justificatione. 

t  Perrone's  Prselectiones  Theologicae,  torn.  i.  p.  1398. 

§  Theologia  Mor.  Ludovico  Bailly,  torn.  v.  p.  454. 


SALVATION  OF  MAN.  289 

proceed  to  state  the  way  in  which  this  justification  is  re- 
ceived. The  Roman  Catholic  Church  teaches  that  there 
is  a  preparation  of  the  mind  for  its  reception,  and  in  that 
preparation  the  man  who  is  to  be  justified  has  an  active 
share.  "  Justification  springs,"  the  Romish  Church  holds, 
"  from  the  preventing  grace  of  God.'"*  That  grace  excites 
and  helps  the  man,  who,  by  the  power  of  his  free  will, 
agrees  and  co-operates  therewith.  Excited  and  aided  by 
divine  grace,  men  are  disposed  for  this  righteousness ;  they 
are  drawn  to  God,  and  encouraged  to  hope  in  him,  by  the 
consideration  of  his  mercy ;  they  begin  to  love  him  as  the 
fountain  of  all  righteousness,  and  consequently  to  hate  sin, 
that  is,  "  with  that  penitence  which  must  necessarily  exist 
before  baptism ;  and,  finally,  they  resolve  to  receive  bap- 
tism, to  begin  a  new  life,  and  to  keep  the  divine  command- 
ments."-!-  This  constitutes  the  disposition  or  preparation 
of  the  mind  for  the  reception  of  justification.  Similar  is 
the  account  which  Dens  has  given  of  the  matter.  He  states 
that  the  Council  of  Trent  requires  seven  acts  of  mind  in  or- 
der to  the  justification  of  the  adult  through  baptism.  The 
first  is  divine  grace,  by  which  the  sinner  is  excited  and 
aided ;  the  second  is  faith ;  the  third  is  fear ;  then  hope, 
then  love,  then  contrition,  and  lastly,  a  desire  for  the  sa- 
crament.:|:  Perrone  mentions  much  the  same  graces,  though 
in  a  slightly  different  order.  "  Besides  faith,"  says  he, 
"  which  all  agree  is  required  in  order  to  justification,  there 
must  be  fear,  hope,  love,  at  least  begun,  penitence,  and  a 
purpose  of  keeping  the  divine  commandments."§  The  faith 
that  precedes  justification,  according  to  the  Church  of 
Rome,  is  not  of  a  fiducial  character,  or  a  trust  in  the 
divine  mercy  exhibited  in  the  promise,  but  a  belief  of  all 
things  taught  in  the  Scriptures,  that  is,  by  the  Church;  and 
approaches  very  closely  to  what  Protestants  term  a  histori- 


*  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  vi.  cap,  v.  +  Ibid,  sess.  vi.  cap,  vi. 

t  Theol.  Mor.  et  Dog,  Petri  Dens,  torn  ii.  p.  450, 
§  Perrone's  Praelectiones  Tlieologicse,  torn  i,  p,  1407. 

U 


290  OF  SALVATION. 

cal  faith,*  We  are  said  to  be  "justified  freely  by  his 
grace,^'  says  the  Cliurch  of  Rome,  inasmuch  as  the  grace  of 
God  aids  the  sinner  by  these  acts.  She  hokls,  moreover, 
that  these  acts  are  meritorious.  She  does  not  hold  that 
they  possess  the  merit  of  condignlty^  as  do  the  good  works 
of  the  justified  man  ;  but  she  hokls  that  these  acts  of  faith 
and  love,  which  prepare  and  dispose  the  mind  for  justifica- 
tion, possess  the  merit  of  congruity^  that  is,  they  merit  a 
divine  reward,  not  from  any  obligation  of  justice,  but  out  of 
a  principle  of  fitness  or  congruity. 

The  disposition  for  justification  being  thus  wrought,  the 
justification  itself  follows.  This  satisfaction,  say  the  fa- 
thers of  Trent,  "  is  not  remission  of  sin  merely,  but  also 
sanctification,  and  the  renovation  of  the  inner  man  by  the 
voluntary  reception  of  grace  and  of  gifts,  so  that  the  man, 
from  being  unrighteous,  is  made  righteous."  The  decree 
then  goes  on  to  describe  the  cause  of  justification.  The 
final  cause  is  the  glory  of  God ;  the  efficient  cause  is  the 
mercy  of  God  ;  the  meritorious  cause  is  Jesus  Christ,  "  who 
merited  justification  for  us  by  his  most  holy  passion  on  the 
cross;"  the  instrumental  cause  is  the  "sacrament  of  baptism, 
which  is  the  sacrament  of  faith,"  says  the  Council  of  Trent, 
"  without  which  no  one  can  ever  obtain  justification."  The 
formal  cause  is  the  righteousness  of  God ;  "  not  that  by 
which  he  himself  is  righteous,  but  that  by  which  he  makes 
us  righteous ;  with  which,  to  wit,  being  endued  by  him,  we 
are  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  our  mind,  and  are  not  only 
reputed  righteous,  but  truly  are  called,  and  do  become 
righteous,  receiving  righteousness  in  ourselves,  each  accord- 
ing to  his  measure."-f- 

Such  is  the  doctrine  of  justification  as  taught  by  the 
Church  of  Rome.  It  is  diametrically  opposed  to  the 
method  of  justifying  sinners  described  in  the  epistles  of 

*  Perrone's  Prrelectiones  Theologicjc,  torn.  i.  p.  1415  :  Tlieologia  Mor. 
Ludovico  Bailly,  torn.  v.  p.  456. 
t  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  vi.  cap.  vii. 


PROTESTANT  AND  POPISH  JUSTIFICATION.  201 

Paul,  and  more  especially  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  It 
is  diametrically  opposed  to  the  doctrine  of  the  reformers, 
and  to  the  confessions  of  all  the  reformed  Churches.  All 
sound  Protestant  divines  receive  the  term  "  justification"  in 
a  forensic  sense.  Nothing  is  changed  It/  justification  viewed 
in  itself  but  the  man's  state,  which,  from  being  that  of  a 
criminal  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  and  obnoxious  to  death,  be- 
comes that  of  an  innocent  man,  entitled  to  eternal  life.  The 
source  of  justification  they  regard  as  being  the  grace  of 
God ;  its  meritorious  cause,  the  righteousness  of  Christ  im- 
puted to  the  sinner ;  and  its  instrumental  cause,  faith,  by 
which  the  sinner  receives  the  righteousness  which  the  gos- 
pel offers.  Thus  nothing  is  seen  in  this  great  work  but  the 
grace  of  God.  To  Him  is  all  the  glory.  The  sinner  comes 
into  the  possession  of  profound  peace,  because  he  feels  that 
he  is  resting,  not  on  his  own  good  (jualities,  but  on  the 
righteousness  of  the  Saviour,  which  "  has  magnified  the  law 
and  made  it  honourable ;""  and  he  abounds  in  works  of  righte- 
ousness, being  now  become  "  dead  unto  the  law,  but  alive 
unto  God ;"  and  these  good  fi'uits  are  at  once  the  proofs  of 
his  justification  and  the  pledges  of  his  glory.  But  all  this 
is  reversed  according  to  the  Romish  method.  It  is  clear, 
according  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  that  the  ground  of  a  sin- 
ner''s  justification  is  not  without  him,  but  within  him.  He 
is  justified,  not  because  Christ  has  satisfied  the  law  in  his 
room,  but  because  the  man  himself  has  become  such  as  the 
law  requires ;  or,  as  Romish  divines  are  accustomed  to  say, 
i\i(i  formal  cause  of  justification  is  inherent  ov  infused  righte- 
ousness. The  death  of  Christ  has  to  do  with  our  justifica- 
tion only  in  so  far  as  it  has  merited  the  infusion  of  those 
good  dispositions  which  are  the  formal  cause  of  our  justifica- 
tion,* and  whereby  we  perform  those  good  works  which  are 
meritorious  of  an  increase  of  grace  and  eternal  life.  And, 
as  regards  faith,  "  we  are  not,"  says  Bailly,  "  justified  by 
faith  alone ;"  and  its  admitted  connection  with  justification 

*  See  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  vi.  canons,  10-12. 


292  OP  JUSTIFICATION. 

he  states  to  be,  not  that  of  an  instrument,  but  of  a  good 
work,  or  part  of  infused  righteousness.*  The  Roman  Ca- 
tholic scheme,  therefore,  is  very  clearly  one  of  salvation  by 
good  works. 

This  is  the  "  first  justification,"  as  the  Roman  Catholic 
divines  are  accustomed  to  speak,  and  in  this  justification 
the  sinner  has  no  absolute  merit,  but  only  that  of  congruity. 
It  is  different  in  the  "  second  justification,"  which  is  thus 
defined  : — "  By  the  observance  of  the  commandments  of  God 
and  the  Church,  faith  co-operating  with  good  works,  they 
gain  an  increase  of  that  righteousness  which  was  received 
by  the  grace  of  Christ,  and  are  the  more  justified.""!-  In 
this  "  second  justification,"  the  man  rises  to  the  merit  of 
condignity^  his  works  being  positively  meritorious  and  de- 
serving of  heaven.  It  is  here  that  the  Romish  doctrine  of 
good  works  is  most  clearly  seen.  For  though  there  is  a 
loose  reference  to  the  merits  of  Christ,  yet  if  our  good  works 
be  meritorious,  as  is  affirmed,  there  must  be  a  positive  obli- 
gation, in  respect  of  justice,  on  God  to  bestow  heaven  upon 
us,  and  thus  salvation  is  of  works.  "  The  merits  of  men," 
says  Bellarmine,  "  are  not  required  because  of  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  those  of  Christ,  but  because  of  their  own  very  great 
efficacy.  For  the  work  of  Christ  hath  not  only  deserved  of 
God  that  we  should  obtain  salvation,  but  also  that  we  should 
obtain  it  by  our  own  merits. ":[  But  the  thirty-second  canon 
of  the  sixth  session  of  the  Council  of  Trent  puts  the  matter 
beyond  controversy.  "  If  any  one  shall  say  that  the  good 
works  of  a  justified  man  are  the  gift  of  God  in  such  a  sense 
that  they  are  not  also  the  good  merits  of  the  justified  man 
himself,  or  that  a  justified  man,  by  the  good  works  which 
are  done  by  him  through  the  grace  of  God,  and  the  merit  of 
Christ,  of  whom  he  is  a  living  member,  does  not  truly  de- 
serve increase  of  grace,  eternal  life,  and  the  actual  posses- 


*  Tlioologia  ]\Ior.  Ludovico  Bailly,  toni.  v.  pp.  45S,  462. 

+  Concil.  Tiid.  sess.  vi.  cap.  x. 

%  Bellarm.  de.  Justific.  lib.  v.  cap.  v. 


ASSURANCE  CONDEMNED.  293 


sion  of  eternal  life  if  he  die  in  grace,  and  also  an  increase  of 
glory,  let  him  be  anathema."* 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  teaches  that  the  justified 
man  has  no  certainty  of  eternal  life.  He  may  fall,  she  holds, 
from  a  state  of  grace,  and  finally  perish.  Should  he  so  fall, 
however,  that  Church  has  made  provision  for  his  recovery, 
and  that  recovery  is  through  the  sacrament  of  penance, -f — 
the  "  second  plank  after  shipwreck,"  as  the  fathers  term  it. 
"  Be  mindful,  therefore,  from  whence  thou  art  fallen,  and  do 
penance."!  Agreeably  with  this,  that  Church  teaches  that 
"  no  one  can  certainly  and  infallibly  know  that  he  has  ob- 
tained the  grace  of  God."§  To  stand  in  doubt  on  this  im- 
portant point  she  enjoins  as  a  duty,  and  anathematizes  the 
doctrine  of  "  assurance"  as  a  Protestant  heresy. 

Thus  the  fact  is  incontrovertible,  that  the  scheme  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  is  one  of  salvation  by  works.  And  the 
question  is  shortly  this, — Is  this  scheme  agreeable  to  Scrip- 
ture, or  is  it  not  ?  Papists  cannot  refuse  the  authority  of 
Scripture  on  this,  or  on  any  point,  seeing  they  admit  it  to 
be  the  Word  of  God.  Now,  while  the  Scriptures  speak  of 
a  reward  of  grace,  they  utterly  repudiate,  both  by  general 
principles  and  positive  statements,  what  Papists  maintain, — 
a  reward  of  merit.  If,  then,  we  allow  the  Bible  to  decide 
the  controversy,  the  Church  of  Rome  errs  in  a  point  where 
error  is  necessarily  fatal.  Her  scheme  of  scdcatlon  by  tcorJcs 
is  a  scheme  which  robs  God  of  his  glory,  and  man  of  his  peace 
now  and  his  salvation  hereafter. 


*  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  vi.  can.  xxxii.     The  same  doctrine  is  not  less  expli- 
citly taught  ill  tlie  sixteenth  chapter  of  same  session, 
t  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  \'i.  cap.  xiv. 
:;:  Rev.  ii.  5,  Eoman  Catliolic  veision. 
§  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  vi.  cap.  ix. 


2d4t  THE  SACRAMENTS. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THE    SACRAMENTS. 


It  has  pleased  God,  in  condescension  to  our  weakness,  to 
confirm  his  promises  by  signs.  The  bow  of  heaven  is  a  di- 
vinely-appointed token,  confirmatory  to  the  world  of  the  pro- 
mise that  there  shall  be  no  second  deluge.  The  world  has 
but  one  sign  of  its  safety ;  the  Church  has  two  of  her  perpe- 
tuity. The  sacraments  of  Baptism  and  the  Lord*'s  Supper, — 
like  two  beauteous  bows  bestriding  the  heavens  of  the  Church, 
— are  seals  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  give  infallible  cer- 
tainty to  all  who  really  take  hold  of  that  covenant,  that  they 
shall  enjoy  its  blessings.  But  the  Church  of  Rome  has  ac- 
counted that  these  two  signs  are  not  enough,  and,  accord- 
ingly, she  has  increased  them  to  the  number  of  seven.  These 
seven  sacraments  are  baptism,  confirmation,  the  eucharist, 
penance,  extreme  unction,  orders,  and  matrimony.  That 
Church  is  accustomed  to  boast  with  truth  that  most  of  these 
sacraments  are  unknown  to  Protestants  :*  she  might  have 
added,  with  equal  truth,  that  they  are  unknown  to  the  New 
Testament.  The  institution  of  Baptism  and  the  Supper  is 
plainly  to  be  seen  upon  the  inspired  page ;  but  where  do  we 
find  the  institution  of  these  five  supplementary  sacraments  ? 
Not  a  trace  of  them  can  be  discovered  in  Scripture ;  and  the 

*  Milncr's  End  of  Controversy,  let.  xx. 


THE  SEVEN  SACRAMENTS.  295 

attempt  to  adduce  Scripture  in  their  support  is  so  hopeless, 
that  it  has  seldom  been  made.*  But  what  is  it  that  Iloman 
infallibility  will  not  attempt  ?  Dens  proves  in  the  following 
notable  way  from  Scripture,  that  the  sacraments  must  be 
seven  in  number.  He  quotes  the  passage,  "  Wisdom  hath 
builded  her  house;  she  hath  hewn  out  her  seven  pillars."  "In 
like  manner,"  says  he,  "  seven  sacraments  sustain  the  Church." 
He  next  refers  to  the  seven  lamps  on  one  candlestick,  in  the 
furniture  of  the  tabernacle.  These  seven  sacraments  are  the 
seven  lamps  that  illuminate  the  Church.-f-  The  Jesuit  would 
have  rendered  his  argument  irresistible,  had  he  but  added, 
there  were  seven  evil  spirits  that  entered  the  house  that  was 
swept  and  garnished.  These  seven  sacraments  are  the  seven 
spirits  whose  united  power  and  wisdom  animate  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  The  Council  of  Trent  rested  the  proof  of 
these  sacraments  mainly  on  tradition,  and  a  supposed  hidden 
and  mystical  meaning  in  the  number  seven.  And,  in  truth, 
there  sometimes  is  a  mystic  meaning  in  that  number ;  as,  for 
instance,  when  the  seer  of  Patmos  saw  seven  hills  propping 
up  the  throne  of  the  apocalyptic  harlot.  Protestants  most 
willingly  yield  up  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  the  entire 
merit  of  discovering  these  sacraments,  as  they  also  yield  up 
to  her  the  entire  benefit  flowing  therefrom.j  The  first  two, 
baptism  and  penance,  confer  grace ;  the  rest  increase  it. 
The  first,  therefore,  are  sometimes  called  the  sacraments  of 
the  dead ;  the  others,  the  sacraments  of  the  livinr/. 

The  Roman  Catechism  defines  a  sacrament  as  follows  : — 

*  One  of  the  above  sacraments,  viz.  extreme  unction,  it  is  lawful  to  ad- 
minister on  the  top  of  a  long  stick  to  those  who  may  be  dying  of  pesti- 
lence. "  Licet  autcm  judicio  episcopi  in  eo  casu  inungere  a?grotum  adhi- 
bita  oblonga  virga,  cujus  in  extrema  parte  sit  gossypium  oleo  sacro  imbu- 
tum."     (Tlieol.  Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  viii.  p.  IGG.) 

t  Theol.  Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  tom.  v.  pp.  140,  141. 

J  Cajetan  and  a  host  of  Roman  Catholic  doctors  admit  that  several  of 
these  sacraments  were  not  instituted  by  Christ.  (See  authorities  in 
Blakeney's  Manual  of  Romish  Controversy,  pp.  37-44  ;  Edin.  1S51.)  INIar- 
riage  is  a  sacrament  of  the  new  law  (the  gospel) ;  yet  it  existed  4000  years 
before  the  gospel. 


296  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

"  A  thing  subject  to  the  senses,  which,  in  virtue  of  the  divine 
institution,  possesses  the  power  of  signifying  holiness  and 
righteousness,  and  of  imparting  these  qualities  to  the  re- 
ceiver.""* There  was  considerable  difference  of  opinion  in 
the  Council  of  Trent  as  to  the  way  in  which  grace  is  con- 
veved  alonsr  with  the  sacraments ;  but  the  fathers  were  una- 
nimous  in  holding  that  it  is  so  conveyed,  and  in  condemning 
the  reformers,  who  denied  the  power  of  the  sacraments  to 
confer  grace.  Accordingly,  in  their  decree  they  speak  of 
"  the  holy  sacraments  of  the  Church,  by  which  all  true  right- 
eousness is  first  imparted,  then  increased,  and  afterwards 
restored  if  lost."'*'-f'  "  The  Catholic  doctrine,"  says  Dens,  "  is, 
that  the  sacraments  of  the  new  law  contain  grace,  and  con- 
fer it  ex  opere  operato.''''^.  And  in  this  he  is  borne  out  by  the 
Council  of  Trent,  who  declare,  "  If  any  one  shall  say  that 
these  sacraments  of  the  new  law  cannot  confer  grace  by  their 
own  power  [ex  opere  operafo],  but  that  faith  alone  in  the  di- 
vine promise  suffices  to  obtain  grace,  let  him  be  accursed.""§ 
Three  of  these  sacraments, — baptism,  confirmation,  and  or- 
ders,— confer  an  indelible  impression,  and  therefore  they  are 
not,  and  cannot  be,  repeated.  As  to  the  seat  of  this  indelible 
stamp  or  impression,  the  Romish  divines  are  not  agreed,  || — 
some  fixing  on  the  mind,  others  on  the  will,  while  a  third 
party  make  this  wondrous  virtue  to  reside  in  the  hands  and 
the  tongue ;  which  gave  occasion  to  Calvin  to  say,  that  "  the 
matter  resembled  more  the  incantations  of  the  magician  than 


•  Catechismus  Romanus,  pars  ii.  cap.  i.  s.  ix.  p.  114.  Delahogue  thus 
defines  a  sacrament : — "  Signum  sensibile  a  Deo  permanenter  institutum, 
et  aliciijus  sanctitatis  seu  justitia;  operativum."  (Delahogue,  Tractatus 
de  Sacramentis  in  genere,  p.  2  ;  Dublin,  1828.) 

+  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  vii., — Dec.  de  Sacramentis. 

t  Theol.  ]\Ior.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  v.  p.  90. 

§  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  vii.  can.  viii. 

II  From  a  recent  barbarity,  we  should  infer  that  modern  Romanists  place 
the  seat  of  this  impression  in  the  finger  points.  Ugo  Bassi,  the  chaplain 
of  Garibaldi,  had  the  skin  peeled  oiF  the  tips  of  his  fingers  before  being 
shot. 


INTENTION  OF  THE  PRIEST.  297 

the  sound  doctrine  of  the  gospel."  Not  only  do  the  .sacra- 
ments infuse  grace  at  first,  but  they  confer  an  increase  of 
grace,  and  all  that  divine  aid  which  is  necessary  to  gain 
tlieir  end.*  This  grace  is  contained  in  the  sacraments,  say 
the  Komanists,  "  not  as  the  accident  in  its  subject,  or  as 
liquor  in  a  vase  (as  Calvin  has  vilely  insinuated),  but  it  is 
conferred  by  the  sacraments  as  the  instrumental  cause.""-|- 

One  very  important  point  remains,  and  that  is,  the  vali- 
dity of  the  sacrament.  In  order  to  this,  it  is  not  enough 
that  the  forms  of  the  Church  be  observed  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  sacrament ;  the  right  direction  of  the  intention  of 
the  administrator  is  an  essential  requisite.  "  If  any  one 
shall  say,"  says  the  Council  of  Trent,  "  that  in  ministers, 
while  they  form  and  give  the  sacraments,  intention  is  not  re- 
quired, at  least  of  doing  what  the  Church  does,  let  him  be 
anathema.""!  Any  flaw  here,  then,  vitiates  the  whole  pro- 
ceeding. If  the  priest  who  administers  baptism  or  extreme 
unction  be  a  hypocrite  or  an  infidel,  and  does  not  intend 
what  the  Church  intends,  the  baptized  man  lives  without 
grace,  and  the  dying  man  departs  without  hope.  The  priest 
may  be  the  greatest  profligate  that  ever  lived ;  this  will  not 
in  the  least  affect  the  validity  of  the  sacrament ;  but.  should 
he  fail  to  direct  aright  his  intention,  the  sacrament  is  null, 
and  all  its  virtue  and  benefit  are  lost, — a  calamity  as  dread- 
ful as  the  difficulty  of  providing  against  it  is  great.  For  as 
the  intention  of  another  cannot  be  seen,  it  can  never  be 
known  with  certainty  that  it  exists. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the  tremendous  evil  to  which 
a  single  invalid  act  may  lead.  Take  the  case  of  a  child 
whose  baptism  is  invalid  from  the  want  of  intention  on  the 
part  of  the  priest.  This  child  grows  to  manhood  ;  he  takes 
orders ;  but  he  is  no  priest.  Every  priestly  act  he  does  is 
null.     Those  he  ordains  are  in  the  same  predicament  with 


*  Theol.  3Ior.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  v.  p.  94. 

+  Idem,  torn.  v.  p.  90. 

X  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  vii.  can.  xi. 


298  THE  SACRAMENTS. 

himself;  they  neither  possess  nor  can  transmit  the  true 
apostolic  ichor.  Every  host  they  consecrate,  and  which  is 
first  adored,  then  eaten,  by  the  worshippers,  is  but  a  simple 
wafer.  They  cannot  absolve  ;  they  cannot  give  the  viaticum. 
But  even  this  is  not  the  whole  of  the  mischief.  It  may 
happen,  that  of  these  pseudo-priests,  one  may  be  chosen  to 
fill  Peter's  chair.  He  wants,  of  course,  the  infallibility ;  and 
so  the  Church  loses  her  head,  and  becomes  a  corpse.  There 
is  no  Romanist  who  can  say  with  certainty,  on  his  own  prin- 
ciples, that  there  is  a  true  catholic  and  apostolic  Church  on 
the  earth  at  this  day. 

Roman  Catholics  are  accustomed  to  grant  that  the  sacra- 
ments in  general,  and  baptism  in  particular,  administered  by 
Protestants  or  by  other  heretics,  are  valid  and  efficacious  as 
regards  their  effects.*  This  is  a  stretch  of  charity  quite  un- 
usual on  the  part  of  that  Church  ;  and  we  may  be  sure  that 
Rome  has  good  reasons  for  being  so  very  liberal  on  this 
point.  Good  reasons  she  verily  has.  She  grants  that  bap- 
tism administered  by  heretical  hands  is  valid,  in  order  that 
when  these  children  grow  up  she  may  have  a  pretext  to  seize 
upon  them,  and  compel  them  to  enter  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  And  in  the  fourteenth  canon  of  the  seventh  session 
of  the  Council  of  Trent,  she  pronounces  an  anathema  on  all 
who  shall  say  that  such  children,  when  they  grow  up,  are  to 
be  "  left  to  their  own  choice,  and  not  to  be  compelled  to  lead 
a  Christian  life,""  that  is,  to  become  Roman  Catholics.  Thus 
has  the  Pope  converted  an  ordinance  which  was  designed 
to  represent  our  being  delivered  from  the  yoke  of'  Satan,  and 
made  the  frecdmen  of  Jesus  Christ,  into  a  brand  of  slavery. 
As  in  the  feudal  times  the  lords  of  the  soil  were  accustomed 
to  put  collars,  with  their  names  inscribed,  upon  the  necks  of 
their  slaves,  so  baptism  is  the  iron  collar  which  Rome  puts 
upon  the  necks  of  her  slaves,  that  she  may  be  able  to  claim 
her  property  wherever  she  may  chance  to  find  it.     "  Here- 


*  Concil.  Tiid.  sess.  vii.  can.  xii.,  et  de  Baptismo,  can.  iv, :  Perrone's 
Pruclectioucs  Tlieologica',  torn.  ii.  p.  36. 


INTOLERANCE  OF  ROMANISM,  299 

tics  and  schismatics,"  says  the  Catechism  of  Trent,  "  are  ex- 
cluded because  they  have  departed  from  the  Church ;  for 
they  no  more  belong  to  the  Church  than  deserters  to  the 
army  they  have  left.  Yet  it  is  not  to  he  denied  that  they  are 
under  the  power  of  the  Churchy  as  those  loho  may  he  called  hy 
her  to  judgment^  punished^  and  condemned  hy  an  anathema^* 
In  short,  like  deserters  from  the  array,  on  being  retaken 
they  may  be  shot.  And  thus,  as  Blanco  White  remarks, 
"  the  principle  of  religious  tyranny,  supported  by  persecu- 
tion, is  a  necessary  condition  of  Roman  Catholicism  :  he 
who  revolts  at  the  idea  of  compelling  belief  by  punishment 
is  severed  at  once  from  the  communion  of  Rome.''''-f  If  we 
may  believe  Bellarmine,  the  apostles  would  have  burned  all 
they  failed  to  convert,  had  they  had  the  use  of  the  civil 
power.  Their  time  would  have  been  divided  betwixt  direct- 
ing Christians  in  their  faith  and  morals,  and  drawing  up 
rules  for  the  trial  and  execution  of  pagans  and  heretics,  had 
they  seen  the  least  chance  of  being  permitted  to  act  upon 
their  plan.  Think  of  Paul  writing  some  such  sentence  as 
this  : — "  Now  abideth  faith,  hope,  charity,  these  three ;  but 
the  greatest  of  these  is  charity," — and  laying  down  his  pen, 
and  going  straight  to  assist  at  an  auto  dafe! 


*  Cat.  Rom.  de  Symbolo,  art.  ix. 

t  Prac.  and  lut.  Evidouce  against  Catholicism,  p.  124. 


SOO  BAPTISM  AND  CONFIRMATION 


CHAPTER  XII. 


BAPTISM  AND  CONFIRMATION. 


Having  considered  the  leading  characteristics  which  belong 
to  sacraments  in  general,  according  to  the  idea  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  it  only  remains  that  we  state  the  peculiari- 
ties proper  to  each. 

Nothing  could  be  more  simple  as  a  rite,  or  more  significant 
as  a  symbol,  than  baptism  administered  according  to  Scrip- 
ture ;  nothing  could  be  more  foolish,  ridiculous,  or  supersti- 
tious, than  baptism  administered  according  to  the  forms  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Water  sprinkled  on  the  body 
is  the  divinely-appointed  sign  ;  but  to  the  Scripture  form  a 
great  many  absurd  additions  have  been  made.  The  water  is 
prepared  and  consecrated  with  "  the  oil  of  mystic  unction  ;" 
certain  words  and  prayers  are  muttered  over  the  child,  to 
exorcise  the  devil ;  salt  is  put  into  the  mouth,  to  intimate 
the  relish  acquired  by  baptism  for  "  the  food  of  divine  wis- 
dom," and  the  disposition  communicated  to  perform  good 
works.  On  the  forehead,  the  eyes,  the  breast,  the  shoulders, 
the  ears,  is  put  the  sign  of  the  cross,  to  block  up  the  senses 
against  the  entrance  of  evil,  and  to  open  them  for  the  recep- 
tion of  good  and  the  knowledge  of  divine  things.  The  re- 
sponses being  made  at  the  font,  the  child  is  next  anointed 
with  the  oil  of  catechumens ;  first  on  the  breast,  that  his 
bosom  may  become  the  abode  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of  the 


ESSENTIAL  TO  SALVATION.  801 

true  faith ;  next  on  the  shoulders,  that  he  may  become  strong 
and  active  in  the  performance  of  good  works  ;  the  assent  is 
then  given,  either  personally  or  by  sponsor,  to  the  apostle's 
creed ;  after  which  baptism  is  administered.  The  crown  of 
his  head  is  then  anointed  with  chrism,  to  signify  his  engraft- 
ing into  Christ.  A  white  napkin  is  given  to  the  infant,  to 
signify  that  purity  of  soul  and  that  glory  of  the  resurrection 
to  which  he  is  born  by  his  baptism.  A  lighted  taper  is  put 
into  his  hand,  to  represent  the  good  works  by  which  his  faith 
is  to  be  fed  and  made  to  burn.  And  finally,  a  name  is  given, 
which  is  usually  selected  from  some  distinguished  saint  In 
the  calendar,  whose  virtues  he  is  to  imitate,  and  by  whose 
prayers  he  is  to  be  shielded  and  blessed.* 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  teaches  that  participation  in 
this  rite  is  essential  to  salvation.  "  Is  baptism  necessary  to 
salvation  V  it  is  asked  in  Butler's  Catechism.  "  Yes,"  is 
the  reply ;  "  without  it  we  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God.""!-  "  Without  baptism,"  says  Liguori,  "  no  one  can 
enter  heaven."|  Dens  states  two  exceptions, — that  of  the 
martyr,  and  that  of  the  man  labouring  under  invincible  ig- 
norance.§  The  effects  of  baptism  are  great  and  manifold. 
The  compilers  of  the  Roman  Catechism  have  enumerated 
seven  of  the  more  notable  ones.  It  cleanses  from  the  guilt 
both  of  original  sin  and  actual  transgression ;  and  nothing 
remains  in  the  person  but  the  infirmity  of  concupiscence. 
All  punishment  due  on  account  of  sin  is  discharged ;  justifi- 
cation and  adoption,  and  other  invaluable  privileges,  are 
bestowed ;  it  implants  the  germ  of  all  virtues ;  it  engrafts 


*  Cat.  Rom.  pars  ii.  cap.  ii.  s.  xlvi.-lxi., — "  Quotuplices  sunt  Baptismi 
Ritus  1" 

+  Butler's  Catechism,  lesson  xxiv. 

J  Instructions  on  the  Commandments  and  Sacraments  ;  by  Alplionsus 
M.  Liguori  ;  part  ii.  cliap.  ii.  ;  Dublin,  1844. 

§  Theol.  INIor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  v.  p.  173.  "  Nisi  per  baptismi 
gi-atiam  Deo  renascantur,  in  sempiternam  miseriam  et  interitum  a  paren- 
tibus,  sive  illi  fideles  sive  infideles  sint,  procreantur."  (Cat.  Rom.  pars  ii. 
c.  ii.  s.  XXV.) 


S02  BAPTISM  AND  CONFIRMATION. 

into  Christ ;  it  stamps  with  an  ineffaceable  character  ;  and 
it  constitutes  the  person  an  heir  of  heaven.* 

Next  in  order  to  baptism  comes  the  sacrament  of  confir- 
mation. Baptism  is  the  spiritual  birth ;  but  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  like  a  tender  mother,  desires  and  delights 
to  see  her  children  wax  in  stature  and  in  strength;  and  this 
they  do  mainly  through  the  mystic  influence  of  confirmation, 
in  which  the  grace  of  baptism  is  perfected.  By  baptism 
they  become  Christians  ;  by  confirmation  they  become  strong 
Christians.  The  one  is  the  gate  by  which  they  enter  the 
Christian  state ;  the  other  clothes  them  with  the  armour  of 
a  Christian  soldier.-f-  None  are  to  be  confirmed  till  they 
have  attained  at  least  the  age  of  seven  years.  Its  rites  are 
simpler  than  those  of  baptism,  but  they  are  equally  without 
warrant  in  Scripture,  and  therefore  equally  superstitious. 
This  rite  is  to  be  administered  by  a  bishop,  who,  making  the 
sign  of  the  cross  upon  the  forehead  of  the  person  with 
chrism,  compounded  of  oil  and  balsam,  says,  "  I  confirm 
thee,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost."  He  next  slaps  the  person  on  the  cheek,  to 
signify  that,  as  a  soldier  of  the  cross,  he  must  be  prepared 
bravely  to  endure  hardships ;  and,  lastly,  he  bestows  the  kiss 
of  peace,  to  denote  the  impartation  of  that  "  peace  that 
passeth  all  understanding.""  With  the  chrism  the  person 
enjoys  a  mystic  anointing.  He  is  no  longer  a  child ;  he  is 
now  a  perfect  man,  equipped  for  performing  the  labours  and 
fio-hting  the  battles  of  the  Church.  In  this  sacrament  the 
Iloman  Catholic  Church  holds  that  the  seven  gifts  of  the 
Spirit  are  bestowed.  These  gifts  are, — wisdom,  understand- 
ing, counsel,  fortitude,  knowledge,  piety,  and  the  fear  of  the 
Lord.  Like  baptism,  the  sacrament  of  confirmation  confers 
an  ineff*aceable  character,  and  is  never  to  be  repeated,  j 

*  Cat.  Rom.  pars  ii.  cap.  ii.  s.  xxxi.-xlv. :  Perrone's  PrsBlectiones  Theo- 
logical, torn.  ii.  p.  116,  et  seq. 

+  Perrone's  Prselectiones  Theologicae,  torn.  ii.  p.  130. 

J  Cat.  Rom.  pars  ii.  cap.  iii., — De  Confirmationis  Sacramento  :  Theol. 
!Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn,  v., — Tractatus  de  Sacramento  Confirma- 
tionis ;  Dutler's  Cat.  lesson  xxv. 


POPERY  SIMPLE  MAGIC.  303 

Rome  has  a  fine  histrionic  genius.  She  has  eclipsed  all 
other  actors  that  ever  appeared  in  the  world.  What  is  the 
Papacy  but  a  mighty  raelo-drama,  which,  according  to  the 
vein  of  the  hour,  runs  out  into  the  humours  and  fooleries  of 
comedy,  or  deepens  into  the  horrors  of  tragedy.  All  the 
persons  and  verities  of  eternal  truth  pass  in  shadow  before 
the  spectator  in  Rome's  scenic  exhibition.  She  affects  to 
play  over  again  the  grand  dx'ama,  of  which  the  universe  is 
the  stage,  and  eternity  the  development, — redemption.  And 
for  what  end  ?  That  she  may  hide  from  man  the  reality. 
Her  system  is  essentially  counterfeit,  and  all  she  does  is 
pervaded  by  a  spirit  of  imposture  and  juggling.  But  in 
some  of  her  rites  she  lays  aside  her  usual  disguise,  thin 
enough  at  the  best,  and  reveals  her  art  to  all  as  but  a  piece 
of  naked  witchcraft.  If  those  are  not  spells  which  she  com- 
mands her  priests  to  operate  with  on  certain  occasions,  He- 
cate herself  never  used  incantation  or  charm.  We  open 
her  missals,  and  find  them  but  books  of  sorcery :  they  are 
filled  with  recipes  or  spells  for  doing  all  manner  of  super- 
natural feats, — exorcising  demons,  working  miracles,  and 
infusing  new  and  extraordinary  qualities  into  things  ani- 
mate and  inanimate.  She  has  her  cabalistic  words,  which, 
if  uttered  by  a  priest  in  the  appropriate  dress,  will  bind  or 
loose  men,  send  them  to  paradise  or  shut  them  up  in  pur- 
gatory !  What  is  this  but  magic  ?  What  is  the  Church 
of  Rome  but  a  company  of  conjurors  ?  and  what  is  her  wor- 
ship but  a  system  of  divination  l  Has  she  not  an  order  of 
exorcists,  specially  and  formally  ordained  to  the  somewhat 
dangerous  office  of  fighting  with  and  overcoming  hobgoblins 
and  devils  ?  Has  she  not  her  regular  formulas,  by  which  she 
can  change  the  qualities  of  substances,  control  the  elements 
of  air,  earth,  and  water,  and  compel  spirits  and  demons  to 
do  the  bidding  of  her  priests  ?  Can  any  man  of  plain  under- 
standing take  this  for  religion  ?  What  is  her  grand  rite,  but 
an  incantation,  which  combines  more  than  the  foulness  of 
ancient  sorcery  with  more  than  the  blasphemy  of  modern 
atheism  I     And  yet  do  not  kings,  presidents,  and   states- 


304  BAPTISM  AND  CONFIRMATION. 

men,  countenance  its  celebration  1  and,  while  themselves 
practising  this  foul  sorcery,  and  leading  others  by  their  in- 
fluence to  practise  it,  they  affect  to  be  shocked  at  the  im- 
pieties of  modern  socialism  !  We  excuse  not  Voltaire  and 
the  other  high  priests  of  infidelity  ;  but  it  is  indisputable 
that  they  treated  the  human  understanding  with  more  re- 
spect than  do  the  stoled  and  mitred  sorcerers,  who  first 
create,  then  eat  their  god.  What  are  the  rubrics  of  the 
Romish  Church,  but  recipes  for  the  manufacture  of  holy  salt, 
holy  mortar,  holy  ashes,  holy  incense,  holy  bells,  holy  oil, 
holy  water,  and  we  know  not  how  many  other  things  besides  ? 
And  the  instructions  regarding  this  unearthly  kind  of  manu- 
facture are  plentifully  mixed  with  exorcisms  for  driving  the 
devil  out  of  oil,  out  of  buildings,  and  out  of  infants.  For, 
with  striking  but  characteristic  inconsistency,  while,  ac- 
cording to  the  theory  of  original  sin,  as  we  have  explain- 
ed it,  man's  nature  is  entire  and  sound,  according  to  the 
formula  of  baptism  he  is  possessed  by  a  demon.  "  Come 
out  of  this  body,  unclean  spirit !"  So  runs  the  summons  ut- 
tered by  priestly  lips,  and  addressed  to  the  supposed  occu- 
pant of  every  infant  brought  to  the  baptismal  font.  Accord- 
ing to  the  dogmatic  view,  man  has  no  corrupt  element  in  his 
constitution  ;  according  to  the  ritual,  he  is  a  demoniac,  and 
remains  a  demoniac  till  the  baptismal  vvater  restores  him  to 
his  right  mind.  What,  in  form  or  essence,  is  awanting  in 
the  following  scene,  to  entitle  it  to  be  regarded  as  a  piece  of 
genuine  witchcraft?  It  is  the  exorcism  of  water  in  order  to 
its  being  used  in  baptizing.  Following  the  classic  model 
which  the  words  of  Hecate  to  the  three  weird  sisters  fur- 
nish,— 

"  Your  vessels  and  your  spells  provide, 
Your  charms,  aud  everything  beside," — 

the  rubric  proceeds : — 

"  First,  let  the  vessel  be  washed  and  cleansed,  and  then  filled  with  clear 
water ;  tlion  lot  the  sacrificing  priest,  in  his  surplice  (or  alb)  and  stole, 
with  the  clerks  or  other  priests,  if  thoy  be  at  hand,  with  the  cross,  two 


EXORCISM  OF  WATER.  SOo 

wax  candles,  the  censor  and  incense,  the  vessels  of  the  chrism,  and  the  oil 
of  the  catechumens,  solemnly  advance  to  the  font,  and  there,  or  at  the  al- 
tar of  the  baptistery,  if  there  be  one,  say  the  following  litany"  [in  Latin]. 

That  litany  consists  of  an  invocation  of  all  the  saints  in 
the  Roman  calendar  ;  for  it  is  fitting  that  such  an  incanta- 
tion should  open  with  the  names  of  the  "  three  hundred 
gods"  of  Rome  in  whose  honour  these  rites  are  performed. 
After  this  comes  the  exorcism. 

"  I  exorcise  thee,  thou  creature  of  water, 
By  the  living  +,  by  the  true  f. 
By  the  holy  f  person  who. 
By  a  word,  without  a  hand, 
Parted  thee  from  the  dry  land ; 
"Who  did  brood  upon  thy  face. 
In  the  void  and  formless  space ; 
Who  did  order  thee  to  go. 
And  from  Paradise  to  flow, 
In  four  goodly  rivers  forth, 
Towards  the  south,  east,  west,  and  north," 
"Here  let  him  with  his  hand  divide  the  water, and  then  pour  some  of  it 
outside  the  edge  of  the  font,  toward  the  four  parts  of  the  world." 
"  Who,  when  bitter  was  thy  flood. 
By  the  prophet's  branch  of  wood. 
Made  thee  sweet ;  who  from  the  stone, 
In  the  desert  parch'd  and  lone. 
Fainting  Israel's  thirst  to  cure. 

Brought  thee  forth 

.     ....     I  thee  conjure  ; 
Be  thou  holy  water,  blest ; 
Cleanse  the  foul  and  guilty  breast ; 
Wash  away  the  filth  of  sin  ; 
Make  the  bosom  pure  within. 
And  ye  devils,  every  one. 
Let  what  I  prescribe  be  done. 
Where  this  water  sprinkled  flies. 
Thence  eradicate  all  lies  ; 
Every  phantasm  put  to  flighi  ; 
Every  dark  thing  bring  to  light. 
Let  it  be  of  life  eternal. 
Fountain  salient  and  supernal ; 
Laver  of  Regeneration 
For  a  chosen  favoured  nation. 
In  the  name,  &c. — Amen." 
X 


so 6  BAPTISM  AND  CONFIRMATION. 

Then  follow  certain  ceremonies,  such  as  blowing  three 
times  into  the  water,  incensing  the  font,  and  pouring  in  oil 
in  the  form  of  a  cross  ;  after  which  the  incantation  is  con- 
cluded as  follows : — 

"Mingle,  O  thou  holy  chrism  ; 
Blessed  oil,  I  mingle  thee  ; 
Mingle,  water  of  baptism. 
Mingle,  all  ye  sacred  three ; 
Slingle,  mingle,  mingle  ye, 
In  the  name  of  +,  and  of  t,  and  of  +. 

Now  this  appears  to  us  to  embody  the  very  soul  of  magic. 
The  only  two  spiritual  agencies  known  to  man, — the  moral 
and  supernatural  agency  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  and  the  in- 
tellectual and  natural  agency  of  truth, — are  here  set  aside, 
and  a  third  sort  of  agency,  that  of  spells  and  incantations, 
is  called  into  requisition.  Is  not  this  witchcraft  ?  Of  whom, 
then,  are  the  priests  of  Rome  the  successors  ?  Manifestly 
of  the  ancient  diviners  and  wizards.  Nor  could  anything 
be  finer,  as  a  piece  of  the  histrionic,  than  the  scene  just  de- 
scribed. The  ancient  models  have  been  carefully  studied, 
and  their  forms  as  well  as  spirit  preserved.  The  obscurity 
produced  by  the  incense  and  the  tapers, — the  mystic  dresses, 
with  their  hieroglyphical  signs, — the  crossings  and  blowings, 
— the  mixing  and  mingling  of  various  substances, — the  inton- 
ed incantations, — the  dread  names  employed  to  conjure  with, 
— all  combine  to  form  a  scene  such  as  might  have  been  beheld 
in  the  observatory  of  some  ancient  Chaldean  astrologer,  or 
in  the  cell  of  some  Egyptian  soothsayer ;  or  such  as  the 
poor  infatuated  monarch  witnessed  in  the  sorceress''s  cot  at 
End  or  ;  or,  to  come  nearer  home,  such  as  the  great  Hecate 
and  her  three  bedlamite  attendants  celebrated  at  midnight 
on  the  bleak  heath  of  Forres,  so  powerfully  painted  by  the 
genius  of  Shakspeare.  The  one  set  of  rites  are  equally 
important  and  dignified  as  the  other ;  and  both  occupy  the 
mind  with  precisely  the  same  feeling, — that  feeling  being 
one  of  vague,  hurtful,  and  demoralizing  awe. 


THE  EUCHARIST,  TRANSUBSTANTIATION,  THE  MASS.     307 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


THE  EUCnAEIST— TRANSUBSTANTIATION— THE  MASS. 


We  now  come  to  speak  of  the  Eucharist.  This  rite,  as 
practised  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  forms  the  centralization 
of  Popish  absurdity,  blasphemy,  and  idolatry.  The  mass, 
in  short,  is  Superstition's  masterpiece.  It  takes  precedence 
of  all  other  idolatries  that  ever  existed  in  this  fallen  world. 
It  is  without  a  rival  among  the  polytheisms  of  ancient  times. 
The  groves  of  Greece,  the  temples  of  Egypt,  witnessed  the 
celebration  of  no  rite  at  once  so  revolting  and  so  impious  as 
that  which  is  daily  enacted  in  the  temples  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  What  the  priests  of  pagan  Rome  would 
have  blushed  to  perform,  the  priests  of  papal  Rome  glory  in, 
as  that  which  imparts  a  peculiar  lustre  to  their  office,  and 
a  peculiar  sanctity  to  their  persons.  As  the  polytheisms  of 
the  past  have  produced  nothing  that  can  equal  the  mass,  so 
we  may  safely  affirm  that,  while  the  world  stands,  this  rite 
will  remain  unsurpassed  by  anything  which  the  combined 
folly  and  impiety  of  man  is  able  to  invent. 

The  same  place  which  the  Pope  occupies  in  the  scheme 
of  papal  government  does  the  host  occupy  in  the  scheme  of 
papal  worship.  Each  forms  in  its  own  department  the  cul- 
minating point  of  Rome's  idolatry.  Both  are  transformed 
into  divinities.  A  mortal  and  fallible  man,  when  seated  in 
the  chair  of  Peter,  and  crowned  with  the  tiara,  is  straight- 


oOS     THE  EUCHARIST,  TRANSUBSTANTIATION,  THE  MASS. 

way  endowed  with  the  attribute  of  infallibility,  and  is  ad- 
dressed and  obeyed  as  God.  Bread  and  wine,  when  placed 
upon  the  altars  of  the  Romish  Church,  with  a  few  prayers 
mumbled  over  them  by  the  priest,  and  a  few  muttered  words 
of  consecration,  are  straightway  changed  into  the  real  flesh 
and  blood  of  Christ,  and  are  commanded  to  be  adored  with 
the  worship  that  is  due  to  God.  What  a  difference  between 
the  Eucharist  of  the  primitive  Church  and  the  mass  of  the 
popish  Church  !  And  yet  the  latter  is  but  the  former  dis- 
guised and  metamorphosed  by  the  evil  genius  of  Popery. 
In  nothing  perhaps  do  we  find  a  more  striking  illustration 
of  the  sad  change  that  Romanism  works  on  all  that  is  pure, 
simple,  and  holy !  How  completely  has  it  succeeded  in 
changing  the  character  and  defeating  the  end  of  the  or- 
dinance of  the  Supper  !  A  memorial  at  once  affecting  and 
sublime,  designed  to  commemorate  the  most  wonderful  event 
the  world  ever  saw,  it  has  transformed  into  a  rite  which  re- 
volts by  its  absurdity  and  shocks  by  its  impiety,  and  which 
robs  of  all  its  value  and  efficacy  that  death  which  it  was 
designed  to  commemorate,  and  which,  on  the  ground  of  its 
efficacy  alone,  was  worthy  of  being  commemorated. 

The  sum  of  what  the  Church  of  Rome  holds  under  this 
head  is,  that  the  bread  and  wine  in  the  Eucharist  are 
changed  into  the  real  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ  the  moment 
the  priest  pronounces  the  words,  "  This  is  my  body ;"  that 
the  host  is  to  be  adored  with  the  adoration  usually  given  to 
God,  and,  in  fine,  is  to  be  offered  up  to  God  by  the  priest,  as 
a  true  propitiatory  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the  quick  and 
the  dead.  The  subject  then  resolves  itself  as  follows : — 
firsts  the  dogma  of  transubstantiation  ;  second,  the  adoration 
of  the  host ;  and  third,  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass. 

The  origin  of  the  term  mass  is  involved  in  obscurity.  The 
more  common  opinion  is,  that  it  signifies  "  a  sending  away." 
It  was  the  custom  anciently,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  sermon, 
and  before  proceeding  to  celebrate  the  Supper,  for  the  offi- 
ciating deacon  to  pronounce  aloud,  "  Ite,  missa  est,''''  in  order 
that  catechumens  and  strangers  might  retire.     From  this 


RISE  OF  TRANSUBSTANTIATION.  309 

circumstance  the  service  that  followed  was  called  "  mass/'* 
It  required  several  centuries  to  give  to  the  rite  its  present 
form.  Transubstantiation  was  broached  as  early  as  the 
ninth  century,  but  it  was  not  formally  established  till  the 
Council  of  Lateran,  1215,  under  the  pontificate  of  Innocent 
III.  ;-f*  nor  was  it  till  three  centuries  later  that  the  Council 
of  Trent  decreed  it  to  be  a  true  propitiatory  sacrifice.  It 
is  on  the  dogma  of  transubstantiation  that  the  whole  of  the 
mass  is  founded.  The  Council  of  Trent  thus  defines  tran- 
substantiation:^— "  If  any  one  shall  deny,  that  in  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  most  holy  Eucharist  there  are  contained  truly, 
really,  and  substantially,  the  body  and  the  blood,  together 
with  the  soul  and  divinity,  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
therefore  whole  Christ,  and  shall  say  that  he  is  in  it  only 
by  sign,  or  figure,  or  influence,  let  him  be  accursed."  Still 
more  explicit  are  the  terms  of  the  next  canon  : — "  If  any 
one  shall  say,  that  in  the  sacrament  of  the  most  holy 
Eucharist  there  remains  the  substance  of  bread  and  wine 
along  with  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  shall  deny  the  wonderful  and  singular  conversion  of  the 
whole  of  the  substance  of  the  bread  into  the  body,  and  the 
whole  of  the  substance  of  the  wine  into  the  blood,  there  re- 
maining only  the  appearances  of  bread  and  wine,  which 
conversion  the  Catholic  Church  most  appropriately  calls 
transubstantiation,  let  him  be  accursed."  Rome  is  care- 
ful to  mark  the  complete  and  thorough  character  of  the 
change  effected  by  the  consecrating  words  of  the  priest. 
There  is  no  mixing  of  the  bread  and  the  wine  with  the 
body  and  the  blood  of  Christ.  The  substance  of  the  bread 
and  the  wine  is  annihilated ;  and  the  very  body  and  blood 
of  Christ, — "  that  very  body,"  Rome  is  careful  to  state, 
"  which  was  born  of  the  Virgin,  and  which  now  sits  at  the 


*  Cotter  on  the  Mass  and  Rubrics,  pp.  12,  13  ;  Dublin,  1845. 
+  Mosheim,  cent.  xiii.  part  ii.  chap.  iii.  sec.  ii. 
±  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  Kiii.  can.  i. 


SIO     THE  EUCHARIST,  TRANSUBSTANTIATION,  THE  MASS. 

right  hand  of  God,"* — that  body  which  did  all  the  miracles, 
uttered  all  the  words,  and  endured  all  the  agonies,  which  the 
evangelists  record, — that  very  body  it  is  which  the  priest 
reproduces,  places  upon  the  altar,  and  puts  into  the  hands 
and  into  the  mouths  of  the  worshippers.  Do  the  annals  of 
the  world  contain  another  such  wonder  ?  Nay,  with  a  par- 
ticularity that  sinks  into  the  most  offensive  grossness,  the 
authorized  books  of  Rome  are  careful  to  explain  that  "  the 
bones  and  sinews"  of  the  body  of  Christ  are  contained  in  the 
host.-f-  There  is  nothing  to  indicate  to  the  senses  the  stu- 
pendous change  which  the  creating  fiat  of  the  priest  has  ac- 
complished. To  the  eye  it  still  appears  as  bread  and  wine; 
it  smells  as  bread,  it  tastes  as  bread,  and  it  can  be  eaten  as 
bread;  yet  it  is  not  bread:  it  is  flesh;  it  is  blood;  it  is  the 
very  body  that  eighteen  centuries  ago  sojourned  on  earth,  and 
that  now  sits  enthroned  in  heaven.  Christ  has  again  re- 
turned to  earth,  not  in  glory,  as  he  promised,  and  attended 
by  his  mighty  angels;  but  summoned  thither  by  the  terrible 
power,  or  spell,  or  whatever  it  be,  which  the  priest  possesses, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  undergoing  a  deeper  humiliation  than 
at  first.  Then  he  appeared  as  a  man,  but  now  he  is  com- 
pelled to  assume  the  form  of  an  inanimate  thing ;  and  under 
that  form  he  is  again  broken,  and  again  offered  in  sacrifice ; 
and  so  his  humiliation  is  not  yet  over, — his  days  of  suffering 
and  sacrifice  are  still  prolonged :  so  eager  has  Rome  been 
to  identify  herself  with  that  Church  predoomed  in  the  Apo- 
calypse, and  marked  with  this  brand,  "  where  also  our  Lord 
was  crucified. "J 

It  is  scarce  possible  to  state  the  many  revolting  conse- 
quences involved  in  the  popish  doctrine  of  transubstantia- 
tion,  without  an  appearance  of  profanity.     But  the  dread  of 


*  Catechismus  Rom.  pars  ii.  cap.  iv.  q.  xxii. 

+  Ibid,  pars  ii.  cap.  iv.  q.  xxvii. — "  Quicquid  ad  veram  corporis  ratio- 
nem  pertinet,  reluti  ossa  et  nervos" 
X  Rev.  xi.  8. 


ABSURDITY  OP  THE  DOGMA.  311 

this  charge  must  not  unduly  deter  us,  Rome  it  is  that 
must  bear  the  responsibility.  The  awful  profanation  is 
hei's,  not  ours.  The  priests  of  the  Church  of  Rome  have 
the  power  not  only  of  creating*  the  body  of  our  blessed 
Lord,  together  with  his  divinity,  as  often  as  they  will,  but 
of  multiplying  it  indefinitely.  Every  time  mass  is  per- 
formed tico  Chrhts  at  least  are  created.  There  is  a  whole 
Christ  in  the  host,  or  bread ;  and  there  is  a  whole  Christ  in 
the  chalice,  or  cup.  "  It  is  most  certain,"  says  the  Council 
of  Trent,  "  that  all  is  contained  under  either  species,  and 
under  both ;  for  Christ,  whole  and  entire,  exists  under  the 
species  of  bread,  and  in  every  particle  thereof,  and  under 
the  species  of  wine,  and  in  all  its  parts.f  "  The  Jof/y,'' 
says  Perrone,  "  cannot  be  separated  from  the  blood,  and 
soul,  and  divinity ;  nor  can  the  hlood  be  separated  from  the 
body,  and  soul,  and  divinity ;  therefore,  under  each  species, 
a  whole  Christ  must  of  necessity  be  present."!  ^^  follows 
that  there  are  as  many  whole  Christs  as  there  are  conse- 
crated wafers.  It  follows  also,  that  should  we  divide  the 
wafer,  there  is  a  whole  Christ  in  each  part ;  should  we 
divide  it  again,  the  same  thing  will  take  place ;  and  how 
many  soever  the  times  we  divide  it,  or  the  parts  into  which 
we  divide  it,  a  whole  Christ  is  contained  in  every  one  of  the 
parts.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  cup.  Should  we  pour 
it  out  drop  by  drop,  in  every  one  of  the  drops  there  is  a 
whole  Christ.  But  we  are  also  to  take  into  account  that 
the  mass  is  being  celebrated  at  many  thousand  altars  at  the 

*  It  is  right  to  state,  that  Dens  (torn.  v.  p.  2S7)  objects  to  calling  the  act 
of  transubstantiation  a  creation.  His  argument  being,  that  to  create  is  to 
make  something  out  of  nothing,  whereas  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ 
are  made  from  the  bread  and  wine.  Dens  also  objects  to  saying  that  the 
substance  of  bread  and  wine  are  annihilated;  but  the  Council  of  Trent 
(sess.  xiii.  can.  ii.)  pronoimces  an  anathema  on  all  who  shall  affirm  that  the 
substance  of  bread  and  wine  remains  after  the  consecration.  So,  between 
the  reasonings  of  Dens  and  the  anathema  of  Trent  one  has  some  difficulty 
ill  steering  a  safe  course. 

+  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  xiii,  cap.  iii. 

X  Perrone's  Prselectiones  Theologicse,  torn,  ii,  p.  217. 


SI 2     THE  EUCHARIST,  TEANSUBSTANTIATION,  THE  MASS. 

same  time.  At  each  of  these  altars  the  body  of  our  blessed 
Lord  is  reproduced.  The  priest  whispers  the  potent  word ; 
the  bread  and  wine  are  annihilated ;  the  flesh  and  blood  of 
Christ,  the  bones  and  nerves, — to  use  Ilome''s  phrase, — to- 
gether with  his  divinity,  take  their  place,  are  immolated  in 
sacrifice,  and  then  eaten  by  the  worshippers.  That  body  is 
locked  up  in  sacraria,  is  carried  about  in  mass-boxes,  is  put 
into  the  pockets  of  priests,  is  produced  at  the  beds  of  the 
sick,  is  liable  to  be  lost,  to  be  trodden  upon,  to  be  devoured 
by  vermin,  to — but  we  forbear;  the  enormity  and  blasphemy 
of  the  abomination  sickens  and  revolts  us. 

But  on  what  ground  does  Rome  rest  this  doctrine  ?  She 
rests  it  simply  on  these  words,  spoken  by  Christ  at  the  first 
supper, — "  This  is  my  body.'"'  She  holds  that  by  these 
words  Christ  changed  the  bread  and  wine  into  his  flesh 
and  blood,  and  has  transmitted  the  same  power  to  every 
priest,  in  the  celebration  of  the  Eucharist,  grounding  this 
delegation  of  power  upon  the  words,  "  This  do  in  remem- 
brance of  me."  To  assail  such  a  position  by  grave  argu- 
ment were  a  waste  of  time.  We  have  nowhere  met  with  so 
clear  and  beautiful  an  exposition  of  the  true  meaning  of 
these  words,  "  This  is  my  body,"  and  of  the  absurdity  of 
the  sense  which  Rome  puts  upon  them,  as  in  the  life  of 
Zwino;le.  The  mass  was  about  to  be  abolished  in  the  can- 
ton  of  Zurich,  and  the  reformer  had  been  engaged  all  day 
in  debating  the  question  before  the  great  council.  Am- 
Grutt,  the  under  Secretary  of  State,  did  battle  in  behalf  of 
the  impugned  rite,  and  was  opposed  by  Zwingle,  the  sub- 
stance of  whose  reasoning,  as  stated  by  D'Aubigne,  was, 
"  that  sffTi  (is)  is  the  proper  word  in  the  Greek  language  to 
express  signijies,  and  he  quoted  several  instances  in  which 
this  word  is  employed  in  a  figurative  sense." 

"  Zwingle,"  continues  the  historian,  "  was  seriously  en- 
grossed by  these  thoughts,  and,  when  he  closed  his  eyes  at 
night,  was  still  seeking  for  arguments  with  which  to  oppose 
his  adversaries.  The  subjects  that  had  so  strongly  occupied 
his  mind  during  the  day  presented  themselves  before  him  in 


TRANSUBSTANTIATION  UNSCRIPTURAL.  313 

a  dream.  He  fancied  that  ho  was  disputing  with  Am-Grutt, 
and  that  he  coukl  not  reply  to  his  principal  objection.  Sud- 
denly a  figure  stood  before  him,  and  said,  '  Why  do  you  not 
quote  the  eleventh  verse  of  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Exodus, — 
Ye  shall  eat  it  (the  lamb)  in  haste:  it  is  the  Lor(r s passomr  T 
Zwingle  awoke,  sprung  out  of  bed,  took  up  the  septuagint 
translation,  and  there  found  the  same  word,  Ict)  (is),  which 
all  are  agreed  is  synonymous  with  signifies  in  this  passage. 

"  Here,  then,  in  the  institution  of  the  paschal  feast  under 
the  old  covenant,  is  the  very  meaning  that  Zwingle  defends. 
How  can  he  avoid  concluding  that  the  two  passages  are 
parallel  r* 

The  canon  of  interpretation  by  which  Rome  finds  tran- 
substantiation  in  the  Bible,  is,  that  the  words  "  This  is  my 
body"  must  be  taken  literally.  No  one  is  so  great  an  adept 
as  herself  at  mystical  and  figurative  interpretation  ;  but  here 
it  suits  her  purpose  to  insist  on  the  literal  sense.  But  are 
we  bound  to  follow  Rome's  canon  ?  Certainly  not.  Should 
we  do  so,  there  is  no  book  in  the  world  which  is  so  fraught 
with  absurdity  and  unintelligibility  as  the  Bible.  There  is 
no  figure  more  common,  whether  in  Scripture  or  in  ordi- 
nary speech,  than  that  by  which  we  give  to  the  sign  the 
name  of  the  thing  signified.     "  The  seven  kine  are  seven 


*  D'Aubign^'s  "  History  of  the  Reformation,"  book  xi.  cliap.  vi.  Dr 
Wiseman,  following  in  the  steps  of  Professor  Perrone,  of  the  Collegio  Ro- 
mano, has  laboured  to  prove  that  by  the  "  flesh"  alluded  to  in  John,  vi. 
our  Lord  meant  his  literal  body,  notwithstanding  his  correction  of  the 
mistake  at  the  time  :— "  It  is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth  ;  the  flesh  profit- 
eth  nothing."  These  interpreters  view  the  words  in  the  fifty-first  verse,- — 
"  The  bread  which  I  will  give  is  my  flesh,  which  I  will  give  for  the  life  of 
the  world," — as  a  prophecy  which  was  fulfilled  on  the  night  when  Christ 
"  took  bread"  and  instituted  the  Supper.  The  words  of  John,  "  I  baptize 
you  with  water,  but  he  that  cometh  after  me  .  •  shall  baptize  you  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,"  might  as  well  be  viewed  as  a  prophecy,  and  the  doctrine 
founded  on  them  that  the  water  of  baptism  is  now  transubstantiated  into 
the  Holy  Ghost.  The  reasonings  of  Dr  Wiseman  have  been  ably  exposed 
by  Mr  Sheridan  Knowles,  in  his  work,  "  The  Idol  demohshed  by  its  own 
Priest  j"  Edin.  1850. 


ol4     THE  EUCHARIST,  TRANSUBSTANTIATION,  THE  MASS, 

years,"  "  I  am  the  door,"  and  a  hundred  other  instances, 
which  the  memory  of  every  reader  can  supply, — What  would 
we  make  of  these  sayings  on  the  literal  principle  ?  "  This  is 
Calvin,"  say  we,  meaning  it  is  his  portrait.  The  veriest 
simpleton  would  scarce  take  us  to  mean  that  the  lines  and 
paint  on  the  canvas  are  the  flesh  and  blood,  the  soul  and 
spirit,  of  Calvin.  But,  say  the  Romish  doctors,  these  phrases 
occur  in  dreams  and  parables,  where  a  figurative  mode  of 
speech  is  allowable  ;  while  the  words  "  This  is  my  body" 
form  part  of  a  plain  narrative  of  the  institution  of  the  Sup- 
per. Well,  let  us  take  the  corresponding  narrative  in  the  Old 
Testament, — the  institution  of  the  Passover, — and  see  whe- 
ther a  mode  of  speech  precisely  identical  does  not  there  oc- 
cur. "  It  (the  lamb)  is  the  Lord's  Passover ;"  that  is,  it  is 
the  token  thereof.  No  one  was  ever  so  far  bereft  of  under- 
standing and  reason  as  to  hold  that  the  lamb  was  transub- 
stantiated into  the  Passover  ;  that  is,  into  the  Lord's  pass- 
ing over  the  houses  of  the  Israelites.  The  lamb,  when  eaten 
in  after  ages,  was,  and  could  but  be,  the  memorial^  and  no- 
thing more,  of  an  event  long  since  past.  In  these  two  ana- 
logous passages,  then,  we  find  a  mode  of  speech  precisely 
similar ;  and  yet  Rome  interprets  them  according  to  two 
different  canons.  She  applies  the  figurative  rule  to  the 
lamh^  the  literal  to  the  bread.  But  we  need  not  go  so  far  as 
to  the  Old  Testament  to  convict  Rome  of  violating  her  own 
canon  ;  we  have  only  to  turn  to  the  second  clause  of  the 
same  text, — "  He  took  the  cup,  .  .  .  saying,  .  .  . 
this  is  my  blood."  Was  the  CUP  his  blood  I  Yes,  on  the 
literal  principle.  But,  says  Rome,  the  "  cup"  is  here,  by  a 
trope  or  figure  of  speech,  put  for  what  it  contains.  Undoubt- 
edly so  ;  but  it  is  a  trope  or  figure  of  the  same  kind  with 
that  in  the  first  clause, — "  This  is  my  body  ;"  and  Rome 
pays  her  canon  but  a  poor  compliment,  when  it  is  no  sooner 
enacted  than  abandoned.  We  cannot  be  blamed,  surely,  if 
we  follow  her  example,  and  abandon  it  likewise,  along  with 
the  monstrous  dogma  she  has  built  upon  it. 

But,  leaving  canons  of  interpretation,  let  us  betake  our- 


IXCOMPREHENSIBLE  BY  REASON.  315 

selves  to  the  use  of  our  reason  and  our  senses.  Alas  !  the 
mystery  is  as  insoluble  as  ever.  Like  those  stars  so  im- 
mensely remote  from  our  eavth,  that  the  most  powerful  tele- 
scope cannot  assign  their  parallax,  this  mystery  moves  in 
an  orbit  so  immeasureably  beyond  the  range  of  both  our 
mental  powers  and  our  bodily  senses,  that  these  make  not 
the  smallest  perceptible  approach  to  its  comprehension. 
Reason  and  transubstantiation  are  quantities  which  have 
no  relation  to  one  another.  The  bread  and  the  wine,  say 
the  Romish  theologians,  are  transubstantiated  into  the  flesh 
and  blood  of  Christ.  Had,  then,  our  Lord  two  bodies? 
Was  he  dead  and  alive  at  the  same  instant  ?  Did  he  break 
himself?  Did  he  eat  himself?  Was  he  sacrificed  in  the 
upper  room ;  and  was  his  death  on  the  cross  but  a  repeti- 
tion of  his  decease  the  evening  before  ?  Yes ;  on  Rome"'s 
principle,  all  this,  and  more,  is  true.  He  rose  to  die  no 
more,  and  yet  it  is  not  so.  He  rose  to  die  many  times  every 
day.  He  is  in  heaven  ;  and  yet  he  is  not  in  heaven,  for  he 
is  on  earth.  He  is  here  on  this  altar  ;  and  yet  he  is  not 
here  ;  he  is  there  on  that  altar :  he  is  in  neither  place ; 
and  yet  he  is  in  both  places.  He  is  broken  ;  and  yet  he  is 
not  broken,  for  in  each  part  is  a  whole  Christ.  From  the 
whole  wafer  he  passes  into  the  fractured  part ;  and  yet  he 
does  not  pass  into  it,  for  a  whole  Christ  remains  in  the  part 
from  which  it  was  disjoined.  Here  is  motion  and  rest,  ex- 
istence and  non-existence,  predicated  of  the  same  body  at 
the  same  instant.  Rome  has  good  reason  for  exhorting  her 
devotees  to  qualify  themselves  for  the  reception  of  this  doc- 
trine by  the  following  abjuration  : — "  Herein  I  utterly  re- 
nounce the  judgment  of  my  senses,  and  all  human  under- 
standing ;"  which  is  just  a  statement,  in  Romc''s  peculiar 
way,  of  what  we  are  contending  for,  that  transubstantiation 
is  a  proposition  which  no  man  in  his  senses  can  believe. 

Reason,  we  have  seen,  grapples  hopelessly  with  this  mys- 
tery. It  is  equally  baffling  and  confounding  to  the  senses. 
To  the  sight,  the  touch,  and  the  taste,  the  bread  and  wine 
are  bread  and  wine  still.     It  is  our  senses  that  mislead  and 


SIG     THE  EUCHARIST,  TRANSUBSTANTIATION,  THE  MASS, 

deceive  us,  says  the  infallible  Church.  The  substance  of  the 
bread  is  gone, — the  accidents^  that  is,  the  colour,  the  smell, 
the  taste  of  bread,  remain.  The  substance  gone  and  the 
accidents  remain  !  This  is  the  one  instance  in  the  universe 
■where  accidents  exist  apart  from  their  subject.  In  no  other 
instance  did  we  ever  see  whiteness  but  in  a  white  body ;  but 
here  we  see  where  there  is  nothing  to  be  seen,  we  touch 
where  there  is  nothing  to  be  touched,  and  taste  where  there 
is  nothing  to  be  tasted.  For  this  ingenious  discovery  a 
French  physician  was  so  unreasonable  as  to  say,  that  the 
holy  fathers  of  Trent  ought  to  be  doomed  to  live  all  their 
days  after  on  the  accidents  of  bread.  In  that  case,  we  fear, 
both  subject  and  accidents  would  have  speedily  gone  the 
way  of  all  the  earth.  The  newest  theory  on  the  subject,  as 
given  by  Dens,  is,  that  the  accidents  exist  in  the  air  and  in 
our  senses,  as  in  their  subject.  But  behind  this  wonder  rises 
another.  While  in  the  one  case,  that  of  the  bread,  the  ac- 
cidents exist  apart  from  the  subject^  in  the  other,  that  of  the 
body  of  our  Lord,  the  subject  exists  without  the  accidents. 
That  body  is  there,  but  it  possesses  none  of  the  properties 
of  a  body.  It  is  not  extended  ;  it  cannot  be  seen ;  it  can- 
not be  touched  nor  tasted.  We  touch  and  taste  only  the 
accidents  of  bread ;  for  the  host,  we  are  taught,  is  received 
under  the  appearance  of  bread.  But  it  were  bootless  far- 
ther to  pursue  a  mystery  which  Romanists  candidly  tell  us 
falls  not  within  the  scope  of  reason  or  sense.  Rome  is  un- 
questionably in  the  right  when  she  assures  us  that  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Church  on  this  head  cannot  be  believed  till  the 
judgment  of  the  understanding  has  been  renounced. 

One  word  more  as  regards  the  testimony  of  the  senses. 
Rome  knows  perfectly  that  her  doctrine  cannot  stand  this 
test,  and  therefore  she  has  straitly  forbidden  its  application. 
If  men  will  be  so  wicked  as  to  use  their  senses  in  connec- 
tion with  this  mystery,  they  will  be  justly  punished  by  being 
landed  in  dreadful  impiety ;  that  is,  they  will  learn  to  de- 
ride transubstantiation  as  an  impious  and  iniquitous  juggle. 
"  First  of  all,"  says  the  Catechism  of  Trent,  "  inculcate  on 


OPPOSED  TO  THE  SENSES.  31  7 

the  faithful  the  necessity  of  using  their  utmost  endeavour  to 
withdraw  their  minds  and  understandings  from  the  domi- 
nion of  the  senses  ;  for  should  they  allow  themselves  to  be 
led  by  what  the  senses  tell  them  respecting  this  mystery,  they 
will  be  drawn  into  the  extreme  of  impiety.""'  Rome,  in  this 
way,  may  save  the  dogma  of  transubstantiation ;  but,  like 
those  creatures  which  launch  their  stings  and  their  life  to- 
gether in  the  effort  of  self-defence,  she  saves  transubstantia- 
tion  at  the  expense  of  Christianity.  Her  principle  is  one  that 
would  land  us  in  universal  disbelief.  How  know  we  that 
Christ  existed  ?  We  know  it  on  the  testimony  of  men  who 
had  simply  the  evidence  of  their  senses  for  the  fact, — of  men 
who  saw,  and  heard,  and  handled  him.  In  the  same  way 
do  we  believe  in  his  miracles :  we  receive  them  on  the  testi- 
mony of  men  who  tasted  the  wine  into  which  the  water  was 
converted,  or  spake  with  Lazarus  after  he  was  raised.  How 
know  we  that  there  is  a  God  ?  The  evidence  of  his  works 
and  of  his  Word,  communicated  through  the  senses,  assures 
us  that  He  exists.  In  fine,  we  have  no  evidence  of  any- 
thing which  does  not  come  through  the  senses ;  and  if  we 
distrust  them,  we  can  believe  in  nothing.  We  cannot  be- 
lieve that  there  is  a  univei'se,  or  indeed  anything  at  all. 
We  can  stop  short  only  at  Hume''s  principle,  that  there  is 
neither  body  nor  spirit  beyond  our  own  minds,  and  that  all 
is  ideal. 

Thus  Rome,  when  she  brings  us  before  the  shrine  of  her 
idol,  insists  on  blindfolding  us.  We  must  submit  to  have 
our  eyes  put  out  in  order  that  we  may  be  able  to  worship  ! 
Why  is  this  ?  Is  it  a  God,  or  a  monster,  before  whom  she 
conducts  us  ?  Does  she  drop  this  dark  veil  to  temper  the 
glory,  or  to  hide  the  deformity,  of  her  divinity  ?  The  answer 
is  not  far  to  seek.     The  mass,  like  another  great  deity, 

Is  a  monster  of  such  frightful  mein. 
That,  to  be  hated,  needs  hut  to  be  seen. 


Catechismus,  Rom.  pars,  ii.  cap.  iv.  q.  xxi. 


SIS     THE  EUCHARIST,  TRANSUBSTANTIATION,  THE  MASS. 

How  differently  does  the  Bible  treat  us  !  It  addresses  us 
through  the  powers  God  has  endowed  us  with,  and  calls  on 
us  to  exercise  these  powers.  The  faith  of  the  Bible  is  the 
perfection  of  reason :  the  faith  of  Rome  is  based  on  the 
prostitution  and  extinction  of  all  those  faculties  which  are 
the  glory  of  man. 

Considering  that  the  dogma  of  transubstantiation  lacks 
footing  in  both  Scripture  and  reason,  one  might  think  that 
Rome  would  have  shown  great  moderation  in  pressing  it. 
Quite  the  reverse.  The  belief  of  it  was  enforced  with  a  ri- 
gour which  would  not  have  been  justifiable  although  it  had 
been  the  plainest,  instead  of  the  most  confounding,  of  propo- 
sitions. Rome  endeavoured  to  make  it  plain  by  the  help  of 
racks  and  faggots.  Transubstantiation  defied  belief  not- 
withstanding ;  and  the  consequence  was  the  effusion  of  blood 
in  torrents.  Rome  has  inaugurated  her  leading  dogmas,  as 
the  heathen  did  their  idols,  by  hecatombs  of  human  beings. 
So  many  confessors  have  been  called  to  die  for  the  mass,  that 
it  has  come  to  be  known  as  Rome''s  "  burning  article." 

The  monstrous  juggle  of  transubstantiating  the  elements 
is  immediately  followed  by  an  act  of  gross  idolatry.  The  host 
being  consecrated,  the  officiating  priest  kneels  and  adores 
it ;  he  next  elevates  it  in  the  sight  of  the  people,  who  like- 
wise kneel  and  adore  it.  The  Church  distinctly  teaches 
that  it  is  to  be  worshipped  with  that  worship  which  is  ren- 
dered to  God  himself ;  because  it  is  God.  "  It  is  therefore 
indubitable,"  say  the  fathers  of  Trent,  "  that  all  true  Chris- 
tians, according  to  the  uniform  practice  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  are  bound  to  venerate  this  most  holy  sacrament, 
and  to  render  to  it  the  worship  of  lafria,  which  is  due  to  the 
true  God.  Nor  is  it  the  less  to  be  worshipped  that  it  was 
instituted  by  Christ  the  Lord,  as  has  been  stated  ;  for  we  be- 
lieve the  same  God  to  be  present  in  it,  of  whom  the  eternal 
Father,  when  he  introduces  him  into  the  world,  thus  speaks  : 
— '  And  let  all  the  angels  of  God  worship  him.'  "*     The  same 

*  Concil.  Trid.  scss.  xiii.  cap.  v. :  Perrone's  Prselectiones  Theologicse, 
torn.  ii.  p.  222. 


GROSS  IDOLATRY  OF  MASS.  ol.9 

decree  goes  on  to  enact  that  the  host  shall  be  cari-icd  in 
public  procession  through  the  streets,  that  the  faithful  may 
adore  it,  and  that  heretics,  seeing  its  "  great  splendour,"  may 
be  smitten  and  die,  or  may  be  ashamed  and  repent. 

The  host,  then,  is  to  be  worshipped  ;  and  how  ?  Not  as 
images  are  worshipped ;  not  as  saints  are  worshipped  ;  but 
as  the  eternal  Creator  himself  is  worshipped.  The  Church 
of  Rome  does  not  teach  that  God  is  worshipped  through  the 
host :  she  teaches  that  the  host  is  God, — is  the  flesh,  the 
blood,  the  soul  and  divinity  of  Christ, — and  therefore  the 
worship  is  given  to  the  host,  and  terminates  on  the  host. 
If  that  Church  can  prove  conclusively,  by  fair  argument, 
that  what  appears  to  us  to  be  bread  and  wine  is  not  bread 
and  wine  at  all,  but  the  body  and  divinity  of  Christ,  we  will 
at  once  admit  that  she  does  right,  and  at  once  acquit  her 
of  idolatrj',  in  rendering  it  divine  honours  ;  but  till  she  irre- 
fragably  establish  this,  we  must  hold  her  guilty  of  the  gross- 
est idolatry.  It  is  no  answer  to  say,  that  the  Papist  be- 
lieves that  the  wafer  which  he  worships  is  God,  and  that 
if  he  did  not  believe  it  to  be  God  he  would  not  worship  it. 
His  so  believing  does  not  make  it  God  ;  nor  can  his  mistake 
alter  the  nature  of  the  act,  which  is  that  of  giving  to  a  wa- 
fer that  worship  and  homage  which  is  due  to  God  alone. 
The  question  is,  Is  it,  or  is  it  not,  God  ?  We  deny  that  it  is 
God,  and  challenge  Rome  to  the  proof;  and  till  proof  clear 
and  conclusive  is  adduced,  we  shall  hold,  that  in  worship- 
ping the  bread  and  wine  of  the  Eucharist,  she  is  guilty  of 
one  of  the  foulest  and  most  monstrous  forms  of  idolatry  ever 
practised  on  the  earth. 

Nor  do  the  absurdity  and  impiety  of  the  mass  stop  here. 
The  priests  of  Rome  not  only  create  the  body  and  divinity 
of  Christ, — they  actually  offer  it  in  sacrifice.  The  Church  of 
Rome  teaches  that  the  mass  is  a  true  propitiatory  sacrifice 
for  the  sins  of  the  quick  and  the  dead.*  So  was  it  decreed 
to  be  by  the  Council  of  Trent.     "  The  holy  council  teaches 

*  The  term  "  host,"  from  hostia,  a  victim  or  sacrifice,  indicates  as  much. 


S20     THE  EUCHARIST,  TRANSUBSTANTIATION,  THE  MASS. 

that  this  sacrifice  is  really  propitiatory,  and  made  by  Christ 
himself.  ....  Assm'edly  God  is  appeased  by  this  ob- 
lation, and  grants  grace  and  the  gift  of  penitence,  and  dis- 
charges the  greatest  crimes  and  inicjuities.  For  it  is  one 
and  the  same  sacrifice  which  is  now  offered  by  the  priests, 
and  which  was  offered  by  Christ  upon  the  cross,  only  the 

mode  of  offering  is  different Wherefore  it  is 

rightly  ofi'ered,  according  to  the  tradition  of  the  apostles, 
not  only  for  the  sins,  punishments,  satisfactions,  and  other 
necessities  of  living  believers,  but  also  for  the  dead  in  Christ, 
who  are  not  yet  completely  purified."*  The  fathers  of  Trent 
establish  this  doctrine  by  the  very  peculiar  logic  with  which 
they  establish  all  the  more  unintelligible  of  their  dogmas, 
that  is,  they  present  it  to  the  understanding,  and  drive  it 
home  with  an  anathema.  "  Whoever  shall  affirm,*'*'  say  the 
i'athers,  "  that  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  is  nothing  more  than 
an  act  of  praise  and  thanksgiving,  or  that  it  is  simply  com- 
memorative of  the  sacrifice  offered  on  the  cross,  and  not  also 
propitiatory,  or  that  it  benefits  only  the  person  who  re- 
ceives it,  nor  ought  to  be  offered  for  the  living  and  the 
dead,  for  sins,  punishments,  satisfactions,  and  whatever  be- 
sides may  be  requisite,  let  him  be  accursed.*"-]-  The  prac- 
tice of  the  Church  is  in  full  accordance  with  the  decree  of 
Trent,  The  following  prayer  accompanies  the  oblation  of 
the  host : — "  Accept,  0  Holy  Father,  Almighty  and  Eter- 
nal God,  this  unspotted  host,  which  I  thy  unworthy  servant 
offer  unto  thee,  my  living  and  true  God,  for  my  innumerable 
sins,  offences,  and  negligences,  and  for  all  here  present ;  as 
also  for  all  faithful  Christians,  both  living  and  dead ;  that 
it  may  avail  both  me  and  them  to  everlasting  life. — Amen.*"| 
It  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  then,  as  taught 
by  her  great  council,  that  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  atone- 
ment is  made  for  sin.§     But  we  think  that  we  can  discover 

*  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  xxii.  cap.  ii.  ;  Perrone's  Pro9lectiones  Theological, 
torn.  ii.  p.  260. 
+  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  xxii.  can.  iii.  J  Ordinary  of  the  Mass. 

§  Theol.  Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  v.  p.  370. 


THE  MASS  A  SACRIFICE.  321 

a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  Papists  of  the  present  day 
to  explain  away  the  doctrine  of  Trent  on  this  head.  In  their 
modern  catechisms  they  no  doubt  state  that  the  mass  is  a 
true  propitiatory  sacrifice,  for  otherwise  they  would  impugn 
their  01iurch''s  infallibility  ;  but  when  they  come  to  describe 
its  effects,  they  state  in  a  cursory  way,  "  the  remission  of 
sins,"  and  dwell  largely  on  its  efficacy  in  applying  to  us  the 
merits  and  benefits  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.*  But,  not  to 
speak  of  the  absurdity  of  supposing  that  the  merits  of  one 
sacrifice  are  applied  to  us  by  another  sacrifice,  the  attempt 
to  limit  the  nature  and  design  of  the  mass  to  this  is  utterly 
inconsistent  with  all  their  other  statements  and  reasonings 
respecting  it.  Why  not  also  call  baptism  a  "  propitiatory 
sacrifice,"  seeing  the  benefits  of  Christ's  death  are  applied 
to  us  by  it  ?  The  very  same  flesh  and  blood.  Papists  hold, 
are  offered  in  the  mass  which  were  offered  on  the  cross  :  it 
is  the  same  person  who  offers,  even  Christ,  who  is  represent- 
ed by  the  priest :  it  is  one  and  the  same  sacrifice,  the  Church 
of  Rome  teaches,  which  was  offered  on  the  cross,  and  is  now 
offered  in  the  mass;  the  inference  is  therefore  inevitable,  that 
its  design  and  effects  are  the  same.  It  made  a  real  atone- 
ment in  the  first  instance;  and,  if  still  the  same  sacrifice,  must 
still  be,  what  the  authorized  expositors  of  the  Romish  creed 
declare  it  to  be,  a  true  propitiatory  sacrifice. 

The  Council  of  Trent  pronounces  an  anathema  against  the 
man  who  shall  affirm  that  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  blas- 
phemes or  derogates  from  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  upon  the 
cross.-f-  But  despite  its  anathema,  we  maintain  that  the 
mass  is  in  the  highest  degree  derogatory  to  the  sacrifice  of 
Christ, — is  so  derogatory  to  it  as  virtually  to  supersede  it 
altogether.  The  glory  of  the  cross  lies  in  its  efficacy,  and 
the  mass  makes  void  that  efficacy.  Rome  here  is  emphati- 
cally the  enemy  of  the  cross.     As  oft  as  this  sacrifice  is 


*  See  Keenan's  Cat.  on  the  Sacrifice  of  tlie  Mass,  chap.  iii. ;  and  Butler's 
Cat.  lesson  xxvi. 
+  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  xxii.  can.  iv. 

Y 


o22     THE  EUCHARIST,  TRANSUBSTANTIATION,  THE  MASS. 

offered,  Kome  emphatically  declares  that  the  cross  has  fail- 
ed to  accomplish  the  end  which  God  proposed  by  it ;  that, 
though  Christ  has  suffered,  sin  remains  unexpiated ;  and 
that  what  he  has  failed  to  do  by  the  pains  of  his  body  and 
the  agonies  of  his  soul,  her  priests  are  able  to  do  by  their 
unbloody'^  sacrifice.  It  is  theirs  to  offer  for  the  sins  of  the 
world, — theirs  to  mediate  between  earth  and  heaven.  And. 
thus  the  dignity  of  the  priesthood  of  Christ  is  completely 
eclipsed  by  the  priesthood  of  Rome,  and  the  glory  of  his 
cross  by  Rome"'s  great  sacrifice  of  the  mass. 

