rity accrued to them through the change. They were supposed to bə alone initiated in the mysteries of the faith-they were supposed to be in more immediate communication with its divine founder-they were supposed to influence, if not actually to administer, the judgments of Heaven. But we must also observe, that, if such a character was well calculated to overawe an ignorant age, or the ignorant classes in any age, it was sure to be stripped off, whenever any intellectual independence should be exercised, and to be accounted among the impostures fabricated by an artful priesthood for the delusion of mankind. Advantages of a Plebeian Clergy. We shall readily acknowledge, that all sacerdotal influence is vicious and dangerous, except that which is acquired by the religious and moral excellence of the priest: yet even the highest qualities will often miss that end, when the condition of the pastor is very far removed above that of his flock. And thus was it the profoundest policy of the Roman Church to maintain a faithful ministry of the same origin, the same language, almost the same habits with the people. The ecclesiastical chain extended through every gradation of society, till it was folded round the Apostolical throne; but it was that lowest link, which, being fixed in a substantial support, gave firmness and tenacity to the rest. To possess some habits of familiarity with those entrusted to his guidance; to approach them without constraint, to be received without diffidence; to have the same thoughts, the same expressions, the same sympathies; to observe the birth of sin; to watch the workings of remorse; to distinguish the moments proper for censure, or consolation; to be near at hand in times of doubt, or sickness, or domestic calamity—these, and such as these, are advantages peculiarly belonging to a plebeian clergy. Such an order of pastors, under the superintendence of a vigilant hierarchy, may at all times be made serviceable to the best purposes of religion; and it diffused many spiritual blessings, even in the most secular ages of Rome. But to the Church— the external and human establishment-it was the very origin of strength, and principle of vitality: it was the root which spread underground in secrecy and silence; while nations and their princes worshipped under the golden branches, and gathered the bitter fruit which sometimes fell from them. The very corruptions in the ecclesiastical system were for a season serviceable in rivetting that influence. Auricular confession, the various abuses of penance, the adoration of the Host and the attributes ascribed to it, all furnished additional instruments to the clergy; and as long as they were used with moderation, extended their dominion. But it is ever the mistake of the usurper to despise the people, whose confidence he has deceived or insulted; and the error is seldom discovered till the moment for correcting it has passed by. It was thus with the Hierarchs of Rome. They increased the measure of degradation and imposture, till they exhausted the affection, and then the patience of mankind. And it was the last excess of their wickedness and folly to make the inferior clergy their accomplices, and thus to poison the only wholesome fountain of their own authority. The above outline of the constitution of the Roman Church represents it not such, perhaps, as it is sometimes painted in the theories of its advocates; but such as it is really and long existed in its practical operation on society. Nor will it seem strange to any reflecting mind, that that Government, which was, in appearance, and in fact, the most perfect despotism ever conceived by the mind of Serviceable abuses. Popular foun dation of the Roman Despotism. man, should be found at the bottom to rest on a popular basis. Even in civil governments there are instances of the same anomaly; but in an empire, essentially and peculiarly the empire of opinion, the support of the multitude was not so much the only source of strength, as the only principle of existence. If the Roman Church had been more evangelical in doctrine, more consistent in discipline, more moderate in pretension, it might have appealed with greater safety to the reason of mankind. But as it appealed to their ignorance, to their earliest and deepest prejudices, so was it, that it urged the irresistible predominance of authority-the inviolable holiness of antiquity,-all those principles and all those motives, which awe, when they do not irritate, the human understanding. Nevertheless, the appeal, howsoever insidiously made, was still an appeal to the mind: and thus was it seductive and universal. And so long as it found hearers and believers; so long as it retained its hold, by whatsoever means, on the devotion of the people; the dominion of Rome was not less substantial, and more secure, than