clergy were extremely vigilant to prevent the slightest approaches of papal encroachment on their civil or spiritual rights. Hence the frequent disputes of the Sorbonne, aided by the Parliaments; for in those assemblies, also, were persons well versed in the canon and civil laws, with the Popes, and the establishment of the inquisition, for which the friars demonstrated too much zeal. Their active interference in causing the laws of that iniquitous tribunal to be put in execution, in a peculiar manner, deservedly exposed the Mendicants to public detestation. It never was a tenet of the Catholic Church, to establish her doctrines by fire and sword, nor by any other kind of violence; though some of the Roman Pontiffs, instigated by the selfish passions of avarice and resentment, encouraged and permitted this dreadful engine of political and religious tyranny. It was also countenanced and supported by some princes; who, from their shallow conceptions of the science of government, and their natural imbecility, had recourse to this miserable expedient. But it must not be supposed that Catholic princes exclusively exercised this horrid and barbarous practice. It is but too well known that Protestant kings have made use of spies and informers to detect those whose religious opinions might have been obnoxious to the court or reigning religion; hence the massacre of many Catholic ecclesiastics. Whether they had their purpose effected by the instrumentality of a

tribunal termed Inquisition, or by an Act of Parliament, does not surely increase or diminish the atrocity of such proceedings. I repeat it: the forwardness displayed by the friars in this diabolical business brought great odium on them in those countries which were under the jurisdiction of the papal Court. It was totally rejected in most of the Catholic States; and reprobated by all sound and respectable theologians, who knew that a doctrine not sanctioned by the authority of Christ, but disavowed by him and condemned by the fathers, could never, by the mere authority of any human power, become an article of faith or rule of conduct. For it has always been the invariable doctrine of the Church, that no rule or opinion could bind the faithful, which had not been previously recommended by the following test, so aptly expressed by Vincent of Lerins: quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus creditum est. To give any doctrine practical authority, the belief of it must have been constant and universal in regard to time, place, and persons; which is not the case with the Inquisition, for it wants all these conditions. It has not been a prevalent doctrine every where always, and embraced by the generality of the faithful. But more of this elsewhere.

Another cause that contributed very much. to the depression of the Mendicant orders was their inattention to polite learning. They neglected to cultivate Greek and Roman literature

in those branches, from which alone they could hope to derive real benefit and instruction. Viewed as metaphysical inquirers, the productions of these nations are of little importance; but, regarded as orators, historians, and poets, they exhibit the finest models of taste and genius which the mind of man has hitherto been able to draw. Disregard to the study of classical learning was certainly a most unaccountable blunder, at a period when many individuals among the most distinguished of the laity for birth and character, as also many of the secular clergy, began to apply themselves to the cultivation of it with considerable success; particularly in Italy, where the mendicants were numerous, and had even gained consequence before that period. But they would not open their eyes to the light that began to diffuse itself on every side. It was in vain that the Italian wits and literati sought by exposing their ignorance to turn their attention to solid and useful studies: they should at least have benefited by the warning, whether it came from friends or enemies; but they still continued to follow the steps of their scholastic guides, with a scrupulous attention not to innovate or improve, blindly attached to the opinions delivered by preceding teachers, whom they had designated under the high-sounding titles of Doctor Irrefragabilis, Doctor Subtillis, Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Seraphicus, &c. They thought it sufficient if they could illustrate, preserve, and ex

pound, the doctrines and philosophy of those great names; though they had long lost their influence among the learned, and were only known on the shelves of the convent libraries. This delusion continued, not only until the revival of learning in Italy and France, but even to our own times, as any one may have seen who has travelled into Catholic countries, or read their publications. This inferiority in point of classical and elegant literature became an object of triumph to such of the first reformers as prided themselves on their erudition; especially the German scholars, on whom the light, reflected from beyond the Alps, began to have some influence, to stimulate their torpid dispositions to a little mental energy. Some few of them began to relish and peruse the works of the Italian scholars, and were not a little pleased at the sarcasms on the monks, which they alleged as sufficient authority to exterminate all monastic institutions; though their masters never attempted to advance any such opinions. Those German scholars, manifested their pedantic affectation, by metamorphosing their barbarous Teutonic names into Roman, by making them terminate in us, as Buckius, Brosius; and by assuming Latin names, that expressed the signification of their national German. Yet with all this affectation of elegant scholarship, their Latin composition was wretched and despicable. None of them could be compared to Sadoletti, Bembo, Strada, Vida, or the other

Italian scholars, who did not think themselves justified to impugn the doctrines of the Church, because the priests did not write classical Latin. Their countryman Erasmus was almost the only man among them that distinguished himself for purity of style or real learning; and though he reprobates the ignorance of the mendicants, and their professed and decided aversion to literary improvement, and the patrons of it, yet he did not take such a decided part against the Latins as to cause him to be ranked among the reformers of the sixteenth century.

We should not lose sight of another cause that contributed in an eminent degree to bring those orders into disrepute; I mean their numbers, and condescension in admitting candidates to the religious profession, without any choice, or much regard to their proficiency in learning, moral character, or standing in society. This was especially in the order of St. Francis, where an absurd opinion had been cherished and entertained, that the more numerous the friars were, the more abundantly they should be supported. In consequence of this notion, that order became extremely numerous; and the receptacle of many persons ill calculated to promote the cause of learning or religion. The other orders were also become very numerous; as they were also anxious to increase their numbers, for which they had sufficient means; for they both possessed property