Moreover,  the  doctrine  of  the  mass  traverses  all  the  lead- 
ing principles  and  statements  of  the  Bible  on  the  subject 
of  Christ"'s  offering.  The  Bible  teaches  that  the  office  and 
functions  of  priesthood  are  for  ever  at  an  end ;  the  sacrifico 
of  the  mass  implies  that  they  are  still  in  being.  The  Bible 
teaches  that  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  was  offered  "  once  for 
all,"  and  is  never  to  be  repeated  \\  but  in  the  mass,  Christ 
continues  to  be  offered  in  sacrifice  every  day  at  the  thousand 
altars  of  Rome.  The  great  law  of  the  Bible  on  the  subject 
of  satisfaction  is,  that  "  without  shedding  of  blood  there  is 
no  remission."  This  law  the  mass  contradicts,  inasmuch  as 
it  teaches  that  there  is  "  remission"  by  its  unhloody  sacri- 
fice, and  so  virtually  affirms  that  the  blood  of  Christ  was 
uselessly  shed. 

While  on  this  subject,  we  may  be  permitted  to  remark, 
that  the  man  who  assumes  to  be  a  priest  is  chargeable  with 
a  blasphemy  next  to  that  of  the  man  who  assumes  to  be 
God.    Priesthood  is  the  next  sacred  thing  to  Deity.    There 


•  We  are  unable  to  see  the  consistency  of  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine 
on  this  head.  All  the  standard  works  of  the  Church  of  Rome  teach  tliat 
the  mass  is  an  unbloody  sacrifice ;  but  with  the  same  distinctness  tlicy 
teach  that  the  wine  is  transubstantiated  into  literal  blood.  On  Rome's 
own  showing,  the  one-half  of  what  constitutes  the  sacrifice  is  blood;  liow 
then  the  mass  can  be  an  unhloody  sacrifice,  we  are  unable  to  comprehend. 
If  it  be  unbloody,  of  what  value  is  it  I  "  Without  shedding  of  blood  tliere 
is  no  remission." 

t  Hebrews,  ix.  x. 


THE  CUP  WITHHELD.  323 

is  only  one  priest  in  the  universe ;  there  never  was,  and 
there  never  will  be,  any  other ;  for  the  circumstances  of  our 
world  render  it  impossible  that  priesthood,  in  the  true  sense 
of  the  term,  should  be  borne  by  any  mere  creature.  The 
priests  of  the  former  economy  were  but  types  and  figures. 
And  as  there  is  but  one  priest,  so  there  is  but  one  sacrifice. 
The  sacrifices  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation  were  typical,  like 
the  priests;  and  now  both  are  for  ever  at  an  end.  Accord- 
ingly, in  the  New  Testament,  the  term  priest  does  not  once 
occur,  save  in  relation  to  a  priesthood  now  abolished.  The 
claim  of  priesthood,  then,  is  sacrilegious  and  blasphemous, 
and  the  man  who  makes  it  is  inferior  in  guilt  only  to  the 
man  who  lays  claim  to  Deity. 

There  are  several  practices  connected  with  the  celebration 
of  the  mass,  which  our  limits  may  permit  us  to  indicate,  but 
forbid  us  to  dwell  upon.  The  Council  of  Trent,  which  was 
the  first  to  decree  that  the  mass  is  a  true  propitiatory  sacri- 
fice, also  enacted  that  the  cup  should  be  denied  to  the  laity. 
The  King  of  France  is  (or  rather  was)  the  only  layman  in 
Christendom  who,  by  virtue  of  a  pontifical  permission,  is  al- 
lowed the  privilege  of  communicating  in  both  kinds.  Priests 
only  were  present  at  the  first  communion,  say  the  Papists, 
and  therefore  the  laity  have  no  right  to  the  cup.  But  this 
proves  too  much,  and  therefore  proves  nothing ;  for  if  this 
warrants  the  exclusion  of  the  laity  from  the  cup,  it  equally 
warrants  their  exclusion  from  the  bread, — from  the  sacra- 
ment altogether.  Sensible  that  this  ground  would  not  sus- 
tain her  practice  of  giving  the  cup  to  no  one  but  the  offi- 
ciating priest,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  had  recourse 
to  tradition,  but  with  no  better  success.  It  does  not  admit 
of  doubt,  that  in  early  times  the  people  were  allowed  the  cup 
equally  with  the  bread.  But  the  practice  has  now  come  to 
be  extremely  common  in  the  Church  of  Rome  for  the  priest 
alone  to  partake  sacramentally;  so  that,  in  point  of  fact,  the 
people,  in  all  ordinary  cases,  are  debarred  from  both  kinds. 
The  writer  has  seen  mass  celebrated  in  most  of  the  great 
cathedrals  out  of  Italy ;  but  in  no  instance  did  he  ever  see 


S24     THE  EUCHARIST,  TRANSUBSTANTIATION,  THE  MASS. 

the  worshippers  permitted  to  partake.  Attendance,  how- 
ever, on  such  occasions,  is  earnestly  enjoined  ;  and  the  people 
are  taught  that  their  benefit  is  the  same  whether  they  par- 
take or  no. 

It  is  also  a  frequent  practice  of  the  priests  of  Rome  to 
celebrate  mass  in  their  own  closets,  where  not  a  single  spec- 
tator is  present.  This  custom  is  directly  at  variance  with 
one  leading  end  of  the  institution  of  the  Supper,  which,  as 
a  public  memorial,  was  designed  to  commemorate  a  great 
public  event.  The  priest,  in  this  case,  can  apply  the  benefit 
of  the  mass  to  whomsoever  he  will ;  that  is,  he  can  apply  it 
to  any  one  who  chooses  to  hire  him  with  his  money.  The 
ghostly  necromancer,  shut  up  in  his  own  closet,  can  operate 
by  his  spells  upon  the  soul  of  the  person  he  intends  to  bene- 
fit, with  equal  effect,  whether  he  is  in  the  next  room  or 
a  thousand  miles  off".  Nay,  though  he  should  be  beyond 
"  this  visible  diurnal  sphere,"  in  the  gloomy  regions  of  pur- 
gatory, the  mysterious  and  potent  rites  of  the  priest  can 
benefit  him  even  there.  No  magician  in  his  cave  ever 
wrought  with  spells  and  incantations  half  so  powerful  as 
those  wielded  by  the  priests  of  Home.  The  mysteries  of 
ancient  sorcery  and  the  wonders  of  modern  science  are  here 
left  far  behind.  The  electric  telegraph  can  transmit  intelli- 
gence with  the  speed  of  lightning  across  a  continent,  but 
the  Romish  priest  can  convey  instantaneously  the  virtue  of 
his  spiritual  divinations  across  the  gulf  that  divides  worlds. 
But  we  might  write  volumes  on  the  mass,  and  not  exhaust 
its  marvels. 

How  all  this  goes  to  enrich,  and  almost  to  deify,  the  Ro- 
mish priesthood,  will  be  seen  when  we  come  to  speak  of  the 
genius  of  Popery, 


OF  PENANCE  AND  CONFESSION.  325 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


OF  PENANCE  AND  CONFESSION. 


In  baptism  all  sin  is  washed  away,  and  more  particularly 
the  guilt  of  original  sin.  For  the  remission  of  sins  done 
after  baptism,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  invented  the 
sacrament  of  penance.  That  mystic  machinery  by  which 
Rome  perfects  men  for  heaven,  without  any  trouble  or  pains 
of  their  own,  is  complete  in  all  its  parts.  Holiness  is  con- 
ferred by  one  sacrament  and  maintained  by  another ;  and 
thus  a  mutual  benefit  is  conferred.  The  people  are  enriched 
by  the  spiritual  gifts  of  the  Church,  and  the  Church  is  am- 
ply recompensed  and  endowed  with  the  temporal  wealth  of 
the  people.  "  Penance  is  the  channel  through  which  the 
blood  of  Christ  flows  into  the  soul,  and  washes  away  the 
stains  contracted  after  baptism,"*  says  the  Catechism  of 
Trent.  It  might  have  added  with  equal  truth,  that  it  is  a 
main  channel  by  which  the  gold  of  the  people  flows  into  the 
treasury  of  Rome,  and  repairs  the  havoc  which  the  luxury 
and  ambition  of  the  clergy  are  daily  making  in  the  posses- 
sions of  the  Church. 

Penance  Dens  defines  to  be  "  a  sacrament  of  the  new 
law,  by  which  those  who  have  been  baptized,  but  have  fallen 
into  sin,  upon  their  contrition  and  confession  obtain  absolu- 


Cat.  Rom.  pars  ii.  cap.  v.  q.  iz. 


226  OF  PENANCE  AND  CONFESSION. 

tion  of  sin  from  a  priest  having  authority.'"*  The  Council 
of  Trent  requires  all  to  believe,  under  pain  of  damnation, 
that  "  the  Lord  specially  instituted  the  sacrament  of  pen- 
ance when,  after  his  resurrection,  he  breathed  on  his  dis- 
ciples, saying,  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost :  whosesoever 
sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted  unto  them ;  and  whoseso- 
ever sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained."-f-  The  fathers  go  on 
to  argue,  that  the  power  of  forgiving  sins,  which  Christ  un- 
doubtedly possessed  and  exercised,  was  communicated  to 
the  apostles  and  their  successors,  and  that  the  Church  had 
always  so  understood  the  matter.j  Of  this  last,  however, 
the  council  adduces  no  proof,  unless  we  can  regard  as  such 
the  anathema  with  which  it  attempts  to  terrify  men  into 
the  belief  of  this  dogma.  None  can  be  saved,  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  holds,  without  the  sacrament  of  penance. 
It  is  "  as  necessary  to  salvation,"  says  the  Council  of  Trent, 
"  for  those  who  have  sinned  after  baptism,  as  baptism  itself 
for  the  unregenerate."§  "  Without  its  intervention,"  says 
the  Trent  Catechism,  "  we  cannot  obtain,  or  even  hope  for, 
pardon."  This  sacrament,  as  regards  its  form,  consists  in 
the  absolution  pronounced  by  the  priest ;  and  as  regards  its 
matter,  it  consists  in  contrition,  confession,  and  satisfaction, 
which  are  the  acts  of  the  penitent.  These  are  the  several 
parts  which  are  held  to  constitute  the  whole.  Let  us  speak 
briefly  of  each  of  these. 

Contrition  is  defined  by  Dens  to  be  "  sorrow  of  mind  and 
abhorrence  of  the  sin,  with  a  full  purpose  not  to  sin  any 
more." II  This  differs  little  from  what  Protestant  divines 
are  accustomed  to  call  godly  sorrow ;  and  had  the  matter 
rested  here,  we  might  have  congratulated  Rome  on  retain- 
ing at  least  one  portion  of  truth ;  but  she  has  spoilt  all 
by  the  distinction  which  immediately  follows  of  perfect  and 
imperfect  contrition.     Perfect  contrition  flows  from  love  to 


*  Theol.  Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  vi.  p.  1.      +  John,  xx.  pp.  22,  23. 
t  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  xiv.  cap.  i.  §  Ibid.  sess.  xiv.  cap.  ii. 

II  Theol.  Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  vi.  p.  47. 


CONTRITION  AND  ATTRITION.  S27 

God ;  and  tho  penitent  mourns  for  his  sin  chiefly  because  it 
has  dishonoured  God.  This  kind  of  contrition,  the  Council 
of  Trent  teaches,  may  procure  reconciliation  with  God  with- 
out confession  and  absolution ;  but  then  perfect  contrition, 
according  to  that  Council,  includes  a  desire  for  tho  sacra- 
ment, and  without  that  desire  contrition  cannot  procure 
pardon.*  Imperfect  contrition,  or  attrition,  as  it  is  called, 
does  not  arise,  according  to  Dens,  from  the  love  of  God,  or 
any  contemplation  of  his  goodness  and  mercy,  but  from  tho 
desire  of  pardon  and  the  fear  of  hell.-f-  Attrition  of  itself 
cannot  procure  justification.  It  fails  of  its  end  unless  it  be 
followed  by  the  sacrament ;  that  is,  unless  it  lead  the  per- 
son to  confession  and  absolution.  It  was  attrition  which 
the  Ninevites  showed  on  the  preaching  of  Jonah,  and  which 
led  them  to  do  penance,  and  ultimately  to  share  in  the 
divine  mercy.  Perfect  contrition,  the  Church  of  Rome  ad- 
mits, may  justify  without  the  intervention  of  the  priest. 
But  such  is  the  infirmity  of  human  nature,  that  contrition  is 
seldom  or  never  attained,  according  to  that  Church.  The 
sorrow  of  the  sinner  in  rare  cases,  if  in  any,  rises  above  at- 
trition ;  and  therefore  the  doctrine  of  Rome  on  the  head  of 
penance  is,  in  point  of  fact,  briefly  this, — that  without  auri- 
cular confession  and  priestly  absolution  no  one  can  hope  to 
escape  the  torments  of  hell. 

The  next  act  in  the  sacrament  of  penance  is,  confession. 
The  Bible  teaches  the  sinner  to  acknowledge  his  guilt  to 
that  Majesty  against  whom  the  offence  has  been  done,  "who 
is  rich  in  mercy,  and  ready  to  forgive :"  Rome  requires  all 
to  make  confession  to  her  priests;  and  if  any  refuse  to  do  so, 
she  sternly  denies  them  pardon,  and  shuts  against  them  the 
gates  of  paradise.  It  is  "  incumbent  on  every  penitent," 
says  the  Council  of  Trent,  "  to  rehearse  in  confession  all 
mortal  sins  which,  after  the  most  rigid  and  conscientious 
scrutiny  of  himself,  he  can  recollect;  nor  ought  he  to  conceal 


*  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  xiv.  cap.  iv. 

t  Theol.  Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  vi.  p.  53,  et  seq. 


o28  OF  PENANCE  AND  CONFESSION. 

even  the  most  secret."*  Perrone  lays  it  down  as  a  proposi- 
tion, that  "  the  confession  of  every  mortal  sin  committed 
after  baptism  is  of  divine  institution,  and  necessary  to  sal- 
vation."-|-  The  confession  of  venial  sins,  "  by  which  we  are 
not  excluded  from  the  grace  of  God,  and  into  which  we  so 
often  fall,'''  the  Church  of  Rome  has  not  made  obligatory ; 
nevertheless  she  recommends  the  practice  as  a  pious  and 
edifying  one.  For  the  confession  of  sins  to  man  not  even 
the  shadow  of  proof  can  be  produced  from  Scripture.  But 
the  Church  of  Rome  proves  to  her  own  satisfaction  the  duty 
of  auricular  confession,  by  that  convenient  logic  of  which  she 
makes  such  abundant  use,  and  by  which  all  her  more  diffi- 
cult and  extraordinary  positions  are  established :  she  first 
lodges  in  the  priest  the  power  to  pardon  sin,  and  argues 
from  that,  that  it  is  necessary  to  confess  to  the  priest,  in  or- 
der to  obtain  the  pardon  he  is  authorized  to  bestow.:):  He 
is  a  judge,  says  Dens ;  he  sits  there  to  decide  the  question 
whether  such  a  sin  is  to  be  remitted  or  retained.  But  how 
can  a  judge  pronounce  sentence  without  hearing  the  case  ? 
and  he  can  hear  the  case  only  by  the  confession  of  the  sin- 
ner, to  whom  alone  the  sin  is  known. § 

Those  sins  only  that  are  confessed  can  be  pardoned.  Con- 
cealment is  held  to  be  mortal  sin.  And  thus  the  sinner 
conceals  his  offences  at  the  peril  of  his  salvation.  How 
Rome,  consistently  with  this  doctrine,  provides  for  the  par- 
don of  those  sins  which  the  memory  of  the  penitent  does 
not  enable  him  to  recollect,  she  does  not  explain.  Nor  is 
it  only  the  bare  fact  the  penitent  is  bound  to  mention :  he 
must  state  all  the  circumstances  and  peculiarities  of  his 
sin,  whether  these  aggravate  or  extenuate  it.  Nor  is  the 
penitent  to  be  left  to  his  own  discretion :  the  confessor  is 
bound  to  interrogate  and  cross-question,  and,  in  doing  so, 


*  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  xiv.  cap.  v. 

+  Perrone's  Proelectiones  Theologies,  torn.  ii.  p.  340. 

t  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  xiv.  cap.  v. 

§  Theol.  Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  vi.  p.  2. 


ATROCITIES  OP  THE  C0>;FESSI0NAL.  S29 

is  at  liberty  to  suggest  new  crimes  and  modes  of  sinning 
hitherto  unthought  of,  and,  by  sowing  insidiously  the  seeds 
of  all  evil  in  the  mind,  to  pollute  and  ruin  the  conscience  he 
professes  to  disburden.  There  is  no  better  school  of  wicked- 
ness on  earth.  History  testifies,  that  for  every  offender 
whom  the  confessional  has  reclaimed,  it  has  hardened  thou- 
sands;— for  one  it  may  have  saved,  it  has  destroyed  millions. 
And  what  must  be  the  state  of  that  one  mind, — the  confes- 
sor's,— into  which  is  daily  poured  the  accumulated  filth  and 
vice  of  a  neighbourhood  ?  He  cannot  decline  the  dreadful 
office  although  he  were  willing.  He  must  be  the  depository 
of  all  the  imagined  and  of  all  the  acted  wickedness  around 
him.  To  him  it  all  gravitates,  as  to  its  centre.  Every  pur- 
pose of  lust,  every  deed  of  vengeance,  every  piece  of  villany, 
flows  thither,  forming  a  fresh  contribution  to  the  already 
fearful  and  fathomless  mass  of  known  wickedness  within  him.* 
This  black  and  loathly  mass  he  carries  about  with  him, — he 
carries  within  him.  His  bosom  is  a  very  sepulchre  of  rot- 
tenness and  stench, — "  a  closet  lock  and  key  of  villanous  se- 
crets." Wherever  he  is,  alone  or  in  society,  or  at  the  al- 
tar, he  is  chained  to  a  corpse.  The  rank  effluvia  of  its 
putrescence  encompasses  him  like  an  atmosphere.  Miser- 
able doom  !     He  cannot  rid  himself  from  the  corruption 


*  The  Rev.  L.  J.  Nolan,  who  was  many  years  a  priest  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  but  is  now  a  Protestant  clergyman  in  connection  with  the  Esta- 
blished Church  of  Ireland,  after  his  conversion  published  his  experience 
of  the  confessional.  He  says, — "The  most  awful  of  all  considerations 
is  this,  that  through  the  confessional  I  have  been  frequently  apprized  of 
intended  assassinations  and  most  diabolical  conspiracies ;  and  still,  from 
the  ungodly  injunctions  of  secrecy  in  the  Romish  creed,  lest,  as  Peter 
Dens  says,  the  confessional  should  become  odious,  I  dared  not  give  the 
slightest  intimation  to  the  marked-out  victims  of  slaughter."  He  then 
proceeds  to  narrate  a  number  of  cases  in  which  he  was  made  the  deposi- 
tory, beforehand,  of  the  most  diabolical  purposes  of  assassination,  parricide, 
&c.,  all  of  which  were  afterwards  carried  out."  (A  Third  Pamphlet,  by  the 
Rev.  L.  J.  Nolan,  pp.  22-27  ;  Dublin,  1838.)  See  also  "  Auriculai-  Con- 
fession and  Popish  Nunneries,  by  "W.  Hogan  j"  Lond.  1851. 


SSO  OF  PENANCE  AND  CONFESSION. 

that  adheres  to  him.     His  effcft'ts  to  fly  from  it  are  in  vain. 
"  Which  way  I  fly  is  hell ;  myself  am  hell." 

To  his  mind,  we  say,  this  mass  of  evil  must  be  ever  present, 
mingling  with  all  his  feelings,  polluting  all  his  duties,  and 
tainting  at  their  very  spring  all  his  sympathies.  How 
ghastly  and  foul  must  society  appear  to  his  eye !  for  to  him 
all  its  secret  wickedness  is  naked  and  open.  His  fellow- 
men  are  lepers  foul  and  loathsome,  and  he  sniffs  their  hor- 
rid effluvia  as  he  passes  them.  An  angel  could  scarce  dis- 
charge such  an  office  without  contamination ;  but  it  is  al- 
together inconceivable  how  a  man  can  discharge  it  and 
escape  being  a  demon.  The  lake  of  Sodom,  daily  fed  by 
the  foul  and  saline  springs  of  the  neighbourhood,  and  giving 
back  these  contributions  in  the  shape  of  black  and  sulphur- 
ous exhalations,  which  scathe  and  desolate  afresh  the  sur- 
rounding region,  is  but  a  faint  emblem  of  the  action  and  re- 
action of  the  confessional  on  society.  It  is  a  moral  malaria, 
— a  cauldron  from  which  pestiferous  clouds  daily  ascend, 
which  kill  the  very  souls  of  men.  Hell  itself  could  not  have 
set  up  an  institution  more  ingeniously  contriven  to  demora- 
lize and  destroy  mankind. 

But  the  crowning  point  in  the  blasphemy  here  is  the  par- 
don which  the  priest  professes  to  bestow.  Protestants  grant 
that  Christ  has  committed  to  the  office-bearers  in  his  house 
the  power  of  "  binding  and  loosing,'"*  in  the  sense  of  exclud- 
ing from  or  admitting  to  the  communion  of  the  Church 
visible.  But  it  is  a  very  different  thing  to  maintain  that 
ministers  have  the  power,  authoritatively  and  as  judges,  to 
pardon  sin.  This  is  the  power  which  Rome  claims.  There 
is  no  sin  which  her  priests  may  not  pardon  ;  only  the  re- 
mission of  the  more  heinous  offences  she  reserves  to  the 
higher  orders  of  the  clergy ;  while  the  most  aggravated  of 
all,  namely,  those  done  against  the  persons  and  property  of 
ecclesiastics,  can  be  forgiven  only  by  the  Pope.*     Neverthe- 

*  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  xiv.  cap.  vii. 


IMPIETY  OF  THE  CONFESSIOXAL.  331 

less,  lest  any  true  son  of  the  Church  should  die  in  mortal 
sin,  and  so  perish,  the  Church  has  given  power  to  all  her 
priests  to  administer  absolution  to  persons  in  articuh  mortis. 
But  it  is  only  in  the  article  of  death  that  they  have  such 
power;  and  then  it  is  absolute,  extending  to  all  censures  and 
crimes  whatsoever. 

To  pardon  sin  is  the  prerogative  of  God  alone  ;  and  it 
must  needs  be  awfully  criminal  in  a  poor  mortal  to  mount 
the  tribunal  of  heaven's  justice,  and  aifect  the  high  preroga- 
tives of  mercy  and  of  condemnation.  Of  what  avail  is  it 
that  man  forgives,  if  still  we  underlie  the  condemnation  of 
heaven  ?  Will  the  fiat  of  a  man  like  ourselves,  standing  in 
the  same  need  of  pardon  with  us,  release  us  from  the  claims 
or  shield  us  from  the  penalty  of  a  violated  law  ?  It  is  with 
God  we  have  to  do  ;  and  if  he  condemn,  alas  !  it  matters 
little  that  the  whole  world  absolve.  The  pardon  of  Rome 
it  is  equally  impious  to  bestow  or  to  receive.  It  is  hard  to 
determine  whether  the  priest  or  the  penitent  acts  the  more 
guilty  part.  Rome's  scheme  of  penance  entirely  reverses 
that  of  the  gospel.  In  the  one  case  pardon  is  free  ;  in  the 
other  it  must  be  bought.  It  is  not  of  grace,  but  of  merit ; 
for  the  penitent  has  complied  with  all  the  requirements  of 
the  Church,  and  is  entitled  to  demand  absolution.  There  is 
no  discovery  of  the  rich  grace  of  God,  nor  of  the  boundless 
efficacy  of  a  Saviour's  blood,  nor  of  the  sovereign  power  of 
the  Spirit ;  all  these  are  carefully  veiled  from  the  sinner, 
and  he  sees  nothing  but  his  own  merit  and  the  Church's 
power.  In  the  holy  presence  of  God  the  true  penitent  dis- 
covers at  once  his  own  and  his  sin's  odiousness  ;  and  he  goes 
away  with  the  steadfast  purpose  that,  as  he  has  done  ini- 
quity, so,  by  the  Spirit's  help,  he  will  do  so  no  more  for  ever. 
In  the  impure  atmosphere  of  the  confessional  the  person  is 
morally  incapable  of  discerning  either  his  own  or  his  sin's 
enormity-  He  confesses,  but  does  not  repent ;  is  absolved, 
but  not  pardoned  ;  and  departs  with  a  conscience  stupified, 
but  not  pacified,  to  resume  his  old  career.  He  returns  after 
a  certain  interval,  laden  with  new  sins,  which  are  remitted 


So 2  OF  PENANCE  AND  CONFESSION. 

on  as  easy  terms,  and  to  as  little  purpose,  as  before.*  Thus 
is  he  deluded  and  cheated  through  life,  till  all  opportunity 
of  obtaining  the  pardon  which  the  Bible  offers,  and  which 
alone  is  of  any  value,  is  gone  for  ever. 


*  Bellarmine  (De  Penit.  lib.  iv.  c.  xiii.)  says,  that  "  Papal  pardons  dis- 
charge us  from  obedience  to  the  commandment  of  God,  which  enjoins  to 
*  do  works  worthy  of  repentance.' "  Some  Popish  divines  have  maintained 
that  absolution  is  to  be  withheld,  if  the  person  falls  often  into  the  same  sin, 
and  gives  no  hope  of  amendment ;  but  this  is  not  the  common  opinion. 
"  They  ought  not  to  be  denied  or  delayed  absolution,"  says  Bauny  (Theol. 
Jlor.  tr.  iv.  q.  xv.  and  xxii.),  "  who  continue  in  habitual  sins  against  the 
laws  of  God,  nature,  and  the  Church,  though  they  discover  not  the  least 
hope  of  amendment."  "  And  if  this  were  not  true,"  adds  Caussin  (p.  211), 
"  there  would  be  no  use  of  confession  as  to  the  greatest  part  of  the  world, 
and  there  would  be  no  other  remedy  for  sinners  than  the  bough  of  a  tree 
or  a  halter."  By  the  help  of  the  confessional,  then,  men  can  live  easily 
under  sins  which  otherwise  would  drown  them  in  despair.  To  what  a 
rank  height  must  villains  and  villanies  grow  imder  the  friendly  shade  of 
the  confessional ! 


OF  INDULGENCES.  S33 


CHAPTER  XV. 


OF    INDULGENCES. 


To  dispense  a  gift  so  inestimable  as  the  pardon  of  sin,  and 
derive  no  benefit  therefrom  on  her  own  account,  was  not 
agreeable  to  the  usual  manner  of  the  Papacy.  At  the  be- 
ginning, Rome  scattered  with  a  liberal  hand  the  heavenly 
riches,  without  reaping,  in  return,  the  perishable  wealth  of 
men.  But  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  a  liberality  so  ex- 
traordinary and  unusual  should  last  always.  In  the  thir- 
teenth century  Rome  began  to  perceive  how  the  power  of 
absolution  might  be  turned  to  account  as  regards  the  mam- 
mon of  unrighteousness.  Formerly  men  had  earned  forgive- 
ness by  penance,  by  fasting,  by  pilgrimage,  by  flagellation, 
and  other  burdensome  and  painful  performances  ;  but  now 
Rome  fell  upon  the  happy  invention  by  which  she  contrives 
at  once  to  relieve  her  votaries  and  to  enrich  herself;  in 
short,  she  proclaimed  the  doctrine  of  indulgences.  The  an- 
nouncement spread  joy  throughout  the  Catholic  world,  which 
had  long  groaned  under  the  yoke  of  self-inflicted  penances. 
The  scourge  was  laid  aside,  the  fast  was  forborne,  and  money 
substituted  in  their  room.  The  theory  of  indulgences  is  as 
follows : — Christ  suffered  more  than  was  required  for  the 
salvation  of  the  elect ;  many  of  the  saints  and  martyrs  like- 
wise have  performed  more  good  works  than  were  requisite 
for  their  own  salvation ;  and  these,  to  which  it  is  not  un- 


334  OF  INDULGENCES. 

common  to  add  the  merits  of  the  Virgin,  have  been  all  thrown 
into  a  common  fund,  which  has  been  entrusted  to  the  keep- 
ing of  the  Church.  Of  this  treasury  the  Pope  keeps  the  key, 
and  whoever  feels  that  his  merits  are  not  enough  to  carry 
him  to  heaven,  has  only  to  apply  at  this  ghostly  depot,  whero 
he  may  buy,  for  a  reasonable  sum,  whatever  he  needs  to 
supplement  his  deficiencies. 

In  this  market,  which  Eome  has  opened  for  the  sale  of 
spiritual  wai'es,  money  is  not  less  indispensable  than  it  is  in 
the  emporiums  of  earthly  and  perishable  merchandise.  The 
price  varies,  being  regulated  by  the  same  laws  which  govern 
the  price  of  earthly  commodities.  To  cover  a  crime  of  great 
magnitude,  a  larger  amount  of  merit  is  of  course  required, 
and  for  that  it  is  but  reasonable  that  a  larger  sum  should 
be  given.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  teaches,  that  by  the 
sacrament  of  penance  the  guilt  of  sin  and  its  eternal  punish- 
ment are  remitted,  but  that  the  temporal  punishment  is  still 
due,  and  must  be  borne  either  in  this  life  or  in  purgatory. 
This  is  the  doctrine  of  Trent,  in  support  of  which  the  fathers 
bring  their  usual  proof,  an  anathema,  "  Whoever  shall  af- 
firm that  God  always  remits  the  whole  punishment,  together 
with  the  fault,  let  him  be  accursed."*  The  same  is  tauffht 
by  the  modern  theological  writers  of  Rome.f  It  is  in  this 
way  that  indulgences  are  useful.  They  procure  remission 
of  the  temporal  punishment,  either  in  whole  or  in  part, 
that  is,  the  calamities  inflicted  in  this  life  are  alleviated,  and 
the  sojourn  in  purgatory  is  very  much  shortened.  Some 
modern  Papists,  such  as  Bossuet,  ashamed  of  the  doctrine 
of  indulgences,  have  sought  to  disguise  it,  or  deny  it  altoge- 
ther, by  representing  it  as  nothing  more  than  a  remission  of 
ecclesiastical  penances  or  censures.  This  is  shown  incontro- 
vertibly  to  be  a  fraud ;  first,  by  the  fact  that  indulgences 
are  held  to  benefit  the  dead,  whom  they  release  from  purga- 
tory ;  and,  second,  because  this  account  of  indulgences  is  in 


*  Concil.  Trid.  scss.  xiv.  cap.  ix.  can.  xii. 

+  PciTonc's  Prailectioncs  Theologies^,  torn.  ii.  p.  30'2. 


THEORY  OF  INDULGENCES.  S35 

plain  opposition  to  the  decrees  of  Trent  on  this  suhjcct,  to 
the  deliverances  of  the  Roman  Catechism,  and  to  the  doc- 
trine taught  in  Dens  and  Perrone.  The  latter  remarks, 
that  "  the  power  of  forgiving  every  kind  of  sin  by  the  sacra- 
ment of  penance  resides  in  the  Church ;  and  consequently 
the  absolving  priest  truly  reconciles  sinners  to  God  by  a  ju- 
dicial power  received  from  Christ."  He  repudiates  the  idea 
that  it  is  a  mere  power  of  declaring  that  the  sin  has  been 
forgiven  that  the  priest  exercises.  The  man,  says  he,  who 
heals  a  wound  or  unties  a  chain  does  not  merely  pronounce 
the  patient  to  be  whole  or  the  captive  to  be  free ;  he  ac- 
tually makes  him  so.  So  the  absolution  of  the  Church  is 
not  the  wiere  declaring  t\\Q  sin  to  be  forgiven;  it  is  the  remit- 
ting or  retaining  of  the  sin.*  The  statement  of  Bossuet  is 
in  plain  opposition,  moreover,  to  the  notorious  practice  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  which,  before  the  Reformation  espe- 
cially, kept  open  market  in  Europe,  in  which,  for  a  little 
money,  men  might  purchase  the  remission  of  all  sorts  of 
enormities  and  crimes.  This  scandalous  traffic  Rome  un- 
blushingly  carried  on  till  it  was  denounced  by  Luther.  Since 
that  time  she  has  exercised  a  little  more  circumspection. 
She  no  longer  sends  trains  of  mules  and  waggons  across  the 
Alps,  laden  with  bales  of  pardons.  This  branch  of  her  busi- 
ness is  novi'  carried  on  by  her  ordinary  bishops.  The  trade 
is  too  shameful  to  be  openly  avowed,  but  too  gainful  to  be 
given  up.  Her  hawkers  have  ceased  to  perambulate  Europe ; 
but  her  indulgences  still  circulate  throughout  it. 

The  doctrine  of  indulgences,  as  explained  by  Leo.  X.,  is, 
"  That  the  Roman  pontiff  may,  for  reasonable  causes,  by  his 
apostolic  authority,  grant  indulgences  out  of  the  superabun- 
dant merits  of  Christ  and  the  saints,  to  the  faithful  who  are 
united  to  Christ  by  charity,  as  well  for  the  living  as  for  the 

dead All  persons,  whether  living  or  dead,  who 

really  obtain  any  indulgences  of  this  kind,  are  delivered 
from  so  much  temporal  punishment,  due,  according  to  divine 

*  Perrone's  Prajlectioncs  Theologica?,  torn.  ii.  p.  273,  274. 


S36  OF  INDULGENCES. 

justice,  for  their  actual  sins,  as  is  equivalent  to  the  value  of 
the  indulgence  bestowed  and  received."  We  might  quote, 
did  our  space  permit,  numerous  bulls  of  succeeding  popes  to 
the  same  effect,  all  showing  that  the  Church  of  Rome  holds 
that  the  matter  of  indulgences  is  the  merits  of  Christ  and 
the  saints,  and  that  they  confer  remission  of  sin  and  release 
from  purgatory.  We  might  quote  the  bull  of  Pius  VI.,  pub- 
lished in  1794  ;  the  bull  of  Benedict  XIII.*  in  1724  ;  and 
that  of  Benedict  XlV.f  in  1747  ;  and  the  bull  of  "  Indic- 
tion  for  the  Universal  Jubilee  in  1825,""]:  which  grants,  upon 
certain  conditions,  "  a  plenary  indulgence,  remission,  and 
pardon  of  all  their  sins,  to  all  the  faithful  of  Christ."  The 
Council  of  Trent  strongly  recommended  indulgences  as  "  sa- 
lutary to  Christian  people,"  and  anathematized  all  who  should 
assert  the  contrary.§  But  as  the  scandal  of  Tetzel  was  still 
fresh  in  the  recollection  of  Europe,  the  council  recommend- 
ed no  less  strongly,  discretion  in  the  distribution  of  indul- 
gences, and  forbade  all  "  wicked  gains'"  accruing  therefrom, 
— a  decree  that  was  to  little  purpose,  seeing  no  priest  would 
be  forward  to  own  that  his  gains,  however  great,  were  of  the 
kind  to  which  the  Tridentine  prohibition  had  reference.  The 
Romish  authorities,  from  the  Council  of  Trent  downwards, 
have  been  careful  how  they  defined  indulgences.  Indeed, 
they  have  studiously  involved  the  subject  in  obscurity.  Their 
explanations  remind  us  of  the  lucid  reply  given  by  a  monk  at 
Rome  to  a  visitor  in  the  eternal  city,  who  asked  him  what 
an  indulgence  was.  "  An  indulgence,"  said  the  friar,  cross- 
ing himself, — "  an  indulgence  is a  great  mystery  !"|| 

Still,  no  reader  of  the  least  discrimination  can  fail  to  dis- 
cover, through  all  the  ambiguities  and  generalities  by  which 
Popish  writers  seek  to  conceal  the  grosser  features  of  this 
most  demoralizing  system,  that  indulgences  carry  all  the 


*  Theol.  Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  viii.  p.  429. 
+  Ibid.  p.  425.  t  Laity's  Directory  for  1825. 

§  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  xxv.  dec.  i.,  de  Indulg. 
II  Rome  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  vol.  ii.  p.  359. 


SALE  OF  INDULGENCES.  C,o7 

power  we  have  attributed  to  them.  Such  is  the  virtue 
ascribed  to  them  by  Dens,  who  tells  us  that  they  not  only 
stay  the  censures  of  the  Church,  but  avert  the  wrath  of  God, 
and  redeem  the  spirit  from  the  fires  of  purgatory.*  The 
same  is  the  doctrine  of  those  books  which  have  been  com- 
piled by  the  Church  for  the  instruction  of  her  members.  It  is 
asked  inButler's Catechism, — "  Q.  Why  does  the  Church  grant 
indulgences  ?  A.  To  assist  our  weakness,  and  to  supply  our 
insufficiency  in  satisfying  the  divine  justice  for  our  transgres- 
sions.— Q.  When  the  Church  grants  indulgences,  what  does 
it  offer  to  God  to  supply  our  weakness  and  insufficiency,  and 
in  satisfaction  for  our  sins  ?  A.  The  merits  of  Christ,  which 
are  infinite  and  superabundant ;  together  with  the  virtues 
and  good  works  of  his  Virgin  Mother,  and  of  all  the  saints.""!- 

AVe  have  alluded  to  the  open  and  shameless  manner  in 
which  this  traffic  in  sin  was  carried  on  before  the  Reforma- 
tion ;  and  to  that  period  must  we  go  back,  in  order  to  see 
the  awful  lengths  to  which  the  doctrine  of  indulgences  has 
been,  and  still  may  be,  carried ;  and  that,  in  point  of  fact, 
whatever  distinctions  Popish  writers  in  modern  times  may 
make,  it  is  an  assumption  of  power  on  the  part  of  the  priests 
to  pardon  all  sins,  past  and  present, — to  remit  all  punish- 
ment, temporary  and  eternal, — in  short,  to  act  in  the  matter 
of  pardoning  men  with  the  full  absolute  authority  of  God. 
The  preachers  of  indulgences  at  the  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth century  knew  none  of  the  distinctions  of  modern  ca- 
suists, and  for  this  reason,  that  they  spoke  before  the  Refor- 
mation. 

"  Indulgences,"  said  Tetzel,  "  are  the  most  precious  and 
the  most  noble  of  God's  gifts.  This  cross  [pointing  to  the 
red  cross,  which  he  set  up  wherever  he  came]  has  as  much 
efficacy  as  the  very  cross  of  Jesus  Christ.     Come  and  I  will 


*  Tlieol.  Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  vi.  p.  418,     See  also  Keenan's 
Catechism  on  IndulgcnceSj  chap.  i. :  Grounds  of  Catholic  Doctrine,  chap.  x. 

+  Butler's  Cat.  lesson  xxviii.  :  Delahogue,  Tractatus  de  Sacramento 
Poenitentioe,  p.  321. 

Z 


838  OF  INDULGENCES. 

give  you  letters,  all  properly  sealed,  by  which  even  the  sins 
that  you  intend  to  commit  may  be  pardoned. 

"  I  would  not  exchange  my  privileges  for  those  of  St  Peter 
in  heaven  ;  for  I  have  saved  more  souls  by  my  indulgences 
than  the  apostle  by  his  sermons. 

"  There  is  no  sin  so  great  that  an  indulgence  cannot  re- 
mit ;  and  even  if  any  one  [which  is  doubtless  impossible] 
had  offered  violence  to  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary,  Mother  of 
God,  let  him  pay, — only  let  him  pay  well, — and  all  will  be 
forgiven  him. 

"  But  more  than  this,"  said  he ;  "  indulgences  avail  not 
only  for  the  living,  but  for  the  dead.  For  that  repentance 
is  not  even  necessary. 

"  Priest  !  noble  !  merchant  !  wife  !  youth  !  maiden  !  do 
you  not  hear  your  parents  and  your  other  friends  who  are 
dead,  and  who  cry  from  the  bottom  of  the  abyss,  '  We  are 
suffering  horrible  torments  ;  a  trifling  alms  would  deliver  us ; 
you  can  give  it,  and  you  will  not  V 

"  At  the  very  instant,''  continued  Tetzel,  "  that  the  money 
rattles  at  the  bottom  of  the  chest,  the  soul  escapes  from  pur- 
gatory, and  flies  liberated  to  heaven."* 

And  even  since  the  Reformation,  and  more  especially  in 
countries  where  its  light  has  not  penetrated,  we  find  this 
trade  as  actively  carried  on  as  ever,  though  without  the  ex- 
travagance and  grossness  of  Tetzel.  "  I  was  surprised," 
says  the  authoress  of  "  Rome  in  the  Nineteenth  Century," 
*'  to  find  scarcely  a  church  in  Rome  that  did  not  hold  up  at 
the  door  the  tempting  inscription  of  '  Tndulgenzia  Plenaria!'' 
Two  hundred  days'*  indulgence  I  thought  a  great  reward  for 
every  kiss  bestowed  upon  the  great  black  cross  in  the  Colos- 
seum ;  but  that  is  nothing  to  the  indulgences  for  ten,  twenty, 
and  even  thirty  thousand  years,  that  may  be  bought  at  no 
exorbitant  rate  in  many  of  the  churches;  so  that  it  is  amaz- 
ing what  a  vast  quantity  of  treasure  may  be  amassed  in  the 
other  world  with  very  little  industry  in  this,  by  those  who 

*  D'Aubignd's  History  of  the  Reformation,  vol,  i.  pp.  241,  242. 


POWER  OF  INDULGENCES.  S39 

are  avaricious  of  this  spiritual  wealth,  into  which,  indeed, 
the  dross  or  riches  of  this  world  may  be  converted  with  the 
happiest  facility  imaginable." 

"  You  may  buy  as  many  masses  as  will  free  your  souls 
from  purgatory  for  twenty-nine  thousand  years,  at  the  church 
of  St  John  Lateran,  on  the  festa  of  that  saint ;  at  Santa 
Bibiana,  on  All  Souls'*  day,  for  seven  thousand  years  ;  at  a 
church  near  the  Basilica  of  St  Paul,  and  at  another  on  the 
Quirinal  Hill,  for  ten  thousand  and  for  three  thousand  years, 
and  at  a  very  reasonable  rate.  But  it  is  in  vain  to  parti- 
cularize, for  the  greater  part  of  the  principal  churches  in 
Konie  and  the  neighbourhood  are  spiritual  shops  for  the 
sale  of  the  same  commodity."* 

The  writer  may  be  permitted  to  state,  that  on  the  cathe- 
dral gates  in  the  south  of  France,  particularly  at  Lyons,  he 
has  seen  handbills  posted,  announcing  certain  fttes^  and  pro- 
mising to  all  who  should  take  part  in  them,  and  repeat  so 
many  Ave  Marias,  a  plenary  indulgence;  that  is,  a  full  re- 
mission of  all  their  sins  up  to  the  time  of  the  fete.  Adrian 
VI.  decreed  a  plenary  indulgence  of  all  his  sins  to  whomso- 
ever should  depart  out  of  this  life  grasping  in  his  hand  a 
hallowed  wax  candle !  The  same  inestimable  blessing  did 
the  pontiff  promise  to  the  man  who  should  say  his  prayers 
on  Christmas  day  in  the  morning  in  the  church  of  Anastasia 
at  Rome.  Sixtus  IV.  granted  an  indulgence  of  twelve  thou- 
sand years  to  every  man  who  should  repeat  the  well-known 
salutation  of  the  Virgin,  "  Hail,  Mary,  &c.;  deliver  me  from 
all  evils,  and  pray  for  my  sins."  Burnet  mentions  that  he 
had  seen  an  indulgence  for  ten  hundred  thousand  years. -f- 
In  other  cases,  indulgences  have  been  granted  to  the  person 
and  his  kindred  of  the  third  generation ;  so  that  it  might  b6 
handed  down  to  his  posterity  like  an  estate  or  other  pro- 
perty. Nobles  have  obtained  indulgences,  including  their 
retinue  as  well  as  themselves, — much  as  a  wealthy  man  now- 

*  Rome  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  vol.  ii.  pp.  267-270. 
+  Burnet  on  the  Articles,  p.  228,  fol.  ed. 


SiO  OF  INDULGENCES. 

a-days,  in  travelling  by  steamer  or  rail,  buys  a  ticket  lor 
himself  and  all  the  members  of  his  suite.  Such  companies, 
one  should  think,  must  have  had  a  jovial  journey  to  the 
other  world,  seeing,  however  many  the  debts  of  sin  which 
they  might  contract  by  the  way,  they  were  sure  of  finding  all 
scores  clear  at  the  end.  Others  have  had  blank  indulgences 
given  them,  with  power  to  fill  in  what  names  they  pleased. 
The  holders  of  such  indulgences  exercised  a  patronage  of  a 
very  uncommon  kind.  They  could  appoint  their  friends  and 
dependents  to  a  place  in  paradise ;  in  which,  it  would  seem, 
there  are  reserved  seats,  just  as  in  terrestrial  shows,  to  which 
the  holders  of  the  proper  tickets  are  admissible,  however  late 
they  may  arrive.*  There  are  also  defunct  indulgences, — 
the  comfort  of  the  dead,  as  well  as  of  the  living,  having  been 
studied.  The  process  in  this  case  is  an  extremely  simple 
one.  The  name  of  the  deceased  is  entered  on  the  indulgence, 
and  straightway  a  plenary  remission  is  accorded  him,  and  he 
is  instantly  discharged  from  the  torments  of  the  purgatorial 
fire.f  Indulgences  have  been  afiixed  also  to  such  things  as 
medals,  scapularies,  rosaries,  crucifixes.  Of  this  we  have  a 
notable  instance  in  the  bull  of  indulgence  granted  by  Pope 
Adrian  VI.  to  certain  beads  which  he  blessed.  This  bull 
was  afterwards  confirmed  by  Gregory  XIII.,  Clement  VIII, , 
Urban  VIII.,  and  ran  in  the  following  terms  : — "  Whoso- 
ever has  one  of  these  beads,  and  says  one  Pater  Noster  and 
one  Ave  Maria,  shall  on  any  day  release  three  souls  out  of 
purgatory ;  and  reciting  them  twice  on  a  Sunday  or  holiday 
shall  release  six  souls.  Also  reciting  five  Pater  Nosters  and 
five  Ave  Marias  upon  a  Friday,  to  the  honour  of  the  five 
wounds  of  Christ,  shall  gain  a  pardon  of  seventy  thousand 
years,  and  the  remission  of  all  his  s^ws."|  These  are  mere 
gleanings.  With  a  little  industry  one  might  collect  as  many 
facts  of  this  sort  as  would  fill  volumes.§ 

*  Gavin's  Master  Key  to  Popery,  vol.  i.  p.  111. 

+  Pi-actical  Evidence  against  Catholicism,  p.  84. 

t  Geddes's  Tracts,  vol.  iv.  p.  90. 

§  Tako  a  modern  instance.     It  was  announced  in  the  public  prints  that 


APOSTOLIC  TARIFF.  341 

So  lucrcative  a  trade  has  not  been  left  to  regulate  itself. 
An  apostolic  tariff  was  framed,  so  that  all  who  frequented 
this  great  market  of  sin  might  know  at  what  price  to  pur- 
chase the  spiritual  wares  there  exposed.  A  book  was  pub- 
lished at  Rome,  entitled  "  Taxes  of  the  Apostolic  Chan- 
cery," in  which  the  price  of  absolution  from  every  sin  is 
fixed.  Murder  may  be  bought  for  so  much ;  incest  for  so 
much ;  adultery  for  so  much ;  and  so  on  through  the  long 
catalogue  of  abominations  which  it  would  pollute  our  page 
to  quote.  Sins  unheard  of  and  unthought  of  are  here  put 
up  for  sale,  and  generally  at  prices  so  moderate,  that  few  can 
say  they  are  beyond  their  reach.  This  book,  the  most  atro- 
cious and  abominable  the  world  ever  saw,  sets  forth  and  com- 
mends the  wares  in  which  Rome  deals,  and  of  which  she 
claims  a  monopoly.  Herein  she  unblushingly  advertises  her- 
self to  the  whole  world  as  a  trafficker  in  murders,  parricides, 
incests,  adulteries,  thefts,  perjuries,  blasphemies,  sins,  crimes, 
and  abominations  of  every  kind  and  degree.  Come  hither, 
she  says  to  the  nations,  and  buy  whatever  your  soul  lusteth 
after.  Let  no  fear  of  hell,  or  of  the  anger  of  God,  restrain 
you :  I  will  secure  you  against  that.  "  Take^  eat ;  ye  shall 
not  surely  die.''''  So  spoke  the  serpent  to  our  first  parents 
beneath  the  boughs  of  the  interdicted  tree  ;  and  so  does 
Rome  speak  to  the  nations.  "  Ye  shall  not  surely  die." 
He  was  indeed  a  true  limner  who  drew  Rome's  likeness  in 
the  Apocalypse,  "  The  mother  of  harlots  and  abomina- 
tions of  the  earth." 

In  some  indulgences  the  Church  exercises  the  power  of 
ahsoliition,  and  in  others  of  simple  loosing.  The  first  has  re- 
spect to  the  living ;  the  second  to  the  dead,  whom  the  indul- 
gence looses  from  purgatory,  or  strikes  off  so  many  days  or 

on  the  19th  of  January  1850,  Cardinal  Patrizi,  vicar-general  of  the  Roman 
Court,  by  public  notification,  informed  the  people  of  the  Roman  States 
that  his  holiness  had  prescribed  a  novene  (nine  days  public  prayer)  to  b« 
celebrated  in  all  parochial  churches,  in  honour  of  the  purification  of  the 
Virgin  Mary.  Seven  years'  indulgences,  and  as  many  quarantaines,  were 
granted  to  the  faithful  for  every  time  they  attended  these  public  prayers. 


342  OF  INDULGENCES. 

years  from  the  allotted  period  of  suffering  there.  Indul- 
gences are  also  divided  into  'plenary  and  partial.  The  in- 
dulgence is  plenary  when  the  whole  temporal  punishment 
due  for  sins  committed  prior  to  the  date  of  the  indulgence 
is  remitted.  In  a  partial  indulgence,  part  only  of  the  tem- 
poral punishment  is  discharged :  in  this  case  the  period  is 
generally  stated,  and  ranges  from  a  day  to  some  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  years  ;  which  means  that  the  person"'s  future 
sojourn  in  purgatory  will  be  less  by  the  period  fixed  in  the 
indulgence.* 

Romanists  have  affected  a  virtuous  indignation  at  the 
charge  which  has  not  unfrequently  been  preferred  against 
them,  that  their  Church  has  established  a  system  of  selling 
licenses  to  commit  sin.  They  have  denounced  this  as  a  ca- 
lumny, because,  forsooth,  their  Church  does  not  take  money 
beforehand,  but  allows  the  sinner  first  to  gratify  his  passions, 
and  then  receives  the  stipulated  price.  But  where  is  the 
difference  ?  If  Rome  tells  the  world,  as  she  does,  that  for  a 
certain  sum, — which  is  generally  a  small  one, — she  will  grant 
absolution  for  any  sin  which  any  one  may  choose  to  commit, 
and  if  the  person  finds  that  he  has  the  requisite  sum  in  his 
pocket,  has  he  not  as  really  a  license  to  commit  the  sin  as  if 
the  indulgence  were  already  in  his  possession  \  Besides, 
what  does  Rome  say  to  those  indulgences  which  extend  over 
some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  I  How  easy  would  it 
be  to  buy  a  few  such  indulgences,  and  so  cover  the  whole 
period  allotted  for  suffering  in  purgatory  ;  and  not  only  so, 
but  to  have  a  balance  in  one's  favour.  In  such  a  case,  let 
the  person  live  as  he  lists  ;  let  him  commit  all  manner  of 
sins,  in  all  manner  of  ways ;  is  he  not  as  sure  as  Rome  can 
make  him,  that  they  are  all  pardoned  before  they  are  com- 
mitted ?  Here  is  a  license  to  sin  with  a  vengeance.  Could 
the  evil  heart  of  man,  greedy  on  all  wickedness,  desire  an 
ampler  toleration,  or  could  larger  license  be  granted  by  the 
author  of  evil  himself  \     The  foulest  ef  the  ancient  poly the- 


Perrone's  Prselectiones  Theological,  torn.  ii.  pp.  417,  418. 


LICENSE  TO  SIN.  343 

isms  were  immaculate  and  holy  compared  with  Home.  Their 
principles  tended  to  relax  the  restraints  of  virtue,  and  gene- 
rally to  debase  human  nature;  but  when  did  they  proclaim 
to  the  world  an  unbounded  liberty  of  sinning  ?  When  did 
they  trade  in  sin  ?  All  this  Rome  has  done.  Although 
hell  were  to  empty  itself  upon  the  earth,  it  could  not  inflict 
a  worse  pollution  than  this  spawn  of  Rome.  Though  fiends 
were  to  walk  up  and  down  in  the  world,  and  with  serpent 
tongue  and  hissing  accents  to  prompt  and  solicit  mortals, 
they  could  not  lure  and  destroy  more  effectually  than  Rome's 
pardonmongers.  When  Rome  took  her  way  among  the  be- 
nighted nations,  who  could  resist  her  offers  ?  A  paradise  of 
ein  on  earth,  and  a  paradise  of  happiness  hereafter,  and  all 
for  a  little  money  !  Yes ;  of  all  the  evil  systems  which  have 
arisen  to  affront  God,  to  mock  man,  and  to  do  the  work  of 
hell,  Rome  is  entitled  to  rank  foremost.  Others  have  done 
viciously,  but  she  has  excelled  them  all.  She  has  invented 
sin,  taught  sin,  acted  sin,  and  traded  in  sin;  and  so  has  made 
good,  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt  or  question,  her  title 
to  the  name  which  stood  on  the  page  of  prophecy  as  at 
once  the  ominous  harbinger  and  the  compendious  descrip- 
tion of  a  system  afterwards  to  arise, — "  The  Man  of  Sin." 
There  is  not  a  day  in  the  year  in  which  indulgences  for 
any  sin,  and  to  any  amount,  may  not  be  obtained ;  but  the 
year  of  jubilee  is  marked  in  the  calendar  of  Rome  as  a  year 
of  special  grace.  The  jubilee  was  instituted  in  the  year 
1300  by  Boniface  VIII.*  It  was  to  return  every  hundredth 
year,  in  imitation  of  the  secular  games  of  the  Romans,  which 
were  celebrated  once  in  an  age.  "  A  most  j)lenary  pardon  " 
of  all  their  sins  was  promised  to  those  who  should  visit  the 
churches  of  St  Peter  and  St  Paul  at  Rome.  The  same  re- 
ward was  to  belono:  to  such  as,  unable  to  undertake  so  lonof 
a  pilgrimage,  should  pay  a  certain  sum,  and  to  such  as  might 
die  by  the  way.  He  who  sat  on  the  Seven  Hills  gave  com- 
mandment to  the  angels  to  carry  their  souls  direct  to  the 

*  Mosheim,  cent.  xiii.  part  ii,  chap.  iv. 


oii  OP  INDULGENCES. 

glory  of  paradise,  since  they  were  absolved  from  the  pains  of 
purgatory.     To  the  priests  it  was  indeed  a  jubilee.     The 
multitude  of  pilgrims  filled  Rome  to  overflow  ;  their  wealth 
replenished  the  coffers  of  the  pontiff".     The  most  notorious 
sinners  were  transformed  by  the  pontifical  magic  into  saints, 
and  sent  away  as  pure  as  they  came.     From  their  long  jour- 
ney, which  had  taxed  alike  the  limbs  and  the  purse,  they 
reaped,  as  Rome  had  promised  they  should,  "  a  plentiful 
Jiarvest  of  penitence!'''     But  most  of  all,  it  grieved  the  popes 
to  think  that  a  century  must  pass  away  before  such  another 
year  should  come  round.      It  was  not  fit  that  the  Church 
sliould  so  hoard  her  treasures,  and  afford  to  her  sons  only 
at  long  intervals,  opportunities  of  evincing  their  gratitude 
by  the  liberality  of  their  gifts.     Considerations  of  this  sort 
moved  Clement  VI.  to  reduce  the  term  of  jubilee  to  fifty 
years.     It  was  found  still  to  be  too  long,  and  was  shortened 
by  Urban  VI.  to  thirty-three,  and  finally  fixed  by  Sixtus 
V.  at  twenty-five.     Thus  every  quarter  of  a  century  does  a 
whole  shower  of  indulgences  descend  upon  the  papal  world. 
The  last  return  of  "  the  year  of  expiation  and  pardon,  of  re- 
demption and  grace,  of  remission  and  indulgence,"  to  use  the 
terms  of  the  bull  of  Leo  XII.,  was  1850.     The  result  is  told 
by  Gavazzi.     "  The  late  effort  of  Pio  Nono  to  get  up  a  pious 
enthusiasm,  after  the  fashion  of  his  predecessors,  on  the  re- 
currence of  the  semi-secular  year  of  1850,  had  utterly  failed 
throughout  the  Italian  peninsula ;  and  though  he  held  forth 
one  hand  filled  with  indulgences,  the  other  was  too  palpably 
armed  with  the  cudgel  of  the  Croat  to  attract  the  approach 
of  his  countrymen."* 

But  is  not  the  prodigality  with  which  Rome  scatters  in- 
dulgences among  all  who  need  or  will  receive  them,  a  dan- 
gerous one  ?  In  these  evil  times,  a  great  deal  must  be  flow- 
ing out  of  this  treasury,  and  very  little  flowing  in.  Is  there 
no  risk  of  emptying  it  I  Day  and  night  there  rolls  a  river 
of  indulgences  ample  enough  to  supply  the  necessities  of  the 

*  Gavazzi,  Oration  xviii. 


PAPAL  CALIFORNIA.  345 

Roman  Catholic  world  ;  yet  century  after  century  finds  the 
source  of  this  mighty  stream  undiminished.  Here  is  an- 
other of  Rome's  wonders  !  The  ocean  itself  would  in  time 
become  dry,  were  it  not  fed  by  the  rivers.  Where  are  the 
rivers  that  feed  this  spiritual  reservoir  1  Where  are  the 
eminent  living  saints  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  whose 
supererogatory  virtues  maintain  a  balance  against  the  infi- 
dels, socialists,  formalists,  and  evil  characters  of  all  kinds 
which,  it  is  now  confessed,  abound  within  the  pale  of  Rome  ? 
We  see  all  coming  with  their  pitchers  to  draw,  but  none 
bringing  contributions  hither.  We  are  reminded  of  those 
natural  phenomena  which  have  exercised  and  baffled  the  in- 
genuity of  naturalists.  We  have  here  a  phenomenon  exact- 
ly the  reverse  of  the  Dead  Sea,  into  which  the  floods  of  the 
Jordan  are  hourly  poured,  but  from  whose  dark  confine 
there  issues  no  stream.  And  we  have  a  direct  resemblance 
in  the  Mediterranean,  out  of  which  a  stream  is  ceaselessly 
flowing  through  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  into  the  capacious 
bosom  of  the  Atlantic,  yet  the  shores  of  the  former  are  ever 
full  and  undiminished.  Doubtless  in  both  cases  there  is  a 
compensatory  process  going  on,  though  invisibly.  And  per- 
haps Rome  may  hold,  in  like  manner,  that  the  rivers  that 
feed  her  ocean  of  merit  roll  in  secret,  unseen  and  unheard. 
At  all  events,  she  teaches  that  it  is  wholly  inexhaustible. 
A  time  will  come  when  the  mines  of  Peru  and  California 
shall  be  exhausted,  and  their  last  golden  grains  dug  up. 
But  a  time  will  never  come  when  the  treasury  of  Rome 
shall  be  exhausted,  and  not  a  grain  of  merit  more  remain 
to  be  doled  out  to  the  faithful.  What  has  she  not  al- 
ready drawn  from  that  exhaustless  treasury  !  Not  to  speak 
of  the  kings,  nobles,  priests,  and  the  countless  millions  of 
people  of  all  conditions  whom  she  has  delivered  out  of  pur- 
gatory, she  has  carried  on  with  its  help  numerous  crusades, 
waged  mighty  wars,  raised  sumptuous  palaces,  and  built 
magnificent  temples.  .The  dome  of  St  Peter's  remains  an 
imposing  monument  of  the  exhaustless  mine  of  wealth  which 


546  OP  INDULGENCES. 

the  indulgences  opened  to  Rome.*  Those  magnificent  Gothic 
structures  that  cover  papal  Europe, — what  are  they  ?  The 
monuments  of  the  piety  of  former  ages  ?  No  :  love  did  not 
place  a  stone  in  any  one  of  them.  The  power  which  raised 
these  noble  piles,  full  of  grandeur  and  beauty  though  they 
be,  was  that  of  superstition  acting  on  a  guilty  conscience. 
Every  stone  in  them  expresses  so  much  sin.  Their  beautiful 
marbles,  their  rich  mosaics,  their  gorgeous  paintings,  their 
noble  columns  and  towers,  bespeak  the  remorse  of  the  dying 
sinner,  who  vainly  strove  by  these  expiatory  gifts  to  relieve  a 
conscience  which  felt  sorely  burdened  by  the  manifold  crimes 
of  a  lifetime.  Again  Rome  has  been  compelled,  by  the  ne- 
cessities of  these  latter  times,  to  betake  herself  to  a  resource 
which  very  shame  had  forced  her  to  abandon.  There  are 
Italian  exiles  in  London  which  she  would  have  rewarded 
with  a  dungeon  in  their  own  country,  but  for  whom  she 
builds  a  church  in  ours.  And  with  what  ?  With  the  sins 
of  papal  Europe.  An  indulgence  of  a  hundred  days,  and  a 
plenary  indulgence  of  one  day,  are  offered  by  the  pontiff  to 
all  who  shall  contribute  an  alms  for  its  erection.  A  temple 
of  piety  !  Faugh  !  The  structure  will  be  redolent  of  abo- 
minations of  all  kinds.  So  profitable  does  Rome  find  this 
California  of  hers.  After  all  that  Rome  has  drawn  out  of 
the  treasury  of  the  Church,  she  declares  with  truth  that  this 
treasury  is  every  whit  as  full  as  it  ever  was ;  and  she  might 
add  with  truth,  that  when  centuries  more  shall  have  passed 
away,  and  their  unnumbered  wants  shall  have  been  sup- 
plied, it  will  not  be  a  whit  more  empty  than  it  is  at  this 
moment. 


*  Michelet  remarks  with  reference  to  the  building  of  St  Peter's,  that 
the  Pope  had  not  the  mines  of  Mexico,  but  he  had  a  mine  even  more  pro- 
ductive,— old  superstition. 


OF  PURGATORY.  347 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


OF  PURGATORY. 


Papists  have  mapped  out  the  other  world  into  four  grand 
divisions.  The  lowest  is  hell,  the  region  of  the  damned. 
There  are  the  ever-burning  fires ;  there  are  Lutherans,  and 
all  other  Protestant  heretics  ;  and,  in  fine,  there  are  all  who 
have  died  beyond  the  pale  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  heathens,  and  a  few  Christians 
whose  narrow  intellects  scarcely  sei'ved  to  distinguish  be- 
tween their  right  hand  and  their  left,  and  who  have  escaped 
on  the  ground  of  "  invincible  ignorance.'"  The  next  region 
in  order  is  purgatory,  of  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
speak  more  fully  immediately.  Immediately  above  purga- 
tory is  limhus  patriim,  where  the  souls  of  the  saints  wljo 
died  before  our  Saviour\s  time  were  confined,  till  released 
by  Him,  and  carried  with  Him  to  heaven  at  his  ascension, 
when  this  region  was  abolished,  and  heaven  substituted  in 
its  room.  The  last  and  remaining  region  is  linibus  infantum. 
To  this  receptacle  the  souls  of  children  dying  unbaptized  are 
consigned  ;  it  being  a  settled  point  among  the  doctors  of 
the  Romish  Church,  that  such  as  die  unbaptized  are  exclud- 
ed from  heaven. 

It  is  the  lowest  save  one  of  these  four  localities  of  which 
we  are  to  speak, — purgatory.     It  is  filled  with  the  same  fires, 


84-8  OF  PURGATORY. 

and  is  the  scene  of  the  same  torments,  as  the  region  imme- 
diately beneath  it,  but  with  this  important  difference,  that 
those  consigned  to  it  remain  here  only  for  a  while.*  It  is 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  that  no  one  enters 
heaven  immediately  on  his  departure.  A  short  purgation 
amid  the  fires  of  purgatory  is  indispensable  in  the  case  of 
all,  unless  perhaps  of  those  who  are  protected  by  a  mry 
special  and  most  plenary  indulgence.  Even  the  pontiffs  them- 
selves, infallible  though  they  be,  must  take  purgatory  in  their 
way,  and  pass  a  certain  period  amid  its  fires,  before  being 
worthy  to  appear  at  those  gates  at  which  St  Peter  keeps 
watch.  All  who  die  in  mortal  sin, — and  of  all  mortal  sins, 
heresy  and  the  want  of  money  to  buy  an  indulgence  are 
the  most  mortal, — are  at  once  consigned  to  hell.  Those 
who  die  in  a  state  of  grace,  with  the  remission  of  the  guilt 
of  all  their  mortal  sins,  go  to  purgatory,  where  they  are 
purified  from  the  stain  of  venial  sins,  and  endure  the  tem- 
porary punishment  which  remains  due  for  their  mortal  of- 
fences. For  it  is  a  doctrine  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
that  even  after  God  has  remitted  the  guilt  and  the  eternal 
punishment  of  sin,  a  temporary  punishment  remains  due, 
which  may  be  borne  either  in  this  life  or  in  the  next.  With- 
out this  doctrine  it  would  scarce  be  possible  to  maintain 
purgatory;  and  without  purgatory,  who  would  buy  indul- 
gences and  masses  ?  and  without  indulgences  and  masses, 
how  could  the  coffers  of  the  Pope  be  replenished  ?  The  so- 
journ is  longer  or  shorter  in  purgatory,  according  to  circum- 
stances, being  dependent  mainly  upon  the  amount  of  satis- 
faction to  be  given.  But  the  period  may  be  much  shortened 
by  the  efforts  made  in  behalf  of  the  deceased  by  his  friends 
on  earth ;  for  the  Church  teaches  that  souls  detained  in  that 
state  are  helped  by  the  suffrages  of  the  faithful,  that  is,  by 
the  prayers  and  alms  offered  for  them,  and  principally  by 
the  indulgences  and  masses  purchased  for  their  benefit.-f* 

*  For  a  succinct  and  graphic  account  of  the  various  torments  with  which 
Papists  have  filled  purgatory,  see  Edgar's  Variations  of  Popery,  pp.  452-460. 
t  Sec  the  common  catechisms  of  the  Church  of  Home. 


PROOF  OF  PURGATORY.  84-9 

The  existence  of  purgatory  is  authoritatively  taught  and 
most  surely  believed  among  Roman  Catholics.  The  doc- 
trine respecting  it  decreed  by  the  Council  of  Trent,*  and 
taught  in  the  catechism  of  tliat  council,  as  well  as  in  all 
the  common  catechisms  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  is  that  which 
we  have  just  stated.  The  Council  of  Trent  decreed,  "  that 
there  is  a  purgatory,"  and  enjoined  all  bishops  to  "  dili- 
gently endeavour  that  the  wholesome  doctrine  of  purgatory" 
be  "  everywhere  taught  and  preached," — an  injunction  which 
has  been  carefully  attended  to.  And  so  important  is  the 
belief  of  purgatory,  that  Bellarmine  affirms  that  its  denial 
can  be  expiated  only  amid  the  flames  of  hell.  One  would 
naturally  expect  that  Rome  would  be  prepared  with  very 
solid  and  convincing  grounds  for  a  doctrine  to  which  she  as- 
signs such  prominence,  and  which  she  inculcates  upon  her 
people  under  a  penalty  so  tremendous.  These  grounds, 
such  as  they  are,  we  shall  indicate,  and  that  is  all  that  our 
limits  permit.  The  first  proof  is  drawn  from  the  Apocrypha; 
but  as  this  is  an  authority  that  possesses  no  weight  with 
Protestants,  we  shall  not  occupy  space  with  it,  but  pass  on 
to  the  second,  which  is  drawn  from  Scripture,  and  which  is 
made  to  support  the  chief  weight  of  the  doctrine, — with  what 
justice  the  reader  will  judge.  The  following  is  the  passage 
in  which  Papists  unmistakeably  discover  purgatory: — "Who- 
soever speaketh  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  be  for- 
given him,  neither  in  this  world,  neither  in  the  world  to 
come."-f*  Here,  says  the  Papist,  our  Lord  speaks  of  a  sin 
that  shall  not  be  forgiven  in  the  world  to  come ;  which  im- 
plies that  there  are  sins  that  shall  he  forgiven  in  the  world 
to  come.  But  sins  cannot  be  forgiven  in  heaven,  nor  will 
they  be  forgiven  in  hell ;  therefore  there  must  be  a  third 
place  where  sins  are  forgiven,  which  is  purgatory.  The  an- 
swer which  the  Rev.  Mr  Nolan  has  given  to  this  is  much  to 
the  point,  and  is  all  that  such  an  argument  deserves.  "Let 
me  suppose,"  says  he,  "  a  person  committed  a  most  enor- 

*  Coucil.  Trid.  sess.  xxv.  f  Matli.  xii.  32. 


S50  OF  PURGATORY. 

mous  offence  against  the  laws  of  this  country,  and  that  the 
Lord  Lieutenant  said,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven,  neither  in 
this  country  nor  in  England  ;  would  any  one  be  so  irrational 
as  to  argue  that  the  Lord  Lieutenant  meant  to  insinuate 
from  this  mode  of  expression  that  there  was  a  middle  place 
where  the  crime  might  be  forgiven  f*  That  our  Lord  meant 
simply  to  indicate  the  unpardonable  character  of  the  sin 
against  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  not  to  teach  the  doctrine  of 
purgatory,  is  incontrovertible,  from  the  parallel  passage  in 
Luke,  where  it  is  said,  "  Whosoever  shall  speak  a  word 
against  the  Son  of  Man  it  shall  be  forgiven  him  ;  but  unto 
him  that  blasphemeth  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not 
be  forgiven.^f  Other  passages  have  been  adduced,  which 
yield,  if  possible,  a  still  more  doubtful  support  to  purgatory, 
and  on  which  it  were  a  waste  of  time  here  to  dwell.  The 
practice  of  the  fathers,  some  of  whom  prayed  for  the  dead, 
has  been  pled  in  argument,  as  if  the  unwarrantable  customs 
of  men  lapsing  into  superstition  could  support  a  doctrine 
still  more  gross  and  superstitious.  And,  still  farther  to  for- 
tify an  opinion  which  stands  in  need  of  all  the  aid  it  can 
obtain  from  every  quarter,  and  finds  all  too  little,  the  vision 
of  Perpetua,  a  young  lady  of  twenty-two,  has  been  employed 
to  silence  those  who  refuse  on  this  head  to  listen  to  the 
fathers.  But  if  there  be  indeed  a  purgatory,  and  if  the  be- 
lief of  it  be  so  indispensable,  that  all  are  damned  who  doubt 
it,  as  Papists  teach,  why  was  it  not  clearly  revealed  ?  and 
why  is  the  argument  in  its  favour  nought  but  a  miserable 
patch-work  of  perverted  texts,  visions  of  young  ladies,  and 
the  dotard  practices  of  men  whose  Christianity  had  become 
emasculated  by  a  nascent  superstition?  We  can  trace  a 
purgatory  nowhere  but  in  the  writings  of  the  pagan  philoso- 
phers and  poets.  The  great  father  of  poetry  makes  some 
not  very  obscure  allusions  to  such  a  place :  Plato  believed 
in  a  middle  state :  it  formed  one  of  the  compartments  of 


*  Pamphlet  by  the  Rev.  L.  J.  Nolan,  third  ed.  1S33,  p.  52. 
+  Luke,  xii.  1. 


CONDEMNED  BY  SCRIPTURE.  551 

VirgiPs  Elysium;  and  there  souls  were  purified  by  their  own 
sufferings  and  the  sacrifices  of  their  friends  on  earth,  before 
entering  the  habitation  of  joy.  From  this  source  did  the 
Roman  Catholic  Cliurch  borrow  her  purgatory. 

But  we  have  a  sure  word  of  prophecy.  The  world  beyond 
the  grave  has  been  made  known  to  us,  so  far  as  we  are  able 
to  receive  it,  by  One  who  knew  it  better  than  either  popes 
or  fathers,  because  He  came  from  it.  When  he  lifts  the 
veil,  we  discover  only  two  classes  and  two  abodes.  And 
while  we  meet  with  nothing  in  the  New  Testament  that 
countenances  the  doctrine  of  purgatory,  we  meet  with  much 
that  expressly  contradicts  and  confutes  it.  All  the  state- 
ments of  the  Word  of  God  respecting  the  nature  of  sin,  and 
the  death  and  satisfaction  of  Christ,  are  condemnatory  of 
purgatory,  and  conclusively  establish  that  there  neither  is 
nor  can  be  any  such  place.  The  Scripture  authorizes  no 
such  distinction  as  Papists  make  between  venial  and  mortal 
sins.  It  teaches  that  all  sin  is  mortal,  and,  unless  blotted 
out  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  will  issue  in  the  sinner"'s  eternal 
ruin.  It  teaches,  that  after  death  there  is  neither  change 
of  character  nor  of  state  ;  that  God  does  not  sell  his  grace, 
but  bestows  it  freely ;  that  we  are  not  redeemed  with  cor- 
ruptible things,  as  silver  and  gold ;  that  no  man  can  redeem 
his  brother,  whether  by  prayers  or  by  offerings ;  that  the 
law  of  God  demands  of  every  man,  every  moment  of  his  be- 
ing, the  highest  obedience  of  which  his  nature  and  his  facul- 
ties are  capable,  and  that  since  the  foundation  of  the  world 
a  single  work  of  supererogation  has  never  been  performed 
by  any  of  the  sons  of  men ;  and  that  therefore  the  source 
whence  this  imaginary  fund  of  merit  is  supplied  has  no  exist- 
ence, and  is,  like  the  fund  itself,  a  delusion  and  a  fable ;  and 
it  teaches,  in  fine,  that  God  pardons  men  only  on  the  foot- 
ing of  the  satisfaction  of  his  Son,  which  is  complete  and  suf- 
ficient, and  needs  not  to  be  supplemented  by  works  of  human 
merit;  and  that  when  he  pardons,  he  pardons  all  sin,  and  for 
ever. 

But  the  grand  criterion  by  which  Rome  tests  all  her  doc- 


S52  OF  PURGATORY. 

trines  is  not  their  truth,  nor  their  bearing  on  man's  benefit 
and  God's  glory,  but  their  value  in  money.  How  much  will 
they  bring?  is  the  first  question  which  she  puts.  And  it 
must  be  confessed,  that  in  purgatory  she  has  found  a  rare 
device  for  replenishing  her  coffers,  of  which  she  has  not 
failed  to  make  the  very  most.  We  need  go  no  farther  than 
Ireland  as  an  instance.  For  a  poor  man,  when  he  dies,  a 
private  mass  is  offered,  for  which  the  priest  is  paid  from  two- 
and-sixpence  to  ten  shillings.  For  rich  men  there  is  a 
HIGH  or  chanted  mass.  In  this  instance,  a  number  of 
priests  assemble,  and  each  receives  from  seven-and-sixpence 
to  a  pound.  At  the  end  of  the  month  after  the  death,  mass 
is  again  celebrated.  The  same  number  of  priests  again  as- 
semble, and  receive  payment  over  again.*  Anniversary  or 
annual  masses  are  also  appointed  for  the  rich,  when  the 
same  routine  is  gone  through,  and  the  same  expenses  are 
incurred.  There  are,  moreover,  in  almost  every  parish  in 
Ireland,  purgatorial  societies.  The  person  becomes  a  mem- 
ber on  the  payment  of  a  certain  sum,  and  the  subscription 
of  a  penny  a-week  ;  and  the  funds  thus  raised  are  given  to 
the  priest,  to  be  laid  out  for  the  deliverance  of  souls  from 
purgatory.  There  is,  besides.  All  Souls'  Day,  which  falls 
on  the  2d  of  November,  on  which  an  extraordinary  collec- 
tion is  taken  up  from  all  Catholics  for  the  same  purpose.-f- 
In  short,  there  is  no  end  of  the  expedients  and  pretences 
which  purgatory  furnishes  to  an  avaricious  priesthood  for 
extorting  money.  Popery,  says  the  author  of  Kirwan's  Let- 
ters, meets  men  "  at  the  cradle,  and  dogs  them  to  the  grave, 
and  beyond  it,  with  its  demands  for  money  ."J     The  writer 


*  Both  occasions,  Mr  Nolan  informs  iis,  are  concluded  with  a  sumptuous 
dinner,  consisting  of  flesh,  and  fowl,  and  of  every  delicacy,  which  is  washed 
down  with  enormous  potations  of  wine  and  whisky.  Half  the  priests  of 
a  district  often  contrive  to  live  on  these  dinners,  (Nolan's  Pamphlet, 
p,  46.) 

+  Nolan's  Pamphlet,  pp.  44-48. 

+  Letters  to  the  Right  Rev,  John  Hughes,  by  Kirwan, — letter  v.;  John- 
stone &  Hunter ;  Edin.  1851. 


DOCTRINE  OF  INTENTION.  353 

was  told  in  Belgium,  by  an  intelligent  English  Protestant, 
who  had  resided  many  years  in  that  country,  that  it  is  rare 
indeed  for  a  man  of  substance  to  die  without  leaving  from 
thirty  to  fifty  pounds  to  be  laid  out  in  masses  for  his  soul. 
No  sooner  is  the  fact  known,  than  the  priests  of  the  district 
flock  to  the  dead  man''s  house,  as  do  rooks  to  carrion,  and, 
while  a  centime  of  the  sum  remains,  live  there,  singing  masses, 
and  all  the  while  feasting  like  ghouls. 

Another  of  the  innumerable  frauds  connected  with  purga- 
tory is  the  doctrine  of  intention.  By  this  is  meant  that  the 
priest  offers  his  mass  according  to  the  intention  of  the  per- 
son paying.  The  price  varies,  according  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  person,  from  half-a-crown  to  five  shillings. 
These  intentions,  in  many  instances,  are  never  discharged. 
Mr  Nolan  mentions  the  case  of  the  Rev.  Mr  Curran,  parish 
priest  of  Killuchan,  in  the  county  of  Westmeath,  an  intimate 
acquaintance  of  his  own,  who  at  his  death  bequeathed  to 
the  Rev.  Dr  Cantvvell  of  Mullingar,  three  hundred  pounds, 
to  be  expended  on  masses  (at  two-and-sixpence  each)  for 
such  intentions  as  he  (Mr  Cun-an)  had  neglected  to  dis- 
charge. It  thus  appears  that  Mr  Curran  died  owing  twenty- 
four  hundred  masses,  most  of  them,  doubtless,  for  souls  in 
purgatory.*  "  The  frauds,""  says  Dr  Murray  of  New  York, 
addressing  Bishop  Hughes,  "  which  your  Church  has  prac- 
tised on  the  world  by  her  relics  and  indulgences  are  enor- 
mous. If  practised  by  the  merchants  of  New  York  in  their 
commercial  transactions,  they  would  send  every  man  of 
them  to  state-prison."'''-}*  "  In  Roman  Catholic  countries,"" 
says  Principal  Cunningham  "  and  in  Ireland  among  the 
rest,  the  priests  make  the  people  believe  that  by  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  mass,  that  is,  by  their  offering  up  to  God  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ,  they  can  cure  barrenness,  heal  the 
diseases  of  cattle,  and  prevent  mildew  in  grain  ;  and  much 
money  is  every  year  spent  in  procuring  masses  to  effect  these 

*  Nolan's  Pamphlet,  p.  47.        +  Kirwan's  Letters,  series  ii.  letter  vi. 

2jl 


354  OF  PURGATORY. 

and  similar  purposes.  Men  who  obtain  money  In  such  a 
way,  and  upon  such  pretences  (and  this  is  a  main  source  of 
the  income  of  popish  priests),  should  be  regarded  and  treated 
as  common  swindlers.""* 

*  Stillingfleet's  Doctrine  and  Practice,  by  Dr  Cunningham,  p.  275. 


OF  THE  WORSHIP  OF  IMAGES.  355 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


OF  THE  WORSHIP  OF  IMAGES. 


Two  things  are  here  to  be  determined ;  firsts  the  practice 
of  the  Church  of  Rome  as  regards  images;  and,  second^ 
the  judgment  which  the  Word  of  God  pronounces  on  that 
practice. 

Her  practice,  so  far  as  pertains  to  its  outward  form,  is  as 
incapable  of  being  misunderstood  as  it  is  of  being  defended. 
She  sets  up  images  which  are  representations  of  saints,  or 
of  angels,  or  of  Christ ;  and  she  teaches  her  members  to 
prostrate  themselves  before  these  images,  to  burn  incense, 
and  to  pray  before  them,  to  undertake  pilgrimages  to  their 
shrine,  and  to  expect  a  more  than  ordinary  answer  to  the 
intercessions  offered  before  them.  There  is  not  a  church  in 
any  Roman  Catholic  country  throughout  the  world  where 
this  manner  of  worship  is  not  every  day  celebrated  ;  and, 
being  open  to  all,  no  concealment  is  possible,  and  none  is 
sought.  The  worshipper  enters  the  cathedral,  he  selects 
the  image  of  the  saint  whom  he  prefers,  he  kneels,  he  counts 
his  beads,  he  burns  his  candle,  and,  it  may  be,  presents  his 
votive  offering.  As  regards  the  letter  of  the  practice  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  there  is  not,  and  there  cannot  be, 
any  dispute.  These  facts  being  admitted,  the  controversy 
might  here  take  end.     This  is  what  the  Word  of  God  de- 


oo6  OF  THE  WORSHIP  OF  IMAGES. 

nounces  as  image-worslilj) ;  this  It  strictly  prohibits ;  and 
this  is  enough  to  substantiate  the  charge  which  Protestants 
have  brought  against  the  Church  of  Home  as  guilty  of  ido- 
latry. Her  practice  in  this  point  is  manifestly  a  revival  of 
the  pagan  worship  in  one  of  its  grossest  and  most  offensive 
forms.  She,  as  really  as  the  ancient  idolaters,  "  worships 
the  creature  more  than  the  Creator."  But  let  us  hear  what 
Rome  has  to  say  in  her  own  behalf. 

She  introduces  the  element  of  INTENTION,  and  on  this 
mainly  rests  her  defence.  She  pleads  that  she  does  not 
believe  these  images  to  be  inspired  with  the  Divinity, — she 
does  not  believe  them  to  be  gods.  She  pleads  also,  that 
she  does  not  believe  that  the  wood,  or  stone,  or  gold,  of 
which  they  are  composed,  can  hear  prayer,  or  that  the 
image  of  itself  can  bestow  the  blessings  supplicated  for; 
that  she  believes  them  to  be  only  images,  and  therefore  di- 
rects her  worship  and  prayers  past  or  beyond  them,  to  the 
saint  or  angel  whom  the  image  represents.  The  Papist  does 
not  pray  to,  but  through,  the  image.  We  accept  this  as  a 
fair  statement  of  what  is  the  theoretic  practice  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  on  the  subject  of  images,  but  we  reject  it 
as  a  statement  of  what  that  practice  is  in  fact,  and  espe- 
cially do  we  reject  it  as  a  defence  of  that  practice.  We  do 
so  for  the  following  reasons. 

In  the  first  place,  if  the  Papist  is  acquitted  of  idolatry  on 
this  ground,  there  is  not  an  idolater  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
who  may  not  on  the  same  ground  demand  an  acquittal. 
None  but  the  most  ignorant  and  brutish  ever  mistook  the 
stock  or  stone  before  which  they  kneeled  for  the  Creator. 
This  representative  principle,  on  which  the  image- worship- 
per of  the  Popish  Church  founds  his  justification,  pervaded 
the  whole  system  of  the  pagan  worship.  It  was  this  which 
led  the  world  astray  at  first,  and  covered  the  earth  with  a 
race  of  deities  of  the  most  revolting  character.  Whether 
it  was  the  heavenly  bodies,  as  in  Chaldea,  or  a  class  of  demi- 
gods, as  in  Greece  and  Rome,  it  was  the  great  First  Cause 
that  was  professedly  adored  through  these  symbolizations  and 


IMAGE-WORSHIP  REVIVED  PAGANISM.  857 

substitutes.  The  vulgar,  perhaps,  failed  to  grasp  this  dis- 
tinction, or  steadily  to  keep  it  before  them,  just  as  the  mass 
of  worshippers  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  fail  practi- 
cally to  apprehend  the  difference  between  praying  to  and 
praying  he/ore,  or  rather  heyond^  the  image ;  but  such  icas 
the  system,  and  that  system  the  Bible  denounced  as  idola- 
try ;  and  the  same  system  stands  equally  condemned  when 
found  in  a  popish  cathedral  as  when  found  in  a  pagan 
temple. 

But,  in  the  second  place,  it  is  not  true  that  these  images 
are  simple  helps  to  devotion,  or  mere  media  for  the  convey- 
ance of  the  worship  offered  before  them  to  the  object  whom 
they  represent.  The  homage  and  honour  are  given  to  the 
image  immediately^  and  to  the  object  represented  mediately, 
the  worshipper  assuming  the  power,  by  an  act  of  volition  or 
intention,  of  transferring  the  honour  from  the  image  to  the 
object.  But  the  image  is  honoured,  and  is  commanded  to 
be  so  on  no  less  an  authority  than  the  Council  of  Trent. 
"  Moreover,""  says  the  Council,  "  let  them  teach  that  the 
images  of  Christ,  and  of  the  Virgin,  mother  of  God,  and  of 
other  saints,  are  to  be  had  and  retained,  especially  in 
churches,  and  due  honour  and  veneration  rendered  to  them." 
And  the  decree  goes  on  to  say,  that  the  person  is  to  pros- 
trate himself  before  the  image,  to  uncover  his  head  before 
it,  and  kiss  it,  no  doubt  under  the  pretence,  that  by  these 
marks  of  honour  to  the  image  he  is  honouring  those  whose 
likeness  it  bears.*  This  decree  reduplicates  on  a  former 
decree  of  the  second  Council  of  Nice,  held  in  a.d.  787,t  at 
which  the  controversy  respecting  images  was  finally  settled. 
The  Council  of  Nice  decreed  that  the  images  of  Christ  and 
his  saints  are  to  be  venerated  and  adored,  though  not  with 
"  true  latria,''''  or  the  worship  exclusively  due  to  God.:]:  The 
same  doctrine  is  taught  in  the  Catechism  of  the  Council  of 
Trent.     There  such  acts  of  worship  as  we  have  already  spe- 


*  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  xxv.  +  Moslaeim,  book  iii.  part  ii.  chap.  iii. 

