n the Austrian dominions, Rodolph II.; in Poland, nd III.; by shutting up churches, and by discoung in all respects their Protestant subjects, contrived e a party once powerful, into an oppressed sect."* ate persecution, no matter what is made the pretext exercise; but every candid man must allow that, in g to these measures of severity, the German Catholic did but repay their Protestant subjects in their own If they took from them their churches, it must be in mind that those same churches were originally by Catholics, to whom they rightfully belonged, and the first effervescence of the Reformation, they had eized on violently by the Protestant party. They did ke back by law, what had been wrested from the rightners by lawless violence, and what would not have therwise surrendered. If "they discountenanced their tant subjects,” it was only after a long and bitter exce of the troubles they had caused, of the riots and grations they had brought about in the abused name igion and of liberty, and of the utter fruitlessness of iatory measures. sides, had not the German Protestant princes proceeded still greater harshness against their Catholic subjects, e only crime was their calm and inoffensive adherence e religion of their fathers? The account was certainly than balanced, as we shall show more fully hereafter.† Introduction to the History of Literature, etc., sup. cit. vol. i, p. 273. In Chapter xii. VOL. 1.-18 These facts constitute at least extenuating circumstances, which a man of Mr. Hallam's moderate principles and love of historic justice should not have wholly concealed. But, we presume, he deemed it expedient to add a little Protestant spice to his narrative, in order to season for the palate of his English Protestant readers the otherwise insipid viands of admissions in favor of Catholicity. One leading cause of the reaction of Catholicity, according to him, was the promulgation and general adoption of the decrees of the Council of Trent. "The decrees of the Council of Trent were received by the spiritual princes of the empire (German) in 1566; 'and from this moment,' says the excellent historian who has thrown most light on this subject, 'began a new life for the Catholic Church in Germany.'"* We heartily concur in the truth of this remark. Divine Providence, which draws good out of evil, wisely brought about the Council of Trent, and watched over its protracted and often interrupted labors, till they were brought to a happy termination. This was, in fact, the only legal, as well as the only adequate remedy to the evils of the Church in the sixteenth century. The Tridentine canons and decrees for reformation exercised a powerful influence throughout Christendom. Through them, faith was everywhere settled on an immovable basis, local abuses disappeared, and piety revived. The Reformation was the indirect cause of all this good; and in this point of view, if in no other, it may claim our gratitude. The revival of piety, through the influence of the Tridentine Council, is thus attested by Mr. Hallam: "The reaction could not, however, have been effected by any efforts of the princes, against so preponderating a majority as the Protestant churches had obtained, if the principles that originally actuated them had retained their animating influence, or had not been opposed by more efficacious resistance. Every method was adopted to revive an attachment to the ancient religion, insuperable by the love of novelty, or the power of argu * Ranké, ii, p. 46. Hallam, Chapter x. ment (!). A stricter discipline and subordination were introduced among the clergy: they were early trained in seminaries, apart from the sentiments and habits, the vices and virtues (!) of the world. The monastic orders resumed their rigid observances." * Speaking of the important influence of the Jesuits in bringing about this Catholic renovation, he says: "But, far above all the rest, the Jesuits were the instruments for regaining France and Germany to the Church they served. And we are more closely concerned with them here, that they are in this age among the links between religious opinion and literature. We have seen in the last chapter with what spirit they took the lead in polite letters and classical style; with what dexterity they made the brightest spirits of the rising generation, which the Church had once dreaded and checked (!) her most willing and effective instruments. The whole course of liberal studies, however deeply grounded in erudition, or embellished by eloquence, took one direction, one perpetual aim—the propagation of the Catholic faith. They knew how to clear their reasoning from scholastic pedantry and tedious quotation for the simple and sincere understandings which they addressed; yet, in the proper field of controversial theology, they wanted nothing of sophistical (!) expertness or of erudition. The weak points of Protestantism they attacked with embarrassing ingenuity; and the reformed churches did not cease to give them abundant advantages by inconsistency, extravagance, and passion.† At the death of Ignatius Loyola, in 1556, the order he had founded was divided into thirteen provinces besides the Roman; most of which were in the Spanish peninsula, or its colonies. Ten colleges belonged to Castile, eight to Arragon, and five to Andalusia. Spain was for some time the fruitful mother of the disciples, as she had been of the master. The Jesuits who came to Germany were called 'Spanish priests.' They took possession of the universities: 'they conquered us,' says Ranké, 'on our own ground, in our own homes, and stripped us of a part of our own country.' This, the acute historian proceeds to say, sprung certainly from the want of understanding among the Protestant theologians, and of sufficient enlargement of mind to tolerate unessential differences. The violent opposition among each other, left a way open to these cunning strangers, who taught a doctrine not open to dispute." He then proceeds to treat of the practical results brought * Ranké, ii, p. 46. Hallam, Chapter x, § 8. † Ibid., ¡ 10, where he cites Hospinian, Ranké, and Tiraboschi, the first a declared enemy of the Jesuits. Ibid., p. 274, § 11. about by these causes. These were a rapid declension of Protestantism, and a correspondent increase of Catholicism. "Protestantism, so late as 1578, might be deemed preponderant in all the Austrian dominions, except the Tyrol.