parts of that diffused body with the head; whereby its influence eafily reaches to every member and uniformly actuates the whole. Thefe are linked clofely to one another and all of them in a line of gradual fubordination to the papal chair. The laity are taught to be fubject to the priest in all things, the inferior clergy must be devoted to their fuperiors, and every one of them from the purpled Cardinal to the meaneft curate muft obey the pontifical nod.By the intervention of thefe fubaltern officers may the General at Rome rule with eafe his numerous fubjects, fleece them of their money, guide their confciences, and excite or allay their paffions, as fuits beft his views and intereft. The fame spirit of pride, turbulence, avarice and ambition fo vifible in their high priests, the fame unbounded thirst of dominion and worldly greatnefs have been equally confpicuous in their characters and marked their actions. They have made continual ufurpations and depredations upon the ftate, influenced its councils, tampered its laws, clogged the wheels of government or made them move with force and rapidity in the fervice of their church and the drudgery of Rome; and when they have met with contradiction or been checked in their fuperftitions or ruinous projects, they have moved heaven and earth, and all the demons of the pit to avenge their caufe; their whole order has been alarmed, and all the ecclefiaftical legions led forth into action: they have embroiled nations, threatened and infulted the higher powers; fhaken thrones; and mimicking the thunders of the Vatican, or in execution of its orders, have alfo hurled abroad their interdicts, and anathemas, and the whole train of fpiritual terrors without diftinction *. *Particulars examples of the fpirit and practices of the Popish clergy above described, and of the many difturbances and mifchiefs which they have caufed in fociety, in which the hiftories of all nations are abundantly fruitful, we cannot propose here to produce, though many of them are undoubtedly curious, though too often tragica); and Arikingly characteristical of their religion. As As they have proved fo zealous for the honour of the Roman See, been fo true to its maxims, and fhewed themfelves fo ready to fupport its pretenfions in every conteft; they have in return been zealoufly protected and fupported by it*: every artful method has been contrived to gain them credit and veneration, to engage them more entirely in the interest of the Romish church and fecure more ef fectually their dependence upon the Pope. Large revenues have been annexed to the prelacy, new dignitaries from time to time added, new offices and finecure places founded, to increase their numbers and ftrengthen their ranks. New rules and peculiar modes of life have been prefcribed to them, not forgetting the aid of facerdotal garments, the fafcinating charms of copes and rockets, woollen palls fhorn from lambs prefented by the virgin hands of nunst, linen • When Anfelm fled from England to Rome, he was received by Pope Urban with all the marks of confidence and honour, and in a public speech his Holiness complimented him with the title of the Apoftle and Patriarch of another world, and celebrated his learning, humility, faith and steady zeal for the Holy See in the highest ftrains: he was lodged in the palace of the Lateran, and commanded to take on him the state and grandeur as well as the title of Pope, which in his great bumility he complied with, and permitted the English to kifs his feet. When Becket was difgraced for like practices he met with like encouragement; the court of Rome concluding that if he was given up it would be a great difcouragement for all men to engage in the intereft of the church. "If he fall," (faid Pope Alexander), "all the Bishops will fall with him, fo "that for the time to come none will dare to refift the will of a Prince, and "fo the state of the whole Catholic church will fink, and the authority of "the Bishops of Rome will perish." He was therefore promifed all the affiftance that church could give him, was provided for in the Abbey of Pontigny, and it was appointed that he and his church fhould be recommended to God in the prayers of the great monafteries of France. Fo. Sarifb. vit. Anf. Angl. fac, par. ii. p. 166, 167. Gervaf. chron. an. 1164, col. 1397. The Pall which had been held of fuch great importance in the church of Rome is nothing else than a white woollen rag, three fingers broad, worn round the shoulders of Bishops, with pendants behind and before of the length of a palm: this is ufed by them on their folemn occafions, and when they celebrate mafs with it, they muft put it