X  Cramp's  Text  Book  of  Popery,  p.  338. 


S58  OF  THE  WORSHIP  OF  IMAGES. 

cified  are  recommended  to  be  performed  to  images,  for  the 
sake  of  those  whom  they  represent ;  and  it  is  declared  that 
this  is  highly  beneficial  to  the  people,  as  is  also  the  practice 
of  storing  churches  with  images,  not  for  instruction  simply, 
hiLt  for  worsMp*  If,  therefore,  we  find  the  divines  of  the 
Romish  Church  not  adhering  to  their  own  theory,  but  blend- 
ing the  image  and  the  object  in  the  same  acts  of  adoration, — 
if  we  find  them  expressly  teaching  that  images  are  to  be 
worshipped,  though  not  with  the  same  supreme  veneration 
that  is  due  to  God, — how  can  we  expect  that  this  distinc- 
tion should  be  observed  by  the  people  ?  By  the  mass  of  the 
people  this  distinction  is  neither  understood  nor  observed : 
the  image  is  worshipped,  and  nothing  more.  That  is  their 
deity ;  and  in  not  one  in  a  thousand  cases  do  the  thoughts 
or  intentions  of  the  worshipper  go  beyond  it.  Why,  out  of 
several  images  of  the  same  saint,  does  the  worshipper  prefer 
one  to  the  others  ?  Why  does  he  make  long  pilgrimages  to 
its  shrine  ?  Why,  but  because  he  believes  that  a  peculiar  vir- 
tue or  divinity  resides  in  this  his  favourite  image.  This  shows 
that  it  is  more  to  him  than  simple  wood  and  stone.  There 
could  not  be  grosser  or  more  wholesale  idolatry  than  the 
festival  of  the  Bambino  at  Home,  as  described  by  Seymour.-f- 
When  the  priest  on  the  summit  of  the  Capitol  elevates  the 
little  wooden  doll  which  represents  the  infant  Saviour,  the 
thousands  that  cover  the  slope  and  bottom  of  the  mount  fall 
prostrate,  and  nothing  is  heard  but  the  low  sounds  of  prayer 
addressed  to  the  image.  The  Rome  of  the  Caesars  never 
witnessed  a  more  idolatrous  spectacle.  It  is  firmly  believed 
that  the  image  possesses  miraculous  powers  ;  the  priests  take 
care  to  encourage  the  delusion ;  and  not  a  day  passes  with- 
out an  application  for  a  cure.  There  are  numerous  images 
at  Rome  believed  to  possess  the  power  of  working  miracles. 
Among  the  rest  is  that  of  INIary  in  S.  Maria  Maggiore. 
This  picture  was  carried  in  procession  through  the  streets 


*  Cat,  Rom.  part  iii.  c.  2,  s,  39,  40,—"  Sed  ut  colantur." 
t  Seymour's  Pilgrimage  to  Rome,  p.  288  ;  Lond.  1851. 


IDOLATRY  OF  THE  PRACTICE.  S'.O 

of  E,onie  to  suppress  the  cholera,  the  Pope  (Gregory  XVI.) 
joining  barefooted  in  the  procession.*  And  what,  we  may 
ask,  is  the  change  which  the  Papist  believes  passes  upon  the 
image  in  the  act  of  consecration  ?  Is  it  not  this,  that  where- 
as  before  it  was  simply  a  piece  of  dead  and  inefficacious  mat- 
ter, it  has  now  become  filled  or  inspired  with  the  virtue  or 
divinity  of  the  object  it  represents,  who  is  now  mysteriously 
present  in  it  or  with  it  ? 

But,  in  the  third  place,  though  this  distinction  were  one 
that  could  be  easily  drawn,  and  though  it  could  be  shown 
that  it  always  is  clearly  drawn  by  the  worshipper,  and 
though  it  could  be  shown  also,  that  all  the  good  effects 
which  have  been  alleged  do  in  point  of  fact  flow  from  this 
practice,  all  this  would  make  nothing  as  a  defence.  The 
Word  of  God  denounces  the  practice  as  idolatrous,  and 
plainly  forbids  it.  The  condemnation  and  prohibition  of 
this  practice  form  the  subject  of  one  entire  precept  of  the 
Decalogue.  "  Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven 
image,  or  any  likeness  of  anything  that  is  in  heaven  above, 
or  that  is  in  the  earth  beneath,  &c. ;  thou  shalt  not  bow 
down  thyself  to  them,  nor  serve  them ;  for  I  the  Lord  thy 
God  am  a  jealous  God."-f-  Till  these  words  are  revoked  as 
plainly  and  solemnly  as  they  were  promulgated, — till  the 
same  mighty  voice  shall  proclaim  in  the  hearing  of  the  na- 
tions that  the  second  precept  of  the  Decalogue  has  been 
abrogated, — the  practice  of  Rome  must  stand  condemned  as 
idolatrous.  The  case,  then,  is  a  plain  one,  and  resolves  it- 
self into  this.  Whether  shall  we  obey  Rome  or  Jehovah? 
The  former,  speaking  from  the  Seven  Hills,  says,  "  Thou 
mayest  make  unto  thee  graven  images,  and  bow  down  thy- 
self to  them,  and  serve  them :"  the  latter,  speaking  in  thun- 
der from  Sinai,  says,  "  Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any 

*  Morninj^s  among  the  Jesuits,  pp.  35-38. 

+  Exod.  XX.  4,  5.  Perrone  contends  that  what  the  command  forbids  is 
the  making  of  images  to  the  pagan  deities,  and  not  the  making  of  them  to 
Christ  and  the  saints.  Of  course,  he  is  unable  to  produce  any  ground  for 
this  distinction,     (Praelectiones  Theologicte,  torn.  i.  p.  1209,) 


o60  OF  THE  WORSHIP  OF  IMAGES. 

graven  image  .  .  .  thou  shalt  not  bow  down  thyself 
unto  them  and  serve  them.""  Rome  herself  has  confessed  that 
these  two  commands, — that  from  the  Seven  Hills  and  that 
from  Sinai, — are  eternally  irreconcileable,  by  blotting  from 
the  Decalogue  the  second  precept  of  the  law.*  Alas  !  will 
this  avail  her  aught  so  long  as  that  precept  stands  unre- 
pealed in  the  law  of  God  i  May  God  have  mercy  upon  her 
poor  benighted  people,  whom  she  leads  blindfold  into  idola- 
try ;  and  may  He  remember  this  extenuation  of  their  guilt 
when  he  arises  to  execute  judgment  upon  those  who,  know- 
ing that  they  who  do  such  things  are  worthy  of  death,  not 
only  do  them,  but  teach  others  to  do  the  same ! 


*  In  the  ordinary  catechisms  used  by  the  Eoman  Catholics  of  this 
country,  the  second  commandment  is  expunged  from  the  Decalogue,  and 
the  tenth  is  split  into  two,  to  preserve  the  number  of  ten. 


OF  THE  WORSHIPPING  OF  SAIiNTS.  361 


CHAPTER  XYIII. 


OF  THE  WORSHIPPING  OF  SAINTS. 


The  next  branch  of  the  idolatry  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  is  her  worship  of  dead  men.  These  she  denominates 
saints.  Of  this  numerous  and  miscellaneous  class  some  un- 
questionably were  saints,  as  the  apostles  and  others  of  the 
early  Christians.  Others  may  be  accounted,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  charity,  to  have  been  saints ;  but  there  are  others 
which  figure  in  the  calendar  of  Roman  apotheosis,  whom  no 
stretch  of  charity  will  allow  us  to  believe  were  saints.  They 
were  unmistakeable  fanatics ;  and  their  fanaticism  was  far 
indeed  from  being  of  a  harmless  kind.  It  drew  in  its  wake, 
as  fanaticism  not  unfrequently  does,  gross  immorality  and 
savage  and  unnatural  cruelty.  In  the  list  of  Romish  divini- 
ties we  find  the  names  of  persons  whose  very  existence  is 
apocryphal.  There  are  others  whose  incorrigible  stupidity, 
laziness,  and  filth,  rendered  them  unfit  to  herd  even  with 
brutes ;  and  there  are  others  who,  little  to  the  world's  com- 
fort, were  neither  stupid  nor  inactive,  but  who  made  them- 
selves busy,  much  as  a  fiend  would,  in  inventing  instruments 
of  torture,  and  founding  institutions  for  destroying  mankind 
and  devastating  the  earth, — St  Dominic,  for  instance,  the 
founder  of  the  Inquisition.  Prayers  offered  to  such  persons, 
and  directed  to  heaven,  run  some  risk  of  missing  those  of 
whom  they  are  in  quest.     But  the  question  here  is,  granting 


SG2  OF  THE  WORSHIPPING  OF  SAINTS. 

all  the  individuals  of  this  promiscuous  qrowd  to  have  been 
saints,  is  it  right  to  pray  to  them  ? 

We  do  not  charge  the  Church  of  Rome  with  teaching  that 
the  saints  are  gods,  or  are  able  by  their  own  power  to  bestow 
the  blessings  for  which  their  votaries  pray.  The  Church  of 
Rome  distinguishes  between  the  worship  which  it  is  warrant- 
able to  offer  to  the  saints,  and  the  worship  that  is  due  to 
God.  The  former  are  to  be  worshipped  with  dulia  ;  the  lat- 
ter with  latria.  God  is  to  be  worshipped  with  supreme  vene- 
ration ;  the  saints  are  to  be  venerated  in  an  inferior  degree. 
They  occupy  in  heaven, — that  Church  teaches, — stations 
of  dignity  and  influence  ;  and  on  this  ground,  as  well  as  on 
account  of  their  eminent  virtues  while  they  lived,  they  are 
entitled  to  our  esteem  and  reverence.  It  may  be  reasonably 
supposed,  moreover,  that  they  have  great  influence  with  God, 
and  that,  moved  partly  by  pity  for  us,  and  partly  by  the 
homage  we  render  to  them,  they  are  inclined  to  use  that  in- 
fluence in  our  behalf.  We  ought  therefore,  says  that  Church, 
to  address  prayers  to  them,  that  they  may  pray  to  God  for 
us.  This,  then,  is  the  function  which  the  Church  of  Rome 
assigns  to  departed  saints.  They  present  the  prayers  of  sup- 
pliants to  God,  and  intercede  with  God  in  their  behalf.  They 
are  intercessors  of  mediation,  though  not  of  redemption. 

But  the  Church  of  Rome  has  been  little  careful  accurately 
to  state  her  theory  on  this  head,* — little  careful  to  impress 


*  In  Layard's  "  Nineveh  and  its  Remains"  we  have  the  following  preg- 
nant passage.  l\Ir  Layard  was  at  the  time  on  a  visit  to  the  Nestoiians  of  the 
Kurdish  hills.  "  The  people  of  Behozi  are  amongst  those  Chaldeans  who 
have  Very  recently  become  Catholics,  and  are  hut  a  too  common  instance 
of  the  mode  in  which  such  proselytes  are  made.  In  tlie  church  I  saw  a 
few  miserable  prints,  dressed  iip  in  all  the  horrors  of  red,  yellow,  and  blue, 
— images  of  saints  and  of  the  blessed  Virgin, — and  a  hideous  infant  in 
swaddling  clothes,  under  which  was  written,  '  I'lddio,  bambino.'  They 
had  recently  been  stuck  up  against  the  bare  walls.  *  Can  you  understand 
these  pictures  V  I  asked.  '  No,'  was  the  reply  ;  '  M^e  did  not  place  tliem 
here.  When  our  priest  (a  Nestorian)  died  a  short  time  ago,  Mutran  Yus- 
up,  the  Catholic  bishop  came  to  us.     He  i)ut  up  these  pictures,  and  told 


DULIA  AND  LATRIA.  SG3 

upon  the  minds  of  her  people,  that  the  only  service  they  are 
to  expect  at  the  hands  of  the  saints  is  that  of  intercession. 
She  has  used  expressions  of  a  vague  character,  if  not  pur- 
posely designed,  yet  obviously  fitted,  to  seduce  into  gross 
idolatry ;  nay,  she  allows  and  sanctions  idolatry,  by  teaching 
that  saints  may  be  the  objects  of  a  certain  sort  of  venera- 
tion, namely,  dulia^  and  instituting  a  distinction  which  is 
utterly  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the  common  people ; 
so  that,  in  point  of  fact,  there  is  no  difference  between  the 
worship  which  they  offer  to  the  saints,  and  the  worship 
which  they  offer  to  God,  unless,  perhaps,  that  the  former 
is  the  more  devout  and  fervent,  as  it  is  certainly  the  more 
customary  of  the  two.  In  the  Papal  Church,  millions  pray 
to  the  saints  who  never  bow  a  knee  to  God. 

The  Council  of  Trent*  teaches  that  "  the  saints  who  reign 
together  with  Christ  offer  their  prayers  to  God  for  men  ;" 
and  that  "  it  is  a  good  and  useful  thing  suppliantly  to  invoke 
them,  and  to  flee  to  their  prayers,  help,  and  assistance  ;" 
and  that  they  are  "  impious  men"  who  maintain  the  con- 
trary. The  caution  of  the  council  will  not  escape  observa- 
tion. It  teaches  the  dogma,  but  does  not  expressly  enjoin 
the  practice.  It  is  usual  for  Papists  to  take  advantage  of 
this  in  arguing  with  Protestants,  and  to  affirm  that  the 
Church  has  not  enjoined  or  commanded  prayers  to  saints." -f- 
This  may  be  true  in  theory,  but  not  in  practice.  Prayers 
to  saints  form  part  and  parcel  of  her  liturgy ;  so  that  no  man 
can  join  in  her  worship  without  joining  in  these  prayers ;  and 
thus  she  practically  compels  the  thing.  Moreover,  they  are 
obliged,  under  the  penalty  of  being  guilty  of  mortal  sin,  to 
celebrate  certain  fetes, — those,  for  instance,  of  the  assump- 
tion of  the  Virgin,  and  All  Saints'  Day.J     The  Catechism  of 

us  that  we  were  to  adore  them.'  "  (Vol.  i.  pp.  154,  155.)  These  simple 
Christians  received  uo  initiation  into  the  mystery  of  dulia,  hyperdiilia,  and 
latria. 

*  Concil.  Trid.  sess.  xxv. 

+  Mornings  among  the  Jesuits  at  Rome,  p.  107. 

t  Reasons  for  Leaving  the  Church  of  Rome,  by  C.  L.  Trivier,  p.  191 ; 
Lond.  1851. 


64  OP  THE  AVORSHIPPING  OF  SAINTS. 


Trent*  teaches  that  we  may  pray  to  the  saints  to  pity  us; 
and  if  we  join  this  with  the  "  assistance  and  help""  on  which 
we  are  encouraged  to  cast  ourselves,  and  if  we  add  the  grounds 
on  which  we  are  taught  to  look  for  such  help,  namely,  that 
the  saints  occupy  stations  of  dignity  and  influence  in  heaven, 
we  will  feel  perfectly  satisfied  that  the  Church  of  Rome  is 
very  willing  that  her  people  should  believe  that  the  function 
of  the  saints  goes  a  very  considerable  way  beyond  simple  ivi- 
iercession,  and  that  the  worship  of  which  they  are  the  objects 
should  be  regulated  accordingly.  This  idea  is  strengthened 
by  the  fact,  that  the  Roman  Missal  teaches  that  there  are 
blessings  bestovved  upon  us  for  the  merits  of  the  saints.  Of 
such  sort  is  the  following  prayer : — "  0  God,  who,  to  recom- 
mend to  us  innocence  of  life,  wast  pleased  to  let  the  soul  of 
thy  blessed  Virgin  Scholastica  ascend  to  heaven  in  the  shape 
of  a  dove,  grant  by  her  merits  and  prayers  that  we  may  lead 
innocent  lives  here,  and  ascend  to  eternal  joys  hereafter  .'"-f* 
We  add  another  example  from  the  Missal : — "  May  the  in- 
tercession, 0  Lord,  of  Bishop  Peter  thy  apostle  render  the 
prayers  and  offerings  of  thy  Church  acceptable  to  Thee,  that 
the  mysteries  we  celebrate  in  his  honour  may  obtain  for  us 
the  pardon  of  our  sins  ! "";]: 

But  it  matters  little  what  is  the  exact  amount  of  influence 
and  power  attributed  to  the  saints  by  Roman  Catholics,  or 
what  the  refinements  and  distinctions  by  which  they  attempt 
to  justify  the  worship  they  pay  to  them.  Their  practice  is 
undeniable.  In  the  same  place  where  God  is  worshipped, 
and  with  the  same  forms,  do  Roman  Catholics  pray  to  the 
saints  to  pray  to  God  in  their  behalf.  M.  Perrone  distinctly 
says  that  the  saints,  on  the  ground  of  their  excellence,  are 
the  just  objects  of  religious  worship  ;  and  that  if  we  reserve 
sacrifices,  vows,  and  temples  to  God,  we  may  approach  the 
saints  with  prostration  and  prayer.     Images  and  relics,  he 


*  Cat.  Rom.  pars  iv.  cap.  vi.  s.  iii. 

+  Roman  Missal  for  the  Laity,  ji.  557  ;  Lond.  1815. 

J  Ibid.  p.  539. 


PRACTICE  IDOLATROUS.  SG5 

says,  receive  an  improper  worship  and  adoration,  which 
passes  through  them  to  their  prototypes  ;  not  so  the  vene- 
ration paid  the  saints,  which  is  not  relative,  but  absohite.* 
Tried  by  the  implicit  principles  and  tho  express  declarations 
of  the  Bible,  this  is  idolatry.  There  is  not,  either  in  the  Old 
or  in  the  New  Testament,  a  solitary  instance  of  such  a  wor- 
ship ;  nay,  on  those  occasions  on  which  we  find  worship  at- 
tempted to  be  offered  to  the  saints,  it  was  promptly  and  indig- 
nantly rejected.  No  doubt  we  are  commanded  to  pray  toith 
and/or  one  another,  as  is  often  pleaded  by  Papists :  but  there 
is  a  wide  difference  between  this  and  praying  to  the  dead.  The 
vision  in  the  Apocalypsef  of  the  elders  with  the  "  vials  full 
of  odours,"  which  are  said  to  be  "  the  prayers  of  saints," 
though  often  paraded  by  Homan  Catholics  as  an  unanswer- 
able proof,  has  no  bearing  upon  the  point.  Commentators 
on  the  Revelations  have  shown  by  very  conclusive  reason- 
in  o-s,  that  the  vision  has  no  relation  to  heaven,  but  to  the 
Church  on  earth  ;  and  Papists  must  overthrow  this  interpre- 
tation before  the  passage  can  be  of  any  service  to  their  cause. 
Right  reason  and  the  express  declarations  of  Scripture  com- 
bine in  testifying  that  God  alone  is  the  object  of  worship, 
and  that  we  cannot  offer  prayer  or  perform  an  act  of  adora- 
tion to  any  other  being,  however  exalted,  without  incur- 
ring the  highest  criminality.  "  Thou  shalt  have  no  other 
gods  before  me."|  The  reply  of  our  Lord  to  the  tempter 
seems  purposely  framed  so  as  to  include  both  latria  and 
dulia.  "  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  Him 
only  shalt  thou  serve."§  On  the  principles  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  it  is  quite  possible  for  a  man  to  be  saved 
without  having  performed  a  single  act  of  devotion  to  God 
in  his  whole  life.  He  has  simply  to  entrust  the  saints  with 
his  case,  who  will  pray  for  him,  and  with  better  success  than 
he  himself  could  obtain.  And  the  tendency,  not  to  say  the 
design,  of  the  Romish  system  is  to  withdraw  our  hearts  and 


*  Perrone's  PrsDlectioues  Tlieologiccc,  torn.  i.  p.  1156. 
•\  Rev.  V.  8.  X  Exod.  xx.  3.  §  Matt.  iv.  10, 


SG6  OF  THE  WORSHIPPING  OF  SAINTS. 

our  homage  altogether  from  God,  and,  under  an  affectation 
of  humility,  to  banish  us  for  ever  from  the  throne  of  God's 
grace,  and  sink  us  in  the  worship  of  stocks  and  of  dead  men. 

Manifestly  the  popish  divinities  are  but  the  resuscitation 
of  the  gods  of  the  pagan  mythology.  Venus  still  reigns 
under  the  title  of  Mary,  and  Jupiter  under  that  of  Peter ; 
and  so  as  regards  the  other  gods  and  goddesses  of  the  hea- 
then world  ; — their  names  have  been  changed,  but  their 
dominion  is  prolonged.  The  same  festivals  are  kept  in  com- 
memoration of  them  ;  the  same  rites  are  celebrated  in  their 
honour, — slightly  altered  to  suit  the  modern  state  of  things ; 
and  the  same  powers  are  ascribed  to  them.  Like  their 
pagan  predecessors,  they  have  their  shrines ;  and,  like  them 
too,  they  have  their  assigned  limits  within  which  they  exer- 
cise jurisdiction,  and  their  favourites  and  votaries  over  whom 
they  keep  special  guard.* 

Papists  have  been  often  asked  to  explain  how  it  is  that 
the  saints  in  heaven  are  able  to  hear  the  prayers  of  mortals 
on  earth.  They  do  not  affirm  that  the  saints  are  either  om- 
nipotent or  omniscient ;  and  yet,  unless  they  are  both,  it  is 
difficult  to  understand  how  they  can  know  what  we  feel,  or 
hear  what  we  say,  at  so  great  a  distance.  Thousands  are 
continually  praying  to  them  in  all  parts  of  the  earth; — they 
have  suppliants  at  Rome,  at  New  York,  at  Pekin  :  and  yet, 
though  but  men  and  women,  they  are  supposed  to  hear  every 
one  of  these  petitions.  The  difficulty  does  indeed  seem  a 
formidable  one  ;  and,  though  often  pressed  to  explain  it,  Ro- 
man Catholics  have  given  as  yet  no  solution  but  what  is  ut- 
terly subvei'sive  of  the  idea  on  which  the  system  is  founded. 


*  St  Francis  is  the  God  of  travellers.  St  Koque  defends  from  the 
plague, — St  Barbara,  from  thunder  and  lightning.  St  Anthony  the  Ab- 
bot delivers  from  fire, — St  Anthony  of  Padua,  from  water.  St  Bias  cures 
disorders  of  the  throat.  St  Lucia  heals  all  diseases  of  the  eye.  Young 
women  who  wish  to  enter  wedlock  choose  St  Nicholas  as  their  patron  ; 
while  St  Ramon  protects  them  in  pregnancy,  and  St  Lazaro  assists  them  in 
labour.  St  Paloniae  preserves  the  teeth.  St  Domingo  cures  fever.  (See 
Middleton's  Letter  from  Rome  :  Townscnd's  Travels  in  Spain.) 


ABSURDITY  OF  SAINT-WORSHIP.  3G7 

They  usually  tell  us  that  the  saints  acquire  the  knowledge 
of  these  supplications  through  God.  According  to  this 
theory,  the  prayer  ascends  first  to  God,  God  tells  it  to  the 
saints,  and  the  saints  pray  it  back  again  to  God.  But  what 
becomes  of  the  boasted  advantage  of  praying  to  the  saints  ? 
and  why  not  address  our  prayers  directly  to  God  ?  Why 
not  go  to  God  at  once,  seeing  it  turns  out  that  He  alone  can 
hear  us  in  the  first  instance,  and  that,  but  for  his  subsequent 
revelation  of  our  prayers,  they  would  be  dissipated  in  empty 
space,  and  those  pow-erful  intercessors  the  saints  would  know 
nothing  at  all  of  the  matter  ?  "  You,"  said  Mr  Seymour,  to 
a  priest  at  Rome,  who  had  favoured  him  with  this  notable 
solution  of  the  difficulty,  "  make  the  Virgin  INIary  and  the 
saints  mediators  of  prayer.  According  to  this  system,  God 
is  our  mediator  to  the  saints,  and  not  the  saints  our  media- 
tors to  God."*  The  path  is  strangely  circuitous, — far  too 
circuitous  to  be  the  right  one.  Nothing  could  be  happier 
than  the  illustration  of  Coleridge,  with  special  reference  to 
the  Virn-in.  It  is  that  of  an  individual  of  whom  we  wish  to 
obtain  a  favour,  and  whose  mother  we  employ  to  intercede  for 
us.  The  man  hears  well  enough  himself,  but  his  mother  is 
deaf;  so  we  tell  him  to  tell  her  that  we  wish  her  to  pray  to 
him  to  bestow  on  us  the  favour  we  desire. 

•  Mornings  among  the  Jesuits  at  Eome,  pp.  116,  117. 


368  THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE  VIRGIN  MARY. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE  VIRGIN  MARY. 


There  seems  to  be  on  the  part  of  fallen  man  an  inherent 
sense  of  his  need  of  a  man-God.  The  patriarch  of  Uz  gave 
expression  to  this  feeling,  when  he  intimated  his  wish  for 
a  "  days-man,""  who  "  might  lay  his  hand  upon  us  both."" 
Our  intellectual  faculties  and  our  moral  affections  are  unable 
to  traverse  the  mighty  void  between  ourselves  and  the  In- 
finite, and  both  unite  in  seeking  a  resting-place  midway  in 
One  combining  in  himself  both  natures.  The  spirituality 
of  God  places  Him  beyond  our  grasp,  and  removes  Him,  in  a 
manner,  from  the  sphere  of  our  sympathy.  We  are  dazzled 
by  his  majesty  and  glory  ;  his  holiness  overawes  us  ;  his 
greatness,  seen  from  afar,  and  incomprehensible  by  us,  seems 
to  repel  rather  than  invite  confidence,  and  to  chill  the  heart 
rather  than  expand  it  into  love.  "  Is  there  no  resting-place 
for  our  affections  and  sympathies,"  we  instinctively  ask, 
"  nearer  than  the  auijust  throne  of  the  Infinite  V  We  need 
to  have  the  divine  attributes  reduced  to  a  scale,  so  to  speak, 
which  corresponds  more  nearly  with  our  intellectual  and 
moral  range,  and  exhibited  in  One  who  to  the  nature  of 
God  adds  that  of  man.  This  feeling  has  received  nume- 
rous and  varied  manifestations  ;  and  the  effort  to  meet  it 
has  formed  a  prominent  feature  in  every  one  of  the  great 


WISH  FOR  A  MAN-GOD.  369 

systems  of  idolatry  which  have  arisen  in  the  earth.  The 
nations  of  antiquity  had  their  race  of  demi-gods  or  deified 
men.  In  the  modern  idolatries  it  has  operated  not  less 
powerfully.  The  Mahommedans  have  their  Prophet,  and 
the  Roman  Catholics  have  their  Virgin.  "  Here,"  says 
Popery,  "  is  a  being  who  may  be  expected  to  be  more  in- 
dulgent to  your  failings  than  Deity  can  be, — who  will  be  more 
easily  moved  to  answer  your  prayers, — and  whom  you  may 
approach  without  any  overwhelming  awe ;"  and  thus  the 
false  is  substituted  for  the  true  Mediator.  It  is  in  the  reli- 
gion of  the  Eible  alone  that  this  instinct  of  our  nature  has 
received  its  full  gratification.  The  wish  breathed  of  old  by 
the  patriarch,  and  expressed  with  singular  emphasis  in  all 
the  idolatries  that  successively  arose  on  the  earth,  is  ade- 
quately met  only  in  the  "  mystery  of  godliness, — God  mani- 
fest in  the  flesh."  But  what  we  are  here  to  speak  of  is  the 
abuse  of  this  principle,  in  the  idolati'ous  worship  of  the  Vir- 
gin. 

Papists  may  make  a  shift  to  prove  that  it  is  a  mitigated 
worship  which  they  offer  to  the  saints, — that  they  allow  them 
no  rank  but  that  of  mediators,  and  no  function  but  that  of  in- 
tercession,— though  even  this  worship,  both  in  its  principles 
and  in  its  forms,  the  Bible  denominates  idolatry.  But  the 
worship  of  the  Virgin  is  capable  of  no  such  defence; — it  is 
direct,  undisguised,  rank  idolatry.  Roman  Catholics  give 
the  same  titles,  perform  the  same  acts,  and  ascribe  the  same 
powers,  to  Mary  as  to  Christ ;  and  in  doing  so  they  make  her 
equal  with  God. 

To  Mary  are  given  names  and  titles  which  can  be  lawful- 
ly given  to  no  one  but  God.  She  is  styled  "  Mother  of  God;" 
"  Queen  of  Seraphim,  of  Saints,  and  of  Prophets  ;"  "  Advo- 
cate of  Sinners;"  "  Refuge  of  Sinners  ;"  "  Gate  of  Heaven ;" 
"  Morning  Star;"  Queen  of  Heaven."  In  Roman  Catholic 
countries  she  is  commonly  addressed  as  the  "  Most  Holy 
Mary."  She  is  often  styled  the  "  Most  Faithful,"  and  the 
"  Most  INIerciful."  In  what  other  terms  could  Christ  him- 
self be  addressed  ?     The  Papist  alleges  that  he  still  regards 

2b 


370  THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE  VIRGIN. 

her  as  but  a  creature  ;  nevertheless  he  addresses  her  in  terms 
which  imply  that  she  possesses  divine  perfections,  power,  and 
glory  The  whole  psalter  of  David  has  been  transformed  by 
Bonaventura  to  the  invocation  of  Mary,  by  erasing  the  name 
of  Jehovah,  and  substituting  that  of  the  Virgin.  We  give 
an  example  of  the  work  : — "  In  thee,  0  Lady,  have  I  put  my 
trust :  let  me  never  be  ashamed  :  in  thy  grace  uphold  me."" 
"  Unto  thee  have  I  cried,  0  Mary,  when  my  heart  was  in 
heaviness ;  and  thou  hast  heard  me  from  the  top  of  the  ever- 
lasting hills.""  "  Come  unto  Mary,  all  ye  that  labour  and 
are  heavy  laden,  and  she  shall  refresh  your  souls.*" 

In  the  second  place,  the  same  worship  is  rendered  to 
Mary  as  to  Christ.  Churches  are  built  to  her  honour  ;  her 
shrines  are  crowded  with  devotees,  enriched  with  their  gifts, 
and  adorned  with  their  votive  offerings.  To  her  prayers  are 
offered  as  to  a  divine  being,  and  blessings  are  asked  as  from 
one  who  has  power  to  bestow  them.  Her  votaries  are  taught 
to  pray,  "  Spare  us,  good  Lady,"  and  "  From  all  evil,  good 
Lady,  deliver  us."*  Five  annual  festivals  celebrate  her 
greatness,  and  keep  alive  the  devotion  of  her  worshippers. 
In  Roman  Catholic  countries  the  dawn  is  ushered  in  with 
hymns  to  her  honour  ;  her  praises  are  again  chanted  at 
noon ;  and  the  day  is  closed  with  an  Ave  Maria  sung  to  the 
lady  of  heaven.  Her  name  is  the  first  which  the  infant  is 
taught  to  lisp  ;  and  the  dying  are  dii'ected  to  entrust  their 
departing  spirits  into  the  hands  of  the  Virgin.  In  health 
and  in  sickness,  in  business  and  in  pleasure,  at  home  or 
abroad,  the  Virgin  is  ever  first  in  the  thoughts,  the  affec- 
tions, and  the  devotions  of  the  Roman  Catholic.  The  sol- 
dier fights  under  her  banner,  and  the  bandit  plunders  under 
her  protection. •[•  Her  deliverances  are  commemorated  by 
public  monuments  erected  to  her  by  cities  and  provinces. 


♦  Stillingfleet's  Popery,  l)y  Dr  Cunningliam,  pp.  92,  93. 

t  The  brigands  in  some  parts  of  Italy  and  Spain  wear  a  picture  of  the 
Madonna,  suspended  round  the  neck  by  a  red  ribbon.  If  overtaken  un- 
expectedly by  death,  they  kiss  the  image,  and  die  in  peace. 


MARY  AND  THE  PSALTER.  371 

In  1832,  the  cholera  desolated  the  country  around  Lyons, 
but  did  not  enter  the  city.  A  pillar,  erected  in  the  suburbs, 
commemorates  the  event,  and  ascribes  it  to  the  interposi- 
tion of  the  Virgin.  When  the  pontiffs  would  bless  with 
special  emphasis,  it  is  in  the  name  of  Mary  ;  and  when  they 
threaten  most  terribly,  it  is  her  vengeance  which  they  de- 
nounce against  their  enemies.*  In  short,  the  Roman  Ca- 
tholic is  taught  that  none  are  so  miserable  but  she  can  suc- 
cour them,  none  so  criminal  but  she  will  pardon  them,  and 
none  so  polluted  but  she  can  cleanse  them. 

There  is  scarce  an  act  which  it  is  lawful  to  perform  to- 
wards God  which  the  Roman  Catholic  is  not  taught  to  per- 
form towards  the  Virgin.  One  of  the  most  solemn  acts  of 
worship  a  creature  can  perform  is  to  give  himself  in  cove- 
nant to  God, — to  make  over  himself  to  Jehovah, — for  time 
and  for  eternity.  The  Papist  is  taught  to  make  this  solemn 
surrender  of  himself  to  the  Virgin.  "  Entering  into  a  so- 
lemn covenant  with  holy  Mary,  to  be  for  ever  her  servant, 
client,  and  devotee,  under  some  special  rule,  society,  or  form 
of  life,  and  thereby  dedicating  our  persons,  concerns,  ac- 
tions, and  all  the  moments  and  events  of  our  life,  to  Jesus, 
under  the  protection  of  his  divine  mother  ;  choosing  her  to 
be  our  adoptive  mother,  patroness,  and  advocate ;  and  en- 
trusting her  with  what  we  are,  have,  do,  or  hope,  in  life, 
death,  or  through  eternity ."-f-  Some  of  the  most  sublime 
and  devotional  passages  of  the  Bible  are  applied  to  the  Vir- 
gin Mary.  From  the  work  quoted  above  we  may  give  the 
following  illustrations,  in  which  a  strain  of  mingled  prayer 
and  praise  suitable  to  be  offered  only  to  God,  is  addressed 
to  the  Virgin  :| — 

*  When  the  present  Pope  fled  from  Rome,  he  threatened  the  Romans 
with  the  vengeance  of  the  Virgin.  Finding  her  not  so  ready  to  espouse 
his  quarrel  as  he  expected,  he  solicited  aad  obtained  40,000  soldiers  from 
France. 

t  Contemplations  on  the  Life  and  Glory  of  Holy  Mary,  A.  x>.  1685, 
[quoted  from  Dr  Cunningham's  "  Stillingfleet."] 

J  Quoted  from  Dr  Cunningham's  "  Stillingfleet,"  pp.  96-97, 


372  THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE  VIRGIN. 

*'  "Vers.  Open  my  lips,  O  mother  of  Jesus. 
Resp.  And  my  soul  shall  speak  forth  thy  praise. 
Vers.  Divine  lady,  be  intent  to  my  aid. 
Resp.  Graciously  make  haste  to  help  me. 
Vers.  Glory  be  to  Jesus  and  Mary. 
Resp.  As  it  was,  is,  and  ever  shall  be." 

To  the  Virgin  Mary  is  likewise  applied  the  eighth  Psalm, 
thus : — 

"  Mary,  mother  of  Jesus,  how  wonderful  is  thy  name,  even  unto  the 
ends  of  the  earth  ! 

"  All  magnificence  be  given  to  Mary  ;  and  let  her  be  exalted  above  the 
stars  and  angels. 

"  Reign  on  high  as  queen  of  seraphims  and  saints  ;  and  be  thou  crowned 
with  honour  and  glory,"  &c. 

"  Glory  be  to  Jesus  and  Mary,"  &c. 

It  is  true,  the  theologians  of  the  Church  of  Rome  pro- 
fess to  distinguish  between  the  worship  offered  to  Mary 
and  the  worship  offered  to  Christ.  The  saints  are  to  be 
worshipped  with  dulia,  the  Virgin  with  hyperdulia,  and  God 
with  latria.*  But  this  is  a  distinction  which  has  never  yet 
been  clearly  defined :  in  practice  it  is  utterly  disregarded  ; 
it  seems  to  have  been  invented  solely  to  meet  the  Protes- 
tant charge  of  idolatry  ;  and  the  mass  of  the  common  people 
are  incapable  of  either  understanding  it  or  acting  upon  it. 
We  not  unfrequently  find  them  praying  in  the  very  same 
words  to  God,  to  the  Virgin,  and  to  the  saints.  We  may 
instance  the  well-known  prayer  to  which,  in  1817,  an  indul- 
gence of  three  hundred  days  was  annexed.     It  is  as  follows : — 

"  Jesus,  Joseph,  Mary,  I  give  you  my  heart  and  soul ; 
Jesus,  Joseph,  Mary,  assist  me  in  my  last  agony  ; 
Jesus,  Joseph,  Mary,  I  breathe  my  soul  to  you  in  peace." 

According  to  the  theory  of  lower  and  higher  degrees  of  wor- 
ship, three  kinds  of  worship  ought  to  have  been  here  em- 
ployed,— latria  for  God,  hyperdulia  for  Mary,  and  dulia  for 


Mornings  among  the  Jesuits  at  Rome,  p.  52. 


REDEMPTION  ASCRIBED  TO  MARY.  373 

Joseph ;  but  all  three,  without  the  least  distinction,  or  the 
smallest  alteration  in  the  words  or  in  the  form,  are  wor- 
shipped alike. 

In  the  third  place,  the  same  works  are  ascribed  to  Mary 
as  to  Christ.  She  hears  prayer,  intercedes  w^ith  God  for 
sinners,  guides,  defends,  and  blesses  them  in  life,  succours 
them  when  dying,  and  receives  their  departing  spirits  into 
paradise.  But  passing  over  these  things,  the  great  work  of 
Redemption,  the  peculiar  glory  of  the  Saviour,  and  the  chief 
of  God's  ways,  is  now  by  Roman  Catholics,  plainly  and  with- 
out reserve,  applied  to  Mary.  The  Father  who  devised,  the 
Son  who  purchased,  and  the  Spirit  who  applies,  the  salvation 
of  the  sinner,  must  all  give  place  to  the  Virgin.  It  was  her 
coming  which  prophets  announced  ;*  it  is  her  victory  which 
the  Church  celebrates.  Angels  and  the  redeemed  of  heaven 
ascribe  unto  her  the  glory  and  honour  of  saving  men.  She 
rose  from  the  dead  on  the  third  day  ;  she  ascended  to 
heaven ;  she  has  been  re-united  to  her  Son ;  and  she  now 
shares  with  Him  power,  glory,  and  dominion.  "  The  eternal 
gates  of  heaven  rolled  back ;  the  king's  mother  entered,  and 
was  conducted  to  the  steps  of  his  royal  throne.  Upon  it  sat 
her  Son 'A  throne  was  set  for  the  king's  mo- 
ther, and  she  sat  upon  his  right  hand.'  And  upon  her  brow 
he  placed  the  crown  of  universal  dominion ;  and  the  count- 
less multitude  of  the  heavenly  hosts  saluted  her  as  the  queen 
of  heaven  and  earth."-|-  All  this  Romanists  ascribe  to  a 
poor  fallen  creature,  whose  bones  have  been  mouldering  in 
the  dust  for  eighteen  hundred  years.  We  impute  nothing 
to  the  Church  of  Rome,  in  this  respect,  which  her  living 
theologians  do  not  teach.  Instead  of  being  ashamed  of  their 
Mariolatry,  they  glory  in  it,  and  boast  that  their  Church 
is  becoming  every  day  more  devoted  to  the  service  and  ado- 
ration of  the  Virgin.     The  argument  by  which  the  work  of 


*  Keenan's  Catechism,  pp.  106-107. 

+  The  Glory  of  Mary,  by  J.  A.  Stothert,  Missionary  Apostolic  in  Scot- 
land, pp.  145, 146  ;  London,  1851. 


.*}74  THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE  VIRGIN. 

redemption  is  ascribed  to  Mary  we  find  briefly  stated  by  Fa- 
ther Ventura,  in  a  conversation  with  M.  Roussel  of  Paris, 
then  travelling  in  Italy. 

"  The  Bible  tells  us  but  a  few  words  about  her""  [the  Vir- 
gin Mary],  said  M.  Roussel  to  the  Padre,  "  and  those  few 
words  are  not  of  a  character  to  exalt  her." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Father  Ventura,  "  but  those  few  words 
express  every  thing  !  Admire  this  allusion  :  Christ  on  the 
cross  addressed  his  mother  as  woman  ;  God  in  Eden  de- 
clared that  the  woman  should  crush  the  serpent\s  head  ; 
the  woman  designated  in  Genesis  must  therefore  be  the  wo- 
man pointed  out  by  Jesus  Christ ;  and  it  is  she  who  is  the 
Church,  in  which  the  family  of  man  is  to  be  saved." 

"  But  that  is  a  mere  agreement  of  words,  and  not  of 
things,"  responded  the  Protestant  minister. 

"  That  is  sufficient,"  said  Father  Ventura.* 

Not  less  decisive  is  the  testimony  of  Mr  Seymour,  as  re- 
gards the  sentiments  of  the  leading  priests  at  Rome,  and  the 
predominating  character  of  the  worship  of  Italy.  The  fol- 
lowing instructive  conversation  passed  one  day  between  him 
and  one  of  the  Jesuits,  on  the  subject  of  the  worship  of  the 
Virgin. 

"  My  clerical  friend,"  says  Mr  Seymour,  "  resumed  the 
conversation,  and  said,  that  the  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary 
was  a  growing  worship  in  Rome, — that  it  was  increasing  in 
depth  and  intenseness  of  devotion, — and  that  there  were  now 
many  of  their  divines — and  he  spoke  of  himself  as  agreeing 
with  them  in  sentiment — who  were  teaching,  that  as  a  woman 
brought  in  death,  so  a  woman  was  to  bring  in  life, — that  as 
a  woman  brought  in  sin,  so  a  woman  was  to  bring  in  holiness, 
— that  as  Eve  brought  in  damnation,  so  Mary  was  to  bring 
in  salvation,— and  that  the  effect  of  this  opinion  was  largely 
to  increase  the  reverence  and  worship  given  to  the  Virgin 
Mary." 

"  To  prevent  any  mistake  as  to  his  views,"  says  Mr  Sey- 

•  New  York  Evangelist,  Jan.  3,  1850. 


MARY  THE  SAVIOUR.  375 

mour,  "  I  asked  whether  I  was  to  understand  him  as  imply- 
ing, that  as  we  regard  Eve  as  the  first  sinner,  so  we  are  to 
regard  Mary  as  the  first  Saviour, — the  one  as  the  author  of 
sin,  and  the  other  as  the  author  of  the  remedy." 

"  He  replied  that  such  was  precisely  the  view  he  wished 
to  express  ;  and  he  added,  that  it  was  taught  by  St  Alphon- 
so  de  Liguori,  and  was  a  growing  opinion."* 

But  we  can  adduce  still  higher  authority  in  proof  of  the 
charge  that  Rome  now  knows  no  other  God  than  Mary,  and 
worships  no  other  Saviour  than  the  Virgin.  In  the  Ency- 
clical Letter  of  Pius  IX.,  issued  on  the  2d  of  February 
1849,  soliciting  the  suffi-ages  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
preparatory  to  the  decree  of  the  pontiff  on  the  doctrine  of 
the  immaculate  conception,  terms  are  applied  to  the  Virgin 
Mary  which  plainly  imply  that  she  is  possessed  of  divine  ful- 
ness and  perfection,  and  that  she  discharges  the  office  of 
Redeemer  to  the  Church.  "  The  most  illustrious  prelates, 
the  most  venerable  canonical  chapters,  and  the  religious 
congregations,"  says  the  Pope,  "  rival  each  other  in  solicit- 
ing that  permission  should  be  granted  to  add  and  pronounce 
aloud  and  publicly,  in  the  sacred  Liturgy,  and  in  the  pre- 
face of  the  mass  to  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary,  the  word  '  im- 
maculate ;'  and  to  define  it  as  a  doctrine  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  that  the  conception  of  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary 
was  entirely  immaculate,  and  absolutely  exempt  from  all 
stain  of  original  sin."  The  document  then  rises  into  a  strain 
of  commingled  blasphemy  and  idolatry,  in  which  the  perfec- 
tions of  God  and  the  work  of  Christ  are  ascribed  to  the 
Virgin,  who  "  is  raised,  by  the  greatness  of  her  merits,  above  all 
the  choirs  of  angels,  up  to  the  throne  of  God ;  xoho  has  crushed 
under  the  foot  of  her  virtues  the  head  of  the  old  serpent. -f  The 
foundation  of  our  confidence  is  in  the  Most  Holy  Virgin,  since 

*  Mornings  among  the  Jesuits  at  Rome,  pp.  43-45. 

+  The  doctrine  of  the  pontifical  bull  we  find  re-echoed  in  the  sermons 
and  tracts  of  inferior  priests.  "  It  was  sin  that  cost  Mary  all  her  sorrow  ; 
not  her  own,  but  ours.  For  our  disobedience  she  painfully  obeyed."  (The 
Glory  of  Mary,  by  James  Augustine  Stothert,  p.  130.) 


276  THE  WORSHIP  OF  THE  VIRGIN. 

it  IS  in  Tier  that  God  has  placed  the  plenitude  of  all  good,  in 
such  sort,  that  if  there  he  in  us  any  hope, — if  there  he  any  spiri- 
tual health, — zee  l-now  that  it  is  from  her  that  we  receive  it, — 
because  it  is  the  will  of  Him  who  hath  willed  that  we  should 
have  all  by  the  instrumentality  of  Mary."  We  need  no 
other  evidence  of  Rome's  idolatry.  The  document,  it  is  true, 
is  not  a  formal  deed  of  the  Church ;  but  the  difference  is 
one  of  form  only  ;  for  the  pontiff  assures  us  that  the  senti- 
ments it  contains  are  not  his  own  only,  but  those  of  "  the 
most  illustrious  prelates,  venerable  canonical  chapters,  and 
religious  congregations  ;"  and  of  course  the  sentiments  are 
shared  in  by  a  vast  majority  of  the  members  of  the  Church. 
The  document  fully  installs  Mary  in  the  office  of  Saviour, 
and  exalts  her  to  the  throne  of  God  ;  for,  in  the  first  place^ 
it  expressly  applies  to  her  the  prophecy  in  Eden,  and  as- 
cribes to  her  the  work  then  foretold, — crushing  the  head  of 
the  serpent ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  it  applies  to  Mary  the 
ascription  of  Paul  to  Christ, — "  In  him  dwells  all  the  fulness 
of  the  Godhead  bodily,"  and  in  doing  so,  exalts  her  to  the 
throne  of  mediatorial  power  and  blessing.  The  pontifical  de- 
cree on  the  subject  of  the  immaculate  conception  may  after 
this  be  spared.  Already  Rome  has  consummated  her  ido- 
latry, and  its  evidence  is  complete.  That  Church  has  in- 
stalled Mary  in  the  office  of  Redeemer,  and  exalted  her  to 
the  throne  of  Deitv. 

To  raise  Mary  to  an  equality  with  God,  is  virtually  to 
place  her  above  Him ;  for  God  can  have  no  rival.  But  Ro- 
man Catholic  writers  teach,  in  express  terms,  that  she  is 
superior.  In  invoking  her,  they  hold  it  warrantable  to  ask 
her  to  lay  her  commands  upon  her  Son,  which  implies  her 
superiority  in  power  to  Him  to  whom,  the  Bible  teaches,  "  all 
power  in  heaven  and  in  earth  has  been  committed."  And, 
second,  they  teach  that  she  is  superior  in  mercy,  and  that  she 
hears  prayer,  and  pities  and  delivers  the  sinner,  when  Christ 
will  not.*     This  doctrine  has  not  only  been  taught  in  words, 

*  See  Seymour's  Mornings  among  the  Jesuits,  pp.  46-56. 


THE  TWO  LADDERS.  377 

but  has  been  exhibited  in  symbol,  and  that  in  so  grotesque 
a  way,  that  for  the  moment  wo  forgot  its  blasphemy.  In 
the  dream  of  St  Bernard, — which  forms  the  subject  of  an  al- 
tar-piece in  a  church  at  Milan, — two  ladders  were  seen  reach- 
ing from  earth  to  heaven.  At  the  top  of  one  of  the  ladders 
stood  Christ,  and  at  the  top  of  the  other  stood  Mary.  Of 
those  who  attempted  to  enter  heaven  by  the  ladder  of  Christ, 
not  one  succeeded, — all  fell  back.  Of  those  who  ascended 
by  the  ladder  of  Mary,  not  one  failed.  The  Virgin,  prompt 
to  succour,  stretched  out  her  hand;  and,  thus  aided,  the  as- 
pirants ascended  with  ease.* 


Mornings  among  the  Jesuits,  p.  56. 


o 


78  FAITH  NOT  TO  BE  KEPT  WITH  HERETICS. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


FAITH  NOT  TO  BE  KEPT  WITH  HEKETICS. 


There  remains  yet  another  matter, — a  matter  not  strictly 
theological,  it  is  true,  yet  one  that  enters  deeply  into  the 
morality  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  which  is  of  vital  mo- 
ment as  regards  society.  The  question  we  are  now  to  dis- 
cuss discloses  to  our  sight  a  very  gulph  of  wickedness.  It 
is  as  the  opening  of  pandemonium  itself.  One  wonders  that 
the  earth  has  borne  so  long  a  society  so  atrociously  wicked, 
or  that  the  lightnings  of  heaven  have  so  long  forborne  to 
consume  it.  This  doctrine  of  enormous  turpitude  is  the 
dispensing  power.  The  Church  of  Rome  has  adopted  as  a 
leading  principle  of  her  policy,  thai  faith  is  not  to  be  kept  with 
heretics  when  its  violation  is  necessary  for  the  interests  of  the 
Church.  This  abominable  doctrine  papists  have  disclaimed. 
This  does  not  surprise  us.  A  priori,  it  was  to  be  expected 
that  any  society  that  was  wicked  enough  to  adopt  such  a 
principle  would  bo  base  enough  to  deny  it.  Besides,  to  con- 
fess to  this  policy  would  be  the  sure  way  of  defeating  its 
end.  Who  would  contract  alliances  with  Rome,  if  told  be- 
forehand that  she  would  keep  to  them  not  a  moment  longer 
than  it  suited  her  own  purposes  ?  Who  would  entrust  him- 
self to  her  promise,  if  he  saw  it  to  be  the  net  in  which  he  was 
to  be  caught  and  destroyed  ?     Were  living  Papists  prepared 


ENORMITY  OF  DOCTRINE.  379 

publicly  to  avow  this  doctrine,  they  would  be  prepared  also 
to  abandon  it,  for  it  would  manifestly  be  useless  a  moment 
longer  to  retain  it.  Besides,  they  are  not  prepared  to  brave 
the  odium  which  the  avowal  of  a  maxim  so  abhorrent  and 
detestable  would  be  sure  to  provoke.  This  is  the  very  mark 
of  hell.  Rome  may  wear  this  mark  in  her  right  hand, 
where  its  partial  concealment  is  possible;  but  were  that  mark 
to  be  imprinted  on  her  forehead,  she  dare  not  hold  up  her 
face  before  the  world,  knowing  that  the  damning  evidence 
of  her  guilt  was  visible  to  every  eye.  The  living  writers 
and  priests  of  the  Church  of  Rome  are  plainly  inadmissible 
as  witnesses  here.  We  appeal  the  matter  to  her  canons 
and  her  history, — a  tribunal  to  which  she  can  take  no  ex- 
ception. At  this  bar  do  we  sist  her ;  and  here  she  stands 
condemned  as  the  Cain  of  the  human  family, — the  world's 
OUTLAW. 

The  proof, — and  nothing  is  more  capable  of  easy  and 
complete  demonstration, — is  briefly  as  follows: — The  doc- 
trine that  no  faith  is  to  be  kept  with  heretics,  when  to  do 
so  would  militate  against  the  interests  of  the  Church,  was 
promulgated  by  the  third  Lateran  Council,  decreed  by  the 
Council  of  Constance,  confirmed  by  the  Council  of  Trent, 
and  is  sworn  to  by  all  priests  at  their  ordination,  when  they 
declare  on  oath  their  belief  of  all  the  tenets  taudit  in  the 
sacred  canons  and  the  general  councils ;  and  it  has  been 
practised  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  both  in  particular  cases  of 
great  flagrancy,  and  in  the  general  course  of  her  actings. 
The  proof  is  as  clear  as  the  charge  is  grave  and  the  crime 
e.iormous. 

The  third  Lateran  Council,  which  was  held  at  Rome  in 
1167  under  the  pontificate  of  Alexander  III.,  and  which  all 
Papists  admit  to  be  infallible,  decreed  in  its  sixteenth  canon, 
that  "  oaths  made  against  the  interest  and  benefit  of  the 
Church  are  not  so  much  to  be  considered  as  oaths,  but  as 
perjuries."  *      The    fourth    or   great   Lateran   Council   ab- 

*  "  Non  quasi  juramenta,  sed  quasi  perjuria." 


S80  FAITH  NOT  TO  BE  KEPT  WITH  HERETICS. 

solved  from  their  oath  of  allegiance  the  subjects  of  heretical 
princes. 

The  Council  of  Constance,  which  was  holden  in  1414;  ex- 
pressly decreed  that  no  faith  was  to  be  kept  with  heretics. 
The  words  of  this  decree,  as  preserved  by  M.  KEnfant,  in 
his  learned  history  of  that  famous  council,  are,  that  "  by  no 
law,  natural  or  divine,  is  it  obligatory  to  keep  faith  with 
heretics,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  Catholic  faith."*  This  fear- 
ful doctrine  the  council  ratified  in  a  manner  not  less  fearful, 
in  the  blood  of  John  Huss.  It  is  well  known  that  this  re- 
former came  to  the  council  trusting  in  a  safe-conduct,  which 
had  been  given  him  under  the  hand  of  the  Emperor  Sigis- 
mund.  The  document  in  the  amplest  terms  guaranteed 
the  safety  of  Huss,  in  his  journey  to  Constance,  in  his  stay 
there,  and  in  his  return  home.  Notwithstanding,  he  was 
seized,  imprisoned,  condemned,  and  burnt  alive,  at  the  insti- 
gation of  the  council,  by  the  very  man  who  had  so  solemnly 
guaranteed  his  safety. 

When  the  Council  of  Trent  assembled  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  it  was  exceedingly  desirous  of  obtaining  the  pre- 
sence of  the  Protestants  at  its  deliberations.  Accordingly, 
it  issued  numerous  equivocal  safe-conducts,  all  of  which  the 
Protestants,  mindful  of  the  fate  of  Huss,  rejected.  At  last 
the  council  decreed,  that  for  this  time,  and  in  this  instance, 
the  safe-conduct  should  not  be  violated,  and  that  no  "  autho- 
rity, power,  statute,  or  decree,  and  especially  that  of  the 
Council  of  Constance  and  Siena,"  should  be  employed  against 
them.  In  this  enactment  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  canons, 
decrees,  and  laws,  to  the  prejudice  of  safe-conducts  to  here- 
tics, are  expressly  recognised  as  already  existing.  These 
decrees  are  not  revoked  or  abjured  by  the  council ;  they  are 
only  suspended  for  the  time, — "  pro  hac  vice."  This  is  a  plain 
declaration,  that  on  all  other  occasions  Rome  means  to  act 
upon  them,  and  will,  whenever  she  has  the  power.     There 

*  "  Noc  aliqua  sibi  fides,  aut  promissio  de  jure  naturali,  divino,  et  humano, 
fuerit  in  prcjudicium  Catholicse  fidei  observanda." 


TAUGHT  BY  COUNCILS  AND  DOCTORS.  381 

has  been  no  general  council  since ;  and  as  no  decree  of  the 
Pope  has  repudiated  the  doctrine  of  these  decrees  and  ca- 
nons, they  must  be  regarded  as  still  in  force. 

The  instances  are  innumerable  in  which  popes  and  Ro- 
man Catholic  writers  have  asserted  and  recommended  this 
odious  doctrine.  It  was  promulgated  by  Hildebrand  in  the 
eleventh  century.  The  cruel  persecutions  of  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries  were  based  on  this  doctrine.  Pope 
Martin  V.,  in  his  letter  to  the  Duke  of  Lithuania,  says, 
Be  assured  that  thou  sinnest  mortally  if  thou  Tceep  faith  with 
heretics.  "  Gregory  IX.  made  the  following  law  : — '  Be 
it  known  unto  all  who  are  under  the  jurisdiction  of  those 
who  have  openly  fallen  into  heresy,  that  they  are  free 
from  the  obligation  of  fidelity,  dominion,  and  every  kind 
of  obedience  to  them,  by  whatever  means  or  bond  they 
are  tied  to  them,  and  how  securely  soever  they  may  be 
bound.'  On  which  Bishop  Simanca  gives  this  comment : — 
'  Governors  of  forts  and  all  kinds  of  vassals  are  by  this  con- 
stitution freed  from  the  bond  of  the  oath  whereby  they  had 
promised  fidelity  to  their  lords  and  masters.  Moreover,  a 
Catholic  wife  is  not  obliged  to  perform  the  marriage  contract 
with  an  heretical  husband.  If  faith  is  not  to  be  kept  with 
tyrants,  pirates,  and  other  public  robbers  who  kill  the  body, 
much  less  with  obstinate  heretics  who  kill  the  soul.  Ay, 
but  it  is  a  sad  thing  to  break  faith.  But,  as  saith  Merius 
Salomonius,  faith  promised  against  Christ,  if  kept,  is  verily 
perfidy.  Justly,  therefore,  were  some  heretics  burnt  by  the 
most  solemn  judgment  of  the  Council  of  Constance,  although 
they  had  been  promised  security.  And  St  Thomas  also  is 
of  opinion,  that  a  Catholic  might  deliver  over  an  untractable 
heretic  to  the  judges,  notwithstanding  he  had  pledged  his 
faith  to  him,  and  even  confirmed  it  by  the  solemnity  of  an 
oath.''  '  Contracts,'  saith  Bonacina,  '  made  against  the 
canon  law  are  invalid,  though  confirmed  by  oath ;  and  a 
man  is  not  bound  to  stand  to  his  promise,  though  he  had 
sworn  to  it.'  '  Pope  Innocent  VIII.,  in  his  bull  against  the 
Waldenses  in  1487,  by  his  authority  apostolical  declares, 


582  FAITH  NOT  TO  BE  KEPT  WITH  HERETICS. 

that  all  those  who  had  been  bound  and  obliged  by  contract, 
or  any  other  way  whatever,  to  grant  or  pay  anything  to 
them,  should  not  be  under  any  manner  of  obligation  to  do 
so  for  the  time  to  come.*'  "* 

When  Henry  of  Valois  was  elected  to  the  throne  of  Po- 
land in  1573,  Cardinal  Hosius  laboured  ineffectually  to  pre- 
vent the  newly-elected  monarch  confirming  by  his  oath  the 
religious  liberties  of  Poland.  He  next  openly  recommended 
to  him  to  commit  perjury,  maintaining  "  that  an  oath  given 
to  heretics  may  be  broken,  even  without  absolution."  In  the 
letter  which  he  despatched  to  the  King,  ho  desired  him  to 
"reflect  that  the  oath  was  not  a  bond  of  iniquity,  and  that 
there  was  no  necessity  for  him  to  be  absolved  from  his  oath, 
because,  according  to  every  law,  all  that  he  had  inconsider- 
ately done  was  neither  binding  nor  had  any  value."-f-  But 
Solikowski,  a  learned  Roman  Catholic  prelate,  gave  Henry 
more  dangerous  advice  still.  He  counselled  him  to  submit 
to  the  necessity,  and  promise  and  swear  everything  demand- 
ed of  him,  in  the  hope  that,  as  soon  as  he  ascended  the 
throne,  he  would  find  himself  in  a  condition  to  crush  without 
violence  the  heresy  he  had  sworn  to  maintain.j  Thus  have 
the  councils,  the  popes,  and  the  casuists  of  the  Roman  Ca- 
tholic Church  enacted,  defended,  and  promulgated  this  hor- 
rible doctrine.  It  is  as  undeniable  as  the  sun  at  noon-day, 
that  that  Church  holds  it  as  a  tenet  of  her  faith,  that  it  is 
unlawful  to  Jceep  faith  icith  heretics,  when  the  good  of  the 
Church  requires  that  it  should  be  violated. 

The  practice  of  the  Church  of  Rome  has  been  in  strict 
accordance  with  her  doctrine.  Faith  she  has  not  kept  with 
heretics,  whenever  it  could  serve  her  purpose  to  break  it. 
Compacts  framed  with  the  highest  solemnities,  and  sanc- 
tioned by  the  holiest  oaths,  she  has  violated,  without  the 
least  scruple  or  compunction,  when  the  interests  of  Protes- 

*  Free  Thoughts  on  the  Toleration  of  Popery,  p.  119. 
t  Lectures  on  Slavonia,  by  Count  Valerian  Krasinski,  p.  277 ;  Edin. 
1849. 

X  Ibid.  p.  278. 


PRACTICE  OF  ROMAN  CHURCH.  S83 

taiitlsm  were  concerned.  What,  we  ask,  is  her  history,  but 
one  long  unvaried  tale  of  lies,  frauds,  perfidies,  broken  vows, 
and  violated  oaths  ?  Every  party  that  has  trusted  her  she 
has  in  turn  betrayed.  It  mattered  not  how  awful  the  sanc- 
tions with  which  she  was  bound,  or  how  numerous  and  sa- 
cred the  pledges  and  guarantees  of  sincerity  which  she  had 
given  :  these  bonds  were  to  Rome  but  as  the  green  withes  on 
the  arm  of  Samson.  Her  wickedness  is  without  parallel  in 
the  annals  of  human  treachery.  Perfidies  which  the  most 
abandoned  of  pagan  governments  would  have  shuddered  to 
commit,  Rome  has  deliberately  perpetrated  and  unblush- 
ingly  justified.  In  the  case  of  others,  these  enormities  have 
been  the  exceptions,  and  have  formed  a  departure  from  the 
generally  recognised  principles  of  their  action ;  but  in  the 
case  of  Rome  they  have  formed  the  rule,  and  have  sprung 
from  principles  deliberately  adopted  as  the  guiding  maxims 
of  her  policy.  We  question  whether  an  instance  can  be 
adduced  of  so  much  as  one  engagement  that  has  been  kept 
in  matters  involving  the  conflicting  interests  of  Protestant- 
ism and  Popery,  when  it  could  be  advantageously  broken. 
We  do  not  know  of  any  such.  But  time  would  fail,  and 
space  is  wanting,  to  narrate  even  a  tithe  of  the  instances  in 
which  the  most  solemn  engagements  were  most  perfidiously 
violated,  nay,  made  to  be  violated, — framed  to  entrap  the 
confiding  victims.  The  cases  are  innumerable,  we  say,  in 
which  Roman  Catholics  have  made  promises  and  oaths  to 
individuals,  to  cities,  to  provinces,  with  the  most  public  and 
solemn  forms  ;  and  the  moment  they  obtained  the  advantage 
these  oaths  were  intended  to  secure,  they  delivered  over  to 
slaughter  and  devastation  those  very  men  to  whom  they  had 
sworn  in  the  great  name  of  GoD.  Ah !  could  the  soil  of 
France  disclose  her  slaughtered  millions, — could  the  snows 
of  the  Alps  and  the  vales  of  Piedmont  give  up  the  dead 
which  they  cover, — these  confessors  could  tell  how  Rome 
kept  her  oaths  and  covenants.  Their  voice  has  been  silent 
for  ages ;  but  history  pleads  their  cause  :  it  has  preserved 
the   vows  solemnly  made,  but  perfidiously  violated ;  and. 


S84<  FAITH  NOT  TO  BE  KEPT  WITH  HERETICS. 

pointing  to  the  blood  of  the  martyr,  it  cries  aloud  to  heaven 
for  vengeance  on  the  pei-fidy  that  shed  it.  In  the  Albigen- 
sian  war,  Louis  of  Franco  having  besieged  the  town  of 
Avignon  for  a  long  time,  and  lost  twenty-three  thousand 
men  before  it,  was  on  the  point  of  raising  the  siege,  when, 
the  following  stratagem  was  successfully  resorted  to.  The 
Roman  legate  swore  before  the  city  gates,  that  if  admission 
were  granted,  he  would  enter  alone  with  the  prelates,  simply 
for  the  purpose  of  examining  the  faith  of  the  citizens.  The 
gates  were  opened,  the  legate  entered,  the  army  rushed  in 
at  his  back,  hundreds  of  the  houses  were  razed,  multitudes 
of  the  inhabitants  were  slaughtered,  and  of  the  rest,  a  great 
part  were  carried  away  as  hostages. 

In  the  long  and  bloody  war  against  the  Waldenses  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  Rome  never  scrupled  to  employ  treachery 
when  the  sword  was  unsuccessful ;  and  it  may  be  affirmed 
that  that  noble  people  were  crushed  rather  by  perfidy  than 
by  arms.  They  had  much  more  to  dread  from  the  oaths 
than  from  the  soldiers  of  Rome.  Again  and  again  did  the 
house  of  Savoy  pledge  its  faith  to  these  confessors;  but 
every  new  treaty  was  followed  by  new  dishonour  to  the  one 
party  and  new  calamities  to  the  other.  The  power  of 
France  itself  would  never  have  subdued  these  hardy  moun- 
taineers, but  for  the  arts  with  which  the  arms  of  their  power- 
ful foe  were  seconded.  Pacifications  were  framed  with  them, 
purposely  to  throw  them  off  their  guard,  and  pave  the  way 
for  another  crusade  and  another  massacre.  In  this  way  did 
they  perish  from  those  vales  which  their  piety  had  sanctified, 
and  from  those  mountains  which  their  struggles  had  made 
holy.  They  fell  unlamented  and  unavenged.  The  throne 
of  the  crafty  Bourbon  still  stood,  and  the  sway  of  the  triple 
tyrant  was  still  prolonged ;  but  in  the  silent  vales  where 
these  martyrs  had  lived  no  trace  of  them  now  remained, 
save  the  ashes  that  blackened  the  site  of  their  dwelling,  and 
the  bones  that  whitened  the  rocks  by  which  it  was  overhung. 
Their  names  were  unhonourcd,  and  their  deeds  were  un- 
praised,  by  a  world  which  knew  not  how  to  estimate  the 


STRUGGLES  IN  POLAND.  385 

greatness  of  their  virtues  or  the  grandeur  of  their  cause. 
But  not  in  vain  did  they  offer  themselves  upon  the  altar  of 
their  faith.  In  the  stillness  that  reigned  throughout  Eu- 
rope, a  solitary  voice  from  a  distant  isle  was  heard  saying, 
"  Avenge,  0  Lord,  thy  slaughtered  saints  !" — the  first  ut- 
terance of  a  prayer  in  which  a  world  shall  yet  join,  and  the 
first  prophetic  anticipation  of  a  vengeance  which,  after  the 
lapse  of  three  centuries,  God  is  now  beginning  to  inflict  up- 
on the  blood-stained  dynasties  and  thrones  which  slew  his 
saints. 

It  was  the  same  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe.  Wher- 
ever Protestants  existed  they  were  assailed  by  arms  and  by 
treachery,  and  the  latter  weapon  was  a  hundred  times  more 
fatal  than  the  former.  The  butcheries  of  Alva  in  the  Low 
Countries  were  preceded  by  promises  and  treaties  of  peace 
and  conciliation  oft  and  solemnly  ratified.  Philip  II.  pledg- 
ed the  honour  of  Spain  to  his  subjects  in  Flanders ;  and  the 
dungeons,  the  scaffolds,  and  the  sanguinary  troops  by  which 
that  country  was  immediately  thereafter  inundated  show  how 
he  redeemed  the  faith  he  had  plighted.  In  the  great  struggle 
in  Poland,  in  which  for  a  while  it  seemed  an  even  chance 
which  of  the  two  faiths  should  acquire  the  ascendancy,  the 
Popish  party  kept  their  oaths  only  so  long  as  they  lacked 
opportunity  of  breaking  them.  When  the  struggle  was  at 
its  height,  Lippomani,  the  papal  legate,  arrived  in  Poland, 
and  unscrupulously  advised  the  sovereign,  Sigismund  Augus- 
tus, who  pled  that  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  forbade  violence, 
to  employ  treachery  and  bloodshed  to  extirpate  heresy.* 
To  this  policy  is  to  be  ascribed  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the 
Jesuitical  party  in  Poland.  "  As  the  laws  of  the  country," 
says  Krasinski,  "  did  not  allow  any  inhabitant  of  Poland  to 
be  persecuted  on  account  of  his  religious  opinions,  they  [the 
Jesuits]  left  no  means  untried  in  order  to  evade  those  salu- 
tary laws  ;  and  the  odious  maxim  that  no  faith  should  he  Icept 

*  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Decline  of  the  Reforma- 
tion in  Poland,  by  Count  Valerian  Krasinski,  vol.  i.  p.  293  ;  Lond.  1836. 

2  c 


586  FAITH  NOT  TO  BE  KEPT  WITPI  HERETICS. 

with  heretics  was  constantly  advocated  by  them,  as  well  as 
by  other  advocates  of  Homanism  in  our  country."*  In  most 
of  the  southern  German  States  the  Protestant  cause  was 
overthrown  by  the  same  arts.  In  truth,  this  maxim  of 
Rome,  that  faith  is  not  to  be  kept  when  to  keep  it  would 
tend  to  the  advantage  of  Protestantism  or  the  detriment  of 
Popery,  kept  Germany  in  the  flames  of  war,  with  short  in- 
tervals, for  upwards  of  a  century.  The  advantages  which 
the  Protestants  had  secured  by  their  arms,  and  which  they 
had  compelled  their  enemies  to  ratify  by  solemn  treaty, 
were  perfidiously  denied  and  infringed  ;  they  were  thus 
forced  again  and  again  to  take  up  arms ;  and  the  successive 
wars  in  which  Europe  was  involved,  and  which  occasioned 
so  great  an  expenditure  of  blood  and  treasure,  grew  out  of 
Ilome''s  maxim,  which  in  almost  all  these  particular  cases 
was  directly  applied  and  enforced  by  pontifical  authority, 
that  such  oaths  and  treaties  "  were  from  the  very  beginning, 
and  for  ever  shall  be,  null  and  void ;  and  that  no  one  is 
bound  to  observe  them,  or  any  of  them,  even  though  they 
have  been  often  ratified  and  confirmed  by  oath.^-f- 

But  the  guiltiest  land  and  throne  in  Europe,  in  respect  of 
violated  oaths,  is  France.  In  point  of  perfidy,  the  house  of 
Bourbon  has  far  exceeded  the  ordinary  measure,  we  do  not 
say  of  pagan  governments,  but  of  Boman  Catholic  govern- 
ments. The  kings  of  France  were  the  eldest  sons  of  the  ' 
Church,  and  bore  most  of  the  paternal  likeness.  Every  one 
of  their  acts  proclaimed  them  to  be  of  their  father  the  Pope, 
who  was  a  liar  from  the  beginning.  Did  the  poor  Hugue- 
nots ever  trust  them  but  to  be  betrayed  by  them  ?  Of  the 
numerous  engagements  into  which  they  entered  with  their 
Protestant  subjects,  was  there  one  which  they  ever  honest- 
ly fulfilled  ?     What  were  these  treaties,  with  their  ample 

*  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Decline  of  the  Refor- 
mation in  Poland,  Ly  Count  Valerian  Krasinski,  preface,  p.  viii. 

t  Letter  of  Clement  XI.  respecting  tlie  treaty  of  Alt  Ilaustadt  in  1707. 
The  treaty  was  made  by  the  Emperor  with  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden,  and 
contained  some  clauses  favourable  to  Protestants. 


STRUGGLES  IN  FRANCE.  S87 

appendages  of  oaths  and  ratifications,  but  crafty  devices  for 
ensnaring,  disarming,  and  then  massacring  the  Protestants  ? 
The  first  edict,  guaranteeing  them  the  exercise  of  their  reli- 
gion, was  granted  in  1561.  It  was  soon  violated,  and  a 
worse  persecution  befell  them.  They  were  forced  to  take 
up  arms,  for  the  first  time,  to  save  their  lives  and  vindicate 
their  rights.  They  triumphed  ;  and  their  success  obtained 
for  them  a  new  pacification.  This  was  violated  in  like  man- 
ner. "  They  [the  Court]  restrained,"  says  INIezeray,  "  every 
day  their  liberty,  which  had  been  granted  them  by  the 
edicts,  until  it  was  reduced  almost  to  nothing.  The  people 
fell  upon  them  in  the  places  where  tliey  were  weakest.  In 
those  where  they  could  defend  themselves  the  governors  made 
use  of  the  authority  of  the  king  to  oppress  them.  Their  cities 
and  forts  were  dismantled ;  there  was  no  justice  for  them ; 
in  the  parliaments  or  king's  council  they  were  massacred 
with  impunity ;  they  were  not  re-installed  in  their  goods 
and  charges.  In  fine,  they  had  conspired  their  ruin  with 
the  Pope,  the  house  of  Austria,  and  the  Duke  of  Alva."* 
Six  times  was  the  public  faith  of  France  plighted  to  the 
Protestants,  in  solemn  treaty,  ratified  and  sanctioned  by 
solemn  oath  ;  six  times  was  the  plighted  faith  of  France 
openly  dishonoured  and  violated  ;  and  six  times  did  civil 
war,  the  direct  fruit  of  these  broken  vows,  waste  the  trea- 
sure and  the  blood  of  that  nation. 

The  act  of  unparalleled  crime  which  brought  to  an  end  the 
fourth  pacification,  that  of  1570,  merits  our  particular  no- 
tice. Two  years  of  profound  dissimulation  and  hypocrisy 
paved  the  way  for  that  awful  tragedy, — the  greatest  of  the 
crimes  of  Rome, — perhaps  the  most  fearful  monument  of 
human  wickedness  which  the  history  of  the  world  contains, 
— the  Massacre  of  St  Bartholomeav.  The  chiefs  of  the 
Protestant  party  were  invited  to  Court,  caressed,  and  load- 
ed with  honours.  The  Protestants  generally  seemed  to  be 
taken  into  special  favour,  and  now  shared  the  same  privi- 

*  Quoted  from  "Free  Thoughts  on  the  Toleration  of  Popery," p.  175. 


S88  FAITH  NOT  TO  BE  KEPT  WITH  HERETICS. 

leges  with  tlie  Catholics.  So  bright  was  the  deceitful  gleam 
that  heralded  the  dismal  storm  !  Not  only  were  the  fears 
of  the  Protestants  laid  at  rest,  but  those  of  E,ome  were 
awakened,  thinking  that  either  the  King  of  France  meant 
not  to  keep  his  engagement  in  the  matter,  or  that  he  was 
overacting  his  part.  But  the  cruel  issue  did  more  than 
make  amends.  In  a  moment  the  bolt  fell.  For  three  days 
and  nights  the  work  of  human  slaughter  went  on,  and  France 
became  a  very  shambles.  At  length  the  dreadful  business 
had  an  end.  Seventy  thousand  corpses  covered  the  soil  of 
France.  Paris  shouted  for  joy,  and  the  cannon  of  St  An- 
gelo,  from  beyond  the  Alps,  returned  that  shout.  The  Pope 
had  some  reason  to  rejoice.  The  blow  struck  at  Paris  de- 
cided the  fortunes  of  Protestantism  in  Europe  for  two  cen- 
turies. The  Protestant  faith  was  on  the  point  of  gaining 
the  ascendancy  both  in  Poland  and  France.  The  sagacious 
and  patriotic  Coligny  meditated  the  project  of  a  grand  alli- 
ance between  these  two  countries,  and  of  giving  thereby  a 
powerful  centre  and  a  uniform  action  to  the  Protestant 
cause,  and  humbling  the  two  main  props  of  the  Papacy, 
Spain  and  Austria.*  As  matters  then  stood,  the  project 
would  have  been  completely  successful.  The  other  Protes- 
tant states  of  Europe  would  have  joined  the  alliance  ;  but, 
in  truth,  France  and  Poland  combined  could  have  easily 
made  head  against  the  Popish  powers,  and  could  have 
shaken  the  dominion  of  Rome.  But  the  massacre  of  St 
Bartholomew  was  fatal  to  this  great  scheme.  The  vene- 
rable Coligny,  as  is  well  known,  was  its  first  victim ;  and 
his  project,  big  with  the  fortunes  of  Protestantism,  perished 
witli  him.  The  Protestants  were  panic-struck  in  France, 
and  disheartened  in  other  countries.  The  victory  which  had 
long  trembled  in  the  balance  between  the  Reformation  and 
Rome  now  inclined  decidedly  to  the  latter ;  and  from  that  day 
the  Protestant  influence  declined  in  Europe.     The  two  cen- 


*  Krasinski's  Rise,  Progress,  and  Decline  of  the  Reformation  in  Poland, 
vol.  ii,  p.  6. 


REVOCATION  OF  NANTES'  EDICT.  S89 

turies  of  dominion  which  have  been  added  to  Rome  she  owes 
to  her  grand  maxim,  that  no  dissimulation  is  too  profound, 
and  no  perfidy  too  gross,  to  be  employed  against  Protestants. 

The  last  great  national  act  of  treachery  on  the  part  of 
France  was  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  "  Never 
was  an  edict,  law,  or  treaty,  more  deliberately  made,  more  so- 
lemnly ratified,  more  irrewcably  established,  more  repeatedly 
confirmed  ;  nor  one  whereof  policy,  duty,  or  gratitude,  could 
have  more  ensured  the  execution  ;  yet  never  was  one  more 
scandalously  or  absolutely  violated.  It  was  the  result  of  three 
years'  negotiation  between  the  commissioners  of  the  king  and 
the  deputies  of  the  Protestants, — was  the  termination  of  forty 
years'  wars  and  troubles, — was  merited  by  the  highest  services, 
sealed  by  the  highest  authority,  registered  in  all  the  parlia- 
ments and  courts  of  Henry  the  Great, — was  declared  in  the 
preamble  to  be  perpetual  and  irrevocable.'"*  It  was  confirm- 
ed by  the  Queen-mother  in  1610,  and  repeatedly  ratified  by 
succeeding  monarchs  of  France ;  yet  all  the  while  the  pur- 
pose of  overturning  it  was  secretly  entertained  and  steadily 
and  craftily  prosecuted.  The  rights  it  conferred  and  the 
privileges  it  guaranteed  were  gradually  encroached  upon : 
oppressions  cruel  and  manifold,  contrary  to  the  spirit  and 
to  the  letter  of  the  edict,  were  practised  on  the  Protestants ; 
and  at  last,  in  1685,  it  was  publicly  revoked.  When  the 
old  Chancellor  Tellier,  the  Jesuit,  signed  the  edict  of  revo- 
cation, full  of  joy  at  this  consummation  of  the  intrigues  and 
labours  of  his  party,  he  cried  out, — ''Lord,  now  lettest  tliou 
thy  s<^vant  depart  in  peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  saha- 
^iow."-f-  The  proscriptions,  the  banishments,  the  massacres, 
which  followed,  and  which  were  second  only  to  the  St  Bar- 
tholomew horror,  are  well  known  to  every  reader  of  history. 

This  act  consummated  the  woes  of  French  Protestantism 
and  the  guilt  of  the  house  of  Bourbon.  Tellier,  in  signing 
the  Revocation,  had  signed  the  death-warrant  of  France. 


*  Free  Thoughts  on  the  Toleration  of  Popery,  p.  177. 

+  Voltaire's  Age  of  Louis  XIV.  vol.  ii.  p.  197  j  Glasgow,  1753. 


o90  FAITH  NOT  TO  BE  KEPT  WITH  HERETICS. 

A  chain  of  causes,  extending  from  1685  to  1785,  and  which 
it  requires  but  a  slight  study  of  the  history  of  that  gloomy 
period  clearly  to  trace,  links  together  the  Huguenot  proscrip- 
tions and  massacres  of  the  one  period  with  the  revolution- 
ary horrors  of  the  other.  Rome's  favourite  maxim,  faith- 
fully acted  out  by  the  bigoted  court  of  France,  introduced 
at  last  the  Reign  of  Terror.  How  could  it  possibly  be  other- 
wise 1  Great  part  of  the  trade  of  the  kingdom  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  Protestants ;  and  when  they  were  driven  away, 
industry  was  paralyzed.  The  numerous  and  expensive  wars 
waged  against  the  Huguenots  had  exhausted  the  national  ex- 
chequer, and  new  taxes  had  to  be  imposed,  which  pressed 
heavily  on  a  crippled  trade  and  a  languishing  agriculture. 
With  religion  had  been  extinguished  the  elements  of  mo- 
rality and  order.  A  new  and  powerful  element,  engendered 
by  the  Romish  idolatry,  was  next  introduced, — infidelity, 
which  passed,  in  numerous  instances,  into  atheism.  These 
terrible  elements,  which  had  their  rise  in  the  Huguenot  per- 
secutions, gathered  apace ;  and  at  last,  in  little  more  than  a 
century  from  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  they  burst 
over  France  in  unexampled  and  desolating  fury.  All  things 
were  now  changed,  but  so  changed  as  to  bear  stamped  upon 
them  the  awful  mark  of  retributive  vengeance.  The  Jesuit 
cabal  was  exchanged  for  the  democrats'  club.  Rome's  sanc- 
tified dagger  was  set  aside  for  the  guillotine  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. The  Bourbon  was  gone,  and  Robespierre  reigned  in 
his  room  ;  bloodthirsty  and  revengeful,  doubtless,  but  not 
more  so  than  the  tyrant  he  had  succeeded,  and  certainly  not 
so  perfidious  and  hypocritical.  Crowds  of  wretched  fugi- 
tives were  again  seen  on  the  frontier ;  but  this  time  it  was  the 
priesthood  and  the  noblesse  of  France.  By  and  by  foreign 
war  drew  off  into  a  new  channel  the  energies  of  the  Revolu- 
tion ;  but  soon  they  returned  to  their  former  sphere,  de- 
scended on  France,  as  eagles  on  the  carcase,  or  as  the  fires 
on  the  sacrifice  ;  and  now  again  are  they  seen  preying  with 
consuming  fierceness  upon  that  devoted  country.  Nor  will 
they  ever  be  quenched  till  the  land  of  violated  oaths  and 


RETRIBUTION  ON  FRANCE.  391 

blood  unrighteously  shed  has  become  the  Gomorrah  of  the 
nations.  Read  thus,  the  history  of  France  is  an  awful  de- 
monstration of  God's  moral  government.  Nations  unborn 
will  peruse  her  story,  and  learn  to  avoid  her  crimes  and  her 
woes.  The  persecutor  of  the  past  will  be  the  beacon  of  the 
future. 

But,  it  may  be  objected,  these  dreadful  crimes  and  per- 
juries are  to  be  attributed  to  the  bad  faith  and  despotic  ten- 
dencies of  governments,  and  not  to  the  evil  principles  of  the 
Church  of  Rome.  Not  so.  It  is  Rome  that  must  confront 
the  appalling  charge.  She  it  was  that  broke  all  these  vows 
and  shed  all  this  blood.  She  has  associates  in  crime,  doubt- 
less, but  she  must  not  roll  over  on  them  the  guilt  she  taught 
them  to  perpetrate.  All  the  dreadful  proceedings  we  have 
so  briefly  surveyed, — and  they  form  scarce  a  tithe  of  the 
woes  which  constitute  the  history  of  Europe, — sprang  direct- 
ly out  of  the  detestable  doctrine  which  the  councils,  pontiffs, 
and  casuists  of  the  Roman  Church  inculcated.  In  the  abyss 
of  her  councils  were  these  plots  hatched.  France  and  the 
other  Catholic  powers  did  but  follow  the  policy  which  the 
Court  of  Rome  chalked  out  for  them.  All  their  enterprizes 
were  undertaken  with  the  Church's  sanction,  often  at  her 
earnest  solicitation  ;  and  assuredly  they  were  all  undertaken 
in  the  Church's  behalf, — for  the  extirpation  of  heresy  and 
the  aggrandisement  of  the  priesthood.  At  her  door,  then, 
must  be  laid  all  this  accumulated  perfidy.  The  facts  we 
have  adduced  undeniably  prove  that  the  doctrine  that  no 
faith  is  to  be  Jcept  loith  heretics  is  regarded  by  the  Church  of 
Rome,  not  simply  as  a  speculative  theory,  but  as  a  maxim 
to  which  practical  effect  is  to  be  given  on  all  occasions,  and 
to  all  the  extent  which  the  opportunities  and  the  power  of 
Rome  will  allow. 