* In the Polish diets, the dissidents, as they were called, met their opponents with vigor and success. The ecclesiastical principalities were full of Protestants; and even in the chapters some of them might be found. But the contention was unequal, from the different character of the parties; religious zeal and devotion (!), which fifty years before had overthrown the ancient rites in northern Germany, were now more invigorating sentiments in those who secured them from further innovation. In religious struggles, where there is any thing like an equality of forces, the question soon comes to be which party will make the greatest sacrifice for its own faith. And while the Catholic self-devotion had grown far stronger, there was much more of secular cupidity, lukewarmness, and formality in the Lutheran church. In very few years, the effects of this were distinctly visible. The Protestants of the Catholic principalities went back into the bosom of Rome. In the bishopric of Wurtzburg alone, sixtytwo thousand converts are said to have been received in the year 1586."+ "The reaction," he continues a little afterwards, "was not less conspicuous in other countries. It is asserted 'that the Huguenots had already lost more than two-thirds of their number in 1580;'‡ comparatively, I presume, with twenty years before. And the change in their relative position is manifest from all the histories of this period. . . . . At the close of this period of fifty years (A. D. 1600), the mischief done to the old Church in its first decennium (from 1550 to 1560) was very nearly repaired; the proportions of the two religions in Germany coincided with those which had existed at the pacification of Passau. The Jesuits, however, had begun to encroach a little on the proper domain of the Lutheran church; besides private conversions, which, on account of the rigor of the laws, not certainly less intolerant than in their own communion, could not be very prominent, they had sometimes hopes of the Protestant princes, and had once, in 1578, obtained the promise of John, king of Sweden, to embrace openly the Romish (!) faith, as he had already done in secret to Possevin, an emissary dispatched by the Pope on this important errand. But the symptoms of an opposition, very formidable in a country which has never allowed its kings to trifle with it (except at the time of the Reformation), made this wavering monarch retrace his steps. His successor, Sigismund, went further, and fell a victim to his zeal, by being expelled from his kingdom."-Here was Protestant toleration! * Ranké, ii, p. 78. Ib., p. 121. Ib., p. 147. Hallam, ib., p. 275, § 14. THE GREAT CATHOLIC REACTION. 213 "This great reaction of the papal religion," he proceeds, "after the shock it had sustained in the first part of the sixteenth century, ought forever to restrain that temerity of prediction so frequent in our ears. As women sometimes believe the fashion of last year in dress to be wholly ridiculous, and incapable of being ever again adopted by any one solicitous for her beauty,* so those who affect to pronounce on future events are equally confident against the possibility of a resurrection of opinions which the majority have for the time ceased to maintain. In the year 1560, every Protestant in Europe doubtless anticipated the overthrow of popery; the Catholics could have found little else to warrant hope than their trust in heaven. The late rush of many nations towards democratical opinions has not been so rapid and so general as the change of religion about that period. It is important and interesting to inquire what stemmed this current. We readily acknowledge the prudence, firmness, and unity of purpose that, for the most part, distinguished the court of Rome, the obedience of its hierarchy, the severity of intolerant laws, and the searching rigor of the inquisition; the resolute adherence of the great princes to the Catholic faith, the influence of the Jesuits over education: but these either existed before, or would, at least, not have been sufficient to withstand an overwhelming force of opinion. “It must be acknowledged that there was a principle of vitality in that religion independent of its external strength. By the side of its secular pomp, its relaxation of morality (!), there had always been an intense flame of zeal and devotion. Superstition it might be in the many, fanaticism in a few; but both of these imply the qualities which, while they subsist, render a religion indestructible. That revival of an ardent zeal through which the Franciscans had in the thirteenth century, with some good, and much more evil effect (!), spread a popular enthusiasm over Europe, was once more displayed in counteraction of those new doctrines, that themselves had drawn their life from a similar development of moral emotion."† Coming from the source it does, this is truly a valuable avowal. After all the talk, then, about the "downfall of popery," after all the loud boasting and high pretensions of Protestantism, the experiment of three hundred years is beginning to convince all reasonable men of what they should have known before: that the Catholic religion "has a principle of vitality in her," after all, and that she is "indestructible." It could not be otherwise: Christ himself had pledged * A very apposite comparison, truly, to illustrate the new religious fashions! + Hallam, p. 275, 276, § 15. |