if the sword had raised or upheld it. But from the moment that the spiritual bond was loosened, the mere worldly fabric, having no longer any element of coherence, subsided in progressive decay and dissolution. SECTION II. On the (I.) Spiritual Character, (II.) Discipline, and Morals of the The Doctrine of the Roman Church. Church. I. The Roman Catholics assert with great truth, that their Church has preserved, through the most perilous times, the essential mysteries and tenets of the Christian faith. It is with reverence that we have received them from her hands, and with gratitude that we acknowledge the inestimable obligation. Yet the most zealous Catholic must be contented to share that praise with the schismatics of the east. The same treasure has been guarded with the same fidelity by the Church of Greece; and would thus have been equally perpetuated, if the purity of the Roman creed had been corrupted by the barbarian conquest. But while those rival churches may divide the merit of having transmitted the apostolical doctrines to the latest generations, there is this difference in the manner of that traditionthe one has transmitted them such as she received them from the highest antiquity, not daring to violate by any important innovation the integrity of the pristine faith; the other augmented her confession by some articles, which were left by the discretion of early times to the liberty of private judgment. We have endeavoured (in the Thirteenth Chapter) to indicate the sources whence many of those innovations proceeded. We shall now remark upon one or two others, which, though of distant origin also, did not acquire any general, or at least any very perceptible, prevalence till a later age*. According to the original system of penance, it was inculcated, that *It was a general, but not quite correct, opinion of the early reformers, that the Scholastics had invented the new Dogmas, and the Monks the new practices. But it is quite certain, that the immediate causes of the insurrection against Rome were the later corruptions in her doctrine-just as most of the edicts of Constance and Basle were levelled against the later innovations in her discipline. in the Peniten tial System. transgressions could be expiated by prayer, fasting, and alms-there was no period in the history of the Church, in which pious Gradual changes works were not held efficacious to redeem sin, and imposed for that purpose, either directly, or by a partial substitution for bodily mortifications. To this circumstance many holy structures owed their origin, many poor-houses and hospitals-the Xenodochia, Nosocomia, Gerontocomia, &c., of the ancient establishment; and these works were considered satisfactory to God. This system was gradually corrupted, and fell, especially in the western nations, into great disorder; when Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, published, about the year 680, his celebrated Penitential. By the instructions herein delivered, the clergy were taught to distinguish sins into various classes, and to judge them according to their nature, to the intention of the offender, and other circumstances. The Penitential likewise pointed out the penalties proper for every sort of offence; prescribed the forms of consolation, exhortation, absolution, and set forth the duties of the Confessor. (Mosh. Cent. vii. p. ii. ch. iii.) This new discipline, though of Greek origin, was eagerly embraced in the Latin churches, and it was immediately corrupted. The method of redemption of penance was presently reduced to a regular system: in the place of so many days of fasting, so much alms were to be given; or so many psalms sung, or so many masses celebrated, by others, who were to be rewarded for the office; or so much money to be paid down. The number of the Penitentials was increased, and their character altered, according to the caprice of individual confessors; and, in spite of some attempts to repress the abuse, pecuniary redemption became more and more common, and presently almost every sort of penance had its fixed price in gold. It may seem needless to add, that the clergy (the Servi Dei) easily proved themselves to be the properest objects of these eleemosynary contributions, and that a great proportion of the wealth, so expended, flowed almost directly into the treasuries of the Church. * These, however, were only corruptions of the antient penitential system, they did not effect its entire destruction; but that result Indulgences. was afterwards brought about by the abuse of indulgences. An indulgence, as a mere relaxation of canonical penance, ་ Muratori (Dissertat. 68), from whom several of these remarks are borrowed, cites the following as the 26th Canon, Concil. II. Cloveshoviensis, A.D. 747. 