The  recent  history  of  Europe  has  furnished  a  fearful  com- 
mentary on  the  Pope's  "  dispensing  power."  The  sovereigns 
of  southern  Europe  have  of  late  been  acting  on  this  maxim, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  filling  their  dungeons  with  the  most 
virtuous  of  their  subjects ;  only  this  time  the  doctrine  has 


392  FAITH  NOT  TO  BE  KEPT  WITH  HERETICS. 

been  put  in  force,  not  against  the  confessors  of  religion 
solely,  but  also  against  the  liberals  in  politics.  A  catechism, 
in  which  it  is  avowedly  taught  that  "  the  head  of  the  Church 
has  authority  to  release  consciences  from  oaths  when  he 
judges  there  is  suitable  cause  for  it,"  has  been  compiled  by 
an  ecclesiastic,  is  circulated  by  ecclesiastics,  and  taught  to 
the  youth  in  the  schools  of  Naples.  King  Ferdinand,  the 
bosom  friend  of  Pio  Nono,  has  taken  the  full  benefit  of  this 
doctrine,  by  revoking  the  Constitution  to  which  he  solemnly 
swore  in  "  the  awful  name  of  Almighty  God,"  and  has  told 
his  terror-stricken  kiugdom,  that  what  he  did  he  had  a  right 
to  do, — that  sovereignty  is  divine, — that  an  oath  infringing 
on  sovereignty  possesses  no  ^obligation, — and  that  he  alone 
is  judge  when  the  Constitution  encroaches  on  his  rights.* 
The  same  "  doctrine  of  devils'"  is  taught  by  Liguori,  who 
teaches  that  men  may  swear  with  any  amount  of  equivoca- 
tion or  mental  reservation, — that  "  any  reasonable  reason  is 
enough"  for  violating  an  oath, — that  an  oath  contrary  to 
the  rights  of  superiors  or  the  interests  of  the  Church  is  not 
to  be  kept  with  any  party  or  on  any  occasion,  and  therefore, 
a  fortiori,  not  to  be  kept  with  heretics.  All  this  is  taught 
by  the  "  infallible"  Liguori.f 

What,  then,  are  we  to  say  of  the  strong  disclaimers  of  this 
doctrine  by  some  modern  Papists  in  behalf  of  their  Church  \ 
These  disclaimers,  it  is  manifest,  possess  not  the  smallest 
weight,  when  we  put  in  opposition  to  them  the  vast  body  of 
evidence  by  which  the  charge  is  supported,— the  decrees  of 
councils,  the  bulls  and  rescripts  of  popes,  the  public  and 
uniform  actings  of  the  Church  for  well  nigh  three  hundred 
years,  and  the  deliverances  of  modern  writers  in  the  Church 
of  Rome, — of  Dens,  Liguori,  and  others.  That  this  was  the 
doctrine  of  the  Church,  no  one  can  deny ;  that  it  was  also 
her  practice  so  long  as  she  possessed  the  power,  is  equally 
undeniable.     K  she  has  renounced  it,  let  it  be  shown  when 


*  Two  Letters  to  Lord  Aberdeen,  by  Mr  Gladstone  ;  Lond.  1851. 
t  Liguori,  torn.  iv.  p.  151,  152. 


JESUITICAL  DISCLAIMERS.  S93 

and  i6here.  Renounced  it  she  has  not,  and  cannot,  without 
overthrowing  the  infallibility,  on  which  her  whole  system  is 
founded.  In  truth,  when  popish  divines  abjure  the  doctrine 
that  no  faith  is  to  he  kept  icith  heretics^  they  are  guilty  of  prac- 
tising a  wretched  quibble.  Their  meaning  is,  that  so  long 
as  the  oath  exists  it  must  be  kept ;  but  the  Pope,  in  virtue 
of  his  dispensing  power,  may  declare,  on  just  grounds, — of 
which  "  the  necessity  and  utility  of  the  ChurcK''^'  is  one, — that 
the  oath  is  null,  and  does  not  exist,  and  consequently  is  not 
to  be  kept.  They  then  triumphantly  ask,  How  can  an  oath 
be  said  to  be  violated  that  does  not  exist  \  Were  it  their 
object  to  release  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain  from  their 
oaths  of  allegiance,  the  procedure  adopted  would  be  as  fol- 
lows :  the  people  would  be  taught,  that  so  long  as  the  oath 
existed,  it  must  be  respected  ;  but  then  nothing  is  easier  than 
to  put  it  out  of  existence  !  The  Pope  has  only,  on  some 
'■''just  ground^''  to  declare  our  Queen  no  longer  sovereign, 
and  the  oath  would  no  longer  exist.  We  know  not  which  is 
the  more  astonishing, — the  impiety  of  those  who  can  juggle 
in  this  way,  or  the  simplicity  of  those  who  can  be  deceived 
by  such  juggling.  If  those  statesmen  who  are  so  desirous 
to  form  relations  with  Rome,  can  find  comfort  in  this  very 
peculiar  mode  of  keeping  faith,  they  are  abundantly  welcome 
to  it.  But  plain  it  is,  that  when  Romish  priests  disclaim  on 
oath  the  lawfulness  of  the  doctrine  of  not  keeping  faith  with 
heretics,  so  plainly  taught  in  those  canons  to  which  they 
have  sworn,  they  are  just  exhibiting,  as  Dr  Cunningham 
strikingly  remarks,  "  in  its  most  aggravated  form,  the  very 
enormity  which  they  profess  to  abjure."-f- 

This  doctrine  strikes  at  the  foundation  of  society.  If 
oaths  do  not  bind, — if  vows  and  treaties  possess  force  only 
so  far  as  it  accords  with  the  will  and  interests  of  one  of  the 
parties, — there  is  an  end  of  society,  and  men  must  return  to 
the  condition  of  savages.     And  if  saved  from  falling  into  this 


*  Theol.  Mor.  et  Dog.  Petri  Dens,  torn.  iv.  pp.  134-138. 
•j-  Stillingfleet's  Popery,  by  Dr  CuDniugham,  p.  232. 


394  FAITH  NOT  TO  BE  KEPT  WITH  HERETICS. 

state,  it  can  only  be  by  one  man  getting  the  start  of  the 
others,  and  making  his  will  a  law  to  the  rest ;  for  men  must 
have  some  standard  of  faith, — some  ground  of  mutual  action ; 
and  if  they  do  not  find  it  in  the  eternal  equity  of  things,  they 
may  find  it  in  the  necessity  of  a  universal  and  infallible 
despotism.  This  Rome  attempted  to  establish,  and  in  no 
other  way  could  the  ultimate  disorganization  of  the  world 
have  been  averted.  But  this  does  not  hinder  our  perceiving 
the  heinous  sin  and  the  ruinous  tendency  of  her  maxim  ; 
and  it  by  no  means  surprises  us,  that  some  of  the  great  mas- 
ters of  ethical  and  moral  science  should  have  held  that  a 
community  that  contravenes  the  first  and  most  essential  con- 
ditions of  society  should  be  denied  the  first  and  most  es- 
sential of  social  rights.  "  If  there  were  in  that  age,"  says 
Macaulay,  "  two  persons  inclined  by  their  judgment  and  by 
their  temper  to  toleration,  these  persons  were  Tillotson  and 
Locke.  Yet  Tillotson,  whose  indulgence  for  various  kinds 
of  schismatics  and  heretics  brought  on  him  the  reproach  of 
heterodoxy,  told  the  House  of  Commons  from  the  pulpit, 
that  it  was  their  duty  to  make  effectual  provision  against 
the  propagation  of  a  religion  more  mischievous  than  irreli- 
gion  itself, — of  a  religion  which  demanded  from  its  followers 
services  directly  opposed  to  the  first  principles  of  morality. 
In  his  judgment,  pagans  who  had  never  heard  the  name  of 
Christ,  and  who  were  guided  only  by  the  light  of  nature, 
were  more  trustworthy  members  of  civil  society  than  men 
who  had  been  formed  in  the  schools  of  the  popish  casuists. 
Locke,  in  his  celebrated  treatise,  in  which  he  had  laboured 
to  show  that  even  the  grossest  form  of  idolatry  ought  not  to 
be  prohibited  under  penal  sanctions,  contended  that  the 
Church  which  taught  men  not  to  keep  faith  with  heretics 
had  no  claim  to  toleration.* 

*  Macaulay's  History  of  England,  vol.  ii.  pj).  8,  9  ;  Loud.  1850. 


GENIUS  OF  THE  PAPACY.  S9; 


BOOK  III. 


GENIUS  AND  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  PAPACY. 


CHAPTER  I. 


GENIUS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 


Volumes  would  scarce  suffice  to  enable  us  to  do  justice  to 
the  incomparable  genius  of  the  Papacy.  Thoroughly  to  ex- 
plore and  fully  to  unfold  it  would  form  a  life -long  task  to 
the  man  of  profoundest  intellect.  Such  an  one  might  ex- 
pend all  his  strength  and  all  his  days  in  the  study,  and  leave 
it  at  last  with  the  confession  that  there  are  depths  here 
which  he  has  not  fathomed,  and  mysteries  which  he  must 
leave  to  be  solved  by  his  successors.  Our  limits  are  of  the 
narrowest ;  and  truly  it  would  be  a  bootless  undertaking  to 
attempt  a  full  elucidation  of  so  vast  a  subject  within  the 
stinted  space  of  a  few  pages.  Nevertheless,  we  may  indi- 
cate the  more  salient  points  of  the  system.  If  unable  here 
fully  to  trace  out  the  sources  of  its  strength,  we  may  be  per- 
mitted to  point  out  the  direction  in  which  they  lie.  Nor 
shall  we  have  done  so  in  vain,  if  we  succeed  in  impressing 
any  one  with  the  singular  interest  and  surpassing  impor- 
tance, as  well  as  the  great  difficulty,  of  the  study.     Elements 


396  GENIUS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

of  great  power  there  must  have  been  in  a  system  which  has 
stood  so  long,  and  has  exercised  so  great  an  influence  ;  and 
if  we  can  but  succeed  in  rescuing  these  from  the  wreck,  so 
to  speak,  we  might  employ  them  with  advantage  in  the  re-con- 
struction of  society  and  the  re-edification  of  the  Church  of 
God.  Whole  cities  have  sometimes  been  built  from  the 
ruins  of  colossal  structures  which  time  or  violence  had 
thrown  down  :  in  like  manner,  we  may  take  the  stones  and 
timber  of  the  Papacy,  and  consecrate  them  anew  to  the  good 
of  society  and  the  service  of  God.  A  new  solution  may  be 
awaiting  the  ancient  riddle, — "  Out  of  the  eater  came  forth 
meat,  and  out  of  the  strong  came  forth  sweetness." 

There  is  scarce  a  department  of  human  knowledge  on 
which  the  study  of  the  Papacy  does  not  throw  light.  It 
affords  an  amazing  insight  into  the  policy  of  Satan,  its  real 
author.  It  lays  bare  the  innate  depravity  and  the  deceitful 
workings  of  the  human  heart ;  for  Popery  is  but  the  reli- 
gion of  fallen  human  nature.  It  shows  what  an  amount  of 
mischief  may  grow  out  of  a  single  evil  principle,  or  out  of  a 
good  one  misapplied.  It  discloses  to  us  the  springs  of  error, 
and  enables  us  to  trace  to  the  same  source  all  errors,  how- 
ever deep  their  disguises,  various  their  names,  or  diverse 
their  forms ;  and  it  teaches  by  contrast  the  simplicity,  con- 
sistency, grandeur,  and  substantial  oneness  of  the  ti'uth. 
It  shows,  too,  that  no  false  system  can  be  eternal ;  that  it 
carries  within  itself  the  seeds  of  death ;  and  that  neither  the 
defences  of  external  power  nor  the  sanctions  of  a  venerable 
antiquity  can  save  it  from  the  death  to  which  from  its  birth 
it  is  doomed.  It  has  no  self-renovating  power ;  and,  grant- 
ing even  that  it  should  be  let  alone  from  without,  the  atrophy 
within  would  in  due  time  consign  it  to  its  grave.  But  the 
immorality  which  falsehood  wants  truth  possesses.  Its  seeds, 
sown  in  the  world  by  the  author  of  Christianity,  are  inde- 
structible ;  and  though  all  should  perish,  and  but  one  sur- 
vive, that  one  seedling  would  in  time  burst  the  clod  and  re- 
novate the  world.  One  atom  of  truth  has  more  power  in  it 
than  a  whole  svstem  of  error.     Wc  live  too  near  the  Papacy 


POPERY  AND  PAPACY  DISTINGUISHED.  SO  7 

to  SCO  all  the  ends  why  God  has  permitted  this  evil  system 
to  exist.  Some  are  already  known,  but  the  more  important 
are  still  veiled  in  mystery ;  but  we  cannot  doubt  that  ends 
there  are,  great,  wise,  and  beneficent,  and  that  what  is  dark 
to  us  will  be  clear  to  posterity.  Nor  can  we  doubt  that, 
when  these  ends  are  disclosed,  they  will  be  found  to  be  such 
as  we  have  indicated,  namely,  a  demonstration  of  the  neces- 
sity of  bringing  the  principles  on  which  society  is  framed 
into  harmony  with  those  on  which  the  divine  government  is 
carried  on,  in  order  that  society  may  be  saved,  in  its  future 
stages,  from  the  errors  which  have  misled  it  hitherto,  and 
the  calamities  which  have  overwhelmed  it. 

Popery  we  have  described  pretty  fully  in  its  leading  prin- 
ciples and  aspects  ;  and  we  now  pass  from  the  subject  of  Po- 
pery, strictly  considered,  to  that  of  the  Papacy.  We  dis- 
tinguish between  Popery  and  the  Papacy,  and  on  just 
grounds,  as  we  believe.  Popery  is  the  principle  or  error 
which  may  be  defined  to  be  salvation  of  man,  in  opposition 
to  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  which  may  be  defined  salvation  of 
God.  The  Papacy  is  the  secular  organization  by  which  the 
principle  or  error  became  as  it  were  incarnate.  This  or- 
ganization formed  the  body  in  which  it  dwelt, — the  frame- 
work by  which  it  sought  to  establish  itself  and  reign  in  the 
world.  The  political  system  of  Europe,  as  it  has  existed 
for  the  past  thousand  years  and  upwards,  has  been  this 
framework.  The  soul  that  animated  this  system  was 
Popery.  It  was  the  mind  that  guided  it,  and  the  powerful 
though  invisible  bond  that  gave  it  unity.  Its  head  sat  upon 
the  Seven  Hills  ;  and  there  was  not  a  priest  in  Europe,  from 
the  scarlet  cardinals  of  the  Eternal  City,  down  to  the  wan- 
dering Capuchin,  with  his  dress  of  serge  and  his  girdle  of 
rope,  nor  was  there  a  king  in  Europe,  from  the  monarchs  of 
France  down  to  the  petty  dukes  of  Germany,  who  was  not  a 
part  of  that  system.  All  strove  together  with  one  heart 
and  soul  for  tlic  same  iniquitous  object,  namely,  the  exalta- 
tion of  the  priesthood,  and  especially  of  the  high  priest  of 
Rome,  to  the  dishonour  of  the  High  Priest  in  the  heavens. 


598  GENIUS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

Such  was  the  Papacy.  It  was  the  labour  of  a  million  of 
minds,  and  the  growth  of  a  thousand  years.  For  we  hold 
it  impossible  that  the  genius  of  one  man,  however  powerful, 
could  have  contriven  such  a  system ;  nay,  we  hold  it  impos- 
sible that  the  intellect  of  Satan  himself,  vast  as  it  is,  could 
have  conceived  beforehand  so  perfect  and  comprehensive  a 
scheme.  The  entire  plan,  order,  and  government  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  that  is,  the  Church,  were  sketched  out 
from  the  beginning,  and  revealed  in  the  New  Testament. 
Thus,  when  the  apostles  began  to  build,  they  knew  both 
how  their  work  was  to  proceed,  and  to  what  it  was  to  grow. 
But  the  author  of  the  Papacy  acted  strictly  on  the  develop- 
ment theory.  The  general  outline  of  his  system  he  plagiar- 
ised manifestly  from  the  Scripture-revelation  of  the  gospel 
kingdom.  It  is  equally  manifest,  that  the  more  fundamental 
principles  of  his  scheme  he  obtained  by  a  process  of  perver- 
sion ;  that  is,  he  made  counterfeits  of  the  leading  doctrines 
of  the  gospel,  and  on  these  proceeded  to  build.  But  as  the 
vt'ork  went  on,  he  introduced  novelties  both  of  principle  and 
of  form,  according  as  the  spirit  of  the  age  and  the  circum- 
stances of  the  times  allowed  or  suggested.  With  a  rare 
genius,  the  exigencies  of  the  times  were  ever  understood, 
and  the  modifications  and  amendments  which  they  required 
were  executed  at  the  proper  moment  and  in  the  happiest 
way.  Working  in  this  manner,  Satan  at  last  produced  his 
masterpiece, — the  Papacy. 

The  Papacy  is  the  most  wonderful  of  all  human  systems. 
It  stands  alone,  unrivalled  and  unapproached,  throwing  all 
former  systems  of  error  into  the  shade,  and  challenging 
alike  the  power  of  man  and  the  cunning  of  Satan  to  pro- 
duce anything  in  after  times  that  shall  surpass  it.  The 
ancient  polytheisms  were  comparatively  simple  in  their  plan 
and  tolerant  in  their  spirit.  Not  so  the  Papacy.  It  selects 
the  worst  passions  of  our  nature, — the  sensuality  of  the  appe- 
tites, the  idolatry  of  the  heart,  the  love  of  wealth,  the  lust 
of  dominion,  pride,  ambition,  the  desire  to  dictate  to  the 
faith  of  others.     It  gives  to  these  passions  the  largest  de- 


REAL  AUTHOR  OF  PAPACY.  399 

velopment  of  which  they  are  capable ;  it  combines  and  ar- 
ranges them  with  exquisite  skill,  and  thus  enables  them  to 
act  with  the  greatest  effect.  It  is  the  most  powerful  or- 
ganization that  ever  existed  on  the  side  of  error  and  against 
the  truth.  When  perfected,  the  once  humble  pastor  of 
E-ome  occupied  a  seat  which  rose  not  merely  above  the  thrones 
of  earth,  but  above  the  throne  of  the  Eternal.  In  Ms  ex- 
altation Satan  recognised  his  own  exaltation.  The  reign 
of  the  servant  was  the  reign  of  the  master.  The  Pope  was 
Satan's  vicar,  and  Satan  therefore  had  withheld  nothing 
that  could  strengthen  his  power  or  enhance  his  magnifi- 
cence. He  enthroned  him  on  the  wealth  and  dominion  of 
Europe ;  he  commanded  kings  to  obey  him,  and  all  nations 
to  serve  him ;  he  did  more  for  him  than  he  had  done  for 
the  greatest  of  his  servants  before ;  he  did  more  for  him 
than  he  will  ever  be  able  to  do  again  for  the  best  beloved  of 
his  servants ;  he  literally  did  his  all,  because  the  emergency 
was  ffreat.  Let  us  take  this  into  account  when  we  contem- 
plate  the  surpassing  state  and  dazzling  magnificence  of  these 
masters  of  the  world.  It  is  the  very  utmost  which  even 
Lucifer  can  do  for  a  mortal.  Like  Judas,  the  pontiff  had 
betrayed  his  lord,  and  behold  the  reward  ! — all  the  king- 
doms of  the  world  and  the  glory  of  them. 

In  speaking  of  the  genius  of  the  Papacy,  it  is  necessary 
to  distinguish  between  the  real  though  invisible  author  of 
Popery,  which  is  Satan,  and  the  secondary  and  visible  author, 
that  is,  the  Pope.  Viewing  the  system  as  emanating  from 
Satan,  its  genius  is  of  course  that  of  its  invisible  author. 
He  has  thrown  into  it  his  whole  intellect.  Just  as  the 
work  of  i-edemption  is  an  exhibition  of  the  character  of  God, 
and  comes  stamped  with  the  glorious  perfections  of  His 
nature,  so  the  Papacy  is  an  exhibition  of  the  character  of 
Satan  :  it  is  stamped  with  the  great  qualities  of  his  mind ; 
and  in  studying  the  Papacy,  we  are  just  contem.plating 
those  powerful  but  malignant  attributes  with  which  this 
mysterious  spirit  is  endowed.  We  gaze  into  the  abyss  of 
the  Satanic  soul.     But,  to  speak  more  strictly,  the  key  of 


400  GENIUS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

the  Papacy,  viewed  as  an  emanation  from  Satan,  is  to  be 
sought  for  in  the  history  of  the  seduction  of  our  first  parents. 
Satan^s  policy  has  been  substantially  the  same  from  the  be- 
ginning. Of  course,  that  policy  has  been  modified  by  cir- 
cumstances, and  adapted  in  a  masterly  manner  to  each  suc- 
cessive emergency.  Its  front  of  opposition  has  been  more 
or  less  extended,  according  as  it  stood  arrayed  against  but 
a  single  truth  or  a  whole  system  of  truths ;  but  it  has  em- 
ployed substantially  the  same  policy  throughout.  The  gene- 
ral may  employ  the  same  rule  of  military  tactics  in  the  pre- 
liminary skirmish  as  in  the  more  complicated  manoeuvres  of 
the  battle  that  succeeds.  In  like  manner,  Satan  employed 
the  identical  policy  in  the  assault  in  the  Garden  which  he 
developed  more  fully  in  the  secular  and  ecclesiastical  domi- 
nation which  he  set  up  in  an  after  age  in  Western  Europe. 
The  study  of  the  simpler  event,  then,  furnishes  a  key  for  the 
solution  of  the  greater  and  more  complicated. 

What,  then,  was  his  policy  in  the  Garden  I  It  may  be 
summed  up  in  one  word :  it  was  a  dexterous  substitution  of 
the  counterfeit  for  the  t^eal.  The  real  in  this  case  was,  that 
life  was  to  come  to  our  first  parents  through  the  tree  as  the 
sr/mholic  cause;  the  counterfeit  which  Satan  succeeded  in 
palming  upon  them  was,  that  life  was  to  come  to  them 
through  that  tree  as  the  efficacious  cause.  They  were  to 
have  this  life  not  from,  but  5y  the  tree.  The  life  was  not 
in  the  tree,  but  beyond  it, — in  God,  from  whom  they  were  to 
receive  it,  in  the  way  of  submitting  to  his  ordinance.  But 
by  a  train  of  subtle  and  fallacious  argument, — not  more 
subtle  and  fallacious,  however,  than  that  which  Rome  still 
employs, — the  woman  was  brought  to  regard  the  tree  as  the 
efficacious  cause  of  the  life  which  she  had  been  promised, 
and  to  which  she  had  been  bidden  aspire ;  she  was  brought 
to  believe  that  the  life  was  in  the  tree,  and  that  she  had 
only  to  eat  of  the  tree,  and  this  life  would  be  hers.  "  When 
the  woman  saw,*"  it  is  said,  that  it  was  "  a  tree  to  be  de- 
sired to  make  one  wise,  she  took  of  the  fruit  thereof."  It  is 
plain  that  she  believed  the  tree  able  of  itself  to  make  her 


KEY  TO  THE  PAPACY.  401 

wise,  and  that  it  had  been  interdicted  by  God,  eitlior  be- 
cause he  grudged  her  the  good  the  tree  had  power  to  bestow 
upon  her,  or,  what  is  more  probable,  that  she  had  mistaken 
the  command  altogether.     This,  then,  was  the  prime  object 
of  Satan''s  policy.     He  admitted,  at  least  he  did  not  deny, 
that  God  had  promised  her  life  ;  he  admitted  that  that  life 
was  good,  and  that  she  should  aim  at  enjoying  it ;   and  he 
admitted  farther,  that  it  was  in  connection  with  the  tree 
that  that  life  was  to  be  attained.     But  the  question  was 
made  to  turn  on  the  sort  of  connection ;   Whether  did,  or 
did  not,  the  promised  good  reside  in  the  tree  itself?     The 
command  of  God  plainly  intimated  that  it  did  not  reside  in 
the  tree,  but  would  be  bestowed  by  himself,  in  the  way  of 
his  ordinance,  which  took  the  form  of  a  covenant,  being  ob- 
served.    But  the  point  which  Satan  laboured  to  establish 
was,  that  the  good  was  in  the  tree,  and  that  it  was  intended 
as  the  efficacious  means  of  bestowing  that  good  upon  her. 
Such  was  the  question  the  woman  had  to  decide ;  and  ac- 
cording to  her  decision  would  one  of  two  inevitable  issues 
ensue, — her  obedience  and  life,  or  her  disobedience  and 
death.     If  she  should  reject  the  doctrine  of  inherent  efficacy^ 
so  boldly  and  artfully  pi-opounded,   she  would    of  course 
look  elsewhere  for  life,  even  to  God,  and  would  respect  his 
command.     Should  she,  blinded  and  led  away  by  the  subtlety 
of  the  serpent,  embrace  the  doctrine  of  inherent  efficacy^ — 
should  she  come  to  believe  that  she  had  only  to  eat  and  to 
I'lve^ — she  would  of  course  look  only  to  the  tree,  and  w^ould 
straightway  partake  of  its  fruits.     Unhappily  she  adopted 
the  latter  belief,  and  we  know  the  issue. 

But  here  the  whole  policy  of  Satan  stands  revealed. 
Brought  within  the  compass  of  this  single  transaction,  we 
can  study  that  policy  to  much  more  purpose  than  when  dis- 
played along  so  extended  a  line  of  operations  as  the  Papacy 
presents.  Here  is  the  key  to  Satan's  policy  of  six  thousand 
years,  and  especially  the  key  to  the  Papacy.  This  trans- 
action exhibits  unmistakeably  all  the  worst  features  of  that 
evil  system.     Here  was  the  opus  operatiun  of  a  sacrament : 

2  D 


402  GENIUS  OP  THE  PAPACY. 

the  woman  was  taught  that  she  had  only  to  partake,  and,  in 
virtue  of  the  act,  would  be  as  God,  knowing  good  and  evil. 
Here  already  were  worTcs  substituted  in  the  room  o^  faith :  in- 
stead of  the  passive  obedience  which  the  covenant  demanded, 
in  the  faith  that  God  would  bestow  the  life  he  had  promised, 
the  woman  was  taught  to  do  a  certain  work  by  which  that 
life  was  to  be  attained.  And  here  was  the  doctrine  of  hu- 
man merit, — salvation  of  man  substituted  in  the  room  oi  sal- 
vation of  God ;  for  the  woman  was  led  to  look  for  life,  not 
from  God,  but  from  the  tree,  in  the  way  of  using  its  fruits. 
All  the  master  errors  of  the  Papacy, — those  errors  which 
in  the  standard  books  of  Rome  take  the  form  of  canons  or 
of  pontifical  bulls,  and  which  in  her  temples  take  the  form 
of  gorgeous  and  idolatrous  rites, — were  promulgated  for  the 
first  time  in  Eden,  and  by  this  preacher,  not,  indeed,  in  ex- 
press terms,  but  by  implication :  the  policy  of  Satan  pro- 
ceeded on  a  principle  which  embraced  them  all.  Yet 
farther,  we  find  Satan  teaching  Eve  that  she  could  not 
understand  the  command  of  God  without  note  and  com- 
ment, and  offering  himself  as  an  infallible  interpreter,  and 
not  more  grossly  perverting  the  text  than  Rome  has  done  in 
innumerable  instances  since.  The  boastful  claims  of  the 
Papist  and  the  Puseyite  to  a  high  antiquity  are  not  without 
some  foundation  after  all.  In  one  sense.  Popery,  and  its 
modern  Anglican  form  Puseyism,  ar,e  mediaeval  error;  in 
another  they  are  but  a  development  of  that  false  principle 
by  which  Eve  was  seduced,  and  mankind  precipitated  into 
condemnation  and  death. 

We  can  clearly  trace  the  policy  of  Satan  in  the  early 
polytheisms ;  and  we  find  that  policy  in  its  essential  princi- 
ples unchanged.  The  pagan  idolatries  were  manifestly  the 
substitution  of  the  counterfeit  for  the  real.  Satan,  their 
author,  did  not  deny  that  there  is  a  God,  or  that  it  is  man's 
duty  to  worship  him.  He  reserved  these  truths  as  a  fixed 
point,  on  which  to  rest  the  lever  by  which  he  was  to  move 
the  world.  But  in  the  room  of  God,  one,  invisible,  and  spiri- 
tual, he  substituted  those  material  objects  which  most  re- 


POPERY  A  COUNTERFEIT.  403 

fleet  his  glory,  or  most  largely  dispense  his  goodness; — tho 
sun,  as  in  Chaldea ;  eminent  men,  the  founders  of  tribes  or 
the  inventors  of  the  arts,  as  in  Greece ;  vile  and  creeping 
things,  as  in  Egypt ;  and,  as  the  course  of  this  idolatry  is 
ever  downward,  in  some  tribes  we  find  that  the  very  idea  of 
God  had  well-nigh  perished.  Falsehood  is  its  own  greatest 
enemy :  its  tendency  is  to  destroy  itself.  Polytheism  cor- 
rupted the  nations ;  it  thus  came  to  lose  its  power  over  tho 
human  mind  ;  and  the  world  had  lapsed  into  scepticism, 
when  Christianity,  young,  vigorous,  and  pure,  came  forth 
from  her  native  mountains  to  renovate  the  earth, — to  restore 
that  faith  which  is  the  life  of  man,  and  that  religion  which 
is  the  strength  of  nations.  This  was  the  most  powerful  an- 
tagonist that  had  yet  appeared  in  the  field  against  the  in- 
terests of  Satan.  It  was  the  great  original  truth  revived 
with  new  splendour, — man  revolted  from  God,  redeemed  by 
the  Son,  and  sanctified  by  the  Spirit, — the  truth  which 
Satan  had  supplanted  by  his  LIE  of  polytheism ;  and,  power- 
ful as  true,  it  attested  its  power  by  planting  its  trophies  and 
monuments  above  the  abjured  creeds  and  prostrate  temples 
of  paganism. 

This  antagonist  Satan  could  confront  with  but  his  old 
policy.  That  policy  took  a  new  form,  to  adapt  itself  to  new 
circumstances  :  its  edge  was  finer,  its  complications  greatly 
more  intricate,  and  its  scale  of  operation  vastly  larger;  still 
it  was  the  old  policy,  radically,  essentially  unchanged,  be- 
neath its  new  modifications  and  altered  forms.  Satan  pre- 
sented over  again  to  the  world  the  counterfeit  ;  and  he 
succeeded  once  more  in  persuading  the  world  to  accept  the 
counterfeit  and  to  banish  the  real.  The  great  primal  truth 
of  God's  unity  and  supreme  and  exclusive  government  was 
supplanted  in  the  old  world  by  the  device  of  making  men 
adore  inferior  deities,  not  as  God,  but  as  representatives 
and  vicegerents  of  God.  So  in  the  modern  world  the  lead- 
ing Christian  truth  respecting  Christ,  and  the  oneness  of  his 
mediation,  has  been  supplanted  by  the  device  of  other  me- 
diators, and  of  another  Christ, — Antichrist.     Popery  is  the 


404  GENIUS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

counterfeit  of  Christianity, — a  most  elaborate  and  skilfully 
contriven  counterfeit, — a  counterfeit  in  which  the  form  is 
faithfully  preserved,  the  spirit  utterly  extinguished,  and  the 
end  completely  inverted.  This  counterfeit  Church  has  its 
high  priest, — the  Pope, — who  blasphemes  the  royal  priest- 
hood of  Christ,  by  assuming  his  office,  when  he  pretends  to 
be  Lord  of  the  conscience.  Lord  of  the  Church,  and  Lord  of 
the  world;  and  by  assuming  his  names,  when  he  calls  himself 
"the  Light  of  the  World,"  "  the  King  of  Glory,"  "the  Lion  of 
the  tribe  of  Judah,"*  Christ's  Vicar  and  God"'s  Vicegerent. 
This  counterfeit  Church  has,  too,  its  sacrifice, — the  mass, — 
which  blasphemes  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  by  virtually  teach- 
ing its  inefficiency,  and  needing  to  be  repeated,  as  is  done 
when  Christ's  very  body  and  blood  are  again  offered  in  sa- 
crifice by  the  hands  of  the  priests  of  Rome,  for  the  sins  of 
the  living  and  the  dead.  This  Church  has,  moreover,  its 
Bible,  which  is  tradition,  which  blasphemes  the  Word  of 
God,  by  virtually  teaching  its  insufficiency.  It  has  its  me- 
diators,— saints  and  angels,  and  especially  the  Virgin ;  and 
thus  it  blasphemes  the  one  Mediator  between  God  and  man. 
In  fine,  it  blasphemes  the  person  and  the  office  of  the  Spirit 
as  the  sanctifier,  because  it  teaches  that  its  sacraments  can 
make  holy;  and  it  blasphemes  God,  by  teaching  that  its 
priests  can  pardon  sin,  and  can  release  from  the  obligations 
of  divine  law.  Thus  has  Popery  counterfeited,  and,  by 
counterfeiting,  set  aside,  all  that  is  vital  and  valuable  in 
Christianity  It  robs  Christ  of  his  kingly  office,  by  exalting 
the  Pope  to  his  throne ;  it  robs  him  of  his  priesthood  in  the 
sacrifice  of  the  mass ;  it  robs  him  of  his  power  as  Mediator, 
by  substituting  Mary  ;  it  robs  him  of  his  prophetical  office, 
by  substituting  the  teachings  of  an  infallible  Church  ;  it  robs 
God  the  Spirit  of  his  peculiar  work  as  the  sanctifier,  by  at- 
tributing the  power  of  conferring  grace  to  its  own  ordi- 
nances ;  and  it  robs  God  the  Father  of  his  prerogatives,  by 
assuming  the  power  of  justifying  and  pardoning  men. 

*  Assumed  by  Pope  Leo  X.  at  his  coronation. 


POPERY  AS  OF  MAN.  405 

Thus  the  counterfeit  Christianity  of  Rome  is  as  extensive 
as  the  real  Christianity  of  the  New  Testament :  it  substi- 
tutes other  objects  of  worship,  other  doctrines,  other  sacra- 
ments ;  all  of  which,  however,  in  the  letter,  have  an  exact 
correspondence  with  the  true.  The  forms  of  Christianity 
have  been  faithfully  copied ;  its  realities  have  been  com- 
pletely set  aside.  Thus  Satan  has  carried  his  object,  not 
by  erecting  a  system  avowedly  antagonistic,  but  by  amusing 
and  deluding  men  with  the  counterfeit.  The  policy  adopted 
in  Egypt  of  old  to  frustrate  the  mission  of  INIoses,  was  that 
of  bringing  forward  a  class  of  magicians  to  counterfeit  the 
miracles  of  the  Jewish  lawgiver.  The  same  expedient  has 
been  adopted  a  second  time.  Satan  has  brought  forward 
the  magicians  and  necromancers  of  Rome,  who  have  imi- 
tated the  miracles  of  the  gospel.  And  as  Moses  was  with- 
stood by  Jannes  and  Jambres,  so  have  the  lying  prophets  of 
Rome  withstood  Christianity  in  its  glorious  mission  of  re- 
generating the  world.  Christianity  has  respect  to  time  as 
well  as  to  eternity;  and  in  both  departments  of  its  mission 
has  it  been  withstood  by  the  Romish  soothsayers,  and  that, 
too,  exactly  in  the  style  of  their  Egyptian  predecessors,  who 
"  did  so  with  their  enchantments."  The  temporal  end  of 
Christianity  they  have  defeated,  by  persuading  rulers  that 
they  were  able  to  secure  the  good  and  order  of  society. 
Princes  have  listened  to  them,  and  refused  to  let  the  gospel 
have  liberty ;  and  thus  society  has  been  corrupted  and  de- 
stroyed. The  eternal  end  of  Christianity  they  have  defeated, 
by  persuading  men  that,  without  parting  with  a  single  sin, 
or  acquiring  a  single  gracious  disposition,  they  might  attain 
to  heaven.  They  have  thus  retained  men  under  the  power 
of  corruption,  and  sealed  them  over  to  eternal  damnation. 

But  the  Papacy  may  be  viewed  as  of  man.  Primarily  it 
is  the  emanation  of  satanic  policy ;  secondarily,  it  is  the 
fabrication  of  human  ambition  and  wickedness.  In  order 
to  discover  its  genius,  viewed  as  the  creation  of  man,  it  is 
necessary  to  keep  in  view  the  grand  aim  of  the  Papacy. 
Without  this  we  cannot  appreciate  its  marvellous  adaptation 


406  GENIUS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

of  means  to  their  end,  and  the  relation  of  each  part  to  the 
whole.  There  is  not  one  of  its  arrangements,  however  mi- 
nute, nor  one  of  its  doctrines,  however  unimportant  it  may 
seem,  but  has  a  direct  reference  to  and  a  powerful  bearing 
upon  the  object  of  the  Papacy,  In  the  vast  and  compli- 
cated machine  there  is  not  a  useless  cord  or  a  superfluous 
wheel.  The  object  of  the  Papacy  is,  in  brief,  to  exalt  a  man, 
or  rather  a  class  of  men,  to  the  supreme,  undivided,  and  ab- 
solute control  of  the  world  and  its  affairs.  So  vast  a  scheme 
of  dominion  the  genius  of  Alexander  had  never  dared  to  en- 
tertain. The  ambition  of  the  popes  far  outstripped  that  of 
the  Csesars,  and  looked  down  with  contempt  upon  their  em- 
pire as  insignificant  and  narrow.  They  aspired  to  be  gods 
upon  the  earth.  It  was  the  majesty  of  the  Eternal  which 
they  plotted  to  usurp.  Pride  can  go  no  higher.  Ambition 
finds  nothing  beyond  for  which  it  may  pant.  They  reigned 
with  equal  power  over  the  minds  and  over  the  bodies  of  men. 
They  grasped  the  reins  of  secular  as  well  as  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal jurisdiction.  They  made  their  opinions  the  standard  of 
morals,  and  their  wills  the  standard  of  law,  to  the  universe. 
They  claimed  not  merely  to  be  obeyed,  but  to  be  worshipped. 
They  were  not  monarchs,  but  divinities.  We  do  not  affirm 
that  this  object  was  definitely  proposed  by  the  bishops  of 
Rome  from  the  outset.  Nay,  had  they  seen  to  what  their 
early  departures  from  the  faith  would  lead, — that  the  prin- 
ciples which  they  adopted  contained  within  them  the  germ 
of  a  despotism  beneath  which  the  religion  and  the  liberties 
of  the  world  would  lie  crushed  for  ages, — they  would  have 
stopt  short  in  their  career.  The  Omniscient  eye  alone  can 
trace  things  to  their  issues.  It  was  not  till  ages  had  passed 
away,  and  numerous  usurpations  had  taken  place,  that  the 
object  of  their  policy  was  clearly  seen  by  the  pontiffs  them- 
selves, though  the  invisible  prompter  of  that  policy  had 
doubtless  proposed  that  end  from  the  first.  But  by  the 
time  that  object  came  to  be  clearly  understood,  all  scruple 
was  at  an  end.  The  pontiff"  panted  to  place  himself  upon 
the  throne  of  the  universe,  and  to  prostrate  beneath  his 


CHOICE  OF  A  SEAT.  407 

feet  all  other  dominion.  The  object  surpassed  in  grandeur 
all  to  which  man  had  ever  before  aspired,  and  the  means 
brouo-ht  into  operation  were  vast  beyond  all  former  example. 
A  policy  unmatched  in  dissimulation  and  craft, — a  sagacity 
distino-uished  alike  by  the  largeness  of  its  conceptions  and 
the  precision  and  accuracy  of  its  conclusions, — a  quiet  irre- 
sistible energy, — a  firm  unalterable  will, — a  perseverance 
which  no  toil  could  exhaust,  which  no  difficulty  could  dis- 
courage, which  no  check  could  turn  from  its  purpose,  which 
made  all  things  give  way  to  it,  and  which  proved  itself  in- 
vincible,— a  vast  array  of  physical  force  when  an  antagonist 
appeared  whom  its  other  arts  could  not  subdue, — lavishing 
its  favours  upon  its  friends  with  boundless  prodigality,  and 
visiting  with  vengeance  equally  unbounded  its  incorrigible 
enemies, — wielding  these  qualities,  the  Papacy  saw  its  efforts 
crowned  at  last  with  a  success  which  was  as  astonishing  as 
it  was  unprecedented. 

In  the  first  place.  Popery  was  exceedingly  fortunate  in 
the  choice  of  a  seat,  when  it  selected  Rome.  The  possession 
of  such  a  spot  was  almost  essential  to  it.  It  was  itself  a 
tower  of  strength.  In  no  other  spot  of  earth  could  its  gi- 
gantic schemes  of  dominion  have  been  formed,  or,  if  formed, 
realized.  Sitting  in  the  seat  which  the  masters  of  the  world 
had  so  long  occupied,  the  Papacy  appeared  the  rightful 
heir  of  their  power.  Papal  Rome  reaped  the  fruit  of  the 
wars  and  the  conquests,  the  toils  and  the  blood,  of  imperial 
Rome.  The  one  had  laboured  and  gone  to  her  grave  ;  the 
other  arose  and  entered  into  her  labours.  The  pontiffs  per- 
fectly understood  this,  and  were  careful  to  turn  the  advan- 
tage it  offered  them  to  the  utmost  account.  By  heraldic 
and  symbolic  devices  they  were  perpetually  reminding  the 
world  that  they  were  the  successors  of  the  Caesars ;  that 
the  two  Romes  were  linked  by  an  indissoluble  bond ;  and 
that  to  the  latter  had  descended  the  heritage  of  glory  and 
dominion  acquired  by  the  former.  Herein  we  may  admire 
that  extraordinary  sagacity  which  fixed  on  this  spot, — the 
first,  and  certainly  not  the  least  striking,  indication  of  the 


408  GENIUS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

profound  and  unrivalled  genius  of  Popery, — showing  what 
that  genius  would  become  when  fully  developed  and  matur- 
ed. The  Seven  Hills  were  the  home  of  empire  and  the  holy 
ground  of  superstition ;  and  when  the  barbaric  kings  and 
nations  approached  the  spot,  they  were  fascinated  and  sub- 
dued by  its  mysterious  and  mighty  influence,  as  the  pontiffs 
had  foreseen  they  would  be.  Thus  the  young  Papacy  had 
the  penetration  to  discover  that  the  sway  of  old  Rome  had 
by  no  means  ended  with  her  life,  and,  by  serving  itself  heir 
to  her  name,  continued  to  exercise  her  power  long  after  she 
had  gone  to  her  grave.  The  genius  that  could  turn  to  so 
great  account  the  traditional  glory  of  a  departed  empire 
was  not  likely  to  leave  unimproved  the  existing  resources  of 
contemporary  monarchies. 

In  the  second  place,  the  pontiffs  claimed  to  be  the  suc- 
cessors of  the  apostles.  This  was  a  more  masterly  stroke  of 
policy  still.  To  the  temporal  dominion  of  the  Csesars  they 
added  the  spiritual  authority  of  the  apostles.  It  is  here 
that  the  great  strength  of  the  Papacy  lies.  As  the  succes- 
sor of  Peter,  the  Pope  was  greater  than  as  the  successor  of 
Csesar.  The  one  gave  him  earth,  but  the  other  gave  him 
heaven.  The  one  made  him  a  king  ;  the  other  made  him  a 
king  of  kings.  The  one  gave  him  the  power  of  the  sword ; 
the  other  invested  him  with  the  still  more  sacred  authority 
of  the  keys.  The  one  surrounded  him  w^ith  all  the  adjuncts 
of  temporal  sovereignty, — guards,  ambassadors,  and  ministers 
of  State, — and  set  him  over  fleets  and  armies,  imposts  and 
revenues ;  the  other  made  him  the  master  of  inexhaustible 
spiritual  treasures,  and  enabled  him  to  support  his  power  by 
the  sanctions  and  terrors  of  the  invisible  world.  While  he 
has  celestial  dignities  as  well  as  temporal  honours  wherewith 
to  enrich  his  friends,  he  can  wield  the  spii-itual  thunder  as 
well  as  the  artillery  of  earth,  in  contending  with  and  dis- 
comfiting his  foes.  Such  are  the  twin  sources  of  pontifical 
authority.  The  Papacy  stands  with  one  foot  on  earth  and 
the  other  in  heaven.  It  has  compelled  the  Ccesars  to  give 
it  temporal  power,  and  the  apostles  to  yield  it  spiritual  au- 


LOWERS  GOD  AND  EXALTS  THE  PRIEST.  409 

thority.     It  is  the  ghost  of  Peter,  with  the  shadowy  diadem 
of  the  old  Csesars. 

Similar  is  the  tendency  and  design  of  all  the  dogmas  of 
the  Papacy.  These  are  but  so  many  defences  and  outposts 
thrown  up  around  the  infallible  chair  of  Peter:  they  are 
so  many  chains  forged  in  the  Vatican,  and  cunningly  fa- 
shioned by  Ilome''s  artificers,  for  binding  the  intellect  and 
the  conscience  of  mankind.  There  is  not  one  of  the  articles 
in  her  creed  which  is  not  fitted  to  exalt  the  priesthood  and 
degrade  the  people.  This  is  its  main,  almost  its  sole  object. 
That  creed,  superstitious  to  the  very  core,  exerts  no  whole- 
some influence  upon  the  mind  :  it  neither  expands  the  in- 
tellect nor  regulates  the  conscience.  It  does  not  set  forth 
the  grace  of  the  Father,  or  the  love  of  the  Son,  or  the  power 
of  the  Spirit.  It  has  been  framed  with  a  far  different  ob- 
ject. It  sets  forth  the  grace  of  the  pope,  the  power  of  the 
priest,  and  the  efiicacy  of  the  sacrament.  The  pope,  the 
priest,  and  the  sacrament,  are  the  triune  with  the  mystery 
of  which  the  creed  of  Popery  is  occupied.  We  have  already 
pointed  out  the  tendency  of  each  of  the  separate  articles  as 
they  passed  in  review  before  us,  and  it  becomes  unnecessary 
here  to  dwell  upon  them.  Let  it  suffice  to  remark,  that  by 
the  doctrine  of  tradition  the  priests  are  constituted  the  ex- 
clusive channels  of  divine  revelation,  and  by  the  doctrine  of 
inherent  efficacy  they  become  the  only  channels  of  divine  in- 
fluence. In  the  one  case  the  people  are  entirely  dependent 
upon  them  for  all  knowledge  of  the  will  of  God  ;  and  in  the 
other,  they  are  not  less  dependent  upon  them  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  divine  blessings.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  how  this 
tends  to  exalt  this  class  of  men.  They  have  power  sinritual- 
ly  to  shut  heaven,  that  it  rain  not  upon  the  earth.  By 
sprinkling  a  little  water  on  the  face  of  a  child,  the  priest  can 
remove  all  its  guilt,  and  impart  holiness  to  it.  A  whisper 
from  the  priest  in  the  confessional  can  absolve  from  sin,  or 
adjudge  to  eternal  flames.  By  muttering  a  few  words  in 
Latin,  he  can  create  the  flesh  and  blood,  the  soul  and  divinity, 
of  Christ ;  and  in  saying  mass,  he  can  so  regulate  his  inten- 


410  GENIUS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

tion  as  to  direct  its  efficacy  to  any  person  he  pleases,  whe- 
ther in  this  \Yorld  or  in  the  next.  At  his  word  the  doors  of 
purgatory  are  closed,  and  those  of  paradise  fly  open.  He 
can  raise  to  immortal  bliss,  or  sink  into  eternal  woe.  These 
are  tremendous  powers ;  and  the  man  who  wields  them,  in 
the  eyes  of  an  ignorant  people  is  not  a  mortal,  but  a  god. 
"  It  is  a  most  execrable  thing,""  said  Pope  Paschal  II.,  "that 
those  hands  which  have  received  a  power  above  that  of  an- 
gels,— which  can  by  an  act  of  their  ministry  create  God  him- 
self, and  offer  him  for  the  salvation  of  the  world, — should  ever 
be  put  into  subjection  of  the  hands  of  kings.""  The  truths 
which  the  gospel  makes  known  are  intended  to  elevate  the 
people  ;  the  dogmas  of  Romanism  are  intended  to  exalt  only 
the  priesthood,  and  to  put  the  people  under  their  feet.  The 
miraculous  power  with  which  the  Romish  clergy  are  invest- 
ed places  them  above  kings  ; — they  are  raised  to  a  level  with 
the  Deity  himself. 

Whatever  order  or  government  exists  in  society,  Popery 
has  had  the  art  to  seize  and  make  subservient  to  her  own 
aggrandizement.  She  infused  herself  into  the  governments 
of  Europe.  She  possessed  them,  as  it  were,  and  made  them 
really  parts  of  herself.  The  various  thrones  of  the  west  v/ere 
but  satrapies  of  the  fisherman"'s  chair.  The  princes  that  oc- 
cupied them  were  always,  in  point  of  fact,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  in  point  of  conventional  arrangement,  the  lieute- 
nants and  deputies  of  the  Pope.  They  were  taught  that  it 
was  their  glory  to  be  so ;  that  their  crowns  acquired  new 
lustre  by  being  laid  at  the  feet  of  the  successor  of  the 
apostles;  and  that  their  arms  were  ennobled  and  sanctified  by 
being  wielded  in  his  service.  The  pontiff  taught  them  that 
their  life  was  bound  up  with  his  life  ;  that  without  him  they 
could  not  exist;  and  that  in  no  way  could  they  so  effectually 
strengthen  their  own  authority  as  by  maintaining  his.  Thus 
did  Popery  poison  at  their  source  the  springs  of  law  and 
government,  and  bind  the  kings  and  kingdoms  of  Europe 
in  one  vast  confederation  against  the  interests  of  liberty  and 
religion,  and  in  support  of  that  divinity  who  sat  upon  the 


LEANS  ON  HUMAN  GOVERNMENT.  411 

Seven  Hills.  No  doubt  the  members  of  that  confederation 
sometimes  quarrelled  among  themselves,  and  sometimes  re- 
volted against  their  sacerdotal  master  ;  but  even  when  they 
hated  the  person  of  the  Pope,  they  remained  true  to  his  sys- 
tem. They  warred,  it  might  be,  against  the  pontiff,  but  they 
still  wore  the  yoke  of  the  Papacy.  They  were  revolters 
against  Hildebrand  or  against  Clement,  but  all  the  while 
they  were  obedient  sons  of  the  Church.  In  nothing  does 
the  genius  of  Popery  appear  more  wonderful  than  in  that  it 
could  bind  to  its  chariot-wheel  so  many  powerful  and  inde- 
pendent princes,  and  reconcile  so  many  diverse  and  conflict- 
ing interests,  and  unite  them  all  in  support  of  itself. 

If  Popery  has  leant  for  aid  upon  civil  government,  and 
has  known  how  to  convert  its  functions  into  organs  of  its 
own,  it  has  leant  not  less  decidedly  upon  human  nature,  and 
has  had  the  art  to  draw  from  it  most  substantial  support. 
The  nature  of  man  it  has  profoundly  studied,  and  thoroughly 
understands.  There  is  not  a  faculty  of  his  soul,  nor  a  feel- 
ing of  his  heart,  which  is  not  known  to  it.  There  is  not  a 
phase  of  character  nor  a  diversity  of  taste  among  the  whole 
human  race,  of  which  it  is  not  cognizant.  Whatever  talent 
it  be  which  any  of  the  sons  of  men  possess.  Popery  will 
speedily  discover  it,  and  instantly  find  a  fitting  sphere  for 
its  exercise.  Whether  the  faculty  in  question  be  a  good  or 
an  evil  one,  matters  wonderfully  little,  seeing  Popery  knows 
the  secret  of  making  both  alike  serviceable.  It  is  a  system 
adapted  to  man  as  he  is.  It  runs  parallel  with  the  entire 
range  of  his  hopes  and  his  fears,  his  virtues  and  his  passions, 
his  eccentricities,  his  foibles,  his  tastes.  There  is  no  one 
therefore  who  will  not  find  in  Popery  something  that  cor- 
responds with  his  own  predominant  quality  and  taste.  It  is 
the  most  accommodating  of  all  systems,  and  has  therefore 
received  an  equal  measure  of  attachment  and  support  from 
men  differing  widely  in  their  intellectual  powers,  their  ac- 
quired tastes,  and  their  moral  dispositions.  To  the  man  of 
the  world  who  delights  in  the  glitter  of  show,  and  yields  his 
submission  only  where  he  is  dazzled  by  the  splendour  of 


4J2  GENIUS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

rank,  it  presents  a  Church  moulded  on  the  pattern  of  earthly 
monarchies, — an  imposing  hierarchy,  rising  in  successive 
ranks,  throne  above  throne,  from  the  barefooted  friar  up  to 
Chrises  vicar.  To  the  man  who  is  capable  of  being  capti- 
vated with  only  an  outward  religion,  here  is  a  worship  to 
his  heart''s  content, — a  gorgeous  ritual,  performed  amidst 
the  glories  of  architecture,  of  statuary,  and  of  painting, 
amid  the  perfume  of  incense,  the  glare  of  lamps,  and  the 
swell  of  noble  music.  There  is  no  revelation  of  God's  holi- 
ness ;  there  are  no  humbling  views  of  the  sinner''s  unworthi- 
ness  and  guilt  comnmnicated;  everything  is  so  contriven  as 
powerfully  to  stir,  not  the  conscience,  which  is  left  in  its 
profound  sleep,  but  the  imagination ;  and  to  gratify,  not  the 
longings  of  the  spiritual  nature,  which  do  not  exist,  but 
the  cravings  of  the  senses.  In  short,  every  ingredient  that 
could  intoxicate  and  madden,  that  could  weaken  reason  and 
drown  the  man  in  delirium,  has  Rome  mixed  in  her  "  witch's 
cauldron."  The  figure  is  almost  apocalyptic, — the  cup  of 
sorcery. 

To  that  large  class  of  mankind  who  seek  to  reconcile 
their  hopes  of  heaven  with  the  indulgence  of  their  passions, 
the  religion  of  Popery  is  admirably  adapted.  The  religion 
of  Rome  is  not  a  principle,  but  a  ritual ;  and  the  observance 
of  that  ritual  will  secure  heaven,  let  the  morals  of  the  man 
be  ever  so  corrupt.  It  is  not  necessary  to  part  with  any 
sin  ;  no  change  of  heart,  no  progress  in  holiness,  is  required; 
obedience  to  the  Church  is  the  one  cardinal  virtue.  The 
want  of  this  alone  can  damn  a  man.  More  lax  and  pliant 
than  even  Mahommedanism  or  Hinduism,  there  is  not  a 
ceremonial  rite  nor  a  moral  duty  in  the  system  of  Popery 
from  which  a  few  gold  pieces  may  not  purchase  a  dispensa- 
tion. It  is  the  most  demoralizing  of  all  idolatries.  It 
spares  the  indolent  man  the  trouble  of  inquiry,  by  present- 
ing him  with  the  infallibility.  In  fact,  it  makes  his  indolence 
a  virtue,  and  thus,  by  sanctifying  his  vices,  makes  him  more 
completely  its  slave.  But  farther,  there  is  a  lurking  dis- 
position in  the  heart  of  man  to  claim  heaven  as  a  debt  due, 


LEANS  ON  HUMAN  PASSIONS.  413 

rather  than  receive  it  as  a  free  gift.  This  propensity  Po- 
pery completely  gratifies.  Its  grand  characteristic,  as  a  re- 
lifjioiis  system,  is  worh,  in  opposition  to  faith, — salvation  by 
merit,  in  opposition  to  salvation  by  grace.  And  thus,  while 
it  traverses  the  grand  idea  of  the  gospel,  it  enlists  on  its 
side  the  pride  of  the  human  heart.  This  lays  open  to  us 
one  of  the  main  sources  of  Popery's  success.  While  the 
gospel  is  met  by  the  whole  force  of  unsanctified  human  na- 
ture, because  it  seeks  to  eradicate  those  principles  which 
are  natui-ally  the  most  powerful  in  the  heart  of  man,  and  to 
implant  their  opposites,  Popery  takes  man  as  he  is,  and, 
without  seeking  to  eradicate  a  single  evil  principle,  finds 
him  a  sphere  and  sets  him  a-working.  Passions  already 
strong  Popery  nurtures  into  yet  greater  strength,  and  so 
creates  a  vast  moving  force  within  the  man.  If  her  fund 
of  heavenly  treasure  be  imaginary,  not  so  her  fund  of  earthly 
power.  There  exist  within  her  pale  elements  of  diverse 
character  and  tremendous  force,  and  these  Popery  knows 
right  well  how  to  guide.  The  forces  are  completely  under 
her  control;  and  however  noxious  in  themselves,  and  how- 
ever destructive  if  left  to  act  without  restraint,  she  knows 
how  to  make  them  not  only  perfectly  safe,  but  eminently 
serviceable.  In  few  things  is  the  genius  of  Popery  more 
conspicuous  than  in  this  composition  of  forces, — this  com- 
bination of  elements  the  most  various ;  so  that  from  the 
utmost  diversity  of  action  there  is  educed  at  last  the  most 
perfect  unity  of  result,  and  that  result  the  aggrandizement 
of  the  Church.  That  Church  provides  convents  for  the  as- 
cetic and  the  mystic,  carnivals  for  the  gay,  missions  for 
the  enthusiast,  penances  for  the  man  suffering  from  remorse, 
sisterhoods  of  mercy  for  the  benevolent,  crusades  for  the 
chivalrous,  secret  missions  for  the  man  whose  genius  lies  in 
intrigue,  the  Inquisition,  with  its  racks  and  screws,  for  the 
man  who  combines  detestation  of  heresy  with  the  love  of 
cruelty,  indulgences  for  the  man  of  wealth  and  pleasure, 
purgatory  to  awe  the  refractory  and  frighten  the  vulgar, 
and  a  subtile  theology  for  the  casuist  and  the  dialectician. 


414  GENIUS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

Within  the  pale  of  that  Church  there  is  work  for  all  these 
labourers,  and  that  too  the  very  work  in  which  each  de- 
lights, while  Rome  reaps  the  fruit  of  all.  "  To  him  who 
would  scourge  himself  into  godliness,"  says  Channing,  speak- 
ing of  the  Church  of  Rome,  "  it  offers  a  whip  ;  for  him  who 
would  starve  himself  into  spirituality  it  provides  the  mendi- 
cant convents  of  St  Francis ;  for  the  anchorite  it  prepares 
the  death-like  silence  of  La  Trappe;  to  the  passionate 
young  woman  it  presents  the  raptures  of  St  Theresa,  and 
the  marriage  of  St  Catherine  with  her  Saviour;  for  the 
restless  pilgrim,  whose  piety  needs  greater  variety  than  the 
cell  of  the  monk,  it  offers  shrines,  tombs,  relics,  and  other 
holy  places  in  Christian  lands,  and,  above  all,  the  holy  se- 
pulchre near  Calvary.  .  .  ,  When  in  Rome,  the  travel- 
ler sees  by  the  side  of  the  purple-lackeyed  cardinal,  the  beg- 
ging friar ;  when  under  the  arches  of  St  Peter,  he  sees  a 
coarsely- dressed  monk  holding  forth  to  a  ragged  crowd;  or 
when  beneath  a  Franciscan  church,  adorned  with  the  most 
precious  works  of  art,  he  meets  a  charnel-house,  where  the 
bones  of  the  dead  brethren  are  built  into  walls,  between 
which  the  living  walk  to  read  their  mortality.  He  is  amazed, 
if  he  give  himself  time  for  reflection,  at  the  infinite  variety 
of  machinery  which  Catholicism  has  brought  to  bear  on  the 
human  mind."*  "  The  unlettered  entliusiast,"  says  Iklacau- 
lay,  "whom  the  Anglican  Church  makes  an  enemy,  and, 
whatever  the  polite  and  learned  may  think,  a  most  danger- 
ous enemy,  the  Catholic  Church  makes  a  champion.  She 
bids  him  nurse  his  beard,  covers  him  with  a  gown  and  hood 
of  coarse  dark  stuff,  ties  a  rope  round  his  waist,  and  sends 
him  forth  to  teach  in  her  name.  He  costs  her  nothing ;  he 
takes  not  a  ducat  away  from  the  revenues  of  her  beneficed 
clergy ;  he  lives  by  the  alms  of  those  who  respect  his  spiri- 
tual character  and  are  grateful  for  his  instructions;  he 
preaches  not  exactly  in  the  style  of  Massillon,  but  in  a  way 
which  moves  the  passions  of  uneducated  hearers ;  and  all 


*  Letter  on  Catholicism,  pp.  10,  11. 


EXTRAORDINARY  COMBINATION  OF  QUALITIES.  415 

his  influence  is  employed  to  strengthen  the  Church  of  which 
he  is  a  minister.  To  that  Church  he  becomes  as  strongly 
attached  as  any  of  the  cardinals  whose  scarlet  carriages  and 
liveries  crowd  the  entrance  of  the  palace  on  the  Quirinal. 
In  this  way  the  'Church  of  Rome  unites  in  herself  all  the 
strength  of  establishment  and  all  the  strength  of  dissent. 
With  the  utmost  pomp  of  a  dominant  hierarchy  above,  she 
has  all  the  energy  of  the  voluntary  system  below."* 

But  we  have  been  able  to  unfold  but  a  tithe  of  the  won- 
derful and  unrivalled  genius  of  the  Papacy.  When  one 
thinks  of  the  amazing  variety  and  endless  diversity  of  quali- 
ties which  here  entered  into  combination,  he  feels  as  if  the 
Papacy  had  summoned  from  their  grave  all  the  systems  of 
policy  and  all  the  schemes  of  dominion  which  had  ever 
existed,  and,  compelling  them  to  lay  bare  the  springs  of  their 
success  and  the  elements  of  their  strength,  had  selected 
the  choicest  qualities  of  each,  and  combined  them  into  one 
system  of  unrivalled  power.  It  united  the  subtile  intellect 
of  Greece  with  the  iron  strength  of  Rome.  Qualities  which 
never  met  before,  Popery  found  out  the  means  of  reconciling 
and  joining  in  harmonious  action.  The  wildest  enthusiasm 
and  the  soberest  reason,  tlie  grossest  sensuality  and  the 
most  rigid  asceticism,  the  most  visionary  genius  and  the  cool- 
est and  most  practical  sagacity,  the  extreme  of  fanaticism 
and  the  extreme  of  moderation.  Popery  taught  to  dwell  to- 
gether in  peace,  and  to  work  together  in  harmony.  Nothing 
was  so  exalted  as  to  be  beyond  its  reach ;  nothing  was  so 
low  as  to  be  beneath  its  care.  It  accepted  the  labours  of 
the  peasant  and  the  serf,  and  it  taught  the  titled  noble  to 
stoop  to  its  service.  It  arrayed  itself  in  purple,  and  dwelt 
in  the  palace  of  kings ;  it  put  on  rags,  and  comjjanied  with 
the  outcast.  Its  marvellous  flexibility  made  either  charac- 
ter equally  easy  and  equally  natural.  It  entered  with  like 
avidity  into  the  projects  of  princes,  the  intrigues  of  states- 
men, the  speculations  of  the  learned,  and  the  homely  pur- 


Macaulay's  Critical  and  Historical  Essays,  vol.  iii.  p.  241. 


416  GENIUS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

suits  of  the  artizan.  In  this  way  the  spell  of  its  power  was 
felt  by  all  ranks  of  society  and  by  all  grades  of  intellect.  Its 
spirit  was  operative  at  all  times  and  in  every  place.  To 
elude  its  eye  or  resist  its  arm  was  alike  impossible.  So 
terrible  a  system  never  before  existed  on  the  earth ;  and, 
once  overthrown,  it  will,  we  trust,  have  no  successor.  Well 
may  the  Papacy  be  termed  the  perfection  of  human  M'isdom 
and  the  masterpiece  of  satanic  policy. 


INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  THE  INDIVIDUAL  MAN.       417 


CHAPTER  II. 


INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  THE  INDIVIDUAL  :MAN. 


The  important  question  next  presents  itself,  What  is  the 
INFLUENCE  of  this  system?  The  system,  we  have  shown, 
tried  by  the  standard  of  Scripture  and  the  test  of  reason,  is 
thoroughly  evil.  Is  the  influence  which  it  exerts  also  evil  ? 
This  is  a  curious  and  a  most  important  inquiry.  It  opens 
up  a  wide  field,  which,  like  some  that  have  gone  before  it, 
we  must  hastily  traverse,  selecting  only  the  more  prominent 
of  the  proofs  and  evidences,  and  indicating  rather  than  fully 
illustrating  them.  The  subject  resolves  itself  into  three 
branches': — I.  The  influence  of  Romanism  on  the  individual 
man.  IT.  Its  influence  on  Government.  III.  Its  influence 
on  society. 

We  shall  confine  ourselves  to  the  first  of  these  in  the 
present  chapter, — the  influence  of  Romanism  on  the  indivi- 
dual man.  Religion  is  by  far  the  most  powerful  agent  that 
can  act  on  man,  and  that  for  the  following  reasons.  In  the 
first  place,  its  objective  truths  and  its  impelling  motives  in- 
finitely transcend  all  others ;  and  it  is  a  law,  not  less  in  the 
moral  than  in  the  natural  world,  that  the  greatest  effect 
must  flow  from  the  greatest  force.  In  the  second  place, 
with  religion  is  bound  up  man''s  own  most  important  inte- 
rests.    Other  departments  of  knowledge  are  speculative,  or 

at  best  touch  only  the  interests  of  time ;  but  religion  bears 

2  £ 


418       INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  THE  INDIVIDUAL  MAN. 

upon  the  entire  of  man's  destiny.  In  the  third  place,  it 
puts  in  motion  the  faculties  of  man  in  their  natural  order. 
As  a  moral  being,  man's  moral  sense  is  the  moving  faculty 
within  him,  and  the  intellectual  powers  are  but  its  ministers 
and  helps.  Now,  religion  acts  on  the  conscience,  and  the 
conscience  calls  into  play  the  understanding,  the  affections, 
and  the  memory.  In  this  way  the  mental  powers  act  with 
the  most  ease  and  vigour,  because  this  is  their  natural  and 
healthful  action.  It  is  the  action  of  life,  not  the  action  of 
spasmodic  or  galvanic  effort.  In  the  fourth  place,  religion 
acts  soonest  upon  the  mind.  A  child  can  feel  its  relations  to 
God,  and  have  its  judgment  and  memory  exercised  about 
these  relations,  long  before  it  is  capable  of  a  mental  act  in  any 
other  department  of  human  knowledge.  But  for  its  religious 
exercises,  which  are  always  the  earliest  mental  efforts  of  the 
child,  years  of  intellectual  dormancy  would  pass  away,  and 
when  they  came  to  an  end,  the  child  would  bring  to  other 
subjects  untrained  and  comparatively  feeble  powers.  Be- 
sides, whatever  makes  the  first,  cwteris  paribus,  makes  also 
the  deepest  impression  upon  the  mind.  In  the  fifth  place, 
religion  acts  most  frequently/  upon  the  mind.  In  early  life 
especially,  questions  of  duty  must  be  of  hourly  occurrence. 
The  decision  of  these  questions  involves  the  exercise  of  the 
reasoning  powers.  This  is  favourable  to  mental  activity, 
and  mental  activity  begets  mental  vigour.  In  the  last 
place,  religion  acts  upon  the  greatest  mmiber.  Science,  poli- 
tics, and  other  subjects,  have  each  their  chosen  disciples, 
but  religion  embraces  all ;  for  where  is  the  rational  being 
who  cannot  feel  the  force  of  its  motives,  and  the  extent  to 
which  his  highest  interests  are  involved  in  it  I  On  all  these 
grounds,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  religion,  both  as 
a  motive  power  and  as  a  moulding  agent,  wields  over  man, 
whether  viewed  individually  or  socially,  an  influence  of  such 
universal  and  resistless  energy,  that,  compared  with  it,  all 
other  agencies  are  insignificant  and  powerless.  Emphati- 
cally it  is  religion, — keeping  out  of  view  at  present  the  un- 
equal advantages  of  birth  and  of  mental  endowment, — it  is 


INTELLECTUAL  RANK  OF  NATIONS.  419 

religion  that  determines  the  social  place  and  the  terrestrial 
destiny  of  a  man;  it  is  religion  that  determines  the  social 
place  and  the  terrestrial  destiny  of  a  nation.  But  we  have 
already  proved  that  Popery  is  opposed  to  Scripture,  and 
contradicts  reason.  In  the  proportion  in  which  it  does  so 
it  is  not  religion ;  and  in  the  proportion  in  which  it  is  not 
religion,  it  does  not  possess  and  cannot  exercise  the  influence 
we  have  described.  It  follows  that  the  Papist  is  denied  the 
benefit  of  an  influence  morally  restorative  and  intellectually 
invigorating  in  an  extraordinary  degree,  to  all  the  extent  to 
which  Romanism  comes  short  of  religion.  But  we  have  al- 
ready established  that  Popery  is  not  merely  a  defective  sys- 
tem of  Christianity, — it  is  a  system  antagonistic  to  Chris- 
tianity. It  not  only,  therefore,  does  not  possess  the  influ- 
ence we  have  ascribed  to  Christianity,  but  it  possesses  an  in- 
fluence of  a  directly  opposite  character.  It  tends  as  much  to 
degrade  and  pollute  man''s  moral  constitution  as  Christia- 
nity tends  to  elevate  and  purify  it ;  and  where  the  one  quick- 
ens, expands,  and  strengthens  the  intellect,  the  other  in- 
flicts feebleness  and  torpor. 

In  proof  of  the  vast  intellectual  quickening  which  Christi- 
anity always  brings  along  with  it,  we  may  appeal  to  the  state 
of  the  heathen  world.  The  various  nations  of  the  earth  oc- 
cupy places  on  the  intellectual  scale  ranged  according  to 
the  proportion  in  which  the  elements  of  religion  are  retained 
among  them.  First  come  the  more  remote  tribes,  to  whom 
the  existence  of  a  God  is  scarcely  known,  and  whose  mental 
powers  scarce  suffice  to  enable  them  to  count  ten  successive 
numbers  ;  next  come  the  Hindoos  of  India,  conspicuous  alike 
for  the  grossness  of  their  religious  system  and  their  utter  in- 
tellectual and  moral  prostration;  next  in  the  intellectual 
scale  come  the  various  tribes  of  Western  Asia,  whose  faith 
is  ]\|ahommedanism  ;  then  the  popish  nations  of  Southern 
and  Western  Europe ;  then  the  semi-popish  nations  of 
Northern  Germany ;  and  last  of  all,  and  very  much  in  ad- 
vance of  all  the  others,  are  the  protestant  nations  of  Britain 
and  America.    As  is  the  religion  of  a  people,  the  Bible  being 


420       INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  THE  INDIVIDUAL  MAN. 

the  standard  according  to  which  we  judge  of  religion,  so  is 
the  intellectual  development  and  the  social  advancement  of 
that  people.  This  order  obtains  over  all  the  earth.  It  can- 
not be  regarded  as  a  mere  coincidence.  To  regard  it  as  such 
would  be  not  less  unphilosophical  than  to  regard  as  a  mere 
coincidence  the  connection  between  stinted  food  and  a  dwarf- 
ed body,  or  that  other  connection  which  is  found  to  exist  in 
all  ordinary  cases  between  sufficient  aliment  and  visrorous  phy- 
sical powers.  A  fact  of  such  universal  occurrence  must  neces- 
sarily have  birth  in  some  great  and  universal  law.  Neither  cli- 
mate, nor  race,  nor  government,  can  solve  the  phenomenon. 
Solutions  have  often  been  attempted  on  one  or  other  of  these 
principles ;  but  there  are  innumerable  facts  which  defy  solu- 
tion on  all  of  them,  and  which  are  soluble  only  with  reference 
to  the  influence  of  religion.  Not  to  mention  other  instances, 
we  find  in  the  very  heart  of  the  Mahommedan  empire  a  small 
Christian  society, — the  Chaldeans  of  the  Kurdish  mountains. 
Their  lovely  and  well-cultivated  valleys,  their  clean,  thriving 
villages,  their  pure  morals,  and  cultivated  manners  and  tastes, 
form  a  striking  but  most  agreeable  contrast  to  the  bar- 
barism, the  sloth,  the  filth,  and  the  vice,  that  on  all  sides 
surround  tiiem.  They  are  under  the  same  climate  and  go- 
vernment as  their  neighbours  :  in  one  thing  only  do  they 
differ  froni  them,  and  that  is  their  religion.  Thus,  in  all 
circumstances  the  influence  of  Christianity  is  the  same. 
Here  we  find  it,  though  existing  in  a  very  imperfect  state, 
creating  a  very  oasis  of  beauty  in  the  midst  of  the  waste  wil- 
derness of  Mahommedan  idolatry.*  And,  to  come  nearer 
home,  we  have  in  Britain  a  striking  fact  standing;  in  direct 
antagonism  to  the  theory  which  resolves  all  these  great  na- 
tional diversities  into  influence  of  race.  We  have  the  Celts 
of  Ireland  and  the  Celts  of  Scotland  standing  at  the  very  an- 
tipodes of  the  moral  and  social  scale.  But  we  have  not  only 
the  proof  from  analysis ;  the  proof  from  direct  experiment 


*  For  a  most  interesting  account  of  these  Christians,  see  Layard's  Nine- 
veh and  its  Remains,  vol.  i.  pp.  147-173. 


QUICKENL\G  POWER  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  421 

is  equally  conclusive.  All  our  missionaries  declare,  that  when 
Christianity  is  brought  to  bear  upon  the  native  mind  of  India, 
it  brings  a  striking  intellectual  change  along  with  it.  Even 
where  it  stops  short  of  conversion,  it  elevates  the  man  from 
the  mass  of  his  countrymen  :  even  where  it  does  not  bestow 
the  heart  of  the  Christian,  it  bestows  the  intellect  of  the 
European.  There  is  a  visible  quickening  and  expansion  of 
all  the  powers,  intellectual  and  moral.*  The  vast  transfor- 
mation which  Christianity  wrought  on  the  islands  of  the 
Pacific  is  well  known.  She  found  these  islands  the  abode 
of  cannibalism,  and  she  made  them  the  home  of  the  moral 
and  industrial  virtues.  In  short,  what  clime  or  tribe  has 
Christianity  visited  where  she  did  not  bring  in  her  train  all 
the  elements  of  terrestrial  happiness  ? 

If,  as  a  wide  induction  of  facts  establishes,  the  religion  of 
the  Bible  is  by  far  the  most  powerful  agent  in  quickening 
the  intellect,  and  starting  nations  in  a  career  of  progress, 
and  if,  as  we  have  already  proved,  Eomanism  is  not  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Bible,  it  follows  that  Romanism  is  devoid  of 
this  life-dispensing  power.  But  further,  if  Romanism  be  a 
system  the  spirit  of  which  is  antagonistic  to  the  religion  of 
the  Bible,  as  we  have  shown  it  to  be,  it  follows  that  its  in- 
fluence on  the  mind  of  man  is  antagonistic  also, — is  as  per- 
nicious and  destructive  as  that  of  religion  is  wholesome  and 
beneficial.     We  might  safely  rest  the  matter,  as  regards  the 


*  The  following  anecdote,  than  which  nothing  could  better  illustrate 
onr  subject,  the  writer  has  from  very  excellent  authority  : — Not  long 
since,  Dr  Duff  was  in  ^Manchester  prosecuting  his  grand  mission.  In  com- 
pany one  day  witli  some  of  the  great  cotton-spinners  of  the  place,  the 
conversation  turned  on  the  subject  of  cotton.  The  company  were  express- 
ing the  desirableness  of  growing  cotton  in  our  Indian  possessions,  instead 
of  importing  it  from  America.  "  You  must  first  Christianize  India,"  said 
the  doctor.  "  Why  2"  it  was  asked.  "  Because  cotton  does  not  grow  in 
India  beyond  the  line  of  Christianity,"  replied  the  missionary.  "  What 
possible  connection  can  there  be  between  Christianity  and  the  growth  of 
cotton  ?"  "  There  is  this  connection,"  replied  the  doctor,  "  that  Cliristi- 
anity  gives  the  faculties  to  cultivate  it,  of  which  the  Indian  in  his  native 
fetate  is  destitute." 


422   INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  THE  INDIVIDUAL  MAN. 

influence  of  Rome,  on  these  general  grounds  ;  but  we  shall 
go  a  little  into  particulars,  and  show,  first,  from  the  doctrines^ 
and,  second,  from  the  practice,  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  that 
the  practical  tendency  and  working  of  the  system  is  ruinous 
in  no  ordinary  degree. 

We  take  first  the  doctrine  of  infallibility.  Can  anything 
be  conceived  more  fitted  to  crush  all  intellectual  visrour  than 
such  a  doctrine  ?  As  an  infallible  Church,  Rome  presents 
her  votaries  with  a  system  of  dogmas,  not  a  few  of  which 
are  opposed  to  reason,  and  some  of  them  even  to  the  senses. 
These  dogmas  are  not  to  be  investigated  ;  the  person  must 
not  attempt  to  reconcile  them  to  reason,  or  to  the  evidence 
of  his  senses ;  he  must  not  attempt  even  to  understand  them; 
they  are  simply  to  be  believed.  If  he  demands  grounds  for 
this  belief,  he  is  told  that  he  is  committing  mortal  sin,  and 
perilling  his  salvation.  Here  is  all  action  of  the  mind  inter- 
dicted, under  the  highest  sanctions.  The  person  is  taught 
that  he  cannot  commit  a  greater  crime  than  to  think  ;  that 
he  cannot  more  grievously  offend  against  his  Creator  than 
by  using  the  powers  his  Creator  has  endowed  him  with. 
Thus,  while  the  first  effect  of  Christianity  is  to  quicken  the 
intellect,  the  first  effect  of  Romanism  is  to  strike  it  with 
torpor.  She  inexorably  demands  of  all  her  votaries  that 
they  denude  themselves  of  their  understandings  and  their 
senses,  and  prostrate  them  beneath  the  wheels  of  this  Jug- 
gernaut of  hers.  While  the  Protestant  is  occupied  in  inves- 
tigating the  grounds  of  his  creed,  in  tracing  the  relations  of 
its  various  truths,  and  in  following  out  their  consequences, 
the  mind  of  the  Roman  Catholic  is  all  the  while  lying  dor- 
mant. As  the  bandaged  limb  loses  in  time  the  power  of  mo- 
tion, so  faculties  not  used  become  at  length  incapable  of  use. 
A  timid  disposition,  an  inert  habit,  is  produced,  which  is  not 
confined  to  religion,  but  extends  to  every  subject  with  which 
the  person  has  to  do.  His  reason  is  shut  up  in  a  cave,  and 
infallibility  rolls  a  great  stone  to  the  cave"'s  mouth. 

Not  less  injurious  to  the  intellect  is  the  doctrine  of  abso- 
lute and  unreserved  submission  to  ecclesiastical  superiors. 


rOPERY  DESTROYS  ACTIVITY  AND  INDEPENDENCE.      423 

If  the  former  afflicts  with  mental  imbecility,  this  deals  a 
fatal  blow  to  mental  independence.  The  Church  issues  her 
command,  and  the  person  has  no  alternative  but  instant, 
unquestioning,  blind  obedience.  He  acts  not  from  the  power 
of  motive,  but,  like  the  beast  of  burden,  is  urged  forward 
by  the  rod.  Here  are  the  two  prime  qualities  of  man  de- 
stroyed. The  one  doctrine  robs  him  of  his  strength,  the 
other  of  his  freedom :  the  one  makes  him  an  intellectual 
paralytic,  the  other  a  mental  slave.  To  this  double  depth 
of  weakness  and  servility  does  Popery  degrade  her  victims. 
The  leading  idea  of  Popery  as  a  scheme  of  salvation  is, 
that  the  sacraments  impart  grace  and  holiness, — the  opus 
operatum.  It  is  hard  to  say  whether  this  inflicts  greater  in- 
jury upon  the  intellectual  or  the  spiritual  part  of  man.  It 
injures  vitally  his  spiritual  part,  because  it  teaches  him  not 
to  look  beyond  the  sacrament  and  the  priest :  it  substitutes 
these  in  the  room  of  the  Saviour.  The  intellectual  part  it 
no  less  vitally  injures  :  it  cuts  off  that  train  of  mental  ac- 
tion, that  intellectual  process,  to  which  the  gospel  so  natu- 
rally and  beautifully  gives  rise,  by  joining  works  with  faith, — 
the  sinner's  own  efforts  with  the  grace  of  the  Spirit,  Under 
the  system  of  Popery,  not  a  single  quality  or  disposition  need 
be  cultivated  ;  not  the  reason  and  judgment,  for  the  Papist 
is  forbidden  to  exercise  these ;  not  the  power  of  sustained 
and  patient  effort,  for  all  for  which  the  Christian  has  to  pray, 
and  labour,  and  wait,  is  in  the  case  of  the  Papist  conferred 
in  an  instant,  in  virtue  of  the  opus  operatum :  his  power  of 
self-scrutiny,  his  self-denial,  and  his  self-control,  all  lie  dor- 
mant. Here  are  the  noblest  and  most  useful  of  the  moral 
and  mental  faculties,  which  Christianity  carefully  trains  and 
invigorates,  all  blighted  and  destroyed  by  Popery.  The  very 
idea  of  progress  is  extinguished  in  the  mind.  The  man  is 
stereotyped  in  immobility.  He  is  given  over  to  the  domi- 
nion of  indolence,  and  shrinks  from  the  very  idea  of  fore- 
thought and  reflection,  and  effort  of  every  kind,  as  the  most 
disagreeable  of  all  painful  things.  These  qualities  the  man 
carries  with  him  into  every  department  of  life  and  labour ; 


424       INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  THE  INDIVIDUAL  MAN. 

for  he  cannot  bo  reflective,  persevering,  and  self-denied  in 
one  thing,  and  slothful,  self-indulgent,  and  devoid  of  thought 
in  another.  Need  we  wonder  at  the  vast  disparity  between 
Papists  and  Protestants  generally  ?  When  called  to  compete 
with  another  man  in  the  field  of  science  or  of  industry,  the 
Papist  cannot,  at  the  mere  bidding  of  his  will,  call  up  those 
faculties  so  necessary  to  success,  which  the  evil  genius  of  his 
religion  has  so  fatally  cramped. 

Faith  is  one  of  the  master  faculties  of  the  soul.  It  is  in- 
dispensable to  strength  of  purpose,  grandeur  of  aim,  and 
that  indomitable  persevering  effort  which  guides  to  success. 
But  faith  Popery  extinguishes  as  systematically  as  Christi- 
anity cherishes  it.  She  hides  from  view  the  grand  objects 
of  faith.  For  a  Saviour  in  the  heavens,  who  can  be  seen 
only  by  faith,  she  substitutes  a  saviour  on  the  altar.  For 
the  blessings  of  the  Spirit,  to  be  obtained  by  faith,  she  sub- 
stitutes grace  in  the  sacrament.  Heaven  at  last  is  to  be  ob- 
tained, not  by  faith  on  the  divine  promise,  but  by  the  mystic 
virtue  of  a  sacrament  operating  as  a  charm.  Thus  Popery 
robs  faitli  of  all  her  functions.  That  noble  power  which 
descries  glory  from  afar,  and  which  bears  the  soul  on  unfal- 
tering wing  across  the  mighty  void,  to  that  distant  land, 
teaching  it  in  its  passage  the  hardy  virtue  of  endurance,  and 
the  ennobling  faculty  of  hope  and  of  trust  in  God, — lessons 
so  profitable  to  the  intellect  as  well  as  to  the  soul  of  man, — 
has  under  the  Papacy  no  room  to  act.  In  the  room  of  faith, 
Popery,  as  is  her  wont,  substitutes  the  counterfeit  quality, — 
credulity ;  and  a  credulity  so  vast,  that  it  receives  without 
hesitation  or  question  the  most  monstrous  dogmas,  however 
plainly  opposed  to  Scripture  and  to  reason. 

In  short.  Popery  teaches  her  votaries  to  devolve  upon  the 
priesthood  the  whole  responsibility  and  the  whole  care  of 
their  salvation.  The  well-known  case  of  the  late  Duke  of 
Brunswick  is  no  caricature,  but  is  simply  a  plain  and  honest 
statement, — though  not  such,  we  admit,  as  a  Jesuit  would 
have  given, — of  the  real  state  of  matters  in  the  Bomish 
Church.     "  The  Catholics  to  whom  I  spoke  concerning  my 


POPERY  DESTROYS  SELF-RELTAXCE.  425 

conversion,"  says  the  Duke,  when  assigning  his  reasons  for 
embracing  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  "  assured  me  that 
if  I  were  to  be  damned  for  embracing  the  Catholic  faith, 
they  were  ready  to  answer  for  me  at  the  day  of  judgment, 
and  to  take  my  damnation  upon  themselves, — an  assurance 
I  could  never  extort  from  the  ministers  of  any  sect  in  case 
I  should  live  and  die  in  their  religion."  Thus  the  Church 
teaches  her  votaries  that  religion  is  entirely  dissociated  from 
morals  ;  that  it  is  to  no  purpose  for  one  to  put  himself  to 
the  trouble  of  cultivating  any  one  moral  or  spiritual  quality, 
— to  no  purpose  to  deny  one''s  self  any  gratification,  however 
sinful ;  that  one  may  live  in  the  flagrant  violation  of  every 
one  of  the  commandments  of  God,  provided  only  he  be  obe- 
dient to  the  commandments  of  the  Church ;  and  the  sum 
and  substance  of  the  Church's  commandments  is,  that  he 
practise  a  ritual  associated  with  no  act  or  feeling  of  the  soul, 
and  which  produces  in  return  no  spiritual  effect,  and  that 
whenever  he  fails  in  this  somewhat  monotonous  and  dreary 
task,  he  be  ready  with  his  money  to  pay  for  masses  and  in- 
dulgences. Thus  the  very  first  principles  of  morality  are 
struck  at.  But  the  point  we  meant  to  bring  mainly  into 
view  here  is  the  habit  of  mind  thus  produced,  which  is  that 
of  sitting  still,  and  leaving  all  which  it  belongs  to  one  to  do, 
to  be  done  for  him  by  others.  This  is  fatal  to  the  energy, 
not  less  than  to  the  morality,  of  the  man.  It  teaches  him 
the  needlessness  of  effort ;  it  extinguishes  the  principle  of 
self-reliance,  and  teaches  the  duty  of  divesting  one's  self  of 
all  care  and  forethought, — a  habit  of  mind  which,  when  ac- 
quired in  the  important  matter  of  salvation,  is  sure  to  be 
carried  into  other  and  inferior  departments  of  life.  It  would 
form  a  curious  subject  of  enquiry  how  far  the  feeling  which 
leads  Roman  Catholics  to  lean  so  decidedly  upon  the  priest- 
hood for  the  life  to  come,  is  akin  to  that  which  leads  them 
to  lean  so  decidedly  upon  governments,  and  so  little  upon 
themselves,  as  respects  the  present  life.  The  fiat  of  a  priest, 
without  any  labour  of  theirs,  can  give  them  heaven,  with 
all  its  happiness  :  why  should  not  the  fiat  of  a  statesman, 
without  any  labour  of  theirs,  be  able  to  give  them  earth, 


426         INFLUENCE  OP  POPERY  ON  THE  INDIVIDUAL  MAN. 

with  all  its  enjoyments  ?  We  have  only  to  transfer  their 
modes  of  thinking  and  their  habits  of  action  on  the  subject 
of  religion,  to  matters  of  this  world,  and  we  have  the  woeful 
picture  of  sloth,  and  decay,  and  want  of  forethought,  which 
Roman  Catholic  countries  almost  uniformly  indicate.  The 
internal  powers  of  the  individual  Catholic  lying  undeveloped 
and  running  to  waste,  form  but  the  type  of  his  country  lying 
neglected,  with  all  its  rich  resources  locked  up  in  its  bosom, 
because  the  poor  popery-stricken  man  has  neither  skill  nor 
energy  to  develop  them.  The  one  is  more  than  the  type  of 
the  other :  they  stand  related  as  cause  and  effect. 