off, when the gospel is read. This is one fucrative branch of Rome's merchandize, from whence it is exported to all sations. For a long time paft the pall, has been made chiefly of the wool of the fleeces taken from two lambs offered every year by the nuns of St. Agnes upon 1. linen furplices, and the whole articles of Rome's (I had almoft faid England's) confecrated wardrobe. Celibacy was enjoined them and rigorously enforced by the strictest laws: the facrament of orders was introduced: invefti ture upon the altar of the church called by her name, on the day of the festival of that faint. When made, it is kept in the fepulchre of the Apofties to be deftributed upon demand, which must always be made inftanter, inftantius, inftan• tiffime. The mystical meaning of this part of canonical hábit, (for they have areafon for every thing, and, like the ceremony-mongers at home, carry no infignificant rag about them), is to represent the good shepherd carrying the sheep on his shoulders. Morer. • Whatever other pretenfions are used for the celebacy of priests in the Romish church, it is evident the principal reafons are, as the learned Puffendorff hath obferved, "that the ecclefiaftics being freed from the care of their wives "and children might be more devoted to the interest of their church, and that "they might not be under the temptation of attaching themselves too much to the fovereigns under whofe dominion they live: that they might not appropriate any part of the ecclefiaftical goods for the fubfiftence of their fa"milies, and to the end they might be more fit and ready to execute the or "ders of the Pope, particularly against their own fovereigns of whose wia h they will be less apprehenfive, when they are not bound fo ftraitly to the "commonwealth as other subjects. To which it may be added, that by liv"ing in this fate of celebacy they have not to care but for their own life, whereas a wife and children are esteemed the most precious pledges, which one would not willingly abandon, nor leave under the power of another: but a person unmarried may find is more easy to live in other places. In a "word the Pope hath endeavoured hereby to free them in every refpect from "the dependence and jurifdiction of the fecular power to hold them more firmly under his own." This law founded on the doctrine of devils, which never was in ufe, at least enforced, till the priestly dominion began to wax powerful, and which hath been productive of the most scandalous disorders and vices, has ever been held most facred and inviolable in the papal church, and is fo to this day. Any precept of morality may rather be violated than it. Rather than difpenfe with it, concubinage has been allowed, and adultery itfelf reprefented as a lefs heinous fin than the marriage of a prieft: magis peccare cenfetur laicus fornicans, quam clericus adulterans, hac ratione, quod laicus alio remedió uti poffit quo clerico interdictum eft: nay the most shocking and unnatural of crimes the fin of Sodom hath met with more indulgence ;-of which the infamous book of Cardinal Cafa, one in high favour at Rome, entitled Le Capitolo del forna, is alone fufficient witness: not to mention the difpenfation faid to be granted by Sixtus IV. to the Cardinal of St. Lucia for three months in the year, Quid quæris teftes, fit mas an femina Cibo? Refpice natorum, pignora certa, gregem: ture with the staff and ring was made a facred act belong ing only to the Pope and bishops; it was interdicted to all others, under the fevereft curfes: priefts were excommunicated who accepted it from the hands of a layman, or fubmitted to take oaths of allegiance to temporal lords or princes*: at the fame time they were bound by new and 1: unlimited Oo recens pueros genuit totidemque puellas: Roma quid eft quod te docuit prapofterus ordo; Roma amor eft; amor eft? qualis? præpofterus. Unde bec? Roma vale, vidi, fatis eft vidiffe, revertar, Cum leno, aut meretrix, fcurra, cinadus ero. Puffend. Introds to the Hiftory of Eur. chap. xii. § 32. Panormitan. ap Kerm.” Comment de Lin. Am. p. 71: Furieu, Apol. pour la Reform. tome i. p. 148. c29. Mati Prid. Intr. to the reading of hist. p. 138, ^&c. What noife there has been about inveftitures, and what eager controverfies and wars they occafioned, is known to every one acquainted in the leaft with ecclefiaftical hiftory. A defign of getting free from fubjection to the civil powers in every refpect, and of acquiring the fole difpofal of the tempora. lities of the church, and abfolute authority over its immenfe wealth and riches, appears to have been chiefly in view, by Popes and churchmen in their contendings upon this subject; otherwise