fanctuaries for villains, to the interruption of juftice, and the multiplying of all forts of crimes *: though poffeff ed. could abfolve the guilty, or at least it must be done in his prefence. Nor did the Popish clergy reft until they brought princes to confent to this dangerous exemption. Henry II. engaged to the Pope's legate, That no clergymen, For the time to come, fhould be carried in perfon, before any fecular judge, *for any crime or tranfgreffion, unless for abufes of the foreft; and that such perfons as fhould confefs, or be convicted of killing a clergyman, fhould be "punished in the presence of the bishop." By this change, however, their condition, in fome refpect, was made worfe; for, in proportion as they had withdrawn themselves from fubjection to the laws, they loft the protection of them. The archbishop of Canterbury foon after complained, "That, if a few or the meanest laic was murdered, the murderer was presently hanged for it, "but if a priest was murdered, the murderer was only excommunicated:" he added, "The stealing of a sheep or a goat is punished in a heavier manner than "the murder of a priest but this is but what we have deferved by our ambi"tious ufurping an authority which no way belonged to us; for by that accurfed jurifdiction, which we have fo presumptuously affumed, we have pro"voked God and the king, and have opened a fafe way to the laity to wreakz "their malice upon the clergy: thus a priest was lately murdered at Winche❝fter by William Frecher and his wife, and they do not deny the fact; but "the murderer is going away to Rome, and makes no doubt but by prostitu"ting his wife, who is a beautiful woman, he fhall not only obtain absolution, "but be well paid for his journey." Within a few years after the acceffion of Henry II. it was proved before him, that above a hundred murders had been committed in the kingdom by ecclefiaftics, of whom not one had been punished fo much as with degradation, the punishment injoined by the canons. An attempt to reform this abuse produced the contest between Henry and Becket. Decret. Greg, extrav. de Jud, tit, i. c. 8. Conc. Brit. vol. 2. P. Elfenf. Epift. 736 Origines Angl. vol. ii. p. 249, 319. * As Paganism made the temples places of retreat for malefactors, and allow ed them shelter at the altars, tombs, and ftatues of heroes: fo Popery opened an afylum for all criminals, and made altars, croffes, and confecrated ground, fcreens to cover them from the arm of juftice; whereby the most daring ruffian ` could mock the laws; and fet the magiftrate at defiance. Boniface V. a tempted to introduce the immunity of churches, which the laws of the Emperors Honorias and Theodofius confirmed. The council of Clermont, 1095, the 3d general council of Lateran, and many others formed canons for preferving this privilege. to churches, and all were subjected to an anathema who did violate them. By the canons of fome councils none were allowed to touch a criminal either in a church, or within thirty paces of it. By the 29th and 30th canons of the council of Clermont it was decreed, that thofe who fheltered themselves befide a cross should be in as great fafety as if they had taken sanctuary in a church ; K and ed of a large share of the property and wealth of the public, they have been exempted from all taxes and public burdens except what they have been pleafed to lay upon themfelves, by the good leave of their ecclefiaftical fovereign. Thus they have grown up to be a formidable kingdom and that they should not be delivered up until affurance was given, that nothing fhould be attempted either against their life or limbs. Thefe immunities fubfift ftill in their full latitude in Spain and Italy, a country, as one fays, wholly ecclefiaftical: but the disorders which they foment, the attempts which they in fome fort authorize, prove too evidently the wisdom of those governments which have revoked and abolished them altogether. Some time ago Cardinal Alberoni proposed to the congregation of cardinals, that they fhould folicit the Pope to take away the franchifes of churches, but the propofition was rejected; upon which he exclaimed in heat, "Truly I could with "that fome miscreant would take it in his head to kill one of you, and that “he would take refuge in a church under my protection: I affure you, though "the whole Sacred College should demand him of me, instead of delivering him up to justice, I should do my utmost to favour his escape." The author who records this anecdote tells us, that Clement XII. inclined to abolish the franchifes with respect to affaflins; " but I doubt," fays he, "if he dare underǝ "take it: the monks find it too much their interest to preserve them; the "privileges of their houfes draw to them the respect of the people, and the "veneration of the rabble." Platina. Dupin, Hift, du Droit. Eccl. Fr, tome i. p. 57. Mem. du Bar. de Poln, tome iii. p. 25. The 3d general counci of Lateran forbids, under the ufual pains, all laics to exact any taxes from