Such  are  the  characters  whom  Popery  is  fitted  to  create : 
,?uch  are  the  characters  it  does  create.  Every  noble  faculty 
it  chills  into  torpor  and  death.  The  understanding  of  the 
man  lies  crushed  beneath  the  dogmas  of  his  Church :  his 
independence  is  overborne  by  an  infallible  priesthood :  his 
very  senses  are  blunted ;  for  Popery  judges  it  unsafe  to 
leave  her  miserable  victims  in  possession  even  of  these,  and 
therefore  she  systematically  outrages  them  in  some  of  the 
more  awful  of  her  mysteries.  And  conscience,  which,  did 
the  moral  sense  survive,  might  rise  in  its  strength,  and, 
rending  asunder  these  fetters  of  brass,  set  free  the  intellec- 
tual powers,  Popery  drugs,  by  her  horrid  opiates,  into  a  death- 
slumber.  A  more  pitiable  and  hopeless  condition  it  is  im- 
possible to  imagine.  The  man  is  divested  of  almost  all  that 
is  distinctive  of  man.  He  becomes  a  mere  machine  in  the 
hands  of  Popery.  He  trembles  to  assert  his  manhood. 
And  these  unreflective  and  slavish  habits  are  inwrought 
into  the  very  being  of  the  man  by  daily  iterations,  and  they 
attend  him  in  every  avocation  of  life,  proving  a  certain  source 
of  failure  and  mortification. 

Of  the  'practice  of  Popery,  as  tending  to  degrade,  we  shall 
have  a  more  legitimate  opportunity  of  speaking  when  we 
come  to  exhibit  the  influence  of  Romanism  upon  society. 
And  as  regards  the  influence  of  the  system  upon  the  reli- 
gious character  of  the  man,  we  have  so  fully  entered  into 
this  already,  when  discussing  the  several  dogmas  of  Popery, 
that  we  do  not  here  return  to  it. 


INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT.  427 


CHAPTER  III. 


INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 


To  religion  must  we  ever  assign  the  foremost  place  among 
those  beneficent  agencies  which  the  Creator  has  ordained  to 
mould  the  character  and  determine  the  destinies  of  indivi- 
duals and  nations.  She  moves  in  her  sphere  on  high,  hav- 
ing no  companion  to  share  her  place,  and  no  rival  to  divide 
her  influence.  Nevertheless,  there  are  secondary  causes  at 
work  in  moulding  individual  and  national  character,  and 
amongst  the  most  important  of  these  we  are  to  class  govern- 
ment. Government,  as  regards  its  substance,  though  not 
its  form,  is  an  ordinance  of  God,  intended,  and  eminently 
fitted,  to  conserve  the  order  and  promote  the  happiness  of 
society.  It  is  one  of  those  things  which  must  of  necessity 
be  a  great  blessing  or  a  great  curse.  It  will  be  the  one  or 
the  other,  according  to  its  character  ;  and  its  character  will 
be  mainly  dependent  upon  the  action  of  religion  upon  it. 
Wherever  Christianity  exists,  she  creates  a  standard  of  pub- 
lic morals,  and  purifies  the  whole  tone  of  opinion  and  feeling. 
These  soon  come  to  influence  the  acts  of  the  national  admi- 
nistration, and  to  be  embodied  in  the  laws  of  the  state  ;  and 
as  the  stream  can  never  rise  higher  than  its  source,  so  the 
morality  of  the  law  can  never  be  higher  than  that  to  which 
Christianity  has  already  elevated  public  sentiment  and  opi- 
nion. As  is  the  Christianity  of  a  country,  so  will  be  its  laws 
and  government.     With  a  sound  healthy  Christianity,  wo 


428  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

will  have  wise  laws,  upright  judges,  independent  and  patri- 
otic rulers,  who  will  maintain  the  national  honour,  guard 
the  public  rights,  and  keep  inviolate  the  homes  and  altars  of 
a  country.  With  the  departure  or  corruption  of  religion 
will  come  the  depression  of  public  sentiment  and  morals  ; 
and  the  degeneracy  rapidly  extending  to  those  who  make 
and  who  execute  the  kws,  there  will  soon  be  but  too  much 
reason  to  complain  of  the  injustice  of  the  one  and  the 
dishonesty  of  the  other.  The  decay  of  religion  has  ever 
been  signalized  by  the  prostration  of  public  principle,  the 
betrayal  of  the  national  honour,  the  invasion  of  conscience, 
and  the  violation  of  the  security  and  sanctity  of  the  family. 
The  decay  of  primitive  Christianity  and  the  rise  of  Popery 
were  attended  by  all  the  evils  we  have  now  specified.  The 
influence  of  the  latter  on  law  and  government  was  of  the 
most  pernicious  kind,  and  palpable  as  pernicious.  As  Popery 
waxed  in  strength,  so  did  the  corruption  and  oppression  of 
government,  till  at  last  they  grew  to  an  intolerable  height. 
The  destruction  which  Popery  works  on  individual  charac- 
ter we  have  just  had  occasion  to  state  ;  but  in  the  depart- 
ment of  government  it  has  had  more  room  to  operate,  and 
here  it  has  left  traces  of  its  evil  genius,  if  not  more  frightful, 
at  least  more  palpable.  This  opens  to  us  a  new  aspect  of 
Popery. 

Popery  has  corrupted  government  both  in  its  theory  and 
in  its  'practice. 

It  has  corrupted  the  theory  of  government.  God  has  or- 
dained twin  powers  in  the  moral  firmament, — the  civil  and 
the  ecclesiastical  jurisdictions  ;  and  on  the  due  maintenance 
of  this  duality  depends  the  liberties  of  the  world.  As  the  or- 
gans of  the  individual  are  double,  so  those  of  society  are  double 
also.  The  same  precaution  which  God  has  taken  to  preserve 
those  bodily  organs  on  which  the  existence  of  the  individual 
so  much  depends,  has  he  taken  to  preserve  those  essential 
to  the  wcllbcing  of  society.  If  one  is  destroyed,  the  other 
remains.  These  two  jurisdictions  are  distinct  in  their  na- 
ture and  in  their  objects.     They  occupy  co-ordinate  spheres, 


THE  TWO  LIBERTIES.  429 

each  being  independent  within  its  own  province.  This  is  a 
beautiful  arrangement ;  it  maintains  an  admirable  harmony 
of  forces ;  and  so  long  as  that  balance  remains  un destroyed, 
the  rights  of  society  cannot  be  vitally  or  permanently  injur- 
ed. These  two  co-ordinate  jurisdictions  resemble  two  friend- 
ly and  independent  kingdoms,  between  whom  a  league  offen- 
sive and  defensive  has  been  formed  ;  so  that  whenever  one 
is  attacked  and  in  danger  of  being  overborne,  the  other 
hastens  to  its  succour.  The  history  of  the  world  shows  that 
civil  liberty  and  ecclesiastical  bondage  cannot  stand  toge- 
ther, and  that  the  converse  of  the  proposition  is  true, — a 
people  spiritually  free  cannot  long  remain  politically  enslav- 
ed. Thus  has  God  provided  a  double  safeguard  for  liberty. 
Driven  from  the  one  domain,  she  can  retreat  into  the  other. 
Expelled  from  the  first  ditch,  she  can  make  good  her  stand 
in  the  second.  The  outer  rampart  of  civil  independence  may 
be  demolished ;  she  can  maintain  the  battle,  and,  it  may  be, 
conquer,  from  the  inner  citadel.  The  present  eventful  period 
demonstrates  not  less  clearly  than  preceding  ones,  that  the 
two  liberties  are  bound  up  together,  and  that  they  must 
fight  and  conquer,  or  sink  and  perish,  together.  But  the 
modern  Delilah  found  out  wherein  lay' the  great  strength  of 
the  strong  man.  Popery  confounded  and  incorporated  the 
civil  and  the  spiritual  jurisdictions.  This  union,  instead  of 
bringing  strength,  as  union  generally  does,  brought  weak- 
ness. It  was  a  fatal  blow  aimed  at  the  existence  of  both 
liberties.  It  put  manacles  upon  the  arm  of  both.  Herein 
lay  the  great  crime  of  Popery  against  the  rights  of  society, 
and  especially  against  the  purity  and  efficiency  of  that  order 
of  government  which  God  had  ordained  for  the  good  of  men. 
This  act  laid  a  foundation  for  the  most  monstrous  usurpa- 
tions and  the  most  intolerable  oppressions. 

This  error  grew  directly  out  of  the  fundamental  principle 
of  the  Papacy.  That  principle  is,  that  the  Pope  is  the  suc- 
cessor of  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles,  and  the  Vicar  of  Christ. 
In  virtue  of  this  assumed  character,  the  pontiff"  claimed  to 
wield  on  earth  the  whole  of  that  jurisdiction  which  Christ 


430  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

possesses  in  heaven, — to  stand  at  the  head  of  the  civil  as 
well  as  of  the  spiritual  estate, — and  to  be  as  really  a  king  of 
kings  as  he  was  a  bishop  of  bishops.     From  the  moment  this 
claim  was  advanced,  all  distinction  between  the  two  jurisdic- 
tions vanished,  and  a  kind  of  government   was  set  up  in 
Europe  which  was  neither  secular  nor  spiritual,  and  which 
can  be  described  only  as  a  mongrel  creation,  in  which  the 
qualities  of  both  were  so  mixed  and  jumbled,  that  while  all 
the  evil  incident  to  both  was  carefully  preserved,  scarce  an 
iota  of  the  good  was  retained.     This  hybrid  rule  was  of 
course  styled  government,  but  it  had  ceased  to  fulfil  any 
one  function  of  government,  and  it  set  itself  systematically 
to  oppose  and  defeat  every  end  which  a  wise  government 
strives  to  attain.      This  form   of  government   was  essen- 
tially, and  to  an  enormous  extent,  irresponsible  and  arbi- 
trary.    For,  firsts  it  was  a  theocracy.      God's  vicegerent 
stood  at  the  head  of  it.     He  was  bound  to  render  no  rea- 
sons for  what  he  did.     He  claimed  to  be  an  infallible  ruler. 
He  could  plead  divine  authority  for  the  most  enormous  of 
his  usurpations  and  the  most  despotic  of  his  acts.     He  had 
an  infallible  right  to  violate  oaths,  dethrone  princes,  and 
lay  whole  provinces  waste.     What  would  have  been  atro- 
cious wickedness  in  another  man,  was  in  him  the  emanation 
of  infallible  wisdom  and  immaculate  holiness.     Against  a 
power  so  irresponsible  and  tremendous  it  was  in  vain  that 
conscience  or  reason  opposed  their  force,  or  law  its  sanc- 
tions.    These  were  met  by  an  authority  immeasurably  su- 
perior to  them  all,  at  whose  slightest  touch  their  obligations 
and  claims  were  annihilated.     Reason  and  law  it  utterly 
ignored.     The  necessary  co-relative  of  infallible  authority 
is  unquestioning  obedience.     It  was  the  right  of  one  to  com- 
mand,— the  duty  of  all  others  to  obey.     He  who  presumed 
to  scrutinize,  or  find  fault,  or  resist,  was  taught  that  he  was 
committing  rebellion  against  God,  and  incurring  certain  and 
eternal  damnation.     A  theocracy  truly  !     It  was  the  reign 
of  the  devil,  baptized  with  the  name  of  God. 

But,  in  the  second  place,  this  scheme  of  government  cen- 


DESPOTISM  OF  PAPAL  GOVERNMENT.  431 

tralized  all  power  in  one  man.  This  centralization  is  of  the 
very  nature  of  the  Papacy.  The  vicegerent  of  God  can  liave 
no  equal ;  none  can  share  his  power ;  he  must  reign  alone. 
It  would  be  equally  absurd  to  suppose  that  an  infallible  ruler 
could  admit  constitutional  advisers,  or  take  himself  bound 
to  follow  their  counsel.  If  the  course  they  recommend  is 
wrong,  the  infallible  pontiff  cannot  follow  it ;  and  if  it  is 
right,  infallibility  surely  does  not  need  fallible  prompters 
to  tell  him  so  :  this,  it  is  presumed,  is  the  very  course  in 
which  the  pontiff  would  move  if  left  to  the  guidance  of  his 
own  supernatural  instincts.  The  popes  cannot  admit,  there- 
fore, of  a  consulta,  or  popular  assembly  with  judicial  and 
legislative  functions,  such  as  those  which  in  constitutional 
countries  limit  the  prerogatives  and  divide  the  authority  of 
the  sovereign.  In  the  hands  of  one  man,  then,  all  power 
under  heaven  came  to  be  centred, — the  legislative  and  the 
judicial,  the  temporal  and  the  spiritual  jurisdictions.  The 
papal  theory  placed  the  fountain  of  law  and  authority  on  the 
Seven  Hills,  and  there  was  not  an  edict  passed  nor  an  act 
done  in  wide  Europe,  but  virtually  the  Pope  was  the  doer 
of  it.  For  ages  as  was  the  theory,  so  substantially  was  the 
fact.  It  would  have  been  one  of  the  greatest  miracles  the 
world  ever  saw  if  liberty  had  co-existed  with  this  vast  ac- 
cumulation of  power.  Even  in  the  hands  of  the  wisest  of 
men,  fettered  by  constitutional  checks,  and  bound  to  assign 
the  reasons  of  his  procedure,  such  overgrown  power  could 
scarce  have  failed  to  be  abused  ;  and  if  abused,  the  abuse 
could  not  be  other  than  enormous  ;  but  in  the  hands  of  men 
who  claimed  to  reign  by  divine  delegation,  and  who  on  that 
ground  sustained  themselves  as  above  the  necessity  of  vindi- 
cating, or  so  much  as  explaining,  their  proceedings,  and  who 
claimed  from  men  an  implicit  belief  that  even  the  most  out- 
rageous of  their  acts  were  founded  on  divine  authority  and 
embodied  infallible  wisdom,  tlie  abuse  of  this  power  far  sur- 
passed the  measure  of  all  former  tyrannies.  The  despotism 
of  an  Alexander,  a  Nero,  or  a  Napoleon,  was  liberty  itself 
compared  with  the  centralized  despotism  of  the  Papacy. 


432  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

In  the  third  place,  the  theory  of  the  papal  government 
necessarily  and  stringently  excluded  every  particle  of  the 
democratic  element.  Its  pretensions  to  infallibility  and  to 
a  divine  origin  made  it  arrogate  all  power  to  itself,  and 
utterly  repudiate  the  claims  of  all  others  to  participation  or 
control.  It  abhorred  the  popular  element,  whether  in  the 
shape  of  constitutional  chambers  or  constitutional  advisers, 
or  checks  of  any  kind.  The  people  were  debarred  from  all 
share,  direct  or  indirect,  in  the  government.  Their  place 
was  blind,  unreasoning,  implicit  submission.  Nor  could  the 
Papacy  have  admitted  them  to  the  smallest  privilege  of  this 
sort  without  renouncing  the  fundamental  principler  on  which 
it  is  built. 

In  the  fourth  place,  though  in  one  respect  the  most  cen- 
tralized of  all  tyrannies,  the  Papacy  was  in  another  the 
most  diffused.  The  great  primal  Papacy  occupied  the 
Seven  Hills,  but  it  had  power  to  multiply  itself, — to  repro- 
duce its  own  image, — till  Europe  came  to  be  studded  and 
covered  with  minor  Papacies.  Each  kingdom  was  a  distinct 
Papacy  on  a  small  scale.  This  arrangement  consummated 
the  despotism  of  the  papal  rule,  by  making  its  sphere  as 
wide  as  its  rigour  was  intolerable.  Had  Rome  not  con- 
founded the  temporal  and  spiritual  jurisdictions,  matters 
would  not  have  been  so  bad.  Had  the  pontiffs  confined 
their  pretensions  as  divine  rulers  within  the  ecclesiastical 
domain,  men  might  have  enjoyed  some  measure  of  civil  free- 
dom, and  that  would  have  mitigated  somewhat  the  iron  yoke 
of  ecclesiastical  bondage ;  but  all  distinction  between  the 
two  provinces  was  obliterated  ;  the  pretensions  of  the  Pope 
extended  alike  over  both,  not  leaving  an  inch  of  ground  on 
which  liberty  might  plant  her  foot.  Practically  throughout 
Europe  the  two  domains  were  confounded.  If  the  Pope  was 
the  vicegerent  of  God,  the  kings  were  the  vicegerents  of  the 
Pope,  and,  of  course,  the  vicegerents  of  God  at  the  distance 
of  one  remove.  The  same  twofold  character  which  the 
pontiff  possessed,  he  permitted,  for  his  own  ends,  every 
monarch  under  him  to  assume.     They  were  kings  by  divine 


THE  MINOR  PAPACIES.  433 

right, — accountable  only  to  the  Pope,  as  he  to  God.  Thus 
did  the  Pope  succeed  in  extending  his  sway  far  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  States  of  the  Church.  He  reduced  the  whole 
of  western  Europe  under  the  rule  of  the  Papacy,  by  plant- 
ing his  system  of  government  in  each  of  its  kingdoms,  and 
by  making  its  various  kings  dependents  on  the  chair  of 
Peter.  There  was  not  a  single  ruler,  of  whatever  degree, 
from  the  monarch  down  to  the  petty  subaltern,  within  the 
wide  limits  of  the  papal  empire,  who  was  not  a  limb  of  the 
Papacy,  and  who  had  not  his  place  and  his  function  assigned 
him  in  that  vast  and  terrible  organization  which  the  popes 
set  up  for  overawing  and  oppressing  the  world,  and  ag- 
grandizing themselves.  How  religion  was  desecrated  by 
this  unhallowed  connection  between  Church  and  State, — this 
monstrous  blending  of  things  civil  and  sacred, — we  need  not 
explain.  Heaven  was  sought  only  to  obtain  earth;  and  reli- 
gion was  employed  only  to  cover  the  basest  practices,  to 
palliate  the  most  revolting  crimes,  and  to  vindicate  the  most 
enormous  usurpations.  The  words  of  the  poet  are  strikingly 
descriptive  of  a  policy  which,  the  more  it  pointed  towards 
heaven,  the  more  directly  did  it  tend  to  hell. 

"  Quanf  um  vertice  ad  auras 
j3Etherias,  tantum  radice  in  Tartara  tendit."* 

But  we  dishonour  religion  by  giving  that  holy  name  to  what 
was  so  called  within  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  piety  of  the 
times,  as  we  have  already  shown,  was  essentially  and  un- 
disguisedly  paganism.  Religion,  appalled  by  these  gigantic 
corruptions,  which  had  only  borrowed  her  name  the  more 
effectually  to  counterwork  her  purpose,  had  fled,  to  bury 
herself  in  the  caves  of  the  earth,  or  to  find  a  shelter  amid 
eternal  snows  and  inaccessible  cliffs.  A  vast  theocracy 
wielded  the  destinies  of  Europe.  A  blind,  irresponsible, 
and  infallible  despotism,  issuing  its  decrees  from  behind  a 
veil  which  mortal  dared  not  lift,  sat  enthroned  upon  the 


*  Virg.  -ffineid,  lib.  iv. 
2  F 


434  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

rights  and  liberties,  the  conscience  and  the  intellect,  the 
souls  and  the  bodies,  of  men.  Such  was  the  Papacy ! — a 
monstrous  compound  of  spiritual  and  temporal  power, — of  old 
idolatries  and  Christian  forms, — of  secret  frauds  and  open 
force, — of  roguery  and  simplicity, — of  perfidies,  hypocrisies, 
and  villanies  of  all  sorts  and  degrees, — of  priests  and  soldiers, 
— of  knaves  and  fools, — of  monks,  friars,  cardinals,  kings,  and 
popes, — of  mountebanks  of  every  kind,  hypocrites  of  every 
class,  and  villains  of  every  grade, — all  banded  together  in  one 
fearful  conspiracy,  to  defy  God  and  ruin  man  ! 

So  deeply  did  Popery  corrupt  the  theory  of  government. 
First  of  all,  it  confounded  the  two  jurisdictions,  and  then 
set  over  them  a  head  claiming  to  be  divine  and  infallible, 
thus  paving  the  way  for  encroachments  to  any  extent  on  the 
conscience  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  civil  rights  and  liberties 
on  the  other.  It  enabled  the  sacerdotal  autocrat  to  support 
his  temporal  usurpations  by  spiritual  sanctions,  and  his  spi- 
ritual domination  by  secular  arms.  And  this  form  of  go- 
vernment, moreover,  necessarily  implied  the  accumulation 
of  all  authority  in  the  hands  of  one  man,  forming  a  centra- 
lized despotism  such  as  had  never  before  existed.  It  was 
also  of  the  nature  of  this  government  that  it  absolutely  ex- 
cluded every  iota  of  the  constitutional  or  democratic  element. 
Farther,  being  based  on  an  element  of  a  spiritual  kind,  it 
was  not  confined  within  political  boundaries,  but  extended 
equally  over  all  states,  making  Home  everywhere,  and  the 
world  but  one  vast  province,  and  its  various  governments 
but  one  irresponsible  despotism. 

These  corruptions  in  the  theory  of  government  led  neces- 
sarily and  directly  to  grievous  corruptions  in  its  practice. 
In  truth,  the  government  of  the  Papacy, — the  only  govern- 
ment known  for  ages  to  Europe, — was  but  one  enormous 
abuse.  First,  the  Papacy,  in  self-defence,  was  compelled 
to  retain  its  subjects  in  profound  darkness.  It  knew  that 
should  light  break  in,  its  reign  must  terminate,  seeing  its 
pretensions  were  incapable  of  standing  an  hour's  scrutiny. 
Obeying,  therefore,  the   instincts  of  self-preservation,  the 


REVIVAL  OP  BARBARISM.  435 

Papacy  was  the  great  conservator  of  ignorance, — the  un- 
compromising and  truculent  foe  of  knowledge.  "  Lot  there 
be  light,"  was  the  first  coramaud  issued  by  the  Creator. 
"  Let  there  be  darkness,"  said  Popery,  when  about  to  erect 
her  dominion.  The  darkness  fell  fast  enough,  and  deep 
enough.  First,  the  great  lights  of  revelation,  kindled  by 
God  to  keep  piety  and  liberty  alive  on  the  earth,  were  ex- 
tinguished. Next,  classical  learning  M'as  discouraged,  and 
fell  into  disrepute.  History,  science,  and  every  polite  study, 
shared  the  same  fate.  They  were  denounced  as  wolves ; 
and  Rome,  the  mighty  hunter,  chased  them  from  the  earth. 
The  arts  perished.  If  painting,  sculpture,  and  music  sur- 
vived, it  was  solely  because  Popery  needed  them  for  her  own 
base  purposes.  But  their  cultivation,  so  far  from  tending 
to  refine  or  elevate  the  general  mind,  powerfully  contributed 
to  enfeeble  and  pollute  it.  These  arts  were  the  handmaids 
of  superstition,  resembling  beautiful  captives  bound  to  the 
chariot- wheel  of  some  dark  Ethiopic  divinity.  Thus  the  earth 
came  a  second  time  to  be  peopled  by  a  race  of  barbarians. 
Italy  herself  became  ignorant  of  letters.  The  ancient  poly- 
theisms possessed  no  such  cramping  effect  on  the  genius  of 
man.  Greece  and  Rome  established  schools,  patronized 
learning,  and  encouraged  efforts  to  excell.  Of  all  supersti- 
tions, that  of  Popery  has  been  found  the  most  injurious  to  the 
human  intellect.  She  found  the  world  civilized,  and  she  sunk 
it  into  barbarism.  She  found  the  mind  of  man  grown  to  man- 
hood comparatively,  and  she  reduced  it  into  second  childhood. 
She  polluted  and  emasculated  it  by  her  foul  rites,  and  the 
singularly  absurd,  ridiculous,  and  childish  doctrines  which 
formed  the  scholastic  theology,  the  only  intellectual  food 
of  the  middle  ages.  She  was  the  enemy  of  science,  as  well 
as  of  the  Bible.  Some  of  its  earliest  and  most  brilliant  dis- 
coveries she  placed  under  anathema,  and  she  rewarded  with 
a  dungeon  some  of  its  most  illustrious  pioneers.  Had  the 
Papacy  had  her  will,  our  knowledge  of  the  world  would  have 
been  not  a  whit  more  extensive  than  was  that  of  the  an- 
cients.    The  Atlantic  would  have  lain  to  this  day  unploughed 


436  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

by  keel ;  and  America  would  still  have  been  hid  in  the  mys- 
terious regions  of  the  unexplored  west.  The  great  law  of 
gravitation,  which  first  certified  to  man  the  order  and  gran- 
deur of  the  universe,  would  still  have  been  undiscovered  ; 
and  the  whole  furniture  of  the  heavens,  fixed  in  their  crys- 
talline spheres,  would  have  been  performing  a  diurnal  revo- 
lution round  our  little  earth.  We  would  have  been  trem- 
bling at  eclipses,  and  helpless  before  the  power  of  disease 
and  pestilence.  We  would  still  have  been  engrossed  in  the 
pursuits  of  alchemy  and  judicial  astrology,  discussing  quid- 
libets  and  quodlibets,  and,  for  our  spiritual  food,  listening  to 
the  mendacious  legends  of  the  saints.  We  would  have  been 
moved  to  compassion  by  the  example  of  St  Francis,  who  di- 
vided his  cloak  with  the  mendicant, — stimulated  to  zeal  by 
the  story  of  Anthony,  who  sailed  to  St  Petersburg  on  a  mill- 
stone to  convert  the  Russians, — fortified  against  temptation 
by  the  courage  of  St  Dunstan,  who  led  Satan  about  with  a 
pair  of  red-hot  pincers,  when  he  tempted  him  in  the  likeness 
of  a  fair  lady, — exhorted  against  the  fear  of  danger  by  the 
story  of  St  Denis,  who  carried  his  head  half  a  dozen  miles 
after  it  was  separated  from  his  body, — and  schooled  into  de- 
votion by  St  Anthony  of  Padua's  mule,  which,  after  three 
days'  fasting,  left  his  provender  to  worship  the  host.  Had  the 
Papacy  had  her  wall,  Milton  would  never  have  sung,  Bacon 
and  Locke  would  never  have  reasoned,  the  classic  page  of 
Erasmus  and  Buchanan  would  have  remained  unwritten, 
the  steam-engine  would  still  have  been  to  be  invented,  and 
the  age  of  mechanical  marvels,  which  ennoble  our  cities,  and 
give  to  man  the  dominion  of  the  elements,  would  have  been 
still  to  come.  Our  ships  would  have  carried  from  our  shores 
other  products  than  those  of  our  learning,  our  science,  and 
our  industry ;  and  would  have  returned  laden,  not  with  those 
varied  commodities  with  which  distant  countries  abound, 
and  of  which  ours  is  destitute,  but  with  papal  bulls,  beads, 
crucifixes,  indulgences,  dispensations,  and  occasionally  ex- 
communications and  interdicts.  If  our  tempox'al  wealth 
would  have  been  less,  our  spiritual  comforts  would  have  been 


PAPAL  RELICS  AND  PROTESTANT  SCIENCE.  437 

much  greater.  What  rare  and  precious  relics  would  have 
stocked  our  museums,  sanctified  our  churches,  enriclied  our 
homes,  and  protected  our  persons !  We  would  have  been  able 
to  boast  of  the  legs,  arms,  toes,  fingers,  and  skulls  of  great 
saints  who  flourished  more  than  a  thousand  years  ago,  and 
eke  the  arms,  fingers,  and  toes  of  saints  who  never  flourished 
at  all,  but  the  virtue  of  whose  relics  is  not  a  whit  the  less 
on  that  account.  We  would  have  possessed  the  pairings  of 
their  nails,  the  clippings  of  their  beard,  some  locks  of  their 
hair,  mayhap  a  tooth,  or  a  rag  of  their  raiment,  or  the  thong 
with  which  they  scourged  themselves.  We  might  have  pos- 
sessed one  of  the  many  hundred  legs  of  Balaam''s  ass,  a  bit 
of  the  ark,  or  a  nail  from  the  true  cross.  In  short,  there 
would  have  been  no  end  to  the  store  of  venerable  lumber 
that  might  have  enriched  our  island,  but  for  our  quarrel 
with  Rome.  True,  we  could  not  have  had  our  science,  to 
which  nothing  is  impossible  ;  nor  our  commerce,  which  en- 
circles the  globe.  We  could  not  have  bored  through  moun- 
tains, or  spanned  mighty  rivers  and  friths,  or  erected  noble 
beacons  amid  the  w'aves.  We  could  not  have  bridged  over 
the  Atlantic,  or  brought  India  and  China  to  our  very  doors, 
the  products  of  whose  climes  stock  our  markets  and  lade 
our  boards.  Nothing  of  all  this  would  we  have  had  ;  but 
we  would  have  been  more  than  compensated  by  the  profit- 
able trade  we  should  have  driven  with  Rome  in  the  spiritual 
wares  with  which  she  has  enriched  all  those  nations  who 
have  trafficked  with  her. 

For  ages  before  the  Reformation,  the  Church  of  Rome, 
with  the  wealth  of  western  Europe  at  her  command,  did 
nothing  for  learning,  beyond  patronizing  some  of  the  fine 
arts  mainly  for  her  own  ends.  Since  the  sixteenth  century, 
Rome  has  been  obliged  to  alter  her  policy,  not  in  reality, 
but  in  appearance,*  The  Jesuits,  finding  that  the  human 
mind  had  escaped  from  its  dungeon,  ostentatiously  took  up 


*  "  The  clerical  party  wish  to  instract,  and  it  may  be  therefore  well 
to  look  at  what  it  had  done  for  centuries,  when  Italy  and  Spain  were  in 


4S8  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

a  position  in  the  van  of  the  movement,  that  they  might  lead 
the  nations  back  to  their  old  prison.  In  those  countries, 
such  as  Spain  and  Italy,  into  which  the  Reformation  had 
not  introduced  letters,  these  zealous  educators,  the  Jesuits, 
made  no  effort  to  disturb  the  primeval  night.  Ignorance 
is  the  mother  of  devotion,  and  they  were  unwilling  to  deprive 
the  natives  of  so  great  a  help  to  piety.  But  in  other  coun- 
tries, such  as  Poland,  where  the  Protestants  had  erected 
schools  and  colleges,  the  Jesuits  dogged  the  steps  of  the 
protestant  teacher.  They  opened  schools,  and  professed  to 
teach,  taking  care,  however,  to  convey  the  smallest  amount 
of  knowledge.  They  kept  the  youth  studying  the  grammar 
of  Alvar  for  ten  or  a  dozen  years,  and  learning  almost  no- 
thing besides.  The  Augustan  era  of  Polish  literature,  and 
that  of  the  protestant  ascendancy  in  Poland,  were  contem- 
poraneous. When  the  Jesuits  began  to  educate,  literature 
began  to  decline ;  and  the  period  of  the  Jesuit  influence  is 
the  least  intellectual  and  the  least  literary  in  the  history  of 
Poland.  It  has  been  the  same  in  all  other  countries.  The 
Roman  Catholics  kept  Ireland  as  a  preserve  of  ignorance  for 
ages,  and  never  thought  of  erecting  school  or  college  in  it 
(Maynooth  excepted),  till  the  Protestants  began  to  erect 
schools.  And  their  teaching  in  the  Irish  schools  is  of  such 
a  kind  as  warrants  us  in  saying,  that  the  great  outcry  they 
have  made  is,  not  for  liberty  to  educate,  but  for  liberty  not 
to  educate.  In  St  Patrick''s  Roman  Catholic  school,  Edin- 
burgh, instances  have  been  frequent  of  children  four  years 
at  school,  and  yet  unable  to  put  two  letters  together,  and  of 
others  who  had  been  at  school  for  ten  years,  and  who  could 
not  read.  The  Jesuits  build  schools,  and  appoint  school- 
masters, not  to  educate,  but  to  lock  up  youth  in  prisons, 
miscalled  schools,  as  a  precaution  against  their  being  edu- 
cated.    But  it  is  unnecessary  to  particularize.     In  all  ages 


its  hands.  Thanks  to  it,  Italy,  that  mother  of  nations,  of  poets,  of  genius, 
and  of  the  arts,  now  knows  not  how  to  read."  (Speech  of  Victor  Hugo  in 
the  French  Legislative  Assembly.) 


PAPAL  ESPIONAGE.  489 

and  in  all  countries  the  Papacy  has  leant  upon  ignorance. 
It  has  been  one  of  the  grand  instruments  by  which  it  has 
ruled  mankind.  Its  acme  was  the  midnight  of  the  world. 
Idolatry  came  in  with  Via])romhe  ofknoicledge, — "  Ye  shall  be 
as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil ;""  but  it  perpetuated  its 
reign  through  ihefact  of  ignorance. 

The  Papacy  employed  to  an  unprecedented  extent  espionage 
in  its  system  of  government.  Despotism  is  always  base;  and 
the  Papacy,  as  the  most  despotic,  has  also  been  the  basest 
of  governments.  Former  tyrannies  employed  spies  and  laid 
snares,  to  discover  their  subjects'  secrets  or  anticipate  plots; 
but  the  Papacy  had  the  merit  of  establishing  a  regular  sys- 
tem, by  which  it  took  cognizance  of  thought,  and  miide  it  as 
amenable  to  its  tribunal  as  actions  and  words  to  other  go- 
vernments. This  it  accomplished  by  the  machinery  of  the 
confessional.  All  were  obliged  to  confess.  These  confes- 
sions were  sent  to  Rome  ;  so  that  there  was  not  a  thought 
or  a  purpose  which  was  not  known  at  head-quarters.  This 
invested  the  Pope  with  omniscience.  Not  only  did  he  know 
all  that  was  done  and  spoJcen^  but  all  that  was  tlionght^  through- 
out his  empire.  From  the  Seven  Hills  he  could  see  into 
every  home  and  into  every  heart.  Europe  lay  "  naked  and 
open"  beneath  his  eye.  What  a  tremendous  power  !  Hi- 
therto, under  the  most  intolerable  tyrannies,  men's  thoughts 
were  free.  Words  the  tyrant  might  punish ;  thoughts  de- 
fied his  power.  But  under  the  Papacy  no  man  dared  to 
think.  He  felt  that  the  eye  of  Rome  was  looking  into  his 
bosom.  She  could  drag  him  into  the  confessional,  and  compel 
him,  by  the  threat  of  eternal  flames,  to  lay  open  his  whole 
soul.  From  her  eye  nothing  was  hid.  And  to  what  pur- 
pose did  she  turn  this  knowledge  of  the  secrets  of  men  ?  To 
the  purpose  of  strengthening  her  own  dominion,  and  sinking 
her  foundations  so  deep,  that  every  attempt  should  be  in  vain 
to  unsettle  or  raze  them. 

But  again,  the  papal  government  effected  the  prostitution 
of  the  civil  power  to  an  enormous  extent.  The  distinction 
between  the  functionaries  of  the  Church  and  of  the  State 


440  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

was  maintained,  doubtless,  during  the  middle  ages.  But 
civil  government  as  distinct  from  spiritual  government  was 
scarcely  known  in  these  times.  There  was,  in  fact,  during 
the  dominancy  of  the  Papacy  but  one  government  in  Europe, 
as  we  have  already  shown, — a  heterogeneous  compound  of 
temporal  and  spiritual  authority,  which  took  cognizance  of 
all  causes,  and  arrogated  jurisdiction  over  all  persons  and 
all  kingdoms.  The  Papacy  was  the  uniting  bond  and  the 
animating  spirit  of  this  system.  But  from  this  parent  cor- 
ruption, which  we  have  already  illustrated,  there  sprung  in- 
numerable lesser  corruptions.  One  of  these  was  the  subjec- 
tion and  prostitution  of  the  civil  power  to  the  ecclesiastical, 
and  the  perpetration  of  acts  of  tyranny  in  the  State,  in  order 
to  uphold  a  yet  more  odious  tyranny  in  the  Church.  The 
Church  of  Rome  felt  that  she  could  not  reign  by  enlighten- 
ing the  conscience,  and  therefore  she  reigned  by  coercing  it. 
Her  union  with  the  State  enabled  her  to  employ,  as  often 
as  she  would,  the  secular  arm  for  the  somewhat  anomalous 
purpose  of  compelling  obedience  and  enforcing  belief.  The 
policy  of  every  government  within  the  limits  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  was  prompted  by  Rome,  was  papal  in  its 
essence,  and  insidiously  managed  for  the  interests  of  the 
Vatican.  Not  only  were  kings  themselves  the  slaves  of 
Rome,  and  not  only  did  they  feel  that  to  rebel  against  her 
was  to  rebel  against  heaven;  but  they  laboured  to  make  their 
subjects  her  slaves  also,  feeling  that  a  people  bound  in  the 
fetters  of  the  Church  were  thereby  more  amenable  to  regal 
authority.  This  supposed  identification  of  their  interests 
with  that  of  Rome  made  them  zealous  supporters  of  her 
pretensions.  They  willingly  gave  the  force  of  law  to  her 
bulls ;  they  lent  the  pageantry  of  state  to  her  worship ;  well 
knowing  that  nothing  awes  the  mind  of  the  vulgar  like  state 
authority.  The  Pope  and  the  King  were  the  two  divinities 
which  the  Europe  of  the  dark  ages  adored.  But  furtiicr, 
not  only  did  the  vicious  element  of  sacerdotalism  infect  the 
secular  government,  but  that  government  was  to  a  large 
degree  administered  by  sacerdotal  persons.     Cardinals  and 


THE  SAXCTTFIED  DAGGER.  441 

priests  wore  in  innumerable  instances  the  public  ministers 
and  secret  advisers  of  monarchs.  This  was  to  some  extent 
a  matter  of  necessity,  inasmuch  as  in  that  age  the  know- 
led"-e  of  letters  and  of  business  was  confined  almost  entirely 
to  ecclesiastics.  But  the  practice  was  encouraged  by  Rome, 
who  was  able  thus  to  penetrate  the  secrets  and  control  the 
policy  of  governments.  Thus  all  things,  great  and  small,  ori- 
ginated with  the  Papacy.  The  wars  that  convulsed  Europe 
grew  out  of  the  intrigues  of  Rome.  Princes  were  exalted 
to  thrones,  or  hurled  from  them,  according  as  it  suited  her 
interests.  The  wealth  of  the  state  was  employed  to  debauch 
conscience,  and  the  arm  of  its  power  to  punish  opinion.* 

If  any  of  the  governments  recalcitrated,  and  refused  to 
degrade  themselves  by  doing  the  vile  work  of  Rome,  she 
speedily  found  means  to  reduce  them  to  obedience.  She 
knew  the  power  of  the  superstition  which  she  wielded  ;  she 
knew  that  it  placed  in  her  hands  the  control  of  the  masses, 
as  well  as  of  governments  ;  and  thus  she  could  employ  the 
people  to  overawe  the  throne,  as  well  as  the  throne  to 
oppress  the  people.  She  had  but  to  issue  her  interdict, 
and  the  ties  that  bound  subjects  to  their  sovereign  were 
dissolved,  their  oaths  of  allegiance  annulled,  and  rebellion 
against  their  persons  and  government  preached  as  a  sacred 
duty ;  so  that  the  unhappy  prince  had  no  alternative  but 
to  make  his  peace  with  Rome,  or  abdicate.  At  one  time 
the  Church  of  Rome  has  taught  the  doctrine  of  the  divine 


*  A  traveller  who  visited  Rome  in  1817,  speaking  of  Cardinal  Gonsalez, 
the  minister  of  the  then  reigning  pontiff,  and  humane  and  enlightened  be- 
yond tlie  ordinary  measure  of  cardinals,  says  that  the  High  Churcli  party 
were  perpetually  beseeching  the  Pope  to  remove  a  minister  whose  mea- 
sures they  represented  as  calculated  to  "  increase  the  number  of  the  damned 
among  the  subjects  of  the  Church."  The  measures  fitted  to  have  this 
alarming  effect  were,  the  admission  of  laymen  into  the  administration  of 
the  state,  the  abolition  of  the  right  of  murderers  to  take  sanctuary  in 
churches,  and  the  abolition  of  torture.  (Rome,  Naples,  et  Paris,  en  1817  ; 
ou  Esquisses  sur  I'Etat  actuel  de  la  Society,  des  McBurs,  des  Arts,  de  la 
Litterature,  &c.,  de  ces  Villes  Celebi-es,  p.  122.) 


442  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

right  of  kings,  and  at  another  she  hais  propagated  the  opi- 
nion that  the  people  are  the  source  of  sovereignty,  as  was 
done  in  France  during  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  who  joined 
the  Protestants.  So  long  as  princes  were  submissive  to  the 
Romish  see,  their  persons  were  sacred  ;  the  moment  they 
revolted,  their  assassination  was  recommended  as  a  holy 
service,  and  the  crown  of  glory  was  held  out  to  the  mur- 
derer. Rome,  to  use  her  own  phraseology,  laid  "  the  axe 
at  the  root  of  the  evil  tree,""  with  orders  "to  cut  it  down.""* 
Herein  lay  the  real  supremacy  of  Rome, — not  in  her  theo- 
retic headship,  which  the  kings  of  Europe  acknowledged  only 
at  times,  but  in  her  actual  headship,  which  was  founded  on 
the  power  of  her  all-pervading  superstition.  She  filled  Eu- 
rope with  darkness,  and  through  that  darkness  became  om- 
nipotent. This  made  her  the  mistress  of  men's  minds,  and 
through  that  she  became  the  mistress  also  of  their  bodies 
and  their  properties.  When  her  voice  sounded  through  the 
gloom,  men  heard  it  as  if  it  had  been  the  voice  of  God, — 
trembled,  and  obeyed. 

Another  enormous  abuse  grew  out  of  the  sacerdotal  go- 
vernment of  Rome,  namely,  the  maxim  that  princes  are 


*  The  instances  of  Clement  and  Ravaillac  are  well  known.  The  former 
assasshiated  Henry  III.  in  his  own  ajiartment,  and  the  latter  stabbed 
Henry  the  Great  in  the  streets  of  Paris  in  open  day.  In  both  cases  the 
assassinations  were  recommended  by  the  poi>isli  clergy  beforehand  as  a 
most  meritorious  service  ;  when  done,  applauded  from  the  pulpit,  and 
compared  to  tlte  most  heroic  acts  in  the  sacred  record  ;  and  images  and 
pictures  of  the  regicides  exhibited  in  chapels,  and  placed  on  altars,  and 
treated  as  canonized  saints.  The  Jesuits,  it  is  said,  have  a  solemn  form  of 
consecration  in  the  case  of  regicides.  Bathing  the  sword  with  which  the 
deed  is  to  be  done  with  holy  water,  they  put  it  into  his  hand,  and  pro- 
nounce the  following  exorcism  : — "  Come,  ye  cherubims,  ye  seraphims, 
thrones,  and  powers  !  Come,  ye  holy  angels,  and  fill  up  this  blessed  vessel 
with  an  immortal  glory  !  And  Thou,  O  God  !  who  art  terrible  and  invin- 
cible, and  hast  inspired  him,  in  prayer  and  meditation,  to  kill  the  tyrant 
and  heretic,  to  give  his  crown  to  a  Catholic  king,  comfort,  we  beseech 
Thee,  the  heart  of  him  we  have  consecrated  to  this  office  :  strengthen  his 
arm,  that  he  may  execute  his  enterprise,"  &c. 


THE  "  "WOMAN  DRUNKEN  WITH  BLOOD.""  443 

the  constituted  guardians  of  orthodoxy  in  their  dominions, 
and  are  bound  to  employ  their  swords  in  the  extirpation 
of  heresy  and  heretics.  This  doctrine  the  Church  of  Rome 
wrote  in  blood  in  every  country  of  Europe.  A  grievous 
perversion  it  was  of  the  ends  of  civil  government,  and  it 
led  directly  to  persecution  for  conscience'  sake.  The  Church 
of  Rome  has  earned  for  herself  unrivalled  notoriety  as  a 
persecutor.  Pagan  Rome  shed  the  blood  of  the  saints,  but 
Papal  Rome  was  drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  saints.  We 
have  already  alluded  to  the  numbers  who,  in  the  twelfth 
century,  in  central  Europe,  held  the  pure  doctrines  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  protested  against  the  Church  of  Rome 
as  the  Antichrist  of  Scripture.  These  confessors  abounded 
in  the  southern  provinces  of  France,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Rhine,  in  Lombardy,  and  in  Bohemia.  They  occupied  a  belt 
of  country  of  considerable  breadth  on  both  sides  of  the 
Alps,  stretching  from  the  mouths  of  the  Po  to  those  of  the 
Garonne.  They  were  as  distinguished  from  their  neighbours 
by  the  skill  and  industry  with  which  they  prosecuted  arts 
and  manufactures,  as  by  their  extraordinary  acquaintance 
with  the  Scriptures,  and  the  pure  morality  of  their  lives. 
The  Reformation  would  have  broken  out  in  that  century, 
or  in  the  first  half  of  the  next,  but  for  the  violent  and 
bloody  measures  of  Rome.  She  saw  the  danger ;  she  un- 
sheathed the  sword;  nor  did  she  return  it  to  its  scabbard  till 
scarce  a  man  remained  to  carry  tidings  of  the  catastrophe 
to  posterity.  The  three  centuries  that  preceded  the  Refor- 
mation were  one  continued  massacre.  The  armed  force  of 
western  Europe,  led  on  by  Rome,  was  employed  to  crush 
a  peaceful  and  industrious,  a  virtuous  and  a  loyal  people, 
guiltless,  but  for  the  crime  of  refusing  to  bow  the  knee  to 
the  Dagon  of  the  Seven  Hills.  Southern  France  became  a 
perfect  shambles.  The  Alps  were  swept  with  fire  and 
sword.  Bohemia  and  the  Rhine  were  overwhelmed  with 
armies,  with  dungeons,  and  with  scaffolds.  Three  centuries 
of  crimes,  of  wars,  of  bloodshed,  at  length  completed  their 
revolution,  and  Rome  was  able  to  announce  that  heresy  was 


ii-is  INFLUENCE  OP  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

now  exterminated, — drowned  in  blood.  Crime  unparalleled! 
The  French  statesman  would  have  said,  folly  unparalleled ; 
and  in  sooth  it  was  so.  It  was  the  flower  of  their  sub- 
jects which  these  princes  had  destroyed.  The  towns  they 
had  converted  into  smoking  ruins  were  the  seats  of  trade 
and  industry.  The  men  whose  blood  dyed  the  soil  and  the 
rivers  of  their  land  were  the  stay  of  order.  The  vast  arma- 
ments and  the  successive  wars  maintained  by  these  zealous 
vassals  of  Rome  inferred  enormous  expense.  This  double 
damage, — the  direct  cost  and  the  indirect  loss, — drowned  in 
debt  and  permanently  crippled  all  the  states  of  Europe. 
Philip  II.  of  Spain,  "  a  beast  of  priestly  burden,""  is  said  t(S 
have  declared  to  his  son,  a  little  before  his  death,  that  he 
had  spent  in  enterprises  of  this  sort  no  less  a  sum  than 
five  hundred  and  ninety- four  millions  of  ducats.*  The  mil- 
lions that  France  lavished  in  these  crusades,  and  the  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  virtuous  and  industrious  citizens  whom 
she  banished  from  her  territory,  can  never  be  accurately 
told ;  but  one  thing  is  manifest,  that  in  these  proceedings 
she  sowed  the  seeds  of  the  frightful  calamities  she  has  since 
endured,  and  is  now  enduring.  "Nearly  fifty, thousand 
families,"  says  Voltaire,  writing  of  the  revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  "  within  the  space  of  three  years,  left  the 
kingdom,  an<l  were  afterwards  followed  by  others,  who  intro- 
duced their  arts,  manufactures,  and  riches,  among  strangers. 
Almost  all  the  north  of  Germany, — a  country  hitherto  rude 


*  Whatever  reward  these  princes  may  have  received  in  the  other 
world,  they  reaped  nothing  in  this  from  these  enterprises  but  loss  and 
damage.  When  the  armada  was  projected  against  England,  the  Pope 
promised  to  the  King  of  Spain  a  million  of  crowns  to  defray  the  expense. 
No  sooner,  however,  did  he  hear  of  its  miscarriage,  than,  instead  of  the 
million  of  crowns,  he  sent  simply  a  letter  of  condolence.  When  General 
Oudinot,  after  much  exjicnse  and  loss  of  life  on  the  part  of  France,  took 
Rome,  and  sent  the  keys  of  the  city  to  Pius  IX.,  in  July  1849,  the  pontiff 
expressed  his  obligations  for  the  service  by  sending  his  thanks  to  France, 
a  papal  decoration  to  General  Oudinot,  and  a  bundle  of  tracts  for  the  use 
of  his  army. 


PAST  CRUSADES  AND  MODERN  REVOLUTIONS.  445 

and  void  of  industr}', — received  a  new  face,  from  tlic  multi- 
tudes of  refugees  transplanted  thither  who  peopled  entire 
cities.     Stuffs,  lace,  hats,  stockings,  formerly  imported  from 
France,  were  now  made  in  these  countries.     A  part  of  the 
suburbs  of  London  was  peopled  entirely  with  French  manu- 
facturers in  silk ;   others  carried  thither  the  art  of  making 
crystal  in  perfection,   which   was  about  this  time  lost  in 
France.     The  gold  which  the  refugees  brought  with  them 
is  still  very  frequently  to  be  met  with  in  Germany.     Thus 
France  lost  about  five  hundred  thousand   inhabitants,  a 
prodigious  quantity  of  specie,  and,  above  all,  the  arts  with 
which    her   enemies    enriched   themselves."*       From   that 
period  dates  the  decline  of  France  and  Spain,  and  of  all  the 
Catholic  kingdoms  of  Europe.     Ever  since  have  they  been 
running  a  downward  career  in  wealth,  in  morality,  in  social 
order,  in  military  genius,  in  manufacturing  skill,  and  com- 
mercial enterprise.      The  men  who  committed  these  fol- 
lies and  crimes  went  to  their  graves  little  dreaming  what 
a  legacy  of  dire  revolutions  they  had  bequeathed  to  their 
successors.     These  revolutions  have  come.     The  men  who 
sowed  their  seeds  sleep  in  their  marble  tombs,  unconscious 
of  the    earthquake's    throes    and    the   tempest's   thundcr- 
ings,  which  are  now  overturning  thrones  which  their  per- 
fidy had   disgraced,  and  desolating  lands  which  their  vio- 
lence had  watered  with  tears  and  blood.     But  their  sons, 
who  have  served  themselves  heirs  of  their  fathers'  sins,  by  a 
continuance  in  their  fathers'  superstitions,  must  witness  and 
endure  these  dire  calamities.      These  persecutors  dug  the 
grave  of  the  Church  at  the  same  time  they  dug  their  own, 
in  the  abyss  of  socialism.      Truth  is  immortal,  and  she  re- 
turned from  her  tomb  ;  but  for  them,  alas  !  there  is  no  re- 
surrection.    When  we  think  that  this  violence  on  the  part 
of  Rome  delayed  the  Reformation  for  three  full  centuries, 
or  rather,  shall  we  say,  has  added  six  centuries  of  darkness 
and  suffering  to  the  history  of  Europe,  we  wonder  why  God 

*  Age  of  Lewis  XIV.  vol.  ii.  pp.  197,  198. 


446  INFLUENCE  OP  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

permitted  these  triumphs  to  such  a  power.  But  it  becomes 
us  to  bear  in  mind  that,  but  for  these  six  centuries,  we  never 
should  have  known  the  true  character  of  Popery ;  or  rather 
we  never  should  have  known  the  fearful  malignancy  and 
blood-thirstiness  of  that  principle  of  idolatry  set  up  by 
Satan  in  the  world,  which  appeared  so  tolerant  in  early 
times,  and  whose  true  character  has  been  fully  developed 
only  in  these  latter  days.  Nor,  but  for  this  violence,  should 
we  ever  have  known  the  mighty  power  of  Grod  in  bringing 
truth  from  her  grave, — restoring  Christianity  anew  by  the 
preaching  of  Luther  and  his  co-reformers,  after  its  confes- 
sors, almost  to  a  man,  had  been  cut  off. 

We  must  here  notice,  however  briefly,  the  Inquisition. 
Not  content  with  being  able  to  wield  the  swords  of  the  Ca- 
tholic princes,  the  Church  of  Rome  erected  a  tribunal  of 
her  own,  that  she  might  the  more  summarily  and  effectually 
wreak  her  vengeance  upon  heretics.  This  is  a  thoroughly 
ecclesiastical  court,  and  forms,  therefore,  a  correct  illustra- 
tion of  the  true  spirit  and  genius  of  the  Papacy.  It  was 
erected  by  the  Pope,  sanctioned  by  councils,  has  been  all 
along  supported  and  governed  by  ecclesiastical  authority, 
was  wrought  solely  for  ecclesiastical  ends,  and  managed  by 
priests  and  friars.  In  all  the  countries  in  which  it  was  set 
up, — and  it  was  introduced  into  most  of  the  countries  of 
Europe, — it  caused  unspeakable  terror.  Its  victims  were 
apprehended  commonly  at  midnight.  The  familiars  of  the 
Holy  Office  surrounded  the  door  of  the  house,  whispered  the 
name  of  the  tribunal  on  whose  errand  they  had  come,  and 
the  inmates,  transfixed  by  the  dreadful  words,  delivered  up 
their  dearest  relatives  without  pity  or  remorse.  The  per- 
son apprehended  was  consigned  to  a  dungeon,  generally  be- 
low ground ;  he  knew  not  his  accuser ;  he  was  not  told  even 
of  what  crime  he  was  suspected ;  he  was  often  desired  to 
divine  the  cause  of  his  apprehension ;  and  when  he  refused 
to  criminate  himself,  the  most  horrible  tortures  were  em- 
ployed to  extort  confession.  He  was  not  confronted  with 
the  witnesses  against  him ;  their  depositions  even  were  not 


ST  DOMINIC  AND  THE  INQUISITION.  447 

read  over  to  him :  he  was  allowed  no  advocate ;  his  friends 
trembled  to  come  nigh  the  place  of  his  confinement,  and  put 
on  mourning  for  him,  as  for  one  already  dead.  He  knew  not 
his  sentence  even,  till,  led  forth  to  the  auto  dafe,  he  read  it 
for  the  first  time  in  the  terrific  symbols  on  his  dress,  or  in 
the  dreadful  preparations  of  pile  and  faggot  for  his  execution. 
It  is  St  Dominic  whom  the  world  has  to  thank  for  this 
dreadful  tribunal.  St  Dominic,  whom  the  Church  of  Rome 
canonizes  as  a  great  saint,  was  a  Spaniard  by  birth,  and  by 
disposition  a  fierce,  cruel,  bloodthirsty  bigot.  His  mother 
is  said  to  have  "  dreamed  before  his  birth  that  she  was  with 
child  of  a  whelp,  carrying  in  his  mouth  a  lighted  torch,  who 
should  put  the  world  in  an  uproar,  and  set  it  on  fire."* 
This  man  it  was  who  first  suggested  to  Pope  Innocent  III. 
the  erection  of  such  a  tribunal  for  the  extirpation  of  heresy; 
and,  having  given  abundant  proofs  that  his  own  genius  lay 
much  this  way,  he  was  appointed  inquisitor-general,  though 
it  was  not  till  after  his  death  that  the  Holy  Office  was  regu- 
larly organized.  In  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury did  Innocent  give  forth  the  bull  which  "  decreed  the 
existence  of  this  tribunal,  to  finish  what  the  anathemas  of 
popes,  the  sermons  of  fanatics,  and  the  brand  of  crusaders, 
had  left  undone.  Wherever  the  poor  Albigenses  and  Wal- 
denses  fled,  the  Inquisition  followed  them ;  and  in  a  few 
years  it  was  set  up  not  only  in  Italy,  Spain,  and  Piedmont, 
but  in  France  and  Germany,  Poland  and  Bohemia,  and  in 
course  of  time  it  extended  as  far  as  Syria  and  India.  The 
famous  Inquisition  at  Goa  is  well  known  to  every  reader  of 
Dr  Buchanan's  "  Christian  Researches."  Our  own  Mary  is 
said  to  have  contemplated  the  erection  of  the  Inquisition  in 
England,  in  order  to  aid  her  in  her  pious  labours  of  purging 

*  The  festival  of  St  Dominic  is  on  the  4th  of  August,  when  the  faithful 
are  directed  to  offer  the  following  prayer  : — "  0  God,  who  hast  enlightened 
thy  Church  by  the  eminent  virtues  and  preaching  of  blessed  Dominic,  thy 
confessor,  grant  that  by  his  prayers  we  may  be  provided  against  all  tem- 
poral necessities,  and  daily  improve  in  all  spiritual  good."  (Roman  ^Missal 
for  the  Laity,  p.  633.) 


448  INFLUENCE  OP  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

the  country  of  heresy  by  fire  and  sword.  Spain,  Portugal, 
and  Italy  were  decimated  by  this  tribunal.  In  an  unhappy 
hour  for  her  liberty  and  her  commerce,  Venice  opened  her 
gates  to  the  familiars  of  the  Holy  Office.  The  shirri  and 
spies  of  the  Inquisition  swarmed  on  all  sides.  Stone  walls 
were  found  to  have  ears  and  eyes.  Secret  denunciations 
poured  in.  Snares  were  sowed  in  the  paths  of  citizens. 
Dark  mistrust  and  suspicion  banished  the  happiness  of  the 
hearth  and  the  convivialities  of  the  board ;  and  the  heaps 
of  dead  found  in  the  canals,  and  seen  on  the  public  gibbets, 
told  how  well  this  secret  tribunal  did  its  work.  If  any  com- 
miserated the  fate  of  the  victim,  that  fate  speedily  became 
his  own.  If  any  doubted  the  justice  of  so  cruel  and  sum- 
mary a  vengeance,  he  was  sure  to  be  himself  ere  long  over- 
taken by  it.  Some  deep  pit  became  his  prison,  whose  damp 
atmosphere  froze  his  limbs,  and  whose  mephitic  vapours 
consumed  his  lungs ;  or  a  leaden  furnace  became  his  abode, 
where  the  powerful  rays  of  a  vertical  sun,  heightened  by  the 
nature  of  the  prison,  speedily  brought  on  a  burning  fever  or 
inflammation  of  the  brain,  and  the  wretched  being,  shut  up 
in  this  terrible  abode,  ended  his  days  as  a  raging  madman, 
or  sunk  into  heavy  hopeless  idiotcy.  Such  were  the  deaths 
reserved  for  the  free  and  proud  citizens  of  the  Adriatic  re- 
public. Venice  was  unable  to  bear  up  under  such  a  tyranny. 
Her  ships  disappeared  from  the  ocean,  and  her  merchants 
ceased  to  hold  the  first  place  on  the  bourse  of  the  world. 

But  the  country  in  which  the  Inquisition  has  reached  its 
most  flourishing  estate  is  Spain.  This  tribunal  was  first  in- 
troduced into  Catalonia  in  1232,  and  propagated  over  all 
Spain.  It  was  re-established  in  greater  pomp  and  terror 
in  1481  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  chiefly  for  the  spiritual 
good  of  the  Jews,  then  numerous  in  Spain.  The  bull  of 
Sixtus  V.  instituted  a  grand  inquisitor-general  and  supreme 
council  to  preside  over  the  working  of  the  Holy  Office;  and 
under  that  bull  commenced  that  system  of  juridical  exter- 
mination which  is  said  to  have  cost  Spain  upwards  of  five 
millions  of  her  citizens,  who  either  perished  miserably  in 


SPAIN  FALLS  BEFORE  THE  IXQUISITION.  440 

the  dungeon,  or  expired  amid  the  flames  of  the  public  auto 
da  fe.  The  Jews  were  expelled,  the  Moors  were  reduced 
to  submission,  and  the  powers  of  the  Holy  Office  were  now 
put  in  requisition  to  purge  the  soil  of  Spain  from  the  taint 
of  Protestant  pravity,  both  as  regarded  books  and  persons. 
In  obedience  to  the  behest  of  the  Inquisition,  Charles  V. 
obtained  from  the  University  of  Lorraine  a  list  of  heretical 
works.  This  list,  printed  in  1546,  was  the  first  Index  Ex- 
jjurgatorius  published  in  Spain,  and  the  second  in  the  world. 
In  1559,  as  Llorente  informs  us,  was  held  the  first  auto  da, 
fe  of  Protestants  at  Valladolid.  Men  of  learning  were  par- 
ticularly obnoxious  to  suspicion.  Sanchez,  who  enjoyed  the 
reputation  of  being  the  first  scholar  of  his  age ;  Luis  DE 
Leon,  an  eloquent  preacher  and  a  distinguished  Hebraist; 
Mariana,  the  prince  of  Spanish  historians, — were  all  sum- 
moned to  its  bar,  and  made  to  promise  submission  to  its 
authority.  But  not  only  so  ; — princes  of  the  royal  blood, 
prelates  of  the  highest  rank,  and  men  who  had  done  good 
service  to  the  cause  of  Rome,  fell  under  its  suspicion,  and 
suffered  in  its  dungeons.  This  tyranny  endured  till  the  pe- 
riod of  the  French  invasion  in  1808,  when  the  Spanish  In- 
quisition was  abolished,  to  be  restored  on  the  accession  of 
Ferdinand  VII.,  who  divided  his  time  between  the  embroi- 
dering of  petticoats  and  the  worship  of  the  Virgin.* 

It  was  under  the  reign  of  the  Inquisition  that  the  soul  of 
Spain  expired,  and  that  a  great  power  in  arms  and  in  arts, 


*  The  object  for  Avhich  the  Inquisition  was  wrought  may  be  gathered 
from  the  following  passage  : — "  In  the  presence  of  his  [Louis  XIV.]  active 
Inquisition,  it  was  much  less  dangerous  to  deny  the  existence  of  God,  or 
the  immortality  of  the  soxil,  than  to  seek  to  explain  either  the  love  which 
the  believer  ought  to  feel  for  his  Creator,  or  the  liberty  which  he  enjoys 
under  his  providence.  The  prisons  were  filled  with  those  who  were  held 
to  have  erred  on  either  of  these  subjects,  while  there  was  no  instance 
of  a  Lettre  de  Cachet  having  been  issued  against  a  free-thinker.  In  fact, 
the  exercise  of  intellect  was  forbidden  to  every  one  who  would  have  de- 
voted it  to  religion."  (Sismondi's  Histoire  de$  Francais,  vol.  xxvii.  c. 
xliii.) 

2a 


450  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

in  literature  and  in  commerce,  fell  from  its  high  place  into 
almost  utter  annihilation. 

The  author  had  once  the  fortune  to  be  shown  over  a  dis- 
mantled Inquisition, — one,  too,  famous  in  its  day  ;  and  as  it 
illustrates  this  part  of  his  subject,  he  may  be  permitted 
here  to  tell  what  fell  under  his  own  observation.  In  the 
summer  of  1847  we  found  ourselves  one  fine  day  on  the 
shores  of  the  Leman.  At  our  feet  was  the  Hhone  pouring 
its  abundant  but  discoloured  waters  into  the  beautifully 
blue  lake.  The  lake  itself,  moveless  as  a  mirror,  slept  with- 
in its  snow-white  strand,  and  reflected  on  its  placid  bosom 
the  goodly  shadows  of  crag  and  mountain.  Behind  us,  like 
two  giants  guarding  the  entrance  to  the  lovely  valley  of  the 
Rhone,  rose  the  mighty  Alps,  the  Dent  de  Midi  and  the 
Dent  d'Oche,  white  with  eternal  snows.  In  front  was  the 
eastern  bank  of  the  lake,  a  magnificent  bend,  with  a  chord 
of  a  dozen  miles,  and  offering  to  the  eye,  rocks,  vineyards, 
villages,  and  mountains,  forming  a  gorgeous  picture  of  com- 
mingled loveliness  and  grandeur.  The  scene  was  one  of  per- 
fect beauty,  yet  there  was  one  dismal  object  in  it.  At  about 
a  mile's  distance,  almost  surrounded  by  the  waters  of  the 
lake,  rose  the  Castle  of  Chillon.  Its  heavy  architecture  ap- 
peared still  more  dark  and  forbidding,  from  the  gloomy  re- 
collections which  it  called  up.  It  had  been  at  once  the 
palace  and  the  Inquisition  of  the  Dukes  of  Savoy,  so  cele- 
brated in  the  persecuting  annals  of  Rome  ;  and  here  had 
many  of  the  disciples  of  the  early  reformers  endured  impri- 
sonment and  torture.  Wo  had  an  hour  to  spare,  and  re- 
solved to  pay  a  visit  to  the  old  Castle.  We  crossed  the 
draw-bridge,  and  a  small  gratuity  procured  us  entrance,  and 
the  services  of  a  guide.  We  were  first  led  down  to  Bonni- 
vard's  dungeon,  "  deep  and  old."  There  is  here  a  sort  of 
outer  and  inner  dungeon ;  and  in  passing  through  the  first, 
the  light  was  so  scant,  that  we  had  to  grope  our  way  over 
the  uneven  floor,  which,  like  the  landward  wall,  is  formed  of 
the  living  rock.  Into  this  place  had  been  crowded  some  hun- 
dreds of  Jews  ;  and  we  felt — for  we  could  not  be  said  to  see 


CASTLE  OF  CIIILLON.  451 

— the  little  niche  of  rock  on  which  they  were  seated  one 
after  one,  and  slaughtered  for  the  good  of  the  Church,  which 
it  was  feared  their  heresy  might  infect.  We  passed  on,  and 
entered  the  more  spacious  dungeon  of  Bonnivard.  It  looked 
not  unlike  a  chapel,  with  its  groined  roof  and  its  central 
row  of  white  pillars.  The  light  was  that  of  a  deep  twilight. 
We  distinctly  heard  the  ripple  of  the  lake  against  the  wall, 
which  was  on  a  level  with  the  floor  of  the  dungeon.  At  cer- 
tain seasons  of  the  year  it  is  some  feet  above  it.  Two  or 
three  narrow  slits,  placed  high  in  the  wall,  admitted  the  light, 
which  had  a  greenish  hue,  from  the  reflection  of  the  lake. 
This  effect  was  rather  heightened  by  the  light  breeze  which 
kept  flapping  the  broad  leaf  of  some  aquatic  plant  against 
the  opening  opposite  the  Martyr's  Pillar.  How  sweet,  we 
thought,  must  that  ray  have  been  to  the  Prior  of  St  Victor, 
and  how  often,  during  his  imprisonment  of  six  years,  must 
his  eyes  have  been  turned  towards  it,  as  it  streamed  in  from 
the  waters  and  the  mountains  around  his  dungeon  !  We 
saw  the  iron  ring  still  remaining  in  the  pillar  to  which  he 
was  chained,  and  read  on  that  pillar  the  names  of  Dryden 
and  Byron,  and  others  who  had  visited  the  place.  The 
latter  name  recalled  his  own  beautiful  lines,  descriptive  of 
the  place  and  its  martyr  : — 

"  Chillon  !  thy  prison  is  a  holy  place, 
And  thy  sad  floor  an  altar  ;  for  'twas  trod 
Until  his  very  steps  have  left  a  trace, 
Worn,  as  if  the  cold  pavement  were  a  sod. 
By  Bonnivard  !     JNIay  none  those  marks  efface  I 
For  they  appeal  from  tyranny  to  God." 

This  dungeon  had  its  one  captive,  and  the  image  of  suffer- 
ing it  presented  stood  out  definitely  before  us.  The  rooms 
above  had  their  thousands,  and  were  suggestive  of  crowds 
of  victims,  which  passed  before  the  mind  without  order  or 
identity.  Of  their  names  few  remain,  though  the  instru- 
ments on  which  they  were  torn  in  pieces  are  still  there. 
Emerging  from  the  dayless  gloom  of  the  vault,  we  ascended 
to  these  rooms.     We  entered  one  spacious  apartment,  which 


452  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

evidently  had  been  the  "  Hall  of  Torture  ;"  for  there,  with 
the  rust  of  some  centuries  upon  it,  stood  the  gaunt  appara- 
tus of  the  Inquisition.  In  the  middle  of  the  room  was  a 
massy  beam  reaching  from  floor  to  ceiling,  with  a  strong 
pulley  a-top.  This  was  the  corda,  the  queen  of  torments,  as 
it  has  been  called.  The  person  who  endured  the  corda  had 
his  hands  tied  behind  his  back ;  then  a  rope  was  attached 
to  them,  and  a  heavy  iron  weight  was  hung  at  his  feet. 
When  all  was  ready,  the  executioners  suddenly  hoisted  him 
up  to  the  ceiling  by  means  of  the  rope,  which  passed  through 
the  pulley  in  the  top  of  the  beam  :  the  arms  were  painfully 
wrenched  backwards,  and  the  weight  of  the  body,  increased 
by  the  weight  attached  to  the  feet,  in  most  cases  sufficed  to 
tear  the  arms  from  the  sockets.  While  thus  suspended,  the 
prisoner  was  sometimes  whipped,  or  had  a  hot  iron  thrust 
into  various  parts  of  his  body,  his  tormentors  admonishing 
him  all  the  while  to  speak  the  truth.  If  he  refused  to  confess, 
he  was  suddenly  let  down,  and  received  a  severe  jerk,  which 
completed  the  dislocation.  If  he  still  refused  to  confess,  he 
was  remanded  to  his  cell,  had  his  joints  set,  and  was  brought 
out,  as  soon  as  able,  to  undergo  the  same  torture  over  again. 
At  each  of  the  four  corners  of  the  room  where  this  beam 
stood  was  a  pulley  fixed  in  the  wall,  showing  that  the  apart- 
ment had  also  been  fitted  up  for  the  torture  of  the  vegl'ia. 
The  veglia  resembled  a  smith's  anvil,  with  a  spike  a-top,  end- 
ing in  an  iron  die.  Through  the  pulleys  at  the  four  corners 
of  the  room  ran  four  ropes.  These  were  tied  to  the  naked 
arms  and  legs  of  the  sufferer,  and  twisted  so  as  to  cut  to  the 
bone.  He  was  lifted  up,  and  set  down  with  his  back  bone 
exactly  upon  the  die,  which,  as  the  whole  weight  of  the  per- 
son rested  upon  it,  wrought  by  degrees  into  the  bone.  The 
torture,  which  was  excruciating,  Wtas  to  last  eleven  hours,  if 
the  person  did  not  sooner  confess.  These  are  but  two  of 
the  seven  tortures  by  which  the  Church  of  Rome  proved,  what 
certainly  she  could  not  prove  by  either  Scripture  or  reason, 
that  transubstantiation  is  true.  The  roof  beneath  which 
these  enormities  were  committed  was  plastered  over  with 


ENORMITY  OF  THE  INQUISITION.  453 

the  sign  of  the  cross.  In  a  small  adjoining  apartment  wo 
were  shown  a  recess  in  the  wall,  with  an  oubliette  or  trap- 
door below  it.  In  that  recesB,  said  the  guide,  stood  an 
image  of  the  Virgin.  The  prisoner  accused  of  heresy  was 
brought,  and  made  to  kneel  upon  the  trap-door,  and,  in 
presence  of  the  Virgin,  to  abjure  his  heresy.  To  prevent 
the  possibility  of  apostacy,  the  moment  he  had  made  his  con- 
fession the  bolt  was  drawn,  and  the  man  lay  a  mangled 
corpse  on  the  rock  below.  We  had  seen  enough  ;  and  as 
we  re-crossed  the  moat  of  the  Castle  of  Chillon,  the  light 
seemed  sweeter  than  ever,  and  we  never  in  all  our  lives  felt 
so  thankful  for  the  Reformation,  which  had  vested  us  in  the 
privilege  of  reading  our  Bible  without  having  our  limbs  torn 
and  our  body  mangled. 

That  religion,  whose  birth-place  is  heaven,  and  whose  mis- 
sion is  love,  should  be  propagated  over  the  earth  by  means 
of  racks  and  stakes,  is  utterly  repugnant  to  all  that  we  know 
of  her  and  of  her  author.  No  ;  it  was  not  Christianity,  but 
its  counterfeit,  which  the  Inquisition  was  erected  to  promul- 
gate. These  were  not  priests,  but  demons  ;  this  was  not  a 
"  Holy  Office,"  but  a  Den  of  Murder.  Of  the  enormous 
crimes  and  the  horrible  cruelties  there  enacted,  much  is 
known ;  but,  alas  !  that  much  is  but  an  insignificant  por- 
tion of  the  whole.  When  we  take  into  account  the  coun- 
tries to  which  the  Inquisition  extended,  the  length  of  time 
it  flourished,  and  the  countless  thousands  of  every  rank,  and 
age,  and  sex,  who  entered  its  gates,  and  never  more  saw  the 
light  of  day  or  heard  the  voice  of  friend, — the  virgin  whose 
youth  and  beauty  were  her  only  crime, — the  rich  man  whose 
possessions  were  needed  to  swell  the  revenues  of  the  Church, 
— the  heretic,  for  whom  are  reserved  the  strongest  racks  and 
the  hottest  fires  of  the  Holy  Office, — the  imagination  is  over- 
whelmed by  the  number  of  the  victims,  and  the  awful  aggre- 
gate of  their  sufferings.  Yet,  though  but  a  tithe  of  these 
horrors  is  known,  enough  has  been  disclosed  to  cover  the 
Church  of  Kome  with  eternal  infamy,  and  to  convict  her  be- 
fore the  world  as  but  an  assemblage  of  miscreants  and  vil- 


454  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

lains,  banded  together  in  the  name  of  religion,  to  rob  and 
murder  their  fellows.  And  while  we  have  the  Papacy,  we 
must  have,  in  one  shape  or  other,  the  Inquisition.  Errors 
so  monstrous  as  those  of  Rome  cannot  be  maintained  but 
by  coercion.  Those  who  talk  of  separating  between  Popery 
and  her  screws  and  racks  would  disjoin  what  the  laws  of 
superstition  have  made  eternally  one.  So  long  as  the  one 
exists,  both  will  continue,  like  substance  and  shadow,  to 
darken  the  earth.  When  the  papal  government  was  tem- 
porarily suspended  in  1849  by  the  Roman  Republic,  the  In- 
quisition was  found  in  active  operation,  and  it  was  restored 
the  moment  the  Pope  returned  to  Rome.  The  various  hor- 
rors of  the  place, — its  iron  rings,  its  subterranean  cells, 
its  skeletons  built  up  in  the  wall,  its  trap-doors,  its  kiln  for 
burning  bodies,  with  parts  of  humanity  remaining  still  un- 
consumed, — were  all  exposed  at  the  time.  These  partial 
disclosures  may  convince  us,  perhaps,  that  it  is  better  that 
the  veil  which  conceals  the  full  horrors  of  the  Inquisition 
should  remain  unlifted  till  that  day  when  the  graves  shall 
give  up  their  dead. 

In  fine,  as  regards  the  influence  of  Popery  on  government, 
it  were  easy  to  demonstrate,  that  the  Papacy  delayed  the 
advent  of  representative  and  constitutional  government  for 
thirteen  centuries.  Superstition  is  the  mother  of  despotism; 
Christianity  is  the  parent  of  liberty.  There  is  no  truth 
which  the  past  history  of  the  world  more  abundantly  estab- 
lishes than  this.  It  was  through  Christianity  that  the  de- 
mocratic element  first  came  into  the  world.  That  principle 
was  altogether  unknown  in  the  ancient  governments,  which 
were  either  autocracies,  or,  in  a  few  instances,  oligarchies. 
The  people,  as  such,  were  excluded  from  all  share  and  in- 
fluence in  the  government.  Christianity  was  the  first  to 
teach  the  essential  equality  of  all  men,  and  the  first  to  erect 
a  system  of  government  in  wliich  the  people  were  admitted 
to  those  rights,  and  to  that  share  of  influence,  which  are  not 
only  their  due,  but  which  nearly  concern  the  safety  and  sta- 
bility of  the  state.     The  state  began  to  model  its  govern- 


CONSTITUTIONALISM  SPRINGS  FROM  CHRISTIANITY.      455 

ment  after  the  example  of  the  Church,  borrowing  the  idea 
which  she  had  been  the  fii'st  to  promulgate  in  theory  and 
exhibit  in  practice  ;  and  ere  this  time  of  day  the  world 
would  have  been  filled  with  free  and  constitutional  states, 
had  not  the  Church,  abandoning  her  own  idea,  begun  to 
copy,  in  her  government  and  organization,  the  order  of  the 
state.  The  issue  was  the  erection  of  the  Papacy.  The 
papal  government  is  the  very  antipodes  of  constitutional  go- 
vernment :  it  centres  all  power  in  one  man :  it  does  so  on 
the  ground  of  divine  right ;  and  is  therefore  essentially  and 
eternally  antagonistic  to  the  constitutional  element.  Its 
long  dominancy  in  Europe  formed  the  grand  barrier  to  the 
progress  of  the  popular  element  in  society,  and  the  erection 
of  constitutional  government  in  the  world.  With  the  Ke- 
formation  the  popular  element  revived.  "  Geneva,"  says 
one  who  is  no  friend  to  Christianity,  "  in  submitting  to  Cal- 
vinism, became  a  popular  state."*  In  the  proportion  in 
which  the  various  states  of  Europe  received  the  Reforma- 
tion did  they  become  free ;  and  in  the  proportion  in  which 
they  have  retained  the  Reformation  have  they  retained  their 
liberty.  The  cause  of  the  dissolution  of  the  old  empires  was 
their  slavery.  Society  was  divided  into  two  classes, — nobles 
and  slaves.  Wealth  and  luxury  in  process  of  time  ex- 
hausted the  aristocracy ;  and  as  they  could  receive  no  infu- 
sion of  fresh  blood  from  the  other  classes,  the  state  was  at 
an  end.  But  Christianity,  by  teaching  that  all  men  are 
immortal,  and  that  there  reigns  among  them  an  essential 
equality,  has  abolished  slavery,  has  effected  a  free  circula- 
tion among  the  various  classes  of  the  state,  like  that  which 
maintains  the  salubrity  of  the  air  and  ocean,  and  has  thus 
conferred  upon  kingdoms  the  gift  of  terrestrial  immortality .f 


•  Voltaire's  Age  of  Louis  XIV.  vol.  ii.  p.  179  ;  Glasgow,  1753. 

+  We  may  lay  it  down  as  an  axiom,  from  the  principles  we  have  stated 
in  this  chapter,  that  despotism  cannot  consist  with  Protestantism,  and  that 
a  free  government  and  Popery  cannot  co-exist. 


456  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  THE  MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS 
CONDITION  OF  NATIONS. 


We  come  now  to  speak  of  the  influence  of  Komanism  on 
society.  This  part  of  our  subject  we  have  already  ilhistrated 
to  a  large  extent.  All  that  we  have  said  regarding  the  in- 
fluence of  Popery  on  individual  man  and  on  government 
bears  directly  on  the  question  of  its  influence  on  nations. 
In  the  three  foregoing  chapters  we  have  laid  down  and  de- 
monstrated the  principles  of  the  subject :  in  this,  we  shall 
attempt  the  proof  from  experience,  or  show  the  operation  of 
these  principles  on  society.  If  it  be  true  that  Popery  tends 
to  degrade  man  intellectually  and  morally,  and  if  it  be  also 
true  that  it  exerts  a  most  malign  influence  on  government, 
rendering  it  essentially  despotic,  and  adverse  in  its  spirit 
and  actings  to  the  constitution,  the  necessities,  and  the  pro- 
gress of  society,  then  there  must  be  a  marked  and  palpable 
difference  between  popish  nations  and  protestant  nations. 
We  maintain,  and  now  proceed  to  prove,  that  popish  nations 
are  vastly  inferior  to  protestant  nations, — first,  in  general 
morality ;  and,  second,  in  general  prosperity  and  happiness. 
I.  There  is  a  great  and  obvious  difference  between  pro- 
testant states  and  popish  states,  in  point  of  morality.  Let 
it  be  remarked  here,  once  for  all,  that  we  are  not  dealing 
with    individual   cases,    but    with   broad   and   prominently 


PROBABILISM  AND  INTENTION.  457 

marked  national  characteristics.     There  are  individuals  in 
Roman  Catholic   countries   sincere,    truthful,   upright,   ho- 
nourable, just  as  there  are  individuals  in  protestant  coun- 
tries lamentably  devoid  of  every  one  of  these  virtues.     We 
speak,  of  course,  of  the  prevailing  character  of  the  mass. 
First,  as  regards  truth  :  its  obligations  are  felt  in  a  much 
lower  degree  in  popish  than  in  protestant  countries.     The 
importance  of  truth  to  society  it  is  unnecessary  to  point  out. 
It  is  the  basis  on  which  society  rests ;  and  its  existence  is 
taken  for  granted  in  all  its  proceedings,  from  the  commonest 
business  transaction  up  to  the  solemn  acts  of  the  judgment- 
seat.     The  Jesuitical  morality  of  the  Romish  Church  has 
deeply  tainted  the  nations  subject  to  her  sway ;  and  the 
maxim  on  which  the  Church  has  acted,  that  faith  is  not  to 
be  kept  when  it  is  to  her  advantage  to  break  it,  is  of  easy 
transference  to  her  individual  members.     The  power  arro- 
gated, and  so  often  exercised,  by  the  Pope,  of  annulling  vows, 
promises,  and  oaths,  has  tended,  too,  to  destroy  all  sense  of 
truth,  and  all  reverence  for  its  claims.     The  Romish  doctors 
have  discovered  two  powerful  instruments  for  banishing  all 
sin  from  the  world,  or  rather  for  transmuting  all  sin  into 
virtue.     These  are  prohabilism  and  intention.     According  to 
the  first,  any  course,   however  criminal  in  itself,  becomes 
probably  right  should  any  doctor  of  the  Church  argue  in  its 
favour.     It  would  be  difficult  to  name  the  sin  which  some 
grave  doctor  has   not    defended,   and   which,   accordingly, 
is  not  probably  right.     In  this  way  contrary  opinions  may 
both  be  probable  ;    and  the   inquirer,   noways   perplexed, 
chooses  the  one  he  likes  best.*     A  greater  license  to  all 
kinds  of  sin  than  the  doctrine  of  intention  it  is  impossible 
to  imagine.     The  famous  Escobar  teaches,  that  if  men  only 
direct  aright  their  intention,  that  is,  if  they  think  not  of  the 
sin,  but  of  the  benefit  flowing  from  it,  there  is  nothing  which 
they  may  not  do  with  impunity.      They  may  deal  a  mortal 


*  The  Provincial  Letters  of  Blaise  Pascal,  by  Dr  M'Crie,  p.  6S,  et  seq. ; 
Edin.  1847. 


458  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

stab  to  their  adversary,  and  yet  do  no  murder,  provided,  in 
the  moment  of  striking,  they  can  so  far  control  their  men- 
tal emotions  as  to  think,  not  of  vengeance,  but  of  the  stain 
v^^hich  they  avert  from  their  reputation.     They  may  purloin 
the  wealth  or  steal  the  property  of  others,  and  yet   stand 
clear  with  the  eighth  commandment,  if  they  can  suppress 
the  avaricious  wish,  and  keep  steadily  before  their  mind  the 
good  they  may  be  able  to  do  with  their  increased  means. 
They  may  lie,  and  yet  be  guilty  of  no  falsehood,  if  they  can 
only  invent  some  imaginable  good  which  they  may  accom- 
plish by  prevaricating.*     Such  is  the  moral  code  of  Rome's 
casuists.     Its  utter  contrariety  to  the  law  given  on  Sinai, 
and  written  on  stone,  we  need  not  point  out.     It  confounds 
the  essence  of  things ;  it  annihilates  all  distinction  between 
right  and  wrong;  it  exiles  truth  from  the  world.     And  yet 
this  morality  the  Romish  doctors  have  taught  with  applause. 
Need  we  wonder  that  the  popish  world  has  become  a  vast 
lazar-house,  filled  with  all  sorts  of  moral  plagues, — its  very 
stones  and  timber  rotten  with  the  leprosy  ?     The  corruption 
of  public  faith  in  papal  Europe  is  notorious  and  admitted. 
Peculation  and  bribery  are  rife  in  all  departments  of  govern- 
ment.    Tricks,  manoeuvres,  and  frauds  are  the  main  machi- 
nery by  which  it  is  carried  on.     This  is  notoriously  the  case 
as  regards  France,  Spain,  and  Austria.     The  stereotyped 
and  immemorial  abuses  of  the  pontifical  court  we  leave  al- 
together out  of  view.     How  rare  is  it  to  find  in  the  service 
of  any  of  these  states,  one  who  displays  an  honest  adherence 
to  the  oath  of  office,  or  who  forms  his  public  acts  on  any 
higher  principle  than  the  good  of  family  or  of  party,  or  who 
descends  from  power  without  the  stain  of  the  epidemic  cor- 
ruption upon  him !     The  gross  scandals  which  disgraced  the 
close  of  the  reign  of  Louis  Philippe  in  France  are  yet  fresh 


*  ScG  Dr  IM'Crie's  "  Pascal,"  p.  93  et  seq.  It  is  there  shown  how  mur- 
ders, thefts,  falsehoods,  duels,  bankruptcies,  &c.  may  all,  in  certain  cir- 
cumstances, be  not  only  lawful,  but  dutiful.  The  same  morality  is  taught 
by  Liguori. 