'Sicuti nova adinventio, juxta placitum scilicet propriæ voluntatis suæ, nunc plurimis periculosa consuetudo est, non sit eleemosyna porrecta ad minuendam sed ad mutandam satisfactionem per jejunium et reliqua expiationis opera a Sacerdote Dei indicta,' it is ordained, that alms are to be so offered, that the person of the Penitent may not be wholly spared. The vicarious recitation of Psalms was at the same time prohibited, as well as other abuses. This Council was held by the Archbishop of Mayence, not forty years, perhaps, after the death of Theodore. About twenty years earlier, Gregory II. (Epist. 13.) addressed to Leo the Isaurian the following vigorous description of ecclesiastical, as contrasted with civil, discipline. Ubi peccaverit quis et confessus fuerit, suspendii vel amputationis capitis loco, evangelium et crucem ejus cervicibus circumponunt, eumque, tanquam in carcerem, in secretaria sacrorumque vasorum æraria conjiciunt, in Ecclesiæ Diaconia, et in Catechumena ablegant, ac visceribus eorum jejunium oculisque vigilias et laudationem ori ejus indicunt. Cumque probè castigaverint, probeque fame afflixerint, tum pretiosum illi Domini Corpus impartiunt et sancto illum sanguine potant; et cum illum vas electionis restituerint ac immunem peccati, sic ad Deum purum insontemque transmittunt. Vides, Imperator, ecclesiarum imperiorumque discrimen, &c' (The passage is cited by Giannone, Stor. Ital. lib. iii. cap. vi.) It was not till the eleventh age, that the practice of flagellation became common, and it was then that St. Dominicus, surnamed Loricatus, the friend of Peter Damiani, acquired his celebrity. He could discharge by stripes in six days the penance of a hundred years. to existed as early as the days of Cyprian; and it was not till the council of Clermont, that the discharge of a single duty was substituted for ali that was due, or might hereafter be due, to the penal authority of the Church. When people thenceforward found it so easy release themselves at once from the antient burden of redemption, they became clamorous to receive, what the Pope, on sufficient consideration, was never reluctant to grant. We shall recur to this subject immediately in the mean time, it is very true, that there existed from time to time many ecclesiastics, even in the worst age of the Church, who exclaimed against the abuse of that papal prerogative,—against the indiscriminate distribution and open venality of indulgences. But we have not perceived, that any argued on the false principle on which they were founded; it was not then made a reason for their condemnation, that they disparaged the efficacy of Grace; and perverted, if they did not wholly overthrow, the doctrine of salvation through the merits of Christ alone. The existence and nature of an intermediate state naturally awakened the speculations of the early Christians; but the subjects were long left open to the curiosity, the vanity, or the piety of contemplative individuals these were not restrained by any ecclesiastical edicts, and impunity yet attended the profession of opposite doctrines. Among the Greeks the question was not afterwards pressed to any practical system or inference. It is true, indeed, that a certain opinion was selected and sanctioned as that most probable, and was apparently inscribed among the authorized tenets: but it was at no time recommended to the peculiar reverence of the faithful; still less was it converted into an engine of ecclesiastical government. But during the iron ages of the Roman Church, the same inexplicable question assumed a much more definite and durable shape. Differing from the Greeks, who considered the immediate abode of the departed to be one of obscurity and discomfort, the Latins boldly lighted the penal fire of purgatory, and gave a substance, a locality and an object to the timid and distrustful speculations of the early Christians. It is the modern doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that there is a purgatory; and that the souls imprisoned there are aided by the prayers of the faithful, and the acceptable sacrifice of the altar.' But in this matter, it is not so important to ascertain what has been, at various times, the outward profession of the Church, as to remark the consequences which have practically flowed from the dogma, and influenced the happiness and morality of mankind. For the history of the Church is not a lifeless record of its Canons and Confessions, but a display of their operation, whether for good or for mischief, whether in their use or in their abuse, upon the Christian community. The consequence, which presently followed from the establishment of a place of temporary punishment, or purification, for departed souls, was, that the successor of St. Peter assumed, through the power of the keys, unlimited authority there. By indulgences, issued at the discretion of the Pope, the sinner (in the theory, the repentant Doctrine of * Founded on the Canons of Trent.