the clergy, or lay any contributions upon them or their churches, unless the bishops and clergy granted a voluntary subsidy to supply the urgent neceffities of the state, when the estates of the laity were not fufficient to an fwer thems The 4th general council of Lateran renewed the fame canon, and fentenced to excommunication all who offended against it, allowing the clergy, nevertheless, liberty to grant their aid in cafes of neceffity, provided the Pope was always first confulted. Boniface VIII. published a conftitution of the following tenor: "Antiquity informs us of the ill-will which the laity bear unto "the clergy, and the experience of the prefent time evidently declares it, fince, " without condering that they have no power over the perfons or goods of ecclefiaftics, they impofe taxations upon the prelates and clergy, whether "fecular or regular; and, what we cannot mention but with grief, fome prelates " and other ecclefiaftics, fearing more to offend temporal princes than the di"vine Majefty, comply with thefe abuses. Wherefore, defiring to put a stop "to them, we ordain all prelates, and other ecclefiaftics which fhall pay to the "laymen the tithe, or any other part whatever of their revenues under the "name of aid, fabfidy, or the like, without the authority of the Holy Se,- and the kings, princes, magifrates, and all others who fhall impofe them, kingdom of priests, holding of a foreign head, entirely independent of all civil authority and laws, keeping no connection with the ftate farther than to prey upon it, and render it fubfervient to the fpiritual monarchy. What we have faid of the fecular, is more remarkably true of the regular clergy, and the religious orders to which they belong, Left the fwarms of exempted priefts, depending upon the hierarchical establishment, had not been fufficient to weaken the authority of princes, to depopulate and impoverish nations, and to fupport the Papal throne, new regiments of monks and friars have been raised, and religious communities of both fexes multiplied, more effectually and speedily, to accomplish thefe ends. Thefe, through the artifices of Rome, were gradually fet free from both the civil and ecclefiaftical jurifdiction unto which they had been at first subject. Though distinguished by different names, wearing different garbs, and living by different rules, and often at variance with each other, yet they agreed in a ❝or who shall give their aid or counsel for that purpose, fhall forthwith incur "excommunication; the abfolution from which fshall be referved to the Huly "See, notwithstanding any privilege to the contrary," The council of Trent confirmed in fubftance whatever former councils and Popes had done on the fubject of ecclesiastical immunities. So careful have the Popes, thefe mighty bunters before the Lord, been to inclofe and fence, with a facred pall, every inch of ecclefiaftic ground, and to preserve the whole game upon it entire for their own use. No hand must presume to touch the overgrown wealth of luxurious churchmen but their own. But those tithes and fubfidies, which they have reftrained fovereigns from taking of their own subjects, they have themselves, without asking the leave of princes, every where very freely levied. Dupin, tome 9, c. Hift. du Droit, etc. dome i. p. 448, Hift, du Cónc. du Ţient par Pulan. liv, viii. p. goo, etc. Such as the Auguftines, Carmelites, Mendicants, Francifcans, Domini cans, with their various fubdivifions, the Cordeliers of great and trict obfervance, Recollects, Capuchins, Penitents, the Mitigated, the Reformed; with the fquadrons of Maturins, Trinitarians, Minimes, Celeftines, Servites, Friars of charity, Jefuits, Barnabites, Theatins, Lazarites, Eudifts, Benedictines, Bernardines, Brigitines, Camaldules, the Monks of Grammont, Fontevraula, Fathers of the Chriflian doctrine, the Oratory, etc. common and abfolute dependence upon the Pope, who be came the head and protector of the religious orders, the zealous patron of their liberties and exemptions, and who served himself heir to their temporal poffeffions when any order became extinct. They have been cantoned into all countries wherever their importunities, their old wives fables, or their falfe veil of poverty, mortification, and zeal, could procure them fubfiftence and fettlements; which they obtained from the deluded public fo profufely, in houses, lands, and other donations, that they became the heaviest and, at the fame time, the most useless incumbrance upon the state, depriving it both of a great part of it fubjects and revenues. Monafteries, into which many were inveigled in When Gregory X. abolished the order of Mendicants, or begging Friars, by a conftitution passed 1264, he reserved their houses and goods to be disposed of by the Holy See for the fuccour of the Holy Land, and other pious uses. If the accounts, given by fome authors, are juft, the church and the religious together have been poffeffed of half of the eftates of fome kingdoms, and in