FREQUENCY  OF  PERJURY.  4o0 

in  the  recollection  of  all.  These  disclosed  a  woeful  lack  of 
public  principle  on  the  part  of  the  very  highest  servants  of 
the  crown.  The  prostration  of  truth  in  France  is  evident 
from  the  fact,  that  scarce  any  reliance  is  placed  on  the  word 
of  any  man,  from  the  highest  functionary  of  state,  down  to 
the  street  porter.  Take  up  the  work  of  any  traveller  in  the 
popish  states  of  Europe,  and  you  will  find  him  complaining 
in  every  chapter  that  his  utmost  circumspection  did  not 
prevent  his  being  imposed  upon.*  Compared  with  the  high 
principles  on  which  British  commerce  is  carried  on,  and  the 
honourable  character  maintained  generally  by  British  mer- 
chants, how  frequent  in  the  papal  states  of  Europe  are  bank- 
ruptcies, frauds  in  trade,  and  chicaneries  of  all  kinds  !  How 
little  feared  is  an  oath  in  popish  countries  !  How  frequent 
is  perjury !  What  a  difference  between  the  value  of  evi- 
dence in  the  courts  of  southern  Europe,  and  its  value  in 
those  of  northern  Germany,  and  especially  in  Britain  !  What 
else  can  be  expected,  where  the  great  fountain  of  truth  is 
sealed,  and  the  eye  is  turned  away  from  the  great  tribunal 
in  the  heavens,  and  the  conscience  of  the  man  is  made 
amenable  to  a  judge  on  earth,  who  often,  when  an  end  is  to 
be  gained,  absolves  him  from  the  obligation  of  speaking 
truth  ?  In  this  respect  all  Roman  Catholic  countries  are 
alike.  The  sanctity  of  oaths  is  almost  universally  disre- 
garded. We  may  cite  a  few  out  of  innumerable  instances 
in  proof.  During  the  reign  of  the  Republic  in  Rome,  an 
agent  of  a  Jesuit  club  waylaid  and  well-nigh  murdered  a 
Frenchman  who  was  obnoxious  to  him.  The  case  came  to 
trial.  The  fact  that  the  person  who  committed  the  outrage 
was  abroad  on  that  day  was  deponed  to  by  twenty-six  wit- 
nesses ;  nevertheless,  those  with  whom  he  lived,  including  a 
countess,  a  bishop,  an  advocate,  and  a  Jesuit,  swore  that 


*  "  I  thought  the  bankors'  commission  on  London  drafts  exorbitant,  the 
shopkeepers  unscrupulous  in  asking  double  the  amount  they  finally  took, 
the  innkeepers  plunderers,  and  the  gentry  I  saw  in  gambling-houses 
cheats,"     (Continental  Confessions  of  a  Layman,  p.  23 ;  Edin.  1848.) 


4C0  INFLUENCE  OP  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

their  protcgd  had  never  been  out  of  the  house  on  the  day  in 
question.  They  were  examined  separately;  and,  though 
the  Jesuit  was  skilful,  they  were  all  convicted  of  perjury. 
On  the  1st  of  January  1850,  an  agent  of  the  Irish  Protes- 
tant mission  was  beaten  in  open  day  in  the  Cowgate  of 
Edinburgh,  in  the  presence  of  a  mob  of  Irish  Roman  Catho- 
lics.    The  case   came  to  trial ;  about  a  score  of  witnesses 

were  examined,  all  of  whom  had  been  present  in  the  mob, 

several  of  whom  had  shared  its  proceedings;  but  not  one  of 
them  would  identify  the  suspected  perpetrators  of  the  out- 
rage. Some  of  the  witnesses  swore,  in  alternate  sentences, 
that  the  agent  of  the  society  was  beaten,  and  that  they  saw 
no  one  beating  him.  It  is  the  same  on  a  larger  scale  in 
Ireland.  Assaults,  murders,  and  crimes  of  all  kinds  are 
often  perpetrated  in  that  unhappy  land,  in  the  presence  of 
numerous  spectators ;  yet,  so  lightly  do  they  hold  a  false 
oath,  that  it  is  impossible  in  the  majority  of  cases  to  pro- 
cure a  conviction.  In  the  courts  on  this  side  the  channel 
also,  the  vast  difference  between  an  Irish  oath  and  a  Scotch 
or  English  oath  is  well  known.  Thus  justice  is  paralyzed 
in  a  Roman  Catholic  country.  She  sits  powerless  on  her 
tribunal.  The  witness  desecrates  her  most  sacred  forms, 
and  the  criminal  defies  her  righteous  awards. 

It  is  also  an  admitted  fact,  that  in  Roman  Catholic  coun- 
tries life  is  held  much  less  sacred  than  in  Protestant  lands. 
The  popish  earth  is  defiled  with  blood,  and  the  stain  is 
deep  in  proportion  as  the  Popery  is  intense.  No  one  need 
be  informed  how  dreadfully  prevalent  are  assassinations  and 
murders  in  Italy,  in  Spain,  and  in  Ireland.  In  Paris,  the. 
Morgue  furnishes  awful  evidence  that  suicides  and  assassi- 
nations are  of  nightly  occurrence  in  the  capital  of  France. 
The  countries  south  of  the  Alps  and  the  Pyrenees,  which 
are  those  most  under  the  influence  of  the  Church,  are  pre- 
cisely those  in  which  travelling  is  most  dangerous.  The 
towns  swarm  with  assassins,  and  the  roads  are  infested  with 
banditti.  Scarce  a  night  passes  without  an  assassination  in 
the  streets  of  Madrid.     The  slightest  insult  sends  the  man's 


ASSASSINATION  AND  CONCUBINAGE.  4G1 

hand  to  his  poignarcrs  hilt ;  or  if  he  decline  himself  to  shed 
blood,  he  knows  that  for  a  paltry  sum  he  can  hire  a  villain 
to  undertake  the  deed.  The  facilities  provided  by  the 
Church  of  Rome  for  enabling  men  to  escape  the  future 
punishment  of  such  crimes,  is  a  main  cause  of  their  dread- 
ful prevalence.  So  sensible  was  Napoleon  of  this,  that  he 
shut  out  the  shriving  priest  from  the  condemned  criminal. 
And  we  find  Lord  Brougham  stating  in  his  place  in  Parlia- 
ment,* that  the  same  course  was  adopted  by  the  Marquis 
of  Wellesley  in  his  colonial  government,  and  that  this  judi- 
cious vigour  was  followed  bv  a  marked  diminution  in  the 
commission  of  crimes.  On  the  same  occasion  do  we  find 
the  leading  members  of  their  Lordships'  house  tracing  the 
noon-day  murders  and  the  midnight  outrages,  of  so  un- 
happy frequency  in  the  sister  island,  to  priestly  influences, 
more  especially  to  the  confessional  and  altar- denunciations ; 
and  out  of  doors  we  find  the  Times  journal,  in  less  courtly 
phrase,  branding  the  apostolic  clergy  of  Rome  as  "  surpliced 
ruffians.''''-f- 

The  state  of  morality  as  regards  the  marriage  vow  is  also 
much  more  lax  in  Roman  Catholic  countries.  Lifidelities 
are  far  from  being  unfrequent ;  concubinage  is  common. 
In  a  table  recently  compiled  and  widely  published,  of  the 
"morality  of  great  cities,"  the  two  cities  that  stood  low- 
est on  the  list,  as  being  the  least  moral  in  Europe,  were 
the  capitals  of  its  two  principal  Roman  Catholic  countries. 


*  20th  December  1847. 

f  The  proportion  of  crime  in  England  to  population  is  only  1  in  75S. 
In  Scotland  it  is  but  1  in  800.  Tiie  Ireland  of  Drs  Cullen,  M'llale,  and 
their  allies,  stands  at  1  in  300.  And  let  the  remarkable  fact  not  be  over- 
looked, that  whilst  the  whole  number  convicted  of  offences  in  the  six 
Protestant  counties  of  the  north, — Antrim,  Down,  Londonderry,  Tyrone 
Fermanagh,  and  Armagh, — with  a  population  of  1,700,000  persons,  only 
amounted  to  2038,  the  single  Roman  Catholic  county  of  Tipperary,  with  a 
population  not  exceeding  436,000,  furnished  a  list  of  criminals  extending 
to  2124.     («  Morning  Herald,"  April  10,  1S51.) 


4P2  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

Vienna  and  Paris.*  In  Paris,  the  illegitimate  births  were 
marked  as  being  about  one-half  of  the  whole ;  and  in 
Vienna  the  proportion  was  nearly  the  same.  We  speak 
not  of  the  conventual  establishments,  which  were  the  conse- 
crated abodes  of  the  twin  vices  of  indolence  and  lewdness. 
Nor  do  we  speak  of  the  seduction  and  profligacy  with  which 
the  law  of  clerical  celibacy  inundated  private  families.  We 
speak  of  the  state  of  general  society  as  regards  the  great 
virtue  of  chastity,  which  is  confessedly  far  below  that  of 
Holland,  of  Britain,  or  of  any  Protestant  country. 

Analogous  to  this  is  the  respect  in  which  woman  is  held 
in  Roman  Catholic  countries.  Christianity  alone  gives  wo- 
man her  proper  place.  All  idolatries  agree  in  degrading 
her.  Hinduism  makes  woman  the  slave  of  man;  Mahom- 
medanism  makes  her  the  toy  of  his  pleasures.  Modern 
Judaism  teaches  that  they  are  "  very  inferior  beings;"  and 
several  great  rabbies  have  held,  that  for  them  there  is  no 
immortality.  Romanism,  true  to  its  genius  as  a  false  re- 
ligion, has  degraded  woman,  by  forbidding  its  priests  to 
marry.  "  It  cries  up  marriage  for  a  sacrament,  and  yet  at 
the  same  time  bars  its  sacred  clergy  from  it,  because  it 
will  defile  them.""!-  Thus  all  false  religions,  and  Romanism 
among  the  rest,  have  struck  at  the  highest  interests  of  so- 


*  The  return  of  births  during  the  year  1849  furnishes  sad  evidence 
of  the  immorality  of  the  Viennese.  The  total  number  of  children  born 
was  19,241.  Of  these,  10,3G0  were  illegitimate,  and  only  8SS1  legitimate. 
Munich  and  Paris  have  hitherto  borne  the  worst  character  in  this  respect ; 
but  this  return  throws  them  into  the  shade.  Concubinage  is  the  law, 
marriage  the  exception.  Misery  keeps  equal  pace  with  vice.  Between 
1827  and  1847,  the  suicides  in  Paris  had  risen  from  1542  to  3G47.  Any 
one  who  will  take  the  trouble  of  watching  the  Paris  journals  will  find, 
that  at  present  the  suicides  in  Paris  amount  to  seventeen  per  week.  The 
increase  may  be  owing  in  part  to  the  excitement  and  misery  produced  by 
the  Revolution,  ("  Daily  News"  of  April  8,  1850  :  M.  Raudot's  Work  on 
the  Decline  of  France.) 

+  Tract  on  the  Character  of  Popery  ;  printed  about  the  time  of  the  Re- 
volution, and  quoted  in  the  "  Free  Thoughts,"  p.  454. 


THE  CONFESSIONAL.  4G3 

ciety  through  the  sides  of  woman.  Nothing  coukl  moro 
powerfully  tend  to  barbarize  mankind.  It  deprives  youth 
of  its  most  persuasive  instructor ;  its  robs  home  of  its  chief 
attraction  and  its  most  endearing  pleasure;*  and  it  de- 
prives society  of  that  strong  though  secret  guard  which  con- 
sists in  the  delicacy,  refinement,  and  purity  of  woman. 

How  rankly  soever  the  passions  shoot  up  beneath  the 
shade  of  Popery,  the  domestic  affections  refuse  to  flourish 
in  its  neighbourhood.  The  confessional  works  sad  havoc  in 
families.  We  do  not  allude  to  the  grosser  pollutions  and 
crimes  to  which  it  often  leads,  but  to  the  fatal  blight  it  in- 
flicts upon  the  affections.  Happy,  guileless,  unsuspecting 
youth  becomes  prematurely  thoughtful ;  for  persons  of  ten- 
der years  are  dragged  into  the  confessional, — "the  slaughter- 
house of  conscience,""  as  it  has  with  justice  been  termed, — 
and  are  there  doomed  to  listen  to  what  must  pollute,  revolt, 
and  shock  them.  Like  a  biting  frost  upon  the  early  bud, 
so  are  the  questionings  of  the  confessor  upon  the  warm 
sympathies  of  youth :  these  sympathies  become  dwarfed 
and  stunted  for  life.  Dreadful  images  of  crime  are  mixed 
up  with  the  earliest  associations  and  amusements  of  the 
person,  which  not  unfrequently  in  after  years  ripen  into 
deeds  of  guilt.  How  the  hearth  and  the  confessional  can 
exist  together  it  is  impossible  to  conceive.  How  can  there 
possibly  be  a  full  interchange  of  free,  genuine,  trustful  senti- 
ment and  feeling  between  the  different  members  of  the  fa- 
mily, when  all  feel  that  there,  in  the  midst  of  them,  sits  one, 
though  invisible,  seeing  and  hearing  all  that  is  said  and 
done  ?  for  all  must  be  told  over  in  the  confessional.  In  the 
breast  of  the  wife  the  husband  knows  that  there  is  a  secret 
place,  which  even  he  dare  not  enter,  and  to  which  none  but 
the  priest,  with  his  curious  and  loathly  questionings,  has 


*  "  Home  and  its  sweets,  its  pleasing  cares  and  soothing  affections, 
seemed  unknown  ;  it  became  the  shelter  of  exhausted  nature,  wlien  the 
cup  of  pleasure  was  drained  to  its  dregs."  (Continental  Confessions  of  a 
Layman,  p.  31.) 


4G4  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

access.  The  same  dark  shadow  comes  between  brother  and 
sister,  and  the  mutual  and  trustful  confidence  of  their  child 
hood  years  is  blighted  for  ever.  The  father  can  mark,  da_v 
by  day,  the  dark  stains  of  the  confessional  deepening  on  hie 
daughter's  soul,  clouding  the  sunshine  of  her  face,  and  re 
straining  the  free  current  of  her  talk.  Infernal  institution  ! 
invented  in  the  pit,  and  set  up  on  earth  to  root  out  all  that 
is  lovely  and  pure,  and  holy  and  free,  among  the  human  fa- 
mily. The  confessional  is  slavery  worse  tlian  death.  How 
a  people  who  have  once  tasted  freedom  could  advocate  the 
introduction  of  a  tyranny  so  unspeakably  odious  and  so 
perfectly  unbearable,  surpasses  our  comprehension.  And 
yet  there  are  not  wanting  at  tliis  moment  some  in  England 
who  seek  to  revive  the  practice  of  confession. 

Another  disagreeable  feature  of  papal  Europe,  in  which 
it  contrasts  most  unfavourably  with  protestant  states,  is 
the  all  but  universal  prevalence  of  the  vice  of  gambling. 
Gambling-houses  abound  in  all  the  great  cities  of  the  Con- 
tinent. Most  of  the  watering-places  of  southern  Germany 
are  nothing  else  than  large  gambling  establishments.  The 
protestant  part  of  the  Continent,  it  is  true,  is  not  altogether 
free  from  this  dreadful  pollution ;  but  such  houses  in  pro- 
testant states  are  thinly  planted,  comparatively.  In  France 
and  in  southern  Europe  this  vice  has  infected  the  whole  of 
society,  and  obtrudes  itself  everywhere, — in  private  parties, 
in  the  common  taverns,  as  well  as  in  those  houses  special- 
ly set  apart  for  it.*     The  papal  government,  too,  has  its 


*  "Their  [the  populace]  two  great  temptations  are  the  festivals  and 

the  lotteries The  lottery  is  a  thousand  times  more  fatal ;  its 

venom  infects  every  town  in  Italy.     Each  government  has  its  lottery.    . 

.  .  A  drawing  takes  place  rather  oftener  than  once  a  fortnight.  .  . 
.  .  A  day-labourer  withholds  regularly  a  portion  of  his  earnings  from  his 
family,  to  spend  it  on , his  weekly  hazard  at  an  office;  and  the  starving 
beggar,  if  he  receive  an  alms  which  will  purchase  two  meals,  often  goes 
without  one  of  them,  that  he  may  have  a  chance  of  becoming  rich."  (Italy 
and  the  Italian  Islands,  by  W.  Spalding,  Esq.  Professor  of  llhctoric,  St 
Andrew's,  vol.  iii.  p.  249  ;  Edin.  1841.) 


NO  SABBATH  IN  POPISH  COUNTRIES.  465 

lottery,  and  attempts  to  compound  with  heaven  by  devoting 
the  proceeds  to  the  support  of  jjaupers.  It  is  believed  to 
yield  seven  millions  of  francs  to  the  apostolic  exchequer. 
The  shops  for  selling  lottery  tickets  are  all  open  on  Sab- 
bath. Nothing  could  more  fearfully  demonstrate  the  power 
of  avarice,  first,  over  governments,  who  license  these  estab- 
lishments for  the  sake  of  revenue;  and,  second,  over  the 
masses,  who,  impelled  by  an  uncontrollable  greed  to  possess 
the  property  of  others,  and  altogether  unscrupulous  as  to 
the  mode  of  obtaining  it,  flock  to  the  gambling-table,  and 
there  lose  health,  character,  fortune,  reason,  and  often  life 
itself.  How  weak  must  be  the  power  of  principle  where 
such  courses  are  so  generally  indulged  in !  and  how  far  must 
the  heart  of  man  have  strayed  from  its  rest,  when  happiness 
is  sought  amidst  such  maddening  pursuits  ! 

One  other  feature  only  is  awanting  to  complete  the  dark 
picture  of  the  popish  world.  It  has  no  Sabbath.  Who 
can  calculate  how  much  Christian  lands  owe  to  the  Sab- 
bath? It  is  equally  impossible  to  tell  how  much  popish 
lands  lose  by  the  want  of  it.  The  Sabbath  descends  upon 
the  earth  like  a  visitant  from  another  sphere,  laden  with 
blessino^s  which  ffrow  not  in  this  world.  It  is  as  if  Eden 
had  returned,  with  its  innocence  and  its  joy ;  or  as  if  time, 
with  its  sorrows  and  its  cares,  had  rolled  past,  and  God's 
"  unsuffering  kingdom"  had  come.  How  many,  worn  out 
with  toil,  had  withered  and  sunk  into  their  graves  ere  their 
time,  but  for  its  rest !  How  many  minds,  never  unbent, 
would  have  lost  their  spring,  and  ended  in  madness  or 
idiotcy,  but  for  the  Sabbath  !  How  many  weak  spirits 
would  have  yielded  to  temptation,  and  been  for  ever  lost, 
but  for  its  salutary  and  oft-recurring  counsels  !  How  many 
had  sunk,  broken-hearted,  under  the  afflictions  of  time,  but 
for  the  prospects  beyond  earth  which  the  Sabbath  opened 
to  them  !  It  purifies  the  social  aff*ections,  heightens  the 
standard  of  public  morality,  elevating  to  a  higher  platform 
the  general  community.  Even  the  man  who  never  enters 
the  sanctuary, — who  habitually  desecrates  the  Sabbath, — is 

2  H 


4G6  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

the  better  for  it.  To  him  even  it  is  a  hebdomadal  sermon 
about  God  and  religion.  The  Sabbath  is  the  bulwark  of 
Christianity.  Popery  has  perfectly  comprehended  its  mis- 
sion, and  has  been,  in  all  countries,  its  uncompromising 
foe.  Two  hundred  years  ago,  when  Popery  sought  to  re- 
establish itself  in  Scotland,  it  found  that  the  Sabbath  stood 
most  in  its  way ;  and  it  began  its  assault  upon  the  religion 
of  Scotland  by  an  attempt  to  abolish  the  Sabbaths  of  Scot- 
land. The  "  Book  of  Sports'"  was  intended  to  pave  the  way 
for  the  mass.  On  the  Continent,  Popery  has  steadily  pur- 
sued the  same  end, — the  abolition  of  the  Sabbath, — first, 
by  the  institution  of  fete  days,  which  are  more  numerous 
than  the  Sabbaths  of  protestant  countries ;  and,  second,  by 
teaching  the  people  to  pass  the  day  in  shows  and  amuse- 
ments. Its  policy  has  been  crowned  with  complete  success; 
and  now,  in  popish  lands  the  Sabbath  is  unknown,  or  exists 
only  as  a  day  of  toil  or  of  unhallowed  pleasure. 

The  writer  has  had  occasion  to  observe  how  the  Sabbath 
is  spent  in  several  of  the  great  cities  of  popish  Europe,  and 
may  here  be  permitted  to  tell  what  fell  under -his  own  notice, 
as  the  matter  bears  directly  on  the  moral  and  religious  in- 
fluence of  Popery.  In  Cologne, — "  the  Rome  of  northern 
Germany,"  as  it  has  been  called, — work  seemed  generally 
forborne.  There  were,  of  course,  far  more  idlers  in  the 
streets  than  on  other  days.  A  stream  of  foot-passengers 
and  vehicles  kept  pouring  into  the  town  across  the  bridge 
of  boats.  Here  and  there  in  the  crowd  might  be  seen  a 
female  with  prayer-book  (the  Romish  of  course)  in  hand, 
and  a  white-flowered  napkin  forming  her  head-gear,  after 
the  manner  of  the  German  maidens.  Parties  of  young  men 
paraded  the  streets.  Some  were  regaling  themselves  with 
the  long  German  tobacco-pipe ;  others  were  bearing  on  their 
heads  baskets  of  fruit,  which  they  carried  to  market ;  while 
others  were  laden  with  the  produce  of  the  dairy  and  the 
poultry-yard.  The  light  blue  of  the  Prussian  uniform  en- 
livened the  more  sober  attire  of  the  burghers,  among  whom, 
the  writer  is  sorry  to  have  to  say,  he  observed  some  of  his 


A  SABBATH  IN  COLOOXR.  467 

own  countrymen,  who  wore  cheapening  fruit  in  the  market, 
while  their  servants  followed,  bearing  bottles  of  lihenish 
wine, — an  excursion  to  the  country  being  plainly  meditated. 
We  went  to  the  cathedral,  or  Great  Dom,  that  we  might 
see  what  kind  of  instruction  it  is  that  Popery  provides  for 
her  people  on  the  Sabbath.  This  temple,  the  sublimest 
north  of  the  Alps,  and,  were  it  finished,  the  noblest  Gothic 
structure  in  the  world,  would  contain  within  its  vast  limits 
the  population  of  a  city.  At  the  great  western  gate  we 
found  a  great  crowd :  some  were  thronging  in,  others  were 
leaving  the  edifice  ;  and  the  low  murmur  of  the  multitude 
mingled  hoarsely  with  the  grand  music  which  came  in  over- 
powering bursts  from  the  interior  of  the  vast  edifice.  We 
passed  on  through  its  aisles,  its  nave,  and  its  arches,  and  at 
last  reached  the  choir.  For  beauty,  and  elegance,  and 
grandeur,  it  appeared  a  splendid  vision  rather  than  a  reality. 
It  was  a  mighty  temple  in  itself,  railed  off  by  richly-carved 
screens  and  tall  graceful  pillars,  from  the  yet  greater  temple 
which  enclosed  it.  Around  the  choir  was  gathered  a  mot- 
ley assemblage. of  worshippers  and  gazers,  of  all  ranks  and 
of  all  countries.  The  gates  of  the  choir  were  guarded  by 
portly  officials  in  scarlet  dresses,  bearing  in  their  hands  the 
symbols  of  office, — long  staves  surmounted  by  little  chap- 
lets  of  silver.  Within  the  choir,  at  one  end,  was  the  high 
altar,  on  which  were  enormous  lighted  tapers,  a  crucifix, 
and  an  illuminated  mass-book  ;  while  the  archbishop,  in 
the  splendour  of  cope  and  scarlet  tunic,  was  saying  mass. 
Numerous  priests  in  gorgeous  vestments  were  assisting. 
Boys  in  scarlet  dresses,  with  silver  censers,  were  waving 
incense.  In  the  other  end  of  the  choir,  opposite  the  high 
altar,  was  a  gallery  filled  with  choristers,  consisting  of  about 
four  hundred  of  the  elite  of  the  youth  of  Cologne,  who  sung 
some  of  the  finest  pieces  of  the  great  masters.  The  music 
rolled  on  without  pause  :  now  it  seemed  to  retreat  into  the 
remotest  part  of  the  edifice,  and  now  it  came  forward  in  a 
noble  burst,  and  rolled  a  magnificent  volume  of  rich  melody 
along  the  aisles  and  roof  of  the  mighty  Dom.    It  was  a  grand 


468  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

effort  on  the  part  of  Popery ;  and  nowhere,  not  even  in 
Notre  Darae  at  Paris,  have  we  seen  the  Roman  Catholic 
worship  conducted  with  half  the  pomp.  The  organ  pealed, 
the  melody  of  the  choir  rose  and  fell  in  noble  bursts,  the 
tapers  blazed,  and  the  incense  ascended  in  fragrant  clouds. 
Beautiful  little  stalls,  rich  in  paintings,  ran  round  the  ca- 
thedral, each  with  its  altar,  crucifix,  and  tapers,  and  its 
priest,  in  cope  and  stole,  celebrating  mass.  There  were  re- 
nowned relics,  in  little  marble  chapels,  before  which  were 
kept  lamps  which  burned  perpetually ;  and  then,  in  the 
ever-beauteous  choir,  which,  like  the  palace  in  the  fairy 
tale,  seemed  to  have  arisen  unaided  by  the  hand  of  man, 
were  numerous  priests,  tall  of  figure,  in  vestments  of  purple, 
and  scarlet,  and  fine  linen,  and  gold,  who  ranged  them- 
selves, now  in  rows,  bearing  burning  tapers,  and  now  mingled 
in  curious  maze, — their  deep  rich  voices  chanting  the  while 
the  service  of  the  mass.  Before  the  high  altar,  in  mag- 
nificent robes,  stood  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  bowing, 
crossing,  kissing  the  crucifix,  and  occasionally  clasping  his 
hands  in  the  attitude  of  one  in  rapt  devotion.  Not  the 
least  important  element  in  this  goodly  show  was  the  unri- 
valled grandeur  of  the  temple  in  which  it  was  enacted.  As  a 
mere  spectacle,  we  never  saw  anything  that  made  a  tolerable 
approach  to  it.  But  it  rose  not  beyond  a  mere  artistic 
effort.  There  was  not  a  single  truth  communicated.  It 
was  not  in  the  nature  of  things  that  such  a  show  (for  the 
mass  was  chanted  in  a  tongue  which  the  peoj^le  did  not 
understand)  should  enlighten  the  conscience,  or  purify  the 
heart,  or  elevate  the  character.  Could  any  one  be  the  bet- 
ter for  such  a  Sabbath  ?  Could  any  one  be  the  better  for 
the  Sabbaths  of  a  whole  life  spent  in  this  way  ?  The  direct 
tendency  of  the  service  was  to  subjugate  the  mind  in  idola- 
trous reverence  of  the  mass,  and  in  degrading  vassalage  to 
the  priesthood.  Such  was  its  manifest  effect.  Of  the  thou- 
sands which  crowded  the  cathedral,  two  hundred  or  there- 
abouts might  be  engaged  in  counting  their  beads,  or  reciting 
prayers  from  their  prayer-books.     Tiiey  were  ranged  in  a 


POPISH  WORSHIP  GENERATES  GLOOM.  469 

line  of  three  deep  round  the  choir, — the  holiest  place  in  the 
building.  Cut  there  was  not  a  countenance  on  which  the 
prevailing  expression  was  not  that  of  gloom  and  despon- 
dency. In  fact,  the  genius  of  the  Romish  worship  is  to- 
wards gloom.  All  the  objects  to  which  the  mind  of  the 
worshipper  is  turned  are  of  a  gloomy  kind.  Of  this  de- 
scription are  the  images  presented  to  their  senses,  which 
are  almost  all  associated  with  death  :  Christ  on  the  cross, 
pourtrayed  often  in  the  agonies  of  dying  ;  figures  of  saints 
undergoing  martyrdom,  or  half-exanimate  from  the  effects 
of  the  prolonged  fast,  the  iron  collar,  the  hair  shirt,  or  the 
lash.  Over  the  gates  of  their  cathedrals  are  not  unfre- 
quently  sculpture-pieces  representing  the  torments  of  the 
damned.  The  same  scenes  occur,  with  disagreeable  though 
intentional  frequency,  inside  their  churches.  There  is  a 
striking  force  of  conception  in  these  representations,  which 
contrasts  with  the  evident  lack  of  power  in  their  occasional 
attempts  to  depict  the  happiness  of  heaven.  Thus  the 
Church  of  Rome  has  made  her  appeal  to  the  fears  of  her 
people.  She  attempts  to  awe  and  terrify,  and  thus  keep 
them  under  her  dominion.  We  have  been  at  some  pains  to 
ascertain  the  actual  effects  produced  on  the  mind  by  the 
Romish  worship,  as  represented  in  the  countenance.  We  do 
not  recollect  of  having  seen  in  one  instance  that  kindling 
of  delight,  that  expansive  and  radiant  expression,  which 
bespeaks  intelligence  and  hope,  which  genuine  devotion  pro- 
duces. We  have  seen  earnestness, — earnestness  amount- 
ing evidently  to  intense  anxiety ;  but  still  the  cloud  was 
there.  The  prospect  of  purgatory,  and  of  enduring  there 
torments  for  an  unknown  period,  which  becomes  nearer  as 
life  advances,  must  tell  upon  the  general  feeling.  We  do 
not  think  we  ever  saw  an  air  of  more  dreary  hopelessness 
upon  human  faces  than  on  those  of  the  old  men  and  women 
of  Belgium.  In  southern  Europe  this  is  not  so  perceptible. 
There,  this  feeling,  or  at  least  the  expression  of  it,  is  coun- 
teracted in  a  good  degree  by  the  influence  of  climate  and 
the  livelier  sensibilities  of  the  people. 


470  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

To  retui'ii  to  Coloa^ne  and  its  Sabbath  :  the  mummeries 
which  began  in  the  cathedral  were  terminated  on  the  streets. 
The  host  was  carried  in  solemn  procession  through  the  city, 
with  drum  and  fife,  and  a  goodly  show  of  crucifixes,  tapers, 
and  flags.  The  crowds  uncovered  as  it  passed.  During  the 
forenoon  business  had  been  partially  carried  on.  A  third 
or  so  of  the  shops  were  open  ;  and  the  vessels  moored  in  the 
Rhine  unladed  them  of  their  cargo.  But  in  the  afternoon 
and  evening  the  whole  city  freely  gave  itself  to  pleasure  and 
revelry.  The  children  marshalled  themselves  in  line,  and, 
carrying  branches  and  flambeaux,  imitated  the  grand  pro- 
cession of  the  morning.  All  the  taverns  were  open,  and 
every  street  rang  with  the  shouts  of  bacchanals,  mingled 
with  music,  vocal  and  instrumental.  The  spacious  gardens 
of  the  hotel,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  adjoining  the 
suburb  of  Deutz,  were  illuminated  with  numerous  variegated 
lamps ;  gay  parties  danced  or  promenaded  in  them ;  while  a 
band  played  airs  at  intervals,  which  came  floating  across 
the  Rhine  in  the  stillness  of  the  evening.  In  this  way  was 
the  day  spent.  There  may  be  less  superstition  and  less 
revelry  ;  but  with  this  exception,  we  believe  the  Sabbath  of 
Cologne  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  Sabbaths  of  Rhenish  Prussia, 
and,  indeed,  of  the  gi'eater  part  of  Germany. 

Wherever  Protestantism  exists,  and  in  the  proportion  in 
which  it  exists,  do  we  find  the  Sabbath.  The  two  most  pro- 
testant  cities  of  Switzerland  are  Basle  and  Geneva.  The 
writer  has  passed  Sabbaths  in  these  cities,  and  he  found  a 
marked  difference  between  the  way  in  which  the  day  was 
there  kept,  and  its  observance  in  Cologne  ;  though  still  the 
best  portions  of  Switzerland  are  far  inferior  to  the  worst  por- 
tions of  protestant  Britain.  If  we  enter  the  south  of  France, 
we  find  ourselves  again  in  the  midst  of  the  thick  darkness, 
and  we  lose  almost  all  trace  of  the  Sabbath.  We  take 
Lyons  as  an  example, — a  city  wholly  given  to  the  worship 
of  Mary,  and  where  might  be  set  up,  in  the  midst  of  her 
shrines  and  temples,  an  altar  "  To  the  Unknown  God." 
The  writer  would  have  found  it  impossible  to  have  discovered 


THE  SABBATH  IN  FRANCE.  471 

from  any  outward  sign  that  it  was  the  Sabbath.     No  branch 
of  labour  or  mercliandise  was  suspended,  in  the  forenoon 
at  least :  every  shop  was  open.     There  was  the  same  bustle 
on  the  quay  of  the  Rhone,  where  steamers  were  arriving  and 
departing.     While  the  priests  inside  the  cathedrals  burned 
candles  and  incense,  or  chanted  mass,  or  sung  a  requiem 
over  the  coffined  dead,  to  mitigate,  as  their  relatives  fond- 
ly hoped,  their  purgatorial  pains,  the  people  over  whom 
they  bore  sway  were  busy  outside  prosecuting  their  labours, 
and  intent  on  making  gain.     Nay,  the  churches  were  ap- 
proached through  stalls  of  buyers  and  sellers,  which  covered 
the  open  space  in  front,  and  came  close  up  to  the  gates  of 
the  cathedrals,  so  that  the  priest's  chant  blended  with  the 
hum  of  traffic  outside.     So  few  entered,  and  these  for  so 
short  a  time  (for  such  went  only  to  mutter  a  few  prayers 
and  retire),  that  they  were  never  missed  from  the  toiling 
and  trafficking  thousands  of  Lyons.     The  amusements  of  the 
evening  were  not  unlike  those  of  Cologne.     A  military  band, 
consisting  of  at  least  an  hundred  performers,  was  stationed 
in  the  grand  square,  to  regale  the  citizens,  who  were  gather- 
ed around  them  in  thousands,  or  sipped  wine  or  coffee  in  the 
adjoining  gardens. 

The  Sabbaths  of  Paris  are,  unhappily,  too  well  known. 
But  here  we  use  a  misnomer ; — Paris  has  no  Sabbath.  The 
man  who  rises  six.  successive  days  to  toil,  rises  on  the  seventh 
also  to  toil.  This  shows  us,  by  the  way,  what,  in  an  econo- 
mic point  of  view,  would  be  the  effect  of  the  abolition  of  the 
Sabbath  :  it  would  be  simply  the  substitution  of  a  day  of 
labour  for  a  day  of  rest, — the  addition  of  a  seventh  to  the 
toil  of  man,  not  only  without  any  additional  remuneration, 
but  with  a  very  greatly  diminished  remuneration,  owing  to 
the  over-production  which  it  would  create.  In  Paris  all 
trades  and  professions  are  prosecuted  on  the  Sabbath  as 
on  other  days.  The  wheel  of  the  mechanic  and  the  tool  of 
the  artizan  are  as  busily  plied  on  that  day  as  on  any  other. 
The  mason  builds,  and  the  smith  kindles  his  forge ;  the 
porter,  the  tailor,  the  shopkeeper,  the  merchant, — all  are 


472  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

occupied  as  usual.     In  the  forenoon  a  thin  congregation  as- 
sembles in  the  venerable  aisles  of  Notre  Dame,  or  in  the  more 
gorgeous  temple  of  the  Madeline.     The  worship  consists  of 
genufluxions,  incensings,  chantings,  and  other  pagan  mum- 
meries, but  has  no  reference  to  the  verities  of  an  eternal 
world.     That  ouvrier  and  that  young  woman,  as  they  wor- 
ship on  bended  knee  an  image  or  a  Madonna,  seem  the  very 
picture  of  devotion ;  but  follow  them  in  the  evening  to  Fran- 
coni"'s  circus,  or  to  the  dancing  garden,  and  see  how  little 
they  have  profited  by  the  morning''s  devotions.     At  that  al- 
tar the  Bible  is  never  opened.     Beneath  that  roof  God's 
message  of  love  is  never  proclaimed.     In  the  city  around,  a 
million  of  men,  with  a  few  exceptions,  are  living  in  the  gi'oss- 
ness  of  superstition  and  vice,  but  no  voice  cries  "  Deliver 
from  going  down  to  the  pit."     The  priests  have  taken  away 
the  key  of  knowledge ;  they  enter  not  in  themselves ;  and 
them  that  were  entering  in  they  hindered.     At  an  early  hour 
in  the  afternoon  business  is  suspended,  and  pleasure  takes  its 
place.     Then,  indeed,  does  Paris  rejoice.     A  gay  stream  of 
vehicles,  equestrians,  and  pedestrians,  pours  along  the  Boule- 
vards.    Others  hasten  to  the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  or  to  the 
Champs  d''Elysee^  where  mountebank  shows,  and  all  kinds  of 
games  and   amusements,  are  going  on.     Others  assemble 
round  the  tea-tables  in  the  gardens  of  the  Palais  Royale^  or 
saunter  in  those  of  the  Tuileries.    All  the  theatres  in  the  citv 
are  open,  and  are  better  attended  on  that  evening  than  on 
any  of  the  previous  six.     The  saloons  are  brilliantly  illumi- 
nated.    Omnibuses  and  vehicles  of  all  kinds  thunder  along 
the  Rue  St  Honore  and  the  Rue  St  Antoine,  filled  with  half- 
inebriated  passengers,  who  shout  or  sing  in  their  boisterous 
efforts  to  be  merry.     It  is  remarkable  enough,  that  what  cer- 
tain parties  in  this  country  confidently  and  urgently  recom- 
mend as  an  effectual  preservative  against  drunkenness  should 
in  France  be  a  main  provocative  of  that  vice.    There  is  more 
wine  and  spirits  drank  in  Paris  on  that  day  than  on  any 
three  of  the  other  days  of  the  week. 

We  must  not  suppose  that  it  is  only  in  the  cities  of  the 


POPEDOM  A  MORAL  WRECK.  473 

Continent  that  the  Sabbath  has  disappeared:  matters  are  no 
bettor  in  the  country.  "  It  so  happened,"  says  a  traveller, 
"  that  we  reached  Orleans, — a  day's  journey  from  Paris, — 
on  a  Saturday  afternoon.  My  relatives  forgot  the  fact  that 
it  was  Saturday;  and  no  external  indication  making  Sun- 
day palpable  to  the  eye,  I  did  not  undeceive  them,  being 
anxious  to  return  to  Paris  without  delay.  We  started, 
then,  the  following  morning,  as  usual,  and  travelled  seventy 
or  eighty  miles  through  towns,  villages,  and  hamlets,  till  we 
reached  Paris,  without  my  friends  discovering  that  we  had 
been  travelling  on  Sunday."*  This  speaks  volumes,  and  re- 
quires no  comment.  To  the  south  of  the  Alps  matters  are 
no  better,  and  they  could  scarce  be  worse.  The  fact  is  too 
well  known  to  require  either  illustration  or  proof. 

Such  is  the  condition  into  which  the  Papacy  has  reduced 
western  Europe  :  it  has  withdrawn  men  from  the  great 
fountain  of  morality — the  Bible  ;  it  has  throvi'n  down  the 
great  bulwark  of  morality — the  Sabbath ;  it  has  made  the 
good  of  the  Church  the  supreme  law,  and  has  thus  confound- 
ed the  essential  distinction  between  virtue  and  vice ;  it  has 
converted  religion  into  a  mere  ritual,  and  government  into 
a  system  of  coercion  ;  it  has  introduced  corruption  into  pub- 
lic life,  and  fraud  into  private  society ;  it  has  covered  the 
Continent  with  concubinage,  assassination,  robbery,  and 
gambling ;  it  has  eradicated  from  the  minds  of  men  all 
sense  of  obligation  and  duty.  The  Church  now  seeks  in  vain 
for  faith,  and  the  State  for  loyalty ;  and  both  have  been 
brought  to  rest  their  continued  existence  upon  the  preca- 
rious tenure  of  military  fidelity. 

*  Continental  Confessions  of  a  Layman,  p.  61. 


474  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 


CHAPTER  V. 


INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  THE  SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL 
CONDITION  OF  NATIONS. 


Our  second  proposition  is,  that  Popish  nations  are  inferior 
to  Protestant  nations  in  respect  of  general  prosperity  and 
happiness. 

The  economic  condition  of  a  nation  grows  directly  out  of 
its  moral  and  intellectual  state.  We  have  already  shown 
how  vastly  inferior,  in  this  respect,  are  popish  nations  to 
protestant  nations;  but  they  are  as  inferior  in  point  of  wealth 
and  general  prosperity.  The  Reformation  demonstrated  that 
the  doctrines  of  Popery  were  false ;  the  three  centuries  which 
have  since  elapsed  have  demonstrated  that  their  influence  is 
evil.  The  former  brought  Popery  to  the  test  of  the  Bible  ; 
the  other  has  brought  it  to  the  test  of  experience;  and 
Popery  has  been  cast  on  both  grounds.  It  was  convicted,  in 
the  first  instance,  of  being  the  enemy  of  divine  truth,  and 
therefore,  of  man''s  eternal  happiness  •  it  has  been  convicted, 
in  the  second  instance,  of  being  opposed  to  political  and  eco- 
nomic truth,  and  therefore  the  foe  of  man''s  temporal  wel- 
fare. The  Reformation  brought  with  it  a  great  and  visible 
quickening  of  mind  .  it  released  it  from  the  fetters  it  had 
worn  for  ages, — awoke  the  intellect, — touched  the  sympa- 
thies and  aspirations  ;  and  hence  there  was  not  a  country 
into  which  it  was  introduced  that  did  not  start  forward  in 


VERDICT  OF  HISTORY.  47o 

a  career  of  progress  in  all  that  relates  to  the  greatness  and 
happiness  of  man, — in  letters,  in  science,  and  in  arts, — in 
government,  in  industry,  in  manufactures,  and  in  commerce. 
For  the  past  three  centuries  Protestantism  has  been  steadi- 
ly elevating  those  countries  into  which  the  Reformation 
found  entrance  ;  Popery  has  been  steadily  sinking  those  in 
which  Rome  continued  to  bear  sway.  The  difference  be- 
tween the  two  is  now  so  great  as  to  foi-ce  itself  upon  the  at- 
tention of  the  whole  world.  Could  the  two  rival  systems 
have  had  a  fairer  trial, — three  centuries  of  time,  and  west- 
ern Europe  for  an  arena  ?  and  could  anything  be  more  strik- 
ing or  conclusive  than  the  issue, — a  progress  steadily  upward 
in  the  one  case, — steadily  downward  in  the  other  ?  The  dif- 
ference may  be  summed  up  in  two  words — Advance  and 
Retrogression.  The  solemn  verdict  of  history  is  this  : — 
Popery  is  the  barrier  to  progress,  and  the  foe  of  man's  tem- 
poral wellbeing. 

Wherever  we  look,  we  find  this  evil  system  bearing  the 
same  evil  fruits.  Wherever  we  meet  Popery,  there  we  meet 
moral  degradation,  mental  imbecility,  indolence,  unskilful- 
ness,  improvidence,  rags,  and  beggary.  No  ameliorations 
of  government, — no  genius  or  peculiarities  of  race, — no  fer- 
tility of  soil, — no  advantages  of  climate, — seem  able  to  with- 
stand the  baleful  influence  of  this  destructive  superstition  : 
it  is  the  same  amid  the  exhaustless  resources  of  the  new 
world  as  amid  the  civilization  and  arts  of  the  old  :  it  is  the 
same  amid  the  grandeur  of  Switzerland  and  the  histoi-ic 
glories  of  Italy,  as  among  the  bogs  of  Connaught  and  the 
wilds  of  the  Hebrides.  The  first  glance  is  sufficient  to  re- 
veal the  vast  disparity  between  the  two  systems,  as  shown 
in  the  external  condition  of  the  nations  that  profess  them. 
Let  us  compare  Britain  and  America, — the  two  most  power- 
ful protestant  countries, — with  France  and  Austria, — the 
two  most  powerful  popish  countries.  What  a  difference  as 
regards  the  present  state  and  future  prospects  of  these  coun- 
tries !     Or,  let  us  take  Austria,  the  daughter  of  Charles  V., 


476  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

and  compare  it  with  Prussia,  the  daughter  of  Luther ;  or  let 
us  take  the  United  States,  the  offspring  of  Protestant  Bri- 
tain, and  compare  them  with  Mexico  and  Peru,  the  offspring 
of  Catholic  Spain.  Why  should  not  Austria  be  as  flourishing 
as  Prussia  ?  Why  should  not  Mexico  be  running  the  same 
career  of  improvement  and  growing  wealth  as  the  United 
States  of  America  ?  Are  not  these  countries  on  a  level  as 
regards  their  internal  resources  and  their  facilities  for  fo- 
reign trade  ?  Austria  is  richer  in  these  respects  than  Prus- 
sia ;  Mexico  than  the  States.  And  yet  their  prosperity  is 
in  the  inverse  ratio  of  their  advantages.  Why  is  this  ?  One 
solution  only  meets  the  case.*  In  the  one  instance.  Protes- 
tantism has  elevated  the  moral  character  and  strengthened 
the  intellectual  powers  of  the  people,  and  hence  the  pre- 
sence of  all  the  elements  of  a  nation's  greatness, — skill,  en- 
terprize,  sobriety,  steadiness,  and  security  ;  and  there  ap- 
pears, therefore,  no  limit  to  their  progress  :  in  the  other,  a 
demoralizing  and  barbarizing  superstition  still  bears  sway; 
the  people  are  unskilful,  disorderly,  and  improvident ;  their 
country  has  reached  the  limits  of  its  prosperity,  and  is  ad- 
vancing backwards  into  ruin. 

But  it  is  not  only  when  we  take  a  large  region  into  view 
that  we  are  able  to  trace  the  peculiar  effects  of  the  two  sys- 
tems; a  petty  dukedom  of  Germany,  or  a  Swiss  canton,  shows 
it  equally  well.  The  result  is  the  same,  however  closely  or 
minutely  we  examine.  Let  us  take  a  rapid  glance  at  the 
various  popish  countries  of  Europe,  and  see  how  they  authen- 


*  "  Tlirougliout  Chiistendoni,  wliatever  advance  lias  been  made  in  know- 
ledge, in  freedom,  in  wealth,  and  in  the  arts  of  life,  has  been  made  in  spite 
of  her  [Church  of  Rome],  and  has  everywhere  been  in  inverse  proportion 
to  her  power.  The  loveliest  provinces  in  Europe  have  under  her  rule  been 
sunk  in  poverty,  in  political  servitude,  and  in  intellectual  torpor  ;  while 
protestant  countries  once  proverbial  for  sterility  and  barbarism  have  been 
turned,  by  skill  and  industry,  into  gardens,  and  can  boast  of  a  long  list  of 
heroes,  statesmen,  philosophers,  and  poets."  (Macaulay's  History  of  Eug- 
land.) 


BELGIUM  AND  HOLLAND.  477 

ticate  our  theory, — that,  be  the  genius  of  a  people  and  the 
capabilities  of  their  territory  what  they  may.  Popery  will 
convert  their  country  into  a  social  and  economic  wreck. 
And  here  we  may  state,  once  for  all,  that  as  regards  the 
countries  north  of  the  Alps,  we  shall  state  only  what  we  have 
had  personal  opportunities  of  knowing,  and  which  we  chal- 
leno-e  any  competent  witness  to  contradict  or  disprove. 

We  begin  with  Belgium,  which,  on  the  whole,  is  the  most 
flourishing  Roman  Catholic  country  in  Europe,  but  which, 
nevertheless,  affords  conclusive  evidence  of  what  we  are  now 
seeking  to  substantiate.     Belgium  enjoys  a  free  government, 
a  rich  soil ;   is  favourably  situated  for  commerce  with  pro- 
testant  states ;  and,  above  all,  still  retains  the  protestant 
element,   and,  along  with  that,  the  arts  and  manufactures 
which  the  storms  of  former  persecuting  eras  were  the  means 
of  drifting  to  her  shores.     Those  parts  of  Belgium  where  the 
French  Protestants  settled  enjoy  a  high  degree  of  prosperity, 
— a  prosperity  which  is  the  result  and  the  recompense  of  its 
former  hospitality  to  the  victims  of  persecution.     But  in  the 
aboriginal  parts,  as  in  the  south-west,  where  Popery  settles 
thick  and  dense,  we  find  the  same  indolence  and  wretched- 
ness that  prevail  in  Ireland.     That  district  bears  the  same 
relation  to  the  rest  of  Belgium  which  Ireland  does  to  Bri- 
tain.    It  is  liable,  like  Ireland,  to  be  visited  with  periodic 
famines,  and  at  these  seasons  it  endures  like  deplorable  mi- 
sery.     The  condition  of  these   districts  forms  a  frequent 
theme  of  discussion  in  the  Belgian  Chambers,   as  Ireland 
does  in  the  British  Legislature.     As  in  Ireland,  so  in  Flan- 
ders, airriculture  and  the  arts  are  in  a  backward  state,  and 
the  people  are  the  prey  of  ignorance  and  improvidence.     The 
land  groans  under  a  pauper  occupancy  ;  and  the  manufac- 
ture of  thread, — the  staplo  manufacture  of  the  country, — is 
prosecuted  with  the  hand-wheel  of  their  ancestors.     Com- 
petition is  hopeless  with  the  rest  of  Belgium,  which  enjoys 
the  advantage  of  improved  machinery,  and  thus  the  Flem- 
ings have  fallen  behind  in  the  race  of  national  prosperity. 
Let  us  contrast  Belgium  with  the  little  protestant  state 


478  INFLUENCE  OP  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

on  the  north  of  it, — Holland.     Holland  was  originally  a  few 
scattered  sand-banks  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rhine,  when  its 
inhabitants  conceived  the  design  of  forming  a  country  amid 
shifting  sands  and  roaring  waves.     Piece  by  piece  did  they 
rescue  from  the  ocean  an  extensive  territory  ;  and,  girdling 
it  with  a  strong  rampart,  it  became  in  time  the  theatre  of 
mighty  deeds,  and  the  asylum  of  Protestant  liberty,  when 
the  rest  of  Continental  Europe  fell  under  the  power  of  ty- 
rants.    Every  reader  of  history  knows  the  long,  unequal, 
but  finally  triumphant  contest  which  they  waged  with  the 
Emperor  Charles,  who  sought  to  compel  them  to  embrace 
the  Romish  faith.     The  glorious  era  of  the  nation  dates  from 
the  time  that  the  Hollanders  threw  off  the  yoke  of  Spain. 
From  that  period  their  social  interests  steadily  advanced, 
their  commercial  genius  expanded,  the  trade  of  India  came 
into  their  hands,  and  they  replenished  their  sea-girt  home 
with  the  riches  and  the  luxuries  of  the  Orient.     No  nation 
teaches  the  lesson  so   strikingly  as  Holland,  how  little  a 
people  owe  to  the  advantages  of  soil,  and  how  much  their 
greatness  depends  upon  themselves.     In  all  points  Holland 
is  the  antipodes  of  Ireland.'^     Without  one  good  natural  har- 
bour upon  their  coasts,  the  Dutch  built  commodious  havens 
amid  the  waves  for  their  shipping.     Their  soil,  which  was 
originally  the  sand  which  the  ocean  had  cast  up,  could  yield 
nothing  as  a  basis  of  trade.     All  had  they  to  import ; — tim- 
ber to  build  their  ships, — the  raw  material  of  their  manu- 
factures.    Nevertheless,  under  these  immense  disadvantages 
did  the  Dutch  become  the  first  commercial  people  in  the 
world.     They  owed  all  to  their  Protestantism,  and  to  that 
element  do  they  still  owe  their  superiority  among  continen- 
tal nations,  in  the  virtues  of  industry,  frugality,  sobriety, 
sound  morals,  and  love  of  freedom. 

Let  us  ascend  the  Rhine,  and  mark  the  condition  of  the 
dukedoms  and  palatinates  which  lie  upon  the  course  of  this 


*  The  contrast  was  very  strikingly  stated  by  Sir  W.  Temple  long  ago. 
See  Lis  Uistory  of  the  United  Provinces. 


POPISH  AND  PROTESTANT  PRINCIPALITIES.  479 

celebrated  stream.  This  was  once  the  highway  of  Europe : 
and  at  every  step  we  meet  the  memorials  of  the  commercial 
wealth  and  baronial  power  of  which  this  region  was  an- 
ciently the  seat.  The  banks  of  the  river  are  studded  with 
faded  towns,  once  the  busy  seats  of  traffic,  but  now  desert- 
ed and  impoverished  ;  while  the  crag  is  crowned  with  the 
baron's  castle,  now  mouldering  in  the  winds.  We  by  no 
means  ascribe  to  Popery  the  great  reverse  which  the  Rhen- 
ish towns  have  sustained,  and  which  is  plainly  owing  to  those 
great  scientific  discoveries  and  political  changes  which  have 
opened  new  channels  to  commerce,  and  withdrawn  it  from 
this  its  ancient  route.  But  what  we  affirm  is,  that  wherever 
there  yet  remains  in  this  celebrated  tract  any  commercial 
enterprize  and  prosperity,  it  is  in  connection  with  Protes- 
tantism. The  commerce  of  Europe  the  valley  of  the  Rhine 
can  never  again  command  ;  but  its  trade  might  be  ten  times 
what  it  is,  were  it  not  for  the  torpor  of  the  people,  induced 
by  a  superstitious  ^aith  ;  and  to  be  satisfied  of  this,  we  have 
only  to  take  into  account  that  the  Rhine  connects  the  centre 
of  Europe  with  the  ocean,  and  that  its  course  throughout  is 
in  a  thickly-peopled  region.  Here,  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  is  the  free  protestant  state  of  Frankfort.  It  is  some 
fifteen  miles  distant  from  the  river;  nevertheless  it  is  the 
scene  of  extensive  banking  operations,  of  commercial  ac- 
tivity, and  of  great  agricultural  prosperity.  Its  soil  is 
rich  and  smiling  like  a  garden,  and  offers  an  agreeable  con- 
trast to  that  of  the  semi-popish  duchies  and  electorates  lying 
around  it.  But  in  no  part  of  Germany  have  the  seeds  of  life 
which  Luther  sowed  become  wholly  extinct ;  and  therefore 
the  whole  of  Germany  contrasts  favourably  with  the  Bava- 
rian and  Austrian  kingdoms  on  the  south.  As  we  advance 
towards  the  Adriatic  the  darkness  deepens,  and  the  ground 
refuses  to  yield  its  strength  to  the  poor  enslaved  beings  that 
live  upon  it. 

No  traveller  ever  yet  penetrated  the  mountain-barriers  of 
Switzerland  who  was  not  struck,  not  more  with  the  gran- 


4S0  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

deur  of  its  snows  and  glaciers,  than  with  the  striking  but 
mysterious  contrast  which  canton  offers  to  canton.*  A 
single  step  carries  him  from  the  garden  into  the  wilderness, 
or  from  the  wilderness  into  the  garden.  He  passes,  for  in- 
stance, from  the  canton  of  Lausanne  into  that  of  the  Valais, 
and  he  feels  as  if  he  had  retrograded  from  the  nineteenth 
back  into  the  fifteenth  century.  Or  he  quits  the  kingdom  of 
Sardinia,  and  enters  the  territory  of  Geneva,  and  the  trans- 
ition he  can  compare  only  to  a  passage  from  the  barbarism 
of  the  dark  ages  to  the  civilization  and  enterprize  of  modern 
times.  He  leaves  behind  him  a  scene  of  indolence,  dirt,  and 
beggary ;  he  emerges  on  a  scene  of  cleanliness,  thrift,  and 
comfort.  In  the  one  case  the  very  soil  appears  to  be  blight- 
ed; the  faculties  of  man  are  dwarfed;  the  towns  and  villages 
have  a  deserted  and  ruinous  look ;  and  one  sees  only  a  few 
loiterers,  who  appear  as  if  they  felt  motion  an  intolerable 
burden ;  the  roads  are  ploughed  by  torrents ;  the  bridges 
are  broken  down  ;  the  farm-houses  are  dilapidated  ;  and 
the  crops  are  devastated  by  inundations,  against  which  the 
inhabitants  have  neither  the  energy  nor  the  forethought  to 
provide.  In  the  other  case  the  traveller  finds  a  soil  richly 
cultivated  ;  elegant  villas ;  neat  cottages,  with  patches  of 
garden  ground  attached,  carefully  dressed  ;  towns  which  are 
hives  of  industry ;  while  the  countenances  of  the  people 
beam  with  intelligence  and  activity.  The  traveller  is  at  first 
confounded  at  what  he  sees.  The  cause  to  him  is  wholly 
incomprehensible.  He  sees  the  two  cantons  lying  side  by 
side,  warmed  by  the  same  sun,  their  soils  equally  fertile, 
their  people  of  the  same  race,  and  yet  their  bounding  line 
has  a  garden  on  this  side  and  a  desert  on  that.     The  tra- 


*  "  Whoever  passes  in  Germany  from  a  Roman  Catholic  to  a  Protes- 
tant principality, — in  Switzerland  from  a  Roman  Catliolic  to  a  Protestant 

canton, in  Ireland  from  a  Roman  Catholic  to  a  Protestant  county, — finds 

that  he  passes  from  a  lower  to  a  higher  grade  of  civilization.  On  tlie 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic  the  same  law  prevails."  (Macaulay's  History 
of  England.) 


PROTESTANT  AND  POPISH  CANTONS,  481 

veller  discovers  at  last  that  the  same  order  invariably  ob- 
tains,— that  the  rich  cantons  are  Protestant,  and  the  poor 
cantons  Popish  ;  and  he  never  fails  to  note  down  the  fact 
as  a  curious  coincidence,  even  when  he  may  fail  to  perceive 
that  he  has  now  reached  the  solution  of  the  mystery,  and 
that  the  Popery  and  the  demoralization  before  him  stand 
related  as  cause  and  effect.  "  I  met  a  carrier  one  day," 
says  M.  Roussell  of  Paris,  speaking  of  his  tour  in  Switzer- 
land, "  who  enumerated  all  the  clean  cantons  and  all  the 
dirty  ones.  The  man  was  unaware  that  the  one  list  con- 
tained all  the  Protestant  cantons,  and  the  other  all  the 
Popish  cantons."*  Every  one  who  knows  anything  of  Ge- 
neva knows  that  it  is  crowded  with  thousands  of  laborious 
and  skilful  artizans.  Here  is  a  picture  from  the  opposite 
quarter  of  Switzerland, — the  canton  of  Argau, — where  the 
Popery  settles  thick  and  deep  : — "  M.  Zschokke,  together 
with  two  Catholic  gentlemen,  was  named  inspecting  visitor 
of  the  monasteries'by  the  Argovian  government.  He  found 
the  population  around  the  convent  of  Muri  the  idlest,  poor- 
est, most  barbarous,  and  most  ignorant  in  the  whole  can- 
ton ;  a  long  train  of  able-bodied  beggars  of  both  sexes  to 
bo  seen  at  the  doors  of  the  monastery,  dirty  and  in  rags, 
receiving  distributions  of  soup  from  the  kitchen,  but  exhibit- 
ing the  lowest  average  both  of  physical  and  moral  wellbeing 
throughout  the  neighbouring  villages." -f* 

It  is  but  a  few  years  since  the  author  stood  upon  the 
frontier  of  Sardinia ;  but  never  can  he  forget  the  impres- 
sion made  upon  his  mind  by  that  lovely  but  wasted  country. 
Behind  him  was  the  far-extending  chain  of  the  Jura,  with 
the  clouds  breaking  away  from  its  summits.  In  the  vast 
hollow  formed  by  the  long  and  gradual  descent  of  the  land, 
from  the  Jura  on  the  one  side  and  the  mountains  of  Savoy  on 
the  other,  reposed  in  calm  magnificence  the  lake  of  Geneva. 
Around  its  lovely  waters  ran  noble  banks,   on  which  the 


*  «  New  York  Evangelist,"  1849, 

t  Politics  of  Switzeilaud,  by  G,  Grote,  Esq.,  p,  70  ;  London,  1847. 

2  I 


482  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

vine  was  ripening  ;  while  here  and  there  tall  forest-trees 
were  gathered  into  clumps,  and  white  villas  gleamed  out 
upon  the  shore.     In  front  were  the  high  Alps,  amid  whose 
gleaming  summits  rose  "  Sovran  Blanc"  in  unapproachable 
grandeur.     In  approaching  the  Sardinian  frontier,  the  au- 
thor traversed  a  level  fertile  country.    Trees  laden  with  fruit 
lined  the  road,  and,  stretching  their  noble  arms  across, 
screened  him  from  the  warm  morning  sun.     On  either  side 
of  the  highway  were  rich  meadow  lands,  on  which  cattle 
were  grazing;  while  noble  woods,  and  villas  embowered  amid 
fruit-trees,  still  farther  diversified  the  prospect.     At  short 
intervals  came  a  neat  cottage,  with  its  vine-trellised  porch, 
with   its    garden  gay    with    blossoms    and    fruit,    and    its 
group  of  happy  children.     The  author  crossed  the  torrent 
which  divides  the  republic  of  Geneva  from  the  kingdom  of 
Sardinia ;  but  ah,  what  a  change  !     That  moment  the  de- 
solation, moral  and  physical,  began.     The  fields  looked  as 
if  a  blight  had  blown  across  them ;  they  were  absolutely 
black.     The  houses  had  become  hovels ;  nor  had  he  gone  a 
dozen  yards  till  he  met  a  troop  of  beggars.     By  the  way- 
side stood  a  row  of  halt  and  blind,  waiting  for  alms.     Some 
of  them  were  afflicted  with  the  hideous  goitre  ;  others  were 
smitten  with  the  more  dreadful  malady  of  cretinism.     They 
formed  altogether  the  most  disgusting  and  miserable-look- 
ing group  he  had  ever  seen.     Their  numbers  seemed  endless. 
Every  other  mile,  in  the  day's  ride  of  fifty  miles,  brought 
new  groupes,  as  filthy,  squalid,  and  diseased  as  those  which 
had  been  passed.      They  uttered  a  piteous  whine,  or  ex- 
tended their  withered  arms,  as  if  not  to  beg  an  alms  so 
much  as  to  protest  against  the  tyranny,  ecclesiastical  and 
civil,  that  was  grinding  them  into  the  dust.     The  grandeur 
of  the  scenery  and  the  riches  of  the  region,  though  neglect- 
ed by  man  and  devastated  in  part  by  the  elements,  could 
not  be  surpassed.      There   were  magnificent  vines, — trees 
laden  with  golden  fruit,— patches  of  the  richest  grain ;  but 
the  region  seemed  a  kingdom  of  beggars,  not  driven  out  of 
their  paradise,  as  Adam  was,  but  doomed  to  dwell  amid  its 


DECADENCE  OF  FRANCE.  483 

beauty,  and  yet  not  taste  its  fruits.  Cretinism,  with  which 
the  popish  cantons  especially  are  overspread,  is  well  known 
to  be  owing  to  filth,  insufficient  food,  and  mental  stagnancy; 
and  wherever  one  travels  in  the  popish  cantons  of  Helvetia, 
he  is  perpetually  met  by  idiotcy,  mendicancy,  and  every  form 
of  misery. 

"  ubique 
Luctus,  ubique  squalor." 

This  was  the  land  of  the  confessor  as  well  as  of  the  persecu- 
tor. Here,  during  many  ages,  burned  the  "  Waldensian 
candlestick,"  shedding  its  heavenly  light  on  a  cluster  of  love- 
ly valleys,  when  the  rest  of  Europe  lay  shrouded  in  deepest 
night.  This  Church,  the  most  venerable  in  Christendom,  has 
enjoyed  a  revival  in  our  day.  Its  Synod  was  holden  in  the 
present  summer  (1851)  ;  and  the  sound  moral  and  physical 
condition  of  its  people  contrasts  instructively  with  the  igno- 
rance and  disease  around  them.  It  was  stated  that  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  of  the  population  was  at  school,  and  only  one 
per  cent,  in  the  hospital. 

We  turn  northward  into  France.  France,  from  its  cen- 
tral position,  extent  and  fertility  of  territory,  and  the  genius 
of  its  people,  was  obviously  meant  by  nature  to  be  one  of 
the  first  of  European  kingdoms.  We  find  France  taking 
the  lead  at  the  opening  of  modern  European  history,  and, 
after  a  period  of  decadence,  resuming  her  former  place  under 
Louis  XIV.  Since  that  time  her  progress  has  been  steadily 
downward.  No  doubt  she  is  nominally  richer  at  this  mo- 
ment, both  in  population  and  in  revenue,  than  she  was  under 
the  grancle  monarque  ;  but  taking  the  actual  value  of  money 
into  account,  and  comparing  the  increase  of  France  in  the 
points  specified,  with  that  of  Protestant  countries,  she  is 
vastly  poorer  in  these,  as  she  is  in  all  other  points.  This 
decline  is  directly  traceable — indeed  her  greatest  historians 
trace  it — to  her  bigotry,  by  which,  no  sooner  had  her  trade 
and  commerce  become  flourishing,  and  no  sooner  had  the 
principles  of  loyalty  and  virtue  taken  root  among  her  people, 
than  she  made  renewed  and  desperate  attempts  to  extin- 


484  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

guisli  both.  Last  summer  M.  Raudot  published  a  work  en- 
titled "  The  Decline  of  France,"  of  which  an  analysis  ap- 
peared in  the  "  Opinion  Puhlique^''*  to  which  we  are  indebt- 
ed for  the  following  facts.  The  first  element  of  power  is 
population.  France  had  a  population  of  thirty  millions  in 
1816,  which  had  risen  to  thirty-five  millions  in  1848,  Russia 
had  risen  in  the  same  period  from  sixty  to  seventy  millions; 
England  from  nineteen  and  a  half  to  twenty-nine  millions ; 
and  Prussia  from  ten  to  sixteen  millions.  France  during 
these  years  had  added  only  a  seventh  to  her  population, 
while  the  other  countries  named  had  added  about  a  third ; 
that  is,  their  rate  of  increase  had  been  more  than  double 
that  of  France.  Were  a  war  to  break  out,  the  conditions 
of  the  struggle  would  be  changed.  France,  an  essentially 
agricultural  country,  has  become  unable  to  mount  her  ca- 
valry with  her  own  horses ;  and  while  the  other  countries 
have  increased  in  this  respect,  France  was  obliged  to  pur- 
chase upwards  of  37,000  in  1840.  It  is  obviously  unneces- 
sary to  compare  the  shipping  of  France  with  that  of  Eng- 
land. In  1788  the  French  tonnage  was  500,000  tons,  and 
that  of  England  1,200,000  tons.  In  1848  the  tonnage  of 
France  amounted  only  to  683,230  tons,  and  that  of  Eng- 
land to  3,400,809  tons.  These  figures  speak  volumes.  The 
English  shipping,  which  only  measured  somewhat  more  than 
double  our  tonnage  in  1 789,  is  five  times  greater  at  present. 
When  a  nation  buys  more  than  it  sells,  its  wealth  dimi- 
nishes. In  France,  from  1837  to  1841,  the  excess  of  its 
imports  over  its  exports  was  71  millions,  and  from  1842  to 
1846  it  was  573  millions.  M.  Raudot,  by  calculations  found- 
ed on  the  income  tax,  finds  that  the  landed  property  of 
France,  though  its  area  is  greatly  larger  and  its  productive 
power  higher,  yields  a  smaller  revenue  than  that  of  Eng- 
land and  Scotland.  It  is  also  to  be  taken  into  account,  that 
the  funded  property  in  France  is  dreadfully  overloaded  with 
debt.     M.  Raudot  finds  also  that  there  has  been  a  diminu- 

•  "  Opinion  TuUlque"  November  4,  1849. 


DISORGANIZATION  OF  SPAIN.  485 

tion  in  the  stature  and  the  physical  powers  of  Frenchmen. 
In  178.9  the  height  for  the  infantry  sohlier  in  France  was 
5  feet  1  inch.  The  law  of  March  21,  1832,  fixed  the  height 
at  4  feet  9  inches  10  lines.  It  was  not  without  reason  that 
the  re(juired  height  was  reduced.  From  18o9  to  1845  there 
were  on  an  average  37,326  recruits  a-year  fit  for  service,  who 
stood  less  than  5  feet  1  inch  French ;  and  if  the  ancient  height 
had  been  required,  it  would  have  been  necessary  to  send 
away,  as  improper  for  service,  one-half  of  the  men  called  on 
to  perform  their  turn  of  duty.  In  the  seven  classes  called 
out  from  1839  to  1845  there  were  491,000  men  exempted, 
and  only  486,000  declared  fit  for  service ;  whereas  in  the 
seventeen  classes  from  1831  to  1837  there  had  been  only 
459,000  exempted,  and  504,000  declared  fit  for  service ; 
showing  that  in  France  the  health  as  well  as  the  stature  of 
the  people  has  declined.  M.  Raudot  proves  from  the  judi- 
cial statistics  a  similar  downward  course  in  morals.  In 
1827,  the  first  year  in  which  a  return  was  made  of  suicides, 
the  number  was  1542  ;  in  1847  the  number  was  3647.  In 
1826  the  tribunals  tried  only  108,390  cases,  and  159,740 
prisoners  ;  in  1847  the  number  of  cases  had  risen  to  184,922, 
and  of  prisoners  to  239,291.  This  is  a  sad  statement.  M. 
Raudot  investigates  all  the  elements  of  a  nation*'s  power, — 
population,  army,  navy,  wealth,  commerce,  health,  public 
force,  morals  ;  and  his  finding  is  the  same  in  all, — DECA- 
DENCE. 

But,  would  we  see  how  great  a  wreck  Popery  is  fitted  to 
create,  we  must  turn  to  Spain.  Place  a  stranger  on  the 
summit  of  the  gray  rampart  formed  by  the  Pyrenees ;  bid 
him  mark  the  rich  valleys  of  Spain  winding  at  his  feet,  and 
expanding,  as  they  wind,  into  the  fertile  plains  of  Arragon 
and  Navarre ;  bid  him  mark  how  on  the  north  this  rich  and 
beauteous  land  is  bounded  by  the  magnificent  mountain- 
wall  on  which  he  stands,  while  on  the  south  it  is  mistress  of 
the  keys  of  the  Mediterranean,  still  the  highway  of  the 
world's  commerce,  and  on  the  west  receives  the  waves  of 
the  Atlantic ;   tell  him  that  the  country  on  which  he  is 


4SG  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

gazing,  and  which  under  the  sway  of  the  Moorish  kings 
was  the  garden  of  Europe,  possesses  every  variety  of  climate, 
vast  beds  of  minerals,  while  its  soil  is  covered  with  the 
cereals  of  the  north,  interspersed  with  the  cotton  and  rice 
plants,  the  sugar-cane,  the  mulberry,  and  the  vine.  "  This 
country,"  he  will  exclaim,  "  nature  clearly  formed  to  be  the 
seat  of  a  great  and  powerful  kingdom."  And  such  Spain 
once  was ;  and  such  it  would  have  been  to  this  day,  but  for 
its  Popery,  Ages  of  bigotry  and  of  the  reign  of  the  Inqui- 
sition accomplished  at  last  the  utter  demoralization  of  the 
people  ;  and  now  Spain,  despite  her  natural  wealth  and  her 
historic  renown,  has  sunk  to  the  lowest  depth  of  national 
infamy.  Of  political  weight  she  is  utterly  bereft.  How  sel- 
dom is  her  wheat,  or  her  wool,  or  her  silk,  met  with  in  the 
market !  Abroad  her  name  has  long  ceased  to  be  honoured ; 
at  home  she  presents  a  spectacle  of  universal  corruption 
and  decay, — an  exchequer  bankrupt,  a  soil  half-tilled,  har- 
bours without  ships,  highways  without  passengers  or  traffic, 
and  villages  and  towns  partially  deserted  and  falling  into 
ruin. 

From  Spain  we  pass  into  Italy.  The  nearer  we  come  to 
the  centre  and  seat  of  the  Papacy,  we  find  the  darkness  the 
deeper,  and  the  desolation  and  ruin,  moral  and  physical,  the 
more  gigantic  and  appalling.  Than  Italy  the  world  holds 
not  a  prouder  or  fairer  realm  ;  but,  alas  !  we  may  say  with 
the  traveller,  when  he  first  surveyed  its  beauty  from  the 
passed  of  the  Alps,  "  the  devil  has  again  entered  paradise." 
How  much  has  the  Papacy  cost  Italy  !  Her  arts,  her  let- 
ters, her  empire,  her  commerce,  her  domestic  peace,  the 
spirit  and  genius  of  her  sons.  Nay,  not  utterly  extinct  are 
the  last,  though  sorely  crushed  and  overborne  ;  and  now, 
after  twelve  centuries  of  oppression,  giving  promise  to  the 
world  that  they  will  yet  revive,  and  flourish  anew  upon  the 
ruins  of  the  system  which  has  so  long  enthralled  them. 
Here  is  Lombardy,  "  story ful  and  golden  ."  its  sunny  plains 
stretching  away  in  their  fertility,  with  corn  and  wine  eter- 
nally springing  up  from  them :  yet  the  Lombards,  the  mer- 


DEGRADATION  OF  ITALY.  487 

chants  and  artificers  of  Milan  excepted,  are  for  the  most 
part  slaves  and  beggars.  Where  now  is  the  commerce  of 
Venice  ?  On  the  quays  on  which  her  merchants  trafficked 
with  the  world,  mendicants  whine  for  alms  ;  and  the  sigh- 
ing of  four  millions  of  slaves  mingles  with  the  wave  of  the 
imperial  Adriatic. 

Italy  presents  at  every  step  the  memorials  of  its  past 
grandeur  and  the  proofs  of  its  present  ruin.  In  the  former 
we  behold  what  the  narrow  measure  of  freedom  anciently 
accorded  to  it  enabled  it  to  attain ;  in  the  latter,  we  see 
what  the  foul  yoke  of  the  Papacy  has  reduced  it  to.*  Its 
literature  is  all  but  extinct,  under  the  double  thral  of  the 
censorship  and  the  national  superstition.  The  Bible,  that 
fountain  of  beauty  and  sublimity,  as  well  as  of  morality,  is 
an  unknoion  hook  in  Italy ;  and  the  popular  literature  of  its 
people  is  mainly  composed  of  tales,  in  prose  and  in  verse, 
celebrating  the  exploits  of  robbers  or  the  miracles  of  saints. -f" 
The  trade  of  its  cities  is  at  an  end,  and  its  towns  swann  with 
idlers  and  beggars,  who  can  find  neither  employment  nor 
food.  These  are  wholly  uncared  for  by  government.  Its 
agriculture  is  in  a  like  wretched  condition.  In  some  parts 
of  Italy  the  farms  are  mere  crofts,  and  the  farm-houses  ho- 
vels. In  other  parts,  as  in  the  plain  around  Rome,  the 
farms  are  enormously  large,  let  out  to  a  corporation ;  and 
the  reaping,  which  takes  place  in  the  fiercest  heats  of  sum- 
mer, is  performed  by  mountaineers,  whom  hunger  drives 
down  every  year  to  brave  the  terrors  of  the  malaria,  and 
the  harvest  costs  on  an  average  the  lives  of  one  half  the 


•  "  The  Pojie  found  the  Romans  heroes,  and  left  them  hens."  (Gavazzi.) 
■f*  "  Of  the  tliousands  who  cannot  read  aliDhabetical  letters  in  Rome,  not 
one  is  found  ignorant  (for  lottery  purposes)  of  Arabic  numerals  ;  while  for 
those  who  can  read  there  is  published  the  famous  *  Book  of  Dreams,'  as  an 
appropriate  auxiliary  in  legalized  witclicraft,— a  book  sold  in  wheel-bar- 
rows at  every  fair,  and  at  church-doors,  and  often  the  only  book  in  the 
whole  village  where  a  New  Testament  is  unknown.  .  .  .  While  the 
works  of  learning  and  genius  are  on  the  Index,  this  blasphemous  book's 
circulation  is  unblushingly  promoted."     (Gavazzi,  Thirteenth  Oration.) 


488  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

reapers.  Some  tracts  of  this  beauteous  land  are  now  alto- 
gether desert ;  and  the  salubrity  of  Italy  has  been  so  much 
affected  thereby,  that  the  average  duration  of  human  life  is 
considerably  shorter.  The  malaria  was  known  to  ancient 
Italy,  but  it  is  undoubted  that  it  has  immensely  increased  in 
modern  times,  and  this  is  universally  ascribed  to  the  absence 
of  cultivation  and  of  human  dwellings.  "  The  Pontine 
marshes,  now  a  pestilential  desert,  were  once  covered  with 
Volscian  towns ;  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber,  whither  convicts 
are  sent  to  die,  was  anciently  lined  by  Iloman  villas ;  and 
Pgestum,  whose  hamlet  is  cursed  with  the  deadliest  of  all 
the  Italian  fevers,  was  in  other  days  a  rich  and  populous 
city."* 

A  perpetual  round,  extending  from  one  end  of  the  year 
to  the  other,  of  festivals  and  saints'*  days,  interrupts  the  la- 
bours of  the  people,  and  renders  the  formation  of  steady 
habits  an  impossibility.  The  Roman  Calendar  exhibits  a 
festival  or  fast  on  every  day  of  the  year.  The  most  of  these 
are  voluntary  holidays ;  but  the  obligatory  ones  amount  to 
about  seventy  in  the  year,  exclusive  of  Sabbaths.  A  great 
part  of  the  land  is  the  property  of  the  Church.  The  number 
of  sacerdotal  persons  is  of  most  disproportionate  amount, 
seriously  affecting  the  trade  and  agriculture  of  the  country, 
from  which  they  are  withdrawn,  as  they  also  are  from  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  secular  courts.  "  In  the  city  of  Rome," 
says  Gavazzi,  "  with  a  population  of  1 70,000  (of  which  nearly 
6000  resident  Jews,  and  a  fluctuating  mass  of  strangers, 
nearly  of  the  same  amount,  formed  part),  there  were,  be- 
sides 1400  nuns,  a  clerical  militia  of  3069  ecclesiastics,  being 
one  for  every  fifty  inhabitants,  or  one  for  every  twenty-five 
male  adults  ;  while  in  the  provinces  there  were  towns  where 
the  proportion  was  still  greater,  being  one  to  every  twenty. 
The  Church  property  formed  a  capital  of  400,000,000  of 
francs,  giving  20,000,000  per  annum  ;  while  the  whole  re- 
venue of  the  state  was  but  eight  or  nine  millions  of  dol- 

*  Spalding's  Italy  and  the  Italian  Islands,  chap.  iii.  p.  289. 


IRELAND.  489 

lars, — a  sum  disasti'ously  absorbed  in  the  payment  of  cardinal 
ostentation,  in  purveying  to  the  pomps  of  a  scandalous  court, 
or  in  supplying  brandy  to  Austrian  brutality.'"*  In  pojiisli 
countries  generally  one-third  of  the  year  is  spent  in  wor- 
shipping dead  men  and  dead  women  ;  the  people  are  with- 
drawn from  their  labours,  and  taught  to  consume  their  sub- 
stance and  their  health  in  riot  and  drunkenness.  The  clergy, 
exempt  from  war  and  other  civic  duties,  have  abundance  of 
leisure  to  carry  on  intrigues  and  hatch  plots.  They  oppress 
the  poor,  fleece  the  rich,  and  drive  away  trade. -f-  Vast 
quantities  of  gold  and  silver  are  locked  up  in  the  cathedrals, 
being  employed  to  adorn  images,  which  might  otherwise  cir- 
culate freely  in  trade  ;  and  in  every  parish  there  is  an  asy- 
lum or  sanctuary,  where  robbers,  murderers,  and  all  sorts 
of  criminals,  are  defended  against  the  laws.  To  this,  in  no 
small  degree,  is  owing  the  blood  with  which  popish  coun- 
tries are  defiled. 

There  is  only  one  other  country  to  which  we  shall  advert. 
Its  condition  is  so  well  known  that  we  simply  name  it, — Ire- 
land. Its  natural  riches, — its  mineral  wealth, — its  amenity 
of  climate, — its  vast  capabilities  for  commerce, — are  all  well 
known ;  and  yet  Ireland  is  a  name  of  woe  among  the  nations, 
and  its  wretchedness  has  clouded  the  glories  of  the  British 
empire.  There,  ignorance  and  Popery,  idleness  and  crime, 
grow  side  by  side,  and  draw  each  other  up  to  a  marvellous 
height.  In  their  shade  raven  all  manner  of  unclean  beasts. 
Rebellion  roars  from  its  cave,  murder  howls  for  blood,  per- 
jury mocks  justice,  and  faction  defies  law ;  while  hordes  of 
its  teeming  population  annually  leave  its  shores  in  naked- 
ness and  hunger,  to  lurk  in  the  fever-haunted  dens  of  our 
great  cities,  or  to  be  cast  upon  the  frozen  shores  of  Canada. 


*  Gavazzi,  Thirteenth  Oration. 

t  The  writer  was  informed  in  Brussels,  by  an  intelligent  English  gentle- 
man long  resident  there,  that  the  priesthood  of  Belgium  were  the  sworn 
foes  of  free  trade,  fearing  that  with  it  might  come  in  protestant  books. 
Every  port  in  a  popish  country  has  a  priest  astride  it. 


490  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

"  Take  up  the  map  of  the  world,"  says  Dr  Hyan,  Roman 
Catholic  bishop  of  Limerick  ;   "  trace  from  pole  to  pole,  and 
from  hemisphere  to  hemisphere ;  and  you  will  not  meet  so 
wretched  a  country  as  Ireland."     But  to  what  is  this  wretch- 
edness owing  ?     There  is  no  man  who  acknowledges  the  least 
Torce  in  the  principles  we  have  demonstrated  and  the  ex- 
amples we  have  adduced,  who  can  help  seeing  that  the  mi- 
sery of  Ireland  is  owing  to  its  Popery.     On  the  other  side 
of  St  George's  Channel  it  is  still  the  dark  ages.     There  mind 
is  as  stagnant  as  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  Reforma- 
tion.    Nor  has  Ireland  shared  in  the  great  industrial  revo- 
lution of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  vainly  struggles  to  rival 
in  wealth  and  comfort  a  country  like  England,  which  pos- 
sesses the  intelligence  and  wields  the  arts  of  the  nineteenth. 
Her  Popery  has  degraded  and  demoralized  her ;  and  out  of 
her  demoralization  have  sprung  her  sloth,  her  improvidence, 
her  crime,  and  her  misery.     It  is  hard  to  say  whether  her 
vices  or  her  priests  now  eat  most  into  her  bowels.     Where 
the  landlord  cannot  gather  his  rents,  nor  the  tax-gatherer  his 
dues,  the  priest  collects  his.     Popery  can  glean  in  the  rear 
even  of  famine  and  death  :  she  has  neither  a  heart  to  pity 
nor  an  eye  to  weep,  but  only  an  iron  hand  to  gather  up  the 
crumbs  on  which  the  widow  and  the  fatherless  should  feed. 
Compare  Scotland  with  Ireland.     How  poor  the  one,  despite 
her  immense  natural  advantages  ;  how  rich  the  other,  des- 
pite her  no  less  immense  natural  disadvantages.     We  see 
Popery,  in  the  one  case,  converting  a  garden  into  a  wilder- 
ness, darkened  by  ignorance,  swarming  with  mendicants, 
polluted  with   crime ;   while    the  wail  of  its  misery  rings 
ceaselessly  throughout  the  civilized  world.     In  the  other,  we 
see  Protestantism  converting  a  land  of  swamps  and  forests 
into  a  fruitful  and  flourishing  realm,  the  home  of  the  arts, 
and  the  dwelling  of  a  people  renowned  throughout  the  world 
for  their  shrewdness,  their  industry,  and  their  virtues. 

Or  we  may  take  another  contrast.  At  the  one  extremity 
of  the  European  continent  stands  Italy  ;  at  the  other  is 
Scotland  ; — the  centre  of  Roman  Catholicism  the  one,  the 


SCOTLAND  AND  ITALY  CONTRASTED.  491 

head  of  Protestantism  the  other.  What  was  the  relative 
position  of  these  two  countries  at  the  beginning  of  our  era? 
That  a  land  of  sages  and  heroes;  this  a  country  of  painted 
barbarians.  But  eighteen  centuries  have  accomplished  a 
mighty  revolution.  Italy,  despite  the  beauty  of  its  climate, 
the  exuberant  fertility  of  its  soil,  the  fine  genius  of  its 
people,  and  the  heritage  of  renown  which  the  past  had  be- 
queathed to  it,  is  a  land  of  ruins.  It  has  lost  all ;  while 
Scotland  has  cleared  its  swamps,  covered  its  wilds  with  the 
richest  cultivation,  erected  cities  than  which  the  world  con- 
tains none  nobler,  and  filled  the  earth  with  the  renown  of  its 
arts,  its  science,  and  its  patriotism.  Why  is  this  I  Popery 
is  the  religion  of  the  one  country, — Protestantism  is  the 
relio-ion  of  the  other.  God  never  leaves  himself  without  a 
witness.  He  may  close  his  Word;  He  may  withdraw  his 
ministers;  still  we  need  no  prophet  from  the  dead.  He 
continues  to  proclaim,  by  the  great  dispensations  of  his 
providence,  the  eternal  distinction  between  truth  and  error. 
Here  has  He  set  up  before  the  eyes  of  all  nations,  Italy  and 
Scotland, — a  witness  for  Protestantism  the  one,  a  monu- 
ment against  Popery  the  other.  "Be  wise,  ye  kings'" 
Would  we  sink  Britain  to  the  degradation  of  Italy,  let  us 
endow  in  Britain  the  religion  of  Italy. 

We  have  already  demonstrated  that  Popery,  looking 
solely  at  its  character,  and  apart  altogether  from  any  expe- 
rience of  its  working,  is  fitted  to  degrade  man  socially  and 
individually.  We  have  now  shown,  from  nearly  as  extensive 
an  induction  of  facts  as  it  is  possible  to  make,  or  as  one 
can  reasonably  demand,  that  experience  fully  bears  out  the 
conclusion  at  which  we  had  arrived  on  the  ground  of  prin- 
ciple. Wherever  we  find  Popery,  there  we  find  moral  de- 
gradation, intellectual  torpor,  and  physical  discomfort  and 
misery.  Under  every  government,  whether  the  free  govern- 
ments of  England  and  Belgium,  or  the  despotic  regime  of 
Spain  and  Austria, — among  every  race,  the  Teutonic  and  the 
Celtic, — in  both  hemispheres,  the  states  of  the  Old  World 
and  the  provinces  of  the  New, — the  tendency  of  Romanism  is 


402  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

the  same.  It  is  a  principle  that  stereotypes  nations.  It 
depopulates  kingdoms,  annihilates  industry,  destroys  com- 
merce, corrupts  government,  arrests  justice,  undermines  or- 
der, breeds  revolutions,  extinguishes  morality,  and  nourishes 
a  brood  of  monstrous  vices, — murder,  perjury,  adultery,  in- 
dolence and  theft,  massacres  and  wars.  It  enfeebles  and 
destroys  the  race  of  man,  and  annihilates  the  very  cement 
of  society.  Popery  has  been  on  its  trial  before  the  world 
these  three  centuries ;  and  such  are  the  effects  which  it  has 
produced  in  every  country  under  heaven  where  it  has  exist- 
ed. It  is  truly  "  the  abomination  that  maketh  desolate." 
The  man  who  will  not  hear  what  the  Bible  has  to  say  of 
Popery,  cannot  refuse  to  hear  what  Popery  has  to  say  of 
itself. 