-It is frequently asserted to be the doctrine of that Church, that the fund, whence the above forgiveness is drawn, is composed of the supererogatory merits of the saints, (added to those of Jesus Christ,) which are inexhaustible; and such, indeed, it is clearly laid down by St. Thomas Aquinas (see Mosheim, Cent. xii. ii. c. iii.) Modern divines disclaim this opinion, as at variance with the great doctrine of justification-and this is not the only instance of salutary change, which has purified the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church during the last three centuries.-May such changes be multiplied! p. sinner) was released from suffering, and immediately passed into a state of grace. As long as these indulgences were granted with discrimination and reserve*, the ill effects, which they occasioned, do not often meet the eye of the historian. But as soon as they were turned into mere instruments of papal ambition, and as such were not only promiscuously scattered over the world, but also extended in character to a plenary remission, they became simple manifest means to poison the morality of the faithful. Thenceforward, their nature could scarcely be further corrupted; for the only proof, which was now required of the sinner's spiritual mortification and amendment, was his willingness to perform a single act. But on the character of that act, that is, on the object of the indulgence, it still depended, whether the subversion of the principle of evangelical repentance was to be made subservient to the seeming advantage of the world, or obviously instrumental in aggravating its misery. The object of the indulgence was changed repeatedly; yet never so changed, as to take the guise of philanthropy. First, it was the recovery of the Holy Land and the extirpation of the infidel. Then from the general foe of Christ it was turned against the spiritual adversaries of the Catholic Church; from the spiritual adversaries of the Church it descended to the temporal enemies of the Pope. It next assumed a more innocent shape (if superstition could ever be innocent), and summoned the obedient pilgrims to enrich, on stated Jubilees †, the apostolical shrines of Rome. Lastly, it degenerated into a mere vulgar, undisguised implement for supplying the necessities of the pontifical treasury‡,—and it was in this last form, that it at length aroused the scorn and indignation of Europe. The profane and even blasphemous expressions, by which the emissaries of the Vatican recommended their treasures to popular credulity were tacitly permitted by the authorities of the Church; yet we shall not detail them here, nor impute them to any others, than the individuals who uttered them they may repose in the same oblivion. But it is proper to transcribe a specimen of the indulgences which were publicly sold in the beginning of the sixteenth century, because they were the authorised pro * Baronius (Ann. 847. s. iv.) boasts the moderation of the indulgences granted in those days, and instances one (trium annorum et trium quadragenarum) given under Leo IV. Even as late as the eleventh age there are proofs (as Muratori observes) of similar discretion in the directors of the Church. And it is proper to mention, that Gregory the Great, in his Chapter on Purgatory (Dialogorum, lib. iv. cap. xxxix.), expressly limited its operation to venial and very trifling offences (de parvis minimisque peccatis hoc fieri posse credendum est), such as mere vain and leisurely discourse, immoderate laughter, or an error in unimportant matters proceeding from ignorance. He adds, moreover, that thus much is certain-that no one will obtain any purgation even from the least offences, unless he merit, by his good works here, to obtain such remission there. In the Jubilee of 1300 Papa (Boniface VIII.) innumerabilem pecuniam ab iisdem recepit; quia die et nocte duo Clerici stabant ad Altare Sancti Petri tenentes in eorum manibus rastellos, rastellantes pecuniam infinitam.'-Gulielmus Astensis Ventura (an eyewitness) Chronicon Astense, cap. 26. ap. Muratori. Again, in the Bull of Clement VI. for the jubilee of 1350 are these words- Et nihilominus prorsus mandamus Angelis Paradisi, quatenus auimam illius a Purgatorio penitus absolutam in Paradisi gloriam introducant.' See Gianuone, lib. xvii. cap. 8. It should be recollected, that the sale of indulgences was faintly countenanced by the corresponding enormities of civil legislation, according to which, in somewhat earlier times, every crime had its price. The Church in every age should, in some degree, be judged according to the principles of that age,—yet in such wise, that we never lose sight of that one great and unchangeable standard, by which the actions of a Christian ministry must, in every age, be measured. |