fome places much more. A certain author informs us, upon the authority of Memoirs written by one who had been long intendant of Lifle in Flanders, that upon the banks of the river Scarp, within the extent of 18 leagues, the church rents amounted to 10,700,000 livres; and in the province of Cambrefis the poffeffions of the ecclefiaftics were, to thofe of the whole laity, in the propor tion of 14 to 3. Abbé de Vertot informs us, that the clergy of Sweden were alone poffeffed of more than the king, and even than all the other estates of the kingdom together. "If we run through France," fays one, "we will find at "every step monafteries, and magnificent abbeys, more rich fill than they appear: when travelling, I have often had the curiofity to ask to whom belong "these lands, thefe farms, thefe woods? and have been almost always answer. "ed, To fuch an abbey, to fuch a community, to fuch a chapter; if, to thefe "immoveable poffeffions, be added the annuities, the tithes, and other contri"butions, we will be forced to conclude, that the half of the property of the kingdom, at leaft, is in the hands of priests, monks, or religious. What I "fay of France is more fenfibly true of Spain, Italy, Flanders, and Germany. "If the Pope was mafter of all these eftates, and could appropriate the use of them to himself, would he not be the richest fovereign in the univerfe? To "find any to equal him, it would be abfolutely neceffary to raise again the an "cient kings of Mexico and Peru, the Montezumas and the Atabalipas." According to Bleau, about the end of last century the ecclefiaftical state of France ftood thus: 18 archbishoprics, 109 bifhoprics, 16 heads of religious or ders, 257 commanderies of Malta, 556 abbeys of nuns, 1356 abbeys of monks, 709 in early and heedlefs youth, and where millions were bu ried alive, were the privileged haunts of idlenefs, luxury, and the most flagrant diforders; and the monks and friars have been, of all men, the most petulant, vindictive, bi gotted, 700 convents of cordeliers, 1240 priories, 15,200 chapels, about 36 441 parishes, and 14,077 convents of all orders: the number of monks were computed at 122,600; the nuns 82,000; the total of both 204,600; the ecclefiaftical revenues amounting in whole to 312,000,000 of livres, which is about 26,000,000 fterling. The author of the Age of Lewis XIV. indeed, brings the computation much lower, reckoning the number of ecclefiaftical perfons 160,000, and the religious 90,000, and the ecclefiaftical revenues 8,cco,coo, 46 In England, previous to the Reformation, the mischievous effects of Popery and monkery were alfo feverely felt on the commonwealth. "The prodigious "increase of the riches of the church," to use the words of an ecclefiaftical historian," had for a long time been the subject of complaint, as a matter of "the utmost prejudice to the fate. The barons, indeed, had taken care to in"fert a claufe in the great charter, which expressly forbade any one to alienate, "his lands to the church: but this prohibition had no effect. The church "fill continued to acquire eftates, which were never afterwards alienated; and "yet a thefe eftates were in a dead hand as to any return or profit to the ftate. "They afforded neither wards, reliefs, nor marriages, like all other lands, and "in proportion, therefore, as their revenues incrcafe, the public exchequer was impoverished: nor would England in fome ages, if this cuftom had con"tinued, have been any thing more than a pation of monafteries and church"es. The king (Edward 1.) therefore proposed to make a law which should "effectually prevent the continuance of this evil, by prohibiting any one to "difpofe of their eftates to focieties which never die, without the king's con"fent; and accordingly was paled the famous ftatute of Mortmain." NotwithAtanding these precautions, there were no less than 645 monafterios fuppreffed by Henry VIII, the yearly rents of which were valued at L. 1,500,000, besides immenfe riches hoarded up in fome of them: the church of Canterbury alone afforded so much treafure, in gold and precious stones, as eight ftrong men could farty cut in two chefts. The fcandalous diforders of these religious houses, and the wicked lives of their inhabitants, were at that time convincingly difcovered.Scotland, in propor ion to her wealth and extent, appears not to have been much behind other nations in rearing coftly monuments to idle fuperftition, and in facrificing largely at the altars of monaftic folly. Of this the ftately remains of many of these religious fabrics, yet vifible even in the remoteft parts of the kingdom, and the account of their revenues, taken by authority at the time of the Reformation, are friking evidences. One of her kings in the twelfth century founded and endowed no less than four bishoprics, eleven abbacies, two pafteries, befides fundry leffer fabrics; for which, as might be expected, he was diftinguished with the title of St. David. Thefe once venerated piles, the de mo. filed |