To  make  the  contrast  complete,  let  us  glance  at  the 
career  of  protestant  Britain  during  the  past  hundred  years. 
In  1750,  the  throne  of  Britain  was  filled  by  the  second 
George,  Four  years  before,  the  hopes  of  the  Stuarts  had 
expired  on  the  fatal  moor  of  Culloden ;  France,  under 
Louis  XV.  had  scarcely  passed  her  zenith ;  Francis  I.  and 
Maria  Theresa  ruled  the  destinies  of  Austria;  Philip  V. 
those  of  Spain ;  while  Pope  Benedict  XIV  occupied  the 
Vatican.  England  was  but  a  second-rate  power,  not  daring 
even  to  dream  of  the  career  of  greatness  which  was  just 
then  opening  to  her.  The  British  sceptre  w-as  swayed  over 
not  more  than  thirteen  millions  of  subjects,  including  our 
North  American  colonies.  We  held  at  that  time,  no  doubt, 
possessions  both  in  the  western  and  eastern  hemispheres; 
but  they  were  insignificant  in  extent,  and  precarious  in 
point  of  tenure.  The  French  were  masters  of  Canada  and 
Louisiana,  and  threatened  to  expel  us  from  the  American 
continent  altogether.  Our  Indian  empire  was  then  limited 
to  the  British  settlement  in  Bengal ;  and  the  French,  who 
held  the  Deccan,  threatened  to  deprive  us  even  of  that. 
Holland  and  Portugal  rivalled  us  as  commercial  powers ; 
Franco  far  eclipsed  us  in  political  importance ;  and  Spain, 
mistress  of  the  gold  mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  outstripped 


GRANDEUR  OF  BRITAIN.  493 

US  in  wealth.  In  all  points  we  were  inferior  to  the  great 
powers  on  the  Continent,  save  in  one,  our  Protestantism. 
Since  that  period  Britain  has  pursued  a  career  unexampled 
in  the  history  of  nations.  Canada  has  become  ours.  The 
Mogul  empire  has  fallen  under  our  sway.  We  have  called 
hitherto  unknown  continents  and  islands  from  out  the  Paci- 
fic, and  are  peopling  them  with  our  race  and  our  language, 
ruling  them  with  our  institutions  and  our  laws,  and  enrich- 
ing them  with  our  commerce,  our  science,  and  our  faith. 
Thus  the  chain  of  our  power  encircles  the  globe.  We  have 
become  the  mother  of  nations.  During  the  same  period  we 
have  made  rapid  progress  in  scientific  discovery,  and  in  the 
improvement  of  the  arts,  perfecting  those  already  known, 
and  summoning  to  our  service  new  and  extraordinary  ele- 
ments of  power.  Our  commercial  enterprise  and  monetary 
power  have  also  experienced  prodigious  expansion.  Thus, 
in  the  short  space  of  a  single  century,  from  being  but  a  se- 
cond-rate state,  whose  language,  laws,  and  influence  scarcely 
extended  beyond  the  shores  of  our  island,  overshadowed  by 
the  great  continental  kingdoms  of  Europe,  we  have  risen,  in 
point  of  population,  extent  of  territory,  and  real  power,  to  a 
pitch  of  gi'eatness  which  is  threefold  that  of  imperial  R-orae. 
And,  we  must  add  likewise,  that,  though  not  blind  to  our 
shortcomings  and  sins  as  a  nation,  no  candid  and  well-in- 
formed man  will  deny,  that  during  the  past  century  we  have 
made  great  advances  in  the  theory  of  liberty,  and  in  the 
principles  and  practice  of  vital  godliness  ;  while  abroad,  we 
have  been  making,  not  so  great  efforts  as  we  ought  to  have 
made,  but  greater  than  any  nation  ever  before  made,  to 
diffuse  the  Bible  and  the  gospel  throughout  the  habitable 
globe.  "  Happy  people  the  English !"  was  the  exclamation 
of  M.  E.  de  Girardin,  at  a  peace-meeting  lately  held  in 
London.  "  Happy  people  the  English !  ever  advancing  in 
their  onward  course,  while  so  many  other  nations  progress 
only  to  retrograde."  There  never  was  seen  on  earth  so 
sublime  a  spectacle  as  Britain  at  this  moment  presents. 


494  INFLUENCE  OF  POPERY  ON  NATIONS. 

To  one  element  alone  are  we  to  trace  the  unexampled  ca- 
reer and  prodigious  height  of  Britain, — her  Protestantism. 
"  Ascribe  ye  strength  unto  God ;  his  excellency  is  over 
Israel ;  the  God  of  Israel  is  He  that  giveth  strength  and 
power  unto  his  people.     Blessed  be  God  f 


SUAM  REFORM  AND  REAL  RE-ACTION.  495 


BOOK  lY. 

PEESENT  POLICY  AND  PROSPECTS  OF  THE 

PAPACY. 


CHAPTER  I. 


SHAM  REFORM  AND  REAL  RE-ACTION. 


Pius  IX.,  on  ascending  the  pontifical  throne  in  1846,  found 
a  crisis  in  papal  affairs.  Ages  of  misgovernment  and  super- 
stition had  borne  their  proper  fruit, — universal  decay  and 
exhaustion.  Nations  were  exhausted  ;  the  long  thraldom 
they  had  endured  had  inflicted  a  fatal  blight  on  their  moral 
and  industrial  powers.  Governments  were  exhausted ;  their 
numerous  crusades  and  wars  had  sunk  them  into  bankrupty. 
Churches  were  exhausted ;  superstition  had  worn  out  belief 
altogether,  and  plunged  the  masses  into  infidelity  and  athe- 
ism. Wickedness  is  short-lived,  and  in  the  end  destroys 
itself.  Thus,  after  twelve  centuries  of  dominion  and  glory,  it 
was  seen  that  the  Papacy  was  now  verging  to  its  fall,  and 
that  it  was  the  author  of  its  own  overthrow.  The  Refor- 
mation had  done  much  to  weaken  Popery :  the  progress  of 
scientific  discovery,  and  the  working  of  a  free  press, — indi- 
rect consequences  of  the  Reformation, — had  contributed  also 
to  undermine  this  system.  But,  though  it  startles  at  first, 
Popery  had  done  more  than  all  these  to  work  out  its  own 
ruin.     Its  superstition  had  passed  into  atheism,  its  tyranny 


496        SHAM  REFORM  AND  REAL  RE- ACTION. 

into  revolution,  and  the  Papacy  appeared  doomed  to  a  vio- 
lent death  at  the  hands  of  those  evil  principles  which  itself 
had  engendered.  His  first  glance  at  the  Catholic  world, 
after  his  elevation  to  the  tiara,  must  have  satisfied  the  Pope 
that  the  condition  of  western  Europe  was  very  different  in- 
deed from  what  it  was  in  the  fifteenth  century, — different 
even  from  what  it  was  in  the  middle  of  last  century, — that 
the  democratic  element,  which  had  burst  out  with  such  ter- 
ror in  the  first  French  Revolution,  and  which  had  spent  itself 
in  the  wars  that  followed,  had  been  recruiting  its  forces  dur- 
ing the  period  of  quiescence  since  1815, — that  it  now  uni- 
versally pervaded  the  west, — that  it  had  summoned  to  its 
aid  principles  of  unknown  character,  but  of  tremendous 
power, — and  that  there  was  not  strength  enough  in  either 
the  secular  or  the  sacerdotal  system  to  withstand  the  coming 
shock,  unless,  indeed,  both  should  come  to  be  re-invigorated. 
Pius  was  aware  especially,  that  in  Italy  a  constitutional 
movement  was  in  progress,  and  had  been  so  in  the  latter 
years  of  his  predecessor  Gregory  XVI.  He  knew  that 
thoughtful  Italians,  both  in  and  out  of  Italy,  were  painfully 
sensible  of  the  demoralization  of  their  country, — that  they 
attributed  that  demoralization  to  the  character  and  form  of 
its  government, — that  they  regarded  the  rule  of  a  sacerdo- 
tal monarch  as  an  anomaly,  unsuited  to  the  spirit  and  the 
wants  of  the  age,  and  a  barrier  to  progress, — that  throughout 
all  Italy,  more  especially  in  the  States  of  the  Church,  where 
the  evil  was  more  felt,  and  even  in  Rome  itself,  the  desire 
was  universal  among  all  classes  for  the  disjunction  of  the 
temporal  and  spiritual  sovereignties.  All  this  was  perfectly 
well  known  to  Pius  IX.  on  his  elevation  to  the  fisherman's 
chair ;  and  it  is  necessary  to  keep  this  in  view,  as  it  ex- 
plains the  phase  that  Popery  assumed,  and  the  new  tactics 
which  it  adopted,  and  likewise  furnishes  the  key  to  its  pre- 
sent state  and  prospects.* 


*  "  This  movement  is  of  some  stiinding  in  Italy,  and  cannot  now  be 
suppressed.    Mr  Seymour,  in  his  "  Mornings  among  the  Jesuits,"  says  that 


INHERENT  WEAKNESS  OF  POPERY.  4.97 

Popery,  though  outwardly  strong,  is  inwardly  and  essen- 
tially weak.  The  reverse  is  the  fact  as  regards  Christianity: 
it  is  outwardly  weak,  but  inwardly  and  essentially  strong. 
Its  power  is  within  itself,  and  inseparable  from  its  essence. 
It  can  lead  those  on  whom  it  operates,  whether  an  indivi- 
dual or  a  nation,  to  act  contrary  to  their  passions  and  in- 
terests. It  originates  and  guides  great  movements,  but  is 
never  dragged  in  their  rear.  Not  so  the  Papacy.  All  its 
power  is  without  itself.  It  governs  men  only  in  accordance 
with  their  passions  :  it  watches  the  rising  of  great  move- 
ments, links  itself  on  to  them,  and  appears  to  guide,  while 
in  point  of  fact  it  is  constrained  to  follow.  The  crisis  in 
which  Pius  IX.  found  the  Papacy  offered  him  the  alterna- 
tive of  opposing  the  movement,  or  of  siding  with  it,  and  so 
appearing  to  lead  it.  Either  alternative  was  attended  with 
immense  risk;  but  on  the  principle  we  have  stated,  that 
Popery  is  powerless  in  opposition  unless  she  can  wield  the 
sword,  and  that  her  great  strength  lies  in  casting  herself 
upon  the  popular  current,  in  whatever  direction  it  may  chance 
to  be  running,  Pius  chose  the  last,  as  the  least  perilous  of 
the  two  courses  open  to  him.  No  one  can  yet  have  forgot- 
ten the  amazement  which  seized  upon  all  men  when  they  saw 
that  power  which  for  ages  had  been  the  head  of  European 
despotism,  place  itself  at  the  head  of  the  Italian  move- 
ment, now  sufficiently  developed  to  be  seen  to  be  part  of  a 
grand  European  movement  towards  constitutional  govern- 
ment. A  new  prodigy  was  beheld.  That  power  which  had 
warred  with  liberty  during  ten  centuries,  and  ceased  to  assail 
it  with  its  thunderbolts  only  when  it  was  prostrate  beneath 


the  feeling  against  the  sacerdotal  government  he  found  universal  in  the 
States  of  tlie  Church.  That  was  in  Gregory  XVI.'s  time.  "If  the  States 
of  the  Church,"  said  M.  "Von  Raumer,  ujiwards  of  twenty  years  ago 
*' were  surrounded  by  a  high  and  continuous  wall,  shutting  them  out  from 
all  intercourse  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  preventing  all  foreign  in- 
terference, the  inhabitants  would  rise  the  next  day  and  annihilate  the 
priestly  government,  and  with  it  perhaps  the  whole  system  of  the  Church 
of  Home  in  Italy." 

2k 


49  S  SHAM  REFORM  AND  REAL  RE-ACTION. 

its  feet, — that  power  which  had  been  the  bulwark  of  des- 
potic thrones, — which  had  provided  a  dungeon  for  science, 
and  a  stake  for  the  patriot  and  the  confessor, — whose  motto 
was  immobility, — had  become  the  patron  of  progress,  and 
assumed  the  lead  in  a  grand  movement  towards  free  govern- 
ment !  Those  who  were  able  to  penetrate  the  policy  of 
Rome  saw  clearly  that  the  movement  was  distasteful  and 
abhorrent  to  the  Papacy, — that  it  contained  principles  ut- 
terly destructive  of  the  system, — and  that  it  had  placed  itself 
at  its  head  that  it  might  strangle  by  craft  what  it  was  un- 
able to  crush  by  force. 

Nevertheless,  for  some  time  the  policy  of  the  Pope  was 
completely  successful ;  and  there  even  appeared  some  likeli- 
hood of  its  being  finally  triumphant.  Flambeaux  were  burn- 
ed before  the  gates  of  the  Quirinal,  and  Rome  resounded 
day  and  night  with  vivas.  The  journalists  of  Paris  and 
London  wrote  elaborate  and  eloquent  panegyrics  on  the  re- 
forming Pope.  It  had  almost  been  voted  by  acclamation 
that  Popery  was  changed ;  that  the  bloody  deeds  of  past 
times  were  to  be  attributed  to  the  barbarism  of  the  age,  and 
not  at  all  to  the  spirit  of  the  Papacy ;  and  that  the  pontifi- 
cal system  was  perfectly  compatible  with  constitutional  and 
liberal  government,  and  the  progress  of  the  human  race. 
This  was  what  Pius  IX.  wished  the  world  to  believe ;  and 
had  he  but  succeeded  in  making  the  world  believe  this,  he 
would  have  carried  his  point ;  he  would  have  added  a  lustre 
and  authority  to  the  chair  of  Peter  unknown  to  it  for  ages.* 
The  revolted  masses  would  have  returned  to  the  creed  they 
had  abjured,  and  come  thronging  back  to  the  altars  from 
which  infidelity  had  driven  them  away.  Recognising  in 
Pius  at  once  the  pontiff  and  the  reformer, — the  high  priest 


*  Great  movements  intended  to  regenerate,  but  wliich  have  proved  ulti- 
mately destructive  of  the  Papacy,  have  before  now  come  from  popes.  The 
case  of  Pius  IX.  finds  its  parallel,  perhaps,  in  the  great  zeal  displayed  by 
Pope  Nicholas  V.  for  the  revival  of  letters  in  the  middle  of  tlie  fifteenth 
century. 


THE  SHAM  REFORM  DEFEATED.  499 

of  religion  and  the  foremost  champion  of  liberty, — how  wil- 
lingly would  the  nations  have  surrendered  the   movement 
into  his  hands!  and,  once  in  his  hands,  he  would  have  known 
well  how  to  turn  it  to  account,  making  it  the  harbinger  of  a 
new  era  of  dominion  and  glory  to  the  popedom,  and  of  iron 
bondage  to  Europe.     Such  were  the  visions  of  the  Vatican. 
The  conspiracy  was  wide-spread.     The  bishops  and  priests 
throughout  the   Catholic   world  were  taught  how  to  play 
their  part.     The  Church  ostentatiously  marched  in  the  van, 
as  if  she  had  been  the  originator  of  the  movement,  and  was 
nobly  guiding  it  to  its  goal.     Prayers  were  offered  in  the 
cathedrals  and  parish  churches  of  France  for  Pius  IX.  and 
his  reforms.     The  banners  were  taken  into  the  chapels  and 
blessed.     Trees  of  liberty  were  set  up  amid  papal  benedic- 
tions ;  and  in  the  public  processions  priests  of  all  orders 
were  seen  to  mingle.     The  blouse  of  the  democrat  and  the 
frock  of  the  bourgeoise  were  interspersed  with  the  robe  of 
the  parish  c«re,  the  cowl  of  the  Capuchin,  and  the  rope  of 
the  Franciscan.     There  was  at  that  time  no  small  danger 
of  the  infidelity  of  the  masses  passing  into  superstition,  and 
of  Popery  thus  rooting  itself  afresh  in  the  popular  mind  of 
Europe.    But  from  a  calamity  so  great  it  pleased  Providence 
to  deliver  the  world,  by  writing  confusion  upon  the  counsels 
of  the  Vatican.     And  when  we  speak  of  deliverance,  we 
would  not  insinuate  that  all  peril  from  the  Papacy  is  at  an 
end,  but  only  that  the  insidious  and  dangerous  device  of 
Pius  IX.,  maintained  with  great  plausibility,  and  carried 
out  with  immense  eclat^  during  well-nigh  three  years,  has 
been  completely  exposed  and  defeated;  and  this  we  are  dis- 
posed to  regard  as  no  light  mercy.     A  crisis  arose  in  the 
movement,  which  might  have  been  foreseen,  but  for  which 
no  amount  of  papal  ingenuity  could  possibly  provide.     Big 
promises  and  sham  reforms, — all  as  yet  which  the  reforming 
pontiff  had  given, — could  no  longer  suffice.    The  masses  were 
in  earnest,  and  boons  were  now  demanded,  great,  substantial, 
and  sweeping,  such  as  would  have  laid  the  papal  supremacy 
in  the  dust, — a  free  press,  the  secularization  of  the  papal 


500  SHAM  REFORM  AND  REAL  RE-ACTION. 

government,  and  the  introduction  of  the  representative  and 
constitutional  element  in  the  form  of  chambers.  It  was  to 
prevent  such  demands  ever  being  made  that  Pius  IX.  had 
placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  movement.*  As  astute  an 
upholder  of  the  infallibility  and  supremacy  as  any  pope  who 
ever  flourished  in  the  dark  ages,  Pius  IX.  resolved  not  to 
yield ;  and,  after  a  short  space  spent  in  shuffling,  he  openly 
broke  with  the  movement,  and  cast  himself  into  the  arms  of 
the  absolutist  and  re-actionary  powers.  He  commenced  his 
reforming  career  with  an  amnesty  which  set  loose  from  pri- 
son thieves,  robbers,  and  even  worse  criminals;  and  he  closed 
it  with  an  amnesty  which  consigned  to  a  dungeon,  or  drove 
into  exile,  the  most  virtuous  and  patriotic  citizens  of  Home. 
And  thus  the  spell  by  which  Pius  had  hoped  to  charm  into 
peace  the  furies  of  the  Revolution  broke  utterly  in  his  hands. 
Driven  from  this  high  ground,  the  Papacy  has  renewed 
the  struggle  in  a  much  less  advantageous  position.  Having 
been  obliged  to  drop  the  mask  of  reform,  it  advances  against 
Christianity  and  liberty  under  its  own  form,  and  with  its 
old  weapons, — coercion  and  the  sword.  This  so  far  is  well. 
One  plan,  organized  by  the  Jesuits,  and  worked  by  them,  is 
at  this  moment  in  operation  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe ; 
and  when  we  trace  its  workings,  so  far  as  we  have  access  to 
know  them,  we  exhibit  the  present  state  and  tactics  of  Popery. 
Popery,  then,  has  gone  back  to  its  ancient  and  natural  allies, 
from  whom  it  had  been  parted  for  a  brief  space  ;  and  the 
two,  having  manifestly  one  interest,  will  probably  remain 
united,  till  both  sink  into  one  common  perdition.  Matters 
have  come  to  this  pass,  that  nothing  but  the  sword  of  the 
state  can  save  the  spiritual  power,  and  nothing  but  the  po- 
licy of  the  Church  can  wield  the  sword  of  the  state.     This 

*  The  Pope  evidently  calculated  upon  the  principle  enunciated  by  Sir 
J.  Macintosh  : — "  A  slender  reform  amuses  and  lulls  the  people,  the  popu- 
lar eiithusiasin  subsides,  and  the  moment  of  eft'cctual  reform  is  ii-retriev- 
alily  lost."  (Vindiciic  Gallicte,  p.  lOG  ;  Loud.  1791.)  It  is  so  in  ordinary 
cases ;  but  in  the  present  instance  the  movement  was  much  too  deep  to 
•be  Arrested  by  reforms  so  very  slender  as  those  of  Pius  IX. 


COMPACT  BETWEEN  JESUITISM  AND  ABSOLUTISM.        501 

both   parties    clearly  perceive.       Accordingly,  the    Jesuit!?, 
whom  the  revolutionary  outbreak  of  1848  had  driven  away, 
have  been  recalled,  and  a  virtual  compact  entered  into  with 
them.     Lend  us  your  power,  say  the  Jesuits,  and  we  will 
give  you  our  wisdom.     We  will  save  the  vessel  of  the  state, 
only  we  must  sit  at  the  helm.     And  at  the  helm  they  do  sit. 
The  Jesuits  are  at  this  moment  the  real  rulers  of  Europe ; 
and  from  the  one  end  of  it  to  the  other  they  pursue  the 
same  object,  and  act  upon  the  same  tactics.     Their  scheme 
of  reconquering  Europe  by  the  pretence  of  reform  having 
come  to  nought,  they  have  been  compelled  to  fall  back  upon 
their  ancient  and  approved  method  of  rule, — open,  undis- 
guised force.     Europe  is  at  present  under  the  government 
of  the  sabre.     This  is  the  Jesuit  prescription  for  curing  it  of 
its  madness.     The  first  object  of  the  Jesuits  is  to  abrogate 
the  liberties  which   the   Revolution   of  1848   inaugurated. 
They  know  that  liberty  and  Protestantism  are  twin  powers, 
— that  the  alliance  between  despotism  and  Popery  is  now 
of  a  thousand  years  standing, — and  that  the  papal  supre- 
macy is  incompatible  with  the  order  of  things  introduced  by 
the  Revolution,  more  especially  with  universal  suffrage  and 
a  free  press.     The  first  requisites,  therefore,  to  the  restora- 
tion of  their  power  is  the  suppression  of  the  rights  of  1848. 
They  dare  not  by  edict  proclaim  these  rights  null  and  void, 
but  they  provisionally  abrogate  them.     The  violence  of  the 
masses  is  the  pretext  alleged  for  placing  the  great  cities  and 
several  whole  king-doms  of  the  Continent  under  martial  law. 
It  is  of  course  intended  by  the  Jesuits  that  this  provisional 
state  shall  become  the  permanent  and  normal  condition  of 
Europe.    Thus  they  attempt  insidiously  to  rivet  their  former 
chains  upon  the  nations. 

They  are  wise  in  their  generation.  A  glance  at  the  past 
history  of  Europe  shows,  that  in  every  country  in  which  the 
Reformation  advanced  so  far  as  to  introduce  constitutional 
government.  Protestantism  has  kept  its  ground  ;  whereas  in 
those  countries  where  the  government  was  not  reformed,  what- 
ever progress  the  reformed  religion  had  made,  the  people 


502  SHAM  REFORM  AND  REAL  RE-ACTION. 

have  again  fallen  back  into  Popery.  They  know  also  enough 
of  Europe  at  this  hour  to  be  aware  that,  were  Poland,  were 
Bohemia,  were  Italy,  and,  we  may  add,  Spain,  to  acquire  a 
constitutional  government,  these  countries  would  not  remain 
a  single  day  under  the  papal  yoke.  It  is  their  absolute  re- 
gime alone  that  prevents  the  immediate  erection  of  a  Pro- 
testant national  Church  in  Poland  and  Bohemia.  A  Chris- 
tian Church  would  be  formed  at  Pome,  but  for  the  sacerdotal 
government.  No  sooner  did  Piedmont  become  a  constitu- 
tional kingdom  in  the  spring  of  1848,  than  the  Waldensian 
Church  obtained  its  religious  freedom,  and  its  members 
their  constitutional  rights  ;  while  the  despotism  of  Russia  to 
this  day  excludes  the  missionary  from  her  Asiatic  provinces. 
These  facts  show  that  the  Jesuits  have  good  cause  for  plot- 
ting the  overthrow  of  the  liberties  of  1848. 

They  have  attacked  these  liberties  one  by  one.  First,  the 
press  groans  in  its  former  chains.  In  France,  in  Austria, 
in  Naples,  and,  in  short,  all  over  Catholic  Europe,  the  press 
is  the  object  of  prosecution,  of  fine,  and  not  unfrequently  of 
actual  suspension.*  This  rigour  is  not  limited  to  newspapers, 
but  extends  to  all  useful  books,  and  especially  to  the  Bible. 
As  an  instance,  we  may  mention  that,  in  the  spring  of  1850, 
the  priests  prosecuted  two  printers  of  Florence  for  having, 
under  the  government  of  the  republic,  printed  a  translation 
of  the  New  Testament  in  Italian,  and  that  on  the  express 
ground  of  "  their  having  published  the  gospel  in  the  vulgar 
tongue,  so  that  every  one  may  be  enabled  to  read  it."  Thus 
thev  show  their  dread  of  letters,  and  their  hankering:  after 
the  darkness  of  bygone  times.  The  excuse  put  forward  for 
these  tyrannical  proceedings  is,  that  a  free  press  is  propa- 


*  As  reported  in  the  "  Tuscan  Monitor"  of  February  9, 1850,  on  the  doc- 
trine that  the  Pope  is  Christ's  vicar  were  legal  proceedings  instituted 
against  tlic  editor  of  the  "Nazionalc,"  who  was  sentenced  to  one  month's  im- 
prisonment, and  a  fine  of  three  hundred  livres.  Does  not  this  illustrate 
all  we  have  said  respecting  the  vicious  incorporation  of  Church  and  State 
under  the  Papacy,  and  that  the  dogma  of  the  one  necessarily  guides  the 
tvcord  of  the  other  I 


JESUIT  WAR  AGAINST   EDUCATION.  503 

gating  communism.  These  persons  forget  that  under  the 
rigorous  censorship  of  Germany  nothing  flourished  so  much 
as  an  atheistic  pantheism.  Occasion  is  taken  on  the  same 
ground  to  molest  colporteurs  in  their  distribution  of  tracts 
and  Bibles,*  especially  in  France,  where  this  work  is  mostly 
carried  on. 

The  Jesuits  are  making  prodigious  efforts  in  all  the  coun- 
tries of  Europe  to  get  into  their  hands  the  education  of  the 
youth.  In  Ireland,  the  Synod  of  Thurles  condemned  the 
government  colleges,  and  prohibited  the  Romanist  youth 
from  attending  them,  because  their  chairs  were  not  filled 
solely  with  Romanists.  This  Synod,  which  enacted,  in  effect, 
that  darkness  is  better  than  light,  and  that  the  light  ought 
to  be  put  under  anathema  all  over  Ireland,  and  all  over  the 
world  if  possible,  was  fittingly  presided  over  by  a  man  who 
believes  that  the  Pope  is  infallible,  and  that  the  earth  stands 
still.  In  France  a  bill  was  introduced  into  the  Assembly  by 
the  Jesuit  Minister  M.  Falloux,  and  passed,  giving  to  the 
prefects  the  power  of  dismissing  the  departmental  schoolmas- 
ters. So  early  as  April  1850,  not  fewer  than  four  thousand 
schoolmasters,  suspected  of  a  leaning  to  Protestantism  or  to 
communism,  had  been  dismissed,  on  the  complaint  of  the 
parish  cure.  These  discussions  on  education  brought  to 
light  the  existence  of  a  feeling  in  favour  of  a  spiritual  or 
mental  tyranny  in  quarters  where  it  was  least  suspected. 
We  allude  to  INIM.  Thiers,  De  Tocqueville,  and  others.  No 
sooner  did  the  Jesuits  regain  their  ascendancy  at  Naples 
than  they  commenced  their  war  against  education.  By 
a  decree  of  the  27th  of  October  1849,  whoever  is  en- 
gaged in  public  or  private  instruction  must  appear  before 

*  Amusing  mistakes  sometimes  occur.  In  Aj)ril  1850,  a  gendanne 
stopped  a  colporteur,  examined  his  pack  of  New  Testaments,  and  liap- 
pencd  to  light  on  Rev.  xxii.  15,  which  he  took  for  a  picture  of  the 
Church  of  Home.  He  took  the  colporteur  before  a  magistrate  ;  but  the 
colporteur  was  set  at  liberty,  owing  to  a  priest,  who  happened  to  be 
present,  declaring  the  gendarme's  interpretation  of  the  passage  to  be  a 
mistake. 


504  SHAM  REFORM  AND  REAL  RE-ACTION. 

a  council,  to  be  interrogated  on  "  the  Catechism  of  the  Chris- 
tian doctrine,"  and  can  only  exercise  their  office  hy  'permis- 
sion ;  which  simply  means  that  the  Jesuits  are  to  dictate 
what  is  to  be  taught  to  the  youth  at  Naples,  whilst  the  civil 
law  will  punish  any  deviation  from  their  orders.  By  a  de- 
cree of  the  Minister  of  Instruction  at  Naples,  issued  in  De- 
cember 1849,  all  students  are  placed  under  a  commission  of 
ecclesiastics,  and  are  obliged  to  enroll  themselves  in  some 
religious  congregation  or  society.  All  schools,  public  and 
private,  are  placed  under  the  same  arbitrary  law.  The 
schoolmasters  are  bound  to  take  all  their  pupils  above  ten 
years  of  age  to  one  of  the  congregations,  and  to  make 
a  monthly  return  of  their  attendance.  Since  that  time, 
the  atrocious  catechism  described  by  Mr  Gladstone,  which 
teaches  that  kings  are  divine,  that  popes  can  dispense  with 
oaths,  and  that  all  liberals  are  the  children  of  the  devil, 
and  will  be  eternally  damned,  has  been  introduced  into  the 
schools,  and  is  now  conned  by  the  children.  In  Austria  and 
Germany  they  are  not  less  busy  attacking  knowledge  under 
pretence  of  diffusing  it.  Thus  do  the  Jesuits  strive  to  lead 
back  the  mind  of  Europe  to  its  dungeon.  The  shackles 
which  infidelity  taught  the  fathers  to  throw  off  are  to  be 
riveted  betimes  upon  the  sons. 

In  the  latter  years  of  Napoleon''s  career,  the  condition  of 
Roman  Catholicism  seemed  desperate.  It  was  then  that  a 
small  but  brilliant  band  of  literary  men  undertook  to  restore 
its  fortunes.  Lamennais,  de  Maistre,  Bonald,  wrote  argu- 
mentative and  eloquent  works,  defending  Romanism  and  at- 
tacking its  adversaries.  Their  works  made  a  great  sensa- 
tion, and  gathered  a  party  around  them.  They  leant  mainly 
upon  the  Roman  Court,  the  restored  Bourbons,  and  Metter- 
nich  ;  they  were  absolutist  in  their  politics,  and  their  great 
success  seduced  them  into  measures  of  an  extremelv  des- 
potic  character-  Under  Louis  XVIII.  bloody  persecutions 
were  recommenced  in  the  south  of  France,  and  the  Jesuits 
kept  assassins  in  their  pay.  Marshals  of  France  were  ob- 
liged to  walk  in  processions  and  carry  a  candle,  under  tiie 


NEW  SCHOOL-BOOKS.  505 

penalty  of  forfeiting  the  favour  of  their  sovereign.  As  a 
consequence,  the  Revolution  of  1830  broke  out,  and  fell 
upon  the  Jesuits  like  a  thunderbolt.  They  saw  their  error, 
and  resolved  henceforward  not  to  lean  upon  governments, 
but  to  operate  directly  upon  the  people,  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  the  press,  the  pulpit,  and  the  confessional. 
The  interval  since  1830  has  been  occupied  in  this  way  by  the 
priesthood.  But  it  does  not  appear  that  their  success  has 
been  great ;  for  it  is  a  fact  too  obvious  to  be  denied,  that  in- 
fidelity, under  its  various  forms  of  socialism,  communism,  and 
atheism,  is  more  widely  spread  among  the  French  people  at 
this  moment  than  it  was  in  1830.  But  every  new  disaster 
that  befalls  their  system,  instead  of  discouraging  them,  only 
stimulates  to  greater  activity.  And  since  1848  their  zeal 
has  been  prodigious  :  they  are  in  course  of  filling  the  schools 
with  teachers  thoroughly  devoted  to  the  priests  ;  new  school- 
books  have  been  compiled ;  and  the  main  object  kept  in  view 
in  their  compilation  is  the  initiation  of  the  youth  into  the 
absurdities  of  Popery.  The  following  may  be  taken  as  a 
sample  of  these  books  : — Of  the  tracts  of  the  "  blessed  Al- 
phonse  de  Liguori,"  which  the  priests  are  in  the  habit  of 
putting  into  the  hands  of  their  scholars  and  catechumens, 
there  is  one  in  great  ardour  of  sanctity  in  the  seminaries, 
convents  of  young  females,  and  in  all  the  institutions  under 
the  influence  of  the  Romish  clergy,  entitled  Paraphrase  de 
Salve  Regina.*  It  was  designed  to  recommend  the  worship 
of  the  Virgin  ;  and  amongst  other  methods  to  gain  this  end, 
it  condescended  to  tell  the  following  story  : — "  There  lived  at 
Venice  [when,  it  is  not  said]  a  celebrated  lawyer,  who  had 
enriched  himself  by  fraud,  and  all  sorts  of  illicit  practices. 
His  soul  was  in  a  most  deplorable  state,  and  the  only  thing 
that  saved  him  from  the  doom  he  so  richly  merited  was  his 
reverence  for  the  Virgin,  to  whom  he  every  day  repeated  a 
certain  prayer.     This  appeared  from  the  following  melo-dra- 


*  See  "  London  Tatriot,"  February  28,  1850.     The  little  book  is  printed 
at  Lyons,  by  the  famous  Roman  Catholic  publisher  Rusand. 


506  SHAM  REFORM  AND  REAL  RE-ACTION. 

matic  occurrence.  One  day  a  Capuchin  father  was  dining 
with  him.  The  lawyer,  after  having  shown  him  all  the  cu- 
riosities of  his  house,  told  his  reverend  friend  that  he  had 
one  thing  more  wonderful  still  to  show  him, — '  an  ape,  the 
phoenix  of  its  kind.'  '  He  serves  me  as  a  valet,'  said  the 
advocate,  '  waits  at  table,  washes  the  glasses,  attends  to 
the  door,  in  fact  does  everything.'  '  Ah  !'  said  the  Capu- 
chin, shaking  his  head,  '  provided  it  is  really  an  ape  ;  let  me 
see  the  animal.'  The  ape,  after  a  long  search,  was  found 
secreted  under  a  bed,  and  would  bv  no  means  move.  '  In- 
fernal  beast  !'  cried  the  monk,  '  come  out ;  and  I  command 
thee,  in  the  name  of  God,  to  say  who  thou  art  !''  The  ape 
replied  that  he  was  a  demon,  and  that  he  waited  for  the 
first  day  that  the  advocate  should  omit  to  say  his  prayer 
to  the  Virgin,  to  stifle  him,  and  carry  off  his  soul  to  hell, 
as  the  Lord  had  given  him  permission."  Such  is  the  in- 
struction which  Jesuitism  furnishes  to  the  youth  of  France. 
It  would  scarce  be  possible  to  show  greater  contempt  for  the 
human  understanding. 

"  Signs  and  lying  wonders"  is  one  mark  of  the  predicted 
apostacy.  In  all  ages  miracles  have  been  wrought  by  the 
prophets  of  Rome  in  support  of  their  pretensions.  These  are 
dangerous  weapons  in  an  age  when  knowledge  is  somewhat 
diffused.  Nevertheless  Rome  has  again  in  her  straits  had 
recourse  to  them.*      Somewhere  about  the  time  that  the 


*  The  author  had  the  fortune  to  witness  one  of  Rome's  "  lying  won- 
dei's,"  some  years  ago,  in  Liege.  It  took  place  on  the  third  Sabbath  of 
July  1847.  There  had  been  a  long  continuance  of  drought,  and  the 
Papists  of  Liege  were  importunate  with  the  priests  to  bring  out  a  certain 
stone,  which  possessed  such  virtue  that,  if  rolled  through  the  streets  in 
solemn  procession,  it  would  procure  rain.  The  priests  consented.  On  tlie 
Sabbath  indicated,  the  stone  was  brought  forth  ;  and  on  Monday  it  rained 
from  morning  till  night.  The  Papists  were  edified,  and  some  Protestants 
knew  not  wliat  to  make  of  it.  On  the  day  of  the  procession  the  atmo- 
sphere showed  manifest  signs  of  rain  ;  and  the  writer  was  afterwards  told 
tiiat  on  that  day  (Sabbath)  it  had  rained  heavily  in  France.  The  scholar 
will  recognise  in  this  a  piece  of  paganism.  A  ceremony  precisely  similar 
was  practised  in  pagan  Home. 


NEW  MIRACLES.  507 

Pope  returned  to  Rome,  a  famous  imago  of  the  Virgin  at 
Himini  was  seen  to  wink.  Intelligence  was  quickly  spread 
of  the  miracle ;  crowds  were  assembled;  the  prodigy  was  re- 
peated day  by  day,  and  day  by  day  rich  offerings  continued 
to  be  heaped  upon  the  shrine  of  the  Madonna.  It  was  now 
reported  that  another  image  at  another  Italian  town  had 
been  seen  to  wink ;  and  presently  there  was  a  whole  shower 
of  winking  Madonnas.  We  ask.  Is  the  Pope  infallible  ? 
and  we  are  answered  by  a  wink.  It  is  difficult  seeing  the 
logical  connection  between  the  wink  and  the  infallibility. 
The  faithful,  of  course,  will  take  the  wink  as  a  proof  that 
the  Pope  is  infallible  ;  but  others  may  take  it  as  meaning 
just  the  opposite.  Did  Rome  understand  her  position,  an 
attempt  to  establish  her  doctrines  by  miracles  would  be  the 
last  thing  she  would  think  of.  The  infallibility  is  the  ground 
on  which  she  rests  all  belief.  When,  therefore,  she  brings 
forward  a  miracle  as  a  proof  of  any  dogma,  she  in  reality 
shifts  her  ground  ;  she  commits  a  grievous  solecism  in  ai*- 
gument ;  and,  instead  of  proving  that  she  is  infallible,  proves 
that  she  is  an  impostor. 

Paris,  too,  was  the  scene  of  some  miracles,  A  Peter 
Perimond,  a  plain  obese  peasant  from  Grenoble,  appeared  in 
Paris  in  March  1850,  and  announced  that  he  had  seen  the 
Saviour,  and  received  from  him  a  commission  to  heal  the 
sick  and  convert  the  world.  He  lay  during  passion  week, 
the  stigmata  impressed  on  his  body,  and  the  blood  distilling 
drop  by  drop  from  his  "  sacred"  wounds.  When  the  sun 
went  down  the  wounds  ceased  to  bleed.  He  cured  the  dis- 
eased who  visited  him,  by  the  touch.  Peter  Perimond  was 
evidently  a  tool  of  the  priests,  by  whom  the  whole  affair  was 
arranged  with  great  adroitness.  Some  of  the  first  anato- 
mists of  Paris  examined  the  miracle-worker,  and  pronounced 
"  the  whole  a  juggle."*  A  Veronica  was  seen  to  shed  tears 
at  Naples,  doubtless  over  the  misfortunes  of  the  exiled  Pon- 
tiff,    A  Madonna  at  Rome  was  observed  to  nod  with  spe- 

•  «*  Church  and  State  Gazette,"  13th  April  1850, 


508  SHAM  REFORM  AND  REAL  RE-ACTION. 

cial  grace  to  certain  of  her  devotees ;  but  the  priest  was  a 
bungler,  and  permitted  the  cords  to  be  seen.  Veritable 
portraits  of  Chi'ist  and  the  Virgin,  said  to  have  been  dis- 
covered in  some  subterranean  vault  of  the  ancient  palace  of 
the  Senate  at  Rome,  where  they  had  lain  undiscovered  for 
eighteen  centuries,  were  hawked  about  in  France,*  During 
winter,  the  friars  in  Naples  and  in  some  parts  of  Italy  have 
been  zealously  warning  their  flocks  from  the  pulpit  against 
the  three  great  evils.  Revolution,  Communism,  and  Protes- 
tantism, "  I  heard,"  says  a  Continental  correspondent, 
writing  from  Naples  last  December, — "  I  heard  a  preacher, 
a  few  days  since,  from  the  pulpit  of  a  church  exclaim,  '  Mind 
what  you  are  about !  You  may  ere  long  fall  into  the  de- 
plorable state  of  the  English,  and  lose  all  hope  of  salva- 
tion."' "-f-  A  deep  veil  rests  above  the  confessional ;  but  the 
activity  of  the  priests  of  Rome  in  every  other  department 
at  this  moment  leaves  no  doubt  that  that  powerful  engine 
is  worked  with  energy  and  effect. 

The  Church  of  Rome  has  carefully  noted  every  phase  of 
society  at  this  moment,  and,  with  her  usual  flexibility  and 
tact,  she  suits  herself  to  all,  and  has  a  separate  argument 
for  each  particular  class.  To  governments  trembling  in  the 
presence  of  the  "fierce  democratic''"'  she  represents  herself  as 
the  only  bulwark  of  order.  She  bids  kings  lean  on  her,  and 
so  save  their  thrones  and  sceptres,  which  otherwise  will  be 
swept  away.  She  calls  on  those  shocked  by  the  impieties  and 
blasphemies  of  socialism  to  ponder  the  consequences  of  for- 
saking the  true  faith;  telling  them  that  if  they  rebel  against 
the  teaching  of  the  Church,  they  plunge  into  the  abyss  of  athe- 
ism. To  the  propertied  man,  who  trembles  at  the  confisca- 
tion and  pillage  which  a  triumphant  communism  would  bring 
with  it,  she  exhibits  herself  as  alike  able  to  preserve  his 
earthly  and  to  augmerat  his  heavenly  goods.  In  the  panic 
that  is  abroad,  she  knows  that  men  have  not  the  calmness 

*  Price  of  the  two  portraits,  one  franc  fifty  cents  (Is.  3d,). 
+  "  Daily  News." 


THE  UPPER  CLASSES  AND  ROMANISM.  50.9 

to  inquire  whether  the  Church  does  not  need  protection, 
rather  than  possess  the  ability  to  bestow  it.  The  upper 
strata  of  society  in  France,  too,  are  pervaded  by  a  great 
anxiety  to  create  power, — to  discover  new  principles  and 
sources  of  authority ;  and  what  so  likely  as  the  inlHuence  of 
the  Church  to  tame  and  subjugate  those  passions  M'hich  the 
Kevolution  has  let  loose?  Up  to  the  present  hour,  ever  since 
the  great  outbreak  of  1848,  they  have  found  out  no  prin- 
ciple of  authority  save  downright  force.  The  army  and  the 
police,  pretty  much  blended  into  one,  is  their  only  instru- 
ment of  government.  They  are  not  unnaturally  anxious  to 
supplement  their  vast  array  of  physical  force  with  a  certain 
amount  of  moral  power,  by  enlisting  the  priesthood  on  their 
side.  They  look  to  the  Pope  as  a  kind  of  moral  Fouche, — 
a  spiritual  prefect  of  police  for  Europe.  These  statesmen, 
speaking  generally, — for  we  must  except  MM.  Montalem- 
bert  and  Falloux, — care  nothing  for  the  Church  as  a  Church. 
They  never  go  to  confession  or  to  mass  ;  but  they  need  the 
Church  for  the  maintenance  of  their  own  authority.  Their 
religion  is  that  of  Pope's  Sii-  Balaam,  who,  whilst  he  him- 
self was  seeking  to  make  his  fortune  in  corrupt  politics,  sent 
his  wife  and  family  to  sermon.  How  far  this  perfidious  al- 
liance, prompted  by  fear  and  necessity,  is  likely  to  promote 
the  ends  of  either  statesmen  or  churchmen,  we  shall  inquire 
when  we  come  to  glance  at  the  favourable  symptoms  of  Eu- 
rope. Meanwhile  we  note  it  as  one  of  the  grand  currents 
in  the  Catholic  world,  and  one  of  the  main  causes  which  have 
led  to  an  apparent  return  of  many  of  the  higher  classes  to 
Romanism.  Thus  everywdiere  we  behold  a  movement  to- 
wards civil  and  religious  despotism.  Rome  is  in  the  van  of 
the  march. 


ilO  NEW  CATHOLIC  LEAGUE. 


CHAPTER  II. 


NEW  CATHOLIC  LEAGUE,  AND  THREATENED  CRUSADE 
AGAINST  PROTESTANTISM. 


"SVe  greatly  err  if  we  regard  the  above  in  the  light  of  un- 
connected efforts.  They  are  parts  of  a  colossal  plan,  hatched 
in  the  Vatican,  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  arbitrary  govern- 
ment and  papal  domination  all  over  Europe.  The  European 
DEMOCRACY  is  the  modern  Sphinx:  the  dynasties  of  the  Con- 
tinent must  solve  her  riddle,  or  be  torn  in  pieces.  They 
must  either  rule  that  democracy  or  annihilate  it.  Should 
they  resolve  on  the  first,  not  only  must  they  feign  to  be  in 
love  with  what  at  heart  they  abhor,  but  they  must  be  pre- 
pared to  grant  concessions  unlimited  in  magnitude  and  end- 
less in  number.  It  is  now  too  late  to  adopt  such  a  policy ; 
and  none  know  better  than  the  ruling  powers  themselves, 
that  were  it  adopted,  it  would  speedily  issue  in  the  com- 
plete suspension  of  their  functions  and  the  total  annihila- 
tion of  their  authority.  In  the  face  of  constitutions  ignored, 
oaths  and  promises  violated,  and  the  profuse  expenditure  of 
blood,  which  darken  the  history  of  the  past  three  years,  the 
least  approach  towards  conciliation  would  be  sternly  re- 
pulsed by  the  democratic  party.  The  second  alternative 
only  remains, — coercion.  The  democracy,  and,  along  with 
that,  whatever  is  free,  whether  in  religion  or  in  government, 
must  be  crushed  promptly  and  universally.     The  last  spark 


SIMULTANEOUS  CRUSADE  AGAINST  LIBERTY.  511 

must  be  trodden  out,  else  the  conflagration  will  blaze  afresh. 
Now,  in  this  war  the  infallible  Church  presents  herself  to  the 
absolutist  state  as  by  far  its  oldest  and  staunchest  ally.  Her 
organization,  which  is  the  most  flexible  that  exists ;  her  in- 
fluence, which  operates  in  a  domain  from  which  that  of  the 
state  is  shut  out, — for,  till  the  intellect  and  the  conscience  are 
blindfolded  by  superstition,  power  cannot  succeed  in  perma- 
nently enslaving  men;  are  all  now  made  available.  Moi'e- 
over,  it  is  equally  the  interest  of  both  to  quell  this  revolt;  and 
what  so  likely  as  that  a  community  of  interest  should  sug- 
gest unity  of  action?  A  priori,  then,  we  might  infer  the  ex- 
istence of  a  grand  conspiracy  against  the  liberties  of  Europe, 
even  did  not  the  facts  already  stated,  and  those  we  now  pro- 
ceed to  state,  render  the  existence  of  such  a  conspiracy  un- 
doubted. We  do  not,  of  course,  know  the  day  or  the  hour 
when  this  criminal  confederacy  was  formed, — such  transac- 
tions belong  to  the  darkness ;  but  the  public  measures  of 
the  conspirators  enable  us  to  read  the  history  of  their  most 
secret  hours,  and  to  unveil  the  character  of  their  deepest 
plots. 

A  crusade  has  been  undertaken  simultaneously  in  all  the 
countries  of  Europe  against  civil  and  religious  liberty.  This 
bespeaks  concert.  The  agents  who  conduct  that  crusade 
are  the  same  everywhere, — the  priest  and  the  sbirro.  Does 
not  this  denote  confederacy  between  the  ecclesiastical  and 
the  civil  authorities  for  their  joint  domination  ?  The  cate- 
chism and  the  bayonet, — the  Jesuit  and  the  gendarme, — the 
Church  and  the  army, — are  in  combined  and  vigorous  action 
all  over  Europe.  Look  at  Rome.  Under  Pius  IX.  the  era 
of  the  worst  popes  has  been  revived.  The  return  from 
Gaeta  formed  the  commencement  of  a  policy  as  astute  in  its 
foreign  relations,  and  more  oppressive  in  its  home  adminis- 
tration, than  even  that  of  Hildebrand.  Infallibility  sits  be- 
hind a  hedge  of  bayonets  ;  Its  assessors  are  described  as 
"  assassins,  galley-slaves,  and  thieves ;"  and  the  subordinate 
agents  of  Its  government  are  undoubtedly  spies  and  police. 
The  patriot,  the  scholar,  the  constitutionalist,  have  all  been 


512  NEAV  CATHOLIC  LEAGUE. 

swept  off  to  prison,  or  sent  into  exile.  Felons  only  are  at 
largo,  who  celebrate  the  saturnalia  of  license  under  the  arch- 
felon  of  the  Vatican.  The  fisherman''s  net  is  of  steel,  as 
its  victims  know.  The  keys  are  no  mere  symbol  now,  see- 
ing Peter''s  successor  has  become  a  jailor.  Rome,  full  of 
dungeons  and  desolate  hearths,  and  cinctured  with  fresh 
graves,  sits  cowering  beneath  the  baleful  shadow  of  pontifi- 
cal despotism.  The  Word  of  God  dare  not  enter  those 
gates  within  which  the  vicar  of  God  sits  enthroned.  An 
edition  of  Diodati's  Bible,  amounting  to  some  thousands, 
which  was  commenced  by  the  American  mission  under  the 
Roman  Republic,  lies  locked  up  in  the  vaults  of  the  Qui- 
rinal.  The  incarcerated  Bibles  and  the  incarcerated  Ro- 
mans tell  the  same  tale  .  they  proclaim  the  unchanged  and 
unchangeable  hostility  of  Rome  to  religious  and  civil  free- 
dom. 

At  Naples  the  same  object  is  pursued  by  precisely  the 
same  methods.  Whatever  coercion,  mental  and  physical, 
can  do  to  make  a  people  swallow  down  the  doctrine  that 
kings  are  divine  and  popes  infallible,  is  now  being  done  at 
Naples.  The  government  is  conducted  by  priests,  police, 
and  soldiers  ;  the  capital  is  full  of  spies ;  the  confessional  is 
worked  to  discover  opinion,  and  the  police  to  extirpate  it. 
There,  too,  as  in  Rome,  light,  and,  above  all,  Protestant 
light,  is  the  object  of  profoundest  dread.  The  press  is 
locked,  the  Bible  is  prohibited,  and  the  Jesuit  labours  in  his 
special  vocation  as  a  propagator  of  ignorance,  or  of  some- 
thing worse.  The  few  schools  taught  by  British  Protestants 
have  all  been  closed,  and  the  whole  youth  of  the  country  are 
under  Jesuit  tuition. 

On  Naples  the  gaze  of  the  civilized  world  has  been  fixed, 
by  the  astounding  disclosures  of  a  British  statesman.  Let 
us  look  narrowly  at  this  model  kingdom,  and  its  model  king, 
for  such  Papists  account  Ferdinand.  Here  we  behold  a 
specimen  of  what  all  kings  would  be  were  the  jurisdiction 
and  teaching  of  the  Roman  Church  universal.  The  acts  of 
Ferdinand,  which  have  filled  the  world  with  horror,  are  but 


THE  GALLEYS  OP  NAPLES,  513 

the  dogmas  of  Liguori  applied  to  the  science  of  government. 
The  tragedy  now  in  progress  in  Naples  commenced  in  dis- 
simulation and  Jesuitism.     In  1848  the  king  inaugurated 
constitutional  government,  by  swearing,  "  in  the  awful  name 
of  the  Most  Holy  and  Almighty  God,  to  whom  alone  it  ap- 
pertains to  read  the  depths  of  the  heart,  and  whom  we  loud- 
ly invoke  as  the  judge  of  the  simplicity  of  our  intentions." 
Promises  and  oaths  were  speedily  followed  by  perfidies  and 
perjuries.     The  constitution,  so  solemnly  inaugurated,  and 
which  included  a  limited  monarchy  and  two  houses,  with  a 
guarantee  for  personal  liberty,  and  the  legality  of  imposts 
only  when  imposed  by  parliament,  has  been  abrogated  in 
every  particular.     But  this  crime  is  small  compared  with  the 
atrocious  maxim  which  has  been  unblushingly  put  forward 
to  justify  it,  that  the  king's  right  is  divine,  that  his  powers 
are  unlimited,  and  that  no  oaths  which  restrict  his  pre- 
rogative can  bind  him.     Right  orthodox  doctrine,  accord- 
ing to  Liguori.      A  "  Philosophical  Catechism "  has  been 
compiled  by  a  priest,  who  acts,  of  course,  under  his  superiors, 
and  is  now,  in  virtue  of  a  government  order,  used  in  all  the 
schools, — "  a  work,  one  of  the  most  singular  and  detestable," 
says  Mr  Gladstone,  "  I  have  ever  seen."     The  doctrine  of 
this  catechism  is,  that  all  who  hold  liberal  opinions  will  be 
eternally  damned  ;  that  kings  may  violate  as  many  oaths  as 
they  please  in  the  cause  of  papal  and  monarchical  absolu- 
tism ;   and  that   "  the  Head  of  the  Church  has  authority 
from  God  to  release  consciences  from  oaths,  when  he  judges 
that  there  is  suitable  cause  for  it."* 

In  the  history  of  the  Papacy  demoralizing  doctrines  have 
invariably  been  the  prelude  to  dreadful  tragedies  :  so  has  it 
been  at  Naples.  A  Jeffries  redivlvus,  ferocious,  cowardly, 
blood-thirsty,  and  as  thoroughly  the  creature  of  the  court 


*  Two  Letters  to  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen  on  the  State  Prosecutions  of  the 
Neapolitan  Government ;  by  the  Right  Honourable  W.  E.  Gladstone ; 
Loud.  1851. 

2l 


514  NEW  CATHOLIC  LEAGUE. 

as  was  the  infamous  minion  of  James  VII.,  presides  over 
the  Neapolitan  tribunals.  The  indiscriminate  and  insatiable 
tyranny  of  this  man  has  swept  off  all  who  co-operated  with 
the  court  in  its  brief  but  hollow  attempt  at  constitutional 
rule;  the  patriot,  the  scholar,  the  gentleman, — all  are  in 
prison.  From  twenty  to  thirty  thousand  political  prisoners, 
according  to  the  estimate  of  Mr  Gladstone,  are  in  the  dun- 
geons of  Ferdinand.  We  wish  that,  like  the  novelist,  we 
could  take  a  single  captive.  This  clanking  of  chains  on 
every  side,  and  this  gathering  of  haggard  faces,  row  upon 
row,  till  the  woe-struck  assemblage  grows  into  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands,  but  distract  and  overwhelm  us. 
These  miserable  crowds  lie  pent  up  in  fdthy  prisons,  heavi- 
ly loaded  with  irons,  and  see  the  light  of  day  only  when  it 
gilds  the  bars  in  the  roof  of  their  vault.  Others  have  been 
disposed  of  in  Ischia  and  the  adjoining  islands  on  the  Nea- 
politan coast,  where  they  rot  in  dungeons  many  feet  below 
sea-level.  One  cannot  point  his  foot  on  Neapolitan  earth 
but  it  is  above  a  dungeon.  Where,  in  works  of  fiction,  shall 
we  find  a  tragedy  like  this  ?  The  genius  of  Shakspeare  him- 
self never  painted  a  mightier  woe. 

But  the  question  remains.  Who  is  responsible  for  all  this 
suffering?  We  reply  by  asking.  Who  taught  Ferdinand  to 
revoke  the  constitution  1  Who  gave  him  a  dispensation 
from  an  oath  sworn  "  in  the  awful  name  of  the  Most  Holy 
and  Almighty  God  V  Who  wrote  the  catechism  which  ad- 
judges to  eternal  torments  all  who  hold  liberal  opinions? 
And  who,  in  fine,  are  the  busy  agents  in  this  persecution  ? 
The  priests  of  the  Roman  Church.  That  Church  is  respon- 
sible for  all  this  suffering.  The  thirty  thousand  victims  in 
Naples  groan  in  chains,  that  such  things  as  purgatory  and 
transubstantiation,  with  all  the  revenues  therefrom  arising, 
may  not  be  swept  away,  and  the  rule  of  infallibility  exploded 
as  a  monstrosity.  The  Neapolitan  sbirro,  the  French  bom- 
bardier, and  the  Austrian  Croat,  are  the  triple  alliance  which 
props  up  the  imposture  of  the  Vatican  ;  and  whatever  enor- 


CONCORDAT  VTITH  TUSCANY.  515 

mities  they  may  choose  to  perpetrate,  Rome  must  sfand  ac- 
countable for  them  at  the  bar  of  both  human  and  divine 
justice. 

Of  the  concordats  with  Spain  and  Germany  we  have  al- 
ready spoken.  The  object  of  these  deeds  is  to  bind  these 
countries  more  firmly  than  ever  to  the  Roman  see.  Claims 
are  put  forward,  to  which  these  governments  would  not  have 
listened  in  ages  termed  less  enlightened  than  our  own ;  and, 
if  granted,  they  will  reduce  the  people  to  a  pitch  of  vassal- 
age unequalled  by  anything  that  obtained  even  in  the  dark 
ages.  Of  a  kindred  character  is  the  concordat  with  Tus- 
cany,* This  instrument  establishes,  for  the  first  time  since 
the  existence  of  the  Florentine  state,  the  complete  subjec- 
tion of  the  State  to  the  Church,  in  all  matters  which  the 
latter  may  choose  to  call  spiritual :  it  empowers  the  Pope 
to  send  any  number  of  bulls  into  the  country,  and  the  bishops 
to  enforce  them,  subject  to  no  control :  it  erects  an  ecclesi- 
astical censorship  over  books  and  opinions  ;  and  it  declares 
that  the  property  of  the  Church  shall  be  disposed  of,  not  ac- 
cording to  the  laws  of  the  land,  but  according  to  canon  law. 
Those  sovereign  rights  which  the  Seignory  handed  down 
and  the  JSIedici  defended,  the  secular  power  has  conspired 
to  surrender  into  the  hands  of  the  spiritual.  Between  the 
Croats  of  Vienna  and  the  priests  of  the  Vatican,  liberty  is 
extinguished  throughout  Italy.  The  Alps  and  the  Pyre- 
nees enclose  a  region  where  men  walk  about  in  chains.  The 
Lucifer  of  this  pandemonium  is  the  Pope.  If  he  can  pre- 
vent it,  never  shall  a  single  Bible  cross  the  Alps,  and  eter- 
nal darkness  must  be  the  fate  of  Italy. 

France  is  not  so  retrograde,  only  because  party  and  the 
press  have  still  some  power  there.  Louis  Napoleon  has  sold 
himself  and  his  country  to  the  Pope,  that  the  Pope  may 
make  him  President  for  life  :  he  has  gone  to  the  Vatican,  as 
Saul  went  to  the  Witch  of  Endor,  that  he  may  obtain  by 
sorcery  what  he  cannot  command  by  talent.     Thus  it  is  that 

•  Gazetted  in  the  "  Tuscan  Monitore"  of  July  5th,  1851. 


516  NEW  CATHOLIC  LEAGUE. 

European  Yezldeeisrn  goes  on.      The  Pope   worships  the 
devil,  that  he  may  give  him  the  world ;  and  Louis  Napoleon 
worships  the  Pope,  that  he  may  give  him  France.     Hence  a 
great  apparent  revival  of  Popery  in  that  country.      The 
Jesuits  being  masters  of  the  President,  have  their  own  way, 
and   are  uncontrolled,  save  by  the  mountain  and  the  so- 
cialist masses.      Pretensions  which  have  lain  dormant  in 
France  for  twenty  years  have  been  revived  within  the  past 
twelvemonths.     Congregations  and  confraternities  are  again 
springing  up.      Crosses  and  Calvaries  are  rising  on  every 
road.     The  Jesuits  spend  the  night  in  hatching  plots,  and 
the  day  in  running  about  to  execute  them  :  they  get  up, 
with  equal  adroitness,  sermons  and  miracles  ;  they  enact  the 
schoolmaster,  and  pull  the  strings  at  a  Madonna  show  ;  they 
busy  themselves  in  tracking  and  prosecuting  the  journalist 
and  the  colporteur ;  they  haunt  the  clubs  and  the  saloons, 
and  introduce  themselves  into  families,  and  into  every  sort 
of  society.     The  Abbe  Dauparloup  and  his  associates  could 
not  be  more  bustling  and  important,  though  Charles  X.,  in 
his  character  of  a  religious  ascetic,  had  returned  from  the 
tomb.     Everywhere  Jesuitism  is  seizing  on  waxen  youth, 
erecting  new  colleges,  expelling  liberal  professors,  dismissing 
the  communal  schoolmasters  in  thousands,  and  obliging  those 
who  fill  their  places  to  take  the  pupils  to  church  and  to  all 
the  services.     The  Jesuits  are  drawing  their  web  over  all  the 
country,  in  the  shape  of  friars  of  the  Christian  doctrine,  and 
lay  brothers.     In  most  parts  of  Italy  a  confession-ticket  is 
demanded  as  the  passport  to  public  office  and  private  em- 
ployment ;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  it  will  soon  be  so 
in  France.     Louis  Napoleon,  whom  the  Jesuits  endure  as 
the  mere  locum  tenens  of  the  Bourbon,  leans  upon  the  Church, 
and  the  Church  upon  Louis  Napoleon  ;  and  a  powerful  army 
in  the  hands  of  the  President  has  given  unexpected  but  fic- 
titious strength  to  Romanism  in  France. 

In  Austria,  Prince  Schwarzenberg  has  restored,  in  all 
their  rigour,  the  twin-tyrannies  of  Jesuitism  and  absolutism. 
While  all  other  religious  bodies  have  had  their  privileges 


JESUIT  TACTICS  IN  AUSTRIA.  5 1  7 

abridged,  those  of  the  Church  of  Rome  have  been  fully  re- 
stored. The  placetum  reglmn  has  been  abolished,  and  the 
Pope  now  exercises  in  Austria  uncontrolled  power  in  the 
appointment  of  bishops.  An  association  has  been  formed 
by  the  machinations  of  the  Jesuits,  called  "  The  Young  Ca- 
tholic Association  •"  its  recruits  are  drawn  mainly  from  the 
youth  in  the  schools.  Every  member,  on  entering,  must 
swear  fidelity  to  the  Pope,  and  promise  to  concur  in  the  es- 
tablishment of  missions  throughout  Austria,  and  in  the  re- 
alization of  religious  liberty, — a  phrase  which  can  mean  only 
a  right  to  extirpate  Protestantism,  seeing  the  Romanists 
already  enjoy  full  liberty  in  Austria.  During  the  summer 
of  1850,  Jesuit  intrigue  had  well-nigh  precipitated  Austria 
in  sanguinary  conflict  upon  Prussia,  War  was  averted  only 
by  the  concessions  and  humiliations  of  the  King  of  Prussia 
at  Olmutz,  Protestant  congregations  in  Hungary  have  been 
sadly  harassed ;  and  it  was  universally  observed,  that  dur- 
ing the  negotiations  of  1850,  the  troops  of  Austria  were 
quartered  exclusively  in  protestant  districts,  after  the  ap- 
proved modes  of  punishing  nonconformity  set  by  Ferdinand 
II.  at  the  beginning  of  the  "  thirty  years'*  war,"  and  by  our 
own  Charles  II.  during  the  "  twenty-eight  years'*  persecu- 
tion.''''* And  now  the  house  of  Hapsburg  has  fully  returned 
to  its  traditionary  maxims  of  rule,  and  has  completed  its  re- 
action by  its  edict,  in  August  of  this  year  (1851),  proclaim- 
ing the  will  of  the  Emperor  the  sole  constitution  of  the  coun- 
try, and  rendering  the  cabinet  and  the  council  of  state  ac- 
countable to  the  Emperor  alone.  Thus  the  last  shred  of 
constitutionalism  has  been  swept  away,  and  the  naked  fabric 
of  pure  unmitigated  despotism  has  been  set  up  in  its  room. 

*  While  we  write,  a  proof  has  transpired  of  the  intimate  relations  be- 
twixt the  priests  and  the  governments,  and  the  efforts  which  the  former 
are  prepared  to  make  to  maintain  the  latter.  Austria  has  offered  for  a 
loan  of  eighty-five  million  francs.  The  loan  has  been  subscribed  for  not 
at  all  in  England  ;  partially  in  Germany  ;  more  generally,  though  not 
quite  voluntarily,  in  Austria.  But  mark  !  the  Romish  bishops  have  agreed 
to  subscribe  to  the  whole  extent  of  the  available  means  of  the  convents. 


518  NEW  CATHOLIC  LEAGUE. 

Francis  Joseph  furnishes  another  example  of  the  historical 
fact,  that  the  vassals  of  the  Church  are  uniformly  the  op- 
pressors of  their  subjects. 

That  the  Jesuit  should  nestle  once  more  under  the  shadow 
of  Schonbrunn,  is  not  surprising ;  but  it  may  well  astonish  us 
that  Prussia  should  open  its  gates  to  these  men.  Yet  the 
fact  is  as  undoubted  as  it  is  melancholy.  Frederick  Wil- 
liam, the  professedly  protestant  King  of  Prussia,  has  taken 
the  viper  to  his  bosom,  and,  with  his  kingdom,  has  joined  the 
great  anti-protestant  league.  This  man's  pedantry  in  speech- 
making,  and  tinkering  in  the  work  of  government, —  his  hero- 
ism in  words  and  shortcomings  in  deeds, — his  voice,  which 
is  the  voice  of  a  Protestant,  and  his  hands,  which  are  the 
hands  of  a  Papist, — make  him  the  James  the  Sixth  of  Ger- 
many. In  a  recent  tour  in  his  dominion,  he  received  the 
popish  bishops  with  smiles  and  genuflections,  while  he  could 
find  nothing  but  frowns  and  sharp  reproofs  for  his  protes- 
tant ministers.  And  why?  Because  they  had  permitted 
the  Jesuits  to  outdo  them  in  the  courtly  work  of  preaching 
the  doctrine  of  "  divine  right"  and  "  implicit  obedience." 
Constitutional  journals  are  silenced,  and  liberal  professors  are 
expelled.  The  Jesuits  have  undertaken  to  inculcate  no  pre- 
cepts but  those  of  order  and  loyalty,  and  therefore  they  are 
free  of  Prussia.  They  have  descended  the  Rhine,  bringing 
social  dissensions  and  family  discords  in  their  train,  and 
have  now  penetrated  into  all  parts  of  the  kingdom.  There 
is  no  power  in  either  the  doctrines  of  Hegel  and  Fichte,  or 
in  the  pietist  party  of  Gerlach  and  Stahl,  to  resist  the  strides 
which  despotic  Austria  is  making  towards  political  and  eccle- 
siastical dominion  in  Prussia.  Let  Austria  once  get  her 
barbarian  but  Catholic  provinces  into  the  German  confe- 
deration, and  the  fate  of  Prussia  as  a  protestant  power  is 
sealed.  The  polypus  arms  of  Roman  Catholicism  will  be 
stretched  over  all  northern  Germany.  Unhappy  Frederick 
William  !  When  he  struck  hands  with  Austria  and  the 
Jesuits,  ho  little  thought  what  woes  he  was  entailing  on  his 
house  and  kingdom. 


AGGRESSION  ON  BRITAIN.  519 

Nor  is  it  without  significance,  as  tending  to  prove  that  this 
re-action  towards  political  and  papal  despotism  in  Germany 
is  the  result  of  concert  and  combination,  that  in  the  July  of 
this  summer  (1851)  the  Grand  Duke  of  Anhalt  issued  a 
proclamation  "  To  my  people."  This  document,  which  read 
as  if  some  greater  potentate  had  held  the  pen,  told  the  world 
that  "  the  German  governments  have  pledged  themselves  to 
each  other  energetically  to  withstand  the  further  develop- 
ment" of  liberal  principles.  From  the  greatest  to  the  pet- 
tiest despot,  all  have  their  faces  turned  towards  Rome,  as 
the  grand  central  and  model  despotism.  Every  reforming 
and  liberal  influence  is  extinguished ;  every  constitutional 
organ  and  party  is  crushed.  The  constitutionalist  and  the 
missionary  are  equally  the  objects  of  jealousy.  The  Jesuit 
and  the  jailor  only  can  move  freely  about.  Thus  the  arms 
of  Continental  Europe  are  once  more  at  the  service  of  a 
power  which  would  stifle  every  aspiration  towards  liberty, 
and  would  entomb  the  world  in  the  dense  shadow  of  one  co- 
lossal despotism. 

The  object  of  this  league,  avowed  almost  in  so  many 
words,  is  to  undo  the  Reformation  in  both  its  political  and 
spiritual  effects.  But  success  in  this  object  is  impossible,  so 
long  as  Britain  remains  a  free  and  protestant  country.  This 
the  papal  powers  very  clearly  perceive.  Their  policy,  there- 
fore, is  either  to  convert  Britain  to  Romanism  and  absolu- 
tism, or,  if  that  is  impossible,  to  put  it  down.  To  convert 
Britain  is  the  design  of  the  papal  aggression,  first,  by  the 
erection  of  the  hierarchy ;  next,  by  introducing  popish 
bishops  into  the  House  of  Lords  ;  next,  by  taking  into  their 
own  hands  the  whole  ecclesiastical  and  educational  machin- 
ery of  Ireland ;  next,  by  bringing  over  England  to  Roman- 
ism by  means  of  tractarianism,  aided  by  the  multiplication 
of  popish  cathedrals,  convents,  and  schools;  and  finally,  by 
changing  the  coronation  oath,  marrying  the  heir-apparent 
to  a  popish  princess,  and,  along  with  his  conversion  and  ac- 
cession to  the  throne,  inaugurating  their  full  domination  in 
the  country.     But  if  we  resist  this  aggression,  we  may  pre- 


520  NEW  CATHOLIC  LEAGUE. 

pare  for  one  of  a  more  physical  kind.  It  is  infallibility  or 
the  sword  that  Rome  now  offers  to  Britain.  The  exigencies 
of  the  times  have  forced  this  course  upon  the  Papacy. 
Rome  must  advance.  To  stand  still  were,  in  her  case,  and 
in  that  of  the  absolutist  powers,  irretrievable  ruin.  They 
have  an  infidel  democracy  behind  them ;  and,  to  conquer  it, 
they  must  precipitate  themselves  upon  protestant  Britain ; 
for  such  despotisms  as  they  are  now  attempting  to  set  up 
cannot  co-exist  on  the  same  globe  with  British  constitution- 
alism and  the  protestant  faith.  Self-preservation,  then, 
dictates  this  course,  and  numerous  and  unequivocal  indica- 
tions point  to  it  as  resolved  upon.  When  Cardinal  Wise- 
man arrived  in  the  country,  all  the  papal  powers  sent  him 
their  congratulations.  What  was  this  but  a  defiance  to 
Protestantism?  Numerous  hints  have  been  dropped  by 
Romanist  preachers  and  organs,  that  if  their  rights  are  de- 
nied, the  arms  of  the  Catholic  powers  will  enforce  them. 
But  the  Univers  has  the  merit  of  speaking  frankly  out. 
This  is  the  leading  popish  organ  in  Europe,  and  doubtless 
expresses  the  sentiments  of  its  friends,  when  it  preaches,  as 
it  now  does,  a  new  crusade  against  Protestantism.  "  A 
heretic  examined  and  convicted  by  the  Church,"  says  V  Uni- 
mrs*  "  used  to  be  delivered  over  to  the  secular  power,  and 
punished  with  death.  Nothing  has  ever  appeared  to  us 
more  natural  or  more  necessary.  More  than  one  hundred 
thousand  persons  perished  in  consequence  of  the  heresy  of 
Wicliffe ;  a  still  greater  number  by  that  of  John  Huss ;  it 
would  not  be  possible  to  calculate  the  bloodshed  caused  by 
the  heresy  of  Luther,  and  it  is  not  yet  over.  After  three 
centuries,  we  are  at  the  eve  of  a  re-commencement."  Such 
is  the  dreadful  tragedy  which  is  plotted,  and  the  plotters 
are  not  at  the  pains  decently  to  veil  their  enormously  diabo- 
lical purpose.  One  great  St  Bartholomew  in  Britain,  and 
the  reign  of  absolutism  will  be  established,  and  the  triumphs 
of  the  Vatican  complete.     From  Naples,   with  its  twenty 

•  "  L' Univers;'  Aiignst  1851. 


ANTI-PROTESTANT  CRUSADE  PREACHED,  521 

thousand  chained  captives,  to  Austrian-garrisoned  Hamburg, 
there  extends  a  chain  of  political  forts,  linking  together  the 
various  countries  in  one  powerful  confederacy,  which  con- 
verges ominously  on  Britain.  Pelion  is  piled  upon  Ossa, 
and  Ossa  upon  Pelion.  Of  this  towering  mass,  which 
threatens  alike  the  pandemonium  of  democracy  below  and 
the  heaven  of  constitutionalism  and  Protestantism  above, 
the  base  is  Russia  and  the  apex  ^s  E-ome. 

The  ghost  of  the  middle  ages, — for  in  this  confederacy 
the  political  and  religious  dogmas  of  these  ages  live  over 
again, — the  ghost  of  the  middle  ages,  we  say,  which  the 
world  believed  had  been  laid  for  ever  at  rest,  has  returned 
suddenly  from  its  tomb  of  three  centuries,  and  now  stalks 
grimly  through  the  awe-struck  and  terrified  nations  of 
Europe,  with  the  mitre  of  the  Church  upon  its  brow,  and 
the  iron  truncheon  of  the  State  in  its  hand.  Its  foot  is 
planted  with  deadly  pressure  upon  the  necks  of  its  own  sub- 
jects ;  and  its  mailed  arm  is  raised,  to  strike  down  with  one 
decisive  blow  that  one  country  which  is  the  home  of  freedom 
and  of  Protestantism. 


522  GENERAL  PROPAGANDISM. 


CHAPTER  III. 


GENERAL  PROPAGANDISM. 


The  operations  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  extend  far 
beyond  the  limits  of  her  ancient  domain, — the  Roman  world. 
Wherever  British  power  or  British  enterprise  have  opened  a 
path,  there  comes  the  missionary  of  Rome,  to  plant  his  spi- 
ritual and  mental  tyranny  beneath  the  free  flag  of  Britain, 
Let  the  reader  glance  over  the  table  in  the  Appendix,  exhi- 
biting the  stations  of  the  Roman  Church  throughout  the 
world,  and  he  will  see  that  she  has  fixed  on  points  so  nume- 
rous, and  these  so  centrical,  either  already  so  or  prospec- 
tively, that  her  aim,  beyond  all  peradventure,  is  to  become 
mistress  of  the  globe.  And  the  character  of  that  Church 
affords  an  ample  guarantee,  that  whatever  organization, 
money,  numbers  of  missionaries,  and  unflagging  zeal  can  do, 
will  be  done  to  realize  that  aim.  She  has  upwards  of  six 
thousand  missionaries  at  this  moment  labouring  in  her  ser- 
vice. They  are  spread  over  all  lands,  from  the  shores  of 
Japan  to  the  forests  of  the  west.  We  need  not  speak  of 
the  countries  of  Europe, — the  populous,  and  civilized,  and 
wealthy  regions  of  the  globe.  There  we  find  her  dignitaries 
in  great  splendour,  and  her  orders  in  full  force.  But  if  we 
extend  our  view  beyond,  we  find  her  agents  planted  thick 
along  the  line  which  divides  the  civilization  of  the  world 
from  its  barbarism, — in  the  principalities  of  the  Danube, 
where  the  barbarism  of  the  east  meets  the  refinement  of 


MISSIONS  TO  SEMI-BARBAROUS  REGIONS.  523 

the  west, — in  the  plains  of  Mesopotamia  and  Syria,  hang- 
ing on  the  skirts  of  Mahommcdanism, — in  India,  where 
Hinduism  comes  in  contact  with  British  science  and  Chris- 
tianity,— in  China,  where  the  stereotyped  ideas  and  usages 
of  the  Celestial  Empire  are  melting  away  before  the  en- 
croachments of  British  commerce, — in  Australia,  in  Oce- 
anica,  and  over  the  New  World,  from  Cape  Horn  to  Ca- 
nada. Her  circle  of  operations  encompasses  the  globe. 
Let  us  mark  herein  the  policy  of  Home.  She  takes  care 
that  the  civilizing  influences  shall  not  outrun  the  Romaniz- 
ing. It  was  much  in  this  way  that  she  founded  her  dominion 
at  the  first  in  Europe.  She  met  the  nations  on  their  march 
from  the  north ;  and  in  their  semi-barbarous  state,  without 
any  instruction,  she  admitted  them  into  the  Church.  In  the 
same  way  is  that  Church  now  advancing  to  the  semi-barbar- 
ous tribes  of  earth ;  and  before  they  have  been  enlightened 
or  Christianized  in  any  degree,  she  procures  their  submis- 
sion to  her  yoke.*     She  communicates  no  Christian  instruc- 

*  "  More  than  forty  independent  societies  are  centralized  in  tlie  two  in- 
stitutes of  the  projiaganda  at  Rome  (founded  in  1622,  and  extended  by 
Urban  VIII.)  and  tlie  foreign  missions  in  Paris.  These  missionary  socie- 
ties,—those  in  France  at  least, — are  sustained  entirely  by  voluntary  con- 
tributions. Besides  these,  there  has  been  formed,  within  the  last  two 
years,  an  Oceanic  Society,  founded  by  M.  Marzion,and  designed  to  operate 
in  the  Australian  islands  by  combining  commerce  with  proselytism.  The 
society's  first  vessel,  named  L'Arche  d'Alliance  (as  if  in  defiance  of  the 
Evangelical  Alliance,  while  in  evident  imitation  of  our  missionary  ships,  and 
of  the  late  Sir  F.  Buxton's  scheme  for  African  civilization),  some  time 
since  took  its  departure  for  the  South  Seas ;  and  the  institution  already 
boasts  of  the  possession  of  four  vessels.  This  society  has  a  branch  in 
Italy,  comprising  three  auxiliary  committees,  at  Genoa,  Turin,  and  Rome. 
This  branch,  which  was  established  in  1845,  and  was  formed  for  a  period 
of  thirty  years,  has  issued  shares  of  five  hundred  francs  each,  on  which  it 
guarantees  five  per  cent,  interest.  The  dividends  are  added  to  the  capi- 
tal. The  Genoa  Committee  have  bought  a  vessel,  which  was  to  sail  about 
the  beginning  of  last  month  (September  1847),  with  a  rich  cargo,  and  as 
many  as  forty  missionaries  on  board.  Her  route  is  Valparaiso,  Tahiti, 
New  Caledonia,  Macao,  Hong-Kong,  and  the  north  of  China.  From  these, 
and  other  facts,  it  is  quite  evident  tliat  T'ahiti  is  but  the  beginning  of  sor- 
rows."    ("  Christian  Record,"  October  IS  17.) 


524  GENERAL  PROPAGANDISM. 

tlon ;  she  exacts  no  confession  of  faith ;  they  are  still  hea- 
thens in  all  save  the  name  •  but  the  nominal  submission  of 
the  parents  gives  her  access  to  the  children,  and  these  she 
trains  in  thorough  subjection  to  her  authority.  It  will  not 
be  the  fault  of  Rome  if  there  remains  one  individual  in  the 
most  distant  region  of  the  earth  who  has  not  bowed  the 
neck  to  her  yoke.  We  see  the  Jesuits  adopting  all  mea- 
sures, and  assuming  every  garb,  to  gain  success  in  their 
work.  Nor  do  they  shrink  from  violence,  when  their  object 
cannot  otherwise  be  attained.  In  the  latter  years  of  Louis 
Philippe,  the  French  ships  of  war  were  pressed  into  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Propaganda.  No  one  can  yet  have  forgotten  the 
massacre  at  Cochin- China  in  the  spring  of  18-47,  where  the 
Jesuit  missionaries,  mounted  upon  the  French  ships  of  war, 
dealt  out  grape-shot  to  the  inhabitants.  Nor  is  the  sad 
story  of  Tahiti  forgotten,  or  ever  will.  The  Jesuits  found 
it  a  paradise  physically  and  morally,  with  a  Christianity 
blossoming  there  as  pure  and  lovely  perhaps  as  ever  bloomed 
on  earth.  They  dethroned  its  queen,  and  ravaged  the  isle 
with  fire  and  sword,  because  the  inhabitants  refused  to  em- 
brace an  idolatry  as  foul  as  that  from  which  they  had  been 
rescued.  Popery  is  as  much  the  wolf  as  ever.  To  see  its 
real  dispositions,  we  must  not  look  at  it  in  Europe;  we 
must  track  it  as  it  prowls  along  on  the  frontier  of  the  heathen 
world.*  After  centuries  of  massacre  and  persecution,  its 
thirst  for  blood  is  still  unslaked.  Previous  to  the  revolution 
of  1830,  the  funds  of  the  French  state  were  to  a  great  de- 
gree at  the  command  of  the  Jesuits  ;  but  since  that  event 
the  French  exchequer  has  been  less  accessible,  and  the  mis- 
sionary operations  of  the  Romish  Church  have  been  sup- 
ported mainly  by  the  funds  of  the  Propaganda,  the  head 


*  "There  exists  a  papal  com  in  their  [the  Jesiiits]  honour,  as  '  domini 
canes,'— the  nolle  hounds  of  heretics.  The  device  is,  a  dog  with  a  lighted 
torch  in  his  mouth,  traversing  a  globe  ;  the  motto,—'  What  will  I,  if  it  be 
already  kindled  ?'"  (The  Jesuits  as  they  were  and  are,  by  Duller ;  Intro- 
duction.) 


MISSIONS  TO  SOUTH  AND  EAST.  525 

quarters  of  which  arc  at  Lyons,  presided  over  by  Archbishop 
Bonald.     Latterly,  by  the  help  of  the  Propaganda,  Pius  has 
pushed  liis  emissaries, — bishops,  bishops  in  partibus,   and 
vicars  apostolic, — into  parts  of  Hindustan,  both  within  and 
without  the  Ganges,  which  have  never  heretofore  been  visited 
by  such  functionaries.     Within  the  last  eighteen  months, 
parts  of  China,  of  Tibet,  and  of  Chinese  Tartary,  have  seen 
popish  priests,  with  a  breviary  in  one  hand  and  a  purse  in 
the  other,  ready  to  preach,  and  to  take  tribute  in  behoof  of 
Rome  with  both  hands.     The  home  supplies  have  much  di- 
minished of  late,  and  foreign  resources  have  been  called  into 
requisition.      Belgium  and   Spain  have   been   appealed  to. 
The  pauper  Irish,  both  at  home  and  in  America,  have  given 
their  alms ;  and  Van  Diemen\s  Land  and  Botany  Bay  have 
sent  Pius  many  a  crown,  which  his  own  subjects,  who  know 
him  better  and  love  him  less,  have  heretically  refused. 

But  not  one  of  the  schemes  of  the  Jesuits,  nor  all  of  them 
put  together,  equals  in  magnitude  and  daring  their  present 
attempts  on  Britain.     These  have  been  concocted  with  a 
deeper  policy,  are  being  prosecuted  with  greater  dissimula- 
tion and  energy,  and  would,  if  realized,  yield  them  a  far 
greater  return,  than  any  other  plan  they  have  on  hand.    Bri- 
tain is  by  much  the  paramount  nation  on  the  globe.      In 
every  region  of  the  earth  she  is  acquiring  dominion  and 
foundino;  colonies.     Her  extension  is  the  extension  of  Pro- 
testantism  ;  at  least  it  affords  vast  facilities  for  its  exten- 
sion.     Since  the  beginning  of  the  century,  the  Bible  has 
been  translated  into  one  hundred  and  forty-three  languages. 
Never  before  was  the  name  of  Christ  proclaimed  to  so  many 
nations.     This  has  happened  mainly  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  Britain.     It  was  impossible  that  the  Pope  or  the 
Jesuits  could  be  indifferent  to  this  great  fact,  or  fail  to  seo 
to  what  it  tended.     Every  consideration  pointed  to  the  con- 
quest of  Britain.     Her  political  rank  and  vast  moral  and 
Christian  influence  made  her  their  greatest  barrier.    It  was 
plain  that  Home  must  destroy  Britain  as  a  protestant  state, 
or  be  destroyed  by  her.    Her  conquest  would  give  Rome  the 


526  GENERAL  PROPAGANDISM. 

supremacy  of  the  globe.  The  conversion  of  Britain  to  the 
Catholic  faith  is,  and  for  some  years  past  has  been,  the  one 
grand  object  of  the  papal  policy.  Since  the  restoration  of 
the  Bourbons,  at  least  since  1820,  the  Jesuits  have  been 
prosecuting  this  object  with  consummate  craft,  immense 
vigour,  and  very  considerable  success.  They  commenced 
operations  in  Ireland.  Let  us  go  back  to  the  period  pre- 
ceding the  passing  of  the  Catholic  Emancipation  Act.  The 
first  step  was  to  mission  Dr  Kenry,  who  had  been  brought 
up  at  the  Jesuit  College  of  Palermo,  to  Ireland,  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  provincial  head  of  the  Jesuits.  This  man's  task 
was  to  bring  the  educated  laity,  the  men  of  influence  in  Ire- 
land, under  the  Jesuit  influence.  For  this  purpose  the  Col- 
lege of  Clongows  was  instituted.  It  was  filled  with  Jesuit 
professors,  and  received  the  youth  of  the  middle  and  upper 
classes.  The  next  step  was  to  reduce  the  priests  of  Ire- 
land under  the  Jesuit  influence.  This  could  be  done  only 
by  seizing  upon  the  College  of  Maynooth,  where  the  Irish 
priesthood  was  trained.  The  president  of  that  institution 
became  unable  to  fulfil  his  duties.  He  selected  Dr  Kenry, 
the  able  head  of  all  the  Irish  Jesuits,  to  supply  his  place. 
Although  the  thing  had  been  pre-arranged  (as  doubtless  it 
was)  between  Genei*al  Roothan  at  Rome,  Dr  Kenry,  and 
the  president  of  Maynooth,  it  could  not  have  happened  bet- 
ter for  the  designs  of  the  Jesuits.  By  and  by  Jesuit  pro- 
fessors began  to  be  transferred  from  Clongows  to  May- 
nooth ;  a  Jesuit  confraternity  was  established  among  the 
students,  termed  the  Sodality  of  the  Sacred  Heart ;  a  Jesuit 
commentary  on  the  Scriptures  was  introduced,  which  all  the 
students  were  enjoined  to  study ;  and  in  this  way  was  the 
college,  and  through  it  the  whole  Irish  priesthood,  brought 
under  the  Jesuit  dominion.  The  people  were  under  the  do- 
minion of  the  priesthood,  the  priesthood  under  that  of  Dr 
Kenry,  the  head  of  all  Irish  Jesuits,  and  Dr  Kenry  under 
that  of  General  Roothan,  the  head  of  Jesuitism  throuffhout 
the  world.  The  political  agitation  that  arose, — the  result 
that  crowned  it,  and  which  gave  free  admission  to  Roman 


JESUIT  OPERATIONS  IN  ENGLAND.  527 

Catholics  and  Jesuits  into  tlio  British  senate, — wc  need  not 
describe.  The  principal  scene  of  operations  was  now  trans- 
ferred by  the  Jesuits  to  England. 