their claims had been lefs unreasonable. The flaff and ring having been confidered, through the fuperftition of the times, as facred badges of the epifcopal power the ufe of them was improved as a new reason for condemring lay inveftitures: to approve of them was made a herefy and a crime even worse than fimony. When bishops were inveited by the temporal powers, they had been accustomed to pay them homage,” and take an oath of fidelity; but when the ecclefiaftics fnatched the power of inveftiture entirely into their own hands, the homage and oaths were transfer^^ red unto the Pope, and priests prohibited by canons from giving them to a lay lord. The 15th canon of the council of Clermont forbids ecclefiaftics from receiving benefices from the hand of the laity: the 16th forbids kings and princes to give inveftiture in benefices: the 17th canon forbids bishops and pricfts from taking the oath of fidelity to kings or any layman: in the council of Rome, Ic98, all were declared excommunicated who did fo: to which various other canons might be added. When Anfelm was called to do homage to Herry I. after his coronation, he refufed, declaring," that he neither' "could nor would; for he was forbid fo to do by the council of Rome," adding, that "if the king would receive and obferve the decrees of that council,' "they might live in friendship together; but, if not, he could not in honour Ray unlimited oaths to the Pope and fuperior clergy; their perfons, and even their crimes, were declared facred, and not punishable by the civil judge their churches became fanctuaries « stay in England; nor had he intention to stay, if the king would not yield "obedience to the Pope therefore," said he, "I defire the king would de"clare his mind, that I may know what I have to do." Dupin, Bibliotheque, tome viii. p. 75, etc. Eadmer, Hift. 1. iii. p. 56. * Gregory VII. as a neceffary step for establishing and fecuring the ecclefiaftic monarchy, altered the profeffions of canonical obedience formerly ufed, into the form of an oath, fimilar to that taken by vaffals to the emperor or other lords. The archbishop of Aquileia was the first on whom it was imposed, obliging him to fwear, that "from that time forward he would be faithful to St. Peter, and Pope Gregory and his fucceffors; that he would neither advise "nor affift in taking away the life, difmembering, deposing, or imprisoning "the Pope; that he would come to his fynods when fummoned by his nun"cios or letters, and be obedient to the canons thereof; that, fo far as was "confiftent with his order, he would defend and affift in maintaining the "Roman Papacy, and the regalia of St. Peter; that he would not disclose the "counfels of the bishops of Rome to their prejudice, whether committed to "him by themselves or their legates; that he would not knowingly commu̟"nicate with thofe who were by name excommunicated by the bishops of "Rome; and that, when he was called thereto, he would by a military force affift the church of Rome."-Alexander fome time after impofed an oath of the fame import on the German bishops, engaging them to unlimited obedience, to ferve him faithfully against all men, and that they would rather expose their lives than reveal his fecrets." In the Epiftles of Clement V. the fol. lowing form of words is found: "I promife to the Pope never to engage in σε any counfels which may be inten led to his hurt, or, to reveal them if I come to the knowledge of them; but on the contrary I will never difcover the evil "which he intends to do, continuing ever faithful to him. I alfo promife to exert myself against all forts of perfons for maintaining the regalia of St. Peཔ་ ter and the privileges of the Holy See, or for recovering them when loft." Another is recorded by Baronius taken by Boniface, and impofed on t the bishops as early as the 8th century, which is little fhort of thefe, with dreadful imprecations annexed; the account of which he concludes with thefe words: Hatte nus juramentum quod et reliqui ordinati epifcopi prafiare folent. Baron, ann. 723, et 1079. Lab. Concil. tome x. p. 1504, tome xi. p. 1565. In facris canonibus, fays the conftitution of Lucius III. generaliter traditur, ut de omni çimine clericus debeat coram ecclefiaftico judice conveniri, The 3d general council of Lateran forbids, under the pain of excommunication, all laics from obliging ecclefiaftics to appear before the judges. In a council at London, 1142, that canon was confirmed, and the clergy were not only exempted from the fecular power, but every violence or outrage to their perfons, to churches, and church yards, was declared an offence, from which the bishop of Rome alone could I |