The  Jesuits  have  a  sort  of  intuitive  sagacity  in  compre- 
hending in  what  lies  the  strength  of  an  enemy,  and  of  course 
the  point  to  attack.     The  Church  of  England,  they  saw,  was 
the  main  barrier  between  them  and  political  ascendancy. 
Provided  they  could  Romanize  it,  the  battle  would  be  half 
won  ;  and  to  carry  this  point  all  their  efforts  were  put  forth. 
But  previous  to  beginning  operations  on  the  Anglican  Es- 
tablishment, there  was  a  preliminary  point  to  be  gained, — 
the  reduction  of  the  old  popish  families  to  the  Jesuit  domi- 
nion.    To  effect  this,  the  college  at  Stoneyhurst  was  erect- 
ed.    This  institution  is  flourishing,  and  nearly  all  the  first 
Catholic  families  in  England  are  educated  within  its  walls ; 
and  there  they  receive  such  a  polish  as  is  fitted  to  make 
them  influential  in  English  society.     But  the  main  battle 
was  directed  against  the  Church  of  England.     They  strove 
to  quicken  the  dormant  principles  of  a  popish  origin  which 
had  been  suffered  to  remain  in  her  ever  since  the  Eeforma- 
tion ;  they  availed  themselves  of  her  forms,  some  of  which 
savour  of  superstition,  to  revive  within  her  a  love  for  Popery. 
Of  course  we  have  no  direct  proof  that  Jesuits*  took  orders 
in  that  Church,  and  officiated  as  pastors,  to  expedite  the 
movement ;  but  few  will  be  disposed  to  doubt  the  fact,  who 
now  consider  the  whole  career  of  Messrs  Wiseman,  Pusey, 
Ward,  Newman,  and  who  consider  the  history  and  charac- 
ter of  the  "  Tracts  for  the  Times."     Tract  No.  90,  where  the 
doctrine  of  reserves  is  broached,  bears  strong  marks  of  a 


*  When  the  Jesuits  went  to  India,  they  stained  their  bodies,  and  swore 
that  they  were  Brahmins,  who  could  trace  their  pedigree  to  the  god 
Brahma.  In  China  they  taught  that  the  doctrine  of  Confucius  differed 
little  or  nothing  from  their  own.  In  the  times  of  the  Reformation  the 
Jesuits  entered  the  Church  of  England,  and  preached  from  her  pulpits 
against  the  mass  and  set  forms,  to  induce  the  people  to  fight  against  their 
Church.  Why  may  they  not  have  had  recourse  to  the  same  tactics  on  the 
pi  esent  occasion } 


528  GENERAL  PROPAGANDISM. 

Jesuit  origin.  Could  we  know  all  the  secret  instructions 
given  to  the  leaders  in  the  Puseyite  movement, — the  mental 
reservations  prescribed  to  them, — we  might  well  be  astonish- 
ed. "  Go  gently,"  we  think  we  hear  the  great  Roothan  say 
to  them.  "  Remember  the  motto  of  our  dear  son  the  ci- 
devant  Bishop  of  Autun, — '  Surtout,  pas  trop  de  zele.''*  Bring 
into  view,  little  by  little,  the  authority  of  the  Church.  If  you 
can  succeed  in  rendering  it  equal  to  that  of  the  Bible,  you 
have  done  much.  Change  the  table  of  the  Lord  into  an 
altar ;  elevate  that  altar  a  few  inches  above  the  level  of  the 
floor  ;  gradually  turn  round  to  it  when  you  read  the  Liturgy; 
place  lighted  tapers  upon  it ;  teach  the  people  the  virtues 
of  stained  glass,  and  cause  them  to  feel  the  majesty  of  Gothic 
basilisques.-f-  Introduce  first  the  dogmas,  beginning  with 
that  of  baptismal  regeneration ;  next  the  ceremonies  and 
sacraments,  as  penance  and  the  confessional ;  and,  lastly, 
the  images  of  the  Virgin  and  the  saints.  Especially  show 
the  nobility  the  elegant  position  which  Roman  Catholicism 
reserves  for  them,  and  cause  them  to  comprehend  that  the 
Church  of  Rome  alone  is  in  a  position  to  resist  democracy." 
Such  is  the  course  which  has  been  followed.  And  behold 
the  result !  The  last  published  list  of  Anglican  ministers 
who  had  seceded  to  Rome,:[: — certified  as  correct  so  far  as 
regarded  the  individuals  named,  but  incomplete  as  to  num- 
bers,— amounted  to  sixty-six  ;  and  the  Anglican  Establish- 
ment appears  in  not  a  little  danger  of  being  split  in  two,  or 
broken  in  pieces,  on  the  subject  of  baptismal  regeneration. 
The  extent  and  variety  of  machinery  which  Romanism  has 
set  up  in  England,  as  given  below,  is  truly  formidable  and 
alarming.  § 

*  The  counsel  of  Talleyrand  to  the  foreign  ambassadors. 

■f*  A  clergyman,  when  asked  the  meaning  of  stained  windows  in  a  church, 
replied  with  equal  quaintness  and  shrewdness, — "  Per  varies  casus,  per 
tot  discrimina  rerum,  tendimus  in  Latium." 

t  Published  in  the  "London  Patriot"  in  ^March  1850  ;  since  much  aug- 
mented. 

§  From  the  English  Roman  Catholic  Directory  for  this  year  (1S59)  it 


JESUIT  OPERATIONS  IN  SCOTLAND.  529 

Nor  has  the  land  of  Knox  been  overlooked  by  the  popish 
Propaganda.  Scotland  has  been  divided  into  three  dioceses; 
and  strong  efforts  are  at  present  making  to  plant  it  with 
popish  congregations,  colleges,  convents,  and  schools.  Ad- 
vantage has  been  taken  of  the  relics  of  Popery  in  the  High- 
lands, and  the  influx  of  Irish  hordes  in  the  Lowlands,  to  form 
centres  whence  to  propagate  popish  influences.  Fully  one 
half  of  the  funds  that  support  these  operations  are  sent  from 
the  Propaganda  at  Lyons.  Many  of  the  priests  stationed 
in  Scotland  received  their  education  in  Jesuit  colleges  on 
the  Continent,  and  are  themselves  most  probably  Jesuits. 
Their  head-quarters  is  in  Brown  Square,  Edinburgh ;  and  it 
were  interesting  to  know  the  intrigues  of  which  that  house, 
with  its  perpetually  darkened  windows,  is  the  centre.  Popery 
is  not  making  great  progress  among  the  lower  classes  of 
Scotland  :  the  chief  scene  of  its  operations  are  the  drawing- 
rooms  of  the  New  Town  of  Edinburgh ;  and  there  the  un- 
rivalled finesse  and  deeply-veiled  craft  of  Popery  have  not 
gone  without  their  reward.  High-bred  and  thoroughly  edu- 
cated Jesuits  are  employed  in  this  work.  An  evening  is  set, 
the  party  assembles,  and  those  instructed  beforehand  so 
guide  the  conversation,  that  the  popish  dignitary  who  hap- 
pens to  be  present  is  led,  unwillingly  as  he  would  fain  have 
it  thought,  to  descant  on  the  comparative  merits  of  Protes- 
tantism and  Roman  Catholicism.  Or,  from  some  piece  of 
statuary  or  painting  that  chances  to  be  in  the  room,  he  con- 
trives to  drop  a  word  in  praise  of  the  Virgin,  and  another 
in  reprobation  of  that  stern  iconoclast  John  Knox.  These 
sapping  and  mining  operations  are  being  prosecuted  with 


appears  that  there  are  now  in  England  674  chapels,  880  priests,  13  monas- 
teries, 41  convents,  11  colleges,  and  250  schools.  After  a  space  of  three 
hundred  years,  nuns  are  again  stationed  in  the  university  town  of  Cam- 
bridge. On  the  11th  of  February  1850,  the  schools  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
mission  were  opened  under  the  superintendence  of  two  nuns  of  the  order 
of  the  Infant  Jesus  from  the  convent  of  Northampton.  A  few  days  there- 
after, mass  was  celebrated  by  a  priest  for  the  special  invocation  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  on  the  labours  of  the  sisters. 

2  M 


530  GENERAL  PROPAGANDISM. 

great  vigour :  not  a  few  perverts,  chiefly  ladies,  have  been 
made,  who  are  employed,  in  their  turn,  in  ensnaring  others. 
It  is  not  long  since  the  protestant  community  was  startled 
by  the  official  announcement  in  the  Catholic  Directory,  that 
seventy  converts  from  Protestantism  had  been  confirmed 
during  the  year  1848  in  Edinburgh  alone.* 

Of  the  agency  devised  for  operating  on  the  masses,  we 
may  point  to  the  numerous  nunneries  and  monasteries  rising 
up  in  our  cities,  where  provision  is  made  for  the  instruction 
of  protestant  children,  for  whose  benefit  these  seminaries 
are  mainly  intended.  We  might  point  also  to  the  popish 
ragged  schools,  and  other  institutions,  in  some  of  which  pro- 
vision has  been  made  for  the  celebration  of  popish  rites,  as 
in  the  school  in  New  Market  Street,  Edinburgh,  which  is 
marked  by  a  gilt  cross,  and  where,  as  the  Catholic  Direc- 
tory informs  us,  "  at  the  upper  end  is  a  neat  altar,  concealed, 
except  lolien  required,  hy  a  screen.^ 

Two  societies  have  lately  been  formed  in  Scotland  to  aid 
in  reducing  the  masses  under  the  dominion  of  Romanism. 
The  first  we  mention  is  called  the  "  Holy  Guild  of  St  Jo- 
seph," instituted  in  1844  :  it  unites  the  character  of  a 
"  benefit  club""  with  that  of  a  "  Christian  sodality  or  pious 
confraternity,  having  reference  only  to  the  spiritual  improve- 
ment of  its  members.*"!  Its  real  object  is  the  advancement 
of  Popery,  veiled  under  the  pretext  of  charity.  Its  ordinary 
members  must  be  Catholics,  and  they  bind  themselves  to  the 
performance  of  certain  religious  duties.  Its  honorary  mem- 
bers, which  may  be  "  Christians  of  any  denomination^''^  are 
less  strongly  bound :  they  are  admitted  with  a  sole  view  to 
the  benefit  of  the  funds,  being  presumed  to  be  more  wealthy 

*  Catholic  Directory  for  1849,  p.  102.  f  Ibid.  p.  64.     . 

J  Rules  of  the  Holy  Guild  of  St  Joseph,  p.  5, 

§  "  Christians  of  any  denomination"  [quoted  from  the  rules], — an  in- 
stance of  the  hypocrisy  and  cunning  employed  to  trepan  Protestants.  We 
have  already  proved  that  all  beyond  the  pale  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  (with  a  few  miserable  exceptions),  are  branded  as  heretics,  and 
doomed  to  eternal  flames. 


ROMANIST  CLUBS.  531 

than  the  ordinary  members.  They  are,  however,  required  to 
participate  in  certain  parts  of  the  Romish  worship,  and  are 
allowed,  in  return,  to  share  in  the  benefits  of  the  society, 
among  which  are  the  prayers  of  the  brotherhood  for  them 
after  their  death. 

There  labours  in  the  same  work  another  society,  termed 
"  Brotherhood  of  St  Vincent  of  Paul."  The  native  country 
of  this  fraternity  is  France.  A  branch  of  this  society  was 
established  at  Rome  in  1836  ;  another  in  London  in  1844; 
and  another  in  Edinburgh  in  1845.*  Its  ostensible  object, 
like  that  of  the  former,  is  charity, — fuel  and  clothing  to  the 
poor ;  but  "  these  temporal  succours  are  only  the  covering  which 
conceals  the  spiritual  good  it  does  to  souls.''''  The  Old  Town  of 
Edinburgh  is  divided  into  six  districts,  each  under  the  care 
of  two  or  more  brothers.  The  hopes  cherished  by  the  Jesuits, 
from  the  operations  of  this  and  similar  societies,  may  be 
gathered  from  the  following  passage  : — "  Wonderful  things 
seem  to  be  in  store  for  our  conferences  in  England,"  says 
the  RapjJort  Generale  for  1844 ;  "  and  it  will  be  a  sweet  and 
pious  consolation  for  us  to  think,  that  in  the  movement 
which  is  drawing  the  people  of  Great  Britain  back  again 
into  the  bosom  of  unity,  our  dear  society  will  perhaps  have 
assisted  by  its  prayers  and  by  its  works  in  the  religious  re- 
generation of  that  mighty  nation."-!-  There  is  scarce  a  Ro- 
man Catholic  in  Edinburgh  whom  these  societies  have  not 
pressed  into  their  service,  and  who  do  not  ply  the  work  of 
proselytism  with  the  weapons  of  perverted  texts  and  stale 
slanders. 

There  is  not  a  colony  under  the  British  crown  which  is  not 
the  scene  of  popish  stratagem  and  tactics.  In  Canada,  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  lands  have  fallen  into  their 
hands.     A  glance  over  the  American  register,  in  Battersby's 


*  The  Sodality  of  the  Sacred  Heart  extends  throughout  the  world,  and 
makes  every  Roman  Catholic  so  far  a  missionary. 

t  Brotherhood  of  St  Vincent  of  Paul,  Report  of  first  General  Meeting, 
April  1846,  p.  5. 


532  GENERAL  PROPAGANDISM. 

Kegistry  for  the  whole  World,  shows  how  fast  new  cathe- 
drals, convents,  and  schools  are  rising  up  in  many  parts  of 
the  United  States,  This  body  had  in  1850,  4  archbishops, 
SO,  bishops,  1073  churches,  1081  priests,  and  a  population  of 
one  and  a  half  million,  according  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Almanac*  In  British  America  they  foment  divisions,  to 
obtain  concessions  and  grants  from  government.  Their 
grand  maxim,  both  in  Ireland  and  in  Canada,  is,  agitate! 
agitate  !  and  such  will  be  their  practice  wherever  and  when- 
ever they  become  sufficiently  numerous.  They  have  sisters 
of  mercy,  who  offer  their  services  to  emigrants,  and  thus  en- 
list them  in  the  support  of  Popery  the  moment  they  arrive 
on  the  shores  of  the  New  World.  Some  of  their  priests 
have  small  salaries  from  the  state,  under  pretext  of  doing 
certain  official  duties,  as  the  Rev.  M.  Diiguesney  in  Jamaica, 
who  attests  the  Catholic  soldiers  in  the  camp  barracks.*f* 
In  Gibraltar  the  Romanists  have  five  hundred  pounds  an- 
nually from  government.  The  chief  increase  of  Papists  in 
America  is  owing  to  hordes  of  Irish  continually  pouring  into 
Canada  and  the  States.  Ireland,  in  fact,  is  a  vast  popish 
propaganda  for  both  the  western  and  southern  hemispheres. 
The  Ilomanists  are  vigorously  working  the  press  in  America. 
In  the  United  States  they  have  one  Quarterly  Review,  one 
Monthly  Review,  and  twelve  weekly  newspapers,  almost  all 
of  which  are  edited  by  priests.^ 

To  return  to  the  old  world.  An  attempt  was  made  in 
March  1850,  in  Malta,  by  the  popish  governor,  Mr  More 
O'Ferral,  to  make  the  Romish  Church  in  that  important 
colony  nominally  what  it  is  in  fact,  the'  dominant  Church, 
According  to  one  article  of  the  Amended  Code,  the  Roman 
Catholic    Church    in    Malta   was    styled    the    "  Dominant 

*  Evangelical  Alliance,  1851  ;  American  Statistics,  by  Dr  Baird. 
t  Battersby's  Registry  for  the  whole  World  (1850),  p.  422, 
J  The  writer  has  seen  it  stated' in  the"  New  York  Evangelist,"  and  other 
American  journals,  that  Pojjish  omigi-ants,  located  in  the  manufacturing 
districts  of  the  United  States,  seldom  continue  Papists  beyond  the  third 
generation. 


MALTA  AND  AUSTRALIA.  533 

Church."  According  to  other  articles,  it  was  enacted  that, 
whoever  should  violate,  hy  word  or  gesture,  any  article  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  should  be  punished  with  imprison- 
ment of  from  four  to  six  months.*  A  refusal  to  uncover 
when  the  host  passed,  or  a  word  spoken  against  the  Virgin 
and  the  saints,  would  have  subjected  the  person  to  the 
penalties  of  the  code.  Here  was  a  grievous  encroachment 
on  the  principle  of  British  toleration,  and  a  Jesuitical  at- 
tempt to  obtain  legal  recognition  of  the  worship  of  the  host 
and  the  dogma  of  transubstantiation.  A  few  days  after  the 
appearance  of  this  edict,  mixed  marriages  were  prohibited 
in  Malta  and  its  dependencies,  unless  on  the  solemn  promise 
of  the  parties  that  the  children  of  these  marriages  should 
be  brought  up  in  the  Romish  faith.  This  affords  a  fine 
sample  of  the  intriguing  and  encroaching  spirit  of  Jesuitism 
in  all  the  British  colonies.  But  on  no  field  is  Rome  prose- 
cuting her  proselytising  system  so  vigorously  as  in  Australia 
and  Oceanica.  She  anticipates  the  future  eminence  of  this 
young  empire,  which  assuredly  it  will  never  reach  if  she 
succeed  in  imposing  her  yoke  upon  it.  She  will  stereotype 
its  condition,  as  she  has  done  that  of  Lower  Canada.  Mean- 
while she  is  sending  to  it  shiploads  of  priests,  sisters  of 
mercy,  and  Irish  Catholics.  It  has  been  felt  for  many  years, 
that  the  emigration  from  this  country  is  so  conducted  as  to 
favour  the  spread  of  Popery  in  Australia.  The  vast  propor- 
tion of  those  carried  out  thither   at  the  public  expense  are 


*  The  history  of  this  code  finely  illustrates  the  legislative  genius  of 
Rome,  and  the  manner  in  which  she  would  govern  the  world,  were  she  its 
lawo-iver.  The  Maltese  code  was  originally  drafted  in  1831.  It  was  sent 
home  by  the  government  to  be  revised  by  ^Ir  Sheriff  Jameson  of  the 
Scottish  bar.  Mr  Jameson  weeded  it  of  its  despotic  principles,  and  made 
it  thoroughly  British  in  its  genius  and  tolerant  in  its  spirit.  On  its  arrival 
in  Malta,  the  Roman  bishop  condemned  the  code  "as  an  attempt  to  introduce 
equal  protection  of  different  creeds,  as  lately  practised  in  new  colonies.'"  The 
Jesuits  set  to  work,  and  soon  made  it  fit  to  rank  among  the  codes  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  Romanists  in  Malta  have  given  up  the  graduated 
scale,  but  retain  the  title  "Dominant." 


534  GENERAL  PROPAGANDISM. 

Roman  Catholics,  particularly  orphan  girls  from  Irish  work- 
houses. The  object  evidently  is,  to  supply  Roman  Catholic 
wives  for  the  English  and  Scotch  Pi'otestants  of  the  humbler 
classes  in  Australia,  and  thereby  to  Romanize  the  Australian 
colonies  through  the  artful  and  thoroughly  Jesuitical  device 
of  mixed  marriages. 

The  rapid  and  portentous  rise  of  the  Romish  Church  in 
Australia  is  fraught  with  immense  danger  to  both  the  colony 
and  the  mother  country.  This  has  happened  mainly  through 
the  working  of  the  Bounty  Emigration  Scheme.  The  waste 
lands  of  the  colony  are  sold  by  auction,  and  the  annual 
proceeds,  now  amounting  to  four  hundred  thousand  pounds, 
are  devoted  to  the  importation  of  emigrants  from  the  united 
kingdom.  The  scheme  is  farmed  to  speculators,  who  re- 
ceive so  much  a-head  for  their  cargo  of  emigrants.  Hordes 
of  Irish  paupers,  papist  to  a  man,  are  collected  in  the  south 
and  west  of  Ireland,  and,  being  shipped  at  Plymouth  or 
Cork,  are  carried  across  the  globe,  and  thrown  upon  Aus- 
tralia. In  this  way  an  Irish  land-flood  has  been  flowing 
steadily,  during  several  years,  upon  this  colony ;  and  a  new 
Ireland  is  rising  in  the  Pacific.  In  1822,  two  priests,  one  in 
New  South  Wales  and  the  other  in  "Van  Dieman's  Land,  suf- 
ficed for  the  entire  of  Australia.  But  mark  the  strength  of 
Romanism  in  the  southern  hemisphere  now.  Oceanica  has 
been  divided  into  eleven  dioceses,  which  are  under  the  ma- 
nagement of  one  archbishop,  ten  bishops,  and  two  hundred 
priests.  These  are  supplemented  by  a  numerous  staff"  of  sis- 
ters of  charity,  ecclesiastical  students,  and  Christian  brothers 
or  schoolmasters,  under  a  vow  of  celibacy  and  devotion  to 
the  Papacy,  In  all  the  towns  there  is  a  priest,  and  one,  and 
sometimes  several  congregations ;  the  membership  ranging 
from  four  hundred  to  two  thousand  five  hundred.  At  the 
head  of  the  establishment  is  Dr  Polding,  a  native  of  England, 
and  created  by  the  Pope  in  1840,  Archbishop  and  Count  of  the 
Papal  States.  Liberal  grants  arc  made  from  the  colonial  trea- 
sury to  aid  the  erection  of  cathedrals  and  chapels.  A  model 
trust-deed  is  lodged  in  the  Secretary's  Office ;  the  building  is 


ROME  IN  THE  PACIFIC.  535 

inspected  by  the  government  architect ;  and  the  sum  requir- 
ed is  ordered.  As  the  mass-house  is  built  in  part,  so  the 
priest  is  salaried  in  part,  by  government.  A  list  of  seat- 
holders,  with  the  amount  of  annual  or  quarterly  rent  paid 
by  each,  is  transmitted  to  the  governor,  and  an  order  is 
straightway  issued  for  the  payment  of  the  stipend.  Schools 
and  schoolmasters  are  also  aided  from  the  treasury,  and  that 
in  no  stinted  measure.  In  1849  the  sum  voted  was  eighteen 
hundred  pounds,  and  the  sum  placed  on  the  estimates  for 
the  following  year  was  upwards  of  twenty-six  hundred. 
What  makes  this  the  more  extraordinary  and  the  more  un- 
justifiable is,  that  there  is  a  government  system  of  educa- 
tion in  operation  in  the  colony.*  We  thus  see  what  a  web 
Rome  has  spread  over  this  fine  portion  of  our  colonial  em- 
pire, and  how  much  her  boast  is  justified,  that  Australia  is 
already  all  her  own. 

Australia,  in  point  of  geographical  position,  is  the  very 
citadel  of  the  southern  hemisphere :  it  is  destined  to  give 
population  and  language,  and,  we  fondly  hope,  freedom  and 
religion,  to  all  this  region  of  the  globe.  But  let  Popery 
seize  upon  it,  and  she  will  convert  what  otherwise  were  a 
career  of  unbounded  progress,  into  one  of  premature  decay. 
Instead  of  growing  into  a  great  empire,  Australia  will  sink 
down  into  the  decrepitude  of  Ireland.  And  not  only  so  ; 
Rome  will  close  the  gates  of  the  Pacific  against  the  en- 
trance of  the  gospel,  and  create  here  a  dense  mass  of  dark- 
ness and  heathenism,  which  it  may  require  ages  to  dispel. 
Nor  will  this  be  all ;  she  will  erect  her  batteries  on  this 
strong  redoubt,  and  play  with  prodigious  effect  upon  our 
missions  in  the  east,  and  upon  our  Christianity  at  home. 


*  See  Battersby's  Registry  for  the  whole  [Catholic]  World  for  1850  : 
Government  Blue  Book  [Colonial],  1849  :  Dr  Lang's  Popery  in  Austra- 
lia ;  Edin.  1847. 


536  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


PROSPECTS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 


Societies,  not  less  than  individuals,  reap  as  they  have  sowed; 
and  in  the  convulsions  and  revolutions  of  our  times,  Rome  is 
reaping  the  fruit  of  ages  of  superstition  and  despotism.  The 
Papacy  at  this  moment  is  fighting  its  third  great  battle.  Its 
first  was  with  the  empire  ;  in  that  it  was  victorious.  Its 
second  was  with  Christianity,  in  the  persons  of  its  Albigen- 
sian  and  Waldensian  confessors;  and  in  that,  too,  it  was 
victoi-ious.  Its  third  great  war  is  that  which  it  is  now 
waging  with  an  atheistic  communism,  which  has  risen  con- 
temporaneously, and  with  extraordinary  intensity  and  power, 
in  all  the  Catholic  countries  of  Europe.  Whence  has  come 
this  new  and  destructive  principle  ?  It  is  the  natural  issue 
of  the  bondage  in  which  the  human  mind  has  so  long  been 
retained, — of  the  violence  done  to  reason  and  faith, — for 
superstition  is  the  parent  of  atheism.  The  national  mind 
in  France  long  struggled  to  find  vent  through  means  of 
Christianity.  This  was  denied  it.  It  next  sought  liberty 
in  scepticism,  which  speedily  terminated  in  atheism.  With 
French  infidelity  came  French  democracy.  We  have  al- 
ready said  that  the  democratic  element  entered  the  world 
with  Christianity,  and  revived  again  in  the  Reformation  of 
John  Calvin.  There  is  this  difference,  however,  that  where- 
as the  doctrine  of  Calvin  would  have  given  true  liberty, — 


POPERY  THE  MOTHER  OF  REVOLUTIONS.  537 

constitutional  government, — to  Europe,  the  doctrine  of  Vol- 
taire gave  it  an  anarchy  which  baptized  itself  in  blood.  Scep- 
ticism, engendered  thus  from  superstition,  has  overspread 
Europe,  and  set  free  the  masses  from  all  divine  control,  and, 
by  necessary  consequence,  from  all  earthly  authority.  The 
brood  of  revolutions  which  now  torments  Europe  is  the  pro- 
geny of  Rome.  From  her  own  loins  has  sprung  the  hydra 
that  threatens  to  tear  her  in  pieces.  The  sorceress  of  the 
Seven  Hills,  like  the  Hag  of  Pandemonium,  is  now 

«  "  With  terrors  and  with  clamours  compass'd  round 
Of  mine  own  brood,  that  on  my  bowels  feed." 

Herein  lies  the  grand  difficulty  of  governments,  and  espe- 
cially of  the  popedom, — tliat  the  superstition  which,  while 
it  was  a  principle  of  belief,  enabled  them  to  govern  the 
masses  as  they  would,  is  a  principle  of  belief  no  longer. 
With  superstition  their  power  has  departed.  The  element 
which  endowed  the  Papacy,  as  the  governing  power  of  Eu- 
rope, with  a  sort  of  omnipotence,  is  extinct.  Both  govern- 
ments and  the  popedom  have  meanwhile  replaced  the  spi- 
ritual element  by  the  merely  physical.  Everywhere  a  pater- 
nal despotism  has  given  way  to  a  military  tyranny.  But 
how  long  can  this  last  ?  When  the  habit  of  blind,  unrea- 
soning obedience  has  been  destroyed,  it  cannot  last  long ; 
so  at  least  it  appears  to  us.  Were  any  great  change  to 
occur,  of  a  nature  fitted  to  bring  about  a  mental  enthral- 
ment  throughout  Europe,  the  Papacy  might  become  as 
strong  as  before,  and  might  govern  Europe  for  centuries  to 
come  ;  but  so  long  as  it  continues  to  lean  upon  the  sword, 
and  to  be  hated  by  the  masses  as  at  once  an  impostor  and 
an  oppressor,  the  chances  are  not  great  that  it  will  regain 
its  power.  The  alliance  of  the  priesthood  with  an  expir- 
ing and  worn-out  despotism  will  not  tend  to  the  strengthen- 
ing of  the  popedom.  The  popular  vengeance  was  directed 
full  against  the  priesthood  in  the  first  French  Revolution, 
because  the  priesthood  had  been  thoroughly  identified  with 
the  government.  In  1880  the  priests  were  again  the  objects 
of  attack,  because  the  elder  Bourbons  had  made  them  poll- 


538  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

tical  auxiliaries.     In  1848  they  escaped,  because  they  had 
not  meddled  previously  with  politics.     Their  present  identi- 
fication with  the  governing  powers  all  over  the  Continent  is 
sure  to  render  them  again  the  objects  of  popular  vengeance. 
As  a  drought  upon  the  waters,  so  has  infidelity  wasted 
and  dried  up  the  vitalities  of  Roman  Catholicism.     Social- 
ism is  the  evil  angel  which  God  has  sent  forth  to  smite  the 
host  of  his  enemies.     It  is  a  moral  simoom.     The  Reforma- 
tion was  a  messenger  of  good  tidings, — a  preacher  of  repent- 
ance ;  but  men  repented  not ;  and  the  messenger  returned 
to  Him  who  had  sent  him.     Communism  comes  next :  it 
sounds  the  doom  of  the  papal  world,  and  announces  that 
the  hour  of  judgment  is  come.     Wherever  infidelity  is  strong, 
Popery  is  weak.      Pantheism  is  spread  all  over  northern 
Germany,  and  it  is  diSicult  to  say  whether  it  has  been  more 
fatal  to  Protestantism  or  to  Romanism.    Along  the  Rhine,  if 
one  may  believe  the  published  reports,  there  are  millions  of 
atheists.    Still  rationalism  has  lost  ground  among  the  upper 
classes.     The  universities  begin  to  be  leavened  with  an  evan- 
gelical and  believing  spirit,  and  some  of  the  more  influential  of 
the  clergy  have  experienced  a  religious  revival.    The  "  Inner 
Mission"  of  Germany  is  working  vigorously,  printing  tracts 
and  old  devotional  works,  forming  Bible  Societies,  and  in- 
stituting Christian  circulating  libraries.     These  efforts,  which 
extend  into  Saxony  and  Protestant  Bavaria,  and   part  of 
Westphalia,  if  not  impeded  by  the  re-actionary  tendencies 
of  the  government,  must  speedily  work  a  change  on  Germany, 
which  had  retrograded  far  behind  the  shadow  of  the  Refor- 
mation.*     Switzerland  closely  resembles  Germany,   as  re- 
gards the  spread  of  infidelity;  only  there  the  evil  exists  in  a 
mitigated  form.     France  is  more  than  ever  overspread  by 
the  disciples  of  Voltaire.     The  late  revolution  has  produced 
a  re-action  among  the  upper  classes  in  favour  of  the  Church. 
The  children  of  the  Encyclopedists  carry  consecrated  tapers, 
and  kiss  the  hand  of  the  priest,  in  the  hope  that  he  may  lead 


*  Evangelical  Alliance,  1851  ;  German  Statistics,  by  Dr  Krummaclier. 


EVANGELISTIC  AGENCIES  IN  GERMANY  AND  FRANCE.     539 

the  impassioned  masses  from  the  political  arena  into  the 
silent  halls  of  penitence.  The  device  is  seen  through  and 
contemned.  The  lower  orders,  instead  of  being  conciliated, 
are  becoming  every  day  more  hostile,  and  are  likely  to  con- 
tinue so,  so  long  as  the  government  and  the  priesthood  pur- 
sue their  re-actionary  and  coercive  course.  In  all  the  Catho- 
lic countries  north  of  the  Alps,  we  see  the  same  indications 
of  the  decline  of  Catholicism  which,  according  to  Gibbon, 
signalized  the  decline  of  Paganism :  the  cathedrals  are  in 
great  measure  deserted,  and  the  few  who  do  frequent  them 
are  mostly  women  and  elderly  gentlemen.  Enter  Notre 
Dame  in  the  forenoon  of  a  Sabbath,  and  in  an  edifice  that 
would  accommodate  from  ten  thousand  to  twenty  thousand, 
you  find  a  congregation  of  some  three  or  four  hundreds,  and 
these  mostly  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  were  born  under  the 
old  regime.  The  modern  Parisians  go  to  the  clubs  or  the 
Boulevards.  In  Lyons,  the  ecclesiastical  capital  of  France, 
matters  are  in  much  the  same  state.  In  its  numerous  and 
magnificent  cathedrals  the  priests  sing  mass  in  presence  of 
a  few  hundreds,  while  the  thousands  of  the  city  outside  are 
intent  on  their  labours  or  their  amusements.  As  a  mission- 
field  there  are  few  more  inviting  than  France.  We  find 
Dr  Merle  D'Aubigne  bearing  his  testimony  to  this  fact  at 
a  recent  meeting  of  the  Foreign  Aid  Society  in  London. 
"  The  Lord  has  breathed  on  this  country,"  writes  our  evan- 
gelist in  the  east  of  France  ;  "  the  way  is  open  everywhere, 
and  I  do  not  know  which  way  to  turn."  "  It  is  impossible 
not  to  have  meetings,"  says  another ;  "  for  no  sooner  does 
one  enter  a  house  than  all  the  neighbours  come  in  also." 
You  know  that  we  have  churches  in  Burgundy,  full  of 
spiritual  life,  who  missionize,  and  are  composed  entirely 
of  converted  Romanists.  Has  Dr  Wiseman  any  churches 
in  England  entirely  made  up  of  converted  Protestants? 
It  has  happened  that  entire  parishes  almost  have  declared 
that  they  would  leave  the  Pope,  and  have  invited  a  minister 
of  Christ  to  come  and  dwell  among  them;  and  the  municipa- 
lities have  offered  to  defray  all  expenses  of  the  service. 


540  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

Have  you  in  England  whole  parishes  which  go  over  to 
Popery  ?"*  At  the  recent  census  in  Paris,  many  thousands 
of  Romanists  registered  themselves  in  the  protcstant  column, 
while  others  signified  their  wish  for  some  better  religion 
than  Popery. 

South  of  the  Alps  infidelity  has  not  taken  such  root.  In 
Spain  the  Romish  Church  has  shared  deeply  in  the  decline 
which  has  fallen  on  that  unhappy  country.  A  large  portion 
of  the  ecclesiastical  property  has  been  appropriated  by  the 
State  ;  and  there  are  now  in  Spain  bishops  without  revenues, 
and  parishes  without  cures.-f*  We  have  occasion  to  know, 
that  among  the  young  priesthood  of  Spain,  there  are  not  a 
few  earnest  inquirers.  They  have  begun  to  canvass  the 
foundations  of  the  Pope"'s  authority ;  and  some  of  them 
have  openly  declared  to  protestant  ministers  from  Britain 
that  it  will  never  be  well  with  the  Spanish  Church  till  it  has 
thrown  off*  the  authority  of  the  Roman  bishop ;  a  step  of  re- 
formation which  would  lead  to  other  and  greater  reforms. 
A  protestant  mission  stationed  at  Gibraltar  could  at  this 
moment  act  with  effect  both  upon  the  south  of  Spain  and 
the  adjoining  coast  of  Africa.  The  Spanish  laity  are  ready 
to  receive  the  gospel ;  the  priests  are  contemned,  but  feared. 

In  the  important  kingdom  of  Piedmont  a  severe  blow  has 

* 

•  «  The  Record,"  June  2,  1851. 

+  In  "Bell's  Weekly  Messenger"  of  April  15,  1850,  we  find,  in  a  letter 
dated  Madrid,  April  3,  some  interesting  notices  respecting  the  present 
state  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  Spain.  "There  are  few  bishops  in  Spain 
that  leave  anything."  ....  The  writer  assigns  their  miserable  re- 
venues as  the  cause.  "  I  am  personally  acquainted  with  the  Bishop  of 
Segovia,  who  had  assured  me  that  during  the  whole  of  the  year  1849  he 
did  not  receive  a  farthing  of  his  salary,  and  was  obliged  to  live,  like  the 
'  master  of  Ravcnswood,'  by  the  ingenuity  of  his  servant.  Only  think  of 
a  bishop  of  Segovia  (once  one  of  the  fattest  sees  in  Spain)  living  alone 
with  an  old  toothless  servant  in  an  immense  palace, — a  palace  which 

appears  worthy  to  be  the  residence  of  a  king Parish  priests 

are  now  getting  scarce,  just  as  they  did  in  France  some  years  ago.  Not 
a  week  passes  without  the  Gazette  containing  circulars  from  different 
bishops,  notifying  vacancies  in  their  dioceses.  To-day,  for  instance,  the 
Bishop  of  Tarragona  announces  no  less  than  sixty-two." 


BOITEMIAN  AND  WALDENSIAN  CHURCHES.  541 

lately  been  dealt  the  Romish  Church.  The  parliament  at 
Turin  has  abolished  a  variety  of  ecclesiastical  privileges, 
and  among  others,  the  exemption  of  the  clergy  from  the  se- 
cular tribunals,  the  right  of  churches  to  afford  sanctuary  to 
criminals,  and  the  abolition  of  penalties  for  the  non-observ- 
ance of  holidays.  The  constitutional  path  on  which  the 
government  has  entered  affords  a  guarantee  for  the  per- 
manence of  these  necessary  changes.  In  the  resurrection 
of  churches  at  the  expiry  of  the  dark  ages,  Bohemia  was 
the  first  to  cast  away  her  shroud:  it  is  an  auspicious  omen 
that  her  grave  is  again  opening.  The  Protestant  church 
in  Prague,  under  the  Rev.  Frederic  Kossuth,  now  numbers 
eleven  hundred  members.  Of  these,  seven  hundred  are  con- 
verted Romanists,  among  whom  are  included  three  ecclesi- 
astics.* Thus  that  pure  light  which  shone  in  the  ministry 
of  John  Huss  is  risen  again,  and  is  shining  on  those  who 
sat  in  darkness.  We  trust  it  will  not  be  now  as  formerly, 
when  first  it  was  extinguished  in  blood,  and  next  stifled  by 
the  fogs  of  error  ;  but  that  this  time  its  dawn  will  pass  into 
day,  soon  to  lighten  the  whole  land  of  Huss.  It  is  an  equally 
remarkable  sign  of  our  times,  that  the  true  apostolic  Roman 
Church, — the  Waldensian, — has  obtained  political  enfran- 
chisement from  her  earthly  sovereign,  and  spiritual  revival 
from  her  heavenly  King.  After  the  death-like  silence  of 
ages,  her  voice  is  heard  once  more  among  her  ancient  val- 
leys. The  turtle-dove,  chased  so  long  by  the  fowler,  sings 
again  among  the  Alps.  Oh  that  her  song  may  truly  be, — 
"  Lo,  the  winter  is  past,  the  rain  is  over  and  gone  .'"  Among 
the  perishing  kingdoms  of  Italy,  it  goes  well  with  Piedmont 
at  this  hour,  because  she  harbours  the  remnant  of  the  early 
Christian  Church.  The  Waldensians  are  preparing  for  mis- 
sionary operations  in  Italy,  for  which,  as  an  Italian-speaking 
people,  they  are  peculiarly  fitted.  In  the  duchy  of  Tuscany 
an  intense  thirst  has  been  awakened  for  the  Word  of  God. 
A  few  weeks  ago.  Count  Guicciardini  assured  the  writer  that 

*  Krasiiiski's  History  of  Slavonia,  p.  409,  second  edition. 


542  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

there  were  now  in  that  little  state  three  hundred  persons  in 
the  judgment  of  charity  savingly  converted  ;  that  hundreds 
more  were  reading  the  Scriptures,  which,  in  instances  not  a, 
few,  were  brought  into  the  country  in  the  knapsacks  of  Aus- 
trian soldiers ;  that  the  tracts  of  D'Aubigne,  and  M'Crie''a 
"  Italy,"  were  being  circulated  in  thousands  of  copies  ;  and 
that,  whatever  might  become  of  the  population,  it  is,  speak- 
ing generally,  lost  to  Romanism.  Lombardy,  too,  is  the 
scene  of  a  religious  movement.  There  numerous  Christian 
Churches  exist,  though  in  secret,  with  both  an  ecclesiastical 
and  financial  organization.  These  disciples  are  often  track- 
ed by  the  sleuth-hounds  of  the  Inquisition.  The  oath  of  the 
confessional,  which  may  not  be  violated  to  prevent  a  murder 
or  a  robbery,  is  readily  broken  to  denounce  a  Bible-reader. 
When  Pio  Nono  was  a  professed  liberal,  the  Austrian  police 
permitted  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  in  Lombardy ; 
and  the  Croats  stabled  their  horses  in  the  churches,  and 
anointed  their  shoes  with  the  holy  chrism ;  but  now  that 
the  Pope  is  Austrian  in  politics,  the  Croat  and  the  Jesuit 
go  hand  in  hand  in  suppressing  the  Bible,  and  maintaining 
the  cause  of  a  Church  which  is  founded  upon  the  Inquisition, 
and  to  which  Lucifer  has  promised  that  the  power  of  truth 
shall  never  prevail  against  her. 

Not  Lombardy  only,  but  all  Italy,  is  awakening.  An  im- 
mense number  of  Bibles  were  circulated  in  that  country 
during  the  Republic,  by  the  presses  of  Florence,  and  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society;  and  the  stringent  mea- 
sures of  the  Italian  governments  have  not  been  able  to  ar- 
rest the  movement  then  commenced.  There  exists  in  Italy 
a  large  Christian  Association,  which  numbers  among  its  mem- 
bers not  a  few  priests.  Its  affairs  are  managed  by  a  central 
committee,  which  issues  its  orders  to  inferior  or  diocesan 
committees.  Churches  have  been  formed  in  most  of  the 
principal  towns,  not  excepting  Rome  itself.  A  large  chest 
receives  the  offerings  of  the  laity  and  the  contributions  of 
the  priests,  who,  in  relation  to  this  association,  are  termed 
ministers.     The  money  thus  collected  is  devoted  to  the  pur- 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  ITALY.  543 

chase  of  Bibles  and  the  circulation  of  religious  tracts  and 
catechisms,  and  also  to  the  support  of  poorer  members.* 
The  Italians  evince,  above  all  things,  a  thirst  for  the  Word 
of  God  ;  and  often  do  they  meet,  in  parties  of  half  a  dozen, 
in  solitary  places,  and  in  the  midst  of  morasses,  to  read  the 
Bible  and  celebrate  their  worship,  as  did  the  Lollards  of 
England  and  the  Covenanters  of  Scotland.  Beginnings  such 
as  these  cannot  but  be  blessed.  It  augurs  well  for  the 
thoroughly  apostolic  character  of  the  coming  Italian  Church, 
that  not  man,  but  the  Bible,  has  been  its  teacher.  And  the 
analogies  of  all  history  deceive  us  if  Providence  do  not  or- 
der the  political  affairs  of  that  country,  so  that  these  confes- 
sors may  have  an  opportunity  of  declaring  themselves  before 
the  world,  before  the  Papacy's  destruction.  The  true  Ho- 
man  Church  will  rise  from  her  tomb  to  condemn  the  harlot. 
He  that  took  Lot  out  of  Sodom  before  its  overthrow, — He 
who  drew  off  the  legions  from  Jerusalem,  that  the  disciples 
might  flee  from  the  devoted  city, — will  yet,  despite  the  con- 
sociated  and  sanguinary  vigilance  of  the  Croat,  the  Jesuit, 
and  the  Gaul,  call  these  Christians  out  of  Babylon,  that  they 
may  not  be  partakers  of  her  plagues. 

We  do  not  look  that  Italy  shall  become  Protestant,  at 
least  to  the  extent  of  being  nationally  so.  The  stage  of  great 
iniquities  must  first  be  purified  by  great  judgments.  Never- 
theless, a  remnant  will  be  saved.  But  we  would  be  doing  in- 
justice to  our  own  strong  convictions  did  we  not  declare,  that 
what  we  believe  to  be  a-coming  on  the  Papacy  is  not  victory, 
but  doom.  The  judgments  of  God  are  a  great  deep.  The 
Papacy  persecuted  the  confessors  of  old  under  the  pretence 
that  they  were  atheists  and  rebels.  And  now  the  Church 
that  so  long  fought  with  the  phantom  is  called  to  grapple 
with  the  substance.  Rome  stands  face  to  face  with  an  athe- 
ism which  has  for  its  mission  the  overthrow  of  all  government 
and  all  I'eligion.f    A  destroying  communism  is  making  head, 


*  Evangelical  Alliance,  1851  ;  Italian  Statistics,  by  Dr  Achilli. 

+  The  decay  and  probable  extinction  of  church  power  has  for  some 


544  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

and  will  make  head,  there  is  reason  to  think,  till  an  univer- 
sal and  tremendous  overthrow  sweep  away  the  Papacy,  with 
all  the  power  that  has  upheld  it.  This  dark  presentiment 
already  oppresses  the  minds  of  its  adherents.  In  terror  of 
the  "  Red  Spectre,"  they  run  to  throw  themselves  into  the 
arms  of  the  northern  colossus.  This  will  not  save  them. 
The  communism  of  the  W'est  will  be  found  stronger  than 
the  despotism  of  the  north.  At  the  first  revolution  the 
people  set  up  the  guillotine  ;  and  now  they  are  smarting  for 
it.  This  time  it  is  the  kings  who  have  set  up  the  guillotine. 
One  other  revolution  of  the  wheel,  and  the  drama  will  close  ; 
"  For  the  Lord  shall  rise  up  as  in  Mount  Perazim  ;  He  shall 
be  wroth,  as  in  the  Valley  of  Gibeon,  that  He  may  do  his 
work,  his  strange  work,  and  bring  to  pass  his  act,  his 
strange  act,  .  .  a  consumption,  even  determined  upon 
the  whole  earth.""  For  Britain  we  have  no  fear.  The  hos- 
tile attitude  now  taken  up  against  her  by  the  entire  popish 
world  does  not  dismay  us.  A  year"'s  peace  with  Rome  will 
do  us  more  damage  than  a  hundred  years'*  war.  We  believe 
that  God  has  chosen  Britain  to  stand  erect  as  a  monument 
of  the  truth  of  Protestantism,  when  the  popish  kingdoms 
shall  lie  crushed  and  overthrown. 

But  while  we  thus  avow  our  convictions,  it  is  well  for  all 
to  bear  in  mind  that  the  Papacy  is  still  powerful,  and  has 
possession  of  many  strong  positions  :  it  is  backed  by  all  the 
strength  of  governments ;  it  has  a  perfect  organization, — 
numerous  agents,  trained  to  prompt  and  unreasoning  obe- 
dience ;  it  has  energy  and  zeal ;  it  has  union,  which  is  sadly 
wanting  in  the  opposite  camp  ;  it  has  the  traditions  of  its 
former  power,  and  the  fruits  of  its  past  experience ;  it  has 
men  of  varied  and  great  accomplishments  arrayed  on  its 


time  past  been  apprehended  by  politicians.  We  quote  the  following  re- 
markable words  of  Sir  James  Macintosh  : — "Did  we  not  dread  the  ridi- 
cule of  political  prediction,  it  would  not  seem  difficult  to  assign  its  period. 
Church  power  (unless  some  revolution  auspicious  to  priestcraft  should 
replunge  Europe  in  ignorance),  will  certainly  not  survive  the  nineteenth 
century."     (Vindiciaj  Gallicse,  p.  99.) 


DANGER  OF  A  RECOIL.  54:5 

side  ;  it  has  something  positive  to  offer  to  the  people,  where- 
as socialism  is  a  negation  to  a  great  degree ,  it  is  still  strong, 
above  all,  in  the  evil  principles  of  the  heart  of  man,  and  the 
corruptions  of  society.  Human  nature  is  still  unchanged. 
Men  in  the  mass  are  still  as  fond  as  ever  of  a  religion  which 
will  render  the  hope  of  heaven  compatible  with  the  indulgence 
of  their  passions.  Moreover,  though  scepticism  has  set  free 
the  masses  from  the  Papacy  in  the  first  place,  it  may  in  its 
ulterior  effects  contribute  to  their  return.  Its  effect  is  to 
weaken  the  mind,  and  to  prepare  it  for  acquiescing  in  any 
absurdity  ;  and  should  a  recoil  take  place,  which  is  possible 
in  the  case  of  men  wearied  of  suffering  and  disappointed  by 
the  failure  of  their  schemes,  then,  just  as  we  have  seen  the 
mind  of  Europe  pass  from  superstition  to  scepticism,  so 
might  we  see  it  again  pass  from  scepticism  to  superstition  ; 
and  thus  would  the  revolution  return  to  the  point  from  which 
it  started.  The  very  possibility  of  such  an  occurrence, 
fraught  as  it  would  be  with  tremendous  consequences  to  both 
liberty  and  religion,  is  enough,  surely,  to  rouse  every  Chris- 
tian to  ask  what  he  can  do  to  aid  in  overthrowing  the  Papacy. 
Now  is  the  time  to  act,  without  the  loss  of  a  day.  A  few 
years  hence  the  conflict  will  be  decided,  and  the  fate  of  Eu- 
rope and  of  Protestantism  sealed  for  centuries. 

The  work  properly  is  twofold.  There  is  first  the  overthrow 
of  existing  barriers ;  and  second,  the  introduction  of  the 
truth.  The  destruction  of  those  despotisms  which  have  been 
all  along  the  great  props  of  the  Papacy,* — the  alter  egos  of 
the  Pope, — is  the  work  of  God.     He  will  provide  the  agency 

*  For  instance,  tlie  censorship  of  the  press  originated  with  Pope  Alex- 
ander Borgia.  During  the  eleven  years  of  his  beastly  pontificate,  from 
1492  to  1503,  while  the  poison  bowl  and  the  stiletto  were  under  no  con- 
trol, the  circulation  of  books  was  put  under  ban.  It  was  the  same  Pope, 
inspired  by  conscious  cowardice,  who  built  the  long  viaduct  between  the 
Vatican  palace  and  the  Bastile  dungeon  of  St  Angelo,  which  was  pulled 
down  in  the  revolution  of  1848.  Popes  are  the  same  in  all  ages.  The 
ninth  Pius,  in  his  encyclical  letter,  anathematizes  the  "  neic  art  of  hook- 
makinff" — Norce  artis  Ubrarice ;  and  has  rebuilt  the  covered  gallery  between 
St  Angelo  and  the  Vatican. 

2  N 


546  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

for  this  part  of  the  labour :  it  is  not  that  kind  of  work  which 
He  usually  assigns  to  his  people.  This,  as  it  appears  to  us, 
is  the  end  to  be  accomplished  by  present  revolutions.  Their 
mission  is  to  batter  down  the  strongholds  of  darkness,  and 
to  open  a  pathway,  along  which  Christianity  may  advance  to 
bless  the  nations. 

I3ut  the  second  part  is  the  work  to  which  God  specially 
calls  his  friends.  But  how  ?  In  what  way  are  they  to  work  ? 
Now,  here  we  have  no  ingenious  or  startling  plan  to  pro- 
pound, promising  brilliant  results,  without  much  pains,  and  in 
short  time.  We  believe  that  there  is  no  royal  road  to  the 
evangelization  of  the  world.  But  though  our  plan  is  simple, 
we  believe  it  to  be  practicable,  and  the  only  one  that  is  prac- 
ticable in  present  circumstances.  Well,  then,  we  must  con- 
centrate our  efforts,  and  make  the  blow  fall  where  it  will  do 
most  execution.  E-ome  is  the  head  and  heart  of  modern 
paganism, — the  fountain  of  temporal  and  spiritual  tyranny : 
let  us  strike  at  Rome.  Could  we  displace  Popery  and  plant 
Christianity  in  Rome,  the  loss  would  be  unspeakable  to  the 
Papacy, — the  gain  would  be  immense  to  Protestantism. 
Let  us  estimate  the  loss  on  the  one  side, — the  gain  on  the 
other.  First,  Rome  is  the  see  of  Peter  (in  papal  logic) ;  and 
it  is  as  the  occupant  of  Peter*'s  see  that  the  Pope  claims  the 
primacy  and  the  rank  of  Christ's  Vicar ;  therefore,  should 
he  lose  the  see  of  Peter,  he  loses  that  on  which  he  founds 
the  whole  of  his  claim.  After  that,  he  would  not  have  a 
shadow  of  ground  for  the  primacy.  Not  all  the  casuists  or 
councils  of  Rome  could  by  fair  reasoning  help  him  out  of 
that  difficulty.  Of  whatever  see  he  was  bishop,  if  not 
bishop  of  Rome,  he  is  not  Peter''s  successor, — is  not  Chrises 
Vicar, — is  not  Pope.  But  second,  so  extended  an  orga- 
nization as  the  Papacy,  in  order  to  its  efficient  working, 
must  necessarily  have  a  centre,  where  are  placed  the  head- 
quarters of  all  its  missions  and  agencies.  That  point  is 
Rome.  Should  we  possess  ourselves  of  that  point,  we  break 
up  the  organization  of  Rome  at  its  centre,  and  cripple  and 
derange  it  to  its  very  circumference.      But  third,  there  is, 


A  BLOW  AT  ROME.  547 

as  experience  has  proved,  a  certain  mysterious  connection 
between  the  possession  of  Rome  and  the  fate  of  the  Papacy. 
It  has  never  thriven  away  from  it.  Rome  gives  prestige  to 
the  Romish  system :  it  gives  unity  to  it :  it  operates  as  a 
potent  spell  upon  the  Papist  in  the  remotest  quarters  of 
the  globe.  Rome  has  ever  been  to  the  popes,  in  the  old 
maxim,  urhs  et  orhis.  Now,  it  is  of  consequence  even  to  de- 
stroy that  influence,  by  breaking  the  tie  between  Romanism 
and  Rome.  This  threefold  loss  would  the  Christianization 
of  Rome  inflict  upon  the  Papacy.  It  would  be  a  blow  at  the 
root  of  its  system  ;  it  would  incurably  derange  its  organiza- 
tion, and  would  strip  it  of  its  prestige.  The  gain  to  Chris- 
tianity would  be  proportionate.  It  would  furnish  it  with  a 
powerful  centre  of  action,  and  place  at  the  service  of  the  gos- 
pel all  the  exterior  helps  which  the  possession  of  Rome  and 
of  Italy  has  given  to  Popery, — a  land  whose  resources  are 
almost  inexhaustible,  and  a  people  who,  to  the  power  of 
forming  the  largest  plans,  and  the  ability  to  prosecute  them 
with  steadiness,  would  add  the  fervour  and  zeal  of  converts. 
The  moment,  we  repeat,  is  singularly  opportune :  it  is  one 
of  those  rare  occasions  which  occur  at  the  interval  of  ages, 
to  test  the  Church  whether  she  has  wisdom  to  seize  upon  it. 
Scepticism  has  set  loose  the  masses  from  Rome,  speaking 
generally  ;  but  scepticism  is  too  much  of  a  negation  to  re- 
tain its  power  over  them  for  any  length  of  time.  Smitten 
by  a  destroying  revolution,  heart-sick  with  the  failure  of 
their  plans  and  hopes,  they  must  and  they  will  seek  some- 
thing more  positive  than  infidelity.  Thei'e  are  some  such 
aspirations  already  springing  up.  German  rationalism  is  on 
the  point  of  being  renounced.  Even  socialism  turns  its  face 
towards  Christianity.  As  we  have  seen  the  blind  turn  his 
sightless  orbs  to  that  quarter  of  the  sky  where  the  sun  was, 
so  socialism,  amid  the  horrors  of  its  night,  seems  faintly  to 
descry  the  great  effulgence  of  the  gospel.  "We  may  be  as- 
sured that  the  nations  must  soon  have  something  higher  and 
better  than  pantheism  :  they  already  begin  to  feel  after  the 
"  Unknown;"  and  if  they  find  not  truth,  they  will  embrace 


548  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

error  ;  and  how  long  they  may  continue  under  its  power,  who 
can  tell  I  This,  then,  is  a  great  crisis  in  the  world's  history. 
Let  every  Christian  feel  as  if  he  were  the  only  Christian  in 
Britain,  and  as  if  the  issue  of  the  crisis  depended  upon  him- 
self. Let  him  give  his  prayers  ;  let  him  give  his  labours  ; 
let  him  give  his  money.  Ye  Christians  of  Britain,  the  voice 
of  Providence  loudly  summons  you  to  the  conflict.  Arise, 
— arise  instantly  ;  arise  as  one  man.  You  have  everything 
on  your  side.  You  have  the  prayers  of  the  martyrs,  whose 
blood  the  Papacy  has  shed,  on  your  side.  You  have  the 
prayers  of  oppressed  nations,  who  now  accuse  and  curse  the 
Papacy  as  their  destroyer,  on  your  side.  Above  all,  you 
have  the  promises  of  God,  which  dooms  that  system  to  per- 
dition, on  your  side.  "  Up,  for  this  is  the  day  in  which  the 
Lord  hath  delivered"  the  Papacy  "  into  thine  hand." 

But  what  are  the  means  ?  If  asked  what  is  the  first 
mean  to  regenerate  Italy,  we  answer,  the  Bible ;  if  asked 
what  is  the  second,  we  answer,  the  Bible ;  if  asked  what  is 
the  third,  we  answer,  the  Bible.  God  is  plainly  announcing 
by  his  providence  that  He  will  overthrow  the  Papacy,  re- 
generate Italy,  and  save  the  world,  by  his  Word,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  all  else.  No  missionary  could  enter  Italy  at  this 
moment ;  but  the  Bible  will,  can,  and  has  entered  Italy,  and 
even  Home.  There  are  two  doors  by  which  we  can  send 
the  Bible  into  Italy  at  present.  We  can  convey  it  by  the 
Simplon,  the  great  highway  from  Switzerland  into  Italy. 
Covering  this  entrance,  as  it  were,  we  have  the  Waldensian 
Church,  ready  and  eager  to  assist  us  in  this  good  work.  Be- 
sides, the  Austrian  sway  in  Lombardy  is  milder  than  the 
sacerdotal  government  in  the  States  of  the  Church  ;  and  in 
Lombardy  and  the  adjoining  parts  of  Italy  it  is  quite  prac- 
ticable at  this  moment  to  distribute  Bibles  by  colporteurs. 
The  other  door  is  of  course  on  the  west.  There  are  three 
free  ports  on  that  side  of  Italy, — Genoa,  Leghorn,  and  Civita 
Vecchia.  Let  Bibles  be  conveyed  thither.  They  cannot  be 
refused  admission,  being  free  ports ;  and  from  these  places 
it  is  quite  practicable,  despite  the  Pope's  myrmidons,  to 


THE  BIBLE  IN  ROME.  549 

convey  them  all  over  Italy.  This  may  be  done  by  colpor- 
teurs ;  but  they  must  be  prudent  men.  They  must  not  offer 
them  on  the  streets ;  they  must  carry  them  by  threes  and 
sixes  in  their  pocket,  or  secreted  about  their  persons,  and 
distribute  them  privately. 

How  encouraging  the  fact,  that  the  Romans,  and  the  Ita- 
lians in  general,  are  ready  to  receive  the  Bible, — are  most 
earnestly  desirous  of  having  it  !  This  fact  has  been  well 
attested  by  a  variety  of  evidence.  The  following  beautifully 
simple  and  touching  narrative  contains  all  that  we  could  wish 
on  that  head,  and  shows  how  much  encouragement  we  have 
to  embark  in  this  work.  It  is  the  address,  as  reported  in  the 
public  prints,  of  Dr  Achilli,  at  a  Bible  Society  meeting  in  this 
country  : — "  You  are  aware  that  I  am  just  come  from  Rome. 
jSIy  great  work  in  Rome  was  about  the  Bible.  I  knew  that 
the  Bible  alone  is  able  to  produce  a  religious  revolution. 
When  I  speak  of  a  revolution,  I  mean  an  entire  change  of 
man  in  his  relations  with  God,  with  society,  and  with  him- 
self. This  change  in  an  individual  is  quiet;  but  in  the 
masses  it  is  agitated,  because  very  often  it  is  a  rapid  change 
of  a  whole  system.  This  revolution  I  desire  for  the  whole 
world,  beginning  at  Rome.  It  was  in  the  days  of  political 
liberty  that  the  New  Testament  of  Jesus  Christ  was  pub- 
lished in  Rome  for  the  first  time.  At  the  same  moment 
copies  of  the  complete  Bible  were  introduced,  published  by 
the  English  Bible  Society.  I  and  my  friends  showed  this 
beloved  book  to  the  Romans,  who  were  not  slow  in  asking 
us  for  it.  Our  manner  of  presenting  it  was  simple.  We 
had  the  book  in  our  pockets  when  we  introduced  topics  of 
religion,  and  quoted  on  purpose  texts  of  Scripture.  We 
then  took  it  out  of  our  pockets,  and  read  the  quotations  out 
of  it.  I  found  it  better  not  to  offer  it,  but  to  let  them  ask 
for  it,  and  even  as  much  as  possible  to  let  them  be  anxious 
to  get  it.  When  I  gave  it,  I  used  always  to  exact  a  pro- 
mise that  they  would  often  read  it, — perhaps  every  day.  I 
had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  in  many  shops  groupes  of  persons 
round  the  shop-keeper,  the  latter  reading  aloud  the  Bible 


550  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

which  I  had  given  him.  The  Bible  was  in  the  Constituent 
Assembly,  in  several  public  offices,  and  in  several  military 
quarters.  Many  soldiers  defended  their  country  on  the 
walls  of  Rome  with  the  Bible  in  their  pockets.  You  will 
ask  me,  What  effect  has  the  Bible  produced  in  Rome  1  I 
will  tell  you.  I  do  not  think  anything  can  better  answer 
your  question  than  the  encyclical  letter  of  Pio  Nono,  in 
which  he  exclaims  against  the  Bible,  the  missionaries  of  the 
Bible,  the  Bible  Societies,  &c. ;  because,  he  says,  in  this 
way  Protestantism, — that  is,  pure  Christianity, — has  en- 
tered into  Rome,  and  into  many  other  parts  of  Italy.  I 
might  tell  you  that,  after  the  Bibles  were  distributed,  Ro- 
man churches  were  quite  left  by  the  people,  very  few  goino- 
any  longer  to  confession.  They  talked  about  religion  in 
the  houses,  in  the  clubs,  in  the  streets,  and  in  the  shops.  It 
was  not  only  the  Pope-king,  but  it  was  the  Pope-bishop,  that 
they  thought  about.  It  is  quite  certain  that  the  Pope  is 
more  afraid  of  this  book  than  of  the  repu])lican  bayonets, 
because  he  knows  that  this  is  able  to  destroy  his  throne  in 
the  Vatican."  To  this  minute  and  interesting  account  it  is 
unnecessary  to  add  a  single  word. 

We  are  to  march  against  Rome,  then,  with  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  Cod.  But  how  are  Bibles 
to  be  provided  ?  We  redeemed  the  slaves  in  the  West  Indies 
with  a  sum  of  twenty  millions  :  shall  we  grudge  twenty  mil- 
lions of  Bibles  to  redeem  Italy  from  a  worse  slavery?  Would 
it  not  be  a  noble  act, — Britain  gives  to  Italy  twenty 
MILLIONS  OF  Bibles  ?  Can  it  be  that  there  is  not  enoujrh  of 
Christianity  in  Britain  for  this  ?  Oh,  in  this  age  of  great 
schemes,  let  us  devise  liberally  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
world.  Twenty  millions  of  Bibles,  which  would  cost  about 
one  and  a  half  millions  of  pounds,  would  put  a  Bible  into 
the  hand  of  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  Italy,  from  the 
Alps  to  Sicily.  But  this  number  is  not  required  ;  one-fifth 
would  suffice.  Five  millions  of  Bibles  would  give  a  copy  of 
the  sacred  volume  to  every  family  in  Italy.  Let,  then,  every 
Christian  family  in  Britain  give  but  two  copies  of  the  Word 


CREATION  GROANING.  551 

of  God  for  Italy,  and  the  object  is  achieved.     This  wouhl  be 
an  expense  of  but  a  few  pence  to  each  professing  Christian. 
We  want  nothing  but  a  plan  and  organization  for  an  effort 
on  an  adequate  scale.     What  we  propose,  then,  is,  that  this 
plan,  or  some  similar  one  that  is  definite  and  adequate,  be 
put  before  the  country.     Let  the  Christian  public  be  told 
the  greatness  of  the  crisis,  the  desire  of  the  Italians  for 
the  Word  of  God,  and  how  small  an  effort  on  the  part  of 
each  can  achieve  all  that  is  wanted  ;  and  let  Italian  com- 
mittees be  formed  all  over  the  country, — a  small  one  in 
every  town,  or  perhaps  in  every  congregation.     Were  ma- 
chinery set  a-going,  the  sum  needed  would  be  easily  and 
speedily  realized.     We  ought  to  aim  at  a  large  and  specific 
object,  in  which  we  will  more  easily  succeed  than  in  a  smaller 
aim.    Sixpence  a-head  from  the  professing  Christians  of  Bri- 
tain would  furnish  the  requisite  copies  of  the  Word  of  God 
for  an  effective  blow  at  the  Papacy  in  Rome.     Nothing  is 
wanting  but  concentration  and  organization  among  British 
Protestants.      Let  no  one  stay  back.      "  Curse  ye  Meroz," 
said  the  angel  of  the  Lord,  "  because  they  came  not  forth  to 
the  help  of  the  Lord,  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the 
mighty."     Let  British  Christians  be  told  that  it  is  a  united 
effort  they  are  to  make  for  the  overthrow  of  the  Papacy,  for 
which  they  have  long  been  praying,  and  which  the  blood  of 
the  martyrs,  still  unavenged,  the  groans  of  enslaved  nations, 
and  the  commands  and  promises  of  the  living  God,  call  upon 
them  to  essay.      The  cry  is  now  loud ;   creation  itself  tra- 
vails and  is  in  pain  for  the  hour.     The  very  earth  which 
Popery  has  cursed  and  blighted  cries  to  Heaven  against  her! 
The  cities  she  has  depopulated,  the  kingdoms  she  has  bar- 
barized, supplicate  the  awards  of  doom  on  their  destroyer ! 
The  cretin  of  Switzerland,  as  he  utters  his  idiot  whine, — the 
serf  of  the  once  rich  Lombardy,  and  the  beggar  of  the  once 
proud  Venice,  as  they  ask  an  alms, — protest  against  a  ty- 
ranny which  has  crushed  them  into  wretchedness  and  idi- 
otcy  !     The  murdered  liberties  of  Hungary, — the  clanking 
chains  of  the  twenty  thousand  captives  of  Ferdinand, — the 


552  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  PAPACY. 

very  streets  of  Vienna,  and  of  Paris,  and  of  Naples,  and  of 
Rome,  so  lately  drenched  with  the  blood  of  their  children, — 
cry  for  vengeance  on  the  Papacy  !  Her  own  sins  cry  against 
her.  The  souls  of  the  martyrs  under  the  altar  cry,  "  0  Lord, 
how  long!"  Prophets  and  apostles,  whom  she  has  compelled 
to  an  unholy  partnership  in  her  idolatries,  join  in  this  cry ! 
The  cherubim  and  the  seraphim,  whom  she  invoked  when  she 
immolated  her  victims,  cry  from  their  thrones  !  Heaven  and 
earth  unite  in  one  mighty  cry  to  the  throne  of  the  Eternal ! 
And  shall  British  Christians  sit  still  1  Shall  they  only  be  un- 
moved 1  No.  Let  them  arise  ;  and  if  they  strike  in  faith, 
the  Papacy  shall  fall. 

The  Papacy  once  overthrown,  what  blessed  prospects  will 
begin  to  dawn  upon  our  wretched  and  benighted  world, — 
wretched  and  benighted  from  lack  of  enterprise,  union,  and 
liberality  among  Christians  !  Let  the  Papacy  be  overthrown, 
and  thou.  Oh  Christianity,  the  parent  of  liberty,  the  foun- 
tain of  domestic  purity  and  social  order,  whose  office  it  is 
to  guide  alike  to  terrestrial  renown  and  to  immortal  hap- 
piness, wilt  go  forth  among  the  nations ;  and  when  they  see 
the  glory  of  thy  form,  they  will  love  thee,  and,  in  loving  thee, 
they  will  love  one  another.  At  the  sound  of  thy  voice  pro- 
claiming peace,  their  angry  passions  will  be  hushed,  and  the 
tumult  of  the  people  will  subside  into  profound  and  blessed 
repose.  Touched  by  thy  beneficent  and  omnipotent  hand, 
their  bleeding  wounds  shall  be  stanched,  and  their  fetters 
for  ever  broken.  Cheered  by  thee,  they  will  forget  all  their 
woes  ;  and  their  voices,  attuned  no  longer  to  sorrow  and 
sighing,  will  make  the  whole  earth  vocal  with  their  songs  of 
gladness. 


APPENDIX. 


BRITAIN— :MAYN00TH— UNIVERSAL  TOLERATION. 

We  have  purposely  abstained  in  the  text  from  the  question,  What 
ought  government  to  do  ?  We  do  not  see  that  it  can  do  much  in 
the  way  of  positive  legislation,  beyond  what  it  has  aheady  done  in 
the  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Act.  We  trust  that  no  provocation  on  the 
part  of  Rome  will  tempt  us  to  abandon  the  principle  of  toleration. 
If  we  are  just,  we  shall  be  strong.  Let  there  be  one  nation  on  the 
earth  magnanimous  enough  to  act  on  the  principles  of  civil  and  re- 
ligious liberty.  There  would  be  found  a  mighty  moral  influence  in 
the  example.  Toleration  is  twice  blessed ; — it  blesseth  him  that  gives 
and  him  that  takes.  But  this  is  consistent  with  the  vigorous  and 
united  resistance  of  an  aggression  which  embodies  the  political  fully 
as  much  as  the  spiritual  element,  and  which  strikes  at  the  country's 
independence  not  less  than  at  the  country's  faith.  Government  has 
yet  much  to  do  in  the  way  of  undoing  its  recent  policy.  Let  us  in- 
stance Maynooth.  To  legislate  against  the  papal  aggression,  and  en- 
dow Maynooth,  is  as  glaring  an  absurdity  as  it  would  be  to  enroll  sol- 
diers to  resist  an  invading  army,  and  build  barracks  and  buy  forage 
for  the  enemy's  troops  ;  or  as  would  the  passing  of  a  law  for  burn- 
ing witches,  and  the  endowing  of  chairs  for  teaching  witchcraft. 
The  more  palpable  decadence  of  Ireland  dates  from  the  erection  of 
Maynooth.  Before  the  institution  of  this  school  the  Irish  priests 
were  educated  in  France,  then  the  least  ultramontane  country  in 
popish  Europe.  They  could  not  be  there  without  imbibing  a  cer- 
tain portion  of  the  spirit  of  the  "  Galilean  liberties."  It  was  argued, 
that  by  educating  them  at  home,  we  should  have  a  class  of  priests 
more  national,  and  more  attached  to  British  rule ;  at  least  we 
would  have  gentlemen  and  scholars,  avIio  would  humanize  their 


/ 

/ 


ooi  APPENDIX. 

flocks.     These  have  since  been  shown  to  be  miserable  sophisms. 
Maynooth  is  a  thoroughly  ultramontane  school.    We  have  exchanged 
the  French-bred  priest,  ill-read  in  Dens,  with  low  notions  of  the 
supremacy,  and  proportionally  high  notions  of  the  British  crown, 
for  a  race  of  crafty,  Jesuitical,  intriguing,  thorough-trained  priests  of 
the  ultramontane  school,  who  recognise  but  one  power  in  the  Avorld, 
— the  pontifical  ;  and  who  are  incurably  alienated  from  British  in- 
terests and  rule.     The  loud  and  fearful  curses  fulminated  from  the 
altar,  -which  come   rolling   across  the  Channel,   mingled  with  the 
■wrathful  howls  of  a  priest-ridden  and  maddened  people,  proclaim 
the  result.      These  are  your  Maynooth  scholars  and  gentlemen ! 
These  are  the  pious  flocks,  tended  and  fed  by  the  lettered  priests  of 
Maynooth  !     Better  we  had  flung  our  money  into  the  sea,  than  sent 
it  across  the  Channel,  to  be  a  curse,  in  the  first  place  to  Ireland,  and 
a  curse,  in  the  second  place,  to  ourselves,  by  the  demoralizing  and 
anti-national  sentiments  it  has  been  employed  to  propagate.     The 
better  a  priest,  the  worse  a  citizen.     And  Avhom  has  government 
found  their  bitterest  enemies  ?     Who  are  the  parties  who  have  in- 
variably withstood  all  their  plans  for  civilizing  Ireland  ?      Why, 
those  very  priests  whom  they  have  clothed,  and  educated,  and  fed. 
Is  it  to  be  longer  borne,  that  the  hard-earned  money  of  a  protestant 
people  should  be  given  to  endow  an  institution  which  has  covered 
Ireland  with  anti-national  and  dehumanizing  doctrines, — which  is 
sowing  the  same  malignant  principles  broadcast  in  our  colonies, — 
and  which  threatens  to  issue  in  the  descent  upon  Britain  of  an  ava- 
lanche of  Irish  savagery  ?      Let  government  also  withdraw  titles 
of  dignity  and  pensions  from  Canadian,  Australian,  and  all  other 
colonial  pi'iests.      Of  course  they  will  raise  a  great  outcry  about 
equality  of  rights  and  toleration ;  but  so  will  they  aye  and  mitil  you 
give  them  the  right  of  burning  all  whom  they  call  heretics.     More- 
over, government  ought  to  demand  of  continental  states,  that  whei'- 
ever  there  are  a  dozen  British  Protesiants,*  they  should  have  a 
chapel  for  their  worship,  and  a  burial-ground  for  their  dead.     It  is 
intolerable  that  British  Protestants  in  popish  countries  should  nei- 
ther be  allowed  to  worship  save  in  a  granary  or  hay-loft,  nor  even 
to  bury  their  dead  but  in  an  out-field  or  highway.     Our  government 
might  go  farther  in  princijyle,  though  we  are  not  prepared  to  say,  in 
present  circumstances,  in  expediency.     JMan  has  two  classes  of  rights. 


See  the  able  pamphlet,  on  this  subject,  of  Dr  James  Thomson  of  Loiuloii. 


APPENDIX.  555 

— liis  ni-hts  as  a  citizen,  and  his  rights  as  a  man.     Tlie  fii-st  set  of 
rio-hts  are  limited  to  the  country  of  ^vhich  he  is  a  member  ;  tlie  second 
attend  him  all  over  the  globe.    The  government  of  which  he  is  a  sub- 
ject is  bound  to  maintain  him  in  the  exercise  of  the  one  class  of  rights. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  consociated  governments  of  the  earth  to  main- 
tain him  in  the  possession  of  his  rights  as  a  member  of  the  human 
family,  and  Avhich  are  the  rights  of  the  Roman,  the  African,  the 
Indian,  as  well  as  of  the  Briton.     Should  one  government  wrong- 
fully deny  its  subjects,  not  their  rights  as  citizens,  but  their  rights 
as  men, — not  those  which  they  possess  in  contradistinction  to  the 
subjects  of  other  states,  but  those  which  they  possess  in  contradis- 
tinction to  the  beasts  below  them,  as  made  in  the  image  of  God, — 
then  the  other  governments  may  lawfully  interfere  and  put  down 
the  wrong.     Should  the  majority  of  these  governments  prove  ne- 
glectful of  their  duty,  the   task  would  devolve   on  the  strongest 
government.      On  this  principle  did   the   governments  of  Avestem 
Europe  combine  to  put  down  the  slave-trade.      They  said  to  the 
King  of  Dahomey,  We  do  not  meddle  with  the  political  govern- 
ment of  your  kingdom ;  but  you  deny  to  your  subjects  their  rights 
as  human   beings.       You  sell  them  like  cattle  to  the  slave-mas- 
ter.    We  forbid  the  barbarity.     And  so  the  slave-trade  was  put 
down.     But  if  there  are  two  rights  which  are  inseparable  to  the 
human  being, — which  cannot  possibly  be  disjoined  from  reason  and 
responsibility, — the}-  are  a/;r<3  conscience  and  a/ree  Bible.    These  are 
the  rights  of  man  all  over  the  earth,  simply  because  he  is  a  mau. 
But  the  rights  of  man  and  the  duties  of  government  (we  use  the 
term  in  its  universal  sense)  are  co-relative.     We  hold  it  to  be  not 
less  the  right  of  the  governments  of  Europe,  and,  failing  them,  of  the 
British  government,  to  say  to  the  King  of  Spain,  or  to  the  King  of 
Rome,  "  It  is  not  less  a  barbarity  in  you  to  imprison  or  to  burn  your 
subjects  for  reading  the  Bible,  than  it  was  in  the  King  of  Dahomey 
to  sell  his  subjects  to  the  slave-trader.     We  forbade  authoritatively 
the  African  barbarity :  we  now  authoritatively  forbid  the  Romish 
barbarity."     That  Britain  would  be  warranted  to  act  thus  we  have 
not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt :  as  to  the  expediency  of  this  policy,  in 
present  circumstances,  we  are  not  so  clear.     And  yet  it  would  be  a 
noble  thing   were   that  one  country  which  alone  understands  and 
practises  toleration  to  become  the  champion  of  human  rights  all  over 
the  world ;  and  the  day  is  not  distant,  perhaps,  when,  if  it  would 
maintain  its  own  independence,  it  must  adopt  this  policy. 


556  APPENDIX. 


GENEKAL  VIEW 


OF  THE 


EOMAN  CATHOLIC   CHUKCH. 


(extracted  from  "  battersby's  registry  for  the  whole 

WORLD,"   1851.) 

Pius  IX.  Pope  ;  conclave  of  cardinals,  72  ;  patriarclis  in  the  Roman 
Church,  12;  archbishops  and  bishops,  690;  coadjutors,  auxiliaries, 
suffragans,  &c.  90  ;  vicars  apostolic,  76  ;  prefects,  9  :  total,  876. 


BISIIOPRICKS,  WITH  THEIR  POPULATION. 

Bishops.  Population. 

Europe 606  124,993,961 

Asia 60  1,155,618 

Africa 11  751,751 

America 94  25,819,210 

Oceanica 10  3,057,007 


Grand  total 781  155,777,547 


SUMMARY  OF  MISSIONS  AND  THEIR  POPULATION. 

Vicariates.  Prefects.  IMIssionaries,  Poiiulation. 

Europe 32  2                  5,816  5,482,552 

Asia 26  ...                    339  1,577,000 

Africa 6  7                     112  231,200 

America 9  ...                       ...  1,380,300 

Oceanica  3  ...                       ...  60,000 


Total 76  D  6,267  8,731,052 

Population  of  the  Catholic  world 164,508,599 


APPENDIX. 


557 


GENERAL  STATEMENT  OF  THE  MISSIONS,  1849. 

Bisbo^js.  Priests. 

Vicariates  Apostolic  of  Scotland 5         110 

Different  Missions  of  the  North 3  44 

Missions  of  the  Diocese  of  Lausanne  (Switzerland)...  1  40 

Vicariate-Apostolic  of  Gibraltar 2  10 

IONIAN  ISLANDS. 

Archbishopric  of  Corfu ;  Bishopric  of  Zante 3  26 

Delegation-Apostolic  of  Greece;   Archbisopric   of)  ^.^ 

Naxia;  Bishoprics  of  Syra,  Tino,  and  Santorina...  j 


PRINCIPALITIES. 


Archbishopric  of  Sophia  (Servia);  Vicariates- A pos-  \     „ 
tolic  of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia J 


38 


TURKEY. 

Archbishoprics  of  Durazzo,  Antivari,  and  Constan- 
tinople ;  Bishoprics  of  Trebigne,  Scutari,  Palati, 
Sappa,  Alessio,  and  Niepoli ;  Vicariates- Aposto-  )- 1 0 
lie    of    Bosnia,    Bulgaria,    and    Constantinople 
(Latin) 


416 


Total  for  Europe 31 


846 


MISSIONS  OF  FATHER  CAPUCHINS. 

Europe.                                Hospices.  Missionaries.      Brothers. 

Constantinople 8  20  8 

Cephalonia 1  2  0 

Odessa 1  2  0 

Phillpopoli 7  7  3 

Rhetian  Switzerland 17  29  16 

Grisons 9  23  10 


43 


83 


37 


r)')S  APPENDIX. 

Asia.  Hospices.  ^Missionaries.  Brothers. 

Ilindostun — Agra 17  19  0 

Patna 7  0  0 

Mesopotamia 3  8  2 

Syria— Palestine 8  13  0 

Trebisond 3  7  1 

38  47  3 

America. 

Bahia 2  10  C 

Para 1  5  0 

Pernambuco 2  8  2 

Rio  Janeiro 3  16  I 

Provinces 0  17  2 

Venezuela 0  26  1 

8  82  12 
ArnicA. 

Galhis 0  4  1 

Tunis 4  11  6 

4  15  7 

Total 03  236  CO 

ALLOCATIONS  OF  1849  TO  THE  DIFFERENT  MISSIONS 
THROUGHOUT  THE  WORLD. 

Missions.  Francs. 

Europe  552,780 

Asia 1,0G6,432 

Africa 281,480 

America 848,051 

Oceaiiica 421,048 

Total 3,171,501 

Tlie  revolutions  of  1848-1840  led  to  a  decrease  in  the  collecticn 
The  funds  have  slightly  rallied  since  that  time. 


THE  END. 


Lately  piiblisliod,  by  the  same  Autlior, 
Second  Kdition,  post  8vo,  cloth,  price  7s.  6J., 

THE  SEVENTH  VIAL: 

BEING    AN    EXPOSITION    OF    THE   APOCALYPSE,    AND,    IN    PARTICULAR,  OF    THE 

POUEING  OUT  OF  THE  SEVENTH  VIAL,  WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE 

TO  THE  PRESENT  CONDITION  OF  EUKOi'E. 

CONTENTS  : — 

Introductory  Remarks — Apocalyptic  Symbols — Structure  of  the  Apocalypse — 
Vision  of  the  Mighty  Angel— The  Little  Book— The  Oath  of  the  Angel— The 
Measuring  of  the  Temple — The  Two  "Witnesses — Avenging  Power  of  the  Wit* 
nesses — War  with  the  Witnesses — Death  of  the  Witnesses — Resurrection  of 
the  Witnesses — The  Ten-Horned  and  Seven-Headed  Beast  of  the  Sea — The  Two- 
Horned  Beast  of  the  Earth — The  Commencement  and  Termination  of  the  1260 
Days— The  Harpers  on  Mount  Zion — The  Seventh  Trumpet — The  First  Five 
Vials— The  Sixth  Vial  and  the  Three  Frogs— The  Seventh  Vial ;  Voices,  Thun- 
ders, and  Lightnings;  Great  Earthquake;  the  Tripartition  of  the  Great  City; 
an  Angel  in  the  Sun;  the  Vintage;  the  Battle  of  Armageddon — Supplemen- 
tary Chapter — The  Harpers  by  the  Sea  cf  Glass. 

Edinburgh  :  Johnstone  &  Hunter,  15,  Princes  Street.    London :  Robert 
Theobald,  2G,  Paternoster  Row. 


OPINIONS    OF   THE    PRESS. 

"A  writer  evidently  of  ability,  heartily  in  earnest  on  his  subject  himself,  and 
heart^stirring  to  his  readers." — The  Rev.  E.  B.  Elliott,  in  his  Vindiciac  Horanai. 

"We  are  much  mistaken  if  it  do  not  produce  an  extensive  influence  upon  the 
thinking  of  the  age,  on  subjects  appertaining  to  prophecy." — British  Banner. 

"  As  a  seasonable  antidote  to  the  transcendental  treatment  of  Scripture,  we 
hail  the  volume  before  us  with  peculiar  satisfaction.  We  are  greatly  mistaken 
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the  mysteries  of  tliis  book  than  has  ever  yet  been  adopted." — Free  Church  Moga- 
sine. 

"  This  book  is  characterized  by  profound  veneration  for  the  authority  of  the 
Bible, — a  calm,  and  even  severe  judgment, — a  competent  intimacy  with  the  his- 
tory of  nations, — a  flowing,  yet  manly  and  classic  style, — and  a  richness  of  de- 
scriptive power  which  transfers  to  the  mind  of  the  reader  the  images  that  are 
passing  before  that  of  the  eloquent  writer.  Were  our  statesmen  alive  to  tlie 
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"  The  attention,  which  is  at  once  engaged  by  its  graceful  diction  and  eloquent 
style,  is  flixed  and  deepened  by  the  manifestations  of  Biblical  knowledge,  his- 
torical research,  logical  closeness  of  reasoning,  and  earnestness  of  religious  prin- 
ciple and  feeling,  which  are  throughout  apparent." — London  Watchman. 

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appeared  to  us  one  of  coiuuianding  importance,  we  have  met  with  no  book  which 
has  so  entirely  commended  itself  to  our  judgment.  The  Christian  Church  will 
feel  itself  to  be  under  deep  and  still  deeper  obligation,  in  proportion  as  his 
work  becomes  known." — Oxford  Chronicle. 

"  The  most  elaborate,  the  best  written,  and  decidedly  the  most  satisfactory 
treatise  on  the  subject." — Banner  of  Utst-er. 


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